HAVERFORD SCHOOL Today
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HAVERFORD SCHOOLToday
HAVERFORD SCHOOL TODAY
board of trustees,
2019-20
Jennifer Paradis Behle P’20 Oray B. Boston Jr. P’17 Amy C. Briddell P’23 ’30 ’33 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, Vice Chair William C. Hambleton William T. Harrington P’24 ’24 John F. Hollway P’18 Jason W. Ingle Barbara Klock P’23 ’23 Jeffrey F. Lee ’95 George B. Lemmon Jr. ’79, P’12 ’19, Treasurer
Joshua R. Levine ’94 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 Alicia C. Payne P’22 Jennifer N. Pechet P’15 ’17 Ravindra Reddy ’90 G. Bart Smith ’95, P’28 ’30 Fitz Daniel T. Tepper ’12 G. Nash Waterman ’98 Roland Yang ’10 William C. Yoh ’89, P’18 ’24, Chairman
John A. Nagl, D.Phil. • assistant headmaster Mark Thorburn • David Gold • managing editor Jessica Welsh • editors Emily Chahar, Sarah Garling, Jessica Welsh • class notes editors Andrew Bailey ’02, Emily Chahar, Sheryl Kaufmann, Sarah Garling, Jessica Welsh, George Wood ’75 • layout/design Emma E. Hitchcock • printer Intellicor, LLC., Lancaster, Pa. • photographers Active Image Media, Andrew Bailey ’02, Emily Chahar, Sarah Garling, Jordan Hayman, Emma E. Hitchcock, Daniel Hou, IV Form, Steve Jennings/ Getty Images, Kerry Kettering-Goens, Brian Long, Kathleen Marr P’24 , Mike Nance, Anthony Pariano P’23, Deb Putter P’24 ’26, Joshua Ricefield, IV Form, Christopher Rippie P’20 , Jim Roese, Jessica Welsh, George Wood ’75 headmaster
chief financial officer
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 © 2020 The Haverford School (all rights reserved). contact
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this publication. Special thanks to: Chris Arader ’72, Kori Brown, III Former Jingyuan Chen, Christopher Rippie P’20, Lisa Schiavone P’20, Jill Sides, Taylor Smith-Kan, Terry Spahr ’84, Heather Graber Stinson, Fitz Tepper ’12, Bill Yoh ’89, P’18’24.
Virtual Haverford brought our boys’ creativity to the forefront, and showcased the intentionality of the School’s instructional technology program. Read more on page 10, or visit haverford.org/virtualhaverford.
special thanks
front cover:
Clouds give way to sunshine over the Field House. Photo by Andrew Bailey ’02. back cover: V Former Adam Greenfield paid tribute to his fellow spring student-athletes and the season they lost due to COVID-19 through a series of digital illustrations.
FEATURES 12 Population and the planet
By Terry Spahr ’84
18 A literary community
There’s always something happening on social media.
By Taylor Smith-Kan, Upper School English and Chinese teacher
25 The college counseling journey
HAVERFORD SCHOOL Today
By Heather Graber Stinson, Associate Director of College Counseling facebook.com/haverfordschool
@haverfordschool @gofords
@haverfordschool @haverfordschoolathletics
DEPARTMENTS 2
From the Headmaster
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Around the Quad
15 Athletics 22 Arts 29 Parents 32 Alumni 35 Class Notes
FROM THE HEADMASTER
A toast ... By John A. Nagl, D.Phil.
Dear Fords Nation, I have just completed one of my favorite rites of spring: signing the diplomas for the graduating Class of 2020. I pause on each diploma, remembering at least one interaction with almost every young man. In my mind I picture a basketball shot that fell, a robot that triumphed, a line on stage delivered with gusto, a solo with The Notables, a problem solved or a question asked. Sometimes it is a stern conversation I recall, but more often, it is an award given, a pat on the back delivered, good news on a college acceptance. Every year, I marvel at the fine young men that our young boys have become, and I think on how much Haverford will miss this graduating class. This year is special, and this ritual more bittersweet than usual. The coronavirus has stolen from this graduating class, and from all of the boys, many of the traditional joys that mark spring at Haverford. But rather than focus on what has been lost, I try to see the silver linings of the clouds that confront us during these trying times. I hope that every boy more dearly treasures the simple joy of being able to be with his friends, and that those lasting bonds that mark Haverford men are even stronger as a result of this time when we cannot be together in person. I know that the faculty, who have done a marvelous job creating Virtual Haverford, miss the boys horribly and long for the life of a normal classroom in which to greet their students. The faculty’s ability to maintain relational teaching practices, to innovate and adapt, and to advance the School’s mission of preparing boys for life continues to inspire and motivate us all. I am immensely proud of how our community has come together in solidarity and strength through initiatives like #HaverfordHelps, Haverford Cares, and the ways big and small that our alumni, parents, students, faculty, staff, and friends are rising to the needs of those within our School community and across the country. I remain grateful for our collective blessings during this time, including the generosity of so many of you who have supported the Character at Our Core campaign. This $50 million campaign outlines our endeavors to provide extraordinary faculty, facilities, and programs, and to increase access to a Haverford School education. The new Middle School remains on schedule, and we eagerly await the days when it is bustling with boys learning, building, and doing. To everyone who has helped, please accept my gratitude, on behalf of every boy who has and will benefit from your generosity. To others, I hope you’ll consider supporting the School’s operating needs or your own area of passion – please contact the Palmer House team if you are able to make a gift. 2020 also marks the year we are graduating our 18th Board Chair, Bill Yoh of the Class of 1989. Bill attended Haverford for 2
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13 years and has served on the Board for 17, the last six as Board Chairman. We are sorry that we are unable to properly celebrate his dedication to, leadership of, and love for Haverford in person; like our celebration of the Class of 2020, that will have to wait for another time. But we are grateful for Bill’s steadfast leadership through so many travails, and confident that he leaves behind him a school that is stronger for his steady hand on the tiller. You can read a reflection from Bill on the final page of this issue of Haverford School Today. Bill is passing the torch of leadership to Maurice Glavin ’83. Maurice has seven years of service to the Board under his belt, as well as leadership of the Middle School project. Maurice and Ann’s third son to graduate from Haverford is a member of this Class of 2020, and Ann is a past chair of our Parents’ Association. The Glavins truly bleed maroon and gold, and I know that Maurice will build on the foundation that Bill has so graciously handed to him. Finally, this issue of Haverford School Today marks the completion of Candy Montgomery’s 35 years of service to the School. She has served five of Haverford’s nine headmasters with verve and with love. We shall miss her deeply, but we will remember her love for the boys and for Haverford, as we remember Bill Yoh’s courage and dedication, and the Class of 2020’s spirit and sacrifice. May you all be well in these difficult times. Thanks for all you do to keep Haverford strong and our fellow Americans safe.
John A. Nagl, D.Phil. Ninth Headmaster
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I’m Not Kidding (INK) club marks 10 years More than 10 years ago, a small group of Middle School students asked for a space where they could share common experiences and find ways to be more positively engaged in the Haverford School community. After meeting a few times, the group presented at a faculty meeting and asked for support. Middle School language teacher Kerry Kettering-Goens joined them as advisor, and over the years, the group has transformed into the I’m Not Kidding (INK) Club. Club members hold weekly student-driven discussions, as well as activities with other schools, including taking part in Haverford’s annual Middle School Diversity Conference. “Our discussion topics in INK each week ranged from politics, to racial issues, to interactions that students had with their peers,” said III Former Roch Parayre, who was a club member all three years of Middle School. “Whenever you had a question or something you wanted to talk about, you could bring it to INK, and share what you needed to in a safe space.” “I have found that over the past 10 years, all these different students had one thing in common – they were looking for a space to express themselves fully and freely,” said Kettering-Goens. “I’m happy INK is able to provide that to them, and allows them to gain new perspectives and lessons from each other.” Over the years, students in INK have branched out from the weekly discussions to creating different affinity groups for all Middle School students, attending conferences such as the Young Men of Color Symposium in New York City, and partnering with other schools for service learning activities. In February, students in INK hosted an assembly to mark 10 years and to kick off a new “Stand Up Fords” initiative. Each month, all Middle School students will embark on “different activities that encourage a culture of respect and kindness in the community,” said Kettering-Goens. INK has continued these initiatives through Virtual Haverford, preserving connection and community in the Middle School.
A reflection on speech and debate By Jingyuan Chen, Form III When I transferred to The Haverford School last fall, I joined the Speech and Debate Team in October, looking to explore a new interest with new friends. What I gained in my first season was far greater than my expectations! This year, a new pair of debaters – III Former Nathan Mirin and IV Former Jeffrey Johnson – won second place in the district and qualified for the state competition. Back in October, they were, like myself, still exploring the formats and rules of proper debate. With the help of faculty advisors Mr. Kyle Traynham and Mr. Javier Lluch, by February we could all proudly stand as mature orators on stage. When this year’s debate season ended, I was surprised to find that the skills and habits from the club have stayed with me. Every morning I wake up and check the news, because knowing the events of the world is an essential skill for a successful debater. I find I speak with more confidence and better articulation in every conversation I’ve had with my peers and teachers.
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Haverford donates laptops to support young Afghan women The Haverford School recently donated eight laptops to Afgamestan, a game and animation startup in Herat, Afghanistan. The company aims to improve education and provide opportunities for young women in Afghanistan. This is the first year The Haverford School has donated to the program. Andrea Drinkwine, The Haverford School’s Director of Information and Instructional
Technology, coordinated the donation with a former substitute teacher at Haverford who has connections to the company. “Technology maximizes independence, productivity, and connection,” said Drinkwine. “Haverford was excited to donate laptops to this company as they seek to enable young Afghan women to achieve their goals.”
Golf team raises $2,300 for Shriners Hospital for Children – Philadelphia with “Bucks for Birdies” The Haverford School golf team raised $2,300 for Shriners Hospital for Children – Philadelphia. The team, led by senior captain Alec Stern, participated in the “Bucks for Birdies” campaign, which allowed parents and friends to sponsor players on the green. Players received donations based on the number of eagles, birdies, and pars they tallied during the golf season. Stern presented a check to Terry Diamond, Director of Development at Shriners, in early March. Shriners is close to Stern’s heart, as he was a patient at
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the hospital three years ago after being diagnosed with Kienbock’s Disease, a rare condition that impacts the wrist. Stern underwent a radial shortening surgery at Shriners, allowing him to continue playing golf at Haverford. “After getting my diagnosis, my doctor told me that I would not be playing golf that season, and potentially never again,” said Stern. “But his expertise and the support of the entire staff at Shriners helped me return to and excel at the sport I love.” After getting better, Stern made a
commitment to help other young people “fighting their battles.” He was spurred on after seeing young children in the waiting room at Shriners. In his role as golf team captain, he spearheaded the “Bucks for Birdies” campaign and hopes that it will continue to raise money for Shriners in the future. “Although the recovery time from my wrist injury may have prevented me from leaving a top score legacy, it allowed me to leave something far more valuable behind: a way to make a positive impact for others less fortunate,” said Stern.
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Haverford School students recognized with Scholastic Art and Writing Awards Forty-one Upper School students received regional honors from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Five of those students went on to receive national recognition for their work. The five students included Pearse Glavin, who received a National Gold Key for his piece titled “Glacier Strolls” in the Personal Essay and Memoir category. Ryan LaRocca, Steven Roccia, Noah Rubien, and Vincent Scauzzo also received national recognition and were awarded National Silver Keys for their writing. These five boys were part of a larger group of 41 students recognized regionally for their work. Of the 41 boys, 39 were honored for their writing in the regional competition and two were commended for their artwork. In the writing discipline, 12 boys received regional Gold Keys, 22 won regional Silver Keys, and five received Honorable Mention recognition. Two boys received regional Silver Keys for their artwork. The winners’ art and writing were judged against submissions from their peers in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties. The writing submissions were reviewed locally in partnership with the Philadelphia Writing Project and the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. The art pieces were judged locally by the Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership at The University of the Arts. “The Haverford School’s English teachers want students to know they have ideas and words worth sharing,” said Tom Stambaugh ’90, chair of the English department at Haverford. “Our Gold Key, Silver Key, and Honorable Mention recipients show evidence of that worth, and we hope they will go into the world confident in their ability to make ideas come to life through carefully crafted language.” You can read the students’ pieces at haverford.org/writingawards. VI Former Tyler Rippie’s self-portrait received a regional silver key. His piece is inspired by the work of Kehinde Wiley.
Students connect with others around the world using Shared Studios Portal With the help of a Shared Studios Portal, students in all three divisions spent time discussing important topics with various groups of students and experts from around the world. The Portal is a large, immersive space that provides high-quality audio and full-length video of the users. The device was set up in Haverford’s Wilson Hall for a week, during which students considered the theme of building a better future for the world. Kori Brown, Middle School history teacher, and Andrea Drinkwine, Director of Information and Instructional Technology, worked together to bring the Portal to campus after seeing it at another area school. “As the boys used the Portal, a big takeaway was that despite how we look, where we live, or what we celebrate, we have far more in common as people, which is truly a valuable and memorable lesson,” said Drinkwine. Throughout the week, boys took part in a wide range of conversational topics, including climate change with students in the Netherlands, the refugee experience in Iraq and Uganda, and the impact of war in Afghanistan.
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Tom Farrell presents at annual Cox Leadership Symposium Mr. Tom Farrell, CEO and Executive Producer of The WorkShop Content Studios, presented at the annual Joseph T. Cox Servant Leadership Symposium on Feb. 10. He spoke about his career in television production, and how media content can serve others by bringing their stories to life. “We have the power to serve others with our cameras by making shows that will make a difference,” Farrell said. “We want to make content worth watching and stories worth telling.” Farrell focused on two of The WorkShop’s projects during the symposium. First, he presented clips and stories from the show Basketball or Nothing, currently streaming on Netflix, which focuses on high school basketball players on a Navajo reservation in Chinle, Ariz. He showed the ending of the series, when one player, Josiah, receives the Obama Scholarship to cover his tuition and expenses at his first-choice college, Arizona State University. “We had no idea when we embarked on the mission that that was going to be the end of our series,” Farrell said. “But we did know we wanted to serve this community and we wanted to create a first-class show. What we’re in the business to do is to tell stories that are accurate and authentic, and that’s what we focus on.”
Tom Farrell has presided over the strategic planning and day-to-day operations of The WorkShop Content Studios since 2007. He has spearheaded projects such as Novak for Amazon Prime, Trading Spaces for TLC, The Haney Project for Golf Channel, True North for PBS & Amazon Prime, and Netflix’s documentary series, Basketball or Nothing. Farrell graduated from Villanova University. The Joseph T. Cox Servant Leadership Symposium was established in 2010 by a generous lead gift from Bobbie and Scott Addis ’74. Honoring eighth Headmaster Joe Cox’s strong and visionary leadership of the School, the annual symposium features a presentation from a transformational leader who shares his or her experience and wisdom with The Haverford School community. The event exposes boys to various models of effective leadership from different areas of professional life, and reinforces the value of leading a life as a thoughtful and engaged citizen of the world.
Dr. Maya Jasanoff presents 30th annual Davis R. Parker Memorial History Lecture Renowned historian, author, and professor Dr. Maya Jasanoff presented “Ancestors: Where do we come from and why do we care?” at the 30th annual Davis R. Parker Memorial History Lecture on Feb. 20. Dr. Jasanoff, who serves as the Coolidge Professor of History at Harvard University, encouraged the audience to consider ancestry throughout human history and why ancestry and genealogy has relevance in society today. “When people ask you where you’re from, they’re asking you about who you are,” said Dr. Jasanoff. “They’re also often asking you something about your ancestry and your identity.” During her speech, Jasanoff noted that the popularity of home DNA test kits and genealogical research has been noticeable in recent years, but it goes beyond the present interest to a long historical interest in genealogy and lineage. “If we look at why people care about this, it’s a preoccupation that has saturated societies going back millennia,” she said. “My argument is this: ancestry itself has an ancestry, because every way we think about where we come from is layered onto other ways we think about ancestry. When we peel back those layers, we get a richer sense of why it plays the social, political, and cultural role that it does today.” After her lecture, she also took part in a book signing with members of the community. Dr. Maya Jasanoff is the Coolidge Professor of History at Harvard University and is working on a wide-ranging book about ancestry and inheritance in human history. Jasanoff has been a Guggenheim Fellow (2013), a fellow of the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, an ACLS Charles A. Ryskamp Fellow, and in 2019 held a Kluge Chair at the Library of Congress. She is the author of The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World and Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World. After Headmaster Davis R. Parker’s death in 1989, his predecessor, Leslie R. Severinghaus, proposed the establishment of an annual lecture dedicated to Mr. Parker’s memory and recognizing his passion for American history. The lecture brings a notable expert to The Haverford School for a lecture and discussion on a topic with historical importance. The initial funding for this endowed lecture series was provided by Dr. Severinghaus and by a bequest directed from Mr. Parker’s estate established by his wife, Jane. The Parker Memorial Fund supports the lecture program and has been sustained by gifts from alumni, faculty, and friends of Mr. Parker.
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Classroom to community: basics of finance Offering six major disciplines and more than 39 electives, the Upper School academic experience offers a glimpse into many facets of life after Haverford. Brian Long teaches Finance: Portfolio Analysis and Finance: Theory of Interest, both designed to equip students with life skills. From resume writing and creating a LinkedIn profile, to understanding the time value of money as related to budgeting and retirement, students develop skills that will serve them in college and beyond. In addition to learning basic finance, students have the opportunity to engage with financial firms and leaders in the industry. They visited the New York Stock Exchange, developed mock portfolios, and received a tour of Vanguard with the company’s chairman and former CEO. “As a Wharton student, I’ve drawn upon the financial analysis and investment strategy skills we learned at Haverford to choose my classes and do my coursework,” said Ben Gerber ’19. The insight into finance and the various jobs within the profession, as well as the advice Mr. Long provided to stay on top of the news and market trends, has also helped me identify internships and prepare for interviews and discussions with potential employers.” While the finance electives are offered as part of the math curriculum, they offer students opportunities in communication, writing, and being a critical consumer of information. “Finance is inherently interdisciplinary,” said Long. “Students must use their historical knowledge, critical thinking skills, and argumentation, combined with the analytical components of ratio analysis and the time value of money, to make decisions.” “It was the collaborative nature of finance class that I enjoyed the most,” said VI Former Pearse Glavin. “I’ve learned what a safe investment looks like and how emotions can get in the way of rational decision-making. I feel significantly more prepared to handle my own finances in the future.” Portfolio Analysis aims to teach students how to evaluate and make sound investments. They study financial statements, various securities, the markets and related indices, and diversification. Students evaluate current events and examine the positive or negative results on stock price and the overall economy. Throughout the course, the students manage a hypothetical U.S. growth fund, where each student inherits the responsibility
of becoming the expert in one of the underlying portfolio holdings. Students must then follow the company, writing about current events that drive the performance, and presenting on the company’s position to the class where he can propose an increase or decrease in our overall allocation. “With each vote of the class, our portfolio subtly changes, and by the end of the semester, we can benchmark our performance to the original institutionally run portfolio and other broader market indices,” said Long. In Theory of Interest, students learn the theories and applications of simple and compound interest, bonds and equity instruments, and personal budgeting. Time value of money is the foundation of both personal finance and broader professional sectors. “I start the class with Bloomberg on the screen and allow current events to drive the students’ understanding of the course concepts,” said Long. “In recent courses, we talked about the financial implications of COVID-19 and federal stimulus programs.” By the end of the course, students can calculate the present value of various financial securities, craft a personal budget, plan for retirement, and navigate the language of financial news media. Long worked in investment banking prior to joining the Upper School math and history departments in 2015. “I use my experience in mergers and acquisitions and private equity as a vehicle to educate students about the fundamentals of finance,” he said. “The realities of finance will, undoubtedly, sweep across all of my students’ paths regardless of their major or career choice, and I hope these courses offer a new perspective on financial decision-making.”
Two IV Formers in Kristin Brown’s photography class took part in the Lower Merion Conservancy’s Earth Day Photo Contest in April. Joshua Ricefield (left) received first place honors, and classmate Daniel Hou (right) placed third.
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Tableaux vivant Form II English students focus on building their burgeoning ability to think abstractly and metaphorically. English teacher Anthony Pariano believes that by tying students closely to the text, they achieve a deeper connection to the material and more effective outcomes in critical thinking and empathy. In addition to reading texts that focus on the theme of moving from adolescence to adulthood, Pariano also fosters this connection by leading students in a performance-based exploration of Shakespeare. “They can see how a single line fits into the big picture – how seemingly small details can tip the balance and have dramatic effects,” said Pariano. “Students are coming to a deeper understanding about how context
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determines meaning.” Students read Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet” and are tasked with forming small groups and creating a tableau vivant that captures a single scene – the meanings of the words, the motivations of individual characters, and the relationships between the characters. Pariano partnered with theater teacher Jennifer Hallman to be sure that the stationery, silent, and carefully constructed scenes were professionally lit, adding to the dramatic flair of the project. “All of this is rooted in a deep understanding of character, plot, and the big themes that are going on in the play,” explained Pariano. “The students try to bring those things to life in a single moment. Is the scene visually balanced? What does the positioning of
the characters say about their relationship to one another? The facilities that the students can access enable them to do truly fantastic work and creates genuine moments of discovery.” The project ends with a class presentation and an analysis of their performance. The students also complete a written piece in which they describe a specific moment in the play and provide justification for their description. “The students come to realize that a common subject matter can have unique interpretations,” said Pariano. “They also learn how to advance their position as to why they hold a particular viewpoint, which makes all measures of their work valid and valuable.”
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Exploring world cultures virtually By Kori Brown, Middle School history teacher In a time where everyone is staying at home, we may feel cut off from the rest of the world. It seems even more essential now that we teachers continue to encourage our students to remain curious about their local and global communities. My World Cultures class has always sought to facilitate opportunities for students to engage with other people and places in order to establish connections, promote cultural awareness, and ultimately encourage empathy – and we did so virtually throughout the spring. Students have used AirPano and Google Arts & Culture to “visit” locations in Africa, the Middle East, and various historical sites. While they explored these areas of the world, they were challenged to compare what they are seeing to what we’ve learned in class. Students were given the opportunity to complete the
Getty Museum Challenge and recreated a piece of artwork using items in their home. Other tasks allowed students to add Middle Eastern sites from Atlas Obscura to their personal bucket lists and participate in current historical research on Zooniverse by transcribing primary sources about prison records in Australia. The class’s culminating project was for each student to create their own nation by mixing elements from all of the different cultures that we covered during the year. After constructing a national government, economy, social hierarchy, traditions, arts, and religion, each student represented his country at a virtual mock United Nations meeting and we then discussed some of the tough issues that are facing our world today. In doing so, the students used their knowledge of world cultures to practice balancing local and global viewpoints.
Finding math in the every day Fifth grade is a defining year in the Lower School math curriculum. As students prepare to enter Middle School, they begin learning mathematical concepts in a new way. “In fifth grade, many mathematical heuristics that our students have learned begin to reverse,” said math teacher Chelsea Hessels. “For example, in fifth grade they learn that dividing whole numbers by a decimal results in a larger – not smaller – quotient, and that multiplying fractions results in a smaller – not larger – number.” This knowledge is reinforced through projects like Geometry Town in which students plan an urban area using particular shapes and ratios. In another project, students create a baseball “dream team” after reviewing and evaluating career statistics. “These kinds of projects ensure that students don’t see math as just a class, that math is more than purely academic,” said Hessels. “They see that no matter what they’re interested in – reading music notes, preparing a recipe, or buying a new book – there is a connection to math. When students feel empowered and have a sense of ownership in what they’re learning, there is more excitement and engagement in the class.”
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GOING THE DISTANCE
Virtual Haverford, our distance learning school, was developed to adapt to the challenges and changes presented by COVID-19. Haverford’s mission of preparing boys for life, and our aim to be leaders in educating boys, has endured despite the changing times. Virtual Haverford launched on March 18, following three days of faculty professional development and training. Teachers engage boys daily through core instruction as well as advisory, library, physical education, art, and music. “Our approach was to become very knowledgeable and adept at the handful of online programs that will make a real difference for our students,” said Dr. Pam Greenblatt, Head of Lower School. “Teaching Lower School-age students online has pushed us to be innovative in this space, as there was no distance learning model for the pre-k-2 cohort. With this age group, we found that maintaining classroom routines, like morning meeting/ advisory and having the boys meet in small groups with their teachers, went a long way to continuing the relationships between students and their teachers. Additionally, chunking learning into small bits presented through pre-recorded videos/playlists, woven in with small group synchronous 10
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meetings and independent student work, as well as finding space for student choice, promoted greater student engagement.” Haverford teachers continue to employ a relational teaching model, connecting with each boy and assuring him that he is known and supported. “The key elements of a virtual learning program are the people, the curriculum, and the tools of engagement,” said Dr. Jay Greytok ’83, Head of Middle School. “We have great people at Haverford who love our
boys and want to help them to succeed. We built a curriculum that focuses on teaching skills by engaging with the boys on a daily basis, providing a space for enrichment, and encouraging their development and advancement. “Our virtual curriculum and schedule is driven by our goals for the year, which remain the same: we want to advance the skills of our students and prepare them for the challenges that await in the next grade level,” Dr. Greytok continued. “We also
A first grader has a virtual playdate with his third grade buddy. This important mentoring program in the Lower School has been maintained through Virtual Haverford.
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want to encourage them to seek solutions and be active learners. Our program combines a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous classes, individual and group work, all directed by our teachers. Our schedule is built to be sustainable; it is structured but also flexible, considering all the possible distractions that can pull students or teachers away from the daily routine.” School counselors, division heads, and administrators continue to be available to the boys, as well as a resource for faculty, as the community adapts to these changes. “Haverford’s core belief in the transformational power of knowing and loving each boy remained front-and-center in the building of our distance learning model,” said Patrick Andrén, Head of Upper School. “This is what has always made Haverford’s work with boys so effective and valuable. Given the challenges that many of our boys and families encountered as a result of COVID-19, we placed an emphasis on face-to-face check-ins as well as offering the boys as many ways as possible to share what is on their minds.” The smooth transition to Virtual Haverford was a result, in large part, of the substantial work done in recent years by the Department of Information and Instructional Technology – and their partnership with faculty. “School technology departments play a critical role from day-to-day to longterm operations and success in today’s tech-centered educational environment,” said Andrea Drinkwine, Director of
Information and Instructional Technology. “The unprecedented COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the importance of maintaining strong and continuous collaboration between faculty, administration, and technology in our schools.” The Department of Information and Instructional Technology has been laying the groundwork for 21st century teaching and learning through training and implementation of premier technological tools. This preparation has afforded the School a robust infrastructure, mechanisms that facilitate the introduction and adoption of teaching and learning practices, professional growth opportunities, a sustainable digital environment through budgetary planning, and access to digital tools and resources that support curriculum in a rich digital learning environment. “Our dedicated faculty have been able to rise to this daunting leap into online teaching by relying on their own expertise and creativity, and by capitalizing on the technology tools that they have been using well before the crisis hit,” said Drinkwine. “Our 1:1 ratio of student devices allowed us to provide technology to any student who needed it. Our existing edtech platforms like Canvas (our learning management system), SeeSaw (our student engagement and portfolio platform), and GSuite (Google’s suite of apps) are now being used to deliver content and resources remotely. These platforms, and others, allow us to continue to provide our faculty with the tools and training they will need to run Virtual Haverford successfully.”
As part of Virtual Haverford, students can access online resources and assignments as well as their teachers and classmates both synchronously and asynchronously using these tools. A variety of other education technology tools allow students to go on virtual field trips, collaborate on virtual whiteboards, have stories read to them, create and present evidence of their learning in a variety of ways, and stay connected to their peers socially. First grade art made sculptures with household items found during a scavenger hunt, Middle School students engaged in Master Classes on life skills like sewing and cooking, and Index writers conducted interviews via video chat. Students stayed connected to each other and to the world through experiences including a chat with an archaeologist at the Penn Museum (third grade) and a discussion with an educator at The Mütter Museum (Upper School physiology). While the mode of content delivery has changed, Haverford has prioritized relational teaching and encouraged students to innovate, adapt, and create opportunities in an unprecedented situation – truly preparing boys for life.
From left: Form V student George Laveran created a doghouse as part of his self-directed virtual project in Woodworking Arts II; Form II students completed some tasty science during a Chemistry Cook-Off. The project required the boys to prepare a recipe and identify the chemical and physical changes within that recipe. For his entry, Max made a Baked Alaska - a dessert made with layers of merengue, ice cream, and cake.
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POPULATION AND THE PLANET I distinctly remember my annual summers in Maine as a child visiting Acadia National Park. It was there where I first encountered the impacts of humanity on nature. Every summer, my father (Kit Spahr ’55) would take my brothers (Chris ’83 and Wes ’87) and me by boat to see a pair of bald eagles nesting atop a majestic pine tree along the water. In the summer of 1973, when I was 7 years old, the nest was empty. My father explained to us that hunting and the pesticide DDT had decimated the bald eagle. He explained why people used DDT and how it moved downstream from fields into the water, and eventually the eagles ingested it through the fish they consumed. The chemical interfered with the ability of the birds to produce strong eggshells and that’s why the bald eagles were threatened with extinction. Over the next four decades, I watched this same creeping ecological destruction caused by an increased human presence and activity across the globe. Humanity has exploited the majority of the earth’s temperate zone for cities, suburbs, streets, agriculture, and animal grazing and, in the process, has eradicated practically all the wild plants and animals that once inhabited these lands. I have witnessed our oceans being systematically stripped of all marine life. Plastic pollution is everywhere. Dead zones have formed in bays and gulfs from nitrogen runoff. There are massive continentsize swirling garbage patches and coral reefs are bleached and devoid of life. All of this in my lifetime. One of the lasting lessons from my Haverford School education is the importance of thinking critically. This means continuous and vigilant inquiry to uncover the truth from all perspectives. It
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is important to keep asking, who, what, why, where, when, until you thoroughly understand the fundamental cause of a problem. In today’s world, climate change is in the news every day, and rightly so. It is a very real and serious problem, but it is just one symptom of many, like the strip mining of our fertile top soils, the leveling our forests, the draining of our rivers, lakes and aquifers, the decimation of our fisheries, the pollution in our air, across the land and in our waterways, and the mass extermination of billions of wild animals. These individual symptoms demonstrate a much larger planetary crisis unfolding before our eyes. There are simply too many people consuming too many resources and emitting too many wastes. We have a human impact crisis and everything we have done to address its symptoms over the past 25 years hasn’t worked. In fact, by all accounts, the situation is getting worse. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result. Unless and until we change our thinking and approach, we won’t solve this crisis. By 2016, I reached a personal tipping point. Frustrated by the political correctness and lack of action by the environmental establishment, I walked away from my leadership role at Long & Foster Real Estate to raise public awareness about the damage being done to the world by unsustainable population growth. Despite having no formal training, I spent the next three years producing a studio-quality documentary feature, 8 Billion Angels, about the increasing conflict between the size of our global population and the sustainability of our planet. After 25 years in business, I knew how to execute a project. Because of my lack of film experience, I surrounded myself with an
By Terry Spahr ’84 experienced production team to help carry out my vision. What I would share with any Haverford students who might be looking to get into this field, or for those who are just interested in how a film production works is this: Having a “big picture” understanding of the entire filmmaking process from concept through distribution is critical. You cannot simply separate out the creative process from the business side. Building relationships, exploring every funding option, embracing rejection, always being prepared, never giving up, and approaching every day with determination are the most important things you can do to succeed. The sooner you commit to the career, if that is what excites you, and the more enthusiastically you approach it, the farther you will go. Unlike the majority of environmental documentaries that have focused on symptoms like climate change, the bleaching of
coral reefs, or species extinction, 8 Billion Angels focuses on the root cause and main driver of our global environmental crises – unsustainable population growth. I interviewed scientists, industrial farmers, professional fishermen, and others to speak candidly and passionately about the environmental impacts affecting their work, research, and day-to-day lives and what they expect for the future. Unlike any other documentaries that we have seen to date, 8 Billion Angels also gives the audience solutions to the crises that are practical, high-impact, and scientifically-proven to not only generate environmental benefits, but to also produce tremendous social, health, and economic well-being when adopted by individuals, families, communities, and countries. For example, many countries, through voluntary, intentional human right campaigns, educating girls, providing access to family
(above) Marine biologists in scuba gear performing underwater field tests at naturally occurring CO2 vents off the coast of Japan. (left) Kansas geologist and farmer Bill Mai measuring declining water levels of an aquifer well on the farmer’s property.
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planning, and helping their citizens understand the importance of small families to the environment, have, not only reduced their population growth, but have reduced extreme poverty; increased universal primary education, gender equality, and empowerment of women; reduced infant mortality; and improved maternal health. What’s also remarkable is that these social, health, and economic benefits have occurred alongside a dramatic restoration of nature. (Family Planning and Environmental Sustainability, Lynne Gaffikin and Robert Engelman 2016; Climate Change, Fertility, and Girl’s Education, Brookings Institute, Homi Karas 2016) Climate activist, author, and editor Paul Hawken of Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reduce Global Warming tabulated the top 100 initiatives we can do now to fix the climate and, much to his surprise, when educating girls and family planning were combined, they were the number one solution to reducing CO2 emissions and fixing climate change. When girls are educated and given access to quality reproductive health services, they tend to get married later in life, space their children more, and have fewer of them. When fewer people are being born, it translates into far less consumption of resources and emissions of wastes. While producing 8 Billion Angels, I established a nonprofit organization, Earth Overshoot. The organization, which is quickly building support from foundations, corporations, and individuals, creates educational and advocacy campaigns designed to make individuals, communities, and governments prioritize sustainability in order to achieve a world characterized by human well-being and flourishing biodiversity. In my role as executive director for the organization, I am often invited to speak to businesses, schools, and community groups about the real metrics of sustainability, which are often misrepresented by the media and industry. I also try to dispel the misconception that we, as societies, can reduce consumption enough to make a significant impact on climate change. Are you willing to never fly in a plane or drive in a car again? Are you willing to give up eating meat and fish forever and only eat a locally-produced diet? What about living in a very small space with no central hot water, heat, or air and only have a few sets of clothes and shoes? Those are a few steps that would be necessary for almost 8 billion of us to live equitably and sustainably.
Another question I often get is whether technology can save us and the environment. In reality, it is the opposite. Technologies and the efficiencies they yield actually create greater productivity and prosperity for the individuals and businesses who adopt these technologies. The economic or financial benefits these individuals and businesses realize from these technologies and their efficiencies invariably get reinvested or redeployed toward other economic activity that actually drives greater global growth into the reserves that sustain us. (Jevon’s Paradox and the Myth of Technological Liberation, John Polimeni) A couple of things have kept our country and the world from making sufficient progress. One is, as we see different environmental crises emerge from human activity, we focus on solutions for those specific symptoms, whether that is catch limits for overfishing, or restrictions placed on depleted reserves of water, or conserving land next to deforested areas, or adding catalytic converters to cars to capture excess air pollutants, or fertilizers to feed more people on less land, or halting energy projects that could dam rivers or disturb pristine lands. As any doctor will tell you, if we just target these symptoms and never address the disease, we won’t solve the underlying problem. Additionally, we have an instinctive aversion to discussing unsustainable population growth because it can be fraught with emotions across the cultural, political, religious, and economic spectrums. But it is a conversation we must have to ensure the future of our planet and humanity. Terry Spahr ’84 was a Lifer at The Haverford School, where he played soccer and squash and later became an All-American in squash. He left the corporate world to research, write, and produce the documentary 8 Billion Angels. The film was scheduled for a North American theatrical release in June 2020 but due to COVID-19 has been postponed. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania College of Arts & Sciences and Fels Center of Government, Spahr lectures on issues of sustainability to students, investor groups, and civic organizations. He is a regular opinion writer for a variety of environmental publications.
(from left) Terry Spahr ’84 with his camera crew filming on top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park; Terry Spahr ’84 at the Shimoda Marine Research Center in Japan.
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ATHLETICS
Winter 2019-20 sports highlights BASKETBALL The team finished the season with a 9-18 record and won the McBride Classic for the third year in a row. Coach Rogers marked his 300th career victory with a win over Camden Catholic. Christian Clover was selected to All-Inter-Ac Second Team. The season was capped off with Fords vs. Cancer on senior night, with proceeds supporting cancer research.
ICE HOCKEY The Fords ended the season 5-7-1 with four players being recognized All-IHL Second Team. The team has a lot of returning athletes and is poised to have a great season next year.
SQUASH Winning the 50th Inter-Ac title in School history, the Fords went undefeated in Inter-Ac and MASA play. Winning their sixth MASA title in a row, defeating rival EA, the team record was 9-1. They fell to EA at U.S. High School Nationals, ending with a 3rd place finish over Kent School. Four players were recognized with All-Inter-Ac First Team honors and four with All-Inter-Ac Second Team honors.
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ATHLETICS
SWIMMING & DIVING The 2019-20 team was the highest-finishing Inter-Ac team at the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championship with a 3rd place finish. Their league record was 3-1 and swimmer Brian Brennen was named league MVP. Brennen also finished his Haverford career as the highest point scorer in School history. Along with Brennen, the Fords had five others earn all Inter-Ac honors. Jack Deppen, Antonio Octaviano, Anton Crescente, Bobby Blewett, and Brian Brennen were prep All-American.
WRESTLING The Fords showed great improvement on the mats. Finishing the season with a 12-14 record, the team capped off their winter finishing 26th out of 102 teams at National Preps. Three athletes were recognized by the league with Billy Brosko All-Inter-Ac First Team and Jay McDonnell and Kwaku Adubofour All-Inter-Ac Second Team. Brosko was also a prep All-American with his 5th place finish at Nationals.
WINTER TRACK The winter track team finished tied for 5th place at the PFTCA State Meet. This is the highest finish in School history. New School records were set in the 60m dash by Daiyaan Hawkins and the 55m and 60m hurdles by Kevin Thomas. Thomas became the first state champion in School history for the 60 meter hurdles, running the fourth fastest time in the country. Both Hawkins and Thomas received all-state honors.
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ATHLETICS
Coach’s corner
Antonio Fink DIRECTOR OF TENNIS PROGRAM
Antonio Fink is in his 18th year with the Haverford School tennis program, and in his 11th year as Director of Tennis Program. Under Fink’s direction, Haverford tennis has continued its tradition as a protagonist in northeast high school tennis and Inter-Ac competitions. The Haverford tennis team has won the Inter-Ac title for the last 10 years in a row, along with two titles at the New England Mid-Atlantic Tennis Invitational. The team has had three undefeated seasons and has competed in two editions of the National Tennis High School Invitational in Newport Beach, Calif., placing 6th in 2015 and 15th in 2018. Throughout his years at Haverford, Fink has focused on fitness, good technique, and training his athletes in a competitive and fun atmosphere. His success in doing so has helped a majority of his boys to fully understand and love tennis. Fink has helped numerous players develop their level in order to play in college, most notably at Elon, Penn State, and the University of Richmond. Fink played tennis growing up in Mexico City, Mexico, reaching the quarterfinals of the last Under-18 Nationals he played in. He then went on to play four years of Division I tennis at Pan American University in Edinburg, Texas, graduating in 1989. He and his father won the Mexico City Father and Son Tournament twice, and competed in the 1991 Mexican National Father and Son Tournament in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico, reaching the quarterfinals. Fink and his wife Ariadna have two sons, Mathias ’15 and Emilio ’18.
Coaching transitions The Fords will have three new faces in their coaching line-up for the 2020-21 season. Football defensive coordinator Brian Martin will take the reins from Director of Athletics Michael Murphy as Director of Football Programs, USA Junior Men’s coach Alex Stait will lead the squash team after a successful run by interim coach Sam Walters, and newly hired Director of Tuition Assistance/Associate Director of Admissions Mike Toomey will coach cross-country, with Tim Lengel ’07 moving into the role of assistant varsity coach. “The strength of Fords athletics has always been driven by the incredible talent of our coaching staff, and their ability to bring out the best in their team and in each individual student-athlete,” said Murphy. “We’re grateful for the time, skill, and mentorship committed by those who are transitioning out of their coaching role, and looking forward to the
successes that await our teams on the field, court, and trails.” Under Murphy’s direction, the football program won five Inter-Ac Championships and compiled an 82-63-0 overall record and a 42-32-0 Inter-Ac record, making him the second winningest coach in School history. Long-time defensive coordinator Martin has been coaching football for 17 years at Haverford, including 14 alongside Murphy. Martin is a 16-year faculty member in the Physical Education Department and has coached lacrosse and Strength & Conditioning at Haverford. Sam Walters, who teaches math in the Upper School, coached the squash team in the 2019-20 season and will again lead the varsity B team under Staits’ direction. Walters had been the assistant coach since 2009, taking the varsity B team to High School Nationals for the past seven years. Incoming Director of Squash Programs Stait is National
Head Coach of the USA Junior Men’s Team and 2018 recipient of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee Coach of the Year award. He also served as head coach at The Agnes Irwin School, whose squash team garnered its first league title since 1995 and earned 2nd place finishes at the High School Nationals. Tim Lengel ’07 led the Fords to a 2016 Inter-Ac Championship for the first time in 15 years. He will continue as an assistant coach, but dedicate additional time to his duties as Upper School history teacher and advisor. Incoming coach Toomey comes to Haverford from the George School, where he was head cross-country and track coach and worked with several individual state champions. He has been coaching for more than 23 years, including at Kents Hill School in Maine, where his team won back-to-back New England crosscountry titles.
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A literary community By Taylor Smith-Kan, Pegasus advisor and Upper School English and Chinese teacher There is a thriving artistic and literary community at Haverford, and never is it more visible than in the Pegasus literary magazine. While our English classes offer students many opportunities to practice writing, Pegasus gives students a platform on which to share their work, and sharing with peers can be even more powerful and validating. The boys in our club are passionate about their own writing, photography, and artwork, and they think deeply about literature. My favorite Pegasus tradition is our “read night,” which happens after we have received submissions of poetry and prose from the Haverford community. We order pizza, sit around in a circle, and go through each submission for the magazine. The atmosphere is energized as the boys put literary analysis that they practice in English classes to practical use. We discuss each piece in-depth, its strengths and weaknesses, and make selections to showcase in the magazine. In the following weeks and months, boys will spend time designing and laying out pieces. In addition to a love of writing and reading, the Pegasus boys are artistic. They come up with design ideas to tie the magazine together, then implement these ideas as they tinker with InDesign and Photoshop. We have boys who are designers, organizers, and grammarians, and we need all of them to work together to create our magazines. In this way, Pegasus represents the best of project-based learning, where boys are responsible for collaborating, pooling their talents, and creating something real at the end in the form of each fall and spring issue.
Déjà vu
By Toby Ma, Form VI Illustration by Noah Rubien, Form VI Sometimes I feel like I’ve been here before Or what’s happening before my eyes had appeared to me in a dream— it’s terrifying, but fleeting, like a memory without substance, only a feeling of something you’ve cherished but now you’ve lost.
Waiting to Die
By Will Cordray, Form IV Illustration by Noah Rubien, Form VI The chicken’s feast on the flowers of spring, Pecking, plucking the flowers from their stem. Just for a stroke of purple. Then they all look to the sky, Watching, waiting for a hawk to come, And hide in the bushes to escape. They don’t seem to be worried about it, Don’t hide under the trees, never coming out. They go along knowing they can’t do anything Weird creatures they are, Just watching and waiting for death to come. Sitting there waiting to die. 18
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On the Futility of Cosmic Ambition By Alexander Greer, Form VI Illustration by Noah Rubien, Form VI
Closing the heavy wooden door behind me, I start down the stairs. Each step sends ripples through reflections glimmering in puddles from the morning’s storm. I am happy it rained – a welcome change from the string of sunny, 100-plus-degree days that had pummelled Cambridge with heat and misery the previous week. But I am also glad the clouds had cleared by nightfall, allowing the moon to shine through rain-soaked leaves hanging limply on trees, its beams reflecting off slick concrete walls to finally diffuse into the damp ground below. As I pop in my earbuds, I look up through a window in the trees at the moon, a little more than halfway full like the overzealous grin of a toddler in a class photo. Right beside that pearly smile shines a bright dot of light, a mere pixel in the sky next to the reflective lunar surface. An airplane, I think, and continue walking. Lights flicker on around me as Earth spins the city deeper into darkness. I cross the street and turn into an alley heading towards my friend’s dorm. We planned to meet at 8:30 to discuss our project, but a ding in my ears and a glance at my phone tell me she is running late. I slow my pace, first considering the covers of several books displayed in the windows to my left, then gazing back up at the sky. Strange. That dot hadn’t moved. Neurons fire and I remember an article I had skimmed that afternoon titled “This Week in Stargazing,” or something to that effect. For tonight, it had predicted several “surprise appearances” by the planets, referring to them like forgotten actors in some grand celestial play. I continue to stare at the dot shining above me, Jupiter, I recall, seemingly close enough to be a tiny moon orbiting our own. My attention drifts from the alleyway in front of me and up into the sky where I imagine myself zooming ever closer to the looming gas giant. Hundreds of millions of miles shrink to none as my vision is filled with swirling streaks of brown and gray and orange, clouds of cream and cocoa dancing and gliding to form cascading sepia stripes. A spiraling, amber oval commands the surface and returns my gaze, centuries-old and as wide as Earth. I smile, imagining countless preschoolers eagerly creating their own renditions with ample splotches of red crayon. I see the faint outlines of Jupiter’s own moons, each engaged in an endless, silent waltz around its mammoth partner, and picture their unexplored wonders – the volcanic plumes of Io, the frozen oceans of Europa, the cratered plains of Callisto. I reach my friend’s dorm and sit in a nearby hammock, staring up at the star-spotted swath of universe revealed by Earth’s meandering orbit. As I stare, I dream. The people of the future – man and woman, old and young, black and white – look into the same sky, not with longing, but with pride at a frontier conquered
through shared ambition. They see their relatives staking claims on the rusted surface of Mars, their friends wading through lakes of ethane on Saturn’s moon Titan, their colleagues operating robots on a transiting Mercury. Greed, conflict, misery – all obsolete in the passionate pursuit of progress. One world becomes many: humanity abandons its differences and looks forward toward discovery. No star too distant, no realm too hostile, no goal too complex for us to attain. Why are we here, why should we pursue our goals, why should we strive to educate, innovate, collaborate, if not eventually to escape the Earth and disperse into every corner of time and space? The sudden screech of a speeding motorcycle rips me back to Earth. I look around and see a couple walking hand in hand, a tired mother pushing a stroller, a disheveled man strumming a ukelele, all wholly focused on the terrestrial. A sadness – subconsciously rooted – wells up inside me. My dreams of seeing these distant worlds, dreams of exploring the vast, mysterious universe, dreams of humanity getting up and out of its own way are just that: dreams. A childish longing for the stars does not the future make; that aspiration must be held by the population, presently consumed with pedestrian details, that surrounds me. With so much of their minds crowded by what is, there is no room left for what could be. Although they should be inspired to pursue life’s cosmic domain, they are instead motivated to seek a singular path of self, leaving the future to crumble before it is even built. I observe humanity, so focused on the present, to lack the desire, the motivation, the passion to build itself into something worth admiring. The moon remains barren as we vilify our differences; Pluto stays frozen as we construct walls and borders to keep us apart; stars keep shining despite every one of our bullets, bombs, and beliefs. Inevitably, Earth will keep spinning whether or not we hate each other, but we might not be here long enough to realize it. The sound of a door opening halts my mental journey – the cobalt sheen of Neptune, the golden winds of Venus, the crimson cliffs of Mars retreating from my mind back to their distant realms. My friend walks towards the hammock, eyes fixed to the phone in her hand, and asks, “ready to go?” I sit quietly for a moment trying to capture my thoughts and nod. “Yep,” I say. I try to contain it, but the fascinated child inside me cannot ignore the endlesss spectrum of stellar beauty, if only focused through a single question. “See that dot next to the moon up there?” I point. “Yeah,” she says, glancing upwards. “That’s Jupiter,” I say, looking back at her. “Cool,” she says, and changes the subject.
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Congratulations and best wishes to the Class of 2020 Visit haverford.org/Classof2020 for more celebrations of our VI Formers.
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AROUND THE BIG THE PICTURE QUAD
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ARTS
MIDDLE SCHOOL MUSICAL
Willy Wonka The delicious adventures experienced by Charlie Bucket on his visit to Willy Wonka’s mysterious chocolate factory lit up the stage in this captivating adaptation of Roald Dahl’s fantastical tale. Featuring the enchanting songs from the 1971 film starring Gene Wilder and new songs by Leslie Bricusse (Jekyll & Hyde, Doctor Dolittle) and Anthony Newley, Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka was a scrumdidilyumptious musical that delighted audiences this past January.
Transforming handlettering into digital fonts IV Formers in Kristin Brown’s Digital Art I class completed a unit on hand-lettering by creating their own digital font that can be downloaded and used. The students began by learning about calligraphy, using markers, nibs, and India Ink to study “how handwriting can become an art piece,” said Brown. “This Digital Art class is all about graphic design, and I wanted students to learn in a hands-on way about how font styles and typography can help them communicate beyond just the words they are using,” she said. “The fonts they each created had to be unique, but also cohesive and legible.” “Creating fonts was a lot more work than I thought it would be,” said IV Former Brendan Sullivan. “I had to think about how to make my font stand out and be different, but also look normal enough to use and understand. I was trying to find a balance between the two.” In the spring, students continued studying the use of typography in other applications of graphic design and branding, including advertisements and apparel.
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ARTS
UPPER SCHOOL MUSICAL
Carousel Carousel follows the story of a carnival barker named Billy Barker (VI Former Pearse Glavin) and mill worker Julie Jordan (Shipley’s V Former Libby Ronon) as they fall in love and marry. Out of work and a baby on the way, Billy is desperate to provide for his family and he botches a robbery that ends in his death. Billy is then granted one day on earth to fix the mistakes of his past. Carousel is a classic American musical and a story of the power of love and forgiveness.
Virtual art class over spring break Lower School art teacher Antonio Fink knows that art can be restorative, so during the school closure mandated by Pennsylvania’s governor in response to COVID-19, he decided to support his students with a virtual art lesson during spring break. “I wanted to do a lesson over break to stay in touch with my students, to be able to see and hear them, and to provide a bit of normalcy to our lives as we tried to digest and navigate the disruption to our normal daily routines,” said Fink. “It was also a learning opportunity as we tried out the system of new virtual class meetings, which was new to all of us when spring break began.” During his optional art lesson over the break, Fink led his fourth grade boys through drawing a person running on Kelly Drive in Philadelphia. The composition includes several elements of art, including line drawing, shapes, form, texture, space, color, and value. The boys had to consider these elements in the composition, including having awareness of composition and differentiating colors, such as noticing different values of green in the grass and the trees. “This was a very complete drawing that used many techniques we have learned in class, all of which came together to form an elaborate composition,” said Fink. “The drawing also teaches patience, since it takes some time to create all the elements, and discipline in being self-critical and willing to erase and redraw when something doesn’t look right.” Additionally, the boys had to consider the human figure in motion and diverse architectural elements, including buildings and bridges. Boys used their techniques to showcase different vegetation and modes of transportation represented in the background of the image, such as cars or an airplane. haverford.org
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ARTS
Third graders use Design Thinking to tell stories of perseverance As part of their unit on the study of China, the third grade undertook a Design Thinking project to showcase Chinese culture using puppets and writing stories. The project was done virtually and in partnership with Lower School art teacher Jenny Waring, who taught the boys about puppetry and puppet-making. The boys also learned about Chinese culture through books and stories, all of which had a selected theme of perseverance. “The boys are encouraged to see that you can persevere in all sorts of ways,” said third grade teacher Trish Heavey. “This is especially relevant as they persevere while undertaking a new style of learning from a distance.” The teachers also highlighted the importance of storytelling and creativity. “During my lesson, I aimed to convey how important storytelling is, especially when we are apart, which makes the writing support of their puppets vital,” said
Waring. “They are also learning to think creatively about their materials, as they are limited to things they can find in their home.” The boys’ stories and their puppet shows focused on perseverance, but each
boy created their story in his own unique way. Some chose to highlight individuals who showcased perseverance, whether a historical person or someone in their family, while others chose to create a fictional story of perseverance.
Virtual woodworking class hones design skills Woodworking teachers Greg Ressler, Jill Sides, and Mark Thorburn have a unique opportunity in adapting their classes for Virtual Haverford. Their distance learning curriculum focuses on a key component of woodworking: design. “We are all missing the hands-on part, but the Woodworking 1 class is taking advantage of this time to become well-versed in Adobe Illustrator, a design program that can connect to the shop’s laser cutter when we’re back on campus,” said Sides. All Upper School students have Adobe Creative Suite on their own devices, or those loaned to them by the School, allowing work to go on at home. The students designed two sets of four coasters at home, before moving onto another project of prototyping furniture pieces using cardboard. The in-depth instruction on Illustrator allows the boys to understand how to use the program in a more advanced way, resulting in more creative and innovative designs with the laser cutter. “Teaching laser cutting and design are big parts of the curriculum,” said Sides. “With this time, we are taking the opportunity to really push the student designs for when we can get back to the classroom.” 24
Summer 2020
The college counseling journey By Heather Graber Stinson, Associate Director of College Counseling
At the time this article was written, it was business as usual in college counseling. The landscape has since evolved dramatically, shifting the typical process of on-campus interviews and visits to a virtual one. Much remains to be seen about how COVID-19 will impact the college admissions experience, college enrollment experiences, and career and employment trajectories for students. Our college counselors are in touch with their counterparts in higher education as this situation changes and will maintain a deep commitment to every student – both on campus and from afar.
PART I: SETTING THE STAGE A boy’s transition from high school to college may seem like a stressful process on the surface. But when a student has the support of a dedicated team of teachers and college counselors behind him, the college search experience becomes more of a journey and less of a process. We begin to think about applying to college as an adventure that empowers a student to learn a little more about himself. “Journey” is a deliberately chosen word meant to underscore healthy self-reflection and self-discovery that is a positive outcome of a successful college search. The landscape of college admissions has changed over the past few decades. Post-secondary school enrollment has continued to decline, according to a recent article in Forbes magazine, since its peak in 2011. This has been attributed to a range of factors, from
burdensome cost to skepticism about value to concerns about the fairness and transparency in admissions decision-making. One of the items that fueled increasing numbers of college students in the early 2000s, though, was the increasing availability and use of technology. Molly Boegel, Assistant Vice President for Enrollment and Director of Admissions Programs and Services at Dickinson College said, “One of the most significant changes in the world of college admissions over the past decade is the way that technology has impacted the work we do as admissions officers. In one way, advances in technology means increased access to authentic student perspectives through social media, and provides new and different avenues for prospective students to understand the culture of a college. In another way, advancements in admissions systems and data analytics have helped admissions officers be
Classes of 2016-20 100%
94%
16%
34%
admitted to four-year institutions
attend one of their top three college choices
recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation
admitted to Top 25 National Univsersities and Top 25 National Liberal Art Colleges vs. national average of 12% haverford.org
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more nimble and responsive in their work.” The Common Application, for example, provides students access to over 900 public and private institutions throughout the world through a single application, simplifying the application process for the more than one million students who use it each year. Terry Cowdrey, Enrollment Management Consultant and former Vice President and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at both St. Lawrence University and Colby College, said, “As college costs have risen, many students are applying to more colleges in part to increase their chances of having choices their families can afford. As a result, this increases the overall application numbers, and since the colleges are not growing in size, the admit rate goes down and they become harder and harder to gain admission to.” PART II: THE ROLE OF A COLLEGE COUNSELOR The Haverford School’s College Counseling Office supports students as they find the educational path that suits them best. Applying to college can be an important exercise in self-discovery and self-realization – skills that students will carry with them throughout their future. In contrast to many public schools, Haverford invests in three full-time college counselors to help students and their families navigate the college search journey. Our job is to get to know students, walk them through the research, application, and decision phases of the process, and eventually assist them with finding the right match come enrollment time. We understand a college search may be daunting; we circle the wagons around each boy, focusing our attention on listening to our students and getting to know them as scholars, athletes, actors, artists, sons, brothers, friends, and actively involved citizens of our community. In other words, there’s so much more that goes into college counseling than just generating a list of schools to which to apply. Relating to our students is as important as anything else we do. “Haverford’s individualized college counselor program is something I am beyond thankful for,” said VI Former M.J. Atkins, who will matriculate to Vanderbilt University in the fall. “Having a college counselor who knew exactly who I was, what I wanted, and how I wanted to get there was invaluable in my college search. I honestly do not believe I would be going to the college that I am going to without the personalized help.” VI Former Ian Schiavone, who will attend Southern Methodist University, echoed that sentiment. “Having a personalized college counseling program at Haverford is remarkably helpful. I had no idea where I wanted to attend college or how to approach the process, but I attribute my success to the college counseling program. I was always ahead of deadlines and well-informed.”
College Counseling Timeline FORM V - SPRING SEMESTER Individual student and family meetings
College counseling seminars
Testing
College Fair, practice interviews, case studies
Campus visits
Essay workshops (summer)
FORM VI - FALL SEMESTER
Individual student and family meetings
Testing
PART III: THE JOURNEY A three-year college counseling plan – Form IV through Form VI (sophomore through senior year) – is set up in a deliberate way to maximize where each student is developmentally and personally. Haverford’s college counseling program provides structure and intentionality while also meeting students where they are. We acknowledge each boy is going to move at his own pace. Our job 26
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Students visit with college admissions officers
Finalize college list; complete applications
is to guide that development in ways that enhance and build upon his strengths. Form IV Students are assigned a college counselor in Form IV. Because the assignments are made early in a student’s Upper School experience, boys feel comfortable seeking out their college counselor, in addition to advisors, for advice about course selection, co-curricular involvement, and leadership. Formally and informally, we invite students to come by the college counseling office, introduce themselves to their college counselor, and begin getting familiar and comfortable with the space. There is a significant amount of relationship-building that goes on this year between college counselor and student. That relationship is nurtured through the hallways and in the lunchrooms, at weekend arts performances and evening sporting events. Families are woven into this getting-to-know-you stage, too, through an introductory Form IV evening program and regular email communications. Families are invited to participate in short introductory meetings during spring of the Fourth Form year in order to gain more insight into course selection, testing, and even early visits to college campuses. We empower students to take the lead in initiating these conversations. Form V By the time students begin individual meetings during the winter and spring of Form V, they’ve gotten to know our names and faces, and we’ve started to better understand the roles they play within the Upper School. The fall of Form V features a panel of college admissions deans speaking to students and families, helping to demystify the college admissions experience. After completing a set of questionnaires, Fifth Formers and their families begin one-on-one meetings with the college counseling staff shortly after winter break. These meetings are equal parts “college” and “counseling.” We enjoy getting to know our students and their families even better during this time, hearing more details about what students are thinking about, dreaming about, and worrying about. Outside the several individual and family meetings we have with each student, bi-monthly seminars are part of the college
counseling curriculum. During seminar, we target a litany of FAQs, as well as strategies to make the most of a campus visit, how to ask teachers for letters of recommendation, pointers for interviews, and the basics of how to develop a list of colleges to research. Students also fill out the Common Application, and finish the majority of the application prior to the end of their Fifth Form year. By helping the students through some of the logistics of the application, we free them up to use their spare time to research schools, visit college campuses, and focus on academic and co-curricular commitments. The work we do with the students in seminar also frees up parents from having to manage their sons’ college applications. By the conclusion of our students’ Fifth Form year, they have a mostly complete application, a solid idea of which schools they should be researching, a strong draft of an essay, and have invited two teachers to write required letters of recommendation (a required component of most applications). Form VI During Form VI, the college counseling staff continues to work with students to adjust lists, refine essays and applications, and ensure deadlines are met. The office coordinates the logistics of completing an application, such as submitting transcripts and teacher recommendations on behalf of the students. The boys meet frequently with their counselor to get questions answered on the spot, and feel supported in their experience. During the fall, college counseling hosts more than 100 college admissions representatives, each of whom have the opportunity to meet with students and a college counselor. These relationships are an important part of what we do: our colleagues enjoy visiting Haverford and speaking with our students, and we find value in catching up on enrollment management practices and trends from those on the inside. Sixth Form students submit applications from roughly November through January. Once decisions begin to come in between December and late March, the college counselors meet with students to discuss options, scholarships and financial aid, strategies for those whose admission was deferred or students placed on wait lists, and continue to help the boys monitor their applications and decisions. We celebrate as a community when the long-anticipated college decisions are announced.
CAREER FIELDS, CLASSES OF 2006-15
Finance & Banking
29%
Engineering & Technology
16%
Business & Management
13%
Sales, Advertising, & Marketing
13%
Arts, Entertainment, Media, & Sports 11%
Medicine & Healthcare
7%
Law, Government, & Military
6%
Education & Nonprofit
4%
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PART IV: THE OPPORTUNITIES One very important responsibility of Haverford’s college counseling team is to introduce students and families to a broad range of wonderful colleges and universities, even those about which they know very little. This is one way that students are able to build choice and certainty into their list. By broadening a student’s horizons and opening their eyes to the variety of college options, our office ensures each student will have options when it comes time to decide at which college they will enroll. Cowdrey notes, “Despite information about colleges nationwide being more readily available than ever before, students and families still focus on a very small set of colleges, typically those that are in their own region and/or are household names either through general fame (think Harvard) or through athletic reputation (think Clemson). If families were willing to look outside of their own region or investigate colleges that are less well known, they would find many colleges that admit and scholarship a high percentage of students. The myth persists that the college one attends will determine the opportunities one has later in life. In fact, if you review lists of CEOs and where they went to college, or review the undergraduate colleges represented in medical schools, you will understand that many of those who are ‘accomplished’ attended a college that is neither highly selective nor famous.” The college counseling staff serve on admission advisory boards at several colleges, and visit upwards of 20 campuses annually in order to more effectively advise students. We try to bring to light the unique personalities of a range of institutions. One of the most fulfilling parts of our job is emailing a Haverford student to say: “I’m visiting University X this weekend. This school is a great match for you – let’s talk when I’m back!” Spending a few days on a campus, talking extensively with current students and faculty, experiencing the academic program, and even eating in the dining hall, gives college counselors a connection to a school that we can’t attain through a website. There’s a magic that comes from setting foot on a college campus, and our students can’t visit them all. That’s where we come in. Jose Martinez ’17, Harvard University ’21 said, “Perhaps the most impressive characteristic of Haverford’s college counseling team is their commitment to fit. Getting to know each student was just as important as getting them to the college. My college counselor knew that I would excel at the place I fit best, and she devoted much of our meetings to get to know who I was for that purpose. The college-finding process at Haverford is not the same formulaic method employed by many high schools around the country. At Haverford, it is a journey that requires much selfexploration and reflection to come up with the list of colleges that best fits each student. They ask not ‘which?’ but ‘Why these colleges?’ and demand an authentic answer.” As we work to deepen our knowledge about various schools and their programs, we also establish partnerships with the admissions officers at those institutions. We relish the relationships fostered with our colleagues on the other side of the desk. College admission officers have a hard job; we know, we’ve done it. But the message we pass along to our students again and again, both in words and by getting them in front of admissions 28
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representatives, is that the people reviewing your applications are just that: people. By facilitating opportunities for interactions with admissions officers, the college counseling staff helps calm the nerves of students and parents by presenting them with information directly from the source. Not only that, but it also provides us with an opportunity to show Haverford to our colleagues. We enjoy giving them a tour of school, highlighting research posters in the science wing, watching boys building cardboard boats for engineering class, or getting a glimpse of their creativity in the incredible arts facilities. Haverford hosts more than 100 college admissions officers each year. Their visits ensure that our students are able to learn about colleges they may not be able to visit, and enable the reps to learn more about Haverford by seeing our space and students in person. The ongoing communication between the college counseling office and admissions reps ensures we are able to provide the best possible counseling to our students. PART V: THE NEXT CHAPTER Ultimately, effective college counseling for boys is about relationships. Data through the Center for the Study of Boys’ & Girls’ Lives shows that adolescent boys must possess strong bonds with educators in order to fully reach their potential. By knowing the students, knowing the schools, and being the connector between the two, the college counseling staff is doing our part to prepare boys for life: we are opening their eyes, working with them to highlight their most notable assets, and showing them how to compete and collaborate on a national stage somewhere they will ultimately find belonging and acceptance and success. “At Haverford, I had a wide variety of interests, and I didn’t know which of those – if any – I wanted to pursue in college,” said Arvav Jagasia ’16, who attended the University of Pennsylvania. “Having a dedicated college counseling team helped me effectively navigate my college search, suggesting schools and programs that perfectly matched my diverse interests and providing me with guidance throughout the many application processes. Most importantly, the college-counseling team helped me better understand what I, myself, wanted for my college experience. As I am wrapping up my time at college, I could not be happier with the decisions I made and the guidance I received at Haverford when applying for college. None of it would have been possible without the hours of essay-reviewing, family conversations, and one-on-one discussions with my college counselor at Haverford.” Heather Graber Stinson is associate director of college counseling and has been at The Haverford School since 2012. She began her career in college admissions at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. and has held positions as associate director of recruiting and enrollment at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and as associate dean of admissions and coordinator of multicultural recruitment at Colgate University. Graber Stinson serves on Haverford’s Faculty Inclusion Committee and is the faculty advisor for the Mindfulness Club. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Kenyon College and a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Rosemont College.
PARENTS
HSPA Nancy Smartt P’28 and Stacy Press P’26 ‘29 co-chaired the Haverford School Parents’ Association’s annual Book Fair, held Feb. 4-5 in the Lower School Multipurpose Room. Lower School students were able to pick out their favorite books, enjoy donuts with dads/special friends in the mornings, and attend two special presentations. Author and illustrator Brian Biggs presented to the Lower School on Jan. 31 and Heather Hebert from Children’s Book World presented “Book Talks” on Feb. 3. Photos left to right: Book Fair co-chairs Nancy Smartt and Stacy Press; Lower School boys enjoyed Donuts with Dads/Special Friends in the mornings of Book Fair; Lower School boys picking out books.
Jumping into volunteering By Lisa Schiavone P’20
Sometimes you just have to jump in both feet first! In December 2018, the incoming HSPA Chair contacted me and asked if I would be willing to co-chair the HSPA 2019 Party & Auction. My son, Ian, was a V Former at the time and had only joined The Haverford School two years before. I was both surprised and honored to be asked to take on such a significant volunteer role for the HSPA. I decided to ask Ian his thoughts, and to my astonishment, he immediately said that I should do it. He felt that I possessed the qualities needed to accomplish such an important role and my contributions would ultimately lead to making a difference. He believed I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to put my skills to use and invest my time in Haverford, since Haverford had given so much to him. His words of encouragement and true love for his school made the choice an easy one; I resolved not to overthink it and agreed! Co-chairing the Party & Auction turned out to be an experience of a lifetime that filled me with an overwhelming sense of friendship, comradery, gratitude, and pride in what was accomplished for the boys.
INTERESTED IN GETTING INVOLVED WITH THE HSPA? Contact Lisa Martin in Palmer House at lmartin@haverford.org.
A few key takeaways for my fellow parents/guardians: • You are immediate members of the HSPA once your son is enrolled at Haverford. • All time, talent, and treasures are welcome and needed! • There are opportunities for many levels of involvement, including remotely or in-person. • It is never too early or too late to get involved. • Your son will notice and appreciate your involvement, and will be proud of your dedication to his school.
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PARENTS
Haverford is family By Christopher Rippie P’20
This year marks the anticipated celebratory 14th year of our family’s journey at The Haverford School and our son Tyler’s milestone conclusion as a Super Lifer upon graduation in June 2020. Wow! Time seems to have flown by at a record-setting pace as I reflect on the years. I can recall the first few days of school in pre-kindergarten when our young, bright-eyed, energetic yet nervous, nail-biting little boy attended the new student ice cream social and had his first opportunity to play on the playground near the Lower School, fondly referred to back then as the “Big Toy.” Watching him as a kindergartener being ceremoniously escorted through the Walk of Virtues by an Upper School senior into the gym, to sit side by side with fellow students at his first school assembly, forever etched in our minds as parents the possibility that “This could be Tyler one day.” Throughout Tyler’s Lower and Middle School years, we saw our curious boy begin to develop and discover his talents as well as learn how to interact and grow socially among his peers and the world around him. Inspired by some of the best and brightest teachers in the area, Tyler’s transformation into a young man, full of life and unlimited potential, was solidified at Haverford through rigorous academics and his increased involvement in arts, athletics, clubs, and social activities. The more engaged and active Tyler became at school, the more it reinforced for us the importance of parent visibility and involvement at Haverford. My wife was consistently active each year, volunteering with the Haverford School Parents’ Association as a class mom, board member, and EA Day Chair. I served on the Parent Ambassador Program Executive Team as Retention Team Leader for several years. After all, we were told Haverford was about being a fit for the entire family, and not just the student. And it truly was! This was our way to give back to a community that had given us so much and to pass that sentiment on to others who were to follow. Upper School became the environment that would ultimately mold and solidify the path to manhood for Tyler. He was part of student leadership, served on Honor Council, was chosen as part of Signet Society and a two-term President of the Black Student Union, and co-founded the Brotherhood Project. These were just a few of the milestones Tyler worked hard to achieve during his tenure. Opening Day of this final year also encapsulated a proud moment for Tyler and for us – as we watched him, now a senior, escort his kindergarten “brothers” through the Walk of Virtues. He had come full circle. This 14-year partnership we’ve had with The Haverford School has been one of the best partnerships we could have ever imagined! The result of that partnership stands before us in Tyler, as he now prepares to embark on the next chapter of his life as a college student at Temple University. Haverford has helped educate and equip our son with the essential tools and life lessons needed to compete in a world without boundaries. We’re grateful and thankful for this opportunity, and especially proud of Tyler for taking advantage of every aspect of his journey along the way.
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#HaverfordHelps The Haverford School strives to develop men of character. Throughout an uncertain spring, our community – from students and teachers to parents and alumni – has shown a tremendous amount of generosity, teamwork, and character. They have demonstrated their commitment to their communities, to each other, and to Haverford’s core virtues by developing technology to help those who need financial assistance, by caring for the sick in hospitals and homes, and by keeping the public informed and engaged. The community is also rallying to support those in the Haverford family who are facing hardship during this uncertain time. Haverford Cares, an effort by a group of Haverford parents and alumni, kicked off in May with a commitment of $58,500 to help those who have been most significantly impacted.
Learn more about #HaverfordHelps at haverford.org/haverfordhelps. haverford.org
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ALUMNI
technology. What really excites me is building products that didn’t exist before. For me to get excited, it generally has to be early enough that normal people think the idea is crazy – that’s the litmus test. The concept of being able to buy a share of a halfmillion dollar baseball card wouldn’t have been possible, or even understood, three to four years ago.
ALUMNUS SPOTLIGHT
What was your first venture? When I was at Haverford, I built the first Haverford iPhone app as my senior project; students could check the lunch menu, their class schedule, etc. It was one of the first iPhone apps ever for any school or academic institution, let alone a smaller school like Haverford; this was back in 2012, when iPhone apps were still a new thing. It was great to have the support and encouragement of the School to do something that, at the time, seemed crazy. This morphed into my first start-up as a student at the University of Southern California: a platform for the food services industry to offer time-sensitive promotions during their slow hours.
Fitz Tepper ’12
VP Operations, Rally Rd. Fitz Tepper ‘12 is VP Operations at Rally Rd. and previously wrote for TechCrunch. Tepper is a member of the Board of Trustees at The Haverford School and was a Super Lifer. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
Explain the latest start-up you’re involved with, Rally. We’re essentially a stock market for rare, valuable, appreciating collectibles: an Andy Warhol painting, a vintage Ferrari, or a 1911 Honus Wagner baseball card worth half a million dollars, for example. We let investors buy/sell shares of stock in rare, appreciating collectible items that would be cost-prohibitive for the average individual to buy. I was the second employee when I joined Rally Rd. two years ago and now we have a team of 35. How did you become interested in fintech (financial technology)? My prior job when I was an undergrad at USC’s Marshall School of Business was a writer at TechCrunch, where I covered early stage start-ups and venture capital and fell in love with the industry. I interviewed industry titans like Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, and Shimon Peres, the former president of Israel, Whitney Wolfe, founder of Bumble -- all at the age of 20 or 21. I think Haverford prepared me to be in those environments at a young age. Being at the School for 14 years, I was raised in the Haverford way: looking someone in the eye when you shake their hand, knowing the right questions to ask, and being a really strong writer. My jobs have always revolved around early-stage
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What advice do you have for students who are interested in start-ups? Pay attention to the world around you. Be on the lookout for trends before they become trends; part of working in technology is seeing into the future a bit. Also, empathy and personal relationships are very important. If you build a successful technology company, you’ll ideally have hundreds of thousands, or millions, of people using your product. It becomes impossible to interact with all of them, but you have to remember that it started with one. Behind each user of your platform there’s a human. When you forget this is usually when you start to fail. What impacted you most at Haverford? By the time Haverford is done with you, you’re instilled with a strong sense of “I have everything I need to take on the next phase of life.” Having that confidence – knowing that you had the best preparation possible for college and whatever comes next – helps tremendously. I also think about the relationships I had … with the headmaster, with the chef, with everyone on campus. From a young age, Haverford instills the importance of deep relationships. Even today, the connection of meeting someone through work that went to Haverford creates an instant bond – it’s like meeting a family member you didn’t know existed.
“Even today, the connection of meeting someone through work that went to Haverford creates an instant bond – it’s like meeting a family member you didn’t know existed.”
ALUMNI
“For as free and easy as the late ’60s and early ’70s were in this country, there was still always an air of competition, discipline and accountability at Haverford – and these are critical no matter where life takes you. Teachers expressed disappointment if we failed to meet their expectations, which was an effective tact. There was also enough flexibility that you were empowered to travel whichever way you wanted, wherever you found interest, joy, and satisfaction.”
I had started tree work and landscaping as summer employment when I was a student at Haverford and Penn. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, I started working in the commercial mortgage business. Nixon was in office at the time, and when interest rate went to 22.5% and there was an economic decline, I slid back into tree work while waiting to see if interest rates would ever come back down. Little did I know then! I have been consistently in the tree and horticultural field now for more than 45 years. I’m lucky to be in a business that brings me joy. What do you love about your job? Like most things in life, the more you put into it, the more you get back. Besides conventional tree services, I have 50 acres under nursery care. I’m having a ball collecting great specimens from all over the country, growing them, and recommending them to the correct landscape sites. Philadelphia has a long history as one of the best cities in the world in terms of appreciation of big trees and gardens. Design and correct planting techniques of putting the right plant in the right spot is very satisfying. My tree company also has a plant healthcare division to it. If someone is doing a construction project and wants to rip out good trees to do the work, and if I can dig them out, put them in my tree “orphanage,” care for them for 3-4 years, and resell them – we’re salvaging material that would normally be bulldozed. It is fulfilling work. We have more than 50 employees, but I particularly enjoy taking on Haverford School juniors and seniors for summer employment. What advice do you have for current students as they consider their career path? Find something you’re passionate about and the money will come. It doesn’t matter whether you’re selling trees, doughnuts, or software. I know people enjoy working with others who are enthusiastic about what they do.
Chris Arader ’72 Founder, Arader Tree Service Chris Arader ’72 is the founder, president, and owner of Arader Tree Service. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Landscape Architecture. Arader is closely involved with Thorncroft Equestrian Center, Willistown Conservation Trust, and the Harriton House. He has been an avid beekeeper since his high school days and currently tends to 20 hives.
ALUMNUS SPOTLIGHT
What spurred you to start Arader Tree Service?
What do you remember about your days at Haverford? For as free and easy as the late ’60s and early ’70s were in this country, there was still always an air of competition, discipline and accountability at Haverford – and these are critical no matter where life takes you. Teachers expressed disappointment if we failed to meet their expectations, which was an effective tact. There was also enough flexibility that you were empowered to travel whichever way you wanted, wherever you found interest, joy, and satisfaction. My senior project at Haverford was doing tree work and landscape jobs and showing my advisor what it was like to be running a landscape company at the age of 18. It was a very enriching and supportive feeling that I got. Our class also had such a particularly special esprit de corps – from phenomenal sports teams to the founding of the Space Angels, a “crosse-bee” team that played a combination game of lacrosse and frisbee. I’ve maintained great friendships with many classmates to this day. I’ve been playing tennis regularly with Hobie Porter ’72 and several other distinguished Fords for 45 years. Dick Morsbach ’72 built my house and has done a dozen projects with me. I’ve been lucky to have lifetime relationships with some really great people.
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Alumni events This spring, members of Fords nation took time to meet up – both in person and virtually. Headmaster Dr. John Nagl connected with Haverford School alumni at the Los Angeles Alumni Reception on Feb. 6. The next day, he joined other Fords at the San Francisco Alumni Reception. While we were unable to gather in person for Alumni Weekend in May, Haverford hosted a Virtual Alumni Reception and Q&A Session with Dr. Nagl (bottom right). During the session, Dr. Nagl shared State of the School remarks with the group, provided an update on the Middle School building project, and answered questions about Haverford’s response to COVID-19. At the conclusion of the event, alumni engaged their classes in virtual celebrations and conversations with reunion-year classmates.
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REFLECTION
Your talents, our gifts By Bill Yoh ’89, P’18 ’24
Thank you, faculty and staff. You are the lifeblood of Haverford. You and your predecessors have for 136 years forged men of character who possess lifelong bonds as Haverford brothers. For over half of those years, someone in my family has been a student, a faculty member, or a trustee at our great school … a tradition that will happily continue well into the future. During all this time, the constant of this place has been your dedication, your professionalism, and your love. Every other community or network of which I have been a part pales in comparison to Haverford in strength or loyalty. It was the faculty and staff – including Winifred (Winnie) Howland, Connie Bell, Tom Worth, Mike Cunningham, Mike Mayock, Barry Berg, and Raphael Laserna, to name a few – who tilled the relationship soil in which these enduring seeds of fidelity germinated. Today your dedication– there are far too many of you to cite by name – continues the long heritage of educating, challenging, mentoring, and caring for boys. You steward a legacy of pedagogical excellence and personal commitment that makes Haverford what it is and will always be. The pandemic of 2020 has tested the resolve of our community, our nation, and our world in ways none of us has ever experienced.
Your willingness to transform … to revolutionize … how you educate has been extraordinary. Real-time, effective distance learning has occurred principally because you professionals threw yourselves fully into the endeavor, while simultaneously balancing innumerable work/life challenges. You have modeled the exact character and resilience we imbue in and expect of our graduates. The future remains uncertain, and the world of education may never be the same. As variables continue to emerge and uncertainty becomes part of the new normal, the one known factor – the bedrock on which we will build our path forward – is your constant, unwavering commitment to your craft, our school, and – most importantly – the boys. From the thousands of alumni of this school, their families and communities, as well as from the current students and their loved ones, thank you, thank you, thank you. We know the gratitude we express now will never equate to the gifts your talents yield. Please know that the work you do, just as the work of prior generations of faculty and staff on whose shoulders you now stand has done, will shape our world for the better, in ways known and unknown. Your love for this place and our boys is beyond comparison.
Hear more from our community:
The Big Room Blog haverford.org/blog
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board of trustees,
2019-20
Jennifer Paradis Behle P’20 Oray B. Boston Jr. P’17 Amy C. Briddell P’23 ’30 ’33 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, Vice Chair William C. Hambleton William T. Harrington P’24 ’24 John F. Hollway P’18 Jason W. Ingle Barbara Klock P’23 ’23 Jeffrey F. Lee ’95 George B. Lemmon Jr. ’79, P’12 ’19, Treasurer
Joshua R. Levine ’94 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 Alicia C. Payne P’22 Jennifer N. Pechet P’15 ’17 Ravindra Reddy ’90 G. Bart Smith ’95, P’28 ’30 Fitz Daniel T. Tepper ’12 G. Nash Waterman ’98 Roland Yang ’10 William C. Yoh ’89, P’18 ’24, Chairman
John A. Nagl, D.Phil. • assistant headmaster Mark Thorburn • David Gold • managing editor Jessica Welsh • editors Emily Chahar, Sarah Garling, Jessica Welsh • class notes editors Andrew Bailey ’02, Emily Chahar, Sheryl Kaufmann, Sarah Garling, Jessica Welsh, George Wood ’75 • layout/design Emma E. Hitchcock • printer Intellicor, LLC., Lancaster, Pa. • photographers Active Image Media, Andrew Bailey ’02, Emily Chahar, Sarah Garling, Jordan Hayman, Emma E. Hitchcock, Daniel Hou, IV Form, Steve Jennings/ Getty Images, Kerry Kettering-Goens, Brian Long, Kathleen Marr P’24 , Mike Nance, Anthony Pariano P’23, Deb Putter P’24 ’26, Joshua Ricefield, IV Form, Christopher Rippie P’20 , Jim Roese, Jessica Welsh, George Wood ’75 headmaster
chief financial officer
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 © 2020 The Haverford School (all rights reserved). contact
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this publication. Special thanks to: Chris Arader ’72, Kori Brown, III Former Jingyuan Chen, Christopher Rippie P’20, Lisa Schiavone P’20, Jill Sides, Taylor Smith-Kan, Terry Spahr ’84, Heather Graber Stinson, Fitz Tepper ’12, Bill Yoh ’89, P’18’24.
Virtual Haverford brought our boys’ creativity to the forefront, and showcased the intentionality of the School’s instructional technology program. Read more on page 10, or visit haverford.org/virtualhaverford.
special thanks
front cover:
Clouds give way to sunshine over the Field House. Photo by Andrew Bailey ’02. back cover: V Former Adam Greenfield paid tribute to his fellow spring student-athletes and the season they lost due to COVID-19 through a series of digital illustrations.
FEATURES 12 Population and the planet
By Terry Spahr ’84
18 A literary community
There’s always something happening on social media.
By Taylor Smith-Kan, Upper School English and Chinese teacher
25 The college counseling journey
HAVERFORD SCHOOL Today
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