Holderness School Today: Winter 2011

H OLDERNESS S CHOOL TODAY Winter 2011

Also Inside: Catching up with the Hammonds In Memoriam: Harrison Sargent The Hinman-Walker Field Arthur Sweeney ’41: Two dollars per week Reunion 2010

Building a Village The construction of two new dormitories is the first step in a wholesale transformation of residential life at Holderness.

This photo: Biology teacher Pat Casey has immediate help for, from the left, Matt Tankersley, Racheal Erhard, and Wes Miller, all Class of ’14. Photo Art Durity.

Front Cover: From the left, Charlie Williams ’13, Colby Drost ’11, and Jesse Ross ’13 gather last year in a room in Rathbun. The hands and basketball belong to Alex Francis ’10. Photo Art Durity.

Holderness School Board of Trustees Holderness School Today

Nelson Armstrong (Secretary)

Volume XXVIII, No. 1

Frank Bonsal III ’82 Grace Macomber Bird Elizabeth Bunce F. Christopher Carney ’75 (Alumni Association President) Russell Cushman ’80 The Rev. Randolph Dales Nigel D. Furlonge Tracy McCoy Gillette ’86 Douglas H. Griswold ’66 James B. Hamblin II ’77 (Treasurer) Peter K. Kimball ’72 Paul Martini Richard Nesbitt Peter Nordblom Wilhelm Northrop ’88 (Vice-Chairperson) R. Phillip Peck Thomas Phillips ’75 Tamar Pichette

Features

William L. Prickett ’81 (Chairperson) Jake Reynolds ’86 The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson (President)

4

Under one roof

Ian Sanderson ’79

One thing important to the founders of Holderness School

Jennifer A. Seeman ’88

was “excellence in care-taking.” Two new dormitories now

John A. Straus Rose-Marie van Otterloo Ellyn Paine Weisel ’86

Headmaster Emeritus

being built on Mt. Prospect Road promise a whole new

12

The Rev. Brinton W. Woodward, Jr.

level of excellence in the school’s residential life.

“I’ll help you with that in the morning.”

The school’s long-time next-door neighbor passed away last fall. Harrison Sargent was a self-described “townie” to

Honorary Trustees Warren C. Cook

the end, but especially, in his last years, a good friend to

Mayland H. Morse, Jr. ’38

Holderness.

Piper Orton ’74 W. Dexter Paine III ’79 The Rt. Rev. Philip A. Smith

14

Heavy metal, parenting, weddings, and laughter Jim and Loli Hammond devoted nearly three decades to the

Gary A. Spiess

shared task of being dorm parents at Holderness. Let’s

The Rt. Rev. Douglas Theuner

recall what it was like to watch role models at work.

Holderness School Today

Departments 2

From the Schoolhouse

Editor: Rick Carey Editor Emeritus: Jim Brewer

3

Stopping By Woods

17

Honor Roll

Assistant Editors: Dee Black Rainville, Robert Caldwell, Jane McNulty, Angela Francesco Miller ’98, Phil Peck, Judith Solberg, Steve Solberg, Tracy White, Amy Woods

19

Around the Quad

31

Sports

34

Update: Faculty & Staff

Photography: Steve Solberg, Art Durity, Rick Carey, Phil Peck, Franz Nicolay

37

Update: Former Faculty & Staff

40

Update: Trustees

HST is printed on recycled paper three times each year by the Springfield Printing Corporation. Please send notice of address changes to Angela Francesco Miller, Advancement Office, Holderness School, P.O. Box 1879, Plymouth, NH 03264, or amiller@holderness.org. Angie may also be contacted at 603-7795220.

43

Alumni in the News

52

Alumni Affairs: Reunion 2010

54

Advancement: Art Sweeney ’41

56

Class Notes

84

At This Point in Time

Dedication of the Hinman-Walker Field, page 37.

From the

Schoolhouse In loco parentis This ancient Latin phrase has always been imbued with special meaning at Holderness, notes Phil Peck.

I

N SOME WAYS, THIS ISSUE OF

HST

could be called our parenting issue.

year; we also ask students be fully engaged for themselves and others in both work and play: “Pro Deo et Genere

We have always valued working

Humano.” In many ways Holderness is counter-cultural in

closely with our parents to raise the

our embrace of balance as a defining feature in achieving

children who come to Holderness.

our mission.

Families choose Holderness in large of Holderness would

part because parents see a mission statement that is alive, a

NONE

place where they witness their own values being imparted

work without the parenting by the remarkable adults who

OF THE SIGNATURE PROGRAMS

by many caring adults in multiple settings and through

follow Holderness educator Norm Walker’s advice to

dynamic programs.

“Love kids and work hard.” In this issue you’ll read about

But we, the faculty and staff at

Holderness, are also parents in our own way—caretakers of

Jim and Loli Hammond, who truly embraced their role as

children on their way to young adulthood.

parents, working tirelessly and always bringing perspective and humor to everything they did. In particular that quality

A

RECENT BOOK BY

AMY CHUA, Battle Hymn of the Tiger

was evident in the dorms they ran through the years. Jim

Mother, along with her follow-up articles and interviews,

and Loli are symbolic of the inspirational dorm parents

has resulted in vehement responses from psychologists,

Holderness has been blessed with since its early days—

parents, and journalists about the meaning of good parent-

educators who saw working at Holderness as a lifestyle, not

ing. David Brooks and James Bernard Murphy wrote two

a job.

articles that, combined with Amy Chua’s work, helped me better frame how Holderness deliberately takes on the

IN

responsibility of parenting in a way that strives to instill the

dorm parents.

THIS ISSUE YOU’LL READ ABOUT

many of those legendary

You’ll also see that Holderness continues to

core values that make a lasting difference in our students’

be blessed with remarkable adults who want to live, work,

lives.

and learn with their students. As we go into the 21st century Holderness is deliberately structuring our dormitories to

OUR

MISSION STATEMENT BEGINS,

“Within the context of a

bring even more “parents” on to campus while simultane-

caring community,” and the Holderness programs and the

ously creating the healthiest possible residential lifestyle for

exceptional in loco parentis educators who support those

students and adults alike.

programs embrace the multiple facets of what it means to be caring. We ask our students to be disciplined, to work

PARENTING

hard, and get pushed out of their comfort zones. We ask

That parenting is a combination of fabulous educators and

AT

HOLDERNESS

HAS

always been important.

them to interact in meaningful ways, to develop into life-

deliberate programs designed to help our students grow into

long learners, and to take appropriate risks in multiple

the best people they can be. Quality parenting, or as our

areas. But—through it all—we remember to have fun. At a

charter says, “provid[ing] the highest quality of care giv-

time of specialization and obsession in parenting,

ing” continues to be a top priority as we strategically move

Holderness strives to keep balance through a mix of mean-

forward in the 21st century.

ingful, even transformative, planned experiences inside and outside the classroom.

IN

ADDITION TO A RIGOROUs

intellectual life; to structured

experiences like the Job Program, Special Programs, chapel twice a week, family-style meals, multiple sports every

2

Holderness School Today

Phil Peck Head of School

Stopping By Woods

by Rick Carey

We just hate it when things go wrong in this magazine. And it especially shouldn’t happen to kids.

A

BULLETIN BOARD HANGS ON THE

fully played by Julia Capron ’10, and recogni-

wall near my desk in my office

tion for that effort was stolen from her by that

in Livermore Hall, and it’s nearly

error on my part.

That issue also included listings of the

as big as that wall. I’ve got a lot

of different stuff hung on that

awards dispensed at Commencement. Due to a

board—a calendar, a clock, school schedules,

software glitch in our desktop program, though,

lists of telephone numbers and email addresses

three award winners just vanished from the

(yes, I’m iPadless), printouts of school ads,

published version of that list: former trustee

cool postcards, notes on stuff I can’t afford to

Pearl Kane, who won the Theuner Award for

forget (and often forget anyway), inspirational

furthering the school’s mission; Sean Harrison

sayings, a run-down of the publication goals

’10, who won the Webster Cup for excellence

for this magazine, and other artifacts too funky

in athletics; and Laura Pohl ’10, who won the

for words.

Gallop Award for community leadership.

Pearl is accomplished enough to have

But let’s zero in on those publication goals for a moment. There are six different things we

many awards under her belt, and she was rec-

try to accomplish with HST, each full of mys-

ognized elsewhere in that issue for her great

tery and intrigue, but the goal of most interest

service to Holderness. But these prestigious

today is the second: “Provide recognition to

commencement awards for Sean and Laura

members of the community who play signifi-

marked great achievements in these young

cant roles in current events and issues on cam-

lives, and for that glitch to strike that particular

pus and beyond.”

page of that issue’s 76 pages—well, this is

The phrase “members of the community”

Julia Capron ’10 as the Wizard of Oz in last spring’s production of The Wiz.

where the paranoia comes in.

casts a wide net: students, teachers, staff members, parents, alumni, trustees, former teachers

IT’S

or staff members, former trustees, and friends

becomes relevant. By virtue of that second

of the school. And in this issue you’ll find

goal, HST is the public bulletin board—or fam-

news about representatives of all those demo-

ily scrapbook, if you prefer—for all the chil-

ALSO WHERE THE PHRASE IN LOCO PARENTIS

graphics. Also in this issue I hope—as I do in

dren who join

every issue—that the news is correct and com-

this family for

plete; that nobody feels slighted or abused by

their years here.

their treatment in this very public sort of bul-

And it’s particu-

letin board.

larly painful

To help me with that I have a small army

when a child

of very good proofreaders here in Livermore.

suffers due to

They have saved me from enough errors and

human (or tech-

typos, screw-ups and woopsies, to fill several

nical) fallibility,

dumpsters, but because they’re just as human

whether that

as I am, we still have yet to publish that per-

involves denial

fect, error-free issue of HST. Maybe someday

of recognition

we can hire Watson, the computer that recently

or some other

defeated two Jeopardy champions, to help in

failing. I think

proofing, but in the meantime we make the

any parent

best accommodations we can with fallibility.

knows what that feels like.

I can’t help feeling paranoid, however, when I consider how often errors involve the

Sean Harrison ’10, left, received the Webster Cup from Rick Eccleston ’92 at Commencement 2010. Below, Laura Pohl ’10 was recipient of the Gallop Award.

Anyway, thanks to this page we have space to make some amends to Julie, Sean,

most vulnerable members of the community—

and Laura. We’ve taken measures to safe-

our students. In our last issue, for example, we

guard against that software glitch in the

included a one-page photo spread on The Wiz,

future, and we hope that this issue will be

which was the spring musical. We included a

wrung entirely free of any human glitches

photo of Charlie Poulin ’11 in his role as the

by the time we’re done proofing it.

Wizard of Oz, or so read the caption. Well,

If not, we know Watson’s out there

actually Charlie performed very well as the

somewhere. And we pray that our glitches at

gatekeeper to Oz. The Wizard, though, was art-

least this time will spare the children.

Holderness School Today

3

O

NCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A TINY BOARDING SCHOOL IN

NEW

Hampshire that had only three buildings. As luck would have it, when one of those buildings burned down one night, it happened to be the biggest and most useful, the one where everybody lived, ate, and slept. Fortunately, no one was hurt,

but there was no money to replace the building. A number of the schools’ trustees

said there was nothing else to do but close the school down.

An artist’s rendering of one of the new dormitories. The other will be similar in look and design, and both will be painted in colors to match those of the South Campus dorms.

4

Holderness School Today

But the school’s new rector said that they should borrow money for a new building. The trustees wondered how they would repay the money. The rector said they could repay it over time if the school enrolled more students. But—assuming these students could be found—where would they stay? The rector said they should build two new buildings as dormitories for additional students (and a few teachers).

And the school would have to borrow even more money to pay for those buildings.

Even more money? The rector took a deep breath and said, “Trust me.”

A

NOTHER STORY:

ONCE

UPON A TIME THERE WAS A SMALL BOARDING

school in New Hampshire that had always been a boys’ school.

Times were changing, though, and suddenly some girls were asking permission to attend. The trustees were divided as to whether this boys’ school should become co-educational. The new headmaster polled the community and the faculty, threw his vote with those who

urged co-education, and so it was decided. They would add a few girls each year until the school hit a good balance between boys and girls, and had facilities for both.

But where would the girls stay as they arrived in small numbers? And what sort of dormitory should they have? Should the school build a big dormitory like it had several times for the boys? Some trustees pointed out that the school already had a few small dormitories. They were attached as annexes to faculty houses at the south end of the campus. The teachers wanted more of these houses. Why not build some more with attached annexes as the number of girls increased each year?

The headmaster liked this idea. He said that letting the girls live at one end of the campus, and the boys at the other, would ensure a healthy privacy for both. And so it was done. Nobody really anticipated, though, another sort of outcome.

Under One Roof Throughout its history Holderness School has built large new dormitories when it needed to get bigger. Now the school is building two such dormitories for no other purpose than to get better—by opening the door to a wholesale transformation of on-campus residential life for both students and faculty. Story by Rick Carey.

Holderness School Today

5

I

F WE GO ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE EARLIEST

“ONCE-UPON-

a-time” days in the history of Holderness School, we finally arrive at that 1875 resolution of the New Hampshire Episcopal Diocese’s Standing Committee on

Education, the one that concerned the founding of a new church school “whose great object shall be to combine the highest degree of excellence in instruction and care-taking with the lowest possible charge for tuition and board.”

For more than 130 years of school history, the excellence in instruction (at least as it’s traditionally conceived) has been a matter of teachers teaching in the classroom and—for the most part—these same teachers coaching on the slopes and playing fields. The caretaking has been everything else, the eating and sleeping and living together in one discrete community. Of course this is the essence of a boarding school. In a day school the community dissolves when the after-school athletics are over, when the classrooms and gym are empty. At a boarding school—even one that includes day students— the community persists, and its soul repairs to those other buildings on the campus skyline, the dormitories.

In 1931, after Knowlton Hall burned down, Holderness School had not a single dormitory—only the Schoolhouse and the Carpenter Gym. That year students and faculty went to live in Plymouth at the Pemigewasset House, a hotel that otherwise would have closed for the winter. “Classrooms were set up in the chauffeur’s dining room, the smoking room, the tower room, and the lounge,” wrote Rector Edric Weld. “For most boys there was a bath for every pair of rooms. Daily a procession rolled down the drive for the Holderness campus, or for the horses stabled near the school, and for the gym and the athletic fields, and, Sundays, for the Chapel. . . .Fire escape ropes had been placed in the third-floor rooms, and of course there had to be one episode of trying them out.”

Arguably the construction of its first dedicated dormitory— Niles House—is what saved the school from ruin. Only with great difficulty was Weld able to persuade the trustees not to close the school after the Knowlton fire, and instead to borrow money to build

Niles House, inside and out, circa 1937.

Livermore Hall in its place. If the school were to retain its belowmarket tuition rate and ever climb out of debt, though, Weld foresaw that the school would have to get bigger—and would need a dormitory.

Construction began on Niles (with its 24 beds) in 1934, at a time when the school was under-enrolled at 29 students. Weld appreciated the gravity of this gamble, writing, “To go ahead and build a dormitory, when the small temporary rooms in Livermore were not

Arguably the construction of

all filled, required perhaps an even greater venture of faith than the building of Livermore.”

Two years later Weld could cheer that “Faith was justified.”

With 58 students, enrollment had soared to a point where not only was Niles filled, but so was a temporary dormitory built hastily to

its first dedicated

handle the overflow—Marshall House, which would enlarge on the

dormitory—Niles

planning had begun for Niles’ twin, Webster House.

House—is what

would not be relied on to stay long. “A situation was contemplated,”

meaning of “temporary” and remain in use until 2003. Even better,

In both dorms faculty housing was designed for single men who

saved the school from ruin.

wrote Weld, “in which about half the faculty would be unmarried, and in which it was hoped there would not be a turnover every two or three years, but with the supposition that masters would move to larger schools after five or six, since salaries could presumably never reach the height offered by wealthier schools.”

So was this “excellence in care-taking?” At wealthier schools of the time students were often provided maid service. By contrast

6

Holderness School Today

Holderness had shifted to a “self-help plan” that has

when they moved to larger but still Spartan accommo-

matured into today’s Job Program. Otherwise big build-

dations in Lower Hoit. “This is the first year since

ings with long corridors and over-worked dorm masters

1932,” wrote the Bull as the Hinmans moved into their

were economical and consistent with boarding-school

house, “that Coach has not been a dormitory master.” In

norms of the time. It was the best care-taking that

fact Coach was still a dorm master, looking after four

Holderness could afford—barely, with help from the

resident boys, but after minding 16 for so many years in

family fortunes of Rector and Mrs. Weld. And it was the

Hoit, that didn’t feel like work at all.

A few years later Hannah Roberts ’71—the daugh-

model that Holderness followed when its enrollment climbed higher in the 1950s, and as it built two more larger dorms, Hoit (32 beds) and Rathbun (36 beds).

ter of math teacher Larry Roberts—would make her fateful request to become a Holderness student, and by

I

N THE EARLY

1980S,

AFTER NEW

HEADMASTER

Pete Woodward had persuaded the Board of

the end of that decade Holderness was officially

Trustees to allow the Holderness School for

and whole-heartedly a co-ed

Boys to become simply Holderness School,

school. Headmaster Pete

the community looked forward to another growth spurt

Woodward had just arrived

in enrollment, but one that was to proceed in small

from a co-ed school, Kent,

increments as more boarding girls were added each year

where boys and girls were

to the student body, and as housing and athletic facili-

housed at separate campus-

ties could be provided to accommodate them.

es.

Given that scenario, the immediate construction of

“I thought it was a

a building like Niles or Rathbun that would stand partly

good idea to keep the boys

empty for a year or two, or even more, was an idea that

and girls physically apart,”

attracted no support. And of course there was an obvi-

he says. “There’s enough

ous and easier alternative.

pressure on adolescents

By then Holderness was no longer a way-station for faculty on their way to better-paying jobs elsewhere.

South Campus pioneers Alice Jane and Coach Hinman.

without being on show to the opposite sex all the time.

One clear lesson of school history was that its greatest

And we had a model similar

masters—Loys Wiles, Coach Hinman, Charlie Abbey,

to this already in place with

and their like—were also long-tenured masters, despite

the South Campus. Those houses with very small dorm

low pay and the rigors of managing big dorms. To

facilities attached were just a brilliant concept.”

encourage more good teachers to stay longer was one reason Edric Weld’s successor, Don Hagerman, had set

So it all fell into place. The faculty wanted more of those houses available to them, and as the new houses

about increasing enrollment another step in the 1950s: it

went up, small numbers of girls were added each year

was a way to help fund higher faculty salaries and

at a rate matched by alterations and expansion in other

improvements in their living conditions.

school facilities.

The most dramatic improvement, certainly, was the construction of a few on-campus homes—with annexes attached to house small numbers of boys, from four to eight—for senior faculty members. And these weren’t the bachelor pads squeezed into Niles and Webster; rather they were real homes, comfortable for a spouse

S

O WAS THIS

“EXCELLENCE

IN CARE-TAKING?”

Well, it was obvious from the start that it was a different sort of care-taking than prevailed elsewhere on campus. The boys

sojourned in their big dorms as they had since Niles

and children. The first several of these were built along

was raised. Each had a pair of supervising teachers,

Mt. Prospect Road in the early 1960s. In 1964, after the

which added up to a student-faculty ratio ranging from

purchase of the former Sargent property behind Weld

12:1 (in Niles and Webster) to 18:1 (in Rathbun). These

Hall, the first of six such homes were built on what is

teachers, with some exceptions, were junior members of

now known as the South Campus.

the faculty, often single, as Edric Weld imagined they

None other than Coach and Alice Jane Hinman moved joyfully into this Southside house after

might be. They weren’t underpaid, per se, but they were stretched very thin. If they stayed long enough to

Christmas that year. Coach had come to Holderness in

become mid-career teachers, they tended to move off-

1932 and had slept in the mimeograph room of

campus. The Mt. Prospect and Southside girls’ dorms

Livermore Hall until Niles was built. Then he and Alice

were usually staffed by married couples, sometimes

Jane shared a cramped apartment in Niles until 1951,

both of them faculty members, mid-career or older.

Holderness School Today

7

Ratios there continued to range from 4:1 to 8:1.

At other boarding schools, while maid service

boundaries are crucial, says clinical social worker Krissy Pozatek ’92, who has just published a book

has disappeared, a large, corridor-based dorm like

on adolescent development, and who likes to cite

Niles remains the dominant housing model.

the experience of a colleague, a man who once

Younger faculty will typically “pay their dues” in

worked on a cattle ranch. He found that when cows

staffing these dorms, while older faculty move off-

were put into a new pasture, says Krissy, they

campus. In the past several decades, though, there

stuck to its perimeters for the first several days,

has been a shift towards specialization in many

pushing against its fences as they grazed, even

boarding schools, a trend that separates the tradi-

though the best grass and alfalfa was usually in the

tional multiple-points-of-contact job description

middle. It was only after all the fence had been

filled by men like Coach Hinman—teacher, coach,

tested, and any weak points repaired, that the cows

and dorm parent—into tasks filled by three sepa-

felt safe enough from predators to move to the pas-

rate groups of personnel.

ture’s central area. “Just like the cows,” Krissy

Holderness has pointedly resisted this trend, affirming that both instruction and care-taking are accomplished best by one versatile—and energetic—individual who can guide a student through

writes, “children push against limits to test the boundaries that protect them.”

Edric Weld knew that much in confessing that “of course there had to be one episode” of trying

a calculus problem in the morning, teach him how

out the fire escape ropes at the hotel in 1931. As

to work the pick-and-roll in basketball in the after-

several decades passed of residential living on the

noon, and then be a parent to him and his many brothers (11-17 of them) in the dorm in the evening.

It’s the old-school, family-style way of doing things, and many families like it. Over the past several decades, as a number of other schools have distanced themselves from this model, Holderness’s firm commitment to it has made the work of the Admission Office a little bit easier. But it has exacted a toll on the faculty side of the equation. It makes teaching a round-the-clock assignment, broken only by not enough sleep at night.

During these decades Holderness lost some good young teachers to other schools not for higher pay, but for lighter workloads. Among those who remained there were quiet grumblings about iniquities in workload, and complaints sometimes about those who were privileged to live in the Mt.

obvious that students did much less boundary-test-

Prospect and South Campus homes.

ing in regard to school rules there than to the north.

In response, the resolve to “better support a healthier lifestyle for students, faculty and staff” became one of the prime objectives of the school’s 2007 Strategic Plan. It was an admission that per-

They also tended to get higher grades. Perhaps because they were girls?

It doesn’t seem so. Since 2006 small groups of boys—instead of girls—have been housed in

haps we’d all gotten a little too busy, that we all

certain Southside and Mt. Prospect homes. This is

needed, according to the text of the plan, “sustain-

mostly because the girl population has outgrown

able levels of balance between profession and fam-

the South Campus, and the recent conversion of

ily, between activity and reflection, and between

Connell House into a girls’ facility has opened up

work and rest.” But the special concern was faculty

beds in those small dorms.

and the Holderness way of doing things: “The abil-

results have shown up for the Southside boys.

ity of faculty to work not more diligently, but more

Meanwhile statistical evidence on the Northside

And the same positive

thoughtfully, is of particular importance to the

indicates that the larger the dorm—or to be more

vitality of the multiple-points-of-contact model in

accurate, the higher the student/dorm parent

the school’s pedagogy.”

At the same time something interesting was unfolding on the student side of the equation. Firm

8

South Campus, though, it became more and more

Holderness School Today

ratio—the more often the fences get pushed against, and broken.

This suggests that when Don Hagerman began

A South Campus home and dorm annex.

building these faculty homes and scaled-down dormitories in the 1960s, he wasn’t merely making teaching more sustainable for his most experienced educators; he was also building a fruitful new model for student residential life, one in which students would feel a quality of safety—thanks to the comparative

An Open Space

nearness of adult supervision and enforceable boundaries—more like what they had known at home.

English teacher and

O

N THE MORNING OF

SEPTEMBER 28, 2010,

Executive Director of Advancement and External Relations Robert Caldwell, writing from a travel stop in Utah, sent an

exultant email to his staff in Livermore Hall.

“Yesterday we hit the $7 million mark necessary to proceed with the construction of the two 24:3 dormi-

assistant chaplain Bruce Barton combined poetry and spirit in the blessing he conferred upon

tories,” he wrote. “The Board of Trustees voted

the groundbreaking

unanimously in favor of proceeding during a confer-

for the new dorms.

ence call meeting this morning at 11:00 EST.” By then Head of School Phil Peck had already told the news to the faculty. That afternoon an announcement went out to the campus community.

“Thanks to careful planning over the past several months, construction is scheduled to begin in a few

This ground I’ve walked alone before.

I have felt it beneath my feet, and seen it before my face.

It is transforming now. This too I feel and see.

weeks,” Phil wrote. “Each dormitory will house three faculty families and 24 students. This additional space will allow us to consider reconfiguring some of our larger residential spaces so as to move the entire campus closer to an 8:1 student-faculty ratio in the

Forest floor of twigs and leaves has given way to fresh earth, pushed and spread, dug and pounded, smoothed and leveled, re-aligning in disciplined angles that only humans can impose.

dormitories.”

For the third time in its history, Holderness School is building a pair of large dormitories. For the first time in its history, this has nothing to do with an expansion in school size; enrollment after the dorms are completed next summer will remain the same.

Instead, this project has everything to do with “a healthier lifestyle” for students and faculty, and— eventually—a wholesale revolution in the school’s

The smell is sweet like perfume—wood and earth and stone; the elements of what was and what will forever be.

Trees came down and gave up their roots to the power of metal.

The view is open, a clear window to the sky, and sun and rain alike fall quickly and uninterrupted to a hungry soil.

residential life.

“We don’t view life in the dorms as something that fills time between classes and athletics and other activities,” Phil told the Citizen newspaper (“Holderness begins construction of new dormito-

Many feet tread here now, and even more will come in the days to follow.

They will set down roots, and grow tall and firm like timber, in a space re-born with care and thoughtful design.

ries,” 11/2/10). “Instead we view it as another part of our curriculum. Our mission insists that we provide our students with a ‘caring community,’ something to lend support to a youngster as he or she assumes

Bless this space, and all those who tread upon it.

Let its beauty and grace inspire and protect all those who dwell in it.

challenges in those other settings, takes risks, and occasionally fails. Inside the dorms is where we learn how communities work and how they sustain the human spirit.”

Then he explained how—since co-education— that learning had proceeded so well on the South Campus. “Over the years we’ve found that the high

Let us give thanks to those who saw fit to make it possible, a gift to enhance and deepen the daily experience of this school, Whose motto reminds us of our one true mission: “For God and humankind.” Amen.

faculty-to-student ratio in those dorms simply works better. The teachers are happier, the kids are happier and seem to learn better, and we find that the sorts of friendships that endure for a lifetime occur more

Bruce Barton October, 2010

often in those settings.”

Set off Mt. Prospect Road just east of the

Holderness School Today

9

homes and common living spaces—and the end result, thanks to a waiting list of faculty families wanting to live on campus, will be an 8:1 ratio throughout the school’s dorms.

Phil Peck has remarked several times about how fortunate he is as a school head to have faculty wanting to move on to campus, rather than in that reverse direction that prevails at most other boarding schools. That hasn’t happened by chance, however.

“We’re one of the few schools that expects all faculty to be involved in the evening life of the school, and about fifteen years ago we made it mandatory—on a rotating basis—for both oncampus and off-campus teachers to participate in evening duties,” says Dean of Faculty Jory Macomber. “Then we made an interest in dorm

An architect’s drawing for one wing of the new dormitories.

parenting a high priority in our faculty hiring.

We’ve wanted to have more faculty on campus school’s tennis courts, these large dorms will be

for a long time. We just needed space and good

similar to Connell, with attached homes and an

living conditions.”

8:1 student-faculty ratio that has proven as successful there as it has on South Campus. They will differ from Connell, however, in one

numbers of dorm parents, as opposed to a thin

important element of their floor plans: their stu-

crew of strung-out dorm managers—occurred to

dent rooms will not be set off corridors, but

Phil and others in the community during the

arranged in pods of six around a central living

strategic planning that took place at the begin-

room.

ning of this decade. “Almost ten years ago

“That will provide a perfect combination

Attendees consider the possibilities of this open space after the groundbreaking in November.

of the range of interactions you have in a large

cious goal’—of having no more than eight students to one faculty member in every residence,

have in a small dorm,” says Director of

and creating living spaces in every dorm, so

Residential Life Duane Ford ’74. “And those

making Holderness even more of a

living spaces will each provide a place in which

said at a November groundbreaking ceremony

home,” Phil

we can center our residential curriculum. If you

for the new dorms. “As recently as six months

want to sit and chat with a kid about how things

ago, I thought that dream was at least ten years

are going, for example, or talk with the whole

away. Today we are gathered here to celebrate a

floor about

responsibili-

huge step forward in achieving that dream.”

Philanthropic support had gathered much more quickly than anticipated for an idea that

ties, say,

really is very much in the Holderness grain,

between them

given the school’s family-style meals and its

and their floor

multiple-points-of-contact teaching model;

leader, or

given the “caring community” described in its

about any

mission; given that “a warm sense of communi-

topic of life at

ty” and “close relationships between teachers

Holderness—

and students” continue to count as the top rea-

that’s not easy

sons why families come to Holderness; and of

to do in a cor-

course given the responsibility for “excellence

ridor in

in instruction and care-taking” explicit in its

Rathbun. But

original charter.

it’ll be easy in these dorms.”

Better

Holderness School Today

Holderness set a BHAG—a ‘big, hairy, auda-

dorm with the sense of family scale that you

mutual

10

In fact just this situation—lots more faculty on campus and every dorm staffed by ample

“We’re especially pleased that we’ll be able to do this as the result of philanthropic gifts, and not financing,” Phil told the Citizen.

yet, the addition of 48 new beds—but no new

“It’s a great endorsement from members of our

students—will provide for a happy ripple effect

community, though we still have more money

in all the North Campus dorms. Empty rooms

to raise for these two dorms. And then we’ll

there will eventually be converted into faculty

have renovations to perform on our older

“With all those adults involved in every dorm, we’ll have the sort of residential environment that truly makes a village available to raise each child.”

—

Phil Peck

dorms, and money to raise for that. This is just the first

formational in terms of both campus life and the mar-

stage.”

ketplace. With all those adults involved in every dorm,

The whole process, though, will help advance other goals besides “healthier lifestyles” in the 2007

with teachers who can really be dorm parents, and not just dorm managers, we’ll have the sort of residential

Strategic Plan. A school with this broader interface

environment that truly makes a village available to

between adults and students will surely be more effec-

raise each child.”

tive in building “community among and across differences” in its components. A school with living rooms in each dormitory will boast the sort of gathering places that may well “nurture and inspire intellectual achievement” and promote “connections across our academic and non-academic curricula.”

Most directly, the dorms will be a showcase for

A

ND WILL THIS BE

means anything—and the school is betting

provide a higher degree of excellence than this school, or any traditional boarding school, has ever

into every facet of the life and objectives of the

seen. And it will be sus-

school.” The buildings are expected to earn LEED cer-

tainable on two levels of

tification for sustainability with solar panels on the roof

energy consumption:

and solar-powered hot water. They will be metered for

fossil fuel and faculty.

their consumption of water, electricity, and heat. Its res-

In the end it may prove

idents will sign contracts pledging wise use of these

the proudest tangible

resources, and the two dorms—and later other dorms—

legacy of the Peck years

will compete in keeping their consumption low. “These

at Holderness, and of

buildings,” says Robert Caldwell, “will become the

this Board of Trustees.

The weather during

ability in this community, and the impetus, I believe,

that November ground-

for a very positive sort of paradigm shift.”

breaking was sunny and

Director of Admission Tyler Lewis is pleased as well. “This is a powerful statement about our commit-

IN CARE-TAK-

$7 million and more that it does—it will

building “the principles of environmental sustainability

medium for a whole new way to think about sustain-

“EXCELLENCE

ing?” If the South Campus experience

cold. Students, staff, and faculty, along with some

Carson Houle ’11, left, and Alex Kuno ’11

ment to knowing our kids and our holistic approach to

friends and parents and

education,” he says. “We really put a flag in the ground

trustees, stood to one side of some bare trees and an

Editor’s note: You can follow

about commitment to residential life, personal relation-

acre of brown dirt. Among the speakers were seniors

the construction of the new

ships, and living up to the highest ideals of a boarding

Carson Houle and Alex Kuno, the school’s president

community.

The intangibles that people feel when they

and vice-president, who—working in tandem—provid-

visit campus are backed up by many tangible commit-

ed a neat tongue-in-cheek forecast of how life will be

ments the school makes to knowing and understanding

better in buildings they’ll never inhabit. For example:

our kids, and there is no better example than our approach to residential life.”

And speaking of admissions, while Holderness has generally declined to participate in the “facilities wars” that have dominated the independent school market

Alex: “Since the Rathbun Dorm Horror Movie Club (which consists of a dozen distracting guys) meets nightly in Sam Leech’s room, Sam is simply unable to do a thorough job on his AP Lit homework.”

Carson: “But in the newly renovated dorms, the

place for a decade or so, we find—ironically enough—

guys could watch Silence of the Lambs in the living

that these two facilities, by no means lavish, will

room, and Sam would be able to finish his homework.”

nonetheless accomplish something beyond the reach of any bells-and-whistles student center: they will separate Holderness in a very distinct way from its competitors.

“No one else out there is putting this sort of

dorms on your laptop at http://sitecam.holderness.org.

That’s good, especially for Sam, and at the end this is how Carson summed it all up: “But to tell you the truth, after the new dorms are built, all the dorm renovations done, and all the benefits to students we

emphasis on the character of their residential life,” says

have outlined come to pass, the real meaning of com-

Phil Peck, “and no one else is backing it up with this

munity will be revealed when Northside and Southside

level of investment. Once we reach that 8:1 ratio all

are essentially joined under one roof.”

over the school, we’ll have achieved something trans-

Holderness School Today

11

In Memoriam: HARRISON SARGENT 1927-2010

Editor’s note: The following is

Eagle Scout, pilot, radarman, machinist, parent, proud public servant, and Holderness School’s next-door neighbor.

the obituary that appeared in newspapers following Harrison’s death last November.

H

ARRISON

ALLEN SARGENT

WAS BORN

May 28, 1927, son of Harrison Fay Sargent and Ada Allen Sargent of Holderness, NH. He spent his boyhood helping his parents manage a

well-known poultry farm, gardening, and raising Collies. He attended Plymouth-area schools and immersed himself in learning to fly, soloing very young and never losing his passion for flying. He also participated in Civil Air Patrol and was an Eagle Scout. He volunteered into the service of his country and left high school days before he graduated to enter the Navy on May 21, 1945. He served active duty on a minesweeper as a radarman 3rd class until July 28, 1946.

He returned home and graduated from the University of New Hampshire in June, 1951, obtaining a Bachelor’s of Arts in Economics. He married Eva Eileen Riggins on September 4, 1952, and moved away for a year or so to Connecticut. Missing his beloved home place, he and Eva returned and built a lovely home and were blessed with a son, Harrison James Sargent, born May 18, 1955; and daughter Jane Eileen Sargent, born December 15, 1958.

Continuing the family tradition, they started Halstoune Kennels and raised and showed champion Collies throughout New England for many years. Years later he demonstrated his compassion by kindly providing a caring home to Elizabeth "Chrissy" Truman, guiding her through adolescence to become a fine young woman.

He worked for Scott and Williams, Seeburg Organ, Beebe River, Interstate Machinery and—for the last 40 years—his own tractor repair business known as Sarge's Place. He met many of his friends through his love of working on lawn mowers and tractors.

He was a proud public servant of Holderness, serving as Selectman from 1960-66, Town Bookkeeper and Planning Board Member from 1968-1987. He supported the Republican Party for many years at local and state levels. He was appointed to the Water Resources Board, helping enforce laws that protected the natural beauty of

New Hampshire. He was a Notary Public

and Justice of the Peace. He will rest with his beloved "folks" across the road from his home place at Trinity Cemetery.

12

Holderness School Today

Jill and Thom Flinders were among the guests at Sarge’s birthday party in 2009.

“I’ll help you with that in the morning.”

South Campus exists thanks to Harrison Sargent’s willingness to do business with Holderness, though yes, sometimes that relationship got complicated. Essay by Rick Carey.

G

OOD FENCES MAKE GOOD NEIGHBORS, SAYS A CHARACTER

Thibeault began to mow Sarge’s grass and help with maintenance

in one of Robert Frost’s poems, and the lack of a fence

around the house. Students continued to pitch in with the firewood and

between Holderness School and the Harrison Sargent

other odd jobs, as they had for years.

property right next door was both the bane and the

beauty of the relationship between these two neighbors.

An only child, Harrison grew up in the building that today is Sargent dorm on the South Campus. Originally that was the farmhouse from which his parents raised poultry, vegetables, and Collies. He played as a kid with the children of Loys Wiles and Coach Hinman, sent

And a real friendship developed with not just the Flinderses and Bob Thibeault, but also Phil and Robin Peck. Phil got in the habit of taking Sarge with him on a regular Sunday morning shopping trip to Wal-Mart, followed by lunch at Subway.

“Sarge had this rather gruff exterior, but inside he was really a very gentle person,” said Phil. “He particularly had a soft spot for anybody

his own children to Holderness—Jim ’73 and Jane ’76—and eventually

whom he thought had been treated unfairly, or who needed help in any

sold that house and some of his land to the school. But he himself had

way. His friendship with Ray Burton—who is on the governor’s execu-

attended Plymouth Regional High, and always, says Head of School

tive council—was a wonderful thing for Holderness because Sarge took

Phil Peck, “considered himself a townie.”

After college at the University of New Hampshire, and several different jobs, he ran for some forty years a tractor repair business— known as Sarge’s Place—out of the house he built adjacent to South Campus. The two properties, the school’s place and Sarge’s, seem to blend into each other, but they served two very different purposes, and over the years there were inevitably some points of friction. And of

“So Harrison, is there anything you want?” Sarge apparently didn’t hear the part about Biederman’s.

it upon himself to talk to Ray about many issues in which we had an interest. That underpass on Route 175, and the other one that we’ll build soon? Those exist thanks entirely to the support of Harrison and Ray Burton.”

And Phil still owns his old pickup truck thanks to Harrison’s advocacy. He was about to sell it last year, but Harrison advised him that it was in good enough shape to be worth more than the money he could get for it. Phil was glad he’d kept the truck when he took a trip to Alabama in November to pick up some family furniture. As he neared Plymouth, he gave Harrison a call, saying that he was about to swing by

Sargent House during its conversion into a faculty home and dorm in 1986.

Biederman’s. “So Harrison, is there anything you want?”

Sarge apparently didn’t hear the part about Biederman’s. “Just to be with my friends,” he said.

Phil stopped by to drop off a bagel, and found Harrison among

course school administrators were always at a loss when people called

friends. The old man had grown ill, though, and that same night Robin

to ask how much Holderness wanted for the tractors or refurbished farm

went over to check on him. She happened to mention that she needed to

equipment arrayed on Sarge’s front lawn.

buy some snow tires for her car. “I’ll help you with that in the morn-

Over this last decade things were smoothed over. The neighborly Jill Flinders, wife of science teacher Thom Flinders, went over there with cookies, which eventually were accepted. With the blessings of

ing,” he told her. “We’ll get the numbers off the sidewalls.”

He died that night in his sleep, still a townie, but a good neighbor—and a good friend—to Holderness School and its community.

Plant Manager Dick Stevens, buildings & grounds worker Bob

Holderness School Today

13

Catching up with...

Jim & Loli Hammond

Heavy Metal, parenting, weddings, & laughter

The unpredictable Spanish teacher and his spouse Loli were particularly beloved by the students fortunate enough to live in their South Campus dorm.

Jim and Loli at the Common Man in January with Head of School Phil Peck.

Profile by Rick Carey.

T

HE FIRST CLUE—THAT FALL OF

1976—

was the trunk full of KISS records:

Loli ran a business in town—the Berries, which sold gifts, fabric, and jewelry—and as Jim’s

not just heavy metal, but fire-breath-

spouse she was also drafted (gladly) into the role

ing, blood-spitting, demon-makeup

of a Holderness dorm parent.

heavy metal. The trunk arrived cra-

dled in the arms of one of the student tenants of

A few miles up the highway from Ashland that day, back at campus, construction had begun

“I’m the

the grey house at the south end of campus. There

on two new 24-bed dorms off Mt. Prospect

were seven more boys moving into the annex

Road—dorms that will constitute the first big step

attached to that faculty home. Whether it was a

towards a new campus-wide model in dorm par-

strongest

matter of their belongings, their style of dress, or

enting. So naturally much of the talk around lunch

man in the world and the school’s

their attitude (maybe all three), none seemed, well,

was about dorm parenting, especially since the

sufficiently wholesome to their new dorm parents,

Hammonds had had experience in that at both

Jim and Loli Hammond. And as those buzz-saw

ends of the campus, and at another boarding

guitar chords started cranking through the hall of

school.

the annex, they couldn’t help fearing for the soul of Heidi ’79, their fifteen-year-old daughter.

“For whatever reason,” Jim says, “Bill Clough ’57 [then the school’s assistant headmas-

male role model.”

—Jim Hammond

ter] had collected the eight, let’s say, most interesting kids in the school, and put them all in our dorm.”

And let’s say that was a measure of Bill’s confidence in Jim and Loli, who in 1976 were

Holderness School Today

1962, and spent four years overseeing—with Jim Brewer and his family—the 36 boys housed in Rathbun.

The Hammonds were right out of col-

lege and a stint for Jim in the Army, and they had energy to spare for a big dorm. “Those were good years, maybe too good,” said Loli. “We said to

returning for their second tour of duty at

ourselves, ‘This place is great. But unless we want

Holderness. Last January they sat down for lunch

to spend our whole lives here, we’d better try

with Head of School Phil Peck at the Common

something else.’”

Man Restaurant in Ashland, NH. By then it had

14

T

HEY ARRIVED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN

They went to Barcelona for a year, and then

been eleven years since Jim’s retirement as a

to a bigger boarding school in Pennsylvania,

Spanish teacher, chair of the language department,

where they were given the choice of living in a

and coach of football and lacrosse. For many years

dorm or off-campus. “We said we’d live in the

dorm, and get to know the kids, and this really surprised people there,” said Loli, who by then was mother to Heidi and her brother Fritz. “’Don’t you worry about your children?’ they asked.”

The children survived unharmed, as would Heidi when she later became one of Holderness’s first female day students. But when that Pennsylvania school built four on-campus faculty homes not attached to dorms, the Hammonds moved into one of those for five years. “Then Bill Clough called,” Jim says. “A Spanish teacher had unexpectedly quit

Editor’s note: Retired English teacher Norm Walker included “Send in the Clowns” in Teachers, his 2009 book of poems and essays about former colleagues. This poem is about Jim and Loli,

at Holderness, and I think I was the only other Spanish teacher Bill

and some of the references are of the inside variety, but the poem

could think of.”

nonetheless is a lovely and telling portrait in words.

So they came back in 1976 and moved into that grey house, the first of the homes built on the South Campus, and the home originally occupied by Coach and Jane Hinman—neither of whom ever had to listen to KISS, but there was another sort of soundtrack they all shared.

“The only telephone was in our house, and you couldn’t help but overhear, whether you wanted to or not,” Jim says. “You learned a lot about kids that way.”

Loli didn’t mind answering the phone or hosting dorm parties.

“One of the big complaints about living on campus was that you never had any privacy,” she says, “but I never felt that way. It was like an extension of college, or living in a commune. In the 1960s—when there were hardly any women on the faculty—all the wives went to Weld for milk and cookies in the middle of the morning and to chat with their husbands. You all ate together, your children played with other faculty kids, you always had student baby-sitters available, and we only needed one car. We never had two until Jim retired.”

Only one car, but Jim also had a motorcycle back in the years when that was a particularly heavy-metal, fire-breathing sort of thing to own. That was just one element in the legend that began to build around the faculty’s most irreverent and iconoclastic member—not to mention its funniest. Jim had faces he could put on, accents he could adopt, personas he could assume, and a bold proclivity towards identity theft.

So it was probably inevitable that on several occasions, when seated at a table in the dining hall with a group of entering students in the fall, when he heard, let’s say, “Hi, I’m Mark, and you are . . .” Jim would respond haughtily with, “Well, I’m the headmaster, Pete Woodward.” On one occasion in the mid-’90s, so the story goes, a particularly wide-eyed newbie apologized and fled immediately from that conversation. Instead he started

Teaching “loco” to Kevin Mahaney ’80 in the Lower Schoolhouse.

chatting up the pretty entering girl seated next to him. But she

Send in the Clowns In the cave of the lower Schoolhouse Quasimodo slouches towards room four.

Never mind, it’s only Hammond entertaining shades: Now he’s Polyphemos, glowering out one one; Now the Hulk or Popeye, breaking down the door; Now Kojak, Gable, or some such stud; Now Brando, and his bike’s about to roar . . .

Pay attention, folks, there’s a lesson here!

Send in the clowns!

Let laughter rain like tiers on wedding cakes; Let light wine dribble down our chins; Let music waft about our heads like winter wasps— Loli and Jim will dance tonight—they’ll do-si-do; They’ll promenade; they’ll reel out of the barn, Down through the woods, into the dark, into the lake . . .

Beneath the moon, Two moons will rise Right out of Squam; Light will momentarily glint, then sink . . .

Tomorrow there will be time To “sit upon the ground And tell sad stories of the death of kings.”

Tomorrow, the clown will scatter Mom’s ashes On Dad’s grave and laugh at darkness still.

Though his otter dies, Defiant, the Beastmaster does arise.

Out from behind a pile of dirt A man will jump and shout, “Surprise!”

There’s no laughter in an iron lung, No giggles in the grave; Yet in the stained glass cathedral of his mind Light Pedro will sideways turn And sidle out the window, Ascend like a balloon into deeper sky, And as his bald head bumps and thumps Against the underside of Empyrean, We’ll know that dogma’s dead.

Perhaps we’ll dimly hear the music of the spheres.

Perhaps touch the mystery, the miracle . . .

In Rome when the wind lifts, and the crystal glass breaks, And the child rises from her bed to live, We’ll know that God’s grace, like laughter, Can rain upon the earth—forever.

by Norman M. Walker

Holderness School Today

15

wasn’t as young as she looked. “I’m Miss Hall,” she

South Campus community grew. Phil mentions Loli’s

laughed [now she’s Lindley van der Linde ’89], “and I’ll

business—the sign for which now rests in the lobby of the Common Man—and suggests that having that other life

be your science teacher—really.”

Jim could surprise just as easily in his own persona.

That was probably why Bill Clough called on him during an instance of cold-weather

business ties to the Plymouth area, helped provide enough balance, enough fresh air in their lives, to sustain their

survival training taught on

long tenure. “And no one was more connected to the stu-

the winter slopes of

dents than you folks were,” Phil adds. “Just think about all

Moosilauke.

the weddings you’ve been invited to.”

Members of

the Dartmouth Outing Club were conducting the ses-

How many weddings? The Hammonds agree they’ve lost count. “They’re all pretty much married now,” Jim

sion for teachers about to

notes. “We can relax for a while until the second mar-

leave on Out Back, and it

riages.”

was all good information, but delivered to these vet-

Tough enough to eat strawberries on Out Back—and jump into an icy stream.

away from school, and maintaining so many personal and

In retirement they split their time between a home on Cape Cod (for the gardening, biking, and boating) and one

eran educators (and out-

in Waterville Valley (for the hiking and skiing). And that’s

doorsmen) in a manner

only when they’re not somewhere else: India, China,

both dry and condescend-

Cambodia, Vietnam, Turkey, Peru, South Africa, Namibia,

ing. So when a young

Zimbabwe, all of them stops in recent years, or else tour-

instructor asked the group

ing our own national parks in a three-man tent. Jim also

how one would best get

volunteers at Waterville Valley’s public library and

across the icy open stream

reads—“around the clock,” says Loli—on his Kindle.

in front of them, Bill

bounced the question to where he thought it would do the most good: “Jim, how would you go about it?”

“Like this,” said Jim, as he took a running plunge into the water, wool pants and Sorel boots and all.

He didn’t like being fished out by the Outing Club

“You can download some of the classics for free,” says Jim, now pursuing the title of world’s smartest man. “So I’ve been catching up on stuff like Ivanhoe, Robert Louis Stevenson—they’re great.”

Meanwhile Jim and Loli’s children seem none the worse for growing up with so many siblings. Heidi mar-

and rolled around in the snow—“Especially not after

ried Mike O’Connor ’79 and has become, like her father,

everybody had peed on it,” Jim says—and no, it wasn’t

chair of the language department, except hers is at North

the solution that Dartmouth was looking for, but it nicely

Yarmouth Academy in Maine. Fritz is General Counsel for

livened up the proceedings. And Jim, by the way, contin-

Aspen Technology in Massachusetts. And the Hammonds

ues to be a regular (and usually well-behaved) visitor to

have a grandson at Holderness now, Chase O’Connor ’14.

Base Camp during Out Back.

Both these grandparents like the living rooms that are being built into the school’s new dorms on Mt. Prospect.

A

T

HOLDERNESS

HE HAD A SKEPTICAL AND OFF-

“We had those in Pennsylvania, and they were a great

kilter way of looking at things sweetened by

idea,” says Loli. “If your roommate’s sick, for example,

large portions of laughter and real love for

and needs to go to bed early, you can go out there to read

both the students and the colleagues whom

or work. I just hope the faculty

he flummoxed (at least most of them). It played very well

don’t use those as an excuse to

at faculty meetings, and therefore no one objected, least of

wall their homes off from the

all those colleagues, to Jim’s glittering rèsumè at fall

kids.”

assemblies in Hagerman. This was an event in which teachers would rise to introduce themselves—i.e. provide

“With just eight kids, you don’t need to do that,” says Jim.

their actual names, duties, and qualifications—to entering

“We’d have kids in all the time

students and their parents: “I’m Jim Hammond,” he would

to watch TV—Friends, Three’s

proclaim, “and I’m the strongest man in the world and the

Company, and stuff like that.”

school’s male role model.”

It played well in the dorm as well. “Well, we just

Eight kids per year, over 24 years, and then throw in four

liked the kids,” Jim says. “That wasn’t a job, running the

years in Rathbun, and all those

dorm. Certain things were a job: the faculty meetings, all

kids as well: that’s a lot of

the sit-down dinners. But I loved the coaching, and the

friends and company, a lot of

dorm wasn’t so hard. Even that first batch of boys, the

parenting, a lot of weddings, a

ones with the KISS albums and the rest—I liked them. I

lot of laughter. Strongest or

think five of them ended up being expelled, but they

smartest may be up for grabs these days, but in Jim and

weren’t bad kids—just mischievous.”

Loli, three different heads of Holderness School actually

Within a few years the home known until 2000 as

had a gender-matched pair of role models for that chal-

Hammond House would host girls instead, and discipline

lenging—and always interesting—job of dorm parenting.

incidents became quite rare as the ’70s faded and the

It never made any difference what the soundtrack was.

16

Holderness School Today

Role models: the Hammonds at the Outdoor Chapel in the mid-1990s.

GRADE 9 Miss Tram Ngoc Dao Miss Hannah F. Durnan Miss Eliana Howell Mallory Miss Danielle Elizabeth Norgren Miss Lea Jenet Rice GRADE 10 Mr. Jacob Cramer Barton Miss Sarah Renard Bell Miss Elena E. Bird Miss Torey Lee Brooks Miss Nicole Marie DellaPasqua Mr. Michael Laurence Finnegan Miss Jeong Yeon Han Mr. Treat R. D. Hardy Mr. Jeffrey Michael Hauser Miss Macy Winslow Jones Mr. Alexander Min Lehmann Miss Molly Brown Monahan Miss Kendra June Morse Mr. John Franco Musciano Mr. Caleb Andrew Nungesser Mr. Francis Parenteau Mr. Fernando Rodriguez Miss Victoria Sommerville-Kelso Miss Iashai Dominique Stephens Miss Lauren Louise Stride Mr. Charles Norwood Williams Mr. Andrew Timothy Zinck

GRADE 9 Mr. Ian Alexander Baker Miss Morgan Lovejoy Bayreuther Miss Rebecca Ann Begley Mr. Kaelen Thomas Caggiula Mr. Joseph Patrick Casey Mr. Perry Frank Craver Miss Racheal Marbury Erhard Miss Eleanor Celeste Holland Mr. Oliver Lion Johnson Mr. Max Robert Lash Mr. Clark Cornell Macomber Mr. Thorn King Merrill Miss Haley Elizabeth Michienzi Miss Tess Margaret O'Brien Miss Emily Benoit Rasmussen Mr. Charles Shelvey Sheffield Miss Hannah Rae Slattery Mr. Matthew Davis Tankersley Mr. Mathew Benjamin Thomas Mr. Noah R. Thompson Mr. Henry James Tomlinson

GRADE 11 Mr. Nathanial George Alexander Miss Shelby Jeanne Benjamin Mr. Keith Michael Bohlin Miss Ariana Ann Bourque Miss Josephine McAlpin Brownell Mr. Owen Tomasz Buehler Miss Marguerite Cournoyer Caputi Miss Benedicte Nora Crudgington Miss Abigail Kristen Guerra Miss Yejin Hwang Mr. Nathaniel Ward Lamson Miss Haley Janet Mahar Mr. Brandon C. Marcus Miss Carly Elizabeth Meau Miss Kristina Sophia Micalizzi Mr. Oliver Julian Nettere Miss So Hee Park Miss Eleanor Clough Pryor Mr. James Ornstein Robbins Mr. Ryan Michael Rosencranz Miss Abagael Mae Slattery Miss Erica Holahan Steiner Miss Molly Durgin Tankersley Mr. Brian Alden Tierney Mr. Ruohao Xin

GRADE 12 Ms Radvile Autukaite Mr. Desmond James Bennett Miss Kiara Janea Boone Miss Madeline Margaret Burnham Mr. David McCauley Caputi Mr. Jordan Leigh Cargill Mr. Se Han Cho Mr. Kevin Michael Dachos Miss Juliet Sargent Dalton Miss Samantha Devine Miss Emery Durnan Miss Amanda Claire Engelhardt Miss Sarah E. Fauver Mr. Nicholas James Hill Ford Mr. Alexander Ulysses Gardiner Mr. Nicholas William Goodrich Mr. Chandler S. Grisham Miss Elizabeth Ryan Hale Miss Emily Maria Hayes Miss Cassandra Laine Hecker Mr. Carson Vincent Houle Mr. Andrew V. Howe Miss Kristen Nicole Jorgenson Miss Paige Alexis Kozlowski Mr. H. Alexander Kuno Mr. Samuel Newton Leech Mr. Philippe Thomas Levesque Mr. Samuel Cornell Macomber Mr. Gabrielius Maldunas

GRADE 10 Miss Abigail Elizabeth Abdinoor Miss Elizabeth Winslow Aldridge Mr. Christian Robert Anderson Mr. Alexander James Berman Mr. Christian Elliott Bladon Miss Kelly Anne DiNapoli Mr. Daniel Do Mr. Tyler David Evangelous Miss Hannah Susan Foote Mr. Aidan Cleaveland Kendall Miss Mackenzie Ried Maher Mr. Christopher Anthony Nalen Miss Celine Pichette Mr. Jesse Jeremiah Ross Mr. Peter Pesch Saunders Mr. Maxwell Robert Sturges Mr. Robert Patrick Sullivan Miss Danielle Lynn Therrien Mr. Kangdi Wang Miss Xajaah Xenee Williams-Flores

GRADE 11 Mr. Keith Steven Babus Mr. Jonathan Perkins Bass Mr. Austin Geoghan Baum Miss Samantha Regina Cloud Mr. Peter Michael Ferrante Mr. Ian C. Ford Miss Lily Woodworth Ford Miss Hannah Morgan Halsted Miss Rachel West Huntley Mr. Preston Jerome Kelsey Mr. Matthew Neville Kinney Miss Samantha Anne Lee Mr. William Marvin Miss Sara P. Mogollon Mr. Andrew J. Munroe Mr. Jules Benoit Pichette Miss Julia Baldwin Potter Mr. Nicholas Anthony Renzi Mr. Mitchell Craig Shumway Mr. Justin Demarr Simpkins Mr. Shawn William Watson Miss Isabelle Eden Zaik-Hodgkins

Honors: First Quarter

High Honors: First Quarter Mr. James Michael McNulty Mr. Christopher Steven Merrill Mr. Alexander Sprole Obregon Miss Leah Rose Peters Miss Elizabeth Ann Pettitt Mr. Ethan Patrick Pfenninger Mr. Colin Thomas Phillips Mr. Derek De Freitas Pimentel Mr. Charles Henry Poulin Mr. Adam Jacob Sapers Mr. Nathaniel Owen Shenton Miss Emily Roberts Starer Mr. Jean-Philippe Tardif Miss Margaret Mooney Thibadeau Miss Sarah Mei Xiao Miss Jasminne Yoshiko Young

GRADE 12 Mr. Thomas William Barbeau Mr. Jermaine Bernard Miss McKinley E. C. Carbone Miss Cecily Noyes Cushman Mr. Nicholas Henry Dellenback Mr. MacLaren Nash Dudley Miss Kathleen Nugent Finnegan Mr. Justin M. Frank Miss Pauline Zeina Germanos Miss Paige Nicole Hardtke Miss Lauren Michelle Hayes Mr. Dewey W. Knapp Miss Elizabeth Emily Legere Mr. Charles Jacob Long Mr. Colin Hugh Gaylord MacKenzie Miss Julia Elizabeth Marino Mr. Damon Nicolas Mavroudis Mr. Henry Maxwell Miles Miss Alexandra Marie Muzyka Mr. Abe H. Noyes Miss Charlotte Plumer Noyes Miss Mimi Hoyne Patten Mr. Cole Notter Phillips Miss Catherine Hope Powell Mr. Colton Freeman Ransom Miss Brooke Elizabeth Robertson Mr. Daniel Timothy Sievers Mr. Isaac Simes Mr. Nicholas E. Stoico Miss Sarah Katharine Stride Miss Jaclyn Paige Vernet Mr. Niklaus Carl Friedrich Vitzthum Miss Haleigh Elizabeth Weiner Holderness School Today

17

GRADE 9 Miss Tram Ngoc Dao Miss Hannah F. Durnan Miss Racheal Marbury Erhard Mr. Oliver Lion Johnson Miss Eliana Howell Mallory Mr. Thorn King Merrill Miss Danielle Elizabeth Norgren Miss Tess Margaret O'Brien Miss Lea Jenet Rice Mr. Noah R. Thompson Mr. Henry James Tomlinson GRADE 10 Mr. Jacob Cramer Barton Miss Elena E. Bird Miss Nicole Marie DellaPasqua Mr. Daniel Do Miss Jeong Yeon Han Mr. Treat R. D. Hardy Mr. Jeffrey Michael Hauser Miss Mackenzie Ried Maher Miss Molly Brown Monahan Mr. John Franco Musciano Mr. Caleb Andrew Nungesser Mr. Francis Parenteau Miss Celine Pichette Mr. Fernando Rodriguez Miss Victoria Sommerville-Kelso Miss Iashai Dominique Stephens Mr. Kangdi Wang Mr. Charles Norwood Williams

GRADE 9 Mr. Ian Alexander Baker Miss Morgan Lovejoy Bayreuther Miss Rebecca Ann Begley Mr. Kaelen Thomas Caggiula Mr. Joseph Patrick Casey Mr. Perry Frank Craver Mr. Matthew Francis Gudas Miss Eleanor Celeste Holland Mr. Max Robert Lash Mr. Clark Cornell Macomber Miss Sarah E. Michel Miss Emily Benoit Rasmussen Mr. Charles Shelvey Sheffield Miss Megan Catherine Shenton Miss Hannah Rae Slattery Mr. Matthew Davis Tankersley Mr. Mathew Benjamin Thomas

Honors: Second Quarter

18

Holderness School Today

GRADE 11 Mr. Nathanial George Alexander Mr. Jonathan Perkins Bass Mr. Keith Michael Bohlin Miss Ariana Ann Bourque Mr. Owen Tomasz Buehler Miss Marguerite Cournoyer Caputi Miss Benedicte Nora Crudgington Miss Abigail Kristen Guerra Miss Rachel West Huntley Miss Yejin Hwang Mr. Nathaniel Ward Lamson Miss Samantha Anne Lee Miss Haley Janet Mahar Mr. Brandon C. Marcus Miss Carly Elizabeth Meau Miss Kristina Sophia Micalizzi Mr. Oliver Julian Nettere Miss So Hee Park Mr. James Ornstein Robbins Mr. Ryan Michael Rosencranz Miss Abagael Mae Slattery Miss Erica Holahan Steiner Miss Molly Durgin Tankersley Mr. Brian Alden Tierney Mr. Ruohao Xin

GRADE 10 Miss Abigail Elizabeth Abdinoor Miss Elizabeth Winslow Aldridge Miss Sarah Renard Bell Mr. Alexander James Berman Mr. Christian Elliott Bladon Miss Torey Lee Brooks Miss Kelly Anne DiNapoli Mr. Tyler David Evangelous Mr. Michael Laurence Finnegan Miss Hannah Susan Foote Miss Macy Winslow Jones Mr. Aidan Cleaveland Kendall Miss Kaileigh Lazzaro Miss Kendra June Morse Mr. Jesse Jeremiah Ross Mr. Peter Pesch Saunders Miss Lauren Louise Stride Mr. Robert Patrick Sullivan Miss Danielle Lynn Therrien Miss Migle Vilunaite Miss Xajaah X. Williams-Flores Mr. Andrew Timothy Zinck

GRADE 12 Ms Radvile Autukaite Miss Shelby Jeanne Benjamin Mr. Desmond James Bennett Miss Kiara Janea Boone Miss Madeline Margaret Burnham Mr. David McCauley Caputi Mr. Jordan Leigh Cargill Mr. Se Han Cho Miss Cecily Noyes Cushman Mr. Kevin Michael Dachos Miss Samantha Devine Mr. MacLaren Nash Dudley Miss Amanda Claire Engelhardt Miss Kathleen Nugent Finnegan Mr. Nicholas James Hill Ford Mr. Alexander Ulysses Gardiner Mr. Nicholas W. M. Goodrich Miss Elizabeth Ryan Hale Miss Paige Nicole Hardtke Miss Emily Maria Hayes Miss Cassandra Laine Hecker Mr. Carson Vincent Houle Mr. Andrew V. Howe Miss Kristen Nicole Jorgenson Mr. Dewey W. Knapp Miss Paige Alexis Kozlowski Mr. Samuel Newton Leech Mr. Philippe Thomas Levesque Mr. Charles Jacob Long Mr. Samuel Cornell Macomber Mr. James Michael McNulty

GRADE 11 Mr. Austin Geoghan Baum Miss Josephine McAlpin Brownell Miss Samantha Regina Cloud Miss Eliza R. Cowie Mr. Thai Trong Dao Mr. Peter Michael Ferrante Mr. Ian C. Ford Mr. Preston Jerome Kelsey Mr. Matthew Neville Kinney Miss Sara P. Mogollon Mr. Andrew J. Munroe Miss Julia Baldwin Potter Mr. Nicholas Anthony Renzi Mr. Mitchell Craig Shumway Mr. Justin Demarr Simpkins Mr. Reed Rowen Spearman Miss Stephanie Rachael Symecko Miss Isabelle Eden Zaik-Hodgkins

Mr. Christopher Steven Merrill Miss Alexandra Marie Muzyka Mr. Abe H. Noyes Miss Leah Rose Peters Miss Elizabeth Ann Pettitt Mr. Ethan Patrick Pfenninger Mr. Colin Thomas Phillips Mr. Derek De Freitas Pimentel Miss Eleanor Clough Pryor Miss Brooke Elizabeth Robertson Mr. Adam Jacob Sapers Mr. Nathaniel Owen Shenton Miss Emily Roberts Starer Miss Sarah Katharine Stride Mr. Jean-Philippe Tardif Miss Margaret Mooney Thibadeau Mr. Niklaus C. F. Vitzthum Miss Sarah Mei Xiao

High Honors: Second Quarter

GRADE 12 Mr. Thomas William Barbeau Mr. Jermaine Bernard Miss Juliet Sargent Dalton Mr. Nicholas Henry Dellenback Miss Emery Durnan Miss Sarah E. Fauver Miss Pauline Zeina Germanos Mr. Chandler S. Grisham Miss Lauren Michelle Hayes Mr. H. Alexander Kuno Miss Elizabeth Emily Legere Mr. Kyle Wells Long Mr. Gabrielius Maldunas Miss Julia Elizabeth Marino Mr. Damon Nicolas Mavroudis Mr. Henry Maxwell Miles Mr. Julien Alexandre Moreau Miss Charlotte Plumer Noyes Mr. Alexander Sprole Obregon Miss Mimi Hoyne Patten Mr. Cole Notter Phillips Mr. Charles Henry Poulin Miss Catherine Hope Powell Mr. Nicholas E. Stoico Miss Jaclyn Paige Vernet Miss Haleigh Elizabeth Weiner Miss Jasminne S. Y. Young

Around the Quad

Academics

To inform, to argue, and persuade . . . .

W

ANT AN EASY

"A"? GET

PUBLISHED.

SO

WENT

the introduction to the first assignment for

this year's AP Language and Composition

classes.

For the past several summers, AP Language and Composition students have been sending letters to the editors of their local newspapers, offering thoughtful arguments, observations, and challenges to their communities.

The assignment is meant not only to provide a good exercise over the summer to keep the brain cells fresh, but also to demonstrate the power of language to inform, argue, and persuade.

And our students stepped up, with nearly all of them seeing their words in print at some point this sum-

A plethora of published pundits. From left to right, Molly Hoopes '12, Dickson Smith '12, Shelby Benjamin '11, Julian Moreau '11, Abby Slattery '12, Sam Cloud '12, Ari Bourque '12, Desi Bennett '11, Adam Sapers '11, and Abe Noyes '11.

mer. Newspaper editors, it appears, appreciate it when young people take the initiative to speak out thoughtfully about issues of importance to them.

Y

OU DON’T REALLY KNOW

School history as it was seen through the camera lens.

where you’ve been unless you know where you are,

and in September the students of Franz Nicolay’s advanced photo class learned a great deal more about where they are when they visited the school archives and archivist Judith Solberg.

There they applied a photographer’s eye to Holderness School history, examining—with Judith’s help—old glass negatives, prints, panoramas, and scrap books. It was an exploration of photography’s technical and documentary roots, and also an illuminating journey through the twists and turns of this little school’s colorful past, albeit seen in black-and-white.

The archives, incidentally, are open to Holderness students and faculty, and to the public. Just make an appointment with Judith (jsolberg@holderness.org) and head to the lower level of the Alfond Library.

Holderness School Today

19

Around the Quad

Academics

Renowned Shakespeare scholar Charles Forker guides us through Verona.

T

HE

TWO GENTLEMEN

OF

Verona was quite possibly William Shakespeare’s first

play, a vehicle for honing the dra-

Several gentlemen of Holderness. From the left, English teacher John Lin, Professor Forker, retired language chair Lew Overaker, Alex Trujillo ’12, English teacher Peter Durnan, and Mark Walrod ’97.

matic craft that he was to bring later to his recurrent themes of love, faith, and identity. In November Peter Durnan’s AP English Language and Composition class read the play prior to attending a performance at Dartmouth College.

That was good, but even better was a guest lecture on the play by Professor Charles Forker, an eminent Shakespearean scholar who taught for decades at Indiana University and who continues to write and lecture on Elizabethan literature.

Also in attendance at that event were a number of distinguished gentlemen of Holderness: English teacher John Lin, retired language teacher Lew Overaker, and alumnus Mark Walrod ’97.

The theory being, if you get hungry enough, you’ll know how to ask for it.

O

NE REASON MORE

Americans don’t speak

foreign languages is that

The first set of lan-

guage tables were both Spanish,

guages in the normal course of

and both included Spanish-speak-

the day. But wait a minute, said

ing faculty members—which felt

Paige Kozlowski last October:

just about right, since the menu

“We have a lot of kids here who

that night was Mexican.

think it’s a lost opportunity if we

Occupying one of those tables that night were, from the

don’t learn from them while

left: Jamie McNulty ’11, Desi

they’re here. I think it would be

Bennett ’11, Paige Kozlowski ’11,

awesome if once a week during

Eduard Galtes ’14, Alex Trujillo

sit-down dinner we could set

’12, Spanish teacher Tobi

aside one or two tables as ‘lan-

Pfenninger, and Salamarie Frazier

guage tables,’ places where only a

’12.

certain language—not English—

Holderness School Today

And so it was done, starting in November.

so few of us hear foreign lan-

speak different languages, and I

20

was spoken during the meal.”

M

AT H

C

L U B

AT

Holderness is like any other extra-curricular

activity at any other school: you have to have enough students interested enough to sustain it— which means interested in competitions against other schools with teams representing every level of math expertise—and you have to have a faculty mem-

The numbers

ber dedicated enough to put in the extra time and energy to

were there,

manage it.

This year Math Club lives

and so was

again, thanks to willing math teacher Kristin Magalhaes and

the help.

the following recruits, who gathered for an initial club meeting after dinner one night in October: from the left, Maggie

T

HERE ARE HIGH SCORES,

Caputi ’12, Elena Bird ’13,

and then there are really

Brandon Marcus ’14, Juliet

high scores. And similarly

Dalton ’11, Cecily Cushman

on the PSAT/NMSQT, the annual

’11, Nick Goodrich ’11, Chris

National Merit Scholarship quali-

Merrill ’11, SeHan Cho ’11,

fying test, there are Scholars, and

Keith Bohlin ’12, Carson Houle

then there are Commended

’11, and SoHee Park ’12.

Scholars.

Two Holderness scholars were singled out for Commended status last spring on the basis of

Meritocracy

their test results: seniors Chris Merrill and Sam Macomber. At an all-school assembly in October

Commended Scholars Sam Macomber ’11, left, and Chris Merrill ’11

Chris and Sam were presented with letters of commendation from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. The letters lauded their “outstanding academic promise.”

On the road to see the mother of all family dramas.

N

OW THAT IT’S BEEN SEVERAL

millenia since these plays were

written, ancient Greek drama can

and Aristophanes.

Which is exactly why the sophomore English classes of Tiaan van der

seem remote on the page to a modern

Linde ’89, Kathy Weymouth, and John

secondary student. But if you put those

Lin combined last November for a trip to

characters on a stage, it’s then that an old

the Dana Center at Saint Anselm College

story about a man who committed a terri-

in Manchester. There they watched a fine

ble crime without ever intending to can

production of Sophocles’ timeless

seem startlingly contemporary—and can

Oedipus Rex. Above, a group of sopho-

thrillingly illuminate the genius of

mores enroute across the centuries.

dramatists like Sophocles, Aeschylus,

Holderness School Today

21

Around the Quad

The Arts Edwards Gallery show on the graphic novel, present and past, curated by David Beronä, featured on NH Public Radio One of Roger Buck’s recently rediscovered wood engravings.

T

HEY COMPRISE ONE OF THE HOTTEST TRENDS IN THE

Buck (1901-

have anything to do with Kindles or e-readers.

1970) was

They’re graphic novels—complex narratives conveyed

German and a contemporary of Masereel. His graphic

only through pictures, without words—and they’ve actu-

novel Biraka is eerily suggestive of the fantasy work of

ally been with us for quite a while already.

Interested Holderness students learned all about it last fall thanks to the year’s first exhibit in the Edwards Art Gallery: “The Graphic Novel in the Purest Sense,” a show organized and curated by author and woodcut-

the artist and filmmaker Tim Burton. Two of the original wood engravings for Biraka had just been rediscovered

by Buck’s grandson and were included in the exhibit.

Other artists represented in the show included British printmaker Neil Bousfield—whose novel

novel historian David A. Beronä. The exhibit included

Walking Shadows plumbs the dark side of working-class

work by two graphic novel pioneers—Frans Masereel

family life—and several associated with the Ontario

and Roger Buck—and also four contemporary

College of Art and Design, either as students, alumni, or

author/artists inspired by them.

faculty members.

Masereel, who was born in Belgium in 1889 and died in 1972, composed more than fifty wordless books

Guest curator and author David Beronä teaches students about telling stories without words.

Roger

publishing industry right now, and they don’t

George A. Walker’s prize-winning Book of Hours depicts the evening and morning before 9/11, recalling a

over his lifetime, and a number of those books are now

time, he says, “before the phrase ‘9/11’ had any mean-

recognized as classics. Novelist Stefan Zweig has writ-

ing, even though that time is now irretrievable.”

ten, “Should everything perish—all the books, the photographs, and the documents, and we were left only with

Marta Chudolinska’s Back + Forth, a woman’s coming-of-age story done in linocuts, was a ForeWord

the woodcuts Masereel has created, through them alone

Magazine 2010 Book of the Year nominee. Stefan Berg

we could reconstruct our contemporary world.”

is an up-and-coming Toronto painter and printmaker whose Let That Bad Air Out provides a portrait of the mysterious and legendary jazz musician Buddy Bolden.

And Megan Speers’s Wanderlust is a story in wood engravings set in the depths of Ontario’s rebellious youth counterculture.

David A. Beronä is the author of Wordless Books: The Original Graphic Novels, which was nominated for a prestigious Harvey Award in 2009. He is the Dean of the Library and Academic Support Services at Plymouth State University, and a visiting member of the faculty at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont. He spoke about his exhibit in an all-school assembly in September and talked extensively with students at the show’s opening reception.

And the exhibit was the subject of a feature story on New Hampshire Public Radio. “Most writers need to break out in the footsteps of sentences, the black shoes of writing, to tell their stories,” said NHPR correspondent Sean Hurley. “But as these Wordless Books show, artists can create rich and complex narratives without writing down a single word.”

22

Holderness School Today

Members of chorus: Treat Hardy ’13, Ezra Cushing ’14, Kendra Morse ’13, Katie Draper ’13.

Words,

music, excellence.

S

O WHERE CAN YOU GO TO GET

DAVE

Matthews, Thelonious Monk, and Alicia Keys all on the same stage?

That would be the stage of the Hagerman Center, during the fall concert by music teacher Dave Lockwood’s band and chorus. They do a lot of different stuff— including original work by both students and their teacher—but they do it all well, and this year was no different. And it was especially nice to have Mr. Lockwood back from his sabbatical year.

The string section: Fernando Rodriguez ’13 on violin, Danielle Norgren ’14 on viola.

Percussionist Imoh Silas ’11.

T

HE TOP STUDIO AND TOURING MUSICIANS OF

but he found time last September to make a return

rock ’n’ roll are the hidden gems of that

visit to Holderness, thanks in no small part to his

industry (and art form). The general public

may not know them so well, but the headliners

friendship with music teacher Dave Lockwood.

The School Night event made for an electrifying

sure do, and among the brightest of those gems is

evening, with much of the school dancing on and

guitar hero Jeff Pevar, who has recorded and/or

around the stage before it was over. Peev will be

toured with the likes—to name just a few—of Ray

our friend for life as well.

Charles, Jackson Browne, Joe Cocker, James Taylor, Carly Simon, and Crosby, Stills, & Nash.

"The way a guy plays guitar is a combination of dexterity and taste and inventiveness and passion,” says David Crosby of that last band we listed. “Peev has all of those things.

Pretty much any style he's playing—the blues, rock 'n' roll, edge-of-jazz kind of stuff—he’s there. And besides being talented, he's just a

Famed guitar hero Jeff Pevar fires up the Hagerman Center stage.

wonderful guy. He's one of the nicest guys in the music business. To have that kind of talent and not be a jerk? It's just insanely wonderful.

He'll be my friend all my life."

This winter that nice guy is playing lead guitar in a band on tour with Rickie Lee Jones,

Holderness School Today

23

Around the Quad

The Arts

Cast members included, above, Torey Brooks ’13; below, Josh Nungesser ’12 and Salamarie Frazier ’12; below left, Nick Stoico ’11 and Pauline Germanos ’11.

I

N

1937 YOU CAN’T TAKE IT

With You won the Pulitzer Prize for drama and ran on Broadway

for 837 performances. The three-

The play took on a very timely sort of aspect when the fireworkobsessed patriarch of the eccentric

act comedy by George S. Kaufman

Sycamore clan is accused by feder-

and Moss Hart challenged the

al agents of domestic terrorism.

social conventions of the day, and

But its theme of “love conquers

its warmth and wisdom has ensured

all” is of the timeless sort, and of

many revivals since—most recently

course that old chemistry of good

in the Hagerman Center’s auditori-

dramatic writing combined with

um, in the fall play mounted by

good acting and direction has

theater director Monique Devine

always guaranteed fireworks.

and a large and talented cast of

The fall play: You couldn’t take it with you, but you could enjoy it while you watched.

24

Holderness students and faculty.

Holderness School Today

Renowned Minnesota potter Randy Johnston brings his brand of ceramic poetry to Edwards Art Gallery.

I

N

1972

YOUNG

RANDY JOHNSTON—WHO

THOUGHT HE

might study to be a doctor—experienced a change of direction after taking a course at the University of

remained firmly grounded in the vessel tradition,” writes Andrew L. Maske, a professor of art history at the University of Kentucky. “[He] follows the philosophical

Minnesota from the celebrated Midwest potter Warren

vine that sprouted with William Morris and John Ruskin and

Mackenzie.

then blossomed under Yanagi Soetsu: namely, that the great-

Johnston bought some land in

est beauty is to be found in solid handcrafted

Wisconsin, built a Japanese-style wood-

items of use.”

burning kiln (though he had never seen

Such items are described by the Japanese

such a kiln first-hand), and set about to

term mingei, and in fact, adds Laske, because

make his living as a potter.

of the work of Mackenzie and Johnston and

Thirty-eight years later—after a lot

some others, their portion of eastern

of odd jobs, firewood bucking, construc-

Minnesota/western Wisconsin has become

tion work, a grueling apprenticeship with

known among potters as “Mingei-sota.”

famed Japanese potter Shimaoko

Johnston’s astonishing vessels, platters,

Tatsuzo, a BFA and MFA in studio arts,

and boxes are fashioned according to the basic

and a current professorship at the

techniques of Japan’s Mingei potters, but he

University of Wisconsin—Randy

applies these techniques in an entirely unique

Johnston has managed just that.

manner.

More important, his work has won

His most distinctive application, says

him numerous fellowships and awards,

Laske, is “natural ash glaze firing, called yak-

has been exhibited all over the world,

ishime (fired-tight) in Japanese. Such pieces,

and is represented in the permanent col-

made and fired with an emphasis on flashing,

lections of the Boston Museum of Fine

scorching, and unpredictable vitrified ash

Arts, the Los Angeles County Museum, the Minneapolis Art

deposits, have come to represent his signature style, even

Institute, the Nelson Atkins Museum, and an international

though Johnston produces a wide variety of glazed wares as

array of public and private collections.

well.”

Best of all, a broad cross-section of his work—in an exhibit entitled “Randy Johnston: The Mark of the Fire”—

“If my work was reduced to a line,” says Johnston, who also teaches drawing at the University of Wisconsin, “then I

came to the Edwards Art Gallery for the months of

would say that it’s the line and the rhythm of that line that

November and December.

I’m in search of. The color and blush of the line are a type

“For one so compelled to explore, Johnston has

of poetry that seems a portrayal of my heart and mind.”

Wonder when disco will die? Never, says the Boogie Wonder Band.

W

HAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND, AND ON THE

basis of that we have to conclude that disco

will never die. One of the most prominent

bands that keep disco coming ’round would be the Montreal-based Boogie Wonder Band. Their concerts—a bubbling stew of disco, funk, and pop—are almost as much theater as music, and a memorable concert took place during a School Night in December.

The band was there in glittery ’80s regalia, and a surprising number of students found pretty good facsimiles thereof in their closets. It was School Night Fever, and a number of good dance steps ensued as BWB pounded out the beats.

Holderness School Today

25

Around the Quad

Service

Girls varsity hockey

S

OMETIMES CHOCOLATE AND PEANUT BUTTER

bakes for one of

can be combined to even better effect than

you might think. In December the girls’ varsi-

their greats, Kristen

ty ice hockey team—coached by Frank and Susie Cirone—traveled to the Southfield School in

Cameron ’04.

Brookline, MA, for a holiday tournament. Before they went, though, they spent two nights making buckeyes (chocolate peanut butter balls), wrapping up a lot of donated baked goods, and making signs for the bake sale they were about to host there.

This was all a benefit for Kristen Cameron

Kristen Cameron in action versus Proctor in 2004.

’04, who had been a first-team All-American hockey player at Bowdoin, and was coaching hockey in Mercyhurst College’s NCAA Division I program when she was struck by a drunk driver last

When just a diaper is what you REALLY need.

September while riding her bicycle.

“Kristen was in critical condition for around a week,” says Susie Cirone. “Although she has thankfully regained her mental faculties, the physical injuries she incurred have paralyzed her from the chest down. Her sister Jenn [’09] says that they are optimistic that Kristen could eventually regain control of her hands. She’s in a hospital in Toronto, where she is likely to stay for several more months.”

And at Holderness that has led to the Kristen Cameron Fund, whose purpose is to provide emotional and monetary support to Kristen and her family. Its first initiative was that bake sale, and Susie

EASURED AGAINST THE VAST

M

less family’s new baby, and 92 diapers for

problem of homelessness in our

their 15-month old toddler. It also bought

pronounced it a success. “We had amazing dona-

society, a bake sale seems like an

240 diaper wipes, two big bottles of laun-

tions of baked goods from ten faculty/staff mem-

almost trivial gesture. But last fall the

dry detergent, and assorted portions of

bers, and parents took charge of all the operations

Bridge House team—a portion of the

shampoos, lotions, powder, and Q-Tips.

once we got to Boston,” she said. “They even sold

Service Committee dedicated to help for

“These were the most needed items,”

the decorative holly from the table! And we’re

Plymouth’s homeless shelter—held a

says Janice, “because food stamps and

much appreciative of help and support from the

series of bake sales. Service Committee

other aid coupons can only be used for

Dexter and Southfield Schools.”

advisor Janice Pedrin-Nielson reports that

food, not diapers or soaps.”

the sales netted $123. And what did that accomplish?

Quite a lot, says Janice. That money bought 200 disposable diapers for a home-

26

Holderness School Today

So it wasn’t a lot of money, but it did

All that work and help and good will added up to $1,325 for the fund. “The recovery process is dif-

a lot of good. “Thanks to everyone who

ficult and the Cameron family faces many chal-

helped in this effort!” said Janice in an

lenges,” Susie added, “but Kristen is and always

October email to the school community.

will be a Holderness Bull.”

Community New arrivals included Emily Rasmussen ’14 and her parents.

S

OME OF THE MOST

“Mr. Peck,” they asked the

important elements in any

Head of School, “why isn’t the

community are its sym-

flag lowered in the evening?”

bols, and let none of us discount

Phil replied that he didn’t have

the power of the American flag

anybody available on staff to get

to all the communities within the

it down each night and then up

nation’s borders—and beyond.

in the morning. Problem solved:

The flag that rests atop the pole

Dewey reliably lowers the flag

planted between the Schoolhouse

each evening, as is proper, and

and Webster was flying both day

Jack raises it again the next

and night last September, and to

morning, continuing a tradition

a pair of students—juniors Jack

of student management there

Long and Dewey Knapp—that

begun by Landry Frei ’09.

was just the problem.

A

ND WHO EXACTLY DID WE HAVE

Each day by

arriving to join the community this fall? Director of Admission Tyler

the dawn’s

Lewis has an answer framed in some interest-

ing numbers.

“There are one hundred new students from nine countries and sixteen states,” he says. “They range in age from 13-19. The freshman class of 54 is the largest in ten years. We have 25 new students who have or had a sibling attend Holderness. Noah Thompson ’14 is the fifth of his siblings to attend, and Trong Dao ’12 is our first sibling

early light.

The

Jack Long ’12 on duty with Old Glory.

newbies by the numbers.

from Vietnam.”

There are seven new students who had one or both of their parents attend Holderness.

There are also five students accepted to Holderness more than once—those who chose not to come the first time around, but are finally here where they belong.”

Cyberbullying: Easier and more dangerous.

O

NCE WE GATHERED AROUND

to the Holderness faculty about

campfires. Now more

their responsibility as educators to

often we sit by ourselves

at computer monitors as members

support and inform students about the possibilities and dangers of

of virtual communities. Bullying

social media, and especially the

is something that can happen in

dangers of cyberbullying.

both settings, actually, but the eas-

“It was an eye-opening talk,”

ier anonymity of the latter means

said Director of Communications

that cyberbullying can become

Steve Solberg. “It helped us to

particularly vicious.

Last November, on the Monday after Thanksgiving,

understand not only the emerging technologies out there now, but also the evolving societal norms

Investigator Jennifer Frank of

around privacy and sharing per-

Plymouth State University spoke

sonal information.”

Holderness School Today

27

Around the Quad

Community

National Coming Out Day & the true measure of a community’s strength.

“D

IVERSITY” IS A WORD THAT STRETCHES IN A

lot of different directions at Holderness, covering race, ethnicity, religion, econom-

ic background, national origin, age, ability, gender, and

sexual orientation. Being able to stretch in all those directions, though, ensures a climate that promotes tolerance, prepares students for the global community, and provides that richness in ideas and perspectives that are the life-blood of any educational community.

And how do you accomplish that stretching? The Diversity Committee, headed by Director of Diversity Tobi Pfenninger, believes you do it like an athlete does, one muscle group at a time—which is to say, by focusing on one element, or set of closely related elements, at a time. The committee has a four-year plan for supporting and enhancing diversity at Holderness, and this year the focus is on gender and sexual orientation.

One of the activities on behalf of that occurred in October, on the night after National Coming Out Day. It was a School Night, and an occasion for sharing stories and ideas. A number of members of the communi-

We start with names, and you bet we’re serious about it.

Sam Macomber ’11 enroute to acing his “name-off” challenge.

ty—students, staff, alumni, and faculty members— came forward to tell about themselves or about loved ones who had come out as gay, lesbian, or bisexual.

Others provided terms and facts and concepts, along with sobering statistics, about life in American high schools for those of

“Ultimately,” said former school vice-president R.C. Whitehouse ’00 in a statement that he emailed to the assembly, “this is the true measure of Holderness’s strength and the community’s values: when a gay student arrives on campus and has no secrets to tell, but only has to be. Pro Deo et genere humano. Remember always that every person is a HUMAN.”

T

HE

HOLDERNESS

VIEWBOOK

students to randomly rise and be

place “where everybody has

identified by him by name. He

a name,” and each year the Ford

allowed himself two “lifelines”—

Directive makes that official. That

his cousin Elena Bird ’13 and his

term refers to an event that takes

brother Clark Macomber ’14—but

place each year in an all-school

didn’t need them after all. He was

assembly in September.

perfect naming individuals. Then

That’s when math teacher and

Ford ’74 reminds us that every-

he went to whole rows, and was perfect there as well.

The Ford Directive is taken

body in the community should

seriously by students each year,

greet everybody else by name

and they do a good job of learning

whenever we pass on the school’s

each other’s names.

outdoor paths. So learn those

Congratulations to Sam, though,

names, says Duane, and learn them

for raising it to a daredevil art

now.

form.

A few weeks later senior

leader Sam Macomber challenged himself to a “name-off” at assem-

Holderness School Today

bly. He asked new and returning

describes this school as a

Dean of Residential Life Duane

28

R.C. Whitehouse ’00 and Phil Peck in 2009.

differing orientations.

Sports

The fall team captains gather around Phil Peck and the Tabor Day trophy.

The Bulls run rampant on Tabor Day 2010!

Spied at the Friday night bonfire: Migle Vilunaite ’13, Radvile Autukaite ’11, and Kristina Micalizzi ’12.

T

ABOR

DAY

WAS A GREAT DAY

on the fields of Holderness this year—mild, sunny

hockey teams.

“It was wonderful seeing all the supportive parents, fans, and

weather (remarkable for the mid-

alumni who came out to watch

dle of November), and a resound-

these two schools play at such a

ing 6-1-1 edge for the home team

high level,” said Phil Peck. “And

in games played between the two

it was a fitting end to a successful

schools’ various soccer and field

season for many of our teams.”

NEPSAC post-season tourneys: field hockey reaches the semis, boys’ soccer reaches the summit!

I

T WAS A GREAT FALL POSTSEASON

for Holderness athletics.

Both boys’ soccer and field

School (Millbrook, NY). “It was clear from the opening whistle that this would be a hard-fought

hockey struggled a bit early on,

contest,” says coach Craig

but then fairly roared to the end

Antonides ’77. “The early min-

of their regular season schedules.

utes saw Millbrook establish con-

Each team went undefeated in its

trol, but the Bulls settled down

last ten regular-season games,

and evened up the back-and-forth

with soccer outscoring their oppo-

contest. The first half went score-

nents 52-6 over that stretch, and

less with both teams having a few

field hockey 31-8.

just-misses.”

The boys finished the season at 11-2-2, and went into the NEP-

Then the tension grew in the second half as the game continued

SAC championship tournament as

scoreless until the 37th minute.

the top seed. Field hockey’s

“That was when Charlie Defeo

record of 10-2-6 earned them a #3

chipped a great feed over the

seed, and a record 18th consecu-

Millbrook backs that Olayode

tive appearance in the NEPSAC

Ahmed ran on to, and flicked

tourney.

over the Millbrook keeper for a

Field hockey began by defeating the Southfield School

dramatic first—and only—goal of the game,” says Craig. “Both

(Brookline, MA) 2-0, but then

teams had some great chances.

was edged out by Brewster

Goalkeeper Will Marvin had his

Academy, 2-1, in the semifinals.

best game in a Holderness uni-

Meanwhile soccer dominated

form to keep the Bulls on top. His

Beaver Country Day (Brookline,

save in the 72nd minute was an

MA) 5-1 in its opening game, and

amazing snatch of a sure goal.”

in the semifinals dominated

It was a sure-handed snatch

Marianapolis Prep (Thompson,

of a NEPSAC championship as

CT) by a score of 7-0.

well. Congratulations to the Bulls

That set up a finals showdown against the Millbrook

of both field hockey and boys soccer for inspiring seasons.

Holderness School Today

29

Around the Quad

Sports

Lily Ford ’12 skis with the NDS team & does a TV spot.

J

UNIOR

TV8 “Good Morning”

LILY FORD

was on TV in Vail,

December. She was one

The first

program.

The NDS skiers

Colorado, last

were also able to watch

of the junior alpine rac-

members of the national

ers invited to the speed

team compete in a giant

camp hosted there by the

slalom event that week.

US Ski Team’s National

“It was awesome to be

Development System.

here to be able to watch

During her stay she and a

the big guys,” Lily told

skier from Burke

the reporter, who replied

current

Mountain Academy were

that she herself might be

interviewed for a seg-

one of the big guys

Holderness

ment that aired

someday. “Hopefully,”

December 9th on Vail’s

laughed Lily.

snowboarder to compete in a World Cup

Also racing at Telluride was Converse Fields ’08, on the right.

L

AST

DECEMBER RYAN ROSENCRANZ

became the first Holderness student to

compete in the World Cup in snowboard-

event? The

ing when he qualified as one of 13 additional

answer would

an event in Telluride, CO.

be Ryan

top riders, and the US Team alone featured such

Rosencranz ’12.

Lindsey Jacobellis, and Nate Holland.

riders to accompany the US Snowboard team to

The Telluride event included the world’s

Olympic medal-winners as Seth Westcott,

Meanwhile Ryan is only in his second year of competition at the international FIS level.

“There is no way I would be competing at this level without Holderness,” he told Picador reporter Pauline Germanos ’11. “Holderness has the best coaching in the country. Soccer and lacrosse give me time away from snowboarding and just help make me a better athlete.”

In fact Ryan had to interrupt his qualifying races at Telluride in order to fly back to Holderness and help his soccer team win a NEPSAC championship. Then it was back to Colorado again.

“Ryan is proof that there is no substitute for hard work,” said Holderness snowboard coach Alan Smarse. “Few athletes really have the work ethic and commitment to detail that it takes to compete at the highest levels. I believe these traits will serve him well in all his goals.”

Ryan competed in the parallel giant slalom, and was unable to qualify for the finals, but gained valuable experience. The parallel giant slalom was won by Rok Flander of Slovenia.

Also competing at Telluride was his former teammate Converse Fields ’08.

30

Holderness School Today

Sports

Fall 2010: The Season In Review

The current caretaker and designated waver of the Tanner Banner, the Holderness flag created by Tanner Mathison in 2007, is Alex Trujillo ’12, and you can see that Alex has some serious lift to his game.

Cross-Country

Field Hockey

The Holderness cross-country running team has grit. My grandfather would

Fall of ’10 varsity field hockey was one of those “sputtering” seasons.

have called it gumption, but in the parlance of our time and in the case of this

For an explanation why—we could offer any number of reasons.

team, the term “grit” seems more appropriate. Grit entails working diligently towards challenges, maintaining both effort and focus over a long period of time.

Of 21 players, new ones numbered seven or thereabouts.

The gritty runner approaches a task as a marathon event rather than a sprint.

There was a lot to learn, but we could do it—there were no doubts.

Their advantage is stamina. The gritty individual knows that there is no room for disappointment or boredom, because those feelings are unnecessary deviations

Let’s not dwell on what was missing or things that we lack.

from the task at hand.

Let’s focus on skills and improvement that the team managed to rack.

In high school cross-country running the athletes race 3.1 miles every week just to see how their efforts are paying off. Pretty gritty. This team’s true

We faltered early on, then learned much, so our problems did fix.

grit was demonstrated after the weekly race was over. When other teams were

From 9/25 until the playoffs, we hadn’t lost at all, though our ties numbered 6!

patting each other on the back and telling war stories of how deep the mud was out there, this team was running. That’s right—after an all-out blood-sweat-and-

So there’s a glimpse of our season, together a team all helped make.

tears effort this team would lace up their shoes and go for a run. They ran after

But for the remaining dozen—NEXT year is their stake.

races because running after the race is the single best way to start preparing for the next race. I’m proud of this

We had as good a season as many teams could ever hope for.

team. They are gritty.

We went to the semis, but left Cambridge wanting one game more.

Our girls team consis-

Coach’s Award winner Dan Do ’13

tently placed three runners in

That’s the sort of crew we are—reaching, working, wanting to pass the test.

the top ten at the Lakes Region

No matter what the future holds, rest assured, we’ll give it our best.

meets. As a team they won one of the Lakes Region Invitational

by Doonie Brewer

meets, and were second in the other three.

Our boys team had great

The JV field hockey team had a highly unusual season. First of all, we had six seniors on the team, which meant that about a third of the team consisted of sen-

depth with four guys being able

iors, including captains Cassie Hecker and Kiara Boone. The seniors provided

to run in the top fifteen, all of

leadership, maturity and depth, which helped us accomplish the other aspects of

whom could be the fastest

our unusual season. We won 81% of our games (9-2-0). We were undefeated in

Holderness runner on any given

the Lakes Region and only one team in the Lakes Region managed to score on

day. The boys team placed third

us. We scored about 40 goals, and only allowed 10.

in all four Lakes Region Invitational races. The Coach’s

Historically, our three most challenging opponents are Brooks, Exeter, and Tabor. Brooks did crush us, but we rebounded and we had our best game of the

Awards went to Dan Do and

season against Exeter. Right from the first whistle, we controlled the tempo and

Margaret Thibadeau. The Most

we scored the only goal of the game, giving us a rare victory over Exeter.

Improved were Danielle

Betsey Pettitt earned the Coach’s Award and Karola Moeller received the Most

Therrien and Mac Dudley.

Improved Award.

by Patrick Casey

by Vicky Stigum

Holderness School Today

31

Sports

Football

so little. This season had great fun, great effort, great spir-

This year’s varsity football team

it, and great learning.

by Duane Ford ’74

ended the season 3-5. Once again the Evergreen League proved to be the premier football league in New

Rock Climbing

England. The Bulls battled the top

It was another great fall for the rock climbers. Unlike in

teams in the league but came up

most other sports at Holderness, progress is measured

short.

very concretely every day for each student. The terrific

The offense put up some impressive numbers this year. The offense

climbs that we do at Rumney, Echo Crag, and at Cathedral and White Horse Ledges all have a difficulty

was led by senior QB Mac Caputi.

rating on a scale of 1-15, so every time a student ties in to

Senior Jermaine Bernard and junior

climb he/she will receive immediate feedback.

Tyquan Ejejiuba electrified the spectators with their many big plays.

Needless to say, each of our seven students (Ian Ford, Lizz Hale, Leah Peters, Adam Sapers, Nat Shenton,

Injuries hit the team hard this year.The four captains—Jamie McNulty, Mac Caputi, Alex Kuno and Carson Houle—only suited up in the same game once.

Greater than gravity, second-year climber Ian Ford ’12.

Highlights of the season were putting up 38 points in the first half versus top-ranked Proctor and holding off Vermont Academy in

Junior Carly Meau won the Coach’s Award and helped lead her squad deep into the NEPSAC tourney.

the waning minutes 28-22. The core of the team is returning next year and the staff is excited about the 2011 campaign.

by Rick Eccleston ’92

The JV football team had a quite stellar season with a record of 5 wins and 2 losses. The team was aptly led

by Coach’s Award winner Jesse Ross, our quarterback.

Jesse called every offensive play from the line of scrimmage implementing a no-huddle offense. The Most Improved Award goes to Chris Nalen, who symbolized the vast improvement made by every member of

Reed Spearman, and Sarah Xiao) improved significantly

the team.

during the course of the fall. In addition, each student

The most talked-about moment of the season was Axi Berman’s touchdown antics at the Cardigan Mountain School victory. The most humbling moment,

Co-captain Jamie McNulty ’11 was one of the Bulls’ surest tacklers.

became proficient in belaying and lowering, two key skills for safe climbing.

Lizz Hale won the Most Improved Award.

Lizz

which was needed, was the thorough defeat suffered the

joined the rock climbing group with no previous experi-

second time we played CMS. It is quite remarkable that

ence climbing and quickly showed that she had excellent

our players can care so much about something that means

natural movement skills and determination, as well as considerable strength. Throughout the fall she frequently surprised me by succeeding on routes that beginners usually have no chance on. In addition, she was always motivated to try any climb and was free with encouragement for the other students.

Ian Ford won the Coach's Award. This was Ian's second year in the climbing group, and he was clearly the best climber. Ian is committed to the sport and works hard to increase his strength and improve his movement skills. Because he was our most experienced student, I often looked to him to help me with setting up routes and being a role model for other students with regards to safety. Thanks, Ian, for your support of the group, as well as for your excellent climbing.

A special thank you to Andrew Sheppe ’00, who stepped in to drive the van and organize the student workouts on non-climbing days (and gain considerably in his climbing skills!).

by Richard Parker

Soccer Boys varsity soccer capped off a storybook season by winning the NEPSAC Class C Championship, its first title since 2001. The team finished with a remarkable 14-

32

Holderness School Today

other in the face of frustration and setbacks, and perseverance despite no lucky bounces in the offensive 18. When they were on a winning streak, they continued to work hard and make good decisions on and off the field; and when they lost games that should have been theirs, they did the same.

This is a team that wants to win more than anything, but refuses to fall apart or give up when that does not happen. This is a team that will take the competitive spirit, love of the team, and drive to improve from its seven seniors and become even stronger in years to come.

by Susie Cirone

The girls JV1 soccer team had an exceptional and unique season. The team was composed of

Co-captain Nick Ford ’11 led the way to a Class C championship.

2-2 record. Highlights included a well-deserved tie with Andover and a split with KUA, beating them for the first time in eight years in our home contest. Our only other loss was a 0-1 decision against Exeter –with the goal coming in the last minute. We tallied 63 goals while only giving up 13.

Captains Desi Bennett and Nick Ford did a fantastic job leading this team. GK Will Marvin’s parents summed up the effort and its buildup in a follow up email after the big win—“It was truly a magical run made even more special by the fact that a ‘home-grown’ team proved that good players playing together for 2-3 years, along with good coaching, can compete at the highest levels.” In fact we

The boys JV1 soccer team closed out the season 9-2-3 this fall. A young and talented team of 26 players learned to appreciate and understand the concept of teamwork as play time was shared by all.

Our seniors—Isaac Simes, Damon Mavroudis, Gabrielius Maldunas, and Nico Dellenback—dominated the midfield and front line with experience and maturity scoring an impressive 38 goals for the season while supporting senior goalkeeper Thomas Barbeau. Our backfield was commanded by an aggressive, athletic group who played with intensity and determination, limiting our opponents to 17 goals on the season.

The highlight of the season came team

in the final game, when the

earned a 5-1 victory over a hard-working, competitive team

from Tabor. Gabas Maldunas earned the Coach’s Award and Jake Barton earned the Most Improved Award. Congratulations to all.

by Justin Simon & Chris Stigum

The boys JV2 soccer squad was quite a collection of talent. Three teams strong, we never once got out-hustled in a game and found a way to victory more often than not. As usual, the learning curve for the boys was steep and the improvement throughout the year was noticeable in every player.

One of the more remarkable aspects of this team was that, despite having more members than anyone really wanted, these boys unselfishly shared field time and played together just like a big group of brothers—no small task for a team with representatives

together their various skills and experiences to become a strong and friendly team, both on and off the field. We played through all kinds of New

England weather—sunny days that turned dark and windy, and cold days that turned warm from the energy of the girls. Although we had some disappointments with Exeter and the famous 0-0 shut-out tie with KUA, the girls never lost their pride and desire to win.

The highlights of the season were winning the rematch against KUA and beating Proctor at their Parents' Weekend. We also had excellent parent participation—parents who cheered from the sidelines, brought blankets to warm the bench, and made unbelievably good treats for after the games. We ended the season with a 9-2-2 record.

by Eduardo Magalhaes & Jean Henchey

can, and we are looking forward to defending our title next year.

by Craig Antonides ’77

mostly ninth-graders and seniors, and they wove

The 4-6 season for the girls JV2 soccer team began and ended with satisfying shut-out victories that sandwiched the losses in the middle.

On our team were girls who had never played soccer before and some who had a lot of experience, so the challenge was to knit together a wide range of interests and ability into a cohesive and competitive unit. With the help of captains Erica Steiner and Abby Abdinoor, the team developed a positive spirit and energy that bolstered us through the wettest and coldest days.

The season highlight was perhaps the redo on the “Beep” test, which vaulted the team from the basement to the top of all recent JV2 teams. It has been a great season of learning and growth, with some big W’s thrown in with a lot of small ones.

Our Most Improved player this season is Tram Dao, and the Coach’s Award recipient is Eliana Mallory.

by John Lin & Kristen Fischer

from six different countries. Since we measure the success of any Deuce team on a combination of improvement and fun, the 2010 campaign was one of the best in the storied history of the organization!

by Chris Day

The girls varsity soccer team got better every week. They defined themselves as a team with superior passing ability, support for each

Spunky sophomore Nicky DellaPasqua earned the Coach’s Award in girls’ soccer.

Holderness School Today

33

Update: Faculty & Staff

English teacher John C. Lin is the author of “Finding My Asian Identity—With Help From Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man,” an essay featured in the pages of the winter issue of Independent School magazine. In it John reflects eloquently on the task of living between two worlds, and the power of literature to aid and inform that task. “When I discover who I am, I’ll be free,” says Ellison’s hero.

This Within

“N

OT A DAY GOES BY

Schism Me his identity by subverting it—“I want

now that I do not

you to overcome ‘em with yesses, under-

think about being

mine ‘em with grins, agree ‘em to death

Chinese,” writes

and destruction . . . .”—and at first

English teacher

young John Lin, like the Invisible Man,

John C. Lin in the winter issue of

merely subverts his own racial and cul-

Independent School magazine. “This per-

tural identity. He plays baseball, trades

haps, is to make up for many days in my

his violin for an electric guitar, wears his

life when I did not think of it at all.”

He didn’t think of it at all as young child, bilingual in English and in

hair long, dates blondes, majors in English, goes to Oxford for graduate school, rows crew and plays tennis on

Cantonese, a boy whose life had been

grass. John writes, “I quickly became

divided until then between Hong Kong

what the people and culture around me

and America. But he remembers sitting

thought I should be.”

in the back of a New Jersey school bus at the age of seven. Other children ask

He adds that he developed “an everso-slight aversion to things Asian,” and

him to pronounce the Cantonese term for

to that end he enjoyed challenging the

ice cream—shut gao—and peals of

stereotypes Americans harbor about

laughter ensue at the phrase’s mild sug-

Asians. He was glad to be tall—six feet

gestion of English profanity.

two—athletic, outdoors-minded, poor at

“I don’t recall,” John continues, “when I finally got the joke and figured

math, and better at speaking (and writing) English than most natives.

out that it was on me—my language, my accent, some essential part of me that is different—but perhaps it was there and then that I put away whatever was

DISCOVER WHO

I

Man, “I’ll be free.” For

John that process of discovery began as a

sion of an invisible man.”

young teacher at an independent school.

“Finding My Asian American Identity—

There he was named—“without prior consultation”—advisor to the school’s

with Help from Ralph Ellison’s Invisible

Asian students’ organization.” Mandated

Man,” that describe in eloquent and

diversity training was approached “with

powerful terms how that search was con-

dread and some hostility, perhaps

ducted over the course of a lifetime lived

because I knew subconsciously that the

almost entirely since that age in the US.

workshop would ask me to look at

The article is both a small spiritual auto-

myself in a way that I had been avoiding

biography and a wonderful example of

for many years.”

how a work of great literature can inform and illuminate the human condition.

The protagonist of Ellison’s

Holderness School Today

I

Chinese in me and became my own ver-

These words are from an article,

34

“W

HEN

am,” says the Invisible

That experience, though, was like the Invisible Man’s first taste of yam on a Harlem street, a delight that makes him

Invisible Man is commanded by his

wonder how much else he had lost by

dying grandfather to make a weapon of

long rejecting his original identity. And

“

This is a world that simultaneously embraces and rejects

me, that is familiar and foreign, that sustains and supplants

”

who I am and am becoming.

both these men of color find that freedom lies not in that

— John C. Lin within individuals by understanding deeply what is

dying grandfather’s fury, per se, but rather in his

required for a pluralistic and diverse community to exist,

embrace of duality.

and by committing to its development and sustenance.”

“I now am acutely aware that I live a divided life, one in which I switch fluently between my assimilated

The last thing that the grandfather tells to Ellison’s hero is, “Learn it to the younguns.” In his article John

self and the one that rages for different affinities,” John

circles back to this as the simple distillation of what it is

writes. “I simultaneously denounce and defend the

that he intends to do with who he has become in the last

sources of this schism within me—this strong culture of

phase of his teaching career, intoning to his children and

assimilation that surrounds me at school and other voic-

other young people of color “the necessity to seek a

es that call to me from a faraway place. I hate and I love

divided consciousness in order to live a whole life.”

this world that I find myself in, the safe and scenic surroundings, the eager and able students, the bright and

Editor’s note: John C. Lin has been an independent

accomplished colleagues. This is a world that simultane-

school educator since 1981. He holds a B.A. from

ously embraces and rejects me, that is familiar and for-

Carleton College, an M.A. from the Bread Loaf School

eign, that sustains and supplants who I am and am

of English at Middlebury, and a Master of Philosophy in

becoming.”

English Studies from Oxford University. He is the former

He is not just aware of this divided self, John con-

Head of School of the San Francisco Day School, and

cludes—he is reconciled to it: “I can be all that my

the former Upper School Head of the Fessenden School.

school expects me to be professionally, and I can bring

He has written and presented extensively on issues

to all aspects of my work a sense of who I am as an

related to diversity, boarding school life, leadership,

American-born Chinese person. I want our schools to

and teaching.

help to unify and integrate the multiple cultures that live

Holderness School Today

35

Update: Faculty & Staff

Math teacher and ice hockey coach Frank Cirone inducted into UWSP Athletic Hall of Fame.

O

CTOBER WAS A FINE MONTH FOR MATH

all-time career goal and point list at UWSP

teacher and ice hockey coach Frank

(71 goals and 161 points in 121 games), and

Cirone, though it involved a little trav-

el. He had to get back to his alma mater, the

still holds the record for the most short-handed goals in a season (five). “Frank Cirone is

University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point,

not only an outstanding hockey player and

where he was inducted into the UWSP’s

team leader,” said his coach Joe Baldarotta in

Athletic Hall of Fame.

1994, “but a great student who has high moral

It was an honor richly deserved. In the early 1990s UWSP was at the top of the NCAA Division III hockey world, winning

character.”

Indeed he was a fine student as well, majoring in business (with a minor in coach-

national championships in ’91 and ’93, and

ing), making the NCHA All-Academic team

finishing as runner-up in ‘92. Frank played on

three times and winning a UWSP

all those teams, was the MVP of that second

Scholar/Athlete award in 1993. He went to

championship team, and was the American

play professional hockey for a year in the East

Hockey Coaches Association Player-of-the-

Coast Hockey League, and then professional

Year the next year. In 1994 he was also the

roller hockey for five years.

National Collegiate Hockey Association scoring leader and Player-of-the-Year, and the university’s outstanding athlete.

Frank came to Holderness in 2005 and currently coaches girls varsity hockey with his wife Susie, who could play the game pretty

Twenty years later Frank is fifth on the

The 1994 NCHA Player-of-the-Year, and just some of the hardware of a Hall-of-Famer.

well herself. She was the Eastern College Athletic Association Division III Player-ofthe-Year at Wesleyan in 1999.

Dave Lockwood (with some help from his friends) performs his new CD at the Flying Monkey. The house is packed.

T

HE

FLYING MONKEY

cast of back-up musicians,

Movie House and

including the well-known gui-

Performance Center on

tarist Jeff Pevar, who was just

Main Street in Plymouth has

about to leave on a tour playing

been a rich addition to the cul-

back-up for Rickie Lee Jones.

tural life of the town, and it

Also on hand was much of the

hosted a particularly stirring

Holderness community—faculty,

event last October when music

staff, and students, and all feel-

teacher Dave Lockwood

ing very lucky.

appeared there to perform— along with some other

Dave returned to the Flying Monkey once more in

Lockwood originals—the entire-

December, that time to lead a

ty of his new CD Lucky Me.

night of Christmas carols.

Also on hand was the entire

36

Holderness School Today

Dave Lockwood at the keyboards, backup vocalist Ali Rapetti, and lead guitarist Jeff Pevar. Ali’s group, Women of the World, will be performing at Artward Bound and at Carnegie Hall in March.

Update: Former Faculty & Staff

the score that matters.

Don Hinman ’55:

T

HANK YOU,

HOLDERNESS,

FOR

honoring my father Ford Hinman and my friend Norm Walker today. It is fitting that they share this recognition;

for though they were somewhat different men in some respects, they were both

excellent coaches and teachers. Partly it was because they both cared about the kids they dealt with and somehow knew how to get the best out of each individual. And, most importantly, it was because they demanded from their athletes that same commitment as students and citizens. One misbehaved on the

On October 2, 2010 the Holderness School community gathered to witness the dedication of the Hinman-Walker Football Field, and to honor the two great educators who bear its name together. Thoughts were offered by Coach Hinman’s son and grandson, Don Hinman ’55 and David Hinman ’86, and by Norm Walker’s daughter Diane O’Halloran.

Ford B. “Coach” Hinman in the 1930s, below, and twenty years later, above left.

field, in the classroom, or in the school community at one's peril. Dad or Norm would quickly see you to reinforce the message.

I want to add a quick note about Dad before I close. Once he stopped actively coaching he remained as athletic director. He always watched football games standing under one of the goal posts. From there he could see the entire game—the players, coaches, and fans on both sides of the field, and the officials who worked the game. What he hoped for more than anything was that it be a good game, and I think he saw the whole game in ways that few of us do.

Two fine men who richly deserve our respect, our affection, and this honor today.

Holderness School Today

37

Update: Former Faculty & Staff

Norm and Phyllis Walker

Diane O’Halloran:

T

HERE ARE THREE PLACES THAT THE

WALKERS

call home: 66 Clyde Street in Newton, Massachusetts; 15 Vinmar Court in Rye, New

should say, “Testimonials to their WIVES' work.”)

It is an appropriate as well as ironic symbol of my father's life to have his name on a scoreboard. For a man

Hampshire; and Holderness. For my parents

of words, an English teacher and a poet, somehow num-

and the younger half of our family, this would

bers have played an even greater role in his life. Some of

seem obvious—living, working, and being educated at

those numbers follow (but the first two are the most

Holderness would lead to that obvious binding of the

important):

heart.

I think I speak for the older half of our family when

73 years of faith;

I say that this campus, the house on the Hill, and the

60 years in love and life with Phyllis;

members of this community have tied themselves to our

8 children and the wonderful spouses that

hearts as well. Some of our best memories as a family are

followed;

of Christmas times on the hill with the Chapel tree, foot-

17 grandchildren;

ball games, and Squam Lake summers, and—last but not

2 great-grandchildren;

least—sheepishly lining up for meals in Weld where we

48 years of teaching and coaching;

took up two tables!

More wins on the field, court, or mat than I could

Though most of us were born in Newton, we all

ever count;

grew up at Holderness. When complete, for our family,

More losses where the game played made a more

this scoreboard might read,

positive impact on the participants for the losing.

"Newton—25 years, vs.

Holderness—23 years." But, like

the one that the last two years of fighting cancer has

coached, the score doesn't tell you

placed on the board: days lived and lives touched. Spend

anything about the game.

My father's determination to

any day at my parents' house and you would be overwhelmed by the phone calls, cards, and visits from stu-

do his job well here, to change

dents and co-workers. Day after day, month after month,

for the better all those he came in

this year following the last, we have all been humbled by

contact with, along with his will

the sheer volume of love. No man has ever been richer in

to conquer the foe before him—

words, and no man has ever been richer in numbers.

whether on the field, in the classroom, or in our home—has taught

For those of you here who don't know my father or Ford Hinman as a teacher or a coach, for those of you

us all a lot about the game of life.

who are new to the school or who someday will be—the

This was met equally by everyone

score that will soon show on the board is the one that

at Holderness, people who

matters. That score will not be written in numbers, but

showed us respect, adversarial

instead in letters: "Ford Hinman. Norm Walker. Peer to

give-and-take, and enduring rela-

peer, coach to coach, human being to human being.

tionships. Family was formed.

Tied.”

I know I speak for both of my

What a great word! An equal end to a contest.

parents and my family when I say that we are honored

Connected always. An alternating rise and fall driven by

that you have chosen to dedicate this scoreboard and field

the heavens.

to both Ford Hinman and my father, Norman Walker, as a

A school, a team, a family—you never do it alone.

testimonial to their lives' work. (Though after hearing Jim

This is the score that matters: how many lives do you

Brewer and some alumni tell stories this morning about

touch? Thank you for touching ours.

Alice and Coach Hinman, and knowing my mother, I

38

But the largest, most impressive number has been

many a game my father has

Holderness School Today

David Hinman ’86:

I

WOULD LIKE TO BEGIN BY

there is no way Norm would have

thanking Phil Peck and the

attended this event today had the

entire Holderness community

field not shared my grandfather's

for making this day happen.

name. Both these men won stagger-

It is great to be back on cam-

pus and to see so many familiar faces here today.

I can't tell you what a privilege

ing amounts of football games, and deserve such recognition on their own, but that is not what either person is about. They were great

it is for me to have my grandfather

school people who dedicated their

and Norm Walker honored at the

careers to making us better by

same event. The only day that can

teaching the importance of perse-

come close to matching how I feel

verance, diligence, and teamwork.

today is the last time I strapped on a

So whether you played football in

Holderness helmet and took the

the Ford Hinman era or the Norm

field in the 1985 season finale

Walker era, you were coached and

against Proctor. Winning that game

mentored by a selfless individual

was a tremendous accomplishment,

who made us all better people.

but having my grandfather, mother, father, uncle, and Coach Walker on

There are so many players who have stepped on this field who con-

the same field to celebrate the win

sider Ford Hinman or Norm Walker

was a moment that I will always

part of their family. For me, I have

cherish.

Ironically, if my grandfather

the great fortune to say both are part of mine. My love for both these

were alive today, he would insist on

men could not be greater and I am

the field being named solely after

so honored to be part of this day.

Editor’s note: Last fall David Hinman organized an email campaign in which members of the football team who played (like he did) in the 1985 Proctor game contacted Norm on November 9, the 25th anniversary of that game. Two weeks later the game that decided this year’s NEPSAC championship in football (a game that Norm’s teams won seven times) was played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. That game was titled—and will be known henceforth—as the Norm Walker Bowl.

Norm. Likewise, I know for a fact,

“A school, a team, a family—you never do it alone. This is the score that matters: how many lives do you touch?”

—Diane O’Halloran

Holderness School Today

39

Update: Board of Trustees

Let the hate stop with me.

Bishop Gene Robinson announces his plans to retire, visits Holderness twice, and reflects on his role in one of the great social issues of our time.

MapQuest directions to our house. They arrested him, but only for having an unregistered weapon.”

The Bishop asserted that animosity against people of different sexual orientation is fueled by religion and rooted in a reading of the Bible that fails to account for the different cultural, political, and scientific contexts of the times in which its authors wrote. “Don’t confuse God and the church,” he said, “and don’t forget that scripture has been cited historically to justify

T

HE ANNOUNCEMENT TOOK NOT JUST

NEW

Hampshire, but the world, by surprise.

slavery and the oppression of women. Also don’t forget that there are people among you now, your friends

Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson—who

and roommates, who are discovering that they’re dif-

by virtue of that position is also president

ferent, and are frightened.”

of the Holderness Board of Trustees—said

he plans to retire in 2013.

But that should not be interpreted to mean relax.

“In addition to continuing his ministry to people who grew up without religion or who have had bad experiences with church, Robinson said he plans to become more involved in public policy issues,” reported the Boston Globe in December (“Robinson not seeking a quiet retirement,” 12/5/10). “Religious people on the political left, he said, need to speak more loudly—and provocatively—on behalf of the poor and vulnerable.”

Bishop Robinson could not be more deeply enmeshed in Episcopal Church policy issues, which is why his announcement was of global interest. He is the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican Communion, and his 2003 election in New Hampshire outraged those in the church who believe that scripture condemns homosexuality. The controversy today still threatens to lead to a schism in the church.

In an all-school assembly shortly after that announcement, Gene told Holderness students that

people as children of God,” the Bishop said. “If I’m treated badly by someone else, that doesn’t relieve me of that responsibility. If I respond in kind, that just

only outside New Hampshire is he known first as “that

begins a dark and downward spiral. While I knew this

gay bishop.” He never wanted to become such a cele-

before, I’ve come through this experience to truly

brated and polarizing figure, he said, but neither could

understand the weight of that responsibility to let the

he allow himself to flinch in facing what he believes to

hate stop with me. My job is to play my role as best I

be the most profound human rights—and religious—

can and not hate those who hate me.”

issue of our time.

When asked how the controversy had changed his

In his interview with the Boston Globe, Gene pointed out that there was nothing premature about

life, he said that the consequences have been “surreal.”

this retirement, that most Episcopal bishops retire in

He described a visit to London at a time when

their mid-60s, and that by 2013 he will have served in

Britain’s National Gallery was hosting a show built

his position for nine years.

around portraits of gay icons. “I got a call from Sir Ian

But neither did he anticipate a peaceful retire-

McKellen—you know, he’s the actor who played

ment, given the role that he wants to play in public

Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films—and he said,

policy issues. “Jesus was constantly upsetting people,”

‘We’re both in the show—do you want to go?’”

On the other hand there are death threats that he

40

Another student asked if the controversy had changed him as a person. “Jesus asked me to treat all

he told the Globe. “If we started proclaiming what Jesus did, which is our love for the marginalized and

and his partner continue to receive regularly. “Very

the outcast, and started demanding money and legisla-

recently a man was pulled over by police in Vermont,”

tion that helped these people, there would be hell to

he said. “He had in his car posters that said, ‘Kill the

pay. And that’s exactly the kind of Gospel trouble I

bishop, save the church,’ a shotgun, ammunition, and

think we should be in.”

Holderness School Today

The Bishop met with faculty, and (above left) spoke with students in assembly.

Holderness School is proud to welcome four distinguished new members to its Board of Trustees. These include . . .

O

NE OF THE THINGS THAT

experiential education programs there.

attracts Grace Macomber Bird

“We brought in authors, illustrators,

to Holderness is the school’s

bubble-blowers, dancers, river run-

various forays into experiential educa-

ners,” she says. “Whatever we could

tion: Out Back, Artward Bound,

find to open the mind of a child.”

Senior Honors Thesis, the Job

And she currently serves on the

Program, etc. Then there is the fact

boards of the faith-based Lazarus

that Holderness takes its church affili-

House Ministries in Lawrence, MA—

ation seriously: “I’m a fan of experi-

an organization that combats poverty

ential learning,” she says, “and I love

and despair by focusing directly on

it that this is a school with spirituality

the lives of children and their fami-

included in its strategic plan.

lies. “My biggest commitment is to

Whatever your faith, this is a signifi-

Lazarus,” she adds. “Lawrence is the

cant part of human experience.”

poorest city in New England, and at

All of which makes sense, given

Lazarus they do a phenomenal job of

her career commitment to what she

recognizing every person they serve

describes as “the development of

as an individual.”

human capital.” Educated at Andover and Dartmouth, where she was cap-

The common denominator is ways to move lives forward. “All of

tain of the alpine ski team, she has

the above equals a commitment on

defined herself since then as a tireless

my part to support and promote the

public servant. She served ten years

parts of Holderness that also recog-

on the Wheelock College board of

nize each individual student, faculty

trustees, and is still a member of the

member, and staff member,” she con-

college corporation.

cludes. “I am continually warmed by

She also served seven years on the Andover Public Schools’ Cultural

Grace Macomber Bird: Ways to move lives forward.

Grace, Elena ’13, and Jerry Bird.

the spirituality, fun, and dedication of those at the school.”

Enrichment Council (three years as chair), fostering various types of

Elizabeth Bunce: Top-notch kids for top-notch colleges.

A

N INDEPENDENT SCHOOL CAN’T

soon as Christopher saw Holderness, he knew that this was

afford just to educate—the

the place,” says Elizabeth. “He’s been very happy here.”

school

also has to recruit, and

Holderness competes for top students

Another happy result of that reference is that Christopher’s mother is now a member of the Board of

not just with other liberal arts schools,

Trustees. She grew up in Connecticut, but went west for

but also with ski academies.

college—to the University of Oregon, where she majored

Sometimes, though, the competition

in psychology, and then to the California College of the

works out to be your best friend.

Arts, where she studied interior architecture. Her husband

Two years ago, for example, Elizabeth

Jack Bunce is an investor, and they live in Sun Valley,

Bunce was accompanying her son

Idaho.

Christopher Nalen on a tour of New England ski academies. A coach at one of those schools

Now she looks forward to work on the board’s Intellectual Life and Student Life committees. “I’m excited

had skied at Middlebury College with David Nalen,

about the college counseling program,” she says, “because

Elizabeth’s first husband and Christopher’s father, who

of course these are exactly the sorts of kids top-notch col-

passed away in 1995. Also skiing at Middlebury then was

leges should be interested in.” And this interior architect

another old friend of David’s, Craig Antonides ’77. Did

loves the living-room areas planned for all the school’s

Elizabeth know that Craig was coaching skiing at

dormitories: “Kids need a place to hang out in the winter,

Holderness?

and you have a better quality of community life if that’s in

No, she didn’t, and that was enough to make sure that

the open.”

Holderness was among the schools they visited. “And as

Holderness School Today

41

Update: Board of Trustees

Tracy T McCoy Gillette ’89: Positive electric energy.

RACY

MCCOY GILLETTE ’89

thing electric, that you just don’t feel

grew up in Ohio, where inde-

anywhere else.”

pendent boarding schools are

After Holderness Tracy earned

few and far between, and where most

degrees in history at the University of

families don’t consider that option.

Utah and in special education at Regis

“But I had gone to a summer camp in

University. She worked nine years as

Colorado attended by many kids from

an elementary school teacher in Vail,

the East Coast, and I learned about

Colorado, and lives there now with

boarding schools from them,” she

her daughters Lily (9) and Wells (7).

says. “I went home and told my par-

She currently serves on the boards of

ents I wanted to try that. Well, they

Early Childhood Partners and Vail

were surprised.”

Valley Breast Cancer Awareness, and

They were doubtful as well, but

also sits on the advisory council for

willing to go along as she and a guidance counselor researched New

the Vail Youth Foundation.

And for the past twenty years

England schools and picked out five

she has returned positive energy to

possibilities. The first school she vis-

Holderness as a class correspondent

ited was Holderness, and she knew

and a tireless volunteer on behalf of

right away this was the place. She

alumni affairs. On the Holderness

says, “My parents insisted I visit the

board she will succeed Chris Carney

other schools, which I did, but I just

’75 as Alumni Association President,

loved the friendly kids and the sense

where she will continue to do what

of community here, and was so

she has always done, but on a broader

impressed by [admission officers]

basis—to find new and meaningful

Pete Barnum and Pat Henderson.

ways to involve alumni in the life of

There’s a positive energy here, some-

this fortunate boarding school.

Tracy, Tom, and Garrett Phillips ’14

B

OTH DECISIONS, A GENERATION APART,

way. In either case he was interested in

happened quickly and mysteriously. A

Holderness, and he told me so. We came up,

young Tom Phillips ’75 had just grad-

and he liked it.”

uated from the Rippowam Cisqua

was the only the school to which Cole

in Bedford, NY. He and his parents

applied. Cole is a senior this year, and he has

had a laundry list of boarding

company on campus now from his brother

schools they wanted to visit. They

Garrett ’14.

came up to Holderness on a snowy

just around the corner.

Tom knew a little about

Holderness School Today

In between those New England tours Tom attended Linfield College in McMinnville, OR, where he was a finance major. After Linfield, though, he found him-

Holderness from a friend at RCS

self a job designing backpacks and camping

who happened to be a distant

equipment for a little company that was even-

nephew of then-Plant Manager Rip

tually bought out by Eastern Mountain Sports.

Richards. “And I knew right then

In the shake-up following that buyout, Tom

that this was where I wanted to

caught the eye of the bankers at Merrill

go,” he says now. “It was the only school I applied to. And I was a lifer, 1971-75.”

Many years later Tom was the parent with that laundry list and miles to go with his older son Cole. “I had intentionally never

Lynch. He is now in his 29th year at ML, serving there as a chief investment officer within a private banking group.

He and his family live in New Canaan, CT, but they get a lot of fresh air at a second

brought him up to Holderness,” Tom says. “I

home in Woodstock, VT. We hope it’s the sort

didn’t want to be forceful that way. So we

of air that nurtures a third generation of

started our drive-bys, and I learned that Cole

Phillipses at Holderness.

was surprised that I never pushed him that

42

And history repeated itself. Holderness

School, an independent day school

night, and checked into a motel

Tom Phillips ’75: Two generations and counting.

Wells, Tracy, and Lily Gillette.

Update: Alumni in the News

Books

Good fences make good families.

Krissy Pozatek ’92 has gone from wilderness guide to clinical social worker to a newly published authority on the dynamics of parent-adolescent child relationships.

“Secure and set boundaries (such as bedtime, TV/ computer time,

C

OWS NEED

‘EM,

AND SO DO WE, SAYS

therapist and author Krissy Pozatek.

struggle and ameliorate the deficit. The pattern enables the child to not be accountable, to not

Both species need fences, and the more

develop such internal resources as problem-solv-

secure the better.

ing, delayed gratification, or emotional regulation.

She likes to cite the experience of a col-

league, a man who once worked on a cattle ranch.

As a result, not only is there a primary problem with the child—ADHD, or anxiety, or depression,

He found that when cows were put into a new pas-

or lying, and so on—there is a secondary problem

ture, for the first several days they stuck to its

in the parent-child relationship.”

perimeters, pushing against its fences as they

It’s a pattern that undermines a child’s normal

grazed, even though the best grass and alfalfa was

maturation process, she says, but one that can be

usually in the middle. It was only after all the

avoided if parents just know how to go about it.

fence had been tested, and any weak points

She always wished that there was a book she could

repaired, that the cows felt safe enough from pred-

recommend to such parents, but there wasn’t. “So

ators to move to the pasture’s central area.

when a space opened up in my life, with my

“Just like the cows, children push against limits to test the boundaries that protect them,” she writes in “Securing the Fence,” an article she wrote for a Massachusetts family association

Krissy is a licensed clinical social worker who went from Middlebury—where she majored in environmental studies and geography—straight out to Utah, where she began training as an

that the ‘holes’ are what upset children. Secure and

instructor in a wilderness program for adjudicated

set boundaries (such as bedtime, TV/computer

youth. Wilderness was something into which she

time, homework time, and household rules) trans-

had been initiated at Holderness, primarily through

mit a message of physical and emotional safety.

Out Back, and it’s led her now into that other tan-

Kids constantly test boundaries to see if they are

gled wilderness of human adolescence, and the

secure and intact . . . . When kids adapt internally

sort of well-intentioned parenting that sometimes

to rules and boundaries, they are developing the

just tangles it further.

Of course a fence is something that has two sides, and Krissy’s new book—The Parallel

These days she lives in Vermont with her husband and two daughters, and maintains a busy family therapy practice.

And in terms of adolescent

Process: Growing Alongside Your Adolescent or

development, she keenly

Young Adult Child in Treatment, Lantern Books,

approves of what comes

December, 2010—shows parents how best to con-

out of Out Back, and other

duct themselves, and what guidelines they need to

aspects of the Holderness

adhere to, in creating a family environment that

Experience. “Holderness

strikes the right balance between support, autono-

turns out such wonderful

my, and responsibility.

“After ten-plus years in the adolescent treatment field, I saw over and over again the same

—Krissy Pozatek

youngest child starting preschool,” she says, “I sat

in their attempt to decode children’s behavior is

ate in the larger world.”

transmit a message of physical and emotional safety.”

down myself and wrote the book.”

newsletter. “What many parents don’t understand

internal resources to one day individuate and oper-

homework time, and household rules)

and well-rounded people,” she says, “that my Holderness friends contin-

parent-child patterns,” she says in a conversation

ue to be very bright spots

with HST. “Parents perceive a struggle or deficit in

in my life.”

their child and work harder and harder to fix the

Holderness School Today

43

Update: Alumni in the News

Service

Saving humans, one pup at a time.

T

HE DOG WAS ELEVEN OR TWELVE YEARS

as to why a stranger should be interested. “These

old, and had been kept on a tight

are hard times, you know,” he told Cynthia when

chain around the clock to its dog-

she showed up at his place. “I can’t take care of

house for all that time. The video—

him better than this.”

shot on a subzero day during the

Pennsylvania winter—showed that the dog’s eyes

Cynthia paid the man a couple hundred dollars and unhooked that chain. She arrived back

were crusted with icicles, that its legs were trem-

home in Rowley, Massachusetts, with a dog that

bling in the cold.

could only walk in circles. Gradually, though,

Cynthia Sweet had assisted in the rescue of

these circles broadened into loops and broke into

dogs from the New Orleans area after Hurricane

lines, and Cynthia and her personal rescue dog

Katrina in 2005, and that video clip was all she

spent a happy five months together—until Biddy

needed to see of this different sort of victim. She

fell in trying to jump a wall. “And we couldn’t

contacted the organization that had sent her the

help him,” she says. “His spine had calcified from

video—Dogs Deserve Better—and eventually

all those years spent on a chain.”

learned exactly where in Pennsylvania this dog was to be found. The owner was frankly confused

44

Holderness School Today

Cynthia wrote about the experience in January, 2010, on her Facebook page, and has

It’s a sort of Underground Railroad, but it goes by highway in her van. Cynthia Sweet ’94 is the conductor of an operation that brings hundreds of orphaned or neglected dogs from the South for adoption in New England. It all started with Biddy.

“A St. Bernard, a poodle, whatever—you can find it.

And I’ll work with families to try to find the perfect dog for them.”

—Cynthia Sweet

since discovered

breed recognized by the

that there are a

AKC has a rescue

whole lot of dogs

organization dedicated

experiencing hard

just to that breed. So a

times out there.

St. Bernard, a poodle,

Requests for her

whatever—you can find

help with other dogs

it. And I’ll work with

rolled in, enough so

families to try to find the

that Cynthia and

perfect dog for them.”

some friends now organize three trips

Cynthia also serves on the board of Cape

per year for the

Ann Animal Aid, and is

express purpose of

co-chair of a current

Cynthia with Biddy in 2009.

collecting dogs from

capital campaign there.

neglectful or abu-

“I’m also trying to venture out on my own, though, and I’m

sive owners and finding better homes for them.

“Usually we head off to Tennessee or Alabama or

applying for nonprofit status, just so—if nothing else—I can write my expenses off on my taxes. I hope to be founding an

Georgia,” she says. “The South is where 85 percent of our dog

organization called Sweet Paws Rescue, and we’ve already got

overpopulation is located. It’s due to socio-economic and cul-

the slogan: ‘Saving humans one dog at a time.’”

tural issues. People often can’t afford to get their dogs spayed or neutered, and they let them roam free. So if somebody’s doing rescue work, often people will just dump boxes of unwanted puppies there by the front gate. Of course then the rescue people get seriously overloaded.”

Those puppies are the lucky ones, though. Others like them are taken to local animal control facilities, or else municipal pounds. “The Humane Society estimates that about five to eight million dogs get euthanized in the US per year,” Cynthia

A

LL THAT WORK, AND IT ISN’T EVEN THE DAY JOB.

FOR

THE

past six years Cynthia has worked as a counselor in a program at Northeastern University that places student

interns in temporary jobs and volunteer projects all over the world, and it’s a program that well complements her own instincts for public service.

“Northeastern is a co-operative school, which means our students go back and forth between the classroom and work in

says. “At the municipal pounds, dogs spend two days in a box

a field that they’re interested in,” she says. “In this internation-

and then are put down in ways best described as barbaric.

al program, most of the jobs involve some sort of civic

These pounds are underfunded themselves, and usually don’t

engagement—a nursing student at a clinic in Bolivia, for

have the means to keep accurate records. So people in this line

example, or a cultural anthropologist at a human rights organi-

of work agree that numbers like five to eight million are gross-

zation in Africa. More than half of our volunteers are out

ly inadequate—it’s probably more like twenty million dogs

somewhere in the Developing World.”

killed each year. And it’s a waste. Every time somebody buys a dog from a breeder or a pet store, really, that’s one more dog needlessly put to death in the South.”

Cynthia is now part of a network of rescue volunteers that connects activists in the South to people from other parts of

It makes for a busy sort of life, but she’s grateful for the friends working at her side, a number of whom are Holderness alumnae. “Amy Bridgham went on a trip with me to Alabama with four other friends in two vans—a fifty-hour round-trip that collected 47 pups,” she says. “Alexis Wruble [’95] went

the country who live where there are greater markets for

on a trip with me just last weekend, and Katie Lyman [’95] has

orphan dogs. She has permanent relationships with a number

adopted a couple of my dogs, helped raise money for rescues

of Southern rescue workers, and when she’s not going down to

in the South, and been really great at marketing our work.”

get dogs herself, the dogs come to her—transported almost to her doorstep in vans that typically arrive a couple times each

The roll call for 2010 by the end of December? That would be 200 dogs brought to the doorstep of a new life in

month. She picks these up in her SUV and brings them back to

New England, and one hundred percent of them adopted out so

the one-acre fenced property that she shares with her

far. And yet sometimes it seems like she hardly makes a dent.

boyfriend. There they are quarantined for two months and visited by a veterinarian, who administers any necessary shots.

She thinks back to that chained and shivering creature in Pennsylvania. “This can be an emotionally sad sort of move-

Cynthia pays for that out of her own pocket, and when a dog is

ment to be involved in, and you don’t want to lose yourself in

adopted, she asks only for a fee from the new owner that

it,” she says. “But somebody’s got to do it, and I guess fifty

recoups her costs.

In general these dogs have been trained and socialized enough by rescuers in the South so that they are easily placed

percent of my own investment in it is for the sake of the dogs—the rest is for the women, my colleagues, who are so frequently overworked and underfunded.”

in new homes, and in fact most of Cynthia’s dogs have owners

In fact her work is as important for all the people

waiting for them before they get there. “And people don’t real-

involved—the rescuers, the adopting families, and even the

ize that you can adopt any sort of dog you like,” she says.

dog donors—as it is for the imperiled dogs. One person at a

“Thirty percent of the dogs in shelters are pure-bred, and every

time, one puppy at a time—things get just a little bit better.

Holderness School Today

45

Update: Alumni in the News

Service

Stanley Shalett ’55 fought long and hard, but he was finally unable to save Kingston’s Gilmore Cottage.

Alas, no more Gilmore

W

E WISH ALL THE STORIES TOLD IN

HST

agreed to allow anyone to claim the building, free of charge, so

HAD HAPPY

endings, but sometimes, alas, Proctor’s gonna win that football game—and so forth.

long as it was moved from its site on Main Street.

But no one stepped forward to move the building, and in

Last spring we described the tireless efforts of Stanley

September Sanborn Superintendent Brian J. Blake wrote to

Shalett ’55 to save the Gilmore Cottage in Kingston, NH. The

inform Kingston’s selectmen that efforts to find a “buyer” had

late 19th century building was originally part of a seminary com-

proved fruitless, that the building was in too poor condition to be

plex, and then it became a special education facility for Sanborn

renovated, and to ask their support for burning it down within the

Regional High School. In 2006,

next few weeks.

though, the Sanborn Regional

“In spite of all efforts to save this beautiful,

School District built a new high

historic building from utter destruction, it

school and the abandoned cottage

looks like the fireman’s torch will finally come

fell into disrepair.

into play,” Stanley wrote in a September letter

The school district tried unsuc-

to HST. “I know for a fact that a building like

cessfully to sell the building, and

this can be used as a ‘town annex’ to house

then resolved to burn it down in

offices of the Kingston Historic District

2009. That was when Stan got

Commission and those of the Conservation

involved, filing a restraining order

Commission due to the limitation of space in

against the burning and garnering

the Town Hall.”

support from Kingston’s Historic

He appreciated the attention of the

District Commission and the New

Holderness community, though. “Perhaps in

Hampshire Preservation Alliance.

your next article, you can encourage Holderness School students

The restraining order was dismissed in Rockingham County

and alumni to embark upon a career committed to serving their

Superior Court, but Stanley appealed the decision to the state

community in every way possible. Again, thank you for being

Supreme Court, and then the story got into the newspapers. The

instrumental in making these events newsworthy.”

school district sat down with Stanley and his allies, and they

Sustainability

Just do ONE thing.

Extreme skier and environmental activist Alison Gannett ’83 had the track records and the awards to prove that she was doing LOTS of things to defend our environment. Then she calculated her carbon footprint and really buckled down.

S

HE IS THE CO-OWNER OF

75-

acre Holy Terror Farm in

Paonia, Colorado, and she

from her other jobs—professional skiing

works an operation that

and mountain biking; running a business

grows 22 types of lettuce,

that teaches women how to bike, ski,

five types of kale, 53 types of tomatoes,

Alison and Jason go American Gothic (sort of) for the Denver Post.

46

Holderness School Today

And yet it’s all much more for subsistence than money. The money comes

and surf; giving speeches around the

12 types of winter squash, and long

country on self-realization and sustain-

rows of summer squash, asparagus, arti-

ability; and overseeing the nonprofits

chokes, onions, garlic, and many more

she has founded, such as an online

vegetables and grains; cilantro, sage,

farmers market, or an organization to

dill, horseradish, and many more herbs;

promote cost-effective solutions to cli-

lemon trees, orange trees, apple trees,

mate change (Save Our Snow). In

grape vines, raspberry bushes, strawber-

between all that she prunes fruit trees,

ry plants, and many more fruits; and this

fetches eggs from the chicken coop,

is to say nothing of its eggs and bee-

mucks out the pig sties, prepares hun-

hives and pigs.

dreds of cans of food, and well . . . does

so much more.

For Alison Gannett, the farm is just the next

Terror prospers. “Just working around the farm

logical step in an activist’s commitment to princi-

takes a lot of energy,”

ple, a quality that earned her “Green All-Star”

one farmer says. “It’s a

status from Outside Magazine in 2007, that made

huge thing. So I do won-

her a “High Country Hero” for Ski Magazine in

der how they can keep

2009, and that last December drew a reporter

all of that together. It’s a

from the Denver Post out to Paonia (“Skier

heck of a lot. Any one

turned farmer Alison Gannett brings passion to

thing would be plenty.”

the environment to her new life on the land,” 12/21/10).

The former World Extreme Skiing champion became more than an athlete and entrepreneur on

Human energy? No lack of that in Alison.

She also recognizes that this level of footprint

a day about fifteen years ago, when she flew to

reduction—which we

Bolivia to ski a famous glacier and found the gla-

hope is sustainable—is

cier nearly gone. “The jolt illustrated for her that

not within the reach of

the climate was changing, and it scared her,”

most Americans. So

wrote reporter Douglas Brown. “She became

“any one thing” is just

heavily involved in climate-change issues.”

what she preaches in all

Along the way she measured her “carbon

her speeches on the sub-

footprint,” which is a measure of fossil fuel use in

ject. “Just do one thing. Don’t do one hundred,”

such obvious applications as personal heat and

she says. “Most people have a tough time getting

transportation, and in such less obvious ones as

started, but you need to say, ‘I’m going to try just

the production, transportation, and storage of the

one thing.’ And once you do that, it becomes

food she eats. “I thought I was being green,” she

addictive.”

told Brown, but she was shocked to learn that her footprint was sixteen tons—versus twenty for an average American.

Which is why, last April, she and fiancé Jason Trimm became farmers, buying a property

The former world champion still finds time for this.

Whittling thirty percent off your footprint is easy, she says, involving such simple things as turning off your computer at night. A bunch of little things like that would do more good, at less expense, than solar panels on your roof or an

below Colorado’s Mt. Lamborn. “So she is offering up her life as a guinea pig,” Brown wrote.

“She bought the farm to find out just how lightly she could live on earth.”

And she has foresworn trips to the supermarket. She hasn’t been to one since moving to Paonia, and everything she and Jason eat comes either from their own land or that of nearby farmers. They plan to acquire some dairy cows this year, and they hope soon to install a wood-fired

“So she is offering up her life as a guineau pig,” Brown wrote. “She bought the farm to find out just how lightly she could live on earth.”

still that can produce ethanol.

Alison takes a hit on her carbon footprint every time she flies to a speech or athletic event, but she rents a bicycle once she lands, and sleeps

electric car. And measuring your own carbon

in an inflatable tent. “Now,” noted Brown, “she’s

footprint is easy at websites such as carbonfoot-

down from sixteen tons to eight, with more than

print.com.

half of her footprint coming from airplane travel.”

It’s not without sacrifice, though. Like

Meanwhile this champion extreme skier pursues another sort of extreme challenge with char-

Alison, Jason came to the Rockies for the outdoor

acteristic focus and intensity. But she remains a

sports, and he speaks poignantly to Brown about

skier as well. While Brown was at Holy Terror,

how little time there is for that now. “When it

Alison looked up from her greenhouse to the

starts snowing and everybody is skiing, and in the

12,000-foot spike of Mt. Lamborn. “I would love

summer when everybody is mountain biking, we

to ski that line right there,” she said, dragging one

won’t be part of that,” he says. “I’m always worn

finger down the flank of the mountain.

out. It’s hard to get on a bike.”

Neighboring farmers love the on-line market

“The line?” wrote Brown. “A cliff, basically.”

they can now subscribe to, and they hope Holy

Holderness School Today

47

Update: Alumni in the News

Arts

NetWork is a prize work, say the judges in Montreal & Paris.

Stept Productions, founded by brothers Alex ’06 and Nick Martini ’08, claims firsts at two International Freestyle Film Festivals.

I

T’S NICE TO THINK ABOUT, SEEING THIS

spelled out in big white block letters on a

dusty hillside in southern California:

HOLDERNESS. But instead Hollywood has come here, or at least a vestige of it, in the film company—Stept Productions—started by Alex Martini ’06 and his brother Nick ’08 while both were students here.

That was eight years ago, and Stept still focuses on the brothers’ passion for freestyle skiing. They’ve produced eight full-length movies about the sport so far, in addition to smaller pieces of video and photo content, and last October their most recent film, NetWork, won an award as the top amateur film presented at Montreal’s International Freestyle Film Festival (IF3). It went on to take another first at IF3 Europe in November. Take a look at www.steptproductions.com.

“Several other Holderness folks are still involved in Stept,” says their father and current trustee Paul Martini. “Many edits on their stuff

On the podium, from the right: Alex Martini, Nick Martini, ski mom Nancy Martini, Cam Riley ’07, Connor Schofield, and unknown Stept contributor.

Nicolay’s Sgt. Pepper

L

AST FALL MUSIC TEACHER

DAVE

The Music Critic says the new CD by Franz Nicolay ’95 is a masterpiece. web-based consortium of independent

Lockwood released an original

music reviewers in the United Kingdom

CD—Lucky Me—whose cover

(www.themusiccritic.co.uk).

“Luck and Courage is a wonderful

image showed the composer’s hands

holding a rabbit’s foot. That was around

record that blends [Nicolay’s] punk sensi-

the same time that former Hold Steady

bilities with that of an articulate trouba-

keyboardist and composer Franz Nicolay

dour,” says The Critic. It is a master class

released his second solo CD, Luck and

in instrumentation, arrangement, and

Courage. The cover image for that album

poetic musings that his previous incarna-

(designed by Sophie Nicolay ’00) is a

tions have been unable to capture. This is

drawing that portrays a rabbit whose left

Nicolay’s Sgt. Pepper.”

The Critic continues: “Luck and

forefoot has just been amputated. Could that (gulp) have been the foot that Dave was holding?

Well, we don’t know. We hope that

Courage is a work of grand proportions that deserves to be heard. . . . I genuinely have not been able to stop listening to

no animals were harmed in the produc-

this album, and its destiny to become a

tion of those CDs. And we do know that

classic in my book is already confirmed.”

And don’t forget to listen to Lucky

Luck and Courage was lucky enough to have been honored as Album-of-the-

Me, which is its own sort of master class.

Month in October by The Music Critic, a

48

Holderness School Today

happened in Hoit and Rathbun dorms over the years.”

The rabbit foot motif— coincidence?

Or conspiracy?

Sports

Gathering

US Ski Team racer Julia Ford ’08 notches a Nor-Am Cup win and makes the second World Cup start of her career.

L

speed This photo of Julia training last summer in Chile appeared in Ski Racing this winter.

AST YEAR ALPINE RACER AND

is the first Holderness skier to win

US Ski Team member Julia

a Nor-Am in a long time,” said

Ford ’08 finished second

alpine coach, Dean of Faculty, and

overall in the Nor-Am Cup stand-

ings, which is all the more impressive considering that she didn’t

Assistant Head Jory Macomber.

The week before Julia skied against the world’s best in the sec-

have a single win over the sea-

ond World Cup start of her career,

son—just consistent top-ten results,

also at Lake Louise. There her top

week after week, over a wide range

result was a 34th in the super GS, an event won by her teammate

Her season this year, however,

Lindsey Vonn. But it was good

began with a Nor-Am Cup win—in

experience, and experience is

the downhill at Lake Louise,

something Julia is learning to put

Canada, in early December, and by

to good use.

J. Selkowitz photo

of events.

nearly a four-second margin. “Julia

The Ever Green crew last fall, with Sohier in the white wrap-around glasses.

A familiar magic

Sohier Hall ’88 resumes his place in, says, the Boston Globe, “the greatest Dartmouth crew to ever grip an oar.”

“I

T HAD BEEN EIGHTEEN YEARS SINCE THE GREATEST

that would stake that claim to being the “greatest Dartmouth crew to

Dartmouth crew to ever grip an oar had pulled togeth-

ever grip an oar”: an undefeated regular season, the only Eastern

er, but from the moment they came back to campus

Sprints crown in school history, the winner of two out of three

last Thursday and took their first practice stroke, there

national races, and the “Great 8” trophy as the top crew in the coun-

was a familiar magic in the boat.”

try.

So wrote Boston Globe reporter John Powers in an article last

“A quote from one of my Holderness teachers turned into one of

October on the reunion of that crew—a crew that included Sohier

our guiding principles,” Sohier says as he remembers that season.

Hall among its nine members (“Alumni group has a lot of class left,”

“Holderness has paved paths and beautiful grass and in spring it gets

10/24/10).

Sohier is the brother of current science teacher and Nordic ski

muddy. But we were often reminded—‘Cut corners now and you’ll be cutting corners your whole life.’ That senior year, nobody on the

coach Lindley van der Linde ’89, who was an All-American Nordic

team cut corners. We worked our butts off to be the best. And it was

racer at Williams. Sohier was fast on Nordic skis as well—“No ath-

magic from the start.”

lete could dream of a more inspiring and smart coaching combination than Phil Peck and Steve Gaskill,” he says—but at Dartmouth he abandoned frozen water for liquid and took up rowing instead.

By his senior year he was captain of a men’s heavyweight team

Fast-forward almost two decades. Sohier now lives in the Pacific Northwest with wife Megan and three daughters, and is Senior Director of Microsoft’s Bing Product Management Group.

Someone suggested a reunion row at the 49th Head of the Charles

Holderness School Today

49

Update: Alumni in the News

Sports had gone on to various national teams.

Regatta in Cambridge. “Their average age

Then, in the words of the Globe: “’They had

was 39 by now,” wrote the Globe. “They had

a lot of emotion there,’ observed [former

wives, children, jobs, and they were scattered

coach Scott] Armstrong, ‘They were nervous.

from Boston to Portland, Maine, to

I was nervous.’ But as soon as coxswain

the Henley Regatta in England—“more

Milwaukee to San Francisco to Seattle to

Mark Hirschey steered them out of the chute

deeply satisfying was picking up where

That was a good result, but—said the Globe, referring to their previous final race at

London. But once they were in, they were all

for the three-mile upstream pull, the rhythm

they’d left off on a Thames river dock eight-

in, as always.”

and the romance returned.”

een summers ago.”

The nine team members spent a year,

They called themselves Ever Green, and

The roots of Sohier Hall’s satisfaction,

says Sohier, “training virtually—sharing

they had already beaten the current

however, stretched all the way back to

workouts, pushing each other to get reac-

Dartmouth varsity eight (which includes

Holderness, before he’d ever touched an oar.

quainted with ‘the edge.’ It was truly a gift to

Tanner Mathison ’07) in a practice run. In

“Coaches Phil and Steve measured their suc-

be able to reunite with good friends, focus on

their official event that day on the Charles

cess not just by the result of the day,” he says.

a goal, go beyond what you think is possible

River they placed second by a narrow margin

“If we continued our love of sport, and kept

to get there.”

to Northeastern’s varsity crew, but finished

racing it up—into the future, and if we shared

Collectively they had dropped 120 pounds by the time they reunited last fall.

ahead of a crew of other Dartmouth alumni,

it with family—then that was success. So Phil

all of whom were younger, many of whom

and Steve, high honors to you.”

N

URTURE IS NOT THE SAME AS

Cross-Country Ski Championships, reads the

growing up in meteorologically

citation, “taking gold in his age group in the

disadvantaged locations like

15k freestyle event at the 1998 Worlds in Lake

Brookline, MA, Wickford, RI,

Placid.”

Rye, NY, and Corpus Christie, TX, Charlie dis-

advance his sports. He served ten years as the

School,” says the citation for Charlie Kellogg’s

Nordic Vice-President for the US Eastern

election—last October, in a ceremony in

Amateur Ski Association, and for the past eight-

Jackson, WY—to the US Biathlon Hall of

een years he has been a member of the Board of

Charlie was a four-event skier—slalom, downhill, jumping, and cross-country—for the

also at Williams College for Ralph Townsend.

ing when you live close to Boston,” he said,

He was best at cross-country, though, at

speaking in February from one of two Biathlon

Williams often finishing on the same podium

World Cup events held in Maine this winter. He

with 1962 NCAA champion Jim Page, who

described himself as a fringe member of Don

would later teach and coach at Holderness in

Henderson’s powerful ski teams, and said he

the late 1960s.

was very lucky to have been given a shot at biathlon by the Army. He then offered a very brief and modest review of his accomplish-

Modern Winter Biathlon Training Center at Fort

ments in the sport. Regarding that Hall of Fame

Richardson, Alaska. In 1964 he was the top

selection—“I guess they just wanted to thank

American finisher at the World Military

me for all the administrative work,” he laughed.

Championships (CISM) in Sweden, and after

It’s a fiendishly difficult sport, biathlon.

his discharge—in 1965—he won the first offi-

With a rifle on your back and skis on your feet,

cial US national championship in biathlon.

you sprint until your lungs are bursting, and

By then he had begun his long career at IBM and was just entering his prime as a

then in an instant you stop and somehow become still and calm enough to put a bullet

Nordic skier. He won a spot on the Eastern

through a target fifty meters away and only a

Cross-Country team in 1967, and the US

few centimeters wide. It’s always been a fringe

Olympic Team in 1968. At the Grenoble

sport in America, but Charlie looked at the

Olympics, he raced in the 30k and 50k Nordic

crowds at that World Cup event and he could

events, and continued to race on the National

feel it moving closer to the mainstream. And

Team for another five years.

that’s in no small part thanks to a Hall-of-Fame

And he has never stopped racing—in regional, national, and international competi-

Holderness School Today

“I don’t compete in biathlon any more because it’s hard to keep up with target shoot-

stint in the Army when he was assigned to the

50

Directors for the US Biathlon Association, and its Vice-Chairman for the past several years.

legendary Don Henderson at Holderness, and

Charlie’s biathlon career began during his

After decades of achievement and service to his sport, Olympian Charlie Kellogg ’58 is elected to the US Biathlon Hall of Fame.

Nor has he ever stopped helping to

covered skiing as a student at Holderness

Fame.

Trailblazer

tions. He has taken part in three World Masters

destiny. “Despite handicapped by

trailblazer like him.

Raising the ante on character

First Jed Hoyer ’92 welcomed Maj. Bunge Cook ’94 and the US Marines to Petco Park in San Diego. Then he impressed baseball experts by emphasizing character in the Padres’ off-season personnel moves.

L

AST YEAR

JED HOYER

BECAME GENER-

Baseball team, the San Diego Padres,

But on further review, Verducci found that the two were not dissimilar. Gillick talked about

that had one of the lowest payrolls in

what it took to build a winning team, and he said

baseball, and that was expected to

that early in his career thought that it came down

unload its best performers and bring up the rear

to about 70 percent ability in each player, and 30

of the National League’s West Division. Instead

percent character. By the time he was really

Jed kept the team together, added a few key role

building winners, though, he had raised character

players, and watched as the Padres won 90 games

to 60 percent and downgraded ability according-

and contended for the division title until the last

ly.

day of the season. Last September that won Jed a ranking by Sports Illustrated baseball writer Jon

Meanwhile Jed had many offers for Gonzalez, but what made Boston’s most attrac-

Heyman as one of MLB’s best executives (Daily

tive was his personal knowledge of the Red Sox

Scoop, 9/29/10).

farm system and his confidence in the character

This year, though, the best of the Padres—

of the three young players. “Hoyer,” wrote

All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez—was in

Verducci, “said the comfort of knowing the

the final year of his contract, and Jed again

makeup of the three players helped clinch the

earned praise from SI for the frankness with

deal, rather than taking a flyer on a prospect

which he confronted that situation in November.

somewhere else without knowing his character.

“Rather than sugarcoat things for Padres fans,”

‘Perhaps the biggest anxiety you have in any

Heyman wrote, “Hoyer took the unusual step of

trade is the unknown,’ Hoyer said. ‘You don’t

plainly stating that they will not be extending

know the player, you don’t know the personality,

Gonzalez and that he might even entertain trade

you don’t know the toughness. All of that is

offers, and no one can blame the Padres for that

taken out of the equation in this trade for us.’”

either. There’s no sense stringing fans along

Jed (left) and Bunge traded some swag inside Petco.

tion of today.”

al manager of a Major League

Observers in general have been impressed

when the chances are next to nil of Gonzalez

by the trade, judging that this will prove to be a

staying in San Diego beyond 2011.”

good deal for both the Padres and the Red Sox.

And then in December Gonzalez was traded

And Verducci was particularly impressed by Jed’s

to the Boston Red Sox, where Jed had cut his

respect for the human element in weighing what

teeth as an assistant general manager, for three

he does.

highly regarded young prospects. At MLB’s winter meetings another SI baseball writer, Tom Verducci, happened to see Jed together with Pat Gillick, a former general manager who had just been elected to MLB’s Hall of Fame. “The juxta-

M

ILITARY RECRUITERS DO MUCH THE SAME

thing in assembling their own teams,

and it just so happens that an old friend

of Jed’s—Major Warren (Bunge) Cook—is in

position of Gillick, 73, and Hoyer, who turns 37

charge of recruiting throughout southern

today, was striking because Gillick shared a life-

California for the US Marine Corps. Each year in

time of wisdom [in a news conference about his

September Bunge gathers staff from his main

election],” wrote Verducci, “while Hoyer is the

branch and various substations for an end-of-year

product of a young generation of executives

review of their recruitment rates and practices,

tempted by the dazzling technology and informa-

and then to plan for the next year.

This year Jed donated his conference room at San Diego’s Petco Park as a venue for that assembly. He also added an element of personal hospitality. “He gave us a tour of the park, the clubhouse, the press boxes,” said Bunge. “He also spoke to us about how you build winners, and he made some good connections concerning the traits that we both look for.”

Of course Bunge and his teammates play a much more serious sort of game.

We might want to raise the ante on character even a little higher when the Marines take the field.

Major Cook’s staff with General Manager Hoyer at the ball park. Jed is second from the left, Bunge second from the right.

Holderness School Today

51

Alumni Affairs

2.

1.

Reunion Homecoming Weekend 2010

How can you beat fall in New England? A record number of alumni agreed! Opportunities to catch up with both present and former faculty were plentiful. Weld Hall was alive with the All-Alumni/All-Student Cookout. And there were more fans than ever watching the Bulls in competition all afternoon. Thank you for embracing change. It worked!

3.

52

Holderness School Today

4.

Who’s Who & Where

in this random scrapbook of reunion photos.

5.

1. Former language teacher Lew Overaker with Kristin van Curan Nordblom ’79; 2. Chaplain Rich Weymouth ’70 with former English teacher and football coach Norm Walker at the dedication of the Hinman-Walker Field; 3. John Despres ’60 and Dick Funkhouser ’60 at the 50th Reunion Dinner; 4. Storytelling by archivist Judith Solberg and former English teacher Jim Brewer; 5. Tim Barnhorst ’00 with spouse Lindsey and young Brooklyn; 6.

Ross Deachman ’60 at the 50th Dinner with the Water Ski Hall of Fame exhibit honoring former teacher Warren Witherall; 7. Some members of the Out Back anniversary panel: Paul Elkins, Piper Orton ’74, Bill Clough ’57, Fred Beams, Duane Ford ’74; 8. Nate Beams ’90 with spouse Molly and children Finn and Charlie; 9. Alumni Association President Chris Carney ’75; 10. Anna Lockwood ’03 with Anna Macomber, the daughter of teachers Jory and Martha; 11. Composer Chris Little ’81 performing Out Back’s official song.

9.

11.

10.

6.

7.

8.

Holderness School Today

53

Advancement & External Realtions

“All out of a few dollar bills.”

Arthur Sweeney ’41 never felt like the money was his in the first place.

And it was just a couple of dollars each week.

Half a century later, thanks to the generosity of Arthur and his wife Edith, it has become a windfall for financial aid at Holderness. Story by Rick Carey & Edith Sweeney.

54

Holderness School Today

A

RTHUR

SWEENEY

DIDN’T

want the money in the first place. He didn’t feel like it was his. He felt

boned, yet voluminous anthology upon the gentler sex?”

This was a year, though, in which Arthur’s interests expanded beyond the

mildly annoyed that he

gentler sex. He performed in a Gilbert &

had to deal with it, but

Sullivan operetta, sang in the choir, and

there it was: a pair of

dollar bills left each week on the seats of

stepped in on an emergency basis to edit and publish that edition of The Dial. “He

his car. Eventually he collected the bills

even made the honor roll,” says Edith

and put them—two by two, like the ani-

Sweeney, that member of the gentler sex

mals on Noah’s ark—into a bank account

who claimed him in 1952. “And his

he set up just for them.

grandmother paid him twenty dollars for

This was in the years right after World War II. Arthur had attended several schools during his high school years, and Holderness, which he attended for just a

that. So of course he had to stay on the honor roll.”

“It was a year that changed my life,” says Arthur, who credits Holderness for

year, was the last. “Who has not seen this

his admission to Bowdoin College. His

suave man-about-town languorously

college years, though, were interrupted by

‘butting’ [smoking] in the faculty living

the war. He enlisted in the Air Force,

room,” said the 1941 Dial, “and who has

served as a bombardier flying from the

not heard vague rumors of that berib-

Boot of Italy on missions all over

Arthur Sweeney in the 1941 Dial.

The two commuters were grateful for the rides and wanted to pay Arthur for his trouble.

Arthur replied that no payment was necessary.

Europe—and eventually helped Edith write and publish a book about that experience, The Story of a Bombardier in

A dollar was a lot of money back then, good enough for a week’s worth of gas in your car if you were just driving

World War II: Arthur Sweeney, Jr. 1941-45. Included in that

around town. And if you put money in the bank long

book are eighty pages of letters that Arthur wrote to his fami-

enough—thanks to the miracle of compound interest—and

ly during the war years. Recently the Sweeneys donated a

then invested it wisely enough—thanks to several robust

copy of that book, along with the original letters, to the

decades of post-war growth on the stock exchange—a few

Library of Congress in Washington.

hundred dollars could become, well, voluminous.

Arthur had married in 1942, but was a widower and

A

FTER THE WAR

ARTHUR

FINISHED UP AT

BOWDOIN,

man-about-town again when he went on a blind date with

and then went to work as a purchasing agent at

Edith at the Black Point Inn in Scarborough, Maine. That

Bath Iron Works in Maine. He drove directly

worked out well, as did the job at Bath Iron Works. He stayed

from his home in South Freeport to the Iron

there until his retirement in 1979. These days the Sweeneys

Works every day, and it didn’t take him out of his

still live in Maine, but they winter in Arizona, and meanwhile

way at all to pick up two neighbors—Lila Trevett and Bill

that old commuter account has grown to $47,565.98. They

Randall—and drop them off at their workplaces.

have decided that this is the time to do something with it—

“Lila was our next-door neighbor and one of the original stitchers at L.L. Bean,” says Edith, “while Bill worked in

and they have decided to make a gift of it to Holderness.

“The best news we’ve heard is that there is matching

Brunswick.” So every weekday Lila would get into Arthur’s

money for the gift,” says Edith. And indeed there is. Exactly

car and ride three miles uptown to Freeport. There Arthur

$7,565.98 will go to the Holderness Annual Fund, but the bal-

would stop to buy a newspaper and drop Lila off. “Arthur

ance will go into the Weld Family Scholarship Fund and be

would also pick up Bill,” adds Edith, “and drop him off so he

doubled by a matching gift from trustees Eijk and Rose-Marie

could get to his job. Then Arthur would continue on another

van Otterloo.

fifteen miles to his job in Bath.”

The two commuters were grateful for the rides and want-

That adds up to an $80,000 windfall for students who might otherwise not be able to afford to attend Holderness,

ed to pay Arthur for his trouble. Arthur replied that it was no

and an historic step along the road to a time when Holderness

trouble, no expense, and certainly no payment was necessary.

can be fully-funded need-blind in its admission process.

Nonetheless they both left a dollar bill on their seats at the

“And it’s all come out of a few dollar bills,” says Arthur,

end of the week. “So that added up to about a hundred dollars

who is finally free of a gratuity he never wanted, but who will

a year from each of them,” Arthur says. “Well, I just didn’t

never be free of the gratitude of generations of Holderness

feel like it was money that I deserved, so instead of spending

students.

it, I just put it in the bank, and eventually invested it.”

Holderness School Today

55

At This Point in Time...

T

HE CONSTRUCTION OF TWO

came at Don Hagerman's suggestion in

new dormitories, chroni-

1962. During the following decade or

cled extensively elsewhere

so, other Mt. Prospect properties were

in this issue of HST, is a

purchased by the school as sensible

fascinating twist on the

Archivist Judith Solberg notes that the South Campus model for residential life, with its high student-faculty ratio, actually took shape more or less by chance in the school’s homes on Mt. Prospect Road.

Lew Overaker's current residence

buildings located on or near Mount

(purchased in 1974) and the building

Prospect Road. The plan for these new

that, just two summers ago, was con-

student and faculty spaces is more

verted into a bustling Montessori

proactive and intentional than ever

childcare center that serves both facul-

before for this area of campus.

ty and community children.

Niles and Webster, Hoit, and Rathbun were outgrowths of the master plan that followed the 1931 fire, a plan that continued to be refined over time and which focused on the North

the Bioshelter, the

Gallop along the Mount Prospect cor-

tory living. With the advent of coedu-

school would also locate residences

cation during Pete Woodward's tenure,

here. Yet, until the current residential

the focus for strategic dormitory plan-

life initiative, Mount Prospect housing

ning shifted to the South Side, which

(or, "the Hill dorms") were not created

was seen as a natural location for cen-

as part of an intentional, defined strat-

tralizing girls’ residences.

egy for residential housing. Instead, this collection of buildings has simply organically developed into a crucial

life, the school's holdings on Mount

resource for faculty (and later, student)

Prospect throughout these periods qui-

housing.

etly multiplied. The student workshop, originally located next to (the now

The location of the new dormitories underscores the importance of the

razed) Marshall dormitory, was moved

Hill dorms, while the planned addi-

onto Mount Prospect around 1956.

tional tunnel effectively removes route

Shortly afterward it was renovated,

175 as a campus dividing line. The

becoming a home for Rip Richards

strategic justification for the construc-

and his family; the school added on

tion also puts a special twist on the

dormitory space as well. This structure

area's development: whereas the

is today referred to as Barton dormito-

organic expansion of the Mount

ry.

Prospect facilities may at first have The Bean House, which is cur-

been in reaction to the need for more

rently used as faculty and guest hous-

student beds, the new dormitories

ing, began as a creative opportunity to

focus on bringing more faculty into

develop some of the school's property.

campus residences. School growth is

In 1961, the school sold a small parcel

not a factor, but the student-faculty

of land to the Bean family; in turn, the

relationship is. The intentional, strate-

family agreed to build a home (of

gic quality of this effort recognizes

school-approved design) on the land,

something that has been increasingly

and to give the school first refusal if

true since Rip Richards moved into the

and when they decided to sell the

old workshop in 1956: the Mount

property. In 1969, the school repur-

Prospect residences are part of a true

chased the property, renovating the

East Campus. Together, the North,

home into a faculty residence and

South, and East Campuses connect to

four-student dormitory.

Construction of the two dormitories now known as Glew and Teaford

Holderness School Today

OF

Head's House, and Bartsch-

ridor, it seems only natural that the

North Side and South Side residential

84

W

HEN YOU CONSIDER THE PRES-

ence

Side of campus as the center of dormi-

Despite the more official focus on

Barton House as a student workshop next to Marshall House in 1936.

Below, the house on Mt. Prospect in 1956 after its renovation.

opportunities arose. Among those were

school's historical relationship with

create a complete Holderness experience.

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