Holderness School Today: Spring 2010

H OLDERNESS S CHOOL TODAY Spring 2010

THE CAMPAIGN FOR HOLDERNESS The school stakes its future on an ambitious and very different sort of comprehensive campaign.

Also inside: The van Otterloo effect Teacher/author John Teaford The forgotten John Winant

Spring tulips stretch tall for a view across the Quad to Niles and Webster dormitories. Photo Steve Solberg.

Front Cover: Members of the girls varsity lacrosse team lift their sticks in pursuit of another win during this year’s 10-4 season. Photo Art Durity.

Back cover: Environmental science students take to the woods near the Pemigewasset River to see how it all works in practice. Photo Art Durity.

Holderness School Board of Trustees Holderness School Today

Nelson Armstrong (Secretary)

Volume XXVII, No. 2

Frank Bonsal III ’82 F. Christopher Carney ’75 (Alumni Association President) Russell Cushman ’80 The Rev. Randolph Dales Nigel D. Furlonge Douglas H. Griswold ’66 James B. Hamblin II ’77 (Treasurer) Pearl Kane Peter K. Kimball ’72 Peter L. Macdonald ’60 Paul Martini Richard Nesbitt Peter Nordblom Wilhelm Northrop ’88 (Vice-Chairperson) R. Phillip Peck Tamar Pichette William L. Prickett ’81 (Chairperson) Jake Reynolds ’86

Features

The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson (President) Ian Sanderson ’79 Jennifer A. Seeman ’88

4

In it for the long run

John A. Straus

The Campaign for Holderness is the latest in an historical

Rose-Marie van Otterloo

series of initiatives tailored to bring substance to the

Ellyn Paine Weisel ’86

school’s vision of its future. This particular campaign, though, is a different sort of race from its predecessors.

Headmaster Emeritus The Rev. Brinton W. Woodward, Jr.

10 Honorary Trustees

Think of a snowflake Which is a tiny and delicate piece of crystal. Put enough of

Warren C. Cook

them together, though, and you have a force of nature. The

Mayland H. Morse, Jr. ’38

Holderness Annual Fund works much the same way.

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

12

Gary A. Spiess

Where our help has the biggest impact Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo are philanthropists who

The Rt. Rev. Douglas Theuner

are fussy about where they lend their help. And the help that they have provided Holderness over the last two decades has been nothing short of transformational.

Holderness School Today

Departments 2

From the Schoolhouse

Editor: Rick Carey Editor Emeritus: Jim Brewer

3

Stopping by Woods

16

Special Programs 2010

18

Honor Roll

20

Around the Quad

28

Sports

31

Update: Faculty & Staff

34

Update: Former Faculty & Staff

36

Update: Trustees & Former Trustees

40

Alumni in the News

50

Alumni & Parent Relations

52

Class Notes

80

At This Point in Time

Assistant Editors: Dee Black Rainville, Robert Caldwell, Jane McNulty, Phil Peck, Judith Solberg, Steve Solberg, JoAnne Strickland, Tracy White, Amy Woods Photography: Steve Solberg, Art Durity, Rick Carey, Phil Peck HST is printed on recycled paper three times each year by the Springfield Printing Corporation. Please send notice of address changes to Jo-Anne Strickland, Advancement Office, Holderness School, P.O. Box 1879, Plymouth, NH 03264, or jstrickland@holderness.org. Jo-Anne may also be contacted at 603-779-5220.

New Hampshire’s “forgotten man,” pages 37 & 80.

From the

Schoolhouse

Phil Peck helped celebrate the success of Team Glew in raising money to fight cancer. See the story on page 31.

I

In lieu of Starbucks

F YOU HAD TOLD ME TEN YEARS ago when I became Head of School that one

area of great joy in this job would be work relating to advancement and development, I would have been intrigued, surprised, and maybe even skeptical. Ten years later I can honestly tell you that nothing brings me more satisfaction than the service I do for Holderness in this area. Why?

FIRST, I

FEEL TRULY

blessed—almost guilty at times. I am the one person in the Holderness

community who enjoys constant contact with our entire constituency on a daily basis: students, faculty and staff, former employees, parents, alumni, parents of alumni, board members, and friends of Holderness. Thus I am constantly surrounded by bright, capable, caring, unpretentious, and committed people. And almost to a person, our Holderness family believes deeply in the mission and vision of Pro Deo et Genere Humano.

Sixteen months ago, at the height of the financial crisis, we received a second $25 gift from a recent alumnus.

AND

IN RESPECT TO THAT

motto, advancement work allows me to support the strategic vision

of the school better than almost anything I can do. As you will read in this issue, we have vital strategic goals that can only be accomplished through fundraising: work towards being fully-funded need-blind in our admission process; work to establish not more than an eightstudent to one-faculty member dormitory ratio campus-wide; work to continue to enhance our special programs; work to generously support and challenge our inspirational faculty; and work to provide campus facilities that support programs that are mission-essential—the list goes on.

FINALLY,

NOTHING INSPIRES OR

humbles me more than when folks contribute to Holderness,

and not just those transformative gifts you’ll read about in this HST. Sixteen months ago, at the height of the financial crisis, we received a second $25 gift from a recent alumnus. He wrote, “I know this is a hard time for all of us, and imagine it is especially tough for Holderness. I am taking my coffee money for the next two weeks and giving it to you as a second annual fund gift. I hope it helps.”

THAT

ATTITUDE ALLOWED US TO

achieve $1 million for the Holderness Annual Fund during

what was arguably the toughest economic period since the Depression. It is also what makes Holderness a fabulous school. And it is that same attitude which allows our community members with the greatest resources to transform our little school and keep our mission thriving for generations to come.

Phil Peck Head of School

2

Holderness School Today

Stopping By Woods

by Rick Carey

The wind and Mr. Stephenson A

SMALL BUT BELOVED

chapter of New Hampshire history

came to a close last January, and a beloved former

School in Bethlehem, NH. He retired to that area in 1972 and died of emphysema in Littleton, at the age of 81, on January 31, 1990.

Holderness School faculty member was right in the middle

of it.

Meanwhile New Hampshire’s world wind-speed record endured 76 years, until a date nearly twenty years to the day after

That teacher was Wendell Stephenson, who taught math and

Wen’s death. On January 22nd the World Meteorological

science here for sixteen years in the 1940s and 1950s. “Wen

Organization officially verified a wind speed of 254 mph on

Stephenson makes geometry vivid and graphic, with trapezoids

Barrow Island off the west coast of Australia. That island is largely

and polyhedrons the student can feel and inspect, or even meas-

uninhabited, and spiked by more than 400 Chevron oil drilling

ure,” wrote Pat Henderson in her addendum to Edric Weld’s histo-

rigs. And that bigger wind actually blew during Tropical Cyclone

ry of Holderness. “His colorful presentations make algebraic equa-

Olivia in 1996, when it was metered at an unmanned weather test-

tions not only soluble, but amusing and memorable.”

ing station.

Wen’s name came up again last January, though, for something he did before coming to Holderness, while working as part

“Apparently it kind of slipped through the cracks when it occurred,” said Randall Cerveny, the Arizona State University pro-

of a crew of three weather observers on the summit of Mount

fessor who stumbled across the reading as he and other scientists

Washington. An article in the Concord Monitor (“A mighty wind

were researching world weather extremes.

has fallen,” 1/27/10) recalled one extraordinary day at that post,

“Nobody thought it was the highest wind gust

and I have to thank one of Wen’s former students—Frank

ever recorded.”

Hammond ’50—for bringing this story to my attention.

“At 4 AM April 12, 1934, Wendell Stephenson awoke at the summit of Mount Washington to a fierce chill inside the Auto Road Stage Office, an early predecessor to the current observatory,” wrote the Monitor. “Two strong fronts were converging on top of the mountain—one from the Atlantic

T

HE

MT. WASHINGTON Observatory gave up its

The Mount Washington Observatory

glory with regret, and some compared the

event to the collapse of the Old Man of the Mountain geological formation in Franconia Notch in 2003. The wind-speed record was one

and another from the eastern Great

of the last international weather records still held

Lakes. Outside, Stephenson heard a

in the United States. There remain two:

strong and loud wind, according to log

rainfall in one minute (1.23 inches, Unionville

the most

entries at the time. But instrumentation

MD) and the world’s biggest hailstone (7 by

inside the cabin was showing an aver-

18.75 inches, Aurora, NE).

age wind speed of only 105 mph, far below what Stephenson expected.

“Wooden club in hand, he suited up to see if ice was blocking the wind meters. As he opened the door, an

Wen Stephenson as he appeared in the 1951 Dial.

intense wind created so much pressure that he was knocked onto the floor. With the

“Just as he finished, the mallet slipped from his hands and sailed into the fog.”

—The Concord Monitor

wind at his back, he struggled up the ladder to the roof. Covered in ice, the anemometer, a spinning instrument, took dozens of blows

before it was working again. Just as he finished, the mallet slipped from his hands and sailed into the fog.”

Wen fought his way back inside the office, where all three

But these and other current records probably won’t last much longer, warns Cerveny—not while more and more unmanned weather stations are being set up in tropical, Pacific Rim, and arctic regions. Meanwhile Scot Henley, executive director of the Mt.

observers dropped everything else and concentrated on monitoring

Washington Observatory, looks at the 1934 logs kept by Wen and

wind speed. At 1:21 PM, the anemometer Wen had freed recorded

his colleagues and marvels at what a personal experience weather

a gust that strained observer Sal Pagliuca’s credulity—231 mph.

observation used to be. “There were three observers living through

“I felt then the full responsibility of that startling measurement,” Pagliuca wrote in his log. “Was my timing correct? Was

this incredible storm,” he says. “The building was shaking, snow was blasting through every crack.”

the method okay? Was the calibration curve right? Was the stop-

I myself think of that mallet blown from Wen’s hand and dis-

watch accurate? Would other people believe this?” Ultimately, it

appearing into space, and shudder to even think about being up on

was all judged to be correct and accurate, and that momentous

a ladder at the top of New England’s biggest mountain in the mid-

gust was set down as the highest sustained wind speed ever

dle of an event like that.

recorded on earth.

Seven years later Wen joined the Holderness faculty. In 1957

Wen Stephenson lived to tell about it, though, and then to come to Holderness, where for so many years he made the abstract

he left to run the Waterville Inn in Waterville Valley with his wife

forms of geometry and algebra as tangible, measurable, and mem-

Eleanor. Then, in 1963, he began teaching at the White Mountain

orable to his students as a mighty wind.

Holderness School Today

3

IN IT FOR THE LONG RUN The Campaign for Holderness School represents the school’s first important financial initiative for meeting the challenges of the 21st century. And the school is going about this campaign in a whole new way. We’ll let ultramarathoner Nikki Kimball ’89 help explain how.

Story by Rick Carey.

Nikki Kimball on her way to setting a new course record in the Tahoe Rim Trail Race of 2008.

4

Holderness School Today

“F

UN? THE RACE? FUN?”

Those were the first words of Nikki Kimball ’89 to Outside

Magazine writer Grayson Schaffer in that magazine’s April 2010 issue. Nikki is an ultramarathon runner, an athlete described by Outside as both an “Adventure Icon” and an “Endurance Predator.” She went seven years—1999 to 2006—without ever losing an ultramarathon race, including the US National Championships. At this stage in her career, she is no longer quite invincible, but still very, very good. This spring she had just returned from winning Brazil’s 150-mile Jungle Marathon.

Then she was asked if she had fun.

You can hear the disbelief in her voice, the surprise that anybody might speculate that an ordeal like that, even for the winner, might be fun. You know Schaffer is about to get slapped upside the head, but then Nikki thinks about it: “Yeah, there were parts of it that were fun.”

She describes running through a nest of wasps, something she and her competitors had to do because the jungle was too thick on either side of the trail. “These wasps were as long as your little finger—huge,” she says. “You just heard swearing in five different languages. It was hilarious in a warped kind of way.”

So of course that was fun, but then Nikki gets to the more contemplative pleasures of an ultramarathon. “It’s not always painful,” she admits. “I was 27 when I started entering trail races. I’m a slow runner, but I can run for a really long time. It’s like hiking at a faster pace. You get to see so much more country, and race organizers are always holding these things in amazing places.”

Holderness School Today

5

Janet Lawry, who orchestrated the success of The Holderness Challenge in the 1990s.

T

HE

“JUNGLE MARATHON,” strictly speaking, is a mis-

nomer. One can be very specific about the length of a marathon: 26 miles, 385 yards, exactly the distance

run in 490 BC—according to legend—by a Greek soldier

was that marathon event, the capital campaign: the formulation of a specific set of goals on behalf of a particular set of

from the plain of Marathon to the city of Athens, and the

school needs, a “quiet phase” of one-on-one fundraising

distance run in Boston this spring by a group of Holderness

with potential major donors, a gala public announcement,

faculty members raising money to fight cancer. Anything

feverish work throughout the community to raise the bal-

longer than that is an ultramarathon. The races that Nikki

ance of the money within a designated length of time, usu-

runs are a lot longer, typically 50 or 100 miles. Occasional-

ally several years, and at last a big party.

ly they stretch even farther than that, occasionally through the jungle and over wasp nests.

Institutions run races as well. They involve distances in time, rather than space. They also involve money—for

The most recent, The Holderness Challenge of the 1990s, was the fourth such event in school history since the retirement of Edric Weld. It was mounted during a time of rapidly rising educational costs, rapidly rising tuitions

example, the marathon that Holderness School ran in the

throughout the marketplace, and the explosive onset of what

1990s, an event called The Holderness Challenge. Schools

came to be known as the “facilities wars,” as schools staked

and colleges have been running these sorts of events for

their recruiting power on bigger, newer, and more impres-

quite some time. At places like Harvard and William &

sive buildings.

Mary, organized philanthropy and volunteerism reach back to the 1600s. Two centuries later alumni membership soci-

At the time Holderness had no library building (its small collection of books and a couple of computers were

eties—brought together in part to raise money for the alma

housed in the north wing of Livermore Hall) and no indoor

mater—appeared first at places like Princeton, Williams,

athletic facility (basketball teams practiced and played

and the University of Virginia.

Independent schools followed the example of

“home” games either at Plymouth State College or Ashland’s middle school gym). The school’s endowment

America’s colleges in raising money beyond their tuition

came to $10 million, and its boarding tuition was $20,350.

revenues, and in defining the sort of events and activities

In the 1994-95 school year Holderness disbursed $720,000

that would best support this. Holderness School, however,

in financial aid.

came late to the game. One problem was that small schools—and for most its history Holderness was a very, very small school—generate only small numbers of alumni.

Another was the character of the school as it defined

The Holderness Challenge entered its public phase in May, 1996, and continued until June, 1998, with an overall goal of $15 million. Of that, $4.5 million were targeted as “Endowment for People and Programs”: financial aid, edu-

itself in the marketplace: a school for families of more mod-

cational technology, and faculty professional development.

est means, and one that charged a lower tuition than other

The rest was for new construction, building renovation, and

independent schools. As a result, Holderness alumni them-

endowment to support building maintenance. The school

selves were generally of more modest means, and little

had some $4 million in hand by the time the campaign was

inclined to enhance a school meant to be Spartan, though

announced, which left a long ways still to go.

even standard tuition rates couldn’t pay all the bills at bet-

What was then known as the Development Office had

ter-appointed schools. A series of three fundraising cam-

also hired a full-time director for the campaign—Janet

paigns followed one after another in the 1930s after the

Lawry—and had begun publishing quarterly newsletters

1931 destruction of Knowlton Hall. These helped in build-

chronicling campaign progress. That progress was spear-

ing Livermore Hall and Niles and Webster dormitories.

headed by Headmaster Pete Woodward and trustees/cam-

Nonetheless Holderness ran on tides of red ink, and sur-

paign co-chairs Claudia McIlvain and Joe Spaulding ’70.

vived the Depression and war years thanks in large part to

Other trustees joined development officers, faculty mem-

the family fortunes and generosity of Rector Edric Weld and

bers, and friends of the school in fundraising activities and

his wife Gertrude.

events across the nation.

On his retirement in 1951, Weld recommended that Holderness raise its tuition and compete solely on its own

6

Whether at Harvard or Holderness, this was accomplished a number of different ways, but the most significant

It was indeed a marathon, and it’s hard to underestimate the importance of its success in the history of the

merits against other independent schools. Over time this

school. Thanks to The Holderness Challenge—and its final

was done, and over time Holderness alumni, parents, and

tally of $15,185,948—three essential new buildings were

friends—swelling in numbers as the school slowly grew—

raised: the Alfond Library, the Gallop Indoor Athletic

accepted the task of helping to sustain those merits through

Center, and Connell dormitory. The Carpenter Arts Center

their philanthropy.

was completely renovated, and a new wing added—the

Holderness School Today

Edwards Art Gallery. The Schoolhouse was reno-

failures in mission or leadership. In other words,

vated and several new classrooms added. And Weld

there are wasp nests in this trail.

Hall’s dark and forbidding basement area was transformed into the Wallace Student Center.

All three new buildings were—and are—beautiful and functional, but in the national context of the “facilities wars” they have to be considered

that would provide a trail map, as it were, through that wasp-infested marketplace.

which reflects the school leadership’s measured

Holderness School Strategic Plan 2010 Nurture and inspire INTELLECTUAL ACHIEVEMENT

and exploration throughout the Holderness community, and continue to encourage HIGHER-ORDER THINKING while promoting connections across our academic and non-academic curricula.

Develop and maintain FACILITIES that enable Holderness School to sustain a vibrant learning community and reflect a commitment to environmental sustainability.

Better support a HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE for students, faculty, and staff.

Exercise responsible FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP of Holderness School.

Build COMMUNITY among and across differences at Holderness School to cultivate a capacity for LEADERSHIP in each student, and prepare each student for responsible GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP.

2001, and who soon marshaled a cross-section of the community on behalf of forging a strategic plan

modest. And wherever possible, the school chose to renovate rather than tear down and build anew,

Head of School Phil Peck

None of this is news to Head of School Phil Peck, who succeeded the retiring Pete Woodward in

It’s an arena as mutable and dynamic as a jungle, and the first virtue of this plan, which debuted

response to those wars: a recognition that buildings

in an early form in 2003, is its own mutability—it

matter, that they must enable a school to carry out

can shift as the landscape changes because of its

its mission, and that they also loom large in the

status as a living document, referred to on a nearly

first impression that a school creates with a visiting

daily basis and subject to constant evaluation and

family, but at the same time a refusal to bet the

revision.

“I was asked once exactly when this plan went

farm on their behalf.

In fact facilities have always deferred to peo-

to print, and of course the question itself is a con-

ple and programs in the hierarchy of school values,

tradiction in terms,” says Robert Caldwell, Director

and the effect of The Holderness Challenge was

of Advancement and External Relations. “It’s not

profound in these other areas as well.

As a result

really a printed artifact, in the strict sense of the

of that run and the momentum it provided, the

phrase. It’s more like a continual conversation

school’s endowment leaped to $21.25 million in

about who we are and where we’re going.”

1999, and that year the school was able to disburse close to $1.1 million in financial aid. That sum has

Director of Communications Steve Solberg sees it the same way. “It’s not somewhere on a

grown through the decade to $2.61 million for

shelf,” he says. “It’s right there in front of us at

2009-10, and at a rate almost three times the

every strategic meeting of the Administrative Team,

growth in tuition charges. Meanwhile faculty profit

at faculty-trustee forums, and at Head’s dinners.”

both personally and professionally from the Henderson/Brewer Chair program, which provides

“And at board meetings,” adds Phil Peck.

“We’re held accountable to that plan at every full

sabbaticals for veteran teachers, and the school’s

meeting of the board, and we start each committee

classrooms and communications are plucking the

meeting with a relevant quote from the plan’s text.

full benefits of the digital age.

“Everything we’re doing right now,” says Will

It’s all part of a process of maintaining consensus on the things that are sacred, the things that we

Northrop ’88, vice-chair of the Board of Trustees,

don’t want to mess with, and soliciting input from

“is built on the broad shoulders of the success of

all parts of the community on the things that need

The Holderness Challenge.”

adjustment or rethinking.”

I

remained constant since 2003, everything else has

Indeed, while the plan’s vision statement has NDEED, ABSENT

THE Holderness Challenge, the

school certainly would not have entered the

changed somewhat, even at the major policy goal

21st century in the position of strength that it

level. The original five such goals have grown to

has. But since then the educational marketplace, if

six, and there have been changes in the language of

anything, has gotten even tougher. Educational

the goals that reflect evolving points of emphasis.

costs and tuition rates have continued their upward

Whereas the original version of the plan, for exam-

spiral—Holderness now charges $42,675 for a

ple, concerned itself with attracting and retaining

boarding student, a sticker price actually $3,000

talented faculty members (“Goal: Emphasize the

below the median of its competitor schools—while

value of a versatile and accomplished faculty and

the effects of the recession have eroded family

staff”), the present version addresses more specifi-

resources, spiked demand for financial aid, and

cally underlying issues of work-load, equity, and

blunted charitable giving. The “facilities wars” rage

stress, even as that applies to students (“Better sup-

on, perhaps more fiercely than ever, while the inter-

port a healthier lifestyle for students, faculty, and

net and globalization have made the marketplace

staff”).

bigger, more complex, and more unforgiving of

Similarly the original version sought simply to

Build the principles of ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

into every facet of the life and objectives of the school.

Will Northrop ’88, chair of the Campaign for Holderness board committee

Holderness School Today

7

The Campaign for Holderness Our Philanthropic Goals Support the Holderness Annual Fund $8 million The Holderness Annual Fund is the cornerstone of philanthropy at Holderness School, supporting every aspect of the school’s operations, from people to programs.

Modernize Math and Science Classrooms $8.5 million New construction and renovation to provide new and dynamic learning environments in support of our math and science programs.

Increase Endowment for Financial Aid $10 million Increase our long-term capacity for financial aid, providing powerful opportunities for both deserving students and for Holderness School in general.

Celebrate Athletics $10.5 million Expand and renovate our current facility in support of our program goals by linking our rink facility with Gallop/Bartsch and expanding and renovating Bartsch.

Renew Weld Hall $4.5 million Weld Hall, our dining and community center, was renovated in 2008 to better support our programs and bring the family back to family-style meals.

Expand the Chapel $5.1 million Expand the Chapel of the Holy Cross to create a larger multi-purpose facility with the capacity to include the entire Holderness community.

Transform Residential Life $13.125 million New construction and renovation to bring more faculty on campus and support an 8:1 student/faculty ratio in all our residential facilities.

“Emphasize the value of a diverse Holderness commu-

facilities activity will entail more construction and ren-

nity.” Now the plan digs below the simple concept of

ovation. A new policy goal, the sixth one, requires

diversity to a more fundamental idea about its exact

environmental sustainability in every facet of school

value and uses: “Build community among and across

life, including its building practices. That will pay divi-

differences at Holderness School to cultivate a capacity

dends in the long run, both financially and educational-

for leadership in each student and prepare each student

ly, but will cost money in the short run. And that goal

for responsible global citizenship.”

about revenues and endowment? The language has

In 2003, however, one of those original policy goals—“Substantially increase current levels of rev-

Executive Director of Advancement and External Relations Robert Caldwell

changed—it now reads, “Exercise responsible financial stewardship of Holderness School”—but the tasks

enue and endowment”—was voiced with a certain

remain the same, of building the endowment and

amount of trepidation, given the experience of The

awarding more financial aid and maintaining the

Holderness Challenge. That was due to what all runners

Annual Fund, though now with a pronounced emphasis

feel just after completing a marathon: exhaustion.

on continuity. And to accomplish these expensive

“During the 1990s people gave tremendously of their time, talent, treasure, and expertise,” says Will Northrop. “We met our goal, but we stumbled across

things the school has launched (drum roll)—another campaign.

But this one is different.

the finish line and couldn’t have done another lap. And in the aftermath, we lost donors. The Annual Fund in particular suffered terribly after that campaign.”

Each year the Annual Fund supplies some ten percent of the school’s revenue, and Peter Kimball ’72—a

Trustee Peter Kimball ’72

setting stints in fundraising at Dartmouth,

Bucknell, St. Lawrence, and Maine’s Hebron Academy.

Holderness trustee and Executive Director of Gift

For one thing, he emphasizes that fundraising is not so much the object of his work, but rather its effect, and

drop-off as evidence that in the long run a traditional

hence his job title: not Director of Development, which

sort of campaign is really not so well suited to a school

broadly suggests fundraising, but rather Director of

like Holderness. “It’s a model that works well at

Advancement and External Relations.

Harvard,” he says, “but Holderness is too small and too

“My core responsibility has to do with relation-

geographically isolated. Given those circumstances, we

ships—with building and sustaining them on behalf of

needed something that was more sustainable.”

the institution,” he says. “We address those through a

that had bubbled up during Phil Peck’s strategic plan-

whole array of different media and strategies—publications, the web site, public relations, on-campus events,

ning process. Several of these needs and policy goals

off-campus gatherings, networking, volunteerism,

do not require much money to carry out:

etc.—whose overriding goal is to provide for the phil-

nurturing

intellectual achievement and exploration; fostering a

anthropic health of the school. It’s a more comprehen-

healthier lifestyle for students, faculty, and staff; build-

sive and global sort of focus than one that simply fas-

ing community among and across differences—these

tens on increasing revenue.”

are all matters of programmatic emphasis and adjustment.

But others are very expensive. The next burst of

Holderness School Today

says Robert Caldwell,

Planning at Harvard—points to that post-Challenge

The school also had an array of on-going needs

8

N

OMENCLATURE MATTERS,

who came to Holderness in 2008 from record-

Similarly, he emphasizes that this current activity is not a capital campaign, as was The Holderness Challenge—rather it’s a comprehensive campaign, and

It can move on a dime, and keep moving—around the

Nikki Kimball greets the press and cradles her trophy after her victory in the 2007 Western States 100 Endurance Run.

wasp nests if it can, through them if necessary.

as such represents a whole new paradigm for this sort of thing, one to which more and more schools are turning.

“Again, the focus is on the comprehensive needs of the

their philanthropic priorities are.”

Their priorities? Yes, indeed. A conversation is a two-way dialogue,

school, which includes first and foremost a healthy Annual

and in that sense the Campaign for

Fund,” Robert says. “So this is a campaign whose foundation

Holderness is being carried out very

rests on a set of ongoing and enduring relationships, as opposed

much like the strategic plan—as a document in progress, subject

to a platform that you set up and tear down.”

to some degree to the shape and content of ongoing conversa-

In capital terms, the overall target for this campaign is . . . um, well, let’s see: perhaps as low as $26 million, perhaps as

tions. “The priorities may change, but our vision will not,” says Steve Solberg. “We know who we are, we know where we’re

high as $65 million, depending on how things go and when you

going, and we know in general terms how we’re going to get

want to cut some ribbons. Its goals lead off with people and pro-

there.”

grams, as was the case with The Holderness Challenge, and are cloned from both the strategic plan and discussions with key con-

“Priorities can shift according to the interests of key donors or other circumstances, though, and that’s an interesting dynam-

stituents at Head’s dinners. The second-largest single goal ($10

ic,” says Peter Kimball. “For example, four years ago, enhancing

million) is for financial aid, this as a stepping stone—it is

residential life and going campus-wide on that 8:1 ratio was just

hoped—to

one day making Holderness fully-funded, need-blind

in its admission process. Nearly as large is a goal of $8 million for support of the Annual Fund over the next seven years.

The balance would be for three new facilities—two dormito-

another blip on the radar among things that we needed. Then the Admission Office confirmed it as a decisive sort of factor, and at the same time we have faculty members lining up to live on campus, and also a couple of interested donors. So the dormitories

ries and a small building for science labs—and an array of reno-

emerged from the back of the pack, as it were, which provides a

vations. The new dormitories and the reconfiguration of several

good example of how this sort of campaign can be flexible, can

old dormitories would provide for a safe and healthy ratio of

move on a dime.”

eight students per faculty member in all campus housing—a ratio that’s proven itself healthy wherever it now exists. The other ren-

It can move on a dime, and keep moving—around the wasp nests if it can, through them if necessary. And it can keep moving

ovations would include modernizing math and science class-

for as long as it takes, however long that might be. “This school

rooms in the Hagerman Center; enlarging the Chapel; enclosing

is not yet availing itself of all our resources, but we’ve got an

the ice rink and expanding the training and weight room areas in

administrative structure in place now that will help that to hap-

the Bartsch Center, as well as adding new team and official

pen,” says Phil Peck. “The Head of School no longer has to be a

rooms; and completing the fundraising for the recent renovation

day-to-day instructional leader. Our experienced deans and

of Weld Hall.

Besides eschewing a single fixed target for capital, however, this is a campaign without a formal beginning date for its public phase. Nor does it have its own director or newsletter, nor even a title with any more call-to-arms panache than the Campaign for

department heads can handle that. That frees me to focus on strategic goals, and on moving the school forward to a point where our vision is fully realized.”

And Phil, Robert, the Board, and other campaign soldiers and volunteers can do that in their own good time, one project at

Holderness. It does have a finish line—June, 2013—but even

a time, as the opportunities arise. “We can celebrate our successes

that’s a target of a rather provisional sort.

as we go, and also build confidence, all as part of the journey,”

“The campaign has a counting period that ends at that time,

Phil says. “I would expect now that we’ll be in campaign mode

which is when we will have raised at least $26 million,” says

for as long as we have a strategic vision for the school, and cer-

Robert Caldwell. “But our needs are greater than that, and we

tainly for as long as I’ll be Head.”

will continue our momentum, continue to raise the necessary dollars to fulfill our vision for Holderness.”

And the Campaign for Holderness does have a Board Committee to help guide it, one chaired by Will Northrop. “In terms of numbers, Holderness is never going to have a substantial

At least in the foreseeable future, then, no more marathon capital campaigns at Holderness. Instead the school has settled into the slower, loping strides of an ultramarathoner.

Will it be fun? Well, if there is anyone in the community who might be a match for Nikki Kimball in sheer dogged

alumni base,” he says. “Therefore we need a very high level of

endurance—and the ability to enjoy it, which would make him an

participation across all generations in this campaign, and there-

“Endurance Predator”—that might be former Nordic ski All-

fore we’re also going about it with this altered sort of timeline—

American Phil Peck, especially with the support team that he

one that allows us the opportunity to converse and reconnect with

boasts. He’ll see a lot of fine country as part of the journey, and

every aspect of our constituency, and to better understand where

this little school just might end up in an amazing place.

Holderness School Today

9

Think of a snowflake A few snowflakes can combine into something really big, notes Robert Caldwell.

So can gifts to the Holderness Annual Fund, and they’ve done just that in a way that has defied hard economic times.

“I

T SEEMED VERY DAUNTING

at the time,” remembers Will

Prickett ’81, who is now chair of the Board of Trustees.

He

is thinking back to the challenge laid down in 2002 by one of his predecessors in that office, Gary Spiess.

“We were several years past The Holderness Challenge, which was

a very successful capital campaign for us, and in the aftermath of that the Holderness Annual Fund had remained flat,” Will says. “We had built up some real positive momentum with that campaign, but then we lost some steam. So Gary insisted that it was time to make the Annual Fund a priority, and that we set some very aggressive goals for it—a series of twenty percent increases in revenue per year over the next three years, in fact.”

Head of School Phil Peck remembers what Gary had in mind with those increases. “He said, ‘There’s no way you shouldn’t be at a million dollars per year in that fund,’ which shocked most of us,” says Phil.

It fell to Will’s former classmate Christine Louis ’81 to find a way to get there, whether frightening or not. These days Christine works in Massachusetts as Director of Donor Relations for the Greater Worcester Community Foundation, but in the fall of 2003 she was just beginning her five-year tenure as the school’s Director of Development, this after a two-year stint in the early 1990s as Director of the Annual Fund.

Each year, of course, the Holderness Annual Fund is counted on to

Above, Christine Louis ’81 with Mary Anne Weld Bodecker, the daughter of Edric and Gertrude Weld, before her death in 2007.

To the right, Board Chair Will Prickett ’81. Below, former Board Chair Gary Spiess.

provide funds for some ten percent of the school’s operating expenses.

It’s a cornerstone resource that—along with revenues from tuition and endowment—plays a role in everything that the school accomplishes in terms of both people and programs.

“We did several things to meet those goals,” Christine says. “For the first time, we implemented and maintained a major gift strategy, soliciting gifts of a thousand dollars or more. We also emphasized donor retention, and we had amazing success with that with parents of alumni. And for our smaller donors, we recognized those who had been consistent and also encouraged them—even if just by a little bit—to increase their levels of giving.”

The school also made a point of emphasizing the HAF in its communications to alumni, parents, faculty, staff, and friends—explaining more about what it is, what it pays for, and its importance to the success of each school year. Another factor was the class agent system established by Chris Latham ’72 in 1981, a system in which Christine and Bill Baskin ’81—a former president of the Alumni Association— were the first volunteers from their class. That system has been renewed by the efforts of Jane McNulty, the current Director of the Annual Fund. Holderness now boasts no fewer than 89 active class agents, and some are prompting more recent classes into outperforming

10

Holderness School Today

10 Year Annual Fund Dollars $1,200,000 $1,000,000 $800,000 $600,000 $400,000 Jane McNulty, Director of the HAF.

$200,000 $0 2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

many older classes.

2007

2008

2009

couldn’t,” says a pleased Robert Caldwell, Director of Advancement

So thanks, ultimately, to the responsiveness and generosity of

Z:\HST\Spring 2010\feature-campaign-af chart-jn10.xlsx

and External Relations. “People really stepped up and came through

5/18/2010

alumni, parents, and friends, the cornerstone has been shored up. By

for the school in a year when 82 percent of other schools saw no

2003 the HAF had climbed back above $400,000, and then it kept

growth or else a decline in their annual fund support.”

climbing, in a pretty good approximation of the great upward leaps that Gary Spiess had deemed possible.

Lately the HAF has assumed an even more visible status at Holderness: as one of the centerpiece goals of the current Campaign for Holderness. “Since The Holderness Challenge,” says Will

J

ANE

MCNULTY

IS

maintaining the momentum built by Christine.

She also describes it as a trend having to do as much with the

character of this community as with initiatives from her office.

“We value commitment and participation at this school,” she

Prickett, “the school has gotten more sophisticated in understanding its long-range capital and operational needs.”

In other words, there is no intention this time around of letting the Holderness Annual Fund lie stagnant while the school raises

says. “Everybody is expected to contribute and our school communi-

money for its other campaign goals. Quite the reverse, in fact—the

ty is stronger as a result of each individual’s effort. The growth of the

campaign has an ambitious target of $8 million for the HAF over the

Annual Fund is an example of the same principle at work—alumni,

next seven years.

parents, grandparents, faculty, and staff continue to honor those Holderness values and contribute what they can. Those collective commitments have meaningful and widespread impact.”

This past year, in fact, was one of extraordinary success, as the

“And the great thing about a gift to the HAF is its immediate impact,” Will adds. “We have a five-year spending rule on money that we draw from the endowment, but the Holderness

Annual Fund

provides capital that we can apply on an immediate basis to school

“Gary said, ‘There’s no way you shouldn’t be at a million dollars per year in that fund,’ which shocked most of us.”

—Phil Peck

Holderness Annual Fund proved that Gary Spiess was right all along

needs. It prevents us from falling behind as we attend to these long-

about where those increases could lead. It exceeded the $1 million

term needs, and so arguably the immediate impact of one dollar to

mark for the first time in its history, and this in the midst of the sort

the Holderness Annual Fund is the same as a twenty-five dollar gift

of recession that has sharply reduced charitable giving in general in

to the endowment.”

the United States.

“In several instances we had individuals making two gifts to the

In a way, says Robert Caldwell, the weather conditions are just right. “As we look forward, Holderness is in a decisive mode to real-

HAF, because they knew that someone else might have to forego a

ize its philanthropic capacity, and the HAF is the avenue through

gift,” Jane adds. “Or we had donors helping out with an increased

which every alumnus and alumna, every friend and parent of the

gift earmarked for financial aid knowing that there was an increased

school, can make the school strong regardless of the size of the gift,”

need for those dollars. That’s what makes Holderness special. We

he says. “When you think of a snowflake—at first thought, it doesn’t

think that sort of spirit of giving will continue to build the

seem like much. But we all know what can happen when a bunch of

Holderness Annual Fund and make this community even stronger.”

snowflakes come together. Each gift to the Holderness Annual Fund

“Last year the HAF did the heavy lifting when the endowment

is much that way.”

Holderness School Today

11

“Where our help has the biggest impact . . .”

Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo have added another chapter to the history of their extraordinary service to Holderness.

It’s safe to say that one particular day in the office of the placement counselor at Shore Country Day School was also a day on which Holderness School history changed much for the better.

S

ANDER VAN

OTTERLOO ’94 was one of the

fortunate ones graduating from the Shore

Country Day School in 1990. Like his siblings, his application was strong enough to

provide admittance to all the independent

schools to which he had applied. Financial aid wouldn’t be necessary; Sander’s parents were among those who could still afford an independent school education, and they expected him to join his older brother at a nearby—and very well known— Massachusetts boarding school.

“So we were very surprised, and not favorably inclined, when he chose Holderness,” Rose-Marie van Otterloo says. “We wanted Sander close to home, and we didn’t really know anything about this place way up there called Holderness.”

The impasse was resolved in the office of the placement counselor at SCD. Rose-Marie and her hus-

12

Holderness School Today

Left, Sander van Otterloo as he appeard in the 1994 edition of The Dial. Other photos on these pages were taken during the presentation of the Theuner Award for service to the school during a rainy Commencement 2009. The Rt. Rev. Doug Theuner made the presentation.

band Eijk made their case for the familiar

help might have the biggest impact. So we

school. The counselor and Sander responded

give to early childhood schools, to charter

with reasons why Sander would thrive at

schools, and to a school like Holderness,

Holderness. That afternoon Holderness School

whose mission we support.”

history took a turn for the better.

“Holderness is one of those schools that really hews very closely to its mission,” RoseMarie says.

“We love the Job Program, in

which everybody participates. We love the

And for Holderness, these are gifts of such scale and generosity as to be transformative. Let’s just consider a few of the high points: $2 million to endow the Henderson/ Brewer Chair, a generous year-long sabbatical

way the school reaches out to international

program available to veteran faculty members,

students. We love the way everybody has

and the largest gift in Holderness School his-

respect for each other. Eijk and I never go

tory; nearly $600,000 for rerouting the road

there and come home without feeling fantastic

on the west side of campus and installing the

about it. It’s the sort of place that just feels

brick terrace in front of Livermore Hall;

right to us.”

$25,000 for recording equipment in the

Sander did indeed thrive at Holderness, and surely Holderness has thrived in no small

Carpenter Arts Center’s music studio; and a long ticker-tape of unrestricted gifts through-

part thanks to the friendship of Eijk and Rose-

out the years, in amounts ranging from $5,000

Marie van Otterloo. Eijk, who is Investment

to $250,000.

Manager and co-founder of the Boston-based financial firm of Grantham, Mayo, and van

In 2008 the van Otterloos matched their historic gift of the ’90s, but this is a gift of

Otterloo, served on the Board of Trustees

potentially even greater significance:

from 1993 to 2004. There he particularly dis-

lion of matching funds on behalf of financial

$2 mil-

tinguished himself as the canny chair of the

aid endowment. “This is a gift that has noth-

Board’s Investment Committee. Rose-Marie

ing to do with naming rights, with the estab-

has followed her husband as a trustee, joining

lishment, for example, of any sort of van

the Board in 2007 and serving on the

Otterloo Fund,” says Phil Peck. “It’s been

Advancement & External Relations and

given simply to build the capacity of the

Academic Life committees.

Then there is their philanthropy. “We

school, and to provide matching money to encourage those who currently sponsor

give only to educational institutions, because

endowed scholarships to build them to a high-

we believe that if you give a child an educa-

er level.”

tion, you give that child a life,” says RoseMarie. “From there we determine where our

One facet of the gift’s importance has to do with purpose. Since it’s usually more diffi-

Holderness School Today

13

The Livermore Common, seen here shortly after its dedication in 2007, exists thanks to Eijk and RoseMarie. So does the digital recording equipment in the Carpenter music studio.

cult for schools to raise money for endowment and financial aid—as opposed to something as visible as a new building—the scale of the gift looms even

tional $2 million] can be raised in a reasonable

larger. And for Rose-Marie, that’s just the point. “I

amount of time,” Eijk added. “We particularly hope

remember when the Alfond Library went up in the

that families whose named scholarship funds are

’90s, and what a huge difference that made, not just

under-endowed will see this as an economical

because the school finally had an up-to-date library

opportunity to build those funds back up.”

facility, but because we were able to show parents that Holderness had the capacity and the support to

14

Holderness School Today

“With this being a matching gift, we anticipate that as much as $4 million [their gift plus an addi-

It’s already working, Phil says. “We have a $10 million goal for financial aid endowment as part of

go forward at that level,” she says. “We hope the

the Campaign for Holderness,” he notes. “With this

same sort of point can be suggested by this.”

gift, we already have more than half of that pledged

“If you give a child an education,

you give that child

a life.”

— Rose-Marie van Otterloo

or in hand, and have a powerful tool at our dispos-

played varsity soccer, raced on the school ski and

al to find the other half.”

cycling teams, was voted the “Most Spirited”

This current campaign is the funding mechanism for Phil’s and the trustees’ vision for the

member of the ski team, and was co-captain of the varsity tennis team. He went on to Colorado

future of Holderness, and there’s more to it than

College, and then to Dartmouth for his Master’s.

financial aid. Holderness is also raising money for

Now he’s back where it all began, teaching

a boost to the Annual Fund and for renovations to

English at Shore Country Day.

Weld Hall (already completed), renovations to the

In his 2009 Reunion Survey, he contributed

Hagerman Center, and for new and renovated dor-

this favorite memory of Holderness: “Where else

mitories.

do you get a chance to spend a few days on your

“This is actually a very good time to renovate

own (Out Back solo) in the woods at an age where

and build,” Rose-Marie observes. “Prices in gen-

you are able to both reflect on past experience and

eral are down ten to fifteen percent. You have to

make important decisions about the person you

strike while the iron is hot.”

hope to become? What an important experience for a junior in high school—and how unique!”

B

UT THE MOST IMPORTANT

of these goals

Eijk and Rose-Marie think back to that first

remains financial aid, and that’s because

important decision at SCD, and they take from it a

the $10 million that the school hopes to

lesson as true for anyone as it was for Sander, and

raise is but the first long stride towards an even

which fuels their commitment to the whole value

grander goal: enough money in endowment for

of financial aid. “This,” says Rose-Marie, “ is our

financial aid for Holderness to be fully-funded

feeling—that if a student goes to school where he

need-blind in its admission process. In other

or she really wants to go to school, that circum-

words, the school would never again lose a talent-

stance will much more likely lead to a productive

ed applicant for lack of sufficient financial aid for

life in the aftermath.”

a qualifying family.

“The effect of that for a school like Holderness would be to level the playing field,” Eijk says. “We’d be able to tap into the merits of those who are less privileged but no less gifted.”

A grateful Robert Caldwell, the school’s Director of Advancement and External Relations, has described this latest van Otterloo gift as “a wonderful stimulus package.” Another good metaphor is Rose-Marie’s: a dramatic infusion of heat into this very large iron in the fire.

As for Sander’s years at Holderness, they went very well indeed. He made the honor roll and won the Fiore Cup for drama. He was elected first a job crew leader, and then a floor leader. He

Holderness School Today

15

S P E C I A L P RO G R A M S 2 0 1 0

S

PECIAL

PROGRAMS 2010 will be remem-

bered most vividly, perhaps, for the gastro-

intestinal bug that swept through the cam-

pus just as these programs began. The bug packed the Health Center to overflowing, crippled participation in off-campus activities as well, and threatened to bring all the programs to a premature end.

But thanks to the courage and perseverance—we might say, intestinal fortitude—of the Health Center staff, of both faculty and students,

PROJECT OUTREACH

and friends of the school such as parents Bob and Joan Hall in Pennsylvania, who sheltered a number of sick Project Outreach participants, each of the programs was carried through to its end.

Project Outreach performed volunteer work

ARTWARD BOUND

16 Holderness School Today

Out Back 2005 During Out Back, March 2005, one of our students, Helena Scott, suffered serious, permanent frost bite injuries, for which Holderness School takes responsibility. We deeply regret the suffering this caused her and her family.

OUT BACK at parks and schools in the Philadelphia area. Artward Bound students participated in workshops in dance, puppetry, ironwork, slam poetry, and more. Out Back students profited from a mostly warm and

Simply stated, these injuries were not her fault and could have been readily prevented by the safety measures we have now put in place.

This was a watershed event causing us to re-evaluate training, safety, and equipment as critically important components of any cold weather, alpine outdoor program, and to implement procedures and practices to ensure the value of the Out Back experience and the safety and well-being of all participants, now and in the future. We greatly value the Scott Family as part of the Holderness School community and appreciate their support of our continuing efforts to ensure Out Back safety.

dry ten days in the woods, even if a number of them were sick, and even if it rained 24 hours on solo. And Senior Colloquium participants harvested maple syrup, built robots, studied American film, considered the literature of baseball, practiced French cuisine, volunteered at a

SENIOR COLLOQUIUM

local elementary school, and more.

It was a rich and varied menu, and easily digestible as well—once we could accomplish that again.

Holderness School Today

17

GRADE 9 Mr. Jacob Cramer Barton Miss Elena E. Bird Miss Nicole Marie DellaPasqua Miss Jeong Yeon Han Mr. Caleb Andrew Nungesser Miss Victoria Sommerville-Kelso Miss Iashai Stephens

GRADE 10 Mr. Nathanial George Alexander Mr. Keith Michael Bohlin Miss Ariana Ann Bourque Miss Josephine McAlpin Brownell Mr. Christopher Hepworth Bunker Miss Samantha Regina Cloud Miss Benedicte Nora Crudgington Miss Abigail Kristen Guerra Miss Yejin Hwang Miss Isabel Pauline Kerrebijn Mr. Nathaniel Ward Lamson Miss Kristina Sophia Micalizzi Miss So Hee Park Miss Abagael Mae Slattery Mr. Brian Alden Tierney

GRADE 9 Miss Elizabeth Winslow Aldridge Mr. Christian Anderson Mr. Alexander James Berman Mr. Christian Elliott Bladon Mr. Daniel Do Miss Hannah Susan Foote Mr. Jeffrey Michael Hauser Mr. Chandler John Hoefle Mr. Aidan Cleaveland Kendall Miss Celine Pichette Miss Olivia Grace Poulin Mr. Jesse Jeremiah Ross Miss Lauren Louise Stride Miss Taylor Kathryn Watts Mr. Charles Norwood Williams

GRADE 11 Mr. Desmond James Bennett Miss Kiara Janea Boone Miss Madeline Margaret Burnham Mr. David McCauley Caputi Mr. Jordan L Cargill Mr. Se Han Cho Miss Amanda Claire Engelhardt Miss Kathleen Nugent Finnegan Miss Emily Maria Hayes Mr. Carson Vincent Houle Miss Kristen Nicole Jorgenson Miss Paige Alexis Kozlowski Mr. Samuel Newton Leech Mr. Samuel Cornell Macomber Mr. James McNulty Mr. Christopher Steven Merrill Miss Alexandra Marie Muzyka Miss Leah Peters Miss Elizabeth Ann Pettitt Mr. Ethan Patrick Pfenninger Mr. Colin Thomas Phillips Mr. Derek De Freitas Pimentel Mr. Lucas Paul Schaffer Mr. Nathaniel Owen Shenton Miss Emily Roberts Starer Miss Margaret Mooney Thibadeau

GRADE 10 Mr. Peter Michael Ferrante Miss Hannah Morgan Halsted Mr. Andrew Phillip Kimbell Miss Samantha Anne Lee Mr. Brandon C. Marcus Miss Carly Elizabeth Meau Mr. Oliver Julian Nettere Miss Julia Baldwin Potter Mr. James Ornstein Robbins Mr. Ryan Michael Rosencranz Miss Erica Holahan Steiner Mr. Jean-Philippe Tardif Mr. Ruohao Xin

Honors: Second Quarter

18

Holderness School Today

GRADE 12 Miss Abigail Jane Alexander Miss Ashleigh May Boulton Mr. Christopher William Bradbury Miss Elizabeth Hope Brown Miss Hyun Jung Chung Miss Sarah Rogers Clarkson Mr. Mark David Finnegan, Jr. Miss Andrea Kourajian Fisher Miss Mary Jo Germanos Mr. Duong Tung Ha Duyen Miss Brette Leigh Harrington Miss Erika Margaret Johnson Mr. John Scott McCoy Mr. Wesley McLean Mitchell-Lewis Mr. Scott Wallace Nelson Miss Emily Hope Pettengill Miss Mireille Cecile Pichette Miss Laura Olivia Pohl Miss Gabrielle Jillian Raffio Mr. Eric Raymond Rochefort Mr. Kody Ross Spencer Miss Chelsea Ann Stevens Miss Ji Eun Sung Miss Sarah Ashby Sussman Miss Marion Trafford Thurston Miss Aubrey Frances Tyler Miss Caroline Patricia Walsh Miss Kristen Laural Walters Mr. Jeffrey Robert Regan Wasson Mr. Chatarin Wong-U-Railertkun GRADE 11 Ms Radvile Autukaite Mr. Thomas William Barbeau Miss Cecily Noyes Cushman Mr. Kevin Michael Dachos Miss Juliet Sargent Dalton Miss Samantha Devine Mr. MacLaren Nash Dudley Miss Sarah E. Fauver Mr. Nicholas James Hill Ford Mr. Justin M. Frank Mr. Alexander Ulysses Gardiner Miss Pauline Zeina Germanos Mr. Nicholas William Maher Goodrich Mr. Chandler S. Grisham Miss Elizabeth Ryan Hale Miss Paige Nicole Hardtke Miss Lauren Michelle Hayes Miss Cassandra Laine Hecker Mr. Andrew V. Howe Mr. H. Alexander Kuno Miss Elizabeth E. Legere Mr. Gabrielius Maldunas Mr. Damon Nicolas Mavroudis Miss Charlotte Plumer Noyes Mr. Alexander Sprole Obregon Miss Mimi H. Patten Mr. Zhachary Render Pham Miss Brooke Elizabeth Robertson Mr. Adam Jacob Sapers Mr. Nicholas E. Stoico Miss Sarah Stride Miss Jaclyn Paige Vernet Mr. Niklaus Carl Friedrich Vitzthum Miss Haleigh Elizabeth Weiner

High Honors: Second Quarter

GRADE 12 Miss Karen Frances Abate Mr. Michael Scott Anderson Miss Sydney Tovah Aronson Mr. Philip Klein Brown IV Miss Julia Elizabeth Canelas Miss Julia Franckhauser Capron Mr. Paul Jarvis Clark Miss Lucy Thorndike Copeland Mr. Samuel Carter Copeland Mr. Nicholas James Cushing Mr. Ivan Delic Mr. Alex Anderson Francis Mr. Brian Mullin Friedman Mr. Nathan Benjamin Gonya Miss Erica Frances Hamlin Mr. Sean Patrick Harrison Mr. William James Hoeschler Mr. William Winsor Humphrey III Mr. Kyle Francis Kenney Miss Morgan Braid Markley Mr. Kevin Sander Michel Mr. Matthew Robert Nolan Miss Georgina Isabella Ogirri Mr. Benjamin Christopher Osborne Mr. Nicholas Mark Parisi Mr. Jack Kevin Saba Mr. Jacob Andrew Scott Mr. Emmanuel Sherrard Smith Miss Elise Holahan Steiner Mr. Shiloh Summers Miss Elena Christina Taylor Mr. Carter Travis White Mr. Dylan J. P. Zimmermann

GRADE 9 Miss Abigail Abdinoor Miss Elizabeth Winslow Aldridge Mr. Christian Anderson Mr. Alexander James Berman Mr. Christian Elliott Bladon Miss Hannah Susan Foote Mr. Jeffrey Michael Hauser Miss Adelaide Mari Osawa Morgan Miss Kendra June Morse Miss Celine Pichette Mr. Peter Pesch Saunders Miss Lauren Louise Stride Mr. Robert Patrick Sullivan Miss Danielle Lynn Therrien Mr. Kangdi Wang Mr. Charles Norwood Williams

GRADE 10 Mr. Nathanial George Alexander Mr. Jonathan Perkins Bass Miss Shelby Jeanne Benjamin Miss Josephine McAlpin Brownell Mr. Christopher Hepworth Bunker Miss Samantha Regina Cloud Mr. Peter Michael Ferrante Mr. Preston Kelsey Mr. William Marvin Miss Carly Elizabeth Meau Miss Julia Baldwin Potter Mr. Mitchell Craig Shumway Miss Abagael Mae Slattery Mr. Connor Merris Smith Miss Erica Holahan Steiner Mr. Jean-Philippe Tardif Mr. Ruohao Xin

Honors: Third Quarter

GRADE 9 Mr. Jacob Cramer Barton Miss Elena E. Bird Miss Nicole Marie DellaPasqua Mr. Daniel Do Miss Jeong Yeon Han Mr. Chandler John Hoefle Mr. Caleb Andrew Nungesser Miss Olivia Grace Poulin Mr. Jesse Jeremiah Ross Miss Victoria Sommerville-Kelso Miss Iashai Stephens

High Honors: Third Quarter

GRADE 10 Mr. Keith Michael Bohlin Miss Ariana Ann Bourque Miss Benedicte Nora Crudgington Miss Abigail Kristen Guerra Miss Yejin Hwang Miss Isabel Pauline Kerrebijn Mr. Nathaniel Ward Lamson Miss Samantha Anne Lee Mr. Brandon C. Marcus Miss Kristina Sophia Micalizzi Mr. Oliver Julian Nettere Miss So Hee Park Mr. Brian Alden Tierney

GRADE 11 Mr. Thomas William Barbeau Miss Cecily Noyes Cushman Mr. Kevin Michael Dachos Miss Juliet Sargent Dalton Mr. MacLaren Nash Dudley Miss Emery Durnan Miss Kathleen Nugent Finnegan Mr. Alexander Ulysses Gardiner Miss Pauline Zeina Germanos Mr. Nicholas W. Maher Goodrich Mr. Chandler S. Grisham Miss Elizabeth Ryan Hale Miss Paige Nicole Hardtke Miss Emily Maria Hayes Miss Lauren Michelle Hayes Mr. H. Alexander Kuno Mr. Damon Nicolas Mavroudis Miss Alexandra Marie Muzyka Mr. Abe H. Noyes Miss Charlotte Plumer Noyes Mr. Alexander Sprole Obregon Miss Mimi H. Patten Mr. Ethan Patrick Pfenninger Miss Catherine Hope Powell Miss Brooke Elizabeth Robertson Mr. Nathaniel Owen Shenton Miss Sarah Stride Mr. Niklaus Carl Friedrich Vitzthum Miss Haleigh Elizabeth Weiner Miss Jasminne Yoshiko Young

GRADE 12 Mr. Philip Klein Brown IV Miss Julia Elizabeth Canelas Miss Julia Franckhauser Capron Mr. Paul Jarvis Clark Miss Lucy Thorndike Copeland Mr. Ivan Delic Mr. Alex Aswald Anderson Francis Mr. Brian Mullin Friedman Mr. Sean Patrick Harrison Mr. William W. Humphrey III Miss Morgan Braid Markley Mr. Kevin Sander Michel Mr. Matthew Robert Nolan Miss Marissa Leigh Pendergast Miss Emily Hope Pettengill Mr. Jack Kevin Saba Mr. Emmanuel Sherrard Smith Mr. Kody Ross Spencer Mr. Carter Travis White

GRADE 11 Ms Radvile Autukaite Mr. Desmond James Bennett Miss Kiara Janea Boone Miss Madeline Margaret Burnham Mr. Jordan L Cargill Mr. Se Han Cho Miss Samantha Devine Miss Amanda Claire Engelhardt Mr. Nicholas James Hill Ford Miss Cassandra Laine Hecker Mr. Carson Vincent Houle Mr. Andrew V. Howe Miss Kristen Nicole Jorgenson Miss Paige Alexis Kozlowski Mr. Samuel Newton Leech Miss Xinchao Li Mr. Samuel Cornell Macomber Mr. Gabrielius Maldunas Mr. Christopher Steven Merrill Miss Leah Peters Miss Elizabeth Ann Pettitt Mr. Colin Thomas Phillips Mr. Derek De Freitas Pimentel Mr. Adam Jacob Sapers Miss Emily Roberts Starer Mr. Nicholas E. Stoico Miss Margaret Mooney Thibadeau Miss Sarah Xiao

GRADE 12 Miss Karen Frances Abate Miss Abigail Jane Alexander Miss Ashleigh May Boulton Miss Elizabeth Hope Brown Miss Hyun Jung Chung Miss Sarah Rogers Clarkson Mr. Nicholas James Cushing Mr. Mark David Finnegan, Jr. Miss Andrea Kourajian Fisher Miss Mary Jo Germanos Mr. Nathan Benjamin Gonya Mr. Duong Tung Ha Duyen Miss Erica Frances Hamlin Miss Brette Leigh Harrington Mr. William James Hoeschler Miss Erika Margaret Johnson Mr. Kyle Francis Kenney Mr. John Scott McCoy, Jr. Mr. Wesley McLean Mitchell-Lewis Mr. Scott Wallace Nelson Miss Georgina Isabelle Ogirri Mr. Benjamin Christopher Osborne Miss Mireille Cecile Pichette Miss Laura Olivia Pohl Miss Gabrielle Jillian Raffio Mr. Eric Raymond Rochefort Mr. Jacob Andrew Scott Miss Chelsea Ann Stevens Miss Ji Eun Sung Miss Sarah Ashby Sussman Miss Marion Trafford Thurston Miss Aubrey Frances Tyler Miss Caroline Patricia Walsh Miss Kristen Laural Walters Mr. Chatarin Wong-U-Railertkun

Holderness School Today

19

Around the Quad

Academics

Before the age of pizza

O

NE NIGHT IN

February there was special

Christian Anderson ’13 and Abigail Abdinoor ’13 dance to a Renaissance tune.

emphasis on certain rules that we try to observe all year long while eating family-

style dinner in Weld Hall: no spitting, no picking your teeth with either your fingers or your knife, and please don’t dip your meat into the salt bowl.

Actually, we don’t usually put our salt in bowls, but we did that night, during which Renee Lewis’s History I class hosted dinner as it was experienced during the Italian Renaissance.

Knives were the only utensils available (aside from the fingers you were born with), and seating was according to a rigid social hierarchy, with seniors as the nobility occupying the choice seats nearest the class’s various costumed storytellers, dancers, and musicians. Trustees were present also, and they got some nice seats.

Members of the junior class served as the merchant class in the next-best seats, and sophomores as the peasants seated the farthest away.

Ninth-grade students were relegated to servant status.

Thanks to Renee and her energetic students, it was an evening of good food, good entertainment, and the sort of history you could sink your teeth into.

John Teaford and his classes know that there’s more than one way to kindle a love for literature.

How to survive English class

S

OMEDAY IT’LL BE A STORY

for Reunion: “Did you hear about the

time I started a fire in Mr. Teaford’s English class?” In the mean-

time it’s a legitimate educational exercise.

John Teaford’s junior class was about to start reading Into the Wild,

Jon Krakauer’s nonfiction book about an unprepared young man’s tragic death in the Alaskan Bush. In February those juniors were also about to head out into the woods themselves in the Out Back program supervised by John.

So John took his students outside and set about teaching them how to build a fire. The exercise not only gave them a taste of one of the daily tasks faced by Krakauer’s protagonist, but it prepared them for the real-life task they would face themselves—and did face—within the next few weeks.

And since Mr. Teaford is one of those teachers who is good at lighting fires, it warmed them all up a little bit too.

20

Holderness School Today

A calculated victory

I

T WAS A DRAMATIC

come-from-behind February victory,

but it didn’t happen in the gym or the hockey rink or

Bulls versus Rams at number-crunch time.

on the ski slopes—it happened in a Hagerman Center

classroom, actually.

And it was the result of a dual meet in math between the Holderness math team prepared by Mike Peller and a

formidable Tilton team prepared by one-time Holderness math chair Jeff Nielson. The teams were each composed of five “mathletes,” and Tilton won the individual testing phase 276-264. But the team results went to Holderness by just enough margin to put the Bulls on top, 654-586.

“It was great to see these students come together for love of competition and math,” said a pleased Phil Peck.

“It was also great to see Jeff Nielson gracing the halls of Hagerman once more.”

The wizard of allegory

I

T MAY HAVE LOOKED LIKE

a costume pageant. Well, alright, it was a

costume pageant, and we’re sorry we don’t have photographs of it—

but it was also a history class and an exploration of early 20th centu-

ry American populism.

History teacher and Oz scholar Chris Day.

As is L. Frank Baum’s children’s classic, The Wizard of Oz, at least according to history department chair Chris Day. Chris’s Master’s thesis suggested that to Baum, things were more than they appeared to be—that Dorothy was an avatar for the American people, for example; that the Tin Man was Industrial

America, losing its humanity

to the process of mechanization; that the Scarecrow was the Midwestern farmer, fooled by the power elite; that the Cowardly Lion was William Jennings Bryan, unable to capitalize on his strengths in his quest for the Presidency, and so on. It all adds up, says Chris, to an allegory about the rise and fall of the Populist movement in American politics.

Last February three history classes—Chris’s, Susie Cirone’s, and Kelsey Sullivan’s—listened to a talk on this subject by Chris in the costume of their favorite

Dueling iambs (and anapests)

Y

OU MIGHT CALL IT POETRY’S

version of March Madness, except

that it begins in February. Aside from that, it’s a tough single-

elimination tournament that goes from the local to the regional

to the national, and a lot of great poetry gets learned and recited along

characters, and then worked in groups on questions linking their characters to the historical context defined by Chris. Then things got less serious: prizes for the best costumes, cupcakes, and “emerald M&Ms.” Not coincidentally, the school’s spring musical was The Wiz, which is based on the Baum story. And when the movie is on again, pay more attention this time.

the way.

It’s called Poetry Out Loud, and it’s a competition for high school students sponsored jointly by the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Students memorize two poems that they each perform on stage without props. A panel of judges evaluates and grades each performance. Somebody wins, but everybody has fun.

Poetry Out Loud champ Salamarie Frazier ’12.

At Holderness POL began with classroom competitions in February. Those winners advanced to the school competition in the Hagerman Center, a contest that was won by sophomore Salamarie Frazier, with Charlie Poulin ’11 as runner-up.

In March Salamarie was part of the regional competition held at Plymouth State University’s Silver Cultural Arts Center. There she was cheered on not only by her parents, but also Kahlil Almustafa, who was teaching slam poetry as a visiting artist in Artward Bound.

Salamarie wasn’t able to advance to the nationals, but she represented Holderness with skill and grace, and did honor to a glorious art form.

Holderness School Today

21

Around the Quad

The thieves take it

F

OR THE FIRST TIME IN

ALL-SCHOOL Read history, a ninth-grade stu-

dent—Jacob Barton—submitted the winning nomination, this for a

well-regarded novel by David Benioff.

“City of Thieves is a captivating novel that in the words of its publish-

er ‘clenches humor, savagery, and pathos squarely together on the same page,’” Jacob writes in his nomination. “Throughout the story, the two main characters, Kolya and Lev, seem to find humor even in the darkest of situations. Set during World War II, the story chronicles their journey across war-torn Russia in search of a dozen eggs. A few eggs might not seem like much, but given the extreme shortage of food during the siege of Leningrad, something as small as an egg was more sought after than gold.

The two men provide an excellent example of determination and courage in the face of great adversity.”

Jacob’s nomination barely edged out a strong entry from Charlie Poulin ’11, who suggested that we read The Catcher in the Rye in honor

Eminences of the All-School Read contest: Charlie Poulin, English teacher Peter Durnan, and Jacob Barton.

of its author, J.D. Salinger, who died this winter after decades of living as a recluse in Cornish, NH—and to acquaint ourselves with the book’s unforgettable protagonist. “Holden Caulfield imparts the intuition of adolescence and the intuition of childhood,” Charlie writes. “He reminds readers to see life in youth. His depression serves as a telling, universal message and cannot be ignored.”

Despite a strong case for Dr. Seuss . . .

S

PEAKING OF THE

want to leave what is familiar to them. This book shows how leaving what you are used to can be a good thing because you may find something that you may have never thought you liked. The idea of trying new things relates to how we live our everyday lives here at

ALL-SCHOOL Read contest, we can’t help

mentioning one nomination that was not among the finalists, but that does a good job of relating the contest to Holderness

community values, even if authors Sean Harrison ’10, Jacob Scott

Holderness. Day in and day out we are exposed to new academics, athletics, art, students, and teachers. In the book, the character was given the opportunity to try green eggs and ham, but his initial thought was that he would not like it. That opportunity stayed avail-

’10, and Colby Drost ’10, do resort, perhaps, to some degree of

able to him throughout the book, and he would eventually try them.

hyperbole.

At Holderness, in the beginning we may shy away from the new

“This proposal is for the best-written

sports or arts, but the opportunity is always there and the students

novel in the history of mankind,” they write.

will eventually try it and find that they love their new-found pas-

“Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham is a story of

sion.”

new experiences and persistence. The

And they even have expert testimony: “Stephen King says, ‘I

unnamed character shows true courage in try-

wish I came up with this idea.’ Leonardo DiCaprio says, ‘It’s a bet-

ing something different in his life, and by

ter story than the Titanic!’”

doing so comes out of his comfort zone. In an

Like we say, no breakthrough success for this in the reading

average person’s lifetime, people tend to miss

contest, but we hope Director of Food Services Gayle Youngman is

out on many new things because they do not

paying attention as she prepares the dining hall menu.

The Arts

A

PAIR OF NEAR NEIGHBORS AND

footlights one weekend last January.

A midsummer dream, an actor’s nightmare, an audience’s delight.

22

fierce rivals on the athletic fields

came together for a weekend of collaborative effort in front of the

Holderness School Today

Student actors from Holderness and the New Hampton School mount-

ed a pair of one-act plays that ran in tandem and were performed on a Friday night at New Hampton and the next night at Holderness.

The New Hampton students, under the direction of Meredith C. Brown, presented “The Rude Mechanicals,” a play based on “Pyramus and Thisbe,” the play-within-a-play that provides the comic highlight of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Mounted by semi-literate amateurs for the entertainment of the Duke of Athens, the play represents

what might be described as an audience’s nightmare—if it wasn’t so funny.

Holderness Director of Theater Monique

Jeff Wasson

Devine complemented that with “An Actor’s Nightmare,” in which its addled protagonist finds himself first in a scene by Noel Coward, then one by Samuel Beckett, and finally one

by Robert Bolt, missing his cues all along the way. The Holderness cast included seniors Jeff Wasson, Kristen Walters, Brette Harrington, Nick Cushing, Lucy Copeland, and Will Hoeschler.

Nobody won, nobody lost, but everybody

Kristin Walters

shared a lot of laughs and fun together. ther.

Brette Harrington

Lucy Copeland

Nick Cushing

Eleven for the exhibits, two for big prizes

O

NE OF THE BIG EVENTS IN

the New Hampshire high

school arts calendar each February is the Friends of

the Arts Juried Exhibition at Plymouth State

Wes MitchellLewis’s prizewinning piece.

University’s Silver Cultural Arts Center. This year students from 20 different schools submitted over 300 works to the jury.

Seventy were accepted into the show, and no fewer

than nine of those came from Holderness students.

Holderness School Today

23

These works included photography from Chris Bunker ’12, Henry Miles ’11, and Aubrey Tyler ’10; paper mache from Victoria SommervilleKelso ’13; wire sculpture from So Hee Park ’12; printmaking from Eric Rochefort ’10; photography and mixed media from Will Hoeschler ’10; and two ceramics pieces from Wes Mitchell-Lewis ’10.

Will Hoeschler won the exhibit’s Judges’ Award for his work, “The People Watcher,” and Wes Mitchell-Lewis won the Excellence in Ceramics Award for his piece, “Untitled.” Thanks to Emily Magnus ’88 for the photography of Will’s intricate piece.

Two other Holderness works were selected not into the juried exhibit, but rather into another exhibit at the Art Cellar, a new space created by the Friends of the Arts on Main Street in Plymouth. These were a painting by Shelby Benjamin ’12 and a series of pencil self-portraits by Yejin Hwang ’12.

A view from various angles of Will Hoeschler’s “The People Watcher.”

Ben will get another chance when he’s older.

I

N

FEBRUARY

A

terrific college a

capella singing group—the Harvard

Veritones—came to campus. We

Mumfords’ home over the weekend. “It

an old friend with them, but that will

was fantastic. The house was filled with

have to wait until next time.

turned a few heads as they truly sponta-

and former Holderness Development

neously burst into harmonies, whether

Director Chris Mumford, attended

on the lift or walking through the park-

Holderness as a ninth-grade day student

ing lot.”

The evening was made possible

Holderness, but he wanted the full

thanks to the combined efforts of

boarding school experience,” says

Maggie, Dean of Students Kathy

Maggie. “So he went off to the Groton

Weymouth, music teacher Matt

School.”

LaRocca, the kitchen staff, and their

Henry is now a freshman at Harvard, where he is a member not only

student helpers. If you have any doubts about the quality of the music, just ask

of the Veritones, but of the Harvard

young Ben Lewis (son of Director of

lacrosse team. And he happened to have

Admission Tyler Lewis and history

had a lacrosse game on the day of the

teacher Renee Lewis). Ben mounted an

Veritones’ visit to Holderness.

immediate effort to run away and join

Even without Henry Mumford, the Veritones provided a terrific after-dinner

Holderness School Today

song and laughter,” says Maggie. “They went skiing at Cannon Mountain and

science teacher Dr. Maggie Mumford

in 2005-06. “Henry was happy at

24

The whole group stayed at the

thought that the Veritones would bring

Henry Mumford, who is the son of

Young Ben Lewis reports for his audition with the Veritones.

Christina Aguilera (“The Voice Within”).

concert in Weld Hall,

wrapping their

the Veritones.

One last item of interest: Director of Communications Steve Solberg and

gorgeous voices and glove-tight har-

archivist Judith Solberg met when they

monies around material that ranged

were both members of the Veritones at

from Barry Manilow (“I Was a Fool”) to

Harvard.

Community The complexity of “comfortable discomfort.”

T

HERE WERE

no classes at

Holderness on the Friday morning before Martin

Center that teased out the full spectrum of the personal differences and the human similarities that range through the Holderness community. These were complemented by a taped speech from novelist Chimamanda Adichie, one that addressed the danger of defining

Luther King Day in January—but

continents, countries, or individu-

there was conversation, and a lot

als by a single story.

of it.

At Hagerman the communiThe conversation was about

ty watched a Holderness-based

race and class, and it began with

documentary film created by

a series of slides containing

Mervan Osborne. Mr. Osborne

quotes on those issues from the

had visited Holderness several

school’s own student body.

times over the past month, video-

Director of Communications

taping conversations with small

Steve Solberg offered a brief

groups of students of color, ask-

overview of the life of Dr. King,

ing them frankly what’s great

and then the community met

about Holderness and what’s not.

Mervan Osborne, Director of Admissions at Beacon Academy

“The honesty and insight that came out of the video

in Boston, and Cindy Laba, who

touched many, often bringing up

co-founded Beacon in 2004 as a

strong emotion and discomfort,”

place where underprivileged stu-

said Steve Solberg. “But it also

dents can prepare for academical-

provided fodder for more diffi-

ly challenging schools like

cult and important conversations.

Holderness.

Mr. Osborne and Ms. Laba

“Cross the line,” a workshop exercise conducted on MLK Day.

Kiara Boone and Salamarie Frazier singing Quincy Jones’s “Tomorrow.”

It’s only by providing an environment of ‘comfortable discom-

led a series of workshops and

fort’ that we can hope to move

activities in the gym, in Weld

forward as a school and a com-

Hall, and in the Hagerman

munity.”

Filmmaker Mervan Osborne and, left, a scene from his Holderness documentary.

One love, many words.

O

N

JANUARY 18th, Monday

morning Chapel was cele-

brated in Hagerman

languages.

Next Salamarie Frazier ’12 and Kiara Boone ’11 took the stage,

Auditorium, the better to accommo-

where they sang a moving version

date events in recognition of Martin

of Quincy Jones’ “Tomorrow (A

Luther King Day. The service began

Better You, Better Me).” Finally the

with a video version of “One Love,”

community heard quotes from the

a song featuring the collaborative

sacred texts of a variety of faiths, all

talents of artists from all over the

speaking to what unifies us.

world.

“The diversity present in our

Then the community heard from students and faculty members

student body and faculty represents one of our greatest assets as a com-

representing a variety of countries—

munity,” said Phil Peck afterwards.

Zimbabwe, Saudi

“This was great to get a chance to

Arabia, China,

Vietnam, and Brazil—and who

demonstrate that, even as we contin-

shared words about the importance

ue to work to grow closer to each

of community delivered in their own

other.”

Holderness School Today

25

Getting the grown-ups together too.

W

HILE STUDENTS ENJOYED A

Head’s Holiday one Tuesday in

February, the rest of the community—faculty and staff—gathered in the east wing of Weld Hall to discuss ways in which to

understand each other better and draw more closely together.

The event was moderated by Nicole Manganelli, assistant director of

the Maine-based Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence. The CPHV is engaged in a year-long effort geared toward strengthening ties between the various demographic portions of the student community, and school leadership saw an opportunity for the same healthy process at the professional level.

“Holderness believes in being intentional when it comes to building a sense of community,” said Phil Peck. “That day’s work will hopefully bring greater understanding and awareness, allowing us to move forward as a stronger community.”

Service

The lemonade

all of which they set aside for Team

cure for cancer.

preparing to represent Holderness

S

the Boston Marathon on April 19th.

OME OF THE

most important

members of the Holderness

community are kids who

Glew, a coalition of faculty runners

(and raise money to fight cancer) in

And lemonade was only the start. Other fundraising activities fol-

aren’t students of Holderness School

lowed throughout March and April,

just yet, but we hope they will be.

and on April 14th the faculty kids

Of course these are the children of

presented Chaplain Rich Weymouth

faculty and staff members who live

’70 with a Team Glew check for

on campus.

$193.22. “What a wonderful and

And many of them already subscribe to the school’s commitment to service. Last March a group led by Phoebe, Henry, and Charlie Day and

inspiring effort on their part,” said Rich.

Phoebe and her siblings are the children of History Dept. Chair

Quinn Houseman set up a lemonade

Chris Day and Admission Associate

stand at the school entrance on

Cynthia Day. Quinn is the son of

Route 175. Yes, you can sell lemon-

science department chair Randy

ade even in March, if your product

Houseman and his wife Meredith.

is good and your promotion effective. The kids made a hefty profit,

So what if Hannah never raced in a tutu?

I

F YOU’RE GOING TO

wear a tutu at the

same time that you’re wearing skis, let it be at the annual M.J. LaFoley Memorial

dents to meet their special needs or achieve educational or amateur athletic goals through special programs.” Past recipients of foundation grants include mogul skier Hannah Kearney, who won a gold medal at the 2010 Olympics.

The annual memorial ski race draws top

Ski Race at Waterville Valley, NH. M.J. cer-

racers from around New England and is a

tainly would have approved.

lucrative fundraiser for the foundation. “This

M.J. LaFoley was a popular student/ath-

year’s M.J.’s race was sunny, festive, com-

lete who died in a skiing accident during his

petitive, and meaningful, just as it was

first winter at Holderness in 1992. M.J. had

intended to be,” said Head of School Phil

been admitted to Holderness, and was suc-

Peck. “In the spirit of the day, many of the

ceeding here, despite his dyslexia.

girls wore tutus. And in the spirit of

Following his death the LaFoley family

Holderness, many of the girls shared their

established the M.J. Foundation, the purpose

tutus with the boys, who happily wore

of which—in the words of its website—is

them.”

“to provide an opportunity for deserving stu-

26 Holderness School Today

Tutu in place, Carter White ’10 bursts out of the starting gate.

Sports 300 for Cheri’s race.

T

HE WEATHER WASN’T

ideal this February for the Cheri

Walsh Memorial Nordic Ski Race—not quite cold enough, definitely not snowy enough. But with the

help of a lot of hard-working Holderness volunteers (and a LOT of snow shoveling), it was a great event anyway.

The Cheri Walsh Race is the final Nordic Eastern Cup event of the season, and this year it drew over 300 of the top junior and senior racers in the East.

Cheri Walsh ’88 was herself a top-level Nordic skier who died tragically the summer after her graduation from Holderness. Besides being a prestigious sporting event, the race is a gathering that every year honors the life, spirit, and

Sue and John Walsh, the parents of Cheri Walsh, appeared (along with a milk-bearing version of the Holderness Bull) at the race with faculty volunteers Peter Durnan (far left) and Kathy Weymouth (next to John).

memory of Cheri Walsh.

A line-up of repeat Macomber Cup winners.

The Macomber Cup hoist.

F

OR THE SECOND

year in a row, the

Eastern Alpine team claimed

New Hampshire’s Macomber

Cup Series Team trophy. Wrote Coach Craig Antonides ’77: “Eastern Alpine skiers are busy finishing up a great season with kids competing in the UNH Fundraiser at Loon and the Sugar Slalom at Stowe. The Loon race is also the day for the season-ending awards.

Here the group at Loon gets to ‘hoist the cup’ after defending the Macomber Team trophy. It’s been a blast ending the season in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt!”

Individually, the 2009-2010 sea-

A pair of national champs.

T

HE

USASA

NATIONAL

son really was great. In March five racers qualified for the J2 National

snowboarding championships

Championships at Sugarloaf, the most

happen in April each year, too late for press-time for

Holderness has ever sent to that event.

the sports pages of HST, but not too late for “Around

That number of racers also means that

the Quad,” and so not too late for the news that Holderness

Holderness by itself claimed 1/7 of the

‘boarders posted another spectacular performance at those

35 available Eastern slots for that

championships, held this year at Colorado’s Copper

event. Add to that eight more qualifiers

Mountain.

at the J2 Eastern Championships, six at

After posting a team total of 76 podium finishes at the

the Eastern Regional Championships,

New Hampshire championships, Holderness saw eleven of its snowboarders qualify for the nationals, and saw three of them reach the podium there.

Chuckie Carbone ’11 finished first among Juniors in the slopestyle and halfpipe, and third in the boarder cross.

Alex Obregon ’11 also won a Junior national championship,

and five at the J3 Junior Olympics, and

Chuckie Carbone soared to national championships in two events.

you see an alpine program with an extraordinary amount of talent and depth.

Those qualifiers came home with a lot of podium finishes, including—at

his coming in the parallel giant slalom. He also took second

the J2 Nationals—a fifth in the slalom

in the parallel slalom. Finally, Ryan Rosencranz ’12 finished

for Sam Macomber ’11, and a seventh

second in the PGS in the Youth division.

for Emily Hayes ’11.

Holderness School Today

27

Sports

Winter 2009-10: The Season in Review

Both basketball teams had NEPSAC quarterfinal victories to celebrate. Norm Walker, center rear, was enlisted on to the girls team for their photo op. never quit and competed in every game until the final buzzer.

by Mike Barney

The girls varsity basketball team made the NEPSAC championship tournament once again this year. We beat KUA, our

Basketball

Lakes Region foe, in the quarterfinals, but then lost to the ultimate champions, Chase

The varsity boys basketball team had another exciting sea-

Collegiate, by six points in our semifinal match-up. Although

son. Holderness started the season 0-2, but turned the season

the girls lost by a handful of points, Coaches Galvin and

around in January and came up with some big wins down the

Kelly could not be more pleased with the teamwork presented

stretch. The Bulls had great wins over Proctor, Exeter, and the

all season long.

Class B Champion Tilton Rams. Holderness finished the sea-

Marissa Pendergast ’10. Marissa was selected to the All-

Tournament.

League All-Star team. Joining her was Radvile Autukaite, a

Holderness hosted a solid Milton team in the quarterfi-

Alex Francis ’10 will be taking his Jordanesque moves to Bryan University in the fall.

Leading the way were our captains, Gina Ogirri ’10 and

son at 14-8 and earned the #4 seed for the NEPSAC Class C

junior with an excellent outside shot. Gina received the

nals, and provided the supportive home crowd with a tremen-

Coach’s Award and Lizz Hale ’11 earned the Most Improved

dous win. The Bulls, unfortunately, ran out of gas in their

Award for all of their hard work and tireless efforts. The rest

semifinal match-up against the eventual Class C Champion

of the team—Lucy Copeland ’10, Charlotte O'Leary ’11,

Lawrence Academy. The leadership of co-captains Alex

Xajaah Williams-Flores ’13, and Cecily Cushman ’11—all

Francis ’10 and Manny Smith ’10 will be missed, but

played as a group and will return next year excited to get back

Holderness hopes to make another run at the tournament next

to the big dance.

season.

by Lance Galvin ’90

by Randy Houseman The girls JV basketball team was led by senior guard Sydney The JV boys basketball team compiled a 16-2 record on the season. In fact, the only two games the Bulls lost were by a

classes and had quite a range of court experience and ability.

combined three points. This team of senior leaders and under-

Iasha Stephens ’13, the winner of this year’s Most Improved

classmen was the most talented JV basketball team in years at

Award, had minimal prior exposure to the game, but soon

Holderness. It was a team full of players with passion and

became an effective dribbler, rebounder, and occasional scor-

hustle, characteristics that propelled the team to a 15-0 record

er.

to start the season.

As the end of the year tournament approached, the Bulls

28

Aronson. The Baby Bulls team was a nice mix of all four

As a unit, this year’s team had some wonderful highlights. A buzzer-beating three-point shot at Tilton by Coach’s

had their eyes on bringing home the JV championship. The

Award-winner Sydney Aronson enabled the Bulls to win by a

Bulls knew the talent and desire were in place, and played the

point. In similar fashion, the girls eked out a thrilling one-

tournament games with the same heart and desire they had all

point victory against High Mowing on Parents’ Weekend, and

season. A one-point loss to High Mowing ended their chances

had to survive potential game-winning free-throws with half a

of bringing home the trophy, but showed again that this team

second left to secure the win. A sweep of KUA

Holderness School Today

and a won-

Senior Marissa Pendergast earned All-League honors. derful complete-game victory down at

Sommerville-Kelso evolved as a dangerous offensive duo. This young, tal-

Dublin rounded out our season. Many

ented squad should reap the benefits of its hard work next year.

thanks to Ms. Brewer, whose coaching

by Susie Cirone

assistance helped the season to go considerably more smoothly!

The girls JV hockey Superstars had a great season, finishing with a final record of 8-5! The team was filled with lots of new players who added per-

by Rich Weymouth ’70

sonality and depth to the program. Although rough around the edges at the

Hockey

start, the team quickly became a cohesive group and worked hard to improve on a day-to-day basis. The main reason for this was because of the

The boys varsity hockey team took the

senior leadership that was present.

ice with ten new additions and a very

Co-captains Mimi Pichette and Sarah Clarkson led the Superstars, but

competitive schedule. The team struggled to find success, but learned how to compete despite often being outmatched. With the small-school tournament out of reach, the team still played hard down the stretch. The last four games of the season saw the Bulls lose by a goal three times and, in one of the best games of the year, they beat Proctor 8-5 at home after losing to them 7-1 earlier in the season.

The team went 4-7-1 in the Lakes Region and finished in the final playoff spot for the Lakes Region Championship Tournament. In a great

they were also supported by five other great seniors: Morgan Markley, Laura Pohl, Elise Steiner, Kristen Walters, and Ji Eun Sung, who will all be missed immensely next year. Next year the team will be led by captain Charlotte Noyes ’11 and assistant captains Casey Powell ’11 and Sam Devine ’11. The future of the Superstars certainly looks good with those three at the helm and ten other returning players.

by Margot Moses

defensive battle, the Bulls pushed Tilton to the brink of elimination, but lost by a score of 3-2. Tilton went on to win the Lakes Region crown. The Bulls look forward to next winter.

by Frank Cirone

Brendan Madden ’11 and Thany Alexander ’12 were both honored with the Coach’s Award for their stellar play and work ethic throughout the season for the boys JV hockey team. Will Hoeschler ’10 and Preston Kelsey ’12 were

Derek Pimental ’11 won the Coach’s Award in boys hockey.

presented Most Improved Awards for their dedication to the sport throughout the winter.

A highlight of the season was when the team pulled together to win two games against Cardigan.

There are no words to express how proud I am of all of the players on the team. This season was nothing short of a challenge in terms of the competition we faced on the ice.

Regardless, each player improved their hockey

skills dramatically, and as a team they took their game to a new level. I saw remarkable strides made as games got closer and closer towards the end of the season. I commend each player for their positivity and sportsman-like conduct each practice and game. It was a great season, boys! Good work.

by Greg McConnell

Skiing The 2009-2010 season was a great one for the co-ed Eastern alpine ski team. It was a very busy season, and we had some fine results at every level of competition. Thankfully Mother Nature provided just enough snow to keep us going from one race to the next. After a slow start we struggled at the December races, but started picking up some momentum and confidence in January.

Qualification races for the championship events cranked up and we had good success putting kids into those events. Our J3 squad sent five ninth-graders to the Junior Olympics at Sunday River: Elena Bird, Kelly DiNapoli, James Bannister, Jesse Ross, and Alex Lehmann. They had seven top-ten finishes. The J2s had a National and Regional Championship to shoot for.

Junior Emily Hayes made the J2 Nationals.

Remarkably, we had five make the Nationals at Sugarloaf: Emily Hayes ’11, Lily Ford ’12, Sam Macomber’11, Carson Houle ’11,

The girls varsity hockey team continued to improve throughout the season. The team record (5-17-2) would have frustrated many athletes, especially since ten of those losses were by one or two goals in games where the Bulls competed fiercely throughout. Instead the team took on small victories and supported each other through injury, sickness, and more.

Captain Abby Alexander led the team by working hard and was supportive of fellow senior Jenn Cameron, who was named the second captain of the team mid-season. Sophomore goalie Abby Guerra played every minute of goal and continued to be positive through multiple 40+ shot games. Sophomore Ari Bourque earned the Coach’s Award for being one of the most consistent, highimpact players on the ice. Bourque

Girls Coach’s Award winner Ari Bourque ’12

and standout ninthgrader Tori

and Jordan Cargill ’11 all represented the Eastern team for this national championship event. Hayes, Ford, and Macomber all had top-ten finishes.

Stowe hosted the J2 Regional Championships with Eliza Cowie ’12, Alex Muzyka ’11, Margaret Thibadeau ’11, Madeline Burnham ’11, Colton Ransom ’11, Adam Sapers ’11, Charlie Defeo ’12, and Stepper Hall ’13 all making the trip. Muzyka and Ransom had top-ten finishes, with Ransom taking a second in SG. Our J1 Team members making the Eastern Regionals at Okemo consisted of co-captains Ashleigh Boulton ’10, Matt Nolan ’10, and Chris Bradbury ’10, all joined by Amanda Engelhardt ’11, Alvaro Apraiz’10, and J2 Justin Frank ’11.

Along the way the team managed to wrap up another Macomber Cup Team Trophy, with Ashleigh Boulton winning the girls title. At press time we are still competing. Kelly DiNapoli heads off to Whistler Cup after a great J3 Olympics, and we’re wrapping up the Lafoley Spring Series.

Thank you and kudos to the faculty for their support, and to the staff from Holderness/FSC for all the hard work.

By Craig Antonides ’77

As always, the co-ed alpine school team had a great season of racing and skiing for the sheer joy of skiing. Working with a mix of highly experienced racers, school team “lifers,” and enthusiastic novice racers, senior tri-captains Marion Thurston, Caroline Walsh, and Paul Clark brought the

Holderness School Today

29

Sports team together into a cohesive, friendly, but competitive group.

Johnson, and also Andrea Fisher, Julia Capron, Elena Taylor, Aubrey Tyler,

For some, the accomplishments involved completing their first slalom race

Emily Pettengill, Kody Spencer, and Phil Brown.

ever, while others worked on subtle tactic and technique improvements. Meanwhile the veterans vied for top spots in the Lakes Region races. Sophomore Ian

After our annual Thanksgiving camp at Burke and winter camp in Presque Isle, ME, we entered our relentless competition schedule. Students raced in two

Ford led the way with a first place in the Lakes Region GS at Gunstock, and

or three races per week in the Lakes Region, Eastern Cup, and NH Series. In the

Mitch Shumway, another sophomore, was close behind in third place.

Lakes Region season standings, the girls team was first, and the boys were sec-

Our team scoring was our greatest strength, as our skiers placed consistent-

ond.

Individually, Kody Spencer ’10 had

ly, finishing most runs to score for Holderness. The athletes earned six team

an undefeated season, while Wes Mitchell-

podium finishes during the Lakes Region Series, including a third place for girls

Lewis was sixth, Juliet Dalton ’11 third,

in the championship giant slalom race. Earning NEPSAC team slots were Pippa

Andrea Fisher fourth (third in the champi-

Blau ’12 (also Most Improved Award-winner), Lauren Hayes ’11, Katie Leake

onship race), Erika Johnson ninth, and Julia

’12 (Coach’s Award-winner), Marion Thurston, Pauline von Galen ’11, Caroline

Capron was eleventh.

Walsh, Paul Clark, Ian Ford, Jack Long ’11, Ethan Pfenninger ’11 (also Most

At the New England Prep School

Improved), and Mitch Shumway.

Championships both Andrea Fisher and

Many of the team couldn’t get enough of snow and competed in other ski

Kody Spencer led their teams with third-

events: telemarking (Jack Long), freestyle (Katie Leake), and jumping (multiple

places in the individual skate race. In the

team members, including junior Charlie Poulin, Coach’s Award-winner for both

classic relay, the team of Juliet Dalton,

jumping and alpine). All put forth great

Betsey Pettitt ’11, Erika Johnson, and

effort, improved their skiing, and had

Andrea Fisher placed second, earning them

many great days on snow.

second place overall, and the relay team of

by Maggie Mumford

Wes Mitchell-Lewis, Abe Noyes ’11, Nick

The coaches of the co-ed Eastern

ond, placing them third overall.

Andrea Fisher ’10 was 3rd in the LR Championships.

Parisi ’10, and Kody Spencer finished sec-

freestyle skiing team—Nick Preston, Dan

Nick Goodrich ‘11 earned 5th at the Eastern Aerials.

Podiums at the NH Series races included Betsey Pettitt finishing first and

Shuffleton, Wes Preston, Greg Ruppel and

second in the B races. Other top-ten B racers were Phil Brown ’10, Nick Parisi,

John Grigsby—acknowledge this year’s

and Elena Taylor ’10. From the NH Series races, six Holderness skiers qualified

team for its members’ dedication, focus,

to ski for the NH state team at the Eastern High School Championships: Kody

and competitive drive.

Spencer, Wes Mitchell-Lewis, Andrea Fisher (MA), Juliet Dalton, Erika Johnson,

The coaches extend special congratulations to captain Scott Nelson ’10. Scott

and Julia Capron.

At the Holderness-hosted Cheri Walsh Memorial Race, which was the final

is an extraordinary freerider, mogul skier,

race of the Eastern Cup season, the entire team not only competed, but spent

aerial acrobat, and competitor. Scott

hours shoveling snow in order to make the event possible. Thank you to all ath-

three-peted USSA Junior Olympic Gold in Combined, comprising moguls, half-pipe and aerials. He achieved eleven top-

letes, coaches, parents, and support staff for such a memorable season!

by Lindley van der Linde ’89

five results across all disciplines, with four wins, and Scott currently ranks fifth

Snowboarding

on the USSA Slope Style point list. Scott is our Coach’s Award recipient for 2010.

A less than stellar start regarding snow did not prevent the Holderness co-ed

Zhach Pham ’11 is another of our outstanding multi-discipline skiers. In March he won the amateur slope style final at the Mount Snow Open, and finished second in halfpipe. Other outstanding results included fourteen top-ten finishes in half pipe, moguls, aerials, and slope style. The coaches have selected

in the alpine events, and our boys maintained the gold in freestyle. Chuckie

Nick Goodrich ’11 skied 27 competitions, including three FIS mogul

Carbone ’11 ran the table in girls freestyle to stand on top of the podium in every

events, placing in the top ten thirteen times, including a third and a fifth at the Killington Klassic, and a fifth in the USSA-Eastern Aerial Championships. Nick will compete in moguls next season with three different back flips and a back

points at USSA Junior Olympic Aerials. This score indicates superb performance in inverts and 360s. With improved technical turns, Dan has laid the foundations of success in competition for his senior year season.

seniors who contributed so much to the success of the co-ed Nordic ski program over the last four years: co-captains Wes

Pete Ferrante ’12, Hannah

photo courtesy Stephen Fuller

Senior Kody Spencer went undefeated.

Mitchell-Lewis and Erika

30

Holderness School Today

Libby Aldridge

Bladon ’13, Chuckie Carbone,

Dillon earned an invitation to the USSA Junior Olympic in Aerials, where his score of 105.92 points indicates

We will greatly miss the nine

USASA Nationals, which at

’13, Chris Allen ’10, Chris

competed in eight USSA events, and finished in the top ten at two of them.

by Nick Preston

members qualifying for the

Copper, CO.

Corkran. In his rookie season, Dillon skied in many Open Slope competitions,

opportunities to succeed.

an unprecedented eleven

Alex Obregon ’11 won a national title in parallel GS.

press time were being held in

Honorable Mention for the Most Improved Award goes to senior Dillon

porting these athletes and their

The co-ed Eastern

to surpass expectations with

Dan Sievers ’11, another mogul competitor with aerial skills, scored 104

the Holderness faculty for sup-

competition, but sadly injuries kept our girls off the team podium in freestyle.

snowboard team continued

full-twist in the bumps.

Thank you to Georg Capaul and

competitions. Our boys and girls—led by Kyle Long ’11, Chandler Hoefle ’13, Brian Friedman ’10, Henry Miles ’11, M.J. Germanos ’10, Pauline Germanos ’11, Garrett Canning ’10, Rachel Huntley’12, and Nick Ford ’11 took team gold

Zhachary Pham as the Most Improved Athlete in 2010.

he has a true skill foundation.

school team snowboarders from maintaining top honors in the Lakes Region

Halsted ’12, Andrew Howe ’11, Alex Obregon ’11, Paul Pettengill ’12, Ryan Rosencranz ’12, and Justin Simpkins ’12 will proudly represent Holderness for a week of competitions.

The school team Coach’s Award was presented to Pauline Germanos, and the school team Most Improved Award went to Shelby Benjamin ’12. The Eastern team Coach’s Award was won by Chuckie Carbone, while the Most Improved Award was shared by Paul Pettengill and Justin Simpkins. The captains for next year are Nick Ford and Andrew Howe.

by Alan Smarse

Update: Faculty & Staff

Rust, Renewal, & Re-Birth

English teacher John Teaford has a lot of work ahead of him for the rest of this year. He’s got to fix his old Land Rover and get to the other side of his own version of the midlife crisis.

Oh, and he’s also got to write a book about it.

Wait, make that two books.

“M

Y SON REFERS TO me as the fixer,”

writes John Teaford. Five-year-old Wyatt

brings John “broken toys, ripped pages, wobbly wheels, destroyed treasures; and I re-fasten, re-build, tape, straighten,

glue, paste. When my son’s prized possessions have been loved nearly to death, I do my best to solve the problems. I’m the fixer . . . but it’s all an act.”

John admits that his repairs “are just so many desperate proppings, not really permanent solutions,” and that they typify a larger pattern. “It’s pretty much the way I’ve lived my life: patching what was leaking, propping things up to give the appearance of stability and permanence,” he continues. “Lately, however, when I peer down the peak from middle age—seeing the precipitous and unavoidable slope that drops away on the other side—I’ve begun to feel that the time to truly ‘fix’ some things has arrived. Predictably, my son has identified the toy that needs fixing. Like so many of his toys, it’s a car. But this car isn’t his: it’s mine.”

The car in question is an old Land Rover Defender with a lot of rust and miles on it, and the writing comes from the beginning of John’s proposal for a book he calls Wrench in the Works: Rust, Renewal, and Re-Birth. The purpose of a book proposal, of course, is to describe and sell a book idea to a prospective publisher. It’s a

Holderness School Today

33

Update: Faculty & Staff the Discovery Channel, and the National Geographic channel; and the originator of the Outdoor Life Network series Global Adventure.

His entrée into the world of outdoor sport film began circuitously. John was a world-class speed skater out of Wisconsin and a member of the US Speed

John racing at the US High Altitude Training Center, Butte, MT, in 1993. He returned to competition for one year after coaching. tough genre, but John’s is a remarkable success story: he is under contract for this and an additional book to be delivered to Parker House Publishing, a Minneapolis-based house that specializes in books on cars, motorcycles, sports, and health.

Wrench in the Works will, in a literal sense, be a labor of love. The book will describe the mechanical restoration of the Land Rover, all accomplished—with a bit of occasional expert help—by the author himself, the same fixer who confesses to having trouble with toy cars. “My Land Rover looks fine on the outside,” says John, “even drawing admiring comments from

Skating Team. Later, as head coach of the US team from 1989 to 1991, John helped other skaters to twelve Olympic medals, six of them gold. He has also competed and coached at world-class levels in road cycling, track cycling, mountain biking, triathlon, and Nordic skiing. And oh, yes, he is the author—or co-author—of a previous book: Skating for Cross Country Skiers, written with Audun Endestad and published by the Leisure Press in 1987.

John’s return to writing books began when Parker House approached him as a possible author for a book about Serotta Competition Bicycles, the renowned frame manufacturer in Saratoga Springs, NY. “This is the story of an iconic American company, one that does things the way reputable business schools caution against,” says John. “They make the finest, lightest, most technologically advanced, and most expensive bicycles in the world. Each and every part is made by hand, and yet the company has managed to thrive, and will soon celebrate its fortieth anniversary. The working title is Serotta: The American Hand-Made Bicycle, and I’ll describe the technology, the art, the innovation, the founder—Ben Serrota—and the surprising success of an unlikely business.”

“In the end, this Quixotic effort is intended to accomplish many unlikely things: turn back time, heal rust, defy aging, and make an old workhorse strong and capable again. The author also hopes to accomplish these things for the Land Rover.”

—John Teaford John says that Ben Serotta is an old friend from his own Rover fans who claim, ‘You don’t see many Rovers looking this good.’ I know better . . . I’ve looked underneath.”

So John’s book in part will be a “blow-by-blow, system-bysystem, tool-by-tool” technical treatise, salted with a lot of humor, on how one goes about restoring a tired old Rover. But the book will be as much personal as mechanical, an exploration of the spiritual landscape of middle age and an act of reparation against the human tendency to passively let things, well, go to hell at the same time that we love them to death.

ANY BOOK PROPOSAL IS helped along by an interesting author bio, and John’s already seems too rich for one lifetime.

He came to Holderness in 2005, but before that he was the director of six Warren Miller feature ski films; the director as well of a dozen or so adventure documentaries that have aired on ESPN,

32

Holderness School Today

days as a professional cyclist, and that he himself has ridden Serottas for years. It helps also that John’s wife Tiffany Beck Teaford ’85 was Serotta’s director of marketing from 2007 to 2009. “So this definitely feels like a ‘family project’ to me,” John adds.

Now he looks forward to a ferociously busy summer vacation, and even more pressure when school begins again, as he works on both books at once. Parker House wants them soon: by next October for Serotta, next January for Wrench in the Works.

But John believes that this is a good time to give it a try. “I am volunteering to walk this unfamiliar road—in fact, I see it as something of a moral obligation,” he writes in his proposal for Wrench. “In the end, this Quixotic effort is intended to accomplish many unlikely things: turn back time, heal rust, defy aging, and make an old workhorse strong and capable again. The author also hopes to accomplish these things for the Land Rover.”

Math teacher, former Admissions officer, and St. Lawrence hockey star Allie Skelley named boys varsity hockey coach.

H

OLDERNESS School’s new boys

years of experience working as an assistant coach

varsity hockey coach is someone

for us,” says Lance. “So he comes to the job with

who is happy just to get out of

skill, experience, and a real passion for the game.

bed each day. “Allie Skelley

And since he also used to work in our Admission

never thought that such a mun-

Office, he also provides in-depth knowledge of New

dane task that most people take for granted

England prep schools and the New England hockey

would make him so happy,” wrote Foster’s

community. He’ll be a good recruiter as well as a

Daily Democrat sportswriter Al Pike in a 2007

fine coach.”

column [“Skelley has moved on from injury,”

Allie knows already what he wants from his

3/24/07].

Division I-level hockey team. “I’ll be looking for

Allie is still remembered in the Lakes

kids with character, kids who are willing to work

Region as a star three-sport athlete at

hard and who are a good fit with our athletic philos-

Kingswood Regional High School. At St.

ophy at Holderness,” he says. “We don’t specialize

Lawrence University, he was captain of the

here. We ask everybody to play three different sea-

hockey team in his junior year, and a good

sonal sports. When we play hockey, though, we’ll

enough defenseman to be on the radar of NHL

work as hard at it as any team in New England, and

scouts. He had just led St. Lawrence to an upset victory over the

that can win you a lot of games, whatever your talent level.”

University of New Hampshire in 2002 when he was checked hard into

He adds that he and his team expect to have a number of practices

the boards in a game against Lake Superior State. He left the ice under

and games at the brand new ice hockey arena built by neighboring

his own power, but X-rays taken after that game revealed three fractured

Plymouth State University. The rest of their play will be at the open-air

vertebrae in his neck.

Holderness facility.

He had suffered the sort of injury that commonly leaves its victims paralyzed. Such was the case with former Boston University star Travis

Allie’s assistant coach will be Rick Eccleston ’92, formerly the head coach of boys varsity hockey at the Kingswood-Oxford School in

Roy. Allie was lucky, but his competitive playing career was over.

Connecticut. Rick played varsity hockey as a student at Holderness, and

He graduated with a degree in economics from St. Lawrence in

then at Hobart College. He returned to Holderness to teach math in

2003 and stayed there to earn a Master’s in educational administration.

2006.

He came to Holderness in 2004, coaching hockey and baseball and serving as Associate Director of Admissions. He has since become a mem-

Former pro hockey player Frank Cirone, who led the boys team for five successful seasons, and who also teaches in the math department,

ber of the faculty and teaches math. And this spring Director of

will move to the girls’ varsity program. Frank will work in tandem with

Athletics Lance Galvin ’90 announced that Allie would be the school’s

his wife Susie, a history teacher and former ECAC Player-of-the-Year at

new head hockey coach on the boys’ side.

Wesleyan, in leading that program.

“Allie was a tremendously successful player in college who has six

Team Glew takes shape S

ean Glew’s teaching career at Holderness was tragically short. Sean, his wife Nicki, and their children Molly and Mason came this way from

Eaglebrook in the fall of 2008. Sean was hired as chair of the history

department, but by October he had fallen ill with the cancer that ultimately claimed his life last summer.

Nicki and the kids are still with us, though—Nicki teaches Spanish and history—and so is the memory of a man who so quickly won friends and made such a powerful impact on Holderness. In honor of that memory, Tom Grilk (who is the father of Chris ’09 and David Grilk ’09, and president of the Boston Athletic Association) provided bib numbers for the Boston Marathon to any faculty member willing to run in that April race as a fundraiser for thymic cancer research. Five answered that call and have set a target of $10,000.

Nicki stands at the far left in the photo of Team Glew. To her left, the running teammates are history teacher Susie Cirone, math teacher Allie Skelley, science department chair Randy Houseman,

science teacher Mike

Carrigan, and Director of Student Publications Emily Magnus ’88.

Holderness School Today

33

Update: Former Faculty & Staff

“ H i s ex ci t e m e n t fil l e d t h e c l a s s ro o m s . . . .”

Norm Walker brings along his familiar passion for poetry on a winter visit to St. Sebastian’s.

F

ormer English teacher and present poet Norm Walker not only

gets back to the old school now and then, he gets back to some other schools as well—such as St. Sebastian’s School in

Needham, MA, which is headed up by Norm’s former colleague at Holderness, Bill Burke.

“Norm Walker, educator, poet, and football coach began his visit in February by reading the E.E. Cummings poem “in Just” during Stefan Crossotti’s freshman writing class,” said the St. Sebastian’s website the next day in February. “The students and Walker then took time to analyze the verses—why were they written as they were, and what was Cummings trying to say?”

Norm visited three other classes there besides that writing class, discussing a different poem in each class. “All the while,” said the website, “Walker’s enthusiasm for poetry was evident, and his excitement filled the classrooms.”

“Each has served the students of Holderness School.”

Holderness’s extensive infiltration of the NEASC brought shockingly to light!

H

OLDERNESS

SCHOOL faculty members—at

least former versions of such—were well represented at a winter board meeting of the

New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

So much so that the photo to the left made the cover of the NEASC’s spring report. “What do these four gentleman have in common?” asks the report. “Each has served as an officer or board member of NEASC, and each has served the students of Holderness School in New Hampshire at some point during his career.”

From the left: Pete Woodward, past Holderness Headmaster, past president of the NEASC, currently the NEASC’s Director of its Commission on American and International Schools Abroad; Bill Burke, former Holderness Director of Studies, currently Head of School at St. Sebastian’s, and member of the NEASC Board; Bill Clough, former Holderness Assistant Headmaster, former Headmaster of Gould Academy, and member of the

Welcome new citizen Kai Alexander-Xu Feiszli!

F

ORMER

fine arts teach

(1999-2002) Jin Xu

sent in this photo of

the latest addition to her and her husband Matt’s

Commission on American and International Schools

family: Kai Alexander-Xu

Abroad; and Jay Stroud, former Holderness

Feiszli was born on March

Assistant Headmaster, Head of School at Tabor

26, 2010—6.5 lbs., at 9:16

Academy, and President-Elect of the NEASC. “I think Holderness has made, and is definitely

PM. “She is a good citizen and wants to make it on to

still making, its mark on the NEASC,” concludes

this year’s census,” says

Pete Woodward. Hard to argue against that one.

Jin.

34 Holderness School Today

From the left: Pete Barnum, Robin Peck, Phil Peck, Ken Forbes, Janet Hiltz, Dick Stevens, and Rip Richards.

The man who built Holderness—or a good chunk of it, anyway.

K

EN

FORBES wasn’t

exactly a school staff

member, but for

many years it felt like he was: first as the

foreman in charge of the construc-

Contributions to Holderness School.”

Also present—along with Robin Peck and Ken’s daughter Janet Hiltz—were Plant Manager Dick Stevens, Director of

tion of Weld Hall in the early

Leadership Giving Pete Barnum,

1960s, and then in subsequent

and Ken’s old friend and profes-

decades as he oversaw the construc-

sional associate (and former Plant

tion of school facilities on Mt.

Manager), Rip Richards.

Prospect Street and several residential dormitories on the South Campus.

He also carried out many

Norm Walker, Lew Overaker, and Pete Woodward.

Ken is a World War II Navy veteran who went down with the destroyer Meredith off Utah Beach at Normandy, and who spent three

smaller jobs on campus over the

days in the water before being res-

years. The buildings that Ken built

cued. He remembers one summer

Icons, and also life-long fans.

T

HREE GREAT

educa-

tors, now retired from

their service at

“What a treat to catch all three of you together today!” wrote Phil in email

have proven as durable and well-

years later during which another

built as they are handsome. These

war vet, former history teacher and

days he lives in retirement in

ski coach Don Henderson, worked

big Holderness sports fans:

thanks to the three of you

for him.

English teacher and football

for continuing to stay so

Bridgewater, NH, though he’s still building. He’s growing more and more well-known around

“Don was one of those guys who went ashore on the Aleutian

Holderness, continue to be

to them the next day. “Many

coach Norm Walker, lan-

closely connected and sup-

guage teacher Lew

portive of your Holderness family.”

Bridgewater as a master furniture-

Islands, spoiling for a fight, only to

Overaker, and Headmaster

maker and repairman.

find that the Japanese had already

Pete Woodward. Phil Peck

gone,” Ken said. “But that summer

took this photo of them at

had to leave at halftime,

he gave me a Japanese-style chisel

the quarterfinals of the NEP-

“You’ll be pleased to know

Head’s residence—come to think of

that I found useful. Don was a good

SAC championship boys

the kids came back in the

it, that’s another house Ken built—

worker. I’d be glad to have him on

basketball tournament,

second half, tied it up, and

and accept an award from Phil

a job any time.”

But last January he took a break from that to appear at the

Peck: “In Appreciation of Lasting

which was the Bulls.

a home game for

Phil added to Pete, who

in the last couple minutes went on to win by 15!”

Holderness School Today

35

Update: Board ofTrustees

Grits & Grace: The. Rev. Randy Dales makes a March appearance in the Chapel of the Holy Cross.

T

RUSTEE

(AND former faculty

Randy also had a delicious

member) Randy Dales is

point to make about the presence

also the pastor of the All

of God’s grace. He recalled a

Saints’ Episcopal Church in

breakfast he once had in a Virginia

Wolfeboro, NH. In March The

diner while he was preparing for

Rev. Dales was a guest in Chapel,

his first year of seminary. He

providing some background on

didn’t order grits, but he was

Abraham of the Old Testament,

served it anyway. “Sometimes

and challenging all students to

grits just comes,” he said. “So too

take advantage of the approaching

does grace.”

Special Programs period.

Update: Former Trustees

Warren Cook, ski mountaineer, reports the Boston Globe— and it’s already much more than just a hobby.

“S

KI MOUNTAINEERING

may be under the

radar for most corduroy cowboys, but not

Warren Cook,” wrote the Boston Globe

newspaper in its 12/28/09 issue.

The former president of the Holderness School Board of Trustees is still the CEO and General Manager of the Saddleback Mountain Ski Area in western Maine. And he was using the trails of that resort to train for a famed spring half-marathon in Switzerland using the free-heel technique.

“Cook, 65, embraced the sport about five years ago during a five-day, 100-kilometer ski tour of the famed Haute Route between Chamonix, France, and Zermatt, Switzerland,” wrote the Globe. “Plus, his daughter, Nina [Cook ’90] Silitch, is a World Cup Randonee competitor, finishing 12th last season.

She lives in Chamonix with her husband [Mike Silitch ’79] and two sons.”

Warren’s three-person team was preparing to compete in April’s Patrouille des Glaciers, held every two years and organized by the Swiss Army.

“Cook’s team plans to tackle the 27-kilometer race between Arolla and Veriber (there’s also a 53-kilometer race) and hopes to ski the terrain in about nine hours,” said the Globe.

36

Holderness School Today

Left, Warren in the Swiss Alps in April, and below with daughter Nina, who is among the best in the world at this sport.

A best-selling new book celebrates former Holderness trustee John Winant as one of the great unsung heroes of World War II. He was a hero for Holderness as well, and his friendship with a prominent fellow trustee helped lay the foundation for his service to the nation.

But after the war he came to a tragic end.

CITIZEN OF HOLDERNESS

John Winant, right, at the dedication of Livermore Hall in 1932. With him, from the left, are Rector Edric Weld, Bishop John T. Dallas, and an unknown clergyman.

T

HE HOLDERNESS SCHOOL Board of Trustees has many distinguished alumni, but perhaps only

Franklin Delano Roosevelt surpasses the historic

achievements of John Winant, who served on the

Board from 1924 to 1947—and who today is as

little-known as Roosevelt is iconic.

A book published just last winter, however, hopes to do

something about that: Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour by Lynne Olson (Random House).

As a youngster Winant attended St. Paul’s School, and then enlisted as a private in the Army during World War I. He swiftly rose to the rank of captain, commanding a squadron of pilots who flew dangerous low-altitude observation missions over enemy territory.

Winant

was a quiet and shy man with a stumbling

speaking style. But he was also handsome, very tall—six-

Holderness School Today

37

Update: Former Trustees foot-six—with a direct, homespun manner that sug-

Administration. Winant’s success in that enterprise, by

gested to some a latter-day Abraham Lincoln. He was

the way, is the reason New Hampshire natives today

elected to the New Hampshire senate after the war,

have such low Social Security numbers. That success

and then to the governor’s office in 1924, the same

also ensured that he had no political future in the

year that he joined the Holderness Board.

Republican Party, which bitterly opposed Social

Winant lost the office in 1928, but came back in 1932 to win the first of two consecutive terms. He

Bishop Dallas, The Rev. Weld, and John Winant in front of the ruins of Knowlton Hall.

Security.

Instead Winant cast his lot with FDR, who

was among the first on the scene that morning in 1931

named him ambassador to Britain in 1940. Winant

when Knowlton Hall, Holderness School’s main all-

replaced Joseph Kennedy, who believed that Britain couldn’t win its war against Nazi Germany and who had argued for an American rapprochement with Hitler.

London’s skies were full of German bombers, but Winant was an immediate hit with the British press when he announced, on his arrival, “There’s no place I’d rather be at this time.”

Also arriving in Britain at this time were CBS news reporter Edward R. Murrow, whose job was to report on the London blitz, and Averell Harriman, who was there to co-ordinate American military aid to Britain.

Together with Winant, they were the “citizens of London” who are the subjects of Olson’s book.

ALL THREE BECAME friends and confidants of British prime minister Winston Churchill. “Churchill invested a lot in these men,” said Olson in an interview on National Public Radio on February 3rd. “He courted them as relentlessly as he was to court Roosevelt later in the war. And so he drew them into his official family. He gave them tremendous access to himself and to other members of his government. But he also made

“His warmth and compassion and determination to stand with them and share their dangers was the first tangible sign for the British that America and its people really cared about what happened to them. So he really became a symbol of the best side of America.”

—Lynne Olson

them part of his own family. Winant and Harriman, in particular, spent many, many weekends with the Churchills.”

Harriman, in fact, and later Murrow conducted open affairs with Churchill’s daughter-in-law Pamela, whose husband was fighting overseas. Meanwhile Winant became involved with Sarah Churchill, the prime minister’s married daughter. “London was extraordinary that way,” Olson said. “It really was a hothouse . . . Being stuck in a war zone can be a real aphrodisiac. Everybody is thrown together, and things happen that normally don’t happen.”

As ambassador Winant dared to roam the city as

purpose building, burned to the ground, and later was an important ally of The Rev. Edric Weld in the new

the bombings began, he would go out on the streets

rector’s determination to keep the school open.

and ask Londoners what he could do to help,” Olson

FDR had served on the Board from 1929 to 1931, but in all likelihood he and Winant were friend-

38 Holderness School Today

bombs fell about him. “As soon as he arrived, when

says. “His warmth and compassion and determination to stand with them and share their dangers was the

ly before that. Winant was a Republican, but progres-

first tangible sign for the British that America and its

sive enough in his politics for President Roosevelt, in

people really cared about what happened to them. So

the interests of bi-partisanship, to ask him to design

he really became a symbol of the best side of

what would become the Social Security

America.”

Olson’s book dramatizes the crucial roles that all three

that Letter from Grosvenor Square, the first volume of his

men played in persuading Congress and the American pub-

memoirs, arrived at the post office from his publisher—

lic of the necessities of saving Britain and of challenging

John Winant shot himself to death.

Hitler’s war machine. After the war, two of them went on to greater fame: Murrow as the newsman who faced down

“It would be fitting if Olson’s book revived interest in, and gained some recognition for, Gov. Winant, at least

the demagogic Senator Joseph McCarthy; Harriman to the

here in New Hampshire,” wrote the New Hampshire

governorship of New York and important federal posts in

Sunday News

the Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson administrations. John

3/28/10).

Winant, however, descended into obscurity and tragedy.

Winant had hoped to be named Secretary General of

(“New Hampshire’s Forgotten Man,”

“He played a huge role in helping the British and Americans get along during the war,” said Olson on NPR.

the new United Nations, but that hope withered with the

“And to have him disappear so completely is really wrong.

death of FDR in 1945. The Truman administration shifted

And I think it’s important to restore him to the place in his-

into Cold War mode, and Winant was deemed not strident

tory that he really deserves.”

Certainly it’s important to keep John Winant’s place in

enough as a cold warrior.

He returned to Concord, and to an unhappy marriage

Holderness School history. He stood with Edric Weld

and the task of writing his memoirs. He visited England

among smoking ruins on the morning of this school’s dark-

once more to propose marriage to Sarah Churchill, who

est, finest hour.

was estranged from her own husband, but was turned

however briefly, of the best side of America.

And then he went on to become a symbol,

down. Formerly a teetotaler, the 58-year-old man began drinking heavily. On November 3, 1947—the same day

And in another new biography (by Kendra Morse ’13), we’re reminded of who was the godfather of the Holderness ice rink.

Probably only Kendra can get away with calling him Grump.

I

T’S NOT UNCOMMON FOR

students and their grandparents

to pose for pictures together at Holderness athletic con-

tests. It is uncommon, though, for a grandparent to have

played such a crucial role in school hockey history as did

Mayland (Dutch) Morse ’38, who appears here with his granddaughter Kendra Morse ’13 (the photographer is Kendra’s dad Chris).

Dutch himself played hockey for Holderness back in the day, but many years later, in 1966, he made a more important contribution than that. Kendra wrote a biography of her grandfather for Janice Dahl’s English class, and we’ll let Kendra tell the story.

“Dutch was the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Holderness when the opportunity came up for Holderness to get its first artificial ice hockey rink,” Kendra writes in that biography. “Dutch’s friend Dan Stuckey was the Admissions Director at Exeter. He called Grump to announce that Exeter was getting a new hockey rink and that they had the old one dismantled. Grump asked if Holderness could have first dibs on the old rink.

He negotiated for the boards, the three miles of piping, and the compressor. Exeter needed it all removed quickly so they could start the construction of their new rink. All the Holderness students went to Exeter to help load the equipment. Two busses were used to haul all parts back to Holderness.

“Dutch was able to drive the Holderness football team in one of the school busses. He still had a commercial license from years before when he was a camp counselor at Camp Wallula. The Holderness football players helped load

the pipes in the aisle of the bus. Other Holderness students helped to paint the boards. As far as the Holderness students were concerned, Holderness was getting a brand new rink!

The friendship between Dan Stuckey and Mayland Morse Jr. was at the center of the success of the project.”

Holderness School Today

39

Alumni in the News

Leadership Born with ink in his veins, a former editor of The Bull and The Dial went on to a celebrated career in New England journalism that relentlessly emphasized the local beat.

IN MEMORIAM: DAVID CUTLER ’61

O

NE OF THE MOST important and com-

the aid of one of his men, he was shot through both legs

pelling careers in New England journalism

by a sniper bullet. He would have bled to death had not

began, arguably, at the age of six—on the

another soldier applied a tourniquet. He was rescued by

night when the parents of young David

helicopter the next day. Later he received a Purple Heart

Cutler got into an argument with another

and was promoted to captain.

couple over a game of bridge and took up a dare to start their own community newspaper. Nineteen days later, on

He returned to the Patriot Ledger in 1970 and became the paper’s Massachusetts State House reporter.

May 11, the inaugural edition of the Duxbury Clipper

In 1972, though, he quit the Ledger and took $1,000 in

appeared.

vacation pay to found his own community newspaper, the

“He always joked that ink flowed through his veins,” his son Josh told the Boston Globe (3/12/10). If so, the

Marshfield Mariner. Two years later he founded another—the Norwell Mariner—and over the next seven years founded other Mariner papers in towns such as Scituate, Cohasset, Pembroke, Braintree, and Plymouth.

Those were years in which David paid himself $200/week while working more than eighty hours and dining on snacks from vending machines. “We had no line of credit, no operating note, the IRS showed up more than once, and David had zero experience in banking or finance,” wrote former spouse Lou Cutler Phelps in Cape Cod Today (2/22/10). “If there was an extra $5,000 in the till, he viewed it as time to start another paper!”

David himself, however, never saw one more paper as that much of a gamble—and he was ambitious to boot.

“I had in my mind that I wanted to accomplish something by the time I was thirty,” he said to the Globe during that 1989 interview. “I’m a big believer in taking chances if I have a say in the outcome.”

David’s papers, though, were often understaffed as well as undercapitalized, and sometimes the outcome got away from him. Lou Cutler Phelps recalled the day that

conversion began during the boyhood years in which he watched his parents, without any formal training in jour-

“already in the mail and on its way to subscribers and

nalism, run that newspaper.

newsstands,” to find that two photos had been switched in

At Holderness David was a job leader, a floor leader,

the pre-press process: one of the Rockland Trust

co-editor of both The Bull and The Dial, co-captain of the

Company’s new board of directors, the other of a group

football team, and captain of baseball. He went on to

of Down syndrome adults at the Cardinal Cushing

Colby College, where he also captained the football team.

School.

Then he went to work as a beat reporter for a newspaper like the Duxbury Clipper, the Patriot Ledger out of Quincy, MA. A little more than a year later, though, in 1966, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps. “I didn’t feel like I should be sitting out the war,” he told the Globe in 1989, “even though I realize it was a mistake to be there.”

In Vietnam Lt. Cutler was commander of a company near the Demilitarized Zone. One night, while going to

40

she and David opened a copy of the Hanover Mariner,

Holderness School Today

Then there was the typo in a full-page ad in the Marshfield Mariner that turned an invitation to buy ice cream cones at a local shop into a sexual come-on.

“Loads of free parking in the rear!” the ad concluded.

David could be a diplomat as well, and Lou described first the arrival of the enraged ice cream shop owner “with a newspaper clutched in his fist,” and then his mollified departure, saying, “Well, if this doesn’t get them in the store, nothing will.”

In those years David also cultivated a staff that included many women rejoining the work force after raising children. Jane Lane rose from part-time stringer to executive editor of the Mariner papers. “He told me when I became manager that he thought women, and particular-

borhood of his old school, these include Plymouth’s Record Enterprise and Meredith’s Meredith News.

David was diagnosed with metastasized bilary cancer last August.

He kept on going to work until he was no longer able to do so. The

ly mothers, make the best managers because we respect deadlines and

Cutler family created a website through the Dana–Farber Cancer

do the best we can to meet them,” Lane told the Globe. “I think every-

Institute that allowed friends to monitor David’s battle against the dis-

body who worked for him understood that this was a special place and

ease. He died at the age of 66 at home in Duxbury, surrounded by his

this was a special guy. He was a mentor to generations of young

family, on February 28th.

reporters, and he relished that role.”

“More than three thousand people have visited David Cutler’s

Lane adds that there was a very personal dimension to that mentor-

website, where two hundred-plus guest entries and the family journal

ship. “The most important thing in David’s life was not his business or

express the affection, love, respect, and gratitude so many felt,”

the newspapers he acquired,” she said. “It was his family, and he also

observed his friend Sue Scheible of the Patriot Ledger (“A good age:

took a strong interest in his employees and their families. Nothing made

Many caring bridges to the late David Cutler,” 3/2/10). “He not only

him happier than to sit down with a group of his employees and talk

changed community journalism; he touched hundreds of individual

about what was new in their families, and it was genuine. His business-

lives, including giving many their start in the business.”

es were always family-oriented.”

“I learned a lot of lessons from David . . . about what it really

David also told the Globe in 1989 that “I never got into this thing for money. You don’t start a weekly newspaper to get rich.”

Nonetheless, that same year he turned a good profit on his original

takes to succeed in community journalism, and why Google and all the rest can’t figure out how to break those of us at the most local news levels,” wrote Lou Cutler Phelps, now the publisher of Georgia’s

$1,000 when he sold his Mariner Newspaper company—whose 95

Savannah Daily News. “David had an impact on local government in

employees by then produced 17 papers—to Capital Cities/ABC for $8

every community on the South Shore [and beyond] through quality

million. The sale included a five-year contract for David to keep run-

local news coverage, and therefore on our lives. That’s what quality

ning his company.

community journalism achieves.”

Soon, though, David struck out on his own again, this time in partnership with his former corporate boss, John Coots. Together they

Lou also noted that being a community newspaper publisher is very different from doing an urban daily, “for they are the men and

“I learned a lot of lessons from David about what it really takes to succeed in community journalism, and why Google and all the rest can’t figure out how to break those of us at the most local news levels.”

—Lou Cutler Phelps, Savannah Daily News bought a struggling independent Massachusetts daily, the Southbridge

women who champion the publication of the ‘living history’ of our

Evening News, and nursed it back to health. They formed a company,

smaller cities, towns, and neighborhoods, no matter how small the news

the Stonebridge Press, and bought other troubled papers.

story might be.”

David was now a turn-around artist, instead of a newspaper

In regard to which, it’s telling to look at the anonymous quote cho-

founder, but he applied the same editorial credo to these papers as he

sen by young David Cutler to accompany his biography in the 1961 edi-

had to his Mariner products: “relentlessly local.” Today the Stonebridge

tion of The Dial: “Small men rule the world.”

Press and its partner company, the Salmon Press, combine to publish one daily and 23 weekly newspapers across three states. In the neigh-

Service “T

HE SEEDS OF SERVICE AND

volunteerism were planted in me

at Holderness,” Margo Deselin told Holderness School

Today magazine in 2007. In her years here she was a Blue

Steps toward unity

Key guide, a Holderness Bull staffer, and a Service Committee member. She was also among the school’s first female students, and we cannot discount her own experience as part of a minority in the formation of her powerful social conscience.

She left Holderness to attend Middlebury, and then to train for the theater at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Then she moved to New York City, where she advanced so quickly in her day job in financial marketing and investor relations that she abandoned

Margo Deselin ’78 is named the recipient of the 2010 Distinguished Alumni Award for service on behalf of gender equality and troubled children.

Holderness School Today

41

Alumni in the News Women held in Beijing, helping to

the theater.

It was during the civil war in Bosnia, though, that she found

the status of women to a world-

what she really wanted to do. She

wide audience.

had just become a mother, and she

Margo Deselin with Unity Project founder John Woodall.

bring issues of gender equality and

Since 2004 Margo has served

was horrified by the sufferings of

as the Program and Development

Bosnian families. In 1993 she

Officer for the Unity Project, a

began working on various commit-

Massachusetts-based non-profit

tees of the Albert Schweitzer

whose innovative, multidiscipli-

Institute for the Humanities. Later

nary programs for fostering

she quit the financial services

resilience and community in

industry to become Director of

groups of middle- and high-school

Programs for PeaceWorks, coordi-

students grew out of successful

nating with the US Departments of

counseling models for Bosnian

State and Defense—as well as the

children. Margo has helped UP

International Rescue Committee—

work in partnership with schools

to airlift tons of supplies to chil-

and youth organizations across the

dren in Bosnia-Herzogovina.

nation to foster creativity, hope,

In 1995 she served on the Committee for the United Nations

and generosity in thousands of America’s young people.

Fourth World Conference on

The Ice-Man Coacheth, vowing, “I Can Excel (and so can you).”

M

IKE

“ICE” Heyward earned

having surgery twice in hopes of play-

Coach of the Year honors this

ing at Skidmore, but it was not to be.

winter working with the

When his doctor suggested that he

Knicks—the Wilton NY Knicks, that is.

Heyward got involved with the Junior NBA/Junior WNBA basketball program at the Gavin Park recreational

would probably never play again, he turned his attention to coaching.

Heyward is honing leadership skills with his major in management

center while looking to fulfill the com-

and business, service as class vice-pres-

munity service component of his

ident, and membership in the student

Introduction to Social Work course.

government’s communications and out-

There happened to be a coaching open-

reach committee.

ing in the program with a team of 6th

Community service through bas-

and 7th graders; he readily accepted it

ketball comes naturally. “I want to do

and continued on well beyond his class

more coaching with kids,” says

requirement.

“The best part of the job was the

Heyward, who is planning to work at the college’s basketball camp this sum-

kids,” says Heyward. “They looked for-

mer. “Ultimately,” he says, “I want to

ward to practices and games, and so did

be a head coach some day at the college

I.” He’ll never forget their win in an

level.”

early playoff game: “The look in their

Meanwhile, he is scoring big with

eyes when they got the taste of victory

young basketball players, inspiring

was priceless.”

them, as he puts it, “to be the best they

Heyward’s coaching experience—

can be in all their endeavors.” He’s

he also served as a student assistant

even parlayed his nickname “Ice”—

coach for the Skidmore men’s basket-

which he got from an early basketball

ball team this past season—represents

mentor—into the I Can Excel

his own victory over a life-altering

Foundation he is developing. Helping

accident.

kids excel is what Mike “Ice” Heyward

A standout player himself at

stands for.

Holderness School in Plymouth N.H., Heyward broke his wrist in the third

Story by Kathryn Gallien, reprinted by

game of his senior year. He ended up

permission of Skidmore College.

42

Holderness School Today

An injury cut short the basketball career of Mike Heyward ’07. But he’s enjoyed success off the court as well, and is helping others to learn how. Our thanks to Skidmore College for this story.

FREE

The Gilmore Cottage on Main Street in Kingston.

HOUSE!

W

ANT TO HELP SAVE AN

historic building in Kingston, NH? And

keep it as your very own? Then Stanley Shalett has got a very

sweet deal for you.

Stan is a 30-year resident of Kingston and a member of the

Kingston Historic District Commission, which is charged with protecting the town’s heritage and maintaining its village-like atmosphere. “It’s

The community activism of Stan Shalett ’55 has helped preserve the Kingston, NH, Historic District and save a venerable building from destruction. The next step is up to you.

Superintendent of Schools, at 603-642-3688,” Stan says. “Since I live in the Historic District, my heart goes out to save it. It is a piece of history that should live another life in another location, be appreciated for what it has done for the old high school, and not be reduced to ashes.”

Virginia Morse, chairman of the Kingston Historic District Commission, is delighted—and hopeful—about this turn of events. She

a mission I won’t take lightly in the 21st century,” says Stan, “since

says, “Stan sets a wonderful example of citizen pride, the power of civic

there’s a lot of work on my plate to do. And today Kingston is at a

action, and the lasting benefits of a good education,” she says. “He is a

crossroads.”

convincing and impressive writer.”

One big item on his plate is the fate of the Gilmore Cottage at 178 Main Street. The late 19th century building was originally part of the

And that crossroads situation took a turn for the better this spring with victory on another front. Stan and Virginia and the rest of the

Sanborn Seminary, which in time became the Sanborn Regional High School. “In its heyday,” Stan explains, “Gilmore Cottage was a useful academic building for special education, but that status changed in 2006 when classes moved to the newly built high school elsewhere in Kingston. Once abandoned, it slowly fell into disrepair.”

Kingston’s Historic District qualifies for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, and one building on the old campus—the main seminary building—is in that register. But the Gilmore Cottage, which is owned by the Sanborn Regional School District, is not. The district tried and failed to sell the building for one dollar, and then

“Just imagine Holderness School wanting to burn down its original 1879 Schoolhouse for the sake of demolishing it, instead of renovating it.”

—Stan Shalett ’55

arranged for the cottage to be burned down last November as part of a training exercise for Kingston firefighters. Stan was horrified. He says, “Just imagine Holderness School wanting to burn down its original 1879 Schoolhouse for the sake of demolishing it, instead of renovating it.”

Stan responded by filing a restraining order in Rockingham County

KHDC had been leading the local opposition to a developer’s plan to

Superior Court just a few days before the scheduled burning. At the

build a 36,000-square foot Hannaford Supermarket in the heart of the

hearing in December, Stan was accompanied by members of the Historic

Historic District.

District Commission and the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance.

“The Scarborough, Maine-based grocery store chain announced

Nonetheless, Judge Tina Nadeau dismissed the petition on the grounds

yesterday it plans to pull out despite winning town approval for the store

that the Kingston HDC had no jurisdiction over the building (“Judge

at the corner of Routes 125 and 111,” reported the Union Leader news-

okays burning down historic house,” Union Leader, 12/23/09).

paper (“Hannaford drops plan for store in Kingston,” 4/2/10). “The plan

But Stan wasn’t done. His appeal to the New Hampshire Supreme Court is still pending, and in the meantime the Sanborn Regional school board has become more flexible. The cottage is available for the taking,

was stalled by numerous challenges as opponents tried to stop it.”

Virginia Morse warns, however, that the fight isn’t quite over. “The owner of the property is determined to make it a commercial lot, which

they say, so long as the 2100-square foot structure is removed from its

is his right, within limits,” she says. “But perhaps the next client will be

current site.

a business more compatible with the Historic District, which you can

“Any Holderness alumnus who wishes to truck Gilmore Cottage away and use it for a residence should contact Dr. Brian Blake,

tell is under siege from those who don’t understand the economic value of preserving the character of the town.”

Holderness School Today

43

Alumni in the News

The Arts

F

OR A GOOD part of 2008, Dmitri Nabokov was the most controversial figure in the literary marketplace. The only child of novelist Vladimir

Nabokov—author of Lolita; Pale Fire;

Speak, Memory, and other masterpieces of

20th century literature—Dmitri was also executor of his father’s literary estate. At the time of his death in 1977, the elder Nabokov was at work on his last novel, The Original of Laura, which existed at that point as a series of notes and prose sections on 3x5 index cards.

Nabokov instructed his wife Vera to destroy the cards, but she could never bring herself to do so. When Vera died in 1991, the cards became Dmitri’s sole responsibility. For the next 17 years he struggled with the question of whether to carry out his father’s dying wishes or to preserve and publish these last stirrings of his genius.

Dmitri did not lack for advice. The playwright Tom Stoppard demanded that the cards be burned. Novelist John Banville urged clemency. Dozens of other literary artists and scholars weighed in

The statue of Vladimir Nabokov in Montreux, Switzerland.

with opinions for and against.

Dmitri himself admired what he read

while driving a competition-model Ferrari

in the index cards, calling Laura “the

308 GTB.

most concentrated distillation of [my

his life as a singer.

father’s] creativity.” He also remembered that when his father, shortly before his

The injuries he suffered ended

His own literary career, however, continues. He has translated many of his

death, was asked which of his books were

father’s works—novels, plays, poems, lec-

most indispensable, the old man had

tures, and letters—into several languages.

placed Laura at the top of the list.

In 2008 Dmitri told the New York Times that he “had never imagined himself as a literary arsonist.” Instead he thought

He also writes on his own behalf, though under a pen name that he refuses to disclose.

In 2008 the speculation about his

he might be a lawyer, having gone from

father’s last novel ended when Dmitri

Holderness to Harvard, and then having

agreed to remove the index cards from

been accepted into Harvard Law School

their Swiss bank vault and prepare the

while still an undergraduate. But finally he

material for publication by Alfred A.

went to the Longy School of Music to

Knopf as “a novel in fragments.” The

study singing, and then joined the US

book appeared last November, and in the

Army as an instructor in Russian.

New York Times

In 1961 he made his operatic debut

(“Nabokov’s last puz-

zle,” 11/15/09) reviewer David Gates

by winning the Reggio Emilia

wrote that The Original of Laura “should

International Opera Competition. That was

serve as a model of how to publish a

for his performance of a role in La

posthumous and unfinished manuscript.”

Bohème, a production that included anoth-

Gates takes issue with Dmitri’s claim

er promising singer, a young Luciano

in the book’s introduction that Laura is

Pavarotti. Dmitri built a rich career in

“unprecedented in structure and style,”

opera at the same time that he pursued an

objecting that there’s just not enough of it

interest in Formula One car racing. In

to say, but he says the book’s pleasures are

1980 he crashed on a Swiss autoroute

worth the frustration of its unfulfilled

44

Holderness School Today

Dmitri’s Dilemma Last year Dmitri Nabokov ’51 decided at last to publish his famous father’s last unfinished novel. Now the reviews are in.

promise, and concedes that it could possibly have been Vladimir

and Nabokovians at least will be grateful that the old man changed his

Nabokov’s masterwork, had the author lived long enough.

putative mind.”

Regarding his own opinion about Dmitri’s decision, Gates says it was nobody’s business but the Nabokovs’. He quotes from Dmitri’s

In the last paragraph of his introduction, Dmitri adds this as to why he chose as he did: “Well, I am a nice guy, and, having noticed that peo-

introduction: “To me, my parents, in a sense, had never died, but lived

ple the world over find themselves on a first-name basis with me as they

on, looking over my shoulder in a kind of virtual limbo, available to

empathize with ‘Dmitri’s dilemma,’ I felt it would be kind to alleviate

offer a thought or counsel to assist me with a vital decision.”

their sufferings.”

Dmitri finally decided that his father would ultimately have given his blessing to publication. “If that’s good enough for him, it should be good enough for the rest of us,” writes Gates. “It’s a moot point now,

A

FTER FIVE VERY

good years playing

on award-winning albums and per-

forming on late-night TV and in

Coast, in the Northeast, and in Europe.

That’s where the vaudeville will come in, and maybe also the tap-dancing lessons he’s been

packed arenas all around the world,

taking lately. “I’m not one hundred percent confi-

Franz Nicolay—keyboardist for The

dent that any one thing I do has universal appeal,”

Hold Steady—is now that group’s former key-

Franz says. “And I am basically an entertainer. I

boardist.

want people to be a little challenged, but also a

“In The Hold Steady, I was kind of a fox in a

little entertained. I want to explore this vaudeville

hedgehog band,” he told Paste Magazine (“Franz

troubadour idea of going out there all over the

Nicolay talks tap dancing, vaudeville, and why he

world and seeing if I can walk into a room of

The fox and the hedgehogs Franz Nicolay ’95 strikes out on his own after five years with The Hold Steady.

left The Hold Steady,” 1/27/10). “The Isaiah Berlin thing about the hedgehogs who have one defining idea and the foxes who have a lot of different ideas. So this is going to let me indulge a lot of those different ideas. They have their one big idea—making literate, wordy lyrics over big anthemic rock—and the last two records were about as good as I could do with that idea.”

By January Franz had recorded some material for The Hold Steady’s next album, due out in September, but he reports that those sessions have been re-recorded with another keyboard player.

Meanwhile Franz intends to try vaudeville, or at least his re-interpretation of that old art form. “I’m appealed to by the vaudeville tradition because I think it’s the tradition in American popular music that’s really strong and really unique to American history and a little bit forgotten,” he told Paste. “These multi-talented performers who were on the road for 300 days a year, and they could do a little tap-dancing, and they

strangers and entertain them.”

Meanwhile some fans of The Hold Steady

could do a little singing, and they knew a couple

are in mourning. “Hearing news of Nicolay’s

jokes—toward the end of whatever works, what-

departure feels like an amputation,” wrote music

ever entertains, whatever gets them over.”

Versatility was a virtue for the old vaudevil-

The Hold Steady at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008. Franz sports the moustache.

blogger Chris Robinson (crobaraff.wordpress. com). “The Hold Steady’s power as a band came

lians, and Franz has already demonstrated plenty

from their trifecta of talented musicians: the deft

of that—enough so that he’ll stay very busy this

lyricism and off-kilter vocals of lead singer Craig

spring and summer. He’s just released a book of

Finn, the driving classic-rock-via-punk guitar riffs

short stories with a small New York independent

and face-melting solos of guitarist Tad Kubler,

publisher—the book is called Complicated

and Franz Nicolay’s keyboards, which provided

Gardening Techniques, but don’t be fooled—and

the only real melodic material, as Finn’s vocals

continues to play in two Brooklyn-based bands,

are more about rhythmic cadences than anything

Guignol and the World Inferno Friendship

else. There will be no way to replace Franz

Society. He has followed up his 2009 solo album

Nicolay and reclaim the glory days of the band’s

Major General with a solo EP, St. Sebastian of the

first five years.”

“There will be no way to replace Franz Nicolay and reclaim the glory days of the band’s first five years.”

—blogger Chris Robinson

Short Stage. And he’ll be doing solo tours in support of that in the coming months on the West

Holderness School Today

45

Alumni in the News

The Arts

A specified moment in time

Dean Mullavey ’48

Three alumni artists from different eras in school history combine for a memorable spring exhibit in the Edwards Art Gallery.

N

EW WORKS BY ALUMNI artists representing different eras in the life of Holderness were on

display at the Edwards Art Gallery this spring.

That included art by potter Dean Mullavey ’48, printmaker Elizabeth Heide ’85, and photographer

Nicholas Schoeder ’06.

Elizabeth Heide ’85

Dean Mullavey came to the school from the US Navy in

1947 for some refresher work before attending Syracuse University. Here Dean worked under legendary wood engraver Herbert Waters and assistant art instructor Ellie Stark.

“My whole life changed because of the time I spent at Holderness,” he says, “mostly because Herb Waters gave me the courage to pursue life as an artist.”

Since then Dean has exhibited his work throughout the United States and Canada, and the naturalized Canadian citizen can boast of ceramics in the permanent collections of the Royal Ontario Museum of Toronto, the McCord Museum in Montreal, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Quebec.

Boston-based printmaker Elizabeth Heide has studied at Boston’s School of the Museum of Fine Arts and the Fine Arts Works Center in Provincetown. Her prints and etchings are done in a variety of techniques—intaglio, aquatint, photo etching, solarplate, and lithograph—and often include linear and abstract bird images, botanical studies, and figurative works.

“Nature is prominent in my work and the ties to birds are complex,” she says. “In some respects birds symbolize freedom, yet they are tied by biology and many are driven to exist in narrow margins among humans. These images represent the topography of a life and convey the tension between the concrete and the ephemeral.”

The third artist, Nicholas Schoeder, fell in love with photography while shooting 35mm film with Franz Nicolay.

Nicholas went on to St. Lawrence University and the School of

46 Holderness School Today

the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

He currently works out of studios in Canton, New York, and Bar Harbor, Maine.

“The work shown here represents various places I have traveled to in the past few years,” he says.

“Through the use of vibrant and saturated colors, I look to bring out shapes, lines, and extreme depths of field in these images. A specified moment in time or the candid raw emotions of a person are something that cannot be created, only cap-

Nicholas Schoeder ’06

tured.”

Medicine

A Christmas miracle Dr. Vicente Diaz ’96 has a role to play in the best present Cassy Rivera ever got.

L

AST

DECEMBER

A

Brooklyn woman named

Cassy Rivera received a marvelous gift,

thanks in part to Dr. Vicente Diaz ’96—

York Eye and Ear Infirmary, stepped in. He warned her that the operation was very difficult, that chances of success were no better than

the first glimpse she has ever had of her two-

50/50, but that the Infirmary itself would make

year-old daughter Aniahya.

up the balance of her tab.

Rivera, 36, had lost her vision to an aggres-

After Rivera had endured two types of

sive illness called uveitis, which begins as an

chemotherapy to control the uveitis, Samson and

inflammation of the middle layer of the eye. She

Vicente, who works as an assistant to the older

had first experienced blurriness in her right eye

surgeon, operated on December 9th. In two

in 2005. Within a year the problem spread to her

hours they separated the iris of Rivera’s left eye

left eye, and she lost the last vestiges of her

from its lens and liquefied the damaged lens

sight during the birth of Aniahya, her second

with an ultrasound probe. Then they inserted an

child.

acrylic prosthetic in its place.

“It was the worst thing,” Rivera told the New York Daily News (“Brooklyn mother

The next day Rivera returned to the infirmary for the removal of her bandage. Vicente

regains her sight,”

was there for the scream of joy that pealed

12/17/09). “I couldn’t

through Samson’s office. “She was so emotional

see my child grow up. I

and overjoyed,” he told the Daily News. “It was

could listen and smell

a beautiful, beautiful moment.”

her and hear her, but I did not have the pleas-

Rivera rushed home and described her first glimpse of Aniahya as “like I was touching the

ure of seeing my

stars and the clouds and the moon.” Then she

daughter.”

took a cab to Public School 147, where

By 2008 the

Principal Julia DeSalvo watched tears flow

divorced former med-

down Rivera’s face as she met her other daugh-

ical assistant was

ter Alayza. “She was just holding Alayza’s

unemployed. She had

face,” said DeSalvo, “and they were staring into

learned that a risky

each other’s eyes.”

operation to repair her vision would cost

Rivera has more surgery to come for her right eye, and she looks forward to rejoining the

$57,000 and that

work force. “This is a Christmas miracle,” she

Medicaid would cover

told the Daily News. “They really happen. You

only half of it. Then Dr.

have to believe.”

Michael Samson, a surgeon with the New

Holderness School Today

47

Alumni in the News

Sports Natalie Babony ’01 takes to the ice at the Winter Olympics

W

HILE OVER ITS history Holderness

tryouts with a regimen of dry land training and weight

has sent some fifteen or so snows-

lifting before work each day, and played on two local

port athletes to the Winter Olympic

men’s hockey teams, besides a women’s team.

Games, the school had never pro-

duced an Olympic hockey player—

until this year, when Natalie Babony was named to

She returned from tryouts in Slovakia in December, and then took a trip to New York City to visit friends.

Slovakia’s Olympic team.

“It was approximately 6 AM Eastern time on the

Natalie is a native of Ontario, but both her parents

29th, and I was feverishly searching the Slovak hockey

were born in Slovakia and she holds dual Canadian-

websites for any information as to who was nominated

Slovak citizenship. “To this day, all of my extended

to the final roster,” she says. “Coincidentally, my phone

family lives in Slovakia,” she told yalebulldogs.com,

rings, and it’s my mom. She’s crying and congratulat-

the website for Yale University ath-

ing me for making the team. I will never forget that

letics. “We grew up speaking

day.”

Slovak at home and continuing many Slovak traditions, so it is very much a part of who I am.”

At Yale Natalie racked up 21

The Slovak women, though, will have their work cut out for them in the IIHF “A” pool next year. At the Olympics they were winless, enduring first a blowout loss to Canada. They played very competitively,

goals and 31 assists in 90 games

though, in subsequent games against Sweden,

over her career. She led the team in

Switzerland, China, and Russia, and seemed to grow

scoring in 2003, and was part of a

stronger each game.

2005 squad that set a school record for wins (16) and reached the ECAC hockey semifinals.

After Yale, she moved to Boston to work for a medical

Above, Natalie on the ice against Sweden, and right, in the opening ceremony’s parade of athletes.

approximately 70,000 registered female hockey players, and Slovakia has 260. So the fact that we qualified

with that company’s

to go to the Olympics is quite an achievement in itself.”

Canadian division. But she also kept playing hockey, and in 2009 she helped Slovakia

the exact same way, because I couldn’t take it all in—it was sensory overload! I had the pleasure of meeting so

Division I Championship.

many wonderful people and talented athletes. The

That means that for the 2011

Olympic Village was also very magical and better than

world championships,

anything I could have imagined. I am so blessed to

Slovakia will join the “A”

have been given that incredible opportunity and share it

pool that includes powers such as Canada, the USA,

with my loved ones. The Holderness family was also

and Sweden.

very supportive and encouraging throughout the

FEBRUARY KELLY Hood and her family were

guests of the Union Leader newspaper at dinner in Manchester.

The Hoods were there for the annual Parade of

Champions Banquet, an honor Kelly won for being named the Union Leader’s New Hampshire Athlete of the Month last October.

Kelly was on her way then to setting a new single-season points record in field hockey at

48

Holderness School Today

And the Olympic experience? “Magical and surreal,” said Natalie. “I wish I could do it all over again,

win the IIHF World Women’s

Kelly Hood ’08 wins a seat at the Parade of Champions banquet.

Dartmouth.

ever be disappointed? And realistically, Canada has

cated to Toronto for a job

That success, however, didn’t guarantee Natalie a

I

HST. “But at the same time, you would take a step back and think, this is the OLYMPICS! Why would I

company, and last year relo-

place on this year’s Olympic team. She prepared for

N

“Of course as a competitive athlete, it was difficult to lose every game of the tournament,” Natalie told

Kelly was accompanied at the event by her brother Erik ’04.

Olympic process, so that was also very special to me.”

S

KIDMORE

COLLEGE

FELL

Sharlyn Harper ’06 finishes a brilliant Skidmore basketball career with all-star honors in the Liberty League tournament.

just short this winter in the

Liberty League women’s basketball championship tournament, but not for lack of effort by Sharlyn Harper, who

closed out a stellar Skidmore career in that event.

During the tournament Sharlyn averaged 21 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1.5 steals per game. She was the game

high-scorer in a 70-67 championship loss to RPI. She was also named to the All-Tourney team and honored as the league’s player of the week for the fourth time that season. Over the course of the 2009-10 season Sharlyn led Skidmore to a 12-2 record in the Liberty League, 21-5 overall.

Julia Ford ’08 earns an unprecedented third consecutive Golden Ski Award.

Julia at the World Junior Ski Championships in France.

I

T WAS A VERY GOOD

She was

the top women’s junior in slalom

(13th) at the US Alpine National Championships at Whiteface, NY. “She was also the top junior in downhill during the US title race in Aspen, CO (7th),” wrote Ski Racing magazine in its May 11th edition.

spring for US Ski Team

She closed her season by racing at the

member Julia Ford. After claiming top

Swedish National Championships, where she

American finisher honors in the downhill

finished second in the downhill behind World

and the super giant slalom at the World Junior

Cup great Anja Paerson and third in super G

Ski Championships in February, she closed her

behind Kajsa Kling and Paerson.

Nor-Am Cup racing season with a rush.

All of which was good enough for Julia to

On March 15 Julia took gold in the com-

win her third consecutive Golden Ski Award

bined and bronze in the super G at a Nor-Am event at Burke Mountain, VT. At the US Alpine

from the Eastern Ski Writers Association as the top female junior skier in the East. And that’s a

Championships the next week at Lake Placid,

record—no one has ever won that award before

she was the only junior to reach the podium in

in each year of his or her eligibility.

all four events. And for the second consecutive year, she finished second overall in the Nor-Am Cup point standings.

J

ED

HOYER

MOVED

to a whole different

sort of neighborhood in Major League Baseball last year when he left his

front-office job with the Boston Red Sox to

when he was the Red Sox assistant G.M., a job he held until last October. He would tune into late games at Petco, where the scoreboard always seems to read 2-1. ‘An

become general manager of the San Diego

extra base could be the difference,’ Hoyer

Padres. One big difference is that the Padres

would tell himself. ‘They have to run.’”

have the next-to-lowest payroll in baseball.

San Diego fans hoped for improvement, but they didn’t expect a miracle.

As of mid-May, however, none other

Jed hired former Red Sox base stealer Dave Roberts to teach the Padres how to lengthen leads and quicken jumps. “Two years after the plodding Padres finished last

than the San Diego Padres are on top of the

in the majors with 36 stolen bases,” wrote

NL West. The pitching has been terrific, and

Jenkins, “they led the NL with 35 through

the base-running—surprisingly—has been

Sunday.”

just as good. “The Padres rank second in the majors in ERA, but at Petco Park pitching is

Making a difference? Jed Hoyer ’92 is already doing that for the surprising San Diego Padres.

This year Jed was expected to trade some of the Padres’ veteran players for

rarely the problem,” writes Sports

some young prospects, and to build for the

Illustrated reporter Lee Jenkins (“Cadre of

future. But thanks to a little tweak in how

Padres,” 5/17/10) “San Diego general man-

the Padres play the game, the future may

ager Jed Hoyer had identified a larger issue

already be now in San Diego.

Holderness School Today

49

Alumni & Parent Relations

We come to the close of a year extraordinarily rich in the activity and company of Holderness friends and alumni.

With a little help from our friends

T

HE SCHOOL HAS

hosts of good friends who did

some wonderful hosting for Holderness this

winter. The Parents’ Association, for exam-

ple, organized and hosted a successful raffle in February, one whose themes were built around the

Chinese New Year. Prominent among the volunteers for that event were—in the photo above—Kallie Micalizzi, Leigh Starer, Ann Foster, Lori Hyslip, and Nanny Noyes.

Then there were alumni events all over the

Above, a crowd of young alumni came to the event hosted in January in Denver by Gretchen and John Swift ’62. To the right, some of the apple pickers who reported in October to the Massachusetts orchard owned by Hilary and Mark Finnegan ‘79.

country and beyond—let’s not forget October gatherings in Seoul and Beijing. Closer to home, good friends of the school helped to mount a back yard cookout in Maine; the Norm Walker Golf Tournament in Ipswich, MA; a day of apple picking in Harvard, MA; a day of skiing in Vail, CO; a Christmas party in Boston; Head’s Dinners in Chicago, Denver,

Vail, and Berwyn, PA; and

alumni gatherings in Chicago, Denver, Boulder, Philadelphia, San Francisco ,Seattle, New York City, and Atlanta.

This relied on the generosity of so many friends that we can only offer a general sort of thanks in the space available in this issue. We’re carving out a good portion of our fall HST, though, for the opporuntiy to name names on behalf of our friends and heroes. To the left are just a couple of photo samples of the smiles elicited this past fall and winter.

50

Holderness School Today

October 1-3, 2010 Be ready!

Alumni Homecoming Weekend To-Do List Or you could just stay home and work on a list that includes mowing the lawn, waxing the car, etc. That’d be fun too. We just like you to have options.

Friday afternoon Holderness Alumni Golf Classic.

Tour the Holderness Mountain Bike trails with Aaron Woods ’90.

Holderness Homecoming BBQ. Share your OB Memories with faculty leaders from the past and present.

Early Morning Alumni Run with Head of School Phil Peck.

Student-led campus tour.

Holderness Interview for your son/daughter.

Observe a 2010 Classroom (optional).

Holderness School Today Panel Discussion with Phil Peck, faculty, and students.

Travel down Memory Lane with Judith Solberg, Holderness School archivist.

Visit Holderness Archives.

School Store stock-up.

The Edwards Art Gallery, featuring “The Graphic Novel & the Wordless Book,” curated by David Berona, director of the of PSU Library.

All-School & Alumni Luncheon, with Larry’s famous chocolate applesauce cake.

Alumni vs. Students Pie Eating Contest, With Special Guest Chuckie Carbone ’11, reigning Holderness Pie Eating Champion.

Afternoon Fall Foliage Hike.

Afternoon of Bulls games and kid-centered activities.

Bulls varsity football.

Alumni Weekend Celebration Dinner.

Make your reservations TODAY! http://tinyurl.com/28h2f7d, or mail the registration card included with this HST. Holderness School Today

51

At This Point in Time...

O

NE EARLY

morning in 1941

"saw a stately cavalcade of

four beach wagons and two cars glide and bump from the

were invaluable in providing a vision for continuing the school.

The dedication of Livermore Hall in 1932. Bishop Dallas and John Winant are at the center, Edric Weld on the far right.

The fire also marked a sea change in

traveling to Concord." There the students

Winant's involvement as a trustee. Where

waited in a packed assembly room for an

previously his schedule had precluded his

hour and half before Governor Robert Blood

attendance at many board meetings, Winant

introduced "the man who held in the United

now hosted those very meetings in his office

States the most important position outside of

at the State House. He began working dili-

the President": John G. Winant. The

gently to raise funding and to establish some

Holderness School trustee and former New

financial security for the school, even mak-

Hampshire governor had just been appointed

ing personal calls to vendors (board minutes

as Ambassador to the Court of St. James.

As Rick Carey reports on page 37 of this issue, John Winant was a man who

Archivist Judith Solberg notes that John Winant was as much a hero as a Holderness trustee as he was as ambassador to Britain.

When the worst happened and the fire of 1931 destroyed campus, the Larson plans

campus. Besides Mr. Weld and

Mr. Hinman, it bore the fifth and sixth forms,

“How can I help?”

and appreciation of the Trustees present."

note that one vendor, unsurprisingly—and probably typically—"agreed after his conversation to extend the School credit"). This was

changed history. But before he was an

at a time when the board was somewhat

ambassador (even before he was governor),

uneasy about pursuing funding; in fact, the

Winant was a trustee of Holderness School.

treasurer and clerk both resigned over the

He never lost sight of that commitment.

decision to keep Holderness School open.

Although he was often unable to make

Combined with the leadership of Bishop

trustee meetings due to more pressing

Dallas and headmaster Edric Weld, however,

engagements, Winant took his Holderness

Winant's resolve was a strong factor in solid-

role seriously and pressed the board to pur-

ifying support from the remaining trustees.

sue new, often groundbreaking, initiatives.

During the Depression, Winant encour-

WITH

THE CRISIS OF

the campus fire weath-

aged the board to think strategically about

ered and more pressing world events claim-

increasing enrollment, partnering with head-

ing his attention, Winant's presence at

master Alban Richey to pursue the school's

Holderness School again faded to a more

first concerted advertising campaign. The

symbolic role; he was eventually made a life

board minutes note that "Mr. Winant's idea

trustee. Although invited to be featured at

was a fine one—advertising in magazines,

Holderness commencement ceremonies on

and employing some one to make personal

more than one occasion, Winant was in such

contacts." He also encouraged the trustees to

demand that he was never able to do so. He

create a master plan for the school, so as to

retained his affection for the school and

avoid the false economies that result from

Edric Weld, however. Just months before his

building without a big picture in mind. It was

death in 1947, he wrote that he was "disap-

Winant who, in 1929, first suggested consult-

pointed that it is not possible for me to

ing Jens Fredrick Larson, the architect who

accept [the invitation to speak at commence-

had worked extensively with Dartmouth: "Mr. Winant then suggested that he would like to have a survey of the School made by Mr.

ment] for it would have given me the greatest pleasure to have seen you again."

After Winant's tragic death, Weld wrote that "To few men it is given to serve their

Larson. He said that it

fellow countrymen in as many capacities.

would be valuable in mak-

John Winant's most characteristic expression

ing definite plans for the

was—'How can I help?' Few men will be as

future lay-out, in order

deeply missed by friends from all walks of

that what might be spent

life." Winant was a man who lived to serve,

would be spent judicious-

and as a result he left an impressive legacy

ly and with a definite plan

wherever he directed his energies.

in view to work on. Mr.

Holderness School's survival is part of the

Winant very kindly

lasting impact the man made on his world.

offered to stand any expense in this connection. His idea received the wholehearted approval

52 Holderness School Today

by Judith Solberg

The Holderness Annual Fund Supporting students… one gift at a time.

Designations beginning July 1, 2010 Go to www.givetoholderness.org

The Holderness Annual Fund is the cornerstone of philanthropy for Holderness School, supporting every aspect of the school’s operations, from people to programs. While tuition and endowment represent a significant portion of our annual budget, fully ten percent of our budget comes from gifts to the Annual Fund. And beginning this summer, you can choose how your gifts go to work for Holderness, its faculty, and its students.

Thank you for your continued support!

The School’s Top Priorities From faculty salaries to financial aid, mini-vans to course materials, heating oil to lettuce for the salad bar, the school’s annual expenses are diverse and real. We need your help to meet these critical and ongoing needs.

Faculty Support and Academic Programs Through our academic program, we prepare our students not only to enter selective colleges, but also to live lives of curiosity, inquiry, and learning. And it is through our faculty—a committed group of adults teaching life lessons inside and outside the classroom—that we achieve these goals.

Financial Aid Students on financial aid— representing over 40% of the student body—bring unique talents, stories, and experiences to our community and to our classrooms.

Financial aid makes this powerful opportunity available—both for them and for Holderness.

Athletics Our teams are known throughout New England for their high level of play and—at the varsity level—the frequency with which they qualify for post-season play. Yet we do not measure success by win-loss records or championships, but instead on the lessons learned through competition: focus, commitment, responsibility, and sportsmanship.

Special Programs The March Special Programs period is something uniquely Holderness, as students learn lessons about themselves and their world through intense experiences in community service (Project Outreach), the arts (Artward Bound), the outdoors (Out Back), and the classroom (Senior Colloquium and Senior Honors Thesis).

The Arts Through the arts, students learn and develop their creativity, imagination, confidence, and resourcefulness.

Whether through the performing or visual arts, our students find and share thoughtful and powerful pieces of themselves.

Student Leadership Leadership skills are developed through opportunity, practice, and direction. Holderness provides students with all three through the Job Program and a strong student leadership curriculum.

Non-Profit Organization U.S. POSTAGE

Holderness School Chapel Lane P.O. Box 1879 Plymouth, NH 03264-1879

Change service requested

PAID Permit No. 197 Manchester, N.H.