AROUND THE QUAD

DAY OF GIVING, DAY OF ACTION

On February 16, more than 1,600 donors gave nearly $600,000 for the school’s annual Day of Giving. This year’s Day of Giving took on a new spin: for each person who made a gift that day, Holderness—the school’s students, teachers, and staff—pledged to spend 1 hour in service to the local community. Read more on P.13.

HIKED IT, LIKED IT

This spring, the Outing Club introduced the Six Sentinels hiking patch, which students can earn once they hike six iconic mountains near campus. The six peaks—Plymouth Mountain, Stinson Mountain, Rumney Rattlesnake, Mount Prospect, Welch & Dickey, and Squam Rattlesnake—stand as sentinels to the White Mountains and Lakes Region, and make for fun, accessible day hikes. “The idea for this particular grouping was to get students to be more engaged with our local landscape, and a bit more rooted in the place we call home beyond campus,” says Director of Outdoor Programs Erik Thatcher ’08. The artwork on the patch was done by local artist Hanna Lucy.

Welcoming Our New College Counselor

We’re excited to announce that Director of Teaching and Learning Kelsey Berry has been named Director of College Counseling. Kelsey has been an integral member of the Holderness School community since 2012, having served as a history teacher, history department chair, varsity head coach, dorm parent, advisor, and most recently the school’s Director of Teaching and Learning. She will replace outgoing Director of College Counseling Bruce Barton, who has led the College Counseling Office for more than 20 years. Check out our full interview with Kelsey on P. 27.

Drive To Help Others

Thanks to two Holderness students, kids who attend a summer camp focused on empowering, transforming, and enriching girls' lives will receive new clothing this summer. Over the fall semester, Addie Pfeifle ’25 and Natalie Low ’25 collected 10 bags of old clothes from their Holderness classmates, and even received hats knit by Josephine Williams, a member of the school’s housekeeping department. When school resumed in January, the girls donated the clothes to Circle Program, a Plymouth-based nonprofit that supports New Hampshire girls who lack the opportunities and resources to develop their full potential.

DEAN’S LIST

Holderness will welcome two new deans to its leadership team at the start of the 2023–24 school year. History Department Chair Jordan Graham will step into the role of Academic Dean, while history teacher and current Director of Residential Life Tyler Cabot will become Interim Dean of Students. Jordan replaces longtime Academic Dean Peter Durnan, who will continue to teach English; Tyler replaces Mb Duckett Ireland, who will become Assistant Head of School for Student and Community Life at the George School in Pennsylvania.

GEORGE FORTIN ’24 COMPETES IN STATE POETRY FINALS

Just a day after returning from Out Back in March, George Fortin ’24 traveled to the New Hampshire State House to compete in the Poetry Out Loud New Hampshire State Finals. Earlier in the winter, George won Holderness School's annual Poetry Out Loud competition, the first round of a national poetry recitation contest that starts at the classroom level and advances to school, regional, state, and national-level competitions. While George did not advance to the national finals, Holderness is incredibly proud of his hard work and ability to beautifully recite poetry!

Freeride World Tour

Taylor Dobyns ’16 is the first ever Holderness alum to qualify for the Freeride World Tour. Taylor received the invitation to represent the US on the 2024 Freeride World Tour after finishing 2 nd in North America in the Freeride World Qualifier series this year. Taylor, who also just graduated from law school, will put her legal career on hold next winter as she travels across Europe, Japan, Canada and South America to compete against the world’s best extreme skiers.

Sarah Strong

On February 11, the Boys Varsity Hockey team scored two goals in a tie game against Kimball Union Academy. But the most impressive stat to come out of that game didn’t happen on the ice. It was the nearly $6,000 the team raised, with help from the entire Holderness community, for the Sarah Duval Memorial Fund. The Sarah Duval Memorial Fund is named in honor of Sarah Duval, the sister of varsity hockey player Jacob Duval ’25, who passed away in February of 2021 due to complications from leukemia. On the day of the game, students organized a 50/50 raffle, ran a bake sale, and sold t-shirts emblazoned with the words ‘Sarah Strong.’ It was a true community effort, with students from numerous sports teams pitching in.

Holderness Alum In Ncaa Final Four

In her first season as assistant coach of the Virginia Tech women’s basketball team, Radville Autukaite ’11 helped her players reach the NCAA Women’s Final Four. It was a magical season for the Hokies, who were crowned ACC champions on their way to the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. A hoops standout during her time at Holderness, Radville went on to compete for Reinhardt University where she received the NAIA AAC Female Champion of Character Award for all sports. A native of Lithuania, Radville also played for the Lithuanian National Team at the U-16, U-18 and U-20 levels.