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PAID LEWISTON, ME PERMIT NO. 82
HOLDERNESS SCHOOL TODAY THE MAGAZINE OF HOLDERNESS SCHOOL SUMMER 2014
CHAPEL LANE PO BOX 1879 PLYMOUTH, NH 03264-1879
INSIDE: r More Power to Them r In Consideration of Outstanding Female Leaders r Catching Up With Don and Pat Henderson THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS ABOUT THIS PHOTO THAT MAKE ONE WONDER IF IT IS PART OF AN APRIL FOOL’S JOKE. HOWEVER, THE SNOW WAS VERY REAL AND BLANKETED THE BASEBALL FIELD UNTIL MID-APRIL. AND THE MOOSE? SHE MADE A VISIT TO CAMPUS ON APRIL FIRST JUST BEFORE DINNER, PATIENTLY POSED FOR PHOTOS ON THE QUAD, THEN RETURNED WITHOUT INCIDENT TO HER HOME IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS.
Holderness School Summer 2014 Holderness School Today magazine. Flat size is 11.0 inches tall by 18.28 inches wide (includes 0.28 inches for perfect-bound spine); folded size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide. Artwork prints in four-color process and bleeds all four sides. Cover artwork; Cover IV and Cover I.
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SINCE THE 1970S WHEN GIRLS FIRST ATTENDED CLASSES AT HOLDERNESS, THEY HAVE BLAZED NEW TRAILS AND LED THE SCHOOL WITH BRAVERY AND DETERMINATION. ON THE COVER ARE PICTURED TWO OF THE FIRST GIRLS TO PARTICIPATE IN OUT BACK, AND ON THIS PAGE ARE VP ELIANA MALLORY AND PRESIDENT HEDI DROSTE LEADING THE SENIORS INTO THIS YEAR’S COMMENCEMENT CEREMONIES.
WASTE NOT, WANT NOT. It started with a casual observation,
STEWARDSHIP, COMMUNITY, AND STICK-TO-ITIVENESS. THEY’RE IN OUR DNA.
a throwaway comment about an ice hockey rink that was to be discarded. It grew into a major grass-roots salvage effort, that only Holderness could have organized: kids and adults working shoulder to shoulder to save the rink, using sweat, muscle, and strategy to wrestle together something they knew was within their reach. The result? Pipes, rink boards and a boiler, repurposed with care and intention. A home ground for speed, strength, ice and zeal. A hockey program revitalized through pride of ownership. Bragging rights for decades. The story of Holderness School’s rink, bought for one dollar, moved miles and re-assembled with student volunteers, is a legend that will outlive the rink itself. It’s a story of stewardship, of a community that knows how to cherish its resources and use them to bring greatness into being. It’s a story of the Holderness way of doing things—together, with vision, and with a great deal of care.
HELP US TO KEEP THESE PROGRAMS ALIVE NOW AND WELL INTO THE FUTURE. GIVE TO THE HOLDERNESS FUND. WWW.GIVETOHOLDERNESS.ORG
Holderness School Summer 2014 Holderness School Today magazine. Flat size is 11.0 inches tall by 18.28 inches wide (includes 0.28 inches for perfect-bound spine); folded size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide. Artwork prints in four-color process and bleeds all four sides. Cover artwork; Cover II and Cover III.
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F E AT U R E S
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More Power to Them What’s the best way to develop the confidence and leadership skills of young women? Rick Carey explores the Holderness School leadership and Job Programs and their roles in encouraging our girls to step up and lean in. BY RICK CAREY
ABOVE: Caption here.
In Consideration of Outstanding Female Leaders
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Why do so few women become heads of independent schools? In the final article in a three-part series, Head of School Phil Peck shares his research on leadership and what can be done to support women as they take on more responsibilities and seek leadership roles. BY PHIL PECK
Catching Up with Don and Pat Henderson
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With decades of hands-on experience and many more of indirect observation, the Hendersons have an impressively long-term perspective on Holderness School. Rick Carey and Phil Peck had a chance to check in with the Hendersons this spring and reflect on what’s worked. BY RICK CAREY
Holderness School Summer 2014 Holderness School Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
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D E PA R T M E N T S Board of Trustees Sandeep Alva Jonathan Baum Grace Macomber Bird Christopher Carney ’75, Treasurer Russell Cushman ’80 The Rev. Randolph Dales, Secretary Victoria Frei Nigel Furlonge Tracy McCoy Gillette ’89, Alumni Association President Douglas Griswold ’66 Robert Hall James Hamblin II ’77, Chairperson Jan Hauser The Right Rev. Robert Hirschfeld, President Robert Kinsley ’88 Richard Nesbitt Peter Nordblom Susan Paine ’82 R. Phillip Peck Thomas Phillips ’75 Jake Reynolds ’86 Ian Sanderson ’79 Andrew Sawyer ’79 Jenny Seeman ’88 Harry Sheehy Gary Spiess Poppy Staub ’85 Jerome Thomas ’95 Sander van Otterloo ’94 HEADMASTER EMERITUS The Rev. Brinton W. Woodward, Jr. HONORARY TRUSTEES Warren C. Cook Piper Orton ’74 W. Dexter Paine III ’79 Will Prickett ’81
3 From the Schoolhouse 4 From the Editor 5 Commencement 36 Around the Quad 52 Sports 61 Update: Current Faculty and Staff 65 Update: Trustees 70 Alumni in the News 85 Class Notes 104 At This Point in Time
Holderness School Today is published three times a year by Penmor Lithographers. Please send notice of address changes to the Advancement Office, PO Box 1879, Plymouth, NH 03264, or advancement@holderness.org. © 2013 Holderness School EDITOR: Emily Magnus ’88 EDITOR EMERITUS: Jim Brewer ASSISTANT EDITORS: Rick Carey, Dee Black Rainville, Robert Caldwell, Stacy Lopes, Lauraine Paquin, Judith Solberg, Courtney Williamson, Amy Woods, Clay Dingman DESIGN AND PRODUCTION: Clay Dingman, Barking Cat Productions Communications Design
PHOTOGRAPHY: Emily Magnus, Steve Solberg, Courtney Williamson, Art Durity, Ken Hamilton Holderness School Today is printed on sustainably produced, chain-of-custody stock certified to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards. HST is printed using only wind-generated renewable power, and inks derived from vegetable sources. ABOVE: White pants? Check. Socks? Check. Holderness water bottle? Check. These boys are ready to graduate and are only minutes away from receiving their diplomas!
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FROM THE SCHOOLHOUSE
What the Women of Holderness Can Accomplish Around the time of his retirement, Pete Woodward was asked by then Editor of hst Rick Carey to identify the leading accomplishments of his tenure as headmaster. One of the three successes he mentioned was transitioning Holderness School to full coeducation. Pete recognized that becoming truly coeducational was not about numbers or facts; rather it was about embracing a challenge that provided us with an opportunity to learn and grow. Even today that challenge isn’t over, but neither are the opportunities to grow. In this issue of hst, we touch on both the historical and current challenges and the opportunities that face us as we continue to learn from and with the girls (and women) of Holderness. The feature articles directly address issues pertaining to the development of female leadership at Holderness, but many other articles in this magazine highlight what the women of Holderness can accomplish both within this community and beyond once given those leadership roles. You’ll see that leadership in the “Catching Up” article about Don and Pat Henderson, in the farewell tribute to Martha and Jory Macomber, in the “In Memoriam” piece about Alice Jane Hinman, and in the many shorts about female alumni who are “making a difference for the betterment of humankind and God’s creation.” Included in that mix is also our most recent Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, Betsy Paine ’. In addition, this issue captures the amazing energy that existed on campus the second half of . You’ll read about this year’s musical, Hair, in which Theater Director Monique Devine included students in a marvelous production! You’ll also have a chance to see photographs of the school’s first Grandparents’ Day; Holderness School’s second Relay for Life in which the community raised over ,; and an amazing exhibit that included artwork created by three decades of Holderness photography students. No question, finished on a good note, and you’ll see why.
ol Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
Head of School Phil Peck at the 2014 Commencement, presenting Greta Davis with her diploma.
Most importantly in this hst I hope you’ll recognize that while the school is moving forward in exciting and innovative ways, we continue to hold on to our core values and defining programs. Yes, the juniors still took part in Out Back and senior projects are still going strong. In fact, in addition to having a new name—Senior Thesis—this year was the first year all the seniors completed a project and presented their findings during an all-school Senior Thesis festival. Holderness continues to live up to its high mission “For God and Humankind,” a calling that is never fully achieved but is rich and worthy of the journey. It is also a journey that takes a lifetime, and we are pleased and honored that you are sharing in that journey with us.
Phil Peck Head of School
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FROM THE EDITOR
Less Sleeve Tugging, More Bold Initiatives
Commencement at Holderness is a busy day, and hundreds of photographs are taken to record the event. Even the photographers become part of the story and find themselves included in the photo galleries!
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. – marianne williamson
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I admit it. When I get nervous, I tug at my sleeves. When I am in a meeting and I am called upon to speak, I curl my fingers into my palms and pull my hands deep into the cuffs of my sweaters. I don’t know any men who have this ridiculous habit, but I know many women who do. Despite our intelligence and often vast and relevant experience, there is a hesitation in the way we operate. Why? Is it, as this quote suggests, that we are afraid of our own power? Back in high school, I loved books and learning. I loved order and found diagramming sentences and solving algebraic equations satisfying. While I don’t remember anyone teasing me for studying and doing well, I know that no one inspired me or pushed me; at the public high school I attended my freshman and sophomore year, it was easy to be mediocre, to shrink back from the light, to be like everyone else. Then I switched to Holderness my junior year. Jay Stroud challenged me to think about the power of words and to be aware of how I placed them on a page—their order, their variety, the way punctuation could control meaning. And Paul Elkins—the way he spoke about chemistry made his passion for the subject clear. It wasn’t my thing, but I was compelled to care about covalent and ionic bonds because he cared. And Marty Elkins, who after I wrote a one-sentence analysis of “This is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams, handed my paper back to me and told me to try again, to struggle with the words and find meaning. The teachers at Holderness pushed me to find my power and my light, and after years of just getting by, it was freeing and surprisingly satisfying. I know I am not alone in my experience at Holderness. Time and again I see kids challenged to let their light shine. Just a few nights ago, I watched a rehearsal of the spring musical. There were three boys on stage, two of whom I had never heard sing before, but Theater Director Monique Devine had them up on stage singing their hearts out. I was blown away.
And as Marianne Williamson says, that power is self-perpetuating; by celebrating the talents of others and encouraging those who are just getting started, the students lift each other up. And as I watch them figuring out their talents and understanding their passions, in turn, I am energized. The students at Holderness make me want to do my job better—both because I want to do a good job recording and honoring their efforts and because I want to join them in their enthusiasm. That’s why I am excited for next year when I will become a full-time director of publications. In addition to spending more time photographing school events and documenting the talents of our students, I will have more time to write and develop both our hard-copy publications as well as our digital communications. I will also be working with students on a number of projects, and my intention is not only to take advantage of their passions and interests to better develop our publications and social media postings but also to give them real life experiences on which they can build for a life time. I can’t wait to get the students involved and imagine what’s possible; perhaps one or two of them will even discover passions they didn’t know existed. I hope that in small ways I am a role model to the students passing through Holderness, especially the girls. I am not a coach or a teacher or a dorm parent, but I work here because I love the energy the students bring to the campus. Some days it seems easier to shrink into my sweaters and leave the bold initiatives for someone else, but then I remember the words of Marianne Williamson: “Your playing small does not serve the world.” It’s my responsibility to roll up my sleeves and keep the energy going. Pass it on.
Emily Adriance Magnus ’ Editor, Holderness School Today emagnus@holderness.org
HOLDERNESS SCHOOL TODAY | SUMMER 2014
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think back to the genuine fear you “ Now had when Mr. Ford caught you cutting the Quad and yelled from the other side of campus, ‘If you cut corners now, you’ll cut corners for the rest of your life.’ Although we won’t take it literally in college, which will take some getting used to, we’ll keep that lesson in our minds as we leave campus.” – PRESIDENT HEDI DROSTE ’14
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Congratulations to the Class of 2014!
MR. IAN ALEXANDER BAKER Hampton, New Hampshire MR. ZACHARY RYAN BAUM New York, New York MISS MORGAN LOVEJOY BAYREUTHER Canaan, New Hampshire MR. COREY PHILIP BEGLEY Fremont, New Hampshire MISS REBECCA ANN BEGLEY Fremont, New Hampshire MR. WILLEM SAMUEL BRANDWIJK Voorburg, Netherlands MR. KAELEN THOMAS CAGGIULA Plymouth, New Hampshire MR. REED JOSEPH CARPENTER Shelburne, Vermont MR. JOSEPH PATRICK CASEY Holderness, New Hampshire
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MISS CONNER CROOKER CLEMENS Radnor, Pennsylvania MR. BENJAMIN DAWSON COLEMAN Yarmouth, Maine MR. TAREN ALEXANDER COOK Rothesay, New Brunswick, Canada MR. PERRY FRANK CRAVER Gilford, New Hampshire MR. EZRA THOMAS CUSHING Gilsum, New Hampshire MISS TRAM NGOC DAO Ha Noi, Vietnam MISS MARGARETA EVARTS DAVIS Shelburne, Vermont MR. JOHN DEWEY Bronx, New York MISS HEDI BARBARA DROSTE NewямБelds, New Hampshire
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MISS HANNAH FISCHER DURNAN Holderness, New Hampshire MISS RACHEAL MARBURY ERHARD Henniker, New Hampshire MISS SARAH ELIZABETH GARRETT Derry, New Hampshire MR. DANIEL NICHOLAS GIBSON Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada MISS HAILEE CHRISTINE GRISHAM Littleton, New Hampshire MR. MATTHEW FRANCIS GUDAS Concord, New Hampshire MR. ZIHAN GUO Chengde City, China, P.R. MR. ZACHARY JAMES HARMON Waitsfield, Vermont MR. MIKE PATRICK HOGERVORST Leiden, Netherlands MISS ELEANOR CELESTE HOLLAND Concord, New Hampshire MR. ANDREW CLARK HOUX Hopkinton, New Hampshire MR. RAYMOND A. JACKSON White Plains, New York MR. PERRY KHALIL KURKER-MRAZ Burlington, Vermont MR. MAX ROBERT LASH Waterville Valley, New Hampshire MISS YAZHI LI Xuzhou City, China, P.R. MISS SUZANNA JANE LIDDLE Halcottsville, New York MR. CLARK CORNELL MACOMBER Holderness, New Hampshire MISS ELIANA HOWELL MALLORY Aspen, Colorado MR. CONNOR JONATHAN MARIEN Lincoln, New Hampshire MR. SCOTT THOMAS MERRILL Meredith, New Hampshire MR. THORN KING MERRILL Morrisville, Vermont MR. MATTHEW FORD MICHAUD Waltham, Massachusetts
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MISS SARAH ELIZABETH MICHEL Meredith, New Hampshire MISS HALEY ELIZABETH MICHIENZI Bourne, Massachusetts MR. MACMILLAN CHARNLEY MORSE Yarmouth, Maine MISS CAROLINE EVELYN MURE Holderness, New Hampshire MISS DANIELLE ELIZABETH NORGREN Bellevue, Washington MR. JASON NUNEZ Bronx, New York MISS TESS MARGARET O’BRIEN Wolfeboro Falls, New Hampshire MR. CHASE HAMMOND O’CONNOR Falmouth, Maine MR. TAICHI OKADA Tokyo, Japan MR. JECEN MICHAEL OSUCHOWSKI Meredith, New Hampshire MR. SAMUEL FOSTER PAINE New York, New York MISS SO MIN PARK Houston, Texas MR. ADAM PETTENGILL Topsfield, Massachusetts MISS TRANG THU PHAM Hanoi City, Vietnam MR. GARRETT W. PHILLIPS New Canaan, Connecticut MR. EDMUND SPENCER PIERCE Winnetka, Illinois MISS CAROLINE BRIDGES PLANTE Tyngsboro, Massachusetts MISS ELIZABETH GRACE POWELL Waterville Valley, New Hampshire MR. HAROON RAHIMI Kabul, Afghanistan MISS EMILY BENOIT RASMUSSEN Plymouth, New Hampshire MISS ALEXANDRA NICOLE RENZI Acton, Massachusetts MISS LEA JENET RICE Winchester, Massachusetts
MR. CHRISTOPHER SANSING Chester, New Hampshire MR. CHARLES SHELVEY SHEFFIELD Lake Bluff, Illinois MISS MEGAN CATHERINE SHENTON Bedford, New Hampshire MISS HANNAH RAE SLATTERY Gilford, New Hampshire MISS ALEXANDREA SOLMS Bedford, New Hampshire MR. ALEXANDER ANTHONY SPINA Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec, Canada MR. YOUNG SOO SUNG Seoul, South Korea MR. JONATHAN E. SWIDRAK Dracut, Massachusetts MR. MICHAEL C. SWIDRAK Dracut, Massachusetts MR. MATTHEW DAVIS TANKERSLEY Bellaire, Texas MR. MATHEW BENJAMIN THOMAS Pictou, Nova Scotia, Canada MR. NOAH R. THOMPSON Wentworth, New Hampshire MR. PATRICK JOHN TOOMEY Exeter, New Hampshire MR. NAM HOAI TRAN Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam MISS MIKAELA R. WALL Marblehead, Massachusetts MR. EDWARD ROBERT WASSMAN III Marblehead, Massachusetts MR. PARKER JOHNSON WEEKES Ketchum, Idaho MR. STEPHEN JOHN WILK Rutland, Vermont MR. CHANCE JACKSON CRETELLA WRIGHT Alexandria, Virginia MISS JINGYI WU Shenzhen, China, P.R. MR. SHIHAO YU Beijing, China, P.R. MR. ZIANG ZHOU Shanghai, China, P.R.
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Class of 2014 College Destinations
Assumption College Bates College Berklee College of Music Bishop’s University Boston University Bowdoin College Carnegie Mellon University Clarkson University Colby College Colgate University Colorado College Concordia University-Montreal Connecticut College Dartmouth College Denison University
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Drexel University Hobart and William Smith Colleges Johns Hopkins University Lasell College Lewis & Clark College Maine Maritime Academy Miami University-Oxford New York University Norwich University Ohio University Parsons The New School for Design Providence College Roanoke College
Rochester Institute of Technology Siena College St. Lawrence University St. Olaf College State University of New York at Albany Susquehanna University Syracuse University Trinity College Union College University of Colorado at Boulder University of Denver University of New Brunswick University of New Hampshire University of Vermont
Wake Forest University Wellesley College Western Texas College Whittier College Williams College Worcester Polytechnic Institute Yale University
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momentous day marks the completion of one challenge and the “ This start of another. And as these seniors move on to accomplish more amazing things, the class of 2015 can only hope to be every bit as dynamic as the Class of 2014 has been.” – PRESIDENT-ELECT CHARLES HARKER ’15
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I look out on your faces I see many things. I see my own face “ When looking up at a very similar podium, contemplating my own future. I see the face of my daughter Haley on her graduation and imagine the face of my daughter Lily at her graduation next year. But most of all I see a group of young men and women who are full of joy and anticipation—84 faces radiating confidence, creativity, and achievement. Possibility is written all over you.” – CHAIR OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES JIM HAMBLIN ’77 P ’08, ’15
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Scenes from Commencement 2014
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2014 Commencement Awards THE ADVANCED MATH PRIZE Zihan Guo ’
THE ELEMENTARY LATIN PRIZE Rachel Tejeda ’
THE ELEMENTARY MATH PRIZE Keying Yang ’
THE ADVANCED SPANISH PRIZE So Min Park ’
seniors inducted in r Tram Ngoc Dao r Hannah Fischer Durnan r Racheal Marbury Erhard r Zihan Guo r Eliana Howell Mallory r Lea Jenet Rice r Young Soo Sung
THE SCIENCE PRIZE Zihan Guo ’
THE ELEMENTARY SPANISH PRIZE Nathan James Sampo ’
THE SPARGO AWARD FOR SCIENCE Young Soo Sung ’
THE CHINESE PRIZE Noa Chang Lin ’ Carter Karrer Bourassa ’
seniors inducted in r Daniel Nicholas Gibson r Thorn King Merill r Tess Margaret O’Brien r So Min Park r Hannah Rae Slattery r Matthew Davis Tankersley r Jingyi Wu r Ziang Zhou
THE POETRY PRIZE Caroline Evelyn Mure ’
Cum Laude Members The following students’ outstanding academic achievements have qualified them for induction into the Cum Laude Society, a society modeled after Phi Beta Kappa for high school students.
juniors inducted in r Emma Claire Abrams r Youngjae Cha r Thien Thuan Chau r John Barry Kinney r Thao Phan Thu Nguyen r Paige Elizabeth Pfenninger r Leah Elizabeth Scaralia r Qianyi Zhang
Book Awards THE HARRY G. ANDERSON, JR. MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP FOR EXCELLENCE IN MATH AND SCIENCE Paige Elizabeth Pfenninger ’ THE RENSSELAER MEDAL Thien Thuan Chau ’
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THE ENGLISH PRIZE Lea Jenet Rice ’
THE WRITING PRIZE Hannah Fischer Durnan ’ THE SEAN GLEW HISTORY PRIZE Robert Jake Renzi ’ THE CONNOR HISTORY MEDAL Margaret Kent Barton ’ THE ASHWORTH AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN UNITED STATES HISTORY Youngjae Cha ’ THE ASHWORTH AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN EUROPEAN HISTORY Yihe Jiang ’ THE ADVANCED FRENCH PRIZE Catherine Hayden McLaughlin ’ THE ELEMENTARY FRENCH PRIZE Zachary Aristotle Chernin ’ THE ADVANCED LATIN PRIZE Zihan Guo ’
THE WILLIAM BRADFORD WHITING PRIZE FOR ART Perry Kahlil Kurker-Mraz ’ THE MUSIC AWARD Zijie Wen ’ THE FIORE CUP FOR THEATRE Elizabeth Grace Powell ’ THE CERAMICS PRIZE Lydia Tatum Fisher ’ THE PHOTOGRAPHY PRIZE Haley Elizabeth Michienzi ’ Chance Jackson Cretella Wright ’ THE THEOLOGY PRIZE Taylor Alessa Mavroudis ’ THE KENYON COLLEGE PRESIDENTIAL BOOK AWARD Qianyi Zhang ’ THE HARVARD BOOK PRIZE Paige Elizabeth Pfenninger ’ THE ACADEMIC AWARD Lea Jenet Rice ’
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2014 Commencement Awards Commencement Awards THE REV. B.W. “PETE” WOODWARD, JR. PRIZE For exceptional leadership, academic achievement, and service in the junior year of college Mac Caputi ’ Radvile Autukaite ’
BETSY PAINE ’80, WINNER OF THE DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD.
THE RIGHT REV. DOUGLAS E. THEUNER AWARD For increasing and furthering the mission of Holderness Jory and Martha Macomber THE M.J. LAFOLEY AWARD For outstanding character and integrity in the third or fourth form Alan James Chabot ’ THE BOB BROOKS AWARD For making Holderness feel like home to ninth-graders Andrew Clark Houx ’ THE COACH’S AWARD For contributions to the spirit of Holderness on and off the field Alexandra Nicole Renzi ’ THE WEBSTER CUP AWARD For excellence in athletics Matthew Francis Gudas ’ Tess Margaret O’Brien ’ THE NED GILLETTE SPIRIT AWARD For leadership, competitive attitude, and a spirit of adventure Eleanor Celeste Holland ’ THE DON AND PAT HENDERSON AWARD For contributions to the welfare of the community Zihan Guo ’ THE RICHARD C. GALLOP AWARD For creative and community leadership Alexander Anthony Spina ’
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THE DANA H. ROWE MEMORIAL AWARD Given to a senior girl for academic achievement, participation in sports and extracurricular activities, and love of life Hannah Rae Slattery ’ THE CLARKSON AWARD For using his abilities to the fullest and persevering no matter the circumstances Haroon Rahimi ’ THE HASLAM AWARD For excellence in athletics, sportsmanship, and scholarship Daniel Nicholas Gibson ’ Lea Jenet Rice ’ THE DALLAS AWARD For loyalty and dedication to the Judeo-Christian ideals of the school Chance Jackson Cretella Wright ’
THE MARSHALL AWARD For outstanding contributions to the life of the school Hedi Barbara Droste ’ THE WALTER ALVIN FROST AWARD For reaching the highest standards of the school Eliana Howell Mallory ’ THE FACULTY AWARD For having a profound influence on the school; for being a moral compass, a great teammate, an excellent friend, and a dedicated learner Haley Elizabeth Michienzi ’ THE DISTINGUISED ALUMNI AWARD For exemplifying the highest standards of the school Betsy Paine ’
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graduating with a completely intact class, you have shown “ By how much your friends, dorm mates, and classmates matter to you. And by doing this you have strengthened the morale of the community and set a fine example for us to follow. Under the leadership of Hedi and countless others, you have shown the Holderness underclassmen what it means to be a Holderness senior: interactive, courageous, embracing, outgoing, hard-working, and just plain fun.” – PRESIDENT-ELECT CHARLES HARKER ’15 you let go of this trapeze bar we call Holderness Chapel, as “ As you move on to grab the future bar that is already swinging towards you, I hope, I trust, that you will hold on to this truth: you are profoundly loved by God, and need never be afraid. And so too is every other person you will ever meet… Holderness School, I believe, has empowered you to go forth, to grab that next bar of the trapeze, to ask the difficult questions, and to discover those new places where, erring in the direction of kindness, you will find yourself serving God and humankind.” – THE REV. CANON RANDOLPH K. DALES of the tremendous values of this place is what the faculty “ One impart to the students. And it’s not just academic knowledge; it’s leadership and individual and personal development. You cannot buy that.” – GUEST SPEAKER AND RETIRED GENERAL MONTGOMERY “MONTY” MEIGS ’62
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It is nearly impossible to teach natural relationships and true perceptions regarding differences in people unless those different people are present. — Pete Woodward
Girls tend meet the criteria [for leadership, dependability, initiative, and fairness] more often than boys do…. They have that emotional IQ. — Duane Ford
One of the only problems has been finding activities for girls during sports.…Gymnastics and Modern Dance are being offered in addition to cheerleading for the fall term. — Joanna Synder, Alumni News, 1972
By the time the trustees and the headmaster were thinking seriously about coeducation, Holderness was sitting right on the knees of the Age of Aquarius without really being aware of what was going on. — Pat Henderson
(In the 1970s) a house was given the name the Henderson House after their leader Pat Henderson—that was shortened to the Hen House. — Alumni News, 1973
(Last year) the Scholarship Plaque for the highest school average was shared by two girls, Cynthia MacLean and Piper Orton, and the award for the highest academic average in the senior class went to Nancy Henderson. — Alumni News, 1972
Teaching boys and girls to regard each other intelligently, as equals, ought to be one of the chief objectives of a coeducational school. — Jay Stroud, Alumni News 1978
…I was told I didn’t have to [carry trays] because I was a girl. And I thought, well if I’m going to be a student here, I’m going to do what the students have to do. So I started hauling my share of trays and got myself into the job program. — Hannah Roberts
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My first year here a boy told me, and went to the thendirector of studies to say, that he couldn’t learn from a woman, so there was going to be a problem. — Janice Pedrin-Nielson
But then they wanted to talk about whether [or not] we women could be the Bulls. — Marty Elkins
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MORE POWER TO THEM During the 2013–14 school year, three of the school’s top four officers in student government were girls. In fact, girls have done very well in the Holderness leadership program since the earliest days of coeducation. Let’s see if we can figure out why. BY RICK CAREY
I
T’S NOT A SAME-NIGHT FAST-BREAKING news turnaround like the U.S. presidential elections, where the winner is declared and the results are trumpeted before all the votes are even in. At Holderness School, the voting is done at the beginning of April, and not just for school president, but also vice-president, Weld Hall leaders, dorm leaders, floor leaders, and job crew leaders. Then life goes on as the ballots are tallied over the course of several weeks. Students just wait and wonder. Hedi Droste ’14 of Newfield, NH, came to Holderness to play in a good girls’ ice hockey program, and her roommate and friends were telling her that she might be named president. “I didn’t fully believe what they were telling me,” she says, “but deep down I knew I wanted that position.” Eliana Mallory ’14, from Aspen, CO, attended Holderness as the third of three siblings. Mirte ’98 and Linden ’03 came before her, and all three were drawn by the school’s combination of strong academics and challenging sports programs—especially Nordic skiing. “I never considered myself a leader,” she says, and awaited the results with modest expectations. So did Celeste Holland ’14, the child of parents who have taught at St. Paul’s and the Putney School. Also a Nordic racer, she had started thinking about Holderness as her family drove past on weekends on their way to nearby ski areas. “Everyone
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has different ideas about who the leaders will be,” she says, “and until the current president reads it off, none of the students know who it is.” This sort of election, where everyone is a candidate, is indeed hard to call. So last year, at the end of April and at an event known as Leadership Chapel, school president Jake Barton ’13 delivered results that were received with surprise by all three of these young women. Hedi Droste indeed had been voted president, while Eliana Mallory was elected vice-president, and Celeste Holland one of the school’s two Weld Hall supervisors. What was not surprising, really, was that—in a school where girls are 43% of current enrollment—members of that minority should claim three of the school’s four top student jobs. It’s true that people were surprised in 1981, when Ann (Ogden) Hausslein ’82 was first elected school president at a time when only a handful of girls attended Holderness—but that inaugurated three decades of history in which girls have been elected to leadership positions in percentages that well exceed their numbers. And nobody is startled anymore.
COMING UP WITH SOMETHING DIFFERENT WE LIVE IN A TIME OF ferment. In a nation that in 2008 elected its first black president, many of the issues raised in the 1960s about equal rights, representation, and access to leadership are being revisited.
We want to see how far we’ve come—or haven’t come—in laying those issues to rest. And the place of the women’s movement in all this is front-and-center. Women now earn more college and graduate degrees than men. Six years ago a woman was very nearly the Democratic presidential nominee, and Hilary Clinton is the front-runner for the 2016 nomination. A record number of women now serve in Congress. So that’s good, but not so good if you zoom in to take a closer look. In the marketplace, women still make 23% less money than men for doing the same work, and women still hold only 19% of those seats in Congress. Among the CEOs of the Fortune 500 companies, a mere 21 (4%) are women. Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg has written a best-seller, Lean In, on the challenges women still face in the boardroom and elsewhere, while important new research has brought to light some intriguing things about the neurobiology, culture, and politics of gender as it pertains to leadership. In light of all that, it’s intriguing to consider how different Holderness is from many other co-ed independent schools in electing girls as leaders. As recently as last April, one of the country’s most prominent schools—a school that went co-ed a few years earlier than Holderness—was called out by its students for “the staggering gender imbalance in the student leadership of the past forty years.” In a letter to
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By May of 1978, when this photo was taken, girls, both day and boarding, were becoming integral parts of the community and leading the school in new directions, both academically and athletically.
the school newspaper, they pointed out that only four girls have been elected to the school’s top office in that time. The New York Times ran a story on the school’s first attempt to improve on that (“School vote stirs debate on girls as lead-
ers,” 4/11/13), which involved replacing the presidency with a shared co-presidency. But then an electoral ticket of two boys defeated a co-ed ticket. The female member of the losing ticket told the Times, “Fewer girls try to get ahead because of a
mentality in our culture that says boys have better leadership skills. But you have to put yourself out there.” Of course in a Holderness election, you don’t have to put yourself out there—at least not in an electoral campaign sense. But it wasn’t always so. For the first seventy years of its history, student leaders were elected in the usual way. In the late 1940s, however, Rector Edric Weld confessed that he had always been unimpressed by a student council that was vouchsafed too small a role in school governance and that didn’t perform reliably well with the authority it was given. In 1949 he asked student council advisor Charles “Joe” Abbey to go on a retreat with his student leaders and come up with something different. The Abbey system that was implemented in 1950 abandoned traditional elections in favor of a ballot by which each member of the school, faculty and students, would assign a numerical rating to each boy according to strengths demonstrated in respect to the following facets of character: fairness, dependability, reliability, and leadership. The student who accumulated the highest net rating in these categories would be named president; the next high-
THE EARLY YEARS OF HOLDERNESS COEDUCATION CIRCA 1900 Loraine Webster (daughter of Headmaster Lorin Webster) attends Holderness School for Boys.
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1950S Four faculty wives teach classes at Holderness parttime.
1969 Hannah Roberts attends Holderness School. Holderness School begins to gather/receive information from other independent schools concerning the decision to pursue coordinated education or coeducation.
1970 A board member recommends either a lengthy study of coeducation, or a tabling of the issue until the next headmaster. Holderness School coordinates with girls from St. Mary’s on a limited basis. This includes trips to Boston, camping and climbing, weekend activities, and coed music and drama productions.
1971 The room with a fireplace and bathroom on the second floor of Livermore is set aside as a day girl room.
1972 Pat Henderson appointed dean of the girls. The “job has been created to fill the needs of the thirteen day girls now enrolled at the school.” A 14-by-60-foot house trailer is bought and placed behind Livermore for the use of day girls; it was called the “Hen House” as a shortened version of “Henderson House.”
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THE BEAUTY OF THE ABBEY SYSTEM IS THAT IT VALUES THE BONDING AND CONSENSUS-BUILDING SKILLS THAT GIRLS ARE GENERALLY GOOD AT. AND IT’S A SYSTEM IN WHICH GIRLS CAN ACHIEVE AUTHORITY WITHOUT DEMANDING IT. BUT THEN CAN THEY EXERCISE IT? est, vice-president; and so on down through dorm and floor leaders. In later years, this system would be integrated with the Job Program. The vice-president was given oversight over the entirety of the program, while the third- and fourth-highest rated became Weld Hall supervisors. Job Crew leaders were drawn from a ratings tier below floor leaders. With the Job Program harnessed to it, student government became critical in the day-to-day functioning of the school, and so extensive that about a fourth of the enrollment played some role in it—which is still the case. But even in advance of all that, in just the house-based version that debuted a year before Weld retired, the Abbey system was an immediate success with both students and faculty. “For the boys, it was their school at last,” Weld wrote later,
1974 66% of NAIS member schools are coed, up from 38% in 1964. At this time, there are 14 day girls at Holderness School. Soccer becomes the first official girls’ sport. The trustees agree to re-examine the status of coeducation at Holderness.
1976 Trustees reactivate the Coeducation Committee to “look objectively at the coed situation.” Trustees’ Coeducation Committee meets with faculty; finds “no strong feelings or consensus either for or against female students.” There are 17 day girls attending.
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“and many regard it as Holderness’ greatest achievement.”
NATURAL RELATIONSHIPS NOW FLASH-FORWARD TWENTY years or so. Holderness was not ahead of its time in going coed—was rather one of the later boys’ schools to make that shift. After succeeding Edric Weld in 1951, and leading Holderness smoothly through that decade, Headmaster Don Hagerman found himself—like every other school head in the country—beset by campus turmoil in the 1960s. Don was trying his best to hold the school together, and the matter of coeducation was not at the top of his agenda. But one day in the summer of 1969, his hand was forced by the bold daughter of math teacher Larry Roberts. Young Hannah (Roberts) Artuso ’71 didn’t want to attend Plymouth High, and she saw no rea-
1977 New Headmaster Pete Woodward proposes to the board that the school go coed within a year. The trustees unanimously agree to change the school’s name from “Holderness School for Boys” to “Holderness School.”
1977 The Statement for Coeducation at Holderness is distributed to the trustees by Woodward. After vigorous debate, the board votes by ballot to adopt the motion to admit boarding girls.
son to leave home for another independent school when she lived in the midst of a perfectly good one. So Hannah—not so bold that she wasn’t beset by nerves—made an appointment with the headmaster and stated her case. Don listened politely and promised to take it up with the trustees at their next meeting in October. She started the year at Plymouth, then was astonished to learn that the trustees had voted to admit her. She began classes at Holderness that month, but under no illusions as to her role at the school. Looking back on it all as a member of a 2004 panel on coeducation, Hannah said, “I think in the trustees’ minds I was a guinea pig.” In 1970 Hannah was joined by Cynthia (Crane) Fisher ’71, the daughter of school physician Henry Crane. The next spring she and Hannah received the first
1978 Jay Stroud is asked to serve as “coordinator” for the transition to coeducation. Goals include adjusting faculty ideas about gender roles, increasing full-time hires of women, adding girls’ athletic teams, and improving facilities to accommodate coeducation.
1978 Holderness opens boarding admissions to girls. Applications go up 70% over the previous year’s figures. First girl boarders attend: coeducation numbers are at 12 for boarding girls and 13 for day girls. The first girls’ hockey, alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, tennis, and lacrosse teams are begun.
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LEADERSHIP For the past ten years the enrollment of girls at Holderness has held steady at a little over forty percent. In contrast, the percentage of girls filling the top four leadership positions (president, vice-president, and two Weld Hall supervisors) tends to be much higher.
YEAR
TOTAL STUDENT ENROLLMENT
PERCENT GIRLS
PERCENT OF GIRLS IN LEADERSHIP
2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14
281 283 279 278 284 278 283
41 44 42 42 41 42 43
75* 50 50* 20 100* 25 75*
*Includes office of president that year. In 2010–11 there were three Weld Hall supervisors.
Holderness diplomas awarded to girls. Then the experiment was broadened. The girls began participating in theater productions, chorus, and Out Back. And while during those first five years the girls either had to join the boys’ athletic teams or participate in cheerleading, gymnastics, or dance, in 1975 the entire female enrollment organized themselves into the school’s first official all-girls’ soccer team. In 1977 the trustees asked the new headmaster—The Rev. B.W. “Pete” Woodward— for his own opinion on the matter of coeducation. “It is nearly impossible,” Pete wrote, “to teach natural relationships and true perceptions regarding differences in people unless those different people are present.” By the end of the November board meeting, it was resolved that the Holderness School for Boys would proceed, simply, as Holderness School. At that point “true perceptions regarding differences in people,” at least in
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regard to gender, became official business at Holderness, something regarded with both apprehension and optimism. “There’s no way that 13 girls in a 200-odd student body aren’t going to stick out,” stated a student editorial in the October ’78 Holderness School News. “Don’t think they don’t know it either. Some of them are paranoid about crude jokes and being the only girl in a class. Of course some couldn’t care less about what anybody says—more power to them—but there are some who are nervous and defensive. Well, that will disappear.” Had it disappeared by 1981, when Ann (Ogden) Hausslein ’82, who had only just arrived as a new junior the previous fall, was elected school president? Ann had come from another independent school, one farther behind the curve than Holderness in embracing coeducation. By comparison, she thought Holderness was very progressive.
“I have to admit that at the time I had no idea that I was at such a crux, or at such an intense period of change and development for Holderness,” she said in that 2004 panel, convened for the 25th anniversary of official coeducation. “In my little world, I felt that it was a fully coeducational school. But I realize now, and over the years, that it wasn’t.” The matter of why it wasn’t, and the matter of why Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In has caused such a stir and hit the best-seller lists, are two different sides of a single question—a question with as many sides, actually, as a cut diamond: How are a man and a woman, aside from reproductive anatomy, different from each other? We all have our perceptions—but which are the true ones, especially as they pertain to authority, decision-making, and leadership? In a recent issue of The Atlantic, and in an excerpt from their book, The Confidence Code, reporters Katty Kay and Claire Shipman point out that some important differences are hidden inside our brains (“The Confidence Gap,” May 2014). “Take, for example, the amygdalae, sometimes described as the brain’s primitive fear centers,” they write. “They are involved in processing emotional memory and responding to stressful situations. Studies using FMRI scans have found that women tend to activate their amygdalae more easily in response to negative emotional stimuli than men do—suggesting that women are more likely than men to form strong emotional memories of negative events.” They summarize other findings from the neurobiology of gender. The brain’s anterior cingulate cortex, for example, helps us all recognize errors and weigh options. Some call it the worrywart center. “And, yes, it’s larger in women,” they write. Hormones play roles in decision-making as well. Regarding estrogen: “By supporting the part of the brain involved in social skills and observations, estrogen seems to encourage
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bonding and connection, while discouraging conflict and risk-taking.” Testosterone, on the other hand, fosters a tolerance for conflict, an appetite for risk-taking. Brain structure and hormones combine to produce habits of mind more pronounced in one gender than the other. So women, say Kay and Shipman, are more likely to be perfectionists, and more likely to blame themselves when things go wrong. Men are less inclined to edit a report ad nauseam, for example, and more likely to exonerate themselves if a project fails, emphasizing context and circumstance—what psychologists call external attribution, as opposed to internal. So take a woman’s proclivity for being accommodating, for getting along, for assuming the blame; combine that with centuries of cultural prejudice and sexism, with subtle and overt stereotyping, discrimination, and sexual harassment, and you arrive at Kay and Shipman’s central factor in women’s reluctance, to lean in and demand authority: “women’s acute lack of confidence.” Sandberg would agree. Consider the 1960s Johnny Cash song, “A Boy Named Sue.” The departing father— determined to instill toughness, and the confidence that follows from that, in his infant son—christens the boy with a girl’s name. Explains the father to his alpha-male son at the song’s conclusion: “So I give you that name and I said goodbye/ I knew you’d have to get tough or die/ And it’s the name that helped make you strong.” The situation is an inversion of gender stereotypes made precisely for the purpose of asserting those same stereotypes.
A FIBER OF CONNECTEDNESS BY NOW THIS DISCUSSION has itself become an exercise in stereotyping. Of course a woman isn’t necessarily pliant and guilt-ridden. Of course a man isn’t necessarily assertive and tough. This is partly because individuals are different, and partly
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(L–R): 2013–14 Holderness School President Hedi Droste; Vice-President Eliana Mallory; and Weld Hall Supervisor Celeste Holland discuss the challenges and rewards of their leadership roles.
because—actually—the sexes aren’t so distinct. “Male and female brains,” observe Kay and Shipman, “are vastly more alike than different.” And there is research on leadership that doesn’t select for gender— that simply considers what works or doesn’t work, no matter the governing hormone. Before 1995, for example, a person’s leadership potential was believed to correlate with what was measured by an IQ test. But with the publication that year of his book Emotional Intelligence, psychologist Daniel Goleman offered an explanation for the “highly intelligent, highly skilled executive who was promoted into a leadership position only to fail at the job.” Goleman’s research established that IQ and skills really weren’t good predictors, in general. Success hinged more on affective qualities that Goleman described as facets of emotional (versus intellectual) intelligence—what Goleman christened “EQ.” Specifically, he found five qualities to be critical: self-awareness, or the ability to understand your moods, emotions, and
drives; self-regulation, or the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods, to think before acting; motivation, or a passion to work for reasons that go beyond money or status; empathy, or the ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people; and social skill, or proficiency in managing relationships and building networks, in finding common ground and building rapport. “Competence studies show that the higher a person goes up the organizational ladder,” Goleman wrote, “the more prominent the role these personal abilities play in performance.” Each of those abilities, tellingly, has to do with building connections between the self and others—even motivation, says Goleman, must be unselfish. And when Director of Residential Life Duane Ford ’74 describes Holderness School’s system of finding leaders, it’s hard not to think of Goleman’s five EQ-oriented predictors. “The results of the voting are a direct way of measuring what you might call a kid’s fiber of connectedness,” Duane says. “How
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GIRLS’ SPORTS Once committed to converting the Holderness School for Boys into simply the Holderness School, girls’ athletic teams followed. The first official all-girls’ team was soccer in 1975. Each year new teams were added; in 2004 there was even a girl who played on the football and baseball teams.
100%
20
80
15 TOTAL NUMBER OF ALL SPORTS TEAMS
60
10 PERCENTAGE OF ALL TEAMS OPEN TO GIRLS
40
5
20 1974–75
1984–85
1994–95
active are you within the community? How linked are you to all its different subgroups? Maybe it’s not so much interest in leadership, per se, that we’re looking for— it’s more purely interest in and immersion in community.” It could well be that Joe Abbey and his student council were on to something that Goleman and other experts on leadership potential wouldn’t figure out for another half century. The Abbey system’s four facets of character share a common denominator in connectedness, and align very smoothly with Goleman’s aspects of emotional intelligence. For Goleman’s selfregulation, read Abbey’s dependability; for
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Goleman’s motivation, read Abbey’s initiative; for Goleman’s empathy, read Abbey’s fairness. Abbey’s “leadership” aspect may seem tautological, but in asking students in general terms who displays that quality to them now, they seem to find classmates who are good at the self-awareness and the social skill that Goleman also finds crucial. Nor is there anything in these descriptions to remind one of that brawling, chest-thumping Boy Named Sue. Of course the best leaders of our corporations, schools, municipalities, and nonprofits aren’t like that. They’re assertive and confident, yes—but they’re also good connectors rich in EQ, friendly
and prudent, detail-oriented, willing to take ultimate responsibility, and preferring consensus over conflict. Whether male or female, they are, in some ways, mentally androgynous, combining stereotypical habits and behaviors of both sexes. In crude and reductive terms, we might say that men compete, and women cooperate—and good leaders succeed at both.
A BULL NAMED SUE HEDI DROSTE MAY NOT HAVE been confident about winning the presidency last spring, but she was unusual in consciously wanting the job. Anne Ogden’s reaction to the results in 1981 would prove more typical. “I was eighteen years old, and I just wanted to enjoy life,” she told HST in 2005. “I didn’t want to be in charge of even a student activity group.” But at Holderness that doesn’t matter. None of the students have to campaign for their jobs, or even speak up or dominate any classes or meetings. They simply have to be their über-connected high-EQ selves. “I didn’t necessarily want to be running things,” admitted Anne Ogden, looking back. “But it’s as if people could sense you out.” Indeed they can, but they’re sensing out not those who want to be in charge, necessarily, but rather those whom they want to be in charge, and whom they believe can handle it. The beauty of the Abbey system is that it values the bonding and consensusbuilding skills that girls are generally good at. And it’s a system in which girls can achieve authority without demanding it. But then can they exercise it? We have to note that, despite the Abbey system, Holderness School cannot be described as an oasis of gender equity and concord. On two occasions—in 2008 and 2013—human rights educator Steve Wessler visited the school and talked with students in order to assess its social climate. In a community that has intentionally
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Hedi Hammond ’79 and Chris Hanaway ’79 during one of the girls’ first soccer games in the late ’70s
made itself diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, and economic background, Wessler was not surprised to find that tensions exist, though he was cheered that many of the students he met “care deeply,” he wrote, “about creating a climate at Holderness where every student feels welcomed and respected.” On his second visit, Wessler was pleased to note improvements in several social divides. But now, he reports, the most significant tensions on campus surround gender. Among other things: girls reported being emotionally hurt and robbed of self-esteem, by the sexually degrading words and actions on display at times from some boys in the community; some boys reported confusion about how to conduct themselves respectfully towards girls and still answer to stereotypes about what it means to be a young man; other boys reported being troubled
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by an assumption they believe exists among the faculty—that if you are a boy, you are by definition disrespectful towards girls; lastly, girls reported feeling that they are held to higher standards of personal appearance (and dress code enforcement) than boys. These are symptoms of unease that stretch far beyond Holderness, but there is this matter of access to leadership, this one important dimension at which Holderness succeeds very well. In the marketplace, and in other places out there in the big world, women still struggle mightily for that access. To recall how wide that divide stretched in 1978, however—on campus and off, and how much more rigid sex roles were then—is to appreciate all the more the value of certain acts of “leaning in” by the school’s first female students, their bold acts of putting themselves out there.
First there was simply that decision by Hannah Roberts to walk through Don Hagerman’s door and challenge the headmaster to find a place for her. Then there was her self-prompted enlistment into the Job Program. “Well, there’d be these little freshmen that were up to my elbow that were staggering under these trays, and I was told I didn’t have to do that because I was a girl,” she said during the 2004 panel. “And I thought, well, if I’m going to be a student here, I’m going to do what the students have to do. So I started hauling my share of trays and got myself into the Job Program.” Soon it became apparent that girls really could haul trays. Hannah also joined the chorus and the drama program. “While things were very limited in what I could do,” she said, “I could find things and ways to be involved. I also found that by becoming involved in the drama program, the
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CONFIDENCE MATTERS THIS SPRING, IN THE FOURTH QUARTER, OF THE 24 SENIORS WHO earned high honors recognition on the Holderness Honor Roll, 13 were female. Similar numbers are recorded for juniors, sophomores, and freshmen; statistically speaking, the females outperform their male classmates. So why is it, if current trends are any indication, that these women will be paid less and will receive fewer promotions than their male peers? As Katty Kay and Claire Shipman point out in an Atlantic article, “Success, it turns out, correlates just as closely with confidence as it does with competence” (“The Confidence Gap,” May 2014). In other words, confidence matters. An experiment conducted by research psychologist Zachary Etes provided evidence a few years ago when 500 students were given a series of tests that involved reorganizing 3D images on a computer screen. As Estes predicted, the women in the study scored significantly worse than the men. “But when he looked at the results more closely,” Kay and Shipman report in The Atlantic, “he found that the women had done poorly because they hadn’t even attempted to answer a lot of the questions. So he repeated the experiment, this time telling the students they had to at least try to solve all the puzzles. And guess what: the women’s scores increased sharply, matching the men’s.” On a second test, Estes again asked his students to answer every question, and both the men and the women scored 80 percent. He then tested the students again and asked them, after each question, to report their confidence in their answers. “Just having to think about whether they felt certain of their answers changed their ability to do well,” explains Kay and Shipman. “The women’s scores dipped to 75 percent, while the men’s jumped to 93. One little nudge asking women
students really respected the fact that I wasn’t holding myself out to be different.” This wasn’t just a matter of fitting in on Hannah’s part; joining the community and forging connections was also an assertion of the breadth of what girls could do. Things became less limited as more girls followed Hannah, and the importance of that 1975 girls’ soccer team cannot be
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A.
B.
CAN THE TWO FIGURES IN EACH SET BE MADE IDENTICAL BY ROTATING THEM IN SPACE?
how sure they are about something rattles their world, while the same gesture reminds men that they’re terrific.” Estes’ tests not only illustrate the negative consequences of the confidence gap and explain women’s lack of leaning in in many environments, they also offer solutions. In a final test Estes told both the male and female subjects that they had done well on a previous test and then asked them to complete one final test. All the students improved significantly. Providing both males and females, but more particularly females, with confidence boosters changes their performance. So will this be the first generation of females to tip the scales and climb the corporate ladders, even to the highest ranks, in numbers equal to their male peers? Perhaps, but they will have to ensure that their confidence is sufficient. That’s why Holderness traditions like the Job Program and our leadership selection process are doubly important in engaging females and providing them with opportunities to learn and grow as leaders. The confidence they gain will be self-perpetuating and perhaps before long, yes, our girls will be running companies and serving in our legislature just as successfully as their male peers. They’re certainly smart enough.
overstated. Ice hockey followed. “And once there was lacrosse—the lacrosse team was coached by Jim Brewer, who is the god of lacrosse as far as I’m concerned—it was a great thing for the girls to be competitive, and it never stopped,” said Christine Louis ’81 in that panel. “There would be championships, New England championships….I don’t know whether the girls
brought that, but I sure felt like a lot of the tide that was rising had to do with the women’s athletics here, and how it rose time after time.” Christine also remembered a discussion about whether the Bull was a suitable mascot for the girls’ teams. “The girls were the most adamant about keeping that mascot,”
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MORE POWER TO THEM
AT HOLDERNESS GOOD THINGS OFTEN COME TO GIRLS WHO “LEAN IN,” BUT IT’S NOT A PREREQUISITE TO EITHER RISK-TAKING OR LEADERSHIP. she said, “because of the strength it showed, and the power.” Indeed Holderness quickly built excellent, winning girls’ sports teams—and co-ed teams—that provided regular showcases for female toughness, assertiveness, and competitiveness. In effect, they proved that a Bull could be named Sue, and all three of this year’s top school officers, athletes themselves, appreciate both the present and the past of girls’ sports at Holderness. “All the girls are active in sports at Holderness, and since many of the programs are so strong, they provide both a different stage for girls to be seen on, and an equal stage,” says VP Eliana Mallory. “Especially on a co-ed team like Nordic skiing, you’re together with boys every day, outside, doing something you both really love, and you get a better perspective on who people really are—and the team develops a cohesiveness that crosses gender barriers.” In 1981 the Holderness School News predicted that girls would soon no longer have cause to be “nervous,” or to be the subject of “crude jokes.” Well, three decades later we’re still waiting for that, but we’re not waiting for girls to rise to the top in school government, and to perform well once elected.
LEANING IN SHERYL SANDBERG BELIEVES THAT in the world at large, women cooperate too much in their own disenfranchisement, that they hold themselves back, and don’t “lean in” enough—i.e., set high goals and take risks to achieve them. Kay and Shipman cite Sandberg herself as Exhibit A in what they call women’s “confidence gap.” They quote the Facebook COO as saying, “There are
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still days I wake up feeling like a fraud, not sure I should be where I am.” At Holderness good things often come to girls who “lean in,” but it’s not a prerequisite to either risk-taking or leadership. The former is going to happen anyway: on the playing field, in the classroom, within the Job Program, during Artward Bound, away on Out Back, as part of any of the dozens of ways students are asked to stretch past their comfort zones with the community safety net underneath. Much of this happens at other boarding schools, but Holderness benefits from the extra and meaningful “leaning in” that comes from the Job Program and Special Programs. These provide additional arenas in which boys and girls can get to know each other as people. Then leadership is tendered on an equal-opportunity basis thanks to the Abbey system, but in the largest portions to the good connectors, to those high in EQ. But do we make it too easy for girls at Holderness? Is this just some sort of facile end-run around the confidence gap? “The natural result of low confidence is inaction,” observe Kay and Shipman. “When women don’t act, when we hesitate because we aren’t sure, we hold ourselves back. But when we do act, even if it’s because we’re forced to, we perform just as well as men do.” If you’re Elizabeth I or Catherine the Great on the world’s great stage, in fact you perform better than men. Kay and Shipman’s point, though, is that action leads to confidence, and then confidence is self-perpetuating. Because of the whole community’s faith in the Abbey system, Hedi Droste, Eliana Mallory, and Celeste Holland grew into their positions feeling more like leaders than frauds. Perhaps they
began as nervously as Hannah Roberts once began in Don Hagerman’s office. But then, after being trained by faculty mentors and the previous generation of leaders, these girls felt the wheels start turning. “I think that my confidence rose over the year as we all settled into our positions,” says Celeste. Hedi concurs, especially as her responsibilities took shape: “Over the course of the year I’ve found more authority in my voice, and instead of taking the longer route around some obstacles, I cut right to the chase.” Eliana gained confidence even as she considered the perils of being a girl and in charge. “At the beginning, I was nervous and not sure to what extent my job would play out in different arenas,” she says. “I was timid about projecting my opinion to the teachers, and I was also afraid of being ‘too bossy.’ Since then I feel much more comfortable speaking to teachers with whom I may disagree, and feel confident I can stand my ground, even though they hold authority over me. I also feel like I have embraced that at times I have to be bossy in order to get the job done, but that in the long run hopefully people will respect that.” Nor is authority just a privilege of these three. There are also the female dorm leaders, floor leaders, and job crew leaders—and there is the experience shared by all of seeing how well girls succeed in these roles. “More power to them,” said the Holderness School News about the school’s female enrollment in 1978, and that wish has come true. Pete Woodward, a year earlier, had predicted a better grasp of “natural relationships and true perceptions regarding differences in people,” and in the arena of student leadership at Holderness, he couldn’t have been more right.
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in consideration of outstanding female leaders Head of School Phil Peck returned from his year in New York over a year ago, but the information gleaned from his doctorate work continues to inform his work at Holderness today. In the final installment of his three-part series, Phil discusses the discoveries he made about women in leadership and their important role in mentoring the next generation of leaders. Phil Peck
W
hen I began my research for my doctorate, I
did. In the national bestseller, Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg describes the
knew that I wanted to learn more about the leadership
same phenomenon:
development of independent school heads. Some of what
During the six and half years I worked at Google, I hired a team of four thousand
I learned was predictable and made sense: future heads of schools need
employees…What I noticed over the years was that for the most part, the men reached for
mentors to prepare them for leadership; they need meaningful exposure
opportunities much more quickly than women. When we announced the opening of a new
to finance, governance, and advancement plans; and they need to under-
office or the launch of a new project, the men were banging down my door explaining why
stand the trends and theories that are shaping independent schools.
they should lead the charge. Men were also more likely to chase a growth opportunity even
There were, however, several surprising discoveries; one in particular
before a new opening was announced…The women, however, were more cautious about
continues to intrigue me.
changing roles and seeking out new challenges. I often found myself trying to persuade
My research began with contacting many of the country’s top experts
them to work in new areas. ( p34)
in independent schools and identifying 74 heads of school who were
Carol Frohlinger and Deborah Kolb, the founders of Negotiating
considered exemplary. Of those 74 heads of school, only a third were
Women, Inc., call this phenomenon “The Tiara Syndrome”: women
women. However, when I narrowed my search and selected the eight
think that if they keep their heads down and work hard, someone will
heads who were identified the most frequently, four of them were
notice and place a tiara on their heads. Hard work should be recognized,
women. I found this fascinating: there are significantly fewer female
but sometimes it is not. Research has found again and again that while
than male heads of school, but of those that have made it to the top and
men self-identify and advocate for themselves, women tend to wait to
are considered outstanding leaders, half of them are women.
be noticed, losing out on crucial opportunities for advancement and
Holderness’ administrative team follows a similar pattern. Despite the school’s commitment to increasing the number of female faculty and
responsibility. Intentional, professional encouragement is necessary in overcoming
staff, only six out of the fourteen positions on the administrative team
this tendency to hold back. All of the female heads in my study shared
are held by women; and yet these women are six of the most competent
how important that encouragement was in their development, whereas
leaders with whom I have worked. Why fewer women rise to leadership
less than half of the male heads did. Sandberg writes, “If we want a
roles when they are just as competent as their male colleagues is a com-
world with greater equality, we need to acknowledge that women are less
plex and multi-faceted debate. Due to issues of confidentiality I can’t
likely to keep their hands up. We need institutions and individuals to
discuss specific schools or individuals, but as I delved deeply into my
notice and correct for this behavior by encouraging, promoting, and
research, a few truths kept reoccurring, ones that I find compelling and
championing more women. And women have to learn to keep their
challenged my original perspective.
hands up, because when they lower them, even managers with the best
First, women, even aspiring leaders, often don’t self-identify. One female head said that of her 20 faculty between the ages of 30 and 40—
of intentions might not notice” (p36). There is also, even today, still the issue of how frequently women are
half men and half women—every one of the men came forward to talk
in charge of care-giving in their families. Every one of the female heads
about how they wanted to advance as leaders, but none of the women
in my study, who was also a mother, talked about how she struggled with
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it’s not about the luck
this challenge, both when she was aspiring to be a head and when she attained the role. Several who still have young children talked about the need for board support, which was often lacking; and the only way they got support was to “lean in” and ask for it. We already know that corporate environments traditionally require employees to work 9–5 and beyond, and with added responsibilities, come longer hours and travel. There is little flexibility and significant demands. Boarding schools, with their 24/7 hours of operation, have their own version of this schedule that also puts women at a disadvantage. My research suggests that if we want more women to attain leadership roles in our schools, we, like corporate America, need to look more carefully at how we define and execute working hours and how we support working families. But why change? Why is it so important to include more women in the workforce and in positions of leadership? According to The Confidence Code, “A half dozen global studies, from Pepperdine to the IMF, now show that companies that do employ women in large numbers outperform their competitors by every measure of profitability” (Kay and Shipman, p87). Furthermore, my research revealed that women make excellent mentors; they are often better at helping their employees grow and develop, and many women I spoke with described their female mentors as more nurturing. Lastly, my research also showed that for many women relationships are a driving factor at work, and they seek out colleagues that are interested in sharing their experiences and working together. Every one of the exemplary female heads in my study talked about networking and being connected; none of the male mentor heads mentioned this. This concept applies to working collaboratively with other schools, as well as within a school. Independent schools are notorious for operating in isolation, but in an increasingly global economy, this approach is limiting. As leaders of independent schools, women
CLOCKWISE FROM PHOTOGRAPH AT TOP: Katty Kay; Sheryl Sandberg
have the potential to help assess and correct this siloed approach.
(photograph by Datuna Otfinowski/Fortune Most Powerful Women);
In the past, I believed that it was just a matter of hiring women, giv-
Claire Shipman (image by ABC/Steve Fenn).
ing them the same opportunities as men, and getting out of the way. But my research and the recent research of women like Linda Babcock and
of the community”—the leaders of the school set out to change this
Sara Laschever (Women Don’t Ask) and Katty Kay and Claire Shipman
number. Ten years later, the faculty is now 46 percent female.
(The Confidence Code) reveals that even when women are given the same
But there is still work to be done, especially in encouraging women to
opportunities as men, they are not as likely to succeed without thought-
seek administrative and leadership positions and supporting them in
ful processes and support structures.
those positions. They are part of a larger independent school system
At the student level at Holderness, where female students just as fre-
that was designed by men and is perpetuated by values that play to men’s
quently earn leadership roles as male students, we’ve done something
strengths. How do we change this system? Unfortunately, I don’t have
right. Our leadership system identifies girls who have leadership poten-
an answer, yet. But because of my research I am very aware of the issues,
tial and helps them gain the experience necessary to lead. We’re
and I am confident the answers will come. How? I suspect, from long
improving on the faculty side, too. In 2003, the percentage of female
discussions, introspection, and deliberate efforts. Answers will also come
faculty in the classroom sat at around 30 percent. Keeping in mind the
from conversations like the one we had last September when history
mission of the school—to encourage “a respect for the dignity of all indi-
teacher Kelsey Berry initiated a faculty discussion on Lean In, and later in
viduals,” and to “provide students with an experience of community life
the year when Spanish teacher Kristen Fischer initiated another discus-
which promotes unity within diversity, development of leadership, stew-
sion on My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor. It will take time to change
ardship of resources, and constructive relationships among all members
the system, but I am convinced we can make it happen.
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Don and Pat Henderson, circa 1985
Catching Up With Don and Pat Henderson THIS IS WHAT WORKS Don and Pat Henderson were twin pillars of the school’s faculty and staff for years, and they still provide inspiration and good advice from their home across the river in Fairlee, Vermont. by rick carey DON AND PAT HENDERSON ARE IN a good position to offer advice
both subscribed to the idea that a good snow sports program would take
on what works. Now 90 and 88, respectively, they still lead active, vigor-
good advantage of the school’s location and help distinguish it from other
ous lives; in fact, until two years ago, Don himself bucked and loaded the
independent schools. Don remembers trying to do speed training at
seven cords of wood they burned each winter. Now, in one of his rare
Cannon Mountain during the days when the mountain’s speed limits on
concessions to age, he just adjusts the thermostat to their oil furnace.
skiers applied even to the Holderness racers. “I’d check out the slope,
He and Pat, however, still ski throughout the winter, though Pat con-
make sure there were no ski patrol people in sight, and I’d say, ‘Follow
fesses, “I’ve become a fair-weather skier.” Where does she draw the line?
me,’” Don says. “Ten of us would go down at once, in a line, hoping like
She recites to Head of School Phil Peck the poem she composed to help
heck we got to the bottom without getting caught.”
decide: “Ice? Not nice./ Can’t see? No ski./ Cold? Too old.” But otherwise
Don’s teams grew into pipelines to both the national teams and the
she’s reliably at the side of the man she met when they were both stu-
top Division I college programs. In the 1970s, a number of ski academies
dents at Middlebury after World War II—a man who was already a Tenth
began competing with Holderness for the very best racers, but there have
Mountain Division veteran of the Aleutian and the Italian campaigns and
always been those racers—and families—who want to be involved in other
would go on to revive the Holderness School snow sports program, coach
sports as well and want to receive a traditional boarding school education
the U.S. Olympic alpine team, and serve as its head coach during the
with strong academics. Holderness has held its own.
1969–70 season. Together they also went on to fill various roles at Holderness from 1951 to 1987.
PHIL WENT TO SEE THE HENDERSONS at their home in Fairlee,
And that pipeline has continued to flow, nearly three decades after Don’s retirement. “This year out of an enrollment of 280, I think 140 of our students are participating in one of our snow sport programs,” Phil
VT, on a mild and sunny day this spring. They sat in chairs behind the
says. “Two of our folks were in the Sochi Olympics—Julia Ford ’08 on the
Hendersons’ rambling Cape, with birdsong above and a pair of shaggy
US alpine team, and Julia Marino ’11 for Paraguay. And two other alumni—
Scottish Highland cattle looking on from the hillside fence that divides
free skier Sophia Schwartz ’09 and snowboarder Converse
their son’s property next door from their own. And they talked about
Fields ’08—came within a whisker of making it there. We nearly had four.”
things that worked well—at Holderness, in life, and in the considerable overlap between the two. Snow sports have worked well at Holderness. Don had been one of Headmaster Don Hagerman’s first hires—as a history teacher—and they
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COEDUCATION HAS WORKED out well also, particularly in respect to the contributions girls have made over the years in the student leadership program. The Hendersons remember how fiercely the question of coeducation was debated in the 1970s. “Don Hagerman had a wise
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CATCHING UP WITH DON AND PAT HENDERSON
Head of School Phil Peck shares a spring afternoon with Don and Pat Henderson at their home in Vermont.
method for dealing with conflict in the community,” Don says. “He’d let
Claudine said. ‘I’m here in the USA, the land of the free, this great democ-
people argue back and forth for an hour, two hours. This was back when
racy, and I have fewer rights than I have in France.’”
you could fit the whole faculty into that little office at the top of the stairs
Meanwhile, the Hendersons were strong advocates for coeducation
on the second floor of Livermore, and it would be thick with cigar smoke.
from the beginning, and finally the pleadings of several faculty daughters
Well, the next day the whole issue would have disappeared, and life went
and several families in the Plymouth area persuaded Hagerman and his
on quite smoothly.”
trustees to open the door and begin a transition that became official in
But the issue of coeducation refused to smooth out, even if Don
1978. Don was delighted to have girls in his history classes, though he
wished it would. “I don’t think he wanted to cope with that much change
found it hard to adjust the phrase with which he had begun his classes for
at that point in his career,” Pat says. “And he did not want Holderness to
27 years by then: “Good morning, boys.” Meanwhile Pat joined the staff as
make the switch out of desperation.”
an advisor to the day girls—which meant all the girls for a number of
Don Hagerman was a man of great kindness, social graces, and generosity in the autonomy he granted his teachers. But things didn’t always
years—and then as an admission officer. Pat remembers the surprise that greeted the election of Anne (Ogden)
run smoothly as women came to play a larger role in the community. “In
Hausslein ’82 as school president in 1981, but this was a harbinger of the
1969 we had an exchange teacher from France—Claudine Gauthier—and I
success that girls would enjoy at Holderness in the leadership system
remember her in tears after her first faculty meeting,” adds Pat. “She had
drawn up by English teacher Charles (Joe) Abbey in 1950. “Girls were
been told that it wasn’t necessary that she attend. ‘I can’t believe it,’
empowered quickly, and that’s still very much the case,” Phil says. “In the
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CATCHING UP WITH DON AND PAT HENDERSON
pat remembers the surprise that greeted the election of anne (ogden) hausslein ’ as school president in , but this was a harbinger of the success that girls would enjoy at holderness in the leadership system drawn up by english teacher charles (joe) abbey in . last ten years, six of our school presidents have been boys, and four have
make sure you get away every six or seven years or so.’ That’s been great
been girls. With the vice-presidents, seven have been girls.”
advice, and of course it was the inspiration of the Van Otterloo
Phil adds that Holderness is not gender-equal in enrollment—57%
Henderson Brewer Chair Program, which now benefits the whole faculty.
boys, 43% girls—only because applications from boys continue to outnum-
We have an average tenure between fifteen and sixteen years with our
ber those from girls. “In the last four years, though, two of our entering
teachers, which is great.”
classes have been 50/50, and the faculty is right at that balance as well,” he adds. And at the administrative level? “Of our twelve people working at the
So that’s been working well too. Phil’s break from school was not funded by the Chair Program, but he returned last fall re-energized, and with a fresh perspective on Holderness and independent schools.
top level in the school,” Phil says, “six are women, but that’s an area that
Then Phil gets around to asking the Hendersons for advice on more
still needs attention. This year, for example, three of the top four officers
personal matters. The secret, for example, to a successful 64-year mar-
in the student government are girls. But when we ask them who their
riage? This is deflected with humor, but you have to suspect it has
female faculty mentors are, they can’t think of any.”
something to do with finding the right partner in the first place.
“Maybe they’re so advanced,” Pat suggests, “that they don’t need any.” Phil thinks they do and describes to Don and Pat the assessments of
And to a long and vigorous life? “Get out in the woods, and always get out to exercise,” says Don, whose several artificial joints have required
the social climate at Holderness that he and his administrations complet-
him to give up playing tennis. But he and Pat still play golf and ride bikes
ed in 2008 and 2013, and want to keep doing at regular intervals. “In
throughout the summer. Then comes winter. Conditions were good
2008, we had indications of homophobia in the community, and a sense
enough for Pat to get out on the slopes fairly often last winter, but for
of less-than-equal status for day students, so we went to work on those
Don—well, if it’s winter, then it’s ski weather.
problems,” says Phil. “Now we have The Alliance [a club dedicated to
“There was a day a few years ago, on the Dartmouth College Skiway,
raising awareness of LGBTQ issues] with 25 members, and several girls
when the temperature was around zero,” Don says. “I was out skiing, and
have felt comfortable enough to come out as gay. Also, in the last three
it was pretty rough, and I saw no one else on the slopes. I took my last
years, two of our school presidents have been day students.”
run, told the lift operator I was going home, and as I left, I heard the oper-
Phil was encouraged to find that the 2013 assessment reflected real improvements in those areas—which also meant that they had been replaced by other tensions. “More recently, we find international students
ator say into his radio, ‘George, you can shut it down. Henderson’s done.’” He was done only until the next day, of course. The Hendersons know Phil Peck as a sponge for good advice, but they
being stereotyped and girls feeling marginalized, despite their success in
also know that he can’t own up to always taking it. As he was taking his
student government,” Phil adds. “So that’s what we’ll work on next, and in
leave that afternoon, preparing to go back to Holderness to steer the
a community as diverse as this, there will always be something. It’s our job
school through the final weeks of the year and to lay the groundwork for
to know what it is and stay ahead of it.”
next, tackling tough issues that often require more than a couple hours’
PHIL ALSO SHARES WITH THE HENDERSONS an update on his
airing out in a faculty meeting, Phil couldn’t help laughing about another
doctoral work at Columbia for which he took a year off in 2012–13. It is
piece of advice Don gave him back in the 1980s. “You remember?” Phil
because of advice Don provided Phil during the years they worked
says. “You took me aside and said, ‘No matter what, don’t ever get into
together in the history department in the 1980s that Phil has continued to
administration.’”
pursue learning opportunities. “Don said, ‘If you really love Holderness,
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Biomass: A Project Worth Pursuing
External and internal views of the proposed biomass plant
There is no doubt that the Holderness School campus looks beautiful. The buildings are wellmaintained, and the landscaping is weeded, pruned, and healthy. As new facilities have been added and old ones have been renovated, careful attention has been paid to designing buildings that work together and fit into the existing landscape. At the same time, consideration has also been given to what can’t be seen but is definitely felt: the heating and ventilations systems. Heating the big buildings on campus used to mean listening to clanky steam radiators which were impossible to fine tune and resulted in a great deal of wasted heat. (Some likely remember the open windows of Rathbun despite feet of snow on the ground.) And as new buildings have come online, the system has become more diverse with separate boilers and differing fuels in each building; thus it has become more complex and more difficult to
36
maintain. But what are the options for future infrastructure? What can be done to maximize efficiency while keeping the costs reasonable? This discussion began back in when Sustainability Coordinator Maggie Mumford and cfo Peter Hendel decided to conduct an energy audit of the campus. The audit was carried out by the Jordan Institute, a Concord, NH-based organization that helps increase the energy efficiency of commercial buildings. The institute began by conducting blower-door tests to determine how air tight the buildings were and taking infrared photographs to determine where heat was escaping the envelopes of the buildings. Ultimately, the audit provided guidance for the renovation of many buildings on campus. Specific recommendations included sealing and insulating many buildings. Electrical efficiency improvements also resulted in savings, both financially and environmentally. Throughout
the past six years, in addition to ensuring the efficiency of the new dorms, the Jordan Institute’s audit also helped Holderness improve the infrastructure within the Hagerman Science Building and Rathbun and Hoit Dormitories. These improvements have resulted in significant financial savings for the school, reflected in the fact that while the size (total square footage) of our facility has increased by over the past six years, our fuel oil consumption and electrical usage have held constant. The Jordan Institute’s energy audit also confirmed that the heating infrastructure for the whole school was inefficient, costly, and environmentally unsavory. At the time of the audit, the west campus was heated by a central steam district heating system using No. fuel oil; the south campus by individual boilers using No. fuel oil; and the east campus by individual boilers using No. fuel oil and
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AROUND THE QUAD
propane. This system not only released close to , tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere every year, it was also very old and poorly insulated. (That’s why Holderness has had patches of green grass on campus throughout the winter!) In addition, the system required frequent, costly maintenance. The institute recommended removing the outdated, primarily oil-fired boilers and replac-
“With a grant of , from the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission’s Renewable Energy Fund,” says Peter Hendel, “we found that the new system could provide a positive cash flow within the first few years. It was eye-opening to see the efficiency and fueled-based cost savings.” “We are grateful to the puc for their investment in our school and its long-term financial
With a grant of $300,000 from the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission’s Renewable Energy Fund, we found that the new system could provide a positive cash flow within the first few years. — PETER HENDEL ing them with a centralized wood-chip powered plant. They also recommended replacing the leaky, uninsulated steam pipes with an insulated forced hot water system throughout the campus. But given the capital investment necessary to fund the project, the school was not in a position to begin construction. At the time, the school was also pursuing a number of other improvements to the energy systems. It wasn’t until when Maggie Mumford used a grant through the US Forest Service to do a pre-feasibility study that Holderness decided that this was a project worth pursuing sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, Tony LeMenager was hired as the new director of Buildings and Grounds, and as he became familiar with the Holderness campus, he placed the evaluation of the current system high on his list of priorities. So with the blessing of the board of trustees’ Buildings and Grounds Committee in , Holderness hired Dan Wilson of Wilson Engineering to conduct a formal feasibility study; initial estimates concluded that the school could potentially save over , a year in operating costs.
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and environmental sustainability,” added Head of School Phil Peck. “The puc grant dollars will go directly to improvements that will be implemented and maintained, resulting in timely, substantial, and measurable effects.” By the fall of , with the completion of the detailed feasibility studies, the retention of consulting engineer Dan Wilson, and the receipt of the grant toward construction costs, momentum for the project grew. The system as currently planned will qualify as a Class I thermal rec generator, with an electrostatic precipitator for the best pollution control. Construction will begin this summer and will include the installation of a central biomass plant and hot water distribution system that will serve the west, south, and east campuses— buildings in total. In order to further improve the efficiency of the system, hot water from the biomass system will be distributed to the individual campus buildings through pre‐insulated steel piping. The new system can also switch to propane during times when demand is low and biomass would be inefficient. “The real investment from my perspective,” says Tony LeMenager, “is in a new distribution
system with increased reliability and fewer unforeseen repair costs. This is a big project; there will be hiccups, but the result will be worth it.” Other benefits? Additionally, if all goes as planned, it will generate an estimated , thermal recs annually that can be sold to utilities to help meet existing renewable energy portfolio requirements. It will also strengthen the school’s ties to the local community by keeping over , spent on energy within the local economy and by providing a market for low‐quality wood. Lastly, the biomass system will also provide the school with an excellent teaching tool for its sustainability program and environmental science curriculum. Maggie and math teacher Vicky Stigum will be teaching a stem (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) course that focuses on alternative energy solutions. “The course is both project-based and inquiry-based, with a focus on the relationship between the scientific principles of energy supply, usage, and environmental implication and the application of these principles,” says the course description. Maggie says she also plans to join forces with others in the Plymouth area and create collaborative learning opportunities that focus on the woodchip plant and other types of renewable energy projects in the region. So while students, faculty, and staff continue to go about their work, Maggie Mumford, Peter Hendel, Tony LeMenager, and many others will be behind the scenes making sure that Holderness School’s infrastructure not only keeps us warm and comfortable but is also environmentally responsible.
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Conversations About Teaching
English teacher Janice Dahl with her students in Alfond library.
In , before then Dean of Faculty Jory Macomber participated in the Van Otterloo Henderson Brewer Chair Program, he asked his replacement Chris Day what he wanted to do differently. Chris didn’t have to think too hard before deciding he wanted to focus his energy on creating a faculty development program. Craving professional conversations himself, Chris realized it was the perfect opportunity to initiate conversations about teaching and learning both for himself and for his colleagues. That was four years ago, and Chris is still working to define and enhance those conversations today. “I knew from the start that I didn’t want to create a program that was evaluative and overly critical,” says Chris. “My goal was to help faculty in their own development, to encourage them to pick up their heads and look around at what they were doing.” He also wanted to create a program that took advantage of the small size of the
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Holderness faculty and would provide teachers with the time to have personal, intellectual conversations about teaching and learning. During his first year as dean of faculty, Chris explored programs at other schools, talked with his own colleagues, and read about teacher evaluation programs. Throughout the year, he gathered the best elements from several different programs and designed one that he believed would be a good fit for Holderness. But by the end of Jory’s year off, the program hadn’t yet been given a test run; the plans were theoretically solid, but practical experience had yet to make its mark. Fortunately, Chris was granted another year to see his plans through to reality. With Head of School Phil Peck gone on sabbatical during the – school year, Jory was asked to fill in for him, and Chris continued on as dean of faculty for a second year. During that year, Chris introduced his ideas to the faculty and asked for volunteers to pilot the program.
Two of the first people to volunteer were English teacher Janice Dahl and science teacher Pat Casey. “At the time, I was looking for feedback and coaching,” says Janice. “I wanted some really critical feedback about what I was doing in the classroom. I’ve been coached all my life as an athlete, and I wanted the same in my teaching career.” Pat Casey also wanted feedback. In his second year of teaching biology, Pat wanted to learn practical skills that would help him to be more efficient and effective in the classroom. He also wanted to take time to work out the three-way balance between maintaining high standards in the classroom, fulfilling his other rolls as a dorm parent, advisor, and head Nordic coach, and spending time with family. Fortunately, the program Chris designed allows the participants to focus on all these things, or perhaps none of them.
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“I didn’t want the faculty to feel threatened,” explains Chris. “Part of my job is to have deliberate conversations with teachers about what they are and are not doing well, but is it also to support them. I can’t do either if they don’t trust me. The program had to come from a place of respect and collaboration, and that meant letting the individual teachers drive the boat and decide what areas of their careers to explore and investigate.” So even before Chris begins meeting with the individual participants, he asks them to answers broad questions that they can interpret however they want: How did I get where I am? What areas do I think are going well? How am I advancing on specific parts of the Holderness strategic plan? On what areas do I think I need to concentrate/improve? Once Chris and the participants have determined the broad intellectual areas of concentration, the second part of the program involves gathering feedback in the form of observations and questionnaires. In the original version of the program, the department heads and the dean of faculty made multiple visits to the teachers’ classrooms. “But we found that classroom observations weren’t as valuable as we thought they would be,” says Chris. “Most teachers at Holderness have lots of experience and have been observed with some frequency by their department chairs. They have a pretty good sense of what they are doing and not doing.” So Chris adapted the program. While observations are still part of the program, many of them occur outside of Holderness, and it is the teachers not the administrators who are doing the observing. With permission to take days off, teachers participating in the assessment process visit colleagues at other schools and spend time learning how other programs and classrooms are run. And when they return to Holderness, teachers are also asked to gather evaluations from their students. These observations and student evaluations, then act as
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catalysts for conversations and new approaches to teaching. It is these conversations that Chris and the participating teachers are finding to be the most valuable part of the faculty development process. “Renee Lewis and I were in the program together the first year,” shares Janice. “It was interesting and intellectually challenging for us to have the same shared experiences. We are usually so busy that we lack the time to talk about teaching. Chris’s program builds that time into our schedule and provides us with the time to talk.” And this was one of Chris’s intentions—to provide faculty with time to reflect and converse. In addition to meeting with the teachers individually about once a week, Chris also gets all the teachers in each group together for conversations over lunch or dinner every two weeks during an evaluation cycle. “It’s a chance to talk about educational philosophies and what’s going on in our classrooms,” says Chris. So is the program working? Has Chris seen any tangible results? Is it worth the investment in time and energy and money? Chris firmly believes the answer is yes. In general he has seen an increased interest in discovering “best practices” through research and observation, and an increased interest in summer professional development opportunities. For individual teachers, he has seen other tangible results. For Janice, Chris says, her participation in the program gave her the opportunity to reflect on her role as a leader of the school. While she had been growing and developing as a classroom teacher, she had remained quiet as a member of her department. It was only through the assessment process that Janice realized she had something to contribute to conversations with her colleagues and valuable input for directing the English department. This year Janice has taken on the chair position in the English department and is leading it through an audit.
For theater teacher Monique Devine her assessment did not change her perspective but rather strengthened it. “There are some amazing programs out there that really focus on developing the talent of students who want to pursue acting and stage production after high school,” says Monique. “It was fun and exciting to see what other schools are doing, but as I learned about these other programs, I realized they wouldn’t be a good fit for Holderness. At Holderness I have tried to include anyone who wants to act, regardless of their talents or future interests. While our productions may not be quite as polished as other schools, I’m proud of the variety of students that have participated in our productions. Visiting other schools affirmed that this is the type of theater program that is right for Holderness.” The final step in the process is to set goals that will help move faculty forward in their development. By the end of the – school year, well over half of the entire current faculty will have gone through the program once, reviewing goals and setting new ones. And while many of the same elements of the program will probably exist going forward, Chris hopes it will continue to change and improve. “It’s not an efficient process,” says Chris, “but only by keeping it flexible and changeable will it be effective. Life changes, people go through different stages in their careers; this program will have to follow those changes in order to be effective.” While some of those changes are not yet obvious, one change that Chris is hoping to implement next year is the inclusion of goals that address the wider definition of teaching; he would like the faculty not just to consider the teaching they do in the classroom but also on the field, in the dorms, and on the paths in between. And now that he has been appointed as the permanent replacement for Jory as dean of faculty, Chris will have plenty of time to figure out just how those ideas might be addressed. Stay tuned.
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Special Programs: The Voices of Our Students For me, solo was a mental battle. I was
I met a boy at the homeless shelter with
The ride in/out of the city gets me think-
alone in the woods with no one to keep
the name Xavier, who may have been an
ing. I love looking at the murals of Bible
me company but my mind. Never have I
underprivileged kid but has so much to
verses and messages of hope painted
felt so alone, yet never have I felt so at
bring to the table.
across the chipped, brick walls. The
peace as on that third day of solo. — JACK VATCHER ’15, OUT BACK
— ELLIOT MCGUIRE ’17,
packed houses all hold their own stories. I
— PROJECT OUTREACH
can only pray and know our work is going to something meaningful.
I soon realized that poetry is not just
The night before solo, I was shaking in my
— BROOKE HAYES ’17,
cleverly placing complex words in order to
sleeping bag, tossing and turning for
— PROJECT OUTREACH
rhyme; it is storytelling, in which the
hours. The day had come for me to face
presentation and emphasis of certain words
what I had been dreading since I received
I learned that homelessness is not always a
are just as important as the imagery that
my acceptance letter to Holderness. I
result of laziness or bad life style. It can
lies within the straight lines of a blue book.
knew that solo was going to be the most
happen to anyone and proceeds like a dis-
grueling and challenging mental test I had
ease. Hearing stories of kids our age
ever had to endure.
going through this, I realized that I am
— JAMES TYRRELL ’15, ARTWORK BOUND My day was filled with drowsiness and fun.
— MARK MICHAELS ’15, OUT BACK
My exhaustion came from trying to keep
started to appreciate the things that I
up with the assembly line. One thing has
I will always remember the moment when
remained in my head since we arrived
Mr. Durnan put a little wooden stick in the
— CHAE WON HAHN ’17,
here: Schoolboy Q’s song “Blessed.” Its
crisp snow and sent me off to my solo
— PROJECT OUTREACH
message is that we are all blessed, and
camp site. “See you in a while Fred. Have
that your troubles could be someone else’s
fun.” Mr. Durnan spoke these last words in
I saw art as not a talent but as something
blessings so don’t complain. I plan to stick
French, as I slowly walked away on the
that if you continue to work at, beauty is
to that motto.
freshly fallen snow towards an unknown
created. I think I have never appreciated
destination.
art and artists this much before in my life.”
— TYRESE COCKING ’17, — PROJECT OUTREACH
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blessed to have everything in my life and
— FRED CYR ’15, OUT BACK
have considered to be basic needs.
— UNKNOWN, ARTWORK BOUND
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FACING PAGE: ninth-graders and the garbage and debris they collected from the Philadelphia Parks; CLOCKWISE, FROM ABOVE: Henry Day ’17 cutting up fallen limbs in Philadelphia; juniors receiving their rations before Solo; Katie Remien ’15 cooking breakfast for her group before the start of Solo; mugs and bowls created by sophomores during Artward Bound; sophomores participating in an improv exercise with visiting Artist-in-Residence Nic Cory; Jesse Ransford ’16 and Ms. Pfenninger improvising on the Hagerman stage during Artward Bound.
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Got a Question? Seniors Have Answers This year marked the first year that all seniors participated in Senior Thesis, a one-semester course in which they were asked to develop a question they wanted to answer. Guided by faculty mentors, seniors spent much of the winter conducting research and in March participated in self-guided experiences outside of Holderness. While there are still some glitches to work out, thanks to the leadership of Martha Macomber who directed the program this year, all seniors had plenty to talk about in their presentation during the Senior Thesis Festival in May. Below is just a sampling of the projects the seniors completed.
Is Graffiti Art? hailee grisham Everyone has a relationship with graffiti. This is not just because people like or dislike graffiti, but also because it is everywhere. It is displayed among highways, subways, bridges, and buildings. It is scripted in attention-grabbing colors. It is large scale and lively. In the month of March, I photographed graffiti in both Boston and New York City, conversed with a variety of people, and attempted graffiti myself. I captured the interaction of people and graffiti, and focused on the movement of the landscape around the graffiti itself. Although graffiti is often categorized as a form of vandalism, many people view it as an art form, and there are many design elements to consider when it is viewed as fine art.
Women’s Rights in Afghanistan haroon rahimi Violence against women exists in every culture. But Afghanistan, after three decades of war, has become a brutal place for women. Afghani women are lacking in almost all essential rights. They are not allowed to acquire an education, to work, or to marry their person of choice. By , this lack of rights provoked women in Afghanistan to organize and to establish the rights that they deserve. The changes are visible, but in some parts of the country, specifically in
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A photograph of graffiti taken by Hailee Grisham in Boston’s Chinatown.
the far provinces, they are still lagging behind. The presence of several women’s organizations has given women optimism about their future, but there is still a lot to be accomplished.
Color in Culture: The Use of Color in Marketing and Branding tess o’brien It takes any given person one tenth of a second to derive a first impression on looks alone. Ninety-three percent of purchases made in the United States are based on the physical appearance of a product or a logo that a company designs. That is why brands and colors are so closely linked. However, the influence of color has been a controversial topic. It is nearly immeasurable in quantitative data, despite its huge effect on the branding industry. By taking into account the physiology, psychology, and overall purpose of colors, companies can either positively or negatively influence the behavior and tendencies of its consumers.
How Can the United States Prevent School Shootings? cj sansing The chance of a student being shot at school is less than one percent. Since the Columbine shootings in Colorado years ago, students have been killed by guns in schools. In contrast, according to the Teen Treatment Center, alcohol kills , teenagers every year. Executive President of the National Rifle Asssociation Wayne LaPierre said, “If we really want to save teens, we should ban the car. But whenever a drunk driver kills someone, it is never the car’s fault; it’s the driver’s….So why doesn’t it work like that for guns?” After interviewing Wayne LaPierre, I interviewed Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign, who responded: “Guns may not kill people, but they sure do a good job of helping.” He recommends that we do a buyback program like most European countries; school shootings are significantly less in European countries than they are here, so why not follow their lead? “No guns
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LEFT: The women of Afghanistan, who became the focus of Haroon Rahimi’s senior thesis project this spring. RIGHT: One of Chance Wright’s thirteen hundred photos taken during a modeling shoot in New York City.
equals no school shootings,” he said. So which side has the better argument? The pro-gun nra or the anti-gun Brady Campaign?
Understanding Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and Its Relationship with High-Intensity Sports hedi droste It’s called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and it prohibits people from playing high intensity sports. My older brother was diagnosed with hcm when he was a freshman in high school, and he had to give up his dream of playing hockey in college. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed heart disease, especially hcm, playing a bigger role in the lives of people around me. A lot of athletes are at risk and don’t even know it; many people don’t know heart disease runs in their family until something goes wrong and someone passes away. In addition to understanding the disease, for my senior thesis I tried to think of solutions. Talking with my doctor
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at Boston Children’s Hospital, I came to some very intriguing conclusions.
designed a sequence of robotics classes that will help to accomplish my goals.
What Are We Missing in the Holderness Curriculum?
How Does the Public View the Work of Fashion Photographers in NYC?
zihan guo What is the essence of a high school education? As a student, I believe the most valuable things I learned in high school are critical thinking, problem solving, team work, and communication. All of these skills are essential to future success. Moreover, many of these skills can be easily obtained from self-directed projects. I think that although Holderness does provide space for students to explore their creativity and passion through hands-on experiments, our educational system can be further enhanced by including more self-directed projects and more experiment-based classes. Students need classes in which they can freely explore their imagination and become masters of their classes. As a part of my senior thesis, I
chance wright Click, click, click; the camera was molded into my hand, sweat dripped from my forehead, and my back was soaked. We had taken thirteen hundred photos, and finally we were done. With modern technology anyone can be a photographer, and with the introduction of Twitter, Instagram, and other social media, art is taking a brand new shape. New artists are popping up daily, and photo journalists are reporting around the world over the internet. But what has happened to the professional photographer?
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Three Decades of Holderness School Photography These are the voices of transition, self-discovery, and exploration. Over the last three-plus decades of photography at Holderness School, countless students have cultivated their visual skills behind the lens of a camera. Here they began their journey of learning the language that is so important in our contemporary culture of image-making and receiving. Many of these young people have gone on to become photographers, film-makers, graphic designers, art directors, gallery owners, and working artists. The Holderness photography diaspora now stretches around the world and has touched many lives.
– franz c. nicolay
CLOCKWISE, FROM RIGHT: portrait by Danyelle Wolf ’89; self-portrait by Zihan Guo ’14; selfportrait by Caroline Plante ’14.
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CLOCKWISE, FROM ABOVE: landscape photo by Jason Regan ’88 and Rob Kinsley ’88; self-portrait by Samantha Devine ’11; black and white photograph by Allie Barker ’97; and self-portrait by Cassie Hecker ’11.
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If You Are Monique, You Improvise There is no room in the day of an average Holderness student to set aside four hours for
mately, because Monique is willing to improvise and allow the students to participate in the
At first it may appear a bit chaotic…because Monique is willing to improvise and allow the students to participate in the decision-making process, they own the material and are ultimately more committed to it.
Director Monique Devine during a rehearsal of Hair.
In a gravelly voice, Theater Director Monique Devine holds a pretend cigarette to her lips and begins, “When I was young and just starting out…” On the steps of Hagerman, she suddenly becomes a seasoned professional, reminiscing about her meager beginnings. A burst of laughter breaks the moment and Monique is back in the present. These acting skills and knowledge of improvisation come in handy when directing the school’s annual plays and musicals—but not just in the usual ways. Sure, Monique is able to talk about the craft of acting with students and help them learn to portray emotions effectively. And of course she is able to lead the students through exercises that improve their skills and help them create more realistic characters on stage. But her experiences in theater have also prepared her to improvise in ways she may never have anticipated when she took over the theater program ten years ago. First, there is the reality of the Holderness schedule. Classes, sports, and extra-curricular commitments leave little room for practice.
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rehearsal. Practices can only occur in the time between dinner and study hall, which usually amounts to about an hour and a half each day, assuming there are no special programs already scheduled. Then there are the students themselves who try out for the performances. While some have had previous acting experiences and want to pursue acting in college, most of Monique’s actors and actresses have never set foot on a stage and know nothing of blocking or dramatic irony. Furthermore, her stage crew is equally green. The students are eager to help, but there is a steep learning curve every year. So what to do? If you are Monique, you improvise. “There’s a group of boys in the play this spring whose most compelling reason for being in the play is that their parents want to see them act,” Monique explains by way of example. “So I created a part for them.” And then she let the students help her develop the stage directions. “There’s a scene in Hair in which a bunch of soldiers jump out of an airplane and shoot at their enemies,” says Monique. “I had no idea how to make it happen. The students were the ones who suggested getting the mats from the climbing room and jumping onto them from a platform.” Ultimately, these moments of improvisation and collaboration work to Monique’s advantage. At first it may appear a bit chaotic, but ulti-
decision-making process, they own the material and are ultimately more committed to it. This all-inclusive approach to theater stands in contrast to Monique’s own experience in high school. “In my high school the theater was an exclusive club,” says Monique, “and if a cheerleader had decided to try out for a school play…well, it just wouldn’t have happened. Everyone was compartmentalized. So when I started directing the theater program at Holderness, I wanted students to have the experiences that weren’t open to me in high school.” The hard part is balancing this all-inclusive model with quality performances. With inexperienced actors and actresses trying out every season, she has a lot of teaching to do. But to their credit, Monique says, Holderness students in general are naturally pretty good at acting. And so with hard work, a bit of natural talent, and a whole lot of improvisation, the Holderness theater program welcomes any one to the stage who expresses interest. No experience necessary. editor’s note: Junior Rebecca Kelly was one of the students this spring who learned through experience. Having no background in theater, Rebecca volunteered for the Hair stage crew and mastered the sound board by the end of the season. In fact, she became so proficient, the music director of Hair hired her to work for another theater company this summer. Baptism by fire is sometimes the best teacher!
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Spring Musical
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CLOCKWISE, FROM ABOVE: The cast of Hair during one of their musical numbers; Claude (played by Zack Baum ’14) as he arrives in New York City and meets Jeanie (played by Coco Clemens ’14); Alex Spina ’14, who sings of peace and living the bohemian life in NYC; and Shihao Yu ’14, who plays Claude’s long-haired hippie friend.
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Holderness Relay for Life, By the Hour APRIL 26, 2014 8:00 PM
In the opening ceremony, Chance Wright ’14, one of the student organizers of the event, says “Our relay reflects the light and the darkness of the day and night that parallel the physical effects, emotions, and mental state of our loved ones undergoing treatment.”
10:00 PM
The Chad Hollister Band provides an energetic back beat for the walkers.
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8:05 PM
Alumnus Dan Do ’13 also speaks. It’s a “time-deprived world,” he says, and when you’re fighting cancer, you appreciate the minutes that people give to you.
11:00 PM
Throughout the night numerous parents, faculty, friends of Holderness, and local businesses provide sustenance for the walkers.
8:10 PM
Led by cancer survivors Dan Do and Assistant Director of Food Services Paul Dullea, the Holderness Relay for Life begins. As students walk their first laps, several students set the mood with their soulful ballads.
12:00 AM
Jessie Montague ’16 and Chris Sargent ’16 rest in their tent while their teammates are walking. Above them is displayed one of the many signs students created to educate each other on the many types of cancer.
9:00 PM
Luminaries decorated in memory of loved ones lost and those still fighting are lit and placed around the turf field to guide the walkers’ way.
1:00 AM
Still going strong. Haroon Rahimi ’14, Taren Cook ’14, Cole Donovan ’16, and Zijie Wen ’15 pose during one of their many relay laps.
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2:00 AM
DJ Parker Densmore ’15 provides music for an impromptu dance party on the turf. And as the music fades at the end of a set, a film begins to play on a jumbo screen. Classics like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off keep everyone entertained.
3:00 AM
4:00 AM
5:00 AM
A bit of rain doesn’t dampen the spirits of the Bulls. Grace Collins ’16, Liz Casey ’17, and Logan Kilfoyle ’17 smile big for the camera, despite the time on the clock.
Walking alone or in small groups in the hours just before dawn, the moments of quiet allow for reflection and remembrance.
Just before dawn, the luminaries on the hill that spell out “Hope” are rearranged to spell “Cure.”
7:00 AM
8:00 AM
APRIL 27, 2014 8:01 AM
6:00 AM
Math teacher Kristi Magalhaes and son Pedro wake up early to finish the last hour for Team Crawley.
Charlie Day ’15 enjoys a celebratory cup of coffee near the finish of the relay.
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The Relay for Life ends with over $30,000 in the bank for cancer research. Michael and Jonathan Swidrak ’14, who walked all 12 hours of the event, pose with their support crew, Ezra Cushing ’14 and Noah Thompson ’14. Haley Michienzi ’14 also walked all 12 hours of the event.
As the students pack up their tents and head back to their dorms for well-deserved rest, event organizers Dean of Students Kathy Weymouth and Chance Wright smile proudly for the camera.
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Family Day
CLOCKWISE, FROM ABOVE: Teagan Mosenthal ’15 and Claire Caputi ’15 smile for the camera in front of Weld; Kai Lin ’15 poses with his mother and grandparents before the prom; Sean Cashel ’15, Lily Hamblin ’15, and Jack Vatcher ’15 wait for the busses to Owl’s Nest Resort; Will Prickett ’15, Peter Hastings ’15, and Greg Osborne ’15 on the Quad before the prom; Phillip ’16 and Hannah ’15 Stowe with their grandparents during a reception at the Head’s house.
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AROUND THE QUAD
ABOVE LEFT: Sophomore Anna Soderberg poses with Greta Davis ’14 before she heads off to the prom. ABOVE RIGHT: the grandmother of Greg Osborne ’15 visits Ms. Glew’s Spanish class during Grandparents’ Day. BELOW LEFT: Storm Thompkins ’17 had not one set of grandparents but two visit her during the school’s first annual Grandparents’ Day. BELOW RIGHT: Christina Raichle ’15 pins a boutonniere on her date Will Peatman ’15.
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THEY CALL THEMSELVES THE SUPERSTARS. The start of the winter season is always a bit rough as their new recruits acquire skating legs and stick skills. But with passion and perseverance the girls work together, and by season-end they not only know a few new hockey stops; they also have a new appreciation for sportsmanship and the power of positive thinking.
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Holderness Athletics: Seeking Balance and Passion Train year-round or only in-season? Join an elite travel team or a homogenous local pick-up group? Set goals or let the future take care of itself? Do drills and skills or play for fun? Try something new or stick with the same sports year after year? Everyone has an opinion about high school athletics. While doctors and coaches, parents and athletes, all contribute their statistics and opinions to the national debate, what’s Holderness doing? With a long tradition of encouraging athletic participation during the fall, winter, and spring, how is Holderness balancing its mission with the current demands of students, parents, and coaches? “It is getter harder and harder to convince athletes that they should play multiple sports,” says Athletic Director Rick Eccleston ’. “In order to play at the next level, basketball players need to play in aau tournaments year round, hockey players need to participate in showcases in the fall, and lacrosse players are committing to D programs as early as sophomore year. We have to make concessions for our athletes and their commitments to other programs.” However, at the heart of the Holderness program, there is still an emphasis on multisport athletics. Students are still expected to choose an afternoon activity all three seasons. For freshman, and even for returning students, this sometimes means trying new sports. Take the case of Chinese student Keying Yang ’. Keying had never skied before this winter, but when Loon Mountain opened for the season in November, Keying joined her classmates on the daily bus ride north. She began on the magic carpet—the conveyor belt that carries beginners to the top of the bunny slope—testing out the speed of her skis and learning how to carve turns. Within three days, she moved on to the chairlift and by day ten was learning to ski gates. Her award for Most Improved skier on the school team went on to say, “Long before the season ended, she was tackling black diamonds with a smile, good control, and attention to
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Alli Renzi ’14 faces off against teammate Megan Grzywacz ’15 during a game on the Frog Pond.
form. As our season ended, she competed and finished a slalom race and was ready for more.” Holderness provided her with an opportunity to learn something entirely new and she took advantage of it. And even for seasoned athletes who play at the varsity level there are lessons to be learned. In any given year, players that compete at the varsity level in one sport may compete at the junior varsity level in another sport. At Holderness they experience both the pride that comes from playing really well but also the humility that comes from learning a skill for the first time. “When students have to play sports that they are not good at, they have to work harder,” explains Rick. “They experience what it is like to have to practice skills that don’t come easily.” Senior Allie Renzi, for example, took advantage of the winter season to learn how to play hockey. Already committed to playing Division I field hockey at Boston University, Allie decid-
ed to lace on skates and learn a new sport. “Like a true ‘mite,’” her coaches explained when presenting Allie with the Coaches’ Award at the end of the season, “she chased the puck with little regard to positioning and had several close encounters with the boards, her team mates, and a few Berwick players before setting up line-mate, Allie Solms, for her first goal of the season. Although slightly out of control at first, Allie’s stick work and skating skills improved daily throughout the season and eventually caught up with her athleticism, game sense, and competitive spirit.” But stick skills are not the only thing Holderness hopes students get out of their athletic experiences. “Playing at the varsity and ultimately the collegiate level can be amazing,” says Rick, “but Holderness’ end goal is much different. We want students to develop balance in their lives and understand all the facets of an active and
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healthy life—mentally, physically, and nutritionally.” That’s why next year Rick wants to hire a strength and conditioning coach. On the one hand he/she will be available to work with athletes who want to play at the collegiate level and need to develop the confidence and physical conditioning necessary to compete. On the other hand, he/she will also be accessible to students who aren’t interested in college athletics but just want to learn about the equipment in the training room and develop exercise routines and nutritional habits that will last long after graduation. It’s also why Rick is proud of the boys’ JV basketball team. In February, eight junior varsity basketball teams from around the Lakes Region played in a tournament at Holderness. On the sidelines spectators couldn’t help but notice the passion and focus the players committed to every minute of every game. Admittedly not every pass was caught and not every basket went in, but the players were engaged, giving their best until the end. “The tournament was time-consuming to organize,” says Rick, “but as I stood there watching the players, it was totally worth the effort. When our boys won the tournament, they looked like they had won the Olympics. I couldn’t be more proud.” So Holderness remains committed to the multi-sport model. Admittedly, there are many amazing athletes at Holderness who stand on the podium after their races and who work together at the varsity level in championship games. In fact, by conservative estimates, there are about athletes every year that compete at the varsity level in three different sports (similar schools count or fewer). But there are an equal number of athletes who are just learning the basics and are worthy of recognition because of their willingness to participate, no matter the outcome. Whether competing at the junior varsity, varsity, state, national, or international level, Holderness Bulls
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Senior Noah Thompson before the start of the Lakes Region basketball tournament
are passionate participants and put a great deal of energy into their chosen sports, and they do so within a program that asks them to learn new skills and participate not with an eye on
winning or making it to the next level but on learning what it means to lead a healthy life.
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Mark Michaels ’15 protects the Holderness goal from St. Paul’s offensive.
Boys’ Varsity Hockey
Boys’ JV Hockey
Girls’ Varsity Hockey
coaches: allie skelley and rick eccleston ’ The – edition of the skating Bulls was a young one. Led by captains Matt Thomas ’, Nick Gibson ’, and Alex Spina ’, the Bulls tackled a difficult schedule from beginning to end and saw significant skill improvement over the course of the season. Other seniors who have contributed immensely to the program’s success over the past few years include Steve Wilk ’, Parker Weekes ’, Matt Gudas ’, Ben Coleman ’, and Matt Michaud ’. The Bulls found themselves in many close games this season, losing over contests by only one goal, three of which were lost in overtime. The skating Bulls have a strong core of young players returning next year, and they hope to get back into the New England playoffs where they have competed the last two seasons. Thank you, seniors! Go Bulls!
coaches: chris day and reggie pettitt Battling through blizzards and sub-zero temps for much of the season, the boys’ JV hockey team barnstormed through the Lakes Region, took on all adversaries with commitment that rarely wavered, and got stronger and stronger as the season progressed. Powered by seniors Connor Marien ’, Taren Cook ’, Adam Pettengill ’, Chase O’Connor ’, Kaelen Caggiula ’, and Sam Paine ’, this squad had more fun than goals—but we scored a lot of goals as well! Among the many highlights were the weekly battles with willing faculty members during Tuesday evening practices. Throughout the season, the boys played with great spirit and sportsmanship; they learned a lot about hockey and played the game for the fun of it every day.
coaches: frank cirone and susie cirone The fact that this group of athletes had the most single-season wins in a decade pales in comparison to the way they approached every team event, practice, and game this season. Holderness had one of the best systems teams in the league, but with a small bench, they had to do their own jobs and trust each other. There were award-worthy, individual efforts from every member of this team, and that is what they grew to expect from themselves and others. Our captains led the way, but they also empowered the other five seniors and seven underclassmen to be leaders as well. This is a team that competed wholeheartedly to win absolutely everything. If it was a game of “radio” on the bus, the elimination rounds were fierce. If there was a pre-game rebound drill, the players stuffed pucks into the net enthusiastically, even if that meant shoving their beloved goaltenders past the goal line. And when it came to
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CLOCKWISE, FROM ABOVE: Chad Knighton ’15 deftly maneuvers around a player from KUA; Hannah Slattery ’14, Logan Kilfoyle ’17, Ella Butlig ’15, and Adrianna Quinn ’15 show off their might and school spirit during a scrimmage on the Holderness courts; Teagan Mosenthal ’15 carves through a gate during a race at Sugarbush.
playing games—and they played a lot of them—it meant spending every ounce of energy they had from the drop of the puck to the final buzzer. Congratulations to all the players for a great season, particularly Most Improved player Sarah Alexander ’ and Coaches’ Award recipient Morgan Bayreuther ’.
Girls’ JV Hockey coaches: cynthia day and elizabeth wolf The girls’ JV ice hockey team had a great season, finishing --. Despite a long spell with no games, the team kept their enthusiasm and excitement for the sport throughout the season. Many girls improved drastically, especially the
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four brand new hockey players: Taylor Mavroudis ’, Jessie Montague ’, Maggie Cunha ’, and Sarah Gudas ’. The development of the team overall was clear in the scores of the two games against St. Paul’s School. In early December, with only a few practices under their belts, the Superstars lost -. Several weeks later, however, the girls beat St. Paul’s in an impressive - game. Co-captains Claire Caputi ’ and Lindsay Houseman ’ anchored the team on defense, while seniors Allie Renzi ’ and Allie Solms ’ led in scoring. The two Most Improved players were Allie Renzi and Sarah Gudas, who both worked hard and had great attitudes all season.
Boys’ Varsity Basketball coaches: tony mure and randy houseman The varsity boys’ basketball team enjoyed a challenging season that ended with a - record, just missing a bid to the nepsac tournament. The team was led by seniors Willem Brandwijk ’, Mike Hogervorst ’, John Dewey ’, Jason Nunez ’, and CJ Sansing ’. Season highlights included an early win against defending champion Cushing Academy; a come-from-behind buzzer-beater at Brimmer and May; and a hard-fought last-second loss at Vermont Academy. James Tyrell ’ received the Most Improved Award, and Willem Brandwijk was the recipient of the Coaches’ Award. Juniors
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Chad Knighton ’, James Tyrell ’, and Charles Harker ’ will be called on to lead the Bulls next season.
ners are Caroline Mure (Coaches’ Award) and Kayli Cutler ’ (Most Improved Award).
Girls’ JV Basketball Boys’ JV Basketball coaches: mike barney and thom flinders The – boys’ JV basketball team had a fantastic season, finishing with a record of - while also capturing its first title in the Lakes Region Tournament. Under the leadership of its seniors and the hard work and hustle of many young players, the Bulls put together quite a run and finished the season off with a championship. The JV Bulls team was full of players with a passion for basketball, that showed up not only on the scoreboard but also on the practice court where the boys helped push each other all year to become a better team. With the help of an excellent coaching staff, including Coach Ben and Coach Flinders, the JV boys’ team will look to keep the momentum going when they head into next season.
coach: carol dopp The JV girls’ basketball team had a great start and finish to their -game schedule. Winning the first two games handily against New Hampton and Brewster before Christmas break, the team seemed destined for a super season. Unfortunately, the new year brought us seven defeats and three cancellations. Between illness and injury, there were times when our bench was quite small. But to sweeten the end of the season, the girls won their last game against Brewster in exciting last-second action. Each of the girls showed great improvement in all aspects of her game; they set personal goals and found personal success. Without any seniors on the JV squad, it is exciting to look forward to next year’s season. Key words: Hard work, family, team!
Girls’ Varsity Basketball
Eastern Alpine
by mike heyward ’ and kelly pope When the girls’ varsity basketball team began the year, they decided they were going to be the hardest working players in the country, and it was evident in their style of play all season long. They were in better shape and played harder on both ends of the floor from the tip ball until the final buzzer. Spectators constantly raved about how fun and exciting it was to watch them play. But due to the youth of this team, the Bulls didn’t win as many games this season as they had hoped. However, they learned from their mistakes; next year, the Bulls will return out of their players and plan to turn some of those close losses into wins. Senior captains Caroline Mure ’ and Hannah Slattery ’ devoted four great years to this program, and the coaching staff and their teammates were so thankful to have had them lead this year’s team. Ella Butlig ’ and Adrianna Quinn ’ have the torch now and are excited to lead next year’s team to more wins and a playoff berth. This year’s award win-
coaches: craig antonides ’ and the fsc staff The Eastern alpine ussa/fis team had a bit of a rough start, but once winter took hold, we endured sustained cold temperatures for the majority of the winter. This provided for some great conditions and excellent training. By the time February rolled around, we started to make some noise on the circuit. Outstanding runs in qualifying races in both the U and U age groups gave a good number of our skiers a chance to head off to their respective age group championships in March. We sent seven skiers off to Whiteface in Lake Placid, NY for the U Championship—Sarah Gillis ’, Joe Gillis ’, Alexa Dannis ’, Elizabeth Osuchowski ’, Taylor Dobyns ’, Will Trudeau ’, and Morgan Dawkins ’. Another group of four headed out to Copper Mountain in Colorado for the U Nationals—Teagan Mosenthal ’, Clark Macomber ’, Michael Beutner ’, and Jesse Osuchowski ’. In addition, a regional championship event for the U age group was held at
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Okemo Mountain in Vermont with Rachael Erhard ’, Lea Rice ’, Chris Hyland ’, Greg Osborne ’, Max Lash ’, Sean Robinson ’, and Zac Chernin ’ all qualifying. A few of these skiers, however, traded their chance at the championships for a once-in-alifetime opportunity to do Out Back—gotta love it! Big thanks to the Eastern team coaching staff, fsc and all its staff, and Cannon Mountain. Here on campus we want to thank the kitchen for fuel, and the maintenance department for keeping our busses running. And an extra special thanks goes to Old Man Winter for being real. Check us out on Facebook: Bullsonskis.
School Alpine Team coaches: maggie mumford and will roske The school alpine team supported skiers of all abilities, working on technique while enjoying the wonderfully snowy winter. The changing conditions made for challenges on race days, with everything from boiler plate ice to rutted spring corn. Lexi Black ’ led the girls with consistent top-ten finishes in the Lakes Region GS and SL series. Perry Craver ’ climbed the podium three times, while consistent finishes and thus team points were achieved by all. Team captains Jingyi Wu ’ (a three-year veteran) and Leah Scaralia ’ earned the girls’ Coaches’ Awards for their leadership style that emphasized inclusion, helpfulness, and organization. Jesse Ransford ’ earned the boys’ Coaches’ Award, as he daily worked to get the most out of his skis and adjust to the unfamiliar Eastern conditions. The girls’ Most Improved Award was presented to Keying Yang ’, who progressed from the magic carpet to the gondola after her first three days on snow ever; days later she moved up to gate training. The boy’s Most Improved skier was Oscar Yu ’, who, as a second-year team member gained much confidence and skill; tackling difficult terrain and slalom courses just became part of his daily routine. Coaches Will Roske and Maggie Mumford would like to thank all
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of the team members for their joyful attitude and daily engagement.
Winter Sports Awards
Nordic Skiing coaches: pat casey, alexandra disney, peter hendel, kristina casey, and peter durnan It was a banner year for the Holderness Nordic program. The girls’ team was led by three “lifers”—Hannah Durnan ’, Celeste Holland ’, and Eliana Mallory ’—who have set high standards for training and competition over the years. Celeste has also been a mainstay on the New Hampshire team at the Eastern High School Championships. Rounding out the squad were a handful of fast skiers who competed regularly at the Eastern Cup level: Lizzy Duffy ’, Sawyer Gardner ’, Emily Perkins ’, and Anna Soderberg ’. The girls’ team also included a number of enthusiastic young skiers, among them a crew of promising ninth-graders. The boys’ team was led by Drew Houx ’, whose three years on the team have shown great growth and success. He was the second fastest racer of any high school student in New Hampshire this year and has aspirations to continue his career as a Nordic racer next year at St. Lawrence University. The boys’ team included seniors Zihan Guo ’ and Youngsoo Sung ’, both of whom competed at the nepsac tournament; newer to the team were seniors Garrett Phillips ’ and Matt Tankersley ’, who both lent their joyful enthusiasm to the squad. Promising underclassmen Drew Hodson ’ and Holton Flinders ’ will carry the banner the next few years, aided by recent convert Jeremy Batchelder ’. Our season began with a Thanksgiving camp in Craftsbury, VT, included a New Year’s camp north of Quebec City, and concluded with a merry romp to the Stowe Derby. The Nordic coaches count themselves fortunate to work with such a committed and wonderful group of athletes, and we all look forward to next year’s season.
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BOYS’ VARSITY HOCKEY MOST IMPROVED Parker Weekes ’14 COACHES’ Stephen Wilk ’14 WESTON LEA Ben Coleman ’14 BOYS’ JV HOCKEY MOST IMPROVED Connor Marien ’14 COACHES’ Will Coleman ’16 GIRLS’ VARSITY HOCKEY MOST IMPROVED Sarah Alexander ’15 COACHES’ Morgan Bayreuther ’14 GIRLS’ JV HOCKEY MOST IMPROVED Allie Renzi ’14 COACHES’ Sarah Gudas ’17 BOYS’ VARSITY BASKETBALL MOST IMPROVED James Tyrell ’15 COACHES’ Willem Brandwijk ’14 BOYS’ JV BASKETBALL MOST IMPROVED Jack Kinney ’15 COACHES’ Noah Thompson ’14 GIRLS’ VARSITY BASKETBALL MOST IMPROVED Kayli Cutler ’17 COACHES’ Caroline Mure ’14 GIRLS’ JV BASKETBALL MOST IMPROVED Moti Jiang ’16 COACHES’ Thao Nguyen ’15
EASTERN ALPINE U16 MOST IMPROVED Sam Mason ’17 and Julia Cantin ’17 COACHES’ Brooke Hayes ’17 and Geoffrey West ’17 SCHOOL ALPINE MOST IMPROVED Oscar Yu ’16 and Keying Yang ’17 COACHES’ Jesse Ransford ’16, Jingyi Wu ’14, and Leah Scaralia ’15 NORDIC MOST IMPROVED Garrett Phillips ’14 and Sawyer Gardner ’15 COACHES’ Drew Houx ’14, Eliana Mallory ’14, and Celeste Holland ’14 EASTERN FREESTYLE MOST IMPROVED Jack Finn ’17 COACHES’ Bobby Wassman ’14 SCHOOL FREESTYLE MOST IMPROVED Kelley Attenborough ’17 COACHES’ Perry Kurker-Mraz ’14 SNOWBOARD MOST IMPROVED Rory Macleod ’16 COACHES’ Reid Moreschi ’15
EASTERN ALPINE U18 MOST IMPROVED Jack Brill ’17 and Celia Fleckner ’15 COACHES’ Jesse Osuchowski ’14 and Rachael Erhard ’14
Eastern Freestyle coaches: nick preston and tyler thistle The Holderness Eastern freestyle ski team is comprised of three outstanding athletes, who taken together, compete across six disciplines in freestyle and freeskiing: moguls, dual moguls, slopestyle, halfpipe, big air aerials, and ski cross. Senior Bobby Wassman ’ served as captain of the Holderness Eastern freestyle team in . The peak of Bobby’s competition season occurred at Sugarloaf, where he earned top-ten awards in both the mogul and dual mogul events. For all his spirited participation and
positive contributions to skiing during his four years at Holderness, Bobby is the recipient of the Coaches’ Award in freestyle skiing. A second member of the team, freshman Jack Fin ’, won several usasa freeskiing events, which earned him invitations to the usasa Nationals in Copper and to the ussa Junior Nationals in Park City. Jack’s dedication, his team spirit, and his progress throughout the winter earned him the Holderness Eastern freestyle team’s Most Improved Award for . The third member of the team, Hannah Fernandes ’, also has remarkable talent in
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LEFT: Liesl Magnus ’17 striding out of the start at a NH series race at Gunstock; RIGHT: Bobby Wassman ’14 on a training run at Waterville Valley Ski Resort.
freestyle skiing. Her spectacular aerials include off-axis rotations with grabs, front flips, and all manner of back flips, including a back “truck” that features a double tip grab. While a hip injury sidelined Hannah for most of January and February, her limited competition schedule still gave her time to earn an invitation to the usasa Nationals in Copper Mountain. Hannah’s skiing this season is most deserving of an Honorable Mention for Most Improved.
School Freestyle coaches: rob dresser and spencer cook The Holderness freeski team started off the season with a victory at our first competition and remained undefeated through the rest of the season. As a team we took the Lakes Region Championships once again this year, and then proceeded to prepare for Nationals. Thorn Merrill ’ managed to find himself on the top of two podiums in Colorado—one gold in slopestyle and another gold in a rail jam event. Meanwhile, Chris Caulder ’ progressed immensely this year, completing his first double
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flip during Nationals. Chris also won a gold medal in skiercross! Perry Kurker-Mraz ’ helped a ton throughout the season, earning the Coaches’ Award; his hard work and determination set the mood for the team this whole season. And building off of everyone’s energy was Kelley Attenborough ’, who learned many new spins, flips, and rail tricks this season and consequently earned the Most Improved Award. Holderness had one heck of a year, and it seems as if the Bulls will continue to remain on top for years to come.
Snowboarding coaches: alan smarse, chris allen ’, and rosanna wright Despite a wrestling match with Mother Nature early in the season, the Bulls managed to put together impressive results. In the Lakes Region competitions, the herd took top honors in both boys’ and girls’ alpine and slopestyle championships, often depending on the scores of Nam Tran ’, Rory Macleod ’, Yazhi Li ’, Zac Harmon ’, and Craig Cullen ’.
Our Eastern team was equally successful, qualifying riders for the usasa Nationals which were held at Copper Mountain, CO. Our team—led by Karina Bladon ’, Allen Jarabek ’, Haley Michienzi ’, Ezra Cushing ’, Ben Chapin ’, and Annie Hayes ’—collected top-ten finishes and three podiums. Kevin Horner ’, Christina Raichle ’, Leah Curtis ’, and Maggie Roberts ’ rounded off the team with some very notable results. Holderness also found its way back to the ussa and fis level with Allen Jarabek and Karina Bladon competing in several Nor-Am competitions, both earning silver in the Canadian Junior Alpine Championships which were held at Mt. Tremblant, QC. Haley Michienzi and Karina Bladon also expanded their horizons and got their toes wet during competitions at the Hole-Shot sbx series. Congratulations to the winners of the Coaches’ Award—Reid Moreschi ’—and the Most Improved Award—Rory Macleod.
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A Hole as Big as the Frog Pond Another snow storm has just ended and everyone is busy shoveling paths and digging out cars. Lone figures labor in silence, focused on their own individual tasks. But there is one person who is neither silent nor focussed on her own needs. Her own car may be buried but it can wait. Martha instead is busy pushing a snowblower in front of her, getting the Frog Pond ready for a game of pond hockey. In straight lines she walks across the pond, sending plums of snow into the firs on the shore. The ice won’t be as smooth as the rink across the road, and if it snows again, she’ll have to clear the pond again. But this matters far less to Martha than the pure fun of skating on real ice open to the sky. Every year Martha hauls a bench to the Frog Pond from her house, plows the ice, lays extension cords across the road, and lights up the Frog Pond for Saturday night hockey. No one has asked her to do this; it was not written into her contract nor expected of her. But each year, she has appeared with her snow blower to clear the ice and give everyone in the community a place to come together and embrace the best winter has to offer. Martha and Jory Macomber are leaving Holderness after -plus years to take on incredible new adventures in Utah. We are excited for them, but we can’t help but wonder how we are going to fill the gaps they will leave on campus. It will be difficult to replace the energy and passion they have breathed into so many programs at Holderness. From the ski slopes on Cannon Mountain, to the classrooms in Schoolhouse, they have enthusiastically invited everyone around them to join in their adventures. Even during the year Jory participated in the Chair Program and wasn’t on campus, he wrote to faculty and shared his observations and experiences from schools around the world. He reminded us to look up, look out our classroom windows, look beyond the Frog Pond, and look at the important work that others were doing throughout the world. And he challenged us to
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Martha and Jory Macomber with their son Clark ’14
be a part of that world and join in the global conversations. And this year Martha led the seniors through the first year of required theses. Her passion and enthusiasm for experiential learning brought along many reluctant participants and made what at first seemed impossible possible. Who will fill their shoes? In July Jory became the senior director of athletic care and education for the United States Ski and Snowboard Association and also the head of school for their new team Academy in Park City. Jory without a doubt will set high standards for the school and find innovative ways to support the US Ski Team athletes through high school and college. And while Martha does not yet have any plans, Park City and the surrounding communities will no doubt be lucky to have her passionate energy at their service. But those of us who remain here continue to wonder how we will move forward. Who will provide music for the students in Weld as they return from Out Back? Who will motivate us to run through the streets of Plymouth to raise money for the Circle Program? Who will make us laugh during Assemblies with outra-
geous wigs? And who will prepare a fantastic feast on Halloween for the whole community? Across the road from the manicured Quad surrounded by the school’s beautiful brick buildings, is the Frog Pond. Despite its location in the middle of campus, it seems more a part of the wilderness than a part of the formal, neat and tidy campus. In fact it seems to defy civilizing. The water is brown; the flowers bloom around its edges not because someone planted them there but because that’s where they wanted to grow; and it is only fit for swimming if you are a frog (or perhaps a young students who has just received a dare). It may not be the most polished and proper part of our campus, but Holderness School wouldn’t be the same without the Frog Pond. And next year, we won’t be the same school without Jory and Martha. Their leadership, friendship, enthusiasm, passion, and care are part of the fabric of Holderness; without them there will be a void as big as the Frog Pond. We will miss them dearly but wish them well. We can’t wait to hear about their adventures!
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Alice Jane Hinman, Caring about Faculty, Caring about Students: In Memoriam
Alice Jane Hinman in 1946
Holderness School recently lost a very important member of its community. Alice Jane (Behymer) Hinman died on May , , at Forest View Manor in Meredith, NH after a long period of declining health. She was years old and had devoted more than forty years of her very long life to embodying Holderness School’s strongest value: creating a caring community. Alice Jane joined the Holderness community in when at age , she married Ford Benton Hinman, a.k.a. “Fliv,” who had come to the school in after Knowlton Hall burned. The story of their years rebuilding and serving the school is a much loved and often-told tale—one that never fails to inspire. In a Holderness School Today article about Alice Jane and Fliv, author Rick Carey chronicles the way the couple pitched in across all areas of the school. Fliv taught math, served as director of the athletic department, and coached football, hockey, and baseball; Alice
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Jane worked as a secretary to Don Hagerman, and, like other faculty wives, pitched in to keep costs down by sewing costumes and doing laundry. Perhaps most significantly, Alice Jane founded the Holderness School library. Her son, Don Hinman ’, tells us that she took a correspondence course in order to organize it properly and that she volunteered her time for the whole project. “Her reading is that she did the things that had to be done—nothing special,” says Don. We, of course, know differently. In Holderness School awarded the Right Reverend Douglas E. Theuner Award (for significantly increasing and furthering the mission of Holderness School) to the entire Hinman family: posthumously, to Ford B. Hinman, and to Alice Jane, Fliv, and Don, who was Holderness School’s president during the – school year and a Holderness master teacher during a -year teaching career in English. Also included were David Hinman ’, Jane Hinman Ramsay, and Don Hinman’s wife Mary Lou, all of whom were warm and generous members of the Holdernesss residential community for many years. The award notes that the family “through seven decades of hard work and unstinting love have helped to define the identity of the Holderness School as it exists today.” Back in , Alice Jane was the very first profile in the Holderness School Today “Catching Up With” series. To do the essay, Rick Carey and Phil Peck traveled to Vermont to meet with her and her son. In the profile, Rick Carey describes her setting: “the standards for a graceful old age. A snowy-haired picture of ruddy good health…in a wood-scented home filled with books, photos, memories, a contented cat, and plenty of sunlight.” She left an even stronger impression on Phil Peck who had not yet met her, despite knowing the many stories of her behind-thescenes leadership. Knowing that she had
“managed” two headmasters, Edric Weld and Don Hagerman, Phil asked her for advice on what makes a good leader. Her advice to Phil was to be himself and to care about the faculty and staff—a generous and open-hearted response that was enough on its own. Later, she followed up in a hand-written letter. In it, she said, “I have thought a lot about your question, and there is one other thing that I thought might be helpful: be sure to love the unlovable boys.” Today, of course, we would adapt this advice and say, “Love the unlovable students,” and while we don’t think of any of our students as particularly unlovable, Phil Peck to this day values Alice Jane’s advice. “It stands as a reminder to me, and to Holderness, that unconditional, boundless care and love are central to who we are,” he wrote in his May tribute to her. “I hope that we slow down and remember that the work we do…is for naught—unless we remember to care and love.”
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Increasing Our Capacity to Connect Holderness is on the threshold of exciting change. We are making gains in our programs, creating better ways of connecting to each other, and increasing our impact on our community and the world. Our alumni, parents, faculty, and trustees all contribute to that change and are helping carry the school forward. As the school develops a new strategic plan this year, the Advancement and External Relations Office has also thought hard about how best to serve the school and how to help others do the same. The results are exciting: some new roles, some new faces, and some new programs—all focused on bringing together the school community. While the net gain in the Advancement and External Relations Office is only one position, the changes in roles and titles are significant. We’ll introduce you to some of the changes here. Many of you already know Amy Woods. For the past twelve years, Amy has been working primarily with parents. Acknowledging, however, that in the Holderness community we often bring everyone together without distinction—for advice, for celebrations, for support—Amy’s role has been updated to director of parent and alumni relations. Amy will continue to work with parents, but she will also get to know Holderness alumni and become the first point of contact for all questions and concerns. She will continue to keep parents informed of student adventures and activities and oversee Parents’ Association activities, but she will also organize class notes for this magazine and attend many school events, both on campus and around the US. A new face, in a new role, is our director of events and constituent networks, Stacy Lopes. She brings with her extensive experience in events and marketing in the ski industry, having worked at Loon, Waterville Valley, Cranmore Mountain, and Ragged Mountain Ski Resorts. Stacy’s goal at Holderness is to bring together members of our community in ways that both excite and support their interests. You will soon
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Focussed on bringing together the school community: Amy Woods, Stacy Lopes, and Jane Pauley
find her overseeing the logistics of Holderness events across the spectrum and organizing new programs—including the appearance of guest speakers at Holderness gatherings and the development of a mentor program for both current students and recent graduates. There is nothing more important at Holderness than the close relationships that many of our alumni and friends have with the school. Jane Berlin Pauley became managing director of the Holderness Fund in March and has already taken a careful look at the way Holderness School approaches fundraising. Familiar with independent schools from her work with their arts programs, Jane also brings significant fundraising experience from healthcare and political realms. She will be responsible for learning about the concerns and goals of our alumni, energizing and supporting our class agents, and raising unrestricted current-use funds for operations, scholarships, and other areas of great need within the school.
Lastly, a new—but familiar!—face, Kathleen Blauvelt Kime ’ now joins Peter Barnum in reaching out to our extended community for support of strategic current-use, endowment, and facility projects. Kathleen comes to us from Harvard University, where she was the regional director of the faculty of arts and sciences capital giving. As regional manager for leadership gifts, Kathleen will connect and reconnect with members of the Holderness School community, sharing the priorities of the school, listening to the visions of our community, and asking for financial support that will bring our school forward, stronger than before. Together with the rest of the Advancement and External Relations staff, the leadership and strategic thinking of these strong, insightful women will help Holderness move forward. They will help us to be better stewards and friends to our alumni and parents, while at the same time drawing on the help of our extended community to grow and develop our school.
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Robert Caldwell to Serve on the CASE Board of Trustees
Robert Caldwell on Nantucket with his wife Emily and oldest children Laren and Montgomery.
If you are ever in a meeting with Holderness School’s director of advancement and external relations, it is clear that he knows his stuff. Robert Caldwell is familiar with the national trends in philanthropic giving and what research says about motivating donors. He understands the importance of personal relationships in donor retention and is familiar with communication strategies that get results. He also knows Holderness—what makes the school unique, what makes us strong, where we are now, and what is possible in the future. And while part of this is due to the sheer number of years he has worked in advancement at both the secondary and undergraduate level, Robert also has a passion and an insatiable desire to understand his work and the people with whom he is collaborating. Thus, it comes as no surprise that Robert has been asked to serve on the board of trustees for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (case), a professional association that serves educational institutions and the advancement professionals across the world who work on their behalf in alumni rela-
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tions, communications, development, marketing, and allied areas. Robert officially began his duties on July , replacing Kristina Schaefer who is also dean of external relations for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Robert will serve on the District I board as well as represent District I on the international board. District I is the largest district in case, with members in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Rhode Island, and Vermont. This is not the first time Robert has worked with case. He has served on the case faculty since , presenting at conferences, leading workshops, and serving on panels throughout District I, District II, and Europe. Most recently, Robert presented at the Association of Fundraising Professionals and spoke about women and philanthropy; the changing landscape of high net worth giving; and alumni relations. Robert was also the vice chair of case from –.
According to Dave Nuscher, case di board chair, Robert is an exceptional choice for the role of district trustee: “In addition to his own experience as a past vice chair, his deep content knowledge, and his successful tenure as a chief advancement officer, Robert is a passionate proponent and national spokesperson for the power of advancement to transform our institutions. We are very fortunate to have Robert representing our interests at the level of case International.” Founded in as the result of a merger between the American Alumni Council and the American College Public Relations Association, case maintains headquarters in Washington, D.C., with offices in London (case Europe, ), Singapore (case Asia-Pacific, ) and Mexico City (case América Latina, ). It is the world’s largest nonprofit educational association in terms of institutional membership. Members include more than , colleges and universities, primary and secondary independent and international schools, and nonprofit organizations in countries. As a member of the organization’s board of trustees, Robert will help set industry standards, guidelines and policy, establish and monitor annual budgets, oversee the organization’s assets, and ensure sound management of the association.
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Rupert “Ren” Nichols, Jr. ’65: In Memoriam january , –march , There’s a manila folder in the Holderness Archives with Ren’s name on it. Inside are letters to Ren from various people at Holderness, and almost every letter begins with expressions of gratitude for something Ren did for Holderness. “No school could ever hope to have a more devoted and dedicated graduate than Ren,” says former Director of Development Chris
to remain in touch with fellow alumni. He was a regular attendee at campus and regional events and had a talent for networking and getting others involved. “Although a volunteer, for many, Ren was the face of Holderness,” says Chris Latham. Ren also helped establish and organize the Alumni Association and was its first chair from –. During his tenure, the chair of the Alumni Association was not given a voting position on the board of trustees, but by the
No school could ever hope to have a more devoted and dedicated graduate than Ren. With his passing, Holderness has lost a great champion. I and so many others have lost a very dear friend. He will be greatly missed. — CHRIS LANTHAM ’72 Ren Nichols in a photo from his Holderness
Latham ’. “With his passing, Holderness has lost a great champion. I and so many others have lost a very dear friend. He will be greatly missed.” The manila envelope in the Archives also contains letters from Ren to Holderness School. Some discuss strategies for fundraising, while others discuss his passion for boats. But through every letter, his passion for Holderness is clear. “There is hardly a day that goes by that something I learned at Holderness does not direct my thoughts or actions in some way,” he wrote in a letter in . “I count myself very fortunate to have been afforded the opportunity of a Holderness education.” From when he graduated from Holderness until the day he died, Ren was a dedicated member of the Holderness community, and he showed his appreciation for the school not just with his words but with his actions as well. After graduating from Holderness, Ren contributed to the Holderness Annual Fund at the leadership level every year. He also helped organize phonathons and travelled near and far
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time he retired in , he had convinced the board that the chair did indeed deserve a vote. In a letter just before his retirement he wrote, “One of my last responsibilities is the pleasure of informing you that at this month’s meeting, the board in fact gave us a vote. This is a major achievement, and one that will positively benefit and support the efforts of the association.” Holderness School was not the only institution to receive his enthusiastic help and support. His early career was in broadcasting, and Ren spent many years working as an announcer at wcod radio on the Cape and other area stations, including wocb and wvlc. Ren was also an active and engaged member of the Cape Cod boating and marine community, and in became the president of Allen Harbor Marine Service, Inc., a family-owned company he took over from his father. He was a lifetime member of the United States Power Squadron, a national organization dedicated to the education of boating safety, and there he rose to the rank of rear commander. He was also a longtime member of the Massachusetts
School admission application in 1960.
Marine Trades Association, serving continuously on the board of directors since the s and as board president from –. In Ren was given the Holderness Distinguished Service Award, the year the award was first created. In his letter to Ren, Chris Latham wrote, “We all very much wish to express our thanks for your continued and selfless dedication to Holderness School. Your untiring commitment and genuine enthusiasm are exemplary and have provided great pleasure for all who have had the honor to work with you.” It was a small token of appreciation from a very appreciative school that received a lifetime of support from an enthusiastic and giving man. The envelope in the Archives may cease to grow, but his contributions to the school will have no end.
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Saying Goodbye to Paul Martini and Will Prickett Paul Martini Talk about timing. Paul Martini became a trustee in April just as the board was making decisions regarding the Campaign for Holderness—just two years before the fateful financial crisis of . As the chair of the Buildings & Grounds Committee and as a member of the Finance & Audit Committee, Paul was faced with tough financial realities at the same time that the school was trying to realize visionary and ambitious financial and construction goals. Yet Paul was up for the challenge. As senior vice president of Commodore Builders, Inc., Paul’s management knowledge and industry expertise were based on a forty-year career in construction, and as the financial challenges mounted, he shared his skills and experiences freely with the board and administrators. From insisting that the Holderness tennis courts be Holderness blue (instead of standardized green) to boldly supporting the construction of the new dorms during unsound financial times, Paul was a forceful leader for positive changes to the campus. The : residential ratio is perhaps his best known legacy. Paul is the trustee most credited with not just the construction of Woodward and Pichette, but also the renovation of Rathbun and Hoit, work that underpins a growing consensus that Holderness has “the best dorms in independent schools,” says Director of Admission Tyler Lewis. The buildings provide for a ratio of no more than eight students to one faculty—one of the hallmarks of the community’s commitment to personal, authentic, one-to-one engagement between faculty and students. “He was the catalyst who got us going,” notes Phil Peck, referring to the decision to build the two new dorms at the nadir of the economic downturn. Paul’s ability to capitalize on unusual financial opportunities (like the lower cost of construction services during a downturn), to pay attention to the details, and to realize a vision will be his lasting legacy.
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Paul Martini with Chair of the Board Jim Hamblin and trustee Russell Cushman during the dedication of Pichette Dormitory last year.
Paul, however, did not just get things done; he also provided behind-the-scenes leadership
of his contributions. “Paul Proves that Ranging and Raving Saves Money,” was one designation.
From insisting that the Holderness tennis courts be Holderness blue (instead of standardized green) to boldly supporting the construction of the new dorms during unsound financial times, Paul was a forceful leader for positive changes to the campus. advice. Holderness cfo Peter Hendel credits Paul with teaching him that “form and aesthetic have significance.” Other board members note that Paul’s attention to the stewardship and use of the pprrsm account (Provision for Plant Replacement, Renewal and Special Maintenance) exemplify his unique fusion of practicality and vision. In fact, when his fellow board members said goodbye to him in a May ceremony, they humorously used the pprrsm acronym to express their appreciation
Although Paul did not attend Holderness, his sons Alex and Nick both graduated from the school in and respectively, giving him a personal interest and insight into the community. The bottom line? Paul’s time on the board was quite literally about building community. His extensive knowledge and creative problem-solving skills have been invaluable in moving Holderness forward on many initiatives.
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Will came to Holderness in September, , as a sophomore from the Tower Hill School in Wilmington, DE. While at Holderness, Will was a top running back and alpine ski racer; he played lacrosse and participated in the Outing Club as well. His son Will is a member of the Holderness Class of . At the spring trustee dinner, Phil Peck shared that Will gave him a compass when he became head of school. “Will has been a terrific mentor,” said Phil. “His calm but deliberate demeanor has allowed him to provide dynamic leadership while at the same time keep a steady hand on the helm.” In other words, Holderness has been a better place for the past years because of Will’s generous gifts of time and knowledge.
Will with his wife Elizabeth and son Will ’15 before Will’s spring prom at Holderness
Will Prickett ’81 To quote from his Distinguished Alumni Award, Will Prickett isn’t just a super lawyer— he’s a super leader as well. From , when Will became the Alumni Association president to the spring of when he stepped down from the board, Will has been ceaseless in his leadership for Holderness. He is described by his peers on the board, as well as the faculty and staff of the school, as steadfast, passionate, calm, and forever gracious. He is also a fighter for what he believes in. Fellow board member and former law colleague Gary Speiss noted he is “no tougher adversary and no better friend.” Will’s spirit of calmness was in high demand during his tenure as chair of the board. His first meeting occurred squarely at the beginning of the financial crisis—an event he had foreseen the summer before. Yet, in – what was then called the Annual Fund went over million for the first time. Will, along with his fellow board members, went on to not only exceed fundraising expectations during subsequent years, but also build two new dorms and renovate two more as well
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as Weld Hall. “He was a great steward of our finances,” noted Phil Peck. During Will’s tenure, Holderness was part of the leadership team that made the board’s vision of an : student/faculty ratio in the residential dorms a reality. His background as a trial attorney was also crucial in creating policies and protocols that have helped the school navigate the world’s current legal culture. And, as board chair, he helped guide the strategic plan and became an advocate of full participation for Senior Thesis—an initiative that, fittingly, came to fruition in —Will’s last year on the board. Lastly, when he should have been saying his goodbyes and enjoying a bit of free time, Will took the time to ensure his successor was the right one for the school. “The greatest need for the school in the upcoming years will be maintaining the sustainability of the school’s financial plans,” explained Will. “The person will also need to be able to eyeball a lot of moving parts.” When Jim Hamblin was chosen, Will stayed on the board an extra year to help mentor him.
INTERESTED IN NETWORKING WITH OTHER HOLDERNESS ALUMNI? Whether you want to network with classmates, get to know alumni in your area, or become a mentor, Net Directories is a great way to connect. To update your own profile or search the data base for other alumni go to: www.netdirectories.com/ ~holderness/login.cgi
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Poppy Staub ’85: Champion of Holderness and New Trustee
Poppy Staub near her home in Colorado
Poppy Staub has developed a notable resume since graduating from Holderness in . She has earned degrees from Colorado College, the Colorado School of Mines, and the Daniels College of Business. She has established herself in the world of mining, environmental engineering, and environmental consulting, currently serving as a principal with Geosyntec
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Consultants. She’s a caring mother of two wonderful boys, Alexander and Nicolaus, and most recently, she has added Holderness trustee to her very impressive list of accomplishments. Joining the board of trustees this past winter, Poppy once again proved herself to be a talented professional with a fluency in the Holderness languages of leadership, environmental steward-
ship, and community. While she often considers herself an introvert, Poppy immediately stood out as a thoughtful and articulate board member with a very strong voice. The lifer, who literally did not look back once when her parents dropped her off for her orientation hike, attributes much of her professional success to the lessons she learned at Holderness. The Job Program served as a great equalizer among the students, and Poppy, a gracious recipient of financial aid, never felt like “one of those kids.” Whether she was playing lacrosse, tinkering in the forge, strolling though Greek ruins, or shoveling early morning snow, Poppy’s experiences were rich. Ever the proud alumna, Poppy gladly states that she “was exposed to so many great things in those four years that most people never get exposed to in their entire lives.” Poppy’s career as a champion of Holderness begins much earlier than her time as a trustee. Phil Peck delightfully recalls, “In spite of a very busy professional and personal schedule, Poppy has distinguished herself by making almost every single Holderness gathering in Colorado since I have been head of school. Whether it is a gathering in Denver or a ski event in Vail, Poppy always shows up positive, curious about the school, and ready to charge down a black diamond on the Back Bowls of Vail.” In line with Mr. Peck’s comments, Poppy has wholeheartedly embraced her new role as a trustee. During the spring board of trustees weekend, Poppy was unable to attend in person but spent six hours on various conference calls in order to lend her very thoughtful feedback. Fellow alumnus and Board Chair Jim Hamblin is proud to welcome Poppy back to Holderness and says, “We are fortunate to have her guidance and perspectives in helping move us forward.” The Holderness community certainly echoes Mr. Hamblin’s sentiments, and, in the words of Mr. Peck, we are excited to learn with you and from you!
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COME BACK FOR BLUE HOMECOMING AND REUNION WEEKEND
SEPTEMBER 26–28, 2014 Join us as we celebrate the Reunion classes (ending with 4s and 9s), and as we welcome all of our alumni, family, and friends back for a weekend of fun, friendship, and celebration. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 9:00 AM–6:00 PM 9:40 AM–10:25 PM 10:45 AM–11:45 AM 11:40 AM–12:30 PM 12:45 AM–2:15 PM 6:00 PM–7:00 PM 7:15 PM 6:00 AM–9:00 PM
Registration: Weld Hall Lobby All School Assembly: Hagerman “Bridging the Gap”: Webster Room, Livermore All School Lunch: Weld Hall Campus Tour/ Class Observations: Meet in Weld Hall Lobby 50th Reunion Cocktail Reception: Webster Room, Livermore 50th Reunion Celebration Dinner: East Wing, Weld Hall All Alumni Welcome Reception: Owl’s Nest Golf Club
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 7:00 AM Alumni Run with Head of School: Head’s House 8:30 AM–1:00 PM Registration: Weld Hall Lobby 8:30 AM–9:30 AM Milestone Class Breakfast 25th, 30th, 40th, 50th: East Wing, Weld Hall 9:05 AM, 9:55 AM, 10:45 AM Campus Tours: Meet in Weld Hall Lobby 9:45 AM–10:45 AM Panel Discussion: East Wing, Weld Hall 11:00 AM–11:30 AM Alumni Convocation: Chapel of the Holy Cross* 11:30 AM–12:30 PM Lunch: BBQ Behind Weld Hall 1:00 PM–5:00 PM Athletic Games: Upper and Lower Fields 1:00 PM–5:00 PM Open House: Head’s House 6:00 PM–11:00 PM Alumni Cocktail Reception and Celebration Dinner: Common Man Inn SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 10:30 AM Memorial Service: Chapel of the Holy Cross 11:00 AM–12:30 PM Brunch: Weld Hall * NEW THIS YEAR! Please join us for the first annual Alumni Convocation in the Chapel of the Holy Cross on Saturday morning. This is a solemn but celebratory moment, during which we will honor the impact and achievement of Holderness alumni. The Convocation provides a joyful counterpoint to the Reunion Memorial Service, and in the tradition of chapel services at Holderness School, will open with a prayer. Head of School Phil Peck will share a brief address on the state of the school and our extended community, and we will end by presenting the Distinguished Service Awards. Visit www.holderness.org/reunion2014 to register, order Holderness gear online, learn about the Reunion Challenge, see who’s coming, and more.
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Julia and Julia
Julia Marino ’11 carrying the Paraguayan flag into the stadium during the opening ceremonies at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Julia Ford ’08 and Julia Marino ’11 From the comfort of Holderness School’s tech office, during the Sochi Olympics in February, we proudly cheered for not one but two alumni. The race was supposed to begin at : am. Teachers, students, and staff were logged on to every available computer, phone, and iPad; the servers were having trouble keeping up. Meanwhile, anyone with a personal hotspot was busy trying links from all over the world, searching for web space with livestreaming. Eventually it became clear that the place to watch Julia’s Olympic debut was the tech office. While the room filled quickly, history teacher
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Martha Macomber snagged the prime viewing spot so she could set up her video camera and record the TV footage. Even Julia’s grandmother was there, witnessing her granddaughter’s epic adventures with the rest of the Holderness community. Later at Friday’s All-School Assembly everyone was abuzz. Several kids had taken screenshots of the race and were texting them to each other. Then there was that amazing shot of Lori ( Julia’s mom) and Mattie ( Julia’s sister) and the American flag; someone downloaded it to the auditorium computer and pulled the image up on the big screen. When Assembly started, Duane ( Julia’s father and Holderness’ dean of students) took the floor,
talking, gesticulating, and pacing even more elaborately than when he teaches new students the Holderness cheer in the fall. Needless to say, he was excited. He told us that Julia had skied fast enough in her first run to qualify for a second run. She was number and therefore would be the first one out of the gate. He joked that for a short time she would be in first place. Then his cell phone interrupted his enthusiastic explanation. Forgetting Holderness School’s policy about talking on cell phones in public spaces, Duane answered it. It was Julia’s uncle. Needing only a little encouragement, we shouted hello—a friend of Julia’s, is a friend of ours. The energy continued to build as we waited for Martha’s recording. Then suddenly she was
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there. Julia’s orange helmet filled the screen in the front of the auditorium, larger than life. We listened to the count-down and watched Julia Ford, Class of , push past the starting wand and power through the gates with agility and grace. One of ours had made it to the Olympics. Of course it wasn’t the first time, nor was Julia the only Holderness alumna at the Sochi Winter Games. Julia Marino ’ was there also. As an entrant in the slope style skiing competition, which was added to the Olympics just this year, Marino was the first athlete to represent Paraguay in the Winter Olympics. She
It was thrilling to realize that these athletes were the same people who, just a few years ago, were here on campus passing us on the paths between classes and sitting with us during dinners in Weld. was eligible to compete for the South American country because she was born there before being adopted by a Winchester, MA couple when she was six months old. Proudly, she carried the Paraguayan flag at the opening and closing ceremonies, introducing her birth country to the Winter Olympics. While there was no Assembly on the day that Marino competed, her Facebook page kept us up to date. In both Spanish and English her fans encouraged her and supported her: “Felicitaciones Julia y gracias por representar a nuestro querido Paraguay!” wrote one fan— “Congratulations, Julia. Thank you for representing our beloved Paraguay.” And while she fell on her qualifying runs and was not able to compete in the finals, it
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The faces of Julia Ford ’08, who finished 24th in the women’s slalom at the Sochi Winter Olympics.
did not discount the contributions Marino made to Paraguay and to freestyle skiing. Before she returned home to the United States, Julia signed her skis and donated them to the International Olympic Museum in Switzerland where they will be on display in memory of the first athlete to participate in the winter Olympics for Paraguay. In both cases it was surreal to watch these women on television, competing against the best in the world. It was thrilling to realize that these athletes were the same people who, just a few years ago, were here on campus passing us on the paths between classes and sitting with us during dinners in Weld. They trained at Cannon Mountain with Craig Antonides ’ and Georg Capaul, and they worked out in the gym with Tony Mure. While there is so much more to their stories, it was with pride that we shared their Olympic dreams and took satisfaction in the part Holderness played, however small, in their successes.
Fortunately, both women are still competing. There will be more races and more opportunities for us to watch them grow and conquer bigger mountains. And hopefully, when the next Olympics come around in four years, we will be back in Hagerman Auditorium again, watching them ski on the big screen.
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She Finally Saw It Happen Jenny Holden ’88 With women’s ski jumping at last an Olympic event, Jenny Holden ’ has turned her attention to Holden Sports Management and its fusion of social cause and athletic achievement. In Sochi, at the Winter Olympics, US ski jumper Lindsey Van wept—not for her th place finish, which was something of a disappointment for the sport’s first female world champion in . Rather she wept for the joy of the event itself and its place on the Olympic stage. Half a world away, in Park City, UT, Jenny Holden ’ was no less delighted. As the former executive director of Women’s Ski Jumping usa, Jenny had done much of the behind-the-scenes work in making women’s ski jumping an Olympic event. “It was a great moment, an historic moment, to see it finally happen,” Jenny says. “Now the next step is to get the women on the -meter hill.” Indeed at this version of the Olympics, women competed in only one event, on what’s termed a normal hill, while men competed in three: the normal hill, the large hill, and a team event. But the mere presence of women ski jumpers at the Olympics, long resisted by both the International Olympic Committee and the International Ski Federation, is at least a leap in the right direction. Jenny herself was a Nordic skier at Holderness and the University of Vermont. By the time she was , she had landed a job managing the men’s Nordic combined and jumping events at the Salt Lake City Olympics. She went on to a five-year stint as manager of the US men’s alpine team, and then an actionpacked two years as Bode Miller’s executive assistant and manager of his independent Team America. After working with a small sports agency in Park City for several years, Jenny jumped to Women’s Ski Jumping usa—an organization and a sport that desperately needed the impri-
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matur of the Olympics. Men’s ski jumping had been admitted to the first winter Olympics in , but it took seventy years for the fis to form a women’s ski jumping working group and then four more to sanction the first women’s Grand Prix series in . Then the ioc and the fis rather mystified the world in spurning applications to admit women jumpers to the Olympics. In fis President Gian-Franco Kasper told National Public Radio that women engaging in ski jumping “seems not to be appropriate from a medical point of view.” This was at a time when women were already competing in boxing and wrestling at the summer Olympics. When women were denied entry to the Vancouver games, Jenny spearheaded a lawsuit against the ioc that was filed by Lindsey Van and several other top jumpers. Canadian lower courts found in favor of the athletes, but the ioc appealed to Canada’s Supreme Court, which in turn refused to hear the case. So the women could not compete in Vancouver—which was an especially bitter blow to Van, who was at the height of her powers then. The high-profile lawsuit, however, garnered enough attention to compel—at last—an ioc vote to admit women’s jumping to the games. Since the lawsuit was settled, Jenny has resigned from her position at Women’s Ski Jumping usa to concentrate on her own burgeoning business in sports management. “Our niche is to focus on the athlete as a whole person and to build links between the athletes and the social causes that their success and visibility can serve.” Among those social causes is adaptive sports, and so Holden Sports Management counts among its clients Alana Nichols, who competed in the Paralympics in Sochi, and who is the only American to hold gold medals in both summer (wheelchair basketball) and winter (alpine monoskiing) Paralympics events. Another client is Kevin Pearce, the world-class snowboarder
Jenny Holden ’88 (right) with her client Alana Nichols at the 2014 Sochi Paralympics.
who suffered a traumatic brain injury during a training run. Now recovered, but no longer a competitive snowboarder, Pearce is a motivational speaker and advocate—on behalf of a brother with Down syndrome—for progress on all fronts in brain-related medical science. He’s also featured in a Sundance Film Festival documentary, The Crash Reel. Jenny remains friendly with Bode Miller, whose Turtle Island Foundation supports various adaptive and youth sports organizations. In February she spoke with hst after his disappointing finishes in the downhill, slalom, and combined. “Very unfortunate,” she said. “But this is how it goes in a sport where on any given day only a few hundredths of a second has such huge significance.” Then came Bode’s bronze medal finish in the super giant slalom, which made him the most decorated alpine skier in US history. It was another historic moment, this in what became Bode’s last Olympics. The women ski jumpers, however, will be back in , with perhaps an even bigger hill to soar from— thanks in large part to Jenny Holden.
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The Secret of La Chureca Dave Campbell ’04 In lacrosse player Dave Campbell ’ found something unexpected in the shanties of one of Nicaragua’s poorest communities. Now that “something” fuels a blog, a website, and a burgeoning philosophical community. Sometimes important things start with just an idea, and sometimes the best ideas send up shoots from the unlikeliest sort of soil. This idea occurred to Dave Campbell during—or shortly after—coaching lacrosse, sort of, in Managua, Nicaragua. Dave had grown up playing lacrosse in Boise, ID, and he came to Holderness in search of greater challenges both on the lacrosse field and in the classroom. He went on to Middlebury, where he majored in economics and was a two-year captain of the Middlebury lacrosse team. He also earned several honors in his senior year: Honorable Mention All-America, Scholar All-American, and neasc All-Conference (second team). By January, , Dave had one more semester to do at Middlebury. During the midyear break he became a volunteer for Lacrosse the Nations, a nonprofit organization that combines teaching lacrosse with instructional programs in health, well-being, sustainability, community life, and hope. ltn brings its people to several impoverished areas in the U.S. and Central America, and that’s why we say, “coaching, sort of ”—there was a lot more to it than how to catch, throw, and cradle a lacrosse ball. Dave’s ltn group that January included Brett Hughes, a lacrosse player from the University of Virginia. Together they were assigned to La Chureca, a village that had risen over one of the dump sites used by the city of Managua, and whose people scratched a desperate sort of living from what they could retrieve from Managua’s trash. Dave and Brett became fast friends. Together they were not at all surprised by the grinding poverty that they saw in La Chureca—
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but they were very much surprised by the spirit of the people who endured it. “Every day was an incredible struggle for them,” Dave says, “and yet they brought to each day unbelievable levels of humor, happiness, and joy.” This led to a sort of epiphany, and this is how Dave and Brett describe it now on their website: “We shared a range of emotions from seeing some of the world’s most tragic despair to witnessing the ability of people to find exuberance, humanity, and hope within those walls of trash. While waiting at the airport for our flights home, we talked about the fact that our lives had changed. We had always been positive, optimistic people, but something was different; we had gained a deeper clarity of our world— and we did not want to lose that feeling.” Their sojourn in La Chureca had taught them, in other words, that exuberance was not captive to circumstance—instead it involved a certain cast of mind, a mental approach to the world; to a significant degree, they discovered, exuberance was a choice. And on the wings of that choice, Another Best Day was born. It began as simply a blog Dave and Brett wrote jointly—a blog that trumpeted the possibility of making each day your best day, and the next another best day, through the sort of muscular optimism and positive energy on display in La Chureca. “Soon we found ourselves posting words, pictures, and videos from others— abders who wanted to share their stories,” the website continues. In time a community took shape, one cemented not only by a commitment to that sort of outlook, but also generally shared interests in public service and travel. Both Dave and Brett have seen a lot of the world already, and it makes sense to Dave that many of abd’s fellow travelers should be, well, fellow travelers. “You take people who are optimistic, physically active, and who enjoy learning something new each day,” he says, “and it turns out they love to travel.” And while abd people travel and volunteer, they can now wear the accoutrements of this
Dave Campbell ’04 in La Chureca with one of the young optimists he met there.
growing brand in the line of abd t-shirts, hats, sweats, and water bottles Dave and Brett have designed and marketed through their website. At the same time, they both do web development. Brett and his wife live and work in Nashville, Dave in Frisco, CO. In addition, Dave has maintained close ties with Lacrosse the Nations, currently serves on their board of directors, and will be moving to Costa Rica this spring, he says, “in order to live internationally while volunteering with ltn and other nonprofit organizations.” It still rather amazes Dave that something as airy as an idea can take on substance like this. “We have members from all corners of the country, all corners of the world,” he says, “and it’s been really interesting to see how just an idea moves and travels, how quickly it can ripple through the world.”
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Nikki Kimball ’89 Wins the Marathon des Sables Nikki Kimball ’89 While running miles through the desert may seem unfathomable to most mortals, Nikki Kimball found beauty rather than hardship in her first race across the sands. by emily magnus ’ There’s a picture in my office of Nikki Kimball ’ and me with the rest of our crosscountry running team after the nepsac championships in the fall of . It had snowed six inches the night before the race, and because the ground wasn’t yet frozen, the race course had turned into a giant slurry of muddy ice. In the picture our legs and shorts are covered in mud, but the smiles on our faces confirm that the conditions had no effect on our spirits. While I don’t have a photograph to catalogue the memory, I also remember visiting Nikki at her parents’ house in Vermont. It must have been during March vacation; there was still snow on the ground, but it was raining, and giant puddles were cradled in the hollows of a field near her house. Nikki and I went for a run that day, and as we turned around to go home, soaked and dripping, the puddles became too much of a temptation. Running full speed we plowed through the puddles, the icy water instantly freezing our legs. I remember laughing as if we were three years old—loudly, happily, and freely. As I read Nikki’s account of her race in the Marathon des Sables, it was clear to me that while wiser, Nikki hasn’t changed; the qualities I remember about Nikki have just become stronger and more boiled down to their essence. Known to the initiated as the MdS, the Marathon des Sables claims to be the toughest footrace on earth. Over four days, over , runners race over miles. The terrain? The Sahara Desert where temperatures reach degrees Fahrenheit at midday. With the excep-
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Nikki Kimball ’89 (far left) with Lindley Hall van der Linde ’89, Jenny Holden ’88, Emily Adriance Magnus ’88, and Cheri Walsh ’88 after the 1987 NEPSAC cross-country championships
tion of water, contestants must carry everything they need with them. Nikki not only ran this race, she won it. In an article on irunfar.com, Nikki describes her experiences at times with raw and painful emotion and at other times with beauty and grace. Even before the race begins as she is traveling to the start, she describes her view of a bicycle accident that haunts her for days. “I have never seen so much blood. It soaked into their flowing desert clothing and covered large areas of tarmac. No one spoke of this. We did not stop. Traffic control apparently pushed the buses onward. All my bus neighbors with leftside window seats slept. I watched this silent horror film alone.” She goes on to say that because ultra running is such a mentally taxing endeavor, she chose not to burden anyone with her gory memories. It was only days later that she found someone to confide in. “Writing this I am weeping slightly,” she explained upon her return to the US, “but I am not sure if I weep for the loss of life or for my ability to avoid thinking of the same for more than a week.” Despite the difficult start, as the race began Nikki pulled herself together and took on the challenges of the Sahara Desert with a smile on her face. She wrote of her first day, “The beauty held me in awe. Wind-formed waves of sand
with an amplitude of roughly two to three inches topped the smooth curves of the dunes. Footprints of the runners ahead of me broke the wave-laden landscape into two halves. The sun, rather than harshly stealing my energy, lifted my spirits.” It wasn’t until the third day that Nikki started to gain on her competition, Laurence Klein from France. Nikki wrote, “Stage started similarly, with Laurence gliding off ahead of me. She is a beautiful runner, who others rightly call ‘The Gazelle.’ Being a hamster in a wheel to her gazelle on the sand, I patiently closed the gap.” By the end of stage , Nikki passed her: “[Laurence] warmly squeezed my hand, and we exchanged a smile of athletic commonality that transcends language and culture.” Over the last two days of the race, Nikki continued to pull away from Laurence and won the Marathon des Sables by over an hour. Holding fiercely to the beauty and joy of the world around her no matter the location, Nikki is still at her core the same person I remember puddle-jumping with over two decades ago. Life has presented her with some serious obstacles, but she has overcome them with determination and perseverance, the same skills that served her well during our races for Holderness and in her tour of the sands.
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When Anything Is Possible
Emily Raabe ’89 and to the right, the cover of her new book from Knopf
Emily Raabe ’89 Emily Raabe ’ has distinguished credentials as a poet and scholar. But in a new book out this spring, she takes aim at a different literary form and its passionate audience. A world of pancake breakfasts and soccer practices is revealed to also be a world where people—a few of them at least—can shift between human and animal forms. Out of this magic realm a dark king has risen, bent on ruthless power. The heroes opposing this king are a pair of eleven-year-old twins from Maine, and their little sister—right about the same age Emily Raabe was when she became a writer. “That was when I was reading the books that, in my entire life, I still love the most,” she said. “Books like C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series, or Susan Cooper’s Dark Is Rising series—stories that begin in the real world but then open up into this other universe where kids are on their own and have only themselves to rely on for protection.”
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Actually, Emily Raabe is two writers. On one hand, she is the scholar and honored poet whose passion for literature at all levels was fired by English teacher Norm Walker when she was a student at Holderness. Her book of poetry, Leave It Behind, was a finalist for the FutureCycle First Book Award, and her poems have appeared in such discriminating journals as the Antioch Review, the Alaska Quarterly Review, and Chelsea, among others. She has taught literature at the California College of Arts and Crafts, Hunter College, and the Parsons School of Design, and is working on a doctorate in literature at the City University of New York. Her thesis? “Visuality as Revelation in American Poetics.” And then she is the prolific children’s author who has published some short titles on history and natural history: The Gold Rush: California or Bust, Vampire Bats, etc. Her newest children’s book is aimed at the same -year-old readership, but this one—Lost Children of the Far Islands—is a fantasy novel in the tradition of Lewis and Cooper.
The book was published in April by Knopf, and by this magazine’s press time had earned some warm pre-publication reviews. The first sentence grabs readers right away, said the Kirkus Reviews, and “the promise of the sentence is fulfilled as Gus [Gustavia], Leo, and their selectively mute little sister, Ila, discover and battle the source of their mother’s illness, simultaneously learning of their own magical powers.” The best scenes “in this cinematic book,” continues Kirkus, “take readers firmly into the realm of the fantastic, with their vivid descriptions of such wonders as a living, breathing book and swimming and communicating as seals.” Booklist added that “Raabe’s debut novel is brimming with pleasing details.” Certainly the imagination and linguistic resourcefulness of a poet has come to bear in creating the fantastic, and then making it so vividly real. “And this is so much fun,” says Emily the children’s writer—so much fun, in fact, that she’s doing more of it. She’s thinking about a sequel to Lost Children—and the start of a Narnia-like franchise, perhaps? And then she has an idea for another story, one involving the ghost of a woman who died in the polio epidemic, and the time travel necessary for one or more of her young descendants to save her. This novel would be more young adult, pitched to an older audience, but the heroes would still be in the neighborhood of eleven years old or so. “I just really relate to the mindset of an eleven or twelve-year-old,” Emily says. “You’re still at that age when you can believe these things are possible.” It’s the stage of imagination as revelation, perhaps, and yes, it’s so much fun.
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The Flavor of Gracefulness
Janine and John Putnam ’75 make the cheese at Thistle Hill Farm; in the above photo they stand with a couple of those who make the milk.
John Putnam ’75 John Putnam ’ once practiced law from the seat of a tractor on his Vermont farm. Now he and his wife are farming full-time and producing organic artisanal cheese. John Putnam tells the story on his Thistle Hill Farm website. He and his wife Janine had decided to make cheese, and in they wandered throughout the Alps in search of a cheese that they loved and that was made in a climate similar to that of Pomfret, VT. They found both in the Tarentaise Valley in the Savoie Region of the French Alps. The next problem was to learn how to make it. They returned the next summer and were told of a certain farmer they needed to know. “He lived hours away in the mountains above Moutiers,” John writes. “We found him on a Sunday afternoon at his house. Like a true farmer, having done little more than milk his
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cows, make some cheese, do his chores, clean the kitchen after his family had gone off for the afternoon, and then perhaps get an hour for himself before evening chores and milking, he seemed a bit less than overjoyed to see two lost souls on his doorstep at a time when a brisk nap seemed like a good idea. He let us struggle in French for a while before asking us in for coffee in perfect English.” The farmer warned them that the process of making this cheese might be “too meticulous for you.” But he helped them to find an apprentice to work with them in Vermont. “He now thinks,” John writes, “that ‘maybe our job is okay.’” John spent his early years in South Woodstock, miles from where Thistle Hill Farm is now. But then his banker father was sent to open a branch in London, and John spent a semester in a British public—which is to say, private, by American standards—school. “I was absolutely miserable there,” John says. “Fortunately, my grandparents took pity on me,
and I was able to live with them in South Woodstock for my middle school years.” His grandfather raised heifer cows and ran a woodlot, and John helped with all work associated with that. For high school Holderness made good sense: outdoors-minded with opportunities in both the winter sports he loved, ice hockey and skiing. He attended the years that Bill Clough ’ ran his Backward Bound program in which students used th century tools and methods to build a cabin on Holderness land. John’s specialty within the program was handling the oxen. But that didn’t mean he saw farming in his future. “I went to Middlebury with four classmates,” John says. “This was back in the days when Ed Cayley would pick up the phone and just tell them whom he was sending.” John majored in political science, thinking he might do government work in environmental policy, but after Middlebury he put in a stint on a Massachusetts lobster boat and went ski bumming in Sun Valley. At last he applied to the Vermont Law School, passed the bar, and began practicing in Boston. But he came back to South Woodstock every chance he got on weekends and vacations. After he got married in , he and Janine bought Thistle Hill Farm in North Pomfret. This was a working beef and vegetable farm, not a hobby operation, and suddenly the Putnams were farmers. But John was still a lawyer as well. He caught on with a firm in Hanover, a big-city practice working out of a small New Hampshire town, and John remembers working out case settlements on a cell phone from the seat of his tractor. Meanwhile Janine spearheaded the conversion of the beef operation into organic dairy—until their local buyer was bought up by H.P. Hood, and Hood by the Horizon Corporation. Profits dwindled. That’s where cheese-making came in, with its higher profit margins. The Putnams went to France, Switzerland, and Italy and found both their cheese and a mentor; four years later John
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Roger and Him quit law in order to pitch in full-time with Janine and their four children in the production of organic Thistle Hill Farm Tarentaise. And a meticulous process it is, beginning with a herd of grass-fed Jersey cows rotated through enough pasturage to provide new fresh grass every twelve hours. Then it’s essential that the cheese be made in a copper vat—one custom-made in Switzerland. The curds are cut by hand with a harp, then stirred and cooked and transferred in cheese cloth to the presses— rather than being pumped, which can harm the curds and the smooth consistency of the cheese. “After the cheeses enter the aging room,” John writes on his website, “the rinds are rubbed by hand with a culture, as has been done in Savoie for hundreds of years. These steps are crucial to ensure the unique taste of Tarentaise. Such attention is given to each individual wheel of cheese that we recognize one from another and can tell when the cheese was made.” The results were immediately impressive: smooth-textured, nut-flavored, and naturally rinded. “There isn’t anything like it in this country,” said Giles Schnierle, owner of Chicago’s Great American Cheese Collection, to the Boston Globe in . “The layers keep opening—caramel tones, silky tongue feel, a balanced finish. It has a gracefulness in its flavor profile.” That gracefulness has been corroborated in national and international competitions: nine different American Cheese Society Awards since , and a gold in at the United Kingdom’s World Jersey Cheese Awards. Such honors come only to the meticulous, and to those not ashamed to show up tonguetied on an Alpine farmer’s doorstep in search of a few tips. editor’s note: Thistle Hill Farm Tarentaise cheese is available at fine food stores and can be ordered from the farm directly at www.thistlehillfarm.com.
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Gabriel Sherman ’97 Gabriel Sherman ’ has written a book about a man he describes as “the Citizen Kane of our times.” Now Gabe is both a best-selling author and a political target. Once he had finished his award-winning series of articles about cable television and politics for New York Magazine; and once he noticed that nobody had done a book yet about one of America’s biggest players at the intersection of mass media and electioneering; and once he had pitched the idea to Random House and secured a contract for his first book project—that was when Gabe Sherman sought the cooperation of his book’s subject and protagonist. But it was not to be. Such cooperation was roundly refused by Roger Ailes, the man media baron Rupert Murdoch had hired in to launch the Fox News Channel. “Well, I didn’t really expect that Roger would cooperate,” says Gabe, who remembered something he had learned from the legendary Peter Kaplan during Gabe’s time as a reporter for the New York Observer. “He told me that while getting your subject’s cooperation is important, you don’t need that cooperation if the story itself is important. And I knew that I could tell this story without it, that there was a rich body of material out there on Ailes.” Some of the best of that material had already been penned by Gabe, who had grown up in Westport, CT, in the shadow of New York City. He came to Holderness for its combination of snow sports and academics, but he learned to love writing in the English classes of Jim Brewer and the human pageant in the history classes of Jory Macomber. Gabe went on to Middlebury, where he ski raced for one year before becoming the school newspaper’s ski racing correspondent. And it was that baptism into journalism that set him off on his career path. “By then I had fallen in love with current events and politics,” he says.
Gabe Sherman’s ’97 new book (pictured above) shot to the top of the New York Times’s bestseller’s list in February.
“And journalism was a way of combining that with my desire to write.” From college he went directly into the journalistic trenches, to a feisty weekly newspaper— the New York Observer—run by an editor who would become celebrated for turning several generations of young writers into smart, gimleteyed reporters. Gabe took on the media beat for Peter Kaplan, covering the New York Times’s flawed reporting on Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass destruction, its decision to delay its reporting on nsa wiretapping, and its bitter standoff with reporter Judith Miller. In Gabe became a staff writer at Conde Nast’s Portfolio and a year later began writing for both the New York Magazine and the New Republic. His cover story for New York, “Chasing Fox,” was about the struggle at cnn and msnbc to match Fox News’s audience ratings, and won a Mirror Award for CONTINUED ON PAGE 78
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Gabe received a death threat after the publication of his book. “Well,” he says, “if you climb into the ring with an 800-pound gorilla…”
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 77 excellence in media industry reporting. Gabe’s cover story—“The Elephant in the Green Room,” about Roger Ailes’s role in shaping the Republican presidential primary process—was a finalist for that award. With the publication in January of The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News—And Divided a Country, readers could judge for themselves why someone as talkative as Ailes refused to talk to Gabe. The book is of a piece with Gabe’s reporting in New York and portrays a media titan who, while indeed brilliant, is also consumed by rage, driven to sow discord wherever he goes, and more directed by money than political principle. And yet Gabe finished the book feeling more admiration for his subject than when he had started. “The more I learned, the more interesting Ailes became to me, both as a sub-
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ject and as a human being,” Gabe says. “This guy is the Citizen Kane of our time, now ensconced in a Xanadu-like mansion north of New York City, complete with bodyguards, a security bunker, and a six-month supply of energy and food. But no matter where you sit on the political spectrum, you have to respect Ailes as a media icon, a visionary who succeeded entirely in making the news a form of mass entertainment.” The New York Times has praised Gabe’s book as “fair and balanced, carefully documented” (“Networker: Gabriel Sherman’s ‘Loudest Voice in the Room,’” //). Ailes, on the other hand, from the start was looking for something rather less balanced, and quickly commissioned a purely worshipful portrait—Roger Ailes: Off Camera by Zev Chafets—that beat Gabe’s book to the market by nearly a year. But it has been The Loudest Voice in the Room that has garnered
attention and appeared immediately at the top of the nonfiction best-seller lists. Not all of that attention, though, has been welcome. Negative reaction from Ailes himself and that portion of the spectrum served by Fox News has perhaps made Gabe think about digging a bunker himself. “Well, it’s been disconcerting—and stressful,” he admits. “It’s been a strange experience for me to be the subject of the news, rather than its reporter. I’ve been attacked in the most extreme sort of language. I received a death threat once on the phone. But, you know, if you get into the ring with an -pound gorilla, you’ve got to expect some bruises.” Of course there is the irony that this sort of rage—Ailes’s own, and that of his less nuanced admirers—has played no small part in drawing attention to Gabe’s book, and broadening its audience. And now there are a lot of book buyers—not to mention Random House—who want to know who or what Gabe’s next book will be about. “I haven’t even thought about it yet,” he says. “You need a subject that hooks you from day one, and then you have to stay with it for years. I just hope somehow to find another subject as engaging as this one has been.” Spoken like one of those guys from the Observer who has learned how to hang in the ring with the big gorillas.
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dutch morse ’38 believed his ethics were built on “a foundation that this wonderful school has established and has maintained for all who may be privileged to receive it.” Dutch advised and supported Holderness as a trustee for more than two decades, and was also a proud grandparent of an alumna. Through his Balch Society membership his story comes full circle, and his planned gift now strengthens the foundation of Holderness School. 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
mayland h. “dutch” morse ’38 with headmaster emeritus rev. b. w. woodward jr. at his induction
the balch society honors a group of forward-thinking individuals who support Holderness School by combining charitable giving goals with estate and financial planning goals. When you make a planned gift, you creatively support the school, yourself, and your loved ones, while inspiring generosity in others. Joining the Balch Society involves no dues or solicitations, but members will be included in Balch Society communications and invited to participate in special events. The most important benefits? Giving Holderness School strength and providing educational opportunities for generations of students. Design a plan today that works for you and your family. For more information, contact Pete Barnum, Director of Leadership Giving, at 603.779.5221 or pbarnum@holderness.org.
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The Kingston Dynasty John II ’54, Peter ’56, and Michael Kingston ’58 In the s three brothers from Chile served in succession as school president. What happened after is fascinating, but no less fascinating than what happened before. Back in the first decade of Don Hagerman’s tenure as head of school, a single family—from Chile, no less—produced three boys, each of whom was elected president of the school under English teacher Joe Abbey’s new student leadership system. “I can’t really explain how it happened that way, but we were all elected,” confesses Michael Kingston ’, the youngest of the three. But that’s just one item of interest in one of the more romantic family sagas to intersect with Holderness history. So let’s take a step or two back and start with gold, which family patriarch C.J. Kingston failed to find when he prospected a century ago throughout Chile and Peru. This Kingston was a native of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and a graduate of the Michigan School of Mines (now Michigan Tech). By the early s, the Upper Peninsula’s copper mines were giving out. There was copper in South America, though, and in C.J. signed on with the Cerro de Pasco Mining Company in Peru. Soon he struck off on his own, prospecting for both copper and gold and gambling some money on a gold mine that had gone bankrupt. The mine went bankrupt again, alas, but C.J. had secured some collateral for his investment, and with that he became owner of a ten-thousand-acre farm in Chile’s sunny Casablanca Valley. C.J. married the secretary of the Cerro de Pasco Company, and their only son, John, went to Beverly Hills High School, since for a time the family also owned a home there. Then John attended Harvard—“That noted agricultural school,” jokes Michael—and returned to Chile to run the family farm. John’s three sons and
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The three Kingston brothers ’54, ’56, and ’58 were three great amigos on their family farm in Chile.
two daughters were all home-schooled there. This is how the eldest, John Kingston II ’, once described it: “We lived in a unique universe…There was a distinct bond between us because we were in it together. We were taught about school, work, animals, God, the Puritan ethic, and baseball. And we seemed to miss out on bullies and hoods and dope peddlers.” The middle brother, Peter ’, recalls “a very comfortable kind of schedule. We performed our studies and did homework in the morning, and then we’d grab lunch and spend the whole afternoon on horseback. We often went with the fellow who was in charge of all the animals and who attended to all their medical issues—picking out which ones were in heat, performing autopsies to determine causes of death, and so on. We learned a lot about everything from him.” When it came time to prepare for college in the States, neither Peter nor Michael is certain how Holderness got into the conversation, though they agree that their grandmother probably knew someone who had served on the board of trustees. “But it was the perfect place
for us,” Michael says. “We would have been lost at a larger school.” Instead they sparkled, each in turn, though John’s turn after Holderness was cut tragically short. He went on to Yale, and then to work as an investment banker on Wall Street and to serve on Don Hagerman’s board. “He was bothered by how low faculty salaries were then and worked to do something about that,” Peter remembers. Unfortunately, he fell victim to cancer at age . Peter himself attended Princeton, where he majored in theology and prepared for what he thought would be a career performing social work in Chile. But first it was back to the farm to pay back money that he owed his father, and then—as Vietnam was starting to heat up in the States—to the Mediterranean in to fight for Uncle Sam (Peter and Michael had dual US-Chilean citizenship). Peter chose the Navy and served as an air intelligence officer aboard aircraft carriers in the Navy’s Sixth Fleet, which was then playing cat-and-mouse games with the Soviet navy. Peter used firstgeneration computers in planning strategy and
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LEFT: Michael Kingston and his wife, Louise. RIGHT: The grape-laden hills of the Kingston Family Vineyards.
building orders of battle for naval engagements that thankfully never occurred. By the time he got out of the Navy, Peter had decided that business school offered “more practical” possibilities than social work, and after earning an mba at Harvard, he moved to southern California. There he worked as a financial consultant, assisted in business start-ups, helped the Music Corporation of America (mca) find film investment opportunities such as Jaws and E.T., and now runs his own flourishing business supplying motors and emergency systems to Boeing’s commercial aircraft. Michael also went to Princeton, where he enrolled in its Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He was interested in economic development in Latin America through the private sector, and after college he began a four-decade career with Citibank—at first in such places as Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica. But his wife Louise was from the Princeton area, and she wanted to go to divinity school. Since they also wanted their children to grow up in the States, they moved back to New Jersey, where Louise
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became an Episcopal chaplain at the Princeton Medical Center. Michael then commuted from Princeton into New York City each day for the balance of his career with Citibank. Meanwhile the farm still flourished, supporting a thousand cows that produced , gallons of fresh milk per day. Now, however, acres of it are devoted to a different sort of beverage entirely and are known as the Kingston Family Vineyards. This is thanks in large part to Michael’s daughter Courtney, who—while in business school at Stanford— wrote a business plan that tapped into Chile’s growing wine culture. The original plan was simply to supply grapes to established wineries, but once it became apparent that no one in the region knew how to work with cool-climate red grapes, the Kingstons asked a California winemaker for help in making their own wine. “Pinot Noir is not called the ‘heartbreak grape’ for nothing,” says Michael. Though ninety percent of their grape production goes to other wineries, and though there is some Sauvignon Blanc among the , cases the family produces each year, the
Kingstons specialize in the Pinot Noir and Syrah wines that they pioneered in the Casablanca Valley. And they have done so not to heartbreak, but to international applause: a Wine Enthusiast Top of award; a Winery of the Year award from Wine & Spirits Magazine; a Value Brand of the Year from Wine & Spirits; and a variety of Decanter World Wine Award medals. Their wines—Alazan, Sabino, Tobiano, Cariblanco, etc.—are named after horses that have lived their lives on the farm, that have carried generations of Kingstons around its sprawling acres. And while the links of causality are odd, there are links here—the mineral exhaustion of Upper Michigan, for example, leading to a rich Chilean Pinot Noir. That the links also lead through Holderness, these three brothers, and their baptism in Charlie Abbey’s leadership system, gives the story even greater legs—which, by the way, are the tracks that a good wine leaves on a glass when swirled.
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Community-Supported Canoeing
Land, water, community: Karrie Stevens Thomas ’93 has found ways to tie them together.
Karrie Stevens Thomas ’93 Karrie Stevens Thomas ’ has spent most of her career doing community relations between small farmers. As the new executive director of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, she’ll be working in a whole new medium—but it still comes down to community. “Everything that this organization stands for aligns perfectly with my love of water,” says Karrie Stevens Thomas ’, the new executive director of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail. “It’s just a perfect fit for me, and I feel like my whole career has prepared me for this opportunity.” And she has a good point there—it’s just not an obvious one, given that her career thus far has been devoted to farming. Well, not just farming actually. It’s been more a matter of forging connections and alliances between farms and local communities. And that in fact should be good preparation for running the nfct. The daughter of long-time plant facilities director Dick Stevens and school store manager Gail Stevens, Karrie grew up on campus and
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then went to Colorado College. There she majored in anthropology, but she wasn’t so much interested in the field as it’s commonly conceived—the study of exotic and distant cultures. Rather she was interested in the here and now, the culture of late th century America, and specifically, how that world supported agriculture and food production at the community level. The questions raised there, she believes, are near sacred. “What we do on a farm is so pertinent to our spiritual connection to the land, to the marriage of thought and deed,” she says. “Nowhere else is a person’s head, heart, and hands in so perfect an alignment.” At Colorado she studied community-supported agriculture, or csa—a type of farming in which farmers sell to local consumers, in advance, shares of what they intend to produce. This provides a crucial early cash flow for the farmers, and a guarantee of fresh local produce for consumers. Karrie met husband-to-be Culley Thomas— the son of Brooke Thomas ’, himself a member of a csa group in Massachusetts—at Colorado, and then interned with him on an
organic farm in Oregon while doing her thesis research. After college, they worked together on farms in Massachusetts and Washington. In they moved to northern California, where Culley attended graduate school, and where Karrie went to work first for the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, building farmertown partnerships in several communities; and then with the Placer Land Trust, which protects both wild and agricultural lands in California’s Placer County. Meanwhile, for fun, she and Culley went kayaking. They devoted one year after Colorado, in fact, to nothing but whitewater kayaking, and during that time they led private expeditions in Chile, India, Mexico, Nepal, and Peru, as well as throughout North America. Which brings us back to the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, a -mile system of linked lakes, rivers, and streams—some of them whitewater—that can take a paddler from the southern Adirondacks through the northern reaches of Vermont, New Hampshire, and on to Fort Kent, ME. The system was begun in the s and completed in , with most of the trail signs, access points, and portage routes built by local communities. In the long run, the nfct will only be as good as these local communities can make it, so as an expert in community organization, networking, and advocacy, Karrie is just the leader they need. The Northern Forest Canoe Trail is still a new item in the New England landscape, and the new director has tasks that need attention right away: improving overall access and paddler infrastructure, for example, and increasing opportunities on the trail for paddlers of all ages and skill levels. The work won’t be easy, and she’ll need a lot of help from the surrounding communities, but with her background and her passion for water, we have no doubt the waterway will remain well-protected and wellmaintained. After all, it’s what she’s been preparing for.
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KJ Sanger Teaches Grad Students in Lithuania KJ Sanger ’13 In this article from Gettysburg College, a very recent Holderness alumna, Class of ’, makes her graduate teaching debut a long way from home. As a first-year student at Gettysburg College, KJ Sanger ’ expected to go to class, participate in campus activities, and build her professional skill set, but merely months after enrolling, she found herself teaching graduate coursework in Europe. And it all began with her First-Year Seminar (fys), An Experimental Avatar: Discovering Economics, with Prof. Rimvydas Baltaduonis. “Experimental economics uses game theory as an approach to understand human behavior,” said Sanger, an economics and political science double major. “It specifically focuses on decision making, and observes why people make certain decisions in a laboratory setting.” During her seminar, Sanger piloted a project in the Gettysburg Lab for Experimental Economics (glee) to investigate voting behavior during political elections. Her fys tasked her with developing this project and programming software to test her experiments, an undertaking requiring extensive economics research. Sanger’s results suggested that a candidate’s probability to win an election can noticeably influence voters—findings that could potentially increase voter turnout during real-life political elections and allow political strategists to rethink how prediction can be utilized throughout the lifetime of national elections in the US. “The potential applications of this information remain largely under explored. I’m very happy to be working with Gettysburg students to advance this frontier,” Baltaduonis said. “The goal of the course was to study economic behavior in small scale and in controlled environments, and use that information to get deeper insights about real world behavior. KJ’s project did just that, and was very impressive and sophisticated.”
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Her notable work inspired Baltaduonis to ask Sanger to accompany him on his most recent visit to Vytautus Magnus University (vmu) in Kaunas, Lithuania, and present her study to grad students overseas. “I asked KJ to go and show her project and expand on what she had already learned,” Baltaduonis said. “She helped me teach a graduate course for masters students, who were commenting that KJ was very well-versed in this material for a first-year undergraduate.” Baltaduonis has served as a guest lecturer at vmu and other Lithuanian universities since and has been instrumental to the growth of their experimental economics programs. For Sanger, experience abroad coupled with her fys have not only allowed her to discover a deeply rooted passion for economics, but also opened doors for her to investigate the discipline in a variety of academic and geographical settings. “I fell in love with the major after taking my First-Year Seminar,” Sanger said. “Being able to further explore this field while teaching and traveling abroad for the first time was an incredible experience. I now know that this is what I want to do as a college student.” The recent work of Baltaduonis and Sanger is one of many examples of how mentorships on campus between Gettysburg faculty and students are leading to exciting academic pursuits and professional opportunities. “We are lucky to have close partnerships with our students, and we have great opportunities to work with students on a one-on-one basis,” Baltaduonis said. “First-Year Seminars particularly help us learn the interests and abilities of our students early in their undergraduate careers.” Sanger echoed Baltaduonis’ appreciation for these initial connections. “My seminar has allowed me to do things I wouldn’t have been able to do until my junior or senior year,” said Sanger, who now acts as an economics peer learning associate and a
Experimental economist and Gettysburg undergraduate, KJ Sanger ’13
research assistant for Baltaduonis, a role typically reserved solely for upperclassmen. “It has helped me firmly grasp this heavy material and I’ve discovered how much I enjoy it.” editor’s note: Story by Nick Skitko, communications and marketing intern and photograph by Eric Lee, photography intern, both at Gettysburg College.
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Skiing Tales From the Class of 1964 Bill McCollom ’64 and Terry Morse ’64 It goes without saying that the bonds between students at Holderness are often forged on the ski trails. These two authors are no exception. While at Holderness, Bill McCollom ’ and Terry Morse ’ skied together, shared vacations together, and graduated together. And now, looking back on their lives, both authors have chosen to focus their literary prowess on the world of skiing. Their stories tell about very different periods in the history of skiing, but their affection for the sport and the people involved in the sport couldn’t be more similar.
The View From the Finish BY BILL MCCOLLOM
“It’s over folks. The fat lady has sung. This time I’m calling it a wrap—the Finish Line for this fella’ is finite,” wrote Bill McCollom in when he retired from writing for Ski Racing Magazine. He set his pen down and walked away from his column, The Finish Line. But with fans asking for more and his own sense of adventure not quite satisfied, Bill decided to complete one last project; in a book released in early , he compiled of his favorite columns. Self-published, the book chronicles “a rollicking and irreverent ride through years of observations and insights from his tenure with Ski Racing Magazine. [McCollom’s] extensive background in the sport gives him a unique perspective for commentary, and the result is an entertaining journey with plenty of laugh-outloud moments, as well as cause for reflection.” Bill discovered his passion for skiing at Suicide Six in Vermont at the age of six. He continued to ski at Holderness and later at Middlebury. He achieved All-American status as a college racer and later in life joined the master’s circuit. He also found ways to include ski racing in his professional career. In addition to writing for Ski Racing Magazine, Bill was a founder, coach, and headmaster of Killington
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Mountain School as well as the director of the Vermont Alpine Racing Association. McCollom’s contribution to the sport earned him Hall of Fame status with vara. All these experiences provide the backdrop for many of his articles. He writes about racing down Mt. Tecumseh (now Waterville Valley Ski Resort) without gates in before there were lifts to the top; he writes about Olympic adventures (and misadventures); and he writes about the injuries and recoveries of his friends, his dog, and himself. He ventures into the sports of golf and cycling and describes his observations of the teenagers he encountered on the Woodstock High School ski team. And while Holderness is never directly mentioned, it is one degree away with names like Georg Capaul and the Cochrans making frequent appearances. According to Ed Brennan of the Stowe Reporter, “Bill describes ski racing as a sport that has its origins in ‘pure, uninhibited recklessness.’ His writing scrapes away layers of pretension with wry humor and brushes with a finish of wisdom that will be appreciated by racers, skiers, and athletes at all levels” (“The Spirit of the Sport,” /).
The Aspen Kid BY TERRY MORSE
“I am running for my life,” begins The Aspen Kid, a memoir written by Terry Morse. He is describing his escape from his mother after accidentally killing one of the family chickens, but for Terry it becomes so much more. “In that instant the knowledge that I must take care of myself overwhelms me,” he writes. “No one is going to take care of me…It is a choice I must make. Only I can do it, that is, live my life.” And so begins his adventures in Aspen, CO in the ’ and ’s. Moving to Aspen with his parents when he is only six months old, Terry grows up in an Aspen that has yet to experience the growth that develops out of America’s passion for skiing. In a small town of only people, Terry
finds plenty of ways to get in trouble and aggravate the adults in the community. For those who know the history of Aspen, familiar names and places and events are strung together with master storytelling. But even for those unfamiliar with the fabric of Aspen’s history, Terry’s memoir is captivating. “The Aspen Kid is a seat-of-the-pants, hardscrabble, where-have-those-days-gone? story of a bright and imaginative boy growing up in Aspen, CO,” writes npr commentator Mary Sojourner on the book’s cover. “Terry Morse writes with economy, wit, and lyrical beauty. His hero, Terr-ass, stretches the limits of the imagination to the woe of his parents and a good chunk of the Aspen’s adult population. I came away from reading the book wishing there’d been a Terr-ass for me to pal around with in my childhood.” As one would expect, much of Terry’s life, and his book, focus on skiing. Learning to ski at a young age, Terry later joined the Aspen Ski Club and skied for both Holderness and Middlebury. In fact, it was skiing that helped motivate Terry to leave Aspen and travel east. While he knew he needed a more challenging academic environment, he also knew he wanted to continue to ski; Holderness offered him both. It was ultimately the academic program at Holderness that left its mark on Terry. “I walked away from the graduation ceremonies,” he writes, “knowing I really learned only one life-changing thing of real value from Holderness that will serve me for the rest of my life. I learned how to think critically. And if that’s all I took away from the three years in a boy’s prep school…it is enough.” editor’s note: Bill’s book The View from the Finish can be purchased online at Enfield Publishing and Distribution Company, while Terry’s book can be found on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
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Milestones IN MEMORIAM George “Bud” Lyman Snow ’38 September 24, 2012 Harry A. Lewis, Jr. ’54 December 2, 2013 Richard Marden ’41 February 16, 2014 Theodore “Ted” Libbey ’42 February 27, 2014 Ren Nichols ’65 March 28, 2014 Burt Lowe ’44 May 9, 2014 Alice Jane Hinman (Faculty) May 11, 2014 Sixto Rivera ’82 May 27, 2014
BIRTHS Kellan Florio ’01 and Diana Florio: Zoe E. Florio, July 3, 2013 Tara Walker Hamer ’98 and Chris Hamer: Etta Lou Hamer, January 25, 2014 Lara Dumond Guercio and Brian Guercio: Brooks Colden Guercio, February 7, 2014 Robert Henderson ’99 and Kirsty Henderson: James Patrick Henderson, March 10, 2014 Kate Hendel Paik ’96 and Laurence Paik: Amelia Margaret Paik, March 17, 2014 Kate Richardson Surdam ’99 and Bo Surdam ’96: Burke Otto Surdam, April 2, 2014 Blake Barber ’01 and Kristin Henning: Kathryn Maple Barber, April 10, 2014
MARRIAGES Joy Erdman Larkin ’04 and Robby Larkin, August 10, 2013 Jerome Thomas ’95 and Cindy Helen Brea, Las Terrances, Dominican Republic, March 29, 2014
CLOCKWISE, FROM ABOVE: the wedding of Jerome Thomas ’95 and Cindy Helen Brea; many Holderness folks were present at the wedding of Blair Weymouth ’04 and Greg Monaco; the Holderness family shows their pride at the wedding of Amy Laverack ’03 and Todd Nordblom ’04; James Patrick Henderson, son of Robert Henderson ’99.
Amy Laverack ’03 and Todd Nordblom ’04, Holderness, NH, June 14, 2014 Blair Weymouth ’04 and Greg Monaco, Holderness, NH, June 21, 2014
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’35–’44 Want to connect with your classmates? Consider becoming a class correspondent and encourage your classmates to reconnect in the HST Class Notes. For more information, contact us at alumni@holderness.org. Thank you!
’45 CLASS CORRESPONDENT Harry Emmons ’45 emmonshr@gmail.com
’46 Want to connect with your classmates? Consider becoming a class correspondent and encourage your classmates to reconnect in the HST Class Notes. For more information, contact us at alumni@holderness.org. Thank you!
’47 CLASS CORRESPONDENT Bill Briggs ’47 maggiebriggs24@ymail.com
’48 Rik Clark writes, “Sandy and I have, again, spent three winter months in Palm Springs, CA, part of the southern California desert. Unlike much of the country, we have been blessed with near-perfect weather. One weekend we had 0.70 inches of rain, the only precipitation in Palm Springs since last Thanksgiving. There is much to do here, in addition to golf. Reading, concerts, walks, book groups, day trips, eating out, and more. We plan on returning in 2015. An added pleasure is staying in close contact with Holderness, a few of my 1948 classmates, and Head of School Phil Peck. Our 70th reunion in 2018 sounds far in the future but,
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hopefully, it will happen and I will be there.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Rik Clark ’48 capeclarks@aol.com
’49 (reunion) Bob Barrows still visits the Weddington, NC, YMCA every day. His current routine is a TRX (Total Body Resistance Exercise) course; and there aren’t many grandfathers in it. Bob notices this because his clan has just given him a ninth grandchild … Judy and Bill Baskin hosted a gathering of children, grandchildren, and in-laws, in Branford, CT, that celebrated, among other things, the arrival of their ninth grandchild in October … Ed Beattie continues to reside on a houseboat that he built in 1975 on an estuary in the Bay of San Francisco. He reports that what began as a counter-culture community of “anchor outs,” who had created their own dwellings on surplus barges or blocks of foam, has become a more sedate middle class neighborhood of houseboats on docks, with utilities, parking, and fire protection. Ed says, “It has been a delight to live ‘by my rules.’ Please feel free to visit California, but do not stay. We have quite enough people, thank you.” … The second of Bob Bradner’s two booklets detailing the parish history of Christ Church in Winnetka, IL, has been published by the parish, completing a mission Bob commenced in 2005. And last August, Bob did make the Christ Church choir trip to York, England, with two grandchildren joining him as singers, and his daughter Lisa and husband Jim as support team members. The choir sang eight services in seven days in the York Minster Cathedral. Bob says, “It
was, very truly, a moving and rewarding trip.” Rev. Jim Whitaker’s Jan, his loved and loving wife of 56 years, died in July, at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston. CLASS CORRESPONDENT Bill Baskin ’49 wbaskin.td53law58@aya.yale.edu
’50 What a pleasant surprise hearing from David Wise! The thought of a 65th reunion next year had not crossed my mind until you drew it to my attention. Yes, indeed! I think we should go for it. There are still a few of us being kept appropriately propped up by our families. Squidge and I have moved into a condo here in town. Bebe, our daughter and her crew, have taken over our house on Old Main Street. We have succeeded in luring her back to her home town from Massachusetts. The trade off: her husband Jim has a long commute to Boston each day but appears to enjoy the trip because of the books on tape he has at his disposal. I continue to be in regular touch with Doug Hamilton, Bigelow Green, Bill Laird, and sometimes Doug Rennie. Thanks for keeping in touch.
before heading to Florida, arriving on his 82nd birthday, November 19. For several months he held off the leukemia, but it returned in January. Bill is now undergoing chemo three days a week. His white blood cells are down from 203,000, to 87,000, so that’s good news. He plays golf once a week and will be in New Hampshire this summer. He and Faith are otherwise in good health. They send their very best to all the other alumni: “Keep smiling and take good care of yourselves.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Bill Summers ’51 bfparadise@earthlink.net
’52 CLASS CORRESPONDENT Al Teele ’52 859.734.3625
’53 Want to connect with your classmates? Consider becoming a class correspondent and encourage your classmates to reconnect in the HST Class Notes. For more information, contact us at alumni@holderness.org. Thank you!
’54 (reunion)
CLASS CORRESPONDENT Frank Hammond ’50 fhammond64@comcast.net
CLASS CORESPONDENT Bill Lofquist ’54 btlofquist@hawaiiantel.net
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’55
Class Correspondent Bill Summers reports that classmates Dan Baxter, Fred Carter, Dick Daitch, Dick Leach, Mac McKinstry, Nick Nichols, Jim Slater, and Terry Weathers all are doing well. Bill Summers was diagnosed with leukemia last fall, on September 19, and went through 18 sessions of chemo
CLASS CORRESPONDENT Bill Byers ’55 wbyers1@comcast.net
’56 CLASS CORRESPONDENT Dick Meyer ’56 richard419@roadrunner.com
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’57 CLASS CORRESPONDENT Frederick Ellison ’57 greatspeak03@yahoo.com
’58 CLASS CORRESPONDENT Charlie Kellogg ’58 cwkellogg@globalpartnersinc.com
’59 (reunion) Greetings! First of all, I would like to thank my wife, Jeanne, for getting the email out to all of you. She is the tech-savvy person in the family, and if it weren’t for her, this column would never get written. Now on to the class news. Old roomie Bruce Vogel checked in from California with the news that retirement is not such a bad thing. To use his words: “A natural dumbing down/mellowing condition has overtaken me.” I also find this to be true, especially the word mellowing. As our old teacher, “Creep,” [Loys Wiles] would say: “Je ne give a damn pas.” Bruce has been enjoying his first grandchild who is nearby in San Francisco, along with trips to Mexico and France. Thailand is in the near future … As usual, Steve Barndollar and I get together quite frequently. I’ve been instructed to tell you that his life consists of eating oysters, playing par golf, and skydiving. I can attest to the fact that two of the three statements are fantasy. In fact he is busy skiing Tuckerman, planning his daughter’s wedding, and getting his new sailboat seaworthy. All of the above are true … News from Buster Welch: right now he is busy building a cedarstrip 14-foot skiff. That is quite an undertaking since cedar is a tough material to work with. Speaking of boats, it seems that Buster has been busy in the
Bahamas emptying the waters of the elusive bonefish. This activity takes good eyesight and a pretty accurate fly casting technique. I guess Buster still has it all together. Well, not quite, as back home in Canada, his septic system went “straight to hell in the freezing winter temperatures. Use your imagination to picture this unpleasant scene.” … Siesta Key, FL, is the winter home of Dick Floyd. No septic freeze-ups there, and I can attest to that since I spend a good part of the winter there on nearby Longboat Key. Our problems involve high water tables and potential flooding … News has arrived from the newly renamed Stanley Kellogg, formerly known as Lee Kellogg. He and his wife Vanida have been in Houston now for 18 years. It’s not a good place for pond hockey but ideal if you are involved in underwater diving and construction for the oil industry. Lee or Stan has had quite a career in deep water work in the oil business. As far as I can ascertain, his professional life could match Buster’s Arctic expertise as the most interesting careers in our class … Mark Morris has checked in with a bittersweet note stating that after a great 50th anniversary trip, complete with kids and grandkids, to London and Paris, his wife Elana unexpectedly passed away on January 19. Our thoughts are with you on this sad occasion. Unfortunately, this type of news is not so unusual at this stage of our lives … Lastly, I want to mention that Cush Andrews, fondly known by my wife, Jeanne, as Andrew Cushman, is hard at work planning a 55th reunion. Initial response has been great, and I want to say that hopefully you guys will pick up the ball and try to make it to New Hampshire the last weekend in September. Cush has put some effort into this
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event, and I think it will be a really fun time for those who can return for the weekend. I enjoy keeping in touch and sometimes seeing old classmates from Holderness … While in Sarasota, we had a wonderful visit from David Sleeper, his lovely Alice, and two very sweet dogs. They just purchased a condo in Cape Haze near Boca Grande. We hope to see them in Maine and then back in Florida this winter. That is all the news from those who sent some. Hope to hear from others next time. Hope to see you, as the lyrics say, in September! CLASS CORRESPONDENT Jerry Ashworth ’59 ashworth@maine.rr.com
’60 Thanks to those who, in response to April’s minor kerfuffle over the new online class notes form, were kind enough to let me know there is some perceived benefit to the corps of class correspondents. Mirabile dictu, it seems we’re off the endangered species list and won’t be turned out to pasture just yet. John Despres expressed his preference for “the late 20th century practices which still suit our peculiar needs.” … Peter Macdonald chimed in as well, as did Rick Bullock who claims there is not much news on his end except for the continuation of his aircraft charter business: “Can’t afford to stop—and really don’t want to.” … Ross Deachman
responded with a reminder that next year is our 55th. He says not much is new in Plymouth and environs, except that the school is installing two wood-burning furnaces in an effort to go green and lessen its dependence on fossil fuels. Nancy and he had a good winter in Florida and are waiting for the three-foot-thick(!) ice on Squam to let go. Like everybody else, they have their 50th college reunion this summer. Ross is up for the Holderness 55th and happy to provide boating if folks want a tour of Golden Pond: “My cottage is too small for a large crowd, but we could handle a small gathering, depending on how many return. We’ll invite Warren [Witherell], and he can do some skiing for us.” Ross is a generous soul … Gerry Shyavitz plans to make the 55th for the “fun” of seeing how age has changed our appearances. Humph. He says, “As a matter of fact I am meeting George Pransky ’58 in September, who with Bobby Weiss ’57, Steve Carpenter ’58, David Boynton ’58, and others will be meeting at some farm in New Hampshire for a get-together and also to go over to Holderness.” Shy is healthy, and Pearl is still smiling at 70 and—don’t tell anyone—is finally coloring her hair. His kids and grandkids are all great, his law practice is thriving, and he still works at the IRS, your friendly government agency … Spike Hampson gets the chattiness award for this issue: “There’s not a
SHARE YOUR NEWS! Have you recently encountered a milestone in your life? Share your news with your classmates! Please contact Amy Woods at alumni@holderness.org.
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lot new in my life, but I guess there are a few things I can mention. Last year, after returning from a number of months overseas (Middle East, India, and China), I came home with some sort of mysterious sickness—debilitating but not deadly. Anyway, I was slow to recover, so I decided to postpone going to my boat, which was in the Turks & Caicos. I put it off until the fall. But then, about a month after getting home, I felt recovered and began to get restless. The long and the short of it is that I convinced myself I really ought to be sailing and not just motoring around in my stinkpot. This led to a national search for a small, seaworthy sailboat—which in turn caused me to drive down to Rockport, TX, to look at a 25foot Cape Dory. I bought it and spent a month or so fixing it up— and then left it there to return home. So now, as an owner of two boats, I’m doubly insane. The plan is to spend part of the year on each one. I did go back to Kobuk (the stinkpot) in October with plans to run through part of the Caribbean but mechanical problems kept me in the T&C for two months as I removed the existing engine and jet drive, patched the holes in the hull, reconfigured the interior layout, and added a second small auxiliary outboard. When finally done, I managed to cross to the Dominican Republic before returning home. Now I’m back in Rockport, TX, trying to get moving with the unnamed sailboat. But of course more mechanical problems. I’m in the middle of replacing the head and valves of the small diesel auxiliary, after which I hope to set off for Mobile, AL. After that, the plans are rather indefinite. In spite of all the delays and the unreliable plans, Dick Gardner may come down to spend a little time cruising with me. Actually, he came
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down to Rockport last June to help with the refit. Aside from this boating madness, things are pretty constant. I still teach at the University of Utah, but now it’s only online courses. The yurt is finished and a wonderful place to live. I really should find a way to spend more time there. The ski instructing continues, although I’ve cut back even more and only do about 15 days a winter. My son David and his family still live in Salt Lake City, and now their son Charlie is off at the University in Alberta. Michelle is still at Yale, and her two kids are growing up quickly. I usually get out for a visit once a year.” … I have one correction to son James’s employment situation. After a successful eightyear (that’s respectably long in Silicon Valley) career as a software engineer and manager for LinkedIn, he got an offer he couldn’t refuse from the company that makes the Nest learning thermostat. Two weeks later Nest was bought out by, and James now works for, Google. And so it goes … A final plea from your humble and obedient class correspondent: the Alumni Office, while keeping us in harness, seems to be using an email-based system more frequently. I count eight of the Class of 1960 with no email address on file. If any of you would like to make life easier for the office and for me, please send me your address. CLASS CORRESPONDENT Len Richards ’60 lenrichards@mac.com
’61 Want to connect with your classmates? Consider becoming a class correspondent and encourage your classmates to reconnect in the HST Class Notes. For more
information, contact us at alumni@holderness.org. Thank you! Bill Seaver writes, “I read your request for news and realized that I’m a little older than most of your audience. Out Back did not exist in my day. Neither did Interstate 93. We took the train (remember that?) from Plymouth and the next year from Laconia.” … John Cleary refuses to study anything he doesn’t like and now focuses on southern ecology, native flora, and new dance moves. “Unfortunately, I already have forgotten most of my very first creative moves and often have to re-read what I read yesterday,” he says. He is officially retired, but writes, “I continue to work simply to avoid be arrested for loitering in front of senior day-care facilities. I love shaping/creating outside spaces, getting covered in dirt, climbing trees, selling the advantages of organic care/investment, and becoming a naturalist. Lastly, I finally convinced Hammond to install a leash-free dog park. Its successful participation has grown in leaps and bounds. Now I just have to convince all dog owners to pick up after their dogs. I received much concern from classmates Candice and John Holley and John Roper this winter when I was impaled unexpectedly by disastrous snowflakes. Weeks of rehabilitation, rest, and their emotional support helped me return to enjoying life once again.”
’62 Want to connect with your classmates? Consider becoming a class correspondent and encourage your classmates to reconnect in the HST Class Notes. For more information, contact us at alumni@holderness.org. Thank you!
’63 CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Dave Hagerman ’63 david.s.hagerman@dartmouth.edu George Textor ’63 georgetextor@gmail.com George LeBoutillier ’63 geosculler@gmail.com
’64 (reunion) Bill McCollom has just completed his first book, The View from the Finish Line. “I’ve been writing for Ski Racing Magazine (and others) for the past 15 years, during which time I’ve written the usual race coverage stories, as well as over 300 columns,” Bill writes. “The book is a collection of 63 of my favorite columns and essays. I was fortunate that the magazine gave me complete free reign over my subject matter, and I took full advantage of that freedom. As a result, the columns cover everything from travel throughout the Alps for World Championship and Olympic events to an exploration of the daily routines of life in Vermont, from the plight of the aging athlete to the curing of my dog’s porcupine habit.” … John Butler is retired and enjoying life on the family farm near his brother and two sisters on the Toogoodoo River in South Carolina. “Both daughters live close by in Charleston,” John writes. “Renée has been married to her husband Billy for seven years. Michelle and her fiancé Joe are to be married in June. My wife Loretta and I plan to attend the reunion weekend in September. It will be my first trip back to the school, and I am looking forward to seeing Holderness and many classmates.” … Bill Baxter writes, “After 36 years of running Baxter Air Engineering—a
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A Holderness reunion in Virginia with Jessica Ippolito ’03, Blair Weymouth ’04, Channing Weymouth ’02, Rich Weymouth ’70, and Jarret Hann ’01 (husband of Jessica)
manufacturer’s rep organization that sells fans, dust collectors, and other air handling systems here in the Northwest—I’m selling the company to my two oldest employees on October 1, 2014. Linda, my wife of 45 years, and I expect to play more golf and travel more internationally in the coming years. We are blessed to have our three children and nine grandchildren in the area, so we see them and enjoy them often without having to travel to them. They are all entertaining and fill our lives with motion, daily problems, and joy. I am planning to attend the 50th class reunion in the fall and am looking forward to seeing classmates whom I haven’t seen for 50 years. I’m sure we will all look the same.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Sandy Alexander ’64 salex88@comcast.net
’65 Chip Ellis is the CFO of the University of Hawaii Cancer Center. “It’s an exciting place doing cutting edge research,” Chip reports. “In my spare (?!) time, I am trying to get two renewable energy projects off the ground: Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) in the Pacific, and Seawater Air Conditioning
(SWAC) in Mexico. I can sleep later.” … Bill Carter writes, “At age 67 I have taken on my health and am helping others discover ways to live longer. My wife Marcea and I recently checked into the Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach, FL, to clean out our systems and to learn a new way of eating—raw, organic, living foods. [The Hippocrates Health Institute has] been curing cancer and other life threatening diseases for the past 60 years. We were so moved by what they are doing that I came home and started a non-profit called Save Your Life that raises money to help veterans go through their program. Our website is www.saveyourlife.com.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Terry Jacobs ’65 haj3@jacobswyper.com
’66
spend time with him. Our other children live in Raleigh, NC, so the move to Wilmington will put us much closer to them and the grandchildren.” … After 31 years at Morgan Stanley, Cliff Buell reports, “Love my work, play a lot of golf, into skeet and pistols, and travel a couple of times each year. Son (28) and daughter (24) are happy and healthy. Kept in touch with David Lowe and Jonathan Porter. I’m very thankful.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Jon Porter ’69 jwoodporter@cox.net
’70 CLASS CORRESPONDENT Peter Weiner ’70 peterjweiner@gmail.com
’71
’67
Want to connect with your classmates? Consider becoming a class correspondent and encourage your classmates to reconnect in the HST Class Notes. For more information, contact us at alumni@holderness.org. Thank you!
CLASS CORRESPONDENT John Pfeifle ’67 603.938.5981
’72
’68
CLASS CORRESPONDENT Dwight Shepard ’72 shepdb@comcast.net
CLASS CORRESPONDENT John Coles ’68 j.coles@rcn.com
’73
CLASS CORRESPONDENT Peter Janney ’66 pj@apllon.com
’69 (reunion) After 40 years of practicing as a clinical psychologist, Larry Jamieson has decided to retire. “We are planning to move to Wilmington, NC, and will split time between there and my camp in Maine,” he writes. “My son, Benjamin, lives in Boston so this will give us more opportunities to
ol Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
Hope all is well as we get into 2014. As for me, I took advantage of the past winter’s bitter conditions to get up to the very far reaches of northern Maine and ski a bunch of little places that no one has ever heard of. With the shift in the seasons, I am trying to ramp up my running with my eye on possibly doing the NYC marathon in November. This will all depend on the cooperation of
my increasingly aged joints, but so far so good. I heard from a few of you and hope to hear from more in the future … Peter Garrison writes (rather smugly) the following: “As I sit here in the warmth of the tropics, your note reminds me of the frigid winter much of the US has endured. I feel lucky but don’t wish to rub it in. Life has been consistently good. I continue to develop my artistic skills as a sculptor. In fact, I hope to begin teaching some classes in Panama beginning in July for aspiring artists who would like an introductory course in figurative sculpture. That doesn’t exist here at the moment as instruction and tools are hard to find. It’s an exciting time for me to be able to work on my skills and teach at the same time. Guess I’ll just keep trekking along this journey and see where it goes. I feel blessed … Best to all of our classmates.” … Staying on the Peter theme, Peter Bennett was kind enough to send a mini-autobiography, which follows completely unabridged: “For 25 years I have practiced as a naturopathic physician and doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The scope of my TCM training included acupuncture, Tui Na, and herbal medicine. I had the distinction of preceptoring and training under the famous naturopathic physician John Bastyr, who modeled my clinical approach to emulate the style of early eclectic physicians. These were American physicians of the late 19th and early 20th century who used herbal, homeopathic and manual therapy to treat disease in a pre-pharmaceutical age. My training in Chinese medicine was done in an era that predated the smooth professional development of North American acupuncturists. I had a background in speaking Mandarin from my undergraduate degree in
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Asian Studies, so when one of my teachers, Dr. Ma Shou Chun, came from China and did not speak English, I received my TCM instruction ‘not lost in translation.’ All of my training in TCM and naturopathic medicine was done in the early ’80s, well before the popular surge in alternative medicine. Although my medical practice was structured around family healthcare, I had an interest and specialty in sports medicine and post-trauma therapy. This all changed a year ago; I stopped primary care practice and relocated to Whistler, BC. In the winter I log 100+ days on my ski pass and in the spring and summer I moved on to Maui, HI, to windsurf, kite, and downwind SUP. My first crop of three kids is groomed and grown, and I have a two-year-old grandson. In 2007 I remarried and am now raising my four-year-old son while my wife, who is also a naturopathic physician, continues to practice and train/teach young doctors. I am blessed to have a full and meaningful life.” … And finally the Class Notes would not be complete without a word from Tim Scott and the “News from the Mount Washington Valley:” “The longest and coldest winter in recent memory is finally slipping away. Snow sports this winter were somewhat limited as I waited for ankle surgery on May 1, but the doctor promises that next year I will be back on skis. The big news is that as of early March, I concluded my 15-year stint at Fryeburg Academy, having raised upwards of $35 million to build three new buildings and quadruple the endowment. I am happy to be back to full-time consulting and writing more. Sheila and I enjoyed our trip down memory lane last September with a handful of our ’73 classmates, and we remain hopeful that our next two
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reunions will draw even more of us together. It really was good to see Morgan Dewey, Stan Theodoredis, Geoff Klingenstein, Peter Garrison, and Dick Conant, all of whom seem to have weathered these four decades with a certain timeless style. Life is short, shorter even as we approach our 60s.” That’s all for now. Enjoy the spring and summer, and I hope to hear from some more of you next time around. CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Dick Conant Jr. ’73 rconantjr@msn.com
’74 (reunion) David Rossetter writes, “It has been an interesting five years. Divorced after 32 years, I spent a lot of time this year helping out my sister with our mother, who moved to a retirement community in Charlottesville, VA, where Jebb lives. Last year Jebb suggested I get to know her best friend. I moved to Charlottesville last summer. Pam and I got married in October. Life tends to throw us curves but they can lead to good places! I’m still flying—mostly to Europe and trans-continental—for (what is now) United and am based at Washington Dulles. My son Ben ’02 teaches and is working on a master’s in environmental education in Jackson Hole. My daughter Stephanie is a flight attendant and fiction writer living in New Jersey. Step-kids, too! Caitlin is an archeologist and Will is working on a master’s in computer science. They are really smart like their mother (PhD, microbiologist, and environmental scientist).” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Walter Malmquist ’74 wmalmquist@kingcon.com
’75 Jim McDonald writes, “I spent six weeks last semester in Morocco as part of the Fulbright Specialist Program. I taught a couple of different anthropology courses at the Ecole de Gouvernance et d’Economie in Rabat. It was an incredible experience. I wound up in Morocco in part because we had a very willing partner in EGERabat whose intellectual interests aligned with my own. I also wanted to go to a part of the world that I would see through fresh ethnographic eyes. Morocco is a constitutional Islamic state with a monarch but also an elected parliament. It’s a state that has undergone much transformation since the new monarch, Mohammed VI, took office in 2009. Those reforms—focusing on women’s rights, human rights, and the ethnic Amazighe (Berber)—go a long way toward explaining why Morocco largely avoided the Arab Spring. Islamic political parties also worked to bring the conversation back to the center and away from the radical margins through a legitimate and powerful political voice.” Jim is a dean of humanities and social sciences at Southern Utah University and has also been to China three times in the past year, setting up collaborations with Chinese partner universities … Linda Fogg Noyes recently checked an item off her bucket list: “Pike and I helped a friend deliver a sailboat from the Canary Islands (off Africa) to Antigua in late December and January. Nineteen days at sea. Our watches were two hours on and eight hours off. We did 1,000 miles on one tack, downwind, and 2,000 on another tack, downwind. It is a very big ocean! We didn’t see much of anything except very large rolling waves and a few ships. We did catch a
big wahoo fish and the weather was great for the most part. Would definitely do it again!” … Chris Carney retired from the corporate world after a good run at Fidelity Investments in Boston. “I now invest on my own, do a lot of volunteer work—including serving as treasurer for Holderness—and serve on the board of Maine Huts and Trails where Charlie Woodworth ’76 is the executive director,” Chris says. “For fun I am a ski patroller at Sunday River in the winter, play some golf, and sail in the summer as crew on an Etchells. Karen and I split our time between Falmouth, ME, and Boston. I have two grown daughters, Liz in Washington, DC, and Annie ’08 in Boston. I see Tom Phillips regularly at Holderness, keep up with Tom Cargill, and have seen Henry Bliss ’76, Steve Morse ’74, and Jack Thomas ’74 in Maine.” … Baird Gourlay reports, “We still have a house in Waitsfield, but Sun Valley keeps us busy. I sold part of my ski shop (PKs) to my long-term manager. We’ve been in business for 34 years now. I have three kids. Charlotte is 28 and coaches for Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF). She is in her fourth year, and has a couple of other jobs including managing at Grumpy’s, which is a local favorite. Ben is 25 and lives in Mongolia serving in the Peace Corps. He is almost done and wants to write for Rolling Stone when he gets back. Ainsley is 23 and a third grade teacher in Breckinridge, CO. Chelle and I are empty nesters, which is awesome. I’m in my fourth term as a Ketchum city councilman. Too many years to count. Too many issues to remember. But I will say we’ve done some really cool stuff. Currently we are working on a whitewater park. We may come back in June for our 35th at
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Middlebury.” … Mac Jackson and his family recently moved to their new house in Waitsfield, VT. “Our daughter is going to be a sophomore at Colby Sawyer, just up the street from Bill Clough ’57,” Mac writes. “Our son is off to SUNY Potsdam and The Crane School of Music in the fall, as our youngest enters her freshman year in high school. I have my third cousin going to Holderness, Lexi Black ’16. Her two sisters went there as well; I think Baird Gourlay sells her ski equipment. I’ve given up large tractors and combines for golf course mowers and equipment, although I just bought a tractor for our new place on Ebay.” … John Putnam writes, “Nice to hear from you, Mac. I will have to look up Bill a.k.a. Mr. Clough ’57. I have a picture of Buck and Joe on my wall. Let him know that if you have his coordinates. It’s too bad you had to trade to wimpy tractors like that. I just finished changing the fluids in my two Manheim Deeres—getting ready for the spring that isn’t happening. At least you bought green; I am not all about red or blue tractors.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Mac Jackson ’75 skifarmer@live.com
’76 Charlie Levenson is an independent media developer and strategist. He recently presented at Ignite TAO! “When the $h%t Hits the Fan” (http://oreil.ly /1mZXsir) and at Portland Ignite 12 on “Blame the Process, not the People.” (http://bit.ly/1hEnAqZ). His daughter, Emily, recently got her PhD in cognitive neuroscience from UCLA and is now teaching at USC. Emily’s younger sister Amanda is just finishing up her PhD in behavioral neuroscience at
OHSU and looking for a place to do her post-doctoral work. CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Charlie Bolling ’76 chasgolf7@aol.com Biff Gentsch ’76 eventproducts@aol.com
’77 Peter King sends his best and reports, “After 25 years with the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, I have retired and started my own firm, King Legal Group. Practice areas are land use, environmental, and community association law. I will be summering in New England in 2014.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Peter Grant ’77 pete@grantcom.us
’78 The remainder of 2014 is going to be a busy time for some members of the Class of 1978 and their families. Hal Hawkey will celebrate his successful recovery from the hip replacement surgery he went through during February with a trip to Italy in June. Actually, the Italian trip is not to celebrate the surgery, which Hal had hoped to put off for another five or six years, but to mark his 20th wedding anniversary. Hal and Jackie’s daughters, Grace and Sarah, will join them on their trip. Sarah is graduating from the Kent Denver School in June and will be attending Elon University in North Carolina in the fall. Grace is finishing her freshman year at Kent Denver. … Hal and his family aren’t the only ’78ers putting on the travelling shoes. Margo Woodall and her husband John will be travelling to Morocco, Tunisia, and Uganda in the fall.
ol Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
The trip is associated with The Unity Project, the youth leadership non-profit that John founded. Closer to home, which for Margo is Newtown, CT, her oldest son Dylan has a summer internship in the finance department at Yale New Haven Health Systems. Dylan will be returning to the University of Massachusetts Amherst for his senior year, where he is an economics and legal studies dual major. Margo’s younger son Cameron is graduating from Newtown High School in June and will be taking classes at a local college while he decides what he would like to study … Scott Sirles checked in to say that he is “semiretired” from his hearing aid business, American Ear Hearing and Audiology, which leaves him a little more time for two of his passions, golfing and fishing around the world. … As for me, I’m going to be making my first trip to Toronto in June, travelling north of the border with my wife to a professional conference that she is attending. It’s not as exotic as a trip to Italy or to the African continent, but it’s something I’m looking forward to nonetheless. CLASS CORRESPONDENT Luther Turmelle ’78 lturmelle@spc.global.net
’79 (reunion) Want to connect with your classmates? Consider becoming a class correspondent and encourage your classmates to reconnect in the HST Class Notes. For more information, contact us at alumni@holderness.org. Thank you! Will Neff writes, “I have been working for seven years at Kanaly Trust in Houston. I have moved and have a new home address: 6603 Bayou Glen Road, Houston,
TX 77057. My telephone number is 281.804.2158.”
’80 CLASS CORRESPONDENT Greg White ’80 ggnh@aol.com
’81 CLASS CORRESPONDENT Bill Baskin ’81 william.baskin.law.90@aya.yale.edu
’82 CLASS CORRESPONDENT Chris Pesek ’82 chris.pesek@am.joneslanglasalle.com
’83 CLASS CORRESPONDENT Jud Madden ’83 justin.madden64@gmail.com
’84 (reunion) CLASS CORRESPONDENT Fred Ludtke ’84 ludtke4@gmail.com
’85 This season Katsu Nakamura’s daughter, Mari, competed in alpine ski racing in the New Hampshire U14 age group. She finished 14th overall at New Hampshire’s state championship and was selected for the New Hampshire state team to compete in the USSA Eastern Junior Championship held in Stowe, VT, in March. Mari skis out of Waterville Valley as a member of the Black and Blue Trail Smashers (BBTS) Ski Club. She is a seventh grader at the Pike School in Andover, plays on the girls’ varsity soccer team, and is also a record holder of Pike’s sixth-grade 50m track. Katsu’s son, Riki, had Joe
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Mari Nakamura, daughter of Katsu ’85 and Naomi Nakamura, at the Eastern Junior Championship
Sampson ’02 and Andrew Everett ’02 as coaches when he was in the U10 program at Waterville Valley BBTS last winter … Jean-Louis Trombetta is working toward the Acton MBA entrepreneurship program at Francisco Marroquin University in Guatemala City. He sits on the board of a liquor distribution company with Nicholas Dorion, who is chairman. As if that didn’t keep him busy enough, he is “[c]urrently pursuing fine art photography, having had my work shown in New York, Costa Rica, New Zealand, and Guatemala.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Jean-Louis Trombetta ’85 jeanlouistrombetta@gmail.com
’86 Want to connect with your classmates? Consider becoming a class correspondent and encourage your classmates to reconnect in the HST Class Notes. For more information, contact us at alumni@holderness.org. Thank you! Taylor Hubbard writes, “I’ve been teaching elementary school in Vermont for the past fourteen
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years and spent four years before that teaching at the Taipei American School in Taiwan. My wife Kara is a teacher at Green Mountain Valley School. My older daughter, Ella, is an eighth-grader at GMVS and my younger daughter, Grace, will be a seventhgrader at GMVS next fall. Other than schlepping kids from one activity to another, I spend a good deal of time riding my bike. Currently I ride for 1K2GO cycling team out of Burlington. I hope to have a ride with Phil Peck this summer in NH.”
’87 Want to connect with your classmates? Consider becoming a class correspondent and encourage your classmates to reconnect in the HST Class Notes. For more information, contact us at alumni@holderness.org. Thank you!
’88 Tom Fletcher may be in New York in August … Wilhelm Bohn will be returning to the US this summer with his boys to spend some time on the Vineyard and Nantucket … Ali Christie will also
Steve Jones ’87 and JB Stewart, son of Chris Stewart ’88
be returning stateside this summer. One of her daughters will be in Maine for three months with Uncle Angus ’85, and he is hoping to introduce her to Holderness … Peter Driscoll and his son Donovan Peter Driscoll are enjoying little league in Annapolis, MD. Pete is still in the financial services business and has been in Annapolis for the last decade or so. Come say hello next time you travel to DC … Sage Chandler is well despite a mediocre maple and mud season. She is busy growing crops of garlic and is looking forward to a sighting of a Uruguayan (Ali) sometime in August … Jennifer Alfond Seeman ran in the 118th Boston Marathon to raise money for Mass General/Dystonia Research. Jen found support from the Holderness community unbelievably moving, and wanted to thank everyone for their encouragement, support, and generosity … Matt Schonwald is still crushing it in the Pacific Northwest … Liz Ganem writes, “Holderness, thank you for the millions of opportunities I had to learn about perseverance, lessons I continue to draw strength from to help my family and friends. I still remem-
ber making a fire on OB in order to melt enough snow to drink during solo. As Alex said about the reunion, it was only three years, but those three years taught us great grit and camaraderie. I never thought that walking through the snow to dinner in a skirt would be such a useful lesson! Much love to you all!” … Derek Anderson recently met up with David Warren in Dallas and Michael Hillegass in DC … Chris Keeler got married a few years back but neglected to divulge this important tidbit of information before last year’s reunion … Joanie Horan Twining ’87 and Paula Lillard Preschlack met up in Canada last summer for vacation. Paula writes, “We had an amazing week kayaking, hiking, and catching up. We hadn’t seen each other since Joanie’s son Teddy was born (14 years!), and after so many years of long letters back and forth, it was a special treat to spend time together talking and visiting in person. I had a great time seeing all my classmates at the reunion in September. My best to everyone!”
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excellent winter—lots of skiing and fun with the kids! Looking forward to summer now!” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Mike O’Keefe ’91 mphok@hargray.com Todd Herrick ’87 sent this picture of his family—Jack ’15, Jan, Todd, Jennifer, and Teddie—who went helicopter skiing for Jack’s 18th birthday.
CLASS CORRESPONDENT Alex MacCormick ’88 alexmaccormick@yahoo.com
’89 (reunion) CLASS CORRESPONDENT Jen Murphy Robison ’89 jennifermrobison@yahoo.com
’90 The award for most loyal respondent from the class of 1990 goes to Pepper deTuro. As long as I’m actually on time with my notes, we always have an entry—thanks Pep! This time Pepper shared notes from his vacation in the Bahamas, and a beautiful picture to boot. Pepper hopes to run into Erik Ormberg when his children, Burke and Bailey, follow in their dad’s ruts at hockey camp in Walpole this summer. Then it’s off to high school for his oldest, Corley. How did we get to be old enough that our children are the age we were when we all first met? Pepper’s youngest, Locke, still has some time before he’s even in school … Aaron Woods sells real estate in Holderness School’s “back yard” for Peabody & Smith Realty. Aaron writes, “I’m excited for spring after a long winter skiing Cannon Mountain with my wife, Amy, while our children, Madison (ten) and Jacob (seven), raced and trained with the Franconia Ski Club.” … Keep your eyes on the Food Network
’92
Todd Wagner ’89 and Michael Erlanger ’89
for our latest celebrity; Jen Shiflett and her husband Bill served as judges in Las Vegas last fall for the World Food Championships. Special BBQ treats are available to classmates if you find your way down to Jen and Bill’s Outta The Box BBQ in Texas. This coming year they are looking to surpass their several 2013 top-ten cook-off finishes. Do it BIG in 2014, Jen and Bill! … I saved notes from Jen Stevens Mullen who wrote in a while back. Jen and her husband Trevor are living in Hingham, MA, with their daughter Gracie and two dogs. They returned East from Southern California. There and here, Jen’s personal chef and catering business produces beautiful treats (check out JAM: Gourmet Foods and Catering on the web) … I’m also a bit late in sharing his news, but Jared Lenz wrote in bragging about 40 days of skiing with Jenna and his kids in the mountains of Montana! Having finally gotten some good snow in Vermont this season, I got in six days; okay, can’t compare. Jared mentioned that he is happy to be hiring at Intuit Solutions again and that his company is making its way back to pre-recession health … After too many years, I had a chance to catch up with Nina Cook Silitch and her family last fall, while Peter and I were taking a roundabout route to Holderness … Current international students Yahzi Li ’14, Qianyi Zhang ’15, and Zhen (Yoomi) Ren ’17 braved
ol Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
Thanksgiving in the North Country with us, and we had a lovely time connecting with a current herd of “Bulls.” I’ve activated a Facebook account (yes, I know, welcome to the 21st century) and started connecting with a bunch of other classmates. Email doesn’t seem to be cutting it anymore to get ’90ers to share their news, so I started a Holderness School 1990 group to facilitate communication. We’re up to almost half of the class. I’m hoping this will help. Please contact me to join the group. Wishing you all a joyous spring! CLASS CORRESPONDENT Courtney Fleisher ’90 courtneyfleisher@alumni.bates.edu
’91 David Gerasin reports, “All is great on the Team Gerasin front! In May 2012, I started an independent wealth management firm, Steele Street Capital, which is named after my mother who passed away in May 2013. I am very grateful for the sacrifices she and my Dad made to put me through Holderness! I see Brad Greenwood ’89 and his family weekly, and I see Amanda Black ’89 frequently as well. Our kids are all the same ages so it’s fun to get together. Peter Colpitts ’90, his family, and our family are spending some quality time together this summer down in St. John in the USVI! I had an
Krissy Pozatek writes, “I am a parent coach with my own business, Parallel Process, working with families who have children transitioning home from residential treatment and wilderness therapy programs. My second book was published in March by Wisdom Publications—Brave Parenting: A Buddhist Inspired Guide to Raising Emotionally Resilient Kids. Brave Parenting came as a result of so many parents/counselors telling me that all the concepts/skills from my first book Parallel Process, were so helpful with their younger siblings at home, yet they never would have picked up my first book had they not had a child in treatment. They wanted a parenting book for younger kids that would teach these skills and help build resilience in order to avoid the need for therapy or treatment programs in high school. Also, I am ski coaching on the weekends at the Burke Mountain Academy junior program. My daughters (ages nine and seven) are both racing; it is really fun. I’ve bumped into a bunch of friends from my ski racing days and from Holderness. Most notable, Lindley ’89 and Tiaan Van der Linde ’89 are nearby, and it is fun to see them on the ski hill!” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Kelly Mullen Wieser ’92 kelly@wiesermail.com
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Jory Macomber helps celebrate the marriage of his former student and current trustee Jerome Thomas ’95.
Spanish teacher Tobi Pfenninger and Meredith Houseman P ’15 at the finish of the Covered Bridges Half Marathon
crazy where you find other Holderness alumni!”
’93
CLASS CORRESPONDENT Lindsay Dewar Fontana ’93 ldfontana@gmail.com
Congratulations to Karrie Stevens Thomas, who is the new executive director of Northern Forest Canoe Trail in Waitsfield, VT … Pete Woodward writes, “Darlene and I are enjoying watching our rescue puppy Kota grow up quickly. Our family is all good but spread all over: Plymouth, Squam Lake, Berkshires, Alaska, Canada.” … Neil Shetty Bhay reports, “The biggest news is that we just had a baby girl on March 30th and are now learning to juggle two kids. Other than that life is good.” … Hilary Stokes Taylor writes, “I’m in year eight at Cal State San Marcos, running the Language Learning Center. We assist students learning a foreign language which, in this area and with our student demographics, also includes supporting those who speak a language other than English at home. During the middle chunk of those years, I enjoyed a variety of meaningful side projects that enriched my work hours: running a children’s foreign language center, having a baby, and working part-time for
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the first few years of her life. During the last few years I’ve been a single mom, which means every non-working hour is chock full to the brim! My father also passed away two years ago after an eight-month battle with cancer that he fought with his traditional good cheer and optimistic perspective. Now my mom and daughter and dog and I live together in North San Diego County, which has crazy good weather. But don’t worry, I have also exposed five-year-old Sadie to skiing (called “snow skiing” out here!), camping, and hiking. Backpacking is next on our list.” … Becca Sher Wellington writes, “I am about a year and a half away from completing my PhD in education history at the University of Washington. It’s been a long, slow haul with Victoria and Maria, now two and four years old. I’m excited to get back into teaching once the PhD crazy show is over. I had the great pleasure of teaching with Malcolm Davidson ’86 at the Annie Wright School in Tacoma, WA, and I sailed around the world with Kristen Ellison ’86. So
’94 (reunion) Melissa Barker-Tamplin teaches at Dawson School in Lafayette, CO. “The big news in the BarkerTamplin household is that we bought our first house!” Melissa writes. “We moved about ten minutes up the road from Boulder to Longmont. We love the new place, yard, and garden. I am guessing the summer will be full of home projects with a little time for bike racing squeezed in. I’ve enjoyed catching up with Kate Stahler Starrett, who also lives in Longmont.” CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Sam Bass ’94 samuel.g.bass@gmail.com Ramey Harris-Tatar ’94 rameyht@yahoo.com
’95 Jonathan Sherman writes, “It is my pleasure to write a note after
just spending a few days this spring up at Holderness with my fiancée, Elizabeth Canazon. Elizabeth now wishes she had gone to Holderness. It was great being a part of the wonderfully intimate and special Holderness community again after almost 20 years. Emilie Lee ’99 and I were invited by art teacher Franz Nicolay to exhibit some of our drawings and paintings in the Edwards Gallery to close out the 2013–14 school year. We spent three days on campus discussing our work, techniques, and philosophies on art. We both thoroughly enjoyed connecting with the students and faculty and sharing our knowledge and experiences. During the gallery opening we were fortunate to be graced with visits from many people, including past Holderness shining stars such as former Headmaster Pete Woodward and Spanish teacher Jim Hammond. Matt Jennings ’92 and wife Elloree and daughter Holland were kind enough to host Elizabeth and me in their new home just down the road from campus in Thornton. Outside of this event, I have run into and spent time with Alexis Wruble ’95, Sander van
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Former Athletic Director Robert Low and Patrick Connor ’96
Otterloo ’94, Joshua Kinney ’95, and past English teacher Michael Henriques ’76. May everyone’s summer be full of joy.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT John Farnsworth ’95 jpfarns@yahoo.com
’96 Lara DuMond Guercio writes, “We welcomed Brooks Colden Guercio into the world on February 7. He is a beautiful and very energetic little boy, and we are doing well.” … Heather Pierce Roy writes of the Boston Marathon, “I ran last year but didn’t get to finish due to the bombings. I got another chance this year and finished in 4:01!” CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Emily Evans MacLaury ’96 emaclaury@gmail.com Heather Pierce Roy ’96 heatherbpierce@hotmail.com
’97 Hello all. We have some newcomer notes this time around. Thanks to those who shared updates. Great to hear from you! Congratulations to Nathaniel
Campbell who sent in the following: “Big news! I am engaged to be married to Jennifer Wilson of Whitinsville, MA. I’m also finishing up editing an independent film in Massachusetts.” … Congratulations also to Kate Lynch who shared this news: “I got engaged last year and will be getting married up in Meredith, NH. Tara Walker Hamer ’99 will be taking photos. After eight years at EMS, I left in September to go out on my own as a marketing consultant. I also opened a gourmet mac and cheese take-out joint called Shack ’n’ Cheese. Lastly we are selling our house in Peterborough and moving up to the Lakes Region since we love it so much up there.” … Hillary Gadsby will be hosting a new TV show called Fashionista Now Boarding. She writes, “It is your hotspot for fashion and travel. We will feature fashion industry veterans and lifestyle and fashion bloggers on the show. It will be available online in June and on TV here in LA and Orange County.” … Garrett Kemble writes, “After seven years in Arizona and eleven in Georgia, I’m making my return to the Northeast. My son and I will be moving to Westerly, RI, at the end of May. We’re excited to be back
ol Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
Heather Pierce Roy ’96 before the start of the Boston Marathon in 2014
Former Athletic Director Robert Low and Elizabeth DiBona Juszcyk ’98
within visiting range of Holderness. We look forward to reconnecting with fellow alumni and families and hopefully we’ll see some fellow Bulls soon.” Thanks for the news. I have continued to work in community health around Rhode Island, helping to support low-income, high-risk pregnant women during their pregnancies and early parenting. It’s draining but gratifying work. I hope this note finds all of you well and excited about the spring and summer months ahead.
CLASS CORRESPONDENT Tara Walker Hamer ’98 taraphotography@gmail.com
CLASS CORRESPONDENT Putney Haley Pyles ’97 putneypyles@gmail.com
’98 Jim Jung manages sponsored content for NBC’s local news websites and develops original programming for NBC’s Sports Network. He writes, “I got married last summer to Molly Biscone at an outdoor ceremony in upstate New York. Several Holderness alumni were in attendance, including Erik Dane, Gabe ‘Shermanator’ Sherman ’97, and Zach Zaitzeff ’93. It was a grand ol’ time.”
’99 (reunion) Page Connolly Minshall writes, “We are doing great and still living in downtown Washington, DC. My son Mac is turning one in June, and we are looking forward to a busy summer with visits to Massachusetts, Texas, and Maine! I hope to catch up with some Holderness friends along the way.” … Robert Henderson writes, “My wife Kirsty and I have been living in Glasgow, Scotland, since 2008, and we love the Celtic lifestyle. She is from Glasgow, and we are settled and comfortable here. The big news for us is the birth of our son, James Patrick Henderson, who was born on the tenth of March. Mother and son are doing great, and we are all adjusting to parenthood—so far so good!” … Brooke Aronson McCreedy reports, “I am still living in Dublin, Ireland, with my children and husband. We recently signed on to stay here for a year more than we originally committed to. Although we miss all of our friends and family back in the States, it was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. We have
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Tyler Stubbs ’01, Andy Gaylord ’02, and Kevin Berry ’04 get patriotic!
enjoyed lots of traveling while living here, and we hope with an additional year, we will be able to continue our adventures! Although this has all been fun, we are mostly looking forward to spending this summer back in the States where we can enjoy friends, family, and finally some sunshine!” … Emilie Lee writes, “I’m painting full time; large landscape commissions are my bread and butter, but I also do a lot of smaller portraits and landscapes which I sell through word of mouth. I’m teaching at the Grand Central Academy, which is about to expand into a larger space in Long Island City. I just had a really fun weekend back at Holderness for my show with Jonathan Sherman ’95. I’ll be on campus again for graduation weekend and the closing of our show. Life in New York is always exciting. I love being part of my artistic community here, and as long as I get outside the confines of the city on frequent adventures, life is pretty great. I’ve been learning to surf, which has been a nice way to get my fix of fresh air and cold water. Last summer I met my boyfriend Rob through his project, the Rabbit Island
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Residency. We are really excited to be going back up to Rabbit Island this summer—located off the Keweenaw Peninsula in Lake Superior. With the unusually cold winter there, we are preparing ourselves for some winter camping in late May!” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Brooke Aronson McCreedy ’99 brooke.mccreedy@gmail.com
’00 Hedda Burnett writes, “Ben and I are living full time in Brooklyn now. I’m working at a veterinary clinic, and Ben is running a software development company (HappyFunCorp). We just bought a house— wow, getting settled in NYC is a crazy thing! I’ve crossed paths with Willa Lee a few times as she’s in my neck of the woods and hope to see Heidi Webb and Ave Cook ’02 again this summer. We only have furry critters at this time: Reese Beast, our basset, and two weird cats—Chicken and MiniMonster. Life is wonderful. I hope to reconnect with more Holderness alumni this year!”
Tenley Walsh, daughter of Tom Walsh ’01, at 10 months old
CLASS CORRESPONDENT Andrew “Sully” Sullivan ’00 myireland20@gmail.com
’01 Alex Smith just got promoted to Director of Treasury for Credit Agricole … Jennifer Crane writes, “After a long winter, I am waiting for spring to arrive in Maine so I can take advantage of living on the coast! I’m still working in development at Bowdoin, and I enjoy living in Portland. Portland keeps making lists as the town for foodies, so anyone who enjoys a nice meal should come visit! I had a great time catching up with Sung You in New York last year and would love to see more Holderness folks. Right now I’m having lots of fun being an aunt to my adorable and energetic nephew; who knew three-yearolds would be so good at snowmobiling and skiing?!” … Joy Domin Southworth says her studio has been very busy, and she has added a physical therapist to her wellness team, and a few more spin bikes! “Our daughter Grace had a long winter with a broken leg,” Joy writes. “But we made the best of it, and she even
managed to go snorkeling for the first time in the Keys! Her biggest set-back is her two-year-old brother who knows how to push all the right buttons. Bring on the boating season!” … Bill Bristol writes in, “Life is great! I happily married my wife Vicki in October in a beautiful ceremony at a plantation house. I work as a naval architect and marine engineer (big thanks to Mr. Hendel for an excellent math base), mostly working to ensure that we don’t have another BP issue like we did a few years ago. Vicki works as a communications manager for the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, one of the biggest CVBs in the country. We bought a house in the Irish Channel last spring and are enjoying all the activities/events that NOLA has to offer. I managed to find the only rink in the area, in Baton Rouge, and play a couple times a week in a fun adult league.” … Pat Regan says, “The Army is sending us to Richmond. We are psyched. We are building a new house in Midlothian, VA. School ends for Katy and the boys at the end of May, and then they are going to move down to her parents’ house in North Carolina for the summer. I have to stay here until late June, handle the movers, etc., and then I will join them for about two weeks. Our house won’t be ready until August, so I am going to stay with some college friends while I start my new job and Katy and the boys are in North Carolina. It is crazy to think about as I write this.” … Tyler Stubbs writes from the West Coast, “I moved to San Francisco and am working on the MINI Cooper account for an ad agency, Butler, Shine, Stern, and Partners, in Sausalito. Let Phil Peck know the commute by bicycle is fantastic. There have been some alumni run-ins out here. My
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first day surfing SF, I ran into Andy Gaylord ’02. We have been surfing regularly since. Kevin Berry ’04 and Andy both came to my housewarming, and we telephoned Doc Overaker to check in with him. Overall things are peachy-keen, so let me know when you are on the West Coast.” … Tom Walsh is a dad! He writes, “My wife and I have welcomed our first child Tenley Evelyn Walsh. We are living on Long Island, and I am working in advertising.” Congrats, Tom! … Joey Mormina writes in for Jarret Hann: “Jarret and Jess Ippolito Hann ’03 are doing great in Williamsburg, VA. They have recently purchased a new home there as well as a new ride-on mower. Jarret has started to go bald and is currently exploring treatment options in Europe.” So take that for what it’s worth. I had lunch with Joey and Anne Palm Mormina the other day. Joey had a good year playing in Syracuse for the AHL team, “the Crunch.” He’ll be playing there again next year. They really like living in ’Cuse and spend their free time exploring “the third largest mall in the country.” Their daughter, Katherine, is four and is absolutely adorable. Their son Robbie is rocking some great hockey hair, is 1.5 years old, and is growing by the minute! … Kellan Florio has also become a father recently! He writes in, “My wife Diana and I are enjoying city life in Brooklyn where we live with our daughter Zoe, born in July last year. I’m still working at Goldman Sachs, Diana is building her yoga/physical therapy business (Brilliant Body Physioyoga), and Zoe is threatening to walk, talk, and bear teeth any day now.” Congrats, Kel! … Blake Barber is also a dad! He says, “I am doing well. I’m still in the nation’s capital and still in the real estate business. Life is awe-
some. I see Tyler Weymouth on a regular basis. Tyler started his own contracting business in the DC area and has been crushing it since August 2013. I got married on September 7, 2013 in Moretown, VT at Bliss Ridge. Rich Weymouth ’70 was the officiant. It’s a long story but my wife and her family grew up with the Weymouths at Salisbury School. Tyler and Channing ’02 were both in the wedding! There were a few other Holderness folks there as well. On April 10, 2014 we welcomed our daughter into the world: Kathryn Maple Barber—seven pounds, three ounces. She will be going by Maple until the elementary school boys start picking on her. Before getting married on September 7, 2013, I attended Sam Beck’s ’02 wedding in Norwich, VT, and made the trip to Buffalo to see Fordy Sinkinson ’02 and his beautiful bride tie the knot. There I ran into a lot of alumni: Ave Cook ’02, Britt Ruegger ’02, Andy Gaylord ’02, Geoff Mintz ’02, Sam Beck, Chris Rodgers ’02, the Weymouths, Dave Madeira ’03, and Mike Whalley to name a few.” Congrats, Blake! … Emily Warner Caldwell writes in, “The Caldwells are still on Cape Cod and enjoying life! Ali and I continue to teach; Sam is in kindergarten at my school and is turning six in June—time flies! Stella will be two in July and is already giving us a run for our money!” … As for me, Karyn Jennings, there’s not much new to report. I’m still living in Lee, NH, with my husband Joe, working at the radio station and doing my Hollywood gossip report on Hot Hits 94.1/103.1. I am also working as a graphic designer. Hope everyone is doing well!
ol Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
Holderness folks at a going away party for Betsy Pantazelos ’02: Liz Norton ’01, Chris Nielson ’02, Betsy Pantazelos, Joe Sampson ’02, and Laura Cote ’09
CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Karyn Hoepp Jennings ’01 karynpjennings@gmail.com Adam Lavallee ’01 a.l.lavallee@gmail.com
’02 Hi everyone! It’s a brief list of notes this time around. Please update your email addresses on the alumni directory at www.netdirectories.com/~holderness/login .cgi (or like the Holderness Class of 2002 Facebook page where you can message me with your notes, too). My life has been more eventful than usual, as I have just returned from working for two months in Scotland (through Patagonia) with an environmental non-profit called the John Muir Trust. They’re an exceptional group that focuses on protecting wild land throughout the UK. While there, I split my time between field work in the Highlands and fundraising/communications in Edinburgh. If you’re curious, feel free to check out my blog at muirfootsteps. blogspot.com (at the very least the photos might make you want
to take the trip across the pond). Otherwise, I have returned to my post as the manager at the Boston Patagonia store where I routinely see many Holderness alumni … Kerry Douglas writes, “I spent some time with Maddie (Rappoli) Fiumara and her husband Jake at their new home in Hamilton, MA, this summer, and met their beautiful baby Sam! My sister Devon Douglas ’99 married Tom Leahy this August in Stowe, VT. Courtney Goldsmith Broadwater ’98 and Sage Goldsmith Tremaine ’95 were also in attendance.” … Ally Keefe reports that she’s still living out in Squaw Valley and working as a registered nurse in Reno … Joe Sampson “had a great fall coaching soccer at Laconia Middle School this year! I’m looking forward to another winter on the hill. I will once again be working at BBTS with Andrew Everett, my wife Kait, and my sister Emily Sampson ’05. This fall Kait and I caught up with a bunch of Holderness alumni at Andrew’s wedding. We shared the dance floor with Pete Bohlin, Tim Barnhorst ’00, and Andrew Bohlin ’01, among others. This
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is good.” … Jay Connolly writes, “Hope all is well. Lots of good things are happening here; I got married last summer, and my wife Nicole and I are expecting our first child in October. We went to the 10th reunion last year and had a great time.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Nick Payeur ’03 ndpayeur@gmail.com
’04 (reunion)
Han Min Lee ’05 and his fiancé Sunny Park
winter Kait and I will be joining Tim Barnhorst and Evan Mullen ’00 on their beer league ski team at Gunstock.” Will Keiser writes, “All is well with Keiser Cooks personal chef service. I have been lucky that business has stayed consistent over the years. New for 2014: I finally was granted the highest race license in the USA, and will be racing AMA Pro Supersport this year as well as national expert races. I am realistic about my proposed results in the AMA Pro series. As a small private team, we don’t have the budget for the top-of-the-line $150,000 bikes that are on the podium every week, although we are opti-
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mistic for a top-ten national finish this upcoming season. To see cool pictures and videos, or to donate, check out my website at www.Keiser183.com.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Betsy Pantazelos ’02 b.pantazelos@gmail.com
’03 Casey Carr writes, “I’m having a baby girl in August. I live in Nashua now with my girlfriend and her four-year-old. I’m now the director of a daycare (which is what Mr. Barton predicted in our commencement dinner speech, I think). Hope everything
Kate Kenly-Tith lives just north of Boston with her husband and their two-year-old son, Liam. She works at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as a research specialist in pediatric hematologic malignancies …. Dave Campbell writes, “After having lived on the East Coast since my junior year at Holderness, I started off 2014 with a move to Colorado for a couple months. After enjoying some great skiing, I moved to Costa Rica to work with Lacrosse the Nations, a nonprofit for which I serve on the board of directors. I have also continued to grow my company Another Best Day; build websites for various clients; and brush up on my surfing and Spanish skills.” … Taylor Embury reports, “I started working at Navigant in September 2013 doing market analysis and forecasting of emerging cleantech industries (renewables, distributed generation, energy storage, microgrids, etc.), and it’s going really well. I’ve also been playing box lacrosse for the Colorado Sabertooths—which is a semi-pro team here in Denver—as well as lots of outdoor lacrosse in the summer. I’m still skiing; I recently participated in the ‘Full Moon Ride’ in which I skied Loveland Pass at midnight under a full moon (hence the name). That was definitely a highlight of my winter.
I can’t believe it’s been over ten years since I left Holderness.” … Mike Conklin is back in New York City pursuing an MBA at Columbia. He recently returned from an amazing couple of weeks in Brazil and will be spending this upcoming summer working for a hedge fund in the city. “I’m looking forward to the end of summer already as I have my tickets booked for Moscow at the end of August and Oktoberfest in Munich at the tail end of September. All is well!” he says. CLASS CORRESPONDENT Ryan McManus ’04 rbmcmanus@gmail.com
’05 Hannah Hickok reports, “I’m doing well! I’m living in south Park Slope, Brooklyn. I’m working as an assistant editor at Redbook magazine, where I cover women’s health, fashion, and lifestyle beats. I’m still in touch with Holderness friends, including Helena Scott ’06 (throwback, I know!) who currently lives in Kabul, Afghanistan, and is coming to visit me in New York next weekend. I visited Krista Glencross ’06 in Portsmouth, NH, last Thanksgiving. I see Jess and Ashley Saba on occasion in Brooklyn and am still part of an active, funny group text with the ‘Girlfriends,’ including Ashley Saba, Jaime Pauley, Kit Henderson-Adams, Susan Taylor, Jenn Calver, Susie Griffin, Kathleen (Crane) Mitchell, and Caitlin Cooper.” … Han Min Lee reports, “I’m getting married!!” … Emma Schofield writes, “I am still working as a mental health and guidance counselor at Mountain Vista High School in Highlands Ranch, CO. I am now an LPC in addition to an LSC, but I probably will not pursue community coun-
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seling or private practice since I love working in high schools … Maybe it brings me back to my Holderness years.” … From the East Coast Jenn Calver writes in: “I was able to catch up with many Holderness faculty this spring when my lacrosse team at Vermont Academy traveled to play against Holderness. It was a thrashing, but it was also worth the trip in order to catch up with the Weymouths, Houseman, Durnan, and others. I am just finishing up my third year in admissions at Vermont and have taken a job (again in admissions and coaching lacrosse) at a great day school out in Grosse Pointe, MI. It will be a big change, but I am really excited!” … Ashley Saba reports, “I’m living in Boston’s South End with Dennis Winders ’05 and my cousin Matt Tomasewski ’07, and working at a tech company. By the way, young alumni, we’re hiring: for all positions, tech or not, check out Fiksu.” … Em Sampson is living close to home in New Hampshire, is working as an autism specialist, and is starting a graduate program in special education with a concentration in autism. In the winter she coaches skiing at Waterville, and when the weather is even remotely nice, she’s training and running races! … Willie Ford has been quite the jet-setter, working as POC’s sports marketing director for North America. It looks like a good life! … As for me, Brie Keefe, I’m still living in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont teaching middle school science (Lyndon, VT). When I’m not teaching, I keep myself entertained by running, growing food, and other things like that. I am looking forward to my third year of running half marathons. My long runs make me reminisce on “Moose Laps”—those were nothing! I hope everyone is doing well, wherever
Mitchell Martin, son of Kourtney Brim Martin ’07 and Steve Martin ’07, wearing his Holderness gear proudly!
you are. Let’s start looking forward to 2015 for our 10th reunion. I’d love to see as many people from the class of 2005 as possible! CLASS CORRESPONDENT Brie Keefe ’05 brie.keefe@gmail.com
’06 Want to connect with your classmates? Consider becoming a class correspondent and encourage your classmates to reconnect in the HST Class Notes. For more information, contact us at alumni@holderness.org. Thank you! Jesse Straus was recently promoted to a marketing specialist position at Vineyard Vines in Stamford, CT. He says he is a proud uncle of Baby Ted (older sister) and soon-to-be Baby Emma (older brother)! … Tomas Balcetis writes, “After spending a year in
ol Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
London working for the NBA on their international expansion plans, I landed a position with the Denver Nuggets in their front office doing basketball analytics, among other things. I finally got into snowboarding—which I never did at Holderness—and am still playing basketball often.”
’07 Mimi O’Connor is really enjoying living in Boston. She is lucky enough to live close to her three siblings and new little nephew! … Tyler “Goose” Gosselin is happily living in Boston and getting married in October. He and his fiancé occasionally go on double dates with Kory Himmer and his girlfriend … Arla Casselman is living the good life in Maine on her 40acre wild blueberry farm … Victoria Canelas Lantiegne is currently getting her master’s in human resources and working as
a business development manager for a company in New Hampshire. She is celebrating her third wedding anniversary this July … Tanner Mathison is finishing law school at the University of Pennsylvania and working for a large law firm in New York … Currently living in Boulder, Phoebe Erdman is training for her second 100-mile running race in July. She and Anya Bean recently went on vacation together in South Carolina …. Gahwui Kim has been living in New York City since the summer of 2011. Gahwui is currently working at IQPC as a junior divisional marketing director and says that it’s been an amazing experience. She writes that she “would love to connect with more Holderness alumni in the city!” … Josh Hoar is in Burlington, VT, working as a sales consultant at Heritage Toyota … Sarah Morrison writes, “I’m living in Brooklyn and doing
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Thanks to the inspiration of Gretchen Hyslip ’08 and Brittany Dove ’08, the above groups of alumni gathered together to celebrate and support Julia Ford ’08 in her Olympic debut. On the left is a group in Boston; on the right, one in New York City.
Tracy White P ’10 captured this group of Bulls at the USCSA Regionals at Bristol Mountain in New York: Carter White ’10, Erica Hamlin ’10, John McCoy ’10, Ashby Sussman ’10, and Margaret Thibadeau ’11
marketing for a software company based out of Union Square.” … Steve Potter is currently a freelance writer living in Western Massachusetts and is headed to NYU to get an MFA in fiction next next fall … Kourtney Brim and Steve Martin recently moved to Florida with their one-year-old son, Mitchell. Kourtney is working on completing her master’s degree, while Steve is a sergeant in the Marine Corps. Kourtney writes that their son “can often be found sporting his blue Holderness t-shirt!” … Ben Gardner is living in Telluride where he works at Bootdoctors and snowboards everyday. He recently competed in the Subaru freeride series with Henry Holdsworth, who is currently based out of Lake Tahoe, CA. Ben also saw Cam Reilly working on a STEPT production at Araphoe Basin, and writes, “It’s great to see our class still so involved with skiing.” … Kelsey Smith is at Dartmouth, where she is halfway through her graduate studies, focusing on literary journalism. She also joined KiKi Network, a new international PR consulting company, as their assistant director … Annie Hanson is loving her
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job at HawkPartners, a market strategy consulting firm in Cambridge. She has been living with Justine Seraganian ’09 for the last year, and while she is sad to leave her, she is also excited to move into Beacon Hill. She also loves running into Cambria Hempton around town in Boston and seeing Sam Shlopak and Taylor James on her frequent work trips to NYC … Cambria Hempton recently got engaged to Ross Brockman, who used to ski with the Eastern alpine team at Holderness. She owns a fine art wedding photography studio in Boston and is the proud owner of a puppy named Olive. CLASS CORRESPONDENT Annie Hanson ’07 annie.e.hanson@gmail.com
’08 Morgan Frank will complete a master’s in applied mathematics from the University of Vermont this spring and will dive into PhD work in computational science for engineering at MIT in the fall. He will work for LinkedIn as a network scientist over the summer.
CLASS CORRESPONDENT Jessica White ’08 white.jessica.madigan@gmail.com
’09 (reunion) CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Meg McNulty ’09 mmcnulty@mail.smcvt.edu Allison Stride ’09 astride@elon.edu
’10 Erika Johnson graduated from Colby College in May and hopes to work in consulting or human resources in Washington, DC, or Austin, TX … Brian Friedman writes, “I am currently the CEO of Loopd. I am also pursuing my BS in materials science and engineering at Lehigh University and am the main organizer for the Wearable Technology Startup Meetup. At Loopd I am in charge of branding, marketing, business development, mechanical engineering, user experience, and user interface design. I am also taking the lead on business model development. I founded Loopd Inc., a socially integrated wearable technology company, in 2013 when I met Sambhav Galada and Allen Houng at Draper University in Silicon Valley. We were frustrated with trying to collect professional contact information with context, build relationships
with important leads, and maintain high-quality networks after attending conferences, trade shows, and meetings. As a team, we decided to create a natural solution, taking advantage of common gestures, such as the handshake, to use people’s physical actions to enhance their virtual presence. The result was a device called the Via, which is a wristband that enables two people to exchange contact information instantly by shaking hands. After winning the Draper University pitch day, our team received pre-seed funding from legendary venture capitalist Tim Draper, and we are now one of the first companies in his stealth incubator, Hero City. Among other honors, Loopd was accepted into the NEXT Accelerator at Google, the Global Entrepreneurship Marketing (GEM) program at Stanford University, and the MBA Venture Challenge at Texas A&M, where it was voted one of the top competitors.” CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Abby Alexander ’10 abigail.jane.alexander@gmail.com Ashleigh Boulton ’10 amayboulton@gmail.com
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John McCoy ’10 jmccoy@students.colgate.edu Emily Pettengill ’10 pettenge@garnet.union.edu
’11 Madde Burnham writes, “Gabbie Raffio ’10 just visited me at Colorado College. We had a great time catching up. Last summer I hiked Mt. Kilimanjaro with Gabbie and the Powell family, which was one of the best experiences I have had. I will be living in Colorado Springs this summer working for a marketing and PR firm. I hope to get lots of backpacking and traveling in this summer.” … Amanda Engelhardt writes, “I am currently finishing my junior year at Brown University after studying abroad at the University of Amsterdam in the fall. The Brown women’s ski team had another really successful season, and we are currently 30–0 in regular season competition. I am looking forward to my senior year at Brown and my last year of competitive ski racing!” … Sarah Xiao is a junior at Bates College and is currently studying abroad at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, where she has run into Andrew Howe a few times and hears that Henry Miles is also in the area. “Studying abroad in New Zealand has been an incredible experience,” she writes. “The mountains are so big, and it is easy to find likeminded international or Kiwi students who are willing to get out and explore on the weekends. During the week, I am taking two geology papers and a history paper, and I only have class Tuesday–Thursday, which leaves me with a perpetual four-day weekend. Spring break is soon, and I am planning a trip with a girl who goes to Whitman in
Washington. We hope to road trip, hike, and climb the west coast of the South Island. It’s very easy here to live in the present; I have met an incredible array of people and my time here is going by too quickly. As a Bates geology student, I am required to complete a full-year senior thesis, so this summer I am living at the Joe Dodge Lodge in Pinkham Notch and mapping bedrock geology in the White Mountains as my field research component. I’ll be closeish to Holderness. I hope that everything is well at school. All the pictures of OB and Harbo in his Super Harbo suit made me laugh.” … Gabas Maldunas reports, “I had an unfortunate season-ending injury (torn ACL) in January. Now I’m working with Tony Mure to get the knee healthy again and be ready to play my last season at Dartmouth and go on to the pro level. I am also enjoying the spring here in Hanover with Sam Macomber, who is in the same fraternity as I am.” CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Cecily Cushman ’11 ccushma1@conncoll.edu Mandy Engelhardt ’11 amanda_engelhardt@brown.edu Sam Macomber ’11 sammac@adelphia.net Jamie McNulty ’11 mcnultyj@union.edu
’12 The past year has been an eventful one for the class of 2012 and it looks as if this summer is going to be just as exciting. Abby Slattery is working with a professor at Davidson, designing laboratories for an Introduction to Environmental Health course and conducting an independent
ol Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
Dan Do ’13 with Paul Dullea during Holderness School’s Relay for Life. In June Dan received a clean bill of health from his doctors and will be able to return to Bowdoin College in the fall!
environmental health research project. She will also be studying Global Health and Development Policy in Geneva, Switzerland this upcoming fall and will be traveling to rural Morocco to do a comparative public health study … Erica Steiner is also traveling and will spend the summer in L’Aquila, Italy, taking a summer course and working with the community that was greatly affected by the 2009 earthquake … Fellow Georgetown classmate Kristina Micalizzi will also be studying abroad for the entire academic year in Madrid, Spain, and looks forward to exploring other European cities and visiting friends such as Bee Crudgington, who will be in Madrid for the fall semester … Maggie Caputi will be studying in Istanbul during the fall semester but is staying busy over the summer in NYC working for the company Smartbrief (check it out!) … Austin Baum is also taking New York City by
storm as a student at NYU, and Sara Mogollon will be in the Big Apple interning this summer at the start-up company Mood of Living … The Holderness alumni at St. Lawrence have had a successful year, with Gavin Bayreuther winning ECAC Rookie of the Year and Matthew Kinney winning the Outstanding Recruitment Award from Beta Theta Pi. Also at SLU, Eliza Cowie completed a successful year on the alpine ski team and just finished training to become a tour guide. She is excited to pledge a sorority in the fall and will be working as a camp counselor on Squam Lake over the summer … Lily Ford will be enjoying time on the water as well while working on Nantucket this summer, after her hard work on the UNH lacrosse team … Dickson Smith had a busy lacrosse season at UVA playing for the nationally-ranked Cavaliers … Drew Walsh is doing well at Merrimack College and is
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A gathering of Holderness family and friends in Washington, DC, at the home of Wendy and Bob Sturges P ’13 ’16: Phil Peck, Wendy and Bob, Bob Gregg ’86 and daughter, Kate Smith ’88 and David, Frank Bonsal ’82 P ’17, Kate Gewirz P ’16, Helen Bonsal P ’17, Amy Woods, Jill Lum, Ramsey Alexander P ’15, Curtis Rooney P ’17, and Steven Gewirz P ’16
playing on the lacrosse team that recently made it to the national championships … Another team that took it to a championship game was the Bowdoin women’s hockey team, led in points by Ari Bourque, who was also chosen as Conference Player of the Week twice … Shawn Watson had a tremendous year on New England College’s hockey team and led the freshmen in goals to put up an incredible season for the Pilgrims … Andrew Munroe spent his year playing hockey for the Aurora Tigers, a Junior A team located in Ontario, Canada. He led the playoffs in goals-against average with a 1.74 GAA and had a .951 save percentage. He will be returning to Aurora next year for his last year of Juniors. He is currently undecided as to which university he will be attending … A bit further south at the University of Richmond, Jules Pichette has been playing hockey as well and
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is enjoying his time at school … Jonathan Bass is also appreciating the warm weather down south at Elon University, and Oliver Nettere has been competing on a competitive fly-fishing circuit … At the University of Central Florida, Alex Trujillo is staying fit and enjoying the southern sun … Connor Loree is ending his school year in Florida and heading back home to New England. He will be finishing up school at Central Connecticut State where he will major in marketing and continue to play golf, along with hockey … Alex Leininger is loving Milwaukee School of Engineering, where he played on the hockey team and was awarded the Most Improved Player this past season. He will be working at the National Marrow Donor Program as a data-modeling analyst this summer in St. Paul, MN … Abby Guerra completed her third halfmarathon and was president of
the Future Female Officers Club for the Boston NROTC Battalion. This coming fall semester she is going abroad to New Zealand with Keith Bohlin, where they will be studying at the University of Auckland … Brian Tierney finished up his freshman year at Catholic University where he was the service chair for his fraternity and will be on the executive board as treasurer in the fall.He has been successful in crossing items off of his DC bucket list and will be home in New Hampshire working for the summer. … Thank you to everyone who sent us their Class Notes updates—we love hearing from all of you and can’t wait to see some of the Class of 2012 at Commencement. Good luck and enjoy your summer and fall semester, wherever you may be!
CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Peter Ferrante ’12 pferrant4@gmail.com Matthew Kinney ’12 mnkinn12@stlawu.edu Alex Leininger ’12 alexbleininger@yahoo.com Kristina Micalizzi ’12 ksm48@georgetown.edu Stephanie Symecko ’12 srsymecko@wpi.edu
’13 CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Kelly DiNapoli ’13 kac288@wildcats.unh.edu Olivia Leatherwood ’13 olivia.leatherwood@gmail.com
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SAVE THE DATE HOLDERNESS SCHOOL
HOMECOMING AND REUNION WEEKEND
SEPTEMBER 2014
26–28
ol Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
REGISTER AT WWW.HOLDERNESS.ORG/REUNION2014
#COMEBACKFORBLUE
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AT THIS POINT IN TIME
Holderness Athletics: Girls Should Be a Part of That Too
This photo first appeared in the 1976 yearbook, the second year the girls had their own soccer team. In the back row are Mr. Beams, Dana Rowe ’77, Kim Speckman ’76, and Mr. Snyder; in the middle row are Anne Barach ’77, Elisabeth Burghardt ’77, Clare Eckert ’79, Viveca Anderson ’77, and Tracy Bowen ’78; in the front row are, Christina Anderson ’78, Carrie Hanaway ’77, Jane Sargent ’76, Cheri Proulx ’77, and Chris Hanaway ’76.
by liesl magnus ’ If you walk around the Holderness campus today, it seems impossible that it used to be an all-boys school. Everywhere you go there is evidence that girls are invaluable—from the leadership of Hedi Droste and Eliana Mallory this year to the win of the nepsac championship game by the varsity field hockey team last fall. Since and the admission of girls to Holderness, the ratio of girls to boys has grown steadily until today, when the freshman class ratio of girls to boys is one to one. However, the introduction of girls to Holderness was not an easy process. Although at the beginning of Pete Woodward’s tenure the induction of boarding girls became a sure thing, how to integrate them was a point of contest. Some preferred to keep the
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girls out entirely while others wanted to adopt a more reasonable approach, which was to look at what other schools were doing and try to do it better. It was the second approach that they adopted when deciding both to admit girls and to create the girls’ athletic program. Before , the few day girls who attended Holderness either managed the boys’ teams or played with them on the soccer, hockey, lacrosse, and tennis teams. For a brief time, cheerleading, modern dance, and gymnastics were also offered. However, until Holderness began admitting more girls into the community, there was very little perceived need to provide a fully-fledged athletic program. It was a small matter to allow girls to participate in activities such as skiing, where girls and boys did not require separate training, but for sports like soccer, a separate
team had to be created. The same was true for field hockey, a sport that had no counterpart on the male side. It was not until that the girls had a team to call their own: soccer. In the same year, the alpine and Nordic teams became officially coed as well. Establishing a girls’ athletic program also meant adding the proper facilities. In a faculty discussion concerning the addition of new facilities to Bartsch, it was stated that if the school was going to be able to support the girls who would be attending in the fall of , “the need for a gymnasium and the accompanying girls’ locker facilities is clear and pressing.” The addition to Bartsch (which consisted of a girls’ locker room, showering facilities, and a new gymnasium) was completed in . It is impressive to see how well the first girls’ teams performed, even before they were equally supported by school facilities. Only five years after the first girls’ soccer team was created, they blew through the season with eleven wins and only two losses. That was also the first year coach Fred Beams had enough players for a full scrimmage. Also in , the school introduced field hockey, a brand new sport to the Holderness fields. The team consisted of girls, who were coached by Alice Henry, and although they did not win a game their entire first season, the team “improved steadily,” showing the grit and determination against all odds that Holderness values so much in its athletes. By there were ten sports that either had a girls’ team and a boys’ team, or a coed team. Today, out of Holderness’ teams, are girls’ teams, are boys’ teams, and are coed. And all of the athletes, every single one of them, still display the grit and determination that was noted in the first athletic contests of the first female students.
HOLDERNESS SCHOOL TODAY | SUMMER 2014
Holderness School Summer 2014 Holderness School Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
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SINCE THE 1970S WHEN GIRLS FIRST ATTENDED CLASSES AT HOLDERNESS, THEY HAVE BLAZED NEW TRAILS AND LED THE SCHOOL WITH BRAVERY AND DETERMINATION. ON THE COVER ARE PICTURED TWO OF THE FIRST GIRLS TO PARTICIPATE IN OUT BACK, AND ON THIS PAGE ARE VP ELIANA MALLORY AND PRESIDENT HEDI DROSTE LEADING THE SENIORS INTO THIS YEAR’S COMMENCEMENT CEREMONIES.
WASTE NOT, WANT NOT. It started with a casual observation,
STEWARDSHIP, COMMUNITY, AND STICK-TO-ITIVENESS. THEY’RE IN OUR DNA.
a throwaway comment about an ice hockey rink that was to be discarded. It grew into a major grass-roots salvage effort, that only Holderness could have organized: kids and adults working shoulder to shoulder to save the rink, using sweat, muscle, and strategy to wrestle together something they knew was within their reach. The result? Pipes, rink boards and a boiler, repurposed with care and intention. A home ground for speed, strength, ice and zeal. A hockey program revitalized through pride of ownership. Bragging rights for decades. The story of Holderness School’s rink, bought for one dollar, moved miles and re-assembled with student volunteers, is a legend that will outlive the rink itself. It’s a story of stewardship, of a community that knows how to cherish its resources and use them to bring greatness into being. It’s a story of the Holderness way of doing things—together, with vision, and with a great deal of care.
HELP US TO KEEP THESE PROGRAMS ALIVE NOW AND WELL INTO THE FUTURE. GIVE TO THE HOLDERNESS FUND. WWW.GIVETOHOLDERNESS.ORG
Holderness School Summer 2014 Holderness School Today magazine. Flat size is 11.0 inches tall by 18.28 inches wide (includes 0.28 inches for perfect-bound spine); folded size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide. Artwork prints in four-color process and bleeds all four sides. Cover artwork; Cover II and Cover III.
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PAID LEWISTON, ME PERMIT NO. 82
HOLDERNESS SCHOOL TODAY THE MAGAZINE OF HOLDERNESS SCHOOL SUMMER 2014
CHAPEL LANE PO BOX 1879 PLYMOUTH, NH 03264-1879
INSIDE: r More Power to Them r In Consideration of Outstanding Female Leaders r Catching Up With Don and Pat Henderson THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS ABOUT THIS PHOTO THAT MAKE ONE WONDER IF IT IS PART OF AN APRIL FOOL’S JOKE. HOWEVER, THE SNOW WAS VERY REAL AND BLANKETED THE BASEBALL FIELD UNTIL MID-APRIL. AND THE MOOSE? SHE MADE A VISIT TO CAMPUS ON APRIL FIRST JUST BEFORE DINNER, PATIENTLY POSED FOR PHOTOS ON THE QUAD, THEN RETURNED WITHOUT INCIDENT TO HER HOME IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS.
Holderness School Summer 2014 Holderness School Today magazine. Flat size is 11.0 inches tall by 18.28 inches wide (includes 0.28 inches for perfect-bound spine); folded size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide. Artwork prints in four-color process and bleeds all four sides. Cover artwork; Cover IV and Cover I.