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PAID
LEWISTON, ME PERMIT NO. 82
HOLDERNESS SCHOOL TODAY THE MAGAZINE OF HOLDERNESS SCHOOL SUMMER 2015
CHAPEL LANE PO BOX 1879 PLYMOUTH, NH 03264-1879
INSIDE: r Commencement 2015 r Not Only Possible, But Inevitable r Catching Up with Joseph Hayes THIS GROUP OF STUDENTS, LED BY MANDARIN TEACHER JONATHAN HIGGINS AND ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF ADMISSION CYNTHIA DAY, TOOK OFF SHORTLY AFTER GRADUATION ON A GRAND TOUR OF CHINA. HERE THEY ARE IN BEIJING AT THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN, A RELIGIOUS COMPLEX USED FOR CEREMONIES OF PRAYER FOR GOOD HARVESTS.
Holderness School Summer 2015 Holderness School Today magazine. Flat size is 11.0 inches tall by 18.19 inches wide (includes 0.19 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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IN EARLY JULY, THE STEEL BEAMS FOR THE HOCKEY RINK’S FRAME ARRIVED AND WERE STACKED IN THE DAY STUDENT PARKING LOT. AS SUMMER PROGRESSED, THE PILES SHRANK AND THE COVER FOR THE RINK ROSE AGAIN. CONSTRUCTION IS STILL ON SCHEDULE AND THE HOCKEY PLAYERS SHOULD BE ABLE TO SKATE ON HOME ICE BY MID-NOVEMBER. OH, AND THE DAY STUDENTS WILL HAVE A PLACE TO PARK BY OPENING DAY (WE PROMISE!).
0.25-inch artwork clear zone for binding.
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I’M TRUE BLUE
ARE YOU TRUE BLUE?
Holderness School Summer 2015 Holderness School Today magazine. Flat size is 11.0 inches tall by 18.19 inches wide (includes 0.19 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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Not Only Possible, But Inevitable Conservation and preservation are popular buzz words that get a lot of attention in the media—both positive and negative. But for many at Holderness these words aren’t just trendy; they’re a way of life. BY EMILY MAGNUS ’88 AND RICK CAREY
ABOVE: Sailing on Squam with just the wind for company; the undeveloped shoreline of Great Island lies in the background.
Commencement 2015 Handshake with Mr. Peck? Check. Diploma? Check. Ready for college and worldly adventures? Check. Congratulations to the Class of 2015!
6 Catching Up with Joseph Hayes
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Joseph Hayes was a fixture on this campus long before many of us first walked its paths. He may be close to retirement, but his commitment to the school and his dedication to his job are still infinite. BY RICK CAREY
Holderness School Summer 2015 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 Carolyn Cullen ’87 Russell Cushman ’80 The Rev. Randolph Dales, Secretary Victoria Frei Tracy McCoy Gillette ’89, Alumni Association President 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 Ian Sanderson ’79 Andrew Sawyer ’79 Jenny Seeman ’88 Harry Sheehy Gary Spiess Poppy Staub ’85 Jerome Thomas ’95 Sander van Otterloo ’94
3 From the Schoolhouse 4 From the Editor 5 03264: Letters to HST 32 Around the Quad 38 Sports 42 Update: Faculty and Staff 47 Update: Trustees 50 Alumni Events: Gatherings 52 Alumni in the News 59 Class Notes 80 At This Point in Time
HEADMASTER EMERITUS The Rev. Brinton W. Woodward, Jr. HONORARY TRUSTEES Warren C. Cook Piper Orton ’74 W. Dexter Paine III ’79 Will Prickett ’81
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, Robert Caldwell, Liz Kendall, Stacy Lopes, Liesl Magnus ’17, Lauraine Paquin, Judith Solberg, Courtney Williamson, Clay Dingman DESIGN AND PRODUCTION: Clay Dingman, Barking Cat Productions Communications Design
PHOTOGRAPHY: Emily Magnus, Clay Dingman, Ken Hamilton, Liesl Magnus ’17, Minh Tran ’16 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. ON THE FRONT COVER: President Charles Harker and Vice President Emma Abrams lead the class of 2015 into Commencement ceremonies. Their smiles say it all! Photograph by Ken Hamilton.
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FROM THE SCHOOLHOUSE
The Perks of Running an Independent School in Northern New England Holderness School sits in a spectacular environment. Walk out your front door and the options for recreation are numerous. For me during the summer it’s usually cycling. There’s nothing better during the summer months than taking off early in the morning on one of the back roads. Bear Notch, Hall’s Brook, Tripoli Road, the Kanc—each road has its own beauty and its own pleasures. The flip side of taking full advantage of our environment is being responsible about that usage. And as you’ll read in this issue of Holderness School Today, being responsible stewards of this environment is part of our heritage. From our first students who entered Knowlton Hall in the late th century to the last students who left campus this May, they have been encouraged to pay attention to the natural environment and live respectfully within it. For our students, and for our alumni, taking care of nature is not just a trend or a fad but a way of life. In addition, all our recent renovations have prioritized the reduction of the buildings’ environmental footprints, and all of our new projects have placed sustainability at the forefront of construction. Most notably, we received leed gold certification for the two new dormitories; the new rink’s south-facing roof will be covered with photo voltaic solar panels; and the biomass plant not only reduces our emissions to a fraction of what we used to produce, it is also financially sustainable. Finally, this summer we were honored by the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership as the top business in New Hampshire for our proactive approach to energy But again, while receiving leed gold certification and being the NH energy leader are meaningful honors, we aren’t chasing certifications. Rather, in the spirit of Holderness, we are taking these steps because being fully engaged and doing the right things align with
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Vice President Emma Abrams receiving her diploma and a handshake from Mr. Peck!
our mission that calls us to “work for the betterment of others and God’s creation.” In the same spirit, this issue of Holderness School Today highlights multiple stories from campus and beyond that strike a balance between full engagement (over students participated in the spring musical) and doing work for others (the students raised over , for the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer). Of course that commitment to engagement and service is equally evident in the actions of our staff—i.e. “Catching Up with Joseph Hayes”—and all our outstanding alumni—i.e. Matt Karmarck ’ and Leslie Wright ’. This summer, as I take breaks from my office in Schoolhouse to ride the roads of New
England, I will be thinking of all the amazing stories of our community and drawing my inspiration from their accomplishments. Every mile I log will renew me and give me the energy to return to campus to tackle the challenges of running this small boarding school in northern New England. I am honored to be part of this engaged, responsible, and active community. Phil Peck Head of School
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FROM THE EDITOR
I Remember
Editor Emily Magnus with Director of Strategic Marketing and Communications Courtney Williamson at graduation.
I made it clear to my mother that I did not want to go; my nine-year-old self couldn’t imagine sleeping in a tent, walking all day with a pack on my back, and eating food that no doubt would be flecked with dirt and taste like smoke. And as the youngest, I am sure I was afraid my family would have to wait for me, that I would be the weakest link. But my parents continued to plan our trip—across the Bonds, over Galehead, Garfield, and Lafayette, and down the Old Bridle Path into Franconia Notch. Despite my incessant whining, the piles of food, equipment, and clothing continued to grow on our dining room table. On the day before we were supposed to leave, standing next to that table, my mother called my bluff. “If you really don’t want to go, you can stay with Grammy,” she replied to yet another whiny comment from me. That was it. They were really going—with or without me. I begrudgingly admitted I wasn’t going to let it be the latter.
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I don’t remember much about the trip; it wasn’t nearly as grueling as I had thought it would be and I think I might have even enjoyed myself. In fact, what remains with me to this day, is the hike down from Lafayette. The woods were quiet like only a forest can be—the dirt path absorbing the sound of my footsteps, the leaves on the trees alternately catching soft summer breezes and echoing the notes of the chickadees’ songs. On that day, my sister and I walked ahead, enjoying our independence and new-found confidence. Then, as we descended through the woods, for the first time in days, I heard the sound of cars barreling down i- headed south. My immediate reaction was to turn around and hike back up to where I could no longer hear them, to return to the silence of the woods. For the first time I understood and appreciated the natural world, a world that I would continue to crave throughout my life and seek out even in the densest city landscapes.
Cross-country running, nordic skiing, and Out Back at Holderness solidified my love of the outdoors. And as an adult, some of my richest memories are of Holderness adventures—celebrating Easter with Rev. Weymouth on top of Eagle Cliff, crossing the Pemigewasset during early morning runs with Phil Peck, and attending outdoor chapel on misty mornings in April. This spring, Holderness renewed the Outing Club and my oldest daughter jumped at the chance to spend her afternoons hiking. There are plenty of lessons to be learned from team sports that take place on man-made fields and courts, but I am so glad she chose to spend her afternoons hiking. She has created a bond with Nature that will last a lifetime, that will help her find peace in times of trouble and challenges when the road ahead looks a little too predictable. This story is not just mine. I’ve heard it told by many Holderness graduates with varying details: encounters with nature have had profound effects on the courses of their lives. The feature story in this issue may focus on the community around Squam Lake, but it is just one example. The outdoor ethos that begins to take hold at Holderness is a base from which many graduates go on to careers, hobbies, and volunteer opportunities that are centered on the natural environment through recreation, stewardship, and research. And what makes their stories even more special is the sense of community that develops in parallel. That’s why I love this feature story and wanted to share it with the Holderness community; it is a story that is close to my heart and it is a story filled with optimism and connection. I hope it will inspire others around the world to participate in similar collaborative projects. Emily Adriance Magnus ’ Editor, Holderness School Today emagnus@holderness.org
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03264: LETTERS TO HST
Letters from Across the Decades
AT LEFT: After learning of the passing of his friend William Summers ’51, Bill “Chico” Laird ’50 wrote to us and shared this photo: “This is Willie in the backyard of Marshall House. There was a pipe, stuck in the ground that had a 30 degree bend in it. Willie was bent back, covering the pipe, and it looked like he was defying gravity. Doesn’t that sound like Willie?” AT RIGHT: Tracy McCoy Gillette ’89 wrote in and shared this photo: “I was lucky enough today to run into the father of Sandy Treat ’78, who is also named Sandy. I happened to have my HST in my purse and wanted to share with him the nice article about his son in this latest edition. He was so touched and flattered and spent an hour telling me stories about Don Henderson, Don Hagerman, and Sandy. He holds Holderness in very high regard and said it was a true highlight of Sandy’s life. He also said he was impressed by the closeness of the alumni and how they all rallied around Sandy during his difficult last months. Sandy the father is also quite impressive. He was the number one skier at Dartmouth during his time and part of the 10th Mountain Division. He is 92 years old.”
education, play three sports, be in a nurturing community, and still excel in alpine skiing. She is really looking forward to being coached by Georg Capaul, Craig Antonides, and others. Our choice for Holderness is probably not unlike many other parents of alpine and nordic ski racers. Holderness presents a unique opportunity to compete at the highest level in high school while getting an excellent education. Speaking to many other ski racing parents, they see Holderness as a superior alternative to ski academies. Why are ski racing families good for Holderness? They bring enthusiasm, ideas, and passion to the school. These families are often well connected in business and other professions, and they are proud that their kids are getting a first class education, not just doing gates. This is a demographic that you want to pursue and nurture—not minimize… Furthermore, Holderness is so close to the Mittersill venue that it really can ascend as the premier prep school in the Eastern US for snow sports. Don’t shy away from that brand and differentiation; embrace it. Bob Potter P ’, ’ (X!)
The Superior Alternative I just read the Spring issue of Holderness School Today, and I have some thoughts I’d like to share with you. Author Rick Carey writes in the feature article, “Filling the VW Bug,” “Snow Sports do play an important role in the story of the school, but they will never become the common denominator that brings people here.” Speaking for a family that will have three Holderness students attending in the academic year –, the snow sports program is what attracted us to Holderness, and I advise you not to embrace the notion that it is not a huge differentiator for your school. Combining your excellent academic program, focus on community and leadership development, and an excellent snow sports program, makes Holderness the perfect alternative for a family
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that prioritizes academics over athletics for their winter athletes. I think you know our family story. We had our eye on Holderness as a place where our daughter Kathryn could get a good education and still pursue her dream of being a competitive ski racer. Her older brother Cole was eligible first, and we wanted to start him as a tenthgrader, but he ended up going a year early. Cole is a competitive three-sport athlete, and ironically alpine skiing may be his least best sport. With Kathryn and Bridgit, however, alpine racing will be the main focus. Bridgit is going to be a good competitive skier for Holderness and hopefully a very good student, but Kathryn had choices. She chose Holderness over the ski academies because Holderness presents a wonderful alternative; she can get a good academic
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you. Thank you for being the “ I’llclassstartthatwithmadethank us feel safe. I don’t think I have ever met a more confident group of 14-year-old kids than this year’s freshmen class. You guys are so strong and outgoing, because you felt safe at school. Your seniors, our seniors, freed our school from the too-common senior intimidation factor.” – PRESIDENT-ELECT AJ CHABOT ’16
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Congratulations to the Class of 2015!
EMMA CLAIRE BELL ABRAMS Stowe, Vermont SARAH PENDLETON ALEXANDER Annapolis, Maryland HARRISON ROHAN ALVA Needham, Massachusetts CAMERON ALEXANDER ANDERSON Westmount, Quebec, Canada JEREMY PALY BATCHELDER Kittery Point, Maine ELLY ANN BENGTSSON Freeport, Maine AUSTIN MICHAEL BEUTNER PaciямБc Palisades, California NIKKOL LILLIAN BLAIR East Greenwich, Rhode Island ELLA MAE BUTLIG Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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CLAIRE MICHELLE CAPUTI Brunswick, Maine SEAN MCGOVERN CASHEL Boston, Massachusetts YOUNGJAE CHA Seoul, South Korea LUC GRANT CHANREN Taipei, Taiwan THIEN THUAN CHAU Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam EMILY EDGE CLIFFORD Bethlehem, New Hampshire NICHOLAS NYE CONNER Greenland, New Hampshire LEAH ELIZABETH CURTIS Boston, Massachusetts GIBSON SMITH CUSHMAN Marblehead, Massachusetts
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FREDERIC CYR L’Ancienne-Lorette, Quebec, Canada CARTER FELLOWS DAUME South Hamilton, Massachusetts CHARLES MATHESON DAY Holderness, New Hampshire PARKER ADAMS DENSMORE Red Lodge, Montana ELIZABETH RUTH DUFFY Jackson, New Hampshire GRACE CLARK EAGAN Ipswich, Massachusetts CELIA ANN FLECKNER Weston, Massachusetts CHARLOTTE ANNE FRECCIA Columbus, Ohio JEREMY TYLER GANNON Wallingford, Connecticut SAWYER WEN GARDNER Gilmanton, New Hampshire MATTHEW DEYO GARNER Orleans, Massachusetts MEGAN EMILY GRZYWACZ Manchester, New Hampshire LILY PATRICIA HAMBLIN Franconia, New Hampshire CHARLES HAGEN HARKER III Janesville, Wisconsin PETER STANLEY HASTINGS Falmouth, Maine ANNIE BAILEY HAYES Boulder, Colorado HOPE ELIZABETH HEFFERNAN Wellesley, Massachusetts JACK DAVENPORT HERRICK Telluride, Colorado CARSON ELIZABETH HOLMES Bethlehem, New Hampshire KEVIN JAMES HORNER Norfolk, Massachusetts LINDSEY ROSE HOUSEMAN Holderness, New Hampshire CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL HYLAND North Woodstock, New Hampshire
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ABIGAIL SARGENT JONES Mendon, Vermont ALEXANDRA MELLON JONES Camden, Maine REBECCA MARGARET KELLY Campton, New Hampshire SEO JUNG KIM Cheongju, South Korea JOHN BARRY KINNEY Englewood, Colorado CHAD AVERY KNIGHTON Lisbon, New Hampshire LINH MY LE Hanoi, Vietnam LUKE KAI LIN Holderness, New Hampshire HENRY CHENG YANG LIU Beijing, China BRANDON MALIK LOVE Maryville, Tennessee BENJAMIN DYLAN LUZ Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec, Canada TAYLOR ALESSA MAVROUDIS Arusha, Tanzania MARK AUBREY MICHAELS Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec, Canada REID ANTHONY MORESCHI Brentwood, Tennessee TEAGAN ROSE MOSENTHAL Campton, New Hampshire THAO PHAN THU NGUYEN Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam LIAM APPALACHIAN O'REILLY Bow, New Hampshire GREGORY ALLAN OSBORNE Stamford, Connecticut MARGARET EMLEN PEAKE Nashville, Tennessee WILLIAM RYAN PEATMAN Waterville Valley, New Hampshire CAYLA ANNE PENNY Thornton, New Hampshire PAIGE ELIZABETH PFENNINGER Holderness, New Hampshire
WILLIAM FLETCHER PRICKETT Danvers, Massachusetts CHRISTINA CARSON RAICHLE Bethlehem, New Hampshire LUCAS ABBOTT RANDLE Concord, Massachusetts KATHERINE O'SHAUGHNESSY REMIEN Winnetka, Illinois MARGUERITE WILDE ROBERTS Duxbury, Massachusetts CAMERON JOSEPH ROBERTSON Amherst, Massachusetts JAKE ANDREW ROSENCRANZ Weston, Massachusetts JAMES PERRY ROWE Weston, Massachusetts LEAH ELIZABETH SCARALIA Boca Raton, Florida SEUNGWOO SHIN Seoul, South Korea ANNA NELL STANLEY Dorchester, Massachusetts ANDREW QUENTIN STARR Norwalk, Connecticut HANNAH ELIZABETH STOWE Gilford, New Hampshire WILLIAM WHITMORE TESSIER Mirror Lake, New Hampshire JAMES EMMANUAL ALLAN TYRRELL Dorval, Quebec, Canada JOHN CREWE VATCHER Kennebunk, Maine LILLIAN JEANNE VITTUM Plymouth, New Hampshire ZIJIE WEN Xiamen, China JOHN EDWARD YANCHITIS Saranac Lake, New York QIANYI ZHANG Beijing, China
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Class of 2015 College Destinations
Babson College Bates College Bentley University Boston University Bowdoin College Chapman University Colby College Colgate University Colorado College Concordia University–Montreal Connecticut College Dartmouth College Davidson College Denison University Emerson College
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Emmanuel College Endicott College Eugene Lang College Franklin and Marshall College Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering Gettysburg College Hobart and William Smith Colleges Johns Hopkins University Kenyon College McGill University Montana State University– Bozeman New York University
Northeastern University Queen's University Rhode Island School of Design Sacred Heart University Skidmore College St. Lawrence University Syracuse University The George Washington University Trinity College Tufts University University of Cincinnati University of Colorado at Boulder University of Connecticut University of Denver
University of Miami University of New Hampshire University of Puget Sound University of Utah University of Vermont Villanova University Washington and Lee University Wellesley College Westminster College Whitman College Whittier College
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older you get, you will find that there are fewer “ The and fewer opportunities to start fresh and ‘begin again.’ Many of you are heading to colleges where you don’t know anyone, and although that’s scary, it’s also very exciting. You have an opportunity to reinvent yourself.” – INTERIM ASSOCIATE HEAD OF SCHOOL TOBI PFENNINGER
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do these things add up to? Diversity, collaboration, courage, “ Soandwhat humor? They add up to a set of life skills that will last you forever. They are skills that will give you the ability to work well in a global community with confidence, persistence, and a smile…It will be a delight to watch you care for humankind and the world we share over the long, bright future ahead of you.” – CHAIR OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES JIM HAMBLIN ’77 P ’08, ’15
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Scenes from Commencement 2015
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2015 Commencement Awards 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. seniors inducted in r Emma Claire Bell Abrams r Jeremy Paly Batchelder r Austin Michael Beutner r Youngjae Cha r Thien Thuan Chau r Grace Clark Eagan r Charles Hagen Harker III r Peter Stanley Hastings r Annie Bailey Hayes r John Barry Kinney r Thao Phan Thu Nguyen r Paige Elizabeth Pfenninger r Leah Elizabeth Scaralia r Marguerite Wilde Roberts r Qianyi Zhang juniors inducted in r Margaret Kent Barton r Alan James Chabot, Jr. r Margaret Kerubo Cunha r Zachary Aristotle Chernin r Joseph Howard Gillis r Yihe Jiang r Nathan James Sampo
Book Awards THE HARRY G. ANDERSON, JR. MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP FOR EXCELLENCE IN MATH AND SCIENCE Zhaowei Yu ’ THE RENSSELAER MEDAL Zachary Aristotle Chernin ’
THE ELEMENTARY MATH PRIZE Yiyang Mao ’
THE ELEMENTARY LATIN PRIZE Reese Daniel Thompson ’
THE SCIENCE PRIZE Qianyi Zhang ’
THE ADVANCED SPANISH PRIZE Cameron Joseph Robertson ’
THE SPARGO AWARD FOR SCIENCE John Barry Kinney ’
THE ELEMENTARY SPANISH PRIZE Karina Elizabeth Bladon ’
THE ENGLISH PRIZE Charlotte Anne Freccia ’
THE CHINESE PRIZE Natalie McBeath ’
THE POETRY PRIZE Leah Elizabeth Scaralia ’
THE WILLIAM BRADFORD WHITING PRIZE FOR ART Qianyi Zhang ’
THE WRITING PRIZE Rebecca Margaret Kelly ’ Annie Bailey Hayes ’ THE SEAN GLEW HISTORY PRIZE Abigail Lynch Wiseman ’ THE CONNOR HISTORY MEDAL Catherine Hayden McLaughlin ’ THE ASHWORTH AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN UNITED STATES HISTORY Yihe Jiang ’
THE MUSIC AWARD Margaret Emlen Peake ’ Zijie Wen ’ THE FIORE CUP FOR THEATRE Charlotte Anne Freccia ’ Charles Matheson Day ’ THE CERAMICS PRIZE Thao Phan Thu Nguyen ’ THE PHOTOGRAPHY PRIZE Zhen Ren ’
THE ASHWORTH AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN EUROPEAN HISTORY Jeremy Paly Batchelder ’
THE THEOLOGY PRIZE Elly Ann Bengtsson ’
THE ADVANCED FRENCH PRIZE Frederic Cyr ’ Annie Bailey Hayes ’
THE KENYON COLLEGE PRESIDENTIAL BOOK AWARD Lydia Tatum Fisher ’
THE ELEMENTARY FRENCH PRIZE Jullia Tran ’
THE HARVARD BOOK PRIZE Yihe Jiang ’
THE ADVANCED LATIN PRIZE Peter Stanley Hastings ’
THE ACADEMIC AWARD Peter Stanley Hastings ’
THE ADVANCED MATH PRIZE John Barry Kinney ’
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2015 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 Abigail Guerra ’ THE M.J. LAFOLEY AWARD For outstanding character and integrity in the third or fourth form Rachel Tejeda ’ THE BOB BROOKS AWARD For making Holderness feel like home to ninth-graders Elly Ann Bengtsson ’ THE COACH’S AWARD For contributions to the spirit of Holderness on and off the field Claire Michelle Caputi ’ Christopher Michael Hyland ’ THE WEBSTER CUP AWARD For excellence in athletics Chad Avery Knighton ’ Nikkol Lillian Blair ’ THE NED GILLETTE SPIRIT AWARD For leadership, competitive attitude, and a spirit of adventure Parker Adams Densmore ’ THE DON AND PAT HENDERSON AWARD For contributions to the welfare of the community Qianyi Zhang ’ THE RICHARD C. GALLOP AWARD For creative and community leadership Seo Jung Kim ’ THE DANA H. ROWE MEMORIAL AWARD Given to a senior girl for academic achievement, participation in sports and extracurricular activities, and love of life Emily Edge Clifford ’
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Abigail Guerra ’12 receiving the Rev. B.W. “Pete” Woodward, Jr. Prize that is awarded to a Holderness graduate in his or her junior year of college for exceptional leadership, academic achievement, and/or service to his or her college community.
THE CLARKSON AWARD For using his abilities to the fullest and persevering no matter the circumstances Matthew Deyo Garner ’
THE MARSHALL AWARD For outstanding contributions to the life of the school Charles Matheson Day ’
THE HASLAM AWARD For excellence in athletics, sportsmanship, and scholarship Emma Claire Bell Abrams ’
THE WALTER ALVIN FROST AWARD For reaching the highest standards of the school Charles Hagen Harker III ’
THE DALLAS AWARD For loyalty and dedication to the Judeo-Christian ideals of the school John Barry Kinney ’ THE RIGHT REV. DOUGLAS E. THEUNER AWARD For increasing and furthering the mission of Holderness School Douglas Theuner (posthumously)
THE FACULTY AWARD For her hard work, consistently positive attitude, and immeasurable compassion for others Leah Elizabeth Scaralia ’ THE DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD For exemplifying the highest standards of the school James “Jake” Norton ’
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not only possible, but inevitable What do you do When no one is looking? or to put it another Way, When the Work day is done and there are a feW extra minutes before dinner, hoW do you spend your time? do you listen to music? read? play video games? find a local trail and run? and Who is by your side? Will you be alone or Will you Welcome the company of others? by emily magnus ’88 and rick carey
T
he Global Village is a place we all know but cannot find on any map. It did not exist in 1962, when Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan coined its name, but in The
Gutenberg Galaxy he predicted its founding in the web of “electronic interdependence” that he foresaw would eventually link all our computers. And today, thanks to that interdependence, communication with the farthest reaches of the planet is as fast as the click of a mouse, and the electronics of the Global Village are packed to bursting with a heady mix of easy-to-access entertainment and information.
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What’s missing, however, is a sense of place—and all the sensory experiences that belong to that place. “A kid today can likely tell you about the Amazon rain forest,” writes Richard Louv in his 2005 book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, “but not about the last time he or she explored the woods in solitude, or lay in a field listening to the wind and watching the clouds move.” It’s this disconnect that makes it so easy for some people to ignore the environmental crises occurring around the world. Shut the door, turn on your air conditioning, and it doesn’t matter that global temperatures continue to rise. The world inside a shopping mall is always clean and neat, the plants green and lush. And if the paint gets chipped and the furniture worn out, it’s simply a matter of ordering a dumpster and starting over. Meanwhile, at Holderness, this disconnect doesn’t seem to occur. Holderness people—staff, faculty, students, etc.—have an almost ineffable connection with nature. Yes, there’s Out Back and outdoor chapel and daily sports and walks between classes; those are all ways to connect with the world that is not made by man. But look closely and another level of intimacy is apparent, something lasting that seems to get inside the soul and compel one to think differently. There’s an inevitability about it— look in any direction and there it is. Students, despite temperatures below zero, choose to spend their afternoons building lean-tos out of pine boughs in preparation for Out Back. When a snowstorm blankets the campus in a foot of powder, those same students don’t hunker down next to a warm fire with cups of hot
Camp C.A.T., circa 1891, one of many early camps built by Holderness boys in the woods near campus.
cocoa; they build jumps on Chapel Hill and dig tunnels in the snow banks surrounding Bartsch. And in spring, when it comes, they haul their chairs out onto the Quad to watch the end of a baseball game, or sit on the path, savoring the warm breezes. A heat wave in the middle of summer? At least one faculty member discovered that a short run up Route 175 can end in a delightful water run in the Pemigewassett River back to the Lower Fields. But what is it that cultivates these habits, this engagement with the outdoors? Why at Holderness have we succeeded at connecting young boys (and now girls as well) with nature? Why do they seem to crave these sensory experiences and seek to understand their relationship with the natural world? It’s a story that begins at Holderness and plays out beautifully in the local community—but has implications for a much broader world.
NOTICING
PHOTOGRAPH ON PAGES 18–19: Squam Lake, as seen from West Rattlesnake Mountain. Photograph by Ken Hamilton.
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Head of School Phil Peck is a staunch believer in not using cell phones in public places. That means no receiving texts from your mom during lunch or checking the
weather between classes. This can be downright impractical in an age when students store their schedules on their phones and snap pictures of the notes their teachers have written on the board; but the benefits outweigh the inconveniences. Put away your cell phone on your walk to class and not only do you notice and acknowledge the people walking by, but you also have time to notice nature—a gentle mist rolling over the Quad in the early morning, slashing rain making puddles on the baseball diamond, relentless winds tossing the white pines on the crest of the hill to and fro like paper dolls. As busy as the Holderness schedule can be, there are times for noticing that aren’t necessarily there in the modern world. But Holderness’s built-in opportunities to commune with nature started long before Phil became head of school. Rev. Frederick Gray, the school’s first headmaster, encouraged the first Holderness boys to build camps in the woods beyond the school rather than walk into town for a movie or a bite to eat. Then what began as underground dugouts, evolved into solid camps built of boards and planks—places
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“THE NATURE-LOVING SPIRIT OF THE BOYS BECAME GENERAL…AND EVEN THOSE WHO HAD LITTLE ENTERPRISE WERE CHALLENGED TO JOIN IN THE GENERAL CRAZE AND TO WORK OUT OF DOORS. MANY A SICKLY FELLOW FOUND HIS DAILY CHOPPING AND OPENAIR LABORS BETTER THAN A DOZEN DOCTOR’S PRESCRIPTIONS.” — OLLAPODRIDA, 1891 (HOLDERNESS NEWSPAPER/YEARBOOK) that on weekend afternoons witnessed gatherings of students and faculty sharing flapjacks and campfire coffee. And just down the road on Squam Lake, Chocorua Island claims to be the world’s birthplace of the summer camp, a place dedicated to the combination of youngsters, woods, and water. Founded in 1881, Camp Chocorua was established by the Balch family (the same family that donated the land for Holderness School) and counted several students from the new Holderness School for Boys among its first recruits. “These youth camps not only spread throughout Squam’s shores, but eventually across New England, this nation, and beyond,” wrote Executive Director of the Squam Lakes Conservation Society Roger Larochelle in his organization’s newsletter. “In my view, the notion of building character through outdoor experiences in a supportive community, succinctly referred to as ‘camp,’ is Squam’s greatest export ever.” In other words, it’s part of our DNA.
THE HABITS OF OUR COMMUNITY But what does this look like beyond Holderness? After graduation or after work is done for the day, what are the habits of our community then? It’s easy to point to graduates like Ned Gillette ’63 or Chris Davenport ’89 or Nikki Kimball ’89, who have dedicated their lives to significant and inspiring adventures in the outdoors. But there’s a simpler story, one that returns to the lake where the Balches originally dis-
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covered the importance of connecting boys with nature. Biology teacher Maggie Mumford grew up on that same lake. Her father, Henry Crane, who was Holderness School’s physician, bought Hadley Island on Squam, and the family spent summers canoeing, kayaking, and living simply in their one-bedroom cabin. Then when Maggie returned to the area to raise her three children, she wasn’t satisfied to just live on the lake; quickly she became involved in its preservation, first as a board member for the Squam Lakes Association. It was during her time on the board that Maggie first recognized the dangers of variable milfoil, a rapidly growing aquatic plant that can create dense mats of vegetation, displacing native plants and choking the aquaculture. Under her leadership, the SLA became proactive in developing plans to eradicate the plant from Squam. “We tried everything,” says Maggie. “We were out there with 100-foot mats trying to cover the plants. We tried pulling the plants by hand, treating them with herbicides, and suction harvesting them. It was total trial and error.” But thanks to Maggie’s persistence and the hard work of biologists at the SLA, the variable milfoil on Squam, while not eradicated, remains under control. Nowadays Maggie, in addition to fulfilling her teaching duties at Holderness, acts as the school’s sustainability coordinator and is on the education committee at the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center. As the organization goes through an extensive
audit of all its programs and exhibits this year, one thing the board members are considering is how to collaborate with Holderness School and other conservation organization in the area. “All the organizations want to formalize their relationships,” says Maggie. “As Holderness designs its new science building, we are asking questions like, ‘How can we design our facility to best prepare our students for research and collaboration with local experts and their data?’ And they in turn are asking, ‘How can we involve high school students in our programs?’ It’s a partnership from which all the organizations will greatly benefit.” But it’s not just the organizations that will benefit. “It’s for the sake of our children,” says Maggie. “They will inherit the biosphere from our generation, a generation which has tended to measure time by quarterly reports instead of by the rhythm of life cycles, ecological implications, and evolution.”
THE NEXT GENERATION In 2005 Molly Adriance Whitcomb ’86 began to think about this same relationship. She too grew up on the shores of Squam Lake and had also explored its woods, listened to its winds, and on its waters played king-of-the-raft with other kids. At Holderness School, thanks to Out Back and other outdoor activities, she had learned to love what Squam and its environs offered even more deeply. But in 2005, living in Concord, NH, her own son wasn’t so lucky. Confined to a
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protected wilderness, Molly decided to help spread SLCS’s story. Fortunately, she wasn’t alone.
THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY
On a quiet afternoon in early summer, Molly Whitcomb ’86 explores the preserved shoreline of Hodges Cove near her family’s home in Holderness.
quarter-acre lot on the outskirts of downtown, he didn’t have much room to play and often seemed out-of-sorts. She wondered—did he simply need some woods, water, and wind? Would some king-of-theraft help? The Whitcombs decided to move north onto a lot carved out from her great-grandfather’s land, and into a house—like nearly every other house on Squam—set in woods well back from the shoreline. While school and sports teams filled some of their time, Molly’s son and daughter also became mud pie connoisseurs, learned the craft of building tree forts, and wore through endless pairs of rubber boots exploring the property’s streams and marshes. Then, as in so many cases, cost of living concerns loomed, threatening the idyll. Taxes on the property rose significantly, and Molly’s extended family—aunts, uncles, parents, and siblings—struggled to keep the original 25 acres her great-grandfather, George Hodges, had purchased in the late 1800s. Would they be able to hold on to the land for the next century, or even the next generation?
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Of all the options available to them, a conservation easement, held by the Squam Lakes Conservation Society, made the most sense. With a conservation easement, a landowner voluntarily agrees to sell or donate certain rights associated with his or her property—often the right to subdivide or develop—and a private organization or public agency agrees to hold the right and to enforce the landowner’s promise not to exercise those rights. Depending on the terms of the easement, taxes can be significantly reduced, especially if development of that land is no longer possible. In the case of Molly’s family, an easement on their waterfront property went to the SLCS, and they agreed never to build or develop that land, leaving it wild for their children’s discovery and exploration. It was a solution that made sensory experiences and a sense of place financially accessible for this and future generations. Problem solved? Sort of. But many other families in the area faced the same dilemma—hold onto valuable property and preserve its wildness at great financial risk or sell out to developers. Now that her own children were settled in their slice of
Established in 1960, the SLCS is a land conservation organization that achieves long-term protection for the Squam Lakes Watershed by “seeking, holding, and monitoring land conservation easements and by accepting land ownership.” Interestingly, the organization’s past and current rosters read like the attendee lists for a Holderness School reunion. It’s original members included long-time Squam Lakes residents like Russell Orton ’39—father of former trustee and Holderness graduates Piper Orton ’74 and Leslie Orton-Mahar ’73 (he is also the grandfather of Haley Mahar ’12). And the current SLCS board? Martha Macomber—former Holderness School faculty, wife of former Assistant Head Jory Macomber and mother of Sam ’11, Clark ’14, and Anna ’18—sits next to Molly, as does Sam Laverack P ’03 and ’06 and Chip Harris P ’94. Property monitors— those who walk the conservation properties every year and ensure they remain conserved—include Bev LaFoley P ’90, ’95, and ’96, Maggie’s husband Chris Mumford, and Lisa Wardlaw P ’84 and ’85. And this spring, with a revival of the Holderness Outing Club, five students from Holderness spent Wednesday afternoons with the SLCS pulling up invasive species near the organization’s headquarters and marking the boundaries of the organization’s newest conservation properties. The list goes on, the connections too numerous to count. While one could claim that this community cross-over is just a matter of two independent organizations working in close proximity, the web woven between them is made of something stronger. For example, currently the SLCS holds in its care 118 properties with about 8,000 acres of total land.
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“Ninety percent of these lands have been donated,” says SLCS’s Executive Director Roger Larouchelle. “That speaks to the value the community as a whole places on these lands—not in monetary terms, but rather in conservation terms, in keeping them wild and undeveloped in perpetuity.” While the organization’s most conspicuous successes involve its shoreline easements, John Muir would point out— since everything, after all, is connected—that the health and beauty of those lakeside lots depend on what’s happening in the hills. In other words, run-off from the watershed has a direct effect on lake water quality. “These large, wooded upland tracts represent an astonishing success story,” says Roger. “A hundred years ago, they were 80 percent deforested, and now it’s just the opposite. They are part of the 10,000 plus acres that make up the Squam watershed, land that we hope to protect with our newest initiative, the Squam Upland Project.” Holderness School environmental science teacher Reggie Pettitt has the same hope. Reggie originally bought his house and 50 acres in Holderness at auction in 1992. The acreage was up in the hills, several miles from the lake, and boasted a number of small ponds. Reggie looked forward to some selective logging and putting a few of those ponds to work in the aquaculture of small-mouth bass. In the meantime, he and his wife Karen set about raising their three children. Reggie had all the land he needed, but like any land-owner, he worried about what might happen next door, on land that was all second-growth forest. In 1994 he heard from a neighbor that 160 acres of it was for sale. Reggie learned, moreover, that the owner—a Japanese investment firm originally interested in the property’s mineral rights—wanted to sell that and the next adjoining lot as well, a total of 320 acres, as a single package at a very low
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Betsey Pettitt ’11 rings a bell that marks the preservation of her family’s land through a conservation easement held by the Squam Lakes Conservation Society. Roger Larochelle (Executive Director of the SLCS) and Reggie Pettitt (Holderness School science teacher and father of Betsey) share in the celebratory moment.
interest rate. Reggie knew another landowner who abutted his own property and who also abutted the acreage that was up for sale—a man who treasured the woods and who had approached Reggie before about putting some of their land together into conservation easements. Reggie raised the cash for those 320 acres, bought them, and then offered the second lot for sale to his neighbor. By then the neighbor’s lot had been put into an easement, and Reggie was ready for that too. “We always wanted our kids not only to have access to the natural environment, but to see how we treated it,” he says. “Our priority was to be good stewards of the land and leave it in better condition than we found it. So given our family priorities, and the values we attached to the land, this seemed like the right time for it.” This winter, he split his original 50-acre property in half and donated a conservation easement on 225 acres to the SLCS. Reggie’s daughter Betsey ’11, now a geology major at the University of New Hampshire, says she has no regrets about
her father’s decision. “Growing up in a house surrounded by over 200 acres where I could ski, bike, hike, and learn has always, and will continue to be, something I cherish,” she says. And if the house passes to another family? “I will take comfort,” she says, “in the fact that the new homeowners will have a quiet place to relax and enjoy what the land has to offer.” Molly Whitcomb was at the dedication ceremony in March when Reggie and Betsey officially transferred the easement on their property to the SLCS. After exploring the property on snowshoes, a small group of board members and friends of the Pettitts gathered in a clearing surrounded by towering white pines and blanketed in snow. A small campfire burned in the middle of the clearing, but it did little to combat the sub-zero temperatures; down jackets, thick wools hats, and tightly knotted scarves muffled the voices of those gathered as they each in turn shared stories and observations about conservation and preservation. CONTINUED ON PAGE 26
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WHY CONSERVATION MATTERS
for those of us Who already cherish the natural environment, protecting it is a no-brainer; we’re just protecting what we love. But what are the broader implications of protecting a place like Squam? Why do protected forests and lakes matter? We’ve collected a few statistics that indicate the lifetime benefits of spending time outdoors and in natural settings.
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r Outdoor play increases fitness levels and builds active,
r Taylor, Kuo, and Sullivan also discovered that the greener
healthy bodies, an important strategy in helping the one in three American kids who are obese get fit. (cdc.gov/Healthy Youth/obesity) r Spending time outside raises levels of Vitamin D, helping protect children from future bone problems, heart disease, diabetes, and other health issues. (aap.org/advocacy/releases/oct2609studies.htm) r Being out there improves one’s distance vision and lowers the chance of nearsightedness. (journals.lww.com/optvissci/fulltext/2009/01000/what_s_hot_in_myopia_research_the_1 2th.2.aspx) r A study by University of Illinois researchers Andrea Faber Taylor, Frances E. Kuo, and William C. Sullivan has revealed that the symptoms of children with Attention Deficit Disorder (add) are relieved after contact with nature. The greener the setting, the more the relief. Children actually perform better on schoolwork after those experiences. By comparison, activities indoors such as watching TV, or outdoors in paved, non-green areas leave add children functioning worse. (“Coping With add: The Surprising Connection to Green Play Settings,” Environment and Behavior. Vol. 33 No. 1. January 2001. 54-77)
and more natural a girl’s view from home, the better she scores on tests of self-discipline. In turn, the greater a young girl’s self-discipline, the more likely she is to do well in school, avoid unhealthy or risky behaviors and to behave in ways that foster success in life. r The development of imagination and a sense of wonder have been positively linked to children’s early, appropriate experiences with the natural world (Cobb 1997). A sense of wonder is an important motivator for life-long learning (Wilson 1997). r Areas with trees may help prevent early childhood asthma (Lovasi, G. S., Quinn, J. W., Neckerman, K. M., Perzanowski, M. S., & Rundle, A. (2008). “Children living in areas with more street trees have lower prevalence of asthma.” Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 62(7), 647-649.) r And although organized sports provide good exercise and good lessons in self-discipline, research has shown that “The obesity epidemic coincides with the greatest increase in organized children’s sports in history.” What children really need is unstructured time in nature. (Louv, Richard, Last Child in the Woods)
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THE DECISION TO GO FOR A HIKE
MT. WASHINGTON AND MT. CLAY, SEEN FROM THE EDMANDS PATH NEAR ITS INTERSECTION WITH THE CRAWFORD PATH (AT).
by Jesse ross ’13 When Jesse Ross was born, he spent the first 20 days of his life at the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth–Hitchcock (CHaD). Born with persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN), a severe pulmonary disorder, Jesse was fortunate to receive the care of the dedicated staff at CHaD; they quickly diagnosed his problem and got him the help he needed. Now a healthy and active teenager, Jesse has decided to give back to CHaD, while at the same time fulfilling a life-long dream—hiking the Appalachian Trail. As a native to New Hampshire and as a student of environmental engineering at the University of New Hampshire, Jesse has both a technical understanding of humans’ relationships with the environment and an emotional connection to a small part of the AT. But seeking a more intimate and comprehensive understanding, Jesse began his hike on March 1, stripping away the unnecessary and focusing his attention on his day-to-day experiences. Below are excerpts from his blog before he departed: Hike across Franconia Ridge during a summer sunset, traverse the Presidential Range, ski Cannon, Bretton Woods, Sugarloaf, Washington, Stratton or Wildcat, hide from hail in July, and posthole for miles in March. Any and all of these memorable experiences call forth some feeling of humility, excitement, frustration, and curiosity.
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I am choosing to hike along the Appalachian Mountains because they have been my vantage point to life. I have used these hills, rocks, and elevations to determine how I want to engage with the world. Physically, my legs are strong because of these mountains. Mentally, I hardly ever consider a summit’s elevation without comparing it to 6,288 (the summit elevation of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire). But there is so much more to see and learn in these mountains. I have experienced just a fraction of this specific range. I want to know where the ridge comes from and where it goes next. The decision to take time away from school came naturally, and it is easily justified by the possible takeaways from this experience. Turning wishes and desires into goals and actions, I’m postponing my academic track for a dose of exposure. I am blessed to live without heavy responsibility right now, and I am excited about taking advantage of this time. It is difficult to leave any comfortable place, but this is an awesome opportunity, and I cannot wait to learn and grow. I totally stand behind the common belief that if you want to expand in any way, “what got you here, isn’t the same thing that will take you further”; to expand you must always be building. I am sure this trek up America will enhance my perspective on so many things. I am hopeful that the gained grit and ability to be happy while uncomfortable will carry into the rest of my adventures. I’ll certainly be hitting the trail in March carrying the Holderness OB saying: "Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must.” It is time to strip away some of this material structure and see what is left.
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“THE FUTURE WILL BELONG TO THE NATURE-SMART—THOSE INDIVIDUALS, FAMILIES, BUSINESSES, AND POLITICAL LEADERS WHO DEVELOP A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF THE NATURAL WORLD AND WHO BALANCE THE VIRTUAL WITH THE REAL. THE MORE HIGH-TECH WE BECOME, THE MORE NATURE WE NEED.” — RICHARD LOUV, LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23 “For me it was a coming together of two very different worlds,” says Molly. On one side of the circle were the students and faculty of Holderness School, those who she often sees on the nordic ski trails at Holderness every winter; on the other side of the circle were her fellow board members from the SLCS. And in between, a part of both circles, were Reggie and Betsey. Despite the cold, the group didn’t rush; their sense of purpose and their understanding of their roles in the preservation of the Squam watershed brought gravity to the task at hand. Quietly, they listened as Roger Larochelle shared his story of the brass bell that would mark the land as preserved in perpetuity. “This bell used to belong to a member of the French Resistance who fought in the French Revolution,” Roger explained. “When I told him about the preservation efforts of the SLCS, he gave me this bell. It’s a symbol of the revolutionary spirit necessary for change. We are working together and doing something that is revolutionary, protecting land on a local and private level.” And as the bell was rung—once by Roger, once by Reggie, and once by Betsey—their intentions were clear; they were doing this together, and they were doing it for their lifetime and the lifetime of generations to come.
ANOTHER APPROACH Conservation easements are one way to protect Squam, but the Squam Lakes Association has taken a different approach.
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Founded in 1904, the SLA protects the Squam Lakes watershed through land management, education, and outreach programs. During the summers they run low-impact adventure camps and sailing camps, and throughout the year monitor water quality and wildlife as well as maintain over 50 miles of hiking trails. One of the people in charge of these efforts is Director of Conservation Becca Hanson ’97. “We’re keeping an eye on several things,” says Becca. “Some old septic systems, storm runoff, the impact of road salt, invasive plant species.” Becca grew up in the town of Holderness, and as a serious Nordic skier, with Holderness School faculty children among her friends, it “just seemed inevitable,” she says, that she would attend the town’s namesake school. Once she began majoring in biology at the University of New Hampshire, she found herself disheartened at the prospect of a life spent mostly in a lab. With that, she switched to environmental science. After a decade divided between shellfish aquaculture on Cape Cod, ski bumming in Wyoming, and environmental education in southern California, Becca returned home in 2011 to become the SLA’s chief environmental watchdog. “This area has always felt like home,” she says. “I reflect often on how lucky I am to work here and to help protect the resource that called me back home.” And certainly there are threats. Variable milfoil continues to be a problem. And only two common loon chicks hatched on
Squam in 2013—with just one surviving its first summer. Loon populations across the state continue to plummet, and while the ingestion of lead fishing tackle and the loss of habitat are part of the problem, scientists are beginning to believe there is more to the story. It’s a problem Becca and her crew continue to investigate. One insight into the problem presented itself, not surprisingly, back on campus at Holderness School. Becca had heard about a series of student-organized presentations and returned to her alma matter to listen to Burt Sweeney of the Stroud Institute, a research center “dedicated to understanding the ecology of streams, rivers, and their watersheds — both pristine and polluted.” Burt did not have answers for Becca, but the access to another set of researchers and another set of experimental data has proven invaluable as she searches for answers to the loon’s demise. On the other hand, Squam supports healthy populations of salmon, trout, smelt, and both large- and small-mouth bass, and its water clarity is better than four meters (which is considered “healthy” for this type of lake), in some places better than ten, thanks in part to that protected watershed. Becca does an annual report for the SLA membership, and in the 2014 edition she was glad to note “low levels of microscopic plant growth, low phosphorous and nutrient concentrations, clear waters, and high oxygen concentration throughout the water column.” Each fall Becca passes this knowledge on to a new generation of Holderness
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students, as the school’s biology teachers—including Maggie Mumford—enlist her help in teaching students about lake ecology, water quality, and lake turnover. Becca also teaches her own sort of summer camp, a thirteen-week conservation internship program, enrollment limited to eight, in which she passes on the practical aspects of her ecological caretaking skills. “They’re mostly college students or recent grads,” she says, “and it’s a lifechanging experience for some of them.” Perhaps one day, they too will return to Squam and become part of this dedicated community that is actively engaged in preserving and conserving not just the lake itself but its entire watershed.
Becca Hanson ’97 with Holderness students Precious Ozoh ’16 and Ben Tessier ’17 during a biology field trip on Squam Lake in 2013.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF OUTREACH In the end, the Global Village may actually be of some help in protecting Squam and the sustainability of its environs. Sawyer Gardner ’15 thinks so. A native of Fairbanks, AK, Sawyer heard about Holderness from Fred Harbison ’89, also a Fairbanks resident, and a frequent guest group leader on Out Back. Sawyer came to Holderness as a sophomore, went out on Out Back as a junior, and was beguiled by Reggie Pettitt’s environmental science course. In this, the spring of her senior year, she completed a senior thesis project culminating in both a written report and a public presentation. Frequently projects such as these have a public service aspect, and such was the case with Sawyer’s. “In March I worked for the SLCS,” she said. “I helped them use different forms of electronic media—their website, a newsletter, Facebook, Twitter, and so on—in helping them to achieve their objective, to teach about the importance of conservation. The point here, though, will be to reach not just people inside the SLCS, but outside the organization as well.”
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It’s an educational initiative on ecological interdependence facilitated, as it were, by the electronic sort. It’s outreach to those who love Squam without spoiling it, and an appeal to our understanding of sense of place and to our shared sense of fate. Everything is hitched to everything else, said John Muir, and his statement has taken on a McLuhan-like clairvoyance in the age of the Global Village. So what do you do when no one is looking? When your teachers are done guiding you and helping mold your thoughts and actions, and you’ve graduated beyond being told what to do, what do you do with your time? Thoreau’s contemplations at Walden Pond contain a valuable lesson: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Everyone deserves a chance to dig around in the mud, so to speak, to engage in primary experiences. The siren songs of technology may at times have their value, but as Thoreau, and decades later Molly Whitcomb’s son, discovered, the lessons of
Mother Nature are equally if not more valuable, in a simple and beautiful way. In 2014, at the annual meeting of the SLCS, keynote speaker Larry Selzer—president and CEO of The Conservation Fund—echoed Thoreau’s now timeless declaration: “Whole and healthy children, vibrant communities, and vast, intact landscapes of forests and lakes—it is time we began to speak of these things as if they were not only possible, but inevitable.” Indeed. And this little community, through instinct, engagement, and deeply engrained values, is doing just that. The Holderness model is succeeding because the people involved care not just on a superficial level that “it’s the right thing to do,” but because it is their way of life. They are also succeeding because no one organization or individual is working alone. Compartmentalized land and projects no longer exist; the interconnections may sometimes be through fiber optics, but they are also through soil and deeds and generations. It’s a model that holds up the possibility for what works, for what happens when organizations pool their resources and work together.
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Joseph watching “his kids” along the sidelines of a football game last fall.
Catching Up With Joseph Hayes NOT MERELY INDISPENSABLE Woody Allen once said that eighty percent of success was just showing up. That’s only one way, however, in which Joseph Hayes defines—and models—success. by rick carey LAST APRIL, WHILE THE WEATHER STILL RESTED on its tipping
he’s always pleasant, and he never complains. He just flashes that smile
point between winter and spring, Head of School Phil Peck sat with
and gets to work.”
Joseph Hayes in Weld. “How much longer do you want to keep working at Holderness?” Phil
“After he checks the meal menu for the day,” laughs Assistant Director Paul Dullea. “That always comes first.”
asked Joseph. “Maybe three more years,” Joseph said. “That gives Gayle enough time to find someone to replace me.” Retirement in 2018? That certainly provides Director of Food Services
AND WITH SUCH A LENGTHY CAREER, Joseph’s memories stretch back to times when the dining hall, and the school, were much different. Joseph remembers a time when there wasn’t room in Weld Hall’s kitchen
Gayle Youngman with ample notice. And it would give this popular kitchen
for a freezer, when he and other kitchen workers had to go outside in
worker a length of service to Holderness that climbs up to a nice round
whatever sort of weather to fetch frozen food. He also remembers what “a
number, one unequalled in the long history of the school: fifty years.
tight ship,” was run by former plant manager Rip Richards, and the
At the head’s table at the south end of the hall, light that warmed more to spring than winter streamed in through the table’s alcove windows. Phil volunteered that Joseph has become a role model to other
unsinkable geniality of Don Hagerman. “Anytime you went into his office,” Joseph said, “if you were nervous, immediately you’d just totally relax.” Among the thousands of students he has known, he remembers best
people on campus, and particularly the school’s non-teaching staff. “A
those dishwashers who have come back to join the faculty and been in
role model in three different ways,” Phil said. “You always engage with the
his life the longest: history teacher Andrew Sheppe ’00, for example, or
kids who work with you in the Job Program. You have an unbelievable
Director of Residential Life Duane Ford ’74. Then there was Chaplain
work ethic. And you also have a healthy lifestyle.”
Rich Weymouth ’70: “I remember him for how short he was,” Joseph said.
Joseph smiled and shrugged. “I do try to eat healthy,” he said—but that’s not too hard since he’s got Gayle Youngman looking after him.
Phil couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s right; Rich was something like 5'2", 110 pounds here. He didn’t hit his growth spurt until he was in college.”
Gayle is the fifth director of food services for whom Joseph has
Little Rich played football, hockey, and lacrosse at Holderness, and
worked in his 47 years, and Gayle marvels not just at Joseph’s warmth,
then went on to star in lacrosse in his full-sized version at the University
but also his spotless attendance record and his impregnable élan and
of New Hampshire.
good humor. “He can come in during the morning and find dirty pots and pans stacked all the way to the ceiling,” she says. “But no matter what,
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and that’s where success begins with joseph, who has never given himself a free pass, who is relentlessly conscious of his duty to others, and who is as reliable as the sun and stars in appearing when expected, day in and day out. AFTER WORK JOSEPH GOES HOME TO THE HOLDERNESS
BACK IN THE DINING HALL, PHIL WONDERED, “But why here,
house in which he grew up, just a few miles from the school. A mile in the
Joseph? Why have you stayed at Holderness with this job so long?”
other direction is Holderness Central School where he attended first
“I just really love the kids,” Joseph answered, and in fact those person-
through eighth grade. Later he went to Ashland High School, and then—
al ties have made him not just a regular of Out Back, but also a fixture on
immediately after his graduation in 1966—was drafted into the US Army.
the sidelines over the years at football and soccer games, at cross-country
He served two years, including a long stint in combat support in Vietnam, as a cook’s helper. Then, when Joseph’s enlistment was up in 1968, Headmaster Don Hagerman hired him to do much the same work
races, at the rink and on the courts. He’s been cheering on his kids, the big ones and the small. And when he is not cheering for the Bulls, he is an active, dutiful
here as he had done in the Army. Joseph, however, wasn’t quite done
member of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Elks
with military life. In 1972 he joined the National Guard, where he became
Club, the Squam Lake Association, and the Pemigewasset Valley Fish and
a field artillery specialist. In 2005 he was honored by the Guard for a
Game Club. “Do you miss being in the National Guard?” Phil wondered.
record unequalled in its own long history: the fewest duty days missed over a 33-year career. And that’s where success begins with Joseph, who has never given
“No, but I miss seeing the boys,” Joseph said. “But it’s alright. I see a lot of them at the Legion, the VFW, and the Elks Club.” Co-worker Kerry O’Connell, who came to Holderness 32 years ago,
himself a free pass, who is relentlessly conscious of his duty to others,
would be one of the senior members on most food service teams; but
and who is as reliable as the sun and stars in appearing when expected,
with Joseph on staff, he is not even close. Like Joseph, he’s been at
day in and day out.
Holderness long enough to remember when Phil Peck succeeded the retiring Pete Woodward in 2001. “Phil met with each of us and talked
MEANWHILE, AFTER HIS RELEASE FROM DUTY, Joseph decided
about the work we were doing,” Kerry says. “And he assured us that we
that physical fitness should be part of his Holderness lifestyle as it had
were all valuable, if not indispensable, and played important roles.”
been during his military career. When he first began working at
Kerry believes that to be true; but if “indispensable” is synonymous
Holderness, Joseph ran regularly with the school’s cross-country teams,
with “irreplaceable,” then really the statement is true for only one mem-
climbed all the area mountains, and snowshoed in the winter. These days,
ber of the staff. “Joseph Hayes is the only person here who is literally
he no longer runs, but he continues to snowshoe during the winter, and
irreplaceable,” Kerry says. “Nobody fills the position like he does—and
during the warmer months he can be seen taking long walks most morn-
nobody ever will again.”
ings on the bike path along Route 3 in Holderness. Joseph also often hikes up to the Outdoor Chapel for services, even in February when Rich Weymouth organizes an Out Back chapel service for juniors. And each March he reliably snowshoes into Out Back’s base
“You don’t even think about just punching a clock, do you, Joseph?” Phil observed. “If there’s work to do, then you’re just going to be here to do it.” And he is, and will be—for a few more years at least, after which this
camp to help out there. “I tell kids that Joseph is the longest-running OB
most convivial of men will settle into the autumn of a retirement for
participant in the almost fifty-year history of the program,” says English
which the phrase “well-earned” falls well short. And Gayle Youngman and
teacher and OB Director Lance Galvin ’90. “I think he’s washed every sin-
Paul Dullea will be left to find a replacement for the irreplaceable.
gle OB solo cooking pot in the life of the program.”
Uh-huh—good luck with that.
AT LEFT: Joseph in his full Out Back gear during an outdoor chapel service this past winter.
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Strategic Planning Scorecard: A Pilot Schedule The Scorecard is a series of articles in which Head of School Phil Peck discusses what Holderness School is doing to move forward on the initiatives outlined in the Strategic Plan. Time and motion. From academics to sports, from dinner to advising, it seems there are never enough hours in a day to be fully present and attentive to all of one’s responsibilities. And that’s exactly why our updated strategic plan has put before us the following task: “We will revitalize our operations and work processes, our health and wellness opportunities, our schedule and calendars, and our collaborative practices with the goal of creating a balanced, healthy, and productive lifestyle.” With that in mind, I asked Interim Associate Head of School Tobi Pfenninger and coo Steve Solberg to look at Holderness’s academic schedule and figure out how we might organize it better.
Benchmarks Tobi began by gathering schedules from over schools. She compared the number of minutes other schools set aside for different classes and how that time is arranged—How long do their classes meet? What time do they start? Are there classes on Saturdays? With schedules in hand, she also attended several conferences and thought about the unique needs of our students. Current research indicates that most teenagers can only concentrate on a task for about minutes; back-toback classes without breaks in between are not ideal. And sleep; is it possible to better accommodate teenagers’ natural sleep patterns?
Outcomes Then came the hard part: constructing a schedule that incorporated all that they had learned and was an efficient use of time. While the main goal was to design a schedule that organized classroom time in the best possible sequence, Tobi took on the mathematical challenge of incorporating three additional
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What’s the score? In this issue we take a look at the school’s weekly schedule.
activities: leadership training, student advising, and designated club meetings. After many, many drafts, Tobi and the administrative team managed to create a schedule that not only addressed these three priorities but also offered such innovations as faculty meetings on Thursday mornings (which meant a sleep-in for all students!).
Measuring Progress For two weeks in April, we tried the schedule, stumbling through the new pattern, discerning what worked and what didn’t. Then Tobi asked for feedback. One third of the students responded to her survey, and nearly two thirds of the faculty—reinforcing for us how important scheduling is to the community. On the positive side, the new schedule never required students to attend more than two classes in a row. The students also appreciated the Thursday morning sleep-ins and the short conference blocks that were built into the academic day and could be used to meet with teachers and advisors. The parts of the schedule that were not as well received included the eight o’clock start
(currently the schedule starts at : during the fall and spring) and the shorter lunch (– minutes instead of minutes). Students also found that on Wednesdays and Saturdays the new schedule left little time between classes and athletic commitments.
Iteration With feedback in hand, it’s been back to the drawing board. Tobi met with all interested faculty in May to talk about the next iteration, and after Commencement, she met with next year’s senior leaders. The goal is to have a new schedule in place by the end of the summer. Then, perhaps we can tackle the winter schedule—which has a whole new set of challenges and opportunities. It’s exciting to watch the action items in the strategic plan begin to take shape. Fortunately, this community is filled with intelligent and insightful people who are willing to put in the time to help us move forward and improve all facets of the school.
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Leadership Ballot Redux Alumni no doubt remember participating in the Holderness School election process—the silence across campus as students and faculty gather in classrooms, their heads down, their attention focused on spreadsheets that list the names of every rising junior and senior in the school. They are asked to reach back into their memories and consider the initiative, fairness, dependability, and leadership capabilities of those listed, of those in the community with whom they have lived and interacted on a daily basis. But as effective as the system has been, it has needed some updating. “The school is different than it was in the s when the ballot system was created,” says Dean of Residential Life Duane Ford. “The school is bigger, and it’s also girls and international students. Every year there are five or six kids who really should be leaders but, based on the ballot scores, are not selected.” So in April when students returned from their March break, the ballot, while maintaining many traditions, was different. The most obvious change was the addition of photographs. Although the school has stressed, and continues to stress, the importance of knowing everyone’s names, linking names with faces hasn’t always been easy, especially as the community has grown and become more diverse. Fortunately, visuals help. The new ballot includes both the students’ names as well as accompanying headshots. “It was really a no-brainer,” says Duane. “Once we made the switch, we found ourselves asking, ‘Why didn’t we do this before?’” Another new feature of the ballot was the addition of a new column for evaluation. Previously students used a scale of – to evaluate their classmates in four catagories. A rating of meant one did not recommend that person for a leadership role; a rating of meant one did recommend that person for a leadership role. But often in the past the “” was used to indicate that one didn’t know a student well enough to make an evaluation. On the new bal-
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Students in a Schoolhouse classroom, fully immersed in filling out the new leadership ballot.
lot, however, students who really don’t know their classmates well enough to evaluate them can now check “no basis;” consequently, s can now be reserved for those students one feels are not ready yet to lead the school. Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, one of the characteristics by which the students are evaluated was changed. While initiative, fairness, and dependability remained on the ballot, leadership was removed; as the overall umbrella topic for the ballot, it didn’t make sense to have leadership as one of the characteristics as well. So what should replace leadership? The faculty agreed it should be caring/empathy. “Caring/Empathy was missing from our ballot,” says Duane. “It acknowledges that leaders need to connect with others and have an interest in their overall well-being.” And the results of the ballot changes? While hard to scientifically measure, the anecdotal feedback was overwhelmingly positive. “The ballot itself was more accessible and easier to use,” says Interim Associate Head of School Tobi Pfenninger. “And the final slate of leaders seems like a better representation of our community.”
Duane agrees: “The representation of some groups on campus that have been underrepresented in the past doubled. And, to the credit of the community, the ‘no basis’ column was rarely used; ultimately it wasn’t as statistically important as we thought it would be. It was exciting to have affirmed what we have always believed: in this community, we know each other!” But even with a new ballot receiving at least preliminary approval and a new slate of leaders chosen through that ballot for next year, Duane’s work isn’t done. “If we really want to develop a campus-wide leadership program,” continues Duane, “then we need to make sure that at every level the program works and that there are opportunities throughout the year—through workshops and citizen reports and feedback—for students to understand what it means to be a leader, how to develop those skills, and how they measure up.” The details for the leadership program are still in the developmental stage, but one thing is certain; community involvement, engagement, and caring will be at the program’s center.
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A Pink Celebration Every three minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer, and every minutes a woman dies from breast cancer. These compelling stats and many others motivated Holderness students, faculty, and staff this spring to raise over , for the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer. Barbara Baekgaard—grandmother of Stepper ’ and Henry ’ Hall— established the foundation in , and when Dean of Students Kathy Weymouth was choosing a fundraising event for the spring, it seemed like not only a worthy cause but one with connections to Holderness; furthermore, of all funds raised go directly to breast cancer research at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center in Indianapolis, IN. After the community met its fundraising goal, it was time to celebrate, remember, and honor—with a cookout, music, two varsity lacrosse games, lots of food, and a solemn moment of silence. And while pink isn’t usually a color of choice for the Bulls, on Saturday, May , the Holderness community painted the campus pink—clothes in every shade of pink imaginable, pink bows hanging from trees and posts all over campus, and pink uniforms for the varsity lacrosse teams.
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Dave’s Swan Song If you’re in the mood for say, a little jazz, this album may not be for you. That isn’t to say that it doesn’t have some jazz tracks; but it also has some techno funk beats, classic guitar melodies, folk song covers, and even an original Korean ballad. Swan Song is the most recent compilation of songs produced by music teacher David Lockwood and the musicians of Holderness School. The recordings span five years and feature over musicians. Dave has worked on over projects during that time, and the songs on this album represent the depth of talent and passion Dave has nurtured and developed during that time. “There are times when I will have to correct students on notes or rhythms,” says Dave, “but most of the time, as they go through the recording process, it is the kids who are saying, ‘Let’s do that again; I can do better.’” And better they do. Whether it is the cover of “The Jailer” with lead vocals by Elena Bird ’ and Emily Soderberg ’, or “Invisible U,” an original ballad by Youngjae Cha ’, the care students put into each track is of professional quality; the vocals are crisp and powerful, the instrumentals varied and intriguing. This album is also a genuine work of collaboration. Blessed with their own recording studio, Dave and his students have not just collaborated with their current classmates, they have also collaborated with previous students. Take the cover of “Put Your Records On,” by Corrine Bailey Rae. The guitar and drums for the song were recorded in by Scott Nelson ’ and James Robbins ’. It wasn’t until that Dave got around to asking Natalie McBeath ’ to sing the lead vocals and Maggie Peake ’ and Celine Yam ’ to back her up. “Condola” also took years to record. Dave says he began “Condola” when he was helping out with the snowboarding team and spent several hours every day hanging out in the lodge at Loon Mountain.
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The Swan Song cover, art by Qianyi Zhang ’15.
“I was fascinated by the sound of the gondola, so I recorded it,” says Dave. “I’d brought along a mini-keyboard and added some synth on top of it.” When he returned to campus, he pulled out a percussion set he had created from pots and pans and other junk from the dump and asked James Robbins to add his own tracks. Then, rather than use a regular bass drum for the “four on the floor” beat, they hauled the wooden boxes usually used for displays in the art gallery into the recording studio. “James’s creativity and groove with the junk percussion was amazing,” Dave remembers. That was back around . This year Dave added a couple tracks of guitar by Joe Wen ’ and vocals by Celine Yam. “It’s a techno song with a very non-techno twist,” he says. There’s also “Hey You!” by Caleb Nungesser ’ and Kahlil Almustafa, a slam poet who visited Holderness in . Written during Artward Bound, the track features cardboard box drums and the rev of an Oreck vacuum cleaner. Huh? Yes. Just listen carefully. Perhaps most impressive are the number of original songs recorded on this album. The simple acoustic guitar accompaniment on “Brick by Brick” by Maggie Peake ’ and “Caught on What You Don’t Have” by Elena Bird, perfectly balances the songs’ contemplative lyrics, while “Marlene’s Wings” and “A Lion
in the Neighborhood” feature the masterful composition of Dave Lockwood and the talent of countless musicians. It’s hard to pick just one favorite. And the title? Why “Swan Song”? For Dave, next year will be his last year at Holderness, as he will retire in the spring of . “It’s also the swan song of kids who graduated this year as well as some older alumni who recorded in their senior year,” says Dave. But something tells me this is not the last we have heard from these musicians. Holderness may be in the rear-view mirror for some, but their futures remain bright. editors note: Interested in receiving a free copy of Swan Song? Email Dave Lockwood at dlockwood@holderness.org.
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Just Ask When Senior Thesis became mandatory for every senior at Holderness, many knew it would be difficult to find March Experiences for every student. How many businesses, after all, would be willing to open their doors to high school students seeking internships, interviews, and hands-on experiences? Fortunately, Holderness has a gracious network of family and friends, and all we had to do was ask. After spending January and February researching Essential Questions and gathering as much information as possible, March is a time for seniors to put their knowledge to the test, to find out if what is written stands up to real world events and practical experiences. While some seniors had connections of their own, many turned to our alumni network. And not just for an interview or two but for everything from housing to office space, from unlimited job shadowing to full use of equipment. Take Becca Kelly, for instance, who wanted to find out about the effect film can have on delivering a message. Director of Senior Thesis Monique Devine introduced Becca to Will Humphrey ’, owner of Windy Films, a Boston-based company that is dedicated to telling stories of social impact through film. With Will as her guide, Becca facilitated her own pre-production process, using Café Monte Alto—a local coffee shop in Plymouth, NH— as her subject. She picked a message, wrote a brief history, picked three “characters” that would best represent the message, mapped out how the cafe fits in with the world around it, came up with a strategic plan, and set the goals of the potential video. “The whole process really helped me to think,” says Becca, “about how everything in a video is selected carefully to ensure that a message delivers exactly what is intended. I couldn’t have asked for a more beneficial experience or a greater mentor.” Greg Osborne’s March Experience followed a similar trajectory. While he admits that he thought about asking a family friend for an
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internship at home in Connecticut, ultimately Greg decided to step outside his comfort zone and explore the unfamiliar. Thanks to the generosity of Terra Reilly ’, Greg was given a week-long internship at mrm//McCann—a global ad agency serving fortune clients in Salt Lake City, UT. The internship would have been informative no matter what, but the timing of his experience exposed him to events that turned his Essential Question completely upside-down. Originally focused on Apple and Google and the companies’ grip on the technology market, Greg ended up focusing his attention much more on the mobile industry and what happens to an industry when a company completely reinvents the way it does business. “While Greg was here, one of our largest clients experienced a major disruption in its industry,” says Terra. “Greg was able to sit in on all the meetings where we talked about the changes, the client’s current strategy, and the possible ways they could combat the disruption.” Other agency staff also invited Greg to
learn about creative, strategy, account management, and production. He had the full support of mrm//McCann to ask questions and be involved with multiple accounts. But Terra not only provided Greg with an internship, she also provided him with housing. She picked him up at the airport, fed him, and shared with him her Holderness stories. “I got a lot out of my time [at Holderness],” says Terra. “I feel a responsibility to give back and help current students and alumni when possible. I also have confidence in the maturity and intellect of Holderness students, so I felt completely comfortable bringing Greg to the office and giving him full access to the agency and its teams.” Will Humphrey ’ is similarly motivated. For his senior thesis five years ago, Will spent a week in a wheelchair and learned how to mono-ski (skiing without the use of one’s legs). “But to say that I learned how to mono-ski or how to get around in a wheelchair during my March Experience would be simply missing the mark,” he says. “The Senior Thesis field experi-
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ence has a deeper layer to it; students also learn how to interact with a community as a professional. When I worked on my senior thesis, I also learned how to reach out and ask for help and mentorship. Then when I graduated from college, I thought about giving back in some way and giving other people the opportunity to learn. I am by no means in a position to offer advice, but extending an invitation to Holderness Senior Thesis students seemed like a natural first step in giving back.” Part of what makes these partnerships so workable are the shared values. “For me I link trust to the deciding factor for how much one party is able or willing to give to another,” says Will. “When I interact with anyone from the Holderness network, I am able to start with a baseline of trust—something that was instilled in me by the Holderness culture.” Caitlin Mitchell ’ was aware of this intangible connection as well. After graduating from Lafayette College, she began working with her roommate to build Skida, a Vermont-based manufacturer of hats, headbands, and neckwarmers. In addition to focusing their efforts on producing local and limited-edition products, they seek “to bring people together, encourage play, generate smiles, and make the world a better place.” “The mission of our company is cohesive with what Holderness is about. Both believe in doing what you love and being outdoors,” says Caitlin. So when Monique approached Caitlin about mentoring current student Maggie Roberts, Caitlin was eager to help; she knew that a student from Holderness would be ready to work and ready to learn, while at the same time embrace her company’s outdoor ethos. And she wasn’t disappointed. During her time at Skida, Maggie had the opportunity to travel with the company to Sugarbush where they were sponsoring an event. “We were there to provide energy for the event and talk about Skida,” says Maggie. “The event was fun but it also helped me understand
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Senior Greg Osborne sharing his knowledge of the mobile industry during his Senior Thesis presentation in May.
how important word-of-mouth marketing is for Skida. Based on my research, I thought that a company like Skida would rely a great deal on social media marketing. But during my March Experience, I realized that events like the one at Sugarbush are much more important. Sharing their story through word-of-mouth gets people excited about the brand and is far more effective than anything they can do on social media.” And while the experiential component in itself is enough to make these partnerships worthwhile for these seniors, there’s another benefit as well—future employment. mrm//McCann invited Greg to contact them in his senior year of college if he’s interested in a job in Salt Lake City. Meanwhile, back in Boston, Will Humphrey hopes to have Becca back in his studio as early as this summer. The Senior Thesis network is growing and has a great deal of potential. It’s a chance to give back, to connect, to build—all within a community that shares a common core of values. It’s just a matter of asking.
INTERESTED IN GIVING BACK AND WORKING WITH HOLDERNESS STUDENTS? Become a Senior Thesis Mentor! Your expertise is needed for everything from interviews to job shadowing to project development. For more information email the co-directors of the program, Monique Devine and Sarah Barton, at seniorthesis@holderness.org.
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SPORTS
Spring Sports
CLOCKWISE, FROM ABOVE: Sawyer Gardner ’15 relaxing before the start of the Holderness road race from campus to Waterville Valley Ski Resort; Zach Chernin ’16 climbing at Rumney Cliffs; Grace Lawrence ’16, number 1 seed on the girls’ tennis team, delivers a fearsome forehand over the net during a home game against New Hampton; Jake Rosencranz ’15 returning his ball to the green during a practice round at Owl’s Nest Golf Club.
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ABOVE LEFT: And it’s a goal! The varsity boys’ lacrosse team celebrates after a goal against Pomfret. ABOVE RIGHT: Lindsey Hyland ’18 pitching straight and fast on their home diamond at Plymouth State University. BELOW LEFT: Varsity ballplayer Jack Brill ’17 sliding into third base during a game against Proctor. BELOW RIGHT: Liz Casey ’17 weaves her way through New Hampton’s defense on her way to victory during a JV game on the lower fields!
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SPORTS
WITH BORROWED EQUIPMENT AND OLD JERSEYS, the players on the field during alumni games aren’t always prepared for varsity level action. But that doesn’t really matter. Alumni games are more about fun than serious competition; there are bulls on both sides of the turf, so either way Holderness wins.
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Nigel Furlonge Chosen as Next Associate Head of School
Nigel Furlonge and his family during one of their first days back on campus.
“I believe that schools should have the courage to be great,” Nigel Furlonge writes in his educational philosophy. “Here I refer to the greatness Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. describes when he says, ‘If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that everybody can be great. Because everybody can serve…You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.’ The challenge then, for any school, is to determine what grace looks like in its community, what it means to serve, and how its members steward and protect the school’s soul.” In July, Nigel became the associate head of Holderness, and his challenge in the coming years will be to help advance the school’s strategic plan—all while determining what grace looks like at Holderness and how he will protect the school’s soul. Fortunately, he’s had some time to think about this. Nigel first came to Holderness in after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania; he taught history here and was a co-leader of the Diversity Committee. He left Holderness after six years and went on to serve at Lawrenceville School as academic dean and at St. Andrew’s School as director of studies, and has been a lead teacher in both the History
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Group and Diversity Group at the Klingenstein Summer Institute. During that time Nigel also earned graduate degrees from Villanova University and Columbia University. Most recently he helped build programs and curriculum at Christina Seix Academy, a pre-K through eighth grade independent school in New Jersey. The school was founded in , and Nigel designed and implemented the school’s admissions process, its residential life program, and its co-curricular arts and athletics offerings. “The opportunities I’ve had over the past years,” says Nigel, “have allowed me to think more holistically about the varying constituencies of a school. Frankly, I didn’t really understand what the board of trustees did when I was a -year-old faculty member in Upper Niles. I was much more concerned with doing whatever the Tom Ecclestons, Jim Connors, and Kate Knopps of the school mentored me to do—which reflecting back, was a pretty good strategy. But aside from thinking deliberately about teaching and learning over the years, I’ve more recently also had a chance to think conceptually about programmatic design.”
As Holderness grows and seeks to achieve its ambitious strategic goals, Nigel’s experiences with designing programs will be crucial, as he will be in charge of guiding our pedagogy and our leadership development, chapel, and athletics programs. “Few people are as qualified as Nigel to help guide Holderness,” says Head of School Phil Peck. “His clear commitment to and experience with our values and traditions will ensure that our close-knit community will remain strong and aligned.” “I’m especially excited to be returning, at this formative time, when there is so much energy and passion evident on the Holderness campus,” says Nigel. “I’m not sure that I can say what the top priority of the Holderness strategic plan is, but I am inspired by the intentionality with which Holderness imagines a global citizenship certificate, a student-centered program focused on leadership and character development, and a truly robust professional development program.” Returning to campus with Nigel will be his wife Nicole, along with their three children— Logan (), Lucas (seven), and Wyatt (three). Nicole will be the head of the English department and will also oversee the literary magazine and the yearbook. Meanwhile, the kids are looking forward to having more room to play sports and explore outside. “My wife and I are thrilled that our three children will have an opportunity to learn and grow in the Holderness community,” says Nigel. “I remember Holderness as a community that works hard and plays hard. And it doesn’t hurt that Biederman’s is one of my favorite sandwich shops!” And as he munches on his first sandwich at Biederman’s, what does his vision of grace look like at Holderness? “Grace,” he says, “looks like the oft alluded to notion of humanity at full stretch. Service to community is stretching yourself to emphatically understand and listen to the souls of each member of the community.”
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Heading North Walk into Weld during most meals and the faculty children are hard to miss. They’re messy, they’re loud, and they’re never watching where they are going. Their corner of the dining hall is chaos. But their imperfections can be overlooked and really are of very little consequence considering the simple joy and unbridled enthusiasm they share in return; their simple smiles disarm even the grumpiest faculty, and their enthusiasm for all things Holderness makes every meal time a joyful event. At the center of it all is the Lewis family. It’s not unusual for Tyler to be seen wrestling sons Finn or Ben to the floor, while other faculty children crawl on top of him delighted by the impromptu pig pile. Daughter Hadley’s there too, learning to walk this year, supported by Tyler and Renee’s steady hands. It’s a kind of community building based on laughter and the simple principles of joy and belonging. Tyler and his family have been gracious members of this community for the past nine years. And it is with heavy hearts that we will say goodbye to them as they start anew at Bishop College School in Sherbrook, Quebec, where Tyler has accepted a position as headmaster. As carefree as his community building-skills remained in the dining hall, in the Admission Office Tyler’s commitment to recruiting students into the Holderness family was much more intentional and purposeful. As this year’s seniors shared in their dedication of the yearbook to the Lewises, “It is because of Mr. Lewis and the rest of the admission staff that all currents students chose Holderness.” When he arrived in Tyler entered an admission office that was already known for its home-like atmosphere and its friendly staff. But the task before Tyler was to preserve that atmosphere while at the same time increasing operations to reach more prospective students in a greater geographic area.
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So with his golden retriever Baxter at this side, Tyler began by expanding the physical layout of the Admission Office in Livermore. Originally working out of one room in the rectory, Tyler took over the entire southern wing, creating living rooms and offices in a space which had been the home of heads, deans, and other administrators for over years. This allowed the Admission Office to literally welcome prospective students and families into our home. There was outreach as well. With additional staff, Tyler began sending admission representatives to Asia, Russia, Scandinavia, and all over the United States and Canada. Since interviews conducted at the school have risen from to ; applications from to . As the students attested in the yearbook, Tyler made a difference. His sense of community wasn’t just a marketing gimic; he believed in this community and actively recruited students who would support its values and academic rigor. We will miss Hadley, Ben, and Finn in amongst the mêlée in Weld. We will miss Renee’s chocolate chip cookies and her leadership in the history department and on the lacrosse field. And we will miss Tyler’s energetic smile that made every visiting student feel immediately welcome. We hope the Lewises will visit often; after all, Holderness is only a short two-hour drive south from Sherbrook.
Farewell, Tyler and Baxter!
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Don and Pat Henderson: Reflections from Holderness by tim scott ’ If the crow flies southwest, it is only easy miles from the gritty pulp mill city of Berlin, NH, to Holderness School, but for Don Henderson it turned out to be a far more remarkable journey. Stopping on the way for a brief stint at Syracuse University, he was struggling when World War II interrupted. After service in the th Mountain Division in Italy, Don ended up at Middlebury where he met Pat, his life partner and intellectual equal. Afterward he continued at Harvard, and then completed a capstone as a Dutton Fellow in London. History shows that Don had already lived a lifetime of experiences before he and Pat landed at Holderness in and became shapers of young bodies and minds. When one gets to a certain age, it is increasingly common to gather and join in remembrances of friends and acquaintances in those always sad, and often sudden, days after they are gone. These tributes, of course, end up being not for those who have died but for those who remain. I have long believed that sincere remembrances and appreciation should be shared at an earlier time when those people might actually hear and enjoy them. It seems to be human nature that we often wait too long to say thank you, and then the moment, that gleaming opportunity, is gone. This reflection is less then, about who Don and Pat were and are as people. Rather it attempts to share many personal stories of the ways in which they became inspirations to so many Holderness students over their remarkable years. In spite of their shared curiosity and inquisitiveness, which translated into sheer intellectual leadership and power, the Hendersons also understood young people in a style and manner that was as rare then as it may be today. Whether in the classroom, at the dinner table, or on the ski slopes, they always had a way of making us feel both challenged, and important, which, as any adolescent will relate, are powerful feelings which can forever shape a day, a year, or a lifetime. Perhaps it is from early hardship that we learn to see in others what we once
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felt ourselves, and in that sense, Don and Pat truly benefited from their experiences and spent their time at Holderness paying it forward. So thank you to all who responded with their reflections, and to Don and Pat Henderson who might find this living tribute meaningful, indeed.
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ou don’t want to go to Dartmouth; you’ll end up wearing green the rest of your life. – jeff hinman ’
on Henderson was one of my favorite teachers and did much to instill in me a love of history that is still with me today. If I were not teaching foreign languages, I would be teaching history. In fact, I try to teach history (and English vocabulary) in all of my language classes. – peter terry ’
P
at was nice enough to offer a short, introductory German class at Holderness. I remember learning some of my first words in German in the little class and went on to major in German and political science at Middlebury. – peter terry ’
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y favorite Henderson story was racing in the prep school championship at Middlebury. I won the cross-country race and placed fifth in the slalom. In the downhill I fell, hitting a tree and breaking both skis. Henderson was around the corner waiting for me, but when he heard the crash, he climbed up to see if I was alright—which I was. Then he proceeded to tell me that he thought I was going to go right through the trees and win the race! He always called me Horse because I was considerably bigger than the others on the ski team. One of the great people in my world! – dalton b. thomas ’
D
on was the best technical skier of all time. I thought I was pretty good coming in as a freshman, but Don taught me a completely new technique my first ski season at Holderness, allowing me to make varsity my sophomore year. Henderson Hill, which it should be called, was a classic New England ski hill; loved that rope tow. Don was always proud that he made us work just as hard going up the hill as we did skiing down through his gates— which were made out of pine boughs! – chuck reilly ’
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at’s homemade bread kept Tim Scott, Bruce Gamble, Bruce Ryder, and me filled as we gathered in their living room after homework. Bread never tasted better. – chuck reilly ’
I
had “Hendo” for US History as a junior brand new to Holderness. He was so fit, sharp, and full of energy. Instead of chewing us out if we were unable to turn in an assignment, he would simply ask, “Don’t you like history?” I always felt like I did not want to disappoint him. – judd madden ’
D
on helped inspire my interest in history. I like to think that he would be interested in the mural that I painted for the Bunker Hill Monument Museum depicting the Battle of Bunker Hill. – john coles ’
D
on, during question/answer/discourse, would get up-close after some lame retort, tilt his head forward, look intensely at one out of the tops of his eyes, and ask, “really?” That was a challenge. – dave helmick ’
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r. Henderson’s teaching notebooks will be etched in my mind forever. He’d written outside the margins, at the tops of the pages, everywhere. I saw this as the sign of a freethinker, and still do: it reminds me of how often you have to see past the boundaries that other people set for you. (Yes, I know this sounds like a mystical takeaway, all from a bunch of timeworn notebooks, but I guess that’s what must make being a teacher so fabulous: you never know when a connection’s going to spark.) From Mrs. Henderson, I learned the art of grace and polish! – lisa (hall-sargent) sargent ’
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on and Pat let those of us living in Henderson House watch Monday Night Football with them in their home. I especially remember that Don had concocted a homemade mute button that allowed him to mute all of the TV advertisements. I think he called it the blab-off. – randy fiertz ’
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at Henderson was tireless in her efforts to be supportive of the early coeds. She understood the need for a private place of our own on campus, and the “Hen House” quickly materialized. Pat’s quiet manner, sage advice, and her readiness to be there when things inevitably went awry were invaluable. – kim speckman ’
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on Henderson inspired me not to be afraid of re-inventing myself. When he heard I took a ride down the school’s ski jump on my alpine skis, he arranged for my use of a pair of jumping skis. When I wrote an essay for his US History class about the Oregon Trail, he stopped me in the hall and asked me if I planned to head out West. I’ve spent three decades now serving as a Special Agent/Pilot for the US Fish and Wildlife
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Don and Pat Henderson, circa 1985
Service, ultimately providing me with assignments throughout the Northwest. – kim speckman ’
ences to books that he expected the entire class to read as soon as possible. – charlie kellogg ’
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can still hear the ring of his voice reprimanding and catching all the teenagers in his class when the word “like” slipped out.... “No like. No like. Just drop the ‘like.’ Now try it again.” – amanda houston ’ on’s energy and excitement intensified as we became involved in class discussions. His speaking would get faster and he would ask everyone to take out the paper that he expected his students to be maintaining; the paper was to contain refer-
eading the “News of the Week in Review” in the Sunday NY Times was a requirement in Don’s history classes. The experience was an eye-opener—and I’m grateful. – craig blouin ’ y mediocrity as a member of the ski team was only surpassed by my lack of distinction as a student. I enjoyed school but didn’t excel at it. Fortunately, Don Henderson treated us all as equals: he would CONTINUED ON PAGE 46
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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 45 criticize commentary if he thought it was misguided or illogical, but his demeanor and his non-verbal cues made no judgments about us as individuals. I had no illusions: I knew that there were others around me who were more articulate, more sophisticated, better prepared; but because of Don Henderson’s focus on course content, I had the attitude that on any given day I just might outperform everybody else in the room. – spike hampson ’
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ut of the blue about four years ago I got a note from Pat that was very generous and commented on my contributions as a singer when in school. I responded and that correspondence continued for the better part of two years during which time I learned just how well-read and what an incisive reader she is. We had not communicated since I graduated, suggesting she also has a steel trap memory! – tom anthony ’
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remember Don Henderson warning us at the beginning of his European History course that there was a common misuse of the English language that he would not abide by in his classroom, either spoken or written. He instructed that the words “kind of ” and “sort of ” are grossly abused in every day speech. Mr. Henderson insisted that the proper usage is, “There is a kind of fish that swims upside down when flummoxed.” or “That is the sort of thing that drives me crazy!” I may have forgotten what exactly happened during the Hundred Years War, but I never misuse “kind of ” or “sort of ” to this day. – david bemis ’
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r. Henderson treated everyone equally, no matter how well they could ski race! He set a great example in that way. – ben white ’
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P
at and Don were fresh out of Middlebury when they arrived at Holderness in the fall of ’. They had an immediate impact on everyone. My roommate, Jay Harris, and I hadn’t thought too much about college, but decided that if Don and Pat represented the quality of the graduates from Middlebury, that was good enough for us. The rest, as they say, is history. – bob keating ’
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r. Henderson opened my eyes to a different way of viewing history; he sent us to original sources and taught perspectives not found in textbooks. He changed my uniform and packaged view of history into one of more subtle and conflicting views. – terry jacobs ’
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eals were always interesting at the Hendersons’ table. Don and Pat would frequently take different positions about a topic and bring in the rest of the table for a discussion. It was a good lesson in relationships,
to see them banter back and forth on equal footing and on equal terms. There was never a winner or loser, and they respected the other’s points of view, even if they did not agree. – ken gates ’
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ho can forget the caged tiger pacing back and forth on a Monday morning waiting to pounce on some quivering prey? The weekend assignment of reading the NY Times “News of the Week in Review” was quite unique. Don Henderson was the best history teacher I have encountered, not only because I learned to love history, but because I learned how to learn. What more can a teacher do? – gerald ashworth ’
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hat would the Hendersons do? remains my personal refrain when life’s many puzzles present themselves. And it is for this reason that I wanted to tell them, and for all of you to tell them, these stories while they are still alive to receive and enjoy them. – tim scott ’
ABOUT THIS PROJECT This project was initiated by several alumni including Tim Scott ’73 and Bob Bradner ’49. As explained in his introduction, Tim wanted to honor the Hendersons while they are still alive; Bob, in turn, asked that we honor other faculty, especially those who are not as well known. In this issue, we are starting with the Hendersons. In March Tim sent out a request for stories to alumni from the Hendersons’ era; the response was impressive with over 30 very personal and unique accounts. These are just a few of the stories submitted; a complete transcript of the stories for the Hendersons will be created later this year and will be presented to them and the school in the late fall. In addition, in the next issue of HST, we will follow through on Bob Bradner’s idea and will feature the memories and stories that honor other faculty and staff. The people who work for Holderness are the very thing that make the school a special place; it is with pleasure that we take the time to honor their work. If you would like to be a part of this project and share your memories about the Hendersons and/or other faculty and staff, please contact Director of Publications Emily Magnus at emagnus@holderness.org.
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Lasting Legacies
LEFT: Doug Griswold ’66 and his wife Lori with Phil Peck during their celebration dinner at the Common Man Inn. RIGHT: Jake Reynolds ’86 testing out his new Holderness chair, a gift given to all board members in appreciation for their service.
On April the Holderness Board of Trustees gathered at the Common Man Inn to celebrate the work of two loyal alumni and wonderfully dedicated trustees—Doug Griswold ’ and Jake Reynolds ’. Doug Griswold’s passion for serving Holderness began well before his time on the board as he was honored with the Distinguished Service Award in . In Doug joined the board and was immediately recognized for his dry humor, measured questioning, and North Country perspective. Having served as the President of S.T. Griswold & Company, Inc.— a Vermont-based concrete company—Doug was an incredible asset to the Buildings and Grounds Committee. Further, his knack for business made him a great fit in the Finance and Audit Committee. The greatest impression Doug left on the school, though, was his deep understanding of the vital role that faculty play in supporting our students to become resilient and caring citizens.
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Among friends and fellow trustees at the celebratory dinner, Doug sat in his Holderness rocking chair silhouetted by the dim light of Foster’s Hall and with a smile stated that he has never had an honor as great as serving on the Holderness Board of Trustees. While Jake Reynolds joined the board in , his influence on the direction of Holderness began in . In his first meeting with the head of school, Jake peppered Phil with questions, asking for clarity on his longterm visions and goals. At that moment, Phil knew a future board seat awaited Jake. Current Chair of the Board Jim Hamblin jokes that Jake—ten years his junior—is wiser and more composed than he could ever hope to be. A member of the Investment Committee and Chair of the Compensation Committee, Jake applied his expertise as a general partner with Technology Crossover Venture—a California-based private equity firm—to ensure the school’s long-term financial stability and
worked towards the fair and equitable compensation of our employees. In addition, Jake used his business expertise and perspective as an alumnus to support a culture of discernment and leadership. The Holderness Board of Trustees would like to express their gratitude and respect for the commitment and guidance shown by Doug and Jake over their tenures. Their input, wisdom, and dedication will be sorely missed. And, Holderness School would like express its sincere appreciation for Doug and Jake as they’ve worked to become positive influences and establish lasting legacies as students, alumni, and now former trustees.
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Sam Gelston King: In Memoriam
The Board of Trustees outside of Weld in 1986. Sam King is in the back row at far left wearing a bow tie.
december , –january , When Sam King retired from the Holderness Board of Trustees in , then Headmaster Pete Woodward wrote, “Sam never failed to ask the hard and penetrating questions, which always made the trustee deliberations and decisions more thorough and sound.” Samuel Gelston King, age , formerly of Little Compton, RI, died on Friday, January . He grew up in Chestnut Hill, attended the Dexter School, and graduated from the Noble and Greenough School in where he was the coxswain of the varsity crew and skated on the varsity hockey team. Sam went on to Harvard, graduating in the class of . Later he attended Harvard Law School and spent his
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entire professional career at the firm of Herrick and Smith. According to the school’s records Sam’s relationship with Holderness began when his son, David King, attended the school as a freshman in . At the time, Don Hagerman was the headmaster, but by the time of David’s graduation in , the torch had been passed to Pete Woodward. It was under Pete Woodward’s leadership in that Sam was invited to be on the board. For the next years, he served Holderness, both with wise counsel and significant financial contributions. It was said upon his retirement that he never missed a meeting, and because of his extended time of service on the board, he
was always able to provide important historical context for many decisions and deliberations. Sam had a deep sense of social responsibility and gave generously to charities monetarily but, more importantly, as a volunteer leader. According to his obituary in The Boston Globe, in addition to his service to Holderness, Sam served as a board member at the Judge Baker Children’s Center and the Brimmer and May School. He also supported the Coalition for Buzzards Bay and the Nature Conservancy. It is because of community members like Sam that Holderness continues to march forward with strength and stability, and it is with deep appreciation that we acknowledge his service to Holderness and all that was accomplished in his name.
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SAVE THE DATE HOLDERNESS SCHOOL
HOMECOMING AND REUNION WEEKEND
SEPTEMBER
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2015
25–27
REGISTER AT WWW.HOLDERNESS.ORG/REUNION2015
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ALUMNI EVENTS
Gatherings
CLOCKWISE, FROM ABOVE: Lacrosse coach Renee Lewis with a few of her former players: Sarah Bell ’13, Mackenzie Maher ’13, and Cecily Cushman ’11; Allie Renzi ’14 enjoying alumni games during Commencement weekend; The girls’ varsity lacrosse team with the alumni who came back to play in alumni games. The pink uniforms are from a Vera Bradley fundraising event earlier in the spring.
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ALUMNI EVENTS
AT LEFT: An après ski gathering at Mittersill near Cannon Mountain at the home of past parents, Jeff and Nancy Randall P ’06. From left to right: Lucy Randall ’06, Paul Archibald, Sally Randall, Bev LaFoley P ’90 ’95 ’96, Annie Carney ’08, Lori Ford P ’04 ’05 ’08 ’12, Julia Ford ’08, and Anna Bohlin ’08. BELOW: (front): Jeff Randall, Nancy Randall, Hadley Lewis; (middle): Liz Potter P ’17 ’19, Mia Fitzgerald P ’17, Dick Conant ’73, Paul Martini P ’06 ’08, Robin Peck P ’09, David Fitzgerald P ’17, Bob Potter P ’17 ’19, Ted Fine ’85, Julia Ford ’08, Susan Taylor ’82, Jim Hamblin ’77, P ’08 ’15, Lily Hamblin ’15, and Phil Peck P ’09; (back): Anna Bohlin ’08, Annie Carney ’08 and Lucy Randall ’06.
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Bringing In Today’s Sheaves Charles Hurburgh ’67 The family farm in the Midwest Corn Belt is different from what it used to be, says Charles Hurburgh ’. It’s bigger—and it’s also better. With Out Back, weekend hikes, and a strong dose of get-out-of-the-classroom environmentalism stirred into the curriculum, Holderness School justifiably prides itself on getting its students in touch with the land, in fostering a love of the outdoors. But that’s not quite the same—notes Charles Hurburgh—as getting in touch with the very primal connection between land and our food supply. Charles grew up on an ,-acre farm in central Iowa, but his father previously had been an executive for Studebaker, the Indiana-based car maker. “So he knew people who knew other people,” Charles says, “and that’s how we found out about Holderness.” After Holderness, Charles thought he might be a lawyer and spent a couple years at Wabash College in Indiana. But that didn’t have enough to do with who he was, and he transferred to Iowa State to study agricultural engineering. He stayed at Iowa State to earn his doctorate, and he remains there today, now as a professor teaching agricultural and biosystems engineering, and as head of the university’s extension programs in grain handling and processing. Charles loves his work in the heart of the Corn Belt, work that involves learning more about farming and how to do it better. But he hates how that work, and modern farming itself, is misunderstood, he says, by people outside the Corn Belt. One issue, for example, is tied up in that phrase “biosystems engineering.” This refers to the fact that virtually all the corn and soybeans harvested in Iowa these days are genetically modified—i.e., engineered at the molecular level to strengthen their resistance to insects, fungus, diseases, and the toxins used against these
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agents; the modifications also often enhance corn and soybeans’ nutritional properties. “Farming isn’t as haphazard as it used to be,” Charles says. “If you visit the Monsanto labs, for example, you’ll see some of the most advanced chemical facilities in the world.” And the gmos—genetically modified organisms—that are produced in these labs are not the “Frankenfoods” people fear them to be, he adds. Of course traditional selective breeding, something farmers have done since the birth of agriculture, is its own form of biosystems engineering, albeit a haphazard one. “What science is doing now is just accelerating that process, making it much more precise,” Charles says. “In targeting a specific segment of dna, you spare yourself the unintended consequences, the setbacks from recessive genes, for example, that you get with selective breeding.” This may be fast and exact, but it’s also expensive for Monsanto and other companies in this field. “Two to three hundred million dollars,” Charles reports, “to produce a single biotech advance.” Monsanto, therefore, places patents on the seeds that it produces. Then bad press accrues as the company sues farmers who attempt to save and replant their seeds. Nor do many consumers like the thought of a single corporation controlling so much of our food supply. “What people don’t understand is that these patents are only in effect for seventeen years,” Charles cautions. “Then the seeds go to public domain. So given that it takes eight years or so to go through the development and regulatory process, Monsanto has nine years to make their money back on a product. Then it belongs to anybody.” And, as with previous advances in agriculture, there is no going back anyway. “Despite substantial increases in world population,” says Charles, “there has not been any corresponding increase in hunger. We’re still managing to feed nearly everybody, thanks to these technologies. To abandon them now would be very damaging to US and world food supplies.”
Charles Hurburgh teaches agricultural and biosystems engineering at Iowa State.
The Corn Belt also now plays a crucial role in the national fuel supply—and not to the detriment of the larder, Charles argues. “A federal standard mandates that our gasoline, in the aggregate, contains ten percent ethanol. This has been wonderful for economic development in the Midwest, and now we produce more calories—in aggregate—for food and livestock feed than before that standard went into effect, while corn prices have fallen.” The ,-acre spread that Charles grew up on is a far cry from the little family farm stitched like a sampler into the American imagination. Farms are bigger now, but phrases like “big agriculture” and “industrial farming,” with their connotations of corporate ownership, sustain another false impression. “The vast majority of farms are family operations, working big lots, yes—but these lots are still family-owned and operated.” And it’s still true that American farmers, more than anyone else, feed the world—including the Holderness School dining hall.
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STRiDing Toward the Light Leslie Wright ’80 Leslie Wright ’ is the founder and driving force behind a little foundation making a big difference in the lives of young female athletes. It began with a terrible crime, and then a tasteless television ad. “Shocked” would be the right word to describe Leslie Wright’s reaction to one of the television ads that ran during the Olympic summer games. In the ad, runner Suzy Favor Hamilton, wearing shorts and a sports bra, is surprised in her bathroom by an assailant in a hockey mask wielding a chain saw. Hamilton dodges the first snarling thrust of the saw, then runs swiftly out of an isolated cabin and down a road through dark woods. The assailant pursues her but eventually staggers to an exhausted stop. “Why sport?” asks Nike, the ad’s sponsor. “Because you’ll live longer.” Leslie was among many viewers who contacted Nike and the nbc television network to complain about the ad. “Nike said the ad was a joke, a parody of Friday the th, the movie,” she says. “And I got that, but they didn’t get what was wrong with it.” Leslie, alas, knew all too much about that. She grew up in the Lakes Region, coming to Holderness as a junior day girl only a year after this school had declared itself coed. There were so few girls enrolled then that—outside of snow sports—they had to decide en masse what sports to play each season. Leslie was a nordic skier in the winter, and otherwise played soccer, field hockey, and lacrosse. She went on to captain Middlebury College’s nationallyranked nordic team and also run cross-country. But in the summer of , while biking along an isolated stretch of road near Squam Lake, she was abducted at gunpoint by a stranger in a sedan. “I wound up in a sandpit in North Conway, after being sexually assaulted,” she says.
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The perpetrator, a serial kidnapper, was caught several years later and jailed partly on the strength of Leslie’s testimony. “But he wasn’t in jail for long,” she says, “and then when this ad appeared on TV, I was—let’s just say—impassioned about it.” nbc did end up pulling the ad. Meanwhile, Leslie sent emails to every Nike executive she could find, but the corporation never issued an apology. “I’m so angry about this, I might just start a foundation,” she vowed in one of those emails. A year later, that’s exactly what she did. It’s not a foundation about violence against women or tone-deaf humor in advertising; rather stride is about the genuinely liberating aspects of sports for women. “The idea is to help girls who might not otherwise have a chance to do a sport and get strong physically and mentally,” wrote the Burlington Free Press in a January story on stride (“Women Ski for a Cause”). “‘Mastering a sport can help build lifelong health and confidence,’ Wright said. ‘It teaches you how to play well with others, how to hang in there and be determined, how to believe in yourself. It gives you self-confidence that betters your chance of success in anything, including a career.’” stride began with a mentoring program Leslie set up between middle school girls in Middlebury and the Burlington area with the women’s basketball teams at Middlebury and St. Michael’s Colleges. Since then she has added similar programs in other sports and has focused on at-risk and disadvantaged girls. Whether in nordic skiing or mountain biking, local girls benefit from equipment purchased by stride and enjoy coaching/counseling relationships with accomplished athletes. “Also, for the first time, we’re sponsoring a young alpine ski racer,” Leslie adds. “We were waiting for the right girl, one with both enough ability and desire, and it took ten years. This girl is from a farm near Middlebury and she’s doing really well.”
Leslie Wright with her dog near her home in Vermont.
As foundations go, stride is a little one. Leslie writes for Vermont Life magazine and does public relations for a bigger outfit, the Orton Family Foundation, an organization dedicated to community planning and development through the empowerment of citizens. It’s only in her off-hours that she’s both staff and management at stride, which pulls in annual donations and sponsorships of , per year, and serves about a hundred young athletes. Leslie told the Free Press that her own training as an athlete—her ability to breathe, control her thoughts, and stay in tune with her body—helped her to survive both the act and the aftermath of her kidnapping and assault. And she tells hst that Holderness was crucial to that training: “The love of sports, the lifelong benefits, the discipline to do that workout every single day—that was instilled in me there, and I’m so grateful. And stride is a way for me to give back, to shine a ray of light into these lives.” Leslie admits that it’s a ray of light in her own life as well.
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From Chaukhamba IV to the Bay of Bengal
Jake Norton above Sundarvan, Garhwal Himalaya, India, while working on a film about the Ganges River. The Bhagirathi peaks rise behind.
Jake Norton ’92 Filmmaker Jake Norton ’ is still a climber, but he has found a whole new purpose for his climbing—and picked up a few awards along the way, including one from his alma matter. In British mountaineer George Mallory was asked by a New York Times reporter why he persisted in trying to scale a so-far unscalable peak like Mt. Everest. Mallory’s famous, if flippant, reply—“Because it’s there”—became a defining phrase not just for the culture of
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mountaineering, but for the pursuit of anything difficult, dangerous, and/or quixotic. For quite a while, it was enough of an explanation for Jake Norton—that and the fact that he was making a living climbing mountains and reveling in their wildness. He had grown up in Massachusetts and had followed his sister Dolly ’, an alpine skier, to Holderness. Jake was a ski racer too, but had developed an early love for climbing as well. He looked forward to Out Back from the day he set foot on campus, and his senior project was so ambitious as to be, well, quixotic—to photograph and understand the people of Nepal. “Yeah,” Jake laughs.
“I soon found that a focus like that was way too broad and complex.” But he remembers his first glimpse of the spare and majestic beauty of Kathmandu, and its encircling roof-of-the-world mountains, as his plane descended from the clouds. He went on to Colorado College, did a semester abroad in Nepal, and landed a summer job guiding on Mt. Rainier. That led to full-time work as a guide once he graduated—Rainier in the summers, international expeditions the rest of the year. During one of those expeditions, as part of a team led by American mountaineer Eric Simonson, Jake was among those who at last
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found Mallory’s remains on the slopes of the mountain the climber had once described as “a prodigious white fang excrescent from the jaw of the world.” Jake was filling in that day for the expedition’s official photographer, who was ill, and Jake’s stunning and historic shots immediately made a reputation for him as an alpine photographer. Eventually they provided a portal into video work as well, and finally film production. By Jake was co-director, producer, and cameraman of High and Hallowed: Everest , a documentary film on the first successful American ascent of the mountain, a climb that pioneered a new route up Everest’s West Ridge. Sponsored by gear-maker Eddie Bauer, the film also recorded the modern expedition that attempted to retrace that arduous path up the mountain. Then High and Hallowed was selected into a host of film festivals and racked up a shelf full of awards: winner of the Boulder International Film Festival; winner of the Mt. Hood Independent Film Festival; “Best Short Documentary” at the New Hampshire Film Festival; a jury commendation for adventure sport at the Durango Independent Film Festival; and more. But that was already several years after Jake had ascended Everest as part of a previous expedition sponsored by Eddie Bauer. By then the point of George Mallory’s white fang had become something of a tourist destination, with many commercial outfitters and their over-wrought Sherpas vying to shepherd wellheeled amateurs up through the scree, snow, and ice. Meanwhile Kathmandu had declined from the magical place Jake had known in to, he says, “Just another crowded-to-bursting, polluted South Asian city—still lots of magic, but lots of problems too.” This expedition was entirely professional, and benefited from the media visibility that Eddie Bauer-sponsored efforts command, but at the summit Jake looked around and won-
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dered what it was all for. “What good had we accomplished?” he says. “Who had benefited from this? Nobody but us, really, and at the end of the day we were just another bunch of well-to-do white guys.” That was the beginning of his resolve to no longer climb just because it was there. “Climbing has an inherent drama, and people pay attention to it because of that,” Jake says. “So why not leverage the drama of climbing to do something good for the world? Why not use it to draw attention to a cause that needs more attention?” In southern Asia, there is hardly a cause more pressing, that needs more attention, than clean water—its use, its availability, its protection. Nor is there any larger watershed than that drained by the Ganges River: nearly , square miles, sprawling across Tibet, Nepal, Bangladesh, and India. With this in mind, Jake set about doing two things. First, partnering with Water For People, he founded Challenge, a multi-year climbing and fundraising project dedicated to the global water crisis and its solutions. Second, he decided to make a second film. Its subject? The Ganges River. Last year he and his film crew began at the beginning, mounting an attempt on Chaukhamba IV, the still unclimbed ,foot mountain whose snows provide the first clean drops for the Ganges. From there, they journeyed the full length of the river, fifteen hundred miles, through the most populous watershed on earth, to the Bay of Bengal. The resulting film, Soul of the Sacred, he hopes, will make the world, or some of it anyway, pay attention to the dilemmas of those who rely on this watershed—and to dilemmas that portend for all the world’s fresh water. Meanwhile, Jake’s dedication has not gone unnoticed. In December, , Jake Norton was appointed Ambassador to the United Nations’ Mountain Partnership. He is only the second such ambassador, sharing the honor with climbing legend Reinhold Messner. On
Jake Norton, Ambassador to the United Nations’ Mountain Partnership and winner of Holderness’s Distinguished Alumni Award.
December , , Jake was asked to present at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City on behalf of the Mountain Partnership and help make the case for mountains, mountain environments, and mountain peoples to be included in the post- Sustainable Development Goals. Closer to home, this spring Jake was awarded the school’s Distinguished Alumni Award. During his visit to campus, Jake noted that Holderness School taught him teamwork, grit, and compassion—three qualities he has used throughout his career. He also shared a quote from Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali poet: “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”
Photograph on facing page by David Morton; on this page, by Grayson Shaffer.
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One More Link Matt Kamarck ’73 Matt Kamarck ’ has done stints in the Peace Corps in Belize and Tanzania. Now he’s teaching in China for a program called KnowledgeLink. Matt Kamarck has himself a good teaching gig. He leads small classes full of serious, wellbehaved students. And they take good care of him in return. “They take me to stores, help me get supplies or get my Christmas shopping done,” Matt says. “They tell me what’s happening—what concerts I might be interested in, for example. I appreciate that, because, of course, all the signs and announcements are in Chinese.” Matt’s school—Guiyang No. High School—is in south central China, just about a hundred kilometers from the Vietnamese border. He is the lead teacher—a physics and astronomy instructor, basketball coach, and chief educational administrator—in a program grooming a small portion of that school’s enrollment for entry into American universities. The program sponsor is KnowledgeLink, an organization specializing in building partnerships between American and Chinese secondary schools. The partner school with Guiyang No. is St. Mary’s School, an independent Catholic school in Medford, OR, and Matt’s students, when they graduate, will earn diplomas from both Guiyang No. and St. Mary’s. He and this program are brand new to the school this year. Matt’s not new to teaching in exotic situations, however, even if that wasn’t what he originally had in mind. He grew up in Peterborough, NH, and came to Holderness because his parents happened to be friends of then-Headmaster Don Hagerman and his wife Ibba. He proved particularly proficient in math, and went on to Georgetown University as a math major. But that changed thanks to a summer job tutoring troubled inner city youths. Matt left Georgetown, met pioneer environmental educa-
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Students playing chess at Guiyang No. 1 High School in China where Matt Karmarck is teaching physics and astronomy as well as coaching basketball.
tor Waldo Stone, taught for a time at Stone’s school on Otter Lake in Greenfield, NH, and returned to Keene State University to earn a degree in teaching science. In Matt joined the Peace Corps, and spent three years teaching in Belize. He returned to teach science and environmental programs at several schools in Maine and New Hampshire, but in rejoined the Peace Corps, this time for a post in Tanzania. At Guiyang No. , Matt lives in a campus apartment. The school was built around the turn of the century, accommodates some five thousand students, and provides dormitory space for about half that enrollment. The rest commute from local towns and villages. Matt works with two other American teachers and an equal number of Chinese nationals in an internal program that will double in size next year to students or so, and eventually be capped at . “I tell parents that the point is not just for their children to be admitted to American universities, but for them to be successful there as well,” Matt says. “And the government
is very serious about that, providing lots of encouragement.” His students are serious as well. That kind of enthusiasm carries over into the classroom, especially in this KnowledgeLink program. “When I worked in American public schools, I frequently had to find ways to get kids motivated about the material I taught—not so here,” Matt says. “Our classes start at : am, but kids will typically start arriving around seven. This is after a threehour study hall each evening in home rooms that are unheated and can get pretty cold, down to around freezing. But these kids have a goal in sight and are very motivated.” Matt’s internet access is limited in the ways it is for all Chinese citizens. But in helping to enlarge the educational pipeline between China and the United States, he’s also enlarging what we might call the information environment. That can only help.
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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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One See-Saw at a Time Bret Ingold ’99 The first fruit of the marriage of Bret Ingold ’ to artist Kristin Frasheski was a tiny public service non-profit that now is on the rise. When Bret Ingold and his fiancée Kristin Frasheski planned their wedding in , the two artists decided against the usual run of wedding presents. “We didn’t want to get loaded down,” says Bret, “and really, there are already enough plates and blenders in the world.” What’s lacking in the world? Well, to name one item—playgrounds. So that’s what they asked for instead. Okay, not a playground, per se. Instead they asked for donations to a nonprofit they founded in advance of their marriage: a grassroots volunteer operation they named rise Now, with the first word an acronym for “Research In Sustainability Education.” The money they collected put playgrounds—and much more since then—in the pipeline. Bret grew up in Warner, NH, and came to Holderness not only for its strong nordic ski program, but also for its equally muscular arts department. “I spent a whole lot of time in the darkroom with Franz Nicolay,” Bret recalls. He went on to Lewis and Clark, where he majored in fine arts, branching from photography into sculpture. There he also met Kristin—another arts major. Together they began an itinerant lifestyle that—if not platefree—could fairly be described as low-impact. The two eventually settled into two locations where they could unpack for several months each year: a yurt they built in rural New Hampshire; and an artists’ refuge in the Bahamas. The rest of the time they still travel, but now it has to do with their work with rise Now, which is—in the words of the mission statement—”committed to bringing people together through community-building events, projects, and our publication. We aim to
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Bret Ingold in Rwanda hanging with some of his biggest fans.
empower individuals as they find ways to take action in service to others and the environment. Recognizing that human connections and relationships are what motivate people to take action, we are committed to gathering people together to move the work ahead. “ In practical terms this mission translates into a wide variety of projects: teaching workshops on urban gardening, for example, or dome-building; or using strictly local materials to fashion a sauna or raise a yurt; or, most frequently, assembling school or community playgrounds out of old truck and automobile tires. “Working with a partner organization, Playground Ideas, we built three playgrounds in Rwanda, which I have been told are the first playgrounds to exist in that country,” Bret says from a telephone in a small village in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. In February he and other volunteers were working on the first of three playgrounds in that area, and rise has already built a number elsewhere in Mexico. “There are six of us on the staff, and now we have a core of about a hundred volunteers who
work regularly on our projects,” he adds. Those volunteers are divided into hubs centered in New England, Seattle, and Mexico. A rubber-bumpered playground in an outof-the-way community in the Yucatan—or Rwanda—is indeed a small part, but demonstrates the reality of hope to the children who play there, and also to the adults who work with rise Now. “Playgrounds address multiple challenges at once—working towards lasting local solutions by putting emphasis on childhood development and collective effort,” Bret says. “A communitybuilt playground can also become a symbol of good will towards children and the collective power of community.” Bret remembers a time in the short history of rise Now when they had to go looking for projects to carry out. “Now more and more ideas are being proposed to us, and more people are coming on board all the time. It’s all part of driving it forward.”
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Milestones IN MEMORIAM William Rhines ’46, June 21, 2014 Richard Warner ’43, August 11, 2014 Fred Pond ’39, November 24, 2014 Samuel King P ’78, January 9, 2015 Colin Mitchell ’44, February 4, 2015 William Milsom Summers ’51, March 13, 2015 Thalia Christensen (PEM), April 6, 2015
BIRTHS Sarah Crane ’98 and Sam Gough: Everett Sananikone Crane-Gough, September 15, 2014 Geoff ’04 and Katie Calver: Kessler Audrey Calver, December 13, 2014 Jerome ’95 and Cindy Thomas: Kennedy Ariana Thomas, December 28, 2014 Kourtney ’07 and Stephen ’07 Martin: Julia Rose Martin, January 6, 2015 John ’01 and Keri Glidden: Miles Thomas Glidden, February 11, 2015 Gasper Sekelj ’97 and Patricia Perrier: Kinsley Grace Sekelj, February 19, 2015 Joe ’02 and Kait Sampson: Elodie Mae Sampson, February 27, 2015
MARRIAGES Nick Payeur ’03 and Christa Ramsey, Meredith, NH, October 25, 2014
CLOCKWISE, FROM ABOVE: Kessler Audrey Calver, daughter of Geoff Calver ’04; Many Holderness alumni were in attendance when Will Richardson ’96 married Devon Rodonets in York Harbor, ME on June 28, 2014; Chris Davenport ’89 with Holderness friends at his nomination into the Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame: (L–R) Billy the Kid, Craig Antonides ’77, Tracy McCoy Gillette ’89, Chris Davenport ’89, Brad Greenwood ’89, Christi Northrop McRoy P ’88, and Jen Comstock ’89. Also present were Drew Hyde ’91 and Nick Cushing ’10; Charlotte Harris, Burke Surdam, and Georgia Harris. Charlotte and Georgia are daughters of Katie Waltz Harris ’96, and Burke is the son of Bo Surdam ’96 and Kate Richardson Surdam ’99.
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’50 (reunion)
COLIN MITCHELL ’44
OCTOBER 8, 1927–FEBRUARY 4, 2015 BY TERRANCE MITCHELL ’45 During his time at Holderness, Colin Mitchell was known for his love of westerns, his passion for chess, and his theatrical skills. In the 1944 yearbook, it is written, “His good temper, modesty, and
self-control have won him the affection of the whole school, a distinction which many aspire to, but few attain.” Subsequently, his senior year Colin was selected as the president of the school. After leaving Holderness, Colin had a short time at Oxford, served in the RAF in the Far East, and then returned to Oxford. After receiving his degree, he served as a soil expert in the Colonial Service in Sudan, and when that became independent in 1956, he worked for several years for Hunting Technical Services surveying areas in Iraq, Pakistan, and North Africa to assess their suitability for irrigation or other land use. He strengthened his qualifications by further study at the Universities of Liverpool and Aberdeen, where he met his wife Clemency, and then took a PhD at Cambridge. He finally took up a lectureship in the geography department at the University of Reading, specializing in soil science. After retirement, he acted widely as a consultant. Colin and Clemency celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2014, with their three sons, a daughter, and nine grandchildren. Colin published widely, notably his volume Terrain Evaluation (London, 1973, rev. ed. 1991), which became a standard work; and for laymen, Landscape Walks in Sussex: Twenty Walks Exploring the County’s Geology (Seaford, 2004). He died at the age 87 on February 4, 2015, following a stroke and subsequent chest infection.
’35–’44
’46
’48
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!
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 Rik Clark ’48 capeclarks@aol.com
’45 (reunion)
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CLASS CORRESPONDENT Harry Emmons ’45 emmonshr@gmail.com
Clifford Rogers is removing snow and attempting to stay alive! CLASS CORRESPONDENT Bill Briggs ’47 maggiebriggs24@ymail.com
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CLASS CORRESPONDENT Frank Hammond ’50 fhammond64@comcast.net
’51 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!
’52 CLASS CORRESPONDENT Al Teele ’52
’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 CLASS CORESPONDENT Bill Lofquist ’54 btlofquist@hawaiiantel.net
’55 (reunion) CLASS CORRESPONDENT Bill Byers ’55 Bill.byers36@gmail.com
’49 Thomas Jeffries spent time with his daughter in Annapolis and hopes to do some bareboat sailing this summer. CLASS CORRESPONDENT Bill Baskin ’49 wbaskin.td53law58@aya.yale.edu
’56 CLASS CORRESPONDENT Dick Meyer ’56 richard419@roadrunner.com
’57 CLASS CORRESPONDENT Frederick Ellison ’57 greatspeak03@yahoo.com
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’58 John Greenman is “catching up on American history with C-SPAN on TV, a rousing book on the War of 1812, and a memoir of the daughter of holocaust survivors.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Charlie Kellogg ’58 cwkellogg@globalpartnersinc.com
’59 Jay Gerard is volunteering. … Jerry Ashworth is happily enjoying Florida. CLASS CORRESPONDENT Jerry Ashworth ’59 ashworth@maine.rr.com
’60 (reunion) Bill Niles is “dealing with aging and all the neat stuff that goes with it.” 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! John Cleary is trying to repair his tractor and is involved with the
Louisiana Master Gardener program. … John Holley is traveling. … Bill Seaver is “enjoying three weeks in Mexico and many snow days after that.”
’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! Peter Cooke is “roof-raking snow off our home’s roofs. I am also facilitating a multi-sector multistrategy strategic plan for Manchester, NH’s Immigrant Integration Initiative.”
’63 Nick Hadgis writes, “Enjoying my work as dean of the School of Hospitality Management at Widener University. I will, however, retire in June. Hopefully, this will give me the time to finally make it to a reunion.” … Keith Hall is “staying warm, still working, and enjoying today’s technology with our new CAD system and laser.” … George Textor is babysitting grandchildren, carving and painting shorebirds, playing tennis, reading lots, and raising hackles. … George LeBoutillier shares a note from George Textor: “In addition to 1879 being a prime number, the year 1879
SHARE YOUR NEWS! Have you recently encountered a milestone in your life? Share your news with your classmates! Please contact us at alumni@holderness.org.
ol Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
(L–R) Lilo Kramer (wife of Keith Hall ’63), Lisa Lacasse P ’16, Keith Hall ’63 and Julie DeLuca P ’16 enjoying lunch on a sunny deck at Bretton Woods in New Hampshire.
was also eventful. Holderness was founded, Einstein was born in Germany, Thomas Edison demonstrated the first commercial light bulb, the Specie Act valued the greenback the same as gold (think about that a while), Doc Holliday shot his first man, and Ibsen wrote A Doll’s House, giving a pain to Holderness sophomores 80 years later.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Dave Hagerman ’63 david.s.hagerman@gmail.com
’64 Bill Baxter officially retired on January 1. Congratulations, Bill! CLASS CORRESPONDENT Sandy Alexander ’64 salex88@comcast.net
’65 (reunion) Warren Carstensen is “fighting lymphoma at Brigham and Women’s.” … Steve Smith is still working as an architect and skiing as much as possible. … Bill Carter writes, “I’m in the process of installing a new kitchen with a hardwood floor, cabinets, dishwasher, and range. I also take the time most days to take my choco-
late Lab swimming at a nearby lake. Lastly, I recently received the 501(c)3 for my nonprofit Save Your Life, Ltd.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Terry Jacobs ’65 haj3@jacobswyper.com
’66 Stuart Silk went to New Zealand for a trekking adventure. CLASS CORRESPONDENT Peter Janney ’66 pj@apllon.com
’67 CLASS CORRESPONDENT John Pfeifle ’67
’68 Steve Hirshberg is wrapping up his 28-year career at Morgan Stanley. … I heard from Bruce Flenniken who is semi-retired this year. I am hoping this summer that I will get to sail with him on his vintage sailboat. … My (John Coles) news is that I am gold-leafing the dome of a building designed by Bullfinch in Cambridge, MA, and have made (I think) a final payment for the
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John Coles ’68 sent along photos of gilding he is doing on a dome for a building designed by Charles Bullfinch.
college tuition of my youngest daughter. CLASS CORRESPONDENT John Coles ’68 j.coles@rcn.com
’69 Bill Foot writes, “In the wake of the impressive snowfall in New England, I have been amused by those who thought Minnesota winters were so terrible. Otherwise, I’m working, playing music, planning a vacation, and preparing for a 15th year officiating youth and adult recreational soccer during the spring/summer season that begins around the first of May.” … Craig Colgate is skiing and golfing in Utah. “We need more snow!” he says. CLASS CORRESPONDENT Jon Porter ’69 jwoodporter@cox.net
’70 (reunion) Chris Brown reports, “I’m still teaching engineering and doing research at WPI. I’m teaching my favorite course—Technology of Alpine Skiing—and presenting an
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invention to reduce inadvertent release (fast reaction toe and heel cups—patent pending), fast deployment energy absorbing Bnet, and a new way to evaluate how sharp skate and ski edges are to the International Society for Skiing Safety in Cortina.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Peter Weiner ’70 prepco@ncia.net
’71 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!
’72 Wow, did we hit the jackpot this time! A lot of you answered my request for information, and I am pleased to present edited-down responses here. … Will Graham writes from the Midland School in California that Cash Hoyt and his wife Molly stopped by campus in Los Olivos last year, and Fred and Cindy Beams were on campus in
Steve Hirschberg ’68, near Craig, MT in early May 2014.
March. “We have a summer house in South Dartmouth, MA, and I see Susie and David “Big Nick” Nicholson most summers in the East; Ki and Bill Clough ’57 are also often in touch. Polly and Jon Davie’s daughter interviewed for an English teaching position this year, and Sam Osborne’s brother, Mintern, surfaces in my life from time to time. I have spent over 40 years in boarding school purgatory; just can’t seem to graduate. This is the first year I have not played on or coached a lacrosse team since 1969, when I started out with Nat Mead and others on the Lower Fields. I still remember our Out Back trip to the Dartmouth land grant.” Will says that he and Marguerite have been at Midland for nine years. It is a coed boarding school for 85 college-bound high school students on a 2,860-acre ranch. The school has a nine-acre organic farm where it raises grass fed beef. “The kids do all the daily jobs,” Will adds. “The work crews are led by seniors. The students have installed solar panels that account for 30 percent of the school’s electricity.” Will has a son Angus, 32, who is a ski instructor in Aspen, CO, in the winter and a potter the rest of the year. He
graduated from Gould with Nancy Henderson’s son Jack, Will says. Will’s daughter Kate, 35, works for a nonprofit in Napa, CA, and Kate’s husband, Hardy, makes a natural-process wine called “Dirty and Rowdy.” … Rick Maeder writes that he has lived in downtown Washington, DC, for 28 years, where he owns and operates a medical construction company that builds spaces for imaging equipment. His wife is his business partner. “We have two kids just out of Bates and Dartmouth and a third who is a junior in high school,” he says. “We spend most of the summer on a lake outside of Ellsworth, ME.” He also is in regular touch with Ted Gordon. “Very nice to hear from you all. Stop by in either Georgetown or Ellsworth.” … “Most make it out of Harvard in four years and some hang around for another two or three for more studying,” Peter Kimball writes from Sherborn, MA. “I am in my 27th year at Harvard and still learning. While I do a little teaching, I spend most of my time talking with alumni and their advisors about creative ways to support the many priorities and initiatives in arts and sciences through charitable gift planning.
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Classmates from 1973 at a recent Holderness gathering: (L–R) Tim Scott, Peter Terry, Peter Garrison, and Morgan Dewey. Photo by Leslie OrtonMahar ’73, P ’12.
We are in the middle of a very large capital campaign, which keeps all of us very busy. My wife, Miriam, is a fundraiser too, but for the YMCA near home.” Peter and Miriam live 25 miles west of Cambridge in a town that affords room for their two Labrador retrievers, a three-legged cat, and a flock of chickens. “Our two daughters are happily employed,” he says. “The older is a professor at UConn and is the mother of our two grandchildren. She and her husband are growing roots in Storrs and are likely to stay there for the long term. Our younger daughter, a boomerang child, is an occupational therapist and attends to clients in their homes on a schedule she creates.” … Glenn Lowry writes that he is alive and well and still working at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. … Tom Cooper writes from Watertown, MA, that he continues to work as an editor and writer, and that his wife has spent her career in large-scale land conservation. “Boston is our primary home, with outposts in southern Vermont and the northern Adirondacks,” he says. Their two children are out of college and employed, although their daughter is heading to Columbia for graduate school this fall. “I ski as much as possible and spend a fair amount of time riding a road bike. In short, I am upright and not in jail, so I have no real com-
Bill Foot ’69
plaints (setting aside my left knee). We always welcome visitors.” … Mark Rheault, who lives in Carver, MA, says that he is enjoying a very busy retirement from his charter school technology director position and really doesn’t know how he found time to work. “Writing, guest lectures, flying, genetic genealogy, and travel fill my way-too-short days,” he says. “Most will find it hard to believe that I have also become quite the fitness nut and devote time every day to walking, Zumba, and even running to give me 10,000 or more steps every day.” Mark says his daughter Jenn is a housing case manager, and his son Greg is a director in higher education administration. “As the village manager, my wife Laurie is taking a break from retirement in order to keep the 700 people in our over-55 co-op community happy,” he says. “Holderness holds a special place in my heart as there were many ways the school and my friends there provided me a pathway to a richly rewarding life beyond my wildest dreams.” If you’re ever in the Plymouth, Wellfleet, or Provincetown areas of Massachusetts, Mark would love to have you stop by for a visit. … “You guys probably don’t even remember me,” Dan Murphy
ol Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
Samuel Richards ’73 sent in this photo of his dad, Rip Richards, leading the team that broke down the Exeter hockey rink and moved it up to Holderness in the ’60s.
writes. He and Chris Latham were what Dan calls “one shot wonders, just showing up for senior year. But that one year had a huge impact on me, and I’m always interested in getting news from Holderness.” Dan works for the EMC Corp in Hopkinton, MA— the town where the Boston Marathon starts each year—and has been with EMC for 17 years. Dan says he and his wife Connie “are relative newlyweds. We got married at Swan’s Island in Maine almost 10 years ago.” They both love to go skiing at Killington, although Dan prefers downhill, and Connie, cross-country. In the “off” season, Dan likes bike riding. “My latest thing is riding a cyclocross bike on the dirt roads of western Massachusetts—gorgeous scenery, killer climbs, and no cars. We also head up to the White Mountains a lot or up the Maine coast. My local bike rides occasionally bring me right past Dave Nicholson’s house in Grafton, and I’ve caught Dave once or twice. I end up at Newfound Lake sometimes and will do a ride right through Plymouth and past the school. Place looks great.” … Bob
Spaulding, in Federal Way, WA, says that he and his wife Estelle are still busy with their private medical practice. “Even though private practices are facing extinction, we are maintaining our independence,” he says. “We’ll continue to adapt and perhaps we’ll retire earlier than we intended in the next few years.” Bob and Estelle recently went to Iran for a vacation. “Yes, I know many people think we were crazy,” he says, “but it was a really great trip; lots of great sights and very friendly people. The media and politicians, sadly, portray a picture that is often wrong and does a disservice to the best interest of both nations. Hopefully, open minds and hearts will prevail, and our countries will finally iron out their differences.” Nice sentiment, Bob. I hope you’re right. … Nat Mead gets the prize for long-distance writing. He says, from Norway, that “all’s well with life on the other side of the dam.” He has been working for the past 25 years at Norway’s national college for ecological agriculture. “I got an inkling to finally go for a master’s in education three years ago,” he says. “It was a good thing
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CLASS CORRESPONDENT Dwight Shepard ’72 shepdb@comcast.net
’73 Josh Hancock ’74 and a Jaguar XKR-S 550 horsepower in racing blue. He had it for a few months while consulting with Jaguar Land Rover, and it’s been one of his favorite cars of all time.
Jim McDonald ’75 on a snowshoe outing at 10,500 feet.
I had been through both Out Back at Holderness and a few ski marathons in my earlier days, because this was about as strenuous! It all panned out well and gave lots of inspiration.” Nat says he has gotten in a bit of traveling in the last few years to Tanzania, Portugal, Spain, England, Sweden, Poland, and even the USA. “Our three girls are in their 20s now, no grandchildren and none married. All are in good shape and have good studies under their belts; we enjoy seeing them pretty regularly.” Nat says he has had some contact with Gary Circuit via Facebook. “It’s been fun to catch up a bit with him; still in Mexico.” Nat extends an open invitation to stop by and see him if any of us head to Norway. … Mark Pillsbury writes from Middletown, RI, that he continues to work as editor of Cruising World magazine in Newport, where they are looking forward to a visit from the Volvo Ocean Race this spring. “Our Holderness Out Back training came in handy living on a sailboat in the harbor this winter,” he says. “The drifts on the pier made those snowbanks in the wilds of the Connecticut lakes look tame by comparison.” … Did somebody
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invoke Dave Nicholson’s name? Yes, I think a few of you did. He writes from his office at Endeavor Tool Co. in West Boylston, MA, that two of his three sons will be getting married this year. “Dave Jr. is getting married August 29, in Osterville (Cape Cod), and Scott is getting married June 16 in Manchester, VT. Scott is waiting to hear from grad schools later this month, so Suzie and I are anxiously waiting to learn where he and his fiancée will be living.” … Laurie Van Ingen writes from Grapevine, TX, that he is getting ready to retire after 37 years in the oil business. “My wife and I plan, at least initially, to divide our time between the Adirondacks, our home in Grapevine, and our home in Durango, CO. Geology will most likely continue to be a part of my life, as there is a large college in Durango with a vibrant geology department that will provide some teaching opportunities. Our son Philip and his wife Suzanne live in San Antonio where Philip works for RackSpace. Our daughter Meg and husband Michael live about 20 minutes away from us. Michael is in commercial real estate and Meg teaches eighth grade at the Episcopal School of
Dallas.” … Chris Latham, the other “one shot wonder,” according to Dan Murphy, is director of development at the Taft School in Watertown, CT. “Cindy and I are becoming grandparents this summer,” he writes. “Our oldest son, Hunt, and his wife Jordan are expecting their first child in early July. Needless to say, Cindy’s dad, who just turned 90 in January, is thrilled about becoming a greatgrandfather!” … And as far as the Shepard family is concerned, I continue to work as an online editor at The Republican in Springfield, MA (masslive.com). My wife Lucy and I maintain homes in Longmeadow and Dennis on Cape Cod, and have one granddaughter, Libby—named after Lucy’s late cousin, Elizabeth Palmer, who died at 101 last year after being general secretary of the World YWCA in Switzerland, while you and I were at Holderness. Our son Ted, Libby’s father, lives in Duxbury, MA, and works in the banking business. Our daughter Lisa is a part-time snowboard instructor at Keystone in Colorado. Lucy and I are grateful to have our golden retriever Spencer and Lisa’s cat Jude to keep us company at home. Great to hear from so many of you this time. Until next time, peace be with you.
Sam Richards is “Shoveling, mostly snow.” … William Cosgrove is praying for snow in a low snow year in the Cascades. … The calendar may say “springtime,” but it doesn’t look like it yet here in New England. I think the lingering snow cover may be the problem! I made the best of another cold, snowy winter by completing my Pan-New England ski project, topping out at 89 ski areas with a recent visit to the reincarnated Mt. Eustis in Littleton, NH. Just last weekend I enjoyed the Holderness ski day at Cannon and spent the morning over at the Mittersill backcountry area where I skied as a kid. No longer being a kid, the ungroomed and overgrown “trails” really taxed my old bones. The long winter got me thinking about past winters at Holderness. I can recall jumping out my second floor dorm room window in Hoit with Peter Bennett into fairly deep snowbanks during the winter of 1970–71, and I’ll never forget shivering under my plastic “tent” when it went down to -20° while we were on our Out Back solo during junior year! … As for news from our classmates, Peter Terry indulged my reminiscing about winters past and wrote how he fondly remembers wrestling in the snowbanks outside Niles and Webster to perfect his moves. The downside of wrestling “al fresco” was that he lost his Holderness school ring in the depths of the snow, only to have it found months later when the snow melted. Peter managed to lose that ring again while passing a football several years later at a rest area in Ashtabula, OH; guess he should
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Craig Antonides ’77 visits with Holderness alumni in Colorado: (L–R) Drew Hyde ’91, Craig, Tracy McCoy Gillette ’89, Jen Comstock ’89, and Brad Greenwood ’89.
have had it surgically attached after the first incident! … Staying on the Peter theme, Peter Garrison writes that he and his wife are selling their condo in Panama and moving to Exeter, NH, in the spring. Peter is coming back to New Hampshire after about 40 years. Maybe a welcoming party should meet the Garrisons as they cross the border! They have purchased a home near the center of Exeter. Peter had a chance to stay a couple of nights with Morgan Dewey in Sunapee, NH, and then drove over to Vermont to meet up with Geoff Klingenstein for lunch. … On the topic of Geoff Klingenstein, he passed on an email address for Jesse Nichols and indicated, in a nice, professional sort of way, that the class correspondent should get off his lazy butt and do some social networking research into other “lost” classmates! … Finally, no class notes would be complete without Tim Scott’s news from beautiful downtown Jackson, NH. Tim writes that I am doing a great job as class correspondent (Geoff: Please take note) and that he and his wife Sheila joined about 35 other Holderness folks for a snowshoe and/or cross-country ski trek and overnight stay in the Maine woods back in late February— guess those hip replacements are working out okay for Tim! Phil
Peck was supposed to join the group but pressing school business cut his trip short; however, events person Stacy Lopes was on hand with trivia and prizes. The idea for this adventure was to recapture the “magic” of Out Back, or in our case, Outward Bound, in slightly more comfortable surroundings (and without the live chicken BBQ dinners!). Tim has also started an exciting new venture in his consulting work called Strategic Philanthropy that emphasizes relationships with donors who want to make a difference. Tim finds it is satisfying to be on the other side of the table for a change! … That’s all for now. Here’s to hoping you all enjoy the spring and summer. Excuse me now, since I need to start tracking down our MIA classmates before Geoff gets on my case again! CLASS CORRESPONDENT Dick Conant Jr. ’73 rconantjr@msn.com
’74 Echoing a common theme, Chuck Reilly and Duane Ford are shoveling snow! … Josh Hancock is developing a new show for digital distribution about cars in the movies.
ol Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
Chris Cushing ’78, Rob Bacon ’77, JD Hale ’78, Paul Bozuwa ’78, Hal Hawkey ’78, Dave Lamb ’78, and Bruce Edgerly ’78 skied at Vail the day after the services for Sandy Treat ’78.
CLASS CORRESPONDENT Walter Malmquist ’74 wmalmquist@kingcon.com
’75 (reunion) Andy Holman reports, “Working, staying warm, and skiing.” … Mac Jackson is working in the ski world, while Jim McDonald is working but mixing in a little quality snowshoeing. … Jay Butler writes, “Working, skiing, cycling!” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Mac Jackson ’75 skifarmer@live.com
’76 Steve Mackintosh writes, “Staying warm in Dallas, TX. I do, however, miss the cold and snow, especially those open air hockey practices back in the 70s.” … Henry Bliss is “skating, skiing, and shoveling.” … Charlie Bolling and Tim Quinn enjoyed a day of skiing together recently at Belleayre in the central Catskills, where the conditions were too good to believe. Tim is working in finance for the Gabelli Fund, and
Charlie is teaching golf and playing competitively. CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Charlie Bolling ’76 chasgolf7@aol.com Biff Gentsch ’76 eventproducts@aol.com
’77 Jim Hamblin writes, he is “trying to stay warm in the North Country. I skied last week with Linda Fogg Noyes ’75, Guy Van Pelt ’75, and Guy’s twin six-yearold daughters!” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Peter Grant ’77 pete@grantcom.us
’78 J.D. Hale writes, “I am skiing and enjoying the outdoors each day in honor of my classmate Sandy Treat. Sandy and I were on nine teams together during our years at Holderness: prep A soccer, varsity soccer, ski team, and varsity baseball. I enjoyed every minute. I wanted to be cool at Holderness;
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Team Shot, September 2014, Woods Hole with Sandy Treat ’78.
Sandy just was. He treated every student, friend, teammate with the same great smile and laugh. And he worked hard. He is an inspiration even today. We miss you, Sandy. However, you have brought our class closer together; our passions for the outdoors only have taken on new levels of enjoyment, thanks to you.” … Prescott Smith reports, he is “organizing a team to ride in this year’s Pan Mass Challenge in honor of Sandy Treat. I’m also shoveling, shoveling and…two houses, twice as much shoveling.” … Andy Snow, on the other hand, is waiting for winter and is getting way too early a jump on the cycling season. CLASS CORRESPONDENT Luther Turmelle ’78 lturmelle@spc.global.net
’79 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! Kris Van Curan Nordblom is shoveling in Somerville, MA, and
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skiing in Holderness, NH. Scott Hemeon is teaching art in Florida.
’80 (reunion) Jack Dawley says he is enjoying our wonderful winter weather! … Graham Walsh writes, “Shoveling snow at Sans Souci, my home of two years here on the Bristol Peninsula in mid-coast Maine. I’m looking forward to continuing the restoration of White Lady, my 1967 27-foot Norman Hodgdon Down East Cruiser that saw extensive work from 2013–14 at The Apprenticeshop in Rockland, ME. Hope to see Jeff Boal and Burma on the water again in 2015.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Greg White ’80 ggnh@aol.com
’81 CLASS CORRESPONDENT Bill Baskin ’81 william.baskin.law.90@aya.yale.edu
’82 Frank Bonsal says he is surviving the undulating Mid-Atlantic weather patterns. … Molly Nelson
Molly Nelson ’82 dropped in on Bill ’86 and Nannie Clough on a bike/camp wander last fall.
is keeping busy “cross-country skiing, ordering seeds, playing cards, sleeping, and eating.” … Emily Conant Spinna is watching her girls play lots of ice hockey. … Mark Cavanaugh reports that he is skiing and chasing his little ones down the mountain. CLASS CORRESPONDENT Chris Pesek ’82 chris.pesek@am.joneslanglasalle.com
’83 Valerie Kamarck Lithgow has been shoveling and shoveling! She started a new job in the summer of 2014 at Yankee Magazine and loves it. … Jud Madden writes, he is “shoveling a lot of snow, and watching a lot of hockey.”
CLASS CORRESPONDENT Fred Ludtke ’84 ludtke4@gmail.com
’85 (reunion) Mimi MacNaught Denton has been spending time skiing. … Kris Pfeiffer Figur keeps busy with “work, kids’ school stuff, and some skiing!” … Charlie Lamson reports, he is “working, raising kids, and skiing Ireland’s lovely hills of purple heather.” … JeanLouis Trombetta writes, “I’ve been enjoying the warm weather in the Caribbean and the Guatemala highlands with Nicholas Dorion. I’m hoping to make it up to Holderness for our 30-year reunion.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Jean-Louis Trombetta ’85 jeanlouistrombetta@gmail.com
CLASS CORRESPONDENT Jud Madden ’83 justin.madden64@gmail.com
’86
’84 Hilary Snyder O’Connor writes, “Our family travelled this past Thanksgiving to England and France and visited London, the Normandy coast, Chartres, and Paris.”
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!
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Andrew Twombly ’87 sent in this photo of his dogs dressed up for Halloween: the Hot Dog (Presley) and the Shark (Oso), and his lab Lauke (short for Moosilauke), without her goggles.
Taylor Hubbard is “trying not to freeze.” … Susan Barriere Handfield is enjoying the weather in Arizona.
’87 Andy Twombly writes, “I’m enjoying a new global position in the Americas Region with BP. I’m also getting a few turns in on the teles with the ski patrol and watching my son make time cuts for the state swim meet.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Kathryn Lubrano Robinson ’87 kathryn.robinson@gmail.com
’88 Lauren O’Brien Smith has been doing lots of skiing in Woodstock, VT. … Gregory Gaskill reports, he is “chopping wood to stay warm in the North Carolina mountains, which are certainly not as cold as the New Hampshire mountains.” … Elizabeth Pierce writes, there is “plenty of snowshoeing in the Arnold Arboretum in Boston; it’s not the Whites, admittedly, but pretty good for city living.” … Erika Ludtke McGoldrick is occupied with “three kids, a husband, work, life on beautiful
During the board of trustee meetings this spring Amanda Black ’89, Tracy McCoy Gillette ’89, Sara deLima Tansill ’89, and Jenny Alfond Seeman ’88 had a chance to catch up. The children included in the picture are Lily Gillette ’19 and Harrison Black.
Hilton Head Island, basketball (times two), robotics, Senior Class of 2015, school, and family.” … Matt Schonwald is guiding, taking his daughter skiing when there is snow, and dreaming of Japan. CLASS CORRESPONDENT Alex MacCormick ’88 alexmaccormick@yahoo.com
’89 When she’s not shoveling, shoveling, shoveling, Heather Marcroft Vitella runs her business, Cover Crop Marketing. … Good news from Tracy McCoy Gillette who writes, “I just finished up six months of chemo and seven weeks of radiation and am ready to start living again! YEA!” … Chris Davenport reports, “Lots of skiing and travel. My new video series, The Faces Of Dav, is out on YouTube at redbull.com/facesofdav and has been getting great traction. I’m following my kids around to their ski races and am also happy to report my oldest son, Stian, has applied to Holderness for freshman year! I enjoyed hanging out with my classmates Ward Blanch, Sarah Trainor Pflaum, Sara deLima, Chris Bither, and Jen Murphy.
ol Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
Kimberly Gannett’s ’89 family.
Matt Schonwald ’88 on Mt. Baker in Washington.
Thanks to our super-friend Tracy McCoy Gillette for hosting us at her home in Vail.” … Tiaan and Lindley Hall van der Linde are nordic and downhill skiing with their children, Linden (six) and Stella (four), and coaching the local youth cross-country ski club. Lindley continues to enter ski marathons and fatbike races, and Tiaan gets his exercise by skinning up Burke Mountain and winter biking at night. … Brad Greenwood writes, “The Greenwoods are having a blast this winter with all the snow! We are at Jay Peak, VT, now and hope to connect with Sarah Trainor Pflaum tomorrow! Ski, splash, party—life is good! Hoping to make it to Holderness’s Cannon weekend and MJ’s race; can I forerun?” … Kimberly Gannett is “creating an endowment (first that we know of in the country for a public school) which
is exclusively to help low income kids pay for four years of college!” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Jen Murphy Robison ’89 jennifermrobison@yahoo.com
’90 (reunion) Peter Colpitts reports, “2014 was a busy year. We traveled to Mexico, Boston, Cape Cod, and St. John with David Gerasin ’91 for two weeks this summer. My son Brodie sat in the co-pilot seat from Puerto Rico to St. John on his sixth birthday. I am still running my investment company, CC Equity Partners but am also working to start a credit education and counseling business directed at 11th-graders through college students. I look forward to catching up with the class of 1990 in the fall.” … Johannah Hatch Mackin writes, “My brother Jon Hatch ’91
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Brad Greenwood ’89 and his family in the snow.
and I snuck a visit together to Maine last week. We don’t see each other often enough, but whenever we do get together, we love to share funny memories of our days at Holderness.” … Ben Eaton is working at “the long, hard grind that is life.” … Pepper deTuro is busy with “Snow, hockey, and just kids’ activities in general.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Courtney Fleisher ’90 courtneyfleisher@alumni.bates.edu
CLASS CORRESPONDENT Michael O’Keefe ’91 mphok@hargray.com
’91 Kelley Roberts Bogardus writes, “I continue to work at Berkshire School in southwestern Massachusetts. My husband Andrew is the director of admission, and I serve as the tenth-grade class dean; I also teach English and coach field hockey and ice hockey. We have enjoyed watching our two boys, Burke and Drew, play a lot of hockey this winter and cannot wait to get up to the Holderness area in July for a family reunion with my parents! We will look to reconnect with lots of Holderness
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friends in the area that week.” … Brooke Moran has been skiing, biking, consulting, and teaching. … Amy Henderson reports, “I won my fourth National Motorsports Press Association writing award this year for my 2014 columns. I have also been working on building my equine business and volunteering with local youth through 4-H. I’m still in North Carolina, though I try to visit family and friends in New Hampshire at least once a year.”
’92 Sarah Merrill Strouthopoulos has been teaching her son Finn how to ski. “He is now three and a half and ripping down the slopes by himself,” she writes. “It has made a bad snow year worth it!” … Jamie Bolton has been enjoying the somewhat cold winter in Pennsylvania, especially during long walks on clear nights. “How beautiful the cosmos is. I’ve been doing a little bit of downhill skiing, cleaning up property, helping
Brooke Moran ’91 in Arusha National Park, Tanzania.
friends out. I also installed a unique water energizing distiller in my basement (finally). The power of water is amazing. Oh, and I will be an uncle soon!” … Jake Norton writes, “It’s been a busy year. I just returned from India where I was working more on my film about the Ganges River. I led some fun trips to Kilimanjaro and Everest Basecamp last autumn; I also tried a tough climb in Washington’s Picket Range in September. Now I’m back home spending time with my growing kids, five and seven. I was also tapped to be an ambassador to the United Nations Mountain Partnership, which is a great honor. Life is good and busy!” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Kelly Mullen Wieser ’92 kelly@wiesermail.com
’93 Hilary Stokes Taylor writes, “Although southern California is not conducive to winter sports, I have found ways to get my fiveyear-old daughter into the woods for winter camping and skiing (both with highs of 65 during the day, so I use the term ‘winter’ loosely).” … Pete Woodward is still shoveling. He is working for The Black Diamond Group, INC— Carhartt Footwear and living in Georgetown, MA, with wife Darlene and dog Kota. … Katie McQuilkin Garnett is also shoveling. She reports that all three children (ten, seven, and three) are up on skis. … Virginia (Ginny) Kingman Schreiber reports, “I have been teaching my sixth- and seventh-grade students acting, as well as directing the Disney musical, Aladdin. I am also enjoying mothering my three young boys and spending time with my great
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Members of the Class of 1989 enjoying Reunion and Homecoming Weekend in September.
Pete Woodward ’93 having a conversation with his dog Kota in his backyard after a 20-plus-inch storm.
Jon Hatch ’91 and Johanna Hatch Mackin ’90.
David and Isaac, sons of Heather Marcroft Vitella ’89.
Tiaan and Lindley van der Linde ’89 with their children Stella and Linden this winter.
Andy Katchen ’92 and Schuyler Perry ’93 work together in the same office.
hubby.” … Kate McIlvain Smith writes, “My nephew, Stew Hutchinson ’18, and niece, Laura Rinehart ’17, are having so much fun in their first year at Holderness! It’s been so nice to be on campus and see the school through fresh eyes. I get updates on all the fun doings at school and, I have to admit, I am a bit jealous. I coached field hockey this fall at Holton Arms School, and I will pick up coaching lacrosse this spring. Feels good to get back on the field after taking eight years off!” … Neil Shetty Bhay writes, “I don’t remember my last update, so I’ll just summarize 2014. We welcomed a baby girl to our family of three in March 2014 (future Holderness
alumni?). I left HBO in October 2014 and am now heading up the tech group at Viacom in charge of delivering online Comedy Central and SpikeTV programming (yes, it was sad when Colbert and Jon Stewart both said they were leaving). Outside of that, I’m mostly playing the role of family man and hoping everyone at Holderness is doing well.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Lindsay Dewar Fontana ’93 linds_dewar@yahoo.com
’94 Melissa Barker Tamplin has been racing lots of cyclocross. … Bunge Cook writes, “Greetings from
ol Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
Kailua, HI. Eliza and I moved here in December. I’m assigned to the US Pacific Command staff here for the next couple of years. Prior to this, we had a great year in Newport, RI, at the Naval War College, then a busy year and a half in DC (I had a crazy job at the Pentagon and Eliza gave birth to our first child, Piper Bramhall Cook). We’re expecting her Irish twin this summer.” … Dave Castor reports, “I’m moving to the Washington, DC area this summer; I’m still in the Air Force, working as a military representative to an intelligence agency there. I’m looking forward to a change of scenery and pace.” … Becky Dion is moving to Spain to teach middle school science at the American School of Madrid. … As for me [Ramey Harris-Tatar], I get to see a few Holderness faces on a regular basis, as I work with Katie McQuilkin Garnett ’93 at
Katie McQuilkin Garnett ’93 and her two oldest children, Callie (10) and Liam (7) at Wachusett Mountain.
Lexington Pediatrics in Lexington, MA, where several Holderness families now come. If you live in the area, stop by and see us! … Peter Scoville sent in a photo from a recent ski trip with several alumni: “We were all skiing together in Canada last week with no snow and pouring down rain. No surprise, but we had a blast anyway.” CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Sam Bass ’94 samuel.g.bass@gmail.com Ramey Harris-Tatar ’94 rameyht@yahoo.com
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Enjoying a beautiful ski day this winter, 2015: Peter Scoville ’94, Sander van Otterloo ’94, John Spiess ’94, Rick Richardson ’94, Alex Daly ’94, Rogan Lechthaler ’94, Jason Myler ’94, and TG Gallaudet ’97 (and friends from CC). Ginny Schreiber ’93 and her family.
’95 (reunion) Jake Hinman reports, “Laurel and I managed to get both kids (Barrett and Emelia) on skis, finally. And given that Longmont, CO, has been in the 60s this February, we’re unusually tanned.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT John Farnsworth ’95 jpfarns@yahoo.com
’96 Kirsten Tilney Behling has been shoveling and playing in the snow with her two kids, Rhys and Shiloh. … Kristen Stout Lovelock is teaching art and photography in Oxford and cycling. CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Emily Evans MacLaury ’96 emaclaury@gmail.com Heather Pierce Roy ’96 heatherbpierce@hotmail.com
Antonucci ’17 is attending Holderness—third brother to attend! I spent a lot of time outside with my two daughters this winter and am teaching them how to skate. It is great to see Holderness people everyday: Will Richardson ’96, Jenn Reilly ’04, and Mark and Edie Traina.” … Joe Kelleher is “having a great time in the snow with my dogs, Buzz and Woody!” … Putney Haley Pyles is loving the snow! … Shannon Mullen writes, “Hello from London, where I’m working for a few months in development on one of my movie projects. I bumped into Tim O’Keeffe ’92 over here, and we had a great time on the town.” … Gasper Sekelj and his wife welcomed their second child, daughter Kinsley Grace in February. CLASS CORRESPONDENT Putney Haley Pyles ’97 putneypyles@gmail.com
’98
’97 Tom Antonucci reports, “I’m still working at Taft School in Watertown, CT. I serve as the associate dean of students and director of their summer school. I am proud to report that Ben
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Sarah Crane ’98 and her son skiing this winter.
Jen Hand Muldoon writes, “Matt and I moved with our daughter Claire out of Boston to Weston. We deeply miss the city, but with another little girl on the way in March, we are grateful to be in our new town.” … Eric Mueller
has been “Shoveling, parenting, and spending a ton of time with our new neighbor, Chris Hinman and his family.” … Sarah Crane reports, “On September 15, 2014, we welcomed our second son, Everett Sananikone Crane-Gough, to the family. Big brother Andrew is happy and already trying to teach him all sorts of crazy things. I had a great visit this fall with Bryn Conklin and Katy Gannon. We have been skiing and enjoying the outdoors when it is not too cold this winter!” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Tara Walker Hamer ’98 taraphotography@gmail.com
’99 Jamie Bradley reports, “My wife Diane and I have been enjoying the mild Oregon winter temperatures but missing the usual snowfall. As a result, we are currently in Minnesota, getting ready to spend a week cross-country skiing and perhaps even competing in the Birkie in Hayward, WI. Small projects on our house, built in 1930, continue. I’ve slowly been learning the craft of woodworking and am enjoying making small pieces of furniture by hand, as time allows. Any Holderness
Jake Hinman ’95 and his son Barrett.
alumni in the area, or travelling to Portland, should feel free to reach out.” … Page Connolly Minshall is living in DC and taking care of her 20-month-old son, Mac. “We’re expecting our second child in May!” she says. … Andrew Walter writes, “I’m living, working, and skiing in Alta, UT, with my lovely wife Sarah and handsome pup Teddy. Anyone is welcome in Alta anytime, just bring some snow...four dry years is starting to take its toll on the knees!” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Brooke Aronson McCreedy ’99 brooke.mccreedy@gmail.com
’00 (reunion) Jon Campbell is doing lots of skiing and getting ready to welcome his first child in March! … Jason Rowe is traveling the East and working. … Andrew Sheppe reports, “Life on campus continues apace. Kristin and I live in upper Rathbun with our two sons,
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Kennedy Ariana Thomas, daughter of Jerome ’95 (TR) and Cindy Thomas.
who just turned four and two. The boys and I have been watching a lot of Holderness hockey games this winter. I did get the chance to catch up with Ryan Tyler and Rory Kelly for a bit of skiing in January. They both looked great and skied fast.” … Tim O’Donnell writes, “I have recently started work at Goedecke & Company, a mortgage brokerage company in Boston. I actually just caught up with Teddy Finnerty; great to see him. Rob Maguire is also around Boston, and I catch up with him from time to time. My wife and I are expecting our second child—a baby boy—any day now. Exciting times! I hope everyone is doing well!” … JaQay L. Carlyle reports, “Working at the law firm and growing in my career!” … Hedda Burnett writes, “Hellooooo Holderness, long time! I’m living in Brooklyn, NY, with my husband, our aged basset hound, and two weird cats; I am working as a veterinarian and medical director of Hope Animal Hospital. I was fortunate enough to spend some time with Heidi Webb and Ave Cook ’02 over the summer and recently reconnected with Devon Douglas ’99 as she’s working right in my neighborhood! I’ve also spent some time with RC Whitehouse. We’ve relived our
Eric Mueller ’98 and his daughters, Eliza (three) and Liesl (one), escaping the New England weather this winter.
theater days and reminisced about Madonna being pregnant! Lots of Holderness connections in NYC. Hope to reconnect with more of you soon!” … Andrew “Sully” Sullivan is flying with the US Coast Guard in southeast Alaska. … Nikki Morris moved back to Portland, OR, last summer with her husband Lee Perlow and one-year-old son Eli to work in a midwife group with her good friend Katie Farnsworth ’99. … Matt Powers writes, “We’ve been really busy over here in California’s Central Valley. My boys are growing like weeds, and my wife and I are starting a permaculture family farm. I teach on Saturday mornings and have been running a Kickstarter the past week for the first permaculture textbook for middle schoolers. It has been a huge success. We reached double our funding goal by the half-way marker! Please check it out and support sustainable design science in schools globally if you can: kickstarter.com/projects/mattpowers/the-permaculture-student-1.”
ol Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
A photo from Sully Sullivan’s ’00 helicopter office as the sun sets on another southeast Alaska day.
CLASS CORRESPONDENT Andrew “Sully” Sullivan ’00 myireland20@gmail.com
’01 Karyn Hoepp Jennings is “Working, skiing, playing!” … Jennifer Crane reports, “This winter has been rather busy for me, but exciting too. I started a new position in Bowdoin’s development office as director of 50th Reunion Giving, and I bought a condo in Portland, ME. And in ‘small world’ scenarios, I ran into Joey Mormina at Rockefeller Center in NYC, which was a fun coincidence!” … Patrick Regan writes, “I was admitted to the bar of the US Supreme Court on Wednesday, March 4. My wife Katy was able to attend and she sat behind several congressmen including Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi. It was an awesome experience.” … Patrick Gannon spent 37 days rafting the Grand Canyon then shredded powder throughout Colorado with the Team Human Project. Now he’s getting
some warmth before heading back to Alaska for guiding season. … Joy Domin Southworth reports, “My wellness center is celebrating its second year this March with the addition of new instructors, several new classes, and an additional aesthetician that will offer facials. All the snow made for an exciting winter! Grace (six) is now reading chapter books and has been fine tuning her snowboarding skills. Thomas (three) took up snowshoeing when not in preschool. Ryan has been quite busy trying to keep up with work, and all the extra snow plowing and shoveling.” … Blake Barber has been skiing in Vermont. … Rachel Goldberg has been enjoying all the Boston snow days with her baby boy, Harrison Nissi, who was born on July 11, 2014. … “Kinsey and I are still living in Boston, where I work in venture capital,” writes Evan Kornack. “We were very lucky to log a lot of ski days this winter; we were even able to swing by campus a couple of times on our way back to Boston.”
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Joy Domin Southworth ’01 and family.
Oliver (four) and James (eight) Powers, sons of Matt Powers ’00, on the Powers Family Permaculture Farm.
Andrew Everett ’02 and a group of friends that gathered in Boston this winter.
CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Karyn Hoepp Jennings ’01 karynpjennings@gmail.com Adam Lavallee ’01 a.l.lavallee@gmail.com Sophie Moeller ’01
’02 Eamonn Reynolds-Mohler is enjoying the West Coast. … Zach Zoulias married Briana Brothers. Micum McIntire and Theo Jordan were in the wedding party and Phil Peck and family were in
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attendance. … Maddie Fiumara writes that she’s “still working at Carney Sandoe, which keeps me connected with a lot of Holderness teachers (past and present) and classmates. I see and speak with Kerry Douglas often— she is my son Sam’s (19 months) godmother! And we’ll have a new addition to the family this July!” … Joe Sampson reports, “Kait and I had our first child, Elodie Mae Sampson, on February 27. She is happy, healthy, and beautiful. Kait and I are looking forward to teaching her how to ski, bike, and hike! Betsy Pantazelos and I just
finished our beer league season with Tim Barnhorst ’00, Shawn Bristow ’97, and Evan Mullen ’00. It was a great weekly Holderness reunion.” … Sarah Hendel reports, “I’ve been in Burlington, VT, for four years now, and I’m loving the work-life balance this city offers. My big news is that on May 16 I’ll be graduating with a master’s in environmental law and policy from Vermont Law School, and then on May 17 I’ll be getting married to my partner of two years, Tomas Sanchez, in a small ceremony with a few close friends and family.” … Me’Aeyko Daniel writes in, “I am finalizing my thesis for my master’s of law program in employment law. My thesis, which is fairly controversial, is on advancing the legal protection of the LGBT community in the workplace. My goal is to be able to teach at a prestigious accredited institution in the far future. Meanwhile, I am growing a prince in my belly who will make his arrival in August, and last weekend I got engaged and am planning a wedding post baby weight!” … Ramsay Hill writes, “I live in Park City, UT, and teach at the Park City Day School. I moved here with my boyfriend after grad
school at Harvard. Utah is a unique place and we love the outdoor lifestyle and variety (think: mountains to desert in two hours). I have seen Jory Macomber a few times—he moved here to work for the USA Team Academy—as my boyfriend is on the US Ski Team. The snow was terrible this winter; it all went to you guys back East!” … For me, Betsy Pantazelos, if you can believe it, I have actually moved away from Boston. Have no fear, though, I am still working for Patagonia—now in New York City—as the district manager for the retail stores here. In the winter, I caught up with some alumni at a local NYC gathering and have since spent some time with Devon Leahy ’99, Kerry Douglas, Neal Frei ’03, Linden Mallory ’03, and RC Whitehouse ’00. Over the winter, I joined Joe Sampson, Tim Barnhorst ’00, Shawn Bristow ’97, and Evan Mullen ’99 for a nighttime ski racing season. It’s been incredible to move to a new city and land so softly with the support of my Holderness family!
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CLASS CORRESPONDENT Betsy Pantazelos ’02 b.pantazelos@gmail.com
’03 Neal Frei is looking forward to moving from New York City to Santa Fe in March! … Nick Payeur writes, “I am still living in Maine and enjoying my weekends in and around the local hockey rinks. Christa and I got married in Meredith, NH, on a beautiful October day at Church Landing surrounded by family and friends.” … Brendan Murphy reports, “I’m still living and teaching in Abu Dhabi and loving the warm weather year around! I’m about to celebrate my second year of marriage with my wife in April and will be visiting Bali over spring break. Over the summer my wife and I hope to get to Washington, DC, Chicago, and, of course, Holderness School during my annual visit to see the Weston Lea and Michael D’Amico benches while camping just up the road at Hancock Campground.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Nick Payeur ’03 ndpayeur@gmail.com
’04 Mike O’Neil is working at Murphy King, P.C. in Boston, MA. … Mattie Ford DiNapoli reports, “This winter, I have been enjoying being a newlywed. We are buried in snow in Boston and love going skiing in Vermont on the weekends. We recently went out to Utah to ski and visit my brother, Willie Ford ’05.” … Geoff Calver writes, “My wife Katie and I had our first child, Kessler Audrey Calver, on December 13, 2014. It’s been an exciting winter with lots of visiting family and friends, tons of photo taking, and lots of time
Channing Weymouth ’02 and Maggie Caputi ’12 connect at a Middlebury gathering for lacrosse coach Missy Foote.
with our little girl! I also am finally on the ice again, playing hockey after missing seven months of adult league with a broken ankle (not enjoyable!). I haven’t had a chance to get out skiing yet (Maryland slopes aren’t exactly huge) but looking forward to an opportunity at some point!” … Kate Kenly-Tith is working as a clinical research project manager in pediatric oncology at DanaFarber. She has been skiing with her family and playing in the snow with her three-year-old son, Liam. CLASS CORRESPONDENT Ryan McManus ’04 rbmcmanus@gmail.com
’05 (reunion) Caitlin Connelly Cooper writes, “Last weekend, Kit HendersonAdams and I ran into each other at the airport and ended up sharing a flight from Boston to Nashville. It was great to catch up and make plans for our upcoming reunion!” … Nigel Malloch says, he is “not eating snow in Santa Monica.” … Stan Smith has a new job as a consultant for grassroots youth development nonprofits in NYC. … Jenn Calver moved to Michigan last summer and says she is getting used to the freezing winters. “I miss the downhill skiing (no mountains here), but I’ve
ol Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
Brendan Murphy ’03, UAE National Day celebration at the American International School Abu Dhabi.
taken up cross-country skiing as my new cold-weather hobby!” she writes. “I’m looking forward to getting back East ASAP!” … Maresa Nielson is teaching first grade, protesting occupation, and finishing a thesis on how the standardization of education segregates students. … Brie Keefe is “teaching, skiing, snowshoeing, and staying warm!” … Han Min Lee is getting married! … Emily Sampson writes, “I have been teaching a student with autism, coaching ski racing with 10- and 11-year-olds at Waterville, and training for a half marathon in April. I’m taking graduate classes towards my master’s in special education and autism.” … Emma Schofield reports, “Besides the normal routine of life and work, I have been skiing and snowshoeing with my dogs.” … Justin Hall has a new job—recruiter at
ZocDoc, an online medical care scheduling service. … Erin Connery is living in San Francisco, working at an edtech startup and writing short stories. … Pete Schlech reports, “I live in Philadelphia right now, where I work full time for the 76 Air Refueling Squadron that flies KC10s out of Mcguire Air Force Base in New Jersey. I’ve been on the road a lot the last year: Portugal, Italy, Germany, Alaska, Hawaii, the Middle East, Japan, and Diego Garcia, among other places. I go back to my civilian airline job full time in a few months and then will be working part time for the Air Force after that.” CLASS CORRESPONDENT Brie Keefe ’05 brie.keefe@gmail.com
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CJ Vincent ’06
A gathering of the Class of 2006 in Boston last winter (L–R): Nick Schoeder, Hilary Nichols, Kelley Keohan, Kristin Keohan, Casey Gilman, and Jeff Rudberg.
’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! Ashley Babcock reports, “I’ve been living in Telluride for over three years since graduating from CU in 2011. I’ve had a lot of jobs and am now wearing a lot of hats: teaching algebra to eighth and tenth graders, coaching big mountain freeskiing, managing a sustainability program with local businesses, and apprenticing with an herbalist. Ultimately, I get to ski a lot in the winter, and bike, kayak, backpack, and climb in the summer. Come visit!” … CJ Vincent writes, “I started work at
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Apple in 2014 and am working in supply chain for the upcoming Apple Watch. I’ve spent a lot of time traveling to and from China and Japan over the last several months to collaborate and negotiate with vendors. But I’ve still managed to get out skiing a couple times and visit with Kourtney and Steve Martin ’07, who just welcomed their second child, Julia, into the world. Exciting times.” … Grady Vigneau has been skiing and saw Ben Tomaszewski ’06 in December for a fun ski weekend. … Rory Clifford got married in October and is living in Myrtle Beach, SC. … Nicholas Schoeder is currently living in Boston with Paul Cocchiaro ’05 and running his photography business full time while doing part time work restoring boats. … Jeffrey Meyers is in year three of law school but still
tries to get as many days on snow as he can.
’07 Cambria Hempton is hibernating from the snow in Boston, and since she’s a wedding photographer, she’s been planning and preparing for the 2015 wedding season! … Sarah Morrison writes, “This winter has been full of both work and travel. For New Year’s Eve, I traveled to Dubai, and January and February have been filled with weekend trips up to New Hampshire and down to DC. Work has been going full speed ahead, as I recently took over all events and partnerships for the company I’ve been working for since graduating from college in 2011!” … In early February, Samantha Shlopak enjoyed a nice ski vacation in Whistler, BC.
… This winter Katie Oram is living in Victor, ID, and continuing to work as an instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), where she has worked for the last two years. “I recently instructed a winter backcountry ski course and now I’m taking a little time off to enjoy some personal skiing,” she says. “This spring and summer I will be in Arizona and then Washington working some rock climbing and hiking courses. All is well and I am loving living in the West!” … Betsy O’Leary writes, “I have been enjoying the snow skiing at Sunday River on the weekends but have been battling the snow getting to and from North Carolina during the week for physical therapy school! I am looking forward to being back in New England full time starting in May, as I will be completing my final internship at Lakes Region General Hospital and will graduate in December!” … Annie Hanson writes, “I have been enjoying all the snow on the East Coast but am definitely looking forward to spring. I spent Presidents’ Weekend at Beaver Creek for the World Championships of skiing and caught up with Jory Macomber and Willie Ford.” … Mimi O’Connor has been skiing and doing yoga. She will be attending graduate school in Switzerland in July!
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Hannah O’Brien ’08, her assistant coach, and her team huddling just before the start of the “Pink the Rink” game at St. George’s School.
Stephen Martin ’07 and Kourtney Brim Martin ’07 with their newest addition, Julia, and their son Mitchell.
CLASS CORRESPONDENT Annie Hanson ’07 annie.e.hanson@gmail.com
’08 Greg Ramey writes, “I’m living in NYC, sharing an apartment in the East Village with Ax Hayssen ’07, and living next door to James O’Leary ’09. I moved out of the music industry and am now working for a tech start-up that’s building a digital crowdsourcing platform for helicopter charters. Our mobile app is called BLADE. I see many Holderness grads on a regular basis here in the city and around the country.” … Polly Babcock is still living in Brooklyn, NY, and working for international fashion photographer Russell James. “I spent a year as his photo assistant and have recently entered a new role as his digital image technician and archive manager, based in NYC,” she writes. “I stay in touch with the various Holderness alumni who are living in the big city and frequently travel home to Colorado to visit friends and family.” … Gretchen Hyslip designs acculturation programs for Northeastern University and travels internationally to give
presentations on American culture and university life. She is completing her MBA in international business, and in her free time she likes to kayak and attempt to cook. … Hannah O’Brien is coaching girls’ varsity ice hockey at St. George’s School. Her team recently hosted a “Pink the Rink” event and raised $1,060 for the American Childhood Cancer Organization. … Maggie Dembinski says she is loving life in between Boston and Woodstock, VT. She is learning how to weld and is meditating a lot! CLASS CORRESPONDENT Jessica White ’08 white.jessica.madigan@gmail.com
’09 Meredith Peck has been working in a biophysics lab at Johns Hopkins. She recently presented two posters at the 2015 Biophysical Society Meeting. … Andrew Reilly writes, “I recently moved from Atlanta to warm and sunny Orlando. I am still working in the music industry doing PR/marketing as well as managing artists.” … Cody Bohonnon is working hard in New York City and trying to get some skiing in
ol Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
Taylor James ’07 and Samantha Shlopak ’07
Sam Macomber ’11, Elena Bird ’13, and Eliana Mallory ’14 took a road trip from Dartmouth to enjoy spring skiing at Tuckerman Ravine on Mt. Washington in New Hampshire.
Elise Steiner ’10
up in Vermont. … Ian Nesbitt says he is “working, traveling, and skiing.” … Lina Encalada writes, she is “living in Raleigh, NC, and enjoying the mild winter. I am heading to Jackson Hole, WY, this week to ski with fellow alumna Allison Stride.” … Allison Robbins is going on a four-month international trip before starting medical school in the fall. … Justine Seraganian is working at MFS Investment Management as an equity research associate and rowing with Riverside Boat Club in Boston. … Laney Hayssen lives in Madison, WI, and works for Epic Systems, Inc. installing their EMR software. … Jake Manoukian is working in NYC and skiing every chance he gets.
CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Meg McNulty ’09 mmcnulty@mail.smcvt.edu Allison Stride ’09 astride@elon.edu
’10 (reunion) Elise Steiner writes, “This winter I have been snowed in! I picked a lucky year to start living in Boston. With record-breaking snow totals and wind chills below zero, it is truly paradise here. The streets are practically down to one lane, making travel around the city at rush hour nearly impossible. My office had three snow days in two weeks, encouraging employees to work from home if possible due to the wintry conditions. However, on the weekends I tried to escape to New Hampshire to hit the slopes, which has been great. I am looking forward to travelling to Italy next week to visit my sister,
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Colin Phillips ’11 backpacking in the Southern Alps of New Zealand.
Erica ’12, who is studying abroad in Milan this semester.” … Gabbie Raffio is a business development representative for NetSuite. “I have been enjoying living in Boston and watching the Pats win the Super Bowl!” she reports. “I’m excited to live with Madde Burnham ’11 starting this summer, as she joins me at NetSuite!” … Will Hoeschler writes, he is “rehearsing for two Shakespeare plays in repertory, rock climbing, and trying to stay sane in the below zero temperatures of Minneapolis.” … Phil Brown reports, “I have moved to Greenwich, CT, and am working as a product program manager for Unify’s Channel business. Outside of that, I have been cross-country skiing and enjoyed traveling and skiing in Germany.” … Erica Hamlin is working, skiing, and coaching. … Elizabeth Brown writes, “This winter I have been lobbying for the American Association of University Women, consulting for Third Way think tank, and missing winter in New
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England!” … Paul Clark is working for a high-rise residential architecture firm. CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Abby Alexander ’10 abigail.jane.alexander@gmail.com Ashleigh Boulton ’10 amayboulton@gmail.com John McCoy ’10 jmccoy@colgate.edu Em Pettengill ’10 pettenge@garnet.union.edu
’11 Madde Burnham is working on her thesis, looking at the microeconomics of food stamps with behaviors of individuals. … Jaclyn Vernet is going to school at the College of Charleston. … Kiara Boone reports, “I am currently finishing up my last semester at Skidmore College in upstate NY and will be graduating in May. This winter I was accepted into
Keith Bohlin ’12 and Abigail Guerra ’12 in front of Mt. Cook, New Zealand’s highest mountain, during their semester abroad in New Zealand.
the Boston Teacher Residency and will be beginning my master’s coursework in July.” … Amanda Engelhardt is skiing for Brown University in her final competitive ski racing season. “My team recently completed its fourth consecutive undefeated regular season in a row, making our record 40–0!” she says. “We’re looking forward to competing in the USCSA Nationals at Mount Bachelor in early March, and I’m excited to see other Bulls at the event.” … Klaus Vitzthum is skiing and going to school. … Adam Sapers is working for a heli-ski company in British Columbia. … Nico Dellenback is going to culinary school in Napa, CA. … Cecily Cushman is playing lacrosse and trying to find a job. … Alex Kuno writes that he is “finishing up my last semester at St. Lawrence University and trying to solidify a job in the Boston area to begin after graduation.” … Colin Phillips writes, “Just returned from about six months abroad living in Dunedin, New Zealand. I’m
now back at Stonehill College to acquire my BS in biology with a concentration in chemistry.” CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Cecily Cushman ’11 ccushma1@conncoll.edu Mandy Engelhardt ’11 amanda_engelhardt@brown.edu Sam Macomber ’11 Samuel.macomber@gmail.com Jamie McNulty ’11 mcnultyj@union.edu
’12 Josie Brownell writes, “I returned from a semester abroad in Mongolia in December. Now I am back at Colorado College. I’m trying to get up to the mountains for some skiing whenever I can!” … Abby Guerra reports, “I just got back from a semester abroad in New Zealand and am getting back into the swing of things at BU. I am the physical training officer in
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Josie Brownell ’12 holding a golden eagle, which the Kazakh eagle hunters train to catch smaller prey. Josie stayed with a Kazakh family for a week in western Mongolia researching the preservation of pastoralism in their community.
This group of alumni gathered frequently this winter for club skiing in the Colorado region: (L–R) Josie Brownell ’12, Chris Nalen ’13, Rachael Erhard ’14, Jeff Hauser ’13, and Madde Burnham ’11. Tyler Mathieu ’13 and Stephen Wilk ’14 with their trophy after winning the United States Premier Hockey League Championship. Their team (Junior Bruins Elite) went on to play in the USA Hockey Tier III Junior Nationals in March.
(L–R) Caleb Nungesser ’13, Gabas Maldunas ’11, Peter Saunders ’13 together after a Dartmouth–Harvard basketball game.
Naval ROTC this semester, so I am in charge of all fitness for all Midshipmen at BU, BC, and Northeastern. It has been a really rewarding and challenging experience. It is my last semester before I find out my service selection for the Navy, and I am working hard to have the best shot I can to get aviation.” … Alex Leininger is playing hockey for the Milwaukee
School of Engineering and studying biomedical engineering. … Owen Buehler is studying engineering at Cornell. … Stephanie Symecko spent two months in Hong Kong collecting and analyzing microplastics from remote beaches. … Haley Mahar writes, “I returned from a semester abroad at Queen Mary University in London in late December. Since then, I’ve been back at Williams, taking classes and getting ready to dive into lacrosse season.” … Matthew Kinney is “Busy, busy, busy (job hunt, being the president of my fraternity).” … Kristina Micalizzi writes, “I am back in Madrid, Spain, for my spring semester abroad, but this time I am joined by Sara Mogollon. The two of us are roommates in Madrid and were lucky enough to visit Julia Potter in Rome for my 21st birthday. Erica Steiner also joined us from her study abroad program in Milan. It has been an incredible year abroad in Madrid, and I am looking forward to some spring weather and sunshine.” … Andy Munroe is playing Junior A
ol Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
hockey for the Aurora Tigers. … Lily Ford is a sophomore at the University of New Hampshire where she is playing lacrosse. … Ari Bourque reports, “Nothing new is going on here. Unlike a lot of my friends this semester, I did not go abroad. Instead I stayed at Bowdoin to continue studying neuroscience, and I just completed my third ice hockey season. This year we made it to the conference semifinals before losing to Middlebury.” … Eliza Cowie writes, “This past winter I finished up my second season on the St. Lawrence alpine ski team. I’ve also become increasingly involved with a local organic farm called Bittersweet Farm (NY Farmer of the Year 2013). I recently became a member of Tri-Delta Sorority and am planning to study abroad next fall in Kenya.” 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 Olivia Leatherwood writes, “Enjoying sunny Coral Gables and laughing at my friends who are stuck in the snow.” … Jeff Hauser reports, “I joined the club ski team this winter and it has been a really great experience getting to race with low stakes. I am actually on the team with Chris Nalen, and we are currently roommates in a fraternity house on campus at Denver. We have been getting some good skiing in, although nothing compared to you guys in the East! I am currently in the process of deciding what my major will end up being between accounting and finance with a minor in leadership stud-
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Nick Lacasse ’16, Joe Gillis ’16, Dougie DeLuca ’16, Sean Robinson ’16, Matt Nolan ’10, Carson Houle ’11, Clark Macomber ’14, Sam Macomber ’11, Chris Hyland ’15, Liam O’Reilly ’15, and Holderness/FSC coach Jake Manseau on the ski hill.
Members of the Class of 2012 and 2013 gathered in Colorado Springs, CO in February and enjoyed a beautiful 75-degree day near the Front Range. From (L–R): Christian Bladon, Justin Simpkins, Macy Jones, Brandon Marcus, Josie Brownell, and Pippa Blau.
… Kaileigh Lazzaro has been playing club hockey. … Libby Aldridge is studying public health and history at Tulane and enjoying New Orleans. … Hannah Foote recently did an extended service trip in the Bronx. She worked with children in kindergarten through third grade in a school as well as at a community center that helps empower women and their families. “I also played basketball with people ages 16–21 in a covenant house, and prepared and delivered food to people with severe illnesses such as HIV and AIDs who wouldn’t otherwise be able to get and cook their own food,” she wrote.
Julia Potter ’12, Sara Mogollon ’12, Kristina Micalizzi ’12, and Erica Steiner ’12 celebrated Kristina’s 21st birthday during a mini Holderness reunion in Rome.
ies. For those seniors who have applied to University of Denver, I highly suggest applying to the Pioneer Leadership Program.” … James Bannister shipped out aboard the USTS Kennedy, the training vessel for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. … Maxwell Sturges is
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taking a NOLS course in the Rocky Mountains with WFR training. … Kelly DiNapoli writes, “I have had an exciting winter competing in the ESIA circuit. This has given me a chance to see and hang out with so many Holderness alumni. Now that my season is over, I’m looking forward to summer and sunshine.”
CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Kelly DiNapoli ’13 kac288@wildcats.unh.edu
snow, and working out with my field hockey team.” … Elizabeth Powell writes, “This winter I had my first snow day—I guess people in Connecticut don’t know how to deal with a mere three feet of snow.” … Chance Wright reports he’s been busy with “lots of school; it’s really cold here in Rochester!” … Racheal Erhard is skiing and going to college. Celeste Holland writes, “I recently spent about six weeks in New Zealand training Arabian horses for endurance competitions. Although I missed out on a snowy Christmas, I enjoyed the warm weather!” CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Tess O’Brien ’14 tmobrien@uvm.edu CoCo Clemens ’14 conner.clemens@hws.edu
Olivia Leatherwood ’13 olivia.leatherwood@gmail.com
Samuel Paine ’14
’14
Garrett Phillips ’14 gwphil14@stlawu.edu
Michael Yu has been doing a lot of music! … CoCo Clemens is on the club ski team at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. … Allie Renzi writes, “Getting buried in
Elizabeth Powell ’14 epowell@conncoll.edu Stephen Wilk ’14
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COME BACK FOR BLUE HOMECOMING AND REUNION WEEKEND
SEPTEMBER 25–27, 2015 Join us as we celebrate the Reunion classes (ending with 5s and 0s), and as we welcome all of our alumni, family, and friends back for a weekend of fun, friendship, and celebration. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 9:00 AM–5:00 PM Registration: Weld Hall Lobby 9:40 AM–10:25 PM All School Assembly: Hagerman 11:30 AM–12:30 PM All School Lunch: Weld Hall 6:00 PM–7:00 PM 50th Reunion Cocktail Reception: Webster Room of Livermore 7:00 PM 50th Reunion Dinner: East Wing of Weld Hall 6:00 AM–9:00 PM All Alumni Welcome Reception: Owl’s Nest Golf Club SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 7:00 AM Alumni Run with Head of School: Head’s House 8:00 AM–1:00 PM Registration: Weld Hall Lobby 8:30 AM–9:30 AM Breakfast: Weld Hall 9:45 AM–10:45 AM Panel Discussion with current students and faculty: East Wing of Weld Hall 11:00 AM–11:30 AM Alumni Convocation followed by Class Pictures: Chapel of the Holy Cross 11:30 AM–1:30 PM Lunch: BBQ behind Weld Hall 1:00 PM–5:00 PM Athletic Games: Upper and Lower Fields 6:00 PM Cocktail Reception: Common Man Inn 7:00 PM–11:00 PM Dinner: Common Man Inn SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 11:00 AM–12:30 PM Farewell Brunch: Weld Hall Campus tours will be offered through the weekend. Look for more details in your registration pack when you arrive! Visit www.holderness.org/reunion2015 to register, order Holderness gear online, learn about the Reunion Challenge, see who’s coming, and more.
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Farewell to Judith
Judith sharing her stories of Holderness with students in the Archives in Alfond.
by liesl magnus ’ I knew Judith first as a parent; she asked if I would babysit her two sons for a few hours in the afternoons when I was still in middle school. I was hesitant to say yes at first, but I am so glad I did. Over that first summer, and over the years that have followed, I have continued to be astounded by her endless capacity to be patient, loving, and kind, even when I would have just thrown up my hands in despair. Steve and Judith Solberg came to Holderness in , and since then have been at the heart of the school. They’ve been helpers, friends, incredible colleagues, and so much more. But now it’s time to say goodbye. Steve accepted a job at Dartmouth College in April; Judith and the boys followed him to Hanover in June. Judith was first hired to write what was to become This Tender Vine, a history of Holderness. However, the task turned out to
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be bigger than she anticipated; all the historical documents of Holderness School were stored, in no particular order, in a chicken wire cage in the basement of Alfond Library. Sorting through years and years of records—from student discipline cases to work orders to documents containing plans for buildings— was a momumental task, but it was the only way to make enough sense out of Holderness’s history to write a book. It was under Judith’s leadership that the history of Holderness School was logically sorted, cataloged, written about in book form, and eventually preserved in a climate-controlled room in Alfond. In , knowing there was more work to be done than she could handle on her own, Judith began looking for help, and so entered Joanne Wernig. There were two things that Joanne noticed about Judith right off the bat. One of them was her passion. Joanne remembers how fascinated Judith was by all the stories that she discovered in the Archives. “Every morning,” says Joanne, “I would come down and would hear a new story about Holderness.” According to husband Steve, one of the biggest finds that Judith made was a journal from a student in the late s, who was writing just after the school was founded. “The student comes across as a real person,” says Steve, “full of mischief and questions, operating in a colorful environment.” The second thing Joanne noticed was Judith’s demeanor. “Even though she has a Harvard education, you wouldn’t know it,” says Joanne. “She never talks down to you. She never makes you feel less-than.” She is humble and patient and knows that there is always more to learn. Head of School Phil Peck agrees: “Judith has been my model of a behind-the-scenes leader; everything she does is done without drawing attention to herself but makes all of our lives better.”
After handing over the archives to Joanne in July of , Judith took on the role of managing director of stewardship and advancement operations with the goal of strengthening the relationships between Holderness School and its benefactors. Among many other initiatives, Judith began by breathing new life into the endowed scholarship program. While students have always written thank you notes to their benefactors, Judith took the opportunity to turn the process into an educational one, with students not only writing thank you notes but also learning about the reasons that the scholarships exist in the first place. Judith also implemented a program in which students directly thank donors for their support of the Holderness Fund. “She has successfully shifted the focus of the gifts away from being simple financial transactions and toward being celebrations of the powerful relationships that make these gifts special,” says Assistant Head of School for Institutional Advancement Robert Caldwell. “Every gift that comes into our office is now acknowledged with the voice of a student.” So, whether you know her as Judith or as Mrs. Solberg, you know the same person. You know someone who is passionate about what she does and finds joy in the little things. And you know someone who has an endless capacity to love, seeing the good in every situation and the light inside every single person.
HOLDERNESS SCHOOL TODAY | SUMMER 2015
Holderness School Summer 2015 Holderness School Today magazine. Finished size is 11.0 inches tall by 9.0 inches wide.
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I’M TRUE BLUE 0.25 i n c h artw ork
clear zon e f n ding . 0.1 9i n c h artw ork
clear zon e f o r spi ne. 0 .2 5 i nch a rtwo rk c l e ar zo ne fo r
bndi ng.
IN EARLY JULY, THE STEEL BEAMS FOR THE HOCKEY RINK’S FRAME ARRIVED AND WERE STACKED IN THE DAY STUDENT PARKING LOT. AS SUMMER PROGRESSED, THE PILES SHRANK AND THE COVER FOR THE RINK ROSE AGAIN. CONSTRUCTION IS STILL ON SCHEDULE AND THE HOCKEY PLAYERS SHOULD BE ABLE TO SKATE ON HOME ICE BY MID-NOVEMBER. OH, AND THE DAY STUDENTS WILL HAVE A PLACE TO PARK BY OPENING DAY (WE PROMISE!).
ARE YOU TRUE BLUE?
Holderness School Summer 2015 Holderness School Today magazine. Flat size is 11.0 inches tall by 18.19 inches wide (includes 0.19 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 2015
CHAPEL LANE PO BOX 1879 PLYMOUTH, NH 03264-1879
INSIDE: r Commencement 2015 r Not Only Possible, But Inevitable r Catching Up with Joseph Hayes THIS GROUP OF STUDENTS, LED BY MANDARIN TEACHER JONATHAN HIGGINS AND ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF ADMISSION CYNTHIA DAY, TOOK OFF SHORTLY AFTER GRADUATION ON A GRAND TOUR OF CHINA. HERE THEY ARE IN BEIJING AT THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN, A RELIGIOUS COMPLEX USED FOR CEREMONIES OF PRAYER FOR GOOD HARVESTS.
Holderness School Summer 2015 Holderness School Today magazine. Flat size is 11.0 inches tall by 18.19 inches wide (includes 0.19 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.