22 minute read
STEM Research Program Grows
Sebastian Green ’22 investigates the applications of thermal drone technology as part of his STEM research project.
BY JILL WALKER
What is the effect of road salt run-off on aquatic animals? How can thermal drones improve building construction? How does dehydration affect athletic performance? Now in its second year, Northwood School’s Advanced STEM Research program continues to grow by providing students with a platform to engage in independent research in the biological sciences, physical sciences, behavioral sciences and engineering and seek answers to questions such as these. This year-long honors-level course challenges students with a passion for scientific discovery to design and implement research projects based on their own interests.
Students enrolled in the program have used their work to lend strength to their college admission applications. Having distinguished themselves through their research, these students were granted admission at highly selective institutions including Cornell University, University of Virginia, Villanova University, Colgate University, Stanford University, and University of Notre Dame. It is also worth noting that ten out of sixteen students who have enrolled in the program are female.
After a very successful first year, the Edward E. Ford Foundation and The Uihlein Foundation awarded Northwood generous matching grants to help expand this program and to create a public-private partnership with area public schools and universities to share research equipment, data, and mentors with expertise in students’ chosen areas of research. The purchased equipment and established partnerships will allow a greater number of students to collect high-quality data, and gain experience with first-hand research. The program will also continue to use the Adirondack Park as a laboratory to carry out research that will foster a deeper connection between these young scientists and their environment and potentially have a positive impact on the health of the communities and ecosystems surrounding our campus.
In year two of the program, eight students carried out the following research projects:
n Effects of photoperiod on growth of baby romaine lettuce using ebb and flow hydroponics. n Investigating the applications of thermal drone technology. n The effect of varied nutrient concentration on the growth of baby romaine lettuce using an ebb & flow hydroponic system. n Determining the effects of calcium chloride and sodium chloride on the evolution of salt tolerance in Daphnia magna. n Cutibacterium acnes infection in total knee replacement surgery: a case report and literature review. n Using trail cameras to determine activity of deer based on climate and lunar phases. n Testing hydration levels in athletes and creating a rehydration plan for optimal performance.
This year students shared their work by presenting their findings as scientific posters at a symposium held at Northwood’s Innovation Hub on Main Street during the final weeks of school.
From Cuba to Northwood
Trustee Raul Valdes-Fauli ’61 Shares His Story
BY RAUL VALDES-FAULI ’61
In the course of my 50-year career, I’ve been privileged to experience many settings: from Harvard Yard where I completed my law degree; to corporate boardrooms where I practiced international law; to Commission meetings in the City of Coral Gables, where I was proud to serve as its six-term Mayor. But as I look back fondly after all these years, there is no doubt one of the most formative of all settings was my time at Northwood School. I consider my years at Northwood a critical part of my formation as a man, a professional and contributing member to society.
I am Cuban by origin and lived in Cuba during my time at Northwood. This is important because the Cuban political situation determined my stay at Northwood and my abrupt departure from the School.
Fulgencio Batista, the former Cuban dictator, assumed power in Cuba through a coup d’ etat on March 10, 1952. During Batista’s last years in power, from 1957-1958, Fidel Castro started his revolution and the situation in Cuba became dire, specifically for young men. Batista’s police would harass young men in the streets thinking they were revolutionaries, many imprisoned first and asked questions later. Imprisonment meant torture and a very difficult time. This political situation and the dangerous conditions for young men in Havana convinced my parents that it was best to send me to study abroad in the United States.
Raul with his wife Francia, daughter Daniella, sonin-law Jorge and 3 of 15 grandchildren, Isabella, Tomas and Lucia
From 1953-1956 my parents sent me to summer camp in Lenox, Massachusetts, to learn English. In the summer of 1957, they picked me up and we subsequently spent two weeks in Lake Placid, New York, to enjoy the atmosphere, weather, and leisure. Having made the decision to send me to prep school in the United States, they started looking in late August for schools and the nearly unanimous answer we received was mocking laughter at a new applicant who was applying far too late for the September school year. Schools encouraged me to apply for the following year, which was not my parents’ intention.
While in Lake Placid, they discovered Northwood School, with all its beauty and strong reputation; they inquired and decided that it would be the perfect place for me. I took an entrance exam at the School and miraculously passed since my English was based on summer camp experiences, e.g., “pass the ball, kick it harder” and not academic in nature at all. However, mercifully, I passed the test and started the school year in September as desired.
I welcomed the opportunity for this new experience, attending an American boarding school, learning the language, learning about new cultures, discovering new sports and living in such a unique town as Lake Placid. I was very eager to live this new stage in my young life and thus took advantage of every opportunity. In my first year, I played American football for the first time and our little known school went undefeated that season and won the league. When winter arrived, to my great delight, I discovered skiing, another new experience which I welcomed.
At the end of my first school year, I was invited back, having barely passed the subjects I had taken. I went back to Cuba for summer, where I studied the second year of “bachillerato“ (aka high school). I came back to Northwood in September and a new year started. Again, boarding school, and although it was not new this time, those were still new experiences.
Castro forcefully grabbed power in Cuba on January 1, 1959. I was there at the time, and it was an incredible experience because Batista was a very unpopular person. “Fidelistas,” Fidel followers, ransacked houses having belonged to government officials, and there were hundreds of thousands of people on the streets celebrating what they thought at the time was the liberation of Cuba. I arrived late in January at Northwood to start classes because of the difficulties in travelling.
While enjoying my second year at school in April, my parents informed me that I had to leave Northwood because Castro had forbidden the purchase of dollars with Cuban pesos. Without access to American dollars, my parents could not pay the school tuition, room and board, travel, etc. Cuban pesos were, of course, not welcomed anywhere. I left Northwood
—RAUL VALDES-FAULI ’61
After Fidel Castro took power in 1959, holding foreign currency was a crime punishable by fine or imprisonment, making Valdes-Fauli’s return to Northwood impossible.
RAUL VALDES-FAULI ’61: An Impressive Resumé
LAUNCHING PAD EDUCATION:
Tulane ’65 Harvard Law ’68
A LEADER IN BANKING, LAW AND POLITICS LAW CAREER:
Founder, Raul J. Valdes-Fauli, P.A. Partner and Managing Partner, various national law firms in South Florida Senior Tax Counsel, Creole Petroleum Corporation Tax Counsel, Standard Oil Company
DECADES OF PUBLIC SERVICE POLITICS:
Six-term Mayor, Coral Gables, Florida (1993-2001 and 2017-2021) Member, City Commission (1985-1989)
AN ADVOCATE FOR HEALTHCARE, EDUCATION AND THE ARTS BOARD MEMBERSHIP:
Dante Alighieri Society Centro Cultural Español Coral Gables Museum Miami Symphony Orchestra Florida Board of Medicine Northwood School Ransom Everglades School University of Miami Florida Memorial University South Everglades Restoration Task Force Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Lowe Art Museum Doctors Hospital of Coral Gables Caribbean Central America Action Committee Florida Bar, International Law Section International Lawyers Exchange Program
BUILDING INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS ORGANIZATIONS FOUNDED:
US-Argentina Council Venezuelan-American Association of the United States Spain-US Chamber of Commerce
RECOGNITION FOR DEDICATION AND SERVICE HONORS:
Chevalier of the Legion of Honor and Officer of the Order of National Merit, France Ufficiale nell’Ordine Al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, Italy Orden del Libertador San Martin Gran Oficial, Argentina Encomienda de la Orden del Merito Civil, Spain Dante Alighieri Society Award Lawyer of the Americas Award, University of Miami School of Law Top Lawyer, Florida Legal Guide that April during Spring Break. I went back to Cuba to finish high school.
My experience at Northwood was invaluable in myriad ways. It made me aware of the possibilities and opportunities available outside of Cuba, and showed me a new way of life, a new way of doing things. I embraced these experiences wholeheartedly as they made me a richer person.
In 1960 when Castro confiscated businesses under threat of imprisonment or worse, closed all of the schools, expelled religious teachers, and the like; my family and I left Cuba in July as exiles to Miami, Florida. I graduated from Archbishop Curley High School in Miami, Florida, a Catholic school, in 1961. Due in large part to what I learned at Northwood, my grades were superb at that time and so was my English. After graduation I matriculated at Tulane University, which granted me a full tuition, room and board scholarship, which made it possible for me to advance in my studies. At Tulane I spent junior year abroad in Paris, another new cultural and living experience
Top: First time winning the Coral Gables Mayoral race in 1993; Bottom: Raul with Ronald Douglas Johnson, United States Ambassador to El Salvador from 2019 to 2021 and the Ambassador’s wife Alina
enriching my person immeasurably.
After 50 years, I still practice law at my own firm, Raul J. Valdes-Fauli, P.A. a boutique firm serving U.S. and international clients. I reside in Coral Gables with my wife Francia. We are the proud parents of six children and have fifteen grandchildren.
I have had a satisfying life, so far, and attribute my stay in Northwood, albeit brief, for contributing enormously to my success. I discovered a new world which made me a richer, more intellectually curious person having lived in Lake Placid, New York in a boarding school and with new sports and new subjects and a new language which made me curious to learn new things. My advice is to be curious, try to discover new things and do apply yourself intensely to whatever you like. You will become a better person for that. In addition, when you do find a passion, a new profession, a new venture, the secret of success is “show up, on time, and dressed to play.”
Whenever I reflect on my time at Northwood, visceral memories come flooding back in waves. These include tumbling down the mountain as I was learning to “ski” (and that’s putting it charitably), and other times staring out my dorm window at the falling white snow, so foreign an image for a Cuban boy more accustomed to palm trees and blue ocean.
That was the paradox of Northwood. For me, it combined two seemingly conflicting things: exciting novelty, yet comfort in a sense of place and belonging. That feeling is ingrained in my psyche, and contributed greatly to my confidence and will to succeed in life.
True Blue: Gary Green ’55
Northwood is fortunate that many graduates have been willing to serve the School for decades on its Board of Trustees. The School is truly appreciative of the service of Gary Green ’55, who transitioned to Trustee Emeritus status in June 2021 after 36 years. A staple on the Facilities Committee, Gary has helped to shape Northwood’s most significant campus building projects.
Gary graduated from Northwood in 1955, later earning a Bachelor’s degree from RPI in 1963 and a Master’s from Wharton in 1969. He spent two years as an enlisted man in the 82nd Airborne, noting, “I acquired a more mature perspective and an understanding of the importance of service to our country.” In his career, he has worked on major real estate developments and managed recreational community developments and several high-rise office structures.
He has been married for 58 years to his wife Avalin, with whom he has three children and six grandchildren. Beyond his work and family, Gary is a passionate woodworker and fine furniture craftsman. He is the generous creator of Northwood’s custom college signet plaques which adorn the dining room walls and several of his furniture pieces dot the Northwood living room.
In 1986, he became a Northwood trustee, feeling that his diverse interests, love of the School, and specific knowledge in facilities development would be assets to Northwood. He remarked that “Northwood has always had an interest in finding a student’s strengths.”
Asked what advice he had for Northwood students, he responded, “Use this opportunity to broaden your experiences. Try new things. Enjoy fellow students from other countries and abroad.” To encourage students to do just that, Gary has volunteered his time for several years to teach a wildly popular L.E.A.P. course in woodworking, sharing his passion for the craft with the next generation of the Northwood family.
Finn Donahue ’23 crosses the Flume on a recent NOC adventure.
Northwood Outing Club Makes a Comeback
BY BOBBY O’CONNOR
Rebirth. Revitalization. Reincarnation. Whatever you choose to call it, the Northwood School Outing Club — better known as NOC — is back, and we have big plans! We are officially nine months into the 2021/2022 academic school year and NOC has been busy.
In March, we surpassed 100 adventure outings since the start of classes. That’s 100 trips learning hands-on, building leadership/decision-making skills and honing in on a craft within a natural environment. A few of the more innovative trips consisted of rock climbing in Red Rocks, Nevada during Thanksgiving break, a backcountry ski off Mount Marcy, ten days of backcountry skiing and avalanche awareness/safety in Utah, and a week-long wilderness first aid certification here in the Adirondack Park. All this action hasn’t left much time to consider the most important happenings here in NOC. As I reflect, memories are being made, friendships are sprouting, and love affairs with the natural world are blooming. Many facets of Northwood School make it a perfect fit for a robust outdoor program. The location and its students are probably the two most obvious. The School is located in the heart of the Adirondacks, a six-million-acre outdoor recreational playground, and these students are motivated, dynamic, and psyched to utilize this playground as a classroom/learning venue. There are endless opportunities!
NOC is already thinking about next year. As Director of the program, I can’t emphasize enough how excited I am for what lies ahead. This School is unique and exciting because every employee cherishes the School and its students. I’ve never been a part of a workplace in which people care so deeply for the success of others while also pushing themselves to be the best educators/coaches they can be.
Working closely with the Northwood administration, we have worked out a few changes for next year that will build upon this year’s success. Most significantly, NOC will have a large block of time to run its academic courses. These academic courses are different from the co-curricular component of NOC and
will allow for more students to receive various certifications and expose a larger number of students overall to the outdoors. Second, Carter Day ’23, one of our upperclass NOC student leaders, will participate in a NOCfocused independent study. Carter will develop a course manual on specific adventure sport disciplines and then instruct members of the surrounding communities in these skills.
We are also planning to expand our trips to international travel. Itineraries such as backcountry skiing in Iceland, trekking to Everest base camp, paddling in Patagonia, or climbing in British Columbia are all on our radar. Finally, we are hoping to plan and execute an alumni-focused ski trip. Whether we decide to search for deep powder in Japan or take to the sky for heliskiing in Alaska, the premise of this trip will be reconnecting with members of the Northwood community.
There is a quotation from professional ice climber, Will Gadd, that we take seriously here in NOC, “Days on the couch should be a welcome anomaly, not a way of life.” So with that, if you are looking for us, we will be out in the mountains or perhaps floating down the Colorado River. Wherever we are, rest easy knowing that NOC lives on!
Treasured Legacy
BY DON MELLOR ’71
I had always known that the Northwood Outing Club was one of the School’s most treasured legacies, and as director for more than 40 years I had watched more kids than I can count set up a tent for the first time, brave their first night out in the woods, or lean back into the terrifying void of their first rappel. Still, the scope and value of that legacy hit me hard when I introduced Naj Wykoff ’67 to Bobby O’Connor at a little coffee shop down in Keene Valley last summer. Naj has long been one of NOC’s most vocal cheerleaders. And Bobby, newly hired as the incoming NOC director, was just beginning to understand that our boasts about NOC weren’t just a bunch of words in a brochure. NOC wasn’t just a regular school’s regular outdoor rec program. It was NOC. I stayed mostly silent as I listened to Naj talk about the program’s history and to Bobby as he envisioned where he might take it. It was an emotional moment for me, watching Naj and Bobby shake hands, a symbolic gesture of continuity and promise.
The old days of NOC were marked by mud and rain, sweat and triumph. During the week, the upperclass students would plan the trip, and come Friday, the group was off in that wobbly cutoff bus we all remember so dearly. Naj laughed when one of us asked what they’d do if Friday was rainy. “We got wet.” When the troops would return from their trip — hunting, camping, climbing one of the 46er peaks — they’d be cold, tired, and proud. That’s just what I saw in my years at Northwood. OK, maybe we wimped out from the weather once in a while (Sorry, Naj). But we came home proud. The kids had a little strut. They had shared an experience more intense and intimate than they would have gotten had they stayed home and gone to the Palace Theatreon Saturday night.
Check out the old yearbooks and you’ll see a lot of team photos. You can count the decades by looking at the evolution of the gear and the design of the uniforms. Yet in a way, the pictures are all the same. NOC happened out of the camera’s eye. The pictures of the Outing Club’s adventures aren’t hanging on the wall. They are seared for all time in the hearts and memories of the kids. The cold, the wet, the uncertainty. The smell of the campfire and the sting of the fingertips chaffed raw from the rock. The pride they’d feel when someone asked, “How high was that cliff?” Most kids are probably fulfilled by the shared goal of some kind of team — soccer, robotics, drama. But there are some — me, for example — that really need some shivering, some fear, and that indescribable feeling when you’ve overcome the challenges and the van is pulling back onto campus. You don’t need a trophy.
Longtime Northwood educator Don Mellor ’71 is the author of Climbing in the Adirondacks (editions 1983, 1996, 2004), Blue Lines and Blue Lines 2 (2006 and 2016), Rock Climbing: A Trailside Guide, American Rock and Adirondacks Alive. He is a regular contributor to publications such as Adirondack Explorer, Alpinist and Adirondack Life. Upon retirement from Northwood, Don established a guide service, where he continues to share his outdoor knowledge and enthusiasm with others. He also assists with the NOC climbing program. More info can be found at donmellorguiding.com
NOC Memories
BY NAJ WIKOFF ’67
I participated in the fall and spring Outing Club every year I was at Northwood. Even though I was raised in Lake Placid, the Outing Club took me to parts of the Adirondacks I’d never been to before and provided me with a wealth of new experiences and skills. It also challenged me in a multitude of ways that have shaped how I approach life and relate to others.
In the late 1950s and 60s, the Outing Club was a popular activity for students who liked hiking, camping, and canoeing and who were not particularly interested in participating in organized sports teams like football and soccer. The Outing Club had a fall and spring program; the fall’s focus was on hiking and camping, and the spring was on learning how to canoe in rapids and conduct overnight canoe trips. A significant focus of the Outing Club was leadership skills development; the highest achievement was receiving the coveted NOC Guide Badge.
During weekdays, after-class activities ranged from learning how to sharpen and safely use tools like axes, clearing and maintaining the School’s cross country ski trail around Cobble Mountain, and yard work. In the spring, the students spent their afternoons on the Ausable River, putting in near the ski jumps, learning the basics of reading and navigating a river, and becoming proficient in the various paddling strokes required, such as the draw and crossbow rudder.
Weekends were about camping, no matter the weather. Fall trips included summiting one or more of the Adirondack 46ers, often camping out in snow later in the season. The NOC Guides and Guide aspirants planned the trips, developed the menu, loaded student packs, cooked the meals, and led the trips. Generally, students bought their gear: usually, Army surplus, which included ponchos, used to fend off the rain and rigged as individual tents out in the woods. The Guides were responsible for the health, safety, and wellbeing of everyone on the trip.
In the spring, the early trips generally went down rivers like the Schroon and, when possible, shifted to lake trips, many trips included portages. The culminating test of the aspirants was leading a three-day, two-night overnight trip. Overseeing these activities and teaching the various required skills were the “sports,” our faculty mentors such as E.C. Welles, “Uncle” Harry Fife, and the very popular Ellsworth “Yockie” Jackstadt.
We at Northwood are blessed to live, at least part of our lives, in the largest park within the continental United States, a park bigger than the state of Vermont — a region filled with an incredible diversity and interdependent manifestation of life. Through the Outing Club I acquired a profound respect for nature in all its moods and the beauty of this region even while slogging through mud in a heavy rainstorm. Being out in nature can soothe and rejuvenate your spirits in ways no other experience can. I gained all that, as well as friendships that are as vital to me today as they were then.
Two-time Fulbright Senior Scholar Naj Wikoff ’67 is the Vice President of the National Organization for Arts in Health and the marketing director for Aesthetics, Inc which uses the arts and design to assist medical centers and other organizations in expressing their vision, mission, and values. Founder and president emeritus of Creative Healing Connections, he founded the Lake Placid Institute and co-founded the Adirondack Film Society-Lake Placid Film Forum. Naj has served as director of arts and healing at the C. Everett Koop Institute, Dartmouth Medical School and Director of Arts and Productions for the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. Naj is a columnist for the Lake Placid News and is a regular contributor to Adirondack Almanack.
Reaching New Heights
BY CARRIE WARDLAW
The Outing Club has had an enormously positive impact on our family. A ski racer since the age of seven, our son Wyatt began his Northwood career as a member of the alpine ski team. He sustained a catastrophic injury in December 2019 which would lead to multiple surgeries. As he was healing, he realized that perhaps ski racing was not in his future. I was nervous about what he could find to fulfill his athletic goals at Northwood. Enter Bobby O’Connor and the revitalized NOC program — Wyatt is absolutely thriving and enjoying every minute of participating in NOC. He has had the opportunity to try multiple activities I don’t think he ever would have even thought about before. One highlight has been the rock climbing/camping trip to Red Rocks in Nevada during our Thanksgiving break. The pictures he sent to us were breathtaking and he said every day was more fun and exciting than the one before.
Through my work in the Admission Office, I notice that students who are participating in our other co- curricular offerings are also now participating in NOC more than ever before. It’s also brought a renewed interest in our outdoor program from our applicant pool. We are receiving applications from families looking specifically at our outdoor program and realizing that living and going to school in Lake Placid while surrounded by the Adirondacks is a pretty unique opportunity.
As a parent and faculty member I am so thrilled to have NOC back!
I’ve learned so much while participating in the NOC program. It’s fun and exciting every day. I’ve learned to reach new heights figuratively as well as literally. Every season brings a new adventure!”
—WYATT WARDLAW ’24
