Hilltop

COLLABORATION New Grazers

Four lambs join a social enterprise. Four little bundles of joy arrived on The Hilltop this spring, as two of the KUA ewes gave birth to two female and two male lambs. Herbert, Hilda, Heidi, and Hashbrown joined the flock that makes up the Kimball Union Farm.

The lambs are part of a social enterprise designed to resolve an environmental challenge using an entrepreneurial approach. With approximately 20 acres of fields that are mown once annually for open space management, the Academy must pay for mowing contracts and deal with the environmental impacts of burning diesel to run tractors. The lambs are earning their keep by grazing on one acre around the solar array, which requires more frequent mowing.

“Our sheep enterprise is exploring the feasibility of accomplishing our open-space management goals by substituting grazing animals for tractors and by producing wool instead of diesel exhaust,” says Blaine Kopp, who manages the farm program. “We are still in the early stages of our exploration, but things are looking good.” K

RETIREMENTS The Final Chapter

At a time when the median years an employee has been with their current employer tops out at just more than four years, we say goodbye to four faculty who have devoted a combined 75 years of service to the Academy. These four individuals invested countless hours into teaching, coaching, and advising, all to offer their students a meaningful educational experience.

JOHN KLUGE ’66

Kluge retires after 34 years as an English teacher and college advisor. He served as chair of the Cum Laude Committee for close to 20 years, chair of the English Department for decades, dorm head of Mikula, and chaired two successive NEASC reaccreditation committees. He was an early recipient of the Mikula Faculty Recognition Award and received the KUA Medal in 2023.

“John Kluge is an integral strand in the fabric that is KUA. From his days as a student in the ’60s to his decades as a leader of the English Department, John has been a consistently visible and thoughtful leader in the community. He has worked with students as a teacher, as a college counselor, and as a dorm head and has always had their best interests in mind. He is an intellectual with a great sense of humor, and his students recognize and appreciate his genuine love of teaching.”

—John

Custer

P’02 ’05

RICH RYERSON

Ryerson wore many hats in his 19-year career on the Hilltop and found a home in Barnes Admission Office, where he helped countless students and their families discover the joys and experiences of a KUA education.

“You can’t go to an admission event with other schools and not have someone ask how Rich Ryerson is doing. In so many ways he’s the longstanding face of KUA on the road. He has made so many connections to the Academy during his 19 years with educational consultants, placement directors, and families. His professionalism and kindness are recognized by everyone in the profession. His presence on the road will be missed but so many.”

—Nick Antol, Director of Financial Aid

DEB SPRINGHORN P’17 Springhorn retires after a lengthy career teaching English and history, with the past eight years here on The Hilltop. During her tenure, she served as codirector of the Global Scholar program and coordinator of the Global Fair. Her courses were renowned and included “Global Issues Since the Fall of the Wall,” which was developed with a grant from the Christa McAuliffe Foundation, and “Honors Global Literature.”

“She invites students to sit at her table and envision a version of themselves that they hadn’t believed would be possible. That other version may seem far away, but she knows they can traverse the expanse; they can push themselves to speak in iambic pentameter, to publish articles on geopolitics, to write 12 pages on The Merchant of Venice with multiple secondary sources, to debate Joseph Conrad.”

—Jenny Blue P’24 ’26 English

Department Chair

MICHAEL DOHERTY P’11 ’16 Doherty said goodbye after 14 years as the George Akerstrom Chair of Athletics at Kimball Union, where he led a successful Wildcats athletics program. As a coach, he led both the boys and girls varsity programs and served as a sought-after advisor and a dorm parent.

“Mike has been a transformative athletic director at KUA—embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion while always working cooperatively with coaches, teachers, and the arts to ensure KUA had an excellent athletics program that was also equitable and balanced.”

—Julie Haskell P’13, Dean of Faculty

Sports for Social Change

Items and boxes of

Nearly one in three people will be in an abusive relationship sometime in their life. To help end a cycle of abuse, KUA’s One Love Club is encouraging students to spot signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships. On May 10, the club joined forces with the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) Athletics Council for a day of games to raise awareness and provide teammates and classmates with tools and resources. Home teams donned “One Love” warm-up shirts, while the campus and local communities came out in full force for a BBQ and bake sale to raise money for the One Love Foundation, a national organization that helps end relationship abuse.

“We reached our goal of bringing the community together, and it was amazing to see how many people showed up for the event,” says Svia Russman-Araya ’24, a lacrosse player and member of the One Love Club.

“I joined One Love my freshman year hoping to learn more about the foundation, and now we’ve come so far with presentations and workshops throughout the year that are all due to the wonderful and passionate members on the One Love Club and KUA community.” K