Laurel School's Highlights Magazine: Winter 2015

Highlights A MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNAE, PARENTS AND FRIENDS OF LAUREL SCHOOL

inside

WINTER 2015 | Cover Story: Outdoor Education at the Butler Campus • Annual Report

Dream. Dare. Do.

7

LAUREL SCHOOL

The private school that knows girls best.

Highlights

| WINTER 2015

8

21

IN THIS ISSUE Voice and Vision, A message from Ann V. Klotz . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Alumnae Connections: Speaking Her Voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Outdoor Education at the Butler Campus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Global Learning at Laurel School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2014 Commencement Speech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Of Pomp, Circumstance and Laurel Voices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Laurel School Alumnae Weekend ’14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 2013-2014 LAUREL SCHOOL ANNUAL REPORT . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Highlights

| WINTER 2015 1

MISSION STATEMENT

To inspire each girl to fulfill her promise and to better the world.

Highlights

| WINTER 2015

HEAD OF SCHOOL Ann V. Klotz DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT AND EXTERNAL AFFAIRS Deborah Farquhar Jones EDITOR Venta Cantwell DESIGN AND LAYOUT Laurel School PHOTOGRAPHY Kimberly Dailey, Julie Donahue, Downie Photography, Inc., Stephen Crompton, Renee Psiakis PRESIDENT, ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION Martha Walter Royan ’71 CHAIR, BOARD OF TRUSTEES Beth Embrescia ’88 Highlights is published by Laurel School for alumnae, parents and friends.

Submit address changes to the Development Office at 866.277.3182 or mRuhlman@LaurelSchool.org Laurel School is an independent day school for girls, Kindergarten through Grade 12, with coeducational programs for two-, three- and four-year-olds. We are proud to be an inclusive and equitable school community, and we actively seek a diverse student body and faculty without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, handicap or disability, or sexual orientation.

CORE VALUES In a community of learners, Laurel girls are courageous, ethical and compassionate.

LAURELSCHOOL.ORG

Dream. Dare. Do.

Downie Photography

Highlights

| WINTER 2015 3

A MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL, ANN V. KLOTZ

VOICE AND VISION

A

t Laurel, teaching girls to claim their voices is a tradition woven throughout our history and philosophy. We always have prized

articulate expression, whether in the Essay Contests established by Mrs. Lyman which ran into the mid-1950s, in Mrs. Schenk’s speech classes from the 1960s to 1990 to today with Ms. DeLorenzo rehearsing a girl’s Senior Speech, urging the speaker to slow down and to enunciate.

Yet, our longstanding emphasis on articulate expression, speech in particular, is related to but not synonymous with voice. Voice, it seems to me, is a fundamental component of confidence and is linked, too, to leadership. Claiming one’s voice is to leadership what steel beams are to construction—the beams are needed to support everything else. In the same way, the ability to voice one’s vision is essential for a leader.

I worry that the term “leadership” has become a catch-all; I’d like us to deconstruct the term, to parse it so that girls know there are many ways to lead and that there are many skills and behaviors that leaders must acquire and practice. Perhaps one non-negotiable is that great leaders know how to communicate effectively. They also share a willingness to initiate, to inspire

4 LaurelSchool.org

and to follow through. Laurel School is a crucible in which girls develop voice, vision, and the ability to practice components of leadership.

Adults in our community encourage girls to speak, to test their ideas, to build arguments and to support them persuasively. As I write, Laurel’s Center for Research on Girls has undertaken a study, led by researchers at the University of Michigan, on hedging—the tendency to soften or justify a comment by saying, “This may not be right, but . . . .” We are pleased to collaborate with the faculty at St. Ignatius here in Cleveland and at the coed Greenhills School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as we investigate whether or not hedging is more common in young women than in young men. Why do we hedge? Many do so because we do not want to appear too strident, too insistent.

We want others to understand we are not

arrogant, that we offer our ideas humbly.

It is not uncommon for all of us to hedge from time to time.

But thinking about this impulse, of which I, too, am sometimes guilty, has led me to reflect a bit more on the intersection of voice and vision.

Sometimes we know what we want to say, but we are uncertain of the tone required. We struggle with how to be understood. Too often, we forget to practice. The simple act of rehearsing our ideas—out loud or in the early drafts of a paper—helps us clarify our thinking.

We learn more about what we think by expressing ourselves. And, when we learn to listen, rather than to talk, our learning deepens and we can hear even our own voices more clearly.

The cultivation of voice is not all about talking. We must make space for those who do not participate volubly; they, too, are learning to claim their voices. Some of those girls in this community are our most eloquent on paper, our most effective leaders as they lead through example. Quiet girls know they are quiet. Susan Cain’s excellent book Quiet has much to teach us about expanding our School culture so that those girls who are more reticent are still honored. The girls tell me that claiming your voice has little to do with speaking often or loudly. Rather, they insist, the girls who lead have claimed their voices with authenticity, with courage and passion. Conviction and action earn respect. Speaking aloud is one strategy, but quiet or garrulous, follow through

is essential for leaders to earn the respect of their peers.

In the early weeks of the school year I found myself in conversation with girls of all ages about voice and about leadership. What do we mean, I asked them, when we talk about claiming our voice? What does leadership look like, feel like? The girls were generous in their responses.

“Claiming your voice means that what you say matters, that you shouldn’t back down if someone disagrees,” points out a Sixth Grader. This willingness to stand apart from the pack, to offer a comment that may be unpopular, is a theme girls cite often and admire.

Courage is required in this willingness to disagree. Many girls report Laurel is a safe space where they know their opinions matter. One girl shares that she feels less judged at Laurel, so she is willing to risk expressing what she really thinks without being diminished by adults who dismiss her ideas based on her youth or inexperience. Other girls mention that our all-girls environment makes it feel safer to speak—there are no boys to roll their eyes. This last thought interests me. I have taught long enough to know that Laurel is not Utopia. Girls, gloriously flawed like the adults who teach them, do judge other girls, whether I like it or not. Notwithstanding, I am happy that Laurel still feels like a safer environment in which many girls can articulate what they think or believe or feel.

When I press the girls to examine the link between voice and vision and to talk with me about the relationship between claiming one’s voice and leadership, they note that people who use their voices well inspire others to action—voice becomes synonymous with persuasion, conviction, purpose. Leaders articulate a vision that invites participation. Most of the girls feel that to speak the truth is a conscious, deliberate decision.

Leadership depends on a leader’s ability to reach her vision through collaborative,

IN THEIR OWN WORDS “A willingness to inspire is something that humanity can relate to.

The will to leave an immortal impact on the world is something that everyone wants to do in one way or another. It’s something that Laurel has taught us to do to ‘fulfill our promise and better the world.’

I don’t think you need to be a leader to want to inspire people. How much you want to inspire people, or how you do it is what makes you a distinctive leader.” — Tiffany Chi ’15 “I believe the best leaders are the ones you don’t always notice right away. . . . They don’t always stick out, but they get the job done, and you don’t realize everything they did for you until they are no longer there. Personally, I consider myself a leader. At swimming, I’m another person: my feelings don’t count, my job is to make sure everyone else is ok, that the team is doing fine. I love being a leader, usually. But sometimes you want someone to ask you what’s wrong, instead of putting on a smile to please everyone. To be a good leader you have to be trustworthy, encouraging/supportive, and you have to make sure you’re there at all times of the day, for anything. Leaders don’t just lead, they inspire other people to dig deep and be kind, and they don’t make themselves known. Leaders . . .check in on you when you’re not smiling. . . encourage everyone when no one wants to keep going. . . talk to you when you have a problem, regardless of what that problem might be. You don’t always notice the best leaders, you notice them once they are gone, and you try to honor them or do what they did.

Those are the most successful leaders.” — Katherine Hagen ’18

organized efforts. Leaders, they explain, take charge of how they feel about certain issues and are willing to take action to effect change. Unafraid to embrace their unique voices and to use them in enlisting others to help make change happen, leaders at Laurel are brave and bold.

At the end of sixth period one autumn afternoon, a group of girls visit my office to select candy from the jar I keep stocked for them. The rule is that an Upper School girl may take a piece of candy as long as she is willing to chat with me for a moment. This tradition, now a decade old, allows me a quick way to take the pulse of the student community, to make connections over Tootsie Rolls.

It is often my favorite 15 minutes of the day. This particular Wednesday, a group

of girls riff with me on what leadership entails and what skills help girls and young women learn to lead.

“We all want to lead,” says a Junior, “but though we want the position, we don’t always want the responsibility.”

I commend her candor and ask her to elaborate. Soon, other voices chime in.

“Leadership takes guts, doing what needs to be done.” “Good leaders are confident, not power-hungry like Macbeth.” Effective leaders, the girls underscore, are not necessarily bossy—that would be a dictator. This last observation leads us to a sidebar on all the terrible leaders the girls have come to know in Ninth Grade English: Trujillo in the Dominican Republic (In the Time of the Butterflies); Oedipus, whose arrogance destroys him; Creon, crushed

Highlights

| WINTER 2015 5

VOICE AND VISION by stubbornness; Macbeth, overcome by ambition—all leaders who fall.

The best leaders are flexible, accepting other people’s ideas and suggestions and not needing to take credit for every idea. They also apologize when they make mistakes. I ask, “Are good leaders humble?” “Absolutely.

Confident but humble.”

Leading does not mean, they tell me emphatically, that you have to be in charge of everyone or be the head of something. There are lots of ways to lead. Hierarchy, one Senior patiently explains, is overrated and gendered.

These young women are more interested in collaboration, in joining together without a single leader calling the shots or prescribing the course of action.

The leaders the girls admire stand up for their beliefs, guiding, advising.

Inspiration is key. Leaders translate enthusiasm into action, mobilizing social media to draw attention to an issue, thinking about many-pronged solutions instead of one quick fix. Cynical about those who are elected or appointed only to like the glory of the job more than the responsibility, the girls acknowledge that it can be uncomfortable to hold peers accountable.

This tension between the desire many girls have to be elected or appointed to a leadership position and the reluctance they feel in taking responsibility for anyone other than themselves is real and persistent. Laurel is not a school in which prefects hold peers accountable by keeping track of infractions. In our collaborative culture, girls uphold our social contract because they want to be at Laurel; most value their relationships with their teachers, and most do the right thing most of the time.

Some girls struggle with selflessness, believing that the best leaders put the needs of the whole ahead of personal needs, an ideal that can be hard to live every day in the context of school life, an idea that is in direct contrast with

6 LaurelSchool.org

IN THEIR OWN WORDS “I like to hope that leadership is only allotted to those who have earned it. I think that leadership is about nothing more than simply growing empathy for others— exploring how others think and feel and live and using this information, this data, to create greater efficiency within a system. In this definition of leadership, I hope that efficiency is not used in its more common form where it is thought of as doing a task quicker and with less material. I hope that efficiency is used in the poetic way that it is used in economics (I learned that in Microeconomics class), where it is defined as making improvements for the largest number of people without making anyone worse. . . .

Do I think I am a very good leader at this point? Definitely not. . . .

However, I think that my ability to empathize with others is what sets me apart in terms of leadership ability. I have what I like to call elevated situational empathy, which can be both a blessing and a curse. . . . I am aware of what skills I need to work on and what skills I can make even better, and can help others do the same. That is what would make me a leader. “ — Veronica Jones ’16

what we know about self-care as a component of resilience. There is more nuance to discover in the absolutes some girls use in describing leadership.

One girl closes saying, “Look, Ms. Klotz, it’s simple. Leaders build consensus and move forward, collect more ideas, and then move towards feasible solutions and compromise.” Seems simple, easy to do. Yet, they recognize the gap between what they know good leadership looks like and the challenges inherent in leading.

Most of them understand that they will continue to develop skills that help them lead. And, they admit there’s some pressure braided into leadership roles.

They feel the heft of the expectation that they be good role models, not disappoint, to manage the feeling that others are judging their actions.

Finally, this series of conversations circles back to voice. Leaders must be willing to speak up even if no one else listens or follows, to stick their necks out in ways that may be unpopular. They must wear their power lightly and be

expert communicators, skillful at tone, conscious of audience, aware of a group’s capacity for change. Good leaders are collaborative, idealistic and reflective.

They accept the consequences when decisions don’t go well and they find, within, the resources to keep moving forward, with the greater good more important than their own egos.

At the end of my first decade leading Laurel, I am grateful to our girls for their insights and candor. Claiming our voice is not something that we can check off a box; it is a process that continues throughout our lives. Articulating a vision, identifying the behaviors and tasks that must be accomplished to achieve that vision, galvanizing others to join us in our work—this is work we do forever. It is the work of inspiring girls to fulfill their promise and better the world.

How lucky I am to have voice and vision as my companions on my journey as I work with the faculty and staff to shape the finest possible learning environment for girls at Laurel School. L

ALUMNAE CONNECTIONS

Allison Leddy ’11

Class of ’11!) By my standards, there was not enough recognition or appreciation of the fabulous ladies on campus—in the classroom, on the athletic field, or across the campus.

With this in mind, I started looking for ways to build solidarity among women and shape the culture. Reflecting on my time at Laurel with classmates, speaking with Notre Dame students and administrators, and talking it through with my parents, I slowly developed the idea of Notre Dames—a student club that brings the spirit of Laurel to my current home under the Dome. After returning from semester abroad last January, I filed for club status, complete with a constitution, schedule, advisor, budget, and mission: Notre Dames seeks to strengthen the female voice on campus and bring awareness

SPEAKING HER VOICE Allison Leddy ’11, founder of “Talk It Out Tuesdays”, helps others find their voices at the University of Notre Dame.

U

pon my graduation from Laurel in 2011, I headed to not-so-sunny South Bend, Indiana—home to the University of Notre Dame, known for its Catholic identity, nationally-recognized football team, and Golden Dome. At Laurel, we had a nondenominational Chapel, the Quidditch team, and that one tower atop the building; clearly, there were differences from the start. After some time, I adjusted to this new environment and lifestyle, but I remained conscious of and inquisitive about the culture at Notre Dame.

During my sophomore year, I realized that there was a disparity of female solidarity on campus. I have many meaningful friendships with women in my dorm and my major, but it wasn’t—and isn’t—enough. My experiences at Laurel allowed me to develop rewarding relationships with girls based on ideas, issues, and passions, rather than living quarters and class schedules. Similarly, I noticed that campus culture suggested that there was one specific way to be a woman at Notre Dame, but my time at Laurel proved that there are a million—or at least 72—ways to be a girl. (Shout-out to the

to issues that affect women—at Notre Dame, across the country, and around the world.

Since the start of the 2014 academic year, I’ve been able to act on this mission in meaningful ways. Based on the Laurel Senior Hallway, Notre Dames hosts “Talk It Out Tuesdays” that create a space for all members to use their voice and engage with a wide range of issues—whether they want to share stories, debate an issue, or just listen. Sitting on the blue chairs outside of Laffer, Laurel girls talk about everything from drama at Homecoming to the gender pay gap, in voices so distinct and loud that Mr. Connell usually has to quiet them down. Notre Dames seeks to provide a similar atmosphere that is honest, energetic, fun, and approachable—complete with snacks!

Beyond these weekly discussions, Notre Dames hosts alumnae speakers so that members can hear stories of the Dames who came before us, and celebrate their achievements. Laurel has provided me with an appreciation of female role models, and I want Notre Dames to give students a few more wonderful women to add to their list!

Notre Dames aims to foster sisterhood that goes beyond dorms and majors, one that connects every Dame—past, present, and future. I’m thankful to always be a Laurel girl, and I want Notre Dames to cultivate a similar sense of community amongst the women at Notre Dame. Laurel helped me to develop my voice, and Notre Dame has given me a reason to use it. I hope that Notre Dames will encourage more women to strengthen their voices and use them to change the world. L

Highlights

| WINTER 2015 7

The teachers rally the children with directions...

“Base camp, here we come!”

8 LaurelSchool.org

Downie Photography

COVER STORY

COVER STORY

PRE-PRIMARY TAKES ECO!WONDER TO THE NEXT LEVEL:

Outdoor Education at the Butler Campus

by Audrey Elszasz, Pre-Primary Faculty

T

he school bus stops at the trailhead. It is a breezy day with white fluffy clouds moving across the sky. The children exit the bus, negotiating the tall steps with care. Once their feet hit the ground, they regroup, already planning who will sit in the window seat on the return trip to the Lyman Campus. The boys and girls, age three to five years, wearing bright yellow one-piece suits and camouflage boots are completely waterproof from head to toe. The teachers rally the children with directions to “head out!” “Base camp, here we come!” The Butler Campus has a world of discoveries and curiosities in store! The rules here are simple; safe stick play, safe throwing, safe climbing.

This gives the inquisitive children unlimited freedom to become immersed in the natural world.

The Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv, was the inspiration for the Pre-Primary faculty to develop our Eco!Wonder curriculum, which incorporates sustainability, healthy snacks, as well as meaningful experiences in nature at the Butler Campus. Each class spends two

mornings per month and a one-week immersion in the spring at Butler. This year, we also introduced Butler Mondays as an offering for full-day students. Every Monday afternoon, 11 students spend two hours at Butler. During the warm late summer/early fall afternoons, most of the action occurs along the stream bed at base camp, as we build dams and bridges, conduct sink/float experiments and turn over rocks to discover salamanders, worms and beetles.

Base camp is a unique spot on the far east property line marked by an enormous rock. To get there it is a 15-minutes hike on a well-worn trail with natural mud puddles, through the woods and down a steep hill. A ridge along one side makes it an ideal site for independent exploration because the steep slope acts like a natural border.

The creek bed changes with the amount of precipitation we receive. It can be dry with shallow pools one day and flowing with runoff water the next. It offers limitless opportunities for all kinds of interaction with nature. The children use all their senses to explore, learn and wonder.

The educational philosophy for Laurel’s Pre-Primary’s outdoor component was adapted from Cedarsong Forest Kindergarten on Vashon Island, WA, where I spent a magical week on a rural island in Puget Sound that is accessible only by ferry. Cedarsong Forest Kindergarten, an entirely outdoor preschool on a five-acre parcel of mature forest, has no running water or electricity. Its curriculum is based on interest-led, flow learning and the students learn by observing, questioning and making connections over time.

Experiencing the forest from season to season, the children become confident and completely at ease in the outdoor environment.

Taking into account our Northeast Ohio climate, we knew that we had to address some critical needs before Outdoor Pre-Primary at Butler could become a reality. The first was to find the proper outer gear. After much research, we partnered with Oakiwear, a company in Vancouver, WA, whose mission to raise awareness of the need to bring children back outside aligns with

Highlights

| WINTER 2015 9

Outdoor Education at the Butler Campus

10 LaurelSchool.org

Our Yurt is a bright, light-filled classroom, nestled in the trees.

Downie Photography

our Eco!Wonder curriculum. Oakiwear partners with outdoors schools because it believes that “exploring and learning in the outdoors is an essential part of childhood development. . . . [E]xploration and exposure to our natural environment will open doors to greater possibilities for learning.”

Thanks to a generous donation from Mary French Conway ’46, we purchased 90 one-piece suits, 90 pairs of boots, and 90 waterproof pants. When the children emerge from the forest, gloriously covered in mud, we simply remove their suits and boots before they board the bus.

Ironically, the second hurdle for outdoor immersion at Butler was an indoor space, suitable for our small explorers in the event of cold temperatures or high winds. Yurts, originally used by Central Asian nomads, are low-cost, eco-friendly and versatile. Pacific Yurts, Inc., came highly recommended as a supplier of these safe and efficient shelters. Again, Mrs. Conway, who embraces the untold benefits of learning from nature, stepped forward and underwrote the construction of Laurel’s very own Yurt at Butler!

Our Yurt is a bright, light-filled classroom, nestled in the trees. It has running water, electricity, a wood-burning fireplace, a bathroom, and child-sized furniture. It is a perfect refuge from the extreme elements that our climate can present on occasion.

This school year, as we expand the outdoor-education model, preschool and prekindergarten students have access to the wilderness of the Butler Campus with the added security of a cozy shelter nearby. Next year, a group of adventurous students will begin a year of learning unlike any other in Northeast Ohio when we officially launch our Outdoor Pre-Primary at Butler, another option families will have when choosing Laurel for their young daughters and sons. L

GLOBAL LEARNING

Global Learning at Laurel School

Upper School students travelled to Italy, France and Spain in May 2014 on a Laurel School Passport trip.

by Trey Wilson, Dean of Learning Beyond the Classroom and Upper School History Teacher

D

uring their time here at Lyman Circle, Laurel girls are part of a community that provides access—in the form of a variety of academic disciplines, current technologies, a diverse population, and terrific opportunities—to much of today’s interconnected, flatter world.

Certainly, this access is a privilege and a responsibility. In service to our mission for each student to “fulfill her promise and to better the world,” we hope Laurel girls will be inspired to great things. In the fall of 2012, Headmistress Ann Klotz convened a Head’s Council of alumnae, parents and parents of alumnae to discuss and strategize about how best to prepare Laurel students for the world they will enter as adults. Their conversations have informed much of our global programming work since.

Highlights

| WINTER 2015 11

GLOBAL LEARNING AT LAUREL SCHOOL

FOREIGN EXCHANGE PROGRAMS Exchange programs offer opportunities for students to engage, either short- or long-term, with students from various corners of the world. In 2012, Laurel joined the American Secondary Schools for International Students and Teachers (ASSIST) program. This organization has been placing wellqualified international students in American independent schools for over forty years; the students come to an American high school for one year, usually in the sophomore or junior year. For the 2013-14 school year, Laurel welcomed Ana Borja from Spain and Thu Trang Nguyen from Germany, who joined the Eleventh Grade. These two students took the school by storm, as they participated in extra-curricular activities, lived with generous host families (with thanks for last year to the Rosenbaum and Briggs families), earned excellent grades, and provided new, learning experiences to our community.

In a unique eight-year-old partnership between Laurel and University School, the exchange program with The High School Affiliated to Xi’an Jiaotong University (in Xian, China) has two main components. The first is that two students from Xi’an join Laurel’s community for their Junior and Senior years in the Upper School. Earning diplomas from Laurel and staying with host families (thank you to the Watson, Feng, Joseph and Haviland families) these students’ different perspectives are enlightening—for instance, they are accustomed to having 60

students in every classroom and classes on every day of the week in China! The second component of the partnership is a biannual, one-week exchange between the American and Chinese schools. Laurel recently hosted a small group (six students, two faculty members) from Xi’an; in May of 2015, a similar size group from Laurel will travel to China and be hosted by our friends at The High School Affiliated to Xi’an Jiaotong University!

12 LaurelSchool.org

Laurel’s relationship with St. Mary’s Anglican Girls’ School in Perth, Australia, grew out of a teacher exchange that happened in 2012-13; then math department chair Kelly Winkelhake bravely volunteered to spend a year teaching and living in Perth, Australia. Now, students from each school enjoy a six-week exchange program that allows them to experience another school and another part of the world! Open to two current Ninth Graders, this exchange begins every May and October. In May, Laurel sends two students to spend six weeks immersed in the academics and culture of St. Mary’s and Australia; the following October, the two students who served as hosts to Laurel’s students come to One Lyman Circle to experience all that Laurel and Cleveland have to offer!

PASSPORT TRIPS During the 2013-2014 school year, close to 80 Laurel students in Grades 7-12 travelled on school-sponsored trips— an incredible number for a school of our size! In addition, in May 2014, Laurel announced a rotation system for trips: students in the Upper and Middle Schools will have a rotation of trips that include destinations near and far, as well as ones focusing on a variety of purposes (education, service, fun, etc.) and at different price points.

A biannual trip to Italy, France and Spain with faculty members Renee Psiakis and Jane Berger offers students the

opportunity to immerse themselves in the art and art history of those countries. In May 2014, 28 Upper School students enjoyed a fantastic journey accompanied by a professional videographer/photographer who captured the visual experience.

In addition, last May, another 27 Upper School students embarked on a service-based adventure in New Orleans. This trip featured several rebuilding projects in areas still in particular need after Hurricane Katrina, but the students also found time

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

to enjoy the atmosphere that makes New Orleans unique. After the trip, one student reflected, “It is not only valuable in the service aspect but also fulfilling in the cultural aspect.”

Another unique Upper School offering during MayTerm was a three-night stay in Stratford, Canada—home of an internationally recognized Shakespeare festival. A small group of students, with faculty members Leighann DeLorenzo and Jeanne Stephens, studied plays here at Laurel and then travelled to Canada to see professional productions of those same plays—a terrific interweaving of curricular focus and travel.

In another venture across the pond, 18 Middle School students and 4 faculty members travelled last June to London, where they saw many of the highlights: Big Ben, a play in the West End, Stonehenge and more! The group enjoyed a terrific variety of food and cultural experiences, and the language commonality helped these Middle School students enjoy what was, for a number of them, their first international experience.

STUDENTS SHOULDER TO SHOULDER: THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP During the summer of 2014, two Laurel Upper School students and faculty member Anthony Gault took advantage of Laurel’s partnership with the Colorado-based organization Students Shoulder to Shoulder: The International School of Global Citizenship. This organization works with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in nine locations around the globe to create “courses” with curricula that emphasize service and leadership. Annella Fernandez ’17 travelled to Nicaragua, Samantha Keenan ’16 travelled to Nepal, and Anthony Gault travelled to Bolivia—all enjoyed transformational experiences. As an outgrowth of that trip, Annella recently organized a fund-raiser that garnered $3,000 for Project WOO in Nicaragua. Annella’s father, Dr. Hubert Fernandez, commented: “We can genuinely attest that it was truly a first-rate, eyeopening and transformative program from start to finish.” L

The breadth and depth of Laurel’s global programming continues to grow, providing tremendous opportunities for girls to discover a passion, to learn the importance of giving back and to experience the world. Laurel’s compassionate, dedicated girls, supported by outstanding faculty members, are responding to these opportunities by fully engaging in them and bringing mature dedication and focus to the endeavors—be they service-oriented, academic or just plain fun. And the work continues! The Head’s Council’s insights in helping develop best practices within the school walls— as well as far afield—have been invaluable. We are grateful to Jennifer Colville ’82, David Fleshler, Carol Madison-Graham ’74, Susan Jones ’74, Rachel Kirsh ’86, Arnelle Martin ’84, Maura O’Donnell-McCarthy, John Sinnenberg, Sally Smith and Sandhia Varyani ’91 for their service, and we look forward to implementing their work during the upcoming strategic plan for Laurel School.

OPPOSITE PAGE: (left to right) Students and faculty on the service-learning trip to New Orleans during MayTerm; Making a wish in the Trevi Fountain in Rome on a Passport trip; Students Shoulder to Shoulder trip in Nicaragua THIS PAGE: Visitors from Xi’an, China

Highlights

| WINTER 2015 13

LAUREL SCHOOL 2014 COMMENCEMENT SPEECH

by Lindsey Halpern ‘14

I

am grateful and trembling at the honor of speaking with you today, on behalf of my senior sisters. 19,440 hours is a lot of time.

Malcolm Gladwell claims that you can master something in 10,000 hours. . .19,440 hours is roughly the amount of time I have spent in that beautifully old, impossibly hot, dear-walled building, 1 Lyman Circle.

19,440 hours of our lives spent in school. And for what, really? Endless knowledge stuffed into my brain for. . .the prospect of potentially impressing that art critic who happens to be at your friend’s dinner party fifteen years from now? No, that was never the point of all those hours of AP flashcards. . .Five years from now, will it matter that I know when the French Revolution began, or be able to quote Shakespeare? I’m sorry to say no, it will not. . .

Thankfully, it’s not about when the French Revolution started or how much Shakespeare I’ve read, but about who I was when I learned those things, who I am now because of them.

It was about working tirelessly, stumbling atrociously, seeking grace, laughing, crying, witnessing teachers becoming friends, and friends becoming family, learning to eat (a lot) through it all, showing up when it mattered, trying and maybe failing to be present, growing—knowingly and unknowingly, standing up for my beliefs, for myself and for my friends. I learned to be resilient.

14 LaurelSchool.org

And that is what education should be. That is what my education was (and why I can’t wait for it to continue), and that is why those 19,440 hours were so undeniably, irrevocably, worth it.

But, now, those hours are finished, and we can’t get them back. Every morning for the past fifteen years, I have woken up, put on my uniform, and gone to school. My legs got longer, my skirts got shorter. I went from being driven to school, to driving myself, the music in the car changing with the moods of my angsty youth. But, I knew where I was going. Tomorrow, I am going to wake up and not go to school. Not only will I have to figure out what to wear, but I will also have to figure out what to do with my day, and the next day, and the days after that. And I feel a little bit lost, or a lot-bit lost, actually. Though we all have tentative plans for the next four years, for the first time in my life, it’s up to me. I won’t have to wear my retainer if I don’t want to. I won’t have to clean my room. . .And that is terrifying and beautiful and exciting. And I’m going to feel lost for a while.

But, that is also okay. Because we are women, and if our education here has taught us one thing, it is that we are resilient beings. We have learned to be, we have to be. Resiliency doesn’t mean not having feelings towards emotional situations. Resiliency means realizing emotions, stumbling through them, and figuring out how to deal with them. That, I have gained every confidence that I know I can do.

It might be surprising for some of you to see me up here today. Me—the girl who willingly and delightedly left Laurel for a semester away—only to burst into tears upon my return to the

COMMENCEMENT

school and be unable to wear my class ring for several weeks.

But, that is not the girl who stands before you today. This girl immediately notices an emptiness on the fourth finger of her right hand when I’ve forgotten my ring. This girl cries over every single kind message left in our Facebook group. Sings our song contest lyrics when I’m driving alone. You—those of you on stage with me—got me through that transition back to school; you showed me, again, what it meant to be a Laurel girl. And I fell in love with all of you, all over again.

Those of you in the audience this morning may just see individual faces. But, I see my sisters. I see Steph and Emily, who showed up at my house with chocolate and laughter, sacrificing studying for midterms to comfort me when I needed them.

I see 1/4 of our class who showed up to support Mira and Audrey in their brilliant play-making endeavors. I see Fiona, who astounded us all with the most brilliant Senior Speech.

I see question marks that will forever be unanswered. Like, does anyone actually know why Laney owns a coffin? Or why we thought it was fun to sell bricks in the outback during primary? Or how Maya has memorized every single Beyoncé song? I see periods that conclude the most powerful sentences. Like Lisa’s TED talk and Sydney’s signing day. I know these 67 girls to be rare, to be gems.

Because we allow that for each other. We are not mere athletes or actresses, writers or ring leaders. I believe we have the mature relationships with one another that we do because we allow each other to be multi-dimensional. . . . I see 67 girls who showed up to multiple sleepovers to laugh and cuddle and watch our favorite movies together. I see 67 girls who have worked hard, have grown in passion, in capacity, in love, together.

For every bit that my parents raised me, and my teachers raised me, these girls also raised me. And that is why I’m wearing my Converse today. I could’ve worn high heels and put on the “trying to be mature and/or elegant” face for the future.

I’m here today—yes, for the future—but, really, for what got me here, is what we’ve been through. . . . What I know is that I feel comforted, more at home, in these shoes, with these girls’ hands grasping mine, than I would otherwise.

These girls have taught me how to look inward for strength.

Like that one time we didn’t win song contest our Senior year.

Though why may still be a mystery, it doesn’t matter anymore.

What matters is the circle we created. In the face of defeat, we did the only thing we knew how to do. We clapped for our little

sisters, grabbed hands, circled up, and sang the words of the Alma Mater to each other. That is who we are and that is what matters now. We are about piling on top of each other in the senior hallway (sorry, teachers), reading books for (gasp) pleasure, standing up for feminism (for some, leggings; for others, not for leggings, and for whatever else we believe in). We are for apologizing when we know we’ve hurt someone (leggings, again, amongst other things); we are for ice cream, especially free ice cream, no matter the cost. We are for the love that we have for our teachers, and for poetry, and singing, and hand holding, always.

Because we are bright, we’ve come to realize that these things don’t always exist beyond these dear walls. But, I guess we get it, that at some point we have to put on our big girl pants (meaning literally separating from our plaid skirts—yet, not turning them into a joke of a Halloween costume) and sometimes we’ll have to try and try and try, only to fail at something, without someone there to hold our hand, or sing us a song, or write us a poem. And we’ll have to be able to make meaning out of new surroundings. This is where those hours of memorizing Shakespeare and learning of the French Revolution matter. We know how to put in the time, the work. We know how to seek help when we need it. We know how to take care of ourselves and each other. We learned resiliency; we will stumble towards grace.

I think back on the past four years. And I can’t help but wish that filmmaker John Hughes was here. If he could just make one more classic high school film: there is no boy coming to save us from the horrid family wedding, no boy coming to carry the boombox outside our window. What John Hughes, though love him we do, got wrong is that the fairytale, high school dénouement can look different. Maybe it can be achieved in the portrait of 67 girls who just love each other, who have been there for each other, girls who find pride and wonderment in the work that they are doing and in sharing it together. I think that would be the perfect plot to cure the world, don’t you?

19,440 hours that I would never give back. They were worth it. So worth it.

As we sang last December, “Now everything’s been changing and we can’t imagine leaving you. But, we’ve gotten older and we’ve also gotten bolder, now’s our time to better the world” But, class of 2014, we will always be all in this TOGETHER. Thank you. L Highlights

| WINTER 2015 15

CLASS OF 2010

OF POMP, CIRCUMSTANCE AND LAUREL VOICES The news of the first one was exciting. The second was amazing. The third one was astounding. And by the fourth one, we could hardly contain ourselves. Four Laurel alumnae from the Class of 2010 would speak at their respective college commencements in the spring of 2014.

By Julie Donahue ’79, Director of Alumnae and Communications

JULIA JUSTER was the first woman in 20 years to be chosen class speaker by her peers at Williams College. EMILY KAISER gave the address for the Boston College Carroll School of Management, one of the top business schools in the country. IVY KRISLOV spoke at her college graduation at Carnegie Mellon University. And JENNY SHERMAN, selected by a committee of students, faculty and advisors, was the first female student since 2000 to give the Commencement address at Duke University.

Fearless, funny, philosophical young women, they spoke of being scared and leaping without a net.

Of gratitude and the need to learn as much as we can. Of being attentive, reflective and loving. Of learning how to be true to oneself. Of the extraordinary and the ordinary moments that teach us to be human. And, of truth. Always the truth. Thank you, Julia, Emily, Ivy and Jenny for being the remarkable, articulate and passionate young Laurel women you are. Read on for excerpts from those speeches.

16 LaurelSchool.org

THREE MINUTES

—Julia Juster, Williams College

“I

have three minutes. Unless, of course, I go rogue, chain myself to the podium, feed the key to a squirrel and refuse to leave. Instead, I want to be very clear about what I will and won’t do with the three minutes I have today. I’m going to stand here, as the second woman in the history of Williams College to be elected class speaker, honored and grateful my classmates voted for me. I know they’re expecting some jokes, so I’m going to make a few of those. . . . And I’m going to speak my truth: the truth of a 22-year-old exhilarated, exhausted, and very-soon-to-be college graduate.

“This truth, this individualized expression of my past, present and future, will be mine, and I will not claim it is yours. Although I was voted to speak on behalf of the class, it would be inaccurate and irresponsible for me to stand here and pretend I can represent each and every one of you and your experience at Williams College. . . .

“I was tempted to try and write a speech that would encompass the entirety of our past four years. . . . Because I was chosen to represent my peers, I assumed my role was to deliver a speech that was a reflection of our shared experience, one that you would all nod along to as I somehow summarized each and every voice in three minutes.

“This task seemed as overwhelming and impossible as any assignment I’ve had in college, so I did what I know how to do: I sat down to write a paper. I analyzed, I synthesized, I reorganized (my room, not the speech). . . . I wanted a theme; I wanted a thesis statement for our time at Williams. But I was using old tools for a new task and what I got was a trivial

list of our superficial connections . . . I was laboring (and procrastinating) over the premise that in speaking to you, I should speak for you. That’s impossible.

What I can say, what any of us can say, is what we know. My individual experiences inform my own perspective, as yours do for you. It’s our responsibility then to learn more, to learn as much as we can, so that when times like these come, we can say more—not in mere word count, but “more” in the sense of an informed empathy, a respect and a curiosity for the truths we have not yet heard.

“So I’ll end here with my truth: My name is Julia. . . . I am 22 years old. I have been told that 22 is rather young and there will be a day, probably more than one, when I change my mind and shift my course and today will feel like a distant memory of a time when I was just becoming everything I will be. But I feel old . . . and I feel scared.

“From what I’ve learned and heard and seen, a lot of you do, too. We’re scared to leave, we’re scared to start, and we’re scared to fail, even though failure might be exactly what we need right now: leap and the net will appear just in time for you to take a selfie with it.”

BEING ATTENTIVE, BEING REFLECTIVE, BEING LOVING —Emily Kaiser, Boston College

“T

oday is a day of thankful celebration, a day to share our gratitude for and with all the people that helped us get here, the people who nurtured us and taught us, who held our hands, who dried our tears, who championed our cause. Today is a day of reflection; this is our—excuse me when I use the g-word—graduation.

“Like the majority of our senior year, today brings with it a myriad of emotions. . . dissecting all of the feelings experienced this morning, though, would leave me here all day. Instead I challenge us to think in a grander and more collective sense. To, in the vein of the Jesuit examen, first be attentive, then reflective and finally loving of what led us to this point . . . . After all, at the end of the day the influence and beauty of the

Highlights

| WINTER 2015 17

OF POMP, CIRCUMSTANCE AND LAUREL VOICES Continued from page 17. . .

liberal arts education is, as the Aristotelian ethics we studied in Portico describe, not about X or about Y, but rather about the transformation we have undergone and, further, endured.

“We all arrived here from different places—in every sense of the word from geographical to familial to intellectual—making multiple degrees of sacrifices to attend BC because in one way or another we felt this place fostered the potential of putting action to our passions . . . .

“Today is the first day and most likely the only day that we come together as true equals by the nature of being in this room. All about to walk across this stage and receive welldeserved diplomas equal in value. . . . All entering the world with the boundless capacity to make a difference in the most important manner: to truly be men and women for others. As an everlasting impressionable step in our lives, the Carroll School has instilled in us the Jesuit, Catholic tradition that education is not a destination, but rather a lifetime journey. . . .

Our education has not solely been about how to become the most active contributors in the world of finance, accounting, marketing, operations or computer science, but also to use

PARALLEL UNIVERSES

“L

ately, like any good Carnegie Mellon student-slash-nerd, I’ve been thinking about parallel universes. That time-old cliché of the realm of Sci-Fi. I’ve also been thinking about a time-space bubble where time never

18 LaurelSchool.org

these proficiencies to continue to grow as the most potent and ethically driven human beings. . . .

“So, now what? Ignatius asks us to find the goodness in the world and in ourselves but most importantly through, in and with others. . . . [W]e then hold a responsibility—a duty—to extend and encourage empowerment in all communities we are a part of, both big and small, in and outside of the corporate world. It is especially pertinent that as graduates of such a privileged school, we band together to find ways to leverage one another, and even more so those less fortunate, as our collective strength, and therefore our overall impact on the world, only grows from such forms of empathetic attentiveness. . . . [A]s the poet, WH Auden eloquently said, ‘The first criterion of success in any human activity. . .the necessary preliminary is intensity of attention, or love.’ And so with this, I hope we all leave here today feeling the heartfelt invitation and the insatiable drive to dare to truly exist and to love by giving ourselves away in our future educations, careers, passions, friendships, you name it. . . . We are in this together, 2014.

Let’s set the world aflame!”

—Ivy Krislov, Carnegie Mellon

moves forward but maybe there’s a soft, worn couch and maybe a TV set with a DVD player and an Xbox and maybe a paid subscription to Netflix. . . . But mostly— MOSTLY—I’ve been thinking about those parallel universes. And I guess that makes sense for a Technical Writer because, fundamentally, what we do is think about a lot of things that don’t exist, might exist, or are in the process of beginning to exist.

“I mean we also write user-manuals, but that’s not the fun part. But if you learn nothing else at CMU you learn that you do the job in front of you.

“I’ve been thinking about what the universe where I didn’t go to CMU would look like. I’d probably have gone to Rochester Institute of Technology. I’d probably have studied Computer Science instead of Technical and Creative Writing

and . . . I probably would have paid a lot less for tuition.

“But I wouldn’t be a writer. . . . When I first arrived at CMU I had no clue what I was doing. I didn’t know what I wanted to do was write. I did know I was terrified to be on my own, and not entirely convinced I’d made the right choice. A digression— when I was asked to make this speech I wasn’t sure what to talk about. I thought about the fundamentals of speech writing—something I haven’t used since senior year of high school. . . .

“So here’s how I decided to be a technical writer.

“It was freshmen year, the end of second semester. I’d been taking my first Computer Science Course at CMU. Today was the day of my partner and I had to go in to speak with our professor to talk about

ORDINARY MOMENTS —Jenny Sherman, Duke University

“I

’m going to trust you with the truth today. I’m afraid.

There’s the small fear I feel standing up in front of you.

And then there’s the fear of leaving, of not knowing what this next chapter is going to look like. In case anyone else was a little afraid, I just wanted you to know you’re not alone. . . .

“Today, we are celebrating an extraordinary education. The opportunities we fought for, the ones that fell into our laps.

The late nights, the epiphanies and the theses finally, finally complete. We celebrate the moments we got to stand up and defend our research, the moments we showed our command of new languages and complex theories, when we moved an audience from the stage, played the game of a lifetime or fiercely debated our country’s policies, the moments all eyes were on us, the moments when we were special.

“But this is not the whole story.

“We didn’t just go to school for the past two or four or six years. We lived. There is this whole other education that has been running parallel to the one we recognize today. It doesn’t come with a degree or high honors or a job offer. But it deserves to be celebrated.

“This education was ordinary. It happened in the everyday moments when it didn’t matter if we were particularly brilliant or talented. For me, it happened in the first snowfall of my freshman year at Duke. . . . I remember my classmates who had

our final project. We’d built a prototype of a battleshipstyle game, and even programed a simple Artificial Intelligence to play against. We were proud of our work.

The meeting was basically to check there had been no plagiarism or cheating in our code, and for the professor to get feedback about the assignment. . . . My professor asked me several questions about the project; which parts I’d worked on, which Katy had and which we’d done together. . . .

“I learned that, while I did want to work with code, it was the talking about it that I was passionate about.

Explaining it in a way that can be understood, making it accessible. Helping to make products that help other people, or that other people enjoy.

“In short, I learned I wanted to write.

“In this universe, at least. But no matter how I try I can’t imagine a world where that’s not important to me.

And I can no longer imagine a universe where this place isn’t important to me. Where you all aren’t important to me. Thanks for making this universe the best one.”

never seen snow, crying tears of joy. . . . Now, I had grown up with feet of snow every winter, but somehow I felt that joy. . . .

“This (ordinary) education happened when we failed: we were weak. We slept too late. We let that kind professor down.

We were rejected. We didn’t apply for that fellowship or job because we thought maybe we just weren’t good enough.

“It happened when we fell in love. When we didn’t do the paper because our best friend asked us to stay and talk through something hard. When everyone was going somewhere amazing for spring break or spending a summer doing research and we went home to watch our younger siblings grow up and our parents grow older.

“At Duke, we have learned from extraordinary and ordinary moments. Of the two, the ordinary ones might be more important. We have been learning to innovate and inspire, to analyze and investigate. But we have also been learning to tell the truth, to take responsibility for our mistakes, to be present with grief and to forgive. We have been learning to be grownups. We have been learning to be human. . . .

“Our greatest gifts are not the things that make us extraordinary. Our greatest gifts are the things that make us human. Our flaws and vulnerabilities help us to connect, to understand and to live in pursuit of justice for others. When we fail, we give others a chance to treat our humanness with grace and compassion. When we lose people, the accomplishments and achievements don’t matter so much.

It’s the ordinary things that suddenly become precious, the embraces, the late night conversations, the moments you laughed so hard your sides ached.

“As we say goodbye to Duke, my hope is that we will be grateful for our two educations—the one that earned us our degree and the one that taught us how to be human.”

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Julia Juster ’10 lives in Washington, D.C., and teaches 3rd grade at Beauvoir Elementary School. Emily Kaiser ’10 lives in New York City and works for Apple in a two-year rotational leadership program. Ivy Krislov ’10 lives in Seattle and is a content developer for Microsoft, working on the user interface for Windows 10. Jenny Sherman ’10 lives in Cleveland and is interning at Dobama Theater and working part-time at a design studio. L Highlights

| WINTER 2015 19

Downie Photography

CELEBRATING RESILIENCE AND ACHIEVEMENT Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. — ROBERT F. KENNEDY 20 LaurelSchool.org

ALUMNAE WEEKEND ’14

Laurel School Alumnae Weekend ’14

By Julie Donahue ’79, Director of Alumnae and Communications

A

lumnae Weekend ’14, aptly themed Celebrating Resilience and Achievement, kicked off by honoring the accomplishments of two extraordinary alums—Distinguished Alumna Mary French Conway ’46, community leader, and Young Alumna of Distinction Lt. Kat Wirtz ’05, reactor mechanical division officer, USS Theodore Roosevelt.

Over the course of three days, the

Alumnae Association welcomed well over 200 alumnae who came back to reconnect with classmates, former teachers and the School. New events, such as a Legacy Breakfast on Friday and a Mosaic Breakfast on Saturday, joined the lineup of traditional programming including the 50th Reunion Breakfast and the Alumnae Luncheon. A relatively new favorite, the Faculty/Alumnae Happy Hour, presented the perfect opportunity

for alumnae to express their thanks to six longtime faculty members who retired at the end of the 2013-14 year.

Collectively these master teachers accounted for 193 years of service to generations of Laurel girls. As a special surprise that weekend, two of the retirees, Denise André and Diana Wilson, who taught at Laurel for 44 and 48 years respectively, were voted in as the first Honorary Alumnae.

Highlights

| WINTER 2015 21

CELEBRATING RESILIENCE AND ACHIEVEMENT

Thursday, May 15 – Distinguished Alumnae Dinner

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

1. 2014 recipients Lt. Katherine Wirtz ’05 and Mary French Conway ’46 2. Former Distinguished Alumna Recipients: Heather Roulston Ettinger ’79, Nina Freedlander Gibans ’50, Terry Horvitz Kovel ’46 and Laine Grasselli Hadden ’49 3. Emily Wirtz ’08, her sister and Young Alumna of Distinction Lt. Katherine Wirtz ’05 and Anne Miano ’05 4. Cathy Dwyer LoPresti ’65, Signe Wrolstad-Forbes ’71, faculty emerita Mary Rule and Martha Walter Royan ’71

22 LaurelSchool.org

6.

5. Distinguished Alumna Mary French Conway ’46, former Head Leah Rhys, Headmistress Ann V. Klotz and Anne Juster Conway ’80 6. Mary Jane Davis Hartwell ’46 and Nancy Wykoff Sharp ’43 7. Classmates Lois Mueller Roulston ’50 and Kay Weidenthal Boyd ’50 catch up.

8. Distinguished Alumna Committee Chair Ellen Ambus Feuer ‘74

7.

8.

ALUMNAE WEEKEND ’14

Friday, May 16 – Legacy Breakfast

9.

12.

10.

13.

11.

14.

15.

9. Alumnae Weekend co-chair Megan Lum Mehalko ’83 and her daughter, Kristin Mehalko ’17 10. Meghan McGrath McIntyre ’84, Alex Cade ’17 and Mhoire McGrath-Cade ’83 11. Kaitlynn Ernst ’24 and Lynn Delar Ernst ’86 12. Trustee Carey Jaros ’96 with her daughter, Frances Farmery ’28 13. Three generations—Hazel Segal ’27, Leslie K. Segal ’95 and Kathy Perris Torgerson ’65, Alumnae Weekend Chair 14. Lynnette Jackson ’93, Cheryl Jackson Johnson ’95 and Chloe Johnson ’26 15. Heather Chisholm Evans ’80, Deb Chisholm Hull ’77, Sara Hull ’17 and Sally Weaver Chisholm ’54

Friday, May 16 – Butler

16. Cindy Mast Finigan ’89 challenges herself on the pamper pole at the Adventure Course

16.

17. Alums dared to take on the Adventure Course at Butler.

17.

Highlights

| WINTER 2015 23

CELEBRATING RESILIENCE AND ACHIEVEMENT

Friday, May 16 – Faculty Happy Hour

18.

21.

25.

19.

22.

20.

23.

26.

18. Sharon Pearlman ’08 with French teacher Denise André, one of the six retiring faculty honored that evening

27.

19. Faculty emerita Becky Chandler with retiring Primary science teacher Sue Cultrona Farrell 20. Faculty emerita Skip Grip, English teacher Jeanne Stephens, Sandhya Gupta ’94 and faculty emerita Marilyn Kent 21. Director of Alumnae Julie Donahue ’79 and retiring Middle School teacher Kathleen Shields 22. Sandhya Gupta ’94 and retiring Primary music teacher Barb Lang

28.

24 LaurelSchool.org

24.

23. Alex Green ’09 and retiring Primary science teacher Sue Farrell

24. Assistant Director of Alumnae Maegan Ruhlman ’03 and Denise André 25. Nancy Green Gilreath ’79, Susie Galvin ’79 and Alison Smythe ’79 26. Diana Wilson and Denise André receive special certificates from Alum Assoc. President Martha Walter Royan ’71 27. Leslie McCormack Gathy ’84 who flew in from London for reunion and to pay tribute to retiring physical education teacher Diana Wilson 28. Classmates from 1987 Tina Stefanski, Becky Storey and Julie Altschul Leizman compare cell phone photos!

ALUMNAE WEEKEND ’14

Saturday, May 17 – Morning Programming

29.

30.

31.

29. The Class of 1964 enjoys hearing from Headmistress Ann V. Klotz at the traditional 50th Reunion Class Breakfast 30. Incoming Board and Board Vice Chairs, Elizabeth Embrescia ’88 and Lynnette Jackson ’93, at the Mosaic Breakfast

32.

33.

31.Upper School students talk about Equity and Inclusion initiatives at the Mosaic Breakfast.

32. Valerie Raines ’78 33. Case Professor and Laurel’s Center for Research on Girls’ Advisory Board Member Dr. Eileen Anderson-Fye shares how to build resiliency.

Saturday, May 17 – Alumnae Luncheon

34.

35.

36.

34. Kay Mason Ingersoll ’39 and Kim Ingersoll Kanzinger ’64 celebrating the 75th and 50th Milestone Reunions!

35. Mary Jones Chilcote ’44 and Jane Marshman Guthrie ’44 celebrate their 70th Reunion.

36. The Class of 1954—Standing: Maeve McGuire, Sally Nixon Weir, Sally Weaver Chisholm, Molly McCaslin Robinson and Ann Daniels Marks. Seated: Nancy Schurger Peebles, Mimi Fagles Bigler, Tish Forker Cocking, Christine Corell Greeno and Judy Olson Hall 37. Lavonne Evans Cowan ’49 and Ronnie McChord Merriman ’49 celebrate their 65th Reunion.

37.

Highlights

| WINTER 2015 25

CELEBRATING RESILIENCE AND ACHIEVEMENT

Saturday, May 17 – Alumnae Luncheon

38.

39.

41.

40.

42.

43.

38. The Class of 1959—Standing: Debby Elliott.

Seated: Penny Wightman Dalzell and Lynne Carter Tobin 39. Judy Rousuck ’69 and Emilie Collens Illson ’69 celebrate their 45th Reunion.

40. The Class of 1964—Standing: Jody White, Hillary Saunders Schultz, Marjorie McCullough, Susie Bishop and Midge AuWerter Shepard. Seated: Jacqueline Johnson Masumian, Marne Jennings Hodgin, Joanne Flynn Franz, Christine Anderson and Lynn Bruch Baker 41. The Class of 1964 cont.— Standing: Susie Miller Forbes, Nancy Taylor Schreiner, Lynn Fauver Rimmer, Liz Walker Boncella, Virginia Stockton and Anne Messenger. Seated: Martha Beall Barend, Sally Kinder, Jane Barry, Anne Fitzhugh Coughlin and Royse Hardy Crall

26 LaurelSchool.org

44.

42. The Class of 1964 cont.—Standing: Mary Ann Kovacs Lannoch, Inga Wells Marler, Michael Anne Johnson, Anne Swetland Cross, Withers Millard Peifer and Gina Bose Raaschou. Seated: Penelope Parkhurst Boehm, Cindi Boyd Ross, Cookie Scheid Evans and Kim Ingersoll Kanzinger 43. The Class of 1974—Standing: Cynthia Fitz-Gerald Deupree, Conleth Crotser, Sandy Buchanan and Carol MadisonGraham. Seated: Susan Roberts, Georgia Rogers Snover and Ellen Ambus Feuer 44. The Class of 1979—Standing: Tina Tricarichi, Becke Broadbent, Jane Cameron Lee, Heather Roulston Ettinger and Julie Donahue. Seated: Stacey Polk, Lisa Dixon Bugos, Susie Galvin, Nancy Green Gilreath and Sue Dwyer

ALUMNAE WEEKEND ’14

Saturday, May 17 – Alumnae Luncheon

45.

48.

46.

49.

47.

50.

51.

45. The Class of 1984—Standing: Lindy Medley Vincent, Donna Dickinson, Eliza Hatch Saada, Renee White, Arnelle Martin and Mary Weatherhead Feldman.

Seated: Laura Shebert Schoeffler, Leslie McCormack Gathy, Lisa Downing Bates and Carbery O’Brien 46. The Class of 1989—Standing: Ellen Johnson Sprague, Sam Eustace, Allison Foltz Milmoe and Jennifer Litzow Gill.

Seated: Sally Tookman O’Callaghan, Ruth Corradi Beach, Missy Cockley Spellacy and Rachel Bralliar 47. Sarah Rorimer ’99

48. The Class of 1994—Standing: Nancy Corns, Amanda Lawrence and Sandhya Gupta.

Seated: Michael Chandler and Ronda Mourad 49. The Class of 2004—Standing: Amanda Cinalli Solomon, Lauren Chrien and Rose Babington. Seated: Elizabeth Schaul, Amanda Royan, Allison Chan and Nicole Brown 50. Alex Green ’09, Claire Zenczak ’09 and Erne Zappa ’09 at their first reunion!

51. Who are the ladies behind their yearbook photos?

Highlights

L

| WINTER 2015 27

LEGACY FOR LAUREL

NANCY CALHOUN WAMSLEY ’45 One need only look to the 1945 Laurel Leaves to get a sense of Nancy Calhoun Wamsley, an alumna of grace, dignity and style...

“Along with a quiet manner, Nancy has shown great efficiency and

thoroughness in carrying out a job which is given to her. She has been treasurer of the class senior year and has done a grand job. We have enjoyed Nancy’s friendly manner and her sincerity as a friend. . . .

Wherever Nancy goes, she will succeed with efficiency, thoroughness and her pleasant smile.

”

Those very skills noted by her classmates served Nancy well throughout her lifetime.

After graduating from Laurel and Skidmore College, she took a job at Pickands Mather as an administrative assistant to the man who would become the company’s President and CEO. Nancy, who commuted from Rocky River as a Laurel student, continued to make that city her home until she passed away in February 2013.

A board member of the Children’s Aid Society, she also volunteered for the Great Lakes Theatre Company and the Women’s Committee of the Cleveland Orchestra, as well as for Laurel. Among her most favorite pastimes were those spent with her two stepchildren, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A longtime volunteer and supporter of the School, Nancy included Laurel School in her estate plans. Her generous bequest is directed towards science and math facilities.

Membership in Legacy for Laurel is extended to all alumnae, parents, faculty and friends who make a provision in their estate plans to benefit the School.

For more information about joining Legacy for Laurel or on making a planned gift to Laurel School, contact Julie Donahue, Director of Alumnae, at 216.455.3028 or jDonahue@LaurelSchool.org

Dream. Dare. Do. Laurel School One Lyman Circle Shaker Heights, Ohio 44122

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID CLEVELAND, OHIO PERMIT NO. 701

LaurelSchool.org ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

SAVE THE DATE!

Rediscover Laurel. Rediscover your roots.

Laurel School Alumnae Weekend • May 14 - 17, 2015 Join the Laurel Alumnae group on Facebook and follow @LaurelAlumnae on Twitter for updates!