Signature, Spring 2017

THE ADMISSIONS MAGAZINE OF EMMA WILLARD SCHOOL

T R I AT H L E T E Amy VanTassel ’94

M A KING THEIR MA R K

Amy VanTassel ’94

(page 24) Describe Emma in two words: Life altering What’s your favorite Emma tradition? Apart from Revels, Senior Dinner was such a rite of passage.

What advice do you have for Emma Girls? Use your privilege!

Vacation in the mountains or by the ocean? Ocean (warmer).

Elizabeth Martin

(page 18) Describe Emma in two words: Personalized community What’s your favorite Emma tradition? Peanuts and Shells. I adore the mystery, the excitement, the week-long build up to the reveal and the deeply creative, personalized gifts the girls create.

What advice do you have for Emma Girls? “The only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” —Mark Zuckerberg Vacation in the mountains or by the ocean? Vacation in the mountains, for sure!

The girls in The Bridges, a specialized dorm focused on adventure and wellness, hike in Thacher State Park with Liz Martin, residential faculty.

S P R I N G 2 01 7 Erin Pihlaja

Head of Communications epihlaja@emmawillard.org Jamie Hicks-Furgang

T H E A D M I SS I O N S M AG A ZINE O F E MMA W I L L A RD SC H O O L

Director of Enrollment Jhicks@emmawillard.org Amoreena O’Bryon

Assistant Director of Communications for Creative Services aobryon@emmawillard.org Katie Coakley

Assistant Director of Communications for News and Social Media kcoakley@emmawillard.org

F E AT U R E S

Megan Tady

Girls hike mountains, and more, in a new dormitory program.

Managing Editor www.word-lift.com Lilly Pereira

Designer www.aldeia.design

24 Going for Gold

Emma Girls compete at the top of their game.

Head of School, Interim

32 Passing the Torch

Please forward address changes to: Emma Willard School 285 Pawling Avenue Troy, NY 12180 518.833.1787 alumnae@emmawillard.org or www.emmawillard.org/alumnae

D E PA R T M E N T S

Dr. Susan R. Groesbeck

Signature, the magazine of Emma Willard School is published by the Communications Office two times each year for alumnae, parents, grandparents, and friends of Emma Willard School. The mission of this magazine is to capture the school’s values and culture through accurate and objective stories about members of the Emma community, past and present, as they put Emma Willard’s mark on the world.

ON TH E COV ER P HOTO BY ELI ZAB ETH MARTIN

18 Adventure is Calling

This “signature” is brought to you by Elizabeth Martin. In the photo, Amy VanTassel ’94 digs deep at mile 90 of the 112-mile bike course of Ironman Cozumel 2016 in Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Photo by Finisherspix®

Emma’s interim head welcomes the new head of school.

02 From the Triangle A hackathon, Culture of Respect, an Emma dog, #MisruleTheSchool, bubbles and more.

12 Faculty Voices Q&A with English Department Chair, teacher, and Emma alumna Leslie Crowell ’00.

14 The Classroom Mathematics instructor Raimie Utterback enables girls to think critically.

16 Click 38 Admissions 40 Signing Off Interim Head of School Dr. Susan R. Groesbeck reflects on her tenure at Emma.

From th" Triangl"

New Senior Triangle Tradition The senior class instated a new Senior Triangle tradition this year, moving away from the previous stance that individuals should apologize in person if they broke the rules. Class president Hannah Lang ’16 explained that the old policy made seniors uncomfortable and took the fun out of the tradition.

Now when seniors see a violation, they report it to Hannah who follows up with the offender reminding her of the rules and inviting her to participate in “Triangle Day.” While participation is optional, girls who are found to be in violation atone for their misstep by donning party hats and passing candy out to seniors. This way, the tradition of the Senior Triangle is fun for everyone.

2

E M M A W I LL AR D SC HO O L

FROM THE TR IA NGLE

Hacking For Change Emma Girls participated in a hackathon at AppNexus in New York City where they used resources provided by SquareSpace and other tech companies to tackle a technological and societal challenge using computer science skills. They learned from a number of people in the industry.

FOSTERING A CULTURE OF RESPECT Our commitment to providing a nurturing and healthy campus for the Emma community led the school to become the first high school in the nation to partner with Culture of Respect, a NASPA affiliate.

Culture of Respect provides colleges and universities—and now Emma—with tools to assess and improve efforts to eliminate sexual violence from their campuses, while ensuring students are safe as they pursue their educations. Learn more about their program at cultureofrespect.org and follow along with Emma’s Healthy Boundaries initiatives at emmawillard.org/healthyboundaries.

emmawillard.org

3

FROM THE TR IA NGLE

National Manufacturing Day at RPI

MISRULING THE SCHOOL As if excitement could get any higher in December, in the week leading up to the 102nd Revels a mischievous jester decided to #MisruleTheSchool! Social media followers saw the impact of giving to The Emma Fund as the jester appeared all around campus, including in Emma’s new Maker’s Space, our science laboratories, and our athletics facilities.

Emma Girls saw what a career in manufacturing looks like at the National Manufacturing Day program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). After seeing a Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk touch down in the center of campus, the girls heard a keynote address on the complexities of the helicopter manufacturing process from Ryan Party, manager of manufacturing technology for manufacturing engineering at Sikorsky Aircraft, and Rensselaer graduate student Danielle Balzano.

The girls also went lab hopping—visiting with Rocket Society members in the Robotics Lab, taking an up-close look at the Blackhawk, checking out medical implants in the Biomed ProFab Studio, and finally, getting a walk through of the gigantic Manufacturing Innovation and Learning Laboratory (MILL).

MAKING AN IMPACT Emma Girls in our sophomore Middle Eastern & European History classes are engaging in service learning at the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) center in Albany, where they gain insight into the resettlement process for refugees in the Capital Region.

They are also engaging with the local refugee community by helping in the after-school program at the Refugee and Immigrant Support Services of Emmaus (RISSE) center in Albany and are planning some exciting fundraising events for later this year.

4

E M M A W I LL AR D SC HO O L

GOING NATIONAL (x3) Emma’s Quiz Team is headed to three different national competitions this spring. Priscilla Rapp ’17, Jessica Patrick ’18, Katie Foster ’18, Yiyi Zhang ’18, and Hannah Cesavetti ’18 competed in the Pre-Holiday Academic Tournament (PHAT) at South Burlington High School in Vermont. After winning four matches, they were seeded well within a large varsity division. From there they won two of their four finals matches, coming in 7th overall out of 48 teams.

Their win qualified them for the NAQT Small School nationals in April, the NAQT nationals in May, and the PACE nationals in June 2017. We know they will continue to make Emma proud!

FROM THE TR IA NGLE

Furriest Classmate

A Closer Look at Soap Bubbles

When Emma Girls arrived for the year, the Class of 2017 found they’d grown by one adorable, furry member: a Miniature Schnauzer named Treena. In the summer leading up to her senior year, Rosemarie Davidson ’17 trained Treena as a service dog for part of her Signature project, which aims to spread awareness about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the impact service dogs can make on affected individuals.

In addition to training Treena, Rosemarie has raised money to purchase a service dog for Operation At Ease (operationatease.org), a nonprofit organization that provides members of the military and veterans with PTSD service dogs at no cost.

Rosemarie and Treena (below) appeared in The Troy Record with Joni Bonilla, founder of Operation at Ease.

The Emma network comprises so many incredible, groundbreaking women, including Dr. Jean Taylor GP’20, who pioneered research on the surfaces and structures of soap films and bubbles. She shared her experience and expertise with Emma math classes, and allowed them a peek into the breadth and beauty that math studies can offer.

Delighted students examined a variety of crystal structures, immersed them in bubble solution, then gasped in surprise at the shapes of the resulting “bubble planes.” Posing thoughtful questions that touched on geometry and trigonometry, Dr. Taylor described how bubbles’ shapes essentially enclose the maximum volume for a given surface area.

emmawillard.org

5

FROM THE TR IA NGLE

O N T H E STAG E

BY KATIE COAKLEY

Agent of Change “There’s an old joke that every actor ends an interview with ‘…but what I really want to do is direct.’ That was never me...”

“I love being on the stage and living someone else’s story. I was in my late twenties before I realized that if I was directing, I’d get to tell lots of people’s stories. I love working with students and love watching them find their voices on the stage and off.” At Emma, Theatre Director and instructor Erica Tryon, shares her love of storytelling with talented Emma Girls.

Before arriving on Mount Ida, Erica worked as a professional actor after discovering her passion for theatre as a college freshman.

Scoring the lead in the first show she’d auditioned for was a trans-formative experience. It inspired her to study Shakespeare in London for a year before traveling around the world for the next ten years, studying and working with theatre in different cultures.

Erica spent time in the Capital Region performing and even visited Emma as a guest teaching artist on a few occasions. Her experiences at the school made a big impression on her, so when the theatre director position opened, she jumped at the chance to join the school’s vibrant community.

In her two years as Emma’s theatre director she has brought provocative shows to the Kiggins stage, including an adaption of the one-woman play No Child and the absurdist play Rhinoceros.

6

E M M A W I LL AR D SC HO O L

“I don’t think it’s a secret at this point that I’m passionate about theatre as an agent of change,” Erica says of her selections. “Emma Girls are a socially conscious bunch, and No Child and Rhinoceros certainly got people talking.”

Indeed these shows had a profound impact on everyone involved in their production. While working on No Child, Erica invited the show’s playwright and one-woman performer Nilaja Sun to campus for an intensive workshop. In the original production of this award-winning play depicting life at an under-resourced school, Sun played 17 people herself.

Erica adapted the play for Emma by pulling it apart so that girls could embody these different characters. For seniors Esra Yener ’17 and Samantha Torres ’17, the opportunity to learn about Sun’s experiences and perform the Emma-fied version of the play was a nerve-wracking but deeply meaningful experience.

“Hearing about her struggles with racism and how her students struggle with self-confidence and stereotyping themselves while not living up to their full potential meant a lot to me as a female of color,” Samantha says.

For Esra, meeting with Sun showed her the reality of being involved with theatre, and gave her more insight into the many types of theatre, as well as the complexities of the field.

Sun was just one of the visiting performers to make an impact on Emma Girls under Erica’s tenure.

As a member of Actor’s Equity, she has access to a number of wildly talented theatre colleagues who are willing to share their experiences. Erica’s classes and performers met with Kat Koppett, who showed girls how to use improv and theatre skills in dayto-day interactions.

These experiences are very grounding for the girls. “I think a lot of times people think that making a living doing theatre is this mythical thing only Lin-Manuel Miranda does, but in the class students see actors doing it every day,” Erica says.

PHOTO BY A MORE ENA O’ BRYON

FROM THE TR IA NGLE

Erica’s connections are certainly an asset, but her performance background and vast knowledge of the field is what most inspires the girls she works with.

As she looks ahead to college next year, Esra has worked closely with Erica on monologues for future auditions—inspiring her to consider characters she’d never have known how to embody.

“I’m always astounded by her knowledge of theatre and how her notes can bring life to a character,” Esra says. “For my character in No Child [a janitor], we talked about what he could have in his closet— mementos, etc.—that allowed me to really understand him.”

Samantha echoed this sentiment.

In her work as stage manager, when presented with a script she says it can initially be hard to wrap her head around the logistics of bringing it to life on stage.

“When Ms. Tryon presented Rhinoceros to me, I thought ‘That’s crazy! There’s no way we can make people turn into rhinoceroses.’ It seemed very illogical,” Samantha says.

“Then when we sat and read the script together for the first time I thought, ‘This is a very important message.

We need to do this and we need to do it justice.’”

In addition to the success of No Child and Rhinoceros, Erica and her cast have also presented their

production of 12 Angry Jurors. She hopes that these performances will continue to allow girls to grow and push themselves in new ways, while also attracting new girls to the program, whether it’s on the stage or behind the scenes.

“I have become a braver person just by auditioning for parts that terrified me. In the past two years some of the most revelatory performances I’ve seen have been from girls who walked into an audition that I’d never met before,” Erica says.

“The theatre at Emma is like a family that just keeps adopting more members.”

emmawillard.org

7

FROM THE TR IA NGLE

SO CIA L MEDIA

facebook.com/ emmawillardschool

instagram.com/ emmawillardschool

Emma dancers recently traveled to Williamstown to participate in a master class taught by NYC Ballet principal dancers Jared Angle and Rebecca Krohn. #IvyLeague

Emma’s 2017 Prom Committee got creative to raise money to offset the cost of this year’s tickets.

During Morning Reports, four teachers allowed randomly selected students who donated to the cause to “pie” them on stage.

twitter.com/ emmawillard

Spotted in the latest @ AlbanyBizReview: 17th Head of School @jennycrao!

We’re so glad our exciting news is spreading throughout the region!

youtube.com/ emmawillardschool

#StunningSunset

Algebraic Geometry Mannequin Challenge www.youtube.com/ watch?v=VpKpJgqa7kw Experience Emma www.youtube.com/ watch?v=IqqocMQdipg

Girls in Ms. Todd’s Intro to Weaving class showed off the beautiful results of their first project against the equally stunning fall foliage!

#SturbridgeVillage l i ke s

8

E M M A W I LL AR D SC HO O L

l i ke s

FROM THE TR IA NGLE

Explore. Play. Learn.

GirlSummer, Emma’s signature summer program, offers girls ages 6–14 enriching, personalized, and fun two- and four-week summer experiences.

Every July, we welcome girls from a diverse range of countries and states to Emma to choose from an expansive array of electives, allowing each girl to discover new pursuits or deepen personal interests. Girls experience Emma as day campers and, for rising 6th-9th graders, we offer a two- and four-week boarding program.

Add GirlSummer to your calendar:

July 9–August 5, 2017 Explore GirlSummer at emmawillard.org/summer

emmawillard.org

9

FROM THE TR IA NGLE

When the Great Folk arrived at the Manor House for the 102nd performance of Revels, they welcomed a number of new faces, including Prince Rahim and Princess Naima of Arabia, Alexander Hamilton, and a cast of imposter mummers!

The Class of 2017 also nodded to alumna Heather Milne Richie ’93 by introducing a stone mason who stunned the audience with two new jester gargoyles—replicas of the jesters Heather created under the Archway this past summer.

The festive spirit of this year’s Revels also came with an important message: to “find the strength and courage to remove the masks through which we see the world, so that we may understand how others see it.”

10

E M M A W I LL AR D SC HO O L

THANK YOU, CHRIS CARROLL Lovingly outfitting Emma Girls in their Revels costumes for 40 years, Chris is only the second person to do so in the show’s 102 years. In honor of her extraordinary service and her retirement from this role, the Christine Carroll Revels Costume Renewal Fund has been established anonymously by an alumna and her husband.

Others are cordially invited to join in celebrating Chris’s life’s work through this fund, which will provide for the stewardship of the Revels costume collection for generations to come.

Beginning next year, English instructor Dr. Esther Dettmar takes the lead in Revels costuming, having served an apprenticeship with Chris this year.

PHOTOS BY M A R K VA N WO R M E R

emmawillard.org

11

Faculty Voice#

INTERVIEW BY MEGAN TADY

Leslie Crowell ’00

Returning to Emma When English Department Chair Leslie Crowell ’00 was hired at Emma in 2014, she was returning to her beloved Alma Mater. Leslie always had a desire to teach at the school that had inspired her own career path and love of literature. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Buffalo, and is a doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois. As an Emma Girl, she recalls reading Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard in Polly Kimberly’s class and discussing “all those big life questions that would spill over from the class to the dining hall.”

What was it like to return to campus as a teacher? That first semester was surreal. I was seeing some of my former teachers in the dining hall and in the faculty lounge, and in some cases I was responding to them in faculty meetings. I was also teaching in some of the rooms where I remember taking classes.

I taught in Weaver 101, and I have very vivid memories of working and studying there.

Who were the teachers at Emma who influenced your teaching style? I would say specifically Meg McClellan and Kathleen McNamara. As a young teacher, I would hold them both up in my mind and ask, ‘What would Kathleen do? What would Meg do?’

Meg was collected and cool and had patience and perspective. Nothing seemed to rattle her. I remember

12

E M M A W I LL AR D SC HO O L

that she was so composed, I wanted to emulate her. Kathleen had so much energy and vitality. You couldn’t help but get excited about what she was doing. She had a way of taking any challenge and turning it around into an opportunity.

That was the biggest lesson I learned from her as a teacher.

What drew you to English? At Emma, there was a huge variety of electives, and I had never seen that before. I came in as junior, so I had spent some time at public high school. When it came time to pick courses for my senior year, I wanted to do everything, but I found that my instincts took me toward the literature courses. I couldn’t bear to let go of them. I ended up taking two English courses in both the spring and the fall.

Can you describe your teaching approach? My goal is to teach each student to take control of her own thought process and to empower her to create her own work, whether analytical or creative. I don’t want to be that teacher who stands at the front of the classroom and says, ‘Now I’m going to tell you what this poem means.’ I want to teach each girl to create and support her own interpretations.

What does that process look like?

In English I, we begin the year with poetry and with close reading, or the ability to look closely at language and the implications of words on the page. It’s a skill that can be very challenging! In my experience, close reading is best taught through poetry because the language is so dense and focused. In one lesson, we start with a small poem, ‘Hope

FACU LTY VOICE S

PH OTO BY AMOREENA O’B RYON

Leslie Crowell ’00 teaches her students to look closely at a poem and decipher the language, starting with Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is the thing with feathers.”

is the thing with feathers’ by Emily Dickinson. We read it as a class, then line by line, then we read it line by line backwards, and finally I say, ‘Let’s look at the first line.

What do you notice?’ It is a lowstakes question, but it doesn’t take long to go from what students notice to what those observations imply. Probing questions allow students to form their own arguments. I try to guide students in how to think without telling them what to think.

Then, students write their own poem about an abstract concept, such as hope, and use an animal as a metaphor for that concept. This past fall, I asked them to look at a picture of an elephant, and to

brainstorm many abstract concepts that the elephant might represent, such as wisdom, sorrow, etc. Then students wrote just one stanza. For example, ‘Perseverance is the thing with one old tusk.’ It helps them see close reading from the inside out.

What is it like when you can tell students grasp the material? The light-bulb moment. It’s the best.

You live for that moment. That moment can make your whole day.

What are your goals for the English Department? I would like us to maintain the collaborative spirit that was evident when I got here. There is a lot of commitment in the department to personalize

the curriculum. Many of us are encouraging students to produce work that shows knowledge and gives students ownership over what they doing.

What did you love about Emma as a student, and what do you love about it now? I loved the sense of possibility that I had when I was at Emma. Any pathway was open to me. The future was mine to shape—a feeling my teachers encouraged. Before Emma, I felt my life was being written for me, but at Emma I felt I could live the life I wanted if I could seize it. I love having the opportunity to help Emma Girls find their own way.

emmawillard.org

13

Th" Classroom

BY KATIE COAKLEY

Predicting the Future Girls bring a range of mathematics backgrounds and abilities with them to Emma. For some, math is a daunting subject they haven’t quite mastered. For others, it’s an exciting challenge—like arranging puzzle pieces to see the larger picture. Raimie Utterback’s Algebra II and Trigonometry with Non-Routine Problems class brings all these girls together to collaborate, learn from, and grow with one another in an open and supportive environment.

It’s no surprise that girls in Raimie’s classes have gone from being intimidated by math to seeking out extra opportunities to hone their skills outside of the classroom throughout the academic year.

Raimie enters her classroom with an effervescent energy that naturally brings her students to attention.

They sit up and return her warm greeting with equal enthusiasm before diving into a discussion of the previous night’s homework. Based on given data, the girls had to determine what the price of movie tickets was in 1990 and predict when they will hit $20 a ticket.

Girls know that understanding the assignment is critical, so they freely ask questions of Raimie and each other, detailing where they got stuck, and digging deep to understand how others arrived at their predictions.

There is no judgment or self-consciousness here, just a desire to learn both individually and as a group.

Asking the girls to take realworld data, turn it into a model,

14

E M M A W I LL AR D SC HO O L

and use it mathmatically to make predictions about the future ties perfectly into the day’s lesson on population growth.

Using data Raimie extracted from the NPR video “7 Billion: How Did We Get So Big So Fast?” as a starting point, girls use their calculators to do exponential regression. The video’s data ends in 2011, which allows the class to develop a model, compare it to the data they have, and make a prediction about future population growth—to 2017 and beyond.

The room grows completely silent except for the clicking of calculators and laptops as they enter data points beginning from the year 1000 to present. Raimie works right alongside them while projecting visuals of the calculator on a side whiteboard.

Midway through, she shares a tip for editing on the calculator which allows girls to insert or edit data they may have missed. There is some chatter as girls review their input

and realize they had indeed missed a point—the tip could not have come at a better time.

Finally, an “I did it!” fills the room from a girl who stretches her arms out wide—letting go of the stress of her careful concentration.

Building on the Lesson The girls generate graphs based on all the input data. “It’s so bad, it’s ugly,” says one girl upon seeing the results.

“It really is,” says Raimie, “but the calculator is saying this is the best model we have, even though we know better.”

The lesson moves to a 1,000-foot view of the data as Raimie asks the girls to consider how the model can be improved by questioning what factors—particularly life factors— may have influenced it.

They note that their graphs begin to split away from each other in 1590, hinting that something significant had taken place. Using a timeline of medical advances on

THE CLA SS ROOM

PH OTO BY AMOREENA O’B RYON

Raimie Utterback leads her students in an exercise on predicting population growth using real world data.

sciencemuseum.org/uk, the class discovers that this time marks the beginning of modern medicine and textbooks.

“When you’re working with real world data, it’s never perfect. Many things—like medical advances— have a huge impact,” Raimie says.

“I want them thinking about that whenever they’re looking at data— thinking about what in the future may impact it.”

After they gain understanding of why their model failed, Raimie calls on the girls and asks how they could improve it using what they learned about piecewise functions earlier in the year. By breaking up the data, they are able to develop models to accurately depict curves that work well for early data, post-modern medicine, where the population

would be today, and when Earth would hit “carrying capacity.”

Lessons like these are important to Emma Girls’ understanding of math and its practical uses in everyday life. In fact, the drive behind creating this particular course was to give girls the ability to dig deeper and connect their learning to the wider world.

“Even if girls aren’t going into a math career, the ability to think outside of presented data and question the impact it will have are skills they will use in any subject or field,” Raimie says.

Working through real-world data and problems can be a little daunting. In Algebra II and Trigonometry with Non-Routine Problems, no two problems are the same. For girls arriving on Mount Ida feeling timid

about math, Emma’s program, and teachers like Raimie, allow them to see the subject differently.

This is often the key to success— something Raimie knows firsthand.

Up until her freshman year of high school, she was one of those students who dreaded math class. That all changed thanks to a math teacher who gave her a new perspective and got her to not only think differently about math, but allowed her to be excited by it. She hopes to do the same for her students.

“I tell the girls, ‘You’re allowed to not like math.’ I’m not expecting it to be everyone’s favorite subject, but I don’t want them saying they hate it because they’re not good at it.

Everyone is capable of doing it.”

emmawillard.org

15

Click

Emma Willard School is home to bright young women from around the world who form a sisterhood through shared Emma experiences.

Zoe ’19 and Pawa ’18 have a strong bond built out of mutual respect and trust. As coxswains on Emma’s crew team, they feed off each other’s energy to keep their boats fast on the water, and encourage each other by offering positive criticism.

Their shared Emma experience, which also includes overnight visits to Zoe’s house in Saratoga Springs, New York, sets the stage for a lifelong friendship that will empower each girl as she serves and shapes her world. The two are eagerly planning a trip to Pawa’s home in Thailand this coming summer.

Begin your transformational educational experience today.

emmawillard.org

16

E M M A WI L L AR D SC HO O L

ADV ADV ENT ENT URE URE

t

The BriDges Dorm encourages emma girls to go out and ExPlOrE.

by Danielle Sanzone

18

E M M A W I LL AR D SC HO O L

PHOTO BY ELI ZAB ETH MA RTI N

is calling

Girls in The Bridges scale the stairs in Thacher State Park.

emmawillard.org

19

e E

W

The 9 p.m. campus chimes signal the end of study hall, and Emma Girls emerge from their rooms in The Bridges dormitory, laughing and talking down the hallways and the main stairs, enticed by the smell of freshly baked goods for the evening’s tea.

Fourteen young women enter the alcove dressed comfortably in pajamas or yoga pants, slippers or fuzzy footwear. The Bridges, after all, is home.

The Bridges is not a typical dorm; it’s a new residential life experience emphasizing health, wellness, and outdoor adventure.

Over the course of the year, these girls will focus on developing healthy habits which lead to a balanced life—both at home and in nature.

Tonight’s tea is to celebrate the birthday of Charlotte Kershaw ’18, and to decorate the alcove for the holidays.

They sing “Happy Birthday,” string up lights, and dance to Christmas carols. Charlotte beams over a platter of healthy treats, wearing a sparkly birthday cake hat. And, in a matter of minutes, the alcove is transformed. Garland and an ornamental chandelier hang over the three couches and wooden coffee table. The girls open presents for the entire dorm—a Keurig and an iron.

Olivia Pintair ’18, a cross-country and track athlete, says she appreciates that The Bridges focuses on a balanced life, in school and outside the classroom.

“You can easily be swept up in academics and stress from school,” Olivia says. “Here, we’re taught how to manage stress.

We’re supported as individuals and we get what we need as people, not just students.”

20

E M M A WI L L AR D SC HO O L

Elizabeth “Liz” Martin, the residential faculty member who designed The Bridges program last year, was hoping for a close-knit community, and so much more. She acknowledges that life as a teenager has a number of stressors—from pressures of grades and college acceptance to technology addictions to body image issues. Liz designed the program to counter such issues.

This is the first full year of the program.

“The common thread and undercurrent of The Bridges is empowerment,” Liz says. “I want these girls to truly reflect and to learn a bit about themselves and what motivates them. I hope that through learning deeply about the different facets of wellness they can identify their strengths and weaknesses and learn ways to harness their energy to focus on positive improvements.”

During evening teas, Liz and the girls converse on a wide range of wellness topics, from sleep and emotions to relationships and how to find their drive and motivation.

Left to right: Group photo at Thacher State Park; Lizzie Jarrett ’17, Sharde Johnson ’18, Charlotte Kershaw ’18 were all smiles as they explored the frozen Dunham Reservoir at Grafton State Park in NY; Charlotte Kershaw ’18 and Sharde Johnson ’18 relax in their shared dorm room; A fun game during tea; Lizzie Jarrett ’17 and Alston Bowman ’17 enjoy the Adirondack Balloon Festival in Queensbury, NY.

PHOTO S BY KY LE ADA MS A ND ELIZA BETH MA RTI N

B

“The happier and more balanced you are in life, the more success you’ll find,” Liz says, referring to a TEDTalk the girls watched at the beginning of the year.

Every month, the dorm embarks on an outdoor adventure. Past trips have included Howe Caverns, Thacher Park, and Indian Ladder Farms, as well as walking and unicycling to a nearby Ben & Jerry’s ice cream parlor.

Shelley Maher, Dean of Students and Wellbeing, says the program prepares the girls for life beyond Mount Ida. “[The Bridges] has given the seniors a memorable final year at Emma,” Shelley says. “I know that when they leave Emma Willard School, they are as prepared as possible to make independent decisions. The Bridges helps the girls understand that every decision they make impacts their health.”

B Outdoor Adventure

It was 4:45 a.m. when the girls in The Bridges piled into a van on a chilly Sunday morning in September. They had a sunrise to catch. Their destination: the Adirondack Balloon Festival near Lake George, NY, where dozens of hot air balloons would grace the sky just as the sun peaked over the horizon.

It was one of many treks that would take the students out of their comfort zones and introduce them to the region beyond Troy.

I hope that the girls find a sense of wonder and find the realization that there is so much more to a happy life than an ‘A’ in the classroom.

—Liz Martin

8

“Many students were yearning for more adventures,” says Liz, who has been a residential faculty member at Emma for nearly three years. “They wanted an ‘outing club-type’ experience. I was able to mold an outing club feel into a more wellness-centered approach to community living.”

emmawillard.org

21

When Liz began designing a new residential program, she surveyed students to learn their desires for a dorm experience. The Bridges was inspired by the success of Round Square House, another specialized residential experience at Emma. Both Round Square House and The Bridges are satellite dorms located separately from the main dormitories.

The Bridges’ official mission: “We strive to become educated advocates of our own health and well-being through a dedicated awareness of the bridge between the eight facets of wellness and outdoor exploration.”

Liz has a favorite adventure to date: a five-mile hike on Overlook Mountain in the Catskills, which included climbing an eight-story fire tower with breathtaking views of the Hudson Valley region. Liz recalls that many of the girls were tired, some had never hiked before, and the looming fire tower took courage to climb.

“It’s perfectly safe but certainly a test of an individual’s grit and bravery,” Liz says. “On the hike up, most girls claimed there was no way they could climb it and they would be far too scared. Well, with encouragement from their peers, every single girl climbed to the top. I couldn’t have been more proud.”

22

E M M A W I LL AR D SC HO O L

Naomi Park ’17, a varsity swimmer and member of the Dance Company, had never hiked before the Overlook Mountain excursion. She was excited but apprehensive.

As the group summited the 3,140foot mountain, Naomi was skeptical that the view could get any better atop the 60-foot fire tower, and she questioned the stability of the structure, which was renovated in 1999.

“The brief moment I was unsure about the height and structure of the fire tower was completely overshadowed by the sense of accomplishment I felt at the top,” Naomi says. “After that experience, I was able to relate that to my own life by thinking less of my worries and more about the reward that would ultimately result in giving something a try.”

Naomi, a member of Emma’s animal rights group, SOAR, participated in the spring break AWAY program to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah this March. With a few miles under her belt, she felt confident hiking in the arid and beautiful landscape.

“I’m looking forward to upcoming Bridges adventures. Everything we have done so far has been a regenerating experience in one way or another,” Naomi says.

z Good habits

The Bridges focuses on the eight facets of wellness: emotional, physical, intellectual, mental, occupational, financial, social, and environmental.

Sleep is an important part of life for The Bridges students. The girls downloaded an app that keeps track of how much quality sleep they get each night, and they even injected a bit of fun with a sleep competition at the start of the academic year.

“I notice a difference when using the app,” says Charlotte Kershaw ’18.

“Now, I may not stay up watching TV in bed.”

Liz recalls: “You could hear girls saying ‘I got 83 percent sleep quality last night. What did you get?’ It’s hysterical and wonderful.” “[And] it’s a nice community,” says Parker Hanson ’17. “The stuff we do every day brings us all closer together.”

Liz hopes the good habits the girls learn about sleep, health, wellness, and

PHOTO S BY ELI ZAB ETH MART IN

7

de-stressing will stick with them in the future, especially in college.

“I hope the girls find a sense of wonder and find the realization that there is so much more to a happy life than an ‘A’ in the classroom,” Liz says. “As much as I may have imparted on them, they have taught me so much more. I am genuinely honored to be living in a community with these fourteen bright, beautiful, and bold students.”

The next application cycle for the program begins in April, when Liz will choose fourteen more Emma Girls to join The Bridges dorm. While all the current girls wish they could do the program again, they can spend only one year at The Bridges.

“It feels like home here,” says Olivia. “It’s like coming home after school. It’s a fun, healthy environment.”

Shelley Maher says she’s proud of the program that Liz has helped lead.

“We are blessed to have Liz Martin— her experience, enthusiasm, and vitality,” she says. “We could not wish for a better role model for our young women.”

The building has three floors, eleven dorm rooms, an alcove, and a second kitchen area, which

Left to right: Chloe Lo Faro ’18 braves the fire tower in the Catskills; All The Bridges girls stand proudly on the fire tower; Girls enjoy the view at Thacher State Park; The Bridges students enjoy the sunrise at the hot air balloon festival.

Liz hopes to make into a fun, stress-free space. There’s also a small area where two students store their unicycles.

“How many places can say that they have a designated spot for unicycles?” Liz asks.

In the end, Liz says The Bridges allows girls to hold onto a sense of fun at a time in their lives when they’re about to enter adulthood.

“They need dance parties and to ride unicycles,” Liz says. “They’re still kids. I hope my girls take charge of their wellness goals. I hope they take a moment to look up from their phones to notice a herd of deer in a field. I hope they find themselves sliding down the hallways or falling off a slackline. I hope they scrape their knees while riding their unicycles. I hope they learn, even for a moment, that they need to hold on to the childish sense of wonder with both hands and carry it through the rest of their lives.”

I was unsure about the height and structure of the fire tower, but that was overshadowed by the sense of accomplishment I felt at the top.

—Naomi Park ’17

Danielle Sanzone works in the Interactive Media department at a local PBS affiliate in Troy, New York. A journalist and writer for more than ten years, her work has been featured in publications including Bloomberg and the Daily News.

emmawillard.org

23

PHOTO BY JULI A WILLI AMSO N

24

E M M A W I LL AR D SC HO O L

GOLD GOING FOR

BY MEGAN TADY

ELITE EMMA ATHLETES COMPETE AS THE BEST IN THE WORLD. emmawillard.org

25

OLYMPIAN

1st

Bahamian to ever row in the Olympics, Emily Morley ’12.

170

pounds was lifted by Ava Cristiano ’18, a world record for the deadlift in the teen girl, 16–17 year old, 105-pound-or-below weight class.

26

EMILY MORLEY ’12: OLYMPIC ROWER The water on Rodrigo de Freitas Lake in Rio, Brazil, was choppy during the Summer Olympics last August. Emily steadied her boat, just 11-inches wide. She looked to her left—joining her on the starting line of the Olympic quarter finals women’s single sculls were some of the fastest female rowers in the world. Yet, so was Emily.

As a native of the Bahamas, she proudly wore the country’s blue, yellow, and black unisuit, and she had a locket around her neck in honor of her late mother.

She took a deep breath before launching her boat backward, bringing with her every ounce of rowing prowess she’d collected since she was a freshman at Emma Willard School. In the end, a medal alluded her, but Emily was the first Bahamian to ever row in the Olympics.

E M M A WI L L AR D SC HO O L

“In Rio, I definitely learned that I’m a small fish in a huge pond, but that’s okay because it planted the Bahamas on the rowing map,” she says. “The wind and weather were all a part of the experience, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

In the United States, Emily was a big fish—a rowing powerhouse at Ithaca College, helping to steer her eight-boat crew team to multiple top-place finishes and NCAA appearances. She also placed fourth in doubles at the Small Boat Championships, coming up against Division I programs.

And at Emma, Emily rowed with a varsity team that won the state championship in 2012 and placed fourth at the Scholastic Nationals in 2011.

It was during soccer preseason as a freshman at Emma that her dorm parent suggested something that would change the trajectory of her

EMILY MORLEY ’12 life: Had she considered rowing?

Tall and strong, Emily seemed like a natural fit for the sport—and she was. Her junior year, Emily truly began to soar.

“We won States by point something of a second,” she says. “The boat just felt like it was flying, and in that moment I thought, ‘Wow, I actually am pretty good at this.’”

Varsity crew coach Bob Tarrant quickly recognized Emily’s talent and quiet ambition.

“She never settled for doing well,” he says. “She never plateaued. If she reached a goal, there was another goal. That’s the difference between someone who is a good athlete and someone who is outstanding.”

Bob tuned into the Olympics, watching Emily represent the Bahamas during the Opening

P HOTOS BY J U L IA W IL L IA MS ON (L EF T) A MOREENA O’BRYO N (R I G HT)

number of Emma Girls are elite athletes and record breakers who push the limits of their bodies and elevate the level of their sports. We caught up with four of them—Olympic rower Emily Morley ’12, powerlifter Ava Cristiano ’18, professional triathlete Amy VanTassel ’94, and Olympic sculling medalist Carlie Geer ’76—to find out what it takes to compete at the top.

WORLD-RECORD HOLDER

AVA CRISTIANO ’18

Ceremony. “There was this tall, red-headed young woman with this big smile on her face,” he recalls.

“Everyone who was associated with her at that point of her journey was so thrilled. It couldn’t have happened to a better person. She went down [to Rio] and she tackled the world.”

Before Rio, Emily’s Ithaca crew coach, Becky Robinson, flew to the Bahamas to help Emily transition from team rowing to single sculls.

“I learned a lot about myself being in the single [boat],” she says. “It’s you against yourself, or you against your oar, and you against the water, you against your boat.”

Emily is focusing on her marketing career, but she hasn’t ruled out

POWERLIFTING HAS CHANGED MY LIFE. IT’S EMPOWERING TO KNOW THAT I CAN LIFT THAT MUCH.

Left: Olympic rower Emily Morley was the first to compete for the Bahamas.

Above: Ava Cristiano trains to break her own world record.

— AVA CRISTIANO

training for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2020. She has strong words of advice for Emma athletes: “You have to look at yourself and say, ‘I’m as capable as anybody else out there.’ You can’t limit yourself by saying you’re not good enough.

You can’t count yourself out.”

AVA CRISTIANO ’18: WORLD-RECORD POWERLIFTER Last May, Ava assumed her stance behind a barbell laden with 170 pounds of weight. She wrapped her hands around the bar, squared her knees over her

emmawillard.org

27

28 8 half Ironmans and

full Ironmans

28

E M M A WI L L AR D SC HO O L

— AMY VANTASSEL

imagine she could do it—if you let her.”

Ava is ready to break her own deadlift record. In fact, her goal is to lift twice her body weight in an official competition this year, putting her record out of reach for at least a decade.

She’s grateful for the athletic environment at Emma, which allows girls to test their limits.

“No one was ever opposed to me trying this sport,” she says.

“At Emma, if you want to try something, go for it. Nothing should be able to stop you.”

AMY VANTASSEL ’94: PROFESSIONAL TRIATHLETE It was day two of the UltraMan Canada 2014, a grueling three-day race—320 miles of swimming, cycling, and running. Amy was cycling at a good clip, but she slowed down to accept a packet of crackers and a fresh water bottle from a crew member. “You’re doing awesome,” he told Amy. And she was. She had put distance between herself and another cyclist, and she was gaining on the woman who held the lead.

Amy flashed a smile, her blond braids plastered underneath her helmet. She pressed on, the road stretching out before her. The next day, she crossed the finish line on foot in second place, one of the few athletes in the world who can compete in—and be one of the best at—an endurance race of that magnitude.

“If you had told me this 15 years ago, I would have been blown away,” says Amy, who competes as a triathlete all over the world. “One day I was just having fun, and the next day I was eligible to be a professional.” She’s sponsored by PowerBar, Wattie Ink., and Rolf Prima Wheels, and she also wins monetary awards for topplace finishes.

Amy discovered her talent as an endurance athlete after college when she ran the Boston Marathon and got “hooked.” Since then, Amy has completed 28 half Ironmans, eight full Ironmans, several ultradistance events, and has ranked in the top one percent globally in her age group since 2013. An Ironman consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112mile cycling ride and a 26.2-mile run, raced without a break.

PHOTO BY PAUL N ELSO N

Amy VanTassel ’94 has completed

toes, and cleared her mind. Then, in one spring-like action, she snapped her legs up and hoisted the bar to hip level. In three seconds, the judges declared a new world record for the deadlift in the teen girl, 16-17 year old, 105-pound-or-below weight class.

Ava toppled a record set by Redko Tatiana of Russia in 2010, lifting four more pounds.

This was a major feat for such a small-in-stature Emma Girl—Ava is five feet exactly, and 103 pounds.

And, she had only recently pursued the sport, urged on by her track coach Michael Fortunato when he noticed she had extraordinary strength for her size.

“At the time, powerlifiting seemed a little weird,” says Ava, who is an accomplished sprinter at Emma. “I’d never done anything like that and I didn’t even know what it was. Now, powerlifting has changed my life. It’s empowering to know I can lift that much.”

Michael invited a professional dead lifter to Emma to give Ava tips—he happened to be the father of another Emma alumna, Mikayla Culnan ’16. He also sought counsel from other talented lifters including Cecelia Longo ’16, now a throwing star at Oberlin College. It was quickly clear that Ava was exceptional.

“Ava is high in fast-twitch muscle fiber, and this makes her both fast and strong,” Michael says. “Of course, nothing can be accomplished without a strong work ethic and confidence—and Ava has both. Many athletes with some natural talent cannot make themselves work as intensely as do world-class athletes, but Ava would try to lift a car—and would

I TRY TO TURN INTO A ROBOT. I THINK: ‘I’VE NEVER QUIT BEFORE, I’VE NEVER JUST WALKED OFF, WHY WOULD I TODAY?’

PROFESSIONAL TRIATHLETE

AMY VANTASSEL ’94

Amy VanTassel summited Dog Mountain to win the Portland Trail Series 10K in 2015.

emmawillard.org

29

— CA R L IE GEER

“Glimpses of me at Emma: I was wearing long, flowing calico dresses and singing in 12 Tones,” Amy says.

“I was probably most likely to start my own farm and send all my children to Emma.”

Still, she says Emma’s athletic requirement introduced her to sports, setting a foundation she would draw from later. “Everything stems from Emma for me,” Amy says. “I would not be an athlete if it weren’t for people believing in me there.”

Amy has learned what it truly means to “dig deep,” often running or cycling for ten hours straight.

What does she think about on mile 50 when every fiber in her body wants to quit?

“I try to turn into a robot,” she says. “I think: ‘I’ve never quit before, I’ve never just walked off, why would I today?’ I think back to other times when I pushed through those walls, and I think, ‘It hurt this badly in France or in Cabo, but I finished.’ My history runs with me.”

She’s also got another secret weapon: a predisposition for endurance challenges. “I can’t run a very fast mile, and I cannot cycle very fast compared to true cycling

30

E M M A WI L L AR D SC HO O L

women,” she says. “But sign me up for an event where I ride for ten hours, just a little bit slower, and I can do a little better.”

Amy attributes much of her success to a dedicated training schedule, which intensifies and tapers depending on her upcoming races. Her coach, Chris Bagg, is also her husband.

“I rely 100 percent on my coach for that planning and structure,” she says. “I would just as soon run, ride, and swim all day, every day.

My coach reins me in to ensure that I’m not overtraining.”

She has advice for Emma Girls who may want to step into the athletic arena. “Your relationships and your intellectual firepower should define you above the sport,” she says. “After every big race, my mom always asks me if I’m still happy. It’s a wonderful reminder to check in and ask, ‘Would I have an identity without this sport?’”

Amy is focused on a new goal: winning UltraMan Canada in 2017.

“I believe I can win,” she says. “If you say it, you’ll do it. Part of the journey has taught me that I need to be comfortable broadcasting my goals and believing them.”

CARLIE GEER ’76: OLYMPIC CHAMPION ROWER The night before single sculler Carlie’s Olympic race in Los Angeles in 1984, she laid awake visualizing everything that could go right—and wrong. “With rowing, all it takes is one bad stroke, called a ‘crab,’ and you’re done for,” she says. “Or your blade catches a buoy. You’re never done until you’re done.”

Carlie knew going into the race that she was a formidable opponent.

When she won the trials to compete at the Olympics, she said: “I knew I was feeling fast and I knew I was feeling good, but I don’t think I realized until I won the trials that it meant I was one of the fastest scullers in the U.S.” It was about halfway through her final race that Carlie knew the silver medal was in her grasp. “All I wanted to do was keep the rest of them behind me,” she says.

And that’s exactly what she did, securing the medal for good. A YouTube video of the race shows Carlie finish, collapse, and then wave. “I’m getting chills thinking about it,” she says. “On the [medal] podium, I know you couldn’t take the smile off of my face.”

The 1,000-meter battle lasted under four minutes, which Carlie says “made it all the more ridiculous the hours and hours and hours that went into training for that one short race.”

A life-long swimmer and gymnast, Carlie discovered rowing through her sister, Judy, who rowed at Dartmouth College.

Carlie watched Judy compete in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. “The story is that I was in the grandstands and I said to

P HOTO BY J ONATHA N KOZOW YK

THE STORY IS THAT I WAS IN THE GRANDSTANDS AND I SAID TO MY FATHER, ‘I’M GOING TO ROW IN THE NEXT OLYMPICS.’

OLYMPIAN, SILVER MEDALIST Carlie Geer (in back) joined her 1980 Olympic team to row once again on the Charles River in Boston. The team wasn’t able to compete in Moscow because of President Carter’s boycott.

my father, ‘I’m going to row in the next Olympics.’”

Carlie would go on to qualify— with her sister—to row in the 1980 Summer Olympics in the Soviet Union, but their dreams were dampened by the U.S. boycott of the games to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

The pair often steered their own training when they rowed on a team. They trained twice a day, with workouts varying depending on the season, combining rowing on the water in Hanover, N.H., with crosscountry skiing, weight lifting, and

CARLIE GEER ’76

stadium running. And when Carlie shifted to single sculls, she was often in the water alone.

“I didn’t have a coach most of the time, so we were pretty selfmade,” Carlie says. “Training was very self-motivated. We focused on technique, working on the timing of your blade in and out of the water, and your ratio of your slide so you don’t interfere with the boat’s forward motion.”

Carlie says she learned this selfmotivation while she was at Emma.

“I biked on my own, I ran on my own,” Carlie says. “I used the pool

underneath the chapel more than anyone else. I think it cultivated my singular discipline. I’m sure my roommates thought I was crazy.

I would wake up early in the morning and do sit-ups and push-ups, and they were barely rolling out of bed.”

Although Carlie isn’t competing anymore, she’s still rowing several times a week. “It’s totally for pleasure and just because I love it,” she says.

emmawillard.org

’84

The year Carlie Geer ’76 won her silver medal in single sculls at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

31

32

E M M A WI L L AR D SC HO O L

PASSING the TORCH Susan R. Groesbeck & Jenny Rao

Reflections from outgoing & new Heads of School

When Jenny Rao returned home from visiting Emma Willard School last September during the hiring process for the new head of school position, her husband, Arjun, immediately knew she had experienced something life changing. He told her that she was “glowing,” and she replied that she knew without a doubt that Emma was the school for her.

BY E R I N P I H L A JA • P H OTO S BY E R I N S C H A F F ’ 0 7

33

could not sleep the night before my first campus visit,” recalls Jenny, who is moving to Emma from Baltimore, Maryland, with her husband and two young children. “The anticipation of stepping foot in a school that holds such extraordinary history and stature in the landscape of exemplary women’s education was overwhelming.”

Two students, Nana Hayami ’18 and Beverly Guarnieri ’17, gave Jenny a campus tour.

“They both greeted me with open hearts and such big smiles that I instantly felt at home—a feeling that has continued for me since those first moments at Emma.”

After an extensive interview process that lasted months, Jenny was notified in October 2016: She would become Emma Willard School’s 17th Head—charged with honoring the school’s history and rich traditions, while shaping it for future Emma Girls.

Jenny comes to Emma with vast experience, most recently serving as the director of academic affairs at Garrison Forest in Baltimore, a K–12, all-girls day and boarding school with a co-ed pre-kindergarten. She’ll be taking the reins from Interim Head of School Dr. Susan (Sue) R. Groesbeck, who has been

34

E M M A W I LL AR D SC HO O L

shepherding the school for the last 20 months.

“Sue’s lasting legacy will be the stability, optimism, and energy of our community today as we anticipate the arrival of the new Head of School Jenny Rao,” says Elisabeth (Lisa) Allen LeFort ’72, Chair, School Board of Trustees. “The Board and I are very grateful for Sue’s steady leadership.”

As Jenny prepares to take over leadership on July 1, 2017, Sue is winding down her time on campus. The two women have been in regular communication to discuss the past and future of the 203-year-old school.

STEADY LEADERSHIP “I am number 16-and-a-half,” laughs Sue. She has an impressive 45-year career in education, holding multiple long-term headships and interim posts.

It was a gorgeous fall day on Mount Ida, late in 2015, when Sue first pulled up to the main entrance on Emma’s campus after a long drive from South Carolina.

Emma’s 16th Head of School Trudy Hall was on leave, and Sue had been selected to serve as the acting head. The beauty of the campus astonished her, and she immediately texted photos to her family.

“The buildings and the grounds are so extraordinarily beautiful, and the sky was a dark blue— that brilliant blue that only occurs in upstate New York,” she says.

“I was stunned.”

In January 2016 when Trudy Hall announced her retirement, the Board asked Sue to extend her stay as interim until June 2017.

Sue says the role of an interim head is one of observer, stewarding the school without agenda or platform, and supporting the Board’s search for a new head and subsequent transition. Unforeseen events, however, would dictate the school’s agenda for the next year.

In early 2015, First Lady Michelle Obama launched an extensive mental health awareness campaign to erase the stigma,

Dr. Sue Groesbeck has brought an incredible sensitivity to her role as the face of our community and as a steward of our traditions.

—ELISABETH (LISA) ALLEN LEFORT ‘72, CHAIR, SCHOOL BOARD OF TRUSTEES

shame, and secrecy associated with mental health issues. At the behest of the Board, Sue began to focus on mental health on campus, supporting students who wanted to found a chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

“We are the first high school to have an active chapter [of NAMI],” Sue says. “I also heard from students that our resources needed to be enriched to promote student mental health as it is a critical component of improving safety, school climate, and learning.”

At the same time, Sue received a letter from an attorney representing an alumna who stated that

she had been sexually assaulted by a former Emma Willard School employee while a student at the school in 1998.

The community was shocked and saddened by the knowledge that harm had been committed at their beloved school. The school engaged two child protection experts, Leslie M. Gomez and Gina Maisto Smith, seen as the gold standard of survivor-focused investigators for organizations. They are now conducting a complete audit of Emma’s history and the school’s response to historic incidents of abuse. (Editor’s note: As of press time, the review has not

been released. Further information may be found at emmawillard.org/ healthyboundaries).

The experience united many in the community, who were determined to make Emma Willard School a leader in best practices for preventing and responding to sexual abuse issues. But the revelations also took a toll on the community. Many were heartbroken to think of their Alma Mater in a negative light, and some were angry when the process moved slowly, or stumbled.

“This experience was allencompassing for our school and community,” Sue says. “While we have certainly addressed a lot

emmawillard.org

35

[As a head], you are a tone setter, a cultivator of environment. I am very cognizant that what I do and say is louder than my own self, and I want to honor this position. —17TH HEAD OF SCHOOL JENNY RAO

36

E M M A WI L L AR D SC HO O L

since the spring, we are trying to set up avenues of communication and oversight that will be comprehensive and flexible, so that we can keep evaluating and improving into the future.”

Sue directed the creation of a Healthy Boundaries program described both on the website and in print, and she was passionate about transparent and frequent communication with the community. The school updated policies and procedures, created new programming, and produced informational brochures to keep community members up to date.

While Sue was trying to mend hearts and safeguard students, she was mindful of another goal: prepping the school for a new head, and helping to transition a successful tenure.

Board Chair Lisa Allen LeFort says Sue was instrumental in guiding Emma during a turbulent time.

“Dr. Sue Groesbeck’s tenure at Emma Willard spans only 20 months, but she is the essential bridge between two eras,” Lisa says. “She has brought incredible sensitivity to her role as the face of our community and as a steward of our traditions.”

Sue says she will miss the community she fell in love with almost two years ago, but is thrilled to pass the baton to such an accomplished colleague as Jenny.

In considering advice for Emma’s 17th head of school, Sue says “there are sunny roads ahead for Jenny.”

CHANGE AFOOT Jenny grew up in Mexico City, daughter of a Mexican mother and a British-American father. In search of more female role models, Jenny decided to attend college in the United States. She had no college counselor to help her research schools, and she took on the responsibility of translating her teachers’ recommendations into English. She

took her SATs without ever having seen a practice test.

Despite these difficulties, Jenny was accepted at Bates College in Maine, where she earned a degree in economics.

Upon arriving at Bates, she signed up for the debate team to help her learn to think faster on her feet in English. In her senior year, she represented Bates at the World Parliamentary Debating Competition in Greece.

Now, as the director of academic affairs at Garrison Forest, Jenny leads all aspects of curricular and co-curricular K–12 programs. Dr. Kimberley J. Roberts, the head of school at Garrison Forest, says of Jenny: “She strives for excellence in everything she does…with thoughtfulness and clarity. She is the full package: strong yet compassionate, intellectual yet playful, analytical yet self-aware.”

Casey Wright, former development associate and head coach of volleyball at Emma Willard School, was a member of the Head of School Search Committee. “When the decision was made, I remember tearing up with such pride and joy for the work we did and for Jenny. I looked around and many search members also had tears in their eyes. Jenny blew our community away with her energy and passion for the job. It was clear she was truly the ‘right fit’ for Emma Willard School.”

Jenny received her master’s degree in private school leadership from the Klingenstein Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College in 2005. Before joining academia, she was a financial consulting associate. She also served as middle school dean of students and head of the middle school during her time at Garrison Forest.

With Emma’s impressive history before her, how does Jenny see herself adding to the School’s story? She says she believes strongly in collaboration.

“I have great faith in other opinions, and my confidence in planning and decision making comes from listening to different voices,” she says. “It’s an incredible gift to see life from a different set of eyes.”

She understands it will take a while to learn Emma’s unique culture, and she also realizes the impact of her position on the school. “[As a head], you are a tone setter, a cultivator of environment,” she says. “I am very cognizant that what I do and say is louder than my own self, and I want to honor this position.”

Jenny is already outlining a few goals, including making sure that Emma students see more women in leadership positions, and that the school’s programs are helping girls “blaze their own paths.”

Additionally, she wants to support the faculty as life-long learners and to continue to cultivate a forwardthinking approach to education.

In a few months, Jenny will move to Mount Ida with her husband and two sons, Santiago (7) and Ivan (3), and she’s still as thrilled about her new calling as she was when she first received the news.

“What has continued to shape my feelings since I was appointed is that not a week has gone by that I haven’t received some sort of note, or email from alumnae, trustees, or former employees,” Jenny says. “I am impressed by how everyone who has come from Emma is so exceptional. I have such respect for the Emma community.”

emmawillard.org

37

Signing Off INTERIM HEAD OF SCHOOL, DR. SUSAN R. GROESBECK

The Tenacity and Bravery of Emma Girls I have been privileged to serve in education as head of school for three long tenures and three interims. Each school has had unique qualities and yes, exceptional faculty, staff, and students. Emma stands out on that list. I could not have asked for a more supportive board of trustees. As I recall the many memorable moments I have shared with you all, I can tell you with absolute certainty that the Emma community is special, and I am so honored to have been a part of it all. Thank you.

When I first arrived on Mount Ida in the fall of 2015, I expected to be here for eight months. That eight months became 20 months.

As I complete my time as interim head, I look back with amazement at how fast the time has gone.

Attending my first Revels, the 101st performance, I laughed when the Falconer reported that his Falcon had gotten lost but he was happy to have obtained an “acting falcon, a Grosbeak.” There is a bird called the rose-breasted Grosbeak. Emma Girls are a clever bunch.

During this year’s Revels, I watched proudly as the Class of 2017 performed a show that incorporated characters who demanded cultural tolerance, who warned us of the dangers of being blind to injustice, and who shared with us how to wear a hijab and recited a sacred Islamic prayer. Emma Girls reworked a tradition that spans generations and wove their current story into the fabric of antique costumes. One wonders what stories their own mothers might have told while wearing the same costumes.

During my tenure, Emma developed the first high school chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness thanks to the work of Katherine Wallace ’17. We

40

E M M A W I LL AR D SC HO O L

welcomed a furry friend named Treena as part of our Signature program; we played pickleball; we carved the first gargoyles in over 100 years; and we braved issues that were difficult for all of us to face.

My opening convocation speech this year addressed issues of past sexual abuse on campus. We worked with Troy police officers, the organization Culture of Respect, Linda Johnson, and many other experts who helped us walk this thorny path. We all grew stronger because of it. We opened a dialogue and an understanding that safety and well-being are always our priority, and that no one should be afraid to speak out against wrongdoings. Emma Girls are tenacious and brave.

We worked on the school’s first transgender policy, with students taking the lead in creating a document that addresses one of the fastest moving issues facing schools today.

I wouldn’t expect less from our students. Throughout history, Emma Girls have been on the forefront of global issues, and today is no different.

Emma’s global reach for the Class of 2017 spanned the world: Cameroon, China, England, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somaliland, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan Thailand, and the United States. All of these girls, together inside our castle walls, learned from one another in so many ways.

The work our students begin here is just the start of what they will continue to accomplish. They will go forward confident and capable, and they will make their own personal mark in whatever endeavors they undertake.

And I will take a piece of Emma with me forever.

285 PAWLING AVENUE, TROY, NY 12180