THE MAGAZINE OF EMMA WILLARD SCHOOL FALL 2015
M AKIN G THEIR MARK
Amanda Poppei ’97
(page 28) Describe Emma in two words: Raising Women What’s your favorite Emma tradition? Revels of course! I was Lord of the Manor, and I will never forget the wall of sound that crashed against us as all the lords and ladies entered the hall. Who’s a favorite heroine from a movie? Hermione Granger. She reminds me so much of my younger self, including the cringe-worthy self-righteousness and surety. Her evolution into someone more centered and connected mirrors— I hope!—the growing up I did at Emma and continue to do. What’s one of your goals for 2015? Easy: To participate in the revolution. I think our country is in the midst of continuing changes, grappling with our identity and how we can be a place of justice and compassion for all our people. I hope to organize in the congregation I serve and across D.C.
Lily Whiteman ’15
(page 22) Describe Emma in two words: Beyond Home—Emma was the portal through which I learned to leave home, and yet it was my home all along. What’s your favorite Emma tradition? Revels—hardly original, but there is a reason that it is such a powerful tradition. It is the perfect punctuation of the year. Who’s a favorite heroine from a movie? Hildy Johnson from His Girl Friday—she has wise-cracking, 1940’s spunk and she does not play docilely into the arms of Cary Grant. Those traits are sorely lacking in many another leading female. What’s one of your goals for 2015? I want to talk harder. Here’s what I mean: Emma taught me how to explore my own thoughts and listen to others with great care. As I begin to brush elbows with the real world, I’m learning that too much acquiescence doesn’t work. It can leave you sidelined, so I need to know what I believe and be able to stand behind it.
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T H E MAGAZ I N E O F E MMA W I L L A RD SC HO O L
Gabrielle DeMarco
Director of Communications gdemarco@emmawillard.org Kelly F. Cartwright
Director of Alumnae Relations kcartwright@emmawillard.org Jill Smith
Class Notes Coordinator jsmith@emmawillard.org Answering the Call Rev. Betsy Ivey ’70 prepares for service as rector of St. Simon the Cyrenian Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Learn more about how Betsy and several other Emma Girls answered the call of faith on page 28.
Megan Tady
Managing Editor www.word-lift.com
F E AT U R E S
14 Emma in the City
At Emma, girls follow their dreams to New York City.
22 Getting In
Navigating the competitive college admissions landscape.
Lilly Pereira
Designer www.lillypereira.com Trudy E. Hall
Head of School 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 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 This “signature” is brought to you by Courtney Breiner ’15. In the photograph, Olivia Baker ’16 takes on New York City as part of her Emma experience. Photo by Jen Dessinger.
Printed on 100% recycled paper manufactured entirely with nonpolluting, wind-generated energy.
28 Answering the Call
Three alumnae choose a path of faith, leadership, and social justice.
36 The Gifts You Gave
Sincere thanks to Emma’s legion of supporters.
D E PA R T M E N T S
02 From the Triangle
62 Connections
Commencement 2015, Triangle take over, a visit to Google, dorms get new life, May Day, a 200-mile race, and more.
AAC Corner and Reunion 2015 for the 0s and 5s.
10 The Classroom
69 Memorial List
Emma teachers explore blended learning as one of several ways to make the most of class time.
112 Signing Off
12 Faculty Voices Q&A with Director of Vocal Music Debra Spiro-Allen, D.M.A. as she adds a new role.
66 Class Notes
Head of School Trudy Hall reflects on finding your inner Wonder Woman.
From th" Triangl" Takeover
Most Emma Girls distinctly remember their first steps onto the Senior Triangle. In fact, they are so important they come along with much fan fair, celebration, and antics. This year was no exception as our juniors rushed the Triangle after seeing off the senior class for their Senior Retreat in Lake Placid, New York— staging their official Triangle Takeover. Balloons and bubbles filled the air as the juniors rejoiced on the green grass, readying themselves for their final year on Mount Ida.
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FROM THE TR IA NGLE
Dormitory Refresh This summer marked the start of the school’s most significant rehabilitation effort to our historic dormitories in well over a quarter of a century. Thanks in large part to donor support, each hallway will be given new lighting and carpets. All bathrooms will also have a much-needed makeover from floor tile to ceiling. Hall alcoves will be given new life with bright color, new furniture, and improved kitchen areas for hall teas. All work is being done with the modern girl in mind while also maintaining the distinct historic character of the dormitories. The work this summer will include all residential floors in Kellas Hall. Work will continue over the next two summers in Hyphen and Sage.
ACTION! Student filmmaker Ruby Collins ‘15 and her film documenting the effects of brain injury, “From Underneath the Rubble,” drew critical acclaim at film festivals throughout the spring. Most recently, the film was seen at the Proctors Theater Media Arts Festival.
EMMA GIRLS INVADE
A group of Emma Girls traveled to Google’s New York City offices to meet with some of our tech-savvy alumnae. At the search engine’s hub they met with Alexis Murphy ‘08, toured Google’s innovative and quirky offices, attended a panel discussion that included Kelly Moran ‘05, and met with human resources representatives to learn what Google looks for in job applicants. Hopefully even more Emma Girls are on their way to Google soon!
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Celebrating Emma Inventors and Entrepreneurs Several of our future inventors and business leaders presented impressive work at the New York State High School Business Plan Competition this spring. Helena Yu ’18 won the Best Use of Emerging Technologies Specialty Award for her app connecting student volunteers with organizations in need. Nana Takada ’17, Nanase Hayami ’18, Eugene Lee ’17, and Cindy Yaun ’18 won the Most Competitor Savvy Specialty Award for their business that helps locate lost items. The grand prize went to Deena Mousa ’16 for her business plan to bring her patented micro-composite hydrogel, Hemostat V-seal, to market. The potentially life-saving invention helps to quickly clot severe wounds and accelerate tissue healing. Deena also made waves at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, winning the Google “Thinking Big” award as well as NASA’s grand prize for Hemostat V-seal. We look forward to the next “big” thing from these Emma Girls!
Caption here.
Jane Fonda ’55 Visits Her Scholars The entire campus tried not to be too star struck as Jane Fonda ’55 returned to campus to celebrate her 60th Reunion. The actress, advocate, and philanthropist took time to visit with her Fonda Scholars. She spent the afternoon with them talking about their hopes and dreams for the future—a future she is proud to support with her scholarship fund. Together, they discussed life at Emma, boys, and sang the Alma Mater (with a few joyful tears from Jane). Jane later joined senior Lily Whiteman on stage as part of the Reunion festivities for an exceptional dramatic reading. Watching two generations of Emma actresses was a moving experience for all in attendance. For more Reunion coverage, go to our Report on Giving on page 36.
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FROM THE TR IA NGLE
Paving the Way Forward As part of a new tradition at Emma, before heading off campus on retreat during commencement week, seniors decorated the walkway around the Triangle with the names of their college destinations. This class was yet another exceptional addition to our alumnae ranks with an average GPA of 91 and average SAT scores in the 93rd percentile for girls nationwide. These impressive statistics helped the girls file 639 college applications. And their college destinations are as distinctive as they are. For much more about Emma’s robust and ever-evolving college counseling process go to page 22.
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Commencement While the 2015 Commencement ceremony could not be held outside due to gloomy skies, the rain didn’t stop the seniors, dressed in traditional long, white dresses, from bringing their own sunshine. Head of School Trudy Hall began the ceremony with a Tribute to the Class of 2015. “Go forth; knowing your brave hearts will be welcome in the world, your creativity will matter, and your intellectual zest is much needed. Trust that we will follow your journey with interest; know that we will be proud. Very proud.” Anna Holmes, feminist journalist and the founder of Jezebel.com, gave the Commencement address. She encouraged the graduates to be as comfortable with saying “no” as they are with saying “yes.” “Listen closely to your inner voice and know there is no right way to be a woman,” Anna said. After the diplomas were conferred and awards were given out, Ying Cao ’15, chosen by her peers, spoke on behalf of the seniors. Two awards were given out during the ceremony. The Jameson Adkins Baxter Award went to Olivia Kibrick, a truehearted and compassionate Emma Girl, for her exceptional growth throughout her time here. The Clementine Miller Tangeman award honored voracious scholar and U.S. Senate page Margaret Kallus. Congratulations to the Class of 2015! You will be missed on Mount Ida. PH OTOS BY M AR K VAN WOR M ER
FROM THE TR IA NGLE
EmmaAway Emma Girls are global girls. This spring and summer saw a new wave of girls traveling around the globe as part of our EmmaAway program. Girls traveled to Peru, Argentina, Australia, Cuba, Ghana, Columbia, and Mexico on language, cultural immersion, and service trips. The goal of the Away programs is to foster in our girls a distinctive worldview so they have the ability to not only see the world, but to change it, as well.
t
A Pixar Perfect May Day On a beautiful, blue-skied morning, the community gathered around the Senior Triangle waiting to see what fun May Day surprise our seniors had planned. Everyone cheered as Sully and Mike from Monsters, Inc. burst out from the Alumnae Chapel, setting in motion a Pixar-inspired performance. They were quickly joined by characters from Ratatouille, Cars, The Incredibles, Toy Story, Shrek, UP, Finding Nemo, and more. The May Queen and her court joined in the fun and our freshmen gathered around the May Pole for their traditional dance.
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F RO M T H E F I EL D
Ragnar: A 200-mile Journey BY COURTNEY BREINER ’15
“Headlamp? Vest? Butt light? Crazy socks? Stop eating so much Gu!” It’s nearly midnight, and we’ve suited up a fifteen-year-old to run nearly 13 miles into Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. She’s not just looking to keep on pace as we enter the race’s next exchange zone, but is ready to rack up “kills” before we hand off to our next van. Three other girls, waiting for their chance to run, and two drivers are curled up catching 15-minute naps where they can, while Abby Werwaiss ’17 and I climb over clothes, Rice Krispie treats, and rolling sticks. Our latest runner is due in ten minutes, and as Abby opens the door and the air rushes in, everyone stirs, stumbles out of the van, and heads to the exchange. This is Ragnar Cape Cod. The relay race took us from Hull, Massachusetts, through historic Plymouth, and then out to the tip of Cape Cod over a total of 192.8 miles. Nearly 500 teams made the same journey along with our Emma team, finishing in the heart of Provincetown, Massachusetts, between 24 and 36 hours later. Typically, twelve runners are on a team, each running three legs, with combined mileages ranging from 9.8 to 21.5. This spring, the Emma team had lucky number 13, with injured runner Jasmine Dickinson ’16 coming along for the experience. And an experience it is. As Anne McKenna ’17 says, “You will know everything, everything, about the girls in your van by the end.” Living in a 16x6 foot space for thirty hours, physically exhausted, and completely sleep deprived brings everyone closer. Through people-bridges, high-fives, and running into Stop&Shop five minutes before it closes to use the bathroom, Ragnar creates a family. As
my teammates reflect on this support and encouragement from each other and our fellow teams, Jessica Hebert ’16 remarks, “The easiest part was running the race.” There is constant cheering, music, and power-up hugs to get you through. That, however, does not take away from the feat of actually completing each leg, only approximately eight hours apart from one another. “I never thought I would be able to do Ragnar,” Olivia Pintair ’18 comments a week after the race, “but I was there—doing it anyway.” This is a feeling shared by the community, as the relay takes on a surreal quality after about the twelfth hour. Each runner begins, meets their team at van stops along their leg, and listens to overwhelming amounts of Taylor Swift blasting through the streets. One foot goes in front of the other, and the excitement keeps adrenaline levels high enough that each team member does actually accomplish it. After the six legs of our own van, we finish marking off our kills—the people we pass—and hand off at a major exchange zone. Then, we enjoy our down time. At the Gallo Ice Arena in Bourne, we change, eat, and sleep. We manage to find a community center with showers and curtains, and everyone gets to wipe some grime off. Getting close to Provincetown, as we wait
for Calynn Cerniglia ’18 to finish her last leg, we sit on the beach and give our feet ice baths in the ocean. This is the serene part of the race—the calm in between storms. But, it is still Ragnar. And we still get up, throw on our sneakers, and get out for another leg. At a little after one in the morning, Abby comes in from her almost-halfmarathon leg, and we send Olivia out covered in safety gear. She is our youngest team member, and from the exchange zone, is now just a little blurb of flashing lights. We head out to her two-ishmile mark, where we wait to get out and give her water. The girls are back in small balls sleeping against each other, and Shelley Maher, our director of health and wellness and our driver, is sipping her chai tea latte, listening to my mother’s directions. It is, in fact, as Macy Keegan ’17 says so often, “The most enjoyable pain [we] have ever been lucky enough to endure.” And it is with a family we have created for ourselves. Courtney ran 21.5 miles at Ragnar Cape Cod with the Emma team. While at Emma, she broke records for the 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 3000, and 2000m steeplechase distances and was named a First Team All Star in the Wasaren League from 2011–2014. She is currently a runner on the Division I Boston University track and field team.
FROM THE TR IA NGLE
SO CIA L ME D IA
Follow us @emmawillard
facebook.com/ emmawillardschool
@emmawillard student Isabelle D wins @CapitalRepNY Young Playwrights Contest. Her play will be performed August 12–16. Go Isabelle!
Huge congratulations to our crew team for their magnificent efforts at the NY State Championships, and especially to Annabelle F and Molly D who are the Girls Junior SX State Champions!! Spring welcome
@girlsschools rule! Learn why we need to challenge the coed standard from @heademma bit.ly/1PhCoD9 Incredible speech from @FLOTUS at a wonderful event!! We’re so proud to have been sponsors of #GirlsLead15!
Taking a break from final exams with a community field day! Giant Jenga at advisee dinner
Girls, we need to stop apologizing so much! @askanyone explores “the deeper meaning of these ‘sorrys.’” http://nyti. ms/1LjUSyW On top of the world! The @EmmaWillard seniors high in the Adirondacks on their Senior Retreat.
FWord girls lobby for NEDA
Thanks to you we have surpassed our goal of 353 donors to The Emma Fund this June and earned a full boarding scholarship for a deserving Emma Girl! It has been an incredible year for The Emma Fund. A big thank you to everyone who gave!
Have a favorite photo from your time at Emma? Email it to kcoakley@emmawillard.org and you may see it appear as a #FridayFavorite on our Instagram! #FridayFavorite
So proud of @EmmaWillard teacher Linda Maier for receiving the @AmherstCollege Swift Moore Teaching Award! http://bit.ly/1ArFqhE
The Race Card Project https://www.youtube.com/ watch? v=JE_QRbW2bJ4& feature=youtu.be Fa l l 2 0 1 5
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Th! Classroom
BY KATIE COAKLEY
Blended Learning The increased presence of technology—both in our every day lives and classrooms—has created new possibilities in education. No longer is learning limited to traditional textbooks and lectures, as students easily access information from their laptops and smartphones. To adapt to this shifting landscape, educators have tested a variety of different approaches to teaching and learning. One such approach is blended learning. “The traditional definition of blended learning is any teaching technique that gives students control over time, pace, path, and place of their learning,” said STEAM Team leader Meredith Legg, Ph.D. “This is often done with the assistance of technology.” Madame Willard founded her school as an innovator, with the promise of fostering intellectual curiosity and a love of learning in her girls. Today Emma continues to uphold this promise by continually looking forward and leading the way through the ever-changing educational landscape. This includes taking a deep look at what blended learning means for Emma. “We know the quality of Emma’s education is leading the way, and we also know there are new technologies emerging that profess enhanced learning,” Meredith said. “Before we implemented new blended learning techniques, it was vital we understood if such techniques made sense for the exceptional and unique Emma educational experience.”
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To accomplish this, a group of faculty members came together using a design thinking process. “As we came together, we thought about what was unique to an Emma education. Among rigor and depth we also acknowledged how deeply personalized the experience is, adapting to the unique needs and passions of each girl,” Meredith said. “We then arrived at a key design question: how might Emma use blended learning to deeply personalize a girls’ journey?” From October to March, the team attended conferences, visited schools to see various approaches in action, and worked with fellow faculty members to understand what was most valuable for them and the girls to learn and experience from class time. This research allowed the team to narrow their scope to an even more specific question: how might Emma use blended learning to enhance face-to-face time? Several faculty members have already jumped right in, developing prototypes to test in their classes.
History Instructor Josh Hatala did an initial test run with his ninth grade African History class in the spring. Josh used one class period for one-on-one student meetings, while the rest of the class worked on assignments through the course website that related to personal interests or needs in the class. For example, when learning about Islam in Africa, girls could chose to describe a visit to a mosque, report on the pillars of Islam, or research the role of women in Islam. “[My approach] is using technology to partially give choice, but really the payoff comes in using our time to meet one on one with students,” Josh said. These meetings allowed Josh to gauge how well girls were doing in class, where there were gaps in knowledge, or in cases where a girl wasn’t feeling challenged, give an assignment for her to work on based on passion, need, and interest, and ask her to present her mastery of that topic to the class.
PHOTO BY KRISTIN REHDER
TH E CLASS RO O M
Josh plans to continue with this blended learning approach this fall. After presenting this approach to the faculty, a number of other teachers are piloting similar approaches in their classrooms according to Meredith. History Instructor Robert Naeher plans to leverage student face time in his U.S. History class by using some of his class time to make the Capital Region a “history lab,” taking girls on field trips to give depth to their learning. “I want to use the area so as to not just talk about things in the classroom, but go and see and touch and get a sense of the larger context of the physical world as it relates to the developments or historical events we’re studying,” Bob said. To do this, each week his class splits into two groups with one travelling with him around the region to be immersed in its history through museums, tours, and archival visits
while the other half of the class meets to do research with primary and secondary sources, in many cases using the resources of the school’s own substantial regional archives. They also spend at least one class per week together to discuss learning and for more traditional lectures. “They’ll get to see that with history, there are no boundaries. It’s a way of looking at what’s happened to see where we are, and to think of how to move forward,” Bob said. “I’m excited they will get to use their historical thinking skills to address, analyze, and propose solutions to real problems.” Giving new context to learning through this personalized, blended method will also take place in the science classrooms of Science Instructors Erin Hatton and Kathy Mroczka. Erin and Kathy were eager to give girls more one-to-one attention during the difficult lab portion of their
classes. To do this, they built more time into their schedules to allow for more personalized lab instruction by creating slightly larger classes. These larger classes meant fewer sections taught and freed up their time to increase the number of lab sections the teachers could hold, reducing the size of the labs. To reduce the lab size even further, on lab days they then split the labs in two with one in the lab and the other working through the course website to either enhance or reinforce learning based on her need. As a result, there are now a maximum of nine girls in any lab, allowing for significantly more direct content with Erin and Kathy. “This way not only allows us to personalize chemistry, but will bring an increased feeling for being comfortable in the lab—both for myself supervising and for the students knowing I’m more accessible,” Erin said. “I think they’ll be more willing to take risks.”
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Faculty Voice!
INTERVIEW BY GABRIELLE DEMARCO
Debra Spiro-Allen, D.M.A.
Etudes to E.Q. Debra Spiro-Allen (“Spiro” as the girls affectionately call her) is a presence. Whether accompanying the full school in the signing of the Alma Mater at Morning Reports behind an enormous grand piano or leading the choir through vocal warm ups, she puts her entire self into everything she does— body, heart, soul, and voice. After 13 years at Emma, the school’s melodious director of vocal music has added a new role to her life’s work as the director of Emma E.D.G.E. Together with the full Wellness Team she helps girls learn and embrace the life skills they need to succeed beyond Emma. As she readied herself for her first year in her new role, we discussed self-expression, wellness, and Einstein. Did you always know you would be teacher? My teaching career began quite out of the blue as I received a phone call on a Sunday evening from the Walnut Hill School for the Arts. I was asked if I could cover a medical leave. I conducted the first choir rehearsal and felt so aligned with the process of creating music with my students. As they left the rehearsal hall, I wept. This was it! This would be my life. What do you feel girls learn through music? To me, the voice is a particularly personal instrument as you are the vessel. It transcends age and experience. At Emma, there are as many as 80 girls, singing, communicating through their bodies, souls, and voices to create beauty. There are many moments where we
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feel the energy of each other, each voice contributing to the whole, and we are transformed. Sometimes, during a concert, in the middle of conducting, I look at our girls and marvel at the transformation. They are open, confident, and able to take risks in order to advance their journey. The cream is listening to their CDs! What inspired you to also take a leadership role in the area of wellness? The realm of leadership and women in leadership roles has intrigued me for many years. My own professional development over the years has had a leadership focus. I was fortunate to be chosen to be part of the inaugural cohort for the NYSAIS (New York State Association of Independent
Schools) Emerging Leaders Institute. My life’s journey has also included extreme rigor through practicing and academic study and risk through performing or speaking publicly. I was very aware of how peer-anxiety and perfectionism would sometimes inhibit my progress and choices. To make good choices, do your best, perform your best, and lead, one needs to really know who they are. This is essential work. We need to provide our girls with opportunities to stretch themselves—in music or anywhere in life. What is the Emma E.D.G.E.? The acronym stands for Emotional Intelligence, Development, Grit, and Empowerment. The program includes our advising, leadership, and essential skills programs. Through it we seek to personalize the educational journey of each girl by providing her the opportunity to investigate, test, and develop her essential self, which is unique to her. Our students come to us during a
PHOTO BY KRISTIN REHDER
FACU LTY VOICE S
fertile time. We are attuned to these dynamics and we are creating a balanced learning experience where a girl can unleash her undeniable potential—she is always on the EDGE. Why are these skills so important to our girls? We are sending girls out into a world we cannot imagine. What we do know is each of them needs to be confident enough to engage fully and creatively with whatever she encounters. That confidence is built through practical application of these ideals. What is special about Emma? Emma Girls and are drawn to this “Hogwarts for Girls.” Yet, there is real magic here. The faculty and staff are true sorcerers. They inspire in the classroom, create in our studios
and rehearsal spaces, are powerful on the athletic fields, take care of our majestic facilities, and care for our students in the residence halls. Alongside them, an Emma Girl embraces each opportunity to engage with each adult and fellow student on campus. It’s a family. Has this always been true of Emma Girls? I have the special honor of conducting the alumnae choir each year. Of particular note, was presiding over the choir during our Bicentennial. It was 150 women strong and represented decades of women, mothers and daughters, grandmothers and granddaughters. They were all singing as one. That was powerful. The bond they share—it’s there even before they meet.
What do you look forward to most this year? One of my very favorite quotes is from Albert Einstein who said, “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” That is what I try to do every day. It’s what I want to pass on to my students. Helping girls explore how they engage their intellect and inner life so they can maximize their potential is very exciting. When we faculty members watch our students walk across the stage at commencement, we reflect on that journey as we recall the girl that was a freshman and the young woman she has become. The ability to work with wonderful colleagues and students on that journey with a program that intentionally connects academic rigor, creativity, and wellness of the body, mind, and spirit is an immense honor.
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itting in a bustling coffee shop, bent over a paperback of Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Olivia Baker ’16 blends into the crowd, just another young dreamer in New York City. But this isn’t leisure reading—Olivia is using every spare moment she has to study for her Emma classes before another class begins, this one at the French Academie of Ballet in Manhattan.
“ I am so lucky. The training that I get at the French Academie is so amazing and the joy that I get from dancing—it’s really not comparable.” O l iv ia Bak e r
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Every Tuesday, after a full morning of classes at Emma, Olivia races to the nearby Amtrak station to catch the mid-day train to Penn Station. Two hours later she emerges in the midst of busy midtown Manhattan, a world away from Emma’s gray walls, to study alongside some of the city’s most promising young dancers. In her bag, tucked next to her books, are her ballet slippers and pointe shoes. She’ll return home after dinner— weary, sore, and utterly fulfilled. “I am so lucky,” she says. “The training that I get at the French Academie is so amazing and the joy that I get from dancing—it’s really not comparable.” Olivia is a participant in Emma’s Practicum, the independent study program that, for the last three
decades, has encouraged Emma Girls to learn and explore beyond the school’s borders. The personalized and immersive experience is a cornerstone of an Emma education, with 65 of 2015’s 77 seniors having participated in either Practicum or the more recently established Signature program for upperclasswomen. Emma Girls can be found interning with the New York State Legislature, drafting alongside architects, composing their own graphic novels, and shadowing local doctors. Along with Olivia, two other Emma Girls hop the train to New York City each week to cultivate their passions: Carolina Martins ’15 attends the Fashion Institute of Technology’s (FIT) pre-college program, and Ayano Kitano ’15 studies
violin at the prestigious Mannes School of Music. Practicum Director Anne Mossop works directly with the students to create a schedule that allows them to follow their interests, without compromising their academic commitments. In essence, Emma’s Practicum is about personal growth, allowing girls to take their passions to the next level—even to the stage of one of the world’s biggest and busiest cities.
Choreographing a Life of Meaning
In the competitive world of ballet, Olivia got a late start; she didn’t begin dancing in her hometown of Cooperstown, New York, until she was 11. But very quickly, Olivia realized she had both talent and drive. She took private lessons with a former dancer in the New York City Ballet, and she began dancing with the Albany Berkshire Ballet. Soon, she
found she needed more rigorous technical instruction. “I was looking for something more intense,” she says. Last summer, after a two-week course at the French Academie, Olivia decided to audition for the school’s year-round program, which would become her Practicum at Emma. When she was accepted, the complicated scheduling began. “The way it works with my class schedule, I have zero minutes to spare,” she says. “I get a lot of work done on the train.” During Nutcracker season, that schedule becomes more arduous, with all-day weekend rehearsals that require Olivia to stay overnight in the city with her uncle, who is a lead percussionist for the New York City Ballet, and his wife, a former dancer. Time management is critical, especially during the academically important junior spring semester. Somehow, she also finds time to play violin in
the Emma orchestra and the string ensemble, and continues to dance at the Albany Berkshire Ballet on Fridays. The challenge to balance everything, Olivia insists, is worth it. Her primary teacher is Artistic Director François Perron, and the lessons in perseverance extend far beyond the studio. “For me, I know there’s something so valuable that comes from the work that’s put in,” Olivia says. “Ballet is an art form where it’s not just about the expression: there is a style, there is a technique. So even though it is strict, and it is tough at times, I really enjoy it and take pride in perfecting it.” Over the summer, Olivia continued her studies at the French Academie and at the Princeton Ballet School’s Summer Intensive—an opportunity she would not have had without Emma. “I’ve always been supported in everything I do,” she says. “Emma teaches you to think for yourself.”
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Designing a New Yorker
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earing a floral dress, red sunglasses, and brilliant blue nail polish, Carolina Martins ’15 looks every part the FIT student. She carries a pink portfolio of her work, full of design sketches— a floor-length dress, a business suit. She uses the crowded streets of Manhattan for inspiration, but what’s really caught her eye at FIT is the business and marketing aspects of the fashion industry. On Saturday mornings, while most Emma Girls are sleeping, Carolina makes the 150-mile trek from Troy to FIT—a journey she’s practically giddy about. “Every weekend when I wake up at four o’clock in the morning to get to New York, I’m excited,” she says. “I look forward to it all week.” Carolina, whose family lives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is a young woman who knows her own mind and has a clear vision for her future. Her worldly perspective will no doubt be an asset in the fast-paced, increasingly global world of fashion. Carolina’s Saturdays at FIT are jampacked; her classes include fashion merchandising, international marketing, magazine design, and fashion forecasting. The city itself has become a classroom. “Our fashion merchandising class was very unorthodox,” she says. “We went into stores, every single class, and analyzed their marketing strategies. It was very hands on.” Representatives at major department stores, and elsewhere, shared with the students how they manage their brand and connect with their client base.
To create her own senior year Signature project, Carolina did additional research into fashion forecasting and presented her findings at Emma. For her final project at FIT, she has designed her own magazine. In fact, she has enjoyed the magazine design layout process so much that she is now considering a future in editorial. It’s the perfect complement to her other Practicum internship, working alongside an editor at the Albany Times Union. “Practicum allows students to branch out and pursue their interests,” Carolina says. “It’s really more of a real-world experience you don’t get at a regular school. It’s had a very positive influence on me.” In the fall, Carolina will matriculate at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where she plans to study journalism. But unlike most college freshmen, Carolina will begin already knowing how to best take advantage of all the city has to offer. “I know the subway like the back of my hand and I’m very proud of that,” she says. “I’ve grown to really love New York.”
“Every weekend when I wake up at four o’clock in the morning to get to New York, I’m excited. I look forward to it all week.” C a r o l i n a Mar ti n s Fa l l 2 0 1 5
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Following Her Own Rhythm
“ Music is so much more emotional than the other things I do. Whenever I play— even on a busy day—I know I can just live in the moment of the music.” A y an o K i tan o
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orning classes have just let out and it’s a flurry of activity in the narrow halls of the Mannes School of Music on West 85th Street. Amidst the chatter of students, teachers, and parents, the sounds of piano scales can be heard. For the last three years, Mannes has been an urban oasis for Ayano Kitano ’15. Her Saturdays studying the violin are a perfect balance to the academic pressures of Emma. “Music is so much more emotional than the other things I do,” Ayano says. “Whenever I play—even on a busy day—I know I can just live in the moment of the music.” For Ayano, music has been a constant. She began playing the violin at age three, and has continued to play as she has moved around the globe, following her family as her father’s diplomacy work brought them from Tokyo, to Hanoi, and to Washington, D.C. Her parents are currently based in Vienna, a music lover’s dream city. “Vienna is a great place for me to go to different performances and just enjoy,” Ayano says. It’s something she rarely has time to do during the harried school year. Though she began at Emma as a freshman, it wasn’t until her sophomore year that she began studying at Mannes. “As I grew older I realized how important music was to me,” she says. “I decided I wanted pursue it on a higher level.” Her Saturday studies begin with music theory, a class that focuses on
different rules about composition and harmonizing. The next class is ear training, where students learn to identify patterns without looking at sheet music. The center of the day is her private lesson with teacher Kathryn Kienke, who instructs Ayano on her solo repertoire. “Right now I’m playing three solo pieces: Bach’s sonatas, a polonaise by Wieniawski, and the Kreutzer Sonata by Beethoven, which is a really famous piece for the violin,” Ayano says. Ayano spends Saturday afternoons at Mannes in rehearsal for the piano quintet and orchestra, where they prepare for concert performances. In addition, Ayano also performs with the Emma orchestra and string ensemble on campus. Still, the rehearsals and lessons would mean nothing without the daily ritual of individual practice. She spends two hours a day working on what she’s learned on her Saturdays at Mannes. “Practice is a big part of the music experience,” Ayano says. “You have to let your body take in what you’re learning, and it takes time to do that.”
Lindsay Whalen is a writer and editor based in New York City.
Many of the other students at Mannes are studying to become professional musicians. “The other students are so committed and that’s a huge motivating factor for me,” Ayano says. Ayano will be a freshman at Stanford University this fall, and she hopes music will continue to be a central part of her life. “I’ll miss the whole Saturday routine,” she says. “It’s become ingrained in me. When I don’t have class it feels like something is missing.” As she looks ahead to life after Emma, she is already thinking about the music she wants to learn, including a Tchaikovsky concerto. She also carries with her the lessons of her teacher at Mannes, who has become a guiding force over the course of their three years studying together. “She didn’t always give me the answers,” Ayano says. “She really wanted me to figure things out on my own, because she knows I’m going to need to do that in the future, and not just in music.”
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GETTING IN
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HAS NEVER BEEN MORE COMPETITIVE. EMMA COUNSELORS STEER GIRLS THROUGH THE PROCESS.
B Y M E G A N TA DY
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J
UST TWO WEEKS into freshman year at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, Kailin Baechle ’14 was already helping to build cutting-edge technology: a biologic pacemaker that could change the lives of thousands of people whose hearts rely on them. Different from traditional pacemakers, this new technology is engineered to grow with the patient, cutting down on unnecessary surgeries to replace the pacemaker—particularly in children. Kailin joined the lab after she emailed a professor in the biomedical engineering department. She explained that she wanted to dive right into a research project. “The professor was really accepting,” she says, “He said, ‘We’d love to have an undergrad on this.’” She hit the ground running, and she might be helping to make history. It’s exactly what she was hoping for.
But she almost didn’t go to Washington University (WashU). She was also accepted to Stanford University—Stanford, the holiest of Holy Grails, one of the top-ranked Ivy League schools in the nation, with an acceptance rate of just under six percent. It was a given, people thought, that Kailin would choose the latter. And yet, something nagged at Kailin. For four years, she’d listened to Emma’s Director of College Counseling, Kent Jones, repeat his famed mantra: “College is a match to be made, not a prize to be won.” The line, now enfolded into
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Emma’s philosophy around college placement, was first uttered by Frank Sachs, the director of college counseling at The Blake School in Minnesota. Kailin wondered: Was Stanford really a match for her? Kailin revisited both schools, and she found she loved the personal connections she was making in St. Louis. And although Stanford is renowned for its research facilities, she’s not sure she would have been awarded a research position as a freshman. And so she let go of the prize and opted for the match. Now,
“College is a match to be made, not a prize to be won.” nearly finished with her freshman year and firmly entrenched on a research team, Kailin is confident she made the right decision. “Mr. Jones says his famous, favorite line every two seconds,” she says. “We all sat there and laughed and said, ‘Yeah we know, we know.’ But it’s really true. You have to find where you fit in, and where you can find a family. WashU is definitely my home away from home.” When Kent talks about Kailin, he beams. She perfectly embodies Emma’s college counseling philosophy: Don’t just chase the big names; find a college that’s right for you. Following this philosophy, along with the support of Emma’s experienced college counseling team, gives Emma Girls a strong advantage—and every ounce counts. That’s because getting into a college has never been more competitive, time consuming, or stressful for students. The college admissions process looks nothing like it did twenty
years ago, or even ten. Kent and the college counseling team help students navigate the sea changes— from the pressures to apply “early decision” to the trend of filling out dozens of applications. “We have an ongoing discussion about being realistic in the college process,” Kent says. “Managing those expectations in the face of the hard realities of today’s competitive admissions market is probably the biggest challenge and the biggest focus of conversation. Certainly getting students to remember that fit is more important than name is something we talk a lot about.” If he used to repeat his famous, favorite line every two seconds, he’s now shouting it from the rooftop. RIDING THE S E A C H A N G ES It’s “Ivy Day” at Emma, meaning every Emma Girl who applied to an Ivy League school has learned her fate. Classes carry on as usual, with some students tampering excitement over acceptance and others restraining disappointment. In his office on this cool spring afternoon in April, Kent takes it all to heart. “It’s such a collage of feelings,” Kent says. “Often the girls exhibit more grace than I do, as I feel protective and invested.” Kent has led Emma’s college counseling office since 2006, working side-by-side with Trudy Hanmer, who retired this year after serving for 28 years at Emma. Hanmer took a practical approach to counseling. “I assure the students that anything that happened, it only applies to where they will be the fall of their freshman year,” she says. “It has nothing to do with who they will marry, what career they will have, how happy they will be in life.”
For some Emma Girls, the acceptance letters are the culmination of an 18-month process that started the winter of their junior year. For others, Kent says, “It’s been almost an 18-year anticipation.” Some girls are accepted into the college of their dreams, but the financial aid package won’t make it practical. Some girls are on waitlists and feel like their lives are in limbo. Some got into three top colleges and can’t make up their minds. And others didn’t get into their top choice at all. The shared experience: getting into college is an arduous ordeal. Kent says he’s never seen the landscape look so competitive, tempting girls and their families to exhibit a new kind of “gamesmanship.” “We’re trying to tell parents of freshman and sophomores, ‘Let your daughter be a student and find her passions. Don’t worry yet about the college process,’” Kent says. “But that’s a harder and harder conversation to have.” Here’s why: colleges are whittling down their acceptance rates (a key factor in college rankings such as the infamous U.S. News & World Report “Best Colleges” list), encouraging both qualified and unqualified candidates to apply, only to accept a tiny sliver of applicants. Most Ivy League schools accept less than ten percent of their applicant pools. And Kent says this environment becomes even more challenging for girls who want to attend highly selective schools in the Northeast, where there are more women than men competing for spots. “To be a Northeastern female is one of the most competitive demographics students can face,” Kent says. Another sea change is the Common Application, which
allows students to apply online to more colleges than ever before. Until the mid-2000s, most Emma Girls averaged five applications; now, that number hovers around 12, with each application costing money and demanding time. Kailin, for example, applied to 14 schools. “It’s added a level of complexity because now students are visiting more colleges, they’re sitting in on more college meetings, they’re applying to more colleges, and they’re writing more essays,” Kent says. “So it’s contributed not only to increased time and labor, but also stress and anxiety.”
“Getting students to remember that fit is more important than name is something we talk a lot about.” K ENT JONES
Most Ivy League schools accept less than
10% of their
applicant pools
Until the mid-2000s, most Emma Girls averaged
5
applications; now, that number hovers around
12
with each
COMMON APP
application costing money and demanding time
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90% of Emma Girls applied early decision, up from
30% in years past.
A
B
C
D
College tuition at public universities has nearly QUADRUPLED
Then there’s the pressure to apply “early decision” to a school, meaning a student vows to attend that school if she’s accepted. In essence, girls give up their school choices in a gamble to get into just one. Last year, 90 percent of Emma Girls applied early decision, up from 30 percent in years past. “I have families come to me and say, ‘We’re going to apply somewhere early decision, we just don’t know where,” Kent says. “In other words, early decision no longer grows out of first choice interest, it grows out of a perception that the game has to be played a certain way. And it’s true.” That’s because colleges and universities have begun to track a “demonstrated interest” from their applicants, relying on software to compute how many touch points a student has made with the school. How many emails has she sent? How many campus visits? How interested is she, really? This move toward early decisions and the general anxiousness about “getting in” has Emma Girls and their families zeroing in on the admissions process earlier and earlier. Traditionally, students at Emma start working with the college admissions office in the winter of their junior year, but an increasing number of girls are trying to get a head start in the fall of their junior year and use the summer strategically.
(4x) over the last
35 years. The average cost of a private four-year college is
$42,419 and the pool of applicants needing financial aid has swelled.
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“Girls are asking, ‘How will I use my summer to enhance my college application?’” Kent says. “When I was a rising senior, I sat on the beach and read books and hung out with friends and worked at the grocery store.” All of these changes are happening at a time when the cost of college has skyrocketed. College tuition at public universities has nearly quadrupled over the last 35 years. The average cost of a private four-year college is $42,419, and the pool of applicants needing financial aid has swelled. T HE EM M A ADVANTAGE Every teenager in the nation is facing the same rocky college landscape. But Emma Girls have an advantage: Emma counselors have honed a process that allows students to uncover their ideal match. Starting junior year, girls take a 50-question college questionnaire, write an autobiography, and take a Myers Briggs personality skills assessment test designed for teenagers. “We start with the idea of figuring out who the student is and what kind of college will best serve her needs,” Kent says. To give juniors a peek at college life, Emma counselors take the entire junior class on a visit to Skidmore College. Then they hold a financial aid seminar and a student panel, where alumnae can share their words of wisdom. In the fall of senior year, students attend a college admission boot camp, where they learn about the nuts and bolts of completing their applications. And all along the way, they’re working intensely with their counselors to identify college matches, whittle down their lists, draft college essays, schedule interviews, and visit campuses.
COLLEGE PREP
“If a student presents herself as a kid who has grown up with a really international background and it appears she would thrive more in a large urban university, that really shapes our thinking,” Kent says. Emma counselors also invite parents to counseling sessions, and they encourage parents to fill out their own questionnaire. Navigating between parents’ aspirations and students’ goals can be a delicate balance.
“You have to find where you fit in, and where you can find a family. WashU is definitely my home away from home.” K A I L I N BA EC HL E
That destiny wouldn’t be Columbia after all. Lily admits there were tears. But then a funny thing happened. She felt like a weight had been lifted. And she was able to take a step back and realize that Columbia wasn’t exactly the right match for her. She had gotten caught up in the allure of the Ivies. “As I did more soul searching about how I wanted to approach life going forward, I didn’t want to be scholastically stressed for the next four or more years of my life,” she says. In the fall, she’ll attend Barnard College, which has “a much stronger emphasis on support, peers, family, community, women’s education—all the things I really, really wanted.” In some ways, she wishes she could apply to college all over again because she says she’d approach it differently. Hence, her words of warning to her fellow students.
Kent Jones
Kailin Baechle ’14
Lily Whiteman ’15
COLLEGES
LILY WHIT E M A N
“I took the college stress very poorly,” she says. “I thought maybe I could save a few other people from my fate.” Luckily, Emma Girls undoubtedly end up at the school that’s right for them. “Girls have a way of bonding at the school they ended up at, and all seems right with the world,” Kent says. “It’s like water naturally seeking it’s own level.” While Kailin and Lily are on the other side of the admissions process, Deena Mousa ’16 is firmly entrenched in it. She started thinking seriously about colleges at the end of her sophomore year. Right now, she’s staring at a long list of schools, most of which are in the Northeast. Already, she’s embracing Emma’s philosophy, and says she wants to “find an environment that will be good for me.” Come next May, she’ll have her answer. “I’m excited about the college experience and I hope to make the best of it wherever I may be.” To Deena and other Emma Girls, Lily has one last parting thought before she leaves the castle. “For juniors, I don’t know how to impress upon them that it’s not as big a deal as they think it is,” Lily says. “Yes college is a big deal, but you’re still human and you have a lot of life to live after college.”
UNIVERSITIES
R EAC H I N G FOR T HE I VY During an all-school meeting in January, Lily Whiteman ’15 delivered an unlikely speech: Columbia University, her early decision (ED) school, didn’t accept her, and she was relieved. In fact, she told the audience, “Not getting into my ED was the best thing that happened to me in 2014.” Over the course of Lily’s junior and senior years, she became increasingly fixated on getting into Columbia. Her grandfather had been a Lion. “It felt like this golden chalice that I could reach for,” she says. “I felt I was destined to go there.” And so she agonized and stressed for months. Would she be following in her grandfather’s footsteps? The email from Columbia came in December. She told the school: “I was in a cold sweat the day before. My nails were bitten to shreds and my nerves looked like a decomposing hairball the cat had long ago forgotten. Judgment day dawned. I opened my email with shaking finger and read the cold, hard screen, the lines of destiny black as ink.”
“I took the college stress very poorly. I thought maybe I could save a few other people from my fate.”
GETTING IN
“Parents have to remember that she’s going to carry the debt,” Kent says. She’s going to live with her choices for the rest of her life, and parents have to know how to support their daughters through that process.” Back in St. Louis, Kailin has complete confidence in Emma’s college admissions process. After all, by choosing match over name, she’s now in a lab tinkering on biologic pacemakers. “Mr. Jones was really helpful in making me sit down and look at all my options,” she says. “And he always made me relax just a little.”
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Three Emma Alumnae
FiND FAiTH
ANSWERI ) CA STORY BY
KYLE ADAMS
P H O T O S O F R E V. BETSY IVEY BY ED CUNNICELLI
The Rev. Betsy Ivey ’70 calls it a “tug.” She was in her 40s, firmly entrenched in another career, and she was listening to her youngest daughter sing in a high school gospel choir. As the music filled the room, she felt the tug, an urging to return to religion. “I did not recognize it at the time as the yearning to answer the call to become a priest because I did not believe that I was priest material,” she says.
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ETSY had dabbled with religion for years. When she was a teen, she split with the Presbyterian Church in which she’d been raised. The Black Power movement was on the rise, and a number of middle class black families within such communities who had seen their fortunes improve since the end of World War II felt threatened by the movement’s radical stance. “But me being a young, 18-, 19-year-old radical black chick, I loved it,” she says. “But the church wasn’t with me, so I left the church.” After college, she worked for Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services, living out her activism by working one-on-one with the poor. She moved up the ranks, driving reform that lowered penalties for low-level welfare fraud to give offenders better chances at finding work. Then, she felt that tug. And she simply couldn’t ignore it.
In March 2014, she became the first African American woman ordained to the priesthood in The Diocese of Central Pennsylvania. She served as curate of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, until June, when she took up a new position as rector of St. Simon the Cyrenian Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. Betsy uses the pulpit to inspire her congregation to take up the work she left behind—advocating for people in need. In fact, social and economic justice is woven into her mission. When protests and riots
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erupted in Baltimore this spring over racially charged police abuse, she took the pulpit at St. Andrew’s to help her congregation make sense of the violence “I love being a priest,” Betsy says. “It’s what I was supposed to do. And in a lot of ways, I realize in my life that I have been a priest already, but I like being ordained into what it is. It’s like I’ve been claimed and I’m claiming who I am, my identity and my purpose.” Betsy isn’t the only Emma alumna who answered the call. In nearby Washington, D.C., the Rev. Amanda
Poppei ’97 serves as senior leader of the Washington Ethical Society. And 400 miles away in Boston, Rev. Nancy Taylor ’74 guides the congregation of the historic Old South Church. The three women all took different paths to faith leadership. They work in distinct religious traditions, in rural and urban congregations, in three different states. But, all three have
I LOVE BEING A PRIEST. It’s what I was supposed to do. It’s like I’ve been claimed and I’m claiming who I am, my identity and my purpose.” REV. B ETSY I V EY ’ 70
are leading Muslim, Jewish, and Christian groups on campus, and finding a way to intersect religion with social activism.
landed on the belief that social justice and religious faith go hand-in-hand; that, at its core, religion is more about doing good than praying well. For Nancy, it’s no surprise that all three women are Emma alumnae. “I think that Emma instills in its students a care for the world around them, and that faith is not merely a matter of personal piety—as long as I don’t smoke, don’t drink, and don’t
swear, everything’s fine—that’s just not enough,” Nancy says. “Emma teaches that the fabric of our lives is interwoven with the fabrics of everyone else’s lives and when some people suffer, others suffer. The kind of student that goes to Emma will come out with a political and just conscience.” And that kind of student is still attending Emma today—girls who
PRIEST MATERIAL ancy never had any doubt about her calling. She was raised Episcopalian on Long Island, where her mother taught Sunday school and her family attended church each Sunday. She remembers that “small but beautiful” church, walking into “a place that was hushed and holy and quiet, and pronouncing big words that rolled off our tongues in reading the Book of Common Prayer.” “There was a sense that we’d crossed over into a sacred time, into a
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different time and place,” Nancy says. “And I remember loving that feeling.” Since 2005, she’s served as the senior minister and CEO of Old South Church, embracing and furthering the church’s history of progressive leadership. It was the church of Benjamin Franklin, African American poet Phyllis Wheatley, and Samuel Adams, and has championed the liberation of the enslaved, women’s rights, civil rights, and gay rights. At Emma, Nancy studied and worked with the campus chaplain and led a Christian fellowship that, among other things, raised money for veterans of the Vietnam War. The school prepared her to move on to Macalester College, Yale Divinity School, and Chicago Theological Seminary, eventually becoming minister and president of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ from 2001 until 2005, when she took the reigns at Old South Church. “I think I’ve been headed down this road for a long time,” she says. “I’m a person wired for religion.” Amanda’s long been headed down the same road, too. She can pinpoint the moment she realized she wanted to be a minister: during an eighth grade field trip to the Unitarian Universalist headquarters in Boston. “I went into the bookstore of the headquarters and I remember looking around at all of the books and the titles around me and thinking that I wanted to spend my life thinking about those kinds of things,” she says. When she told a mentor about her ministerial aspirations, she was told, “Make sure you can’t be anything else first.” So, she tried that, working for a few years for a non-profit organization in Washington, D.C. Her plan
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EMMA TEACHES that the fabric of our lives is interwoven with the fabrics of everyone else’s lives and when some people suffer, others suffer. The kind of student that goes to Emma will come out with a political and just conscience.” N A N CY TAY LOR ’ 74
SOCIAL JUSTICE IN THE DNA hen a bridge in Boston closed last winter because of safety concerns, cutting hundreds of homeless and needy off from vital social services, it was Nancy and Old South Church that led an interfaith group to provide emergency shelter and aid. In the meantime, they’re advocating for better long-term housing solutions, as well as drug recovery programs. “We’re of the tradition that you have the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other,” she says. “We’re in this for today, and the kingdom of God is to be realized today, among us.” Along with a shared faith in God, all three women are devoted to creating a more just, humane society, which took root for them at Emma. In their work, they inspire their congregations to act out of love and respect in uncertain times, and to be guided by a moral compass. Wherever Nancy has worked— Idaho, Connecticut, Maine—she’s embraced social justice. In Idaho, she co-founded the Idaho Human Rights Education Center, helped
PHOTOS COURTESY OF NA NCY TAY LOR
W
was to spend 10 to 15 years in her “first career” before becoming a minister, but the pull was too great. She went to Wesley Theological Seminary in D.C. and, since 2008, has been the senior leader of the Washington Ethical Society, which shares many of the values and practices of Unitarian Universalism. In April, before taking a three-month sabbatical, Amanda gave a platform address—the Ethical
Society version of a sermon. Fittingly, she spoke about transformation. “Transformation can’t be forced or created,” she said. “Instead what we can do is…step over a threshold and wait and see what evolves. And that’s kind of what I’ll be doing on my sabbatical: kind of listening and waiting. You can’t schedule in your transformation.”
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defeat two anti-gay ballot initiatives, and fought to raise the minimum wage for farm workers. At Old South Church, Nancy is still guiding her congregation through the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, and helping people grapple with a recent death sentence for one of the assailants in one of the nation’s most progressive cities. In the days following the fatal attack two years ago, carried out by two Chechen brothers who claimed extreme Islamist beliefs, Nancy also met with faith leaders across the city working to quell any potential uprising of anti-Muslim sentiment. In Washington, D.C, Amanda has been heavily involved in antiracism work. In 2006, she received the Anti-Racism Sermon Award from the Joseph Priestly District of the Unitarian Universalist Association for a sermon called "The Tip of the Iceberg.” In it, she speaks about the difficult and long task of recognizing and working against institutional and cultural racism. Social justice runs strong through both Unitarian Universalism and Ethical Culture, which is rooted in the “idea that ethics is at the heart of all religious traditions,” Amanda says. “What matters is not so much what we believe, but how we act together,” she says. “So it’s highly focused on justice work, our actions in the world, our ethical relations with each other.” Her congregation is guided by two of the major tenets of Ethical Culture: that all people have value and all are connected. Along with anti-racism work, they’re also fighting for funding for homeless services in the D.C. budget,
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environmental justice through the Earth Ethics team, and combating problems of mass incarceration. A state away, at St. Andrew’s, Betsy has worked to identify areas of poverty in the community and set up programs to address them. She prepares lunch for a staff that runs a summer lunch program for kids in need, and she ministers to the elderly at a personal care home. “Social justice is in my DNA,” she says. “My memories of church were involved in civil rights. We were encouraged from the pulpit to be involved in the movement. The Civil Rights movement was not secular to me. It was ordained by God. It was preached in the Gospel.” FINDING A PATH AT EMMA mma isn’t a particularly religious school, but it does support students of all religions to explore and practice their faith. From Mount Ida and beyond, Emma Girls are answering a call to do right in the world, guided by their faith in something bigger. At Emma this spring, senior Emaan Effendi was wrapping up the first semester of the Muslim Student Association (MSA), preparing to leave it in the hands of a junior member. Effendi founded the group in the fall as a way to help combat the negative image of Islam spread by terrorist organizations like the self-proclaimed Islamic State. After one meeting that focused on the role of women in Islam, Effendi said most non-Muslim attendees were surprised by their wrong perceptions of the religion.
E E
“A lot of the students pictured it as a very strict religion on women especially,” she says. “So we just kind of take it gradually, step by step, talking about what Islam is.” Emily Ma ’17 and Beverley Garnieri ’17, meanwhile, have been meeting every Monday for the school’s Fellowship of Christians in Universities and Schools group. The group recently raised $300 to aid the victims of the earthquake in Nepal, but mostly provides a welcoming place for Christian students to celebrate their faith and for others to learn about it. “You don’t have to hide your faith when you’re [at Emma],”
PHOTO (LEFT) : D ENA GA LIE PHOTOGRAPHY. PHOTO ( RIG HT) : MATT STOPERA/BUZZFEED.
I WENT into the [Universalist] bookstore and I remember looking around at all of the books and thinking that I wanted to spend my life thinking about those kinds of things." RE V. AMANDA PO PPEI ’97
Beverley says. “Even though not everyone agrees with it, they’re very accepting of it and they ask you a lot of questions. They want to learn about it and know what it means. Overall, the girls here just have these beautiful, open-minded personalities.”
Another recent faith-based student group at Emma is Dor va Dor (DVD), a Jewish student group founded in 2013 as a way for Jewish students to stay connected with their culture, if not necessarily their faith. When DVD sent a representative to sit on a panel during Black
History Month about identity, they chose Katie Gonick ’16. She spoke about finding her family name on the scrolls of those killed in the Holocaust at the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum in Israel, and how that moment tied her so viscerally to her heritage. Katie says she plans to stay active in the faith, but stops short of calling herself a faith leader. “I think I’m a leader,” she says. “And I think that I’m a member of a faith. But I wouldn’t consider myself qualified to lead others because I’m still finding a path and I don’t know how to guide others through it yet.” Neither did Amanda, nor Betsy, nor Nancy. They had found the faith. But Emma taught them to be leaders. “I knew that God had been calling me to do this for a while,” said Betsy. “And it was Emma that allowed me to think I could become a priest at age 56. And many of the women I know from there are still doing things like this. Still pushing down walls that are now crumbling.” Kyle Adams is a reporter, photographer, and returned Peace Corps volunteer living and working in the Capital Region.
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Signing Off HEAD OF SCHOOL TRUDY HALL
WONDER WOMEN! I am very concerned about the trickle of women leaders into the educational pipeline. Of course, many industries have this issue, but this is my world. I felt compelled to stop lamenting and do something. After all, we tell our Emma Girls this all the time: be a part of the solution not a part of the problem. I knew I would need help to get this right. Our STEAM Team leader at Emma Meredith Legg, Ph.D. and Rachel Connell, director of advancement, joined me as we partnered with Leadership+Design, an educational collaborative dedicated to designing creative experiences, to imagine an experiential, immersive workshop for aspirational women leaders in education. In a bold moment we called it: Wonder Women! As the months of planning unfolded, I had my doubts. Would the program be a draw for the women who most needed it? Would the wild ideas we had seem right for serious educational types? Yet, we ask our Emma Girls all the time when we are urging them to take a risk: what is the worst that can happen if this fails? We heeded our own advice and persevered. We were determined. Surely our world needed this workshop. From July 8–11, 24 women gathered on our stunning campus
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to strengthen their authentic leadership presence. They learned about the components of leadership presence, identified their super power and their kryptonite, discussed the presence and brand of well-known female leaders—including Madame Willard herself—practiced improv technique, and engaged in a col-
“They shared, bonded, learned, and led, and left with new intentionality about their leadership.” laborative design activity that both helped them watch themselves in a leadership role and gather feedback from others about their contributions. They shared, bonded, learned, and led, and left with new intentionality about their leadership. Of course they did. As we
know from watching our Emma Girls in such settings, smart women on a mission for good are unstoppable. Here is what I did not imagine, what I could not imagine—we started a movement. This turned into so much more that a threeday conversation about women and leadership. You will hear more about Wonder Women! as we explore next steps, build on our success and keep the conversation going on and off campus. Working collectively, choosing the right partners, balancing substance and fun, we created an environment where women could safely engage with big ideas, experimenting with new ways of being in the world. And that should not have surprised me. What happens on Mount Ida is about empowerment; it is about finding and shaping one’s voice and energy. It turns out we can create that magic for a woman whether she is 15 or 55. Who knew? Now we do.
JAMILA BE ST ’ 0 6
I am a teacher. I am an epistemophiliac. I am an Emma Fund donor.
Emma
Join me and sign on to The Fund. www.emmawillard.org/support-emma
285 PAWLING AVENUE, TROY, NY 12180
Welcoming you back home.
Reunion 2016
May 20–22
Classes of 1931, 1936, 1941, 1946, 1951, 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, and 2011
If you would like to volunteer for Reunion, please call or email the Alumnae Relations office at 866.833.1814 or alumnae@emmawillard.org. Please also check the website for updates. www.emmawillard.org