The Westonian, Summer 2015 by aldeia

SUMMER 2015

The

Westonian Magazine

CONNECTION CONUNDRUM Social Media, Westtown, and the Power of the People

IN THIS ISSUE SENIOR PROJECTS GRADUATION ESSAYS

The Westonian, a magazine for alumni, parents, and friends, is published by Westtown School. Its mission is “to capture the life of the school, to celebrate the impact that our students, faculty, and alumni have on our world, and to serve as a forum for connection, exploration, and conversation.” We publish issues in January and July.

40 CONNEC TION CONUNDRUM

Editor Terry Dubow, Associate Head of School Managing Editor Lynette Assarsson, Associate Director of Communications Manager of Web Features Greg Cross, Associate Director of Digital Communication Proofreader Melissa Graf-Evans Contributors Kris Batley ’81, Director of Alumni Engagement Mary Brooks, Archivist Design Lilly Pereira Principal Photography Ed Cunicelli Additional Photography Greg Cross Tom Gilbert ’76 Bryce Vickmark

We welcome letters to the editor. You may send them to our home address or to westonian@ westtown.edu.

CON N EC T

facebook.com/westtownschool twitter.com/westtownschool vimeo.com/westtownschool instagram.com/westtownschool

HEAD OF SCHOOL John Baird BOARD OF TRUSTEES Timothy B. Barnard Amy Taylor Brooks ’88 Martha Brown Bryans ’68, Assistant Clerk Beah Burger-Lenehan ’02

Luis Castillo ’80 Michelle B. Caughey ’71 Dayton Coles ’63 Molly Niles Cornell ’60 Robert Cottone Jacob Dresden ’62 Diana Evans ’95 Jonathan Evans ’73, Clerk Susan Carney Fahey

Davis Henderson ’62 Gary M. Holloway, Jr. Sydney Howe-Barksdale David Jones ’72 R. Kent Julye ’80 Jess Lord ’90 Hugh McLean ’57 Brenda Perkins ’75 James Perkins ’56

Robert P. Roche Michael Sicoli ’88 Kristen Waterfield Edward C. Winslow III ’64 EMERITUS: David Barclay ’52 Arthur M. Larrabee ’60

SUMMER 2015

The

Westonian Magazine FE ATUR E S

40 Connection Conundrum

How social media has changed the world and Westtown—and how it hasn’t

48 Into the World, Unto Themselves The impact of Senior Projects

D E PAR TME NTS

02 LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

A message from John Baird

03 POINTS OF VIEW Westonian readers share their thoughts 04 NEWS FROM AROUND ’TOWN

What’s happening on campus?

BEHIND THE COVER KOBs in Central KOB stands for Kindness of Bearer. As Hali Giessler ’45 wrote in The Westonian in 1985, “the KOB was devised as a means of communication between boys and girls to initiate, turn down, or accept invitations, or to arrange for dates. In reality, however, KOBs often became much more.” Indeed, KOBs are still exchanged today.

CORRECTION In the last issue of The Westonian we neglected to identify Ben Pressman ’05 in this photo, left.

12 PAST IS PROLOGUE The more things change… 14 ALUMNI VOICES The wisdom of Wendi Grantham ’85 16 STRATEGIC PLAN Update on the Campus Master Plan 18 END OF CAMPAIGN We made Giant Strides! 20 FIELDS & COURTS Patterson Cup stays in ’Town

22 FACULTY PROFILES Spencer Gates and Judy Nicholson Asselin ’71 26 ARTS GALLERY Studio arts 28 GRADUATION 2015 32 STUDENT VOICES Graduation Essays from the Class of 2015 38 ALL IN THE FAMILY The tradition continues 54 ALUMNI PROFILE Carolyn Beer Benson ’73 56 A LOOK BACK Anne Wood and Earl Fowler 58 REUNION RECAP What a weekend! 62 CLASS NOTES Catch up on alumni news 81 FROM THE ARCHIVES A presidential visit

LET TER F ROM T H E H EAD O F SC H O O L JOH N B A IRD

The View from my Window Summer brings welcome opportunities for renewal, professional development, and growth as well as a time to look back with a sense of accomplishment on a highly successful 2014–15 school year. Graduation and closing ceremonies highlighted the voices of students and faculty recognition of their achievements and contributions. This year’s senior essayists represented the extraordinary diversity of this community and its impact in forging the character, intellect, and values of our students. The Class of 2015 sparkled this year. As I reflected at Commencement, “You are natural collaborators. You became leaders, innovators, trailblazers, and changemakers. You piloted the Action-Based Education with creative and rigorous independent research projects, you created a working mechanical hand in the Design and Engineering lab, you helped to lead Westtown’s first ProjectBased Learning week with strength and joy, designed a model city, built a Tiny House, participated in senior projects and exchanges in South Africa, inner city Wilmington, and our first ever Westtown en Cuba program.” This year had an air of positive change and a familiar sense of traditions repeated and renewed. From the Lower School’s Action-Based projects to the Middle School’s Boy Who Harnessed the Wind to Alumni Day’s symposium, Westtown embraced new methods of exploring the timeless and the contemporary. This issue of The Westonian takes a similar approach, leaning into the complexities of our age of social media. Co-written by alumna Rachel Clarke ’86 and Terry Dubow, the lead article investigates how our community on campus and our alumni are managing their way through the nuances of this social age. This issue features a piece on how one of Westtown’s great traditions, Senior Projects, continues to serve as a platform for life-changing work. It includes the voices of our alumni (Wendi Grantham’s ’85 Alumni Day address is stunning) as well as our students. You’ll also read about how our incredible faculty transform the lives of their students. I hope you enjoy the faculty profiles honoring two of Westtown’s master teachers who are retiring this year: Judy Nicholson Asselin ’71 and Spencer Gates. In May, we sent you our new strategic plan, The World Needs More Westonians. In the months and years ahead, those of us on campus will continue to develop and implement this plan. Our work alone, however, won’t be enough to achieve our goals. To do so, we need to energize and connect with our community. We want to listen to your views, invite you to understand our vision, and collaborate with you to ensure that Westtown continues to inspire our graduates to become leaders and stewards of a better world. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with responses, ideas, and questions. Email us at strategicplan@westtown.edu. We’re excited about how Westtown is evolving and preserving its mission and essence. I am convinced that the education we provide instills in students the same values and virtues that have marked this powerful school for more than 200 years. As I said in my closing remarks to the Class of 2015: “Thank you for your presence, your bravery, your imagination, and your kindness. Take them 02

The Westonian Magazine

with you from this sacred ground, where you have learned to sing with your own voices, and apply them wherever you go—valuing diﬀerence, speaking out when something is wrong, using your skills to build community, and, in the words of your SBP, Eden Rothacker, turning what you have created here into a global reality. We love you, and we are very proud of you. And yes, the world needs you.” In closing, I oﬀer my heartfelt gratitude to Terry Dubow, Associate Head of School and editor of The Westonian, for his leadership in the redesign of this magazine and many other initiatives. We extend a warm welcome to Anne Burns, our new Director of Communications and Marketing, who will continue the good work of communicating about Westtown with our entire community. I hope you enjoy your summer!

LETTERS

IN THIS ISSUE

The

ian Weston Magazine

WINTER 2015

BEHIND THE NUMBERS: Westtown’s Annual Report for 2013–2014

HOW TO

MAKE WORK MAKE MEANING

I have just finished reading your recent copy of The Westonian, cover to cover, and I want to say congratulations on a wonderful publication and thank you for bringing the Westtown of today into the heart and mind of this 1960 graduate. The photographs, articles, announcements, words of current students and faculty, facts and figures and of course the news of the graduates, brought back memories, but also created a window for me that allows me to welcome the Westtown of the 21st century without feeling nostalgic for “the good old days!”

Points of View WE LOVE MAIL! Please send feedback in any form you choose. Address it to “Editor” and share your thoughts about any aspect of the magazine. We will do our best to publish as many letters as will fit. We may edit for space, and we’ll always confirm with you what we intend to publish. Our email is communications@westtown.edu.

demands more per issue. However, the primary purpose of a magazine is NOT to make its makers feel good, but to make its readers want to read all of it. I fear, however, that well-intentioned considerations of professional graphic design and of forcing more content have trumped readability, and that is a serious mistake!... I imagine you have received by and large positive feedback, but mine is absolutely negative. I know that you want to be artistic and I love art, but

does the paper have to be so thick? And what happened to saving paper? I imagine the production costs of the new Westonian is much higher per page, and that has thus limited the number of issues to two per year. I know you feel compelled to compete with prestigious schools, but let me assure you that my alumni magazine from Harvard is much easier to read than the present Westonian! I would love to be able again to read The Westonian from cover to cover and find out all that is happening

at the Westtown I love (and to which we contribute faithfully). PLEASE make this possible. HENRY CHEN, ’58, S.D.G.

At first I was dismayed with the new format, then won-over by the informative and inspiring articles. HOWEVER, if the class news keeps getting shorter and shorter, alumni gatherings such as we had for our 60th are endangered. As a life-time reader, I assert that The Westonian’s Class News has been its life blood. SUZANNE RIE DAY ’55

TONI ROBERTS SHARP, ’60

I am just about ready to throw out my copies (Spring 2014 and Winter 2015), largely unread I regret to say. In contradistinction, I almost ALWAYS read past Westonians from cover to cover. Reason: the new ones are too large and too heavy for me to hold and to read comfortably... Discussion: I understand that having fewer issues

The Westonian Wins CASE Award

We are thrilled to announce that this magazine won the 2015 Bronze CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) Circle of Excellence Award. More than 50 independent schools around the country submitted entries. Judges noted that “The Westonian Magazine is one that draws you in even if you have no connection to the school…. The publication uses the history of the school well, in particular the page that features the old photo paired with a modern photo in the same spot. Overall the publication has innovative ideas that are executed well.” We’re proud of the achievement and eager to make The Westonian compelling for our readers.

SUMMER 2015

News from Around ’Town College Shirt Day We deemed May 1st—the national decision day for college enrollment—College Shirt Day at Westtown and celebrated seniors with a photo session. We hope you’ll take a moment to visit the Class of 2015 page on the website. We congratulate our seniors (and their parents!) on their choices and wish them well as they enter the next phase of their lives.

BY THE NUMBERS CLASS OF 2015

students submitted

758

college applications to

264

colleges and received

188

acceptances and enrolled in

60 colleges

The Westonian Magazine

See more photos from College Shirt Day: westtown.edu/ thewestonian

N E W S F RO M A R O U ND ’ T O W N

Designing to Change Lives More than a year ago, students began working on a prosthetic mechanical hand for Westtown second grader Steele Songle, who was born without his left hand. The press surrounding that story captured the attention of Kathleen Baﬀone, who reached out to Teacher Steve Compton. Her daughter, Joy, was also born without a hand. The students happily took on designing and creating a hand for Joy as well. In May, amid an array of cameras and reporters, Westtown students Xan Lorimer, Alex Nunes, and Casey Dech tested the mechanical prosthetic hands they created for these two children. These projects were undertaken as part of their Design Engineering class, though each student has spent countless hours outside of class studying, designing, creating, and solving the unique problems each case presents. To learn more, watch the coverage from local TV stations —find links to these news stories on our website: westtown.edu/thewestonian. If you’d like to know more about how these hands were designed and function, read Lorimer’s posts on the Independent Seminar Blog. TO LEARN MORE, visit our website www.westtown.edu/ thewestonian and www.independentseminarblog.com.

Composed Freshman Join us in congratulating freshman Daelan Roosa ’18, whose musical compositions have been selected to be performed by professional musicians through MusicCOMP! About eight of Roosa’s pieces have been chosen to be performed, and most recently, he was asked to compose a piece for the Vermont Philharmonic. This opportunity is quite an honor and achievement! Music-COMP (Composition Online Mentoring Program) is a non-profit organization in Roosa’s home state of Vermont that works to provide composition instruction to elementary-through-highschool students.

LAKE RESTORATION PROJECT UPDATE The restoration of the lake is well underway! The lake has been drained, and the relocation of an estimated 5,000 fish and 500 turtles is complete. Footers for the forebay dam have been poured, and subsequent work on the dam is complete. Site grading and dredging were in process at press time. For updates, visit the Lake Restoration Project page on the website www.westtown.edu/lakeproject.

SUMMER 2015

N EWS F ROM ARO UND ’ T O WN

HARNESSING

WIND POWER Real-world skills and Action-Based Education. That’s what the last semester was about for our 8th graders. The project began months ago with an interdisciplinary reading of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind in English, science, history, and math classes. Students further developed their Changemaker projects, using design thinking to craft solutions for actual problems faced by communities in East and West Africa. Changemakers Watch video online at presented a plan of action backed by a grant proposal www.westtown.edu/ thewestonian and an eﬀective infographic to a panel of professionals from our wider community. A second group developed models from science class to build two full-scale wind towers, which will each generate a small amount of electricity. This summer, they sent their copies of the book to their sister class at Heritage Academy in Ghana; next year they hope to work with them on a similar project.

JUSTICE FOR ALL MARCH Seventy Westtown students, ten faculty members, and several parents traveled to Washington, D.C., in December to participate in the Justice for All March to end police brutality and increase police responsibility. Students marched to add their voices to the national discourse and, as one student put it, “to be a part of something that is bigger than myself and to hold up a sign that represents more than just me.” Attendance at the march is but one manifestation of our students’ passion, concern, and action around this topic. As a community, we will remain in deep conversations about issues of race, injustice, peace, and activism, both here on campus and in our nation.

The Westonian Magazine

Hola, Puerto Rico! A group of fifth graders spent part of their spring break in Puerto Rico, the first trip of its kind offered in Lower School. Lower School Spanish teacher, Amy Liermann, and tour operator, Vamonos, developed an itinerary designed to provide students with a variety of unique experiences and to maximize their time on the island. The students’ days were full of activities to help them hone their Spanish vocabulary and to learn about the history, food, culture, and wildlife habitats of Puerto Rico. They had a digital scavenger hunt, enjoyed salsa dancing lessons, learned how to make mofongo (a traditional fried plantain dish), and toured the rain forest. They did a full day of service at an elementary school in Cabo Rojo, where they were able to meet and interact with children their own age.

COLLEGIATE ATHLETICS We congratulate these five Class of 2015 athletes who have committed to play collegiate athletics: Sami Phelps will play soccer at West Chester University; Kevin Henriksen will play baseball for Elon University; Jonathan Kasibabu will play basketball for Fairfield University; Edvinas Rupkus will play basketball for Skidmore College; and DeePee Yiljep will play basketball for Chestnut Hill College. Go ’Town!

N E W S F RO M A R O U ND ’ T O W N

Solve This! AS PART OF OUR ACTION-BASED EDUCATION, students discover and define problems and then work to find solutions. Here, students share some of the problems they considered and how they worked to solve them. Answers to the questions presented here can be found online. Short videos will give you a glimpse of our distinctive curriculum in action.

Brain Calisthenics

In Middle School science classes, Teacher Josh Reilly uses Fermi problems to improve students’ ability to think in terms of scale and to develop multiple approaches to problem solving. A Fermi problem is a mental exercise that requires one to employ realistic estimations and make order-of-magnitude calculations to arrive at a reasonable result. Fermi problems emphasize the process rather than the answer. The following is an example of a Fermi problem. Go online to watch 7th grader Nick Hanchak solve it! If you had an Earth-sized piece of candy and a bowl that was as big as the Sun, how many Earth candies would it take to fill the Sun-sized bowl?

NEED ANSWERS? GO TO

(not to scale)

How might we?

In the Lower School iLab, all projects begin with a question. The words “How might we?” are ever present on the whiteboard wall. Recently, 5th graders asked the question, “How might we support Lower School gardening and birdwatching programming?” They decided to build a trellis. Visit the website to see Christine Wilson and Rylee Boles explain why they selected this project.

Social Action

The Peace and Justice class, an Upper School history course, culminates with Social Action Projects. Students must identify a social or political problem, research it, and propose a solution — one which requires real-world action. 9th graders Gwyneth Turner and Maggie Lind collaborated on a project that focused on women’s rights. They asked themselves, “How do we raise awareness about women’s issues among young girls?”

www.westtown.edu/thewestonian.

SUMMER 2015

N EWS F ROM ARO UND ’ T O WN

Q U I CK N OT E S

YOUNG ROUND SQUARE Westtown School is a member of the Round Square consortium of schools. Recently, two Middle School students, Wesley Flynn and Sophie Pinnie, and Teacher Carrie Timmins represented Westtown at the Young Round Square Conference at the Collingwood School in Vancouver, BC. This year’s conference theme was reFresh, reFuel, reFocus, and activities were based on Young Round Square’s IDEALS: International, Democracy, Environment, Adventure, Leadership, and Sustainability. Students had team-building exercises, outdoor activities, and time for reflection and discussion. It was also an opportunity for Timmins to connect with other educators and to learn about what they are doing in their school communities. “It reminded me of the uniqueness of Westtown, that we are driven by and really live out the ideals of Quakerism. The teachers from YRS schools use the YRS IDEALS, and I can definitely appreciate that, but those values are already here at our Quaker school.”

PRINCETON PRIZE IN RACE RELATIONS Senior Steffanie Garzon [ 1 ] recently won the Philadelphia Princeton Prize in Race Relations. The prize was established by Princeton University “to promote harmony, respect, and understanding among people of different races by identifying and recognizing high school age students whose efforts have had a significant, positive effect on race relations in their schools or communities.” This award exemplifies Garzon’s work, passion, and leadership here at Westtown. PMEA FESTIVAL A big round of applause to Westtown students who auditioned and earned spots at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association Festivale (PMEA) [ 2 ] Festival! District 12 Choral division singers were Shannon Babcock, Troy Larsen, Rachel Blackman, James Duffey, Nathan Mullen, Sam Duffey, and Joe Zhu. Both Mullen and Sam Duffey advanced to the PMEA Regions Festival, and

[1]

Duffey advanced to the State competition. Sam Duffey also placed third in the Chester County Choral Society Scholarship Competition for seniors in high school. WESTTOWN’S SCIENCE CENTER AWARDED LEED GOLD CERTIFICATE The United States Green Building Council has awarded our new Science Center a LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Gold Certification. Of the nearly 3,200 LEEDregistered and -certified school projects nationwide currently, only about a third achieve this status. The accolades for the Science Center don’t stop there. It was awarded the PA Green Building of the Year, the Forever Green award from the U.S. Green Building Council, Central PA, and the GC LEED Green Award from the Keystone Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), Inc., a national trade organization. This certification is one more step toward our goal of becoming a carbonneutral campus.

[2]

Lunar New Year Dinner The Lunar New Year Dinner is an annual celebration we all look forward to. International students prepared the Lunar New Year feast for students and faculty taking over the kitchen to bring us delicious foods from their countries. We welcomed the Year of the Sheep in style, and we were grateful to share in the celebration! More photos at www.westtown. edu/thewestonian

GRAT I T UDE A big THA N K YOU to all of the parents, alumni, and corporate sponsors who supported the Westtown Auction and Golf & Tennis Outing. We exceeded all fundraising goals for these events and could not have done it without you! Mark your calendars: Westtown FallFest Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015

The Westonian Magazine

N E W S F RO M A R O U ND ’ T O W N

UPPER SCHOOL MUSICAL:

Pippin The cast of Pippin put on an amazing show this winter. Kudos to the cast, crew, costumers, set designers, makeup artists, sound and light technicians, and director, Nick Malakhow! Their production received nine CAPPIES nominations, including Best Musical. The CAPPIES are the “Critics and Awards Program” for high school students—kind of like the Tonys for high school students. Winners for “Best Choreography” for Pippin were Shannon Babcock, Caroline Eddy, India Henderson, Rabia King, and Maddie Kreitzberg.

SUMMER 2015

N EWS F ROM ARO UND ’ T O WN

National Language Exams Each year, students in our World Language courses sit for the National Language Exams in their area of study. The honorees for placement in the Latin, Spanish, and Mandarin National Language Exams are pictured below. For a complete list of names and their honors, visit www.westtown.edu/thewestonian. TOP: Honorees for the Latin National Language Exam. CENTER: Honorees for the Spanish National Language Exam. BOTTOM: Honorees for the Mandarin National Language Exam

Website Award!

We are thrilled to share that our website won the Outstanding Website Award from the Web Marketing Association during the 2015 Internet Advertising Competition Awards. Sites were judged on design, innovation, navigation, copywriting, and memorability. You can read the blog post that Finalsite, our web company, wrote about our deployment process. We have just learned that our website also won “Gold” in the 2015 Hermes Creative Awards, which honor “messengers and creators of traditional and emerging media.” For more please visit www.westtown.edu/ thewestonian.

Shakespeare Festival—The Middle School became Elizabethan England during their weeklong Shakespeare Festival. Learn more about the Festival and watch a video: www.westtown.edu/thewestonian.

The Westonian Magazine

HAVE YOUR SAY

WESTTOWN COMMUNITY MEMBERS WEIGH IN ON:

Does the world really need more Westonians? Imagine if I said no, lol, I wouldn’t

exist. Yes!, and absolutely. Because of Westtown, I was prepared to encounter and face the world, travel to over 10 diﬀerent countries AND make contributions, live across the country and impact three large AIDS service organizations, AND finally become president of my own nonprofit. Yes! The world really does need more Westonians. —MOISES LING CASCANTE ’97

I feel that the idea of a multitude of futures wasn’t really explored; and by the same token, that we were given a firm foundation, but our sense of future may have been too tightly bound up with...

Westtown’s being. To what extent was science fiction seen as junky? To

what extent were the [even then] multiplicity of roads we could walk presented as intriguing, as something to read about. I’m sure most of what we felt when we graduated was OMG what college will accept me, what will it be like, will I

While it has been used in the context of the Annual Fund, “The world needs more Westonians” and the school being designated as a changemaker has got me thinking a lot of how true both statements are. I remember back to when I was given the opportunity for several service projects, most notably Chester City Improvement Project (where we spent weekends in Chester City working on diﬀerent projects) with great memories. —JJ FARNAN ‘91 AND FATHER OF JOSEPH IN 5TH GRADE

succeed, etc. But hindsight is so easy, yes? I have zero doubt that Westtown gave me the happiest, strongest, firmest, quietest,

foundation I could have asked for. A little more of “why” I need to study

French, for example, would have helped me. All of the above is perceived through the haze of 60 years and comes from one who was an energetic, enthusiastic, engaged, but barely above-average student, and the world’s complexity has

increased so much. —BRUCE REEVES ’51

THANK YOU FOR SUBMITTING! NEXT ISSUE, WE HOPE TO PUBLISH EVEN MORE NOTES. THE PROMPT:

What does it mean for Westtown to be a Quaker school today? Send your responses to westonian@westtown.edu or to our street address with attention to the Communications Office.

SUMMER 2015

Past is Prologue

1895

ATHLETI C S has long been important at Westtown. In 1862, baseball was introduced at Westtown and became the first competitive sport offered for boys. “Physical exercise” was required for girls as early as 1869, and tennis was formally introduced in 1880. The program has come a long way since then, and our top-flight facilities now support 51 teams. Athletics is required at Westtown because we believe that competing in interscholastic sports instills a lifelong skill set: sportsmanship, respect, leadership, perseverance, collaboration, and dedication.

Left to right Front: Jake Jacobs ’15, Hayden Quintana ’16. Middle: Demani Williams ’17, Sam Pinsky ’16, Patrick Culcasi ’18. Back: Kevin Henriksen ’15, Wade Sansone ’18, Jon Moldoff ’18, Mekhi Bryant ’16

2015

A RC HI VA L P HO T O COU R TESY OF MARY BRO O K S , W ES T T OWN SCHOOL AR CHIVES. 2 0 1 5 PHO T O BY ED CU N ICEL L I

S PRIN G 2 0 1 4

ALUMN I VOI CES

The Wisdom of Wendi Grantham SP E E CH BY W E N D I G R ANT HA M ’ 8 5

Editor’s Note: Wendi delivered a version of this speech on May 9, 2015, at the Westtown Alumni Association’s Annual Meeting during Alumni Weekend. “I deviated from this in delivery, for the sake of time,” she explains, but the spirit and essence remain the same. You can watch her deliver the speech by visiting westtown.edu/alumniweekend2015.

I had my first, and (so far) only, midlife crisis when I was 16 years old. I read T.S Eliot’s “The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock” in fall term, senior English and, as quietly as I could, went right oﬀ the deep end. The language and its depictions landed in me with such forceful clarity and inexplicable familiarity that, for about six weeks, I was convinced I was a middle aged man: full of malaise and dissatisfaction over everything I’d done already; devastated that I hadn’t yet found what I was looking for, though the end was surely near; and adrift in this loss of, and nostalgia for, things that had not yet actually happened to me. I had “known them all, already; known them all;” surely, the “Eternal Footman” was “snickering” beneath Girls’ Senior stairs. Reading “Four Quartets” and “The Cocktail Party” made it all substantially worse. “I think I know what it’s like to be old,” I told my mother, whispering at a payphone in the basement at Girls’ End, trying to keep my lunacy our secret and launching into the crisp details of my despair. She said, “These are books you’re reading, right?” I said, “Yes.” She said, “Well, just stop reading them! Put them down.” I will admit that this hadn’t occurred to me. But everything about it suggested a kind of bad form: what sort of person just puts books down? It seemed like 14

The Westonian Magazine

giving up. I was 16; if I started putting books down now, what would be left to read when I was 45? I saw myself at 50, feebly turning out the light after an evening with a Richard Scarry picture book, and was horrified. Surely, this solution was far worse than the original problem. I’ll come back to this. I thought long and hard about how to sum up the immense gratitude I have for this institution, and why, and strove to do it succinctly, though I’m not sure I’ve succeeded. Westtown literally saved me, in many, many ways, but in the interest of time, I’ll just tell you about one way. I’m from Wilmington, Delaware, where they didn’t desegregate the public schools until 1978 when I was in 6th grade, and people were unhappy about it. There were protests, and there was unrest; parents, particularly mothers, laid themselves down in the driveways of the suburban high schools in attempts to keep the buses out. In the suburb of Wilmington in which we lived, “black” and “female” were synonymous with “poor” and “dumb.” I knew by the time I was seven years old that to do my best was to commit an act of conscious rebellion. I was riddled with conflict: proud because my best didn’t seem like it was too bad, but also ashamed because I could feel how it violated what people preferred to believe about my place in their order of things, and I felt responsible. I was ever wary of belief without evidence, as so often I’d seen people believe things pertaining to

me that were contrary to my actual experience, and it was impossible for me to occupy their imagined place for me while also existing in my real one. The duality of this was confusing and diﬃcult to navigate. Eighth grade was my worst year, as I failed Algebra 1. When I began to struggle with it, I went to my teacher for help, and he told me, nicely, that I could sit down. He sat behind his desk, directly in front of me, and explained that my struggles were inevitable: I was incapable of learning something as complicated as algebra, and there was nothing he could do. He said it so benignly, yet so definitively, that it had to be true. He then let me sit in his classroom and cry and fail, week after week, test after quiz after test. I couldn’t tell my mother what he’d said because I was so embarrassed; she thought I was smart: I couldn’t admit to her that I really wasn’t, that I couldn’t learn algebra. When I finally did tell her, she sent me here. I don’t tell this story to emphasize how bad it was; I tell it to make the larger point that if I hadn’t come here, I’d not have had an experience to counter it. But I did come here, and every teacher I had said, “How can I help you?” and “What don’t you understand?” or “Here, let me show you,” and “Of course, you can!”—all of which would have been enough but which turned out to be only a part of what I was given here. Westtown had its own rules, which removed many of the societal boundaries that existed outside and encouraged me not simply to participate, but to do my best. And I did, and I thrived here. Westtown normalized an experience for us that changed the very ideas of identity

A LU M NI VO I C E S

and personal responsibility and provided an entire landscape in which to explore them. The school not only provided a place for me when the larger society did not, but it allowed me to decide what that place was; I was able to thrive because of that and able to carry the knowledge of that possibility— of my place and of my size, here —out into the world, and to survive there. Within these walls, I found the safest haven and the greatest retreat from the larger society’s race/class dynamics I have ever experienced; the power and freedom in that were such that I’d never felt before, and I was profoundly aﬀected by it: I had what I needed here. And the triumph of doing my best is something I will always associate with Westtown: I would sit atop the dryer in the Girls’ second floor hall bathroom, which was warm, like a cocoon, and write all night, and the euphoria of having done my best would carry me through that following day without sleep. And the grades I received weren’t always As, but that didn’t matter; I had done the very best that I could do. And the encouragement toward this practice, and its repetition, helped me to learn both a process and criteria for excellence that continue to serve me in my life and work. I chose art because it encompasses both my enormous fascination with, and fear of, people; because it’s large enough to house all of my ambivalence; because I thought it would free me from those same societal restrictions that Westtown had (which turns out to be more so in theory than in practice); and

“Within these walls, I found the safest haven and the greatest retreat from the larger society’s race/class dynamics I have ever experienced; the power and freedom in that were such that I’d never felt before, and I was profoundly aﬀected by it: I had what I needed here.” because it requires everything I have to give to it. But the pursuit of art both provides and is fed by other things I learned here: silence; compassion; the enormity of care, and how to allow it its full measure; how to remain in service of the true, the peaceful, the thoughtful, the patient and the humane; and finally, the exaltation of the idea: for two years, and

often more, we lived here, over 200 of us, together, in peace, with no locks of any kind, all because of the power of an idea. Westtown showed me to seek the possibility of what we all can be at our best, and to never underestimate what we can do for one another with our kindnesses, with our eﬀorts, our discipline, our talents. I will never forget what T.S. Eliot did for me, across time and space: he, much like Westtown, gave me an idea and not only required me to expand to contain it but assumed I had the ability to do so and the capacity to carry it forth. I chose art because I had to. I have few answers. Learning to do things, for me, generally first requires exhaustive exploration of all the ways these things cannot be done, so there has been far more error than I care to admit. My family jokes that my life is a highly successful exercise in defiance of tedium, which is true but not necessarily a compliment. But it’s okay, because I chose this: it’s my place. And I fight for it every day. And Westtown is where I learned I had the right to do that.

Watch Wendi Grantham’s speech at www.westtown.edu/ thewestonian.

To read Charles Coltman’s ’90 Alumni Day speech visit www. westtown.edu/thewestonian.

SUMMER 2015

S TRATEG I C P L AN UP DAT E

Preserving & Envisioning Westtown’s Campus BY T E RRY DU B O W

In May, we sent you a copy of The World Needs More Westonians, which we hope you’ve had a chance to review. At the heart of this strategic plan is this singular vision: “The world’s needs are profound, and Westtown must faithfully embrace its identity as a school of urgency and impact. We will become a recognized leader in developing the next generation of globally engaged, scientifically literate, spiritually guided, and ethically grounded leaders and stewards of a better world.” We’re hard at work implementing the plan, and a major part of that work involves updating our Campus Master Plan, which we first authored in 2001 with the help and wisdom of our community. Westtown’s 600-acre campus is among the School’s greatest gifts. It is both an inspirational expression of our Quaker identity and a reminder of our profound duty to balance our eﬀorts to evolve with our responsibility to preserve the land that our founders entrusted to us. Over the School’s history, our predecessors continually built and then removed buildings, changed uses, and adapted well to their era’s needs without compromising their values and culture. Westtown’s leaders have carefully plotted a course forward, and now it is our time to help plan the next vision of Westtown’s campus. The Campus Master Plan will build on all that has been accomplished in these last years, evaluate the current needs and assets of our facilities and campus, and thoughtfully create a road map for future capital projects to fulfill our Mission and Strategic Plan. This updated plan will help us and future leaders make key and strategic decisions about our facilities and campus in support of program and other strategic initiatives. Since September, a small committee comprised of members of the faculty, administration, Board of Trustees, alumni, parents, as well as our Director of Sustainability and renowned planners and architects from Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT) have been meeting bi-weekly. We’ve adopted a clear and inclusive process that will lead us to propose a vision for the campus’s next 20 years. The issues and questions we are considering include: How might 21st Century shifts in pedagogy encourage us to modify our physical environment? How might we develop new or re-imagine existing facilities to promote our evolving, innovative curriculum? How can we preserve the unique, distinctive, natural features and habitats of Westtown’s 16

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campus and integrate them more fully into our program? As a considerate neighbor, what campus resources and opportunities are we willing to make available to the outside community? How might the campus be used to enhance financial sustainability? Since January, the committee has hosted over two dozen focus groups with our community, including ones with the Westtown Alumni Association Board of Managers, alumni at Alumni Weekend, students, faculty, and parents. We also invited parents and alumni to a Town Hall in May, at which they heard emerging themes of the campus plan and shared their perspectives and reactions. So what have we heard? The essence of Westtown lives in its Quaker identity. Current academic facilities make it hard to teach in the collaborative, action-based manner through which today’s students learn best. Westtown students, parents, teachers, and alumni need spaces simply to be together. Students congregate in the hallways; parents stay in their cars; alumni walk the campus without a place just for them. The Westtown community would be even stronger if we had designated areas to gather. We have parking and traﬃc issues. The dining facilities and kitchen need attention. Westtown is blessed with a beautiful campus and has an opportunity to make bold decisions that will benefit Westtown students and help us remain a leader in the competitive independent school landscape and attract more families to join our community. Our Strategic Plan’s commitment to sustainability, transformational experiences for our students, and Quakerism must remain at the heart of any decisions we and future leaders make. In the words of our esteemed and recently-retired colleague, Denis Asselin, “We must be nimble, grounded, and spiritually led.” We want this process to be visionary and inclusive, inviting the voices and insights of our entire community. Over the next months, you can expect more updates and invitations to participate in the campus master planning process. You can also expect opportunities to share your comments informally by emailing campusmasterplan@ westtown.edu.

2014-2015

Westtown Fund

THANK YOU We extend our deepest gratitude to the more than 2,000 donors who made a donation to last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Westtown Fund, which closed on June 30, 2015. Your generous support has allowed us to exceed our Westtown Fund goal! The Westtown Fund provides vital support to financial aid, faculty support, student programs and services, campus care, technology, and athletics. Your gift makes Westtown possible for our students. The entire Westtown community thanks all of you who have given!

SUMMER 2015

CAMPAI GN

Taking a Giant Stride with Your Help BY E L L E N C RY E R G I LB E R T ’ 76

What do you say to a community that sacrificed so much in order to help our school? There are no words large and heartfelt enough to express our gratitude, so please know that we mean much more than the typical when we say to you again: Thank you. Over the course of the last years, 2032 members of our community gave nearly $28 million to Giant Strides: The Campaign for Westtown School for endowment, programmatic support, and facilities. This achievement could not have been possible without the vision, leadership, and dedication of the Board of Trustees and the generous support of those who contributed. The campaign’s goals were informed by our last Campus Master Plan, completed in 2001, and the Strategic Plan that followed. Each project was a giant step forward toward improving our facilities, increasing financial aid and faculty support, and strengthening our program. Each Giant step is a story about donors who wanted to make a diﬀerence. ENDOWMENT: THE LEGACY THAT GROWS Think of Westtown’s endowment as a very big savings account that our predecessors opened sometime in the 19th century, and then cautioned us against touching the principle. Today, our endowment sits at roughly $86 million, which is a sizable and incredibly helpful sum, though it is lower than the endowments of many other boarding and day schools. We use a 4.5 percent spending rule so our endowment generates about $3.8 million a year towards our $29 million budget. The point is that it takes a very large endowment to make a significant impact on the school. That is why we feel so indebted to all those who, over the course of the Giant Strides Campaign, gave $10.5 million to endow the following priorities: ENDOWMENT FOR…

Financial Aid—$4.2 million In order to oﬀer a life-changing education to students of all economic backgrounds, it is essential that Westtown has adequate financial aid funds. This past year, 46 percent of our students received $7.3 million in financial aid with 17 percent funded by the endowment. In order to be able to oﬀer assistance to this many families and maintain our commitment to diversity, we need to substantially increase our endowed funds for financial aid. Donors heard our case and gave generously. 18

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Faculty Support—$1.5 million At the heart of every great school is a great faculty. In order to recruit and retain top faculty, we need to oﬀer competitive compensation and professional development opportunities for faculty to continue to grow their skills. Sustainability— $730,000 Westtown is dedicated to being a leader in environmental sustainability and stewardship, and we have made great strides under the leadership of

our Director of Sustainability, Judy Nicholson Asselin ’71. Generous donors created the Next Generation Fund for a Sustainable Future and the John Baird Sustainability Fund with income going toward the salary of the Director of Sustainability and for various initiatives. Science Center Operations— $3.1 million The Board of Trustees set a new policy a few years ago that states that all new building projects must include endowment funds to cover the incremental operating costs and 60 percent of depreciation costs. Thus, the Science Center fundraising initiative included $3.1 million for endowment, the income from which provides significant support for the school’s operating budget. Other purposes—$1 million Besides the funds listed above, many people gave to other new and pre-existing endowment funds, of which there are over 90. We are deeply grateful for the continued support of these important endowed funds that support our program in many diﬀerent ways. THE POWER OF SPACE Westtown boasts a breathtaking campus and historic buildings that have housed and educated thousands of Westonians. It also boasts a tradition of designing spaces for the needs of the day. After all, we moved Industrial Hall in 1885 with only horses and a dream to erect the Main Building. In Giant Strides, our community renewed its commitment to Westtown as a living enterprise by giving more than

C A M PA I G N

The Giant, N.C. Wyeth’s 1923 painting, hangs in Westtown’s dining room.

Dining Room and Kitchen Improvements Phase I—-$1.1 million Initial improvements were made to cover the areas of greatest need, but the full project is being carried over to the current master plan in order to address major improvements to make these spaces more usable and eﬃcient and perhaps be combined with a community center.

$17.1 million to facilities and program improvements: Science Center Renovation and Expansion —$9.7 million ($12.8 million with the endowment included) Wow! That is what people say when they enter this new LEED Gold, sustainably-built and energy-eﬃcient building. What a diﬀerence it has made in our program! Teachers now have the opportunity to create expanded lab experiments, we have a fantastic design and engineering space, students are doing cutting-edge independent studies, and the building is flexible enough to host admissions open houses, reunion events, and the auction.

Facilities Building Renovations— $1 million The Class of 1960 chose this project as their 50th Reunion Gift and led the way with donations to renovate fully this building into an energy-eﬃcient, productive, and attractive space. The Facilities Department is thrilled with what this building has done to improve communication and teamwork. Theater Improvements Phase I—$978,000 New rigging, orchestra pit, seats, carpeting, lighting, and sound equipment has greatly enhanced this space that is constantly used by all three divisions. Phase II work will be captured in the master plan being created now.

Lake Restoration Project—$1.2 million (total cost is $2.6 million) The lake is a very special place for alumni and also provides a unique learning opportunity as an outdoor laboratory. Work began in spring 2015 to dredge the lake and replace the dam. The expected completion date is spring 2016. This project is a huge undertaking, requiring many state and federal permits. When completed, the lake will be used for canoeing and fishing and, of course, will continue as an outdoor laboratory for science classes. Program Improvements—$3.1 million This includes a variety of restricted gifts to enhance our program. GRATITUDE AND APPRECIATION None of these Giant initiatives would have been possible without the generous support of 2032 donors. You have our deep and profound gratitude. We are able to fulfill Westtown’s mission of educating students to be stewards and leaders of a better world because of you. Thank you for making a diﬀerence in the lives of our current and future students and the world they will help improve.

SUMMER 2015

Fields & Courts OVER THE WINTER AND SPRING SEASONS, hard-working athletes made their mark on the courts, on the mats, on the track, in the pool, and on the fields. The Boys Varsity Basketball Team had a powerful season, beating Germantown Friends in the Friends Schools League (FSL) Championship. The team finished second in the PAISAA tourney. Congratulations to Boys JV Basketballâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;winners of the Friends Schools League BJVBB Tournament with a win in the final game against Shipley. The Girls Varsity Swim Team took home the FSL Championship title for the second year in a row. The Boys Varsity Swim Team placed third in the Friends See more sports Schools League. After a string of 66 updates online at westtown.edu/ consecutive Friends Schools League athletics dual meet wins by Westtown Varsity Wrestling, the team was upended by Friends Central. We honor and celebrate this remarkable run in the FSL, which began nearly 10 years ago on February 4, 2005. The Golf Team became undefeated champions in the FSL this spring. This is the second consecutive year they have won the FSL Championship title. In addition, the foursome of sophomores Cole Berger, Marc Groenhuysen, Dylan Torpey, and Henry Zuckerberg shot a 155, breaking the school record of 157. In Track and Field, junior Naomi Jimenez posted a high jump of 5'4.75", breaking the school record of 5'4".

ALL Westtown athletes helped in the yearlong battle to win the Patterson Cup—our friendly competition with rival George School—for the second consecutive year! Go ’Town!

FACU LT Y PRO FIL E

Spencer Gates

Exit Stage Left STO RY BY LY N E T T E A S S A R S S O N • PH O T O BY E D C U NI C ELLI

The kind eyes behind his spectacles belie a fierce passion for his subjects. His posture and gestures speak of a man comfortable on the stage. His voice, shaped by his British accent, is at once commanding and gentle. He is a benevolent king of the classroom. After 35 years at Westtown, Spencer Gates is an icon. Is it because of those eyes behind the glasses? That honeyed voice? The colorful sweaters? The sly sense of humor? The enthusiasm for Shakespeare? His love and concern for students? How about, “All of the above.” Like all who teach at Westtown, Gates has had many roles. He has been teacher, department chair, advisor, director of plays, club advisor, teacher mentor, committee clerk, and actor in faculty plays. Gates arrived at Westtown in 1980. “Westtown was the first job where I felt I was doing the choosing rather than saying, ‘Please take me!’” He was drawn to Westtown because the students seemed both happy and serious—a combination he found compelling. He found the Quaker ethos of the school appealing as well. Gates describes that it was partly students who helped him acclimate to what was to him a new kind of environment, one in which students were comfortable with speaking their minds. “I remember thinking that students were not allowed to wear shorts to class and sending several boys back to the dorm to change. The male Student Body President, Geoﬀ Mueller, approached me and politely explained that actually, yes, students were allowed to wear shorts!” He relied on students to help him navigate the waters. “As far as my work in the theatre was concerned, two senior girls, Mary Hurd and Vicki Neale, took me under their wing and guided me through the first year. I would have been lost without them.” The weight Gates gives to students’ voices is apparent in the classroom. While he is passionate about sharing his love of literature and imparting the lessons of grammar, writing, and 22

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Shakespeare (his students will learn iambic pentameter, make no mistake), he is also ever mindful of leaving space for them to express themselves. Students who have had Gates in class can attest to the pencil-biting technique he employs to that end. When he senses he’s been talking too much, he bites on a pencil to keep himself from talking so that students can speak instead. He values what his students have to say and knows that real learning happens when students explore topics together. “He’s one of those teachers who is always excited about what he is teaching but is also willing to sit and learn from others,” says Sam Duﬀey ’15. His students gush about him, all describing him as a listener who loves his students. “My experience at Westtown would not be the same if Teacher Spencer was not here. Since the very first day of school, he is the person who has been a great support for me,” says senior Boss Prachyathipsakul. His advisees easily refer to him as a father figure. “Teacher Spencer has been like a parent to me since coming to Westtown last year,” explains Jack Maxman ’15. “He’s a great man and always is doing what is best for me.” Gates is also a master of the stage, heading the Theater department at Westtown for 18 years. He directed countless plays and taught hundreds of students the crafts of acting and directing. “It’s incredible what he could coax from his actors,” says Whitney Hoﬀman Suttell ’98, touching on the oft-mentioned ability to bring out the best in his actors and students. An actor in his own right, he is active in community theater and has lit up Westtown’s stage in faculty plays. “I feel I have been lucky to have had a career that I enjoyed,” Gates explains. “I hope I don’t have a legacy. I believe the strength of Westtown does not lie in individuals, but in an atmosphere. But it would be nice if some of my students past and present could drink to my health at their 50th reunion!” Here’s to you, Teacher Spencer. Cheers!

FAC U LT Y P R O F I L E

Watch a video of Teacher Spencer at www.westtown.edu/ thewestonian

“I hope I don’t have a legacy. I believe the strength of Westtown does not lie in individuals, but in an atmosphere.”

SUMMER 2015

FACU LT Y PRO FIL E

Judy Nicholson Asselin ’71

Making Connections Her eyes light up when she talks about her favorite subjects, and she is ready with a smile. A Friend and a friend who exudes joy, passion, and energy, she is a teacher, writer, theater lover, hiker, leader, and gardener. And she’s now a retiree. Let’s face it: it is hard to sum up a career like Judy Nicholson Asselin’s, one with several twists and turns. She has had various roles at Westtown, her talents suited to each one. A fourth generation Westonian (Class of 1971), she has been a teacher of Theater, Algebra, and English. She has taught in all three divisions. She has been a theater director, trustee, committee clerk, club advisor, and Assistant Dean. For the last seven years, Asselin has been Westtown School’s Sustainability Director. When Asselin first came to Westtown School, she was a green 24-yearold theater intern who was asked also to teach tutorial sections of Algebra 1 to students who had failed the first semester. “It was a baptism by fire!” she recalls. Although she was terrified, renowned math teacher Charley Brown “used to pop by my classroom to make sure I was still standing!” Those students not only passed but also grew to love math. Taking a subject and running with it is a hallmark of Asselin’s career. After a time away from Westtown, she returned and dove into teaching

The Westonian Magazine

Watch a video of Teacher Judy at www.westtown.edu/ thewestonian

STO RY BY LY NET T E A S S A RS S O N • PHO TO BY ED CU N ICEL L I

Middle School English and directing plays. She was especially excited to teach writing to her students after having completed the PA Writing and Literature Project, part of the National Writing Project. “The purpose of becoming a good writer is to make a powerful connection with others,” she says, “and I loved teaching 7th grade English through that lens.” Connections. It’s a theme echoed in all of her work and her life. When directing plays, she focused on creating tight ensembles so actors felt connected to one another. During a production of The Diary of Anne Frank, she made the choice to keep the whole cast on stage during the intermission, quietly going about their daily

routines. “The real Anne and her family never got to leave their hiding place for years, and I wanted to drive that point home to the audience.” It worked; the audience felt more connected to the story. Perhaps Asselin’s most important role at Westtown has been that of Sustainability Director. Her lifelong passion for the care of the environment and for helping students (and our community) make the connection between themselves, each other, and the Earth drives her. She is a tireless evangelist for a just and sustainable future. Under Asselin’s leadership, Westtown has cut electricity use by 17 percent, diverts 65 percent of campus waste, sources 25 percent of campus food locally, and purchases

100 percent wind power. In 2013, Westtown was named a Green Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education and a Green Power Partner by the EPA. Asselin was also instrumental in the Westtown Science Center’s LEED Gold certification. Asselin is quick to note, however, that these successes in sustainable practices are a result of shared work. “Westtown has taught me that groups are more powerful than individuals and that groups are made powerful by strong individuals. Westtown is a great ecosystem to be part of; learning and teaching here means that we get to see every day how healthy interdependency works. We need each other to thrive.” Asselin hopes that part of her legacy is in “how we

shape the next generation of thoughtful, passionate changemakers. The sweetest moments for me in teaching and as Sustainability Director were those times when I realized that the individuals and groups I was working with were charting new paths that I might have influenced or inspired initially but that were now owned by them. When a colleague starts a campus carpooling initiative or devises a new way to use the campus to teach about sustainable land use in a history class, I am thrilled.” With robust programming and sustainable practices in place and growing, we can attest that it is, indeed, her legacy.

“Westtown is a great ecosystem to be part of; learning and teaching here means that we get to see every day how healthy interdependency works. We need each other to thrive.” SUMMER 2015

The Arts Gallery ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE in Westtown’s art classes. The studio and visual arts at Westtown provide students with the space and tools to express themselves creatively through a variety of Learn more media. The canvases, both literal about the and figurative, are blank, and Arts at westtown. students are encouraged to bring edu/arts. them to life. Here are just a few examples of our students’ creative expression from this winter and spring.

VISITING ARTIST FUND When a visiting artist comes to class, magic tends to happen, which is why the Visual Arts Department wants to establish an endowed Visiting Artist Fund for the Upper School. A previous one-time gift funded visiting artist Melanie Yazzie ’84, who spent a week working with students. Visiting artists deepen and diversify the arts curriculum at Westtown, and your gift to the Visiting Artist Fund will ensure that students continue to benefit from the talents of these artists. Please visit community.westtown.edu/ visitingartist to learn more.

The Westonian Magazine

SUMMER 2015

Sometimes jumping for joy means jumping into the arms of a friend!

Please enjoy much more coverage of Commencement, including a video of the ceremony, on our website. Visit www.westtown.edu/ thewestonian.

The Westonian Magazine

G R A D UAT I O N

20 E 15 CLASS OF

IN SPITE OF A RAINY FORECAST, on Saturday, June 6th, the Commencement of the Class of 2015 was celebrated in the Greenwood. The clouds eventually departed, making way for the sun to shine upon our newest alumni and this gathering. These MER 2015 pages shine a light on CommencementS U asMwell.

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OF ON G RCLASS ADUATI

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CONGRATULATIONS

G R A D UAT I O N

SUMMER 2015

20 15 CLASS OF

S TU DEN T VOIC ES

The Westonian Magazine

S T U D E NT VO I C E S

Graduation Essays The voices we want to hear most at Commencement are those of our students. Each year, three essays are selected to be read at the ceremony by a committee of faculty (who remark on the difficulty of selecting only three), and the seniors elect a valedictorian to speak on their behalf. As Head of School John Baird noted, “This year’s senior essayists represented the extraordinary diversity of this community and its impact in forging the character, intellect, and values of our students.” We share their words with you here.

LILI DOMENICK

From the moment we had boarded the plane at the Tampa airport, I had pressed myself against the window, watching the drops of dew slide down the glass in the early morning sunlight and craning my neck to glimpse the flashes of landscape between puﬀs of clouds. I wanted to see the whole Cuba, to glimpse the kidney-shaped outline tucked into the cerulean waves of the Caribbean. Every so often, I looked away from the window, watching the families huddled in their seats clutching plastic baby toys and diapers, also leaning against the window as we circled above their island. As I looked below, I saw the white caps of waves, the trails of cruise ships in the blue water, and finally, too soon, the faint outline of trees, buildings, and fields in the distance. We had descended much too rapidly for me to glimpse the whole island, and I felt an odd sort of panic, my sneakers tapping out a rhythm on the airplane floor. Cuba had seemed so tiny in my mind, so easily compressed into something small and understandable. But as we landed, I was disoriented; I could only see the palm tree growing up from the dusty sidewalk, the rusting iron fence of the airport, and the stray dog loping up to greet us as we descended from the steps of the plane. Ten days later, we are clustered on a beach in Viñales, the breeze from the ocean buﬀeting around us, bottles of water clutched in our hands, the sun

searing relentlessly into exposed shoulders and necks. We strain to hear one another’s voices over the splashing surf, the children batting a volleyball back and forth in the sand, and the man clutching armfuls of conch shells asking “Quiere?” Every day, we gather in Meeting for Worship, bringing this part of ourselves to each place we visit in Cuba. Most times, I listen, eagerly anticipating my classmates’ words, waiting for them to oﬀer some nugget of guidance or insight. Today, I decide to speak up, raising my voice against the sound of the waves. I remember that first day on the airplane and how I had tried to see the whole island. I talk about the routine we have established in Cuba: waking up to the cool ocean breeze, eating fresh fruit in the hotel café, leaving with backpacks in tow for a day of patting together slabs of clay with the artists, splashing colorful murals onto the walls of El Proyecto Comunitario Muraleando, slipping through the narrow side streets of Habana Vieja, and exchanging convertible pesos for tarnished jewelry or faded movie posters. Despite the hours we have spent here, and despite the routine, I still feel that sense of panic that I felt when we landed in Havana and an inability to grasp what is happening around me. When I am finished speaking, my words fade into the sound of the surf lapping insistently against the beach, yearning to touch our toes.

Profe Mónica speaks out of the silence: “Who gave us the right to come here and watch? To make a judgment, to draw a conclusion, to try to understand a people? Who says that they want to be understood, that understanding is the goal of this trip?” Tears pool in my eyes as she speaks. I am rattled by her words, stung by their authenticity and force, and ashamed by my effort to understand. She is telling me that I do not need to have answers, that I did not come to Cuba to draw a conclusion, and to return with some sort of authority to speak of the Cuban experience. She seems to understand that I have been very much an observer these two weeks, watching through the windows of the tour bus, peering down into crumbling roofs, and staring unabashedly at the people milling about on street corners. I saw them, but I didn’t know them. I didn’t know if the Cuban people were happy, why some want to leave and some do not, if socialism was an effective governmental system, how the people we met felt about us visiting Cuba. I can guess at these answers, present small snippets of information that I have collected as I observe, but I don’t know the truth. I can talk about the tear that slipped onto Davíd’s scruffy face as he waved goodbye to us from the sidewalk of Muraleando, the rich lilting tone of Mambu’s voice as she sang to us, the flan swirling around on my tongue, the sound of our tour guide Hiroshi’s guttural laughter as we sang together on the bus, how the dance instructor’s hips swayed naturally to salsa, Mozambique and mambo, how my feet twisted and wobbled when I tried to replicate the intricate steps. How the wrinkled hands reached through the slats of the windows as we sat in the restaurant. “Dinero? Por favor?” How the mudcaked road of Viñales wound around the mountains, carved from molten lava that crept across the island. I can speak of the lack of hurriedness, the sitting at dinner for three hours sipping the espresso slowly and deliberately, tilting

SUMMER 2015

S TU DEN T VOIC ES

back and smiling at the inky darkness. I can tell you about the time when we dashed across two roads of traﬃc to reach the Malecón, dodging the classic cars and taxicabs as they honked at us, doubling over in laughter and relief as we leaned against the cement, closing our eyes as the sea salt brushed against our eyelids. I can tell you about the socialist propaganda that stood in the place of billboards, huge faces of Ché and Fidel shouting “Viva Cuba, Viva la revolución!” I can tell you what I saw, but not what it means. In my final days in Cuba, I recited Profe Mónica’s message in my head: I had no right to judge, to take what I saw and twist it into something that made sense in my own world. I had tried to approach Cuba as I did my academics: methodically observing, recording my observations, and drawing conclusions. I was too separate, too restrained by my need to observe and understand that I failed to make vital connections: giggling with the Cuban girls on the side of the street, or playing soccer with the boys at the farm. I realized that only by shedding my role as an observer could I truly submit myself to the Cuban culture. So when we swam in the ocean, I splashed in the water alongside everyone else, tossing the volleyball back and forth with the Cuban boys who ran up to us on the beach, digging my toes into the sand, not trying to wrap my head around what it meant or what I had learned. That final night in Cuba, when people danced, swaying their hips to the beat of hand drums and acoustic guitars, I joined in, raising my arms and twirling alongside them. I knew that when I returned from Cuba, people wouldn’t understand this realization, and they would ask me the same questions I had asked myself: “So what did you learn? Are they happy? How’s the government? The economy?” So many questions, so many answers that I do not have, that I will never have. I went to Cuba to watch, to listen, to observe, to submit myself to a culture and a people. So when they ask me, I will tell them about the breeze, the 34

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gaunt, wrinkled faces stretched into smiles, the bare tummies of the children as they danced for us, and the arched back of the donkey, straining against the weight of the palm leaves as he trudged up the hill.

EDVINAS RUPKUS

When I think about my experience at Westtown School, I often ask myself, “What did I do to deserve this opportunity?” I find myself in the enviable position of having attended a prestigious school that challenged me academically, strengthened my skills as an athlete, and lit my path for the future. Only a couple of years ago, I was strolling around in a small, provincial Lithuanian town of eight thousand. What happened? An opportunity came my way, and I took it. Almost completely on my own, I decided that I would take a chance and, lucky for me, taking that chance was the right decision. Chance, or luck, or perhaps my vision brought me to the U.S.A., where I found the perfect school, coupled with a welcoming community of people who seemed to care for me as much as the people that I left back home. I planned to take full advantage of my opportunity to excel in the classroom and on the basketball court. But I also felt a nagging sense of obligation to give something back. I wanted to be the best for my teachers, for my coaches, and for my host family, who believed in me and supported me. But I struggled with knowing how to give rather than receive. One event and one overheard comment changed my struggle. During my first season playing for the Varsity Basketball Team, our team proved to be very talented. We set high expectations for ourselves as did our coaches, classmates, families, and fans. We were lucky enough to make it into the final game of the PA State Tournament. Our opponent was a very skilled team from the Hill School. We started the game really sloppily, which put us behind from the very beginning.

We struggled, and we did our best, but our eﬀorts were not enough. The sound of the final buzzer was a loud confirmation that the championship was not ours. Our despondent fans stood frozen and watched the Hill students celebrate the victory. My teammates covered their faces and hid the tears in their eyes. Something broke inside of me. I stood in the chaos of confusion, disbelief, and celebration and began to cry. I was not able to stop. As I stood there on the court, I remembered my very first basketball practice when I was six years old. I felt that same sense of desperation that comes from not knowing what is happening. All of our time practicing and all of the time spent in the gym suddenly felt worthless to me. After the immediate emotions of the loss dissipated, we prepared to leave the gym. With that achy sadness that remains inside, I walked out of our locker room to use the water fountain. As I was drinking, a little boy, probably a brother of one of the Hill players, asked his mom: “Hey, mom, why are these boys crying? They got medals, too, right?” I almost choked after hearing those words from that little boy. He did not understand that winning the gold medal meant everything. Maybe he was too young to understand that I had worked too hard to be second, not first. But his question stayed with me. During every single Meeting for Worship that year, I would think about that little boy’s comment and eventually came to understand what it meant for me. Playing the game is not just about the gold medals. It is not about the glory and the joy of being the first. The glory was in the opportunity to play my favorite game with teammates that I love in front of an audience filled with my teachers, my family, and my friends. I should cry out for joy for being on that court! Yes, little boy, you are right. I did get the medal! I decided then that I would change my attitude and my behavior. Giving back became giving it my best, no matter what the outcome, without sadness or regret.

S T U D E NT VO I C E S

I approached my second year at Westtown diﬀerently than the first. I stopped focusing on the medal at the end and chose to be better in every aspect of my experience. I tried to be kind to everyone with whom I had contact — teachers, friends, family, teammates, and coaches. I worked to have a positive attitude in all of my experiences, to smile and laugh — even when I had a research paper to complete or a challenging practice ahead of me. I became a tour guide in order to introduce this remarkable place to potential students. I never missed a work job because working on campus was another opportunity to give back to the community that was unconditionally supporting me despite my not having that gold medal or the State Championship on my resume. I stopped focusing on the end game and focused on being the best I could be in every moment. In the words of Winston Churchill, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” I changed my attitude about earning a living through gold medals and accolades to making a joyful life for myself and my community at Westtown. However, I didn’t become less competitive. My senior year, our team was eager to fix the mistakes that we made the previous year and win the State Tournament for the first time in Westtown’s history. Again, our team was talented and had a roster full of powerful players. Again we made it into the final round of the State Tournament. In the championship game, our opponent was the Phelps School. This game was going to be diﬀerent. We started out strong, with no setbacks like in the beginning of the game the previous year. The crowd was on their feet cheering. We were playing well, with everything we had. Graduating with a State Title in my pocket seemed to be a real possibility. But as can happen in sports and in life, the game took an unexpected turn. Again, when the final buzzer sounded, the title was not ours. The scoreboard reflected a devastating

repeat of the previous year’s final game. But this time was diﬀerent for me. I did not cry. Instead of putting my head down and covering my face, instead of worrying about the things I did or didn’t do, I stood tall and hugged those who came to watch us play. I now know that those two silver medals are and will be priceless to me forever. Those medals mean more to me now just as the “W” on my jersey means more to me today than when I first put on the uniform. “W” is not just the first letter of the school name. The “W” is recognition of my membership in an incredible community and in a family where I have made not a living, but a life.

I realized that only by shedding my role as an observer could I truly submit myself to the Cuban culture.

JAMAL TULIMAT

It has been a long way. I’m privileged to have studied among you. To have met people as generous and loving as you are. To have been a part of a community so welcoming and so passionate about their mission. I stand among you as one of many. As one privileged boy who could, out of millions of Syrian youths who could not. I stand for them, knowing that they, like myself, want to create a better future and to learn how to embrace it in a world of increasing fragility. Ten years ago, I was not as privileged as I am today. Back then, my siblings and I lived in a small house with our mother. She raised us, fed us, and educated us in a ruthless world. She walked for miles to save the small price of public transportation. She strove, worked, and fought to secure our place at school during the bustling hours of the morning. She never grew tired, for our sakes, even under the scorching Syrian sun of August. She kept on fighting for us and never lost hope in us, her children, even when we were unappreciative and unpromising. And for that, my dear mother, I thank you, knowing that I can never thank you enough, Samah Ezzat Tyara. I remember walking across the road back to my home during fifth

Lili Domenick

Edvinas Rupkus

Yes, little boy, you are right. I did get the medal! …Giving back became giving it my best, no matter what the outcome, without sadness or regret. SUMMER 2015

S TU DEN T VOIC ES

grade. I was looking at our small bottom-floor apartment that we had rented, with its battered iron door. We were financially indebted to others, but still, we were lucky to have a roof over our heads and food in our fridge. I had a big imagination. I had big plans: I was going to grow up, finish high school with good grades, and go on to a Syrian public college despite the intense competition. I was optimistic — I would be lucky to be educated there when millions of Syrians did not have that privilege. I never expected that I would be standing here today in the United States, speaking fluent English in the presence of my dearest of friends, graduating from a wonderful private school, and going oﬀ to a great college. If had you told me that a few years ago, I would have probably told you to “piss oﬀ ” in Arabic. Syria was beautiful. Despite many hardships, I looked toward the future cheerfully. Growing into adulthood, I would have enjoyed my country’s beauty and indulged in its heritage. I would have loved to walk down the streets of Homs, Damascus, and Aleppo. To gaze at the tall cypress trees that dotted the country. To share Syria with its amiable and diverse peoples. I also never would have expected that most of this would disappear. I witnessed my beloved country fall into war and chaos. I saw my city of birth and life change its title from “the city of peace” into “the capital of the revolution.” It all happened so quickly, my mind could not comprehend it. Syria, of all Middle Eastern countries, was always the most stable. It was painful to live through, to see my future and the futures of my family and friends cease to progress. I stayed at home for a year without school, hoping that Syria would stabilize into peace again. Day after day, it seemed clearer that the opposite was happening. It was then that I sat in front of my computer and started searching for ways to create a new future. 36

The Westonian Magazine

I also owe thanks to someone else —my brother, Samuel Tulimat. He helped me find courage and hope when I did not have much of either. He encouraged me to find my skills and hone my abilities. He pushed me when I needed pushing the most. Sam helped me apply to schools in the United States, and one of these schools was Westtown, a small Quaker school in Pennsylvania. I remember my brother, Sam, giving me a pep talk before my phone interview with T. Sam Jordan. I was nervous; it was my very first interview. You might assume that it went well since I’m standing here today. I was taken by how friendly Westtown’s admissions office was. That call seemed like the beginning of a new road, and it was. I remember walking on campus for the first time. It was intimidating because it was a new school in a different country with a different culture. It felt intimidating, yet welcoming. On the first day, the gorgeous campus of Westtown opened its arms to me, the students welcomed me with warmth and curiosity, and the teachers greeted my presence and challenged my mind to grow. Two and a half years later, it is clear that Westtown has built the person I am today. Westtown taught me how to be challenged by my peers and to challenge them in return; it taught me how to see past misconceptions and build new ideas; it taught me how to treat others with respect and expect the same; it taught me how to learn and how to teach; it taught me to be truthful when I make a mistake, and how to learn from such mistakes; it taught me how to make friendships and maintain bonds; it taught me to work hard even when things are not going as planned. And most importantly, Westtown taught me how to live life and find happiness and simplicity in creation. How will I remember Westtown? In more than one way, probably. I will remember Michael Wesner running pantless down the hall screaming, “Snow Day!” I will remember Luke Bley and the puzzled look on his face

whenever anyone speaks with him. I will remember Tong Pow and how he is pretty much the nicest guy on Planet Earth. I will remember a school that took me in as one of its own, forged my character, and prepared me not only for success, but also for happiness in my life. This is the end of a road that Westtown has guided us through, but it is only the beginning.

[VALEDICTORIAN]

DIRE EZEH

Good morning, everyone! Today I’d like to thank all the friends, family, teachers, and students who have helped us get to where we are today. We would never have made it without your support and guidance. We have so much love, appreciation, and respect for you all. And to my class, the Class of 2015, I am grateful to have this wonderful opportunity to speak on your behalf, and it is truly so good to see you all in the Greenwood. For anyone who has attended Westtown or spoken to a Westtown student, you know that one of the quirks that makes Westtown unique is the interesting and abstract conversations held during meals. About two weeks ago, I was eating dinner with a couple of my close friends, and Jesse asked the question, “What if after you leave Westtown, you die? Like, what if people that have ‘graduated’ simply ceased to exist?” Of course Kate quickly told him that the idea was absurd and most definitely not the truth. But the thought has stuck with me. I can see myself filling up the rental car with the suitcases and boxes, looking back one last time at the building in which I grew into the young man who stands before you today, getting in the car, and driving fast down Johnny’s Way as the credits begin to roll while My Heart Will Go On plays softly in the background. It is ridiculous to think that people simply vanish into thin air after they graduate, but on some level, the idea that once

S T U D E NT VO I C E S

someone graduates they disappear is very real. In a couple of years, Westtown students will no longer be able to match faces to our names, and when we come back for reunions and say, “I was the Class of 2015,” the words may sound antique and out of place. Graduation, although many of us have been looking forward to this event for up to 13 years, is terrifying because we are going to be leaving behind all we have known up until this point. There will be no more “adventuring” into the woods on weekends, no more getting lost on the way to Marketplace, and no more waking up early on Sunday for Meeting for Worship. The days of spontaneous classroom parties, the long and insightful discussions about existentialism and sexuality, playing a round of “Super Smash Bros.” in between classes, and ordering “#1 China” at 10:45 on weekends are all behind us. Maybe not “Super Smash Bros.”, but the rest of these things have come and gone, and once we leave, diploma in hand, we will be saying goodbye to this slew of arbitrary intricacies that now define our Westtown careers. However, as someone who comes from one car ride, two plane rides, and an overpriced taxi cab away, I know that “home” is not made of bricks or stone; it is made up of people, and as I stand here among the other members of the Class of 2015, I realize how lucky I am to have found my home. My class is not the biggest Westtown has seen, nor have we always been able to get along. I remember when we all met for the first class Meeting for Worship and talked about taking control of our senior year. I remember dinner at John Baird’s house where we heard compelling testimonies of what we as a grade have managed to accomplish. I look at us and remember the Senior Collection Run where 77 out-of-shape teens were running and shouting as if their lives depended on it. Last year we even bought a llama to support a farmer in South America. We may not be the rowdiest bunch, but we are talented beyond belief. As individuals we are so unbelievably unique. There are artists like Emily and

Lauren, athletes like Ed and Caroline, rocket scientists like Casey and Alex, thrill seekers like Jesse and people like Kate who would rather read a book. There are people with hearts too big for their bodies, like Michael Liu and Marie, people who are passionate and driven like Steffanie and Sam; there are people who just like to kick back and relax, like John, and people like AK who want to do everything, always, all at the same time. This grade is full of people who aren’t afraid to have fun, like David, and people who speak their truth, like Kaiyana. We have top-notch musicians like Joe, Tong, and Mike, as well as remarkable writers like Jake, Haley, and Margot. As a class we speak at least ten different languages and hail from over 15 different countries. I choose to believe that it was not by chance that we are here together sitting side by side because the connections we have made as a class are too intense to be “unintended.” It seems as if every conceivable obstacle was thrown our way this year: having sophomores on G2, the cancellation of the Ghana trip one month before Senior Projects, or the buses “breaking down” on our way to the beach; we even almost had Graduation inside!! We took these hurdles and turned them into stepping stones; we are constantly challenged, and each and every time we take the bull by the horns. Westtown has provided us with the opportunity to grow in a nurturing environment, where people embrace differences rather than fear them. Whether we like it or not, we have learned to be compassionate and outspoken; we are a class that stands up for what we believe and isn’t afraid to question the rules. I am so blessed to graduate alongside 76 of the most gifted individuals I have ever met, so excited to see the heights they will reach in their future endeavors, and so contented to know that life doesn’t end once we leave Westtown, because we have so much to offer the world.

Westtown taught me how to live life and find happiness and simplicity in creation.

Jamal Tulimat

Dire Ezeh

I choose to believe that it was not by chance that we are here together… because the connections we have made as a class are too intense to be “unintended.” SUMMER 2015

A LL I N THE FAM ILY

20 15

CLASS OF

The Westonian Magazine

A L L I N T HE FA M I LY

Stay Connected More than 6,600 Westtown alumni are all together in one place, right now. The new EVERTRUE ALUMNI MOBILE APP is an easy way for you to connect with other Westonians. This free tool allows you to look for alumni by geography, profession, class year, and so much more! Download the EverTrue App in the Apple App store or the Google Play store and search for Westtown School.

All in the Family CO N G R AT U L AT I ONS TO THE CL A S S OF 2015! We celebrate our newest alumni who hail from Westtown families or are connected to faculty and staff. WO N ’ T YO U JO I N US ? Westtown connections are important to us! We encourage alumni to inquire about admissions and to discuss the financial tools available. If you would like to learn more about admissions at Westtown or to refer a family, please call the Admissions Office at (610) 399-7900. (1) LUTKUS Teddy Lutkus ’15, Ted Lutkus (CF) (2) MCLAUGHLIN Kathy Packert McLaughlin ’79, Melissa McLaughlin ’15, Natalie McLaughlin ’13, Laura McLaughlin ’10, Kristie McLaughlin ’08 (3) BLEY Luke Bley ’15, Carl Beehler (CF) (4) BREAM Kevin Bream ’82, Chris Bream ’15, Cameron Bream ’18, Kent Bream ’86

(5) FETZER Phoebe Miller ’12, Josh Fetzer ’12, Jake Fetzer ’15, Andy Fetzer (CF), Hilary Simons (CF), Sophie Miller ’10 (6) DECH Jeannelle Dech (FF), Larry Dech (CF), Casey Dech ’15, Corynne Dech ’12

Follow us on Facebook Stay up-to-date on what is happening at Westtown through the Westtown School Facebook page, the Westtown Alumni Facebook page, and the Westtown Athletics Facebook page. Learn about upcoming events, celebrate alumni successes, and follow your favorite teams. Want to Watch a Game? If you can’t make it back to campus, you can still watch Westtown athletes on our fields and courts live or on demand. Premium Bleachers accounts get access to home games, and free Bleacher accounts are also available for select games. Activating your account is easy and just takes a minute, so don’t miss a minute of the action! Subscribe or log in at gobleachers.com.

(7) STRODE Brad Strode ’78, Max Strode ’15 Key: CF=Current Faculty FF=Former Faculty

SUMMER 2015

CONUNDRUM

C T

ST ORY BY R ACH EL CL A R K E ’8 6 A N D T ER RY D U BO W

C ON

N O P H O T O S BY ED CUNICELLI

The Westonian Magazine

Social Media, Westtown, and the Power of People

SUMMER 2015

THERE ARE NO VILLAINS IN THIS STORY. BUT THERE HAS BEEN AN

EARTHQUAKE. Social media has seismically shifted the geography for all of us whether or not we tweet, post, stalk, or avoid sites like Facebook and Instagram altogether. These are not simply faddish communication tools; instead, they represent wholesale changes in how we as individuals and community members understand our-selves and each other. Westtown is no stranger to the power of social media. However one feels about the Facebook flurry regarding the modified boarding requirement, it inarguably drew a spotlight on how the school connects (or doesn’t) with a sizable portion of its community. The response also revealed the ways that social media can inspire authentic, meaningful connection and how it can simultaneously drive people away from each other. We’ve seen similar shifts internally as social media tools become a part of the student experience here, drawing students closer together, creating platforms for sharing and expression as well as opening new pitfalls in the wellworn path of adolescence. It’s a conundrum, to say the least, a shift in the human experience played out in real time, tweet by tweet, leaving more questions than answers. It’s a landscape that frightens some and excites others. It’s also one that the Westtown community is entering with its usual thoughtfulness, optimism, and courage. 42

The Westonian Magazine

BY THE NUMBERS

1.4

BILLION people own a smartphone.

56%

of Americans have a profile on a social networking site.

55%

of Americans 45–54 have a profile on a social networking site.

22%

of Americans use social networking sites several times per day.

BILLION + Facebook users worldwide.

240 MILLION people are on LinkedIn.

560 MILLION people use Twitter.

THE LANDSCAPE Two-hundred-plus years ago, Quakers founded Westtown to provide a “guarded education” for their children. In technology- and media-saturated 2015, though, it’s virtually impossible to guard against the encroachment of the outside world, nor does Westtown seek to do so. Instead, Westtown wants to use its culture of thoughtfulness, mindfulness, and questioning to nurture our students’ unique talents and perspectives so that they will engage with and improve the world they inhabit. Which is good because in our hyperlinked world, we will need their full engagement. It’s difficult to appreciate fully just how interconnected we are, but data helps (see sidebar to the left). This level of connection fundamentally changes the way we live our lives. We’ve seen how social media can democratize news gathering, empowering citizen journalism and dismantling the barricades that protect authority. We’ve also seen how it can exacerbate our worst instincts, proliferate trivia, disguise insidious and mean-spirited misinformation as fact, as well as blur the lines between public and private lives. For alumni of a certain age, there are few greater divides among generations than Before Social Media and After. As with any marked change in the culture—telephones! radio! television!—it is easy to mourn the loss of what once was. And despite the admitted limitations of a world without social media, there is great nostalgia for the days when “Lights out!” meant, well, lights out. We waited in line for our turn to call our parents on the hall phone and carefully weighed the risks of a “shike” with the teenaged impatience of waiting until morning to see a boy- or girlfriend. Instead of a text, we sent one another KOBs. At some point, we all wonder if life was easier and better back then. “We had assigned seating for three meals a day,” says Mary Ann Wagner

CL A IR HO LT

’58. “This intentional interaction led to the opportunity to get students and faculty and staff to meet the entire community in a formal way. The follow-up became casual hellos as you saw people of all classes in halls or on the campus or away from campus. Social media would have kept us isolated and able to hide from the purposeful interaction.” That said, Wagner joins many alumni who are embracing social media and the connection it affords. “Social media has allowed me to be in touch with so many decades of friends and acquaintances— older and younger—a fabulous group of people all over the planet,” she says. “What a great thing! Many days I can have messages from Asia, Europe, New Zealand, Alaska, and South America.” For Westtown students, the social media landscape is one of tremendous promise and more pitfalls than you can count. “The cyberworld is a hall of mirrors,” notes Pat Macpherson ’69, longtime faculty member. “Once something is posted, it can become something else and used for many purposes and have an impact beyond the intent.” And yet it can also inspire creativity and connection that, in the world before social media, were virtually impossible. The give and take between the pluses and minuses of this New World problem is hard to navigate, especially without an established map or—gulp—yes —MapQuest. THE INTENTIONAL WORLD OF WESTTOWN In November 2013, Westtown invited noted clinical psychologist and author of The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age, Dr. Catherine Steiner Adair, to campus. She spoke to students, faculty, and parents about her research and her recommendations. In her book, Steiner-Adair notes, “The swift takeover has transformed tech from the merely helpful tool or harmless

diversion that it once was, to a dominant role as the hub and hearth of family life. The transformation has been nothing short of a revolution.” Today’s Westtown teachers work in the midst of that revolution. “We’re using social media in academic ways to show how we can use it appropriately,” says Nancy van Arkel, Middle School Principal, “and we’re putting it down to show the value of stillness and silence and face-to-face connection.” The tools themselves can be incredibly powerful. “On the plus side, it is a huge connector,” says Linda McGuire, Dean of Students and frequent contributor on Westtown’s parenting blog, A Well-Lit Path. “It makes it so kids are able to stay in touch with one another on a variety of different platforms.” These tools also inspire new ways for students to create community. “At Westtown, you don’t tend to see a lot of kids on their devices watching movies on their own,” says McGuire. “We have solid policies on cell phone use, but often those rules aren’t even necessary. What you see a lot of is groups of kids looking at phones together, watching funny YouTube clips and the like. They’re quite a bit more social than people often give them credit for.” But of course, there is an underbelly to all this connectivity. “The kinds of hurtful things going on in social media are the kinds of things that have always gone on in middle school,” says van Arkel. “We had our own versions of Ask.fm or Instagram, but we called them slam books or we passed notes. The difference is scale. It goes out into the universe. That provides a lot of challenge for us as educators.” To address this challenge, Westtown teachers have created programs that lead students to think critically about these, too. “The way pre-teens and young teenagers interact with social media can be a little like learning how to operate a car,” says Kristin Trueblood, Lower School Principal. “They can participate in social media, but they do not always know how to navigate around it, just as they might know how to drive a car in

the driveway but not have any idea how to navigate in traffic. They need lots of guidance about a huge range of things: how to communicate, when to turn away from the chatter of group texts and Instagram, and when to ask a grown-up to help them.” In that spirit, Carrie Timmins, Middle School Health teacher, has developed a deliberate and powerful social media curriculum for middle schoolers called Decisions. “We can’t stop them from using these tools, nor would we want to. But we can make them behave more mindfully about their technology so they can choose to respond instead of react. Responding allows space between the stimulus and what happens next.” In fact, an emphasis on mindfulness is woven throughout Westtown’s pre K-12 curriculum. “I think it’s the one way

“The give and take between the pluses and minuses of this NEW WORLD PROBLEM is hard to navigate, especially without an established map or— gulp—yes—MapQuest.” we’re going to help kids make better decisions,” says Timmins. “We’re not going to be successful if we simply tell them not to use technology or social media. We need to help them learn how to use these tools in a healthy and productive way.” In this work, Quaker principles are hugely helpful as well. “We focus on integrity, eye-to-eye conflict resolution, and compassion,” says Timmins. “We talk about how we have mirror neurons that are engaged when we see someone else’s face, which allows us to read how

Ask.fm: A website in which you can ask questions anonymously to a person who has an account, and they can choose to publicize and answer the question or not.

SUMMER 2015

our words or actions are affecting other people. We lose that in social media, and a winky smiley face won’t take the place of that.” But beyond the interpersonal effects of all of this connectivity is the pedagogical revolution that social media is inspiring inside the classroom. Take, for example, Lisa Cromley’s sixth grade English class, in which her students partner with sixth graders in Spencer, Iowa, on various projects. “I am teaching completely differently than I used to, and it kind of rocks my world,” Cromley says. “It’s uncharted and exciting.” In this partnership, Cromley develops portions of her curriculum with her co-teacher in Iowa and then uses Skype and other online tools to connect students to one another. They share work with each other, comment on each other’s ideas, and soon will share virtual group projects. “I couldn’t do this without social media and without these kids having access to each other consistently over time,” Cromley explains. “The reason why social media is so powerful in the classroom is that the teacher can stand back and let an authentic audience inspire the students’ best work.” Cromley says she’s never seen her students more invested in their work. In many ways, the revolution centers on the role content plays in a classroom. Historically, distribution of content was the principal job of school, but now that content is more accessible than ever, a school’s main work is to help students create, interpret, and manage content in meaningful ways. “I’ve never been able to teach kids this before because the piece of paper just got pushed back and forth between the two of us,” Cromley notes. “Now, kids buy in. Grammar and usage suddenly begin to matter. So does the meaning of what they write.” In the Upper School, Pat Macpherson makes social media and technology the center of the course itself in her senior elective, Schooled in Diversity Action Research: The Cyber Generation at Westtown. This is

The Westonian Magazine

WESTTOWN’S SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS

A Well-Lit Path blog.westtown.edu/blog A parenting blog written by Westtown teachers Westtownstories.org A social media site for Westonians where you can post memories and stories, connect with teachers and students, and rekindle the Westtown feeling EverTrue App A smartphone and tablet app for alumni, a means for connecting with fellow alumni. Just go to your app store, download the app, and search for Westtown. Smug Mug westtownschool.smugmug.com A photo sharing site for school photos Vimeo vimeo.com/westtownschool A host platform of Westtown’s videos Facebook facebook.com/westtownschool The most popular social media site, updated almost daily. We also have Facebook pages for alumni, athletics, the performing arts, and Westtown weekends. Instagram instagram.com/westtownschool Photo posts about life at school Senior Projects Blog westtownsrprojects.com A series of posts from seniors about their experiences while on projects Independent Seminar Blog independentseminarblog.com All students enrolled in Independent Research Seminar blog about their process, discoveries, and outcomes. Twitter twitter.com/westtownschool 140 characters of news items updated several times daily. We also have Twitter accounts for all of our Upper School sports teams, Westtown weekends, and Upper School Studio Arts.

her third year of teaching this class, in which students read scholarly research, discuss issues, and then turn the camera on themselves in group projects about how the cyberworld is affecting them. “The hope is that the class’s focus on research makes them more reflective and slows them down to think and listen to each other,” Macpherson explains. Last year’s seniors conducted an intensive study of how social media was changing their generation. Once they were done with the report, they presented their findings to the Upper School faculty. “The students saw that the devices divide their attention,” Macpherson reports. “It can come between friendships. It can weaken friendships.” The project was a powerful example of Westtown’s Action-Based Education, in which students actively designed a project, demonstrated their learning, and reflected on its meaning. Macpherson’s students also found that Westtown’s residential program can be a helpful contrast to the social media world because “you don’t have to go into cyber to be with peers,” she says. “The residential program provides space for face-to-face. It provides a very deep kind of accountability and familiarity.” And so, on campus, Westtown is adapting to the social media earthquake with its typical thoughtfulness. Teachers are trying to harness its power, help students explore its effects, and then find space to turn the machines off. LET’S STAY TOGETHER Class reunions can be a daunting prospect to many alumni. After so many years apart, is there anything left to connect us? Who’s that girl with the ponytail? Who’s that guy with the ponytail? And what happened to that guy who used to have a ponytail who now doesn’t have a hair left on his head? For those who are wary about coming back to campus, social media can provide a softer and smoother transition from past to present. “Social media has only enhanced Alumni Day for me; it makes the prospect of it less

S that are N O R U E N R O R e have MIR w w o h t u o b a hich allows lk w , e c a f “We ta ’s e ls e e e someon e s e w other n G e h IN w T d C e E g F F A e enga r r actions a o s d r o w r u o w o ky smiley in w a d n us to read h a , ia d e in social m t a h t e s lo e W . le peop of that.” e c la p e h t e k a t face won’t —CARRIE TI

MMINS

SUMMER 2015

formidable,” says Wendi Grantham ’85. “Facebook makes people less ominous to me and seemingly more accessible.” Mary Ann Wagner also sees the benefits that social media offers, especially when it comes to planning Alumni Day, a job she was tasked with as Alumni Director from 1975–1999. “I am honored to be added to younger class communications,” she says. “It is wonderful to see the quiet folks emerging like butterflies and the stars just bumbling along! The kindness to each other of all factions of a class is fun to see. When I worked with classes planning for five-year reunions, I always told them to be inclusive and to let the baggage of teendom disappear, and social media allows this to happen naturally.” Many Westtown graduates agree that Facebook has made reunions more meaningful. “My class was the first to use FB to connect prior to Alumni Day,” says Cathy Coate ’71. “A group of college professors hooked us up right when they initially ‘allowed’ adults to use Facebook. While the turnout wasn’t any larger or smaller than previous reunions, the experience was significantly different as we had shared the basic info (marriage, kids, careers) ahead of time, and when we got together, we were able to glide right into more meaningful topics immediately. I had also posted years of photos ahead of time, and that meant a great deal to my classmates.” Westonians have never been shy when it comes to expressing our views about everything from politics and social change to music and art, and social media can become a means to exchange ideas with friends, new and old. “I’ve been able to be in contact with people I barely knew at Westtown,” says Grantham. “With some, it’s been more an experience of getting to know their likes and dislikes. I get their points of view on issues in discussions that would probably never come up in real life because typical in-person communications would rule out the topics

“The hope is that the class’s focus on research makes them more REFLECTIVE and slows them down to think and LISTEN to each other.”

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Subtweet: A tweet, made on Twitter, that targets either a person, group, or event in a subtle way

—PAT MACPHERSON ’69

inappropriate or beyond our perceived current threshold of intimacy.” That threshold can be expanded in ways that we never imagined as we said goodbye to one another during graduation in the Greenwood. “Social media has dramatically stretched and deepened my connection to alumni,” says Heather Hoerle ’77. “Especially those in my class. We’re all friends on Facebook, and a number of those friends decided to form a summer trip to Italy last year. The connections have been great—with everything from birthday well wishes to e-support offered to those who are dealing with the loss of a loved one or beloved pet.” Sites like Facebook have also provided ample opportunity for checking in—either in the open or not!— with former paramours. “I thought about starting a Facebook site called ‘Cathy Coate’s Ex-Boyfriends,’” Coate says, laughing. “I have had several wonderful opportunities to communicate with former boyfriends about what went wrong and what went right, and from the viewpoint as a mature adult looking back, I found it enormously helpful in my on-going process of learning about life and love. And a lovely consequence of Facebook has been reconnecting with an old friend, Pat Swift ’72, whom I

introduced to my cousin, and now they are getting married!” And it’s not just alumni who are enjoying reconnecting via social media. “Facebook has been a tremendous way to reconnect with former students,” says Tom Woodward (former faculty), who has engaged with alumni on topics ranging from Coptic Greek and the Gnostic Gospels to LGBT rights and the use of the Oxford comma (he’s for it). “The first students I taught are now in their 60s. It has provided a forum for celebration—retirements and weddings, for example. I have found these communications open and meaningful. Also, each day I check birthdays, and I am able to focus on individuals who have been part of my life. I’m not sure how many people I would have contact with without Facebook. It is my main contact with that part of my life.” WHEN IT GETS COMPLICATED As with all forms of communication, there can be interactions which can both unite and divide a community like Westtown. After the school’s decision to modify its boarding requirements, Harve Nichols ’84 created a Facebook page called “Westtown: Is The Boarding Opportunity Essential to our Mission?” “I had few thoughts about the direction it would take when I established it,” he says. “My only point was to find the voice of alumni because I believed boarding to be important. And if we had to change [the policy], we needed this voice to be heard. Discourse is good.” The page soon became a sounding board, a soap box, and an opportunity for, shall we say, lively discussion. Supporters of the decision faced off with those against; alliances and friendships were formed and broken, and what has traditionally been a peaceful community of students and alumni erupted into a firestorm of passionate ideas. While Quakers have always embraced lively discourse, some felt that the page became more divisive

than helpful, especially when it came to tone, perceived and otherwise. “There were a number of other things that were said about people that have yet to be resolved,” Nichols says. “What happened in the absence of anyone saying, ‘Hey, I got this,’ were what people found to be personal attacks. And there were others who did not speak for fear of the backlash of fellow alumni. The decision has been made. What remains critical is how we are going to utilize the passion, desire, and efforts of alumni to move Westtown forward. So the page was one of the most beautiful mistakes I’ve ever made.” Grantham agrees that there can be a major disconnect between intent and tone, especially in a forum like Facebook. “I think that the thread demonstrated Facebook’s weaknesses when it comes to contentious discussion,” she says. “No inflections or emphases could be determined. There was no accompanying behavior to read. And what I found most frustrating was that people would get carried away defending one another at the expense of answering the question posed; staying on topic, aligning logical arguments, and irrelevant personal opinion derailed the discussion for me. Conflict seems better addressed when information can be uniformly dispensed, and when people can speak to each other in person. I found the entire experience frustrating, unsatisfying, and ultimately, futile.” CONFLICT RESOLUTION So where does this leave us? We can no sooner fight technological progress as we could those previous “threatening” inventions like the telephone and TV. And perhaps we shouldn’t try. At the end of the day, Westtown’s greatest strength is its community, no matter if it’s in the physical or

Westtown Way is a student-run, student-started anti-bullying group that works with help from the deans to better the environment at Westtown School. A small group, run by co-head Sam Oswald ’16 and me, acts as an outlet for people to turn to if they feel a situation needs to be addressed. Westtown Way prefers when a student involved or a bystander brings a situation to the group. Often, we will bring this issue forward to the Dean if we feel we need adult advice or it’s past our capabilities. However, there are always exceptions in which we approach first. In our day, Westtown Way’s biggest challenge is social media. Whether it’s an Instagram picture of a group of students that could be leaving someone out or a subtweet on Twitter where someone is targeted, we are constantly facing issues online. Problems can vary from people posting pictures without consent of others or posting and making fun of someone else’s photo. When a situation is not anonymous, our usual process is trying to figure out the whole picture by discussing with all members involved and then inevitably ending with a discussion where everything is brought to the table and the students must face their issues like young adults. Sometimes this kind of behavior can slip into something more serious than a small bit of unkindness. Bullying in our day and age thrives because a person becomes more confident when they can hide behind a keyboard. By not being face to face, the bullies don’t see the expression on the face of the bullied, so there is no real reason for them to regret their actions. Even though it does not happen all the time at Westtown, at the end of the day we are a high school, and bullying happens at high schools across the country. The Westtown atmosphere and Quaker values, however, make the bullying much harder to thrive and more likely to be rebuked and not applauded. Of course, not all social media used at Westtown is bad. A Twitter account was started named ‘Westtown Compliments.’ It is an anonymous Twitter feed for people to send in compliments and brighten other people’s days. That is why now, more than ever, the school is relying on us students. On sites like Ask.fm and apps like Yik Yak (recently banned at Westtown), everything you say can be completely anonymous. Neither the school nor Westtown Way can truly ban these websites or apps; the only thing left is putting our faith in the students. When a situation of bullying online arises, our end goal is that these Westonians in the making have the right moral values and a strong compass to stick up for who or what is right.

cyber world. We connect with each other in meaningful ways during our time at the School as well as post-graduation. Social media allows us to make these connections locally, globally, and most of all, intentionally. Whether it’s a smiling photo of alumni meeting up in London, a heated interaction about changes in the school, or “likes” on a cute baby picture on Facebook, the important thing is that we are communicating and engaging with the world and each other. That’s what Westtown is all about.

STUDENT PERSPECTIVE TARA FELDMAN ’17

TARA FELDMAN ’17 surrounded by members of Westtown Way

Yik Yak An app that allows users to anonymously create and view “yaks” (discussions) to people within a 10-mile radius.

SUMMER 2015

STO RY BY LY NET T E A S S A RS S O N

World, Into the

UNTO THEMSELVES SENIOR PROJECTS AT WESTTOWN

The Westonian Magazine

GROUP OF STUDENTS AWAKENED amid the mist of the Himalayas in the early morning. Yawning and sleepy, they gathered themselves and hiked in darkness to a shrine on the top of a mountain, a sacred place for Hindus. They settled just outside the shrine to meditate and to welcome the dawn. After the sun made its pink and orange appearance on the horizon, Teacher Kevin Eppler spoke out of the silence. “Do you want to see the face of God?” Yes, of course, they whispered eagerly. One by one he led them to a point inside the shrine. It was a mirror. This was a moment from the Senior Project to Nepal two years ago, a moment shared by all pilgrims who make the trek to this shrine. It is but one of many moments that have affected our students—in ways both grand and small—during Senior Projects. Senior Projects at Westtown, created in 1968, challenge students to take ownership of, and have a powerful voice in, their development as learners and individuals. Seniors can explore an area of passion, investigate a possible career, or do service work. They can create an independent project or join a school-sponsored trip. A project could be living in a village in South America, working in a museum, volunteering at an orphanage, doing an internship, or climbing a mountain. It could be documenting biodiversity in Panama or teaching English. Whatever the “could be” is, one thing is sure: Senior Projects are a transformational experience. For as much as they are journeys out into the world, they are also journeys inward. Left: Morning in the Himalayas; prayer flags adorn the trees. Photo by Evan Gross ’13. Right: Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem.

INDEPENDENCE AND GROWTH Senior Projects can be challenging, but that’s a good thing. Gone are the familiar dorm rooms and campus. Gone are classrooms with wooden tables and oriental rugs, the sounds of friends in the hallway and out on the South Lawn. Cozy and comfortable are replaced by endless possibilities for learning and growth. “Designing and executing an independent project are crucial parts of the educational experience,” says Steve Compton, Director of External Programs. “We want students to understand the details of planning because it’s not unlike what they will do as adults.” Students must find a mentor, provide a cost analysis, explain how they will document their experience, and describe what they aim to learn. “But more than that,” continues Compton, “designing and fulfilling a project is one more step in a series of steps toward independence.” It’s an intentional nudge toward self discovery. Independent projects vary as wildly as the personalities of teenagers who design them, but they share the common theme of exploring an area of interest. Students who undertake independent projects echo one another in their Senior Project reflections, which they write upon their return. They use words like “hard work,” “life-changing,” “amazing,” and “transformative.”

SUMMER 2015

SE N I O R PR O J EC T S

Sophia Elek ’15 crafted an independent project in Tasmania, where she attended Hobart Friends’ School. She felt what many seniors initially feel on Senior Projects: fear. It was fear of the unknown and fear of failure. Elek found herself confronted with fear at several points during her project, but especially during a Model U.N. debate. She felt nervous about speaking and participating. Her host student provided encouragement. “She challenged me every day to be a leader and to have confidence in myself. I never would have spoken during the U.N. Conference if it weren’t for her. Pushing me to try the debate conference helped me discover that I can be a leader.” Ultimately, the courage she found in this moment spilled into others. She began to take more risks and to “live in the present” of these experiences. She felt liberated. Elek returned from her project, as most seniors do, with a deeper sense of ability and confidence. “I came home knowing that in the fall I will be able to venture to an unknown world and land on my two feet.” The ability to venture into the unknown with confidence is just what Westtown hopes students will achieve. GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT About 20 years ago, Westtown began to offer official school-led Senior Projects in addition to independent projects. Westtown saw the value in making experiences for students that they would not otherwise have. Schoolled projects focus on cultural and geopolitical awareness, spirituality, service, or language immersion—and some provide all of these at once, such as the first-ever trip to Cuba this year. The Westtown en Cuba trip brought students to a newly-open Cuba, something quite rare for teenagers. They painted murals as part of the Muraleando Havana community beautification project. They worked side by side with community leaders. They honed their Spanish skills. They played and danced

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with kids in the barrio. They experienced Meeting for Worship with the small community of Quakers in Havana. They brought donations of toiletries to those in need. For the students, the Cuba trip was an eye-opener. They discovered that not everything they’ve learned about Cuba is accurate. They appreciate now that the truth of a place, a country, or an issue is nuanced and complex. Chris Bream ’15 sums up his experience in Cuba this way: “Life is grey. Experiences are grey. Compassion and love for all people, all countries, all religions, is grey. Not everything I was taught about Cuba was correct. Not everything I saw when I was there was correct. So now I simply judge from my own point of view, my own experiences, and my own ‘greys.’” Mónica Ruiz-Meléndez, Chair of the World Languages Department and leader of Westtown en Cuba, is passionate about what the trip has done not only for Westtown students, but also for what it means more broadly. “Cuba welcomed us with open arms! We quickly realized the uniqueness of our program, especially in light of the recent developments in terms of U.S.-Cuba relations. We’re onto something great. To quote a Cuban

compañero I met, ‘Your students are living history. This type of young people, your kids, will be talked about, written about for years to come.’” Many years ago, Kevin Eppler, Religion Department Chair, and then-principal Eric Mayer began to explore the idea of taking kids to Israel and Palestine. They were eager to tap into the rich religious history of the region and to introduce students to the conflict through the eyes of both Palestinians and Israelis. It was a bold request, one that the administration initially hesitated in granting. Eventually, it was agreed that this kind of trip would provide a powerful experience for seniors. Jon Evans ’73, current Clerk of the Board of Trustees, accompanied Eppler, Mayer and Westtown parent Jay Coen Gilbert on that first trip in 2010. He and his wife, Melissa Graf-Evans, have continued to lead trips there ever since. That boldness paid off. Students who have participated are united in their belief that it helped them more deeply understand the people and the conflict, although they also agree that they came home with more questions than answers. They learned that problems and solutions are complicated and profound, and that sometimes there are no easy answers.

“We want students to try something new and to take risks. Senior Projects ready them to face new environments, adventures, and challenges on their own.”

Left to right: Westtown en Cuba group; Patacancha, Peru; Noordhoek Beach, South Africa; building bricks at Heritage Academy in Ghana; painting murals in Havana

“The many truths of Israel/Palestine was a tremendous realization for me,” said MeeRee Orlandini ’14. “The Israelis and Palestinians with whom we meet throughout the intense two-week program remark constantly about the maturity, background knowledge, courtesy, and breadth of experience Westtown students present in their encounters,” says trip leader Graf-Evans. “They grapple earnestly and openly with difficult and often-conflicting truths.” In 2008, the Senior Project to Heritage Academy in Ghana was launched. Founded by Upper School teacher Kwesi Koomson in his hometown of Breman Esiam, Heritage Academy educates students of the region. It is unique for offering free schooling to both boys and girls, unusual in Ghana. Westtown students who participate in the program develop curricula and teach classes at Heritage. They also participate

in the upkeep of the school by painting and repairing buildings and building cement blocks. Students who have taught at Heritage and lived in the village have learned first hand about cultural differences. They are ‘haves’ put into a community of ‘have nots’; they feel what it means to be privileged. They witness the power of education to transform lives. They appreciate what it means to teach. (They universally agree that teaching is far harder than it looks!) They get their hands dirty making cement blocks for school buildings. They see dedication and sacrifice modeled for them in the figure of Kwesi, who made his dream of an education for Ghanaian children a reality. The project is an ideal combination of global engagement and service learning, and it has become a signature offering at Westtown.

PROJECTS WITH PURPOSE Senior Projects have taken Westtown students all over the globe—as close as West Chester, PA, as far as Japan, and hundreds of points in between. While seniors have discovered the world, they have— most importantly —also discovered themselves. They find themselves in situations that challenge their worldview, expose them to environments they might not otherwise know, and force them to look at themselves and their world in a new way. “We want students to try something new and to take risks. Senior Projects ready them to face new environments, adventures, and challenges on their own,” says Compton. Senior Projects prepare students, as the rest of their Westtown education has, to inhabit the world as confident, capable individuals — and ready to change it. Taking risks and learning something new doesn’t always take place in another city or on another continent. Sometimes the opportunities are in students’ own backyards. For example, the Tiny House Project, new this year, took place here on campus. (see sidebar p. 52)

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SE N I O R PR O J EC T S

TINY HOUSE PROJECT

Although the house itself is tiny —measuring a mere 8’ x 19’—the project was not. Students designed and are building a sustainable, off-the-grid house with mostly recycled materials. This “tiny house,” built atop a trailer frame, will be used as a mobile guest house for visitors to Westtown. For some students, this was their first experience building anything, let alone a house. They learned to do the big things like, how to solve the unique problems of making a small space liveable and sustainable, and the little things like how to use power tools. They learned how to

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design a structure and about compost toilets and solar panels. They collected and prepared building materials. And then they figured out how to put it all together. The Tiny House Project exemplifies Westtown’s Action-Based Education, in which students gain skills by doing and by applying what they know to a project of import. “We got to put into practice what we learn in school—leadership skills, math, communication, and creativity,” says Jacob Cope ’15. Apart from the knowledge they gained about the details of design and construction was a greater

lesson: the lesson of relationships and teamwork. As students reflect on the experience, they say that working together and deepening relationships were the most important aspects of the project, aside from their pride in making something lasting for Westtown. “This project,” notes senior David Burke, “not only taught me about how to design and build a house, but also gave me the opportunity to get to know kids I didn’t previously know well.” And as for teamwork, he says, “There was never a time when doing something alone was easier than doing it with another pair of hands.”

Senior Projects bring out the best in our students. “Our kids are gems and shine brighter than they ever have before once given the time and space to fly,” says Melissa Koomson, leader of projects to Mexico, Washington, D.C., South Africa, and Ghana. “To witness our students start to come into their own and experience life outside of Westtown makes it all worth it.” Project leaders agree that they see revelations happen in students. Challenged by environment or ideas, they become more-fully-realized versions of themselves than in the classroom. They are tested by what makes them uncomfortable, enlightened by taking risks, and surprised by what brings them joy. Kwesi Koomson, who has led seven projects to Heritage Academy, puts a finer point on it and distills Westtown’s goals in offering Senior Projects. “Seniors

Costa Rica, where they volunteered at Monteverde Friends School. “It changed my life!” exclaims Suttell. “The experience of teaching there helped me discover that I wanted to teach. I vividly remember going to Meeting for Worship in the Quaker meeting as we all sang “Peace Like a River.” After I graduated from college, I returned to teach at Monteverde Friends School before I came to teach at Westtown. I’m still a member of that Meeting.” For Suttell, her Senior Project gave her a career and a lifelong connection. The same is true for Bruce James ’90. His project involved working for a family friend at a company in Washington, D.C. “I had learned some computer programming. This was my chance to get a taste of it professionally. I learned how it feels to work with brilliant people on a large project.”

Academy) in the office as well as organizing trips for volunteers from all over the United States. “Without a doubt, my Senior Project changed my life. I feel incredibly blessed to have been affected by something so wonderful. To be able to find a passion for something is an amazing gift, and Westtown Senior Projects gave that to me.” THE VIEW FROM THE TOP After a climb that began at 10,000 feet in the Peruvian Andes, the group crested at the altiplano, or high plain. Twenty-one seniors and seven adults had hiked four miles of trails ever upward to 12,000 feet. Breathless exhaustion was replaced by exhilaration as they beheld the destination just above a quarry and stones laid in precise formation by the Inca. The altiplano in the Peruvian Andes

“Without a doubt, my Senior Project changed my life … To be able to find a passion for something is an amazing gift, and Senior Projects gave that to me.” integrate and apply everything they have learned in real time, and I am not just talking about academics. There are students I have known for years from the math classroom, dorm, or soccer, but they totally blow me away during Senior Projects because suddenly you see their complete self at work in a way that is not possible in the quasi-artificial environment of school.” THE LASTING EFFECTS Although alumni have had vastly different projects, many tell a similar story about their experiences — that it changed them in a fundamental way. Some even stumbled upon future careers. Whitney Hoffman Suttell ’98 was part of one of the first school-led trips. Under the leadership of Tim Loose, she and her fellow students went to

This project led to James’s career as a programmer, and while he is grateful for finding a career, he values what he learned about himself. “I learned about my own moral limits. The company worked on some military contracts. I was asked to do some research on landmines. It was too much, and I refused...the self-awareness of what I will and won’t do for employment has given me uncommon confidence.” Still other alumni found an enduring passion. Jordan Robbins ’12 was so affected by her time at Heritage Academy in Ghana that she has returned many times since. “During my Senior Project I knew that Ghana and Heritage Academy were going to stay a huge part of my life.” She is now on her fifth trip to Ghana and has been working for The Schoerke Foundation (that funds Heritage

Neighboring snow-capped mountains surrounded them, imposing and magnificent. Tired feet took to flight, students running across the plain, their laughter carried by the wind. Soon they began to find rocks on which to reflect, pray, sketch, or write in their journals. They fell silent. They were moved to do so simply by the power of place. It was an impromptu Meeting for Worship on the top of the world. Later, when the sun dipped beneath the mountaintop and the moon had ascended above them, they gathered to dine by lamplight. They laughed. Some shared stories. Some remained in quiet reflection. It was significant, this journey, and they knew it.

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ALUMN I PR OFILE

The Anatomy of a Heart

The Life-Saving Work of Carol Beer Benson ’73 STO RY BY TE RRY D UB OW • PH O T O BY B RYC E V I C K MA RK

When its age is measured in weeks, the human heart is the size of a grape. It sits in the tiny embrace of a developing rib cage. When it’s healthy, this miniature pump grows and grows until it is able to do what hearts do. When it’s unhealthy, though, the heart in utero can lead to tragedy, which is why the work that Dr. Carol Beer Benson ’73 does is so important. Dr. Benson is a radiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She specializes in ultrasound, that magic piece of technology that allows doctors to look inside the body without radiation. Most days, Dr. Benson shares tender moments when parents first see their children in the murky black and white image that the ultrasound provides. Some days, though, she’s gowned and in an operating room, filled with bleating machines, piercingly bright lights, and surgeons intent on saving the lives of babies still growing inside of their mothers. These doctors are blind, though, without Dr. Benson’s ultrasound machine and her talent at using it to make visible the tiny heart beating and hidden inside the mother. “It is a pretty tense procedure,” she explains. “The hardest part is pinning the baby into the position so that I can provide a clear picture for the other doctors. Sometimes positioning can take a long time with us pushing against the mother’s abdomen and sliding the baby around until it’s in position.” The procedure itself is harrowing to hear described. Most of the babies she treats have a condition in which one of the heart’s valves has closed “so that the ventricle is pumping against a wall and eventually will give up,” Dr. Benson explains. “If we don’t open the valve, half the heart will die. If we do open it, the baby will still have two chambers and a chance to live a healthy life.”

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During the procedure, Dr. Benson lights the way with the ultrasound and guides the perinatologist as she passes a needle into the mother’s abdomen, through the amniotic fluid, and then into the fetus’ heart. Once the needle is in place, the pediatric cardiologists slide a wire with a small balloon attached across the valve. They then carefully inflate the balloon to open the valve. “Most of these interventions are life-saving,” Dr. Benson explains. She estimates that she and her ultrasound paddles have been the eyes for 170 of these procedures, which she helped pioneer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2000. “These babies are incredibly resilient.” Her oldest patient is now 14. Dr. Benson comes from a long line of Westonians, and many members of her family have attended the school, including sisters Michelle Beer Caughey ’71, Janet Beer Garrett ’75, and Christine Beer Braun ’77. Her grandmother was born at Westtown; her father, Martin Beer, taught at Westtown briefly; her mother, Winifred Cadbury Beer, was a member of the class of 1944; and her daughter, Nicole Benson, graduated in 2005. Dr. Benson herself left Westtown after two years and went right to college after junior year. “Charley Brown saved my life,” she remembers. “I went to him during my junior year because I wanted to jump a year in math, but the other guidance counselor wouldn’t allow it.” Master Charley did and then helped her apply to college a year early. She went to Brown University, earned her medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania, and was finally granted her Westtown diploma in 1978 when she was halfway through medical school. Dr. Benson finds the work she does now incredibly gratifying, especially these life-saving procedures. “Being part of an innovative team to develop procedures that can make such a diﬀerence for children and their parents has been exciting and fulfilling.”

A LU M NI P R O FI L E

SUMMER 2015

A LOOK BACK

S T ORI ES BY K R I S B AT LEY ’ 81 • PHO TO S CO U RTESY O F W ES T T O W N A RC HI V ES

Anne Wood

A Guiding Light In her life and spirit, Teacher Anne Wood embodied much of what it means to be a Quaker. Anne not only lived the Quaker spirit, but she also taught it. At the time of her retirement, Anne told a Philadelphia Inquirer interviewer that she had decided to be a teacher in childhood. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1948 and received a master’s degree from the University of Michigan. She started to teach Latin at Westtown after college. Over the next forty-one years, Anne also taught Quakerism, served as a dorm faculty member, Dean of Girls (for 21 years), Principal of the Upper School (for 15 years), and College Counseling Director. In her early years at Westtown, she lived on the girls dormitory in a room no larger than a student room. “She lived her life in an amazing closeness to students,” wrote Archivist Kevin Gallagher in a tribute to Anne upon her retirement in 1989, “…Her everyday example as a listener, advisor, disciplinarian, policy maker, and friend was rooted in a vision of what a Friends education is all about.” In her various roles, Anne shepherded many generations, not only of Westtown students but also faculty and staﬀ colleagues. In an article for The Westonian at the time of the Bicentennial, Anne described the spiritual dimension of Westtown as “a corollary of the basic Quaker belief that there is in each person that of God, that divine spark or inner light or inward teacher…that means that each person is infinitely valuable, to be respected and nourished, and each person is capable of insights of truth.” Anne grew up in Moorestown, N.J., and attended Moorestown Friends School. She furthered her education at the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, IN; Pendle Hill in Wallingford, Delaware County; and the American Academy of Rome. Anne, who retired from Westtown in 1989, came from a long line of family members who either attended or taught at Westtown. Both her parents, Richard Wood and the former Nancy Morris, her grandparents, and two nieces were associated with the school, and she often said that her ancestors had

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attended the school since it was founded in 1799 by the Religious Society of Friends. “I have learned patience over the years,” she told the Inquirer. “That is definitely an acquired attitude. I have also learned that you have to be optimistic about things. You have to know that uncompromising eighth-graders will turn into respectable seniors, and not-too-respectable seniors will turn into respectable adults. I have been lucky enough to combine a religious as well as professional vocation and hope that I have been able to teach the students those high ideals and values.” Anne was concerned about today’s young people. “The students of today are very much under the weight of the world,” she said. “We want our children to be able to feel concern for the world and, of course, a sense of responsibility toward it, but we don’t want them to be crushed by that weight.” During the years following her retirement, Anne continued to be a guiding light and mentor at Westtown Meeting. Until recently she had commuted from her retirement community at Medford Leas in New Jersey to worship with students and faculty on Sundays. She continued to share spiritual wisdom and inspiration through her participation on the Worship and Ministry Committee and her messages in Meeting. Anne was active in many national and worldwide Quaker conferences and organizations throughout her life. “It is hard for most people to think of Anne without also thinking of Westtown,” her family said.

A LO O K B AC K

Earl Fowler

The Playwright Librarian

Earl Fowler passed away on February 3, 2015, at the age of 93. Earl was born on July 1, 1921, in Albany, Georgia. His father’s job as a soil scientist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture took the family to the northern Midwest during the warm months and to the South in the fall and winter. Because of these travels, Earl did not spend a full school year at the same school until he was out of grade school. While a student at Earlham College, an anti-war play that Earl wrote was performed at the school and at Friends meetings in the area. It also aired on a radio station in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Earl performed the voices of all the characters and the sound eﬀects. The high point of his college career in theater came when he was cast as Hamlet; it was a performance that no one who saw it ever forgot. A conscientious objector, Earl did his alternative service in World War II at a camp in Cooperstown, New York, and did volunteer work as an orderly at a Cooperstown hospital. The turning point in his life came after the end of the war when he was chosen by members of the Friends Meeting in Washington, D.C., to represent them in the “work camp” movement in Europe. He subsequently coordinated work camp relief eﬀorts for the American Friends Service Committee. Through the work camps, Earl met his future wife, Ulla, and they were married in 1953 in Vasa, Finland. By this time, Earl’s father had retired to the family farm in Georgia, and Earl and Ulla lived with him there. Earl helped on the farm and

continued his writing, becoming involved with the local civic theater in Albany. Earl and Ulla’s two sons, Chris and Fred, were born during this time. Earl was aware of Westtown from the attendance of his brothers, Jim Fowler ’47 and Bob Fowler ’50. As head librarian, Earl presided over the library addition in 1963, the growth of its collection by more than 19,000 volumes, and the addition of audio-visual materials and equipment. He also taught religion, bringing the powers and complexity of his philosophical mind and his lifelong experience of Quaker discernment to his students and to his colleagues. Upon his retirement in 1987, Earl and Ulla moved back to the farm in Georgia and spent the summer months in Finland, becoming equally a presence in Ulla’s family and the community there. Following Ulla’s death in 2001, Earl once again saw his chance to pursue playwriting. A staged reading of The King of the Golden Mountain, a play drawing on his experience as a young man working on a farm, was performed by several well-known actors and actresses of the Washington, D.C. theater community (including a Westtown graduate). His final play, The Crippled Line, was completed when he was 92 with the help of his son Fred. A reading of the play was held at the Friends House Retirement Community in Sandy Spring, Maryland, and at the Friends Meeting in Washington D.C., the Quaker meeting Earl had grown up in, with a cast that included his son Chris and former students Steve Coleman ’79 and Don Wildman ’79. Making lifelong friends wherever he went was the theme that ran through Earl’s life. At Westtown, he took seriously his responsibilities as a faculty advisor to the students assigned to him. The four o’clock afternoon coﬀees in the Scandinavian tradition that happened daily at his house were cherished events by faculty and students. Even at the end of his life, a seat at his dinner table at Friends House was a much-sought-after and greatly-valued commodity. Earl is survived by his sons Chris Fowler ’73 and Fred Fowler ’75.

SUMMER 2015

20 15 REUNION

The Westonian Magazine

R E U NI O N R EC A P

50th Reunion Class of 1965

To come full “circle,” by Sunday Meeting we all knew we had been part of an extraordinary and unexpected experience during this 50th weekend.

R E U NI O N

The Power of the “Circle” Class of 1965

BY SA L LY SH IRK , W I T H VA LUA B L E CO M MEN T S FR OM CL A SSM ATES

During the 2015 Westtown Alumni Weekend, 54 classmates from the class of 1965 gathered, accompanied by spouses, partners, and several assorted children, attending from as far away as Scotland, Alaska, and the Virgin Islands. For the 21 of us who stayed on to participate in the Meeting for Worship after Sunday brunch, it was the culmination of an extremely emotional experience and embodied the essence of caring and love exhibited by each classmate for the others during the entire weekend. We sat in a final “circle” and were moved by the “gift” of each of those present. It was a powerful ending to this special weekend. This unique 50th anniversary weekend began for this writer Friday afternoon in Central, meeting up with various earlyarriving classmates who had enjoyed the morning experiences of attending classes and lunch with the students. Initially, the exaggerations of “you haven’t changed a bit” abounded until we realized we were possibly clueless as to who most of the people actually were. Naturally, there were gasps and hugs all around. Throughout the course of the weekend, many activities were undertaken by classmates when they could tear themselves away from visiting. A campus tour by students provided insight to the new buildings that have been erected around campus in the past 50 years as well as a variety of new projects, including the dredging of the lake, which is now a muddy basin from which hundreds of fish and turtles have been lovingly rescued. A multi-themed symposium oﬀered discussion on cutting-edge issues. Various athletic events, teas, exhibits, and performances rounded out the oﬀerings. Friday evening turned out beautifully for our supper at Joy Willits Dittmann’s lovely home. As we drifted from one “circle” to another during the evening, we were welcomed into each with warmth, openness, and a genuine curiosity and concern for each individual over and above information provided in our remarkable “Reunion Book.”

Saturday began cool and damp, which was fine since we all attended the Alumni Association Annual Meeting. Following a magnificent performance by Wendi Grantham ’85, including the very appropriate “Sentimental Journey,” Bill Telfair presented our Class Gift, totaling almost $500,000, after which the School treated us to a delicious luncheon in the Cabin. Saturday also brought surprises of unexpected classmates, drawn perhaps by the power of the 50th, and each was greeted with great joy and aﬀection. Alex Gordon received close to a standing ovation when he suddenly appeared at the Cabin door during lunch after a horrific trip north that morning. Afterwards, we all gathered for the class picture and once again scattered, either individually or into “circles,” where questions of the past 50 years were asked and answered to gain a deeper understanding of our very diverse and outstanding class. The weather improved for the sumptuous dinner at Graham and Debbie Brown Miles’s home. We dined under the trees or pergola, picking out added greenery that floated down from the trees and flowering wisteria. It was glorious! There were two highlights. Firstly, Graham and Debbie Skyped Walter Lenk, who is homebound, and it was a true joy for each of us to have a few moments with this exceptional man and express our gratitude for his wonderful work on the “Reunion Book.” Secondly, Tom Manning sang the song he wrote for George Adams. Then Tom Manning (guitar), Tom Kowal (guitar), Dave Bailey (mandolin and musical saw) and Dave Burgess (piano) led us in singing some of those still-great tunes from the 60s. To come full “circle,” by Sunday Meeting we all knew we had been part of an extraordinary and unexpected experience during this 50th weekend. We came to know classmates we had not interacted with while at Westtown, and our hearts were overflowing. In those 50 years, we have all enjoyed enormous highs and the known depths of despair. Sharing brought us closer. Our 50th is now history, and for those of us who participated, it will forever be a part of our lives.

SUMMER 2015

20 15 REUNION

SNAPSHOTS

Members of the class of 1965 kicked oﬀ the weekend on Friday by attending classes with Upper School students, having lunch with them in the dining room, and touring the campus. Miranda Loud ’86 spoke to Upper School students and alumni about her “One Language Project,” through which she uses photography to encourage empathy for animals. On Saturday, hundreds of alumni and their families returned to lunch under the big tent or in the dining room, tour their old dorm rooms, catch up with friends, and enjoy the beauty of our special campus. Wendi Grantham ’85 brought the audience to their feet in the Alumni Annual Meeting with her moving remarks and amazing vocal performance. The Class of 1990 raised $191,937 for their class gift, with 21 percent participation. This class gift is the largest 25th reunion gift in school history and supported a variety of projects and initiatives, including renovations to Coach Downey Court, community life improvements, and the Westtown Fund. The Class of 1965 had a total overall philanthropy of $452,615, with 75 percent class member participation, supporting areas such as endowment for financial aid, endowment for the Science Center, and the Westtown Fund. The Class of 1945 raised $52,325 for the Westtown Fund, with 67 percent of their class participating in the class gift. Doug Richie spoke eloquently at the Alumni Annual Meeting about the creation of the Work Program (during WWII) and how a Westtown education is still “alive and well.” The weekend also featured a symposium inspired by Westtown’s new Strategic Plan, The World Needs More Westonians. Attendees chose from topics such as “Design Thinking,” “Business and Ethics,” and “Innovation and Entrepreneurship.” The Westtown Lake Restoration Update was standing room only, and many people then took the opportunity to walk around the drained lake with Mark DelNegro, Westtown’s Assistant Facilities Manager, for an up-close look at the project. It was a great weekend!

The Westonian Magazine

A LU M NI WE E K E ND

50th Reunion Class of 1965

SUMMER 2015

Class Notes 1933

Margaret “Biz” Barker Stratton is living near

the home of her daughter, Nancy Stratton Van Wormer ’61, in Mill Creek, WA. Biz’s entire family celebrated her 100th birthday on May 22, 2015. Biz is in very good health, reads and walks daily, enjoys conversations with almost anybody, and is always cheerful and upbeat.

1934

Howard Darnell, Jr., died February 22, 2015, at Foxdale Village in State College, PA. Howard met his future wife, Doris Hastings Darnell ’34, at Westtown, and after graduating from Rutgers College in 1938, he married Doris, then a senior at Bryn Mawr College. They had 68 wonderful years together. Howard’s entire career was with American Waterworks Service Company. He was a registered professional engineer, working as a project engineer, designing and SUBMIT A building pump stations, CLASS NOTE… providing all mechanical Mail: and electrical details for Westtown School each project. Howard was Attn: Alumni Office a lifetime Quaker, working 975 Westtown Road West Chester, PA for peace. He registered as a 19382–5700 conscientious objector E-Mail: and served as clerk and alumni@westtown.edu treasurer in two monthly Quaker meetings. He had a Online: westtown.edu/alumni lifetime interest in aviation, beginning with blimps and We look forward to hearing from you! dirigibles at Lakehurst, NJ, was a pilot for 20 years, and was a member of the Soaring Society of America and the Experimental Aircraft Association, enjoying the soaring activity in the State College, PA, area. Howard was qualified as a sailing captain and enjoyed more than 20 years of cruising. Photography and woodworking were also among his hobbies, and he inspired many Foxdale residents to take up woodworking projects under his leadership. Upon his retirement in 1980, Howard’s life was totally changed by Doris’s fifth career, lecturing and showing her extensive

The Westonian Magazine

Class Notes are compiled by the Alumni Office. The submission deadline for this issue was May 29, 2015; information received after that date will appear in the next issue of The Westonian.

dress collection. Since 1930, Doris had been given antique and designer dresses by hundreds of donors, each item with a story about the owner and the times. During the next 25 years, Howard provided support for more than 100 shows, from Texas to Maine and on 11 cruise ships. It was an exciting and unexpected period of their lives. Before Doris died in 2007, she gave her entire dress collection to her goddaughter, Charlotte Smith, in Blackheath, Australia. “The Darnell Collection” is Australia’s largest private collection of Haute Couture, Couture, and Prêt-à-Porter. Charlotte has published several books, including Dreaming of Dior and Dreaming of Chanel, which contain illustrations and stories about many of the dresses. She brings part of the collection to the U.S. frequently and maintains the www.thedarnellcollection. com website. Howard is survived by his sister, Marion Darnell Fuson ’38, his children, Elizabeth “Betts” Darnell ’59 and Eric Darnell ’62; six grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Richard Binford, 88, died March 10, 2005, at Washington County Hospital after a brief illness. Richard studied at Guilford College in Greensboro, NC, where his father was President, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. He then attended the University of North Carolina and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Library Science. He went on to work for four years at Emory College in Georgia, graduated from Duke University Medical School in 1946 with his medical degree, and began his distinguished medical career in Baltimore, MD. After marrying his wife, Christine Goeringer, they moved to Hagerstown, MD, where Richard set up his medical practice in internal medicine, specializing in heart disease. Richard’s life was a testament to his faith as a member of the Society of Friends. Because of his faith, he chose to serve his country during the Korean Conflict by doing alternate service in the public health service in

Atlanta, GA, for two years and in a lab in Philadelphia for another two years, returning to Hagerstown in 1956. He will be remembered for having served his community for more than 40 years, for his kindness and devotion to his patients, and for being one of the last doctors in Hagerstown who would make house calls. Richard attended Christ’s Reformed Church. He was a member of the Maryland Medical Association, the American Medical Association, and Fountain Head Country Club. He was also an instructor with the Washington County Hospital School of Nursing. He was an avid stamp collector and enjoyed golf and bridge. He was a former member of the Torch Club and the Hagerstown Exchange Club and served on the board of directors of Union Rescue Mission. He is survived by his devoted wife of 57 years, Christine G. Binford; daughters Lyn Baker and Eloise B. Marrs; sons Richard G. Binford and Mark N. Binford; sister Mary Margaret Bailey; four grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

1937

Mary Johns Nesbitt

passed away on February 21, 2015. Mary was mother to Betty Nesbitt Robinson ’57, Duncan Powell Nesbitt ’60, and Benjamin Clarn Nesbitt ’62, and aunt to John Lindley ’63 and Jane Lindley Kratovil ’70. Along with her children, she is survived by seven grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. Alice Stratton Webster, 93, a twenty-year resident of the Foulkeways Community in Gwynedd, PA, died unexpectedly and peacefully on July 4, 2013. She graduated from Oberlin College in 1941. She married the late G. Willard Webster in 1944, and they embarked upon their 65-year journey together through life. Alice once said that she was most proud of the fine family that she had raised, but she was also active in service to the broader community throughout her life. She was a member of Gwynedd Meeting, serving as

C L A S S NO T E S

Pictured left to right: General Robert L. Schulz, Eisenhower’s aide; former President Dwight D. Eisenhower; Susan Eisenhower ’70; and Polly Test ’25.

Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower traveled to Westtown by helicopter in November 1967. While on campus, he spoke to students and later answered questions during an informal gathering in the Belfry. Among the students at that time were his granddaughters, Susan, a sophomore, and Mary, a sixth grader. Former Westtown teacher Donald H. Byerly took this photo, as well as many other prized images in the Westtown archives.

From the Archives

1967 S UM M E R 2 0 1 5

The Shoemaker Visiting Lecturer Series is made possible by the generosity of the Class of 1930, the Shoemaker family, and others who have donated to this endowed fund, which brings distinguished visitors to Westtown.

975 Westtown Road, West Chester, PA 19382-5700

Shoemaker Series OCTOBER 4, 2015 Wendi Grantham ’85 and her blues/jazz band, Julep, will perform original music as well as jazz standards, big band, country, and Top 40 hits. Wendi is a graduate of Harvard University and the New Actors Workshop.

DECEMBER 6, 2015 Peterson Toscano, playwright, actor, Bible scholar, blogger, and gay activist, performs original one-person comedies that often draw on his own experiences.

Shoemaker Visiting Lecturer Series at Barton-Test Theater. All events are FREE. Limited seating is available to the public. All talks begin at 7:30 pm unless otherwise noted. For more information, contact Margaret Haviland at margaret.haviland@westtown.edu. FEBRUARY 21, 2016 Keith Reeves ’84, associate professor of political science and Faculty Director of the Center for Social and Policy Studies at Swarthmore College, will discuss his new book, which explores several controversial explanations underlying the high incarceration trends among black males.

APRIL 6, 2016 Tamagawa Taiko Drummers and Dancers Under the direction of Isaburoh Hanayagi, (father of Haruki Koyama ’04), these talented young performers return to Westtown for a dynamic performance as part of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in Philadelphia.

APRIL 17, 2016 Dr. Danielle Bassett, the Skirkanich Assistant Professor of Innovation in the Bioengineering Department at the University of Pennsylvania, will discuss her work regarding learning, disease diagnostics and therapeutics, treatment of brain injuries, cell biology, materials science, and social systems.