Westonian Winter 2016

WINTER 2016

The

Westonian Magazine

IN THIS ISSUE IDENTITY, DIVERSITY, AND EDUCATION BEHIND THE NUMBERS: Westtown’s Annual Report for 2014–2015

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 Winter and Summer.

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 Anne Burns, Director of Communications and Marketing Stephanie Ziemke, Director of Annual Giving Design Lilly Pereira Principal Photography Ed Cunicelli Additional Photography Greg Cross Tom Gilbert ’76

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

CON N EC T

HEAD OF SCHOOL John Baird

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

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Timothy B. Barnard Amy Taylor Brooks ’88 Martha Brown Bryans ’68 Beah BurgerLenehan ’02

Michelle B. Caughey ’71, Assistant Clerk Dayton Coles ’63 Molly Niles Cornell ’60 Robert Cottone Jacob Dresden ’62, Assistant Clerk Diana Evans ’95 Jonathan W. Evans ’73, Clerk

Susan Carney Fahey Davis Henderson ’62 Gary M. Holloway, Jr. Sydney HoweBarksdale David Jones ’72 R. Kent Julye ’80 Jess Lord ’90 Brenda Perkins ’75, Recording Clerk

James Perkins ’56 Michael Sicoli ’88 Danielle Toaltoan ’03 Kristen Waterfield Edward C. Winslow III ’64 EMERITUS: David Barclay ’52 Arthur M. Larrabee ’60

The

WINTER 2016

Westonian Magazine FE ATUR E S

26 Diversity, Identity, and Education

Practicing what we teach

35 Behind the Numbers

Westtown’s 2014–2015 Annual Report

D E PAR TME NTS

02 LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

A message from John Baird 03 NEWS FROM

AROUND ’TOWN

What’s happening on campus?

12 PAST IS PROLOGUE The more things change…

14 FIELDS & COURTS Athletics news 16 FACULTY PROFILE Caroline Loose BEHIND THE COVER Students involved in a diversity film project volunteered for our cover shoot.

18 ARTS GALLERY Performing arts 20 FACULTY DEVELOPMENT

The best teachers are learners

22 STUDENT VOICES About S.O.C.A. 24 LAKE UPDATE Making progress 58 ALUMNI VOICES Survey results 62 ALUMNI PROFILE Renate Lieberg Justin ‘44 64 BOOKSHELF Books by alumni 66 ALL IN THE FAMILY The tradition continues 68 CLASS NOTES Catch up on alumni news 84 FROM THE ARCHIVES Lake construction

LET TER F ROM H EAD O F SC H O O L J O H N B A IRD

The View from my Window Westtown is not only a school; it’s a home away from home, a rich community of idealists and problem-solvers and a supportive and sacred space for many. As a remarkably warm and welcoming community, I believe our school puts reflection and self-awareness at the center of all of our efforts. And, as an institution, we are committed to creating open, hospitable, and expectant spaces that, in the words of Quaker educator Parker Palmer, “enable the soul to show up.”

Earlier this year, we took part in an interim review, administered by the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools (PAIS). The full-scale review is conducted every ten years as a part of our accreditation process with PAIS and is overseen by a team of faculty and administrators from peer schools. The results were both affirmative and complimentary regarding our concerted efforts in response to the full-scale evaluation of the visiting team five years ago. Among their comments, the team recognized Westtown for “creating a campus culture of encouragement and inclusion in the halls, dining hall, and athletics.” And they went on to say the following: “It is an exciting time for Westtown School. They have formulated a new strategic plan, made a difficult decision related to their boarding policy which is proving to be successful, and have experienced encouraging enrollment and retention trends in the last two years. Several exciting innovations are underway on their beautiful campus. The highlight of our visit was lunch with representatives of the student body who described the values and strengths of the school using the same enthusiastic and consistent way the adults spoke to us.”

Their comment about our students and recognition of the school’s shared language speaks to my heart. The fact that our students see and feel the same values and strengths that we endeavor to convey as teachers and administrators is crucial for us as an institution. The report also confirmed that “Westtown is recognized as a regional and national leader in the area of sustainability” and noted enormous progress in technology integration and curricular development, specifically highlighting our Action-Based Education program and Deep Dive Designations, which “demonstrate the school’s commitment to implementing interdisciplinary instruction that prepares students to succeed and lead in our global world.”

As a school, we strongly believe that self-reflection and analysis are two key components of successful, long-term growth as an institution. Currently, the school-wide Spiritual Life Committee is coordinating a Quaker Self-Study in conjunction with the Friends Council on Education. Members of every constituency—students, faculty and staff, parents, trustees, and alumni have contributed to meetings and discussions focused on how Quakerism informs and is expressed in the life of the school and identifying our distinctive strengths and areas for continuing revelation as a school.

This study has produced rich topics for reflection, dialogue, and action, which will be compiled in a report to be shared with a visiting team from the Friends Council. In a faculty and staff discussion as part of the self-study, colleagues spoke to what makes Westtown unique: “The sense of belonging”; “The close-knit 02

The Westonian Magazine

community of students and adults in which we value the talents, dreams, and contributions of everyone and celebrate our collective responsibility for making the school function as we say it should”; “We recognize diversity as an essential part of the educational process”; “We reflect continually on what we are doing well, how we can improve, and how we can be responsible for the changes we want to see”; “We share an awareness that all of us are contributing to the education of students who are going to change the world.”

I hope you will see the sense of alignment and shared purpose that I have described above within these pages of The Westonian. It is a joy to be a part of this community as we celebrate our past, work hard in the present, and prepare for a rich future.

News from Around ’Town

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Westtown Tops the List!

NUMBER ONE IN PA, NUMBER SEVEN IN THE NATION We are thrilled to report that the Environmental Protection Agency has ranked Westtown first in Pennsylvania and seventh nationwide in green power purchasing among K-12 schools! This is the third consecutive year that Westtown has appeared in the top ten nationally.

Westtown is an EPA Green Power Partner and a Department of Education Green Ribbon School.

The green power purchase is only one of the ways we continue to make strides on our path to living out our sustainability mission. The Facilities/Grounds Department has been using biodiesel in its fleet for ten years. The fleet includes one van, four buses, two campus generators, one fire pump, three tractors, and four lawn mowers. Essentially, anything that runs on diesel is running on biodiesel.

We also have recently installed software called Papercut, a product that will help us cut down, perhaps significantly, the number of print jobs we make. It will arm us with data and information about the printing habits and choices that we make as a school and as individuals. Printing less means less paper waste and fewer printer cartridges.

Over time, the change of behaviors will save both material and money.

GREEN COALITION This year there is a new student-run club called Green Coalition. This organization has been working to facilitate collaboration between the Earth Service Club, the Westtown Outing Club, and the school’s organic farm. They are also committed to communicating their (and our) vision for a sustainably-educated Westtown community. They created a farm infomercial, a humorous Lorax video that encourages students to think about their impact on the Earth, and a documentary about composting. They hosted a “weird To keep up with the waste” recycling drive that collected just under 2000 activities of Green Coalition, follow them on pounds of electronics waste. They have organized Facebook: facebook.com/ several hiking and climbing trips to get students interwesttowngreencoalition. ested in the outdoors, have implemented a dorm composting program, have held several farm work days, and have run events on the Westtown Ropes Course. These students also created a guide of local businesses with sustainable practices to support and maintained a 6:1 recycling to trash ratio during the International Festival. Green Coalition is on a mission, one that reflects and supports Westtown’s sustainability mission.

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The Westonian Magazine

TE AM BUILDING LOWER SCHOOL LEGO ROBOTICS Seven 2nd graders joined Westtown’s Junior First Lego League this fall. According to League guidelines, their model needed one moving part and at least one simple machine. Their designs had to be original without following building instructions.

Westtown’s Lower School had Visit www. two teams: the “Recyclers” and westtown.edu/ thewestonian to the “Trash Smashers.” Students see the video learned that items that could not be recycled could be burned to generate electricity and that food waste should be composted.

They wrote their own lines in preparation for making a video to share with the entire Lower School at Gathering. They were proud of their accomplishments!

A Well-Lit Path: Westtown’s Blog Parenting Advice

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www.blog.westtown.edu/blog

N E W S F RO M A R O U ND ’ T O W N

Hour of Code The week of December 7–11 was Computer Science Week, a week that focuses on the importance of teaching students coding skills. This educational endeavor culminates in a worldwide event called the “Hour of Code.” As a way to bring attention to the need to code, Westtown technology staff and teachers set up an “Hour of Code Selfie Booth” in Lower and Middle Schools where students could take their picture “with” Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg or programming supporter President Obama.

One hour is clearly not enough to teach students coding; however, it is a starting point and a conversation piece about the importance of K–12 Computer Science programs in schools. Computer programming isn’t something extra but rather at the core of what students should be learning.

The Hour of Code took place at varying times over the week in each division, using a variety of age-appropriate programming languages. In the Lower School, Primary Circle used The Foos, 2nd grade used Lightbot, and 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades used various programs of Code.Org. In Middle School, coding is already incorporated into the math curriculum.

Students learn about grids, positive and negative numbers, operators, conditional statements, and the art of testing their coding and iterating when it doesn’t work. For the Hour of Code, the Middle School science classes got involved and used some of the coding activities on Code.org, such as creating a Star Wars game using Java programming. In 8th grade, students have a coding class called iExplore. They are currently engaged in a “Hack-a-thon,” where they can choose one of the following programming projects: design an app using MIT’s app inventor, take an online course in Java, learn to program an Arduino, or create a game using MIT’s Scratch.

In addition, students in physics and biology classes also participated in the Hour of Code, each class choosing a coding project from the Code.org website. For the Intro to Programming and Computer Science classes in Upper School, every day is a coding day.

This is the second year that Westtown has participated in the Hour of Code, and we will continue to do so. But even more importantly, students at Westtown are given opportunities for learning how to code throughout the year.

S AV E THE DATE! 1 2 T H ANNUAL G O L F & TENNIS O UTING T U ESDAY, M AY 2 4 , 2 01 6 S W I N G F OR THE S T UDENT S !

The

ian Weston Magazine

SUMMER 2015

IN THIS ISSUE SENIOR PROJECTS GRADUATION ESSAYS

CONNEC TION CONUND RUM Social Media, Westtown, and the Power of the People

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 westonian@westtown.edu.

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NEW “W” WELCOMES ALL TO ATHLETIC CENTER You may have seen the new “W” mounted outside the Athletic Center.

This work of art was crafted by Rusty Cassway ’84 (father of Sarah ’17).

It is a gift from the Class of 1984 in recognition of the role athletics plays in the educational experience at Westtown. It weighs a whopping 450 lbs., is 5' in diameter, and is made of corten, a metal that becomes a natural rust color with age. Our deepest thanks to the Class of 1984 for this wonderful gift and to Rusty Cassway for his work and talent.

Threads of Useful Learning

Rusty Cassway ’84 and Paul Lehmann ’99, Co-Director of Athletics.

Clean Water Each year, Middle School Student Clerks organize service learning around a theme. This year, they chose the theme of clean water. Earlier in the year, they developed a presentation for the whole Middle School, identifying issues around access to water and things each of us can do individually to conserve water.

Near the holidays, the Student Clerks organized a week of fun facts and fundraising activities to benefit access to clean water for Syrian refugees through Doctors Without Borders and the American Friends Service Committee. Ever the entrepreneurs, the Student Clerks offered a single $15 ticket for the whole week’s activities —such as a dress-down day, hot chocolate and donut sales, and more —and students were also welcome to participate à la carte. They exceeded their goals and raised $1000 to support clean water for Syrian refugees.

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A new book about Westtown’s wellknown sampler collection is now available.

Threads of Useful Learning: Westtown School Samplers, by Westtown School archivist Mary Uhl Brooks, is a thorough and engaging look at the needlework produced by Westtown students from 1799 until 1843 as part of the useful education and spiritual formation envisioned by Quakers for their children.

This needlework—including several types of samplers such as darning, extract, marking, and medallion, along with embroidered celestial and terrestrial silk globes believed to have been made only at Westtown—serves as material evidence of the educational and spiritual roots of the school. Fully illustrated with pieces from Westtown School’s own extensive textile collection as well as others in museums and private collections, the book discusses this important schoolgirl needlework and the education, religious beliefs, and lives of the teachers and girls who created it. A list of all currently-known Westtownmade samplers and globes is included, along with illustrations of samplers not made at Westtown but in the school’s collection. The book (softcover, 346 pages) is available in the School Store or can be ordered by visiting the School Store on Westtown’s website.

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N E W S F RO M A R O U ND ’ T O W N On October 17th, Westtown’s Families for Multicultural Community hosted the INDEPENDENT SCHOOL MULTICULTURAL CONFERENCE AND COLLEGE FAIR. Originally a Friends Schools initiative, the program has grown substantially and is known as a valuable educational opportunity and college recruiting event. Thank you to all who helped make this event such a success!

Held every other year since 2007, this event attracts

900 75+

students and parents (approx.) from

schools, communitybased organizations, and college access programs.

COLLEGE FAIR

BY THE NUMBERS

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different high schools were represented. The largest school groups were from Abington Friends School, Baldwin School, Bryn Mawr School (MD), Brooklyn Friends School (NY), Friends Academy (NY), Friends Central, Friends Seminary (NY), Germantown Friends School, Penn Charter, St. Andrew’s, and Wilmington Friends.

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college representatives served as panelists.

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different workshops. from College admission counselors such as “Anatomy of an Application,” “Diversity and Inclusion on Campus,” and “Paying for College,” to name just a few.

different kinds of colleges and universities were showcased in sessions called “What’s Great About...” featuring Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Women’s Colleges, Colleges vs.

Universities, STEAM Programs and Colleges, Visual and Performing Arts Colleges and Programs, Colleges in the South, Non-Urban Colleges and Universities, and Faith-Based Colleges.

112 colleges were represented at the College Fair.

100+

Parent volunteers made

700 sandwiches.

members of the Westtown community (parents, students, faculty, and staff) provided the labor and logistical support necessary to stage such a large and complicated event.

500 students, parents, and college representatives attended the Assembly.

Jay Farrow and his wrestlers set up and took down

140 tables in the Field House.

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Q U I CK N OT E S

PMEA SINGERS Jessica Scott ’17, Troy Larsen ’18, and Rachel Blackman ’16 [ 1 ] auditioned and were selected to participate in the Pennsylvania Music Educators Choral Festival District 12 in February. They will be re-auditioned when they arrive at the Festival to see if they qualify to go on to the Regional Festival. There is one more audition to qualify for the PMEA State Conference.

Congratulations, and good luck to these talented singers!

COLLEGIATE ATHLETES November 11th is the National Signing Day of the NCAA, a day set aside for high school athletes to make commitments to Division 1 colleges and universities. On Wednesday, November 11, 2015, three Westtown seniors signed their National Letters of Intent. Naomi Jimenez signed to play basketball at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, CA. Alyce-Faye Eichelberger signed with Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA, where she will swim. Jair Bolden committed to play basketball for George Washington University in

Washington, DC. “We are tremendously proud of these athletes, who are not only talented in their respective sports but also who are scholars and leaders in the school community,” said Paul Lehmann, Westtown School’s Athletics Co-Director. [ 2 ] Pictured (L– R): Jair Bolden, Paul Lehmann (Athletics Co-Director), Naomi Jimenez, Michele Linder (Athletics Co-Director), Alyce-Faye Eichelberger LOWER SCHOOL FOOD DRIVE Lower School students [ 3 ] wanted to help the Chester County Food Bank fill its shelves for the Thanksgiving and holiday seasons so they held a food drive. Thanks to the generosity of our students, parents, and community, the Lower School Food Drive raised 404 lbs. of food, which several students and parents delivered just before Thanksgiving.

CONGRATULATIONS! Congratulations to 7th grader Mia Meléndez-Ruiz, who was named to the Making Caring Common Youth Advisory Board! MCC is a project of the

[1]

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The Westonian Magazine

Harvard Graduate School of Education that helps educators, parents, and communities raise children who are caring, responsible, and committed to justice.

PHILANTHROPY CLUB During October, the Philanthropy Club [ 4 ] hosted a “Pink Day” to raise both awareness about breast cancer and money for Unite For Her, an organization that “bridges the gap between the medical and wellness communities by educating women diagnosed with breast cancer about complementary therapies, providing them with a compassionate resource for support, knowledge and healing.” On “Pink Days,” students bought and wore T-shirts in recognition of the campaign. Both the Girls’ Soccer and Field Hockey Teams hosted “Pink Games” in support of the club’s efforts.

In the end, the Philanthropy Club raised over $3000 for Unite for Her. NATIONAL MERIT RECOGNITION Congratulations to these six students who have been

[2]

recognized by the nation’s leading academic scholarship competitions, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation and the National Hispanic Recognition Program! [ 5] Front, L–R: Hayden Quintana, Elyse Gadra, Charlotte Ells, Miguel Montoya Delgado. Back: Leif Taranta, Nathan Mullen MIDDLE SCHOOL DIVERSITY CONFERENCE Marissa Colston, Director of Diversity and Inclusion, and John Fernandez, Middle School Spanish teacher, took eight Middle School students to the “Stand Up; Speak Out!” diversity conference [ 6 ] in Alexandria, VA, hosted by St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School.

Four 8th grade students (Lena Henderson, Lilly Jacobs, Isabelle Perez, Isaiah Fernandez) and four 7th graders (Mia Meléndez-Ruiz, Jocie Resnik, Sofie Marino, Jonathan Kornegay) made up Westtown’s student team of representatives. Colston reports, “The students had an amazing time learning how to be upstanders in their community during the conference.”

About 150 middle school students from 16 schools were

[3]

N E W S F RO M A R O U ND ’ T O W N

[6]

led by older student facilitators and created their own Public Service Announcements summarizing what they think is most important to being an upstander. Students will share what they learned with their Middle School peers throughout the remainder of the school year. The Westtown cohort also had the opportunity to stay at William Penn House, a Quaker center in Washington, DC. GIVING TUESDAY A special thank you to everyone who helped kick off the giving season by participating in Giving Tuesday. [ 7 ] This year on that day we raised $66,504 from 147 donations for financial aid, faculty salaries, professional

[4]

Westtown and WWI Exhibit

[7]

development, and much more. If you want to keep track of how this year’s Westtown Fund campaign is doing, visit www.westtown. edu/wfupdate. Updates are posted every week. Thank you for your support of Westtown!

COMPOSER IN RESIDENCE Music teachers Kenny Joseph and Robert Frazier welcomed composer, teacher, and clarinetist Richard Summers to campus this fall. Summers spent two days working with the Middle and Upper School bands. Summers has been commissioned to compose a piece for the three divisions’ bands. The work is called “Westtown Psalm” and has a colonial flavor harkening back

[5]

[7]

to Westtown’s founding days. The piece will be premiered by Westtown band members from all three divisions at their Spring Concert. Summers worked on another of his recent compositions with the Middle School Band. The piece, called “Air and Light of Aether,” will be published in July 2016. The Middle School Band world-premiered this piece in a concert for the school on October 16.

An exhibit exploring the effects of World War I on Westtown will be featured in the school library this spring, some one hundred years after this first global conflict. Prepared by the archives staff from resources in the archives and library, the exhibit will examine the student experience at Westtown during the war—discussions on war and peace, guest lecturers outlining the world situation, and student service projects— as well as the efforts of many alumni in relief services and reconstruction after the war. While there are many varied sources in the archives, we would welcome donations from alumni or families with material such as letters, journals, artifacts, and especially photographs related to activities at the school and the service of Westonians during World War I. If you have such material, please contact Mary Brooks or Kevin Gallagher at archives@westtown.edu or by calling 610-399-7834.

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INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

Visit www.westtown.edu/ thewestonian to see photos

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Westtown’s International Festival, traditionally held in early December, has become a beloved annual celebration showcasing the many cultures that make up our community. The Collecting Room was abuzz on the afternoon of Sunday, December 6th, as community members circulated among tables full of artifacts, foods, and information celebrating 22 different cultures represented at Westtown. The joyous (and delicious!) event ended with a rousing rendition of “Jingle Bells,” played by festival participants on traditional Indonesian bamboo instruments (Angklung).

N E W S F RO M A R O U ND ’ T O W N

DIVERSIT Y CON F E R E N C E

There’s an app for that!

In what was perhaps a Westtown first, an Advanced Computer Science class announcement recently brought the house down in Joint Collection. In a presentation that would have made Steve Jobs proud, a student described the results of a project that he and six of his classmates have been working on since late September.

In short, they’ve created a tool that reads a student’s graphic MyBackpack schedule, translates it into data, and imports it into Google You can learn more about Calendar for use on smartphones, iPads, and the students’ work and their process on our laptops. The grace and utility of this product was website: westtown.edu/ immediately obvious to the audience, and they thewestonian erupted in wild cheers and applause. By that afternoon, many had already translated their static schedules into a live calendar. This project is a great example of Action-Based Education at Westtown, which is all about creating solutions to real world problems.

Making a Mark(er) on Sustainability After years of pressure on the Crayola Company to find a way to recycle all their used markers, they have launched the Crayola ColorCycle initiative, in which schools across the United States and Canada collect and return markers for recycling and repurposing. Crayola has also provided incentives by footing the bill to ship collected markers back to their factory.

Heeding the call of this eco-friendly project, Westtown 2nd graders will be collecting used and depleted markers, boxing them up, and shipping them to the Crayola Company. They have decorated boxes that will be placed in all divisions, and marker collection will continue throughout the remainder of the year. Westtown’s Lower School students take on many projects designed to leave our world a little better than the way we found it. Recycling markers is but one way that they learn that we can all find a way to do our part.

The 28th Annual People of Color Conference (PoCC) and 22nd Annual Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) were energy-filled and inspiring conferences for Westtown’s cohort: students Leo Petit ’16, Asha Wiltshire ’16, Sophie Xi ’17, India Henderson ’17, Gabe Anthony-Kemp ’17, and Auria Zhang ’18, and faculty members Marissa Colston, Stephanie Tucker, Joseph Daniels, Monica Ruiz-Meléndez, and Celeste Payne.

Over 4,000 adults and students from independent schools across the country came to Tampa, FL, to learn, connect, and rejuvenate their spirits around the theme of Art, Science, Soul, and the Equity Imperative.

The PoCC conference sessions for adult educators included a presentation by Westtown teachers Monica Ruiz-Meléndez and Celeste Payne entitled Explorations, Pathways, and Opportunities: A Journey and Case Study of Diversity and Inclusion at Westtown School.

Marissa Colston, Director of Diversity and Inclusion, writes, “We were inspired by speakers like Gyasi Ross, a Blackfoot Indian author, storyteller, lawyer, and social justice activist. We learned about bias and how to retrain our brains to make unbiased decisions with Mahzarian Banaji. Banaji created the implicit bias test and recently wrote the book Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People. We were amazed by the poet Sarah Kay as her spoken word performance validated our myriad diverse life experiences.

“All participants from Westtown had the chance to be among affinity spaces in their racial groups, an important goal of the conference, giving attendees a chance to recharge and reconnect with important parts of their identity.” The PoCC and SDLC conferences begin and end together, and on the final day they came together in racialgender affinity groups. In these intergenerational groups they shared their experiences, gave advice, and supported one another through deep listening. This session was followed by a student-led meeting in school groups. As a school group, the Westtown team planned how they will share their learnings with our community.

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Past is Prologue

Al Hay arrived from Canada in the fall of 1938 to teach French and live on dorm.

He ended his career at Westtown in 1981, after a long tenure in the history department—and many engaging and insightful presentations on current events. His son Tom graduated in 1969 and returned to Westtown in the fall of 1979 to join the history department and serve as Dean of Boys, one of many positions he’s held outside the classroom. Given that it’s a span of 70 consecutive years that Westtown students could study history with a Hay, it seems Al and Tom have made a bit of Westtown history themselves.

1965

2016

ARCHIVAL PHOTO COURTESY OF MARY BROOKS, WEST TOWN SCHOOL ARCHIVES. 2 0 1 6 PHO T O BY ED C UNI C ELLI S PRIN G 2 0 1 4

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Fields & Courts It was a great fall sports season for teams and individual athletes! Here are a few highlights: • Field Hockey: 13–4–1 Overall. 6–1 in regular season Friends Schools League play. The girls had a tremendous season and came up just short in the FSL Finals while also advancing to the PAISAA (PA Independent Schools Athletic Association) state quarter-finals.

• Girls Soccer: 1–4 Overall. The team was undefeated in regular season FSL play and had a great post-season run, making it all the way to the PAISAA State semi-finals.

• Boys Soccer: 7–6–2 Overall. 5th in the Friends Schools League.

• Boys XC: 5-2 Overall. 4th place finish in FSL • Girls XC: 4–3 Overall. 4th place finish in FSL • Soccer player Emily Sands ’16 broke Westtown’s single season goal record with 25 (old record was 21). She also broke the career goal record with 65.

• Ryan O’Donnell ’18 finished 6th in FSL Cross Country Championships and had a top 5K time of 17:00 flat this season.

• Senior Julia Richards was selected to the field hockey Senior All-Star Game Roster.

Only two athletes were selected to represent the Friends Schools League, and Julia was one.

See more sports updates online at westtown.edu/ athletics

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FACU LT Y PRO FIL E

Caroline Loose

The Artist as Teacher STO RY BY LY N E T T E A S S A R S S O N • PH OT O BY E D C U NI C ELLI

Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail. She’s wearing her signature spectacles and a paint-splattered apron. Caroline Loose moves about the studio, weaving around easels, stopping to observe students painting still lifes. She engages in quiet conversation with each, asking hard questions yet offering encouragement and making suggestions. The students stand back from their paintings, tilt their heads to consider their work in the new light shed on it. Then brushes return to canvas, swishing and dabbing with new purpose.

In her 41 years at Westtown, Loose has maintained a sharp focus on the students, teaching techniques of drawing, painting, and her specialty, printmaking. Most students at Westtown—art mavens and novices alike—move through Loose’s studio space, whether fulfilling a requirement or feeding a passion. Even those students for whom art is a requirement discover skills they didn’t know they had and an appreciation for the craft under Loose’s tutelage, one that demands commitment.

Like all teachers at Westtown, she has had many responsibilities during her tenure. From dorm parent to field hockey coach, advisor, Scenic Arts Design teacher to committee member and yearbook advisor, Loose has done it all. But it’s her life in the studio among students that has sustained and fulfilled her the most, and that’s where she’s had the most impact.

Just ask her former students. Aaron Meshon ’91, illustrator, designer, and children’s book author, says, “She was the curator of my youth,” noting that Loose encouraged him to apply to Rhode Island School of Design and wrote the recommendation that he’s convinced got him accepted. But it was more than that. Meshon says that her teaching still influences his work today. “I think of her almost every day in my professional life. She taught me to make commitments to compositions and have an object go off the page or stay within the boundaries, not wallow in the middle ground. ‘Don’t just make a non-commitment and have the object sit near the edge of the page. Make a commitment!’ she would say. It’s funny but I try to live my life by these rules she taught us.”

Other alumni echo the sentiment that Loose’s lessons have stayed with them in their professional lives. Many attribute 16

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their choice of career to her. Says Tori Baggot ’09, “I am a letterpress printmaker, and Caroline played a major part in where I am today. She was supportive of any student interested in the arts, and I am eternally grateful for her background in printmaking because it has now become my own.” Melanie Yazzie ’84 also chose a career in printmaking.

“I knew many wonderful teachers at Westtown, but she helped me see that art could be a career path at such an early stage in my life, and that helped form who I am today.” A recent graduate, Robyn Adams ’14, says, “I am definitely a better artist because of her. She cared so much about making you see the whole picture while still caring about the craftsmanship of the small details.”

For Loose, having students take risks is paramount in creating art, and the importance of giving both her students and herself space for exploration is evident in the way she talks about teaching. “I am gratified when a student finishes their year or semester and says, ‘I didn’t think I could do that and now I want to do more.’ What has been exciting is to be able to live life as a learner and to share that journey.

One of the things that has been important is having the ability to learn with students; to be able to say, ‘I’m not sure; let’s try it.’”

The Art Gallery at Westtown is also one of Loose’s lasting achievements. The Arts Center opened in the spring of 1970, and the gallery space was used as such from the time of the opening. But it was Loose who brought the space to life and who has nurtured it into a place not only to showcase student work but also as an exhibit space for outside artists. It has been important to Loose that her students be exposed to different artists working with a variety of mediums, and bringing exhibits to the gallery has been an authentic way to achieve that, as well as providing space to give light to talented artists for the community.

In summing up her career, Loose says, “It is the students who have made my life here. It is seeing them in the studio, working, playing, experimenting, discovering, finding a world for themselves, and seeing them as wonderful adults. That has made for a very rich and rewarding life.”

FAC U LT Y P R O F I L E

To mark Caroline Loose’s retirement, the Art Department will present an exhibit called A Body Of Work Celebrating Caroline Loose and Her Former Students. The show will be hung from April 25 through May 20, with a reception held on Saturday afternoon, May 14th. Please join us.

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The Arts Gallery

Learn more about the Arts at westtown. edu/arts

Plays, dance performances, and musical concerts, as well as behind-the-scenes work such as set design, sound, and costuming, give students opportunities to let their creative lights shine. Here we put a spotlight on just a few of their wonderful performances. Clockwise from left: two photos from the production of The Miser, Middle School Holiday Concert, Revels Concert, 5th grade play, 3rd grade African Dance, sound booth technician, 2nd grade play. Background: Upper School Winter Dance Concert.

We invite you to see the kids in action!

Visit the website for the performance schedule. westtown.edu/artsschedule

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T HE A R T S G A L L E RY

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FACU LT Y DEVE LO P M E N T

The Best Teachers Are Learners, Too

BY D R . M A R G A R E T H AV I L A N D

“It has been true at every period in Westtown’s history that the teachers, more than any other single factor, were responsible for giving the School its distinctive character.”

Helen Hole (Westtown Through the Years)

When I interview young prospects for our Teaching Fellow Program, I ask them why they want to be teachers. All candidates say they want to teach because they like kids. For potential teachers who are looking to work in the Middle or Upper School especially, they may also express a great love for the subject they hope to teach. Loving children is a good starting place but on its own doesn’t guarantee that they will be good teachers. In The Intentional Teacher, Peter Gow identifies two other necessary prerequisites for success in an educator’s career: a joy in learning and a commitment to student success. In my own experience working with educators at all stages of their careers, these three play out in different ways for each person, but without them, teaching can become monotonous at best and drudgery at worst. Fortunately, Westtown attracts and retains teachers who are joyful learners committed to the success of their students.

When I started at Westtown in 1994, faculty development was modest but intentional; the school had both an evaluation system and a small professional development budget. I remember attending a Friends Council on Education workshop for teachers new to Quaker schools. I remember in-service days with great speakers. These speakers were dynamic and engaging. Clearly they made an impression on me. But what was I to do with what I learned, and how was I to learn more? Since the 90s, Westtown has developed a series of overlapping systems created in partnership with teachers.

These systems support teacher learning and provide Westtown students with the best possible faculty. Teaching is a craft; it takes time to master that craft, and teachers go about their training and learning while delivering an education to students.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT As Assistant Head for Faculty and Program, one of my primary responsibilities is the professional development of the faculty and staff. One of my favorite parts of the job is the joyful task of granting teachers’ professional development wishes. Through generous gifts to the endowment and careful stewardship of the operating budget, Westtown has a healthy budget to support learning for all 20

The Westonian Magazine

employees. Principals and teachers work together to plan professional learning and to find the best opportunities possible.

Philosophically, we want to send people to conferences and workshops that will directly benefit our students.

We send teachers, usually in small teams, to a variety of national and local conferences, including the Friends Council on Education’s retreat for teachers new to Quaker schools. Over coffee and meals,

colleagues get to know each other better and have the time and space to discuss what they are learning. They begin to think creatively about how they might integrate what they’re learning into their teaching methods and classrooms.

We also send teachers to visit peer schools. Often these visits are tied to our system of curricular reviews, but sometimes teachers hear of programs worth exploring at another school. The best school visits come with a clear question in mind and the chance to engage with others. Two or three teachers who have visited another school can test their assumptions and conclusions about what they have seen. Sometimes what they learn affirms our current practice, sometimes it challenges current practice, and sometimes teachers will learn something they might never have considered. Along the way, they expand their personal learning network by meeting and talking with teachers at the host school.

Over the years, I have witnessed the transformative power of teachers working together. This year we created a new form of professional development that draws on that power. We have set aside five mornings throughout the year during which faculty meet in cross-divisional cohorts to work on a single topic.

There are 11 groups, each of which has its own focus. After two sessions so far, the reports are quite favorable. In a culture in which time is valuable currency, the sense is that this is an excellent use of precious time.

As topics for the cohorts were suggested by teachers, we used two tests in winnowing the topics: Did the topic relate to our Strategic Plan? Was there significant faculty interest? Encouraging and respecting faculty interest and initiative and supporting the school’s need for furthering its mission and strategic initiatives go hand in hand with successful professional learning. The cohorts grew out of the topics we explored last year and our asking teachers to look at

FAC ULT Y D E V E LO P M E NT

their work within the Strategic Plan.

The groups are exploring: Quakerism at Westtown; Health and Wellness on our Campus; SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity); Courage and Renewal Practice (a process first developed by Quaker educator Parker Palmer); Coding and Computational Thinking; Education for Sustainability; Exploring Race and Identity; Design Thinking; Understanding Learning Differences; Racial Identity in Schools; and Critical Friends Group (a process developed by National School Reform Faculty).

IN-SERVICE THEN AND NOW Along with the cohorts, a significant shift in our approach to professional learning is how we think about the in-service days. Again, our mission and the Strategic Plan serve as guides in planning these days. Last year, after exploring Design Thinking and Sustainability and sending small teams of faculty to the Race Institute, a multiday retreat for teachers to explore their own racial identities, it became apparent that the entire faculty would benefit from sustained exploration of how best to support our diverse students at all stages of their development. We planned three separate full-day workshops, two led by Dr. Ali Michael and the Race Institute team and the third led by Rosetta Lee, a nationally recognized leader in crosscultural communication, identity development, prejudice reduction, and coalition building. We also held a session for all faculty to understand how best to create safe spaces for transgender, genderqueer, and gender-questioning students.

By devoting successive sessions to a single focus, we provide our faculty the time and opportunity to learn more deeply about the topic, themselves, each other, and—most importantly— our students.

EVALUATING THE WORK Professional learning must be tied to the growth of individual teachers. Our

evaluation systems have evolved to focus on growth. All Westtown teachers have regular evaluations, and our new teachers receive feedback several times over the year, with formal evaluative letters at the end of the year. This is just one part of our multi-year teacher induction program.

We also provide teachers with mentors in their first and second year and a peer coach in the third year. The first year includes a week of orientation and several mini-retreats over the course of the year.

In the fourth year, every teacher has her first 360 evaluation and then in every fourth year thereafter.

We are now in our fifth full year of our 360 evaluation system. This complex and thorough quadrennial system consists of goal-setting and self-reflection by teachers, weeks-long classroom observations (as well as observation of dorm and extra-curricular responsibilities), and a series of peer and student reviews. Along with written evaluations, a committee of administrators and peers meets with teachers to share their commendations and recommendations.

The process affirms the strengths of the teacher and discerns areas for continued growth. In the final step of the process, teachers meet with their division principals to create a plan of action to address recommendations. The 360 process is professional learning for both the teacher at the center and for the members of the 360 committee.

While we will continue the quadrennial 360 process, we are now developing an annual evaluation system which will be led by the division principals. The annual evaluation is being created in tandem with the new salary band system we are implementing this year. This new system is designed to accomplish several things: to bring teacher salaries in line with peer schools, to create job descriptions for teachers at different stages in their careers, and to ensure and reward professional growth. Our new faculty salary system has four bands: Starting Teacher, Experienced Teacher, Master

Teacher, and Faculty Leader. The characteristics for each band increase in expectations as teachers move up the bands. All teachers have been placed in a band based on their years of teaching, and then within their bands at levels that reflect their roles in the school and the ways in which they fulfill the characteristics for their band. The annual evaluation system will be a balance of summative and formative assessment. Principals and teachers will discuss areas of strength and opportunities for growth. In contrast to the comprehensive 360, we anticipate that the annual evaluation will be more targeted and focus on a few specific areas.

The first imperative to our Strategic Plan calls for us “to deepen our faculty culture that prizes student engagement and achievement, parent communication, inter- and intra-disciplinary collaboration [and to] define Westtown’s vision of excellence, and then communicate our expectations around it, support professional development to achieve it and connect hiring, compensation and reinstatement to ensure it.” Our interconnected systems of professional development and evaluation work to help us accomplish this imperative.

Our faculty gives life to Westtown’s mission. Interweaving individual teacher interests with divisional and all-school initiatives helps us to grow and retain a faculty of the highest caliber. Students will remember the teachers who shaped their young lives, just as students from earlier generations remember Tom Brown ’29, Anne Wood, Earl Fowler, Janny Brown Sterrett ‘61, Shannon Almquist, Tim James ’63, Judy Asselin ’71, Spencer Gates, Tom Woodward, and Susan Rhodewalt, among so many others. Westtown’s faculty today is part of a proud tradition of teaching excellence. In their commitment to learning and participation in our evaluation systems, Westtown’s teachers model for our students how to live rewarding lives of healthy experimentation, a growth mindset, and—most importantly—continuous revelation.

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S TU DEN T VOIC ES

What is S.O.C.A.?

BY N AO M I JI M ENEZ A ND M EK HI BRYA NT, CLUB HE ADS

Our mission is to educate our community about the culture, values, heritage, and experiences of students of color.

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Mekhi and Naomi here, coming to you “live” from Westtown! We are here to share some of the work of S.O.C.A. and why our organization matters.

S.O.C.A. (Students of Color Association) is a student-run organization for students of color (as well as others in the community) who are interested in and want to learn about the issues of people of color in the nation or in the world. Our mission is to educate our community about the culture, values, heritage, and experiences of students of color. We hold discussions which reflect current event topics within and outside of the school setting. The club also hosts and plans events around various ethnic celebrations and observances. These include Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month. S.O.C.A. also organizes smaller events, such as dances and fundraisers.

Westtown is a school that is very diverse compared to many areas of life as a whole, but there is an evident lack of color in the community. As a result, the students of color tend to cluster together in an effort to become included and a part of the community. This in itself is a challenge, but our presence is certainly welcomed, and Westtown’s community is much more welcoming than prior schools each of us has attended. The sense of unity is a big part of our day-to-day lives here; this is not found in many other places. Because of the small size of the school, students are able to interact with more people and develop intimate relationships.

As a Quaker community, Westtown does provide a safe place for self-expression. We are encouraged to be ourselves and get outside of our comfort zone.

Just like any other school or community,

there is naiveté to certain concepts, but Westtown does its best to educate its students and faculty about concepts that affect us all, such as race, gender, and religion.

Diversity is important in education because with diversity come various ideas and opinions. A diverse classroom provides more information for each student to consider. Discussions become a melting pot of various ideas, out of which solutions can arise.

Throughout the years, following current events, there have been instances in which classes are devoted to discussions that revolve around race and culture.

These classes are often in the English and history departments, but other teachers have done so as well.

As students at Westtown, we learn many, many things. Peace & Justice is a history course, unique to Westtown, which not only encompasses history but also acts as an introduction to Westtown. A number of important lessons and topics can be derived from this class. Specifically, we have been able to learn about privilege beyond our own experience. This part of our lives has existed throughout history and continues to exist, and being able to learn about this at Westtown has helped broaden our horizons to the world outside of Westtown.

Members of S.O.C.A. hold meetings, send out surveys, and host presentations and speakers from outside of school who bring different perspectives about issues of race and identity to the community. This allows minorities to come together and uniformly present themselves and associate with each other in a community that is not of their majority. Students involved are encouraged to work towards change.

S T U D E NT VO I C E S

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Since the 1800s, what is now Westtown Lake (it was more of a pond at its beginning) has been a staple of the campus and community. In 1907, President Samuel Smedley proposed building a lake as a tool for recreation, forestry, beauty, and to bring Westonians closer to nature.

However, the dam in place was in need of continuous repair because of flooding.

Because of cost, the Committee at the time rejected the proposal. Yet the Quaker traditions and values of wilderness, peace, and tranquility eventually prevailed, and the project was finished by 1912.

The new lake provided an area for spiritual reflection, recreation, and educational opportunities in the natural sciences. Recreational use of the lake has changed over time, but the peaceful and spiritual nature remains an essential part of the Westtown community.

Besides providing an area for recreation, beauty, and spiritual connection, Westtown Lake has become an essential ecosystem for local wildlife and acts as an important wetland habitat for the surrounding geographical area.

The lake provides enormous benefits to the township in an unlimited number of ecological services, including storm water management, nutrient control and retention, groundwater recharge, climate moderation, water filtration, and carbon

Lake Restoration Project

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sequestration. The educational opportunities that can arise from monitoring and studying these services are endless.

About ten years ago, a lake committee was formed that comprised alumni, staff, and parents. This dedicated group began the process of planning for a major lake renovation. The committee, under the strong leadership of Holly Harper ’78, Jack Embick, and Mark Del Negro, has brought the project to fruition. In addition, over 137 donors have contributed to funding the preservation of this precious campus landmark.

U P DAT E

So now, more than 100 years after the original lake project was completed, the Lake Restoration Project is well underway. Here are the milestones that have been reached and a timetable for the completion of the project: • Dredging work is ongoing, to be completed this winter.

• Forebay is complete.

• Concrete step dam spillway is complete.

• South side of dam is complete and seeded.

• North side of dam is up to final elevations.

• ADA-compliant sidewalk to Lake House is complete.

• New drop box is in service; old dam culvert has been de-commissioned.

• Three disposal areas (approximately seven acres) are closed and have been germinated.

Dredge material has been used as a soil amendment in Pete’s Produce Farm fields.

• New dock is complete.

• New porch at the Lake House will be completed in 2016.

• Turtles will be collected from donor ponds in March 2016 and returned to the Lake.

• Westtown Road culvert replacement is scheduled to start June 2016. Westtown Road will be closed for 8 weeks.

If you have questions about the Lake Restoration Project, email campusmasterplan@westtown.edu.

LOST & F OUND IN THE L AKE Myriad items have been found in the dry lake bed during dredging. They conjure up visions of pleasant outings on or along the lake until circumstances conspired, and these objects (and perhaps their owners) ended up in the water. Keys, coins, combs, and other personal items probably thought to be safely tucked into pockets somehow went under. So, too, did eyeglasses, jewelry, eating utensils, small metal toy cars, and the tag for a dog named Jake.

Notable among the jewelry found is a 14k gold wedding band engraved “CB to HPW” in 1948.

Items were lost in or by the lake during all seasons: a swim fin (with plastic bandages still stuck where the strap would rub across one’s heel), half a wooden oar, a tackle box with most of its contents intact, a plastic skate guard, and a hockey puck.

Most items found can be explained, but the small battery-powered alarm clock found far from the lake shore seems a mystery. Was it an unwelcome disturbance after a peaceful overnight by the lake? A roommate’s revenge?

One item lost in the lake some thirty years ago has been returned to its owner. Peter Lane ’57 still recalls the Sunday afternoon when his son, Ben Lane ’88, then in Middle School, was maneuvering his radio-controlled sailboat on the water from the Lake House dock. A gust of wind quickly sank the boat. A search party went out by canoe but to no avail. This past summer, a plastic sailboat hull found in the dry lake bed was quickly identified because Pete Lane had wondered aloud to a current faculty member whether Ben’s lost sailboat might be discovered. One mystery solved!

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CA R R I E T I M MINS

MONICA R U IZ- MELEND EZ

KE V IN E PPLE R

SH E L A G H W I LS ON ’ 85

MAR ISSA C OLSTON

J O E T YLE R

JO H N F E R N A NDEZ

WHITNEY SU T TELL ’98

CE LES T E PAYNE

The Westonian Magazine

STORY

BY

LY N ET TE ASS AR SS ON

/ P H OT OS

BY

E D CU N IC E LLI

DIVERSITY, IDENTITY, O

EDUCATION _________ __

PRACTICING WHAT WE TEACH

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A small group of students gathered around the Opinion Board, which hangs just outside the Upper School Office. They muttered quietly amongst themselves as their eyes quickly darted from comment to comment written in reaction to this post:

BLACK LIVES MATTER These words had been written in black marker on separate pieces of paper in response to a previous post, a New York Times article about the University of Missouri protests and the Black Lives Matter movement. Later, another student added a word in red marker next to the word “lives” so that the board now read:

BLACK ALL LIVES MATTER

The article and these words generated a flurry of passionate comments on the board in defense and explanation of both statements. Students continued to gather to read and react to the comments, some adding new ones.

The conversations, some heated, carried on into the evening, away from the board and onto the dorms.

Marissa Colston, Westtown’s newlyappointed Director of Diversity and Inclusion, sensed the urgent need for open discussion and called an informal town hall meeting that same evening.

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The town hall was emotionally charged and difficult—yet powerful. Colston and a team of faculty and administrators, including Celeste Payne and Joe Tyler as representatives of the Meeting for Business committee, determined that Meeting for Worship should be adjusted to meet the community’s needs. Meeting for Worship in small groups took place the next day to discuss and process the issue, the postings themselves, and responses to them. The day following Meeting for Worship, the one that marked the beginning of Thanksgiving break, the Religious Life Committee (comprising students and teachers) offered yet another Meeting for Worship as a time to sit together in peace and reflection—an opportunity for healing moments before they departed for vacation.

In one way, the scenes that played out over those few days were reflective of the difficult and intense conversations that have been taking place across the nation.

In another way, they are examples of how Quaker Meeting for Worship is our spiritual center and how Westtown provides ample space for students to express themselves, as well as support and guidance in navigating challenging— and sometimes painful—topics in respectful ways. They also exemplify the ongoing need for schools to take the lead in developing cultural competencies in their students and teachers.

The subjects of race, culture, religion, and identity are sensitive issues in this country, one that continues to struggle mightily with racial tension and violence, human rights, and discrimination. These topics invite fidgeting, clearing of throats, nervousness, and rising temperatures and voices, even in a community built around principles of openness and respect, such as ours here at Westtown.

Over the years, educators at Westtown have continued to visit and grapple with these issues: How do we go about fulfilling our mission to educate students to be leaders and stewards of a better world? How do we teach students to be agents of change? How do we

uphold and live out the Quaker principles of stewardship, peace, integrity, community, and equality? In recent years, and even in recent days, these questions have led to a grittier and more blunt question: Moment by moment, how do we practice what we teach?

If we teach that equality, openness, respect, and inclusion are ideals, then what are the ways in which we show students that this is so? More importantly, how do we foster these ideals within our students, and how do we help bring them to life in our students in tangible ways?

The one-dimensional answer is diversity. Diverse communities are vibrant ones, and being in a diverse community in which many races, cultures, religions, ideas, socioeconomic backgrounds, and identities are represented exposes students to others who are not like them and enriches their experiences. Developing relationships with people from different backgrounds and experiences broadens our world view, makes us more tolerant, and develops empathy. As Dr. Margaret Haviland, Assistant Head for Faculty and Program, puts it, “Diversity forces us to rethink all of our assumptions.”

And diversity does something else as well. It helps students learn.

There is a growing body of research that shows that critical thinking and learning are enhanced by diverse environments. In the New York Times article “Diversity Makes You Brighter,” Sheen S. Levine and David Stark described their research, which clearly demonstrated more highly accurate outcomes when non-homogenous groups collaborated in solving problems, in this case calculating accurate prices for simulated stocks. Their study provided evidence that “diversity improves the way people think.” One of the most significant findings was that within homogenous groups, people were more likely to copy others, while in diverse groups, discussions led to more accurate responses. “Diversity brought cognitive friction that enhanced deliberation.”

Westtown is a comparatively diverse community in which students of color make up 25 percent of the student population this year. The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) defines students of color as African American, multiracial, Latino/ Hispanic, Native American, Pacific Islander, Asian American, and Middle Eastern American. In the Upper School, where the boarding program makes it possible for students from all over the globe to be part of our community, the number rises to 27 percent, and international students (from 19 countries) make up an additional 10 percent of the Upper School student body. These numbers do not include other types of diversity that also enrich our community, including gender identification, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, and culture.

Yet it’s not that simple. Enrolling a diverse student body is merely a first step, and exposure—diverse individuals living and learning together—is only part of the equation. In fact, it’s merely the tip of the educational iceberg. And while diversifying a community brings significant advantages, it also brings the necessity to assess more precisely the needs of students within the community.

So, the real answer to “practicing what we teach” is deeper and more complex than diversity alone. The answer lies in deliberate and intentional teaching, in mirroring students’ experiences, and in creating a safe environment in which to explore and manage the opportunities and challenges of that diversity. It lies in specifically tailored curricula and a well-trained faculty that works to help students navigate difficult topics and to ensure more inclusive classrooms.

BEYOND DIVERSITY: EXPANDING CURRICULA AND INCREASING UNDERSTANDING Dr. Margaret Haviland, Assistant Head of Faculty and Program, along with curriculum developers in all divisions, recognizes that events students learn

“These topics invite fidgeting, clearing of throats, nervousness, and rising temperatures and voices, even in a community built around principles of openness and respect, such as ours here at Westtown. ” about in history or religion and texts they read in English should reflect the broad variety of human experience.

While Westtown has long been dedicated to diversity in community, modifications to course material, projects, and reading lists—such as the recent inclusion of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness in upper level history courses—have been made in recent years to present more inclusive curricula that represent not just the traditional few—most often the privileged few—but rather the voices of many.

For decades the Religion Department at Westtown has offered courses that explore the dominant religions of Asia and the Middle East, along with Bible and Quakerism courses. Over the years the department has expanded its offerings to include courses such as Religion and Social Change, Liberation Theology, Nonviolence and Social Justice, and Business and Society, all of which address in one way or another the role of religion in strife, social justice, and change. All of these courses are also aimed at giving students the

opportunity to dive deep into the tenets of various religions—an intentional focus on understanding the other for some students and me for others.

“My class, Nonviolence and Social Justice, looks at issues of oppression, race, class, privilege and prejudice in multiple world contexts,” says Kevin Eppler, religion teacher and Assistant Dean. “Students examine issues of discrimination and injustice, their historical context, and systemic causes…

They study restorative justice models as well as forgiveness and are asked to journal about their own trials and efforts to forgive. They produce critical analyses of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa and seek case studies of its application, and the application of restorative justice in the United States and at Westtown. Perhaps most importantly, they study current events and learn how to talk about these often-controversial issues. They learn to take risks, lean into discomfort, share their stories, and listen to each other.”

Listening to one another is not only an important factor in the community, but also a common academic theme at Westtown, exemplified both by discussion-driven classrooms in all divisions and in curricula through presenting texts and materials that represent voices of historicallyunderrepresented identities, races, and religions.

History teachers in all divisions approach history as an opportunity for students to learn about events through the varied lenses of those who experienced them. This approach casts a multi-dimensional light on history.

“In all of our history classes, we seek to expand the voices that are heard,” says Upper School history teacher Whitney Suttell ’98.

“We try to tell stories from multiple perspectives and understand how a

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moment in history looks different depending on the perspective of the person telling the story. Too often history is told from the perspective of the privileged group. When you broaden the perspective, you begin to see a more nuanced picture. This is important because [students] have to be able to understand all voices in order to create meaningful change.”

Peace and Justice, a history course taken by most ninth graders, is “all about identity, diversity, and social change,” says Suttell. “We look at systems of oppression and how people have challenged oppression in the past and do so today. In doing so, students explore their own identity and what has shaped them. We try to define and break down the concept of privilege.

All students have it in some form or another. Once you are aware of the privilege you have, you become newly responsible for changing the system that creates that privilege.” Suttell also says that most students can identify with at least one privileged group and at least one disadvantaged group. In identifying these concepts in themselves, they build compassion for others around them and begin to see themselves as agents of change.

The English department has also developed curricula around themes of identity. The ninth grade English course, entitled “The Outsider in Literature,” explores the relationship between the individual and the community. “It’s a year’s worth of texts in which all kinds of kids can see themselves, and if not themselves, someone like them,” says Haviland. The English Department’s reading list includes books that showcase myriad voices such as those found in The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Eleventh and twelfth

WHAT WE’VE BEEN READING The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

by Michelle Alexander We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know: White Teachers, Multicultural Schools

by Gary Howard Raising Race Questions: Whiteness and Inquiry in Education

by Ali Michael Whistling Vivaldi: And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us

by Claude M. Steele Promoting Racial Literacy in Schools: Differences That Make a Difference

by Howard Stevenson Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria: And Other Conversations About Race

by Beverly Tatum Why Continually Improving One’s Cultural Competence Matters

by John Chubb NAIS Independent School Magazine Blog

What’s Missing from the Conversation: The Growth Mindset in Cultural Competency

by Rosetta Lee NAIS Independent School Magazine Blog

Diversity Makes You Brighter

by Sheen S. Levine + David Stark The New York Times, December 9, 2015

What White Children Need to Know About Race

by Ali Michael + Eleonora Bartoli

graders in Contemporary World Literature read texts in which the protagonist negotiates identity in a changing culture. “The English Department has always been keenly aware of the need for diversity in literature,” says Haviland, “but now they are exploring it in a new way. Teachers are now asking, ‘Why are all the stories about people of color stories of adversity? Why aren’t any of them stories about triumph and success?’”

Dr. Mónica Ruiz-Meléndez, World Languages Chair and Spanish teacher, has adjusted her curriculum to include courses about the Latino experience, film, and literature. These courses are also offered as English electives so that they are available to more students.

This year, upper level Spanish classes are taking Introduction to Latino Literature and Culture in the United States. “This course is particularly timely as the nation embarks on a presidential campaign and the issue of immigration reform is at the center of the debates,” says Ruiz-Meléndez.

“Knowing the historical background … and struggles of Latin American immigrants in the U.S. is crucial to students’ understanding of the current socio-political climate. The course also offers students of Latino heritage the opportunity to consider their own cultural, ethnic, and racial identities and grapple with them in a safe space in which brave conversations are encouraged. In this case, language is just a tool—an excuse, if you will, to exercise Quaker values and testimonies on a daily basis in the classroom.”

NAIS Independent School Magazine, Sum. 2014

Engaging the Racial Elephant: How Leadership on Racial Literacy Improves Schools

by Sherry Coleman + Howard C. Stevenson NAIS Independent School Magazine, Sum. 2014 Teaching Tolerance Magazine Archives

Visit www.westtown.edu/thewestonian for links to these online resources.

BEGINNING AT THE BEGINNING This important work toward inclusion and curricular focus on diversity is not confined to the Upper School. In fact, it is as important for the youngest students as it is for the oldest—perhaps more so—since values, judgments, and biases begin (and are recognized) early.

Rosetta Lee, an educator and diversity consultant who recently led workshops at Westtown, notes that studies have

“They study current events and learn how to talk about these often-controversial issues. They learn to take risks, lean into discomfort, share their stories, and listen to each other.” confirmed that very young children have an awareness of difference and that by age five, they are aware of biases.

As in other divisions, the Lower School curriculum has always included projects and material designed to develop empathy and expand kids’ world view.

In recent years, however, the Lower School faculty has been looking at texts with more discernment, paying special attention to whether students can see themselves reflected in the material.

Kristin Trueblood, Lower School Principal, says that it’s important that the literature they choose is both “a mirror and a window” for kids— a way to explore self and other.

The social studies curriculum is built around learning about the experiences of “the other” as well.

For older Lower School students, American and World history studies include learning about the experience of Native Americans and immigrants, as well as leaders who are changemakers.

Changemaking is a thread that weaves through curricula from Pre-K through twelfth grade.

Trueblood notes that young children naturally begin in their own world and see the world through that lens, but as they grow, they can move into other worlds, and it’s the work of the school and community to show them those other worlds. “We talk about how we are different and how we are the same.” As for how Lower School faculty approach teaching diverse students, Trueblood says, “Each child has value, and each child has different needs, and our job is to discern what those needs are.”

Shelagh Wilson ’85, who teaches first grade, says, “It is important for us to start teaching children how to celebrate and appreciate differences at an early age. We also need to help counteract the messages and stereotypes that are presented in our mainstream media and culture. My goal is to help my students develop empathy so that they can begin to identify both marginalized and privileged identities.”

In the Middle School, teachers Carrie Timmins and John Fernandez created a club for students so that they could discuss race and identity in a structured environment. These students have given themselves the moniker “MOOSE,” which stands for Many Optimistic Open-minded Supporters of Equality.

This gender-balanced, racially-diverse group meets weekly during recess to explore ways in which students can understand one another better. They talk about events in the news, about issues at school, and about their own identities. Timmins and Fernandez believe this is just a starting point for deeper learning in students, both about themselves and about those around them, a complement to diversity and identity projects all students undertake in their classes.

Timmins, Middle School Guidance Counselor and Health teacher, and Fernandez, who teaches Spanish, agree that one thing that makes the Middle School at Westtown unique is that teachers have conversations in real time when they see kids struggling or wrestling with tough topics. Fernandez says that being part of a team of teachers

willing to engage with students when issues of identity or race come up is not only gratifying but also necessary for kids, especially in the already-challenging Middle School years.

Coupled with a strong social curriculum is an academic one that, as in the Upper School, explores identity, justice, and change. English courses present texts that bring to life other worlds and experiences such as Persepolis, a graphic novel about growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, and The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, about poverty and empowerment in Malawi, around which a multi-discipline project is built.

Middle School students are given opportunities to learn outside of the school setting as well. Recently, Fernandez and Marissa Colston accompanied eight students to a Middle School diversity conference at St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School near Washington, D.C. About 150 kids from 16 schools gathered for the Stand Up/Speak Out Conference to learn about what it means to be an upstander in community. Colston, Fernandez, and Timmins will continue this kind of work with students on campus.

CULTIVATING CULTURAL COMPETENCY A curriculum that is devoted to diversity, identity, and inclusion is but a framework without a faculty trained to teach it and an administration committed to fostering inclusion and cultural competency. The National Center for Cultural Competence at the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development describes five essential elements that contribute to an institution’s ability to become more culturally competent: valuing diversity; having the

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capacity for cultural self-assessment; being conscious of the dynamics inherent when cultures interact; having institutionalized culture knowledge; and adapting to diversity and the cultural contexts of the communities they serve.

Developing this cultural competency and inclusive classrooms is as much about how we teach as about what we teach, and much of Westtown faculty’s professional development over the past few years has focused on issues of race, identity, and inclusion. As NAIS president Jon Chubb reflects, “The cultural differences that we think we appreciate, we likely do not understand accurately or completely. We are all evolving, learning, and we can always improve.”

Haviland agrees. She, John Baird, Colston, and others in leadership roles at Westtown have made diversity and identity training a top priority. The School has invested time and professional development money. “Time is currency for teachers so the fact that we’re devoting so much time to this… we’re saying it’s important. We also signal the importance of diversity and inclusion to our entire community through this sustained attention.” To that end, in-services, required readings, and professional development sessions have been dedicated to this work. “I want to make sure that our students have the best-prepared faculty for creating diverse classrooms in which there is a high degree of awareness of and respect for difference.”

Last year, twelve teachers across all divisions attended The Race Institute, a three-day conference that gives educators specific tools to talk about and understand race.

This conference was powerful for its attendees. “As a white person, I found that I had consciously developed very

little racial identity,” said Megan Rose, an eighth grade teacher. “The Race Institute presented stages of different racial identity development. It was eye-opening, challenging, and sometimes painful to examine them but ultimately extremely helpful to have the conceptual framework and vocabulary to think about our own racial identities, especially as we ask students to consider theirs.” Vicki Shelter, a third grade teacher, said that it gave her useful tools to talk with students and colleagues about race.

At the outset of this academic year, the entire faculty participated in Race Institute workshops, and Westtown will host the Race Institute for other schools in late January. Haviland says that there has been great energy for the Race Institute work among faculty, and several more will attend the full three-day conferences in the coming months. “The more people we send to these conferences, the stronger the culture here,” she says.

Joe Tyler, Assistant Director of Athletics, and Shelagh Wilson ’85 attended the SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) Leadership training last year, exploring ways in which to address diversity in the classroom and among colleagues.

Tyler, who is part of the Bridges program (a host program which pairs new students of color with returning students of color) and a SEED leader at Westtown, says he was moved by the experience and is grateful that Westtown made the opportunity available. “This work does not end, and I applaud Westtown’s intentionality when it comes to diversity and inclusion. We need to continue to have conversations and educate colleagues, students, and parents around these issues.” Wilson, also a SEED leader at Westtown, says that the training was the most influential week of her life.

“I gained a much deeper understanding of the systems of racism and white privilege in this country. It provided me with the skills and tools to engage in conversations with my colleagues.”

“She reminded us that being a courageous community member doesn’t always mean knowing exactly what to do but rather being willing to try with the intent of making it better.”

Wilson adds, “Much of this work is based on developing empathy, and we are very fortunate to be associated with the Ashoka Changemaker School Network. I am looking forward to making use of this extensive resource as we look for ways to teach empathy in our Lower School social studies curriculum.”

Recently, all faculty and some administrators also attended a transgender and gender identity session in which they learned how to understand and use terminology and how to support transgender students or those who are in a period of gender identity exploration. Outside of workshops, efforts toward making a safe and inclusive environment for LGBTQ students is ongoing. As John Baird shared in a letter to parents this fall, “At Westtown, we are growing in our awareness of the needs of transgender and genderexpansive students as they seek to live authentically in the world.” Additionally, students themselves have led the charge for gender-neutral language in the dress code and in the student handbooks as well.

The most recent inservice for faculty was led by Rosetta Lee. Lee, a nationallyrecognized diversity consultant who

talked to faculty about identity development and how to recover from moments when we offend each other unintentionally (also known as microaggressions).

“She gave us tools to help us navigate through difficult conversations in a way that removes any shame or guilt one might feel for the mistake they have made,” says Colston. “She reminded us that being a courageous community member doesn’t always mean knowing exactly what to do but rather being willing to try with the intent of making it better.” Lower School Principal Trueblood reflected, “She reminded us that diversity includes religion, socioeconomic status, class, how you identify yourself, gender, and culture. But I think the most important thing for me, and what I emphasize with Lower School faculty, is that we are all responsible for this work.”

Students are also involved in diversity and identity education outside the classroom. They attended an assembly about identifying and handling microaggressions, and they, too, had a session on diversity/identity with Rosetta Lee. The Students of Color Association (S.O.C.A.) also brings speakers to campus, hosts events, and provides a space for discussion and action. (See page 22) Westtown also sends students to off-campus conferences on diversity, such as the

annual People of Color Conference.

Student interest in these topics is evident in club membership. The Jewish Student Union, International Student Organization, Rainbow Club, and WAWA (Westtown Alliance for Women’s Advancement), to name just a few, are vibrant groups, all of which sponsor events, foster dialogue within the community, and provide spaces for students both to explore issues that are important to them and to be together as affinity groups.

LEADING BY EXAMPLE Recognizing the need for leaders in the realm of diversity, Westtown expanded the role of Diversity Coordinator and created the position of Director of Diversity and Inclusion and elevated it to an administrative-level leadership position. The renaming of this title and its position is an important shift which acknowledges the work that needs to be done to create a more truly inclusive community.

Marissa Colston arrived in August and hit the ground running. She brings experience in working with students of all ages. She says, “One of my goals is to help create spaces where we can be all of who we are and learn and grow from those who are in community with us.

The value in a diverse community can

Ashoka’s Start Empathy Initiative START EMPATHY, an initiative of Ashoka, is a community of individuals and institutions dedicated to building a future in which every child masters empathy. In 2014, Westtown was named a Changemaker School and became a part of the Ashoka Changemaker Schools Network, which is a global community of leading elementary, middle, and high schools that serve as models for cultivating these skills in students and are showing what education in the new framework looks like.• As Ashoka’s Start Empathy Initiative describes, “Changemaker Schools, in aspiration and practice, cultivate students as changemakers. They are vision-oriented and focused on the “who” rather than the “what,” developing children as active contributors rather than passive recipients. They have high standards of excellence for students, teachers, and staff alike. They are also making the development of empathy a priority in their curricula, culture, and systems.”

only be realized with time for shared dialogue and listening. The result is a community that can better solve problems and create unique and sustainable solutions, whether it is gained understanding of another’s racial or gendered experience or recognizing the importance of a holiday and its observance. What makes Westtown unique is the opportunity to share and learn from these myriad experiences and to grow closer and more authentic as a community. This not only prepares students to be conscious learners and leaders in the world beyond Westtown, but also solidifies how we honor the Light in us all.”

Colston has facilitated workshops for students and teachers, is expanding the Bridges Program, and is bringing speakers to Westtown for parents, such as Erin Cross, who recently presented a session about gender identity and development, and Ali Michael, who presented a session entitled “What White Children Need to Know About Race.” Colston and other faculty work closely with the Families for Multicultural Community, a parent-run organization at Westtown that sponsors events and activities, such as the Independent School Multicultural Students Conference and College Fair.

Celeste Payne, an Upper School science teacher, was selected to represent Westtown School on the Friends Council on Education’s Institute for Engaging Leadership in Friends Schools and serves on the Teaching Tolerance Advisory Board, roles that greatly benefit Westtown.

She shares readings, webinars, and seminars with all faculty and began the Faculty of Color Network in 2014.

This group also serves as a resource for Westtown faculty.

Payne notes the added burden that some faculty feel. “Faculty of color have

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the additional responsibility of being role models for students of color. Based upon their own personal journeys, they also are generally very aware of the sometimes challenging pathway for students of color. Having someone who looks like them at the faculty and leadership levels is an important element of the experience of both students of color and faculty of color.”

Payne is passionate about her role on the Teaching Tolerance Advisory Board, of which Westtown is a member school, and is eager to bring its educational resources to faculty. She says, “Recent publicity on issues such as gender identity, immigration, marriage equality, and police relations with people of color all highlight that civil rights continues to be a central issue and experience for many in our society. These events strike at the sense of identity, membership, ownership, and safety that underrepresented groups feel and experience on a daily basis. It would be naive to think that members of the Westtown community are not affected by such events, which makes it all the more important that faculty are talking about them with each other as well as with students.”

ROOM TO GROW While it is important for students to see themselves represented in material, it’s equally important for them to see themselves in the faculty as well. Recent hires in the Upper School were a far more diverse group than in years past, and they bring with them enthusiasm, experience in diversity work, and new eyes through which to view our current practices. Yet there is much work still to be done, especially in diversifying the teaching staff of both Lower and Middle Schools. Trueblood says that it is a priority for

The Quaker concept of continuing revelation—that new truths are revealed to us as we learn more and live our individual and collective spiritual journeys— is foundational. her but one that’s a challenge to achieve.

Haviland echoes that issue. “People love their jobs and stay a long time, so that some positions—especially leadership ones—aren’t available very often.” Still, Westtown administrators maintain a strong commitment to diversity in hiring.

When asked if Westtown provides a safe space for differences, most teachers and students say that in many ways, it does. Payne says that she has found that most at Westtown come to engage in learning and growth in community.

“They tend to be open and receptive to hearing different perspectives. As with any community, there are those who experience challenges in this process and journey. It’s essential for educators to support everyone’s continued growth, including our own. One of the best ways that we can do this is by modeling this actively and publicly for students.”

Kevin Eppler adds, “We are a very talkative and supportive community. Our students are socially conscious and will express charged viewpoints accordingly.

That said, we also need to name that we are a progressive-minded and vastly liberal school community. As such, I am aware that students and community

members with conservative viewpoints often feel ostracized.”

The Opinion Board commentary and controversy demonstrated that we are not exempt from the tension and discomfort of talking about race. For all the work that Westtown has undertaken institutionally and for all the ways in which this is already an inclusive community, there are times and situations in which students and faculty continue to feel marginalized. Teachers and students alike can be recipients of microaggressions and burdened by assumptions about race, gender, or identity. We have, as most communities do, room to grow.

Westtown’s continued growth is grounded in the Quaker principles that guide us and our mission to educate students to be stewards and leaders of a better world. The Quaker concept of continuing revelation—that new truths are revealed to us as we learn more and live our individual and collective spiritual journeys—is foundational.

While learning, growth, and change can be difficult, and while navigating the waters of diversity is sometimes messy and uncomfortable, it is paramount for us to continue this work to ensure that all students, indeed all members of our community, feel as though they have an equal seat at the table, that their experiences are valued, and that their voices are heard.

As leaders, colleagues, parents, teachers, students, and Friends, it is imperative that we practice what we teach.

ALUMN I VOI CES

What We Learned…

Survey Says?

BY A N N E B U RN S

Last spring, Westtown’s Alumni Office sent a survey to our alumni community via email. The purpose of our outreach was to connect, take the community’s pulse, and hopefully better understand current perspectives on where the school is and where you’d like to see us go in the future.

Westtown proudly counts over 6,500 Westtown alumni in 50 states and 45 countries. As scientists, entrepreneurs, educators, scholars, and philanthropists, you’re meeting the demands of global citizenship with skills developed in Westtown’s classrooms, on dorm, in the studios, and on the athletic fields. Westonians are truly fulfilling our mission as stewards and leaders of a better world.

When I speak to non-Westonians about my education and upbringing and start talking about Westtown, I worry that I am embarrassingly cheesy in my enthusiasm. But when I feel most confused, adrift, or jaded in my adult life, part of my centering process often involves remembering what mattered most to my teenage self, when I was so deeply nurtured and encouraged to be honest, take risks, and practice integrity. These memories help me reach peace with myself now and often lend me bravery to face scary decisions. My spouse, a friend I met at Westtown, does the same thing.

G W E N C A P L A N ’0 3

As members of our diverse alumni family, Westonians retain a sense of community that endures long after graduation. Our goal is to have our graduates remain connected to our community on a variety of levels. We accomplish this through events on campus, regional gatherings, email and post communications, our EverTrue app [have you downloaded it yet?], social media, and outreach like this survey. In the following pages, you’ll find a summary of results of the feedback on your experience as a member of the alumni community.

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BY THE NUMBERS

4,000 This survey was sent to more than

ALUM NI VI A EMAI L HERE IS A GENERAL OVERVIEW OF SOME OF OUR LARGER QUESTIONS.

CAREERS

The alumni responding to this survey have found careers in a wide variety of industries.

DIDN’T RECEIVE THE SURVEY? Do we have your email address on file?

Please contact us at alumni@westtown.edu to update your information.

MAJOR INTERESTS Alumni from the classes of 2008 through 2015 recently responded to a separate Young Alumni Survey, sharing their college majors:

Administration

1.0%

Art

2.4%

Business

3.4%

Consultancy

3.4%

Social Sciences (includes Education)

Design

2.0%

34%

Education

31.4%

College + University

31.4%

High School

49.0%

Pre-High School

16.5%

Finance Health Care

5.2% 11.4%

Legal Services

6.6%

Non-Profit

2.1%

Technology

3.5%

Other

27.6%

STEM 24% Humanities 15% Arts 10% Business 14% Other 4%

WHO RESP ONDED

9.3% R E S P O N S E R AT E

371 alumni participated

GRADUATES from the classes of 1931–2014 participated, with the strongest representation from alumni who graduated between 1971–1980.

The majority of RESPONDENTS live in the NORTHEAST

78.2% with

25.1%

living less than 30 miles from the SCHOOL.

A LU M NI VO I C E S

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

We asked, H O W WO ULD YO U R ATE W EST TO W N ’ S E F F EC T O N YO U R L I F E ?

Here are some alumni sentiments:

It is hard to say “I found my passion” at Westtown, but I can say that many of the passions and callings I have discovered along the way since then have their roots in who I was becoming while I was at Westtown.

K ATH RY N S C H WA R T Z R O O S A ’8 1

Westtown had a huge impact on my perspective of the world and on the path of my subsequent career.

SYD CRA IG ’ 63

Westtown changed my life’s path virtually at take off, and reacquaintance after 50 years helped [me] appreciate that gift.

Westtown was incredibly important to me in my whole life. I’ve had inspiring teachers at Earlham, Yale, and Duke alongside my Westtown teachers.

Westtown was formative in developing my Quaker spirituality, but so have other places and people. I already had passion when I arrived at Westtown. Westtown nurtured and oriented it. My passion has continued to be shaped by other influences after Westtown.

R . M E LV I N KEI S ER ’56

YOUR WEST TOWN LEG ACY

!+# $+%

Do you have other family members who are Westtown Alumni?

29.4%

70.6%

• YES • NO

Do you have school-aged children?

22.9%

77.1%

How old are your school-aged children? (Answered by 22% of the

WINK P O RT ERF IE L D ’65

respondents, sometimes more than once.)

CONNEC TION How would you rate your current knowledge of the school?

How would you rate your school related peer relationships?

61.2% 53.2% feel somewhat knowledgeable

feel very connected to their friends

27.5% 31.9% feel connected and very knowledgeable

feel somewhat caonnected

9.2%

14.9%

do not feel informed

1.9%

haven’t been paying much attention

do not feel connected

B A S E D O N W H AT YO U K N O W, D O YO U F E E L T H AT W E S T T O W N I S H E A D I N G IN A P O S I T I VE DI R EC T I O N ?

57.6% 10.5% 31.9% AN S W E RE D Y E S

AN S W E RE D N O

U N DE C I DE D (or didn’t have enough information to answer the question)

Just a baby (0-3) 10.9% Lower School-aged (4-11) 55.2% Middle School-aged (12-14) 36.5% Upper School-aged (15-19) 41.4%

Have you ever considered Westtown or chosen it as your children’s school?

&+' 32.9%

67.1%

W H AT M I G H T K EEP YOU FROM C H O O S I N G W E ST TOWN F OR YO U R C H I L D R E N’S SCHOOL? The most common responses were distance and cost.

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ALUMN I VOI CES

BOARDING AT WEST TOWN

The road to the school’s modified boarding policy was a complex one, filled with many honest and sometimes very difficult conversations. As alumni, some of you feared we were losing our way, our history, our “keystone,” and our culture.

Westtown still has a boarding requirement, but the Board of Trustees did modify it in May 2013. Beginning in 2015, any student who enters the school in 8th grade or after must board during their junior and senior years. The revised boarding policy allows students who entered the school in 7th grade or before the choice about whether to join the residential community during their junior and senior years.

At this point, are you in support of the modified boarding requirement policy?

53.5% 28.6% 17.9% SUPPORT THE POLIC Y

D O NOT SUPPORT TH E P OLI C Y

ARE UND ECIDED

The write-in responses were equally supportive. Many shared positive feelings: “I am enthusiastic about the work to make the community attractive to all.” Another wrote, “I was originally against the change because of the great value I see in the boarding requirement. I am, however, understanding of the need to change, and if Westtown must do this to compete, I can probably get used to it.”

Many alumni noted the importance of a unified boarding population for cohesion and the ability to create an “intangible essence,” while worrying that the day students might feel “left out at times.” Other comments were less supportive: “I understand why this decision was made, but I do not support it, as I feel focusing tightly on the perceived needs and interests of the local pool of potential students ultimately limits the uniqueness that Westtown has to offer.”

We are now in the first year of the modified boarding requirement, and the school is stronger than ever. The percentage of boarding students in the Upper School is 77.4%—the third highest since 1996.

I think the compromise that has been made between requiring boarding and allowing for flexibility is a wonderful example of how Quaker process can work. A NONY M OUS 60

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CAMPUS MA STER PL AN

Work on the Campus Master Plan continues with enthusiasm. After carefully considering ideas and emerging themes from more than 24 stakeholder meetings, as well as exploring unique features on several peer school campuses, the Campus Master Plan (CMP) Committee and its architects are currently developing a list of preferred capital projects.

An overview of this process will be presented to the School community for feedback in the next Campus Master Plan Town Hall meeting March 31, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lower School Gathering Room.

The school and the CMP Committee are very appreciative of the thoughtful insights shared by school community members in support of a new Campus Master Plan. Many of these expressed needs represent key components in the plan’s next iteration. We hope you can join us in person or via a live stream connection.

In the survey, we asked respondents to rank the following areas according to priority.

The results are listed by order of preference: 1 Maintain the sense of community and history on the campus 2 Strengthen the connections between program and the natural landscape 3 Support program design and innovation 4 Continue sustainability initiatives 5 Develop a community center to enhance the residential and day programs 6 Improve the dining area and the kitchen 7 Identify ways to use the campus to generate additional revenue 8 Maintain athletic competitiveness by providing appropriate physical resources

QUAKERISM AT WEST TOWN

Westtown’s Religious Life Committee is currently shepherding a Quaker self-study in conjunction with the Friends Council on Education. We plan to share our findings with you in the upcoming summer Westonian. W H AT PRIORITIES W O U L D YO U L I K E T H E S C H O O L T O SET DURING T H I S P R O CE S S ? In response to this question, alumni ranked the following items, in order of descending importance: 1 Provide ongoing training for faculty, staff, Board, and students in Quaker decision making

4 Expand our retreat structure for students to foster spiritual exploration and community building

2 Develop the inquiry-based Action-Based Education program, which encourages students to define and live by their personal testimonies

5 Connect the Westtown community with other local Friends organizations so that they can take advantage of available programming

3 Increase financial aid dollars to support Quaker students

6 Raise funds to endow the Thomas S. Brown Endowed Chair in Faith and Practice 7 Offer more programming about Quaker education for Westtown’s adult community (parents and alumni)

A LU M NI VO I C E S

year 13.9% • Every 23.5% • Occasionally for a long time 24.5% • Not 18.6% • Never I would, but no one has •ever asked 19.5%

GIVING BACK

!+#+$%& DO YOU GIVE B AC K TO WEST TOWN BY SHARING YOU R TA L E N T S AND/O R T IME?

19.5%

13.9%

18.6%

I’m afraid that my many “somewhat true” answers do not properly communicate the profound effect that Westtown had on me.

Westtown was a gateway for me; it opened me to the world of possibilities. It laid a foundation that allowed me to come into my own in the years that followed. While I didn’t find my passion while at Westtown, I am confident that my experiences at Westtown primed me to find and be aware of finding my passion soon after leaving.

L AURA S HARPLES S ’ 0 0

23.5%

24.5%

Most notable for us were the Westonians who shared that they would, “but no one has asked.” In response, we’d like to share a few ways that you can!

• Maintain an interest in and stay informed about the ongoing life of the school. Keep your contact information current, read the latest editions of eCollections and The Westonian (yay, you’re halfway there!), and attend events in your area.

• Share your time and expertise.

Find out about volunteer opportunities at www.westtown.edu/volunteer.

• Provide financial support critical to advancing Westtown’s mission and impact. Make a donation of any size at www.westtown.edu/wfdonate.

• Share your journey and milestones of your life.

Submit Class Notes at alumni@westtown.edu.

• Be an ambassador for Westtown in the World.

Share meaningful stories from the school, and refer prospective families.

• Have an additional idea? Contact Kris Batley ’81, Director of Alumni Engagement and Stewardship, at kris.batley@westtown.edu or 610-399-7913.

IN PARTNERSHIP (AND FUN!) For those who replied to the survey, we’ve heard your feedback and want to continue the dialogue. If you didn’t have a chance to reply, we’d love to start a conversation with you. Why not reconnect with Westtown at an upcoming event? We will be holding Friends of Westtown gatherings in San Francisco in late February; Washington, D.C., in April; and Boston in June. Alumni Weekend is Friday, May 13, through Sunday, May 15. Please join us!

HONEST AND TRUE

Not every reply we received was glowing. In fact, several alumni wrote that they “receive too many communications from the school,” that our new Strategic Plan sounds “ridiculous and pretentious,” that our sentiment that “the World needs more Westonians” is “a prideful, arrogant and embarrassing” phrase, and that our “lack of Quaker roots” is disturbing. A few graduates commented that our questions were “not phrased well to elicit open responses.” Another stated, “Westown was a very important part of my childhood and was very influential in shaping the adult I became. I do not think its importance comes through in the questions you asked. I give Westtown credit for teaching me how to learn and approach life.”

We hear you, and we respect your feelings. It’s honest discourse like this that creates conversations, opens the door for future dialogues, and creates a climate of self-expression that is invaluable. Thank you for your honesty. We will endeavor to continue to be as open and transparent with you as well, and we welcome your future thoughts, questions, and concerns.

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ALUMN I PR OFILE

Survival: A Matter of Luck & Compassion STO RY BY RE N ATE LI E B E R G J US T I N ’4 4 • PH OT O S CO U RTESY O F W ES T T O W N S C HO O L A RC HI V ES + RENAT E LI EBERG J U STIN

Refugees are an integral part of human history. Daily we are distressed by the pictures of fleeing families drowning in the Mediterranean Sea, dying of thirst in the desert, suffocating while confined in the back of a truck. Luck, and the compassion shown to us by many, helped my family at the end of 1939 to survive our journey as refugees from Nazi Germany to the United States.

The American Friends Service Committee, unlike the rest of the citizens of the United States, understood the dangerous policies put in place by the Nazis. Quakers Howard and Catherine Elkinton, Edna and Homer Morris, and others had the courage, in the name of the American Friends Service Committee, to help the persecuted German minorities, Hitler’s victims. My family was among those rescued by the German, British, and American Friends who worked together in Germany. As a youngster I was humiliated and ostracized by my classmates and teachers. Graffiti on our garden fence, name-calling, and stone-throwing were the harbingers of being kicked out of school because I was Jewish. In 1936, my parents took the advice of their Quaker friends and, with fear and bravery, sent their seven- and nine-year-old daughters alone on the train from Germany to Holland.

There the Society of Friends had rented an ancient castle, located deep in an old oak forest, an idyllic location, and established a Quaker boarding school named Eerde, a tranquil haven into which political and religious refugees, both students and faculty, were welcomed. My younger sister and I were absorbed into this remarkable community, which was grounded in the silent meeting. Many tears were shed in the silence as attendees mourned the death of parents in concentration camps and the execution of loved ones. We cried under our blankets at night and woke up to pre-breakfast gymnastics to face another day. We hugged and shared the pain of our losses and had enough energy to study, to play, and to find solace in music, poetry, and nature.

My family left Holland late in 1939, before the Germans invaded in May of 1940. In spite of the grim leave-taking, we had to laugh when we met Edna and Homer Morris in the crowded boarding area of the ship, the Rotterdam. They were conspicuously displaying the American Friends Service 62

The Westonian Magazine

Committee’s red, white, and black star and reeking of whisky.

A well-wisher had given Edna a farewell bottle, and in all the jostling, it had broken, soaking both her and Homer. It was sheer luck that the Rotterdam, overcrowded with refugees, made it to the United States and did not hit a mine in the English channel as had the Simon Bolivar, also a boat carrying refugees, just a few weeks earlier.

My father had a job representing a Belgian firm when we arrived in Hoboken, NJ, but that job disappeared when the Germans invaded Belgium. He was penniless and unable to support his family. Once again the Friends came to our rescue.

Ruth and James Vail hired my mother as a nurse to look after Mother Vail. At Westtown, two families volunteered to host my two sisters and me. We lived in the homes of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Tomlinson and Mae and Russell Edgerton and were allowed to attend Westtown School. My two sisters left Westtown once my father found a job and earned enough to rent an apartment; I was allowed to stay on. There was much that was different between Eerde and Westtown: the strict separation of boys and girls at my new school, the lack of awareness of what was happening in Europe on the part of my peers, and minor matters, such as green Jell-O, which all three of us were sure was poisonous.

At Eerde an important contribution to the sense of community was that the students did all the janitorial work, helped keep the grounds, and had kitchen duty. Once the United States became involved in the war in Europe and help became scarce, a similar program was adopted at Westtown. The undertaking almost faltered when Master Russell sent me a wire at the end of summer vacation: “Send list of Storm Troopers,” the name for the students that were to come back before the start of school to get things ready for the new Work Program. This telegram caused the FBI to show up both at Westtown and at my house. It took some detailed explaining to convince the agents that our ‘StormTrooper list’ was unrelated to Hitler’s army.

Master Russell and Mae J. Edgerton were infinitely patient in explaining the mysteries of the English language to me.

Without them I would not have known that there was a garden hose as well as hose ladies wear to Meeting. When I was desperate because my friends, my classmates who had been left

Lieberg (circled) with ’44 clasmates; inset, Leiberg (right) with her sisters in Germany; below, with her granddaughter Leah Justin-Jinich ’08 at her Westtown graduation.

“The healing that took place during my years at Westtown never would have happened if it had not been for the compassion, kindness, and understanding with which the community surrounded me.” at Eerde, died in concentration camps, Mae J. and Russell comforted me.

After Master Bert Baily, with the use of a tongue blade, taught me to correct my guttural pronunciation, my English became intelligible. Once that happened, I made many good friends, especially my senior year, when I was allowed to live on the dormitory. The Westtown community supplied me with more clothes than I had ever owned and found jobs for me washing socks and dishes to earn pocket money.

A LU M NI P R O FI L E

One of these jobs was to service the old-fashioned switchboard in Central on Sunday mornings. One Sunday I called Master James Walker repeatedly. He finally came from his home down the lane to show me how to avoid this mistake; he wasn’t even angry! Eventually Teacher Rachel Letchworth found scholarships to make it possible for me to attend college.

The healing that took place during my years at Westtown never would have happened if it had not been for the compassion, kindness, and understanding with which the community surrounded me. Even before any formal diversity training, the Westtown family knew how to make a thirteen-year-old, traumatized Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany feel respected and welcome.

At Westtown, as in Holland, Meeting for Worship was a focal point of my week.

I never felt proselytized, or pressured to become a Quaker, although I accepted and incorporated much of the Quaker philosophy into my life. I believe I was the first Jewish Quaker to graduate from Westtown, one of the world’s innumerable refugees who survived because of luck and the compassion of others.

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W ES T T OW N B O O KSHEL F

Books by Westonians

Kevin Roose ’05 Young Money Grand Central Publishing, 2014

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Becoming a young Wall Street banker is like pledging the world’s most lucrative and soul-crushing fraternity. Every year, thousands of eager college graduates are hired by the world’s financial giants, where they’re taught the secrets of making obscene amounts of money—as well as how to dress, talk, date, drink, and schmooze like real financiers. Kevin spent more than three years shadowing eight entry-level workers at Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and other leading investment firms.

In this inside story of the well-guarded world, Kevin chronicles their triumphs and disappointments, their million-dollar trades and runaway Excel spreadsheets, providing an unprecedented (and unauthorized) glimpse of the financial world’s initiation process.

Toby Barlow ’84 Babayaga: A Novel Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013 Will is a young American ad executive in Paris. Except his agency is a front for the CIA. It’s 1959, and the Cold War is going strong. But Will doesn’t think he’s a warrior―he’s just a good-hearted Detroit ad guy who can’t seem to figure out

The Westonian Magazine

Parisian girls. Inspector Vidot is a hardworking Paris police detective who cherishes quiet nights at home. When he follows a lead from a grisly murder to the home of an old woman, he finds himself turned into a flea. Oliver is a patrician, fun-loving American who has come to France to start a literary journal with the help of friends who ask a few favors in return. He’s in well over his head, but it’s nothing that a cocktail can’t fix. Add a few chance encounters, a chorus of some angry witches, a strungout jazzman or two, a weaponized LSD program, and a cache of rifles buried in the Bois de Boulogne—and that’s a novel!

Robert Blake Whitehill ’80 Geronimo Hotshot Telemachus Press, 2015 In Ben Blackshaw’s fourth mission, he deploys west to track the white supremacist killers of a young black boy.

With the help of Delshay, a Geronimo Hotshot wildfire fighter, Blackshaw wends his way through a blazing Arizona countryside toward a camp of vigilante ranchers and bikers protecting the border from undocumented immigrants. As he hunts the killers, Blackshaw confronts whether his methods make him any better than the lynch mob he plans to take down. This edition includes the Blackshaw short story,

“Sludge,” written with Taylor Griffith ’14.

Kat Yeh ’82 The Truth About Twinkie Pie Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2015 Take two sisters making it on their own: brainy twelve-yearold GiGi (short for Galileo Galilei, a name she never says out loud) and junior-high-dropout-turned-hairstylist DiDi (short for Delta Dawn). Add a million dollars in prize money from a national cooking contest and a move from the trailer parks of South Carolina to the Gold Coast of New York. Mix in a fancy new school, new friends and enemies, a first crush, and a generous sprinkling of family secrets. That’s the recipe for this voice-driven middle grade debut about the true meaning of family and friendship.

Aaron Meshon ’91 Tools Rule!

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2014 Calling all tools to the workbench! Aaron Meshon’s follow-up to Take Me Out to the Yakyu, which The New York Times Book Review calls “a definite home run,” hits the nail on the head. In a messy yard, a busy day begins for a team of tools. With a click, click and a bang! bang!, everyone from wrench, hammer, and

screwdriver right down to nuts and bolts is pitching in to make a shed. Okay, crew! Who’s ready to build? From hammer and wrench to awl and vise, readers will construct a vocabulary of terrific tool terms as they learn the importance of teamwork.

Colin Harrison ’78 Risk Picador, 2009 George Young never thought of himself as a detective, but that’s pretty much his vocation.

As an attorney at a top insurance firm, it is George’s job to pin down suspicious claims.

But Mrs. Corbett, the rich, eccentric wife of the firm’s founder, wants to use George’s skills for a peculiar assignment.

With only a few months left to live, her one desire is to know the true circumstance of her son Roger’s violent death.

George’s investigation leads him to Roger’s mistress, a cagey Czech hand model named Eliska, who can cast a seductive spell simply by removing her gloves. George will have to take a few chances of his own if he wants to get to the bottom of Roger’s death for Mrs. Corbett.

Have you written a book? If so, please contact the Alumni Office at alumni@westtown.edu about including it in a future issue of The Westonian.

2015-2016

Westtown Fund We all love choice, which is why the Westtown Fund allows donors to direct their gifts to areas that inspire them while helping us enhance those elements that make Westtown a magical place.

Direct gifts to: ❑ Financial Aid ❑ Campus Care ❑ Faculty Support ❑ Student Program and Services ❑ Athletic Program ❑ Technology ❑ Areas of Greatest Need

We hope you find your passions in one of these areas.

Please don’t hesitate to contact Stephanie Ziemke, Director of Annual Giving, with any questions! You can reach her at stephanie.ziemke@westtown.edu or 610-399-7922.

You may make your gift online at

www.westtown.edu/wfdonate.

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A LL I N THE FAM ILY

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A L L I N T HE FA M I LY

All in the Family Children and grandchildren of alumni make up about 10 percent of our total enrollment annually. Generations of families are woven into the fabric of our community, and we celebrate their legacy and the next generation of Westonians on these pages!

ALL PHOTOS LIST NAMES FROM LEFT TO RIGHT (1) LOWER SCHOOL, Front: Priyanka Acharya (Karabi Acharya ’82), Will Suttell (Whitney Hoffman Suttell ’98/CF), Emma Brooks (Amy Taylor Brooks ’88/BOT/FF), Alexandra Smedley (Christopher Smedley ’93), Zach Krawchuk (Laura Rogers Krawchuk ’88), Francisco Benbow (Christopher Benbow ’90/ CF). Back: Olivia Leh (Jamie Richie ’88/CF), Livia Resnik (KerryLynn Resnik ’86), Taylor Nason (Tom Nason ’79), Santiago Benbow (Christopher Benbow ’90/CF), Maya Brooks (Amy Taylor Brooks ’88/ BOT/FF), Will Rowland (Diana Mark Rowland ’87), and Alex Krawchuk (Laura Rogers Krawchuk ’88) (2) MIDDLE SCHOOL, Front: Eleanore Goodman (Eleanore Price Mather ’27), Adelayne Fennimore (R. Swain Fennimore ’85), Jocie Resnik (KerryLynn Resnik ’86), Katherine Komins (Sheran Honneyman ’83), Avery Bohn (Nathan Bohn ’83/CF).

Back: Rebekah James (Lauren Johnson James ’92 and Bruce James ’90), Jackson Smedley (Christopher Smedley ’93), Joseph Farnan (Joseph Farnan ’91), Timmy Novak (Deborah Bacon Novak ’85) (3) 9TH GRADE, William Herrick (Eve H. Herrick ’83), Bryn Carnes (Christopher Carnes ’84), Reena Bradley (Jovi Fairchild ’87), Julia Castillo (Luis Castillo ’80/BOT) (4) 10TH GRADE, Tray Hammond (Charles Hammond ’87), Daelan Roosa (Kathryn Swartz Roosa ’81), Cameron Bream (Kevin Bream ’82),

Julian Tien (David Tien ’73), Wade Sansone (Clarence Pennell 1915) Alec Butler-Roberts (Nina Butler-Roberts ’90), Anna Harrison (Bruce Harrison ’81). Not pictured: Carter Dear (Marion van Arkel Dear ’83/CF) and Tim Schafer (Margery Schafer ’76) (5) 11TH GRADE, Front: Rebecca Parker (Glenn Parker ’77), Charlotte Abrams (Anne Homeier ’76), Sarah Cassway (Rusty Cassway ’84), Rebecca Schmidt (Dina Patukas Schmidt ’84/FF), Nell Herrick (Eve H. Herrick ’83). Back: Sally Harpster (Mary Hurd Harpster ’81), Beatrice Niyibizi (Anne Smith ’84), Zachary Wright (Stefanie Fairchild ’83), Jade Jeffords (Anna Roberts ’84). Not pictured: Will Driscoll (David Fairchild ’77), and Max Starr (Will Starr ’83) (6) 12TH GRADE, Front: Sam Pinsky (Betsy Hepps Pinsky ’83), Caroline Tien (David Tien ’83), Chase Winham (Carolyn Mayo ’84/FF), Kate Novak (Deborah Bacon Novak ’85), Claire Murphy (Betsy Christopher ’73/FF), Maddie Roberts (Lee Parshall Roberts ’85, David Roberts ’84).

Back: Lux Lennox (Stuart Lennox ’60), Dylan Gray (Beth Morton Gray ’85), Evan Sanders (Jennifer Fenander ’86), James Duffey (Sara Jane Bacon Duffey ’79/CF), Rebecca Wortmann (Richard Wortmann ’83), Emily Sands (Anne Barber Marston ’46), Keya Acharya (Karabi Acharya ’82) Colin Perkins-Taylor (Brenda Perkins ’75/BOT). Not pictured: Rosalie Dear (Marion van Arkel Dear ’83/CF)

Stay Connected More than 6,600 Westtown alumni are all together in one place, right now.

The 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.

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.

Key: CF=Current Faculty FF=Former Faculty BOT=Board of Trustees

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CL A S S N OTES

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From the Archives

1912

C L A S S NO T E S

A steam shovel aided in the removal of soil during the construction of the lake in 1912.

(Note the already-completed Lake House in the background.) To create the 14-acre lake that summer, an existing skating pond was enlarged by clearing adjacent meadow, building a new dam, and allowing Hickman’s Run to fill the newly-dug area. As was noted in The Westonian at the time, “The lake will furnish facilities for swimming, boating, skating, and other recreations of a wholesome nature.”

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SAVE THE DATES

Campus Master Plan 975 Westtown Road, West Chester, PA 19382-5700

Town Hall Meeting March 31 7:00 - 8:30pm

Alumni Weekend 2016 May 13 - 15

&

12th Annual Golf & Tennis Outing May 24

For more information visit www.westtown.edu/alumniweekend & www.westtown.edu/golfandtennis