47 minute read
Island News
“Ne Cede Malis” Steers School in Pandemic
Teacher Maribel Blas-Rangel with students from Spanish Class
Spring term opened on March 26 with a new reality on the Island and around the world as COVID-19 continued to spread.
Instead of bustling walkways and hallways, the campus remained quiet except for a few teachers crossing paths — at least six feet apart — on their way to conduct online classes from their empty classrooms or offices. Other teachers, especially those who live off-campus, used their living rooms or kitchen tables as their remote teaching bases. Around the globe, students connected to their classes, teachers, and friends from their homes as the school community adjusted to a term of distance learning.
In the span of a few head-spinning weeks in March, the spring term had transformed from a much-anticipated trimester on campus to an unprecedented experiment in education from afar. Although uncertain about what to expect and saddened by the loss of the spring’s many on-campus activities and senior traditions, the community also approached the distance learning experience with curiosity and appreciation for the sustaining strength of their Loomis connections.
When students left campus for March Break, the coronavirus crisis was just beginning in the United States. The school’s COVID-19 Task Force warned of a possible delayed or online start to the spring term, and students took their computers and books with them when they headed out for the break. March Break student trips to Italy and the Galapagos Islands and athletics team trips to California and Florida were canceled.
The task force continued to meet several times a week during the break, and with the pandemic and related public health crisis intensifying and with calls by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state of Connecticut for social distancing, the school decided on March 16 to cancel on-campus classes for the spring term and shift to a full-term distance learning plan.
Teaching faculty revised their lesson plans during the break to adapt to distance teaching and learning, including both real-time class meetings via live video and less synchronous approaches. An academic program subcommittee of the COVID-19 Task Force designed an online class schedule for the spring term, taking into consideration that students would connect to the school from many time zones.
The Information Technology Department worked to enhance virtual connections among teachers, students, administrative faculty, and staff so that as many people as possible could access the school’s computer networks from their homes. IT staff also provided training for teachers to use the Zoom online meeting platform for virtual face-to-face classes.
The Communications Office worked with the school administration to keep the community informed of the school’s response to the crisis and published a COVID-19 Response webpage that will continue to be updated for students, teachers, parents, and alumni.
Advisors connected with their advisees on March 25 to help students prepare for the first day of classes. And spring term classes began at 8:30 a.m. EDT on March 26. Meanwhile, several committees were working to maintain Loomis Chaffee’s thriving community life and support students, faculty, and staff as they navigate life away from the Island.
In April, the school also made the difficult decisions to move Commencement 2020 to a later date and to postpone this summer’s Reunion Weekend until June 2021, when classes ending in 5s, 0s, 1s, and 6s will celebrate their reunions together on the Island.
In messages to the community, Head of School Sheila Culbert invoked the school’s motto, ne cede malis (do not give in to misfortune), as a rallying cry for the community as Pelicans pulled together, supported each other, worked to continue students’ Loomis Chaffee educational experience, and strove to protect and serve the common good through the crisis.
For the latest information and more details about the school’s response to COVID-19, visit www. loomischaffee.org/magazine.
It’s Still Our Spoon
KENT DAY IS BACK
Loomis Chaffee will once again play football against Kent School and five other Founders League opponents under a new conference arrangement that will begin in fall 2020.
The new league arrangement heralds the return of the Loomis-Kent football rivalry, a competitive tradition with a storied history. The two schools have not faced off on the gridiron for the last seven years while they were in separate football leagues, but the reconfiguration brings back the spirited rivalry. The Pelicans will play the Kent Lions in the final game of the fall season.
The Founders League, in existence for more than 30 years, is a multi-sport conference whose member schools contend for league titles in a number of sports although not all member schools field teams in all of the same sports. In the case of football, most member schools field teams, but in recent years those teams have not all played against each other. That will change now that football has been added as a Founders League sport.
Loomis Chaffee Director of Athletics Sue Cabot says she is excited about the change. “As a league we compete in a manner consistent with our schools’ shared commitment to academic excellence, integrity, and the personal growth of student-athletes,” she says.
Beginning in the fall, Loomis will play football against Founders League schools Avon Old Farms, Choate, Hotchkiss, Kent, Taft, and Trinity-Pawling. The Pelicans also will play three out-of-conference games against Deerfield Academy, Phillips Andover Academy, and Phillips Exeter Academy.
“We’re very excited to have the opportunity to compete for a league championship moving forward,” says Jeff Moore, head coach of Loomis football. “It is great to be able to play a group of schools that share a rich tradition in football.”
Jeff and Sue, both of whom arrived at Loomis during the Kent Day hiatus, are looking forward to the renewed rivalry.
“Traditions and rivalries are inherent in competitive athletics, and it is exciting for our teams and important for our collective communities to bring back Kent Day,” Sue says. “I am hopeful that the Kent Day rivalry will exemplify a tradition of healthy competition, mutual respect, camaraderie, and unparalleled good sportsmanship between our two schools.”
“Traditions and rivalries are inherent in competitive athletics, and it is exciting for our teams and important for our collective communities to bring back Kent Day.” — Director of Athletics Sue Cabot
Finding Your Wolf Pack
Soccer legend, activist, and author Abby Wambach spoke to the school community about “Belonging,” this year’s school theme, during a March convocation.
Abby Wambach. Photo: Cassandra Hamer
Iconic American soccer legend Abby Wambach visited the Island in March to speak to the school community on this year's theme of "Belonging" and to share wisdo she has gained through her storied career as an athlete, activist, and author.
A roar of appreciation filled the Olcott Center when the two-time Olympic gold medalist and World Cup champion entered the gym, bounded to the podium, and greeted the crowd with a casual, “What’s going on?” followed by an affectionate shout-out to her nephew, senior Ben Ritter.
Then, with an engaging combination of swagger and self-deprecation, Ms. Wambach related stories and lessons from her experiences as a soccer phenom and member of the U.S. women’s national soccer team from 2001 until her retirement in 2015, during which she became the most prolific scorer in international soccer history.
“What do you know? What do believe in? What feels like home to you?” Ms. Wambach asked her audience. High school students are often told what to believe, she said. “You all need to figure out what you believe. … You are going to be tested throughout your life and every decision you make is relevant.”
Ms. Wambach spoke about the value of failures, the importance of team, the truths of leadership, and the challenges of standing up for one’s beliefs.
One of her anecdotes shed light on several of these lessons. At the 2015 Women’s World Cup, her coaches told her they were not going to start her in a crucial game. At the age of 35, she did not have the stamina and indestructibility of a 20-something player. Instead, her coaches said, she would come into the game from the bench as a “game-changer.” Despite being heartbroken, disappointed, and embarrassed, Ms. Wambach said she also knew that she could give her team the best chance to win by offering her full support as a bench player. With her help, the team went on to win the World Cup.
“Everything I needed to learn about leadership, I learned on that bench,” she reflected. “If you are a leader on the field and you don’t call yourself a leader on the bench, then you, in fact, aren’t a leader at all.”
Ms. Wombach urged students to find their “wolfpack” — teammates, friends, classmates, teachers, and adult mentors with whom to share challenges, dreams, and joy. They will leave their imprint and help “make you into what you want to be,” she said.
A compelling, vocal advocate for leveling the playing field for women in sports and elsewhere, Ms. Wambach also shared anecdotes from her career that pointed to the unfairness of female athletes earning less money than, and being treated as inferior to, their male counterparts. Players on the U.S. women’s national soccer team make less than the men’s national team players even though the women’s team generates more money for the sport and has had a more successful record than the men’s team, she noted.
Women often feel grateful, rather than deserving, when they achieve a measure of success in a male-dominated realm, Ms. Wambach said, drawing from her own experience. When she retired in 2015, she received a prestigious ESPY Icon Award for excellence in sports performance. Standing on the podium of the nationally televised ceremony alongside the two other recipients, Kobe Bryant and Peyton Manning, she felt gratitude more than any other emotion. Being grateful, she stressed, is “often the only emotion women are allowed to feel.” And while all three athletes were celebrated for the same level of professional achievement, she walked away from the event to face a very different retirement than her male counterparts — especially in financial terms. This realization left her angry and confused, and she decided to do everything in her power upon her retirement to advance women in sports and in all areas of life.
After the convocation Ms. Wambach met with students in the school’s Longman Leadership learning community and with members of the girls and boys soccer teams and their coaches. Her visit to campus was part of the Robert P. Hubbard ’47 Speakers Series.
Ms. Wambach’s two books, Forward: A Memoir, published in 2017, and WOLFPACK: How to Come Together, Unleash Our Power, and Change the Game, published in 2019, were both New York Times bestsellers.
Abby Wambach and sophomore Mariapaula Gonzalez. Photo: Cassandra Hamer
Island News Chaffee ’69 Leadership Fund Created Members of the Chaffee Class of 1969 at their 50th Reunion last summer: (front row) Sharon Leyhow, Perri Orenstein Courtheoux, Anne Baker Lewis, Megan O’Neill, Merrill Bunce Hurst, Amy Silliman Avedisian, and Carol Coe Fowler; (middle row) Kathy Duke Roby, Maureen Daly Hamm, Betsy Pelgrift Boak, Deborah Dunsmore Fraser, Nan Booth, Kathryn Coe ’71, and Betty Sudarsky Bradley; and (back row) Sharon Smith, Wendy West Nelson, Katrina Vernlund Hill, Eleanor Brushwood, Suzanne Nolan, Franci Vinal Farnsworth, Alice Vernlund Ford, and Toni Simms Pollard.
A new endowment fund created by members of the Chaffee Class of 1969 will offer programs that educate and prepare current and future Loomis Chaffee female students in leadership skills and behaviors, empowering them to become effective leaders and to compete successfully in all walks of their lives.
Throughout the months before, during, and after their 50th Reunion in June 2019, many members of the class, including Betsy Pelgrift Boak, Betty Sudarsky Bradley, Perri Orenstein Courtheoux, and Franci Vinal Farnsworth, expressed their strong desire to establish this endowment fund. Fundraising chairs Betsy and Franci spent many hours working toward the goal of bringing this idea to fruition. As a result, the Chaffee ’69 Leadership Fund was established. The fund honors The Chaffee School name and supports the Chaffee Leadership Institute and its annual programs, which are designed to educate and empower female students in the skills of leadership.
The genesis of the idea for the fund came from the Longman Leadership Institute, a program that was established on campus in 2017. The institute aspires to teach and encourage young women at Loomis Chaffee to develop their leadership skills within the supportive on-campus community. During the program’s first year, 14 girls participated, of which 10 lived in Longman Hall and four were day students. Currently in its third year, the institute’s members include 10 boarding girls and five sophomore day girls. Boarding students who wish to live in Longman and be a part of the institute must show their interest in the program’s goals through an application process.
Throughout the three years of the institute’s existence, the program has offered numerous opportunities for its members, including an outreach program directed toward sixththrough eighth-grade girls in the Windsor community called “The Let Girls Lead Initiative”; required reading and subsequent discussions of Strong Is the New Pretty: A Celebration of Girls Being Themselves, by Kate T. Parker, and other books; and attendance at “Lead Like a Girl: A Conference for Girls” in Princeton, New Jersey, which showcases girls’ creativity in science, technology, engineering, math, entrepreneurship, finance, and leadership — and inspires girls’ confidence in these fields.
The Chaffee Class of 1969 wished in part for the Chaffee ’69 Leadership Fund to help ensure the perpetuity of the school’s name, The Loomis Chaffee School, because of the rich history and legacies of both names, Loomis and Chaffee. The Chaffee School for Girls, which was named for the Founders’ mother, Abigail Sherwood Chaffee Loomis, opened in 1927 as a two-building, 40-acre campus on Windsor’s Palisado Green. After decades of growth and prosperity, The Chaffee School was moved back onto the Island in 1970, retaining its separate identity with integration of classes available to only 11th- and 12th-grade men and women. The two schools fully merged in 1972, and the new entity was called Loomis-Chaffee. Girl boarding students were admitted for the first time in 1976. The former Chaffee School building on the Island became Chaffee Hall. Eventually, the hyphen was dropped from the name, and The Loomis Chaffee School proudly retains this name today
Beginning in the 2020–21 academic year, the Longman Leadership Institute will be renamed the Chaffee Leadership Institute to recognize its new source of funding, the Chaffee ’69 Leadership Fund. Faculty members Lillian Corman, Mimi and Michael Donegan, Anne Sher, and Michaela Chipman, all of whom are involved in the current Longman Leadership Institute, are excited and grateful that women from the Chaffee Class of 1969 believe in the mission of the institute and wished to establish an endowed fund that benefits the institute and attaches the Chaffee name to such a program. As with all endowed funds, anyone can contribute to the Chaffee ’69 Leadership Fund at any time.
Festering Adoration
The Addams Family’s Uncle Fester (senior Steele Citrone) sings to his true love, the moon, in this winter’s Norris Ely Orchard Theater production of the musical.
ADDAMS FAMILY the musical THE
Macabre furnishings. Ghoulishly elegant attire. Creepy servants, including a helpful, though disembodied, hand. And a family for whom spooky is the norm. Nothing quite compares to the Addams family, portrayed on the Norris Ely Orchard Theater stage this winter in musical and comedic splendor.
Photos: Anna Vdovenko
Set in the family’s gothically sophisticated mansion, the Loomis Chaffee Theater & Dance Department’s production of The Addams Family featured the acting, voice, dance, and technical theater talents of a 20-student cast and 13-student crew as well as a live orchestra that included four students along with several professional musicians.
The show’s familiar characters encounter problems stemming from the lovestruck relationship of the family’s teenage daughter, Wednesday, and a “normal” boy from town. When Wednesday invites the boy’s family to dinner at her house, comical chaos ensues as cultures and personalities clash and mix-ups add to the hilarity.
The show, which played for full-house audiences, was directed by theater teacher David McCamish and choreographed by dance teacher Kate Loughlin. Production manager was Candice Chirgotis, head of the Theater and Dance Department, and music director was Melanie Guerin. A talented group of other faculty members and theater professionals provided crucial assistance with the production.
The Loomis Chaffee Parents Association hosted a Theater Luncheon, complete with gothic-themed desserts, in Brush Library before the show’s Saturday matinee.
Music and lyrics for The Addams Family were written by Andrew Lippa, who visited Loomis and worked with performing arts students several years ago. The book is by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice.
To browse a gallery of photos from the show, and view the playbill, go to www.loomischaffee.org/ magazine.
LEFT: There’s never a dull moment in the Addams family mansion. MIDDLE: Lucas (sophomore Ben Radmore) and Wednesday (junior Rosalie Lyons) try to sort out their love-struck differences. RIGHT: Morticia (junior Lana Breheney) tenderly snips off the top of a bouquet, to save the stems.
LEFT: Uncle Fester (senior Steele Citrone) professes his love for the moon. MIDDLE: Morticia and the ghostly ensemble RIGHT: Tension and romance intertwine for Morticia and Gomez (junior Bihan Zhang).
LEFT: Lucas braces against the expectations of his straight-laced parents (sophomore Aidan Cooper and senior Grace Kulas). RIGHT: The aptly-named Lurch (junior Evan Petkis) holds a vial of truth serum.
Morticia, Gomez, and the ancestral chorus in the show’s opening number, “When You’re an Addams”
Grandma (junior John Howley) dishes advice.
Addams family ancestors watch over and comment on the unfolding crises.
Great Teachers
Continued from page 4
teachers care passionately about their subject matter, they have a sense of humor, they are kind, they understand that adolescents make mistakes. A great teacher understands when young people need an encouraging nod or word of support and when they need to be gently guided back into their lane.
I hope our virtual school won’t last for long—although as of this writing it is much too early to tell. I suspect that whatever happens, though, our model of teaching will change. Some of the changes that we are forced to implement now will stay with us, some of the innovations that our faculty develop will be seen as better, and some of the interactions that we will foster will be just as life-changing as those conversations between Don Joffray and Steve Strogatz. Whatever happens, it will be our great faculty who will make the difference as we move into this brave new online world.
Certificate Program Expands Student interest in pursuing a Global & Environmental Studies Certificate at Loomis Chaffee has grown since the program’s inception six years ago, prompting expansion of the program’s scope to reflect its popularity and continued evolution, according to Meg Blunden Stoecklin, associate director of the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies. The program, administered by the Alvord Center, recognizes coursework, extracurricular engagement, travel, and experiential learning focused on developing students’ understanding of world cultures and the environment. To earn the certificate, students must complete six or more courses (from at least two departments) with the Global & Environmental Studies designation, language study through the fourth-year level, participation in a travel program, a final capstone project or paper, and several other extracurricular and academic requirements.
New to the certificate program this year, the 34 enrolled seniors will create digital portfolios to showcase their global learning experiences. With remote teaching and learning this spring, seniors may choose to complete additional reflective assignments for their digital portfolios, including videos about their current environments and reflections on segments of the Loomis Chaffee COVID-19 Speakers Series, or complete a capstone project that explores a global and/ or environmental topic in depth through research, reflective writing, scientific analysis, or even art. In another program enhancement initiated this year, the Alvord Center collaborated with other centers and signature programs on campus to offer five senior seminars. The topics addressed in the fall and winter included identity, citizenship and belonging, the environment and sustainability, and activism and intentionality. The large group of seniors was split into two cohorts for each seminar to ensure active, engaged, and collaborative learning. Global & Environmental
Model Diplomacy
Loomis Chaffee’s Model United Nations organization enjoyed a record-breaking year with large numbers of individual awards recorded at each of the three 2019–20 season conferences.
Rachel Engelke, history teacher and Model U.N. faculty advisor, noted that the skills learned through participation at the conferences — debate, discussion, collaboration, team-building, innovation, creativity, and imagination — are all critical for current domestic policy discussions and global diplomacy.
The season kicked off in Lisbon, Portugal, as 12 experienced Model U.N. students represented Loomis at the Yale Model Government Europe Conference in November. Attended by 400 students representing 30 delegations from around the world, the conference simulated political and diplomatic interactions in the European Union. The Loomis team won the Outstanding Small Delegation award, the equivalent of second place among similar-sized teams. Six of the 12 students also brought home individual awards.
In January, a contingent of 28 Loomis students participated in the Yale Model United Nations Conference in New Haven, Connecticut, where 14 Pelicans won individual awards, a record number for the school.
The Pelicans’ season concluded at the Boston Invitational Model United Nations Conference in February, with 19 delegates from the Island in attendance. In another record for the group, 11 of the Loomis delegates won individual awards at the Boston conference.
At all three conferences, junior Aidan Gillies earned “Best Delegate,” the top prize in each committee.
Rachel commended senior head delegates Maral Asik, Alice Chen, and Margarita Demkina for their guidance and mentoring of young and new delegates throughout the season, and she thanked her history colleagues Reem Aweida-Parsons and Kevin Guevara for helping to chaperone.
Students Soak Up Financial Advice for the
Near Future
Ariel Williams ’06. Photo: Christine Coyle
In a seminar series about personal finance, two young alumni spoke to Loomis Chaffee students this winter about their professional careers in finance-related industries and their personal experiences making a start in the working world.
Goldman Sachs Vice President Ariel Williams ’06 recounted her journey to becoming an investment professional and gave an overview of markets and investing fundamentals on an evening in January. And R.J. Paige ’13, who works as a business analyst for the National Football League in New York City, shared some of his early career experiences and offered advice for students about personal savings practices when he returned to the Island in February.
From Ellington, Connecticut, Ariel was a talented student, athlete, and dancer at Loomis, and she excelled at running, winning the individual title at the 2005 New England cross county championship. “You don’t realize how magical this place is when you’re here,” she said.
Ariel credits her liberal arts experience at Loomis and at Williams College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science, for teaching her how to learn. She said she was not especially interested in business or finance in high school or college. She had many interests and didn’t really know what she wanted to do professionally.
After Williams, Ariel took a job doing public relations for Major League Baseball. While working toward a master’s degree in international affairs at Columbia University, she landed a summer internship at Goldman Sachs Financial Services Company, and the experience inspired her to pursue an M.B.A. at Columbia Business School and a career in finance.
She is now a vice president and chief operating officer of sports and entertainment business for Goldman Sachs in New York. Working in the investment business made her feel empowered, she said. “People take advice from me,” she explained. She also felt the career was an opportunity to make an impact as a woman and a person of color. “There are not a lot of people who look like me in my business,” she said.
Ariel offered practical investing advice for the students gathered in Hubbard Hall for her presentation. She also explained commonly-used terms in investment and described some common markets, the ways people and businesses invest in them, the difference between stocks and bonds, the reasons people choose one type of investment over another, and the relationship between risk and return.
The investment decisions you make should depend on how soon you think you will need access to the money, and your willingness to take on risk, Ariel noted. Her other advice for young people looking to start investing is to open an account with a low-cost brokerage firm like Fidelity or Vanguard, and to keep it simple when making investment choices.
“You should aim to have about six months to a year’s worth of expenses saved before you start investing,” she advised.
R.J. was a four-year student from West Hartford and a varsity athlete on the football, boys basketball, boys lacrosse, and boys track and field teams. He earned the Senior Varsity Athlete Award for boys in 2013 and was active in the campus community as a member of PRISM (People Rising in Support of Multiculturalism) and as a musician in the Jazz Improv Ensemble.
After earning a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, where he was a linebacker on the school’s football team, R.J. leveraged a senior internship to secure a full-time position with the National Football League as a rotational analyst in the organization’s Strategic and Business Operations Division.
R.J. lives in New York City, where the high cost of living shocked him at first. “It hit my pocket hard,” making it a challenge to save money, he said. He offered a simple definition of savings: “money you don’t spend as soon as you get it, that you set aside, so when you do want to spend it, it’s available.” And he offered tips on setting savings goals.
R.J. also encouraged students to make connections with Loomis Chaffee alumni and in all their educational experiences and internships. These connections, he said, will help them find opportunities in their field of interest.
The seminar series was organized by Loomis economics teachers Mat DeNunzio and Liz Leyden to help students expand their knowledge of personal finance basics before they head to college and enter the workforce. Two additional speakers were scheduled to lead seminars during the spring term, but those events have been canceled because of the COVID-19 crisis.
The series was made possible with support from John Pearse ’58 and Sally Crowther Pearse ’58.
Island Visitors
Loomis Chaffee students worked with several visiting musicians during the winter term.
Atla DeChamplain Quartet
The jazz musicians of Atla DeChamplain Quartet led a masterclass for students in the Jazz Improv Ensemble in December. The quartet, featuring vocalist Atla DeChamplain, Matt DeChamplain on piano, Matt Dwonsyk on bass, and guitarist Chris Morrison, also presented a community concert in Hubbard Performance Hall. “What I really like about jazz is that it doesn’t have to be perfect,” Ms. DeChamplain said during the concert. At the end of the one-hour performance, the professional musicians shared musical advice and joined in a jam session with the Jazz Improv Ensemble, directed by music teacher Ken Fischer. The quartet is based in Connecticut, where Atla and Matt grew up. The couple met in high school at the Greater Hartford Academy for the Arts.
The Guest Musicians’ visits to the Island were made possible with support from the Stookins Lecture Fund.
C Street Brass
The brass quintet C Street Brass presented a community concert in the Hubbard Performance Hall and led a masterclass for students in the Wind Ensemble in February. The quintet features trumpeters Scott Nadelson and John Ehrenburg, trombonists Gabriel Colby and Hakeem Bilal, and horn player John Carroll. “If you really love playing music, then we encourage you to play it live and write it yourself. The whole point of music is to share it with those around you, and it is even more meaningful to share it when it is your own,” said Mr. Nadelson, one of the founders of the group. “People in the audience want to hear you and want you to play well, so don’t be nervous — just embrace it and have fun with it.” At the end of the concert, the musicians shared advice with students about performing in front of large audiences, writing their own music, and trying new things. They also offered tips and thoughts about how to pursue a career in music. After the discussion, the group played some requested songs and some of their personal favorites. C Street Brass’s visit to the Island was made possible with the support from William and Mary Sand, both former Loomis Chaffee music teachers. Bill was Concert Band director, and Mary taught flute and coached a flute choir.
A violinist with the Cuatro Puntos string ensemble presented a masterclass for Loomis Chaffee chamber music students in January. Aaron Packard worked with the Music Department’s afternoon intensive chamber music program on a Thursday afternoon. In the evening, the ensemble gave a public recital in Hubbard Performance Hall. The moving performance of “The Curve” by Iraqi composer Ameen Mokdad featured the string quartet accompanied by a dumbek — a hand drum from Middle Eastern and North African cultures — and with recitation of poetry in Arabic. Cuatro Puntos is a Hartford-based nonprofit arts organization dedicated to advancing social change and giving voice to the underserved through music composition, performance, and education. The musicians connect with audiences locally and worldwide by performing cross-cultural music that encompasses a variety of genres.
Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra
The Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra (HICO) woodwind quintet worked with music students in the Wind Ensemble in January as a follow-up to the group’s performance at Loomis Chaffee in the fall. The professional chamber musicians presented a brief recital for the ensemble then conducted masterclasses with students grouped by instrument. Comprising a roster of premier Hartford-based musicians, including Loomis instrumental instructors Cathryn Cummings on horn and Ling-Fei Kang on oboe, HICO is dedicated to the promotion of contemporary music. Joining Cathryn and Ling-Fei to complete the quintet were Allison Hughes on flute, Alexander Kollias on clarinet, and Mason Adamson on bassoon. HICO champions the music of local, living composers. Having commissioned and performed numerous pieces by Connecticut composers, HICO engages audiences in Greater Hartford and beyond with programming aimed at broadening musical perspectives.
For more information about each of the Guest Musician groups, visit www.loomischaffee.org/magazine.
1 Violinist Aaron Packard of Cuatro Puntos listens to student chamber musicians on the Hubbard stage.
2 C Street Brass musicians work with the Wind Ensemble.
3 The Atla DeChamplain Quartet performs in Hubbard.
4 Members of the Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra take a break during a masterclass.
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Sibling Synergy
Alumnae sisters connected their Loomis Chaffee and Miss Porter’s School students through a creative collaboration.
TOP: Accompanied by their teachers, the writers and artists meet in the Richmond Art Center. Photos: Jessica Ravenelle BOTTOM LEFT: Miss Porter’s student Mia Tollis, with Ro, displays her novela cover, designed by freshman Teymour Saghri. BOTTOM RIGHT: Molly Andrews of Miss Porter’s School meets the Loomis student designers of her novela covers, senior Portia Inzone and freshman Anni Johnson.
Stacy-Ann Rowe ’97 and Terry Rowe-Bailey ’03 Photo: Jessica Ravenelle
Sisters and teachers Stacy-Ann Rowe ’97 and Terry RoweBailey ’03 brought together the creative talents of their students this winter to collaborate on the cover designs for original Spanish-language novels.
Stacy-Ann, who goes by “Ro,” teaches Digital Arts & Media Design at Loomis Chaffee, and Terry, who goes by “Ro B,” teaches Spanish at Miss Porter’s School in nearby Farmington, Connecticut. Together they came up with the idea of having Ro’s art students create book covers for the narrative novelas that Ro B’s Spanish III students are writing this year.
Each of the 10 budding digital designers in Ro’s class was assigned a Miss Porter’s novela writer as a “client.” The student designers conducted “creative briefs” via email with their clients and then designed the fronts and backs of the book covers according to the writers’ specifications. The Loomis designers had the first six weeks of winter term to complete their assignment.
At a reception in February in the Richmond Art Center, the Loomis art students unveiled their book cover designs for the Miss Porter’s novela writers, who traveled to Windsor for the event.
“I am so thrilled with my students’ work,” Ro said. “They really did a great job.” Her students had the real-world experience of working to meet a client’s expectations and using good time-management skills in order to keep to a production schedule.
Ro B was equally impressed with both the Loomis designs and her students’ work. The novelas, complete with their cover designs, will be finished at the end of the school year.
The Hands of “Youth”
The four senior curators, Brandon Alvarado, Eric Guaman, Margaret Kanyoko, and Kristin Santana, chose photographs from a collection donated to the school in October 2018 by Christian Buhl ’84. The photographs were part of the larger Buhl Collection, which was assembled by Christian’s father, philanthropist Henry Buhl, and included more than 1,000 artistic representations of hands. The elder Buhl gave some of the Buhl Collection to Christian, who donated a trove of photographs from the collection to Loomis Chaffee.
For “Youth,” displayed in the Richmond Art Center’s Sue and Eugene Mercy Jr. Gallery, the student curators selected photography from the collection to express the exhibit’s theme and arranged the selections to represent important stages of youth.
Photographs of hands, selections from an art collection owned by the school, served as muses for contemplating the experience of being young in the student-curated exhibit “ Youth” earlier this year.
“As we launch into adulthood, we embark on a journey where innocence is lost, morphing into responsibility. We hope that those who come to our show identify themselves within these pieces and recall their experiences,” the students wrote in their curators’ statement.
Three of the student curators, Eric Guaman, Brandon Alvarado, and Kristin Santana, with Jennifer McCandless, head of the Visual Arts Department. Photo: Jessica Ravenelle
THE TALK ON CAMPUS
Loomis Chaffee’s conversation series continued on campus during the winter term with discussions of a range of topics. The series is organized by the Norton Family Center for the Common Good in partnership with other on-campus groups.
BASKETBALL AND POLITICS
“Basketball is playing a big role on the international stage,” Greg Collucci, senior manager for global basketball development for the National Basketball Association, told students gathered for a “Basketball and Politics” discussion in January. Mr. Collucci offered an overview of some of the NBA initiatives to “grow the game” through education and promotions, including elite training academies and Junior NBA leagues for boys and girls ages 6–13 around the world. “Basketball is a uniting force,” he said. “Once the game starts, religion and politics … go out the window.” Rock Battistoni, who coaches Loomis Chaffee’s boys varsity basketball team and played basketball with Mr. Collucci at George Washington University, joined in the evening’s discussion.
ASIAN AMERICAN IDENTITY
More than 100 community members gathered for a conversation about Asian American identity during a community free period in January. The event included a short video on the topic of the “model minority,” which points to a misperception that all Asian Americans are successful and make high incomes because they are pushed to work hard and are eager to please and, as such, are models for other minority groups in the United States and other western societies. The event also featured small-group discussion and a panel of students who shared their thoughts and experiences as Asian Americans.
RACISIM IN THE JUSTICE SYSTEM
As part of the school’s MLK Week programming in January, the student multicultural organization People Rising In Support of Multiculturalism (PRISM) hosted a student-led Hot Topic discussion about systemic racism in the justice system. The discussion was a follow-up to a convocation address by guest speaker Ricky Kidd, a black man who spent 23 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
LOOMIS CHAFFEE TRADITIONS
Peer counselors, junior and senior mentors to freshmen, hosted a discussion in February for the ninth-grade class on the topic of Loomis Chaffee traditions. Intended as a low-stress, mainly social event, the peer counselors, their faculty advisors from the Counseling Office, and freshmen played a game and then broke into small groups to talk about current campus traditions and how to maintain their relevance.
GERRYMANDERING
Mathematics Department Head Joseph Cleary and math teacher Stuart Remensnyder presented “The Mathematics of Gerrymandering” in February during a community free period. Joe and Stu showed how mathematics is used to fashion voting districts that are favorable to a particular political party, thus unfairly influencing election outcomes and resulting in a lopsided balance of power. Stu and Joe also led the nearly 100 students who joined the discussion in a simple math exercise to explain how gerrymandering works.
CONSERVATISM
An open discussion about conservatism followed a visit to campus by conservative writer David French in late February. The forum encouraged conversation about what conservativism means and how holding conservative views affects living and learning at Loomis Chaffee.
DRUM CIRCLE
At the beginning of the winter-term testing week in early March, students and faculty gathered for a community drum circle in Hubbard Performance Hall to promote social engagement and reduce stress. Led by Elliot Wallace, who teaches percussion at Loomis Chaffee, the event was organized during a community free period.
Echoing MLK’s Words, Speaker Declares “Free at Last”
Convocation speaker Ricky Kidd, who spent 23 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, shared his story of resilience in January as part of Loomis Chaffee’s week of programming honoring Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy.
Mr. Kidd spoke to the school community about his enduring choice to act with intention — to “hold the pen” in composing his life story — rather than succumbing to despair or accepting the narrative that other people might think his life should follow.
“I am Ricky Kidd and I am ‘Free at Last,’” he said pointing at the phrase printed on the T-shirt he wore for the event.
At the beginning of his talk, Mr. Kidd noted that wrongfully imprisoned individuals represent 2–5 percent of the current prison population — or about 150,000 people — and less than 1 percent of those will be exonerated. “That needs to change,” he said.
In March of 1997, in a turn of events he never imagined would happen to him, Mr. Kidd was convicted of murder, sentenced to life without parole, and processed into one of Missouri’s roughest maximum-security prisons. He spent more than two decades in jail before he was exonerated and released in August 2019. His book of poems, Vivid Expressions: A Journey Inside the Mind of the Innocent, published while he was imprisoned, sheds light on some of what he experienced.
To overcome the endless frustration with incarceration and the justice system, the loneliness, the feelings of abandonment, and the dehumanizing treatment he endured, Mr. Kidd said he leaned on his faith, his writing, his personal conviction, his commitment to helping others, and his devotion to his daughter, born five months into his captivity.
Told repeatedly by fellow inmates, correctional officers, lawyers, and others that he would spend the rest of his life in prison, he refused to accept this fate. He rejected taking part in gang activity or drug dealing, choosing instead to find positive outlets for channeling his energy. He led mentoring programs, taught financial literacy to other inmates, trained guide-dogs, became a spiritual leader, and wrote and staged theater productions in the correctional facility.
“I was forced to become the light, illuminating everything in sight. I was forced to become the oxygen if ever I was to breathe again,” Mr. Kidd said, quoting a passage from one of his poems.
He also persevered in proving his innocence. After many years of self-advocation, of reaching out to investigators, lawyers, and lawmakers, he was able to convince an investigator to help get his case in front of a judge. The bureaucratic process that followed also took several years, concluding with his release last August.
Mr. Kidd said he hopes his story will inspire others to work together to enact change, and always to pursue their dreams. “Dr. Martin Luther King had a dream. We can help carry on his, and … we get to live out his dream and create our very own. What’s your dream?” he asked, and then encouraged his audience to “be intentional, believe in yourself, and be free at last.”
After his address, Mr. Kidd answered questions from the all-school audience. Students discussed the convocation in advisory groups as part of the morning’s program.
MLK Week events continued later in the week with student performances of music, dance, and spoken-word poetry at a community assembly in honor of Dr. King, emceed by student leaders of the multicultural organization PRISM; a student-led Hot Topics community discussion, “Just Mercy: Current Issues in Our Criminal Justice System”; and a Poetry Slam featuring a slate of talented students and local artists, including Kassidi Jones ’14, performing spoken-word poetry. MLK Week was coordinated by the school’s Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
TOP OF PAGE: Ricky Kidd speaks with students during a break in the convocation program. Photo: Christine Coyle TOP: Kassidi Jones ’14 presents a spoken-word poem. Photo: sophomore Lisa Chang MIDDLE: Juniors Talia Mayo, Luke Struthers, and Emma Kane lead a Musical Revue cast performance of "Brand New Day" from The Wiz during a community assembly in honor of Dr. King. Photo: Jessica Ravenelle BOTTOM: Dance Company performs during the community assembly in honor of Dr. King. Photo: Jessica Ravenelle
The Importance of Independent Thought
A conservative writer discussed the role of independent thought and bipartisan pursuit of justice in the country’s “increasingly diverse culture with divergent ideas about what is right and true.”
Junior Andrew Wu, junior Bihan Zhang, and senior Aarman Pannu react to a funny moment in David French’s convocation talk. Photos: Jessica Ravenelle
Conservative journalist David French spoke on this year’s school theme of “Belonging” at an all-school convocation in February, urging respect for and encouragement of independent thought and individual expression so that society can seek justice and nurture community.
Mr. French shared some of what he has learned about independent thought and tolerance in his educational and professional life, which brought him from his home in rural Kentucky to Harvard Law School, followed by a career in law and the military, and eventually to working as a conservative writer.
Reflecting on his experiences with politics, culture, and religion, Mr. French said he noticed that he and others tended to remain in intolerable situations because they feared the ramifications of independence and change. It is important to establish independence of thought early in life and to learn to be open to ideas that may run contrary to one’s experience, he said, noting that the pressure to conform is strong in high school but grows even more powerful afterwards. “Timidity is habit-forming, but so is courage,” he remarked.
He looked forward to leaving his small Christian university in Tennessee to attend Harvard Law School to engage in academic discourse with some of the smartest people in the United States, he said, even though he knew most of them would likely disagree with his conservative views. But instead of receiving invitations to engage in discourse among his Harvard Law classmates, he received aggressively negative responses to a pro-life information flyer he circulated on campus.
This kind of angry, hate-filled, “shout down” happens across the spectrum of experiences and viewpoints when people feel threatened, he said. Though Mr. French made many friends at Harvard despite their opposing political ideologies, his initial response to being shouted down was to “talk louder,” which he now regrets and tries to keep in check. He cautioned his Loomis Chaffee listeners against responding too often with anger to disagreements because it shuts down engagement and limits independence. There is more power in being reasonable, he said, so that when it matters and you are truly outraged, people will pay attention.
Mr. French shared what he called “glimmers of hope,” examples of people forming bipartisan coalitions across vastly different backgrounds to seek justice as a community.
“In an increasingly diverse culture with divergent ideas about what is right and true,” he said, scaling back our anger, seeking justice together, respecting our shared humanity, and acknowledging that we are not always right will enable us to live in shared fellowship, Mr. French concluded.
On the evening before the convocation, Mr. French shared dinner and conversation with students in the Young Republicans Club and the Shultz Fellowship, a student-led, nonpartisan political discussion club named for former U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz ’38. After the convocation, Mr. French continued the discussion with students and faculty, including students in two sections of the 10th-grade Best Self Seminars.
Mr. French is senior editor of The Dispatch, a conservative politics, policy, and culture media company, and a columnist for Time. He was formerly a senior writer for National Review. He has served as a senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice and the Alliance Defending Freedom. As a member of the U.S. Army Reserve, he deployed to Iraq in 2007, where he served as a squadron judge advocate and was awarded the Bronze Star. His new book, Divided We Fall, is set for release later this year.
His visit to campus was part of the Robert P. Hubbard ’47 Speakers Series.
Students Produce Adaptation of Twelve Angry Men
In a foray into experimental theater, five students presented an unconventional interpretation of the play Twelve Angry Men in February with direction from English teacher Miles Morgan. The courtroom drama by Reginald Rose was adapted by Miles and retitled 12 AM in America. Staged in the Scanlan Campus Center’s third-floor Lyons Den, the production was the first for Stage II, an initiative of Loomis Chaffee’s Theater & Dance Department. The five students who signed up for Stage II had limited theater experience and, according to Miles, didn’t think of themselves as “theater kids.” They wondered about the legitimacy of a performance by inexperienced actors on a non-conventional stage. But the process brought them to the realization that theater can be anything they imagine and apply themselves to create. “Even the night before the first show, I had no idea if what we made together was even ‘theater,’” reflects freshman cast member Nathan Ko. “Turns out, it was not only theater, but a story that communicated clearly with the audience. … We had fun throughout the whole process and made a piece of theater.” In addition to Nathan, the cast included senior Anya Sastry, junior Manisha Bakshi, and freshman Catie Colton. Junior Isabel Ruppel served as stage manager and assistant director. Miles says he chose to adapt Twelve Angry Men because “it felt comfortable in a sea of discomfort with the experimental nature of the project, [and was] malleable and symbolic.” Modifying the 12 adult characters into four teenagers posed a challenge, “but the voices of the play are so ‘everyman’ that they lend themselves to being condensed,” he says. The idea for Stage II — small-scale theater as an afterschool activity — came to fruition this year as an addition to the theater productions already offered at Loomis. Each year, students audition in large numbers for roles in Norris Ely Orchard Theater signature productions, including the fall play and winter musical, which led Miles and others to ask, “What else could theater look like at Loomis?” Candice Chirgotis, head of the Theater & Dance Department, says Miles was a good fit to direct this production. He has experience acting in and leading school theatrical productions, and he has helped with productions at Loomis since arriving in the fall of 2018. Miles says he looks forward to seeing more student and faculty involvement in future unconventional productions around the Island.
Clockwise from top left: junior Isabel Ruppel, junior Manisha Bakshi, freshman Nathan Ko, freshman Catie Colton, and senior Anya Sastry. Photo: Miles Morgan
“Turns out, it was not only theater, but a story that communicated clearly with the audience. … We had fun throughout the whole process and made a piece of theater.” — Freshman Nathan Ko
Let the Sun Shine
With students bedecked in beachy attire and bright yellow sunglasses and a veritable farmer’s market of climate-friendly activities in the campus center, Loomis Chaffee marked the official launch of the school’s new solar array with a Solar Fest on January 13. Students, faculty, and staff tasted honey from the Loomis bee hive, tried out a shredyour-own-plastics device, played a recycling game, took a sustainable resolution survey, learned how to contact government officials about climate action, and found out about other environment- and sustainability-related activities on campus. Students who had donated to a campus tree-planting fund earned permission to wear beach-themed attire for the day, with yellow sunglasses indicating their waiver from the dress code. Treats, snacks, and sustainability-themed door prizes also drew celebrants to the Solar Fest, held during a community free period. The event was organized by the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies and several student-led organizations.
Environmental proctors junior Alejandro Rincón, junior Ben Boonpiti, junior Jake Lotreck, and senior Neala Sweeney enjoy the Solar Fest. Photo: Christine Coyle
To see a gallery of photos from the Solar Fest, visit www. loomischaffee.org/magazine.
THAT’S ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!
BATTLE OF THE ROBOTS
The robotics team, HAX Robotics, placed sixth overall out of 24 teams at the 2020 Connecticut State Championship in February, held just a mile from campus at Windsor High School. HAX also earned the Think Award, the second-most prestigious award at the competition, for the team’s written documentation of the underlying science and mathematics of the robot design, game strategies, successes, and opportunities for improvement. The team began working in the fall to design, build, and program a robot that could move and stack “stones” in competitions. The team’s outstanding performance in a competition in January qualified HAX Robotics for the state championship tournament, where the team advanced to the semifinals.
OUTSTANDING ARTISTS
Five Loomis Chaffee art students earned recognition in the 2020 Connecticut Regional Scholastic Art Awards in January. Sponsored by the Connecticut Art Education Association, the awards honor the creative efforts of students in grades seven to 12 in public, private, and parochial schools across the state. Earning Gold Keys were senior Mia Griffiths in the ceramics and glass category, junior Joy Liu in painting, and junior Haven Low in photography. Earning honorable mention were senior Valerie Chu in ceramics and glass and junior Audrey Zhang in painting.
WRITING AWARDS
Six student writers received awards for their original works of poetry and prose in the 2020 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for the Connecticut region. Senior Eleanor Peters won two Gold Keys, one Silver Key, and an American Voices Medal, the latter awarded to one writer from each region. Senior Christina Stone received a Gold Key and an Honorable Mention. Also earning awards were juniors Krishnapriya Rajaram, Isabel Ruppel, and Stephanie Zhang; and sophomore Jenny Pan. The awards are administered by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers.
“SPACE” EDITION OF THE LOOM
The Loom, the school’s student-led literary publication, released its online edition in December 2019 featuring a collection of original creative writing and artwork by students on the theme of “Space.” Published twice during the school year — a themed digital edition in the fall and a general print edition in spring — The Loom celebrates the interconnectedness of the literary and visual arts. Students are invited to submit their work for inclusion, and student staff members and faculty advisor Kate Saxton review the submissions in a selection process that seeks to publish a variety of voices and styles.
For a link to The Loom’s “Space” Fall 2019 edition, visit www.loomischaffee.org/magazine.
MUSIC FESTIVAL
Twenty Loomis Chaffee students performed in the Connecticut Northern Region Music Festival in January. Selected by audition, the students rehearsed challenging music selections for two days under the leadership of nationally-known conductors then performed the selections at a culminating concert. Loomis was represented in the regional chorus, orchestra, and band ensembles.
NATIONAL CHOIR
Junior Brett Donshik was selected by audition to participate in the National Association for Music Educators 2019 All-National Honors Ensemble Mixed Choir in Orlando, Florida, in November. Along with high school students from across the United States and abroad, Brett rehearsed and performed as a bass vocalist with the mixed choir during the three-day music festival.
TEACHING CHILDREN ABOUT HOMELESSNESS
A group of students engaged school-aged children on the topic of homelessness at a Paddington Bear-themed event at the Windsor Public Library in January. The Be Homeful Project, organized by the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, seeks to educate young people about homelessness in a stigma-free way using Paddington, the much-loved character from children’s literature, as an approachable point of reference. At the free, walk-in event, members of the public library staff read Paddington Bear stories to a group of local children ranging in age from 5 to 9 years. Afterwards, students in Loomis’ Pelican Service Organization engaged the young attendees in an educational craft project.
GENETIC ENGINEERING
Senior Danny Cui participated in the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition Giant Jamboree in Boston in November, a celebration of more than a year of work with his team of 16 high school students in the United States and China. The team worked on the problem of bacterial soft rot in potatoes. Danny and his team won a gold medal and a nomination for Best Integrated Human Practices, which recognized their work to put their scientific research into practice and translate it into usable information for the public and farmers. The competition was sponsored by iBowu, a Chinese company that writes modeling software for research and academic projects.
To find out more about Danny’s research and view his team’s presentation, visit
www.loomischaffee.org/magazine.
