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Island News
Students Thrive in I-Tri Program
Eight seniors stepped away from their regular classes and daily schedules this spring to tackle real-world challenges and offer innovative solutions to problems faced by four business and educational leaders in Connecticut.
Through Loomis Chaffee’s Innovation Trimester (I-Tri) program, the students seized the opportunity to connect with accomplished professionals and focus on project-based learning. Although they initially questioned how they, as high school students, would have anything to offer their partners, the students learned that, as senior Winston Ware noted after the group’s final project presentation, “there is always a way to innovate, and a way to push things forward and to make things better.”
Joining Winston in this year’s I-Tri were fellow seniors Thierno Diallo, Ethan Lavalley, Kariuki Massio, Simone Moales, Max Clemens, Matt Tombaugh, and Tom Zhang. Together they partnered with Eric Shrago, managing director of operations at Connecticut Green Bank; Gratia Lee, director of land management at Loomis Chaffee; Leticia Colon de Mejias, author, founder, and chief executive officer of Energy Efficiencies Solutions, president of Green Eco Warriors, and chair of Latino Affairs for the Connecticut Commission on Equity and Opportunities; and Jay Lewis, a local chef and author.
While each of the partners and the challenges they presented were different, all four projects shared the theme of sustainability, a common thread that the students didn’t know when they signed up for the I-Tri in spring term of their junior year. “And that is part of the program,” explains Simone. “We are surprised by our partners, we are surprised by our peers, … and we are surprised by the theme.”
According to I-Tri lead teacher Jennine Solomon, dealing with ambiguity is one of the important skills the program helped the students develop as part of a focus on the “8 Design Abilities of Creative Problem Solvers,” a concept
This year’s I-Tri group: (back) Director of Innovation Scott MacClintic ’82, intern Taylor Douglas ’19, senior Winston Ware, senior Tom Zhang, senior Ethan Lavalley, lead teacher Jen Solomon, senior Kariuki Massio, and teacher Julia Hinchman; and (front) seniors Max Clemens, Thierno Diallo, Simone Moales, and Matt Tombaugh. Photo: Cassandra Hamer
that originated at Stanford University’s School of Design. Jen, co-teachers Julia Hinchman and Scott MacClintic ’82, and intern Taylor Douglas ’19 also integrated Systems Thinking and Liberatory Design concepts, which focus on issues of equity in design.
The emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion was particularly meaningful for many of the students. “A lot of the work that I feel most proud of doing in the I-Tri was making sure that underrepresented communities are represented in our presentations … and our projects,” Tom shares.
“My favorite part of the program was meeting partners who look like me,” notes Simone. She explains that working with Ms. Colon de Mejias and Chef Jay, people of color who are change-makers and thrive in their chosen professions, showed her what is possible for students of color.
When designing each year’s I-Tri, Jen strives to plan a program that meets the students’ interests, that will be meaningful to them, and through which they will see themselves in the partners and projects. To meet these aims, Jen starts to get to know the students through conversations a year before they begin their program. As a result, the I-Tri is different every year not only because the theme changes, but also because the students and their needs change.
“Somewhere in the I-Tri,” Jen explains, “students see where they can bring their unique skills and abilities to projects in a valuable way, and they also find moments to stretch themselves out of their comfort zones.”
In addition to growing their communications, group-work, and design skills with each project, students expanded their understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses. Developing this self-awareness is an intentional aspect of the program. After the first project, Jen and Scott met with each student individually and asked, “What do you need to work on? What is your weakness?” For Ethan, self-reflection and finding a way “to develop my weakness into more of a strength,” became an important part of each subsequent project.
“[At] a school like this whose mission is always looking out for others, being selfless, doing everything for the common good,” notes Simone, “sometimes you never look inward.” Thierno and Ethan agree, sharing that when the students were asked at the beginning of the term to note on a board what they are good at, what they like, and what they are passionate about, all of the students struggled to name more than one or two things each.
“I feel if we did that now,” says Ethan, “I could fill a board.”
Transgender Athlete Speaks at Convocation
Schuyler Bailar, the first openly transgender NCAA Division I male swimmer, spoke to the school community via live webinar in April about his experiences, struggles, and overall journey as a transgender athlete, Asian American, and mixed-race individual.
A 2019 graduate of Harvard who competed for the Crimson men’s swim team for all four years of college, Mr. Bailar talked about his life with what Head of School Sheila Culbert later described as “honesty, humor, openness, and grace.” In a weekly letter to the school community, Sheila wrote that Mr. Bailar was “one of the best speakers to whom I have listened in my time as head.”
Mr. Bailar spoke about the interconnection among his identities as a trans man and as both a white man and an Asian man.
“That has been something that’s been difficult for me, and I’ve learned how to exist in that in-between and understand that my race and my identity is something for me to proclaim as my own, as opposed to fit this box that other people expect from me,” he said. “And that really helped me better understand my gender identity as well.”
Mr. Bailar concluded his talk by sharing his moving story about coming out to his family, including his Korean grandparents.
“You’re not alone here,” he told his Loomis audience. “We’re all here together, we’re all doing this together, and there are absolutely Asian American transgender people. There are Asian transgender people, and there are Korean American transgender people, and their stories need to be told, and so that’s why I share my story as proof.”
Responding to questions from students, Mr. Bailar discussed the privilege associated with being a man and the physiological and societal differences between being a trans male athlete and a trans female athlete. This concept turned the discussion toward the legal ramifications affecting trans people in America and the outspoken opposition to trans women and trans girls competing on female sports teams. So far in 2021, more than 100 bills seeking to limit transgender rights have been introduced in state legislatures around the country, and many of the proposed laws relate to sports participation.
Immediately after the convocation, Mr. Bailar spoke in break-out groups with athletes; students in Spectrum, the gender-sexuality alliance on campus; and members of the Pan-Asian Student Alliance.
Mr. Bailar’s visit was part of the Hubbard Speakers Series, made possible by a gift from Robert P. Hubbard ’47.
Reunion 2021: A Virtual Celebration
The COVID-19 pandemic drove Loomis Chaffee’s Reunion celebration online again this year, but true to the school’s motto — ne cede malis — alumni and alumnae from the Loomis, Chaffee, and Loomis Chaffee classes ending in 0s, 5s, 1s, and 6s reconnected in virtual class gatherings and took advantage of a month of programming leading up to the “official” Reunion date of Saturday, June 12.
Reunion festivities kicked off on May 12 with “An Unforgettable Year on the Island,” a webinar discussion with faculty and current students about their experiences at school during the pandemic. Deans of Students Jessica Matzkin and Michael Donegan moderated the discussion among panelists Neil Chaudhary ’05, head of the Science Department; Rachel Nisselson, language teacher; senior Elizabeth Chapman; junior Isabela Spina; and sophomore Louis Hernandez. Faculty and student panelists agreed that absence really does make the heart grow fonder; they noted that one of the highlights of the year was simply the return of students and faculty to campus for in-person classes and life in the dormitories.
Stephanie Rogers ’85, an award-winning singer, songwriter-producer-author, and actor who founded Story Jam Studio, shared her love of storytelling with fellow alumni in a May 19 Zoom meeting. She led participants through a two-hour workshop on crafting the perfect 99-second personal narrative and invited participants to share their narratives with each other.
On June 9, alumni joined Maya Shanbhag Lang ’96 on Zoom to learn more about her work as an author and her 2020 memoir, What We Carry, the story of her experience caring for her mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease. During her talk Maya shared an excerpt from the book that included the following observation: “Alzheimer’s is devastating because it annihilates one’s story. It vacuums it up. Even the name seems greedy to me. What gets me is the apostrophe, that possessive little hook. It drags your loved one away from you. My mother no longer belongs to me, she belongs to her illness.”
On May 24, more than 150 alumni joined former faculty member James “Grim” Wilson on a Zoom call for his presentation “Life Lessons I Tried to Impart as a Teacher, Coach, and Dorm Head.” Grim, who taught and lived at Loomis for 49 years, found that his experiences as a mountain climber provided many of the life lessons he tried to share as an educator. To be successful on a mountain, he said, requires a huge amount of preparation and an understanding that a person cannot succeed alone. Most importantly, he realized that the goal of the enterprise is not to plant a flag on the summit (or get an A on the test or win the championship). The goal is to embrace the experience, the camaraderie, and the process.
On June 2, Head of School Sheila Culbert delivered her annual state-of-theschool address via webinar, inviting alumni in attendance “to imagine you’re in the chapel and it is a gorgeous day on campus.” She talked about a year that was framed by the “dual pandemics” of COVID-19 and racial injustice. Sheila also shared that despite an admission recruitment cycle that did not allow for campus visits by prospective students, applications to Loomis Chaffee increased by 25 percent, and the school met its total enrollment target, increased the racial and geographic diversity of the incoming class, brought the percentage of girls and boys closer to parity, and offered need-based financial aid to more than one-third of the student body.
Reunion’s culminating programming featured Sheila and former heads of school John Ratté and Russ Weigel in a lively discussion about their collective four decades of leadership at Loomis Chaffee. The session, moderated by school archivist and history teacher Karen Parsons, started with each head of school reflecting on an accomplishment of which they
Reunion Awards
The Nat Follansbee Award for class participation is presented to the two reunion classes achieving the highest rate of Annual Fund giving participation. 2019–20 Fiscal Year — 0s & 5s 30th–60th Reunion Classes: Chaffee 1960 5th–25th Reunion Classes: Loomis Chaffee 1995
2020–21 Fiscal Year — 1s & 6s 30th–60th Reunion Classes: Chaffee 1971 5th–25th Reunion Classes: Loomis Chaffee 2001
The Daniel Wells ’34 Award for total Annual Fund class giving is presented to the two reunion classes raising the largest Annual Fund class gift.
2019–20 Fiscal Year — 0s & 5s 30th–60th Reunion Classes: Loomis Chaffee 1985 5th–25th Reunion Classes: Loomis Chaffee 1995
2020–21 Fiscal Year — 1s & 6s 30th–60th Reunion Classes: Loomis Chaffee 1976 5th–25th Reunion Classes: Loomis Chaffee 2001
The James and Abigail Chaffee Loomis Award for total overall giving is presented to the two reunion classes raising the largest class gift overall (Annual Fund, capital, and planned gifts). 2019–20 Fiscal Year — 0s & 5s 30th–60th Reunion Classes: Loomis Chaffee 1990 5th–25th Reunion Classes: Loomis Chaffee 2005
2020–21 Fiscal Year — 1s & 6s 30th–60th Reunion Classes: Loomis 1961 5th–25th Reunion Classes: Class of 2001
The Stephen Conland ’35 Award for volunteer effort is presented to the class whose volunteers demonstrate superior commitment, energy, and enthusiasm in their reunion year.
2019–20 Fiscal Year — 0s & 5s Loomis 1970 Loomis Chaffee 1990
2020–21 Fiscal Year — 1s & 6s Chaffee 1971 Loomis 1971 were most proud. John chose the construction of Carter Hall in 1986, noting that the project was the physical expression of a commitment made by the Trustees and faculty in the late 1970s and early 1980s to a “permanent” planning attitude regarding everything about the school, from the curriculum to the expansion of financial aid to the buildings necessary to support the program. Russ noted that leading the school through the Our Best Selves capital campaign, which raised more than $100 million, was an important accomplishment during his tenure and built on the legacy of planning that John had referenced. Sheila agreed that Loomis plans well and noted that in the past few years the school realized the goal set more than 40 years ago to transition from a school with approximately 60 percent day students following the merger of Loomis and Chaffee, back to a boarding school with more than 70 percent boarding students.
In addition to the formal Reunion programming hosted by the school, various reunion classes planned their own virtual gatherings, with conversation, trivia contests, presentations by classmates and faculty members, a wine tasting, and many other highlights.
The school looks forward to hosting an on-campus Reunion Weekend in June 2022. That celebration will include all classes ending in 2s, 7s, 1s, 6s, 0s, and 5s.
To read more about this year’s individual class gatherings and to check out the Reunion webinar recordings, slideshows, tour of campus with Associate Head of School for External Relations Nat Follansbee, and more, visit www.loomischaffee.org/magazine.
For information on the totals achieved by each award-winning class, visit www.loomischaffee.org/magazine.
A MUSICAL Under the Stars
Photos: Cassandra Hamer
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, a long-running Broadway show and popular community theater draw around the country, made its way to the Loomis Chaffee Performing Arts stage this spring, with six shows in April in an open-air venue.
With the Norris Ely Orchard Theater under renovation and COVID-19 precautions severely limiting indoor audiences, the Performing Arts Department had to get creative and figure out how to best present the production to the community.
An outdoor stage was erected next to Chaffee Hall and equipped with lighting and sound production, and a live instrument section was set up to the side of the stage. Socially-distanced audience seating was arranged in front of the stage, and the outdoor venue could not have been better.
“There is something magical about theater under the stars,” says Director David McCamish, a member of the Performing Arts Department faculty, who notes that The Bee was Loomis Chaffee’s first outdoor musical.
“In this time of COVID, it is great to have so many talented young storytellers putting their energy into sharing this amazing musical,” he said shortly before opening night. “We are able to do live theater for our Loomis community when many theaters are closed due to COVID.”
The Bee sweeps its audience into the world of a middle school spelling bee in Putnam County. Following six main spellers through the course of the competition, the play’s audience learns background information on each character and grows to understand them. At its heart, the show is about accepting people as they are despite differences and dealing with the pressure of living up to expectations from others and oneself.
Two casts of student actors alternated performances, and each night four audience members were called up on stage to be participants in the spelling bee. Behind the scenes, a six-student tech crew helped run the show, supported by faculty members and other theater professionals who contributed their expertise and skill to the production’s success. Three student musicians also played in the pit orchestra alongside professional musicians.
“Our student technicians and musicians … poured their energy into helping pull off a remarkable piece of theater,” David says.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, one of the 100 longest-running Broadway shows, features music and lyrics by William Finn, and the book was by Rachel Sheinkin. The show was based on C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E, an original improvisational play created by Rebecca Feldman.
To see more photos from the musical, visit
www.loomischaffee.org/magazine.
Marcy (Jessica Luo) and Jesus (junior Grace Thompson)
Williamina Barfée (senior Kassie Rivera) The contestants (Vanessa Magid, Kate Shymkiv, and Ben Radmore) can dance and spell!
Chip (Brigham Cooper), Schwarzy (Rosalie Lyons), and Leaf Coneybear (Vanessa Magid)
Chip (Brigham Cooper) and Meg M. Mahoney (Grace Thompson)
Norton Fellow Collects Oral Histories of Teenage Refugees
With support from a Loomis Chaffee community engagement program, a student helps to give voice to the global refugee crisis and shares the stories of young refugees who resettled in the Hartford area.
Junior Jordan Korn recorded interviews with five individuals who, as young teens, emigrated from war-torn countries, and she shared their refugee and settlement stories with local middle school students this spring. The project was part of Jordan’s Norton Fellowship, a community engagement program administered by Loomis Chaffee’s Norton Family Center for the Common Good.
Jordan tutors recently resettled kids in math through a community outreach initiative at her place of worship, and the experience inspired her to record the oral histories of teenage refugees. She wanted to find out more about what it was like for her peers to come to a new country, learn a new language, attend a new school, and become part of a new community. She explains that when she heard about the global refugee crisis, she tended to think of refugees as “one giant mass, not as individuals.” Through her project, Jordan hoped to better understand the human side of the refugee experience and share the individual stories of young refugees with others.
With the help of local resettlement organizations and her spiritual community, Jordan connected with young immigrants willing to record their experiences for her project. She recorded the personal narratives of five refugees — two from the Democratic Republic of Congo and three from Syria — who had settled with their families in the Hartford area when they were of middle school age. All are now young adults, attending local universities or working, and all have mastered the English language.
Working with Eric LaForest, Keller Family Director of the Norton Center, and Sara Markman, science teacher and coordinator of religious programs at Loomis, Jordan developed a lesson plan about the young refugee experience for a middle school-age audience. She used the recorded personal narratives to emphasize the human experience of making a home in a new country.
In March, Jordan presented the lesson to students in a religious education class taught by Sara at Congregation Kol Haverim in Glastonbury, Connecticut. A handful of adults from the congregation also watched the lesson, which took place over Zoom because of COVID-19 safety precautions.
After first describing some of the reasons people make the difficult choice to leave their homes and seek refuge in a foreign country, Jordan shared statistics from the United Nations Refugee Agency about the global refugee crisis. According to the U.N. figures, 82.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes around the world, and 26 million of these displaced people are refugees.
“Many of these refugees are under the age of 16. As a teenager myself, I can’t imagine what it is like to go through that kind of trauma,” Jordan told the class.
She presented an overview of the kinds of situations her interviewees fled in their home countries as well as some of the governmental policies and procedures that the United States has established to deal with large and growing numbers of refugees.
Without identifying the individuals, except for their countries of origin and current statuses as students or employees, Jordan played the recordings for her audience.
The interviewees spoke of experiencing distrust, mistreatment, and racism in refugee camps in countries bordering their homelands. They expressed their reluctance to start over, again and again, while moving from place to place as well as their families’ frustrations at trying to navigate the government bureaucracy associated with refugee resettlement.
Two of the women spoke of experiencing Islamophobia in the United States, including being interrogated on
the job and in public about their wearing hijabs as required by their Muslim faith. One of the Muslim women was assaulted in her 10thgrade class and didn’t speak enough English at the time to tell anyone. The interviewees said they often felt resented, were looked upon as strange, were ostracized in their new homes, and were isolated and fearful at first. One of the interviewees said it had been much harder for his parents and older siblings to be away from their home, to learn a new language, and to adjust to their new home’s culture.
Jordan told the class that many of the young refugees eventually found solace and friendship among other immigrant groups that they discovered through soccer games and English language classes. And they gradually began to embrace their new lives.
After the presentation, Jordan and Sara asked the students for their reactions to the stories, and the class discussed the experience of being a new kid at a school and what they could do to make a new student feel welcome. The presentation and discussion were part of a larger unit about “acts of loving kindness” in the religious education class, according to Sara, and her students planned to focus on refugees in a community engagement project.
For Jordan, the project helped put a human face on the refugee crisis, from which she previously had felt removed. “Talking to people with real experiences puts things in perspective,” she says.
“Jordan excelled as a Norton Fellow because she understands the power of storytelling both in opening doors for her activism and in making intractable problems seem more personal and therefore solvable,” Eric says, adding that Jordan embraces the idea of being an engaged citizen.
— Jordan Korn New Norton Fellows Begin Work This Summer
This summer, seven new Norton Fellows are involved in community engagement projects in their hometowns. They are:
Rising junior Anika Ahilan, who is partnering with two Windsor organizations to create “victory gardens” at the Wilson branch of the Windsor Public Library.
Rising junior Inari Barrett, who is, in her words, “us[ing] drumming to foster community and connect young people to ancestry through learning African rhythms” in Boston.
Rising senior Joice Odongo, who is serving “informal schools” in the Nairobi slum of Kibera by distributing school supplies and period products and by sharing resources and information.
Rising senior Karishma Lawrence, who is combining her interests in climate action, women’s empowerment, and athletics to partner with the St. Martin schools and government and a number of non-governmental organizations to build summer programming for young girls.
Rising junior Maeve Dowd, who is partnering with organizations in the North End of Hartford to address food insecurity, primarily by relaunching the Mobile Market.
Rising senior Reid McMillan, who is combining his interests in playing guitar and working with young people with intellectual disabilities by offering free lessons through an organization in West Hartford.
Rising junior Samantha Tishler, who is capitalizing on the chess craze by teaching the game to young girls in Glastonbury and through the YMCA in Hartford.
The students are engaged in their endeavors this summer with guidance from Eric LaForest, who is the outgoing Keller Family Director of the Norton Family Center for the Common Good. In the fall, Eric will move into the role of head of the school’s History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies Department. After a national search, the school has appointed Matthew Kammrath as the new Keller Family Director of the center.
To read about the new director and to learn more about Norton Fellowship projects, visit www.loomischaffee. org/magazine.
Campus Engages in Earth Month Activities
Loomis Chaffee celebrated Earth Month in April with a program of activities and events ranging from forums and debates to syrup-tasting and trail work.
The school’s Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies organized the events in collaboration with the Norton Family Center for the Common Good, Project Green, Loomis Chaffee Climate Action, the Loomis Chaffee Pancake Society, the Loomis Chaffee Debate Society, the Performing Arts Department, the Pearse Hub for Innovation (PHI), the student organization People Rising in Support of Multiculturalism (PRISM), and the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
“Earth Month was a huge collaborative effort,” says Marley Matlack, the Christopher H. Lutz Director of the Alvord Center. “This work is everywhere, it affects everything on campus, and to make a difference in environmental sustainability, we have to work together.”
Juniors Rachel Cranston and Evelyn Tang display their teacup plantings.
Sophomore Sofia Mansilla and junior Lillie Szemraj paint an Earth Day mural.
A garden in a cup.
ACTIVITIES INCLUDED:
• A climate and environment town hall with U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, led by six Loomis student leaders. The virtual conversation drew more than 200 students, teachers, and other guests from high schools and middle schools across
Connecticut.
• A breakfast hosted by the Loomis Chaffee
Pancake Society featuring pancakes doused in LC maple syrup made in a student maple sugaring project on campus.
• An outdoor “Make Your Own Bookmark” event using paper made from recycled cardboard. Project Green hosted the event during a community free period.
• A Grand Parliamentary Debate during which members of the Debate Society discussed the Green New Deal and its effectiveness in mitigating the nation’s use of fossil fuels. • An outdoor installment of the “Fun in the PHI” activity series. Gathering on
Rockefeller Quad, students created teacup gardens from upcycled coffee mugs and teacups, which will be used as planters in the Pearse Hub for Innovation.
• An Earth-themed Open Mic night that included a performance by the A Cappelicans, a tuba variation of the theme song from The Godfather, and more.
• An open conversation on the topic “What is Environmental Justice?” Hosted by the
Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and PRISM, the discussion explored the impact of environmental racism and society’s collective social responsibility.
• A “Meatless Monday” in the dining hall, with plant-based protein options at lunch to raise awareness of the carbon emissions produced by animal agriculture. • An afternoon work session helping to create a woodchip trail near the school’s
Solar Energy Field.
• A webinar about climate change science webinar that informed participants about the impact of climate change through the lens of underwater cave exploring.
The webinar featured environmental anthropologist Kenny Broad, who has participated in scientific and filmmaking expeditions on every continent to gather information and samples that help shed light on little-known environmental and cultural subjects.
• A climate justice and environmental education panel presented by Innovation
Trimester (I-Tri) students, who were spending the term outside of their regular classes identifying and solving local problems around the theme of sustainability. As part of their collaboration with local entrepreneur and activist Leticia
Colon de Mejias, the I-Tri panel focused on ensuring student access to inclusive and diverse climate change education that would spark interest and action related to environmental conservation.
• Celebration of Earth Day with green as the favored clothing color, the unveiling of a student-designed Earth Month mural, a locally sourced meal in the dining hall, and signing of the Alvord Center’s Earth
Day Pledge. • A riverbank cleanup by student volunteers along the Farmington and Connecticut rivers.
• An Eco-Food Truck and Mountainfilm
Festival. The documentary film festival showcased stories about environmental, cultural, climbing, political, and social justice issues.
Students Lead Environment Forum with Senator Blumenthal
Photo: The Office of Senator Richard Blumenthal
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal answered questions about climate and environmental issues posed by Loomis Chaffee students during a Youth Climate and Environment Virtual Town Hall hosted by the school this spring.
More than 200 students, teachers, and other guests from high schools and middle schools across Connecticut attended the town hall, which was jointly organized by Loomis Chaffee Climate Action, the Norton Family Center for the Common Good, the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies, and Citizens’ Climate Lobby.
In his opening remarks, Sen. Blumenthal thanked students for their hands-on work to enact change. He said citizen activism and advocacy, not only environmental laws and their enforcement, are needed to meet climate and environmental challenges.
Asked about the government’s role in addressing climate and environmental crises, Sen. Blumenthal responded, “I think the government has a moral responsibility. … We are talking about saving our planet … and the people who inhabit it.” He emphasized that the government has an obligation to all people regardless of their race, ethnicity, religion, or socioeconomic status. That ideal, he explained, is the motivating force behind the Environmental Justice Act for All under consideration in Congress. Among its initiatives, the legislation would provide funding for communities in transition from energy sources that create greenhouse gases to those that do not and would enable residents to sue entities that use federal funds and engage in environmental discrimination.
The senator discussed the challenge of building consensus in the United States about climate change. But he said consensus and bipartisanship on this issue are possible, as demonstrated in Connecticut and other states where both Republicans and Democrats support environmental activism to combat climate change.
Sen. Blumenthal also addressed questions about environmental racism; the economic model of energy grids; and the power of climate emergency declarations on the local, state, and federal levels. Responding to a question about the food industry’s impact on the environment, Sen. Blumenthal noted that meat, milk, and egg production alone account for 14.5 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions. He encouraged students to focus “very, very intently on these food issues,” because young people not only control what they eat, but also can influence what their parents buy. He also put responsibility on the government to redirect its agricultural investment to environmentally friendly and healthy agriculture.
Six Loomis students involved in a wide range of leadership roles on campus led the question-and-answer session.
Dancing with the Moon
Solos, duets, trios, and larger groups performed 17 pieces in a variety of dance styles, including contemporary, jazz, tap, and ballroom. Students choreographed 10 of the pieces, and seven others were created collaboratively in Loomis Chaffee dance courses or groups under the direction of dance teacher Kate Loughlin.
The outdoor venue, on a stage erected next to Chaffee Hall, allowed social distancing and avoided pandemic-related capacity limits of indoor spaces. The weather presented some challenges, but even so, the dancers were grateful for the opportunity to perform on stage for in-person audiences.
The Loomis Chaffee Dance Company performs to "Cell Block Tango" from the musical Chicago. The piece was choreographed by dance teacher Kate Loughlin.
Photos: Cassandra Hamer In a fun, fast-paced, and diverse show that audiences loved, the 2021 Spring Dance Revue braved Mother Nature’s challenges on an outdoor stage this spring.
Junior Mizuho Amada, sophomore Madison Oh, and sophomore Kinsey Kranjcec perform "The Game," which they also choreographed.
Members of the Loomis Chaffee Dance Company performs a contemporary piece, choreographed by dance teacher Kate Loughlin and the dancers, to "Cringe" by Matt Maeson.
Senior Clara Chen dances a solo number that she choreographed to the song "She Used To Be Mine" by Sara Bareilles.
To see more photos from the Spring Dance Revue, visit www.loomischaffee.org.
Exploring the Physics Universe
Discovering exoplanets, measuring molecular particles, and contributing to NASA projects are all in a day’s work for two physicist guest speakers.
Students interested in physics gained a sense of how they might some day use science in their professional lives when they met guest speakers for two Evenings of Science hosted by the Loomis Chaffee Physics Club this spring.
In March, physicist Jason LaForest spoke about his work developing instruments to measure and analyze molecular particles and shared practical uses for the instruments, and in April, Princeton University astrophysics professor Josh Winn discussed exoplanets, how they are detected and studied, and why scientists find them fascinating.
Both events, spearheaded by Physics Clubs president junior Lillie Szemraj, were held as Zoom videoconferences in keeping with COVID-19 protocols in place at the time.
During his presentation, Mr. LaForest, an instrument systems engineer at Mobilion Systems in Pennsylvania, gave a detailed explanation of devices used to measure and analyze properties of particles found in various kinds of matter. The 35 community members in attendance were invited to take a deep dive into some of the instrumentation’s methodology, which Mr. LaForest illustrated with graphics. The devices’ many applications include developing consumer products like cat litter and medication capsules, improving industrial metal equipment design with less waste, and examining moon dust for NASA, he said. Mr. LaForest also described molecular instrumentation that was being used to study the spike proteins on the coronavirus.
Mr. LaForest holds a U.S. patent on a combination laser diffraction and dynamic image analysis instrument. After his presentation he answered questions from students about the device, a typical day at work for him, and ways to determine accuracy when dealing with microscopic particles. Mr. LaForest is the brother of Loomis faculty member Eric LaForest.
Later in the spring, Professor Winn, an astrophysicist, discussed exoplanets with the 20 inquisitive students who attended his talk.
Exoplanets, he explained, are planets in solar systems other than our own, and astronomers so far have detected about 4,500 of them. We cannot see exoplanets even when using the most advanced telescope technology because the planets are so far from Earth and so much dimmer than the stars around which they orbit. But scientists have developed other, physics-based methods for detecting these distant planets, and Professor Winn described the methods and their formulaic bases in detail.
Using these methods, scientists can detect an exoplanet’s orbit path and measure its density, its orbital wave, and even the tilt of the planet on its axis, he noted. For large exoplanets, experts can identify what substances are in their atmospheres, and they hope eventually to be able to do so for planets as small as the Earth.
In addition to revealing more about the universe, the discovery of exoplanets and detection of their properties and movement help scientists to better understand our own solar system, Professor Winn said.
An ongoing NASA project called the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite will be the source of most exoplanet discoveries in the next few years, he said, and all of the data from the project is publicly available, enabling anyone to use the data to look for celestial bodies. “It really is a frontier mission,” he said.
Professor Winn is a co-investigator for the NASA project and was a participating scientist in the NASA Kepler mission. He joined the Princeton faculty as a professor of astrophysical sciences in 2016 after 10 years on the physics faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Josh Winn
Jason LaForest
Trustee News
Michael Dubilier ’73
Pauline Chen ’82
Bonchun “Brian” Koo
Three Trustees rotated off the Loomis Chaffee Board of Trustees in June, and two new members were elected to begin service on July 1.
As the school’s first international Trustee, past parent Bonchun “Brian” Koo, father of Dylan ’20, served on the Board for one four-year term. As a Trustee, Brian was a member of the Admission, Financial Aid & College Guidance Committee; the Buildings & Grounds Committee; and the Committee on Mission & Program. He and his wife, Lee, were helpful volunteers in Seoul, Korea, serving as the chairs of the Korean Parents Association.
Pauline Chen ’82, parent of Natalie ’20 and Isabelle ’20, had completed 13 years of service on the Board. She co-chaired the Committee on Mission & Program and served on the Salaries & Benefits Committee; the Committee on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; and the Admission, Financial Aid & College Guidance Committee. Previously, she had chaired the 2012 Diversity Task Force. Pauline has been a frequent guest speaker on campus and served as this year’s Commencement Speaker.
Completing 20 years of service, Michael Dubilier ’73 also stepped off the Board. As cochair of the Investment Committee, he helped to grow the school’s endowment beyond $240 million. He also served as vice chair of the Committee on Trustees and as a member of the Salaries & Benefits Committee.
Newly elected to the Board are Fridolf Hanson ’85, parent of Charles ’17, Tarquin ’19, and rising sophomore Campbell; and Kendra Nichols Wallace ’91, parent of rising sophomore Mandarin.
Fridolf, who lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, holds a bachelor’s degree from University of Colorado and a master’s in business administration from Wake Forest. He is a managing director at White Oak Commercial Finance, a global financial products and services company providing credit facilities to middle-market businesses and corporations. His brothers William ’87 and Stillman ’90 are also graduates of the school, as are his nephew William ’15 and his niece Isabelle ’16. His nephew Davis is a rising senior at Loomis Chaffee.
Kendra, of Winnetka, Illinois, holds a bachelor’s degree and a master of education degree from Harvard University. She is director of instruction for TrueNorth Educational Cooperative 804, as well as principal of North Shore Academy and director of social emotional learning. She serves on the board of Teach for America and Writers Theatre in Glencoe, Illinois. Her father, John D. Nichols ’49, served as a Loomis Chaffee Trustee from 1985 to 1997, and her brother John ’94 is also a graduate of the school. Michael Dubilier ’73
Fridolf Hanson ’85
Kendra Nichols Wallace ’91
Pelican Tea, Anyone?
From cultivating herbs to creating trail signs, student projects in environmental sustainability made a difference on the Island.
Care for some Pelican Tea? It comes from the campus herb gardens, where the chamomile is thriving, the lemon balm is flourishing, and the lavender is blooming. Or how about a stroll along the Joffray Trail, where you can learn from posted signs about floodplain ecology, native species, and an elm-tree restoration project? Or perhaps you’d rather stop by the Solar Energy Field, where native plants, flowers, and trees are making a comeback after years of invasive plant dominance.
These lasting contributions to the Loomis Chaffee landscape are among seven environmental sustainability projects conducted by students this year. With funding from Gilchrist Environmental Fellowships, the students designed and engaged in the projects through the Science Department’s Guided Research Projects in Environmental Sustainability course or as independent projects with faculty mentors.
TEA GARDENS
Juniors Lillie Szemraj and Ellen Olender are cultivating the herb gardens near the school’s Greenhouse, with plans to dehydrate the herbs and blend them into Pelican Tea. They are harvesting and dehydrating most of the herbs this summer and are trying out various flavor combinations to find the ideal herbal tea blend. Using custom packaging that they designed together, Lillie and Ellen hope to share the Pelican Tea with the community in the fall.
NATIVE MEADOW PLANTS
Junior Khushi Mahajan reintroduced native meadow plants in an area near the Solar Energy Field where invasive species had previously
crowded out native plants, which are more beneficial to local wildlife and bees and help retain the soil. Khushi chose a variety of plants, including rose swamp mallow, New England aster, and Canada lily, among many others, because they bloom at different times during spring, summer, and fall. She also made signs for the plants with repurposed slate shingles that had been removed from the roofs of campus buildings. Her goal is to expand the project and plant more in the fall.
BIODIVERSITY
Also near the Solar Energy Field, senior Biani Ebie adopted a project started last year by Clare Wilbraske ’20. She continued the work of planting trees and shrubs consistent with local native biodiversity. Biani also began constructing a scale model of the solar energy field, spending her final days as a Loomis senior training the underclassmen who will continue to build the model next year.
JOFFRAY TRAIL SIGNS
Senior Carter Pavlonnis constructed interpretive trail signs and mounted them on the Joffray Trial, which borders the Connecticut River on campus. The signs provide information on river-floodplain ecology and the types of species, plants, and trees that are native to the area. In collaboration with the Nature Conservancy, Carter also created signs promoting the restoration of elm trees and their importance to local floodplains. Head of School Sheila Culbert lent her birding expertise to his final sign by sharing photos she took of bald eagles, great blue herons, and other birds near the trail.
COMPOSTING
Senior Charlie Morrison filmed and edited The Trash Documentary, a short film on food waste in the dining hall and composting programs on campus. Through his research, Charlie found that composted food waste from Loomis eventually becomes clean energy that powers 700 homes in Southington, Connecticut. Charlie hopes that his documentary will bring the school community’s attention to the importance of sorting food into the correct bins after meals.
CARBON FOOTPRINT
Junior Ryan Fortani and senior Pedro Arellano teamed up to continue a carbon footprint analysis of the campus that was begun last year. With the help of the University of New Hampshire’s Sustainability Indicator Management and Analysis Platform online tool, the pair expanded the analysis of Loomis’ carbon footprint to include information on campus dining services. As a senior in the fall, Ryan plans to promote the carbon footprint report.
MAPLE SUGARING
As highlighted in the Spring 2021 issue of Loomis Chaffee Magazine, a maple sugaring project yielded enough maple syrup to allow seniors Alejandro Rincón and Thierno Diallo to host a Pancake Society breakfast this spring and to share bottled syrup with faculty, staff, and classmates.
Gilchrist Environmental Fellowships provide funding for projects that “build upon the initial successes of the Sustainability Committee and discover new opportunities for education and action in the philosophy of environmental stewardship and sustainability,” according to the program’s mission statement. Administered by the school’s Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies, the fellowships have been granted every year since 2012 and are available to students, faculty, and staff.
The Guided Research Projects in Environmental Sustainability course, in which Biani, Carter, Ryan, Pedro, and Charlie were enrolled this year, helps students to advance efforts to solve previously identified environmental concerns on campus or tackle new issues.
“This is a unique course that we offer,” says Jeffrey Dyreson, who teaches the course and is an associate director of the Alvord Center. “It allows students to leave the classroom and venture out into the professional realm of working, and all of them were up to the task.” With an increase in student interest, the school hopes to expand the course to two sections for a total of six to eight environmentally-minded students.
Top: Seniors Cooper Abbate and Biani Ebie plant shrubs near the Solar Energy Field. Middle: Senior Carter Pavlonnis displays a trail sign showing birds photographed near campus. Bottom: Junior Khushi Mahajan pauses while planting native species in an area previously overrun by invasive plants. Photos: Marley Matlack
THAT’S ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!
FLASH FICTION
Judges of the fourth annual Katharine Brush Flash Fiction Contest selected 15 student stories for special commendation this spring. For this year’s contest, submissions had to include a line of dialogue based on prompts from the notes of Katharine Brush, a popular early 20th-century novelist whose writing notebooks are held in the Loomis Chaffee Archives and for whom the library is named. The judges — author and poet Joyce Sidman ’74, former Director of Writing Initiatives Sally Knight, and former faculty member Ronald Marchetti — awarded Gold Medals to junior Aidan Cooper, sophomore Serena Kim, and senior Stephanie Zhang and Silver Medals, Bronze Medals, and Honorable Mentions to 12 additional student writers.
CHANGEMAKER
For her ongoing efforts to improve her local community, sophomore Inari Barrett received a Changemaker Challenge award in June from Students Rebuild, a Bezos Family Foundation program that encourages young people to take action to address global concerns. To help resolve inequities in healthcare for women of color, Inari organized a series of conversations with and among Black women about their challenging experiences in seeking health care and attention to their needs from medical providers. Inari partnered with the Women of Color Health Equity Collective in her hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts, for the project, and she continues to work with the collective to promote wellness for women of color.
AUTHOR MEET-AND-GREET
A group of faculty and students attended the Connecticut Forum’s virtual event “Favorite Authors” on March 25, featuring a moderated conversation with Colson Whitehead, Jacqueline Woodson, and Lauren Groff. All Loomis Chaffee freshmen read Red at the Bone by Ms. Woodson, and students have read both The Nickel Boys and Underground Railroad by Mr. Whitehead in English classes. Seniors Hannah Adler, Julie Chung, Cooper Raposo, and Janus Yuen and English teacher Fiona Mills attended the event and a pre-Forum virtual meet-andgreet with Mr. Whitehead and about 30 other invited guests.
SYMPOSIUM
Students led an on-campus symposium on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in May. Attended by more than 55 Loomis Chaffee students and faculty members, the symposium featured five workshops and a presentation of informative posters. The event aimed to educate community members about current issues faced by people of color. All of the workshops were facilitated by students, including leaders of the student organization People Rising in Support of Multiculturalism (PRISM) and student interns with the Loomis Chaffee Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Workshop topics included the evolution of words and terminology used to describe identity, the hypersexualization and adultification of Black women in the larger community, the intersectionality in the Black and LGBTQ+ communities, gentrification in Black communities, and the impact of environmental racism.
MAJOR LEAGUE SPEAKER
Former Major League Baseball player Xavier Scruggs spoke with students in May about his life journey and his current job as diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant for the St. Louis Cardinals. During the discussion over Zoom, Mr. Scruggs talked about growing up as a young Black male and having dreams of playing a sport dominated by white and Hispanic athletes. “I wanted to do everything I could to learn from these white folks and Hispanic folks who dominated the game, but my Blackness made me nervous to interact with them and learn from them,” he said. After being drafted and making the roster with the Cardinals, Scruggs said he felt he needed to use his platform as a professional athlete to inspire and do more good work for the baseball community. He discussed the importance of using social media in an appropriate manner and ways to confront difficult conversations in the locker room and classroom as well as online and on social media. After his remarks, he answered questions from students and spoke more about his current role with the Cardinals. Mr. Scruggs, who grew up in California, played little league baseball with Donnie McKillop, who is head baseball coach and assistant athletic director at Loomis.
