Class reps strengthen school

Opportunities

“Do you care about the school? Do you care about your class? Do you give?” asked Kate Osterman ’97, a class rep since she graduated. “You’re in. If someone wants to be involved with the school, it’s the very best way to start.”

Class reps organize and support activities that keep classmates in touch with each other and Miss Porter’s, encourage giving to the MPS Annual Fund and act as conduits between their class and the Alumnae and Development (A&D) Office. “It can be a pipeline for deeper engagement,” said Marisa Feijoo, associate director of annual giving.

Lucy Newmyer ’23 was the student second head of school a member of the Nova Nine during her senior year. She and a committee of classmates were responsible for successfully soliciting 100 percent participation for their senior class gift, which went toward helping to underwrite air conditioning for three undergraduate dormitories. They met with Ms. Feijoo on a weekly basis during the school year and all have committed to serving as class reps for the next five years.

“It’s a good way to get involved at a basic level,” said Ms. Newmyer. “I don’t know what I want to do with my life after college, but I see myself on some sort of board in the future and connected to Miss Porter’s.”

Katie Knauss Rosenblum ’74 is a class rep and a past and present member of the Alumnae Board. “I had really only kept up with one classmate since graduating,” she said. “We didn’t have the benefit of social media, long-distance phone calls were expensive, and trying to get somebody’s contact information was nearly impossible.”

But going to her 25th reunion “was like rediscovering our class,” said Ms. Rosenblum, a retired communications and marketing professional who lives in New Orleans. “I think we were all a bit surprised by the women we were becoming or had become and how our lives were continuing to evolve.”

A stint on the Alumnae Board led to co-chairing the 40th reunion, and working on the 45th led to becoming a co-class rep with classmate Liz Gorman ’74. The pair started an email newsletter and organized regular class Zoom meetings that served as a lifeline during the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic. They interview classmates and publish in-depth profiles for the newsletter. “People discover shared experiences, shared interests, shared passions we surprise each other all the time,” she said.

Being a class rep is a way to re-create the community and a sense of closeness and engagement that exists in Farmington, said Ms. Rosenblum, who is now working on next year’s 50th reunion.

Class Rep Sarah Cummings ’07 is a San Francisco-based management consultant who at one point lived in China, where she enjoyed meeting many Porter’s Ancients and prospective students. She has organized days of service for Bay Area residents and attended Worldwide Sit-Down Dinners. Being a class rep lets her stay close to Miss Porter’s, “sharing things that my fellow classmates will be interested in hearing” and encouraging gifts to the MPS Annual Fund.

“I would hate for people to think that our class has only a few people who donate medium-to large-size gifts when really it’s the participation that matters,” she said. “That’s why I’m so passionate about getting everyone to donate whether it’s $10 a month or whatever you can, it’s the participation that’s important.”

The MPS Annual Fund provides 10 to 12 percent of the school’s operating budget each year, said Ms. Feijoo, adding, “Philanthropy is really why independent schools can remain open. For girls’ schools, it’s even more important, because less than 2 percent of all total philanthropic giving in the United States is directed to organizations supporting women and girls. Giving is a vote of confidence in the direction and mission of the school.”

If you are interested in learning more about becoming a class rep, please contact Marisa Feijoo, associate director of annual giving, at mfeijoo@missporters.org or by calling 860-409-3623.

Nelle Andrews P’22, dean of curriculum and instruction, worked as a member of an Action Research Program with the Tang Institute at Andover this past year. Her research focused on the why of school change, and she investigated how students were experiencing and making sense of shifts to feedback, assessment and reporting processes at school.

Ms. Andrews also published a blog post and executive summary of her research, findings and next steps.

Humanities Teacher Dr. Katie Ayers attended The Educating Girls Symposium at the Nightingale-Bamford School in New York City. Sponsored by the International Coalition for Girls’ Schools (ICGS), the symposium had the theme “Meaning, Mission and Making Connections.” It focused on returning to best practices for educating girls after the pandemic.

Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Teacher

Ryan Bliss attended the NuVuX Innovation Camp, which provided opportunities for educators to learn about NuVuX’s studio model and its framework of innovation, experience hands-on problem-solving using the iterative design process, and collaborate with other teachers in the field.

Cheryl Costello, Porter’s director of information technology and a student advisor, was appointed to the Blackbaud K-12 advisory board in February for a four-year term. In this capacity, she will partner with Blackbaud product managers to provide feedback on the product road map and identify trends and practices observed in their schools.

Spanish Teacher Santiago Enrique and Sophie Paris, director of Porter’s Center for Global Leadership, presented “The Day After a Crisis: Managing the Aftermath of a Traumatic Event” at the Global Education Benchmark Group conference in Washington, D.C., in April.

Chief Academic Officer Timothy Quinn earned his Doctor of Education degree from the University of Pennsylvania. His dissertation, “Equitable Elites and Exclusive Inclusivity: Examining the Pursuit of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice at Well-Resourced, Elite Private Boarding Schools,” was completed under the guidance of Drs. Charlotte Jacobs, Shamus Khan and Jonathan Zimmerman, dissertation committee chair.

Dr. Quinn, Ms. Paris and Ms. Andrews authored an article titled “Fostering Global Competency in Students: Shifting Curriculum and Supporting Teachers.” The piece appeared in “Interconnected: An Annual Report on Global Education,” a publication of the Global Education Benchmark Group, where Ms. Paris is a board member.

Mathematics Teacher Ian Rumsey earned his master’s degree in independent school leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University. He also worked in a consulting role to help the math department at Phillips Academy establish core competencies and learning objectives.

English Teachers Melissa Schomers and Alysa Auriemma ‘03, History Teacher Dr. Ayers, and Penn Fellow in English Jamiah Bennett completed an asynchronous course on Question Formulation Technique (QFT) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The course educated participants in formal QFT training and how to teach students to ask more effective questions.

Academic Dean Elizabeth Simison and Nelle Andrews led a three-hour preconference workshop at the ICGS conference in Cleveland, Ohio, in June. Their session, “Righting the Ship: Bringing Meaning and Purpose to Curriculum Design and Assessment Practices,” was attended by school leaders from around the country as well as from Australia, Canada, Iceland and South Africa.

Mathematics Teacher Jessica Watkin attended the Mindfulness Strengths Retreat hosted by the VIA Institute on Character (formerly the Values in Action Institute). While there, she explored connections among the elements of VIA’s character strengths framework, mindfulness practices and nature. Ms. Watkin will bring this knowledge to student groups to help reduce unhealthy stress and develop healthy coping techniques in students.

Language Teacher Kelly Woodbury attended the Classical Association of New England’s Summer Institute, which featured presentations on global and ethical topics that will help her develop students, including ways that women are involved in culture and literature.

Maura Reilly Kennedy ’97

Her first visit to Farmington was love at first sight

“I have such fond memories of Farmington laughing so hard my stomach hurt, being challenged and supported to dig deeper into topics, learning without fear of failing and speaking up without hesitation,” said Ms. Reilly Kennedy, who received a scholarship to attend Porter’s as a day student after being home-schooled by her mother for years. Now a managing director at the investment management firm Neuberger Berman and the mother of three young children, she is serving the school as a newly installed member of the board of trustees.

Joining the board means stepping into the “big shoes of the amazing women who have made sacrifices to help the school they love,” she said. Her plan for board service includes doing a lot of homework and using her experience and willingness to help “continue the great work that the board does.”

Because financial aid enabled her to attend Porter’s, she regularly gives to the Annual Fund and to the Class of 1997 Scholarship Fund. “The generous scholarship I received changed my life,” she said. “I met lifelong close friends who are like family and I was able to attend a world-class school with global citizens. I learned from my brilliant teachers and from my interesting peers while also participating in the camaraderie of three team sports.”

But that’s not her only motivation for decades of generosity. “I consistently give because I wish to further the mission of Miss Porter’s School to enable our girls to shape a changing world,” she explained. “I also give to help girls feel empowered, strong, smart and successful so that they can carry those feelings throughout their lives to become confident, strong leaders.”

Along with friendships that continue to this day, Ms. Reilly Kennedy treasures the many lessons she learned in high school. “I found myself leveraging the learnings and life skills I developed at Miss Porter’s to work smarter, not just harder,” she said of her years at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Harvard Business School, where she earned an MBA.

And she continues to use that knowledge every day in her very demanding job as a senior member of the private equity investment team. “I still keep coming back to these same concepts critical reading, developing then proving a thesis, and communicating clearly,” she said.

Despite an impressive resume, Ms. Reilly Kennedy says her favorite job title is a simple one: mom. After giving birth to her own children, she served as a gestational surrogate for her sister, Bridget Reilly Regan ’99, and brother-in-law, delivering a healthy baby girl in 2022. “It was hard, but I learned from my first day at Miss Porter’s that I can do hard things, especially when they are worth it,” she said. “So I guess now I’m an Ancient, a wife, a mom and a surrogate.”

01 B OW TIES ARE FOR MONDAYS A way to make Mondays more fun!

02 P OSTER

This piece of visual art commemorates the first time in the newly formed women’s liberation movement that women marched in the street.

03 WHERE IT HAPPENS

This table is the heart of my classroom.

04 TRAILBLAZERS

Posters of Malala Yousafzai, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stacey Abrams are inspirational!

05 AND BABY MAKES THREE

Here I am with my wife, Kelly McCray, and baby Zoë.

06 LITTLE LIBRARY

I keep an assortment of feminist and history books on hand for my students to borrow.

Invest in girls.

of all charitable contributions are given to organizations that support women and girls!

Give today at: porters.org/giving

Let’s change that through the collective power of philanthropy with your investment in Miss Porter’s School.

Together, we are cultivating strong, resilient students who are leading today and will be the change makers of tomorrow.

The thing humanities teacher Katherine “Katie” Ayers likes best about her classroom in Hamilton 202 is the huge oblong table around which she and up to 14 students can gather. “It provides the space for the teaching I love to do discussionbased teaching,” she said, noting that sitting at the table with students lets her guide discussions while making the room feel less hierarchical.

Dr. Ayers has taught U.S. history including feminist and LGBTQ+ history since arriving at Porter’s in 2020 after earning her doctorate in sociology from Virginia Tech. One of the most satisfying parts of the job is “helping my students see the throughlines in history,” she said, and “helping them learn from the past that people are resilient, that history is a pendulum, and that it’s possible to use what history has taught us has worked to fight back against whatever we don’t like.”

She treasures the boarding school environment, which gives her the chance to know students outside the classroom. “Learning doesn’t just happen in a 90-minute bubble,” said Dr. Ayers, who enjoys hosting students for dinner at the home she shares with her wife, Language Department Chair Kelly McCray, their new baby, Zoë, and their 14-year-old goldendoodle, Cooper.

Around campus, Dr. Ayers is known for the bow ties she wears with her usual khakis-andbutton-down-shirt attire on Mondays. “It started as a way for me to make Mondays more fun for myself,” she said, but “it also catches people off guard. People expect queerness or gayness to look a certain way. I’m a 39-year-old woman who’s married to a woman and who just had a baby. Bow tie Monday is a way to show students you can be whoever you want to be and look however you want to look.”