MKA revıew
THE MAGAZINE OF
MONTCLAIR KIMBERLEY ACADEMY SP R I N G 2 0 19
VOICE E T N E UD NG THE ST NT OF CHA GE A N A AS
THE MAGAZINE OF
MONTCLAIR KIMBERLEY ACADEMY SPRI N G 20 19
F E ATURE
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We Are MKA
Student Voice As An Agent of Change
DE PARTME NTS
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F ROM THE HE AD MASTER
03 A ROUND
MKA Campus, student, and faculty news
44 PAR E NT
NE WS
48 T RUSTE E 50 A LUMNI
NEWS
NEWS
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AR E MKA Stories of Giving
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CLASS NOT ES
ON THE COVER Upper School students and contributing editors for The Academy News, Jasmine Rowe ’20 and Ryan Salzman ’20, represent the power of the Student Voice, the topic of this issue’s feature story. (page 28)
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Evidence of our mission is found in the KNOWLEDGE, VISION and INTEGRITY of our students and our alumni: K N OW L EDGE • Academic excellence • Intellectual independence • Love of learning
Editors Gretchen Berra Kim Saunders Design Aldeia www.aldeia.design Copy Editors Diane Lundy Marnie McNany Assistant Editors Debbie Allen Ashley Conde Eric Gutierrez Tim Lynch Rebecca Picciotto Alli Shearin
VISION • Personal engagement with the world • Understanding of human complexity • A sense of humility and compassion I N TEG R ITY • Strength of character • Responsibility as a citizen and leader • An honorable and generous life
Contributors Jenn Baratta Laela Perkins Lainey Seager Talia Selove Rebecca Turcotte Photographers Michael Branscom Jamie Grill Steve Clayton Derek Morf Karen Schifferdecker
FALL 2015
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F RO M T H E H E A D M AST E R
Thomas W. Nammack “What MKA does really well is create opportunities and provide platforms for students to express themselves.” These are the words of George Eilender, a 10th grade student who serves on the Board of Trustees’ Student Life Committee. He offered that opinion in a discussion about the most notable qualities of the student experience at MKA. When MKA Review Editor Kim Saunders first proposed dedicating this spring’s magazine to the student voice at MKA, I was thinking about this concept of ‘platforms’ and how the school supports and expects student leadership, activity, and influence to shape the school every day and over time. Part of the interview process for teaching and administrative candidates at Upper School is a session with a group of students who ask questions aimed at gauging the applicant’s cultural competence. They ask questions and initiate conversation as a means of determining whether this is a person and a professional who can contribute to the diversity and inclusiveness of MKA. We value the feedback and weigh it when deciding to make an offer or not. Candidates regularly share that the interview by the student panel is the most stimulating and challenging part of their day-long visit. MKA encourages and values the student voice as a significant component of MKA’s Professional Growth Process (PGP) for all teaching faculty. Students complete annual surveys in each class for grades 4–12. Other inputs for the PGP come in the form of peer observation, peer analysis of student work, and observations by department heads, grade level leaders, assistant heads of campus, and heads of campus. The student surveys, in my opinion, provide the most insightful account of the learning environment and experience that each teacher creates. An intentional and varied approach to uncovering institutional blind spots has to include soliciting the student voice. Over the course of a multi-year cycle, Upper and Middle School students complete ‘climate’ surveys regarding their attitudes and beliefs about their school experience. The survey results provide a window into what I call the “small ‘c’ curriculum” at MKA – the combination of everything that is taught, intentionally and unintentionally, and what
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our students learn as a result. The experiences and thoughts shared by the students allow us to adjust on many levels, providing a more responsive environment for our students, faculty, and staff. MKA students are also capable of speaking up unprompted and on their own. Earlier this year, about a dozen administrators, counselors and faculty met with an ad hoc group of African-American girls in grades 8-12. Among other topics, the students asked us to take a hard look at how the Code of Conduct addresses bias incidents. The conversation with these students was intense, heartfelt, and productive, and I was humbled and inspired by their candor and trust. When I speak at an MKA Open House, I urge the parents of students applying to MKA to look for concrete evidence of the school’s respect for our students. That evidence is all around us because we continually ask the question, “What is best for our students?” The question is a demanding guide that helps us lead students along an educational path characterized by a sense of belonging rather than of just fitting in. We are a mission-driven enterprise and our commitment to provide “a vibrant and transformative education” is centered on developing our students’ personal and intellectual independence. MKA students are equipped to move beyond us certain in the knowledge that their voices matter. ■
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HONORING DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” It doesn’t happen by itself, but rather through the actions of pioneers who are willing to go against the tide of tyranny. On Wednesday, January 23, 2019, the MKA Middle School Dance Program, under the direction of Monica Elmore, held its annual performance to honor Dr. King and selected prominent human rights activists and humanitarians from around the world. The courageous leaders featured in the program also included Jael Silliman, Gloria Steinem, Rosa Parks, Harvey Milk, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Mahatma Gandhi, Katherine Johnson, and Thurgood Marshall. Both the in-school assembly and evening performances began with a heartfelt introduction by Dr. Carlaina Bell, who shared her own story of confronting the reality of Dr. King’s dedication through proximity to those who who sought to end injustice as well as those who suffered under its weight. The program included many outstanding performances at all grade levels that incorporated a variety of dance genres, including Latin, ballet, tap, modern, hip-hop, and Bollywood. A particular highlight of the evening was the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade Chinese class performances that were choreographed under the direction of Ms. Zhang in honor of the Year of the Pig. Students incorporated flags, flowing fans, and the powerful grace of tai chi into their celebration of Chinese culture. Congratulations to all on a beautiful and moving performance!
IN T HIS SECT IO N : Big News Campus News Student News Faculty News Athletics
A RO U N D M K A
Student Life
CONGRATULATIONS TO MKA’S COLIN CRITCHLEY ON HIS NEW MOVIE FROM LIONSGATE, BREAKING BROOKLYN, A HEARTWARMING STORY FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY ABOUT LOVE AND DETERMINATION. Filled with energetic song and dance numbers, Breaking Brooklyn is the story of Aaron (Critchley), a homeless 12 year old with a passion for dance, and his brother Albee (Nathan Kress), who are taken in by their teacher, Miles Bryant (Louis Gossett, Jr.) an old Broadway showman. Miles takes Aaron under his wing, teaching him about life and dance. But it’s Aaron’s determination in pursuit of his dream to dance that inspires both families to reassess and comfort the pains of their past in hope of a new beginning. This touching family drama shows that you’re never out of luck when you have a dream. Colin also starred in Rockaway, which debuted at Montclair Film. Rockaway is a coming-of-age drama following two brothers, John and Anthony, and their eventful summer of 1994 on Long Island. The boys have high hopes of a Knicks Championship and a new, easier life as John relies on his older brother and his imagination for protection from their abusive father. They’ve always had just each other and their secrets, until they meet a group of boys who show the love and companionship only achieved through the laughs, sweat, and tears of sport and boyhood mischief.
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There’s a new sheriff in town, and the name is Wellness. Every day, we wake up and start our routine, sometimes forgetting to ask the most important question of the day: How are we feeling? Becoming aware and maintaining a balance between body, mind, and spirit is essential to success inside the classroom and out. Wellness is more than working out and eating correctly. Wellness touches areas of your life that include decision making, management of emotions, and self-awareness among other things. Many students in the Middle School have been working on and learning about their personal wellness in Mr. Shade’s health class. They began by using a wheel that was divided into sections, each representing a different element of personal wellness. Students have already begun to evaluate some of these areas and learn techniques and skills to maintain a healthy balance in each dimension of
wellness. Though there are many variations of the wellness wheel, our students have considered intellectual health, physical health, social health, emotional health, spiritual health, environmental health, and mental awareness as the dimensions that work together to make a complete and whole student.
In honor of 9/11, students, faculty and staff across all three of our campuses took a moment to come together and remember those affected by the tragic events that took place 17 years ago. MKA Remembers.
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THE UPPER SCHOOL HELD ITS ANNUAL STUDENT LIFE FAIR ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21. At this fair, all students, but particularly the newest members of our community, learned about the different extra-curricular opportunities we offer, ranging from student-led clubs, such as Book Club, Environmental Action, Global Feminism, and Shades of Color; to student publications, including Yearbook, The Academy News, Stylus, The Informer, and Under the Microscope; to intramural sports, such as our new Paddle team, to other student organizations, including Robotics Team, Mock Trial, and Speech and Debate. In total, we offer almost 60 student organizations (including the CSIs mentioned above) for our students to participate in.
THE UPPER SCHOOL HELD ITS FIRST COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT FAIR ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 AS PART OF OUR FALL KICK-OFF TO SERVICE AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AT THE UPPER SCHOOL. At this fair, students browsed all the opportunities for which they could get involved with and serve the local community. Opportunities included student-led CSIs (community-service initiatives), such as VIP Adventures, Bridges Outreach, and Surfrider; our weekly outreach trips to Spectrum 360 on Tuesdays, West Orange Boys and Girls Club on Wednesdays, and (new this year!) Toni’s Kitchen on Thursdays; and outside, local organizations with whom we have partnered, including Succed2gether, Clara Maass Medical Center, and the Montclair Inn. It was a positive afternoon as the focus was on service and the local community, and it was rewarding to watch students start to make connections with these many opportunities, as well to continue to build relationships with local partners.
The PS trip to Absolutely Fish was absolutely wonderful. The children had the opportunity to learn about the many kinds of tropical and freshwater fish, as well as beautiful coral and other ocean life. Many of the children were able to touch a pleco or a starfish. They saw a puffer fish blow up right before their eyes! We are grateful to Patrick Donson, the shop owner, for his fascinating and informative tour. Using black Sharpies and actual photographs of their favorite fish, the children drew fish portraits. They focused on the distinctive anatomical features of the fish and other sea animals that they had seen.
BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT Third graders hand delivered about 30 mum plants to Toni’s Kitchen that were bought to decorate the Primary School for Back to School Night. Now, Toni’s will use the plants to decorate their dining room for autumn!
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MKA’s fall athletic teams participated in a community service initiative to give back to the nearby and surrounding communities. We sent out over 200+ athletes, and coaches throughout the community to give back to others and “pay it forward”. As an MKA student athlete it’s imperative that they have a true understanding of working with each other and giving back to our community and to help those that may be less fortunate or need help and/or assistance in some way. It was also a great team bonding experience with our athletes and coaches working together towards a fulfilling common goal. Cross Country - Brookdale Park clean-up; Montclair, NJ Football - Toni’s Kitchen; Montclair, NJ Field Hockey - Toni’s Kitchen; Montclair. NJ Boys Soccer - Montclair Inn; Montclair, NJ Girls Soccer - Surfrider Club beach clean-up; Sandy Hook, NJ Girls Tennis - Toni’s Kitchen, Montclair, NJ Volleyball - St. Anne’s Soup Kitchen; Newark, NJ
MKA Freshmen volunteered at City Green in Clifton, an urban farm that supplies local food to area farmers’ markets. This is important because densely populated areas tend to be food deserts, which strongly affects lower income residents. City Green provides discounts to people on food stamps.
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AUTHORS, ILLUSTRATORS, AND BOOKS GALORE!
to the SEC’s Breast Cancer Awareness fundraising goal. “Cheer for the Cure” Is a chance for our cheer team to interact with cheerleaders from other schools, take in other routines and performances, and exhibit all of their handwork from the season in front of a crowd that really appreciates cheering. Both in the crowd and on the field, there are families affected by breast cancer, and to see so many people come together for one night to watch the teams perform is truly special.
MKA’s Book Fair is a favorite event for faculty and students alike. Each day, there is a different author or illustrator sharing his or her talent and love of his or her craft with the students. This year, the Primary School children delighted in presentations from Jerry Pallotta, author of the “Who Would Win” series (Polar Bear vs. Grizzly Bear; Lion vs. Tiger); Jacqueline Woodson, author and National Book Award winner (The Day You Begin) and Pura Belpré medalist Margarita Engle (Drum Dream Girl), both illustrated by Pura Belpré medalist Rafael López; Yesenia RaveloRodriguez, MKA Middle School Spanish teacher (Mis Actividades Favoritas—En Casa); and award-winning author Mac Barnett (Sam & Dave Dig a Hole; Triangle). Our students learned from our visitors how important it is to ask questions, embrace differences, build community, and think creatively.
The Primary School honored National American Indian Heritage Month by welcoming the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers. The dancers performed a program called “Yah-Oh-Way,” which means “it is good” in Hopi. Students enjoyed seeing many different types of dances, which draw from cultural traditions of the Iroquois, Winnebago, Kiowa, Choctaw, and Toas traditions. As each dance was performed, the dancers explained its origin and meaning. Highlights included the Hoop dance (Toas) and the Contest dance (Winnebago), which several students had a chance to try. Learning goals of the program included: appreciate the true depth and complexity of Native American societies and how different these are from stereotypes to which students may have been exposed, understand the origins and meanings of various dances and songs, and respect and value cultural diversity.
The Primary School wasn’t the only campus under construction this summer! The Upper School has had some major renovations in the past months that include new flooring, walls, white boards and doors around the school. The biggest renovation…air conditioning in all classrooms and the commons!
CHEER FOR A CURE The MKA Cheer Team attended the 10th Annual SEC Conference “Cheer for the Cure” Showcase at Foley Field in Bloomfield. Every year, cheer teams from all over Essex County are invited to come perform and “showcase” their half-time performances to their families and friends, as well as to their fellow Essex County schools cheer teams. MKA Cheer has participated in this event every year in an effort to help with the event’s true purpose—to raise breast cancer awareness and contribute
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A RO U N D M KA
UPPER SCHOOL PEER LEADERS MEET WITH THE 8TH GRADE CLASS TO DISCUSS THE TRANSITION FROM 8TH TO 9TH GRADE.
EIGHTH-GRADE STUDENTS IN THE ART STUDIO COURSE CREATED TAPE MURALS. The art project is based on their seventh-grade perspective studies. This was a group project in which the students devised a composition within the parameter of using five colors of tape or fewer. Designing these collaborative pieces is an exercise in creative problem solving. Having the work evolve before our eyes gives the school community a sense of the process, as well as dedication it takes for students to create such large-scale art that all can enjoy.
Congratulations to the US student Mathletes who met to participate in a Harvard MIT online math tournament. The students spent over
FLOAT YOUR BOAT In January, The Upper School saw its annual Boat Race take place, as part of its House System. Each house was charged with building a boat made out of cardboard, tape, and recyclable materials. They were charged with designing a boat, building the boat, and ultimately racing the boat. There were two separate competitions. Firstly, the faculty heads of our environmental action club judged the boats on their environmentally friendly construction and appearance. Secondly, was the race itself. Each house had a sailor, and per the rules were allowed to lift the sailor into the boat on the starters whistle. It was then the sailors job to paddle the length of the pool, without falling out. The first and second boats to successfully finish (with the sailor on board) won points for their houses. This year Walden won the race, and Monjo finished second. Furthermore, Strong won the award for the most environmentally friendly boat construction. Most importantly, the entire Upper School had fun during the process of this house competition.
three hours working on math contests, two individual and one group challenge, and they performed very well. Congratulations also to the hardworking students who participated in a math contest at Seton Hall University representing the school extremely well!
FINDING THE RHYTHM First grade Spanish students are getting a workout with their bodies as they learn to dance to the rhythm of a children’s rap music video, Baila con tu cuerpo.They sing and dance to the refrain and move on cue with different parts of the body as they are introduced in the song. They enjoy the challenge of fitting in the words and the movements to the lively pace as they celebrate movement, rhythm, and song!
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FIELD TRIP! Kindergarten students were all smiles during their first field trip of the year to Fernbrook Farms! They learned about farm animals, went on a tractor ride, and picked different vegetables and herbs. They even had a lesson about the soil on the farm and the worms that call it home.
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Building Community The social-emotional aspect of our Kindergarten curriculum is as equally important to the children’s growth as their academic experience. We believe that children who feel empathy, have self-awareness, and exhibit good character are more likely to make responsible decisions and create positive relationships with others. On a daily basis during morning meetings, exploration, recess, and closing meetings help children develop these skills..
Congratulations to the Upper School Habitat for Humanity Club on being selected to receive a Golden Hammer Award at the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newark’s end of year event! The Golden Hammer Award recognizes and honors Habitat for Humanity’s top donors, volunteers, and advocates each year.
2500 ITEMS DONATED FOR THE PANTRY
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FROZEN TURKEYS DONATED
FOOD DRIVE FOR THE PANTRY DELIVERS
SOPHOMORES SPENT THE DAY IN SPRING LAKE FOR A BEACH CLEAN WITH THE SURFRIDER FOUNDATION. THEY COLLECTED NEARLY 70 POUNDS OF TRASH IN JUST UNDER 2 HOURS!
The MKA Surfrider Club also joined a beach cleanup for International Coastal Cleanup Day. They removed a large amount of garbage, and hope to raise awareness about reducing pollution.
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Congratulations to all MKA students on a very successful food and turkey drive for the Human Needs Food Pantry of Montclair! Between the Upper, Middle, and Primary School campuses, we were able to donate about 2500 items for the Pantry, and the Middle School was able to donate 38 frozen turkeys. A special thank you to the members of the Student Government who took time out of their day to deliver all of the donations to the Pantry and to our tireless Maintenance crew who made sure that all the items were packed up and ready for delivery. We know that Patty Strain, a former MKA parent and volunteer at the Pantry, to whom this drive was dedicated, would be very proud of our school community.
SPECIAL DELIVERY Eighth grader Laura Altirs visited Lebanon with her family this past summer, where she learned more about her heritage and the country’s rich history. She brought with her goodie bags for the children of the families that attend the church village of Hereyikis.
A RO U N D M KA
Primary School students took some time to participate in “Hour of Code” themed activities during Computer Science Education Week. Students were introduced to basic programming exercises through use of digital resources like “Kodable,” “Osmo Coding,” “Daisy the Dino,” and “BrainPop Jr.” as well as coding-related books such as Hello Ruby, Adventures in Coding, by Linda Liukas. Classroom coding experiences offer some time to explore what it feels like to use commands or directions in a sequence to get an object to move in a specific way to a desired location.
THIRD GRADERS PLAYED A GAME CALLED KAHOOT! This game allowed students to challenge each other and their knowledge about concepts covered throughout Unit 2. These concepts included solving extended facts, equal groups and array number stories, division number stories, and frame and arrows. Following the game, the students reviewed and self-assessed themselves
MKA participates in the Montclair Film Festival! Congratulations to the Upper School students Yousuf Cheema, Nina Picolli, Willa Marshall, Geena Pacifico, and Sofia Szyfer who performed stories they wrote in their MKA English department elective Writer’s Craft for the “That Was Awkward Slam My Story” night at Montclair Film Festival on December 9. Writer’s Craft teacher Cynthia Darling says, “The night was a great opportunity for students to perform their stories beyond the classroom. They experienced the change in audience that can cause slight shifts in story content or perspective—what experienced authors and performers have to go through every time they bring a story to a new audience. Thank you to Montclair Film for giving students such a great venue and opportunity for making their voices heard!”
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RESEARCH CLEARLY SHOWS THAT SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL LEARNING GOES HAND IN HAND WITH ACADEMIC LEARNING. Throughout the day, as second graders work on academic tasks, they are learning to collaborate, communicate, self-regulate, recognize/manage emotions, and be part of a caring and kind learning community. Second grade students have been working hard on what it means to live by our school slogan, “We care. We are kind. We are the Cougars!” Social/emotional learning is an extremely important part of a child’s educational experience. It includes goal-setting, problem solving, working effectively in groups, building positive relationships, taking others’ perspectives, respecting others, and appreciating differences. From Morning Meeting, which builds confidence, a sense of community, and listening skills, to sharing a book with a friend to discuss a story, which builds mutual respect and turn-taking, to asking someone to join in at recess, we are proud of the rich ways that second graders are growing socially and emotionally each day. MKA STUDENT RECEIVES NATIONAL ACADEMIC ACCOLADE. Congratulations to MKA Senior Ethan Gross who was named a Semifinalist in the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program. The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that includes approximately 1.5 million entrants each year who qualify by taking the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Of these 1.5 million entrants, approximately 16,000 high school seniors are recognized as National Merit Semifinalists. MKA senior Ethan Gross will be now considered for a National Merit Scholarship as the selection of some 7,500 Merit Scholarship® winners from the group of more than 16,000 Semifinalists is now in progress. Congratulations to Ethan on this tremendous accomplishment.
First graders explored math manipulatives like Geoboards, Place Value Blocks, and Pattern Blocks and there were many impressive creations! They made structures, created designs, and constructed shapes while discovering how shapes are alike and different. They examined how to make triangles, rectangles, and squares. Children used their knowledge of math to analyze how the materials were helpful for things like counting and looking at shapes while also familiarizing themselves with math tools available in the classroom.
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Global Citizens
THIS SUMMER, 16 MEMBERS OF THE MKA COMMUNITY WENT TO CHINA. FOURTEEN STUDENTS WERE ACCOMPANIED BY DR. HE AND MR. HESSLER. ON THIS INCREDIBLE TRIP, WHICH IS MKA’S FIRST LANGUAGE AND CULTURE TRIP, WE SPENT 12 DAYS IN CHINA, SAW TWO DIFFERENT CITIES, BEIJING AND XI’AN, THREE DIFFERENT SCHOOLS, AND MANY OTHER AMAZING SITES.
COURTNEY MCCANTS: When we arrived to the Jinyuan International School in Xi’an, we were kindly greeted by the school’s principal and superintendent. Besides for some emails and texts beforehand, this was our first time speaking to our buddies which was nerve racking but also exciting. During the school day, we attended English, art and music classes with our buddies. After lunch, our group went outside to play basketball when all of a sudden, the school’s basketball team showed up. They walked outside in full uniforms, with their coach, and a scoreboard. Some of us played 5 on 5 against them, and we won. The school day was an amazing experience and a great way to meet our new friends and get to know Chinese young people’s school life: they work hard, but their lives also are full of exciting experiences. LANNEA MARTINEZ: After School my buddy Yan Ning and I walked home since she lived really close by. When I walked in, her family was waiting eagerly for us. Even though He Laoshi took us to very nice restaurants every day, I’ve never had better dumplings than when I was with Yan Ning’s grandparents. During dinner her younger brother really warmed up to me and even started to call me older sister. He was so sweet! I was honestly really sad to be saying goodbye on Monday morning. Despite the language barriers, and the obvious skin color difference, I never felt like a stranger in their home. They said that if I ever come back to China, I was always welcome in their home. It means a lot to me that I, some random black girl from New Jersey, have a second home and family in China! WILL HITCHCOCK: The Terracotta Warriors, famous as the eighth wonder of the world, are figures made out of terracotta that are supposed to represent the armies of the first emperor in China, two thousand years ago. At the museum, we were given a “VIP” experience. We had a private room within the museum and an amazing tour guide (She worked for China’s Department of Education!) We got to take a special class about the technics of restoring the warriors and each MKA student was given pieces of a model terracotta warrior, and tasked with re-assembling them back. PAYMAN MAHDI: Towards the end of the day, we broke up into two groups to do community service for the museum. Group 1 asked foreign visitors who came to the museum about their experience. Group 2 went around the museum, trying to find errors in the English translations of the Chinese signs. Then we all got certificates from the museum for our volunteer work. The day at Terracotta Warrior
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Museum was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! For Nick and I, this was not our first time in China, but our time on the MKA China trip was especially unforgettable. TAYLOR LEFEVRE: As a student of Chinese, I was very excited about the opportunity to use my studies in a real world setting. I was in Chinese 4 Honors at the time, so I wasn’t expecting a very hard time, but it turned out that there was still a lot of Chinese that I didn’t know! Of course, my homestay buddy was willing to help and taught me some new Chinese phrases. I was also able to pick up a few phrases from native speakers along the way. In addition, my homestay buddy was impressed that I was able to understand some of the most complicated Chinese phrases. He spoke very quickly so I was definitely kept on my toes, but I was happy that I was able to understand and respond. I gained so much confidence in my Chinese speaking and listening abilities! NAHOME HAGOS: Unlike others on the trip, I’d never studied Chinese before. The one thing I knew I needed going into this trip was an open mindset about studying the culture and language. Because of this, I feel I was able to get so much out of this trip. During the trip, I got a Chinese name from Dr. He -Hu Na Hong- and I learned many Chinese words and phrases. One of those phrases is Wo Chi Bao le, which means I’m full, but directly translates to I am as fat as a bun. The trip experience convinced me to take Chinese during my senior year. I also learned some cool Kungfu moves from a Kungfu master in Beijing. I’ve always watched a lot of Kungfu movies, so this was one of my favorite parts of the trip. AARON GOIDEL: Every day, we had the opportunity to experience authentic Chinese food. From plates full of dumplings to bowls of noodles, we tended to eat until we were completely full. We enjoyed authentic versions of dishes we can find in the US and even some foods we had never heard of before. We ate at famous restaurants around Xi’an and Beijing, including the “school house” restaurant where the Obamas ate on a trip to Beijing. We visited a place which specialized in dumplings where we ordered at least 6 different kinds. Not to mention the amazing hotpot and Peking Duck we had together. Our trip itinerary included many famous sites and world wonders. Between walking along the Great Wall, visiting the forbidden city, the temple of heaven, and Tiananmen Square, where we were able to view Mao’s body, and riding bicycles on the Wall with 2000 years history, during the intensive trip, we saw and experienced more history than most people do in their lifetimes. We even got to see a family of baby pandas, which made the two, 13-hour plane rides totally worth it. Even though this reserve is not open to the public, Dr. He was still able to get us a tour. And if you bought Chinese food from the Asian Cultural Society last year you will be glad to know that your money was donated to help raise those adorable baby pandas!
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News Shorts 4
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RO B OTS F I RST The MKA Robotics team competed in the FIRST Robotics meet at Liberty Science Center. While they didn’t advance, they learned a lot about their robot and how to improve it for the next meet at Millburn HS. [ 1 ] MODEL UN MKA US students attended the Brown Model United Nations Conference November 9-11, 2018 in Providence, RI. The theme of the conference was “Promoting Vital Dialogue” with a focus on Global Health challenges. The MKA students represented a variety of countries and committees such as Disarmament and International Security, Social and Economic Council, and Environmental Assembly. US World Language teacher Isabel Janelli and US Mathematics teacher Derek Morf chaperoned the trip. [ 2 ]
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BACK I N T I ME During the week of October 22, the 8th grade had the opportunity to travel back in time to Colonial Williamsburg and Monticello. Eighthgrade students and teachers embarked upon their journey at 6:00 a.m. on a Tuesday morning for their six-hour drive to Virginia. Upon arrival at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, they were greeted by the beauty of Jefferson’s “little mountain” but quickly dove into its dark and complicated history. Students not only saw Jefferson’s home but also learned about the two-hundred people enslaved there during his lifetime. Following their visit to Monticello, students toured Colonial Williamsburg for two days. On their guided tours, they did research to prove thesis statements that they prepared prior to the trip. They visited historic trade shops, such as the blacksmith and
the silversmith; participated in African American music and dance; and heard the ghost stories of Scottish and Irish immigrants. [ 3 ] SCIE NCE IN ACTION The Upper School Environmental Science class took a tour of the Verona Wastewater Treatment plant. The students saw all of the systems they have been studying in action, and visited the lab that tests water similarly to how it is done in the MKA chemistry rooms. They perform many of the same water quality tests that are done in class. [ 4 ] BACK TO NATURE With all the construction taking place, students celebrated the re-opening of their Outdoor Classroom. They were very excited to access this place of discovery and adventure again! The space is filled
with rugged outdoor blocks, digging equipment, bamboo poles, a water table, and colorful cloths and scarves that provide students with the perfect opportunity to connect with nature! It’s a stimulating environment for students to explore, experiment, and build imaginative structures. [ 5 ] NE TWORKING Seniors enrolled in the New York City Literature and History class spent time learning more about the construction and growth of New York City’s transportation networks. After touring the New York City Transit Museum in Brooklyn, the class walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, concluding their visit at City Hall Park. It was a beautiful day to take in the sights of New York City! [ 6 ] Keep up with all the news at mka.org
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All-School Gathering MKA’S 50-YEAR CELEBRATION INCLUDES MONTCLAIR MAYOR ROBERT JACKSON AT ALL-SCHOOL GATHERING
Headmaster Thomas W. Nammack welcomed 1,042 students, over 200 faculty and staff members as well as Trustees, alumni and special guests to the school’s 25th AllSchool Gathering. During the celebration of MKA’s Community Scholars’ Program 50th Anniversary, Mayor Robert Jackson ’73, who was MKA’s first Community Scholar, provided remarks. Established in 1969 by Montclair Academy, the Community Scholars Program is the longest standing commitment of MKA’s financial aid program. There are seven Community Scholars at any one time in the school, and over the past fifty years these scholars have
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proven to be some of the most accomplished and remarkable people to graduate from MKA. The theme of half century celebrations continued with a tribute to Upper School science teacher George Hrab, honoring his 50th year of teaching at MKA, his legacy, and impact on students throughout the years. Student talent was on exhibit with exemplary performances from the Primary School Bellringers playing “America the Beautiful,” Middle and Upper School Jazz Ensembles, Middle School Dance Ensemble, Upper School Advanced Dance Class, the Middle School Chamber Singers, a solo dance performance by Ronny Bhatia ’19, and the Upper School a cappella
MKA review / Montc l ai r K i mb e r l e y Ac ade my
group Remix, who delivered a powerful rendition of an Ariana Grande Mashup. MKA’s flourishing athletics program celebrated with the presentation of team athletic honors from 2017–18, as well as by rousing performances from the MKA Cheerleaders and Step Team. Individual student academic, athletic and fine and performing arts accomplishments were celebrated with the awarding of MKA sweaters. The school’s renowned faculty was recognized by Alumni Council President Amanda Englander, Class of 2004, who presented the Founders’ Cup for Teaching Excellence to Upper School theatre and dance teacher Nicole Hoppe.
Remarks were made by Middle School 8th Grade Class President Morgan Riley ’23 and Upper School Student Government President Julia Thompson ’19. Senior Class President Casey Borella ’19 led one of the celebration’s most special traditions as she read the names of all Kindergarteners while they were welcomed by the seniors and presented with a very friendly toy cougar. From the sea of MKA spirit gear, to the cheers for Kindergartners receiving MKA Cougars, school spirit was high as The All-School Gathering concluded with the youngest member of the Class of 2031, Aarav Aggarwal, ringing the Academy Bell to officially mark the start of MKA’s 131st school year.
THE PRIMARY SCHOOL COMMUNITY WELCOMES A NEW HEAD OF CAMPUS, MS. RACHEL GERINGER-DUNN Before coming to MKA, Ms. GeringerDunn spent seven years at The Cathedral School in Manhattan where she worked as Dean of Lower School and as part of the Admissions team. She was a founding first grade teacher at Girls Preparatory Charter School in the Bronx and taught third grade in the Natick Public Schools outside Boston. We’re so excited to welcome Ms. Geringer-Dunn to the MKA community!
FACULTY MKA welcomes new Faculty and Staff members for the 2018-2019 school year. RA CHEL GERINGER-DUNN, Head of Primary School LAELA PERKINS, Director of Development JOSEPH LOCASCIO, Physical Plant Staff RAMON VEGA, Physical Plant Staff HE LEN MAKOHON, Associate Director of Admissions for Primary SchoolJennifer MacQuarrie, PS Faculty BILL BRONSON, MS Faculty (4th Grade) MARIA LAMPON, MS World Languages MARIA MORENO, MS World Languages SANDRINE BEDDOU, US World Languages PETRA SAUER, US Math/Physics LILY CUI, US English LIAM CAMPBELL, US English LUKE DAVIS, US Math/Computer Science
HEAD VARSITY GIRLS’ SOCCER COACH AND DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE CHRISTIE WELSH MARRIED LINDSAY BAIRD ON OCTOBER 27, 2018 AT THE BROOKLYN WINERY IN WILLIAMSBURG. The brides celebrated with 65 of their closest friends and family. Despite the Nor’easter going on outside, everyone had an amazing time and were full of smiles throughout the day. Ms. Welsh said, “We cherished the experience, both commenting on how we felt like royalty and how amazing it was to have a room full of people there to celebrate our love. We are so thankful for all the amazing people in our lives which includes the MKA community who have been nothing but supportive of our journey.”
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MARIA SHEPARD, US Academic Dean VARSAY LEWIS, US Student Counselor JEREMY ZAK, US Lab Assistant BETH COONEY, Trainer ED ITH TINIO-BRENNAN, Coordinator of Curriculum & Professional Development Services
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Hemmeter Lecture Series ON JANUARY 11 MKA UPPER
from throughout his life. While Jennifer
SCHOOL HOSTED A VERY SPECIAL
Shan ’19 anticipated the “interview and
HEMMETER LECTURE EVENT, A
Q&A to be an extension of his show,”
CONVERSATION WITH STEPHEN
she found she was, “pleasantly surprised
COLBERT CONDUCTED BY DAVID
to find the lecture to be informative
HESSLER, LONGTIME MKA HISTORY
about not only his career in comedy
DEPARTMENT MEMBER.
but also his academic, more ‘nerdy’ side. Who knew that he’s interested
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Mr. Colbert offered humor and
in etymology or is doing a page-by-
intellectual depth to an audience that
page analysis of The Lord of the Rings
included close to 150 Upper School
series? …To me, somebody who never
students. Indira Douglas ’19 shared
plans on becoming a comic, I saw the
that “Having just completed an English
entire lecture as an opportunity to
course on Satire, it was particularly
learn more about the nature of being a
meaningful for me to hear his insight on
public figure.” Throughout the evening,
his experience in the industry and the
Mr. Colbert’s honesty, enthusiasm, and
thought process behind how he pushes
breadth of knowledge were on full
the boundaries of satire.” Mr. Colbert
view and all attendees were gifted with
answered questions and shared stories
learning as well as a lot of laughs.
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Students and faculty at the Primary, Middle, and Upper Schools had a blast showing off their Halloween costumes!
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George Hrab CELEBRATING THE FIRST
50
YEARS
FORMER SCIENCE FACULTY MEMBER, SUSAN STRATEN (1969–73; 1980–1997) SITS DOWN WITH FACULTY MEMBER GEORGE HRAB TO TALK ABOUT 50 YEARS OF TEACHING AT MONTCLAIR KIMBERLEY ACADEMY. Susan Straten: You
and I both started teaching here in 1969. I started at Kimberley in September. Dick Loveland, who was Head of The Kimberley School at the time, was looking for a science teacher. I had been a synchronized swimmer in college and they needed a coach for the Kimbalettes. When I started teaching, Kimberley was still being converted from an athletic club. I started teaching biology downstairs in the bowling alley!
I give you credit for getting me into teaching science. We were just talking down in the lobby and you asked, “So what are you doing next year?” [Academic Dean] Bob Sinner had just given me a mélange of subjects. That was the word he used—mélange. So, I answered, “I don’t know. Why? You got something in the Science Department?”
George Hrab:
We did have an opening, and I had just interviewed someone, so I answered, “We do have something in Biology.” I didn’t intend on asking you. I just saw you. SS:
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It makes you realize just how life can go. My first 20 years were in physical education and the next 30 years have been in science, and I loved it. You know, when I started teaching, I didn’t know what to expect from the students. Students would sometimes have questions, and if I didn’t know an answer, I wasn’t sure if I just didn’t have the answer or if the world didn’t have an answer.
GH:
SS: And now we are celebrating your 50th! Incredible! We started teaching together when I moved up to the Upper School after the two schools merged.
You know what was so interesting during the merger? How different the two school’s teaching philosophies were.
GH:
SS: You’re right. The Academy was very straightforward in its curriculum—very disciplined. And Kimberley had launched into conceptual learning, the big picture, and learning across disciplines.
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Longtime friends and colleagues, Susan Straten and George Hrab today
Kimberley was ahead of its time! The big thing with merging the two schools was how to blend the philosophies, rules, and expectations of students. That first year in 1975, [Headmaster] Dick Day told us that we would need to figure out how to discipline as the year progressed. When the kids knew there were no rules, and they took advantage. That class of 1975, woah! That year was actually my first class of seventh graders. I really remember those early classes and all those students from the beginning.
GH:
SS: I do too. What have you felt to be consistent with the MKA experience over the years?
The quality of the students, the expectations, and the alumni who graduate all have confidence in their abilities. My daughter graduated in ’86 and my son in ’89, and they appreciate the caliber of the education that they received here and what they were exposed to here as students.
GH:
SS: I am impressed by the graduates. Even those who were not outstanding students at the time, or didn’t like MKA when they were here, tell me that they appreciate MKA and have all gone on to do great things.
You know, one of the big differences between then and now, is how the school has expanded its offerings of experiences outside the classroom with global experiences and community service. And that is more important in their development as human beings. Before it was more academic centered; now it is more about the whole person.
GH:
SS:
My kids really appreciate the education they had here.
I think because kids have the opportunity to grow up through the entire system, they maintain those relationships afterwards. They add more friends over the years, but they maintain those MKA contacts. I’ve been to weddings of former students and it is like an MKA reunion!
GH:
SS: Whatever goes on within these walls fosters lifetime relationships. GH:
That’s true. For faculty, like us, and our students. ■
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MILESTONES 1969 Started teaching at Montclair Academy. Instituted Physical Education Program at Montclair Academy 1970 Named Varsity Baseball Coach until 1989 and Assistant Varsity Football through 1978 1970S Served as the Assistant Coach for Swimming and Diving, on and off, through the early 2000’s 1971 Coached the ski team through 1974 1976 Appointed Head Varsity Volleyball coach through 1988 1979 Named Head Varsity Soccer coach through 1988 1982 Began teaching Russian 1983 Named Athletic Director and Head of the Physical Education Department through 1989 1989 Joined the Science Department teaching Biology and Chemistry 1990 Received first yearbook dedication, followed by dedications by seniors in 2000 and 2008 1996 Awarded Founders Cup Award for excellence in teaching 2009 George Hrab Scholarship Fund created to help provide financial aid to deserving students 2018 Inducted into MKA’s Athletic Hall of Fame
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Kicking Off the Giving Season For three days the MKA community participated in our own version of Giving Tuesday, and it was a tremendous success. “Our Giving Tuesday campaign #GivingTuesdayMKA was a twist on the traditional one-day philanthropic outreach across the globe on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving,” said Laela Perkins, Director of Development. “For three days, we kicked off the giving season at MKA by thanking members of our community who had already supported The MKA Fund as well as speaking to past donors and friends of the school.” A team of dedicated volunteers made up of Trustees, current parents, alumni,
current students, and staff called over 1,500 members of the MKA community and raised over $165,000 for The MKA Fund. Our oldest donor came from the Class of 1937, and our youngest supporter is a current student, Class of 2025! “It’s amazing to see the connection that our alumni and our parent of alumni community have to MKA,” said Eric Gutierrez, Director of Alumni Relations. “We had the opportunity to speak with alumni from every single graduation class, going back as far as the 1930s to our most recent alumni, the Class of 2018. Every conversation we had touched upon the amazing memories our alumni have of their time at MKA and the friendships they made and maintain to this day.” Gifts received over our #GivingTuesdayMKA campaign from current parents, alumni, parents of alumni,
grandparents, and friends went to support The MKA Fund. Our MKA Fund provides critical unrestricted support for the basic operation of the school. The MKA Fund provides the school with the ability to offer the wealth of academic and co-curricular activities that develop students’ infinite potential in addition to supporting financial aid. Support of The MKA Fund, from our entire community each and every year, allows the school to make strategic decisions instead of choices. Giving Tuesday is an annual global day of giving that was held on November 27 this year. This initiative, founded in 2012, inspired millions of people to give back and support causes they believe in, including MKA. More than 150 countries participated in Giving Tuesday, according to the organization's website. To support The MKA Fund, please visit www.mka.org/giving.
Congratulations to MKA parents Manika Sood and Prashant Bhatia, Middle School Math teacher Kristen Sigler, and Board Member Linda Sterling, who cycled over 192 miles as part of the Pan-Mass Challenge to help raise money for cancer research and patient care at the DanaFarber Cancer Institute in Boston!
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Riding toward a Cancer-Free Future We had over 30 students participate in a fundraising riding together (including two of our Chilean exchange students!), raising $22,774 for Cycle for Survival. Casey Borella raised $15,586 on her own! The total funds raised for the teen ride was $37,990. So what Casey did individually and MKA students did collectively is quite impressive. Natalia Espinosa Dice gave a very moving speech to launch the teen ride. Congrats to all who participated on an amazing ride.
MKA SPONSORED MONTCLAIR BIKERY’S TURKEY RIDE THIS YEAR WHERE 225 CYCLISTS COLLECTED 335 TURKEYS AND RAISED $22.2K INCLUDING A MATCH FROM PARTNERS FOR HEALTH. MKA teachers past and present worked the vans (Lynn and Eric Salehi, Pat and Katie Parke, and Regina Elberg), MKA teachers rode the event (Kristin Sigler, Tom Ruddy, Ben Goodrich, Amy Fossett), and past parents worked the vans (Dede Horowicz and Terri Breen), while Trustee Linda Sterling (Turkey Ride chair) and PAMKA President Tina Jordan, Development Director Laela Perkins, and current parents Jane Berra and Liz Katz also rode. Even with the cold weather, everyone had fun!
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MKA has entered in to the final phase of its decade-long Future Forward Campaign with construction for expansion and improvement to the school’s Primary School Campus. Capital improvements and expansion projects include the construction of a new combined auditorium and dining area, a new kitchen and servery, a redesigned entry with gallery and admissions suite, creation of outdoor classroom space, the addition of more restroom facilities as well as increasing available parking and expanding the car-line. MKA anticipates completion of these projects in the summer of 2019. For the past five months, the Primary School community has grown to include construction workers, bulldozers, engineers, and lots of cones. Earlier this month, steel columns began to rise and the school’s new building began to take shape. On November 1, MKA’s students, teachers, faculty, and Trustees came out to celebrate the progress to date and to memorialize this exciting and unique moment at Brookside by signing their names on a steel beam. “The ongoing construction has created a number of opportunities for discussion, questions, ideas, and creative pursuits for all our students,” said Head of Primary School Rachel Geringer-Dunn. “We
are embracing this work around us and using the project as a teaching example of process, hard work, and follow-through. Our students are part of this transformative project and have left their mark on a part of MKA’s history.” Tom Nammack, MKA Headmaster also commented on the overall renovation process, “These renovations will greatly enhance the overall aesthetic of the facilities better reflecting the incredible teaching, learning, exploration, and creativity experienced here at MKA. More importantly these improvements will enhance the overall educational experience creating an environment of greater community, learning, and growth for our students and faculty.” The campaign which started in 2008 has allowed MKA to raise necessary funds to make transformational changes to the school’s facilities and infrastructure. This $10 million endeavor is funded through a variety of sources including financing and plant reserves as well as $2.0 million in philanthropic support from the community.
8th graders organized a campaign to make as many Valentine’s Day cards for veterans and handed them out at the Veteran Hospital East Orange campus in time for the holiday.
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HEALTHY TREATS Thanks to the efforts of MKA’s Student Athletic Council Chairs Max South ’19, Lily Pryor ’19, and Alan Di Geronimo ’19 , the Upper School gym now has a healthy snack/drink vending machine stocked with options from Trader Joe’s and WholeFoods!
MKA’s Middle School celebrated the Lunar Chinese New Year with professional Chinese martial art coaches from Wu Shu Kung Fu Fitness Center to teach students about Chinese traditional Lion Dance and Chinese Kungfu. We wish everyone a Happy New Year of the pig! A SIGNATURE EVENT AT THE MIDDLE SCHOOL, THE ANNUAL STUDENT VS. FACULTY BASKETBALL GAME, WAS HELD ON FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1. The gym was full and the energy was high during this night focused on fun and charity. Organized by the Middle School Student Government under the leadership of CherylAnne Amendola and Maria Arellano, along with help from PAMKA, led by Tammi Branch, and with the support from almost every Middle School faculty member and parents, a huge crowd came out to cheer on the players and enjoy the nail biter of a game where the students beat the faculty in overtime 37-31! Sixth and seventh graders started off the night with a “mini-game” in which they played one another. Chamber singers sang the national anthem prior to the main event of faculty versus the 8th grade students. The Middle School Pep Band played a fantastic drum beat throughout the game, and fourth grader Kieran Hailey and fifth grader Anthony Labib hit their shots during the halftime free throw contest. Baked goods donated by parents and a homeroom coin drive contest (The Bronson homeroom won!) added to the fundraising success of the night. This year’s charitable recipient, selected by the students, was the Human Needs Food Pantry, located just a few blocks away from the Middle School. The event raised $5614.37 and brought over 30 bags of non-perishables to the Human Needs Food Pantry!
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ICONIC PRIDE Don’t worry, there wasn’t a change in Dress Code at the Upper School, students were just celebrating Spirit Week! All week long, students dressed according to the day’s theme: tropical, USA, iconic movie/TV character, homecoming shirts, and crazy green/blue! The annual tradition is a way for students to show their Cougar Pride leading into Homecoming weekend.
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Arts Under the Stars
On September 14, The MKA Fine & Performing Arts Department kicked off the season with its annual Arts Under the Stars event! Works of art from all three campuses were displayed at the Upper School and attendees enjoyed four, one-act plays performed by Upper School actors and directed by MKA Alumni and Playwright-inResidence Rob Gelberg ’10. The event also raised more than $150 for Broadway Cares, a nonprofit organization that helps men, women, and children across the country receive lifesaving medications, health care, nutritious meals, counseling, and emergency financial assistance.
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Snow Dragons MKA’s Eighth Grade Performance Ensemble of Snow Dragons did not disappoint! When the Germans attacked Norway during the Second World War, the King of Norway and his son were secreted away to London by the British Navy. Norway then set up a government in exile in Britain, built a fighting force of exiled Norwegians, and joined the allied forces. Director Christian Ely was drawn to this play for several reasons saying,“As a theatre teacher, I’m always looking for plays that allow my students to play characters that are close to their own age. I also look for plays that empower children. This show does both, beautifully.” This play asked a lot of the student actors, and dealt with some difficult and troubling issues without naming them directly. It weaved the common struggles of everyday life into the chaos of war. In rehearsal, the students talked about what was happening in places like Yemen and Syria and also talked about the daily struggles of living in an abusive home or with a difficult caregiver. Plays like this give the students a chance to see childhood through the eyes of other children. Ely concluded that his “Hope is that it gives us all time to pause and reflect on the lives of everyone around us.”
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NO BODY LIKE JIMMY Deetjen’s fall 2018 comedy was a hilarious farce with some hidden satire, a brilliant laugh-fest by Burton Bumgarner entitled No Body Like Jimmy. The cast of ten Upper School actors, in grades 9-12, coupled with the five hard-working crew members had a fabulous five-show run in front of packed and laughing audiences. The play poked fun not only at all politicians in general, but also at the self-absorbed nature of humans, even while at a cocktail party. One audience member even remarked “It’s amazing what they can do time and again in a little 55-seat theatre.”
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Music Shorts MKA CELEBRATES THE ARTS WITH WINTER MUSIC CONCERTS ON ALL THREE CAMPUSES The Primary School students raised their voices in song to ring in the holiday season at the Winter Concert. Under the expert direction of our Musical Director Mrs. Smith, children performed both vocally and instrumentally to honor Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa. The Primary School Advanced Strings students captured the audience’s attention from the start with their skillful fiddling. Students were led by Madame Roure and Señora Banegas to sing festive holiday songs in the target language. The Primary School gym was aglow with excitement, love, and harmony.
On December 13, Mr.Anderson led the Middle school choristers in a fun and festive Winter Concert. The concert featured choirs across all grades and music from all over the globe. The choirs joined together in one final song sending all with peace, love, and joy.
Linda Larkin led the MKA Middle School band students in a joyous performance for the annual Winter Band Concert. The performance featured concert bands from grades four through eight and music from around the world, including a rock arrangement of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” performed by the Eighth Grade Ensemble. To end the performance, bands in grades five through eight joined forces to perform the traditional German song “Grant Us Peace” sending all off for a joyful and peaceful holiday break.
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US/MS Jazz Bands Please Their Fans Jazz Café has been on the MKA calendar for more than ten years and that’s because it is an especially fun opportunity for our school to collaborate across campuses via the medium of America’s greatest original art form: Jazz. This concert features our Upper School and Middle School Jazz Bands performing separately and together and demonstrating the depth of our instrumental music curriculum. The age of our Jazz students ranges from 11 to 18, years and both bands feature some of our strongest, most disciplined and dedicated musicians. This year, we heard many flavors of jazz from the Afro Cuban stylings of Mongo Santa Maria to Irving Berlin, and from Gordon Goodwin’s Big PHAT Band to Sly and the Family Stone. In a note from our esteemed colleague George Hrab he writes, “Your performances are always a joy to behold. You have a way of challenging the kids with ever more demanding pieces, and it’s wonderful to see them come through! You had me dancing salsa and mambo in the aisle!!!”
On Friday December 7, a total of 70 Upper School students: 47 student singers, and 23 musicians from the Chamber Singers, Concert Choir, Advanced Strings, Remix, and student brass and percussionists took to the stage in Weiss to create a glorious night of music. There were holiday songs, classical works, and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s timeless songs. Of many highlights that evening, one was the audience’s participation in Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” where numerous parents, alumni, faculty, and students joined the choirs on stage. This was topped with a rousing rendition of “Sleigh Ride” where the full orchestration and all singers were joined by audience members singing from both the stage and from their seats. Everyone left with a smile on his or her face and Maria Gilmartin said, “I have never asked the audience to sing with us in 18 years at MKA and my 25 years of teaching in the town of Montclair, but tonight we will do this, and your participation will allow our orchestra to play at full volume.” It was apparent everyone had a great time doing so, and “Sleigh Ride” ended up being a surroundsound of joy. Weiss Auditorium never had such a grand sound and night of singing! Congratulations to all of the students who worked so hard on their music for this concert in classes and rehearsals to bring such a variety of music genres and culture to our community.
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MKA’s Upper School Winter Concert showcased hard work, commitment, and dedication to the Band program. The Upper School Jazz Band performed four different styles of big band jazz starting with the Paul Desmond jazz standard “Take Five” made famous by Dave Brubeck. “Nutville” followed and is a lightning fast bebop tune by Horace Silver with improvised solos streaming from every section. Next was a gospel style piece called “The Sermon” by Erik Morales. This is soulful gospel tune is a tune which covers several styles including gospel, swing and Dixieland with tailgate trombone and all. The Jazz Band closed the program with the amazing “AfroBlue” by the famous Cuban percussionist Mongo Santamaria. The Concert Band performed the second part of the evening with an equally varied and complex program, opening with Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Procession of the Nobels” from the lesser known opera Mlada. This piece is heard frequently in concert halls around the world and the arrangement featured a facile woodwind section alternating highly technical work with the robust and boisterous fanfares from the brass and percussion and was an exciting way to start the second half of the concert. From there the Concert Band moved on to Japan with the lovely “Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song” by Samuel Hazo followed by the high energy “Flourish for Winds” by Gary Fagan. Selections from the Disney movie “Enchanted” entertained the movie goers in the audience, and the program closed with a Brazilian flavored rendition of the traditional Ukrainian “Carol of the Bells.” The concert was challenging work for the students and good, multicultural fun for all!
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ATHLETICS 2018 FALL 2018 TEAM AND STUDENT-ATHLETE HONORS AND AWARDS *During the recently completed 2018 Fall Athletics season, the following MKA teams, coaches, and athletes achieved honors
FIELD HOCKEY
FOOTBALL
Head Coach: Gia Nappi (3rd Year) Record: 15-7-1; 2018 NJISAA Prep B State Champions
Head Coach: Anthony Rea (5th Year) Record: 3-7
Reilly Hughes ’19 Capt. Gigi Jacobson ’19 1st Team All-Prep B; 2nd Team All-White Division, Essex/Union Conference; HonorableMention AllAmerican Division, SEC Stephi Vencalkova ’19 Capt.; 2nd Team All-White Division, Essex/Union Conference Kirsten Zeug ’19 Capt.; 1st Team All-Prep B; 1st Team All-White Division, Essex/Union Conference; 1st Team All-American Division, SEC; Selected for NJFHCA Senior All-Star Game; 3rd Team All Non-Public, nj.com; 2nd Team All Non-Public, NJFHCA Cristina Cusmai ’20 Honorable Mention All-White Division, Essex/Union Conference Natalia Eichmann ’20 2nd Team All-White Division, Essex/Union Conference Amanda Mack ’20 1st Team All-Prep B; 1st Team All-White Division, Essex/ Union Conference; 2nd Team All-American Division, SEC Lindsey Yu ’21 1st Team All-Prep B; 1st Team All-White Division, Essex/ Union Conference; 1st Team All-American Division, SEC; 1st Team All Non-Public, nj.com; 1st Team All NonPublic, NJFHCA; MKA Points Leader Award
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Christian Breitweiser ’19 Capt.; 2nd Team Defense, All-MIFL Adam Erbes ’19 Capt.; MKA Co-Weiner Award Ethan Gross ’19 Capt.; 1st Team Defense, AllMIFL; MKA Defensive Player of the Year Award David Sheffet ’19 MKA Co-Weiner Award Trey Wilson ’19 Capt.; 1st Team Offense, AllMIFL; MKA Offensive Player of the Year Award Daniel Arcilla ’20 MKA Rookie of the Year Award BOYS’ CROSS COUNTRY Head Coach: Matthew Bach (2nd Year) Record: 3-5 Ronny Bhatia ’19 Capt. James Lukenda ’19 MKA Coaches Award Victor Magnusson ’19 Capt.; Honorable Mention AllAmerican Division, SEC Charlie Koenig ’20 Capt.; 1st Team All-American Division, SEC; MKA Most Valuable Runner Award Jack Wilkin ’20 Honorable Mention AllAmerican Division, SEC Nate Zuckerberg ’22 MKA Rookie of the Year Award
GIRLS’ CROSS COUNTRY Head Coach: Matthew Bach (2nd Year) Record: 6-3
Will Horn ’21 1st Team All-Prep B; 1st Team All-Liberty Division, SEC; 3rd Team All-Essex County, ECCA; MKA Coaches Award
Anna Schaller ’19 Capt.; 1st Team All-American Division, SEC; MKA Most Valuable Runner Award; MKA Fall Captain’s Prize Recipient; 3rd Team All Non-Public, nj.com
Zach Wheeler ’21 1st Team All-Prep B; 1st Team All-Liberty Division, SEC; 1st Team All-Essex County, ECCA; MKA Most Valuable Player Award
Anna Bradley ’20 Honorable Mention AllAmerican Division, SEC
Sean Cadigan ’22 1st Team All-Prep B; Honorable Mention All-Liberty Division, SEC
Emma Burd ’22 Honorable Mention AllAmerican Division, SEC; MKA Rookie of the Year Award Ava Chickering ’22 MKA Most Spirited Runner Award
BOYS’ SOCCER Head Coach: Rob Leather (5th Year) Record: 12-7-1; 2018 NJISAA Prep B State Champions Dylan Hall ’19 2nd Team All-Liberty Division, SEC; MKA Players’ Player of the Year Award Seth Kaplan ’19 Capt.; Honorable Mention All-Liberty Division, SEC Dylan Ladda ’19 Capt.; 1st Team All-Prep B; 1st Team All-Liberty Division, SEC; 2nd Team All-Essex County, ECCA; 2nd Team All NonPublic, nj.com Andrew Garofalo ’20 2nd Team All-Liberty Division, SEC Jonathan Park ’20 Capt.
GIRLS’ TENNIS Head Coach: Bill Wing (22nd Year) Record: 10-6 Mia Bohi-Green ’19 Capt.; 1st Team All-American Division, SEC; MKA Player of the Year Award Michaela O’Hare ’19 Capt.; Honorable Mention AllAmerican Division, SEC Elana Perlmutter ’20 Honorable Mention AllAmerican Division, SEC Emily Talkow ’20 Capt.; 1st Team All-American Division, SEC
GIRLS’ SOCCER Head Coach: Christie Welsh (3rd Year) Record: 10-5-3 Rylie Frieder ’19 Capt.; 1st Team All-Prep B; Honorable Mention AllAmerican Division, SEC; MKA Coaches Award Lily Pryor ’19 Capt.; Honorable Mention AllAmerican Division, SEC Ally Raff ’19 Capt. Arianna Jobst ’20 1st Team All-American Division, SEC; 3rd Team All Non-Public, nj.com; MKA Players’ Player of the Year Award Alexis Riley ’20 1st Team All-Prep B; 1st Team All-American Division, SEC Chloe Skipper ’22 1st Team All-Prep B; 2nd Team All-American Division, SEC; MKA Rookie of the Year Award Marisa Snee ’22 2nd Team All-American Division, SEC
VOLLEYBALL Head Coach: Molli Dowd (1st Year) Record: 13-9 Sarah Abukwaik ’19 Capt.; 1st Team All-Prep B; 1st Team All-Liberty Division, SEC; MKA Most Valuable Player Award Maira Castro-Conteh ’19 1st Team All-Liberty Division, SEC; MKA Offensive Player of the Year Award Ariana Robinson ’19 Honorable Mention All-Liberty Division, SEC Nyla Williams ’19 Capt.; Honorable Mention All-Liberty Division, SEC; MKA Coaches Award Alina Smith ’20 2nd Team All-Liberty Division, SEC
A RO U N D M KA
Congratulations to Anna Schaller ’19 (Cross Country) the recipient of the 2018 MKA Fall Captain’s Award. The Captain’s Award is given out each season to a male or female captain who has exhibited the qualities that we look for in our team captains… leadership, dedication, respect, work ethic, and serving as a role model, both on and off the field or court, to his or her teammates and peers. Her coach writes, “Anna is respectful, hard-working, diligent at balancing her studies with sport, and a joy to coach. She will rise to the challenge no matter what is asked of her even if its a long grueling workout alone in sleet and freezing temperatures. Anna constantly encourages those around her and her teammates respond very positively to her and are grateful for her leadership. Her work ethic, perseverance and mental toughness have paid off in the form of numerous athletic achievement including back-to-back titles at the Essex County Cross Country Championship.”
CONTROVERSY
BREAKING THE SILENCE: BETTER MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION
WE ARE MKA
MAKES ITS DEBUT
VOTING
THIRD PARTY: A SYMBOL OF
DEMOCRACY
ABOUT
MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION
CODING YOUR
PROGRAM
TO SUCCESS
PRO/ CON
TUTORING THE
WAY
PEER
NATIONAL ANTHEM
NOW?
CULTURE
NFL WHERE ARE WE
LG BT Q+
IMMIGRATION
DREAM
AND REFUGEE
AMERICAN
RESETTLEMENT
TRIAL OF THE
LONG AWAITED DRESS CODE CHANGES STRIVE TO COLLAPSE GENDER DIVIDES
THE STUDENT
VOICE AS AN AGENT OF CHANGE KIM SAUNDERS
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING
When students have voice, they are seven times more likely to be motivated to learn and four times more likely to experience selfworth in school, according to data presented by Russell Quaglia, education researcher and author. These students are also eight times more likely to experience engagement, and nine times more likely to experience purpose in school. Therefore, it serves the greater good of our school community if we, as educators, strengthen and ignite student voice. By doing so, our students become better prepared to exercise their voice effectively into adulthood. Our commitment to a “deep and genuine understanding of our students as individuals and as learners” and to provide a community that “inspires students to lead lives of noble character, purpose and distinction” is expressed in our mission statement. Cultivating student voice helps us to fulfill this mission by inviting students to be active participants and valued partners in their educational experiences. Furthermore, as we continue to build our cultural competency and work to create a more inclusive MKA community, student voice can be a powerful
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instrument to value different perspectives and deepen our understanding of one another. Listening closely to what our students say about their school experiences can also help us understand topics or problems, rethink practices, and inform school improvement efforts. There are many ways, across our three campuses, in which we are intentional about encouraging students to speak up and share their ideas. These initiatives improve the whole school climate and give administrators and faculty valuable insights (see MKA Cultivates Student Voice page 36). The student voice is an important storyteller at MKA. We hear the voices of our students in a variety of publications, creative endeavors, social platforms, and other school-related communications. The Academy News, MKA’s Upper School student-run publication, is one of the longest-running publications used to amplify student voice. Editorial content spans a broad range of topics and lends a unique perspective to issues our students face in school and in today’s complex world. We celebrate the student voice and all that it can teach us.
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TIM LYNCH
UPPER SCHOOL PHYSICS TEACHER AND THE ACADEMY NEWS ADVISOR
PART OF MKA’S MISSION STATEMENT IS THAT STUDENTS SHOULD PERSONALLY ENGAGE WITH THE WORLD AND ACT AS RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS AND LEADERS. IN MANY WAYS, I THINK THAT BOILS DOWN TO TWO THINGS: THE DISCERNMENT TO FIND AN ISSUE WHERE YOU THINK YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND THE DETERMINATION AND COURAGE TO FIND YOUR VOICE AND SPEAK OUT IN ORDER TO MAKE THAT DIFFERENCE.ONE PLACE WHERE MANY UPPER SCHOOL STUDENTS FIND A VOICE IS OUR NEWSPAPER, THE ACADEMY NEWS. AS THE NEWSPAPER’S ADVISOR, I WORK WITH OUR EDITORS-IN-CHIEF AS THEY SELECT TOPICS WORTHY OF NOTE AND TRY TO HELP STUDENTS FIND WAYS TO MOST CLEARLY EXPRESS THE MESSAGE THEY’RE TRYING TO SEND. SOMETIMES ARTICLES NEED SIGNIFICANT EDITING, AND IT’S A GREAT PLEASURE WHEN I GET TO SEE HOW SOMEONE’S VOICE HAS GROWN IN STRENGTH AND CLARITY FROM HIS OR HER FRESHMAN YEAR TO HIS OR HER SENIOR YEAR.ON THE OTHER HAND, SOMETIMES THERE’S LITTLE I NEED TO DO BEYOND POINTING SOMEONE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION AND STAYING OUT OF HIS OR HER WAY, AND THAT’S A TREAT AS WELL! IN JUST THE PAST FEW YEARS, WE’VE HAD STUDENTS OPINE ABOUT MENTAL-HEALTH EDUCATION; EXAMINE THE CHANGES IN MKA’S LGBTQ+ CULTURE OVER THREE DECADES; HIGHLIGHT STUDENTS FINDING THEIR VOICES IN OTHER ARENAS, SUCH AS ZOE LYNCH’S APP THAT GOT HER RECOGNIZED BY CONGRESS; INTERVIEW SPEAKERS WHO HAVE ALREADY BLOWN STUDENTS’ MINDS, SUCH AS DARYL DAVIS AND MATT DE LA PEÑA; EXAMINE THE GOAL AND EFFECTIVENESS OF STANDARDIZED TESTS; AND EVEN PROD THE UPPER SCHOOL TOWARD INSTALLING AIRCONDITIONING IN THE FORM OF A BITING SATIRE. I’M OFTEN ASKED WHY I’M THE ONE WHO ADVISES THE ACADEMY NEWS, GIVEN THAT MY FIELD IS PHYSICS RATHER THAN SOMETHING MORE HUMANITIES-BASED.THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE: THE ACADEMY NEWS IS ONE OF THE BEST PLACES TO FIND INTELLIGENT, OPINIONATED, VOCAL STUDENTS WHO WANT TO USE THEIR VOICES TO MAKE CHANGE … AND I WOULDN’T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY.
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STUDENTS SHOULD////// PERSONALLY
ENGAGE
WITH THE
WORLD
SPEAK
OUT MAKE
DIFF ERENCE
FEATURED IN THIS SECTION ARE PAST AND PRESENT ARTICLES, WRITTEN BY STUDENTS ON THE EDITORIAL STAFF, AND PUBLISHED IN THE ACADEMY NEWS.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SITS DOWN WITH LOCAL REFUGEE FAMILY TO DISCUSS THEIR TRIAL OF THE AMERICAN DREAM. (MAY 2017) BY REBECCA PICCIOTTO ’18
At around 3 p.m. on Sunday April 30, on behalf of MKA’s Amnesty International club, Evelyn Salehi ’18 and I sat down with the Sajjadis, a family of need-based immigrants from Turkey who have been living in a small apartment in Paterson since December 2016. The drive there was about fifteen minutes, but after only ten the atmosphere outside our windows had undergone a distinct transformation. The individual homes of Montclair, separated by lawns and driveways, had been replaced with crowded apartment buildings wedged between each other. When we arrived at the Sajjadis’ door, we were immediately greeted by Reverend David Shaw, who works with the Union Congregational Church’s refugee resettlement program, and Amir Sajjadi, a shy doe-eyed boy around the age of eight (the birthday system in Middle Eastern culture is much less rigid, and therefore the Sajjadis only have approximations for their ages). Once we removed our shoes, as directed by a polite sign hung above the doorway, we entered the apartment. 13-year-old Mariam, her father, Hanish, and mother, Samira, welcomed us and offered us seats on the couch. The warm smile of Samira could make any stranger feel like they had known her forever. She began to tell us her family’s story in broken English. As she mimed out her thoughts impressively, we discovered that the Sajjadis had come to the United States in hopes of getting Mariam and Amir suitable medical care. Mariam has a heart condition that requires
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special medical attention that doctors in Turkey could not fulfill. Their medical situation in America has barely improved. The family has been on an impossible hunt seeking proper medical care for their children. Samira told us that they are forced to wait ten days between appointments that would take no more than thirty minutes, if done all at once. As Samira continued to unravel the knots of their story, including their insufferable landlord and strenuous financial conditions, she began to tear up. Evidently, the Sajjadis have had a frustrating resettlement experience. Even after this emotional conversation, one fact remained abundantly clear: despite adversity, the positive and pure energy of this family has not waned. Throughout the entire visit, Amir demonstrated his endless imagination as he entertained himself with his toys, and Mariam even told us about her aspirations to become a cardiologist. The afternoon was a part of a larger effort by MKA’s Amnesty International club to lobby for more accommodating refugee resettlement policies in the State of New Jersey. Along with meeting the Sajjadis, Amnesty International plans to submit a refugee resettlement resolution to the state government, as well as hold a fundraiser with CARS in order to help alleviate some of the family’s financial stress. By meeting the people directly affected by the multitude of obstacles that current refugee resettlement measures pose, the club gained deep insight on what specific aspects of refugee assimilation policy requires the most improvement.
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MKA’S FIRST PEER TUTORING PROGRAM MAKES ITS DEBUT (FEBRUARY 2018) BY RYAN SALZMAN ’20
On January 30, MKA Lab was introduced to the Upper School community. MKA Lab is a peer tutoring program in which sophomores, juniors, and seniors are given the opportunity to tutor students in classes that they have already taken at the Upper School. Senior Rebecca Picciotto and junior Mira Rajaniare the founders of this program. Rebecca and Mira are passionate believers that everybody at MKA should have equal academic opportunities. Rebecca remarks, “There is a generalization that everyone at MKA has the same level of privilege. This school has an incredible amount of opportunity but at the same time there are disparities in terms of kids who can afford expensive tutoring weekly and those who can’t…We wanted to even the playing field, and this is a gap that we wanted to fill.” MKA Lab will indeed even out the playing field because it comes at no cost for any MKA student. Rebecca and Mira founded this program with the help of Head Librarian Jill Maza, Dean of Student Life Kerry Verrone, and Upper School Technology and Learning Coordinator Erica Budd, all three of whom are also excited about ways in which the Upper School community will benefit from MKA Lab, such as becoming more collaborative. Ms. Maza believes that an important benefit of MKA Lab is that it will provide another layer of help for students in addition to their teachers. She also added that in-school tutors have the potential to provide benefits that outside tutors cannot. Particularly, student tutors will be able to better sympathize with students as they were students in the same classes not too long ago. In addition, Ms. Budd also believes that MKA Lab will benefit the community because some students work better with peers than with teachers. She also agrees
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that MKA Lab will provide an additional layer of help for kids when teachers are unavailable for meetings. How does MKA Lab work? Sophomores, juniors, and seniors interested in MKA Lab may apply to serve as tutors for classes that they have already taken. After reviewing applications and selecting the tutors, Ms. Budd trains the upcoming tutors by teaching them strategies and providing them with the materials needed to become a tutor. The students in need of a tutor will fill out a form stating their names, the classes they seek assistance, and what blocks they have free periods or study halls. Ultimately, Ms. Maza connects the students with a tutor depending on what times the students and tutors are both free. Two tutoring sessions ran in the program’s first week, and both received positive feedback. As the Upper School community begins to utilize MKA Lab, Rebecca, Mira, and the administration are certain that it will serve students in amazing ways for classes to come!
STUDENT TUTORS WILL BE ABLE TO BETTER SYMPATHIZE WITH STUDENTS AS THEY WERE STUDENTS IN THE SAME CLASSES NOT TOO LONG AGO.
THERE IS NO BETTER
LEARNING THAN
CODING YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS: A LESSON FROM MKA STEM (JUNE 2017) BY JULIA THOMPSON ’19
MKA’s STEM team travelled to the Lockheed Martin Tech Campus in Moorestown, New Jersey to take part in Lockheed Martin’s Code Quest competition. Together, Aaron Goidel ’19 and William Goodall ’19 attempted to complete a packet of 18 coding problems, each problem more challenging than the last. The more challenging the problem, the more points it was worth. Each team’s objective was to earn as many points as possible in the time given. After two and a half intense hours with only a provided computer, scrap paper, and no Internet or outside help, each team’s solutions were put through a computing system that runs every program through thousands of tests, evaluating each solution’s completeness. MKA STEM managed to complete 11 problems, and ended up walking home with first prize after being evaluated against the most advanced programmers from every school in attendance. Following this, Goidel and Goodall travelled to the Avenues School in New York with Alex Eiden ’17, Andrew Stahl ’18, and Mark Apinis ’19 to take part in the Agile Youth Coding Competition. Also known as a hackathon, this competition required each team to develop a problem and produce a working prototype of its solution by the end of the competition. With this year’s theme of “civic engagement,” MKA’s STEM team wrote a website designed to facilitate communication between the student body and student government, called Student Government Online (SGO), inspired by MKA’s recent student government elections.
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DOING Dividing into different responsibilities, each member took on an essential role in completing the final program. Will Goodall handled interface and database management while Aaron Goidel created and ran the algorithm. Andrew Stahl pitched the idea for the team’s web-based application, creating a video, and Mark Apinis handled communication with the clients. Above the architecture of the application, soon-to-be alumnus Alex Eiden handled the front end, or as STEM team advisor and MKA physics teacher Tim Lynch described it, “the storefront” of the entire system. The team once again competed in the competition’s most advanced division, and they once again took home first prize. “I could not be more proud of have participated in these competitions,” says Goidel. “We put a lot of hard work in and it truly paid off.” In regard to the future of the club, Goidel has high hopes. “I want to continue to go to competitions,” he says. “There is no better learning than doing.” Goidel hopes to make additions to MKA’s STEM club, getting the word out about STEM team, and hopefully gaining new members to compete in beginner teams. “We can get you ready, we would love to teach anyone, no matter what their experience.” STEM continues to grow in popularity in high schools, as technology becomes increasingly essential to everyday life. “Now is the era of science,” says Goidel. “We have the chance to learn with the rest of the world. All you have to do is read and try things.” As modern technology continues to undergo major developments, computer science scholars continue to enter and expand today’s most fast-paced and exciting fields of work.
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BREAKING THE SILENCE: WHY MKA NEEDS BETTER MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION (MAY 2018) BY VALERIE BEJJANI ’19
In light of skyrocketing teen suicide rates and repercussions of an increasingly digital age, particularly for adolescents, MKA must look to better educate its own adolescent students about the issue of mental health. Health classes at MKA do discuss stress and its emotional, physical, and social impacts. However, they don’t emphasize the potentially resulting mental illnesses as much as is necessary to inform high school students—who are among the most highly affected age groups - about the extent to which this is an issue. Health teachers at MKA continue the discussion about stress during an annual presentation to each respective grade. This year, for example, the junior class watched a TED talk about how one’s perspective on stress dictates its effects and how it can be channeled into productivity. But what about those with a serious mental illness? Stress is inevitable, and yes, it is better to learn how to use it positively rather than succumb to it, but there are people with extreme levels of stress who have a real mental illness beyond their control. The problem, therefore, is not the failure to acknowledge the issue of mental health, but rather the failure to teach students the difference between normal levels of school stress and extreme levels that result in mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. It is very easy to confuse sadness and stress with depression, but by doing that, you are discounting the true severity of depression and the millions of Americans who
are struggling with it. Depression is not caused solely by stress over school and assessments: there are a variety of factors including genetic susceptibility, a chemical imbalance in the brain, and chronic stress that can cause the disease. These are factors that have been glossed over in MKA’s mental health curriculum and that should be addressed in order to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the issue. Headway has already been made in instituting better mental health education in the U.S. In July of 2018, New York will become the first state to make mental health education compulsory in all schools thanks to legislation pushed by the Mental Health Association in New York State. The goal of this legislation, as stated by the MHANYS Director of Public Policy, John Richter, is to supply students with the knowledge and resources to recognize symptoms of mental illness and to get help. If New York can take this step forward in supporting its youth, New Jersey can too, starting with improving the mental health education at MKA. It is essential that students not only be aware of this issue but also be vigilant about detecting mental illness among their peers and intervening when it is evident that someone is struggling; after all, not all students can muster up the courage to speak to their school guidance counselor. Schools are more than cultivators of knowledge: they are safe havens for all students and therefore must speak for those who are afraid to speak for themselves.
IT IS VERY EASY TO CONFUSE
SADNESS
AND STRESS WITH
DEPRESSION. 34
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LONG-AWAITED DRESS CODE CHANGES STRIVE TO COLLAPSE GENDER DIVIDES (MARCH 2018) BY ARIANNA JOBST ’20 AND JASMINE ROWE ’20
The tie is no longer a requirement of the Montclair Kimberley Academy dress code. Neither is the Oxford-style button down—a polo or rugby shirt now suffices year-round. Along with a host of other changes, the new policy intends to unify the gender divides that have separated the dress code since its initial creation. The proposal was initially met with reluctance, as the tie and the other dress requirements have been ingrained in MKA tradition for 130 years. Additionally, the final decision to repeal the tie was made only after serious deliberation. Although the dress code is deeply rooted in tradition, the large majority of the student felt that this tradition was not up to date on modern gender expression. The administration’s decision to make the tie optional along with the other changes demonstrates how powerful students can be when they come together to improve the status quo. The Student Council Dress Code Committee worked long and hard for this repeal to happen. They were extremely patient, writing the proposal and waiting for feedback as the proposal went through a long process to be approved. The driving factor in repealing the tie was to approach a more gender non-binary system. Major complaints surrounding the tie revolved around the discomfort and inconvenience of the tie, as well as the fact that many boys felt that the girls had a much more relaxed dress code. Furthermore, separating the dress code by gender sparked objection because not everyone necessarily identifies with the two genders by which the code is categorized. MKA is a very inclusive school that values equality among all genders, races, and other cultural backgrounds; thus, its ability to adapt to students’ requests and take into consideration students’ grievances displays the progressive environment the school fosters. The administration’s active response to this issue also demonstrates that it doesn’t disregard students’ ideas, but rather, respects them and does its best to integrate them. As previously mentioned, beyond the tie, the administration also changed other aspects of the dress code. Oxford button downs are no longer
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required during winter, which means students can now wear polos all year long. This is anticipated to be extremely beneficial to students during the random hot days of March and April–before the “Warm Weather Dress Code” used to be permitted. Additionally, rugby shirts are allowed all days of the week, not just on Spirit Fridays, and aren’t required to be imprinted with the MKA logo. Essentially, any rugby shirt is acceptable as long as it doesn’t bear another school logo or brand name. Ultimately, the student body as a whole is overjoyed with the dress code changes. The repeal of the tie has now led to a much more progressive, comfortable environment for students. The dress code still exhibits the honor and integrity that MKA works so hard to uphold, but it also reflects the changes in self-identification addressed by the outside world.
THE TIE IS NO LONGER A REQUIREMENT OF THE MONTCLAIR KIMBERLEY ACADEMY
DRESS CODE. 35
WE ARE MKA THE STUDENT VOICE RESOUNDS IN MEANINGFUL WAYS ACROSS OUR SCHOOL COMMUNITY. BELOW ARE JUST SOME OF THE PLACES WHERE STUDENT VOICE IS CULTIVATED AND CELEBRATED: Affinity Groups at Middle and Upper School (Black Girls, Black Boys) Founders’ Cup Nomination process participation Entry (9th grade) & Exit (12th grade) Interviews tudent or Student/Faculty Committees S (Community Norms, SDLC, Student Government, Library Leadership, GLC, House Captains, etc.) Student Hiring Committee Student Athletic Council and Student Council for the Arts Student Surveys (schedule, student stress, school climate, advisor program, anti-bullying, etc.) lass Surveys (Teaching/Learning C Feedback for Teachers) (PGP) Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences Community Discussion (Students drive discussion relating to topics such as race, socio-economic, and identity issues)
ROBERT GELBERG ’10 PLAYWRIGHT-IN-RESIDENCE MKA UPPER SCHOOL
THEATRE IS ALL ABOUT COLLABORATION. WRITERS, DIRECTORS, PERFORMERS, ENGINEERS, TECHNICIANS, CARPENTERS, TAILORS, AND FINALLY THE AUDIENCE ALL WORK TOGETHER TO CREATE A PERFORMANCE. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO BE A THEATRE MAKER BY YOURSELF; IT IS THE ACT OF COLLABORATION AND THE SHARING OF VOICES THAT CREATE THE ART. I FIRST LEARNED THIS AS AN MKA STUDENT IN THE CLASS OF 2010. PERFORMING IN SHOWS HERE GAVE ME MY FIRST REAL INSIGHT INTO WHAT “COLLABORATION” REALLY MEANS. IN THE THEATRE, IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU GIVE A GREAT INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE IF YOU AREN’T SUPPORTING YOUR FELLOW CAST MEMBERS GIVING THEIR OWN PERFORMANCES. AS A PLAYWRIGHT WRITING MY FIRST PLAYS FOR MY MAY TERM PROJECT, I LEARNED THAT MY SCRIPT EFFECTIVELY DOES NOT EXIST UNTIL SOMEONE ELSE READS IT.
IT’S THE STUDENTS WHO ARE ULTIMATELY TEACHING THEMSELVES BY SHARING THEIR VOICES. NOW, AS I TEACH CLASSES AND DIRECT PRODUCTIONS AS THE UPPER SCHOOL’S PLAYWRIGHT-IN- RESIDENCE, COLLABORATION HAS A WHOLE NEW MEANING FOR ME. I DO NOT SEE MY JOB AS “TEACHING PLAYWRITING”, BUT INSTEAD I AM HELPING MY STUDENTS FIND
Student Shares (Students can schedule all-school presentations)
THEIR OWN VOICES AS WRITERS. PLAYS ARE ABOUT PEOPLE MAKING
tudent Publications (Stylus, Yearbook, S Academy News, The Informer, Voices and Visions)
A PLAY, YOU MAKE THOSE DECISIONS FOR YOUR CHARACTERS. THE
tudent Blogs (Humans of MKA, Under S the Microscope, Academy News, Global Experience)
YOUR UNIQUE VOICE THAT YOU LEARN NOT ONLY HOW TO TELL A STORY
tudent Leadership (Peer Leaders, S House Captains, club and CSI leaders, etc.)
AN OPPORTUNITY TO ADDRESS QUESTIONS THEY HAVE IN THEIR OWN
Student Discipline Committees
THEIR OWN, AND BY PLAYING OUT THE DRAMA ON THE PAGE WHERE
tudent Government (Representatives S from grades 4–8)
THEY ARE IN COMPLETE CONTROL, THEY ARE THEN ABLE TO BETTER
Middle School Student Focus Groups
DECISIONS AND WEIGHING CHOICES, AND WHEN YOU’RE WRITING BLANK PAGE IS A BETTER TEACHER THAN I COULD EVER HOPE TO BE BECAUSE IT IS IN TAKING ON THAT BLANK PAGE AND FILLING IT WITH BUT ALSO HOW THAT STORY CAN HAVE MEANING BEYOND THE PAGE AND EVEN BEYOND THE STAGE. MY STUDENTS USE THE BLANK PAGE AS LIVES. THEY CREATE CHARACTERS WHOSE PROBLEMS OFTEN RESEMBLE
CONFRONT THOSE PROBLEMS IN THE REAL WORLD. FINDING YOUR VOICE AS A WRITER IS NOT SOMETHING YOU CAN DO BY YOURSELF. RATHER, IT MUST BE DONE IN COLLABORATION WITH OTHER WRITERS
Student-Organized Grassroots Activism
ALSO DEVELOPING THEIR VOICES. MY JOB IS TO FACILITATE THAT
Strategic Planning Committees
COLLABORATION; IT’S THE STUDENTS WHO ARE ULTIMATELY TEACHING
Student Ed Tech Leaders
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SPEAKING FROM THE STAGE
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THEMSELVES BY SHARING THEIR VOICES.
NINETY-SIX
AMERICANS
ARE MURDERED
WITH GUNS IN AN
AVERAGE DAY
AND HUNDREDS MORE ARE INJURED, INCLUDING THE HEARTBREAKING SCHOOL SHOOTINGS THAT SEEM TO HAPPEN REGULARLY. SAVING OUR CITIZENS’ LIVES, SAVING OUR CHILDREN'S LIVES, IS NOT A PARTISAN ISSUE.” ELI SOLOMON ‘24
MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS FIND THEIR VOICE AND TAKE ACTION TOWARD CHANGE. MARCH FOR OUR LIVES AN INTERVIEW WITH LAUREN BAKER ‘24 AND ELI SOLOMON ‘24 CO-FOUNDERS OF MARCH FOR OUR LIVES MKA For the past few years, we have loved the idea that we can make a change. Our teachers have been so supportive of us, and we are so lucky that we had teachers and peers cheering us on when we started our involvement with March For Our Lives. Last year, we focused on getting MKA involved with March For Our Lives. We worked with Ms. Israel to organize and lead a walkout after the events of Parkland. After lots of meetings and speech practicing, we finally gathered outside on the tennis courts on the morning of April 20 and gave our speeches. Lauren says, “It made me happy to know I went to a school where students and teachers were gathering to make a change.”
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Lauren comments, “Over the summer, I stayed very involved with March For Our Lives.I attended protests and rallies in my free time. In August, I went to an event with the Parkland team, where I met Emma Gonzáles. I joined MFOL New Jersey and, with Eli, launched the beginning of March For Our Lives MKA.” Earlier this year, we had Get Art the Vote and Chalk the Vote, which are two parts of MFOL’s Turnout Tuesday series. More recently, we became the Co-Founders of March For Our Lives MKA. Changemaking is something we both love doing, and we are excited to see how our community will develop from the many activists in the Middle School.
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MARIJUANA’S TWO PERSPECTIVES ON THE LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA (JANUARY 2012) BY ALEX BESSER ’13 AND WILL DUDEK ’13
POINT: PRO-LEGALIZATION When discussing the legalization of marijuana, it’s not only important to consider the drug’s potential effects on the individual and society but also to consider our country’s current standards for legal recreational drugs, and how marijuana fits in. The two most popular legal recreational drugs used in the U.S. today are alcohol and tobacco, which are consumed regularly by an estimated 70% and 23% of the U.S. population over the age of 12, respectively. Alcohol is proven to cause brain and liver damage, and tobacco is proven to cause cancers in the lungs, throat, and mouth. And while previous studies of marijuana have reported finding brain damage among its users, recent studies have failed to discover any damaging long-term effects. In fact, the largest study ever conducted on marijuana users was published this past Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. This study, involving over 5,000 men who have smoked marijuana about once a day for about 7 years, concluded that smoking marijuana has no negative effect on lung capacity or function. I find it shocking that our government has the audacity to list marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, which states that the drug has high potential for abuse and no medicinal value, despite the fact that the drug is an accepted form of medicine in 16 states and Washington, D.C. Interestingly enough, while marijuana remains on a government list of the most dangerous drugs, it has no physically addictive properties. The short-term
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NEGATIVE EFFECTS ARE MINIMAL, AND ITS LEGALIZATION WOULD BOTH SAVE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND THOUSANDS OF LIVES. effects of marijuana include senses of relaxation and euphoria and a distorted perception of reality. But when used in moderation, marijuana simply puts its users at ease, and allows them to relax and unwind, much like a glass of wine, for example. Obviously, people should be careful not to abuse the substance and depend on it for happiness. Marijuana can be used as a safe and responsible way to enjoy oneself, and I think that considering the low health risks of the drug when compared to other legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco, our government shouldn’t spend so much time and money trying to keep it out of our hands. Every year, our government spends over $40 billion in its attempts keep pot illegal and house prisoners arrested for simple possession charges. Our government could, through legalization and taxation, both save and generate billions of dollars that could be used to improve our education system, and generate jobs, among many other things. Another thing to consider is that our tax money is being wasted to keep marijuana illegal, and we are the ones paying the salaries of Mexican drug lords and American gang leaders. If marijuana were legalized and taxed, the illegal growing, trafficking, and sale of the drug would virtually disappear. Marijuana’s negative effects are minimal, and its legalization would both save billions of dollars and thousands of lives. I think it’s time for our generation to assume responsibility for our nation’s foolish actions and seize the opportunity that is the legalization of marijuana.
COUNTERPOINT: THE UNRECOGNIZED THREAT It goes by many names: pot, dope, grass, weed, herb, hash, bud, cannabis, reefer, or Mary Jane, but no matter what you call it, marijuana is one of the biggest problems facing teens today. Nowadays, more and more Americans are starting to change their opinions on the use of marijuana. Recently, a Gallup poll reported that public support for the legalization of marijuana has nearly doubled over the past two decades to a point at which, for the first time in history, more people in the United States are for legalization than are against it. What many don’t realize is how detrimental this finding is to society. Studies show that many users of hard drugs originally started with smoking marijuana. Researchers also found a direct correlation between how young people are when they start using marijuana and how likely they are to engage in other risky behaviors later in life. One MKA sophomore astutely points out that if it becomes easier for people to get marijuana, “it can lead to more car accidents” and other major problems. Some try to compare marijuana to alcohol, an intoxicating substance that is legal. What they are disregarding is that, unlike alcohol, the sole purpose of smoking marijuana is to achieve a high. They may rightfully argue that marijuana contains no addictive substances; however, it still can cause behavioral addiction, in which smokers are unable to abstain from use, and regularly crave the use of marijuana. The National Institute of Drug Addiction says that addicts report experiencing irritability, sleeplessness, anxiety, and craving for the drug for up to two weeks following their cease of drug use. For teens, quitting using may be especially difficult, because in many parts of the country, smoking.
It happens with friends or acquaintances, so quitting marijuana means more than just leaving the drug: it also may mean leaving friends. One reality we must accept is that regardless of marijuana’s illegality, people will still continue to use it. Some view the drug’s illegal status as a positive force that reduces the dangers marijuana users face. One MKA junior points out, “The kids who smoke it do bad things, and I think that the illegality of it helps keep their misdeeds from getting out of control.” This junior continues on an anti-legalization point: even those who do smoke marijuana, the student says, “don’t want to get caught doing it, so they’re more cautious about doing dumb things after using it. The less they think about their actions smoking it, the less they’ll think about what they do after smoking it, and I think that that could lead to some really bad things.” The fear of getting caught and arrested makes rebellious smokers more careful of their actions and less likely to put themselves and others at risk. Marijuana is not a minor societal problem that should be ignored but rather the exact opposite. Let this be a call to arms for us, as students especially, to start fighting this. As public opinion slowly shifts due to a lack of understanding of marijuana’s dangers, the United States is slowly losing their awareness of this issue, With enough work, we can end marijuana’s attack on America’s youth and make our world a safer place.
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WHERE ARE WE NOW? LOOKING AT MKA'S LGBTQ+ CULTURE OVER 30 YEARS LATER (MARCH 2018) BY SARAH WILLIS ’18
The Gender-Sexuality Alliance’s annual Ally Week, during which various events are held in order to promote solidarity with and strength within the MKA LGBTQ+ community, will occur over the course of a week in the beginning of April. On Wednesday of that week, the GSA holds a bake sale in support of GLSEN, likely with various rainbow-themed sweets. On Friday during school, students and teachers are offered stickers proclaiming allyship with or participation in the school’s annual “Day of Silence”; the week ends with “Friday Night Out Loud,” an annual event that breaks the day’s silence with a concert in celebration of the LGBTQ+ community and the MKA community at large. The week will also include a guest speaker, MKA alumnus and former Editorin-Chief of the Academy News, Sloan Chase Wiesen ’87. It is particularly relevant that Mr. Wiesen was editor-in-chief, as his talk will address, in part, an article he wrote in 1987 denouncing homophobia and educating his peers on the LGBTQ+ (then, specifically, gays, lesbians, and bisexuals) experience entitled “Mythcontheptions [sic] About Being Gay”. The article and its accompanying disclaimer from the Editorial Editors at the time—which read, “The publication of ‘Mythcontheptions About Being Gay’ was protested by the Editorial Editors. Its propriety in a school newspaper was questioned. However, their power was overridden. Any comments should be addressed to the Editor in Chief, care of the Academy News”—illuminate a school and an attitude towards homosexuality very different from those today. The article strives to dispense what many now see as basic knowledge: that homosexuality is common, that it is not a disease, and that gay people are not all the same, nor are they incapable of the same kind of love as a straight person. It gives advice on coming out, reference books for learning more
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about homosexuality, hotlines, and personal phone numbers, and in the middle of the AIDS crisis, resources on how to navigate a seemingly diseaseridden world. Yet, it was “protested,” only finally allowed in the paper because Mr. Wiesen was the editor-in-chief. Clearly, the MKA community has progressed since then, from an overall change in attitude towards homosexuality to more concrete a ctions, such as the inclusion of “Gender-Neutral Restrooms” and the conversion of existing bathrooms into facilities fit for use by all gendersas well as the very recent change in dress code to make it non-binary and gender-inclusive. We have the GSA and their ever-important Ally Week, creating year-round allies and fostering a safer, more inclusive community as a whole. Every year, we are reminded of much of the basic knowledge that Mr. Wiesen attempted to impart to Academy News readers over thirty years ago, and it still remains relevant today.
WE HAVE THE GSA AND THEIR EVER-IMPORTANT ALLY WEEK, CREATING YEAR-ROUND ALLIES AND FOSTERING A SAFER, MORE INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE.
STUDENT-LED DISCUSSION TACKLES QUESTIONS SURROUNDING NFL NATIONAL ANTHEM CONTROVERSY (OCTOBER 2017) BY ETHAN KUHL ’18
Tensions have escalated between President Trump and the National Football League. Beginning in August 2016, NFL player during the National Anthem to draw attention to the poor treatment of minorities in the United States. Many applauded Kaepernick for exercising his right to protest; however, others have taken offense, viewing his remarks as a sign of disrespect to the army and the nation. While this issue has gotten more heed nationally, here at MKA, we tried to understand what was going on at the discussion on September 26th sponsored by the Ethics Committee. The discussion was planned only the weekend before following a dramatic escalation between the President and the NFL on Twitter. The conversation was aimed to get students thinking about the protest and have an outlet to discuss their feelings. After moving from a classroom to the Idea Lab due to a large turnout, the discussion began in full force. To start the conversation, the delegators asked what might motivate people to protest nationally. Suggested motivations ranged from infringement of constitutional rights to publicity. Students were then asked how they felt about athletes using their fame to be vocal about their stance on social issues. Some claimed that protesting is a fundamental right and cannot be denied to anyone, regardless of the status of the person. However, others saw the demonstrations as out of line and crossing a professional boundary. Further into the conversation, the group pondered if the means of a protest justify the ends. In other words, is disrespecting the U.S. flag a fair and acceptable way of bringing attention to a pressing societal issue? Some said no, stating that while Kaepernick and other football players have the right to protest, disrespecting the flag was not the means to bring about social change. On the other hand, some proclaimed that controversy and debate are necessary to bring about advancement.
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STUDENTS LISTENED WITH THE INTENT TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER. Many students referenced the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and how, although it upset many Americans, it was still necessary to bring equality to all races. Since the protests, more people have heard about Kaepernick's cause and have learned about racial profiling in America. Regardless of whether or not people agree with Kaepernick's means of protesting, there is no denying that he has been successful in bringing media coverage to the issue of race in America. Throughout the entire discussion, it was impressive to observe how the students reacted towards each other’s comments. In today’s divisive world, MKA prepares students to be empathetic towards different perspectives even if they don’t agree with them. Students listened with the intent to understand one another and not just respond to insert their own opinion. While there were many different opinions in the room, one question we could all agree on was, “What’s next?” Kaepernick and his fellow athletes have garnered the attention of the entire world; however, it is now up to them to decide how they are going to use it.
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VOTING THIRD PARTY: A SYMBOL OF DEMOCRACY
(NOVEMBER 2016) BY ABHAY BHANDARI ’18 AND JONAH ZINN ’17 POINT: VOTING THIRD PARTY: A SYMBOL OF DEMOCRACY In an increasingly polarizing political climate, people are quick to dismiss the essence of an election as they turn to highlight the flaws of other parties. The purpose of a democratic election is to determine the candidate of the people. Of course, the 2016 fight for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is unlike any other seen in our nation’s history. The two “major” candidates were Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee (and now President-elect) Donald Trump, who were both widely unpopular and demeaned the nature of American elections. Instead of focusing on policy and ideas, the two have made this election focus on emails and “locker room talk”; in other words, they’ve turned the most important branch of government’s election into a battle of headlines. With this in mind, Americans had the choice to vote for third party candidates such as Gary Johnson, Evan McMullin, and Jill Stein. In some polls, McMullin was actually poised to win the state of Utah. Now, this is not to say that these candidates were ideal; critics said Johnson was weak on foreign policy, McMullin was virtually unknown outside of Utah, and Jill Stein was arrested three times during her campaign. Instead, the worth of voting for a third party candidate lies in beliefs and what it means to vote. When a citizen votes, it shouldn’t be to sway the vote away from a major party candidate. If someone believes in a third party candidate, they should vote for them the same way they would vote for a major candidate if they agree with a major candidate’s ideas. In accordance with the meaning of a democratic election, a vote for a third party candidate is not a vote wasted. Voting for your beliefs is what this nation is built upon, and if putting a third party candidate’s name on the ballot means you voted your conscience and you believe that you have voted for a good candidate, your vote is not wasted. In an election that will go down as “the lesser of two evils,” it is vital to remember that the outcome out of the two major candidates is still an evil. If voting your
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mind is a vote wasted, we’re setting an unfair standard for future elections; if we continue to perpetuate the notion that a ballot in favor of a third party candidate is a vote wasted, fear and headlines will dominate the next election instead of the policies that will define American government.
COUNTERPOINT: WHY VOTING THIRD PARTY IS A WASTE OF TIME AND BALLOTS This election season was one of the nastiest America has ever seen. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump drew an abundance of invective and criticism, and many voters believed that voting for either one was picking the lesser of two evils. In fact, many voters were so repulsed by both candidates that they decided to cast a vote for third party tickets like Stein-Baraka of the Green Party and Johnson-Weld of the Libertarian Party. Some call it taking a brave, moral stance. I call it “diet not-voting”. The problem with third party voting is that no third party candidate has any chance of becoming president. When you vote third party, you are not changing the system or stopping the Republican or Democratic candidate from winning the presidency, you’re just throwing away your vote. The only person who benefits from your third party vote is the same person who would benefit from you’re not voting at all: the candidate you want least. I don’t doubt that many voters despised both Clinton and Trump. What I do doubt is that anyone thinks they are equally bad. This is not because one is objectively so superior to the other, but rather because the views of Donald Trump and the views of Hillary Clinton are so utterly opposite to one another. Therefore, you must have found one of them at least slightly better than the other, and you should have voted for them. If you voted third party, you did nothing to stop the nation from moving in the direction that is most inimical to your values. You can stomp your feet and vote third party if you so desire, but when the greater of two evils takes office, you will have done nothing to stop it, and will therefore have no right to complain about it.
THE ACADEMY NEWS WRITER MEGHNA MAHARISHI IN THE NEW YORK TIMES (NOVEMBER 2017) BY MEGHNA MAHARISHI ’18
During the summer, I visited various cities in Germany for two weeks to learn about the country’s politics on immigration and refugee resettlement. The goal of the trip was to create a final project, and I decided to write an article trying to synthesize the histories of Germany and the U.S. to better understand the countries’ approaches to immigration. The following is an excerpt from that article. Ahmad, a slight, 20 year-old man gave a tour of Neukölln, a neighborhood in Southeastern Berlin, which has become a center for refugees who moved out of refugee camps. Neukölln is a diverse neighborhood filled with East German architecture from the Cold War and Middle Eastern markets and restaurants. All the signs in Neukölln are written in German and Arabic, similar to how signs in the U.S. are written in English and Spanish. Ahmad was friendly, and there was a sense of both excitement and nervousness in his voice when he spoke of his new life in Germany. He fled Syria when he was eighteen because he did not want to serve in the Syrian army during the Civil War which has plagued the country since 2011. Ahmad is a part of the major changes facing Europe as the continent continues to tackle the refugee crisis. Germany has become a leader for taking in refugees in Europe. In 2015 alone, the country took in one million refugees from Syria and other war-torn parts of the world. Unlike Germany, the U.S. has not done nearly as much in alleviating the world’s refugee crisis because both countries’ attitudes towards newcomers are rooted in their separate histories and politics, but German policies have allowed for successful integration of refugees which the U.S. can adopt. After World War I, Germany established the short-lived Weimar Republic. The Weimar Republic was a weak attempt at a democracy, and the country was marred by the Great Depression and war debt. After World War I, Germans felt as if the country had been humiliated with the Treaty of Versailles
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and the reparations they owed to the Allied powers. The humiliation and instability led to racism and populism, as Germans wanted to restore their former pride and power. This led to the rise of Hitler and the National Socialist Party. On January 30, 1933, Hitler was elected chancellor of Germany and Nazism spread throughout Germany. Hitler wanted to persecute anyone who did not fit the “master race,” which led to the deaths of 15 to 20 million people in concentration camps. During Nazi Germany, minority groups lived in hiding and constant fear of persecution. For most, their lives ended in concentration camps, and by the end of World War II, six million Jews, 10 million Soviets, and 1.8 million Polish civilians had died. Once World War II ended, Germany was split into two countries: West and East Germany. Germany was split up to avoid the rise of another extremist regime. West Germany was under the influence of the U.S., Britain, and France whereas East Germany was under Soviet rule. In East Germany, the Stasi, or secret police, constantly spied on the habits and lifestyles of all East Germans to ensure loyalty to the Soviet Union. Unlike the East, West Germany flourished economically and hired “guest workers” from Turkey and Yugoslavia to rebuild the country after World War II. The guest workers were meant to be temporary, but instead, the workers stayed and became a part of the country. The guilt Germans feel from their dark history in the 20th century and West Germany’s acceptance of guest-workers after the war has made the country more receptive to the idea of accepting refugees. Germans have come to terms with their past, and the idea of accepting a mass influx of refugees is almost like making up for the past. Guest-workers in the West brought their families and cultures over to Germany which has diversified the country.
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P PA REN T NE WS
Upper School students catch up on the hill, before heading off to practice on a beautiful day.
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Dear MKA Families, As a parent, I am inspired by how MKA supports our children in developing critical thinking skills, social consciousness, and the courage to question an increasingly complex world. At MKA, we work together as a community of parents, faculty, staff, students, and alumni to create an environment where we prioritize becoming more respectful, mindful, and engaged citizens of the world. PAMKA supports this environment and engagement in many ways, one of which is our annual Faculty Trust Grant Program. PAMKA Faculty Trust Grants fund curricular related global travel and field experiences to give our faculty unique insights and experiences that they can take back to their classrooms, and our students continually reap the benefits of these inspirational and educational global experiences that enrich the classroom experience in a unique way. Another opportunity for our community to celebrate our commitment to making MKA such a special place that allows our children to realize their infinite potential is PAMKA’s Spring Fundraiser happening on Friday, April 12, 2019. Aptly themed “Friday Night Live” it will be our first Friday night Fundraiser and promises to be fun for all! I hope to see you there!
PAMKA BOARD OF OFFICERS Tina Jordan President Sue Gyves Secretary Tripti Singh Finance Vice President Suzanne Weinberg Communications Vice President Monique French-Brown Community Outreach Vice President Debbie Turvey Volunteer Coordinator Vice President Alison Cirenza Special Events Vice President Stacey Polanskyj Primary School Campus VP Lisa Tilton-Levine Middle School Campus VP Sybil Eng Upper School Campus VP THE PAMKA MISSION STATEMENT
Sincerely,
PAMKA is a parent volunteer organization established to provide opportunities for parents to participate in the support and enhancement of the students’ educational experience at Montclair Kimberley Academy (MKA). PAMKA pursues its mission working in cooperation with the school administration through activities consistent with the policies and goals established by the Board of Trustees at MKA
Tina Jordan, PAMKA President
UPCOMING PAMKA EVENTS
SAVE THE DATES FOR SPRING 2019 April 12, 2019 PAMKA’s Spring Fundraiser We’re changing things up this year with “Friday Night Live” at The Grove in Cedar Grove. Gala Co-chairs Bonnie Carter and Liz Katz, along with our spectacular Gala Committee are planning a Friday night celebration to remember for the MKA community.
May 11, 2019 Cougar Pride Day Join the entire MKA Pre-K through 12 community, children and parents, for a day filled with school spirit at the Middle School campus. Yosemite by Derek Morf, Faculty Trust Grant recipient
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PAMKA Grant MKA’S PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION, PAMKA AWARDS SIX FACULTY TRUST GRANTS
In 1978, PAMKA awarded the first Faculty Continuing Education Grant for $150 to faculty member Barbara Rabuse to purchase books for her doctoral study. In 1997, the program was renamed the PAMKA Faculty Trust to offer grants to faculty to pursue field-oriented, transformative courses that would enlighten them and enrich their students’ classroom experience in a unique way. PAMKA is proud to award these grants, and this year’s recipients will join the list of over 100 faculty members who have received Faculty Trust Grants since the inception of this program in 1978. Over $580,000 has been awarded throughout the years and our students have continually reaped the benefits of these inspirational and educational experiences. PAMKA President Tina Jordan and 2017-18 PAMKA Grant Committee Chair Toni Friedman celebrated the 2018 recipients at MKA’s annual start of school meeting and invited each of them to present their findings to the faculty/staff.
Jessica Sarfati, Primary School Kindergarten teacher traveled to Spain and France to explore the environments that most influenced Pablo Picasso. From these experiences, she will challenge her students to create self-portraits at four points in the year to correspond to four of Picasso’s distinctive artistic periods. These portraits will help the children reflect on their classroom’s Guiding Question, “What Makes Me, Me.” Alice Terrell-Bryant, Middle School Teacher experienced a walking tour of Athens, Greece to explore those locations referenced in Greek mythology. She immersed herself in the history and culture of the country and collected visual materials to make her classes more meaningful. This trip challenged her to overcome her fear of heights and flying and will help her model cultural awareness as the Middle School Diversity & Inclusion Coordinator. Alan Jones, Middle School Teacher used his PAMKA grant to take extensive Spanish courses in Peru before setting off for the Inca Trail and the Galapagos Islands. Through the use of photographs and videos, he is enriching his student’s study of pre-Columbian civilizations. He also kept a journal of his travels to
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demonstrate how to write about a common topic in different genres. Jill Maza, Upper School Head Librarian/Teacher visited Scandinavia, the center of design and inquiry-based education, to study the ways in which the creative use of space can engender inquiry, community and creativity. She toured other libraries, schools and cultural institutions to glean takeaways for our Academic Center, Idea Lab and flexible furniture pilot classrooms. Yosemite by Derek Morf, Faculty Trust Grant recipient
Caroline Toman, Upper School English Department used her PAMKA grant to venture to Italy and experience first hand the famous Biblical art that is used in her teaching of the 10th grade core work, the Bible. She set out on a pilgrimage in search of the renowned artistic representations of the passages and archetypal stories that she teaches to make the material come alive for her students. Derek Morf, Upper School Math Department traveled to Yosemite to witness and photographically capture still
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images and time-lapse video of a rare natural phenomenon known as the Firefall. Not only will this adventure directly impact his photography club members but also, in hanging the photos with scientifically focused questions and concepts, he hopes to feed the spirit of interdisciplinary investigation. PAMKA is proud to support these exciting projects that we are sure will enrich and inspire not just the participants but our community as a whole.
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Lecture Series
Book Fair PAMKA’s 2018 “Enchanted Forest”, the largest Scholastic Book Fair in the country, was once again a truly resounding success. Led by Tri-Campus Chairs Erica Amsinger and Becki Hirsh, our magnificent PAMKA volunteers transformed spaces and organized events that brought a sense of adventure to the MKA community. Derrick Barnes helped kick of the Book Fair at our Sunday Event when he inspired an audience of children and adults with his newest award-winning book, Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut. MKA faculty member Yesenia Ravelo-Rodriguez did double duty, presenting to both our Middle School students and our youngest cougars at the Primary School while Amy Bass engaged our Upper School students. Students at the Primary School enjoyed wonderfully interactive presentations by Jerry Pallotta, Rafael Lopez, and Mac Barnett. Erin Entrada Kelly, Varian Johnson, and Rita Williams Garcia motivated our Middle School students to believe in their abilities, always dream big, and keep writing. As always, thanks go out to Scholastic for their support, especially Judy Newman (a former MKA parent) and Carol Levine, and to the parents on all three campuses that dedicate so much of their time to make this remarkable event possible.
Parenting Workshops A winter calendar highlight for many parents is PAMKA’s annual Parenting Workshops. Once again, this great event brought local experts to campus to discuss relevant topics for our children. With a focus on conversations we need and want to have with our children, the workshops were helpful and informative for all who attended. The PAMKA Parenting Workshops Chair Stephanie Salzman worked with a committee to bring these wonderful speakers to our school: Helaina Altabef, Robyn Joseph, Debra Appelbaum, and MKA’s own Melanie Bieber and Ralph Pacifico.
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On December 4, 2018 MKA proudly hosted a lecture and discussion with noted feminist journalist and author Rebecca Traister. The PAMKA Lecture Series opens the school to a wider community for programs featuring people who are exceptional in their field. Ms. Traister gave a powerful and thoughtprovoking address to an engaged audience of close to 200 people. Through careful planning by PAMKA, and guided by event chair Trish Perlmutter, all in attendance were witness to an unforgettable evening. The evening ended with a book signing following an audience question and answer session moderated by Shanie Israel, Multicultural Curriculum Coordinator, Sixth Grade Dean, and English and History Teacher.
Giving Tree Drive PAMKA held a tri-campus Giving Tree drive in December where they collected children’s hats, gloves, mittens, and new toys for Toni’s Kitchen and The Valley Settlement House. It was a wonderful event truly representative of the holiday spirit!
Blood Drive PAMKA’s Fall Blood Drive organized by volunteer Laura Esterow, took place at the Upper School in November, and was a great success. Thanks to the many student, faculty, staff, and parent donors who took part.
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Students challenge themselves to make three and four letter words as a literacy challenge. After getting a sound foundation of blends, vowels, and sight words, students begin to create word books.
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MONTCLAIR KIMBERLEY ACADEMY
Dear MKA Community, When I first learned of the topic for this issue of the MKA Review, I couldn’t help but think about the quote “out of the mouths of babes…” in that the honesty, awareness, and sensitivity of our youth must be heard. While the human voice is a beautiful way to convey a thought or to share a feeling, it isn’t the only way we express creativity, intellect, commitment or passion. In December of 2018, I attended the 3rd grade play at Brookside titled “The Brookside History Mystery.” The play’s message was twofold: First, we should respect our past. And second, we are all connected to each other by a shared school history and common values and goals. In January of 2019, I had the pleasure of seeing the Middle School’s Dance Concert celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The dance concert was a beautiful tribute to Dr. King and many others who have worked unwaveringly for social justice. And, in one of my early Board meetings as President, I listened to a presentation by a student as to the reasons why our school should adopt a gender neutral dress code. The 3rd grade play reminded me that for decades and decades others have made sacrifices to ensure the continued existence of MKA; the dance concert inspired me to be a more involved person; and the student presentation was partly responsible for a permanent change to the dress code. At MKA, our faculty inspire every student to develop his or her voice in a form that is unique and personal and makes a difference in our community. Out in the world, our graduates are expressing themselves through art, science, athleticism, and political activism. They are impacting the world when they write articles regarding gender equality, when they are on the ground floor of a start-up, when they create a book of poems, and when they simply, live the legacy of being—an MKA alumni. I am honored to serve a community where everyone’s voice can be heard because everyone is also willing to listen. It doesn’t matter the mode of communication and as Dr. King said, “find a voice in a whisper.”
2018-2019 BOARD OF TRUSTEES OFFICERS Kathleen M. Logan President Luke A. Sarsfield III ’91 Vice President Linda H. Sterling Vice President Jeffrey G. Szilagyi Treasurer David A. Crichlow Secretary MEMBER TRUSTEES Merrick G. Andlinger Naveen Ballem ’90 Jennifer A. Barbetta Anya C. Barrett ’89 James L. Bromley Evelyn M. Colbert Paige L. Cottingham-Streater ’79 Amanda L. Englander ’04 Carolyn N. Everson Clifford B. Finkle IV ’92 Peter J. Fusco ’89 Karen T. Gulliver Tracy E. Higgins Barbara Holmes Michael V. Johnson Tina A. Jordan Lauren H. Kaplan ’93 Thomas W. Nammack Robert J. Ruberton Stephanie A. Salzman
With warm regards, Kathleen M. Logan, President, Board of Trustees
Mei-Mei H. Tuan HONORARY TRUSTEES Aubin Z. Ames ’54 John E. Garippa Alice M. Hirsh Susan H. Ruddick Newton B. Schott, Jr. ADVISORY TRUSTEES Barry W. Ridings ’70 Robert L. Tortoriello For more information about our Board of Trustees, please visit www.mka.org/about/board-oftrustees
2018–2019 BOARD OF TRUSTEES
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Members of the Class of 1993, Virginia Wong, Barry Lieberman, and Michael Brown, reconnected at their 25th Class Year Reunion at the Women’s Club of Upper Montclair on October 20, 2018.
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SAVE THE DATE!
Dear Alumni,
April 9, 2019 College Alumni Panel Upper School Academic Center
I’ve always looked forward to receiving the MKA Review, and now I am honored to be able to communicate with all of you through it. This is my first year as your Alumni Council President, but I’ve served in various positions on the Executive Committee throughout my time as a member. This year, we are a smaller Council than previously, but mightier as well. We are in the midst of revisiting our bylaws to help us operate more efficiently and effectively, and to best serve the needs of our larger community and the development office. For the first time maybe ever, 100% of the Alumni Council participated in Annual Giving, setting an example of which I’m super proud. We are doubling down on our efforts to engage alumni who might not actively be on our circuit already. You might have seen our table at Homecoming, hoping to catch the attention (and contact information) of passers-by. If you know someone we should know, let us know! Be sure to come out to an event sometime—I would love to be able to put a face to a name. And if you are interested in joining us, fill out our questionnaire online: www.mka.org/alumni/ get-involved. Last fall, after years of discussion, we finally put a brand-new Young Alumni Award into effect, bestowing the inaugural honor upon Devika Patel ’12, who has done incredible work to create and implement programming for communities in need, both in the US and India. She was honored alongside integrative pediatrician Dr. Lawrence Rosen ’84, the recipient of our long-existing Distinguished Alumni Award. And, I had the great pleasure of attending the Gathering for the first time in 15 years to present the Founders’ Cup to the Upper School’s Fine and Performing Arts teacher Nicole Hoppe. We solicit nominations for these three awards every year; each of you is invited to join in the process. Visit www.mka.org/ alumni/celebrating-our-alumni for more information. Whether it’s by attending an alumni event, giving back to the school, nominating someone for an award, or joining us on the Council, I encourage you to participate and engage with this tremendous community of which you’re a part—and which I am proud to represent. Feel free to reach out to me directly any time; I’m always happy to chat! All my best,
Amanda Englander ’04 President Brittany Berckes ’06 Executive Vice President Klaudia Pyz ’98 Networking Vice President
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Caitlin Di Ruggiero ’06 Treasurer Lhenée McKoy ’05 Secretary Council Racquel Booth ’96 Rich Cosgrove ’84 Joanne Goldberg ’87
April 30, 2019 MKA Day Higgin’s Common Room May 2019 Boston Alumni Reception Place TBD May 2, 2019 Alumni Council Spring Social Place TBD June 1, 2019 Alumni Family Fun Day Middle School Field June 15, 2019 Klank Klassic/Alumni Games Day Middle and Upper School Fields June 17, 2019 LA Alumni Reception TBD October 18, 2019 Alumni Awards Reception 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Middle School Higgins Common Room October 20, 2019 Alumni Soccer Game 10:30 a.m. | Muenster Field October 20, 2019 Alumni Volleyball Game 10:30 a.m. | Upper School Gym
Amanda Englander ’04 Alumni Council President Executive Committee
April 2019 Volunteer Celebration Place TBD
Stu Harwood ’07 Julie Kim ’92 Jennifer Ladda ’84 Angela McCaffrey ’06 Chadd Mukete ’11 Nilie Pajoohi ’89 Diane Ridley-White ’84 John Thompson ’03
November 22, 2019 Alumni Winter Games Basketball Game Upper School Gym | 4:15 p.m. Hockey Game Clary Anderson Arena | 4:15 p.m. Postgame Reception @Tierney’s Tavern | 6:00 p.m. *If you would like to host a regional event, contact Eric Gutierrez at egutierrez@mka.org
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Young
Alumni
Happy Hour Young alumni from the classes 2005-2014 enjoyed an early fall evening on September 25, 2018, in the beautiful ambiance of the Latitude Bar & Lounge in New York City. Although the weather did not cooperate, alumni still trekked through the rain for this much-anticipated event. Young alumni have the opportunity to connect with one another and former faculty, and it’s a great way to stay in touch with MKA. Head of Upper School Dave Flocco and members of the Development and Alumni Relations team were in attendance. A great time was had by all!
ALUMNI WINTER GAMES
The MKA annual “day-after-Thanksgiving” Alumni Winter Games were played on Friday, November 23, 2018 at MKA’s Upper School Gymnasium and Clary Anderson Arena. As usual, the evening concluded with a Happy Hour at Upstairs at Tierney’s. Throughout the day of events, we had an outstanding turnout with over 90 guests in attendance that included all players and other alumni, along with family members and friends. MKA’s hockey coaches, Tim Cook and Kenny Smith, attended both the game and post-game reception. Faculty member Patty Sullivan came through as usual to support the game as scorer and timekeeper. Coach Cook, only in his third year, took advantage of this opportunity to meet the players he had heard so much
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M KA review / Mon tc l ai r K i mb e r l e y Ac ade my
about. He was warmly received, and he and his student players received best wishes for a successful season. This year the teams were split up between Young Alumni versus the Veterans, and the Young Alumni earned the victory! The sixth annual Al Rehus Alumni Basketball Game, held in memory of Al Rehus, a beloved and treasured member of the MKA family who passed away in September 2012, was held in the US Gym with the Rehus family in attendance. New Varsity Girls’ Basketball Coach, Ilirjana Lulgjuraj, was in attendance while former coach and loyal supporter, Jessica Bishop ’04, played a new role as timer and scorekeeper.
A LU M N I N E WS
Alumni & Faculty of Color Soiree On December 4, 2018, Robert Cottingham, Jr ’84 and his wife Alison ThomasCottingham ’84 graciously opened up their home to host the first ever MKA Alumni and Faculty of Color gathering. This fantastic event brought alumni from a variety of classes together to enjoy a fun evening. The evening included brief remarks from Headmaster Thomas Nammack, Director of Diversity & Inclusion Carlaina Bell, Trustee Paige Cottingham-Streater ’79, and a special impromptu step performance from alumni of MKA’s Step team.
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A LU M N I N E WS
Young Alumni
COLLEGE CARE PACKAGE
The Alumni Office’s first-ever Young Alumni Speed Networking event on December 19, 2018 was a huge success! Alumni volunteers from various industries returned to the Academic Center on MKA’s Upper School campus to share their wisdom with young alumni. While the event was named “speed networking,” alumni were slow to move on to the next table as they were having such engaging conversations. The best part? Two job offers were given to alumni before the night even came to a close! Special thanks to Jared Cook ’01, Amanda Englander ’04, Cara Landolfi ’05, Lhenée McKoy ’05, and Denise Sarkor ’03 for sharing their experiences!
MKA’s Director of Family Giving, Jenn Baratta P’23 & P’26, spearheaded the annual College Care Packages in collaboration with the Alumni Relations team. The Class of 2018 Parents of Alumni got together to assemble care packages for our most recent graduates during the mid-fall semester. Thank you to Dr. Andres Espinosa and Ms. Michelle Dice for hosting this wonderful event in their home. A special thank you to all the parents who participated and donated something to be included, as well as a thank you to the Alumni Association who included a special gift welcoming the recent grads into the alumni network.
S P E E D N E T WO R KING
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION AWARDS
Winner of the first Young Alumni Award Devika Patel ’12 and her mother.
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MKA follows the lives and proudly celebrates the accomplishments of its alumni. Three awards specifically honor outstanding alumni achievement. The annual Distinguished Alumni Award bestows recognition for outstanding achievement, the new Young Alumni Award recognizes alumni who have graduated from MKA within the past 15 years, and the Athletic Hall of Fame Award is given every other year to an individual, team, or coach who has brought distinction to the school through excellence in athletics. In addition, the Founders’ Cup Award is sponsored by the Alumni Association in recognition of MKA’s strong tradition of teaching excellence, dating back to 1887. The award will be presented to an outstanding faculty member who is most representative of the best qualities of MKA teaching. The Awards Committee of the Alumni Council, chaired by Jennifer Ladda ’84, welcomes your participation in nominating candidates for these awards. Please visit www.mka.org/alumni/celebrating-our-alumni for criteria, past recipients and nomination forms.
A LU M N I N E WS
HOMECOMING 2018
Fun was had by all on MKA’s beautiful, and lively Homecoming and Reunion Weekend 2018! The MKA community celebrated the past and had a blast in the present on MKA’s fun-filled and lively Homecoming and Reunion Weekend 2018. The MKA Alumni Relations office hosted several events during the weekend that brought over 200 friends, Trustees, faculty, staff, and alumni of classes from the ’03s and ’08s back to campus as they gathered to enjoy many events including the Alumni Awards Reception, several high-stakes and entertaining athletic contests, and a celebration of the “First 50 Years” of George Hrab’s career at MKA on Saturday. Dr. Lawrence Rosen ’84 was the recipient of the 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award, bestowed in recognition and appreciation of an outstanding achievement by an alumna or alumnus who has achieved distinction in some field of endeavor, or through outstanding character or dedication has been of special service to humanity. Rosen is an integrative pediatrician and founder of the Whole Child Center in Oradell, NJ. He has written for several publications including Huffington Post about the necessity of treating all aspects of a child’s health for optimal well-being. Dr. Rosen is focused on mind-body medicine in order to help children cope with stress in order to be as healthy and successful as possible. The Young Alumni Award was given to Devika Patel ’12. Devika’s mission in life is to understand, research, and design healthcare interventions and technologies that profoundly impact the wellbeing of people all over the world, particularly women in developing countries.
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A special aspect of Homecoming and Reunion Weekend 2018 was a celebration of the school’s own George Hrab, who began his career at Montclair Academy in 1969 and was recognized as an outstanding coach and Athletic Director as well as an impactful classroom teacher over his “first” 50 years. Hrab was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame along with Alex Gephart ’06 and the 2004 MKA Girls’ Varsity Tennis Team. With the fall season in full swing, families from all three campuses showed their cougar pride, cheering on the MKA volleyball, soccer, and football teams throughout the day. Attendees enjoyed the many festivities lining Lloyd Road, which student-run tables selling food and lots of MKA swag. Saturday evening cocktail parties brought together alumni from across the country returning to Montclair. Classmates reconnected with each other and reminisced about their times at The Kimberley School, Montclair Academy, and MKA. The reunion celebrations were at venues all around the town, which perfectly capped off the days’ festivities with great food, friends, and fare! On Sunday, the Fourth Annual Alumni Soccer Game took place on Muenster Field with many alumni players in attendance and members of their family and friends cheering them on. This event has become a signature program as alumni spanning the decades love to come together and play with other former cougars on the field. Sunday’s events also included the inaugural Alumnae Volleyball Game, and a great time was had by all!
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W WE A R E M KA
Lauren Hooper-Rogers ’00
W E A R E M KA
Walking the Walk and Talking the Talk: Stories of Extraordinary People and Why They Give
Lauren Hooper-Rogers ’00 A LU M N A R E F L ECTS H OW PASS IO N RUB S O F F AT MKA
Lauren defines her MKA experience through theater. She took drama and dance classes at MKA and participated in all of the musicals and dance shows. In her junior year, Lauren realized theater was a viable career option after attending the well-respected Interlochen Arts Camp outside of Traverse City, Michigan. Lauren went on to study musical theater at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, which is one of the top musical theatre programs in the country. In 2013, Lauren married fellow Montclair resident Daren Rogers, and this past August they welcomed their first child, Winston Martin Rogers. During her time at MKA, Lauren made many strong connections. Her dance teacher and musical theater director, Richard Kitts, has stayed in contact as a strong friend and mentor. Kristen Connolly ’98 has also remained in contact with Lauren offering resources regarding the theater industry. The MKA Alumni Network has served as a resource, more personally than professionally. Over the years, she has become great friends with people from high school with whom she wasn’t that close because there is common ground and similar values. Lauren has many professional accomplishments that include work such as Intimate Apparel, for which she was nominated in Colorado’s Theater Award Scene for best actress in a play, and different TV bookings such as Law and Order and Shades of Blue. Lauren also starred in the film, King of Paper Chasin’, that appeared on Showtime and HBO. Lauren’s newest experience is a new musical in New York, Stealing Freedom, presented by Amas Musical Theatre. Sharing that performing is no joke and is always a hustle, Lauren feels that “MKA helped me in a lot of ways.” MKA taught Lauren how to be thorough in her preparation and to be more efficient with her time. She defines acting as learning how to analyze people, how to be a team player, and how to embody different characters with as much empathy as is
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humanly possible to give voice to their various stories. “Everything has a historical context whether its present day or not,” Lauren explains. Her experience at MKA taught her that “the way something is written or the way someone hears, doesn’t mean it’s the way it is.” Lauren cites many of her teachers as being influential at MKA. Math teacher Boyd Herforth, “always connected the arts with math because of the creativity math can involve.” Lauren was also impacted by Geoff Branigan, who was the first person who made her realize that everything on some level is subjective. He taught her “the value of doing your research to try to piece together the full story.” Lauren also learned the importance of balance and of asking for help while at MKA. During her senior year, she was school president, president of many clubs, in musicals, and filling out college applications. Looking back, she felt she did too much and didn’t have enough time and learned the hard way to find balance. To this day, Lauren still struggles when needing to ask for help, but she knows she is more successful and happier when she does. Lauren supports MKA because she thinks it is important that the school has funds to keep up with the changing times and support the growth of its students, whether it’s through new fields, new technology, or bringing in speakers. Lauren also believes in giving back to support faculty education so that they can continue to find ways to keep students engaged and passionate about learning. Many were demanding, but they were passionate about their jobs and their field of study. She says, “Passion rubs off.” Lauren suggests that MKA students “seek balance, self-advocate, ask for help, take risks by trying different things, and travel as much as you can. Follow your passion. Stay curious. When you stay curious, you do less judging and you feel less frightened. It opens the door.” ■
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WE ARE MKA
The Lynch Family
O N E FA M I LY, M A NY PERS PECTIVES : M KA UNITES IN DIV IDUA L PASSI ON S WI T H EDUCAT I ON
Bernadette and Kristian Lynch are the proud parents of Naomi ’19, Zoe ’21, and Layla ’27. Kristian is a psychotherapist with a private practice that focuses on addiction as well as multicultural and underserved communities. Bernadette is a media executive at HBO. The Lynch family members describe themselves as “independent thinkers and an opinionated bunch” and say there is no shortage of engaged discussion about the world around them. Bernadette and Kristian feel fortunate for MKA’s supportive environment and share that “the encouragement by advisors and teachers to get involved has been a key foundation for our daughters’ choices. This extends beyond clubs and into their academic relationships.” Faculty members have supported and engaged their daughters by helping them tie the topics of their interest with their academic learning. Kristian commends, “the ability to research a junior thesis with a social justice angle, develop
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a tech-centric biology lab, and pick non-fiction texts about the first women programmers” as an example of MKA’s encouragement to weave a student’s interests into his or her academics. According to Bernadette, “Social justice and an empathy for the world around her is something that Naomi shares with her dad.” Naomi discovered her passion for service and social justice through tutoring underserved students in math and engaging with her local food pantry. Bernadette is impressed with “the leadership roles and breadth of service opportunities available to Upper School students.” Naomi is involved with several Upper School service clubs and is co-leading the Global Feminism Club and Academy 360, a peer to peer interaction for students on the autism spectrum. Zoe’s love of problem solving combined with her analytical and creative thinking led her to robotics, programming, and game design. One of the few girls at programming classes and camps, Zoe is an advocate for
MKA review / Mon tc l ai r K i mb e r l e y Ac ade my
involving girls and students of color in STEM initiatives. With the support of MKA faculty, she entered and won several national coding competitions. Zoe also co-leads MKA’s Coding Team and participates in WeCode club. Outside of school, she volunteers at Technology for Youth and is active with Black Girls Code. Zoe also partnered with the South Orange Public Library to launch a Google CS First Club aimed at elementary and middle school students of color. Fourth grader Layla is happy in her first year at MKA and actively supports her sisters and their endeavors. She enjoys after school options including the MKA cooking club, dance club, and loves playing the viola. She is busy getting her tennis game ready for the Middle School tennis team in 6th grade. The Lynch family supports a variety of organizations. Whether it be women’s rights, charities that focus on minority and underserved communities, political and legal advocacy groups, or educational organizations, they all have two things in common: access and equity. “MKA fits into this passion, and we have benefited personally from the investment MKA makes in our children and their development. We are happy to support The MKA Fund to extend the resources and impact for all students. The caliber of the education, the faculty, the staff, the whole student philosophy, and the external and internal opportunities available to our kids are priceless.” The Lynch family has impacted the MKA community for the better, and we can’t wait to see the paths Naomi, Zoe, and Layla forge. ■
W E A R E M KA
Heritage Society Stories and Happenings
Eric Jaeckel ’56
M O N TC L A I R A LU M N US A N D H ERI TAG E S O CI E T Y M EM B ER SH A R E S H IS D E CISI O N F O R M A K I N G M K A PA R T O F H IS E S TAT E P L A N S .
Eric F. Jaeckel, known as “Jake,” graduated from Montclair Academy in 1956. Attending MA is something that he is grateful for. During his four years in high school, Eric was an active member of the MA community. In addition to playing tennis all four years, he won the Woodford Memorial Tennis Prize, and in his senior year, Eric was part of the MA Octopus Yearbook team, serving as Photography Editor.
After moving to Rochester, NY, a fellow MA alumnus who lived there as well, but was unknown to me, tracked me down, and we renewed a friendship that started at MA and continues today—a 60-plus year friendship.
A long-standing tradition within the MA Yearbook was the “Senior List” or what each senior would most likely be remembered for and for Eric, that was “being late to chapel.”
Helping out with my 50th reunion also allowed me to reconnect with classmates that I hadn’t seen or talked to in many years. It’s great getting involved, reconnecting with friends, and reminiscing about all our shared memories.
Eric has proudly supported The MKA Fund for more than three decades. Supporting a school that is vastly different from where he graduated is something that Eric is proud to do each and every year. This past year, 63 years after his graduation from Montclair Academy, Eric joined MKA’s Heritage Society by leaving Leaving a bequest intention in his estate to MKA to MKA in addition to supporting The MKA Fund, our annual giving program. Q: Why do you support MKA? A: My family made it possible for me to attend Montclair Academy; they supported me and my education, and my support of The MKA Fund and MKA is my way of giving back. I believe in the mission of MKA, and I want to make sure that that mission continues for future generations. Q: When did you decide that giving back to MKA was an important part of your long-term philanthropic investment? A: I had moved to Colorado, and some time in 2005 or 2006 I decided that I wanted to do more for MKA. As Reunion Co-Chair of my 50th Reunion along with my classmate, Dr. Lawrence (Larry) Nazarian, I spent time leading up the event reaching out to classmates. I decided that I wanted to financially support MKA more but was unable to donate more from my current income, so I decided to put funds for MKA in my estate plans. Q: Why did you choose to leave a bequest to MKA? A: My goal for this gift is for it to be used as it’s best needed. I want to make sure that this gift is used to ensure the future health and vitality of MKA. Q: What is your fondest memory of your time spent at Montclair Academy? A: It isn’t a specific memory, but the most valuable experience I received, and greatly value, are the friends that I made at MA.
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Q: W hat wisdom do you have for current MKA students and alumni about life? A: Get to know your teachers and your college counseling team; let them know who you are so that they can help mentor and guide you for the next phase of your life. College is where you really hone and practice the skills that you were taught at MKA. Q: W hat about your MA education helped you in your life and career? A: M A introduced me to and fostered my love of learning. I guess you could say that MA sparked my intellectual curiosity. During my senior year, I was introduced to Williams College—a small liberal arts school in Massachusetts. I had never thought of attending a school like that, but MA prepared me for and directed me down a path best suited for me. In 1960, I graduated college and wasn’t sure what to do with my life, so I joined the Navy Officers School. The reasoning and other skills that I learned at MA and honed in college served me well. I saw that I could handle different situations and that I could reason and find different solutions to challenges that were presented to us. Many of my peers who had attended different schools were not as well equipped as me. Additionally, MA instilled in me the importance of giving back. We volunteered in the community while at school, and I continued my passion for giving back into my adult life. I’m so happy that today’s students at MKA also give back to their community and work to make their world, our world better. I think that it is extremely important to instill in young people that giving back is part of their everyday lives.
For more information on the Heritage Society contact Lainey Segear, Associate Director of Giving (973) 509-7933, lsegear@mka.org
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C CL ASS N OT ES
Members from the Kimberley Class of 1968 returned to Montclair this past October to celebrate their 50th Class Reunion.
C L ASS N OT ES
E D I TO R ’S N OT E
The deadline for news for the FALL MKA Review is May 1, and the deadline for the SPRING issue is December 1. News can be submitted at any time in response to the Alumni Office’s annual mailing, on the back of Annual Fund remittance envelopes, via mail or email to MKA Alumni Associate Director Alli Shearin (ashearin@mka.org), or your Class Representative. We keep ongoing files for each class and welcome photographs in digital or hard copy. If your class does not have a Class Representative listed, please consider volunteering for the position! It is a great way to re-establish contacts with old friends, does not require a great deal of time, and is essential to the ongoing vitality of the school. Thank you.
on his daughter’s property, with his piano and dog. His California grandson finishes college in 2019, and his other daughter’s son went to work in DC last year after Yale Graduation. Survivors of ’45, please call or send me your news. I’m slowing up, as we must!
1946
/ TKS / Mrs. Eleanor Ketcham,
4 White Oak, Elon, NC 27244, ellieketcham8@gmail.com Eleanor “Ellie” Ketcham writes: Joan Denney Carlisle still lives
1941
/ TKS / Mrs. Enid Hyde, 5402
Duvall Drive, Bethesda, MD 20816, enidghyde@aol.com
1944 1945
75TH REUNION OCTOBER 19, 2019 / TKS / Mrs. Leigh Smith, 847 Franklin
Street, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568, lbsmith15@yahoo.com / MA / Hon. William B. Grant,
537 Milano Rd, Kissimmee, FL 34759, grantwb@cfl.rr.com
The Alumni Office recently learned that Ann Buchbinder passed away in January 2018. Our deepest sympathy goes out to her family. Leigh Smith writes: Sally DuBois Moberg’s voice always cheers me though I know she isn’t in good health. She’s happy to live with daughter Sarah and family in Asheville, NC, and she sees some grands and greats (she has many!), gets news of others, and gets out some days to shop or simply enjoy scenery. “Pete” Lamborn Peters left Princeton twice this past summer for the Vineyard where sons Eric and John live. Her brother George drove her up on one occasion. She saw many family members (sisterin-law Lorna Garren ’53 is a summer resident). I chatted with Pete, Lorna, and Eric who lives near me and is President of a Conservation Organization, Vineyard Open Land Foundation. Eric’s daughter, Pete’s granddaughter Molly, who lives
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in California, graduated from the International Limited Residency MFA Photography Program with a Masters in Fine Arts in Photography, and her exhibition, “Sustained Pause,” was held at the University of Hartford. Molly’s photos were of the Vineyard. (All of this about her I got from the Vineyard Gazette.) Memories of Montclair, Kimberley years as a student, and Brookside years as faculty remain vivid. I appreciated the fall issue write-up of me as a loyal alum, but the fact that I was the only teacher of the youngest (four-year-olds) for several years was omitted and was important to me. Bruce Sanders ’77 (MA alum), was in my first class, fall 1962, as was my godson Dan Miller (son of Susan Alling Miller ’45) who is a career cellist of note. Dale Frederick, also an MKA alum, I taught my first year. After a few years, I became the teacher of fiveyear-olds, and one of the two head teachers as we enlarged, moving on to the merger; a year after that, I became library assistant, continuing with kindergarten music as well. I feel very fortunate to have had excellent Kimberley teachers and later to work with excellent Brookside teachers. Rudd Trimble Kenvin’s husband Roger has maintained his interest in our school, Rudd having been a Brookside student before Kimberley years. Roger lives in California in a carriage house
MA Montclair Academy / TKS The Kimberley School / MKA Montclair Kimberley Academy
independently in her retirement home in Chatham on Cape Cod. She no longer drives but has a weekly-or-more driving service. One of her sons, Malcolm Carlisle, is a professional landscaper who lives with his family nearby. Another Carlisle son, Gordon, lives in Eliot, Maine, and has had several successful art showings of his murals, portraits, and other paintings. Some of his murals have been installed in hospitals and banks. Among her granddaughters, one works for the Kennedy Art Center in Washington and another works with autistic children. Joan Powell Adams and her husband, Doug, continue to live in a condo in Madison, CT. They have 5 grandchildren (in Sarasota, FL; Colorado; Lexington, Ky; and NYC) and now they have 4 greatgrandkids. Her husband has vision problems which prevent them from traveling, but Joan still drives on local roads. Our class has lost a member—Abby Keebler Ryan. She died a year ago, November 2017, in Blue Hill, Maine, and her husband of 66 years, Arthur M. Ryan (originally from Montclair), died a month later. Abby and Art had retired to Blue Hill many years ago, after living in Philadelphia and Indiana and Ohio. Abby had been the head of development for Planned Parenthood in Philadelphia for many years, and then had established a small consultancy in grant writing and development. Abby leaves
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3 children (Judy, Philip, and Ruth) and 4 grandchildren. I lost my husband, John Ketcham, in November, 2018. After living in the Afterglow section of Verona between 1959 and 1968, we moved to Ohio until 1984 and then to North Carolina where Jack developed a retirement community including senior housing, Assisted Living, and memorycare. I continue to live in one of the senior houses, but I’m far from our children who live in Illinois, San Francisco. and Oregon. After my brother (John Helm MA ’48) died in 2015, I’ve visited Montclair rarely. This is the year that most of our class reached the amazing age of 90. I have addresses for eight of us and hope to report on others in the future.
1947 learned thatpassed / TKS / MKA
recently Louise
“Weezie” Rudd Hannegan
away on November 5, 2018 at the age of 88. Weezie spent her time raising her two boys, working at the local preschool, and for
also known as the only grandma that people knew who could swear with some authority and tip a bit of “firewater” with lunch and dinner. Weezie is survived by her son Dave Jr. and his wife, Penny, and their sons, Taylor and Chris; her son Garret and his children, Holley and Spencer; and also by her nephew Theo O’Neill, his wife, Leslie, and their son, David; and by many other cherished nieces and nephews. Our deepest condolences go out to her family and loved ones, and we are very grateful for her many years of service as class representative.
1948
/ MA / Mr. John Leonhard, 51 Fromm
Court, Mahwah, NJ 07430
1949 1950
/ MA / Mr. Sheldon Buck, 22 Bedford Ct, Bedford, MA 01730, sheldonbuck1@ icloud.com
1955
/ MA / Mr. Lawrence Martin, P.O. Box
1058 , Lexington, VA 24450, martinlexington@centurylink.net
1956
/ TKS / Ms. Susan Ferdinand, 125 Limerick
Lane, Phillipsburg, NJ 08865, / MA / Mr. Eric Jaeckel,
Audrey Maas, 4551 Gulf
Rochester, NY 14620, LFredN@aol.com
efjaeckel@hotmail.com /Dr. Lawrence
MKA sends its deepest condolences to Nancy Demarrais whose husband, John Demarrais, passed away on April 7, 2018. / TKS / Mrs. Gail Marentette, 93 Glen
/ TKS / Mrs. Martha Moran, 8011 Strauff Road,
verizon.net
Skipper Moran recently contacted the Alumni Office to let us know that Jane Redfield Forsberg passed away on August 22, 2018. Jane spent her early parental years advocating for inclusion and integration of individuals with special needs in the Westwood, MA public school system. She served as Chairman of the Board of the ARC of South Norfolk County. Our deepest condolences go out to her family and loved ones. Jane will be missed by all
M KA review / Mon tc l ai r K i mb e r l e y Ac ade my
CT 06877, carrgeo@aol.com
Nazarian, 82 Brickstone Circle,
Baltimore, MD 21204, martha.moran1@
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38 Silver Spring Lane, Ridgefield,
/ TKS / Mrs.
NJ 07052
many years, had a business called the Round Tuits with her friend Sally Bull. She and her husband, David, were active in the local theater groups. She loved being “Dearma” and “De De” to her four grandchildren, and there was nothing more important to her than her family, except perhaps her cats, Sam and Cookie. She was
OCTOBER 19, 2019
/ TKS / Ms. Georgia Carrington,
PO Box 20153, Boulder, CO 80308,
Avenue, Llewellyn Park, West Orange,
Weezie Hannegan ’47
65TH REUNION
OCTOBER 19, 2019
rdlew@aol.com
1952
1954
facesbyferdinand@gmail.com 70TH REUNION
Shore Blvd. N, #804, Naples, FL 34103,
1951
for her loving, caring, giving, selfless, inspirational, and most importantly, devoted friendships.
writes: Greetings! News from the hinterlands has been scarce this time. It’s been good to hear from the following: Nicole De Jurenev, a trained Polarity Therapist and Reiki Healer, sent me some tips for dealing with my aching back. I refer you to her for a consultation. Carol Barnard Ottenberg writes: Yes, it is possible to have a happy Christmas here on the West Coast, far from relatives and memories of snow and NYC visits. Simon and I hosted Christmas dinner with friends and an oversized country ham. Now we are left with its remains, reminding me of the definition of eternity: two people and one ham. Happy New Year, Carol. PS. I loved the MKA video of students singing Christmas Carols. A festive touch! Carol VanBrunt Rasic enjoyed two trips this fall. The first was a mother/daughter trip to Venice (I confess that I’m jealous, Carol). Unfortunately the second half of her email was swallowed by the gremlins of the internet, so we
Susan Ferdinand
C L ASS N OT ES
will have to wait to the next alum’ magazine for the details. Molla Kaplan Reisbaum reports that husband Alvin recently underwent successful surgery and is, at this writing, recuperating at Kessler Institute. We wish them both well. Gail Zabriskie Wilson says all is well with her and her family. They continue to enjoy summers in Maine and winters in Florida. Sally Bever Zweibach volunteers as a pregnancy counselor at Planned Parenthood. She and Burt continue to enjoy the theater and art scene in nearby New York City.
1957
/ TKS / Mrs. Thelma “Tam” Miller Knight, 3001
Linton Blvd. No. 201C, Delray Beach, FL 33445, tknight115@aol.com
1958
/ TKS / Mrs. Diana Little, 1-K Buckingham Road,
West Orange, NJ 07052, dianablittle@ gmail.com / MA / Mr. Henry Agens, 86 Eagle
Rock Way, Montclair, NJ 07042, hymelee@earthlink.net Henry “Hy” Agens writes:
Plainly and simply put, the 60th reunion of the MA Class of 1958 was terrific! Eleven of us attended the events of the late October 2018 weekend. Because of health issues, four or five others who really wanted to be there were unable to be present. Here are some comments from the guys who attended. Class President Fred Kramer stated, “What a thrill and melancholy reunion with my classmates of 60 years ago. We all shared a common bond of friendship and a sense of brotherhood from our fond Montclair Academy experiences. In reflection, the educational structure and camaraderie at MA gave me a sense of stability during my early formative years which served me well in my adult life. Here’s to the 65th!!” Dr. Jim Zager observed, “Montclair Academy provided each of us a strong basic educational foundation with which to help
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cope with life’s vicissitudes. From seeing my former classmates, I’d have to say that we’ve survived and thrived.” Marty Rosen said he liked the Van Vleck mansion as the venue for the Saturday evening dinner. He said he spoke to everybody, appreciated the intimacy of the room, and was delighted that everyone still liked each other. He suggested that we all get together more frequently. The weekend was doubly special for Marty, his wife Barbara, and family. Their son Lawrence Rosen ’84 was the recipient of the MKA 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award. Dr. Larry is an integrative pediatrician with a dossier as impressive as anyone could hope for. Larry is also a very nice guy, a gentleman. All of Marty’s and Barbara’s kids (Larry, Deborah ’87, Douglas ’91) graduated from MKA. Brother Arthur ’61 graduated from MA in 1961. Meritt Gavin wrote: “Great Event! Really good to see and speak with MA ’58 classmates again. Maybe, every 5 years is too long to wait for another reunion (at our age). I am looking forward to #65 Reunion in 2023.” Rick Ellis and his wife Millie came to the reunion from their home in Southborough, MA. “It was a great feeling to catch up with those classmates who could attend our 60th MA reunion—luckily, I could recognize almost everyone immediately. All our lives have changed over the years, but it was like stepping into a time warp —picking up on things from 60+ years ago as if they just occurred last week. Millie and I had a lot of fun and especially enjoyed the Van Vleck venue for dinner.” “The 60th Reunion … was, and will always be a golden moment …” according to Dave Will. “I think three particular things made the reunion so happy and memorable. One was the chance to meet again and talk with our classmates, as most of us had not gotten
MA Montclair Academy / TKS The Kimberley School / MKA Montclair Kimberley Academy
together since the 50th … Another was to find that MKA seemed to be doing so well and to have a wonderful facility. And thirdly, the planning, preparation, and accommodations, including the evening dinner Saturday, added much to our enjoyment. I cherish the fact that members of our class had formed closer friendships than would have been possible, if it had been significantly larger … My education there was critical to my career and subsequent years … I … look back … with much gratitude for having been taught by wonderful teachers …” Mike Gennet contributed this: “My wife, Chris, and I were determined to make the crosscountry trip from Southern California to participate in my milestone 60th Reunion. Attending the weekend events and seeing old classmates certainly didn’t disappoint. We … enjoyed the tour of MKA’s handsome campus, while comparing today’s buildings with our very limited facilities in 1958. A good portion of … our Class attended, and discussions about our lives, new retirement locales, children and grandchildren were informative and stimulating. I learned much more about my MKA friends … than when we left Montclair for college at 18. Participating with Marty Rosen … to celebrate his son, Larry’s, award as an outstanding alumnus, was a highlight … this Reunion reaffirmed the need for us to correspond among ourselves between these milestone events.” Peter Grieves said this “reunion was much different compared to all the reunions Donna and I have been to. The informal morning with … members of our class was well thought out and entertaining … only to be topped off by the evening at Van Vleck … It was a great way to talk to all and bring all up to date.” Mark Jaffe and his wife June came to reunion from their home in New York City. Mark stated,
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Montclair Academy as classmates 60 years ago. We have returned as classmates still, but significantly more as good friends. I am grateful that Kathleen Stroming could be with us in Dave Stroming’s stead, and that childhood pal Bill Marriott ’59 could also be present. I thank my friends for their kind words to me about my efforts to keep us close and in touch. Thanks too to Eric Gutierrez and the Alumni staff at MKA for their help and thoughtfulness. As I am wont to say, “Until that time, that’s a wrap!” —Hy Agens
1959
60TH REUNION OCTOBER 19, 2019
/ TKS / Ms. Jarvis Reilly Nolan, 15612
Via Marchena, San Diego, CA 92128, jarvisno@aol.com
MKA sends condolences to 1960 , whose brother, / MA /
George
Bleyle ’62 ,
passed away on June 27, 2018. writes: I was a member of the Class of 1960, but I didn’t graduate from Montclair Academy. I went to the Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut, for my last three years of high school. After getting my BA from Cornell and my MA in American history from Temple University, I had the pleasure of working for the Smithsonian Institution for 40 years, where I served as an historian for the Papers of Joseph Henry for nine years and Special Assistant to the Secretary for three years. Then, for 28 years, I served four Secretaries (Dillon Ripley, Bob Adams, Mike Heyman, and Larry Small) as Executive Assistant, the head of his office and primary liaison with the Board of Regents. I loved working there, and, after retiring in 2007, I co-founded the Smithsonian Alumni Program, which now has 450 members who relish visiting our old colleagues. But my passion has surrounded our house, which in 1980 we reconstructed from the timbers Jim Hobbins
The Class of 1958 celebrated at many events during their 60th Reunion. A lovely brunch was served in the morning and a beautiful evening was enjoyed at Van Vleck House and Gardens.
“We were very moved by the 50th reunion and the 60th … enabled us to renew a fair number of … contacts. The setting of the Van Vleck House & Gardens … was entirely appropriate.” June Jaffe observed that “it was very moving for Mark to have been able to reunite with such a remarkable number of his classmates and to have observed how hearty many of them appeared.” Frank Sachs remarked about “many wonderful memories re-kindled including reminiscences about the senior room high jinks, classes in the ‘firetrap,’ physics (and trips to Vassar with ‘Nails’ Hyatt), an
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undefeated baseball season and much more. Although the ‘new’ physical plant above Lloyd Rd is wonderful, it is heartwarming to look down on the same Van Brunt Field upon where we played football and baseball for MA (wasn’t MKA yet) some 60 years ago. The attendance at the 60th of about 40% of our living alumni from as far away as California and Florida is a tribute to the affection and regard that MA engendered in its graduates.” There isn’t much more that I can add except to thank my classmates for coming to our reunion and for contributing to this summary of our October weekend. We left
MKA review / Mon tc l ai r K i mb e r l e y Ac ade my
John Bleyle
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of a 1790 home from Brooklyn, Connecticut, on five lovely acres in Potomac, Maryland. In my retirement, I have taken special delight in its period furnishings and upkeep with the yard! I’ll happily give one and all a tour!
1961
/ TKS / Mrs. Suzanne Hardy, 47 Bartlett
Parkway, Winthrop, MA 02152, sueshardy@comcast.net
1962
/ TKS / Mrs. Barbara Creed, 501 Portola Road,
#8185, Portola Valley, CA 94028, bbcreed@aol.com / MA / Mr. W. Doug Donald, 189 Sedgefield Circle, Winter Park, FL 32792, D1Donald@aol.com
Jean Bleyle contacted the Alumni Office to report that her husband, John Bleyle passed away on June 27, 2018. MKA sends its deepest condolences to John’s family. MKA sends its deepest condolences to the family of Charles Weston. The Alumni Office heard from his wife, Aliki: “It is with great sadness that I am letting you know that Charlie passed away on July 26, 2018. He had been living for almost five years with myelofibrosis, a rare blood/bone marrow cancer. Besides me, surviving are his children, Penelope (Los Angeles), Daphne (Brussels, Belgium), Mary and Alexander (Philadelphia area).
1964 1965
55TH REUNION OCTOBER 19, 2019 / TKS / Ms. Katharine “Kitty” Haines, 201 East
83rd Street, Apt. 15F, New York, NY 10021, khaines22@aol.com
Congratulations to Betsy Ridge Madsen! On October 18, 2018, she received a Gold Medal for her leadership as Chair of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and her dedication to help continue the Society’s legacy. Betsy’s volunteerism at the Flower Show as a judge, clerk, and many other positions helps
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continue Mass Hort’s tradition of promoting Amateur Competitions for passionate designers and plants people. As a floral designer, gardener, horticulturist and spokesperson, Ms. Ridge Madsen has advanced the art and science of horticulture by example and her willingness to share her expertise with others. Page Paterson writes: My husband Charles and I are in Australia for a month with my daughter Alison and family. We have both cut back on our work schedules but are still doing what we enjoy. Charles is doing his conservation work and taking kayak tours into the ancient Bald Cypress swamp on the Black River in NC. I am still practicing acupuncture but with not as heavy a schedule with lots of time off. Lyn Schultz Blackwell writes: I’m probably the only one of us who has lived in the same house since 1972! I don’t have any news to offer. I’m busy contacting college classmates about our 50th reunion next May, and Susan, whom I just saw, is so involved she can’t even plan anything until it is over. Kimberley’s was easier. Sue DeBevoise Wright writes: The fall has been a blur though funpacked. My next-door neighbor, Julie Ducker, and her sister visited as did a cousin and other friends. We also got to the Amalfi Coast, Sicily and Malta. Lucille Russamano de Boissezon
writes: I sold my home in Geneva and bought a flat in NYC. I am on 62nd Street and 3rd Avenue. I totally renovated it and will move in end of January. I have retired and I will be spending a lot of time in NYC so I can be close to my sons. Kitty Haines writes: I am in NYC in a new apartment! 2018 was ALL about selling the old one, finding a new one, doing renovations (and being “homeless” while that was going on) and finally moving in mid-November. It is lovely-slightly larger than the old one, nine
MA Montclair Academy / TKS The Kimberley School / MKA Montclair Kimberley Academy
blocks north of where I used to live (ironically across the street from the bar, Martell’s, an old hangout) on the 15th floor with a lovely cityscape view. Because of this “job,” I did not spend much time on the farm in MA this year but I did get to go to Paris and London (for my winning Wimbledon lottery tickets) and Bermuda a couple times. Andy’s family moved from Napa to Palm Springs early this year and I did visit them twice.
1966
/ MA / Mr. A. Craig Cameron, 11 Bay Point
Dr., Ormond Beach, FL 32174, ccameron@cameronhodges.com / MA / Mr. Douglas Fitzpatrick, 70 Eastern Vista, Sedona, AZ 86351
MKA sends sincere condolences to Robert Brandt whose mother, Doris Marshall Brandt, passed away in July 2018 at 98 years old.
1967
/ MA / Mr. Craig Perry, 3467 Pinestream Road,
Atlanta, GA 30327
The Alumni Office recently learned that Robert Fazio passed away on April 29, 2018. Our deepest sympathy goes out to his family.
1968
/TKS /Ms. Avie Claire Kalker, 10 Knolls
Road, Williamstown, MA 01267, heraldicone@gmail.com / MA / Mr. Geoff Gregg, 6108 Percheron Trail, Summerfield, NC 27358, tartanone@triad.rr.com
1969
50TH REUNION OCTOBER 19, 2019
/ TKS / Ms. Christine Hannon, 97 North Street, Northampton, MA 01060, channon@smith.edu / MA / Dr. Edward A. Griggs Jr., 100
Cedar Street, Apt. B24, Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522
writes: “Life is good,” says Nina Szot Boral. She and Andrew have been married for 41 years and have four grandchildren. Nina retired after 25 years as a medical office director and is now “obsessed” with researching and investing in equities. Andrew is Christine Hannon
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pondering retirement from his profession as a cardio-thoracic anesthesiologist at Hackensack University. They enjoy their Rutherford home and their New York apartment, close to music and theater. Nina and Lynn Erhardt Gildea sometimes meet for lunch. Lynn and Chip have lots of fun with their four grandchildren, ages 3, 5 and 10. They spend two months in Jupiter, FL, commuting back and forth for work. Last spring Phyllis LaTouche Rawlins and Jim visited for two days on their way home from the Keys. Lynn also provided a photograph from the wedding of Barbara Fox McWilliams’ daughter. Ellen Hare writes, “this heretofore seldom traveler happened into two great vacations in a row: first, my nephew’s wedding in Coral Gables, FL— crazy extravagant elegant FUN festivities at The Biltmore— cousins galore—son Liam had a ball—followed by a week in Taos with Frank.” Ellen also reconnected with Marilyn Cowing Dulin in Ocean City, MD. “Awesome!” says Marilyn. Marilyn and Steve visited her brother in Mountain View, CA and loved seeing the Bay area and the beautiful Pacific Ocean. Last fall, Susan Schadler and husband Leslie moved from Washington DC to Boston, closer to their three daughters, all in Boston, and their house on midcoast Maine. Susan and Leslie “retired” some time back and now do a lot of consulting work. They eagerly await their first grandchild, due in April. Susan Lowry works as a consultant, mostly in fund development for nonprofits. Daughter Emma and husband Adam live in Los Angeles, where he is a cardiology fellow at UCLA and she a fourth grade teacher. Younger daughter Nora married last October and lives with her wife, Liz, in Philadelphia. Nora works for a foundation
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established by the owner of the Philadelphia Flyers that provides programming for city youth combining ice hockey with leadership development and academic support, while Liz works as a development officer at Bryn Mawr College. Susan’s husband Michael is now teaching parttime at Swarthmore College as a bridge toward retirement. Susan and Michael hope to spend nine months in their beautiful Sedona, AZ, home and three months in their Philadelphia condo. I also love the travel time that retirement provides. 2015 trips included New York City, Florida, Santa Fe, Provincetown, MA and an incredible walking trip in the Basque region of Spain. Now planning for a bicycle trip in Poland in May. Thanks for the news. Send more anytime!
1970
1974
45TH REUNION OCTOBER 19, 2019
/ TKS / Ms. Erin Cuffe Crawford,
121 Clarewill Avenue, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043, erincrawford@verizon.net Erin Crawford writes: My real estate
office, Keller Williams NJ Metro Group, moved to 237 Lorraine Ave, Upper Montclair for more parking and square footage. My daughter, Kelly, is a junior at Trinity College and playing on the soccer team.
1975
/ MKA / Mr. Paul Zukerberg, 1790 Lanier
Place NW, Washington, DC 20009, paul.zukerberg@gmail.com
/ TKS / Ms. Leslie Bryan, 844
East Morningside Drive, NE, Atlanta, GA 30324, lbryan@dsckd.com / MA / Mr. V. James Castiglia Esq.,
3 Lark Lane, Oak Ridge, NJ 07438, vjc@vjamescastiglia.com / Mr. Peter Webb, Mile Slip Farm, 48 Mason Road, Brookline, NH 03033, pwebb@ winerbennett.com
1971
MKA sends sincere condolences to William Breen Jr. whose father, William P. Breen, passed away on February 18, 2017 MKA sends its deepest sympathy to Durwin Johnson whose mother recently passed away at the age of 92.
/ TKS / Miss Philippa Bowles, 39 Orts Road,
MKA sends sincere condolences to Timothy Breen whose father, William P. Breen, passed away on February 18, 2017. MKA sends our deepest sympathy to Richard Brandt whose mother, Doris Marshall Brandt, passed away in July 2018 at 98 years old.
1977
/ MKA / Mr. Andrew Pedersen, 335 Ocean
Blvd. Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716,
Hamburg, NJ 07419, wvbond60@
apederson@gmail.com
gmail.com
/ Mr. Robert Hubsmith, 16 Warren
/ MA / Mr. Jeffrey Jones, 77 Monroe
Road, Maplewood, NJ 07040,
Street, Cedar Grove, NJ 07009,
roberthubsmith24@gmail.com
coastdaylight98@yahoo.com /
MKA sends its deepest condolences to Christopher Brenner whose father, Gardner Bowne Miller, passed away on October 20, 2018. Robert Hubsmith and Andrew Pederson write: Peter Adubato has been busy traveling to the far corners of the globe with his family. This year alone has included trips to Scotland, Argentina, Palm Springs, Ireland, San Francisco, the Hamptons, and all places in between. Peter
Mr. Anthony Vitale, 10 North Wood Avenue, Apt. 601, Linden, NJ 07036, tvo9999@gmail.com
1973
/ TKS / Ms. Susan Read, 38 College Circle,
Staunton, VA 24401 / MA / Mr. Thomas C. Galligan, 14805 Audubon Lakes Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70810, tgalligan714@gmail. com / Mr. Gregory Lackey, 216 Hunters Rd, Medford Lakes, NJ 08055, gregory. lackey10@gmail.com
M KA review / Mon tc l ai r K i mb e r l e y Ac ade my
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and wife Sara both continue to practice law. Keith Ridings and his wife, Marguerite, have been busy putting the finishing touches on a new getaway home down at the Jersey shore. They have almost completed the Valentine guest wing which comes with a bar, pool table and Jacuzzi and coloring books. The house also contains a special music room where “things might get loud.” Peter Valentine and his spouse Nancy spent some time floating around in the Caribbean after Thanksgiving, retracing the footsteps of Alexander Hamilton. The empty nesters are also considering a move into New York City where Peter just started a position at the law firm, Ropes & Gray. Andrew Pedersen and family live in the Atlantic Highlands, NJ and are building a home in South Carolina, and yes, it too has a Valentine guest wing. Jason Apter and family are all well and living the equestrian life in Sparta, NJ. Stacy (Silverstein) Cochran premiered her new movie in various places this past summer including The Asbury Park film festival. The film, entitled “Write When You Get Work” has received favorable reviews and is being shown in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United States and the U.K. Mike Platt reports he still laces up the skates and coaches his twin boys’ hockey team. Despite the LA area address, Mike is still an avid Rangers fan. Mike is writer/executive producer in season 6 of critically acclaimed Grace and Frankie on Netflix. Bev Hall is living the rural life in beautiful Big Horn, WY where she raises cattle, horses and chickens. Her Mom recently built a small home on her land and helps her when she needs it. Nancy Cohn Dainesi claims no cattle, horses or chickens, but did survive her first Brenner NYC Pub Crawl along with fellow classmates Cheryl and Peter McMullen, David Pinkham and of course, Chris Brenner and wife, June. Steve Cowles has one
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daughter, Emma, on a pre-med track at Tulane and another daughter, Eva, thinking about law and political science studies at a yet to be determined college. Lori and Paul Hastaba will be grandparents for the first time as son, Danny, and daughter-inlaw, Nikki, are expecting a girl in mid-February. Honorary Class of ’77 and former science teacher, baseball and football coach, Jim Chudomel has kept in touch with many of us on a popular social media site. He has just retired from a successful real estate career after his teaching days. Marco Casta is also enjoying the retired life and sunny weather of Florida. Class condolences to Marco on the passing of his Mom in November. Meryl Eastman reports that she paid him a visit in December. Continuing the swell of retirees, Doug Mahler is an ex-dentist. He retired after 33 years at Fair Lawn Dental. Doug will now spend a good deal of his time with wife Holly in his newly built house in Oceanport, NJ. Rob Hubsmith had the honor along with other alumni and faculty to speak at George Hrab’s 50 Years at MKA Celebration at Homecoming this past October. Classmates Rick Jenkins, Michele Saucy Mitchell, Andrew Pedersen, Peter Valentine, Keith Ridings and Peter McMullen were in attendance as well as Stu Carr ’74, Don and Sally D’Alessandro ’75, Jimmy Johnson ’78 and Mark Donatiello ’78. Sitting in the same “morning meeting room” was a throwback to the old days, a place where many of our daily activities, sports reports, and other events were announced; and it remains, like George Hrab, the same to this day. See you at reunion number 45 in 2022, if not sooner!! Pat (Cane) Donahue writes: Big news—I retired! It’s wonderful. Instead of being a teacher, I am now a student working toward certification as a Master Gardener. I volunteer for the International Astronomical Search
MA Montclair Academy / TKS The Kimberley School / MKA Montclair Kimberley Academy
Collaboration, having presented on this asteroid hunter program at the NJ Science Convention in October. Let’s find them before they find us! P.S.—Neil deGrasse Tyson’s talk at NJPAC on December 5 was on this topic!
1978
/ MKA/ Ms. Jane Lugaric Burkhard, 299
Crown Road, Kentfield, CA 94904, janeburkhard@comcast.net
/ Ms. Pamela Zeug, 60 W. 57th Street, #15F, New York, NY 10019, pzeug@ downinggroup.com
MKA sends its deepest sympathy to Lesley Brenner whose father, Gardner Bowne Miller, passed away on October 20, 2018. MKA sends its sincere condolences to Deborah Bungerz whose father, Stewart Campbell, passed away in September 2018, and whose mother, Ann H. Campbell, passed away in October 2018.
1979
40TH REUNION OCTOBER 19, 2019
/ MKA / Dr. John Brink, 1246 Beach Haven Road, Atlanta, GA 30324 / Shawn Ortiz, 2163 Gilbride Road,
Martinsville, NJ 08836, csaortiz@ optonline.net
MKA sends its deepest sympathy to Jim Johnson whose mother recently passed away at the age of 92. MKA sends sincere condolences to Kenneth Breen whose father, William P. Breen, passed away on February 18, 2017. Old football buddies and classmates Mark Donatiello, Marc McCloud, and Robert Paige still keep in touch, and reunited for a boy’s night last summer.
Boy’s Night! Marc McCloud ’79, Mark Donatiello ’79, and Robert Paige ’79
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A few alumnae from the class of 1988 reunited at Watchung Booksellers to support Jenna Blum ’88 at her book reading for her newest novel: The Lost Family.
1981
/ MKA / Mrs. Laura (Reisch) Itzkowitz, 37
Nottingham Road, Manalapan, NJ 07726, howardandlaura@optonline.net
MKA sends its deepest sympathy to Margaret (Johnson) Cunningham whose mother recently passed away at the age of 92.
1983
/ MKA / Mr. Walter J. Davis, 66 Oakwood Drive,
New Providence, NJ 07974, davisteam@ comcast.net / Mrs. Maureen Natkin,
5 Riverview Road, Irvington, NY 10533, mtnatkin@me.com
1984
35TH REUNION OCTOBER 19, 2019
1989
30TH REUNION
/ MKA / Mr. Louis Lessig, 2009 Morris Drive, Cherry Hill, NJ 08003, llessig@ brownconnery.com / Mr. Josh Raymond,
Belleclaire Place, Verona, NJ 07044,
33 Oak Place, North Caldwell, NJ 07006,
jjonesladda@gmail.com
jraymond@msbnj.com
/ MKA / Ms. Jennifer Remington-Knodel, 44
Hamilton Drive East, North Caldwell, NJ 07006, jenremknodel@aol.com
1987
/ MKA / Mr. Dennis Rodano, 3 Byron Rd,
North Caldwell, NJ 07006, rodanod@ verizon.net / Ms. Lynne Yellin, 413 Ridgecrest Drive , Chapel Hill, NC 27514, lynneyellin@gmail.com
Sincere condolences go 1988 to whose father, / MKA /
Dennis Manalo
Lou Lessig ’89
OCTOBER 19, 2019
/ MKA / Mrs. Jennifer Jones Ladda, 17
1986
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Eduardo Felisco Manalo, passed away on December 1, 2018. Born and raised in the Philippines, he moved to the USA in 1972 and settled in North Caldwell. Prior to his retirement, he was a computer systems analyst for JVC Corp. in Wayne, NJ. In his spare time, he enjoyed traveling, photography and gardening. He is survived by his beloved wife of 49 years, devoted children, and cherished granddaughters.
Congratulations to Louis R. Lessig, Esq. for receiving the 2018 HR Consultant of the Year Award. Anya Beunger Barrett, Pamela D’Amato Davis, Peter Fusco, Ayana Goore, and Nilie Pajoohi will all be helping to plan their 30th reunion festivities in October 2019. They all have one more thing in common —all of their kids are current students at MKA!
1990
Alumni Office recently learned that Ruchira Haldar passed away peacefully at her residence,
MKA review / Mon tc l ai r K i mb e r l e y Ac ade my
/MKA/ The
Nilie Pajoohi ’89 ran into MKA Upper School legends George and Myra Hrab at Bradford Bath and Tennis Club’s “Chef’s Night.” Good times!
surrounded by her loving family, following a courageous battle with cancer on January 22, 2015. Our deepest sympathy goes out to her family and loved ones.
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1991
/ MKA / Ms. Dara Marmon, 330 E.39th, Apt. 21D, New
York, NY 10016, daramarmon
/ MKA/
Justin Blanes
@gmail.com / Mr. Luke Sarsfield, 105 Franklin Street, Apt. 4, New York, NY 10013, luke.sarsfield@gs.com
1992
MKA sends its sympathy to 1995 deepest whose father, Joseph
/ MKA / Dr. Enrique Neblett, 718 Ainsley
Court, Durham, NC 27713, enrique. neblett@gmail.com
MKA sends sincere condolences to Jennifer Componovo whose father, Joseph Blanes, passed away on August 11, 2018. Joe was the husband of longtime Brookside teacher, now retired, Donna Blanes. Cliff Finkle ’92 and MKA Athletic Director Todd Smith had the opportunity to follow Jordan Spieth, one of the PGA’s biggest and brightest superstars at the first leg of the FedEx Championship in August.
Blanes, passed away on August 11, 2018. Joe was the husband of longtime Brookside teacher, now retired, Donna Blanes. Congratulations to Jonathan Hirsch who was honored by the Township of Montclair and a Proclamation was read, honoring his 25 years of service to the Montclair Ambulance Unit on Tuesday, November 27. Additionally, the Montclair Ambulance Unit honored him with a party at Tierney’s on Thursday, December 13!
Jonathan Hirsch ’95
1996
Barnes, 30 W 63rd
Street, Apt. 5N, New York, NY 10023,
Cliff Finkle ’92 & Todd Smith
1994
/ MKA / Ms. Tanya
barnes.tanya@gmail.com / Ms. Erica
25TH REUNION
Hirsch, 10 West 15th Street, #710, New
OCTOBER 19, 2019
York, NY 10011, ehirsch77@yahoo.com /
/ MKA / Mr. Jason Awerdick, 23
Mr. Lee Vartan, 3 Swayze Lane, Chester,
Greenbrook Drive, Bloomfield, NJ
NJ 07930, ldvartan@yahoo.com
07003, jasonawerdick@gmail.com
Congratulations to Jessica Bruder on the publication of your book! Jessica writes: My book, Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century (W.W. Norton & Co.), is getting published in Chinese, French, German and Japanese translations this spring. To write it, I spent months living in a camper van, documenting itinerant Americans who gave up traditional housing and hit the road full time, enabling them to travel from job to job and carve out a place for themselves in a precarious economy. The project
Elinor Ayn Rothschild was born November 29, 2018 to proud parents Tara (Grossbard) Rothschild and Oliver Rothschild. She joins her very excited older brother William just in time for the holidays.
Elinor Ayn Rothschild with older brother William.
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MA Montclair Academy / TKS The Kimberley School / MKA Montclair Kimberley Academy
spanned three years and more than 15,000 miles of driving— from coast to coast and from Mexico to the Canadian border. Named both a Notable Book and an Editors’ Choice by The New York Times, Nomadland also won the Discover Award for nonfiction and was a finalist for the New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award.
1997 , wife Kate, and big brother Bear (4), welcomed / MKA / Jonathan Zweifler
Zoey Jay Zweifler to their family in October 2018. Jonathan is the Senior Creative Director of Product Design for Xfinity Mobile at Comcast in Philadelphia. Alexis Ring writes: I have been living in San Francisco for 15 years after what was supposed to be just a ski season in Lake Tahoe. A few years ago, I took up road biking which reinforced my dislike for cycling apparel, so I started my own company, Lexi Miller. We create beautiful, functional cycling apparel for women. Last spring, I had a drink with Deb Jennings when she was out here visiting her son. Turns out one of her sons and I lived less than a block apart until recently, and her grand-dog and my dog go out with the same dog walker! Small world.
1998
/ MKA / Ms. Gemma Giantomasi,
80 Avon Dr, Essex Fells, NJ 07021, gemma.diaco@gmail.com
1999
25TH REUNION OCTOBER 19, 2019
/ MKA / Mr. Alexander Holz, 509 E 6th
Street, Apt. 3R, New York, NY 10009, alexbhlz@gmail.com / Ms. Sandra Tritt, sandratritt@gmail.com
2000
/ MKA / Mr. John Garippa, 2741 NE 58th
Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308, oceanhut@aol.com / Mrs. Anna Cook,
5 Highview Court, Wayne, NJ 07470, anna_labowsky @yahoo.com
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/ Mrs. Jaclyn Spedaliere, 60 E. Oak Street, Basking Ridge, NJ 07920, jaclynspedaliere@gmail.com
Congratulations to Lauren Hooper and her family! Lauren writes: My husband, Daren Rogers, and I welcomed our first child, Winston Martin Rogers, into the world on August 24, 2018.
2001
/ MKA / Ms. Dana Pisacane, 555 42nd
Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94121, dana.pisacane@gmail.com
and Varchas Prasad welcomed their first daughter Annika Jiaqi Prasad on April 1, 2018 (3.5 weeks early and tiny at 4lb., 10oz.) but has been quite a fun bundle!
Kathryn Auw Prasad
Melissa (Branco) Bowman
writes: My son, Aidan, turned ten in June, and continues to perform and train at Circus Juventas in St. Paul, MN. It’s the largest nonprofit, youth circus school in the country! During showtime, I manage the spotlight volunteers and operate lights for the performances. By day, I’m a caseworker for St. Croix County’s Child Support Department while my husband, Chad, continues to work for ConAgra. Shout out to my classmates, teachers, and members of The Spot: I hope all is well in your lives! Much love, Mel
2002
15TH REUNION OCTOBER 19, 2019
/ MKA / Ms. Katherine Santoro, 333 River Street, Apt. 539, Hoboken, NJ 07030, kate.santoro@gmail.com / Brendan McCaffrey, 235 West 102nd brendan.a.mccaffrey@gmail.com
Fortunato Slomienski,
married Cari July 14, 2018 in Napa, California, where the couple reside. The ceremony was officiated by Rabbi Jillian R. Cameron ’00. MKA alumni Ali Roberts Schosheim ’01, Josh Rudbart, Keith Grabowsky, Sasha Klimczak ’05, Rebecca MacGregor ’05, Max Weary ’05, and Michele Leardo ’05 were all in attendance. Congratulations to Sam Sparks and Natalie Azzoli ’06 who were married on June 23, 2018.
Santangelo, 27 Woods Rd, Little Falls, NJ 07424, emilyannesantangelo@gmail.com / MKA / Ms. Judith Ferreira, 819 Clifton
Avenue, Newark, NJ 07104-3211, jferreir@pratt.edu / Ms. Melanie Bieber,
462 Vance Avenue, Wyckoff, NJ 07481, mel.braverman@gmail.com
married Jennifer Cunningham on October 2, 2018 in Norwalk, CT, supported by groomsmen: Christian Langbein ’00, Hal Garrity ’04, Drew Jennings ’04, Will Kinkead ’04 and dear MKA colleague
Alexander Langbein
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2004
/ MKA / Mrs. Melissa
slomienski@icloud.com / Miss Emily
Alexander Langbein ’03 married Jennifer Cunningham
Steve Brown. Many more MKA alumni and faculty celebrated (and danced a lot) at the party following. After receiving an MA in Early Childhood Education, Alex has been a teacher at MKA’s Primary School and a Middle School Tennis and Basketball coach since 2010. Jennifer is a LifeCare human resources executive currently assigned to Goldman Sachs. They met in front of the New York Public Library.
Street, Apt. 10i, New York, NY 10025,
58 Oldchester Rd, Essex Fells, NJ 07021,
2003
Kathryn Auw Prasad ’01 with Annika Jiaqi Prasad
Congratulations Evyn Cameron ’04 and Cari Brooke Roberts ’05!
Evyn Cohen Cameron
07094-2391, manav.lalwani@gmail.com
Brooke Roberts ’05 on
Cari Brooke Roberts
2005
/ MKA / Mr. Edmund Kozak, e.g.kozak@gmail.
com / Mr. Manav Lalwani, 132 Blue Heron
Drive, Riverside Court, Secaucus, NJ
MKA review / Mon tc l ai r K i mb e r l e y Ac ade my
married Evyn
Cohen Cameron ’04 on July 14, 2018 in
Napa, California, where the couple reside. The ceremony was officiated by Rabbi Jillian R. Cameron ’00. MKA alumni Ali Roberts Schosheim ’01, Josh Rudbart ’04, Keith Grabowsky ’04, Sasha Klimczak, Rebecca MacGregor, Max Weary, and Michele Leardo were all in attendance. Congratulations to Rebecca MacGregor! After almost nine years working in a highly specialized corner of the travel industry, Rebecca has recently launched her own company, Sense of Place. At Sense of Place, Rebecca will
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MKA Alums (’06) and JV Lacrosse Coaches Angela McCaffrey & Caitlin DiRuggiero traveled with the WE Organization this past summer on a service trip to Kenya with over 50 individuals, including two MKA families - the Hobb’s and the Everson’s. Taylor Everson ’21 and her parents (Doug & MKA Board of Trustees Member Carolyn) organized and spearheaded the entire trip. WE’s motto is “making doing good, doable” and they believe that “anyone can make a difference.... there are myriad ways to participate both through giving back and our daily choices. We believe in the inclusive nature of doing good and that anyone can apply their individual passion to a collective world-changing impact.” Angela, Cait, and Taylor felt so transformed by their experience that they are looking to WE to help them and the lacrosse team explore and contribute to a cause dear to the team’s heart this season. If you are interested in learning more about WE, contact Caitlin or Angela directly at cait@mycorefire.com or angela@mycorefire.com. They co-own Corefire in Montclair & Ridgewood, and are also licensed real estate agents with Keller Williams NJ Metro in Montclair, working alongside MKA alum Erin Cuffe Crawford ’72.
continue to do much of the same work, creating bespoke travel itineraries that are based on firsthand experience and the unique relationships that she has cultivated around the world throughout her travels. Rebecca is a firm believer in taking the time (in person, by phone) to better understand the needs and interests of the traveler, in order to create a truly tailored experience. To learn more, visit: www.senseofplacetravel.com. Rebecca also recently celebrated her one-year anniversary with husband, Max Weary—congrats!
2006
/ MKA / Ms. Natalie Azzoli, 8 Spruce
Street, Apt. 50H, New York, NY 10038, nat6888@gmail.com / Ms. Angela
McCaffrey, 229 Crescenzi Court, West Orange, NJ 07052, angelamccaffrey@gmail.com
and her husband Michael welcomed their first child, Sloan Isabel Sumbs on August 2, Victoria Sumbs
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2018. She was 6 lbs, 10oz. and 19.5 inches long. Congratulations! Congratulations to Natalie Azzoli and Sam Sparks ’04 who were married on June 23, 2018. Congratulations to Samantha Dana who married Elliot Lief on December 15, 2018.
2007
/ MKA / Mr. Harry Raymond, 19 E. 7th
Street, Apt. 3, New York, NY 10003,
Parker Wyatt Getty
raymond.harry@gmail.com / Mr. Brian May, 22 N. Bayard Lane, Mahwah, NJ 07430, bmay88@gmail.com
On April 5, 2018, Lauren (Pugh) Getty and her husband Adam welcomed their first child, Parker Wyatt Getty, into the world. Congratulations Danny Smith who married Melissa Gill on October 6, 2018.
2008
/ MKA / Mr. Matthew Metzger, 239 Elizabeth
St., #4, New York, NY 10012, metzgermd@ gmail.com
MA Montclair Academy / TKS The Kimberley School / MKA Montclair Kimberley Academy
The Class of 2008 celebrated their 10th reunion this year at Tierney’s. There have been many weddings for the Class of 2008 in the past few months! Charles Gephart married Jamie Pickard on July 7, 2018 in Sunriver, OR. Dwight Jackson married Anna Gillis on July 28, 2018 in Portland, ME. Fabio Goncalves married Gabriella Basile on August 17, 2018 in Brooklyn, NY. Joseph Christovao married Rachel Zeilinger on November 3, 2018 in New Orleans, LA. Congratulations to all!
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The Sundogs, written and directed by Robert Gelberg ’10 featuring Jonah Barbin ’21, Emily Sasfai ’20, Izzy Syfer ’21, and Ellie Kallay ’18
Guests celebrating at the wedding of Dwight Jackson ’08 and Anna Gillis.
Jessica (Del Vecchio) Schomaker ’06, Nicholas Donatiello ’11, Laura Dudek ’09, Anthony Donatiello ’13, Blair Bell ’09, Mark Vincent Donatiello ’07, Danielle Donatiello ’09, Jenna Donatiello ’17, Mark Donatiello ’79, and Kristin Calandra ’09.
guests included Mark Donatiello ’79,
Jessica (Del Vecchio) Schomaker ’06,
Mark Vincent Donatiello ’07, Blair Bell,
Kristin Calandra, Laura Dudek, Nicholas
Donatiello ’11, Anthony Donatiello ’13,
Andrew Elliot Stern ’09 and fiancée Daniella Doffman
2009
10TH REUNION OCTOBER 19, 2019
/ MKA / Mr. Brian Purcell, 143 N 8th Street, Apt. 2B. Brooklyn, NY 11249,
2010
Christine Silen writes: I went to Boston University and played D1 golf and was captain my senior year. I graduated from graduate school with an MBA from Rollins College. I am now a marketing manager of three magazines (Sport Fishing Magazine, Salt Water Sportsman Magazine, Marlin Magazine) and a TV show (Sport Fishing Television). I am still golfing as much as I can now that I live in Orlando.
2011
/ MKA / Ms. Carina Wong, 9 Deer Trail Road, North
Caldwell, NJ 07006, carinamwong@
/ MKA / Ms. Devon
gmail.com / Seth Bynum, 32 High
Barrett, 109 Llewellyn
Street, West Orange, NJ 07052,
Road, Montclair, NJ 07042, dlb792@
seth.bynum1@gmail.com
Stanton, 240 South Mountain Avenue,
aim.com / Mr. Matthew Palmisano,
Montclair, NJ 07042, janestanton1@
matt.r.palmisano@gmail.com
gmail.com
MKA sends its deepest sympathy to Emilie Schurenberg whose mother, Judith Schurenberg, passed away on September 28, 2018.
MKA sends sincere condolences to Conor Breen whose grandfather, William P. Breen, passed away on February 18, 2017. Our deepest condolences go to Jack Strain whose mother, Patty
bnpurcell4@gmail.com / Ms. Jane
Congratulations to Danielle Donatiello who married Nicholas Kirbas on June 1, 2018. Wedding
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and Jenna Donatiello ’17. Congratulations to Andrew Stern who is engaged and will be married on March 28, 2019 in Cedar Grove to Daniella Doffman who is from London. Congratulations to Katherine Phillips who married Erik Bergstrom at Montclair Golf Club on June 23, 2018.
This past summer, MKA’s artist-inresidence program continued with Robert Gelberg ’10 and the world premiere of his new play, The Sundogs! Written and directed by Gelberg, The Sundogs featured performances from several MKA students—Emily Sasfai ’20, Ellie Kallay ’18, Jonah Barbin ’21, Izzy Szyfer ’21 (cast) and Elias Lepore ’21 (tech). This “human story about an alien” ran for five performances in July 2018 at the Planet Connections Festivity on the Lower East Side. Planet Connections says The Sundogs “is a darkly comic look at what it means to be alien, in every sense of the word.” Congratulations to Robert and the entire cast and crew for winning the Planet Activist Award for The Sundogs in September 2018.
MKA review / Mon tc l ai r K i mb e r l e y Ac ade my
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Strain, passed away on October 5, 2018. Mrs. Strain was an active volunteer for MKA, the Human Needs Food Pantry in Montclair, and any charity her friends cared about. She was relentlessly positive and polite, and coached her boys to act with humility and kindness. Her friends and family often quoted the playful banter that became her daily mantras. “All good,” “No worries,” “Play your game,” and “I’m so blessed” will be remembered as lessons in how to live a happy life. Congratulations to Sarah Cuneo! Her original one-woman show, which she wrote and starred in, was part of the line-up for the International Fringe Festival in October 2018. Eulalia: A Bedtime Story is adapted from the writings of the Infanta Eulalia of Spain. Congratulations to Becky Smith (Gordon College/Lacrosse) who was recently named the new Assistant Women’s Lacrosse Coach at Ashland University, a Division II program in Ohio part of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. As head coach Shaun Williamson said in her announcement, “We are really excited to have Becky join us. I believe she is going to bring great experience to our young program. The moment I met Becky, I thought she would mesh perfectly with myself and our players.” Becky was a standout field hockey and lacrosse player for the Cougars during her high school career and we wish her all the best as she breaks into the world of coaching collegiate athletics!
2012
Isaiah Thompson ’15 takes 2nd place at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition.
Isaiah Thompson has had an amazing year so far! First, he played at the 2018 Newport Jazz Festival in August with his own trio. Isaiah described the experience as “a dream come true.” Most recently, Isaiah placed 2nd in the 2018 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition in December! Congratulations on these incredible achievements—keep up the good work!
Ed Rosini ’12 and the cast and crew of the Shadowlands Stages production of Bang Bang!
Emma Layton ’13 and Kristin Morisseau ’13
Sterling ’12 at the Boulder Book Store. Emma works there part-time and helped Alise find some books! We love to see these cougar connections go way beyond Montclair!
2013
/ MKA / Elizabeth “Lizzie” Amato, 25 5th Avenue, New
York, NY 10003, Liz.j.amato@gmail.com
/ Mr. Ed Bozik, 100 Marshall Street, Apt / MKA / Ms. Casey Musicant, 573 Farmdale
Road, Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417, casey. musicant@gmail.com / Mr. Ed Rosini, 32 Edgemont Road, Montclair, NJ 07042, erosini32@gmail.com
Congratulations to Ed Rosini for being the leading player in Gabriella DeMartino’s new music video for her song, “Flowers.” Ed was also part of “Monty Python” actor and comedian John Cleese’s hilarious
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Small world! Emma Sterling ’12 runs into MS teacher Alise Shuart at the Boulder Book Store in CO.
comedy, Bang Bang!, starring Sean Astin, Scott Shepherd, and Kathy McCafferty. The play debuted at Shadowland Stages for about a month during August and September 2018. Middle School teacher Alise Shuart Barrett was recently in Boulder, CO and bumped into Emma
MA Montclair Academy / TKS The Kimberley School / MKA Montclair Kimberley Academy
605, Hoboken, NJ 07030, bozik@me.com Emma Layton and Kristin Morisseau, MKA Girls’ Lacrosse alums, ran the Boston Half Marathon together. Congratulations! The Class of 2013 celebrated their 5th reunion at Tierney’s in October.
2014
5TH REUNION OCTOBER 19, 2019
/ MKA / Ms. Kassandra Fotiadis, kassandra.fotiadis@gmail.com
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GRADUATION 2018 WAS NO DIFFERENT FOR RAVI MELWANI ’15, AN MKA ALUMNI. The ceremony was set in the historic St. Marylebone Parish Church in the heart of central London. The commencement at Regents University London was a culmination of its student’s career at the college and the faculty. The students proudly wore their respective robes, hoods and hats. The different colors and styles depended on the different awards they were about to receive. The academic staff was adorned with gowns from the Universities they had graduated from. Some individuals wore the Regents University gowns designed by Professor Aldwyn Cooper, the Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University. The ceremony itself screamed tradition! The Chancellor opened the ceremony with pomp and circumstance, followed by the Vice Chancellor who addressed the students and parents. These formalities remind British Universities of the development of the value of higher education going back to the establishment of Oxford and Cambridge more than 800 years ago as among the first Universities of the world. The Lords and Dukes who introduced the traditional format sponsored these. In the future the Vice Chancellor of Regents University would love to introduce the “Mace”, a silver mace that is carried at the front, similar to the kind of mace that would have been held in Royal Courts and the Houses of Parliament. It denotes the authority of the carrier of the Mace to officially open the ceremony. Regents University London is proud to educate an extremely diverse mix of students from over 140 countries all over the world. The students get to learn different cultures from one another and play a role on the world’s stage.
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Izzy Mendez ’16
Carrigan Miller ’15
2015
/ MKA / Kori Durando,
koridurando@gmail.com
Congratulations to Carrigan Miller (Macalester College/Football), Senior offensive lineman, who was selected to the North Division AllConference First Team! Carrigan has been a starter at guard the past three seasons and was the anchor of a young offensive line this season. Playing multiple positions, Carrigan’s versatility and experience helped the Scots’ offense rank first in the Midwest Conference in passing offense and passing efficiency.
2016
Isabella Calandra ’16
/ MKA / Ms. Zoe Bieler, zoe.bieler@gmail.com
/ Mr. Charles Rilli, crilli33@gmail.com
Kimani Freeman ’16
/Ms. Lily Andres, lily.andres@gmail.com
Our deepest condolences go to Joseph and Robert Strain whose mother, Patty Strain, passed away on October 5, 2018. Mrs. Strain was an active volunteer for MKA, the Human Needs Food Pantry in Montclair, and any charity her friends cared about. She was relentlessly positive and polite, and coached her boys to act with humility and kindness. Her friends and family often quoted the playful banter that became her daily mantras. “All good,” “No worries,” “Play your game,” and “I’m so blessed” will be remembered as lessons in how to live a happy life.
M KA review / Mon tc l ai r K i mb e r l e y Ac ade my
Brodie Snyder ’22, Alexandra Lenchinsky ’16, US English teacher Caroline Toman, Logan Snyder ’26
Congratulations to Izzy Mendez (Providence College/Field Hockey) who was recognized as 2nd Team All-BIG EAST selection for her
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performance with the Friars this Fall! As a junior, Izzy ranks second on the team in scoring with 15 points, having accumulated one assist and team-best seven goals. For her collegiate career, Izzy has appeared in 47 games and has totaled 26 points on 12 goals and 2 assists! She is also a NFHCA Division I National Academic Squad and BIG EAST All-Academic Team selection. Congratulations to Isabella Calandra (Stevens/Tennis) who garnered 1st Team All-Empire 8 honors playing 1st Doubles for the Ducks this Fall! The performance of Calandra and the Stevens’ doubles teams was a huge factor in the Ducks success as they went a combined 23-1 on the season in her junior campaign. Congratulations to Kimani Freeman (Smith College/Volleyball) who earned All-Tournament Team recognition as the Pioneers concluded play at the 27th Annual Volleyball Hall of Fame tournament this Fall. In two games played throughout the tournament, Kimani registered 48 assists for the Pioneers! Upper School English teacher Caroline Toman had an unexpected Italian MKA encounter! Ms. Toman writes: Alexandra Lenchinsky ’16 spotted my son’s (Brodie Snyder ’22) MKA shirt in Venice, Italy (you can see the gondolas in the background) while I was there on my PAMKA grant trip studying Biblical art! Also pictured is my daughter Logan Snyder ’26.
2017
Nicholas Wilson ’18 (Lehigh Cross Country) and Billy Massey ’17 (Amherst/Cross Country), once teammates, race against each other at the 45th running of the Paul Short Run on the Goodman Cross Country Course on the campus of Lehigh University. No doubt the boys are making Coach Tom Fleming proud!
/ MKA /Mr. Matthew ’Matt’ Rubenstein,
mattrubenstein98@gmail.com / Ms. Jenna Donatiello,jdonatiello2021 @gmail.com
2018
Once wearing the same jersey, two MKA field hockey alums, Izzy Mendez ’16 (Field Hockey/Providence) and Alix Talkow ’18 (Field Hockey/ Lafayette) played against each other in October as the Lafayette Leopards visited the Providence Friars in a regular season matchup! Friars won 2-0 but all smiles off the field for these former teammates!
/ MKA / Mr. Keenan
GRADUATION 2018, LONDON, UK STYLE The day arrives when students all over the world walk across the stage and go from “graduands” to “graduates” during the course of the graduation ceremony. They are admired by esteemed faculty members, inspired by guest speakers, and honored by Chancellors.
McAuliffe, keenan.
cavenaugh13@gmail.com /Ms. Lailanni
Lucien, llucien05@gmail.com / Ms. Kerri McGuire, kerrimcg11@yahoo.com
Congratulations to Ellie Kallay for her nomination for Outstanding
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Featured Actress in the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity awards for her performance in Robert Gelberg’s ’10 play, The Sundogs.
MA Montclair Academy / TKS The Kimberley School / MKA Montclair Kimberley Academy
Congratulations to Ryan Ruhl for recently landing a place in the highly acclaimed and prestigious “The Colgate 13”— one of the
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Ryan Ruhl ’18
Ellie Kallay ’18 acting in The Sundogs.
end the season with three goals, one assist, and two game winners! She was also picked twice this season as “Ivy League Rookie of the Week” honors.
Kerri McGuire ’18 and Alix Talkow ’18
Leopards and Wildcats collide!
Kerri McGuire met up with Alix Talkow
when Kerri’s Villanova soccer team played Lafayette, where Alix plays field hockey.
John Sweetwood ’18
oldest collegiate a cappella groups in the USA! Congratulations to John Sweetwood who turned his dream into reality and “walked on” to and made the Syracuse University Football team this fall. Congratulations to Jessica Schildkraut (Columbia/Soccer) who was recognized with Second Team All-Ivy honors for her performance as a first-year this Fall! Playing and starting in all 16 games for the Lions, Jess netted goals in each of the final three league contests to
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Always an amazingly fun time at MKA STAR and JR STAR camp filled with current and former Cougar athletes teaching/coaching the next generation!
M KA review / Mon tc l ai r K i mb e r l e y Ac ade my
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Former MKA Volleyball players and coaches gathered in June for a great surprise retirement send-off for former Head Coach Mike Tully. Coach Tully finished his terrific thirteen year coaching tenure with a 192–102 record and helped lead the Cougars to numerous team championships along the way.
AT A GLANCE MARRIAGES 20 03 Alexander Langbein and Jennifer Cunningham October 20, 2018 20 0 4 Evyn Cameron and Cari Roberts ’05 July 14, 2018
20 0 8 Joseph Christovao and Rachel Zeilinger November 3, 2018 Charles Gephart and Jamie Pickard July 7, 2018 Fabio Goncalves and Gabriella Basile August 17, 2018
Sam Sparks and Natalie Azzoli ’06 June 23, 2018
Dwight Jackson and Anna Gillis July 28, 2018
20 05 Cari Roberts and Evyn Cameron ’04 July 14, 2018
20 0 9 Danielle Donatiello and Nicholas Kirbas June 1, 2018
20 0 6 Natalie Azzoli and Sam Sparks ’04 June 23, 2018
Katherine Phillips and Erik Bergstrom June 23, 2018
Samantha Dana and Elliot Lief December 15, 2018 20 07 Danny Smith and Melissa Gill October 6, 2018
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IN MEMORIAM 19 45 Ann Buchbinder, January 2018
MA Montclair Academy / TKS The Kimberley School / MKA Montclair Kimberley Academy
19 4 6 Abby Keebler Ryan, November 2017 19 47 Louise “Weezie” Hanngan, November 5, 2018 195 2 Jane Redfield Forsberg, August 22, 2018 19 6 2 John Bleyle, June 27, 2018 Charles Weston, July 26, 2018 19 67 Robert Fazio,April 29, 2018 19 9 0 Ruchira Haldar, January 22, 2015
FACULTY, FORMER FACULTY, STAFF AND TRUSTEES Patricia “Patty” Strain October 5, 2018
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The MKA Fund is the foundation for every facet of the MKA experience, from lab equipment and library resources to financial aid and extracurricular activities. Your annual support of The MKA Fund plays a critical role in allowing MKA to say “yes� to opportunities and empowers all of our students to discover their passions.
Support The MKA Fund Today! www.mka.org/giving
For additional information or questions, please contact Becky Turcotte, Director of Annual Giving at rturcotte@mka.org or 973-509-7940
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M KA review / Mon tc l ai r K i mb e r l e y Ac ade my
MON TC L AIR K IM B E R L E Y AC ADE MY 20 1 VALLEY ROAD, M O NTCLAIR, N J 07042
Part of MKA’s mission statement is that students should personally engage with the world and act as responsible citizens and leaders. In many ways, I think that boils down to two things: the discernment to find an issue where you think you can make a difference and the determination and courage to find your voice and speak out in order to make that difference. T I M LY N C H , U P P E R S C H O O L P H YSI C S T E AC H E R A N D T H E AC A D E M Y N E WS A DV IS O R