Among Friends Spring 2019

Spring 2019 MOORESTOWN FRIENDS SCHOOL

AMONG FRIENDS

PURSUING PASSIONS: Extracurricular Learning

at MFS

Mission Statement Moorestown Friends School is a community rooted in Quaker values and dedicated to the pursuit of educational excellence for a diverse student body within an academically rigorous and balanced program emphasizing personal, ethical, and spiritual growth.

Fall 1987, revised May 2011

Contents

Spring 2019

From the Head of School

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Notes from Pages Lane

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Fox Tracks

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Guiding the Foxes: Danielle Dayton

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Feature: Pursuing Passions Extracurricular Clubs at MFS

Matthew Strauss Headlines Career Day

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MFS Alumni Network

Class Notes

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In Memoriam

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On October 13, MFS welcomed nearly 70 participants to the second annual Quaker Model UN Conference, including guest delegates from Abington Friends and Penn Charter. The student leaders from this conference are pictured above. MFS was named Best School Delegation at the 2019 University of Delaware Model UN conference; students also received honors at the Rutgers and Ivy League (University of Pennsylvania) conferences.

In the Fall 2018 issue, Bill Persons was not credited for the cover photo. We regret the error.

MOORESTOWN FRIENDS SCHOOL 110 East Main Street Moorestown, NJ 08057 (856) 235-2900, www.mfriends.org Published By The Development Office Editor, Director of Marketing and Communications Mike Schlotterbeck Managing Editor, Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications Luke Hoheisel

Graphic Design Alison Judah ’86, Hypno Design

Associate Director of Development Beth Stouffer

Photography Peter Chollick, Scott Faytok (NJ.com), Luke Hoheisel, Mike Polvere (StudiOne Action Shots), Andrew Rowan ’19, Mike Schlotterbeck, and alumni, student, and parent contributors

Director of Parent and Alumni Programs Suzanne Abrams

Head of School Julia de la Torre Director of Development Stephen Zakroff

Moorestown Friends School admits students without regard to race, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, gender, or sexual orientation.

All photos are identified from left to right unless otherwise indicated.

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Assistant Director of Community Outreach Julia Applegate ’10 Director of Annual Giving Sonia Mixter Guzman ’02 Development Office Staff Roberta Fenska and Sue Giacchetto

Printed on recycled paper.

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range MFS students have participated in a wide

1937 - Student Council

of clubs and activities over the years.

1949 - Instrumental Club

1952 - Affiliat

ion Club

1979 Religious L ife Committee

1960 - Jazz Club

1983 - Ski Club

2006 Alice in Wonderland play

1993 - Handbell Choir

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2019 - Upper School Choir SPRING 2019

From the Head of School

Dear Friends, I am pleased to welcome you to this issue of Among Friends, dedicated to the learning that happens outside of traditional classroom settings. Whether through after-school clubs in the Lower School, activities in the Middle School, or minor courses in the Upper School, learning at Moorestown Friends School happens in a variety of environments and in a variety of ways. I am excited for you to get a glimpse of the transformational learning that happens for our students in sometimes the most unusual of settings.

As an educator and school leader, I have often struggled with the term “extracurricular.” Although the word “extra” can often signify something additional or more, it is sometimes defined as those things that are extraneous to the core. I would argue that extracurricular learning is essential. It is those activities and clubs that meaningfully connect with students’ deepest interests – the core of who they are – that often take them to the greatest heights. We all know that when we are passionate about something, we care more, dedicate more time, and invest more of ourselves in the task at hand.

I invite you to explore within these pages the one-of-a-kind learning that characterizes Moorestown Friends. See how our student news publication, WordsWorth, fosters collaboration and creativity. Read about some of our signature clubs and activities that connect students with the broader community. Picture the kind of learning that kindles students’ unique passions, while contributing to the collective experience at MFS. Who knows? You might just discover a new interest of your own to explore.

Warmly,

Julia de la Torre Head of School

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Notes from Pages Lane

Notes from Pages Lane This section of Among Friends takes its name from Pages Lane, the road that bisected the Moorestown Friends School campus prior to the construction of Stokes Hall in 1986.

February 19 The new Lower School Theater Club presented its first play, Peter Pan, in the Auditorium.

Prekindergarten Teacher Jenny Torgerson directed and wrote the production, and Third Grade Teacher Ted Quinn was the set and technical manager.

February 9 After a string of successes in the International Crescendo Competition, pianist Yusuf Ansari ’22 performed at New York’s prestigious Carnegie Hall.

January 26 Following a semifinalist ranking in the B101 radio station’s Choir Competition, the Chamber Choir placed third in the 2019 International Competition of High School A Cappella (ICHSA) Tournament quarterfinal at Cherry Hill High School East.

January 17 Lower School students participated in the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day program, honoring Dr. King’s life through historical recitations and song.

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SPRING 2019

Notes from Pages Lane

December 15 MFS hosted the Knight School Chess Tournament, and three students (Chase Liebman ’29, Noah Hasni ’28, and Aodhan DiPalma ’27) won their grade-level competitions.

November 20 Kenya Barber and Emily Bowditch’s Kindergarten classes made vegetable soup together in celebration of Thanksgiving. Each class provided different ingredients and learned how to clean and cut the vegetables.

November 19 The junior class traveled to Washington, DC for the annual History Department field trip. Students visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum as a group and then chose from one of the following: the Museum of the American Indian, American History Museum, Museum of the Supreme Court, and National Art Gallery.

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Notes from Pages Lane

November 14 A group of Middle School students traveled to Greene Street Friends School in Philadelphia for an afternoon of discussion and observation. The day’s conversations focused on student government in the context of Meeting for Worship for Business.

November 16 The cast and crew of the fall musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, staged three impressive performances. Pictured are seniors Lizzie Cohen and Ethan Barr.

October 25 Middle School English Teacher Mark Gornto co-produced the 2009 short film Warrior Queen. The film was screened at the National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington, DC. Mr. Gornto is pictured at the post-film Q&A with Leashia Lewis, producer of Warrior Queen and wife of writer/director Hezekiah Lewis.

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October 29 Fifth graders put their design skills to the test by crafting playable arcade games out of cardboard and other common household items.

October 12 The Middle School Service Fair raised $2,541.25 for UNICEF’s Disaster Relief Fund.

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Notes from Pages Lane Title

September 28 The entire MFS community gathered on the Oval for Head of School Julia de la Torre’s Welcome Convocation. Pictured here are children of alumni, alumni faculty and staff, and alumni trustees who attended the event.

September 25 Julia de la Torre introduced “Cooking with Friends,” a new monthly event that invites seniors to prepare and enjoy a meal together at the Head’s Residence.

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Fox Tracks GIRLS’ TENNIS CAPTURES STATE CHAMPIONSHIP! In a thrilling match that took over three hours, the Girls’ Tennis team captured the program’s first-ever NJSIAA Non-Public B state championship with a 3-2 win over Newark Academy on October 18. The match came down to a decisive third singles match won by Elena Styliades ’20.

From 1988 to 2017, the Foxes have won seven sectional titles only to fall short in the state championship to the North champion.

The team, coached by Mike Bodary, capped an historic season by winning its second consecutive Friends Schools League championship, 3-2, over Germantown Friends. They finished ranked No. 10 among all New Jersey schools, public and non-public, by NJ.com and finished the season 19-2 with their only losses to No. 9 Kent Place and No. 5 Bridgewater-Raritan. It is the first time any MFS team has won both a Friends Schools League championship and NJSIAA state championship in the same season.

In addition, first singles player Renna Mohsen-Breen ‘20 won the Burlington County Open (BCO) and South Jersey Invitational Championship in-season tournaments. She was also named Player of the Year by the South Jersey Tennis Coaches Association (SJTCA), Burlington County Times, and Sun newspapers, and Second Team All-State by NJ.com.

Also capturing BCO titles were: Bella Pescatore ’21 (second singles), Elena Styliades (third singles), and Amanda Augustino ’20 and Natalie Julian ’21 (second doubles).

Coach Mike Bodary was named Coach of the Year by the SJTCA and eight members of the team were named Non-Public All-Stars: Mohsen-Breen, Pescatore, Styliades, Augustino, Julian, Sasha Zekavat ’20, Julia Holliday ’20, and Bailey Butterworth ’20.

Elena Styliades ’20

Renna Mohsen-Breen ’20

photo credit: Scott Faytok for NJ Advance Media

Bella Pescatore ’22

photo credit: Mike Polvere, StudiOne Action Shots

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photo credit: Scott Faytok for NJ Advance Media

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Fox Tracks Swimmers Enjoy Wave of Success Allison Fenska ’21 captured a silver medal in the 50 freestyle (23.39) and a bronze medal in the 100 butterfly (55.60) at the two-day NJSIAA Swimming Meet of Champions, held March 2-3 at Gloucester County Institute of Technology in Sewell. Both of Allison’s times were school and Friends Schools League (FSL) records and also qualified her for All-America consideration. Christina Levins ’21 placed fifth in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.95) and seventh in the 200 individual medley (school and FSL record of 2:06.94 in prelims). The girls 200 medley relay team of Fenska, Levins, Ava Parker ’22, and Maddie Mininno ’19 also qualified to swim in the finals, finishing 11th (1:51.07 - school and FSL record). Fenska (First Team) and Levins (Second Team) were selected All-South Jersey by the South Jersey Interscholastic Swimming Association, the first swimmers in school history to achieve this honor.

The team finished second overall at the FSL championships on February 9 and, in the process, captured seven gold medals. The 200 medley relay team kicked off the meet by shattering the FSL and MFS school record with a time of 1:53.05 to win gold.

Levins captured gold in the 200 individual medley (IM) and the 100 breaststroke. Her time of 2:08.09 in the IM was an FSL and MFS record. Fenska also won two individual gold medals in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly. Her time of 58.50 in the 100 butterfly was an FSL and MFS record. The team of Levins, Genevieve

Messina ‘21, Mininno, and Fenska won gold in the 200 freestyle relay and set a new school record (1:44.87). Parker captured a gold medal in the 100 backstroke and bronze medal in the 500 freestyle.

The Boys’ Swimming team finished fourth at the FSL championships.

Leading the way was Peter Xia ’22 who captured two individual gold medals, setting school records in the 200 IM (2:00.20) and 500 freestyle (4:50.95). Evan Fenska ’19 earned silver medals in the 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, and Santo Messina ’20 earned bronze in the 100 butterfly.

Allison Fenska ’21 and Christina Levins ’21

Allison Fenska ’21 photo credit: Scott Faytok for NJ Advance Media

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Fox Tracks

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1 Girls’ Fencing Garners Team and Individual Honors Rachel Liu ’20 earned a bronze medal in sabre at the NJSIAA individual fencing championships on March 3. It was the second consecutive year that Rachel has earned bronze at this event. The sabre squad, which consisted of Rachel, Bailey Butterworth ’20, and Skye Mada ’22, finished fourth at the NJSIAA Squad Championships on February 23.

The Girls’ Fencing team captured the United Fencing Conference championship. The sabre squad swept the medals: Rachel Liu ’20 won gold, Skye Mada ’22 won silver, and Bailey Butterworth ’20 won bronze. In epee, Emily Wells ’22 won gold and Samantha Bastien ’20 captured bronze. In foil, Erica Infanger ’19 won the gold medal. At the Montclair Freshman/Sophomore Tournament, Emily Wells won gold in epee, Skye Mada won silver in sabre, and Annabelle Crescenzo ’21 won bronze in foil.

Veyoni Davis ’22

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32 Girls’ Basketball Enjoys Banner Season The Girls’ Basketball team once again posted a very impressive season finishing with a record of 21-6 and bringing a great deal of attention to the school. The team was consistently ranked in the Top 10 of three high school girls’ basketball polls. The Foxes reached the semifinals of the prestigious 24-team South Jersey Invitational Basketball Tournament, falling to eventual champ Cherokee, 56-43.

Bella Runyan ’20 and Veyoni Davis ’22 were named to the SJIBT All-Tournament team. The team fell to Shipley in the semifinals of the Friends Schools League playoffs and captured the Pitman Tournament championship.

Runyan was named first Team All-South Jersey by the Al Carino Girls’ Basketball Club and the SJIBT. She reached the 1,000-point plateau in a victory over Friends Select on January 22. She became the program’s all-time leader in career assists (294) and steals (379) and also set single-season records in those categories (122 and 147 respectively).

Veyoni Davis was named All-South Jersey by the SJIBT and was also leading scorer in Burlington County with 574 points (21.2 ppg), the second highest ever by a county freshman.

Coach Mike Brunswick reached the 200-win milestone for his career in a 57-38 win over Rancocas Valley on February 17. He was named Co-Coach of the Year by the SJIBT. 10

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Bella Runyan ’20 SPRING 2019

Fox Tracks

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Ollie Frank ’19, Coach Mike Schlotterbeck, Astin Galanis ’21 3 Boys’ Soccer Players Earn Statewide and Regional Honors Ollie Frank ’19 (First Team) and Astin Galanis ’21 were named to All-South Jersey teams by the South Jersey Soccer Coaches Association. Frank is the first player in school history to be named to two All-South Jersey soccer teams. He was named Second Team in 2017. Three players were also named All-State by the Soccer Coaches Association of New Jersey: Frank (First Team, Non-Public), Galanis (Second Team, Non-Public), and Evan Schlotterbeck ’21 (Honorable Mention, Non-Public).

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The Boys’ Soccer team finished 11-8-1, falling in the Friends Schools League semifinals to champion Germantown Friends.

54 Mark Johnson ’20 Places Fourth at State Cross Country Champs Mark Johnson ’20, (in headband pictured with Aidan Chick ’20) finished fourth with a time of 17:32 in the NJSIAA Non-Public B South championship race on November 10 at Delsea High School.

65 Field Hockey Players Receive National Academic Honors Four Field Hockey players were named to the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) High School National Academic Squad: Chigozie Chukwunyere ’19, Kendall Connolly ’19, Katherine Paw ’19, and Shelby Deibler ’20. The National Academic Squad program recognizes high school seniors and juniors who have achieved a minimum cumulative, unweighted GPA of 3.5 out of 4.0 or the equivalent through the first quarter of the 201819 school year. There were a total of 2,415 honorees on this year’s squad coming from the 297 schools.

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76 Middle School Boys’ Basketball “A” Team Completes Undefeated Season The Middle School Boys’ “A” Basketball team, coached by Rich Schmidt, posted an undefeated 2018-19 season with a record of 13-0. The team was dominant the entire year, averaging just over 60 points per game and giving up just over 35 points per contest.

Seventh grader Moses Hipps was the team’s leading scorer, averaging 20.3 points per game.

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Danielle Dayton

Danielle Dayton, Director of Athletics • B.S., M.A., Ohio State University • Camden County Sports Hall of Fame 2016 inductee

Guiding the Foxes

Danielle Dayton has worked tirelessly to ensure a high-quality athletics experience for a generation of Moorestown Friends students Since the turn of the century, the profile of the Moorestown Friends School athletics program has steadily risen. In the past five years alone, the school has enjoyed multiple state championships, a haul of sectional championships, and hard-earned Friends Schools League (FSL) championships.

Behind the scenes of this ascent is a tireless, dedicated Director of Athletics, Danielle Dayton, who has been in her role for 14 years and has seen an entire generation of MFS student-athletes compete.

Dayton was a decorated three-sport athlete at Collingswood High School and is a member of the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

In 2016, she was inducted into the Camden County Sports Hall of Fame. The proud Ohio State alumna (where she was a three-time field hockey Regional All-American and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees) points to her roots, at home and at school, as critical to her career path.

“Anytime I was in a classroom or on an athletic field, I always felt at home,” said Dayton. “Watching teachers and coaches, their professionalism, their passion… I wanted to have that opportunity to be in a school setting and make a difference for kids.”

Sports were especially popular in her neighborhood as a child.

“Where we grew up it was common to go outside after school and play sports,” she said. “It was always boys and girls getting together to play on our street. In our household, as long as you were being a good citizen and getting good grades you got to choose your extracurricular activities and I always chose sports.” She is known as a die-hard Phillies fan and also still enjoys watching her Ohio State Buckeyes in person and on TV.

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After teaching and coaching stints at Columbus School in Ohio and Hockaday School For Girls in Dallas, Texas, Dayton arrived at MFS in 2004 as the Lower School Physical Education Teacher. The following year she served as Interim Athletic Director before assuming the position permanently prior to the 2006-07 school year.

When queried about the rise of the MFS athletics program, she shies away from leaning on championships and awards as measures of success or failure. Dayton points to the very high participation rates of students (typically over 70%) in athletics as a sign of success and chooses to focus on how all community members represent the school.

“Our student-athletes, coaches, and community represent MFS athletics in ways that make the larger school community proud — their grit, their determination, their hard work,” she said.

Dayton is committed to ensuring that MFS student-athletes are well supported. “I want our student-athletes to have the best possible experience while they are here,” she said. “That doesn’t mean that things are always going to go their way or turn out the way they want them to. But I want to make sure that they have great coaches to work with, and that all the details that go into athletics – trainers, equipment, schedules, facilities, and more – are taken care of so they can go out and put their best effort forward and strive to be successful.”

She was quick to credit her team of Assistant Athletic Director (and Math Teacher) Ron Obermeier, Certified Athletic Trainer Kevin Cauley, and Administrative Assistant Deb Collins Williams ’74 with helping to ensure this positive experience. “I have such a dedicated, caring team to work with,” said Dayton. “There is so much work behind the scenes that people don’t see that Ron, Kevin, and Deb accomplish on an everyday basis.”

Head of School Julia de la Torre greatly appreciates Dayton’s approach: “Danielle’s commitment to the well-being of children guides everything she does. She understands that in order for students to be successful in athletics they must be committed to their own growth as well as the development of the team.

I am always struck not only by the athletic talent of our students, but more importantly by the depth of character they show in competition.”

Colleagues in the Friends Schools League are quite complimentary of their lone New Jersey representative. Dayton was nominated to serve as the league Clerk (commissioner) from 2016-18 and is often leaned on for counsel and advice from her fellow athletic directors.

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Danielle Dayton has led the Field Hockey program to 130 wins during her 14 years at the helm.

“It’s Danielle’s sense of integrity towards the work that she undertakes in the Friends Schools League that really stands out to me,” said Abington Friends Director of Athletics Jeff Bond. “It can be tricky at times for athletics administrators to balance the interests of the league and their individual school, but Danielle always enters into our league discussions with an overriding sense of fairness and integrity. When she speaks in our meetings, you know that she has given careful thought as to how best to move the discussion forward in a productive manner.”

Advocating for your own school while balancing the needs of the league can always be difficult, but Dayton’s peers point to her strengths in this area.

“Whenever consensus is needed within our ADs group, Danielle is a leader in trying to find common ground between schools, while also juggling the delicate role of advocating for MFS,” shared Katie Bergstrom Mark, Germantown Friends School Director of Athletics.

“I cherish my relationship with her as a trusted colleague and expert in our field. When I need to bounce ideas off of someone or need advice, she is the first person I call.”

Bergstrom Mark also lauded Dayton’s ability to hire and develop coaches.

“Every sport, every year, I always reflect on the solid coaching staff that MFS has. That comes from Danielle’s dedication to professional development for coaches, and also in her wide network she has created to hire good coaches,” she said.

Her coaches appreciate the support.

“I couldn’t ask for a greater supporter of MFS athletics,” said Mike Brunswick, Chair of the Physical Education Department and Girls’ Basketball Coach. “Danielle is the kind of community leader and friend that everyone should be able to come across in a lifetime.”

Dayton has had a significant impact on the field hockey program at MFS as the varsity head coach since 2005. Her teams are known to be technically sound and tenacious. She has the most coaching wins in program history (130); during her tenure, the Foxes won the FSL championship in 2007 and have advanced to the championship game four other times in 2010, 2011, 2016, and 2017. They have reached the NJSIAA sectional semifinals multiple times.

Some of Dayton’s current players point beyond wins and losses as keys to her coaching success.

“What makes Ms. Dayton such a great coach is her passion and love for the sport,” said Kendall Connolly ‘19. “You can feel that she not only wants the team to succeed and reach its peak potential, but she also wants each individual on the team to shine and improve.”

Added Shelby Deibler ’20: “As a lifelong field hockey player and coach, Coach Dayton understands, and is not afraid of, the amount of work it takes to make a great team. She is always optimistic SPRING 2019

Athletic Director Danielle Dayton is a fixture at MFS sporting events near and far. She is pictured here with colleagues Steve Shaffer and Kelly Banik at the 2014 Girls’ Soccer NJSIAA state championship match at Kean University. about any game or practice because she has taught us that ‘almost everything in life is controllable,’ meaning that it is up to us as a team to determine the outcome. Most importantly, she has taught us integrity and how to handle the pain of a tough loss.”

Not hiding her competitiveness, Dayton is very proud of the program’s successes, whether it be a tennis state championship or an exciting weekday Middle School basketball game. But she gathers the most joy by simply observing. “My favorite part of my job is to go outside or into a gym after school and see hundreds of kids, not just our kids but any kids, and coaches and fans, coming together to celebrate athletics,” she said. “There are so many moving parts that make an athletic program run well. When everybody does their part, it’s cool to see all of that be put in motion and work.”

On a recent walk through the Red Gym, where championship banners hang, Dayton reflected: “I’m proud of how much success we’ve had. I’ve witnessed 21 Friends League or NJSIAA sectional championships and four state championships in 15 years. That speaks to the commitment and dedication from everyone: studentathletes, coaches, the parents and families.”

She concluded: “But I would never lose sight that it always needs to be a meaningful and positive educational experience for everyone involved. You can’t always measure that in wins and losses.”

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Title

PURSUING PASSIONS:

Extracurricular Learning at MFS

1938 - Yearbook

1948 - Activities Committee

1955 -

Eighth Grade Play "Tw elfth Night"

1977 - Upper School Choir

1985 - New Jersey Qu

iz Bowl

1997 - Images Magazine 14

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2019 - Dance Team SPRING 2019

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The concept of “extracurriculars” remains familiar to students of all ages. Participants flock to these activities to explore new subjects, take part in meetings and discussions, or connect with friends, new and old, over shared interests.

At Moorestown Friends, the idea of what an extracurricular is – or can be – is directly influenced by students. Each division approaches the idea in a unique way, always placing an emphasis on choice and exploration. In fact, the “extra” portion of “extracurricular” is not entirely valid, as the topics and experiences contained within clubs and activities are integral parts of student life at MFS. In the Lower School, after school clubs are offered for a fee, with new clubs added or changed every season.

Most clubs meet once a week for eight weeks, and each season’s roster includes a wide range of activities, from yoga and Science Olympiad to chess and dance.

Middle School students choose semester-spanning “activity periods,” built into their course schedules on particular days. They select their top choices from a list of offerings and receive activity placements based on grade level and class size. All activities are ungraded, further encouraging students to explore and customize their schedules to their liking. Some clubs that fall outside the activity umbrella, including the PRIDE (People Recognizing Individual Diversity and Equality), Diversity, and Book Clubs, meet during lunch.

There are over 30 clubs in the Upper School and students can propose new ones by presenting them at Agenda Committee and Upper School Meeting for Worship for Business. Clubs meet during lunch and are distinct from, but in some ways similar to, “minor courses,” which allow students to explore specialized subjects several times a week during a semester or full year.

Above all, these unique methods of offering programs allow MFS students to experience a range of educational, social, and personal benefits.

“There are so many different opportunities through our club system for kids to explore interests, find ways to relax outside of the classroom, or do something different during their lunch period,” says Upper School Director Meredith Godley. “I think it’s a really healthy time for kids in the school day.”

Clubs and activities have a rich history at Moorestown Friends and their role has only expanded over time. Enjoy taking a step between the present and the past in this overview, including perspectives from current Upper School minor and club leaders.

Upper School MLK, Jr. Club

L ow er School Robotics Club SPRING 2019

Middle School Instrumental Ensemble AMONG FRIENDS

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Pursuing Passions: Extracurricular Learning at MFS Clubs, Committees, and Minor Courses in the Upper School Clubs in the Upper School are typically student-generated and student-led. When proposing club ideas to the Agenda Committee, students must demonstrate that there is an interest within the community. They are then asked questions at Meeting for Worship for Business and the Upper School student body determines whether or not to approve the idea. Once a new club is confirmed, the club’s officers find a faculty advisor and meetings can begin.

Upper School Dean of Students Mike Brunswick believes that this process provides its own set of important experiences. “It’s very Quaker-based,” Mr. Brunswick says. “The students do a great job of talking to each other and working things out. I love the fact that the more they talk through issues, the more it gets to a place where it needs to be.”

2018-19 Clubs and Committees Agenda Committee Animal Awareness Club Art and Stress Relief Club Chinese Culture Club Creative Writing Club Dance Team Club DECA (Entrepreneurship) Club Disney Club Diversity Committee Drama Club Fan Fiction Club FOCUS (Fellowship of Christians) Game Analytics Club Gender Equality Forum Girl Up Club Global Studies Club Health Awareness Club Humanitarian Aid Society Indian Culture Club

Investment Club Jewish Culture Club Martin Luther King, Jr. Club Model United Nations Club Operation Smile Club PRIDE Club Quiz Bowl Service Committee Student Government Clerks Table Top Games Club Ted Ed MFS Club Video Game Club Volleyball Club Women in STEM Worship Planning Spring 2019 Minor Courses Acoustics: Guitar Building Advanced Ceramics Advanced Digital Photography

Chinese Culture Club 16

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Most clubs and committees meet during the Upper School lunch block. These group meetings are distinct from minor courses, which are graded and take place three times a week during scheduled class blocks. Most minor courses span the length of a semester, but several full-year minors (such as Yearbook, Journalism, and several performing arts ensembles) include additional opportunities and meetings outside of the school day.

In describing benefits of the club structure, Mr. Brunswick emphasizes the balance between advisors and student officers in club leadership. “The advisors let students run the clubs, and adults can affirm rather than saying ‘Hey, this is what you need to do,’” he explains. “It’s really neat to see the students thinking, talking, strategizing, and then coming up with the great final product.”

Advanced Guitar Ensemble Advanced Jazz Ensemble Advanced Oil Painting Art Lab Arts and Literary Magazine Ceramics I Chamber Choir CPR Dance Team Digital Photography Electronics Fashion Sewing Figurative Ceramic Sculpture Fitness & Wellness Furniture Design Guitar Ensemble Harry Potter and Philosophy Hitchcock and Film Criticism Intro to Video Production Intro to Music Theory

Intro to Organic Chemistry Intro to Psychology Jewelry Design Journalism Learning Empathy MFS Singers Model United Nations Pastel Drawing Peer Leadership Race, Class & Society Realism in Oil Painting Science Fiction Set Design Song and Music Tech Stage Crew String Ensemble Studio Art Lab Symphonic/Jazz Ensemble The Beatles and Society Winter Play Yearbook

Diversity Committee SPRING 2019

Girl Up Club

By Shelby Deibler ’20,

Intern Marketing and Communications Student

“No matter their background, girls have the power to transform themselves, their communities, and the world around them,” reads a statement on the Girl Up Foundation website.

Girl Up is a United Nations campaign designed to bring activism to the classroom by creating leaders of tomorrow to pursue gender equality. The campaign primarily endorses educating girls in impoverished countries, but this year they have expanded their mission to issues such as health care, safety, leadership, and most importantly, being counted.

The Girl Up organization emphasizes the importance of counting girls in global censuses. Currently, there is very little data on the status of women in developing countries, making it difficult for allies to determine what types of humanitarian aid are most needed. Generally speaking, the organization’s philosophy is that by educating girls, whole communities can be changed and improved.

A club member, Madalena Hughes ’20, shares that “Girls have the power to change the world. It’s simple. Girl Up’s mission statement seems obvious to people like us, but from what we discuss in the club, it’s actually a very different story. That’s what I love about Girl Up Club — it provides a space to openly discuss issues affecting women and girls in impoverished countries. It allows students to grow their leadership skills.”

As Moorestown Friends’ Girl Up Club President, I admire the foundation’s effort to ensure that girls have an education from nursery school to high school. I believe that educating girls will leave long-lasting impacts on communities across the globe for generations to come. I also think that Girl Up Club echoes our school’s principles of community and equality. Club advisor and Upper School History Teacher Eliza McFeely explains that “Girl Up Club combines a number of things of which MFS can be proud. It connects our students with the world through the United Nations. It allows students with lots of advantages to do something for students around the world who don’t share those advantages.

But it is also a club that models what happens when well-educated women take charge. The members of this club have organized their own fundraisers without leaning on the advisor. More than that, they have carefully brought in curriculum, because the club is as much about understanding the problems of girls around the world as it is about supporting this UN initiative.”

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A typical club meeting consists of a group discussion of a specific problem affecting girls or focusing on a particular country that does not provide equal access to women and girls. For example, at a recent meeting we discussed the factors preventing girls from attending school.

The Girl Up Club’s Secretary, Juliette Asbell ’21, says “I like Girl Up because it brings awareness to women’s issues across the globe.

It also teaches us how to support women around the world. Living in a country with easy access to education, it’s hard to imagine other places where women do not have the same opportunities. It has definitely made me appreciate and understand not to take my own education for granted.”

Samantha Bastien ’20, Vice President, shares her perspective on the club: “In Girl Up, we spend a lot of time talking about how and why girls lack access to an education. In most cases, we’ve discovered it’s a systemic problem — and I hope our generation can fix it. Being a part of Girl Up is such a rewarding experience.

Members get to grow their leadership and organizational skills.”

Furthermore, Girl Up requires a fundraising component in order to ensure we are an official club. To be recognized by the United Nations, a minimum of a $500 donation to the campaign is required.

Our club spends about half of our time developing and planning unique fundraisers that promote empowerment and equality. Our biggest fundraiser, which we are known for, is our annual Before School Breakfast. This year we have focused on showing students and teachers -– who are buying the meals – where their money is going by having place cards with stories of girls whose lives have been changed by Girl Up. Girl Up Club provides a fun and rewarding space where students can come to learn a new perspective, earn some service hours, and interact with friends. Treasurer Rebecca Fallick ’20 emphasizes the importance of Girl Up emotionally: “Joining a club like Girl Up helps take away some of the stresses of school and everyday teenage problems. It’s a great way to channel your energy into not only something positive for our community, but the international community at large.”

Girl Up Club

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Title

WordsW orth

By Andrew Rowan ‘19,

Marketing and Communications Student

“Can we get another pair of eyes on this?” asks one studenteditor during a class meeting for WordsWorth, the Upper School student newspaper. A deadline for the latest print edition is just hours away. Laid out across the tables of Computer Lab 2 are various spreads, each being scrutinized by editors with red pens. As soon as a page is finished, another student goes to make the edits in the layout software, Adobe InDesign. While this is occurring, other students are finalizing questions in a survey for an article, making final edits to a video on New Year’s resolutions, and preparing to host a podcast on family traditions.

It’s a busy day in Computer Lab 2, which transforms into the WordsWorth newsroom three times in a six-day rotation.

WordsWorth is a student-run and edited network that produces content for various types of new and emerging media. We produce a quarterly print paper, post stories regularly to our blog, produce a news broadcast every few weeks, create a variety of podcasts on topics from gun control to holiday traditions, and maintain a strong social media presence. This is not your average school newspaper.

Moorestown Friends gives us the freedom to explore different methods of nonfiction storytelling.

While most high school journalism programs are confined into one area like broadcast or print, we have the freedom to explore where our creativity takes us. When we want to start a new podcast series or attempt a 360º video, we just get to go out and try it, with the full support of our advisors, Academic Technology Coordinator Diana Day and English Department Chair Debra Galler.

Recently, WordsWorth has been exploring multimedia journalism by taking advantage of the video and audio equipment available through the MFS Technology Department. In our broadcast studio, we produce newscasts on Facebook Live. About two weeks prior to air, all reporters and editors pitch ideas and subsequently get assigned stories. The Executive Producer, Aaron Klein ‘20, then assigns students to create graphics or write copy and designates technical directors to manage the equipment.

We have also been experimenting with live coverage on location. When an impending snowstorm threatened to impact the afternoon commute, WordsWorth’s resident meteorologist, Miles Oglesby ‘20, accompanied by staffers Sam Bitman ‘21, Justin Patel ‘20, social media director Andrew Shah ‘19, and Klein produced a live newscast from the Stokes Hall Lobby, reporting on the developments as the administration decided in offices just feet away whether or not to have an early dismissal (there was not).

In addition to the lighter stories, I’m most proud of the indepth coverage we provide on serious issues affecting our school

Intern

community, from the dress code to school security. I have grown personally from the many conversations our staff has had about journalism ethics within a school community. As student journalists, we wear many hats and must be cognizant of that when we report.

More often than not, we’re reporting on our own friends and teachers.

The thoughtfulness our reporters take when pitching and reporting stories is a huge part of WordsWorth’s success on the local, state, and national level. This past year, WordsWorth had its most successful year ever in terms of scholastic journalism awards.

WordsWorth received third place in the High School News Category from the WHYY Youth Media Awards for a broadcast story about school security. From the Garden State Scholastic Press Association, WordsWorth won six awards and six honorable mentions, and, for the first time in the program’s history, was a finalist for the GSSPA’s Online Distinguished Journalism award and Online Overall Excellence award.

Finally, from the National Scholastic Press Association, WordsWorth received an honorable mention in the Broadcast Commentary category.

In addition to these awards, three members of WordsWorth were inducted into the Quill and Scroll Scholastic Journalism Honor Society last fall.

While it is very rewarding to see our work recognized by scholastic journalism professionals, the experience of working on WordsWorth is richly fulfilling in numerous ways. The leadership opportunities that WordsWorth has provided have helped me to grow as a leader. As advisors, Mrs. Galler and Ms. Day encourage the editorial staff to take charge and guide the organization in the way we feel is best. I have learned skills such as communication, teamwork, and adaptability. When the floor director counts down the seconds until we’re live on the air with our newscast, it’s the trust and teamwork that will dictate how the broadcast will go.

WordsWorth has been fortunate to have Moorestown Friends administrators who stand up for the benefit that a strong, independent school news network offers a school community. Their support has allowed us to grow stronger as a news organization and grapple with the ethics of publishing different types of stories.

While we know our stories sometimes may cause headaches for administrators, all of the staff on WordsWorth feel grateful for the opportunity to write the first draft of Moorestown Friends’ history and help strengthen our school community.

WordsWorth

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SPRING 2019

Investment Club

By Charlie Tanas ’20,

Intern Marketing and Communications Student

Investment Club is an interactive club that allows students who are passionate about finance to come together and explore various aspects of the field. During meetings, members participate in group activities ranging from researching stocks to playing interactive investment simulators. After completing these simulators, a typical club meeting will include analysis of new topics and news about the stock market, usually led by me or our club advisor, Math Teacher Ron Obermeier.

As the club leader and founder, I have learned a lot about understanding others’ personal interests, as well as working as a group to design activities that are educational but also enjoyable. A typical club period begins with a short research project, or members share an article that pertains to a specific stock or the market in general. The rest of the lunch block is spent researching companies for one of our two main stock simulators; the first of which is an individual simulator in which students are given $10,000 of virtual money to invest in any stocks they want. This activity has quickly turned into a serious competition between club members, in which the student with the most profits at the end of each quarter gets to choose the toppings on the pizza that we order. I noticed the popularity of this system rather quickly and realized that members were much more engaged when they had to learn from their mistakes and were treated like actual Wall Street investors. This meeting style created a more competitive and passion-driven atmosphere in the club, and had an overwhelmingly positive impact on the students in the club.

“Investment Club has provided me with an interactive, yet competitive atmosphere to learn about the stock market,” commented Josh Strauss ’20.

The second simulator that we spend most of our meeting period on is our class portfolio. This is similar to the individual stock competition, except that all the members of the club work together

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to decide what stocks should be bought as a class with $100,000 of virtual money available. The transactions of this simulation are recorded on a website called Investopedia, which accounts for all the expenses of buying stocks as if we were spending real money, including taxes and broker costs. The reason Investment Club has a class portfolio is to increase members’ understanding of how investment clubs function in the real world.

“I like Investment Club because I am able to learn about stocks in a real world setting and without the pressure of a class,” said Aaron Clark ’20.

The structure of working as a group to create a class portfolio is impactful because it is the same structure that professional investment groups follow when investing in real stocks: individual members research companies and present their findings to the group, and the rest of the group decides whether or not they think it is a good time to buy. This allows club members to be more experienced in the process of real investing, rather than just learning theories or strategies. In addition, Mr. Obermeier continuously supports our discussions and activities by recounting his personal stories about investing and explaining complex topics that may be new to all of us.

Ultimately, my work with Investment Club has helped me affirm my interest in the financial field.

This experience has also helped me understand the concepts of leadership and teamwork. I have found that true engagement comes with “doing:” when club members are constantly being challenged in a real-world environment, they have a much greater passion for learning, and so do I.

Investment Club

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19

Pursuing Passions: Extracurricular Learning at MFS Activity Periods in the Middle School In the Middle School, the range of activity periods (along with several lunchtime clubs, such as the Diversity, PRIDE, and Book Clubs) is a testament to the diverse interests of students.

Tina Corsey, Science Teacher and Director of Middle School Student Life, witnesses this firsthand as she builds schedules for students at the beginning of each semester. “Middle School is about trying to figure out who you are and what your interests are,” she explains. “I think that the more activity selections you have, the more you’re able to reach different kids and allow them to try out different things.”

Fifth grade students can select a performing arts ensemble (string, choral, or instrumental) and begin to experience the role that activity periods play in their schedules. Sixth graders are required to complete one performing arts activity and otherwise have access to the full roster. Seventh and eighth graders can choose whatever combination of three activities they wish.

Eighth graders can also participate in committees to play active roles in student government. These small groups – such as Dance Committee and Recess Committee – allow students to directly shape events and Middle School policies.

Middle School Director Kimberly Clarkson emphasizes the impact that such opportunities provide during this crucial time in students’ educational lives. “Activity periods are a really important part of our program because they allow students a place during the week where they can explore something they’re passionate about or interested in,” she says.

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2018-19 Second Semester Activity Period Offerings: Active Games and Sports Advanced String Ensemble Choir Clay is the Way Contemporary Ensemble Decoding Media Myths Digital Photography Exploring the Potter’s Wheel FLL (FIRST LEGO League) Robotics Glassworks Guitar and Percussion Jam History Bee Instrumental Ensemble Lower School Buddy Program MATHCOUNTS Musical Science Olympiad Service Leadership Sketch Squad String Ensemble Student Government Tech Crew

Middle School Choir SPRING 2019

Pursuing Passions: Extracurricular Learning at MFS

After School Clubs in the Lower School In the Lower School, after school clubs provide additional learning and engagement opportunities for a per-club fee. Director of Extended Day and After School Programs Norma DeGroat coordinates offerings for each of the three sessions (fall, winter, spring), and clubs generally meet in the same time slot once a week for eight weeks. Martha Cameron, Director of Auxiliary and Summer Programs, manages online registration and has facilitated partnerships with outside organizations (such as The Knight School, which runs the Chess Club).

Several clubs, including Science Olympiad and Chess, are mainstays offered every season. However, teachers can also suggest brand-new topics based on their interests. This year, for example, Jenny Torgerson and Ted Quinn ran the Lower School Theater Club and staged its first-ever play; club members attended weekly meetings in both the fall and winter to permit additional practice and preparation.

Many after school clubs admit students from multiple grade levels, providing opportunities for students of different ages to collaborate and learn with each other.

Ms. DeGroat and Ms. Cameron also cite the benefits of offering these activities within the MFS community. “There’s the socialemotional enrichment that’s beneficial for the child, and there’s also the logistical benefit for parents or guardians,” Ms. Cameron says.

“When we offer these clubs, it’s so much more convenient for kids to stay here after school. Parents and students know the teachers, they know they’re safe, and they know they’re well cared for.”

L ow er School Theater Club SPRING 2019

2018-19 Fall and Winter After School Clubs Chess Club Dance Revolution Club Field Hockey Club Gymnastics Club Imagiknit Club Improv, Skit and Standup Club Intro to Watercolor Painting Club Mosaics Club Robotics Club Running Club Science Olympiad Club Spanish Club Sports Club Storytelling Club Tea Party Club Theater Club Yoga and Relaxation Club

ation Club

elax L ow er School Yoga and R

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Career Day

Matthew Strauss • Executive Vice President of XFINITY Services for Comcast Corporation

• Manages Comcast’s residential lines of business, including XFINITY Video, Internet, Home, and Voice

Lessons from the Telecommunications Industry and Finding Your Passion Juniors and seniors gathered in the Meeting House on February 8 to hear Career Day Keynote Speaker Matthew Strauss. Matt began his speech by describing the challenging process of envisioning a career path as a teenager and young adult.

“When I was in high school, I had it all figured out. I was going to be a corporate lawyer. And then when I went off to college I realized I didn’t want to be a corporate lawyer, so I went to business school and got my degree in finance. When I graduated, I realized I didn’t want to be an investment banker. I sent my resume out to hundreds of different companies and got two hundred rejections.

So how did I end up here? How did I go from being an unemployed college graduate to being at Comcast?”

Matt then fast-forwarded to the present to describe the business reach of Comcast: 30 million customers, over $55 billion generated in 2018, and recent acquisitions including NBC and Universal. He then revealed one of the most important words in the modern technology and entertainment industries: “engagement.”

Through enlightening statistics and charts, Matt revealed the amount of time average Americans are engaged with work, sleep, and ﹘ most crucial to Comcast’s business ﹘ watching TV. While most consumers spend a few hours a month watching TV on their phones or their computer, nearly all viewing hours are on the TV itself.

“People default to the best screen that’s available to them,” Matt explained. “So if I’m going to create a TV product, I’ve got to make sure I don’t lose sight of that fact. You are alive at a point in time where there is more high-quality TV available now than there ever has been. I call it the Golden Age of TV.” Matt went on to outline his typical workday for the audience of students. His most frequent responsibilities include reviewing 22

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advertising materials, responding to customer comments or complaints, analyzing research, and many phone calls, meetings, and emails. “I’m making sure the orchestra is playing,”he said. “And when they play, the music is great.”

Matt transitioned to a discussion about how his personal interests informed his career choices. As a child, he loved to watch cartoons, but was frustrated that he could only watch them on Saturday mornings. He started to record and catalog VHS tapes of his favorite shows, and this interest in timing, access, and programming blocks led him to develop the first On Demand service years later as a young professional.

Matt emphasized that career trajectories, including his own, are not always straightforward. “Most careers are more like zigzags,” he said. “Sometimes you go forward, sometimes you go backwards, sometimes you go sideways. Careers are typically not sprints; they’re marathons.” Matt also stressed the importance of mentors. While working at ABC as a junior financial analyst, Matt found himself unsatisfied, particularly when he missed out on a key promotion after many months of hard work. However, he found a mentor in ABC’s controller, who encouraged him to move to the strategy and planning group. This allowed Matt to observe market trends and present financial plans to the executives.

What Matt found in this position was that broadcast TV was declining and cable TV was growing. “While I was working at ABC, I got a job offer from NBC and a job offer from a small cable operator called Cablevision. I decided to go to cable, which was not a popular choice. The recruiter from NBC said, ‘That’s the worst decision you’re ever going to make.’ It turned out to be the best decision I ever made.”

Matt joined Cablevision as digital platforms began to explode.

“At this time, I was 30. I said, ‘If I’m going to be in this field, I want to work for the biggest.’ So I did what felt very natural to me: I picked up the phone and called the CEO of Comcast. By the way, I don’t recommend you do this.” Matt explained that he recognized Comcast’s goals for on-demand platforms and noted he had the ability to grow the business. Two weeks later, he was hired.

In closing, Matt expressed his hopes and parting words of advice to the audience. “If you know what you want to do, go for it. But if you don’t know yet what you want to do, set a goal you can achieve. A goal could be forcing yourself to speak in public or getting an internship. Then learn from it, and as you start to connect the dots, your path will emerge.”

Matt and his wife, Michele, are MFS parents of four sons, Joshua ’20, Jason ’22, Aaron ’24, and Ethan ’27.

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CAREER DAY PRESENTERS

Jill Carey-Melton ’88, MFS Parent

Jerome Hipps, MFS Parent

Psychologist Moorestown Public Schools

Talent Manager and Executive Producer Mama’s Boys Entertainment Group

Rhonda Cates, MFS Parent

Jay Patel ’85, MFS Parent

Manager, Benefits Finance University of Pennsylvania

Radiologist South Jersey Radiology

John Hanamirian, MFS Parent

Jon Runyan, MFS Parent

Founding Shareholder Hanamirian Law Firm

Vice President of Policy and Rules National Football League

Phil Heffelfinger, MFS Parent

Natalie Walter Timoteo ’05

Senior Analytical Automation Engineer Alfa Laval

Buyer Kipling USA

These professionals visited MFS on February 8 to discuss their respective career paths with 11th and 12th grade students and share advice. Each presenter, along with keynote speaker Matthew Strauss, hosted Upper School students in three breakout sessions.

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MFS Alumni Network Connections Made Through the MFS Alumni Network One of the many benefits of a Moorestown Friends School education is the powerful and diverse alumni network. Locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally, connections are made professionally, socially, and in the community.

Eight MFS alumni returned to campus on October 25 for a luncheon and panel discussion with the Class of 2019. Each panelist answered questions about college, work-life balance, and how MFS helped them get to where they are now. Once a Fox, always a Fox! Pictured are Melanie Preston ’05, Senior Associate Marketing Manager at Campbell’s; Jake O’Donnell ’11, Co-Founder and Head of Business Development at AAC Live; Sean Denson ’08 (seated), Senior Category Lead at McKinsey & Company; Lorenzo Gibson ’12, Founder of Jolt Creative Agency; Maura Burk ’06, Associate Attorney at Capehart & Scatchard; Spencer Bard ’13, Software Engineer at the Philadelphia Phillies; Chandler Lutz ’12, Traffic Anchor and Reporter for CBS3 Eyewitness News; and Temi Obaisi ’11, Senior Consultant at EY (Ernst & Young) Accounting.

On November 2, Head of School Julia de la Torre welcomed a group of alums including alumni who are current MFS parents to campus for “Perspectives on MFS.” In this hands-on workshop, Ms. de la Torre gave tips on improving cell phone photos; participants later broke up into small groups and captured MFS images through their own lenses. Front: Katie Kellom ’05, Sonia Mixter Guzman ’02, Julia de la Torre, Meg Hollingworth ’97, Matt Wartenberg ’07. Second Row: Jill Carey Melton ’88, Tracey Whitesell ’86, Jackie Markelwitz Kirchhoff ’94. Third Row: Charles Haines ’75.

On January 29, WordsWorth journalists took an exciting trip to New York City. ABC News Correspondent Linsey Davis ’95 invited the group to visit the set of Good Morning America (GMA) when she was on campus last spring, and the students’ first stop was a taping of GMA where they met hosts Robin Roberts and Michael Strahan. They then received a tour of ABC News from ABC Senior Producer and MFS Trustee Janice Johnston ’88 (third from right) and 20/20 Anchor Assistant Austin Harris ’13 (second from left). To finish the day, they enjoyed tours of CNN and Instagram.

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SPRING 2019

Class Notes

Photographs of alumni are now indicated with . If you see this symbol, a photo featuring a class member is either on the page or nearby!

1950

1941 Mary Newell Nelson is part of a U.S. age 90+ study on the causes of senile mental problems in some seniors and not in others. PET and MRI scans are required in addition to periodic physicals and mental and emotional tests. Mary explains that, in death, some of her body parts will end up in other humans, but her brain will end up in the lab.

1946 George Krusen is working on a Krusen family history leading back to his grandparents. George’s cousin Leslie ’43 is the main author; they have experienced some challenges identifying people in 1921 and 1923 reunion photos. George occasionally hears from fellow Class of 1946 alumni Charlie Rose, Bill Caldwell, Lilla Rowland Smithson, Mary Grimley Mason, and Barbara Bagley Moule.

Joan Herbst Lumb has been a docent at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, FL for nine years. For the past four years, the Norton has been undergoing a $10 million renovation and addition under the auspices of Pritzker Award-winning architect Lord Norman Foster. Architectural Digest named the renovated museum one of 14 buildings worldwide to look for in 2019. Joan describes the new interior, opened to the public on February 9, as “breathtaking.” She says that if anyone is in the area and would like a tour, you are welcome to contact her.

1968 Larry Van Meter Named President and CEO of Acton Educational Foundation Former Head of School Larry Van Meter was appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Forman S. Acton Educational Foundation (Salem, NJ) in January. In this role, he will develop programming, grant management, and financial administration strategies. Larry, quoted in an Acton Foundation press release, stated: “I joined the Foundation as a board member three years ago because I wanted to be a part of an organization that makes a significant impact on students and children in Salem.” Salem, a historic city of 5,000 residents located south of the Delaware Memorial Bridge, is one of the most economically-distressed communities in the state. The Forman S. Acton Educational Foundation has substantial resources to use for the benefit of the school children of Salem.

Larry’s parents grew up in Salem County, and his mother was a graduate of Salem High School. Following his retirement at the end of June 2018, Larry and Margaret moved to their 18th century Quaker-built farmhouse located near Salem in rural southwestern New Jersey, not far from Delaware Bay. Larry is pictured here with his staff colleagues at the Foundation’s office.

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Class Notes 1950 Joan Herbst Lumb (25)

1969

1952 Wesley Manuel had dinner with Wayne Bancroft and his wife while back north from home in Florida. They “enjoyed reliving good times at MFS back in the 1950s!”

1953 Mary Ricketts writes that she has been involved recently with the King Point Musical Theater Club, stage managing their productions in 2017 and 2018. She is enjoying Florida’s almost year-round swimming and warmer weather, but notices that flooding is on the increase and the storms are getting bigger. She had a health setback with blood clots in both legs, but has overcome them. Active with the theater club, swimming, following baseball and PBS shows (especially mysteries), naturewatching and reading, Mary is busy. Both she and her extended family are doing well.

1954 Missy Kjellenberg sends her well wishes to her classmates far and wide. Following her husband Shelley’s death in 2018, and some health challenges she has experienced since then, she has gotten wonderful support from her friends in Sister Bay and from the Clearing Folk School.

1956 Paul Mecray continues to work full-time analyzing the global oil industry and travelling to oil fields. He travels less to the Middle East as in the past — now mostly to Texas. Paul and his wife Nell live at Beaumont Retirement Community in Bryn Mawr, PA. Rebecca Brecker has enjoyed attending a regular MFS alumni brunch for the past several years. The brunch was formed by Roland Ricketts ’57 and takes place on the third Thursday of the month. “We have a nice crowd where we share memories of MFS,” Rebecca says.

1958 Brenda Kumpf Donahue continues to volunteer with Rescue Village, a shelter that works to find homes for many displaced 26

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David Good took a three-week vacation to New Zealand in the fall with his daughter Eleanor. David highlighted their visit to the Hobbiton Movie Set from The Lord of the Rings. animals in northeast Ohio. Brenda’s husband Chuck is doing pastoral care at University Hospital of Cleveland.

1961 Bill Archer is still the town crier mascot for the Historical Society of Moorestown.

He continues to participate in various Moorestown events as the town crier.

Sachiko Yamamoto (27)

1962 Steve Hart has transitioned to a career in voice-overs after years in advertising on Madison Ave. as a creative director and copywriter. He has also appeared on camera in three TV commercials.

1963 Martha Rudrauff and her husband Tom Levy have been struggling since Tom’s strokes in 2016 and 2018. Their local township commissioner kindly set up a GoFundMe account for them. To see it go to www.GoFundMe.com and search for “Rudrauff;” there you can read more of the story and see pictures.

1964 Lindy Thomas Barocchi recently retired for the second time and drove across the country in August (from Palo Alto, CA to Philadelphia). Lindy says that “it is an adventure to be on this side of the country and so close to MFS.” She has enjoyed learning about living life in the city with Olivia (two-year-old standard poodle), and she hopes to see many of her 1964 classmates in the near future.

Ellen Tyler Miller held her first solo art exhibit in May 2018. Ellen’s mediums of choice include oils, watercolor, charcoal, and pen and ink. She currently serves as the Programs Chair of the Burlington County Art Guild.

Christine Wagner Oliver moved from El Dorado Hills, CA to Folsom, CA earlier this year and loves the new home.

1965 Merrill Weiss has received awards from two different professional societies. In August, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) bestowed its Excellence in Standards Award in SPRING 2019

Class Notes recognition of more than four decades of participation and more than three decades of leadership in the development of SMPTE standards. In October, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), Broadcast Technology Society presented to Merrill its Jules Cohen Award for Outstanding Broadcast Engineering in recognition of his technical and leadership skills and his career-long commitment to integrity, professionalism, and the growth and success of his clients and the industries he serves.

1971

1968 Larry Van Meter (25)

1969 David Good (26)

1970 Jeff Miller has self-published WWI Crusaders (subtitle: A band of Yanks in German-occupied Belgium save millions from starvation as Belgian civilians resist the harsh German rule). It was released on Veterans Day to honor the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. The book has received a Kirkus Starred Review, which stated “A tour-de-force history...gripping historical narrative...A magnum opus that celebrates the qualities of compassion, honor, and humanitarian virtue.” In December Kirkus announced WWI Crusaders was one of only 100 self-published books included in its Best Books of 2018. The book is available at bookstores and on Amazon as a print and ebook. If any alumni read it, Jeff would love to hear their thoughts — good or bad. He hopes to get Hollywood interested in a limited series. Jeff visited MFS in the fall.

1973

Larry Hinds lives in Hawaii and Washington state, spending some of his time in each.

Stanley Shedaker visited him recently, and he is looking forward to the next reunion.

1971 Jeff Miller and Denis McDaniel (28) John Donnelly writes: “It was a really great pleasure to help out the MFS students with their Global Health project last spring. For the last three years, I have been leading Global Healing, a nonprofit devoted to improving access to healthcare for children and mothers worldwide. Last month I published a memoir on my 2004 experience in the Iraq War, Center of Mercy, available from Amazon in paperback and on Kindle.”

Kurt Klaus became a master gardener in 2011. He focuses on cultivating native plants for birds, butterflies, pollinators, and other wildlife in Redland, Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Chiyo Moriuchi (right) and her husband Mark Haber (left) were in Tokyo last October and went to Meeting for Worship at Tokyo Friends Meeting. Sachiko Yamamoto ’61 (center) is now clerk of the Japan Yearly Meeting; she was the first student to come from Tokyo Friends School to MFS back in the 1960s. She lived with the Wildman family for the year.

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Class Notes Judy Hurst Loane retired in October 2017.

She works part-time running community events for HOPE United Methodist Church in Mount Laurel.

1971

Steve Levin retired from teaching after 18 years at Nottingham North High School. He currently devotes his time to volunteering for the South Jersey Food Bank and the Voorhees Pediatric Facility.

Denis McDaniel (left) was inducted into the New Jersey Mayors Hall of Fame in November 2018. Denis has served as Mayor of Springfield Township since 2009 and was Deputy Mayor of the Springfield Township Council from 2001-2006. He is also the owner and president of Synergy Enterprises Inc. (Wrightstown) and former Chairman of the Board of the U.S. Sugar Corporation (Buffalo, NY).

1972 Dr. Steve Benner Leads Breakthrough Discovery Doubling the Genetic Alphabet As reported by The New York Times and many other outlets, Dr. Steven Benner ‘72 and a team of scientists have made a breakthrough discovery, doubling the genetic alphabet via a new system referred to as Hachimoji DNA (hachi is Japanese for eight, moji for letter).

The scientists have doubled the number of life’s building blocks, creating for the first time a synthetic, eight-letter genetic language that seems to store and transcribe information just like natural DNA. The Hachimoji DNA could provide for increased durability in the storage of digital data, offering a much better mechanism for storage required to last centuries. It may also hold clues to the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe.

Dr. Benner is the founder of the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution (Ffame) in Florida and the Westheimer Institute for Science and Technology. From 1997-2005 he was the V. T. and Louise Jackson Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of Florida and a member of the faculty of the Department of Molecular Biology.

The Benner research group originated the field of “synthetic biology,” which seeks to generate, by chemical synthesis, molecules that reproduce the complex behavior of living systems, including their genetics, inheritance, and evolution. They invented dynamic combinatorial chemistry, combining ideas from molecular evolution, enzymology, analytical chemistry, and organic chemistry to generate a strategy to discover small molecule therapeutic leads. He has also spawned the fields of paleogenetics and computational bioinformatics.

Dr. Benner served as the 2009 Cum Laude His research is on the frontiers of scientific inquiry and involves gene synthesis, Society Banquet keynote speaker. During artificial genetic systems, a “second generation” model for nucleic acids, practical his visit, he shared his work and spoke with genotyping tools, astrobiology (the search for life on other planets), genomics and Middle School and Upper School science interpretive proteomics, bioinformatic workbenches and databases, protein structure students. prediction and experimental paleogenetics (the resurrection of genes and proteins from ancient organisms).

Benner came to Moorestown Friends in the seventh grade from Haddonfield Friends School. At MFS, he became the first student inducted into the Cum Laude Society as a junior. He was a mainstay of the debate team and the President of Student Council his senior year. He was the Cum Laude Society & World Languages Honors Banquet keynote speaker in 2009.

Following MFS, he earned a B.S. and an M.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University, and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Harvard University (1979). After teaching at Harvard at the beginning of his career, Dr. Benner became a professor of bio-organic chemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, living in Zurich.

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SPRING 2019

Class Notes

1983

1986

Trustee Haley Coles Driscoll (center) met up with her classmates Tracey Whitesell and Mike Kowalski at a performance of the MFS fall musical, The Drowsy Chaperone. Tracey’s daughter, Lizzie Huettl, had a leading role.

1972 Dr. Steve Benner spotlight (28)

1973 Chiyo Moriuchi (27)

Steve Walsh (left) caught up with John Richter after a day of “R and R,” skiing at Butternut in western Massachusetts. This was Steve’s first time back on skis in 20 years. He is also shown above (right) with fiancé Tracee Bachman.

Trish Soffer Mainwaring had a wonderful time visiting Jeana Henderson Troyan in Jackson, WY, where she and her husband Gary have retired.

1983 1986

Steve Walsh and John Richter

1984 Beth Petrie recently opened her own physical therapy practice in Moorestown: bpt Physical Therapy. The logo, branding, and all bpt artwork were created by Beth’s daughter, Lauren Radack ’19. Beth’s son, Tyler Radack ’17, helped purchase equipment for bpt and works as his mother’s physical therapy aide while on break from Boston College.

1986 Haley Coles Driscoll, Joan Hohweiler Herzog, Mike Kowalski, Julia Graham Slater, and Tracey Whitesell

Joan Hohweiler Herzog, Julia Graham Slater, and Haley Coles Driscoll celebrated their birthdays by traveling on a Danube River Cruise with their husbands from Vilshofen, Germany to Budapest, Hungary.

SPRING 2019

Col. G. Shawn Wells, Jr. began his 29th year of service as the Executive Officer to the Assistant of the Army for Installation, Energy, and Environment at the Pentagon.

At the beginning of the year he traveled with his daughter Katie to London to see the History of Magic Show held at the British Library — he describes the trip as “spectacular.” Katie is now a junior in high school and is involved in field hockey and band. She also enjoys going to the theater with her mom, Shelly.

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Class Notes

1987 Nathan Williams Explores History, Cultural Connections through Hip-Hop Architecture and Artwork The artwork of Nathan Williams was featured prominently in an exhibition, Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip-Hop Architecture, at the Center for Architecture in New York City from October-January. The Center defines hip-hop architecture as “spaces, buildings, and environments that embody the creative energy evident in hip-hop expression;” a recent article in The Architects Newspaper called Nathan “the godfather of hip-hop architecture.” Below are excerpts from an interview with Nathan about his work.

Describe your work and career leading up to this point.

My educational (college) background was in architecture, which has been a really important, informative part of my art life. A lot of the work I do is research and theory. Right now – and for the past 20 to 30 years – I’ve been looking at African diaspora, creative theory, process, and practice, and using that to develop my architectural theory.

Your recent work has primarily incorporated collages and mixed media. What about these mediums appeals to you most?

I think in part it’s because of the culture and studies I’m doing. They kind of lend themselves to mixed media. There’s an overlaying of information that I use in most of my pieces: a visual or spatial reference, a numeric or mathematic reference to cultural spirituality, a musical reference.

The approach is really that of a deejay; I deejayed quite a lot in college. Within hip-hop culture this idea of an overlaying and overlapping, and how the different rhythms come together, is the magic of what happens. It happens linguistically, it happens in music, and it happens in dance. So I’m incorporating that same process within my artwork.

With all of the projects you’re involved in, what does an average day look like for you, and how do you divide your time?

I used to say that I spent my time in thirds, where I would do writing in the morning and then architecture and art in the evening. It’s usually two of the three. Today I had meetings in the morning, then this afternoon I’ll be at the Pratt Institute, one of the universities where I’m a guest critic for architecture and art students. Every once in a while I get to take a few weeks and make art before a show. I’ll be disappearing and doing that soon for upcoming shows.

What was the process like of working with the Center for Architecture on the “Close to the Edge” exhibition?

An incredible architect, Nina Cook, came up with the idea of the show. My thesis was in 1993,* and it’s only more recently that hip-hop architecture has resurfaced again. I thought it was something that could just disappear in terms of culture representation in the field of architecture. So I was happy this was happening, and at the scale it was happening. *Ed. Note - According to the American Institute of Architects, Nathan’s 1993 thesis project at Cornell University is “the earliest documented student exploration on the subject.”

To read more of Nathan’s interview, including details about his recent travels and research projects, visit the web edition of Among Friends at mfriends.org/news/among-friends-magazine.

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Class Notes

1989 Cindi Martinez Opens Doors for Students as Lead Educator for Special Education in Camden Cindi Martinez, a Camden Scholar alumna, began working as the Camden City School District’s Lead Educator for Special Education in December 2017. Prior to taking on this role, Cindi was a special education teacher in Camden for 23 years. She currently oversees seven of the nineteen district schools and provides support for 80 special education teachers, over 300 students, and their parents.

Cindi’s daily responsibilities as Lead Educator are wide-ranging. “My primary job is helping teachers work with their students, whether it’s through instruction or supporting behavioral interventions,” she explains. “My biggest role is to make sure that our students are placed in the least restrictive environment — a setting that keeps them as close as possible to their non-disabled peers.”

Cindi helped develop a project in which students in the life skills program run a café at Woodrow Wilson High School; other life skills students work at local businesses such as Campbell’s Soup, American Water, and the South Jersey Food Bank. In the summer, Cindi also serves as the building supervisor for the district’s Extended School Year program.

Looking forward, Cindi describes two major objectives. “District-wide, one of our goals is to look for highly qualified bilingual special education teachers,” she says. “And my second goal would be to figure out how to best provide our teachers and students with mental health support.” Cindi looks forward to continuing this journey as well as the pursuit of her own educational milestones.

Last year, she began her doctoral studies at Rowan University, focusing on educational leadership and social justice.

After over two decades of service in Camden, Cindi finds that the most affecting aspects of her work span across the years. “For me, it’s rewarding to watch children succeed and be able to show me what they’re doing on a regular basis. And seeing the students that I had when they were younger now at the high school — that’s really meaningful, because it shows me that they’re still in school and what I did back then made a difference.”

1988

1987 Nathan Williams spotlight (30)

1988 Janice Johnston

1989 Cindi Martinez spotlight (above)

1991 Alexander Wildes (32)

1993 Ryan McAleer (32)

1994 Gigio Longo (32)

1995 Janice Johnston, a senior producer at ABC News, won her sixth Emmy Award for “Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story in a Newsmagazine.” Janice was part of the team at ABC’s 20/20 that produced the award-winning episode “Las Vegas: Heartbreak and Heroes.”

While waiting backstage to have photos taken of her and the Emmy, Janice encountered a familiar face: Erica D’Costa ’15. Erica saw Janice’s Career Day keynote in 2015 and was inspired to pursue a career in television. She is currently a journalism major at Rutgers and was volunteering at the Emmys that very night.

SPRING 2019

Ashley King works as a psychotherapist in Center City Philadelphia. She was recently interviewed for a Philadelphia Inquirer article about “authentic-relating” sessions in Ardmore, PA. Authentic-relating meetup groups are gatherings designed to create meaningful connections through active listening and the sharing of thoughts and feelings. “We tend to think of connection AMONG FRIENDS

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Class Notes

1991

1997

In October 2018, Alexander Wildes accepted a Level 2 Applications Support Engineer position within the IT department of the Fort Washington, PA-based company, Nutrisystem. as something that simply happens or doesn’t,” Ashley says in the Inquirer.

“But it’s a skill we can cultivate.”

Lee Porter

1997 Meg Hollingworth and Abe Sudhindra

2001 Jordan Barbour performed in the New York Drama League’s Directorfest this January. He was one of two lead actors in a production of Stephen Sondheim’s Marry Me a Little.

If you are the type of person who stays at the movies and watches the credits roll, you would have had many opportunities recently to spot Dave Kellom’s name. He has been the Art Department Coordinator on several recent big releases shot in Philadelphia, including M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass (with Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis), Creed II (with Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone), and The Upside (with Kevin Hart, Nicole Kidman, and Bryan Cranston). Dave is currently working as an Art Department Coordinator for a forthcoming Shyamalan television series which will stream on Apple TV.

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AMONG FRIENDS

Meg Hollingworth sent a photograph of an alumni gathering at the October 28 Eagles game in London. From left: Ryan McAleer ’93, Lee Porter ’95, Meg, Anthony Hollingworth, Gigio Longo ’94, and Abe Sudhindra ’97. Present but not pictured: Courtney McAleer and Steve Porter ’98.

Lawrence Henderson completed a screenplay, Miss Havisham Effect, under the name Lawren Henderson. The script will be made into an independent film starring Rochelle Aytes (Criminal Minds) and Brian White (Mistresses). Leila Djansi (Where Children Play) is attached to direct.

2004

2002 Katie Dilks passed the midpoint examination in her doctorate program and is now a doctoral candidate, Clinical Supervisor, and Adjunct Professor at Drexel University in Couple and Family Therapy.

Katie also got engaged over the summer and will be getting married in February 2020.

Emily Einhorn and her husband, Jeffrey Wong, welcomed a son, Justin Einhorn-Wong, on June 11.

SPRING 2019

Class Notes

2006

2005 Chris Lloyd married Jane Margaret Rouse on September 8 at St. Mary’s in Tuxedo, NY. Chris’s “best person” in the wedding party was Kernika Gupta. At the reception were Justin Gonnelli, Eleni Gonnelli, Marina DiStefano, Sean DiStefano, Luke Van Meter, and Ariel Finegold.

Jennifer Barna Christmas and her husband Daniel welcomed a son, Theo, in January, shared first-time grandmother and MFS Computer Science Teacher Gail Barna.

2008

The Class of 2008 held its 10th reunion on Thanksgiving weekend at Khyber Pass in Philadelphia.

Front: Paige Martin and Rachel Mulligan. Second row: Ariel Aguiar, Morgan Burgess, Rebecca Machlus Spatucci, and Lauren Hawkins.

Third row: Lauren deLevie, Ryan Price, Brianna DeGroat ’09, Sean Denson, Michaela Marek, Chelsea Shire, Jen Briones, Julie Laskin, and Kristen Stobbe Jesperson. Fourth row: Tommy Stackhouse, Andrea Onorato, Velika Nespor Winterbottom, Justin Adibi, Kyle Dawson, Chris Nigro, Alyss Vavricka, Tareq Azad, Nick Harbist, Steve Haines, Shane Iosca, and Richard Rinaldi. Top row: Anna Leh, Shaina Karasin Edson, Chelsea Loring Guenther, Glenn Smyth, Julie Martin, and Wyatt Cain (far right). Thanks to Julie Laskin for organizing the reunion.

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Class Notes

2009 Hannah Levy Makes SNL Directing Debut In October, Hannah Levy ’09 and her Funny or Die directing partner Adriana Robles were hired by NBC’s Saturday Night Live, and it was quickly noted by media pundits that they were the first all-female directing team in the show’s 44-year history.

The Brown alumna took time out of her busy schedule to respond to the questions below: Describe your daily/weekly responsibilities and the skills required to be successful in your role.

Saturday Night Live is obviously live, but each week, there are up to three sketches that are filmed ahead of time. We call them “pre-tapes.” They’re usually commercial parodies, fake movie trailers, music videos, or cinematic scenes. My directing partner and I direct one of those video pieces each week.

On Monday and Tuesday, I’m focused on making the promo for that week’s show. On Monday we plan, and on Tuesday we shoot and edit. Each promo is basically a mini-sketch, so it’s a great warm-up for the rest of the week and to get to know the host.

The week really picks up on Wednesday, which starts with a table read Saturday Night Live Film Unit Director Hannah of all the week’s sketches with the cast and the host. As soon as it’s over, my Levy ’09 (second from left) on set with Alicia directing partner and I get a call from our boss, who tells us which sketch we’re Gurrieri ’09, Hannah’s father Brahman Levy, directing. From there, it’s a sprint until Saturday night. Our crew immediately and directing partner Adriana Robles. files into our office and we start answering questions about how we’ll tackle the script, like — What will the lighting look like? How about costumes? Which cast members need wigs? Someone catches fire in the script, so are we going to hire a stunt guy, or accomplish that with visual effects?

Thursday is our big preproduction day; we plan everything from what shots we need, to how we’ll block each scene, and we join the writers for a punch-up of the script. On Friday, we shoot our piece. Often, we don’t start filming until 10 p.m., and we go into the early a.m. The whole show works on an extremely tight timeline, and we’re no exception. That means we don’t have any wiggle room to get take after take of the same shot. As we’re shooting, we’re sending footage to our editor, who immediately starts putting the piece together.

On Saturday morning, we sit with our editor and the writers and fine tune the video throughout the day. It has to be ready for dress rehearsal, where we watch the sketch in the studio and see where it gets laughs. Based on that, we get feedback on how to change the piece for the live show. Usually, we’re working on it until minutes before it airs.

To do my job, you need a balance of technical filmmaking skills and creative comedy skills, and you also need to be cool with not sleeping that much.

Summarize your career arc and how your previous stops have served you.

After college, I worked as a video producer for The Onion and ClickHole. We worked with small budgets, so I got to do a little bit of everything, from planning, to directing actors, to editing. It was really cool to work at a place with such a distinct comedic voice. I wanted to be more involved in the creative process, and so I left to work Funny or Die. I started as an editor there but quickly started writing and directing. My favorite experience there was writing and directing a Handmaid’s Tale parody making fun of men’s rights activists. The main actor dropped out the morning of the shoot, but my coworker filled in, and he was so funny. I left Funny or Die when they laid me off because it seemed like the polite thing to do. Later that year, I got a job as a writer on a Comedy Central sketch show that hasn’t come out yet called Alternatino.

Who/what are some MFS influences that you carry with you today?

MFS is a community that really encourages kids to be themselves, and that was powerful for me. I was in student government, and every Monday I’d give an announcement in the form of a joke. It probably made the assembly take longer, but no one stopped me. Getting to work on the newspaper with (current English Dept. Chair) Debra Galler and English class with (former English Dept.

Chair) Katy Rinehart helped me realize I wanted to pursue something creative. I don’t think I would’ve had the confidence to try to work in comedy without the strong personal foundation I got at MFS. What I carry with me personally are the friendships I made at MFS. My experience at school fostered deep relationships, and as an adult, I have people who I consider family, who have known me since I was a goofy dummy talking through Mr. Omilian’s math class.

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Class Notes

2008

Chelsea Loring Guenther and her husband, Steve, welcomed a baby boy, Leo, in September.

2010

Alissa Beckett married Kim Torres on September 22 at Material Culture in Philadelphia. Pictured: Clara Fischer, Alissa, Alison Barton, and Meagan Connelly.

2009

Lindsay Stevenson married Peter Clough in September. Pictured: Sophie Demuynck, Sarah Fischer, Lindsay, Jen Donato, Ryan Solow, and Andrea Pennett.

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Class Notes

2010

2002

(continued)

Since July 2018, Adam Serlin has served as a Stoneleigh Fellow with the Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University. According to the Stoneleigh Foundation’s website, Adam’s work over the next three years will “help Philadelphia’s juvenile justice stakeholders use data to drive more efficient, responsive, and cost-effective services for justice-involved youth.”

2004 Emily Einhorn (32)

2005 Chris Lloyd wedding (33) Robert Rinaldi (right) visited classmate Jake Montgomery in Mexico this winter, where Jake has been teaching on a Fulbright fellowship.

Robert is currently based in Florida where he has been working as a teacher. He previously worked as a social media manager and web designer with a preschool- through-middle school charter school, Academy Adventures.

Shaina Machlus wrote a Spanish-language book on the topic of consent, La palabra más sexy es sí: Guía para el consentimiento sexual (The sexiest word is yes: Guide for sexual consent). The book was published by Penguin Random House on Valentine’s Day. Shaina currently works as a teacher and journalist in Barcelona.

2006 Jennifer Barna Christmas’s son (33)

2007 Briana Pressey Ellerbe and her husband, Keith, have welcomed a son, Keith Ellerbe III.

2008 Reunion Photo (33), Chelsea Loring Guenther’s son (35) Emily Jones was included in Savannah Magazine’s “New Guard” feature in November. This annual list highlights “the next generation of entrepreneurs, business leaders, and innovators who dream and dare to make our city better, day by day.”

Emily is a host and reporter for Georgia Public Broadcasting’s Morning Edition.

2009 Hannah Levy spotlight (34), Alicia Gurrieri (34), and Lindsay Stevenson wedding (35)

2010 Alissa Beckett wedding (35), Robert Rinaldi, and Jake Montgomery

2011

Alleanna Harris illustrated a book, The Journey of York (Capstone), that was released January 1 (above). She also illustrated Comcast’s Black History Month ad campaign (left).

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Class Notes

2015

2015

Festival, DC Black Film Festival, and San Francisco Black Film Festival. In a January interview with SyFy.com, Austin discussed his favorite childhood films, his work at NYU, and the collaborative process of filmmaking.

2015 David Howarth and Spencer Kelly

2016

David Howarth played an integral role in Colby College’s first New England States Collegiate Athletic Conference (NESCAC) men’s soccer championship. The Mules defeated Tufts University (the eventual NCAA Division III national champion) in the NESCAC championship game. The game ended 0-0 after two overtimes with the Mules winning 3-2 in a penalty kick shootout. David successfully converted a kick in the championship shootout and did the same in the Mules quarterfinal victory over Williams, also a 0-0 draw settled on PKs. The Mules fell to Montclair State in a PK shootout (1-1, 4-3) in the first round of the NCAA tournament. David also converted a kick in that shootout.

2011 Jake Burbage recently appeared in the sci-fi/comedy web series Nuke City, developed for Amazon; he wrote for the series as well. Jake also appeared onstage this fall in the 2018 Philly Fringe Festival’s Theatre Roux production of Kenneth Lonergan’s This is Our Youth, in the role of Warren Staub.

Alleanna Harris illustrations (36)

SPRING 2019

In December, Howard University student Spencer Kelly was selected out of more than 2,500 applicants from 117 countries to attend the 2018 World Bank Group Youth Summit at their headquarters in Washington, D.C. He engaged with other young professionals in plenary sessions and workshops on the summit’s theme of human capital.

2012 Toni Pollitt, who studied theater both at Rutgers-New Brunswick and with the William Esper Studio in New York City, appeared this fall in the world premiere production of David Thigpen’s The Hurricane Party at the Cherry Lane Theater.

Joe Antonakakis is a third-year law student at Rutgers Law School. He was a summer intern in the Megan’s Law Unit of the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office. From Joe’s article for The Brief, the Rutgers law blog: “I worked with the Megan’s Law Unit overseeing sex offender registration, determining risk classification, handling court hearings and assisting in the prosecution of individuals who are not in compliance with registration obligations.”

2013 Austin Harris wrote and directed the science fiction short film Stevie’s Aliens as his capstone project at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. The short film went on to win Best Cinematography at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth and was an official selection in the Coney Island Film

Joshua Murdy received the Cadet Jonathan Briese Leadership Award in September. This award is presented annually to four U.S. Coast Guard Academy cadets in recognition of outstanding leadership. Last summer, Joshua helped to oversee three week-long training sessions that resulted in the training of nearly 300 members of the Academy’s Class of 2022.

2017 Matthew Knowlton has been selected to participate in the Levitt Leadership Institute in 2019. The two-week intensive leadership training program offers Hamilton College students the opportunity to develop and practice personal leadership skills in the context of their individual career interests, with a focus on developing a global mindset, ethical behaviors, and regard for the public good.

Class Notes received after February 15 will be printed in the next issue of Among Friends.

Share Your News with Friends Moorestown Friends School encourages all alumni to share their news for Class Notes. To contribute, please email communications@ mfriends.org with updates on your life and any high resolution photos you would like to submit for publication. If you prefer, you can also write to Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications Luke Hoheisel, Moorestown Friends School, 110 E. Main St., Moorestown, NJ 08057.

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Class Notes

Alumni Boys’ Soccer Game The “odd” years downed the “even” years, 4-3, in the annual Boys’ Soccer Alumni game on November 24. Thanks to all those who attended. Front: Larry Miles ’18, Jack Burrows ’18, Phil Evans ’18, Spencer Dennis ’16, Tyler Radack ’16, Brad Devlin ’16, Trevor Heins ’12, Mike Stobbe ’09, and Dylan Carilli ’17. Back: Naoji Moriuchi ’94, Piercson Sheehan ’18, Teddy Kinzler ’18, Chris Grahn ’16, Alex Creighton ’16, Josh Murdy ’16, Shane McAleer ’92, David Howarth ’15, Ethan Carilli ’13, Steve Mannion ’14, Tommy Martin ’15, Derek Preston ’09, Head Coach Mike Schlotterbeck, Kyle Koste ’11, and Shawn Gupta’10.

Alumni Basketball Game Although the Blues dominated for three quarters, the Greys clawed back in the final minute to take the lead and win the 2018 Alumni Basketball Game on December 14. Top Row: Marcel Nelson ’18, Michael Cramer ’18, Michael Cunningham ’12, Chris Grahn ’16, Dhalil Sadiq ’14, Joe Beideman ’15, CJ Eni ’15, Wesley Share ’15, and Sarah Henig ’15. Middle Row: Rushabh Thosani ’09, Mike Stobbe ’09, Steve Haines ’08, Assistant Athletic Director and Math Teacher Ron Obermeier, Drew Haines ’11, Greg Billings ’84, Surya Reddy ’18, and Middle School Girls Basketball Coach Sarah Applegate ’14. First Row: Sean Denson ’08, Justin Spencer-Linzie ’10, Pierce Williams ’14, Bill Brown ’84, Tiffany Taylor Jenkins ’97, Cynthia Vance-Harris Hall ’97, Andy Cook ’15, Dylan Eni ’16, Shailen Doshi ’15, and Emily McKeown ’14.

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In Memoriam Sariel Ablaza father of Alixandra Ablaza ’07

Donald Kendall husband of Meg Haines Kendall ’69

Ann Smith Adams mother of Katharine Beckhart Temel ’69, Wendy Beckhart Bachmann ’74, and Gordon H. Beckhart, Jr. ’80

Betsy Hewes Kichline ’44 sister of Robert M. Hewes III ’40

Annabelle Lee Alexanian mother of David Alexanian ’86 Othelia G. Baker mother of Bethanie Baker Henderson ’83

Nancy Kozarsky mother of Bruce Kozarsky ’75, Dan Kozarsky ’76, and Karen Kozarsky ’77 Evelyn Roberts Nichols ’43 sister of Kenneth S. Roberts ’38 Irene Ochs Remphrey ’54

Salvatore Baio father of Jon Baio ’83 Thomas Elkinton ’34 Ruth Eni mother of Louis J. Eni, Jr. ’71, Christopher W. Eni ’74 and Cynthia Eni Yingling ’75, and grandmother of Chase Eni ’21, CJ Eni ’15, Dylan Eni ’16, Lauren Eni ’04, Michael Eni ’10, Christopher S. Yingling ’05, Gregory S. Yingling ’11, and Timothy A. Yingling ’09 Mark Evans father of Phil Evans ’18

Joseph Rogers ’56 Samuel Snipes husband of the late Barbara Taylor Snipes ’44 Alan W. Stanley father of Cheryl Stanley Bosnak ’84, James Stanley ’88, and Kathleen Stanley Mower ’92 Arje Shaw father of Michelle Shaw Miscione ’93 Paul B. Sopenoff father of Rachel Ann Sopenoff Zambrano ’89

Nancy Derlin Flanders ’42 Karen Heiney daughter of Betty Rose Heiney ’51 and niece of Charles H. Rose ’46 and Doris M. Rose ’57 John Iles husband of Marion Benner Iles ’67

Richard Tyre former literature teacher at MFS Bill Wileman ’64 Norma Wynne spouse of the late John Harvey Wynne ’42

George Kahn father of James Kahn ’76

Editor’s Note: Full obituaries are found on the MFS website. “In Memoriam” lists the passing of the following: alumni; immediate family of alumni (father, mother, child, spouse, sibling); current parents; current and past faculty and staff; spouses, partners and children of current faculty, staff and administration; current and former trustees; and spouses and children of current trustees. Notices will include any of the deceased’s relatives who are MFS alumni. To locate full obituaries on the MFS website, navigate to “News” in the top menu of www.mfriends.org and then select “Among Friends Magazine.” Alumni who do not have access to the Internet may contact Director of Marketing and Communications Mike Schlotterbeck at (856) 914-4434 to request a hard copy of an obituary.

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101 DIFFERENT OFFERINGS 70 NEW CLASSES FOR 2019 Moorestown Friends School offers a wide variety of creative, enriching, and fun courses to hundreds of students throughout South Jersey – ages 3 to 17!

summer.mfriends.org Join us for one or more weeks

•

June 24 - August 22

A Gift that Keeps on Giving: Check out the new higher rates of a Charitable Gift Annuity.

For the first time since 2012, the American Council on Gift Annuities raised the suggested maximum rates for charitable gift annuities, effective July 1, 2018. In most cases, the rate increased by half a percentage NEW Individual Rates and Payments point. The rate for a Charitable Gift Annuity is based on the for a $20,000 Gift Annuity age of the donor at the time of the gift. The MFS charitable gift annuity program is in partnership with Friends Fiduciary, Age Annuity Rate Annual Payment a Quaker nonprofit corporation. The minimum threshold 65 5.1% $1,020 to establish a charitable gift annuity is $20,000. It’s a great 70 5.6% $1,120 way to make a gift and to receive income back for the rest of 75 6.2% $1,240 your life. Contact the Director of Development Steve Zakroff at 856-914-4411, szakroff@mfriends.org, to have a gift 80 7.3% $1,460 illustration prepared for you.

Visit mfriends.plannedgiving.org for information on making a bequest or naming the school as a beneficiary of your Individual Retirement Plan.

The material presented here is not offered as legal or tax advice. Please consult with an attorney, tax advisor and/or financial planner regarding these types of gifts.

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ALUMNI WEEKEND

2019

Friday, May 3 & Saturday, May 4

“I’ll be there!”

Honored at The Dinner Among Friends: 2019 Alumni Association Awards

Friday, May 3 6 p.m. Dinner Among Friends, Dining Hall Commons Saturday, May 4

Alice Stokes Paul 1901 Merit Award Maria Elena del Socorro Jefferds ’89

Alumni Service Award Patricia Ann Metzer ’59

12 p.m. Lunch and Learn, Dining Hall Commons This new, free special lunch program for ALL alumni and their families will feature rotating stations of short interactive activities hosted by teachers, students, and alumni.

1:30 p.m. Meet Head of School Julia de la Torre and hear about her first year at MFS. Dining Hall Commons.

2 p.m. Alumni Book Group featuring Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward. Diller Library

2019 Young Alum Awards

3 p.m. Former Faculty and Staff Reception, Stokes Hall Lobby 4 p.m. Head’s Reception/Networking Reception, Van Meter Hall Kristi Hunter-Ryan ’04

Christopher Setz-Kelly ’04

Retirements

Deb Alterman, Lower School Librarian

Kathi Bernard, Middle School Math Teacher

Karen Washington, Director of Diversity and Inclusion

It’s a reunion year for the classes ending in “4” and “9” Visit mfriends.org/AW19 to learn more and register to come.

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