Toaxnoes Spring/Summer 2011

A LUMN I AWA RDS

EARTH WEEK

G E N E R AL I N F O R MAT I O N T E ST

R E G I O N AL ALUMNI EVENTS

S p ri n g / S u m m e r 2 011

William F. “Kim” Kimberly 1929-2011

Campus Clips A.

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F.

A. Kristen Winter ’12 and Caroline Schutte ’12 run the raffle at the Big Green Athletic Dinner and Auction, where a big crowd gathered for a fun night to raise money for the Athletics Department. Special thanks to Co-Chairs, Wendy Schutte and Cindi Winter, for putting together a fantastic event!

B. On Dec. 9, 2010, renowned sculptor, Graham Sears ’71, talked with students in our design class and installed an art piece in the Middle School Atrium. Graham specializes in custom sculptures with iron and steel as the primary materials. The installation moves freely with air movement and is virtually friction free.

C. Over 70 of our most seasoned alumni gathered in the Rand Dining Room to celebrate the first annual Old Guard Luncheon – for 50th Reunion classes and older – on Dec. 10, 2010. Pictured, left to right: ’47 classmates Ted Richmond, Jack Mimmack, Larry Urban, Kim Kimberly, Ray Weil, Myron Hunt and Ernie Montgomery.

D. On March 25, 2011, the entire Middle School dressed in red and white in support of the people of Japan recovering from the natural disasters in their country. Students raised money by making and selling paper cranes, a symbol of hope and wish granting to the Japanese. So far, they donated $1,371, and they continue to fundraise.

E. In early April, Maddie Rohrbacher ’12, Alexandra Mathews ’11, David Zakalik ’11 and fellow members of the Advanced Acting class presented three one act plays by Thornton Wilder: “Happy Journey to Camden and Trenton,” “Rivers Under the Earth” and “Pullman Car Hiawatha.”

F. On April 27, 2011, Polar Bears International awarded its first “Paw of Approval” Award to Nichols School in honor of the School’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.

Pictured: Nichols Board President, Jane Cox Hettrick ’78; Head of School, Rick Bryan; Zoo President and CEO and former Nichols Trustee, Dr. Donna M. Fernandes; and PBI President and CEO, Robert W. Buchanan.

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Editor’s Note When our colleague and friend, Kim Kimberly ’47, told us about his diagnosis, we were somewhere between heartbroken and at peace. We felt some peace because we had a chance to say goodbye and Kim put everyone at ease. He embodied dignity and courage in how he handled his illness, and as he was so loved and respected for his candor already, he talked openly about it.

A note from Taylor Greene ’98 sums up much of what we admired about Kim: When I told Kim how brave I thought he was for opting out of radiation and chemo, he said: “dying isn’t that big a deal,” as he gestured toward a crowd of people in the Nichols community, he continued, “I’m going to see these people for all of eternity at some point.

And believe me, for some of them, I wish that wasn’t the case.”

Then he laughed, ordered a Diet Coke, and moved on.

With that refreshingly sarcastic way of his, how could we keep frowns on our faces for long? He came to Nichols almost every day still, continuing with his duties as School Photographer, making his usual wisecracks and telling his entertaining stories.

I suddenly remembered: the Yellow Shirt Tales. At the start of the school year, Kim was telling me a story and he mentioned it was included in his Yellow Shirt Tales. When I told him he hadn’t passed along the whole collection to me yet, he paused, walked over to his office, burned a CD and came back to present it to me. When I popped it in my computer, I found a myriad of treasures. About two dozen stories, written by Kim, spanned decades and illustrated snippets of life at Nichols. A couple even had two versions – censored and uncensored editions.

Right before the start of the New Year, I told Kim that I went through all the Yellow Shirt Tales again. He trusted that I would know what to do with them, and I am truly grateful I can share them with you here. I hope to hear from some of you with your own memories about the happenings in Kim’s stories.

This issue is dedicated to Kim and my favorite things about him: how he added great kindness and enthusiasm to even small gestures; how he could joke about anything and get away with it; how passionate he was about carrying out traditions; and how he found the good, the special and the unique in everyone. I’ll miss him dearly, but I’m so glad I knew him.

Staff

S p ri n g / S u m m e r 2 011 Editor Nina Barone nbarone@nicholsschool.org Contributors Stephanie Angelakos Richard C. Bryan Nina Barone Genevieve Carbone Paige Dedrick ’11 Holly Fewkes Leslie S. Garcia Elizabeth Stevens Gurney ’75 Connie Klinck Klopp N’73 Jamie Printz Chuck Ptak Mary Sykes Blake Walsh ’98 Designer Kelley Rechin, Duffy Moon Design Photographers J. Matthew Kianka Wm. F. “Kim” Kimberly ’47 Tom Maynor ’81

Front Cover: Read tributes to our friend, longtime faculty member and School Photographer, Kim Kimberly ’47, on page 12. Photo credit: Elliot Johnston ’10.

Keep in touch,

Nina M. Barone Director of Marketing and Communications

– means “that which is true” and is pronounced “taw alay théss.” is published twice a year by the Development Office.

Telephone: 716.332.5151 • Fax: 716.875.3931 Third Class postage paid at Buffalo, New York.

Nichols is an inclusive community. Acceptance granted to qualified students.

Nichols School 1250 Amherst St., Buffalo, NY 14216 • 716.332.6300 • www.nicholsschool.org

We regret that in our recent Final Report for the

nicholsfuture.org

Capital Campaign, HSBC Bank and The Marks Family Foundation were inadvertently omitted.

We are grateful for their support and we apologize for this oversight.

ATTENTION ALUMNI!

We Want to Hear from You Do you have casual comments, questions, ideas or suggestions you would like to share with Nichols?

Well, here’s your chance.

You can submit your feedback on all-things Nichols via our new online feedback form located on the Alumni Portal at www.nicholsschool.org/ alumni. This user-friendly form will allow you to share your thoughts with us. The Nichols Alumni Board will review all of your comments and concerns on a monthly basis and respond to those questions and issues deemed significant for consideration.

In addition to this, please remember you can always call Blake Walsh ’98 in the Development Office at 716.332.5151 or email bwalsh@nicholsschool.org.

Contents Head of School Report ......................................................................... 5 Earth Week Festivities ......................................................................... 6 2011 Prince Lecture Speaker ................................................................ 8 Upcoming Art Shows .......................................................................... 9 Girls Varsity Squash .............................................................................. 10 Boys Prep A Hockey ........................................................................... 11 Tribute to Kim Kimberly ’47 ............................................................... 12 Alumni Holiday Gathering and Awards Ceremony ............................ 21 The 2011 General Information Test ..................................................... 22 A Message from Leslie S. Garcia, Director of Development ............ 26 Mark Kelley ’72: Shooting For Perfection .......................................... 28 2011 Graham Smith Visiting Fellow ................................................... 30 After Nichols – Chris Catanzaro ’95 .................................................. 31 Nichols is Special to Me Because .....................................................32 Saving the World, One Water Bottle at a Time .................................. 34 Poetic Memories with Bob North ’29 .................................................. 36 Boston Alumni Event ........................................................................... 38 Chicago Alumni Event ....................................................................... 39

Catherine Fitzpatrick ’18 Grace Louise Munschauser ‘14

Corrections & Clarifications

In the previous issue’s article titled “Legacies,” which highlighted new students who have a parent or grandparent who attended Nichols, we regret that we left out Catherine Fitzpatrick ’18, daughter of Brett Fitzpatrick ’92, and Grace Munschauser ‘14, granddaughter of Edward Walsh ‘43.

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New York City Alumni Event ............................................................. 40 Washington, D.C. Alumni Event ........................................................ 41 After Nichols – Piper Campbell ’84 ................................................... 42 Upcoming Events ............................................................................. 43 In Memoriam .................................................................................... 44 Class Notes ...................................................................................... 45 Faculty Profile – Yajie Zhang ............................................................... 51

Head of School Report

Experiencing Global Education

by Richard C. Bryan It took three different flights and a journey over 24 hours, but my reward was the welcome I received from the 14 Nichols students on the Chinese exchange. We were in a classroom in the Middle School attached to the Wuhan University of Science and Technology. On a sprawling campus for 3,000 students, the Nichols exchange students felt at ease with the training they had received from their Nichols teacher, Yajie Zhang. The city of Wuhan is in central China on the Yang see River with a population of nearly 9 million people.

What I quickly learned was that the school day starts at 7:30 a.m. in China. At 10 a.m., military marching music came over the loudspeakers, and the student body filed out back for 15 minutes of exercises. Lunch was for one hour at noon, and all students had to leave the school campus. When everyone returned around 1:30 p.m., classes continued until 5 p.m., with a short break to ease eye strain. Again, all the students left campus for dinner; most went to their homes, others to take-out restaurants nearby. The day concluded with a two hour study hall for all students that lasted until 9 p.m.

Class size is quite different as well. The classes I observed had 45 to 60 students in rows of desks. Students studied from workbooks, while the teacher lectured or demonstrated on the SMART board™.

The school had a wonderful observatory on its roof, a commitment to painting, which delighted fellow chaperone, Nichols art teacher, Andrea Mancuso. Wi-fi was spotty on campus, and there was a modest attempt at recycling.

My first day featured a formal ceremony of welcome with the Headmaster of the school, Mr. Xiong. While we exchanged gifts, four Nichols students spoke in Chinese about their gratitude for their hosts, and four Chinese students spoke in English about how much they have enjoyed their new friends from Nichols School. It was very impressive and indicative of the rich opportunities of our exchange program to translate learning in the classroom into an exciting and memorable firsthand experience.

A few days later, we boarded a train from the capital Beijing. Ours was a local train that took nearly eight hours, but provided a glimpse into the vastness of the country. I sat with David Zakalik ’11, who had learned he was admitted to Cornell University only a few days before. David, Student Council Co-President, and I spent our time talking about student leadership at Nichols and the challenges ahead for the School. All the time, we were taking in the countryside. We saw acres of collective farms growing rice and soybeans near small stone villages; we saw large construction cranes in every city we passed through, symbolizing the growth we witnessed throughout the country; and we counted seven nuclear plants along the way.

During our time in Beijing, I was continually reminded what a terrific opportunity our exchange programs are for our students to experience new cultures, understand history firsthand, and to interact with people from worlds other than their own. I watched our students climb the Great Wall, tour the Forbidden City, and explore the old neighborhoods of the city. There was the same sense of discovery

I saw three years ago with Nichols students touring the Omaha Beach in Normandy, and one student discovering her great uncle’s grave in the American cemetery.

You can see it in the videos of our students going on a zip line through the rainforest in Costa Rica, and hearing students talk about the art in the Prado in Spain.

What makes our exchanges so special and unique is the experience of living with a family and attending school in a different country. I have learned how enriching that experience has been for Nichols students, as well as their host families in France, Spain, Costa Rica and China. In turn, our Nichols families have enjoyed and learned from returning the favor when our exchange students visit Buffalo and Nichols.

One of our School’s 21st century core competencies is Cultural Competence and Global Awareness. We have ensured that our curriculums throughout the School bring a global perspective and an understanding of cultures different than ours. But no lesson, video or book can match the personal experience of seeing, touching and experiencing the world firsthand – just like I was able to do with 14 Nichols students halfway around the world.

Spring 2011

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Captain McBride visits the School’s 5th and 6th grade science classes.

Earth Week

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by Nina Barone

ith many ongoing sustainability efforts surrounding the Big Green Initiative, it’s no surprise that Earth Week is a particularly fun – and green – time around Nichols.

Leading up to our celebrations of Earth Day on Friday, April 22, our community enjoyed a variety of fun and meaningful activities. The week culminated with two extraordinary speakers – renowned genomics expert and Prince Lecturer, Juan Enriquez, and retired astronaut, Captain Jon McBride, who visited in partnership with Delaware North Companies.

On the Tuesday of Earth Week, the Social Justice Movie Club presented “Bag It,” a film about plastic pollution, in the Middle School Pond. The message behind the film was clear: our use of plastic bags is excessive and exponentially becoming catastrophic for our environment. The movie screening, organized by Caroline Fenn ’12, provided us with some alarming and enlightening facts.

Consider: In the United States alone, about 12 million barrels of oil are used annually to make the plastic bags that Americans consume. Bags often wind up in waterways or on the landscape, degrading water and soil as they break down into toxic bits. Their manufacture, transportation

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and disposal use large quantities of non-renewable resources and release equally large amounts of global-warming gases. Hundreds of thousands of marine animals die every year when they eat plastic bags mistaken for food.

On Thursday, students held a bake sale to raise funds to benefit Rural Water Ventures’ efforts to bring clean water to rural Nicaragua. As always, students, faculty and staff did their part by biking, walking, carpooling and using public transportation on Friday.

To kick off Earth Day, the Upper School students heard from Juan Enriquez, who shared his remarkable research and knowledge of human genome mapping, at the Friday Morning Meeting. To read more about Mr. Enriquez’s visit, see page 8.

Captain Jon McBride, who served as a Navy fighter pilot before joining NASA, began his day at Nichols by visiting our 5th and 6th grade science classes. The excitement in the room was palpable.

The day continued with parents and our Facilities Department attending a special breakfast in the Boocock Reading Room to meet and talk with Captain McBride.

Thereafter, Captain McBride gave a presentation in the Flickinger Performing Arts Center for the entire Middle School and many Upper School students. He shared stories about being a part of NASA’s first shuttle class in 1978 and described what it feels

Jacobs Award for Environmental Sustainability At the Earth Day assembly on Friday, April 22, Paige Dedrick ’11 was named the 2011 recipient of the Jacobs Award for Environmental Sustainability.

Louis Jacobs ’82, Nichols alumnus and Delaware North Companies executive, and current students, Justin Jacobs ’14 and Lou Jacobs ’12, presented the award on behalf of their family.

Established on April 22, 2008, in honor of a gift from Delaware North Companies and the Jacobs family, the Jacobs Award for Environmental Sustainability honors a student who embodies environmental stewardship and the ideals set forth by our Big Green Initiative. This award is presented annually on Earth Day to a senior at Nichols.

We are grateful for all the progress we have made with environmental consciousness, thanks to students like Paige and the collective efforts of our community through the Big Green Initiative.

Congratulations to Paige on this outstanding honor!

Captain McBride, Justin Jacobs ’14, Louie Jacobs ’12 and Louis Jacobs ’82

Paige Dedrick ’11 (center) with her parents, Paul and Eden

Festivities like coming back to Earth, trying to keep his balance departing the shuttle in order to not “fall down in front of the TV cameras.” He divulged the physical changes his body underwent while in space, including losing weight and getting taller by an inch or two, among other tidbits.

Students and faculty alike appreciated the once in a lifetime opportunity to hear about Captain McBride’s adventures and the path that brought him from his West Virginia upbringing to spending days in space. He also told his audience about his strong educational foundation and ethics, the importance of teamwork at NASA, and his appreciation of the diversity and international makeup of his NASA teams.

When asked if he wanted to be an astronaut when he was a boy, Captain McBride pointed out that there was no such profession yet.

He was very interested in math and science as a student, and went on to study chemical engineering in college before later switching to civil engineering, and ultimately, becoming a fighter pilot.

“The first man or woman to walk on Mars could be right here in this audience,” he said, encouraging students to consider their part in continuing space exploration. He pointed out that NASA believes the person is probably between 6 and 16 years old today.

Captain McBride ended his visit to Nichols with a talk to our Upper School math students. His messages – from the importance

of a solid education to maintaining your integrity of character – were sound and well received. Hearing from Captain McBride about his time in space and his life’s passion was an extraordinary experience.

Also on Earth Day, Upper School science teacher, Josh Ring, and the members of Students for Environmental Action and Awareness, led a Powerdown Competition. Making use of our newly installed electrical monitoring equipment and dashboard in the Class of 1963 Center for Mathematics and Science, buildings across our campus competed in lowering their electrical usage. SEAA students calculated the percentage drop from a base value for each of the buildings.

It was a rigorous battle, but the building with the highest percentage drop was Center ’63, whose inhabitants worked hard to drop nearly 25 percent. Our buildings’ average drop in energy use was almost 15 percent, which is a significant accomplishment.

It accounted for keeping about 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from being omitted into the atmosphere.

“This is what we accomplished in one afternoon,” said Mr. Ring.

“Imagine if we practice this type of conservation every day.”

Thank you to our friends at Delaware North Companies and everyone who made this Earth Day so special!

Prince Lecture Speaker Explores

“Science, Technology and the Next Human Species”

by Nina Barone On Thursday, April 21, Nichols welcomed Juan Enriquez for the 2011 Prince Lecture in the Glenn and Awdry Flickinger Performing Arts Center. Established by Sidney Warren Prince, Jr. ’47 in memory of his parents, the lectureship brings world renowned speakers to the School for both a public talk and a presentation to our students.

Nichols Trustee and alumna, Lise Buyer ’78, coordinated our visit from Mr. Enriquez – one of the world’s most eminent science authors, researchers and entrepreneurs. He is Managing Director, Excel Venture Management; Co-Founder, Synthetic Genomics Inc.; former Founding Director of the Harvard Business School Life Sciences Project; and a global bestselling author. In addition, Mr. Enriquez co-moderated the TED2011 conference program with Bill Gates. TED, a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, started in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment and Design.

Titled “Science, Technology and the Next Human Species,” Mr. Enriquez’s talk largely focused on his groundbreaking research with mapping the human genome, and the discoveries that have transpired thereafter. He respectfully asked listeners to question many of their fundamental beliefs, not because he wanted to change them, but because he wanted everyone to think and wonder what this research might mean for our futures, as well as the lives of our children and grandchildren.

He began by saying, “I want to give you fair warning that I am going to take on some subjects that are difficult [subjects], and a lot of you are going to disagree with me. But what I want you to do is walk out of here thinking in a different way, not

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Juan Enriquez, a leading science author, researcher and entrepreneur, visited Nichols for our latest event in the Prince Lecture Series.

necessarily agreeing with me. I’m going to touch things that I think will be near and dear to some of you, and I hope I do it with some humor and a great deal of respect.”

Mr. Enriquez tactfully did just that. He addressed matters of evolution, animal and human cloning, medical research, belief systems and religion, and took listeners into a world where humans increasingly shape their environment, their own selves, and other species. According to Mr. Enriquez: “It is a world where our bodies harbor 100 times more microbial cells than human cells, a place where a gene cocktail may allow many more to climb an 8,000 meter peak without oxygen, and where, given the right drug, one could have a 77 percent chance of becoming a centenarian.”

He told the audience that there have been at least 25 prototype humans. “We are but one more model, and there is no evidence evolution has stopped,” he said.

Mr. Enriquez gave a Morning Meeting presentation to the Upper School students on Earth Day.

“So unless you think we are the be all and end all of creation, and it just does not get any better, then one has to ask, ‘what is next?’”

Armed with scientific support for every scenario he presented, he undoubtedly had listeners questioning their beliefs – and maybe even soul searching. Mr. Enriquez had a witty and clever sense of humor that kept everyone engrossed and helped ease tension surrounding the most controversial topics.

The audience laughed together and let out audible gasps in unison. Mr. Enriquez seamlessly moved from showing photographs of cute brown cows that were the result of cloning, to sharing that he learned how to manipulate cells to create operating systems for them, akin to a computer’s programming. With a small team of researchers, he asked, “Can we program cells much like we program computer chips? Can we build the operating system for a cell from scratch?”

The answer was “yes.” They instructed robots to assemble some chemicals; they put together a technology to build the largest organic molecule humans have ever built; they learned how to manipulate it without breaking it; they learned how to insert it into a cell; and then they had the cell execute the cell and one species became an entirely different species. They went on to create algae that produced fuels for ExxonMobil. They now have a greenhouse in San Diego. That particular story was astounding and inspiring, quite like Mr. Enriquez himself.

Serving as the featured Upper School speaker for Earth Day, Mr. Enriquez also skillfully adapted his presentation to engage our students at the Morning Meeting on Friday, April 22.

Mr. Enriquez’s fascinating research moved everyone to think about human life from a new perspective. We truly enjoyed our visit from such a remarkable scientific scholar, and we look forward to watching what is next in his investigative work with the human species.

Upcoming Art Shows Aug. 30 – Nov. 7 Gerald Mead Collection: 100 Years of WNY Women Artists Nov. 9 – Jan. 9 Becky Koenig Paintings Jan. 13 – March 5 Amanda Besl Works on paper March 8 – June 8 Andrea Mancuso Photography

Call for Artists

Nichols is interested in hearing from artists who want to display their work in the Nichols School Gallery in the Glenn and Awdry Flickinger Performing Arts Center. Guest artists have the opportunity to meet with students in classes, as well as the chance to speak at a special assembly or Morning Meeting to share their work.

The Colby Fund, which provides income to promote and enhance the arts at Nichols, provides some funding to assist with exhibitions, guest artists, and special programs for the benefit and education of our students. If you are interested in learning more, please call Stephanie Angelakos in the Development Office at 716.332.5151.

Spring 2011

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Kate Roach ‘83

The Girls Varsity Squash team (right) poses with opponents from St. Andrew’s School at the 1st Annual “Roach Cup.”

Girls Varsity Squash

Competitiveness, Sportsmanship and Camaraderie: A Winning Match

by Chuck Ptak The 2010-11 Girls Varsity Squash team enjoyed, in the words of our captain, Pamicka Marinello ’11, “our best season in history.” The team went undefeated (7-0) in Western New York en route to winning the Buffalo League Championship over Buffalo Seminary 6-1 in the finals.

The team represented Nichols extremely well at the Buffalo Tennis & Squash Club Junior Invitational, the Buffalo City Juniors Tournament and the Buffalo City Open Tournament. For the first time, both Buffalo Squash Racquets Championships were won by junior players, both from Nichols: Pamicka and our Boys Varsity Squash captain, Michael Che ’11, earned the ranking as the top female and male players in the city of Buffalo. In the finals, Pamicka triumphed over a Nichols alumna 10

Nichols School

and former collegiate squash player at St. Lawrence, Erin Hart ’03.

On the national level, the team finished a best-ever 30th in the country after the three day U.S. High School Team Championships in Connecticut, defeating Blair Academy (N.J.), while losing tight matches with St. Luke’s School (Conn.), Phillips AcademyAndover (Mass.) and Mercersburg Academy (Pa.).

One particular highlight of the season was travelling to Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Penn., in mid-January for a tri-match with St. Andrew’s School and host Lancaster Country Day School. The team competed in the 1st Annual Daniel T. Roach, Jr. Cup, in honor of Tad Roach ’75, an alumnus of Nichols and current Headmaster of St. Andrew’s School in

Middletown, Del. The big match was the first ever contest between St. Andrew’s and Nichols. The two schools agreed to play a yearly competition, and we look forward to the annual “Roach Cup” next winter.

The 11 girls on the team – Pamicka Marinello ’11, Catherine Williams ’12, Grace Munschauer ’14, Caroline Hogan ’14, Lauren Randaccio ’13, Ellie Chambers ’14, Sommer Zacher ’13, Caroline Fenn ’12, Ellie Hayes ’11, Julia Corbett ’13 and Kristen Tiftickjian ’14 – should be proud of the fact that during the course of the season, opposing coaches, parents and studentathletes alike were extremely complimentary of our team’s competitiveness, sportsmanship and camaraderie.

Fortunta!

Sports

Boys Prep A Hockey A Defining Season

by Jamie Printz swept the series with a 2-0 victory.

The finals matched us against Ridley College, number four seed who knocked off top seeded St. Andrew’s College. Again, Nichols held the advantage in game one with a 5-1 victory. Game two was a wild one. A wide open affair, the game was knotted at 5-5 when the buzzer sounded at the end of the third period. Overtime would determine a game three or a championship. In the first shift of overtime, Nichols would score its biggest goal of the season, propelling this team to the championship it so desired.

It was a memorable season. The accomplishments of this team will become part of the conversations of the history of the program.

Players have put their names on the list of greats. However, what makes this season special is the experience and the journey that only the players can share. They stuck together. They believed in themselves, and they believed in each other. As the season comes to a close, their memories will stay with them forever.

Emily Pfalzer ’11

theme of the Northwood Tournament, but After finding our way into the 2010 despite the illness, Nichols found its way Conference of Independent Schools of into the semifinals yet again only to see the Ontario Championship, only to fall in boys run out of gas in a 6-5 OT loss. With game three of the best-of-three series, it the tournaments behind us, the focus was was clear that the players felt they left one back to the CISAA league. on the table. With 15 players returning The league season was difficult, as and two former players rejoining the squad, expected. Each team was capable of the 2010-2011 team was determined to beating the other, and there were no easy erase the mistakes of the past and become the first team since 2003 to win a league title. With a rigorous schedule to challenge the players, this team would be prepared.

Highlighting our nonconference play was a series of tournaments and showcases.

A tournament that would benchmark our season was the 62nd Lawrenceville Tournament.

We were slated to take on a strong Northfield Mount Hermon School who lost in the New England finals a year ago. A 4-3 OT victory in game one set the stage for a showdown with Choate-Rosemary Hall School, a perennial New England power.

A 2-1 loss to Choate and a 5-4 double OT loss to The Taft The team proudly holds their championship cup in unison.

School proved that we could compete with the best, but next, opponents. When the dust settled, we we would learn how to beat the best. were surprised to find ourselves sitting It was our turn to host the Nicholsin third place going into the playoffs.

Belmont Hill Tournament, and our However, we knew that any of the four players were determined to walk away teams were capable of winning the title. with hardware. After going 3-0 in the Round one matched us against Appleby round robin, we dropped a 3-2 decision to College, always difficult for Nichols. In the Belmont Hill. This was the game when our last nine meetings, the two teams share a players no longer were satisfied with giving 4-4-1 record. The playoffs are said to be good teams a competitive game. The bar a new season, and Nichols came into it was raised and winning a championship with a new energy. Nichols walked away seemed more possible. from game one with a 5-1 victory. While The St. Francis Tournament was the game two was closer on the scoreboard, turning point of our season. After making it the ice was tilted, and without a strong to the finals of the tournament, we faced off goaltending performance from the Appleby against league foe, Ridley College. For the goaltender, it could have been much first time this year, Nichols walked away different. Despite the goaltending, Nichols with a championship. The flu would be the

Miss Your Athletics Team Recaps?

We post our season recaps on the website after each team completes play for the fall, winter and spring seasons. You can view them at www.nicholsschool.org/ seasonrecaps. You can also find them by visiting the Athletics page – www.nicholsschool.org/athletics – and clicking on “Season Recaps.” We hope you enjoy being able to read them as soon as they become available!

When we learned of Kim’s cancer diagnosis in December of 2010, the entire Nichols community was saddened, yet we felt fortunate to have the chance to honor our dear friend while he was still with us. In true Kim fashion, he continued to exhibit all the grace and humor with which he lived his everyday life.

The Sheriff’s

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ongtime faculty member and School Photographer, William F. “Kim” Kimberly, Jr. ’47, passed on March 14. He spent 53 memorable years at Nichols, touching generations of our community with his kind and generous spirit.

After attending Nichols as a student, Kim went on to spend his senior year at boarding school in Sheffield, Mass., at Berkshire School.

He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and later, he received a master’s degree from Hollins College.

He returned to Nichols to teach by special request of the Headmaster at the time, Phil Boocock. He taught everything from 5th, 6th and 7th grade English to French, drama and history, before eventually joining the staff of the Development Office as School Photographer. Kim proudly held that role up until his final days.

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With his “tough, but fun” teaching style, and countless lessons taught in and outside of the classroom, Kim left a lasting impression with all his former students and colleagues.

He is remembered as the type of teacher who truly got to know his students on an individual basis, and took the time to work with them to overcome challenges.

Kim kept a pictorial archive of Nichols for several decades, attending every school event faithfully. He made it to each athletic team’s games and tournaments, and every concert, performance and recital in the Flickinger Performing Arts Center and the Middle School Pond. Kim attended the Middle School grade level trips to shoot special moments in action, and followed the growth of our students through to Commencement, and later, Reunion. He captured priceless moments of daily life at the School,

W. F. “Kim” Kimberly ’47

Last Stand and his photographs will always be cherished as an important part of the Nichols community.

In February, the School held an art show to display Kim’s photographs and recognize him for his outstanding collection. The show, “Nichols: Now and Then,” had an opening reception in the Albright Hall Reading Room with over 250 attendees on hand to view Kim’s photographs and talk with him.

Later that month, Kim learned that Cradle Beach, one of his most beloved charitable organizations, named The Kimberly Family Building in honor of him. He was extremely proud of this honor.

Everyone who knew Kim recalls his signature smile and remarkable sense of humor. An English teacher through and through, Kim had a natural knack for storytelling to match his wit. We know many of his friends will continue to fondly retell his stories.

On the following pages, you will find a few of our favorites – as told by Kim. He passed his “Yellow Shirt Tales” along to us and we are fortunate to be able to share them with you here. One even tells the story of why Kim wore yellow every Friday. We hope you enjoy them and are inspired to continue celebrating Kim’s vivacious spirit as we will at Nichols.

If you wish to honor Kim with a gift, memorials may be made to Nichols School. The William F. “Kim” Kimberly, Jr. ’47 Scholarship was established in honor of Kim by the School. The fund is designed to provide need-based financial aid for a promising rising 6th grade student who has made a strong contribution to the Nichols School community.

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Kim told us he enjoyed reading all the heartfelt letters, cards and emails he received. Of the many notes that touched him, one in particular stood out so much that he shared it with his colleagues in the Development Office. We thought it was an extraordinary story because it not only speaks to the eternal influence of a teacher on a student, but rather, it simultaneously captures the reverberating effect of a Nichols education. This letter contains several profound stories that illustrate how one’s experiences here have an everlasting and far-reaching impact.

Dear Kim, Patty Sheehan has told me about the unexpected medical challenge you’re facing. My heart absolutely goes out to you.

I have tried to imagine what has been going through your mind since you learned of your situation, and I simply can’t, but my thoughts and prayers are with you. As are Michael’s.

If I may stroll down Memory Lane, specifically to your classroom in Albright Hall…

During class one spring a custodian walked under the open back window and exclaimed “Bullshit!”

I was mortified. Such a word was not said near a respectable adult, and I immediately looked at you (in fact, I’m sure the entire class did) to see what your response would be.

The moment seemed to freeze, but almost instantly, with the timing of a gifted comedian, you replied as that beautiful Kimberly grin shot across your face, “Well, it makes the grass grow green.”

Brilliant, I thought. You instantly defused the tension and showed us how to respond to an unexpected situation. We all laughed.

T’was a lesson I’ve used many times, and a story I’ve often told.

I remember another time when I was out sick and my homework instructions from you were to write a theme entitled, “About me.” So I did and handed it to you when I returned.

During class as you sat behind your desk you began reading it to yourself when suddenly you burst out laughing. I thought, Oh my God, what did I do? You read for a few more moments, grinning ear-to-ear and chuckling, before you looked at me and explained that I was supposed to write about me, not about you.

I nearly panicked as I thought you’d then read my theme to the class. But you didn’t. You kept it between us. I so appreciated your doing that, and today I wish I had a copy of what I wrote.

The third moment I remember so well was having to give a brief talk to the class about a trip through an auto plant. Because

1963

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Nichols School

of my shyness, giving such talks was extremely difficult and I knew I wouldn’t do a good job. (But I must say, as much as I hated doing them, I was, and still am, so grateful you and Dick Ohler forced me to.)

Three-quarters of the way through my talk, the bell rang. My mind freaked out as I expected the class to bolt for the door behind me while you’d write a big “D” in the grade book. Fortunately the class stayed put. I quickly finished my talk and your gentle comment to me that you understood the difficulty of having the bell ring reinforced for me what an incredibly kind man you are. I’ll never forget that moment.

So many wonderful memories.

If only I could have remembered more of the actual academics I was supposed to!

And If I may pass on a major ‘thank you’…

After college, I taught 7th and 8th grade as a Peace Corps volunteer in Fiji. It was an incredible experience, complete with bright-eyed kids eager to learn and a grass house a stone’s throw from an idyllic South Pacific beach.

The school had no resources except blackboards, chalk, desks, and a few old books, some of which were literally discards from Africa.

Teachers were expected to follow the Department of Education syllabus so strictly that every middle school teacher in the country was supposed to teach the same lesson, the same way, at the same time.

And because most of the teachers had only high school educations, the teaching was almost all rote.

I asked the headmaster, who by the grace of God was an experienced, open-minded guy with love and energy to spare, if he’d allow me to teach the kids as I saw fit. He agreed, as long as the kids learned the required material.

With a cheap, hand-crank mimeograph machine and a small typewriter I bought in the capital, I wrote all the English and

W. F. “Kim” Kimberly ’47 1970

math materials for my students. Never having done such a thing, I needed preparation and teaching guidance, which I found primarily from recalling what you and Dick Ohler did for us. The results were wonderful, just as they were for you both.

This island school, which had about 100 students from 1st to 8th grade, went from a bottom-half ranking to literally one of the top in the country. All the 8th grade kids who wanted to attend secondary school (9th – 12th grades) were accepted, a rate only some city schools could approach.

When I left, there were a core group of kids who had had a basic education their parents could not have dreamed of. I often wondered what these kids would do, but I hoped they would use their unusual learning to help advance the conditions on the island, and they apparently have.

The island, which had almost no commerce on it when I was there, now has several small tourist facilities, and I have no doubt that some of those kids who were treated to The Kimberly/Ohler Extension School have made sure that the outsiders who own these facilities do not take unfair advantage of the people.

I recently learned the islanders are now building their own secondary school so their kids no longer have to transfer away from their families to the main island to continue their educations. I’m sure some of these Kimberly/Ohler inspired kids are accomplishing this long held goal.

So, 7700 miles from you, on the little island of Beqa, there are many sincerely grateful parents and grandparents who will never know of Kim Kimberly or Dick Ohler, but because of you, they can watch their children have lives more productive, healthy and fun than they could have imagined.

The Fijian people are incredibly kind and good-natured, and the people on Beqa were the nicest people I’ve ever met. I love them dearly. On their behalf, I thank you for the wonderful influence you have had and will have on them for generations.

From a shy kid who learned English, humor, and kindness at your knee, Thank You. Hayden Letchworth ’64

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Kim capturing all the special moments on the 5th grade trip to Camp Weona.

The World’s Serious

by W. F. Kimberly, Jr. ’47

The time: the spring of 1958 The locations: Polio Park and Kimberly Diamond The teams: Swarmville Bees, Salamanca Salamanders, Gowanda Gophers and Tonawanda Toads The co-commissioners and chief umpires: Dave Strachan ’51 and Kim Kimberly ’47 The players: Nichols’ seventh and eighth grade boys The purpose: make the spring intramural softball program interesting and fun “Play ball,” rang out from the portable diamonds on the back field and deep right field of the varsity diamond every afternoon during sports period.

The four teams met every day, outside if weather permitted, or in the gym on inclement days. Rosters, schedules, batting averages and won-lost records were posted conspicuously in the Junior School for all to see.

Commissioners Strachan and Kimberly held daily conferences during the season to adjust team rosters, make trades, and confirm statistics.

The season was divided into halves, and the winners of each half (always two different teams) played in the season finale, The World’s Serious. On a sunny day in late May, the teams met on the varsity baseball field, now known as Anderson Field, to play in the final game.

An umpire or official, a member of the Nichols community, often including the bookkeeper, Miss Schork, the Headmaster of the Junior School, Mr. Pliny Hayes, or the Assistant Head of the School, Mr. Zeller, was stationed at each base.

The entire Junior School assembled in the stands to witness the great event.

Later, in a closing ceremony held in the chapel, awards were presented. The MVPs of the league, the captain(s) of the championship World’s Serious team, the runners-up, and the Best Ump awards were given in a mock heroic ceremony.

Records were kept on the Trophy of Trophies, a mostly-white, chipped enameled water pitcher inscribed with the names of all the winners, and on the Best Ump Award, a wooden lamp base salvaged from the wood shop in the basement of Albright Hall.

The program lasted through the spring of 1964. For many of the players who participated in the seven year life of the World’s Serious program, fond memories remain.

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Kim with Tom Maynor '81 & Clare Poth '81 (left) and Valerie Zingapan '84 & Greg Castiglia '84 (right) at the Derby Day Auction

Sheriff

by W. F. Kimberly, Jr. ’47 The Friday night hockey games were a Nichols tradition long before the present rink was built in 1962. When the former rink was in operation, Friday nights were exclusively reserved for attendance by most of the Nichols extended family members. Board members usually attended, most often after an informal meeting including cocktails and dinner at one of the members’ houses.

Bundled up in parkas and an occasional raccoon coat, and wrapped in heavy blankets, people began showing up during the JV game, which had started at 7 p.m. At the 8:30 varsity face-off time, the stands were full. Mothers, fathers, the date of the evening, brothers, sisters, grandparents, and other relatives and friends of the players, as well as large numbers of students, packed themselves onto the wooden bleachers which served as stands for both football and hockey.

There were open spaces under the stands, which provided the fastest access to the perimeter of the rink, since the walkways next to the boards were always clogged with adult onlookers. Lots of skullduggery went on under the stands, and many a fifth grader was caught looking up the skirts of the ladies watching above. There was no glass protection from stray pucks or elbows, so those along the boards had to keep a careful eye open for flying objects.

Until I arrived on the scene and was handed the assignment in the winter of 1960, Doc Kleiser, the Sheriff of the Rink, had the job of peacekeeper, controlling rowdy behavior by young and old alike, and keeping the aisle between the stands and the boards open and clear for pedestrian traffic. Any one of these assignments would have been more than enough for three men, but single-handedly, the Sheriff of the Rink was there to promote order and calm, amid chaos and occasional mayhem.

The Sheriff was expected to stay with the last child until a ride

W. F. “Kim” Kimberly ’47

Kim taking action shots at the Homecoming games.

home arrived after the games. Sometimes that didn’t happen until well after 11 p.m. The Sheriff’s pay for each Friday night’s work was three dollars, cash, in an envelope handed to me at the close of business by Miss Schork, the bookkeeper. Later, in the new rink, the pay rose to $5.

Since there was no Zamboni machine until just before the new rink was built, the between-the-periods ice refurbishing was performed by students who had been handpicked for the jobs.

There were shovel skaters, sweepers, water barrel pullers (the barrels had a wet doily hanging off the rear which spread a thin coat of water on the newly cleaned ice), and netkeepers. It was a real honor to be chosen for one of these crews, and Junior School boys worked all kinds of schemes (extra desserts, money, etc.) and bribes to be able to work on Friday nights.

One evening, a fight broke out on the ice. Several players from both sides were having at each other right near the boards.

One member of the Board of Trustees who had been at a pregame meeting, who was so incensed that the opposition would pick on a Nichols player, and who had had his judgment addled by more than a few pregame cocktails, reached over the boards and slugged one of the opposing players in the nose.

The Sheriff was on the opposite side of the arena and had a clear view of the whole incident. So was Phil Boocock, the Headmaster and my boss. I looked over to Mr. Boocock for guidance as to what to do. When we made eye contact, and he realized my dilemma, he simply shrugged and turned away. So, then, did I. Soon the game resumed as if nothing had happened.

When the new rink became operational, the Sheriff’s job changed. Changes in climate (the new rink was heated to a toasty 67-68 F°), size (the new rink had permanent seats and no walkway between the seats and the boards), glass protection along the boards, and a wide walkway behind the stands all led to different challenges. The games were still well attended on Friday nights for

a while, and their parents, to be picked up later at the end of the games, were still dropping off kids. But somehow things shifted.

There was more horseplay behind the stands; there were fewer parents and adults in general. The Sheriff had to walk around the whole new large perimeter many more times to quell scuffles, minihockey games, and general goofing around, usually with hockey sticks swinging perilously close to adults who were preoccupied with the game.

The Sheriff began wearing a yellow shirt and standing up on the TV platform. That afforded me a good view of the whole rink, and because the yellow shirt was so visible, the kids could see when the Sheriff was heading their way. I was able to stop disruptive behavior almost before it began by just beginning to walk toward the potential troublemakers. (To this day, I wear a yellow shirt on Fridays, so they can see me coming.)

As the hockey program developed, and the games were no longer restricted to Friday nights, the attendance slowly dropped, and people not connected with the School directly began showing up.

Keeping order was no longer a problem.

Soon most of the spectators were only parents of players from both sides, and a few interested faculty and students. The Zamboni had replaced the rink jobs, eliminating the interest of the little kids.

The campus went coed and split into two separate entities, and the job of the Sheriff ceased to exist.

No more Friday night at the rink responsibilities, no more babysitting kids until their parents came for them, no more crowds cheering, except at an occasional tournament game, or a title match. There are so many hockey games today, at so many levels, that no one could attend them all, except the occasional parent who has hopes of a Division I team swirling in his head.

Now the rink is used for auctions, dances, banquets, and baseball and lacrosse practices. Oh, yes, and hockey, all the time, day and night, in the season.

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W. F. “Kim” Kimberly ’47

Kim and his wife, Susie, catch up with Kim's daughter, Kezia, and son, Townsend, at a Nichols party.

Kim celebrating his 80th birthday in the Development Office.

A Boocock Anecdote

Steve Learns to Dance

by W. F. Kimberly, Jr. ’47

by W. F. Kimberly, Jr. ’47

The phone rang on a bright June Monday morning after graduation.

I was packing up my family for the annual opening trek to Parry Sound, Ontario. The voice was that of Elinor Coleman, affectionately known as the Queen Bee, and Phil Boocock’s right hand. In no uncertain terms, she told me that the Boss was waiting to see me and I had about 30 minutes to make the trip to Nichols from my East Aurora home.

Fearing the worst, from being fired to being admonished for another gaffe that might have happened during the course of the year, I drove with shaky hands to the school front drive. Entering the front office, I was greeted by the man himself. He ushered me to a seat in the deserted front hall, and proceeded to tell me of how appreciative he was of my having taken on extra duties to cover for a teacher whom he had fired in November.

It was true that several of us gave up what few free periods we had to help Pliny Hayes, the Head of the Junior School, adjust the schedule so we didn’t have to hire a replacement for the balance of the year.

None of us, I think there were three including Pliny himself, thought much about it at the time, but the year had been a rough one, and very demanding. However, no one complained and we all did the best we could.

After his little speech, Phil reached into his jacket pocket, and produced an envelope, which he pressed into my shaking hands.

Admonishing me to say nothing to anyone about its contents or this meeting, we shook hands, he wished me a good summer break, and reminded me that school started the Wednesday after Labor Day. I drove out of sight of the campus before I pulled over and parked. In the envelope was a month’s pay, in cash, with a note saying the money was not taxable, to report it to no one, and thanking me again for my service to the school.

Phil knew how to promote loyalty.

One of the most difficult and boring parts of English instruction, especially in the elementary grades, is the study of punctuation. In the final 15 years or so of teaching, I discovered a new way to cover this difficult and challenging part of my curriculum for my sixth grade students.

In the back pages of an old grammar workbook, about 20 copies of which I had saved, was a story in about seven or eight chapters, of an eighth grade boy who was having trouble with his baseball skills, primarily his footwork. The solution, according to his coach, was to take dancing lessons. His progress and eventual success was documented in a tale that had no punctuation, except for some paragraphing and chapter breaks.

Because in my class, to avoid repetition or “aiming” questions at certain students (a bad pedagogical practice), I used a card system to make sure that every student recited at least twice during a class period, the idea came to me that here was a perfect solution to the punctuation problem.

The challenge was issued to each class in the late spring of the scholastic year to orally punctuate “Steve Learns to Dance.” If the story was completed errorless, each member of the successful class was to receive, upon completion of their senior year at Nichols, an individual pizza from me.

I knew I was financially safe, because of several factors. The class time left in the year was short, and with good planning, would run out before the deed was done. The method of performing the necessary oral gymnastics was such that only a very talented class could accomplish the task.

For many years, “Steve...” remained unfinished. Even I refused to read the story to its conclusion, although I had many occasions to do so. But, the unthinkable happened (twice!) on one June day in 1986, and again in 1991. The kids did it!

I had to show up in June 1992, and again in 1997, with certificates for a pizza with all the trimmings from Casa di Pizza on Elmwood Avenue for the surviving members of both of those outstanding sixth grade classes.

I am sure that to this day, all those great students are punctuation perfect in all their written work.

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Exciting Developments for Upper School Visual Arts In the winter and spring of 2011, several members of the Nichols Board of Trustees led an Ad Hoc Committee to collect all the necessary information to explore opportunities to move the Upper School Visual Arts out of Albright and make an informed decision about the use of Moot Hall. Bearing in mind our campus master plan, the School engaged Trautman Associates to explore upgrades to Albright and Mitchell Halls and to perform a detailed analysis of Moot Hall.

“The Committee was focused on the goal of moving the Arts spaces currently located in the basement of Albright Hall and adding student space to campus,” said Michael Walsh ’70, Chair of the Board Ad Hoc Committee. “We diligently worked with Trautman Associates to examine rehabbing and renovating existing facilities, and we were pleased to provide solutions that met the next recommendations of the campus master plan following the successful opening of the Class of 1963 Center for Mathematics and Science.”

Trautman Associates found that renovation costs required to bring Moot Hall up to the standards of other campus buildings were prohibitive. When evaluating other potential spaces on campus, and the costs associated, repurposing space in Mitchell Hall presented as the strongest viable option. The Committee unanimously recommended to the Board of Trustees to move the Upper School Arts facilities to Mitchell Hall, create new student spaces, and demolish Moot Hall.

“The Moot family supports the new direction the Nichols campus is taking and looks forward to the continuing developments at Nichols, as it continues to be a leader in educating young people in the Western New York community,” said Richard “Rit” Moot ’38, former Trustee and benefactor of Moot Hall.

Benefits of the move to Mitchell Hall include high ceilings and northern light; flexible studio space, as opposed to fixed spaces in Moot Hall; and closer proximity to the Flickinger Performing Arts Center. The buildings’ hallways will serve as additional gallery space to showcase student work, while the space overall offers a more prominent location for visitors to see our talented students’ work.

The project will provide an increase in the amount of square footage dedicated to the Visual Arts.

“These exciting changes for the Visual Arts will make a tremendous difference to all of our students,” said Andrea Mancuso, Upper School art teacher. “The new location will increase the visibility of the arts and enhance the challenging and comprehensive art classes at Nichols.

From AP Studio and Photography to Digital Video and Multimedia art classes, we will be able to grow in the new studios.”

“The new studio space has generous natural light and coupled with the high ceilings, it will really enhance the student’s studio experience,” said Frank Sacheli, Upper School art teacher. “The space will be flexible, include plenty of much needed storage, and will serve the painting, drawing and sculpture classes. This move to Mitchell will provide a major upgrade to our visual art studio spaces.”

Our Arts faculty members are currently preparing to move into their new spaces. The entire community is excited to watch these transformations take place this year.

“As chair of the School’s Art Committee, I am thrilled by the improvements this move will have for the Visual Arts at Nichols,” said Barbara Baird. “The new facilities will enhance the traditional foundations of art such as drawing, painting and sculpture, but will also provide the technology for contemporary advances in art. The Cameron and Jane Baird Foundation enthusiastically supports this project.”

A Teaching Tip

by W. F. Kimberly, Jr. ’47 About five years after we started admitting girls, I had still been teaching a section or two of seventh grade English.

One day, I walked into my fourth period class, the one directly before lunch, and saw that the normal boy-girl seating configuration was being practiced (there were no assigned seats in my classes, unless punitive measures were necessary), girls in front, boys sprawled in the back rows.

I began the class, and it soon became apparent to me that I was, for once, doing something right. No matter what I said, no matter where I strolled, all eyes were on me, and I was being given the utmost attention, something that was not that usual in my classes.

Just as the class was about to end, and I was feeling quite pleased with myself for having captured the undivided attention of the class, one of the girls in the front row raised her hand and said, “Mr. Kim, your fly has been down for the whole class period.”

Well, I turned red, and apologized to the group. It became clear to me on the way down to lunch why the students’ attention in class had been so rapt. Partway through seventh grade lunch period, I rose to make the following announcement: “If there are any faculty who would like to learn a great way to ensure total class attention, no matter which subject is being discussed, please see me after lunch.”

Of course, the members of my fourth period class erupted in laughter, but no one else in the Dining Room understood what was going on.

I also had no visits from the faculty after they heard from the kids at their tables what had happened that morning in Mr. Kim’s English class.

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A.

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B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

Awards

Tom (pictured) and Mary Margaret Donahoe receive Honorary Alumni Awards.

Jeremy Jacobs, Jr. ’81 is the 2010 recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Alumni Holiday Gathering and Awards Ceremony

by Blake Walsh ’98 On Thursday, Dec. 23, Nichols held its annual Alumni Holiday Gathering and Awards Ceremony and welcomed back a big crowd to celebrate.

Prior to a festive cocktail reception that drew over 200 alumni back to campus, Head of School, Rick Bryan, and Board of Trustees President, Jane Cox Hettrick ’78, presented two awards in the Flickinger Performing Arts Center.

A. Jane Cox Hettrick ’78 B. Sebastian Augustine ’10, Kim Kimberly ’47 and Rami Sheriff ’10 C. Derek Robins ’09 and Aranya Maritime D. Kyle Winnick ’05, Jaime Ferrentino ’05, Andrew Stegemann ’05, Elizabeth Demakos ’05, Alicia D’Alba ’05 and Joe Walter ’05

The Distinguished Alumnus award was presented to Jeremy Jacobs, Jr. ’81 in recognition of his generous leadership and contributions to Nichols as a member of the Board of Trustees, as a parent and as an exceptional volunteer supporter of the School’s mission at large. Jerry continues to serve as an invaluable member of the School community.

Tom and Mary Margaret Donahoe were presented with Honorary Alumni Awards for their undying support of the Big Green as parents, with Tom serving as a dedicated Board member, with Mary Margaret acting as an Auction committee member and faithful volunteer, and as fans on a whole variety of sidelines. Nichols is a better place today thanks to these devoted parents.

Congratulations to our award winners!

E. Sarah Gelman Carney ’92 and John Farmelo ’77 F. Kate Olena and William & Kate Hibbard

Spring 2011

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The 2011 Lucy and Sherman Maisel ’35

General Information Test At Nichols, the Upper School’s General Information Test – a tradition that began in the school’s 1911 yearbook, Verdian – is compiled from questions submitted by the Nichols faculty on an annual basis and is administered to students in grades 9-12 as a measure of general knowledge. The highest score of record is 81, earned by four-time winner George Binette ’78. The GIT is created and coordinated by English teacher, Richard Stratton. It is funded through the generosity of Lucy and Sherman J. Maisel ’35.

It is with great sadness that we share the death of our friend, Sherman. He passed on Sept. 29, 2010.

Questions 1. Which of these Western states was not ceded, in whole or in part, to the United States by Mexico after the Mexican War? California Arizona Montana New Mexico Nevada 2. In what Western state is the Grand Teton National Park located?

_______________________________________ 3. Which of these American Civil War battles did not take place within the borders of one of the Confederate states?

Antietam Chickamauga Fredericksburg Petersburg Vicksburg 4. Who played the female lead role in the classic American film, “Casablanca?”

Ingrid Bergman Joan Crawford

Bette Davis Greta Garbo 5. Pope John Paul II (1978 – 2005) was the first Pontiff of what nationality?

French German Polish Spanish Swiss 6. Which of these Hall-of-Fame mid-20th Century athletes was not a golfer?

Don Budge Ben Hogan

Bobby Locke Byron Nelson

Sam Snead 7. In this epic French 19th Century novel (also made into a late 20th century 22

Nichols School

musical), the central character, Jean Valjean is sentenced to a life of hard labor in the galleys for stealing a loaf of bread.

Name the novel.

“Germinal” “Les Miserables” “Le Rouge et Le Noir” “L’Immoralist”

8. Who wrote the novel described in #7?

Gustave Flaubert André Gide Victor Hugo Stendhal 9. What state has a pine cone as the state flower?

_______________________________________ 10. MYOPIA is a disease of which bodily organ?

_______________________________________ 11. During what war did The Charge of the Light Brigade occur?

Franco-Prussian Opium World War I US Civil War Crimean

12. Which of the United States has HELENA for a capital?

Alaska Maryland Montana Nebraska Oregon 13. What is the capital of NORTH DAKOTA?

_______________________________________

14. What American presidential candidate won his party’s nomination with his “Cross of Gold” speech in 1896?

_______________________________________ 15. If a man’s weight increases from 13 stone to 10% of a ton, how many pounds has he gained?

_______________________________________ 16. What literary character accused her husband of being “too full of the milk of human kindness?”

_______________________________________ 17. What is the world’s tallest quadroped?

_______________________________________ 18. Which of these words would best describe a PYRRHIC military victory?

Accidental Costly Decisive Glorious 19. In what European city is the ABBEY THEATER located?

_______________________________________ 20. In what nation are the cities of AUCKLAND, CHRISTCHURCH, DUNEDIN and WELLINGTON located?

_______________________________________

GIT 21. The Royal Road from SUSA to SARDIS was the major highway of what ancient Empire?

Chinese Macedonian Mongol Persian Roman

22. Which of these Mid-western states was not carried by Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential election?

Iowa Michigan Minnesota Missouri Wisconsin 23. Which of these Southern states was not carried by John McCain in the same election?

Arkansas Georgia

North Carolina South Carolina Tennessee 24. What percentage of the popular vote did Obama win in 2008? (Nearest round number.)

52% 53% 54% 55% 56% 25. The heaviest of US Presidents weighed in at 332 pounds. Name him.

James Buchanan

Grover Cleveland

Herbert Hoover

Lyndon Johnson

William Howard Taft 26. In what year (BCE) was Julius Caesar assassinated?

50 48 46 44 42 27. What was the profession of Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth?

_______________________________________ 28. Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn, regarded by many as the greatest American film actors, played together in only one film. What was it?

_______________________________________ 29. At what temperature (Fahrenheit) does water boil at sea level?

_______________________________________

30. Which of the following is not a prime number?

13 31 43 57 71 31. Among these five Colleges/Universities which has the highest endowment?

Columbia Duke MIT Rice Stanford 32. In what sport was “Big Bill” Tilden named the greatest performer of the first half of the 20th century?

_______________________________________ 33. Named the greatest competitive swimmer of the first half of the 20th century, he later played the role of Tarzan in several movies. Name him.

_______________________________________ 34. What is the capital of Libya?

_______________________________________ 35. What major league baseball team plays in Wrigley Field?

_______________________________________ 36. The Holy Grail of Arthurian legend is actually a _____________.

Crucifix Cup Helmet Necklace Shield 37. What is the capital of Afghanistan?

_______________________________________ 38. Which English poet created the Wife of Bath?

Byron Chaucer Marlowe Shakespeare 39. What is the name of the scale devised to measure the magnitude of earthquakes?

_______________________________________ 40. ROSILAND is the central character in which Shakespearian comedy?

“Merchant of Venice”

“As You Like It”

“Much Ado about Nothing” “Tempest”

“Merry Wives of Windsor”

41. What is the Cube Root of 1331?

_______________________________________ 42. By what name is SAUL OF TARSUS best known in religious history?

_______________________________________ 43. Name the composer of the popular oratorio, “MESSIAH.” Bach Beethoven Handel Mozart 44. Which of the 5 unmarried daughters of the Bennet family in “Pride and Prejudice” elopes with Mr. Wickham?

Elizabeth Jane Kitty

Lydia Mary 45. ASCLEPIUS is the Greek God of

______________________________________ .

Feeling Healing Peeling Stealing Wheeling & Dealing 46. In the Old Testament’s “Book of Ruth” who was Ruth’s mother-in-law?

Esther Naomi Rebecca Sarah 47. JONAS SALK, an American scientist, developed the first effective vaccine against what disease?

_______________________________________ 48. What 20th Century American President was afflicted with this disease?

_______________________________________ 49. JAMES GALWAY and the late JEANPIERRE RAMPAL each mastered which musical instrument?

_______________________________________ 50. LEO TOLSTOY’s Epic Novel, “WAR AND PEACE,” is built around a central historical episode – Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of Russia in the year

______________________________________ .

51. What Army-based comic strip contains the following characters? GENERAL HALFTRACK, ZERO, PLATO, LT. FUZZ, SERGEANT SNORKEL?

_______________________________________ Spring 2011

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52. “Well, it’s been a quiet week in my hometown of Lake Woebegone” intones Garrison Keillor every week on “A Prairie Home Campanion.” In what state is Lake Woebegone?

_______________________________________ 53. Three of these four island groups lie north of Scotland. Which one does not?

Balearic Faroes Orkneys Shetlands 54. SANCHO PANZA was the servant and companion of what world-famous literary character?

_______________________________________ 55. Which of these slugging Major League catchers finished his career with the highest lifetime batting average?

Yogi Berra Roy Campanella

Bill Dickey Carlton Fisk

Mike Piazza 56. Which of these Hall of Fame pitchers finished his Major League career with the most victories?

Bob Feller Steve Carlton

Lefty Grove Tom Seaver

Warren Spahn 57. __________________ NERVOSA is an eating disorder, more common among females, one of whose symptoms is an intense fear of gaining weight.

58. What 17th Century English scientist discovered the circulation of the blood?

_______________________________________ 59. What 17th Century English mathematician has been credited with inventing the calculus?

_______________________________________ 60. L’Anse aux Meadows, a group of sodcovered huts on the far northern tip of the island of _______________, is regarded by scholars as the site of the earliest European (Norse) settlement of North America. Name the island.

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Nichols School

61. The Falklands, a bleak and windswept group of islands in the South Atlantic, became the site of a brief, but bloody and bitter war between Great Britain and _________________ in 1982.

62. Which of these great 20th Century musical composers was not American?

Samuel Barber Aaron Copland

Charles Ives William Walton 63. On what mountain did Moses receive the Ten Commandments?

_______________________________________ 64. Which African country has the largest area?

Algeria Egypt Libya

South Africa Sudan 65. What was the surname of Scotland’s “Bonnie Prince Charlie?”

_______________________________________

72. What religious organization was founded in England by George Fox in the 17th century?

_______________________________________ 73. Which of these words is a synonym for ENNUI? Boredom Delight

Perplexity Rage 74. What do the initials BYOB stand for?

_______________________________________ 75. Which of these words is closest in meaning to APERCU?

Insight Joke Puzzle Wound View 76. A saying or expression that has been used so often it has lost its effect is called a ___ ____________________________.

66. Who was the famous son of Hamilcar Barca?

_______________________________________

77. In Greek mythology the father of the TITANS (elder gods) was Cronus Dionysus Hephaestus Pan Uranus

67. Which English sea-captain was the victim of the “Mutiny on the Bounty?”

Bligh Cook Nelson Vancouver

78. An __________ is the juxtaposition of two contradictory words. (ex: deafening silence)

_______________________________________

68. Which two Australian cities have hosted The Olympic Games?

Adelaide Brisbane Canberra Melbourne Perth Sydney

79. Which of these academically highly-rated small colleges is located in Portland, Oregon?

Antioch Goucher Haverford Reed Vassar

69. What legendary boxer lost his heavyweight championship to GENE TUNNEY in 1926?

Max Baer Jack Dempsey

Jack Sharkey Jess Willard

80. Name Great Britain’s first (and thus far only) female Prime Minister.

_______________________________________

70. What Central American country is bordered by NICARAGUA to the north and PANAMA to the south?

_______________________________________

81. In what War did the following bloody battles take place – GALLIPOLI, THE SOMME, TANNENBERG, VERDUN?

_______________________________________

71. ALASKA and TEXAS are the two largest of the United States in total area.

Which state ranks third?

_______________________________________

82. On what Japanese city did the second atomic bomb fall in 1945?

Kobe Kyoto Nagasaki Osaka Tokyo

GIT 93. In Sophocles’ Greek tragedy the Queen of Thebes, Jocasta, hangs herself when she discovers that her husband, whose children she has borne, is also her son.

84. The 24th and final letter of the Greek Name the son-husband. alphabet is _______________. _______________________________________

Beta Omega Lambda Delta 94. On what part of a medieval knight’s body Sigma was a GAUNTLET worn?

Head Hand Foot 85. Old ____________ is a noted Geyser in Knee Navel Yellowstone National Park which erupts about every 67 minutes.

95. What European country was known to the ancient Romans as LUSITANIA? 86 “Because I could not stop for Death, Austria Germany Portugal

He kindly stopped for me.”

Scotland Spain

These well-known lines were composed by a great American 19th century female 96. Queen Victoria’s long reign in England poet. Name her. began in 1837. In what year did it end?

_______________________________________

1898 1901 1903 1905 87. How many of the 9 current US Supreme Court Justices are male?

97. Who painted the ceiling of the Vatican’s SISTINE CHAPEL? 88. How many of the 9 current US Supreme

_______________________________________ Court Justices are Protestant in religion?

98. Which of these words is most nearly 89. Only one of these 5 states contains a city opposite in meaning to STRINGENT? with a population of at least 100,000.

Careful Coherent Loose Which one?

Sly Weary

New Hampshire North Dakota

Vermont West Virginia Wyoming 99. Translate the German word ÜBERMENSCH. 90. Between 1955 and 1958 this upstate

_______________________________________ New York boxer held both the world welterweight and middleweight 100. In what field did the Frenchmen EDGAR championships.

DEGAS, PAUL GAUGUIN and

Lou Ambers Carmen Basilio CAMILLE PISSARRO gain fame?

Gene Fullmer Marty Servo

_______________________________________ 83. The branch of medicine dealing with tumors is called _______________.

91. LUIS INACIO LULA DA SILVA has just completed two terms (eight years) as President of which South American nation?

_______________________________________

To check your answers, please see page 35.

92. “Adagio for Strings” is the most popular musical work of the American composer ______________ __________________.

Samuel Barber

Leonard Bernstein

Hoagy Carmichael

Richard Rodgers

AreYou Missing Out? Like Nichols School.

Follow NicholsSchool.

Join the Nichols School Alumni Network.

Do we have your email address?

Please contact Blake Walsh ‘98 in the Development Office at 716.332.5164 or bwalsh@nicholsschool.org to ensure we have your preferred email on file to receive our periodic enewsletters and other important announcements.

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A Message from Leslie S. Garcia, Director of Development I would like to thank everyone, particularly the Board of Trustees, the Parents and Alumni Associations, and the greatest faculty and staff ever, for welcoming me so warmly to the Nichols community this year. The past 12 months have been filled with excitement and activity. We reached new milestones with the successful completion of the largest Capital Campaign in Nichols’ history, growing our endowment to the $25 million mark and helping to ensure the long-range success of our school.

As a school, Nichols has never had more to offer. We have world-class faculty, unparalleled facilities, innovative curriculum, and a passionate school community.

Nichols continues to excel in Western New York and beyond.

Continuing this standard of excellence, of course, requires significant resources.

This is where The Nichols Fund comes in and why your annual support is so critical.

The Nichols Fund secures our short-term success by providing immediate and necessary support for the School each year. The Nichols Fund dollars are used to provide student financial assistance, faculty and program support, and campus maintenance.

Everything Nichols is and does is touched by The Nichols Fund.

The 2010-2011 Nichols Fund goal of $810,000 is in very close sight. With less than 10 percent to go, I thank all of you who have contributed and ask those of you who have yet to do so, to please make your annual contribution before June 30. We are very close, but we can’t do it without your help.

On behalf of the entire Development team, I thank you for all the important ways you contribute to our school.

It is your generosity that allows Nichols to be the exceptional school that we are.

I welcome your feedback or questions at any time and wish all of you a wonderful summer.

SAVE THE DATE Warm regards,

Leslie S. Garcia Director of Development

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Headmaster’s Society Reception Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011 For our 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 Nichols Fund donors at the $1,000 level and above

“ The comfort that I felt to be myself is why I reached out to do so much. I distinguished myself athletically due to the incredible coaches that guided me. I am playing college field hockey today because Beth Stone told me I could. “ Katie Flaschner ’10

Be a part of supporting our community.

Visit www.nicholsschool.org/give or call the Development Office at 716.332.5151 to make your gift today.

We need your help to reach our goal by June 30.

Mark Kelley ’72:

Shooting For Perf

by Blake Walsh ’98

M

ark Kelley ’72 recalls an evening shortly after he had dropped out of college following his freshman year in which his parents were grilling him over what he was going to do with his life and where exactly he planned to go back to college.

“I came up with Alaska out of the blue,” Mark said. “I just wanted to stop the conversation, so I thought of what at the time seemed like the most outrageous place to go to college.”

That seemingly outrageous destination became the canvas for a wildly successful career as a nationally recognized photojournalist.

After graduating from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks with a double degree in Northern Studies (studies of the Arctic) and Journalism in 1978, Mark has remained in Alaska ever since – except for a year of graduate work in photojournalism at Ohio University.

Following 14 years of photojournalism work in the Juneau newspaper industry, Mark moved on to full time freelance work in 28

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1993. Mark’s images have illustrated over 200 covers of magazines, brochures, calendars and books and have appeared as covers for “Outside Magazine,” “Sunset,” “Alaska Magazine,” “Alaska Airlines Magazine,” “Boys Life,” “Time for Kids” and “Geo” (Germany) to name a few. He has had 10 photo books published using his photos on Alaska subjects and publishes two 12-month calendars per year now in their 23rd and 18th year of continuous publication respectively. Mark also has a line of photo note cards, photo refrigerator magnets, postcards and prints.

Working as a professional photojournalist has allowed Mark to list his occupation as an answer to the question, “What do you like to do for fun?” He recalls discovering and developing his interest in photography while at Nichols.

“In my senior year, photography was the first art class the School offered in the Upper School,” Mark said. “Not being strong in math or sciences, the photography class was a no-brainer. I always loved the famous photojournalism magazines of the day…I started the photography class and fell in love with photography.”

That sense of joy is evident when Mark relays the fact that he

ection

can put his skiff in the water where he lives and in 20 minutes see humpback whales, or in 10 minutes from his house he can hike a trail to a 3,500-foot mountain or go hiking by a glacier. What seems like an ideal vacation to most is typical everyday life and a successful career for Mark.

Of course, with that success comes the insistent drive to capture a previously unattained shot, a shot that perhaps does not exist anywhere but in Kelley’s head. Collaborator and author, Nick Jans, describes an excursion with Mark to photograph Margerie Glacier in Glacier Bay, Alaska: “Though Mark drags out lenses and filters, and burns through a half-dozen rolls of film, it’s more out of reflex than enthusiasm. He knows the shot he came for, and this isn’t it.”

While Mark knew he had unearthed a new passion at Nichols, he did not realize it would be a career until a photojournalism professor from the University of Alaska applauded his talents and helped further educate his understanding of the art form. He found that college’s greatest gift was the time it allowed for experimentation and maturation in learning the skills necessary for surviving what he calls “an extremely tough and competitive field.”

From his first photography class at Nichols to national notoriety as a photojournalist, Mark’s path serves as a great reminder that passions are worth following and that true happiness may await you in seemingly outrageous destinations.

More on Mark Kelley available at www.markkelley.com

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Graham Smith Visiting Writers Program To honor the memory of Graham Wood Smith ’48 and to celebrate and promote writing at Nichols School, the George G. & Elizabeth G. Smith Foundation started the Graham W. Smith ’48 Fund. Established to award a Chair to a deserving member of the Nichols English Department, the Graham W. Smith ’48 Chair enables the recipient – currently Larry Desautels – to fund visiting writers to come to Nichols. The recipient arranges for the visiting authors, known as the Smith Visiting Fellows, to work with students with a particular interest in writing.

Wesley Stace: Considered as a Teacher

by Lawrence Desautels Bear with me here.

I grew up with surf music, so heard early about paddling out, ducking the breakers, finding a mushy spot, and catching a wave.

I’m pretty much done with that bit of personal history, except for the “wave” part of it. I’m not presently riding any wave, except in the cobwebs of memory, but this spring’s Smith Visiting Author, Wesley Stace, is. (He will appreciate my presence in his story, having learned such authorial selfpromotion, himself, from his favorite novel, “The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman.”)

The week after spring break, novelist Wesley Stace visited Nichols as part of the Graham Smith Visiting Writers Program. He has found that mushy spot, and he is currently riding the wave of dazzling praise with his third novel, “Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer.” The book has been internationally acclaimed, as were his first two, “Misfortune” and “By George.”

Mr. Stace, also the musician John Wesley Harding, opened the morning in a very Stace-ish…and Sterne-ish (author of “Tristram Shandy”) kind of way: “I have no particular trajectory here.” Yet what followed moved artfully from his background as a student in England, to a song that became the book “Misfortune,” to a reading from “Charles Jessold,” to the performance of “Little Musgrave,” an old ballad central to that novel’s plot.

His trajectory was a personal and artistic narrative, bright and lucid on the morning stage, and he was in particular control, despite his hint that he would be otherwise. “My first novel, “Misfortune,” took me seven years to write, scratching away in notebooks between and during concert tours,” he told students. He spoke of his love of literature when he told of his decision not to go back for a doctorate in English: “I realized that what I wanted was to be around books and libraries, doing research, not attending classes.” He said that his Cambridge education instilled in him a love of books, beginning with a list that included such “light” 30

Nichols School

reading as “The Bible” and “The Republic.”

For the rest of that day and the next, Mr. Stace met with groups of students and faculty, filling the reading room with classes and people who simply wanted to hear more. He spoke, he sang, he encouraged questions, and he gave thoughtful responses. His down-time was spent talking with a student or two, about writing and about music. Senior Kerry Kennedy sat with him for nearly an hour: “[He] was inspiring in his alternately cool and keen enthusiasm for writing. He took the time to talk to me about my own writing, providing small anecdotes such as his oft-used treadmill next to his laptop.” Another student said, “He made writing as an occupation seem accessible, not some secret cult.”

Stace’s visit allowed him to think about teaching, and he told of his year before university when he returned to his old middle school to work: “I coached [soccer] and taught Greek and Latin…and read from my reading list.”

During one of the few breaks he took, he spent a reflective moment sharing a doughnut with English teacher Andrew Sutherland. He saw a Roy Lichtenstein print on the classroom wall and pointed. “It’s real,” Sutherland said.

“You are so lucky to teach here,” Stace replied, with a look that seemed to transport him back to some hallowed hall of academia, where learned men and women, and perhaps a ghostly monk of Ely or two, sang the old songs.

He was engaged and engaging. “He had me at the English accent,” one girl said. “But he spoke with us, never talking down, trusting us as readers and thinkers, I guess. Do you think he’ll come back…like next week?”

Mary Jane Smith, benefactor of the visiting authors program, echoed that sentiment when she attended two of the sessions on Thursday. “What a charmer,” she said. “One thing that struck me was his remark about overcoming being self conscious [when performing continued on page 33.

After Nichols

Chris Catanzaro ’95 Builds a Strong Buffalo

by Blake Walsh ’98 Chris Catanzaro ’95 is giving back to his snowy community in more ways than one. As a local foster care worker and founding member of the Buffalo Powder Keg Festival, the East Aurora resident helps provide a little more color for the Buffalo community during the gray winter months. Here is a glimpse at what Chris has been up to since Nichols.

What are you up to now? Tell us about your life and career.

I live in East Aurora with my wife, Jen, and our two children, Jackson (3) and Sophia (1). I currently work in foster care for Gateway-Longview, where I perform case management duties for children 21 years of age and under. I originally started out as a teacher but felt I needed to affect change from the outside and on various levels. I love what I do because I am able to combine my passion for at-risk youth with my commitment to social and educational change, and, at the same time, work with great people committed to change and advancement with communities in Buffalo and Western New York.

I am also the Sports and Games Coordinator, as well as a founding member, for Buffalo Powder Keg Festival. In addition, I am the founder of a charitable event called “Rowin’, Throwin’ n Growin’ for a Cure” to benefit Ryan Miller’s Steadfast Foundation.

I am currently working on a proposal for alternative education to aid at-risk youth in overcoming academic challenges that may hinder their advancement in high school or in college.

How did Nichols prepare you for college and life beyond college?

Nichols made it such an easy transition to college because teachers truly engaged you in the learning process and cultivated a student’s love and appreciation for education and thought. They also taught you to be prepared for the workload and to be able to take responsibility for guiding your own educational goals and career path. I had a great sense of myself and my career goals the minute I stepped into college life.

Did anything from your time at Nichols inspire your career path?

Urban Planning class with Helen Marlette, Creative Writing with Mimi Dow, a visit to a local soup kitchen and my senior project with The Buffalo Fire Union were the inspiration for my current aspirations and career path. Urban Planning showed me all the great aspects that Buffalo has to offer and the impact that youth and young adults can have if they properly cultivate their passions.

Creative Writing opened me up to understanding myself and my

passion for the world around me, and my visit to the soup kitchen and work with the union fueled my passion for change in Buffalo.

And I can’t discount the great experiences I learned from participating in four years of athletics at Nichols. My athletic team experiences in each of my twelve seasons during high school taught me lessons that are immeasurable. All of those experiences either created or caressed passions that embody the work I perform today.

What advice do you have for others who may want to work in your field?

If you have an open mind, passion for change and integrity to spare, this is a place where you truly shine. This field gives you the wide ranging ability to change social policy and thought, enlighten the less fortunate and feel great about your impact and legacy in your community. Learning is a lifelong journey and if you follow what you are passionate about you will be truly fulfilled.

What is your favorite Nichols memory?

Probably our soccer trip to Europe (Italy, France and Austria) with Mr. Desautels and the boys and girls teams that traveled there.

What an all around amazing experience. It was great when we were able to view the video footage that Mr. D. saved and showed us at our 10-year Reunion. The sights, the culture and the learning experiences were so memorable…especially getting to share it with peers and parents at such a personal level. The trip is still etched in mind today and I can remember it like it was yesterday.

What do you like to do for fun?

Almost anything outdoors and athletic (skiing, sports, hiking, snow-shoeing), cooking and enjoying a great micro-brew, admiring the architectural greatness of Buffalo, and the ongoing rehabilitation of my home in East Aurora for conversion into an Arts and Crafts style home.

What do you feel is your greatest accomplishment?

My unwavering and unconditional commitment to my family and my community, especially the city of Buffalo.

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From the Mouth – and Heart – of

“Nichols is special to We asked our fifth grade students in Mrs. Sykes’ class what makes our school so special. Here are a few of our favorite responses.

“It really invites you into it. It’s like when you first shadow, everybody says ‘hi’ and acts as if you’re their friend.”

Kristy Ardalan ’18

“It makes me feel like I’m at home, for it is so clean, comfortable, educational and friendly. My teachers and my friends are so kind to me and they help if I’m hurt or having trouble on homework.”

Maren Geiger ’18

“The reason why Nichols is special to me is because of the opportunities it has given me. I moved here from Baltimore, Maryland, late last year. Another reason why Nichols is special to me is that I now know how to speak three different languages: English, French and Chinese.”

Dylan Hall ’18

“Every day I wake up early knowing that there is a great new day to come at school.

The day practically flashes by your eyes, it is so quick. Every period seems to tie in together, with academics, sports and lunch.

All in all, Nichols is by far the best school I have come to.”

Michael Berdysiak ’18

“I not only learn math, science, spelling, etc., I learn character. Nichols comforts me and really gives me a chance to live a good life. The Nichols community is my family.

Sure, I know people outside of school, but the vibe Nichols sends me is different.”

Josh Graziano ’18

“First, when you go into fifth grade, you are scared you won’t know anyone, but you realize that no one knows anyone, so you make great friends. Secondly, I think Nichols is special to me because there are different teachers, and different teachers have different insights and advice.”

Caleb Herskind ’18

32

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our Fifth Graders

Wesley Stace: Considered as a Teacher

me because…”

“I love Nichols because of all the kindness swarming around me. The teachers are wonderful and understanding. The students here are kind, helping and enjoyable. I like sports the best. Nichols is special because everyone makes it special.”

Abhinav Kumar ’18

“I really enjoy how there is an Upper School because I get to see my siblings throughout the day. Nichols might be challenging, but it is all worth it in the end. With learning birds in science to having to read ‘Catherine Called Birdy’ in Central Studies, I know Nichols is the place that I want to be.”

Gaby Stern ’18

“A lot of generations of my family have gone here. My grandpa, aunt, uncles, brother and sister. So I’ve known about Nichols for a very long time and it’s very close to my heart. I think that Nichols has expanded my horizon on meeting new people and making new friends…we have small classes and grades so we are all really close. We are a family. All the people I’ve met or seen in the hall mean something to me.” Sophia Muggia ’18

“I love it here because I know I’m going to get a fantastic education and when I ask a question nobody will judge me…Nichols is a terrific school and I love it!”

Toriana Todaro ’18

continued from page 30 or writing]. That was a good message for [students].” As always, Mrs. Smith herself charmed the faculty and the visiting writer.

Wesley Stace inspired the students and faculty with his weaving tales of the relationship between art and life. His class talks often began with a single line from his notes, and moved with clarity, intelligence and humor to movies by Werner Herzog, for example, to books by his favorite authors, and then on to his favorite musicians, like Bob Dylan. What came through clearly in all his meetings was a love of literature and all the other arts. When asked about his two personas – song writer and novelist – he spoke about the benefits of straddling the two worlds: “There are ideas too big for songs, and ideas that seem too small or too silly for novels, so it’s nice to have two forms to work in.”

When asked why he chose to write “Charles Jessold” about a music movement from the early 20th century, and not something more contemporary, he responded by saying that he always wanted to write about music, but preferred to create some distance between his fiction and his life as a touring musician. “My life is of broken strings, stale dressing rooms and unpaid deposits, much too real to spend an additional two years cataloguing,” he responded. His first two novels were period pieces, one set in the middle decades of the 19th century, and the other in the middle of the 20th, so it is of no surprise that he returned to an earlier time for his third, allowing him to embrace his love of research once again.

There is no mystery to being a writer, he told us: “It’s all about sitting down and training those muscles to work every day.” He also offered some very practical tips about creating a setting, especially for a period piece: “I place my characters in empty rooms and have them relate, in ways that seem psychologically true. And then I add a detail about the room they are in, a furnishing like a ‘dado’ on the wall, or I have a character carry ‘a small muslin sachet of herbs.’ Those details are often enough to remind the reader of an older landscape.”

Wesley Stace is, as one critic said, “wittily erudite and psychologically astute.”

All of us here would agree.

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As part of their presentation, Caroline Fenn ’12, Donata Lorenzo ’11 and Paige Dedrick ’11 sing “Under the Sea” with modified lyrics to get their message across.

Saving the World, One Water Bottle at a Time

by Paige Dedrick ’11 In March, three Nichols students – Paige Dedrick ’11, Caroline Fenn ’12 and Donata Lorenzo ’11 – participated in the Plastics Are Forever International Youth Summit in Long Beach, California. The symposium, sponsored by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, was attended by prominent scientists and environmentalists, such as Captain Charles Moore and Ed Begley, Jr. The summit also served as a forum for the student groups to fully develop their own plans for fighting against the plastic epidemic, and to prepare to implement them in their communities. The Nichols students’ project, Plasti-Gone, aims to eliminate single-use plastics from Nichols School and schools like ours around the Great Lakes.

All images are courtesy of Algalita Marine Research Foundation.

34

Nichols School

When I boarded the plane for Long Beach, I had a mental picture of what would comprise a “plastics symposium.” I expected to see pictures of albatrosses dead from plastic consumption and turtles mangled by plastic rings. There definitely were a few of those, but they are the very real result of our actions, and perhaps we should see those images to fully appreciate what we are fighting against, but they can be unpleasant and alienating. What I had not expected was to be greeted by a quintessential California surfer dude who had literally convinced thousands of investors to alter one small corner of the world. I had not expected to be told that being an environmental superhero should be energizing and satisfying.

“Do this work only if you can love it,” Dr. J. Nichols compelled us. It was a common theme throughout the weekend. I never imagined that people whose work is so important could so easily laugh at their own shortcomings. J. Nichols, who is easily among the most inspirational speakers I have ever heard, gave most of his speech lying down on stage, telling us horrifying nightmare-stories about his early days of public presentations. Later, when our group was called upon to present our plan to the symposium, we could relate to his recollections of heavy blushing and sweating palms.

We quickly learned that the first order of business if you hope to make a positive change in the world is to conquer stage fright.

I knew by the end of the first speech that my expectations of a doom and gloom conference were the antithesis of the seminar I was attending. Instead of dispirited environmentalists, exhausted

58. William Harvey 59. Sir Isaac Newton 60. Newfoundland 61. Argentina 62. William Walton 63. Mount Sinai 64. Sudan 65. Stuart 66. Hannibal 67. Bligh 68. Melbourne and Sydney 69. Jack Dempsey 70. Costa Rica 71. California 72. Quakers (or Society of Friends) 73. Boredom 74. Bring your own bottle 75. Insight 76. Cliché 77. Uranus 78. Oxymoron 79. Reed 80. Margaret Thatcher: 1979 1990 81. World War I 82. Nagasaki 83. Oncology 84. Omega 85. Faithful 86. Emily Dickinson 87. 6 88. None (6 Catholics; 3 Jews) 89. New Hampshire 90. Carmen Basilio 91. Brazil 92. Samuel Barber 93. Oedipus 94. Hand 95. Portugal 96. 1901 97. Michaelangelo 98. Loose 99. Superman 100. Painting

Nichols School 2011 General Information Test Answers 1. Montana 2. Wyoming 3. Antietam 4. Ingrid Bergman 5. Polish 6. Don Budge 7. “Les Miserables” 8. Victor Hugo 9. Maine 10. The eye 11. Crimean 12. Montana 13. Bismarck 14. William Jennings Bryan 15. 18: from 182 to 200 pounds 16. Lady Macbeth 17. Giraffe 18. Costly 19. Dublin, Ireland 20. New Zealand 21. Persian 22. Missouri 23. North Carolina 24. 53% [52.93] 25. William Howard Taft 26. 44 BCE 27. Actor 28. The African Queen 29. 212° 30. 57 31. Stanford 32. Tennis 33. Johnny Weissmuller 34. Tripoli 35. Chicago Cubs 36. Cup 37. Kabul 38. Chaucer 39. Richter 40. “As You Like It” 41. Eleven 42. St. Paul 43. Handel 44. Lydia 45. Healing 46. Naomi 47. Polio 48. Franklin D. Roosevelt 49. Flute 50. 1812 51. Beetle Bailey 52. Minnesota 53. Balearic 54. Don Quixote 55. Mike Piazza 56. Warren Spahn 57. Anorexia

from preaching the same message, the Plastics Are Forever summit was chock-full of plastic-related-jokes (funnier than you might imagine), found plastic collections, and optimistic, animated compatriots. No one was lecturing the 100 students about how we were ruining the planet. No one was telling us that our earth was beyond repair. I expected to leave feeling just a little more desperate and prematurely haggard. I have never been so happy to be wrong before. I left PAF feeling completely capable and enthusiastic.

Sometimes, the high school dynamic can be disadvantageous for someone interested in sustainability. Remembering that reusable water bottle is not always easy, and recycling the one you had to buy is not always convenient; for a community of busy and academically engaged students, convenience and ease take priority.

At times I have found it discouraging that only my peers and I are not always capable of accomplishing all that we should in the ‘green’ department. Nichols’ sponsorship of our attendance forced me to realize how important this work is. Sure, trigonometry and French conjugations absolutely should be mastered, but I recognized that the duty of stewardship is just as vital.

I know that I express the gratitude of all three of us for this incredible opportunity to learn from the, as Caroline would put it, “important Paige and the others enjoy a behind the scenes people [who] tour of the aquarium. are saving the world.”

We accept the implicit challenge, and we will endeavor to spread our passion throughout our student body.

We were given an enormous Elaine Gardner, Director of the Nichols Dance privilege and Program; Captain Charles Moore, Algalita Marine we plan to Research Foundation Founder and Research Coordinator; Donata Lorenzo ’11, Caroline Fenn ’12 respond with and Paige Dedrick ’11, student attendees accountability.

We are responsible for our planet because we live here and because we admire it. I think that sometimes we accept arguments of ease as valid because we forget how beautiful and generous the world is.

“Live like you love the world, because you do,” was just one more brilliant phrase from J. Nichols; the PAF summit reinforced our camaraderie with the earth and with each other – the message heard over and over again was that friendship and understanding is the only way to combat this plastic plague. Emphasis was justly placed on the power of each person in the room to make a vast difference with just a little personal change. Saving the world is not as massive a proposition as we allow ourselves to think; with a little commitment and a lot of love it is practically already achieved.

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Bob North ‘29

Poetic Memories with Bob North ’29

by Nina Barone

In March of 2011, I visited the home of Bob North ’29 with Blake Walsh, Director of Alumni Relations, and Matt Kianka, Digital Media Specialist. We took video of our visit, including Bob reading some wonderful poems from his collection. Visit our website at www.nicholsschool.org/alumni to see more.

What’s the secret to a long, fulfilling life? According to the oldest living Nichols alumnus, Robert North, Jr. ’29, it’s having good parents, getting plenty of exercise, maintaining a variety of interests, and doing a great deal of reading. Not to mention keeping busy, which Bob does well.

Although he summarizes his activities as being “the same as any good fourth grader: reading, writing and arithmetic,” Bob seems to have a gift for filling each area of his life with purpose. He approaches every day with a zest for learning and discovering. On March 1 of this year, Bob turned 101.

Upon arriving in Bob’s home, you could be certain of two things – he is a lover of books and art. His apartment is lined with floor to ceiling bookshelves, brimming with hundreds of hard covers, poetry anthologies, short story collections, novels and reference books. On every wall without books, you will find striking watercolors, oil paintings, sketches and photography. If you look closely, you will see Bob’s own signature in the corner of some of the most stunning pieces.

Bob attended Nichols for one influential year following East Aurora High School. His parents were encouraged to consider Nichols because a friend of his attended the School before going on 36

Nichols School

to Harvard University and Harvard Medical School.

“My music experiences looked good to Harvard, along with my time at Nichols,” Bob said. He credits being a violinist among the reasons why he was accepted to Harvard. At his Commencement, Bob played an Italian violin concerto.

Bob’s roommate at Harvard played the piano, and another friend of his was a singer; he said they would perform Schumann and Schubert. Bob said Harvard had flair for “putting two people together who would develop even more,” and the school exposed him to a variety of interests he would sustain throughout his life.

Entering college in September of 1929, just a few days before the great collapse, Bob’s professional life took shape as a result of the conditions at the time. During the Great Depression, Bob said there were simply no jobs around, but he and his wife, Marion de Mauriac, knew there was a market for librarians in Buffalo at that time. Persuaded by Marion that viable opportunities existed in that field, Bob followed her lead and enrolled in library school after studying art history and earning his undergraduate degree from Harvard University.

“My wife was a very smart cookie. She was awarded Phi Beta Kappa in her junior year. So,” he continued with a jolly laugh. “If you ever asked her a question, you got the answer.”

Bob completed a graduate program at the State University of New York at Buffalo, as well as a librarianship. In 1935, Bob became a librarian in the old Buffalo Public Library.

He was drafted into the United States Army in 1943, and was placed in the Air Force’s weather wing due to the fact that he

had taken a course in meteorology. He served at the air base in Cairo, Egypt.

While there, he and a younger man who took him on as a mentor, seized the chance to climb to the top of the pyramids – complete with views of the Nile River and all the ports of Egypt. Bob reminisced that it was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity because visitors can no longer climb the pyramids; when he painted watercolors years later, he recreated the scene he saw there.

When Bob returned home from the war, he landed a position as Reference Librarian for Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. Bob told us it was the best job he ever had because he enjoyed the work the most.

“I learned early on what a Reference Librarian does – he helps people solve their problems,” Bob said of his favorite job. “Some are simple, some are very complicated, and you do the best you can.

Well, you either do it yourself or lead them to do it.”

After three years, he joined a library in Charleston, W.V. Sometime later, he returned to Buffalo because he was recruited to begin the satellite system of the Buffalo Public Library, what is now the Erie County Public Library system.

“I loved the library work,” Bob said. “It was modest employment, but it was very gratifying. I made a lot of friends.”

Bob deepened his appreciation for poetry over the years, exploring new writers and writing poetry himself. He said he has been inspired by the memory of Ray Verrill, a former faculty member at Nichols who instilled his love of poetry. When Bob retired, he continued to stay active with traveling, painting, writing and reading.

At the time of our visit, Bob told us he was reading Dorothy Parker and Edith Wharton, pausing to share relevant details about each writer’s life with us before moving on to discuss language choice, sentence structure and subject matter. Bob’s passion for the written word rivals his love of art.

In 2009, Bob received the President’s Medal from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. A longtime art collector, he donated over 100 important pieces to their art collection in honor of his wife, Marion, an alumna of William Smith College.

During our visit, he shared some poetry by Omar Khayyam, a Persian writer, mathematician and astronomer, who wrote hundreds of four-line poems, which were eventually translated into English

by Edward FitzGerald. He read a favorite of his from “The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam” from memory: For some we loved, the loveliest and best That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest, Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, And one by one crept silently to Rest.

Our final treat during our visit with Bob was a sampling of his own poetry.

Bob read us two related poems – one short, one long – from his collection.

His anthology was impressive and contained in a large envelope brimming with pages from a yellow legal pad and some other colored papers in an assortment of sizes.

Throughout “Autumn Fragments,” we hung on his every rhythmic word, so he went on to share several more with us.

As any great written work does, Bob’s poems transported us to the time and place where he was when he wrote them…or where he imagined and wanted us to be. There was colorful imagery and robust sounds – the type of language that coaxed you into understanding that odd word, onomatopoeia, when you were a kid. In poems with nature as the focal point, we saw rows of bright wildflowers, sat beneath fluffy clouds floating along a pale blue sky, and heard birds chirp and flap their wings.

Other poems addressed various life milestones, which Bob told us were both fictional and authentic. Some were expressive in their subtlety and symbolism, while others were filled with frankness. All were marked by delicate words strung together by the feelings that cling to one’s memories long after a moment occurs. Bob beautifully captured quiet minutes in a loving relationship, unspoken declarations of the heart, and recollections of a person or a specific time in place. Each was read with conviction and grace.

Talking with Bob about his time at Nichols and his life thereafter was part history lesson, part English seminar, and all pleasant.

He certainly inspired us to stay active with our interests and revisit some favorite works of literature from our shelves. Thank you to Bob for allowing us to be moved by his resilience and his enthusiasm for life.

Autumn Fragments II

by Bob North ’29

On either side of the old dirt road lie the shaven fields, Their grain and hay already harvested and put away.

The roadsides shown their wild and random flowers, Yellow, purple, blue and white.

What are these jewels of nature’s sad but happy time; Cornflowers, Queen Anne’s Lace and clover, With a cautionary bit of poison ivy’s red.

Oh, dear Autumn, let me hold you in My eyes and heart awhile before you leave forever.

Spring 2011

37

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

Boston Alumni Event On March 10, Jerry ’81, Lou ’82 and Charlie ’90 Jacobs hosted 40 Nichols alumni in the Boston area for a private reception and Sabres/Bruins game in the Delaware North Companies suite in Boston’s TD Garden. A fantastic event was capped off by a thrilling Sabres victory in overtime.

38

Nichols School

A. Ellie Walsh Beasley ’99, Rick Bryan and Andrew Beasley B. Tom Meyers ’74 and Andy Meyers C. Ian Kaminski ’96, Don Smith ’97, Joshua Gibbons ’96 and Rick Bryan D. Boston alumni take in Mr. Bryan’s school update.

E. An attentive crowd watches as the Sabres battle the Bruins.

F. Ted Strachan ’81, David Strachan ’85 and Elizabeth Gurney ’75

A.

A. Julia McMahon, Ryan McMahon ’96 and Kim Reid ’97 B. Newton Sears ’05 and Bill Gretz ‘62 C. Mike Keiser ’63 and Rick Bryan D. Katie Sawicz ’98, Brad Feine ’97, JB Bruzgul ’97 and Ian Jones ’80

B.

C.

D.

E.

Chicago Alumni Event On Jan. 24, Mike Keiser ’63 and Randy Gretz ’66 hosted a Nichols alumni gathering in Chicago at The Chicago Club.

E. Randy Gretz ’66 and Rick Bryan

Fall 2010

39

A.

B.

C. B.

D.

E.

G.

NYC Alumni Event

On April 13, Bill Constantine ’62 hosted nearly 60 Nichols alumni for a gathering in New York City at the Racquet and Tennis Club in midtown.

F.

H.

A. Mariel Gallego ’92, Nidhi Kohli ’92 and Aileen Park ’92 B. Mike Radolinski ’99 and William Hinds C. Michael Kelley ’69, Jay Regan ’60, Ken Neil ’61 and Gar Miller ’68 D. Fayyaz Barodawala ’90 and Dinesh Maneyapanda ’90 E. Adam Greenberger ’89 and Severin White ’89 F. Kayla Zemsky ’05, Erika Budziszewski ’03 and Sam Walsh ’05 G. Amanda Marsh ’96, Dan Malin ’95, Erik Barrios ’96, Delilah Burke ’98, Gina Wettlaufer ’98 and Chris Rozanski ’95

40

Nichols School

H. Carla Sanderson ’02, Duke Pharr ’03 and Jonathan Langer ’04

A.

B.

C. B.

E.

D.

F.

G.

Washington, D.C. Alumni Event

A. Tim Ernst ’79 and Tom Spier ’81 B. Ed Righter ’05 and Ebony Robinson ’96 C. George Sinks ’74 and George Matthews ’01 D. Liam Burke, Andrew Ray ’84, Julie Ray, Allison Le Van ’84 and Jim Beardsley ’85 E. Katherine Riedel ’06 and Anne Morrow ’06

On Feb. 24, Patricia Gaughan Burke ’79 hosted 30 Nichols alumni in the Washington, D.C., area at her home for a cocktail reception.

F. Chuck Hobbie ’63, Tom Harriman ’64, Bridget Rochester ’02 and Jackie LeGrand G. Phil Kerpen, Joanna Enstice Kerpen ’96, Host Tricia Gaughan Burke ’79 and Liam Burke

Fall 2010

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After Nichols

Piper Campbell ’84 Travels the World as a Diplomat

by Blake Walsh ’98

Piper Campbell ’84 currently lives in Washington, D.C. In June, Piper will move to Basrah in southern Iraq, where she will be Counsel General as the region shifts from a U.S. military-led presence in Iraq to a purely civilian effort. She notes that her future conditions are austere – “I’m literally living in a shipping container” – but that getting the job done correctly is important and worth the effort. We caught up with Piper and discussed her path since graduating from Nichols. We plan to keep in touch with her through the fall after she has transitioned to Iraq.

How did Nichols prepare you for college and life beyond college?

I attended Georgetown University, where I stayed in touch with Andy Ray ’84, as well as Matt Lee ’84 and Michael Langan ’84. Eleven years later, I went to the Harvard Kennedy School for a master’s degree in Public Administration with a focus on conflict prevention.

Nichols prepared me for college and life beyond in two ways: first, I got an extremely solid education. While my Georgetown classmates struggled, I honestly found freshman year easier than some of my Nichols classes had been (e.g., Mr. Stratton’s English class). Second, Nichols really fed my interest in the broader world.

Participating in an American Field Service summer exchange to Japan definitely set me onto this career path in diplomacy.

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Nichols School

What are you up to now?

I am the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of State. Everybody knows Hillary Clinton is Secretary, not so many people know that she has two Political Deputies: one is Jim Steinberg. The other was Jack Lew, who left to become Office of Management and Budget Director and was replaced

by Tom Nides in January 2011. I started with Jack Lew and stayed through the transition to Tom Nides.

I joined the State Department after graduation and never looked back. My career as a diplomat has had its twists and turns, as I developed a fascination with conflict and post-conflict situations.

I’ve dealt with earthquakes and volcanoes in the Philippines; learned about NATO and the European Union in Brussels; and worked just about every angle of our interaction with the United Nations – including a two-year detail to a peacekeeping operation in the Balkans; negotiating for the U.S. in the Security Council; being the Counselor for Humanitarian Affairs at our Mission in Geneva; and working on human rights issues back in Washington. I was Deputy Chief of Mission in Cambodia, but was asked to come back to Washington in 2009 just a few days after Secretary Clinton was sworn in.

What advice do you have for others who may want to work in your field?

Read a good newspaper every day. Pay attention to politics and to how decisions are made, as well as to foreign affairs. Learn your geography. Travel!

Upcoming Events Monday, Sept. 5 Labor Day, School Closed Tuesday, Sept. 6 Freshman Orientation Wednesday, Sept. 7 120th Opening Day at Nichols School What is the most valuable lesson you learned at Nichols?

My greatest skill is the ability to communicate properly and concisely. A wide vocabulary is extraordinarily helpful when negotiating; clarity and grammatical correctness make translation easier and help when learning a foreign language. My love of English definitely was fostered at Nichols. (And yes, as a boss, I am a terror to those who slaughter the English language but when my documents go directly into Secretary Clinton and President Obama, I know it’s worth the extra attention.)

What are some favorite memories?

On my yearbook page, I have a photograph of Suzanne Taylor ’84 and Lisa Langford ’84 sitting on the roof of the arts building. I love the memory of engineering that photo. I also remember with great fondness being involved with various plays, and a drama class trip to New York where we saw three plays (including “Noises Off,” which I recently saw again) in two days – and went out dancing in the big city as well.

What do you feel is your greatest accomplishment?

I have been involved in what’s called the civilian surge – tripling the number of civilians in Afghanistan and expanding our activities as part of President Obama’s intensification of effort there. I traveled to Afghanistan five times in the last two years and feel great pride when I see colleagues from State, USAID, the Agricultural Service and others working side by side with Afghan officials and the U.S. military.

What do you like to do for fun?

You mean besides travel to Afghanistan and Iraq (which has the added fun element of torturing my parents)? I purchased a Vespa (Italian scooter) in Geneva, took it with me to Cambodia, and brought it to the U.S. as well. Zipping around Washington, especially right now with the cherry blossoms burgeoning, is a daily pleasure. Although I’m a little out of shape at the moment, I also love having competed in marathons and half marathons on three continents. My goal is to train for another while in Iraq.

Wednesday, Sept. 21 Middle School Parents Go to School Night Thursday, Sept. 27 Upper School Parents Go to School Night Saturday, Oct. 1 Homecoming Monday, Oct. 10 Fall Long Weekend, School Closed Sunday, Oct. 16 Admissions Open House Friday, Nov. 11 Veterans Day, Professional Day, No Classes Friday, Nov. 18 Big Green Athletic Dinner Wednesday, Nov. 23 – Friday Nov. 25 Thanksgiving Break Thursday, Dec. 8 – Friday, Dec. 9 Middle & Upper School Parent/Teacher Conferences Friday, Dec. 9 Old Guard Luncheon Wednesday, Dec. 21 Winter Vacation Begins Thursday, Dec. 22 Alumni Holiday Gathering Tuesday, Jan. 10 – Friday, Jan. 13 Upper School Exams

In Memoriam Robert S. Scheu ’38

Robert S. Scheu ’38, former Trustee of Nichols School and President and Chief Executive Officer of Marine Midland Bank of Western New York, died Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011. He was preceded in death by his wife of 61 years, Martha Smith Scheu; a son, Christopher Cole Scheu ’75; and brother, Edward M. Scheu ’42.

Bob was a distinguished member of the Nichols Class of 1938, with many academic and athletic achievements marking his time as a Nichols student. Bob also is an alumnus of Hamilton College and Babson College of Business Administration. He enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1942, was commissioned an officer in 1943 and became commanding officer of a Coast Guard Cutter in the Atlantic and European Theatres. Bob was awarded the Bronze Star medal for his rescue work in the Normandy Invasion.

Bob’s business career began with Vietor, Common, Dann & Co., and later with S.C. Parker & Co., specializing in corporate finance.

He joined Marine Midland in 1954, established the Investment Management Department in 1957, became Executive Assistant to the President in 1961, and in 1962 was appointed President and a Director. In 1968, he became Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Executive Committee. In 1969, he was appointed Executive Vice President of Marine Midland Banks, Inc., the state wide holding Company. He retired in 1975 to pursue other interests.

Bob held many volunteer and leadership positions in the community, and was involved in many philanthropic efforts. He served on the Nichols School Board of Trustees for several terms.

He also was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Buffalo General Hospital, President of the Board of Trustees of Westminster Presbyterian Church, and was General Chairman of the United Fund of Buffalo and Erie County in 1963.

He served on the Board of Directors of Pratt and Lambert,

Inc., Frontier Bronze Corp., Atkins & Merrill, Inc. and Quackenbush & Co., Inc. For many years, he was President of the James H. Cummings Foundation and was a Director of the Josephine Goodyear Foundation, the Knox Foundation, S.C. Parker Foundation, Western New York Foundation and the University of Buffalo Foundation. In 1985, the Scheu family moved to Virginia, where Bob remained active in his new community.

Bob was an avid sailor all his life. He participated in many sailing races on Lakes Erie and Ontario, as well as several Bermuda races and two trans-Atlantic races from Bermuda to Sweden and Denmark.

He was a life member of the Buffalo Canoe Club, and a member of the Buffalo Yacht Club, Indian Creek Yacht and Country Club, the Cruising Club of America, and the Ocean Cruising Club.

Surviving are Bob’s sons, Donald S. Scheu and Stephen E. Scheu ’70; his daughter, Susan S. Woodworth; nine grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and his sister, Mary S. Teach.

Bob leaves a lasting legacy at Nichols in the creation of The Robert and Martha Scheu Endowment in the Humanities. In 1992, he generously established a remainder trust to Nichols. The goal of the endowment fund is to foster interdisciplinary studies, professional development and student financial aid. Inspired to share the humanities subjects with future students at the School, Bob said it shaped his life and he wanted to help enhance that element of the Nichols education for generations to come.

Alumni

Katherine Crandell Bassett – Dec. 13, 2010 – Mother of Kingman ’77 and John ’82; grandmother of Sarah ’09 and John ’14 Charles G. Blaine – Dec. 2, 2010 – Father of Charles ’70 Martha “Bunny” Castle – Nov. 14, 2010 – Mother of Lyman ’88 Freda Cohen – Nov. 21, 2010 – Mother of Frederick ’61 John Connelly – Dec. 5, 2010 – Grandfather of Courtney Rycyna Foley ’00, Erin Collins ’09, Jack Collins ’09, Kerry Collins ’11 and Emily Collins ’13 Alan Dressler – Dec. 27, 2010 – Grandfather of Hayley Weinberg ’13 and Zachary Weinberg ’15 Arnold Gardner – Dec. 26, 2010 – Father of Diane ’70 and Jonathan ’77; grandparent of Max Pergament ’11 and Hannah Gardner ’12 Varney Greene – Jan. 30, 2011 – Mother of Rob ’90 and Cutler ’92 Mary Ann Leber – Nov. 22, 2010 – Grandmother of Kristina Saperston Semple ’98 and Willard H. Saperston ’03 Izola Laechelin – March 17, 2011 – Wife of Morton Colley ’40 Edward Linder – Feb. 14, 2011 – Father of Peter ’73 and John ’76 Barbara Joyce Mindell – Feb. 13, 2011 – Sister of David Mindell ’71 Emmett Reilly – Feb. 7, 2011 – Brother of Kevin ’75 and Patrick ’77 Norman Michael Takac – March 6, 2011 – Grandfather of Thomas Nuttle ’14

M. Peter Heilbrun ’54 – Sep. 27, 2010 John L. Danforth ’35 – Nov. 11, 2010 James Karet ’54 – Nov. 29, 2010 Morton Meyers, Jr. ’35 – Dec. 3, 2010 Ralph Parks ’57 – Dec. 3, 2010 Thomas H. Danforth ’39 – Dec. 11, 2010 Gary D. Wilson ’70 – Dec. 17, 2010 William Zacher ’55 – Dec. 23, 2010 Charles Stevenson ’36 – Dec. 25, 2010 William P. Hoffman ’48 – Jan. 17, 2011 Robert Scheu ’38 – Feb. 3, 2011 Dirk H. Van Schoonhoven ’72 – Feb. 16, 2011 Harvey J. Hambleton ’52 – Feb. 1, 2011 Henry B. Sheets, Jr. ’43 – Feb. 21, 2011 Roger J. Chambers, Jr. ’42 – Feb. 19, 2011 Alexander H. Dann ’42 – March 4, 2011 William F. “Kim” Kimberly, Jr. – March 14, 2011 Frederick M. Schaefer, Jr. ’92 – March 15, 2011

Friends

Clara Ambrus – Feb. 26, 2011 – Mother of Peter ’69, Julian ’71, Stephen ’79 and Charles ’84; grandmother of Christine Lille ’96 and Sarah Lille ’00 44

Nichols School

Faculty/Staff

Guy Johnson – Nov. 29, 2010

1929

Robert North, Jr. writes: “Still reading, writing and reciting poetry, shades of Ray Verrill.”

Class Notes

1955

Bernard F. Groh had nothing to complain about as he enthusiastically admitted that he is “alive and well!”

Tom Rumsey writes: “Nothing much to report except I’m still alive and kicking butt!” He is still working in sanitary and paper supply sales. Tom still enjoys racquetball, but due to “old age and a pinched nerve,” is trying to learn to play hefty. He did admit that he has not found himself to miss the cold and/or snow for one minute.

1942

1957

1941

Kirke Rockwood is keeping busy with his recording business, transferring film and tapes to DVDs and CDs. Kirke adds, “Just turned 86 on Feb. 28 and still feel about 60!”

1943

David Howard writes: “10/10 to Cincinnati, 10/25 to Florida for warmer weather, golf, bridge and a few parties. Al Short is the only classmate I have seen.

If all goes well, I’ll see you all at my 70th Reunion in 2013!”

For the second consecutive November, Trumbull Rogers has penned a poem for publication in the poetry magazine, “Mobius.” While Trumbull makes his living as a freelance editor, he has continued to write on the side – “my first love.”

1958

1948

Chuck Lauer writes: “I am now retired but am doing a lot of writing. I am involved with five Boards and speak to groups all over the country telling them how to stay motivated and inspired. I miss Nichols very much! Great people, great instructors and a wonderful Headmaster.”

1961

“Best Lawyers,” the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession, has named William P. Franklin, Jr. as the “Savannah Best Lawyers Medical Malpractice Lawyer of the Year” for 2011. This is a well deserved award for the outstanding work Bill has done and continues to do defending the medical community in Savannah, Ga.

1962

Paul Eisenhardt writes: “Elizabeth and I moved to Port Townsend this past January and began the fun saga of building a house with views of the water, Whidbey Island and the Cascade Mountains. We will move in during January of 2012. We continue to enjoy sailing on our sailboat and welcome any visitors!”

1963

1946

Irving Williams III writes: “Living a long distance away from Nichols prevents my return for Reunions, etc. But fine memories persist!”

Paul E. TenHoopen writes: “Marian and I will be in Naples, Fla., all winter. If anyone is thinking of coming south, bring your clubs and give us a call.”

Dan Donaldson organized a road trip to Berkshire School in Sheffield, Mass., in November to cheer on the Big Green Varsity Boys Hockey team, who went 2-0-1 during weekend play. Joining Dan in the stands for what will be an annual Thanksgiving time trip for the Nichols boys team are (front, l to r): Walter Zacher, brother of Sommer ’14 and Will ’12, Bob Battel ’56, Kim Kimberly ’47; (second row) Dan Donaldson ’58, Bud Ostendorf ’11, George Ostendorf ’59, Barney Walsh ’73 and David Laub ’56.

Chuck Hobbie has retired from the American Federation of Government Employees and is now the Associate General Counsel of the Peace Corps.

Chuck writes, “Let me know if you come to Washington so we can get together and celebrate Peace Corps’ 50th anniversary!

Peace, Chuck”

Spring 2011

45

Keith Rhebb

Mike Keiser’s newest golf course, Lost Farm at Barnbougle Dunes, opened for play this year in Bridport, Tasmania, in Australia.

The 20-hole links course on Tasmania’s northeast coast boasts spectacular holes that wind along the coast and more diverse routing than neighboring courses. Visit lostfarm.com.au for more on the course and its breathtaking views.

Henry Sturtevant continues to teach art history at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and at Montclair State University in New Jersey.

1964

Steven H. Buck has recently traveled to Egypt with a Medical Mission International program called “People to People,” started

by President Eisenhower in 1956. Steven visited Medical Schools and hospitals in Cairo and Alexandria. He met with Mary J. Eisenhower, the President’s granddaughter in Alexandria, who is currently the President and CEO of the Medical Mission organization. This was an all ENT (ear, nose and throat) delegate of physicians.

1965

Paul Aversano writes: “My wife, Paula (Crone), and I are involved with the development of a new medical school in Lebanon, Oregon called Comp Northwest, a second campus for Western University of Health Sciences. Paula will be the Dean while I am Clerkship Director and will teach neurosciences. Our inaugural class of 100 will sit in August 2011. Come see what we’re growing and perhaps tee it up as well!”

46

Nichols School

Bob Skerker ’68 and Catherine Schweitzer, Co-Chairs of the 2011 National Preservation Conference, stand in front of Albright Hall (E. B. Green, 1909).

At 120 Years…

Nichols: This Place Matters!

Save the date: October 18-22, 2011 Join thousands of people in Buffalo, the host city for the 2011 National Preservation Conference America’s story and heritage, along with the opportunity and challenge of preservation in the 21st century, will be showcased through our examples of the finest of America’s architects and the warm welcome from the City of Good Neighbors. In the best Buffalo tradition, and in memory of the great Austin Fox and leaders in the preservation movement who came before us, there are representatives from many generations from our 120 year old Nichols School family who are intertwined with leadership at all levels of the conference: Bob Skerker ’68 serves as Conference Co-Chair.

Catherine Schweitzer, former faculty member and mother of Ashley ’00 and Gray ’03, serves as one of two New York State representatives to National Board of Advisors of National Trust for Historic Preservation and Conference Co-Chair.

Sarah Gelman Carney ’92 serves on the Local Organizing Committee.

Holly Donaldson, wife of Dan ’58, mother of Darcy Donaldson Zacher ’88, and grandmother of Will ’12 and Sommer ’13, serves on the Local Organizing Committee.

Maura Cohen, wife of Fred ’61, mother of Alex ’87, serves on the Local Organizing Committee.

Kerry Mitchell, daughter of Tom Mitchell ’44, serves on the Local Organizing Committee and as the liaison for the conference to the Canadian Consulate.

Preparations and planning for the conference involves hundreds of people. Working closely with volunteer and staff leaders at heritage and architectural sites in the Western New York and Southern Ontario are: Jack Walsh III ’63, former Board Chair at Nichols and father of Kyle ’95 and Blake ’98, is Chair of the Martin House Restoration Corporation, an organization dedicated to the rebuilding of Frank Lloyd Wright masterwork to the highest preservation standards.

Molly Quackenbush, wife of David ’66 and mother of Adrian ’93 and David ’91, is Executive Director of National Park Service’s Landmark – the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site – one of the most significant historical buildings and noteworthy for the recently opened visitor center in a newly recreated carriage house.

Doug Swift ’74, father of Brendan ’05 and Danny ’07, is Trustee of Preservation Buffalo Niagara; Board Chair of the Roycroft Restoration Corporation, home of America’s

Arts and Crafts movement and one of the premier attractions; and a Principal in City View Properties, whose work in the Larkin District and the Genesee Gateway will serve as examples of innovative reinvestment in our unique buildings and places and a catalyst for the future.

Howard Zemsky, former Nichols Trustee and father of Kayla ’05, Harry ’07 and David ’10, is Principal in City View Properties, Co-Chair of Richardson Restoration Corporation, past Chair and long term leadership position at Martin House.

Jim Wadsworth ’57, father of John ’84, Kate ’85 and Eliza ’87 and Harry Meyer ’63, father of Dan ’04, have worked for decades to protect Louis Sullivan’s iconic Guaranty Building. Now home to Hodgson Russ, and our many Nichols friends who work there, this National Landmark has been updated for a contemporary business use while maintaining the integrity of the original design and materials. Generously, Hodgson Russ has offered this private site as a venue for sessions during the conference.

Clint Brown ’71, father of Tad ’95 and Peter ’97, is an architect, preservation expert and presenter at the conference, involved with countless projects to be showcased in the U.S. and Canada during conference.

Alison Fleischman, mother of Manly Ishwardas ’77, is a docent at City Hall, long term member of Buffalo Preservation Board and worked tirelessly to protect our architectural resources, allowing Buffalo’s conference bid to be successful; she is the Buffalo Ambassador to Austin to invite thousands to Buffalo.

Nancy Brock, daughter of David, represents M&T Bank, which has invested in many special sites – Shea’s Performing Arts Center, Darwin Martin House, Graycliff, AlbrightKnox Art Gallery and more – to be ready for the conference, including Buffalo Tours and the free daily tours at City Hall. Shelley Drake, mother of Allison ’00 and Rob ’00, also represents M&T Bank.

Susan Gonzalez, former staff member and mother of Erika Pollak ’98, is Director of Special Events for the Office of the Mayor of the City of Buffalo.

Several developers and building owners, including Rocco Termini, father of Jason Rothschild ’89, Eric ’97 and Brad ’99, is renovating the famous Hotel Lafayette which will be on display; Jake Schneider, husband of Katie Vogt Schneider ’73, will exhibit his new Schneider Lofts; and Carl Paladino, Billy Paladino ’89 and Danielle Paladino Jacobs ’92 will welcome conference goers in their buildings and historic spaces, such as the Ellicott Square.

Rick Smith ’79, the proud owner of a grain elevator, also serves as President of the Friends of The Edward M. Cotter Fireboat, America’s oldest working fireboat and a designated National Historic Landmark.

Chris Greene ’66, father of Mandy Webster ’96 and Taylor ’98, is active on the Board for the Richardson Complex Restoration.

And we are appreciative of the generous counsel of alumni who have been involved in the preservation movement, including Charlie Seilheimer ’59.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation www.preservationnation.org selected Buffalo to host the 2011 National Preservation Conference because of the region’s diversity of architectural landmarks, the livability of the city, and the rich landscapes of the surrounding region.

We invite all members of the Nichols community to join us as we welcome a mass of people to our hometown. Conference attendees will begin enjoying Buffalo on Wednesday, Oct. 19, at the Opening Ceremonies at Shea’s Performing Arts Center, followed by parties and affinity events. On Thursday, Oct. 20, after guests and visitors enjoy their sessions in the Buffalo Convention Center, The Hyatt (Conference Headquarters) and out in our community, the National Preservation Awards Ceremony will take place at Kleinhans Music Hall, followed by a candlelight mansion and home tours on Lincoln and Chapin Parkways. Visitors, Buffalo ex-pats and our own neighbors can sign up for tours of our architectural treasures, neighborhoods, and will have a choice of over 50 varied sessions when they register to attend the conference. The conference will conclude with the Closing Plenary and Party on Oct. 22.

For more conference information, please contact Bob Skerker at bobskerker@gmail.com or Catherine Schweitzer at cfs@bairdfoundation.org, or visit www.preservationnation.org/ resources/training/npc.

1966

Victor T. Ehre, Jr. recently relocated from Amherst, N.Y., to New Castle, Penn., where he works for Mercury Insurance Company. At Mercury, he is responsible for handling marketing duties for the entire Western Pennsylvania Territory. He is proud to say that he has recently been blessed with his first grandchild, Cadence Ehre.

Jock Mitchell was recently named Chair of the Board of Directors for Gilda’s Club Western New York.

1968

John MacCallum reports that after 31 years of happily playing around with Buffalo politics and government, most recently as confidential law clerk to the Hon. Eugene M. Fahey (Justice, New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth), he is retired from state service.

1970

Timothy J. McNamara will be producing a series of instructional webinars for K-12 educators being sponsored by the Ed Leaders Network, a group of 11 school administrators’ associations from eight Midwestern states.

1974

Seth Crone is a VP with Bank of New York in Beaumont, Texas, and is looking forward to his oldest daughter’s wedding this summer.

Adam Lehotay writes: “Living the quiet life where the deer and the four-wheelers play with Gayla, my bride and dearest friend for 31 years. Thankful for the privilege to serve and for the bounty that has been afforded me. Have my hair, smoke like a chimney, have been marginally committed to ‘quitting’ for 15 years. I think back often with fondness on all my many Nichols friends and wish them peace and grace.”

Deborah Raines was selected as the 2010 Distinguished Member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars at Florida Atlantic University. She was recognized for her creation of the Freshman Reading Program, for being a mentor to freshman students, for her record of excellence in Spring 2011

47

teaching, and for inspiring excellence and citizenship in everything she does.

1976

Cameron Crone Bilger writes: “Greetings from California! We are officially empty nesters (kids are both at Dartmouth) and having fun catching up with friends now that every weekend isn’t consumed by soccer and field hockey. I am now teaching at a start-up in Silicon Valley and creating a DBA (doctorate) program in Marketing & Management. I have been in touch with Kate Schapiro ’76 who took time off from her portfolio to track mountain gorillas in Rwanda and Uganda (fabulous pictures). I got to catch up with Sharon Kennedy ’76 and Lucy Neale Duke ’76 in Baltimore during last year’s snowstorm of the century.

Both are doing great and are very busy!”

Leslie Fox became a proud Bubbe, or grandmother, to a baby girl, born in May of 2010 in Pittsburgh, PA, where she lives with her parents, Leslie’s eldest son and daughter-in-law. She is named Matana, after Leslie’s dear father, Myles N. Fox, who passed away in August of 2009 in Buffalo.

Peter D. Graves writes: “2010 was a year of transition for me and my family.” Peter recently started a new job at Crown Agents where he directs its business development efforts overseas. His eldest son, Sam, spent his first semester of his freshman year at Skidmore College studying in London, England. Peter and his family were excited to be back in Buffalo for the holidays!

1978

Bill Crone has been involved with the physician assistant program at Albany Medical College, teaching courses from anatomy to evidence-based medicine. He also ran his first marathon since 1988 this year, “to see if I could still do it after the AARP card.”

Doug Jebb is currently working at Harvard University in the Advanced Leadership Initiative Department.

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Nichols School

1980

Ronald A. Chmiel, Jr. writes: “Kate and I wish to thank Jackie and Bill Gurney for a wonderful 30th Reunion party. Also, we both enjoyed testing for our 2nd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do this past April!”

Karen Capwell Derrick writes: “I am loving my life here in Vermont. After staying home with our boys, ski instructing and generally holding down the fort, I have landed in education, working as a Behavior Interventionist in an elementary school. I have been doing Special Ed 1:1 work now for six years. Currently I work 1:1 with a very special little boy with autism and many wonderful gifts. Rewarding work.

I’m completely outnumbered by the male species in my house but that is OK as I think I always have had a tendency to understand them better!”

Matt Mitchell was a member of the Organizing Committee for the 2011 Special Hockey International Friendship Tournament, held April 28-30, 2011 in Marlboro, Mass. More than 500 developmentally challenged players and 40 teams from the U.S., Canada and London, England participated in the games. Matt’s son, Matt, Jr., played on the host team, the Boston Bear Cubs.

Cynthia Sass is the sole shareholder of an attorney employment law firm. She received awards for 2010 Best Lawyers in America, the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Florida 2010 and the Florida Trend Legal Elite for 2010. Cynthia and her family are enjoying their life in Tampa, Fla. Last year she had the opportunity of spending time with Pam Murphy and Marge Meredith, which was great!

1981

Neglia Ballet Artists and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra presented Prokofiev’s setting of the Shakespeare classic “Romeo and Juliet” at Shea’s Performing Arts Center on March 11, 2011. Heidi Halt, Executive Director of Neglia Ballet Artists, had a starring role; Wendy Sheets Mathias is Executive Administrator of Neglia.

Deborah Heath writes: “I am still teaching Spanish at Lakeside School in Seattle. Last year I was on sabbatical and our family spent an amazing year living in Cuenca, Ecuador, where I taught English at the university level. Our kids went to school in Cuenca and we spent much of the year exploring Ecuador and Peru.”

Ellen Considine Miller writes: “The past year was a busy one for me. In 2009, I was named the Director of the Junior Development Programs at the Junior Champions Tennis Center in College Park, Md. I am also running our inner city program where we have partnered up with the District of Columbia to offer high quality tennis programs to inner city children. Last summer, we were part of Michelle Obama’s ‘Let’s Move’ campaign that brought over 40 kids to play tennis on the White House grounds and meet the President. As part of the USTA Player Development Coaching Education initiative, I have been asked to help train coaches around the country in the 10 and Under Quickstart program. On the home front, my oldest son, Christopher, is a junior majoring in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at University of Maryland and a member of the men’s golf team. Daughter, Allison, is a first year international business student at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. Jonathan is a junior in high school and hopes to study music in college. Stephanie is 13, going on 18, and is an 8th grader at a D.C. school. Michael and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary last year! Hard to believe we are that old. Michael is a Managing Director at Perseus LLC, working in their clean energy department.

If you ever get to D.C., look us up! We have lots of space and are just down the street from the White House.”

1983

Meg Crone Ramsden is in Barrington, R.I., with her two high school aged-children, and is working at a local pre-school.

1986

Mark Preisler has been named Executive Producer of the NHL Network U.S. and Creative Consultant with NHL Network Canada. A two-time Emmy Award-winning producer who had worked at ESPN since 2001, Mark is excited to be living back in Western New York, along with his wife, Andrea, and their 4-year-old daughter, Francesca.

1988

David Kirkpatrick, reporter for The New York Times, appeared on “Charlie Rose” in February and March of 2011 to discuss the political protests in Egypt and the current state of affairs in Libya.

1990

Nandita Shenoy (actress, dancer and playwright) is cast for the entire fivemonth season at the prestigious Alabama Shakespeare Festival beginning in February.

She will be in the cast of “Julius Caesar,” will play Ursula in “Much Ado about Nothing,” and will play Miss Poppenghul in “Moonlight and Magnolias.” In addition, Nandita’s first full length play, “Lyme Park,” will receive a production at the Round House Theatre in Silver Spring, Md. Dan Williams writes: “I recently got married to Lindsay Mills in Keystone, Colo.

Fellow Nichols classmates in attendance included Eric Grasser, Andy McDonald and Jeff Steinwachs. Lindsay and I are living in Madison, Wis., where I am a urologist at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

We both look forward to seeing everyone soon!”

1992

Maj. Elizabeth Boll graduated from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, earning a master’s degree in Strategic Studies. The school is designed to provide advanced education and research programs to increase the combat effectiveness of the U.S. and Allied armed forces, and to enhance the security of the United States. Elizabeth’s next duty assignment is at Ramstein Air Base in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

1993

Chris Plumb is Head Coach of the Boys and Girls Varsity Swimming teams for Carmel High School in Indiana. The girl’s team has set a national high school record, winning 25 state titles in a row – the most for any high school program in the country in any sport. Chris also has served as Head Coach of the Carmel Swim Club since July 2006. He oversees all aspects of the club, and he coaches the Senior High Performance Group. Chris also directed the 2010 Carmel Boys and Girls Swim Teams to IHSAA State Championship Titles. He was recently inducted into the Indiana Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame.

1995

Regan Marsh and her husband have welcomed a Golden Retriever named Indy to their family. She is working at Massachusetts General Hospital and getting a master’s degree in Public Health.

Regan also has been making frequent trips to Haiti with Partners on Health and The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.

Lori Decillis Tiedje and husband, Garth, welcomed a son, Tycho Edwin Tiedje, on Sept. 7, 2010.

1996

“Dear Lemon Lima,” the feature film debut of writer/director, Suzi Yoonessi, was released theatrically in Los Angeles and New York City on March 4, 2011. The film also became available to a wider audience through video on demand. The story follows a 13-year-old girl as she navigates her way through her first heartbreak and the perils of prep school in Fairbanks, Alaska. Suzi most recently completed production on “The Spring of Sorrow” for ITVS’s FutureStates series, which was released online in March of 2011.

1997

Ashley Dayer was presented with a Partners in Flight bird conservation award by the Appointed Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in March. The award honors Ashley’s outstanding leadership in education and communications efforts of international bird conservation initiatives. Ashley, now with Cornell Lab of Ornithology, began these efforts while serving as the Education and Outreach Director at Klamath Bird Observatory until 2009. She continues to lead in bird conservation while also balancing her graduate work as a Ph.D. student at Cornell University.

Nicholas Priselac and his wife, Alicia, became the proud parents of a daughter, Alexis Jude, on Oct. 20, 2010. The family resides in Boston, Mass.

1999

Meg Stevenson Auerbach gave birth to Charlotte Rose Auerbach on Jan. 17, 2011.

Clark Banach has been named the Second Coach for the Women’s Polish National Lacrosse Team at the next Women’s Lacrosse World Cup in 2013. Currently living in Berlin and coaching with Berlin’s Premier Women’s Lacrosse, Clark is excited to serve as a national coach with neighboring Poland and is grateful for the opportunity to work with such accomplished athletes.

Spring 2011

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2008

Gigi Gatewood is an artist living and working in Brooklyn, N.Y. In January, she embarked on a 10- month Fulbright fellowship to Trinidad and Tobago where she is working on a photography project about the African derived syncretic religion called the Orisha Faith. Her current work can be seen at www.gigigatewood.com.

A second year student at The Julliard School, Mary Edge performed a violin recital at Nichols in the Flickinger Performing Arts Center in March of 2011, where she was accompanied by Susan Schuman on the piano. The concert included the works of Bach, Mozart and Glazunov.

J.T. Soron graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law in May, and is now stationed in Fort Campbell, Ky., with the 101st Airborne Division.

2002

Dionne Fabiatos graduated from New York Law School in May of 2010 and is living in New York City.

2003

Lee Fabiatos is currently attending Thomas Cooley Law School in Lansing, Mich.

2004

Stephen Johnson is now a student at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Chris Mueller made his National Hockey League debut with the Nashville Predators on Dec. 28, 2010, against the Dallas Stars.

2005

Matt Connors ’05 lives in Los Angeles, Calif., and is Manager of Operations at Mezze, a Mediterranean restaurant owned by four Cornell University alumni. It is the first restaurant from their restaurant group, Real Restaurant Group LLC. Visit mezzela.com.

Pierre Islam is pursuing his doctorate at the Yale University Department of History.

2006

Claire Franczyk graduated this past May from the University of Richmond and is currently working at Sotheby’s in New York City.

Natalie Franczyk graduated this past May from the University of Richmond and is currently working for 4 Points Technology in Chantilly, Va. 50

Nichols School

2009 Kate McHenry writes: “Sorry to miss our Reunion because I will be underway at sea on the USCGC Bertholf. After graduating from the United States Coast Guard Academy in May 2010 with a BS in Civil Engineering, I was commissioned as an Ensign aboard the USCGC Bertholf (stationed in Alameda, Calif.) as an engineering officer. Bertholf is the first National Security Cutter in the Coast Guard fleet (and will be featured on an episode of ‘Mighty Ships’ airing on Discovery Channel this fall).

We have sailed to Mexico and Central America, where our ship intercepted 12,400 kilos of cocaine; Alaska and the Bering Sea, for protection of fisheries resources; as well as Hawaii for search and rescue missions. Hope to see more Nichols classmates here in San Francisco!”

Katherine Riedel lives in Washington, D.C., and is working as a consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton, a strategy and technology consulting firm in McLean, Va.

2007

Sean Pegado, in his fourth year of producing podcasts for the Williams College Office of Public Affairs, interviewed two eminent Tolkien scholars to create “The Legacy of the Rings: The Story Behind the Story.” His podcasts are available via iTunes or the Williams College website. At the 2011 Joint Mathematics Meetings conference in New Orleans this January, he presented his research in commutative algebra.

After completing an Honors Thesis in Mathematics, Sean will graduate from Williams College with a double major in English and Mathematics.

Former Nichols squash players, Lyman Munschauer (Hamilton College), D.J. Brinkworth (Northeastern University) and Larkin Brinkworth ’10 (George Washington University) participated at this year’s College Squash Association National Championships hosted by Harvard University where they all represented their respective institutions.

Allison Todd ’08, a junior at Syracuse University, was named to the U23 Women’s Crew Pre-Elite National Team Camp. Allison has been the coxswain of the varsity eight during the 2011 spring season. Syracuse will play host to the 2011 USRowing Women’s National Team Pre-Elite Camp from June 12-July 12 and will conclude at Club Nationals in Indianapolis, Ind. July 12-17. The camp develops athletes for the U23 and Senior National Teams.

2010

David Pegado is in his second semester at St. Lawrence University, officially declared as a Neuroscience major. He also reports achieving Advanced Open Water Diver certification through outings to Alexandria Bay and vicinity for deep water, wreck and night dives with the SLU SCUBA Club.

Will Regan was named to the 2011 AllAtlantic Coast Conference Academic Men’s Basketball Team. As a freshman at the University of Virginia, Regan played in 20 games this past season. To be eligible for consideration for the All-Academic Team, a student-athlete must have earned a 3.00 grade point average for the previous semester and maintained a 3.00 cumulative average during his academic career.

Faculty Profile

Yajie Zhang What is your position at Nichols?

I am a Chinese language teacher. This past year, I taught 5th grade and 6th grade Chinese in Middle School and Chinese I to IV in Upper School.

What was your path leading to Nichols like?

I earned a bachelor’s degree in 1987, and then a master’s degree in 1990 from Renmin University of China on Chinese language and literature.

In 1990, I left China to join my husband who was doing his graduate studies in Pisa, Italy. From Italy we went to Canada in 1991, where my husband completed his Ph.D., and I gave birth to our son, Norman, in 1994. When Norman was six months old, we went to Oxford, England, where my husband held a research fellow position. At Oxford, I started teaching Chinese at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Oxford, and also worked one year as a full time librarian at Oxford’s Bodleian Library.

In 1997, we came to Buffalo because my husband was offered a faculty position at SUNY at Buffalo. Since I enjoyed teaching tremendously in England, I decided to go to UB’s teacher program. While pursuing a master’s of education degree and teaching certificate at UB’s School of Education, I also worked as a pre-school teacher and taught occasional Chinese classes at UB. In 2003, right after I graduated from SUNY at Buffalo, I was hired as a duallanguage (Chinese/English) teacher in an immersion program in Glenwood Elementary School in Chapel Hill, N.C. After coming back to Buffalo in 2004, I started to teach Chinese to different organizations and schools, such as Sheridan Hill Elementary School and Buffalo International Institute. For many years, I have been a Chinese teacher at Western New York Chinese School (Saturdays) and served as its Principal from 2006 to 2009.

I was hired by Nichols in 2007 to start the Chinese program at the Upper School. I have been at Nichols ever since and started teaching Chinese in the Middle School in 2009. This is my fourth year.

What extra-curricular activities are you involved in at school?

Tom Michaud and I share the passion of raising awareness concerning the cultures and customs of different countries for the Nichols community. In 2009, we started Global Horizons, a club that involves our diverse students and invites outside speakers in order to reach the goal that we are able to see each other as members of a global community in which we strive to understand and respect those coming from all different walks of life.

What is it like teaching Chinese to both Middle School students and Upper School students?

I greatly enjoy teaching Chinese both to Middle School and to Upper School students. There are, however, differences in teaching MS and teaching US. MS kids are full of energy; they have a shorter attention span, but are more curious and enthusiastic. For them, I am more conscientious to break down lessons, and do more hands-on activities. Upper School students are relatively mature, and can handle more reasoning. Yet they are shy in terms of opening their mouths, speaking the target language. In teaching them, I make sure the learning environment is friendly and I add a lot of culture content.

In my teaching, to all, I believe strongly that music and songs are powerful in language learning.

Tell us about how you helped develop the Chinese cultural exchange program at the School.

Mary Rockwell organized the first Nichols trip to China in 2007 before I came. In 2008, Mary asked me to lead the trip to China. At that time, the trip was more of an educational tour, but it was fascinating to see how the students can benefit from the trip. Nichols had many years of language and culture exchange programs with Spain, Costa Rica and France.

After I taught two years of Chinese here, with strong support from the Language Department and the School, I started

exploring how to develop a Chinese language and cultural exchange program.

Through connections, I made contact with the Headmaster of the Middle School affiliated with HUST (Central University of Science and Technology). They were very enthusiastic about establishing the exchange program with us and we formally started the exchange in 2010.

What is the best part of your job?

The best part of my job is seeing and teaching my students, and interacting with my colleagues every day. I just enjoy being at Nichols, love its atmosphere between students and faculty, its beautiful campus, its wonderful lunch, and, above all, its passion about teaching and learning.

What do you like to do on the weekends?

When the weather is warm, you will find me outside in my garden a lot. I also like to cook and watch movies/shows. I volunteered at Buffalo Chinese School as its Principal for a couple of years on Saturday mornings.

I also teach one class there.

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In the Next Issue: Student Awards, 119 th Commencement and Reunion 2011

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