The Park School FALL BULLETIN 2018 ANNUAL REPORT OF GIVING 2017 – 18
BOA RD OF TRUSTEES 2 01 8 – 1 9
ALU M N I CO M M I T T E E 2 01 8 – 1 9
Fall Bulletin 2018 Annual Report of Giving 2017 – 18
Officers
Emily Potts Callejas ’89 Alumni Committee Co-Chair David Glynn ’91 Alumni Committee Co-Chair
Editor Kate LaPine
John Barkan ’85 Kathrene Tiffany Bell ’96 Bob Bray ’53 Aldel Brown ’04 Astrid Levis-Thorne Burns ’98 Carlos Castillo ’97 Greg Cope ’71 Alexandra Connors Craig ’99 Melissa Deland ’95 Sara Leventhal Fleiss ’95 Anne Collins Goodyear ’84 Joanie Amick Kelly ’83 Bob Kenerson ’53 Amy Lampert ’63 Abbott Lawrence ’85 Nia Lutch ’97 Jim O’Keefe ’91 Chip Pierce ’81 Miriam Posner ’03 Eliza Drachman-Jones Quincy ’98 Sarah Shoukimas Ryan ’97 Jordan Scott ’89 Rebecca Lewin Scott ’89 Diana Walcott ’85 Rebecca Wilsker ’00
Photography Jamie Byron Hilary Fabre Flo Farrell Kimberly Formisano Abigail Geer John Gillooly Tom Kates ’84 Kate LaPine Betsy Platt John Rich
Seth Brennan, Board Chair Polly Crozier, Vice Chair Katie McWeeny, Secretary Sam Wilderman, Treasurer Neeraj Agrawal Martina B. Albright ’83 Peter Barkan ’86 Seth Brennan Mark Dolins Sara Leventhal Fleiss ’95 Abigail Ross Goodman ’91 Gregory Kadetsky ’96 Heeten Kalan Conan Laughlin Heena K. Lee Jessica Lutzker Todd MacLean Amy Lloyd McCarthy ’86 Lesley Ryan Miller Rebecca Nordhaus Nikki Nudelman Neela Pal Young Ju Rhee Joseph Robbins Shadé Solomon Christina W. Vest Mary Witkowski Emily Lubin Woods
Ex Officio Scott Young Head of School Kimberly Boyd Assistant Head of School for Finance & Operations
Board Chairs Emeriti Kennett F. Burnes Vincent Chiang David D. Croll Charles C. Cunningham, Jr. George P. Denny III David G. Fubini M. Dozier Gardner John L. Hall II Kevin J. Maroni J. Michael Maynard Anne Worthington Prescott Suzie Tapson Deborah Jackson Weiss
Headmaster Emeritus Robert S. Hurlbut, Jr.
Head of School Emeritus Jerrold I. Katz
Design Robert Beerman, Onward Upward
Printing Puritan Capital
The Bulletin is published twice yearly for the alumni, parents, and friends of The Park School. We welcome your comments and ideas. The Park School 171 Goddard Avenue Brookline, Massachusetts 02445 To contact The Bulletin: Kate LaPine Director of Communications 617-274-6009 lapinek@parkschool.org To report alumni news: Jamie Byron Director of Alumni Relations 617-274-6022 alumni@parkschool.org To make a gift to Park: Beatrix Sanders Director of Development 617-274-6020 sandersb@parkschool.org To report address changes: Audrey James Development Coordinator 617-274-6018 development@parkschool.org The Park School admits qualified students without regard to race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, sex, disabilities, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or family composition to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. Park does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, sex, disabilities, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or family composition or any other status protected by applicable law in the administration of its educational, admissions, financial aid, athletic and other policies and programs. Cover Artwork Sunflowers (tempera) Lia Weinstock, Kindergarten
The Park School
Fall Bulletin 2018 2
Park's 14th Head of School: Scott Young
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Early Childhood: Learning Through Play
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#parkmade: Essential Learning in the Makerspace
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New Trustees Elected in September 2018 Gregory Kadetsky ’96 Heena K. Lee Lesley Ryan Miller Young Ju Rhee
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Graduation 2018 Graduation Address: Sophia Clarke ’12 2018 Class Speakers: Sydney Holzman and Jacob Casper
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Alumni Notes Alumni Service Award: Joan Amick Kelly ’83
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Annual Report of Giving 2017 – 18
inside back cover
Alumni Achievement Award: Bertha Coombs ’77
the par k sch ool
Annual Report of Giving 2017 – 2018
PA R K ’ S 1 4 T H H E A D O F S C H O O L :
Scott Young Last fall, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to appoint Scott Young as the fourteenth head of The Park School. Scott succeeded interim Head of School Cynthia A. Harmon, on July 1, 2018, bringing two decades of exceptional achievement to Park as a strategic, compassionate, and effective leader at three nationally recognized independent schools. A native of Rhode Island, Scott graduated from Brown University with his BS in neuroscience. His career as an educator began as a science teacher and coach at Rocky Hill School in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. After six years at Rocky Hill School, Scott left for Harvard University where he earned an MEd in school leadership. Following Harvard, Scott joined The Potomac School in McLean, Virginia, where he served as the Dean of Students and Academic Dean and continued to teach and coach. In 2011, Scott moved to California to join the senior administrative team at Marin Academy as Academic Dean and later as Dean of Faculty.
Congratulations on your new job!
Thank you! It is an honor to have been selected by the Search Committee and to be welcomed by The Park School community. What is the role of Head of School as you see it?
My entire career has led up to this moment and to this opportunity to lead an exceptional school with a long history of delivering excellence in education and valuing the centrality of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The role of Head of School is many things. First and foremost, the Head of School is an educational leader. It will be my job in partnership with the faculty, staff, and senior administrative leadership to define the instructional and curricular values that will guide the academic and intellectual direction of the School going forward. Park has a 130-year history of educating young learners in the greater Boston area, and during that time the process and the outcome of that pursuit have responded to research and shifted to meet the demands of the day and the needs of our students. Continuing to evolve our program so that it provides exceptional instruction, curriculum, and opportunity for our students is my principal charge.
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The Head of School is also a cultural leader and role model for the community. Defining, communicating, and living the values of The Park School is a critical aspect of the role. Modeling simplicity and sincerity, demonstrating excellence, fostering inclusivity, delivering equity, valuing
What our children can do and what they know are of equal importance to me. joyfulness, and possessing a growth mindset are essential pieces of the work of the Head of School. Finally, the Head of School is the lead systems thinker. I want Park to evolve, grow, and respond to the changing world around it, and in so doing, I want it to thrive for generations to come. What intrigued you most about the opportunity to lead Park?
My connection to Park is personal. During my time at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, my wife, Katie, and I lived in Jamaica Plain in an adjacent apartment to my cousin’s
home. During that period, my cousin, Terry Murray, and his wife, Nicole, were sending their three young children—Jamie ’12, Sam ’14, and Sadie ’16—to The Park School. Being young, newlywed, and in graduate school, Katie and I would babysit often and spent a lot of time with their family. Through that year and all of those interactions, the conversation always circled around Park. For Katie and me, The Park School stood out as a tremendous place responsible for the development of these very young learners. Fast forward ten years: I was sitting at my desk in California when I received an email asking if I’d be interested in participating in The Park School Head of School search. Based on what I knew and what I felt about the School, I jumped at the opportunity. How could I pass it up? Step-by-step I worked my way through the process, learning more about the School, getting to know the community, and witnessing what one might consider troubling times for Park. With each interaction, I felt greater connection. With each learning, I saw greater opportunity. At the conclusion of the search, I knew I had found a match for my skills, my values, and my desire to lead.
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Was your family excited to move to Boston? Can you tell us a little about them?
California was very kind to us. Katie and I moved to the Golden Coast with our first child, a dog named Sydney. We started a family with Peter and Caroline (now six and three) and said goodbye to our aging pup. California had become a home. However, for the reason stated in the previous questions and because of our New England roots, the opportunity to return to Boston and to be at Park was tremendously exciting. As parents, Katie and I were naturally nervous about moving our children from the only home they had known. However, when we arrived on campus in late June our uncertainty and nervousness were quickly resolved. It has been remarkable for Katie and me to experience this change through the eyes of our children. As we pulled into the drive at 133 Goddard Avenue, we were met serendipitously by the open arms of a colleague followed quickly by an impromptu tour of the garden meadow and the campus. Peter and Caroline began their transition to a new home with warmth, support, and kindness—and the realization they were living amongst playgrounds, pools, and playing fields. In the days that followed, there were swim lessons, playdates with host families, and explorations and experiments at Summer at Park. What began as a change for our family quickly became a transition and has now become our new beginning. While the transition is certainly still underway, every bit of it thus far has been exceptional. The support of the Parents’ Association and Board of Trustees Transition Team has been overwhelming, and the optimism and excitement of the community as a whole has been reassuring and encouraging. Park is a special place and we truly feel lucky to be here. How did you spend your summer? What about professionally?
In all honesty, my summer was dedicated to Park. I began my tenure spending a half day with each
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senior administrator, I met with 55 faculty and staff members individually for 45 minutes, I met with 15 Boston area heads of schools, ten of whom lead schools to which we send our graduates, I met with nearly every board member, and I accepted every parent request for a meeting. I did a lot of learning. Katie, Peter, Caroline, and I also enjoyed a week of vacation and beach time split between our families in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The week away was restorative and an opportunity to bank personal and family time to sustain me during what promises to be a busy year ahead. You’ve arrived at Park following a period of transition. How do you plan to address that?
Transition is difficult. I think the first step is to build relational trust. With every conversation I have, I learn something new, see a detail differently, and arrive at a deeper understanding. These connections and this process of learning will be the foundation for the work ahead of me and ahead of Park. I have also taken steps to make transition and transition management a focus for the year. Over the summer, the administrative team read Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change by William Bridges, and the faculty and staff read the first chapter. At the opening meetings in August, every member of the faculty, staff, and administration was asked to take a Change Style Indicator assessment and was given a personalized report of their individual findings. We then spent the first day, under the skillful direction of Pamela Penna, Director of Curriculum & Instruction, exploring our personal and collective change preferences and how those preferences inform our approach to change and needs during change. We will continue this work throughout the year, and we will use our findings as a community to navigate the change and transition that is ahead of us. What is important to you as an educational leader?
Central to my values as an educator are academic excellence and the development of key academic and social-emotional competencies. What our children can do and what they know are of equal importance to me. I believe in a progressive approach to teaching and learning. I believe a school should be oriented to its students and create opportunities for children to be the architects of their own education. A student-centered classroom gives children the developmentally appropriate mix of direction and autonomy to ensure that
young learners are deeply engaged in the hard work of learning. To create this engagement, we must balance the delivery of content with the development of academic and social-emotional skills. I want Park graduates to be passionate about what they are learning, and I want them to know their strengths and their areas for growth. While I don’t expect 14-year-old Park School graduates to have a finalized sense of who they are, I do want them to have engaged with caring and compassionate teachers, coaches, and advisors, to know themselves on graduation day, to feel they
Academic excellence, diversity, equity, and inclusion go hand in hand. were known through their Park journey, and to see their place on the intellectual path ahead of them. To achieve this portrait of a graduate, our students must be challenged and supported to grow as readers, writers, problem-solvers, leaders, artists, athletes, citizens, and thinkers. They must experience the passion possessed by their teachers, and they must be challenged to do, to fail, to learn, to do again, and to succeed. To continue to achieve the academic excellence for which Park is known, we must continue to build the diverse, equitable, and inclusive community and program that differentiates Park and has drawn each of us to this institution. Academic excellence, diversity, equity, and inclusion go hand in hand. Schools, such as Park, that value diversity and strive for equity and inclusion must provide programs that challenge students, introduce them to new experiences, ask them to understand different perspectives, encourage them to tell their own stories, and work with them as they make sense of a world that we expect them to make better. The outcome of academic excellence must be available to every child who walks through Park’s doors. To provide this access, we must be willing to question assumptions that impede equity and to build systems that foster inclusion for all members of the Park community.
What have been your impressions of Park so far?
Park is a fabulous school. The first days of school have solidified this assessment for me. We have wonderful young learners who bound into their classrooms each morning. We have dedicated parents who believe deeply in the promise of Park and willingly contribute everything they can to make the School great. We have hard working staff and administrators who bring expertise and passion to their roles, and of course, we have a world-class faculty who are deeply invested in their students’ learning and their students’ success. I had the privilege of participating in the Lower Division Parents’ Night in September as both Head of School and Peter’s father. It was a transformative experience for me to sit in a classroom as a dad at the school I lead. I have attended dozens of back-to-school nights in my career, but I have never done so as both an educator and a parent. Sitting in that tiny Kindergarten chair surrounded by my fellow parents, listening to Peter’s teachers, seeing his work and the work of his classmates on the wall, and making the connection between my work and his learning may have been one of the most powerful moments in my career, and it reinforced how lucky I feel and how amazed I am by the transformative promise of The Park School. How do you expect Park to change—and stay the same—now that you’re Head of School?
Park’s strengths are the excellence of its programs, the talent of its faculty, the quality of its community, the way each child is known, and the institution's dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion. These pillars of the School’s identity will not change while I am the Head of School. Park has a strong foundation and an excellent reputation. I’m looking forward to experiencing and celebrating long-standing Park traditions like Yule Festival and May Day! My calendar is already full of student birthday parties, and I’m getting to know the eighth graders as they come into my office for Skittles and M&Ms. It is a privilege and honor to be Park’s 14th Head of School. As I work to know the School that we all love, I will identify the areas for growth and change and work collaboratively with the Park community to ensure that Park remains a leading Pre-K-VIII grade school in the Boston metropolitan area.
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E A R LY C H I L D H O O D :
Learning Through Play G
“ By Kate LaPine, Director of Communications
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ood morning, Mrs. Greene. Good morning, Mrs. Formisano.” Kimberly Formisano, Lower & Middle Division Head sits on the soft, grey rug as the five-yearolds in Beth Greene’s Kindergarten class are taking turns practicing the morning greeting. After three students repeat the phrase, a little girl says, “Good morning…..” and then she stops. That’s when Beth deftly asks her, “So what do you do when you have this problem and you don’t know the person’s name? What can you do?” And the child whispers to herself, “Oh yeah, I can ask!”
SKILLS LEARNED EARLY Visit a Kindergarten or a Pre-K classroom and you will witness fundamental skills being forged. In these foundational, skill-building years, essential lessons take hold before children are influenced by their peers. The students in Park’s two Pre-K and four Kindergarten classes are learning how to answer these incredibly important questions: • How do you solve a problem? • How do you share? • How do you work with a group? • How do you move from one academic center (literacy, math, science) to another? • How do you ask a question? • How do you advocate for yourself? Kimberly explains, “When she forgot my name, my little friend on the rug was able to practice advocating for herself without feeling awkward or embarrassed—a skill that will undoubtedly serve her well throughout her life!”
BUILDING ON THE EARLY CHILDHOOD FOUNDATION In the 2015 – 16 academic year, as part of strategic planning, the School identified Early Childhood as an area that had not been addressed in previous plans and would benefit from a thorough review. The Early Childhood Task Force, a team of eight teachers and administrators and four trustees and parents, was charged with identifying the hallmarks of excellence in early childhood education (defined at Park as Pre-K and Kindergarten). The goal was to identify strategic principles that would guide our efforts to ensure excellence for four- and five-year-olds at Park going forward. To improve our program, the Task Force drew upon pedagogical literature, interviewed parents and faculty, and visited nationally-recognized preschools to learn from our peers. Here’s what they found: the best programs are rooted in an academic philosophy that emphasizes play-based and social-emotional learning. Not surprisingly, this approach benefits from adequate teacher staffing and training, an intentional approach to assessment that clearly documents
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I
n 2015, thanks to a Professional Development grant, Hilary Fabre and Betsy Platt attended a thought provoking and informative social studies conference at The Bank Street School of Education in New York City. There, they were introduced to Hollow Blocks. These large, hollow, wooden blocks offer young children multiple and diverse opportunities to express their understanding of the social and physical world. Working collaboratively together to design block buildings, they learn to articulate and solve problems, to negotiate and to cooperate. Instead of teachers creating dramatic play areas for their students, the children generate their own environments with the blocks. After an initial pilot year in one classroom, Park now has three sets of Hollow Blocks. The two Pre-K classrooms and the Discovery Playground are absolutely abuzz with lots of happy children working together, sharing ideas, and plans. As the children play with Hollow Blocks, they extend their thinking and start to work in larger groups, often drawing a plan first then going in to the area to create it. Betsy’s students wanted to make something big enough for them to
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go into. They first created a “Disney Hotel,” with an entrance, a pool, and bunk beds to sleep on. Next, they made a pizza restaurant complete with an entrance, a counter to order food, an oven, tables, chairs, paper food, drinks, plates, napkins, a sign, and menus. The children then took turns being a customer, a waiter, a chef, and a person who took orders at the front window. Three other children decided to make a bakery out of the sandbox next door to the restaurant! The next project was a spaceship. On the first day, it had a seat to sit in and entrances to leave the ship to explore space. The next day, it turned into a science lab in space where the kids were conducting experiments. On the third day, the children decided that an asteroid hit the ship and that one member of the crew had been injured and needed a cast (made from a Hollow Block). The early childhood team is thrilled with these new blocks. “It has been a delight to see their imagination and creativity flow as they collaborate to put together many different scenarios using just the blocks and hand made props that they thought of and designed on their own.”
what children are learning, and fosters open communication with parents. Park’s fundamental approach to teaching Pre-K and K was already based on these elements. The Task Force’s research was stimulating and thought-provoking. Kimberly Formisano says, “the research got us thinking about what we are already doing and how we can do it better.” There wasn’t a need for a fundamental shift in Park’s approach to early childhood education. Rather, it just needed a renewed focus. For example, Pre-K at Park has always been a playbased program, but now we are celebrating the understandings of the importance of play. It turns out that “play” means different things to different children. Park’s longtime Pre-K teachers Betsy Platt and Hilary Fabre have an inherent understanding of four-yearolds. The first step is to assess what each child’s needs. Hilary explains, “When those very young children enter our classrooms in September, they bring a wide range of developmental readiness— socially, emotionally, cognitively, physically.” The Pre-K team has designed Park’s curriculum to meet every child where they are, by constructing activities that allow for careful observation during the first weeks of school. “For instance,” Betsy elaborates, “some children are ready to play ‘with’ another child, while others are engaged in parallel play, and are learning to play with others.”
Those first weeks of Pre-K are critical for introducing children to “school.” The initial unit in Pre-K is called “Our Classroom Community.” This is when the teachers establish basic routines and expectations that make learning possible and make succeeding in a group possible: learning to follow teacher directions and a daily schedule, communicating feelings, and taking responsibility for behavior. Students learn to navigate the classroom and the School through exploration, collaboration, curiosity and communication. Play embraces each of these traits. Scott Young, Park’s new Head of School (and father of two children under five) is an advocate for play-based early childhood programs. He shared these thoughts at the Lower Division Parents’ Night in September: “Play isn’t an add-on in early childhood. Play allows our youngest students to engage and to learn, to explore and to experiment, to discover and to problem solve and it cultivates in them creativity, curiosity, and most importantly confidence. It allows them to use the knowledge they are gathering and to apply the skills they are developing. Play encourages cooperation, negotiation, conflict resolution, and communication. It binds the curriculum and objective of the classroom to the student.” The Task Force’s attention allowed the School to make the early childhood program even better. As Kimberly explains “we have continued to focus on the children’s developing skills and
Further Reading on Early Childhood and Play-Based Learning Let Kids Play By Perri Klass, M.D., New York Times August 20, 2018 The Power of Play: A Pediatric Role in Enhancing Development in Young Children By Michael Yogman, Andrew Garner, Jeffrey Hutchinson, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, American Academy of Pediatrics, August 2018 Early Childhood Education: What Is Its Goal? By Karen Gross, NAIS Independent Ideas, May 25, 2016 Why Young Kids Learn Through Movement By Lara N. DotsonRenta, The Atlantic Magazine, May 19, 2016
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how to approach the ways we are teaching those skills.” On a sunny morning in September, Betsy sets out three curriculum activities on the table for her 14 students to explore. While they wait for their classmates to arrive, she introduces the day’s areas that are open and the children decide where they want to go. “We limit each area to four children so that there is enough room for them to engage.” Today, there is an area with blocks for collaborative play and another where the children pick up gems with chopsticks to practice fine motor skills. On one table, she sets out four trays of shaving cream, two with drops of blue food coloring mixed in, and two with red. “It’s wonderful to see them making discoveries,” she says. As Betsy supervises this science activity, Elizabeth Amell, the Pre-K Associate, is guiding the children from one station to another while taking careful notes. By offering one teacher-directed activity, it means the second teacher can move around the classroom, documenting the learning that is happening at the other station. This approach allows for real discovery and faculty observation to happen. Next door, in the other Pre-K classroom, Hilary Fabre says, “Jenny, I see that you’re putting the rectangle blocks under the square blocks. I wonder if you are going to keep building up or are you going to build in a line?” At the same time, Taylor Holland, the Pre-K Associate, says to Maya, “I’ve noticed that you have been playing with blocks for the past few days. Would you like to try color mixing at the science table?“ While Park has always had a play-based earlychildhood curriculum, our understanding of the setting has evolved over time. For example, when the School moved to Goddard Avenue in 1971, the brand new spaces were painted with bright
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magentas and electric blues and the rooms were crammed full of learning materials. As the Early Childhood Task Force visited other preschools, their spaces seemed different. Many of the rooms featured natural light and lots of indoor plants, with neutral paint colors that produced a calming effect on the children.
ELEMENTS OF THE REGGIO EMILIA PHILOSOPHY Many of the exemplary preschools that the group visited have adopted aspects of the Reggio Emilia educational philosophy. This pedagogy was developed by psychologist Loris Malaguzzi in the villages around the Italian city of Reggio Emilia following WWII (however all the preschools on the tour were stateside!) Reggio classrooms take a student-centered and constructivist approach that incorporate self-directed and experiential learning. Malaguzzi believed that the physical environment was incredibly important to early childhood education. In the Reggio approach, the physical environment is called the “third teacher,” in conjunction with adults and the other students.
REDESIGNED EARLY CHILDHOOD CLASSROOMS After the extensive research and visits to other programs as part of the strategic planning process, there was an effort to enhance Park’s play-based curriculum immediately by redesigning the PreKindergarten and Kindergarten classrooms. The renovations maximize space for intentional play activities, exploration, and on-going projects, as well as improve accessibility and provide better storage solutions. Kimberly Formisano describes true studentcentered spaces as “just right—like Goldilocks! When I go into our beautiful new classrooms, I know we’ve created the right spaces for the kids. Their chairs are the right size. They sit in their seats at the tables and they fit! And we’ve made the sinks accessible so they can take responsibility for cleaning up after themselves in ways that they weren’t able to before.”
THE NEW DISCOVERY PLAYGROUND This summer, our early childhood playground was reimagined with a dose of inspiration from the Reggio Emilia philosophy including natural features to foster collaborative, imaginative play, and provide more sensory elements. Park now has a true outdoor classroom! The space provides opportunities for curricular gatherings in the stone amphitheater, as well as the active and imaginative play central to outdoor time. Park has engaged noted wood sculptor Mitch Ryerson to build a new wooden play structure which is still being
finalized. Craftsmanship of Mitch’s caliber takes time and current plans call for the installation of the final play structure over March break. In the meantime, the structure’s frame is already in place. On the second day of school, the students decided to call it the “Discovery Playground.” A fitting name for a playground that is an extension of the play-based curriculum from the classroom. The children’s play is guided by the choices that have been thoughtfully incorporated into the outdoor space. There are monkey bars and a climbing structure, but there’s also a stage, and musical instruments, and easels for painting, and block-building, and sand that allows for kids to dig and design and build in different ways. And the whole playground is ringed with a loop. All of these choices speak to the variety of ways in which kids play. Some are very physical, and they really need to run on the loop, or climb on the structure. Some kids want to stand at those easels and paint, while others want to be on the stage and put on plays. The Discovery Playground really provides for the variety of ways that children play...and learn. “We are so pleased with our new spaces— they are a wish come true for us!” Betsy explains, “Over our years of teaching, Hilary and I (pictured at left), have both taken classes at Bank Street of Education and Lesley University about the Reggio Emilia approach to education. We have always admired this method of teaching and their beautiful nature-filled, child-centered classrooms. Now we have them inside and outside.” Hilary adds, “It has been wonderful to watch how the children easily move through their outside and inside environments where everything is designed with them in mind, from the chairs and tables inside to the monkey bars outside.” Now, the classrooms and playground support Park’s play-based, student-centered early childhood curriculum.
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#parkmade
By Kim Fogarty, Academic Technology Specialist
Why making? Last year, a committee of Park educators came together to formulate the following purpose statement: At The Park School, where students are known and valued as individuals, making offers students opportunities to develop empathy and agency as problem finders and creative problem solvers. In addition, Park’s Habits of Scholarship and Citizenship (curiosity, grit, gratitude, zest, and personal responsibility) are nurtured by making at Park.
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M
aking’s hands-on engagement fosters a unique sense of risk taking, positive failure, and grit. When students are making something of their own design, they are less discouraged by bumps along the way, and more likely to work through adversity to give life to their ideas. At Park, our approach to makercentered learning is guided, in part, by a Harvard Graduate School of Education – Project Zero research endeavor called Agency by Design (AbD). Their research looks at the promises, practices, and pedagogies of maker-centered learning. In addition to the obvious connections to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) education, AbD has identified a number of attributes, now considered “essential work-ready competencies,” that are uniquely developed and nurtured by making. These skills include risk taking, learning from failure, persistence, craftsmanship, and empathy. By using the design thinking process as a guide, students learn perspective taking by contemplating and researching the needs of others. When considering problems faced by individuals, countries, and
cultures, these projects become windows to the world. It’s an incredibly engaging way for students to practice empathy and develop cultural competencies, as well as grow their understanding of mathematical, science, and engineering concepts. Last year, for example, Grade II’s study of folktales included an engineering project called “To the Rescue.” This unit combined design thinking, language arts, and science. The second graders were challenged to design solutions to the problems presented in their folktales. First, tapping into their science knowledge, they had to closely examine the elements of the simple machines they had learned about in science class. Next, they identified problems in their stories and evaluated each machine’s usefulness in that regard. This intentional design requirement was instrumental in the second graders’ long-term understanding of simple machines. After identifying problems in the folktales that could be solved by
Kim Fogarty, the Lead Makerspace Educator, has 22 years of teaching experience, most recently as the Academic Technology Advocate and Curriculum Coordinator for Academic Technology and Innovation at The Fessenden School, where she developed the curriculum across grades Pre-K – 9. A lifelong maker, Kim was also a science teacher, technology integrationist, and classroom teacher. These experiences enhance her work with teachers as they collaboratively identify curricular integration opportunities in which students will visit the Makerspace. Kim is the source of training, inspiration, and guidance for students, teachers, administrators, and parents.
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engineering, students designed clever and effective solutions using pulleys, levers, and wheels and axles to assist and protect their characters. One team of students, inspired by the African tale of Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, designed a well with a pulley-drawn bucket to mitigate one character’s burden of carrying water a long distance to her garden. Another group used a lever to design a trap door to foil the wolf in The Three Little Pigs. A hallmark of maker-centered learning is distributed teaching. In this model, a teacher trains students with the expectation that knowledge will be shared with others. In the Makerspace, I identify students who emerge as forerunners with certain tools or software and tap them to teach their classmates what they have learned. Distributed teaching positions students as the “experts” and empowers them to affect change. This shared knowledge is emphasized in other ways as well. During the design process, students collaborate and offer clear and helpful feedback to peers, and expect it in return. This often leads to improvements in student making. Making is, by its nature, an iterative process. Rarely do we hit upon the perfect
solution on the first attempt. Rather, we use trial and error, or feedback and reflection, to help students focus and refocus on finding a solution. Experiential learning leads to long term retention, which enables these skills to transfer with more ease to future learning experiences. Or, to quote Ben Franklin, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” Iteration is expected and even successful projects are never truly complete. I know we are on the right track when student reflection includes statements like, “if I had more time, I would…” or, “when I get this home, I’m going to…”. While maker-centered learning has been part of the Park curriculum for decades, (just ask any alum who
when they are built as shiny, new spaces without establishing the pedagogy and practice to give them context and potential. I feel confident that Park has laid the groundwork for success! Over the summer of 2018, in order to support the growing needs of Park’s student makers, we converted the conference room and adjacent corridor into a new facility to support the making curriculum. This beautiful new space, in conjunction with the other makerspaces around campus, facilitates the implementation of the 2017 Strategic Plan that called for increased applied learning at Park through an emphasis on design thinking and project-based learning. Our new Makerspace offers a layer of sophistication to what students are able to imagine and create. This space is truly state-of-the-art. Students now have access to 3D printers, an Epilog laser cutter, a CNC carving machine, a vinyl cutter, and a variety of power and traditional hand
Our new Makerspace offers a layer of sophistication to what students are able to imagine and create. remembers their House Project from Grade VI!), in recent years, this kind of hands-on learning has taken the shape of full-fledged design-thinking projects, as well as an opportunity to incorporate robotics and coding. As more design-thinking became integrated into Park’s curriculum, the “making” was happening everywhere—in classrooms, in hallways, in project areas, and in the Library. For at least two years, the scene shop underneath the theater doubled as a makerspace for Middle and Upper Division students. A successful maker program relies on a solid educational foundation prior to the investment in brick and mortar. Many makerspaces fail to realize their potential
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tools. Additionally, we have equipment for basic metalsmithing, leather crafting, and sewing. With microcontrollers and circuitry tools, students can design true robotic inventions with sensors, motors, and actuators. We keep a number of items for reverse engineering (hacking) to investigate how things work and to reimagine them as something new. By the time they graduate from Grade VIII, Park students will be trained and confident users of the sophisticated fabrication tools and methods they are likely to find in their secondary schools’ makerspaces. As the dust settles in Park’s new Makerspace, students in Grades III – VIII are beginning to work on projects integrated into their curriculum. I am partnering with teachers across divisions and departments to add new elements to favorite units and to identify new
opportunities. Middle Division Science Teacher Meg McLean and I just launched a fifth grade lesson—making anemometers to study wind speed. This multi-disciplinary project blends engineering design, math, and science. Measuring wind speed by anemometers is an important tool for scientists and meteorologists who study and monitor hurricanes. Student teams have been challenged to design and build anemometers which can measure the wind speed of a fan. They will experience, explore and apply concepts involving motion and forces as well as the transfer of energy. Using a challenge field set up in the Makerspace, students will test and retest to see what design will measure closest to the true wind speed measured by a digital anemometer. We designed this activity intentionally to achieve specific academic outcomes: how to measure accurately, how to calculate circumference of their devices to complete an algorithm, and the importance of iteration through testing and redesigning.
Less formally, students are also invited into the space to pursue personal passions and STEAM activities during recess times designated for each grade level. Younger students will continue to benefit from the Library Makerspace, the Grade III project area, and the multiple maker carts throughout the building. Park’s Makerspaces are high tech, low tech, and everything in between; what they share is the process, and the essential student learning that is taking place. We are creating a new brand: #parkmade. Initially generated as a hashtag for student projects, this phrase captures the essence of making and our entire curriculum. Through making, students develop empathy, critical thinking, and problem solving skills in tandem with academic skills that connect their learning to the real world.
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New Trustees 16
G R EG O RY K AD E T S K Y ’ 96
H E E N A K . LE E
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reg, who attended Park from Kindergarten through Grade VIII, reconnected with his alma mater when he moved back to the Boston area after college. Since then, he has been one of Park's most dedicated members of the alumni community. Greg’s passion for, and commitment to, the School is abundantly clear through his involvement the Alumni Committee and his tireless work to enhance the alumni experience. Greg joined the Alumni Committee in 2008, and was appointed Secretary that same year. In 2013, he was a member of the Alumni Sub-Committee for the School’s 125th celebration. He served on the Alumni Achievement Award Sub-Committee, as an Alumni Annual Fund Volunteer, and was the Alumni Committee Co-Chair from 2016 – 2018. He has been a real advocate for broadening the appeal of the School’s alumni events to attract younger alumni, such as changing the location of the annual February Fête to the more relaxed, hipper space at the Hawthorne in Kenmore Square. In addition to his work volunteering for Park, Greg has served as the Massachusetts fundraising chair of the Sarcoma Foundation of America. Greg is the media manager at North Star Media Group, an advertising and media buying agency that specializes in strategic planning and placement of radio commercials, programs, and print advertising both locally and nationally. The company specializes in 60-second health-based infomercials. While selling commercials pays the bills, Greg’s side job as a play-by-play announcer is his passion. As a political science major at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania, Greg began calling the hockey games. Since returning to Boston, Greg has been a regular voice of college basketball, football, and hockey games for many schools including Merrimack College, Providence College, Boston University, MIT, and Harvard. He also works as a freelance reporter for the AP Radio Network, summing up Red Sox and Celtics games. He notes, “Just as in my day, Park students continue to be able to be themselves. I love how the School’s motto, ‘Simplicity & Sincerity,’ has remained constant.” Greg’s presence, voice, and leadership are an asset to generations of Park alumni. He looks forward to representing the alumni perspective on the Board and being part of the leadership that will chart the School’s course going forward.
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hen Heena was five years old, her family immigrated from Seoul, South Korea to Laguna Hills, California. She grew up along the beaches of Orange County playing volleyball and all types of sports with her three younger brothers. Upon graduating from high school, Heena headed to the University of Pennsylvania and majored in biology. After college, she received her master’s degree in public health from Yale University, where she met her husband Dennis who was in New Haven for medical school. Heena became drawn to preventive medicine, and attended Pennsylvania State College of Medicine on a full scholarship. Once she completed medical school and married Dennis, she moved to Boston for her residency in pediatrics. Following her residency training, Heena joined Westwood-Mansfield Pediatric Associates as a general pediatrician. Then, in 2007, she found her dream job at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) as a pediatrician in the Newborn Nursery, where she has cared for thousands of newborns in the greater Boston community, including many who are now Park students or siblings! She is currently Associate Director of the Post-Partum Newborn Unit at BIDMC and Instructor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Heena and Dennis live in Newton with their sons Alexander ’20 (who now attends Noble & Greenough School) and Justin (Grade V). Alexander initially started at a Newton public school, but after entering Park in Grade II, he learned to find his voice within the smaller classes and the diverse community. The foundation of academic excellence and global citizenship that Alexander has gained from Park is evident in his success at Nobles and beyond. In addition, Heena and Dennis have appreciated the subtle ways that public speaking is introduced and fostered at Park within each grade’s curriculum, which have equipped both their boys to become more confident and mindful individuals. Coincidentally, when Heena first moved to Boston, she had her first introduction to Park (years before her children were born) while playing volleyball in the West Gym through the Boston Ski & Sports Club league! After becoming part of the Park community as a parent, Heena has held a variety of roles, including Front Desk volunteer, Grade V Class Representative, Middle Division Class Rep Coordinator, Parents’ Association Board member, Co-chair for the New Parent Dinner Committee, and is now honored to be assuming the role of Parents’ Association President and joining the Board of Trustees.
LE S LE Y RYAN M I LLE R
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esley Ryan Miller joins Park’s Board of Trustees with over 20 years as an educator both in the classroom as a teacher and as an administrator. She is currently the principal of the John Pierce School, a three-building public school campus in the heart of Brookline Village. In this role she works with a talented team of teachers and administrators to ensure educational equity, optimal academic achievement, and a safe campus for its 900 students. Prior to becoming the principal at Pierce, Lesley was Brookline’s senior director of teaching and learning. In that position, she oversaw the K–8 curriculum in math, literacy, social studies, science and world languages. Before joining the Public Schools of Brookline, Lesley served as the director of teacher development and advancement for the Boston Public Schools following her 11 years as a kindergarten and first grade teacher in Boston. When Lesley and her husband, Harold, were looking for a school for their daughter Laila (Grade I), it was very important to them to find a diverse school setting that focused on academics, social emotional development, and building strong studentto-student and student-to-teacher relationships. During their admission tour, Lesley and Harold observed the dynamic teaching and learning taking place throughout the school. What sealed the deal for them, however, was the student-led tour during the Open House where their student host spoke so passionately about his experience at Park. He helped them not just see, but feel the School’s commitment to learning, the caring and trusting relationships between students and faculty, and an environment in which the Miller family could envision themselves. Two years later, Lesley and Harold know they made the right decision—Laila is thriving both academically and socially. Lesley holds a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education at Boston University. Lesley, Harold, and Laila live in Dorchester.
YO U N G J U R H E E
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rowing up, Young Ju Rhee attended international schools in FIFA competitive nations including Kuwait, Cameroon, Tunisia, France amongst others, but otherwise, completely random places that she always had to look up on a map as a child. Every two to three years in between these countries, Young Ju returned home to South Korea and attended public schools. Thanks to her upbringing, her love of diverse places, spaces, and people, began early. After further schooling in England and the United States, she returned to South Korea to work at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Seoul Office as a public relations officer. She also worked for Habitat for Humanity as special assistant to Jimmy Carter. Before beginning her doctorate at the University of Oxford, she met her husband, Young Lee, in New York City. She moved to Boston in 2004, and after three moves just within the Back Bay and three children, Graham ’20, Grayson (Grade V), and Griffin (Kindergarten), she completed her degree in international development with specialty in issues related to citizenship and belonging. She now works at Bentley University where she teaches comparative politics in the Global Studies Department. She also serves on the advisory board of the Reves International Studies Center at the College of William and Mary. The Park School is where she is able to check out the magical fort built by her son and his classmates during recess, participate annually in the fifth grade immigration project, get her morning coffee, and where she and her husband see their boys learn important skill sets and values, and grow up happily. She has been a Class Representative, served on the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee as well as Steering and Strategy Committee of the Parents’ Association, and have found truly special friendships with fellow parents and teachers along the way. Young Ju is greatly honored to begin to serve Park as a Trustee, and particularly excited to continue her family’s Park experience as her youngest son begins his Park journey at a Kindergartener at this caring community.
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PA R K GR A DUAT ION
Class of 2018 18
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Each year, a Park School alum with six years of postPark experience is the featured speaker at Graduation. At the School’s 130th graduation exercises in June, Sophia Clarke delivered the address. Following her 10 years at Park, Sophia graduated from Pomfret School in Connecticut. She is now a senior at Clark University in Worcester, where she is a political science major and a geography minor. At Clark, Sophia has continued to nurture her love of the arts, especially in theatre and dance with Shenanigans Improv and Sketch Comedy, and The Clark University Dance Society, as well as delving into a new passion: the law. Sophia serves as an
executive officer of the Epstein Pre-Law Society and on the university’s Judiciary Board. She spent the spring semester of her junior year at American University in Washington, D.C., as an intern in the U.S. Department of Education. Although Sophia is not exactly sure if law school is in her future, she is certain she wants to serve and wants to do real work for the betterment of society. She thanks Park for planting the seed of wanting to make things better!
2018 Graduation Address:
Sophia Clarke ’12
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s many of you know, after I graduated from Park I went to Pomfret School in the hills and valleys of northeastern Connecticut. Pomfret, like many boarding schools boasts incredibly regional and international diversity. At Pomfret, I made friends from as close by as the Back Bay and as far away as Singapore. While we shared many many differences, we found comfort in our “Lord of the Flies” educational situation, and on weekends, when we craved an urban respite I would often invite friends to stay at my home in Jamaica Plain. While they were eager to shop Newbury Street and try a $12 ice cream cone at JP Licks, for some reason I always found myself pestering my mom to drive us by Park School. Now, given that these visits were usually on weekends when the
only living thing on campus was a squirrel (or 70!), we would typically drive around the front circle and then out the carpool lane and head back into Boston. In the four minutes that that drive takes, I would try and condense ten years of memories, significance, and my childhood by stammering on and on as to why they needed to see Park and why it was so important to me. However, as we all know, this is an impossible mission and I was foolish to think that I could possibly describe just why a visit to my home was incomplete without a hasty trip to 171 Goddard Avenue. It is hard to give a Park education adequate justice— especially in four hurried minutes, let alone an entire speech. As Nancy Barre drilled into my head as an eighth grader, there is nothing that matters more than the significance of
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a particular event, person, or place. This is why my ancient China identifications on tests were poorly written—I just did not understand the significance of significance. Yet as I have grown older, more self-aware, and certainly self-deprecating, I have come to understand exactly why Park School is so significant and so dear. Unlike the latest iPhone or car or drone or whatever is hot at the moment—Park, and your Park education—is significant for one very distinct reason: The idea of “community” is etched into your core—it is intangible, timeless, and so important to the Park School administration that it appears no less than 47 times on the website. Yes, the word is overused—but with the best of intentions. However, what I would like to instill in you eighth graders
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today is the value of community as you leave The Park School. I know you have a million questions. When I met with some of you last month you grilled me on topics that ranged from what to wear to an interscholastic dance to what education policy reform was and everything in between (some of which I will keep between us for the sake of our dignity). Yet what I found most impressive—besides the much improved lunch options in the Dining Room—was that you all were hungry to know more. Without proactive and curious members, communities fail to serve themselves and slowly start to lose the magic that made them strong, and sturdy—especially in the face of challenges. We are all aware of the individual impact that occurs when a community is rocked by unexpected rogue waves of adversity. However, in such a case there are two options:
1. You grab the closest bucket, and start bailing as quickly and strategically as possible. 2. You go down with your precious ship—cargo, memories, jolly rogers, and friends aboard. I would like to think that as members of our community—the alumni, faculty, administration, staff, Board of Trustees, parents, and current students—we would all grab a bucket because we recognize the significance and fragility of our ship, our community. If only one person grabs a bucket, the ship still sinks—but if everyone on board is committed to staying afloat, improvising a new sail, rigging it up, finding the source of the leak somewhere in the hull, and eventually sailing on towards a gilded horizon on inevitably calmer waves, the chances of survival are infinitely higher. It is just
a matter of finding the right crew, the right community. Yet unlike an elaborate sailing vessel, communities are not always so defined or experiences so dire. A community can be that between you and your family, you and your friends, you and a sports team, a classroom, a cast of a musical, or a club. So, how does one go about doing this, especially in a new environment, with new faces, and new challenges? How will you find your crew? My time last semester in Washington D.C. informs my own answer to these questions. While in our nation’s capital, I was presented with a new opportunity to make new and lasting friends and connections. I was amazed by the sheer amount of choice and option in one single place and I was rarely bored. Moreover, I was intrigued by the possibility of meeting people who were so incredibly
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different from me. New England, as I learned, is a very small place full of rich history and passion. As a Bostonian in D.C., I found myself cheering harder for the Red Sox despite my very wavering fandom and lifetime attendance of one and half full games. I vehemently advocated to my roommates who hailed from Wisconsin and Tennessee that they absolutely must go to Cape Cod if they ever had the chance. I boasted about eating lunch at Zaftigs in Coolidge Corner or getting a burrito at Chilacates. At one point I even found myself missing the Starbucks in Putterham Circle for no reason other than it holds some of my favorite memories. I waved to the occasional person on the Metro wearing a blue-brimmed cap with a red B on the top. I thought I was building community—they probably thought I was a little insane. Yet the entire time I was more of a Bostonian than I have ever been. To fully capitalize on my time, I sought out new experiences consistently and challenged my own comfort zones. As you all move on to your next school communities I urge you all do to the same, whether this is getting involved in an activity that you have
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never tried before or sitting at a different table than usual during lunch. While in D.C., I was consistently challenged by my peers and friends and professors to view experiences and opinions from an objective perspective. Withholding judgement is perhaps one of the hardest exercises to practice. Instead, I was provided opportunity to meaningful discourse. In such conversations, I was left feeling refreshed instead of exhausted. The most stark example of such a conversation took place on the morning of March 24th in my dorm room that I shared with two roommates. While thousands of students from around the country were assembling downtown, I was in my room trying to understand why neither of my roommates would not want to join the March For Our Lives hosted by students from Parkman Douglas High School and others impacted by school shootings across the nation—a movement that I had been excited for and eager to participate in. Both my roommates felt as though their attendance was out of line with their own beliefs, misrepresented their families, their
hometowns, and themselves. I realized that for my roommates attending the march would threaten their own security within their home communities and with this I made peace. This moment was such a moment of clarity, I had not even considered that they would not attend with me, and had made a false assumption that they would also be excited to assemble within an intentional community for what I deemed a very worthy cause. I left my room and went to the march. I met up with some other friends and together we had a very meaningful morning full of reflection, at times laughter, and occasionally tears. Standing within the throngs of crowds that stretched as far as I could see, I felt hopeful, but also was able to experience— hopefully not for the last time in my life—an intimate connection with thousands and thousands of strangers. Despite the very solemn reason for gathering together, within the group was a very clear community with set norms and
expectations. As I left the march, my feet were exhausted and I was so hungry, but I kept on thinking about how much my roommates had missed. Within our small shared dorm room we had plenty of experiences together, though none as impactful or lasting as the march. Attendance was the unpopular choice in my small shared room, but for me, it was perhaps the most incredible experience from my time in D.C. High school will present many challenges, opportunities to dissent, or to make an unpopular choice. I know your social studies curriculum has taught you all the significance of meaningful activism. This is such a gift and a privilege. Most are not taught how to responsibly use their positions of power, as graduates of Park School, you wield an incredible amount of privilege. Use your voices to stand up for those who cannot—even when it may not be the popular choice. In so doing, you will earn the respect of whichever community it may be.
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Class Graduation Speaker:
Sydney Holzman ’18
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ood morning, I am Sydney Holzman, and I am honored to be speaking on behalf of the Class of 2018. I vividly remember my first day of school in September 2009. I was crying hysterically, not wanting to leave the safety of my home and my mother’s arms. Yet, in what seems like the blink of an eye, here I am, here we are, nine years later, not wanting to leave Park—the place that has become my and my classmates second home and family. The fact that I entered overcome with fear and now find myself hesitant to leave, speaks volumes to the transformative power of Park. I have walked in and out of Park every school day for nine years, sat through countless morning meetings, TEACH´s, Yule Fests, and talent shows, but it was not until recently, as I attended my very last of each of these, that I reflected on how meaningful they all have been. Through these community gatherings, my peers and
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I have matured into lifelong friends, learners, and committed citizens. Inside the classroom, we have all been the recipients of an outstanding education— of remarkably talented and devoted teachers who have inspired us with their vast knowledge and contagious passion for the subjects they teach. The Park faculty exemplify the best of what education should be. Each teacher here has left an indelible mark on us as students. Ms. Come, having you as an advisor and teacher has been lifechanging. You are someone who encourages and supports my classmates and me in all that we do and you have inspired us to always strive for our ultimate best. Mr. Beaver, you also stand out as a teacher who has changed many of your students’ perceptions from one of dread to one of excitement and anticipation, instilling in us a lifelong love of science and discovery. Ms. DiAdamo, you have been instrumental in helping us all to get the most out of our
last year at Park, while also well preparing us all for our high school years ahead. You have made what could of been a very stressful year, much easier to navigate through. Ms. Poterba, your arrival at Park this past year was a most welcome addition and your enthusiasm and concern for our overall well being did not go unnoticed. I can't thank you enough for believing in me, and always stopping me in the hallway for a quick hug and conversation. All of our teachers have demonstrated not only excellence in their teaching, but also the ability to be able to profoundly connect with each of their students. It is because of the incredible faculty and staff that I was able to transform from a young girl who constantly sought safety and protection from others, into an independent and a much more confident person. I am positive that everyone in our grade could easily think of many reasons to thank all the faculty and staff. So to all of you who have helped us to grow during our time here at Park, thank you.
The concern for each other and for those in the world around us is what I feel truly defines us as the Park Class of 2018.
The concern for each other and for those in the world around us is what I feel truly defines us as the Park Class of 2018. Whether it be assisting teachers and students in the younger grades through Helping Hands, serving on Student or Service Council, stepping into leadership positions on clubs and teams, or participating in community service, on our own time, outside of school, the commitment and passion for helping others is genuine. For me, it is these opportunities to support others that I am forever grateful for. Helping in Mr. Bown’s third grade class twice a week, in the same exact classroom that I was in five years earlier, allowed me to appreciate how my role had changed and how I had matured while at Park. Additionally, serving as captain of the Track & Field team was another role that I thrived in and that allowed me to further connect to my peers and coaches. I enjoyed taking on this leadership role and tried my best to serve as a positive role model for my teammates. Ending the season undefeated was amazing, but my excitement from our winning streak was surpassed by the powerful sense of togetherness and support I felt. Hearing
the roaring cheers from my coaches, teammates, and friends as I crossed the finish line and celebrating our wins with hugs and an an incredible end of year slideshow and celebration showed me and my teammates what doing your best and working together can accomplish. The belief that our education must not be used solely for the betterment of ourselves, but more importantly be utilized for the sake of others, is one that I have internalized as a student here. This is what I perceive as one of the greatest lessons I will be taking from my family and The Park School and carrying with me throughout my high school years and beyond. It is for this reason and many others that a thank you is due: A thank you to teachers, a thank you to peers, a thank you to parents, and a thank you to Park—for it is because of you, that we the Class of 2018 are emerging now as young adults, who, armed with the habits of scholarship will change the world for the better. Thank you.
THE JOAN CROCKER AWARD FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE
Heidi Johnson Each year, the Parents’ Association presents this award in honor of former Park parent Joan Crocker, who exemplified the kind of devotion and steadfast zeal this award recognizes in its recipients.
Heidi Johnson (left) receives the Crocker Award from PA president Laura Barkan.
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Class Graduation Speaker:
Jacob Casper ’18
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ello everyone. I’m Jacob Casper, eighth grader and Park School lifer. So...10 years. This feels weird. You know, I could say something about how “I feel it was only yesterday that I first walked into my Pre-K classroom,” but it doesn’t. In fact, I can barely remember the first four years I spent at Park School, save for a few special moments. Looking back, the moments that I do remember are times in which I felt great emotion, in which I was shaped into the person I am today. We all have those defining moments in our lives: From our first time riding a bike to our first crush, the things we remember from our childhood are the things that help us determine our ideals, and more often than not, these things take place at school. I spend more time at school or doing schoolrelated things than I do anything else in my life. Academics have become such a big part of my daily schedule that I often find myself drawing important lessons from them. As I’m graduating, I’m finishing up my third year of Mandarin, and while I love the subject, it’s really hard! To do well in the class, I (and
probably some of my classmates as well) had to spend a very large amount of time studying, but it usually paid off in the end. I used to think that if you weren’t good at something, you could never get better, but through Mandarin, I was able to learn that putting in your maximum effort is always worth doing, no matter what the task at hand is. The reason I’m telling all of you this is because the way I learn, the way I see, and the way I think has been changed very much by The Park School, and I think many of my classmates could say the same. The things I used to consider important and the things I didn’t care about seem to have done a 180 and swapped. I never cared about my appearance until last year: I’m not saying that it’s improved, just that I care more. I also (try to) take school and other matters more seriously. In turn, the moments that I used to consider important in my life have increased and decreased in my perceived impact. When I say this, I don’t mean that these things have actually become more or less important, but my perception of their
Every time I think about my years at Park, I draw different meanings and lessons from the same memories.
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importance has. I look at things differently now than I did a year ago, and very differently than I did five years ago. Let me give you an example: In first grade, a random kid grabbed a stick the size of my head and tried to attack me. My first reaction was, of course, to run away. I thought this kid must have been insane or something: He’s now my best friend. By play-fighting and recognizing that outside of recess, we were all still classmates, we were able to bond through our love of playing and making mischief, and developed a friendship that I still consider very special. Whatever you may take away from this story, it gave me a lot more than a best friend. It taught me that friends can come from the most unexpected of places, that first impressions aren’t everything, and that you can have different relationships with people in different environments. The point of this story is not about what happened in it: it’s about how I look at it very differently than I used to. Every time I think about my years at Park, I draw different meanings and lessons from the same memories. I’m sure all
Next Schools for the
Class of 2018 GULED ADAM
of the people standing on this podium with me today have stories like this, and many more—meaningful, embarrassing, weird— but all a part of us. All of these experiences have molded us into the people we are today. It doesn’t matter if those times made us laugh, cry, or smile: they’re still a part of us. Some of them happened when only one person was present; some were broadcast for the whole world to see. I believe that this moment, as we stand on this podium on the edge of a new adventure, will be another that shapes us. We are all walking in different directions, and while we hope that we’ll see each other again, we might not. We remember people through the moments that defined them for us, and they do the same. In four years, we’ll look back on these moments and probably have an entirely different perspective. In eight years, it will be different again. But the important thing is that these moments happened: that they have created the image of a family that is very special to me. I couldn’t have asked for a better one.
MILTON HIGH SCHOOL
JEREMY ALTMAN
BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS
OLIVIER ARMAND
BROOKLINE HIGH SCHOOL
MIA BARTLETT
ABINGTON HIGH SCHOOL
TESS BIERLY
BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS
MOLLY BRENNER
BEAVER COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
ERICK CARIDAD
BEAVER COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
LILLY CARTER
BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS
JACOB CASPER
NOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL
JACK COHEN
BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS
GABRIELLA DOHERTY
NOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL
ANNA FATTAEY
DANA HALL SCHOOL
ROBERT FELDMAN
GANN ACADEMY
BELLA FYNN-THOMPSON
NOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL
EMMA GERSHBERG
DANA HALL SCHOOL
GEMMA GIFFORD
BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS
THEO GOLDMAN
BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS
AVERY GOLUB
CONCORD ACADEMY
JAMES GOOD
MILTON ACADEMY
ELENA GUERRA
NOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL
SAUNDERS HALEY
BROOKS SCHOOL
IAN HILL
CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL OF WESTON
SYDNEY HOLZMAN
THE RIVERS SCHOOL
PAIGE HOSTETTER
SUFFIELD ACADEMY
SAMSAM ISMAIL
NOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL
TILDE JAQUES
MILTON ACADEMY
JEAN JIN
DEERFIELD ACADEMY
WILL KELLY
ST. MARK'S SCHOOL
AVA LEWIS
NOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL
JONAH LIEBERMAN
BROOKLINE HIGH SCHOOL
LUCHI MASCIA
BOSTON LATIN SCHOOL
ANNA MCWEENY
BOSTON LATIN SCHOOL
MAGGIE MYSLIK
CONCORD ACADEMY
JENNIFER NGO
BRIMMER AND MAY SCHOOL
HANNAH ONO
PHILLIPS ACADEMY ANDOVER
JONAH PAQUETTE
BEAVER COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
PHOENYX PELTIER
LEYSIN AMERICAN SCHOOL
LULU PIERCE
COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL
NAYA POWELL
CRISTO REY HIGH SCHOOL BOSTON
MAYA RABIN
COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL
SOFIA SAMUELS
NOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL
RYAN SANGHAVI
NOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL
AVA SCHEIBLER
MILTON ACADEMY
REBECCA SHAFF
NEEDHAM HIGH SCHOOL
AMEEN SHEIKH
MILTON ACADEMY
QUINN SMITH
MILTON ACADEMY
ADELE SPITZ
NEWTON SOUTH HIGH SCHOOL
SYLVIE SPITZ
NEWTON SOUTH HIGH SCHOOL
RONAN TABOR
THE PUTNEY SCHOOL
KAI TJIA
COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL
WILL TRAN
CONCORD ACADEMY
SOPHIE WEINSTOCK
BOSTON LATIN SCHOOL
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1967
alumni notes
CLASS REPRESENTATIVE
Davis Rowley
1968 CLASS REPRESENTATIVE
Vicky Hall Kehlenbeck
1969
REUNION YEAR!
CLASS REPRESENTATIVE NEEDED!
1970 CLASS REPRESENTATIVE
Anne Singer
1945 CLASS REPRESENTATIVE
Natalie Park Schutz
1953 CLASS REPRESENTATIVE
Bob Bray The American Psychiatric Association honored Bob Kenerson with the award of Life Fellow, which is given for lifetime achievement and a significant contribution to the field of psychiatry. Bob’s career includes 40 years of teaching at Harvard Medical School, 27 years of teaching at the Psychoanalytic Institute of New England, and 15 years of teaching at Tremont Temple, training priests, ministers, and rabbis in psychiatry. He has been in private practice for nearly 50 years. Bob tells us that on a visit to Colby College to see one of his daughters, he ran into Libby Todrank—his Upper Division English Teacher at Park! Bob was widowed last year when his wife, Ruth, passed away. Ruth was a Kindergarten teacher at Park in the 1960’s. Bob Bray and his wife, Diana, recently downsized their living space and remain in Milton. Bob still runs his recruitment practice from home, and hunts bankers and investment managers for Boston firms. He tells us that his tennis and squash games are “now played only against people who can’t run.” Charles (Brownie) Swartwood shared his memory of being at Park for Grades I and II, when he and classmate Read Albright fed on tales of Finn McCoul delivered by Miss Gamble. Many years later, Brownie was
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appointed to a federal judgeship in Worcester, where he served for twelve years in addition to continuing his private law practice, and also served as president of the County Bar Association. He continues his working career now with a mediation and arbitration firm in Boston and spends a lot of time traveling, much of it to Germany with his companion, Heidi. Elson Myron Blunt tells us that he lives alone in Lake Mohawk, Sparta Township, NJ, in a cottage that is a replica of the house owned by Edgar Allan Poe. He reports, “I live a quiet life, now cutting back on playing competitive bridge and am retired as a computer programmer. I came to Park along with Bob Kenerson from Wellesley and had to hitch-hike to get to school.” He has fond memories of Park, and his teachers.
1963
Class of 1970—Are you getting excited for your 50th Reunion in 2020? We sure hope so! Over the summer, Anne Singer and Jamie Byron, Director of Alumni Relations, met at Park for some early planning. We can’t wait to see you in May 2020!
1973 CLASS REPRESENTATIVE
Rick Berenson Rick Berenson tells us that his wife Barbara’s new general-reader book, Massachusetts and the Woman Suffrage Movement: Revolutionary Reformers, was published in April by Arcadia, is available on Amazon, and reveals the unknown but truly important role Massachusetts played in bringing about the 19th Amendment. Rick also shared that “his company’s collaboration with Sanofi is going
very well and he is looking forward to bringing breakthrough insulin therapies to patients with diabetes in a few years.” Congratulations to the Berenson family! The Class of 1973 celebrated their 45th Reunion last spring, and Ken Leet shares that he was trying to come to terms with having a 45th reunion invite for anything! Ken also reports that he was pleased to have met Gilbert Kliman for drinks, living up to their “commitment from childhood to get together as a rule, no exceptions, at least once every 40 years.” Susan Storey Frank writes, “I am teaching music at York Middle School in York, Maine. I am the director of the musicals each year, and I am singing as a soloist at a Christian Science Church in Kennebunk. I am singing with and directing a hospice choir who sings at bedside in the Southern Maine area. I have three grandchildren, Olive (7), April (4), and Adair Sybil (20 months).” Susan also shared that she is engaged to classmate Jonathan Eder! Congratulations Susan and Jonathan!
1974
REUNION YEAR!
CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Margaret Bell Smith Rodger Cohen
1975 CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Colin McNay Bill Sullivan Meli Solomon tells us that she had a great time connecting with classmate Vanita Saleema Snow while in
CLASS REPRESENTATIVE
Amy Lampert
1966 CLASS REPRESENTATIVE
Wigs Frank
From Left to Right: Amy Lampert ’63 visited France with her son, Ben Lampert ’07, this summer! Here they are in front of Versailles—looks like a great trip!; Anne Singer ’70 and Jamie Byron, Director of Alumni Relations, enjoyed meeting at Park this summer to get a head start on planning the Class of 1970’s 50th Reunion!; Meli Solomon ’75 and Vanita Saleema Snow ’75, connecting in Washington, D.C. this summer.
The Alumni Service Award Joan Amick Kelly ’83
From Left to Right: Sculpture by Monica Franciscus ’78; Classmates Mark Epker ’86 and Peter Barkan ’86 crossed paths riding the Pan Mass Challenge this summer!
Washington, DC this summer. Meli shared that she had been in town for the Reimagining Interfaith Conference, and got to spend a couple of days with Vanita beforehand. “It was so fun to talk about old times and where life has led us, and meet her family. The years melted away. What a blessing to reconnect.”
1980 CLASS REPRESENTATIVE NEEDED!
1981 CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Matt Carothers Alex Mehlman
Each year, Park recognizes a member
1982
1976
CLASS REPRESENTATIVE
CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Allison Nash Mael
Tenney Mead Cover
CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Sam Solomon
1978
CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
in May, with both Upper Division students
Lisa Livens Freeman Elise Mott
and Reunion Alumni in attendance, we were
1984
CLASS REPRESENTATIVE NEEDED!
Monica Franciscus tells us that she lives in Ithaca, NY, where she is working at Cornell and as an artist, recently doing more sculpture work. She has two daughters, one of who competed this year at the Henley Regatta in Canada, and rowed at the Head of the Charles last year! Monica would love to connect with classmates, so please feel free to drop her a line at Monica@artbynf.com.
1979
service to the School. At a Morning Meeting
1983
1977
REUNION YEAR!
CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Lalla Carothers Sally Solomon
of the alumni community for their dedicated
REUNION YEAR!
CLASS REPRESENTATIVE
Anne Collins Goodyear
1985 CLASS REPRESENTATIVE NEEDED!
Melissa Daniels Madden shares that she still lives in Wellesley and has three boys (age 15, 13, and 11). She is a Park parent, and loves being at the School. She keeps in touch with classmates Diana Walcott, Abbott Lawrence, and Katrina Newbury through Park, and is connected with Nancy Baker Cahill, Whitney Wood Bylin, Tim Sullivan, and Rachel Levine through social media! “And by the way,” Melissa tells us, “ I would not have studied at all with an iPhone in the 1980s!”
proud to present this year’s award to Joan Amick Kelly ’83. Joan continually strives to engage alumni and make their connection to Park meaningful and beneficial, and we are deeply grateful for her leadership, time, and commitment to the School.
Above: Jamie Byron, Director of Alumni Relations, and Joan Amick Kelly ‘83
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1986
1993
CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Mark Epker Jay Livens
Jessica Ko Beck Jaime Quiros Alison Ross
1987
1994
CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Mary Sarah Fairweather Geoffrey Glick
CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Congratulations to Francie Walton Karlen who, after previously serving as co-executive director for “Rehearsal for Life,” stepped in to the role of executive director in July. “Rehearsal For Life,” based in Boston and encompassing “Freelance Players” and “Urban Improv,” has served more than 75,000 young people, empowering them to use theater as a vehicle for social change. Park is so proud of this important work being done by Francie, and many others from the Park community!
1988 CLASS REPRESENTATIVE
Liza Cohen Gates
1989
REUNION YEAR!
REUNION YEAR!
CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Dahlia Aronson Ehrenfried Ian Glick Rebecca Lewin Scott
1990 CLASS REPRESENTATIVE
Zachary Cherry Alexander Rabinsky
1991 CLASS REPRESENTATIVE NEEDED!
1992 CLASS REPRESENTATIVE NEEDED!
Park congratulates Alex Webb, who shared with us that he recently made tenure at the University of New Mexico, where he is now associate professor of emergent technology at the School of Architecture and Planning. Congratulations, Alex!
Alan Bern Aba Taylor
1995 CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Lilla Curran Nelson Matthew Stahl
1996 CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Kathrene Tiffany Bell Nick Brescia Merrill Hawkins Katayoun Shahrokhi We are thrilled to share that Katharine Smyth’s first book, All the Lives We Ever Lived: Seeking Solace in Virginia Woolf, was published by The Crown Publishing Group. The publisher says that “Katharine’s story moves between the New England of her childhood and Woolf’s Cornish shores and Bloomsbury squares, exploring universal questions about family, loss, and homecoming. Through her inventive, highly personal reading of To the Lighthouse, and her artful adaptation of its groundbreaking structure, Katharine guides us toward a new vision of Woolf’s most demanding and rewarding novel—and crafts an elegant reminder of literature’s ability to clarify and console.” We look forward to reading it, Katharine!
1997 CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Sarah Conway Suzy McManmon Sarah Robbat Primavera Kristaps Aldins, head baseball coach at Stevens Institute of Technology, and his staff were named
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Coaching Staff of the Year in May—Congratulations, Kristaps! Nia Lutch and husband Michael Kreppel welcomed the newest addition to their family, Henry Nathan Kreppel, in June. Congratulations to you both, and to big sister Caroline! Congratulations to Ashley Hall Casey and husband Jonathan Casey who welcomed their daughter Eve Adeline Casey in June!
1998 CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Meg Lloyd Sarah Swettberg
1999
REUNION YEAR!
CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Colin Arnold Susanna Whitaker Waters Elizabeth Weyman Liz Stahl founded a digital marketing and social media agency called In Haus Consulting. Her
entrepreneurial spirit and business savvy continue to be an inspiration to her friend Susanna Whitaker Waters, who got to hear all about it during a girls weekend in Toronto this summer! Other topics included Liz’s fostering of rescue dogs and training for her pilot’s license. Susanna attended the NAIS School Leadership Institute as part of her continued development in independent school administration. She also officiated the marriages of two different friends this summer and is open for business if you know anyone in need of a minister! Margaret Gormley Donahue shares that she, her husband Dave, and their two children, Charlotte (3) and Bear (1), moved to Wellesley in July are are enjoying suburban life! This summer, they were eagerly awaiting the August 25th wedding of Caroline Gormley ’04 at their parents’ house in Marion, at which Kate Gormley Saeli ’02 was a fellow maid of honor, and Margaret’s daughter Charlotte was the flower girl!
10th: 2009 15th: 2004
E S AV THE E D AT
20th: 1999 25th: 1994 30th: 1989 35th: 1984 40th: 1979 45th: 1974 50th: 1969
Saturday REUNION 2019 May 18 If you are interested in helping plan your reunion, please contact Jamie Byron, Director of Alumni Relations, at 617-274-6022 or alumni@parkschool.org We also hope that reunion classes, as well as alumni from Holly Dando and her any class, will ’79 be able to mom join us the day before Reunion midsummer in forcelebrating Alumni Visiting Morning on Friday, May 17th! Sweden.
alum ni not e s
From Left to Right: Congratulations to Caitlin Dick Robinson ’01 on her July wedding to Colin Robinson, and to Caroline Gormley ’04 and husband Christian Nebergall at their August 2018 wedding in Marion, MA.
2000 CLASS REPRESENTATIVE
Jessica Whitman Seney
2001 CLASS REPRESENTATIVE
Ben Bullit
2002 CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Alejandro Alvarado Alexander Lebow
2003 CLASS REPRESENTATIVE
Diana Rutherford Congratulations to Josh Kay and his fiancée, Brooke Patkin, who got engaged on May 27!
2006
2009
CLASS REPRESENTATIVE
CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
McCall Cruz
Mercedes Garcia-Orozco Cary Williams
Enya Meade Jaleel Williams
Alice Berenson recently began classes as an M.D. candidate at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine. Best of luck, Alice!
2013
Daniel Berenson, a fifth-year M.D.-Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University, was recently engaged to Melanie Goldstein, a talented cellist who is entering Stanford Business School this fall. Congratulations!
2007 CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
2004
REUNION YEAR!
CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Steven Fox Molly Lebow Congratulations to Caroline Gormley, who was married to Christian Nebergall on August 25, 2018 at her parents’ home in Marion!
2005 CLASS REPRESENTATIVE
Lilly Bullit
Thomas Cope Benjamin Schwartz Mollie Cunningham Young
2012
CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Justine Hatton Katharine Mitchell
2010 CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Gilad Seckler Michela Thompson
2011 CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Mollie Cunningham Young is marrying Mark Hourihan in Brookline in June 2019. The couple’s wedding party will include many 2007 classmates including Jack Manzi, Nina Wolpow, Camilla Golestaneh, Else Sharp, and Samantha Greenberg. Congratulations!
2008 CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Park congratulates Ana Alvarado, who was sworn in as an attorney at Faneuil Hall in June. Way to go, Ana! Sarah Tiedemann got engaged to her long-time boyfriend, Dylan Poulin, in Telluride, Colorado in May. They are looking forward to their wedding in the fall of 2019!
REUNION YEAR!
Manizeh Afridi Marielle Rabins Congratulations to Charlie Platt who got engaged to Miranda Dalton in July in London!
Grace Donnell-Kilmer Eliza Thomas Carter Rose finished his third year at Northeastern University and completed a co-op at GE Oil and Gas. Congratulations to Bernardo Pacini, who graduated cum laude from Princeton's School of Engineering and Applied Science, with a degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering with certificates in robotics and intelligent systems and in materials science. Bernardo received the Lore Von Jaskowsky Memorial Prize, and placed second in the John Marshall II Memorial Thesis Prize. Bernardo will be a doctoral student in mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan. Way to go, Bernardo!
Mollie Cunningham Young ’07 and fiancé Mark Hourihan will be getting married in Brookline next summer.
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alumni notes
From Left to Right: Kimberly, Jim, and Ellie Formisano ’14 at the Pan-Mass Challenge this summer; Elena Guerra ’18 and Sofia Samuels ’18 enjoyed playing field hockey this summer; Former Head of School Jerry Katz visited Roxbury Latin this fall and was able to connect with former Park students (L to R): Leo Bene ’20, Ian Richardson ’16, Evren Uluer ’18, Benjamin Crawford ’16, Justin Shaw ’19, JJ DeMarco '16, and Cam Croce ’16; Recent graduates from the Class of 2018 Saunders Haley, Sofia Samuels, and Elizabeth Pierce.
2014 CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Ellie Formisano Olivia Mills
2017 CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Congratulations to Ellie Formisano, who participated in the Pan-Mass Challenge this summer with dad, Jim, and mom Kimberly Formisano, Lower & Middle Division Head. Way to go Team Formisano!
Ainsley Bonang Priya Devavaram Nina Kathiresan
2018 CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Molly Brenner Brie Doherty Theo Goldman Jonah Paquette Sofia Samuels Adele Spitz
2015 CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
Caroline Beecher Jonathan DeJesus
Sofia Samuels tells us that she and classmate Elena Guerra played together in a weekly field hockey summer league, and that after having a great time on the Park Costa Rica trip she enjoyed continuing to travel with her family over the summer.
2016 CLASS REPRESENTATIVES
John Joseph DeMarco Charlotte Ketterson Gage McWeeny River Studley
Past Faculty News More evidence that Park people are everywhere: This June, Nancy Faulkner and a friend from Rivermead in Peterborough, NH went downtown to join in a protest/rally. Nancy writes, “We arrived early with our signs (mine said “RETURN THE CHILDREN”) and found a little spot where we could lean on a short wall in the shade. An older guy who comes every Saturday morning to promote “PEACE” was already there and we introduced ourselves. Another guy arrived and we introduced ourselves and he said he was John McKendry. I did a double take and asked ‘the John McKendry who used to teach shop at Park School when our kids were there in the 1970s?’ And, b’gawd, it was him! Neither of us recognized the other, but we had fun catching up!”
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FOLLOW US AND STAY CONNECTED WITH PARK!
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In May, Margo Ayres Smith was at Club Passim to hear Tom Smith sing as part of the Campfire Festival. The lineup also included Social Club 11, with former faculty Todd Bearson on keyboard and Shady Hartshorne ’74 on the accordion!
Alumni Committee Lunch with Scott Young Only a few short weeks after arriving on campus with his family in July, Scott Young joined members of the Alumni Committee for a special lunch at the Faulkner House. Committee members learned about Scott and his journey to Park, and were able to share their student and alumni experience with him—spanning over six decades! The afternoon was filled with excitement surrounding this new partnership. Interested in becoming a member of the Alumni Committee? Please contact Jamie Byron, Director of Alumni Relations, at 617-274-6022 or alumni@parkschool.org.
Congratulations to Nia Lutch ’97, husband Michael, and big sister Caroline, who welcomed Henry Nathan Kreppel in June!
Weddings 2001 Caitlin Dick and Colin Robinson July 28, 2018 2004 Caroline Gormley and Christian Nebergall August 25, 2018
From left, clockwise: Eliza Drachman-Jones Quincy ’98, Carlos Castillo ’97, Astrid Levis-Thorne Burns ’98, Anne Collins Goodyear ’84, Diana Walcott ’85, Jamie Byron (Director of Alumni Relations), Greg Cope ’71, Scott Young (standing), Kathrene Tiffany Bell ’96 (standing), Bob Bray ’53, Rebecca Wilsker ’00, Miriam Posner ’03, David Glynn ’91, Rebecca Lewin Scott ’89, Emily Potts Callejas ’89 and Amy Lampert ’63.
Arrivals
In Memoriam
1997 Ashley Hall Casey and Jonathan Casey Eve Adeline Casey June 1, 2018
H. Peter Aitken ’51 August 1, 2018
Nia Lutch and Michael Kreppel Henry Nathan Kreppel June 29, 2018
Alemnesh Groom August, 2018 Mother of Lulli Anteneh ’00, Bruti Anteneh ’01 and Sophia Anteneh ’06
Seth Briggs ’33 September 23, 2018
Cornelia Moorehead September 1, 2018 Mother of Olivia MooreheadSlaughter, Park’s psychologist; Grandmother of Khari Slaughter ’05 Louise Reohr August 25, 2017 Mother of Octavia Reohr ’19 and Cecily Reohr ’20
Anita Kunhardt October 21, 2018 Receptionist 1975 – 1992, Mother of Tom Kunhardt ’72 and John Kunhardt ’74
Elsie Wilmerding July 27, 2018 Mother of Eliza Wilmerding ’90; Grandmother of Ben Wilmerding ’16 and Sophie Wilmerding ’17
Robert L. Means ’38 January 20, 2018
Ruth Crocker Young ’33 October 3, 2018
Anita S. Kunhardt, who served as Park’s receptionist for 14 years from July 1975 through November 1992, passed away in peace at the age of 88. Anita was known for her humor, her warm and bright spirits, and especially for helping children if—and only if—they first said, “Please.” In her last days of hospice care, Anita was surrounded by her family and devoted spouse, Diana Bailey. During their 40 years together, Anita and Diana traveled extensively, were married in August 2014, and lived at Brookhaven-at-Lexington for the last eight years. Among Anita’s well-mannered children are Tom Kunhardt ’72, John Kunhardt Jr. ’74, Dr. George R. Kunhardt, David Kunhardt, and Katharine Kunhardt. Anita would be honored and thrilled by any gifts made to The Park School in her name.
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alumni notes
College Choices for the Class of 2015 Alessandra Abelli Kevan Afridi Eloise Baker Isabelle Balson Evelyn Baranski Caroline Beecher Molly Chiang Douglas Chope Adam Cohen Caroline Collins-Pisano Courtney Collins-Pisano William Connaughton Neila Connaughton Cameron Cook Jonathan DeJesus Ashwin Devavaram Tristan Edwards Cole Englert Consi Faling Lily Franks Jeremy Freedman Henry Friedlander Marco Fubini Annabelle Fulton Dahlia Gordon Maxwell Haigney Grady Hayes Priscilla Hodgkins Julia Holton Jordan Hurley Rebecca Isaacson Matthew Kaufman Katherine Kelly Becky Kendall Alexander Ketterson Megan Krieger Sean Mannion John Martell Madeline Mills Kymberleigh-Marie Morris Chloe Page Jonathan Pinchera Alison Poussaint Nihal Raman Annabel Reay Isabella Riehl Acadia Rubin Simone Sparrow Zachary Taylor Robert Tearney Abigail Wright Sewina Yu
University of Southern California Royal College of Surgeons Brown University Princeton University Boston University Colby College Harvard University Vanderbilt University George Washington University Dartmouth College Wesleyan University Harvard University University of Virginia Wesleyan University Boston University Tulane University Tufts University Colby College New York University, Gallatin School Gap year 2018 – 19; University of Wisconsin, Madison in 2019 Cornell University Stanford University Johns Hopkins University Wake Forest University Kenyon College Brown University Bowdoin College Tufts University Kenyon College New York University, Tisch School of the Arts Colby College New York University, Tisch School of the Arts Yale University Amherst College Saint Lawrence University Bates College Dartmouth College Boston College Dartmouth College Boston University Parsons School of Design Boston University, School of Visual Arts Amherst College Harvard University Occidental College University of Michigan Brown University Loyola Marymount University Claremont McKenna College University of Wisconsin Middlebury College (February 2019) Syracuse University, School of Education
Members of the Class of 2015 Graduating from High School in 2019 Jurnee Peltier Schuyler Edie Rick Ono
Senior at Dana Hall School Senior at Noble and Greenough School Senior at Phillips Academy, Andover
Become a
Class Representative
Classes of 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1978, 1985, 1991, 1992
á Stay in touch with friends! á Gather class news for the Bulletin! á Help plan your reunion! Want to learn more? Please contact Jamie Byron, Director of Alumni Relations, at 617-274-6022 or alumni@parkschool.org
S AV E T H E D AT E !
YOUNG ALUMNI BAGEL BREAKFAST For the Classes of 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 F R I D A Y, D E C E M B E R 1 4 B R E A K FA S T
Y U L E F E S T I VA L
8:30 – 9:30 a.m. The Park School Dining Room
9:30 – 11:30 a.m. The West Gymnasium
Questions? 617-274-6022 or alumni@parkschool.org
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2018 Alumni Achievement Award: Bertha Coombs ’77 Park is proud to honor reporter Bertha Coombs ’77 as the 2018 recipient of the Park Alumni Achievement Award.
for CNBC, Bertha covers financial, business, and health care news. She began her reporting career at local stations in Hartford, Miami, and New York. She then worked as a network reporter at ABC News One and as a substitute anchor for World News Now and World News This Morning. While at ABC, she covered stories including the Clinton impeachment and the death of John F. Kennedy, Jr. Bertha then shifted to business reporting, starting at Yahoo Finance Vision—the tech firm’s first television webcast. Since moving to CNBC she has covered major stories including Hurricane Katrina, the 2008 financial crisis, and the rise and ongoing changes of the Affordable Care Act. Bertha graduated from Park in 1977. She went on to attend Milton Academy, and graduated from Yale University with a BA in history. Following graduation, she got her start as the Leo Beranek Reporter Training Fellow at WCVB-TV in Boston. “The greatest thing about being a reporter is that I get to do all the things I first loved at Park School: learning new information, exploring ideas and writing about them,” Bertha explains. “Covering health care is especially rewarding for me because a lot of the news I cover is very complex, yet it’s so important to try to help people make sense of it. I’m really looking forward to sharing my experiences at Park.” We are excited about Bertha’s visit to Park on December 3rd, and can’t wait to learn more about her journey after Park! AS A NYC-BASED REPORTER
NOMINATIONS SOUGHT FOR T H E PA R K A L U M N I A C H I E V E M E N T AWA R D This award is given to the Park alumnus/alumna who exemplifies the School’s values and educational mission through distinctive achievement in his or her community or field of endeavor. This person’s leadership and contributions have made a meaningful impact and inspire our current students and alumni.
To nominate a Park alumnus/alumna for this award, please include your nominee’s name, class year, profession, and reason for nomination.
Send nominations to alumni@parkschool.org, or The Park School Alumni Office, 171 Goddard Avenue, Brookline, MA 02445 Photos: www.cnbc.com/2018/05/01/bertha-coombs-cnbc-correspondent.html, www.cnbc.com/video/2016/05/27/oil-back-below-50.html
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