Peddie Chronicle, Fall 2015

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Fall 2015

Silverman Era Begins Peddie Entertains Remembering Thomas DeGray

The student body gathers for the dedication of Geiger-Reeves Hall in 1960.

A student takes a shot at the Peddie Golf Course in the 1920s.

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Fall 2015

FROM THE HEADMASTER

Vol. 144, No. 1

Dear Friends,

Elizabeth Silverman leads trustees First female board chair

Remembering Thomas DeGray Family and friends honor former headmaster

Peddie names in lights Alumni on stage and screen

Fab Lab expands Converted boiler plant transformed

Reunion 2015

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From the Headmaster Meet the Trustees Center Campus Falcon Feats Class Notes

Editor: Wendi Patella P’17 Director of Communications and Marketing: Katie Germain Associate Editor: Patricia O’Neill P’13 ’15 ’17 Contributors: Deanna Harkel, Doug Mariboe ’69 P’10 ’14 Design: Carter Halliday Associates Photography: Meredith Heuer, Jim Inverso, Andrea Kane Printing: Prism Color Corporation

Peddie School 201 South Main Street Hightstown, NJ 08520-3349

Tel: 609-944-7501 www.peddie.org/chronicle We welcome your input: editor@peddie.org

Throughout this issue, look for this icon for exclusive online content at peddie.org/chronicle

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School seals have different images on them. You can find ancient symbols as well as some images that are not ancient: gods and goddesses, lamps of knowledge, open books, coats of armor, crossed swords. You can find more common things like small animals, beehives. When taken out of context, images such as these seem bizarre and archaic, but when coupled with a school motto, the true meaning is illuminated.

As you know, around the lower half of our seal is the Peddie motto (finimus pariter renovamusque labores), which we translate: we finish our labors to begin them anew. The meaning of the motto is reinforced by the image. A farmer harvests the crop and prepares to plant a new crop as soon as possible.

Fall is the harvest time, and although the planting season may not begin until spring, work begins immediately on the next crop. Perhaps the field needs fertilizer, or tilling.

The image captures that “moment” between the completion of a project (in this case the mature crop) and the beginning of the next project (the next crop).

How is that like school? Fertilizing fields, sewing seeds, irrigating fields and harvesting crops does not sound or look like studying literature, math, history, art, foreign language or science (well it does resemble a science experiment). It does not look like sports, or acting, or singing or painting. It does not feel like community life or dormitory bonding. True — farming is often a solitary venture (as studying can be), but there are no tests, papers or homework, though successful farmers are an extraordinarily hard working, well-organized and rational group.

Farming is like a school in a very important way: farming is an iterative process. With every crop, the responsible farmer looks for ways to produce more food, with less effort, and less loss to insects, blights, draughts and other threats from nature. The farmer rotates different crops so that the soil is not

exhausted and unable to produce a good harvest.

Every planting season is the launch of an effort at a sweeter corn crop, a more bountiful wheat harvest, juicier and more tasty tomatoes. Farmers are tremendous scientists and creative engineers, always using some control element to determine which variables can be manipulated to best effect for the next planting.

“Farming is like a school in a very important way: farming is an iterative process.”

Likewise, in school we expect our students to master more knowledge and develop better skills each year.

You did not master arithmetic only to stop before algebra. You were not allowed to stop practicing your writing when you mastered sentence structure; your teachers helped you combine sentences, and then paragraphs, and then themes. One language was not deemed enough; we ask you to study a second, and then sometimes you want a third. In each case, when you finish one thing we say, “And now, do this.”

Furthermore, on each assignment within those courses, you were expected to improve your performance — from test to test, from paper to paper. At Peddie, we also apply that philosophy to the extracurricular activities that complete our lives here. Each coach aims for every game to be played better than the one before it; each director asks the cast to correct the errors from one night in the performance on the next; in your friendships you each expect time to help trust grow, to be a better friend the next time your friend needs you. Life is not static; life is dynamic. And why would we aim tomorrow to be less true to our potential, or less responsible in our duty to others than we were today?

Late this summer, as I stepped out of Annenberg Hall into a sultry Hightstown evening to walk home, the afterglow of sunset illuminating Center Campus, I thought with hope and excitement of the new students, faculty and staff joining our school this year, and what they will contribute. The sun rises

on a new day, our farmer goes back into the field, and we begin anew — this year, this month, this week, this day — this time to be better than the last. As members of our community who are no longer on campus, what will your part in that better version be?

Ala viva,

Peter A. Quinn

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Silverman begins tenure as chair of trustees

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lected by her peers to serve as the chair of the Peddie Board of Trustees, Elizabeth S. Silverman P’03 ’10 became the first woman in the school’s history to lead its governing body.

Silverman was voted chair of the Peddie Board of Trustees by the 33-member body in the spring, following the resignation of Christopher J. Acito ’85 who served six years in the role. She assumed the chair in October.

“I am honored to be entrusted with this position,” Silverman said. “I am very grateful to Peddie and am happy to do my part to help ensure that students far into the future are given the same opportunities and support that Peddie gave my children.”

Silverman holds a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

A native of Tennessee, Silverman worked as a volunteer for various nonprofit organizations for the last 30 years.

School governance is not new to Silverman. She was elected to the Cranbury Board of Education, serving for nine years; she was also on the board of trustees at her high school alma mater, The Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, Tenn.

“I’m interested in education, but more so I’m interested in kids,” Silverman said. “I feel very strongly that kids have rights and all children should be treated with respect.”

Her extensive community service has been geared toward children’s issues, including teaching Sunday school and volunteering as a leader for the Girl Scouts of America.

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Currently, Silverman is vice president of Cranbury Housing Associates and is leading a capital campaign at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton, where she served two terms on its board. She has served on the major gifts committee for Princeton Healthcare System Foundation and was past chair of the board of Planned Parenthood of the Mercer Area.

“I believe all children should have a chance at a successful life,” she said. “Kids are vulnerable. They deserve protection.

They deserve safety.”

Silverman said she has seen firsthand the impact an adult can make on the life of a child. All of her children have positive memories of individual faculty members at Peddie.

Daughters Susannah ’03 and Elinor ’10 graduated from Peddie, while Mary “Polly” Silverman attended for a year but found a better fit at St. Paul’s School.

A board member since 2010, Silverman served on various committees including the Committee on Trustees and Governance, which she co-chaired, and the Development Committee.

Prior to joining the board, Silverman was an active parent volunteer, serving as class chair for the Peddie Fund and chair of the Senior Parent Endowment Fund and Parent Fund.

“Since her very first day as a Peddie parent, Elizabeth has been dedicated to Peddie and passionate about our core values,” Headmaster Peter A. Quinn said. “Her work on behalf of the school has been never-ending, and we are exceptionally lucky to have her leadership.”

Silverman said she was initially hesitant to accept the role as chair of the board, mindful that in recent memory the chairs have all been graduates of Peddie.

In fact, since the first group of charter trustees of The New Jersey Scientific and Classical Institute (later Peddie Institute, later Peddie School) elected its first president, there have been 18 men who have served in the role. Only six have also been alumni of the school. Although a flood of alumni served as board members through the history of the school, it was not until 1951 with the election of David H. Knott, class of 1897, that an alumnus held the top seat leading the body.

Silverman said she had two things that made serving as chair easy for her: her home is just a few miles from campus, and she has the time to devote to the school.

“I can give it a lot of time that other people can’t,” she said.

Silverman and her husband, Stephen, live in Cranbury.

Stephen Silverman is the founder and the chief investment officer of Ironbound Partners, a hedge fund in Princeton.

Looking ahead to her first term as chair, Silverman said it is one of her goals to increase female participation on the board of trustees.

Silverman said the first responsibility of the body is to keep finances in top shape, and the school is also preparing for the next generation by engaging in a strategic planning process.

“We have to be concerned with our financial responsibilities,” Silverman said. “We are in better shape than

MEET THE TRUSTEES Ning Zhao, Ph.D. P’17 Ning Zhao, Ph.D., is a company director, vice president of operations and head of corporate human resources at WuXi PharmaTech Inc., a New York Stock Exchange-listed openaccess capability and technology platform company serving the global pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. As an innovation-driven and customerfocused global company, WuXi AppTec helps its collaborative partners worldwide shorten the discovery and development timeline and lower the cost of drug and medical device development through efficient and cost-effective R&D solutions.

co-founder and a member of the board, where she spearheaded the establishment of the company’s analytical services operations. She has been instrumental in growing the company from a single chemistry laboratory of 7,000 square feet to a premier global organization of 10,000 employees and over five million square feet of office, laboratory and manufacturing space in China, the United States and Iceland with the mission of enabling the advancement of some of the most innovative health care products for patients worldwide.

She and her husband, Ge Li, Ph.D., founder, chairman and CEO of WuXi PharmaTech, have a son Michael Le-Cheng Li ’17.

“I am honored to join the Peddie Board of Trustees and to work with other outstanding board members to contribute to the continued success of Peddie. Peddie is a great school with a focused mission and a unique culture that

Dr. Zhao studied at Peking University as an undergraduate and received her Ph.D. in natural product and analytical chemistry from Columbia University. She began her industry career in 1995 and held various positions with increasing scientific and management responsibilities at Wyeth, Pharmacopeia and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Zhao then joined WuXi PharmaTech as a

blends the traditional and the modern, the domestic and

other schools, but that is because of good leadership, and we must continue that.”

Indeed, monitoring the financial stability of the school has been one of the main priorities of the trustees since the school’s incorporation in 1864. The trustee minute books from the earliest years are filled with references to the Baptist founders praying over the desperate state of the school — and then opening their wallets time and time again to save the school.

While the days of trustees having to sacrifice their own personal wealth may be behind them, board members still demonstrate a financial commitment to the school, Silverman said.

She said the high cost of independent schools will be an area of concern to all school leaders in the coming years. “Tuition is very high and we need to continue to be affordable to people. That is a huge concern to me,” she said.

“Yet what we offer now compared to what we offered when my oldest daughter began Peddie, there is no comparison.”

She said innovative programs and extra encounters such as the Fab Lab, Sophomore Bike Trip and Signature Experiences are invaluable in offering an exceptional education.

“What is expected now is infinitely greater and all those things cost money,” she said.

Yet Silverman, who attended independent school herself, said she passionately believes in the mission of Peddie for offering “intangibles” that make a difference in the lives of students.

“By necessity, teenagers should be preparing to move away from their parents,” she said. “But while they’re doing that, you want them surrounded by loving adults. I think we owe that to kids. And I can’t imagine any faculty going above and beyond more than the Peddie faculty does.”

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here were several saviors among those trustees during the school’s infancy.

Charter trustee Enoch Allen mortgaged his own property to raise several thousand dollars that he donated.

He was said to have lived in poverty in order to see the school’s plan succeed.

Trustee Thomas B. Peddie famously gifted the school $25,000 to save it from bankruptcy in 1872.

And in 1878, at a time when the school had just been seized in bankruptcy and was to be auctioned at a sheriff’s sale in Trenton, there is legend of Rev. William Wilson (for whom Wilson Hall was later named) entering the sheriff’s office, slapping $10,000 down on the table to purchase the school and promptly selling it back to the trustees for 25 cents.

the international. I am committed to using my past 20 years of scientific and operational experience in startup biotech and multinational pharmaceutical companies to serve the Peddie community to my best capacity.”

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U T H O M A S A . D E G R AY

A pr i l 20, 1939 – M ay 24 , 2 015

“He changed Peddie profoundly, without profoundly changing Peddie.”

Thomas A. DeGray, Peddie’s 14th head of school (1989–2001), died on May 24, 2015 at his home in South Carolina. He was 76.

Perhaps most widely remembered for shepherding Peddie’s historic $100 million gift from Walter Annenberg ’27, DeGray is known within the community as a leader with a strong moral compass, an incomparable work ethic and an excitement for innovation.

The community celebrated DeGray’s life with a memorial service in Ayer Memorial Chapel on Sept. 4. Poignantly, DeGray’s grandson entered ninth grade at Peddie the same weekend.

The service, which included a series of reflections from the DeGray children along with former students and colleagues, provided a remarkably multifaceted illustration of a life well-lived.

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Remembered by his former student Patrick Dennis ’98

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hile there’s so much I want to say about Mr. DeGray, the main thing is this: he changed Peddie profoundly, without profoundly changing Peddie. Under his stewardship, Peddie’s endowment soared, and countless deserving students from across the country were granted access to a world-class education. Beautiful new buildings went up under his watch, and technological advancements were seamlessly woven into the classroom experience. We all know about these accomplishments and are grateful for them. But what really stands out when I remember Mr. DeGray are his more subtle achievements: his calm but commanding presence on campus, his quiet moral example, the way he made all of us — from terrified 14-year-old freshmen to seniors anxious about the transition to college and beyond — feel less overwhelmed and afraid.

A couple of decades ago, I was one of those terrified freshmen. I came from a small city in Ohio, and I missed my family terribly. I honestly didn’t know whether I was cut out for Peddie, and I began to question why I’d come here in the first place.

And then Mr. DeGray read us a letter during community meeting. It was written by a young man who was also having a very hard time during his first semester. The kid was getting destroyed on the football field, was struggling in the classroom, desperately missed home, and like me, didn’t know whether he was cut out for his freshman year.

Here’s the twist: that young man who wrote the letter was Mr. DeGray himself. He’d sent it to his mother during his freshman year at Williams, and he told us that the hard times had passed. By staying active and involved, things began to fall into place for him, and if we stayed busy, things would fall into place for us. I can’t overstate how much I needed to hear those words at that exact time. Without coddling us, Mr. DeGray always managed to strike the perfect tone, to impart just the right amount of advice and encouragement and — this sounds simple, but it’s hugely important — he never spoke down to us. He understood that we were still kids, fumbling toward adulthood. That maturity was a process — something that came gradually, not overnight.

This isn’t one of my prouder memories from Peddie, but I wanted to share it because it speaks volumes about Mr. DeGray’s humility and sense of humor. I was on the swim team, and we’d eat lunch together in the new Caspersen Campus Center. Our table was right near the area where you’d bus your trays. One day one of the guys from the team brought a sort of Whoopee Cushion gadget to lunch. So we’d watch people walk into the bussing area, and just as they walked out, one of us would squeeze the Whoopee Cushion, another one would point at the person walking out of the bussing area, and we’d all have a big laugh. Sophomoric I know, but hey — it was high school! At a certain point we saw Mr. DeGray walking toward the bussing area. Nick and

I gave one look at each other like, “Can we? Should we?” and in a split second, we decided that this was too good to be true. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to prank the headmaster. So sure enough, he walked right into our bear trap. But unlike the half dozen people we had previously pranked who reacted with annoyance and head shakes, Mr. DeGray thought it was hilarious — he burst out laughing just as hard as we were laughing. I couldn’t believe it — and I’ll never forget it. As seriously as he took his job, he never lost sight of the fact that we were still kids — that an essential part of the boarding school experience and growing up was stupid moments like these.

And while Mr. DeGray never took his job too seriously, he took his mission as headmaster extremely seriously. He never wavered when it came to upholding Peddie’s bedrock principles — the importance of hard work, team work and integrity. No matter how much the endowment grew or the campus physically changed, the spirit of this place, the core values, remained the same.

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Remembered by his colleague Paul Watkins

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hat convinced me to come to Peddie was something which became immediately clear upon meeting Tom — that here was a man with a calling, not simply a man with a job. He struck me as plainspoken, kind, inquisitive and as one of those rare people whom you know at first glance possesses an unwavering moral compass. I thought to myself — here is a man I could follow. And I did, from the day he arrived at Peddie until the day he left. In many ways, I am following him still.

Although I had no doubts about the man I would call Boss for the following 10 years, I did wonder about the school which had brought us together. Peddie’s motto, Finimus Pariter Renovamusque Labores, which — for those of you who have temporarily forgotten your Latin — means, “We finish our labors in order to begin them anew,” seemed to promise only endless drudgery. And what did that say about the school’s crest, which shows a solitary figure, a hat pulled down over his eyes as if to hide his face, standing out

Watch the Thomas DeGray memorial service at peddie.org/chronicle.

Fall 2015 7

in a freshly-plowed field and casting seeds upon the ground against a backdrop of the low-lying sun?

That image, combined with such a motto, is all very well for the seeds, I thought, but what does it say about the prospects of the man who’s planting them? For the answer, I have Tom DeGray to thank.

Many here today will doubtless recall the great things he did for this school, and in doing so, he achieved greatness himself, however reluctantly he might have worn that crown.

But it was not on account of this greatness that I have called Peddie my workplace and my home for all these years. The reason I stayed is because Tom was not only a great man, he was also a good man.

For a person to realize greatness requires impeccable timing, more than a fair share of luck and no shortage of influential friends. But the goodness I came to know in Tom was the result of a dogged steadfastness in living out the ideals of this school, of trust in the outcome of our collective endeavors and of manifesting a sense of resolve, which is sometimes badly needed at a place like this — never more so than when a teacher contemplates the fact that the memory of a school, and all that one has done for it, is a heck of a lot shorter than most.

Within one year of leaving, a quarter of the student body will have no memory of you except that which is borrowed from others. In two years, half the population will be strangers. In four years, by that logic, you are a ghost.

It wasn’t until after Tom and Ellen had left that I realized there was more to this equation, which is as simple and as brutal as the question of mortality itself. Only in their absence did I grasp that their years of service to Peddie had formed a kind of lens through which those who followed in their footsteps, students and faculty alike, could see and understand the uniqueness of their surroundings.

In the same way that our most distant of relatives have left behind in us the color of their eyes, the shape of a brow or a chin, the particular sound of their laughter, the legacy of the DeGrays at Peddie survives in the experiential DNA of those who might never have known them. It was the example Tom set, not just when ceremony demanded, but even on the dreariest of days which earned my loyalty, to him and to this school. And it was by this example that he taught me the true significance of Peddie’s motto, which you will see for yourselves on your right as you exit this chapel, engraved upon the stone façade of Annenberg Hall.

The significance is this: When you find out what you are meant to do in life, your work may not become less difficult, but it is no longer divided between the things you do for others and the things that you do for yourself. The end of one endeavor merges seamlessly into the beginning of another.

Through those Latin words, I learned at last the meaning of that man out in the field, his head bowed to his work, a symbol of the true grit shown by those who strive — humbly, tenaciously, unceasingly — at whatever it is that they were put on Earth to do.

I learned his name as well — it’s Tom DeGray.

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Remembered by his successor Head of School John Green

followed Tom DeGray — quite coincidentally — to Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio, back to New England, where Tom served as the director of admissions at Groton, and I eventually served in the same role at St. Paul’s, and finally on to our favorite school, Peddie. At each stop, I heard all about Tom, his legendary work ethic and his impeccable character — over and over.

Unfortunately, I never had the privilege of serving with him. I was respectful though, of everything I had heard about Tom everywhere, and so impressed with the school community I had inherited from him, especially our most healthy student culture — which we are continually reminded differentiates a good school from a great school.

That was Tom’s doing.

I still recall my response to Peter Kraft who called on behalf of the Peddie Chronicle soon after my appointment to ask, “What do you hope people will say about you years from now?” A simple question. “I would consider my years a great success,” I said, “if people would say the same thing about me as they say about Tom — hard working, honest, humble and fully invested in everything Peddie. I can’t promise I will measure up, but I am going to try to be like Tom DeGray.”

No, I didn’t know Tom as well as others, but I may be in the unique position to know what Tom did for this school and perhaps more than anyone other than Ellen, I know how very challenging it was for him to do. I also know and will always remember what Tom did for me. About Tom’s impact on our school, in fact, I spoke to our community five years ago in this same chapel on Founders Day, at which time Peddie honored him for his extraordinary service.

Given Tom’s legacy, I spoke at length (which was probably something that didn’t impress him) about his example to others and his contributions to Peddie — people first always, programs, facilities, endowments — many of which have been referenced today, and his undeniably successful headship by any definition. I also spoke about how Tom paved the way for my arrival on campus, how he welcomed me into the Peddie family and how he remained only a phone call away throughout my headship. Two of these I remember in particular: my phone call to him on 9/11, the day on which he served as my rock; and a phone call a few months later when I presented him with a particular sticky situation, and he responded by saying “Jesus, am I glad you have those problems now!” I actually didn’t call him much after that!

I finished my remarks that day by focusing on Tom the teacher. How he modeled for me how to leave Peddie — in the best shape possible of course, but in a way that allowed a successor the freedom and support to pave his own way. That day I said to our community, “In order to appreciate how honorably Tom left Peddie, you would need to imagine how

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On a day declared “DeGray Day” to commemorate his retirement, Tom DeGray was surrounded by his family (above) and celebrated with his wife, Ellen (below).

hard it would be to leave the school where you had invested 12 years of your life, and a community that you had come to love with all your heart. You would need to imagine how hard it would be to pass that responsibility on to somebody else — a successor. You would need to imagine how hard it would be to walk away from it all, and yet afford your successor the confidence to change some of which you had worked so hard to build.”

I went on to say, “It takes a special and secure man who is in touch with himself and his own ego to have managed our transition as expertly as Tom. So gracious and graceful was Tom, in fact, I’m worried that whenever my time arrives I will not be his equal. That said, I am fortunate and grateful that he has served as my teacher; if I am any kind of student at all I will have learned from him and taken advantage of his wisdom.”

Three years later I was sitting in my office speaking with my eventual successor and new friend Peter Quinn. Ever the gentleman, Peter was graciously asking me in what role I saw myself at Peddie upon my imminent departure — upon my departure from a school community where I had invested (ironically perhaps) 12 years of my life, too. “Wait a minute,” I answered. I jumped up and walked behind my desk and printed the talk I offered in honor of Tom on Founders Day. I read it to Peter. He smiled knowingly at what I would likely say next. “I can’t promise you I will measure up, Peter, but I’m going to try to be like Tom DeGray.”

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Remembered by Headmaster Peter Quinn

om had a gift for inspiring and encouraging students and faculty alike, either to take on new challenges or to be better at whatever they were already doing.

Having faith in the people with whom he was working, it was natural for him to be an innovative leader who empowered creative thinking everywhere. When Peddie was looking for a substantive way to differentiate itself from other independent schools, Tom encouraged [faculty members] Pat Clements, Cathy Watkins and Tim Corica — among others — to create the Principio Project as a school-within-a-school in which Peddie would pursue curriculum and classroom design for better teaching and learning. It was interdisciplinary, bilingual and team-taught. Principio left three lasting gifts to Peddie in the Sophomore Bike Trip, the Signature Experience programs and the one-to-one laptop program.

With the advent of our campus wide network and email in 1992, a whole new frontier of community was opened, where there were very few guides for schools. Tom saw immediately that established standards of conduct had to be applied to electronic formats — despite other voices that recommended a whole new set of rules as yet undefined. Time has proven him right: civility is a standard that should be maintained across whatever communication medium we use to deal with each other.

Finally, Tom had faith in his own judgment and was not given to second-guessing or treading lightly into difficult matters. As a head of school, he dealt honestly — and when necessary, bluntly — with people whom he perceived to have some interest other than Peddie’s. Early in Tom’s tenure, the discipline committee met quite a bit more often than it meets now. Tom received each recommendation with impressive impartiality and reached his decisions based on two questions: “Was the rule clear?” and, “Did you break it knowingly?”

Always looking to give a student the benefit of the doubt when deserved, he was equally determined to protect the school.

You know about the most famous event of Tom’s years at Peddie — the 1993, $100 million gift from Ambassador Annenberg. Clearly that was a transformational moment in Peddie’s history, but I have chosen instead to focus on Tom’s leadership before the gift. It was truly vibrant, commanding, and visionary. Everything that Tom DeGray taught us; every encouragement and new idea he offered to everyone who worked with him; every difficult decision that he made on our behalf with clear, unwavering principles — all of those came about before that extraordinary gift was received or even anticipated. Tom came to Peddie when it had much more spirit than money; when he left, Peddie had an endowment to support our dreams. The legacy of Tom DeGray at Peddie, however, is of courage, candor, humor and principle.

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Peddie Names in Lights W

hen George Lloyd Murphy was a student at Peddie Institute in 1919, movies were still silent films and television sets were not yet in production. Perhaps Peddie’s earliest alumnus to be drawn to a successful career in film and television, Murphy was followed by countless other Falcons who have made Peddie proud on stage and screen.

Murphy and Howard Koch ’34 became friends during the golden age of Hollywood — bonded by a common love for Peddie, although they attended more than a decade apart from one another. While Koch worked behind the camera, Murphy appeared in 45 movies, mainly as a song-and-dance man during the era of big-time musicals with partners such as Fred Astaire and Shirley Temple.

Although neither remained at Peddie long enough to graduate, both had happy memories and high praise for the school. Koch surprised television audiences in 1990 during his acceptance speech upon receiving a Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Upon conclusion of the speech, he spontaneously shouted, “It’s Steady Old Peddie!”

It left most Americans scratching their heads, trying to figure out what a Steady Old Peddie was.

Meanwhile, in the Swetland House in Hightstown, Headmaster Tom DeGray was scratching his head. “Who is that guy?” he asked.

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Koch, who directed and produced blockbusters including “Airplane!” and “Ghost,” had not been on campus in 60 years. He left in 1933 after begging his parents to permit him to follow his dreams to Hollywood rather than finish prep school. But when Peddie called soon after that nationally-televised speech, Koch returned to campus and spoke to students about his career in film. And about his love for Peddie.

Throughout the decades, scores of Peddie alumni have similarly pursued their dreams in film and television and on the stage.

Many of them credit the Peddie theater program, and its legendary and longtime teacher Jeffrey “Harry” Holcombe, with sparking their love for the performing arts. In addition to the long history of mainstage productions at Peddie, students also participate in the Declamation Contest, the J. Walter Reeves Speaking Contest, the Freshmen Musical and a variety of coursework in theater and writing.

Students are able to customize a Signature Experience in the Arts, thereby specializing in their passion while at Peddie.

New in 2015, Elizabeth Sherman’s Acting for Film and TV class is collaborating with Andrew Harrison’s new Filmmaking class — preparing the next generation of performers and filmmakers to join the ranks of so many Peddie alumni who have found success in the entertainment industry.

“I didn’t even think I could stand up straight but I got on that stage and my shoulders went back quite naturally.”

Leslie Caveny ’80

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est known for her work writing and producing for the NBC sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond” and for writing the feature film “Penelope,” Leslie Caveny ’80 has returned to her first love.

“My most rewarding work has been in theater,” the actress, writer and director said. “When I was doing theater, I was communicating what I truly cared about. And that all stems from Harry Holcombe and Peddie and the joy of doing plays at Geiger-Reeves.”

After decades of writing for television and film, she said her focus for the next decade will be on the two things she first learned to love at Peddie: writing and performing for theater.

While in an independent study writing class at Peddie, Caveny said, she wrote her first musical.

“I still remember the songs from my musical. They were so filled with teenage angst,” she laughed. The most memorable song, she said, was titled, “Spit on my mailbox.”

“I got an ‘A’ for the book but I got an ‘F’ for the music,” Caveny remembered. “I could play it on the piano but I wasn’t good at transcribing it. I had written the score in all whole notes so every word lasted four beats. After that, I quit writing musicals for a couple of decades.”

Today, she is working on writing two new musicals.

She is rewriting her 2006 movie “Penelope,” which starred Christina Ricci, James McAvoy and Reese Witherspoon, into a musical. The first play she ever staged, “For Love of a Pig,” is also undergoing a transformation into a musical version. The original play was dedicated to Holcombe.

Caveny is also returning to the stage as an actress, something at Peddie that she said “quite literally saved my life.”

“Going into Harry’s class, he saw who I was inside and he invited me out of myself and onto the stage where I could feel my power,” she said. Everyone was surprised, she said, by his casting for the production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

“I was a broken teen with broken self-esteem and I was feeling hopeless. I walked with my head down and my hair in my face. I looked like a scary little drug addict even though I didn’t do drugs,” she said. “And Harry cast me as Nurse Ratched. I didn’t even think I could stand up straight but I got on that stage and my shoulders went back quite naturally. What Harry taught me is that it’s all about permission.”

She said she has often remembered the profound lessons she learned from Holcombe. “If I could have taken Harry with me everywhere I went, the power I would have had would be amazing,” she said.

In addition to the two musical projects, she is currently mounting a new production of her second play, “Impact This,” which she describes as a dark comedy about rape and suicide.

Last year, she returned to the stage. She wrote and starred in “One Woman Gone Wrong” during New York’s Fringe Festival.

A theater performance major at Boston University, Caveny said she has finally gotten the “performance power” back that she first felt on the Peddie stage, but which she said she lost again in young adulthood.

“I really think the best is yet to come. I’m still finding myself, to tell you the truth,” Caveny said. “But it is thanks to Harry that I can even do that.”

Roger Durling ’82

I

n 2002, Roger Durling ’82 had absolutely no experience running a film festival.

Yet having grown up loving films and attending film festivals, he had some pretty strong opinions about what it

“Peddie would give me diversity.

There was a whole rainbow there and I’m very grateful for that.”

11

took to run a successful festival. So when the Santa Barbara International Film Festival fired its executive director, Durling jumped at the opportunity.

“I had been going to the Telluride Film Festival for 18 years and to the Sundance Film Festival for years, and I was always badmouthing the Santa Barbara festival,” he recalled.

“I always said Santa Barbara had the infrastructure and perfect location for a major film festival but it needed some tinkering. It needed an identity.”

With no demonstrated expertise to claim other than his passion, Durling agreed to volunteer as the executive director for the festival for one year. “The year I volunteered, the festival was in dire financial straits. I told them I would do it for free for the first year,” he said. “I had no experience, but I knew I could do it because I attended film festivals compulsively for so long and loved film festivals so much.”

Durling immediately set to work to give it that muchneeded identity. He changed the date to coincide with the Oscar nominations in late January, and in the first year he boasted having 30 Oscar nominees in attendance. He enlisted the support and help of the local businesses, hotels and restaurants, which he said was critical to the festival’s success.

“The arrangement was that if I turned it around, they would hire me. That was 13 years ago,” he said.

In 2015, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival was identified by USA Today as number four on their list of the top ten festivals in the world. The 2016 festival, which opens Feb. 3, will feature more than 200 films, selected from nearly 4,000 submissions.

As executive director, Durling supervises the film selection and events and is responsible for raising funds for the festival — about $3 million each year. The organization also hosts year-round events, including weekly screenings and showcases.

Durling studied theater at Peddie and Syracuse University and became a playwright after college, producing shows in New York before moving to Los Angeles to try to “make it a go.” He had landed in Santa Barbara and was running a coffee house when the opportunity to lead the festival came up.

Following a childhood in Panama, Durling said attending Peddie was transformative.

“My dad knew I wanted to be in the arts. I was different and very artistic, and my dad made me understand in 1978 that for a young gay man who wanted to be involved in the arts, he knew Panama was not going to be the right place,” Durling said. “Peddie would give me diversity. There was a whole rainbow there, and I’m very grateful for that.”

In 1979, Durling was among the drama club students who went to New York City to see “Sweeney Todd” on Broadway. “Here’s a kid from Panama who had never seen live theater before. It was extremely inspirational,” he said.

“It opened up opportunity, expression and art to me.”

That Broadway trip remains an awe-inspiring experience for Peddie students because of Durling. Twice a year,

12 Peddie Chronicle

Durling funds a coach bus that takes Peddie students to a Broadway show.

“I find the arts are inspirational and very important. I just think it is essential for the school,” Durling said. “The school is so close to Broadway and New York City and for the students to have the exposure is essential. It was essential to me.”

In recent years, Peddie students have taken that bus trip to see shows such as “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” “Les Miserables” and “Matilda.”

And on each trip, there is a young student on that bus seeing live theater for the first time.

Jay Huguley ’85

J

ay Huguley ’85 has acted in an Oscar-winning Best Picture (“12 Years a Slave”), an Emmy Award-winning television series (“Brothers & Sisters”) and a Tony Award-winning play (“Rabbit Hole”). He has acted in the HBO series “Treme” and “True Detective” and in ABC’s “Ravenswood.”

After a quarter century of film, television and stage work, Huguley said, he has no favorite kind of work, but is interested in any project that inspires him.

“To be honest, an actor just wants a good part,” he said.

“Whether it’s a comedy or drama or television or a play.

When the character goes on a journey and he is different than he was at the beginning. That’s a good part.”

“Acting was the first thing I did in school that didn’t feel like work.”

Huguley said he found a great part in his most recent project; he has spent the fall on the film festival circuit promoting the movie, “Sunny in the Dark.” He describes it as a “low budget and very beautiful” film that has been wellreceived at festivals and could see a limited release in theaters next year.

The actor portrays a family counselor who has sold his home, has broken up with his girlfriend and is retreating from the world. He begins living in a loft, unaware that a homeless woman is living in the crawl space of his new home.

Huguley, who says he fears we have a “global epidemic of loneliness,” said the movie is a story about connection and intimacy.

“She’s watching him and documenting his day,” Huguley said. “He senses something but doesn’t know what it is. The two of them start to feel less alone in the world.”

Huguley’s first acting role was in a version of M*A*S*H at Peddie, directed by Harry Holcombe.

“I was a huge fan of Harry. He was ridiculous and that was exactly what I needed at that moment,” he said. “He was so funny and so out there and so unapologetic. I thought he was the greatest.” Being on the stage, he said, was a great fit for Huguley.

“Acting was the first thing I did in school that didn’t feel like work,” he said. “You have to pick the thing you love in life because you’re going to end up doing it every day.”

He continued acting at American University, falling in love with the development process while performing in Tennessee Williams’ plays there.

After college, “the idea of a career as an actor seemed very far away and impossible,” but he did a few plays before realizing that if he worked hard and learned to deal with a lot of disappointment, he could make a living as an actor.

There were times, he said, when he “started to chicken out” but kept at it. Eventually, he was offered a part by Peddie classmate Scott King ’85 in a play called “Cereal.”

From that play, he moved to Los Angeles and began his search for his next great role.

SCOTT KING ’85

T

he first time Scott King ’85 stood in front of an audience and made them laugh, he was hooked.

“There’s nothing that could be more validating than hearing people laugh,” said King, a television writer whose first attempt at performing was creating a comedy sketch group at Peddie.

Not athletically inclined, King said, he was shy and “not tremendously popular at Peddie.” During his senior year, he started a club to write sketch comedy, mostly featuring parodies of faculty members, and performed a few shows in Geiger-Reeves Hall.

“I guess people thought I was funny and then it literally became what my career was all about,” he said. He graduated

“There’s nothing that could be more validating than hearing people laugh.”

from Peddie and continued at Sarah Lawrence College, where he did more of the same style of comedy and created a late-night comedy soap opera that he and fellow students performed every Wednesday night on stage at 11 p.m.

The students wrote a new episode every week, and their live audience grew. He continued that style of work in New York City theaters after college and soon found himself hired to write comedy for MADtv. He said the similarities between those sketch comedy shows in Geiger-Reeves and his professional career are striking.

“Now, instead of the faculty being mad at me for making fun of them, I just have Rosie O’Donnell’s lawyers coming after me,” he said.

Currently a showrunner for the Hulu original series “Difficult People,” King recently sold a pilot to CBS and another for a second Hulu series. He said online streaming video platforms are opening opportunities for writers, allowing for more creativity for specific audiences. “Especially in comedy, it gets very hard to cast a net that’s wide enough that everybody thinks it is funny,” he said.

“It has been the most creatively satisfying experience of my career,” King said.

“I think we are just starting to see the beginning of a new world. When you look at network television and what constitutes a hit now, it is so small compared to what it used to be.”

Like virtually every Peddie student who has found a career in the performing arts, King credits Harry Holcombe with setting him up with the skills necessary to be successful in the industry.

“He instilled in me a confidence that I had no basis for,” he said. And he said former English faculty member Rosemary Gleeson was “magical.”

“She sparked in me an intellectual curiosity,” King said.

“She told me that an actor who is only interested in acting is not going to be any good, and a writer who is only interested in writing is not going to be any good.”

Fall 2015 13

It was Holcombe’s passion and Gleason’s inspiration that made him decide to start that sketch comedy club at Peddie 30 years ago.

“They gave me the confidence, and when people laughed, the feeling was fantastic,” he said.

Kieren Van den Blink ’90

W

riter, director and actress Kieren van den Blink ’90 has always been known to do things her own way.

Van den Blink landed her first role on Broadway at age 24 (“The Diary of Anne Frank”) within a year of graduating Barnard College. Just a few years later, she decided to take some time away from the stage.

She studied Shakespeare at Oxford University in England and later relocated to Los Angeles, where she wrote a column in the Los Angeles Times Magazine and was the voice of Rogue in the animated hit series “Wolverine & the X-Men.” She returned to the stage seven years ago when she became a producing partner in a theater company and returned to acting.

Performing in a play called “I Have It,” van den Blink said, changed the course of her career.

“The play goes from hilarity to heartbreak,” she said.

“The audience went from laughing to literally crying.”

Actor Alec Baldwin was among the audience members and after the show he encouraged her to audition for “Saturday Night Live.” Within two days, the head of talent for SNL called her and she was tested as a cast member to replace Amy Poehler on the show. While she narrowly missed being cast for the legendary television show, van den Blink said her friendship with Baldwin has opened up opportunities that led her to create the Little Beast Theater Company and to produce her first play, “Mine.”

“I really learned from this process that you have to know what you’re writing about in order for it to sound true,” she said. “I feel very strongly that I have a story to tell. In an industry that’s been so unfair to women, I think it’s time to look at women in a different light.”

Van den blink is putting the finishing touches on a project she hopes to begin shooting for film soon and is simultaneously writing her second children’s book, “YUM.” Her first book, “Sniff,” was published last year.

“It’s a busy life, but I’m doing the two things I always wanted to do,” van den Blink said. “Writing and acting feed each other and make you better at both.” She said she was first inspired to write and act at Peddie by Harry Holcombe and faculty member Paul Watkins.

In part because of those teachers, she said, she enjoys returning to Peddie to work with current theater students.

She said returning to campus is a strong reminder of how far she has come since she was a student in Hightstown — a message she shares with students.

14 Peddie Chronicle

“Writing and acting feed each other and make you better at both.”

“I was raised in a household that told us we can do whatever we can envision,” van den Blink said. “We were taught to have big dreams.”

Lauren Schnipper ’97

A

s the ever-changing entertainment landscape has evolved, so has Lauren Schnipper ’97.

Building on her experience as a producer on Broadway, Schnipper found success in online media, becoming the producer for one of YouTube’s biggest personalities, Shane Dawson. With more than 6 million online subscribers, Schnipper and Dawson were the first YouTubers to sell a show to network television.

“Fake it till you make it.”

After producing years of web content, a podcast and a movie with Dawson, Schnipper said she was ready for a change, and she made the switch to another online entertainment venue.

Schnipper now works for Facebook and Instagram helping celebrities create original content to engage with their fans. At its core, Schnipper said, it is simply another form of producing.

“It’s basically getting comedians to do cool stuff on social media,” Schnipper said, by leveraging her entertainment industry relationships to cultivate relationships on behalf of Facebook.

Schnipper graduated from The George Washington University with a degree in international politics and a minor in theater. She worked as a stand-up comedian and actress in New York before starting an improv troupe in Los Angeles.

She said she was looking for a lifestyle change in 2008 when she volunteered for an internship at Ben Stiller’s production company.

“I was very immediately moved up and was producing all my own content for web series and short films,” she said.

That work led her to producing for YouTube, which she said was a “game changer” for her career.

With so many successful career transitions under her belt, Schnipper said she has learned to “fake it till you make it,” which she offers as important advice in the entertainment industry.

“Everybody comes to LA thinking they’re going to do one thing and ends up doing another thing,” she said.

Coleman, who took part in the freshmen musical at Peddie and never appeared on the Geiger-Reeves stage again, graduated from Harvard University with a degree in biological anthropology. She dabbled in theater in college, including a role in “A Raisin in the Sun.” After Harvard, she joined the prestigious Teach for America corps of volunteers, teaching sixth grade in Compton, Calif. She later worked as a manager at a supply company sourcing everything from nuts and bolts to construction cranes. She left that corporate job in 2009 to focus on acting, and has landed a series of TV roles since then.

“I have a chance to conceive of the character and then bring her to life.”

Ajarae Coleman ’98

W

hile managing her own successful television and film career, actress and entrepreneur Ajarae Coleman ’98 is helping others adjust to life in Hollywood.

The Actor Relocation Game Plan, developed by Coleman, is a five-week training module that offers practical advice to transplants to Los Angeles as they pursue their career in an often-confusing city.

“It’s designed to provide comprehensive guidance for people moving here who don’t know where to start,” Coleman said. “Your degree may have prepared you on the craft side, but not at all on the business side.”

The eight training modules cover basics like housing and transportation in Los Angeles and action plans on virtually every aspect of life in the city.

Coleman is also a partner in The Workshop Guru, which offers a weekly video series to actors.

Aside from her entrepreneurial ventures, Coleman continues to land interesting TV roles, including recent parts in “The McCarthys” on CBS and “Revenge” on ABC. She has also appeared on “Scandal” and “Private Practice” on ABC and on NBC’s “Days of our Lives.”

Now working on a pitch for her own action-comedy television series, Coleman said she is excited to be creating her own projects. “I have a chance to conceive of the character and then bring her to life,” she said, adding that she is likewise excited for a role that involves performing her own stunt work.

The series would fill the need for greater diversity on the small screen, she said, with the two co-creators playing the leads — an African-American woman and an IranianAmerican man.

Coleman said she is hopeful that TV is becoming more diverse, with more and more shows “making progress.”

“I think to some extent in the entertainment industry, if you’re good, you’re good,” she said.

Fall 2015 15

Creativity and innovation strengthened by digital fabrication laboratory

By Deanna Harkel Assistant Director of Development

T

he process of turning a creative concept into a tangible innovation got easier, faster and more accessible for students this fall with the opening of the new Digital Fabrication Laboratory.

Set in the repurposed campus boiler plant, the lab provides a space where students and faculty work in the intersections of engineering, arts, robotics and computer programming with the goal of solving problems and thinking creatively across the curriculum.

Digital fabrication, defined as an emerging industry that uses computer-controlled tools and processes to transform digital designs directly into useful physical products, merges computer-aided design with fabrication tools, experienced professional instruction and guidance, and the students’ curiosity and mechanical creativity.

Building upon Peddie’s successful elective in robotics, the program was introduced to students at the recommendation of the school’s Computational Thinking Committee (CTC).

16 Peddie Chronicle

“We knew that we needed to do more for our students in terms of technology and programming,” said Catherine Rodrigue, associate head of school and member of the CTC. “Peddie School was a leader in laptop education in the midto-late 90s, and we wanted to assert ourselves again.”

With the recommendation from the committee and the decommissioning of the school’s boiler plant, the opportunity emerged to renovate more than 4,300 square feet of existing space.

Working with Ford3 Architects of Princeton, construction began in June to redesign the facility with an estimated cost of $1.5 million. The redesign included a new poured concrete floor, new HVAC and electrical systems, the building of a second story and the creation of three distinct spaces.

Designed for students to move easily from one space to the next, the building allows students to begin the creative process in the design studio, a classroom space located on the ground floor, where they learn the foundations of building,

creating, designing and programming. They then move to the engineering studio, which houses the majority of the equipment and machinery available for use, including a laser cutter, 3-D printer, computer-numerically-controlled (CNC) mill, router and lathe.

Upstairs, the 1,000-square-foot testing studio is a space for prototypes to come alive. Students can bring their work to the studio to experiment with it in a safe and open environment. Faculty oversee the testing and provide insight and guidance throughout the process.

“The facility is the product of a tremendous amount of effort by a large number of Peddie faculty and staff,” said Scott Meredith, director of the Digital Fabrication Laboratory and member of the science faculty. “It is a fantastic re-appropriation of space, allowing Peddie students to have direct access and experience working with tools that most college engineering majors may not use until their junior or senior year.”

Meredith was hired in 2014 to oversee the development and implementation of the lab and Peddie Robotics, which currently enrolls 39 students.

“Scott’s vision was consistent with ours,” said Rodrigue.

“We are all hopeful that we can continue to evolve as a program and do more as we learn about the various capabilities of the space.”

This year, the program offers three courses that combine hands-on instruction with a wide array of project-based coursework. Advanced students can pursue Engineering Design, a course designated for those interested in competing in the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics Competition each year.

FIRST is an international organization that uses competitive robotics as a vehicle for promoting science and technology. Each year, FIRST tasks students with building and programming a large 120-pound robot that stands nearly five feet tall. With faculty mentorship, strict rules, limited resources and time limits, students compete in various openended design challenges and gain technical, teamwork and leadership skills.

Trademarked “The Varsity Sport for the Mind,” FIRST Robotics Competition offers those who compete over $22 million in potential college scholarship opportunities from nearly 200 universities and corporations. This year, approximately 3,200 teams with 78,000 high school students are expected to enter the competition.

Peddie students enrolled in Engineering Design will spend hours in the testing studio creating and building a robot over the winter term and competing in various local competitions throughout the spring. Under the guidance of Meredith, science faculty member Kevin Brown, and mathematics faculty member Mark Sawula, the students hope to attend a regional championship in early April and, if they qualify, to enter the world championship in St. Louis,

The Digital Fabrication Lab moved into the repurposed boiler plant.

Faculty member Scott Meredith stands in the spacious second floor of the lab, where students will test and maneuver their robots.

Mo., later that month. An estimated 600 teams will end up participating in the final round.

“I’m really excited,” said Soo Jung Jang ’16, a member of the robotics team and aspiring engineer. “I’ve always been interested in robotics, and I’m looking forward to being part of a team that shares responsibility and works together to accomplish a goal.”

The application process for the Engineering Design class was rigorous. Fifty students applied and only 24 were accepted. An additional ten students will participate with the team in a variety of ways outside of the classroom, assisting with the marketing, business and financial ends of the competition.

“It’s an incredible program,” said Meredith. “Robotics is an exciting technology and FIRST is a fantastic way to inspire leaders, not only in technology and engineering, but in the Peddie and greater communities. Students will be limited only by their own imaginations.”

According to Melissa von Stade, assistant head for development, the $1.5 million project to renovate the boiler plant into the Digital Fabrication Lab has been supported by generous donors. To date, more than $600,000 of the $1.5 million has been raised.

To learn how you can support the Digital Fabrication Lab program, contact Melissa von Stade, assistant head for development, at mvonstade@peddie.org or (609) 944-7650, or Amy Cross, director of major gifts, at across@peddie.org or (609) 944-7614.

Fall 2015 17

Fever Dream brightens downtown Hightstown exhibit space

I

nspired by two spring break trips to India with Peddie students, Director of Visual Arts Catherine Robohm Watkins created a series of paintings that are on exhibit in a unique downtown Hightstown venue.

The 12 Farms Restaurant, a new farm-to-table restaurant just blocks from the Peddie campus, exhibited Watkins’ work during its fall season.

Watkins said each of the vibrant paintings in the exhibit, Fever Dream, was inspired by something she saw while studying art and religion with a group of Peddie students in New Delhi, Dharamsala, Rishikesh, Haridwar and many places in between during trips in 2012 and 2015.

“I was stunned by the saturated color, the piquant spices, the constant barrage of sound and odors (both beautiful and foul), the intricate patterns on textiles, tiled floors, railroad station walls, rickshaws and saris... each vista luscious and joyful one moment, unbearably overwhelming, even tragic, the next,” Watkins said.

Watkins said she was struck by the words of Mark Twain who described his trip to India more than a century before Peddie began taking students there.

“In reflecting on this extraordinary adventure, I came across these words written by Mark Twain about his travels in India. They seem to me as true today as they were when he penned them in 1897,” Watkins said.

The artist said she photographed “frantically” on the trip, “desperate to record and remember this abundance.”

She said the series title, Fever Dream, is a reference to “the near hallucinatory quality of these unforgettable journeys.”

“I isolated motifs, forms and color relationships, adding and subtracting information to create a densely-layered surface — a literal and metaphoric representation of the Indian land and cityscape and the lessons I took with me from that time,” she said.

“This is indeed India; the land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of splendor and rags, of palaces and hovels, of famine and pestilence, of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps, of tigers and elephants, the cobra and the jungle, the country of a thousand nations and a hundred tongues, of a thousand religions and two million gods, cradle of the human race, birthplace of human speech, mother of history, grandmother of legend, great-grandmother of tradition, whose yesterdays bear date with the mouldering antiquities of the rest of the nations — the one sole country under the sun that is endowed with an imperishable interest for alien prince and alien peasant, for lettered and ignorant, wise and fool, rich and poor, bond and free, the one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of all the rest of the globe combined.”

The 12 Farms Restaurant’s owners, Barbara and Rennie DiLorenzo, opened in 2015 and celebrate the local community not only in securing provisions from local farmers but also in hosting live music, art exhibitions, meetthe-farmer events and weekly creative gatherings for writers and artists.

See a collection of Watkins’ artwork at peddie.org/chronicle.

Cathy Watkins stands inside 12 Farms Restaurant where her artwork is on display.

18 Peddie Chronicle

Caglieris completes extended stay at EFZ Expanding the strong connection with sister school EFZ in Shanghai, math faculty member Andrew Caglieris, Ed.D., completed the longest exchange visit yet, teaching at the school for the entire spring term.

“The immediate goal of this long term visit was to have the opportunity to engage in a substantive exchange of ideas relating to the teaching of mathematics at the high school level,” Caglieris said. “This long-term teacher exchange provided the opportunity to collaborate more closely with both teachers and students.”

Teaching classes in China in AP Calculus BC, Statistics and Mathematical Modeling during his extended stay, Caglieris also made a presentation to the EFZ mathematics department on teaching mathematics toward cultivating 21st century skills such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creative thinking.

Caglieris said working directly with the EFZ students was one of the most enjoyable, interesting and rewarding professional development experiences in his 30 years in teaching.

“Their kindness, patience, remarkable intellectual ability, combined with a distinguished work ethic, and above all their remarkable thirst for learning made it a pleasure to have the opportunity to directly experience life as an EFZ teacher.”

He said the extended stay helped him study the differences in the mathematics educational systems of Peddie and EFZ. “The opportunity to teach students accustomed to a different system of education and to different methods of instruction would be the aspect that I found to be most interesting,” he said. “It was interesting to observe highly able and motivated students grapple with real-life problems requiring collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creative thinking.”

with which to measure the accomplishments of our highest achieving students,” he told them.

Reinforced for Caglieris during this visit was an appreciation for the sacrifices families make in order to pursue higher education for their children.

“Witnessing the remarkable efforts that a significant number of EFZ families and students go to in order for them to be able to enter U.S. universities as undergraduates

Andrew Caglieris, Ed.D., (right) teaches students at EFZ in Shanghai.

is a reminder of the high value placed on obtaining a university education,” he said. “This is something that we have perhaps come to take for granted, when for many international students this is indeed viewed as a life-changing opportunity.”

“This long-term teacher exchange provided the opportunity to collaborate more closely with both teachers and students.”

— Andrew Caglieris, Ed.D.

This was Caglieris’ second exchange visit to EFZ. In 2011, he and Chinese teacher Yiqun “Beverly” Jiang participated in a four-week visit at the sister school.

Caglieris also visited educational institutions beyond EFZ, including East China Normal University, Wellington College and Future Roads Teachers College.

Upon return to Hightstown, Caglieris shared his insight with his colleagues.

“Having a frame of reference consisting of what extremely able and highly motivated students at EFZ are capable of achieving provides us as teachers at Peddie with a benchmark

Caglieris, who spent considerable time observing and co-teaching with the EFZ teachers, said he was pleased to observe a relaxed environment in their classrooms.

“Contrary to perception, there is significant interaction on the part of the teacher with students, and in any given lesson there are often lighthearted moments that help to create a focused yet comfortable learning environment,” he said. “Striving for the highest level of academic excellence is not considered to be mutually exclusive with establishing a healthy classroom culture.”

Fall 2015 19

SPORTS HALL OF FAME

Al Slader ’60 watched the ceremony via Skype as Sports Hall of Fame Director Barbara Grudt presented his award.

Brad Barket ’95 accepts his honor.

2015 Inductees

Al Slader ’60

Peddie greats Al Slader ’60, Brad

Sports Hall of Famer Terry Hensle ’60 remembers classmate Al Slader ’60 as “a man among boys.”

Daggett ’90 and Brad Barket ’95 were inducted into the Peddie Sports Hall of Fame in June at the Walter H. Annenberg ’27 Library.

Since the inception of the Sports Hall of Fame, now in its 27th year, the honor roll stands at 116 individuals, 38 teams and the Manley family, spanning over 100 years of Peddie athletics.

Its purpose is to remember those who have brought distinction, honor and excellence to the school’s athletics program.

Football and Wrestling

Arriving at Peddie as a freshman in 1956, Slader brought with him qualities his classmates and teammates immediately admired, Hensle said. He had a way of lifting those around him by inspiring a sense of their own possibilities.

During three seasons of varsity football, Slader combined the speed and agility of a halfback with the sheer physical power you’d expect from a fullback. He made a difference from his first day. In his rookie game as a first-stringer, he astonished the Pingry School defenders with a surprise end run for Peddie’s first and only touchdown of the day. One game later against Admiral Farragut, he again tallied the team’s first score, leading the way to the first Peddie win of the season.

Slader’s athletic ability was most visible and formidable on the wrestling mat. Rarely defeated during his grappling career, he posted a 9-1 season as a sophomore at 165 pounds. He won the state championship that year and racked up a 10-1 record the next. Despite stepping up to 182 pounds to fill critical needs in the lineup, Slater still posted a 10-1 season as a senior.

His impact as an athlete was matched by his impact as a leader. “Al never let his prowess go to his head. He remained a genuinely good guy who helped everyone he came into contact with, treating us all as his teammates, both on the mat and off,” fellow wrestler Don Gavin ’60 said. “To a 104-lb, five-foot-tall freshman who wasn’t yet accepted by the ‘cool guys,’ this was very supportive and affirming.”

It was no surprise Slader was chosen by his wrestling teammates to be their junior-year captain and senior-year co-captain, or that he was awarded the Langford Scholarship for outstanding qualities of citizenship, or that he was elected class president three times and voted “Most Respected Student” in the senior poll.

Thirty years later, Slader earned worldwide respect by piloting a crippled United Airlines 747 to a safe landing after an explosion aboard the aircraft. His actions saved the lives of 328 passengers and 18 members of the flight crew.

20 Peddie Chronicle

Brad Daggett ’90 with his family after his induction into the Sports Hall of Fame.

Al Slader ’60

Brad Barket ’95

Brad Daggett ’90

Brad Daggett ’90

Brad Barket ’95

Baseball

Track and Field

Coming to Peddie from Haverford in the fall of 1988 seeking a fresh start as a student and athlete, Brad Daggett ’90 made an immediate mark, becoming a fiery sixth man on the basketball team and an immediate All-Prep baseball outfielder roaming Thompson Field.

Barket joined the Peddie community as a 10th grader in 1992.

A resident of Dallas, Penn., he was already a talented runner for his local high school, but he hadn’t yet blossomed. Over the next three years, Barket established himself as one of the premier middle distance runners in the country. Barket’s national accolades are numerous: as a sophomore running in the Eastern States Championships at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym, Barket came from behind to win the 1000 yard race. During his junior year, Barket owned the nation’s best high school 800m time (1:55.69) and later earned All-American status by placing at the National Championships held at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY. He placed third at the Penn Relays invitational 1500m, sixth place in the invitational high school mile at the Millrose Games in Madison Square Garden, ran the 1600m at the Golden West meet in California and won the high school race of the 5th Avenue Mile. Barket was the only runner in Peddie’s track history to have been fast enough to compete in any of these prestigious events, and he qualified for all of them.

Blessed with a laser arm, Daggett threw out several runners his first time through the prep school schedule. No one ran on Daggett after that, and rarely did anyone attempt to go to third on a single to him. No one ever tagged up to advance on a fly ball.

His junior year, Brad batted .419, with a slugging percentage of .558, outstanding numbers in a 10-4 season, but he performed best when the challenge was clear: on a midseason double-header sweep of a strong Lawrenceville team, Brad went 6-for-8 with a pair of doubles and a home run.

Daggett’s senior year performance was even stronger, as his reputation preceded him. During the first half of the season, when no pitcher gave him anything over the plate, he remained patient, learning how to drive the outside pitch to the opposite field, and taking pride in doing so. Later, when Frank Moran ’90 and Peter McClellan ’90 started to heat up, Brad saw better pitches, and extra base hits came in bunches. He finished the year batting .414, with five doubles, three triples, one home run and nine walks. The statistic that reveals his focus, patience, talent and knowledge of the game is his senior season strikeout total: one.

After Peddie, Brad continued his baseball career for four years at the University of Alabama, batting second on a good team in the nation’s best baseball conference.

Daggett is the only player who forced a change in the ground rules at Thompson Field; his screaming line drives to right field made it necessary to declare that any ball that rolled out onto Etra Road was a ground rule home run, a real possibility any time Daggett came to bat.

In addition to his individual achievements, Barket was a “team first” runner. He put his teammates ahead of personal glory in order to share the spotlight. Barket was a member of Peddie’s winning 4 x 400m relay team at the Penn Relays. By running the 1600m, 800m and 3200m, Barket helped the Peddie Track Team win its only indoor Mercer County title. Barket was a member of Peddie’s Sprint Medley relay team (with teammates Chris Totten ’93, Lars Kausch ’94 and Jermaine Bishop ’94), which was ranked 10th in the country according to American Athletics magazine.

Barket owns four individual school records (indoor 800m, indoor 1600m, outdoor 800m, and outdoor 1600m), one retired record (one mile), and is part of two relay records (indoor sprint medley relay and outdoor distance medley relay).

His running success continued at Seton Hall, where he was named to the All-Big East and All-IC4A Indoor Track teams.

Fall 2015 21

center campus A tradition built for two Roomates Andrew Perera ’16 and Matt Browne ’16 aren’t exactly joined at the hip, but they are spending a portion of this school year tethered together for the sake of their transportation needs.

A bright yellow tandem bicycle has been passed down to Perera and Browne in what has become a Peddie tradition for this now-legendary yellow bike.

So far this fall, Perera and Browne have used the tandem bike to get from class to class and for pleasure rides around campus, and they have lent it to their friends who needed transportation. Perera and another friend even cycled all the way to Target for a light shopping trip.

When Jimmy Schwartz ’14 and Andrew Tobin ’14 acquired the set of wheels, they kept it for three years, using it for daily trips to athletic practices, twice-weekly DMX runs to Hot Bagels and occasional trips to places such as Dairy Queen and the Americana Diner.

“It’s a little hard to maneuver so you have to get used to it. You both need to know that if one of you leans, the whole bike will move. It’s getting used to not being nonchalant with your body movements,” Schwartz said. “But after one trip around Annenberg, you get used to it and could ride it anywhere after that.”

Schwartz, who now owns a solo bike that he uses for transportation around campus at the University of Virginia, said he misses the playful nature of the tandem bike. “It’s kind of fun. It makes traveling places more enjoyable,” he said. “Sometimes people on the road get really into it and yell things to you.”

Schwartz and Tobin, in turn, passed the bike to Katie Fenlon ’15 and Nicole Blekhter ’15.

When those girls went off to college, Perera and Browne assumed ownership of the bike.

“They told us it needed a tune up, and they were

“It’s kind of fun. It makes traveling places more enjoyable.”

— Jimmy Schwartz ’14

Andrew Perera ’16 and Matthew Browne ’16 (above) are the fourth generation of Peddie students to share the same tandem bicycle.

Nicole Blekhter ’15 and Katie Fenlon ’15 (inset) inherited the tandem bike for use around campus in their senior year.

Original owners Joe Buonopane ’11 and Ben Seiden ’11 bought the slightly used bicycle-built-for-two from the Internet toward the end of their senior year, passing it on to a pair of sophomores when they graduated.

22 Peddie Chronicle

right,” Browne said. “We told them we would take care of it.

We are going to leave it better than we got it.”

When the boys unchained the bike and tried to take it for a ride, they found a blown front tire, a rusty chain and plenty of repairs needed.

“The tradition is about five years old but I’m guessing the bike is older than five years,” Perera joked.

The boys made some immediate improvements and continue their plans to give the bike plenty of TLC while it is in their custody for the year. Their plans also include looking for a new pair of underclassmen to take over the tandem and continue the tradition.

Peddie clubs bloom on campus Beginning the school year with nearly 50 different clubs as diverse as the student body itself, Peddie is continuing its long and strong tradition of student-run groups on campus.

Since the 1869 founding of the all-girl literary club Kalomathia Society — quickly followed by the creation of the all-boys’ Academia Society — students have been given wide freedom in creating extracurricular activities for themselves and classmates. Student publications such as The Peddie News and the Old Gold and Blue yearbook remain strong after more than 100 years of student leadership, but have also been joined by clubs that bring together students with common interests in everything from politics to fashion to the environment.

There are organizations for Young Feminists, Young Entrepreneurs and Young Democrats (the Young Republicans disbanded last year, but are sure to be back.) Some student clubs get together to discuss or debate; other groups participate in leisure activities. The Ultimate Frisbee Club, Triathlon Club and the Dynasty dance troupe give students a needed physical outlet from their rigorous schoolwork.

Clubs have also supported one another in the endeavors.

When the Beekeeping Club needed protective wear, the founder of the Crafting Club set to work knitting garments for the beekeepers.

“Clubs allow students a chance to pursue their interests outside of the classroom in a way they might not otherwise get to do,” said Caitlin McDermott, director of student activities.

“They bring like-minded students together and give them the agency to research, create, and execute a variety of in-depth projects that connect many parts of their education.

McDermott said there is another equally important reason to have a rich club offering: fun.

“Students sign up for a variety of clubs, many of which might be outside their personal experience. It is always interesting to see friendships blooming between students who would likely not have met had a club not been part of their experience at Peddie,” McDermott said.

2015–16 CLUBS Amnesty International

Multicultural Alliance

Amphion

Parikarma Club

Best Buddies

Peddie Beekeeping Club

Better Beginnings

Peddie ESL

Book Club

Peddie Math Club

Chinese Culture

Peddie News

Christian Fellowship

Peddie Student Ambassadors

Crafting Club

Peddie Triathlon Club

Creative Writing Club

Poetry Out Loud

Current Events Club

Project UNIFY

The Daily Dose

REALMS

Debate Club

Red Cross Club

Drama Club

Spanish Club

Dynasty

Students Supporting Veterans Club

Environmental Club

The Ultimate Club

Fashion Club

United Desi Students

French Club

Yearbook (Old Gold and Blue)

Girls Who Code Hightstown Branch

Young Democrats Club

Gold Key Society

Young Feminists

Young Entrepreneurs Club

Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) International Student Organization Jewish Heritage Club Junior State of America Mock Trial Model UN Frisbee Club artwork by Conor Donohue ’16

Girls’ crew advanced to nationals The Peddie girls’ crew competed in the 2015 USRowing Youth National Championships in June at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla. The girls’ four with coxswain comprised Alexandra Baum ’15 at cox and rowers Katie Benham ’16, Michaela Nieuwenhuizen ’15, Jordan Kelly ’16 and Mia Caglieris ’15 qualified for nationals with their second-place finish at the Mid-Atlantic Youth Championships at Mercer Lake in West Windsor in May. Peddie Director of Rowing Barb Grudt said the five girls rowed above themselves to qualify for nationals. At the Mid-Atlantic

Youth Championships, they came into the last few strokes of the final at the tail end of a pack of four boats and put together an inspired sprint to come out on the winning side of a photo finish for second. In Sarasota, they missed being one of the top 18 crews in the country by less than a second.

“They had a great attitude and gave it their best shot,” Grudt said. “They understood the challenge they were facing and approached it with courage, willingness and perspective. They genuinely appreciated the opportunity to compete against an incredibly strong field.”

Grudt, who last took a boat to nationals in 2011, said she hopes the success of 2015 will continue into the new season.

“Qualifying for nationals has restarted the conversation on campus about Peddie crew being a national caliber rowing program,” she said.

Representing Peddie at the USRowing Youth National Championships are Mia Caglieris ’15, Katie Benham ’16, Coach Barbara Grudt, Alexandra Baum ’15, Jordan Kelly ’16 and Michaela Nieuwenhuizen ’15.

Fall 2015 23

Peddie designated a National Safe Sports School Peddie is the recipient of the Safe Sports School award from the National Athletic Trainers’ Association.

The award champions safety and recognizes secondary schools that provide safe environments for student-athletes by reinforcing the importance of providing the best level of care, injury prevention and treatment.

Peddie is one of only nine schools in New Jersey and one of 531 nationwide to receive the distinction.

In concert with the coaches and health center staff, Peddie’s two full-time athletic trainers are healthcare professionals who work with student-athletes in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of injuries and sport-related illnesses.

“Congratulations to our athletic trainers and health center for garnishing such a prestigious standing,” said Director of Athletics Jason Baseden. “As a team, they Head Athletic Trainer Jose Roca demonstrates a strength exercise for provide our coaching staff a student. and students with first-class facilities and first-class treatment. This award speaks to their dedication and professionalism within their respective fields. It also speaks to the financial commitment Peddie has made to run such a first-class program.”

Head Athletic Trainer Jose Roca said he and fellow trainer Robin Gerber have always made the safety of students their first priority.

“It’s always been one of our biggest goals to strive for the highest quality of care and safety standards for our studentathletes. Our entire medical staff should take great pride in this achievement,” he said.

In order to achieve Safe Sport School status, Peddie had to demonstrate it had an athletic health care administrative system that insured pre-participation physical examinations, psychosocial consultations and nutritional counseling. Other requirements are proper maintenance of athletic equipment, injury and illness prevention strategies and emergency action plans.

Safe and appropriate practice and competition facilities, as well as appropriately equipped areas to evaluate and treat injured athletes were also required.

Gerber said the main objective of the athletic trainers is to work with the student body in the athletic training room to prepare them to return to play from injury as quickly and as safely as possible.

“Working as an athletic trainer, specifically in a boarding school setting, is extremely rewarding,” Gerber said. “Being thoroughly involved in this community provides us the opportunity to be involved in the students’ day-to-day life outside of athletics. With these interactions, the students have a better understanding of how we are here to help them stay in the game and on the field.”

National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) represents and supports 39,000 members of the athletic training profession.

Your gift to the Peddie Fund demonstrates your shared belief in the school and the difference it makes in the lives of our students.

Please join us and make your gift today.

Make an online gift at my.peddie.org/give or use the envelope included in this issue of the Chronicle.

Continue the Tradition Every gift counts. All gifts make a difference.

24 Peddie Chronicle

Falcon Feats / Peddie athletes in college action Air Force Academy

Colgate University

Men’s Lacrosse

Women’s Lacrosse

Chris Allen ’12 tallied a fourth-best 17 goals and added four assists at midfield last season for the Falcons. He has started all 32 games the past two seasons and has a career total of 38 goals and eight helpers. His point production includes 12 multiple-goal games and four career hat tricks.

Lauren Gorajek ’12 started all 16 games at midfield, tallying 20 goals and three assists while guiding her team to a 10-6 overall record and a 6-2 mark in the Patriot League. In the past three seasons, Gorajek started 47 straight games and recorded 53 goals and 12 assists.

Babson College

Men’s Lacrosse

Softball Shannon Kortmann ’13 appeared in 22 games as a sophomore, making seven starts in center field. She made her first start of the 2015 campaign in a 3-1 win over Hamilton and went 1-for-2 at the plate with a double.

Boston College Men’s Track Tom Hennessy ’12 is beginning his final indoor/outdoor season at middle distance for the Eagles. In the 2015 outseason, Hennessy finished eighth place in the 800 meters at the Skyhawk Invitational hosted by Stonehill College. As a member of the 4x800 relay at New England Championships, his team earned eighth place with a season-best, 7:42.81. He has run personal bests of 4:16.78 for the mile and 1:54.64 for 800 meters.

Jackson Patterson ’13 played in nine games on defense and registered his first two collegiate starting assignments. He finished the season with five ground balls, including one against North Carolina in the first-round loss of the NCAA tournament.

Cornell University Softball Olivia Bundschuh ’14 saw action in 24 contests as a freshman with one start at second base. She primarily served as a pinch runner and scored three times. A hardworking reserve, Bundschuh flawlessly handled six chances in the field and stole her first-career base in a win over Brown.

Duke University Men’s Golf

Marisa Borchardt ’11 made her third consecutive appearance in the second varsity eight boat at the NCAA Championships as a member of the Patriot League champion Terriers. Her team placed 20th overall.

Max Greyserman ’13 started a strong summer by winning the 114th New Jersey State Golf Association Amateur Championship in June after firing rounds of 69-74-70-64 for a three-under 277. He capped his sophomore season with a 75.3 stroke average over 23 rounds of golf that included a two-under 69 during the final round of the NCAA Lubbock Regional. Competing at the Yale Spring Invitational April 18-19, Greyserman produced his best tournament performance of the year, carding a 71-7571 (217) to finish tied for 21st.

Brown University

Women’s Lacrosse

Men’s Swimming

Gabby Moise ’11 was selected as a defender to the 2015 NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse All-Tournament Team. The Blue Devils lost to North Carolina in the national semifinals. Moise started 67 of 68 games played over her four seasons and graduated tied for 17th in program history in career caused turnovers (63) and also tallied 58 ground balls. Prior to her senior year, Moise helped guide her team to three consecutive NCAA quarterfinals appearances.

Boston University Women’s Crew

Josh Daniel ’14 competed in meets against University of Massachusetts, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University and Cornell University and notched a season-best second place finish in the 100-yard freestyle. He also recorded top-five finishes in the 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke.

Bucknell University Women’s Crew Kumari Lewis ’11 rowed out of the No. 2 seat on the varsity eight boat, which claimed a silver medal in the grand final of the prestigious Dad Vail Regatta on the Schuylkill in Philadelphia. The Bisons finished second in the team standings behind Massachusetts. A three-time Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association National Scholar-Athlete and All-Mid-Atlantic Region and All-Patriot League honoree, Lewis came home with two golds this past summer rowing for Vesper Boat Club (Philadelphia) at US Rowing Club Nationals.

Elon University Softball Eve Clausen ’11 closed out her senior year with six appearances on the mound, posting one win and a 1.75 ERA. She finished her three-year career amassing 23 total pitching appearances with a 3-2 mark and an ERA of 4.43 in 44.2 innings.

Fall 2015 25

Franklin & Marshall College

United States Naval Academy

Softball

Women’s Lacrosse

Melissa Bollmeyer ’14 competed in 34 games and led her team in almost every offensive category including batting average (.373), hits (38), triples (3), walks (19), stolen bases (14), runs scored (31) and on-base percentage (.475). For her prodigious numbers, Bollmeyer was named to the Centennial Conference Second Team in her rookie campaign.

Codi Mullen ’12 played in all 20 games and started 19 at attack for the Midshipmen. She recorded career highs in points (19), goals (11), assists (8), ground balls (6) and caused turnovers (5).

Georgetown University Men’s Swimming Cal Rohde ’12 is a member of the program’s All-Time Top 10 Times in the 100-yard backstroke (50.97), 200 back (152.29), 200 freestyle (1:41.70) and 500 free (4:40.28). For the second straight year, Rohde earned All-Big East Team honors in the 800 free relay.

Iona University Men’s Golf Stefan Cygan ’13 was selected to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference All-Academic Team. To be eligible for the MAAC All-Academic Team, a student-athlete must complete two semesters at their institution and hold a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 on a 4.0 scale. During the 2014-15 campaign, Cygan finished tied for 77th at the Rutgers Invitational and tied for 18th place at the ECAC Championship.

Kenyon College Men’s Tennis Tim Rosensteel ’11 gained NCAA Division III All-American status with his doubles partner to complete his collegiate career ranked No. 12 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

Kenyon picked Rosensteel’s honor as the Number 9 Top Moment of 2014-15. The ITA slotted Kenyon at No. 10 in the final national poll.

Men’s Swimming Joe Guilfoyle ’11 took eighth place in the 1,650-yard freestyle at the 2015 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving National Championships. His showing earned All-American recognition as Kenyon claimed its 34th national title in the past 36 seasons. Guilfoyle garnered seven All-American awards during his four-year career.

Women’s Swimming Sarah Lloyd ’13 was named a Scholar All-American by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) for 2014-15. The individual award is presented to collegiate swimmers and divers who achieve a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.5 and who qualified for and competed in the NCAA Championship. Lloyd captured her second career All-American award with a 10th place finish at NCAAs. Kenyon took fourth place at the championship meet.

26 Peddie Chronicle

Morgan Young ’13 played in all 20 games at attack and tallied 11 multi-goal performances. She registered career highs in points (37), goals (30), assists (7), ground balls (12) and caused turnovers (5). Young netted a career-high four goals against Bucknell.

Navy added Molly O’Sullivan ’15 (attack) and Andie O’Sullivan ’15 (midfield) to their 2015-2016 roster.

Pennsylvania State University Women’s Swimming Carolyn Fittin ’11 finished her career as one of the Nittany Lions’ most decorated swimmers, racking up eight All-American accolades. At NCAAs, Fittin set a new school standard in the 50-yard freestyle preliminaries, touching in 21.98 seconds, but was just a hundredth of a second shy of reaching the “A” final. She delivered in the “B” final by winning in 22.07 seconds to place ninth overall. At the team’s banquet, Fittin received the Elizabeth McCoy Outstanding Swimming Award for contributing the most to the team’s success by consistently achieving outstanding performances throughout the year.

Princeton University Women’s Crew Olivia McShea ’11 rowed in the No. 3 seat and helped the varsity four “B” team to a bronze medal at the Ivy League Championships. As a member of the varsity four “A” boat, McShea helped the Tigers retain the Class of 1984 Plaque vs.

Penn and Dartmouth. For her career, McShea captured two gold medals at the Ivy Championships and reached the grand final at NCAAs.

Rhodes College Men’s Golf Conor Pocino ’11 closed out his career shooting a 10-over-par 226 (76, 75, 75) at the Southern Athletic Association conference tournament held at the Old Fort Golf Club in Murfreesboro, Tenn. His team carded a three-day total of 882 to hold down third place in the nine-team competition.

Rutgers University Women’s Lacrosse Taylor Pennell ’12 was named team captain as a junior and started all 18 games on defense. She ended the year tied for third with 24 ground balls. In its inaugural Big Ten campaign, the Scarlet Knights captured their first-ever conference win against Michigan. Pennell scooped up two ground balls and forced a turnover in the big victory.

Saint Joseph’s University Softball Kerrie Kortmann ’12 appeared in 25 games with 21 starting assignments in the outfield and as a designated hitter while contributing 14 hits, four RBIs and 17 putouts. For her career, Kortmann has played in 73 games, scored 26 runs and registered 21 hits.

Ursinus College Men’s Lacrosse Bayo Adeyemo ’11 played in 12 games at longstick midfield for the Bears who finished the season with the most wins in school history (14) and advanced to the NCAA Division III second round for the first time ever. No. 13 Ursinus fell to second-ranked Gettysburg in double overtime. For his career, Adeyemo played in 47 games with 27 ground balls and 21 caused turnovers.

Vassar College Women’s Swimming Julia Cunningham ’13 was selected as the school’s No. 2 individual performer of 2014-15 for her seventh-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly at NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships, setting a new school record of 2:03.03 in the process. The feat earned Cunningham All-American honors, just the second Brewer swimmer to reach that historic plateau.

Wheaton College (MA) Women’s Track & Field Breanna Joachim ’13 placed eighth overall and earned All-New England honors in the 20-pound weight throw with a personal best toss of 51 feet and 2.75 inches at the All-New England Indoor Championships, hosted by Boston University. She also garnered an All-ECAC outdoors award by grabbing sixth place in the discus with a toss of 39.09 meters at the 2015 ECAC Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Honoring benefactors whose estate plans help advance the aims of Peddie

The Anthony F. Romano ’52 Scholarship Fund Anthony F. Romano ’52 came to his 60th Peddie reunion as a new Bell Society member.

Reflecting upon his favorite masters (Evans Hicks,William Boyd, Maurice Shuman and Robert Tiftt) and the impact Peddie School had on his life, the retired executive and his attorney designed a legacy to recognize the school’s strong tradition of financial aid. The result was the creation of The Anthony F. Romano ’52 Scholarship Fund in honor of his parents, Anthony and Edith Romano.The fund was established with a gift and bequest intention for Peddie School.

“I intend to continue supporting the school because my experience at Peddie was the beginning of my adulthood,”Tony said.

As a boarding student from Martins Creek, Pa., Tony joined the Glee Club, the Old Gold and Blue yearbook and The Peddie News, won the J.Walter Anthony F. Romano ’52 (left) with Reeves Speaking Contest son Anthony F. Romano, Jr., his wife and earned varsity letters for Debi Romano and their daughter football, wrestling and track. Perin Romano.

Retired from Columbian Chemicals Company, the Hamilton College graduate spends time reading, playing golf and visiting with his children and grandchildren, as well as participating in Bell Society receptions on campus and in New York.

Classmate and Bell Society Chair Charlie J. Ascher ’52 said, “Tony’s gift for Peddie comes out of asking ourselves, before and after reunions, ‘What is important in life, and how has Peddie made a difference to us?’ ” A loyal donor to the unrestricted Peddie Fund,Tony said, “I am grateful for what Peddie has given me, and I wanted to help ensure that generations to come will have the same learning opportunities.”

Many of our 160 current Bell Society members have named Peddie in their will or revocable living trust. The school prefers the flexibility of unrestricted gifts and gifts for broad areas such as faculty support, financial aid, academic programs or athletics. Gifts large and small are welcome; there is no minimum.

.............................................................................................................

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS, SAMPLE WILL PROVISIONS OR GIFT ILLUSTRATIONS, PLEASE CONTACT THE GIFT PLANNING OFFICE: phone 800-322-1864 email bellsociety@peddie.org online peddie.plannedgiving.org

Congratulations

Class of 2015!

2015 28 Peddie Chronicle

College and University Destinations for the Class 2015 New York University 6

University of Virginia 2

Middlebury College

Gettysburg College 5

Wake Forest University 2

Monmouth University

University of Pennsylvania 5

American University

Northeastern University

Carnegie Mellon University 4

Babson College

Pace University, New York City

United States Naval Academy 4

Barnard College

Pitzer College

Villanova University 4

Bates College

Pomona College

Boston College 3

Bentley University

Pratt Institute

Columbia University 3

Binghamton University

Princeton University

Franklin and Marshall College 3

Bucknell University

Purdue University

The George Washington University 3

Colby College

Queen’s University

Georgetown University 3

Colgate University

Roanoke College

Haverford College 3

University of Connecticut

Rowan University

Lehigh University 3

Cornell University

Siena College

University of Michigan 3

Davidson College

University of Southern California

The College of New Jersey 3

Duke University

Stonehill College

Pennsylvania State University,

Elizabethtown College

Temple University

Elon University

The University of Texas, Austin

Furman University

University of Toronto

Georgia Institute of Technology

Trinity College

The University of Georgia

Tufts University

Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Vanderbilt University

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Vassar College

Indiana University at Bloomington

Washington and Lee University

Johns Hopkins University

Washington University in St. Louis

Lafayette College

Wesleyan University

Long Island University, Brooklyn

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

University Park 3 Wellesley College 3 College of William and Mary 3 Brown University 2 Case Western Reserve University 2 University of Delaware 2 Dickinson College 2 University of Pittsburgh 2 Rhodes College 2 Rice University 2 University of Richmond 2 Rutgers University-New Brunswick 2 Swarthmore College 2

Loyola University Maryland Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Miami

Fall 2015 29

Charnin-Aker swims the English Channel

J

osh Charnin-Aker ’07 completed a swim across the English Channel in August, finishing in 11 hours and two minutes.

According to the internationally-recognized Channel Swimming Association, Charnin-Aker is now one of only 1,333 people to complete the 21-mile feat solo since 1875.

The fastest authenticated solo swim was 7 hours, 17 minutes.

More people have climbed Mount Everest than have completed the crossing, the association points out.

“It was easier than I expected, to be honest,” 25-yearold Charnin-Aker said about a week after his crossing from England to France. “But there were three hours or so that felt pretty bad.”

During those hours — hours seven through nine of the trip — he said the weather was windy and the sea choppy, and he became seasick. The English Channel is considered to be the ultimate long distance challenge, as much for the variable conditions of the water as for the distance.

“That was preventing me from eating and drinking,” he said. “That was the only point that I thought failure was possible.” Despite the seasickness and ingesting sea water during those rocky hours, Charnin-Aker said he remained focused on finishing.

“I never thought about quitting,” he said. “But I was very concerned if I didn’t get down enough calories, it was going to make it difficult to finish.”

But he kept swimming.

“As you get to the French coastline, the water temperature warms up a bit. Once you see the land, you get an adrenaline rush kick in. But it’s very deceiving when you first see land. I was still four hours out,” he said.

Accompanied by an official authenticator from the Channel Swimming Association and a cheering squad of his friends in a nearby boat, Charnin-Aker was under strict observation to ensure he stuck to the rules.

After every hour of swimming, he would approach the boat, lay on his back and his support crew would send him Gatorade, carb gels and fruit. He was not permitted to swim directly behind the boat or touch the boat at any point — or risk disqualification — so his provisions were delivered at the end of a long pole.

“The one time I asked the captain how far we had remaining, I estimated one to two hours based on what I saw, but he said three hours,” CharninAker said. “I decided to stop asking questions after that.”

30 Peddie Chronicle

There were surprising moments, he said, that inspired him, including 20 minutes of swimming through a jelly fish bloom.

“Fortunately, the jelly fish are benign compared to the ones you might encounter elsewhere. They itch but they don’t sting so that went away pretty quickly,” he said. “They were a beautiful blue and yellow and the water was crystal clear. You could see 20 feet down.”

Charnin-Aker, who was co-captain of the boy’s swimming team while at Peddie, decided to attempt the swim in January and began training immediately.

T

he first big challenge was getting used to cold water temperatures; wetsuits are not allowed according to the official rules of swimming the channel. His slim frame didn’t help and he aimed to gain 15 pounds as extra fat for insulation. He also joined the Coney Island Polar Bear Club.

Starting with five minute dips in the Atlantic Ocean in January, he said he learned how to “manage cold water,” although he did suffer frostbite in his fingertips.

“In April, my best day was a half hour in the water at 44 degrees,” he said. “By then, I was starting to get climatized.”

The next challenge was ramping up the swimming distances in the cold water.

Anticipating the water temperature for his August swim (62 degrees), he camped on the beach in Montauk, Long Island for the month of June, swimming twice a day in the water there, which hovered around 62 degrees at the end of June.

“I think the biggest challenge was doing enough hours to get your arms and muscles used to that endurance,” he said. In June, he completed a six-hour qualification swim with an eyewitness in Chicago.

“That day, I felt that was as far as I could have gone after six hours. That was when I realized I wasn’t in shape yet,” he said.

He continued training in New York and returned to the Peddie pool for “technique refreshers” with his swimming coach, Greg Wriede ’95 and he did open water swim training with Peddie’s Assistant Director of Athletics Will Sodano off the beach in Seagirt, N.J. Wriede said those training sessions were reminiscent of the drive Charnin-Aker had as a high school swimmer.

“Josh was one of the most cerebral swimmers I have ever worked with. He has constantly pushed himself physically and mentally his entire life,” Wriede said. “In high school, he swam 20,000 yards straight and counted every single lap.”

Charnin-Aker also recalled that three-and-a-half hour swim.

New Faculty Jason Baseden | Director of Athletics Baseden served as director of athletics at the International School of Brussels from 2008 to 2015. Prior to moving to Brussels, he worked for Universal Television, the Discovery Channel and OLN Network in various marketing and production roles. He is a project manager for Hoops 4 Hope in New York City and Paris. A graduate of St. John’s University, he was two-time captain of the track and field team. Baseden is pursuing a master’s degree in athletic administration through Ohio University. He is a member of the board of directors of the International Association of Athletic Administrators and Coaches.

Ryan Bennett | Director of Technology Bennett joined Peddie after 16 years at Mercersburg Academy as the director of informational technology, math teacher, coach, advisor and dorm dean. Previously, he was at the Leelanau School in Michigan after starting his teaching career in the Kalamazoo Public School District. Beyond his years in education, Bennett has served as a volunteer firefighter and EMT in Pennsylvania as well as being a nationally certified soccer official. He holds his undergraduate degree in mathematics from Western Michigan University and a M.S. in computer information systems from the University of Phoenix.

John Drstvensek, MD, P’97 ’01 | Director of Health Services After a 38-year career practicing emergency medicine, Drstvensek will lead the Hensle Health Center. Drstvensek was medical director at Riverside Medical Hospital and Grant Medical Center, both in Columbus, Ohio. Drstvensek graduated from the University of Cincinnati and Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus, Ohio. He was named Physician of the Year by the Columbus Emergency Medical Services.

Katie Germain | Director of Marketing and Communications Prior to joining Peddie, Germain served as director of marketing and public relations at the Rutgers University Foundation and as associate director of web communications at Saint Peter’s University. She earned her master’s degree in creative writing from Rutgers University-Newark in 2015, and she holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from SUNY Purchase.

“I underperformed at a meet around Thanksgiving and I just decided I wasn’t in good enough endurance shape, so I asked Greg to plug in the scoreboard on a timer,” he said.

“And I came in on a Sunday and just knocked it out.”

Now a trader at DRW Trading Group, Charnin-Aker was the consummate scholar-athlete at Peddie. Excelling in the classroom and recognized as a National Merit Scholar, he was a member of the Cum Laude and Gold Key societies.

He was editor-in-chief of The Peddie News and was elected president of his junior class. He won The Potter Cup and the Walter H. Annenberg Award.

(left to right) Ryan Bennett, Austin Frank, Jenate Brown, Marisa Parra, Nathalie Letourneau, Jason Baseden, John Drstvensek and Katie Germain.

Jenate Brown | English Brown previously taught English at the New Era Academy, part of the Baltimore public schools, where she initiated an after-school program for at-risk students. A graduate of The Lawrenceville School and Princeton University, Brown was president of the Princeton University Club Sports Council and played on Princeton University’s Women’s Rugby Football Club.

Austin Frank | History A New Jersey native, Frank graduated from Wesleyan University, where he majored in government, played football and wrestled. At Wesleyan, he was selected to the NESCAC All-Academic team. He worked as a park director, events coordinator and supervisor for Linden Parks and Recreation.

Nathalie Letourneau | French Letourneau is a native speaker in French and Portuguese.

She has degrees from Thomas Edison State College, Lawrence University and the Institut Universitaire Technologique de Besançon in France. She previously worked at inlingua Princeton.

Marisa Parra | Spanish Parra was a Spanish teacher at Oakwood Friends School in Poughkeepsie, where she also served as dorm parent and summer program and rental coordinator. A native Spanish speaker, Parra graduated from the Universidad de Buenos Aires with degrees in education and Spanish. She has taught all levels of Spanish.

After Peddie, Josh continued to Stanford University, where he joined the swim team and graduated in 2011 with a degree in management science and engineering.

Now that he has successfully swum across the English Channel, Charnin-Aker said he has his sights on the other two events that would make him a member of the prestigious Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming club.

The other two swims — 28.5 miles around Manhattan Island and 20.2 miles across the Catalina Channel in Southern California — are on his “lifetime bucket list.”

There are currently only 121 Triple Crowners.

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REUNION 2015 Pasu Porapakkham ’11, Jeff Intravatola ’11 and Harmeet Dhinghra ’11 enjoyed their first reunion.

John Sussek ’50 takes a quiet moment to read the Chronicle.

Michael Maccagnan ’85 (right) and his wife, Betty Maccagnan (left) attended the reunion with his father, former faculty member Vic Maccagnan (center).

Zi-yah Esbenshade ’90 proudly displays a purchase as her classmate Denise Sullivan ’90 looks on.

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The Class of 1975 and their guests were back at reunion in full force.

Gathering for the dedication of the Dey House, named for Billy Dey ’88, are (front row, left-to-right) John Coiro ’87 P’17, Todd Friedman ’87, (middle row) Ronald Bruh ’87, Chuck Morgenstern ’87, Jeff Schneider ’88, (back row) Matt Hulsizer ’87, Michael Naidrich ’88 and Brian Gimelson ’88.

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The student body gathers for community meeting inside Geiger-Reeves Hall in 2015.

PEDDIE SCHOOL 201 South Main Street Hightstown, NJ 08520-3349

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