The Magazine of William Penn Charter School
Fall 2014
Our Luminous 325 anniversary th
The STRATEGIC VISION for Penn Charter’s future is organized around six goals, each with a set of strategies.
Timothy Lynch was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a deadly brain tumor, when he was in graduate school studying botany at the University of Vermont. Following surgery to remove the tumor, Lynch was told he had nine months to live.
Goal 1: Quakerism
Lynch underwent radiation and chemotherapy – and completed his master’s. And then his PhD. He married, began a teaching career, became a father. And he became a bit of a medical mystery. “It’s unheard of that someone would survive 23 years,” Lynch said of his disease. Lynch joined the Penn Charter science faculty in 1997 and was granted a sabbatical last winter and spring to work with scientists at the University of Pennsylvania who are searching for a cure for GBM. Lynch worked alongside the Penn researchers on their experiments, including an investigation of the actual tumor that doctors removed from his brain, preserved in their laboratories, and then shipped to the researchers at Penn. The Penn team is fascinated by Lynch’s survival and hopes to find a clue in his case that can lead them to a cure. Lynch, who continues to work in the Penn labs one day a week, returned to the PC classroom in September. He came back with new knowledge and experience to share with his students and a deep appreciation for a once-in-a-lifetime professional development experience. The PC sabbatical, Lynch said, helped bookend his cancer experience. “Who gets to survive this in the first place, then who gets to go back and maybe help with a cure?” he asked.
Goal 2: Content
Goal 3: Teaching Promote excellence in teaching by supporting faculty to develop and advance their professional practice.
Goal 4: Time Goal 5: Space Goal 6: Financial Sustainability
Educating Students to Live Lives that Make a Difference A Strategic Vision for the Future of William Penn Charter School
That was in 1991.
Lynch, above left in a lab at Penn, talks about his personal story and his sabbatical in a 12-minute video at penncharter.com/lynch.
Contents Fall 2014
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Features
12 H ow Educators Are
Redefining Intelligence
Noncognitive skills — such as teamwork, resilience, ethics — lead to academic achievement and career success. Penn Charter educators are excited to find new ways to teach these 21st century competencies.
16 Fit for the Game,
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Fit for Life
A new Fitness Center opened this October in the
Graham Athletics Center, and the program has continued to expand.
26 In Our 325th Year
You are Penn Charter. We are Penn Charter. We are Penn Charter Proud!
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Departments Opening Comments
From the Head of School. ..................................................................................... 2 Around Campus
Campus Currents...................................................................................................... 3 Commencement 2014...........................................................................................6 PC Profiles: J. Presper Eckert Jr. OPC ’37, Roger Gordon OPC ’69, Kathleen Huber OPC ’04.................................8
PC/GA Day............................................................................................................... 20 Alumni
OPC Weekend 2014. ............................................................................................. 22 Work that PC Network........................................................................................ 32 Class Notes............................................................................................................... 35 On the Cover
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Our LuminOus 325th anniversary
Fireworks lit up the sky, delighting a huge crowd, during the celebration of PC’s 325th anniversary on Oct. 24. Read more on page 26. Photo: Michael Branscom
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Opening Comments
From the Head of School The Magazine of William Penn Charter School
“… our parents gave everyone they encountered the very same gifts they gave us, their children: love, care, respect, dignity and their full selves. These may be among the critical elements to ensure successful teaching and learning...” My brother, Malcolm, and I have been heartened and buoyed by the incredible support of the Penn Charter community this past month as we have celebrated the lives of both our father and mother and buried them each. To have lost both parents in such a short span of time is difficult. Yet, perhaps, these circumstances speak to their enduring commitment and love to each other and, after 59 years of marriage, their inability to be apart. Our presence with our parents during their final weeks provided opportunity to reflect on the many commonalities central to our family – not the least among these the importance of education and the power of a teacher. Our father Malcolm’s career in education was typical in that he started as a teacher, earning the respect of his students by going the extra mile – he tutored students in the basement of our house in West Philadelphia, for example, and utilized his talents as an athlete to make meaningful connections. When Malcolm and I were just boys, Dad did graduate work, earning both his master’s degree in educational leadership and his certification as a principal. He found his most meaningful work while serving first as a teacher and then principal of the Catto School, a last-chance high school for boys who were cast away from other schools. Our father also greatly enjoyed working with adults who trained to become teachers as a second career. While our mother, Edith, trained to be a high school English teacher and worked as an assistant teacher for three- and four-year-old children at a progressive school, her teaching primarily occurred at home. Mom made every experience one of learning. Whether baking brownie pies in the kitchen, riding our bicycle built for two, or eating our summer daily picnic lunch in the park (with other neighborhood children who joined us), each day was about experiencing the world around us. Common to both our dad’s and mom’s work as teachers are the critically important relationships they built with their pupils. Each student knew that our parents deeply loved and cared, that they valued them with respect and dignity, and that they gave freely of themselves. In short, our parents gave everyone they encountered the very same gifts they gave us, their children: love, care, respect, dignity and their full selves. These may be among the critical elements to ensure successful teaching and learning, and I believe they certainly are among the critical elements to ensure the elevation of the human condition. I thank our parents for these gifts given to their students and to their sons – both of us teachers – and I wish the same for all of our Penn Charter students and the students of the world.
Darryl J. Ford Head of School Stephanie Judson Associate Head of School Elizabeth A. Glascott Hon. 1689 Assistant Head of School Anne Marble Caramanico Hon. 1689 Clerk, Overseers John T. Rogers Hon. 1689 Chief Development Officer Margaux G. Pelegrin OPC ’99 Alumni Society President
Magazine Staff Sharon Sexton Editor Rebecca Luzi Assistant Editor Michael Branscom Feature Photography Proof Design Studios Design William Penn Charter School 3000 West School House Lane Philadelphia, PA 19144 215.844.3460
www.penncharter.com Penn Charter is the magazine of William Penn Charter School. It is published by the Marketing Communications Office and distributed to alumni, parents and friends of the school. In addition to providing alumni updates about classmates, reunions and events, the magazine focuses on the people, the programs and the ideas that energize our school community.
Follow Penn Charter at your favorite social media sites: Facebook facebook.com/penncharter Twitter @PennCharter youtube youtube.com/pennchartertube Instagram @PennCharter
arryl J. Ford D Head of School Please Recycle this Magazine
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Campus Currents Proof of Performance
Eco-Brainstorming
Penn Charter and Head of School Darryl J. Ford were honored this fall by Steppingstone Scholars for support of the nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students and families who are educationally underserved.
Penn Charter community members came together in September for a day of intense eco-brainstorming designed to advance the school’s desire to create an environmental sustainability plan.
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he all-day Penn Charter Environmental Sustainability Workshop challenged the diverse group to brainstorm the sustainabilityrelated goals outlined in the Strategic Vision, which calls for Penn Charter to create “a plan that fosters a culture of environmental stewardship and develops systems and processes to ensure all decisions are evaluated in light of their environmental effect, with consideration of affordable and sustainable alternatives.” Wynn Calder, a nationally recognized expert in education for sustainability within independent schools, and Jonathan Howe, PC’s coordinator of environmental stewardship and sustainability, designed the workshop to allow for both creative brainstorming and practical, targeted planning. Representatives from all three divisions – parents, students, administrators, Overseers and community partners – spent the day generating ideas and themes to answer this question: What should an environmentally sustainable Penn Charter look like in 5/10/50 years? “The event was a terrific success, measured not just in the quantity and quality of the ideas generated, but also in the connectivity of the attendees,” Howe said. “United by common interests in environmental issues, education and community-building, we developed a common language that will be helpful as we move forward into the next steps.” Those next steps, Howe said, are to finish the workshop report and then assemble the committees and meeting structure that will lead to an environmental sustainability plan for PC.
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he award was presented at a gala benefit at Philadelphia’s new Dilworth Park at City Hall, hosted by Brian Williams, anchor of NBC Nightly News. Steppingstone identifies students with academic potential and – through a program of academics, mentoring and support – prepares them for admission and academic success at the best public, non-public and independent college preparatory schools in Greater Philadelphia. Five Steppingstone scholars, including 11th grader Andy Nguyen, representing Penn Charter, took the stage to answer questions from Williams and to share their own connections to Steppingstone. There could be no better “proof of performance,” Williams said. Ford was an early supporter of Steppingstone, serves on its board of directors, and has made the PC Middle School available to Steppingstone for its summer academic program.
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Campus Currents
Boo! From the family of Noble Gases to the blizzard of iceblue Elsa princesses (she’s the heroine in the Disney hit Frozen), Penn Charter’s traditional Halloween parade was a hoot and a hit.
PennCharter.com Remade Penn Charter’s website has a fresh, contemporary new look and, more importantly, a state-of-the-art design that optimizes the viewing experience on mobile devices. The site’s new “responsive” design adapts to different screen widths and resolutions, making it possible to view all the site pages on smartphones and tablets with a minimum of resizing, panning and scrolling. Responsive design is a leap forward in the web design industry, and Penn Charter is fortunate to be among the first independent schools to take the leap. Visit the site on your smartphone: It’s amazing!
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Campus Currents
Breakfast of Champions
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PCs with students currently attending Penn Charter rallied in the Dining Hall for a delicious pre-PC/GA Day OPC Legacy Breakfast. The event, begun a few years ago, is popular with students and their OPC parents. This year Neil Tanner OPC ’89 delivered warm remarks on Penn Charter’s many traditions and legacies.
Playing Up Surrounded by family, friends and coaches in Gummere Library, six Penn Charter student athletes signed letters of intent in November to play their sport in college. John Thiel, director of athletics and athletic planning, congratulated the students and thanked their parents for their support of the student athletes and the Penn Charter program.
“We congratulate you and thank you for sharing this moment with us,” Thiel told the student athletes. They are: James Bradbeer, golf, Lafayette College
Welcome to 325!
Dillon Malandro, baseball, University of Connecticut
ead of School Darryl J. Ford welcomed the school community to Penn Charter’s 325th year at the opening assembly in September. He and senior class president Alex Veznedaroglu presented the 2015 OPC banner to the seniors. “Just as William Penn was hopeful about this colony and was hopeful about his school 325 years ago,” Ford said, “I am hopeful now because you, in this Quaker school, are being educated to live lives that make a difference.”
Christian Teuber, lacrosse, Georgetown University
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Avery Shoemaker, lacrosse, University of Virginia Gabriel Smith, baseball, LaSalle University Robert Keehfuss, lacrosse, United States Naval Academy
More photos of Campus Currents at flickr.com/penncharter/sets.
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commencement 2014 “ … as individual students, you have distinguished yourselves as scholars. More than other classes in recent history, you have availed yourselves of independent studies and electives, pursuing your passions. This pursuit of passions has led you to a more diverse college list, a list that, of course, includes the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale – and also the University of Utah, the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Georgia Institute
of Technology. One of you even will pursue your love of baseball next year before heading off to college in 2015. This shows the breadth of your interests. “While I cite these examples of your individual talents and contributions to Penn Charter, I am most proud of how your overall sense of community is more important for the Class of 2014 than your individual achievements.” – Head of School Darryl J. Ford
“Entering a new school was difficult for me. … I kept to myself and to my very tight circle of friends. All of this changed toward the end of my sophomore year. On May 24, 2012, my mom tragically passed away. To my surprise, that was the first time I
truly understood the power of the Penn Charter community. The moment I found out of my mom’s passing, school is the only place I wanted to be.” Following the Penn Charter tradition, Commencement speakers Stephanie Soroka (top, left) and Colin McCloskey (bottom, right) were chosen by the faculty from a list of candidates advanced by the senior class.
“Penn Charter is not the place that you graduate from and say, ‘Well that was fun…’ or ‘See you NEVER, Class of 2014!’ Some of these
people sitting beside you may be people you are going to know for the rest of your life… And they’re going to have your back for the rest of your life.
This is your family.”
Commencement speaker Colin McCloskey also received the Alumni Senior Award, given to “a member of the senior class who, on qualifications of scholarship, character, leadership, and athletic ability, exemplifies the best Penn Charter type.”
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Senior Class President Lauren Matt spoke on behalf of the class and announced the Senior Parent Gift.
Leigh Steinberg received the Phi Beta Kappa Award, presented to the student outstanding in scholarship in the graduating class.
Retiring teachers Harvey Rentschler Hon. 1689, Jean Taraborelli, and Robert Gordon Hon. 1689 walked in the faculty procession – one last time.
Twelve senior families led by Senior Parent Gift chairs Andy Kramer, Meg Kramer, and Jill and Sid Steinberg (shown here at graduation with daughters Hannah Kramer OPC ’14 and Leigh Steinberg OPC ’14, and Head of School Darryl J. Ford) raised a record-breaking $166,049. The gift surpassed the previous record of $139,000, set by the Class of 2012 parents; gifts from 94 families ranged from $20 to $25,000.
college choices An end-of-year survey by the Penn Charter College Counseling Office showed that 99 percent of students in the class are attending one of their top-choice colleges. Fifty-one percent were admitted to a “Most Competitive College” according to Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges. Barnard College (2) Boston University Bucknell University Chestnut Hill College (2) Colgate University (2) Columbia University Cornell University Dartmouth College Denison University Dickinson College Drexel University (3) Duquesne University Elon University Emerson College Emory University Fairfield University Fashion Institute of Technology Fordham University (2)
Franklin & Marshall College (3) George Washington University (2) Georgetown University Georgia Institute of Technology Hamilton College High Point University Hobart & William Smith Colleges Indiana University (2) Ithaca College Johns Hopkins University (2) Kenyon College La Salle University Lafayette College (3) Lehigh University (4) LIM College Morehouse College New York University North Carolina A&T State University
Oberlin College Pennsylvania State University (5) Pomona College Princeton University Robert Morris University Saint Joseph’s University St. John’s University Stanford University Syracuse University (3) Temple University (2) Tufts University Tulane University University of Delaware (2) University of Maryland University of Miami (2) University of Michigan University of North Carolina University of Pennsylvania (8)
University of Pittsburgh (2) University of Richmond University of Rochester University of Southern California University of Tampa (2) University of Utah University of Wisconsin Ursinus College (3) Vanderbilt University (2) Wagner College West Chester University (2) Widener University Yale University Other (2) Post Graduate Year (2)
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PC P RO F ILE S
The Wizard Electrician J. Presper Eckert Jr. OPC ’37 At Penn Charter, J. Presper Eckert Jr. was known by many as Pres and recognized by nearly all as “the wizard electrician.” The tag was both apt and prophetic. Within five years of graduating from Penn Charter, Eckert became one of the wizards behind the creation of the world’s first electronic general-purpose computer, better known as ENIAC. In his new book The Innovators, Walter Isaacson recognizes Eckert as one of “a group of hackers, geniuses and geeks” who created the modern computer and digital age. At the time he got involved in the ENIAC project, Eckert was only 22 and a graduate student in electrical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. But, he soon became chief engineer of the top-secret project, building a behemoth of a machine that filled a whole floor at Penn’s Moore School of Engineering. ENIAC was 100-feet long and eight-feet high, weighed close to 30 tons and had 17,468 vacuum tubes. When fully operational in 1945, it could perform 5,000 additions and subtractions in one second.
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Other “computers” pre-dated ENIAC, but as Isaacson notes, it was the first fully electronic computer that could be programmed to do different tasks. It is the true predecessor of the computers we use today. Like all innovations, ENIAC involved collaboration. Eckert’s principal partner was John Mauchly, a physicist – first at Ursinus College and later at Penn – who developed the theoretical basis of ENIAC. Isaacson writes that the two men got along well, with Mauchly’s dreamy, affable ways a perfect counterpart to Eckert’s intensity. Eckert did have his quirks. As Isaacson notes, Eckert was “filled with nervous energy, he would pace the room, bite his nails, leap around and occasionally stand atop a desk
when he was thinking.” He was so wrapped up in his work, at night he would sleep on a cot next to the machine. The only child of a wealthy real estate developer, Pres was driven from his home in Germantown to Penn Charter by the family chauffeur, Isaacson writes. The school archives show his first year at PC was 1927 and that, by his graduation in 1937, he was firmly established as an engineering whiz. The Class Record for 1937 notes that his ambition was “to be like Edison.” His destiny, the editors predicted, was “to be greater than Edison.” When it came to electronics, Eckert was a prodigy. At age 12, he won a citywide science fair by building a guidance system for model boats using magnets and rheostats. At 14, he found a way to use household electrical current to operate the intercom system at one of his father’s apartment buildings, eliminating the need for bulky and unreliable batteries. In high school, Eckert dazzled his classmates with his inventions, but also made money selling them
Eckert, a member of the Blue team, was a member of the Instrumental, Dramatic, Glee and Camera clubs and, shown here in the 1937 yearbook (seated, second from left), the Science Club.
PC P RO F ILE S radios, speaker systems and amplifiers he made. The yearbook notes that at the Annual Entertainment, a grand event held in Center City and attended by hundreds of people with no connection to Penn Charter, Eckert “presented three interesting and instructive experiments. These were: Electro-Magnetism, Talking Over a Light Beam, and Cataphoresis.” Upon graduating from Penn Charter, he was accepted at MIT. His parents, unwilling to let him go, pretended to have suffered financial setbacks in the Depression and urged him to attend Penn instead, and live at home. Eckert dutifully enrolled at Penn but refused his family’s wish for him to be a business major. He majored instead in electrical engineering. He met Mauchly when he worked as the older man’s graduate assistant.
ENIAC (the initials stand for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was a war-time project financed by the Army Ordinance Department, which was tasked with coming up with booklets of firing-angle settings for artillery. To be accurate, the guns required tables that factored in such conditions as temperature, humidity, wind speeds and altitude. A unit at MIT, using a machine called Differential Analysers (think of a complicated mechanical adding machine), was doing the calculations. But the work was going slowly, despite the fact that the unit had 170 people – who were known as “computers” – to input the data the machine needed to do the equations. The Army wanted a faster machine, and Mauchly and Eckert delivered,
though not until 1945, just as World War II was ending. Following the war, after a dispute with Penn over the patents for ENIAC, the two men left and created their own company, which went on to produce the advanced UNIVAC computer. Later, they sold their firm to the Remington Rand Corp. (which became the company we know today as Unisys) and Eckert spent the rest of his career there. He died in 1995 at his home in Bryn Mawr. He was 76. In 1991, the Penn Charter Alumni Society honored Eckert with the Alumni Award of Merit, given “to a graduate of the William Penn Charter School whose character and outstanding achievement have reflected lasting credit upon this old school.” PC
Courting the Possibilities: Basketball to Common Pleas Roger Gordon OPC ’69 By Aaron Carter OPC ’98 Daily News Staff Writer
Color mattered when Roger Gordon attended Penn Charter in the 1950s and ’60s. And as a high school athlete, the young man who grew up in North Philadelphia was reminded nearly every day. He enrolled at PC in 1956 and may have been the first African-American student to matriculate straight through (kindergarten to grade 12) when he graduated in 1969 and headed for Princeton. Along the way, he developed an unshakable passion for sports that eventually blossomed into a 48-year career coaching various sports. Seated in front of a scrapbook inside the
Elmwood Park Boys & Girls Club in Southwest Philadelphia, Gordon, 62, reminisced on his youth when significance was placed not on his hue, but on his school colors. “Those were good days,” he said, smiling. “Penn Charter only saw two colors – blue and gold.” According to TedSilary.com, Gordon, a 6’ 4” forward, became the school’s first black basketball player to earn first team All-InterAc honors when he was selected by league coaches in 1968 after averaging 15.9 points. He repeated the feat in 1969 (13.6), when PC shared the championship with rivals
Reprinted with permission of the Philadelphia Daily News.
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PC P RO F ILE S Basketball to Common Pleas (continued)
Germantown Academy and Haverford School. Although a life that straddled class and culture felt solitary at times, the meritocracy of competitive sport and the desire to beat rivals built bridges between Gordon and those at the school. “Hey, Rog, you guys gonna beat GA?” was a frequent refrain Gordon heard from parents, students and teachers. “So you had to act right because they thought you were something special . . . It made you straighten up because young kids were looking up to us.” “I thought he was one of the best leaders that I ever played with,” said former teammate Ed Enoch OPC ’72, now Lansdale Catholic’s basketball coach. “Kids just gravitated toward Roger because his leadership was tremendous.” Enoch, also a two-time first-teamer (1970, 1972), played basketball and baseball with Gordon as a freshman and later became an Ivy League rival at Penn. “The only bad thing that happened to Roger was that he went to Princeton,” Enoch joked. “To this day when we see each other we still beat each other up about that.” “Being a jock was so different,” Gordon said. “Your team becomes your family. If it was isolating in some ways, the team was comfort. We were one big family.” At times, Gordon’s proper speech and attire drew criticism when he returned to his neighborhood after school, but even then the promise of his athletic ability still trumped all. “The guys watched out for me,” he said. “And if anything happened on the playground, they’d say, ‘Hey, Rog, we’re gonna have a fight later on. You don’t need to be up here.’ So they watched out for me; guys that didn’t even know me.” As far as treatment at opposing schools, Gordon smiled and said he couldn’t recall any racially-motivated incidents. “They had a hard enough time trying to beat us because we had some good teams,” he laughed. “They couldn’t worry about, ‘Hey who is this black guy?’”
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He eventually parlayed that success into a Princeton career where he joked that playing behind NBA-draftees Brian Taylor (Seattle SuperSonics, 1972), Ted Manakas (Atlanta Hawks, 1973) and Reggie Bird (Atlanta Hawks, 1972) afforded him, “the best seat on the bench – right next to the coach [Pete Carril].” Later, Gordon served as an assistant under Carril and is still a vice president with the Friends of Princeton Basketball group. After graduating law school at Seton Hall, in 1977, he practiced various forms of law, including more than a decade as a trial attorney. He was also twice appointed as a common pleas judge in Philadelphia, where he presided until 2013. However, the opportunity for a better life provided by his parents, Roger Sr., once a social worker in the city’s welfare department, and mother, Herschell, who taught in public schools for 39 years, was never lost on Gordon. After a stint playing minor league baseball, he began coaching the sport in the ’70s and is still a contributor in the Phillies Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) program. In fact, the still-active baseball stadium at Elmwood Park was named in his honor in 2007. “For me, it went a long way that people tried to help me, and a lot of people came out of nowhere to help me,” he said of
early coaches from Pleasant Playground in Germantown. “I’ve helped guys over the years that maybe didn’t ‘belong’ in any type of college,” he said, “but they got through; they did it and are raising families, and that is good to see.” Penn Charter senior Demetrius “Meech” Isaac played basketball and baseball for PC. He has never met Gordon, but Isaac did grow up playing baseball in RBI leagues near his home in South Philly (around 22nd and Oakford). And after earning second team All-Inter-Ac accolades this past basketball season, Gordon’s pioneering achievement isn’t lost on Isaac. “Definitely have the utmost respect because without him I wouldn’t have . . . maybe not been able to,” he said, “but it could have been more difficult for me to win an All-Inter-Ac title.” The point guard and second baseman matriculated to Chestnut Hill College this fall, where he’ll play both sports. However, he does have a clear vision for black students that follow him as he’s followed others. “I just hope that when I come back to Penn Charter that I see African-Americans playing hard and never satisfied with where they are . . . even in the classroom. Their grades could be great, but don’t be satisfied with where you are and always strive for better.” PC
Inter-Ac Champs! Behind great pitching and defense the baseball team clinched a share of the Inter-Ac Championship last spring with a 2-1 victory over Episcopal Academy; we share the championship with Malvern Prep. Congratulations to first-year head coach David Miller, his coaching staff and the players! Miller is shown here on OPC Weekend with a loyal fan of PC baseball, David P. Montgomery OPC ’64, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Phillies. Read more about OPC Weekend on pages 22-25.
PC P RO F ILE S
How Penn Charter Is Like Facebook Kathleen Huber OPC ’04 By Jennifer Raphael
It’s very fitting for Kathleen Huber, who works for the biggest social networking organization in the world, to say that the most memorable experience from her years at Penn Charter was the practice and understanding of community. “At Meeting for Worship, for an hour a week we would all be together in the same space. It’s great to have that opportunity to reset as an individual and think about events that affect us all,” she said. “That’s an opportunity not many people have in high school, let alone in life.” Huber currently works for Facebook in user operations, which she describes as “a motley crew of teams” who manage everything from site integrity to user safety. Huber works on the intellectual property team, handling reports of infringement on Facebook and Instagram. Huber has been working for Facebook since she graduated from Harvard University, where as a student she witnessed Facebook’s infancy and growth. “Facebook was always a core part of my college experience. Even before I got to campus people were sending friend requests,” she said.
“But Facebook as a career possibility wasn’t always in mind.” Huber chose psychology as her academic focus. “I was interested in how people connect, how we communicate, what makes us tick,” she recalled. She wrote her sophomore paper on how social media is altering the way people communicate. One of Huber’s friends and fellow Harvard swim team members went to work for Facebook and remembered Huber’s paper. She urged Huber to come take a look at Facebook, specifically user operations. Huber applied for an internship in the summer of 2007, right before her senior year at Harvard. “It was an awesome experience and an exciting time for Facebook, especially in user operations because it was the year they went global. It was a realization of Facebook’s mission, which is to make the world more open and connected,” she said. At the end of the summer, she received a formal job offer and went back to Harvard knowing she would have a fantastic job waiting for her when she graduated. Once she started working there, she noticed more than a few ways Facebook and Penn Charter are alike. “Facebook has an internal mantra. ‘This journey is 1 percent finished.’ Penn Charter is similar. It was constant learning, constant thinking outside the box,” she said. “And then, there’s community. I consider my coworkers my friends, and there is a working community here at Facebook that is very similar to PC.” Despite being so far away, Huber stays connected to the PC community and her East Coast friends and family through Facebook, of course. “PC emphasized living a well-rounded life, to challenge yourself and to participate in
the extracurricular. I was interested in arts but I was also a three-season athlete,” said Huber, who played soccer, water polo, swimming and lacrosse while at PC. “I was in the art room, the library, the Writing Center and on the field and in the pool. PC allowed me to be true to all my interests. That was tremendous. I believe I still maintain those values and exhibit that kind of behavior around my friends and coworkers today.” PC
COMING SOON
Downtown at Distrito Join us for the Penn Charter Downtown Reception and a special tasting menu created by Chef Jose Garces.
Thursday, January 29, 2015 6:00 p.m. Cocktail Reception 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Tasting menu and presentation by Chef Garces $75 per person ($50 for OPCs ’04-’14) Watch for your invitation!
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Strategic Vision
How Educators Are Redefining
Intelligence Noncognitive skills — such as teamwork, resilience, ethics — lead to academic achievement and career success. Penn Charter educators are excited to find new ways to teach these 21st century competencies.
readiness – and indeed overall happiness in life. There’s even a label for them: 21st century competencies. Along with Penn Charter, 70 independent schools across the country and a total of about 17,000 students have participated in the Mission Skills Assessment (MSA), marking the start of an ambitious effort to measure these skills over time and also to promote these skill sets in each school. For Penn Charter, the testing was part of a thought-provoking and ongoing conversation among faculty about the nature of intelligence. The discussion continues and centers on these questions: How to effectively teach noncognitive skills in our pre-K to 12 school? And how to fold the teaching of noncognitive skills into a curriculum that is already jam-packed with instruction in math, science, language arts and the humanities?
by Connie Langland
Last fall, Penn Charter Middle School students took a most unusual assessment, one that was a little bit fun, a little bit challenging, a little bit thought-provoking. One task called on the students to create from one long word as many small words as possible. This one-minute challenge was timed, and students were observed as they worked. Did the child work at the task for the entire minute, or did the child decide five words would suffice and end the effort after just 30 seconds?
Students also were asked to self-report: How much do they like to collaborate? How well do they manage their time? Advisers were asked to contribute their own evaluation of each child in terms of the six traits being assessed: teamwork, creativity, ethics, resilience, curiosity and time management. In education circles, these are known as noncognitive skills. Such so-called soft skills, along with academic achievement, are widely viewed as critical components of college and career
What was clear from the outset of this enterprise is that teamwork, creativity – indeed all of the attributes – can be found in abundance across the PC campus. There are shared empathetic moments in morning meeting, and creativity on display in art-filled hallways, and the kind of teamwork that wins kudos on the playing fields, in concerts and plays, and in many visual arts projects. Researchers talk about the nurturing of noncognitive skills as being tantamount to a redefinition of intelligence. That may be the case, given the growing recognition of the importance of emotional intelligence, or EQ, in the workplace and to general success in life.
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How Educators Are Redefining Intelligence (continued) To a degree, what’s long been tried and true in terms of good instruction is new again, according to Assistant Head of School Beth Glascott, a longtime science educator. “Is this really so innovative?” she asked. “Teaching noncognitive skills – to me, that is questioning, that is problem solving, that is trying something over and over to be successful. We do that. ” For Glascott, the task at hand is to proceed “with intentionality” to plan out how to weave the explicit teaching of these skills and habits into the curriculum, starting with the Middle School. “We need to identify what is being done and where it’s being done.” She said she has seen “a lot of natural connections” relevant to this undertaking among teachers and departments but now is the time to proceed in a more formal way. The goal is to take stock, share best practices, learn from other schools and begin to incorporate this skill-building into curriculum maps. Ed Zubrow, a Penn Charter Overseer and clerk of the education committee, echoes the view that this pursuit counts “as something
that has been part of our mission from the beginning.” Zubrow said he sees evidence of the teaching of noncognitive skills all around the school – the Foundation Arts course for ninth graders, service learning opportunities and the many lessons learned in playing sports. The findings gleaned from the Middle School assessments, he said, will help the staff look “in an empirical way” at the school’s relative strengths as PC educators consider how these skills might be cultivated as students progress through the grades. “My bottom line is that cognitive learning is absolutely necessary to a Penn Charter education, but it is not sufficient,” Zubrow said. This newfound focus springs from the new Strategic Vision to do more to prepare students to thrive in the 21st century. It also fits neatly with Glascott’s experience teaching ninth grade biology. “With every great discovery, publishers would put another chapter on the end of the book. No way could I start at chapter one and get to chapter 955 by the end of the year. It was always about synthesizing, picking, choosing what was important,” she recalled.
Researchers talk about the nurturing of noncognitive skills as being tantamount to a redefinition of intelligence.
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The goal is to strike a balance between teaching content and nurturing such skills as critical thinking, curiosity and resilience. What has gotten teachers excited is a more thorough understanding that these “noncog skills” can be taught. Recent research shows that teachers can foster skills and habits through direct instruction – actually discussing what it means to be persistent, for instance – or through projects, peer discussions and other activities. “There was that sense in education that kids were kind of hardwired to give up, or hardwired to be tenacious … or to be creative,” Glascott said. That view has been upended by research and workshops showing teachers there are ways to develop these competencies. Take the skill of time management, for instance. The topic is akin to a golden oldie, something parents, teachers, advisers (and eventually employers) raise time and again, especially in the era of mobile phones. “This would be the perfect topic to unpack in advisory over time,” Glascott said. Is the phone on as the student is tackling homework? Is iChat up and running and a constant distraction? Why not leave the phone in another room?” Glascott and religious studies chair Tom Rickards queried students in the Bioethics course they co-taught about bedtime habits and learned three-quarters of the class slept
with their phones on or near the bed. “No wonder they’re tired. They think they’re sleeping but they’re not sleeping … when an email pops up at 3 in the morning and they can hear it,” Glascott said. In the Philadelphia area, Penn Charter is among the many schools exploring the research of Angela Duckworth, who won a MacArthur Fellowship for her work examining two traits – grit and self-control – that she holds predict success in life, even more so than standardized tests. More recently she has conducted research showing that children can learn ways to internalize self-control. Another researcher, Carol Dweck, of Stanford University, works to show children that they can change their mind-set, that intelligence is not fixed but something they can develop. Among other tactics, she uses testimonials from other young people to show what can be accomplished with time, effort and a good attitude. Is there room to fold these intentions into crowded school days? It’s possible with planning and training, said PC Middle School learning support specialist Heather Larrabee, who attended a recent workshop to learn from independent schools engaged in curriculum redesign. “What was intriguing was how the teachers fully embraced the concept of teaching noncognitive skills. They’ve adjusted their schedules to make time for it,” Larrabee said. “That was the biggest takeaway.” That view is echoed by Heather Hoerle, executive director of the Secondary School Admission Test Board, who has visited Penn Charter to promote the role of noncognitive skills instruction and assessment in schools. Educators “absolutely relate to this approach. They say this is why they had become teachers in the first place,” Hoerle said. “It’s the view that we want to teach to the whole child, to give them practical experiences to build on their empathy, their creativity.” For teachers, she said, “it has been a wonderful renewal to reach out in a community committed to this and to learn from each other.”
And she noted: “In Quaker schools, this has been a long-standing tradition. They have this down beautifully – building the heart and the mind. This is where Quaker schools have come out on top and other independent schools have been catching up along the way.” For instance, Penn Charter is a member of INDEX, the Independent School Data Exchange, which worked with the Education Testing Service to develop the MSA that Penn Charter used for the first time last year. According to INDEX, the assessment helps each school measure its curriculum’s success in meeting goals related to the noncognitive skill set. The data shows the broad picture: individual students are not identified. The first year’s results showed Penn Charter students scoring relatively high (compared with other independent schools using the assessment) on the trait of resilience, for instance. According to the INDEX website, the MSA “is proving just as good if not a better
predictor of academic outcomes, student quality and student well-being than other standardized tests.” But the very act of measuring students’ soft skills has an impact on instruction, according to a 2013 comprehensive RAND Corp. report titled “Measuring 21st Century Competencies – Guidance for Educators.” The report said that having the data in hand helped educators foster selected competencies; they were clearer about what skills to focus on. For Glascott, the effort is about improving the lives of children as they grow into adulthood. “I believe that for the kids who are going to be the most successful adults, and I define ‘successful’ very broadly – happy and competent and kind – I think these skills are very important to that,” she said. “We’re being thoughtful about this work, and we’re seeking ways to enhance these attributes in children.” PC
Can you identify the images? The illustrations on pages 13-15, from Mission Skills Assessment (MSA), represent six noncognitive skills identified by MSA: teamwork, creativity, ethics, resilience, curiosity and time management.
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FIT for
the game,
FIT for Life by Ed Morrone OPC ’04
To hear John Estok tell it, student athletes at the high school level are already Ferraris on the showroom floor. As Penn Charter’s fulltime strength and conditioning coach, that makes his task easy. “We’re just putting spinners on them,” he said. Estok came on board full-time in January 2013 when Penn Charter decided to invest
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in a strength and conditioning program. He quickly led the program to such popularity that it outgrew its old space in Dooney Field House. Even before the move and the influx of new equipment, Estok’s results have been outstanding – just ask the coaches, administrators and any of the Upper School’s athletes. “Coach Estok has provided a culture
change,” Jelani Buie, a senior football player, said. “He’s opened a lot of eyes. The changes I’ve made since freshman year are huge, and they coincide with him being here. I think I can speak for everybody when I say he’s made us believe we can conquer any task.” “John’s brought so much energy,” echoed head football coach Tom Coyle. “And it’s not just about winning a few more games; John
is all about weight training. Lifting weights is just a small component of the total program, which also includes movement, flexibility, cardiovascular, nutrition and wellness. Being able to squat 500 pounds isn’t for everyone, and it shouldn’t be any student’s singular focus. “We need to expose them to other things,” Estok said. “Not into lifting weights? You can try aerobics, yoga, modified CrossFit, Zumba or kickboxing. In here, you’re only limited by your own imagination.” Estok and PC Athletics have worked to provide individualized attention to athletes while simultaneously building a team-first
John Estok came to PC to help build a stronger strength and conditioning program.
has offered them life lessons to prepare the kids for their time beyond Penn Charter. It’s a neat thing, and it works hand-in-hand with what this school is all about.” Or, as Director of Athletics and Athletic Planning John Thiel succinctly put it, “We thought there would be a connection with the kids when we hired him. We got it.” Estok, 24, is wise beyond his years in his field of expertise. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2012 with a bachelor’s in health and physical activity, with a concentration in exercise science, and completed his master’s in exercise science at California University of Pennsylvania. Estok interned in the athletic department at the University of Maryland and has also worked with athletes at Villanova University. But the high school level is where his true passion lies. “Coming here was a no-brainer,” Estok said. “With a sport requirement, every kid – each boy and girl – is exposed to athletics in some capacity. This is where my passion is. I’m here to be that extra voice for the kids who need it, to provide structure and guidance at the crucial ages of 13 to 18.” A common misconception Estok is helping to disprove through PC’s new strength and conditioning program is that physical fitness
atmosphere. Estok works with most of PC’s varsity programs as a team, and also assists individual players in establishing specific goals. The center opens for faculty at 6:00 a.m.; Estok usually works with a team in the morning between 6:45 to 7:45 a.m. and after school from 2:30 to 6:00 p.m.; Upper School physical education classes use the facility during school hours. Even if Estok is working with a team at the time, individual students pop in to use the room. The Fitness Center is open year-round, Monday–Saturday, save for winter break and a two-week “dead period” in August. Going forward, Estok said interest in the initiative
“Not into lifting weights? You can try aerobics, yoga, modified CrossFit, Zumba or kickboxing.
In here, you’re only limited by your own imagination.”
– John Estok, strength and conditioning coach
In Honor of Blaine
In a fitting tribute to a passionate and determined scholar-athlete, the new Fitness Center will be named in honor of Blaine A. Steinberg OPC ’11. Blaine, who passed away of a heart attack last spring while a junior at Dartmouth College, was a four-time All Inter-Ac soccer and three-time All Inter-Ac lacrosse player at Penn Charter. During her time at PC, she spent many hours in the weight room of the Raymond Dooney Field House. “While Blaine made the most of her experience in that space, she also spent a lot of time talking about how it could be improved to reflect the excellence that is Penn Charter,” her parents, Jill and Sid Steinberg, wrote in a letter to friends. The Steinbergs have stepped forward as the lead donors to the new Fitness Center. In the spirit of Quaker tradition and to reflect the community connections that Blaine so loved, they have invited friends and family to join them in a fund-raising effort to support the renovation and new equipment. To learn more about this effort, contact PC’s Director of Major Gifts Stephanie W. Ball at sball@penncharter.com.
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has been so strong that he’s considering opening up the room as early as 6:30 a.m. Thiel is interested in getting individual students and even Middle School students involved in fitness, which he recognizes as a permanent life skill. “It’s not just for the jocks or the boys … it’s for everyone,” Thiel said. “It’s about emerging a healthier, stronger individual. John takes boys and girls and develops them into young men and women who are ready to go out and strive.” At the outset, Estok would be working with four to six kids at a time; now, it is common for 100 students to be training at one time, one of the main reasons the Fitness Center reopened in The Pit, a bigger space under the Graham Center basketball court that was previously used by the wrestling program. PC wrestling moved “back home” to its original, albeit refurbished, space in the Old Gym. PC’s significant investment in the program includes, in addition to staffing and space, some top-flight equipment: Iron Grip dumbbells from five to 100 pounds, customdesigned Hammer Strength power racks,
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five Glute Hamstring Developers, Pit Shark Belt Squat machine, three ellipticals, two Life Fitness treadmills, Innovative Jacobs Ladder, three Life Fitness upright bikes, eight Concept 2 rowers, new Olympic barbells and customized bumper plates for lifting. PC will add more equipment over time to accommodate more students and faculty. Estok pays attention not only to the
equipment but the environment: it should be positive and inclusive. The weight room used to be a space dominated by football players; now, it features male and female athletes from all sports, showcasing that any divide between the sexes has been bridged. “When we were in there, John was just equally as invested in us as the boys,” Leigh Steinberg OPC ’14, a three-sport standout, said. “I really appreciated that. He didn’t treat us lesser because we were girls. He made us feel like legitimate athletes, not throwaways. He focuses his efforts on all teams.” More importantly, the success of the program is showing how imperative strength and conditioning is for high school studentathletes. “Having access to a well-trained expert with a good foundation in the science of athletic performance and nutrition can be helpful in guiding adolescents toward making good choices,” said Michele LaBotz, a sports medicine physician at InterMed in Portland, Maine. “Establishing physical literacy is a component not only for optimal sports performance, but also a means for minimizing sports injury risk and establishing a pattern of healthy physical activity that can serve as foundation for lifestyle choices into adulthood. The right person in the right place can make all the difference.” And if students want to play a sport at the next level, they would be wise to listen to Estok’s tutelage. “Having a strength coach at the high
school level makes my job easier,” said Drew Wilson, director of strength and conditioning at the University of Maryland, whom Estok studied under and called his mentor. “What John is doing is teaching kids about their bodies as they change, a crucial time in mastering development in areas such as lifting, running, mobility, nutrition and recovery.” “Once you learn the correct way to elevate your game, you carry it with you the rest of your life,” said Darci Borski, PC associate athletic director and head coach of girls soccer. “It’s about giving them tools to
succeed both now and when they leave PC. The sky’s the limit.” At Penn Charter, excellence is preached across the board, from athletics to academics to the arts. The reborn fitness program serves as the foundation of a healthier, happier lifestyle, and it’s available to anyone who walks through the door. “I want to make sure everyone has an opportunity to get in here,” Estok said. “We want this program to be the best – not the best in high school or college athletics, just the best. If the students here want to commit themselves to something, they have to put
their minds to it. It’s not any different than being in class or a club … same expectations, same responsibility. “I want them to leave here with great memories and a great foundation of pride, work ethic and camaraderie. “It can make you more successful as a student, in the work force and just overall as a person. That’s what we want them taking from this. It’s not about making someone better athletically … it’s to make them better, period. If you can do it in this setting, you can do it anywhere.” PC
Strength and conditioning is “not just for the jocks or the boys … it’s for everyone. It’s
about emerging a healthier, stronger individual.”
– John Thiel, director of athletics and athletics planning
Dooney Gets a Makeover Wow! Just in time for the first basketball practices of the season, Dooney Field House reopened with a gleaming wood floor and enough bleacher seating for the entire school. Behind the scenes, the makeover created visiting-team rooms, a classroom space for team sessions, and a lounge space adjacent to new offices for the PC Athletics administrative team. And summer staffers and campers take note: a new HVAC system – air conditioning!
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128th Penn Charter clinched two Inter-Ac titles – one in boys water polo, and the other in girls soccer – and narrowly missed out on the PC/GA Competition Cup, which went to GA this year with a final tally of 5-4-1. PC won golf and girls tennis, and tied in boys soccer. The 128th football game, the historic rivalry that caps the day, finished with a 40-29 victory for GA. MVP honors went to Isabel Hirshberg and Emily Barkann for tennis; Adison Cripe for boys soccer (the PC Rumpp Award); Jlon Flippens for girls soccer; and Peter O’Malley for boys water polo.
Girls soccer pulled out a tight game – the winning goal came with 30 seconds left on the clock – to win 3-2. The team took the league title last year, so they are back-to-back champs. A week later, girls soccer captured its second consecutive PAISSA Championship, again defeating Germantown Academy, this time 3-1. Two-time state champs!
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The boys water polo team captured its fourth Inter-Ac title in a row, with a 16-13 win over GA. Just the weekend before, the team won – for the second time in Penn Charter history (2001) – the Easterns Tournament Championship, which brought together the best teams in the mid-Atlantic.
Golf is one of the 10 contests for PC/GA Day, but the match occurs on the days leading up to the Saturday games. In addition to the team win for PC/GA Day, two Penn Charter golfers won Inter-Ac golf titles. Senior J.B. Bradbeer had the best individual regular-season record in the Inter-Ac. Over the six Inter-Ac matches, Bradbeer had a nine-hole scoring average of 37. He won the last regularseason Inter-Ac tournament at Merion West by shooting a 1-under par 34. Freshman Brian Isztwan won the Bert Linton Inter-Ac Championship, which features the best golfers in the Inter-Ac. He shot a 76 at Philadelphia Cricket’s Militia Hill course on a wet and windy day.
Spirit Week, the run-up to PC/GA Day, included fashionable Tourist Tuesday and Throwback Thursday costumes and whipped up school spirit in the entire Upper School. The culminating PC/GA Day pep rally got students primed for the big day with hot dog and pie eating contests, “silent operas,” spirit faces, a balloon basket relay, a pie-in-face contest (Director of Upper School Travis Larrabee “won” that one), and a faculty flash mob that no one saw coming!
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OPC
weekend 2014 Vibrant cherry blossoms outside the Meeting Room windows. From the tower, the bell tolling the hour. The Quakers Dozen singing the alma mater. Close your eyes, and it could have been 1964, or 1954, even 1944. “Much remains the same,” Head of School Darryl J. Ford assured guests at Old Penn Charter Weekend, “yet this is a school on the move.” The 122nd annual gathering of graduates of William Penn Charter School brought back to campus some of the school’s most senior OPCs, including three from 1939, and some of the youngest, including a group from 2009 who enjoyed matching wits with Travis Larrabee, director of Upper School. The goal was to renew cherished friendships, recall old memories and rejoice in our shared history.
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honorary 1689 Jonathan H. Sprogell OPC ’70 accepted the Honarary 1689 degree awarded posthumously to his mother, Barbara S. Sprogell-Jacobson. Head of School Darryl J. Ford presented the award, and Director of Financial Aid and Archives Allan Brown Hon. 1689 eloquently recalled his friend: “Barbara Sprogell-Jacobson was one of those people who really did make a difference at Penn Charter.” Brown recognized her commitment to Quaker values and to people. “She knew how important people were to her, and how important they were to the school.”
Overseer and former PC parent Anne Marble Caramanico received an Honorary 1689 degree in recognition of her service to the school. An overseer since 2004 and clerk since 2009, Caramanico oversaw the board’s role in the development of the new Strategic Vision.
“Why I Give to Penn Charter.” Duncan M. McFarland OPC ’61 spoke of his commitment to the Penn Charter mission, the exciting goals of the new Strategic Vision, and the future of the school. McFarland and his wife, Ellen, this year made a $4 million gift to PC. He encouraged the reunion audience to join with them in making PC a priority. “You’ve got to give back to the people and places that made you.”
Margaux Genovese Pelegrin OPC ’99 was introduced as the incoming president of the Alumni Society.
Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Penn Charter! Susan Davis finished her service as cochair of the Parent Community, and J. Peter Davis OPC ’74 finished his term as president of the Alumni Society.
From
Dr. Ford’s Inbox “I want to compliment and thank you for a wonderful weekend during which I was able to get reacquainted with not only my classmates from 1974 on Saturday night, but also see various others at the Alumni Reception on Friday. As for my compliments, you are demonstrating real vision for our school. The transition to coeducation, which occurred after my time, now seems so natural. And the engaging curricular changes, including the use of technology and hands-on learning, engage students in new ways we never dreamed of during our era (although Reid Bush may have started that trend).
OPC ’09 was well represented: James H. Grace, Jordan Studevan, Ryan W. Broderick, Justin Renfrow, Curtis R. Jones Jr. and Jeffrey Naids.
“I want you to know that when I look at where I am 40 years out of PC and reflect on what still matters, I am thankful for the ability to think critically and the values embedded by my Quaker education, namely, that developing and being guided by core values, whatever they may be, is what actually matters; the close and dependable family I had; and the influence of music, Quakers Dozen, and athletics at PC … have remained central in my life and the way I raise my children. I don’t suppose any of us could ask more of our school than that. Keep up your important and good work! – Stephen G. Rhoads OPC ’74
Chelsea K. Erdmanis OPC ’02, Annie Rosen, Katharine Hill OPC ’05, Andrew J. Layne OPC ’05.
Father and son: Charles M. Roberts OPC ’59 and Charles M. Roberts OPC ’84 share the same five-year reunion cycle and both celebrated at the OPC Weekend 2014.
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Alumni
OPC weekend 2014
alumni award of
merit
“To a graduate of the William Penn Charter School whose character and outstanding achievement have reflected lasting credit upon this school.”
Steven F. Koltes OPC ’74
As the Quakers Dozen say, “I’m a believer.” I can’t get over the Quakers Dozen with women. What a great innovation! I just wish it had happened a little earlier. I was also a Quakers Dozen. They have gotten better over the years, I must say. This is a great honor. It is a meaningful event for me. My only regret is that my parents could not be here to see this today. My parents were huge fans of this school and, I might add, loyal donors for as long as they could write a check. This is something they could have
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understood. I can almost imagine my father putting his arm around me right now and saying ‘Wow. Penn Charter. Now I get it!’ Unfortunately, they could not quite make it. When I think about the last 40 years since leaving Penn Charter in 1974, one word comes to mind, and that word is ‘luck.’ I have been one very lucky guy. I’ve been lucky in love, lucky with my family, lucky with my kids (my wife helped), lucky with where I got to live in the world – some very beautiful places, including the beautiful place we live today, Switzerland – and lucky professionally. When I thought about luck and how it played out in my life, the one thing that struck me, surprisingly for me as I thought about it – was very small events, apparently unimportant things that sent me off in new directions. I’ll give you an example. I came to Penn Charter in 1968. I have no idea why I came to Penn Charter, frankly, because I have three siblings, all older than I am, and all went to Germantown Friends. But for some reason I came to Penn Charter. Lucky step number one. Lucky step number two: I arrived in September 1968, I was 12 years old, I was in seventh grade, and we had to pick a language. I picked French. I have no idea why I picked French, but I took French. I was 12 years old, and at that age you can’t expect a great judgment call on languages. Then I was told that the French class was full. Just filled up, and you have to pick another language. So I picked German. I have no idea why I picked German, but I picked German. And that little event, that one last individual, at the time guaranteed to have been a boy, who took the last French slot, meant that I took German, and having taken German I ended up going to Germany in 11th grade as PC’s exchange student, which turned out to be a very seminal event in my early life. Luck. Fast forwarding to the early ’80s. I was in New York. I was working for Citicorp as a banker, and my boss was sent to Switzerland. I was happily working in New York. I had no thoughts about returning to Europe, but he called me up a year later and asked if I would like to join him in Switzerland. Now, he was a very unlikely person to be sent to Switzerland. He spoke no languages, always had worked in America. But he was nearing retirement and, just as all U.S. ambassadors that politicians want to do a favor for end up taking the Swiss ambassadorship, this guy was sent over to run the country. Anyway, he invited me over, and I went. Had he not been appointed head of [operations for] the country, I never would gone to Switzerland, and I probably never would have returned to Europe. Again a lucky event, very much out of my control. Fast forward again a couple of weeks. I arrive in Switzerland. I knew nobody. In fact, it was exactly 31 years ago today that I walked into Citibank in Zurich. Nobody was there. I don’t know why nobody was there. It was either because I was very early, which is unlikely, or very late, which is likely. Finally, at the end of the hall I saw somebody and I went up to her and I asked if she could help me to the office of a particular individual. She said “Yes, of course.” She was very nice and took me upstairs. I chatted with her, talked to her, looked at her and thought “Switzerland is not bad.” That was the first person I met in Switzerland. Five years later, we were married. The very first person I met became my wife. Another little bit of very good fortune. One last example. 1988. I was working for Citicorp Venture Capital, the predecessor of the company we now have, CVC Capital Partners. We
Alumni
OPC weekend 2014
Steven Koltes OPC ’74 and his family, son Troy, daughter Kalya and wife Corinne, traveled to the reunion from their home in Switzerland.
hired two individuals, one a Scot, one a Dutchman to add to myself, an American, and a bunch of Brits (not many – we were about seven in total at the time). It was like a bad joke: the Scotsman, the Dutchman, the American… It really was like a bad joke, because we were diametrically opposed personalities. Nobody could ever have predicted that we would like each other let alone be able to manage a business together. Twenty-seven years from that date we are still running the same business together as co-chairmen. If one of the three of us had not been thrown into that cocktail, I am absolutely certain that we would not have got to where we are today. So again, these very small events that led in surprising directions. But what’s the point of talking about luck? There’s not much we can do about it. We certainly don’t want to advise our kids and grandchildren to go get lucky because they could take that the wrong way. It’s all out of our hands. But is it really out of our hands? In my business the received wisdom is that good investors are lucky and great investors are very lucky, but both make their own luck. How can someone make his own luck? Well, our business is buying companies, good companies, and trying to make them into better companies. When we are reviewing a project, we look at what we call the “three Ps”: people, price, plan. These are the principles we adhere to. What we mean by that is we want to find the best people in the whole world to run that company, we want to buy it at a price that does not overstress the managers or the company, and we want a plan that is simple and understandable, with milestones and benchmarks so you can see where you are going. If we get those three Ps right, and we let go – step back to see what happens, our experience in over 300 acquisitions over 25 years is that they always do much better than we expected. So in a way that’s how we create luck, good or bad (of course, I am giving you the good example). We create our own luck by setting things up the right way, sticking to our principles and letting the mixture patiently do its thing. Patience, in my view, is luck’s best friend. It’s a virtue that has been lost on all of us. Let’s face it, starting with me and everybody in this room, we have all lost a little bit of our ability to wait. We live in an era of three-minute attention spans and three-second communications. It
is very hard to be patient. But patience is the friend of luck. If you set things up the right way and you let them work their magic, if you stick to your principles, it pays off. But you have to wait. I’m going to close with an example of patience paying off. It’s taken again from the investment world, from my capitalist hero Warren Buffett. I was saying to my wife once, “If I had not met you, and he had been a lot younger, and he hadn’t lived in Omaha, Nebraska, and he wasn’t quite as unattractive, and he was a woman, I think I would have proposed to him.” But I never got that opportunity, although I have had the opportunity to meet him, and it is quite an extraordinary experience. In any case, in 1964, Warren Buffett set up his company called Berkshire Hathaway. If in 1965 my parents had looked at what he had done over the year, thought it was a pretty good job and invested $10,000 in his company, by 1968, the year I entered Penn Charter, their $10,000 would have been worth $17,000. That is a return of almost 20 percent a year. Pretty good. You could have forgiven my parents if they had thought, “We have another kid going to private school, it costs $2,000 a year, that times six is $12,000. I’ve got $17,000 now when I only had $10,000 three years ago. ‘Good instruction is better than riches’ so we’re going to take it out of Berkshire and put it in the bank to pay for this tuition.” But if instead of doing that, if they had waited patiently, seeing that this guy really knows what he’s doing (all of his companies are mini-cosmoses of what we do, setting things up and letting them run), if they had been as patient as he is, their $10,000 investment today would be worth $70 million. Same $10,000, same 19 percent-a-year return. Just a lot more years.
“Patience, in my view, is luck’s best friend. It’s a virtue that has been lost on all of us. Let’s face it, starting with me and everybody in this room, we have all lost a little bit of our ability to wait.” I would like to thank the board, and Darryl in particular, for this award. I must say, when I got it, I had to explain its importance to my wife, who is Swiss and went to public school and doesn’t really know what these sorts of things are like. It is very meaningful for me, so thank you very much. I’d like to thank Pete (Davis) in particular as president of the Alumni Society. He has done a fantastic job as the head of our little class of ’74, which is a very active class due greatly to his incredible engagement for this school. And I’d like to thank Darryl, Pete, Jack and Perry Canfield, if Perry’s here, for a very remarkable gesture they made last September by arriving unprompted at our mother’s memorial service. These sorts of gestures are what really set this school apart and give it the spirit that it has. It’s these kinds of things that make us all, everybody in this room, a little bit luckier than average. Thank you. PC
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In Our 325th Year you are Penn Charter. we are Penn Charter.
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we are
Penn Charter
proud!
The most public celebration of the anniversary of the school founded in 1689 by William Penn ended with a fireworks display that lit up the clock tower and rattled the windows. Adults in the crowd of 1,400 looked skyward, and the littlest children ran in circles on the front law, shrieking with delight. Weeks before, the 325th anniversary observance began on a peaceful bank of the Delaware River at Pennsbury Manor, once Penn’s colonial estate. Penn Charter teachers sat in silence at Meeting for Worship that day, and some were moved to reflect on their role in carrying forward the legacy of this oldest Quaker school.
Between the reflections and the fireworks, much transpired! Turn the page.
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325th Convocation On the morning of Friday, Oct. 24, what would have been the 370th birthday of William Penn and what was the 325th birthday of William Penn Charter School, students, faculty, administrators, Overseers, OPCs, family and friends gathered under a giant tent on PC’s front lawn for a convocation marking the occasion. OPCs walked into the tent with blue and yellow alumni banners, and PC teachers and students, from grades pre-kindergarten through 12, cheered. Richard B. Brown Jr. – an OPC ’38 – received a standing ovation! Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania James Cawley offered his congratulations, and Ed Rendell, former governor of Pennsylvania and mayor of Philadelphia, not to mention OPC parent, said Penn would be proud of his school. The ceremony was not without surprises, including a visit on horseback from “Thomas Jefferson,” the president who famously recognized William Penn as “the greatest lawgiver the world has produced.”
And it had a perfect ending:
Everyone on their feet and even the youngest students singing “Happy Birthday” to Penn Charter.
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Community Party When the invitation for the PC Community Party landed, the number of people attending quickly jumped to 300. Then the RSVPs climbed to 500. Then 800. And the number kept climbing. That’s when the formal presentations for the evening switched from the Kurtz Center for the Performing Arts, capacity 623, to the yards of open lawn on School House Lane. Capacity undetermined, but the campus easily and joyfully held at least 1,400 people on the evening of October 24. With the Upper School Jazz Band playing on the front patio, and food trucks and stations lining the front circle, a multigenerational crowd mingled and celebrated. The party was briefly interrupted for a presentation in the tent, with Head of School Darryl J. Ford presiding over the premiere of a commissioned film series about William Penn (see page 30) and alumni and student speeches. Senior Christian Teuber, dressed as William Penn, presided and helped with a ceremonial cake cutting. Before the cutting of the amazing cake created by parent Jennifer Fiss, and the fireworks, Peter A. Benoliel OPC ’49 spoke words of wisdom. “We may wish to take a look at our school seal. We are all most familiar with William Penn’s admonition: Good instruction is better than riches,” he said. “Not as familiar to most of us are the smaller Greek words Philete allelous, which translate: Love one another.”
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Isabel Mehta,
I n their own W ords Darryl J. Ford, Head of School “… What was so special about William Penn’s desires and design for his school, the city of Philadelphia, and the colony of Pennsylvania is that Penn possessed a hopeful vision for the future. Penn did not look back to the old world for ways of life and ways to live. Rather, he boldly sailed his ship the Welcome to the new world, and helped to create it.
Penn did not guard learning and count it only as the provenance of the wealthy but boldly chartered a path of access which opened formal schooling to all.
Penn did not acquiesce to an old social order of hierarchy and monarchy that included bowing to a king. Rather, he removed his hat for no one and boldly championed “no cross, no crown” as an appropriate social structure and way to know the Divine.
And while William Penn wasn’t perfect, his desires and design for the colony of Pennsylvania, the city of Philadelphia, and, yes, even, your school, were, indeed, hopeful.
Penn did not look to a priestly establishment of religion but boldly embraced the beliefs that there is that of God in each person, and each person, without intermediary, directly could know God.
Penn’s vision is one of hope. So, today, as we celebrate this special 325th anniversary of your school, I remind you, our students, that you are special. I note that only you – Penn Charter students – are part of 325 years of learning, which started with William Penn’s vision for your school. And like William Penn when he established this Quaker school in the town and county of Philadelphia in 1689, I encourage you to be hopeful, to sail boldly into the world, and to live lives that make a difference.
You are Penn Charter. We are Penn Charter. We are Penn Charter proud! Head of School Darryl J. Ford, followed by Margaux Pelegrin OPC ’99, representing the Alumni Society, and Christine Christoph Hon. 1689, representing the faculty.
Congratulations to you, our students, for being part of this remarkable legacy of the William Penn Charter School.”
William Penn, The Movie Commissioned by Head of School Darryl J. Ford for the 325th anniversary, and produced by Phil Katz OPC ’01, William Penn: Founding Father is a documentary series featuring a 12-minute film and 24 one- and two-minute webisodes. “Penn was a visionary, an explorer, and as a thinker he was ahead of his time,” Ford said. “I hope this film will educate people around the world about the enlightened founder of our school.” The series is available to educators, students and anyone interested in learning more about William Penn. Visit penncharter.com/penn.
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Class of 2020 “There are at least 325 reasons why we love Penn Charter. … The amount of freedom we have to choose is inspiring, and our outcomes are limitless. In your time here, have you ever heard the phrase, ‘let’s not challenge ourselves?’ No. Because here at Penn Charter our teachers, our coaches and community strive to bring out the best in us and to achieve remarkable things.”
Alec Veznedaroglu, Class of 2015 “… it is the history and tradition surrounding Penn Charter that truly encompass what it means to be a part of this community. Every day you walk through the halls, sit down for Meeting for Worship, or put on your shoulder pads for the big football game, keep in mind those who have walked these halls before you.”
Peter A. Benoliel OPC ’49 “When I reflect upon my time at Penn Charter, I cannot help but reflect on my teachers, who stand at the very heart of my Penn Charter experience. I can only hope that most of you who will be here 50 years from now to celebrate Penn Charter’s 375th anniversary will recall your teachers with as much affection and gratefulness as do I.”
Cole Frieman, Class of 2019 “I love the little things … also the big things. I love the Kurtz Center, I love performing on stage there. I love PC/GA Day. I love my classes. I love my friends here. I love hanging out in the locker pod before school. Something special to me is Friends Meeting. It is a place where I feel peaceful, and centered. Penn Charter is a place where I feel at home.”
Paige Hodges, Class of 2016 “As much as we celebrate our past, I’m grateful for the present day in which we are learning values of leadership, compassion and advocacy, as well as silence. In the classroom or on stage, on courts, fields or in pools, we are being challenged and stretched, our branches are being cultivated, fed and loved. Whether blue or yellow, we are all a part of this amazing vine called the William Penn Charter School. “Now, when people inquire about Penn Charter’s 325th anniversary, I am compelled to answer by saying, ‘Well, yes, Penn Charter is 325-years- old! And so am I!’ Even though I’m only 16 years old, in a sense, I am 325 years old because I am a part of the 325 year old legacy of knowledge, simplicity and excellence.”
Ilana Eisenstein OPC ’95 “There are firsts that this school can be proud of in the past: the first Quaker institution in America; one of the first institutions to educate children of all religions, and to accept children regardless of their ability to pay. We continue to hold fast to our Quaker values and our traditions, yet we continue to move forward. As the first female graduate of the school to have the honor to serve on the board of Overseers, I think I speak for Overseers when I say that we are proud to support the Strategic Vision and transformation of Penn Charter. We will not be just the first Quaker school in America, but we will continue to be the first among all independent schools here and in the world.”
Philip Hyun Su Price, Class of 2022 Sarah Toll, Class of 2023 In the manner of Friends, Hyun Su asked the 1,400 guests gathered for the morning convocation to share in a moment of silent worship. And Sarah Toll carried that responsibility for the equally large evening gathering.
PC Day at the Phillies Almost 700 members of the Penn Charter community enjoyed PC Day at the Phillies on Sunday, Sept. 14. Parents, students, faculty, staff and friends turned out for the event honoring Peter K. Ortale OPC ’83 and Kenny Caldwell OPC ’89, both lost on 9/11. Elsie Goss-Caldwell, Kenny Caldwell’s mother, and Maurice Grimes, Peter Ortale’s nephew, shared first-pitch honors. And a 44-member Penn Charter choir, led by choral director Joseph Fitzmartin, sang “America the Beautiful” on the field. Proceeds from ticket sales for the game benefit two scholarship funds honoring Caldwell and Ortale. And Penn Charter’s Center for Public Purpose was the recipient of the Phillies charities, garnering $11,000 that the center is using to buy 3D printers for three Penn Charter partner schools: St. James School, Widener Memorial School, and a local public school in Allegheny West.
Pennsbury William Penn traveled by boat to his summer home along the Delaware River. That option was considered but, in the end, Penn Charter’s faculty and staff traveled to Pennsbury Manor this August in cars and buses. The PC group began the afternoon in small groups, discussing their summer reading books, and the rest of the day learning more about Penn and colonial America. The day, designed not only to teach lessons about Penn but renew and strengthen relationships before the start of a jam-packed school year, included Meeting for Worship on a lawn overlooking the river and, in the evening, a shared meal. A photograph of the faculty and staff at Pennsbury appears on pages 28 and 29. PC
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Alumni
Work that PC Network! Casey Maher OPC ’10 learned that the alumni network is a resource waiting to be tapped by career-minded graduates. by Elizabeth Spagnoletti OPC ’08
A
s young as five or six years old, Casey T. Maher OPC ’10 knew he wanted to become a pilot. “When you’re not conflicted about what you want to do,” he said, “it gives you a lot of time to build up towards something.” As part of that building process, during Maher’s junior year at PC, then-college counselor Erin Hughes submitted his application for a summer program at Drexel University called the Mentorship Program in Engineering. With this early exposure to the field of engineering and applied science, Maher went
OPC ’10 Taking Off: Casey Maher (front) and Hunter Beck in November at the Naval Aviation Museum, Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Fla.
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on to pursue an engineering degree at Lehigh University, always with the goal of becoming a pilot. After his freshman year at Lehigh, Maher searched for a summer internship opportunity but came up short. After his sophomore year, he had the same experience. “I think if I had known earlier the value of having an internship on your resume,” Maher said, “I would have tried much harder every year.” Even more motivated during junior year, he began asking himself, “What resources do I really have to get this internship?” That January, he attended PC’s Young Alumni Holiday Hoop-la, an event for young OPCs, and spoke to then-Director of Alumni Relations Theodore F. Decker Jr. OPC ’78. Decker’s advice: Go to the online Alumni Directory. It was then that Maher realized what an obvious and useful resource this was. “If there’s one place that I think values the alumni community, it’s Penn Charter,” he said. Maher went home, logged into the Alumni Directory and searched “engineering” as a keyword. He selected three OPCs who were affiliated with companies that Maher thought would have good internship opportunities. He then sent these names to Decker, who gave him the green light to call all three OPCs and introduce himself. “That’s kind of a scary thing when I think about it,” Maher said. “You’re a little intimidated to be calling these – in many cases, captains of industry – guys who are vice presidents of engineering firms or presidents of their own.”
But the method proved successful. Maher called all three OPCs, and all three called him back. “I think most Penn Charter alumni are the caliber person to want to help you out and want to help you achieve that,” he said. “Because I think they know what it’s like to get into Penn Charter, to go to Penn Charter, to graduate from Penn Charter.” Maher accepted an internship with Jay Canuso at Oxford Engineering Company Inc. out of Camden, N.J. Canuso attended Penn Charter from kindergarten through junior year, and his son, Julian, graduated with Maher in 2010. Maher spent that summer doing “a little bit of everything” – from AutoCAD modeling to construction labor. “The recommendation came through Ted [Decker],” Canuso said, “and I was not hesitant to take [Maher] on.” Canuso had hosted Decker’s son Ted Decker OPC ’06 for an internship the previous summer, in fact. “You can’t always do it as a small company, but I would be interested in having an [OPC] intern again. It was a great experience with both Casey and Ted.” Maher’s experience at Oxford Engineering Company gave him credentials that helped him in his military recruitment process. Hearing about Canuso’s career trajectory also gave Maher another push in the right direction: “You look to people you admire, and if you really research the choices they made, it’s not a guaranteed thing, but that’s the best way to get to where you want to go. Because it’s proven. That’s what really helped me focus my path through college: seeing other people who had done it, and hearing their stories and listening.” Following his internship, Maher attended the U.S. Navy’s Officer Candidate School (OCS) in Newport, R.I., specifically for aviation. He earned his commission from OCS in September and has moved to Pensacola, Fla., to attend flight school. From Hughes to Decker to Canuso – and everyone in between – Maher recognizes the many people who helped him achieve his dreams. Whether it was friendly advice or an open door, Maher took advantage of any and every opportunity. But finding good people is not just a matter of luck for Maher. It is a strategy, and he employed it at Lehigh’s challenging engineering program.
Distinguished Speakers “I surrounded myself with the smartest people I could find,” he said. “I was sure to be the dumbest person in my proximity just because you’re always learning that way. Even when you’re having fun, you’re learning stuff – if not academically, you’re learning how these people carry themselves. These people you respect, they rub off on you that way.”
“If there’s one place that I think values the alumni community, it’s Penn Charter.” When asked what advice he would give to college students or recent graduates who are not sure what they want for a career, Canuso pointed specifically to Drexel University’s co-op program: “My daughter is at Drexel, and I’m really impressed. With Drexel’s connection to industry in the area, they’ve had their co-op program for years. It provides an opportunity to get out in the industry, get some experience, and learn what’s out there.” Like Canuso’s, Maher’s advice speaks to his personal experiences. “If there’s anything that you are passionate about, passionate about to the point where you really think you need it in your life, there’s usually a way to market that. If you’re passionate about it, you’ll innovate and you’ll create. Find things you’re interested in and pursue them wholeheartedly.” Maher admits there were a few factors in his deciding to be a pilot at such a young age – namely, he had a cousin who flew F16s – but there is no question about what has kept him motivated and trained on his single goal since he was six years old: “I just can’t imagine even to this day what else I’d want to do for the next however many years than fly airplanes. That seems like the most fun to me. When you can go up 30,000 to 40,000 feet in the air, look down and see the earth, it’s got to be pretty cool.” Canuso sees Maher soaring even higher: “Casey’s a great kid, and I wish him well. I think that out of the millions of kids that wanted to be astronauts, he would be the one to make it.” PC
As part of the celebration of the 325th anniversary of the founding of William Penn Charter School (more on page 26-31), the school invited two exceptional speakers to campus.
Understanding, Solving World Conflicts John Hunter, a gifted educator and creator of the World Peace Game, made a daylong visit to Penn Charter that focused on issues of global connections and conflict resolution. The World Peace Game, which Hunter created in 1978, is a hands-on political simulation that confronts players with economic, social and environmental crises and the imminent threat of war. In a presentation to students in grades 5-8, Hunter talked about how he created the World Peace Games to help his students understand the connectedness of all citizens of the world, and the need to find common ground and peaceful resolution of conflicts. He showed a clip from an upcoming documentary, “World Peace Games and Other 4th-Grade Achievements,” so that students could see how the games challenge students to work collaboratively through myriad conflicts and crises that mirror the reality of our world. In Upper School, social studies teacher Sarah Sharp prepared students in her Global Studies class for Hunter’s visit by watching a portion of his TED Talk, so they understood the game and Hunter’s goals as a teacher. During his classroom visit, Sharp said, students learned more about how his travels have influenced his world view and about the “humanness” he hopes to teach. “Clearly, his intention is to use the classroom as a space for young people to learn about how to get along in the world,” Sharp said. “In the broader framework, Global Studies courses often have the same purpose.” Assistant Head of School Beth Glascott coordinated Hunter’s visit, which also included presentations to parents and teachers. After the Middle School presentation, she asked students if they would be interested in bringing the World Peace Games to Penn Charter, perhaps in the summer. Nearly every hand in the room shot up.
Matters of Justice Feminist scholar and anti-racism activist Peggy McIntosh, noted for her 1988 essay “White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies,” spoke to students and teachers about disadvantage and privilege. “I believe everybody has some of each,” she said. McIntosh is associate director of the Wellesley Centers for Women and founder and co-director of the National SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) Project on Inclusive Curriculum. McIntosh, who is white and Quaker-educated (she graduated from George School), spoke to grades 8-12 about a hypothetical line of social justice. “When you are above the line of justice,” she said, “the world thinks you are worthy of every choice.” But often, the privileges we enjoy are due to the circumstances of our birth, not because of who we are or what we have done. She read excerpts from her famous essay, noting some of her advantages. “I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group,” she said, pointing out that many students of color are. And “I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.” McIntosh also visited Upper School social studies classes and, as the Hubben Lecturer, spoke to all faculty members. “When we take on matters of racial justice and social equity,” she told teachers, “we have huge power.” More about Penn Charter’s Distinguished Speakers Series at penncharter.com/speakers.
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OPC Network
Goes Mobile Do you ever find yourself in a new city and wonder what OPCs live or work in the area? Are you looking to network with a fellow OPC in your profession or industry? Curious about what your classmates are doing? PC’s new Evertrue mobile app has all this information and more!
Evertrue is uniquely partnered to LinkedIn, making the OPC mobile networking experience both practical and professional. How to join your fellow OPCs on Evertrue: 1. Search “Evertrue” in your app store and download. 2. Search “William Penn Charter School.” 3. Enter your name and email address, then hit submit. Or connect via LinkedIn. 4. Check your inbox on your mobile device and verify. 5. Begin finding fellow OPCs by location, class or industry! Important: If you enter your name and email address but cannot access the community, that’s because PC does not have your most current email. A notification will be sent to the Alumni Office that will update your email information and then give you access.
Alumni
Class Notes
1937
Penn Charter magazine wants to hear from you, and your classmates do, too! Submit your news and photos at penncharter.com/classnote. Digital photos should be 300 dpi JPEGs.
Edmond H. Heisler OPC ’37 See death notices.
1689 Class Agent Jane F. Evans jevans@penncharter.com
Elizabeth A. Glascott writes, “Giana Natali OPC ’98 passed away on Jan. 3, 2014. In recognition of Giana’s love for animals and her career as a vet technician, a bench was dedicated honoring Giana in Pastorius Park, in Chestnut Hill. A donation in Giana’s memory was also given to PAWS, which named a dog playroom at one of its facilities for Giana.”
graduation. If they think we forget, I’m here to remind you that we don’t. Thank you for everything, Mr. Gordon, and have a blessed and happy retirement!”
1938
1934
Oliver S. Crosby OPC ’38 See death notices.
William W. Wilson OPC ’34 See death notices.
Robert P. Thompson OPC ’38 See death notices.
Class of 1939 75th Reunion
Cheryl Irving Hon. 1689 See death notices.
Robert A. Gordon retired last spring. Edward P. Morrone OPC ’04 writes of Gordon, “Sophomore year geometry was my worst nightmare. I couldn’t figure it out, no matter how hard I tried, and nearly worried myself into an ulcer. I gathered up the courage to visit the Math Center (first in the trailer behind school, later in the basement by the lockers), thinking this math genius would soon grow impatient with my remedial skills. He brought me up from a failing grade to a C +, which really did wonders for my confidence in my final two years, when I excelled academically. Even though I had a better handle on the material junior and senior year, I still always made appointments to go back and see Mr. Gordon. There was just something comforting about being in his presence, and 10 years after graduation, I still fondly remember those days. I don’t know if teachers are cognizant of the lasting effect they have on students after
Donald G. Barnhouse Jr., Robert C. McAdoo and William Bates Jr., all OPC ’39, were proud to return to their alma mater for OPC Weekend.
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Alumni
Class Notes 1939
Class of 1944
Class Agent Robert C. McAdoo rcmcadoo@gmail.com
70th Reunion
E. (Smedley) Ward OPC ’39 See death notices.
1940 Class Agent Robert J. Harbison III rharbo@aol.com
A Look Back at
1940 Louise B. Beardwood, Ralph L. Goetzenberger Jr. OPC ’44, Joseph L. Loughran OPC ’44, Cynthia P. Loughran and Anne Collins, members and wives of the Class of 1944, returned to Penn Charter during OPC Weekend for a luncheon at the home of Head of School Darryl J. Ford and Gail Sullivan.
1945 Class Agent H. Leonard Brown Theodore E.B. Wood OPC ’48
1941
See death notices.
1946 1949 Frank P. Louchheim OPC ’41
Runcie L. Tatnall Jr. OPC ’46
See death notices.
See death notices.
1942
1948
Class Agent George C. Fuller fullergj@verizon.net
Richard D. Brobyn OPC ’49 See death notices.
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John H. Gay III OPC ’42
Avery R. Harrington OPC ’48
See death notices.
See death notices.
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George C. Fuller collected the following PC memories that stayed with his classmates since they graduated 65 years ago:
Alumni
Class Notes Class of 1949 65th Reunion
Christopher W. Parker Sr. OPC ’50 shared this photo of his section of fourth grade, his favorite year. Chris writes, “We all adored Miss Anderson (Shaffer). All but two went on to graduate.”
Beatty J. Smith OPC ’50 See death notices.
1951 Lowell S. (Tim) Thomas recalls that we had great teachers. The one he remembers well is Mr. Ricker, who had the nickname Cactus Charlie.
A Look Back at
1950
F. Bruce Waechter waechterjb@aol.com
Glenn L. Van Hest said, “Dr. John Gummere was one of my favorites, as were Mr. Craig and Mr. Evans.”
Harry E. Richter has fond memories of Old Penn Charter, “which provided us with a learning base that could never be duplicated anywhere.” Peter A. Benoliel writes, “Good instruction is better than riches.”
1952 Class Agents George C. (Skip) Corson Jr. gccesq@verizon.net
Mark L. Myers writes, “Colonel Lisle’s English class helped me in appreciating the classics, poetry and all the arts.”
Bruce R. Barstow writes, “I was the only guy ever fired from the Glee Club due to ‘voice performance.’ But Mr. Maclary made me ‘manager’ of the orchestra. To this day classical music is a supreme pastime.”
Class Agent David N. Weinman ombudinc@aol.com
1953 Class Agent William H. Bux mbuxc@aol.com
1954
1950 Class Agent Christopher W. Parker cwp420@aol.com
Class Agent Alfred F. Bracher III fbracher@aol.com
1955 J. Russell Fowley Jr. OPC ’50 See death notices.
Class Agent Charles (Chuck) Clayton Jr. cclayt@comcast.net
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Alumni
Class Notes Class of 1954 60th Reunion
Richard N. Westcott has just written his 24th book, this one called Great Stuff: Baseball’s Most Amazing Pitching Feats. He writes, “How ironic that such a book should be written by a broken down, neverany-good ex-pitcher.”
Stanley Adams Brooks Jr. OPC ’57 See death notices.
G. Allan Dash OPC ’49 writes, “My paternal grandparents, George and Daisy Dash, were born, raised and married in the then-British colony of Barbados. In 1949, to celebrate their 50th anniversary, their family all chipped in and sent them back to the ‘old country’ for a six-week nostalgia binge. My mom and I flew down and spent 10 days with them; one of our excursions was to Bathsheba, on the Atlantic coast, where my grandparents went for 19th-century vacations. When I was scanning Dad’s slides into my computer the other day, I noted that in one, I was wearing a Penn Charter T-shirt. I’d like to think that, on that spring day in 1949, I was the only person in Barbados – if the not the entire Caribbean – sporting a snazzy PC shirt!”
1956 Class Agent Bernard E. Berlinger Jr. bberlinger@asidrives.com
Ralph S. Hirshorn OPC ’56 is head projectionist for the Chestnut Hill Film Group. William H. Surgner has been named to the board of Constructure Management Inc., a Malvern construction-management practice.
1957 Class Agents G. Allan Dash allandash3@comcast.net James V. Masella Jr. vesperent@aol.com James G. Masland Jr. jgmasland@yahoo.com
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In early August, Thomas W. Budd, OPC ’57 (right) and his new wife, Judy (left), journeyed from their home in Wilmington, N.C., to Portland, Maine, to visit Tom’s daughter, Paige, and her family. On their way home, the Budds stopped for two nights at the Cape Cod home of classmate G. Allan Dash OPC ’57 and his wife, Gigi. The two couples spent most of the second day shopping and touring in beautiful Chatham Village, after which they dined at the historic Old Yarmouth Inn, a few minutes from the Dashes’ home in Yarmouth Port. One of the couples’ main topics of conversation was all about Tom and Judy’s romantic wedding in Venice, Italy. Allan and Gigi had just returned home a few days earlier from two weeks in southern France.
Alumni
Class Notes 1958
A Look Back at
Class Agents John E. F. Corson jefcorson@aol.com
1960
Robert D. Morrow Jr. djm112@aol.com
1959 Class Agent Rush B. Smith smithrushb@aol.com
William Porter OPC ’59 See death notices.
1962 1960 Class Agent James M. Arrison III arrison@attglobal.net
1961 Class Agents Richard P. Hamilton Jr. rick1480@aol.com J. Freedley Hunsicker Jr. fhunsicker@laborlawyers.com
Class Agents Louis F. Burke lburke@lfblaw.com
my woodworking teachers 40 years ago,” he writes. “My new dining chair, the ‘P-14,’ in solid and laminated African mahogany, has been juried into three museum shows. It is now being exhibited in Dimensions, 2014, at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art and in Artistry in Wood at the Sonoma Art Museum in Santa Rosa, Calif. In November, it will be in Rediscovering Emil Milan and His Circle of Influence at the Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia. The chair started with a sketch in a class I taught at Penland School a few years ago and was completed through two versions so far this year. Later in Philadelphia, I will show a bowl in English brown oak and a serving spoon in cherry.” David H. Werkley writes, “I realized a lifelong dream of playing golf in Scotland, especially the Old Course at St. Andrews. The reality far exceeded the dream.”
Kevin McKinney pmckin5750@rogers.com Ronald O. Prickitt ronprickitt@comcast.net
John Grew Sheridan loaned a bird carving to the Henry Gallery at Penn State Great Valley for an exhibition titled Emil Milan: Midcentury Designer Craftsman, which ran through September 2014. “Emil was one of
Class of 1959 55th Reunion
1963 Class Agents Robert E. Brickely bob@bds-1.com Richard J. Gilkeson gilkeson1@msn.com Douglas S. Little dlittle@perkinscoie.com
Jordan Lederer OPC ’63 See death notices.
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Alumni
Class Notes 1964 Class Agents John T. Long Jr. longacres1@yahoo.com John S. Morrow onefillycouple@msn.com
1965 Class Agent Jonathon P. (Buck) DeLong b.delong@charter.net
Robert E. Zimmer Jr. is retired and splitting time between the South Shore of Boston and Murrells Inlet, S.C. Charles Kurz II OPC ’63 writes, “I am now engaged to Julia (Nicky) Kispert; no wedding date is set, although the small family event probably will take place at Valley Presbyterian Church in Arizona in 2015.”
1966 Class Agent Allen F. Steere asteere3@verizon.net
Class of 1964 50th Reunion
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Michael Cardone Jr., owner of CARDONE Industries, a leading producer of auto parts, received the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award for the Philadelphia region. CARDONE, which employs 6,000 people in several countries, is headquartered in Philadelphia. Peter S. Linton serves as advisor to the Board of Governors of the European Internet Foundation and recently authored a study titled The Digital World in 2030. Allen F. Steere and his wife, Meemie, visited with E. Joseph Matuskovitz when he was in the area visiting his mother. Joe has retired from his veterinarian practice in the Pittsburgh area but has retained his license to help out other vets, and he reports that he has traveled to Africa on big-game safaris.
Alumni
Class Notes 1967
Class of 1969
Class Agent Harry S. Cherken Jr. harry.cherken@dbr.com
45th Reunion
David B. Icenhower OPC ’67 See death notices.
John Skinner is currently working for the Hacker Boat Company and for an LED manufacturer on commercial projects.
1968 Class Agents Bruce C. Gill bcoopergil@aol.com Richard E. Stanley dickandlea@aol.com
1969
S. Patrick Cadden III OPC ’68
Class Agent Thomas C. Robinson Jr. thomascrobinson@comcast.net
See death notices.
Joseph M. Hoeffel III OPC ’68 published a new book on the war in Iraq, titled The Iraq Lie: How the White House Sold the War.
Smitty, CEO of In Sync, merged his company with Bemis Balkind in February 2014. The new advertising company, known as In Sync Bemis Balkind, creates audio/visual, print, digital and branding campaigns for film, broadcast, home entertainment and other mediums, with offices in both New York and Los Angeles.
David J. Rashkis OPC ’69 See death notices.
1970 Class Agents Charles L. Mitchell dhammalawyer@yahoo.com Robert N. Reeves Jr. robreeves@eareeves.com
A Look Back at
1970
Edwin S. Skinner Jr. OPC ’68 writes, “Here is the family, less our newest granddaughter. We moved from Toledo, Ohio, in July to the Cincinnati area. I work in Ann Arbor, Mich., for Arbor Hospice and Palliative Care as director of human resources. I live in an apartment during the week and commute to Cincinnati for the weekend. The kids live in Cincinnati and Indianapolis, so we are closer to both of them. Hello, to all the class of ’68. Look me up on LinkedIn, and say hi!”
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Alumni
Class Notes 1971
1974
Class Agents Marc A. Golden harvardceo@aol.com
Class Agent J. Peter Davis pdavispc@comcast.net Jonathan K. Miller OPC ’75
Frederick H. Landell rlandell@ltk.com
See death notices.
Charles (Perry) Canfield OPC ’74
1972
See death notices.
Class Agent Bruce K. Balderston bruce.balderston@pncbank.com
George E. Westwood III OPC ’72 See death notices.
Edward W. Enoch is head boys basketball coach at Hatboro-Horsham High School. Joseph M. Muldoon became principal of Avison Young’s Philadelphia location in March 2014. Wulf Binder (center, pictured with Allan Brown Hon. 1689 and Class Record advisor John Burkhart OPC ’72), a German exchange student who spent a year at PC in the late ’60s, returned to Philadelphia last summer with his wife, Doris, to visit campus. Doris writes, “My husband really enjoyed walking around his old school and meeting his history teacher. We spent the evening remembering his gorgeous time in Philadelphia. As I am a teacher myself, I’d like to express my sincere appreciation for the atmosphere at your school.”
1973 Class Agent Robert J. Marquess rjmproteus@aol.com
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Frederick W. Dohrmann III, in May 2014, became the coach with the most wins of any team at Widener University for softball. Arthur G. Lofton, a vice president of Global Quality at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, was recognized in January 2014 with the Industry Career Achievement Award at the 2014 Career Diversity Conference.
1975 Class Agents Robert L. Nydick suenydick@comcast.net James S. Still jstill3boys@gmail.com
Geoffrey H. Shields, PC’s boys squash coach for 20 years, retired this past fall and his wife decided to move to Hawaii after visiting their son there. Stephen R. Mazda, Shanin Specter, and Rodney B. Colen, along with Jonathan Miller's wife, Jennifer, wrote a remembrance of their friend Jonathan, who passed away on Oct. 12. Read it at penncharter.com/miller.
1977 Jeffrey L. Abrams graduated in February 2014 from the executive MBA program at the Fox School of Business of Temple University. Jeff was awarded the Dean’s Certificate of Excellence, was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma and was named 2014 EMBA Student of the Year. He concentrated
Class of 1974 40th Reunion
Alumni
Class Notes his studies in nonprofit operations, strategy and management. A practicing attorney in Philadelphia, Jeff is serving his third year as chair of the trustees of the ALS Association, Greater Philadelphia Chapter, and was recently appointed to the executive committee of the National ALS Association’s Board of Representatives. Jeff and his wife, Margaret Barry, live in Fairmount with their three teenagers. After picking up Kathryn S. Decker OPC ’13 from the University of New Hampshire last May, Theodore F. Decker Jr. and Katy met with Bruce R. Barstow OPC ’49 and his wife, Diantha, at their home in New Hampshire (pictured, left). In Lambertville, N.J., Ted was also able to catch up with James S. Pezzi OPC ’78.
David H. Neff runs a marketing and ad agency in Old City that was featured in the Inquirer for its stylish associates.
Class Agents Sterling H. Johnson III sterling.h.johnson@usace.army.mil
Class Agents John D. Lemonick lemonickj@gmail.com Patrick E. Lynch patrick@tsle.com
Paul C. Mancini pcmancini@gmail.com David H. Neff dn@neffassociates.com
Paul B. DiMarco writes, “I got a big promotion, and I am now the director of the office of technology transfer at Eastern Virginia Medical School. I’m currently working on an $80 million deal. I still play the guitar out at night locally, and I finally learned Duane Allman’s ‘Little Martha.’ That’s me with my beloved Martin D-18.”
Class Agents John B. Caras johnbondcaras@comcast.net Charles J. (Chip) Goodman chip_goodman@cable.comcast.com
1979 1978
1980
Peter L. DeCoursey OPC ’79 See death notices.
A Look Back at
1980
David J. Berg writes, “After a rewarding, nearly 20-year career as an admiralty and personal injury lawyer in Boston, I left my firm a couple of years ago to take a sabbatical and think about what I wanted to do for the second half of my career. I wanted to move into the nonprofit sector and ultimately decided to work in the relatively new field of food rights as an advocate in favor of food policies and regulations that make it easier for small farmers to produce food safely and profitably and against governmental regulations that limit or prevent certain types of direct farm-to-consumer food transactions. I recently published my first law review article on whether the right to purchase food of one’s choice from the grower or producer of that food, free from governmental regulation, is a fundamental Constitutional right. I argued that, based on the history of American food safety laws going back to colonial times, it is a fundamental, although limited, right and laid out an outline for how to prove it. I am now looking for additional opportunities to write and advocate in this field from my new home in Milwaukee, where I recently moved with my wife.”
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Alumni
Class Notes 1982 Class Agent James L. Walker Jr. jimwalks@yahoo.com
1983 Andrew E. Vye is the agent of Sean M. Singeltary OPC ’04, who plays for the Erie BayHawks.
1986 Class Agent P. Timothy Phelps chamberphelps@gmail.com
1987 Class Agents David Felderman felderman.david@gmail.com David B. Gleit leyladavid@yahoo.com
1984 Class Agent Robert T. Myers rob.myers@barclayswealth.com
Adam M. Koppel akoppel@brooksidefund.com
1988 1985 Last Thanksgiving 2013, brothers Jonathan Kissick OPC ’80, William Kissick OPC ’76 and Robert Kissick OPC ’77 reunited on campus.
David N. Wilcots writes, “One of the fossil specimens that I excavated in Wyoming is on public display at the Burke Museum of Natural History in Seattle, Wash. The fossil is 47 million years old, was related to the ancestors of pangolins, and was a bit smaller than a house cat but not as cute.”
1981 Class Agent Andrew J. Kramer akramer@kanepugh.com
When Mark S. Gubicza OPC ’81 returned to Philadelphia as a guest announcer at a Phillies game, a group from Penn Charter traveled to Citizens Bank Park to welcome him back.
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Class Agents Matthew M. Killinger killingm@uphs.upenn.edu Thomas D. Kramer tomkrameractor@gmail.com
Joshua S. Petersohn writes, “Since my appearance in the 2013 Maccabiah games, I continue to play hockey in exhibition games with Team USA, including a weekend played last spring in South Florida. The team continues to look for opportunities to play exhibition games and plans to return to Israel in 2017 to defend our title. “When not playing hockey, I coach my children’s teams (Berk, 12, and Sloan, 11, both of whom attended the Maccabiah games to support me). Berk hopes to make the junior team in 2017. “I frequently get together with members of the class of 1985: Gregory P. Wolfson, Michael E. Bennett, Charles J. Dougherty, Anthony J. (Chris) Lewandowski, Darryl Berlinger, Brian J. Duffy, Joseph J. Gleason Jr., Brian P. McNally and Matthew M. Killinger. In August, the group had a boat trip in Maryland, and we met for a round of golf in September. “Professionally, I work as a partner at Moreland Development, a real estate development and management firm I co-founded in 1994. Moreland most recently developed the Walgreens at Broad and Chestnut in Center City and the Bryn Mawr Medical Arts Pavilion.”
Class Agents H. Bruce Hanson hansonkb@gmail.com Gregory D. Palkon gpalkon@hotmail.com
Sydney H. Coffin is a member of a coalition of Philadelphia public school teachers working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
1989 Class Agent Kenneth (Casey) Murray playnikez@yahoo.com
G. E. (Ted) Chapman OPC ’89 See death notices.
Christopher D. Ball and Kenneth (Casey) Murray reunited at the Women’s Legacy Celebration last June. Both received the Hal Commons Memorial Award in eighth grade.
Alumni
Class Notes Kenneth (Casey) Murray reports that last summer, as the world of lacrosse convened for the World Championships in Denver, Colo., four OPCs were reunited on and off the field. The tournament brings together teams from 38 nations as well as club lacrosse teams from around the world. Theodore B. Nusbaum OPC ’90, Paul E. Wolfson OPC ’89, Kenneth (Casey) Murray OPC ’89 and Reuven L. Dressler OPC ’90 participated. “Reuven proudly represented Penn Charter as a player for the Israel national team that played in the Elite tournament to determine the world champions for 2014. Reuven was called out of retirement by the Israel Lacrosse Federation and asked to play goalie. As one of the oldest players in the tournament at age 41, Reuven was elected captain by his teammates. ‘It has been an amazing, humbling, inspiring experience,’ Reuven said. “Reuven, who went by the name Rich when he attended Penn Charter, moved to Israel in 2007, where he served as a doctor in the military. Reuven and his wife have five children and live near Jerusalem. He currently practices family medicine. “The Israel Lacrosse Federation was developed to bring the game of lacrosse
to Israel. Entering a team in the World Championship was part of their awareness campaign to promote lacrosse and to help attract more players and funding to support their mission. “The Federation does a tremendous job of promoting the game in Israel by bringing sticks to youths, running clinics, creating fields, developing men’s and women’s national teams and one program that unites Arab and Jewish students on one team as a way to help bring the two communities together. “As for the playing of lacrosse, Israel surprised many with a seventh place finish out of 38 teams. A highlight included Reuven’s play against England in the sixth place playoff game, where he entered the game trailing 5-0 and led a comeback effort that forced overtime, before falling 11-10. Reuven earned the win in the seventh-place game, beating Japan. “As a nice postscript to the tournament, at the Israel team banquet Reuven was the only player to receive a standing ovation from his entire team. His impact on the team as a mentor and a quiet leader was quite clear to all in the room. “Also attending were Ted Nusbaum, Paul Wolfson and me. Ted helped the federation
organize a Masters (40 and over) team that played in the club tournament associated with the World Championships. Ted recruited Paul and Casey to join the team that played six games over three days. (See photo.)
Class of 1989 25th Reunion
Celebrating Color Day together last spring was one of PC’s three-generation families: Evan Michener III OPC ’54, John Michener OPC ’89, and John’s sons, current PC students Colin Michener, Class of 2022, and Gavin Michener, Class of 2024. (Missing from photo is John’s brother, Evan Michener IV OPC ’83). Evan (or Big Mich as he is fondly called) and John celebrated their 60th and 25th reunions this year, and when Gavin graduates in ’24 he will also share in their reunion-year cycle.
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Alumni
Class Notes A Look Back at
1990
1992
William F. N. Gullan, president of Finch Brands, a marketing and branding firm in Old City, was featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer in March 2014. The article highlighted his “impossible task” of advertising for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Class Agents Anna V. Davis vanleer@hotmail.com Keith M. Nigro kmn5774@yahoo.com
W. Todd Goulding competed in August in the Ironman Boulder, in Colorado, and finished in a time of 12 hours, 33 minutes. Members of Todd’s family are pictured, left to right: mother Marjorie T. Goulding, son Mason, Todd, wife Wendy, daughter Haddie.
1990 Class Agent James D. Phillips jphillips@penncharter.com
J.C. Spink reports that he and his brothers, Brian OPC ’92 and Daniel OPC ’96, are living in Los Angeles, working in various entertainment fields. Lately, J.C. has been in touch with L. Christopher Knowles, Richard W. Smith, Mark (Dave) Fesmire, Patrick J. McDonough, John Schug Hon. 1689, Stephen A. Bonnie OPC ‘66, John T. Rogers Hon. 1689, Kevin C. Murray, David A. Kittredge, Theodore B. Nusbaum, Thomas A. Vizza, Justin R. Wineburgh, Seth P. Weiss OPC ‘92, Christian Meoli and Christopher M. Teare. J.C. wrote that he wishes more classmates sent in updates, and he misses them all. PC was an incredible time of his life.
1991 Class Agents Daniel S. Donaghy dsdonaghy@hotmail.com Leo J. Wyszynski ljwyszynski@aol.com
Albert Butler contributed to an Inquirer essay series on being an African-American man in Philadelphia on Sept. 10, 2014.
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1993 Class Agent Victor S. (Tory) Olshansky victor.olshansky@gmail.com
Francis A. Mazza wrote about the late Cheryl Irving Hon. 1689. “Ms. Irving was my English teacher in eighth grade, my first year at Penn Charter. I have never worked so hard for a C before or since, and Ms. Irving knew it. Twenty-five years later, I am still proud of that C.” Laurel Neff writes, “I was promoted to lieutenant colonel in June 2013. I’m currently stationed at Fort Wainwright, Ala., as the deputy commander for clinical services (the senior medical officers) for Bassett Army Community Hospital. Married almost 12 years, I have two beautiful children, three-
Class of 1994 20th Reunion
Alumni
Class Notes year-old boy-girl twins. All is well in the Neff (aka Toffey) family.”
effort for our campaign division, serving as liaison to the Center for Israel and Overseas, and working with our real estate affinity, JFRE.”
1994 Class Agent Jennifer R. Gallagher jenritagal@gmail.com
David J. Sirota is a staff writer for PandoDaily, a web publication that focuses on start-up companies and Silicon Valley. Jason D. Winig is the president of Winig Properties in Philadelphia.
1995 Class Agent Stephanie Teaford Walters walters-stephanie@aramark.com
Joshua W. Goldblum made Philadelphia Magazine’s list of 2014 Best Philadelphians for his work in digital media design. He also received the Small Business Person of the Year award from the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
1997
Allison MacCullough O’Neill allisononeill88@gmail.com
Michael Sala sala_lm@yahoo.com
Andrew Gallery launched a new sports performance apparel company, IAMMAI. Brian Lobley, senior vice president of marketing and consumer business at Independence Blue Cross, spoke with Ukee Washington on the Affordable Care Act in March 2014. The interview aired on CBS Philly. Rachel Sigman writes, “I recently received a promotion to senior development officer at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. In this new role, I am working with Men’s and Women’s National Young Leadership Cabinet members, leading a fund-raising
A Look Back at
Christopher J. Rodgers is an area scout for the National Scouting Report, a high school scouting and college recruiting organization.
2000
1998 Class Agents Jeff Bender jb2424@gmail.com Patrick A. Sasse psasse@hotmail.com
2000
See death notices.
Class Agents Alyson M. Goodner alygoods@yahoo.com
Mark D. Hecker was named a W. K. Kellogg Community Leadership Network Fellow in May 2014.
Class Agents Brendan Moore brendanmoore78@yahoo.com
Giana Natali OPC ’98
1996
independent, K-8, Quaker school in St. Paul, Minn. Latrisha will begin her new role on July 1, 2015.
Gerri R. Trooskin directed last May’s Philadelphia Science Festival.
1999 Class Agents Mark D. Hecker mhecker616@gmail.com Margaux Pelegrin margaux.pelegrin@gmail.com
Class Agent Adam K. Sperling adsperling@gmail.com
Andrea J. Clair performs original interpretations of classic jazz, swing and soul standards with her husband, Rick Lowenberg. The duo is known as Mazel Tov Cocktail. Gabriel E. Liedman appeared in the film Obvious Child alongside Jenny Slate.
2001
Dana A. Bate published her second novel, A Second Bite at the Apple, in November. She writes, “Like my last book, the main character is from the Philadelphia area, and a few scenes even take place in Center City!”
Class Agents William A. McKinney williammckinney@gmail.com
Keith C. Cappo was named assistant coach for Temple University women’s soccer in July.
Kenneth J. Devenney is head baseball coach and an assistant football coach at Roxborough High School. He would like to create an annual tradition between the Roxborough and Penn Charter football teams.
Latrisha M. Chattin will become head of school at Friends School of Minnesota, an
Jessica A. Stein stein.jessica@gmail.com
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Alumni
Class Notes 2002
Class of 2004
Class Agent Katherine A. Butler butlerka@gmail.com
10th Reunion
William Darrah was recently promoted to regional vice president of the west for TravelClick, whose cloud-based solutions power more than 37,000 hotels worldwide. Will has lived in New York, Miami and Las Vegas, and he now resides in Scottsdale, Ariz., and on an airplane most days.
2003 Class Agents Jessica A. Kolansky jekolansky@comcast.net Anthony E. McDevitt mcdevitt44@gmail.com Jennifer N. Cooperman jcoop9185@gmail.com
Lauren E. Cash returned to Lafayette College to participate in their field hockey First Career Symposium in April 2014.
Jennifer N. Cooperman is now the development director for Keystone Property Group. She is currently working on the redevelopment of the Curtis Center in Center City.
2004 Class Agents Katherine A. Entwisle katherine.e.palmisano@gmail.com Erin E. Hozack erin.hozack@gmail.com Jerome B. Wright jwright08@gmail.com
Robert K. Kurz Jr. played in the Philadelphia University Basketball Tournament for charity. Edward P. Morrone is a sports writer for the Northeast Times. Sean M. Singletary was named one of Charlottesville, Virginia’s “9 Inspiring People.”
2005 Jessica Kolansky OPC ’03 (second from left) took part in the Kidney Walk on Oct. 12, 2014. Jessica and her father share a special connection to the cause, as she was a matching donor for her father’s kidney transplant just four months earlier. She and her father (second from right), along with family and friends, raised more than $2,500 for the National Kidney Foundation. Thrilled with the weather and the turnout for the event, she was joined by brother Rob Kolansky OPC ’06, and fellow OPCs Ned Bryan OPC ’06 (and his parents, Laura and Stuart), Luke Hoffman OPC ’03 and Tiffany (Turner-Grundy) Weber OPC ’03.
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Class Agents Christopher W. Garrison cwg008@gmail.com Jessica Kalick jessiekalick@gmail.com Maureen Ryan mmryan6@gmail.com
Alumni
Class Notes
Ashley Cappo OPC ’05 is in her second year teaching at the Community Academy of Philadelphia Charter School. She teaches upper school Spanish and ESL classes, and is also the coach of the girls soccer team. She attributes her desire to teach Spanish to her wonderful experiences in her own Spanish classes at Penn Charter. Pictured: Last year, Ashley and two colleagues took a group of 40 students to the restaurant Amada to try typical dishes of Spain and experience aspects of Spanish culture.
2006 Class Agents Joey Fugelo jfugelo@udel.edu Sarah Roberts sarahlkroberts@gmail.com Katherine Siegmann ksiegmann@gmail.com Jeffrey Torchon jazzjeff88@gmail.com
Katherine Siegmann wrote a piece for Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal on Alyson Goodner OPC ’96 and the company she cofounded, the School Collective.
2007 Class Agents Richard Baska Lynn richardbaskalynne@gmail.com Audra Hugo audra.hugo@gmail.com Anne McKenna amckenna515@gmail.com Eric Muller bericmuller@gmail.com
Sara E. Broad is an English teacher for grades 5-8 at the St. James School, a PC service partner in the Allegheny West neighborhood. James Ballengee Hon. 1689 and PC English teacher Lisa Turner ran into Sara at the school while volunteering for their garden project. Jim writes, “We talked about Sara’s service learning experiences at PC, which were a factor in directing her towards her initial teaching in the Mastery Charter system and now at St. James.” Jonathan Hulting-Cohen was appointed assistant professor at University of Massachusetts Amherst, in the Department of Music and Dance.
Elizabeth Strasbaugh OPC ’07 was this year’s Upper School Louis Savino Day of Service speaker. Liz is a program manager for City Year in Philadelphia and has run a number of major service events and programs (including Diplomas Now) in her time there. She is a 2011 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, majored in cultural anthropology and worked as an ethnographer at the Netter Center for Community Partnerships during her time at Penn.
Samuel Zeglinski plays professional basketball in Austria.
2008 Class Agents Kathryn Corelli corelli.kathryn@gmail.com Ryan Goldman ryan.goldman6@gmail.com Kyle Maurer kylemaurer12@gmail.com Alexandra Olsman aolsman@gmail.com
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Alumni
Class Notes Kellie C. Ragg kragg@princeton.edu
Sarah Domenick was selected for a 2014-15 Fulbright U.S. Student Program award to France. Nicole Guynn teaches science at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School in Georgia. Tyler C. Robinson received an achievement award from Emerson College for an internship in Los Angeles in animation and motion media.
2011 Class Agents Demetra B. Angelakis dangelak@bowdoin.edu Adam J. Garnick ajg9692@gmail.com Last summer, Kyle and Jeremy Maurer, both OPC ’08, traveled around the world to visit Sam Lozoff OPC ’08, who has been living in Japan for the past two years.
Alex Domenick, Dave Hilton III, Alexandra M. Glassman OPC ’09, Skylar Dickey OPC ’10 and Morgan L. Strauss OPC ’10 were all featured in the Chestnut Hill Local for their contribution to Chestnut Hill’s reputation as a “squash powerhouse.”
Cormac J. Ferrick mac.ferrick@gmail.com Casey T. Maher ctm214@lehigh.edu
Casandra P. Gigliotti cassieg@bu.edu Grant A. Guyer guyerg@dickinson.edu
Aleesha R. Powell transferred from Iona College to play basketball for Seton Hall University.
Eric T. Weiner is an associate web editor for Automobile magazine.
2009 Class Agents Alexandra M. Glassman amg296@cornell.edu Curtiss R. Jones Jr. curtissjones215@gmail.com Laura A. Kurash laurakurash@gmail.com Sam H. Lerner slerner3@gmail.com
2010 Class Agents Megan C. Delaney megan.c.delaney@gmail.com
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Bianca Santini-Dumas OPC ’10 (center) with Head of School Darryl J. Ford and Overseer Terry Nance at Villanova University graduation.
Alumni
Class Notes Academic (third year), 2014 UNC academic honor roll (third year), 2014 dean’s list and 2015 team captain.
Cathryn C. Peirce cpeirce@sas.upenn.edu
Carolyn M. Grace OPC ’12 is studying abroad and blogging about trading her real family for a Parisian one: fortheloveofparisblog. wordpress.com. Zoe Smith received a Mellon-Mays Fellowship. Robert M. Wurtz III and David J. Huber OPC ’13 played one another in a Fordham University vs. U.S. Naval Academy water polo match this past fall.
David B. Durst and Danielle Bembry, both OPC ’11, each interned at BlackRock, an investment management firm, but didn’t know it until they bumped into one another at the office last summer. Dani wrote, “We frequently grab lunch to talk about our PC days.”
Joseph S. Sankey was honored in September at the University of North Carolina lacrosse banquet for his 2014 season. His awards include 2014 All America (second year), 2014 All ACC Team (second year), 2014 Team Offensive MVP, 2014 All ACC
2013 2012
Class Agents Rachael D. Garnick rachaelgarnick@gmail.com
Class Agents Sarah L. Butler slbutler94@gmail.com
Aaron C. Mandelbaum aaronman@sas.upenn.edu
Ben P. Krieger benpkrieger@gmail.com
Bennett W. Samuel bennettsamuel44@gmail.com
Edward Malandro edmalandro93@gmail.com
Julia H. Vahey julia.vahey@hws.edu
OPC grads with dads! After the 2014 Commencement, the latest crop of alumni, OPC ’14s, posed with their OPC fathers on the front steps. From left to right: Blake M. Christoph OPC ’74, Carl P. Christoph, Charles J. Goodman OPC ’80, Emily L. Goodman, Jordan A. DellaValle, Vincent P. DellaValle OPC ’81, Jessie M. Levin, Michael K. Levin OPC ’78, Hannah M. Kramer, Andrew J. Kramer OPC ’81, Corey Hassman, David R. Hassman OPC ’83, Colin B. McCloskey, Brian W. McCloskey OPC ’82, Benjamin J. Williams, Douglas S. Williams OPC ’84, David J. Kurtz OPC ’82, Christopher J. Kurtz, Garrett Schorsch IV, Irvin G. Schorsch OPC ’73.
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Alumni
Class Notes Madeleine Perlmutter writes, “I am an OPC ’13, but I took a gap year and currently serve as a corps member with City Year Sacramento. We held a gala on June 4 called the Ripples of Hope Dinner, honoring leading women in our communities, and many of us spoke about the impactful women in our lives. After the dinner, I met Shannon Harrington OPC ’07, who was there as a representative for Bain Capital. We realized that we had both spoken about the impact that Cheryl Irving Hon. 1689 had on our education and our lives and how incredible it is that her impact was being shared across the country.”
DEATHS Hon. 1689 Cheryl Irving, on May 21, 2014. 1934 William W. Wilson, on April 27, 2014. 1937 Edmond H. Heisler, on June 21, 2014. 1938 Oliver S. Crosby, on Oct. 25, 2014. Robert P. Thompson, on Sept. 24, 2014. 1939 E. (Smedley) Ward, on Sept. 13, 2014.
2006 Sarah Roberts to Chester Hall, on June 28, 2014.
BIRTHS 1988 Steven Brown, to Susan and John-Paul Gomez, on June 10, 2014.
1994
2014 Class Agents Colin B. McCloskey comccloskey@ursinus.edu
1948 Avery R. Harrington, on July 10, 2014. 1949 Richard D. Brobyn, on March 19, 2014.
1995
1957 Stanley Adams Brooks Jr., on Sept. 23, 2014.
Andrew P. Murray andrew.murray@student.fairfield.edu
2000
Marissa Samuels writes, “Congratulations to the Class of 2014! The next journey awaits you.”
1946 Runcie L. Tatnall Jr., on July 20, 2014.
1950 J. Russell Fowley Jr., on Aug. 18, 2014. Beatty J. Smith, on June 3, 2014.
Alexis Elizabeth, to Derek and Anne (Armistead) Ayres, on July 17, 2014.
Last summer, Sean O’Brien practiced with Colgate teammate Jordan Robertson in the Delaware County Pro-Am League. Sean, a freshman, played 37 minutes in a game against LaSalle this past fall.
1942 John H. Gay III, on Dec. 28, 2012.
Hazel Quinn, to Jessica Braverman and Jason D. Winig, on July 7, 2014.
Lauren Matt lmatt@fandm.edu
Marissa Samuels marsam@sas.upenn.edu
1941 Frank P. Louchheim, on Oct. 6, 2014.
Emily Regina, to Brent and Mary (Rogers) Lewis, on Sept. 7, 2014.
2002 Waverly Marie, to Elza and Michael K. McKenna, on July 26, 2014. (Pictured with brother and sister, Foster and Sage.)
1959 William Porter, on Nov. 26, 2013. 1963 Jordan Lederer, on Oct. 26, 2014. 1967 David B. Icenhower, on Oct. 25, 2014. 1968 S. Patrick Cadden III, on Jan. 14, 2014. 1969 David J. Rashkis, on July 22, 2014. 1972 George E. Westwood III, on July 28, 2014. 1974 Charles (Perry) Canfield, on Oct. 8, 2014. 1975 Jonathan K. Miller, on Oct. 12, 2014.
MARRIAGES
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1996
1989 G. E. (Ted) Chapman, on Sept. 15, 2014.
Christopher Carroll to Christine Hill, on June 21, 2014. (See photo.)
1998 Giana Natali, on Jan. 3, 2014.
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Fall 2014
Real-World Experience
Then
Now
In the late 1980s, students studying Russian History traveled to the USSR to get a flavor for Soviet life.
Last year, second grade visited City Hall to meet Mayor Michael Nutter and voice their support for a “green” Philadelphia.
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a n n u2 0 1a4 -l2 0 1f5 u n d In 1689, William Penn had a vision for a school that would prepare citizens for the new world. 325 years later, Penn’s school continues to educate students to be curious about the world, to embrace the call to service, to reach their potential, to create. As we mark the 325th anniversary of Penn Charter’s founding, we celebrate tradition while constantly adapting, innovating, reaching.
We invite you to support the Annual Fund, which allows us to further Penn’s vision.
The William Penn Society,
named in honor of Penn Charter’s founder and honoring key leaders and milestones in the school’s history, recognizes leadership gifts to the Annual Fund. This year, an anonymous OPC will match – in full – all gifts that propel donors into the next giving level. Find your giving level at penncharter.com/leadership.
Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage
PAID Philadelphia, PA Permit No. 6118 3000 West School House Lane Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19144
Save the Date January 3
May 1 & 2
OPCs in Education Forum
OPC Reception & Weekend
January 29 Downtown Reception
April 20 28th Bert Linton OPC/ Parent Golf Outing
June 6 Commencement
MAY 1 and 2 Catch a baseball game or a track meet, take a campus tour, enjoy the company of old friends.
Be there for OPC Weekend!
