The Magazine of William Penn Charter School
Spring 2015
Science Sustainability
The STRATEGIC VISION for Penn Charter’s future is organized around six goals, each with a set of strategies. Goal 1: Quakerism
Goal 2: Content Advance our educational program to provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in a complex and changing world.
Goal 3: Teaching 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
In their playground, along with the swings and slides and climbing gear, kindergarten and first grade now have a wraparound garden that teachers have integrated into an existing curriculum promoting food awareness and environmental stewardship. “Many children today don’t really know where food comes from. They think it comes in packages from the supermarket,” kindergarten teacher Candy McGuire explained. “This one class, in just one year, has become so much more knowledgeable.” The location of the garden is important, McGuire said, because students have quick access to tend to their plants and because “young children need to see it happening right in front of them, every day.” Back in September, parents, faculty and staff, and children collaborated to build the modular, raised beds, and then students picked from a list of fast-growing, cold-weather crops the seeds they wanted to plant. The peas didn’t take, but they watched the arugula and radishes grow; when they harvested them, many children were surprised to discover that they liked the spicy flavor of radishes. Who would have thought that a radish sandwich could taste so yummy! In winter, to keep the project in their minds while the beds were dormant, kindergartners read fiction and nonfiction books about plants, and studied roots, leaves, fruit and other parts of plants. One winter day they came to school with vegetables they shopped for at the supermarket. They helped chop and season the produce and cook up a big soup. They were excited by the aroma of the herbs and the simmering soup, McGuire recalled, and when they sat down to eat their concoction they called out to one another: “I’m eating a root!” “I’m eating a leaf!” “I’m eating a stem!” Students in pre-kindergarten will plant in the beds before the end of this school year and will harvest their crops when they move up to kindergarten in the fall. “The project is really large, and it can go in any direction,” McGuire said of the garden. “Maybe next year the children will be interested in feeding animals, and we could grow plants that attract birds.”
Contents Spring 2015
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Features
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Science + Sustainability How a fish farm changed a science classroom.
16 It’s about Fit
It’s about Choice It’s about Possibilities
College visits, followed by more visits. Application deadlines, and more deadlines. High anxiety and the thrill of acceptance.
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22 Cinderella Story Like an efficient and coordinated crew, the individuals charting the rebirth of Penn Charter rowing pulled the program smoothly and surely forward in the past eight years, building momentum and identity.
26 Re-Investing in
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Reading at Penn Charter
The Dick-and-Jane days of the basal reader disappeared from the Penn Charter classroom long ago. Today’s teachers use the Reading Workshop.
Departments Opening Comments
From the Head of School....................................................................................... 2 Around Campus
Campus Currents...................................................................................................... 3 PC Profiles...................................................................................................................8 Alumni
Downtown at Distrito Alumni Society Downtown Reception 2015............................................. 30
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Inspired OPCs in Education.............................................................................. 32 Class Notes............................................................................................................... 33 On the Cover The Magazine of WilliaM penn CharTer SChool
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Spring 2015
Science Sustainability
Students are farming fish and growing greens in an exciting aquaponics project that is retooling the science curriculum in seventh grade. Read more on page 10. Photo: Michael Branscom
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The Magazine of William Penn Charter School
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
Opening Comments
From the Head of School The crack of the baseball bat outside the windows of my office is an
annual reminder that we are closing in on the end of the school year and also of how much has been accomplished since its start. We are a busy and productive place, and by the month of May, as we look forward to Color Day and Commencement, the work and accomplishments of our students reveal how much they grow, learn and achieve each year at Penn Charter. Of course, in this, our 325th anniversary year, to measure anything in yearlong increments might seem insignificant; however, in the life of a student, a year of growth, learning and achievement is significant. The consistency and continuity of a Penn Charter education over time is that our students learn how to reason, think deeply, question; they learn how to calculate math problems, and to analyze other types of problems and determine solutions; they literally learn to read and to read for meaning; they learn how to sit in silent worship, develop empathy and serve others. These are the constants at Penn Charter, having occurred every year of our long and storied history. What continues to evolve with time is how students learn. For example, Lower School students now learn to read in Reading Workshop, Middle School students experience science by growing fish and vegetables in an aquaponics project inside their classroom, and Upper School students spend time at lunch, outside the traditional classroom, discussing current events and pop culture and why these topics matter. English, math, science, foreign languages, history and social studies remain givens at Penn Charter. What the classroom looks like, what teaching looks like and, most importantly, what student learning looks like continue to evolve. This 325th anniversary year provided great moments for us to celebrate the past and champion the future of our school. It also provided a chance for us to take stock in what remains true at Old Penn Charter – a stellar educational program – while further reflecting on what today’s learning looks likes and how it must keep changing to best meet the needs of our students. Whether you measure your association with our school in years, decades, half centuries or beyond, I hope, in this magazine, you see the best of the tried-and-true and the best of the evolving Penn Charter. Each is our heritage, and I am proud of both!
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 TOP: Head of School Darryl J. Ford joins the Quaker Crew at a basketball game at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy.
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Please Recycle this Magazine
Campus Currents Bringing about Change Eugene Richardson of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black fighter pilots during War World II, spoke to students about the racial discrimination of the times, trailblazing men and women who came before him, and the changes in the military that the valor of the Tuskegee Airmen helped create.
Science, Tech, Engineering and a “Shake Table” Sixth grade science students’ creativity, problem solving, communication and engineering skills were put to the test in an exciting project that called on them to design and build an earthquake-safe building. Students worked in groups and researched seismic waves and damage caused by earthquakes. They taught themselves about building trusses, dampering systems and successful building designs in earthquake-prone areas. And they completed drawings of truss systems as well as two potential building designs. Upon approval of their design, students were given a bag of materials – a limited amount of straws, Popsicle sticks, tape, pushpins, paper and rubber bands – to build their structure. They were required to measure the mass of each item and follow parameters for their building’s base, number of floors and height. The structure also had to hold 250 grams of mass on the fourth floor. After a period of design modification, each group had its building put to the test on an earthquake “shake table.” The table, constructed to the teachers’ specifications with the help of PC facilities member Tim McDevitt, subjected each building to increasingly vigorous shaking that simulated light, moderate and – if the building advanced that far – severe earthquakes. Science teachers Jeff Humble and Patrick McDonough OPC ’90 said they intended that none of the students would succeed on the first try. “We wanted them to have the experience of failing – and not being afraid to try again,” Humble said. In the end, each group successfully created a freestanding building that withstood a light earthquake, and two groups managed to design and build a structure that withstood a severe earthquake on the “shake table.” Read more about Middle School science and an exciting aquaponics project on page 10.
Tuskegee Airman Ulysses S. Vance was introduced by his great niece, Victoria Watson, a PC freshman.
Richardson, 90, talked to students in grades 3 to 9 in February, as part of Penn Charter’s celebration of Black History Month. He was joined by other, younger members of the Tuskegee Airmen who are committed to keeping alive the ideals of the organization. “Along with the ABCs, you need three Ds,” Richardson told students. “You need a dream. And you have to have a desire for that dream to come true. You also need discipline.” He told the history of the famed Red Tails who escorted and protected other aviators on 200 missions over Europe, losing not one bomber. And he applauded the role of women in aviation history. “People who bring about change in this country are intelligent and courageous,” he said.
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Campus Currents
Bonjour, Québec! Penn Charter students in grades 8-12 visited Quebec City over Presidents’ Weekend for an amazing international experience.
Sharing Successes and Challenges of 3D Printing Upper School Science teacher and innovator Corey Kilbane presented at this year’s South-by-Southwest Interactive conference along with partners from the Smithsonian Institution and Autodesk, creators of 3D design software. Kilbane and his co-presenters addressed the challenges of creating, and then sharing, 3D scans of 138 million items in the Smithsonian collection – and how the work will impact learning and research in schools and academia. The partnership Kilbane has established between Penn Charter and the Smithsonian was featured in the Spring 2014 issue of Penn Charter that told the story of the new high-tech, hands-on work students are doing using 3D printing. Penn Charter magazine is archived at penncharter.com/publications.
The group, including four faculty chaperones from the foreign language department, traveled overnight on a bus and spent three days immersed in Quebec’s French culture. They ordered food and shopped for souvenirs en français, and participated in a French language scavenger hunt in a farmer’s market. Plenty of winter outdoor activities, too, including night tobogganing, improv comedy, eating delicious pastries called “beaver tails” and attending the famous Winter Carnival. The PC travelers hardly noticed the -19 degree weather. Visit the video archive at www.pennchartertube.com to view a film of the adventure, created by eighth grade French students.
Lobbying the Halls of Congress Members of the Penn Charter Green Clubs in both Upper and Middle School traveled to Washington, D.C., this winter to lobby members of Congress on behalf of environmental legislation. Working with the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), a Quaker lobby, the Penn Charter students spent the first day of a twoday trip learning about lobbying techniques and about two pieces of energy-efficiency legislation. On the second day, after a long evening of practice, the Penn Charter group traveled to the Capitol to lobby on behalf of the legislation to U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah and to the offices of Pennsylvania’s United States senators, Pat Toomey and Bob Casey. Mark Croxford, PC science teacher and Green Club advisor, accompanied the students along with two other teachers and a
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representative for the FCNL. “Our students were terrific,” Croxford said. “They felt they were doing something meaningful, and in the role of ‘constituent lobbyists’ they were – they were telling Congress what constituents think. The representatives were impressed with how eloquently they presented themselves.”
Campus Currents
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Penn’s Purpose: Making a Difference The influence of Penn Charter’s service learning program and the new Center for Public Purpose (Penn’s Purpose) is felt every day at school, and it reverberates, in many corners of the world, with our OPCs.
Penn’s Purpose sponsored its second TEDx event. The event in Gummere Library featured speakers on behalf of the Center for Returning Citizens in Philadelphia, the West Rockland Street Project in Germantown and the Thomas Mifflin School in East Falls. Penn Charter junior Jean Gleason (pictured here, second from right) spoke about what motivates her to volunteer with the Catholic Workers Free Clinic in Kensington.
Here are just three examples of recent public purpose work. Penn Charter’s long-standing service partnership with the Widener School, a public school for students with physical and medical disabilities, inspired junior Andy Nguyen to create “A Day in the Life of Widener,” a 14-minute film designed to help the school tell its story. Nguyen used a video camera, his curiosity and about 200 hours of his own time to create the film. “I was inspired by the students,” he explained. “They face so many challenges and they are so positive. I wanted them to have a polished piece to use for promotion.” Nguyen has presented the film to the Widener community; he spoke and showed the movie to the Penn Charter faculty and staff; and, in March, he presented the film to the Philadelphia School Reform Commission (SRC). In addition to Nyugen (center), the photo here shows School Superintendent William Hite, SRC members Bill Green OPC ’83 and OPC parent Feather Houstoun, and proud Head of School Darryl J. Ford.
At St. James School, an Episcopal school serving Allegheny West and one of Penn Charter’s service partners, Penn Charter teachers are helping develop science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) programs – and Penn Charter students are helping to teach them. In one “thinkering event,” St. James students in this under-served community explored integral concepts about solar, electric and mechanical energy through hands-on activities. PC chemistry teacher Corey Kilbane and Mabel Negrette from SPARKmakers designed the program, and three PC student interns – senior Tamera Davis, sophomore Jack Roseman and freshman Maria Perry – helped teach. Jim Ballengee, founder of Penn’s Purpose, plans that PC will train more interns to go out and spread this program into schools throughout the city.
View Andy Nguyen’s film on Penn Charter’s Vimeo channel at vimeo.com.
View a film about the program at St. James on Penn Charter’s YouTube channel, pennchartertube.
Recipe for a Snow Day Hoping for another whopper of a winter, Lower School students spread the word that a mysterious sequence of events, if followed precisely, would yield … a snow day!
Recipe (serves 960 students + faculty and staff) Before bedtime… 1. flush down the toilet one ice cube
3. p ut one spoon under your pillow
2. put one white crayon in the freezer
4. and, before you hop into bed, turn your PJs inside out.
Many little cooks whipped up this recipe but, after last winter’s record of eight snow days, the recipe served up only three snow days. (The day pictured here probably would have been a snow day, but it was already the first day of spring break!)
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Campus Currents
Go Charter! Towering Talent At the Easterns Prep Championships, one of the most prestigious swim meets in the country, freshman Reece Whitley broke the 25-year-old 100-yard breaststroke record and was named the male Swimmer of the Meet, the first PC swimmer so recognized. In anticipation of his winter season and through the Easterns meet, the 6-foot-8 Whitley attracted significant media attention, including a front-page story in the Philadelphia Inquirer titled “Towering Talent.” The swim world has been watching Whitley for years. When he was just 12, Whitley became the youngest swimmer to break a minute for the 100-yard breaststroke, and he went on to capture more national records in the 13-14 age group. This year the question many reporters posed: Will you swim at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016? Or Tokyo in 2020? Whitley did not rule it out, but he made clear that his shortterm goal is to swim well this summer at the U.S. Junior Nationals and earn a berth on the American team that will compete at the World Junior Championships in Singapore. A lifer at PC and a member of the Penn Charter Aquatic Club, Whitley in the media spotlight has been the same generous, thoughtful and positive presence he is when the cameras aren’t around.
Hoops Milestone –
MultiPLIED by Two Two juniors – Hannah Fox (above, with flowers) and Ayanna Matthews (below) – each scored their 1,000th point during the winter basketball season, joining an elite group of Penn Charter top scorers. Fox scored the 1,000th point of her high school career on Dec. 19 in a game against Archbishop Ryan. The breakaway layup with just over a minute left in the first half produced the 1,000th and 1,001st points of her young career. Matthews scored the 1,000th point of her high school career Jan. 9 in the first quarter of a home game against Episcopal Academy and went on to score 19 points in a 54-40 win over Episcopal. In an interview with the Inquirer, Fox said she did have a feeling she would reach the milestone this year but wasn’t sure when. “I always just go out and play to win,” she said. “You need to score to win, but you also need to play defense. Scoring is just what they count.” In a project at school last year, Matthews explained her motivation: “I started playing varsity basketball in eighth grade. It was tough, but it was definitely worth it. I like that intensity. I like the chance to bond with a team, to work hard, to work toward a goal.” Goal set, goal met!
The achievement sent PC archivists scurrying to the record books, where they discovered that Hannah and Ayanna now share company with at least four other PC girls who have topped 1,000 points: Stephanie (Straup) Saint-Germain OPC ’99, Melissa Knight OPC ’01, Virginia McMunigal OPC ’06 and Dianna Thomas-Palmer OPC ’12.
Committed to the Ivies Three Penn Charter seniors formally announced their commitments to play sports next year at Ivy League colleges and universities. Ben Szuhaj (left) will run track and cross country at Dartmouth College; Isabel Hirshberg will play squash at Princeton University; and Patrick McInerney will play football at the University of Pennsylvania. At a special recognition ceremony in Gummere Library attended by parents, coaches, teammates and friends, Director of Athletics and Athletic Planning John Thiel congratulated the students. “You three young people have chosen not only to study at Ivy League institutions but to compete. That is impressive,” Thiel said. “We wish you the very best.”
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The New Lunch
Strategic Vision
The “lunch-and-learn,” an established practice in many workplaces, is gaining traction at Penn Charter. In the past two years, since the establishment of the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC), many teachers are signing up to spend a lunch break in the TLC to learn about new technology, new teaching techniques and more. Beyond the traditional lunch-time meeting of a club, students are following suit. Sometimes programmed, sometimes spontaneous, these lunch sessions bring together students who don’t belong to a single group – what they share is a curiosity or concern.
Pop Lunch The Upper School English department’s Pop Lunch Lecture series is designed to teach students how to make meaning of what they are “consuming” as popular entertainment. Lisa Turner spearheaded the series, which sprang from interactions with students. “Since I began working at Penn Charter in 2013, I have enjoyed rich, compelling, meaningful conversations with students and colleagues about pop culture,” Turner writes on her blog, https://ideaturner. wordpress.com. “We often discuss what certain musicians and performers have meant to us, and to the culture. I would leave these discussions wishing that they could extend fully into the classroom, where kids could also analyze the commercials, videos, songs, celebrities and news events that are shaping their lives in ways that are difficult to understand.”
PC English teacher Lisa Turner spearheaded a lecture series on American popular culture to help students learn to analyze commercials, videos, songs, celebrities and news events that shape their lives.
This year, the English department programmed a four-part lunch series: • Turner and Shahidah Kalam Id-Din presented about hip-hop artist Nicki Minaj, illuminating what her work says about money, power, women, men and people of color. • English teacher TJ Ferrick and Lee Payton, chair of the social studies department, spoke about hip-hop as a cultural and personal phenomenon. • Visiting Haverford sociology professor Tyson Smith helped students analyze masculinity by watching and discussing two Super Bowl ads. •A nd Nora Landon, English teacher and advisor for the Mirror, analyzed “mansplaining” in pop songs, examining how male artists “explain” to women how those same women feel and think. “This analytical control,” Turner argues, “helps students identify, discuss, dissect and dismantle often toxic messages about gender, race and other elements of identity.” PC Next Time: The New Lunch & Visiting Artists
Teach-In One of the most passionate Meetings for Worship at Penn Charter this year occurred after police violence in Ferguson, Mo., and New York City. Student organizers from the Black Student Union and the Religious Life committee programmed the beginning of the Meeting to include a symbolic representation of lives lost in police shootings in recent years. Many students and teachers spoke of the effect of recent events, particularly as they relate to issues of race, justice and equality. The next day, Head of School Darryl J. Ford invited students to a lunchtime Teach-In in Gummere Library, providing another opportunity for discussion, collaboration and understanding.
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PC P RO F I LE S
Julian Alexander OPC ’34 by Elizabeth Spagnoletti OPC ’08
“I wander around with all the wisdom of the world in my left hand.” Julian Alexander OPC ’34, standing tall [second row, second from left] in a yearbook portrait of the Science Club – and in a selfie captured on his iPad mini.
1934: the year Babe Ruth announced his final season, the year Shirley Temple starred in her first film, the year Adolf Hitler rose to power, Edwin Hubble proved there are as many galaxies as stars in the Milky Way, and the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Cincinnati Reds 64-0. In June of this tumultuous year, Julian Alexander Jr. and his classmates graduated from William Penn Charter School. Eighty years later, Alexander was there to watch the Class of 2014 join him as OPCs. From his home in Sarasota, Fla. On his iPad mini. “It was absolutely fascinating,” Alexander said of watching the live stream of Commencement. Though he feels he has always been connected with Penn Charter in some way since his graduation, two pieces in particular struck him about the experience of the live stream. “First, getting back, live, into Penn Charter after 50 years or so [since visiting the campus]. Second, just the scientific possibility of doing it.”
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Alexander, who grew up in West Philadelphia and attended Penn Charter beginning in fifth grade, said the biggest “culture shock” that came with watching the live stream of Commencement was due to the presence of females in the class. The difference, he said, is “monumental.” His desire to keep up with the rapidly changing technological landscape can be traced back to Christmas Day, 1980. One of Alexander’s nieces had just graduated from college as a computer studies major. “As a scientist, I couldn’t stand the idea of a cute little girl talking circles around me,” he said. So, he went out and bought one of the first compact computers available, one that hooked up to his television set and
could program very simple things. Alexander has followed computer development ever since. At the age of 98, after careers in the petroleum business and as a Presbyterian pastor, Alexander incorporates technology into his life as seamlessly as any millennial. Every Sunday night, he Skypes for an hour with his son who lives in California. He is enthralled with his iPad. “I have an iPad mini, which I couldn’t do without,” he said. “I wander around with all the wisdom of the world in my left hand.” Alexander reads all of his news and books, stays in touch with his family and remains connected to Penn Charter, all from his iPad. There is one form of technology that Alexander has not embraced. “I don’t have a cell phone,” he said, before adding wryly, “I don’t have that many people I want to talk to.” PC
Commencement 2015 Commencement for the Class of 2015 begins at 10:30 o’clock Saturday morning, June 6. Visit penncharter.com to watch the live stream.
PC P RO F I LE S
Deborah Gordon Goodrich OPC ’94 by Jared Scott Tesler
At last year’s inaugural OPCs in Education Forum, a professional networking event created by Upper School math teacher Bruce MacCullough, Deborah Gordon Goodrich learned of her fellow OPCs’ contributions to their chosen field. Some were founding and heading charter schools. Others were establishing service learning programs. Still others were empowering students to make positive changes in their schools and communities. “I went home energized and encouraged to start making changes in my own classroom,” said Goodrich, a member of the mathematics department at Montclair Kimberley Academy, one of New Jersey’s largest independent day schools, where she currently teaches seventh grade Algebra IA — the first half of the Algebra I curriculum — and eighth grade Geometry. A few weeks later, a budgeting exercise performed by Goodrich’s eighth grade advisees revealed that not all of today’s youth know the value of a dollar. Inspired to inject the issues of diversity, sustainability and cultural competence into the existing algebra curriculum, Goodrich and one of her departmental colleagues, Gary Kaufman, began crafting a series of socially
conscious math word problems that would enrich their classroom activities and discussions. The project was made possible by Montclair Kimberley Academy’s Blauvelt Professional Study Advancement Award. Intended to promote the integration of character development in the classroom, the award provides opportunities for faculty to spend time over the summer designing units of study grounded in fostering students’ moral and intellectual habits. “I wanted to see our math classes play a larger role in our school’s mission to engage each student intellectually and personally with the world,” Goodrich explained. “Each problem is multilayered so that students apply and extend their understanding of algebraic skills and concepts and then use and think about their results as they discuss open-ended ethical questions.” Last summer, over the course of an eightweek period, Goodrich and Kaufman developed roughly 50 word problems. Humdrum mathematical exercises that once dealt with gym memberships and phone plans have given way to topics of “enlightening, stimulating and productively messy” conversation that have included gender roles in the workplace, politics, religion, government, finance and the environment. The content includes up-to-theminute data provided by such sources as Forbes magazine and WNYC, a division of New York Public Radio. Goodrich maintains that a qualityover-quantity mindset is necessary and has definitely been worth it in the long run. “We have had many interesting conversations about the social topics that we’ve covered,” she said. “One of the things that we had to come to terms with early in the year was not getting through as many problems as we used to complete during class so that we could allow for sufficient time to foster these conversations.”
Openly sharing their work with other educators — a stipulation of the grant — initially involved Google Docs and is now being accomplished through a blog. This spring, Goodrich and Kaufman will present their project during a gathering of more than 8,000 of their peers in Boston, at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Meeting and Exposition, the nation’s premier math education event.
“I wanted to see our math classes … engage each student intellectually and personally with the world.” As the number of word problems in their repertoire continues to grow, the duo has bigger plans in store for introducing the problems to even more audiences across the country and around the world. “Ideally, we would like to create a workbook or textbook supplement for schools or publishers to purchase to use with their Algebra I curriculum,” Goodrich said. “Eventually, we plan to create something similar for the Pre-Algebra and general sixth grade math curricula.” The daughter of longtime, now-retired Penn Charter math teacher Robert Gordon Hon. 1689, Goodrich expressed gratitude for her Penn Charter experience, which included “many talented teachers who demonstrated the power that a good teacher has to bring meaning to a concept.” They have inspired her to follow in their footsteps. PC Read about OPCs in Education on page 32.
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Science
Sustainability
Strategic Vision
How a Fish Farm
Changed A Science Classroom (And That’s Just the Beginning) by Connie Langland The tilapia fingerlings – 50 of them, supposedly all males – arrived in late October, signaling the start of seventh grade’s venture into aquaponics and sustainable food production. The students measured the fish (they averaged just four centimeters, about 1.5 inches) and learned to calculate how much food to drop into the 110-gallon tank each day. They planted lettuce and basil seeds and set the plant trays into hydroponic beds connected to the tank. And they began to learn about the cycle of life.
“At first, the kids couldn’t understand how the 50 tilapia were going to help the lettuce,” said Middle School science teacher Jeff Humble. “But then we talked about fish waste and how bacteria breaks down the waste and how the plant roots absorb that nutrient-rich water. They began to make the connection.” By the time students harvested their first crop of lettuce they were hooked on this unique way of learning science. And, what they were learning was taking them far beyond any science textbook. Their little farm system reflects efforts globally to
improve nutrition in poor communities – including tilapia farming initiatives pioneered by William N. Mebane IV OPC ’76 that are generating thousands of pounds of protein for children in Haiti. “It really opens my eyes to feeding families in less developed countries,” said seventh grader Anastasia Lewis. “With the right tools and the right supplies, here’s another possibility for helping people survive.” Indeed, the biology is simple, the techniques used in sustainable food production are doable, and the implementation is life-changing.
(Left) The original tilapia were not all males, as promised, and the fish soon began to reproduce. The offspring, shown here, swim in a separate tank where it is possible to observe their markings and their growth.
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Science
Sustainability
How A fish farm changed a science classroom
For Humble and fellow science teacher Kevin Berkoff, work on the project started late last summer, when a pallet arrived on campus stacked with 200-plus pieces of PVC piping, two plant beds, water pump, fish net, the tank for the fish and more. The teachers set about putting the system together at the back of the science classroom they share. It was a matter of trial and error, sweat equity — and water on the floor, an issue resolved with a “pond liner.” By the time the fish were delivered, the students were back at school and primed for their responsibilities. There was lots to do. “It’s hands-on working with fish, handson working with plants. They’re doing water testing almost every day. They have to figure out how much to feed the fish every day to ensure maximum sustained growth until May,” Berkoff said.
“They love it because it’s something new, something different. And we can always tie it into the curriculum. We talk about respiration and photosynthesis and how each ties into the system we have.” The water flows from the fish barrel through filter tanks to the plant beds and then back through tubes to the barrel. Basically, it’s a method of converting metabolic waste (“good” bacteria, the teachers explain) into food. Seventh grader Sekia Phillips recalled being wowed by the set-up. “It’s cool to have fish swimming and plants growing in our classroom,” she said. “Aquaponics – that’s a word I’d never heard before.” The entire experience held appeal to Cooper Berkoff (and not because he is Kevin Berkoff ’s son). The seventh grader mulled the commercial possibilities. One
Science teachers Kevin Berkoff (left) and Jeff Humble share a classroom and an innovative teaching tool that has allowed them to retool the seventh grade science curriculum.
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assignment asked students, working in groups, to design their own aquaponics farm capable of raising 200 pounds of fish every seven months, plus edible greens, on a budget of $10,000. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever done before,” Cooper said. “You can grow fish and not kill fish in the wild and after a while you can make a profit off of it. It might be a big thing in the future.” Current aquaculture of high-volume fish such as salmon requires 6-8 pounds of wild fish – for fish meal – to produce 1 pound of fish for sale; the system at Penn Charter, if done properly, should produce fish using no fish meal. The tilapia in the PC tank are fed Purina’s Aquamax, a feed formulated for tilapia, trout and other fish. The two plant beds, measuring just three feet by five feet, produced a bumper crop: The mid-February tally was 394 heads of
“It really opens my eyes to feeding families in less developed countries. With the right tools and the right supplies, here’s another possibility for helping people survive.” lettuce, with the bounty delivered to the Penn Charter dining hall. There have been successes, and surprises. Berkoff said that, in March, students and teachers were surprised to discover “we have some babies in the system.” Possibly hundreds of babies, in the estimation of Humble. The tilapia were billed as being all male, preferred because they grow faster, but the teachers found fry and fingerlings not only in the fish tank but in tubing and the waters of the plant tables. “One female sneaks in, and chaos happens!” observed Anastasia.
The science room still has a tank for goldfish (above, left), but the aquaponics project, which includes the 110-gallon fish tank, vegetable beds, a pump and lots of PVC piping, fills the back of the room.
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Science
Sustainability
How A fish farm changed a science classroom
When the teachers have a question about the workings of their system, they turn to someone Humble describes as the “go-to guy” – Bill Mebane, director of the Sustainable Aquaculture Initiative (SAI) at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. Mebane has been involved with aquaculture since the 1980s and started working on projects in Haiti in 1999. Together with others from the Marine Biological Laboratory he works with various
organizations in Haiti to increase tilapia production. Currently, their work is focused at Christianville, in Gessier, Haiti, where they are now harvesting more than 500 pounds each month to feed a local school and orphanage. The aim, Mebane said, is to produce 2,000 pounds of fish a month to meet the needs of 1,200 students enrolled at the school there. Mebane views aquaponics in schools as a wonderful way for students to learn not only about science but about pressing
global issues. The Penn Charter project is the third he has helped establish; the others are the Taft School in Connecticut and Promise Academy, a Harlem Children’s Zone school in New York City. “Kids get tired of laptops, iPads, papers and pens. With aquaponics, they see the results. If they make a mistake with chemistry, fish are going to die. It’s not just a red X on an assignment,” said Mebane, who visited the PC seventh-grade science classes to discuss their project and its link to his work. One goal is for PC students to video-chat with Promise Academy students to share ideas about what plants and techniques to use – maybe even recipes. “Kids working with kids is a huge benefit,” Mebane said. Humble agreed, saying, “We want to reach out to them, and together the kids can solve problems that might arise.” Humble and Berkoff, who together won a Penn Charter professional development grant to start the aquaponics project, said they have high hopes for the future of the PC fish farm beyond May, when the first crop was scheduled to meet a humane end.
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William N. Mebane IV OPC ’76, an expert in sustainable food production, said that on a lot as small as this one near the Queen Lane rail station a successful aquaponics farm could create a food production system capable of producing fresh fish and vegetables for close to 1,400 people.
They hope for bigger tanks, maybe even a greenhouse, and a chance to produce large quantities of tilapia to distribute in the community. “Kevin and I really learned on the fly,” said Humble. “But the more we get involved with it and the more our kids get involved, the idea of what we can do going forward becomes that much bigger and more exciting.”
An Intriguing What If The aquaponics project has key backers. Beth Glascott, assistant head of school, herself a science teacher, told visitors recently that with the project, “the teachers have retooled the seventh grade science curriculum in a wonderful way.” In remarks to the same group, Head of School Darryl J. Ford praised the project as “fun, good, new, engaging.” Ford explained
that the project represents another implementation of the school’s Strategic Vision, in this case the goal to advance the educational program to provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in a complex and changing world. That vision also calls upon the school to prepare graduates to live lives that make a difference – which led Ford to raise an intriguing “what if ”: What if Penn Charter could establish a large-scale tilapia farm “in a neighborhood five minutes from our campus where food insecurity is a reality?” In urban areas with poor soil, restricted space and limited access to healthy food choices, a food production system like the one at PC could create a significant impact using a minimal footprint. Such a project, which Ford envisions as part of PC’s new Center for Public Purpose, could engage students in the science and economics of the endeavor and at the same time, he said, could serve as “an example of our public purpose of trying to help the world and help some very specific needs in our neighborhood.” Mebane said the vision is “100 percent feasible.” He has even identified a vacant lot near the Queen Lane station where he thinks, in the future, Penn Charter students could create a food production system capable of producing fresh fish and vegetables for close to 1,400 people (20,000 pounds of fish, plus associated vegetables). “These numbers are conservative,” Mebane said. Humble and Berkoff agreed that if the project were to expand, students in multiple grade levels could have roles to play. And, there might be opportunities to visit the Christianville tilapia ponds in Haiti or establish aquaponics in rural Cambodia at the school founded by OPC parents Tom Caramanico and Anne Caramanico, clerk of Penn Charter’s Overseers. “The beauty of Penn Charter is that we can do this,” Berkoff said. “When something exciting is pitched to us, we can run with it. We have the financial support, the school support and the student interest to really make it work.” PC
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It’s about Fit It’s about Choice It’s about Possibilities College visits, followed by more visits. Application deadlines, and more deadlines. High anxiety and the thrill of acceptance. by Connie Langland For students and their parents, the college application process presents a mix of worry and euphoria, of excitement and the occasional stumble. The juniors and seniors begin to explore options – where to go and what to study – and take first steps into the realm of adult decision-making. For all concerned, there is an abiding sense of limitless options and boundless futures. “This is such an exciting time,” Dan Evans, director of Penn Charter’s College Counseling Office, said. “Students recognize that they have the skills to take the lead and decide where they want to spend the next four years of their life. Do they want a particular size or location, is there a campus culture that attracts them, are they willing to leave the U.S.? It can be intimidating, but we remind them that it can also be empowering.” Over the years, Evans and fellow college counselors Jody Sweeney and Diona Nicolucci have shepherded scores of students on the journey toward college and career with the singular goal of matching the interests and abilities of each student with that just-right school. Their work, in sum, does no less than help enable the dreams and aspirations of Penn Charter students in an increasingly competitive admissions scene. “The whole college admission process is
worrisome and ridiculously complex and much more competitive now than what it used to be,” said Gerry Hatfield, parent of PC graduates MaryKate OPC ’09 and Gavin OPC ’14. “The counselors are outstanding, really terrific,” Hatfield said. “I felt I could trust them to work with my kids. I didn’t feel the need to micromanage things.” Seran Schug, parent of graduates Jorin OPC ’11 and Ani OPC ’13, concurred. “The counselors were calm and confident and followed the lead of the kids, which I felt was
really important. It made for a very reasonable process, I have to say,” Schug noted. The college process isn’t what it used to be. • In the days of Headmaster John F. Gummere, Penn Charter seniors got a call to the front office to meet with the legendary “Doc Gummere” and learn the name of the college – usually just one – where he thought they should apply. Baby boomer parents who attended college might have applied to two or three colleges. Today, it is not unusual for Penn Charter students to apply to seven, nine, even 11 schools. • From beginning to end, the process has moved online: for research about colleges, for comparative data that shows how a student’s grades and test scores match up not only with a prospective college but with OPCs who applied to the same school, for applying to a school, and for receiving the school’s decision. • For parents, the process is high stakes, ending with a college tuition price tag, for a private college, of up to $250,000 and a heartfelt expectation that the college choice will launch their child on a successful career trajectory – and a happy life.
The Right Match In this complex, high-stakes endeavor, Penn Charter’s college counselors take on
Jody Sweeney, in the Junior Seminar, a trimester course, helps students select senior-year courses.
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At PC, three experienced college counselors offer data, strategies and encouragement during the high-stakes college admissions process. the role of strategist, helping students make choices and plan campaigns for admission. They offer unconditional support through the arduous process and fortify students and parents with data. Students can rely on the counselors’ steadying hand as essays and applications take shape, as well as to maintain perspective and a sense of humor. The College Counseling Office “helped me put together the best application possible,” said senior Nile Hodges. The counselors “make sure you get done what you need to get done. They don’t let you forget those deadlines.” Hodges chose to write the all-important college essay about a fundraising basketball tournament he organized. Evans, his counselor, “was always open to looking at it. He’s seen a lot of good essays so I felt confident taking his feedback,” the senior said. “It turned out really well.” For students, parents and counselors, there is an ongoing rebalancing of options, with schools being added or deleted from wish lists. The counselor’s task is to manage expectations without diminishing aspirations.
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“From our earliest meetings with families, we have two main themes,” Evans said. “One is, own your search, have an open mind. This is exciting and you are looking for a fit, looking for a match.” At the same time, he said, “we’re also giving families a reality check. It’s very important to realize what the current admission landscape is like. While we want students to cast their nets wide, we also want them to target their searches appropriately. “We say it’s okay to have a preference but don’t get locked in on just one institution. And students get that. They realize that it’s silly to think there’s only one college for them. We expect them to move forward, and they do.”
Designed for Success The realm of college counseling at PC has evolved since 2004, the year Evans arrived to head the program. Sure, there are still paper resources, college directories and the like in the College Counseling Office suite, but “now they sit dusty,” Evans said. The process is largely a paperless venture. “Now, you search for
colleges online. You apply electronically, and in many cases you find out whether you’ve been admitted, wait listed or denied electronically, as well,” he said. “The days when the big fat envelope was good news and the thin envelope bad news have pretty much disappeared.” PC College Counseling, too, has gone electronic. Its webpages at www. penncharter.com/college include almost everything students and families need to know about the application process and deadlines, including useful links to sites with college profiles, scholarships and gap-year offerings. “Technology is huge in terms of how our office operates,” Nicolucci said. In addition to individual meetings, College Counseling has developed online surveys so the counselors can learn about each rising senior: a “get-to-know-you,” a personality, and a learning-style survey. Students also log on to Naviance, an online college planning tool that helps them keep track of documents and deadlines. Naviance also provides data that shows them and their parents, by college, the application results of previous PC seniors, which helps students compare
their GPA and testing to develop a sense of whether a school is a reach, a possible or a likely choice for admission. In 2014, Sweeney and Writing Center director Sara Moses created an online writing diagnostic that, through a series of questions, seeks to identify a student’s strengths and writing style – useful information when the student is trying to decide which of five essay prompts to select for the Common Application. The Common App, as it is called, is the undergraduate application form, widely accepted, that saves the hassle of filling out multiple, duplicative forms. In a move that has symbolic value, the College Counseling team, which also includes administrative assistant Kathleen MacMurray, has new quarters in the heart of the Upper School. The space off the main hallway, across from the visual arts studio, formerly housed a computer lab, rendered unnecessary when the school moved to a 1:1 laptop program in 2014. The college counselors previously had separate offices in a different hallway. “Now we have a defined space on campus with a conference room. We are visible and present. Students can drop in anytime, and if I need to find a student, I can go out in the hallway and find him,” Nicolucci noted. The suite’s conference room is well-suited for visiting admissions officers to meet with students individually or in groups.
Knowing Yourself, Your Options For ninth and 10th graders and their parents, the counseling team offers a basic message, Evans said: “Academics matter. The most successful students utilize all the support that exists here – the Writing Center, peer tutors, talented teachers, a Math Center. We also advise to find some things outside of academics that are fun and might open doors for leadership opportunities junior and senior year.” Previously, the counselors became directly involved with students in junior year. Beginning with the 2014-2015 academic year, each student will be assigned a counselor in sophomore year. The counselor will serve as a point person for the family as they approach the exploration process in junior year.
“There isn’t one school that is the right answer – there are many right answers, many places where you will grow and thrive,” Nicolucci said. There are more than 3,000 accredited colleges in the United States and a number of fine colleges in Canada and the United Kingdom. “We have such a diverse student body here, and they are looking at a lot of different schools, programs and opportunities.” Last year, for example, PC seniors matriculated to Penn, Princeton, Yale, Oberlin, Pomona, Morehouse,
Georgia Tech and the Fashion Institute of Technology, to name a few. The conversations are informed by the counselors’ own deep expertise in the field of college admissions. They keep abreast of the trends and stay active in the admissions industry. The counselors recruit admissions officers into visiting the PC campus: representatives of 137 institutions visited last fall. “PC is a nationally recognized school that colleges want to visit,” Evans said, explaining that
College Counseling for Parents In junior year, parents and students begin the first of a series of joint meetings with the college counselor to whom the student is assigned. But preparing for the college admissions process begins for students in sophomore year and, for parents, as early as ninth grade, which is when parents are invited to the first in a series of special college counseling programs. Coffee With College Counselors. Ninth grade parents meet with college counselors in the first year of Upper School for an overview of the college process and Q&A session. College Keynote. This evening program for ninth and 10th grade parents offers insights and tips from a nationally recognized admissions officer. In 2015, Stephen Farmer, vice provost for enrollment and undergraduate admissions at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, delivered the keynote. Athletic Recruitment Workshop. The College Counseling Office, in cooperation with the Athletic Department, hosts a workshop each fall for 10th and 11th grade student-athletes and their parents on athletic recruiting and the college process. Topics covered include building an athletic resume, marketing and networking with coaches, the NCAA Eligibility Center, and official and unofficial visits. College Kick-Off Program. This is considered to be the formal start of the college counseling efforts with the junior class parents. Some of the aspects of the college search process that are covered include: goals of the college search process, college search timeline, standardized testing, the importance of visiting campuses, creating a balanced college list, and financial aid and scholarships. College AdmissionS Case Studies. In the spring of junior year, students and parents are organized into mock college admission selection committees. Deans and directors of admission from colleges and universities facilitate an interactive application review and decision exercise. Past participants have included admission officers from Lehigh, Penn, Columbia, Davidson, Washington & Jefferson, Haverford, Swarthmore, Skidmore, Augustana, Delaware, Richmond, Lafayette, Yale, Puget Sound and Wellesley. Senior Nuts and Bolts Program. Somewhat of an “Application 101” program for the senior class parents. Counselors discuss application options and strategies, mechanics of applying, colleges visiting Penn Charter and deadlines.
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Before coming to PC, Dan Evans worked on “the other side of the desk,” as a college admissions officer.
counselors use those admission officer visits to communicate the quality of a Penn Charter education and the level of preparedness of our OPCs. “We talk about curricular changes, physical enhancements and, certainly this year, we’re talking a lot about the 325th anniversary.” The counselors also travel, visiting 20 to 30 college campuses a year. “We think it’s important to maintain connections with schools where we have a high volume of students applying as well as places that seem worth exploring,” Evans said. The student-to-counselor ratio at Penn Charter is about 37-1. Additionally, almost half of the Upper School faculty are involved in writing comprehensive teacher recommendations for students’ applications that are personalized and rich with anecdotes. Graduating classes average about 110 students who head off to 65-70 different colleges each year. A recent trend has 90 percent of seniors applying for early admission, requiring both students and counselors to meet early filing deadlines. Sarah Brody-Bizar, a senior, said she found the Junior Seminar to be an eye-opener.
“They give you the basics – the difference between college and university, between a liberal-arts college and a big university, the SATs versus the ACTs,” Brody-Bizar said. “It’s really great to have someone walk you through basic details.” Most valuable, she said, were the conversations she had with her counselor. “Ultimately, it comes down to the counselors talking with you, saying maybe you should consider this or that. Those talks were great for opening my eyes to things I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.”
Senior Year & The Essay Sweeney said she tells students that the application process can be “like a part-time job or extracurricular activity” in the time and effort consumed in the first trimester of senior year. “It’s a very personal process,” she said. “Their needs vary greatly, from crafting the personal statement to making sure their extracurricular list has all the details they will want to share. All that takes time.”
Parents, she said, can serve as “a guide and a sounding board,” but colleges expect the applicant to lead the process. “Parents need to have faith in the skill sets their children have developed.” Senior J.B. Bradbeer agreed, saying “students need to take the initiative. Parents should wait for their kids to bring it up or they run the risk of becoming too involved, which would be detrimental.” The counseling team stays attentive, Bradbeer said. Evans, his counselor, was “very organized, which is key. He knew my situation and all the details and all the deadlines.” Hodges, Brody-Bizar, Bradbeer and the counseling staff all offer a key piece of advice: Over the summer, rising seniors should craft a draft, or at least an outline, of the essay they intend to use in their application. First trimester senior year is jam-packed, the students said. “You want to take classes to show you are still pursuing academic excellence, but at the same time you are juggling supplemental essays, tests, quizzes along with filling out the application,” Bradbeer said. “It was stressful, to say the least.” Students will have already received guidance in the spring, when juniors meet in small groups with 11th grade English teachers to study the makings of a good essay. No matter good intentions over the summer, the essays typically get drafted, revised, revised again in the fall. The Writing Center is a partner in this endeavor. “We see perhaps 300 visits to the Writing Center in the fall trimester,” Moses said during an interview in the Writing Center, located in the lower level of the Upper School. “That’s an enormous amount of time down here spent on college essays.” Some seniors have an especially heavy workload, with applications to multiple colleges and extra essays required by those schools. “The essay is a marketing piece,” Moses said. “As such, is the student pointing out characteristics that are not represented in
Academics matter. The most successful students utilize all the support that exists here – the Writing Center, peer tutors, talented teachers, a Math Center.”
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their application in any other way? We want to make sure that in the 650-word limit students are really showcasing their strengths.” Brody-Bizar, who volunteers at the Writing Center as a peer tutor and who crafted her essay around that work, credited the counseling team with keeping a close watch on the essay-writing process. “Not only do they recommend that you go to the Writing Center, they won’t let you send out an essay if they think it’s not good enough. They’ll point out things you need to work on.” Such close scrutiny is important, given the competitive college admission process. Colleges are reporting increased numbers of applications each year, Evans noted. “And that means our kids this year have had to be more competitive than ever before.”
Anticipation Recent OPCs have enjoyed great success gaining admission to their top-choice schools. Last spring, an annual survey by the College Counseling Office reported that 99 percent of students in the Class of 2014 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. Junior Paige Hodges, Nile’s younger sister, said the counseling that got under way junior year made clear “what we need to do from essays to standardized tests to grades, so we really know what is expected of us.” There’s both worry and excitement, she said. “I want to make sure everything is in order, but I’m also excited because it reminds me I’m about to enter a new phase of life.” For the counseling team, the reward is in guiding students on this journey. “It’s a great time in young people’s lives – that transition from junior to senior to freshman year of college, and the search to find places they are really, really excited about,” Sweeney said. “And to be able to work with students at this transition point is extremely satisfying.” PC
Addendum: Bradbeer will attend Lafayette College in September; Brody-Bizar has selected Columbia; and Hodges has chosen Howard.
By The Numbers
In an increasingly competitive college admissions scene, the multifaceted College Counseling program is one of the unsung benefits of a PC education. An end-of-year survey showed that 99 percent of students in the Class of 2014 are attending one of their top-choice colleges. MORE THAN HALF WERE ADMITTED TO A “most competitive college” according to Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges.
Seniors Attending One of Their Top-Choice Colleges:
94%
92%
93%
94%
91%
94%
99%
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Approximately 20%
of each graduating class is
recruited to play sports in college. Currently, OPCs are competing in the ACC, Ivy, Patriot, Centennial, NESCAC, CACC, SoCon and Big 10 conferences.
3
full-time college counselors.
Together, the counselors have more
than 50 years of college admissions experience on both the high school and college side of the desk.
137
representing a diversity of college choices nationally and internationally, visited PC last year to meet with seniors and answer their questions.
300
PC seniors matriculate to
65 to 70
fall visits at the Writing
Center from seniors seeking feedback on their college essays
90
college admissions officers,
different colleges each year. (View the full list online at penncharter.com/college.)
% That’s the percentage of seniors applying for early admission.
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Cinderella story
Strategic Vision
Like an efficient and coordinated crew, the individuals charting the rebirth of Penn Charter rowing pulled the program smoothly and surely forward in the past eight years, building momentum and identity.
Then, in the months leading up to this season, they turned up the speed. The team is now rowing out of a new boathouse. They are rowing with new, worldclass boats and gear. And they are under the care and tutelage of inspired and gifted coaches. “I’m not sure that people understood how the core principles of the Strategic Vision – excellence, innovation, collaboration – would apply to athletics. But they apply just as they do to academics and the arts,” said Head of School Darryl J. Ford. “The changes we have made in the crew program exemplify that: We are collaborating with the best talent in the sport, we have invested in excellent equipment. We even incorporated into our academic program an eloquent and inspiring piece of literature about the life-changing power of the sport.” (See sidebar, “The Fourth Dimension.”) Penn Charter had teams on the Schuylkill River in the ’30s and ’40s, and in the mid 1940s a remarkable squad of PC oarsmen rowed for Penn Charter out of Vesper Boat Club; in the spring of 1945, the Penn Charter boys senior eight won the Stotesbury Cup. John B. Kelly Sr.,
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the three-time Olympic gold medal champion in crew, was head coach of that team, and his son John B. Kelly Jr. OPC ’45 was captain. (The younger Kelly went on to win the bronze in crew at the 1956 Olympics. Legend has it that he gave the medal to his sister, the actress Grace Kelly, as a wedding present when she married Prince Rainier.) Despite that pedigree and success, crew at PC disbanded for decades. There were short bursts of activity, including girls who competed under the school name in 19992003, passionate rowers who trained yearround and paid for their own coaching, equipment and boathouse membership. By the mid 2000s, many people, including Ford, were wondering why Penn Charter didn’t have a crew team. “Given our remarkable crew legacy and proximity to the water, of course Penn Charter should compete on the river,” Ford said.
Penn Charter brought crew back beginning in 2007 as a club sport. Then-parent J.B. Kelly III OPC ’78, a grandson of Kelly Sr. and nephew of Kelly Jr., worked with Ford and the Athletics Department to establish the program and secure Vesper as its home. Crew
The Fourth Dimension The Penn Charter faculty and staff, and all of the students in Upper School, read one book each summer that they can share and reflect on when everyone returns to school in September. Last summer, the all-school read selection was a book promoted to Head of School Darryl J. Ford by a member of the crew team. Ethan Grogan, a senior and a member of the Upper School Book Club, said he noticed The Boys in the Boat on a display in Gummere Library last year and was immediately drawn to the cover art showing a rowing shell on calm waters. The book, by Daniel James Brown, tells the epic story of the 1936 U.S. men’s Olympic eightoar rowing team. “Of course, I liked the rowing parts,” Grogan said, “and the themes of brotherhood and working together were super inspirational.” Ford was inspired by the book, too. In September and often throughout the academic year, he reminded faculty and staff of a lesson learned in the book: The secret of a successful crew is their swing, a “fourth dimension” that makes it possible for a crew to row with abandon because they are in perfect harmony with their teammates. “That fourth dimension,” Ford said, “that’s what we want to achieve at Penn Charter.”
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became a coed junior varsity sport in 2008 and a coed varsity sport in 2009. The team slowly grew in membership and coaching staff and, modestly, in equipment. Michael Moulton, Penn Charter’s director of educational technology, joined the team as an assistant coach in 2010 and recalls those early days of renting boats and equipment. “When you borrow somebody’s equipment it is not the same. It is not possible to rig your boats properly – and picture having lots of size 18 shoes, but girls who need a size 2,” Moulton said. “You can do it. And we did it. But you could do better.” Contrast that with this season. Moulton remembered a day early this spring when the team took the bubble wrap off its new fleet of boats. He recalled the look of amazement on the face of Helen Tompkins, an elite rower who competes nationally and internationally and is newly hired as an assistant coach for PC crew, as the wrap came off to reveal a brand new Filippi rowing shell. “These are really good!” Tompkins said. Said Moulton: “We were rowing Fiats. These are Ferraris.” When John Thiel, director of athletics and athletic planning, came to Penn Charter in 2012 he knew fields, gymnasiums, pools and the high school sports which athletes play on them and in them. Not so much boats and a river. Tasked by Ford to take the program to the next level, Thiel spent two years learning the sport and then analyzing what he needed to
put in place to elevate Penn Charter crew. He identified the need to make changes in three key areas: coaching, equipment, boathouse. Thiel hired as a consultant to the team PC parent John Riley, an Olympic rower and U.S. Rowing Hall of Famer. “John helped a great deal,” Thiel said. “I asked him questions, bounced ideas off him. He reduced the time it took me to learn, and he helped me avoid mistakes – particularly related to purchasing equipment.” Riley, a living legend on Boathouse Row, continues as a consultant to the team, working not with the PC rowers, but with their coaches. He helps the coaches plan indoor and outdoor training for the athletes, teaches them how to rig the boats to a millimeter of perfection, and is a ready resource. Thiel promoted Katherine Farrell, an assistant coach for the PC team for two years, to head coach this year. Farrell, who rowed for Georgetown, is talented, motivated and a leader, Thiel said. And she knows the PC athletes and the program. With advice from Riley, Thiel purchased a set of new boats – two quads, three doubles and two singles – from Filippi, Italian manufacturer of rowing racing shells. He doubled the ability of PC coaches to work with rowers on the water by adding a second coaching launch, and he invested in new oars and gear. Now all the shoes fit, but the expansion would only be possible, Thiel knew, if PC changed from Vesper, where space was limited, to a boathouse that could better accommodate the 30-member team. Penn Charter is now rowing out of the venerable Undine Barge Club at #13 Boathouse Row. Undine is a stone and wood jewel box of a building designed by architect Frank Furness and built in 1882. Remarking on the beauty of the building, Moulton said, “even being in the changing room is like being on a movie set.” Thiel said the size of the club, the organization within the boathouse and the welcome members have given to the PC students convinces him that Undine is “a good match.”
Caitlin Schaefer has joined Farrell, Moulton and Tompkins as an assistant coach, bringing not only her skill as a rower but her knowledge of the boathouse: Schaefer is the daughter of Undine’s captain, George Schaefer, and Undine has been a second home to her since her childhood. When the Penn Charter team rowed out of Undine for the first time this spring, Thiel was
satisfied that the program was established on a firm foundation that would allow it to grow into a strong, competitive experience for our student athletes. “The mission of the program is to make it possible for our students to achieve at the highest possible level of the sport,” Thiel said. “I think we have given them the tools and the coaching they need to achieve that.” PC
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A School From the Old World
A School For the New World
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Re-Investing in Reading at Penn Charter The Dick-and-Jane days of the basal reader, a textbook used to teach generations of children how to read, disappeared long ago from the Penn Charter classroom, along with chairs in straight rows and a teacher’s desk at the front of the class. by Jena Croxford
Critics argue that basal reader textbooks and comprehension questions and tests central to the “look-and-say” method of reading instruction left many students bored and unable to make meaning of texts – or, worse yet, deterred reading for pleasure. At Penn Charter, the basal reader disappeared long ago, and now the Reading Workshop, a curriculum developed by Columbia University’s Reading and Writing Project, is how reading is taught. The Reading Workshop is designed to give students significant amounts of time to read books at their own level. Indeed, as reading instruction and research has evolved, a broader picture of what it means to be a reader has emerged. “It’s not just the pendulum swinging again,” Jennifer Servallo, literacy coach at Penn Charter, said. “Essentially, we’ve outgrown our old practices because we’ve got new research.” Educators now understand reading development across several dimensions, including engagement (picking good books, desire to read and stamina when reading), print work (decoding skills), fluency (reading with expression, intonation and automaticity), comprehension (understanding what is read) and conversation (talking about what you’ve read).
Choice as a Motivator Children just learn better when they’re engaged. That was a key consideration behind Penn Charter’s decision to employ the Reading Workshop theory just over a decade ago. “Start with a book – tucked under the arm – that a student wants to read, and you have a connection,” David Kern, director of the Lower School, said. “In the morning, when kids are waiting to go to their classroom, I’ll often say ‘Hey what are you reading?’ With most every kid it’s easy to find almost an instant hook. There is just a palpable
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willingness and a pride there when students talk about books they have chosen.” Reading is obviously important to understanding and navigating our complex world, and the more interest and initiative a student takes in reading, the better. The element of choice inherent in the Reading Workshop program is one way Penn Charter allows students to take ownership of their own learning and to push themselves to grow. “By the time kids get to second grade, they’re all asking for more and more independent reading time. That’s one way we know we’re doing something right,” second grade teacher Joel Eckel said.
The Method If you walk into a classroom during Reading Workshop, it will be very quiet because students actually spend most of the period reading independently. Richard Allington, a prominent reading researcher, makes it clear in many studies that what students need is lots of time to read. “… if you add instruction and accountability to that silent,
“What we need is for children to get on the reading ladder; anything they read will move them up, step-by-step.” independent reading, you’ve got yourself a game changer,” Servallo explained. Also key is that the reading is done in texts that are “just right” for the child’s skill level as an independent reader. Not too easy, not
The Role of a Language Arts Coordinator Classroom teachers are constantly perfecting their craft and honing reading instruction to meet the diverse needs of our students with the support of Marcy Sosa, Lower School language arts coordinator. Sosa, who did professional work with Mel Levine, researcher and author of the groundbreaking A Mind at a Time, brings to the classroom her knowledge of brain development and her expertise in language and literacy development, pre-K through Middle School. She uses her skill set to support teachers in any way possible, from coaching teachers during reading and writing lessons, to providing ongoing professional development in the Teaching and Learning Center. Sosa also works directly with small groups of students in guided reading groups and book clubs. In a recent guided reading group session in which she demonstrated fluency, Sosa, shown here, videotaped first grade students as they read a short text and then played the tape for them so they could hear whether they were reading with expression and intonation.
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too hard, but just right. Said Kern: “What we need is for children to get on the reading ladder; anything they read will move them up, step-by-step.” In a typical Reading Workshop lesson, the teacher has very little to do with what kids read. The teacher’s role is two-fold: to model “things good readers do” during minilessons and to provide targeted instruction during independent reading. Students, choosing from classroom library books that are leveled and labeled, self-select reading material at their own independent reading level and apply learned “strategies” to the book of their choice while reading. For example, a teacher may be working one-on-one with a student or with a small group while the rest of the class reads independently. During these encounters, a teacher might address something from the current unit of study, such as how to scan nonfiction texts for specific information, but might also choose to focus on something more immediately important for the learner, like reading with fluency. The Reading Workshop model offers instructors the flexibility to meet students where they are,” said Ruth Aichenbaum of Penn Charter’s Teaching and Learning
all Lower School teachers have participated in Reading Workshop trainings and have collaborated to re-cast the vision for reading instruction to ensure consistency across all Lower School grades. Teacher training and support is also provided on an ongoing basis through Penn Charter’s Teaching and Learning Center and Servallo, an on-site literacy coach. This collaborative, ongoing effort to reinvigorate reading instruction at Penn Charter is being done alongside the most recent research and best resources available, all aimed at igniting a love for books that helps students think better, imagine more vibrantly and become passionate lifelong readers. PC
Re-Investing in Reading
Center. Ultimately, Reading Workshop is an opportunity to individualize instruction. It offers students lots of personal attention, and at Penn Charter that is further accentuated by small class size. Another strength of the Reading Workshop program is how it ties to Writer’s Workshop, a companion instructional method developed by Columbia Teacher’s College. The elements that are taught in writing are the same elements that are taught in reading, i.e., at the same time first graders study nonfiction books in reading, they also pen their own nonfiction books in writing. Students’ self-selected reading material should mirror what they’re trying to write. In this way, reading and writing reinforce one another and the time spent on each in a week is instantly doubled.
Penn Charter’s re-investment in reading is a significant, ongoing effort that involves many key components, from upgrading libraries to teacher training. Driving it all is the importance of looking at students as individual learners while upholding the very highest standards for reading. The phenomenal growth of the children’s publishing industry and variety of books available for young readers makes this an exciting point in history to be using trade books, not textbooks, as a base for reading instruction. (A trade book is a mass-produced book.) At Penn Charter, library and classroom shelves have been bolstered with books that support readers’ varying interests and levels of ability. For example, graphic novels have really taken off and can be a great gateway genre. “Our graphic novel section has exploded from about one shelf-worth to five shelves-worth,” explained Trask librarian, Linda O’Malley. She adds that, in an effort to encourage students to read more deeply and widely, “we allow kids to pick out five books in their name, much more than other libraries, with the hope that students will explore a wider scope of books.” Additionally, over the past three years,
Global Read Aloud Lower School students knocked down classroom walls and ventured into the world of global collaboration this year, joining more than 500,000 students from 60 countries in the Global Read Aloud Project. Second, fourth and fifth grade classrooms connected with peers in Texas, New Orleans and Canada over a six-week period to read the same books and create, share and connect over Skype and through blog posts. Second grade teacher Joel Eckel said enthusiasm for the project was “incredible” and provided a fun and meaningful opportunity for all involved to reflect on reading, to write purposefully, and to engage in authentic use of technology.
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Alumni
a t
The Alumni Society Downtown Reception attracted more than 200 Penn Charter loyalists to hear keynote speaker Jose Garces and dine on his special tasting menu at Distrito, his Mexican-themed cantina adjacent to the Penn campus. The food was sabroso and the Iron Chef’s discussion of efforts by his Garces Foundation to provide services and opportunities to uninsured and underserved immigrants in Philadelphia – especially food service workers – sparked a worthwhile Q&A with the dynamic crowd.
Congratulations to the Alumni Society and President Margaux Pelegrin OPC ’99 on another great Downtown Reception!
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Greg Sokoloff and Jason Kemner
Head of School Darryl J. Ford
Billy Wagner OPC ’13 and Jared Karpf OPC ’13
Alyson Schwartz, Amy and Kevin Covert
Darryl Ford, Gail Sullivan and keynote speaker Jose Garces
Caesar Williams OPC ’80 and John White OPC ’65
Amanda and Bill Davis OPC ’91, Paul Duca OPC ’91 and Shea Duca
Bernard Williams, Tracy Parikh, Pallav Mehta and Brian Shaffer
Director of Alumni Relations Chris Rahill OPC ’99
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Inspired OPCs in Education The second annual OPCs in Education event in January brought alumni in the education field together to discuss the challenges and triumphs of their work. Attendees, including teachers, administrators, researchers, consultants and more, spanned from the class of 1953 to the class of 2010. “There was a great feel at this second OPCs in Education event,” said PC veteran teacher Bruce MacCullough, creator of the event. “The program was a little shorter and more relaxed than last year’s, and that allowed there to be more small group and personal sharing of experiences. I hope and believe that a strong and growing network of OPCs has been created, with great potential for the future.” The day began with a networking lunch, followed by a short program that included a discussion on how the Penn Charter experience has shaped each of these educators in the work that they do, and how the members of the group can lean on each other for guidance and support in the future. Jim Ballengee, founder of Penn Charter’s Center for Public Purpose (Penn’s Purpose), and Corey Kilbane, Upper School chemistry teacher, gave presentations about
Penn’s Purpose and exciting collaborations with local public and parochial schools. A highlight of the day came from Edward Veit OPC ’53, a retired teacher who also had worked in law enforcement early in his career, and who has developed an educational seminar that focuses on the children of the civil rights movement. Having lived through the height of the civil rights era, Veit developed a tremendous interest in the movement, read extensively and created a workshop that he eagerly shares with others. Another highlight of the day was Deborah Gordon Goodrich OPC ’94 sharing a new initiative with math word problems that was born after attending last year’s event. (See Alumni Profile, page 9.) PC
Do You Sweat Blue? or Yellow? No matter which team you root for, you’ll see grit and determination in action on Color Day. 32
Spring 2015 If• you can’t come to campus, follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
Alumni
Class Notes
1940
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.
Robert J. Harbison OPC ’40 See death notices.
Field Trips You Remember
Peter Randall OPC ’40 See death notices.
What do you recall from Penn Charter field trips in days gone by? Were you among the students who traveled to the USSR? Did you climb the steps to the top of City Hall? Or visit the fire station at the bottom of Midvale Avenue? Field trips can be powerful learning experiences and important opportunities to build friendships and class bonds.
1945 Class Agent H. Leonard Brown
We hope you will share your memories about field trips (the good, the bad and the complicated) for a story in the Fall 2015 issue of Penn Charter. Please send your recollections to Sharon Sexton: ssexton@penncharter.com, or William Penn Charter School, 3000 West School House Lane, Philadephia, PA 19144.
1689 Class Agent Jane F. Evans jevans@penncharter.com
Anne Caramanico, PC clerk of Overseers who co-founded the Caramanico Schools in rural Cambodia, reported to PC in January that a science competition was generating excitement and inventiveness at the Caramanico Schools, where students were busy designing cars, rockets and boat hulls. Villanova University engineering students
presented workshops on creative design to eighth and ninth graders. “It has been a huge success, with hands-on project experience working in small workshop groups,” Anne wrote. “The excitement has been palpable, complete with cheering, laughing and unbelievably creative results.” At the end of that week, 10 students were selected to attend a science and engineering festival in March, in Phnom Penh.
1936
Laurence B. Huston OPC ’45 See death notices.
A Look Back at
1945
1948
James R. Bell OPC ’36 See death notices.
Lawrence A. Gushee OPC ’48 See death notices.
1939 Class Agent Robert C. McAdoo rcmcadoo@gmail.com
Charles H. Schaefer OPC ‘48 See death notices.
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Alumni
Class Notes 1949
A Look Back at
Class Agent George C. Fuller fullergj@verizon.net
1955
1959 Class Agent Rush B. Smith smithrushb@aol.com
1960 Class Agent James M. Arrison III arrison@attglobal.net
Thomas B. MacCabe OPC ’49 See death notices.
James M. Arrison III got an earful in February 2013 while visiting South Africa. He wrote, “Seems that elephants do not have sweat glands. Their ears are used for pushing air across their enormous hulks. Who knew? Not me.”
1950 Class Agent Christopher W. Parker cwp420@aol.com
1951
1955
Class Agent David N. Weinman ombudinc@aol.com
Class Agent Charles (Chuck) Clayton Jr. cclayt@comcast.net
1952 Class Agents George C. (Skip) Corson Jr. gccesq@verizon.net F. Bruce Waechter waechterjb@aol.com
George C. (Skip) Corson Jr. was named, in February, Ambler Gazette’s Citizen of the Week for his extensive volunteer work.
1956 Class Agent Bernard E. Berlinger Jr. bberlinger@asidrives.com
Ralph S. Hirshorn attended the Chairman’s Pre-Concert Reception at the Academy of Music’s 158th Anniversary Concert and Ball.
1957 Class Agents G. Allan Dash allandash3@comcast.net
1953 Class Agent William H. Bux mbuxc@aol.com
James V. Masella Jr. vesperent@aol.com
Charles G. Douglas’ New Hampshire Family Law, fourth edition, has been released by Lexis Nexis Publishing. Charles was also appointed as Legal Counsel for the New Hampshire House of Representatives for the 2015-2016 session.
1961 Class Agents Richard P. Hamilton Jr. rick1480@aol.com J. Freedley Hunsicker Jr. fhunsicker@laborlawyers.com
James G. Masland Jr. jgmasland@yahoo.com
1954 Class Agent Alfred F. Bracher III fbracher@aol.com
Edward (Ned) Altemus OPC ’61
1958
See death notices.
Class Agents John E. F. Corson jefcorson@aol.com Craig M. Drake OPC ’54 See death notices.
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Robert D. Morrow Jr. djm112@aol.com
Jonathan E. Davis OPC ’61 See death notices.
Alumni
Class Notes
Neil C. Smith OPC ’67 See death notices.
1968 Class Agents Bruce C. Gill bcoopergil@aol.com The Class of 1961 held a “mini reunion,” with their wives, in December 2014, in Palo Alto, Calif. Pictured, clockwise from front: Jeanne Fleming, H. George Connell, Ida Connell, Ranney W. Thayer, Kathleen Thayer, Leonard C. Schwarz.
Peter A. Sturrock OPC ’61
A Look Back at
1965
See death notices.
Ray S. Benson Jr., nine-time Grammywinning musician, returned to Philadelphia to perform at World Café Live on March 2, and appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman on April 13.
Kevin McKinney pmckin5750@rogers.com Ronald O. Prickitt ronprickitt@comcast.net
Richard J. Gilkeson gilkeson1@msn.com Douglas S. Little dlittle@perkinscoie.com
Robert K. Kurz was appointed to the board of directors at Rand Logistics.
1965 Class Agent Jonathon P. (Buck) DeLong b.delong@charter.net
1966 Class Agent Allen F. Steere asteere3@verizon.net
1964 Class Agents John T. Long Jr. longacres1@yahoo.com John S. Morrow onefillycouple@msn.com
See death notices.
Class Agent Thomas C. Robinson Jr. thomascrobinson@comcast.net
Class Agents Louis F. Burke lburke@lfblaw.com
Class Agents Robert E. Brickley bob@bds-1.com
Woodlief H. Oliver OPC ’68
1969
1962
1963
Richard E. Stanley dickandlea@aol.com
1967 Class Agent Harry S. Cherken Jr. harry.cherken@dbr.com
Robert C. Ulin recently published, with Rachel E. Black, Wine and Culture: From Vineyard to Glass. It was named the runner-up for the best book in the world on wine at the 2014 Gourmand International in Beijing. This is Robert’s second book on the anthropology of wine growing.
1970 Class Agents Charles L. Mitchell dhammalawyer@yahoo.com Robert N. Reeves Jr. robreeves@eareeves.com
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Alumni
Class Notes 1971
A Look Back at
Class Agents Marc A. Golden harvardceo@aol.com
1975
Frederick H. Landell rlandell@ltk.com
1972
1976 Robert C. Aitken and PC chair of physical education department Deborah White were inducted into the Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
1977
Class Agent Bruce K. Balderston bruce.balderston@pncbank.com
Brooke D. Steytler had an art exhibit at the Phoenix Village Art Center titled “Time Changes Space.”
1973
1978
Class Agent Robert J. Marquess rjmproteus@aol.com
1975 1974 Class Agent J. Peter Davis pdavispc@comcast.net
Class Agents Robert L. Nydick suenydick@comcast.net James S. Still jstill3boys@gmail.com
Class Agents Sterling H. Johnson III sterling.h.johnson@usace.army.mil Paul C. Mancini pcmancini@gmail.com David H. Neff dn@neffassociates.com
Alan K. Roy OPC ’78 See death notices.
Paul C. Mancini writes, “OPC ’78 has a Facebook page! Come join us for an easy way to stay in touch with your ‘old’ classmates from the class of 1978. Visit facebook.com/groups/penncharter1978/ and click Join!”
1979 Class Agents John D. Lemonick lemonickj@gmail.com Patrick E. Lynch patrick@tsle.com
William H. Lesser OPC ’74 (right) was joined by former PC science teacher Reid Bush (left) for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Whitman (Pete) Cross OPC ’50 also stopped by for a Thanksgiving visit, and the trio was happy to pose for a photo in Bill’s Manassas, Va., home.
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Erik Greenberg Anjou directed a documentary called Deli Man, which the Los Angeles Times called “unexpectedly charming …warm and piquant as well as informative.”
Alumni
Class Notes 1980 Class Agents John B. Caras johnbondcaras@comcast.net Charles J. (Chip) Goodman chip_goodman@cable.comcast.com
1981 Class Agent Andrew J. Kramer akramer@kanepugh.com
Michael H. Monheit, Peter D. Shaifer OPC ’82 and Louis (Tripp) D. Davis III OPC ’82 reunited at the OPC Legacy Breakfast the Friday before PC/GA Day. All three were captains of the 1980-81 wrestling team, the last year wrestling won the Inter-Ac. Ruben Amaro Jr. OPC ’83 (left), Edward A. Foley OPC ’81, PC’s associate director of athletics (right) and Vincent W. Furlong OPC ’74, were inducted into the 2015 Class of the City All-Star Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. Read Foley’s speech at www.penncharter.com/foley.
1985
1986
Class Agents Matthew M. Killinger killingm@uphs.upenn.edu Thomas D. Kramer tomkrameractor@gmail.com
1982 Class Agent James L. Walker Jr. jimwalks@yahoo.com
1984 Class Agent Robert T. Myers rob.myers@barclayswealth.com
A Look Back at
1985
Class Agent P. Timothy Phelps chamberphelps@gmail.com
Christopher A. White has his own law practice in Charlotte, N.C.
1987 Class Agents David Felderman felderman.david@gmail.com David B. Gleit leyladavid@yahoo.com Adam M. Koppel adam.koppel@biogenidec.com
1988 Carl Arrigale reached 400 wins as boys basketball coach at Saints John Neumann and Maria Goretti Catholic High School, and his team captured the state championship in March.
Class Agents H. Bruce Hanson hansonkb@gmail.com Gregory D. Palkon gpalkon@hotmail.com
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Class Notes Daniel D. Killinger was promoted to managing director and head of National Real Estate Advisor’s subsidiary. Nigel T. Richards writes, “After college, I opened a record shop and label (19932007). I have DJ’ed in more than 20 countries and every state in the U.S. I now develop and sell real estate while also designing and producing a men’s clothing line called 611. I make frequent television appearances on Fox Good Day or Extra talking about fashion. I am most excited about adding a little man to the mix, #babyjettrichards, who will hopefully be on the Blue team. Please reach out and say hello: n@611lifestyle.com.”
Aaron S. Kesselheim of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston coauthored a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine on the rising prices of generic drugs.
A Look Back at
1995
Jamie L. Wells was interviewed in November 2014 by Arise News on her senior thesis, Ebola: The Making of an Epidemic.
1993 Class Agent Victor S. (Tory) Olshansky victor.olshansky@gmail.com
1994 1989 Class Agent Kenneth (Casey) Murray playnikez@yahoo.com
1990
Class Agent Jennifer R. Gallagher jenritagal@gmail.com
David Sirota visited the set of The Goldbergs and appears as a character in the sitcom, written and created by classmate Adam F. Goldberg.
1995 Class Agent Stephanie Teaford Walters walters-stephanie@aramark.com
Class Agent James D. Phillips jphillips@penncharter.com
Theodore B. Nusbaum sold his script In the Crease, a coming-of-age sports drama, to Leef Entertainment Group with the help of classmate J.C. Spink.
1991 Class Agents Daniel S. Donaghy dsdonaghy@hotmail.com Leo J. Wyszynski ljwyszynski@aol.com
1992 Class Agents Anna V. Davis vanleer@hotmail.com Adam F. Goldberg OPC ’94 (right) teamed up with former PC drama teacher Susan Cinoman for an episode of his hit series, The Goldbergs. Adam also met Head of School Darryl J. Ford during Ford’s March trip to the West Coast. Ford dropped by The Goldbergs set and also met Jeff Garlin, who plays Murray Goldberg, Adam’s gruff but loving father.
Keith M. Nigro kmn5774@yahoo.com
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Alumni
Class Notes 1996
1998
Class Agents Alyson M. Goodner alygoods@yahoo.com
Class Agents Jeff Bender jb2424@gmail.com
Michael Sala sala_lm@yahoo.com
Patrick A. Sasse psasse@hotmail.com
Ilana H. Eisenstein argued a case, Ohio vs. Darius Clark, before the Supreme Court in March. Read the transcript: penncharter.com/SupremeCourt.
Jesse T. Rendell and his partners at Scavify in Fishtown developed a scavenger hunt app for smart phones designed for business clients, who may use it for employee training, product marketing and team building.
1997
Latrisha M. Chattin was recently appointed head of school of Friends School of Minnesota.
1999
Class Agents Brendan Moore brendanmoore78@yahoo.com
Class Agents Mark D. Hecker mhecker616@gmail.com
Allison MacCullough O’Neill allisononeill88@gmail.com
Margaux Pelegrin margaux.pelegrin@gmail.com
Mark Hecker is the founder of Reach Incorporated, which was featured in Washington, D.C., on ABC7’s Harris’ Heroes segment in November. Joseph O. Larkin recently won a pro bono case that he and others handled on behalf of a handicapped mother and her son. Larkin writes, “My service learning experience at PC (particularly at the Widener School) instilled in me the continuing obligation to help those less fortunate. As usual, all roads lead back to PC.”
2000 Class Agent Adam K. Sperling adsperling@gmail.com
Sean J. Taylor (second from left) successfully defended his dissertation in April, earning his PhD in information systems from New York University’s Stern School of Business. He is now a research scientist on Facebook’s Data Science Team.
This football season, director of alumni relations and assistant football coach Chris Rahill OPC ’99 invited OPCs who played football to speak to players before game days, offering advice and perspective on how to prepare oneself as a player and a Penn Charter athlete. The 12th Man Program featured William A. Gallagher Jr. OPC ’91, Brendan Moore OPC ’97 (top), Steven R. Ley Jr. OPC ’96 (bottom) and Thomas J. Reilly Jr. OPC ’00 (left).
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Alumni
Class Notes 2001
2003
Class Agents William A. McKinney williammckinney@gmail.com
Class Agents Jessica A. Kolansky jekolansky@comcast.net
Jessica A. Stein stein.jessica@gmail.com
Anthony E. McDevitt mcdevitt44@gmail.com
Philip S. Katz, a filmmaker, was on campus to help teach Eva Kay Noone’s Documentary Filmmaking class, assisting students with their projects.
2002
A Look Back at
2005
Jennifer N. Cooperman jcoop9185@gmail.com
Daniel Nissenbaum joined the pit performers in the Upper School musical Hairspray in February. Dan (pictured, second from left) runs a studio in Philadelphia, where he records and teaches trumpet.
2004
Class Agent Katherine A. Butler butlerka@gmail.com
Class Agents Katherine E. Palmisano katherine.e.palmisano@gmail.com
Michael L. McGarvey, assistant coach of men’s basketball at Colgate University, was inducted into the Philadelphia Small College Coaches Association Hall of Fame in March.
Erin E. Hozack erin.hozack@gmail.com Jerome B. Wright jwright08@gmail.com
2006 Class Agents Joey Fugelo jfugelo@udel.edu Sarah Roberts sarahlkroberts@gmail.com Katherine Siegmann ksiegmann@gmail.com Jeffrey Torchon jazzjeff88@gmail.com
Lee J. Saltzman OPC ’04 See death notices.
2007 2005 Class Agents Christopher W. Garrison cwg008@gmail.com
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Class Agents Richard Baska Lynn richardbaskalynne@gmail.com Audra Hugo audra.hugo@gmail.com
Jessica Kalick jessiekalick@gmail.com
Anne McKenna amckenna515@gmail.com
Maureen Ryan mmryan6@gmail.com
Eric Muller bericmuller@gmail.com
Alumni
Class Notes 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
Sam H. Lerner slerner3@gmail.com
Justin Renfrow became a Seattle Seahawk in time for Super Bowl XLIX in Arizona. Renfrow was signed to the Seahawks’ practice squad from the Green Bay Packers.
Stuart Pasch graduated from Wesleyan University with honors in chemistry and received the Silverman Prize for excellence in chemistry. He is attending the Temple University School of Medicine.
2011 Class Agents Demetra B. Angelakis dangelak@bowdoin.edu
2010 Class Agents Megan C. Delaney megan.c.delaney@gmail.com
Adam J. Garnick ajg9692@gmail.com
Class Agents Alexandra M. Glassman amg296@cornell.edu
Cormac J. Ferrick mac.ferrick@gmail.com
Casandra P. Gigliotti cassieg@bu.edu
Curtiss R. Jones Jr. curtissjones215@gmail.com
Casey T. Maher ctm214@lehigh.edu
Laura A. Kurash laurakurash@gmail.com
Kellie C. Ragg kragg@princeton.edu
2009
Grant A. Guyer guyerg@dickinson.edu
Andrew R. Amaro played in a spring opening exhibition against the Phillies.
Class of 2009 5th Reunion
The Class of 2009 celebrated its fifth reunion at Smokin’ Betty’s in Center City on Nov. 29, 2014.
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Alumni
Class Notes James H. Bartolozzi (pictured with Sheila Ruen, chair of visual arts and design) returned to campus to discuss his work in animation and graphics, his internship at Pixar, and his education in media arts at the University of Pennsylvania.
2012 Class Agents Sarah L. Butler slbutler94@gmail.com Ben P. Krieger benpkrieger@gmail.com Edward Malandro edmalandro93@gmail.com Cathryn C. Peirce cpeirce@sas.upenn.edu
Dianna Thomas-Palmer, a junior at Hofstra University, had her first television interview, during halftime of Hofstra’s basketball game versus the College of William & Mary.
Katherine E. Brock was named to the dean’s list for the fall 2014 semester at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering. Joseph S. Sankey was drafted to Major League Lacrosse’s Charlotte Hounds. Elizabeth Wills finished her four-year field hockey career at Bucknell University while double majoring in geology and environmental science. She was honored at an end-of-season banquet in February. Her awards include Team MVP (second year), captain, NFHCA Division I All-Mideast Region Team, NFHCA Division I National Academic Squad (fourth year), AllPatriot League Team (second year), Patriot League All-Tournament Team, Patriot League Academic Honor Roll (second year), Academic All-Patriot League Team.
2013 Class Agents Rachael D. Garnick rachaelgarnick@gmail.com Aaron C. Mandelbaum aaronman@sas.upenn.edu Bennett W. Samuel bennettsamuel44@gmail.com
Nicholas G. Hanson was featured in an MSNBC segment with Chris Hayes. Hayes interviewed a New York University professor and three of his students, including Nic, about musical plagiarism and recent lawsuits involving popular songs with similar sounds. At the end of the segment, Hayes referred to Nic as “shredding the vocals.” Kenneth Koplove pitched two scoreless innings in a 12-7 win for Duke University against the California Golden Bears in February.
2014 Class Agents Colin B. McCloskey comccloskey@ursinus.edu Lauren Matt lmatt@fandm.edu Andrew P. Murray andrew.murray@student.fairfield.edu Marissa Samuels samuelsmarissa@aol.com
Julia H. Vahey julia.vahey@hws.edu
James R. Biggs-Frazier will play football at Fordham University next year.
Charles S. Giunta and Kevin S. Murphy faced off in March in a St. Joseph’s University vs. Monmouth University lacrosse match.
The Miami Hurricanes men’s lacrosse season got off to a great start with the help of John P. Horan and Daniel M. Post-Jacobs.
MAY 1 and 2 Visit penncharter.com/OPCweekend for photos and highlights.
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Alumni
Class Notes
OPC Receptions This year, PC’s Alumni Office brought Penn Charter to out-of-town alumni in D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City. We also
OPCs in Law
Cocktail Hour on Wednesday, March 12, 2015
hosted an “OPCs in Law” event at the Pyramid Club in Center City and an OPCs in Education event on campus. These events connected OPCs across decades, served as networking opportunities and provided a chance to hear more about the school today.
OPCs in D.C.
Reception on October 30, 2014 Christoper D. Ball OPC ’89 and Margaux G. Pelegrin OPC ’99.
Jonathan L. Fiechter OPC ‘65, Kimberly I. Noonan OPC ‘92 and Rajeev K. Swami OPC ‘89.
Roger F. Gordon OPC ’69 and James R. Malone Jr. OPC ’77.
Elizabeth L. Thom OPC ‘10, Kelli Meyer OPC ’09 and Simone M. Baron OPC ’09.
OPC in San Francisco
Richard H. Lowe OPC ’74 and Enrico J. Pagnanelli OPC ’99.
Gregory A. Schernecke OPC ’99 and Jason O. McDavid OPC ’08.
Reception on March 3, 2015
W. Scott Simon OPC ’78 and Head of School Darryl J. Ford.
Leonard C. Schwarz OPC ’61, Rachel Dowling OPC ’06 and Edward C. (Ted) Driscoll Jr. OPC ’70.
Donald R. Campbell P ’05, ’08 and David T. Skinner OPC ’04. Connections, connections! With the help of former PC teacher Don Campbell, Alumni Society directors organized the first OPCs in Law event at the Pyramid Club in Center City. At the event, Don and David Skinner met and discovered another Penn Charter connection. Don had taught David’s father, William S. Skinner OPC ’74, in freshman year math. Julia E. Soffa OPC ’04, Margaret M. Ronan OPC ’04, Head of School Darryl J. Ford and Rachel Dowling OPC ’06.
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Alumni
Class Notes Births Jett, to Nicole Cashman and Nigel T. Richards OPC ’88, on Oct. 1, 2014. (See photo below.)
and my husband is a fellow, also at CHOP, in pediatric gastroenterology.” (See photo below.)
1968 Woodlief H. Oliver, on Nov. 27, 2014. 1978 Alan K. Roy, on Jan. 27, 2015. 2004 Lee J. Saltzman, on Feb. 5, 2015. Former Faculty and Staff Marianne Louise Judd Geier, on Feb. 11, 2015. Mimi Geier was one of Penn Charter’s first women teachers. She taught math in the 1970s and was the mother of Roger Geier OPC ’75.
Deaths Lorelei Regina, to Monique Thacker and Michael McCrossen OPC ’98, on Feb. 15, 2015. Michael writes, “Two and a half hours after our fifth wedding anniversary, we welcomed this gorgeous baby girl, our first.” (See photo below.)
1936 James R. Bell, on Jan. 17, 2015. 1940 Robert J. Harbison, on March 15, 2015. Peter Randall, on Nov. 16, 2014. 1945 Laurence B. Huston, on Feb. 3, 2015. 1948 Lawrence A. Gushee, on Jan. 6, 2015. 1949 Thomas B. MacCabe, on Feb. 10, 2015.
Alice M. Davis Hon. 1689, on April 17, 2015. Alice Davis taught science in Lower School before moving to Upper School, where she taught chemistry and eventually served as science department chair. After 38 years of service, Alice retired in 2010.
1954 Craig M. Drake, on March 15, 2015. 1961 Edward (Ned) Altemus, on Feb. 23, 2015. Jonathan E. Davis, on Oct. 2, 2014. Peter A. Sturrock, on Jan. 1, 2015. 1967 Neil C. Smith, on Nov. 20, 2014. Zaria, to Anna M. Lipski Winslow OPC ’98 and Philip A. Winslow Jr., on Nov. 18, 2014. Abigail, to Jacquelyn Hatch-Stein OPC ’02 and Ronen Hatch-Stein, on Jan. 11, 2015. Jacquelyn writes, “My husband, Ronen, and I are proud to announce the birth of our daughter Abigail. I am currently a secondyear fellow in pediatric endocrinology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
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Spring 2015
Alumni, if you aren’t receiving the OPC Spirit, Penn Charter’s monthly alumni newsletter, you don’t know what you’re missing! Send an e-mail to alumni@penncharter.com, and we’ll hook you up.
Does Your Company or Employer Pay Pennsylvania… • Corporate Net Income Tax • Capital Stock Franchise Tax • Bank & Trust Company Shares Tax • Title Insurance Companies Shares Tax • Insurance Premiums Tax • Mutual Thrift Institution Tax • Personal Income Tax of S Corporation Shareholderes If so, the business may be eligible to participate in two tax-credit programs that make it possible for businesses to redirect their tax dollars to Penn Charter for financial aid. The application process is easy, and the benefits to the school and to deserving students are significant. In 2013-2014, 27 companies with ties to Penn Charter participated in the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) or the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) programs.
“I don’t know what occurred behind the scenes to make it happen, but I know that my mom always wanted the best-of-the-best for me. And Penn Charter was the best. I had amazing experiences, amazing teachers. I would
not be who I am today without my Penn Charter experience.
“Why participate? I think the question is why not?
Education can make or break a child. This is
scholarships to income-eligible children. OSTC offers further
an opportunity to change someone’s life forever.”
support for students living in neighborhoods with public schools
Kirby Dixon OPC ’09, Penn ’13
that are low-achieving.
NBC Publicity Team, USA Network
EITC is designed to support private- and parochial-school
Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage
PAID Philadelphia, PA Permit No. 6118 3000 West School House Lane Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19144
Save the Date May 22
June 6
1 p.m.
10:30 a.m.
Color Day
Commencement
Upper School students brought the audience in the Kurtz Center to its feet with a smashing production of the musical Hairspray.
