Laurel Leaf
i
R o l a n d
P a r k
C o u n t r y
S c h o o l
•
S pr i n g
2 0 1 1
The Anne Healy Chair of English Literature and Language Lecture About the Healy Lecture The Anne Healy endowment was
In 2001 Anne Healy charged our formal education created to honor Miss Healy who Centennial Class, at their Commenceuntil she entered served as the Head of School for ment, to determine, “What you will RPCS in 1922 twenty-five years, from 1950– not renounce.” Her text came from but she was very 1975. A special day is set aside Briefing for Finisterre, by Josephine knowledgeable each year and a distinguished person in the field of letters is invited Boylan Jacobsen, 1926. The poem about literature. to meet and work with groups of is included in her essay, the first, Josephine did not students during the school day and in our Centennial book, A Place in attend college, to present an evening program for Our Hearts. In this essay Mrs. Jacoblike many women students, faculty and members of sen noted, “I chose “Finisterre” from in her day whose the larger school community. among my poems largely because of parents did not Anne Healy’s affection for it, and also support further because I felt its theme of final choices education, but applied to everyone. Sooner or later we among her many honors, Josephine come to our own finisterres and make Jacobsen served later in life as Conour choices among our priorities.” All sultant in Poetry to the Library of of us who have known Anne Healy Congress (later renamed the National as Headmistress, teacher, colleague Poet Laureate) and received the Roband friend know with unquestionert Frost Medal for lifetime achieveing assurance that one thing she will ment from the Poetry Society of not renounce— America. one thing that Not only did Elizabeth read Briefshe affirms—is ing for Finisterre at the lecture as a tribR o l a n d Pa r k ute to Miss Healy, but she surprised Country School many audience members by reading and thus RPCS travel pieces that Josephine had writis so pleased to ten so eloquently for the op/ed pages hold one special of The Baltimore Sun. According to Josephine Boylan Jacobsen, 1926 day annually in her Beth, Josephine had a “gift for haphonor. piness” and was a Elizabeth Spires, “brilliant poet, but poet and professor of not a good speller!” English at Goucher Elizabeth shared a College, joined us poem she dedicated at the end of March to Josephine, Curling A Celebration of the Poetry of Josephine Boylan Jacobsen, 1926 for the third time at Willow, made even the Anne Healy Lecmore memorable by as told through Elizabeth Spires ture. In 1996, she and the blooming curling her husband author willow gracefully perched atop Madison Smartt Bell gave the lecture and in 1998 she accompanied RPCS the table by her podium. She alumna and poet Josephine Boylan Jacobsen, 1926, the Anne Healy lecturer shared a poignant video of Josethat year, who shared her poetry and her career experiences with the community. Elizabeth Spires was a good friend and occasional literary assistant phine reading two poems which for Josephine Jacobsen, 1926 during the last 20 years of Josephine’s life. brought tears to the eyes of many audience members. ElizaThis year Elizabeth beth noted that Josephine called came to RPCS to help poetry “the written voice”—and us celebrate the life and poetry of Josephine Jacobhow fortunate we are that JoseJacobsen sen, who died in 2003 phine’s printed voice will live forever in our minds and hearts. at the age of 94, as well as to share some of the poetry she dedicated to Jacobsen her friend over the years. Elizabeth taught two AP English classes and held Editor’s Note: assemblies for our Middle School and Grade 5 as well as our 9th and 10th Elizabeth Spires edited a volume of Jacobsen’s occasional prose, The Instant of Knowing¸ in 1997 graders. Juniors and Seniors attended the evening lecture. and after Jacobsen’s death, Ms. Spires assembled the poems that Jacobsen had published in the last Elizabeth wove a tale of young Josephine, born prematurely at only eight years of her life, including seven that had appeared in The New Yorker, into Contents of a two pounds. Josephine, who once called herself “a fierce particle,” had no Minute. She is the author of six collections of poetry, most recently, The Wave-Maker, and six books
The Written Voice
“My initiation into another of the great literary processes came when I was ten. I saw a poem of mine published. Printed. In a magazine. For sale. Being bought by readers.”
“Poetry escapes from its maker’s limits to rejoice us with hope.”
for children. A professor of English at Goucher College and Chair of Distinguished Achievement, Spires is also the acting director of the Kratz Center for Creative Writing. Elizabeth Spires was educated at Vassar College (B.A., 1974) and Johns Hopkins University (M.A., 1979). Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The New Republic, and American Poetry Review, and in many anthologies including Contemporary American Poetry (7th edition) and The New Bread Loaf Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Award, and the Witter Bynner Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, she has taught in the Kaleidoscope program at RPCS.
About the Josephine Boylan Jacobsen, 1926 Permanent Collection at Roland Park Country School In 2004, friends and colleagues of esteemed poet Josephine Jacobsen wanted to establish a local repository for her writings, papers, publications and photographs for preservation and scholarly research. The Josephine Boylan Jacobsen, 1926 Permanent Collection is housed in the RPCS Archives. Patti Lyall, Assistant Head of School for Student Services and 2010 recipient of the Anne Healy Chair, Elizabeth Spires and Jean Waller Brune, Head of School Roland Park Countr y School
[ 1]
&
News
Notes
RPCS won two trophies at the Maryland Scholastic Chess Championships in March. As a team, Winnie, 2018 and Annie Ho, 2021, Sophie, 2020 and Laura Rockefeller, 2018 placed third in the Elementary School Championship section. Individually, Madeline Kim, 2015 placed ninth in the Middle School Championship section. The RPCS LS Chess
Lower School Chess Club
Club is coached by Chris Kim, P’2015 & 2017, John Rockefeller P’2018 & 2020 and Arkadiy Frenkel. In March Hailey Freund, 2019 won Dancer of the Year in the young dancer division at the American Dance Awards. She will compete in the National Championships in Boston in July. Seventh graders Hailey Freund and her coach Ariana Rodriguez and Caroline Mansinne went undefeated and won gold at the Columbia 13/14 Volleyball Invite at the Gary J. Arthur Community Center. Ariana was awarded MVP. Congratulations to Middle School students Charlotte Kim, 2017 and Janae Edwards, 2016 who participated in the Baltimore Spelling Bee. Charlotte tied for 7th and Janae tied for 20th. Rebecca, 2017 and Hannah Mathew, 2013 Charlotte Kim and Janae Edwards performed at Gilman’s 2011 Cultural Arts Festival, which featured food, artifacts, demonstrations and entertainment from the nearly 30 different countries and cultures that comprise the diverse School community. The seven members of Peggy Beauvois’ advisory purchased a flock of chickRebecca and Hannah Matthew ens, a part of a sheep, and a part of a water buffalo through the Heifer International Program. These gifts will be given to an impoverished family in order to improve their nutrition and generate income in sustainable ways. (continued on page 3)
[ 2 ] Roland
Park Countr y School
RPCS First K-12 School in the U.S. Named a Healthy School
S
Since February, RPCS has been participating in the Healthful Schools program, a new initiative that promotes the adoption of science-based standards for cleaning to protect health and the environment. Further, its goal is to “improve the health and productivity of students and employees by creating a healthier environment, inside and out.” In order to qualify for the program, RPCS underwent an audit of its cleaning processes, products and equipment for compliance with the Green Seal™ GS-42 standard. Green Seal is an independent, non-profit organization that provides standards and certifications for product and service providers in the cleaning industry for cleaning to protect health and the environment. “RPCS is committed to the stewardship of the natural world and to leadership in environmental sustainability. The Healthful Schools program provides us with a complete framework for adopting best practices for protecting the health of our students and employees,” said Jean Waller Brune, Head of School. This initiative is one of many that RPCS has undertaken to protect the environment. In January, the RPCS Athletic Complex received an award for Excellence in Green Building from the Maryland chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council and the School is waiting for final LEED gold certification. The Healthful Schools Program is part of the Healthful Buildings Partnership, a coalition of building owners, facility managers and service providers who are dedicated to promoting best practices for cleaning and health. Marion Stecklow, Executive Director of the Building Wellness Institute, helped develop the RPCS Green & Healthy Cleaning Policy and performed the audit for participation in the Healthful Schools program. “RPCS is to be congratulated for taking a leadership role on a vital public health issue,” Ms. Stecklow said. Studies by the Environmental Protection Agency and Cornell Medical School have documented that adoption of high-performance green cleaning practices can reduce doctor’s visits and absenteeism in schools. With the participation in this program, RPCS proves that it is not only committed to protecting the environment, but the health and well-being of its students and employees as well.
Day of Remembrance RPCS held its annual Holocaust Day of Remembrance in late March. It is a day of reflection for the entire RPCS community which includes the long standing tradition of quietly and continually reading the names of those children who died in the Holocaust. As she has done in the past, Jean Waller Brune addressed the 5th Grade, along with the Middle and Upper Schools who gathered in an assembly and told them that “one person can make a difference and that no person can be an innocent bystander when it comes to opposing hate, oppression, stereotypes and inhumanity.” One person who did make a difference in opposing hate and oppression was keynote speaker Sol Goldstein, American soldier and Holocaust liberator, who was born in 1923 in Baltimore. In 1942 Mr. Goldstein enlisted in the U.S. Army. During WWII, master sergeant Goldstein served in Europe, fighting in the Big Red One (1st infantry), D-Day (Omaha Beach), and the Battle of the
Bulge. The defining moment in Mr. Goldstein’s military service was when he and his comrades at arms bravely liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp, although when they first approached the structure, they had no idea what it actually was. In sobering, yet matter-of-fact detail Mr. Goldstein described his actions, his bravery and the impact these events had on his life. It was Mr. Goldstein’s granddaughter who urged him to speak about his experiences in WWII saying, “Papi, you must tell your story.” It is for her and future generations that he shares his almost surreal accounts of the Holocaust with schools and community groups. The RPCS Day of Remembrance is supported by an endowed gift from The Saxon Family, Annette and Michael Saxon, P’2009 and Frederica and William Saxon, Jr., GP’2009. RPCS is deeply grateful to the Saxon family for supporting Sol Goldstein’s visit.
“Thank you for talking to us about the difficulties you encountered to save others. You are an amazing man and I am glad you shared your story with us. I do remember and always will.” Emma Wernecke, 2013
Kaliq Simms, Director of Diversity and Equity Education, Sol Goldstein and Annette Saxon, P’2009
News & Notes
Excellence ·Justice· Honor
C
(Arete, Dike, Time)
ongratulations to the following juniors and seniors who were inducted into the Roland Park Country School chapter of the Cum Laude Society in April. Delivering the Margareta A. Faissler Lecture at the induction was Trustee Grace Applefeld Cleveland, 1998 an attorney at Arent Fox, LLP in Washington, D.C. Grace imparted the following words of wisdom to the inductees, “you don’t need to have your life planned today. The plans you are making right now may not work out at all. And whatever you do instead may be even more wonderful than what you have planned.” Dr. Abram W. Harris, Director of the Tome School in Port Deposit, Maryland, founded the Cum Laude Society in 1906 to honor scholarship in secondary schools. It was originally founded as Alpha Delta Tau: Alpha representing
Arete/Excellence; Delta representing Dike/Justice and Tau representing Time/Honor. In 1916, the name was changed to Cum Laude (with honor/praise) and incorporated under the laws of the state of Maryland. Since Dr. Harris and his associates believed that chapters should be established only in schools of superior academic quality, the group moved slowly in granting new chapters. In 1963, Roland Park Country School became the first girls’ school in Maryland to establish a chapter of the Cum Laude Society. The Motto of the Society stresses excellence, justice and honor in the broadest sense and students who are elected have demonstrated good character, honor and integrity in all aspects of their school life. In addition to students’ academic achievement other factors for membership include: rigorous academic progress, intellectual curiosity, love of learning and the desire to seek academic challenge. Head of School Jean Waller Brune awarded certificates to the students with the following Cum Laude Charge: The distinguished record Jean Waller Brune, Trustee Grace Applefeld you have made at RPCS has Cleveland, 1998 and Honorary Trustee Dr. won for you membership in Celeste Woodward Applefeld, 1964 the Cum Laude Society. This Society is a fellowship of scholars whose purpose is to recognize excellence in academic work. As you pursue your education, it is our hope that you will accept the honor of membership in this Society as a responsibility to make some contribution to the ongoing search for greater understanding of humans and society.
Cum Laude Society Members
The following Juniors were inducted: Hannah Foster Sasha Frankel Maya Hairston Devon Hitt Maddie Kaufman JoAnn Song Audrey Todd
The following Seniors were inducted: Daniela Eppler Annie Gaines Tracy Kaczorowski Annie Kaufman Jinny Kim Angela Leasca Grace Lee Kelly Smulovitz Lindsay Wong
Sports
These Seniors were inducted in their junior year: Alexandra Day Meghan Herwig Zoe Jack Claire Lidston Nadine Mirza Hannah Zimmerman
Winter/Results 2010 Winter Sports Highlights • The Middle School Squash team won the MS Squash B Division
Upper School Season Record V Basketball
12-12
JV Basketball
2-13
Indoor Soccer
2-5-3
V Squash
8-3
JV Squash
4-7
V Swimming
2-4-1
Middle School Season Record A Basketball
8-0
B Basketball
2-4
6th Basketball
4-1
Squash
0-9
Middle School Squash Team
Championship!
• The Middle School A Basketball Team was undefeated. • Daisy Alaeze, 2012 was named the Baltimore Sun Athlete of the Week
and First Team All-Metro.
• Varsity Squash won the Mid-Atlantic Tournament. • 2011 IAAM All-Stars: Audrey Todd, 2012 (indoor track and field);
Bella Salvatori, 2011, Meredith Von Paris, 2011 (swimming); Daisy Alaeze, 2012 (basketball) and Gabby Weintraub, 2011 (indoor soccer).
(continued from page 2)
RPCS students participated in the Disney Field Hockey Tournament in Orlando. Eighth graders Abbey Roswell, Landon Warren; freshmen Natalie Shramko, Natalie Faust, Erin Weinstock, Steffi Altman and Paige Rohde played for Capitol Pegasus Iroc U16 and made it to Katherine Barley and Sarah Adams the medal round. Juniors Katherine Barley and Sarah Adams played for Greene Turtle in the U19 division and placed fourth overall. Jo Ann Song, 2012 has been offered a position in the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Science (LCS) at the National Institute (continued page X)intern. of Health as a on summer Sophomores Gabby Del Hierro, Lushna Mehra, Hera Koliatsos, Kelsey Myers and Elisa Yang will take part in A Young Woman’s Introduction to Investment Management, an investment management’s workshop at T. Rowe Price in April. Tammy Passano Wiggs, 1997 will present to them on trading. Congratulations to senior Zoe Jack, who completed the Lower Potomac River Marathon—26.2 miles! Led by Sally Tucker, 2011, Upper School students collected 64 dresses for the Priceless Gowns Proj- Zoe Jack ect which distributes prom dresses to girls who would otherwise be unable to attend their proms. Jenné Matthew’s, 2011 photo won a Gold Key Award in the Region-at-Large Competition for the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Her photo will be submitted to the National Competition. Congratulations to Meghan Herwig, 2011 who has been named a Morehead-Cain Scholarship recipient at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Fewer than four percent of the nominees—top students from across the United States and around the world—were selected for this unique opportunity. This is the second year in a row that RPCS has had a Morehead-Cain scholarship recipient. Meg VanDeusen, 2010 is a freshman at UNC. Senior Ady Pié’s play End of the Line will be performed in a staged reading at CENTERSTAGE’s 2011 Young Playwrights Festival in May. Her play was selected out of nearly 300 entries. Diane Beth Radov, 2010 has been selected for the Renée Crown University Honors Program at Syracuse University. Nealy Harnesberger, 2009 was named to the Dean’s List at Dickinson College. Savannah Bass, 2008 was selected for an internship in public relations at Tuscaloosa Academy. Lower School Technology Coordinator Wendolyn Velez-Torres was named a Tech4Learning Innovative Educator. In addition, she was the keynote speaker at a parent focus group on cyber bullying at Digital Harbor High School in February. Former RPCS Employees Katherine Kenny and Ellie Randrup co-authored a new book, Courageous Women of Maryland, which profiles 18 of Maryland’s most influential and courageous womens’ achievements and the choices they Courageous Women of Maryland made to realize success.
Corrections
Oops! RPCS Regrets the Following Error
Heather Oros, 2012 won the Yerman, Witman, Gaines & Conklin Realty Photography contest.
•
Planned Giving •
Making a planned gift to RPCS is as easy as contacting your retirement plan manager to ask that the School be made a beneficiary of some or all of your retirement assets. For information on making a planned gift to RPCS, please contact Ginny Wood Delauney, Director of Gift Planning, at (410) 323-5500, ext. 3139 or delauneyg@rpcs.org.
Photo by Heather Oros, 2012
May 22, 2011 Join family and friends for the Roland Park Country School Red Hot Run 5K Race and Family Fun Walk on Sunday, May 22, 2011. Proceeds from the race will benefit the Endowment for Faculty Compensation and the Endowment for Student Financial Assistance. If you are interested in volunteering or have any questions, contact Katy Spencer in the Alumnae Office at 410-323-5500 x3122.
The Laurel Leaf is published quarterly throughout the school year for the Roland Park Country School community. Editor/Assistant Director of Communication: Kristin Raneri Nicolini, 1998 Head of School: Jean Waller Brune
Director of Marketing and Communication: Nancy Mugele Design: Brushwood Graphics Design Group Printer: Mount Royal Printing RPCS news is welcomed and should be sent to nicolinik@rpcs.org.
Laurel Leaf R o l a n d
P a r k
C o u n t r y
S c h o o l
All-School Walk for Chesapeake Search and Rescue
Get the free mobile app at http://gettag.mobi
•
S pr i n g
2 0 1 1
Maeve Corcoran, 2020
Non-Profit U.S. Postage
PAID
Baltimore, MD Permit No. 3621