EDUCATIONAL VIGOR

SEWICKLEY ACADEMY SPEAKER SERIES ’22-’23

With a reputation for excellence and educating tomorrow’s leaders, it is important for Sewickley Academy to create opportunities to introduce the members of our community to others who are leaders in their respective fields. As such, an exciting line-up of external speakers was shared in January and February 2023.

Pittsburgh Clo Gallery Of Heroes

After a successful discussion in April 2022 on the topic “Internal and External National Security Challenges,” SA once again invited speakers from the U.S. Army War College’s Eisenhower Series College Program to our campus. On January 17, 2023, four students of the War College, including, from the U.S. Army, Lieutenant Colonels Marion Thomas (Artillery) and Tamisha Norris (Information Operations), Lieutenant Colonel Chris Power of the U.S. Army National Guard (Military Police), and Colonel Steinar Dahl of the Norwegian Army (Infantry), met with faculty, staff, and members of our community to discuss such relevant topics as the Russia/Ukraine conflict, national security risks of foreign investment and ownership in U.S. agricultural land, global security risks of climate change and arctic resources, and security and competition in an information environment. Each speaker provided a short presentation on their topic of expertise before opening the discussion to the audience.

The hallmark of the Eisenhower Series is the candid exchange between the experienced military officers and the members of the audience. Their goal is to have reasoned and thoughtful discussions with the society they serve and protect.

A cast from Pittsburgh’s CLO performed “Hero: The Boy from Troy” in Rea Auditorium on February 3, to the immense enjoyment and education of our students and community. Based on the book by Nambi E. Kelly, and music and lyrics by Joe Plummer, the story shares the life of John Lewis who became a civil rights activist and served in Congress as a representative from Georgia. As a boy from Troy, Alabama, Lewis struggles to belong and learns about the racism and fear Black Americans endured, particularly in the segregated South. He was impacted directly when, even as a straight-A student, he was repeatedly denied admission to Troy State University to pursue his dream of becoming a preacher. Through theatrical encounters with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks, Lewis discovers his path in which he can do something better with his anger and help others to live together.

After the production, the actors took time to answer several student questions that varied from John Lewis’s life to music and props in the show to the challenges the actors encountered in mastering their roles.

Funded by the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation, Massey Charitable Trust, and other organizations, Pittsburgh CLO’s Gallery of Heroes program travels to area schools to educate and enlighten students about the lives and accomplishments of significant historical figures through 50-minute, mini-musicals.

Jeff Selingo

Knowing that Mr. Selingo’s subject matter would be valuable to so many students and parents who are in the midst of, or preparing to start, their college search, Sewickley Academy opened this February 28 event to the public, and more than 300 guests registered. Mr. Selingo provided a summary of his best-selling book, Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside

College Admissions, then answered questions moderated by Head of Senior School Jamie Nestor followed by a Q&A opened to the audience. He explained the factors that impact a college admissions office’s decision-making process, the current trends that have decreased college acceptance rates over the past 30 years, and encouraged students to “widen their lens” when choosing to which college(s) they want to apply.

Sam Mihara

Rosetta Lee

A professional diversity speaker and trainer, Ms. Lee spoke with our community in Gregg Theater the evening of February 7, regarding the topic “Parenting with Identity in Mind.” She focused on the importance of inclusive communities in our children’s success, how to coach children to be positive influences on others’ identities, and age-appropriate ways to instill positive self-identity.

Ms. Lee spent two days at SA during which she met with Senior School students to discuss best practices and strategies for “Navigating Microaggressions,” as well as with our faculty and staff on the topic of “Beyond the Why and Into the How: Practical Steps Toward Inclusive Classrooms.” She also met in small group settings with members of our administrative leadership team and Senior School student leadership discussing strategies to foster greater unity within our community.

As Mr. Mihara stated at the beginning of his presentation, “people remember history when you make it personal.” On February 22, he spoke of the prejudice, hysteria, and greed that led to the imprisonment of more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942. Mr. Mihara (at age 9) and his family, like so many other Japanese-American families, were given one week’s notice before they were moved to one of ten prison camps in the United States. His family of four was taken from San Francisco, California, to Heart Mountain, Wyoming, where they resided for three years in a 20’x20’ barrack lacking utilities and insulation with winters reaching -20° F. Mr. Mihara explained that, as American citizens, they were stripped of their “liberty and justice for all.” He also told the audience of mostly Middle and Senior school students that he and several of his friends went on to seek higher education and successful careers as their way of combating the racism that continued after the Supreme Court closed the camps.

Mr. Mihara also met with students from the Senior and Middle schools separately. A key takeaway was the potential for actions like Executive Order 9066 to be repeated as groups are targeted for their race, ethnicity, religion, and other factors. Mr. Mihara’s book, Blindsided – The Life and Times of Sam Mihara, can be purchased via his website at www.sammihara.com

People remember history when you make it personal.”

Sam

Mihara

Middle Schoolers Nicholas Zanic, Eli Stephan, and Arthur Mendonca with Mr. Mihara

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It’s your turn to tell us how proud you are of your family, report on the interesting work you do, put in a plug for community service, or anything else going on in your life these days.

Submit a Class Note for the next issue of Sewickley Speaking by visiting the Alumni section of our website, www.sewickley.org. If you have a digital photo to share, please send it to alumni@sewickley.org with a note identifying the people in the photo.

1950s

1955

Susan Ratcliffe Sour made a presentation to the Query Club in Sewickley called Ragtime, Blues, and Ballads: The Music of the 1920s. It included standards from the American Songbook featuring favorites by Scott Joplin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin for the audience to sing along.

1958

John Culbertson wrote an opinion piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on March 26 in response to an article in the newspaper heralding the 161 children who were guinea pigs for testing the efficacy of the Salk polio vaccine in 1952-53. Cliff Nichols, Headmaster at SA, and Dr. Robert Nix, local pediatrician, encouraged Academy parents in a meeting at the school to allow their children to take three vaccination shots for this pilot study. The results, as we know, were life-saving. John wrote: “in late August, 1953, my brother

Dick, the son of a family friend, and I were picked up at summer camp by my father. I was ten. The trip home took two days, so we stopped for the night in an upstate NY town. Unrealized by us, a polio epidemic had broken out, and we went to dinner, a movie, and our motel. The family friend was not in the Salk study. When we got home, my brother had extensive flu symptoms for two weeks. Our mother called Dr. Salk, and he wanted to test my brother. I went along to Oakland, where they tested my brother and found that he’d had polio, but had fought it off because he’d had two of the three shots. The family story is that Dr. Salk said it was one of the first actual patient proofs that the vaccine worked.” Classmates and families at SA were a major part of this clinical breakthrough.

1970s

1970

Lois Carson Griffin shared news of a mini Sewickley Academy class of ’70 reunion in Leesburg, Florida: “It was the first time in 53 years that my mom and Jan Gaugler have seen each other – not since the day we graduated in June 1970. For my husband and me, it had been 8 years. Jan lived with her grandparents across the street from us and we carpooled together. At lunch at SkiBeach restaurant, Jan brought her SA yearbook. We had fun reminiscing! My husband and I both retired in

2019. We’ve been snowbirds the last 4 winters (although lockdown in 2020 sent us back to Michigan early). My mom (Irene Carson) now lives with us. We hope to put her house in Beaver Falls up for sale this summer.”

1973

Leslie Bates Johnson reports from Xenia, Ohio: “I retired in March from my university admin position at Antioch and haven’t looked back. After using my last two months to train my replacement, I was able to leave with a clear conscience knowing the chancellor and the university are in good hands. After taking it easy the first week, I began looking for volunteer opportunities with a non-profit and found something that’s perfect for me – tutoring English as a second language to Ukrainians aged 14-35. My first (and only) student so far is 32 and lives in Kyiv Oblast, so we deal with a 7-hour time difference and connect by Zoom once a week for an hour (more if we want to). It’s challenging, but we get on well, and I’m sure I can help her improve, just as I’m sure I’ll learn things from her, too. There are needs analyses, lesson plans and evaluations, so it will keep me about as busy as I want to be. Besides spending time with my 100-year-old mother who lives nearby, Doug and I are looking forward to lots of travel this year.”

1976

Mike Reed and his wife Bobbie, Pittsburgh residents, are urgently seeking a kidney donation for their son George Alexander “Alex” Reed, now age 33. His kidney failed two weeks after his graduation from Penn State, and thanks to a generous donor, he received a new kidney that gave him seven more years of life. Now, he is in desperate need of another kidney. He is back on home hemodialysis in order to stay alive. If you or anyone you know might be willing to consider this life-saving process, please contact Kidney Solutions at 830-285-2140 for more information.

1980s

1980

Peter “Pete” Sour came back to Sewickley recently to play the piano for Susan (Ratcliffe ’55) Sour’s program on the Music of the 1920s (see 1955). Pete has played for more than 60 musicals since leaving SA where he was active in Mario Melodia’s many productions. Pete currently serves as Adjunct Professor/Director of Music at Marietta College and as Director of

Music at First Presbyterian Church in Marietta, Ohio. He also has been musical director of numerous shows for the Actor’s Guild of Parkersburg and the MidOhio Valley Players Theater.

1983

Elizabeth “Liza” (Standish) Sackson shared an update: “Our family has grown in the past year—our son, Nevin, and his wife, Emily, welcomed a baby girl, Abigail Johanna (Johanna was my mother’s given name), and son, Stewart, and his wife, Audrey, welcomed Andrew (named for my maternal grandfather) Jeremiah in December. They both are sweet babies and being a grandmother is a new adventure.

“Currently, I am serving as President of the National Society of Colonial Dames of America for the state of Virginia, which I am really enjoying. It is a lot of work, but has connected me to my passion for decorative arts and historic preservation, and has afforded me the opportunity to connect with some wonderful like-minded women. Our daughter, Eleanor, is planning to attend Porter’s (formerly Miss Porter’s School) in Farmington, Connecticut, next fall. Our son, Bertie, is now 20 and is a sophomore at the College of Charleston, studying Arts Management, which he really enjoys.”

1990s

1991

Elizabeth “Betsy” (Wiegand) Wentz celebrated the release of her new book, Design Happy: Colorful Homes for the Modern Family, at a launch party on Wednesday, March 30 at her Studio B in the Sewickley Village. Betsy’s book includes photos of her home design projects, color studies, and practical advice. Pick up a copy on Amazon or from her website, betsywentz.com

1999

Clay Duetsch accepted a new opportunity working with West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin.

2000s

2006

Somya Kaushik Bhan reports, “I live in Portland, Oregon, where I’m the General Counsel for Mineral, Inc., the largest HR SaaS company in America. I’m married to Shivam Bhan, and we have a son named Sayan Kaushik Bhan – he’s two years old. I’m the president and founder of the South Asian Bar Association in Oregon and have recently authored my first children’s book called You,

Yes You! It can be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s and here: https://store.bookbaby.com/book/ you-yes-you or www.thevedaclub. com (my business website). And I’m a professor of law at The Lewis and Clark Law School!”

2008

On October 30, 2022, Bradleigh Sherry married Dewar Peterkin in an intimate ceremony at Phipps Conservatory, a favorite Pittsburgh location of both bride and groom. The reception was held at Azul Bar y Cantina, owned by the groom’s family and where the couple met in 2011.

2010s

2014

Mackenzie Pryor married Scott Hastings on July 23, 2022, at St. Stanislaus Kostka R.C. Church in Pittsburgh’s Strip District, followed by a reception at the Carnegie Museum of Art & Natural History. They met in graduate school at Texas A&M and now live in Chicago where Mackenzie teaches high school biology at Wolcott College Prep and Scott is an airport planner. Many Sewickley guests attended; brother Justin ’17 was a groomsman and Rupali Goel ’14 was a bridesmaid.

Sarah Duplaga Ware shared an update: “I graduated from Pitt in 2019. I also married Deano Ware, Jr. in St. Anthony’s Chapel in Pittsburgh in September 2019. Then I moved to Dallas to start graduate school. Right now, I’m a third-year PhD student in the Cell and Molecular Biology program at the University of Texas Southwestern. I have an American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship and an internal trainee award to study Duchenne muscular dystrophy-associated heart failure. I’ve studied the heart all throughout undergrad and grad school, thanks to Mr. Gallagher at SA and shadowing Dr. Magovern for my senior project.”

2020s

2021

Ellie Zack is having a great season as a major force on the Swarthmore College lacrosse team. Early in the season, she ranked second on the team in points with 14 goals and three assists, second in caused turnovers with six, and first in shooting percentage at .667%, draw controls (18) and ground balls (15). Her coach reported, “Ellie has the speed, agility and quickness to catch defenders off guard. She has been a consistent scorer and a solid defender.” Ellie helped lead SA to the state playoffs in her 2021 senior season as the Panthers, coached by Chelsea Cameron, defeated several larger schools to reach the PIAA semifinals for the first time in school history, finishing with a 17-3 record.

2022

Brooke Kries is enjoying all aspects of her freshman year at Dartmouth University. She is on a pre-law track studying history/environmental studies. She is involved with the dance team, yearbook staff, newspaper, class council, and Alumni Relations Office to name a few of her extracurriculars.