Sewickley Speaking Winter 2016 by Sewickley Academy

STEAM

Science

Te c h n o l o g y

Engineering

Ar t + Design

Math

WINTER 2016

The Magazine of Sewickley Academy

This fall, Mr. David LaLomiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Senior School ceramics class participated in raku firing. They placed their pottery into a kiln and the intense heat melted the raku glazes. Upon removal, students placed the glowing hot pieces into the raku combustibles, or reduction chambers, for a round of flame and smoke.

WINTER 2016

Features

Dear Readers, With much excitement, I’d like to introduce myself to you as the new editor-in-chief of Sewickley Speaking. In the few short months I’ve been at the Academy, I’ve met some amazing people and am constantly astounded by the welcome you’ve extended. Change is inevitable – it’s how we improve, how we get better. Sewickley Academy promotes lifelong learning, and in order to continue to learn and grow, you have to be open to change. You’ll notice this issue of Sewickley Speaking has been redesigned from content to cover for a fresher, more modern look and feel. Throughout these pages, you’ll discover how Sewickley Academy embodies its slogan, For Who You Are. For Who You Will Become. I am honored to take the helm of this publication. It is my goal to foster and grow the emotional connection between you and your alma mater, and I look forward to getting to know you and your story. I hope the articles in this issue trigger a reaction – whether they make you laugh, cry, or simply broaden your horizons. The featured alumni in this issue are blazing new paths and revolutionizing STEAM-related fields. In our ever-changing, technologydriven world, what will you do to leave your mark? Enjoy!

Kaitlin Busch Director of Communications

Making the Olympic Dream a Reality

Reaching for the Gold

Want to Increase the Effectiveness of Your Workout? There’s an App for That!

SA Alum Lights the Way to a Brighter Future

Excellence in Education: Middle School Science at Sewickley Academy

1966 to 2016: Senior School Over 50 Years

Contents Programming Middle School Students for Success

People at the Heart of Technology & Innovation

Pay It Forward with Planned Giving

Lessons Learned from Around the Globe

Technology, Engineering, and the Arts: Backstage at SA

Fall Sports Wrap-Up

Flat Panther

Reunion Weekend 2015

Science and Technology Hall of Fame Inaugural Inductees

An Extraordinary Friendship Leaves a Lasting Legacy

Q&A with Jim Cavalier

Class Notes

In Memoriam

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Kaitlin Busch

Director of Communications DESIGN

Third Planet Global Creative www.333planet.com CONTRIBUTORS

Julie Banks

Director of Annual Giving and Alumni Relations

Tim Banks

Tim Banks Design

Kaitlin Busch

Director of Communications

Patty Butz

Director of Teaching and Learning

Annie Gensheimer

Annie Gensheimer Photography

Kolia O’Connor Head of School

Win Palmer

Athletic Director

Brendan Schneider

Director of Advancement

Jerilyn Scott, Ph.D. ’86

Lower School Math and Science Specialist

Susan (Ratcliffe ’55) Sour, Ph.D.

Events Center Update The Academy broke ground on the Events Center last spring, which is rapidly taking shape as the trusses and roofing panels are set in place, and the building is 90 percent under roof. The refurbished portion of the gym is in full construction mode. The plumbing and electrical is in, the wall studs are up, and drywall installation is well underway. The building was weather tight by the end of February, the electrical hook-up will be done over Spring Break, and the HVAC units will be in place by the end of March. The building is scheduled for completion in mid-July. On Monday, December 7, 2015, the entire Sewickley Academy community signed I-beams that were installed as support beams for the main floor of the Events Center. Although their signatures are not visible, students, faculty, and staff forever left their mark on the structure of the building and the Academy.

Alumni Associate

Patti Coyne Stine

Director of Auction and Special Events

Brittnea Turner

Director of Community and Media Relations

James Wardrop ’57

Senior School Photography Teacher

Erin Whitaker

Middle School Technology Coordinator

Jeff Zemsky

Head of Middle School

Visit us at www.sewickley.org facebook.com/sewickleyacademy twitter.com/sewickley instagram.com/sewickleyacademy/ pinterest.com/sewickley1838 blog.sewickley.org youtube.com/sewickley Access the digital issue at www.sewickley.org/ss 2

Melodia Benefit Recap On September 25 and 26, 2015, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Sherman: A Musical Cabaret took the audience back in time to their youthful years. The cast, all with ties to Sewickley Academy, paid homage to Robert and Richard Sherman by performing a few of the brothers’ classic songs from stage and screen, including pieces from “Mary Poppins,” “The Jungle Book,” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” Audience favorites included, “It’s A Small World,” “A Spoonful of Sugar,” “Hey Yvette,” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” These familiar songs with a grown-up twist were performed by Patrick Brannan ’95, Patty Cook ’76, Ciara Donohue ’17, Henry Shenk ’74, and Rosie (MacKenzie ’93) Wyche. The performance ended with a sing-a-long to “Let’s Go Fly a Kite.” The cabaret benefited the Mario Melodia Scholarship for the Performing Arts, which affords a talented student the opportunity to attend Sewickley Academy. Save the date for Dick and Oscar: A Grand Night on June 4, 2016.

Welcome Dear Readers of Sewickley Speaking, When you think of leaving a legacy, you think of making a positive difference. In this issue of Sewickley Speaking, we celebrate not only the amazing ways in which members of our community make a difference, but also how they are prepared to do so. In her remarks to the school community on the occasion of her induction into the Sewickley Academy Science and Technology Hall of Fame, Carolee T. Bull, Ph.D. ’81 spoke about how, in the final analysis, the Academy trained her to be “comfortable with discomfort.” She went on to say that throughout her career, it has in fact been discomfort (with existing data, with the status quo, with the challenges of a new job) that has prompted her to strive for success. That striving allowed her to achieve some remarkable things, which you can read about in the following pages. I think many of the individuals featured in these pages would agree that the impetus to move through discomfort has ultimately allowed them to make a difference, whether that be in the lives of patients undergoing a sonogram, or in the approach of a student to his studies, or with an athlete who is seeking to reach the pinnacle of her performance in her sport, or creating the environments that will allow people to function at their best.

We know there are really no straight lines, that progress is a function of learning and growing, which often looks more circuitous than linear. The keys, of course, are curiosity (what is right around the corner?) and stamina (the sheer ability to keep going!). When we think of impact and making a difference, it is hard at our school not to think of Jim Cavalier. Back in 1963, Jim came to the Academy at the invitation of Cliff Nichols, former Headmaster, to establish a Senior School. Such an opportunity, Jim will be the first to tell you, was not without its challenges. Previous attempts to found a high school had not been successful. The path was not preordained. Looking back now as we plan to celebrate the graduation of the 50th class in June, the path to the present appears to have been inevitable even though we know it was not. More significantly, the discomfort that Jim and his colleagues, the first faculty in the Senior School, endured established the foundations of a legacy that has touched the lives of thousands of young people over the intervening years. We spoke with Jim recently about this great adventure, and you can read a portion of the interview in these pages and hear it in its entirety online. As part of our graduation festivities this June, we have invited the Class of 1966, our first Senior School class, to join us to celebrate the success of the Class of 2016. We have invited Jim to come and present the Cavalier Cup, named for him and presented annually to the “best all-around graduate.” This June will provide a memorable opportunity to celebrate the legacy of Jim Cavalier and the founding faculty, as well as the Class of ’66, as we honor our newest graduates and all they have accomplished. We know, ultimately, that the positive differences we make in life may not necessarily come to fruition in ways that we can see. In the case of the individuals featured in this edition of Sewickley Speaking, we are happy to be able to say that those differences are plain to see, and we are happy and grateful to be able to celebrate them. With best regards from 315 Academy Avenue,

Kolia O’Connor Head of School SEWICKLEY SPEAKING

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MAKING THE

OLYMPIC DREAM A REALITY By: Kaitlin Busch As a young high school student, Dr. Josh Szabo ’89 had all intentions of becoming a professional skier. He loved the thrill of the sport, competing on snow-covered slopes against other skilled athletes. He was hoping to one day make the Olympic team and may have been on track until he tore his ACL when he was 17 years old, ending his competitive skiing career. His injury did not crush his spirits, and now he considers it to be fortuitous as it started his journey to a career in medicine. Matriculating from Sewickley Academy, Dr. Szabo set his sights on becoming an orthopedic surgeon – receiving his medical degree from Hahnemann University in Philadelphia, completing his orthopedic training at Drexel University’s College of Medicine, and fulfilling his sports medicine fellowship at the renowned Mississippi Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center in Jackson, Mississippi. “When I was in high school, I was a young snow skier who injured his knee and as a result was exposed to sports medicine as a patient first,” Dr. Szabo reflected. “It was during my recovery from knee surgery in college that I realized a passion for medicine, giving me a new direction in my life.” His dream, however slightly different, came true nearly 15 years later when he was asked to join the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) physician pool for the United States Ski Team. Since the early 2000s, Dr. Szabo has volunteered his time and expertise as he travels throughout the U.S. and Europe to treat Team USA. While on site, he cares for their medical needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He lives with them, eats with them, and skis the mountain with them, attending to any medical need the athletes may have – from general medicine like an upset stomach, to orthopedic treatment for head, shoulder, or knee injuries.

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Dr. Szabo doesn’t treat athletes like Lindsey Vonn, Ted Ligety, or Bode Miller, as they ski on the U.S. Alpine Team; he does treat equally successful freestyle athletes that include gold medalists and world champions. “It’s a volunteer position, and I pay my own way,” Dr. Szabo said of the job. “I volunteer my time and efforts to care for these wonderful athletes as a way to give back to the sport that I love.” After almost a decade of caring for the U.S. Ski Team, Dr. Szabo may get his chance to fulfill his dream of going to the Olympic Games in 2018, although the invitation to attend is not decided until a year prior. If he were asked to travel to Pyeongchang for the Winter Games, Dr. Szabo would be expected to understand all the workings of the facilities just a few short weeks before the opening ceremonies. “An athlete may have a simple shoulder injury, for example, but it may be challenging for me to order X-rays with the language barrier and systems that aren’t as sophisticated as in America,” Dr. Szabo explained. “When you’re in remote areas of the world, you realize medical access is more challenging and can present more roadblocks than solutions.” It’s his job to keep Team USA as healthy as possible and provide them with the best circumstances and scenarios for success.

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“

SA provided me more than an education, it exposed me to a group of highly motivated and successful people. From a practical standpoint, it gave me the structure, as well as the confidence, to thrive in an academic environment.

“

He spent this past Thanksgiving in Le Tignes, France, with the mogul team, and covered the 2016 Visa Freestyle International, the biggest stop on the World Cup tour, at Deer Valley Resort in Utah in February for the freestyle team. He is on the snow every day during these events, on skis carrying a 50-pound trauma pack on his back, prepared for any emergency situation. “Where I’m positioned on the hill depends on the event I’m covering,” Dr. Szabo said. “I have to be able to get to the athletes in any circumstance.”

Dr. Szabo and members of the medical team create an Emergency Action Plan to best prepare for an event. “We are aware and sensitive to what medical facilities are surrounding us and the level of care they could provide,” he said. This plan includes the quickest route to the bottom of the mountain, the location of other medical professionals and sleds, and helicopter landing areas if needed. “About six years ago, an athlete on a different national team suffered a knee injury, and the location he was flown to was ultimately incapable of caring for his injury. As a result, he had to have his leg amputated,” Dr. Szabo stated. “These are the types of things I have to consider, because in reality I don’t have medical privileges in a foreign country. I can only advise where to take the athlete for treatment.” Fostering his passion locally, Dr. Szabo and a group of his peers started the Pennsylvania Freestyle Ski Association in 2011, an organization he currently serves as president. This non-profit fosters competitive freestyle ski programs that include mogul skiing, freeskiing/slopestyle, and snowboarding. Currently, there are 65 athletes in the program for the upcoming ski season.

Dr. Szabo has two favorite athletes to watch – his daughters, Linsey ’19 and Emily ’21. Both girls ski for the USSA team in the eastern division. “I love what I do and there is nothing else in the world I rather do,” Dr. Szabo said. “You have so many opportunities that take time from you, but you have to remember what’s most important is the time with your family.” When Dr. Szabo isn’t traveling with the U.S. Ski Team, he treats athletes and non-athletes alike at the new University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, specializing in soft tissue injuries of the shoulder, elbow, and knee. He teaches other orthopedic surgeons several times a year in Chicago for the Arthroscopy Association of North America (AANA), and is a clinical instructor at UPMC. In Chicago, he lectures and provides hands-on instruction of advanced arthroscopic techniques in shoulder, elbow, wrist, knee, and ankle surgery at the Orthopedic Learning Center. In 2012, AANA awarded Dr. Szabo with the Stephen J. Snyder Excellence in Teaching Award for his outstanding teaching. Additionally, he serves as a peer reviewer for the American Journal of Sports Medicine and the Journal of Arthroscopic and Related Surgery. He believes these activities help him provide the best care possible for his patients and foster his goal of lifelong learning.

Dr. Szabo is also working with a team of UPMC professionals to organize an ACL prevention program for the community, which would give access to scientifically proven training programs to decrease the rate of ACL tears to local athletes, particularly females who are prone to such injuries. The program will mirror a similarly established program at the UPMC South Side facility. This past fall, Dr. Szabo was asked by an orthopedic device company to assist in the redesign of a motorized burr. This is a tool routinely used in arthroscopic surgery and his charge is to make it better, providing the best care for his and all patients. Dr. Szabo credits part of his success to a Sewickley Academy education. “SA provided me more than an education, it exposed me to a group of highly motivated and successful people. From a practical standpoint, it gave me the structure, as well as the confidence, to thrive in an academic environment,” he said. “The Academy taught me lifelong learning, and I continue to learn in my profession and instill that in my kids as well. Parents have just as much influence in their children’s education as teachers.” For Dr. Szabo, it was former Head of Senior School Jim Cavalier who had a significant impact on his education. “People can reflect on certain moments that are influential and one such moment for me was a meeting with Mr. Cavalier, when he voiced concern that I was not working hard enough or performing well enough but demonstrated a high aptitude on standardized tests that may pose a dilemma for my upcoming college application,” Dr. Szabo said. “In essence, my grades did not correlate with my SAT scores. Due to my immaturity, this did not resonate but later served as a source of confidence when I did commit to pursuing a spot in medical school and a career in medicine. For a period of time, I lacked direction and was not the best student, yet ultimately I achieved my goals. My experience at SA helped with that success.” SEWICKLEY SPEAKING

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REACHING FOR

THE GOLD By: Kaitlin Busch Dr. Todd Thompson ’85 always had his sight set on medicine. As a neurosurgeon, he’s been in private practice since completing his training at UPMC in 2001. However, it was not until recently that he’s been working with U.S. Olympic athletes. In 2012, Dr. Thompson moved to Colorado Springs and was invited to become a medical consultant for athletes at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. Year after year, he’s been working with and seeing more and more athletes as patients. “The challenge with athletes is giving them the best medical care and protecting them, while allowing them to compete at such a high level,” Dr. Thompson explained. “The problems and treatment recommendations are similar to other patients, but I have to consider the unique demands on their body and tailor the treatment to their professional and personal goals.” He treats athletes of all types including wrestlers, weightlifters, ice skaters, tri-athletes, and runners for back and neck injuries due to the high demand they put on their bodies. Common injuries include stress fractures, muscular strains, and herniated discs in the neck and low back. The challenge is coordinating treatment for these athletes with their training and competition schedules.

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By nature, I’m a minimalist in my approach to treatment, despite being a surgeon.

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For most patients, herniated discs in the low back and neck often improve without surgery and can be treated with time, anti-inflammatory medicines, and physical therapy. Steroid injections are an option, but are not recommended for an extended period of time. “The Olympic athletes seem to do well with their injuries because they start off in excellent physical shape and are very focused on following treatment recommendations,” Dr. Thompson said. “Most Olympic training center injuries that I see are herniated discs in the neck or back,” he explained. “One of the more recent advances in medicine is the development of artificial cervical discs. When patients have a herniated disc in the neck and require surgery to relieve pressure on a nerve or the spinal cord, we no longer have to fuse that portion of the spine. We can put in an artificial disc to preserve mobility and treat the problem.” Dr. Thompson also takes care of a lot of military personnel, as there are multiple bases in the area including Fort Carson, Peterson Air Force Base, and the United States Air Force Academy. He sees a range of patients, from young and healthy cadets to special operations forces men and women who are home and injured, but need to get back to their daily lives. “I have great respect for what they do, and this is my way of contributing to their efforts,” he said. As a private pilot, Dr. Thompson particularly enjoys working with the military pilots. At the University of Colorado Health - Memorial Hospital, Dr. Thompson utilizes the latest computer-guided imaging systems to optimize surgical treatments and improve patient outcomes. He was recognized by his peers as a “Top Doctor” in Honolulu and now in Colorado Springs. “Medicine is like high school, it’s a popularity contest,” he joked. “I do appreciate being recognized by my peers. The greatest compliment I receive is when my peers ask me to perform their spine surgery.” “The success of medicine is through communication between the patient and their physicians,” Dr. Thompson stated. “By nature, I’m a minimalist in my approach to treatment, despite being a surgeon. I think patients appreciate that concern towards their health problems.” Dr. Thompson reflected positively on his time at Sewickley Academy. “I received an excellent education that taught me broad-based fundamentals to succeed in college and medical school. I appreciated the small class sizes and personal relationship with the teachers. It was clear they were invested in our success, and it makes a difference.”

Dr. Thompson graduated with honors from Temple University School of Medicine in 1994 and completed his residency and fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). His areas of clinical expertise include complex spine surgery, radiosurgery, and brain tumors. Dr. Thompson was selected as a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons Young Neurosurgeons’ Committee, and he studied in Japan as a Sugita Scholar.

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Want to Increase the Effectiveness of Your Workout?

THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT! By: Kaitlin Busch Taylor Stine graduated from Sewickley Academy in 2007 with plans to be a mechanical engineer. He furthered his education with a bachelor’s degree from Penn State University and a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University, thinking he was well on his way down his chosen career path. It wasn’t until he began working in app development that he made the decision to quit his corporate job to pursue his real passion, entrepreneurship. “I had the idea for a while,” Taylor said about his fitness app Kinetic. “I started working out in high school and didn’t have a good way to track my performance. I had an idea for an app contrived, but it already existed in the world, so I let it go. It wasn’t until I started doing CrossFit two years ago that I thought it could work.” Kinetic connects fitness aficionados with knowledge and workouts to share with athletes in need of workout ideas and fitness coaching. Taylor describes it as a “peer-to-peer social platform,” a similar structure to Uber, where any person with any level of fitness expertise can provide advice to members in the community. The app benefits the ever-present online community of fitness bloggers who post to Instagram or Facebook, which is great for general posts like pictures of your kids or pets, but not as a main source of income. With Kinetic, these bloggers can distribute their workouts to their subscribers, and those individuals can track their own progress along the way.

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“We can make workout suggestions similar to the way Amazon can recommend products to you. We can suggest trainers for you to follow based on your fitness style and workout preferences. We can recommend what to do to improve your progress,” Taylor explained. “Once you log the workout, it saves to your account, and we can provide recommendations based on that data. The numbers are quantitative proof of progress.” For example, if you’re an avid follower of a particular personal trainer, you can access their workouts on the go. People spend a lot of money on fitness products and gear, but there really isn’t a good compass to show definitive improvement. Kinetic provides the quantitative proof – you own the data and have access to unlimited workouts anywhere. Taylor started to develop his idea much like a comic book, but on index cards, which are roughly the size of a cell phone screen. He sketched pictures of what the app would look like, much like architects draw up blueprints for a building, and handed test subjects a series of index cards so they could “interact” with the app. For example, if the subject pressed the sketched “log” button, Taylor would hand him the next card based on the button pushed. At the most basic level, the initial feedback on the app came from a series of handdrawn screens.

“When you first show people the idea, it should look terrible. If it looks really good, people would be hesitant to give you honest feedback,” Taylor said. “The worst answer is, ‘It looks really nice.’ I want critical feedback, and you have to make it look bad to get the right feedback.” The true engineering behind the app is in its ability to allow users to create and log new and complicated workouts. A survey conducted by the team found that 83 percent of people are logging their workouts, but only four percent find this method effective. Kinetic doesn’t want to change the consumer’s behavior, it wants to modify it. For example, an athlete’s workout can be made of multiple exercises or subcomponents. The workout can consistent of 5 rounds of 10 deadlifts and 10 pull-ups, then 3 rounds of 2 rounds of 5 deadlifts and 5 pull-ups. “That’s our shining star that other applications don’t have. We can build a complicated workout from a simple, single block exercise,” Taylor stated. “Most services offer instant gratification, but we are able to track your past and present workouts and offer future projection. In an instant, you can see where you are and if you’re headed in the right direction.” Once the idea for the app was pretty well flushed out, Taylor moved forward with developing hi-resolution mock-ups, a beta version of Kinetic, and a promotional website, www.kinetic.fitness.com, to pitch to a target test group. “There is one user who is perfect for what you’re making. You have to get them to sign on, use the app, and provide constant feedback from incremental updates,” Taylor explained. Kinetic’s current target audience is personal trainers, fitness enthusiasts, and bloggers. These individuals can connect with, and generate workouts for, their clients virtually, instead of the client having to come to the gym. Likewise, the athletes can access unlimited workouts that match their fitness style, track workouts completed, and understand the progress they are making.

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Mrs. Cristy McCloskey and Taylor Stine ‘07 reconnect at Sewickley Academy. Taylor credits Mrs. McCloskey’s AP Computer Science classes to his success in app development.

Taylor credits his success thus far not only to his Sewickley Academy education, but to one teacher in particular – Mrs. Cristy McCloskey. “The only formal computer science training I had was from Mrs. McCloskey in high school. I don’t say that a lot because people get wishy-washy,” Taylor admitted. “She always knew what she was talking about. When I asked a question, I was confident she was giving me the right answer. She let me experiment with things she didn’t formally teach in class, and she confirmed I could do what I wanted to. I made a snowman with a broom. She didn’t teach it, but I asked her how and she told me how to do it.” While at SA, Taylor took multiple AP Computer Science courses. “Sewickley Academy launched me on this whole journey - it was my foundation,” Taylor said. “The code I write for the app is the same code Mrs. McCloskey taught me; it translates very much the same. What she taught me is what I actually use every day to build the app.”

Long term, Taylor would like to develop a tracking device that keeps Kinetic running and tracks your movement without the manual entry of workouts by the user. Kinetic offers more than a workout tracker – it tells you what it means to do 20 curls or run 5 miles. Though not transparent in the beginning, Taylor uncovered that being an entrepreneur is his dream career. “I’ll definitely look back on this time of my life as of the best times, no matter what happens,” Taylor said. “Most start-ups fail. But I’ve always wondered what they mean by failure. I may not be successful, but I had the opportunity to do what I loved. It’s all a matter of perspective. If I get to do what I love and make an impact on the world, it doesn’t really sound like failure to me.”

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SA ALUM

LIGHTS THE WAY TO A BRIGHTER FUTURE By: Kaitlin Busch

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Since his time at Sewickley Academy, Brian Chemel ’93 has seen the light in a sometimes cloudy and gray journey. His work with LEDs is revolutionizing the way we turn on the lights. Brian came to the Academy after finishing ninth grade at Seneca Valley. He wanted to get a strong, solid education in science and engineering and advanced his knowledge in these key subjects thanks to two of his teachers, Mr. John Ball and Mr. Don Slater. “The nature of their personalities and the way they ran their classes made STEM-type topics really interesting for me,” Brian said. “I am where I am today because of the two of them and a few other professors along the way.” Brian and D. Sculley ’93, a former classmate and current researcher at Google, took Mr. Slater’s programming class together. “I remember being in Mr. Slater’s office with D. partway through the semester, working through a programming book Mr. Slater bought for us, and all of a sudden it clicked into place for me – it was clear how to make the computer do whatever we wanted it to. From that point on, I pretty much understood what I was going to do.” Brian credits his success to Sewickley Academy’s flexibility. During his senior year, he would leave the Academy a day or two each week at lunchtime and ride a bus to Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Oakland to take math and computer science courses. This led to a summer job working for the university in the Robotics Institute. “The Academy let me structure my schedule the way I wanted. That flexibility led me to fall in love with robotics and computer science,” he reflected. “Without that, I probably wouldn’t have ended up at CMU.” While commuting between the Academy and CMU, Brian first worked on a mobile robot for NASA that inspected tiles on the bottom of space shuttles. After that, he contributed to projects for sponsors like the Department of Energy, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the Department of Defense. “I grew up when computers just started to filter into homes and laboratories for the first time. Having access to that type of technology to learn, experiment, and screw around with was really new for my generation, and I was lucky enough to end up at Sewickley Academy and CMU where I had the opportunity to take advantage of it,” Brian stated. “That’s kind of what got me

on this path; the chance to figure out on my own what I thought was interesting and the ability to pursue it. Looking back, that’s what was so great for me. I learned how to write code because of SA’s small class size and emphasis on independent study. I was lucky to end up there at the time that I did.” Brian attended CMU for both his undergraduate and graduate degrees, finishing with a bachelor’s in math and computer science and a master’s in robotics. In 2000, Brian dropped out of the Ph.D. program in robotics at CMU to move to Boston and work with a group of friends who started their own company called Color Kinetics. “In 1999, there was no real robotics industry to speak of, and I didn’t see myself as an academic. If I stayed on the Ph.D. track, I had a bit of a quandary – either work for NASA, who was hiring a lot of Ph.D.s for planetary robotics research, or become a professor. Neither really appealed to me, so the decision to drop out when my friends came calling wasn’t too hard,” he said. Color Kinetics helped to pioneer color-changing LED lighting. At the turn of the millennium, red and green LEDs were commonplace, but blue ones had just become commercially available a few years earlier. By combining these three primary colors, the company made light fixtures that could literally create any color. “It sounds sort of ho-hum now – half of my kids’ toys seem like they have color-changing LEDs – but back then it was a really novel and interesting idea,” Brian said. The company designed and built thousands of large-scale lighting projects around the world, including prominent ones on the London Eye, the top of the Empire State Building, the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas, and even the Randy Pausch Memorial Bridge at CMU. Color Kinetics lighting makes these worldrenowned symbols glow. Color Kinetics went public in 2004, and was eventually bought out by Phillips for almost $800 million in 2008, the year in which Brian founded his own company – Digital Lumens.“Once you get a taste of working in a startup, it’s really hard to do anything else. It’s an environment full of creative freedom. As an engineer, I saw the LED wave was just starting to build, and I knew we could do even more.”

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Whereas Color Kinetics focused largely on lighting for aesthetic and artistic purposes, Brian built Digital Lumens to focus on energy saving, using intelligent LED fixtures to replace oldschool metal halide and fluorescent lights in commercial and industrial environments. The focus has paid off – in the company’s seven years, Digital Lumens has grown to employ over 100 people and illuminate well over 200 million square feet around the world. “We make a small number of products instead of trying to tackle every lighting application. Early on, we made a decision to be thoughtful about how we approach the market. A lot of startups try to do everything and end up doing nothing well,” Brian explained. “In lighting, there’s a tendency to focus on the consumer market, but the commercial/industrial sector is actually far bigger and, in a lot of ways, easier to target. As a fast-growing company, you need to find markets small enough to dominate but big enough to support you as you grow, and this has definitely been the right one for us.” LED lighting is a commercially viable and economically sound way to provide efficient, bright, and affordable lighting. Digital Lumens separates itself from its competition with the sensing and control it builds into every fixture. “We think about our lights almost as little robots that happen to be hanging from the ceiling,” Brian said. Built-in sensors track occupancy, measure ambient light, and communicate wirelessly with one another, and then relay data back to a management system so a facility manager can monitor energy savings and enhance employee productivity.

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Digital Lumens’ lighting fixtures are environmentally friendly and help their customers save money, as the lights cut energy usage by up to 90 percent. LED lighting is inherently efficient, as it is better at turning electrons into photons than traditional light sources, and the company’s unique approach to control allows Digital Lumens to deliver 100 percent of the light for 10 percent of the energy cost. Take a typical half-million square foot warehouse, for example, with 20 or 30 employees. When each employee arrives at the dark, empty space in the morning, the lighting fixtures automatically sense movement and turn on specific lights to allow them to do their work. As they move about through the facility during the day, lights automatically brighten and dim to ensure that there’s always the right amount of light when and where it is needed. No more worrying about turning the lights off when you leave a room. As technology improves and costs continue to decrease, Brian feels there is still an enormous opportunity ahead in intelligent lighting. “We are much more focused on what’s ahead of us than we are on what’s behind us. It’s great to pause and reflect every once in a while and realize how far we’ve come,” he said, “but we’re just scratching the surface of what’s possible as every light in the world becomes networked and intelligent.” In its seven years, Digital Lumens has installed systems in over 40 countries around the world, with a customer base that includes a lot of household names. This past year, for example, Digital Lumens partnered with Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) on its goal to reduce the company’s carbon impact in its factories in France by one-third by 2020. CCE is using Digital Lumens’ Intelligent LED Lighting System to save more than 80 percent in energy use.

Digital Lumens’ lighting fixtures automatically sense movement and turn on specific lights to ensure that there’s always the right amount of light when and where it is needed.

Networks of smart fixtures throughout these factories provide excellent light quality when and where needed while saving energy. Other distinguished customers include Ace Hardware Corporation, Dartmouth College, Vector Aerospace Helicopter Services, and Worthington Cylinders, just to name a few. Brian is a named co-inventor on over 40 patents in the U.S. and the rest of the world, including his work in robotics at CMU, and a range of different creations at Color Kinetics and Digital Lumens. “We take our intellectual property very seriously,” Brian explained. “In a market that’s growing and changing as quickly as this, it’s important that as we innovate we continue to protect our inventions.”

“As we look out five to 10 years, it’s hard to overstate how much LEDs are going to change the way the world is illuminated. But the broader trend is clear – every light fixture is going to be smart, carrying a little miniaturized package of sensors, networking, and controls,” Brian said. “How do we get there from here and go after even more types of lighting, from street lights to the lamps in your home? In the world of startups, it’s easy to focus too much on just the next year, or the next three years, but we have to keep the 10-year vision in mind. Along the way, we want to continue to grow and help more customers save more energy.”

Lighting remains one of the most effective ways to drive down energy usage, and there are still opportunities for dramatic improvements. So what’s next for Brian and his company?

Interested in Digital Lumens? Visit www.digitallumens.com. SEWICKLEY SPEAKING

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Excellence In

Education: Middle School Science at Sewickley Academy By: Patty Butz If you have a student in Middle School, you know things have changed in the science classrooms. For several years, science teachers have been searching for a program that better matched their beliefs about how young adolescents best learn science. Their exhaustive review led them to Investigating & Questioning our World through Science & Technology, or IQWST. IQWST is a worldclass, rigorous, investigation-centered science curriculum designed to challenge and engage Middle School students. Mr. Jonathan Riddle, Grade 6 science teacher, explained, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our new science curriculum in Middle School is focused on authentic questions as a way to understand a concept. The classroom is an active discussion space where teachers rarely give the answers. Instead, through examples, sketches, and lab activities, answers are discovered.â&#x20AC;? This student-centered instruction allows Grade 6 students to construct understanding of new concepts in a context that is very student-friendly and aligns with skills and scientific practices needed in STEAM career fields.

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In Mrs. Heberling’s Grade 7 class, students burn magnesium in the presence of oxygen to form magnesium oxide. Students compare hardness, color, and solubility (all identifying properties of a substance) both before and after the experiment.

In a recent unit of study, Can I Believe

IQWST includes a truly Interactive Digital

Lessons are organized into thematic

My Eyes? student groups were asked

Edition (IDE) for tablets and laptops,

units that support students as they build

to make a model that showed what is

enabling the Academy to leverage the

understanding of core ideas in science,

needed in order to see an object. After

power of its 1-to-1 environment, which

as well as understanding and use of

some time to plan with their group, they

means that every student in Grades 6

scientific and engineering practices.

brought in items (think Lego people

through 12 brings their own personal

Students also pursue their own original

and a flashlight) and used objects from

electronic device to the classroom.

questions in units that integrate the

around the room to build their models.

Students use their devices to investigate

fundamentals of Physical Science, Life

The students shared their models with

phenomena; collect, organize and

Science, and Earth and Space Science.

the rest of the class, so critical feedback

analyze data; and construct explanations

could be shared with the group.

from their findings. The IDE expands

“Learning to give feedback in a critical and respectful way not only demonstrates students understanding of concepts, but teaches the power of getting different

the ways in which students are able to engage with science as it incorporates audio, video, graphic simulations, and writing and drawing tools.

Grade 7 science teacher Mrs. Lisa Heberling stresses the importance of hands-on activities throughout the

Introduction to Chemistry unit. Students explore the differences between mixtures and pure substances and

perspectives to improve one’s own ideas

those properties used to distinguish one

or models,” Mr. Riddle said.

substance from another. “Numerous

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laboratory investigations were performed

by way of Google Docs, Google Slides,

to determine the solubility, melting

FaceTime, etc. One student did his whole

point, density, and the relative hardness

portion of a presentation (voice-over and

of various substances,” she said. “In

all) from home.

addition, students discovered that during chemical reactions atoms rearrange to form new substances, but the Law of Conservation of Mass remains intact.”

IQWST makes science learning meaningful. Students build core ideas of science, piece by piece, over time by making sense of phenomena. They are

Throughout the process, students

not just learning about science ideas

learned that burning, electrolysis, and

and concepts, but figuring out how and

the combination of certain substances

why those concepts work. Engaged

can all result in particular “signs” that a

students plus passionate teachers equal

chemical reaction had indeed occurred.

excellence in science education at

Production of bubbles, gas formation,

Sewickley Academy.

temperature change, and formation of a precipitate were observable indicators that each student had the opportunity to experience. Mrs. Lori Sherry, Grade 8 science teacher, shared an anecdote from her class. “While doing an investigation on the Yellowstone supervolcano, two students got into a heated discussion over what constituted ‘evidence’ for their scientific explanation. One of the students said, ‘I understand the point you are trying to make, but let me explain my reasoning to you.’ After the explanation, the other student said, ‘You were right, I was wrong. I see it more clearly now.’ It was an amazing moment for me to witness, through appropriate discussion practices, how they are truly helping each other learn the material.” Mrs. Sherry noted there is a great deal of group/partner work in the course. Several times when a student was absent, due to reasons other than severe illness, he or she was able to continue working with their group through the magic of technology (and the Google universe)

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PROGRAMMING MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS FOR

SUCCESS By: Erin Whitaker Sewickley Academy starts priming its students for 21st century jobs in their upper Lower School years. Once students enter the Middle School is when their passion for technology and computer programming comes to life through various forms of programming and digital arts. Students in Grade 6 have the option to take Digital Arts, and in Grades 7 and 8 are given the opportunity to choose various arts electives, including Arts and Bots, Computer Programming,

Digital Design, and Robotics. These courses are always evolving in order to keep up with ever-changing technology and digital tools. Although these courses are different, one common theme that they all have is the concept that learning is a process. In order to succeed, students will need to fail many times, but it is emphasized throughout the courses that failure is a good thing. Failure is how students learn and helps to build their innovation and problem-solving skills.

12 22

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Sewickley Academy prepares students for success in STEAM-related fields. DIGITAL ARTS This course traditionally teaches students how to edit photo, video, and audio. This year, the 1-to-1 program has changed some of the tools used in Digital Arts. The idea is to incorporate tools that students can access on their own device so that they can use them for this course, for projects in other courses, or even at home on their own time. Students learn different programs that function in the same way based on the type of device they bring to school, whether it’s a Mac, PC, or Chromebook. Tools students are using this year include Pixlr Editor for photo editing, Audacity to edit audio tracks, and Windows Movie Maker or iMovie for video editing.

ARTS AND BOTS This course is a mash-up of crafts and robotics. Students learn to program using a Hummingbird Robotics Kit to make animated and functional robots. The Hummingbird controller has ports that can connect sensors, motors, servos, and LEDs, which students will program and connect to craft materials to create one-of-a-kind robots. In one of the units, the class comes up with a theme, and the students are challenged to create a functioning piece to the story. For example, this past fall’s class decided to have a park as their setting. Students used sewing kits, hot glue guns, paint, and cardboard to bring their ideas to life – anything from functioning cars with wheels that roll, to a cat that moved its paws, to a catapult controlled by voice commands. The process, however, is not linear. Students must learn to think in a circular motion; once they get an idea they need to try it, reflect upon it, and find ways to improve it or try a new idea.

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Middle School Technology Coordinator Erin Whitaker discusses the Lego Mindstorms EV3 programming language with two of her Robotics students, Arjun Schuchert and Aleena Purewal.

COMPUTER PROGRAMMING

with the Middle School Robotics Club, the RoboPanthers. The

At its core, this class teaches students the basics of video

team hosted the 4th Annual Sewickley Robotics Tournament

game and animation programming. Currently, the course uses a programming language called Alice, in which students can create 3D animations and interactive games by learning

in December, and although they did not place, they were competitive and able to complete several of the robot missions successfully.

to program using block-based code. Students will use storyboarding techniques to create their own story, then use Alice to bring this story to life by animating the characters and objects that they have chosen. What is also great about Alice is that it has local ties to Carnegie Mellon University, where the program was developed and continues to grow.

DIGITAL DESIGN Open-ended curriculum lets students solve problems by creating solutions through the design process. One of the first activities students will complete is to design what they think is the ideal wallet by creating and testing prototypes with craft materials, recycled items, and a 3D printer. In the second half

ROBOTICS

of the course, students will be challenged to solve a real-life

Students in this course learn to complete challenges and

problem of their choice. This may be a problem they find

missions using Lego Mindstorms EV3, a robot that any Lego can be attached to. The idea is to create attachments out of Legos and motors that will allow the robot to push, pull, drop, or carry items around obstacles. Sensors are also attached and programmed to help navigate the board and can sense things such as distance, touch, and color. Students are constantly figuring out ways to accomplish their mission-based goal or task. What is great is that students may all have the same mission, but how they complete the mission is up to them; no robot or program is ever the same. The course corresponds

around campus or in their community, or it may be something global that they want to address. Students become innovators and inventors through an interactive design process in this course. Combined with the new science curriculum, Middle School students are learning how to expand their skill set to solve problems both in and out of the classroom, setting them up for continued learning during their Senior School years and eventual careers in STEAM-related fields.

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PEOPLE AT THE HEART OF TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION By: Jeff Zemsky

No one knew quite what to expect as we gathered on the morning of Saturday, October 10, 2015, in the plaza outside the Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Museum to start our volunteer shift at Maker Faire Pittsburgh. I had been to previous Maker Faires and had seen the 3D printers and Frisbee-throwing robots, but this was leaps and bounds larger than previous years. There were life-sized R2-D2 robots, baseball bats with data-logging sensors, air cannons, and Tesla-coil music machines. Ultimately, the 13 of us from Sewickley Academy received a fascinating introduction to the amazingly creative, passionate, and diverse group that makes Pittsburgh an innovation hub for the national techinfluenced do-it-yourself community identified as the Maker Movement. A group of Middle School students, Mandarin teacher Shan Callaghan, and school counselor Lynn Sanborne and I put on our volunteer aprons and started to find ways to contribute to the Faire. Consistent with the maker ethos, there was no volunteer manual to follow. We had to find our own jobs, and each of us found something during the day that fascinated us. My favorite ideas and exhibitors were all from local Pittsburgh companies and institutions and included animators using string-less puppeteering, a combined 3D printer and laser etcher, and a teenage-only radio channel.

MR. ZEMSKYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S FAVORITE EXHIBITS FROM MAKER FAIRE PITTSBURGH 1

Dranimate (pronounced Dr. Animate) from the ArtFab group at Carnegie Mellon University School of Art

http://artfab.art.cmu.edu/dranimate Dranimate is an interactive animation system created with openFrameworks that allows you to bring drawings and pictures to life. Using some fancy machine vision, some gestural tracking, and digital puppetry techniques, Dranimate lets one rapidly and intuitively rig and control animations with hand gestures.

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Boxzy from Kinetigear LLC

Youth Express

www.boxzy.com

www.youthexpress.org

Boxzy is a modular milling, laser etching, and 3D printing machine. It’s made in Pittsburgh and is designed to be far more affordable for schools and hobbyists than three separate machines. It’s also being used by professionals like Kerf device cases.

Youth Express is a 24/7 streaming Internet radio service featuring original writing, music, theater, journalism, and reflections from Pittsburgh-area youth. Created by SLB Radio Productions, Inc., Youth Express leverages SLB-developed principles and methods successfully deployed throughout its 35 + years of encouraging and distributing authentic stories, ideas, and creative work by thousands of children and youth in Grades K-12 to an audience of peers and adults.

Carnegie Science Center’s Fab Lab www.carnegiesciencecenter.org/programs/fablab/ A Fab Lab is a digital fabrication laboratory for innovation and invention. It’s a workshop for learning and innovation: a place to play, create, learn, mentor, and invent. Fab Lab Carnegie Science Center is part of a global network of more than 500 Fab Labs. Fab Lab welcomes people at all levels of experience.

Check out our students’ piece from the Faire itself:

www.youthexpress.org/live-broadcast-frompittsburgh-maker-faire-2015/

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Grade 6 student Peter Donets and Grade 5 student Eli Zemsky pose with a life-size R2-D2 robot.

When I asked our students what their favorite booths were, each of them talked about something highly technical, such as the new 3D printers, drones designed by teenagers, electric go-karts assembled for under $500, and, of course, the chance to drive a FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) robot with Steel City Robotics. The technology, after all, was highly visible and very cool. Our students were certainly interested in these cutting-edge technological demonstrations and found them pretty amazing, but their eyes didn’t light up until I asked them what their favorite jobs were. They talked about helping people find the makers they had come to the Faire to see, delivering water and safety goggles to the maker booths, and registering families as they entered the Faire. A popular maker station for our students was the Fine Arts Miracles, Inc. booth. This not-for-profit organization offers “classes for those faced with life’s challenges, whether physical, intellectual, emotional, or circumstantial, who want the freedom to explore their creativity in a safe and fun environment.” Their booth was covered with scissors, glue sticks, tape, tubs of cardboard, buttons, feathers, and other found objects, which participants used to make fanciful model robots. Our students were helping younger children, and a few older ones,

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One of the students favorite maker stations was the Fine Arts Miracles, Inc. booth, where they helped children turn everyday materials into robots.

turn these everyday materials into their own visions of what robots should look like. It was no wonder it captured our students’ attention – and affection – because they love working with people, being creative, and watching other people get excited about what they are creating. This was one of the most hands-on booths at the Faire, as well as being one of the “lowest-tech” and the most crowded. So while I left with some fantastic ideas about new projects and new technologies, the greatest takeaway from the day for me was seeing how passionately engaged our students are when they combine creativity with teamwork. This is a great reminder to me about why we incorporate technology and innovation into our curriculum. It is not just to teach students how to develop the next amazing app or robot or line of code. We incorporate technology and innovation because these are ways that today’s students engage in the world, how they think about interactions between people, and how they get a start on making a difference in other people’s lives – even if just for a few hours on a Saturday at the Maker Faire.

SEWICKLEY ACADEMY GRADUATES PERFORMANCE REPORT ACCEPTANCE RATES TO A MOST COMPETITIVE COLLEGE

MOST COMPETITIVE COLLEGE MEDIAN SAT SCORE: 1310-1600 ACCORDING TO BARRON’S PROFILE OF AMERICAN COLLEGES

MOST COMPETITIVE COLLEGES SEWICKLEY ACADEMY GRADUATES ARE ACCEPTED INTO INCLUDE:

100

OF SEWICKLEY ACADEMY GRADUATES WERE ACCEPTED INTO COLLEGE

ON AVERAGE,

OF 2012-2015 GRADUATES WERE ACCEPTED INTO A COLLEGE IN A CATEGORY A STEP ABOVE WHAT THEIR SAT SCORE WOULD SUGGEST

SEWICKLEY ACADEMY’S SAT AVERAGE IS CONSISTENTLY

400 POINTS

ABOVE THE NATIONAL AVERAGE

Welcome Susan Crawford!

Presents: Ian Rosenberger Save the Date: Friday, April 1, 2016 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM: Grades 4-8 in Rea Auditorium 1:00 PM – 1:50 PM: Senior School in Rea Auditorium Sewickley Academy welcomes Susan Crawford as the newest member of the Office of Advancement. Susan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Miami University of Ohio and brings an enthusiastic approach to the department when it comes to event planning, organizing, and generally supporting the Advancement Office. Her main focus within the office will be helping alumni stay connected to their alma mater. Prior to moving to Sewickley, Susan lived in Denver, Colorado, and worked as an independent living skills instructor. She supported students with Asperger’s syndrome, autism, ADD, and learning disabilities in mastering the skills required to live on their own. In her spare time, Susan enjoys dancing, exploring the outdoors, cooking, and traveling. She said, “I look forward to being a part of such a welcoming community where creativity and hard work are valued and encouraged.”

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Ian founded both Team Tassy and Thread in 2010 in the wake of the Haiti earthquake. Team Tassy places the poor into jobs, while Thread takes trash from poor neighborhoods and turns it into fabric. The fabric is then sold to apparel and accessories brands striving to be more authentic, transparent, and responsible. Both organizations work in a quest to end multi-dimensional poverty. To date, Team Tassy has engaged almost 300 Haitians, preparing them and their families for employment. Thread has shipped nearly two million pounds of recycled plastic out of Haiti and Honduras to be processed into fabric and eventually turned into finished goods and jobs for Team Tassy families. Ian is a 2013 Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership Awardee and a 2013 Dignity and Respect Champion. He has spoken about Thread and Team Tassy for TEDx and One Young World, and his work has been featured in numerous publications and on CNN. In 2005, he placed third on CBS: Survivor Palau. Ian is an ultramarathoner, running 230 miles across Haiti in an effort to raise over $85,000 for Team Tassy in February 2015. In 2016, Team Tassy hopes to raise $125,000.

The Sewickley Series brings authors, speakers, performers, and musicians to Sewickley Academy for the educational benefit and enjoyment of the community. The Series provides artistic and intellectual enrichment, creates a forum for diverse opinions on timely topics, and offers inspiring performances to engage members of our local and school community. All Sewickley Series events are free and open to the public and are subject to change.

PAY IT FORWARD WITH Planned

Giving

By: Susan (Ratcliffe ’55) Sour, Ph.D. This fall, Dick and Audrey Weinzierl made a planned gift to the Academy, establishing them as new members of the Pillars Society. The Society recognizes those benefactors who have provided for the Academy’s future through gifts such as bequests, trusts, or other estate planned gifts. “We are so grateful to the Academy for their assistance during the years our five children went here that we wanted to pay it back and perhaps at the same time pay it forward,” Dick said in a recent visit to the school. The Weinzierls lived in Emsworth when their local Catholic school closed its doors, forcing a change that was unexpected. “As a mother, safety was my first concern,” Audrey said. “The academics were a big draw for me,” Dick added. The financial support the Weinzierl children received helped make SA a possibility that became a life-changing opportunity.

The personal interest that Academy teachers took in their children, each one distinctly different from their siblings, and the excellent college guidance they were given made the experiences they had here, and the choices they made in college and beyond, the basis for successful professional lives. The Weinzierls are justly proud of their five children (Jeanne ’78, Linda (Weinzierl ’80) Groff, Amy (Weinzierl ’81) Dillon, Steven ’82, and Cheryl (Weinzierl ’85) Wright) and their careers in science, math, finance, language education, physical therapy, teaching, and art therapy. With the educational foundation they received at the Academy, their children went on to earn a number of advanced degrees, and each one remains a lifelong learner.

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31 7

LESSONS LEARNED FROM AROUND THE

GLOBE By: Jerilyn Scott, Ph.D. â&#x20AC;&#x2122;86 The explorers slip quietly into the narrow river, moving gingerly past the green vine snake watching alertly from the shallows. As they enter the cave, the water rises past their chests and they swim over unseen boulders into the darkness, their headlamps illuminating only a few feet in front of them. After almost a mile of wading through the underground channel, squeezing through narrow crevices in the rock as the tunnel leads them deeper under the jungle, they emerge from the water and begin climbing the rock walls of the cave onto a pitch black ledge high above the river. The explorers step delicately around clay pots and fire pits left by the ancient Mayans, who used this cave under their jungle home for worship and ritual. Suddenly the beam of a headlamp falls on a skeleton. The remains of a young Mayan girl, sacrificed by her people, sprawl untouched on the stone floor where she has lain in the darkness for thousands of years.

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A scene from an Indiana Jones movie? Nope, it was just one of the amazing experiences that Grade 2 teacher Kathy Boehmig, Grade 4 teacher Kalyn Currie, and I had on a professional development trip this past August. We traveled to Belize and Guatemala with the World Leadership School (WLS), where we spent two weeks studying global education and project-based learning. Our group of eight educators ranged from teachers of second grade to physical education to high school math; from teachers in their 20s to those in their 60s; and from those who have lived in the developing world to those who had never left North America. We traveled throughout the two countries, enjoying a sunrise visit to the ruins of Tikal, snorkeling on the Belize Barrier Reef, and hiking through jungles. We did community service and spent a day learning with Belizean teachers, brainstorming solutions to common problems faced in education. The highlight of the trip, however, was the homestay in Maya Center, a small rural community in central Belize. For six days, we lived with village families who have volunteered to host teachers traveling with WLS. The village is made up of Mopan Maya people, a branch of the ancient Mayans about whom our Grade 4 students are studying this year. Living with our host families, and spending time in conversation with them throughout the week, was both the most challenging and most enlightening part of the trip. Kathy and I stayed with the Sho family, which included Celestina and Egorio, their adult children and spouses, and several young grandchildren. The family gathered every afternoon in a one-room living room/dining room/kitchen made of stick walls with a thatched roof on a concrete slab floor. The women squatted around an open fire in the center of the room, baking tortillas and preparing food. For one memorable meal, they grabbed one of the chickens running around the yard, broke its neck by pinning it beneath a broomstick, and carried the carcass inside to pluck, clean, and chop up for our dinner.

The children played barefoot outside, climbing the cacao tree in the yard, swinging on a burlap bag hung from the tree with ropes, and chasing the dogs that roamed the neighborhood. They ran to greet the men as they trickled in from their jobs as tour guides, zoo keepers, teachers, and farm hands. After every meal, the women loaded the dirty dishes into a wheelbarrow and pushed it half a mile to the creek, where they washed both dishes and laundry. When we asked them why they continued to wash in the creek when they had running water in the yard, they looked bemused and answered, “Because water is expensive… but mostly it’s more fun that way, to be together with the other women.” Had we merely visited for a day or two, we would have been left with our first impression that the residents of Maya Center must be relatively unsophisticated people, content to live such a primitive lifestyle. As we got to know them, however, we realized how wrong we were. Although they choose to cook over an open fire and wash laundry in the creek, almost every home in Maya Center has wireless Internet. Their preschoolers are as adept at working an iPad as our children are, happily showing us their favorite games and videos. Egorio regaled us with tales of the work he has done with National Geographic, serving as a consultant and tour guide for documentary films. Tim spoke passionately about his conservation work at the Belize Zoo, where he is intimately involved in the rehabilitation and preservation of jaguars and other jungle cats. The big topic of conversation in Maya Center that week was the successful ouster of a corrupt board of the local water authority – young activists had filed a complaint at the national level, waged a media campaign to draw attention to the issue, forced out the board president, and were now conducting an investigation into the misuse of funds while simultaneously restructuring the board under their own leadership. The people of Maya Center are both educated and full of ambition for their community and their country – however, their ambitions are not focused on material acquisitions or modernization. They are focused on improving the quality of life in more meaningful ways while still maintaining the proud traditions of their people.

The experiences that Kathy, Kalyn, and I had this summer will resonate throughout the Lower School curriculum. When Kathy teaches her Grade 2 students about the rain forest this spring, she will share stories and photos of herself drinking water from jungle vines, sidestepping massive trails of leaf cutter ants, and listening to howler monkeys in the trees. She will read them the book about jaguars published by the Belize Zoo, pointing out photos of her friend Tim and perhaps even calling him on Skype. When Grade 4 students study the ancient Mayans, they will see Kalyn standing atop a pyramid at Tikal and hear the awe in her voice as she describes the massive grandeur of the site. They will pass around the carved Mayan calendar presented to her by her host father, and listen to her recount the lessons he taught her over dinner, insisting that she record them to share with her students. My science students just finished the Prosthetic Design Challenge I created through our project-based learning work with WLS – after studying the skeletal system, biomechanics, and prosthetic design, these 9- and 10-year-old students used the engineering design process to build a workable prosthetic leg out of household materials. Their enthusiasm as they hobbled around on their prosthetic legs and defended their designs in a presentation to the class was incredible. The three of us had one of the most incredible experiences of our lives thanks to Sewickley Academy’s commitment to diverse, challenging professional development. We grew in our own understanding of global citizenship, and we grew in our ability to pass those lessons on to our students. Plus, it earns a lot of “cool” points with kids when you can show them pictures of yourself holding a tarantula or snorkeling past giant green eels! The lessons learned and the relationships made in Belize will be felt by our students for a long time to come.

1. Kathy poses with her host family, including Aurora and Elegorio Sho, some of their adult children, and several grandchildren. Since returning, Kathy has stayed in touch, sending art supplies to help the women make the beautiful carved gourds that they sell at a local artist’s co-op. 2. The Sho home, where Kathy and Jerilyn lived during the homestay in Maya Center. Inside is one room, where food is prepared over an open fire and the extended family gathers for meals. The wheelbarrow is used to carry dishes and laundry to a nearby creek to be washed. 3. Grade 4 students Jackson Quigley and Alex Burton work on designing and building a wearable prosthetic leg. The engineering design project grew out of the work that was done during the professional development sessions in Belize.

TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND THE ARTS:

BACKSTAGE

AT SA By: Brittnea Turner

There’s an old saying the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. In the case of Nathan “Nate” Bell, Sewickley Academy’s technical theater director, a passion for construction, engineering, and the arts came to him honestly. His father is a consummate tinkerer and his mother, an artist and designer, raised him and his sister in a log cabin the family expanded and restored to its original beauty, which is now deemed a registered landmark. Growing up in such an environment set the stage for Nate to create and construct. When he was around 16 years old, Nate remembered his mom and him responding to an ad to work in lighting and sound. They were hired to do tech work at Little Lake Theatre in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. His mom eventually took on a different role at the theater, and he stuck with construction. Nate said, “I’m constantly learning – there’s always something new that’s completely bizarre that you’ve never done before. That’s what I like about theater work… there’s always some element that’s novel and interesting and allows me to tinker and figure out how things work mechanically. It’s fun to do that kind of problem solving.”

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Nate is teaching Academy Middle and Senior School students who take his tech theater classes or volunteer on stage crew those same skills. “I’m able to introduce students to that kind of problem solving. Here’s this pile of stuff. Figure out how to make it work. It’s most satisfying to see students doing the same kind of tinkering and problem solving.” When asked what instantly comes to mind when he hears the words STEM or STEAM, Nate said, “I remember hearing those buzz words, and we talked about it a lot while I was in grad school. The T (technology), E (engineering), and I’m always happy to include A (arts). The intersection of those three things is where my field resides.” Working in technical theater, there is definitely engineering – sound, lighting, and mechanical. Although engineering can be super complex and technology driven with the use of computers and 3D printers, Nate teaches his students the basics by introducing them to the six simple machines as described by the ancient Greeks – wheels and axles, levers, wedges, screws, pulleys, and inclined planes.

Nate believes hands-on learning is the best way to do almost anything, which is right in line with the Maker Movement and design thinking that is incorporated into the Academy’s curriculum. He’s a visual and tactical person and infuses that in the classroom and behind the stage. “I don’t just lecture; I encourage students to do hands-on work through class projects, in Tech Theatre Club, and by helping to build sets for SA’s musical and theatrical productions,” Nate said. “One of my proudest moments as a teacher is to see a student take the things he or she has learned in class and break out into the wide world to put those talents to use.” Recently, he and dance teacher Mr. Joe Jackson got word through their professional contacts in the city that the Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre, Inc. (PICT) in Oakland was looking for technicians, specifically a lighting console programmer for their production of Oliver Twist. Both faculty members immediately thought of Grade 10 student Michael Bartholic, who has been one of the most avid and skilled lighting techs at SA, according to his instructors. PICT hired Michael as the lighting assistant and board operator for the run of the show, and all reports were that he did a great job. “It’s an incredible joy to see one of my students in action, putting his skills to use, and getting paid to do it. I can’t think of a bigger thrill as an educator, and I hope to see other students take their experiences with me at the Academy and apply them in the real world, whether working on a theatrical production or on something else entirely,” said Nate.

Last year, Sewickley Academy demolished the old Means Alumni Gym to make way for the new Events Center slated for completion in mid-July. Materials from the old gym were salvaged to build trophy cases in the new building. Knowing Nate’s skill set, Director of Buildings and Grounds Tim Hastings ’77 asked him if he wanted any of the leftover gym floor materials. Director of Auction and Special Events Patti Coyne Stine asked him to consider making a piece for the Academy’s Annual Auction out of those leftover materials. Those conversations got his wheels turning. “It sounded like a cool project. I knew I could make a piece of furniture,” he said. Nate took a piece of wood with the letter P (from the Panther logo) painted on it from the gym floor and fashioned it into an eclectic end table with copper legs. He also turned a portion of it into a one-of-a-kind tray.

At the request of Dr. Sour, Nate designed a unique serving tray for Fraser (Zimmerman ’88) Traverse. The piece was made out of wood from the Panther Dome. Nate built an eclectic end table out of a piece of wood with the letter “P” painted on it from the old Means Alumni Gym floor. Amy (Simmons ‘80) Sebastian took the piece home with her at last year’s Annual Auction.

Nate’s innovation spills over into just about every area of his life. He has showcased his work at the I Made It Market and Handmade Arcade. He’s donated copper and glass pieces to Little Lake Theatre and was a part of Assemble Pittsburgh’s Maker-Date Auction fundraiser, run by Nina Barbuto ’02. In his spare time, he enjoys glass blowing, performing with a local comedy sketch group, and acting. He was featured in a Sony commercial and was a body double in the Next Three Days (which filmed in Pittsburgh) starring Russell Crowe. “Being a regular guy from Pittsburgh, I like to work with my hands and make interesting things out of salvaged parts and random hardware store finds,” Nate said. He’s always had a thing for industrial design/steam punk and found copper visually appealing, so he put the two together and founded a company, Nine & Twenty, creating a line of unique and practical handmade fixtures and accessories, most of which are made from plumbing parts. “Call it creative reuse, up-cycling, or repurposing, Nine & Twenty offers unique, handmade hardware and fixtures for the home,” he said. Although Nate’s work is very labor intensive, it’s a labor of love that is evident in the objects he makes.

Prior to coming to Sewickley Academy, Nate worked at Avella High School in Washington County, California University of Pennsylvania, and Point Park University as the technical director and built scenery. Recently, he worked as a freelance carpenter at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama with graduate students on tech design. Nate attended DePaul University’s technical theater program for two years, holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy with a concentration in English literature from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Masters of Art in Teaching from Chatham University.

Nate designed an industrial copper table lamp for the Nine & Twenty line of home accessories. Nine & Twenty offers unique, handmade hardware and fixtures for the home.

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Nate works with students from Tech Theatre Club to set lighting in Rea Auditorium.

What is the Sewickley Academy Annual Fund? It funds the ordinary: art supplies, lab equipment, and athletic field paint. But it also funds the extraordinary, like faculty development workshops, global studies scholarships, and financial aid. The Annual Fund provides the resources to create an exceptional environment for teaching and learning, allowing our faculty and students to explore, discover, and grow. Each year, more than 1,000 alumni, parents, grandparents, faculty, staff, and friends generously support the Annual Fund. Please join them with your gift and help make a Sewickley Academy education even more extraordinary. GIVING IS SIMPLE. VISIT WWW.SEWICKLEY.ORG/GIVENOW OR CALL 412-741-2230 EXT. 3409.

SPECIALIZED CHEMISTRY BEAKER:

$45

SENIOR SCHOOL MATH COUNCIL REGISTRATION:

$100

ATTENDANCE AT A “LEARNING AND THE BRAIN” WORKSHOP FOR A FACULTY MEMBER:

$1,250

KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON FOR ONE DAY:

$450

ANNUAL TUNING FEE FOR THE ACADEMY’S 12 PIANOS:

$2,400

ONE-YEAR SUPPLY OF SPECIMENS FOR THE SENIOR SCHOOL BIOLOGY LAB:

$500

PAINT FOR THE ATHLETIC FIELDS FOR ONE YEAR:

$3,500

SCRIPTS FOR THEATER COURSES:

$750

AVERAGE FINANCIAL AID AWARD FOR ONE YEAR:

$12,000

The Sewickley AcAdemy AnnuAl Fund FOR WHO WE ARE. FOR WHO WE WILL BECOME.

Fall Sports Wrap-Up By: Win Palmer

The boys soccer team won the State Championship in Hershey, Pennsylvania, against East Juniata.

An amazing fall sports season culminated with WPIAL playoff appearances by seven of our varsity sports teams, five Section Champions, two WPIAL Champions, five PIAA State Tournament runs, an individual State Champion, and two team State Champions! Congratulations Panthers! BOYS SOCCER

The girls golf team finished the regular season 8-0 to capture their second straight Section Championship.

The boys cross country team captured their second straight WPIAL Championship this season.

The boys varsity soccer team competed in Hershey for the PIAA Championship for the fourth consecutive year, capturing the State Championship with a 3-0 victory against East Juniata. The Panthers finished the year with a 22-3 record, capturing a fourth consecutive section championship with a 12-0 record, and finishing third in the WPIAL tournament. Earning honors for the season were seniors Gus O’Connor, Jackson O’Neill, and Matt Teitelbaum, and juniors Mike Napoleone and Justin Pryor, who were all selected to the all-section boys soccer team. Gus, Jackson, and Matt were also named to the allWPIAL team.

GIRLS GOLF

The field hockey team finished the season tied for fourth in the WPIAL with a 6-6 record.

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By finishing the regular season with an 8-0 record in the section, the girls varsity golf team captured a second straight section championship in just the fifth year of varsity golf. The Panthers finished second at the WPIAL Championships at Cedarbrook golf course with a score of 378, led by freshman Tatum McKelvey’s score of 88. In York, the Panthers finished

third at the PIAA Championships with a score of 416, just 15 strokes behind the champion Maria Villa from District 10, with scores of 87 from Tatum McKelvey, 105 from junior Natalie Wei, 111 from senior Kelsey Milo, and 113 from senior Jane Blaugrund on the challenging Heritage Hills course.

CROSS COUNTRY The boys varsity cross country team captured a second straight WPIAL Championship at Slippery Rock University. The Panthers were led by juniors Griffin Mackey and Ben Clouse, who finished second and third in the race, respectively. In Hershey, SA continued its incredible season with a second place finish at states as Griffin earned the first state gold medal in cross country history with a time of 16:05. Freshman Henry Meakem finished in 17:08, junior Tim Hanlon in 18:00, sophomore Austin Duffield in 18:03, and junior Neill Peirce in 18:08. This is the second consecutive silver medal for the Panthers at states, who finished only eight points behind the champion, Camp Hill from District 3.

FIELD HOCKEY The varsity field hockey team finished in a tie for fourth place with Winchester Thurston in the WPIAL with a 6-6 record, but fell short on the tiebreaker rule to determine the fourth and final berth for the playoffs. The Panthers battled all season, winning three games by a 1-0 margin. Senior Maddy Casale once again was selected to the all-WPIAL field hockey team, and junior Chandler White was an honorable mention.

GIRLS TENNIS The varsity girls tennis team captured the section championship with an 8-0 record en route to an overall 13-9 record. In the WPIAL Tournament, the Panthers defeated neighborhood rival Quaker Valley as junior Emily Ward captured the final point at #2 singles to advance to the championship match, where the Panthers were defeated by Beaver. In the PIAA Tournament, SA defeated Bedford 3-2 as the doubles team of senior Isabel Billiar and freshman Alina Mattson clinched the final point. The Panthers defeated Wyomissing in the quarterfinals 4-1 before losing to eventual state champion Mercyhurst Prep 4-1 in the semifinals. The doubles team of senior Cara Dietrich and junior Caroline Becker were section doubles champions.

GIRLS SOCCER The varsity girls soccer team finished the season with a 9-7-3 record and were second in the

section with an 8-3-3 record. The Panthers defeated Mohawk in the first round of the WPIAL Tournament on a goal by senior Eve Matten. The Panthers fell to eventual WPIAL Champion Greensburg Central Catholic 4-1 in the quarterfinals. Earning honors for the season were seniors Mackenzie Coles, Eve Matten, and Maeghan Parda, along with sophomore Olivia Ryder, who were all selected to the all-section team. Mackenzie and Eve were also named to the all-WPIAL team.

The girls tennis team captured the section championship with an 8-0 record en route to an overall 13-9 record.

BOYS GOLF The varsity boys golf team captured the first State Championship in golf by being the only team to have all five golfers shoot in the 80s. The team was led by junior Jason Li, who shot an 81, senior Adam Snyder and junior Declan Hickton, who both shot an 82, and seniors Stephen Klemash and Scott Brown, who both shot an 88. The Panthers finished 12-0 in the section to capture the section championship en route to an overall 18-0 record. SA captured a third straight WPIAL Championship through another balanced effort that saw juniors Declan Hickton, who scored 78, Jason Li, who scored 80, and Ryan Gex, who scored 81, lead the way. Jason captured the Individual WPIAL Championship at Allegheny Country Club with a score of 72, and Adam finished tied for second with a 74. Jason, Declan, and Scott all qualified for the state finals, where Jason finished third.

The girls soccer team finished the season with a 9-7-3 record and second in the section with an 8-3-3 record.

The boys golf team captured the first State Championship in golf by being the only team to have all five golfers shoot in the 80s.

This fall sports season concluded with two WPIAL Championships, two PIAA Championships, and one individual State Championship. Congratulations Panthers! SEWICKLEY SPEAKING

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FLAT PANTHER

SNIP IT, SNAP IT, & SUBMIT IT Cut out Flat Panther and take him along with you as you travel around the globe, taking pictures of you as you go to show your Sewickley Academy pride. Then, submit your pictures via email to Alumni Relations at alumni@sewickley.org. Follow the Panther as he travels around with alumni, students, parents, and friends of the Academy on the Alumni Facebook page.

Save the Date Reunion Weekend September 30 and October 1, 2016 Celebrating Class Years Ending in ’1 or ’6 (except 1966) The weekend will include: • Distinguished Alumna/us Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony • Reunion Oktoberfest Celebration for all classes • Alumni Panel, Annual Meeting, and picnic lunch • Individual Class Parties

...and much more! For a full schedule of events and to register, visit www.sewickley.org/reunion Questions? Contact Susan (Ratcliffe ’55) Sour at ssour@sewickley.org or 412-741-2230 ext. 3047.

Call for Nominations:

2016 Distinguished Alumna/us Award The Distinguished Alumna/us Award is presented to an Academy graduate who has demonstrated the highest levels of leadership,

Previous Awardees:

achievement, and service that reflect the core values of

2001 Judge William L. Standish IV ’44

Sewickley Academy.

2003 Victoria “Torie” Clarke ’77

Please submit your nominations for this

2005 Lt. Col. E. Michael Fincke ’85

prestigious award to the Alumni Office

2007 Stephen J. Mikita, J.D. ’74

at alumni@sewickley.org or by calling

2011 James Bower, M.D. ’80

412-741-2230 ext. 3047.

REUNION WEEKEND 2015 Classes from six decades gathered and celebrated on Sewickley Academy’s campus and throughout the Pittsburgh area during Alumni Reunion Weekend October 2-3, 2015.

A highlight of the weekend was the Science and Technology Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Friday morning in Rea Auditorium. Inductees included Mark E. Schafer, Ph.D. ’75, Carolee T. Bull, Ph.D. ’81, and Beth Willman, Ph.D. ’94. All three inductees reflected on their time at Sewickley Academy, recalling experiences and crediting opportunities afforded to them through an Academy education, which led to their success. Around 100 alumni gathered in Hansen Library Friday evening for an Oktoberfestthemed celebration. Classmates reconnected with former teachers and old friends, sampled craft beer, and enjoyed a Bavarian dinner buffet.

A steady rain may have dampened the ground, but not the spirits of alumni and friends who spent Saturday enjoying engaging speakers, touring campus, and sharing memories of their SA days. A very special thank you to all of the Class Party hosts on Saturday night: Jim Edson ’70, Sarah (Edson ’75) Gauthier, Mark Otto ’80 and co-hosts Margot (Moyles ’80) Curran, Amy (Muse ’80) Lang, Amy (Simmons ’80) Sebastian, Natalie (Renda ’85) Mueller; and to reunion organizers Missy (Ratcliffe ’60) Zimmerman, Dana (Pennetti ’90) McFarland, TJ Goodwin ’00, and George Raftis ’05.

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1. The Class of 1970 celebrates their 45th reunion. Pictured: Jacquelyn Casey, Jim Edson, Debra Canter, and Harry Kammerer.

5. The Class of 1990 celebrates their 25th reunion. Pictured: Claire (Lang) Ballantyne, John Danknich, and Bandi Vancsa.

2. The class of 1975 celebrates their 40th reunion. First row: Sarah (Edson) Gauthier, Helen (Anson) Yourd, Julia (Canter) Grimes. Second row: Mark Schafer, Martha Prine, B.A. Doyle. Third row: Glenn Jarvis, Ron Salik, John Macdonald, Dick Stoner.

6. Paula Schafer, Mark Schafer ‘75, Mariann Jarvis, and Glenn Jarvis ‘75 reminisce throughout the evening. 7. Head of School Kolia O’Connor, former Head of Senior School Jim Cavalier, and Director of Advancement Brendan Schneider greet guests at the event.

3. The class of 1980 celebrates their 35th reunion. First row: Anna Maria Ciarallo, Evans Gebhardt, Jenny (Blaxter) Hubbert. Second row: Lisa (Price) Kessel, Amy (Muse) Lang. Third row: Amy (Simmons) Sebastian, Rachel Brewster. 4. The class of 1985 celebrates their 30th reunion. First row: Janet (Scott) Salsbury, Anthony Saveikis, Valerie Gaydos, Kemp Fuller. Second row: Rodney Skirpan, Ellen (Goehring) Skirpan, Tom Jones, Andy Coburn. Third Row: John Zimmerman, Will Potter, Todd Thompson.

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11 8. Jennifer (husband Dick ‘75) Stoner and Bobby Gordon ‘86 enjoy the Oktoberfest-themed reunion celebration. 9. Dr. Mark Schafer ‘75 and Dr. Carolee T. Bull ‘81 were inducted into the Science and Technology Hall of Fame by Head of School Kolia O’Connor on the morning of Friday, October 2, 2015. 10. Sally (Flower ‘60) Getty, Jay Heard ‘60, and Missy (Ratcliffe ‘60) Zimmerman reunite over the weekend. 11. Debra Canter ‘70, Jacquelyn Casey ‘70, and Julia (Canter ‘75) Grimes share memories of their SA days. 12. Former faculty member Vicki Polinko congratulates Carolee T. Bull ‘81 and husband Jean-Philippe Fillettaz at the event. 13. Anthony Saveikis ‘85, Todd Thompson ‘85, Andrew Coburn ‘85, and Will Potter ‘85 are all smiles at the gala.

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14. Jennifer Stoner, Head of School Kolia O’Connor, and board member Jenna Stevenson pose for a picture.

ALUMNI HOCKEY RECAP The annual alumni hockey game was held on November 25, 2015, at the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center. Both benches were bursting at the seams with the strong turnout from so many alumni, thanks to event organizer Louis Pessolano ’97. The game was action packed throughout, starting off with pad slides and glove saves by goaltenders Josh Ciccone ’01, Nick Batyko ’00, and Dan Solter ’00, which kept the game scoreless until the second period. In a friendly battle of Dark vs. Light, the Dark team’s Alex Pfeifer ’14 netted his first of three goals early in the second period, followed closely by another goal from Louis Pessolano ’97 with an assist from Erik Dietrich ’14. The Light team’s Alex Gedeon ’11 tried to give his team some life by finding the upper corner of the net midway through the third period, but when the final buzzer sounded the Dark team emerged victorious with a 15-3 score.

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Science and Technology Hall of Fame Inducts Inaugural Class Meet the Science and Technology Hall of Fame Inductees All three inductees reflected on their time at Sewickley Academy, recalling pivotal experiences and crediting exceptional opportunities afforded to them through an Academy education, which contributed to their success. Dr. Schafer, an innovator, engineer, and entrepreneur, shared some of his favorite quotes with the audience during his acceptance speech. He elaborated on Stephen McCranie’s words, “The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried,” stressing that one will fail, but the key is to learn from failure. Dr. Bull, a phytobacteriologist, professor, and research scientist, told students to embrace the uncomfortable experiences in their lives. She said, “If you are comfortable, you probably aren’t learning.” Dr. Willman videotaped her remarks, as she was in California chairing a scientific conference. She shared her appreciation for her mentor, former faculty member Jane Konrad, and urged students to continue to help and share information with the generations to come. To watch video of the inductees’ speeches, visit www.sewickley.org/sthof.

The Science and Technology Hall of Fame honors alumni who have made significant contributions to the fields of science, medicine, engineering, or technology, as determined by awards, grants, original research, or practical innovation, as acknowledged by experts in their field. Inductees must have performed significant service to others in the classroom or in the field, work that has greatly enhanced the learning experience for their students or the quality of life for the community benefiting from their efforts.

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Mark E. Schafer, Ph.D. ’75 In the mid-1980s, Dr. Schafer established what would become the country’s leading independent measurement laboratory for medical ultrasound, working with companies that ranged from startups to multinationals. Over the years, he has worked to advance the application of ultrasound technology to medicine, developing ultrasound devices for: dissolving blood clots in the leg; removing cataracts; non-invasively treating stroke patients; harvesting stem cells; identifying malignant versus benign breast cancer; accelerating wound healing; treating epilepsy and depression; continuously monitoring heart function during surgery; and crushing kidney stones (lithotripsy). His most recent entrepreneurial effort combines ultrasound and light to treat bacterial biofilms, which are responsible for 80 percent of all chronic infections in humans. This will have application to acne, eczema, rhino-sinusitis, and diabetic wounds. He has 22 patents and over 60 research publications. A graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he earned a M.S. from Penn State and a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Drexel University. As a researcher, scholar, and innovator, he is hailed as a leading international expert in ultrasound technology.

Three Sewickley Academy alumni were inducted into the Science and Technology Hall of Fame on Friday, October 2, 2015, in Rea Auditorium. Inductees included Mark E. Schafer, Ph.D. ’75, Carolee T. Bull, Ph.D. ’81, and Beth Willman, Ph.D. ’94.

Carolee T. Bull, Ph.D. ’81

Beth Willman, Ph.D. ’94

Dr. Bull is a world leader in research on organic and sustainable crop production, bacterial taxonomy, biological control of plant pathogens, and phytobacteriology. She has worked as a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, and as a USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) postdoctoral fellow in Fresno, California, where in addition to her rigorous research program, she made it her goal to make the Salinas Valley (known as the Salad Bowl of the U.S.) as well known for producing outstanding scientists as it is for growing lettuce. Dr. Bull has developed an award-winning mentoring program for undergraduate researchers, many the sons and daughters of field workers. Dr. Bull received the Secretary’s Honor Award (the highest award for service to the nation in agriculture) from the USDA in 2014. Dr. Bull was appointed tenured professor of Bacterial Systematics and Plant Pathology and head of the Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology at Penn State University in September 2015. She earned her B.S. from Ohio University, M.S. from Washington State University, and Ph.D. from Oregon State University.

Dr. Willman became deputy director of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) project in September 2015, where she has been active as a chair of the Stars, Milky Way, and Local Volume Science Collaboration. LSST is a billion dollar project being constructed on Cerro Pachon in Chile, and is the highest priority in ground-based astronomy for the United States through the next decade. Prior to that, she served as chair of the astronomy and physics departments at Haverford College, where she taught for seven years. Both beloved and respected by students, she received the college’s three highest teaching awards. In 2005, as a post-doctoral student at New York University studying galaxy formation and dark matter, she discovered a new ultra-faint galaxy now known as Willman 1. Recipient of numerous National Science Foundation grants for research, she has served as a James Arthur Fellow at the Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics at New York University and a Clay Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Dr. Willman earned her B.A. in astrophysics at Columbia University and Ph.D. in astronomy at the University of Washington.

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In June 2003, Gregg was diagnosed with brain cancer, an ongoing battle that ultimately took his life on November 16, 2004. He was 45 years old. Jeff emotionally struggled with the illness of his dear friend, but the two took advantage of the time Gregg had left to plan a scholarship program that would make sure Gregg’s memory lived on long after he was gone.

Tim Hastings ‘77, Mary Mackey, Jeff Lenchner ‘77, Susie (Humphrey ‘88) Keller, Mike Riordan, and Win Palmer chaired the Hansen Cup this year.

An Extraordinary Friendship

Leaves a Lasting Legacy By: Patti Coyne Stine Jeff Lenchner ’77 and W. Gregg Hansen ’77 were classmates who quickly became friends in 1975, when Jeff entered Sewickley Academy’s Senior School in Grade 10. “Gregg and many others took me under their wing as a new student to help me assimilate into the school. In those days, if you did not live in Sewickley you were considered an outsider at the school,” Jeff explained. “Gregg made sure that never happened, along with Tim Hastings, Craig Kinney, and Rusty Scioscia, all from the Class of 1977.” Jeff’s friendship with Gregg quickly transformed him into a “regular” at the Hansen household, and Gregg’s sister Natalie (Hansen ’78) Weintz eventually became his high school sweetheart. “I had a connection with the entire Hansen family, but the real gift during my life-

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long relationship with Gregg and his family came when we were reunited as adults in 1987, upon my return to Pittsburgh,” Jeff said. The two SA grads quickly reunited, but this time with even more in common, including assuming the responsibility of their family’s businesses, Today’s Home Inc. (Jeff) and A. Stucki Co. (Gregg). Jeff was actively involved with a professional business group called the Young Presidents Organization, and he drafted Gregg to join. Their friendship deepened over the years on many levels due to these close ties, reconnecting Jeff with Gregg’s parents, Mr. William S. and Mrs. Nancy Hansen, and establishing relationships with his wife Gretchen and their four children – Katherine ’07, Julia ’09, Laura ’12, and Sarah ’18.

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“During Gregg’s final months, we had many intimate talks about his legacy and what was important to him. He asked me to spearhead a scholarship fund at the school in his name after his death, in which he gifted the start of the fund,” Jeff said. “SA was such an important part of his life as a student, parent, benefactor, and trustee. Gregg asked that I carry this message to Head of School Kolia O’Connor, which I did, and with the blessing of his family, the W. Gregg Hansen Scholarship fund was started.” The real challenge for Jeff came after his friend’s passing. He had to figure out how to grow the fund in the future. Doug Wood, a close friend of Gregg and Jeff, came up with the idea to start a golf event in his memory. Jeff enlisted the help of another close friend, Clark Whalen ’70, to assist in the planning stages, and the Hansen Cup Memorial Golf Tournament was founded in 2005. “Outside of his family, one of Gregg’s greatest joys was his passion for golf, so this worked perfectly with my goal to carry on his mission to grow the scholarship fund,” Jeff said. “The event was quickly embraced by so many of his friends and loved ones, selling out each year.”

The feedback from the annual event has always been positive. Gregg was a great friend to many, and the event allowed his classmates and members of the community to grow closer each year as a group in his memory. This past September, the Hansen Cup celebrated its 10th year, helping to push the W. Gregg Hansen Scholarship Fund total over $350,000. “Gregg’s goal to help financial aid students each year obtain the same incredible education that he received is now well established,” Jeff said. “I know Gregg would be so pleased that our mission together is now a reality.” “My most rewarding moment during my 10 years chairing the golf outing was always the announcement of the recipients of the scholarship fund,” Jeff reflected. “Reading their biographies and seeing the joy on their faces as we honored them each year with a standing ovation at the reception at the end of the golf event was such a nice finish.”

Jeff is still heavily involved at the Academy and remembered his days as a student well. “SA had a tremendous impact in my life in so many different ways. Mr. Jim Cavalier, former Head of Senior School, mentored and encouraged me along the way,” Jeff stated. “I have told him many times that he was one of the most influential mentors I had in my young life. I still carry his lessons of fortitude to work each day. He is an amazing individual. He taught me to dig deep for results, and that trait is still with me 38 years later.” Sewickley Academy was such a great fit for Jeff that he and his wife Jill enrolled their children at the Academy when they moved from Upper St. Clair to Sewickley in 1999. Rachel ’08 and Aaron ’10 were both lifers at the school. Rachel recently joined the family business, representing the third generation, after earning her business degree from the University of Pittsburgh and working in New York for two years as the wholesale marketing director at David Yurman. The business, Today’s Home Inc., is now celebrating its 63rd year. Aaron graduated from Boston University with a mechanical engineering degree in July 2014 and began his career at Ghafari Associates, an international architecture and engineering firm, in Chicago. Jeff has stayed closely involved with the school over the years, not only as an alumnus, but as a parent of alumni. He also served on the board of trustees from 2001 to 2010 and was elected trustee emeritus in 2011.

Jeff Lenchner ‘77, Gretchen Hansen, and Nancy Hansen make sure Gregg’s legacy lives on at Sewickley Academy.

the vice chair of the Picture This Capital Campaign during my last year. We were able to raise $20 million for the school. Much of the proceeds of this effort were directed toward the school’s endowment, which was an important passion of mine. I wanted to ensure the school’s stability for the generations to come. You see, Mr. Cavalier, your efforts on my behalf were well spent and never forgotten.” Jeff is also a dedicated supporter of Sewickley Academy’s many fundraising efforts, such as the Annual Fund and Annual Auction. He served on the board of directors for The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia for six years, with his companies donating a great deal financially to the incredible organization. But, the most meaningful fundraiser, the one closest to his heart, is the Hansen Cup Memorial Golf Tournament. “Gregg had the ability to connect immediately with all those he came in contact with. He truly was a friend we will all carry in our hearts for the rest of our lives.”

SAVE THE DATE September 12, 2016 For more information, visit www.sewickley.org/SAHansenCup

“Becoming a trustee at SA was one of the true honors of my life. I followed Gregg in this capacity. Giving back to the school as a trustee was invigorating,” Jeff said. “I was very active in all trustee responsibilities, including my role as 51

1966 TO 2016:

SENIOR SCHOOL OV E R 5 0 Y E A R S By: Susan (Ratcliffe ’55) Sour, Ph.D. In 1963, Headmaster Cliff Nichols hired a young teacher from arch rival Shady Side Academy named Jim Cavalier to help establish a high school. The two men had worked together at a summer camp in Maine, and Cliff felt Jim was just the right person to lead this critical next step in the school’s future. Several times before, the Academy had instituted a 10th grade, but had never been able to achieve sufficient enrollment to sustain a successful high school. This time would be different. The new high school took the best of the traditional classical education, for which the Academy was well known, and combined that curriculum with some innovative ideas, very progressive for their time. Jim Cavalier felt that students needed to learn how to handle themselves in a college environment with increased independence, individual responsibility, and more personal initiative than was typical in high schools at the time, so he created a Senior School that would provide students the opportunity to grow in these areas. Five teachers worked with the new 10th grade – Jim Cavalier (division head/Latin), Duncan Denny (math/schedule), Paul Ribar (science), Mary Cooper Robb (English/library), and Tim Goodwin (history). Myrta Macdonald ’45 “kept the trains running on time” as Jim’s assistant and receptionist for the

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new Senior School. Scott Carter joined this group one year later in August teaching math, science, and taking over the master schedule from Duncan. Those first three years were a challenge. Jim had to figure out how to make the school succeed when some in the community, and our scholastic competitors, thought the school would fail. Larry Garber, president of the Class of 1966, recalled, “The trust he [Mr. Cavalier] placed in us was positively exhilarating. There were no mandatory study halls and no locks on lockers. We felt part of a grand experiment and privileged. It made you want to join the cause, to have a hand in the founding, and in its perpetuation. We were all on a mission, which committed us all the more to our own learning.” “Bolstered by his experience as a teacher and as a father of three highly independent daughters, Jim set about making the Senior School a place where students and teachers felt free to speak their minds through the years, knowing that at Sewickley Academy every individual was an important person deserving consideration and respect,” Dr. Susan Zawacky, chemistry teacher who came to SA in 1986, said. “The early years were the 1960s and 1970s, when debates about free speech, the military draft, and Vietnam roiled people’s feelings everywhere, and our school was no exception. Jim let people have their say, but insisted that they speak their minds in ways that showed respect for the feelings of others.” The curriculum has changed in thoughtful ways through the years to reflect the changing world in which we have lived. The Sputnik era impacted science, foreign language, and travel. The German exchange was the first and longest lived of the exchange experiences. Japanese had a brief stint as an area of study, and now Mandarin Chinese is a language option beginning in Grade 6. Robotics has become a crucially important area of study, allowing students to engage in computer programming and engineering skills. Teaching methodology has also changed with the times. No longer are students sitting in rows listening to a teacher lecture. The classroom tables and chairs move – everything can be altered to work in pairs and in groups, utilizing the ideas of more than one person to affect a new, more creative problemsolving whole.

This June marks the 50th anniversary of the Senior School’s first graduating class, the Class of 1966.

The schedule was changed for the 2010-2011 school year. Academy teachers and administrators researched and visited models that were not the typical 40-minute classroom time periods. Orchestrating the time to take an idea and work with it using different methodologies in a more fluid way during longer class periods has revolutionized how learning can be accomplished. Now, as a 1-to-1 school, technology has changed the way information is distributed, in ways we are only beginning to realize. Understanding diversity and pursuing Global Studies have become key elements in the Academy experience. Students at our school have always been inspired to give their best to their academic, athletic, and artistic interests. There continues to be much that binds those early years with the Senior School of today: our core values continue to emphasize character, educational vigor, diversity, and community.

Individual responsibility, organizational skills, and commitment to a greater good remain hallmarks of an Academy education. The relationship between faculty and students, the caring attention teachers give to students in their charge, is our greatest asset. The opportunity for an individual to excel in more than one arena – to be an athlete, a musician, a performer on stage – fosters self-confidence and team work that bodes well for each person’s future. The success of the Senior School has been reflected in so many ways over the past 50 years, including the ability of graduates to succeed in college and in life, and the life lessons learned from devoted teachers and fellow students both in and outside the classroom. We salute Jim Cavalier and all those who began with him and those who have joined us over time to make the dream of 50 years ago a vital, dynamic, and enduring reality today. SEWICKLEY SPEAKING

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Q&A

WITH JIM CAVALIER

On June 12, the Class of 2016 will receive their diplomas and officially become alumni of Sewickley Academy. On that day we will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first graduating class from the Senior School, the Class of 1966. Much has changed in 50 years, yet a pillar of the Academy, former Head of Senior School Mr. Jim Cavalier, remains a vital part of the SA community. Each graduating class owes him a debt of thanks. A photo of Mr. Cavalier was recently published in the Sewickley Academy Alumni Facebook group for Throwback Thursday. Alumni and former faculty described him as, “A great guy,” “Simply the best,” “Best. Boss. Ever.,” “Can’t say enough good things about Mr. Cav.,” and “A man to look up to.” While so many admire and respect him, how many know the story of how Mr. Cavalier arrived at Sewickley Academy? How he first met Mr. Nichols? What he was responsible for during those first years? Director of Advancement Brendan Schneider sat down with Mr. Cavalier to ask him these questions and more. Below are just a few highlights from the interview. We encourage you listen to the interview in its entirety and hear Mr. Cavalier himself tell the story by visiting www.sewickley.org/mrcav.

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Brendan Schneider: What year did you arrive at Sewickley Academy, and what were the circumstances around your arrival? Jim Cavalier: I arrived in 1963, and it’s an example of God’s great providence. For the first year in my life ever, I went to a boys camp in Maine because I was sick and tired of teaching summer school and going to school. So I ended up in Maine. Cliff [Nichols] used to set up a tutoring program there and then go sailing. And he used to come to camp to pick up his mail, and I used to tease him all the time about how I was going to bring Shady Side’s JV basketball team out and beat them again this year. And that went on, and then right before camp ended, before he was leaving, he said, “I’d like you and Patty to come over before we leave.” And when we went to his house, he said, “I’d like to have you come to Sewickley Academy,” which threw me for a loop because I was teaching upper-level classes at Shady Side Academy. There were no AP classes or anything like that at Sewickley; it only went to the ninth grade. We didn’t get into a lot and he just said, “I’m going to leave it at that. I’ll have to talk to the headmaster at Shady Side because we don’t pirate one another’s faculty.”

When we went home, I said to Patty, “Why would I leave? There’s nothing there for me, you know?” And sure enough, early in October, he called and talked to George Follansbee, who was the Headmaster of Shady Side, who in the aftermath of the call called me into his office and said, “Cliff called me and I don’t understand. Why in the world would you go to Sewickley?” And I said, “I have no idea.” But I said, “I promised him that I would be willing to talk later on, so I’m going to have to go and see him.” When I left Shady Side, I said to Patty, “This is a long way to go to say no to somebody.” And when I came home, I said, “Sit down, sweetie. I got something to tell you.” And that’s when [Cliff] told me that they were going to start the Senior School, and he would like me to consider being the Head of the Senior School. That in and of itself seemed so strange. I had no administrative experience. I was a teacher, a coach, whatever... committees and all that stuff at Shady Side. I said to him, “Well, I have to know more about this before I get into it.” He said, “We’ve done the research. We’ve had questionnaires go out to lawyers, doctors, business people in the area through Moon Township down to Beaver, in the immediate communities like Ben Avon, and places like that. So we have some sense of response. We obviously polled all our people down through the Lower School and Middle School asking if they would stay if there were such an opportunity. And we have some results from that. We’ve done the base work. Yes, we’ve come to the decision that there’s enough response to really have the Senior School.” And he said, “Now, some of the other things would be your responsibility in getting this school set up.” That satisfied me, that they were working on it. And I’d go back and I’d have questions. And [Cliff] said, “The other thing... if you really want to do it, we can go and visit other schools and see what their Senior School setups are like.” So we went to Philadelphia, we went to Baltimore, and we went to the school that I thought of as the one I admired the most, which was the Hawken School in Cleveland, which had just started on its own [Senior School]. It had done the very thing that we were thinking to do. And their Lower and Middle Schools were in a certain part of town, and they moved their Senior School campus out of town to a beautiful spot. So we went and consulted with them to get some ideas about what went well, what didn’t go well, and what happened that they should have thought about. This sort of thing. That was a very valuable experience.

Brendan: At the time, was there a plan for the Senior School? Or did you do it together, or was it up to you? Jim: A lot of that stuff we did together because my point was he had to see all the things that went into having a Senior School. As he readily admitted, “I don’t understand those kids. I’m good at the level I’m in, but I’m really anxious about the idea of having these teenagers.” I feel that I had an opportunity that very few guys had. Because Cliff said to me, “I don’t understand those kids. I have no experience with high school stuff.” And he said, “Jimmy, that’s your school. I have to know what’s going on, but you’re running the place.” And he meant that. And he followed through on it. I think my favorite story is a mother who didn’t quite understand in the very early stages of the Senior School, what those Senior School kids were doing sitting outside on the grounds, throwing a baseball around or something. And she demanded...she drove in, demanded to see him (Cliff), walked in and said, “What the hell is going on? Are they running a country club or what?” Brendan: Because they were out playing? Jim: Yeah. Brendan: That’s funny. Jim: And Cliff looked at her and said, “Have you talked to Jim?” She said, “No.” He said, “Well, then, I’m not talking to you. Go over and find out from him what’s going on.” And I can’t tell you how much I appreciated that. That kind of support was incredible. Brendan: When you were hired as Head of Senior School, what other responsibilities did you have? Did you continue to teach? Jim: I taught one class... the advanced Latin class. I insisted on that because I love teaching. And I filled in, I was ready to fill in for any English or history teacher, both of which are things I love.

To hear the rest of the interview, visit www.sewickley.org/mrcav

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Class Notes 56

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Joan (Foedisch ’55) Adibi’s husband, Dr. Siamak Adibi, has just published a memoir entitled My Life and the Overthrow of the Persian Peacock Throne in paperback, available on Amazon. Dr. Adibi wrote, “Because I was born in Iran (previously called Persia), I am often asked ‘Why is there such animosity between Iran and America?’ Before answering this question, I need to discuss the story of my life, which was profoundly affected by this animosity. My personal story includes first growing up and being shaped by Iran, and then moving to America, where I embraced all that America stood for. The story of my life in Iran and America will enable the readers of my book to know how I came to love both countries, and why now I feel disheartened by both governments.”

Susan and George ’59 Craig celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on December 23, 2015. Nancy (Craig ’84) Garvey and Jim Craig ’86 hosted a festive dinner party at Sewickley Heights Golf Club for their parents’ many friends.

57 Jamie Wardrop ’57 met with former SA teacher Finlay McQuade, who was the head of the English department in the Senior School during the 70s and 80s, in Maine over the summer. Finlay is living in Brunswick, Maine, near Bowdoin College during the warmer months of the year and in Turkey the remainder of the year. He and his wife are planning to move to Maine permanently in the near future. Finlay is well and sends his best to all his friends from Sewickley Academy.

60 The movie “Love the Coopers” was filmed in Sewickley at Margot (Childs ’60) Cheel’s family home on Grove Street. Those of you who have visited there in days gone by may recognize the background in some of the film scenes.

My Life and the Overthrow of the Persian Peacock Throne by Siamak A. Adibi, M.D., Ph.D., husband of Joan (Foedisch ’55) Adibi.

Jamie Wardrop ’57 and former SA teacher Finlay McQuade in Maine this past summer.

50TH CLASS REUNION

Calling all members of the 50th anniversary class to make plans to come to campus for your special celebration and Senior School graduation June 10-12!

Susan and George ’59 Craig celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with family, including daughter Nancy ‘84 and son Jim ‘86.

Margot (Childs ’60) Cheel and Sally (Flower ’60) Getty enjoy some popcorn in Margot’s family home, location for the film “Love the Coopers.”

Film crews and equipment clutter Grove Street in front of the home in Sewickley where the movie “Love the Coopers” was filmed in 2015. The movie stars John Goodman, Diane Keaton, Alan Arkin, Amanda Seyfried, Olivia Wilde, Marisa Tomei. Photo Credit: Keith Hodan | Tribune-Review

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Luke Schramm ’13

First Penn State Students to Study in Ankara Develop Deep Cultural Appreciation By: Liam Jackson A portion of this article was reprinted with permission from Pennsylvania State University.

Ryan McCann and Luke Schramm ’13 had the chance to experience something that no other undergraduate Penn State student has experienced — studying for a semester at the prestigious Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey. From the moment the two petroleum and natural gas engineering (PNGE) students set foot in Turkey, the trip was filled with new sights and activities, as well as many interactions that helped the students feel at home. “Shortly after we arrived in Turkey, we needed to get residency permits. On our way to Ankara’s Migration Management Office, we saw a few hundred refugees from Iraq and Syria lined up trying to immigrate into the country. Entire families were standing in line with their lives in drawstring bags. Just to see how the events going on in the Middle East affected everyday peoples’ lives was a very sobering experience,” said Schramm. This experience represents some of the unique and sometimes challenging experiences that would allow the students to grow into well-rounded individuals and learn to appreciate people from vastly different backgrounds.

A leading technical university Before enrolling in college classes, students in Turkey are required to take a nationwide placement exam. More than 1.5 million students complete this each year, and many departments of METU only accept the top one percent of these applicants. The courses were all taught in English, and the METU’s PNGE program is accredited by the Accreditation Board for

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Engineering and Technology Inc. (ABET). McCann and Schramm chose to study there because the program offered courses that would directly translate to their PNGE degree program.

but it really helped us learn a new respect for the Turkish culture. It really does open your eyes,” said McCann.

Sharing an apartment suite with two Turkish students also helped the Penn State students build deep connections and understand the Turkish culture in a way they never dreamed of before the trip. “We would talk about religion and current events, and everyone we met seemed to be very well informed on some of the major news from the United States. They have a different perspective than we did,

The most lasting impression for the students was the bonds they built, said Schramm. “Something I’ll always remember is the group interactions we had both inside and outside of class. That cross-cultural group dynamic, with everyone being respectful to each other and getting along, was nice to see and experience,” he said.

McCann and Schramm also spent time traveling throughout Turkey, visiting Istanbul, They forged new relationships throughout Mount Ararat, and the three major seas that the semester with their Turkish roommates, border Turkey — the Mediterranean, the lab partners and classmates, and made Aegean, and the Black Seas. One of the most international friendships through the METU memorable sites was Cappadocia, a humanchapter of the Erasmus Student Network (ESN), created network of tunnels, caves, and living a European student association that facilitates quarters carved into natural rock formations study abroad and exchange programs. that resemble chimneys. The dwellings served as home for ancient humans, and as a refuge “Every Thursday night, a group of students for early Christians fleeing from the Roman from between 10 and 20 countries would get Empire during the fourth century. together through the ESN. We’d meet at one person’s apartment and everyone would bring “There were so many amazing landscapes to a traditional dish from their country. Being see, from mountains to the seas to the desert able to sit down and eat and talk with students areas to more lush environments near the from different nationalities is something I’ll Black Sea. It’s so unlike anything we had seen always remember,” said Schramm. in the United States,” said Schramm.

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66 Madeleine Lord ’66 has four new public works that will soon be positioned for all to see. “The 10’ Giraffe and a companion 5’ Ostrich will be on the terrace of the Federal Reserve Building in downtown Boston early in 2016. Two other works will be inside the building in public areas,” she said. Giraffe by Madeleine Lord ’66.

Outdoor sculpture by Doug Rice ’70 in Stonington, Connecticut.

Jack Butler ’70 sent news, “Our 28-year-old daughter Abydee has recently married, and we finally have another boy in our family with son-in-law Ryan Moore. Life is fun and rewarding as we work in our family company with Elissa (wife), Abydee, and yours truly all enjoying life at Butler Gas Products. Abydee is vice president, and my job has morphed into being the head scout and banker. We love living in Pittsburgh, and we love traveling too.” Abydee Butler, daughter of Elissa and Jack’ 70 Butler, married Ryan Moore.

Deb Canter ’70 on her Triumph Bonneville.

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Deb Canter ’70 wrote, “I have been retired since 2006 from the Federal Aviation Administration as an air traffic controller. I just finished my 10th season coaching motorcycle safety classes for the state of Ohio and HarleyDavidson. In 2009, I bought a small embroidery and garment decorating company, www. barnthreads.com, with a business partner. I now own the company and continue to operate it out of my house just outside of Oberlin, Ohio. It keeps me busy and mostly out of trouble. I ride my motorbikes to and from various locations for fun. Every summer, I ride around Lake Erie as part of a fundraiser for pediatric

burn victims on a vintage 1981 Honda Twinstar (200 cc) - twelve hours of “fun” for a worthy cause. My sister Julia (Canter ’75) Grimes and I are heading to Ireland in June 2016 for a one week horseback tour, and then spending a week in England visiting our British cousins and aunt. Every summer I compete in a variety of matches at Camp Perry in Port Clinton, Ohio, home of the National Rifle Association National Championships and the Civilian Marksmanship Program.” Scott Ferguson ’70 reported, “My youngest brother Rob got married to Jayme Brown in Key West on November 30, 2015, and my brother Alan Ferguson ’74 and sister Jeanne (Ferguson ’72) Fansler were in attendance, as well as myself. The classes of 1970 through 1974 alumni may recognize Rob as Crawling Squirrel from the 1969 Thanksgiving original play “Trewe as Steele” or “Old Men Are Only Walking Hospitals” that John Damuth ’70 and I presented in the Senior School library. Rob performed the role of the wandering papoose throughout that performance at 2 years old, managing to cry real tears at one point, ending his career as a thespian on a high note.” Doug Rice ’70 just retired from his construction business in New York City and is painting and sculpting full-time, splitting his time between his studios in the Bronx and in Stonington, Connecticut. Tassilo Steinbach ’70 reports, “I was the German AFS-USA (formerly the American Field Service) student in 1969-1970, and I was living with the

MacWilliams family on Thorn Street, just around the corner from Sewickley Academy. Mark MacWilliams ’70 was in my class as well, and our “mother” was a teacher in the Middle School. After my stay in the United States, I finished school in Germany, went to University to graduate with a master’s in marketing and economics. After my studies, I spent 10 years with Bosch, also visiting the U.S. several times, and for more than 20 years I’ve been a managing director of a European packaging distributor. I was quite active as a field hockey player and played twice in the German men’s final, unfortunately without luck. I finished my hockey career at age 47 and switched to golf, which I could play with my wife. We have one son who has a sports shop in Munich specializing in freeride skis and equipment. Hiking and skiing are some other outdoor activities we practice a lot. I certainly cannot forget my senior year at the Academy because it was a fantastic experience for me and I met so many great people.” Mark MacWilliams ’70 shared: “I am on sabbatical from my teaching job as a professor at St. Lawrence University in the field of East Asian religions. I had plenty of good beer this August in Erfurt, Germany, where we stayed for a week while attending the International Association for the History of Religions Conference. I have no plans to retire in the near future – teaching (other than grading) is fun, and I have taken an additional job as executive editor of the scholarly journal, “Religious Studies Review.” My wife Kaori and I spend the rest of our time working on our house, trying to keep the fires burning

in cold northern New York, swimming and boating ‘at the camp’ in Lake George, New York, and keeping up with my four kids and grandchild (boy, do I feel old!).” Debbie Henle ’70 worked for Verizon for 33 years and retired in 2010. “I was lucky enough to spend my entire career at Verizon, and when I retired I was the manager for Verizon’s national project management team. My team managed all major voice and data installations for medium-size business customers across the country. We lived in San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Lancaster County, and are now back in the Pittsburgh area. I keep busy babysitting our 22-month-old granddaughter, and I am still doing a lot of sewing, monogramming, and embroidery these days. I’m planning on starting an in-home sewing business in 2016 called OMG Sew Cute.”

45TH CLASS REUNION

The Ferguson family and Academy friends gathered for the marriage of Rob Ferguson to Jayme Brown (center couple) in Key West this past November , including Scott Ferguson ‘70 (kneeling, far left), Alan Ferguson ‘74 (kneeling, bottom right in a blue shirt and sunglasses), and Jeanne (Ferguson ‘72) Fansler (redhead next to Alan).

Mark MacWilliams ’70 and wife Kaori enjoy their stay in Germany.

Bill Braham’s ’75 most recent publication.

75 Bill Braham ’75, director of the master’s program in Environmental Building Design (MEBD) at the University of Pennsylvania, recently published a new book, Architecture and Systems Ecology. Bill said, “The book explains the approach we have developed for the MEBD over the last six years, helping architects better understand the environmental effects of their buildings.”

40TH CLASS REUNION

Tassilo Steinbach ’70 raises a toast to his friends at SA.

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Saren Stiegel ’03

HELPS WOMEN TO

GLOW A couple of years ago, Saren Stiegel ’03 quit her job as an attorney and started a business called The Glow Effect, a social enterprise that uses a unique combination of personal and sustainable development to train women to be the source of change for themselves and their communities. Since 2013, The Glow Effect has conducted hundreds of interviews with women from diverse communities and recognized a pattern: too many women spend an inordinate amount of brainpower concentrating on their perceived inadequacies instead of their strengths. Even more startling is that these negative thought patterns are not isolated to a certain profession, geographic location, socioeconomic class, race, or religion. Women are encountering similar self-doubt issues across the globe – from a 35-year-old single lawyer in Chicago to a 22-year-old illiterate mother in a rural Ugandan village. “Imagine if we could not only empower that Chicago attorney to break through her limiting patterns and help her remember the power she has to change the world, but we could also give her the platform to engage her purpose for global good and utilize her skills to empower women in developing communities,” Saren said. “As a result, we would not only empower women, we would transform a generation. The world is running at half of its potential. If our world continues to operate with women feeling burdened by perceived flaws, this cycle will not only be reinforced, it will be accepted as the status quo.” The Glow Effect does not see the plight of women as a tragedy to be mourned, rather it sees the untapped potential as the solution. The company started by creating a for-profit coaching business, which helps well-educated, professional women become aware of their capacity to be catalysts for change. Using its unique process of guided-reflection, discussion, and action-techniques, women participants, known as “glowgetters,” discover a new level of power. As glow-getters get in touch with their self-worth, their lives change and they change the lives of others. Glow-getter Helen, the American co-founder of the Suubi Women’s Health Center in Uganda, said, “By finding my ‘glow,’ I am able to carry my intentions through my actions in an honest and soulful way.”

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The first level of The Glow Effect’s curriculum is geared toward self-empowerment and can be whole and complete on its own. The next, advanced level is the non-profit arm, The Glow Exchange. It emphasizes community transformation and pairs groups of women from developed communities with groups of women in underdeveloped communities to co-create sustainable development programs. Together, the groups build The Glow Effect Centers for Women & Girls, igniting women’s leadership potential through learning, earning, and thriving. Recently, the Exchange’s pilot group, comprised of women from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia, spent four months cocreating a curriculum with its Ugandan partners, The Association of Rural Women Professionals (ARWP). In August 2015, the group traveled to Uganda for a 10-day leadership forum. During the discussion on guidance and counseling, American Glow Exchanger Jasmine and ARWP member Bengna asked the group, “What are you told you should or should not do just because you are a woman?” An ARWP member responded, “Women should not climb trees, work, handle money, go to school...” and the list continued. The women tied ribbons around their wrists for each rule they’ve been told personally and then declared their freedom by cutting those “limiting ties.” Throughout 10 days of similar activities, the group finalized a curriculum with practical and personal development for confidence and

self-expression, as well as economic growth and health needs. The curriculum embodies holistic (meaning “whole human”) empowerment strategies that ultimately spark a ripple effect of mindful, strong, and fulfilled women worldwide. The ‘exchange’ was mutual — the group of Glow Exchangers became resources to a community in need and in return, the Ugandan partners inspired the Glow Exchangers’ continued drive to impact change. Upon return, eight out of 10 Glow Exchangers have begun to develop other projects, including children’s centers in Central America and farming cooperatives in New England. The Glow Exchange program will build the second Glow Effect Center for Women and Girls in Puruaran, Mexico, in early 2017. There are many worthy causes competing for attention and support. The Glow Effect focuses on women because the drain of half the world’s potential feels transcendent, as does the opportunity. Their progress reveals that true, sustainable development can be achieved with a strong foundation of personal development and leadership training. Saren invites you to join the movement to end intergenerational poverty and free women by unlocking their leadership potential. This is a story of transformation already happening among glow-getters, and it is change that can accelerate if you take the opportunity to join the cause.

To learn more, visit www.gloweffect.com and www.glowexchange.org.

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35TH CLASS REUNION

Lydia (Ciarallo ’81) Hage shared news, “I especially reminisce about the Academy right now given that my three girls are all in the throes of high school together. We are still in Massachusetts, where my husband works in finance in Boston, and I in emergency medicine in Providence. We live halfway between the two cities. I still love visiting Pittsburgh when I can to see my family, lingering in Sewickley when possible.”

Bob Hensley ’81 and wife Jenny celebrate their 27th anniversary in London.

Ebony (Wilson ‘95) Perez’s daughter Aset (17) is a junior in high school, and her son Tiran II (12) started middle school this year. Jael (3) started preschool this year.

Jon Fox ’81 checked in from overseas. “I live in Wales, Great Britain, where I run an IT consultancy and have worked all over Europe. My English girlfriend Anna and I married in 1985, and we moved to Britain in 1986. Anna is a psychologist, the co-founder of a thriving nonprofit in England for autistic kids, and an amazing guitarist. Our two grown children both live nearby, and we’re looking forward to the arrival of grandchildren.” Bob Hensley ’81 reported, “I just returned from a great eight-day trip to London with my wife, Jenny. We took in all the sights and had an absolute blast celebrating our 27th anniversary. Our daughter Elizabeth is a senior at the University of MissouriColumbia and is double majoring in psychology and English. I recently saw Tom Benzing ’81 as he drove from Idaho through St. Louis on his way back to Virginia. Looking forward to Reunion 2016!” Clint Kelley ’81 writes, “We are here in Pittsburgh having fun and keeping busy. Our two oldest sons

Ben Barnes ’95 as a panel moderator at Comic-Con.

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are finishing up college, and our youngest son will be graduating from Mount Lebanon High School this spring.” Dave Ritchie ’81 and family moved to Collierville, Tennessee, in 2005. “Prior to that, we lived in Wexford, where I was the manager of jet engine overhaul for US Airways, and my wife Kim taught German at Seneca Valley High School. With the collapse of US Airways in Pittsburgh, we decided that a career change was warranted. I’m now with FedEx Express, responsible for jet engine performance monitoring, and my wife teaches German at our local high school. We have two children. Our son is 21 and a college senior studying mechanical engineering, and our daughter is 19 and a college sophomore also studying mechanical engineering. A year or so ago, I started back to college working towards a second professional degree in aviation management through Eastern New Mexico University. We love the mid-south and its weather. Memphis barbecue is also hard to beat. Kim and I celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary in December.” Dee Dee (Swenson ’81) Simpson and her family are living in the great Northwest, east of Seattle on the edge of the mountains. “My oldest is 21 and at Evergreen College, and I am keeping myself young by having a 13- and 11-year-old. I have been a real estate broker for over 12 years – it can be an amazing career and also one that will drive you nuts. But, I like it better than working for a Fortune 500 company, which was what I was doing before I became an agent.”

30TH CLASS REUNION

25TH CLASS REUNION

95 From Ben Barnes ’95: “I’ve been busy and happy working in Los Angeles. I directed a pilot presentation for Steve Carell’s Carousel Television. A pilot script I co-wrote was recently a finalist at The New York Television Festival, and the most recent entry in my “Fish in a Sweater” series (which Mr. Connolly wrote a Sewickley Speaking article about a few years back) premiered at Dragon Con in Atlanta. I’ve also been working with special effects leader, Legacy Effects, documenting their work on films like “Jurassic World” and moderating their panel at ComicCon. I’m currently prepping a feature film that shoots in Pittsburgh in 2016.” An update from Ebony (Wilson ’95) Perez: “2015 has come with a lot of exciting changes. My oldest daughter Aset (17) is a junior in high school and preparing for college, my son Tiran II (12) started middle school, and my 3-year-old Jael started preschool this year. It’s hard to believe that we are planning college visits!

amazing place to work, and the sense of community there reminds me a lot of SA. I teach upper level undergraduate students; it is both challenging and fulfilling. Within the program I teach policy, diversity, and generalist practice skills. I am also responsible for monitoring social work interns while they are in their field placement and am working with our department to plan advocacy trips to both Tallahassee and Washington, D.C. I will also be chaperoning one of our Students Engaged in Rewarding Volunteer Experiences (SERVE) trips (alternative spring break) to Laredo, Texas; students will be creating, planning, and running a religious retreat for third through seventh graders. In addition to teaching, in August 2015 I started a doctorate program in curriculum and instruction with a concentration in higher education administration at the University of South Florida. This first semester has been a transition for sure but with the support of my family, together we have successfully navigated the first term. This past October, I completed a five-year women’s bible study course at my church. And last but definitely not least, we got a beautiful new puppy.”

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In July 2015 I changed both careers and institutions. I am no longer a full-time college counselor, but have transitioned into full-time teaching at St. Leo University in San Antonio, Florida. I am a faculty member in our Bachelor of Social Work program and LOVE it. St. Leo University is an absolutely

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Carrington Motley ’12 Sewickley Academy Grad an Elite

Athlete at MIT By: Joe Bendel A portion of this article was reprinted with permission from Tri-State Sports & News Service.

D. Carrington Motley ’12 is a scholar and an athlete, a whiz with wow-factor. The Avonworth resident is in the midst of a journey that few 21-year-olds – or anyone else, for that matter – have traversed. Some samples: A perfect 5.0 cumulative grade-point average at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where this senior majors in mechanical engineering and minors in management; a recently completed summer internship at Goldman Sachs in New York City; a 1,200-point scorer for the Sewickley Academy basketball team, which won two WPIAL championships and one PIAA Class A crown during his career; a fluent speaker of French and Spanish; a black belt in Shotokan karate that helped him earn a silver medal at the national finals in the seventh grade; a one-time avid flute player who played the Bridal March at a former teacher’s wedding; and an Academic All-American in the long and triple jumps for MIT. The accomplishments are staggering – and they seemingly never end. In May, Motley received one of the highest individual honors bestowed on a student-athlete: The NCAA Elite 89 Award. It is presented to one competitor at each NCAA national championship event – there are 89 total championships in men’s and women’s sports in all three divisions – with the highest cumulative GPA. He qualified for the NCAA meet on his sixth and final attempt in the triple jump at the ECAC championships, landing a career-best leap of 48-7¼. He placed 11th at the NCAA finals with a jump of 47-3.

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He said winning the Elite 89 Award was equal parts exhilarating and challenging, given the effort required to maintain a perfect GPA at one of the world’s preeminent engineering institutions, while also excelling in athletics. “It was amazing, and it was a long time in the making,” Motley said. “I’ve always talked to my dad about goal-setting, about big chapters in life – high school, college. He said to sit down and write a list of goals, of things you want to accomplish by the time you leave college.” Genetics and a structured home environment set Motley on his path to optimal achievement. Both parents – David and Darlene – earned engineering degrees at Pitt. Mom also has a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and is the Dean of the School of Arts, Science and Business at Chatham University. Dad earned an MBA at Harvard and older sister, Renee, too, is a Harvard graduate. From a young age, Carrington embraced the challenges of living up to his family’s standards, per David Motley. “He was very, very motivated, whether it was academics, the arts or athletics,” David Motley said. “He always took an extra class in school. And he always had great discipline. Typically, he’d be in bed by 9 p.m. every night; 9:30 was late for him. Very structured.”

The Motleys moved from Atlanta to Pittsburgh when Carrington was in first grade. In high school, Carrington received two B-pluses – everything else was an A. He remembers both. One was in sophomore English while studying abroad in Switzerland. “It was a fast-paced environment; your days were filled with mountain climbing or hikes or other outdoor activities,” he said. The other was an interim grade in Advanced Placement Spanish. Asked if he was devastated by the non-A’s, Motley answered quickly. “No, because if you know you put the work in, sometimes you have to live with the end result,” said Motley, who was accepted to every college he applied to, including Harvard. “You have to keep things in perspective.” Motley has not decided on a post-MIT career, though he is considering everything from grad school to teaching abroad to working in the engineering industry. The possibilities are endless. For now, it’s about finishing up strong in his senior year. “You always want to make the most of every experience,” Motley said. “So far, it’s been pretty awesome.”

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20TH CLASS REUNION

98 Laurel (Weller ’98) Noe reports: “I’ve joined the education department staff at the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts. The museum, which is a Smithsonian Affiliate, is currently undergoing major changes in its collections but is continuing to serve the community with educational programs. I’m developing curriculum and teaching classes for Girl Scouts at all age levels. It’s very exciting to be combining my museum background, my experience as a Girl Scout, and my love of sewing and other fiber arts. I’m primarily working on weekends and school holidays, which allows me to continue to stay home with my twin boys full-time.”

Guy Russo ’06 and his bride Christen DiClaudio.

Baby Harris was born on September Erica Dhawan ’03 and Estee 28, 2015, to Ashley and Ben ‘02 Harris. Barbuto ’04 meet in Nashville.

Pictured with bride Allison Dorman at the Goldfarb wedding: Adam Atenasio ‘01, David Riordan ‘01, Thomas Hay, Nick Smyth ‘01, brother Eric Goldfarb ‘03, father Larry Goldfarb, groom Lee Goldfarb ‘01, father-in-law Ned Dorman, brother-in-law Ian Purcell, Michael Greenfield, Nick Mross ‘01, and Adam Green.

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15TH CLASS REUNION

On December 11, 2015, Lee Goldfarb ’01 married Allison Dorman at Fresh Meadow Country Club in Lake Success, New York. Allison graduated from Cornell and works for Bloomberg in New York, where she leads a team improving the user experience on the Bloomberg terminal, which provides financial marketing information and analysis. Lee graduated cum laude from Lafayette and earned his MBA from the University of Virginia. He is a director at Alvarez & Marsal, a business consulting firm in New York, where he advises companies on mergers and acquisitions.

Wesley Pegden ’01 is a winner of the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan research fellowships for 2016, announced by The New York Times. Wes is an assistant professor of mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University, and lives in Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with his wife and three boys.

02 Benjamin Harris ’02, 2010 graduate of Duke Medical School, and wife Ashley welcomed a “bouncing little lad, Jude Emerson Harris, on September 28, 2015. The happy baby came into this world weighing 8 pounds 1.5 ounces and has been a joy to all around him since. The family currently resides in Philadelphia, where Ben is finishing up his radiology fellowship.”

04 Estee Barbuto ’04 and Erica Dhawan ’03 reconnected in Nashville, Tennessee, at the Society of Women Engineers WE15 Conference, the largest national conference for women engineers with 9,000 attendees. Erica was the keynote speaker for the Collegiate Leadership Institute, with a presentation on unlocking innovation through connectional intelligence. Estee is a trustee for the society’s endowment and received the SWE Distinguished New Engineer Award. “It was just like old times in song and dance class,” Estee said.

10TH CLASS REUNION

Guy Russo ’06 married Christen DiClaudio on October 30, 2015, in Pittsburgh. “I have been playing under my own name as well as tuning and restoring pianos. Christen is a full-time writer at ModCloth.com and does freelance writing as well. We currently live in Shadyside.”

09 Jonathan Churchin ’09 wrote, “Hello to the Sewickley Academy community. I am currently serving as a volunteer in the Peace Corps. I would like to share with you a project that I have been working on with other volunteers for months. Books for Africa Swaziland is a project that helps bring 30,000 books to Swaziland. These books will be used to create 30 libraries throughout the kingdom. Giving a child an opportunity to have access to reading materials can open up avenues that are often overlooked in everyday life. I firmly believe that with your help we can create lasting change in many of these young individuals’ lives. Please contact me at jon. churchin@comcast.net to help make this possible.”

10 Walter Nogay ’10 and Marielle Hampe ’10 were married on October 3, 2015, at St. Joseph’s Church in Coraopolis and the reception was at the Edgeworth Club. The Nogays started dating their sophomore year of high school at SA. Walter is finishing

his M.Ed. at George Washington University and is currently in his first year of teaching physics and a class called AVID at a high school in Fairfax, Virginia. Marielle is finishing her M.A. in English literature at Georgetown University. She plans to teach also, after finishing her degree. Kate Meakem ’10 married Michael Hartford of Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania, on September 6, 2015. They enjoyed a fun-filled evening of music and dancing, surrounded by close friends and family, including several Academy alums! Members of the Class of 2010 gathered at Sidelines in Sewickley over Christmas break, including Aaron Lenchner (working as an engineer in Chicago), Pete Schramm (working for Lockheed Martin in Wilkes-Barre), J.T. Ahearn (pursuing medical research studies), David Bonomo (working for an investment firm in New York), and Kate (Meakem) Hartford (working for a hedge fund in Westport, Connecticut).

Kate Meakem ‘10 married Michael Hartford of Fox Chapel in September.

Robert Nogay ’13 (farthest left), Zabriawn Smith ’10 (third from left), Walter Nogay ’10 and Marielle (Hampe ’10) Nogay, Austin Hampe ’12 (second from right), and Jacob Anderson ’10 celebrate the Nogay’s wedding in front of the Nichols – Snyder School Center.

13 Jakob Goebel ’13 attended Whitney Snyder’s ’79 Riding and Driving Celebration at the Sewickley Heights History Center on September, 5, 2015. The gala had many Sewickley Academy students, alumni, and parents in attendance. Jakob is majoring in history and business at Penn State.

David Bonomo ’10, Aaron Lenchner ’10, Pete Schramm ’10, and J.T. Ahearn ’10 reunite over Christmas break.

Jakob Goebel ’13 with Head of School Kolia O’Connor at the Riding and Driving Celebration.

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MIDN Lt. Logan Antill ’12

From Sewickley to the

Naval Academy This past fall, Midshipman Lt. Logan Antill ’12 returned to Sewickley Academy to educate current Senior School students about the Naval Academy (USNA). She visited her former teacher Dr. Barnes, and shared what the Navy has to offer with his AP European History class. Her presentation detailed the lengthy admissions application process, which involves congressional nominations, physical fitness tests, medical clearings, and personal essays. She further revealed the rigorous academic workload at the USNA, explaining the different majors available and mandatory military classes that each midshipman must take. The physical mission of the USNA was also highlighted, as she disclosed that every midshipman must either be on a varsity or club team or participate in intramurals. Additionally, her presentation covered the different mandatory training evolutions midshipmen partake in each summer, including but not limited to ship cruises to ports such as Hawaii or San Diego, internships at the Pentagon or with MIT, or leadership roles in the Summer Seminar or STEM programs. Logan has been selected to join the Surface Warfare Community following graduation. As a Surface Warfare Officer (SWO), she will be aboard a ship for two tours. Each tour will last two years. During a ceremony on January 28, 2016, Logan’s naval hopes and dreams came true when she was assigned to Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Crew 102 out of San Diego, California. After her first tour, Logan will have the opportunity to change home ports and/or type of ship. Following her second tour, she will have a one-year short duty tour unless she decides to prolong her stay in the Navy, in which case her options would depend on her career desires and the needs of the Navy. A senior at the Naval Academy, Logan is majoring in international relations. She is still an avid athlete and exceptional student, named to the 2015 All-Patriot League Second Team for tennis and to the 2015 Patriot League Academic Honor Roll. Additionally, she was voted team captain by her teammates.

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IN MEMORIAM Winter 2016 ALUMNI CAROLINE (CRAIG ’36) SUTTON died on October 9, 2015, at the age of 94. She was predeceased by her husband of 54 years, Roger Sutton, a founding member of the nuclear physics program at Carnegie Tech, now Carnegie Mellon University, who died in 2000. Caroline grew up in Sewickley, then married and settled in Pittsburgh. Caroline attended Barnard College and the University of Pittsburgh. A woman of many talents, she worked in a machine shop in Pittsburgh during WWII. She was also a self-taught, skilled carpenter. She renovated many houses as a volunteer for ELGAR Rehab and Habitat for Humanity, in addition to houses for her family in Pittsburgh and Cape Cod. Caroline was a master gardener and raised flowers and vegetables in her yard in Squirrel Hill and on her farm in western Pennsylvania. An amateur archaeologist, she participated in numerous digs in Pennsylvania and Ohio. She also made wooden folk art toys and stuffed animals for her family and for sale in local shops in Pittsburgh and on Shelter Island, New York, where she spent many summers. During her years in Pittsburgh, she was an active and valued member of the Third Presbyterian Church in Shadyside. In 2010, she moved to Long Island to be near her two daughters and son-in-law: Judith Sutton of New York City and Ann Sutton and Martin Freundlich of Setauket. She is also survived by six nieces, a nephew, and their families, and several step-grandchildren and their families. HOMER J. ROSE ’38 age 92, of West Lafayette, formerly of Latrobe, passed away on September 6, 2015, in Indiana. Born June 10, 1923, in Sewickley, he was the son of the late Roy and Ruth Rose. Homer graduated from Princeton and the University of Virginia Law School and honorably served in the United States Army from 1942 to 1945. He married Elizabeth Brown in 1951 in West Chester, Pennsylvania. She preceded him in death in November 1994. Homer managed human resources for several manufacturing companies and continued to serve as an advisor to many small businesses after he retired. Homer had a great zest for life and thoroughly enjoyed his many friends, playing golf, skiing, and traveling abroad. He is survived by his two children, Richard Rose (Linda) of West Lafayette, and Lucy Johnson (Jim) of Engelwood, Colorado; four grandchildren, Elizabeth Rose (Alex Aquino) of Battle Ground, Indiana, Traudi Rose of Portland, Oregon, Richard

As of January 1, 2016 Rose of Lafayette, Indiana, James Johnson of Houston, Texas; and two great-grandchildren. Preceding him in death were his two sisters Jean (Rose ’32) Brayton and Ruth (Rose ’34) Stothoff. NANCY (LUKE ’46) GRIFFEN passed away December 22, 2015, at age 85. Daughter of the late Alexander MacNaughton Luke and the late Frances Luke Rutledge, and stepfather the late Oliver Middleton Rutledge, she graduated from The Ellis School and matriculated at Carnegie Institute of Technology for two years. In 1953, she married William “Bill” Whitaker Griffen and they moved to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1956. They were members of St. Philip’s Church, the Country Club of Charleston, Yeamans Hall Club, and the Carolina Yacht Club. Nancy was active in the Junior League of Charleston. In 1974, Nancy and Bill returned to southeastern Pennsylvania, where Bill practiced law. Upon Bill’s death in 2001, Nancy returned to Charleston to be close to family and friends. Nancy was a resident of Bishop Gadsden retirement community for the past 12 years. She is survived by three sons, William W. Griffen, Jr., Thomas K. Griffen, and J. Penn Griffen, along with their families, and sisters Jean Luke Wallace and Clementina Rutledge Edwards. MARIE “MIMI” (BYERS ’53) REED passed away peacefully on July 17, 2015, surrounded by her loving family, after a prolonged illness. Mimi was born in Pittsburgh on January 11, 1939, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. Frederic Byers. Mimi graduated from Sewickley Academy, Foxcroft School, and Briarcliff Manor College. She was a vice president of the American Heart Association and a vice president of the Performing Arts Center at State University of New York Purchase College, New York. Mimi married Joseph Verner Reed, Jr. on December 19, 1959. They had two daughters, Serena Reed Kusserow of Santa Barbara, California, and Electra Reed of Greenwich, Connecticut, and four grandchildren. She was the cousin of Carol (Byers ’53) Mitsch, the late Russell ’55, Montgomery ’59, Bim ’57, and Joe ’60 Byers. Mimi was a member of the Colony Club of New York, the Gasparilla Inn Beach Club of Boca Grande, Florida, the Round Hill Club of Greenwich, Connecticut, and the Harbor Club of Seal Harbor, Maine.

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IN MEMORIAM Winter 2016 ALUMNI PETER WEST FORSLING ’78 passed away on August 19, 2015, at the Bell Mountain Village and Care Center in Bellevue, Idaho, after an extended illness. Peter was born in December 1959 and was raised in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. He was a graduate of Sewickley Academy and the University of Arizona with a degree in communications. He returned to the Pittsburgh area and in 1987 met his love in life Shelly Ann Schwartz of Spring City, Pennsylvania. They married in October 1989 and moved to Orlando, Florida, where they began raising their three children: William, Alexandra, and Elizabeth. Peter’s employment with General Motors division of GMAC took him and his family to Jacksonville - Orange Park, Florida, for 15 years. Peter was a loving husband and father closely involved with both his children’s activities and sporting activities of youth associated with the Dye-Clay Family YMCA in Orange Park. He enjoyed all sports but was an avid supporter of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He followed the Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates even during his extended illness, never losing an opportunity to express his delight at the winning capabilities of these teams. He loved his time on the golf course, especially with long-time childhood friends who returned annually with him to Pinehurst for golf challenges and friendship refreshment. For almost 15 years, he and his extended family spent the Christmas holidays at Boca Grande, Florida, enjoying beach, fishing, and bicycling activities. With his spouse, he became a part of the High Point Community Church of Orange Park, developing numerous lasting friendships. Peter was preceded in death by his parents, Philip and Janet (Mitchell ’43) Forsling formerly of Sewickley; in addition to his wife and children, he is survived by his brother, Philip T. “Ted” Forsling, Jr. ’73 of Cincinnati, Ohio. HENRY SAWYER ’78 passed away peacefully of natural causes at his home in Cincinnati, Ohio, on January 15, 2016. Born March 24, 1960, to DeDe Sawyer (later Brinker) and Edward Sawyer, Henry is survived by his stepfather Scott Brinker; siblings Edward Sawyer Jr., Dr. William Sawyer (Stephanie Erb ’78), Robert Sawyer, Bill Brinker ’77 (Abby Silver), Tom Brinker, Dr. Margy Sawyer (Justin Ristau), Kristy Sawyer (Nathan Coleman); as well as many nieces and nephews. With Henry’s passing “the world lost one of its very special spirits.

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As anyone who knew him would say, he was absolutely unique in the way he lived his life.” Henry was an avid environmentalist who loved the outdoors; he loved sports and was a gifted athlete. Dismissive of many social conventions, he accepted everyone for who they were and found joy and adventure in the uniqueness of others. He loved the Grateful Dead. Henry’s motto was to “live simply so others can simply live,” a sticker on the back of his station wagon for over 10 years.

FAMILY OF ALUMNI Chauncey Burtch, father of Nancy (Burtch) Schurman and Todd Burtch ’85 Karen Diven, wife of W. Ridgely Diven ’67 Kristin (Greller) Smith-Dufala, sister of Andrew H. Greller ’71 John F. Hayes, father of Janet ’70, Peter W. ’74 and grandfather of Jason ’04 Alice Brown Painter Thompson, mother of LeRoy ’57, David ’68, and Ned ’74 Thompson and grandmother of Alyson (Thompson ’95) Breeden and Ryan Thompson ’98 Arthur W. Ticknor, father of Margaret (Ticknor ’88) Wolf Chaille Handy Tullis, mother of Sarah (Tullis ’52) de Barcsa, Barclay ’55, and Garner ’55 Tullis Thomas F. Drucis, father of Tom Drucis ’85 Sheila Kelley Sutro, mother of Tina (Sutro ’72) and mother-inlaw of Richard ’70 Marsh

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FRIENDS OF THE SCHOOL DOUGLAS D. DANFORTH, one of Pittsburgh’s foremost business and civic leaders during some of the city’s hardest times, died June 9, 2015, at the age of 92. The former chairman of Westinghouse Electric also served as CEO of the Pittsburgh Pirates and helped keep the franchise in town. He had been splitting time between his home in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, and one in Florida. Friends and business acquaintances described him as a shrewd negotiator, a raconteur, and someone dedicated to serving not only his employer but the city and its important cultural and educational institutions. In the early 1990s when the Pirates were fielding calls from would-be buyers who wanted to move the team to

the Washington, D.C. area, Mr. Danforth told the buyers that the Pirates were staying put. He served as the board chair of the Pittsburgh Pirates from December 1987 to 1992. Mr. Danforth was married to Janet Danforth for 69 years, until her death in 2012. In 1986, they started the Douglas D. Danforth and Janet P. Danforth Fund, a philanthropy now housed within The Pittsburgh Foundation. He is survived by children Barbara Osburn of California, Douglas D. Danforth, Jr. of Kansas, and Debra Sullivan of Colorado; ten grandchildren including Lauren (Danforth ’01) McShay, Katelyn ’00, Kristen ’01, and Kelsey ’05 Sutcliffe, Ryan ’03 and Collin ’08 Sullivan; and two great-grandchildren.

JOAN L. SCHENERLEIN, 90, died on June 15, 2015, in Wheeling, West Virginia. Born on June 19,1924, in Wheeling, she was the daughter of the late Harvey and Hilda Herzer Schenerlein. Miss Schenerlein graduated from Sergeant University in Boston, Massachusetts, with a Bachelor of Science in physical education and later a Masters of Education from the University of Pittsburgh. She taught at Warwood High School for several years, then attained the position of athletic director at Sewickley Academy, where she taught physical education and coached for 21 years until her retirement.

Her greatest contribution to western Pennsylvania athletics was the introduction of girls’ lacrosse in 1963. She started the first lacrosse team at Sewickley and encouraged other Pittsburgh coaches to do the same. Soon teams sprang up around the area, and in 1965, she hosted the first lacrosse tournament in the region.

Miss Schenerlein was inducted into the Academy’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. She coached 11 undefeated and 19 winning seasons (plus 2 ties) in 21 years of field hockey; 15 winning seasons in 21 years of basketball; 7 out of 7 winning seasons in tennis; 5 undefeated seasons in 8 years of lacrosse; and 7 undefeated seasons in softball. She was known as “Miss S” to students and “Shenie” to her many friends and fellow athletes.

She was a nationally recognized athlete in her own right. In 1954, she represented the United States on the Women’s National Field Hockey Team, which spent a month touring the British Isles playing in international competitions. After retiring, Miss Schenerlein moved back to her hometown of Wheeling. She was an avid golfer winning many tournaments, most of those at her favorite Olgebay Park courses, where she shot her age at 75 years. She was preceded in death by two brothers, Russell and Harvey Schenerlein; two sisters, Gladys Wallace and Dorothy Frum; and good friend Dot Ball.

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