The Hillside - Summer 2010

The Hillside S o u t h Ke n t S ch o o l M a ga zi n e | Summer 2010

The Hillside Summer 2010 Volume XLVII Number 2

Editor: Mark Berghold Director of Communications

South Kent Responds to Web 2.0

Copy Editor: Mary Flemming Brown Contributors: Laura Brande Carol-Ann Bruen Leo Fan ’11 Gonzalo Garcia Steve Klots Design: lhfandco@me.com

Send address changes to: South Kent School 40 Bulls Bridge Road South Kent, CT 06785-1199 (860) 927-3539 x299 email: advancement@southkentschool.org

South Kent School adheres to a long-standing policy of admitting students of any race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, and national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, or national and ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, and other schooladministered programs.

Mission Statement South Kent School is an independent, college preparatory school for boys. Since its founding, South Kent has maintained ties with the Episcopal Church. Three principles define the school: Simplicity of Life, Self-Reliance, and Directness of Purpose.

We offer, by living simply, an uncluttered environment for lively and rigorous learning.

We encourage our students to become self-reliant in order to develop competence and self-esteem.

We value directness of purpose: we want each student to welcome the challenge to focus his energies, to set goals, and to work to meet them.

South Kent School fosters these principles in a community, small in numbers, that provides a safe and supportive family structure. We embrace diversity and cherish honesty, courtesy, and compassion. In this energizing atmosphere, we provide leadership opportunities that develop a student’s sense of responsibility and service. We nurture in our students, regardless of belief or religious affiliation, a thoughtful engagement with spirituality.

Visit South Kent School’s website at www.southkentschool.org ...___...

Continued on page 14 Printed on recycled paper Cover photo by Jonathan Wilson ’84

The Hillside

inside

Volume XLVII, Number 2 Summer 2010

“What impact will this type of technology have on education?” see page 14

6

4

2 3 4 20

Front&Center

14 TogaMan

6

Letters to the School

Jonathan Wilson ’84 began in the 6th grade with a “cigar box” guitar.

Years later he would improve upon an ancient stringed instrument.

Jonathan describes his part in the renaissance of the “arpeggione.”

Prize Day 2010 School Notes Winter/Spring Athletics

27

20

Alumni

6 26 27 31

Alumnus Profile Alumni Authors Class Notes In Memoriam

SKS 2.0

14

Head of School Andrew Vadnais shares his thoughts on technology, education and the environment, and presents his vision for the future of South Kent School.

*

To read this issue online, please visit www.southkentschool.org/magazine.

Summer 2010 The Hillside • 1

inbox

Missives

Dear South Kent Friends,

in March, our first destination was Budapest. Although we did not see Bence Imagine our surprise when we learned on this part of our journey, he arranged that our son Jonathan ’03 had connectfor a wonderful hotel that was within ed with Bence Kováts ‘02 (international walking distance of the train station. exchange student) during Jonathan’s Later in our trip, Bence and girlfriend Fulbright year in Slovakia. Bence, who is Nora took the three of us to a favorite from Budapest, Hungary, connected with restaurant near their home in Budapest.

Jonathan through Facebook in early Following dinner, we toured that part of fall of 2009 when Jonathan was just the city complete with a very thorough history lesson culminating with an awesome look at Hero’s Square at night.

I was impressed with Bence’s remarkable knowledge of his country’s history and his enthusiasm in sharing this with us. A business graduate of Budapest University, Bence works for a company in which he provides much of the English communication. His time in Nora Kiss with Bence Kovats ’02 and Jon Guss ’03 the States has really beginning his time in central Europe. served him well!

As Jonathan’s city of residence, Kosice, Bence fondly remembers his time at was a mere three hour train ride from South Kent. I was so pleased to hear Budapest, he and Bence had the fun of him speak about what a difference getting together to tour each other’s cit- the school community had made in his ies and share some good times. It was life, then and now. He would someday really wonderful for Jonathan to be with love to return to South Kent to see old an old friend in those first months living friends and teachers. If he does, he will on his own in Slovakia. surely have a warm welcome here in When Dan and I traveled to Slovakia Pennsylvania! He is a poised, delightful young man who is a wonderful representative of South Kent School.

Sincerely, Gail Addison Guss State College, PA

would love to thank you personally for more things, but the distance between our countries and the financial situation do not allow us to come over. Please let the rest of the faculty and staff members know how thankful we are. I hope that we will have the chance to meet you in the future and say thank you. We understand that we owe a great favor to South Kent School, and I promise we will try to return the favor when it is possible for us to do so.

Thank you and best of luck in the coming years.

Vladislav Adam Svolen, Slovakia

Dear South Kent, I wish to express my most sincere thanks for all your efforts on making the 2010 Alumni Weekend a fantastic event.

I know I speak for those attending from the Class of 1955 when I state that your efforts are most appreciated.

I share the excitement generated by the acquisition of the farm property at the north end of Hatch Pond; this I believe will enhance the educational opportunities offered by South Kent School and improve our ability to attract qualified students to the School that is so close to all of our hearts. If ever I may assist in any way in this effort, please let me know.

I do hope that life on the Hillside has become a bit more relaxed and that you all have a most enjoyable summer. My best wishes to the wonderful South Kent Family!

As ever, Foster White ’55 Plainville, CT

To Reach Us...

Editor’s Note: We welcome any correspondence that you might be willing to share with us. Please email letters to the editor to magazine@southkentschool.org. You can also send mail to Hillside Letters, South Kent School, 40 Bulls Bridge Road, South Kent, CT 06785. All letters may be edited for content. Letters received by The Hillside will be considered for publication unless otherwise stipulated by the sender.

2 • The Hillside Summer 2010

Dear South Kent: I would like to say thank you for everything that your community has done for my son Branislav. I appreciate your help with the academic and personal growth of my son. I know that leaving home was not easy for Branislav, but your community has done everything to make him feel safe and comfortable. We

SKS was the school we parents preferred, and when we asked William for his choice we were pleasantly surprised when he chose SKS as well. Through the kindness of the faculty and staff, he was able to meet successfully the

Dear South Kent Family, We first heard of SKS from my cousin, Federico Quinonez ‘05, who grew and became a young gentleman influenced by the magical environment on the Hillside.

Maria Donnelly and son Will

considerable challenges of growing up.

William feels very lucky to be able to count members of the SKS family among his most valued friends; this isn’t likely to change any time soon. William was always a persistent, early riser. His new family taught him to express his feelings and to develop a routine with boundaries. His role model, a very successful and hard-working relative, taught him to “keep on trying until you get it right”.

William was assured that the most challenging obstacles could be turned into opportunities with the right focus and perseverance.

In this rapidly changing world, I feel my son is ready to face all obstacles in life with his head high and enviable self esteem. He will inspire those around him to pursue the challenges any new beginning presents in a way that makes us all proud. I am forever thankful to God for having guided the staff on the Hillside in their work.

With heartfelt thanks from a grateful Mom! Maria Donnelly Key Biscayne, FL

South Kent’s Class of 2010

Congratulations, Class of 2010!

Prize Day Awards Headmaster’s Cup................................................................................................................................... Patrick James Fleming SSB Cup...................................................................................................................................................Timothy James Glynn The James S. Johnson Memorial Trophy............................................................................................Joseph Anthony Tebano The George and Maggie Bartlett Cup...........................................................................................................Ronnie Ray Mack Mary Flemming Brown and Arthur Wood Brown Award......................Branislav Adam and Fabio Veras Villas Boas Pereira The Scott C. Mitchell ’72 Prize......................................................................................................................Brandon Oglesby William P. Gillette ’29 Trophy.............................................................................................................Joseph Anthony Tebano John C. Farr ’58 Trophy........................................................................................................... Fabio Veras Villas Boas Pereira The Cum Laude Society........................................................................................................................ Patrick James Fleming Glennon Creative Writing Prize............................................................................................................ Patrick James Fleming Advanced Media Prize.........................................................................................................................Thomas Nolan Conover Chapel Reading Prize..........................................................................................................................Thomas Nolan Conover Spanish Prize.........................................................................................................................................Joseph Anthony Tebano Pigtail Prize............................................................................................................................................. Patrick James Fleming Bartlett English Prize............................................................................................................................. Patrick James Fleming Academic Leader of the Sixth Form...................................................................................................... Patrick James Fleming Scholastic Improvement Award......................................................................................................William Sherman Donnelly Studio Art Prize....................................................................................................Branislav Adam and Nathan Joseph Zaccara EFL Prize.............................................................................................................................Bernardo Frigeri deAlmeida Ulmo Humanities Prize.......................................................................................................................................... Chik Yeung Leung Summer 2010 The Hillside • 3

inschool

Campus Bytes Spring

Galileo was exonerated this year following the Fourth Form’s annual mock trial. The students found Galileo not guilty of heresy or “unintentionally violating 1616 church law forbidding the holding or defending of the heliocentric theory of the universe,” said fourth form dean Nancy Lyon. Father Niccolo Lorini, on the other hand, was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison. The students spent two weeks investigating the history of fifteenth century scientist Galileo Galilei and learning about the heliocentric vs. geocentric theories of the universe. “This is always a great opportunity for the class as we transition from our study of the Renaissance to the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment,” said Ms. Lyon, who teaches the history course. “They really take advantage of this hands-on learning opportunity as they prepare for the event which channels their competitive nature into a wonderful classroom experience.”

Fourth Formers studying WWII this spring were exposed to primary source material of an unusual nature when they were visited by a collector of vintage weapons. Mr. Bob Hock, a resident of Kent, allowed the students to handle each of the items – all of them disabled and incapable of being fired – as he explained their history and significance. Several of the boys commented on the weight of the weapons (among them a bazooka, mortar, Tommy gun, M1 rifle, a water-cooled machine gun) and how difficult it must have been to run and maneuver during the conflict.

4 • The Hillside Summer 2010

Students and faculty were treated to a musical performance and workshop early in the spring. The three professional musicians, Aaron Dugan, guitar, Jason Fraticelli, bass, and Mark Guiliana, drums, represent over 40 years of music experience. The performance was followed by a discussion and workshop to provide students with the opportunity to learn more about the music business. “We are very grateful to the alumnus who supported this initiative to complement our music program,” commented South Kent Head of School Andrew Vadnais. “Generally, the closest our students get to professional musicians is through their iPod. Having the opportunity to provide the boys with this kind of face-to-face interaction is tremendous.”

South Kent was fortunate to host Iris Yao, a high school teacher from Shanghai’s prestigious Guang Ming High School, for two months during the winter term. This follows an earlier trip taken by veteran South Kent teachers Arthur and Mary Brown who spent September through November teaching in Shanghai. Ms. Yao, pictured here preparing for a Midnight Run to NYC, taught Chinese culture and history, and ESL during her stay on the Hillside. The teacher exchange program is an outgrowth of an expanding close relationship between South Kent and China. As Ms. Yao expressed, “There is interest on both sides in continuing the program in future years.” Admissions Director Richard Brande and Head of School Andrew Vadnais were instrumental in initiating the teacher exchange program and other international programs at the school. Commenting on the Guang Ming exchange, Mr. Vadnais said, “We believe it is crucial that students have a global view, and programs like this teacher exchange bring an understanding of international issues home to South Kent.”

and Winter Happenings

Eight students from the Czech Republic visited South Kent this year to learn about American history, culture and education, and to tour some nearby national and local sites.The eight Czech students attend the Gymnazium Jaroksa in Brno, one of the most prestigious secondary schools in the second largest city in the Czech Republic. Nancy Lyon, SKS history teacher and Fourth Form Dean, sponsored the visiting students and accompanied them on their visit. Ms. Lyon, who initiated the Czech student program, says she was inspired to found the Czech program at SKS by her visit with the Czech family of a former SKS student and current faculty member, Stan Vylet ’04. “This is the 5th year of the SKS-Czech student exchange program, and each year the program seems to get bigger and better. It is really gratifying to see how students are inspired and enlightened by exchanging their cultural values and experiences with a group of students their own age from a country they often know little about. Some of our SKS hosts this year went to the Czech Republic a year ago, and some of this year’s hosts hope to go to the Czech Republic next year,” Ms. Lyon said.

This spring, students in Derek Richardson’s Envionmental Science class tried their hand at creating biodiesel fuel from the kitchen’s waste vegetable oil. The biodiesel processing kit was the generous gift of Tom Allan ’56. While the experiment was not without its hitches, the class got an understanding of the process. As Head of School Andrew Vadnais noted of their efforts: “This is not alchemy. While the effort was not completely successful, the boys learned how to think outside the box and adapt when they were faced with some technical obstacles.

I am looking forward to seeing how next year’s boys pick up the project.”

After a successful fourth form year at SKS, current Fifth Former Haoyun “Evan” Zhou continued to broaden his horizons this winter and spring. A native of Chengdu, China, Haoyun distinguished himself as the second SKS student to attend the academically rigorous Chewonki Semester School on the Maine Coast. Fulbright recipient Jonathan Guss ’03 was the first SKS student to complete the program. The 400-acre coastal campus serves as an extended classroom/ laboratory where all courses are guided by the program’s mission to help students take ownership of their own education and gain awareness of their place in the natural world.

Summer 2010 The Hillside • 5

inperson

Alumnus Profile

TogaMan W

hen JONATHAN WILSON ’84 was in sixth grade, a substitute music teacher assigned the students a project: Build a working musical instrument. “I showed up with a cigar box guitar, complete with a case. It earned probably one of the few A’s I would ever receive in school.”

Photo by Stephen Harvey

6 • The Hillside Summer 2010

Jonathan has moved on from the cigar box guitar stage; he developed the GuitarViol and now custom-builds them at his company, TogaMan Guitars, in Sylmar, California. The journey from cigar box to TogaMan did not follow a straight line. His thoughtful and expansive answers to the questions put to him made it clear that his story would be best told in his own articulate and confident voice; there was no sense in anyone writing paraphrase or interpretation. Clearly he has mastered the art of creative non-fiction writing that we emphasize in the Sixth Form at South Kent: narrative anchored with arresting detail, anecdotes, techno-talk and humor.

Watch him demonstrate the art in this interview with Mary Flemming Brown.

I believe you stayed with your grandmother, Peg Wilson, in South Kent from time to time at a young age, attending Kent Center School for one year and, later, South Kent School. Can you remember how your fascination with music began — the early signs?

Growing up, I had the best of two worlds. I was born in Southern California, lived on the water for a while, and spent some of my time at my late grandmother’s 40-acre parcel of land on the top of Ore Hill in South Kent. From that side of Bull Mountain, South Kent School looked like a postcard picture of a Swiss village. To this day, I savor the memory of walking down those tree-canopied country roads with the smell of fresh rain on leaves.

Those memories still inspire my craft, art and music to this day.

I began playing guitar when I was about seven years old. I’m not sure I considered it “playing guitar” at that time. I was just fascinated with the instrument as an object and how it worked. My first guitar was a very old, parlor-sized folk guitar that was

barely functional. I clanged around at it and made every manner of buzzy noise.

By the time I was nine, my father took it for re-stringing to a music store in Santa Monica, and I took it to after-school lessons in 4th grade. I recently found a piece I wrote in fourth grade describing how “sour” I felt about school homework because it “left me no time to do what I really wanted to do” (which was draw sailboats and play my guitar!). In 5th grade, I took private lessons from a fellow named Rick Fleishman. He promptly told my grandmother that I would need a better guitar. I’ll never forget it: a Japanese Aria steel string dreadnought for $100.00 (a lot for a kid in 1976). While attending Kent Center School in 6th grade, I saved my pennies for a Japanese Penco Les Paul copy and a Fender Vibro Champ amplifier.

I wish I had them now! It looked just like the guitar Ace Frehley in KISS played, and that’s all I cared about.

As far back as I can remember, I was taken by music. If there was a jukebox in sight, I would pump dimes into it. If there was a record player, I would exhaust whatever pile of records sat next to it: Elton John, Peter Frampton, KISS, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin; before that, Cher and Jim Croce! Prior to my arrival at South Kent School in 1980, I had at least four years of guitar lessons under my belt.

The highlights of my week were going to my lessons. When I was in 7th-8th grade, I had an instructor who showed me how to improvise and learn “by ear” from records.

Those scales and chords I had learned before began to make sense then. While at South Kent, I learned a few neat licks from Hugh Pool ’83, who somehow tolerated my jumbled sense of meter!

So we’ve arrived at South Kent. What was your experience here?

I had an awkward academic career. It was difficult for me to think of “practical things.” If a fly buzzed around in class, I Summer 2010 The Hillside • 7

TogaMan

to sit at our table on breaks. He was a warm, passionate man who forever left a big impression on me. We talked about everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Django Reinhardt. Imagine how tickled I was to be featured in a Fretboard Journal article two years ago—just a few pages away from a major article on Les Paul, mere months before his passing.

was more interested in the aerodynamics of the flight than I was the topic at hand. I did light up in physics class when the subject of waves, nodes and harmonics came up though! I would spend hours staring at my guitar and pondering the possibilities. It was just so damned difficult to get excited about things that others around me found more important.

Graduating from South Kent was bittersweet. I survived. I made it over the line.

Barely. By the skin of my teeth. After I received my diploma, my father Dick, an LAPD Detective, informed me that he himself did not graduate from the boarding school(s) he attended, and it was the proudest moment of his life when I did.

For celebration, he and his friend George Lamb, a well-heeled car dealer from Cleveland, picked me up in a black limo and took me to New York for a “night on the town.” We went to a club called Fat Tuesday’s and sat at a table next to the stage. I had no idea whom I was going to see that night. When I saw the guitar next to the stage, I remarked, “That looks just like Les Paul’s guitar. Not a ‘Les Paul’, but Les’s guitar!” Sure enough, Les walked out on stage. I was stunned. My hero.

Right there! Les, (the pioneer of the solid body guitar and multi-track recording we now take for granted) was gracious enough 8 • The Hillside Summer 2010

You left South Kent and returned to the West Coast. I think there are many young people in school today, and other music lovers beyond their school years, who would be very interested in learning how you have arrived at this point in your life where you are handcrafting musical instruments. It sounds like a dream job for any passionate musician. What was the road like that led here?

My journey in the years that followed my experience at SKS was not easy. I worked at many poor-fit jobs which, as it turns out, actually trained me in subtle ways for what I do now. The summer after I graduated, I wound up varnishing boats and doing monkey work at construction sites. After a half semester at a local junior college, I realized that I needed a break from anything resembling academia. I then worked at an airport, driving Tugs and forklifts, and playing in my Heavy Metal bands by night. Eventually, I landed a job at an aircraft factory, which was depressing but gave me some good insight to how things are made.

When that era came to an end, I sought refuge at my grandmother’s place in South Kent. It was a sort of pilgrimage back to my roots—to reevaluate my life and reconnect. It was then, January 1989, that I spent time with my aging grandmother and aging family friend Willard MacGregor, a concert pianist and painter whom I had met in earlier childhood years.

MacGregor had played world premieres of pieces by Ravel, Stravinsky and Hindemith in his day. That month I spent with them

was a sort of re-calibrating period. I also returned to an earlier pursuit of the bowed guitar idea while reading a 1948 Encyclopedia Britannica. I was studying about violins when I came across a paragraph describing a six-string, fretted cello called the “arpeggione” that was invented by Johann Staufer (who had a certain apprentice named CF Martin of Martin Guitar fame). It was as if lightning had struck me; it was one of the defining, pivotal moments in my life. I became obsessed, for better or worse. I returned to California for what I would spend the next 20 years pursuing. A few more ill-fit jobs in cubicles—where I doodled sketches of my dream instrument—followed.

Eventually I got a job at a music store in Northridge where I finally entered into the business. It gave me experience in sales and teaching guitar, and I did moonlighting work in guitar repair. That was the beginning of at least 18 years in the musical instrument retail business. I also worked at Cassell’s Music for about 8 years while germinating my current foray into the GuitarViol business. Today, this is all I do full-time, and I have never looked back.

Before we go further—the name “TogaMan.” What’s the origin?

The problem with marketing an instrument like the GuitarViol is that most people cannot get past the iconic violin or guitar aesthetic. The concept is unthinkable to tradition-bound folks who view such an idea with, “Oh, how could you . . .!” Many are blissfully unaware of the guitar family’s past as a bowed instrument.

In 15th century Spain, the birthplace of guitars, there were early guitar incarnations known as lutes or vihuelas. The Mo-

I often joke that my company was started with a bastard file and a dream.

roccans invaded and brought their Rabab bows along. Yes, they did the “Jimmy Page bow trick” to those early guitars, and the first viol (or Viola da Gamba “leg viol”) was born. So the idea is so old it is new.

The famous Paolo Veronese painting Noces de Cana (Biblical water-to-wine scene exhibited at the Louvre) shows a toga/ tunic-wearing fellow bowing a viol in a guitar-playing stance. Since my last name “Wilson” sounds like sports equipment or next-door neighbors on sit-coms, and there are actually other luthiers named Wilson, I chose TogaMan as the icon.

The GuitarViol—your own invention!

I understand that you own the patent to this instrument. How did it come about?

Exactly what is it, and how is it different from other instruments?

I am mostly self-taught at this craft.

When I was 14, I soldered a pickup (Christmas gift) on my Japanese Les Paulcopy guitar because I was 10 miles away from the closest music store, in the dead of

a New England winter storm.

I had to improvise unless I wanted to wait a few long days for the next trip into town. In more recent days, I have learned skills from friends and colleagues. In the beginning, though, the ‘welcome mat’ was not exactly put out by builders of traditional guitars and violins. A bowed guitar was something of a heretical thing, and I was often treated like a religious cult member knocking on the door of an Orthodox home. Since the late 1980s, I have read every book and Stewart-MacDonald catalog I could get my hands on. In the days before Google and the internet, information was much harder to obtain. All of those years at the public library, it felt like hunting for lost treasure and never really finding it.

So I pretty much built all of the first GuitarViol prototype myself. I began the drafting and mock-ups in late 2001 and early 2002. At that time, I was also building custom Bajo Sextos, baritone 10 or 12 string guitar-like instruments used in Mexican music; there was a local client pool for that type of instrument in San Fernando. I built some rapport with a local guitar-building shop where I eventually rented space for a while. I should point out that I had very few adequate tools at that time. The first GuitarViol was carved by blistered hands wielding a bastard file.

(I often joke that “my company was started with a bastard file and a dream.”). This all coincided with my father’s illness and eventual passing in August 2002. I buried myself in this work, and it became a therapy of sorts. Although the new instrument came out well from a physical playing point of view, it left a lot to be desired in the area of audio response.

I found out the hard way why so many Summer 2010 The Hillside • 9

TogaMan

before me had failed to make decent, solid-body, electric bowed instruments in the past. This began my intense journey to a pickup system and instrument that eventually resulted in the U.S. utility patent. The problem was that conventionally placed pickups do not capture the planar motion of a bowed string. When a string is plucked, it moves in an elliptical pattern (all directions).

When bowed, it moves strictly in the planar direction of the bow which obscures any reading from a pickup (piezo or magnetic). For it to work, it has to be like a tsunami hitting a man on the beach (in this case, a good thing!). The pickup (man on the beach) has to be in the direct path of the wave. If the man is in a helicopter hovering over the wave, there is no impact—hence, no decent audio signal. Typical pickup placements on plucked instruments are like the man in the helicopter as far as bowed instruments are concerned. Months of sweaty ‘R & D by fire’ with Dremel tools, graphite cubes, and piezo pickups paid off. I had no option but to make it work. There were by then, after all, orders to fulfill! It was like Bill Gates selling DOS to Xerox at a time when DOS did not even exist.

Now that you’ve been successful in developing the instrument – I gather you have orders enough to make them backlogged – what does a typical day look like for you?

My typical day usually starts off with a couple of cups of coffee, a ‘cardio’ walk in the park, and then writing pressing email re-

On screen.

Jonathan’s GuitarViols have been featured in the soundtracks for “Clash of the Titans”, “300”, “The Day the Earth Stood Still” and “The Watchmen”.

Jonathan played one of his instruments for the “Borderlands” video game and has a record deal with Lakeshore Records who specialize in soundtracks for film. This will be an artist album (CD, itunes) with the ultimate purpose being for film placements.

Their sister company is Lakeshore Entertainment.

Jonathan’s instruments are also used by Kevin Kliner for “CSI Miami” and Shawn Clement in “Quantum Quest.” Jonathan treats his fans to regular updates on his YouTube “Bistro Blog”.

10 • The Hillside Summer 2010

sponses.

Some days include what I call ‘cubicle-diving’: home office work— my least favorite activity. Then I am off to the shop. These days, there are many jobs in parallel progress, and I have to pick the most pressing tasks. I never accomplish what I hope to in a day. The phone rings. I have to order supplies (or something I forgot to order!). It is quite a juggle. I may go into a marathon of sanding, or French Polishing. Often, I have to return missed calls because safe machine work (band saw, belt sanding, etc.) requires intense focus and being ‘in the zone.’ Some days I can really get on a roll, while others are interrupted with all the ‘non-building’ aspects of the business. Some evenings, I’ll return more emails and perhaps compose one of my monthly e-newsletters which also tie into the Bistro Blogs. Most people mistakenly envision me simply carving wood for eight or ten hours.

Yes, your Bistro Blogs. I know those are on YouTube. Why are they called that?

And when did you begin using YouTube for your blogs?

When I worked at Cassell’s Music [of “Wayne’s World” fame] in San Fernando, my family rented a small 1930s era house next to the store. There was a rather drab and boring patio space in the back between the house and the workshop. I painted a wall mural there inspired by photos my grandparents took on journeys to Italy and Greece during the 1950s and 60s. My friends often remarked, “This looks like a bistro!” So when I did the early YouTube demos, the name stuck. I used the mural as background.

The first YouTube video I made (about a minute long and simply a random test) almost went ‘viral,’ and I naturally leveraged this wonderful new communications medium. It has been an integral part of my business. I have had better response to YouTube videos than any print magazine ad or trade show I have attended. I never really gave the video blogs much thought.

I kept the ‘vibe’ as grass roots and downto-earth as I could. These are largely un-rehearsed. Plus, they give a life beyond the text of my newsletters. Some of my YouTube ‘stalkers’ have become valued clients and friends.

When I watched some of your demos, I had a couple of questions. Are you playing over yourself? I know my music ignorance is glaring, but how do you get the constant stream under your playing, that you add to, and then end? And does that fishing net on your wall indicate that you fish for relaxation?

That ‘constant stream’ is called ‘looping’ which Les Paul pioneered in the 1950s.

A digital sample loop is recorded live and then played over in real time. Sound on sound. It is a bit like ‘sonic sketching’ on the spot. So I can record a progression

Polishing allows the resonance of the instrument to come through without being choked the way other heavier finishes will do. It has worked for centuries, and I feel transported back in time while doing it.

The problem was that an instrument called the “arpeggione” sounded too much like a frozen Italian dinner. and, right away, play back over it and even layer other parts. Instant self-accompaniment, if you will.

No fishing. I use the net to rescue/redirect hummingbirds that occasionally get lost in the skylights. I prefer to work in natural light.

French Polishing. How did you learn to do that?

I am self-taught and have invented some of my own approaches. My childhood years were spent varnishing wooden boats, so I had some finishing background.

(YouTube does have some helpful tutorials, though.) My approach is to layer color tints, so it is a bit of an advanced process.

The minimal finish layering of French

I’m especially fascinated by your story because you followed such a circuitous route from South Kent to where you are today. The path took so many seemingly unrelated turns until you found the straight road in music, but you managed to gain important lessons in all of your work. It was perhaps fortunate that you didn’t ‘fall into’ the working music-world straight out of school; you somehow seem to have benefited from all the bumps along the road and kept, or at least created, a positive view of them. I hope your journey inspires some young people these days, both by showing the incredibly hard work necessary to achieve success and by encouraging them to follow their own personal passions.

My memory of South Kent remains the high hurdle I still have to jump over each day. Those standards seemed far too high for me to reach as a rather diffident kid who avoided sports and clung to his guitar.

I was not a scholar who excelled at what was prescribed or assigned. That which really interested me drove me. But it was acquiring the discipline to follow through with the details that were of little interest to me that gave me survival skills I rely on today. On the surface, South Kent seemed to be an odd fit for me. After all, it was not a school that emphasized my preferred field of arts and music. However, over the years, I realized that it was the discipline (contrary to my nature) I gleaned from that experience that has enabled me to thrive at what I do now. I credit my years at South Kent with giving me those essential tools: Simplicity of Life, Self-Reliance, and Directness of Purpose – tools that really take a lifetime to master. I give it my best shot each day. n Summer 2010 The Hillside • 11

Student Gallery

Collage Zhi Wang Collage Jackie Han

Co Seung

Mixed Media Nathan Zaccara

Watercolor Nathan Zaccara

12 • The Hillside Summer 2010

Collage Howard Guo

ollage g Hwan Jin Pencil Bobby Nam

Collage Min Hua

Watercolor Robert Shih

Summer 2010 The Hillside • 13

Continued from inside front cover 14 • The Hillside Summer 2010

. . . On the way back to the Hillside from the Danbury Mall, my mind began racing.

What impact, I wondered, will this type of technology have on education? The seamless interface between user and the internet will surely be a game-changer. How should education respond? How will computing and internet usage evolve and how quickly?

One reason historians study history is for its predictive value. Historians from Henry Adams to Lewis Mumford to, now, Nicholas Carr have examined technology as a force in history. Common themes and idea models present themselves. Take, for instance, the question I am asking: What impact will Web 2.0 have on education? According to historical models for technology, I have only to look to the introduction of centralized power to find my answer. In The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google, Carr clearly draws usable and predictive comparisons between power and information. Carr points out that because both electricity and computing are general-purpose technologies (GPT’s) that lend themselves to centralization, the development patterns for each will be similar. Just as power went from being produced and consumed locally to being distributed over a vast grid, so, too, says Carr, will information processing. Power plants (and soon informationprocessing plants or “information utilities” such as Google, Amazon, and AT&T) create enormous economies of scale and power that no individual site can match, with widespread social and commercial ramifications.

Photo by Steve Turner

Summer 2010 The Hillside • 15

SKS 2.0

The so-called “Cloud” being developed now is just the first step in this transformation.

“What happened to the generation of power a century ago,” Carr writes, “is now happening to the processing of information. Private computer systems, built and operated by individual companies, are being supplanted by services provided over a common grid — the internet ­­­— by centralized data-processing plants.

Computing is turning into a utility, and once again the economic equations that determine the way we work and live are being rewritten.”

The second coming of the internet, more commonly known as Web 2.0, dates back only ten years or so. Prior to that time, PC owners used modems to connect over phone lines to databases, the most popular being America Online. Tim Berners-Lee is credited with inventing the World Wide Web in 1990, which, as Carr points out, popularized the internet.

According to Carr, Web 2.0, though, was not born until the summer of 1999 when an 18-year-old named Shawn Fanning created Napster, a music-sharing program.

Napster changed the internet and the direction of computing forever. “Shawn Fanning’s invention showed the world, for the first time, how the internet could allow many computers to act as a single shared computer, with thousands or even millions of people having access to the combined contents of previously private 16 • The Hillside Summer 2010

databases.”

Using historical modeling, we can predict that Broadband access, widespread fiber-optic cable networks, and powerful centralized data-processing plants, collectively known as Web 2.0, will alter all aspects of society — especially educa-

Students with the aptitude and skill-set to work “networked”

will surpass students who prefer to work only independently. tion. Just think about it. One day, not long from now, every home and school will have equal access to the same IT just by plugging into the greatly expanded and more powerful internet. Seamless interface devices, like Apple’s iPad, will be ubiquitous. Even small schools like

ours will have an even playing field, regardless of endowment size, number of IT staff, or campus configuration. Within individual classrooms, such as they will be, subject mastery courses will be revolutionized. Old-style tests calibrated to measure Who, What, and When will lose most of their value; only the Why questions will have importance. Justifying content with a “Justin-case-you-might-need-it-someday” response (which is what I got in high school) will be turned into learning “justin-time” to apply it. Students with the aptitude and skill-set to work “networked” will surpass students who prefer to work only independently. And, finally, digital learning environments will be the norm.

Transformative schools in the Web 2.0 world will nurture different skill-sets because society will demand those skills.

Daniel Pink in A Whole New Mind calls these “High Concept” and “High Touch” skills. According to Pink, High Concept skills include the ability to create artistic and emotional beauty, the ability to detect patterns and see opportunities, the talent for crafting satisfying narratives, and the ability to combine seemingly unrelated ideas into novel inventions. High Touch skills include the ability to empathize with others, the ability to understand human subtleties, a willingness to find joy in oneself, the ability to elicit joy in others, and the ability and willingness to stretch beyond the comfortable in pursuit of purpose and meaning.

High Concept and High Touch skills will be in demand because the world our graduates inherit will be, unfortunately, a far different world from the one most of us inherited after our high school graduations. As Thomas Friedman writes in Hot, Flat, and Crowded, this world will be a world of complexity and centralization.

It will be a world thirsty for new sources of energy. It will be a world that witnesses increasing levels of terrorism — both physical and cyber — and one that will be profoundly challenged by climate change.

In addition, our graduates will see during their lifetimes the extinction of hundreds of plant and animal species, accommodate a stunning rise of a new middle class throughout the world, and endure rapid population growth, all while becoming increasingly dependent on science and technology.

Centralization, of course, carries societal benefits that are easy to see. But centralization also has costs, and these costs will become burdensome if, with our increasing power, we do not develop a commensurate increase in our intellectual insight, strengthen our collective moral discipline, expand our social awareness, and foster a responsible and sustainable political direction. For instance, I remember vividly my utter shock at the first OPEC oil shortages and the associated power brownouts of the early 1970s. As a boy, I wondered how this could happen in the America I thought I knew, the America of Saturday morning cartoons and twenty-five cent gasoline. Standing in a candlelit kitchen, I listened as my father explained what was happening and why. Nothing in my upbringing prepared me for that. Now, I am wondering what effects centralization is already having on two important areas of our life in this country—education and food. And I wonder how easily and profoundly these can be disrupted by unforeseen events, natural and manmade, that snap the delivery systems.

The United States has been attempting

to centralize education in the form of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation for the last decade. The results thus far, particularly for boys’ education, are not good. Studies continue to show that the physical and chemical differences between male and female brains require different teaching approaches. While girls generally do well sitting quietly, reading, memorizing, and writing, boys tend to need hands-on learning with lots of movement and competition. As a society, I think we might be paying the price now for the current dearth of such programming.

Statistics portraying the growing achievement gap between males and females in the United States are alarming. Consider this from Lane A. Glenn and Suzanne Van Wert, “Failure to Launch: Confronting the Male College Student Achievement Gap”, The New England Journal of Higher Education, Winter 2010, Volume XXIV: • Beginning in elementary school, boys earn lower grades, receiving 70% of the D’s and F’s, while girls earn 60% of the A’s.

• More than one million teens drop out of school every year, and 80% of them are male.

• Nationwide, only 65% of males graduate from high school, compared with 72% of females.

• Only 43% of men are likely to graduate from college, compared with 60% of women.

• Males perpetrate 9 out of 10 drug and alcohol violations.

• Boys commit 95% of juvenile homicides.

• 56% of men ages 18-24 live at home with their parents.

Why this is happening to American males is open to debate, but evidence seems to be gathering around the following factors: the widespread use of teaching methods that favor girls’ learning styles;

an explosion in the use of prescription drugs to control behavior; video game addiction; chemicals in the environment; and, changing images of manhood. (Glenn and Van Wert, “Failure to Launch”.)

C

entralization of the nation’s food supply, the so-called Industrial Food Movement, is also cause for concern as the incidence of childhood obesity, asthma, and early-onset diabetes continue to skyrocket. Writing this, I am reminded of a rainy, cold day long ago in my first years of teaching. Heading out to a soccer field, I was struck by the number of students carrying inhalers. Very different from when I was in school, I remember thinking, as I left the warm locker room and made my way out to the soggy field.

A cursory look at food production in this country reveals that simplification creates centralization. For instance, now only a small number of companies control our national meat supplies; at the same time, powerful, former chemical companies are genetically modifying seeds (GMO’s), and being protected in the process by federal Intellectual Property laws. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and E. coli 0157:H7 – the first, dangerous; the second, deadly, and only in existence since 1980 – are having widespread ramifications for human health in particular and the health care system in general.

“Most of the efficiencies in an industrial system are achieved through simplification: doing lots of the same thing over and over,” writes Michael Pollan in The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. “In agriculture, this usually means a monoculture of a single animal or Summer 2010 The Hillside • 17

SKS 2.0

crop. In fact, the whole history of agriculture is a progressive history of simplification, as humans reduced the biodiversity of their landscapes to a small handful of chosen species. With the industrialization of agriculture, the simplifying process reached its logical extreme — in monoculture. This radical specialization permitted standardization and mechanization, leading to the leaps in efficiency claimed by industrial agriculture.” The problem for the younger generation is that never before in our country’s history have so many people been so ignorant about, and so removed from, their food supplies.

View of Arno Farm

18 • The Hillside Summer 2010

The Response: The Initiative for Innovation, Inquiry and Entrepreneurship (IIIE)

O

n the Hillside, we observed and fretted over these trends.

Something had to be done, we knew. But what? Our inspiration came when the 200-acre Arno Farm property on the north shore of Hatch Pond went on the market in late 2008. Although the economy was in full meltdown, we knew the opportunity to acquire, somehow, this property was too good to pass up. After several brainstorming dinners at the Bulls

Bridge Inn, F.K. Day ’78 decided that he and his wife, Leah, would partner with South Kent School in an attempt to save Hatch Pond and heal the farm lands.

Together with the Days, and in response to the emergence of Web 2.0, Richard D. Chavka, Associate Head of School, and I set out to create an educational vehicle powerful enough to contain a High Concept and High Touch curriculum suitable for South Kent School and compatible with its history. The IIIE was conceived in our heads and scribbled at first on dinner napkins.

The Initiative for Innovation, Inquiry and Entrepreneurship will be a cuttingedge program for South Kent’s future.

Beginning this fall, students and faculty

Illustration by Laura Moorehead of Angell House Design

will begin implementing portions of the curriculum within the IIIE designed to study and reclaim Hatch Pond and create an Environmental Studies laboratory on the site of the former dairy farm. The purpose of the IIIE is to engage, motivate, encourage, and nurture student creativity, entrepreneurship, and commitment to stewardship with a focus on applying those skills to the study of science, art, technology, and sustainability. The IIIE will use a cross-discipline application of academic knowledge and will feature and promote project-based learning and real world applications.

The IIIE will have three major areas of focus: Stewardship, Communication and Human Expression, and Applied Technology. The Stewardship Program, once fully developed, will encourage students and faculty together to inquire into the reciprocal and many-sided relationships that have existed, that do exist, and that will exist between humans, animals, technology, and land use. Special attention will be paid to projects that deal with global and local resource depletion and restructuring, sustainable and organic agriculture, and food ways. The Communication and Human Expression Program will motivate students to inquire into the roles creativity and communication play in global cultures, in addition to inquiring into the development and social ramifications of Social Computing.

Students will produce original art, music, dance, stories, webcasts, digital games, animation, podcasts, etc. The Applied Technology Program will engage students in applying concepts from mathematics, physics, robotics, chemistry, and biology to solve real world problems of healing the land and the water. Students will also research and construct alternative energy applications — including wind, solar, and biomass — with the goal of allowing South Kent to be carbon neutral by 2020.

In addition, each of these three programs will weave elements of innovation, entre-

Concept illustration of the School’s Environmental Studies facility on the site of the former dairy farm

preneurship, creativity, and ethics and values into the coursework.

The Initiative for Innovation, Inquiry and Entrepreneurship will enhance the School’s mission and extend its 87-yearold tradition of education on this Hillside far into the 21st-century. The IIIE is designed to provide a co-curriculum, or a counter-point, to the established curriculum, with the Environmental Science laboratory at the former dairy farm property serving as a “venture campus” or a “test-kitchen” for the real-world application of ideas and concepts. In time, solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal buildings, and biomass generators will provide up to 90% of our energy, while organic orchards and gardens, hydroponic greenhouses, heirloom animal varieties, and fish farms will provide quality food and entrepreneurial opportunities. Our belief is that students will emerge from South Kent School — after one, two, three, or four years — with a personal roadmap for success and a kit stocked with 21st-century survival skills.

Simplicity of Life, Directness of Purpose, and Self-Reliance, oddly enough, have never seemed so relevant. Over the

years, alumni have gone on from this Hillside to change the world, in small and big ways — as stewards, achievers, and entrepreneurs. While many South Kent graduates remember Pigtail-Againstthe-World, by harnessing the power of Web 2.0 we can transform ourselves into Pigtail-for-the-World. By using the greatly improving technology for distance learning and our expanded digital pipeline to the outside world, we can export original portions of our powerful new curriculum, bringing the idyllic pastoral hills of Litchfield County, Connecticut, and our brand of education to classrooms from the inner city of Chicago to the Czech Republic and on to China.

(This article contains the thoughts and aspirations of many people working on behalf of South Kent School. In particular, I want to recognize the work of the following individuals: Richard D. Chavka, Director of the IIIE at South Kent School; F. K. Day SKS ’78, Co-Founder, Executive Vice President SRAM Corporation, President of World Bicycle Relief; The South Kent School Board of Trustees; Jonas Olmsted SKS ’69, Olmsted-Design, Business Architecture; and Gonzalo Garcia-Pedroso SKS ’95, Dean of Student Affairs and Founder of the Advanced Media Group at South Kent School.)

Summer 2010 The Hillside • 19

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Winter & Spring Athletics

Prep Basketball

20 • The Hillside Summer 2010

Photo by Leo Fan ’11

The 2009-2010 Prep Basketball team started off with high hopes. They had just completed a very successful 20082009 campaign that saw the season conclude with a loss in the NEPSAC Class A Championship game. We began the year led by Russ Smith (U. of Louisville) and JJ Moore (U. of Pittsburgh), two of the country’s more highly rated players. MVP Moore led the team in scoring, averaging over 26 points per game.

Smith was the team’s second leading scorer (19.5 ppg) and was also second in assists (4.7 apg).

This Prep team provided many pleasant surprises. They reached the 20-win mark for the second consecutive year for the Cardinals. The program also saw lesser-known players step up and really prove their worth. Vernell Blackman, Nemanja Djurisic, Ronnie Mack, and Daichi Taniguchi were instrumental in the Cardinals’ achieving back-to-back 20-win seasons. Blackman led the team in rebounds (6.3 rpg) and proved to be the team’s toughest competitor. Djurisic emerged as the team’s go-to player in the post.

Mack quickly earned a reputation as one of the top long-range threats in the NEPSAC. He made over 40 three-point baskets this season and led the team in free throw percentage, making 87% of his foul shots. Taniguchi and Mike Buffalo were also important in helping the team find success this season.

The Cardinals had some very impressive wins. Winchendon, Northfield Mount Hermon and Class A Champions Brewster Academy all were defeated by South Kent. Unfortunately, injuries and sickness at the end of the season would be the team’s Achilles Heel as the Cardinals lost in the first round of the Class A playoffs to St. Thomas More.

The fans, the trainers, my fellow coach-

es and the team deserve congratulations for another tremendous year.

Coach Kelvin Jefferson

Varsity Basketball I must admit that, at the beginning of the season, I was a bit concerned that it would be a rough year for the Varsity Basketball team. The team comprised two Third Formers, five Fourth Formers, three Fifth Formers and only one Sixth Former. With such a young team, I was somewhat apprehensive about playing against teams that were older, bigger, stronger and generally more seasoned.

My concerns were unfounded.

This was another very talented South Kent basketball team. We started a little slowly, but once we began to play like a team, we finished well with our second straight appearance in the HVAL Finals.

Our only regret is that history repeated itself on the court and, for the second time, we failed to triumph over Christian

Heritage. We tip our hats to that talented basketball team for their undefeated season. “David” is looking forward to a third attempt to take down “Goliath” next year.

There were ten teams that wished they were in our shoes the day we played in the championship game, but they had to go through us to get there, and we prevailed in those earlier matches. As the coach and the parent of a player, I can say with some authority to parents of this year’s team: you should be proud. Your sons represented you, their school and themselves very well, on and off the court.

Coach Gary Benz

JV Basketball The JV Basketball season was a full one in many respects. We started out with a full roster of players (almost 40!). We used a full gym and weight room during many practices. We competed in a full roster of predominately HVAL games.

There was never a boring minute in the

Photo by Thomas M. Honan

season. One of the unique aspects of the season was its Babylonian flavor. The linguistic diversity of the squad was both a source of humor and some confusion. And while the variety of languages spoken on the court was matched only by the varying levels of athletic ability, the boys worked extremely well with each other.

Many of our practices were half court scrimmages, rotating players in and having coaches join a team as well. We tried to maximize playing time during practices and “coach” individually or make pointers during scrimmages.

Given our large numbers, each game saw a different group of 10-12 on the court. While I am proud of each member of the team, there were a number of players that were standouts: Zicheng Liu scored the most points; Nino Hernandez played the most games, and Leo Fan earned the most rebounds.

We made it our goal to play hard, do our best, and exhibit good sportsmanship throughout season. I am particularly pleased with how this group of young

men supported each other, comported themselves on and off the court, enjoyed the game, and consistently challenged themselves. We are looking forward to having another full season next year.

Coach John Funk

Varsity A Hockey The 2009-2010 Varsity A hockey season was truly memorable. This was a year in which the boys came together, not only as a team, but as a hockey family. The boys trusted the School to know what was best for their future development as student athletes; accordingly, they welcomed me with respect and they rewarded me with their persistent hard work and dedication to the game.

Few, having witnessed an early Yale Showcase, would have imagined that our season would end with a run in the playoffs. The struggle to adapt to a completely new system this year which depended on a lot of trust and “team first” attitude was a

JJ Moore and Dylan Benz finishing at the hoop; Nino Hernandez leading the fast break; and Shayne Gostisbehere controlling the puck in a game against Avon.

process which was evident in our opening weekend. With the Thanksgiving break to regroup, the boys came back to school committed to this new focus. From our opening night win over Brunswick to our 5-5 tie with Avon Old Farms, the 2010 champions, we grew to believe we had a shot at winning every single game we had ahead of us.

To contend at an elite level, every team needs great goaltending. We were fortunate to have three exceptional goalies this year. With Tom O’Conner’s locker room leadership, Sam Locke’s huge win against Milton, and Rasmus Reijola’s theft of the Berkshire game, we had the first key ingredient in the recipe. With stretch runs by each, we remained rock solid in Summer 2010 The Hillside • 21

Winter & Spring Athletics

Photo by Leo Fan ’11

95% of our games because of their performance and dedication.

Our back end was explosive! The improvement in our defensive line over the course of the season was impressive to witness. Whether it was Brad Jones or Holden Anderson letting one fly from the point, or Nick Riccio, Cody Champagne or Shane Gostisbehere joining the rush with speed and skill, these boys regrouped after each stumble, reflected and adapted for the next contest and matured in the process. I am very excited to have three of these players returning next season.

Up front we had thirteen capable and willing bodies on the line who would inspire fear in any team in our league.

Regardless of the play — finishing a hit, completing a tic-tac-toe tape-to-tape pass, or sniping — we had it all. The great leadership of our captains Joe Tebano and Matt Chartrain ensured that our team stayed on track.

Many highlights occurred with Sean Thomas and Ian Fleming on the ice.

These athletes made the game fun both 22 • The Hillside Summer 2010

to be a part of and to watch. Solid contributions from the seven offensive players whom we will welcome back to the squad next winter make the team’s future bright.

We offer special thanks those faculty who consistently supported our team and to the Advanced Media Group for webcasting many of our games. Finally, we are deeply grateful to our Assistant Coach and SKS alum for all his hard work. Wearing many hats this year, Rich Brande balanced his admissions, coaching, mentoring and parenting responsibilities in a way which left us all richer for his involvement. We all look forward to the 2010-2011 season when the ice is laid down once again on Cuyler Rink.

Coach Eric Soltys

Varsity B Hockey The Varsity B hockey team faced many challenges throughout the winter season. One of the major issues was having enough players to play a game. However, with each challenge the boys on the team

moved forward with tremendous effort and success. The season started slowly for Varsity B, with the first seven games resulting in losses. As the season went on, the team started to shine. Varsity B had four wins in the last half of the year finishing the season 4-9-2.

The team’s notable progress was apparent in the KLHT games. In the first meeting of the year, South Kent traveled to Stamford and suffered a 6-0 loss.

Two weeks later KLHT traveled to play a refocused and determined South Kent hockey team. The Cardinals dominated the Vikings 7-0, a mark of the team’s vast improvement and hard work. At the end of the season, fifth former Andrew Jansen, the team’s goalie, was named its Most Valuable Player.

Coach Dillon Duncan ’04

Varsity Lacrosse The South Kent Cardinals ended a successful 11-4 season in lacrosse, finishing

Opening Doors

McKinnon Tompkins in a lateJanuary match vs. KLHT; Jack Riley spins on a Marvelwood defender; Ben Gardner, coxswain, Pat Fleming, Billy Speight, Dan Levine and Conner Green pull to the finish at the Founder’s Day Regatta on Lake Waramaug.

Photo by Leo Fan ’11

7th in Western New England and runnerup in the HVAL. This was South Kent’s best season in at least five years.

The Cardinals were led by seniors Tim Glynn (attack) and Joe Tebano (defensive midfield.) The team was prodigious on offense, outscoring opponents 249118, better than a 2 to 1 margin. The team averaged almost 17 goals a game.

Leading scorers were Tim Glynn (55 goals,) CJ Blaszka (39) Danny Paster (35) Matt Chartrain (34) and Jack Riley (31).

Many games saw an even balance among these players in goals scored. Our opponents found that if they shut one or two players down, two or three others became a threat.

Defensively, the team was led by Joe Tebano and Curran Forgue, both excellent defensive players with good speed and stick skills. Freshman goalie Cam Loomis gave his best, with about a 50% save percentage.

South Kent looks forward to a strong season next year with 9 out of 14 players returning, including Danny Paster, CJ

Blaszka, Jack Riley and Curran Forgue.

Go, South Kent!

Coach J. Scott Farley

Crew South Kent Crew had another strong spring this year. Making further improvement on last year’s strong performances, South Kent has garnered new respect in the crew world for their results this season. Our crew performed well throughout their highly-competitive schedule and was the strongest squad the School has seen in recent history.

The season opened with a scrimmage against Choate and Pomfret. Our first boat made an impressive debut, finishing in second place, ahead of the Pomfret boat. Other highlights from the early part of the season were the crew’s performances on their weekend trip north, racing E.O. Smith on Saturday, and Bancroft, Canterbury, and Derryfield on Sunday.

South Kent performed well on Saturday,

with both our first and second boats winning their respective races. The first boat had a commanding finish ahead of three E.O. Smith boats. South Kent continued their successful weekend the following day, with our first boat crossing the finish line with a comfortable lead over Canterbury and Bancroft. Our second boat finished second, behind Bancroft.

The following Wednesday saw the most frustrating competition of the season, as a collision during our first boat race with Taft and Choate pushed the boys into a third place finish. That weekend at Berkshire, the first boat rowed a highly competitive race against Lyme — Old Lyme, E.O. Smith, and Berkshire but were ousted in the final meters of the race to finish in third place. South Kent Crew returned to their winning ways the following Wednesday with the first boat claiming the Lake Lillinonah Oar in another victory over Canterbury. At this point in the season, our third boat began to have strong performances. They had a competitive race with Chase Collegiate, Summer 2010 The Hillside • 23

Winter & Spring Athletics

Canterbury, and Rumsey Hall, finishing in a comfortable second place. South Kent Crew also had a very successful showing at this year’s Founder’s Day Regatta which pitted them against area boarding school programs — the strongest competition in crew. Our third boat finished in second place in their heat, and the first boat qualified for the petite finals, where they finished in fifth place with their best time of the season, 5:12.48. The tail end of the season saw repeat races against Canterbury, Berkshire, Chase Collegiate, and Rumsey Hall for our first and third boats. We hope to make an appearance at the championship level next year.

Coach Jeff Galusha

Golf The SKS Golf team had a very good season this year. Andrew Jansen, who showed steady improvement throughout the spring starting the season with a high 40 average, shot a two-over par in the seminal, one-stroke win against an undefeated Gunnery at Bulls Bridge Golf Course. Ian Fleming was also a consistent force on the team, medalling in 80% of the team’s matches. Brian Lutz, though forced from play by injuries at the end of the season, was a major contributor to the team’s successful season. Sean Thomas turned out to be the surprise player of the year; he was consistently the team’s thirdranked player. South Kent took five of the top six spots in the HVAL 18-hole championship. Ian Fleming was the medalist for the match, with a 4 over par 76.

The team is extremely grateful to Scott Karpe, Assistant Golf Pro at the BBGC, who took the time to work with the South Kent team on swing mechanics and course strategies. I am looking forward to an equally strong team next spring as we will see several talented golfers including Holden Anderson, Devin Garrison and Andrew Jansen returning.

Coach Richard Chavka 24 • The Hillside Summer 2010

Paul Armstrong readies a forehand; Holden Anderson drains the putt as Coach Chavka tends the pin; Tom Conover at bat while coaches Walter Moore and Phil Darrin look on

Tennis The tennis team had a very successful year after a questionable start. While a large number of boys came out for the team, very few of them had much experience on the court. We were fortunate to secure some late additions in the form of four Brazilian soccer players. Two of these young men were very talented players, and the other two were fiercely competitive and willing to learn the game.

They were a great addition to our existing core of four solid players, and all of the boys’ efforts earned the team a spot in the HVAL playoffs. We stunned Number One-seeded Watkinson and then lost a tough battle to Forman in the championship. Overall this group was one of the most competitive and enjoyable teams I have had the pleasure of coaching. A final championship would have been nice, but ending the season knowing that the boys gave their best throughout was reward enough in itself.

Coach Tim Bonis

JV Baseball This year’s JV Baseball season began with twenty-three players, most of whom were new to the sport. Although we began the season with most of our players never having thrown a baseball, we ended on a high note, winning our first and only game. I was particularly impressed with the dedication and sportsmanship of all the boys as they faced significant chal-

lenges against superior teams. Min Hua became especially enamored of the sport and plans to continue playing baseball in some capacity when he is in college next fall. Few on the team will forget Will Donnelly’s s performance in a mid-season contest against Millbrook in which he hit the team’s longest shot of the season.

Jimi Hayakawa and Daichi Taniguchi, our pitching rookies, were consistent in their dedication to the game and their self-effacing humor in the face of superior rivals. They earned both some laughs and respect from the other players on the field for their light-hearted but sportsmanlike conduct. Although I wish we had been able to deliver a few more wins, I am proud of how far this group of young men came in such a short time.

Coach Matt Barron

Baseball The 2010 South Kent Varsity Baseball season was successful on all counts.

Photo by Tim Mitchell ’76

Photo by Leo Fan ’11

Photo by Leo Fan ’11

Despite having only ten players, the team once again made it into the New England tournament and the HVAL conference tournament. Unfortunately, we were unable to advance in either tournament.

However, the team succeeded in making South Kent Baseball a major player among small schools in the New England area. Led by Duane Stone Cup winner and team MVP Tom Conover, this year’s sixth form participants were few but contributed greatly to the success of the team. Conover pitched in every contest of the season as starter, midreliever, and closer. He also batted in the two-hole for the majority of the season and helped get us off to a great start in most games. Other sixth form contributors were Christian Craigg and Shoshuke Ashizawa. Craigg provided solid defense and a good bat in the middle of the lineup, while Ashizawa anchored the outfield and ended up batting in the lead-off spot.

South Kent’s strong fifth form contingent was led by Most Improved Players Shayne Gostisbehere and Shaquille Trott. Other

contributors from the class were Jimmy Gabrione, Yoshi Otake, and Dong Hwi Jin. Gostisbehere provided a strong bat in the middle of the line-up and developed a wicked deuce to become a very effective pitcher for us. Trott, despite eye problems, played well for us at second base and earned more walks than any other player on the team. Otake played a very solid third base but struggled with the bat all season. Jimmy Gabrione played left field and really came on strong at the end offensively, highlighted by a multi-hit game in the playoffs. Alan Jin helped the team during the playoffs by pinch-running for our injured catcher. Jin’s can-do attitude was much appreciated and will serve him well next year. The Cardinals’ fourth formers were led by Silver Slugger Zach Sugar and player/bench coach Luis Davila. Sugar played short-stop and pitched for us but really had an impact as the 3-hole hitter where he batted .421 for the season. Davila did not get to play as much as he would have liked due to our low numbers. We had to have a

player ready to come in should another player get injured. Davila had plenty of opportunity to complain but did the exact opposite. He was a vocal leader from the bench and faithful first base coach. Davila was the recipient of the Coach’s Award due to his unsung contributions to the team. The lone South Kent third former was catcher Kevin Butler. Butler is going to be a force for South Kent going forward. He worked very hard to get the bat on track and was most successful when it mattered, in the playoffs. His defense was fantastic, highlighted by his caughtstealing statistics. South Kent has always had great catchers, but none have thrown out more base-stealers than Butler.

The Varsity Baseball team has a solid group of talented players that will return next season. The goal remains a New England Championship, but it does not hurt to have some fun along the way.

Congratulations on a fine season, gentlemen!

Coaches Phillip Darrin, Walter Moore and Kevin Capobianco Summer 2010 The Hillside • 25

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South Kent Authors

Recently published? Please let us know, and please consider donating a copy of your book to The Martin A. Henry Library’s “South Kent Authors” collection. Not only will our students be impressed by the scholarly and literary accomplishments of faculty and alumni, but we will gratefully list your publication on the SKS website’s “South Kent Authors” page! All book donations are considered giftsin-kind to the school. Please visit www.southkentschool. org/authors to see a more complete list of published works as well as purchasing information.

26 • The Hillside Summer 2010

A Call to Action Geoffrey E. Moore ’59

Stone in The Garden Gordon Hayward ’62

The President of the United States declared a War on Cancer in 1971. More than two decades later, the disease remained one of the two leading causes of death in America. Because half of all men and a third of women will be diagnosed with cancer, many people have dedicated themselves to fighting it. This is the inspiring story of how Mike Milken used a lifetime of philanthropic and business experience to join with others in a new research approach. Their organization successfully mobilized the world’s leading medical scientists for the benefit of everyone with advanced cancer – an effort that Fortune magazine said “changed medicine.” Today, the War on Cancer has acquired renewed energy and a clearer focus on eliminating the disease as a cause of death and suffering.

How to use stone in walls, walkways, terraces, and more to create beautiful, lasting gardens. Stone furnishes the framework, the structure, and the sense of permanence that transforms gardens. Whether in the form of retaining walls or benches, terraces or walkways, as bold standing stones or as boulders at the edge of a small stream or pond, stone lends a garden focus, providing the perfect foil to plants. In this lavishly illustrated book, readers are inspired to think creatively and practically about the many roles stone can play in their gardens. More than one hundred color photographs show ways in which stone graces great gardens around the world. One hundred detailed drawings give readers the know-how to complete a wide range of projects with confidence and finesse.

My Nanking Home Nancy Thomson Waller (wife of Jerry Waller ‘35, longtime SKS French teacher) Nancy Thomson Waller, daughter of educational missionaries, was born in Nanking, China in 1918—a time of great turmoil. From the South to the North, warlords were being overthrown

by Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Army. Amid their daily routines, family expeditions, and terrifying moments such as the Looting of 1927, the Thomson family witnessed Nanking’s transformation from a sleepy, medieval city to a modern, bustling capital.

My Nanking Home is a very personal memoir recounting a happy childhood in a faraway land. It is a journey back to a another time, another world.

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Class Notes

Please remember to send in your class notes by mail, by email (classnotes@southkentschool.org) or by using the form on the alumni page of the School’s website.

30s

Dean Faulkner ’37: “As a sixth form organist, I was (and still am) a spriritual student. I was also a good football and tennis participant. Thank you SKS! It was marvelous and ... still is!”

40s

Edwin de F. Bennett ’40: “Caught in the midst of what is reported to be a blizzard, with a miserable head cold to balance things out. With such a ‘real’ winter this year, I am reminded of working on the chapel and lake rinks with Bill (Gilette), the Moose (Woodward), usually Wuz, and usually Dick (Cuyler). Being so deeply involved with making all ready for the next game, winning the gold Below, Class of 1945: Everett Peirce, Tom Buell and Allen Perrins; Right, Class of 1955: Front row - Bob Lee, Don Hart, Bud Daly; back row - Foster White, Bob Gibbons, Jim Lovell

puck the Old Man promised if we beat Kent was rather anti-climactic.

How good it is to share the secrets of the spirit with so many peers, great faculty and the hearty support of the staff people: Bill in the kitchen, Tom with the heating system and Ms. Bull keeping Moose and the Old Man on the straight and narrow! Praise the Lord and so many others!”

50s

Dave Mackay ’50 wrote in to share that he is still an active jazz pianist, singer composer and recording artist.

Peter Pirnie ’50: “I was sorry to miss our 60th due to family commitments. I am still working at USAID (secretary of the agency’s credit review board). Our loan guarantee program now operates globally in 45 countries, with an emphasis on economic growth. Congratulations to my fellow 1950 classmates on the occasion of our 60th reunion!”

Paul Matthews ’51: “My brother Johnny died on January 29th this year of cancer after a short and intense illness. Ralph Woodward delivered one of the eulogies. I am

in a large, juried, group show at the New Jersey State Museum which opened March 8th and runs through October 31st.”

Peter Dayton ’52 is pleased to announce that he married Marie McGreevy on May 16.

Tony Crossley ’53: “Our school for autistic children is expanding for the fourth time in eight years. This will enable us to accommodate older children in the Houston area. We have grown from 2600 to 16000 square feet and feel truly blessed.”

Stephen W. Rule ’54: “The closer it gets to my 60th reunion, the more improbable it seems that it has been that long! My passion for travel (especially cruises) remains a driving force.”

John Severance ’54: “Having grown up and lived in the Northeast, Sylvia and I are thoroughly enjoying our new life in sunny Savannah.”

Robert Gibbons ’55 writes that he is on his “forty-seventh year of drilling and filling and billing; but now only 12 hours a week.”

James R. Lovell ’55: “Almost 73 years old, but still working full time though I gave up major surgery and thus have weekends free for the first time in thirty years. I am also still playing hockey three times a week, year-round.”

Jeff Moore ’59: “A February business trip to Moscow reminded me what real cold is – I haven’t felt like that since skating on Hatch Pond in 1956!”

60s

Scott Kuhner ’60: “My wife and I just celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary. We have two boys, 33 and 31. In 1971 my wife and I quit our jobs and spent four years sailing a 30-foot boat with no electronics, only a sextant to navigate, around the world. In 1987-1991 we did a second circumnavigation, this time on a 40-foot boat with our boys ages 9 and 11 when we left, and 13 and 15 when we got back. I retired in 2001, and Kitty and I have been spending winters on the boat in the Bahamas and Caribbean and summers in Maine. In 2003 and 2005 we sailed over to Portugal and Spain.”

David Chamberlain ’62: “I am enjoying retirement with half the year in Colorado and winter in the Caribbean, and spending time with two grandsons and my beloved schnauzer. I hope to make it to my 50th reunion in 2012.”

Sukehiro Hasegawa ’62 returned to the Hillside to deliver the Prize Day address to the Class of 2010.

Dr. Hasegawa, father of Stefan ‘00, Summer 2010 The Hillside • 27

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Class Notes

30 years working and living internationally. I’m now retired and living in Essex, CT. Keeping pretty busy doing volunteer work with the Connecticut Audubon Society and the Essex Land Trust. I plan to come back to SKS for my 45th reunion in 2012!”

70s

Andrew “Drew” Horton ’70 retired from the City of Boulder Parks and Recreation in 2003. Drew won the National Mandolin Flatpicking Championship in Winfield, KS in 2001.

He continues to play and perform semi-professionally in the area near Westcliffe, CO. Drew and his wife Mary have a small ranch near Westcliffe where they enjoy horseback riding, ranch work and where Drew occasionally organizes/produces house concerts.

80s is currently a professor at Hosei University in Tokyo.

Class of 1970: Luis Rinaldini, John Leggett, Eric Stoll, Godfrey Gregg, David Leavitt, Chris Quinn, Tad Lawrence, Alex Stanley, Gordon McCoun, Ian Murray, Peter Barker; Mark Funk leads a spirited procession of alumni at the Alumni Weekend banquet; Sukehiro Hasegawa ’62 delivers the Prize Day address to the class of 2010; Doug Sharpe ’74 receives the MacLean Service Award from Jeff Rosenberg ’81 for his valuable support of the School; top right, F.K. Day ‘78 addresses the crowd at the Second Annual Gala Dinner.

28 • The Hillside Summer 2010

Michael Corrigan ’64: “I had a wonderful time at my 45th reunion last year. Stayed with my old roomate Walter Johnson at his lovely home in Washington, CT during the reunion.

It was great to catch up with him. It was also fun to run into my former assistant and seminarian Steve Klots at last fall’s Canterbury Invitational Cross Country Meet. I am now Cross Country Coach at Northfield-Mt. Hermon School. Having a ball as chaplain, teacher, coach and advisor.

Looking forward to our 50th.”

Jim Denham ’67: “I just attended my first Alumni Day after spending

Peter Secor ’80: “I took a new job in January 2010 as manager of Computer Client Services with the law firm WilmerHale. I am also a ‘Minute Man’ captain in Bedford, MA where I am participating in keeping history alive.”

Thomas Winter ’80: Tom’s eldest daughter, Samira, came to the US from Brazil and has completed her freshman year at Emerson College in Boston. Her younger sister Emilie is attending Emerson’s Theatre Camp this summer.

AJ Miller ’88: “Hello All. Just a quick note to say that we have welcomed our second child into the world. Caroline Alexandra Miller was born on April 13th at 12:40 AM. We are all doing well. If any former classmates find themselves in or around Charlottesville, VA, feel free to drop a line...ajmiller@themillersworld.com.”

Vivek Arjan Daswani ’89: “I had a wonderful experience at SKS and cherish the memories of my high school educational development. My education along with the many life lessons acquired at SKS have had a positive impact on my life and have helped to mold me into the person I am today. At the age of 38, I live in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and own and operate a chain of tourism related retail stores catering to the luxury jewelry and high-end watch market as it relates primarily to the tourism sector. In addition, my company, Royal Caribbean, also has a camera and electronics division within our duty free market. My wife Angelina and I have three lovely boys, Azad (8), Jahan (6) and Krishna (4). They all attend a private school here in St. Thomas and hopefully will someday attend boarding school, assuming they choose to do so.”

90s

Howard Brande ’93 and Jennifer Lyn Sheldon were married on May 8 in Plymouth, MA. Guests included Laura and Rich Brande ’88, Kristina and Andrew Malleck ’93, Rachel and Stephen Malleck ’93, Robert Patton 93’ and Susie and Jeff Turk ’93.

Brian Malley ’92: “Hello, all. It’s been 18 years since my time at South Kent. I have been living just outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia

00s

Photo by Laura Brande

Tomas Petru ’92 and his wife Lucie are proud to announce the birth of their son Tobias on March 22. Tomas and his family live in Prague where he is President of Media Services for KIT Digital.

Bence Kováts ’03 “Last summer I finished my five-year university here in Budapest, mastering in international relations. I have already been working for three years in media where I have been writing/online editing for the Hungarian business daily Világgazdaság. Searching for a new challenge, I changed professions and in August started working for KPMG Advisory. I pretty much love my job as I find new tasks and broaden my

Photo by Craig Kuhner ’60

(Canada) for the past 10 years, working as a manager for a Hydraulic Company (TRC Hydraulics). I am married (happily..!) and have five children (four girls, and one boy). I still enjoy playing hockey; I play in three leagues, year-round. I haven’t really kept in touch with classmates but would enjoy hearing what everyone has been up to. I plan on making the trip in 2012 for the reunion. If anyone makes it to the East Coast, be sure to look me up. (brian.malley@trchydraulics.com).”

Chris Green ’00: “I’ve been married for two and a half years to my wife Dorothy. She is also from Avon, CT, and I met her at Camp Woodstock where I worked during my summers through both SKS and Kenyon. We actually first started dating just a few months after I graduated from SKS. We are currently living in Durham, NC, because I am a student again, pursuing an MBA at Duke University.

I just completed my first of two years here, and it has been a great and challenging experience so far. Right now I am on summer “break” interning with Meriturn Partners which is a private equity fund, based out of Raleigh. They specialize in buying companies that are distressed, and turning them back to profitability. I’ve been spending most of my time so far up in Michigan working with one of their portfolio companies. It has been a great experience, and I am learning every day. So, other than having the cash flow of a student again, life is great. You would also be happy to know that I run quite regularly, and before returning to school I was also racing quite a bit. I feel quite indebted to SKS for giving me a second chance academically. I certainly would not be at Duke today if it wasn’t for my time on the Hillside.

That being said, please let me know if there is anything I can do to help out. If any of your future students are interested in Kenyon (which has an excellent English Department) feel free to point them in my direction.”

knowledge on a weekly basis. I also had thoughts about going abroad and trying something new there, but there is still a lot to learn about my own country, and this is the best way to stay close to my soon-to-be fiancée, Nora Kiss.”

Steven Bruen, Jr. ’04 writes that he has graduated from the University of Mary Washington with degrees in Business Administration and Psychology. During his four years there, he was an active member of the crew team and was also the acting president of the cycling team.

He is currently living in Manassas, VA working as a project manager for a construction firm.

Matej Kenda ’04: “I’m still in DC but actually leaving soon to go to Middlebury for summer language school. I got a critical language fellowship so I

Top Left: Angelina and Vivek Arjan Daswani ’89 with their three boys Azad, Krishna and Jahan at Magens Bay, St. Thomas Left, below: Lucie Petru, wife of Tomas ’92, with son Tobias and daughter Sofie Top Right: Scott Kuhner ’60, George Gilliam ’60, Paige Gilliam and Perry Butler ’60 pause for an Alumni Weekend photo in the courtyard; Right, below: Alumni baseball game.

Back: Howard Brande ’93, Sam Corrigan ’95, Ben Miller ’95, Jeff Palmer ’95, Sean Aikman ’95, Phil Darrin, Richard Brande ’88; Front: Sam Simmons ’68, Max Brande, John Folli ’95, Mike Davis ’94, Matt Michalski ’95 and Sam Brande Summer 2010 The Hillside • 29

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Class Notes

get to do intensive language study for free up there. After that, I’m returning to DC to start graduate school at Georgetown. I will be studying international relations with a focus on Russia and China/Far East. With graduate school, it’s all finally fallen into place. Jon Fein ’04 and I actually ended up rooming together for most of last year until he graduated from Georgetown and went back to CT to work for a sports agency.”

Above: Geri Haase with Dorrell Wright ’04 at a New Jersey Nets-Miami Heat game earlier in the year Below: Alumni and friends gather for a photo at the School’s successful First Annual South Kent Golf tournament held at the Bulls Bridge Golf Course in early June RIght: Fitz Robertson ’05, Rev. Steve Klots and Todd Gennings ’05 at Alumni Weekend 2010

Max Ulanoff ’04 graduated from UConn with a major in Communication, focusing on Public Relations and Advertising. He now lives in Manhattan, where he works for the N.S. Bienstock Talent Agency, assisting with Branding, Licensing, and Production.

Dmitry Bargraser ’05: “I am working for TransPerfect Translations which is a translation company based in NYC. I am marketing Wordfast, which is the leading translation software in the industry. I currently live in Staten Island.”

Todd Gennings ’05 lives in Burlington VT where he often sees Kyle Marquis.

Sung Wook Hwang ’05 finished his duties with the Korean military on June 4th. He is spending the summer at Cambridge University in England at an off-campus econom-

ics seminar. He writes, “I have been staying well overall. The military was a good experience, and I think I am certainly more prepared to face the challenges that I will meet when I am back in school. I am still not sure about where this is all leading, but I believe that will also come in due time. I have been trying to get over my tendency to get too anxious about my future and uncertainties. Just trying to live out each moment to its fullest, being mindful of God-given purposes in my life.”

Kyle Marquis ’05 just graduated from Saint Michael’s College with a BA in Business Administration and a minor in Marketing. He made the Dean’s List and played four years of Varsity Hockey.

Fitz Robertson ’05 is back in New York after graduating from HampdenSydney College in May 2009 where he served as the Student Body President, a manager of the college’s Investment Fund, a Head Resident Advisor for the freshmen dorms, a 4-year letter winner on the Hampden-Sydney College basketball team and co-captain during his senior year.

After graduation, Fitz took a job with PNC Capital Markets as an investment banking analyst and recently joined JP Morgan Asset Management in New York City.

Matthew A. Bruen ’06: “While at Hobart College, I received my

30 • The Hillside Summer 2010

B.A. in Political Science and Public Policy. On campus, I was a dedicated brother of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity, where I arranged numerous fundraising events as the fraternity’s Community Service chairman. In addition to the fraternity, I was a member of Hobart Crew, the HWS Shooting Team, and the Debate Team. Currently, I have taken a job outside NYC at Commerce One, as a junior stockbroker/analyst.”

Josh Angell ’08 enlisted in the US Army and began his basic training at Fort Benning, GA, in April. He writes, “About 225 other recruits and I were “welcomed” by our drill sergeants into Charlie Company 3/330 IN REG. We were split into four platoons. The first three weeks were some of the most stressful times for me. We were in Red Phase, also known as “total control.” Basically the drill sergeants were on us 24/7, and we could not do anything right. Even if it was right, we were wrong. Now it does not feel like I am in my sixth week of training, even though I barely remember Day 1. I have noticed changes in myself for the better, and remembering who I have supporting me helps out. I’m not sure where the Army will take me. My current contract is for three years and 16 weeks. My current plan is to go to Airborne School and Ranger School after I graduate and get to my unit.”

In Memoriam

1939 Edward W. Warwick, 89. father of Edward R. SKS ’64 and Anderson ’69, died on April 26 at Cathedral Village in Philadelphia. An art buyer for the N.W. Ayer advertising agency for 38 years, Mr. Warwick purchased art and photos that appeared in ads in national magazines, newspapers, and on billboards. His son, Ned, a former Inquirer editor says that his father gave work to struggling photographer Ansel Adams and illustrator Norman Rockwell, and hired a young model named Grace Kelly for a profile silhouette in a telephone ad. From 1950 to 1975, he was involved in the Great Ideas of Western Man ad campaign commissioned by Container Corp. of America. The print ads featured quotes from luminaries such as Plato, Rousseau, and Jefferson, and were illustrated by portraits, abstract designs, photographs, and collages by well-known artists. Mr. Warwick retired from Ayer in 1985.

He spent the last years of his career as the lead art buyer for the US Army’s “All You Can Be” ads. The ads helped the Army make the transition from the conscript era to an allvolunteer force. Mr. Warwick, whose grandfather Charles was mayor of Philadelphia in the 1890s, grew up in Germantown. He and his future wife, Virginia Pennypacker Warwick, met when they were students at the Philadelphia College of Art, where his father was dean. During World War II, Mr. Warwick designed war-effort posters for the Budd Co. Before joining Ayer in 1947, he was an art director for Radio Corp. of America in Camden. Mr. Warwick bicycled long before it became a common adult pastime; he wore a safari pith helmet. He was also an accomplished figure skater and was past president of the Wissahickon Skating Club.

1943 James M. Garnett, 84, died peacefully at his home in Jamestown, RI on Tuesday, March 2, 2010.

He was the son of the late Muscoe Russell Hunter Garnett and Caroline Barclay Strong. Born in Chestnut

Hill, Garnett attended the Brunswick School in Greenwich, CT and Chestnut Hill Academy in Chestnut Hill, PA. He graduated in 1943 from South Kent where he was Senior Prefect and a three-letter athlete in football, ice hockey and crew. Following graduation, he enlisted in the United States Marines. A member of the famed Marine 5th Division, Garnett was engaged in the Battle of Iwo Jima and the occupational forces in Japan. After discharge from military service, he enrolled at Yale University and graduated in 1950. He began his insurance business career with Marsh McLennan in New York City and later moved to London where he served as Vice President and Manager of that office. He completed his career in the insurance field as Vice President of F. J. Wilkes & Co. in New York City, retiring in 1992. He is survived by his wife, Sally Begg Garnett, his brother Stephen N. SKS ’45 and four children Jane, Sidney, WIlliam and James Mercer Garnett, Jr. SKS ’74.

1966 Charles Noble Robertson, IV, 63, of Colonial Beach, died Saturday, January 16, 2010 at Mary Washington Hospital. Mr. Robertson was a native of Riverside, Connecticut. He was a U.S.M.C. Vietnam Combat veteran and later served at 8th and I in Washington, D.C. as a member of the Presidential Honor Guard. Early in his work career, he was a group home counselor in Alexandria. After moving to Stafford in 1978, he began working for Fredericksburg City Juvenile Domestic Court. Later he worked in project management and new homes sales in Stafford. In 1990, he established Curb Appeal Landscaping, which he ran until his retirement in 2008.

Mr. Robertson joined the Stafford Volunteer Fire Department in 1978 where he was a life member, past president, and an honorary lieutenant. He was a member of the Stafford American Legion Post 290 and the historic Friendship V.F.D. in Alexandria, VA. Upon retirement, he moved

to Colonial Beach, where he became a member of the Colonial Beach Fire Department where he served as Chaplain. He was a member of Aquia Episcopal Church. Survivors include his wife of 40 years, Merry E. Robertson; two brothers, Bill Robertson of New Jersey and Eric Kreuter SKS ’72; and a sister, Betsy Kreuter.

John R. Blank Jr., 82, of Kent died January 16 at Sharon Hospital. He was the husband of Gladys A. Blank.

Mr. Blank was born Oct. 28, 1922, in New York City, son of the late John and Ottilia (Schubert) Blank. Shortly after his birth, he moved with his parents to Kent, where the Blanks established and for many years operated Bulls Bridge Inn. Mr. Blank was a member of the last graduating class of Kent High School in 1938.

He entered the Army Air Force, in which he served as an airplane and engine mechanic. He was employed by the U.S. Post Office as a carrier until his retirement in 1983. He was also employed as a part-time carpenter by South Kent School and a part-time driver for Ruwett-Sibley of New Milford. He was an active member of Sacred Heart Church, where he served as a trustee from 1975 to 1993. He also served as adjutant of the American Legion Post No. 153 for many years, in addition to being the Memorial Day parade marshall.

He was a 50-year veteran of the Kent Fire Department, a member of the Kent Cemetery Association and a volunteer for FISH and was involved in the Kent Historical Society. Besides his wife, Mr. Blank is survived by a daughter, Deborah of Washington; a son, William of Kent; and two grandchildren, Chris and Anna Carlson.

Summer 2010 The Hillside • 31

inretrospect

70 Years Ago

32 • The Hillside Summer 2010

Richard W. Martin ’49

I

Member of the St. Michael’s Society

n 1947 our father was the first minister of The Church of the Good Shepherd in Austin, TX. He knew he would be relocating during the next school year and was reluctant to move while I was a senior in high school. He was considering boarding schools when someone suggested South Kent School.

During a phone conversation, Sam Bartlett told my father the School would accept me and my next brother, Doug, ’50, at a tuition my father could set. (I learned this much later, and it cemented my desire to help the School in any way I could.) Thus, I entered the 5th Form (not a common thing then) to repeat the 11th grade; but I only repeated one course in trigonometry.

Later our third brother, Rog ’54, attended.

South Kent School played a huge part in my future, preparing me for any number of things - not the least of which was my fascination with the bow ties my roommate, Del Hitch, wore. Del gave me two of his oldest and tried to show me how to tie them. I finally learned after long, arm-tiring sessions before the mirror. I’ve worn them ever since, except for my seven years in the Navy. They’ve been a bit of a trademark.

I recall many new experiences and approaches to life from my time at South Kent School: • Getting up early to help shovel snow. This was new to me as Texas had little, and I was too small to help when we lived in Arkansas and Virginia.

• Digging potatoes and collecting apples.

• Helping with farming and maintenance one summer.

• Taking the first 10 minutes of an exam to think, plan and organize before putting my pen to paper. (Thanks, Wuz – Lester Wittenberg!)

• As 6th Form truck driver, taking Bill, the cook, home most evenings, and getting the mail daily from the store/ post office by the railroad tracks.

While I was sure I had forgotten the three principles of the school – Simplicity of Life, Self-Reliance and Directness of Purpose – in looking back I feel my life has reflected these, though my wife suggests my parents already

had planted these seeds. Either way, these principles undoubtedly guided me.

From South Kent I went to The College of Wooster, majoring in English History. And from there, I entered Cornell University Medical College (now called Weill Cornell Medical College) in New York City, following two uncles and an aunt who went there. I entered the US Navy after one year of residency, completed my surgical training at the Naval Hospital in Philadelphia, and spent three years at the Naval Hospital in Charleston, SC. My years in the Navy included overseas tours in the Mediterranean and four months with a surgical team on two

ships in Vietnam.

I developed a solo surgical practice for 11 years in Mooresville, NC, relocated to Salisbury, NC, and, 12 years later, added a partner to start Salisbury Surgical Associates, PA. I retired from surgery in the summer of 1999.

I now enjoy my time around the house. I “make a lot of sawdust” in my garage shop and spend more time at church in the choir and with other activities. I’ve served two vestry terms at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Salisbury, and two terms as a trustee for Hood Theological Seminary, where I now am a trustee emeritus.

Long before I had heard about the St. Michael’s Society, I planned for my estate distribution to include educational institutions. My parents gave all four of their children educations, and I felt that, having done the same for my two, approximately 50% of the residual monies in my estate could be distributed to those institutions I/we felt had played — and still play — a role in my life. South Kent tops that list. The remaining monies will be distributed among my ‘other’ charities. This will occur after the second one of us dies. Hopefully, much still will be in taxdeferred IRA accounts and will be distributed directly and hence untaxed.

South Kent School is a great preparatory school. Its mission is very appropriate in today’s world. I am pleased and grateful to be able to continue to support it. I hope others will feel the same way.

For more information regarding planned giving options available at South Kent School, please contact Tim von Jess, Director of Development, at (860) 927-3539 x205, email him at vonjesst@southkentschool.org, or visit the planned giving section of the School’s website at www.southkentschool.org/alumni/planned_giving.php

South Kent School

40 Bulls Bridge Road South Kent, CT 06785-1199 860-927-3539

Parents of Alumni

If this publication is addressed to your child who no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, please notify the alumni office of a preferred mailing address by calling 860/927-3539 x299 or emailing us at advancement@southkentschool.org.

Thank you!

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