the stuart
TARTONIAN winter 2011
Although every school year brings changes to Stuart, much remains the same: Lower School girls still romp in the snow twice a day, weather permitting. Girls still guess when Congé might be. First Fridays start with prayer services. Students prepare meals for Loaves and Fishes. Green and White Day kicks off the year. Girls’ voices fill the green brick hallways every morning. Best friends play indoors during winter goûter. And our new Head of School, Dr. Patty Fagin, distributes Jolly Ranchers on Friday afternoons.
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ALL-GIRLS SCHOOLS DEVELOP LEADERS by Dr. Patty L. Fagin as published in the Princeton Packet January 20, 2011
oday’s elementary and secondary students have never known a time without personal computers, video games, cell phones, and most importantly, the internet. How do we rethink schooling for this Net Generation of learners who are no longer the students our educational system was designed to teach? Our 21st century knowledge economy requires new basic skills of all learners: critical thinking/problem solving; collaboration/leading by influence; agility and adaptability; initiative and entrepreneurialism; effective oral and written communication; the ability to assess and analyze information; curiosity and imagination. As the head of an all-girl school, pre-kindergarten through grade 12, I am struck by how femalecentric many of these critical 21st century skills are. What a unique position all-girl schools are in to further develop those innate strengths. We already know that current graduates of allgirl schools have the edge on their peers graduating from co-educational institutions. Graduates of single sex high schools have superior academic engagement, higher SAT scores, greater interest in graduate school, higher academic self-confidence, higher confidence in mathematical ability and computer skills, greater interest in engineering careers, a stronger predisposition toward co-curricular engagement, and greater political engagement than their peers graduating from co-educational high schools. Though graduates of all-girl schools represent only a small fraction of all secondary school graduates, 25% of women in Congress and 33% of women Fortune 500 board members
attended all-girl schools. Just a few notable Stuart graduates include Dr. Shelley Hearne ’79, Managing Director, Pew Health Group, The Pew Charitable Trusts and Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Lorena Sayer O’Brien ’88, Managing Director at JP Morgan Chase; and New Jersey Supreme Court nominee, Anne Murray Patterson ’76. By capitalizing on girls’ innate strengths we can guarantee their success well into the future. The 21st century survival skills of collaboration and communication are grounded in the ability to empathize – a skill for which girls’ brains, according to experts, are hard-wired. In addition, their egalitarian communication style is focused on consensus building and, thereby, more collaborative in nature. Since 1963, when Stuart was founded, Stuart’s teachers have dedicated themselves to helping girls find and value their own voices. Whether it is a first grader asking a world-class author a question about his work or a sixth grader disagreeing with her teacher about the meaning of Dickens’ Christmas Carol, we foster an atmosphere where girls speak out. Paradoxically, the same school culture fosters a reverence for collaboration: Partnerships thrive in an atmosphere where everyone is heard. Another hallmark of 21st century learners is effective oral and written communication. Over 30 years of studies find girls significantly stronger than boys in all areas of communication. Girls tend to talk earlier, have a larger vocabulary, and use complex language at the earliest ages (Feingold, 1993; Halpern, 2000; Hyde & Linn, 1988). The greatest differences manifest themselves during school-age years in the areas of spelling, overall language measures, and writing (Halpern, 2000). As skills in initiative-taking and critical thinking grow in importance, all-girl schools provide the critical environment necessary for girls to master
these skills. Numerous studies have shown that teachers respond to boys and girls quite differently in co-educational classes. Boys are afforded more opportunities to call out, speak out, and expand their ideas than girls (Good and Brophy, 1990; Marshall, 1997). By allowing boys to call out their answers more frequently, experts suggest that teachers encourage boys to take risks and simultaneously discourage girls from doing the same. All-girl schools ensure these subtle biases don’t impede girls’ desire or ability to “go out on a limb” or “think outside the box.” Dr. Rosemary Salomone, author of Same, Different, Equal: Rethinking Single-Sex Schooling, lauds an all-girl educational environment for creating both an institutional and classroom environment “in which female students can express themselves freely and frequently, and develop higher order thinking skills.” At Stuart Country Day School, girls lead every club and every student organization: The senior class president is a girl. Field hockey is the most important fall sport — not football. And in the classroom, girls are at the center of every discussion. Over time, day by day, this atmosphere makes a profound difference. In just one generation, the education of today’s students is light years away from that of their parents. Different skills are required and different strengths must be nurtured. Harvard Professor and leading educational author, Tony Wagner warns that those “who do not understand the profound implications of teaching and testing these new survival skills are complicit in an unwitting conspiracy to put our nation at even greater risk of losing our competitive edge.” Single-sex girls’ schools like Stuart offer an environment where these key skills are nurtured and honed so that their graduates can think critically, communicate, solve problems, empathize, and lead well into the 21st century.
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1 & 2. Kindergarten students learn about the life and literature of Eric Carle. Each girl chooses an illustration, makes a plan, creates the paper, and constructs a collage in the style of Eric Carle. 3. When it comes to making a gingerbread house, fifth graders are a girl’s best friend. 4. Kindergarten teacher, Heidi Echternacht, is planting the seeds of change in her young charges. Two of her gardening apprentices examine the fruits of their labor.
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5. Pre-School and Junior Kindergarten students delight parents and guests with their holiday program. 6. Second grade girls visit with the Pre-School to create books about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 7. Veni Emmanuel, a celebration of the Nativity through prayer and song, ushers in the Christmas season for Lower School students and their families.
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iPads are here! Students at Stuart’s 2nd Technology Fair examine the iPad’s potential.
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Pulitze
Is this a proposal for a new Middle School uniform or an entry for Project Recycle Runway?
Middle School girls bask in the glow of Evensong at Stuart. Photo by Elena Seibert
At the Middle School World Arts Day, students have a chance not only to observe the arts but to perform as well.
Seven Sisters: According to Athletic Director, Cheryl Wolf, “There has been a Hallowell on the Stuart field hockey and lacrosse roster for the past four years and will be for the next three. Our opponents will be glad when we run out of Hallowells - they are so talented and competitive. Our opponents are also going to have to get used to the name McGowen on the roster as well. The triplets play on the White basketball team and their little sister plays on the Green team.”
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Winners of the 2011 Princeton University Martin Luther King Jr. Video and Essay Contest are congratulated by Dr. Patty Fagin. Senior Scholars prepare to teach Lower and Middle School students about the biography and writing of Jhumpa Lahiri, this year’s author in the Lies, Light, McCarthy Visiting Author Program. Lahiri comes to Stuart for a day of readings on April 8, 2011.
And the winner is… a dress crafted from seven different packs of playing cards, board game pieces and boxes, an old sheet, old buttons, plastic balls from a kids’ ball house jungle, yarn, and ribbon. Reduce, re-use, recycle!
humpa Lahiri
er Prize-winning author of Interpreter of Maladies, The Namesake & Unaccustomed Earth
Friday, April 8, 2011 4:30 p.m. Cor Unum
Always a special occasion, Ring Day finds the girls of the junior class at a candlelit ceremony celebrating the unique Stuart ring that they wear with pride. Many Stuart alumnae – sisters and mothers—return as surprise guests!
Stuart sophomores participate in the inaugural Sacred Heart Academic Exchange Program. In the words of Olivia Neubert (pictured at center) who traveled to the Sacred Heart School of Montreal, “SHAEP was such a great experience. I was in a new country and a different environment but being at another Sacred Heart school made me feel at home.”
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March 31, 1960 – November 4, 2010 Beloved wife, mother, sister, aunt, and Stuart alumna, Michelle Nicastro, died on Thursday night, November 4th, after a 10-year battle with cancer. Michelle was one of the first Stuart “lifers,” attending Stuart Country Day School from kindergarten through 12th grade. She matriculated to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, graduated with a degree in theatre in 1982, and met her husband, Steve Stark. Michelle and Steve have two daughters, Callie and Cady, who were the light of Michelle’s life. While at Stuart, Michelle was well known for her beautiful singing voice and even better known for her warm, friendly personality and wonderful sense of humor. Many faculty and alums fondly remember her starring role in the Middle School’s production of You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, directed by Sister Holmes. In the Upper School, she was very involved in a variety of activities: She was a member of the Admission Committee, Student Government, Wildflowers (the TartanTones of her era), Honor Council, and French Club. She also starred in numerous Stuart Little Theater productions including Godspell, and was always Stuart’s star contributor to all of The Lawrenceville School’s (then an all male school) musical productions. Michelle was the commencement speaker for Stuart’s Class of 1994. She truly enjoyed the experience and was a wonderful role model for the graduates. Among Michelle’s numerous accomplishments after college, she originated the role of Éponine in the original Los Angeles production of Les Miserables (winning both the Drama-Logue Critics Award and the Robby Award), and, right after college, starred in Merlin on Broadway with Chita Rivera & Doug Henning. Placido Domingo first introduced her to concert audiences as a featured soloist at the Hollywood Bowl and she later toured Japan as a soloist with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra under the direction
Boss, Airwolf, Simon & Simon, Knight Rider, Charles in Charge, and It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, for which she won both an ACE & BMI award for an original song she co-wrote and performed on the series. Daytime audiences will remember Michelle for her long run as Sasha on the Emmy-winning soap opera Santa Barbara where Soap Opera Digest once declared her “One of TV’s Most Beautiful Women.”
of John Mauceri. Michelle also co-starred opposite Barry Manilow in his international Showstoppers world tour. Other memorable theater performances included: Anne in A Little Night Music; Jane in Leave it to Jane; Luciana in The Boys from Syracuse (co-produced by Lucille Ball & Carole Burnett at the Doolittle Theatre); and the original production of Blame It On the Movies at the Coast Playhouse. She introduced Harry to Sally in the classic film: When Harry Met Sally and also starred in the movies The Bad Guys, Body Rock, and was the actress behind the swan in the animated feature The Swan Princess and its many sequels. Michelle also guest-starred in multiple television series - a few of which include: Beverly Hills 90210, Wings, Coach, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Bodies of Evidence, Murder She Wrote, Full House, Who’s the
Her impeccable voice has been immortalized on many recordings. The success of Michelle's first solo recording, Toonful, led to a recording contract with Varese Sarabande records and a second, third and fourth solo CD: Reel Imagination, Toonful Too and On My Own, featuring contemporary songs from Broadway. Michelle can also be heard on the recordings of Lady Be Good, Pardon My English for the Gershwin Estate, Lost in Boston I & III, Unsung Musicals I & II, Shakespeare on Broadway, A Broadway Christmas, Peter Pan, A Hollywood Christmas, and Masada among several others. She lent her talents to many charities throughout the years from Equity Fights AIDS, the American Cancer Society, the United Jewish Fund, Cystic Fibrosis and was a regular vocalist at the annual APLA stage benefit in Los Angeles and a regular anthem vocalist for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Lakers, and the Ducks. After a stellar career, Michelle was diagnosed with breast cancer on her 40th birthday. Not long after, Michelle and three of her friends started a company called Truly Mom that specializes in planners and custom stationery. They were featured on CBS’s The Early Show promoting the success of Truly Mom. Last year, Country Living Magazine named them “Women Entrepreneurs of the Year.” Their motto is “Live Life!” and Michelle relished hers every day. Michelle lived the Sacred Heart Goals and Criteria and was inspirational to many women of all ages. She was a true beauty both inside and out and her strength was incomparable.
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May 21, 2011 Alumnae Day
& Poetry in Motion
Saturday, September 18, 2010:
Sunday, September 26, 2010:
New Head of School, Dr. Patty Fagin, gathers with Stuart alumnae currently living in the Washington, D.C. area at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda. Alumnae spanning the years of 1972 through 2003 visit and share their sacred stories with Dr. Fagin.
Molly Hillenbrand Vernon ‘96 and her husband, Tyler, host an Around the World Wine Tasting at their home in Skillman with the help and expertise of former classmate, Claire Miller Defoe ‘96, manager at Sherry-Lehmann in Manhattan. Local alumnae delight at the opportunity to meet Dr. Fagin while enjoying fine wines and food selected from multiple regions.
Dr. Shelley Hearne ‘79 is the Managing Director, Pew Health Group and a Visiting Professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The Public is Welcome
Friday, April 15, 2011 2:15 pm Cor Unum
Thursday, January 13th, 2011: New York City area alumnae brave the cold wind and snowy sidewalks to attend a Stuart alumnae reception held at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, 91st Street. All enjoy the opportunity to meet new Head of School, Dr. Patty Fagin, and chat with old friends.
the stuart
TARTONIAN Managing Editors: Lisa Eckstrom & Mia Manzulli Design/Layout: Risa Engel Photography: Mia Manzulli, Risa Engel, Beth Brown, Kristine Poznanski Head of School: Dr. Patty Fagin
Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart serves 520 students in grades pre-K through 12. The school admits students of any race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin to all the rights or privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, scholarships, or loan programs or athletic or other school-administered programs. Stuart is accredited by the Middle-States Association of Colleges and Schools, and is a member of the International Network of the Sacred Heart, the National Association of Independent Schools, the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools, the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools, the Secondary School Admission Board, the College Board, the Education Records Bureau and the Association of Supervision and Curriculum.
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the stuart founders club For donors of $1,963 & above
The Stuart Founders Club Dinner* October 15, 2011 * Replaces February JESS dinner and this year will include contributions from July 1, 2010 - October 1, 2011.
At Stuart A 21st Century Global Education Begins in Pre-School
18th Annual
TARTAN The Bedens Brook Club GOLF & TENNIS june 13 - August 26
www.stuartschool.org/summer
Register on-line www.stuartschool.org/golfandtennis
STUART
COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL of the SACRED HEART
1200 Stuart Road • Princeton, NJ 08540 Phone 609.921.2330 • www.stuartschool.org
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PRE-SCHOOL/JK OPEN HOUSE Wednesday, April 13th, 9-11am