Fall 2003 - Winter 2004

Fall

2003 2004 Winter Creative Pedagogy â– Cultural Events

O HO L

THE T H

C

HER S AC

1889

News Fall 2003 / Winter 2004 Volume XVI, Number 2 Editor Jane D. McCarthy

Contents From the Head of School 3 Debunking the Myths

Campus Activities

Design Timothy R. Ditch and Jane D. McCarthy

5 Fall Play The Night of January 16th

Contributors David V. Babbott, Elizabeth A. Bowman, Camilla Evans-Hensey, Gregory T. Haggard, Sanford C. Jensen, Richard J. Mazzola, Alisa D. McCoy, Kurt R. Meyer, Sara Sackner, Joy Sawyer­Mulligan, and Peggy Whyte

6 Family Weekend

Photography Phil Channing, Elijah Sackner Behar ’07, Jane D. McCarthy, Joe Rubino, Sara Sackner, Joy Sawyer-Mulligan, Timothy O Teague, and Leslie Vallee-Miller Cover Photo New English Department Chair Rod “Jake” Jacobsen teaches juniors in Thacher’s “outdoor classroom” Photo by Timothy O Teague

Third Class postage is paid at the Oxnard Post Office.

POSTMASTER: Please send form 3579 to the preceding address.

NAIS MEMBER

C Printed by Ventura Printing with soy-based inks on recycled paper.

24 Lele Herron Galer CdeP 1979 The Sum Is Bigger than the Parts 25 Peter B. Cole CdeP 1983 The Right Tool for the Right Job 26 Robert W. Kahn CdeP 1983 Learning by Doing

8 Fall Sports, Winter Sports

27 Elizabeth D. Grossman Besch CdeP 1989 Conveying Culinary Mastery

10 Winter Musical The Music Man

28 Lara J. Phelps Randby CdeP 1991 Making the Most of Artistic License

11 Departmental Weekend, Tidbits

29 Laura-Rose Russell CdeP 1993 Balancing Didactic and Experiential Pedagogy

7 Numeracy Puzzle

The Campaign for Thacher 12 The Heart of the School

The Thacher News magazine is published twice a year by The Thacher School, and is sent free of charge to alumni, parents, and friends of the School. In preparing this ­report, every effort was made to ensure that it is accurate and complete. If there is an omission or an error in spelling, please accept our apologies and notify the Head of School’s Office at The Thacher School, 5025 Thacher Road, Ojai, California 93023-9001, call (805) 646-4377, or email ­jmccarthy@thacher.org.

23 Marie Furnary Offering Another Fork in the Road

43 Til the Best We Can Do Is All Done

Creative Pedagogy 15 Current Practices

30 Frederika C.H. Toll CdeP 1994 Turning Kids on to Reading 31 Christopher L. Rhodes CdeP 1995 Teaching More than English 32 Christina Chang An CdeP 1997 Equalizing Students’ Playing Fields

18 The Library: Relevant or Relic?

Alumni News

20 Peter F. Henze CdeP 1957 Teaching in Non-Traditional Settings

33 Class Notes

21 Prentiss A. Moore CdeP 1963 Learning from “The Butter Man” 22 Jonathan I. Hall CdeP 1967 Inspired by Thacher Faculty

40 Obituaries 41 Bookshelf Todd Oppenheimer CdeP 1971 The Flickering Mind 44 Calendar

Head

From the Head of School

Debunking the Myths The Truth about Boarding Schools

I

n a recent showing of NBC’s hit television series Law and Order, one of the troubled characters remarks to a friend, “My daughter is being difficult so I sent her away to a boarding school.” Hollywood strikes again, perpetuating the negative mythology that surrounds boarding schools. Boarding schools are understood poorly, not merely

by Hollywood, but by the public as a whole. I suppose there are some good reasons for this. The first lies in the numbers. Upwards of 15 million Americans attend public high schools, 640,000 go to parochial high schools, and more than 150,000 attend independent secondary schools. Only 42,500 attend boarding schools. That number is small enough that unless someone happens to know a school intimately or know a family member who attends these schools, she/he won’t understand the nuances of boarding schools.

The average person on the street associates our schools with David Copperfield, Holden Caulfield, Franklin Roosevelt, Jack Kennedy, and The Dead Poet’s Society. Boarding schools—if they are known at all—appear to the uninitiated to be schools for the wealthy elite, the orphaned, or the dysfunctional.

by Michael K. Mulligan

sex, skin color, socio-economic background, and national borders.” Yet, as Barbara Chase, Head of Phillips Andover, points out, “There is very little understanding or appreciation of the true nature of these schools. It has to do with stereotyping and the use of words such as ‘exclusive.’ The real picture is much, much more complex.”

Complex, indeed. Schools such as Thacher draw students from 30-45 states, often several foreign countries, kids from all backgrounds.

At Thacher we enroll Native Americans from reservations; home-schooled kids from Alberta and British Columbia; inner-city youth from New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles; ranch kids from the Rockies—as well as traditional candidates from the Bay Area, LA, and even Ojai. Thacher, like our brethren, is more diverse than ever—with as many as one-quarter to one-third of these students receiving substantial financial aid. According to research, our schools are more diverse, in fact, than the great majority of American high schools and independent day schools.

The variety of backgrounds, the high motivation and deep talent of the students and faculties, and the dynamic and exciting programs in often exceptional settings make for an incredible education for a very lucky and, relatively speaking, few students. Our schools are, in a word, transformational. As Headmaster Skip I am not sure whether the press about boarding Mattoon of Hotchkiss says, “The 24-hour-perschools as a result of all the preppie presiden- day, seven-day-per-week proposition provides tial candidates helps or not. As US News and a total life experience for kids which [makes] World Report noted, boarding schools pro- all the difference.” duced four of the leading candidates four years ago: Bush attended Andover, Steve Forbes was You and I know all of this. But boarding four miles away at Brooks School, Al Gore schools now have evidence that the Hollyspent his senior year at St. Alban’s in Wash- wood myths are, in a word, bunk. Two years ington, DC, and a decade earlier, across the ago, The Association for Boarding Schools Potomac in Virginia, John McCain graduated hired one of the leading independent research from Episcopal. The scenario does not look firms in America—the Arts and Science Group radically different for this upcoming election. of Baltimore—and asked it to conduct a deHoward Dean graduated from St. George’s tailed study to discover the actual strengths School. John Kerry, the likely Democratic can- and weaknesses of national boarding schools didate, attended St. Paul’s. There is much talk based on present students’ and graduates’ exagain about the “old boys’ network,” elitism, periences. The intent of this study was to dispel and family dynasties. the myths and reveal our weaknesses. As a result, Arts and Science conducted over 2,270 This reporting about our schools is easy, but interviews with high school students and adults decidedly outdated. Boarding schools are em- at different points in their lives. Interviewed by phatically and visibly not the elite bastions they telephone, they were asked about their experionce were. As Eric Widmer, Headmaster of ences in high school and their lives since. The Deerfield, notes, “[the old boys’ network has] total sample included approximately 1,000 given way to the new network that transcends students and alumni from boarding schools,

Fall 2003 / Winter 2004

1,100 from public schools, and 600 from in- A. Students at boarding schools have better dependent day and parochial schools. experiences in high school than do students of similar profiles in public or private day The research zeroed in on experiences, outschools; comes, and attitudes of these students in the senior year of high school, at college-plus (25- B. Students at boarding schools are better 26 year olds), at mid-career (38-39 year olds), prepared for college and attend more presand at late-career (58-59 year olds). The findtigious colleges and universities than do ings on boarding school student alumni at each students of similar profiles in public and life stage were compared with those of public private day schools; school students and alumni, along with those at independent day and parochial schools. C. Alumni of boarding schools appear to adArts and Science reported only those where vance more quickly in their careers and are a statistical difference at the 95% confidence more active philanthropically; level occurred.

D. Many of the prevailing negative stereotypes The critical element here is that the research concerning boarding schools are untrue: sought to isolate the effects of the boarding these schools are not the exclusive domain school experience by controlling for other facof wealthy Caucasians; students are not tors that might influence the experiences, out“sent away” to boarding schools because comes, or attitudes of students and alumni. they are problem children or products of Samples were drawn or results were weighted dysfunctional families; boarding schools are to match public and private day school popunot hotbeds of alcohol and drug use; and lations to boarding schools on distributions by socio-economic status (for example, self- E. Boarding school students are overwhelmreported family income while in high school) ingly satisfied with their boarding experiin groups roughly corresponding to 15%, the ence. next 30%, and the remaining 55% of American households. The study also took into ac- The research underscores what is central and count graduation rates, percentages earning critical to our schools: The experience of willbachelor degrees, and gender. ing and capable high school students—going away to school during this phase of their The major findings of these studies, which lives—is perhaps the most powerful education will be released nationally by The Association that a young man or woman can own. It is of Boarding Schools in the coming year, are not, in any Dickensian sense, being sent away. powerfully revelatory about what thousands It is, in fact, a gift of a lifetime. Generations of boarding school graduates have been saying of boarding school graduates say that if they for years. To wit: had the choice of spending their money by

The Thacher News

going to a great boarding school or going to a great college, they would inevitably choose the former because it came to them at a time in their lives when the opportunity to learn and grow was so critical.

The vast majority of boarding school alumni are exceptionally positive about their experience: Nine out of ten post-college and mid-career alumni, and eight in ten late-career alumni say they would go to a boarding school if they had a chance to do it over. Over twothirds of alumni say they would enroll their children in boarding schools. And, nearly all present boarding school students and graduates responded that being part of a motivated peer group and involved with an inspirational faculty made all the difference in their education. When asked to volunteer what the biggest benefits of boarding schools were, all graduates—young and old—responded “learning independence.”

What other school heads and I have been saying about boarding schools for years—and what so many of you “in the choir” already know—is on the mark: Our schools are second to none in what they can do for young men and women who want something more from their high school years. But do not just take my word for it. Keep your eyes peeled in the coming months for the results of this educational research on the American High School Experience. This news will have the skeptics—and all those interested in educational excellence—looking carefully at the magic that Thacher graduates have known firsthand for over a century. e

Play Campus Activities

The Night of January 16th Fall Play

Cast District Attorney Flint Sam Felton ’05 Defense Attorney Stevens Jamie Siegel ’04 Judge Heath Kaggie Orrick ’06 Clerk of the Court Sarah Chamberlain ’05 Bailiff Conner Schryver ’05 Karen Andre Cara Bonewitz ’04 John Graham Whitfield Arthur Kaneko ’05 Nancy Lee Faulkner Erika Satterwhite ’05 Larry “Guts” Regan Leland Franklin ’04 Magda Svenson Kaitlin Walter ’05 Sigurd Jungquist Ned Lederer ’05 Homer Van Fleet Jim Sligh ’04 Elmer Sweeney Coulter Woolf ’06 Roberta Van Rensselaer Clare Holstein ’04 Mrs. Hutchins Aubrey Wynn ’06 Miss Chandler Belle Bueti ’06 Dr. Kirkland Keely Walsh ’05 Matron Anna Reeser ’07 Court Officer Sarah Jackler ’04 Court Recorder Leslie Sligh ’07

by Jane D. McCarthy

A

Crew Director Technical Head Stage Manager Asst. Director Costumes Gaffer Lights Sound

Sanford C. Jensen Peter Gierke ’04 Kirsty Mark ’05 Kasi McLenaghan ’04 Michael Quintana ’04 Ian Strachan ’04 Brendan Keane ’05 Ian Boneysteele ’06

yn Rand’s first play, The Night of January 16th, was presented by Thacher’s Masquers in the fall. Played out in a courtroom scene, this comedy drama calls upon audience members to serve as jurors in deciding the fate of Karen Andre, the sexually indulgent, selfish, and power-hungry woman accused of murdering her longtime lover and idol, business tycoon, Bjorn Faulkner. The play evolves into a who-done-it moral mystery that debates selfishness against selflessness and the quest for greatness against the desire to be like everybody else. When the moral and ethical questions were answered during Thacher’s three presentations, two guilty verdicts and one not guilty were handed down.

Fall 2003 / Winter 2004

Weekend

Campus Activities

Family Weekend Rip-Roaring, Nonstop Fun

W

arm, cloudless skies greeted families as they arrived on campus for Family Weekend late in October. While the Cross Country Team ran well at the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational Race (boys placed third; girls placed fifth), the Girls’ JV Tennis Team battled archrival Cate on the Upper Courts. Students and their families met peer families and faculty members on the Forest Cooke Lawn for hors d’oeuvres. Once the fathers had finished barbecuing tri-tip and chicken, dinner was served to the hungry throngs on The Pergola.

The Dance Ensemble piece, “The Call,” featuring Clare Holstein ’04 and Michael Quintana ’04

When the final drumstick was consumed, families moved into the Auditorium for the Performing Arts Sampler that began with a whimsical video portrayal of the equestrian side of freshman life, including one young man falling into the manure bin; he was lucky enough to be cast in this role because his parents provided him with an “official mucking shirt.” The Masquers presented a scene from Ayn Rand’s first play The Night of January 16th that piqued the audience’s interest enough to watch the subsequent scenes in mid-­November. The Chamber Singers stomped and sang a traditional Zimbabwean welcoming song entitled “Chocholoza” and worked their way through a couple tunes before closing the show with “Die Nachtigall” sung in German.

The Chorus also sang in foreign tongues and finished with a song of hope for singers around the world entitled “I’ll Make the Difference.”

The Thacher Dance Ensemble performed “The Call,” a modern Afro-Brazilian-style dance set to musical excerpts from “Fluctuating Hemlines.” Pamela Lappen—Gallia Vickery’s sabbatical replacement— choreographed this piece to highlight Thacher’s earthy, natural beauty, equestrian heritage, and the community’s cohesiveness despite its diversity. The evening’s sweet grand finale was an extensive spread of desserts.

by Jane D. McCarthy

School’s new blue-grass ensemble) made their debut by playing and singing Nickel Creek’s “Run ’Round My Head.” Other highlights included Mr. Yoo’s traditional announcement of “Who are you?” wherein kids without visiting families are invited to join his family for some special activities that evening; a senior quotation; and various announcements for the weekend. Students and their families attended mini-classes to meet teachers and to hear what their children are learning this year.

Meanwhile, on The Pergola, Ken and Winnie Ma with their parents bought daughter Juliana ’05 books to enhance the library shelves while others bought logo-festooned gear for all types of weather and activities. The Parents’ Meeting featured James Steyer, author of The Other Parent…the Inside Story of the Media’s Effect on Our Children and founder of JP Kids and Children Now, organizations that focus on national advocacy and media for children.

Although Thacher students are not bombarded quite as frequently as James Steyer, PhD most teenagers with the materialism/sexual/violent images of today’s media, Steyer stressed that this is a detrimental trend in society; he urged parents to be involved

An energetic Assembly at the Outdoor Amphitheatre began Saturday’s activities.

The Ten Sycamores (the The Chamber Singers at Friday evening’s Performing Arts Sampler

The Thacher News

in media choices to temper this overarching shift of media’s focus.

After the final horse was bathed and sheltered, and the last family had bidden farewell to their favorite Toad and had driven down Thacher Road, we asked parents for their thoughts on the Weekend’s activities. A few snippets add texture to the descriptions above.

A mélange of activities—ranging from College and Auction Meetings to trap shoot and athletic events—filled out the afternoon. Most teams were victorious over their Condor League rivals, including the Varsity Football win over Villanova in front of many cheering spectators. Thacher’s food service provider, Bon Appetit, concocted an amazing spread for dinner while other families enjoyed the cuisine of nearby restaurants. The evening wrapped up with the traditional Open House at the Mulligans’.

The message at Sunday’s chapel service was given by Ruth Lasell, mother of Paul Bonewitz CdeP 2000, Chris CdeP 2001, and Cara ’04. Entitled “Letters from Thacher: Now and Then,” she shared excerpts from her family’s correspondence, beginning with letters home from her uncle Eldridge and father Sidney Lasell (both CdeP 1932) who bemoaned the trials of the Horse Program and pleaded for a parental visit “if it wasn’t too much trouble.”

These sentiments weren’t too dissimilar to complaints of mucking stalls and “being just too much to handle,” that Ruth’s children sent to her via email. Her advice: the format doesn’t matter as much as keeping the lines of communication strong between Thacher students and parents so that kids can keep a balanced perspective on the life-altering changes of a Thacher education.

“The weekend confirmed all of my impressions of Thacher as a remarkable institution that really offers young people a safe yet challenging place to mature and fully reach their intellectual and emotional potential.”

“We enjoyed thoroughly the Friday evening performances, and I am sure those parents who had children performing were very proud of their accomplishments…it is quite impressive.”

The Dixie Chips arriving at the Gymkhana Field for the Annual Riding Exhibition

“The [guest speaker] is a highlight of the weekend for me. Your selections have reflected horses circuitously down the Huntington both a consideration of topic relevant and Trail and onto the Gymkhana Field. Fresh- timely to the parent body, and attention to man riders showed off their newly attained quality…they have been dynamic, informative, equine skills by weaving around and through and entertaining.” each other in various formations at different gaits to various genres of music. Their drill “The food was teams—sporting such monikers as City Slickwonderful, the ers, Los Hula Cabritos (loosely translated interactions with as The Flapping Elbows), and Dixie Chips. staff, faculty, parThacher’s Gymkhana Team, which coments, and students petes against other high school equestrian all a pleasure, teams in the Western United States, held and that view a Washington Poles race; the winner by a from the chapel whisker was Deidre Herbert ’06 on Bones. stunning.”

Finally, seniors Sara Schneider and Catherine Whittinghill donned English riding garb and “I just loved the Sunday’s highlight—indeed the weekend’s demonstrated rail jumping while weaving riding! The kids highlight—was the Annual Riding Exhibition patterns, much as they do when competing Deirdre Herbert ’06 riding are ‘awesome.’” that began as the Color Guard led teams of in southland competitions. e Sal

Numeracy Puzzle M

ore readers responded to our last Nu- 1964), Michael Newkirk CdeP 1978, and meracy Puzzle than any other! To re- Bobby Kahn CdeP 1983. The essence of their fresh your memories, the circumstances solutions is: of Logical Deduction were: Statement A is TRUE because there are five A. There are five lettered statements in this lettered statements; puzzle.

Statement B is FALSE because “This is not a B. This is not a statement. statement.” is a statement; C. Only two of the statements are false.

Statement C is TRUE because it is one of the D. Only one of them is true. false statements; E. If you can solve this puzzle you are a very Statement D proves to be FALSE, since both logical person.

C and E are true.

Question: Is statement E true?

Members of the Class of 1986, however, will not be surprised to hear of Paul Bressie’s Among those with correct answers were these ­solution—which we generously counted as logical deducers: David Bills CdeP 1940, correct—in which he argues that the stateHarry Wyeth CdeP 1959, Kip Witter (CdeP ment of the problem itself is a “lettered state-

ment,” thus rendering statement A false. His logic proceeds perilously—but rather convincingly—from there. Leave it to Paul!

The New Puzzle “Match Your Wits Against This…”

With 12 (unbroken) matchsticks of equal length, create a closed polygon whose area is exactly 3 square matchsticks. (Matchsticks may meet only at their ends: no loose ends, please!)

Send your solution to Kurt Meyer in the Thacher Math Department via email at kmeyer@thacher.org, or via US mail at the School address. Good luck!

Fall 2003 / Winter 2004

Campus Activities

Sports Fall Sports

by Joy Sawyer-Mulligan

T

hacher students enjoyed a fall full of challenges on the fields and courts around Casa de Piedra.

Interest in volleyball spiked as the varsity team improved by literal leaps and bounds, while the JV team’s spirited play led to its winning the season’s Tony Dunn Sportsmanship Award. The Boys’ and Girls’ Cross country teams made great strides through the course of the fall en route to their Condor League Championships—the girls’ title emerging in the last few yards of the league finals when our runner overtook a Cate harrier just steps from the finish line. The Varsity Football team had a similar late surge to earn its second straight playoff berth by outplaying a top-ranked, previously undefeated Santa Clarita Christian in its final league game. In football’s sophomore season here at Thacher, we successfully added a full-fledged JV team that thrived. The Girls’ Tennis teams graced our courts with visions of real tenacity, perhaps best displayed one week in which the varsity team had two nail-biters. In the first, they tied a well-played match against athletic powerhouse Oaks Christian in sets, only to lose when the outcome came down to tallying games. But they reacted well to that tough loss by fighting just as hard two days later in a league match versus Laguna Blanca when, once again, the match was tied according to sets; but this time, the Thacher girls collected enough games to emerge victorious. These few moments merely scratch the surface of what was a wonderful season for TOAD athletes. Add to these, the rock climbers’ sun-drenched ascents up sheer cliffs, the kayakers’ paddling alongside dolphins in the Pacific, the dancers’ explorations of movement and choreography, the yoga group’s mixture of physical exertion and spiritual peace, and the Horse Program’s launch of another year of lifelong lessons, and it’s easy to see why we embrace our Afternoon Program as an intimate and invaluable part of the Thacher experience.

—Rich Mazzola, Director of Athletics

Condor League Championships—they set their sights on passing as many Cate runners as possible and emerged victorious in the meet by one point, thereby finishing second in the League.

Boys’ Cross Country Captain: Ian Strachan ‘04 Coach: Pierre Yoo

Thacher’s cohesive male harrier squad proved formidable, winding up with a 3-0 Condor League record and a 4-1 season record. (Training on Thacher’s uphill/downhill campus can’t hurt!)

The leggy lads took second place at the Brentwood Invitations, third place at the Mt. SAC Invitational in their heat (the largest cross-country meet in the world), and won their fourth consecutive Condor League Championship.

Girls’ Varsity Volleyball Captain: MacKenna Chase ‘04 Coach: Jason Bert

This team began training late in the summer, when several team members worked with Dr. Lian Lu, the former Chinese National Team Coach and Technical Director of the Federation of International Volleyball (FIVB).

They launched the season with a four-game victory streak including wins over Bishop Diego (a much bigger school) and Villanova Prep. A highlight was a match they ultimately lost (2729) against #1 ranked (in CIF) Laguna Blanca.

Girls’ Junior Varsity Volleyball Captains: Kirsty Mark ‘05 and CC Hayne ‘07 Coach: Raelyn Viti

Combining a spirit of good humor with a rise-to-thecompetition brand of keenness, this freshman-heavy team “created a great season for themselves,” according to their coach in which they expanded their skills and proved their versatility both on the court and off, as the freshmen managed the double-sport shuffle (horses and volleyball).

Girls’ Varsity Tennis Captain: Virginia Dawson ‘04 Coach: Stacy Margolin Potter

Girls’ Cross Country Captains: Bianca Kissel ‘04 and Annie O’Donnell ‘04 Coach: Theana Hancock

While one could certainly call this team “lean” (nine runners total), “We were mighty!” boasted their coach. The girls came in second to Cate in both season League meets, but when the heat was on—the

Recipients of the Tony Dunn Award The Thacher News

“At the start of the season,” Coach Potter recalls, “we qualified the girls as a ‘reloading’ team with three players who moved up from JV and two new students joined the ranks. Great spirit and optimism infused both practice and competition, as everyone tried virtually everything—singles, doubles, new doubles combinations.“ By season’s end, the team’s record was 2-4 in league and 3-10 overall.

Girls’ Junior Varsity Tennis Captain: Annie Strachan ‘05 Coach: Jane McCarthy

Qualifying as highlights in a season that ended in a 44 record were two sweet victories over Villanova and the almost-too-close–to-call match against Nordhoff that ended long after sunset. “The girls learned that every point does, in fact, count,” recounts Coach McCarthy, as the match came down to a 9-9 tie until individual games were tallied and Nordhoff emerged the winner.

Varsity Football Captains: James Dibblee ‘04, Graham Douds ’04, and Ward Sorrick ‘04 Coaches: Jeff Hooper and Eric McCarren

After a couple of heartbreakers—first to Mission Prep (San Luis Obispo) and then to Viewpoint (34-32, a field goal blocked in the game’s final seconds), solid victories ensued over LA Lutheran and Villanova (44-12). Coach Hooper reports, “The highlight of the regular season was a dramatic 17-14 win over undefeated, 4th-ranked Santa Clarita Christian. Although the Toads went to CIF playoffs, they were defeated in the first round on Catalina Island, against Avalon.

Junior Varsity Football Captains: Andrew Fair ‘06 and Alex Marlantes ‘06 Coach: Bill Rexford and Spencer Stevens

Highlights for the JV eight-man squad included beating Viewpoint 30-28 and a comeback after an initial loss to Villanova, 24 to 40 to earn a 38-22 victory.

The end of the season saw a decisive win against Viewpoint, 20-14. “The whole team played hard, with emotion and energy,” said Coach Rexford.

Climbing With faculty climbing instructors Brian Pidduck CdeP 1992 and Bo Manson setting the pace and the tone, this crew learned the ropes on the boulders and crags near campus and on the gym’s climbing wall. Various members traveled on weekends to Joshua Tree National Park and Horse Flats in the Angeles National Forest to practice their new moves.

Kayaking Coach: Kurt Supplee

Ten kayakers took full advantage of temperate pool water for skill work in addition to dry-land conditioning. On Wednesdays, they explored various Ventura County surf breaks, “searching for that elusive uncrowded surf,” in the words of Coach Supplee.

Longer trips included the Lower Kern River and a final trip was a river-to-ocean extravaganza on the Lower Kern for two days, then drove straight to the wilderness setting of Jalama State Beach, known for sparse crowds and big waves.

Dance Director: Pam Lappen (during Gallia Vickery’s sabbatical)

Students taking Dance as an afternoon activity received instruction in the fundamentals of movement and in ballet, modern and jazz technique, as well as in choreography and improvisation. On Family Weekend, Dance Ensemble performed a compelling modern, Afro-Brazilian piece entitled “The Call”; for the Holiday Concert, a collage piece, “Here to There,” spotlighted the talents of a selection of Dance Ensemble members.

Winter Sports

by Jane D. McCarthy

T

his winter our Athletic Program enjoyed successes of all kinds. The soccer fields and basketball courts were full of students having fun and working hard each afternoon and, when game days rolled around, each team experienced its fair share of glorious moments—from the boys’ varsity basketball team’s come-from-behind win over Cate in a packed gym to the girls’ JV soccer team’s season-ending victory over Villanova. The boys’ varsity soccer and girls’ varsity basketball teams successfully defended their Condor League Championships and, once again, both teams surged deep into the CIF championship playoffs. But the success that’s most telling of the true strength of Thacher athletics is the fact that our teams won or shared five of the eight Condor League Tony Dunn Sportsmanship Awards this season. By building their successes firmly upon Casa de Piedra’s cornerstones of Honor, Fairness, Kindness, and Truth this winter, our teams cinched Thacher’s fourth straight Condor League CIF Shake for Sportsmanship Award.

—Rich Mazzola, Director of Athletics

Boys’ Varsity Soccer Captain: Ward Sorrick ’04 Coach: Fred Coleman

In what was thought to be a “rebuilding” year, this team exceeded expectations by earning its fourth consecutive Condor League Championship, even against much larger schools including Nordhoff and Carpinteria. The team was ranked second going into the South Section of post-season play, but lost in round three; still the team came was one of the top eight, with an overall season record of 12-3.

As expected, Santa Clara came out fighting, but the defensive squad hit their stride and the game finally ended at 5-2. The team’s league record was 6-1-1.

Boys’ Third Soccer Captains: Chris Eaton ‘04 and David Moore ‘04 Coach: Eric McCarren

This team enjoyed great leadership since all but one player were juniors and seniors. The players improved dramatically during the season and earned the Condor League Championship title, with a record of 4-2-1.

Girls’ Varsity Soccer Captains: Kelly Percival ’04 and Julia Robinson ‘04 Coach: Kara Hooper

This team enjoyed some big wins over Cate (ranked third at the time), Villanova, and Santa Clarita Christian, which earned them a berth in the first round of CIF play against Desert Christian. Although they lost, they finished the game with a head shot moved forward from mid-field and headed in at the last second. Overall record was 5-5-3.

Girls’ Junior Varsity Basketball Captains: Katie Frykman ’04 and Elizabeth Jackson ‘04 Coach: Rich Mazzola

This is another team that donned cheesy eighties garb on non-game days that added to the fun of drills and practice. They learned a pre-game cheer from Love and Basketball that they adopted, and went on to win three of the next five games. Maybe there’s something to that cheer. Overall record was 3-11.

Boys’ Varsity Basketball Captains: Graham Dunn ’04 and Chris Willoughby ‘04 Coach: Jason Carney and Ted Holden

A highlight was beating Cate at home; down 10 points with six minutes to go, the captains shifted into high gear with Graham scoring seven points in 15 seconds and Chris throwing some clutch free throws at the buzzer to win: 54-50. Overall record was 5-10.

Girls’ Junior Varsity Soccer Captains: Jenny Tucker ‘04 and Kaitlin Walter ‘05 Coach: Cam Spaulding CdeP 1992

Although this squad suffered from a dirth of scoring opportunities, they played some fantastic soccer, characterized by unselfish play and varsity-level passing, leading to a season record of 2-5. Their hallmark, however, was the full regalia of colorful eighties motif practice outfits that added to the fun and being able to see all players as dusk descended.

Girls’ Varsity Basketball Captains: Whitney Livermore ’04 and Steffi Rauner ‘04 Captain: Emily Stenzel CdeP 1992 and Kurt Meyer

Boys’ Junior Varsity Basketball

This tenacious team began the season by winning the Fillmore Tournament, where Captain Steffi was named MVP. They then enjoyed an undefeated league season (6-0) to repeat their way into the CIF Southern Section (where they were the runner up team) and the State Tournament. Their teamwork, focused work ethic, and camaraderie were remarkable. And, in every stat category (except three-point shots) the team had a player in the top ten in the county. Overall record was 6-5.

Captains: Max Anderson ’05, Leland Franklin ’04, Toby Nathan ’05, and Jim Sligh ’04 Coach: Derick Perry CdeP 1983

The season’s lone victory did not do justice to the determination with which this team played. An extremely competitive team, they were in most every contest to the end. The best part of this team was the fun and esprit de corps. The captains kept the team in high spirits, and everyone learned a lot about basketball and teamwork even though a third of the team had not previously played organized basketball.

Overall record was 1-10.

Winter Outdoor Program Coach: Raelyn Viti

Seven girls and one fellow spent the winter exploring the great outdoors and building inner strength.

Between distance running, yoga, climbing both inside and out, this troupe learned they had more stamina and more agility than they thought possible. e

Boys’ Junior Varsity Soccer Captains: Andy Clark ‘04, Ned Lincoln ‘04, and Evan Werlin ‘04 Coach: Ben Farrell

The highlight of the season was a victory against Santa Clara’s varsity team. Even though the boys were pumped up, they were quickly down 0-2; they gradually chipped away until ahead 3-2 at the half.

Fall 2003 / Winter 2004

Musical

Campus Activities

The Music Man Winter Musical

Cast

Prof. Harold Hill Ben Babbott ’05 Marian Paroo Catherine Whittinghill ’04 Mrs. Paroo Sarah Jackler ’04 Winthrop Belle Bueti ’06 Eulalie Whitney Livermore ’04 Mayor Shinn Graham Douds ’04 Gracey Shinn Heather Back ’07 Marcellus T.J. Bermant ’05 Amaryllis Ariel Wang ’06 Tommy Ward Sorrick ’04 Zaneeta Emma Harvey ’07 Jacey Squires Andy Clark ’04 Weart Dunlop Taylor Medina ’04 Oliver Hix Mark Frykman ’07 Olin Britt Michael Yun ’06 Mrs. Squires Aubrey Wynn ’06 Pickalittle Ladies Claire Shaw ’07,

LanLan Jin ’07, Anna Reeser ’07,

and Kathy Shim ’06 Ethel Toffelmeier Isabel White ’06 Maud Caitlin Wyman ’06 Alma Alex Dotson ’07 Boy (Iowa Stubborn) Jenny Morrill ’06 Constable Locke Conner Schryver ’05 Charlie Cowell Arthur Kaneko ’05 Conductor Nick Hubbard ’07 Man (Iowa Stubborn) Jedidiah Harris ’07 Woman #1 Adri Ryberg ’06 Man #1 Lucy Bosche ’07 Man #2 Kelly Singco ’06 Man #3 Elizabeth Woolf-Willis ’07 Farmer’s Wife Keely Walsh ’05 Shipoopi Lady Josephine Chow ’05

T

hacher’s winter musical, The Music Man, featured a cast of several dozen, a band of 15, and plenty of stage crew hands in the final performance slated for the Lamb Auditorium. Some of the well-known tunes were “Wells Fargo Wagon,” “Being in Love,” and “Gary, Indiana”; high-stepping, high-kicking energetic dance routine were performed to the sounds of “Seventy-Six Trombones,” “Shipoopi,” and “Marian the Librarian.”

Band

falls for the music teacher, “Marian the Librarian,” who slowly works to transform him into a respectable citizen by curtain’s fall.

Sarah Yun ’07, Simon Wu ’07, Julia Oh ’06, Alex Min ’07, Richard Smith ’05, Morgan Brown ’06, Kaja Johnson ’06, Megan Henry, Chuck Warren, Bruce Peters, Greg Haggard, and four contract players Crew Director Sanford C. Jensen Musical Director Gregory T. Haggard Choreographer Pamela Lappen Technical Head Peter Gierke ’04 Stage Manager Kirsty Mark ’05 Stage Crew Erika Satterwhite ’05,

Ian Strachan ’04, Gabe Yette ’05,

and Ruth Sawyer ’06 Lights Sam Felton ’05 Sound Brendan Keane ’05

10 The Thacher News

by Jane D. McCarthy

The story takes place just before World War I, an era of US history marked by optimism, patriotism, and a strong sense of community— particularly in small towns of rural America.

The Music Man, a fast-talking traveling huckster—aka Harold Hill—arrives in River City, Iowa, ready to con innocent people into buying instruments and uniforms for a boys’ band he vows to organize, despite the fact he doesn’t know a trombone from a ham bone. His plans to skip town with the cash are foiled when he

In true Thacher style, some of the key actors are also key players on Thacher’s Varsity Girls’ Basketball and Boys’ Soccer Teams. They traded sneakers, cleats, and shorts for costumes, and dashed on stage to deftly play their parts, thereby taking full advantage of a Thacher education. See more at https://www.thacher.org/drama/­MusicMan/ index.html e

Weekend Campus Activities

Departmental Weekend Exploring the Santa Barbara Channel Area

T

hacher’s Science Department hosted this year’s Departmental Weekend with a jampacked lineup of activities for the Community to “Explore the Santa Barbara Channel Area,” through various seminars on campus and both land and ocean excursions. To set the stage, science classes diverted from their usual curriculum to study plate tectonics and marine mammals of the local environs. The first guest speaker was UCSB geology professor Tanya Atwater, who spoke about the formation of the Channel Islands, which, for many years were believed to be connected to the mainland.

Recent evidence suggests that the four northern-most islands may never have been attached to the North American continent. In fact, a triangular wedge of land, including Casa de Piedra, is believed to be riding up the coast on the Pacific Plate, having been torn off the continental shelf in the area around San Diego several million years ago.

Tidbits

O

W

ermed the largest musical chair game ever, Athletic Director Rich Mazzola corralled 60 students to participate in a fundraiser for a local teacher stricken with cancer. At Mira Monte Elementary School, Thacher Toads competed with over 500 other locals for the last standing chair. Junior Arthur Kaneko won the grand prize of $250 and immediately handed the cash to the ailing teacher, thereby causing an audible gasp from the crowd and prompting the other two winners to donate their winnings as well.

to visiting tidepools at the Harbor Seal Preserve and the UCSB Marine Institute; from riding through historic Santa Barbara and along it’s coastline in amphibious vehicles to viewing the Monarch Butterfly trees. Extended trips went whale watching and exploring Anacapa and Santa Cruz Islands. Several trips that would have rounded out the offerings were cancelled due to the pervasive rainstorms: Plein Aire painting at the Goleta Slough and camping on the beach.

On Friday evening, students chose from three slide shows to learn more about the profusion of marine diversity of the Islands (Scott Roush of Truth Aquatics), the ecological importance of caring for the Islands (Ryan M. Meyer CdeP 1998 of Earth Institute), and how humans have impacted the coastline (Susie Bartz of the South Coast Watershed Project).

This weekend was a memorable celebration of nature’s bounty in our own backyard as Half-day land trips ran the gamut of touring well as a delightful break from our winter the National Weather Service Research Station routine. e

ne senior has advanced through the National Merit Scholarship Program to the Finalist level. Whitney McNear Livermore e know spring is here since the same should hear soon if she will receive a scholGreat Horned Owl returned for the fifth arship that will support her studies when she time to roost on a ledge high in the tall palm matriculates to Williams College. tree just outside the Hills Dining Hall. The brood of three fluffy hatchlings is being carefully nurtured by their protective mother, and will soon take their first forays into flight. This family may soon have neighbors as the maintenance crew recently installed several wooden owl houses around campus that were constructed by students and faculty members in hopes of catching more glimpses of these raptors.

T

by Jane D. McCarthy

The Thacher School’s already outstanding horsemanship program,” states Richard.

Michael Mulligan adds: “We are excited to have Richard Winters at The Thacher School.

Richard’s horsemanship clinics are, in our long experience, some of the very best that are offered. Richard will bring his immense horseand people-savvy skills to our students and faculty, and he will also now be able to use Thacher’s outstanding location and facilities to host his horsemanship clinics for the public, business, and other organizations.” You can learn more about Richard and his family at www.wintersranch.com.

2002-2003 Annual Report Corrections Thacher Fellow Richard Winters with Doll

H

orseman and Clinician Richard Winters— along with his wife Cheryl and children Joseph and Sarah—has joined the Thacher family as a Thacher Fellow. For over 20 years, Richard has been helping people with their horses and helping horses with their people. He now brings that expertise to Thacher’s Horse Program. “We are pleased and excited about being a part of

• The loyal and dedicated Class of 1942 had 100% participation. Special thanks to class representative Brooke E. Sawyer, Jr. • Thacher is grateful for the creation of The Peter Colt Goodwin Memorial Scholarship Fund in 2003.

• Thomas E. Walden CdeP 1961’s name was misspelled.

Fall 2003 / Winter 2004 11

The Campaign for Thacher

Charles B. Beck Marcus H. Dall

John S. Huyler

T

he

Sherman Day Thacher

Jesse W. Kahle

Heart of the School

by Sara Sackner

I

f asked about the highlights of their Thacher experience, alums from 1928 to 2003 would agree upon several: their love or scorn for their horse (and its name), making their best friends in the world, the aroma of orange blossoms and sage, the Pink Moment caught by the Topa Topa bluffs, and that one teacher who made all the difference in the classroom, on the playing field, in the dorm, or on the trail. These pages feature many treasured teachers; there are, of course, many more who have inspired honor, kindness, fairness, and truth. From Sherman Day Thacher’s initial (and serendipitous) foray into education, on through the decades that followed, the faculty has been the heart of Thacher. Today, the School continues to be blessed with dedicated teachers, many of whom have made the School their home for 25 years or more: Marvin Shagam, Peter Robinson, Buck Wales, Phyllis and David Johnston, Roger Klausler, and Chuck Warren. Like the senior faculty, the newer members of the community infuse the campus with their energy, talents, and unique passions.

David C. Twichell CdeP 1936 Willard G. Wyman, Jr.

Morgan Barnes

Recruiting and retaining this fine faculty require that salaries be commensurate with those of peer schools. Such is not the case here at Thacher. Also, faculty and their families best serve the community when they live on campus; currently, there is not enough housing, and many residences are in poor condition or do not accommodate the larger families of the younger teachers.

To date, $38 million has been raised for The Campaign for Thacher, and support for faculty is one of the cornerstones of the Campaign. New and renovated on-campus housing is a priority. Significant increases to the Endowment for Faculty ensure that Thacher will continue to have dynamic teachers who will inspire future generations of Toads to do the best they can do til the best they can do is all done.

Denise C. Miller

12 The Thacher News

Margaret Hunt

Bonnie Moon Robinson

William L. Thacher

Robert C. Miller J.B. Close

Owen E. MacBride William S. McCaskey CdeP 1927

Robert E. Chesley CdeP 1950 Anson S. Thacher CdeP 1926

Marcia D. Edwards C. Michael Ehrhardt

John “Van” Griggs Donald N. McDougall

Betty Saunders Gui Marel Ignon

Newton K. Chase

David B. Koth

Frederick C. Twichell

Frederick S. Lamb CdeP 1940

Macdonald Halsey Edward J. O’Connell David S. Lavender

Lucy M. Buell Edgar L. Sanford, Jr.

Forest H. Cooke

Fall 2003 / Winter 2004 13

�

he response was overwhelming to the question posed to all alumni: Do you teach?

From around the world came missives from teachers of law and medical students to toddlers; from instructors of art and language acquisition to mathematics and science; from educators in the Peace Corps and armed forces to cooking schools and inner-city schools; and from 40-year veterans of the classroom to neophytes who are still struggling to determine what works and what doesn’t.

Regardless of the circumstances, several refrains were common: • the joy of being the catalyst for students’ discovery and learning; • the value of small classes in fostering interpersonal relationships between students and teachers; • the importance of expanding relationships beyond the classroom in order to know each other on more than an academic level; and • the creative techniques employed to pique students’ interest and expand their perceived abilities in a supportive, comfortable environment.

Perhaps the most inspirational and heartwarming part of this project was reading from so many alumni who chose their profession because of their time at Thacher and the faculty members who impacted their lives so fully. Many wrote of incorporating techniques they recall from their Thacher days into their current pedagogical ways. Beyond alumni sharing those techniques in their profiles, Thacher faculty members from all disciplines impart the philosophy and options of current class offerings, and our Library Director demonstrates how the library has evolved to ride the wave of the information deluge and to remain a vital component of a Thacher education.

14 The Thacher News

Creative Pedagogy

Current Practices Imaginative Offerings in Six Disciplines

Balancing Historical an independent entity. We help students make connections between the US and World HisPerspectives

Weekly Thoughts out of the Box

David B. Johnston

Elissa M. Thorn

M

ost American secondary schools offer a World History class, recognizing the value and importance of introducing students to the broad sweep of the human experience that the course title suggests. The daunting task is determining the breadth and depth of study and analysis of the world’s many peoples and cultures to avoid superficiality, while offering the appropriate mix of political, social, economic, and cultural aspects. Achieving the ideal balance is a fundamental challenge and goal of teachers planning courses regardless of their discipline, but “World History” presents even greater challenges to explore what it’s all about. What follows is a brief overview of the evolution of our Departmental thinking during the past quarter century and the resultant courses and sequence.

During the seventies and well into the eighties we offered European History, either Modern or Ancient, rather than World History. Non-Western History was relegated to occasional senior electives, depending on the time and interests of various instructors. Our first attempt to move from European to World History was our most visionary and, unfortunately, least successful: we developed a two-year World History course that integrated US History. During their sophomore year, students studied ancient civilizations—east and west—up to the Age of the French Revolution and the colonial and revolutionary periods of US History. As juniors, the study shifted to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in what we called “The United States in Global Perspective.” Teachers were excited about analyzing US History not as a distinct phenomenon, but as just one piece of the whole human puzzle.

The vast majority of students, however, found it too ambitious, with far too much going on to keep straight. In the abstract, this was a valid idea; in practice, it proved impossibly unwieldy.

Furthermore, the aim of covering all societies, throughout all history, in two years, was simply unachievable.

In the mid-nineties, we confronted the central dilemma of making World History a manageable course by embarking on a curriculum that, with nearly annual refinements, has continued basically in place. First, US History reverted to

tory as a whole, but it is important for us to cover it thoroughly, on its own and in its own right. Second, recognizing that our sophomore World History could succeed only if we made some difficult choices and limited the breadth of our scope, we determined that we would study only Modern World History. Furthermore, to achieve what we hoped would be the most appropriate balance between “the west and the rest,” we devoted the first two-thirds of the year to the study of modern Europe, and during the final third of the year presented a series of non-western electives from which students could choose. Over the years, these have expanded to include the modern histories of China, Latin America, South Africa, Japan, and the Middle-East. Our assumption has been that as both Americans and contemporaries, the study of modern Europe’s dynamic history is most essential, but it is important to introduce students to the study of the modern experience of at least one non-western society and to expose them to some of the dilemmas, challenges, and accomplishments such nonwesterners have experienced. Third, over the past few years, the history requirement has expanded from two to two-and-one-half years; the second half of ninth grade year formerly required geography, which has been replaced by the first semester of World History. This year’s sophomores are initial guinea pigs with their study of the European segment of World History for a full year, from January through December of the ninth-tenth grade year, and the non-western segment has been expanded to a full semester, as 10th graders conclude the sequence with the study of the history of two successive non-western societies. We believe our World History course offers a distinctive, appropriate mix of western and non-western history and, for the moment at least, we are comfortable with it.

O

ne of my favorite college physics professors, Bruce Thomas, required five weekly mini-essays that he called “thoughts.” Each “thought” was supposed to document our out-of-class musings on a topic we were currently covering in class. At the time, I groused and groaned along with everyone else, but in truth I really appreciated the excuse to make time for digging a little deeper into the most intriguing topics. I also found that using “thoughts” to journal my struggles with tougher concepts really helped me to clarify my questions and see relationships among diverse topics. So, when I started teaching, I decided to find a way to incorporate Bruce’s “thoughts” into my own classes.

In my version of “thoughts,” two essays are due every Monday. One essay must be on an assigned topic, revealed on Tuesday of the week before it is due and usually involving an extension of a concept we have been studying recently. The other essay topic can be anything a student wishes to think about, as long as it relates to physics in some way. Thoughts can take many different forms: they can consist of designing and carrying out an experiment (and then writing about it), looking up information on the Internet or in the library (which usually generates even more questions!), or they may consist of a student’s own intellectual efforts to analyze a situation and come up with a logical explanation by thinking things through on their own. Since I grade thoughts based on how much contemplation and/or creativity is involved (and expressed!) rather than on whether the correct answer is achieved, students are free to explore any topic they Through these various changes, our mission wish without worrying about being wrong or remains, broadly, twofold: first, regardless of getting in over their head. the content, we hope to teach the essential reading, analyzing, and writing skills needed Examples of assigned topics include: Which for success in the study of history; and second, works better for mixing a powder into a liquid, we aim to prepare our students to live happily a fork or a spoon, and why? Light and sound and productively in the world they will inherit. are both waves, and you can hear sounds from With the foundation in World History, western around the corner of a building, yet you can’t and non-western, a traditional survey of US see around the same corner. Explain!

History, and a variety of specialized electives Why are some parachutes round and for upper class students, we hope we are mov- others square, and why do some ing toward accomplishing that mission. have a hole in the middle?

Fall 2003 / Winter 2004 15

Examples of student-chosen topics include: Where does wind come from? How do dams produce electricity? Why does a horse need to be on the inside lead for a tight turn?

In fact, rather than dash through a list of “important” films, students focus during their nine weeks on just two literary works and their film cousins. “We’ve designed the class to allow kids to appreciate that the analytical tools they’ve sharpened in a variety of disciplines during their years at Thacher can—and should—be applied to the artistic medium of their time,” says J.B. By scrutinizing, say, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (itself an adaptation) for such elements as language, dramatic structure, and character evolution, then moving to Baz Luhrmann’s screenplay, and, finally, parsing various critical scenes of the 1997 film, students learn to locate equivalencies that connect literature with cinema, to separate the faithful adaptation from the unfaithful, and to notice new elements on even a fifth or sixth viewing of the same four minutes of film.

I feel that these thoughts serve several important purposes. They certainly help students become more aware of physics in the world around them, from everyday phenomena to cutting-edge physics research. Thoughts also provide practice in writing, time management (since students need to budget time for thoughts throughout the week), and library/Internet research skills. They encourage students to try out new ideas and to develop and test their own theories, even to carry out hands-on experiments of their own design. Overall, one of my greatest hopes for thoughts is that they would foster in my students a confidence in their own ability to find the answers to anything they decide they want to know.

“Teaming up with an ‘outside professional’ who is thoroughly intellectual but also nonAll year, my students grouse and groan about academic has been revitalizing for me,” Joy weekly thoughts, just like I did in Bruce’s says. “As a screenwriter, J.B. naturally views classes. They run out of ideas, they worry that the movies we’re studying through the parthey won’t be able to understand the topic ticular lens of his craft, and his observations they want to investigate, they panic about are consistently enlightening. And for both getting their thoughts done on top of all their of us, joining with students to make sense of other work. They grimace when I say “Do contemporary films that speak to them—well, a thought!” instead of answering when they that’s pure pleasure, and a great motivator for ask me to explain something they’ve noticed getting up every day for class.” about cars or the night sky or how horses move. But at the end of vacations, returning In the end, there’s no teacher’s desk at all—just students often seek me out to say excitedly, a circle of critics enjoying the analytical process “Miss Thorn, you’ve ruined my life! I keep in the flickering light of frames going by. finding thoughts to do!” So then I know that at the very least I have succeeded in getting them Nurturing Creative into the habit of noticing the world around them and wondering how it all works.

Instinct Sanford C. Jensen

Cell(uloid) Lit Joy Sawyer-Mulligan and J.B. White

I

A

great joy of each new school year is seeing the faces of freshmen as they cautiously enter the Auditorium for their first Introduction to Drama class. Unfamiliar with the School and each other, they learn the life story of each student in just 60 seconds. After following each other doing silly walks, they coalesce their names and preposterous gestures as a means of learning names, thereby performing before each other for the first time. Not a place for the timid or withdrawn, they shed inhibitions and peel away the ever-present teenage self-consciousness.

We begin team building, trust ourselves to be silly, take chances, make mistakes, laugh, and build an ensemble where we will be unafraid to say or do wild and crazy things while contributing to a future project.

t’s a teaching collaborative born out of friendship and a love of vocal music: screenwriter and Thacher father J.B. White and English Department member Joy Sawyer-Mulligan first began yammering about the links between literature and film and about the adaptation process years ago in their weekly carpool to and from the Ojai Camerata, a local choral group in which they both sing. When the chance came to create a spring quarter English seminar for seniors, the two were ready to put into action what they’d already plotted out: a course in film adaptation. Serendipitously, Room C— one of the School’s oldest classrooms—had just been decked out with the kind of new This course is a fourth of Thacher’s unique electronic equipment that would make this four-quarter Introduction to the Arts proparticular course possible. gram, where freshmen rotate in groups of 12-15 through four disciplines: Drama (film, What transpires in that room during theatre, and radio), Music (history and apApril and May is not your run-of- preciation), Studio or 2D Art (drawing and the-mill Film 101 survey course. painting), and 3-D Art (wood, ceramics, and 16 The Thacher News

3D media). These classes help students clarify the relationship of arts to other traditional academic disciplines and stress the importance of creativity and personal expression.

In the Introduction to Drama, the chemistry and temperament of each class varies wildly and requires working from the inside out rather than by imposing a project on a class.

Although challenging, it is profoundly rewarding to produce radio plays, satirical skits, oneact plays, music videos, and short films, the latter two being the media of choice for this generation. They think visually and see endless possibilities in describing scenes in the movie’s context; nothing is too big or impossible to create. For instance: In a short film called “Glorious Spring,” the music from the “Bunny Hop” helped identify a strange hopping affliction on campus where staff, faculty, and students suddenly hop like a bunny—or maybe a Toad? The Health Center fills with Toad-like, involuntary muscle twitching students while administrators, Michael Mulligan and Pat Wing, admit their increasing concern over this growing epidemic.

Or this year’s “Fabulous Freshmen Volume 3”: A movie about cowboys suddenly segues into a group Cowboy Therapy session, with a work glove as a facilitating device to bring out the traditionally staid and quiet wrangler.

Last year’s Radio Drama—inspired by our physics instructor Elissa Thorn—merged Shakespeare, Greek Mythology, and Einstein’s theories of relativity, to produce “Einstein’s Dream,” the story of Romeo, Romulus, and Juliet that included star-crossed lovers, dueling twin brothers, and Romeo banished to travel the universe at near the speed of light.

I see Art as the articulation of the human spirit that fills us with visceral feelings of human emotion that words struggle to express. Senses are touched inexplicably when watching the movement of a dancer’s hand or hearing the chord of a choir, touching our hearts, moving us to a tear or a smile. This innate human experience binds us. If art has a responsibility to serve as a mirror of society, reflecting our aspirations, our charms and tragic flaws, it must be nurtured, encouraged, exercised, and realized. The creative mind—the quick and agile intellect, brimming with imaginative and creative curiosity—serves us individually and collectively as a community, academically, athletically, and artistically. Thacher’s Art program involves all students and integrates the School’s philosophy not to segregate but to integrate Art, Athletics and Academics and to infuse them throughout our daily routine.

Students move from championship sporting competition to the stage—sometimes within minutes—creating anxious moments for Coach and Stage Director, but creating a cohesive campus whereby students don’t have to choose between sports and theatre, music or riding, painting or lacrosse, thereby eliminating tribal

instincts and placing values on an integrated systems of communication that can lead us to education. new experiences and understanding, not only of the culture and language being studied, but Performing Arts is a collaborative art form, in also of our own. which good, meaningful work is dependent on creative input from the whole. It can become Trying to simulate “total language immersion” the best team sport; individual expression in the classroom presents many challenges, thriving on the canvas of collective creative vi- both to the instructor and to the student sion. Thacher endeavors to bring out the best and, despite our best efforts, it’s almost a in all of us so that as we prepare young lives misnomer to call it “immersion.” Consider for a greater purpose, they will also learn to the following: In any given academic year fulfill their own basic needs with an intuitive there are approximately 150 school days; from and instinctive human understanding that will this figure we can extrapolate that any course replenish their lives with meaning and merit. which meets five times a week represents 112 classroom hours a year. If you then figure that See Performing Arts examples at https://www. each of us has roughly 14 wakeful hours in a thacher.org/video/thacherDrama.html day, the typical Thacher student spends the equivalent of only 8 days in the entire school year (!) immersed in her chosen language Holistic Language (probably the single most powerful statistic Learning in favor of urging truly ambitious language students to enroll in School Year Abroad). Yet Katherine V. Halsey the ease and fluidity with which our uppervery year the same level students speak, read, and write prove shock registers on the beyond any doubt the efficacy of the method. young, eager faces of That being said, we language teachers have first-year students at the opening of school: no time to waste!

E

No English allowed in language class?! How can that be?! We’ll never get it! How can anyone expect us to learn a new language without relying on our mother tongue for reference and translation?

Almost 10 years ago, Thacher adopted the French in Action and Destinos programs for use in our introductory French and Spanish classes. Like its Spanish counterpart, French in Action is a video-based curriculum whose stated objective is: “total language immersion—the presentation of French language and culture in a way that stimulates the experience of actually being in France. French in Action combines structure and immersion. It allows students to achieve communicative proficiency by hearing and seeing real people of various ages and diverse backgrounds speaking French in true to life situations. It acquaints them with linguistic distinctions appropriate to diverse social exchanges. Above all, it makes them aware that the acquisition of language does not merely entail learning grammatical structures but depends on a complex system of verbal and non-verbal communication, gestures, looks, attitudes, behavior, intonation, and cultural conventions and assumptions. Total language teaching is holistic rather than atomistic, referential rather than linguistic, attaching cultural reference to the use of words, stressing the way in which a word’s meaning depends on the context in which it is used.” (French in Action, Instructor’s Guide I, p. viii)

Here at Thacher, every French and Spanish language student knows that crossing the threshold of the classroom means forfeiting the use of English for the duration of the period. For these novices, there is no question that that one step through the door in the first weeks of school demands a proverbial leap of faith!

Although initially terrifying to most aspiring polyglots, the so-called “direct method” of instruction soon wins the kids over as they see how quickly they acquire vocabulary and rudimentary grammatical skills in their adopted tongue. They get so excited, in fact, that often even the very beginners start greeting us outside of the classroom, whenever and wherever they may see us, in French or in Spanish, trying out new vocabulary and phrases, spontaneously mimicking the best of what we do in class together. One student recently returned from vacation and reported to his teacher that: “I kept speaking Spanish over the break without even realizing it! I was driving everyone crazy!” What more could a language teacher ask for?

Navigating the Mathematics Classroom

My students have taught me that learning mathematics is largely an investigative experience. Great new ideas unfold best in an algebra class, say, when the group of us working together have the sense that we’re on an exploration. As discoverers of new worlds—of ideas and relationships—students are able to feel that they are charting their own course.

Our destinations, some of them remote islands, others major ports-of-call, are determined by the circumstances of the crew not just the pressures of a curriculum.

To move through the study of mathematics this way requires that the “Master and Commander” be confident of each student’s ability to contribute to and shape the experience.

This engagement of all students is best accomplished through a continuous interrogatory process. Questions must be phrased so that students are encouraged to reveal what they are discovering—to express what they believe to be true. This dialog determines the route we take to the next landing point, and the crew becomes invested in the journey—not just the destination.

One of the benefits of this frame of mind is that new vistas create new energy and enthusiasm. Any given topic will bring its own freshness, whether it is a light sea breeze one year, or an accommodating tail wind or stormy channel crossing the next. These effects are not predictable, nor should they be. As fellow traveler, the teacher can be as wide-eyed about the next day’s work as he very much hopes that the students are, and all benefit as a result.

The notion of teacher being student can be taken quite literally—and to great effect: When the teacher takes the role of being one of his own students, he discovers “new” results for the “first“ time. In anticipation of an approaching shoreline, his surprise, his awe, his appreciation of a vast sandy beach or dramatic sea cliff—no matter how familiar—is not just a charade. These landing points are like intellectual hamlets to which we return for the comfort, security, and satisfaction they provide. With each revisit, they serve as deeper buttresses for the suspension of our ideas across wider spans. Expressing this for students helps them to create their own sense of the intellectual value of mathematical thinking.

And acquiring the mind-set of student helps me to relinquish control of the flow of information in the classroom. It causes students to see them’ve always felt the best selves as answer-givers as well as questioners. way to be a student is They write the theorems and I take notes. We to teach. I have been teaching mathematics reach some remarkable destinations, and every Exclusive use of the target language in the for 30 years and my students are still giving one of the journeys is useful. classroom, more than any other component me new insights. I have so much more to be of our teaching, helps to convey to students taught! My teachers are young and old, male Sure as I am about these matters, I at all levels of study that other languages are and female, wise and naïve, reflective and im- continue to seek new ways to negotiate not simply translations of English; rather, they pulsive: I learn from every one of them, and the rockiest of shoals; my teachers have a long way to go! e are complex, culturally influenced linguistic their lessons are deep and fundamental.

Kurt R. Meyer

I

Fall 2003 / Winter 2004 17

Creative Pedagogy

Current Practices The Library: Relevant or Relic?

D

espite vast changes in how and why information is available to individuals, the basic purpose and the deep value of a library to students and faculty at Thacher is unchanged and is being preserved.

in this library, so the financial health of this library is assured; however, what happens inside the library and how the library is used to serve students can’t be assured and must be examined regularly to ensure relevance.

Twelve years ago the nearly desperate buzz in the library world was “What will become of libraries? Books? Librarians themselves?”

The Internet was no longer the purview of a few game-players or Defense Department staff members. At Thacher we heard these questions from a few staff, some visiting admission candidate families, and the occasional student.

What good is a library?

The days when any library program can rest on its laurels—and librarians can feel assured that users appreciate a library’s inherent value—are long gone. True, most of the funding for The Thacher School library comes from endowed fund income and annual gifts from generous and loving alums who fondly remember learning (and sometimes sleeping) and dreaming

Although stereotypes persist, the world of librarians is dynamic. Even more important, the value of the library persists throughout these changes, despite advances that allow individuals to research, explore, and question sources far more fully and independently than ever before, whether in their own offices, homes, dorm rooms, or classrooms. Whereas corporate libraries provide thorough and efficient answers for employees from among seemingly endless worldwide resources quickly, public libraries play a crucial role in democracy by providing services and resources to all. Most university libraries strive to provide a vast aggregate of resources, and many are open nearly 24 hours a day to provide access to students and faculty.

by Elizabeth A. Bowman

difference between papyrus, vellum, linen, and wood pulp paper as we have done for Art History classes. In fact, since Thacher has a fine print collection, dating back to the early 1500s, a recent chemistry class conducted experiments on a variety of books by testing the pH of the paper of books from five different centuries and learning for themselves.

At the other end of the historical spectrum, the Thacher library has an enviable collection of the best of new resources. Shelves contain 26,000 volumes, hundreds of phonograph records, CDs, 125 periodicals, topographic maps, videos, and DVDs. Online, at the library’s webpage (see below), students and faculty have access to a wide variety of databases and resources, including periodical, art, music and biographical indexes, legal and legislative information, and more. Examine the page and search our catalog for yourself at Academic Services on Thacher’s website: www.thacher.org.

School libraries serve and extend classroom learning. The collection of resources support the curriculum of the school, and the instruction facilitates learning within the curriculum, but they also must attempt to prepare students for library use in their future. Research has shown that students who have strong library programs achieve at higher levels.

What’s in a library?

No school librarian wants to be merely a custodian of a repository, a minder of things (which really shouldn’t be touched or used).

This protective role, in an inactive place, was abandoned long ago. School librarians know that outmoded models would have users regard the library as a museum and its contents relics of the past, a place to be visited but not used. School libraries today are dynamic, active, and, yes, even noisy.

Charles Nordhoff’s book, California: for Health, Pleasure, and Residence, was first published in 1872. Illustrated with fine wood engravings, it was very popular and considered one of the best California guides of its day. Thacher’s copy is from 1873.

18 The Thacher News

On the other hand, some libraries house truly beautiful things, as does Thacher’s. It’s our privilege and responsibility as custodians of valuable materials that are used to teach the development of printing and publishing, to provide primary source material for history courses, and to encourage an appreciation of the history of books. There’s no replacement for the “real thing” when demonstrating the

The library web page provides access to databases, reference materials, and ideas for answering information needs.

Critical to research at the higher levels is access to interlibrary loans that connect to most of the world’s libraries, thereby extending our collection across time and geography.

What do we teach?

The concept of librarians being teachers is foreign to those who haven’t experienced an active, vital library in their own life. School librarians consider themselves teachers and the library another classroom for students these days. At Thacher, librarians conduct formal classes in many levels of research skills, such

as searching strategies, discriminating between sources, and locating relevant materials. We even use the archival collection and teach students about the history of the School and their part in the continuing history of Thacher.

ing relatively little, even considering full-text initiatives like Project Gutenberg, which could be considered “old.” It could be decades—but most likely never—before the Internet comes close to replacing the contents of libraries.

to improve the program for our students. The classroom in the library will be fitted for multimedia tools and projection so that a wide variety of instruction can be done, whenever needed.

Keeping the library comfortable and welcoming is nearly as important as keeping its contents In a less formal way, working one-on-one with Students at Thacher are taught that one doesn’t up-to-date; we will continue to address lighting students and faculty, librarians foster a love of “search the Internet,” but rather searches and furnishing needs to sustain good use. reading, books, images, ideas, and freedom of within the Internet, depending on the browser expression. In a corporate or public library, a employed. Try the same search in different The reference collection will diminish in value search engines and you will experi- as online reference sources continue to improve ence this for yourself. Understand- and become more affordable, and the ”refering why some websites appear at ence room,” as we know it, will shrink, as will the top of the list of results is key to our paper copies of magazines. On the other making choices among the results hand, the archives, with its rich collection of each search offers. maps, letters, objects, blueprints, photographs, athletic uniforms, saddles, will need to grow, Is the book dead? to provide room for the best quality preservation and space for users. We will digitize those Even with Internet access so wide- things that shouldn’t be touched, but that need spread, books are checked out at to be used: student newspapers, most of the Thacher at a high level, over 2000 documents detailing the School’s history, books per year. There is still satisfaction, in disrepair. New formats for music, voice, efficiency, even comfort, in carrying video, and text will become available and we an armload of books out of a library. will test them and pick the best. We will inEyestrain and headache from long vestigate which “e-books” make sense for our periods reading online, differences students (currently, most electronic books are in perception between paper and made for the public library market). screen, and strong habits will keep books in their current paper version In the future, the computer screens and shelves For sophomores conducting world history research, library director Elizabeth Bowman demonstrates the sophisticated essential for a long time to come. will contain materials we couldn’t have Images found online are convenient, imagined in the recent past, ready for student searching techniques. but they don’t match the resolution learning. To sustain the relevance of the library librarian may provide materials for a patron; of those found in a book. And there’s the less program, we will need to build the library staff in a school library, we lead patrons to informa- quantifiable: you can’t feel or smell a com- to help students make use of the vast amount tion, observe their use of the materials, and try puter screen, or see to help them evaluate the whole process after- the flower that was ward. In the latter exercise, we teach and foster pressed between critical thinking skills to help students deter- pages five and six mine what they need, how to make choices of a book of love among myriad sources of answers, and reflect poetry (a recent on what they’ve done. discovery by one of our volunteers).

What good is a librarian?

Some books, like The “high touch” aspect of the “high tech” the telephone book, library is critical to the success of research; should die! Out-ofthe story behind the story and the successful date as soon as it search from minimal (or erroneous) informa- is printed, a teletion are examples of benefits librarians offer phone directory that can’t be automated. Staying current with could easily be part new resources has become a greater part of of the technology a librarian’s job and is essential so that users of your telephone. don’t flounder in their own personal “informa- Textbooks, too, tion explosion.” Maintaining the collection— are a natural aponline and in print—takes a great deal of time plication of e-texts; and effort. Even with great parent and student students could have volunteers, the work of a library is never done. access to updated Year-round management is required to provide information, in a We recently restored the lighting in the oldest part of the library, to look more the resources requisite of a top-notch school. science text for ex- like the appearance of the room in 1928 when it opened. ample, as new data of new (and old) resources, to provide that Why don’t we just use the Internet? becomes available during their course. critical high touch to our community of users, and to be ready for every possibility to teach.

Although over one billion web pages fill the What’s in the future for the Thacher library?

Thacher’s mission to build life-long Internet, only about 8% of scholarly journals are on the Web, which doesn’t include images, Working in this ever-changing world of librar- learners has a home at the “heart charts, and graphs. The Internet has thereby ies, it’s almost presumptuous to guess the future of the school,” otherwise known earned the moniker “wide but shallow,” hav- of a library. Yet, there are endless possibilities as the library. e Fall 2003 / Winter 2004 19

Creative Pedagogy

Peter F. Henze CdeP 1957 Teaching in Non-Traditional Settings

B

eing “well-taught” inspired me to a lifetime of sharing knowledge and continuing to learn. The excitement of having great teachers began my freshman year at Thacher upon realizing that the nuns who “taught” us during eight interminable years in Pasadena schools, did not touch the teaching standards for our small class in 1954 at Thacher. The standards and teaching of Thacher notables such as David Lavender, Anson Thacher, Keith Vosberg, and Jesse Kahle inspired me to teach as I was taught, trying to always remember the positive spirit of my mentors, their sense of humor, and their ability to help the student look at knowledge of a subject like viewing all sides of a hologram rather than one-dimensional words or writing. At Stanford, I was privileged to learn from a favorite writer, Wallace Stegner, who shared wisdom and knowledge, both in the classroom and at his home, just like at Thacher.

Canine Companions for Independence was in a wheelchair, fumbling with the leash of my understanding golden retriever as I bumped into walls while trying to operate the wheels and work with the dog who would guide the life of someone on a long waiting-list to receive her help. At Make-A-Wish Foundation, we teach donors about the importance and validation of contributions to make dreams of very sick children become reality. As a director of the Hanna Boys’ Center (for troubled youth) in Sonoma, CA, I contribute to the teaching infrastructure that helps transport boys from terrible and often abusive home conditions to a safe educational environment from which many grow and learn so much that they can enter college or one of the armed forces academies.

As a US Marine Corps officer and, later, CEO of an international company, teaching leadership and team achievement to successor managers is my daily work. I have tremendous pride and respect for “successes” in teaching, such as staff sergeants whom I taught math and writing skills for their promotions and officer training qualification, without college degrees. Or, David, a young man I hired from his family-owned drycleaning shop, whose ambition and thirst for knowledge made him a great student; he’s now an executive for Cunard, the world’s preeminent cruise ship company.

After graduating from Thacher, Peter attended the University of Innsbruck in Austria for one year studying languages, skiing, and European art and architecture. He graduated from Stanford three years later, while employed as an assistant at the Menlo Park Animal Hospital. Summer jobs with the California and Alaska Departments of Fish and Game fortified his love of the outdoors, on the high seas searching for albacore and in the mountain wilderness researching salmon habitat and evading grizzlies. Peter served four years as an officer in the US Marine Corps before returning to civilian work in management with four different airlines; this led to his 35-year career operating a successful global travel marketing company, Creative Leisure International. “The opportunities for friendships in so many diverse regions of the world have been the biggest fringe benefit of my job,” Peter says enthusiastically. Beyond his intense work and travel schedule, Peter volunteers for various nonprofit entities. Peter and his wife, Paula, live on 50 rural acres in Sonoma County, CA, where they grow five varieties of premium Pinot Noir grapes and speak “horse-talk” to Bravissimo and Oxford, their two European warmblood horses. Paula competes in international-level dressage, while Peter enjoys trail rides. They have four grandchildren in Helsinki and Paris, whom they hope to see more often in the years ahead.

From these experiences, I developed a dynamic teaching and management style that shows employees how important they are to the team in which they work; how their work fits in with and synergizes the company’s mission; and how their advancement through continuing education makes them more valuable employees. At my company, Creative Leisure International, this technique results in enthusiastic employees and very little turnover.

My teaching—and learning—transfer to the non-profit world, too. My first lesson with

20 The Thacher News

As a first-hand beneficiary of Thacher teaching, it is a privilege to teach others and to continue the knowledge-sharing that was first shaped during four very happy years at Thacher. e

Creative Pedagogy

Prentiss A. Moore CdeP 1963 Learning from “The Butter Man”

I

am, after a 35-year career in “showbiz,” an elementary substitute teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District, working in the San Fernando Valley.

Though I am one of the fortunate ones who gets requested by teachers directly based on prior work, I must always be prepared for the occasion when I go into a room for a truly unexpected absence by the teacher and need to “wing it.” On a daily basis I must be prepared to deal with any grade from first to fifth.

Therefore, I have a portable file box in my car with materials/ideas for each grade level.

My goal as a sub is to follow the procedures/plans of the absent teacher, but to also give the kids a “different” experience. One of the things I do is make butter with them. I make it a real lesson with a little social studies, a little science, a little art, and a whole lot of fun. The students leave the room telling all the other kids, and their parents (and the teacher the next day) about making butter with Mr. Moore.

Word gets around. It’s rather like the Pied Piper, in that sometimes when I meet other teachers, they comment, “oh, you’re the ‘butter’ man!” I must have made butter 500 times!

People such as Messer’s Huyler, Shagham, and Miller have placed the Stamp of the School permanently on me. The love of language, and the love of the pursuit of knowledge are with me in the classes I teach.

I am blessed to have found a third way in my lifetime to make a living doing something I absolutely love. e Arnie Moore graduated from Whittier College in 1967 with a degree in forensics and drama, and began a 35-year odyssey in the music, film, and television industries. He played bass guitar in the studios on records and film scores, and toured with recording artists. He has appeared as an actor in many films and over 50 television shows. He married Jeanie in 1976 and has a son, Cosmo, who just turned 21! Arnie began teaching in 1997.

I also bring my theatrical experience to bear in reading aloud to the students. I try to bring the stories alive with expressive reading and voice characterizations.

I’m a firm believer that the best indicator of future success with reading and vocabulary is reading aloud to children.

At a Thacher reunion a few years ago, during the speeches after dinner below The Pergola, the sole member of the class of ’33 got up to share his memories. His was the last class to have Sherman Thacher teach his class, and I got a chill down my spine as he said his fondest memory was the Headmaster gathering the small student body in the dining room most evenings and reading aloud to them from the classics.

Fall 2003 / Winter 2004 21

Creative Pedagogy

Jonathan I. Hall CdeP 1967 Inspired by Thacher Faculty

I

was not sure about responding to Jane ­McCarthy’s email asking for descriptions of our “creative teaching techniques.” In the nearly 28 years that I have been teaching mathematics to university students, many things have certainly changed. Today’s instructional technology is varied and powerful. We now pay more attention to preparing students for the world, through collaborative learning and connection of classroom material to everyday life.

Mathematics is not just equations, derivatives, and the like. A demonstration from my Math and Communications course: my daughter’s rap CD plays flawlessly, even after I scratch it several times with a screwdriver. (I can picture Bob Johnson wincing.) Still I think it is reaching to describe my efforts in these directions as creative.

Nevertheless, I responded because I wanted to say something about the art of teaching. Having taught for all these years, I find that the best techniques are still the ones that I saw in action at Thacher nearly 40 years ago.

Simply put, good teachers are those who care for their students and who communicate their own enthusiasm for and joy in the subject.

In my day, Thacher was blessed with many such instructors. I was very fortunate to have had Hub Segur and Fred Whitehead as mathematics teachers. Mr. Segur was also my advisor, history teacher, and coach; so he was a large part of my Thacher experience. He still drops in on my dreams periodically.

Bob Chesley regularly reminded us that the science we were studying was not only important and deep but also just plain “neat.”

Still others had a profound impact on me, and not just those in technical subjects. Indeed the high point of my Thacher education may have been having three outstanding English teachers—Dave Nicholson, Jack Huyler, and David Lavender—who taught me what it truly is to read and write.

The most recent issue of The Thacher News announced the deaths of two of my role mod-

22 The Thacher News

els—Bob Chesley and David Lavender. In the last 40 years, many students like me will have become teachers themselves and taken inspiration from their Thacher experience. I look forward to reading about some of the others and their particular creative techniques. We were asked for a brief paragraph on what we are doing, and here is mine: I teach as I was taught, and I am proud to do so. e After leaving Thacher, Jon graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 1971. He then went to the University of Oxford to study Mathematics and received the degrees of Master of Science in 1973 and Doctor of Philosophy in 1974. Next were two years as a Research Assistant at the Technological University of Eindhoven, The Netherlands, and a year at the University of Oregon. Since 1977, Jon has been doing research and teaching as a faculty member in the Department of Mathematics at Michigan State University. At MSU, he served as department Chairman from 1994 to 1997 and in 2000 was recipient of the J.S. Frame Teaching Award. While in Oxford, Jon met his wonderful wife Sue. They married in 1976 and have two children, Richard (17) and Elizabeth (21), whose godfather is Jon’s classmate Richard Andrews CdeP 1967. Although he finds little time for hobbies other than reading, Jon coached soccer for many years and played on a local team right up to age 50, when a frozen field led to a careerending broken arm. Now he is content with watching his son Richard play tennis and doing a bit of sailing. Jon says of his career: “I think I was always going to be a mathematician. The mixture of precision, utility, and beauty is irresistible.”

Creative Pedagogy

Marie Furnary Offering Another Fork in the Road

I

started the North Fork School in 1996 as a dual-enrollment, Humanities-only, private school for fourth through eleventh graders in McCall, ID. Students spend most of their day at the public school, coming to North Fork for approximately two hours each day for their English/History curriculum. After having spent 1995-1996 as a volunteer teaching the sixth grade Language Arts teacher how to run her classes as Writing Workshops, my plan had been to extend the process into the seventh and eighth grades, so that the Middle School could have a process-based writing curriculum. When the upper grade teachers resisted that idea, I decided to offer the program privately, to continue the progress students had already made, and to ensure that my own children would be prepared for the more challenging academics of a private high school such as Thacher.

The curriculum is also integrated vertically, however, which means that each novel, each writing/research project, each literary and artistic view, is structured to incrementally develop cross-references and skills in subsequent years. Thus, the Greek myths that sixth graders read allow them to more fully understand references in The Tempest in eighth grade, and to appreciate immortal interference in The Odyssey in tenth grade.

In 2000, The North Fork School was accredited by the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges, so North Fork School grades are included on public school transcripts. Our first high school level graduates (class of 2003), are presently doing well at Middlebury, Dartmouth, Carleton, and the University of Pennsylvania. e

Marie Furnary graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1982 with a major in English, and with completed coursework for a second full major in Environmental Studies. She met her husband, Ken Everett, CdeP 1978, at Dartmouth, and the couple McCall is a small commu- moved to the San Francisco Bay area, where nity, and the school district, they had two children, James CdeP 2002, with only 1,200 students in and Alina, who was recently accepted for grades K-12, is very tightly- the Class of CdeP 2008. “We escaped the knit. One typical conflict city and moved to Idaho in 1995 so that the between private and public kids could grow up in the freedom of a small education is a limited access town. Four-season recreation and creative to funding; my goal became to initiate a pri- academics make life in rural Idaho the vate program that would not affect funding world’s best-kept ­secret, next to Thacher.” for public schools in any way. Idaho mandates The Everetts live in ­McCall, Idaho. that home-schooled students may take individual classes in the public schools if there is room. If we only removed our students for a small portion of their public school day, the school could still count them as fully-enrolled students, and could thus receive full state funding for each of the North Fork School students.

In this way, the students could remain involved with their friends in the local public school community, and also receive a more challenging curriculum, with smaller class sizes, than they would receive in the public system. North Fork School programs reduce public class sizes, parents add private money to their children’s education, and public schools still receive their full allotment of tax dollars.

North Fork classes are integrated within each year, with students taking a coordinated curriculum of History, Art, Drama, and English.

Fall 2003 / Winter 2004 23

Creative Pedagogy

Lele Herron Galer CdeP 1979 The Sum Is Bigger than the Parts

F

or the last several years, I’ve taught an art appreciation course entitled “Art in Action” in our district’s five elementary schools.

The two-week session augments the regular art curriculum of these 1,800 grade-schoolers.

First I select 15-20 art prints with a common theme; I write a page on the theme along with some art history facts and anecdotes about each piece geared towards adults. I teach the parents/adults in each school and they, in turn, teach the children in the classroom. The innovation in this program has to do with the teaching technique. I want the adults to engage the kids in looking at art, not just learning the facts. What do they like? What do they feel about it? And then, what in the painting unlocks that response from the viewer?

Art becomes alive for them, and famous painters become human and interactive.

What is the painter trying to show us here? How does he/she do it?

that each child creatively adds to the piece, even though more than 500 or more “artists” may be involved. Beyond this, all of their creativity needs to follow a format so that the “finished” piece is suitable for hanging. Two years ago, we did a flag a la Jasper Jones with tiny mosaic tiles and objects that incorporated all of the students’ and employees’ names. From a distance, it looked like a flag picture at the end of the corridor, but closer, the seven-foot-by-eleven-foot image broke into individual pieces. Last year we painted and collaged wooden panels to form a huge yellow school bus (a la Romare Beardon) that included photos, personal messages, and poetry from each artist.

I was awarded the volunteer award 2002-2003 from the District for my work. In addition to what I’ve already listed, I am currently making a series of benches with the students in fifth grade that will be cut and painted to look like buildings around Independence Hall, Philadelphia; I’m doing a huge mural in the library of one school; and I’m coordinating a three-year project mosaic mural in another school. After When the kids first see a class- a lot of years working with kids and art, the room full of art posters, they way I’ve organized the Art in Action program post on each piece one of two seems to work best. The kids show enthusiasm stickers: “Hate it!” or “Love in talking about famous art, and then we do an it!” Besides being fun, this awesome project together in the school. Lots elicits emotional response, of work. Lots of fun. Oh! And my husband starts discussion, and serves gets the credit here for doing so well at his job as a catalyst for the whole that I can concentrate on all these volunteer process. Students determine activities. He’s also incredibly supportive and where the artist is leading the positive, and so are my kids. e eye in each painting in order to unfold the artist’s mystery.

Anyone can discover impor- After Thacher, Lele attended Wesleyan Unitant aspects of a painting just versity in Middletown, Connecticut, for two by looking at artist’s clues including composi- years, then transferred to University of Calition lines, light effects, and color variation that fornia, Berkeley, where she graduated with a highlight the focal point or affect mood. This BA in English Literature. After living in Eureally involves the audience—rather like solving rope for a few years, she returned to the US, a puzzle or mystery—then I add some facts from married her boyfriend from Wesleyan, Brad my write ups (almost always omitting dates and Galer, and started fundraising for the Metnames of painting) to make their discoveries more ropolitan Museum of Art and later the New rounded. Both kids and adults get excited about York Botanical Garden. When their children this approach, and can’t wait to apply it to works arrived—Alex (now 13), Peter (10), and in a museum. The process is an active, energized Simon (8)—she turned her attention to the way of discovering art that makes pieces more schools, namely fundraising and art appreciaapproachable and alive for the students. Last tion. They have lived in many states, but in year, I did “American Art-American Vision”; each place, art appreciation and educational this year’s theme is “Portraits.” grants have been her main volunteer focus.

She also receives grants for the public school The second phase of this session focuses on one system from local corporations, and teaches painting to spawn a school-wide permanent art teachers and students how to write grants for piece. Extensive planning is involved to assure their own needs (such as for college).

24 The Thacher News

Creative Pedagogy

Peter B. Cole CdeP 1983 The Right Tool for the Right Job

T

he first class I taught was sculpture to alternative high school students in Boulder, Colorado. I was more frightened of the students than they of me, and I barely remember a thing, except repeatedly denying them loans to buy cigarettes. I didn’t learn about teaching until I took a class called The Artist as Teacher at the San Francisco Art Institute, wherein I learned to teach pinhole camera photography to fifth graders and did so once a week for a couple of years. I then instructed summer art camps in Soapbox Derby Construction, Carpentry, and Toymaking at The Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito. Along the way I taught drawing classes to adults, courses in photography and crafts to homeless adults, and gave lectures on teaching, my own work, traveling through East Asia, and how to carve kick-a_ _ pumpkins.

Generally, parents are skeptical that their kids can safely learn to use power tools, but I successfully taught them to use a jigsaw, drill press, and cordless screw gun while building soapbox cars.

Ironically, it is much harder to teach hammering a nail.

I provide nails and wood blocks, and let them make a huge racket. It’s humbling for them to experience that there is a correct way to do it, and dozens of incorrect methods. Sometimes it takes an hour to get one in completely without bending, but the next one always goes faster.

I sometimes resort to oddball methods to break students’ minds away from what they think they knew about a subject. Regarding hammering: I first try to nail with a shoe, then with a screwdriver. They clearly see that it is stupid, but it drives home forever the real meaning of “the right tool for the right job.” Thenceforth, when I say, “remember the shoe,” they stop and think through why their technique isn’t working. My favorite thing to teach in the process of building is patience, although some wait to learn it. I often let them charge ahead until their car falls apart. After tears, I explain that they know all the necessary information, but need to go slowly and do each step completely before proceeding to the next. Out of hundreds

of students, only one refused to remake her car; she likely blames me to this day.

In making and teaching art, one needs to fail to reach success. In teaching drawing classes to adults, I don’t let them use traditional drawing tools for their first drawings on five-by-six-foot sheets of paper. Students scrounge around looking for twigs, bark, grass, stones, or tools to make marks. This forces them to concentrate on making marks and not to expect the pencil to automatically draw the correct proportions.

It puts them in touch with the essential physicality of making marks, which, after all, is what constitutes a drawing. And, if someone thinks their drawing is a failure, I say, much to their chagrin, “Oh good, then you only have 499 more failures to go.” Failure should be celebrated as it is about 89% of the learning process.

I don’t hesitate to stand on a table to make a point, nor do I hide my humanity behind a veneer of the teacher who knows it all. I truly love to say “I don’t know”; it shocks students that I admit it. And, my next words invariably are “but let’s find out how.” e Following Thacher, Peter earned a BA magna cum laude from Middlebury College in Vermont in 1987, with a double major in studio art and Italian. He then earned an MFA in sculpture at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1994. His work has been shown internationally in addition to the permanent collection at the Oakland Museum of California. “I am not teaching now because it is so mentally strenuous. I needed some mindless work to recharge my creative brain as well as my operative one, as teaching sucked that brain quite dry.” Peter works as a welder (his sculpture was displayed at Sullivan-Goss Gallery in Santa Barbara recently), has authored and co-authored a few craft books (Snowmen, Christmas Trees, and Great Pumpkins), and is currently working on two book projects.

His future plans include “working creatively all the time, whether making money, building our own house, running my own business, or hanging out with Charlie. So much of life is learned just by doing and persevering.

Would that we could all be such coaches to the people around us.” ­Peter’s wife, Jarka, is a fashion designer and artist from the Czech Republic; they have a two-year-old daughter, Charlotte (Charlie).

Fall 2003 / Winter 2004 25

Creative Pedagogy

Robert W. Kahn CdeP 1983 Learning by Doing

T

hink for a moment how awesome it would be to discover a Law of Nature. In eighth grade science at Brentwood School, that is exactly what the students do. By performing a series of experiments, they discover for themselves the Law of Conservation of Mass. The law states that during a chemical reaction or a physical change in a closed system, the mass remains unchanged. I have always thought of science as a verb, and Introductory Physical Science (Science Curriculum Inc) is about students “sciencing”: asking questions, collecting and analyzing data, and making conclusions.

As scientists, they gather evidence to support their ideas and write up all the experiments in a laboratory notebook.

Instead of simply throwing information at the students for them to memorize and regurgitate on a test, I force them to think. Consequently, I cover less “content” in the traditional sense, but when teaching content-oriented curricula, I have often wondered, “How is this useful to them” and “Are they really going to remember this?”

Sometimes the students become frustrated, but as my Thacher track coach, Lou Romanagno used to say, “No pain, no gain.” To encourage my students to think and not become discouraged, two signs are posted in my classroom. One reads “I am so confused.” in a red circle with a red bar going across it. The other reads, “I have a question.” in a green circle. It works, and the students catch and correct themselves.

Lastly, I believe my words must be chosen carefully when I speak with middle schoolers. One of my guiding principles comes from Haim Ginnott, who wrote: “I am the decisive element in the classroom.

It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-

26 The Thacher News

escalated, and a child humanized or dehumanized.” (Teacher and Child, 1971, p. 13) I truly appreciate the opportunity to share with the Thacher community my love for teaching.

e

After graduating from Thacher, Bob traveled just over Casitas Pass to the University of California, Santa Barbara to earn a bachelor of arts degree in biological sciences and a bit further to spend a year abroad at the University of Sussex in England. He earned a master of arts degree from UCLA in Biology with an emphasis on Molecular and Cellular Biology. He taught both middle and high school science for seven years at Viewpoint School in Calabasas and is presently in his third year teaching middle school science at Brentwood School in Los Angeles. Bob completed his first triathlon last October in Hermosa Beach and will be back next year. He and his wife Mimi have two children: Madison (7) and James (5). They enjoy camping, skiing, gardening, going for walks, staying in their pajamas until one o’clock on a weekend, and reading stories together, especially fairy tales. Bob’s initial inspiration to teach began with his elementary school science teacher.

At Thacher, David Brown, Chuck Warren, and John Hanna further inspired him. “I can still envision Mr. Brown’s introductory lesson to biology using the coiled wire to demonstrate the relative amount of time humans have been on Earth. As a teaching assistant in graduate school, I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of explaining a concept in order to cause the light bulb to go on in a student’s head. With younger people, the light is even brighter when it turns on. I simply cannot imagine doing anything else.”

Creative Pedagogy

Elizabeth D.Grossman Besch CdeP 1989 Conveying Culinary Mastery

M

y first formal experience with teaching was in my last semester of college in a course called “On Teachers and Teaching.” I was assigned to teach freshman creative writing at a local high school where students lacked fluency in English, let alone writing and grammar skills. The first class was awful—they wouldn’t talk. At all. I used up a week of lesson plans in 20 minutes. The first creative writing assignment was not a success either. Past criticism of the student’s grammar and vocabulary, while valid, had made them believe they were stupid. After some weeks of my emphasizing that content is as important as style, the kids began to share their imaginations with me.

They lit up. Their enthusiasm and confidence grew along with my passion for teaching.

After college I studied at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris, and cooked in some twoMichelin-starred restaurants.

In my previous school experiences, I had focused more on the grade than on the process of truly attempting to master a skill. As a (somewhat) adult learner, I learned to appreciate the process of learning—the value of the many failures that precede the acquisition of skill.

After my return to the States, my appreciation for teaching and cooking fused into a career as a cooking teacher.

asked me to audiotape a message to his wife, a more experienced cook, telling her to leave the kitchen when he is practicing so that he would feel free to try new things. Students’ cooking triumphs and disasters—and my own—­illustrate key learning points far better than lectures. I pull students up to cook with me as much as possible, so that the lesson unfolds through our interaction rather than pure lecture and demonstration.

The most effective classes are driven by the students and facilitated by the teacher. My dislike for the view of students as empty vessels to be filled by the teacher’s knowledge was first codified in Mr. Close’s English class during my junior year at Thacher. He led a discussion on Socratic teaching that I remember to this day.

I am now pursuing a Masters in Nutritional Science. Approaching food from a chemical and medicinal perspective is fascinating. It is also quite fun and challenging to take the science courses I scrupulously avoided in college.

I hope eventually to have a private practice with a kitchen in which I can help students learn what a healthful diet is and cook food so good it curls their toes. Bon Appetit! e

Elizabeth decided to attend boarding school when her older brother left for college. Due to great experiences of close friends and the School’s emphasis on camping and outdoors combined with strong academics, Thacher was her first choice. She matriculated two years later to Amherst College and double majored in Political Science and German I have since taught cooking all over Southern Literature. Elizabeth and her husband HolCalifornia in cooking schools, privately, and ger live in Pasadena with their two-year-old at corporate team-building events. Teaching daughter, Katya. ignited a hunger in me to understand the chemistry that underlies good cooking, to make sure my methods were grounded in fact rather than just habit. My goal is to have students come away not only with a cache of new recipes but an understanding of the functions of the different ingredients. This knowledge lets them modify recipes according to their tastes and the availability of ingredients, and to resolve mistakes.

An important part of my job is making it tempting to try something new, and okay to fail. Last year, I was tickled when a student Fall 2003 / Winter 2004 27

Creative Pedagogy

Lara J. Phelps Randby CdeP 1991 Making the Most of Artistic License

I

teach a combined fourth and fifth grade class at the Club Boulevard Humanities Magnet School in Durham, NC. Club is an old Durham public school that became a magnet school about ten years ago. The students at Club are a diverse group with many in low socio-economic or otherwise stressful family situations. Out of my 23 students, only four still live with their biological mother and father.

Some have parents who work such long hours that they leave before their kids get up in the morning and get home after the kids have gone to bed at night. These nine and ten-year-olds get themselves up, make their own lunches, and get to the bus on time…all by themselves.

One of my students, even as late as last year, often went to live with his aunt because Mom was in and out of jail for drugs. I don’t mean to give the impression that this is the entire Club student population; we are also blessed with many supportive and successful families. But, students facing the kinds of heartache that we privileged private-schoolers will never know are in every classroom.

Regardless of these challenges, Club Boulevard is a North Carolina School of Distinction. As a humanities magnet, we receive extra funding to support and to develop our humanities theme. The result is a public school experience that is unusually rich in the arts. In addition to regular weekly classes in art and music, Club also offers full-time Spanish and dance. We are able to fund artist residencies that go above and beyond most public school humanities experiences. In the next three years, Club will host Pilobolus, an internationally acclaimed dance company, for a week of intense dance instruction each fall and spring. Pilobolus dancers work with one grade all week while the rest of the school observes them, writes about them, sketches them, and documents their progress on film. Other projects include our “Literacy Through Photography” program done in conjunction with Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies.

Students take cameras home over weekends to photograph their lives, learn to develop prints

28 The Thacher News

in the school’s darkroom, and combine them with written work for some truly meaningful pieces of art.

In a time when public schools are coming under constant pressure to succeed in only one realm (standardized tests), it is a blessing to be working in a school that has not only retained its arts program, but is developing it further.

The arts and humanities experiences at Club are world-class and the work that students produce in them showcases the richness and depth of their spirits. e Lara Phelps Randby graduated from Dartmouth College in 1995 with a degree in art history. She married Ken Randby in 1997 and the couple moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where they opened an art gallery. Since then they have added another art gallery, a ski shop, a flower shop, and two boys to their family. “After the boys were born, everything changed; I wanted to do something that would make a difference in the lives of children. I had enjoyed some volunteer teaching I had done in the past, so, I went back to school and got certified to teach public school.” The Randbys now live in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Creative Pedagogy

Laura-Rose Russell CdeP 1993 Balancing Didactic and Experiential Pedagogy

W

ilderness expeditions provide a unique framework for motivating students to learn. As educators, we are sometimes fortunate enough to have a pupil who is genuinely interested in our curriculum. Even so, motivating students to acquire the skills necessary for lifelong learning is more difficult than simply handing over information. Leading trips with Outward Bound, I have had the opportunity to work in a context where the motivation to learn is inherent, and the consequences of not learning are uncontrived and very tangible.

As a student, I rarely enjoyed lectures, and as an instructor I have too often seen my students’ eyes glaze over when I have slipped into didactic presentations. Based on efficacy alone, I would teach every lesson experientially. But, in the field as in the classroom, there are deadlines; I have a few days to teach the participants the skills necessary to run the expedition as though I am not there. There are also myriad safety considerations. (Though my students would never forget the lesson, I would never let them learn about Giardia the hard way, for instance.)

rally motivate the students to improve their understanding of the tent.

Not only does lecturing act like verbal inflation (the more I talk, the less my words are worth to the students), but also when the students learn they attribute their successes to me. On the other hand, if I can provide an experience that motivates students to seek out knowledge, they will own their achievements. e Laura-Rose Russell has been instructing with the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in Maine for three years, leading youth and adult expeditions. Since graduating from Wesleyan University with a BLA in Dance, she has worked in outdoor education, teambuilding, and rock-climbing instruction. She lives in Vermont, and is pursuing a master of fine arts in writing. In her free time she hikes, snowshoes, and tracks with her dog, Shayla. When inside, she is likely to be reading. “I started teaching for Outward Bound as a way to work in the wilderness. It turns out I am passionate about the school’s ability to help people grow through challenge and success.”

During expeditions I try to strike a balance between providing content (such as how lightning functions, and how to avoid it) and structuring experiences that will lead to knowledge (such as having the group set up tents without direction). When there is room for the students to safely create their own solutions, I present principles, and let them work out the details. Whenever possible, I try to empower participants by letting them experiment, reminding them of what they already know, and then getting out of their way. The content is almost inconsequential.

I don’t really care how many people know how to set up a tent, but figuring out a tent engages the student in problem solving and craftsmanship, which I believe are important principles to teach. If the tent is set up poorly, the students don’t get a low grade, but they are likely to spend a night uncomfortable and possibly wet. These consequences will natu-

Fall 2003 / Winter 2004 29

Creative Pedagogy

Frederika C.H. Toll CdeP 1994 Turning Kids on to Reading

D

uring my graduate work at the University of Georgia, I taught Special Education for a year and a half in Kindergarten, third, and fourth grade. Among other disabilities, almost all my students had a grave distaste for reading.

There seemed little I could do to bring joy to reading until one fateful Friday when I brought my service dog in training to class with me. Eventually Canine Companions for Independence will graduate this dog to help assist people with physical disabilities. As I worked with one small group, Hallie (puppy in training) sat on a beanbag with a student and magic happened. A third grader who would not read to teachers, parents, or peers read an entire book to Hallie. Over the year, this student even began writing letters to Hallie of her own accord, something she never had initiated before. Hallie was a hit and soon other teachers were using her as a motivational tool and reading tutor. She was so popular students would line up eagerly with their books while she napped, waiting for her to awake. The kids soon solved this waiting problem by reading to her while she snoozed in her crate!

I wanted to extend Hallie’s reading work in the summer months so I founded a Read to Rover program in Athens, GA, where I live. I learned about the READ program in Salt Lake City that brings dogs to the local library. My program invites first, second, and third graders to read to service dogs in training for 20-minute sessions. The students take special care to choose what they think will interest the dog.

Some favorites include Rufferella (Gill-Brown & Stanley), Through Otis’s Eyes (Kennedy & Christie), and any Dr. Seuss books. Though Hallie has gone onto advanced training and since was released from the program, my next puppy picked up her spot, and we have now been doing Read to Rover for over a year. The children love this program and there is always a waiting list. Parents have embraced the idea, too. Kids can go home and read to their cat, goldfish, or turtle if they do not have a dog.

30 The Thacher News

Not only has a dog in the classroom improved reading and motivation, but students attended class more often, treated animals and peers better, and students visited the library more frequently. The dog serves as a stress reliever to me and other staff. There is nothing like hugging a puppy.

One can find out more about Canine Companions for Independence at www.cci.org or by emailing rikahowe@yahoo.com e Following Thacher, Rika earned her bachelor of arts degree in Environmental Policy and Analysis from Boston University; she then earned a masters in Early Childhood Education from the University of Georgia. Most recently, Rika was doing student teaching in Australia, and she’s currently seeking a new position. She married a Thacher alumnus and classmate, Nathaniel Toll; they have dogs, no kids. Her interests include puppyraising for Canine Companions for Independence, travel, and reading. “I thought I wanted to work for a non-profit environmental organization, but after being behind a desk for a year and a half, I began volunteering as a reading tutor. I soon became hooked as I realized I could impart change better in a classroom than from behind my desk.”

Creative Pedagogy

Christopher L. Rhodes CdeP 1995 Teaching More than English

I

n April of 2002 I took a long flight to the Republic of Georgia to be an English teacher in the Peace Corps with 26 other volunteers. I was placed in Rustavi, a city of about 100,000 people (the third largest city in Georgia), near Tbilisi. It is a former industrial city, built in 1947, but now almost none of the factories is working. I teach English along with a Georgian English teacher to grades 6, 7, 8, and 9. The school is in a large four-story run-down building in the middle of a large industrial housing complex. It has very limited resources, often no electricity, no water, and, during the very cold winters, often goes unheated.

One of my goals as a teacher here is to introduce better teaching methods: to discourage teaching by rote, for example, and to use quizzes to measure performance rather than having students just copy off the blackboard or duplicate exactly what their desk partner wrote, mistakes and all. Cheating is basically accepted, and I have seen teachers watch students pass a completed test sheet around the room and do nothing about it.

Part of the problem is that cheating is not even seen as a bad thing, because teachers and students alike believe it’s better for the whole class to do well rather than just the ones who study! Nevertheless, I try to encourage teachers to make students sit apart and to give a bad grade for anyone cheating, but it is a very slow process. I encourage teachers to praise good work and to not be so critical of slow learners, not to call them “stupid.” I also explained why hitting, pulling ears, slapping heads, etc. (which happen often in classes here) are not good ways to discipline students and may actually be detrimental to learning.

to change the resignation resulting from the long-standing Soviet system, and to demonstrate that it is not futile for a Georgian citizen to work towards change from the bottom up.

e

After Thacher, Kit Rhodes received a bachelor of arts degree in French and Political Science at Bates College in Maine. He then worked as a paralegal for two years in Boston, and has been working as a volunteer English teacher with the Peace Corps for nearly two years in the Republic of Georgia.

He enjoys camping, tennis, skiing, and travelling. “I wanted to share my experiences and knowledge with children, and to take part in their learning, especially in a different country where I can exchange cultures with my students and fellow teachers.”

I am also working in the community to inform people that they can be involved in “grass roots” activities to improve their environment and community. I am working with an English club/NGO with Georgians to create a playground by improving an abandoned industrial site, removing trash, building paths and planting trees. I am working with the Peace Corps

Fall 2003 / Winter 2004 31

Creative Pedagogy

Christina Chang An CdeP 1997 Equalizing Students’ Playing Fields

I

n my senior year of college I took a class titled “The Ethics and Politics of Public Service,” and it was through this course that I became interested in Teach For America and sought out corps member classrooms in nearby East Palo Alto. Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates who commit two years to teach in low-income rural and urban communities and who then go on to become lifelong advocates of educational equity. It was through the public service course that I learned about the achievement gap between high-income and low-income communities. I was shocked and outraged to discover that, by the age of nine, students in low-income areas were already three grade levels behind their peers in high-income areas, and that they were seven times less likely to graduate from college. I felt a mounting sense of urgency and resolve to do something truly meaningful upon graduation. As it turned out, the professor for the course was himself a Teach For America alum, and it was through my conversations with Rob (who is still a great mentor to me), along with the good work that I witnessed being done at nearby Cesar Chavez Academy, that I came to teach for two years in Jersey City, New Jersey with Teach For America.

How can I begin to describe my experience of teaching at PS14? From my first day at school to the very last, there were challenges to overcome: when I realized that my fourth graders were reading at a first grade level, when one of my student’s parents was murdered, or when my kids found it difficult to concentrate in a classroom with triple-digit temperatures and no air conditioning. It was exhilarating and exhausting, all at the same time. And yet, by hook or by crook, I was determined to see my students realize their full potential—whether that meant logging in extra hours before and after school, unearthing hidden Yug-I-Oh cards from Rodney’s shoe to keep him focused, dancing to Lil’ Romeo, or making the home visits two times or twenty times. It meant being absolutely obsessed with

32 The Thacher News

getting my kids on an equal playing field. I was lucky to have generous mentors who took me under their wing, the support of an incredible regional Teach For America staff, and invaluable partnerships with parents who were just as obsessed about getting their kids what they deserved. And my students rose to the challenge—in September of my second year, the majority of my third graders were diagnosed as being two grade levels behind in math; by June, every one of my students passed with at least an eighty percent proficiency on the fourth grade diagnostic. I am indebted for all that I learned in the classroom, and I know that my experiences will shape and refine the decisions that I make for the rest of my life.

Although I’m no longer directly involved as an educator, I am having an impact on student achievement at the macro level by bringing in our teaching force from some of the best schools in the country. It has been incredibly rewarding to speak with college students who are making important life decisions like the one I made three years ago. e After graduating from Thacher in 1997, Christina earned her BA in English at Stanford University. She spent the next two years teaching third and fourth grades with Teach For America in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Christina now works for Teach For America’s national office in New York City as the Northeastern Recruitment Director, managing Teach For America’s recruitment efforts at universities along the eastern corridor, including Harvard, Princeton, and Brown.

Christina married Perry An this past July; they make their home in New York City.

Class Notes Alumni News

1936 Wedding bells rang on January 26, 2003 for John Barnard and Jan Anderson.

1937

by Jane D. McCarthy

1949

REUNION

1957

The widow of Alfred McCormack, Jr., Mary, visited Thacher for the first time in October with their daughter, Joan McCormack Ferrill. They also had dinner with JoAnn and Otis Wickenhaeuser in Santa Barbara.  “The Bride” Anita and Red Fay are looking

younger every year! They are pictured here with their extended family.

1951

1940  Caroline and John Thacher are pictured with

During the Tucson annual Senior Olympics, John Alford and his partner won the Men’s Tennis doubles in the 80-84 year-old group.

some of their growing family.

1958

When Donald Allan turned 80 in June, Red Fay CdeP 1937 emceed the birthday bash in Woodside. Then the tables were turned when Red turned 85.

All is well with the Robert Thomas family.

They’re moving into a retirement condo complex, but will still spend six months in winter at Marrakesh Country Club, Palm Desert, CA.

1944

 The American Guest of Honor at European

Ophthalmic Pathology Society in Stockholm, Sweden last June was none other than Brooks Crawford. Christine and Brooks are pictured, surrounded by their family.

REUNION

By the time the 60th Reunion rolls around, Kelly Clark will be unencumbered with his Thacher Board of Trustee duties.

1945 Ellie and Bruce Kendrick enjoyed Charlie Tuttle’s visit to Cleveland in December, when one of the high spots was attendance at the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus’s performance of Handel’s Messiah.

1946 As of June 2002, George E. Newton is the husband of Mary France. They have lived in Apple Valley for 52 years. George is semi-retired from petroleum operations and instead manages the property operations of Newton Petroleum Enterprises near Victorville.

1952 John Van Nortwick made a trek Down Under to visit his son and family in New Zealand. “Just completed a major merger of real estate companies. Now in Albuquerque market also,” reports John. Tom May sent a great bottle of wine to help John celebrate his 70th birthday.

1955  Bev and Eric

Knudsen send warm alohas to one and all.

Thomas Belknap reports that after 30 years at his law firm, Hill and Barlow (the firm voted to dissolve last year), the entire Trust & Estates Department moved to Ropes & Gray LLP (in the same building) in Boston. After being in a midsize firm for so long, Tom is finding that to be one of 600 lawyers in a multi-state firm is a bit of a challenge, but he loves it. “It’s a wonderful firm, and we’re delighted to be there.”

1959

REUNION

Six years ago, Pam and Robert Gallaway moved to Carmel, where he still pursues his interests in hunting ducks and flyfishing, when not working in real estate. He still plays “tough tennis,” too, and is “#1 on the doubles ladder at the Beach and Tennis Club.” And if all that’s not enough, he’s a grandpa!

Another grandpa (fifth time around…) is David Behnke, who is happily retired in Cincinnati.

John Heard is in Colombia for a two-year assignment as Director of the Pan American Development Foundation effort funded primarily by USAID. The current programs focus on internally displaced persons (over 3,000,000), alternative development (eradication of coca, by hand), and sustainable development in agricultural small business to ensure a new way to viability for participating families.

Fall 2003 / Winter 2004 33

1961

 Phil Pillsbury reached new

 Besides serving as

heights last year. After conquering Mt. Kilimanjaro, he climbed Mt. Rainier and Mt. Shasta. He also mountain bikes, golfs, and skis when he’s not practicing law.

 The daughters

of Katy Lewis and Stephen Kendrick are all grown up: Rosemary, Claire CdeP 1999, and Katherine.

 Susan and Jim Acquistapace are enjoying life in

Northern California with their daughters Anna, Marian, and Caroline.

1965

this year’s Co-Chair of Thacher’s Parents’ Association with his wife Carol, Ned Cahill played slow pitch softball for the big Valley Seniors; he and his team went all the way to the finals. He also managed to get in a few days of skiing at Sun Valley and a few rounds of golf.

This year, Ned will serve as chief of staff at Dameron Hospital, and he is now senior partner in the 11-man Alpine Orthopedic Medical Group.  If Michele

and Rob Turner don’t grow taller quickly, they’ll lose the race to their daughters Kathryn and Anne.

 Natalie and Isabelle

Halsey, daughters of Pauline and Woody Halsey, are creeping up on their second birthdays.

1969

REUNION

 Since Martha is a

Rachel seems pretty happy about brother Jesse heading off to Wheaton; parents Joni and Ted Rhodes are trying to adjust. 

sophomore at Thacher this year, Mary and Dan Gregory visit campus and share their smiles with us several times each year.

1971  Kimberleigh and

Paul Gavin donned their fanciest duds this year for several fundraising events. Paul hopes to be painting up this way sometime soon.

 Stephen and

Stephanie Yates are trying to keep up with their kids, Jennifer and Stephen.

1966  During bas­

k e t­ b a l l s e a son, Mo and N o r i L i v e rmore cheer on Thacher’s Girls’ Basketball Team (cocaptained by daughter Whitney ’04) to nearly constant victories.

1967

 Now that Marshall Milligan is a Trustee

Emeritus of Thacher’s Board of Trustees, he and Gretchen travel more to see their daughters: Claire CdeP 2002 and Lucy CdeP 2000.

1970

 The Livermore clan enjoyed traveling through-

out the West Coast with their puppy, Elsa, who arrived just after New Year’s a year ago; she has Dave, Rebecca, and Jenn wrapped around her not-so-little paw.

 Ali and Bob Johnson’s five-year-old sons, Matt

and Nick, keep them hopping when they’re not running after their dog Grebe.

 Julie and Phil Angelides were on campus this

fall to speak to the student body about the state of California from his vantage point as State Treasurer. It sounds as though Phil is considering a run for governor.

34 The Thacher News

1973

1974

REUNION

1978

1981

Carl Blackstone, an assistant US attorney in Seattle, was one of several assistant US attorneys given a special award at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC. Congrats, Carl!!

 Kirk and Coco

Trumbull Mueller are enjoying their two little ones: Paige and Will.

 GW rounds

out the family nicely for Ned and Laura Banning.

If you live near Seattle and need onsite computer counseling, just reach Rob Shiras at PC Mobile, Inc. (www.pcmobilehelp.com). He and his wife Patricia have twin sons who will graduate from college in 2004 with degrees in political science and physics. “We can’t have one without the other these days, can we?”

 David CdeP 1979 and Marganne Winters

Oxley bring their daughter Sondra to campus as often as possible to see her big brother Will ’05 ride horses, shoot trap, play football, or prepare for a camping trip.

 Kelly and Bill Ander-

Wyman bring Casey and Molly down to Thacher to see their older sister Caitlin ’06 when she’s acting and riding, or just to get warm hugs from a dear girl.

 Tom Lloyd-

Butler was very happy to see everyone at June’s Reunion.

son visit campus fairly often to visit Max, a junior this year. Younger brother Spencer tags along, too.

 Liam, Hannah,

and Sarah share their bright, shiny faces with their photographer/ parents, Anthony and Mary Everett Bourke.

 Michelle and Will

1976 William Hockey brought his wife and son by Thacher last November. “The School looks great and the future student center and new auditorium will be a wonderful addition.”

The Ken Chance family will leave Italy next summer and head to DC for two years, where Ken plans to attend War College and to receive additional training for subsequent posting in Moscow. “I’m looking forward to finally being in a place where I can attend Thacher functions!”

 Butch and

Wendy Dawson Cliff couldn’t enjoy being parents more to Jamie and MacKenzie.

Beth and Michael Sears welcomed their newest family member on June 4, 2003: Carter Abernathy Sears. Not long ago, Michael ran into Butch Cliff in Atlanta: “It was good to catch up with an old friend.”

1977

 Javier Arango  Robert and Will

are taking good care of their parents, Vickie and Carl Costigan.

They all got gussied up for their holiday photo.  Kendric and

Sophie Foultz love being Kate and Lexi’s parents.

1979

is just finishing up his nine-year term on Thacher’s Board of Trustees.

His sage financial wisdom and expertise will be sorely missed.

REUNION

Diane Downey took a new job as English Department Chair at North Eugene High School. Their daughter, Courtney, is a senior at Brown and is off to medical school next year. Diane enjoyed dining with Cabot Brown and Adriana Schwartz Gores in San Francisco last spring.

1980 David Budlong and Kurtis are still in Santa Barbara, where he served as chairperson for Santa Barbara’s 13th Annual AIDS Walk. He earned his private pilot’s license and now owns a plane.

“Life is good. Thank you, Thacher.”

Alicia Winfield recently became Mrs. Jeff Sydney and step-mom to Jillian (11) and William (19).

They live in the west San Fernando Valley.

1982 Stephanie and Reyes Balderas bought a house in Oak View, CA, just before Christmas. For fun, he’s working towards his second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. “As our soon-to-be six-year-old daughter Brittney grows older, I find myself sharing Thacher experiences as life lessons or simply as a means to broaden her world view.”

Stan Chiu is flirting with the idea of starting his own practice, trying to balance fatherhood, architecture, and surfing. He reports that firefighter Mark Cameron has been invited to teach a rescue course in Obregon, Mexico.

Louise Rose Curcio bought a house in Rancho Santa Fe (near San Diego) last March and settled into the preschool regime with the two boys. The big step comes in the fall: Kindergarten.

Fall 2003 / Winter 2004 35

Donna and Perry Noble love their new role as parents.

Even though Tom Saidy is still in Washington, DC area, he still hasn’t run for office! He keeps busy in the international investment arena and chasing after Margaux who turned one on February 22.

Marian Huntington Schinske is now an Assistant Professor at Sonoma State, teaching journalism and loving it. She also volunteers with the International Rescue Committee, a non-profit based in the US that offers health care, job training, and safe living conditions for refugees from 30 countries.

 To manage their careers and their family, Rob

Thomas and Belinda Hanson work four days each week and spend one day at home with their horse-crazy daughters: Leigh (third grade) and Katharine (kindergarten). The newest family member is a horse named Angel Mist. Belinda was on campus for Bonnie Robinson’s Memorial Service and enjoyed catching up with Shawna Weseloh Biel.

John Davies loves living in Moscow. He traveled to Siem Reap, Cambodia to see the ancient ruins of Ankgorwat and spent four days in the jungle riding motorcycles around a national park before riding to the top of Phnom Bakheng on an elephant. He also went to the Phi Phi Islands and enjoyed some excellent deep-water dives to view whale sharks, manta rays, black tip sharks, hawk bill turtles, lion fish, scorpion fish, stone fish, moray eels, etc.

Between skiing at Brundage (McCall, ID) and Bogus Basin, coaching daughter Cameron’s soccer team, traveling to Mexico, and celebrating her 40th in the Lake District, moss isn’t growing on Jill Stevenson’s feet.

Christine and Hunter Hollins celebrated their first anniversary on November 30, 2003!  The kids—

Cara, Steven, and Tommy—continue to be the fun and crazy center of Rick and Phoebe Twichell Peterson’s lives. Phoebe is also focused on her art work.

In addition to being assistant winemaker at Brander Vineyard in Santa Barbara, Drew Horton is assistant to just about everything else, from fulfilling sales, marketing and promotional duties, to property maintenance and cooking and catering for special events.

Fulfilling his hope to return to Golden Trout, Brian Kopperl solo-hiked to camp without a compass or much idea of where he was going.

He enjoyed great memories of frozen coffee and Terry Twichell’s recycled ghost stories.

36 The Thacher News

husband Henry took their three children— Charles, Sarah, and Eleanor—to the mountains for a much-deserved vacation last summer.

 Rodrigo and Sibyll Car-

nochan Catalan found out that having two children— Nicholas and Sophia—is twice as much fun.

Mike Voevodsky took a “can’t pass it up” opportunity to help grow a $40-million pharmaceutical company into a real player.

At press time, Marian Huntington Schinske called to say that Sophie Julien O’Neal’s husband Ray died suddenly due to an accident. A fund has been created for their young daughter; classmates are invited to contribute: Rose Ellen O’Neal Fund, 358 Skyline Drive, Daly City, CA 94015.

See the myThacher website (access through thacher.org) for more in-depth information from the Class of 1982.

1983  Linda and Kris Ander-

son missed Reunion last June because their hands were very full with their very active three-monthold daughter, Karina.

If you’re in cold snowy Boston, look up Doug Francis and his family.

Seattle is treating Joe Grace well: squash, ultimate Frisbee (again, after knee reconstruction), soccer, and snowboarding keep him busy when he’s not developing a web site for a friend’s hosting company.

 Trustee Emily Williamson Hancock and her

 Camelia and Violet (daughters of Caroline and Bruce Somers) are all smiles.

Ed Sanchez loved seeing everyone at Reunion.

Effective last October 1, he left Bank of America in pursuit of a master’s in elementary education, his third career. Even though it will take 18-24 months, he looks forward to teaching kids and has started the process by teaming up with his wife Teresa to home-school their son Thomas.

1984

REUNION

New from Chronicle Books is Peter Cole’s “Great Pumpkins,” following his others on Christmas and “Snowmen.” He had a show of sculpture at Sullivan-Goss Gallery in Santa Barbara from Novem­ ber 20, 2003 through February 3, 2004.

Elizabeth Chiu Gould and her family recently moved back to Southern California so they’d be closer to family and he could start a job as Chief Operating Officer of an outpatient surgicenter. In September, Elizabeth and her husband Peter saw Andrea Massey become Mrs. Chris Shaw in Sun Valley, ID. “It was truly one of the most beautiful events we have ever attended, and I have never seen Andrea happier!”  The Kong house-

hold was a busy one this holiday season with three daughters vying for the attention of their parents, Stacy and Michael.

Tessa, Phoebe, and Isabella added spirit and joy to the day.

 Although David Jr., and Lukas look as though

they’re practicing Karate, it’s actually just an imitation of their favorite character, Ultraman.

Leave it to Amanda and David Chao (Thacher Trustee) to invent a creative way to get their sons to cooperate for their Christmas photo.

After running her first marathon in Boston last April, Alison Field trained for the Marine Corps Marathon in DC on October 26, Mary Kuechler’s birthday! Then in December, she started training for the Boston Marathon, followed by the Dana Farber Marathon Challenge, of which all the money raised will benefit cancer research. “To say the least,” she wrote, “I’m thrilled to be running for such a wonderful cause.”

1985 Brad and Anne Wallace Maulding are expecting their first children—twin boys—in March.

Congrats! In the meantime, Anne is still teaching Middle School in Park City (French, Spanish, and ESL) where the snow is falling hard.  “Piper has a new sister!” announced Monica

and John Stacey.

Holland joined the household and, aside from short days and long nights, they’re one happy family!

Neal and Daisy Moore Lalwani were expecting their second child in January 2004, just before their son, Taj, turns three in April.

1988 Aimee and Cal Wheaton happily announce the arrival of Serena Joy, born on October 9, 2003.

Cal left investment banking and is now focused on investments in the health care sector of private equity investment. They still live in Baltimore and hope you’ll look them up when passing through.

 Molly and Mark Gamble

welcomed Lila into their lives this year.

 Claudia and Paul

Bressie are a little short on sleep, but loving their new roles as parents. James Ian arrived on March 23, 2003, and is now sitting up and showing curiosity in his surroundings.

1987

 Hilary Swift became Mrs. Jason Keith on October 18, 2003.

1989

REUNION

Susan Shaw is in her fourth year as an Assistant Professor of history at the University of Houston.

From Cathy Ruhl, “Our exciting news is that Samantha joined our family on New Year’s Eve! What a way to ring in the new year.”

 Kerryn Sanan

Hope Kyle is in Johannesburg, starting a school; as of January 1 she became co-director of Global African Academy. Says Hope, “This is such a wonderful and exciting experience for me. Who would have known that Hope would be the director of a school in South Africa? I am here with my husband, Lennox, who has started a Jamaican catering service. It is all going very well and we are SO blessed. I am now working to try to raise funds in order to keep the school open. There are 120 students from Soweto and other surrounding townships of Johannesburg. I need as much help as I can get, and if you are interested please email me (hopesjamaica@hotmail.com) and I can send you all of the information about my great school and these talented children.”

REUNION

1990 Peter Bray plans on opening a software company in Bangkok, where he has visited three times this last year.  Mark and Jennifer Utman

Sommer are loving life as parents of Talia, who will turn two this August.

1991  Just before Christ-

mas, newlyweds Serena and Alec Perkins moved to a new home on Maple Street in San Francisco.

coming and going with their three young children in kindergarten (Mackenzie), pre-school (Gillian), and the Jaberwockey stage (Jacqueline). David manages to find time for golf, soccer, and even Aikido (blue belt, already), when he’s not running his business or uniting with the rest of the family for photos.

1993

1994

No real news from Logan Meyer, but he enjoys taking day trips from LA up to Thacher on occasion. “Everyone should do it!”

 Jennifer and David Bressie meet themselves

Ojai’s Meditation Mountain was the nuptial site for Michael Zierhut when he married Elizabeth “Rosie” Rosegren on October 11, 2003. They honeymooned in Tahiti and Marquesa, before returning to Ojai where Rosie manages Theater 150.

became Mrs. Jason Griffith on July 12, 2003.

1986

Bill and Sarah Dawson Holt have new titles: Loving Parents. Although Henry Hooker Holt looks a lot like his dad, there’s a little Dawson in him for good measure.

1992

Nicholas Alley Farrell was born on November 6, 2003. His parents, Tim and Kristina Alley Farrell are thrilled but exhausted!

 Last year was very busy for Brian Bennett. In

January and February, he was the Interim Bureau chief for TIME in Delhi, India. Then he was off to Kuwait, where he was embedded with a US Air Force Unit while covering the War in Iraq. He came home just in time to share Christmas with his parents, Bruce and Merilee, and his younger brother Christopher.

While Rika Howe and Nate Toll travelled in Hobart, Tasmania, as part of their trek around Australia, Chris Nichols came to visit for two weeks. They reminisced about “the dip, Rubens, camping, and all the silly boy things Nate and Chris did together.” Rika finished student teaching on Bribie Island, Queensland; she pretended that she didn’t know what her third graders were saying because, on her first day, the kids asked, “Do you speak American?”

Fall 2003 / Winter 2004 37

Meredith Bressie is really looking forward to seeing everyone for the 10th Reunion this June.

She’ll take time off from studying for her architectural registration examinations for her license, to be in Ojai. In the meantime, she loves being Auntie Meredith to three nieces and one nephew.

Elizabeth Hieronymus is still in central Ohio, working in Alumni and Parent Programs for Ken­ yon College and doing volunteer firefighting, rescue, and EMS. In all her “spare” time, she takes care of her house (an older home that is a constant work in progress!) and enjoys life in the countryside. She too looks forward to the Reunion in June. “I hope that as many of you as possible can make it—it will be so great to have us together again.”

Sara Robboy moved from New York to London in September to start a new job. She’s looking forward to travelling around Europe.

Josh Kurlinski remains in Vegas while pursuing his love affair with computer science, working at Keystone International, and starting the master’s program at UNLV.

1995

When she graduated from Brown University, Alix Blair received the Arnold Fellowship for an independent research project on Cuba’s environment and conservation for one year.

1999

REUNION

One of the bilingual (Spanish-English) teachers in the Philadelphia public schools is none other than Timothy Orion Johnson.  Now that she’s gradu-

ated from Stanford, Sarah Sawyer is in the midst of a master’s degree program in anthropological sciences at her alma mater. She’s also working as the manager of one of the undergraduate eating clubs at Stanford, just a few steps from her apartment. Here her sister Jessi CdeP 1997 joins in the graduation fun.

 Maria Banman joined her family for the holi-

days: parents Jill and Ed, sister Christina, and brother Karl.

1997 Jessi Sawyer is in her second year of teaching biology at Lynwood High School and her second year of graduate studies in education at Loyola Marymount. She still finds time to play rugby on the UCLA women’s club team; in fact, this past spring, she and her fellow Bruin ruggers made it all the way to the finals in the national club championships.  When driv-

ing to Thacher, you have likely noticed that nice Victorian house on Grand Avenue. It is now home to t h e ­ D o n a t h s , including Kip CdeP 1999 and Graham.

 Alberto Struck is the VIP Marketing Host at

Harrah’s Casino. Here he is pictured with his family: Anne, Felipe, Sabrina, and Malcolm.  DJ Sigband is back

on the West Coast, working with the Roses Direct from Ecuador firm in Laguna Beach. Here he’s pictured with his sister Lauren.

1996  Jeff Stephen’s better

half is Alexia Allen, as of October 12, 2002. They were married at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples, FL.

38 The Thacher News

Cameron Boswell joined his two sisters, Liz and Kate, for younger brother Dan’s graduation. 

Ryan Kurlinski moved from Las Vegas to New York City in preparation for and application to graduate schools later this year.

1998 Jenny Silverman took time out from her pre-med studies to marry Chris Rowland this year.

Sisters Mia CdeP 2000 and Nikki CdeP 2001 were attendants for the ceremony. Jen and Chris are settled in Wilmington, DE, where he is working with his father in their family-owned tugboat business. 

 Windham Wallace worked in Peru and trav-

elled in Nepal for one year following Thacher, but is now at UT Plan II, and enjoying it.  Chris Holland

is finishing his BS in landscape Architecture at Arizona State University, and thinks he’ll begin his career somewhere other than Arizona: “enough desert for a landscape person…” During his summer break, Chris skied in the Andes near Santiago, Chile. In case you hadn’t heard, Chris’ mother, Leandra, died early in October from extreme brain injury following a car accident.  Eliza Gregory has

given her sister Martha ’06 all of the tips she knows to be successful at Thacher.

Good going, Eliza.

Your sis is doing a fine job!

Mia Silverman will graduate from Stanford in June, having majored in symbolic systems, an interdisciplinary field encompassing computer science, linguistics, philosophy, and psychology.

2001  Max Greene and

 One of the captains of the Stanford lacrosse team

last spring was Kim Cahill. Their team finished 14th (the first time Stanford has placed in the top 20), and they’re hoping to be invited to the NCAA playoffs this year. When not on the field, Kim is majoring in human biology and getting ready for her wedding this summer to Matt Peterson. Here she’s pictured with her brothers: Kevin CdeP 2001, Chris CdeP 2003, and Edward ’05.

Liz Sanseau spent last semester studying in Bologna, Italy. Max is back at Wesleyan studying engineering, but Liz is still studying at Bologna University as part of her Junior Year Abroad program.

She can be reached at evs2001@columbia. edu Nikki Silverman is majoring in psychology with a minor in Jewish studies at Scripps. She is considering graduate school in social psychology.

 Emma White and

Alden Blair toured Paris in the fall.

On the dean’s list at Johns Hopkins is a familiar name: Kevin Cahill. He’s majoring in international relations and is looking forward to studying in Berlin this spring and summer.

2002 From his parents, we understand that Nick Horton joined Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.  The Grum-

mans found some time to relax: Sasha, Samantha, and Amanda are pictured.

2000 No moss is growing under Erin Blankenship’s feet. She’s just back from China and Tibet and playing soccer with her team. After graduation, she’s off to Kenya for a summer of wildlife research and studies.

From her parents, we learned that Cheryl Lynn Horton is co-captain of Duke’s women’s Lacrosse team.  This fall, Erin Hafkenschiel spent the semester

in Washington, DC studying foreign policy and interning with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Her first two weeks were fantastic and were topped off when she met President Bush.

She and two other interns were invited to the White House to see Bush’s arrival in Marine One: “There were so few people there he came over and shook our hands and said hello. I was smiling so much my jaw started hurting! It was great!”

 Jamie Hastings helped lead a family trip

through Dusy Basin in the High Sierra. Also along were Shannon CdeP 1999, Newie CdeP 1970, Sarah Perkins CdeP 1997, and, of course, Liz Hastings.  We catch up on what’s happening in Alex

Herbert’s life when her mother, Cecilia, who is a Trustee at Thacher, comes to Board meetings three times each year. The Herbert family here are James, Cecilia, Deirdre ’06, Jim, and Alexandra.

 Seth Kurlinski is still in New England, where

he is a senior at Bates College, pursuing his passion of philosophy. Here, he and his brothers, Josh CdeP 1994 and Ryan CdeP 1997, are pictured with their girlfriends.  The Halsey

clan joined forces for Comfort’s graduation. Pictured are Phoebe CdeP 2003, Comfort, Wo o d y C d e P 1965, Brooke, and Bronwen CdeP 1998.

In her Christmas greeting, Marisa Binder indicated that she declared herself a public policy and Spanish literature major at the University of Chicago. As if those aren’t enough, she is considering adding economics to the mix.

 The Caldwell family is one happy group, in-

cluding three Thacher alumni: Wil CdeP 1998, Blake, and Tyler CdeP 2003.

Logan Clark transferred to Occidental College and is very glad to be back on the West Coast, especially with the nor’easters this year!

Fall 2003 / Winter 2004 39

Obituaries Alumni News

Losses to the Community Alumni Who Will Be Sorely Missed

Owen Jameson CdeP 1930. A distinguished San Francisco lawyer and civic leader, Jamie died suddenly on October 20, 2003 at the age of 90. Born in Chicago, he moved to Santa Barbara as a young child and attended Thacher from 1926 to 1930. At Thacher, Jamie enjoyed drama, participated in Bit and Spur, served as Assistant Editor on “The Notes” board and as Editor of the El Archivero, played soccer, attained “A” Camper status, and was an Honor Man. He matriculated from Thacher to Williams, where he earned his BA in 1934 and was a junior phi beta kappa with a degree summa cum laude, followed by his law degree from Harvard in 1937. He joined the San Francisco law firm of McCutchen, Doyle, Brown and Enerson, where he worked—except for five years during World War II—until his retirement in 1981. He also served as the firm’s managing partner for 20 years, and was a member and former president of the PacificUnion Club. His friends will remember his acerbic wit, his wonderful sense of humor, and his strong moral compass, which guided many friends and family members. Jamie’s wife, the late Margaret Hooper Jameson, died in 1995. He is survived by his son, John; a brother-in-law John A. Hooper CdeP 1934; sisters-in-law Patricia L. Hooper and Nancy Jameson; nephews John C. Hooper, Lawrence D. Hooper, John Jameson, and Colin Jameson; nieces Margo Hooper Blair (Thacher Trustee), Helen Hooper McCloskey, and Adair Jameson; as well as numerous grand-nieces and -nephews.

George A.D. Kerr CdeP 1932. Classmate Pete Pond called on December 4, 2003 to let us know that “Andy Kerr called yesterday saying that Geordie had died, very unexpectedly but in a ‘dignified way’ that day.”

While at Thacher, Geordie played baseball and soccer and ran track (and served as its manager during his senior year); participated in the Bit and Spur, Outdoor Committee, Committee X, and the Gun Board; and served as Camp Supply Manager, on the Gun Board, and earned “A” Camper status. During World War II, he was in the U.S. Army Air Corps and later served as a civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army in 1953-54. Geordie was the Senior Vice President for the US National Bank in Portland OR; he received a Standard Certificate from the American Institute of Banking. He served as a Director of Kerr Grain Corp., Helix Milling Corp, Merchants Exchange, American Cancer Society, chairman of the Community Chest, March of Dimes, Guide Dogs for the Blind. Member of Arlington Club, Waverley Country Club, University, Multnomah Athletic, Portland Shipping, Merchants Exchange. He was predeceased by his first wife Nadine Tenney and his second wife, Elizabeth, along with his two brothers:

40 The Thacher News

Donald CdeP 1925 and Thomas CdeP 1928. He is survived by three children: Andrew CdeP 1962, Donald, and Eleana; and nephews Peter McDonald CdeP 1958, E. Randolph Labbe CdeP 1960, and Timothy CdeP 1971.

Norman L. Yeon CdeP (1933). We received notice that Norman, who had attended Thacher for the 1931-32 school year, died last year. He matriculated to Reed, where he earned a BA in 1937 and attended the Sorbonne in 1938. He lived in San Francisco.

Charles T. Wood CdeP 1936.

In the Christmas mail, we learned that Charlie died on May 3, 2003. At Thacher, he was known as being the man “‘on the ball’ who could be depended upon for the latest information in nearly any field, from the senatorial elections to the big league returns,” according to the 1936 El Archivero. He enjoyed Glee Club and drama; he served as manager of the Baseball team and Assistant Manager of The Ojai [Tennis] Tournament; he also played soccer and baseball and ran track. He and his wife of 63 years, Carroll, lived in Saratoga, FL. She wrote: “I believe Charlie stood for the School Song in his life.”

Ralph W. Watson CdeP 1941. Bud died on December 14, 2003 of Parkinson’s Disease. Born in San Francisco, he lived the rest of his life in Fresno. According to El Archivero, he was called “Killer” (as in Killer-watt) which gave the wrong impression, for he was known for his good humor, loyalty, and knowledge of civics.

He enjoyed drama, tennis, and intramural soccer; he served on the Indoor Committee, the Committee of Ten, the Cabinet, and as president of the Erictheum Club. Following Thacher, Bud attended Stanford where he graduated with a BA in geography. His college years were interrupted by World War II, where he served in the Army Air Corps. Bud was the President of the Wishon Watson Company, but his passions were his family, art, travel, golf, horses, and bridge. He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Betty, a daughter Joan Thomson of Issaquah, WA; a son Jack of Fresno; his sister Eleanor Larsen of Fresno; and eight grandchildren.

William D. Witter (CdeP 1947). Bill followed in the footsteps of his brother Dean G. Witter II (CdeP 1940) by attending Thacher, but only for his sophomore year. He went on to graduate from Hotchkiss

by Jane D. McCarthy

before earning his bachelor’s degree from Yale in 1951. He then earned an MBA from Stanford in 1953. From 1966 to 1976 William Witter was the head of a prominent Wall Street brokerage firm that specialized in institutional investment research. In 1977, he founded and served as president of his own Investment Counseling firm in New York. He also served as trustee for the Dean Witter Foundation, director of ICOT Corp, San Jose, CA, of Moorco International Inc., in Houston; of Transnational Industries, Inc., in Chadds Ford, PA, and on the Board of Overseers for Hoover Institution. Bill and his wife Inger had three daughters (Virginia, Elizabeth, and Christina) and three sons (Sidney, William, and Michael). He’s survived also by his nephew Dean Witter III (CdeP 1964) and grandnephew Dan Gregory CdeP 1969.

Don Blessing, Jr. (CdeP 1955). During Don’s two years at Thacher (1951-53), he was an avid camper and gymkhana rider. He earned his bachelor of arts degree from Utah State in 1964. In December, Jack Huyler heard from his widow, Sheri, that he died of cancer on December 20, 2003. They lived in Newport Beach, CA and had two daughters: Kellae (CdeP 1981) and Darcy.

Craig R. Best CdeP 1980.

Craig, a native of Ventura, died suddenly of a heart attack in Chicago on November 21, 2003; he was 41. While at Thacher, he honed his skills and love of the outdoors as a backpacker, horseman, hunter, fisherman, surfer, and cook; along with Michael Cummins, he served as co-captain of the undefeated Varsity Lacrosse team in his senior year. Craig matriculated to Stanford where he studied economics and subsequently qualified as a CPA while working at Deloitte Haskins and Sells in San Francisco. He then attended the Harvard Business School, earning his MBA in 1990.

He was a partner of Marakon Associates, an international consulting firm, and worked from 1992-98 in its London office. For the last five years, he had been assigned to Marakon’s Chicago branch. He remained active in Thacher life by taking extended Sierra burropacking expeditions, attending Golden Trout Camp, serving as president of the Casa de Piedra Society, and as one of the 25 Sherman Day Thacher Associates.

He is survived by his wife Danilyn Rutherford; two children Ralph (7) and Melitta (3); parents Brigitte and Dick of Ventura, CA; and numerous extended family members. A memorial service was held on December 6 at the Bond Chapel at the University of Chicago; Willard Wyman gave a very touching and moving eulogy to his student, fellow horse packer, and friend. If you’d like a copy, please contact Jane McCarthy, editor of The Thacher News. A celebration of Craig’s life will be held at Thacher’s Outdoor Memorial Chapel on Saturday, June 18, at 10 in the morning; a reception will follow. e

Bookshelf Alumni News

Todd Oppenheimer CdeP 1971 The Flickering Mind

by Jane D. McCarthy

Random House, New York, 2003

T

he genesis of Todd Oppenheimer’s book, The Flickering Mind, actually began in 1994 when he was hired by Newsweek as their first “multimedia news reporter.” Initially fascinated by technological advances and attendant possibilities, he gradually became disenchanted and worried that these inventions weren’t delivering great progress as promised, but instead were constraining creativity and causing unfathomed social problems. He sought answers by studying children because they embrace technology with great enthusiasm, but are also quite impressionable; plus, their classrooms were natural labs where Todd could follow trends and watch the impact of technology on the learning process.

As accounts of computer use in classrooms blossomed in the mid-nineties, Todd had a conversation one day with his best friend’s mother, who had witnessed the academic progression of more than a dozen children and grandchildren. She recounted her recent tour of one of their alma maters—an elite San Francisco private school—where teachers had been showing off how students were using their new desktop computers. “They looked like zombies,” she related. That image haunted Todd.

A few weeks later, Todd read a newspaper article about a federal campaign to put more computers in classrooms. Buried in the article was a bit of reservation about the endeavor from the editor of Harvard’s Education Letter. Todd immediately called him and learned of the lack of quality research to support the premise that computers actually improve academic achievement. He began visiting classrooms—especially San Francisco public schools where technology is given special emphasis—and found “emptiness” in students’ learning and teachers who recognized that technology was not education’s panacea. A story emerged: “The Computer Delusion” appeared as the cover article in the July 1997 issue of The Atlantic Monthly, and resulted in a loud, enthusiastic, and profound response, including a National Maga-

zine Award for Todd in reporting on matters critical to the public interest. A few publishers suggested expansion of the article into a book, but the author wouldn’t commit until he’d researched the topic further and created a more complex story line—first, about how the modern world’s impatience has deteriorated the art of learning; and, second, about the handful of heroes are who are daring to take an alternate path. Through visits to dozens of schools nationwide—public and private, urban and rural—Todd presents compelling tales where the essentials of learning, which he finds matter more than technological novelties, have been gradually forgotten.

One of Todd’s classroom visits elucidates his premise: He observed some high school juniors engaged in an “inventive civics project” at Worchester’s Accelerated Learning Laboratory (ALL) in Massachusetts, the flagship institution of the “Co-nect” program. Co-nect is funded by the New American Schools Development Corporation, a $130-million school reform initiative created by corporate leaders and centered on modern technology. Nearing the term’s end, the students presented their reports on the powers of Congress, employing PowerPoint. Clean graphics, strong colors, and digestible writing were evident, but the content was no deeper or more complex than the work of many junior high school classes.

Todd asked the teacher to show him one of her favorites; when she pointed him to one young man, Todd asked the boy how he’d spent his time. The student said the project had taken about 17 hours, but only seven had been spent on the research and writing. The balance went to learning and refining the presentation’s graphics.

What was even more troubling to Todd was that this was a small class of six or seven, typically a scenario synonymous with generous teacher attention and, hence, good academic work. But when the teacher posed some elementary questions about the purpose and powers of Congress, the class was silent. Todd later asked the teacher whether she ever worried that the computer’s multimedia appeal was distracting the students from the subject matter. “Not at all,” she said. “I use technology as a tool. Next time, we’ll incorporate video. So it’s like a building block.”

This teacher’s definition of building blocks prompted Todd to surmise that “we have ar-

Fall 2003 / Winter 2004 41

rived at a time when our entire sense of what it means to be an educated person has been turned on its head.” Since 1990, government and schools have spent an estimated $70 to $90 billion on state-of-the-art technology and Internet access, which have now transformed virtually every aspect of the academic world.

These inventions, Todd writes, are aggravating “the continuing inequities between the rich and the poor, toying with the requisites of the human imagination, and altering public hopes about school reform.” Technology has also recast relationships between schools and the business community by “warping” the public’s beliefs about the demands of tomorrow’s working world, and reframing the nation’s systems for researching, testing, and evaluating achievement. These changes, Todd found, have led to a culture of “the flickering mind,” a generation teetering between two possible directions. In one, students can become confident masters of the tools of their day to better address society’s problems. Alternatively, they can become victims of commercial novelties and narrow measures of ability, a process exacerbated by today’s misplaced faith in standardized testing.

“Right now,” Todd argues, “students can’t even make a fair choice. They’re an increasingly distracted lot. Their ability to reason, to listen, to feel empathy, is quite literally flickering.” Computer technology didn’t cause all these problems, he notes, but it is “quietly accelerating” their pervasiveness.

“We need to invest in teachers, not technology,” Todd said in a recent interview. “Students need teachers who serve as mentors and guides in determining their paths in life. It doesn’t happen if the kids don’t connect with the faculty in intimate settings.” These factors are part of what led Todd to attend Thacher.

He said he also appreciated the School’s unusual combination of high intellectual standards balanced with down-to-earth values (the outdoor program, for instance)—and the way Thacher embraced and supported the “irreverence and individualism of teenagers. I vividly remember my math teacher, Terry Twichell, sitting me down outside Study Hall one day and telling me that I could be annoyed with the school politics of the early 70’s. And I could do whatever I wanted with my life, but that my future path and my chance of attending college were at stake if I didn’t get my academics together. I really didn’t want to hear this, and I kept making excuses and looking away. Terry persisted, though, and kept me there until he’d said his piece. His compassion and concern for my future struck me; that kind of conversation wouldn’t have happened except in a smallschool environment with someone who you know as teacher, mentor, coach, and friend.”

The very different cycle of technological fever, Todd argues, need not continue. Fortunately, he found, remnants of education’s sturdier 42 The Thacher News

traditions—practices that constitute real building blocks—still exist in a scattering of schools across the nation. “A collage of these practices could open up a whole new direction in education policy,” he writes. Instead of shutting down a music program or narrowing art class offerings to pay for new computer hardware, the focus could shift to what Todd calls “enlightened basics”: small classes, an appreciation for “the human touch,” an adherence to rigorous progressive education principles, an emphasis on discipline and critical thinking, lots of hands-on learning, teachers who are well-trained (and, hopefully, well-paid), and meaningful experiences that can develop wellrounded individuals. Sounds quite familiar; it sounds like a Thacher education. e Todd Oppenheimer matriculated from Thacher in 1971 to the University of California, Berkeley, and majored in History and Political Science. He originally worked as a calligrapher and portrait sculptor while spending five years as a professional actor in New York City. He now works as a journalist at The Writers Grotto, a San Francisco collective for freelance writers, filmmakers, and others devoted to the narrative arts. He’s won a variety of national awards during a quarter of a century of investigative reporting and writing, and has appeared on numerous radio and television programs. He also serves on the board of San Francisco’s Magic Theatre, is a former board member of the Seven Tepees Youth Program for underprivileged children, and has volunteered at San Francisco’s Mission High School as advisor to its school newspaper. In 1998, he was named the city’s School Volunteer of the Year. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Anh, and son, A.J. (and is expecting the birth of his second son this May). Since publication of his book, Todd has been working on related articles for various publications, including The Nation and The New York Times. His new book will focus on disappearing craftsmen.

The Campaign for Thacher TIL THE BEST WE CAN DO IS ALL DONE Thacher alumni are fiercely loyal to their school because of what they experienced here and of how they have come to understand that experience as the years have passed. Thacher parents and friends are also committed to the School because they have seen what it has meant to the people they love. Over time, this understanding deepens, and with this deepening comes an immense gratitude and commitment to see Thacher continue and thrive for succeeding generations of young people.

Continuing in this issue of The Thacher News, we share some of the stories of people whose recent gifts represent the generosity of so many who are now giving to Thacher in new magnitudes.

The particulars of their reasons for giving may differ, but they share a common understanding that Thacher is an important and singular work in progress—til the best we can do is all done.

TRISH AND JOHN A. HOOPER CdeP 1934 Portola Valley, California Charitable Remainder Trust in Support of Endowment for Faculty Salaries

I

N HIS life, there are unbreakable lines of memory and gratitude that reach back through seven decades, to his first days at Thacher. John Hooper remembers his first camping trip in September 1931 when he looked out over the vast Sespe Valley, blackened, charred across all of its miles by one of the great fires.

After Stanford and Harvard Law School, after the years as an attorney in San Francisco and the decade living in Europe with his wife Trish and their children, after a rich, full life, John remembers his time at Thacher as the best of his life. He remembers being an “A” camper, a pitcher on the baseball team, and manager of the Gymkhana team.

“

Thacher was wonderful. I never had such a good time. I support the School because there is no better school. There is a spirit to Thacher, a lasting spirit. And alumni, even from different classes, stay in touch forever.” —John Hooper CdeP 1934

“We decided to make this gift to support teacher salaries because the faculty is the backbone of a Thacher education. It’s getting harder to attract great teachers to the profession, and their salaries should be commensurate with the superb quality of their teaching.” —Trish Hooper

The first of 15 members of his extended family to attend Thacher, John’s connection to the School was renewed and strengthened when his grandchildren came to Thacher.

Seeing what it brought to their lives, he remembered all that it gave to him, starting with those first brilliant September days, that first ride over the mountain.

The Thacher School 5025 Thacher Road Ojai, CA 93023

Address Service Requested

Calendar

Thacher Gatherings and Events

Spring – Early Fall 2004 Thursday-Saturday, April 15-17 Senior Exhibitions Tuesday-Wednesday, April 27-28 Grandparents’ Days Sunday, May 2 Napa/Sonoma Gathering Thursday-Friday, May 13-14 Spring Board of Trustees Meeting Friday-Sunday, May 14-16 Big Gymkhana Weekend Saturday, May 29 Commencement Friday-Sunday, June 4-6 Reunion Weekend for Classes ending in “4” and “9” Saturday-Tuesday, July 17-20 Alumni Horsemanship Clinic Sunday-Friday, July 18-August 6 Golden Trout Encampment Saturday, September 4 Opening of School Sunday, September 12 New Year’s Banquet Monday, September 13 Classes Begin Friday-Saturday, October 1-2 Autumn Trustee Meeting Friday-Sunday, October 29-31 Family Weekend

Nonprofit Org. US Postage PAID Oxnard, CA Permit No. 110