2017 Winter Bulletin

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Building our future together as a community

Construction Update

Breaking ground on 590 East 83rd Street

WOMEN: New Portraits

Talking circles—everyone may talk; everyone must listen

THE BREARLEY SCHOOL

Brearley in formation.

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF January 26-28, 2017 Tradition, tradition! Tradition!

Kaleidoscope

Event

Head of School

Jane Foley Fried

Editor

Jane Newman

Graphic Designer

Jennifer Bartoli

If you have any questions or comments about this magazine, please contact Jane Newman at jnewman@brearley.org or (212) 570-8588.

Brearley is social!

Facebook facebook.com/brearleyschoolnyc

Twitter

@BrearleyNYC

@JaneJfried

Instagram @brearleynyc

Alumnae LinkedIn Group www.brearley.org/alumnaelinkedin

Alumnae Facebook Group facebook.com/groups/brearleyalumnae

Special thanks to Ashley Garrett, Jordan Hollender, Paul Schneck and members of the Brearley community for sharing photos with us.

Ellen Jewett ’77, President

Carter Brooks Simonds ’95, Vice President

Christopher L. Mann, Secretary

Noah Gottdiener, Treasurer

Christine Frankenhoff Alfaro ’91

Reza Ali

Gideon Berger

Nicholas C. Bienstock

Elizabeth Chandler

Virginia Connor

Jane Foley Fried

Jane Gladstone ’86

Ivan M. Hageman

Munib Islam

Elizabeth Harpel Kehler ’79

Grace Offutt

Stephanie L. Perlman, M.D.

Julia Pershan ’88

David B. Philip

David Raso

Paula Campbell Roberts ’94

Modupe Akinola Robinson ’92

Terri J. Seligman ’78

Jocelyn Strauber ‘91

Andrew K. Tsai

Honorary Trustees

Georges F. de Ménil

Evelyn Janover Halpert ’52

David T. Hamamoto

Stephanie J. Hull

Alan Jones

Caroline Kennedy ’75

Edward F. Rover

John F. Savarese

J. Kellum Smith, Jr.

Priscilla M. Winn Barlow

Faculty Representative

Susan Sagor

ABOUT THE COVER When asked about the cover design for a Bulletin issue on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, I immediately thought of featuring Brearley’s senior class. Who better to represent the School’s work in equity and inclusion than our Class XII leaders? These students have joined us from across the city and beyond, and their diverse identities and strong commitment to social justice bring to life our mission to prepare girls for principled engagement in the world.

—Jane Foley Fried

Missing from photos: Kenyata Plenty and Caitlin Tierney

Photos of the Class of 2017 by Jordan Hollender

LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

The Sixth Course

Brearley’s purpose, as described in the first sentence of the mission statement, is to challenge girls of adventurous intellect and diverse backgrounds to think critically and creatively and to prepare them for principled engagement in the world. This long-held precept, that an education exists both for the benefit of the individual and the society in which she lives, is what first attracted me to this community. But how do we accomplish this lofty goal of teaching our students to be active and responsible citizens? As I believe we have entered a new era of impassioned civic engagement, it is a question that has never been more important than now. Brearley’s excellence in teaching the liberal arts and critical thinking, in addition to encouraging a passionate exchange of ideas in and outside of class, are essential to this endeavor. Furthermore, it requires what I call the sixth course, the experience of living and learning in Brearley’s diverse community in a way that fosters inclusion and equity.

Brearley’s historic commitment to diversity and access has been recognized by the Board of Trustees, faculty, staff, students, parents and alumnae as a key reason for the School’s distinction and why they chose this institution over others. The rich diversity of the Brearley community creates this sixth course, a dynamic classroom for the development of cultural competence, which is a vital component in our students’ preparation to be active, responsible citizens. But this course, like all courses, requires a curriculum, complete with a vocabulary, pedagogy and commitment of school resources. We want our students to do more than navigate an increasingly complex world with respect to diversity—we want them to lead!

Soon after I arrived, I asked the Board’s Student Life Task Force to focus on diversity. Out of that process, which included talking with representatives from all constituencies, we made the decision to create the position of Director of Equity and Service Learning, for which we hired Michelle Wonsley ’97 and made a long-term commitment to engage in diversity, inclusion and equity work.

The Administrative Council, Ms. Wonsley and I agreed that the community needed more than the typical series of speakers and break-out sessions on these topics. We wanted a program with a pedagogy that focuses on the personal as well as the institutional, engages all constituencies, is rooted in research and history, and raises awareness and creates change. These criteria led us to Glenn Singleton of the Pacific Educational Group and the Courageous Conversations curriculum that he co-developed.

Over the last year and a half, the community has been fully involved in this endeavor, which you will learn about in the faculty, student, alumnae and parent contributions that follow. Along with these vital community conversations, detailed in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 2016-2017 brochure, we have taken steps to enhance our outreach in the hiring of faculty and staff as well as in the recruitment of students. We are also revising our in-house professional development and programming for the Lower School Social Studies and Respect and Responsibility curricula and for Middle and Upper School Advisory. This is only the beginning.

For our efforts to succeed, this must be a community collaboration. No one person or group can do it alone. The power is in our collective ability to play many roles—teacher, student, storyteller, listener, leader and active follower—as we engage in courageous conversations. As Head of School, my responsibilities are both to establish diversity, equity and inclusion as a priority of the School and, like all other members of the community, participate in this critical initiative. As a Brearley education unfolds over a lifetime, so too does this work, which is continuously evolving and asks us all to model lifelong learning for one another and our students. The process is as important as the outcome.

Each era presents its own challenges and demands. Today, developing our students’ ability to understand and contribute positively to an increasingly diverse society is vital to their future success and the well being of the communities they will serve and lead. We are thrilled to share our progress with you.

KALEIDOSCOPE

By Truth and Toil

Michelle Wonsley ’97, Director of Equity and Service Learning

Brearley has a long-held commitment to deep intellectual engagement that is central to its promise to students and their families. Our program is coupled with an expectation that students will pursue knowledge for its own sake, but that they will apply that knowledge throughout their academic and professional careers. The School has also sought to strengthen students’ connections to one another through its co-curricular opportunities in the arts, athletics and clubs and through activities shared with other schools. More recently, the School has worked to address matters of equity and justice, both here and beyond, as the world and its challenges become more complex.

Brearley’s faculty has historically played a critical role in supporting students’ emerging consciousness of the world. There have always been faculty, staff and administrators who inspire a commitment to justice and fairness, civil rights in all its iterations and the pursuit of liberties and freedoms sought domestically and abroad. With this enduring influence in mind, the School has embarked upon an intensive approach to equity and inclusion.

Last year the Administrative Council began working with Glenn Singleton of Pacific Educational Group. Mr. Singleton’s text Courageous Conversations About Race presents a framework that has formed the basis of ongoing work among faculty and staff who, at the beginning of this school year, participated in a two-day seminar, Beyond Diversity, which opened up a conversation about our personal experience of race. These conversations have continued in the form of Equity Leadership Groups, led by the Equity Leadership Council, a cross-section of Brearley faculty and staff. The goal of exploring and sharing our experiences is to better understand and educate our diverse student body.

Since we began our work with Glenn Singleton, our faculty is developing a more nuanced perspective on the role race plays in our work as a school, in our school as a community and in society at large. Our staff has also applied this sharpened lens, considering with more frequency the ways in which race impacts their approach to their work. Parents, too, are gathering for more intimate conversations, and students feel more emboldened to request specific support from faculty and administrators as they navigate a complicated world.

Even as members of our community deeply engage, there is still a level of uncertainty. This is to be expected. Questions about race challenge how we see ourselves as individuals and how we live as an institution. There are of course many important lenses—gender, sexuality, class, religious belief, political affiliation, nationality and personality, among others—and so we continue to refine our promise as a girls’ school, asking what makes us a space that centers girls’ and women’s lives and perspectives and examining the fullness of their experience.

Leading conversations and addressing challenges associated with these myriad differences is the crux of the work of the Office of Equity and Service Learning. It is incumbent upon the School to engage in this effort, regardless of whether these engagements feel consistently ‘successful,’ because even when the work is rooted in professional development or parent programming, we engage for the benefit of students. When we choose to engage, we communicate to students and their families that we are committed to affirming their identities and experiences. When we choose to engage, we choose justice.

In addition, Lower School faculty has begun auditing its curriculum and using an anti-bias education text that reinforces the connection between personal identity and social justice. Middle and Upper School faculty have focused primarily on identity with students in their divisions through advisory and grade-level conversations.

The work of equity and social justice is difficult, but it is the objective of equity and social justice that informed the founding of this very institution. Our mission statement asserts that a Brearley education ‘unfolds over a lifetime,’ the values of truth and toil coupled inextricably together. Herein lies the paradox and the promise; the more willing we are to engage and risk failing forward in this and other conversations about equity and social justice, the more our yet unfolding lives will offer to us.

Above: Schedule of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programming for the 2016–2017 academic year. To view the full brochure, go to www.brearley.org/kaleidoscope.

A good curriculum is like starter dough; it is always fermenting. With this in mind, the Lower School regularly takes stock of the relevancy of the content and materials shared with our students.

Spurred by our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, the Lower School has done some rich reflection, some deep cleaning and some fresh implementation. Over the past year we have gone through the bulk of the books used in our classrooms for Language Arts and for read aloud to ensure that each student sees herself reflected in her learning during the school day. We have chosen more culturally relevant, diverse materials for exploration and play. Each grade level of the Lower School is working with a consultant from Facing History and Ourselves, an organization whose mission is to “engage students of diverse backgrounds in an examination of racism, prejudice and antisemitism in order to promote the development of a more humane and informed citizenry.”

Through this engagement we have developed greater intentionality in how and what we teach in social studies and how we as a community must always strive to listen, respect and be tolerant of other points of view.

The Lower School faculty also meets monthly with Michelle Wonsley ’97, Director of Equity and Service Learning, Winifred Mabley, Director of Lower School Admission, and me to gain greater understanding about each of our student’s unique experiences at school, while working through a seminal text, Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, to keep us on point, current and true to our mission.

All of these efforts have only elevated the understanding we bring to our classroom work on a daily basis and the understanding we have for each other.

—Maria-Anna Zimmermann, Assistant Head of School for Student Life and Head of the Lower School

STUDENTS

Diversity Education at Brearley

by Ayo Lewis ‘17

In the winter of 2014, I had the privilege of being one of four Brearley students to attend the Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) in Indianapolis, Indiana. SDLC is an annual conference where high school students from independent schools across the country gather for three days to talk about issues of diversity, develop effective strategies for social justice and learn networking principles such as allyship and community building. Through small and large group discussion and activities, students explore the big seven core identifiers: race, religion, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual identity, age and ability. One of the main things I took away from the conference is that privilege is not a bad thing, and that where I have privilege I must use it to help others who do not share the same privileges. I left the conference energized, ready to bring back all that I had learned and engage the Brearley community in activities and discussions similar to those that I had been a part of at SDLC.

Since I attended SDLC I have become the co-head of Umoja and the head of the fledgling Brearley Student Diversity Leadership Committee (BSDLC), as well as continuing to be a part of Diversity Club and Queers and Allies (Q&A) Club. In the past three years, twelve other Brearley students have attended SDLC, and it seems to me that every student has had similar transformative experiences. SDLC teaches us that it is okay to lean into discomfort

“ I took away that privilege is not a bad thing, and that where I have privilege I must use it to help others who do not share the same privileges.”

and that it is not only important to discuss tough topics but necessary. Leaning into discomfort works when a safe space is created through compassion and understanding for one another. SDLC is important to the Brearley community because when students attend the conference a spark is lit in them that is hard to extinguish. Students who attend SDLC are willing to be the first to speak in diversity discussions back at school, and they are eager to help their classmates become comfortable with discussing inequity.

I believe that the enslavement of Africans had and continues to have a terrible effect on the ways we live, learn and work in the United States, and that we teachers must do our very best to help students talk about, recognize and address the injustices and inequities that are its legacy. Glenn Singleton’s Courageous Conversations gives us a structure within which to have these conversations, to question our assumptions and to understand one another with greater compassion.

—Dr. Jim Mulkin, Assistant Head of School for Academic Life

At my first SDLC, my peers and I witnessed the power of small group discussion and how small groups allowed for more participation and heightened levels of comfort among the participants; at Brearley, we realized, there were many informal small discussions but rarely any preplanned conversations. We were determined to create more grade-wide and small-group discussions at school, and since last spring each grade has met throughout the academic year for small group and grade discussions.

BSDLC aims to bring together the co-heads of every diversity-related club—Diversity, Umoja, ELLA, Asian Awareness, Q&A and Political Awareness—to increase communication and interaction among the clubs and highlight the various identifiers on which they focus. Topics of discussion will include the importance of intersectionality and how focusing on it can strengthen our community. Throughout the year, we will learn how to better facilitate conversations in our respective clubs as well as plan multiple joint club meetings and other events that will highlight intersectionality between two or more groups. In the next few years, we hope to host a conference for student diversity leaders from private schools across the city. I look forward to working with all of the club heads involved in BSDLC and am excited to embark on this new journey with the School.

My graduate work centered on engaging the concept of race and how it operates in people’s minds: the effect it has on how people view the world around them and function in society. In my teaching I strive to help students understand not only the historical significance of race, but the fact that the concept itself has a history. I try to impart to students that the meaning of racial categories and the way that race functions is contingent on both time and place. In my elective on Modern Latin America we spend a unit on shifts in thinking about race in the region. Giving students the chance to study race in a setting outside the United States allows them to think about the subject more critically and analytically because there is less personal investment at stake. My hope is that these emphases help students understand that the significance of race is never static, but always in a constant state of flux. Ultimately my goal is that they develop a more nuanced understanding of race and leverage that understanding when assessing its significance in their own lives.

—Dr. Enver Casimir, History

Brearley Student Diversity Leadership Committee (BSDLC), with (from left) Ms. Segal, Head of Upper School Student Life, and Ms. Wonsley ‘97, Director of Equity and Service Learning, and (center) Ayo Lewis ’17.

Classified as “coloured” during apartheid, South African author Zoë Wicomb explores in all of her writing the fault line between race as a social construct and race as something experienced by and often enforced upon individuals and peoples as constitutive of identity. That fault line has always been at the crux of our approach to race in my South African Literature elective, and Wicomb has always been on the syllabus. And yet, though Wicomb’s life informs her perspective and prose, in all my years of teaching South African Literature to XIIs at Brearley, I have never invited students to share or write on their experience or understanding of race in a personal way, nor has Wicomb typically been an author to whom students have responded.

This winter, however, my seniors and I have had among the best discussions I can remember on Wicomb’s Playing in the Light, a novel about a woman who, having been classified and raised as white, thinks of herself as white and enjoys all the privileges of being white under the oppressive apartheid regime until she discovers that her parents are, in the novel’s terms, “play whites,” individuals legally classified as coloured who have disowned their past in order to pass as white in a space far from where they were born. In the case of characters John and Helen Campbell, John determines that their efforts and “vigilance” to be white is precisely what will keep them from ever “achiev[ing] whiteness,” from attaining the state of “being at ease, since the world belongs to you.” If the plot itself were not one that raises questions about the meaning of race and racial identity, the narrator puts these concerns forward quite directly late in the novel, opening a short, lyrical chapter with the question, ”What is whiteness?” It is the day we read aloud this question and the pages that follow that the students, already completely engaged, begin intuitively to supplement their analysis of the text with their own responses to the question. And I, for the first time ever in this course, assign a discursive essay asking them to continue in a personal vein, to

write in response to the question the text poses or to develop and respond to a related question of their own. Everything is suddenly different; neither the students nor I seem afraid for the personal to enter the classroom. One writes, “I no longer think that any part of me is white”; another, “In my home, darkness has always been a burdensome subject.”

Every teacher knows that sometimes things just work—the timing is right; the students are ready (without question, this senior class was ready); events and public discourse beyond the classroom make the course material seem all the more significant. I am certain each of these variables contributed to making our study of Zoë Wicomb and Playing in the Light exceptional this winter. I would add that the students and I have participated in focused, purposeful community-wide training and conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion this year. As a faculty member who signed up to do further training after Glenn Singleton and the Pacific Educational Group came to Brearley and a XII advisor who attends many XII class meetings, I have seen the community at large prioritize inclusion and equity as topics of consideration and work to develop a shared discourse and set of guidelines to extend that dialogue. I also spent a good deal of time thinking about and writing my own racial autobiography, one of the steps integral to having courageous conversations about race.

Playing in the Light asks more directly than any text in my South African Literature elective: What is race? What does it mean? That our discussions of the novel were more organic, textual, rigorous and personal than any that I can remember having taken place in previous years, regardless of the book, I attribute, in part, to the fact that we are arriving to class, collectively, more prepared and equipped to talk about race than, as a group, we have in the past. I know that is true for me.

—Sherri Wolf, English; Equity Leadership Council

ALUMNAE

On December 5, 2016, more than 50 alumnae gathered to explore their experiences with diversity, equity and inclusion while at Brearley. The event, organized by the Office of Equity and Service Learning and the Alumnae Association, offered an opportunity for community building and initial strategizing about alumnae engagement in this area. Alumnae in attendance ranged from the Class of 1949 to the Class of 2010 and provided multiple perspectives on how well the School supported students of various backgrounds over a span of more than 75 years. Head of School Jane Foley Fried welcomed the group and introduced Michelle Wonsley ’97, Director of Equity and Service Learning. Ms. Wonsley outlined the School’s equity work to date in the areas of professional development, parent engagement and student leadership development and introduced questions for consideration.

The groups then gathered in clusters by decade for smaller discussion. Themes that permeated their conversations included the importance of racial, economic, religious, sexual, political and other diversity at Brearley; the School’s consistent support for student protest of war, apartheid, racial inequality and other social issues; and the role of teachers in providing both historical context and contemporary analysis of complex social and political events.

In addition, alumnae were generous and thoughtful in their recommendations to the School about the path forward in the area of equity and inclusion. Among the suggestions were the addition of subjects such as economics to the curriculum and more relationship-driven opportunities for alumnae to interact with current students and faculty. This was the first of a series of conversations the School plans to keep alumnae engaged in its ongoing work in this area.

I believe it is essential for a student to be able to see herself in literature, to explore her world through reading and ultimately to understand herself and others better. The library collection promotes a wide diversity of subject matter in various formats to encourage connection with stories and information. Readers with diverse backgrounds can find literature that resonates with them, is relevant to them, and is presented in a meaningful manner. —Amy Chow, Head Librarian

PARENTS

In partnership with the Office of Equity and Service Learning, and under the leadership of the Parents’ Association, the Community Life and Diversity Committee (CLAD) has been working over the last few years to gather resources and opportunities for Brearley parents to engage and learn from one another as well as experts in the field of diversity, equity and inclusion. The current leadership of the committee includes Sheila Hopkins (Zoë, XI), Anne Ross (Mae, VI) and Dr. Shellae Versey (Lalah, K and Shiah, III). Programs have ranged from workshops facilitated by Border Crossers, an organization that works with students, educators and families to create racially equitable, inclusive and just schools and communities, to discussions with school administrators to explore family experiences at Brearley. These discussions have informed the way administrators consider policy and manage relationships with students and families. Paired with the Parent Equity Breakfasts that support the School’s work with Glenn Singleton and Pacific Educational Group, the programming has provided an opportunity to share more personal stories and make meaningful connections with one another.

In the months ahead, CLAD intends to host workshops and plan social events for the whole school community, focusing on topics of identity and equity at Brearley and beyond. This year in particular, the group intends to pursue additional conversations in the area of gender as well as socioeconomic status, two areas in which members of the community have expressed interest.

Along with initiatives for the entire community, the group wishes to explore more intentional affinity spaces for families of color, LGBTQ families and families with diverse structure, for which it will consider other New York City independent schools’ parent groups as possible models. CLAD also has been working to field interest from various members of the parent community in creating programming that reinforces Brearley’s commitment to being a diverse, equitable and inclusive community. Parents can look forward to participating in their own two-day Beyond Diversity training with Glenn Singleton in June.

In a collaborative workshop I participated in over the summer, we created a Cultural Competency Tool Box, which lists eight tools to use in the classroom and in the world to prevent moments of cultural incompetency and/or to repair the damage after these moments occur. As we launch into our Diversity Training with Glenn Singleton, I find these especially insightful and timely.

1) Self-Awareness and Reflection (become aware of your own bias, blind spots, privilege and oppression).

2) Do Your Homework (infuse research and knowledge into your curriculum).

3) Cross-Check with Allies (develop authentic and trusting relationships with people from cultures different from your own).

4) Mindfulness (the practice of deeply noticing the present moment without judgement).

5) Listening (active listening, especially to those voices that are underrepresented or undervalued).

6) Apologizing (because we all were raised with bias, acknowledge when you have made a mistake and apologize).

7) Speak Up (ask questions, state observations or share your feelings).

8) Anti-Bias Teaching (create community intentions with your class that promote respect, empathy and inclusivity).

—Michael Baldwin, Drama; Equity Leadership Council

AUTHOR PANEL (from left): Jane Mendelsohn, Jane Foley Fried (moderator), Claudia M. Gold, MD ‘79, Georgia Keohane ’90, Clara Bingham ’81, Emma Dryden ’82, Stacy Schiff, Bruce Knecht and Anne Korkeakivi ’78. During the two-day annual Brearley book festival, run by the Parents’ Association, on the evening of November 17, 2016, alumnae, parents and students gathered for the Authors Reception, now in its second year, in which nine writers in the school community read from their recent works, described their most memorable Brearley moments, answered questions about themselves and their writing process and signed books. Missing from photo: Holly Peterson ‘83.

2016 FRANCES RIKER DAVIS 1915 AWARD RECIPIENT Tamera Stanton Luzzatto ‘75 (center) with fellow classmates and alumnae, following her address to Upper School students at the FRD Assembly on November 3, 2016.

Please send covers of your new books to alumnae@brearley.org.

Lois Kahn Wallace Writers Award

Congratulations to Anne Roston Korkeakivi ‘78, the 2016 recipient of the Lois Kahn Wallace literary prize, for her novel Shining Sea (Little, Brown and Company). Published to critical acclaim, the multigenerational story spans World War II to the present and follows one family’s attempt to live the American Dream, or just to stay afloat, despite war, death and the grip of memory on the lives of future generations.

Established in 1999 by the late Lois Kahn Wallace ’57, the eponymous award, which is conferred approximately every two years and carries an honorarium, recognizes a Brearley alumna at the beginning of her career as a published writer, or the beginning of writing in a new genre. Adult fiction and non-fiction works are eligible, as are books for children and young adults.

The Lois Kahn Wallace committee is currently taking submissions for next year’s award. To apply, or for more information, please contact Daryl Gurian Stern, Director of Events and Alumnae Relations, at 212-570-8516 or dstern@brearley.org.

Georgia Keohane ’90

Holly Peterson ’83

ANNE ROSTON KORKEAKIVI ’78

MILLER SOCIETY

On December 30, 2016, the Miller Society Annual Holiday Gathering took place at Angel of Harlem in New York, drawing alumnae from Classes of 1985 to 2010. The Miller Society is an association of Black and Latina Brearley alumnae whose mission is to establish and strengthen bonds of community among its members, and to work with the School to strengthen issues of diversity, equity and inclusion within the larger Brearley community.

COLLEGE WELCOME BACK

Two events, one great day! Brearley welcomed back college-aged alumnae on January 5, 2017, for lunch with their classmates and a panel conversation with members of the Class of 2007 at the Upper School Assembly. As part of the event, alumnae from Classes of 2013 to 2015 spoke to Classes XI and XII about the transition from Brearley to college life.

ROCK YOUR PROFILE

Brearley’s first-ever alumnae webinar, “Rock Your Profile: Maximize LinkedIn to Leverage the Brearley Network,” was held on January 11, 2017. Sandra Lee ‘09, Renewals Specialist at LinkedIn Learning, guided novice and pro-users across the country through a tutorial of how to connect with other Brearley alumnae. To view the webinar, go to www.brearley.org/alumnaewebinar.

SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM

February 2, 2017

At Brearley’s third annual Science Symposium, Upper School students presented their summer and ongoing science research projects. The community also heard guest lecturer Eleanor McGlinchey, PhD, an assistant professor at Columbia University and Fairleigh Dickinson University, speak on “Sleep, Emotions and Biomarkers in Interventions for Adolescent Mood Disorders.”

From left: Ashley Prescod ’17, Isabel Tadmiri ’17, Dr. McGlinchey, and the Science Department’s Dr. Laurie Seminara and Dr. Jeannie Drew.

CAMPUS PROJECT

Introducing 590 East 83rd Street

Highlights of the January 19, 2017, message to the Brearley community

Earlier this month, we successfully completed the removal of the three vacant structures that previously occupied the site where Brearley’s new schoolhouse will rise. With the site now cleared, we are ready to embark on the excavation and construction of the foundation for the planned 12-story educational building that will welcome students in K-XII each day. The new space will include contemporary science laboratories for Classes VII through XII; a regulation-size gymnasium to supplement the Field House; and a large, flexible auditorium that will support the School’s burgeoning performing arts program and allow us to expand community gatherings.

In addition, 590 will become the home of the Lower School. Designed with input from our own Lower School teachers, the new Lower School floors will blend innovation with tradition, while creating a warm and accessible space that honors the special years of childhood.

In all its aspects, the structure at 590 has been intentionally designed from the inside out, with the optimization of the teaching and learning spaces our first priority. We are now in the process of fine tuning the design of the building’s exterior. To augment images of the interior spaces that we have shared previously in the Bulletin and online, we are delighted to share a preliminary rendering of the exterior of 590.

Throughout the project, our goal has been to design a modern educational facility that is innovative and environmentally sustainable, while also practical and in keeping with the overall character of our surrounding neighborhood. Most importantly, we are committed to maintaining the intimacy, warmth and sense of community that define the Brearley experience.

Once the new facility is added to our campus, overcrowding will be alleviated for students and teachers in all divisions, and we will begin incremental upgrades and renovations to the 610 schoolhouse.

We never would have reached this important milestone in our school’s history without your generous support, input and encouragement. We look forward to keeping you updated as Brearley’s 590 schoolhouse takes shape!

Ellen Jewett ‘77 President, Board of Trustees

Jane Foley Fried Head of School

Please visit www.brearley.org/construction for the latest information on the construction of 590 East 83rd Street. A new feature of the page is a timelapse view of the progress of the project.

590 GROUNDBREAKING

To mark the start of construction of our new schoolhouse at 590 East 83rd Street, Brearley held a small, symbolic groundbreaking ceremony on the morning of January 20, 2017. The celebration continued at 610, with a special cake, commemorative pins and lunchroom and classroom visits by our mascot, Bev.

To watch the video of the groundbreaking event, please visit www.brearley.org/groundbreakingvideo.

MAKERS SPACE

Dr. Stephanie J. Hull and Alan Jones (sixth and seventh from left), were Head of School and President of the Board, respectively, in 2010, when the School purchased the properties on which 590 is being built. Also pictured are administrators and students and, next to Mr. Jones, Head of School Jane Foley Fried, Board President Ellen Jewett ‘77 and faculty and Building Committee member Heyden White Rostow ‘67.

Jane Foley Fried (center) with former Heads of School Evelyn J. Halpert ‘52 and Dr. Stephanie J. Hull.

Misty Copeland, New York City, 2015. © Annie Leibovitz. From WOMEN: New Portraits.

WOMEN: NEW PORTRAITS

Reprinted from the February 2017 issue of the Middle School publication Blue Skirt

On December 7, 2016, Classes VI and VIII visited a new exhibit by portrait photographer (and Brearley parent) Annie Leibovitz. Women: New Portraits was located in the former Bayview Correctional Facility, which used to be a prison for women. Ms. Leibovitz’s friend and colleague, nationally recognized leader in feminism Gloria Steinem, described the exhibit as “seeing through her eyes.” After browsing the photographs for a short time, Classes VI and VIII sat in rounded rows, with Ms. Steinem and Ms. Leibovitz standing in front. Ms. Steinem spoke about the power of what she calls “talking circles,” where everyone may talk, everyone must listen, and everyone is equal. Ms. Leibovitz also talked about her inspiration for this project. Then many girls asked both women questions, not only about the exhibit, but about their previous experiences.

Ms. Leibovitz has won multiple awards for her projects, and has photographed very influential people like Meryl Streep, Adele, Queen Elizabeth II of England, John Lennon (just five hours before his assassination), Michael Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio.

— Sofia Raso, Class VIII

Alumnae, faculty and staff, parents and Upper School students also had the opportunity to attend the exhibit and sit in a talking circle with Ms. Steinem and Ms. Leibovitz, on the evening of December 1, 2016. See pictures on the next page.

1. Annie Leibovitz, Gloria Steinem, Jane Foley Fried and Ellen Jewett ‘77. 2. Jane Foley Fried’s opening remarks. 3. Display table of books by or that serve as an inspiration for Annie Leibovitz. 4. & 5. More than 250 members of the community attended. 6. Head of Upper School Student Life Evelyn Segal and alumnae. 7. Students from the Class of 2017 with Gloria Steinem.

Malala Yousafzai, Birmingham, England, 2016. © Annie Leibovitz. From WOMEN: New Portraits.

BIRTHS

1995 To Charles and EMILY ROVER GRACE, a son, Carter Morris Wyer Grace

1996 To Joshua and DINAH BARASCH HERRITY, sons Nicholas and Nathaniel Herrity

1997 To Barthélmy and ALICE RENAUDIN, a daughter, Camille Marie Lilly Chantal Renaudin

1998 To NICOLE CASPER and Brady Olson, a son, Quint Casper Olson1

1999 To MEREDITH ANGLESON and Nathaniel Rich, a son, Roman James Angelson Rich

1998 To LYN EDELMAN DEVON and Jack Reardon, a son, Jack Reardon

1998 To Cedric and ELIZA SCHNITZER GAIRARD, a daughter, Chloe Bradford Gairard

2000 To RENNIE TAYLOR and Craig Cornelius, a daughter, Emma Cornlius, and a son, Finn Cornelius

2000 To CAMILLE SPEAR and Fabien Gabel, a son, Adrien Gabel2

2000 To JULIA FOSTER and Mark Mezrich, a daughter, Charlotte Foster Mezrich

2000 To Nathaniel and LAURA MISTRETTA KIRK, a daughter, Eleanor Thayer Kirk3

2000 To Jonathan and CAROLINE NATHAN HORN, a daughter, Laura Maxine Horn4

2000 To Philip and RACHEL COTTON, a son, Ethan Cotton Trout

2001 To James and MARINA THOMPSON CUMMINS, a daughter, Lila Barrett Cummins5

2001 To KARINA SCHUMACHER-VILLASANTE and Antonios el Achkar, a son, Gabriel el Achkar

2001 To Robert and SASHA KAYE WALSH, a daughter, Rory June Kaye-Walsh

2002 To DOROTHY LEE and Douglas Schrashun, a daughter, Joan Casey Lee Schrashun6

2003 To FRANCES CASHIN and Nicholas Hodler, a daughter, Edie Hodler

2003 To TALINE PAMPANINI and Mark Batsiyan, a daughter, Aliza Pampanini Batsiyan

2004 To Craig and AMANDA STOLLER JATLOW, a son, Blake Ian Jatlow7

2004 To Henry and BARBARA JOHNSON STEMLER, a son, Thaddeus Henry Stemler8

MARRIAGES

1982 ANDREA SELCH to Anita Mills

1986 KATIE ROIPHE to Tim Nye1

1998 ANNIE TROWBRIDGE to Duncan Sinclair2

1998 NICOLE CASPER to Brady Olson3

1999

2002

2003

2003

2003

2004

COURTNEY ANDRIALIS to Stephen Vincent

ELIZABETH VAN BUREN to Liam Reilly4

LILLIAN MEREDITH to Abel McDonnell5

MAGGIE GALLIN to Kevin Knox

ALICE APPLETON to Frazier Bardolph6

ALY GIBSON to Matt Marucci7

2005 KAREN SLOVIN to Bill French

IN MEMORIAM

1940 Rosamond Roberts Dean

Catherine Huber Anderson

1942 Audrey Talmage McCollum

Barbara (Bobbie) Baker O’Brien

1945 Sylvia Montgomery Erhart

1947 Iris Frampton Muggenthaler

1953 Marion Willi Whittemore

1955 Elenita Milbank Drumwright

1960 Connie Morrow Fulenwider

1964 Whitney Burnett MacLeod

Susannah (Nana) Robbins

1973 Michele Bradley

A Celebration of the Life of GeorGe LabaLme, Jr.

by Lewise H. Lucaire

Brearley has lost one of its most devoted and enthusiastic fans. George Labalme, who passed away on September 15 at the age of 88, could always be seen at Brearley benefits, parties, lectures and special events throughout the years. When greeted, he would always say, “I wouldn’t miss it.”

George loved to say that he was “Brearley born and Brearley bred.” Well, perhaps not Brearley born, but surely Brearley bred, as he had many “Brearley girls” in his life—wife Patricia Hochschild Labalme ’44, daughters Jennifer ’78, Lisa ’81 and Victoria ’83, and granddaughters Eve, Pia and Sylvie, daughters of son Henry, who attended Brearley in Lower School. He was proud of his Brearley connection and loved to express his admiration for the School and its community of educators and learners.

Family and friends gathering at a memorial service on December 3, 2016, remembered George affectionately, with many comments—kind, generous, funny, elegant, a real gentleman— repeated throughout the evening.

Over the years of our acquaintance, George loved to tell me about the very wise advice he received from his beloved wife, Patsy. Among other things, she encouraged him to be organized and to make lists. But she would always say, “It’s not enough to make the list, George, you have to look at it!” Good advice from a Brearley girl! What I learned at his memorial is that he had fully incorporated Patsy’s advice, having written his own obituary and planned every detail of his memorial service, freeing his children of these difficult tasks. I also learned that this last summer, he planned four separate one-week vacations with each of his children, making sure that they had wonderful memories of their father to carry them through the years ahead. It was a prophetic, and, indeed, loving act which his children will always remember. Those of us at Brearley who knew George over the years are enormously grateful for the friendship of this wonderful man who so loved the School. We will miss his warm smile, his generous heart and his lively spirit.

Lewise H. Lucaire was Brearley’s Director of Development from 1987 to 2014, and Director of Institutional Advancement from 2014 to 2016.

2016–2017 PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION LEADERSHIP

PRESIDENT Grace Offutt

VICE PRESIDENT/TREASURER Nancy Park

VICE PRESIDENT Kara Boultinghouse

COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER Lorena Lopes

CLASS REPRESENTATIVES

K Ellen Turchyn, Willa Fawer, Tina Bristol

I Aliza Waksal Pressman, Kashmala Sharif, John Lin

II May Kang Ho, Haynee Johnson

III Caroline King, Lindsay Higgins

IV Ultan Guilfoyle, Purva Patel-Tsai

V Cory Nangle, Natalie Ross

VI Monica Machado, Cindy Brauer

VII Athena Tapales, Wendy Leon

VIII Bethel Gottlieb, Hannah An, Maria Deknatel

IX Jessie Vanamee, Elizabeth Gormley

X Mona Baird, Elizabeth Callender

XI Margot Rubin, Kim O’Connor

XII Elizabeth Chandler, Elisabeth Cannell

COMMITTEE CHAIRS

ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION Katie Brennan ‘92, Ibijoke Akinola-Michel ‘99

BENEFIT Pam Selin, Rima Khalil

BOOK FESTIVAL Wandy Hoh, Marty Haessler, Kim Reece, Nandita Sodhi, Su-en Wong, Maria Gottdiener

BREARLEY ATHLETIC SPIRIT Nancy Gillman, Mona Baird, Daryl Gurian Stern

BREARLEY UNOFFICIAL Jennifer Lee, Margaret Lee

B+STEAM Andrea Fisher, Robert Massick, Jennifer Usdan McBride ’91

COMMUNITY LIFE AND DIVERSITY Sheila Hopkins, Shellae Versey, Anne Ross

COMMUNITY SERVICE LIAISON Deborah Brown, Jeannie Uyanik, Erin Galvin

E-NEWS FROM BREARLEY Ashley Garrett, Melissa Raso

FAMILY ACTIVITIES Michelle Jacoby, Whitney Mogavero

FESTIVAL OF CULTURES Jenny Lee, Denise Nassisi

GENERAL STORE Sheri Feigen, Maha Hayat, Ellen Masseur, Jill Worth

HOSPITALITY Melissa Roske, Jenny Carragher, Laura Forte

JOINT SCHOOLS ACTIVITIES Alex Fallon, Patricia Farman-Farmaian, Tina Vasan, Zoey Stein, Tiffany Trunko, Natasha Rafi-Riaz, Diya Sawhny Puri, Carrie Stegman, Claudia Rader, Kathryne Lyons

LIAISON TO PARENTS IN ACTION Eloise Donofrio

LIBRARY ASSISTANCE Dolly Geary, Deb Blanchard

LOST & FOUND Beth Strauss, Ashley Acharya

PHOTOGRAPHY Patricia Walker, Leyla Bader

SAFETY PATROL William Scherlag, Landon Wickham

SPEAKER SERIES Cassandra Berger, Laura Morgan-Moscahlades, Kim Shariff

UNIFORM EXCHANGE Kim Jennifer Cook, April Marshall Clausen

VALENTINE BREAKFAST AND FACULTY CELEBRATIONS Hallie Nath, Donna Fergang

WELCOMING Julie Gamboa, Alison von Rosenvinge, Sonia Deb, Jamie Kim-Ross

• Including Brearley in your will or trust

• Naming Brearley as a beneficiary of your IRA, 401K or other retirement plan

Join this generous group of supporters and become a member of the Samuel Brearley Society, honoring those who have included Brearley in their estate plans.

For sample estate language and further information, please contact Phoebe Geer, Assistant Director of Development, at (212) 570-8609 or pgeer@brearley.org.