BULLETIN

Last Day 2022: First ceremony to be held in 590 Performance Space p2

AI/SITE: Computational Thinking initiative hits the ground running p24

GIving Review 2021–2022: With gratitude to our devoted community p38

THE BREARLEY SCHOOL

“The constellation of your generous words, deeds and values is breathtaking.”

Class IX’s fall overnight trip resumed after a two-year pandemic-induced hiatus on August 31. After spending the day and night at Camp Mariah, the grade continued their group games and activities at Storm King, including (main photo) bringing art to life.

DEIA update from the Director of Equity and Community Engagement, Frances Riker Davis Award winners of 2022, What’s on Mrs. Byerly’s desk?, and more

THE BREARLEY SCHOOL BOARD OF TRUSTEES

2022–2023

Modupe Akinola ’92, President

Dusty Philip, Senior Vice President

Susan Berresford ’61, Vice President

Munib Islam, Vice President

Sue Meng ’99, Secretary Gideon Berger, Treasurer

Tara Abrahams

Ranika Cohen

Daphné Crespo-Helm

Amina Elderfield ’94

Thomas Farrell

Jane Foley Fried

Martha Haakmat

Rebecca Haile John McGinn

Cory Nangle Margo Nederlander

Sidaya Moore Sherwood ’90 Bill Shutzer

Letter from Modupe Akinola ‘92 and Jane Foley Fried, Total gifts to Brearley, Class of 1972: Why We Give, Parents’ Association Benefit, Fundraising Volunteers, Memorial and Honorary Gifts, Samuel Brearley Society

Fried

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

Brearley has offset the equivalent of 5,868,875 total standard pages of paper consumption by reforest ing 704 standard trees since joining the PrintReleaf Exchange on August 7, 2018.

Nekesa Straker ‘97

Lita Tandon ’06

Olivia Wassenaar ’97

Lauren Wasson

Alan Yan

Trustees Emeriti

Christine Frankenhoff Alfaro ’91

Georges F. de Ménil

Evelyn Janover Halpert ’52

David T. Hamamoto

Stephanie J. Hull

Ellen Jewett ’77

Alan Jones

Edward F. Rover John F. Savarese

Priscilla M. Winn Barlow Faculty Representative

Ann Saunders

REMARKS FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

Last Day 2022

Welcome, all, to Brearley Last Day 2022.

As I look out at your faces before me, I cannot tell you how grateful I am for one thing . . . to be able to welcome all of you—students, families, faculty and staff and friends—here today.

Following the understandably muted Last Day observances these past two years, we’re back to how we’ve conducted this hallowed celebration for nearly 140 years. We’re back to being surrounded by those who have been so instrumental in our growth and have helped us navigate the twists and turns and setbacks and triumphs along this truly uncharted journey that has led us to where we find ourselves this morning: celebrating the graduating Class of 2022 in this intimate ceremony together for the first time in this beautiful performance space.

Seniors, this is your day. Your day to celebrate, smile, laugh and even cry. And if anyone deserves to let their emotions run free today it is the graduating Class of 2022.

For the past two-plus years we have had to ask so much of you. You have had to think differently about virtually every element that school comprises—from learning and studying to socializing and sports—in ways you never could have imagined.

You were first upended as sophomores, when you went from walking the halls of Brearley to perhaps climbing the walls at home while remote. You then dealt with pods, canceled activities and different practice and class schedules from those of your friends in different grades. You were asked to sacrifice without knowing to what end, to pivot again and again without knowing which direction would be best, and to persevere without knowing when or where or even if the finish line would appear. But from this frayed environment, I can unequivocally say that this assemblage of 60 seniors took these uncertain times and made one thing certain: They were determined to knit our community back together, to make Brearley better and, while doing so, their other communities better, too.

From shock and uncertainty came introspection. I truly believe creativity flourished, relationships deepened and your views on what was happening around you—and around the world—came into much sharper focus for you.

Time seemed to be measured more quickly. A greater urgency was at hand. You had to make up for lost time. And you certainly did.

As we gradually moved from completely distant to six feet apart, then to three, and then to where we sit today, it is obvious that this initial distance ignited a determination to make changes.

Your impassioned calls to initiate new student structures, conversations and programs that took action to confront racism and bias, help fight hunger and food insecurity, stand up to wrongs and make them right, and keep fighting the good fight were inspiring. Rooted in community and kindness, your ideas and actions have helped fuel the evolution of Brearley. You didn’t just “make do” when beset with turmoil, it made doers out of all of you.

You helped us move on. You bid adieu to pods—and gave us affinity spaces to reflect. You deemed online slumber parties as “so last year”—and gave us Turn & Talk. You said the status quo needed a refresh—and you gave us an inclusive Student Diversity Leadership Council that will continue to shape and reaffirm our shared values and mission. You gave new purpose to old ideals and found new uses from discarded ideas. You used intellect and common sense to combat issues, and you employed your STEM skills to solve problems. You are the MacGyver generation (yes—you’ll have to ask your parents about that reference).

I look back at two traditional events at Brearley that symbolized our return to normalcy and our

passion: both Mountain Day and our Evening of Dance certainly sound innocuous, but both were so powerful to witness.

Mountain Day was a gift. Back outside together—hiking, playing games, enjoying lunch with one another. It was almost as if this tumultuous trip we were all on was now over. We were like we were before, but different: safer but stronger; at peace but deeply determined; together again but proudly independent.

And if anything captured the refreshing spirit of Brearley, it was the performance of this array of talented dancers at our first openadmission arts performance since the beginning of the pandemic. What an excellent display of artistry and inclusiveness. Dance styles that were choreographed by students, teachers and guest artists all captured so many different cultures, and paid tribute to groundbreaking and pioneering women of color. This was a night unlike any other I had witnessed at our dance shows, as the spirit and message were as intoxicating as they were educating.

And let me say that I was particularly moved by the heart of this class in the wake of the terribly sad death of our beloved Mr. Cronin in November. The thoughtfulness and generosity you displayed was admirable, but not surprising. Once again, you joined together to provide a little light to those facing darkness.

In looking back at the past several months, it brings to mind a prescient story from the 1950s that ironically takes place more than 130 years from now.

“The Fun They Had” was written by the famed science fiction writer Isaac Asimov at a time when America had finished one war and was engaging in another. Although “futuristic” technology was in its infancy in 1951, it provided fertile material for science fiction writers, who created a plethora of cautionary, and often dystopian, tales of a world controlled by, or at the least heavily reliant on, computers and technology.

It is the year 2155 and there are no schools or human teachers. Every young person is taught by a robot with a big black screen where the lessons are shown and the questions asked. A slot on the screen is

where a student would insert homework and tests—written in punch code, of course. The classroom was usually the room next to the bedroom. The “mechanical teacher” would be there waiting, coming on every day at the same time, except for the weekends, of course.

The 13-year-old Tommy finds a “real book” and shares it with 11-year-old Margie. They have never seen a book. They find it funny to read words that stand still “instead of moving the way they were supposed to.” The pages are yellowed and brittle. Margie’s grandfather had told her how his grandfather told him there was a time when stories were written on paper.

This particular book is about “school.” Margie, who hates school, can’t believe anyone would write about this dreadful routine she has to endure daily from home. But when she learns that the people in this book didn’t have teachers living in their house and that they had a special building where all the kids went to at once to learn, she is amazed. She begins envisioning the days so very long ago when kids would meet every day, learn together, laugh and shout, go home together and even help one another with their homework. She thinks how these kids must have loved it back in the old days, and she thinks about how much fun they must have had.

I think you know where I’m going with this short story. We missed school. We missed one another, and we once and for all disproved the notion that remote learning and online learning are just as good as in-person learning. We learned much from the pandemic, and one of the strongest lessons was that there is no replacement for expert and passionate teachers and the learning that takes place in the classroom, the hallways, stage and field, supported by dedicated staff. We owe a debt of gratitude to all of these adults who have been there for you throughout this odyssey.

One thing we learned about the Class of 2022 long ago is that your courage, commitment and compassion are the underpinnings of your Brearley experience. The Three Rs have their importance, of course, but it is these three Cs that give us the most hope for a better world. You strengthened each of these abstract ideas during your days at Brearley, and made each one a personal attribute. They are what will guide you for the rest of your life.

You will walk out of these halls into a world that seems to be teetering on so many precipices. We watch in horror at a war in Europe, we witness political discourse that is vitriolic and downright dangerous, and we are confronting a future where women’s rights are being erased with a stroke of the pen. There are inequality and inequity that need to be addressed, fought and beaten. The path to justice is not linear, and it’s been said that the arc of the moral universe is long but bends toward justice. Every one of you here today has the intellect, work ethic and courage, commitment and compassion to bend that arc more forcefully—and inclusively—than anyone can ever imagine. I have hope in you and in your generation.

So as I look upon the faces in this magnificent space, I want to recognize and honor these 60 diverse, talented, focused and powerful Brearley graduates who will walk out of here ready to make an even greater impact in their next journey.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to give a shout-out to each of our celebrated seniors here today, but in poetry, not prose. I truly doubt the English Department will think much of my rhyme scheme or meter, and I have no idea if they’ll be able to find any consonance, dissonance or assonance, but here goes:

“

One thing we learned about the Class of 2022 long ago is that your courage, commitment and compassion are the underpinnings of your Brearley experience.”

STUDENT TRIBUTE

They sing, they dance, they create and play, If for just one more year, we could get them to stay. They think, they act, they are agents of change, Their talents are so far reaching, there’s no limit to their range.

We applaud our DEI activist leaders who make Brearley better, Founders of B-S-D-L-C, F-R-E-S-H and B-S-D-C are caring, strong women of letters.

Our Iris editor has an eye for uncovering the truth while tackling racism and such,

And we hand it to one fighting voter suppression with a fencer’s deft touch.

“The time is always right to do the right thing” is more than a quotation, A student of juvenile criminal justice heeds these words—and can easily turn them into a Latin translation.

The dedicated tutor for Girls Are Great @ Math, and the bridge builder working for the ERA, Are just two examples of Brearley girls advancing women—tomorrow and today.

You addressed food insecurity and hunger with an eye to eradicate, Selfless work for Rethink Food NYC and Brearley Farm Share are admirable missions I can’t overstate.

One’s analysis of our nation’s access to healthy food was very compelling, And creating a grocery delivery service for Covid-bound neighbors is an effort worth telling.

Speaking of the disease that can’t be mentioned, you went on the attack. Supplies for Success was started to show frontline workers we had their back.

“What can we do to help?” so many did ask, Well, one talented seamstress here knitted together a company that made a face mask.

Many of you founded clubs to help make others’ education complete, A “catalyst” starts our first science mag, and the new Tech Club is courtesy of a star mathlete.

Music for You was a tour de force in breadth and scope, (And how she found time to work at Princeton’s Plasma Physics Lab is totally dope.)

I often wonder how they do it—I’m amazed how they won’t be stopped, An Alvin Ailey prodigy who works with children of imprisoned parents? That’s my jaw that just dropped.

Photo editor, rocker, carpenter and Tech Head? She must have a clone. How about an orchestra head, Asian art enthusiast and steward of nature—that’s my mind that was just blown.

All our students have such strong voices, that’s the word. A congressional intern in the NYC Children’s Chorus now has two different ways to be heard.

We could hear countless arias from this member of the Met Opera Youth Chorus—even an endless loop would never bore us.

And finding the next prodigy is not Music Mentorship’s goal, it’s all about marrying music to a young girl’s soul.

OF ’

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR NEWEST ALUMNAE

FRONT ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: Eileen Ye, Taryn Chung, Annabelle Sole, Ellora Devulapally, Aanika Veedon

SECOND ROW: Isabel (Grace) Davis, Tyler Abernethy, Abby Kwok, Alexis Ramirez-Hardy, Rachel Smith, Phoebe Weinstein

THIRD ROW: Hilary Malamud, Kilian Scott, Erica Chen, Maya Narang, Miranda Kimm, Noor Riaz, Amanda Noh, Alicia Alvarado, Emilie Su, Sydney Leon

FOURTH ROW: Julia Stern, Miranda Selin, Tsion Carnielli, Victoria Kashef, Sydney Gordon, Phoebe Cohen, Allegra Im, Isabel Zhu, Genevieve Barbee, Emily Wheeler

FIFTH ROW: Liana Rodriguez, Josephine Lemann, Leoni Wright, Nina Piesanen, Allison Platt, Olivia Osborne, Lulu Peters, Erica Lee, Natalie Weiner, Bettina Yan, Sloane Getz, Caroline White, Sophia Noh

SIXTH ROW: Shayna Podhoretz, Clara Schloendorff, Anika Hatzius, Victoria Hutchinson, Sarah Regner, Ainsley Scheiner, Hana Shimizu-Bowers, Campbell Arnone, Lucia Foglino, Nastassia Patnaik

BACK ROW: Joséphine Helm, Jossette Sullivan, Fiona Brainerd, Margot Megalli, Juliet Viera

NOT PICTURED: Kiara White

We would also like to congratulate the members of the Class of 2022 who went on to graduate from other schools.

(left to right)

UPPER SCHOOL AWARDS

Upper School Discursive Essay Writing Prize Sydney Gordon, XII

Upper School Analytical Essay Writing Prize Eleanor Moses, XI

Upper School Poetry Writing Prize Anna Steel, XI

Upper School Fiction Writing Prize Erica Lee, XII

Juliet Whiton English Prize Hilary Malamud, XII

Catherine Fairfax MacRae ’96 Prize

For Excellence in Both English and Mathematics Tyler Abernethy, XII

Upper School History Essay Writing Prize Phoebe Pallesen, XI

Dorothy Mills History Prize Maya Narang, XII

Ann Chalmers Greek Prize Lucia Foglino, XII

Ann Chalmers Latin Prize Noor Riaz, XII

French Prize Rachel Smith, XII

Spanish Prize Sydney Leon, XII

Mandarin Prize Maya Narang, XII

Judith N. Conant Mathematics Prize Miranda Selin, XII

Frances Arnold 1893 Mathematics Prize Eileen Ye, XII

Science Prize for Life Sciences Ainsley Scheiner, XII

Science Prize for Physical Sciences Nastassia Patnaik, XII

Ursula Loengard Berens ’47 Art Prize Genevieve Barbee, XII

Fanny H. Phillips Dramatics Prize Margot Megalli, XII

Berta Elsmith Music Prize Amanda Noh, XII

The Brearley Alumnae Cup Natalie Weiner, XII

Richard B. Stearns, Jr., Memorial Award Emily Wheeler, XII

Head’s Award

Alicia Alvarado and Taryn Chung, XII

FACULTY AWARDS

The Class of 2018 Fund for Building, Kitchen and Administrative Staff Support Jennifer Guzman Valerie Samuels

Class of 1992 Award Sarah Lannom Teacher of Classics

Serena Marshall Weld 1901 Award Matt Aiken Teacher of Music

Sandra Lea Marshall ’73 Award Ariel Sanabria Lower School Room Teacher

Margaret Riker Harding Lower School Fellowship Arielle Muller Lower School Room Teacher

Chairs for Excellence in Teaching Luigi Cicala Teacher of Art Susannah Terrell Middle School Room Teacher Sherri Wolf Head of the English Department

KUNZ ART COLLECTION

Class IX

Mayisha Alam

Allegra Alfaro Olivia Anikst

Katherine Arnall

Sofia Basilio

Chanelle Batraville Giselle Chan Kely Cuffe Ariana Djunic

Judith-Margot “Atlas” Dubrovsky Linden Frelinghuysen

Beatrice Glasman Walker Georgia Green Kacey Guthrie Hayes Annabelle Hoh Audrey Jaiteh Bintou Karim Ameera Lee Alice Chloe Lucich Hadley Meyer Nora Moor

Leena Mudawi

Yossra Nizam Lila Pallesen Edith Paterson

Margaret Ratzan Danna Rios-Sosa Mira Schubert

Sophia Seckler

Amaani Sehgal

Alexandra Shepard

Jaya Shri

Charlize Solares

Isabella Stegman

Noelani Taylor-White Annabel Thomas

Anaya Tsai

Fletcher Willis Lena Yan Alyssa Zhou

Class X

Lara Altan Ines Alto Sophia Andrews Kazandra Angioletti Ava Baird Penelope Berger Nicole Chang Adriana Cordero Miranda Ewing Daniella Florencio Stephanie Garrett Caroline Gottlieb Martha Higgins Cade Keys Ellery Kourepenos Camiah Kuno Ruqayah Mahmud Ladina Moor India Nacos Eleanor Nangle Isabella “Bella” Paraschac Emma Resetarits Amelia Roman Natacha Ross Jahaana Shamdasani Silvia Siegel-Yousef Delilah Skaistis Sophie Tanenbaum Maria Ulke Sophia Wang Katherine Wepsic Kaia Yamaguchi

Class XI

Mahbuba Afreen Eleanor Apps Asha Chawla Lila Desai Lillian Dick Olivia Goldfinger Vivienne Jones Eleanor Keohane Susan Leibovitz Phoebe Pallesen Grace Schuur Harriet Shapard Estella Shklyar Anna Steel Sarah Wagman

Class XII Genevieve Barbee Erica Chen Taryn Chung Ellora Devulapally Sloane Getz Anika Hatzius Allegra Im Miranda Kimm Alexis Ramirez-Hardy Leoni Wright Bettina Yan Isabel Zhu

Amherst College (2) Boston College (1) Bucknell University (1) Colgate University (1) Columbia University (3) Cornell University (4) Davidson College (1) Denison University (1) Duke University (2) Emory University (1) George Washington University (1) Georgetown University (1) Hamilton College (1) Harvard University (5) Haverford College (1) Lafayette College (1) Macalester College (1) New York University (2) Northwestern University (4) Pomona College (1) Princeton University (3) Stanford University (1) Swarthmore College (1) Tufts University (1) University of California, Berkeley (1) United States Military Academy: West Point (1) University of Chicago (2) University of Oxford (1) University of Pennsylvania (3) Washington University in St. Louis (1) Williams College (4) Yale University (6)

*as of 9/15/2022

Co-heads of Self-Government

by Joséphine Helm and Emily Wheeler

Thank you to the teachers and staff. Steadfast, reliable and always kind, you guided us through this turbulent year: We were remote; then in person; then remote; we had a five-day schedule, then a six; we had one curriculum then a completely new remote one. And all within months. Y’all never missed a beat. You were there for the last-minute floats, the impromptu crying sessions, to track us down for our saliva, to explain integrals just one last time, and a personal favorite: instructions on how to start a coup. You filled our athletic stadiums with fans again, even if they were paper cutouts of our pets. You lit up the stage and helped us get back to perform ing, even during the remarkable production of Two Gentlemen of Corona. You helped us lead our clubs, CIOs and affinity groups and even helped us start a few new ones too.

Self-Government has been one of the most influential parts of our high school experience: It has taught us how to think ahead and on our feet, how to lead and work together in a greater community,

and how to bake brownies at 5:00 am before an 8:00 am meeting. It has been an absolute pleasure working alongside you as class presi dents this year, and we cannot wait to see what you do with Brearley next year with an incredible team of advisors by your side.

The past two and a half years have been an acute reminder that loss is an inevitable part of life. But we have learned that it is what you do with that loss that matters. As a community, we have been pushed to find new pockets of togetherness and joy. Each and every one of the grades has taken this year as an opportunity to squeeze their friends a little closer and get incredibly creative.

Upper School: Your strength, compassion and fierce love for one another have taken you far and will continue to serve you through out your lives. So continue to be kind, center love in all that you do.

Thank you.

Above: Emily Wheeler (left) and Joséphine Helm.

Class XII Speakers

by Alicia Alvarado and Fiona Brainerd

The Class of 2022 is like a lentil chip. We’re tougher than a potato chip. We’re crunchy and we’re a little salty from the tears we cried this fall and now this spring as we face graduation. We’re fried in plenty of elbow grease, left over from our work on papers and tests and all too intense games of spoons. Alongside all the work we did, and all our excessive competition with the juniors, we’ve made some wonderful memories, immortalized forever on various disposable cameras.

We will never forget venturing on the long drive to DC in our freshman year or going to the freezing arctic that was Frost Valley, placed into various groups compiled of other students within the interschool.

And it was truly the most comforting moment, right after it was announced that exams had been canceled our sophomore year, to hear everyone admit how dreadfully unprepared they were for our chemistry exams.

We never expected our junior year to be complete with online school where teachers consistently called the tech office because “we can hear them but we can’t see them” and many, many assign ments were turned in at 11:59. (Thank God for Google Classroom.) We’ve tried our best to follow the sage wisdom of our teachers— like when Mr. Squire opens your homework doc the day it’s due and comments that you might want to get on that. Despite the surprises along the way, and the many treks up all the floors of 590, we’ve made the best of our time here. And throughout senior year, the senior homeroom was a safe haven of astroturf, “borrowed” B-Deck furniture and the donuts left over from club meetings, even if they were always the unwanted jelly donuts.

We couldn’t have made it this far without each other. Without our families’ love, teachers’ guidance, friends’ support. We thank you all immensely. It has been an honor to get to know you all, to learn and grow beside you. To have known you is to have loved you.

Above: Fiona Brainerd (left) and Alicia Alvarado.

LAST DAY continued from page 5

To offer a helping hand and a guiding light, a student often roams, That’s why one senior traveled to Puerto Rico to rebuild hurricaneravaged homes.

Another reached across the globe to strengthen girls’ muscles and business skills in Pakistan, Closer to home, homebound adults being read to and looked after is one senior’s thoughtful plan.

We’ve long celebrated the written and spoken word because, well, we’re mortal, It’s such a breeze for the editor of the Typhoon to make us laugh, guffaw or chortle.

Did you hear the one about the Beaver’s co-editor writing, acting and telling a joke?

Or the Mighty Blazer helping Covid book sales by having authors speak to ordinary folk.

Beavers are drawn to the water, whether diving deep or dipping their toes in, Doesn’t matter if it’s chlorinated, salted or frozen.

We marvel at a champion swimmer who can really cook, a ballerina who can sail, And a synchronized skater whose double lutzes never fail.

Inclusive and eclectic, our dance shows were fire; I certainly hope you caught ‘em, What more can be said of our co-head’s performance in The Wolves this past autumn.

Our other co-head is an artist molding young minds at play and works of art with clay.

And one’s Arangetram transcended, the second she took the stage and ascended.

Our B-Nats feature a girl who teaches students to code, A hoops and soccer captain who’s traveled many a Mountain School road; One gets homebound seniors rocking in motion, While another is thankfully inventing a sunscreen and ‘skeeter repellant lotion

On the fields of competition Brearley athletes excel, Our athletic association co-heads spike, raise our spirits and are Field Day organizers, nonpareil. A cross-country and track star knows all about running her own races— and a prospective DA’s, Then there’s a star on the diamond and the courts who can shed light on Paradise Lost’s rays.

We have so many stars they could fill many constellations, One took to a cycle for her cross-country peregrinations. Who else has a tech theater whiz who can knit a unicorn and a gnome? And when it comes to shaping political discourse through Students in

Politics, we know someone right at home.

If it’s still not clear how much talent we have walking our halls, then something’s odd. You must not have seen our Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or Toby in Sweeney Todd

And please don’t tell me you’d ever take a second look At someone on her temple’s Philanthropic Council and co-editor of our yearbook.

There’s a Francophile explaining to younger students the plays of the Bard, Being a three-sport star who starts affinity groups is, well, pretty hard. And we have a judicial purist who learned much as an intern for a New York Civil Court jurist.

We’re getting near the end of this tribute in rhyme, But there are a few more mentions worthy of our time. We praise our co-head of MECCA, who totally knows SONAR up to date, And what a great idea it is to welcome those new to Brearley through Fashionably Late.

Can you believe someone researched how to increase national happiness, it was so thorough, And if you want a smile, see what one school leader did with Parts of the Solution in the Bronx borough.

In DC, Congresswoman Maloney was smart in stocking her cabinet with a Brearley scholar, And if one painter’s artwork gracing 610’s walls were at Sotheby’s, it’d be attracting top dollar.

There’s an artist whose interests are other-worldly, as are her two hundred sketches drawn at the Met, But with one student to go, I have just one regret. Alas, I cannot think of a final rhyme For someone who writes bios for homeless pets and interns at the Guggenheim.

So let me catch my breath and end it here. This is the class of 2022, and every one deserves a cheer.

I wish you all the best and I leave you with one final thought, It’s something you should have learned, though it’s never really been taught. You’ll be forever buoyed by your experiences and friends made here, that much is so true. So even after you’ve moved on, don’t fear, Brearley never leaves you.

Congratulations, Class of 2022. By the power vested in me by the Brearley Board of Trustees, I promote you to the Alumnae Body. Brava!

SINCERE THANKS to Our Retiring Trustees

Clockwise from top left: Elizabeth Chandler (far right), Joseph DiMenna, Paula Campbell Roberts ’94, David Raso, Pam Selin, Jocelyn Strauber ‘91

As Brearley embarks on highly anticipated, innovative projects and continues to develop bold and exciting initiatives, we gratefully acknowledge the members of the Board of Trustees who retired in June 2022 after providing many years of remarkable leadership.

During their years of service, these board members faced numerous opportunities and challenges. This pivotal period of time was marked by the construction and opening of the 590 schoolhouse, the approval of a leading-edge renovation of our historic 610 building, the implementation of a curricular Computational Thinking program, the launching of sexuality health education for K–XII, an enhanced institutional commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and antiracism, and the management of the School’s fiscal and physical health through a global pandemic.

We are deeply beholden to the following trustees for their guidance, expertise and unwavering dedication to Brearley.

Elizabeth Chandler Trustee, 2016–2022 Building Committee Budget and Finance Committee

Joseph DiMenna Trustee, 2017–2022 Audit Committee

Investment Committee

David Raso Trustee, 2016–2022 Investment Committee Budget and Finance Committee

Paula Campbell Roberts ’94 Trustee, 2011–2014

President of the Alumnae Association, 2011–2014 Development, Investment, Student Life and Strategic Planning Committees Trustee, 2015–2022

Executive Committee, Vice President, 2021–2022

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, Co-chair, 2020–2022 Budget and Finance Committee

Pamela Selin

President of the Parents’ Association, 2021–2022 Trustee, 2021–2022

Building Committee Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee

Jocelyn Strauber ’91 Trustee, 2016–2022 Audit Committee Trusteeship Committee, Chair, 2018–2022 Covid-19 Task Force Compensation Committee Executive Committee, Secretary, 2017–2018

BREARLEY’S STATEMENT OF BELIEFS

MISSION

The Brearley School challenges girls of adventurous intellect and diverse backgrounds to think critically and creatively and prepares them for principled engagement in the world.

Guided by a dedicated community of adults, students develop a command of many disciplines, a love of learning and a resilient and generous spirit. The bond among students and with their teachers is rooted in a passionate exchange of ideas and an appreciation for the unique and lively contributions of each individual.

A Brearley education unfolds over a lifetime. The School instills in its alumnae the confidence to pursue their ambitions and the wisdom to live balanced and purposeful lives.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

The Brearley School believes that diversity of thought, practice and identity are essential elements in prepar ing students for principled engagement in the world. We believe in the importance of establishing and strengthening the structures and practices necessary to achieve equitable representation and participation in our School. We are committed to putting these beliefs into action and are therefore engaged in continuous study, self-reflection and dialogue in order to improve and adapt as we learn.

We embrace the opportunities and challenges of learn ing and working in a diverse environment characterized by respect and consideration for the needs of others. In partnership with faculty, staff, students, families and alumnae, we are endeavoring to instill and sustain shared values that promote a welcoming, inclusive and affirming community.

ANTIRACISM

The Brearley School condemns racism in the strongest possible terms and is committed to building an antiracist community. This work requires active introspection, self-awareness and the determination to make conscious and consistently equitable choices on a daily basis. We expect our faculty, staff, students, parents and trustees to pursue meaningful change through deliberate and measurable actions. These actions include participating in antiracist training and identifying and eliminating policies, practices and beliefs that uphold racial inequality in our community.

WELCOME to Our Incoming Trustees

Clockwise from top left: Daphné Crespo Helm (far left), John McGinn (left), Cory Nangle (far right), Margo Nederlander, Nekesa Straker.

Daphné Crespo-Helm is delighted to be of service to the Brearley community. Prior to shifting her focus to family, philanthropy and private practice, Daphné was a principal in the management consulting group of Price Waterhouse, specializing in the areas of technology, business process redesign and strategy. She also served in the chairman’s office during the merger of Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand. She earned an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania. She has served on various committees and boards, including the Elisabeth Morrow School, Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation and Englewood Field Club, and is currently a member of the board of trustees of Dominican Academy, of which she is a graduate. At Brearley, Daphné has served on the Parent Antiracist Advisory Committee and the PA Nominations and Benefit Committees. She was a parent cochair of the Class of 2022 Gift Fund and will be a Middle School Alliance Rep for Class VIII this year. Bill Helm and Daphné are proud parents of Josie ’22, Caroline (VIII) and William (Trinity ’24).

John McGinn currently serves on the boards of NPR, the NPR Foundation (current chair), Radio Diaries, the First Presbyterian Church of NYC, and the American Friends of Covent Garden (Royal Opera House, UK; incoming chair). Previously John has been a board member of New York Public Radio, the Civilians (chair) and the Alumni Board of the University of Chicago (president). He holds a bachelor of arts and a master of business administration from the University of Chicago, where he was also awarded the Alumni Service Medal for his leadership to reimagine and strengthen alumni relations there. John was the director of consumer risk reporting at Citigroup and held other risk leadership roles over his 15 years there. Prior to his time at Citigroup, he worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. John and husband Cary Davis are the proud fathers of Lili Davis-McGinn (IV) and William Davis-McGinn (Trinity, I).

Cory Nangle grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She received a BS in environmental education from the University of Delaware and a nonprofit certificate from the University of Pennsylvania before embarking on a career in business process consulting with SAP. She joined the Brearley community in 2011 when her first-born, Eleanor, started kindergarten with Ms. Kim.

From the first moment Cory and her husband, Ed, stepped foot into 610 and observed hardworking yet joyous little girls industriously running around in their pocketed tunics, she says they knew Eleanor would thrive there; Brearley’s mission statement spoke to them.

Always a volunteer, Cory has been careful to instill a penchant for principled engagement in the world in her own children. She and Ed also have two sons, Win (Class IX at Trinity) and Theo (Class IV at St. Bernard’s). The Nangles enjoy spending any spare time in the outdoors and with grandparents, primarily at the Jersey Shore and in the Adirondacks.

Margo M. Nederlander has a professional background in the entertainment industry working with major talent. She also has experience in the international investment banking industry managing public relations and in the nonprofit sector, having served on the development team that organized and implemented the Special Olympics China Millennium March that launched a major expansion into the People’s Republic of China, ultimately becoming the largest Special Olympics program worldwide. Margo currently serves on the board of Citymeals on Wheels as vice president and on the board of the Silver Shield Foundation, which provides educational support to children and spouses of first responders killed in the line of duty in the tristate area. She is also a member of the Chairman’s Council of New York Restoration Project, the Charitable Fund of the Southampton Bath & Tennis Club and the Women’s Committee of the Central Park Conservancy. As her family continues to be her top priority, Margo is an active volunteer at her children’s two schools and has been a Brownie troop leader and an ADEO teacher.

Nekesa Straker ‘97 is currently the senior assistant dean of residential life and first-year students within the Dean of Students Office at Harvard College. In this role, she supervises residential staff, oversees initiatives to orient and support students transitioning into college and helps plan staff trainings. In addition, she works with the Office of Undergraduate Education when it comes to academic advising and serves as a voting member of the administrative board. Nekesa is currently finishing her doctorate in higher education leadership, focusing on the moral development of college student leaders, from Regis College. When not working, Nekesa enjoys international travel, attempting to take over the Peloton leaderboard, cooking and serving on the board of the Aloha Foundation. She graduated with a master’s in student development administration from Seattle University and a bachelor’s in political science from Vassar College. She is a proud Brearley School graduate and Prep for Prep Contingent XIII alumna.

Farewell and

OUR RETIRING FACULTY AND STAFF MEMBERS OF 2021–2022 HAVE GIVEN MORE THAN 126 YEARS OF DEDICATED SERVICE TO BREARLEY.

DALE EMMART When Dale started at Brearley she maintained her position at Parsons School of Design teaching drawing and painting in the Fine Arts Department. Eventually, Brearley claimed her all for itself. A member of the Art Department for 19 years, seven of which were served as department head, Dale is especially proud of her work on the Lower School art curriculum and notes teaching in the new Lower School art room as a particular highlight. She has both led and chaperoned the London exchange program with the Godolphin and Laytmer School, an experience she relished, and she founded the Art Salon, a biennial opportunity for artists in the School to showcase their talents that she hopes will continue in the years to come. While Dale has loved being part of a “stellar community of faculty, especially her department colleagues,” she is looking forward to devoting full time to her own art and running Plein Air Portugal, a summer program she created a decade ago.

VALERIE MENDELSON ’75 Indeed for Valerie, Brearley connections run deep and wide. She joined as a 1st grader; her daughter, Jean Moylan, graduated in 2009; and after college she studied painting with Francis Cunningham, the husband of longtime head librarian Kitty Cunningham, with whom she helped found the New Brooklyn School of Life Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, today known as the New York Academy of Art. Valerie returned to Brearley in 2005 and joined the History Department, teaching art history and later introducing Modernism in Art to the curriculum. She gave these electives a global focus, putting equal weight on non-Western traditions, and added a studio component to art history that is now a part of the US Art Show. Valerie is also known for her beloved Art and Walking alumnae course during reunion. Though she will miss her “colleagues, the students, 610, the river,” Valerie, a published author, is eager to continue writing, concentrate on her painting and exhibit her art.

FRANCISCO ROSA Before coming to Brearley, Francisco was an attendant at a parking garage on Riverside Drive. Tiring of the graveyard shift, he desired a job with daytime hours, and arrived here in 2003 by way of his cousin (Oscar Fernandez, a fellow member of Dining until 2019). Francisco has held multiple roles in the kitchen, and what has made Brearley so special for him are his co-workers, friends and all the people. Ahead for Francisco are a move to Lynn, Massachusetts, to be near his daughter, and travel to Santo Domingo.

and Thank you!

CLAYTON SQUIRE If you’re ever in doubt it’s a Friday, find Clay. That’s when he wears an aloha shirt—an homage to his first teaching job, in Honolulu. Clay alighted on Brearley in 1997, teaching biology and chemistry; he added physics to his repertoire 10 years later. He will miss “the excitement kids have every day as they learn from each other and themselves” and, having taught in Lower, Middle and Upper Schools, “watching the progression of students’ development and how, through maturation and effort, they come to realize their ability to figure things out.” Recent activities outside the Science Department include reading to Lower School students during lunch and advising the science magazine, Catalyst. Next up for Clay? The role of project manager of a house he and his wife are building in the Berkshires, broadening his extensive volunteer work and travel.

RAMÓN VARGAS Ramón was no stranger to Brearley when he was officially employed in 2016. Through a staffing agency he had already held jobs in Dining for several years. Prior to Brearley Ramón spent 18 years in catering services in the Financial District, which came to a halt after 9/11. He is sorry to say goodbye to the people he has worked with for so long but is thankful to be leaving on a strong and healthy note. Ramón’s next chapter includes spending time in Santo Domingo and living life to the fullest.

RENATE VON HUETZ ’72 In 1982, when Renate entered 610 as a faculty member, her first stop was Franny Thorndike’s classroom, where she spent a year as her assistant in a combined class of 2nd and 3rd graders. Franny’s world-class teaching and wise mentoring propelled Renate onward and upward; she became a homeroom teacher in Class V, and then started making inroads into the English Department by teaching English to Class VI. The rest is history, or rather, English. Renate, who describes her trajectory as “a wonderful apprenticeship,” is eternally grateful for her colleagues’ constant support and the department’s team-teaching approach. Responsible for bringing a popular Russian literature elective to the curriculum in Class XII, she has also taught every grade except XI and credits the students’ combination of ambition and genuine interest for making it so fun. PostBrearley—which she began in Class I—and in no particular order, Renate plans to read a lot, travel, adopt a rescue dog and simply enjoy unstructured life.

An Invitation From

COY DAILEY, DIRECTOR OF EQUITY AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

First, I’d like to express my gratitude to those who served on the Parent Equity Committee (PEC) last year. The committee helped to develop three engagement opportunities for the parent body, which resulted in a 99+ percent participation rate. One of the events, the Community Crowdsourced Poem, had such a profound impact on the community that it will now be a perma nent event for new families at Brearley.

Secondly, while I am happy to welcome back our returning members this year, I also want to extend an invitation to the entire parent community to join the PEC. Comprising parent volunteers who help develop our series of sustainable parent programs that support their children’s experiences at Brear ley and move the School forward in its work to become an

inclusive, antiracist community, the PEC is a diverse team that provides feedback and serves as a conduit to the broader com munity of Brearley parents. Our goals are to: (1) engage every community member in discussing and understanding a broad set of social identifiers (ability, age, ethnicity, gender, nationali ty, race, religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status/ class), (2) deepen our understanding of terminology connect ed to social justice, and (3) further the identity development of each participant to collectively make Brearley a community where every member feels a sense of belonging.

If you are interested in learning more about the PEC or be ing a member, please contact me at (212) 570-8544 or cdailey@ brearley.org. I look forward to hearing from you!

2022 Frances Riker Davis Award Winners

Marguerite “Maggy” Cullman ’54 and Mar tine Singer ’78 are the latest recipients of the Frances Riker Davis 1915 Award, which recog nizes Brearley alumnae for achievements and service dedicated to the public good.

For over 40 years, Maggy Cullman’s dedication to those in need of help—wom en prisoners, new immigrants, community college students, the elderly, and people of many faith communities—has been steady, generous, passionate and unassuming. Maggy has been called “a priceless gift to the community.”

Maggy received her BA from Manhattan ville College and an MA in English from the University of Iowa. She is consistently en gaged in multiple volunteer activities, using her expertise in education and administration to serve the needs of prisoners, immigrants, the elderly and interfaith communities. Maggy also devoted decades to the many social justice activities of the Episcopal Church and the

Interfaith Alliance, and served as the bishop’s deputy for public policy in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, where she represented the interfaith community in reviewing the policies of the Maryland state legislature, and often spoke at the State House before assembly and senate committees.

After a successful career at the New York Times and the Los Ange les Times, Martine Singer left the business world to devote herself to improving the lives of children and families affected by violence and adversity. As president and CEO of Children’s Institute she oversees one of Los Angeles’s largest social impact organizations, with an an nual budget of $100 million and more than one thousand employees; her most recent accomplishment is the opening of a new, Frank Geh ry–designed headquarters in Watts. She has become a major influence in the city, helping to shape policy and bring about systemic change for communities affected by decades of racism and underinvestment.

For many years both women have steadily, effectively and selflessly dedicated their professional expertise to helping underserved people in their local communities. Over 30 years apart in age, they offer outstanding models of the way humane, compassionate impulses, inspired by direct, face-to-face engagement with people in need, can lead to major and highly effective commitments of service.

RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS BY ALUMNAE Please send covers of your new books to classnotes@brearley.org.

Victoria Barr ’55 Mary Jane Herrmann Rossabi ‘56

Ann Goldschmidt Richardson ‘60

Jane Steinberg Hart ’61 Lee Roscoe ’64

Lydia Davis ‘65

Katharine Stanley-Brown

Martine Singer ’78

Marguerite Cullman ’54

hello!

NEW FACULTY AND STAFF

In August, new faculty and staff arrived at Brearley to start the 2022–2023 school year. Please visit our website, where we will be introducing them throughout the next months. Welcome to the community!

WHAT’S ON YOUR DESK?

ANNIE SPADER BYERLY, KINDERGARTEN TEACHER

1. Framed sayings from Peggy Harding, a dear friend and mentor who worked at Brearley for many years. 2. My own fork and spoon, so I can avoid using plastic. 3. Leftovers from lunch. I love food and take too much, so I save it to eat after school. 4. Chopsticks, which I use as pointers and magic wands. 5. This box, which is currently being used for lost and found, was made for me by a former class. 6. The red stool comes from my last school, Buckley. They’re no longer on it, but my students painted and Mod Podged messages on it for me. 7. This photo of my dad was taken in my Buckley classroom when he came to visit me. 8. Lavender, which we use in the classroom for calm ing purposes. 9. Stick bugs (also called walking sticks), our 2021–2022 class pet. 10. Cards made by students last year. 11. Cartoon art that my hus band made in 2001. 12. A picture of my daughters (Maisy ’11 and Lily ’08 Byerly). The frame was made by an associate teacher as an end-of-year gift.

Lois Kahn Wallace

Writer’s Award

Established in 1999 by the late Lois Kahn Wallace ‘57, this award honors and encourages a Brearley alum at the beginning of her career as a published writer, or the beginning of writing in a new genre. Nominated books must be the first by the author, or the first by the author in its genre. Fiction and nonfiction works are eligible, as are books for young adults. This award is conferred approximately every two years and carries an honorarium. To apply, submit six copies of the work to Lizzy Young ling, Alum Relations Manager, at Brearley, 610 East 83rd Street, New York, NY 10028.

BULLETIN AWARD

This summer, Brearley received an Honorable Mention for Cover Design for the Spring/Summer 2021 Bulletin from the University & College Designers Association (UCDA) in its annual national design awards competition

Selected from more than 775 entries, the illustration, which was drawn by Randy Haldeman, is a depiction of our students’ strength amid the trials and tribulations of a pandemic. This is Brearley’s sixth nod from UCDA since 2015.

Rebecca Frost Cuevas ’72

Gaelin Rosenwaks ’97

Susan Amussen ’72

Anna Della Subin ‘03

Alice Robb ’10

faculty and staff summer reads

Rachel Spradley

Katherine Bateman

Jennifer Stewart

Runako

Taylor

Andy Vernon-Jones

Lizzy Youngling

Gail Marcus

Jim McDonald

Peter McKay

Jim Mulkin

Lisa Pollack

Colin Samuel

Maria Zimmermann

Luigi Cicala

Carolyn Clark

Jane Fried

Andrea Gilroy

Sheila Kramer Winifred Mabley

Jennifer Bartoli

The Brearley Community Tim Brownell

Kristen Chae

Brian Chu

Truth and Toil Award

Cecile Miller Eistrup ’58 Makes Brearley History Again as Inaugural Winner

“I am happy that my presence here means something to you, because it means a lot to me.” So said Cecile Miller Eistrup ‘58 upon accepting Brearley’s first Truth and Toil Award at a ceremony and reception held in her honor on September 28 at the School. The new award annually recognizes a living alumna who has built a sense of connection across class years and has made a significant impact on the community. Cecile was announced as the winner during the 2022 Reunion and Alumnae Celebrations.

Entering Brearley in 1950 as a member of Class VI, Cecile was the first student of color to be admitted at the School. Years later, in honor of Cecile opening the doors for every Brearley alumna of color, Cherise Davis ’90, Lisa Downing ’85 and Andréa Matos ’88 created the Miller Society. The Miller Society has thrived and expanded ever since, becoming one of the most important alumnae groups at Brearley. Its purpose includes supporting current students and families of color and propelling diversity, equity and inclusion at the School.

At the celebration, which was attended by Cecile’s classmates and other alumnae, administration, trustees, faculty, staff and students, Cecile, who received a silk scarf on which Truth & Toil and other Brearley details were hand-painted by art teacher Rebecca Raney, was asked what advice she could give to current students. “Be yourself,” she responded. “Know who you are, what you stand for. Be willing to share and be as open and understanding and learn to respect each other.” To you, Cecile, for embodying the values of Brearley and continuing to inspire generations of students, we express our sincerest appreciation and gratitude.

AI/SITE

Hits the Ground Running

BY WAN JUN (ALYSSA) ZHOU ‘25

On June 20, An Immersive Summer Interacting with Technology and Engineering, better known by its acronym, AI/SITE, became a reality when fellow Upper School students and I set foot on the Tandon School of Engineering campus of New York University. In partnership with NYU Tandon, this highly anticipated computational thinking program was created for Brearley students interested in technology, its application in society and related careers to experience STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) in a university setting. For the next six weeks, Monday–Friday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, we attended classes taught by NYU Tandon graduate students on topics such as machine learning, python programming, physical computing, robotics and science ethics before engaging in our final assignment, a mentored challenge in which we worked in teams to address a global or local social problem and prototype a technology built through the lens of ethical engineering.

HISTORY

As Jane Foley Fried, Head of School, explained to me, AI/ SITE is a computational thinking initiative whose origins can be traced to Opening Doors , the School’s Strategic Vision that was adopted in 2014. The purpose of AI/SITE, described in the Course of Study as “an interdisciplinary introduction to essential areas of college-level STEM,” is in keeping with the goals of Opening Doors , which include developing in Brearley “an expanded, futurefocused model of excellence benefiting today and tomorrow’s students.” Open to all rising Xs–XIIs regardless of financial need, the program provides an immersive learning environment free of grades and other academic demands in which students work on real-life projects. Not only does AI/SITE help students to sharpen their individual and collaborative skills and equip them with the tools to engage in a changing world, Ms. Fried continued, but it also “enriches and advances the exceptional teaching that lies at the core of the Brearley experience.” Lastly, but equally important, Ms. Fried noted that AI/SITE “was also born out of a need to address the underrepresentation of women and people of color in STEM.”

Additionally, I spoke to Colin Samuel, Chief Technology Officer and director of AI/SITE, who pointed out that AI/SITE augments the engineering offerings at Brearley, such as advanced computer science

and statistical computing courses. It also gives students more access to opportunities to learn computer science and accrue knowledge they can make use of in college and beyond. With its exposure-based design, AI/SITE presents a broad scope of computer science, which he describes as “great for students interested in computer science and who might want to pursue it in the future.”

CHALLENGE WEEK

The program culminated in a challenge week. On the sixth week, students, in teams of three, were shown problems that needed to be solved, requiring the skills we learned from the various topics covered each week. First we chose the problem we wished to tackle. Then, with our new-found knowledge and help from instructors, we were ready to start our projects. The Penguin Team designed a penguin robot to study penguin huddles. The Solar Team, which I was part of, created a mechanism that would help satellites sense an increase in light from solar storms and change the satellites’ positions accordingly. The Machine Learning Team incorporated machine learning into the medical field in an effort to help with faster and more accurate diagnoses.

FIRST YEAR IN THE BOOKS

Overall, AI/SITE’S debut was considered a resounding success, in large part due to the teachers, whom Mr. Samuel counts “among

the stars, the really bright things about the program.”

For me, I came into AI/SITE thinking it was going to be a grueling 9–5 “job,” but these incredible instructors created a unique, fun and welcoming learning environment. Their dedication and enthusiasm enabled me and my supportive Brearley classmates to forge deep bonds with each other.

I also did not expect to get an introduction to such a huge range of topics all in the span of six weeks. However, I enjoyed it because I now have a better sense of what areas of computer science I would like to study further. I also learned that the so-called “different” sections in computer science often blend together as in my final project, in which I combined my physical computer, coding and robotics knowledge to create the solar satellite system.

FUTURE

Mr. Samuel is already at work on next summer’s program and how it can be strengthened. He wants students to be able to work in labs with NYU professors to get real hands-on working experience. He is also eager to open AI/SITE to Interschool and beyond. Ms. Fried concurs. “I am thrilled that future Brearley students and high schoolers from across the city will have access to this program,” she says. “Thank you to the Brearley students and staff who made this a terrific first year!”

KATE MCNULTY ‘23

“In the heart of downtown Brooklyn is a place that, until this summer, I had no idea could transform my way of thinking and approach to problemsolving. Describing AI/SITE as your typical immersive preparatory college program would be a disservice and extraordinarily inaccurate. The staff leading the program are brilliant, supportive and accommodating; their passions for computer science and engineering are contagious and thoroughly evident when educating the class. After completing this program, I feel confident in my machine learning and physical computing abilities and even nourished in other areas of study such as calculus, physics and ethics. Even so, I have already utilized numerous concepts I learned during AI/SITE in the first weeks of school, and I am certain they will be prevalent as I advance in my academic career.

KATHERINE ARNALL ‘25 “AI/SITE was an amazing experience. I had so much fun, and I feel as if our group bonded together, even with the instructors. Speaking of the instructors, they were hilarious and made the classes really fun! I learned a lot in AI/ SITE; the instructors also made difficult topics easy to understand, and I feel as if it was the perfect introduction to complicated STEM topics that I might want to pursue later. It was so cool to be on the NYU campus, and if there was a second year I would definitely go.”

BEN ESNER

Director, Center for K12 STEM Education at NYU Tandon School of Engineering: “We are excited about AI/SITE and the excellent results of the first run of the program this summer. We learned a lot from observing how the program’s curriculum, activities and structure accelerated and ignited STEM interest, achievement and academic engagement. We are so impressed with the students from Brearley. They worked hard, tackled difficult content with alacrity, and brought a positive attitude and great spirit to their classroom. Also impressive, our Tandon people— graduate students, PhD candidates and faculty—who created innovative content and delivered it with passion and expertise. All of us at the Center are looking forward to summer 2023 and building on this year’s success.”

KONISHJIT BEDI

Instructor and master’s candidate in mechatronics, automation, and robotics: “I was truly amazed at how receptive all of the students were toward the courses taught and how each one of them had their individual strengths and weaknesses that you put to use throughout the program. The inquisitiveness of this group was something that kept us instructors on our toes and also made us strive to prepare for the classes in the best way possible. The sense of pride I experienced when I saw my students applying the knowledge they amassed and seeing how well they were able to communicate it during the presentations is a reason I would recommend this experience for everyone, and I would gladly be a part of it again.”

WILLIAM PENG

Lead instructor and PhD student in mechanical and aerospace engineering: “We had to adjust the curriculum to include only those concepts which we could demonstrate or teach in an experiential way in order to make them stick (given that we were not assigning readings or homework). We also repeated certain common engineering concepts, such as control, across the different subjects to give students both a sense of coherence and the interdisciplinary flavor of modern engineering. I am very proud of everyone’s contributions, both the STEM leaders’ and the students’, to how it all turned out. If possible, I plan to either teach the program again next year or train the next group of STEM leaders, or both.”

SARAH HERVIEUX

Brearley science teacher and AI/SITE advisor: “The instructors communicat ed their knowledge impressively and made the breadth of topics very ap pealing to the students. I look forward to AI/SITE becoming more hands-on and hope it will include a ‘connection aspect,’ where students can talk to other NYU students and professionals in the field about their career paths to get a greater sense of what they would or might like to do in the future.”

SOFIA BASILIO ‘25

“My experience in the AI/SITE program this year enriched my knowledge and experience in the STEM field. The instructors really helped guide us to the answers to our questions. After this experience, I feel very motivated to pursue a career in STEM.”

“ We are so impressed with the students from Brearley. They worked hard, tackled difficult content with alacrity, and brought a positive attitude and great spirit to their classroom.”

Innovates on the Fly

BY ERIK KING, P’34

Winifred Mabley started at Brearley 35 years ago, as a 1st grade assistant teacher. It was 1987 and her first job after graduating with a BA in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. She vividly remembers her first day and laughs at the recollection: “It was a hot and sticky mid-August morning, and I re member exactly what I was wearing as I ner vously walked east on 83rd Street, very uncom fortable thanks to my nude pantyhose. Can you imagine? In my young mind, this was what one was supposed to wear when one went to work. When I arrived at the new faculty orientation meeting, I was relieved (and annoyed!) to ob serve that no one was wearing pantyhose and of course, I never did again!”

After teaching fourth grade for many years and starting a family, Ms. Mabley decided to ex plore part-time work in the Admission Office in the late 1990s. While she missed the classroom, she fell in love with introducing the School to prospective families and meeting four-year-old

applicants. After moving up the ranks, she be came Director of Lower School Admission in 2004. Since then, she has been responsible for assembling each year’s kindergarten class. A priority in this work is maintaining the Brearley ethos she was introduced to as a novice teach er at the age of 24: “A parent body that values girls’ education, that values the life of the mind, that enjoys an environment that is understated and does not reflect the stereotypes that ripple off the phrase ‘Upper East Side girls’ school.’” Another priority is building a diverse community, which she defines as one that spans geography, religion, child birthday and personality, parent occupation, socioeconomic status and family structure, among other variables.

“At the kindergarten level the parents are as important as the child,” Ms. Mabley explains. “You are accepting the family—both the child and the parents have to be a fit with the school and its program. You seek families who fall in love with Brearley—its history, mission, curriculum and

community.” Despite her long tenure and proven results—the percentage of students of color has grown from 25 in 2004 to 56 this year, for exam ple—Ms. Mabley admits that she still has butter flies come the start of every school year.

Talking with Ms. Mabley, it’s easy to see that she loves her job, and that she might be ex cused for looking forward to relaxing a little during the third act of her career. But then the pandemic hit.

Ms. Mabley tells the story like this: “In March 2020, when Covid-19 exploded in New York City, I telephoned Jane Fried, Brearley’s Head of School, to express concern about interview ing conditions for fall of 2020. ‘I’m thinking about this fall, and I don’t have enough space in my office to maintain social distance.’ Jane replied, ‘Winifred, there aren’t going to be any outside visitors coming into the school, at all.’ And at that moment, my career at Brear ley flashed before my eyes. I figured I had two options: I retire early—or I face this head on.”

Admissions in a Pandemic ?

Kindergarten Visits canceled? No problem! winifred mabley

Of course (no-brainer here), she went for the second option, making a reference to that Bea ver mentality of Brearley.

While virtual tours were something Ms. Mab ley could wrap her head around, how to assess kindergarten applicants without meeting them in person was a Gordian knot she needed help cutting. Ms. Mabley decided to call Elisabeth “Babby” Krents, her counterpart at Dalton, whom she respects immensely, “because she’s done admission work very successfully for a long time, and because she has a terrific sense of humor.” After several marathon conversa tions, Ms. Mabley and Ms. Krents broadened the conversation to include other directors of admission and experts in the field of preschool assessment. Within a week, the concept of developing a custom-made, child-friendly vir tual assessment was born and christened: The Thinking and Engagement Assessment, com monly referred to as the T&E. During the next four months, Ms. Mabley recalls, “Babby and I went from being collegial colleagues to very good friends who celebrate each other’s birth days, know the names of family pets and make each other laugh like few others can.” Taking a moment to reflect, she continues, “When Babby and I learned that we had to create and incorpo rate a nonprofit company and an accompanying board in order for this project to have wings, the lawyer’s first question loomed large: ‘Who will be the president?’ A silent standoff ensued. It was clear that neither Babby nor I was going to defer, so I asked if we could be co-presidents and the rest, as they say, is history.”

And then she tells the story of how the name of the nonprofit came to be, offering a small ca veat by way of introduction: “Humor is incred ibly important to me, especially during difficult times, and gallows humor is not out of bounds. This project was the hardest thing I’d ever worked on, bar none. And the most satisfying. We were working seven days a week through the spring and summer of 2020 to pull it off. My strong feeling was that while the name of our project had to be representative, it also had to have a sense of humor. We played around with: Covid-19, kindergarten, admission, proj ect, assessment, stopgap measure, response, and then the ‘Ah-ha’ moment happened and the title fell into place: The Covid-19 Response Admission Project! The acronym made every one giggle and succinctly summed up the state of affairs during that first act of the pandemic.”

The Thinking and Engagement Assess ment, a purpose-made tool for assessing four- and five-year-olds for independent school admission using Zoom technology, was imple mented during the past two admission seasons by over 25 schools in Manhattan, Brooklyn and New Jersey. In discussing the nuts and bolts of the T&E Assessment, Ms. Mabley explained that the content features an animated narrative with bright colors and lively music during which a friendly creature embarks on a quest. To help the creature, the child completes embedded activities with a teacher who is the assessor. It is a one-to-one experience. The activities look at various developmental domains important to consider as admission committees deter

mine fit between applicant and program. De spite parents’ hand wringing, the vast majority of children enjoyed meeting a live teacher on the screen and completing activities to help the creature. In fact, it was not unusual for a child to ask if she or he could do it again.

The staff of the project included a board, an executive director, a project coordinator and 30 experts in childhood development who were employed as assessors. In sum, over three thou sand four- and five-year-olds were assessed during the past two admission seasons. Word of the project spread and school districts in Illinois, New York State, Vermont and Canada inquired. Even the Department of Education of New York City spoke with Babby and Winifred to learn about the project. Winifred is also proud of the results the T&E has yielded for Brearley. “The fact that faculty report that last year’s kindergar ten class is like any other kindergarten I’ve built is hugely satisfying and a testament to the effi cacy of the T&E Assessment.”

And that seems to be Ms. Mabley’s take on life: Have fun. Have a sense of humor. And work work work work work. As for the new school year, it’s back to in-person visits for both parents and children. Ms. Mabley also plans on “spending a lot of time on the third, fourth and fifth floors of 590, observing Lower School girls in action so that I may speak to the Lower School program with fresh anecdotes as well as experience great teaching and learning. Needless to say, I can’t wait to invite parents into my office and to meet their daughters in the flesh—something I have deeply missed over the last two years.”

You seek families who fall in love with Brearley–its history, mission, curriculum and community.

Spanning the week of April 5 through 9, Brearley’s reunion and alumnae celebrations brought together alumnae not only from the United States but across the globe to take part in a robust program of 13 events—and an in-person gathering! To create inclusive programming for all, events were planned at various times and included a hybrid in-person and virtual day on April 9, when alumnae were welcomed back for 610 and 590 schoolhouse tours and events.

This year’s program honored milestone reunion classes ending in 2 and 7. The weeklong event kicked off with reunion favorite Up Close with Jane Foley Fried and Senior Administrators, in which we learned about the work on updating the Mission Statement, information regarding the School’s DEIA initiatives, and the upcoming 610 renovation projects. Keeping with tradition, there were two sessions of TurboTalks, during which alums in milestone years shared inspiring and interesting stories about their professional, personal and avocational lives. Other highlights include Faculty Recollections, a conversa tion with former faculty members on what it was like teaching at Brearley during pivotal moments in history, and Updating Brearley’s Mission Statement with Jane Foley Fried and Susan Berresford ’61, in which alumnae shared their input with the Board of Trustees’ Drafting Committee. On the final day, alumnae were welcomed back in the new 590 schoolhouse to listen (in-person!) to the Alumnae Association Updates, including the presentation of the 2021 Frances Riker Davis 1915 Award Recipients to Nancy Krieger ’76 and Krysia Bereday Burnham ’78, as well as the announcement of the newly formed Truth and Toil Award presented to the inaugural winner, Cecile Miller Eistrup ’58. Programming continued with the 25th and 50th Reunion Speeches followed by a School Update with Jane Foley Fried and Board President Modupe Akinola ’92. Alumnae said their goodbyes and left with new memories and a delicious to-go lunch box to enjoy outdoors on the promenade. Head to the Brearley website to view the program recordings and photos. We are incredibly grateful to Wilhelmina Martin Eaken ’64, Colette Macari ’13, and Gwendolyn Fortson Waring ’73 for their leadership as reunion co-chairs, as well as to Amina Elderfield ’94, Alumnae Association president. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us near and far. We hope to welcome you back in person at Brearley next year!

50TH REUNION

CLASS OF 1972 GATHERING

50TH REUNION SPEECH

by Ann McDonald ’72

The following are excerpts from Ann’s speech given on April 9.

Brearley taught me how to think, not what to think; how to learn on my own; how to harness that learning in aid of my own choices, in the world and for the world.

I believe that most of my enormously talented class mates would voice similar sentiments about the education we were privileged to receive at Brearley.

But a number of those same classmates also found Brearley wanting: unwelcoming, unmindful of talents that the school’s traditional pedagogy was unhelpful in devel oping. And thus, over the years wonderful people from my class, whom I remember with admiration and fondness, have never, or rarely, come to a reunion, or responded to emails about Brearley events. I want to acknowledge the vote those classmates have cast with their feet. I miss get ting to see them; but I honor their righteous pushback.

Regardless of our individual relationships with “the School,” the 38 girls who graduated in June of 1972 were a diversely talented group who learned from each other; cared about each other and cared about the world to gether. We had a good time together! At least that is my cherished recollection.

That said, my own recollection does not count as the “truth” of what those days were like for anyone else. Each student’s honest subjective memory of her own experi ence of Brearley is the “truth” that matters.

At the same time, as we have seen to our chagrin in the last few years, we jettison objective “truth” at our peril. And no one at Brearley will ever abandon truth in the sense of ob jective facts proven by reliable evidence and counterposed against false misrepresentations of objective fact—aka lies.

So, how do we navigate recognizing at once the validity of subjective and objective truth, especially when they can seem to be in conflict? Fifty years after my class sang “By truth and toil united,” are there still “truths” around which we can unite as a Brearley community in 2022?

Today’s Brearley has realized, in ways that I and my class mates can recognize as progress, that the search for “truth”

means including lots and lots of people in the conversation. In a recent survey of thousands of Brearley constituents, here are two statements about “values” that were chosen as important:

• “Excellence: We value hard work in pursuit of im proving ourselves, our community and our world.”

• “Purpose: We value using your learning and skills to make a difference in the world.”

True “excellence” is in pursuit of worthy “purposes,” and we can still unite as a Brearley community around helping others and making a difference in the world— thank God for that! Those statements are more expres sions about process than assertions of static “truths.”

It was always process that Brearley taught: how to find “an honest method,” as my friend Hamlet would say, by which to toil for truth, not what truth to toil for.

Where did we learn such “honest methods”? From the excellent, both 50 years ago and now, Brearley faculty. I dare to say that the excellence of the Brearley faculty is indeed “a truth universally acknowledged,” to quote a Brearley urtext.

I cannot close without mentioning our broader world. A despotic lunatic has shattered the peace of Europe in a way that has not happened since Hitler invaded Poland in 1939. Principles that we have long taken for granted are under attack.

Brearley women, especially young Brearley women: You need to lead, even more than you do now. And if, God forbid, you must fight to restore democracy in our land—physically fight, like the brave women of Ukraine— and you need 38 tough old ladies to become unlikely members of an underground resistance, you know who to call.

Finally, I commend to you the last stanza of Auden’s “September 1, 1939.” Brearley women will always, with passion and irony, “show an affirming flame.”

25TH REUNION

CLASS OF 1997 GATHERING

25TH REUNION SPEECH

by Michelle Wonsley ’97

A Brearley education unfolds over a lifetime, this is true. A Brearley education is inherently compli cated and, like all complex institutions, inherently flawed. It is also fertile ground for reflection on whatever we’ve chosen to cultivate since we were at Brearley, whenever we arrived and whenever we left. The unfolding is a collaborative effort be tween us and our own minds, an intelligence that becomes wisdom through experience and disci pline. I hope today to both actively unfold, and perhaps complicate, the Brearley education.

I recently found an email that I wrote to the Class of 1997 at the behest of Mina Eaken for our 125th anniversary. In it, I invited classmates to make a gift to Brearley in honor of the inspir ing women in our lives. I chose to honor my de ceased mother. “Dear Fellow Alumna,” I began, and recounted my arrival at Brearley as a terrified and skeptical 11-year-old. I shared how my moth er believed deeply that Brearley was an amazing place and how we both felt it could be the place where I ‘belonged.’ It would become the most complex academic experience of my life.

I arrived at Brearley during the aftermath of the LA riots and the Rodney King trial in the United States. At that time, 30 years ago, a particular and emergent conversation about race and racism was brewing. It was a conversation that was fraught, po larizing, and rooted in vastly different perspectives, lived experiences and the meaning we individually and collectively made of the world. It was a time not unlike today relative to its complexity, but we were too young to engage it deeply as middle schoolers. Later in high school, we experienced the O.J. Simp son trial. Many of us were gathered in a classroom when the verdict was read, the air thick with tension. Whatever closeness had formed between us was fragile under the weight of this monumental mo ment, yet we survived somehow broken yet intact.

We were, to that point, the most racial ly and ethnically diverse class in the School’s history. We also boasted a bounty of first- or second-generation immigrants from East and South Asia, the Caribbean, the continent of Africa, Central America, and Europe. While the Class of 1997 was, and still is, an anomaly with in Brearley’s complex history and origin story, we had not yet developed a collective “critical consciousness,” which Freire and Fanon de fined as the ability to “read the world” and to locate ourselves within it. It would still be years before terms like “intersectionality” and “gen der fluidity” would emerge from academia into the public discourse. But we’ve come to know these terms, to claim them as our own and de pend on them to draw us closer. In that earlier letter to classmates, I asserted that I believed that Brearley was a place that called out to me, “This is where you belong.” Today I would say this differently. Brearley is a place that taught me the nature of belonging, to recognize it when it was present and to hold myself with self-possession despite its absence. Unequivocally, I can say that being a member of the Class of 1997 was the best possible iteration of a Brearley education for me. My classmates met each other at our edges each day. We had our minds blown and our hearts blown wide open so that we may see the world not only as it is for us as individuals, but as it is for all of us. Our class had, and continues to have, a kaleido scopic view of the world and our collective view has become more nuanced and complicated as we’ve further explored individual notions of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexuality and class. I am delighted to say we aren’t finished learning yet. And so it is, this Brearley educa tion, still unfolding over a lifetime.

The following are excerpts from Michelle’s speech given on April 9.

“

Unequivocally, I can say that being a member of the class of 1997 was the best possible iteration of a Brearley education for me.”

My Classmate Gail Gerhart

PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF SOUTH AFRICA AWARDEE

BY SUSAN VAIL BERRESFORD ‘61

Gail Gerhart and I started at Brearley in the Lower School in the 1950s. From the start, Gail distinguished herself in academics, sports and leadership. So much so, that her yearbook page at graduation started with the phrase “Perennial President” and detailed her repeated leadership of the class and student government. Decades later, in 2021, Gail was honored for her contributions to the people and country of South Africa, with a presidential medal given to foreigners who have contributed to South Africa’s struggle against apartheid, the Order of the

Companions of Oliver Tambo.

I recently had the pleasure of talking with Gail about the award, her remarkable career, and her Brearley education.

When I asked her if she thought her interest in South Africa had roots in her Brearley life, she said: “Two people may be key—our classmate Anne d’Harnoncourt, and a visit by someone I think was an African exchange student spending a year at Brearley.” Gail clearly recalls a student from Southern Africa with whom she talked outside of the classroom, discussing all kinds of topics and the life the student would have upon returning home. Gail said “I think she piqued my curiosity about Africa.”

The other influence was Anne d’Harnoncourt. Anne and Gail were close friends at Brearley and both attended Radcliffe College, from

where Anne joined Project Tanganyika, taking her to Africa for a year of development work. Back in the US, Anne told Gail she absolutely had to join the project, no other possibility!

As Gail put it: “Anne was very smart. She was always right.” Gail followed Anne’s advice, landing in Tanganyika in 1962, where she met her husband, John Gerhart, who along with Gail ultimately became a renowned Africanist. In Tanganyika, Gail found a school about a mile’s walk from where she lived, Mary’s Institute, populated by refugee students who had fled difficult families and repressive countries in the region. Gail noted, “Most of the students were boys, with a few girls mixed in, but the boys answered most of the questions.” Few students had English language ability so Gail started working with them.“ I focused on conversation and

helping students learn to explain what was in their minds.” Later she added math to her offering. From that moment onward, Gail was a teacher, an intellectual pioneer and a distinguished professor—in schools, in colleges and in universities in the US, Kenya, Botswana, South Africa and Egypt.

In the late 1960s, when Gail returned to the US to pursue a master’s and PhD in African history at Columbia University, she was one of the few graduate students in her cohort who had lived in Africa for an extended period. Professors Thomas Karis and Gwendolyn Carter, two experts on African history and African studies, valued her experience and selected Gail to be their research assistant. In a coincidence Gail loves to recall, at some point Professor Karis suggested that Gail meet an African student whom he admired, and, she reports, “To my amazement, she was the Brearley exchange pupil!”

Gail’s work with Karis and Carter led to her own independent scholarship and extensive publications, and she soon was a widely respected source of knowledge about the Black liberation struggle in Southern Africa. Her research included interviews with countless heroes and heroines in the struggle against apartheid, many of whom were living undercover and in exile in African countries where Gail lived and had worked. She was one of the very few Western

scholars and journalists who interviewed Steve Biko about his leadership of the Black consciousness movement and his ideas about African nationalism. One of her best known publications is Black Power in South Africa: The Evolution of an Ideology. First published in 1977 and still in print, the book documents the decisive influence of Biko and the Black consciousness movement in fostering collective self-confidence and pride among the young generation of Black college students and workers coming of age in the 1970s, many of whom came to lead the ultimately successful internal opposition to apartheid in the 1980s.

Karis and others stand today as the definitive documentary history of currents of thought and action related to African liberation politics in South Africa. Their research produced extensive archival material that Gail later catalogued and gave to the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. It includes thousands of publications, letters, memos, meeting minutes and articles, some of which were banned by the apartheid government and which document the history of the resistance movement and the final negotiations that brought an end to apartheid in 1994. The negotiations between Mandela’s African National Congress and the Nationalist Party of largely Afrikaner whites, led by F.W. de Klerk, became a dramatic field of political struggle in their own right. Efforts by de Klerk to carve out special rights for whites failed. As Gail writes in the final volume of From Protest to Challenge, the negotiations resulted in “a decisive victory for full democratic rights and the end of all legal forms of racial discrimination.”

Nelson Mandela knew of Gail’s work and read it in prison on Robben Island. In fact, when he encountered her on a South African Airways flight from New York to Johannesburg, he told her that every one of his fellow prisoners on Robben Island had read her work. She provided editorial support to Mandela’s co-author Rick Stengel for the autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. Gail remembers Mandela as “brilliant, regal, kindly and often funny.”

To me, Gail’s work and life illustrate how school-age friendships and education can help shape a lifelong pursuit of knowledge and dedication to justice. Her intellect, curiosity and ideals led to decades of work that stands as a resource for future generations. Gail’s daughter, Leslie, tells me that Gail’s mother took on a second job to cover the Brearley tuition, obviously recognizing Gail’s talent and wanting to nurture and support it. The Tambo award and her teaching and scholarship suggest how important that decision was.

The six volumes of From Protest to Challenge that Gail produced working with Tambo, President of the African National Congress between 1967 and 1991, worked closely with Nelson Mandela, with whom he started the first Black law office in South Africa in 1953. He served in various ANC roles until the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, when the government banned the ANC and he went into exile, living mostly in Lusaka, Zambia. From there he helped lead the ANC, in 1969 becoming its president. With the ANC’s unbanning in 1990, he returned to South Africa and helped write the new constitution, turning ANC leadership over to Mandela in 1991. Revered as a statesman and liberation leader, Tambo’s name carries with it great honor and tribute.

Books written by Gail Gerhart ‘61.

I focused on conversation and helping students learn to explain what was in their minds.”

Dear Alumnae, Parents, Grandparents, Faculty, Staff and Friends,

Each year, we become more certain that our community’s dedication to Brearley stems from a common motivation to learn from and support each other. Every single one of you contributes toward shaping our School, and the resulting constellation of generous words, deeds and values is breathtaking.

Thank you—to our students for their compassionate hearts and intrepid minds; to our faculty and staff for creating an environment of enthusiastic learning and joy; to every single person who gives time as a volunteer; to the alums who cheer on the Brearley girls of today and tomorrow; and to all who provided philanthropic support for the School last year. In the 2021–2022 academic year, your combined gifts helped us to surpass Annual Giving goals; yielded a triumphant return to an in-person Parents’ Association Benefit at the Central Park Zoo with record-breaking numbers in attendance; funded AI/SITE, our inaugural summer immersion program in Computational Thinking; and enabled us to commence construction on a state-ofthe-art Middle and Upper School library, which will open to students and faculty in September 2023.

We remain deeply grateful for your generosity and for all you do at Brearley.

Yours in Truth and Toil,

MODUPE AKINOLA ‘92 PRESIDENT, BOARD OF TRUSTEES

JANE FOLEY FRIED HEAD OF SCHOOL

Simon & Garfunkel got it right: It is all happening at the zoo, and Central Park’s at that! Indeed, on a cool and breezy April 21, the highly anticipated 2022 Brearley Parents’ Association Benefit, Party Animals at the Central Park Zoo, became reality. Over 1,300 members of our community—including students, alums, faculty and staff, parents, grandparents and siblings of all ages—gathered in person at the largest event of the school year. Entertaining exhibits of exotic animals kicked off the enchanting evening. At twilight, a menagerie of birds, snow leopards and red pandas settled into slumber just as the party was getting underway. Eager to join the fun and bellies full of fish, the sea lions watched from their pool as the music swelled, the dance floor filled and dusk settled over the zoo grounds. The community’s joy and excitement in being together was tangible throughout the evening. With stomachs full from all-you-can-eat buffets, endless desserts and carnival favorites like pretzels, cotton candy and hot dogs, Brearley Beavers departed into the wild night, flashlights in hand and smiles from ear to ear.

Aside from marking the first community-wide, in-person gathering since 2020, this year’s benefit raised $470,000, which will support salaries and benefits for Brearley’s faculty and staff. We are indebted to our co-chairs, Matt Hemberger and Brian Lewis and Margo and Jimmy Nederlander, our underwriting co-chairs and the entire 2022 Benefit Committee for creating an evening that will not soon be forgotten.

Why We Give

by Ann Sleeper on behalf of the Class of 1972

In honor of our 50th reunion, the Class of 1972 was asked not just to donate to Brearley but to reflect on why they do nate. It is no surprise that our responses overwhelmingly echoed the reunion remarks of our class speaker, Ann McDonald (see page 33), and the decision of anonymous class donors to establish a Class of 1972 Faculty Endowment Fund as our legacy to Brearley (see page 58). Whether in appreciation for their own learning or for the progress in differentiation and inclusion that Ann noted in her speech, nearly 60 percent of our class participated in raising over $250,000.

The backbone of any school, indeed the single most important element of a high-quality education, is the school’s faculty, and nowhere is that more true than at Brearley, past and present. Our own classmate, Renate von Huetz, who just retired after 40 years at Brearley, is a sterling example. With our gift, we say more than thank you. We say that the teachers are the school’s #1 asset, and we are behind you all the way.

Lisa Lesavoy writes: “The essence of Brearley has always been its exceptional teachers. I credit whatever accomplish ments I have made in life in large part to my Brearley edu cation, at the heart of which was the inspirational instruction of so many of Brearley’s brilliant faculty. On the occasion of our 50th reunion, having been the beneficiary of such megatalents, I am honored to be supportive of a fund to benefit Brearley’s incredibly talented teachers.”

Rebecca Frost Cuevas and Lisa Citron share Lisa’s and Ann’s profound appreciation for the power of expert teach ing that we were privileged to receive, and, Rebecca adds, “Many of us . . . learned how to deliver engaging and im pactful instruction in our own right.” Lisa, one of those re cipients, described her appreciation for and emulation of the high expectations and love of learning exemplified in her Brearley teachers.

Anne Jeffers Robinson, another teacher, also dedicated her gift to the fund “in gratitude for all the amazing and deeply dedicated teachers . . . and the incredibly rich curric ulum they taught. All my teachers were uniformly excellent scholars in their respective fields.”

For Doren Greenberg Helterline, those teachers instilled “the deep-felt love of learning and the confidence that a woman can do anything!” And Sue Reiter thanked particu lar teachers—one who started a Middle School newspaper, the Zephyr, which launched Sue’s journalism career, and another who, along with the librarian Kitty Cunningham, took her to a Merce Cunningham dance concert, inspiring her love of dance.

Currie Cabot Barron thanked the teachers “for promoting excellence and inspiring girls to think, learn to teach them selves, and dive deep into whatever passion calls to them.” Currie’s passion was and is music, and she loved her music classes at Brearley.

Currie was not alone in going beyond the teachers to gratitude for the larger experience then and now. She writes: “I am also grateful to Brearley for having class re unions, giving me a glimpse of all the classmates and faculty [who participate]. I’m grateful to Allison Lewis [a classmate] for her invaluable life’s work, helping the world to be a bet ter place. And I’m grateful to Ann McDonald for her speech that was inspiring and full of truth.”

And Nancy Goldsmith Mistretta has lived her apprecia tion by entrusting first her daughter and now her grand daughter to Brearley and by serving Brearley for much of these 50 years, most notably on the Board of Trustees. Hel en Bearn Pennoyer also has a granddaughter at Brearley and was just elected to the Alumnae Board. She is especial ly appreciative of her own teachers and Brearley’s current teachers in the Lower School.

Carla Valentine Pryne sums up: “The faculty. Those wom en were giants, and early on modeled for me breadth of mind, a largeness of spirit, and, above all, the gifts of in quisitiveness, curiosity and respect. When women of my generation mention how few women role models they had growing up, I smile inside, and give thanks.”

My own gratitude for the faculty began when I first en tered Brearley and especially the 4th grade classroom of Jan Alison, who revealed that school itself can be revelation. Crossing the seas to Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, then back again to an Inca bridge, “making the sky a street,” we dis covered the richness of the world, a richness illumined by story and language. An empassioned teacher who respects the imagination of her students at a school that respects the imagination of its teachers truly does transform lives.

Thank You!

annual giving 2021–2022 school year

To our extraordinary community of alumnae, parents, parents of alumnae, faculty, staff and friends, we thank you for your generous philan thropic support. We are united in our belief in girls’ education, and your Annual Giving contributions provide vital funding to ensure that our students learn and grow in a school that prepares them for principled engagement in the world. Every gift makes a difference, and because of all of you, Brearley persists and progresses.

Brearley Fund

Unrestricted

Fueling all aspects of the educational program, your gifts will have a direct and immediate impact on purposeful teaching and expansive learning for today’s Brearley girls. Unrestricted gifts allow the School to maintain and enhance the caliber of the academic program by supporting the general operating budget, faculty and staff salaries and benefits, library books, healthy lunches, athletic equipment, art supplies, and all aspects of life at Brearley. Together, we are stewards for today’s and tomorrow’s Brearley girls.

u nited Fund

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Antiracism Initiatives

Embracing Brearley’s school song lyrics “By truth and toil united” and committed to building a more equitable school community, the United Fund empowers expanded programming in this priority area. Brearley is taking an all-encompassing approach to this work, with the goal of initiating meaningful and lasting change. We are dedicated to creating an inclusive school where all Brearley students feel a sense of belonging.

Opening dOO rs Fund Scholarships

Ensuring that talented students from families of lower, middle and upper-middle incomes can access a Brearley education, your gifts provide tuition assistance for families with demonstrated need. Starting with a comprehensive tuition model that covers all essential school programs, Brearley offers robust financial aid, ranging from partial to full grants that include funding for additional school-related expenses, as needed. The generosity of annual donors and those who have endowed scholarships allows Brearley to enroll an economically diverse student body, Classes K–XII.

a dventur O us i ntellect Fund Faculty Support

Providing for the dedicated architects of the School’s educational program, your gifts benefit curricular development, departmental review, professional growth and faculty salaries. To advance the curriculum and enhance culturally competent pedagogy, we are furthering learning opportunities for our faculty by providing them with the resources and skills needed to grow as scholars, artists and educators. The School’s dedicated faculty cultivates the passionate exchange of ideas that is a hallmark of a Brearley classroom.

Create a legacy for Brearley.

Incubator, proving ground, home. Brearley is a singular place that is all about the girls—who they are, what they are capable of, and what they can become.

When you include Brearley in your estate plans, you join a generous group of supporters who safeguard the Brearley experience for the girls of future generations.

For sample language to use in your will or trust, and further information, please contact:

Phoebe T. Geer ’97, Associate Director of Development (212) 570-8609 or pgeer@brearley.org

By the river, on East 83rd Street, we will be here.