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

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 donate. 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 accomplishments I have made in life in large part to my Brearley education, 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 teaching that we were privileged to receive, and, Rebecca adds, “Many of us . . . learned how to deliver engaging and impactful instruction in our own right.” Lisa, one of those recipients, 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 curriculum 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 particular 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 themselves, 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 reunions, 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 better 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 appreciation by entrusting first her daughter and now her granddaughter to Brearley and by serving Brearley for much of these 50 years, most notably on the Board of Trustees. Helen Bearn Pennoyer also has a granddaughter at Brearley and was just elected to the Alumnae Board. She is especially appreciative of her own teachers and Brearley’s current teachers in the Lower School.

Carla Valentine Pryne sums up: “The faculty. Those women were giants, and early on modeled for me breadth of mind, a largeness of spirit, and, above all, the gifts of inquisitiveness, 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 entered 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 discovered 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 philanthropic 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.

united 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 dOOrs 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.

adventurOus intellect 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.

ANNUAL GIVING

online giving:

www.brearley.org/make-a-gift Venmo: Brearley_af

via mail:

The Brearley School 610 East 83rd Street New York, NY 10028 Attention: Development & Alumnae Relations

Contact: Amina Holman, Annual Fund Director aholman@brearley.org (212) 570-8610

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

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

610 East 83rd Street New York, NY 10028 NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #129 19464