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THE BREARLEY BULLETIN WINTER 2022
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BULLETIN
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THE BREARLEY SCHOOL
WINTER 2022
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By the river, on East 83rd Street, we will be here. Middle School handbells performance, December 14, 2021.
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
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CONTENTS VOLUME XCVII • NUMBER 1 • WINTER 2022
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Letter from the Head of School
6 In Memoriam: Kenneth M. Cronin, Jr.,
Buildings Superintendent
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News and Events
11 Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Antiracism Highlights of current initiatives
14 Traditions Redux Beloved events return to Brearley
16 Computational Thinking New summer program in partnership with New York University Tandon School of Engineering; Upper School student initiatives; alumnae in the field
Milestones Alumnae births, marriages and deaths; remembering
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Beatrice Thompson, longtime Art Department head
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Class and Faculty/Staff Notes
THE BREARLEY SCHOOL BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2021–2022 Modupe Akinola ’92, President David Philip, Senior Vice President Susan Berresford ’61, Vice President Paula Campbell Roberts ’94, Vice President Jocelyn Strauber ’91, Secretary Munib Islam, Treasurer
Tara Abrahams Gideon Berger Elizabeth Chandler Ranika Cohen Joseph DiMenna Amina Elderfield ’94 Thomas Farrell Jane Foley Fried Martha Haakmat Rebecca Haile Sue Meng ’99 David Raso Pam Selin Sidaya Moore Sherwood ’90
Head of School Jane Foley Fried
Bill Shutzer
Editor Jane Newman
Olivia Wassenaar ’97
Lita Tandon ’06
Lauren Wasson
Graphic Designer Jennifer Bartoli
Alan Yan
Director of Communications Jennifer Stewart Cover illustration by Luigi Cicala (@studiocicala). See page 12. If you have any questions or comments about the Bulletin, please contact Jane Newman at jnewman@brearley.org or (212) 570-8588.
Trustees Emeriti Christine Frankenhoff Alfaro ‘91 Georges F. de Ménil Evelyn Janover Halpert ’52
Special thanks to Eric Antanitus, Kristen Chae, Andy Vernon-Jones and members of the Brearley community for sharing photos and artwork with us.
Brearley has offset the equivalent of 3,055,980 total standard pages of paper
David T. Hamamoto Stephanie J. Hull Ellen Jewett ’77 Alan Jones
consumption by reforesting 367 standard
Edward F. Rover
trees since joining the PrintReleaf
John F. Savarese
Exchange on August 7, 2018.
Priscilla M. Winn Barlow
Faculty Representative Ann Saunders TX_280CFD15A8BD WINTER 2022
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LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL
Exploring Our Shared Values
Letter from the Head of School.
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I write this letter for our community Bulletin in the waning days of 2021, a year that has delivered many challenges to all of us. As in so many moments over the last 12 months, I am preparing for the unknown. When we return to campus—all 901 of us— we will face the latest Covid variant: Omicron. We do not know yet how it will impact our program or community this winter, but we do know that we will do whatever we need to educate, support and guide our students through another unprecedented moment in their young lives and in our own. We meet this latest disruption with a pursuit of the truth and commitment to the toil of keeping our community safe. And in this particular moment of uncertainty, we must lean on each other, united in our individual values. Throughout this fall and early winter, members from all corners of the Brearley community have participated in an exercise that is a first step in clarifying our institution’s values. Led by Paul Ingram, Kravis Professor of Business at Columbia Business School, our eager and engaged Middle and Upper School students, faculty and staff, parents, alumnae and members of the Board of Trustees examined their own values and developed their individual value hierarchies. Each person had to choose eight values that were most important to him or her and to interlink them, with one ultimately emerging as the most important and from which all the others logically flowed. Each individual then fed his or her results back to Professor Ingram to form a word cloud that graphically depicted our priorities. The result, rather than being an endless list of disparate and conflicting values, showed surprising cohesion: Our community, with its hundreds of participants from different constituencies and varying perspectives and backgrounds, placed a few values above all else: empathy, integrity, creativity, love, family and kindness. In addition to the values noted above, each group, as anticipated, had other favored values. For alumnae joy and trust ranked highly. Upper School students prioritized happiness, achievement and trust. Faculty and staff agreed on openness, contentment and humor. Parents and school leadership (trustees, administration and student leaders) coalesced around courage, with parents joining on inner peace and joy and school leaders overlapping on honesty and humor. The antiracism advisory groups ranked compassion and balance highly. Our facilities and food service staff frequently noted communication, accomplishment, enthusiasm, growth and respect. Interestingly, however, Professor Ingram explained that even with these differences, there were no constituencies that stood out as being out of sync with one another. Our individual values aligned in a consistent pattern; and we are learning that the more our values align, the more productive and collaborative a community can be. This isn’t meant to dismiss our differences in opinions or beliefs. But the values that drive those differing thoughts are aligned and that, in my mind, provides a sure foundation for the ways in which our community meets its challenges and plans for the future.
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LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL
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I also wonder how the pandemic and the racial reckoning in our country and our community may be shaping our individual values. That empathy partners with integrity in our own values and is joined by creativity, love, family and kindness bodes well, I believe, for the Brearley community at this moment in its history. Today we rely on one another in ways that were unimaginable a few years ago. Principled engagement in the world is not some lofty goal that exists in our students’ future, it is in evidence in our daily lives at school: how we take care of ourselves so that we take care of others. How we engage with ideas that are unfamiliar to us. How we center creativity and kindness in our daily problem solving. The lessons we individually and collectively are teaching and learning have brought home the need for adventurous intellect and principled engagement in the world. This experience is exhausting and trying. As it tests our resilience and courage, it also refines these values for us and in us. As I was walking along an icy path with my dog, Balas, the other morning, I was struck by how often I needed to force myself to look up at the nature surrounding me. Similarly, this values exercise asks us to shift our attention from the real challenges of getting through the day to what is meaningful in our lives. Many members of the community have shared their enjoyment of this structured activity that moved them from a temporal to an emotional/spiritual space. Our next step is to articulate our institutional values. Over the coming weeks, we will invite you as a community to help elucidate and describe what values you believe best represent our institution. This process will be conducted asynchronously online. Ultimately we will arrive at four or five values that inform who we are and what we aspire to be. We thank all who have participated to date and also Professor Ingram, whose facilitation connected us to one another and in our shared values. I hope this issue of the Bulletin, which is a true community endeavor, does the same. I encourage you to read on to learn about exciting new school programs as well as the return of some of Brearley’s heartwarming traditions after a pandemic-imposed hiatus. As always, we feature the voices and experiences of our students and alumnae who inspire us all. Thank you all for your support of Brearley.
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Today we rely on one another in ways that were unimaginable a few years ago.”
Yours in Truth and Toil,
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IN MEMORIAM
Ken Cronin, Brearley’s Buildings Superintendent, passed away on November 23, leaving his beloved wife, Diane, and four children. Many of us also know his son, Ken Jr., who has worked at Brearley during summers and other vacations. Joining the facilities staff in 2001, Ken loved his work, even when the roof leaked or the boiler shut down. He so enjoyed learning how to use the high-tech systems in 590 and troubleshooting the daily issues that arise on our vertical campus. His can-do spirit and easy manner made him accessible to anyone who needed help at Brearley. Ken was present first thing in the morning and often late at night. No one enjoyed setting up Field Day more than Kenny. He was also thrilled to include his children in Mountain Day festivities. He loved Brearley. Any loss of a community member is difficult, and losing Ken reminds us how precious life is and how fortunate we are to have colleagues like him. He will be deeply missed. Each year, the senior class and their families select a fund purpose that is especially meaningful to the class and supports the core mission of the School. To honor Ken and his extraordinary service to Brearley, the Class of 2022 has established a memorial fund in his name. To learn more information and how to contribute, please visit www.brearley.org/priorities/class-of-2022-fund. —Jane Fried
Faculty and Staff Remembrances of Ken
Kenny was a great person. He was not only my boss but he was also a mentor to me. Kenny believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. He gave me the best advice on how to live a better life and mostly how to be a better person. He has left an indelible mark on my life and I am forever grateful to him. May his soul rest in eternal peace.—Jonathan Delance He taught me that family was first, to always come to work, complete my duties and go home and enjoy my family— that’s where I would truly find happiness.—Wilfredo Moreira
In the short time that I knew Mr. Kenny he was good to me. I wish I had more time with him. I will always be thankful for the opportunity that he gave me.—Victor Merced I will always remember Kenny’s beautiful cerulean eyes, his hearty laugh and his willingness to tackle any project—large or small.—Tanner Smythson I thank God for having the privilege of knowing Kenny would always have encouraging words when I most needed them. You are blessed by God.—Juana Moreno Kenny was more than my boss; I would say he was my brother. I worked with him over 20 years. I would never say no to any assignment because he would never say no to me. You will always be remembered.—Luis Atanacio
Kenneth1974–2021 M. Cronin, Jr. 6
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Walking into the building and seeing your black truck out front. Hearing you say, “Have you had your coffee? Let’s have our morning chat.” Talking about work and family and how to become better people because no one is perfect. But always remembering to treat each other with respect. Your dream team is what we would call ourselves and you would laugh. Thank you for everything, Mr. Cronin. Rest in peace.—Jennifer Guzman Kenny was not only my boss, he treated me like a family member. Empathetic with everyone, always willing to understand us. Nice person and excellent boss who went above and beyond for his workers. Never will forget what you taught us. You always value your workers as a person, not a color.—Sonia Gonzalez He would always understand me, not as a worker but as a friend. I worked with Kenny before coming to Brearley—for 27 years to be exact—and admired his strong spirit and kindness. He always gave me support when I thought to give up.—Efren Cruz Mornings will never be the same . . . Kenny was a great man, loved by all and hated by none. He made sure everyone was treated equally and respectfully. No one had a better sense of humor than Kenny. I would wake up in the morning knowing that when I got to work Kenny would have me laughing about something that happened the day before, whether it was true or not. This man was truly blessed by God and had the biggest heart.—Joshua Elsaieh When I think of Kenny, I picture him in the Field House playing volleyball. When we had our faculty/staff matches against the NightingaleBamford School, Kenny was indispensable. When he was in the back row, he could send a torpedo over that net, and when he played in the front, he was like a wall blocking any attempted spikes from the other side. No matter win or lose, Kenny was a generous teammate, always doling out compliments (and consolations) for our successes (and losses!).—Jim McDonald I met Kenny in 2019 at Brearley. I was working as a security officer at that time. I walked up to Kenny and told him I was interested in being a porter at Brearley. I didn’t have the job experience, but Kenny gave me the opportunity and said, “We will train you.” He helped me learn about the job quickly, and here I am today. He gave me the opportunity and I appreciate him so much. He’s loving, caring and a good listener. Thank you for everything. Rest in peace.—Damilola Thompson
Kenny’s dedication to Brearley was always evident. Even when he was under intense pressure, he always remained calm and kept going. I admired how he respected and acknowledged his colleagues in Facilities, and they in turn had immense respect for him. I always enjoyed discussing current events with Kenny, even though we greatly disagreed. He always treated me and my perspective respectfully, and I in turn did the same for him. He is extremely missed.—Keith Driscoll In the spring one time outside of 590, the facilities team and Ken gathered to talk about how their days were going. I didn’t know Ken much, but I felt his energy and knew his ability to draw anyone into his orbit—a sort of charm. As I walked by them, I stopped and told Ken, “I saw a couple of photos of you in the archives. You were performing on stage. And you looked decked out.” Everyone looked at him in confusion, and he chuckled, “Yeah, that was me.”—Kris Santos When I first started at Brearley, I thought Ken was mean because I always saw him with a serious face. Eventually, he found out (teehee) and made it his business to approach me with so much joy and a huge smile under his mask. From then on, it was always “Good morning” greetings and “Be right there” emails if I needed anything. He was so responsive, friendly and constantly doing something to help our school.—Aysha Maisonet Kenny was the superintendent at the New York Academy of Art until the spring of 2001, so he was one of the first people I met when I moved here to attend graduate school years ago. He was a huge and friendly help to students there—practical, down-to-earth, capable, and approachable—so when we recognized each other while I was touring Brearley for the first time as a prospective teacher, I immediately felt that this school would be first-rate. So I will always remember Kenny as an early ambassador for Brearley itself. Over the decades that followed I witnessed more of Kenny’s all-hours and behind-the-scenes heavy lifting and critical aid keeping this place up and running for our entire community. We all owe such a debt of gratitude to Kenny for his tireless preparations during every phase of our Covid opening—always with a deep generosity of spirit and refusal to throw in the towel—traits that will serve as an enduring gift in their lesson to us all.—Luigi Cicala
When I first started working at Brearley I started off as a school assistant and would see Ken in the morning in front of 590. After working for a short period of time I knew Brearley was where I wanted to grow and quickly made my way to become the facilities assistant. In my interview with Noel, Ivan and Kenny, I remember stating that I loved fishing and the outdoors and Ken’s face shined. Sharing that similarity I instantly didn’t look at him as a coworker, I thought of him as family. As time went on, he would at times knock on the window of my office to exchange a silly face or call me accidentally to get in contact with his daughter whose first and middle names are same as mine: Michelle Taylor! In my mind Ken was like a dad I never had and I will miss him so much. But I am happy that in the time I knew him I was left with only good and fun memories. He loved his team and it showed. His family will forever have a special place in my heart. —Michelle Echeverria Ken went above and beyond in everything— from his countless heroic efforts when he chose Brearley over his family and community in PA to his hearty laugh to his unwavering dedication to his job and responsibilities. He was kind and selfless; he would drop everything to help anyone, anytime, anywhere. His precious summer vacation time was spent shuttling his daughter and her belongings off to college in the South. He was a skilled and competent outdoorsman. He spent winters snowboarding in the Poconos with his children. Each and every Valentine’s Day he presented his wife with a case of her favorite candy.—Doris Coleman Kenny and I had the Poconos in common, so we became friends quickly. He would often give me rides back to PA and we would talk about everything from his family to work to his love of deer meat (which always made me turn green). Once when my dad had heart surgery he drove me home and reached out several times during the procedure to see how we were doing. He even brought me back to NY the next morning; he insisted. He was a good friend, always willing to help out like that, and asked for nothing in return. Kenny was kind, selfless, hardworking and was a lot fun to be around. Of the many things I find myself missing, his laugh is by far the biggest. You could hear it from a mile away, and it always made you laugh too even if you had no idea what was so funny. RIP, my friend, you are missed.—Jennifer Bartoli WINTER 2022
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NEWS AND EVENTS
Welcome Dance Assembly Welcomes LUCINDA CHILDS ‘58
Jennifer Stewart
Elizabeth (Lizzy) Youngling
RECENT APPOINTMENTS IN THE COMMUNICATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT & ALUMNAE RELATIONS OFFICES JENNIFER STEWART is Brearley’s new Director of Communications. Jennifer, who started in July, comes to us most recently from Mount Sinai, where since 2011 she had served as chief of staff and director of marketing and communications for the Department of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine. ELIZABETH (LIZZY) YOUNGLING assumed the position of Alum Relations Manager in September. Lizzy began her Brearley tenure as a development associate in 2019.
One of the world’s preeminent modern choreographers and dancers, Lucinda Childs visited Brearley virtually for the Dance Assembly on October 12, 2021. Sharing slides and videos, Ms. Childs discussed Dance, her critically acclaimed piece from 1979 that her eponymous dance company was gearing up to perform at the Joyce Theater on October 19–24. The event was made possible by Kyle Gerry, a Brearley math teacher and member of Ms. Childs’s dance troupe who introduced Ms. Childs as the assembly speaker. Not the first time Ms. Childs has “returned” to Brearley, in 2014 she was featured in the Bulletin’s Brearley in the Arts issue, which highlighted her phenomenal and clearly unstoppable career, now in its sixth decade.
Congratulations, Jennifer and Lizzy!
Morning Meet-ups This fall, Head of School Jane Fried, administrative leaders and Parents’ Association officers hosted a series of gatherings for new parents on the Promenade.
R E C E N T LY P U B L I S H E D B O O K S B Y A L U M N A E Please send covers of your new books to classnotes@brearley.org.
Ann Zinman Leventhal ‘53 8
Victoria Benedict Newhouse ‘55
Susan Appleman Unterberg ‘59
Marjorie Kellogg ‘63
Sandra Sammataro Phillips ‘63
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WHAT’S ON YOUR DESK? TOM MARCH, ENGLISH TEACHER 1. There are many, many words to live by. These, from Yves St. Laurent, are a few of them. 2. Aromatherapy—Hermès, Eau d’orange verte. 3. The best place for power cords, headphones and chargers? A repurposed gift box. 4. You can never have enough James Baldwin and Virginia Woolf. 5. Sadly, this box from À la Mère de Famille contains only paper clips, not chocolate. 6. I do love this tea from Mariage Frères, but I admit that the simple elegance of the container is half the reason I buy it. Design matters. 7. This Pride flag is a souvenir from one of the June Pride editions of Poetry/Cabaret, my “variety salon.” 8. Reading glasses—these are ever-increasingly necessary.
Inquiring Minds Want to Know! • Is it fun being an Upper School student? • D o you get to go around school by yourself or do you have to go with a partner? • Do you feel more mature? • Do you have a schedule? • Is homework fun? • What subjects do you have in US that you don’t have in LS? • Do you still do addition? • Do you learn how to write your name in cursive? • I n science, do you do dangerous experiments and get to use the hood/position cabinet? • H ow do you learn reading in Class XII when you already know how to read? • W hat is the 610 building like? Is it kind of scary to switch buildings when you’re starting Class V? • Do you have lockers and desks? • What do you wear to school in MS and US? • Where do you eat lunch? • Do you have the same mascot? These are just some of the questions Classes K–IV asked members of the Upper School, whom they invited to their virtual assembly on November 3 to speak about life at Brearley beyond Lower School. Kindergarten was paired with Class XII, Class I with Class XI; Class II with Class X, and Classes III and IV with Class IX.
HONORS ABOUND Over the summer, two national awards were bestowed upon Brearley. The first came from the University & College Designers Association, which tapped Brearley with an Award of Excellence for the Special Edition Winter 2020 Bulletin cover—our fifth nod from UCDA in seven years. The other, from Engineering News-Record, distinguishes our new schoolhouse at 590 East 83rd Street as best K–XII education project in the New York region.
Top and above: Ms. Olsen’s 4th-grade class converses with Class IX’s Mira Schubert (left) and Anaya Tsai. Caroline Zilboorg ‘66
Caroline Bicks ‘85
Eva Bannister Chen ‘97 WINTER 2022
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NEWS AND EVENTS ALUMNAE EVENTS
Frances Riker Davis 2021 AWARD WINNERS
Nancy Krieger ‘76 and Krysia Bereday Burnham ‘78 are the newest recipients of the Frances Riker Davis Award, which recognizes Brearley alumnae for achievements and service dedicated to the public good. Nancy is a world-renowned epidemiologist whose work has frequently been motivated and defined by the glaring fact that inequities in risk of health-harming exposures, in rates of illness and death, and in lack of access to appropriate care are driven by social injustice, including structural racism, and that social justice is vital to advance health equity. Based in the Boston area, Nancy is known as the People’s Epidemiologist. Since 1995, she has been a professor of social epidemiology in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she also serves as the director of the school’s interdisciplinary concentration on women, gender, and health. Nancy’s counsel and opinions are often sought by a range of professionals, including the media, and especially so amid the pandemic. Krysia is a hospice chaplain. After an 11-year stint living overseas, Krysia and her family settled in Newton, Massachusetts, where she was inspired to take courses at the Andover Newton Theological Seminary, and soon enrolled in a full-time program in the field. A member of the First Church in Cambridge Congregational, UCC since 2006, where she was ordained in 2016, Krysia serves as one of the parish’s community ministers. Krysia is a chaplain at the Visiting Nurse Association of Boston, where she created a virtual grief support group targeting the complex losses sustained in the community during Covid-19. During the ongoing pandemic, both Nancy and Krysia have been rising to meet the unrelenting needs of those grappling with disease, illness, grief and death. The negative and widespread forces of Covid have spotlighted the critical and compassionate work executed by them and the powerful ways in which they have taken on the fallout from a global crisis.
UP CLOSE WITH BREARLEY’S HEAD OF SCHOOL AND NEW BOARD PRESIDENT In December Jane Fried and Modupe Akinola ’92 began holding “School Update” conversations with the school community. Starting with young alumnae and older alumnae, respectively, they discussed institutional priorities like diversity, equity, inclusion and antiracism work, the continued response to and navigation of Covid-19, the Computational Thinking initiative and 610 renovations, and then opened the screen to a Q&A. Be on the lookout for more Up Close events throughout the year. YOUNG ALUM SOCIAL GATHERING Attendees from Classes 2007 to 2021 enjoyed a convivial evening at Freehold Brooklyn on November 23. THE RESCUE The Brearley Parents’ Association and the Arts Committee of the Brearley Alumnae Association co-hosted a virtual screening of this new film, directed by Brearley parents and Oscar winners Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi ’96 and Jimmy Chin and executive produced by Carolyn Bernstein ’86, executive vice president, National Geographic Documentary Films & Scripted Content, on November 19. The 350 viewers, which included alumnae, faculty and staff, were also treated to a live talk with Chai. THOUGHTS OF A COLORED MAN Curtain up! On December 9 alumnae took in a perfor-
mance of this new play on Broadway. The event was co-hosted by the Miller Society and the Arts Committee of the Alumnae Board.
The Elder Committee Wants Your Ideas! The newly formed Elder Committee encourages the sharing of insights, ideas and resources on how to weather the challenges and joys of aging. While our focus is on older alumnae— those who graduated 40 or more years ago—we hope to engage anyone concerned about issues and critical decisions faced later in life, whether legal, medical, economic, emotional or spiritual. On January 31, a panel discussion entitled “Pearls of Wisdom” introduced topics to gauge interest. We will also sponsor a reunion weekend event this spring. The co-chairs invite you to share anything on your mind! Juanita Dugdale ‘70 Gwendolyn Fortson Waring, Esq. ‘75
jbdugdale@gmail.com gsteelef@aol.com
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DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION AND ANTIRACISM
Highlights of Current Initiatives students
parents
alumnae
On October 1, the Upper School Self Government (USSG) co-heads, along with the class officers in each grade, led a Town Hall on building community within the Upper School and maintaining the momentum on Brearley’s DEI work. The class officers led grade meetings, taking their class through prompts like How do we further our community’s DEI action? How do we spread DEI work so the labor doesn’t rest on a few people’s shoulders? How do we build a kinder community? How do we foster intergrade bonding? They then took notes and collected responses and, at the end of the meeting, Classes IX–XII came together to discuss their takeaways.
One piece of the School’s work to become an inclusive, antiracist community is the recently formed Parent Equity Committee. Created under the aegis of Coy Dailey, Brearley’s new Director of Equity and Community Engagement, the committee comprises parent volunteers interested in helping in the development of a sustainable series of programming that supports and strengthens parents’ connection to their children’s experiences at school. Additionally, the programming will be aligned with Brearley’s DEIA initiatives, moving the School forward in becoming an inclusive, antiracist community.
In an effort to improve alumnae engagement and competence surrounding issues of diversity, equity, inclusion and antiracism, in December the Alumnae Board took part in an antibias workshop led by equity and belonging strategist, conflict mediator and restorative justice practitioner Jason Craige Harris. The 90-minute session dived into the impact of implicit bias, which is the brain’s automatic, instant association of stereotypes or attitudes toward particular groups, often without our conscious awareness, and how it’s reflected in the prevailing norms of the society.
While all classes contributed insightful comments and ideas, the senior class had a particularly transformative conversation, generating lots of ideas and growing closer as a grade. Recognizing the sometimes difficult experience of speaking up in conversations about identity, the grade committed to practicing more thoughtful, heart-centered norms when discussing identity, DEI and antiracism. They also brainstormed potential discursive structures for future DEI conversations, weighing the pros and cons of community time vs. advisory conversations, intellectual vs. heart-centered discussions, and prompted scenarios vs. reflections on real-life experiences. The seniors committed as a class to doing better: being more thoughtful about their language choices and jokes, doing more active antiracist learning, and making time to focus on grade healing and bonding before graduation. —Joséphine Helm and Emily Wheeler, Class XII USSG co-heads
Meeting monthly, the group provides feedback and serves as a conduit to the broader community of Brearley parents. Among the goals of the Parent Equity Committee are to engage each participant in discussing and comprehending a broad set of social identifiers including age, ethnicity, race, religion and sexual orientation; deepen the understanding of terminology connected to social justice; and further the identity development of each participant so that every member of the School in turn feels a sense of belonging. For updates on the Parent Equity Committee and information about upcoming programming, please contact Mr. Dailey, cdailey@ brearley.org.
“Conversations about bias and race can be so hard,” said Margot Herrera ’80. “Jason infused this one with warmth, joy and respect for every participant. He combined erudition with hands-on activities, so you learned by listening and by doing.” Megan Lui ’10 added, “By teaching us that everyone has biases and biases can be directed toward anyone, Jason provided us with training that we could apply to multiple scenarios, whether the biases come from within or without us. He did so with such a warm, welcoming and open nature, which is critical when engaging with a community of people with different backgrounds and different levels of engagement with DEI work.” A key objective of the Alumnae Board is to “educate ourselves and our communities on ways to better embrace antiracist behaviors and systems.” Providing antibias training is one of many steps forward in this imperative work, and it clearly resonated with the participants. “Jason was professional and knowledgeable, yet empathetic and collaborative,” reflected Antonia Bryan ’63. “But most of all, he gave us a different perspective on unconscious bias, and a new way to look at ourselves.”
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ABOUT THE COVER
B ATTEN D O W N T H E H AT C H ES ! For almost a century, Brearley has “lived” on the East River. If you walk out to the promenade at 83rd Street and look closely at 610, you will see that the building is shaped like a ship, which may be the inspiration for the nautical language employed by its inhabitants, such as referring to the floors below the lobby as “decks” and calling extra help sessions “floats.” Now, along with our original ship, we have 590, which last year took on an especially vital role as our state-of-the-art lifeboat, whose ample space safely accommodated both in-person and remote learning. As the pandemic continues to leave choppy waters in its wake, Brearley is fortunate to be navigating them by Truth and Toil and with all hands (er, paws) on deck (and oars, and sails, and…). Buoyed by the undiminished resolve, spirit, strength and industriousness of our community, together we persevere! The cover illustration, entitled By Truth and Toil on the Omicron Wave, was created by Luigi Cicala, art teacher and technology and innovation coordinator. Explaining his process, Mr. Cicala says, “I used the same kind of Sharpie markers that are frequently used in studio art classes, and the only papers that allowed me to work at ‘twice-up’ scale for the cover were huge watercolor illustration boards purchased more than 30 years ago—likely by Beatrice Thompson herself—that the Art Department had been holding onto in storage, in the event that a big project came up. This project certainly seemed to me like it qualified!” (Beatrice Thompson, the Head of the Art Department from 1970 to 2000, passed away in November of last year. See page 33.) In the picture are five Lower School students, six Middle School students, nine Upper School students, twelve faculty and staff members, one Head of School and one sea dog. See if you can find them all!
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Annual Giving to Brearley 2021–2022 School Year
We thank our extraordinary community of alumnae, parents, parents of alumnae, faculty, staff and friends for your generous philanthropic support. We are united in our belief in girls’ education, and together, we will ensure that our students learn and grow in a school that prepares them for principled engagement in the world. The School relies on annual donations, combined with tuition and income from the endowment, to fund Brearley’s educational program each year. We welcome your participation and invite general operating gifts, unrestricted or directed to specific areas, as outlined below.
O p e n i n g Doo r s F u n d Scholarships Ensuring that talented students from lower-, middle- and upper-middle class backgrounds can access a Brearley education, your gifts provide tuition assistance for families with demonstrated need.
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.
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.
United Fund
ANNUAL GIVING 2021–2022
onl ine giv ing :
www.brearley.org/make-a-gift Venmo: Brearley_af Gifts of stock: www.brearley.org/stock
gifts v ia da f, cas h o r check :
Please mail or deliver your gift to The Brearley School 610 East 83rd Street New York, NY 10028 Attention: Development & Alumnae Relations Office For any questions, contact Amina Holman, Annual Fund Director, at aholman@brearley.org or (212) 570-8610.
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, your gifts empower expanded programming in this priority area.
Please remember to make your donations before the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 2022. Every gift of any size matters. Thank you for being a Brearley champion!
FALL 2020 13
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TRADITIONS REDUX
N E P O W E ARE
WE ARE BACK! Throughout much of the fall and early winter, we were able to restart many of our beloved Brearley traditions. Even with pandemic restrictions and protocols, our students enthusiastically took part in events that make Brearley Brearley. Our 590 Performance Hall brimmed with reflection during Thanksgiving Assembly (top row); the B-Deck was alive again with the fall play, The Wolves (second row); teams vied for Homecoming glory (bottom row); Middle and Upper School students played games, hiked and bonded at Mountain Day (third row, far left); bells once again rang out to herald the holiday season (third row, second from left); Ms. Zimmermann in sartorial splendor (i.e., dressed for Pajama Day) wished her charges a wonderful winter break (third row, third from left); and giant pink dinosaurs roamed our campus on Halloween (third row, far right). Ultimately, these moments remind us of what is truly important: being together, sharing experiences and creating a supportive community.
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WINTER 2022 15
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COMPUTATIONAL THINKING
Upper School students conducting advanced scientific research in our new science center at 590.
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COMPUTATIONAL THINKING AT B R E AR L E Y
A major highlight of this year’s curricular developments is Computational Thinking. With its focus on science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM), the initiative aligns with the goals of Opening Doors, our Strategic Vision, to enrich and advance the exceptional teaching and learning that lies at the core of the Brearley experience. While strengthening our students’ foundational skills for a changing world, it also hopes to ignite and grow their love of applying analysis and logic to their work. Currently in the first phase, the initiative, led by Colin Samuel, Chief Technology Officer, is launching with AI/SITE: An Immersive Summer Interacting with Technology and Engineering. A collaboration between Brearley and New York University Tandon School of Engineering, AI/SITE, which will be piloted this summer exclusively for Brearley Upper School students, will provide a rigorous interdisciplinary introduction to essential areas of college-level STEM courses. The comprehensive six-week program will offer units in computer science, machine learning applications, physical computing and remote sensing, robotics applications, science ethics in the modern context, and presentation skills and challenge preparation, as well as include social events with other high school program students and a challenge week and final presentations. Classes will be taught by NYU professors and graduate students at the Tandon School. Another component of Computational Thinking in phase one is a speaker series, in which students will hear from women working in computational thinking. As the curricular program expands, further plans include appointing a director of computational thinking, who will be responsible for leading a summer Computational Thinking Institute for students from Brearley as well as throughout the city, designing scope and sequence for computational thinking across the divisions, and supporting and promoting faculty professional development in this area. For Mr. Samuel, the initiative has been long in the making. “It is gratifying to see this highly anticipated endeavor come to light. A Computational Thinking program will not only enable our students to become more persistent and tenacious in the face of iterative and experiential problem solving, but it will also provide greater opportunities for those who seek to be leaders in technology. We are on the threshold of an exciting new era at Brearley, and one that will have a far-reaching impact over time.”
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COMPUTATIONAL THINKING
COMPUTATIONAL THINKING:
STUDENT INITIATIVES
In a school known for teaching its students to deeply analyze texts, to write thoughtful and sharply reasoned pieces, and to excel in the liberal arts, Brearley is forging new paths in the study of science, technology and math. Problem solving is an exciting focus for many in our Upper School who have incorporated their love of STEM into brand-new Brearley traditions. They, in the middle of a pandemic no less, launched a successful coding competition that brought together students from nearly two dozen schools for an afternoon of computer science, programming and mathematics. They founded a new publication, Catalyst, which enables their classmates to explore science writing, combining their strengths as writers and their interest in the biological, physical and environmental sciences. And they introduced the Brearley Math Bowl, which is generating a love of numbers and logic and computational thinking among peers in the Middle as well as Upper School. It’s inspiring to see how students are taking their passion for these disciplines and creating wonderful opportunities for Brearley and its future generations of adventurous learners.
Clockwise from top left: Allie Brevetti-Bergman ‘23, Eileen Ye ‘22, Gabrielle Ross ‘23, Nina Piesanen ‘22, Ainsley Scheiner ‘22.
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THE FIVE Ws (AND MORE) OF BREARLEY’S NEW REGIONAL CODING COMPETITION
by Nina Piesanen ‘22, Gabrielle Ross ‘23 and Eileen Ye ‘22 WHO: Technology CIO and Computer Science Club. The inaugural event was planned and run by Alex Lee ‘21, Nina Piesanen ‘22, Gabrielle Ross ‘23 and Eileen Ye ‘22 with help from advisors Ms. Blumberg, Ms. Donovan and Mr. Samuel. A total of 50 students from 20 schools throughout New York and New Jersey attended workshops organized and taught by the Technology CIO and the Computer Science Club. They also participated in the two-hour-long coding competition across skill divisions. WHAT: A competitive programming competition for all middle and high school students, regardless of previous experience. We taught workshops entitled Introduction to Python and Introduction to Competitive Programming to students in beginning and intermediate divisions to make our event accessible to everyone. For competition, teams split into breakout rooms by division, where they collaborated on some fun computing problems: • Beginner: for students who have never programmed before. Participants in the beginner division attended the pre-competition Introduction to Python workshop. • Intermediate: for students with coding knowledge but no competitive programming experience. Participants in the intermediate division attended the pre-competition Competitive Programming workshop and could work in whatever language they knew best. • Advanced: for students who had previously participated in competitive programming competitions. WHERE: On Zoom and HackerRank. We hosted the competition on HackerRank, an interface that provided an environment where competitors could code and submit their answers. The platform also allowed the competition managers to easily grade the submissions by testing each submission with the test cases we provided. WHEN: May 22, 2021 WHY: Until the Brearley Coding Competition, there were no competitive programming competitions for high school or middle school students hosted in the Interschool. Our mission was to introduce our local community to computing and create a vibrant and supportive environment for programmers. Competitive programming is a unique intersection of mathematics and computer science, blending problem-solving skills with hands-on programming. Computing is math-based, which appeals to both math competitors who want to learn to code as well as programmers who want to learn this specific problem-solving technique.
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COMPUTATIONAL THINKING
CATALYST
HOW: A lot of time (around 100 hours), a lot of support from our advisors, the technology department and the administration, and a lot of snacks—chocolate and chips in particular!
NEW STUDENT PUBLICATION
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE: We are excited to continue to connect Brearley and Interschool students to the incredible world of competitive programming. We plan to host the competition annually to encourage students interested in CS. Through our workshops, skill-based competition divisions and emphasis on supporting new programmers, we have already begun to see younger students further involving their own schools in STEM fields. Many students who learned and competed in computing as Middle Schoolers have become CS leaders as they transitioned to Upper School. It has been truly amazing to see Middle Schoolers we have taught join our programming and competition and start helping us organize them. Soon they will also be able to uphold this new event and embed it as one of Brearley’s annual traditions for years to come.
IT SOUNDS LIKE CATALYST HAS BEEN A LABOR OF LOVE. WHEN DID YOU FIRST COME UP WITH THE IDEA? The journey began in the spring of my [Ainsley’s] sophomore year, just after Brearley shut down for Covid. I have always had a passion for both science and writing, and I thought that a STEM magazine would be the perfect opportunity to combine the two disciplines. In addition, the magazine would allow like-minded Upper School students to share their scientific writing. After drafting a PowerPoint to pitch the key aspects of my idea, I reached out to Ms. Kramer, and together we launched the process of founding the magazine.
Hopped on Zoom for one last technology dry run. Our volunteer proctors joined us. We debriefed everyone, took some pictures and prepared for the competitors to join. Our first wave of competitors arrived for our competitive programming workshops. All remaining competitors arrived. We welcomed everyone with our opening remarks and a walk-through of the competition.
Competition time. Each division had nine problems, worth the same number of points but varying in difficulty. We did not expect everyone to be able to complete all the problems in the two hours—we instead encouraged competitors to try to solve as many as they could in the allotted time.
Awards ceremony. Each member of the winning team in each division received either a sweatshirt or a microbit. (Congratulations to Brearley team members for coming in first and third place in Beginner and third place in Intermediate!)
Ainsley Scheiner ‘22, Founder and Co-editor Allie Brevetti-Bergman ‘23, Co-editor
FOUNDING A MAGAZINE IS NO EASY TASK. DID YOU LEARN A LOT IN THE PROCESS? Yes! I [Ainsley] learned how to communicate my ideas in an accessible and convincing manner. Throughout the process, I created many PowerPoints and proposals in favor of the publication. It was challenging to find the right way to express my ideas and excitement, but I am lucky to have had the opportunity to develop these skills, which I know will be important in the future. I also was reminded of the value of communication and teamwork. Catalyst would not exist without the help of Ms. Kramer, Dr. Noel-Pierre, Ms. Fried, Mr. Moroney, Mr. Squire and everyone who expressed support during the process. At first, it was daunting to reach out to faculty about this idea, but I was met with nothing but encouragement and advice and am grateful that we were able to bring Catalyst to the Brearley community. WHAT ARE YOUR ROLES? HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE ON STAFF? This year, we have the founder and co-editor from Class XII and a co-editor from Class XI. Together, co-editors hold staff meetings, review submissions, plan announcements to the community and oversee the publication process from beginning to end. Our staff also includes an art editor from Class XI who handles publicity and layout of the publication and two staff writers who contribute at least one article for each issue and serve as representatives, drumming up submissions from the Upper School. Our team is advised by Mr. Squire in the Science Department. In future years, we expect to have two co-editors and one or two art editors from Class XI, as well as additional staff writers. WHAT IS THE SYSTEM FOR SUBMISSIONS? WHAT ARE CRITERIA FOR PUBLISHING ARTICLES? Any STEM-related article is eligible to be published in Catalyst. We encourage articles ranging from interviews of STEM professionals to student research to overviews of recent scientific breakthroughs—the possibilities are endless. Once students decide they want to submit an article, the submission process is simple and brief. When submissions open, a Google Form link is provided where they can upload their name, grade and article for submission.
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WHAT SETS CATALYST APART FROM OTHER BREARLEY STUDENT PUBLICATIONS? Unlike other Brearley student publications, such as The Beaver, The Zephyr or Panoramic, Catalyst is strictly a STEM magazine dedicated to making science and scientific writing more accessible to the greater Brearley community. The goal is to create a well-rounded publication that features a blend of articles with a broad overview of scientific topics, as well as more in-depth articles. This way, the magazine can cater to students who are generally curious about science or want to stay updated on current events and students who seek an intricate understanding of specific scientific topics. We also hope that the student writing will empower the young voices at Brearley who may populate the future scientific community. WHY THE NAME CATALYST? In biology, a catalyst is an enzyme that promotes chemical reactions within the body. We chose this name because we wanted a STEM magazine to promote the fusion of writing and science, two disciplines often viewed as mutually exclusive. We have learned from our research experiences that scientific writing plays a huge role in any STEM pursuit, whether you are writing a funding proposal for NIH or writing for the New York Times Science section. Covid has also taught us the importance of understanding how to read scientific writing to stay informed about public health. We believe that Upper School students will benefit from this early exposure to scientific writing and the chance to try it themselves. HOW OFTEN WILL CATALYST COME OUT IN A YEAR, AND HOW CAN COMMUNITY MEMBERS ACCESS IT? We plan to release two issues of Catalyst: one in the winter and one in the spring. The 2021–2022 academic year will be unique in that the winter issue will be digital, so students and families can access it through a link or the Brearley portal. We hope to have a printed issue for the spring edition and all subsequent issues. HOW DO YOU HOPE TO SEE CATALYST GROW OVER THE COMING YEARS? We hope that Catalyst will join the ranks of the other Brearley publications and become a permanent aspect of Upper School life. More importantly, we hope Catalyst will become an outlet for new ideas and serve as a vehicle through which the student body can inspire one another through STEM and writing.
BREARLEY
MATH BOWL by Eileen Ye ‘22
Throughout Middle and Upper School, I have loved Brearley’s math community. Besides teaching our math teams, Catherine Ye ‘19 and I co-founded the Brearley Summer Math Workshop in 2017. Since then, for two weeks every summer, we have honed campers’ computational thinking skills with a variety of extracurricular topics and fun puzzles. In April 2021, noticing that younger students often expressed disappointment at being unable to approach most competition problems, which required ideas taught in higher grades, Emma Zhu ‘21 and I created the Brearley Math Bowl with a division specifically for 5th and 6th graders. On the day of the competition, 160 bright students came from 10 schools across the city. Congratulations to Brearley’s 6th-grade team for winning first place! I am excited to cement the Math Bowl as an annual Brearley event, like the Summer Workshop, and to see Brearley girls expressing their passion for math for years to come.
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COMPUTATIONAL THINKING
COMPUTATIONAL THINKING:
ALUMNAE
While creating a dedicated computational thinking program is a new undertaking at Brearley, computational thinking is not a new area for many of our alumnae, who shared how they use it in their jobs and how their Brearley education may have shaped their professional lives. Ironically, though perhaps unsurprisingly, most credit their studies in the liberal arts—English and history—as invaluable preparation for careers in which efficiently and persuasively expressing oneself and complex thoughts is essential. We are grateful to all who participated; here, edited for clarity and space considerations, are their responses.
From top, left to right: Nina Schwalbe ‘84, Cordelia McGee-Tubb ‘07, Emily Maher Reuter ‘02, Aditi Gupta ‘18, Alexandra Slade ‘11, Francesca Slade ‘06, Jaclyn Lyman ‘03.
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NINA SCHWALBE 1984 POSITION AND DESCRIPTION OF JOB/RESPONSIBILITIES: Director, COVID-19 Vaccine Access and Delivery Initiative, USAID Principal, Spark Street Advisors Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Principal Visiting Fellow, United Nations University International Institute of Global Health HOW DO YOU APPLY COMPUTATIONAL THINKING TO YOUR WORK? I currently am working two jobs in global public health, with a focus on vaccines. In both, I use data and evidence every day for my work, mostly conducting secondary analysis and to read and assess the scientific literature in my field so that we can make evidence-based decisions. DID YOUR TIME AT BREARLEY INFLUENCE YOUR CAREER CHOICE? While my interest in social justice and social determinants of health was formed during my time Brearley, my interest in public health came after college. WHAT WERE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE CLASSES AT BREARLEY? That is like being asked to choose your favorite ice cream flavor! Impossible! I often do think about the fact that we were assigned The Communist Manifesto at least three times between the 8th grade and graduation. The history teachers definitely had something in mind with their choice of curriculum. WHAT ARE SOME CHALLENGES YOU’VE FACED IN YOUR CAREER? Being a smart woman still has its challenges in the modern workplace. AND SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF YOUR CAREER? Having met wonderful people at every step along the way. WHAT ARE IMPORTANT QUALITIES NEEDED TO THRIVE IN YOUR PROFESSION? Probably the same as in any profession: patience, understanding, the ability to listen, the ability to think out of the box, and being solution oriented. HAS THE FIELD CHANGED SINCE YOU FIRST ENTERED IT? We used to send letters by post and when urgent we used telegrams, telex messages or faxes. We now have the internet and smartphones. The world works 24/7 and the globe is connected in real time. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A BREARLEY STUDENT CONSIDERING YOUR LINE OF WORK? Full steam ahead.
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COMPUTATIONAL THINKING
CORDELIA MCGEE-TUBB 2007 POSITION AND DESCRIPTION OF JOB/RESPONSIBILITIES: Until October 2021 I was principal accessibility engineer at Salesforce. As an accessibility engineer, I collaborated with product teams to build products that work well for people with disabilities. I advised designers and engineers on accessibility requirements, techniques and opportunities, built and tested prototypes of new accessible solutions, and created educational resources to help teams learn more about accessibility. Starting November 2021 I became staff design technologist at Color. Design technologist is a hybrid role at the intersection of design and development. In this role, I’ll collaborate closely with other designers and engineers to create robust, scalable, accessible components and design patterns, to provide consistent product experiences for all our users. DID YOUR TIME AT BREARLEY INFLUENCE YOUR CAREER CHOICE? Yes! At Brearley, I got to experiment with Flash animation and web development in a multimedia class I took with Ms. Jackson and Ms. Ennis, and later I built a website for Brearley’s drama program as my main senior spring project. I had previously been dabbling in web design and development on my own time—building fan sites on Geocities, styling my LiveJournal, and the like—but these opportunities at Brearley were my first formal introduction to, and mentorship in, building interactive digital experiences. I loved discovering new ways I could use a computer to stretch myself technically and creatively, which is what led me to study computer science in college and start a career in tech. WHAT WERE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE CLASSES AT BREARLEY? Algebra, biology, multimedia and studio art WHAT ARE SOME CHALLENGES YOU’VE FACED IN YOUR CAREER? When I started my career as a software developer, I had just graduated from a small liberal arts college with a BA in computer science. I spent just as much time there (if not more!) studying the humanities as I did computer science. At my first job I was surrounded by software developers who had received one or two technical degrees at top engineering schools. I felt like an imposter, like I’d never be as strong and confident a developer as my colleagues. It took me a few years to realize that my liberal arts background was a strength, not a weakness. Later, as I started specializing in digital accessibility, I went from writing production code to advising other people on how to write their production code. I was also often the only person in the room advocating for accessibility. Being in this advisory role has really challenged my confidence (and my introversion!) and pushed me to be a better communicator. As an advisor, there’s also a lot of pressure—from the people seeking advice but mostly from myself—to have all the answers and be right all the time. This has been one of my biggest challenges, and I’ve been working on saying, “I don’t know, but let’s figure this out together!”
AND SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF YOUR CAREER? I’ve now had the great pleasure of speaking at several technical conferences (this from a kid who was terrified of public speaking!), among them an accessibility conference in Stockholm (with my talk live-translated into Swedish and multiple sign languages!), keynoting another accessibility conference in Sydney, and emceeing one in Toronto. At one of these conferences, I met someone who was a blind user of my company’s products. He told me the core product’s user experience was much more accessible than it used to be, and that he first noticed improvements about a year and a half prior. Well, gosh, that was when I started working on that product! It was so exciting to hear this positive feedback directly from a user and know that my work had directly contributed to a more robust and usable product experience for him. WHAT ARE IMPORTANT QUALITIES NEEDED TO THRIVE IN YOUR PROFESSION? I cannot emphasize enough the value of soft skills in technical roles. You can know every algorithm and every programming language by heart, but what really matters at the end of the day is being a good collaborator and communicator. Be empathetic and generous with your colleagues, your customers and yourself. It’s also important to stay curious; technology and society change quickly, so there’s constantly more to learn about what problems need to be solved and what tools we can use to do so. Be thorough in every step of the process, from initial research to final testing, to ensure you’re creating the highest-quality experiences you can for everyone. HAS THE FIELD CHANGED SINCE YOU FIRST ENTERED IT? Absolutely! There’s much more awareness about digital accessibility now than 10 years ago. More and more tech companies are hiring for people with accessibility skills, and I think that Twitter and other social media have provided a great platform to amplify the voices of users advocating for more accessible products. In general, the web technology field is changing incredibly rapidly. (For example, my new title, design technologist, is a role that didn’t really exist until recently.) I’ve loved seeing the shift in recent years toward tech companies paying more attention to the social impact of their products and investing in diversity, equity and inclusion. It’s a really exciting time to be working in tech. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A BREARLEY STUDENT CONSIDERING THIS LINE OF WORK? If you’re interested in working on the web, I’d recommend learning semantic HTML. There are a lot of ways to build websites that look good at first glance, but semantic HTML is the foundation to making equitable, robust websites that work well for all users.
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EMILY MAHER REUTER 2002 POSITION AND DESCRIPTION OF JOB/RESPONSIBILITIES: Mobility CFO, Uber. Leading finance for Uber’s mobility segment, which consists primarily of the rides business, I am responsible for the mobility segment’s financial performance. I work closely with the head of mobility to devise short-, medium- and long-term strategies and financial plans for the business and help execute against those plans, ensuring we are making smart trade-offs to achieve our strategic and financial goals. HOW DO YOU APPLY COMPUTATIONAL THINKING TO YOUR WORK? Leading finance is first and foremost about numbers. We build out indepth forecast models to predict what we think we can achieve with our business in the year ahead, and then track and actively manage our performance closely throughout the year. We look at financial metrics as well as operational metrics to understand how we are doing in terms of reaching our financial goals and serving our customers effectively, and to make trade-offs like where we want to invest. My job is to go very deep into the numbers to understand what is happening at a granular level but then to also take a step back and summarize the key takeaways of what is happening in the business.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A BREARLEY STUDENT CONSIDERING YOUR LINE OF WORK? My job is primarily about numbers, but I rely on so much more to do my job effectively. I need to be able to go deep but also take a step back and summarize what is going on succinctly and effectively; I need to be strategic; I need to be able to communicate and share my ideas or opinions persuasively with others; I need to be able to influence others to take the actions I think are most appropriate. While math and science came more easily to me as a student, I also use much of what I learned at Brearley in classes like English and history when I need to summarize my thoughts or express my ideas. For students interested in pursuing a career in business, I’d recommend actively developing areas of your studies that might not come as naturally, in addition to areas like math. I’d also recommend finding ways to gain exposure to the basics of how a business is run, such as through summer jobs or even nonprofit work. I spent a summer in high school managing a snack bar at a beach club where I got to understand the basics of making money, such as how to price products, save money on buying supplies, and upsell customers to try to maximize my profits. It made me realize I wanted a career in business!
DID YOUR TIME AT BREARLEY INFLUENCE YOUR CAREER CHOICE? I was personally drawn to math and science from my earliest experiences at Brearley, so it’s not a surprise that I found myself pursuing a career based on numbers that requires a facility with math and a focus on precision. WHAT WERE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE CLASSES AT BREARLEY? Math and science, in particular biology. WHAT ARE SOME CHALLENGES YOU’VE FACED IN YOUR CAREER? The hardest thing for me was figuring out “what I wanted to be.” While I did not follow a typical career trajectory for someone in a corporate finance role, all of my roles have been at the intersection of strategy and finance, two areas that I find most interesting. Balancing pursuing roles that are interesting with the advice of progressing toward a particular career goal has been a challenge; that said, all of my experiences have really come together in my current role. AND SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF YOUR CAREER? Running the IPO process for Uber to go public in 2019 and being able to be a part of the celebration on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange was a definite highlight!
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COMPUTATIONAL THINKING
ADITI GUPTA 2018 EXPECTED GRADUATION: May 2022 MAJOR: Computer science HOW DO YOU APPLY COMPUTATIONAL THINKING TO YOUR EDUCATION? Most of my classes are in computer science, so computational thinking is somewhat of a requirement and expectation. Of course, I use computational thinking when I program because I need to think like a computer would in order to make the program behave in the way that I expect. However, I also apply computational thinking in other aspects of my work that are less directly relevant to computers. When writing mathematical proofs or developing new algorithms, it’s important to logically and precisely reason about how each step follows from the previous ones. If I’m trying to exploit a vulnerability in an insecure system or ensure that a system is secure, I need to think carefully about any possible adversaries, recognize the pieces of information that are important and relevant, and strategically account for any possible flaws in the system.
WHAT ARE SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF YOUR COLLEGE CAREER? I’ve really enjoyed being able to do research with a professor in the Computer Science Department. My research focuses on designing languages that mitigate some of the existing limitations in parallel programming (in which several processors run different parts of a program simultaneously, thus speeding up the overall execution time). To do this, we have developed several iterations of a programming language that has built-in parallelism and resource tracking in the hopes that programmers can write efficient parallel programs without significant cost overheads. Another important aspect of my college experience has been serving as a teaching assistant for a variety of computer science courses. As a TA, I’ve had the opportunity to significantly influence both the overall courses and individual students, from teaching recitations and holding office hours to designing lesson plans and developing homework assignments from scratch.
WHAT WERE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE CLASSES AT BREARLEY? I loved Mrs. Sagor’s elective on William Faulkner’s fiction, as well as Dr. Gray’s History of Warfare elective and Ms. Marcus’s History of China and Japan. Although the content hasn’t been directly relevant to my major, I think these classes helped me develop critical thinking, analysis and communication skills that have been invaluable.
WHAT ARE IMPORTANT QUALITIES NEEDED TO THRIVE IN YOUR (FUTURE) PROFESSION? I think many of the same things are important in computer science as in any field: effective communication; being able to analyze a problem, decompose it into smaller subproblems and then slowly build up a solution; a logical mindset that allows you to understand a problem precisely and thoroughly; creativity and the ability to think outside of the box; and persistence.
WHAT ARE SOME CHALLENGES YOU’VE FACED IN YOUR TIME AS A STUDENT? Something that I’ve struggled with quite a bit is finding meaning in my work; sometimes, tech can feel very impersonal to me, and I think it can be difficult to identify areas of tech that I feel are important and impactful. I’ve come to realize that computer science is much more than just programming or computers and can involve many different things depending on my specific interests.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A BREARLEY STUDENT CONSIDERING YOUR LINE OF WORK? At first, it might seem like everyone has more technical experience than you. Even if that’s true, the fact that you’ve attended a school like Brearley means that you’ll be able to pick up any concrete technical skills you might need as you go; what’s really important is that you’re thinking about problems in the right way, not whether or not you know a particular fact, tool or concept.
It took me some time to figure out what I cared about and why, and I still don’t have it entirely worked out, but I’ve been trying to incorporate my interest in the humanities (especially international relations and security) into my computer science work. I really enjoyed history and English at Brearley, and I’ve missed being able to discuss books and politics with classmates since coming to college; being able to think about some of the human-level applications of different kinds of technology has become an important part of my caring about my work.
Also, you might think that once you enter a technical field, your humanities skills are no longer important, but in my experience, being able to communicate your ideas effectively and think carefully about the points you are trying to make is absolutely critical, even (and especially) in tech, where precision is paramount.
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ALEXANDRA SLADE 2011 AND FRANCESCA SLADE 2006 POSITION AND DESCRIPTION OF JOB/RESPONSIBILITIES: Alexandra: Tech lead/manager at Google on a team working on education queries in Google Search. Specifically I’ve worked on showing formulas in the Search results, providing Indian exam syllabus information, and providing homework help on Search. I’m responsible for managing a team of engineers (assigning projects, coaching them in their work), convincing other teams to work well with us, and defining the products we should build, especially based on what’s possible to build. Francesca: Tech lead at Google on a team working on logs. I work on things like deleting personal data from the logs before it ends up in ad pipelines to comply with EU privacy regulations. I make sure that sensitive data from search queries is visible only to teams that are supposed to see it. HOW DO YOU APPLY COMPUTATIONAL THINKING TO YOUR WORK? Alexandra: My job is about a combination of fitting my product into the large system it needs to be a part of, and justifying that it is doing what we think it should do. For me, computational thinking involves understanding the logical flow of the systems I am working within (how do I expect one to flow into another) and then how do I expect that to impact overall metrics. I often fall back to a scientific method whether I’m debugging a piece of code or trying to figure out whether a product is a good fit for users: What’s my hypothesis of what’s happening? How can I prove or disprove it? Francesca: My job is all about designing large systems to process data. For me, computational thinking is all about understanding the trade-offs between different designs. This one might be easier to build but take longer to run, this one might make it easy to ensure we catch more bugs before we launch but at the cost of making it slower to add new logs to our system. I design a lot of options and analyze the trade-offs.
WHAT ARE SOME CHALLENGES YOU’VE FACED IN YOUR CAREER? Francesca: At Brearley the smartest person in the room was always a woman, but the most confused person in the room was also a woman. That experience of competence and excellence divorced from gender set me up well to enter a male-dominated field with confidence and self-assurance that have served me well. AND SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF YOUR CAREER? Francesca: As I’ve gotten more senior and more experienced, I’ve enjoyed mentoring and coaching younger engineers. I’ve especially enjoyed being able to encourage young women to be more assertive and more comfortable asking questions they worry might make them look bad. Less related to my career in tech, I designed a board game that got published in 2020. It’s called Poetry for Neanderthals and is about communicating to your team when your communication is artificially limited. Alexandra: Similarly to Francesca, I’ve enjoyed mentoring and coaching, and particularly my work as a manager was both a recognition that I was doing that well and an opportunity to continue doing more of that. My work as a manager on my team has also allowed me to help shape what we work on and prioritize based on what I believe to be important and worthwhile investments. It has been satisfying to feel like my opinion is heard, respected and then acted upon. HAS THE FIELD CHANGED SINCE YOU FIRST ENTERED IT? Alexandra: I’m relatively early in my career so there hasn’t been that much change, but it seems like there are more women around me even than when I first started. That has been accompanied by a general better understanding of how to be inclusive (not just of gender, but also other underrepresented groups) and the importance of inclusion and diversity.
WHAT WERE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE CLASSES AT BREARLEY? Alexandra: Some of my favorite classes were Modern European History, Latin and Modern Women Poets. I was inspired by that and other poetry classes I took to create a developer experience poetry wall for my team. This is a place where the team can put their frustration into poetry as a way to empathize and document it so we can make it better. Those classes and others at Brearley improved my writing and critical thinking, which are key skills I use in my daily work. Francesca: I loved my whole Brearley experience, but my favorite classes were American History, Latin and anything I took in the English Department. My English classes gave me a love of poetry and fiction; they taught me how to think critically and write persuasively.
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COMPUTATIONAL THINKING
JACLYN LYMAN 2003 POSITION AND DESCRIPTION OF JOB/RESPONSIBILITIES: I am currently the director, pancreatic cancer programs and clinical science at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI). PICI is a novel collaboration between leading immunologists and academic centers founded by philanthropist Sean Parker with the mission of turning cancer into a curable disease. Since 2017 I have been spearheading their pancreatic efforts, internally and externally, in collaboration with our academic, nonprofit and industry partners. Responsibilities range from clinical trial design, execution and analysis to establishing and navigating strategic collaborations aimed at reducing silos and redundancies in the field. Prior to PICI, I oversaw the breast medicine clinical research team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC).
AND SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF YOUR CAREER? At MSKCC, interacting with cancer patients and their families was a daily highlight. It was extremely rewarding to see the direct impact of our research.
DID YOUR TIME AT BREARLEY INFLUENCE YOUR CAREER CHOICE? Absolutely. As for many young, inquisitive minds, George Tokieda was fundamental in encouraging and developing my appetite for science. It was in our 2nd-grade science class that he saw my passion for understanding “the why” as well as my introverted nature. He challenged me to speak up at least once each class and rewarded participation with inviting me to TA his kindergarten classes: both masterful ways of building my confidence and developing an innate curiosity. Looking back, I truly believe it was those early years at Brearley that shaped my later pursuits.
HAS THE FIELD CHANGED SINCE YOU FIRST ENTERED IT? The field has expanded drastically from the time I first began working in clinical research (2008). Back then, it was not a well-known career path even to those with a science background. With major advances in “omics” and AI, the field has taken off at an exponential pace, and now it’s become possible to study clinical research at the graduate level. Trials are also much more complex, sophisticated and plentiful. I feel fortunate I got into the field when I did and had the experience of watching this growth firsthand.
WHAT ARE SOME CHALLENGES YOU’VE FACED IN YOUR CAREER? Finding balance. As someone who is very mission driven, it can be overwhelming to see how much more there is to be done; however, there are only so many hours in a day. Pacing myself and letting go of perfectionism has been a lifelong lesson—and rest breeds creativity.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A BREARLEY STUDENT CONSIDERING YOUR LINE OF WORK? We’re at a very exciting time in history and there’s an exponential amount of data to leverage. With such a wealth of possibilities (and challenges), it’s important to spend time learning where exactly your unique skills and passion lie to make the greatest impact. There’s so much more out there than what meets the eye and many ways one can contribute to clinical research without working in a lab or treating patients directly. Talk to as many people as you can and try as many things as possible. Be curious and stay open to where your heart leads you. Beyond this, balance, focus and persistence are key.
As a woman in STEM, and an introvert, there have unfortunately also been many circumstances when my voice was not heard and/or my ideas were taken without due credit. Finding the right allies and sponsors has been critical for combating this in addition to furthering my career development. With a growing focus on and education around implicit biases as well as workplace culture, I hope this narrative continues to evolve as others learn to create more space at the table. There are many styles of leadership, and being the loudest voice in the room does not always translate to making the most meaningful impact.
At PICI I get to experience this on a different scale by growing the seeds of ideas into innovative therapeutic strategies for cancer patients. There is no greater feeling than dosing the first patients on a clinical trial, nor seeing the data we worked so hard to compile and analyze get released to the public. Most recently, this came in the form of a Lancet Oncology publication for our flagship pancreatic trial, PRINCE, as well as dosing the first patients on our follow-on trial, REVOLUTION. It’s exciting to be able to take what we learned and translate it into the next questions to tackle.
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2022 UPCOMING EVENTS VIRTUAL ALUMNAE WEEKEND & REUNIONS APRIL 4-8 2022
2022 BREARLEY BENEFIT APRIL 21, 2022
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BIRTHS, MARRIAGES AND DEATHS
BIRTHS 1994
To PAULA CAMPBELL ROBERTS and Ricardo Roberts, a son, Cameron Campbell Roberts1
1997
To EVA CHEN and Tom Bannister, a son, River Bannister2
1998
To REBECCA BIENSTOCK and Greg Daniels, a daughter, Penelope Bien Daniels3
2000
To DENA TWAIN SIMS and Timothy Sims, a son, Norman West Sims4 To ROBIN RAE and Elann Danziger, a son, Julian Howard Danziger To CHARLOTTE HOWARD and Dan Osnoss, a daughter, Francesca Olivia Howard Osnoss To RACHEL COTTON and Philip Trout, a son, Casey Cotton Trout5
2001
To KIMBERLY STOLZ and Laura Hayward, a daughter, Savannah Monroe Stolz-Hayward6 To JENNIFER SOLOMON and Joshua Alexander, a daughter, Lily Solomon7 To ANNA WAINWRIGHT and Jim Parsons, a daughter, Clara Lucy Wainwright Parsons8
2002
To SAMANTHA LIPTON and Kevin Schwartz, a son, Nathaniel Schwartz9
2003
To ALICE APPLETON and Frazier Bardolph, a son, George Bardolph Appleton10 To VALERIE CHIN and Peter Decareau, a son, Peter Decareau IV
2004
To CHARLOTTE SAVINO and Lee Norton, a son, Guy Barber Norton11 To EMILY SOLOMON CAMPOFRANCO and Nicholas Campofranco, a daughter, Sophie Kate Campofranco
2005
To REBECCA CHAPMAN and Alex Auriema, a daughter, Cosima Nahmias Auriema To LILY MCKEAGE DOLLAN and Matt Dollan, a son, Levi Astra Dollan
2006
To MIA HAMAMOTO CAMPBELL and Fergus Campbell, a son, Miles Toda Campbell12
2007
To REBECCA SUSSMAN and Matt Rosenthal, a son, Jack Levine Rosenthal13
2008
To RACHEL SHANNON-SOLOMON JONES and Eric Jones, a son, Owen Solomon Jones14 To STEPHANIE LINKA SHARP and Matthew Sharp, a daughter, Beatrice Sharp15
2009
To SOPHIE PALITZ BUINEWICZ and Jacob Buinewicz, a daughter, Callie Buinewicz16
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MARRIAGES 1991
KATE CHASSON to Mark Anderson
2000
MELISSA MINESS to Jordan Webb1
2005
ALEXANDRA GINIGER to Bryan Scotland2
2005
ALEXANDRA SCHWARTZ to Jon Blitzer3
2008
ZOE SHEWER to Sameh Elamawy4
2009
KATHERINE TENG to Brandon Kelly5
2010
EMILY AURAN to Mike Clarke
2011
SHANA BURSTEIN to Harris Osserman6
2011
ERICA MOZSKOWSKI to Ron Yang7
Beatrice Thompson 1932–2021
DEATHS 1939
Agnes Martin Booher Allison Forbes Dench
1941
Grace Morey McKenzie
1946
Priscilla Johnson McMillan
1947
Joan Williams Cox
1947
Gay Semler Estin
1949
Linda J. Barrett Kathryn Schaefler Pershan
1950
Deborah Lovering Copeland Mary Frances Raphael Dunham
1953
Anne Chambers Crudge
1954
Janet Eldridge Baldwin
1955
Elaine Gordon Yaffe
1956
Barbara Baerwald Bronfman
1957
Jean Spalding Nix
1958
Jane Aldrich
1959
Nancy Conant Berresford
1960
Virginia Cave
1962
Colette Whitney
1969
Claudine Gignoux Scoville
1975
Ellen Kurrelmeyer
1980
Mary Hall
1984
Nicolle Alexandra Ward
1990
Marissa Love
2002
Gillian Gillers
by Elizabeth Stainton ‘77, Former Head of the Art Department It is with great sadness that I report that Beatrice Thompson, who headed Brearley’s Art Department from 1970 to 2000, died peacefully at home on Wednesday, November 17, just shy of her 89th birthday. Beatrice Terzian grew up in an Armenian-American community in Altadena, California, where English was her second language. After art school, she taught in the LA public school system where her gift for inspiring art students culminated in a book, published by Reinhold, that has served as a curricular guide for many. In 1965, with her beloved husband, Philip, she relocated to UC Santa Cruz to develop the art program there. Recruited to Brearley in the late ’60s, Mrs. Thompson quickly transformed the studios on 7 into hives of activity, a safe haven for students to find community and explore visual expression. Injecting the process with joy, humor and profound meaning, she drew on a deep well of knowledge of techniques and materials and her passionate belief in each student’s inherent, unique creativity. Beatrice saw art as a discipline vitally important to educating young minds. Fighting fiercely for her program, she expanded and deepened it, building a cohesive, rigorous curriculum. Drawing from sources from around the globe, her visionary innovations and methods were sought out and observed by many outside educators. Bringing her energy to the life of the School, Bea worked on lavish scenic painting projects for drama productions and presided proudly over exuberant art exhibitions—all this while lovingly mentoring a slew of teachers over the years, enabling many rewarding careers. Most importantly, Beatrice’s generous and heartfelt devotion to her students is legendary. She cajoled, inspired and rescued countless young people with her voracious enthusiasm and empathy and her keen intelligence and insight. The sound of her raucously contagious laughter wafting down the hall on the seventh floor will not be forgotten by those fortunate enough to have worked with her. Beatrice continued to receive letters, calls, visits and even Zoom tributes from former students and colleagues to the end. A sensitive soul who put her needs second to those around her, she found time to meticulously create mesmerizing paintings and curate a dazzling eclectic living space. Beatrice’s generous stewardship and unique aesthetic sensibility enriched many, many lives, and her influence will continue in spirit for years to come. WINTER 2022 33
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By the river, on East 83rd Street, we will be here. Middle School handbells performance, December 14, 2021.
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
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