Country Connections - Winter 2018-19

A Message from the Head of School Dear Country School Alumni, Families, and Friends, Welcome to the latest issue of Country Connections. As you will see, much has happened on campus since I wrote my letter introducing the May 2017 edition of our alumni magazine. Among the developments you will read about here are: sustainability initiatives on campus; diversity, inclusion, and cultural competency; and our new international student program. You will find updates about our Shaping the Future campaign and hear how it continues to transform the Country School experience. You will see a brief summary of some of the events that have taken place on and off campus in recent months and have a chance to hear from an array of Country School voices, including students, alumni, a former trustee, and a beloved (and hilarious) teacher who has been here, guiding our students, for more than half of The Country School’s 63-year lifespan.

We are also pleased to introduce a vital new document (which is really so much more than a document; indeed, it is truly the driving force behind all we do): our new school mission statement. The result of a year’s work by a committee of dedicated, thoughtful teachers, administrators, and trustees, our mission statement reflects the ideas and values stated in our previous mission as well as those outlined by our school’s founders when The Country School came into being 63 years ago, namely that our school will be a place where, through individual attention and strong relationships, teachers are “able to reach the minds of young children, developing their natural enthusiasm for learning” and helping them reach “their full potentialities.” Our new mission statement takes those key elements and condenses it all into a single paragraph.

Our intent was to convey — simply and succinctly, so that anyone could both grasp and convey it — what makes The Country School unique. As you read our new mission statement, please share your feedback. Does it represent the school you know and love?

In the last issue of Country Connections, in a section we called Taking Stock: Exploring Student Outcomes, we shared more than 20 alumni profiles. The direct result of resources we dedicated to researching, reconnecting with, and writing about our former students, the profiles made us aware of the plethora of talented, purposeful Country School alumni who are out in the world, making a difference. In 2017, I promised a sequel, because the 20 or so we presented just scratched the surface.

You will find that sequel here.

Take some time to read through these pages. (And it will take some time, because so many Country School alumni are doing really interesting things.) Then, I hope you will join me in saluting our students and all of the teachers who, since 1955, have committed themselves to nurturing the creativity, sense of wonder, and exuberance of childhood, providing generations of children an education that lasts a lifetime.

With best wishes from campus,

John D. Fixx Head of School

What’s New? Shaping the Future: An Update

If you haven’t been to campus recently, consider stopping by. You are in for a treat! Here’s what has been happening:

Parking Lots Two summers ago, the new parking lots and driveways, which took vehicular traffic away from the center of campus and moved it to the perimeter, took shape.

This summer, the roads were paved and sidewalks installed so that everyone can arrive and depart via a smooth, rut-less, puddle-free roadway or footpath. We were able to complete the driveway enhancements, thanks to the generosity of several key families. Helping with the endeavor were several Country School individuals and families, both current and former (more than 70, to be exact), who purchased personalized bricks to be installed around the new flagpole near the entrance of campus. The new bricks will be added to the ones families purchased more than a decade ago, commemorating their time on campus and their connection to our school.

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Burt Family Green Since our last issue, when we introduced our new athletic fields, tennis courts, playgrounds, and other revamped outdoor spaces, a lot more has been added, thanks to our Shaping the Future campaign. Later in this issue you will read about the dedication of our stunning new Burt Family Green, an “anchor for our campus,” as former trustee Tammey Rooney described it in a speech she delivered during the green’s dedication. The Burt Family Green has become a multi-purpose hub of activity, providing the perfect venue for outdoor classes, cross country warm-ups, the all-school photo, an outdoor theater on Grandparents’ and Special Friends’ Day, group yoga, pick-up soccer, and a mini-fairground for the Fall Festival.

Renovations and Redesigns Indoor campus enhancements include a renovated Dining Room, complete with floor-to-ceiling windows, a gift from the Country School class of 2017. The dining room looks out over the new athletic fields as well as the new outdoor dining patio, a gift from the class of 2016. Members of the class of 2018 also left their mark when they moved on to high school. Thanks to our most recent graduates, inside DeFrancis Gymnasium you will find a freshly painted and updated stage and proscenium and a brand new, shiny, boys’ locker room, which for the first time also features two beautiful (and welcome) boys’/men’s bathrooms.

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Other work has taken place inside classrooms. STEAM Labs have been updated and soundproofed, a classroom has been dedicated to Marcat Knowlton, our beloved teacher who retired after more than two decades, and classroom layouts have been altered to allow for more interactive instruction. More campus changes are forthcoming. Read on for news about sustainability efforts on campus.

Program Updates More than Just a Table: Harkness comes to Country School A key inside-the-classroom transformation took place in the Blatchford Learning Center’s History Room, where a beautiful, long, oval table now resides.

Each day, students take a seat at the table alongside their teacher. Together, they engage in discussion designed to involve everyone and develop each student’s voice. Students take time to digest what their peers say before contributing themselves, so it’s as much about listening as it is about speaking. This exchange of ideas is a route to deeper understanding; it is also an exercise in civil discourse and sharing leadership.

Using the Harkness method, a way of teaching pioneered by Phillips Exeter Academy following a gift from philanthropist Edward Harkness in 1930, teachers pose big-picture or essential questions and then step back as the conversation grows. As Exeter says on its website, Harkness is “about collaboration and respect, where every voice carries equal weight, even when you don’t agree…. It’s where you explore ideas as a group, developing the courage to speak, the compassion to listen and the empathy to understand.”

Student-centered, discussion-based learning has long been at the heart of the Country School experience, but the new Harkness table makes it official. Our Harkness table, made from the wood of an oak tree that stood for decades in front of MacLane House, was built by James Wurzbach, a talented woodworker and Country School parent. During the 2017 school auction, members of the community raised their paddles to support the construction of the table, and a Country School faculty member attended Exeter’s week-long Harkness training program to learn more about how the method can best be applied. A generous parent donated new chairs to be placed around the table. This fall, faculty members held their opening meetings around it, and Middle School history students have been engaging in active discussions there every day since.

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Learning through Harkness We reached out to Country School alumni who also attended Exeter to see what impact learning around the Harkness table has had on their lives.

Here is a response from Ari Mannan ’03 (Exeter ’07, Michigan ’11), the founder of the health startup bosWell and one of the speakers at our recent TEDxTheCountrySchool conference: Harkness offers an active learning experience. There is literally nowhere to hide at the oval table and it ensures that every student is involved…. It really motivated me to arrive to class prepared, but at the same time I found myself learning how to adapt to the impromptu dialogues. No two classes were the same and you never knew what to expect going in, but that was the beauty of Harkness in my mind — how a topic could be analyzed in so many different ways. Harkness helped me appreciate the importance of listening to my peers and learning as a team, attributes that have absolutely translated to my work life. Overcoming my inhibitions to speak in front of others has also been an invaluable gift from Harkness.

From Honor Clements ’12 (Exeter ’17, now a sophomore at Columbia University, where she plans to major in Sociology and Latin American and Caribbean Studies): Learning at Harkness is unique because teachers don’t play as active a role as they might in a traditional setting.

Instead, so much of the learning comes from the students. Rather than memorizing and regurgitating facts, it’s more about interpreting and analyzing. I’ve found that Harkness has really helped me at Columbia, enabling me to look at whatever we’re reading or discussing and distill it down to its essence. Harkness also helps students improve their listening and conversational skills, teaching them to consider someone else’s ideas and find ways to build on them. Harkness hasn’t just changed the way I learn; I don’t think it would be a stretch to say Harkness has changed the way I interact with the world. It has made me think of things in a more holistic way, inspiring me to consider the broader implications of a given subject and inspiring me to search for the deeper meaning.

Elmore Leadership Our Elmore Leadership Program continues to grow and undergo refinement, particularly as we think about the role of the emergent leader and the power of the quiet leader. In school circles, The Country School is gaining a reputation for providing real-life leadership opportunities, which graduates then carry with them to their secondary schools. After hearing about our program from a Connecticut boarding school attended by Country School graduates, teachers from the University School of Milwaukee visited campus to watch one of our AllSchool Meetings. Specifically, they were interested in seeing how students were given agency at these meetings, with older students taking a leadership role and students of all ages invited to share their voices. As they try to plan their own leadership program, our visitors wanted to witness an approach to developing advocacy, public speaking, and civic mindedness.

As part of the Elmore Leadership Expo, Matthew Ambrose, Grade 6, channels the voice of Martin Luther King, Jr., the leader he researched. Students were asked to consider a contemporary topic from the perspective of their leader.

While teachers have continued to instill lessons and activities to advance our Elmore Leadership Initiative, students have heard from individuals — all of them alumni last year — who convey that spirit through our Elmore Leadership Speaker Series. Andrew Epprecht ’13 started the series off last fall with an inspiring presentation about OurSock.com, the company he founded at age 15. Ted London ’77, a professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, was next, talking about his work at the Base of the Pyramid, or the intersection of poverty alleviation and business development, helping students think about their place in the world and how they might make meaningful contributions.

Zoe Cianciolo ’06 was our third Elmore Leadership speaker, inspiring students with stories about her work as a news writer at Good Morning America. Learn more in our Alumni Portraits section. For more about Elmore Leadership, named for longtime Country School trustee Bill Elmore, go to thecountryschool.org/ signature-programs/elmore-leadership.

Sustainability, STEAM, and Service Eliminating plastic waste Concerned about the effects of plastic on the environment, a team of 6th Graders is spearheading an effort to eliminate plastic waste, both on campus and in the broader community. The two leaders of the undertaking, Ryan Hustis and Tanner Weiss, first became concerned about the effects of plastic pollution last year, when they were in 5th Grade. They made a presentation at All School Meeting, and this year, together with their 6th Grade classmates, they have initiated a school-wide effort to address the problem.

Part of their initiative is about raising awareness on campus, part is about recycling, and part is about spearheading an effort to reduce the use of single-use plastics in the broader community. This fall, Ryan wrote managers of local grocery stores, proposing a fee on single-use plastic bags in check-out lines. He filled his letter with compelling examples of why this would be a good thing to do. “For instance,” he wrote in his letter, “the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a massive gyre in the Pacific Ocean twice the size of Texas, is nearly 99 percent composed of plastic. Over 50 percent of the world’s sea turtles have ingested plastic. Even worse, when humans eat fish, they also eat toxins found in plastics and microplastics. So, not only is the plastic problem hurting fish, it is also hurting humans.”

For his part, Tanner designed a “Greener Solutions” recycling guide that illustrates clearly which items belong in the trash, the recycling bin, or the compost heap.

These guides are now posted across campus, and students are taking notice. So are their parents, who report being reprimanded by their children when they dispose of their plastic waste incorrectly. (Stop by campus and check out Tanner’s list if you need to learn what goes where.)

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Together with some creative schoolmates, Ryan and Tanner have teamed up with the Madison Chamber of Commerce and its Turn the Tide on Plastics initiative, creating a recycled plastic scarecrow for the traditional Madison Chamber scarecrow parade to bring attention to the cause. They also designed reusable cloth tote bags to sell, with proceeds earmarked for nonprofits. Providing key assistance with these endeavors were Michaela Troy and Rosie Liu, along with other 6th Graders.

This student-driven effort has caught the attention of the entire school, including STEAM teachers, who have adjusted their curricula to incorporate lessons about plastic, the effects of pollution on the environment, the benefits of recycling, and more. Fittingly, this year’s 6th Grade Elmore Leadership Expo, in which students research a leader from history and then deliver speeches in that leader’s voice, was focused around the theme of protecting the environment and eliminating pollution, specifically plastic waste. Art teachers have worked with students on collaborative sculptures made from recycled plastic. The effort has also caught the attention of the local media, with stories appearing in local newspapers.

Tanner Weiss and Ryan Hustis design a recycled plastic scarecrow to support the Chamber’s Turn the Tide on Plastics initiative.

Louise Jackson, Middle School math teacher and a 6th Grade adviser, is grateful to the boys for turning their passion into a cause everyone can get behind. “I am continually amazed by the leadership these 6th Graders are demonstrating,” she said. “Ryan and Tanner willingly assume the extra work needed to live our school mission by making a difference to their school and the world.”

Making use of the sun’s energy Sixth Graders aren’t the only students who have spearheaded environmental action on campus. Inspired by a STEAM study conducted by last year’s 7th Graders, school administrators are planning to install solar panels on roofs across campus.

Mr. Fixx announced the plan at All-School meeting this fall, telling 8th Graders that the presentation they made last year, following their STEAM/solar project, made administrators really think about how they could use the sun to help provide the school’s energy needs.

With the Board of Trustees’ support, they began investigating options, and “if all goes well, and we think it will, there will soon be solar panels” on roofs across campus, from Clark House to DeFrancis Gymnasium to the other classroom buildings, Mr. Fixx said. “They will power much of the energy we need,” he said, describing the plan as a win-win all around. “It’s good for the earth because we’re using the sunshine, and students will be able to see how much energy we’re producing.”

Watch for more news on these two initiatives, as our innovative young changemakers “serve the common good” by protecting our shared environment.

The Country School and the World Expanding diversity, fostering inclusion, instilling cultural competency At The Country School, expanding diversity and fostering inclusion have been important goals for decades (and we have good news to report on both fronts — read on). In school circles, another term — cultural competency — has also entered the lexicon, and it’s almost impossible to read a publication like the Chronicle of Higher Education or Independent School, the magazine put out by the National Association of Independent Schools, without encountering it.

The term cultural competency has actually been around for a while, but as our world grows increasingly interconnected on the one hand and seemingly more divided on the other, we’re beginning to see it more and more. From “Cultural Competency is Not a Soft Skill,” an article in Education Week Teacher:

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Abilities that are critical to navigating inevitable cultural and demographic shifts can hardly be considered optional. Critical and comparative thinking, selfawareness and appreciation of different points of view, and the ability to collaborate, to listen, and to speak and think in an inclusive manner are all essential skills for communicating and understanding diverse perspectives.

The article, by Kyle Redford, goes on to cite the deep divisions that have arisen in our country, particularly along political lines. “As a large and diverse nation, we cannot afford to ignore these deep divides,” he says. “Educating our students in cultural competency is critical to sustaining U.S. democracy.” So what are we doing at The Country School to ensure that our community is diverse and inclusive and that our students are culturally competent?

A Diverse Student Body For starters, we are proud to say that our small school in the Madison woods provides students exposure to a greater variety of backgrounds, perspectives, experiences, and cultures than most of our neighbor public and private schools are able to offer. In fact, our students’ families come from more than 25 different countries, and their parents and grandparents (and often our students themselves) speak some 17 languages at home.

“Our community spans the world, from Poland to Portugal and from China to Cambodia, from India to Israel to Italy to Ireland to Iceland, from Taiwan to Texas, from Lima to London, from Hungary to Sudan, and from California to Colombia,” Head of School John Fixx wrote in his recent blog celebrating diversity on campus, In Partnership with Families. “I am tremendously proud of The Country School’s increasing diversity, as measured in terms of race, culture, family structures, religion, nationality, socio-economic status, and so forth.”

International Student Program During the 2017-2018 school year, The Country School’s increasingly global reach took a deliberate and bold new step when the International Student Program was officially established in partnership with Apex International Education partners, an organization that assists with international student recruitment, enrollment, and homestay coordination. Midway through the school year, The Country School welcomed two students from China to join us through ISP. A third joined us for the current school year. In each case, the ISP students brought new energy, perspectives, and friendship opportunities to our small community. And just as much as they learned from being with us, we learned from having them in our midst.

Allen Li receives his diploma from Board Chair Mauricio Salgar.

That dynamic was underscored at last year’s Prize Day ceremony, when Hongye (Allen) Li, our first ISP graduate, was honored with the Outdoor Education Award. As he presented the award to Allen, school librarian Andrew Robertson, one of the Southwest Trip leaders, talked about the way Allen embraced every opportunity during the 8th Grade’s week in Utah. He described how Allen took to rock climbing, even though, growing up in China, he had never had a chance to do it before — so much so that their guides were inspired to set up additional courses to accommodate the newfound (and contagious) climbing enthusiasm.

“But Allen did not just enjoy the physical challenges of our trip,” Mr. Robertson said, adding: After an evening debrief on the rocks above our campsite, rather than stumble off to bed in blind exhaustion like the rest of us, Allen asked if he could stay out longer to enjoy the stars, a view he said he was unable to see in Shanghai. Similarly, waking up in the alpine meadows of the La Sal Mountains, Allen held back from the group to enjoy the spectacular view of the snowy peaks looming over the quaking aspens and fields of wildflowers. For reminding us to take on challenges but also take time to stop and appreciate the beauty around us, thank you, Allen.

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Fostering Inclusion As wonderful as it is to have an increasingly diverse and international Country School community, diversity is only one part of the equation. Our community must also be inclusive, and so we ask our students to practice “empathy by considering different perspectives and making all members of the community feel welcome, included, and respected,” as our school’s Core Values state. Our number one school rule — Be Kind — supports that goal as well, calling upon students to not just be accepting but inclusive.

The Country School follows a five-year continuum of yearly themes (Cooperation, Assertiveness, Responsibility, Empathy, and Self Control), based on the principles and practices of Responsive Classroom. Each year, teachers plan deliberate discussions of and exercises around the theme for the year, so all students in our community understand what words like empathy and assertiveness mean, not just in theory but practice. Recently, teachers also brought the tenets of the Jesse Lewis Choose Love movement to campus, inviting students to participate in a series of activities aimed at honoring and including everyone. Choose Love, founded by Scarlett Lewis, whose son, Jesse, was killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting, embraces social and emotional learning and provides tools and skills aimed at fostering resilience, on the theory that if we all choose love, our world will be kinder and, ultimately, more safe.

Deliberate Programs Designed to Instill Cultural Competency In addition to expanding diversity and fostering inclusion, The Country School is committed to providing meaningful, ongoing opportunities for students to engage with others from different backgrounds. Our new, one-paragraph mission statement has an addendum called We Live Our Mission By:. Among the bullets that follow that title is this one: Facilitating an understanding of the world through deliberate programs and experiences that encourage students to embrace differences, explore new perspectives, and find common ground in a multicultural world.

Country School in Spain

Signature Country School programs such as Elmore Leadership, Outdoor Education, and STEAM are among those deliberate programs. Each is predicated on the notion that bringing together different perspectives and experiences produce the strongest results. Our new Harkness Table also speaks to that goal by shaping students who can listen to, converse with, and synthesize different ideas.

Other opportunities to grow in cultural competency come through the school-wide Cultural Arts program, which brings artists from around the world to campus to share their work and culture, and the Global Language program, which is immersive in terms of both language and culture. Recently, our Global Language team also began offering international trips, providing students an opportunity to join teachers for a hands-on experience in a foreign country. Last year, teachers led trips to Spain and Quebec; this year, they will visit Italy.

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In Elmore Library, Andrew Robertson has been focusing on expanding the school’s book collection to include diverse voices from across the world. “During my time as the Country School librarian, I have striven to develop the collection to better represent our diversity,” he said. “The AASL [American Association of School Librarians] says that as librarians we should ‘create meaningful learning experiences that foster cultural competence, sensitivity, appreciation, and respect for differences in the library and classrooms. A persuasive benefit of an inclusive environment is student success and empowerment.’ I wholeheartedly agree, and see this as an integral part of my mission.” Classroom teachers are also supportive of this mission, and they frequently share ideas about incorporating new and different voices in their teaching. This fall, Middle Schools students participated in the Global Read Aloud, reading the books Refugee by Alan Gratz and Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed as students across the world read the same texts and had opportunities to engage in collaborative activities and conversations.

In addition to the exposure to and embrace of differences taking place on campus on a regular basis, students have frequent opportunities to expand their understanding of others through special events and activities. IDEA Day (Interpreting Diversity Education through Action) is an annual day of workshops designed to expand students’ perspectives and foster inclusion and empathy. Started in 2013 by then-5th Grade teacher Gabby Mbeki, IDEA Day has become a tradition on campus and will mark its seventh year this winter. Our TEDx program and Elmore Leadership Speaker Series have invited speakers to talk about a range of topics, from a young Syrian refugee’s experience coming to Connecticut to efforts to engage and inspire Lakota youth on the Cheyenne River Reservation. Each spring, Middle School students are invited to attend the Connecticut Association of Independent School’s annual one-day Student Diversity Leadership Conference, a statewide conference for middle and high school students interested in topics related to diversity and inclusion. (Mr. Fixx was one of the conference’s founders when he was Head of School at Chase Collegiate; it is now in its 17th year).

Middle School students may opt to participate in the Middle School Model UN conference, where they are given a chance to explore global problems and work collaboratively to solve them.

Service Learning projects allow students to connect with people in other regions of the world or in communities closer to home. A relationship with Call to Care Uganda, a nonprofit based in Madison, has Country School students learning about and supporting students in rural Uganda. In 2015, Country Schools students raised enough money to underwrite construction of a well to provide clean drinking water in a Ugandan village, and they have had ongoing opportunities to hear from those benefiting from their efforts.

Service projects in recent years have included:

Students and alumni join forces to serve local families in need.

• An initiative to help a library in Luxor, Egypt, purchase books for local children.

• A project, spearheaded by an alumni family, to help students in St. John, USVI, recover from the effects of hurricanes Maria and Irma.

A • student-led effort to collect supplies for those affected by Hurricane Florence.

• A student-led initiative to help families struggling financially in our local community.

• Winter-clothing drives, spearheaded by an alumna, for families served by IRIS (Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services) in New Haven.

• Student-driven art supply collections for children in New Orleans who have no access to visual art in school.

• Once-a-month service at The Community Dining Room, with student and parent volunteers preparing and serving dinner to local families. (This tradition has taken place once a month for 15 years.)

• The annual Can Van, a student-led food collection to support local soup kitchens.

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To help facilitate these conversations, the school has committed to ongoing professional development opportunities for teachers, from curriculum-based programs, such as Responsive Classroom, Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement, and Facing History and Ourselves, to educator conferences focusing on diversity and inclusion.

These efforts are time-consuming and take a great deal of coordination and planning. With so much else for our students to learn and our teachers to teach, why does The Country School commit so much energy to activities designed to celebrate diversity, foster inclusion, and teach cultural competency?

On the one hand, the answer is philosophical: We know we learn best when we are exposed to new experiences, beliefs, and perspectives. On the other hand, the answer is entirely practical. In her recent blog post, International Students: You are Welcome Here, Donna Orem, president of the National Association of Independent Schools, writes about the qualities students will need if they are to succeed in the future. Here is a key sentence: As more companies require crosscultural competencies as a must-have for employment, U.S. students who lack these opportunities because of homogeneous populations will find it harder to compete.

In other words, as a school committed to providing an education that lasts a lifetime, we have a responsibility to prepare our students to not only function but thrive in a multicultural, interconnected world.

Committing to the Conversation As we continue our effort to expand diversity and foster inclusion and cultural competency at The Country School, we may sometimes find ourselves in conversations or situations that feel uncomfortable. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. As Mr. Fixx wrote in his blog, In Partnership with Families, “We don’t shy away from these topics. Instead, the fact that diversity is an often-discussed topic on this campus shows that people care.”

Before school officially opened this year, Keith Hinderlie, Ph.D., director of Equity and Inclusion at Choate Rosemary Hall, joined faculty, administration, and staff for a professional development session on building an inclusive school community. Dr. Hinderlie echoed the notion that talking about diversity and inclusion can be uncomfortable, but that is no reason not to do it.

“The nature of this work creates dissonance,” he said. “That is part of the process.”

Dr. Hinderlie led faculty members through a series of exercises designed to get the conversation flowing. He also invited teachers to do the following: Explore your assumptions and intentions about what you teach, particularly around the issue of race; ask why and how you teach about individuals like Martin Luther King, Jr.; and focus on hiring faculty and administrators of color so that all students are reflected in their teachers. (More to come on that subject.)

Dr. Hinderlie left teachers with a final message: “Make this work personal and important, even when it’s hard and there are challenges,” he said. “Our job is to prepare kids to be adults in a diverse world. They require cultural competency.”

Looking Back: Campus Happenings As always, a year at The Country School is filled with events and activities, both large and small. We can’t possibly include every event here, but in the following pages you will find some highlights from the 2017-2018 school year and a few from the start of this year. For more about activities on campus, check out our allschool blog, Country Life at www.thecountryschool.org/about/country-life.

We start our Community Events highlights with a sad occasion and continue with more uplifting ones. All events, both sad and happy, speak to the vitality and connectedness of our community. Thank you to everyone who joined us or helped organize an event — together you make The Country School the vibrant, welcoming place that it is.

Remembering and Celebrating Tony Capaccio A standing-room-only crowd filled DeFrancis Gymnasium in late August 2017, as students, alumni, families, teachers, and friends came together to say goodbye and thank you to our beloved Tony Capaccio. Tony, plant manager at The Country School for 12 years, passed away on August 2, 2017, after undergoing emergency heart surgery.

In addition to the 200+ friends who joined us, countless “Uncle Tony” fans sent drawings, photos, and written tributes to be posted around the gym. Some of Tony’s favorite snacks were served, including pizza, watermelon, and mint life savers, and when the celebration got underway, Tony admirers of all ages took to the podium, sharing stories, songs, and memories. From one of the tributes shared by a student: We’re all going to miss you, Tony. You were one of the nicest people I have ever known, and one of my best friends. Thank you for everything you have done for me. You will always be remembered.

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Former Trustee Reunion

The 2017-2018 school year began with a large reunion of former trustees, teachers, heads of school, alumni, parents, and friends. The celebration, held on the new Burt Family Green, was an opportunity to unveil the new campus enhancements for those who hadn’t yet seen them and to thank the individuals whose brainstorming and planning two decades ago helped bring about the changes we’re enjoying today. Guests also joined us to pay tribute to members of the Burt family as we dedicated the Burt Family Green, drinking a toast to Jeff ’61, Allee, Taylor ’00, Emily, Hilary ’03, and John Burt ’71. A special thanks to Matt Murphy ’98 and Murphy Distributors for donating the delicious Spanish sparkling wine for our toast!

Our Very Best Intentions Realized

by Tammey Rooney P ’03, ’06 This afternoon is surely a joyful return to TCS. Today’s celebration is also meant to acknowledge the hard work and commitment of over four dozen trustees who have served TCS over the last two decades, laying much of the groundwork for the transformation that we see today.

Tammey Rooney, former Country School trustee and parent of Zane ’03 and Max ’06, helped plan the celebration. As guests congregated, Tammey delivered an eloquent welcoming speech. We thank her for letting us share her words, a wonderful expression of the ways in which the past leads to the present. And we echo Tammey’s message: Thank you to everyone who came together, whether 20 years ago or today, to help us arrive at this remarkable moment in time, when are able to see “our very best intentions realized.”

More than a year ago I returned to TCS to celebrate the dedication of the new athletic complex. I was delighted by the new facilities and the overall improvement of the campus, but I was most delighted by the obvious capacity of the new athletic complex to enrich the TCS experience for its students. I have returned to TCS several times since, watching the evolution of the campus as the current Board of Trustees and administration continue to execute the campus master plan that was created 20 years ago. Every time I visit I am delighted and impressed. Often, I am simply awestruck. It is not just the physical changes on the campus that have impressed me, but it is also the sense that every improvement, whether big or small, embodies the spirit that guided our master plan. The overall transformation of the campus is, in my opinion, our very best intentions realized.

I will admit to you that shortly after the master plan was completed, I wondered if we hadn’t gone a little crazy. I thought, maybe, we had been carried away by the process. We were asked to think big, beyond the present, and into the future.

And we did. We created this big, beautiful campus master plan. But I asked myself, had we gone too far? Had we spent precious school resources creating a fantasy?

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A year and a half ago, those long ago questions were put to rest in my mind. The campus that we walk today befits a 21st Century school that is respectful of its past, committed to its future, and ever mindful of its mission to serve its students in a distinctly Country School way.

I think it is appropriate that the Oval Green be dedicated to the Burt family. The oval anchors the campus. It will undoubtedly serve as the focal point of the campus and the place where our community will gather for generations to come. The Burt Family Green, like the Burt family, itself, will provide space and opportunity to play and have fun, to celebrate friendships and childhood, to quietly contemplate nature and our relationship to Her, and to honor and thank all of those who make The Country School possible and the special place that it is.

My sons, Zane and Max, were students at The Country School while Taylor and Hilary Burt were students, so I knew Jeff Burt as Hilary and Taylor’s dad when I started to work with him on the TCS Board of Trustees. And I think it was in our work on the board that we first became friends. Jeff was a hard-working and dedicated trustee, committed to the future success of TCS by promoting the importance of the school’s endowment and creating the board’s Investment Committee and serving as its first chair. Jeff was a grounding force on the board, always reminding us, in his own way, that we had a sacred charge to nurture the school into the future. Jeff’s service as a board trustee was invaluable, but it was only an 8-year period in a life-time of dedicated service to TCS.

The campus that we walk today befits a 21st Century school that is respectful of its past, committed to its future, and ever mindful of its mission to serve its students in a distinctly Country School way.

— Tammey Rooney, former Trustee

Allee Burt touched the lives of so many children at TCS. Allee led the community service program, spearheaded the annual pumpkin carving contest, created and oversaw the ski club. She led the TCS Girl Scout troop, sewed beautiful costumes for the theater program, taught students how to knit, and the list goes on and on.

If Allee thought she could improve a child’s experience at school — make it more fun — she did. Allee Burt was awesome. And she will be sorely missed.

Now, I must confess that I really don’t know John Burt that well. I did meet him here at TCS on a couple of different occasions years ago. As an alumnus and much-loved brother and uncle, John returned to TCS over the years as a judge for the poetry recitation, and as an educator of Cambodian living arts. He taught TCS students the inherent beauty in Cambodian Culture. He has been a loyal and true friend and steadfast supporter of The Country School all of his adult life. And for that we are truly grateful.

Taylor, Emily, and Hilary Burt are terrific young people embracing adulthood.

Their love for TCS is apparent. I know they learned true stewardship from their parents, and from their teacher here. They learned stewardship of the environment, of their community, and of The Country School. And I am confident that The Country School will continue to benefit from the loyalty and leadership of the Burt family well into the future.

Today, I want to thank Jeff, Allee, John, Taylor, Emily, and Hilary for their dedication, generosity, leadership, and most of all, their friendship.

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MacLane Poetry This year’s MacLane Poetry Recitation was another celebration of the written and spoken word. Congratulations to this year’s winners, Will Maguire (5th Grade), Christopher Childs (6th Grade), and Alexander Bartholomew (7th Grade). Thank you to everyone who joined us to judge this year’s recitation, including our alumni judges, Garrett Wilkes ’05, a previous recitation winner; Jeff Burt ’61, Eric Fabricant ’99, and Leslie Powell ’82. A special shout out to the professional poets who joined us as well: Nan Meneely, Edwina Trentham, and Marilyn Nelson.

TEDxTheCountrySchool The Country School was thrilled to host its second-ever TEDxTheCountrySchool conference last March, with teacher Laura Morrison and alumnus Ben Ballard ’08 (at left) at the helm. Marina Sachs ’07, an arts educator and Alumni Association co-chair, was one of the speakers, talking about her work with Lakota youth on the Cheyenne River Reservation; Marina also organized our inaugural TEDx Conference in 2016. Among the other speakers were Ari Mannan ’03 (below), who discussed the digital health startup he founded; renowned oceanographer Robert Ballard P ’08, ’12, who discussed underwater exploration; and Head of School John Fixx, who spoke about the partnership between children and their parents. We are also grateful to the talented alumni filmmakers who joined us to film and produce the official TEDx videos of the events: Nathan Cowper ’06 and Geoff Baumgaertner ’16. To watch videos of the talks, visit thecountryschool.org/ signature-programs/public-speaking/tedx.

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Alice in Wonderland Students brought us another magnificent Middle School musical theater production last spring. Under the direction of teachers Vicki Wepler and Brett Merrill, 7th and 8th Graders dazzled their audience with their acting, singing, and dancing in Alice in Wonderland. Equally dazzling were the set design and costumes, both of which students helped create. Behind the scenes, an all-student crew oversaw sound, lights, set changes, and other backstage activities. It was a true wonderland, incorporating a diverse range of talents and expressing teamwork at its best.

Distinguished Alumni Award and Alumni Induction Ceremony The 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award was presented in May to Adrien Broom ’94, a renowned fine art, commercial, and portrait photographer whose work has been featured in museums and galleries across the globe. Adrien talked about and showed her work to spellbound students and then assisted as we inducted members of the graduating class into the Alumni Association. For more about Adrien, see the Alumni Profiles section.

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Supporting Our Program: The Annual Gala at Centerbrook Architects After so much change on campus, all of it following the roadmap set by our Campus Master Plan, how perfect was it to be able to hold our annual auction and gala at the headquarters of Centerbrook Architects and Planners? After all, it was Centerbrook, working with a team of trustees and faculty members, who devised the master plan some 20 years ago. And Centerbrook architects Chad Floyd P ’07 and Ted Tolis P ’13, ’15 have been overseeing the plan’s implementation ever since.

As guests sipped cocktails and ate delicious food provided by Taco Pacifico, they explored the creative spaces at Centerbrook headquarters and saw models and photographs of some of the firm’s remarkable work at other educational institutions, places like Yale, Dartmouth, and the University of Michigan, Choate, Exeter, Andover, and Hotchkiss. (The Country School is, indeed, in good company!)

Huge thanks to gala chairs Adrienne (at left) and Greg Sharon P ’21, ’24 for so expertly orchestrating this beautiful event and preparing and donating the Taco Pacifico treats. Thank you as well to our hilarious and engaging auctioneer, former Country School history teacher J.R. Howe. More than $90,000 was raised to benefit The Country School and its programs, including the MacLane Endowment for Scholarship. A special thanks to Chad Floyd and Ted Tolis for helping us with our campus transformation and our gala venue.

We also thank everyone who joined us by purchasing tickets, bidding, or donating auction items. A special shout out to the alumni who offered auction donations, including Joel Glassman ’04 – tickets to Anastasia on Broadway and Zoe Cianciolo ’06 – tickets to Good Morning America.

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Honoring the Class of 2018 The 34 members of the Class of 2018 were celebrated for their unique qualities and individual and collective contributions to the community during The Country School’s 2018 Prize Day and Commencement ceremonies in June. In keeping with school tradition, teachers read personal tributes to each student, seeking to encapsulate their time on campus — whether it was for ten years, as in the case of the “Lifers,” or six months, as it was for Allen Li, an international student from China who spent the second half of his 8th Grade year at TCS.

Vicki Wepler, general music and choral music director, delivered the commencement speech, urging members of the class of 2018 to do one thing: Stay Connected. “Going to The Country School for any amount of time means that all of you have now been forever written into the same metaphorical TCS book, one that has existed for over 60 years,” Mrs. Wepler said. “Each of us has our own individual life books too, and just like the most beloved novels that we wish would never end, the story of each one of your lives gets to keep being written, day by day, year by year. It doesn’t end today. Please keep writing your own stories, share them with us, and recognize that STAYING CONNECTED to each other and to this school will help keep those stories and memories alive.”

Graduating student speakers celebrated the class’s unique qualities — from its “craziness” to some of the experiences students shared together. Maggie Coyne ’18 spoke about The Country School as a place of beginnings. Her speech is excerpted below: Beginnings: A Graduation Speech

by Maggie Coyne ’18 The actress Helen Hayes once said, “The expert in anything was once a beginner.”

This quote makes me think of hard work, or starting from the bottom and working your way up. Imagine Michael Phelps learning how to swim or Lindsey Vonn skiing down the bunny hill for the first time. We don’t stop to think about how once they were beginners; all we see are the gold medals around their necks.

It is easy to watch these successful athletes and think, how did they get so lucky?

In reality, it took a long time and a lot of hard work to get where they are now.

Their journeys were full of failure from time to time, but they kept fighting. They didn’t stop at the first feeling of pain or discomfort.

This quote is not just for the famous Olympic athletes. We can relate to this quote too. I talked to some TCS faculty members, esteemed experts among us, to see

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if it rang true for them. When Mr. Fixx was first learning to juggle a soccer ball, he said it looked really easy to do. It actually took him a long time to get really good at it and be able to juggle a soccer ball over 100 times without it hitting the ground. Mr. Robertson agrees that everything takes work and commitment to master. He struggled as a beginning driver. He said that it took him a long time to master driving a car with a standard transmission. Mr. McGee and Mr.Wainio said talking to girls was something they struggled with when they were younger.

They said some boys made it look so easy, but it was one of the most terrifying things that they have ever done.

Most of my beginnings have been at The Country School. This is where I was a beginning reader, writer, and math and science student. I began singing, acting, public speaking, and playing the piano. This is where I was a beginning athlete, and where I found my love for history. I will always carry these memories and friendships with me as I continue on my journey toward becoming an expert at whatever I put my mind to. Because this is where I began with my friends, my teachers, and my coaches, I know I will be prepared. As I look back on my years at TCS, I think how lucky I am to have had such an amazing beginning. We all are.

Maggie near her beginning

I began here ten years ago. Ten of us lifers are graduating today. Twenty four others began their journey along the way, and we have grown into the Class of 2018 that sits here before you. At times we had to say goodbye to friends who moved away and also we mourn loved ones we lost. We are good at being there for each other and supporting one another when needed. We may not be experts yet at anything specific, but we’ve all had a promising beginning here, and I have no doubt that the class of 2018 will go on to do great things. As the distinguished thinker Ferris Bueller once said, “The question isn’t ‘what are we going to do’, the question is ‘what aren’t we going to do?’” Thank you for been a part of my beginning.

Editor’s Note: Maggie Coyne now attends Miss Porter’s School.

Summer Fun & Learning A new and enormously popular Country School program takes place on campus each summer, when The Country School hosts an array of fun and exciting camps through Summer Fun & Learning. In June and July and part of August, campus is buzzing with activity, as children of all ages dive into a particular interest, whether it’s robotics programing, 3D printing, theater, or tennis. Camps are typically taught by teachers and/or other experts in their fields, and this summer we had several talented Country School alumni return to campus to lead sessions.

(Learn more in Alumni News.) We also partner with outside organizations, including Madison Racquet & Swim, allowing us to expand participation well beyond the immediate school community.

Fall Events The Parent Teacher Association is off to another active start this year, hosting several welcome back-to-school events and then a fabulously fun Fall Festival on the Burt Family Green. Other events this year will include the Owliday Craft Workshop, BINGO Night, and Grandparents & Special Friends Day. Enormous thanks to the PTA and all of our parent volunteers! You make a HUGE difference to everyone at The Country School!

Once at Ivoryton Playhouse It was a special night at the Ivoryton Playhouse on October 3 when members of the Country School community joined us for a special performance of the hit musical Once, featuring our own Vicki Wepler. Vicki, our multi-talented music teacher (who also plays violin and shares her beautiful voice as a member of the

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acclaimed Connecticut band Goodnight Blue Moon), was one of the performers.

Current and former students, parents, and teachers joined us for a special TCS Night at the theater, with a pre-show wine and cheese reception and a post-show meet and greet with desserts. As you can see, for many of us in the audience, Mrs. Wepler was THE star!

The Country School Mission Statement, Updated

For more than a year, starting in 2016 and concluding in late 2017, a committee of teachers and board members came together under the leadership of trustee John Cropp every few weeks to consider, discuss, and ultimately revise our school mission statement. Their charge was to craft a more focused document that, in one brief paragraph, could encapsulate our school’s unique purpose and expertise. Or, in the words of the National Association of Independent Schools, the plan was to create a statement that would “clearly articulate the vital, inviolate characteristics” of our school.

The result, approved by the Board of Trustees on December 14, 2017, reads as follows:

The Country School honors our students’ creativity, sense of wonder, and intellectual curiosity. Our integrated curriculum aligns rigorous academics with a commitment to character and leadership development. We nurture every student’s unique role in the community, empowering each to serve the common good. Graduates of The Country School face the future with confidence and an education that lasts a lifetime.

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The committee charged with updating the mission statement also delineated the ways in which we live our mission and the core values that guide us in that endeavor.

We live our Mission by: Inspiring lifelong learners with a dynamic and rigorous curriculum.

Celebrating the whole child by emphasizing social and emotional growth through coordinated programs.

Integrating leadership opportunities that enhance student learning in and beyond the classroom.

Recognizing the value of service as a learning opportunity and a responsibility we all have to our greater community.

Providing inclusive artistic and athletic opportunities for every student.

Developing strong partnerships among students, teachers, parents, families, alumni, and our greater shoreline community.

Honoring our community traditions and values.

Facilitating an understanding of the world through deliberate programs and experiences that encourage students to embrace differences, explore new perspectives, and find common ground in a multicultural world.

Utilizing every aspect of our 23-acre country setting to deliver and strengthen our program.

The Mission of The Country School is embodied in the following Core Values: Kindness - “Be kind� is our guiding principle. We practice empathy by considering different perspectives and making all members of the community feel welcome, included, and respected. Our students look beyond themselves to work collaboratively and serve others.

Integrity - Our community is built on trust. We prepare students to meet not only academic challenges, but personal and ethical ones as well. As we tell our students, we all must do the right thing, even when no one else is watching.

Creativity - As we honor creativity, the sense of wonder, and exuberance in childhood, we inspire enthusiasm for learning as an exciting, lifelong activity. We value imagination and diverse ways of thinking.

Confidence - We teach students that their voices matter. We strive to create an atmosphere of mutual respect where children feel comfortable speaking and acting with vision and conviction.

Resilience - Knowing that improvement requires a willingness to take risks, persevere, and learn from mistakes, we encourage and support students as they stretch their limits both in and out of the classroom. Through appropriate challenges and reflection, our students learn that adversity offers opportunities for growth.

The new mission statement replaces one created back in the early 1990s. Although a beautiful expression of the qualities and programs that have defined The Country School experience for decades, at four paragraphs, it was far longer than the recommended length. It also did not reflect the ways we have chosen to integrate our academic program through some of our newer initiatives, such as STEAM and Elmore Leadership, or our commitment to creating students capable of facing the future with confidence in a global, multicultural world.

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Alumni Profiles: Living the Mission

Because our mission guides all we do and is a reflection of who we are, ideally our alumni will also reflect that mission. For our Alumni Profiles section, we structured our conversations around two main questions: What are you doing now and how did The Country School figure in your journey? As we spoke with alumni and recorded their answers, we also asked ourselves a question. Do our alumni embody our school’s mission? From the conversations we’ve had over the course of the last year, we think the answer is yes. Please read on and let us know if you agree.

Note that for each of the following profiles, we have identified a line from the mission statement or its supporting elements — We Live Our Mission By and Core Values — which we think we see reflected in each alumnus/a. If you have stories to add to the conversation, by all means, share! You can reach us at alumni@ thecountryschool.org.

Facing the future with confidence and an education that lasts a lifetime Pursuing What She Loves: Marissa Irwin ’05

Marissa Irwin has always been a hard-working multi-tasker. When she was at The Country School and later at Branford High School, she balanced high-level academics and athletics, talents that carried her to Boston College, where she was a recruited Division I athlete. Since graduating from BC’s Carroll School of Management with a degree in Finance and Marketing, Marissa has been working for BlackRock, the global investment management corporation, in their London office. Recently, she added something else to her To Do list: launching and running her own jewelry company, Marissa Irwin Designs.

By day you will find Marissa working alongside other corporate-world hotshots at BlackRock, where she is an associate in business strategy and management.

By night and on weekends, you’re likely to find her at her kitchen table in London, where she’s devising new ways to incorporate gemstones and freshwater pearls into breathtaking earrings and necklaces. (Check them out at marissairwindesigns.com.)

“Designing jewelry has always been a very therapeutic activity for me,” Marissa told us when we caught up recently. “I just love spreading all of my stones across the table and slowly mixing and matching the pieces that seem to work well together. It always feels great to use my hands after spending an entire day seated in front of a computer screen” One of the reasons Marissa is able to balance BlackRock and her jewelry venture is that she’s deliberative about everything she does. Take her decision to play DI sports in the first place. “I decided at a very young age (I think it might have been the first time I picked up a lacrosse stick in 5th Grade during gym class at TCS) that I wanted to play Division I lacrosse,” she said. “It sounds a little crazy, but I actually remember coming home from practice, announcing this to my parents and then being 100 percent focused on achieving that goal for the next eight years. As a result, I spent most of my time in high school either training in the gym, practicing with my high school team, or traveling with my club team. At the end of my junior year, I was very fortunate to receive an offer to play on Boston College’s women’s lacrosse team.”

Of course, the offer was the result of more than simple good fortune; Marissa had earned it. In high school, she received US Lacrosse Academic All-American accolades and Connecticut Super Junior honors. At the same time, she was a member of the National Honor Society, World Language Honor Society, and a semifinalist of the Connecticut Governor’s Scholar Program. She also played varsity field hockey, for which she served as captain and earned All-State ScholarAthlete honors.

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Once she got to BC, she spent her freshman year balancing sports and academics, and then the following summer, she headed to Madrid, where she enrolled in an art history course. Prior to that trip, she had never traveled to Europe, and she found she “immediately caught the travel bug.”

“As soon as I returned home to Connecticut, I had a long talk with my parents and decided to give up lacrosse in exchange for the opportunity to study abroad (unfortunately at the Division I level, they typically don’t allow you study abroad while playing a varsity sport),” she said. “My one year on the BC women’s lacrosse team was an incredible learning experience (and also one of the most physically and mentally demanding years of my life), but after 8+ years of focusing solely on lacrosse, I was ready for something new.”

And so Marissa took the opportunity to really dig into her classes, she wrote articles for the BC version of the blog Her Campus, and she continued to work out, eventually running the Boston Marathon. True to her deliberative nature, she also cemented that junior year abroad opportunity. Marissa chose to spend her junior year at the London School of Economics, where she studied Economics, History, Law, and Finance. While in London, she also secured an internship at BlackRock, which, of course, led to something much more long-term.

How does she do it all? “I’m very lucky that at BlackRock, particularly in our London office, there’s a huge emphasis on work-life balance / work-life flexibility,” she said. “That being said, it took me a few years of working around the clock to recognize that time is a finite resource and while working hard is very important, making time to explore my interests and hobbies brings me far too much joy to simply push it to the side. It’s taken a while to fully embrace this mentality, but I’m so glad I finally did!”

That new mentality comes in handy as Marissa focuses more attention on her jewelry business, a venture that is more or less in her blood. “Many years ago my great-grandfather, Max Levin, took over the ownership of a jewelry and gift store from the Malloves family in Middletown, Connecticut,” Marissa explains. “The store was called Malloves and continues to carry this name today. Eventually my grandfather, Buzzy Levin, took over the store and today, my Uncle Marc, owns the business and runs the day-to-day alongside his fantastic staff.” (If you’re in the market for some beautiful jewelry, Mallove’s carries some of Marissa’s designs, but more can be found on her website.)

Marissa first expressed an interest in jewelry in grade school, when, just before graduating from 4th Grade at Tisko Elementary in Branford, she asked her mother if she could buy a present for each of her close girlfriends. Rather than taking Marissa to a gift shop, Marissa’s mother, Faith, drove her to a local bead store, where Marissa learned how to make bracelets using sterling silver wire and decorative glass beads. When she started at The Country School in 5th Grade, Marissa put those talents to use again. “I remember designing the jewelry for my Cleopatra costume in Mrs. Kelly’s 5th Grade history class,” she said. “We all had to dress up as historical characters from our Ancient Egyptian studies. I bought a bead kit in the gift store of the Metropolitan Museum of Art during our class trip to NYC and used the beads to create a necklace and matching pair of earrings as part of my costume.”

There’s another connection between Marissa’s jewelry business and The Country School. “I’ve been following Rebecca Joslow’s artwork on Instagram for years and reached out to her the minute I decided to launch my jewelry business,” Marissa says. (Rebecca ’04 is a talented fashion designer and illustrator, who several years back taught a one-day fashion design course at The Country School.) “She created a really beautiful and fun illustration that I had printed on the notecards I include with every piece of jewelry purchased.”

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You should never be afraid to be yourself ... and part of being yourself is pursuing what you love. TCS created an environment where students could be whoever they wanted to be and never had to worry about being judged for it.

Marissa Irwin ’05

Although it’s been 13 years since she graduated, Marissa says her Country School experiences remain a large part of her. “I loved my time at TCS and really believe that so much of what I learned and experienced while being there has helped get me to where I am today,” she said. Some of her favorite memories include the Southwest Trip (she can still do the dance one of the Mountain Workshop guides taught her during the 8th Grade’s week in Utah, and a miniature horse the Mountain Workshop team gave her still sits on the top shelf of her desk at home).

She also has vivid memories from the classroom and also the athletic field, where some epic games of Capture the Flag with her speedy and competitive classmates took place.

Perhaps what stay with her most, though, are the two major lessons she learned at The Country School. Marissa explains the first lesson: No matter where you end up or what you end up doing, it’s the people you’re surrounded by who can really make or break your experience. Fortunately, my time at TCS was filled with the most incredibly talented, kind, and accepting individuals.

They really set the bar high. When I interviewed for my first internship at BlackRock, I remember being less focused on the job itself and far more interested on the people who were interviewing me. This lesson has proven to be helpful time and time again!

And lesson number two: You should never be afraid to be yourself ... and part of being yourself is pursuing what you love. TCS created an environment where students could be whoever they wanted to be and never had to worry about being judged for it. That’s a pretty powerful lesson to learn in 5th Grade. Furthermore, the teachers who taught my classes at TCS were hands-down some of the best teachers I ever had. I think so much of my experience in the TCS classroom was shaped by their passion for what they were teaching. For example, history has never been my favorite subject but Mrs. Kelly and Mrs. Barber made it pretty hard not to fall in love with their classwork. They really brought their passion to life through Middle School students. I can only hope to be able to channel my passions in such an impactful way one of these days!

From where we sit, Marissa, it looks like you’re off to a stellar start.

Living the Dream: Jordan Bohinc ’04

Jordan Bohinc knows how to seize the day. After graduating from Clemson University in 2012 with a degree in marketing (and an emphasis on sports marketing), he landed his dream job. He moved to Los Angeles and found a position with William Morris Endeavor, the talent agency. Life was great and he was supremely happy — until he heard about a job opening from a friend, and he realized that this one REALLY spoke to his dreams.

“One day, when I was 22 years old, a good friend and colleague of mine turned me on to a job opening at the LA Dodgers,” said Jordan, a lifelong baseball fan and former baseball player himself. “I decided to pursue it, knowing that the love in my heart for sports was absolute. I could not live a life without the natural drama, the explosive moments, and — at times — utter heartbreak” that is inevitably part of the sports world.

So Jordan applied for the position, and to his delight was hired. It felt like kismet.

(After all, before moving east and enrolling at The Country School, Jordan had lived in the Los Angeles area, where the Dodgers were everything. When he moved to Connecticut, he tried out for Little League, and the team he landed on was, of course, the Dodgers, where his teammates included James Blair ’04 and Graeme Clements ’05.)

Jordan and his father, Tom, at the World Series

Jordan spent four years and six months with the Dodgers, ultimately working in corporate partnerships. Perhaps the apex of his experience occurred last fall,

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when the Dodgers made their first appearance in the World Series in 30 years.

(Little did anyone know they’d make another appearance a year later, but by then Jordan had already made the decision to pursue another dream – more on that later.)

“It was surreal,” Jordan said when we spoke to him shortly after the 2017 World Series. “It was one of those things where … you dream about it and you daydream about it and then it starts happening and it just doesn’t really hit you. You never really have that moment where you think, ‘Wow! This is the World Series.’ You do 81 games a year, it’s just adding a few more and the stakes keep getting higher and higher.”

One of the things that The Country School has a very unique capability to do is make sure that people are feeling comfortable and exploring and really investing in the things that interest them.

Jordan Bohinc ’04

Jordan said the highlight for him was getting on a plane with the rest of the front office and flying to Houston for games 3, 4, and 5. He was able to invite a plus one, so he brought his father along. “Being there for those three games and going through that emotional roller coaster…. It was unbelievable…. To have gone and shared that experience with my dad is something that we’ll remember for the rest of our lives.”

For Dodgers fans, the loss to Houston in game seven was gut-wrenching but Jordan was pretty sanguine about it all. “No matter what happens in the next two, three, five years of my career, whether I stay in sports or not, it’s one of those memories you stow away and will be telling grandkids about.”

As alluded to earlier, Jordan was not around (at least not professionally) for the Dodgers’ 2018 World Series bid. Last May, he announced in a Facebook post that he had decided to become a regular fan again; he left the Dodgers organization to take on a new adventure in eSports. Again, a friend told him about an opening with Blizzard Entertainment and so, at age 27, Jordan made a similar calculus to the one he had made at 22. Describing his love for gaming as “an ever-present force since I was a kid,” he announced he would “start the next chapter of my life with the eSports Partnerships team at the Overwatch League, COD World League, and more.”

“What THAT means is that any day can change the rest of your life,” Jordan wrote in his Facebook post (he gave us permission to share his words). “It can be tomorrow. It can be today. Reach out to life, and it might reach back. Then all you have to do is seize it.” Jordan also shared his gratitude and made a promise to all those who had helped him along the way: ”Thank you for the laughs. Thank you for the trials. Thank you for believing in me. I will make you proud.”

Reading about Jordan’s latest move and his gratitude for all those who helped him along the way made us think of the conversation we had with him a year ago, when he had just returned from the 2017 World Series. At the time, reminiscing about The Country School, he spoke about some of the teachers who had impacted him, but mostly he spoke about the way The Country School made him feel.

“One of the things that The Country School has a very unique capability to do is make sure that people are feeling comfortable and exploring and really investing in the things that interest them,” he said. For Jordan, one of those things was sports. But what was unique about The Country School was that “sports” was about more than being on an interscholastic team. It was about having fun — on a team, in PE, and at recess.

“If I went to The Country School and there wasn’t that importance placed on athletics and play, I think a lot of us would have turned out differently,” he said.

“Athletics was something I was passionate about. I spent a lot of time on it, and the culture and environment allowed me to experience that. That’s probably the best piece about Country — it’s an environment that allows you to be supportive of whatever those interests are.”

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So these days Jordan has taken his interest to his new job in eSports. He likes to think about “how life has come full circle: a young kid who loved video games and sports got a chance to achieve his goal of working for a sports team, and now he gets a chance to live out his wildest dreams.”

Nurturing every student’s unique role in the community, empowering each to serve the common good Changing Lives: Ally Picard ’07

After working as a registered nurse in Boston for three years, Ally Picard has moved to New York City, where she is pursuing her doctorate at Columbia University’s graduate School of Nursing. She is specializing in pediatric psychiatry, a field she first encountered when, fresh out of college, she moved to Boston and was offered a position at Franciscan Children’s adolescent inpatient children’s health unit. Part of the renowned McLean Hospital, Franciscan is a place for children in psychiatric crisis.

Ally had always known she wanted to work with children, but she hadn’t necessarily considered pediatric psychiatric and mental health. She graduated with honors from James Madison University with a Bachelor’s in Nursing and had done clinical rotations abroad, in India and the Philippines, where she focused on intensive care, obstetrics, gynecology, pediatrics, and ER work. After she graduated from James Madison, the job offer came from Franciscan, and Ally decided to give pediatric psychiatry a try.

Ally, left, and a nursing colleague

At Franciscan, she found herself working with children who were suicidal, psychotic, and sometimes violent. Most had experienced trauma, including physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. They ranged in age from four to 20. “The kids were so, so, so sad,” Ally said.

Working day in and day out with severely mentally ill children can be heartbreaking and exhausting, and Ally said there were times when she felt overwhelmed. On the other hand, there were also moments when she could see that what she was doing was helping, and those flickers of hope gave her the impetus she needed to keep going. Apparently Ally gave her patients hope, too, so much so that they nominated her for — and she ultimately won — the hospitalwide DAISY Award for Excellent Nurses. In the nomination letter she prepared on Ally’s behalf, a young Franciscan patient wrote: Ally has changed my life. As Maya Angelou once said, ‘They may forget your name … but they will never forget how you made them feel.’ The first few days in this hospital I contemplated [if] my life was worth living. Not only has Ally inspired me that my life is worth living, she has encouraged me of all the potential I have in life and how my hopes of becoming a nurse one day could most certainly come true.

We met up with Ally in New York this fall on an afternoon when she had no classes or work. As she studies for her PMH-DNP — or Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner-Doctor of Nursing Practice — degree, she is simultaneously balancing a part-time job with New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services, where she helps place children who are brought in by social workers, perhaps because their parents are in jail or there is evidence of abuse. She’s also clearly making an impact at Columbia, where she was recently selected for the Dean’s advisory group for the psych cohort in the DNP program.

In a West Side coffee shop, we talked about her activities at school and at work and discussed why she had opted to follow her particular career path. Ally answered without hesitation. For one thing, she has always loved children. For years, throughout high school and even into college, she spent her summers babysitting, and she was the go-to helper for many an overwhelmed mom or dad.

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And then there are her own childhood experiences. Like the patient who nominated her for the DAISY Award for Excellent Nurses, Ally spoke about the people along the way who have believed in her, stretched her, and made her feel she could achieve something. Among those she mentioned were her teachers at The Country School. Ally said she didn’t always appreciate The Country School when she was a student, but over time, and particularly as she has entered her current field, she is grateful for all she was given.

I’m learning in psychiatry that every kid is in a different place. [Country School] teachers taught to where you were at individually. I’m very lucky to have had that.

Ally Picard ’07

“When I was at The Country School I struggled a lot, and now I’m at Columbia” Ally said, adding that she believes the endless support of her teachers made a world of difference in her trajectory. “My teachers really cared about me, and they wanted me to do well.”

Ally described how Kathy McCurdy, her 3rd Grade teacher, was both demanding and nurturing, striking a balance that allowed Ally to see how much her teacher believed in her. “I was bratty at the time but they were able to recognize why I was doing the things I was doing,” Ally said. “They really cared and it wasn’t about trying to get some score on some test.”

Ally recalled studying ancient Egypt with Kerri Kelly and how history came alive, giving every student something to get excited about and making each one feel he or she had a unique gift to contribute. “Some kids were amazing at art, others at math,” she said. “Everyone had their own thing and that was OK.” These are memories she brings with her to her work with patients and to her graduate studies. “At The Country School, they’re so ahead of their time,” she said.

“I’m learning in psychiatry that every kid is in a different place. [Country School] teachers taught to where you were at individually. I’m very lucky to have had that.”

For the next two years, Ally will focus on her Master’s. She will then do an extra year as she pursues her Doctorate, writing a dissertation and doing a full residency. She hopes to do a clinical rotation with young inmates at Rikers Island or work with youthful sex offenders. For her dissertation, she plans to focus on attachment and childhood trauma. Ultimately, she hopes to do work that brings education and mental health together.

With goals like these, Ally will continue to come across children who have experienced unimaginable trauma. It will be difficult, but she remains hopeful.

Being able to help those who suffer by giving them tools to help them grow is an “unbelievable feeling,” she says. “With kids, you see that you can make a change.

Their brains are developing, and if you can give them resources to make changes in this setting, they’re going to be so much better off than if you start when they’re 30.”

Plus, Ally says she has found ways to cope when her chosen field feels overwhelming. “When I get frustrated, I go back and read admission notes about all of the horrible things that have happened to [these children],” she said. “Is that part of the reason they’re behaving badly now?”

She also has a philosophical approach to her work. “In my mind, no one’s inherently a bad person,” Ally says. “They’re kids. Most of the time their actions are a response to something that happened to them.” And then there’s the fact that they can change. “Kids are resilient,” she said. “Kids can bounce back.”

Thank you, Ally, for helping so many children bounce back. Or, as your young patient/fan said in her DAISY Award nomination letter, thank you for inspiring her to believe that her life is worth living, that she has potential, and that her dreams can, in fact, come true. What could be more important than that?

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The Power of One: What will your journey be?

Ted London ’77

A professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and a senior research fellow at the William Davidson Institute, Ted London focuses his work on the intersection of poverty alleviation and business development. Last April, he was scheduled to be in Connecticut so he could speak at Yale’s Global Health and Innovation Conference, and because his young son, Zach, would be with him, Ted reached out to see if he could stop by campus. He wanted to show Zach where he had spent his formative years.

What are you guys going to do? Where’s your passion going to be? Where are you going to make a difference? … I know you guys are talented and the question is where are you going to put your talents?

Of course, the answer was yes, and Ted, who had spoken to the school community in 2011 when he received that year’s Distinguished Alumni Award, kindly agreed to deliver an Elmore Leadership talk about his work. Sharing photos and stories from some of his projects, Ted took students through a journey around the world, introducing them to communities where he has worked, from Malawi to Mongolia, Jordan to India, and asking students to think about their own place in the world.

Ted London ’77

Ted answers a question from student Fletcher Sharon.

“You’re all part of the global one percent,” he told students. “Sometimes what we forget is how privileged we are. That’s not a good or bad thing, that’s just a thing.

What you have to realize is that most people in this world don’t get to go to schools like this, they don’t have good health care, they don’t get to see a doctor regularly, they don’t have power, clean water. …. You’re part of the vast, vast, vast minority of the world.”

Ted spoke about his own journey, about how he grew up in Madison and was fortunate enough to receive a scholarship to attend The Country School. “I loved The Country School,” he said. “It made a huge difference in my life and shaped to some degree the path I wanted to take and the path I did take.”

Ted went on to Daniel Hand High School and then to Lehigh University, where he majored in Engineering and began working as a design engineer. After receiving his MBA, he worked as a consultant in business valuation. But he found he wanted to make more of a direct impact on people’s lives, so he quit his job and joined the Peace Corps, moving to Malawi, where he hoped to find ways to use the power of business to help address social issues. What he found was that the most productive outcomes occurred not when ideas were coming from the top down (the teachers and outside “experts”) or even the bottom up (the locals), but when the focus was on co-creation and innovation — that is, when people from different backgrounds collaboratively came together to share ideas and expertise to build something new.

“What are you guys going to do?” Ted asked his audience. “Where’s your passion going to be? Where are you going to make a difference? Where are you going to engage? I’m a firm believer in the power of one. Even though the problems are big,

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it all starts with one person. … I know you guys are talented and the question is where are you going to put your talents?”

Following a lively Q & A session with students and before leaving campus to head to Yale, Ted donated and inscribed a copy of his latest book, The Base of the Pyramid Promise: Building Businesses with Impact and Scale. Inside the front cover, he wrote, “To TCS, What an amazing place!” Ted’s book now resides alongside books by other Country School authors in our new Alumni Library. (Stop by the Alumni Office in Robinson House to check them out.) Thank you, Ted, for once again sharing your expertise, for inspiring our students to think about their place in the world and how they can contribute, and for prompting us to get our alumni library started!

Paying It Forward: Owen Dodd ’96

By day Owen Dodd works as a communications advisor at the U.S. House of Representatives (specifically, he serves as press secretary for U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-Connecticut, handling the national press). By night, or more accurately, whenever he can, he enjoys being a photographer and short film producer, talents he called upon when he traveled to Kenya to assist a non-profit dedicated to empowering youth, and particularly girls, through soccer.

We enjoyed catching up with Owen, a former Peace Corps volunteer, a while back after we learned that he had posted an interesting GoFundMe campaign on Facebook. Owen was planning a trip to Kenya to work with Green Card Mtaani.

Located in Kibera, Nairobi’s largest slum, Green Card Mtaani uses sports to effect social change, a subject dear to Owen’s heart. After a quick conversation, we shared his campaign on the school’s Facebook page, and Owen posted the following comment: “So cool to be noticed and supported by my middle school alma mater! Thanks for the support TCS!” To which we had to say, right back at you, Owen. We’re happy to help, and we thank you for working to “serve the common good,” as our mission statement calls on students to do.

Owen’s GoFundMe campaign was successful, and he spent his Christmas break from Congress in Kenya, taking photographs for Green Card Mtaani. Those photos are now being used on the organization’s updated website. Learn more at greencardmtaani.org. During our conversation, we asked Owen about his Country School experiences and how they may have led him to where he is today. Here’s what he said: The Country School was the most educationally impactful time of my life. I was there from 1st-8th Grades, and as much of a bubble as it was, I was taught on an individual level. There were people who cared about my well being. I was the class clown. Once I put shock waves through the upper school because I had to be sent to the bench twice in one day. And then Samir Gautam (now a surgeon at Yale) had to be sent three times. But even though I was the class clown, I was cared for.

The Country School was the most educationally impactful time of my life…. There were people who cared about my well being.

Owen Dodd ’96

Owen cites some teachers he feels particularly grateful to, including Arn Krugman, who put him on stage in Jason and the Argonauts (“he saw potential and the outcome of that was highly positive”) and Sarah Barber, who taught him history, Beth Lane, English, and Jan Ellison, 2nd Grade. He loved sports, and remembers Athletic Director Chris Wallack, particularly his commitment to developing the girls’ teams. “In retrospect,” Owen said, pointing to his work with Green Card Mtaani, “I have come to see how important that is for girls.”

Owen feels extremely grateful for all that The Country School gave him, and he’s effectively paying it forward with his work at Green Card Mtaani. Owen calls his years at The Country School “one of the most positive times in my life.”

It is gratifying to see him working to give other children similarly positive experiences.

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Honoring students’ creativity, sense of wonder, and intellectual curiosity Embracing Whatever the Day Brings: Zoe Cianciolo ’06

Now working as a news writer for Good Morning America, Zoe Cianciolo returned to campus last spring to deliver an Elmore Leadership talk about her journey to a job she loves. During a short, well-received presentation and a longer, energetic Q & A session, she told students about how she came to be a writer for a top-rated morning program, what her daily routine entails (arriving at the studio as early as 4 a.m.), and some of the people she’s met on the job (yes, she has met Tom Brady; no, she has never met Derek Jeter).

Zoe had a few take-home messages for students: 1) You don’t have to know what you want to do when you’re in Middle School. She left The Country School thinking she would be a visual artist (she was an Arts Concentrator at Choate), but did an about face in college at Tulane, when she took a course called Women and Media.

2) Don’t be afraid to fail. The first media job she applied for came with an introduction by her teacher, but Zoe didn’t get the position. The experience of trying out, though, made her realize this was what she really wanted to do.

You don’t have to know what you want to do when you’re in Middle School.

Zoe Cianciolo ’06

3) Persist. Zoe did eventually land a job she enjoyed, and that one led to a better one, which led to an even better one. These days she looks forward to going to work every day, knowing that each day will bring something exciting and new.

4.) Be open to change. Just as she decided to move away from a long-planned career in studio art in favor of work in television news, Zoe shared examples about some of her Country School friends and their decisions to follow unexpected paths. “I have one friend at Country School who was super shy and really quiet … and now she works in sales and she’s on the phone with people all the time and she’s really good at it and she flies around the country,” Zoe said. “And I have another friend who was going to be a ballerina and she trained really hard and now she’s applying to law school and she’s going to work in immigration. You just have no idea. Just be open to those things changing, because it’s cool.”

During the Q & A, Zoe answered question upon question. A few highlights: Favorite person she’s met — Julie Andrews. “She was like Mary Poppins in real life,” Zoe said. “She gets that people really love her and she’s really gracious and she holds your hand and looks you in the eye.”

Favorite story — “Probably the election,” Zoe said, meaning the 2016 presidential election. “I don’t know if ‘cool’ is the word, but it was very exciting and it was a really good experience because no one knew what was going to happen and what was going on and it was different every day. You kind-of got whiplash from looking back and forth, trying to figure it out.… No one had ever seen anything like it.”

Zoe probably could have answered student questions for another hour (or at least there were enough hands raised to keep the Q & A going for a good long time), but it was dismissal time, so students had to say goodbye. Several left with stars in their eyes, while Zoe headed back to New York, where every day most definitely brings something new.

This fall, a 5th Grader and her family went to New York and sat in on a morning broadcast.

The report from one of the visitors? “It was awesome!” Thank you, Zoe. You may have spawned a new generation of broadcast news writers….

Postcript: Zoe’s influence lingers on campus months after her talk. Students were so inspired by her tales of life at GMA that there was a small bidding war at our annual auction last spring. Zoe had obtained a set of four tickets to a GMA broadcast, and two students from two separate families were so eager to be the winners that Zoe kindly agreed to secure another set of tickets.

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Seeking to Better Understand the World We Live In: Harry Bradford ’00

If you happened to see the September 21, 2018 “Voyages” issue of The New York Times Magazine, you have our own Harry Bradford to thank, at least in part.

Harry serves as editorial director for the Times’ T Brand Studio, which produced the issue, a remarkable amalgamation of photos and audio, with minimal printed word. Or, as The New York Times calls it, a collection of “sonic voyages” to fascinating places across the globe.

Harry joined T Brand Studio, the brand marketing unit of The New York Times, three-and-a-half years ago after serving as associate business editor at the Huffington Post. When we ran into him over the summer, he had just returned from a production trip to Chile and Uganda. He mentioned his most recent project, and so we followed up once we saw the amazing issue in print and then clicked through to watch the videos and listen to the audio. Suffice it to say it’s a multimedia experience which truly brings to life some remarkable destinations across the world. If you haven’t seen/heard it yet, check it out at nytimes.com/ interactive/2018/09/21/magazine/voyages-travel-sounds-from-the-world.html.

Harry described T Brand this way: T Brand is fairly unique in the branded content space since it’s been built from the ground up with the ethos of the NYT newsroom. Everything has to be reported and vetted with the same standards of the newsroom. But it’s very important to note that the newsroom has no involvement with our work, nor do we ever influence what they do.

Separation of “church and state” (as they say) is vitally important, but people on both sides, often former journalists or those with journalism backgrounds, tend to be equally as passionate about delivering on the Times’ mission, which is to promote a better understanding of the world as a whole through our writing and reporting.

I largely credit TCS for cultivating that desire to explore, discover and continue to learn from an early age…. It was an education that provided the foundation to keep looking toward the goal — much like the Times’ mission itself — of better understanding the world we live in.

For the Voyages project, Harry spent three days in Antofagasta, Chile, reporting about the “interconnection” of Chile’s respective power grids, which Harry said has had a huge impact on the country in terms of reliability of power. “After a 40+ hour journey by plane, bus, and car we made it to Uganda, where I only spent about 48 hours reporting on the Bujagali hydropower station in Jinja,” he said. “It was a long haul, to say the least, but I truly loved every minute of it. As you can hear in the final pieces, collecting the audio — the sounds of birds, electricity, the rushing sounds of the Nile River, the interviews — was the part of the experience I enjoyed most.”

Harry was editorial director for the pieces he worked on, so he was charged with forming the story, working closely with the creative director, photographers, and sound person. He wrote spec scripts “based on our best guess of what we would find and then, once we’d visited the places, completed interviews and captured audio,” he said. He also pulled together the stories and scripts that were in the final product. “It was a 100 percent collaborative effort, though, because my story points were heavily influenced by the work of the photographer and sound engineer as they captured material in the field,” he said.

That, according to Harry, is one of the best aspects of working at T Brand. “One of my favorite parts of this job is that kind of collaboration,” he said. “It’s not just writing, which I obviously love doing, it’s also getting a sense for the talents of people in other fields and learning how to work together to get the best result possible that makes coming to work fun.”

We asked Harry if he enjoys working in a job that requires him to continually explore new things. Here was his response: Yes! And I largely credit TCS for cultivating that desire to explore, discover and continue to learn from an early age. From Mr. Borden’s Iditarod project (I still follow the Iditarod to this day!) to Mr. Wainio’s explorations of ancient Rome to Mrs. Hartsoe’s microscopic look at how a plant grows, it was an education that provided the foundation to keep looking toward the goal — much like the Times’ mission itself — of better understanding the world we live in.

Harry Bradford ’00

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Encouraging students to embrace differences, explore new perspectives, and find common ground in a multicultural world Making Her Mark on the World: Anne-Sophie Deman ’08

Editor’s note: Several months back, we were delighted to hear from Anne-Sophie Deman, a member of the class of 2008. Anne-Sophie reached out because she was hoping to reconnect with some of her Country School teachers; she wanted to update them on what she is doing and thank them for all they had given her. Her request led to a longer exchange, and we are pleased to share this story about a young woman who is making her mark on the world. And, yes, we literally mean the world.

After graduating as class valedictorian from the University of British Columbia with a degree in International Relations and then receiving her Masters in Global Politics from the London School of Economics, Anne-Sophie Deman has embarked on a career she loves. Since last April, she has been working in London at Hanbury Strategy, an international strategic advisory firm, where she serves as an EU analyst focusing on such timely and critical issues as Brexit, digital policy, Eurozone, and energy from an EU perspective.

“Working for a British political consultancy as an EU-focused policy person during Brexit has been quite interesting and engaging,” she told us. “To keep in touch with what’s going on in the Brussels bubble, I travel to Brussels and other European cities weekly.”.

Prior to her current role, Anne-Sophie was in Brussels as a Blue Book trainee at the European Political Strategy Centre, an in-house think tank which provides strategic, evidence-based analysis and policy advice. Working under the jurisdiction of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Anne-Sophie served as an analyst, focusing her energies on sustainable development, social policy, and economic teams.

We asked Anne-Sophie what drew her to international relations, both as an area of study and as a career. Her answer reflects her personal inclinations and experiences as well as her education, including the years she spent at The Country School, which Anne-Sophie described as a “turning point.”

“Exploring new places, reading the news, and discussing politics has been part of my life for as long as I can remember,” said Anne-Sophie, who was born in Belgium and attended schools there and in France before moving to the United States and starting at The Country School. “Growing up, my parents always brought me along when traveling or trying a new type of cuisine. Similarly, my opinion was always asked and valued when discussing what’s going on in the world.”

International relations as an academic discipline was a natural fit.

“Interdisciplinary in its nature, international relations combined my love for history (which started in Mrs. Kelly’s Egyptian history course), my personal experience in learning languages, and then added a political science and economics component,” she said.

After graduating from The Country School, Anne-Sophie went on to Daniel Hand High School, and when it came time to apply to college, she knew she wanted a school with a strong international relations program and a global outlook. That led her to UBC, where she focused on European Union politics and Chinese politics and studied Mandarin Chinese. In addition to her demanding academic load, Anne-Sophie also held several important extracurricular positions, including serving as co-founder of the Tanzania Heart Babies Project, which raised funds to help children with congenital heart defects in Tanzania, and as a research assistant at the Institute of European Studies, where she co-authored articles,

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assisted professors with research, and designed and taught a political science seminar. She held a summer internship for a food services company in China, was the student coordinator for Jump Start, a first-year transition program for more than 1,500 incoming international students at UBC, and served as the senior student ambassador overseeing campus tours.

To say that Anne-Sophie did well at UBC would be an understatement; she graduated as valedictorian, delivering a valedictory speech to assembled faculty, degree recipients, their families, and guests. She also received several awards, including the International Leader of Tomorrow Award, which came with a fouryear full scholarship, and the International Community Achievement Award, winning in both 2013 and 2015.

Overall, TCS is a very special place which I really credit with a turnaround for me in terms of my love for studying…. I really do not think I would have been able to do the studies I did without TCS — so thank you all!

Anne-Sophie Deman ’08

Then came graduate school. When looking into Masters programs, Anne-Sophie knew she wanted something interdisciplinary, and so she ended up applying to Global Politics at LSE, where she could combine her interest in European Union and Chinese politics and also focus “on the bigger picture in an applied (as opposed to theoretical ) manner through our core course: the politics of globalization,” she said. The year-long program was intense, but it cemented her interest in the field, so next came her traineeship at European Political Strategy Centre followed by her position at Hansbury.

We asked Anne-Sophie if there was anything specific in her Country School experience which may have impacted her direction. Here was her answer: When I think back on my academic path so far, The Country School plays a major role. For me, it is really the turning point. Before coming to The Country School, I went to school in Belgium and France. I was not particularly good at school and I did not really enjoy it — I enjoyed the social aspect but not really my classes or studying (we had exams starting in the 1st Grade).

I arrived at TCS not speaking any English, yet I was immediately absorbed into the community — a community of friends who are still very special to me today. The teachers, from Mrs. Kelly to Ms. Lord in the 5th Grade, really helped me adjust and transition. In the 6th Grade I met Mr. Storms, Mrs. Barber and Mrs. Burnett, and they really influenced me in a major way. Mr. Storms took so much extra time to meet me before school started or stay late to go over English key words for our weekly tests and helped me write my first essay and read my first English book (Tom Sawyer). Mrs. Barber taught with a similar passion and challenged me to a whole new level — demanding reading every week, my first term paper — and she instilled a permanent love for history in me (I continued to take history classes throughout my undergraduate and graduate). Mrs. Burnett was a wonderful advisor throughout the whole TCS process.

Aside from the academic, I think the TCS outdoor education program is so special. Ever since, I really enjoy hiking and being outside — something I was lucky enough to be able to do frequently in Vancouver. Overall, TCS is a very special place which I really credit with a turnaround for me in terms of my love for studying and confidence and methods in which to approach that. I really do not think I would have been able to do the studies I did without TCS — so thank you all!

Likewise, we say thank you, Anne-Sophie. Thank you for reaching out to express your gratitude to your teachers. Thank you for being willing to take a break from your busy schedule to answer our questions. And, perhaps most of all, thank you for living the Country School mission. We can’t wait to see where you go next.

Postscript: Anne-Sophie and her younger brother, Alexander ’14, now a first-year student at King’s College in London, are among dozens of international students who have enrolled at The Country School over the decades. Anne-Sophie said she was thrilled to hear about the growing international community on our campus.

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Integrating leadership opportunities that enhance student learning in and beyond the classroom Creating the Stewards of Tomorrow: Hadley Swope Kornacki ’93

When the new Steward Outdoor School opened this fall, it had a Country School alumna at the helm. Hadley Swope Kornacki is Head of School at Steward, a program of Incarnation Center, which offers semester-long programs to high achieving middle school students from their 740-acre campus in Ivoryton, CT. Although its rigorous curriculum aligns with traditional coursework, Steward has a particular focus on hands-on environmental science, ethics, and outdoor adventure.

For at least four weeks of each semester, students are away from campus, engaging in multi-day, outdoor adventure expeditions, from hiking on the Appalachian Trail to kayaking off the coast of Maine or canoeing down the Connecticut River in Vermont. (Think of it as a Country School Outdoor Ed experience on steroids.)

When students are on campus, the bulk of every day is spent out-of-doors, with the program making full use — both for study and for recreation — of the center’s miles of hiking trails, working farm, art and woodworking studios, high and low ropes courses, organic vegetable garden, and mile-long spring-fed lake. The hope is that after spending a semester at Steward, students will return to their homes and schools “prepared to think critically, communicate effectively, organize themselves independently, and be the leaders and stewards of tomorrow.”

For Hadley, a committed educator and lifelong outdoorswoman, Steward could not be a better fit. During her decade and a half in education, she has worked at schools across the country, from a public school in Carson City, Nevada, where most of her students were from Central America, to the independent Squaw Valley Academy in Olympic Valley, California, where many of her students were competitive skiers and snowboarders. She spent eight years with Achievement First in New Haven, both inside the classroom and in administration, and has taught at the collegiate level. She has overseen curriculum design, communications, professional development, and teacher recruitment. She has worked on school design with IDEO and enjoyed a semester-long Education Pioneers Fellowship, which brings education professionals from diverse backgrounds together to solve problems from outside the classroom so students and teachers can succeed inside the classroom. She has worked as a consultant, focusing on such issues as long-term planning and hands-on educational expeditions, and served on numerous boards of education, including the Board of Education in her hometown, Deep River. In short, she has pretty much done it all.

A few years ago, after nearly a decade working in New Haven area schools, Hadley found herself at a crossroads. “I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I wanted to do something that would lead kids to a life outdoors,” she said. “Kids need to be more active in school…. I want them discover a love for outdoor adventure and exploration, experiences that build passion for learning.”

Hadley had started working as a consultant and was living in Deep River with her husband, Nick, and their young daughter, Scout, when she learned from a friend at CrossFit that Incarnation Center was opening a semester school as their newest program. Incarnation Center is a setting familiar to legions of Country School students as Bushy Hill Nature Center, a favorite field trip destination, is also a program of Incarnation. An advisory board had been formed, and Hadley was asked to join. “I was really excited about it,” she said. “If I was looking at a passion barometer, that’s where my passion was.” To top it off, Steward’s campus at Incarnation Center is located just a few miles away from her house. With her resume and her interests, Hadley emerged as the perfect choice to serve as Head.

Hadley joined the Incarnation team, who had spent years planning, writing a curriculum, pulling together other team members, recruiting students, and

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organizing expeditions. This September, Steward opened its doors, with eight students in grades six to nine from states up and down the eastern seaboard.

After a few orientation days on campus, the group headed to Acadia National Park in Maine for the first, intense outdoor adventure of the year.

The early reviews are glowing. “This is the best first week of school ever,” one 7th Grader wrote. “Other kids are spending the week sitting at desks and playing name games and we’re here (Acadia) literally climbing mountains and sea kayaking with whales.”

Kids need to be more active in school…. I want them discover a love for outdoor adventure and exploration, experiences that build passion for learning.

Hadley Swope Kornacki ’93

Those comments must be music to Hadley’s ears, both as an educator and as a former student herself. As a child, Hadley loved hands-on learning and being outside. She describes her years at The Country School as “happy” and filled with “spirit,” fondly recalling how she acted out the Battle of Marathon in history and the time she and a classmate jumped into a splatter painting project with gusto as they explored the work of Jackson Pollock in art class. “I love that we were excited about learning,” she said.

Hadley described reading — and loving — From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and math with Mr. McGee. She loved Field Day and playing soccer and endless games of Four Square during recess. And, of course, she will never forget the MacLane Poetry Recitation. “I absolutely loved that,” she said, “not just because of the love of poetry but because you needed to be able to present yourself comfortably.”

Just before she entered 6th Grade, Hadley’s family moved to California, and Hadley said she was sad to leave what, for her, was a pretty idyllic school situation. And yet, she quickly adapted to life on the West Coast, where she liked her new school and had access to all sorts of year-round outdoor activities, both in the mountains and on the ocean.

When she was about to enter high school, her family moved back to the East Coast.

Hadley started at Guilford High School and later transferred to Brooks School in Andover, Massachusetts, where she was a boarding student. For college, she opted to go west again, attending Pitzer in Claremont, California, where she studied anthropology and art.

Hadley says she learned a few things about herself from all of the back and forth between one coast and another. First, she said she realized she genuinely enjoys trying new things, embracing new opportunities, and exploring new environments. Second, wherever she is, she values time spent in nature.

Editor’s Note: We are grateful to Nicole Burke, Country School English teacher and Development Director, for striking up a conversation with another mother at their daughters’ gymnastics lesson.

The other mom turned out to be Hadley, and that was how we learned that she had returned to the area and was helping launch Steward Outdoor School. On another small-world note, the gymnastics center is run by Carl Cavrell, math teacher and gymnastics coach at The Country School in the 1970s. So thanks, too, to Carl for inadvertently bringing together these Country School community members.

She also learned another lesson. While she had geared most of her academic courses toward a career in archaeology, an archaeological dig left her underwhelmed. On the other hand, summers spent coaching sailing and a substitute teaching job really excited her. Those experiences led to her third realization: “I love working with Middle School kids,” Hadley said. “And I realized that not only do I like this, but I’m actually pretty good at it.”

How fortuitous, then, that Hadley has found a home at Steward, where every day brings a new adventure with Middle School kids and every four weeks introduces a brand new environment. To top it off, almost everything takes place outside, in nature. Best of luck to Hadley and to Incarnation Center’s Steward Outdoor School as they work to “shape the leaders and stewards of tomorrow.” Perhaps we will run into them on a river or a ropes course or a mountain somewhere. And if and when we do, like Hadley, we will thank our lucky stars that we get to spend time embracing new opportunities and exploring new environments, much of the time in the outdoors, and always in the company of creative, intellectually curious students who are filled — and who fill us — with a sense of wonder.

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Doing What He Loves: Jake Gadon ’08, Sportscaster

Jake Gadon appreciates everything he learned inside the classroom at The Country School, but some of the outside-of-class experiences he had as a student may be having the greatest impact on him now.

As Sports Director at CBS7-KOSA in Odessa, Texas, Jake is an anchor and journalist who works with sources to break exclusive content and tell award-winning stories about players and teams, both on and off the field. From his post in Odessa, he covers everything from the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Tech to high school sports. In his two-and-a-half years at KOSA, he has won five Texas Associated Press Broadcast awards, including for best sports anchor and best sports broadcast.

A 2016 graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School, Jake was hired right out of school for the sports director position at KOSA after summer internships at ESPN and FOX Sports. While at Cronkite, he was able to report on things like the Milwaukee Brewers in spring training and ASU athletics.

Combine those two tools — the confidence to get out there and the knowledge that it’s OK to fail — and I know I wouldn’t be where I am today — a sports anchor at a local television station, in a position where I am in front of a camera, seen in households all over West Texas — without The Country School.

Jake Gadon ’08

Although he may not have started out loving public speaking (his first MacLane Poetry Recitations terrified him), Jake clearly got over his fear over time. Not only was he a perennial MacLane finalist, but he took to the stage during TCS talent shows and entertained everyone. His role of choice? A funny sportscaster.

As Jake moved into Middle School, his comfort on the stage grew and he was awarded leading roles in TCS musical theater productions, from Fiddler on the Roof to Into the Woods and Oklahoma. When he got to Old Saybrook High School, he lettered in baseball and appeared in multiple productions on stage, even winning a Connecticut Drama Festival commendation for his performance in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

Jake knows where that comfort on stage — and now in front of a television camera — comes from: The Country School gave me so many core tools that make me who I am today. When I was cast in “Into the Woods” as Jack as a 6th Grader, I kept asking myself, “Why would Mrs. Barber and Mrs. Wiles cast a kid who only tried out for the musical because his mom forced him to (thanks mom)?” Mrs. Barber summed it up perfectly for me. “Jake,” she said, “It’s because we knew you could handle the part.” After that show, I was never afraid of the spotlight. I knew I had the confidence to flourish in the big moment and rise to the occasion.

Jake also believes The Country School taught him another important lesson.

Recalling the MacLane Recitation, where he was a finalist from 6th-8th Grade but never a medalist, Jake said he learned that sometimes you just don’t win, but that’s no reason not to try.

The MacLane Poetry recitation taught me that it’s okay to fail, even on the big stage. Combine those two tools — the confidence to get out there and the knowledge that it’s OK to fail — and I know I wouldn’t be where I am today — a sports anchor at a local television station, in a position where I am in front of a camera, seen in households all over West Texas — without The Country School.

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Teenage Entrepreneur: Andrew Epprecht ’13 Not every 7th Grader decides he wants to organize a bike ride to raise thousands of dollars for cancer research or, as a teenager, launch a sock company because the world needs more interesting, colorful socks, but Andrew Epprecht has shown he is not your average young person.

Andrew visited campus last fall to deliver an Elmore Leadership Talk about OurSock.com, the company he founded as a 15-year-old high school student. The 4th-8th Graders who heard him were so inspired by his example that four of them — 8th Grader Phineas Scott and 6th Graders Gaby Kerop and Constance and Helen Sharp — co-authored a blog about Andrew’s visit. And later, scores of students would submit designs for a custom Country School sock.

Cooperating to Make Socks

by Phineas Scott, Gaby Kerop, Constance Sharp, and Helen Sharp On Monday, September 11, 2017, alumnus Andrew Epprecht ’13 spoke to the Intermediate and Middle School students about hard work and business.

Andrew talked to us about how there will be obstacles in our way, but we just have to keep working hard to achieve what we want. When Andrew was at The Country School, even though his peers and teachers thought it would be too difficult to organize, he insisted on having a bike ride to raise money for cancer research. The Class of 2013 made it a tremendous success! [In fact, they raised $4,000 for Smilow Cancer Hospital.] Everyone knew then that he was destined for greatness.

After TCS, Andrew created a new way to “work it” by putting fun, eyecatching socks on people’s feet with his company Noble Stitch because “there are too many boring socks in the world, and a little color can brighten up everyone’s day.” He went to Kickstarter, a company that helps small business owners raise money for their companies, with a goal to raise $15,000. He raised $15,400! His socks were made of bamboo fiber, which means they were eco-friendly and incredibly comfortable. Even though he raised enough money, his company didn’t make much of a profit, so he got a new idea.

He started making printed socks, which are cheaper and easier to make.

With the new addition of putting school logos on his socks, his business Oursock.com has soared. Andrew is currently selling themed socks to schools, primarily high schools, and colleges. The first school to purchase his logo socks was his own secondary school, Hotchkiss.

Andrew has invited us to design a Country School sock! … The design has only 3 rules: 1. The shaded areas have to be a solid color, 2. There can be no intricate patterns, and 3. The design has to have the TCS branding on it.

Andrew taught us that it’s not easy to be a leader, but friends will help us power through. Just like our theme of the year, Cooperation, without the help of others, Andrew Epprecht would not have made it this far.

clockwise from top: Andrew Epprect talking to students, custom Country School socks, Andrew and Kayla Uzwiak ‘18, designer of winning sock

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Making socks for TCS is a real honor for both of us. The impact our years at TCS had on us is immeasurable and we’re glad to come back and give back to this school. We’re looking forward to showing off our TCS pride with these socks!

Andrew ’13 and Ryan Epprecht ’10

Postscript: Andrew, a 2017 graduate of the Hotchkiss School, spent last year on a gap year, traveling in Italy, where he studied Italian and continued to work on OurSock.com. With his brother, Ryan ’10, a student at Tufts University, he also branched out into the world of search engine optimization and online reputation management, launching Phase 5 Analytics, which focuses primarily on medical marketing. This fall, Andrew entered Duke University, where he plans to study — what else? — entrepreneurship and innovation.

While Andrew was in Italy, Country School students submitted 72 different sock designs to his design-a-sock challenge. The community held a vote, and in the end a design by Kayla Uzwiak ’18 was selected as the winner. A supremely creative young woman, Kayla won the art award at Prize Day. Ironically, she is now a freshman at Hotchkiss, where Andrew first conceived of the idea to start his sock business.

Andrew and his brother, Ryan, had the socks produced, and when Andrew was back home from Italy he visited campus for the big reveal at All School Meeting, joining Mr. Fixx and several 8th Graders for a sock fashion show. The Country School community gave the socks a huge thumbs up. As for Andrew and Ryan, producing the socks for their alma mater was equally rewarding. “Making socks for TCS is a real honor for both of us,” they said. “The impact our years at TCS had on us is immeasurable and we’re glad to come back and give back to this school. We’re looking forward to showing off our TCS pride with these socks!”

The Advancement Office was able to send socks to donors and hand them out to guests at Grandparents and Special Friends Day. If you look closely, you can spot them on teachers, students, parents, and alumni. If there is demand, we can always place another order. After all, who wouldn’t want a fun, eye-catching, colorful, owlbedecked sock to brighten their day?

Inspiring lifelong learners with a dynamic and rigorous curriculum Seeking to Understand the Origin of Everything: Astrophysicist Jonathan Pober ’99

The Country School presented the 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award to Jonathan Pober, an astrophysicist whose work focuses on the origins of the universe. Or, as a publication at Brown University, where he teaches, puts it, Jonathan spends his days in “the ultimate research effort: trying to understand the origin of everything.”

With such a lofty goal, one might have expected Jonathan to have a difficult time explaining his work to a young Country School audience. But this Haverford (BA), Cambridge (MPhil), and UC Berkeley (PhD)-educated academic spoke in a way that the students could not only understand but truly appreciate.

An Assistant Professor of Physics at Brown University, Jonathan is part of an international collaboration known as the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array, or HERA, through which scientists aim to look back more than 13.5 billion years to learn about the period when the universe first became bathed in light. Using a HERA radio telescope, the collaboration seeks to investigate a period of time when the first generations of galaxies formed, altering the cosmic landscape.

That was the best audience I’ve had in years.

Jonathan Pober ’99

Eric Fabricant ‘99, Alumni Association co-chair, introduced Jonathan, remarking how fitting it was that his brilliant former classmate was on campus on a day when 8th Graders presented their Elmore Independent Science Research Projects.

“It’s nice that we can come together and bring science from here and science from the outside together,” he said, adding that it beautifully supports the notion that, at The Country School, education does, indeed, last a lifetime.

After Jonathan’s talk, students peppered him with questions, such as: “Do you have competitors in your work?” “Can we see the future of the universe and not just the past?” “Have you found the most modern galaxy?” Jonathan answered

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each question thoroughly and patiently and even took time to speak with individual students who lined up to shake his hand when the Q & A had ended.

(And the Q & A only ended because the bell had rung, signaling it was time for students to retrieve their backpacks and head to buses and carpool pickup.)

When asked what it was like to be back on campus and to see some of his former teachers and classmates again, Jonathan, not one to talk about himself, deflected the question. Instead, he turned it back on the students he had addressed, giving them — and also their teachers — perhaps the largest compliment he could have. “That was the best audience I’ve had in years,” said the man who typically lectures at places like Brown and UC Berkeley.

Providing inclusive artistic and athletic opportunities for every student Once an Owl, Always an Owl: Kat Lauer ’06

Kat Lauer was a star student-athlete, first at The Country School and then later at Hamden Hall and Branford High School, balancing her school responsibilities with outside-of-school demands as a key member of competitive premier soccer, AAU basketball, and national championship rowing teams. When it came time for college, Kat decided to head west — to Pac-12 powerhouse UCLA, where she was a recruited athlete on the women’s rowing team.

During her years as a UCLA Bruin, Kat rowed in the varsity eight (starting as a freshman — no simple feat), made repeat cameos on Bruin Talk, UCLA’s sports broadcast, was a member of the Bruin Athletic Council, and interned for the Wooden Athletic Fund. Named for legendary UCLA men’s basketball coach, the Wooden Athletic Fund provides support for UCLA’s 700 student-athletes, helping them succeed in the classroom, in competition, and in the community.

Kat Lauer and former UCLA/NBA great Jamaal Wilkes.

Kat graduated from UCLA with a degree in Sociology in 2014, and she has remained close to her collegiate home in the four years since. After working in development at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA, an institution she first encountered when she and her teammates volunteered with young patients there, Kat is back at UCLA proper. These days, she can be found putting her scholar-athlete experaience to work professionally as the director of UCLA Athletics’ Bruin Varsity Club. That means that, at the ripe old age of 26, Kat serves as liaison between the university and former student-athletes, an illustrious group that includes basketball legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, and Reggie Miller, Olympic track star Jackie Joyner-Kersee, tennis great Jimmy Connors, football star Troy Aikman, gymnastics phenoms Madison Kocian and Sam Peczek, and women’s soccer giants Sydney Leroux and Sam Mewis, to name just a few.

As Varsity Club director, Kat does everything from marketing, outreach, and fundraising to organizing reunions and Hall of Fame celebrations. She’s responsible for creating and maintaining Bruin Varsity Club networking and mentoring programs so that current student-athletes as well as graduates can connect with other alumni to find meaningful job and internship opportunities.

She has a ringside seat to UCLA athletic events, where she’s often rubbing shoulders with other former scholar-athletes whose names you may have heard of. And Kat regularly finds herself in the spotlight, a position that has grown increasingly familiar, and therefore more comfortable, over the years.

Each year during the UCLA graduation celebration, Kat delivers a speech to graduating student-athletes, their coaches, families and friends, an entourage that can number in the hundreds. Kat said she was nervous the first time out, describing it as “surreal” as she looked out at the sea of faces (maybe something akin to her first MacLane Poetry Recitation at The Country School). Over time, though, she has grown increasingly at home on the podium. “I enjoy it because talking about UCLA is a joy of mine,” she told us. “I have such a love for this place, and any opportunity to represent it is something I jump at.”

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Whenever she finds a little extra time in her schedule, Kat enjoys focusing the spotlight on current UCLA athletes. Since her college days, she has freelanced with the Pac-12 Network, working UCLA games that are telecast by the network.

She does everything from assisting with post-game interviews to serving as stage manager and camera operator.

Recently Kat was part of the Pac-12 Los Angeles team that received the L.A. Area “Live Sports Coverage” Emmy for the 2017 telecast of #4 UCLA women’s gymnastics team vs. #17 Arkansas. Kat tells us the telecast was memorable for a number of reasons, including the fact that it was the first time two Olympic gold medalists, Madison Kocian and Kyla Ross, competed as NCAA gymnasts. She said it was thrilling to have been part of the Emmy-winning broadcast team, adding, “I was floored at the news!”

Kat also somehow finds time to serve on the Leadership Council of the Positive Coaching Alliance. A national nonprofit organization committed to transforming the culture of youth sports so young athletes can have a positive, characterbuilding experience, the Positive Coaching Alliance provides training workshops to coaches, parents, and administrators of schools and youth sports organizations.

For those of us who remember Kat from her Country School days, it makes perfect sense that she is working in a field and volunteering for endeavors where she can combine her interests in sports and youth empowerment. And she is eager to allow others to continue their connection to an institution that makes those issues a priority. As she says about her experiences at UCLA, both as a student and now as a graduate and employee, “Once a Bruin, always a Bruin. I think it’s important to know that just because you’re not here as an athlete competing for a national championship doesn’t mean you’re no longer a vital part of the community.”

Interestingly, “community” was the word that came up when we asked Kat what stands out most when she thinks back on her Country School experience. Here’s how she responded:

top to bottom: Kat speaks at Country School graduation, Kat on Bruin Talk, Kat speaking to UCLA athletes at their graduation

At The Country School, my coaches, my advisors, everyone there had my best interests at heart and I didn’t feel like just another person in the crowd. Those are some of my most cherished memories.

Kat Lauer ’06

I think it’s the sense of community at The Country School…. I didn’t feel that same connection until I got to UCLA. That was kind-of my starting point for trying to find a college — how do I find a place where I feel as supported by all members of the community? At The Country School, my coaches, my advisors, everyone there had my best interests at heart and I didn’t feel like just another person in the crowd. Those are some of my most cherished memories. It’s rare to say when you’re in Middle School that you have that.

Kat attributes the value of her Country School experience both to the people and to the program: Those relationships [with teachers and advisors] and the friendships I built there are still my strongest friendships. They’re my family. It says a lot for what The Country School brings to students. I get emotional when I talk about it — even the Moab trip.

I talk about that still as one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. Now that I look back, I was an 8th Grader and I went into the mountains and cleaned water with a filter and drank stream water. I still reference a lot of the leadership skills that I learned at The Country School and from that outdoor program. For me, those were really formative years.

Thank you for sharing your story with us, Kat. Knowing how much you loved (and continue to love) your UCLA Bruin experience, it’s an honor to have our small community seen in a similar light. And to paraphrase your “Once a Bruin, always a Bruin” statement, please remember: Once an Owl, always an Owl. Come back and see us when you can, Kat. You are and always will be a vital part of our community!

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A Journey in Pictures: Adrien Broom ’94

The 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award was presented last May to Adrien Broom, a renowned fine art, commercial, and portrait photographer whose work has been shown in museums and galleries across the globe and featured in publications from Smithsonian Magazine to The New York Times. As Mila Pantovich wrote in the Huffington Post, “There are many different types of artists out there, from photographers and painters to sculptors and filmmakers, and some artists are talented enough that they excel at more than one medium. It’s pretty darn amazing, though, when someone has so much creativity spilling from their minds that they do all of it, and that’s exactly what Adrien Broom does.”

Country School students, teachers, alumni, and guests had a ringside seat to the creativity “spilling from [Adrien’s] mind” when she visited campus for the award ceremony and graciously took them through a “journey in pictures,” conveying her evolution as an artist. “It all just kind of started because I knew I wanted to create,” she said, as she shared a first photo of a young Adrien with her sister, Margot ’98, and the very imaginative snowman they built together one winter.

“You can’t get caught up in the details of everything being perfect — you just have to do it.”

Adrien said she has loved art and creating since her earliest years, and she credited her family and her teachers for helping develop the interest that would become a career. “I remember teachers, including some here today, really encouraging a sense of creativity, and that was important,” she said. “I kind of took that with me through high school and college and it made me proud. I wasn’t always the best at history or math but art was always my thing.”

I remember teachers, including some here today, really encouraging a sense of creativity, and that was important. I kind of took that with me through high school and college and it made me proud. I wasn’t always the best at history or math but art was always my thing.

Adrien Broom ’94

After studying animation and graphic design at Northeastern University, Adrien said she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, so when a musician friend asked her to join her band to document their road tour, she said yes. “Their career grew as my career grew,” Adrien said. “It was a very cool introduction to photography.”

She learned how to capture specific moments, how to handle lighting, and a lot about what it’s like to live on the road. But eventually she found herself wanting to produce her own projects so, again on that notion that you “just have to do it,” she grabbed her camera and her sister and headed to an antique shop in New London, which she thought would make an intriguing setting for some photographs. The store’s owner had a collection of taxidermy animals, and Adrien used the animals and models to come up with a series of fantastical images, including one featuring Maggie Keeler ’14. “I got caught up in the storytelling part of it,” she said.

The photos in the antique store led to a request from a lighting company to do a project using their equipment. Adrien arranged a photo shoot in East Haddam, for which she built a set and photographed more models and animals (this time live animals, including a “zonkey” — half donkey, half zebra — at Ray of Light Farm). “That was when I realized that set design and set building, creating these other worlds, was what really got me excited,” she said.

Perhaps her largest project to date grew from that experience. “I had this idea one day that I wanted to build worlds based around each color — white, red, orange, yellow, etc. — and stage a story of a girl waking up in a room without any color and rediscovering all the colors of the rainbow,” she said. She and her team (collaboration, she has learned, is a key to all her projects) engaged in a lot of brainstorming and then a lot of building as, over the course of three years, they built different sets embodying each color of the rainbow. Once a set was built, they would shoot photographs and film, and then dismantle it, starting fresh and creating a new set in an entirely different color.

“This project ... really kind of solidified who I am as an artist — other worldly set building or world building,” she said, sharing time-lapse videos (eliciting oohs

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and ahhs from her audience) which showed how she developed the orange world, Editor’s Note: Just before we went to for instance, or the purple world, or the final world — the rainbow world. press, Adrien reached out to say that she was offering a limited number of portrait sittings in the magical, hand-built winter The Color Project garnered attention from many quarters, and Adrien was asked to do projects in New York, Boston, Atlanta, New Orleans, New London, and wonderland set she and her team had elsewhere. Eventually the Hudson River Museum asked her to do a show based on created in her New Haven studio. Out fairy tales, something she’s long been interested in. “Even at The Country School of gratitude for all she received at The I’d been obsessed with folklore and fairy tales and mythologies,” she said.

Country School, she offered to donate a percentage of proceeds from any Like The Color Project, the Hudson River Museum show won her some nice portraits of Country School families to reviews and articles, but she began to be asked the same question: “That’s nice, the school. Thank you, Adrien, for giving Adrien, but how are you going to pay the rent?” To which Adrien has an answer. so much back to your alma mater!

Email info@adrienbroom.com for details. “I pay my rent in a couple of different ways,” she said, pointing out that she has done ad work for the likes of Disney Philips and a wedding dress company as well as private, commissioned portraits for individual and family clients.

Some of Adrien’s latest projects take her away from set design and allow her to explore already established settings in new ways. “I had become known for my sets, creating these other worldly things, but to be honest, it was kind of exhausting so I decided I was going to shift a little bit and find locations that needed no adjustment,” she said. She reached out to a range of historic properties to see if she could “kind of stage my own stories within these magical locations.”

Her first project in this new realm took place in Wentworth Woodhouse outside of London, “my dream location for my first excursion,” she said. Instead of set design, she focused on costume design, sewing thousands of LED lights into a dress, creating “one piece of artwork that could change the whole image.”

That project led her in a whole new direction, and recently she partnered with the National Trust for Historic Preservation on a series she’s calling “Holding Space: Historic Homes Project,” an exploration of historic homes of artists and writers.

Essentially, she will be going around the country, staging narratives within these homes. She starts by researching the house’s former residents and then creating stories to convey those individuals. The stories are “directly related but with my own fantastical twist,” she said.

Students and teachers loved hearing about Adrien’s work and her evolution as an artist, asking her questions about everything from where she found her props to where she gets her inspiration. Thank you for sharing your enormous talent with us and for agreeing to accept the 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award, Adrien.

More than a few young artists in the audience — and several older ones — were deeply inspired by your work and your words. And some were proud to know that they may have played a small role in your development.

See more of Adrien’s work at adrienbroom.com

The Distinguished Alumni Award is presented annually to a former student who embodies The Country School mission. From the mission’s Core Values: “As we honor the creativity, sense of wonder, and exuberance in childhood, we inspire enthusiasm for learning as an exciting, lifelong activity. We value imagination and diverse ways of thinking.” Who could embody these attributes better than Adrien Broom?

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A Leader On and Off the Field: Luke Nguyen ’11

When you think of Country School athletes over the years, a few legends come to mind. One of those at the top of the list would have to be Luke Nguyen, who just completed his final season of collegiate soccer at Amherst College, where he served as captain, was an All-NESCAC first-team pick, and was named a first team All Region Player by US Soccer coaches. During his four years as a midfielder for the Mammoths, Luke helped lead the Division III powerhouse to its first-ever NCAA Championship, fifth NESCAC title, and three other Sweet Sixteen NCAA appearances.

Luke has been a soccer star for as long as we’ve known him, and we’ve known him since he joined us in PreK. As a tiny guy on the Lower School playground, Luke could dribble circles around his peers, but he mostly used his skills, enthusiasm, and winning personality to lure his classmates into joining him on the pitch, sparking a whole class filled with would-be David Beckhams and Mia Hamms. By the time Luke and his classmates got to Middle School, the interscholastic teams, both boys’ and girls’, were filled with scholar-athletes who were so passionate and effective that they won every tournament they entered.

Luke was just one of at least nine members of the class of 2011 who went on to play sports at the collegiate level. (See full list at https://www.thecountryschool. org/athletics/alumni-collegiate-athletes.)

It was fun catching up with Luke, pictured here with his biggest fans, parents, Joyce and Tu, and puppy, Rufus, at one of his NCAA tournament games this fall.

Although there are many feats to recall from Luke’s time as a Country School student-athlete, a few stand out. There were the six goals he scored in the Kingswood-Oxford Soccer Tournament, where the Owls defeated Foote in an exciting 2-1 overtime championship game. Athletic Director Chris Wallack will never forget another Luke Nguyen moment. “We were in Stonington at the Pine Point Tournament, and Luke scored off a kickoff 50-plus yards away,” Mr. Wallack said. “He helped us win the game and the tournament. He was the only athlete to ever do that at TCS in 30-plus years.”.

At Prize Day, Luke was awarded the Cox Bowl, presented to the student or students who best personify the ideals of leadership, sportsmanship, attitude, and achievement upon which the school’s athletic program is based. “The winner of this year’s award is an amazing athlete,” the Cox Bowl tribute reads. “He has astounded all of us who have seen him on the soccer field, the basketball court, and the tennis court…. With all of his skill, it would be easy for him to take over the game, but that is not the style of this 8th Grader. He passes the ball to his teammates so that they can score and cheers them on when he is sitting out….

This student wants all of his peers to be successful. … He is a leader, a gifted athlete, a team player, and a good friend to his peers.”

Luke, who balanced his school responsibilities with top-level outside-of-school soccer, went on to Choate Rosemary Hall, where he continued to shine, garnering New England Prep School accolades and serving as captain. A highly lauded player at the premier level as well, he was being scouted by top Division I programs when, knowing he wanted to do many things in college besides soccer, he decided he would rather play Division III. He landed at Amherst, where he found himself fully engaged in the classroom, in college life, and on the field. When we spoke to him this fall, Luke told us he loves Amherst’s open curriculum and the opportunity it has given him to really dive into subjects that interest him. A Political Science major, he is particularly interested in social activism and has written in-depth papers about how protests are effecting political change. Last summer, he took that interest to Washington, D.C., where he interned with Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut. He has also found other ways to actively engage in and serve the broader community as the community service representative for Amherst soccer.

One of the opportunities Luke has valued most about Amherst was being able to study abroad, something he most likely could not have done had he gone to

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I think you don’t really realize the impact The Country School had on you until you’re five years removed and then the different lessons you learned keep coming back – like Mr. McGee telling us it was all right to be wrong….

I’ve gotten pretty comfortable with being wrong.

Luke Nguyen ’11

a Division I school. He spent last spring at the University of Edinburgh, where he enjoyed his classes, Scotland, and being able to travel to other countries, including Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Portugal, and Hungary.

As for soccer at Amherst, Luke made his mark from day one, playing and starting in 15 games as a freshman and launching the corner kick that resulted in the championship-winning goal at the 2015 NCAA tournament. By the time his career wound down in mid-November, Luke had played 54 games in the midfield, logging countless critical plays, goals, and assists. At the start of his senior season, Amherst Coach Justin Serpone called Luke “the best center midfielder in the conference,” which is saying a lot in the uber-competitive NESCAC, which sent six teams to NCAAs this year. “His consistency for us game in and game out has made him the foundation on which our entire offense and defense is based.”

Midway through the season, following a 1-1 double overtime draw against Conn College that snapped the Camels’ 10-game winning streak, Serpone had this assessment: “Luke Nguyen was fantastic today and really put the team on his back. He’s been showing all year why he’s one of the best handful of players in New England.” In their final game, the 3-0 NCAA loss to Tufts, Luke was the one who almost made the difference. The teams were tied 0-0 at the half, and shortly after the start of the second period, Luke struck. “One of Amherst’s best chances of the bout came at the 51:11 mark, with Conner Mieth robbing senior Luke Nguyen of a highlight reel score,” the Amherst account of the game said.

“Nguyen teamed up with Fikayo Ajayi ’19 to gain space for the chance, with the duo utilizing some tic-tac passing to get Nguyen alone at the top right of the box.

Aiming for the top left corner, Nguyen blasted a shot on frame, however Mieth made an athletic jumping save to punch the ball to safety.” Three Tufts goals then ensued, with Tufts going on to win the national championship.

Following the NCAA Sweet Sixteen loss, Coach Serpone praised his seniors, including Luke. “The senior class has been amazing for the last four years,” he said. “They won an NCAA Championship, a NESCAC Championship, and made three other Sweet Sixteens. More importantly, they were amazing leaders and people off the field.”

Which really gets to the crux of the issue. When we see a sports star, we often go straight to the stats — and Luke’s stats are amazing — but there are so many other dimensions to a student-athlete besides what he or she does on the field.

Thinking back to Luke at The Country School, we recall how he corralled his peers into joining him on the field, and we also remember how he joined them in some of the realms where perhaps they were more at home. For instance, his 8th Grade year, Luke stunned many of us when he donned a curly-haired wig and appeared in a starring role in Pirates of Penzance, singing and dancing alongside his thespian classmates. We remember him deep in thought as he painted a landscape on a field trip to the Florence Griswold Museum, and we recall how he auctioned off his skills as a soccer coach for younger students to help raise money for Madison’s Strong Field renovation.

These are the kind of off-the-field attributes Luke will take with him, along with the leadership skills he has demonstrated on the field. When we spoke to him this fall, Luke said he was “getting ready to leave and go out into the real world.”

He wasn’t sure what would come next — perhaps a position at a think tank and, ultimately, most likely law school — but as he prepares to make the transition, Luke finds himself thinking back on his Country School experiences.

“I think you don’t really realize the impact The Country School had on you until you’re five years removed and then the different lessons you learned keep coming back – like Mr. McGee telling us it was all right to be wrong,” he said. “Professors [at Amherst] keep telling us that. I’ve gotten pretty comfortable with being wrong.”

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He also thinks a lot about the Country School community. “Our team at Amherst is really close, and I always think about my relationships at TCS and how close we were in those days and how it helped me grow with them and learn from their mistakes as well,” he said. “That’s something that you don’t really get at other places and in other schools.”

Luke, your Country School community wishes you luck as you head off into the real world. We know you will find other “fields” to shine on, and we will certainly enjoy watching from the sidelines.

Utilizing every aspect of our 23-acre country setting to deliver and strengthen our program Remembrance of Things Past: Emily Ballard ’12

In Marcel Proust’s A La Recherche du Temps Perdu (In Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past), the narrator is transported back to his youth after he takes a bite of a madeleine. You could say Emily Ballard ’12 had a similar experience when she visited campus over the summer. A rising junior at Ithaca College, where she is majoring in Television-Radio and minoring in History, Emily had reached out to say she was just back from a term abroad in the UK, that she had heard about the changes on campus, seen photos online, and wanted to stop by so she could see everything in person.

Of course, we said, please come! We arranged a time, and when Emily arrived, after driving in the new entrance and parking in the new parking lot, we began a trek across campus. As we revisited her old haunts and encountered new ones, memories come flooding back, as did a growing awareness of what her ten years at The Country School, all the way from PreK through 8th Grade, had meant to her.

Here are a few examples: While checking out the renovations in DeFrancis Gymnasium, Emily recalled all the times she had stood on stage, whether to recite a poem, sing in the chorus, perform in a talent show, dance and sing in a musical, receive an award at Prize Day, or be handed her diploma at graduation. Thanks to the Class of 2018 and their families, the stage and proscenium have been updated and newly painted and the adjacent boys’ locker room has been completely redone (it now features two men’s restrooms in addition to the lockers). The changes met with Emily’s approval, although she expressed relief that certain aspects of the stage she knew remain intact. For instance, she was able to locate the beam backstage where she had signed her name in red Sharpie. (The collection of names scrawled in different color pen is a veritable who’s who of the Country School music and theater program of the last decade plus. Who knew?)

Crossing the gym floor, and later walking across the new athletic fields, Emily relived countless basketball, soccer, and softball games as well as the PE classes and outdoor recesses she adored and missed terribly when she moved on to high school. She said she was deeply grateful for the opportunity The Country School gave her to “do it all” when she was in grade school — academics, athletics, visual and performing arts, Outdoor Education, and good old-fashioned, unstructured play. “I had so much fun being able to do everything,“ she said, adding that, as an energetic young girl, all the activity helped her focus. “It kept me really fit and it got out all that energy I had.”

From the fields, we headed into the woods. When Emily first saw a photo of trees being cut down to make way for the new athletic fields, she was concerned. As she wrote in a Facebook comment at the time, “I’m sad! Those trees held so many memories for me, and the woods were where our imaginations grew.” We posted a reply saying we agreed with her about the woods being the source for so much growth, and we assured her that there were still plenty of trees to inspire the

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most fervent outdoorsman/woman or wildest imagination. Sure enough, as we walked through the woods this summer, Emily was delighted to see forts, trails, and acres and acres of trees, all offering endless opportunities to enjoy life in the country as Country School students have always known it. She was also thrilled to hear that 2nd Graders still head into the woods to build and then “live” in their colonial villages. And, of course, Outdoor Education remains a vital part of Country School life.

5th Graders and their fort this fall.

Then there were the memories sparked when Emily entered her old classrooms.

Clark House was just as sunny and bright and creative and happy as she’d remembered it. Inside MacLane, she was overjoyed to come across Fuzzy, the stuffed bear students still take home for weekend visits. (She wondered if some of the outfits she had contributed to his overnight bag still exist.) In the 2nd Grade classroom, she was transported to a moment when she was reading with her classmates and her teacher, Jennifer Hornyak. “It was a circular table,” she recalled, as if it were yesterday. “I was on the far right and I was reading a book and I got to a word I didn’t know. I read it over and over and broke the word down and rather than saying, ‘Come on,’ Mrs. Hornyak said, ‘Now see kids. Emily went back and she re-read it and broke the word down.’ And I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, she chose me! I did something right.’”

Emily remembers that moment because it meant the world to her. As a child with dyslexia, she was accustomed to other students completing academic tasks before she did. But Mrs. Hornyak had recognized and publicly praised her ability to figure it out using the tools she had acquired, and she has never forgotten how that made her feel. “What a lot of people don’t’ realize is that it’s the small things,” Emily said. “The kid you never saw talk — maybe she just needs that little bit of reassurance, putting her in the spotlight for once.” (Emily was delighted to hear that Mrs. Hornyak is now The Country School’s official Reading Specialist and that she has been joined by two other learning specialists who collaborate with teachers to maximize learning across the board, from reading and writing to math.)

I remember that we had to memorize all of the countries, and then we took a test and I remembered every single one of them. In history in 5th Grade, that was where I really started to soar.

Emily Ballard ’12

Emily had a similar epiphany in the Intermediate wing, where 4th and 5th Grades are based. As she walked into Kerri Kelly’s 5th Grade classroom and saw all of the ancient Egypt artwork on the walls and props from the Greek play based on the Odyssey, she exhaled and said, “This is where I learned to love history.” She then recounted the single experience that really cemented her interest. “Anyone who’s had Mrs. Kelly knows her love of Egypt and her love of history,” she said. “I remember that we had to memorize all of the countries, and then we took a test and I remembered every single one of them. In history in 5th Grade, that was where I really started to soar.”

Another lasting memory occurred well after 5th Grade, when a poem she’d written for Mrs. Kelly about ancient Egypt was published in an archaeology magazine. Mrs. Kelly had submitted student poems for publication, either in Calypso or Dig, and a few years later Emily’s was one of those selected. “That was really amazing,” she said. “I wrote it in 5th Grade but it didn’t get published until I was a freshman in high school. It took a long time, but it was really cool to see your work in a magazine — especially for someone with dyslexia who thought there’s no way this is ever going to happen.”

A final point Emily made about her academic experience at The Country School was about the teaching itself. “The way kids learn at The Country School is different,” she said. “Rather than forcing kids to sit at a desk, you bring in movies.

Or in math class, when we couldn’t remember how to do this one thing, Mr. McGee would bring out blocks, and to some people this was the best way to learn — to get to physically see it in front of you.” Even in gym she was learning things that could translate to the classroom and also to life. “You were learning how to communicate, you were learning control, patience, waiting,” she said. “You were

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also learning to stay active. And by the time you went back to class, you were ready to sit down and learn.”

Emily said she had started thinking a lot about The Country School while she was on her term abroad. She was taking a Shakespeare class and she kept buying tickets to every Shakespeare production that would fit into her schedule. One of her UK professors asked her why she had such a passion for the bard, and Emily told her she’d been reading Shakespeare since 5th Grade. She described reading Othello in 6th Grade and how she fell in love (an opportunity to see the play a few years later cemented that interest). “I realized that The Country School is where my love for Shakespeare was manifested,” she said.

Asked why she finds Shakespeare so compelling, Emily said, “It always switches, but I think the main reason is the language, because it’s so different. Growing up with dyslexia you always get words wrong, and [with Shakespearean English], this is a language where it doesn’t necessarily make sense, so it’s ok to get it wrong.”

And then there’s the fact that Shakespeare’s work is so layered and complex and each time you read it you find something new. “Read it once, and it’s fascinating, but you could read it multiple times and you’d constantly find something else, undertones you didn’t even realize were there,” she said. “That’s probably what really interests me.” In other words, she likes that, with Shakespeare, you’re always learning, always exploring, always finding new meaning.

It’s probably not surprising that Emily is someone who loves to explore and find new meaning, both in academics and in life. Her father, Robert Ballard, is founder and president of the Ocean Exploration Trust and an explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society. Perhaps best known for discovering the RMS Titanic, Dr. Ballard is also a riveting speaker and last year delivered a talk during our TEDxTheCountrySchool conference, an event organized by Emily’s older brother, Ben ’08, now in graduate school at Tufts’ Fletcher School. It’s also probably not surprising that she loves film and plans to be a film editor when she graduates.

Her mother, Barbara, has worked as a television documentary producer and was director of development and special projects for the National Geographic Society.

Emily in Middle School

This summer Emily used her film/video editing skills in a job at a marketing firm, and for the five summers before that, she was aboard the E/V Nautilus, the 64-meter research vessel owned by the Ocean Exploration Trust and directed by her father. Each summer Emily accompanied the crew on explorations in locales across the world, where she served on watch, helped log data, and assisted with video and film. Ultimately, she was able to serve as a video engineer, helping the team share their findings with audiences across the globe. She and a friend even created a video about what it’s like to live on the Nautilus.

Emily said her favorite role in film is in post-production, where she gets to go in and “fix things.” “The editor works just as hard as the director,” she said. “The scripts or books were written by one person, and the director is taking that script and putting their own vision on it. It doesn’t really matter what the script says; it’s the director’s vision. And then, if the editor doesn’t work well with the director, you’re going to have the worst movie ever.” So every person on the team is critically important.

It was that sense of teamwork, along with her love of exploration and being outdoors, that made Emily return to the Nautilus year after year, themes which again take us back to The Country School. Asked what she would change about her Country School experience and what should remain the same, Emily couldn’t think of anything she’d change. But she had definite ideas about what should never, ever change.

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I discovered that you can mess up, take a breath, and start again. … You need to learn to fail. You learn how to fight and work and eventually you’ll come back and think, “I learned from that.”

Emily Ballard ’12

“The Outdoor Ed program, for sure,” she said, without a moment’s hesitation. “I always appreciated it. When I was in high school and I told people I went to Moab for 10 days and backpacked, they all said, ‘What???’ So far, no one I have talked to has done a trip like that.” She loved being out there in that magnificent Utah landscape, camping, hiking, rock climbing, and white water rafting. She loved pitching and taking down tents and cooking over campfires. Perhaps most of all, though, she loved the effect it had on her classmates.

“I think the greatest thing is that it bonds you,” she said. “When we went to Utah, there were tons of issues, and when we came back we were all so much closer.

You’d be rappelling down a huge wall and you had to trust the person below you, knowing that they were going to catch you.” (Emily’s embrace of Outdoor Education was honored at Prize Day, where she won both the Outdoor Education and Physical Education awards.)

And then there’s another tradition she feels should remain a part of Country School life forever, for two reasons. “The MacLane Poetry Recitation — that was something else,” she said. “It really taught me to talk in front of groups. It also taught you how to mess up, because I did mess up in one of my poems. And I discovered that you can mess up, take a breath, and start again.”

That sort of resilience — having the fortitude to come back after a failure (and in the case of the MacLane Recitation, a public failure) — is hard to teach, but Emily believes it’s a critical lesson, and she’s grateful The Country School gave it to her. “You need to learn to fail,” she said. “You learn how to fight and work and eventually you’ll come back and think, ‘I learned from that.’”

That final sentence bears repeating: You learn how to fight and work and eventually you’ll come back and think, “I learned from that.” For a school dedicated to providing an education that lasts a lifetime, what could be sweeter music to hear? Thank you for choosing to “come back” to The Country School, Emily Ballard.

It was a gift to be a fly on the wall — and we learned a lot, too — as you explored The Country School campus and found new meaning.

To Emily’s fellow alumni: Please come back and explore with us too. Who knows?

Perhaps you’ll also experience a Proustian moment, and in the process we all may discover new meaning.

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Spotlight on Faculty

McGee’s Musings and Lessons

by Bob McGee, Math Teacher, Advisor, and Outdoor Education Director Okay, I admit it. I hardly recognize the person smirking back at me in the mirror.

It has only been ten days since I last shaved. “No big deal,” I mutter to myself. I’ve gone longer — much to the chagrin of all prior and current headmasters at The Country School. Yet, what gives with all that gray stubble on my face? And while we’re at it, how is it that the top of my head could be so sunburned? Could it be that I am aging less gracefully than I ever imagined I would? “No way,” I mutter to myself; the answer has to lie elsewhere.

Editor’s Note: Bob McGee just completed his 35th year as a Country School teacher. He is nothing short of a legend at our school, having been on campus for well more than half of our school’s existence. Extrapolating, that means he has likely had a hand in educating more than half of the students who have walked through our doors. Talk about having an impact!

Finally it occurs to me. The Gandolf beard and crater-sized bald spot on the top of my head are the direct result of the accumulated stress and pressure from taking kids and adults into the woods for the last 30 years. Forget what you have heard about the peace and serenity of the outdoors. It simply is not possible when you have people like my wife ringing that darn bear bell as she approaches each and every bend in the trail. I am living proof John Muir didn’t have the faintest idea what he was talking about when he proclaimed that time spent in the woods wouldn’t deduct away from our allotted time on this earth. Dear Johnny clearly had no idea as to the psychological and physical damage that can result when you take 34 middle school students camping with no video games or flush toilets in sight.

As the head of the Outdoor Education program here at The Country School, let me share some of the low lights from my past three decades here. They are not pretty and all last names have been omitted to protect the guilty from ridicule and shame. Clearly Jana should thank me for this kindness, given what she put me through. I remember her well: blond hair, beautiful smile, and all trouble. On her first camping trip one would have thought she would have listened better.

“Rule one,” I told my collection of campers, “absolutely no candy on this trip.” Silly me, I thought they would actually listen to me. “No candy” to Jana meant bags and bags of Gobstoppers, Gummy Bears and Pixie Sticks eaten one right after the other as soon as I put the kids into their tents.

At three in the morning I heard the first cries of “Mr. McGee, I don’t feel so well.”

Unfortunately the thirty seconds it took me to get out of my sleeping bag and over to her tent were not enough time to prevent disaster from striking. An hour later I naively thought the situation was under control as everything was finally cleaned up. Dear Jana was nestled comfortably in my fluffy down bag in my tent.

No matter that this left me cold and without shelter; dawn was just a mere hour away. It couldn’t have been more than five minutes later when I heard Jana’s

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mournful pleas, “Mr. McGee, I want to go home.” A millennium later Jana finally stopped sobbing and agreed to stay quiet as long as I promised to sit outside my tent on the ground and hold her hand for the duration of the night. A reasonable request, I guess, except for the fact that the skies decided to open up at that exact moment. Torrential rain. I spent the longest three hours of my life sitting cross legged, smackdab in the middle of a puddle of mud, muttering to myself, “I love this job, I love this job.” *** After working with kids for some 35 years, I feel that I am qualified to state as fact, what is known at the most basic level to any parent of a 14 year old, simply that there is something dramatically wrong with their internal wiring mechanisms.

Their synapses just don’t snap the way they should. If you expect some sort of logical, sequential thought process, forget it. It’s not going to happen. If you can accept that whatever you say will be scrambled, dissected, fragmented and then reconstructed to be exactly what they wanted to hear in the first place, then you are ready to spend a night in the woods with them. All I can say is “God help you.”

Lord knows I tried. Every briefing, for every trip, I expounded, ad nauseam, about the need to respect nature and to avoid, at all costs, any contact with furry creatures or anything that had stingers or could bite. Ah, the arrogance of youth.

It went in one ear and out the other.

Perhaps the most memorable incident occurred on an 8th Grade trip to the Hudson Valley, a mere 50 miles from Manhattan. We had split into two groups to climb Bear Mountain. Now don’t you suppose that a moniker such as this would have caused at least one 8th Grader to reconsider the illegal sweet shop that was the lower compartment of each and every student’s backpack on the trip? At the very least, when we hoisted up the food into the trees so that wild animals couldn’t get our rations, one would have hoped that for at least one brief moment, there would have been some glimmer of recognition that that trouble was afoot.

Guess again.

At least our black, furry, midnight visitor wasn’t concerned about his caloric intake.

Yes, it was fun for the big guy to sit on Brian’s chest and play hide and seek with Hilary as she repeatedly tried to cover her head with her sleeping bag only, to have him pull the cover back down each time. But that wasn’t the real reason he was there. The candy counter was open and he had a serious case of the munchies.

Three backpacks later and several water bottles full of juice it was time for him to move on to greener pastures. Oh well, I’ve done this all before; another two hours spent calming down a campsite, followed by hours of aimless treks around the perimeter of the compound, on patrol, cold and damp, fighting the good fight, trying to keep everyone in and everything out at the same time.

Yet, I grudgingly admit, I wouldn’t trade in these memories for anything. Truth be told, I may get more out of these experiences than the kids do. For a far too brief moment of time, I get the opportunity to look at the world through another set of lenses. Life is an adventure, without constraints or preconceived notions.

I am allowed to live for the moment and granted the luxury to laugh and be spontaneous without worry. The rewards far outweigh the costs, and I am, without a doubt, blessed.

I’ve had my breath taken away, figuratively and literally, more times than I can possibly remember on these trips. I’ll never forget mustering the courage to inch my way out that ridiculously narrow trail at Angel’s Landing to reach the rock outcrop, providing a view unlike any other of the basin that is Zion.

I get tired, even now, thinking back on the countless switchback corners of the Grand View Trail in the Grand Canyon, wondering when, if ever, I was going to

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For a far too brief moment of time, I get the opportunity to look at the world through another set of lenses.

Life is an adventure, without constraints or preconceived notions.

I am allowed to live for the moment and granted the luxury to laugh and be spontaneous without worry. The rewards far outweigh the costs, and I am, without a doubt, blessed.

reach the top. Yet when I finally did and looked back far in the distance at that painted plateau where I’d been a mere four hours before, I felt a sense of pride and accomplishment that has not been equaled since.

That first step backward as I rappelled down the travertine walls at Mooney Falls will forever be etched in my psyche as will the sense of perspective I attained as I read the hundred year old inscriptions in the domed cave at Horseshoe Mesa.

To this day I can’t believe that I rappelled down the expanse of a sheer cliff in Cibeque Canyon, let go and fell, arms flailing for 30 feet, into a pool of water at the foot of a waterfall. Yet there were also the simple things — like eating wintergreen lifesavers in the dark just to see the sparks in a cave in Kent or resting on a bed of moss in an evergreen forest — that have made an indelible impact on me. But maybe it is the peace and serenity of canoeing the Delaware Gap being followed by eagles swooning and soaring overhead that I may remember the most. There is peace and serenity in the outdoors.

The lessons I’ve learned along the way are many, and in closing I’d like to share a few appreciations. I’d like to thank Leo for teaching me that I can, in fact, see a full moon inside a room without windows. I am forever grateful to Judy for pointing out that certain snakes shake their rattles when they are happy, and that it is a lot of fun to kneel down on all fours and get a real close look at their eyes. I’d like to applaud the countless 8th Graders who repeatedly proved to me that the five-person limit for my “Mondo Condo” is really only a guideline, and that I can, in fact, fit at least fifteen people in my tent at one time with only a zipper or two needing repair.

Bob McGee

I’d like to send my heartfelt thanks to the naked couple in the Virgin River Narrows for giving my 8th Grade boys something to talk about for the next seven days. I’d like to acknowledge Eric, et al, for the wonderful game of golf we played on Prince Edward Island in the middle of a hurricane. I am forever in debt to D.J. for hauling my sorry butt up the Giants Ladder so I didn’t have to bear the shame of not reaching the top. Finally, Adam, Noah, and Dan are my heroes for sinking their canoe in only four inches of water in the Delaware River Gap so I didn’t end up being the only one to go down with his ship on this trip. To all those named and unnamed you will be forever etched in my mind. Happy Trails, one and all!

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Alumni News

Alumni On Campus Thank you to all the Country School alumni who have joined us on campus in recent months to share their talents. Last year, we were pleased to welcome two alumni to serve as substitute teachers. Julia Cornell ’00 helped out in the art studio, while Anton Bergander ’96 did the same in the science classroom.

During the course of the school year last year, we had three alumni visit campus to deliver Elmore Leadership Talks (thank you, Zoe Cianciolo ’06, Ted London ’77, and Andrew Epprecht ’13). Read more about their talks in the Alumni Profiles section. We were also pleased to welcome alumni speakers Marina Sachs ’07 and Ari Mannan ’03 during our TEDxTheCountrySchool conference, which was co-organized by Ben Ballard ’08 and filmed by Nathan Cowper ’06 and Geoff Baumgaertner ’16.

Over the summer, we were delighted to welcome a team of alumni back to lead some of our Summer Fun & Learning camps. Among the courses being taught by alumni were: Writing, Marine Science, and Arts and Crafts with Nina Hastings ’14; Tiny Scientists with Maggie Keeler and Tory Rudden, both’14; Robotics and Science & Art with Sarah Johnson ’10 (along with her mom, science teacher Stephanie Johnson); Smartphone Photography, Python, Minecraft and Crafting, and 3D Printing with Chris Arrandale ’14; and Introduction to Rocket Science and Web Development with Caleb Hastings ’14. The Country School summer program was designed to help children explore their passions and discover new ones. We are so grateful to our alumni for sharing theirs!

Alumni Reunions, On Campus and Off Last November brought the traditional pre-Thanksgiving Alumni reunion, with more than 50 alumni joining us for an afternoon of reconnection and soccer on the new fields. Although most of the attendees were from recent graduating classes, Zaynah Abid ’01 and Julia Cornell ’00 stopped by. We were also happy to see former PE teacher Brian Perzanoski and Annette Sachs Cook ’77, who joined us briefly.

Fall 2017 Alumni Reunion

Some 30 alumni and current and former faculty members and friends joined us for the first-ever official Boston-area reunion. The venue was Flatbread Company in Somerville, MA, where, over pizza, beverages, and bowling, attendees had a chance to catch up and hear what’s been taking place on campus. A huge thank you to everyone who came from near and far, and a special thanks to Marina Sachs ’07, Alumni Board co-chair, for securing the venue. The setting was just perfect, and the Flatbread staff couldn’t have been more welcoming and accommodating.

Note: The Alumni Board plans to hold a reunion in New York City next. Stay tuned for details!

Country School Reunion, Boston

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Alumni and Students: Teaming up to serve the common good Hurricane Recovery Alumni continue to spearhead efforts to — in the words of our mission — “serve the common good” and/or to support students as they do so as well. Last fall, after Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated islands in the Caribbean, Robbie Cozean ’16 and his mother, Laura Miller, spearheaded a fundraising effort to support the Gifft Hill School on St. John, where former Head of School Laurie Bottiger was serving as head of school. They designed and produced T-shirts, which our community then sold, sending proceeds to Gifft Hill to support hurricane recovery..

Country School students were able to skype with Dr. Bottiger and Gifft Hill students during an All School Meeting, and later, Kami Borden, a Country School 7th Grader, visited St. John with her mother and brought more T-shirts and supplies. In May, Dr. Bottiger delivered a thank you gift and message from her community.

Kami Borden and Laurie Bottiger

Sharing Kindness and Creativity Last fall, Isabel Clements ’07 visited campus to thank 5th Graders for initiating an art supply collection for her students, who did not have an art program at their New Orleans school. Thanks to the generosity of TCS families, Isabel was able to offer art in her classes during her two years teaching English Language Arts to 4th Graders through Teach for America. Her students were also able to have a FaceTime conversation with Country School students.

In the spring, as her TFA experience was winding down, Isabel was asked if she thought her students would like to take their own art supplies home at the end of the school year. The plan was the brainchild of Olivia Han, a Country School 3rd Grader, who wanted to share kindness and art with other children. Inspired

by Eleanor Estes’ book The Hundred Dresses, Olivia and her classmates collected art supplies for more than 100 children, and Isabel’s students were the lucky recipients, heading home for the summer with individual backpacks filled with art supplies. When she returned to Connecticut last June, Isabel visited the 3rd Grade to tell them how much their generosity meant to her students.

Olivia Han and Isabel Clements

Sharing Alumni Stories In addition to the alumni news we share through our TCS Alumni Facebook group (facebook.com/groups/20256693020), the school website, and this magazine, recent months have brought a new story gathering and sharing mechanism.

Thank you to the ever-creative Marina Sachs ’07 for spearheading The Country School Story Conservation project. Last spring, Marina reached out to alumni, asking them to send their memories, photos, videos, podcasts to her. As she gathers them, she is creating a digital story bank. Stay tuned for more news on this effort or email alumni@thecountryschool.org if you would like to participate.

Making Professional Connections We recently established a TCS Alumni Group on LinkedIn, allowing alumni to share information about schools, career development, and employment options.

We look forward to connecting alumni to each other and to information about professional and educational opportunities. Check the group out at linkedin.com/ groups/8592022 Introducing the Country School Alumni Office This year we were given an official Alumni Office! Located in Robinson House near the Head of School’s office, the Alumni Office is filled with photos of and artwork by our talented alumni. We also have a collection of books written by alumni and/or faculty members. If you have a book or artwork you wish to include, please let us know! We would be thrilled to add your work to the collection.

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A Few Alumni Statistics Congratulations to the former Country School students who made the transition to high school or college this year. Here’s where you can find Country School alumni newly enrolled: High School Destinations This fall, members of the Class of 2018 enrolled at the following high schools: Avon Old Farms (2), Blue Ridge School (1), Cheshire Academy (1), Choate Rosemary Hall (2), Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School (1), Daniel Hand High School (10), Gould Academy (1), Groton School (1), Hopkins (2), Hotchkiss (1), Lauralton Hall (1), Loomis Chaffee (2), Milton Academy (1), Miss Porter’s (1), Old Saybrook High School (1), Pomfret School (1), Proctor Academy (1), Taft (1), Williams (1), Xavier (1) College Destinations Country School alumni entered the following colleges and universities as freshmen this year: American University (1), Auburn, Bates (3), Bentley (1), Boston College (1), Bowdoin (1), Brown (1), Dickinson(1), Duke (1), Eckerd (1), Georgetown (1), Northeastern (3), Penn State (2), Sacred Heart (2), University of Alabama (1), University of Connecticut (2), University of Hartford (2), Western New England (1), Worcester Polytechnic Institute (1)

Friends, we come together for a while, to share a word, a song, a smile. And to celebrate our happy time, the wonder of a life so fine.

Alumni and current students singing the Friends Song at Fall 2018 Reunion

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Class News and Notes 1959 Congratulations to Nathaniel Barrows, one of three journalists inducted into the Maine Press Association's Hall of Fame in October. Nat is in his 50th year as owner, publisher and editor of Penobscot Bay Press newspapers. Over the years, he has received numerous awards for his news stories, photography and editorials and in 2007 received the MPA's Journalist of the Year award.

1970 We were delighted to receive a copy of Steve Davis’s latest book, What They Do WIth Your Money, for our new alumni library. Steve dropped off a signed copy to add to our collection, inscribing it “To my beloved TCS — Where I learned to appreciate the beauty of words.”

(We learned about Steve’s evolution as a writer and his gratitude to his Country School English teacher, Tom West, when he gave a speech as the recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award.) Steve serves as associate director of the Harvard Law School Programs on Corporate Governance and Institutional Investors, and so we let him know that he might run into Rachel Alpert '10, a first year Harvard Law School student and the Country School classmate of Steve’s son, Gabriel (now at University of Chicago). The two did meet up, and Steve sent photographic evidence. Fun to see you two Country School owls in the hallowed halls of Harvard Law School!

Virginia. She and her husband, Chris, have two sons, both now out of college. This photo shows Sheila, Chris, and sons Bryan, far right, and Chase, second from right, at Chase's May 2017 graduation from Columbia University.

Here’s what Sheila had to say about The Country School: That one year at TCS had a tremendous impact on me. I was extremely shy when I arrived but the group of girls in the class, Lauren, Mary, and Missy, drew me out of my shell! The camping and D.C. trips really bonded us as a class, and ... studying outdoor ecosystems was very memorable. It was truly a lab school of creativity, and such a welcoming place!

1977 Huge thanks to Diana Staley and her brother, Paul ’79, owners of Reverie Kitchen in Branford.

Paul and Diana donated two trays of mouthwatering treats for Ted London's recent visit to campus. Reverie Kitchen has received some rave reviews since it opened . Check it out on Route 1 in Branford.

Congratulations to Cyndie Armenia (formerly Cynthia Ecklin) on the marriage of her son, Iggy ’04 to Lauren McGivney. It looked like a beautiful and happy occasion!

1975 We caught up with Sheila Mayfield Morris after she commented on a Country School post (thank you for that, Facebook!) and we reached out. We learned that after graduating from Hammonasset School, Sheila went on to Tufts University, where she studied Early Childhood Education. After college, she took a position as a financial analyst, later working for a children's non-profit and serving as a court-appointed child advocate. In recent years, she has served on the board of the Giving Circle of HOPE as Co-Chair of grants. The organization awards grants to local Northern Virginia nonprofits that are aligned with its mission areas. In her role, Sheila manages a group of 25 to 30 grant reviewers who interview potential grantees and present their findings during the final selection process. Many of these organizations are at the grassroots level, so the grants have a large and immediate impact upon the clients they serve. Sheila lives in Vienna,

1982 It was great to reconnect with Leslie Powell when she joined us to judge the MacLane Poetry Recitation last February. Leslie serves as Associate Director for Leadership Programs and Europe at Yale University’s Office of International Affairs.

Prior to joining OIA, she directed outreach, media relations, and alumni affairs for the Yale World Fellows Program. Earlier in her career, she was a senior political risk analyst for Eurasia Group, a global advisory and consulting firm, and a contractor for NASA, serving as a liaison to the Russian Space Agency and other former Soviet agencies. Leslie has a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University and an A.B. from Harvard in Russian and Soviet studies.

1984 Heather Lennon Beani and Amanda Bryan caught up in Florence, Italy, over the summer.

(Thanks for sharing the photo, Heather!) Heather lives in Italy and Amanda in South Carolina. We hear there may be a Connecticut Class of 1984 reunion in the works. Keep us in the loop and definitely plan to stop by campus when you’re in the neighborhood! In the meantime, Country

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School travelers are hoping to connect with Heather when they’re in Rome for the spring break trip this March!

1993 More great news about Oliver Haslegrave and his company, Home Studios. Reading Architectural Digest we saw that Brooklyn-based Home Studios has won the fourth annual American Design Honors award!

1996 We enjoyed seeing Anton Bergander on campus last year when he served as a substitute teacher for science classes. We also congratulate him on his new position as a project manager with CORE Construction Resources.

1997 Congratulations to Kathleen McNary Pillsbury on her new position as Dean of Students and Director of Residential Life at Ethel Walker School. A career educator, Kathleen previously worked at the Hotchkiss School, where she has served as director of student activities, human development instructor, dorm head, and a member of the School's senior leadership team. Prior to Hotchkiss, Kathleen was assistant high school director for student activities, dean of students, senior class academic dean, and classroom teacher at the Dalton School.

Kathleen has a Master's in Education in School Leadership with a concentration in Independent School Administration from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor's in Biological Sciences from the University of Connecticut. In addition to her administrative and classroom duties, Kathleen has been a softball and lacrosse coach. She has also helped out at The Country School, where she has shared her expertise as a member of the Board of Trustees.

1998 Huge thanks to Matt Murphy and his company, Murphy Distributors, for supplying the delicious sparkling Spanish cava that we served at the Burt Family Green dedication last September. How great was it to toast a generous alumni family with bubbly supplied by another generous alum?

1999 Congratulations to Eric Fabricant on his marriage last spring to Zhenya Sakal! Eric is a licensed clinical social worker and therapist working in Hamden. He also serves as the co-chair of our Country School Alumni Association. Thank you, Eric, for all you do for your alma mater!

An exhibition in Oslo by artist Eva Lewitt was featured in Frieze last winter. This winter, her site-specific installation Untitled (Flora) is at the Jewish Museum. On view through March 19, 2019, Untitled (Flora) and its creator were featured in vulture.com. Eva is a graduate of Bard College and has had exhibitions in London, Spoleto, Italy and at MASS MoCA, as well as in Oslo and New York.

We were devastated to hear the news that Steven Bell passed away last spring. Several of his former teachers and other Country School friends gathered for his memorial in Clinton. See In Memoriam for more.

2000 We loved welcoming Julia Cornell back to campus to serve as a substitute teacher in the art studio last year. As students looked at work by Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald and then set out to draw their own self-portraits, Julia told them about her own experiences at The Country School and her work an arts educator in Hawaii. Thank you for sharing your talents, enthusiasm, and memories with us, Julia!

2001 So fun to stumble across several stories about chef Ben Zemmel of Alforno Trattoria in Old Saybrook. Just reading them made us hungry!

Ben and his restaurant were featured in Connecticut Magazine, the Norwich Bulletin, and the New London Day, among others. When we posted one of the stories on our TCS Facebook page, it elicited all sorts of comments, including this one from Alex Long: “I remember when Ben made us all a delicious on the southwest trip.

I think there was even a shrimp dish.” Terrie Hartsoe, former science teacher and Southwest Trip leader, wrote back, “He made shrimp scampi over linguini on a campfire! I remember shopping for the ingredients at a grocery store in Page, Arizona. Best meal I had on the many SW trips I accompanied.” We’ll have to check out the menu at Alforno — wonder if they serve shrimp scampi.

Maybe a TCS Night Out in Old Saybrook?

2002 Antone Konst was one of 16 artists selected for the Socrates Sculpture Park's Emerging Artist Fellowship. His sculpture, Free Peddler, will be on display as part of The Socrates Annual 2018 exhibition through mid-March. Conceived for the landscape and produced on-site, the pieces respond to the park’s unique history, landscape, and community. Antone's Free Peddler is described as "a reimagination of the age-old trope of the transient salesperson" and is a "forum for the exchange of objects. With a shelf for a backpack, stocked by the artist with everyday necessities and bric-a-brac, the figure becomes a reflection of the surplus of tradable goods in contemporary society." Antone received his BFA from the California Institute of the Arts and MFA from Yale School of Art in 2014. Socrates Sculpture Park is located at 32-01 Vernon Blvd, Long Island City. (Thanks for notifying us about this exhibition, David Acheson!)

2004 We enjoyed stumbling across a photo of Rebecca Joslow MacGregor, Will Cooley, and Zef Konst together on Facebook. As Becca wrote in her post, "Once an owl, always an owl." The three had apparently run into each other when they were all in Connecticut and decided to get together for dinner. Becca is working in New York as a designer, Will is doing carpentry work in Connecticut, and Zef has his Chemistry PhD and is working as a chemist in California.

Huge thanks to Joel Glassman for reaching out last spring when he saw that we would be holding our annual auction and gala at Centerbrook Architects. Joel told us he wanted to show his appreciation to TCS by giving back, and he donated two tickets to Anastasia on Broadway, where he was working as company manager. As great as it was to receive the tickets, it was equally great to see Joel reaching his goals.

We remember him on stage in various Country School musicals and then followed him at Suffield Academy, where he won the theater award. Joel received his BA in International Relations from St. Andrews in Scotland and then returned to the world of theatre upon graduation, running play-reading workshops before enrolling in Columbia University’s MFA program and taking the position at Anastasia.

Congratulations to Tom McGee and Lizzie Anas on their wedding this fall. We hear it was a spectacular occasion in the mountains of Vermont. We had a great time meeting Lizzie and catching up with Tom, who is program manager at the Mass Mentoring Partnership, during last winter’s Boston alumni reunion. The Mass Mentoring Partnership works with mentoring programs and youth development organizations to assess programmatic needs and organizational capacity to provide customized strategies that strengthen youth, families, and communities.

2005 Congratulations to Harrison Tross and An Pho! They were married in late September at Miromar Lakes in Florida with families in attendance. We were pleased to see Harrison at our Boston reunion last spring. He is working as a software engineer at Amazon in Boston, having previously worked at Kayak. Harrison earned his undergraduate degree in Applied Math from Brown and Economics from Brown and his PostBac from Tufts in Computer Science from Tufts, where he focused on Discrete Math, Theory of Computation, Computer Architecture and Assembly Language, Algorithms, and Statistical Pattern Recognition.

Wedding bells are also in the air for Mary McGee and her fiance, J. R. Howe. Although not an alumnus, J. R. is a beloved member of the TCS family too, having served as a 5th Grade teacher and Middle School history teacher on campus for three years. He is now teaching in New York City, where Mary is an analyst at Pramana Collective.

Previously, Mary worked at The Atlantic. She

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received her BA from Muhlenberg College in Media and Communication and History.

Garrett Wilkes and Graeme Clements caught up at the Country School auction and gala at Centerbrook Architects this spring. After working as a product consultant for the mattress startup, Casper, in New York City, Garrett moved back to Connecticut to join his parents at their company, the Wilkes Group, where he is focusing on business development. Garrett received his BA in Studio Art and Film and Media Studies from Colgate University, where he was musical director for the Colgate Resolutions a capella group.

Graeme is working in private equity in northern California for the Kingfish Group. He received his BA in International Relations from Stanford and his Master’s in African Studies from Oxford.

2006 After graduating from American University’s Washington College of Law, Nate Roy has taken a job with Fragomen Worldwide, a corporate immigration law firm. We profiled Nate in our 2017 issue of Country Connections, where he talked about his interest in ultimately becoming an immigration judge so he could balance social justice and immigration law. “At the end of the day, if I can grant someone asylum who really needs it, there will be nothing better than seeing the smile on that face,” he told us at the time. “I can do that every day. I can change lives.” Nate received his BA, cum laude, from Connecticut College, where he was a Government major and focused on Latin America.

We recently saw a video posted by the Fletcher School for International Diplomacy at Tufts. It features Carter Banker interviewing her Fletcher Professor Farah Pandith about the ways in which a degree in diplomacy can equip professionals for success in an ever-changing world. Carter recently received her Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from Fletcher, where she focused on Islamic Civilization. (Mrs. Kelly, remember how Carter visited you after her family’s trip to Egypt to share a book and other goodies with her 5th Grade teacher, the person who introduced her to ancient Egypt?) Carter, now living and working in Indonesia, received her undergraduate degree in History from Johns Hopkins.

A graduate of Skidmore College, where he received his BS in Theater, Nathan Cowper is an independent filmmaker in the Boston area. Two summers ago he filmed part of a project on The

Country School campus, and last winter he joined us to film TEDxTheCountrySchool. Later, he edited hours and hours of footage into individual talks so they could be loaded to youtube by TED. Thank you, Nathan, for sharing your talents with us!

To see the videos, go to thecountryschool.org/ signature-programs/public-speaking/tedx.

2007 Marina Sachs, an artist and educator committed to empowering diverse young folks through art-making, was one of the speakers at TEDxTheCountrySchool last spring. The organizer of our first TEDx conference in 2016, Marina spoke about her experience working with the youth living on reservations in La Plant, S.D., sharing stories about building meaningful relationships with Lakota girls and the importance of helping them find their voice. After teaching in Boston schools last year, she is now in graduate school studying for her Masters of Arts in Art Education.

Marina is also committed to helping Country School alumni share their voices; in that vein, last year she introduced the Country School Story Conservation Project. She also serves as the cochair of The Country School Alumni Association.

Thank you for all you do for TCS, Marina!

Hannah Chappell is an English teacher at the Waynflete School in Portland, Maine. Hannah received her BA from Hamilton College and her MA from University College London.

Like Hannah and Marina, Isabel Clements is also a teacher. After completing a two-year Teach for America assignment in New Orleans, she moved to St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands to teach Humanities at the Gifft Hill School (where Laurie Bottiger became Head of School after leaving The Country School).

2008 Teachers enjoyed welcoming Ben Ballard to the “team” this past winter, when he joined us to help plan and carry out our second-ever TEDx conference. Ben, who had helped run the TEDx conference at Connecticut College when he was a student there, shared his expertise, allowing us to produce another unforgettable day filled with inspiring speakers talking about everything from refugee resettlement to getting outside your comfort zone. When TEDx was finished, Ben began working full-time for Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS), in New Haven, assisting with the expansion of IRIS’s digital platforms and management and also helping with case management for recently settled refugees. This fall, he began studying for his Masters in Geopolitics and Tech Policy at the Fletcher School at Tufts University.

2009 Peter Burdge was one of the alumni we profiled in our 2017 issue of Country Connections. At the time, he had just been selected as a member of Phi Beta Kappa at Connecticut College, where he was majoring in History and Education and minoring in German. He told us he planned to

head to Germany for a year after graduation, having been awarded a Fulbright to teach English to Middle School students. But after being offered a job teaching history at Kingswood-Oxford School, Peter changed tack. He’s wanted to be a history teacher ever since his 6th Grade history classes with Sarah Barber, and the K-O offer just felt right. Peter is back at K-O this year, again teaching history and coaching. We think the world has found another great history teacher!

We also profiled Kate McNally in our last issue of Country Connections. At the time, she had just published a book about her experiences working with the fishing community on Grand Manan Island in Canada’s Bay of Fundy and was writing her dissertation as a senior Anthropology major at Bates College. Just before we went to press, we learned that she would also be graduating Phi Beta Kappa and that she, too, been awarded a Fulbright, in her case to support a fisheries research project in Newfoundland. Now Kate has returned to Connecticut, this time to New Haven, where she is pursuing her PhD in Anthropology at Yale and studying the cultural effects of environmental change in North Atlantic fishing communities.

From "the Greatest Little School in the Universe" to "the Greatest Little School in Hanoi." The latter was the title of a blog by Jordan Ginsberg (the former, of course, the name former Head of School Steve Danenberg gave to The Country School).

After graduating from UConn in 2017, Jordan spent a year in Vietnam, traveling and teaching young children. We enjoyed following her adventures on her blog, "Free and Unorganized Traveler." Here’s how she describes her blog in the About section: “So while all of my other friends all did that weird adult thing and got jobs and stuff after the dreaded G-word, I decided to pack up and move to the other side of the world to teach kiddos English. Follow my blog as I recount my first times experiencing culture shock, attempt (and fail) to learn some Vietnamese, and hang out with some cute nuggets over on this side of the globe! I'll do my best not to bore you.” Jordan, you did anything but bore us (and, by the way, we can tell you’re a pretty awesome teacher!).

Allie Leidt is pursuing her MA in Behavioral Analysis at USC. She received her MA in Psychology from Ole Miss, graduating Summa Cum Laude, Phi Kappa, ADPi, and Honors College.

2010 Gabby Salkin graduated Magna Cum Laude from Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications this past spring. A multimedia journalist, she has a passion for voicing the stories of those who cannot voice them themselves. With a minor in the iSchool, Gabby also has a passion for technology. She served as lead producer for TheNewshouse.com, where she and others rebooted the website, and also worked as communications assistant for Syracuse University's Information Technology Services,

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producing content on technology updates around campus. Her articles have appeared in Syracuse University Magazine and on news.syr.edu.

With a 3.8 GPA, Gabby maintained Dean’s List throughout her years at Syracuse. She plans to attend law school.

Rachel Alpert graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wesleyan University in May with a degree in Social Studies and started at Harvard Law School this fall. At Wesleyan, she was the recipient of the David Morgan Prize, awarded annually to seniors majoring in the College of Social Studies and/or the Department of History who best demonstrate the integrity and commitment to community that characterized David Morgan's 37 years of service to Wesleyan. She also received the Scott Prize in Hebrew, which recognizes excellence in modern languages. A 2014 graduate of Choate Rosemary Hall, where she captained the debate team and served as vice president for the Model United Nations team, Rachel served as the training director for Wesleyan’s debate team. This summer she coached debaters at the Westfield Academy of Debate Camp in West Hartford, where one of her campers was Mohamed Hamou. A local Middle Schooler, Mohamed delivered an unforgettable talk about arriving in Connecticut as a Syrian refugee during our TEDxTheCountrySchool conference last spring.

Ryan Epprecht, in his final year at Tufts University, has been working with his brother, Andrew ’13, on two ventures: oursock.com (which brought us our Country School socks - see the story about Andrew in our Alumni Profiles section) and Phase 5 Analytics, a new company that focuses on reputation management, search engine optimization, and pay-per-click marketing. Ryan was hugely helpful in getting our Country School socks ordered and available for our families, and we are very grateful for his support!

A small Country School contingent headed to South Windsor in early November to watch Rosie Borden and SnugHouse perform a benefit concert for the Wood Memorial Library and Museum. Also on stage that night was TCS music teacher Vicki Wepler with her band, Goodnight Blue Moon. It was a treat to see Rosie and Vicki in action and also to run into some of their fans, including Bob and Margaret Borden, Nicole and Gary Burnett, and Liz Lightfoot and Nick Clements. Watch for local appearances of SnugHouse. The band is based in Portland, Maine, but they’re on the road more and more these days.

Check them out at https://snughouse.band.

Rachel Muskin graduated cum laude from St. Lawrence University this May with a Bachelors of Science degree in Psychology. A four-year member of the women’s soccer team, she received Liberty League All-Academic Honors her sophomore, junior, and senior years. She was also selected for the international psychology honorary society, Psi Chi. A senior at the University of Texas majoring in International Relations, Joab Hunt worked on the election campaign of M.J. Hegar, a Democrat running for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Joab’s Country School classmate, Sarah Johnson, is also in Austin, Texas, studying for her Masters of Architecture degree with a certificate in Historic Preservation. Sarah, who graduated from Lafayette University last spring, spent her summer teaching Robotics, Science, and Art with her mom, science/STEAM teacher Stephanie Johnson, through the Country School Summer Fun & Learning program.

Congratulations to Max Helburn (Hamden Hall '14 and Skidmore '18) on graduating cum laude from Skidmore and winning the prestigious Theater Prize.

2011 Alexandra Wagner is at Columbia University’s School of Engineering. Having completed three years at St. Lawrence studying Physics and Math, she will now spend two years at Columbia. At the end of five years, she will graduate with a B.A. in the liberal arts school and a B.S. in engineering.

Congratulations to Kelsey Hartsoe on being named ECAC Defensive Player of the month for the women’s soccer team at Union College. Kelsey, a goalie on the team majoring in Political Science and English, also plays softball at Union.

Emily Yue is a junior at Harvard, where she is playing ice hockey and studying film and engineering.

A junior at Union College, Sam Worcester spent part of last summer at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business participating in their Business Bridge Program, an immersive program designed to give liberal arts students the business knowledge, skills, and experience they will need to leverage their education in the business world and beyond.

2012 In her first season playing collegiate ice hockey for Middlebury College, Madie Leidt was named NESCAC Rookie of the Year. Madie ranked third among Middlebury’s leading scorers with 16 points on 10 goals and six assists for her freshman season. She also netted seven power-play goals to lead the league in conference games. Madie is majoring in Economics and Math.

Maria Boyle is a junior at Harvard, where she is majoring in Archaeology and competes on the women’s lightweight rowing team. She has been in the top varsity boat since the second half of

freshman year, and this year she is a co-captain of the team alongside a senior coxswain. Maria took a break from rowing this summer to participate in an archaeological dig in Turkey, joining the Harvard Cornell Archaeological Expedition of Sardis. Located on what was a major route through western Anatolia connecting the Aegean Sea and inland Turkey, Sardis was the capital of the Lydian empire in the 7th and 6th centuries BC. Maria graduated in 2016 from Lyme-Old Lyme High School, where she was class valedictorian.

Katelin Gochberg is a junior at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs majoring in International Relations with a concentration in Global Public Health with minors in Sustainability and Anthropology. This summer, she had an internship at the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington, D.C. Patrick O'Leary, a pitcher and outfielder on the Kenyon College baseball team, had an internship this summer with the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod League.

Sloane Sweitzer is a Dean’s List student at Bryant University, where she is majoring in Accounting and is a member of the women’s varsity lacrosse team. Sloane, who was named to the NEC Commissioner’s Honor Roll and NEC Academic Honor Roll both her freshman and sophomore years, graduated from Lyme-Old Lyme High School, where she was the first girl in school history to be named an All-American, earning the honors in lacrosse. She was also a standout, four-year letter winner in soccer and basketball.

Her other accolades upon her high school graduation include being named named the Shoreline Scholar Athlete of the Year and Player of the Year in 2016, recipient of the Advanced Accounting Award, Chamber of Commerce Junior Entrepreneurial Activity Scholarship, Chamber of Commerce Senior Business Leadership Scholarship, British Literature Award, NASSP American Citizenship Award, The Connecticut Association of Schools Award, and the United States Marine Corps Distinguished Athlete Award.

We were delighted to hear from Kathleen Neustaetter last summer when she was working for the Connecticut Open in New Haven. Kathleen reached out to offer members of The Country School community some special opportunities to attend and/or volunteer at the popular professional tennis tournament. As it turned out, several families did end up attending the tournament, with many young athletes enjoying a chance to play on the courts alongside top professionals. Huge thanks to Kathleen, a junior at Wofford College, for letting us know about these opportunities.

A junior at Colgate University, Charlie Zane participated in the Business Bridge Program at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business last summer.

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2013 Tara Maloney enjoyed her freshman year at Georgetown University. One of the students we profiled in the 2017 issue of Country Connections, Tara continues to pursue her interest in international relations and the Middle East. This summer, she was an intern at Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS) in New Haven alongside Ben Ballard ’08. Also volunteering at the refugee agency this summer were Liz Lightfoot ’77, P ’05, ’07 ’08, ’12 and Deborah Gillette Youngblood P ’04, ’07.

2014 Reed Spitzer graduated as class Salutatorian from Lyme-Old Lyme High School. In the speech he delivered at graduation, he shared words of advice for his fellow graduates: “When things do not go your way, just remember the saying, ‘When one door closes, another one opens.’

Find that new door. I know it can be hard, but you must allow yourself to do it because that is how you fulfill your dreams.” A talented mathematician, Reed was a member of the LymeOld Lyme Math League team that took first place in small division schools at the Middlesex County Math League and for which he received an award and cash prize as the highest-scoring senior. Last fall, he helped Lyme-Old Lyme win silver at the Yale Physics Olympiad, and he was a member of the Techno-Ticks, the award-winning Lyme-Old Lyme Robotics Team. He now attends Tufts.

Isabel Dodds received the 2018 Student Growth Award during Brewster Academy’s graduation.

“Self admittedly shy, this young lady has become a participative and collaborative member of the class of ’18,” the presenter said in announcing the award. “She stands up for what is right and has been a voice of support and encouragement of her classmates. As she progressed to graduation she took full control of her education and developed a collaborative relationship with her teachers, resulting in one of the greatest leaps of academic growth in her class. Isabel Dodds, it is with great honor the faculty have awarded you the 2018 Student Growth Award.” Isabel, an artist and athlete at Brewster who sang, acted, and played soccer, softball, and cross-country, is attending the University of Hartford.

Will Levis was touted as one of the top athletes in the state when he was playing for Xavier last year. Now the quarterback superstar is at Penn State on a football scholarship. In addition to carrying a 4.0 average (and being a member of the National Honor Society and the recipient of the Brother Celestine Academic Award) at Xavier, Will was a three-year letter winner in football, serving as team captain. He earned second-team Walter Camp All-Connecticut honors in 2017 and was selected to the Connecticut High School Coaches Association Top 25 list as a senior.

Anna Catlett, a recent graduate of Lyme Old Lyme High School, is now studying at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. This summer she worked as a camp counselor, and two of her campers were Country School students (and younger

siblings of her former Country School classmate, Jason Dattilo). Jason is now a freshman at Eckerd College in Florida.

After graduating from Choate Rosemary Hall, Nina Hastings taught arts, creative writing, and environmental and marine science camps at The Country School’s Summer Fun & Learning program. Nina was the recipient of the Choate Rosemary Hall Award for excellence in Spanish and received Honorable Mention for the Paul Juliff Prize for outstanding contributions to both the arts and sciences as well as the Choate Rosemary Hall Award for outstanding accomplishment and genuine interest in biology and environmental science. Nina, who graduated Cum Laude, is attending Brown University.

Caleb Hastings joined his sister, Nina, at Summer Fun & Learning, teaching rocket science and web development camps. Also a recent Choate graduate, Caleb was a recipient of the Hicks Lawrence Prize for overall excellence in music and received Honorable Mention for the Christopher L. Rives ’76 Prize for excellence in Technical Theater. He plans to study applied math at Northeastern University, where he will be joined by two Country School (and Choate Rosemary Hall) classmates, Jack Terreri Fuchs and Joey Waters.

Also teaching at Summer Fun & Learning were Maggie Keeler, now a freshman at Georgetown, and Tory Rudden, now a freshman at Alabama, who joined forces to teach Tiny Scientists camp. Chris Arrandale, a freshman at Western New England College, taught Smartphone Photography, Python, Minecraft and Crafting, and 3D Printing. Before heading off to college, Chris also helped coach the TCS robotics teams.

Liam Ber graduated from Westbrook High School with various accolades, including a Rotary Scholar Award for Technology, an award from Westbrook High School for highest achievement in Technology, and a scholarship related to his college essay. Liam now attends the University of Hartford, where he plans to study architecture.

As a senior at Daniel Hand, Allie Mascia signed her National Letter of Intent to swim for Division I Sacred Heart University in Fairfield. Allie served as senior co-captain for the Tigers, finishing third in the 100 freestyle at the SCC Championship, fourth for the 50 freestyle in the Class L State Championship, and sixth in the 100 freestyle at the Class L State Championship.

Congratulations to Rob Gillis, who won the overall u19 Giant Slaloms at the Rocky/Central Junior Championships at Lutsen in Minnesota last winter. He was also second at Sugarloaf Eastern Cup Giant Slalom.

2015 Kudos to Charlie Sullivan, Tommy La Torre, Jason Wallack ’17 and their teammates on the Daniel Hand varsity boys’ soccer team on winning the Class L State Championship.

Congratulations to Lauren Wei, a senior at MIlton Academy, on the launching of Piece of Mind, a publication aimed at paving the way for awareness of and discussion around mental health. Lauren served as co-founder and editor for the magazine, which she and her colleagues hope will lead “every member of the community to think more about mental health and to take a moment to consider how mental health affects both them and those around them.” Learn more at pieceofmindmilton.org.

Congratulations to Joseph Coyne, co-captain of Choate Rosemary Hall's sailing team, on winning the state championships last spring. In a fleet of 18 schools competing at the US Coast Guard Academy in New London, Choate posted a combined score of 72 to secure the win with a 15 point advantage over second place finisher Brunswick last spring. An avid writer and sports fan, Joseph is also a writer for the Choate News and serves as news editor this year.

2016 Bravo, Dan Gillis! Dan was the recipient of the Vermont Alpine Racing Association’s Ginny Hunt Award for sportsmanship, dedication, commitment, and leadership. The award is presented to "one girl and one boy from a college or club program at the U21-U16 level who exhibits sportsmanship, dedication and commitment to the sport of ski racing at all levels, who inspires younger athletes by being a strong role model who displays leadership both on and off the hill, and who shows interest in the development and future of the sport of ski racing." Dan, a student at Burke Mountain Academy, is a top ski racer, having placed 7th last year out of 55 boys who qualified for the U16 Ski and Snowboard National Championships at Mission Ridge in Washington state.

As The Country School prepared to launch its second-ever TEDx conference on campus last spring, it was fun to read about Gordie Croce, one of the stalwart organizers of our inaugural 2016 conference. As a freshman at Pomfret School, Gordie proposed bringing TEDx to his new school. After his proposal was accepted, he and a pal, Aren, organized and launched “This is Progress,” Pomfret’s TEDx conference. From an article on Pomfret’s website: "’Organizing a high profile event for a real audience is an authentic test of both knowledge and skills,’ says [Chief Academic Officer Jamie] Baker, who served as a consultant and sounding board. ‘The event is a huge project that Gordie, Aren, and their team learned to produce by doing it.’" The article ends this way: “On April 21, six months after they first pitched the idea, Gordie and Aren stepped into the spotlight. Soon, a parade of seven spectacular TEDx speakers would take to the Hard Auditorium stage. But before they did, Gordie and Aren stood alone — living examples of the new active learning happening at Pomfret. Their opening remarks sum it up well: ‘Welcome to TEDx, everybody... This is progress.’"

Congratulations, Gordie. We are all proud of you!

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On the subject of TEDx, huge thanks to Geoff Baumgaertner for joining us to help film our second-ever TEDx conference last March. We were so grateful to Geoff for returning to campus to share what he learned as a cameraman the first time around, when he was an 8th Grader.

Geoff is now a junior at Xavier.

After being sidelined for most of the season due to an injury, Robbie Cozean ran his first cross country race for Xavier High School in late October. Robbie came in second, helping secure the Class L Title for Xavier. Talk about overcoming adversity! And on that very subject, huge thanks to Robbie and his mom, Country School trustee Laura Miller Cozean, for helping the Gifft Hill School and the island of St. John recover from two devastating back-to-back hurricanes last fall.

Thanks to the T shirts the Cozeans designed and The Country School then sold, some $2,000 was sent to help Gifft Hill with the post-hurricane effort. Many thanks to our shirt models, Constance and Helen Sharp ’20.

2017 The Hartford Courant’s sports staff awarded the title of Connecticut Varsity Athlete of the Week to Jason Wallack this fall. A sophomore on the Daniel Hand boys’ varsity soccer team, Jason was nominated after logging one goal and three assists in a win over North Haven and two goals in a 3-0 win over Notre Dame-West Haven.

He also had a goal and an assist in a win over Shelton.

2018 Will de Chabert and Claire Langille, along with Elliott Booth ’20, all members of Madison Racquet and Swim Club’s 14U Advanced Junior tennis team, were among the athletes who attended Nationals at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida, this fall. In order to qualify for the tournament, they had to beat out 6,700 other teams from across the country. The Madison team, known as the MADRackets, saw great success, playing against teams from New York, Texas, Mississippi, Minnesota, and Washington State and placing 13th out of 32 teams.

Cat Arrandale was a member of this fall’s Daniel Hand girls’ swim team, which brought home its first-ever state championship. Go, Cat!

Former Faculty News

In Memoriam

Jim Masker Over the years, we have had several alumni ask us about former History teacher Jim Masker, who taught at The Country School in the mid-to-late 1970s. We had learned from Steve Davenport, Headmaster from 1973-77, that Jim had moved to California to teach at Cate School, a boarding school in Carpinteria. After two more recent inquiries recently, we decided to do some digging and we were pleased to come across an article from Cate’s Summer 2016 Bulletin, announcing Jim’s departure after 27 years at the school. It is clear Jim was a legend at Cate, just as he was for those of us who knew him at TCS in the 70s.

In addition to teaching history and coaching basketball, Jim was responsible for initiating Cate’s global studies program, Model UN, Cate in China, and Cate Summer Institutes.

Steven Bell ’99 The Country School community was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Steven Bell in early May. Several members of The Country School community joined his family and friends for a memorial service in Clinton on May 7.

“In truth, Jim is the personification of the best teaching virtues,” the tribute in the Cate Bulletin said. “He always puts students first, never gives in to inertia, and is constantly refining and augmenting his skills. Cate has been distinguished for nearly three decades by his remarkable commitment. And he leaves us not to hang up his spurs, but to sharpen them further in his adopted home state of Montana. There amidst the never-ending mountains and the endless sky, he will fit right in: a larger-than-life fellow looking to push the possibilities of education even further.” Doesn’t that sound like the Jim we knew?

Steve Davenport Congratulations to former Headmaster Steve Davenport on the launch of the revised version of his wonderful novel, Saving Miss Oliver’s. The story of a school and a leadership transition, it’s published by WestWindsPress, an imprint of Graphic Arts Books. Get it via your favorite book store or order it online. OR stop by the Alumni Office in Robinson House — we have a copy!

Classmates and teachers reached out to share memories of “Stevie” from his Country School days. From Head of School John Fixx, who was Stevie’s Middle School English teacher in the late 90s: “Stevie was the kind of student who comes along once in a teaching career. … We all saw what a remarkable, inquisitive, kind young man he was.” From David Bennett, his math teacher: “Steven Bell stories live on and have made it into my ‘memoirs.’ One of the many interesting kids to cross my path.” From Eric Fabricant ’99, Stevie’s friend and classmate: “I grew up with Steven since the age of 9 years old…. We knew each other through Temple Beth Tikvah in Madison, then on through Little League, and of course, TCS. Steven was a contagious, thought-provoking and driven young person. His love for insects, animals (our class pet, “Attila the Chinchilla”), and the outdoors was obvious. I’ll remember his laugh, his smile and his crazy blond hair, as I would chase after him around the fields at TCS during recess. Steven was such a playful guy and I will always have a huge place in my heart for my boy, Steven.”

Island, Deborah worked in newspapers and then corporate communications before being hired as a senior writer at Connecticut College. In 2007, she became the college’s director public relations, a role she held for nearly 12 years.

We extend our sympathies to the entire MacDonnell and Purvis families and remember Deborah fondly.

Commemorating Alumni on Campus Two new memorial gardens were installed in memory of alumni. One, by the outdoor Garden Classroom, was planted in honor of Michelle Noble ’03, who passed away in late 2013. Michelle loved flowers and had her own garden. Many of her favorite varietals are in the new garden on campus, and some even grew from clippings that came from Michelle’s personal garden — thank you to Michelle’s parents, Laurie and Mark, for collecting specimens and overseeing the garden design. Located near the Blatchford Learning Center, Michelle’s flowers now welcome everyone who arrives on campus via the new circle.

A second garden was planted near the 5th Grade classroom in memory of Kira Miers ’99, who passed away in October 2016. The yellow and blue flowers reflect both Country School colors and Kira’s bright spirit and boundless energy.

Fittingly, the garden looks out over the athletic fields, where children run and play every day during recess.

Steven was predeceased by his mother, Ellen, and father, Robert, both of whom were strong Country School supporters. Our deepest condolences to Jeffrey, Steven’s brother.

Thomas Bunnell ’81 Condolences to the Bunnell family on the passing of Thomas Wiepert Bunnell. Born November 23, 1967, in Ventura, California, Tom died on April 11, 2018 at home in New Haven. A political consultant and strategist, he was educated at Our Lady of Mercy, The Country School, Kent School, and American University. Predeceased by his mother, Deborah Wiepert Bunnell, Tom is survived by his father, Willard Bunnell, brother, Doug, and sister-in-law, Becky, and their children, Chris and Zoe, and grandchild, Sloane, brother, Bruce, and sister-in-law, Mari Kim, and their children, Megan and Warren, and brother, Andy, and sister-in-law, Karin Lease.

Deborah Purvis MacDonnell ’78 Just before we went to press we learned of the passing of Deborah Purvis MacDonnell, who attended The Country School through 6th Grade.

Deborah passed way on Sunday, November 4 “in the arms of the family she loved so much and wasn’t quite ready to leave behind,” according to an obituary in the New London Day. She leaves behind her husband, Bob, two children, Madeleine and Kyle, father, Richard, and brother Daniel (TCS ‘76), along with other extended family members. A graduate of Daniel Hand High School and the University of Rhode

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An Alberta Spruce was planted near the Farmhouse and the Burt Family Green in memory of Rob Chrostowski ’99, who passed away only days after Kira. The tree, located on the hill near the Farmhouse and the Burt Family Green and overlooking the athletic fields, is surrounded by circular wooden benches, offering a favorite gathering spot for children to sit and talk or for an outdoor class to be held on a sunny afternoon.

Like Rob himself, who is remembered by everyone who knew him as a uniquely kind and warm person, the benches and tree are a center of gravity on campus, an inviting place where everyone is welcome.

Dedicating the Dooman Dugout A crew of alumni, students, current and former faculty members, current and past parents, and friends joined us on the new baseball field last spring as we dedicated one of the dugouts in memory of Michael Dooman. Mr. Dooman, parent of Colin ’09 and Jack ’16, served as Middle School Director, Latin teacher, and baseball coach at The Country School before going on to serve as Head of School at Mooreland Hill, his alma mater. He was an enormous inspiration to colleagues, students, and parents, at both schools before he passed away after a courageous battle with cancer. Several of his former colleagues and players spoke at the dedication ceremony, recalling how Mike inspired them, on the field, in the classroom, and in life..

As Jason Wainio, Latin teacher and baseball coach, said, “I count myself so fortunate to have worked under and learned from Mike as a young Latin teacher and coach.... Connecting this to Latin, I was thinking about the word ‘legacy,’ which comes from the word lego, legere: to read.

Another derivative of the word is legend, and it’s described as something worthy of being read.

In a time before audio and video recordings,

the written word was one of the only ways to guarantee a person’s place in history.... With this dedication of the dugout ... we will be able to continue to celebrate Mike’s commitment to the wellbeing of students and his love of baseball.”

Bob Borden, who also taught and coached alongside Mike, both at TCS and later at Mooreland, talked about their mutual love for baseball and the New York Yankees and some of the memorable games he and Mike coached together. “I know for those of you who were here during Mike’s tenure that he left a lasting legacy, which will be remembered always by the dugout dedicated in his honor,” Mr. Borden said.

wanted to play baseball. She was a huge fan of the Red Sox and loved writing about her favorite team and her favorite sport. Mr. Dooman and Mr. Wallack welcomed her to the team, and the other players, all boys, were just as welcoming. (These days, Lucy writes about baseball and is a producer for WEEI sports radio in Boston, where her years as a player must come in handy.) Last season, another young woman, 5th Grader Michaela Troy, elected to follow in Lucy’s footsteps. With the full support of her coaches and male teammates, she was an active and productive member of the TCS baseball team.

Thank you, Mike Dooman, for your countless and lasting contributions to our community!

Athletic Director Chris Wallack referred to another legacy from Mr. Dooman — those snazzy pinstripe uniforms our baseball players wear to this day. At the time, Mr. Wallack said the school had never spent so much on a team uniform. But 12 years after Mr. Dooman left for Mooreland, they still look sharp.

A final legacy has to do with the makeup of the baseball team itself. Back in Mr. Dooman’s day, Lucy Burdge, a member of the class of 2006,

Honoring Tony Capaccio The first-ever Tony Capaccio Memorial Student-Faculty Basketball game came to a fitting conclusion last March when the Coach Tony team (students) came from behind to tie the Uncle Tony team (faculty).

As one member of the Uncle Tony team said, “What a finish! Tony, who never would have been able to take sides (loyalty to colleagues vs. love for the kids?!), must have had a hand in the 39-39 finish!” We miss you, Tony, and look forward to honoring you each year on the last Friday before March break. For news about the Tony Capaccio memorial gathering on campus, see page 10.

Tony Capaccio Memorial Basketball Game

Tony and adoring fans

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The Country School is Everywhere

by Nicole Cretella Burke, P ’21, ’23, ’28, Development Director With my first year as your Director of Development under my belt, I reflect with great pride on the transformative successes we’ve shared. Thank you for such a warm welcome!

On campus, 2017-2018 was a remarkable year in so many ways: Nearly three quarters of a million dollars in gifts were contributed to The Country School for the Annual Fund, Endowment, and Capital Campaign between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018.

The Spring Gala and Auction, held at Centerbrook Architects, generated more than $90,000 for the Annual Fund and the David and Marcia MacLane Endowment for Scholarship.

Through the generosity of 111 donors this summer, the Safety Enhancement Project neared completion with the paving of our parking lot and driveways and the completion of our highly sought after sidewalks and lighting, improving the safety and aesthetics of the campus for our students, teachers, staff, and visitors.

Enrollment soared to 215 students from PreSchool to Grade 8, a record-breaking number in recent years.

While such evidence of transformation is tangible to all who step foot on our grounds, The Country School helped to transform my own family as well, embracing three of my children as new students. Last week, in the buzz of early morning travels to campus, two of my children compared recent field trip notes.

My 4th Grader noted that three field trips in the first six weeks of school was “unheard of,” while her 6th Grade brother playfully retorted how he was the lucky one, “geocaching and camping overnight.” Such is a common conversation among my children and perhaps, for the alumni reading this letter, familiarly reminiscent of your own travels to TCS with your siblings. Uncommon, perhaps, was their subsequent reflection…

“We don’t really have field trips here. We just have different locations to go for learning.”

“Right. It’s like our school is everywhere. We can learn everywhere.”

Our school is everywhere. My daughter is right. For all of you who have attended our school, TCS is with you, now, today, I am certain. The Country School is everywhere because it lives within our learners for a lifetime. As I reflect upon my first year at The Country School, I quickly assimilate the feelings of these youngsters; my first year learning was everywhere (and, it was fun!).

Last year I asked you to Come Together, and you did. Thank you to everyone who supported The Country School in my first year. Thank you for showing me the hearts of this community who value learning opportunities “everywhere.”

Thank you to all of you for supporting The Country School through your generous donations of time, talent, and treasure. We would not be where we are today without your support.

top to bottom: Nicole, Lucy in a fort, Felix in his TCS tie, Cooper in the Greek Play

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