Hill Ties: Spring 2015, Vol. 95 | No. 1

HillTies

The Magazine of The Hill School – Spring 2015

Inside the mind . . . outside the box

Solving problems creatively and collaboratively

– Page 18

Meet the Trustees – Page 22

Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 1

Hill

Doer

Diane and David Charlton P ’16 ’17 HOME: Pottstown, PA FAMILY/ HILL TIES: Children: Sydney ’16, Logan ’17, and Trent EDUCATION: Diane, Messiah College; Dave, Babson College CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Dave was executive vice president of USLI (A Berkshire Hathaway Company), from 1995-2015. Currently, he is president of Micro Commercial Risk Services, ACE Insurance Group, and serves on the board of the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association (PHBA). Diane serves on the advisory board of the Family Lives on Foundation, which supports the lifelong emotional well-being of children whose mother or father has died.

SPECIAL INTERESTS: Members at Stonewall Golf Club; Vintage Thoroughbred Farm, their family-owned horse breeding and racing business.

FONDEST HILL MEMORIES SO FAR: “We remember anxiously awaiting the admission decision for Sydney three years ago -- our excitement and anticipation of what was in front of us -- and our delight when Logan was also given the same opportunity.

As sports enthusiasts, we also had an exciting third form year, when Sydney and the girls’ soccer team had an outstanding season and won the state tournament. Living close to Hill allows us to visit often and support many of The Hill School teams, which we thoroughly enjoy.”

ON THE HILL EXPERIENCE: “The Hill is preparing my children for life by teaching them to work hard, prepare for success, and think for themselves. Also, they have learned how to work within a team environment and accept feedback on areas of improvement from teachers. They have benefited from the guidance of their advisers who really know them as individuals.”

ON SUPPORTING THE HILL: “We have always tried to be involved with our children’s school. Opening our home for class pool parties and admission events is just a small way to engage with Hill students, families, faculty, and administration; it’s nice to have these interactions outside of the campus in a relaxed atmosphere. We encourage other parents to not be shy and get involved in the School in some way.”

ONLY AT THE HILL: “… did we find a place where we felt a great sense of pride and profound trust in the School -- its teachers, faculty, and administration. They know, care for, and guide our children on a daily basis. We are grateful and look forward to what lies ahead.”

Inside the Mind...Outside the Box

18

Departments

Board, Not Bored Meetings

22

4 Headmaster’s Table 6 Hill Views 26 Keepers of the Hill 30 Athletics 38 Class/Faculty Notes 75 In remembrance 79 From the Archives

About the Cover Leveling the playing fields

30

Diane Richards, Design Thinking instructor, works with her students on solving a logistical problem for a local charity. Read more on page 18.

Editor’s Note

After a brief, one-issue creative hiatus, we are pleased to present you with a newly redesigned issue of Hill Ties, our School magazine. We hope you find it to be a fresher, cleaner, and bolder reflection of The Hill and our mission to provide life-changing experiences for students, faculty and staff, alumni, and parents. As you page through this issue, you will notice that many of the “staples” which were found in previous issues have remained, such as our Hill Doer; Hill Views, highlights of student achievements and campus happenings; Keepers of The Hill, stories related to advancing the School through fundraising and alumni relations efforts; and our robust Class Notes and In Remembrance sections, where you can learn more about the lives of extended Hill family members. Also be sure to check out added features like our Media Mashup, profiling Hillies in the news, online, in print, on film, and across social media; as well as From the Archives, which highlights unique pieces from our extensive collection.

We always appreciate your feedback as we continue to refine our design and provide content of interest, resuming our twice per year, fall and spring publication schedule. Please feel free to contact Denise Spatarella, Hill Ties editor, at dspatarella@thehill.org or by phone at 610-705-1203.

Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 3

Headmaster’s Table

Headmaster Zack Lehman sits outside the Student Center with Alex Vega ’17, Valentina Artunduaga ’15, Lizzie Porterfield ’15, and Jeremy Jacobs ’16

I vividly recall attending my very first Hill Trustees meeting in January 2012 as headmaster-elect. My memories include Hill neckties everywhere, drafts of the strategic plan and operating budget, endowment and enrollment reports, and of course, scrapple. While the dedication and collegiality of the assembled Trustees was readily apparent, I also remember being concerned slightly about the closed-door, highly formal nature of the meetings. I wondered to myself if this group would be open to new ideas and initiatives? Would they be ambitious, creative, outward-looking, flexible, and even daring? As you will read in this beautifully redesigned issue of Hill Ties, not only have our Trustees allayed my concerns, they have established a new, nationally acclaimed approach to independent school governance.

4 | Headmaster’s Table

Today, our Board meetings more closely resemble a dynamic graduate school classroom: we sit and work in small teams; incorporate cutting-edge technology to improve productivity; welcome different perspectives from experts, students, faculty, alumni, and parents; and, most importantly, use our valuable time together to address the most pressing, complex, and impactful issues facing The Hill School in the 21st century.

Trustees and administrators spend weeks if not months diligently preparing for meetings and leave with concrete plans, clarity, and purpose. Yes, we still don our Hill neckties, attend to our fiduciary responsibilities, share reports, and even enjoy some classic Hill culinary treats. However, our Trustees are completely focused on the future of the School and ensuring The Hill’s momentum and progress.

2015 Board of Trustees

For their efforts and unyielding enthusiasm, I am very grateful to the men and women who comprise our Board of Trustees.

These 25 alumni/ae, past and present parents, and friends of the School hail from throughout the United States and three foreign countries. They stand ready to guide The Hill through any challenge, crisis, or opportunity (which are often one in the same). And they are our best philanthropists -- generously sharing their time, talent, and treasure with The Hill.

“...our Trustees are completely focused on the future of the School and ensuring The Hill’s momentum and progress.”

As Hill launches The Strength of All Campaign, advances unprecedented programatic and campus growth, and spearheads a revitalization of our Pottstown neighborhood, all of us must rely on our Trustees to represent and champion the diverse aspirations of the entire Hill constituency.

Fortunately, our dreams for The Hill are in very good hands.

Warm regards,

Zachary G. Lehman Headmaster

Learn more about these Board meetings on The Hill’s YouTube channel TheHillSchool1851.

Preston G. Athey ’67, Chairman Andrew D. Soussloff ’71, Vice Chairman James L. Alexandre ’75 Peter Benedict II ’88 Douglas J. Bouquard III ’00 Douglas R. Brody ’02 D. Scott Detar, Jr. ’97 H. Landis Gabel, Ph.D. ’61 John M. Gvodas ’88, P ’16 Michelle A. Gyves ’02 Michael W. Harris ’84 Peter G. Humphrey ’72, P ’02 Jason W. Ingle ’93 David K. Leinbach Hans S. Maentz ’89 John P. Millar, Jr. ’84 Russell Newton III ‘73 James P. O’Mealia ’76, P ’03, ’07, ’08, ’11 Sung Bin Park ’86 Geoffrey A. Richards ’88 Elizabeth B. Rufe P ’06, ’08 Dan Whalen ’75, P ’06, ’08 Scott C. Wilson P ’10 Judith Wong P ’17 Jesse A. Yanocha ’01

Honorary Trustees Jay S. Berman ’59, P ’85, ’87, GP ’11, ’13 Charles A. Frank III ’59, P ’88, ’90 Jeanne G. McAnaney P ’87 Thomas McN. Millhiser ’67, P ’96, ’00 Junius T. Moore, Jr. ’41, P ’71 Everette C. Sherrill ’60, GP ’17 Marshall F. Wallach ’61, P ’05, ’07

Alumni Association Executive Committee Duncan S. Banfield ’91, President William J. Robertson ’92, Secretary, Treasurer, ex-officio Douglas G. Beaver ’73 Bernard Chan ’83 Kent W. Davis ’79 P ’14, ’16 Catherine J. Detering ’04 Wallace G. Gundy ’04 Kathryn W. Hauch ’05 Paul S. Lee ’91 Justin W. Newton ’91 James L. Spencer IV ’84, P ’13, ’14, ’18 Donald J. Stewart ’94 Robert E. Walley ’88 Christine E. Wieand ’06

Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 5

TM

Hill Ties | Spring 2015

Who is Blue?

Volume 95: No. 1 Hill Ties is published bi-annually. Issues are mailed free of charge. Hill Ties strives to instill enthusiasm about life at The Hill and encourage constituents to be engaged with the School on many levels, ensuring The Hill’s continued success in providing an excellent, character-building educational experience for our students.

If you’ve been to a Hill athletics contest this year, you may have noticed a new face roaming the sidelines: the School’s new mascot, Blue the Ram! Blue is the class gift of the Class of 2014 and arrived on campus last spring, just in time to see the Class of 2014 graduate.

Last fall, Blue was named Montgomery County’s top mascot.

The Hill School admits young men and young women of any race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, and sexual orientation. The Hill School does not discriminate against any person in admission or employment because of these considerations. The School also adheres to existing state and federal law and regulations regarding disability, sex, and age.

A ustr a li a n S ociet y Justin Yoo ’16

Editorial Board

Zachary G. Lehman, Headmaster Cathy L. Skitko, Director of Communications Denise A. Spatarella, Associate Director of Communications | Hill Ties Editor

F r ench S tudies

As most students were returning to campus from Thanksgiving Break on December 2, 2014, Justin Yoo ’16 was halfway across the world in Melbourne, Australia. While Yoo took time to sightsee in Melbourne, a family vacation was not the reason for his trip. On Friday,

Jennifer L. Bechtel, Associate Director of Communications | Website Editor Nathaniel T. Yinger ’05, Assistant Director of Communications Nicholas Serago, Assistant Director of Communications for Graphic Design Thomas Eccleston IV ’87, Assistant Headmaster of Enrollment Management Christian P. Sockel, Assistant Headmaster of Advancement

Photogrpahy

C.C.F. Gachet ’81 Charles L. Garrettson, Ph.D.’71 Dan Burns Photography Send address changes to The Hill School 717 East High Street, Pottstown, PA 19464-5791 610-326-1000 | www.thehill.org ©2015, The Hill School Please recycle our publication.

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December 5, Yoo gave a presentation titled “Language, Jansenism, and Academic Dissent in Early Modern France” at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. In the process, he became the first high school student and youngest person to present for the Australian Society of French Studies.

Pottstown

Melbourne

“I was really surprised to learn that I was the first high school student to ever present at the conference,” Yoo said. “It was a very nerve-wracking experience. There were a lot of people at the conference, and the majority of the audience at my session was several years older than me, with lots of experience in the field.”

Yoo first developed an interest in the history of the French language when he took a French class in middle school. He continued taking French during his third form year at The Hill, the 2012-13 school year, and during the summer of 2013 Yoo decided to do a research project to satisfy his curiosity about the French language.

Yoo’s original idea was to research the language’s linguistics and history. The Ramsey, N.J. native spent much of that summer conducting research with a mentor at the New York Public Library, where his father works. Though he had no trouble finding information, he quickly realized the topic was too broad for a focused presentation and refined his research to figures that played prominent roles in reshaping the French language.

Yoo continued his research during the summer of 2014, and in the later summer months he began looking for a conference where he would be able to present. The only relevant conference he found was the Australian Society of French Studies at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Yoo submitted an application prior to the start of the school year, and in October he received an invitation to present.

As the conference drew closer, Yoo continued to refine the topic to something he felt was most suitable for a 30-minute presentation. Jansenism and academic dissent were two subjects that he consistently noticed during his research, so he incorporated them into his final topic. Yoo focused on the late 16th and early 17th centuries in France when Latin was becoming a less prevalent dialect. In his presentation, Yoo discussed key academic figures from this time period; the role that Jansenism, a branch of Christianity that was prevalent in France and Port Royal at the time, played in this shift; and the changing opinion about French vernacular from some of the country’s prominent scholars.

According to Yoo, his initial nerves disappeared after his opening remarks went well. While some audience members attempted to ask him difficult questions, Yoo said most of his audience was engaged and some approached him after the presentation to continue the discussion and offer helpful advice. Having completed and reflected on his first presentation, Yoo hopes to present again in the future.

“As I reminisced about the long journey that started in the summer 2013, I realized that the end result was more gratifying than I could have imagined,” Yoo said. “Presenting at a conference where everyone was at least twice my age was an experience that I will never forget. Now that I know what it is like to participate in a conference, I look forward to the next opportunity.”

Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 7

C limbing

the

R a nk s

from

S erv ing C ommu nities

On the surface, Hill School students Katie Freeman ’15 and Bryan Delp ’15 are typical teenagers. Both could be seen roaming The Hill campus with friends, studying for an upcoming test in the library, or taking to the athletics fields in a Hill uniform.

Outside of The Hill, both Freeman and Delp wear a uniform much less common to teenagers: they each are volunteer firefighters, Freeman at the Weisenberg Fire Department in Kutztown, Pa., and Delp at the local Ringing Hill Fire Department. They each cite a desire to serve others as their primary reason for being volunteer fire fighters.

Beginning this summer, Freeman and Delp both will serve their country when they enlist at United State Service Academies; Freeman will attend West Point, while Delp will attend the Coast Guard Academy.

Freeman’s father, Scott, has worked in the fire services for 20 years and currently is Assistant Chief of the Weisenberg Township Volunteer Fire Department, located near the family’s Fogelsville, Pa. home. Freeman spent much of her childhood doing odd jobs around the fire station, and she always knew she wanted to be a firefighter when she was old enough.

On her 14th birthday in the summer of 2010, Freeman applied to be a firefighter at the Weisenberg Fire Department. After receiving her state certification, Freeman spent the next three weeks taking the Pennsylvania Essentials of Firefighting course, modules 100 through 400. The 100 and 200 modules are completed in the classroom, while the 300 and 400 modules involve field training in which firefighters must be able to put on all gear and the breathing apparatus in less than 90 seconds and practice specific 8 | Hill Media Views Mashup

to

S erv ing C ou ntry

procedures, such as rolling up hoses.

Freeman also completed hazmat and first responder training.

“I knew what to expect from the 100 and 200 levels because of my family’s firefighting experience, but the course was still harder than I anticipated,” Freeman explained. “We were in the classroom for eight hours per day, which often resulted in information overload. The 300 and 400 levels, done entirely in the field, were very physically demanding. The biggest challenge for me was car extraction and working the Jaws of Life.”

The training course concluded with a live burn, a controlled fire in a confined space at a training facility in White Hall, Pa. Freeman was the youngest person and only female to participate in the training.

Little did she know prior to the live burn how far her father would push her physical and mental limits.

Freeman was exhausted after completing the live burn. She exited the training building tired but satisfied when her father handed her a bottle of water and told her she would be doing a second live burn after rehydrating. The second burn was more difficult for Freeman, but she wasn’t finished. Her father sent Freeman back a third time.

“I was in disbelief when my dad told me I’d be doing a third live burn,” Freeman recalled. “I reached my breaking point during the third time and have never been more tired than I was at that point.

I learned a lot about myself that day, however, and did three consecutive live burns by choice last summer.”

Freeman was a three-year varsity field hockey player at The Hill and was a dormitory prefect. She has noticed a positive change in her confidence and communication skills, improvements she credits to lessons learned as a firefighter.

“As a firefighter, you must learn to react to scenarios where one has to take leadership of others, including those older than you and of the opposite gender,” Freeman said.

Freeman visited West Point during her fifth form year. She recalls being impressed and motivated by the cadets during her visit, and she began her application process in January 2014. Freeman submitted her full application in August and did

an overnight visit in September, when she spoke with Eugene Alvey ’13 and experienced a full day in the life of a cadet.

Freeman received her official appointment to the United States Military Academy in late January 2015.

Freeman will become the first female in School history to go directly from The Hill to West Point. She hopes to be accepted into the Army’s Medical Core, which only the top two percent of students in each class are accepted

to, with the ultimate goal of being a neuroscientist.

While Delp did not have the same familiarity with a fire station as Freeman, he knew from an early age that he wanted to be a firefighter. The Pottsgrove native lives near the Ringing Hill Fire Company.

“I always saw the Ringing Hill trucks drive by my house and thought firefighting would be fun,” Delp noted.

Shortly after his seventeenth birthday in October 2013, Delp approached Ringing Hill to inquire about joining the Fire Company. As soon as he joined the department, Delp underwent hazmat training, which all firefighters must do before they are permitted to go on call.

During the three day classroom session, the new firefighters learn about how certain substances react to water, which substances pose the biggest explosion threats, and so forth.

Because of his busy schedule as a Hill School student, Delp found it difficult to do further training until The Hill’s school year concluded in late May 2014. During that summer, Delp was able to complete car rescue and burning home training.

Delp participated in local accident rescue efforts while The Hill was on winter vacation in December of 2014.

Having experienced live emergency situations, Delp enjoys the satisfaction and relief of a successful rescue effort.

“My favorite aspect of firefighting is helping people,” Delp said. “You can’t match the adrenaline rush that you get when you first pull up to an emergency scene. I get a sense of satisfaction seeing the relief of people after everything is taken care of.”

As is the case with his high regard of firefighters and other emergency service personnel, Delp has always had a deep

respect for United States Military members and knew that he wanted to enlist in a service academy. When the time came for Delp to begin his college search process, he gave serious consideration to the United States Coast Guard and Naval Academy. Delp received his official acceptance from the Coast Guard, located on the Thames River in New London, Conn., in early March.

“I think Coast Guard will be a good fit for me because of the aspect of rescuing and saving people,” Delp said. “I find the active lifestyle appealing and am looking forward to being out in the field. Also, coming out of the Coast Guard I am more likely to be deployed in the United States rather than overseas.”

Most of the Coast Guard’s curriculum is science-based. The Academy offers a Professional Maritime Studies major, which prepares cadets for active service immediately following their graduation through intensive field-related training.

At this time, Delp intends to pursue the Maritime Studies major.

A lifelong baseball player, Delp also will play baseball for the Bears. Delp began his baseball career in the Pottsgrove Little League and joined the Pottstown Spartans when he was 11 years old. A captain of The Hill’s 2015 baseball team, Delp rotated between shortstop and the pitcher’s mound. He always has aspired to play college baseball and is thrilled by achieving his lifelong goal.

“I have always wanted to play baseball in college,” Delp said. “I can’t even begin to describe how I felt when I got the call from Coast Guard’s coach telling me I was in.”

Delp realizes the rigors that await him in attempting to balance life at a Service Academy with being a student-athlete, but feels ready for the challenge.

Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 9

David Null ’15 and Kostya Golobokov ’15, both original members of the T3D Club, are pictured with a robot which was entered in the MATE (Marine Advanced Technology Education) Robotics Tournament on May 9. The team garnered third place and will advance to the MATE International Robotics Competition in New Foundland, Canada in June. The team, comprised of students from the afternoon robotics program and computer science department, brought together advanced technology (i.e. 3D printing, software design, a robotic arm, lasers, etc...) with competitiveness and creativity to address and solve challenges in the water.

Wher e

engineer ing a nd entr epr eneur ship inter sect

David Null ’15, from Chester Springs, Pa., came to The Hill in his fourth form year, transferring from a small school in Conshohocken, Pa. He arrived in Pottstown with a keen interest in technology and computer science, already having programmed the creation of an innovative Latin dictionary to better help him with his studies.

Propelled by his interest in computers, Null signed up for a Design Tech class at The Hill with Mr. Luke Block. While he enjoyed the class during his first term, it was during his second term when he fell in love with 3D printing thinking it was the “coolest thing” that he had ever seen.

When the year came to an end, he continued to work with The Hill’s 3D printers with Mr. Block’s guidance.

10 | Hill Media Views Mashup

Throughout the rest of his academic career at Hill, he was sure to enroll in every technology class Hill offers.

For two summers, Null worked multiple jobs to earn enough money to buy a 3D printer. With this printer he has launched his own company, New Cambridge Technology. The company not only sells products that he has developed, but also solicits ideas from other entrepreneurs, providing them with a potential platform for their products. Null currently has created a custom iPad holder that hooks onto the bottom of a bunk bed so that a Hill student can watch movies or do homework hands-free. He has also worked with his mother, a teacher, to develop tools that help students learn how to read.

In addition to promoting his company, Null led T3D, a club which he started at The Hill. T3D currently boasts about 60 members and is organized into a research and innovation group, a core group of 15 developers, and a group focused on marketing the solutions that the club develops. Kostya Golobokov ’15, from Moscow, Russia, was responsible for electrical engineering and software development for the group. All of T3D’s participants have been involved in developing solutions to everyday problems using computer programming and tools like the 3D printer.

Null thrives at the intersection of entrepreneurship and engineering and plans to incorporate these passions into his college pursuits.

H ill “Then

a nd

N ow ”

Seeing a “then-and-now” photo on the social media site Tumblr inspired Naixin “Cathy” Wang ’17 to pursue a similar project documenting The Hill’s history for an Afternoon Arts assignment. The Beijing, China native used archival campus photos and, holding them in place at the exact same spot, took similar photos of modern-day campus. Below is Cathy’s explanation of her project, “Chron.”

“The passage of time is not a cheerful topic in my culture. Often times, old, faded photo albums are taken off their shelves and long, endless sighs from my relatives are heard over the dinner table. However, the passage of time celebrates the evolution of mankind and leaves us with an abundance of heritage.

In contrast to the sentimental reminiscence filling the popular media in my country, here at The Hill School we honor our history: from starting as The Family Boarding School in 1851, to many years as an all-male institution educating fine young men, to the current, coed boarding school in Pottstown,

through the lens of

C ath y Wa ng ’17

Pa. We learn our history well; we know the dates, we’ve heard of the prominent names, and we’ve seen the old campus photos. But it seems to me that people perceive our history as irrelevant anecdotes. Rarely do we think about the concrete paths in front of the library as the same path Hill students walked on decades ago. The tradition and the history of the School are sometimes reduced to dress code guidelines in the handbook or numbers in a slideshow for English class. We abide by the rules but don’t truly appreciate their context.

Therefore, I began my project hoping to express the dramatic difference and the equally stunning similarity of our past and present in the form of photography. Inspired by some Tumblr posts I previously saw, I decided to hold an old campus picture in front of the exact view of it now, at the exact same spot and angle. The project involved more information collecting than I had expected. Thanks to the School archivists, Ms. Selan and Mr. Jeffries, I was able to

access the Archives and photocopied the pictures I needed onto gloss paper. Each shot took me about half an hour to shoot and another 20 minutes to post-process. Usually there were people walking around casting curious looks at my clumsy tripod, and I would let them just walk into my shots, creating a more realistic contrast. The project turned out to be more personal than I first planned, especially when Mrs. Nelson offered to be the model for one of my shots. She gave me an adorable picture of her when she was living in Wendell as a faculty child. Given that she now lives just a short walk away from her childhood home, the juxtaposition was simply breathtaking. Thinking ahead, I might add on to my project with more alumni involved, but I’m not entirely sure. The project created the atmosphere I initially expected, and it’s truly a pleasure seeing my work evoking lots of memories from the viewers.”

Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 11

I t ’ s A S ign ...

If you drive through nearby Reading, Pa., you might notice two familiar names on a few billboards. Ellen Nelson, chair of The Hill’s Arts Department, and Seon Gyoo Lee ’16 recently were awarded for artwork they submitted to the Berks Art Council’s Fast Lane Art contest. As a result, Nelson and Lee’s winning entries will be displayed on both digital and vinyl billboards throughout the greater Reading area.

The Berks Art Council, a local nonprofit organization that strives to promote area arts. The contest includes two levels, student and adult/ professional. Each year, the top six submissions (three from each category) are placed on billboards throughout the Reading area courtesy of Land Displays, a Reading-based billboard company.

Nelson found out about the Fast Lane Art contest through Kent Davis ’79 P’14, ’16, who is the Berks Art Council treasurer. Nelson and the seven students in her Advanced Studio Art Class – Katie Freeman ’15, Andrew Hall ’15, Rene Harris ’15, Youngmoo Kim ’16, Lee, Mai Pham ’17, and Laura Snyder ’15 – each submitted an entry.

Nelson’s piece, “School of Pumpkinseed,” received second place in the adult/ professional category. An accomplished artist, Nelson also has had work displayed at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. According to Nelson, her love of the water inspired her piece, which depicts pumpkinseed fish in the local Schuylkill River.

Lee won the Alma Wood Memorial Award as the student grand prize winner. Lee, who plays piano in The Hill’s Jazz Band, combined a piano and jazz music with the Pagoda, a fixture of the Reading skyline, in his winning piece “Jazzfest.” In addition to the cash award that comes with the student grand prize, Lee’s original piece sold for $400. Rather than use it for personal benefit, the selfless Lee donated all of the money to two organizations, the Berks Art Council and In Ian’s Boots, a nonprofit group that collects and donates shoes and winter boots to those in need.

12 | Hill Media Views Mashup

Jump

Tim Jump with students

into

E ngineer ing 3

While The Hill’s historical liberal arts emphasis on literature, languages, history, the arts, religious studies, math, and science remains essential, the School must continue to complement its curriculum with new pedagogies that foster critical thinking and collaboration; infuse technology into many aspects of our teaching and learning strategies; and offer more career-specific programs for students.

We are poised to implement the Quadrivium Curriculum -- an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to math, science, technology, design, and engineering -- that will help prepare our students to pursue degrees and dynamic careers in STEAM fields.

As Hill Ties was going to press, Headmaster Zack Lehman announced the appointment of Timothy Jump, one of the nation’s premier STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) educators, to serve as The Hill’s Director of Quadrivium Engineering and Design (QED) and to bring his trailblazing “Engineering3 Curriculum” to our students (http://engineering3. org/). Jump comes to The Hill from Benilde-St. Margaret’s School in St. Louis Park, Minn., where he directs and teaches in the Advanced Competitive Science conceptual engineering program. ACS allows students, as noted on BSM’s website, to “explore mechanical and electrical systems through fabrication and assemblies, design processes utilizing 3D modeling tools and controls systems incorporating sensor interfacing, data collection, motion control, and embedded logic programming…. ACS expands student development beyond information concentricity and toward innovation and entrepreneurialism.”

Beginning in the fall of 2015, Hill students will have the opportunity to enroll in Engineering 1 (“E1”), the first of Jump’s three progressive, year-long courses in engineering and robotics and a crucial first step as we roll out the entire Engineering3 program in subsequent years.

Jump earned his B.F.A. in art and art history at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He has presented at numerous conference venues including MIT Mindfest; Bristol Science Center Explore@Bristol in the United Kingdom; Singapore Science Center; and Dartmouth College, Tufts University, and the University of Wisconsin. He will be joined on campus by his wife, Donna; daughter, Annamarie; and son, Thomas.

(Look for more information on the Quadrivium Curriculum and plans to create its future campus home, the Quadrivium Center, in the fall issue of Hill Ties.)

Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 13

H ill M edia M ashup In

the news

Tom Wolf ’67 elected and sworn in as 47th Governor of Pennsylvania, honored as recipient of the 2015 Hill School Sixth Form Leadership Award

In January 2014, Tom Wolf ’67 was sworn in as the 47th Governor of Pennsylvania.

In April, Wolf was honored as the 17th recipient of The Hill School’s Sixth Form Leadership Award. Wolf, a lifelong resident of the Keystone State, is a successful businessman; former CEO of the Wolf Organization, York, Pa., the largest supplier of kitchen cabinets in the U.S.; former Peace Corps volunteer; and former State Secretary of Revenue. “ The Hill School offers Arabic lessons for 1st time”

Reading Eagle reporter Paige Cooperstein visited the classroom of Yassine Benzinane, instructor of Arabic and French, for a feature on Hill’s addition of Arabic to the modern languages program. Our Arabic program also was noted in the spring 2015 issue of Independent School.

14 | Media Mashup

“ Hundreds clean up for Second Annual Pottstown CARES”

About 725 volunteers from the Borough of Pottstown, The Hill School, the Pottstown School District, Montgomery County Community College, and other cleaned up 46 square blocks of Pottstown to demonstrate their commitment to our hometown during the second annual CARES clean-up event held on Friday, October 24, 2014. Local media coverage included Channel 69 in Allentown and Fox 29 in Philadelphia, as well as articles in the Reading Eagle and Pottstown Mercury.

Restauranteur Ted Wilson ’00’s The Hall reviewed by ZAGAT Ted Wilson ’00, co-owner of Fine & Rare- Seafood and Wine Shop in San Francisco, has spent his entire professional life in the wine business. His career path began in vineyards and cellars in the Finger Lakes of Upstate New York, and then work as a sales rep and later senior director of operations for NYC- based distributor.

Ted and business partner Scott Peterson were featured in a ZAGAT review for their new venture, The Hall.

Kate McAleer ’05 named 2015 Small Business Administration’s Young Entrepreneur of The Year Kate McAleer has been receiving numerous accolades for her role as a young entrepreneur as well as for her delicious organic chocolate.

McAleer is the owner of Bixby & Co. LLC and was named the Young Entrepreneur of the Year for 2015 by the Small Business Administration. The company, now located in Rockland, Maine, was started in 2011 in New York State by McAleer as an organic producer of chocolate bars.

I n P r int Fiasco James P. O’ Mealia ’76 P’ 03, ’07, ’08, ’11 As prep school students, Roger and Tom did anything for each other. When Tom found himself in trouble, Roger bailed him out in an act of loyalty that forged their friendship for life.

Now, 25 years later, they’ve taken decidedly different paths. While Tom owns a small, yet successful investment management firm, Roger is living closer to the edge, in the driver’s seat of a high-risk insurance company. When Roger calls him up asking for help, Tom knows it’s time to return that boyhood favor. The goal? To try and save Roger’s company, a feat that would require

I n P r int (...C ontinued) Tom to put everything on the line…including his reputation, his business, and even his marriage. As the fiasco reaches new heights, loyalties are tested, corruption is exposed, and a mysterious death is revealed—in a stunning financial thriller that will keep you guessing from beginning to end.

This is Jim O’Mealia’s first book. He has more than 30 years of experience in the financial industry managing investments for a variety of different firms. This experience has given him an in-depth understanding of how stocks, bonds, and the markets truly work.

O’Mealia completed majors in English and economics at St. Lawrence University.

O’Mealia is president and chief investment officer for Sunnymeath Asset Management, Inc., in Red Bank, N.J. He has served on The Hill’s Board of Trustees since 2006. He and his wife, Mindy, have four children – Jamie ’03 , Katie ’07, Tina ’08, and Patrick ’11.

After Labor Day Robert Demaree ’55 This is the third book-length collection of poems by Robert Demaree. Demaree grew up on Hill’s campus as a son of Frances and Robert Demaree, who served on The Hill faculty from 1944 to 1969.

Demaree, Jr. would go on to spend 42 years as a teacher and administrator in schools in Georgia, Virginia, Louisiana, and North Carolina.

He was headmaster of Southfield School in Shreveport, La., for seven years, and

from 1985 to 2001 he served Greensboro Day School as an upper school director and director of college guidance, financial aid and publications. Bob and Martha, his wife of more than 40 years, reside in Burlington, N.C., and Wolfeboro, N.H., where he has spent virtually every summer since 1947. They have two children and five grandchildren.

What Wakes Us E.K. Mortenson What Wakes Us is a collection of poems described by one critic as a “delightful exploration of the world at hand.” Erik “E. K.” Mortenson, Hill instructor of English, is also the author of chapbooks The Fifteenth Station (Accents Publishing, 2012) and Dreamer or the Dream (Last Automat Press, 2010). His work also appears in both print and online journals as well as anthologies. He was the 2008 recipient of the Leslie Leeds Poetry Prize and the 2012 Accents Publishing Chapbook Award. In addition to teaching at The Hill, he is an instructor in the M.F.A. in creative and professional writing program at Western Connecticut State University.

“Detours” Sue Repko

Sue Repko’s essay “Detours” was featured in the online publication Literal Latte.

Repko, a Pottstown native, is a Hill instructor of English and asst. coach of girls’ varsity basketball. Her nonfiction and fiction have appeared in The Common, Swink, Princeton Alumni Weekly, The Gettysburg Review, Beloit Fiction Journal, Tattoo Highway, The Bryant Literary Review, and elsewhere. She is the author of Legendary Locals of Pottstown (Arcadia Publishing.)

Jungleland (2013) Christopher S. Stewart ’92 Christopher S. Stewart ’92 is a writer and editor at the Wall Street Journal. He was part of a team of Journal writers which was awarded the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism. He is the author of Hunting the Tiger (2008), a book about Zeljko Arkan Raznatovic, the Serbian mobster and warlord at the center of the 1990s Balkan wars. His second book, Jungleland, depicts the true-life Indiana Jones-like tale of American explorer and spy, Theodore Morde, the fabled Ciudad Blanca, and the mysterious circumstances of his death.

Stewart’s work has also appeared in GQ, Harper’s, the New York Times Magazine, New York, Paris Review, Wired, and other publications.

Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 15

I n P r int (...C ontinued) Best Little Stories from the World War I C. Brian Kelly ’53 and Ingrid Smyer C. Brian Kelly ’53, a prize-winning journalist, is cofounder of Montpelier Publishing and a former editor for Military History magazine.

He is a lecturer in newswriting at the University of Virginia. Kelly’s articles have appeared in Reader’s Digest, Friends, Yankee, Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone, and other magazines. Best Little Stories from the World War I is the tenth in a historical series of Best Little Stories, which he and his wife, Ingrid, created more than 20 years ago. The couple resides in Charlottesville, Va. “ Heart of Whiteness” Tobias Wolff ’64

Tobias Wolff’s essay “Heart of Whiteness,” an honest reflection of how racism has seeped into his consciousness despite his best efforts, appeared in the August 15, 2014 issue of The New Yorker. Wolff, a Stanford University professor, is the author of the novels The Barracks Thief and Old School, the memoirs This Boy’s Life and In Pharaoh’s Army, and the short story collections In the Garden of the North American Martyrs, Back in the World, The Night in Question, and Our Story Begins, which won The Story Prize for 2008.

Other honors include the PEN/Malamud Award and the Rea Award – both

16 | Media Mashup

for excellence in the short story – the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the PEN/Faulkner Award. In addition to The New Yorker, his work often appears in The Atlantic, Harper’s, and other magazines and literary journals. In 2004, The Hill honored Wolff as the Sixth Form Leadership Award recipient.

O n F ilm James Baker: The Man Who Made Washington Work

In Nerd Prom, Gavin explores the over-indulgent activities and misguided priorities surrounding the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, sometimes referred to as “Nerd Prom” or the “Oscars of D.C.” The film discusses the disproportionate amount of money being spent on the event verses money being donated for scholarships. Find out more at: nerdpromthemovie.com.

A Light in the Village Xander Moffatt ’08 Matthew Goeller ’07

Former Secretary of State James Baker ’48 was profiled in the recent documentary, James Baker: The Man Who Made Washington Work, which aired on PBS in March. The film is narrated by Tom Brokaw and features interviews with individuals ranging from family friends of the Bakers to journalists, government officials from the U.S. and abroad, and historians. The Hill and Lou Jeffries, School librarian, played a role, too, as we shared materials from The Hill’s archives with the producers for this “behind-thescenes story of power, persuasion, and diplomacy at the highest levels.”

Nerd Prom: Inside Washington’s Wildest Week Patrick W. Gavin ’96 Patrick Gavin ’96, former Politico reporter, is the director of the newly released documentary Nerd Prom: Inside Washington’s Wildest Week.

Matthew Goeller ’07 and Xander Moffat ’08, are the creators of the inspiring documentary, A Light in the Village, which centers upon The Light School in Kenya and the community and lives of the members of the Uriri village. Goeller is the founder of the non-profit Global Education Network (GEN), which serves and supports the educational needs of schools, students, and communities around the world. In September, Moffat, the director, and Goeller returned to Hill for a screening of the film. For more information regarding the film, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/ ALIGHTINTHEVILLAGE.

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Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 17

1

“Design Thinking is a human-centered approach to innovations that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.”

– Tim Brown, President and CEO of IDEO

I nside

the mind

...

outside the box :

S olving

What do “Design Thinking” and “Physics 1 (AP) with Pre-calculus (Honors)” have in common? Perhaps little, at first glance. But, at The Hill, during the 2014-15 school year, these new courses gave students and their teachers opportunities to learn, apply knowledge, and hone their creativity in unexpected, yet meaningful ways.

Introduction to Design Thinking This course offers students a forum for solving design problems by understanding users’ needs and developing insights to address related issues. Through contact, observation, and empathy with the end-users, students learn how to design solutions that fit into the specific environment. Students embrace problems to understand, observe, synthesize, ideate, prototype, and iterate as a group. Students research, interview, connect with end-users, and prototype and present projects. This course emphasizes collaborative thinking, class participation, and oral presentation.

18 | The Hill School

problems creatively and collaboratively

U nderstanding D esign T hinking A reflection by Diane Richards, instructor of the arts The objective for the course is to explore Design Thinking (DT) through the five-step process developed by Stanford University’s d.School -- empathy, define, ideate, prototype and test. Students receive design challenges that help to support social innovation.

Students learn through case studies, interactive creative play, imagination, role-playing, rapid prototyping, group critique, and self-reflection; they apply design thinking to solve issues.

Therefore, the Design Thinking process often is more important than the outcome. Students work collaboratively to address these challenges.

This past year, we used a series of “Flash Lab” exercises which allowed us to understand the five steps. The challenge isn’t “real”; however, students understand and appreciate the reasoning behind each step.

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From Left to Right: 1.) Mrs. Richards brainstorming with Daniel Fulmer ’18 and Caroline Soderman ’18 2.) Abby Gallagher, head of dining services for Sodexo, meets with members of the Design Thinking class to learn how they can help solve some pantry issues. 3.) Julia Cao ’18 and Emma Bernat Belenguer ’15 engage in the “Marshmallow Challenge” to get them thinking creatively. 4.) Design Thinking team members including Ivy Yan ’18 (far right) scope out the pantry of the Operation Backpack organization.

In addition to the “Flash Lab” exercises, teams addressed a variety of “real world” design challenges. Projects included: • Working with Sodexo, the School’s Dining Hall staff, to help manage the flow for students returning their dishes through the pantry.

• Assisting ITS (Information and Technology Services) to help redesign the role of Sharepoint, Hill’s intranet site.

• Aiding Operation Backpack, a non-profit organization which provides weekend food and supplies for impoverished students and their families in Pottstown, to develop a system to help identify the backpacks used for delivery of food and to help arrange their shelving units for better food management.

While it is important to solve the design challenge, the “real” learning comes from the individual growth of creativity confidence. Watching the growth of these students from the beginning of the term to the end has been quite an amazing process.

Throughout this course, students spend a lot of time reflecting on their roles and their abilities to be active participants.

Students realize they are in charge of the process. One of the proudest moments has been watching those students who thought they didn’t have any creative confidence admit that they can see a difference in themselves.

L essons

learned

...

“Outside the classroom you are being tested by life. You work with other people, and try to fix their problems in real life situations. You learn not to get frustrated by your failures, but rather to use your failures to improve your results. You aren’t tested so much on memory, but more on problem-solving, sometimes on your own and sometimes in groups. It can be frustrating, but it also is interesting to see how your friends try to focus on the problems. The most interesting thing is that all of the problems have a million ways to be solved, although the solutions

might be tricky or difficult, if you give the situation some thought you can find your way.”

-- Emma Bernat Belenguer ’15 “Originally, I thought this class was about designing physical things like robots, or machines. Instead, it taught me crucial skills -- divergent thinking, being creative, and thinking outside of the box.”

-- Julia Cao ’18 “This class pushed me out of my comfort zone. I found it thought-provoking, especially in terms of thinking outside of the box, and I enjoyed the sense of teamwork. We had the chance to put our knowledge into practice, while understanding the needs of others. There was always something new to expect.”

-- Ivy Yan ’18 “This class is a lot more than I expected.

It’s a class full of interesting perspectives on the idea of design. But it’s not all classroom-based stuff. We also carried out designs that solved real-life problems.

When we had to come up with a more efficient way of leaving and clearing up after buffet meals addressed is a pretty big issue for the members of our School community.”

-- Colin Redmond ’18

Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 19

T he R elative V elocity

of

P hysics

and

P re -C alculus

As a long-time teacher of pre-calculus, Jason Coady, instructor of mathematics, often found himself in class referencing concepts and ideas students would recognize from their work in physics. He wanted to draw on their experiences and knowledge to help them better understand their pre-calculus studies. One day early last spring, it clicked: He thought, “why couldn’t we combine these two classes?

It could work.”

Coady, along with physics teacher Pat Hagarman ’04, spent this academic year in a newly reconfigured lab and teaching space – the Collaboratory – located in the basement of the Widener Science Building. With the overlap and potential they saw between the two courses, the goals they set forth included: • Gain efficiency by identifying crossover topics between disciplines and focus on those certain topics once during the course, therefore capitalizing on this efficiency and going into more depth.

• Strengthen students’ understanding of the concepts and skills of these two courses by moving seamlessly between theory (in math) and application (in physics). Also important: capture the mindsets of both the mathematicians and scientists, which can be similar, but also very different at times. Making these similarities and differences more explicit is key, rather than leaving it to students to decipher.

• Apply and evaluate the team-taught approach to math and science in the same way the School has done for English and history with its American Studies course.

Overall, the results to date have been positive, and the School plans to continue this academic collaboration next year. “We’re seeing improvement in student understanding of some of the ideas, and they definitely seem to be doing a better job of connecting theory to practice, which was a primary goal in combining the classes,” noted Coady. “Students are frequently working together in class, actively engaging the material, and supporting each other in their learning.”

Mr. Coady with Gabby Bendall ’17, Christian DeVol ’17, and Max Crispin ’17

20 | The Hill School

“This challenging class has taught me more than just the curriculums of two courses. I learned how to draw tangents between math and science; about the connections between mathematical formulas and physical forces; and how to apply concepts from physics to problems in math and vice versa.” -- Manshu Sharma ’17

“What I’ve enjoyed most about the class – which was new for everyone -- is how the students and the teachers have grown and learned together throughout the year.

I also enjoyed the collaborative group work we did in both physics and pre-calc.” -- Payton Miles ’16 Payton Miles ’16 (center) with Dylan Spector ’16 and Kurt Neumaier ’16

“The most enjoyable part about the class has been group collaboration. Since the class is so large, we break up into smaller groups and discuss possible solutions to problems that we are tasked with solving. We then write our ideas down on white boards, and hang them up for the whole class to see. This way, the class works together to find a solution.”-- Jeff Armstrong ’16

Maddie Hicks ’16, Nathan Choi ’17, and Nick Chroscinski ’17 in lab.

Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 21

BOARD, NOT BORED Meetings: A generative approach to engaging and efficient leadership

22 | The Hill School

M

eetings. Most of us have to attend them, and most often we dread them. Knowing that the next few hours will involve a lot of sitting, note-taking, eye-lid drooping, and resisting the urge to yawn is far from energizing.

Three times a year – in October, January, and June – the 25 members of Hill’s dedicated Board of Trustees gather on campus for a two-day session, following a tightly packed schedule of meetings regarding all aspects of the School, including academics, campus life, finances, facilities, enrollment, college advising, and governance. Discussions and decisions relating to these topics are crucial to securing The Hill’s success, so the meetings can be overwhelming and, even, to the uninitiated, a bit daunting.

Enter solution: the introduction of “generative governance.”

Headmaster Zack Lehman and Board Chairman Preston Athey ’67 were intrigued by this concept after attending a Leadership Through Partnership Workshop hosted by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), through which they learned from some of the most dynamic independent school and non-profit boards.

Within the generative mode, as discussed at the conference, “the board frames higher-order problems and asks questions that are more catalytic than operational. The generative board relies more on retreat-like meetings, teamwork, robust discourse, work at the organization’s boundaries, and performance metrics linked to organizational learning.”

Mr. Lehman and Mr. Athey collaborated with Jonathan Martin, a recognized leader in educational program design who has been working with The Hill during the course of its academic program review. Together, they designed a Board retreat which extensively explored 21st century pedagogy and the framing of the key challenges that lie ahead for The Hill.

For the Trustees, the retreat meant more time engaged in small, round-table group discussions and projects, and less time listening to individual reports given at a long “board room” table. In addition,

members of the senior administration had the opportunity to actively participate in the sessions with the Trustees, again emphasizing collaboration and teamwork. They utilized teaching tools and resources used in 21st century classroom learning: the flipped classroom approach was applied in reviewing the Campus Master Plan; back-channeling and real-time classroom response systems helped to evaluate budgets and strategic plan enhancements; case study analysis and problem-based learning enhancing faculty retention dialogue; and screencasts and collaborative learning protocol were implementing while sharing campaign priorities.

“With this generative approach, the Trustees are involved in problem-solving and thinking through issues, not just reporting,” noted Mr. Athey. “One of the great things is the engagement of all of the Trustees; hearing all their voices was gratifying.”

The feedback from participants has been overwhelmingly positive.

“Reviewing case studies, addressing problems, and hearing different perspectives allows you to dig even deeper into issues,” said Jim O’Mealia ’76, Hill Trustee since 2006.

“I found this so refreshing after 26 years of committee reporting,” said Jay Berman ’59, now an Honorary Trustee who served on the Board from 1988-2013.

“What was fun for me to see was watching the way in which the board meeting was done matched the message that it’s a new Hill,” shared Jim Alexandre ’75, Hill Trustee since 2013. “I see a hunger on the part of the Trustees to think about things in a new way. That’s part of what makes Hill so exciting right now.”

After the session concluded, Dean of Faculty Tom Johnson observed, “It is clear that the Board truly is invested not only financially, but philosophically in Hill’s future.”

While there will always still be a need for “traditional” meetings, incorporating this generative approach, where appropriate, has certainly proved to be efficient and energizing -- it leaves Trustees and administrators far from “bored.”

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Above: The Trustees meet in the Levis ’45*Alexandre ’75 Center For The Humanities 1.) Dean of Faculty Tom Johnson with Trustees Doug Bouquard ’00 and Scott Wilson P’10 2.) John Pflieger ’77, former Trustee; Don Silverson, The Hill’s treasurer and CFO; and Andy Soussloff ’71, Board Vice Chairman 3.) Honorary Trustees Jeanne McAnaney P ’87 and Jay Berman ’59 with Trustee Jim O’Mealia ’76 4.) Trustee Jim Alexandre ’75; Board Chairman Preston Athey ’67; Trustee Geoff Richards ’88 and Randy Doaty, director of security; and Trustee Landis Gabel ’61

Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 23

4

Did you know?

The Reverend Matthew Meigs founded The Hill School in 1851. Until 1920, the School operated as a corporate, for-profit entity. Interestingly, by this time, most other preparatory schools were established and functioning as nonprofit organizations. It essentially took six months for the School to decide to and transfer its ownership.

According to Paul Chancellor’s The History of The Hill School (1851-1976), “On May 22, 1920, Alumni Day at The Hill, the plan was presented to over 100 alumni . . . . By September 7, the legal charter of the new corporation had been drawn and a Board of Trustees constituted. On September 16, the new Board had its first meeting, and The Hill School formally entered a new era.” “. . . To celebrate the transfer officially, a special weekend was planned. The dinner was held at New York at the Waldorf-Astoria on Friday, Oct. 29, 1921 . . . . over 700 were present: alumni; the Meigs family; faculty; and parents.”

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M eet T he H ill ’ s B oard L eadership : P reston A they ’67

and

A ndrew S oussloff ’71

Preston G. Athey ‘67 was appointed chairman of The Hill School Board of Trustees in July 2014 after serving as the Board’s vice chairman for two years. Mr. Athey assumed leadership of the Board from classmate Thomas McN. Millhiser ’67, who retired at the end of June after serving as chair since 2007.

Mr. Athey joined The Hill School Board in 2002, and has served as chairman of the Governance Committee, vice-chairman of the Executive and Finance-Investment Committees, and member of the Finance-Budget Committee. For 23 years, Mr. Athey was the president and portfolio manager of the highly successful T. Rowe Price Small Cap Value Fund in Baltimore, M.D.; he has been with the leading global investment firm since 1978. He holds a B.A. from Yale University and a M.B.A. from Stanford University.

Mr. Athey and his wife, Nancy, have generously and thoughtfully supported The Hill’s students, programs, and teachers in myriad ways throughout the years. In January 2014, during a special evening

celebrating the couple’s gift of a Steinway piano to the School, it was also announced that the couple also made a transformational $10.25 million gift in support of The Hill’s faculty and the School’s ability to hire, retain, and support exceptional master teachers.

Joining Mr. Athey as vice chairman is Andrew D. Soussloff ’71.

A Trustee since October 2011, Mr. Soussloff serves as chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee as well as vice chairman of the Executive Committee. He is a member of the Advancement, Finance-Budget, and Legal Committees.

Mr. Soussloff is a director and senior adviser of Enfoca Asset Management Ltd., an alternative asset manager based in Lima, Peru and investing in Peru and other Andean region markets. He is a retired partner of the international law firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, where he practiced corporate and financial law for more than 30 years and served as co-managing partner of the firm’s global corporate practice. Mr. Soussloff also is a member of the board of trustees of the Museum of American Finance, a Smithsonian Institution affiliate located in New York City. He received a B.A. and M.A. in history from the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Who’s Who on the Board The Hill School is extremely grateful for our dedicated and forward-thinking Trustees who are committed to ensuring our School remains a superior independent boarding school.

1) Headmaster Zack Lehman 2) Preston Athey ’67, Board Chairman (2014), appointed 2002; president emeritus and portfolio manager of T. Rowe Price Small Cap Value Fund

Read more about our Board of Trustees online at: www.thehill.org/Boardof Trustees.

13) Hans Maentz ’89, appointed 2011; senior vice president with Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management in Los Angeles, Calif.

3) Jesse Yanocha, appointed 2014; a principal in the private equity group of Ares Management

14) Peter Humphrey ’82 P ’02, appointed 2002; chairman of the Genesee Regional State Parks Commission and vice chairman of the New York State Council of Parks

4) Judy Wong P ’17, appointed 2014; former vice president and equity analyst at Deutsche Bank (Hong Kong)

15) Dan Whalen ’75 P 06, ’08, appointed 2011; head of Loan & High Yield Syndicate Group at BNP Paribas *

5) Jason Ingle ’93, appointed 2013; co-founder of Greener Partners and Closed Loop Capital, an early-stage venture capital fund investing in agriculture technologies and food system innovations

16) Andy Soussloff ’71, Board Vice Chairman (2014), appointed 2011; director and senior adviser of Enfoca Asset Management Ltd.

6) Mike Harris ’84, appointed 2012; managing director for The PFM Group, overseeing the firm’s strategic market development efforts

17) Dr. Landis Gabel ’61, appointed 2008; Novartis Chaired Professor of Management and the Environment Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Economics and Management at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France

7) Scott Wilson P ’10, appointed 2013; managing director for Morgan Stanley 8) Beth Rufe P ’06, ’08, appointed 2006; chair of the Health & Wellness Committee * 9) John Gvodas P ’16, appointed 2013; CEO of Montgomery Medical Equipment Company 10) Doug Bouquard ’00, appointed 2006; managing director for Goldman, Sachs & Co. 11) Jay Berman ’59 P’85, ’87 GP ’11, ’13, Honorary Trustee, served from 1988 until 2013; longtime chair of the Campus Master Plan

18) David Leinbach, appointed 2010; president and founder of Kaiser Construction * 19) James Alexandre ’75, appointed 2013; private investor 20) Jim O’Mealia ’76 P ’03, ’07, ’08, ’11, appointed 2006; president and chief investment officer for Sunnymeath Asset Management, Inc., in Red Bank, N.J. 21) Geoff Richards ’88, appointed 2009; head of U.S. Special Situations & Restructuring at Canaccord Genuity, Inc.

12) Scott Detar ’97, appointed 2010; director in Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Public Finance Investment Banking Group * Not pictured: Peter Benedict ’88, appointed 2015, Headmaster at Saint Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, Fla.; Doug Brody ’02, appointed 2015, director at Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts in New York; Shelly Gyves ’01, appointed 2010, attorney at Proskauer Rose, LLP in New York City; John Millar ’84, appointed 2015, owner of Avalon Flooring and advertising, marketing, and communications executive; Rusty Newton ’73, appointed 2014, president of Timucuan Asset Management, Inc.; and Sung Bin Park ’86, appointed 2009, co-founder and managing director of TransLink Capital, a California-based venture capital firm, and founder and CEO of SPK Inc. and Spark and Associates. *Retiring from the Board in June 2015. We commend them for their stellar service.

Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 25

Preserving tradition and

inspiring innovation through The Hill’s largest and most ambitious fundraising effort in leadership phase

“The success of The Hill School truly depends on ‘the strength of all.’ We need the commitment and participation of our extended School community – each one of us who cares about the future of this remarkable place – to enrich and sustain The Hill for future generations. Please join me as we embark on this campaign to elevate ‘Dear Old Hill’ to new heights.”

– Headmaster Zachary G. Lehman

O

n July 1, 2014, The Hill launched the initial leadership phase of The Strength of All Campaign, the most ambitious fundraising effort in the School’s 164-year history. The Hill seeks to secure $175 million in new gifts and commitments by June 30, 2019. In the coming months and over the course of the next few years, we will call on our alumni, parents and grandparents, faculty and staff, and friends to firmly establish The Hill’s reputation as one of America’s leading boarding schools by generously supporting the essential institutional priorities:

A thousand hands have labored long Mighty visions to fulfill, To shape a dream, to ‘stablish strong This our city on The Hill; In those fair visions we believe What years have builded we receive, And ours shall be the charge to leave Our high honor higher still.

The years go by, and from The Hill Far apart our fates may fall, But pledged shall be our friendship still, Each to each beyond recall; Each one shall do his single best, Each one shall stand her single test,

And ever know that there shall rest Back of each

THE STRENGTH OF ALL. 26 | Keepers The HillofSchool The Hill

T he S trength Student Aid

$50 Million We will invest $50 million in student aid as a powerful tool to shape our student body, drive academic excellence, and ensure that our School remains a magnet for smart, talented, values-based, and hard-working students. We also will ensure that every enrolled student experiences the full range of programs and activities offered at The Hill regardless of financial need.

Hobart’s Run

$5 Million With the addition The in of $5 million Hill Hobart’s Run UND o new endowment, L t e r arn Ente Run weHobart’s will revitalize the School’s surrounding neighborhood – Hobart’s Run – and shape opportunities for our students to interact with and serve the broader Pottstown community.

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Faculty Compensation

$30 Million The addition of $30 millionterinto new to Learn Learn Enter En Hobart’s Run endowment funds will position The Hill to continue recruiting and retaining exceptional teaching faculty by providing compensation that enables us to compete favorably with top independent schools nationwide.

The Hill Fund

$30 Million We will sustain day-to-day excellence at the School The Hill by encouraging increased UND alumni and parent support of The Hill Fund to a total of $30 million over the next five years. The vital Hill Fund supports all aspects of our mission, including campaign expenses.

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of

A ll

Campus Facilities

$60 Million With $60 million in new The The Hill capital investment, Hillwe er to Learn EntHobart’s Run will continue UND developing UND Hobart’s Run our iconic campus in ways that advance our mission and curriculum and promote a dynamic living and learning environment; a setting anchored by a new state of the art science, math, and technology center and curriculum – The Quadrivium; renovated Widener buildings for humanities and visual arts; and a revitalized and expanded Dining Hall.

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F

For more information about The Strength of All Campaign, please contact Christian P. Sockel, Assistant Headmaster of Advancement, at csockel@thehill.org/ 610-705-1005 or Geoffrey A. Neese ’00, director of capital giving, at gneese@thehill.org or 610-705-1194.

View the entire Case for Support online at www.thehill.org/strengthofall.

Look for more information regarding specific projects within each priority to be shared in upcoming issues of Hill Ties; on our website—www.thehill.org; and on Facebook! We look forward to sharing our progress with you.

Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 27

The

H

FU

B rody F ellowships provide life - changing C lassics and H umanities chairs

Touring the Ancient Sites on the Mediterranean as a Family

The Brody Family Fellowship, an endowed fund which supports Hill faculty enrichment and development, was generously established in 2002 by Daniel M. Brody ’69 and his wife, Nancy, parents of Doug Brody ’02. The 2013 and 2014 recipients of the Brody Prize were Kathryn Malone, Ph.D., Elizabeth B. Blossom Chair of Humanities, and Patrick Lake, Ph.D., Isaac Thomas Chair of Classics and head varsity girls’ track coach.

Kathy has been a member of The Hill faculty since 1999. A longtime instructor of history, Kathy was The Hill’s Director of Studies before transitioning to her current role in 2012. Pat arrived at The Hill in 2003 and became Chair of the Classics Department in 2011 following the retirement of Jim “Doc” Finn, Ph.D. Pat and his wife, Tammy, have three children, Nora (9), Chloe (7), and Cormac (5).

Digital Humanities and The Best of Ontario Theatre In the summer of 2013, Kathy Malone, Ph.D., The Hill’s Elizabeth B. Blossom Chair of Humanities, traveled to England to attend a week-long course at Oxford University on the Digital Humanities. Before attending the course, Kathy visited with the Barron P’14, ’16 family in Dulwich Village and had the opportunity to visit The Hill’s sister school, Charterhouse, explore the British Museum, take a seven hour round-trip boat ride from Westminster Pier to Hampton Court, and wander through the National Portrait Gallery and other small galleries in the area.

After arriving at Oxford, Kathy joined a group of colleagues from colleges and universities around the world who are immersed in the world of Humanities. She participated in five days of intense discussion about a multitude of topics including creation, management, analysis, modelling, visualization, and publication of digital humanities data.

Following her visit to England, Kathy traveled to Canada to fulfill a lifelong dream – participation in Yale’s Educational Travels, 28 | Keepers of The Hill

experiences for

by Patrick Lake, Ph.D., Isaac Thomas Chair of the Classics

Kathy Malone, with Kat and Steph Barron ’14

“The Best of Ontario Theatre.” This longestablished annual event is hosted by Yale Drama School Professor Murray Biggs and combines total immersion in more first-rate professional theatre than imaginable. The event includes morning lectures, tours of costume and prop warehouses, and, most fascinating of all, small group meetings with some of the actors themselves.

“I realized as I put all of my summer adventures, made possible by the Brody Fellowship, behind me how the constant process of encountering new works, whether they be books, articles, paintings, music, or plays, and perhaps more important new places and new people, is the essence of learning itself,” Kathy recalled. “I was fortunate to be doing precisely what I want my students to do, and experiencing what I want them to experience in our shared adventures in the Levis ’45 * Alexandre ’75 Center for The Humanities on a daily basis. The Brody Fellowship allowed me to return to my Humanities students reinvigorated and bursting with new ideas and aspirations. It is such a privilege to serve as a guide to those embarked on the greatest human adventure of all, an individual’s discovery of the world and his or her place therein.”

It is a commonplace that travel is a way to lose oneself. It is a departure from home, the routine, the familiar. Think Odysseus in Book 9 of the Odyssey, who literally becomes “nobody,” calling himself that in Greek as a means to survive his encounter with the Cyclops. In my own Mediterranean sojourn, which was generously funded by the Brody Family, I avoid all such crises of identity.

Unlike Odysseus, I was always grounded in the familiar, despite the foreignness of my surroundings. As travel companions I took my wife, Tammi, and our children, Nora, Chloe, and Cormac, on a tour of the Mediterranean.

Our first port-of-call was Cannes. Here we climbed Le Sequet, home of the city’s old quarter, and a former Roman military fort, an opportune location given its commanding view of the bay and the famous Croisette. We then toured the rest of the lower city, including the site of the city’s eponymous film festival, and contented ourselves thoroughly with the decadence that is southern French culture.

Nearly cured of our jet lag, we prepared ourselves for Italy on the next day.

We arrived the next morning in the port of Livorno. From here, we toured Tuscany, where the highlight was our tour in Volterra of a 1st century BC Roman theater, dedicated to Augustus himself, and a 4th century bathing complex, all of which, in the typical pastiche of Italy, lay beneath the town’s still functioning medieval wall.

The next day, we toured the eternal city: Rome.

We began our tour with a panoramic view of the city atop the Janiculum Hill, followed by the Piazza Navona, home of Bernini’s magnificent baroque Fountain of the Four Rivers. After the Piazza Navona, we toured by private car as much of Rome as is possible to fit into a single day, including the Pantheon, the Colosseum, and the collections of the

Ancient World: The Temple of Artemis.

The highlight of the visit for me was the Terrace Houses. These houses date from the Roman period and are the most extravagant, extant showpieces of ancient imperial (private) wealth that I have ever seen. Even the finest dwellings of Pompeii paled in The Lake family overlooking Rome on the Janiculum Hill comparison to the lavish proportions Vatican Museum. It is impossible to visit The and appointments of these residences. Every Vatican and remain the same person. Its many interior wall contained ornate frescoes and masterpieces are transformative for the viewer, every floor was covered in finely tiled mosaics. as they shatter previously held expectations of aesthetic beauty and open up a new world of transcendent beauty. Intimately aware of our own humanity, we turned to the concerns of our bellies. With an obligatory gelato to round out the day, we were at sea once again.

Our next destination was Athens. Our first stop in the city was The New Acropolis Museum, a favorite of mine. After The Museum, we saw the genuine article itself: The Acropolis.

We entered the Propylaea and surveyed the ruins of the Erechtheion and The Parthenon, a building that, despite its ruined state, still awes the modern eye with its divine proportions, elegant simplicity, and sober command over the surrounding landscape. Finally, we did a thorough survey of The Agora, the center of public life in Athens, including Socrates’ activity as a philosopher. In 2011, I completed my Ph.D. writing on Plato’s citations of Homer in his Republic, a dialogue which features Socrates as the main interlocutor. For me, to be in the place where this great philosopher lived, was imprisoned, and died was a deeply meaningful experience and one I will return to often in the classroom.

The next day we arrived in Ephesus in modern day Turkey. This ancient city is a treasure for anyone interested in the ancient world, as one traces its history as Lydian, Persian, Greek, Macedonian, Roman, Byzantine, and Turkish possession. Most famously, the city is the home of one of The Seven Wonders of the

visit to the Villa San Marco in Stabiae, a town buried by Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. This particular villa is completely off of the typical tourist’s itinerary. Our only company for the length of our visit was a team of archaeologists who were excavating the site. With the day and the trip coming to a close, we made our way back to port—but not before having authentic Neapolitan pizza—and began our journey back to Pottstown.

It sounds like a cliché to call the trip that we took one of a lifetime, but that is what it was.

I know that I cannot fully express the debt of gratitude I have towards the Brody family or

The Library of Celsus was the other truly impressive monument to the Roman period of Ephesus and a clear indicator of the city’s status as a center of learning. The library once held an estimated 15,000 volumes. The façade has been completely restored and is punctuated by a series of personifications of the virtues.

Our final stop in the Eastern Mediterranean was the island of Santorini, the jewel of the Aegean. Put quite simply, I have never been to a more beautiful place. The views atop Oia, the highest point on the island, were other-worldly.

And yet, despite the raw physical beauty of Santorini, it is most famous historically as a site of destruction. As is so often the case, however, ancient tragedy yields modern understanding.

Today, Santorini houses a magnificent collection of Minoan frescoes and artifacts in its Museum. Santorini was undoubtedly one of the favorite stops on the itinerary for the entire family.

After Santorini, we had a day at sea to reflect before we reached the final leg of the tour: Naples. Our first stop on this day was Pompeii.

We arrived before the site was open at 8:15 a.m., and we were rewarded by being the first to enter the gates of the ancient city.

We gained unobstructed views of the ancient forum, the meat market, public baths, and so on. The tour of the site took the majority of the day, but we were still able to set aside some time in the late afternoon for a special treat: a

Pat in front of the Library of Celsus in Ephesus

The Hill School. I returned home from this trip with experiences to reflect on for the rest of my life. Every day I teach, I find a new avenue of insight opened up by this trip. It has enriched my life both as an individual and as a professional in a ways that I could only imagine previously. To have touched on so many periods of history and to have witnessed first-hand so many relics of the past in so short a time, provided me with an understanding I could have never gained at home in the library.

Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 29

Hill Athletics

Leveling the playing fields Over the course of one year, The Hill School’s Far Fields became one of the finest high school athletics complexes in the region. This transformation began with the construction of two artificial turf fields, Harry L. Price Field and Briggs S. Cunningham ’26 ’50 Field, and William West Hauser ’81 Track in the summer of 2013. By the time fall preseason athletics practices began on August 24, 2014, a new parking lot and the Lehrman ’56 Pavilion had been completed, making the Far Fields unrecognizable compared to what stood just 15 months earlier. A major change occurred on campus, as well. With Hauser Track’s construction on the Far Fields, Colbath Track was removed from its location on campus proper and replaced by a professional-caliber soccer pitch.

Price and Cunningham Turf Fields Building at least one artificial turf field was the top priority for the School when discussions about the athletics facilities improvements began. Several of The Hill’s peer schools, including all other MAPL Schools, have a turf field, as do many area public schools. Additionally, The Hill’s teams struggled on the road when playing against opponents who did not have to adjust to playing on artificial turf. Thanks to the generosity of several donors, enough money was raised for the construction of two, state-of-the art turf fields at the Far Fields.

Perhaps no Hill team has benefitted from the turf fields more than field hockey, as both the varsity and JV field hockey teams call a turf field home. As a ball rolling sport, artificial turf is the preferred surface for field hockey as it is faster and more consistent than grass. Additionally, the vast majority of youth, high school, and college field hockey programs now play on artificial turf fields. Prior to Cunningham Field’s construction, the field hockey team often was at a disadvantage

30 | Athletics

when playing on the road as most of Hill’s opponents play on turf, and the team needed to rent time at the local 422 SportsPlex to properly prepare for away games played on turf.

The varsity field hockey team finished the inaugural 2013 season on Cunningham Field with a 12-4 overall record and won the MAPL Championship. The girls’ home record that season was a perfect 7-0.

Kathleen Carmichael ’15, a three-year student from nearby Perkiomenville and co-captain of the 2014 field hockey team, played the final season on the grass field as well as the first two seasons on Cunningham Field. Carmichael, who also plays for a high-level club field hockey team, noted the immediate impact practicing and playing on turf on a daily basis had on the program.

“When field hockey is played on turf, it places a greater emphasis on skill and increases the pace of the game,”

Carmichael explained. “After playing my first season of Hill field hockey on grass, I had the chance to directly experience the impact that Cunningham Field has had on the field hockey program. With the new turf, we have been able to focus more on improving our skills, sharpening our passes, and playing at a faster level.”

Turf fields also have positively impacted the lacrosse programs. Both the varsity boys’ and girls’ lacrosse teams utilize the turf fields in the spring, with the boys’ playing on Harry L. Price Field and the girls’ calling Cunningham Field home. Boys’ lacrosse co-captain Zach Keller ’15 has been on the varsity team since his third form year, and spent his first two seasons playing on the natural grass Dell Field before experiencing the difference of Harry L. Price field as a fifth former.

“The School’s turf fields have been a tremendous upgrade to our athletics facilities,” Keller said. “I have great memories of Dell Field, but it does not compare to Harry L. Price Field.

It’s great not having to worry about bad field conditions during the spring, which is typically a rainy season. Playing on turf is much nicer, as well, as you’re able to cut and dodge more quickly, goalies typically get a better read on where bounce shots are going, and ground balls are much easier to field. The lights at the turf fields also allow for exciting night games and other activities that weren’t possible before.”

Like field hockey, lacrosse is now commonly played on turf fields. According to head varsity girls’ lacrosse coach Shannon Summers ’05, having turf fields to practice and play on similarly benefits the lacrosse teams by eliminating the adjustment to playing on turf on the road.

“Most teams we play against have had turf for a few years, and we would be at a disadvantage when playing on the road,” Summers said. “Now, we are on an even playing field with those teams. The turf is a huge benefit for our program.”

The turf fields paid immediate dividends for the lacrosse programs as inclement weather was a frequent occurrence during the spring of 2014. After a snowy winter, the campus’ grass fields were soggier than normal early in the season due to snow melt, and rain was frequent throughout the season.

In prior seasons, the rain and subsequent poor field conditions would have drastically altered each team’s schedule and forced the teams to practice in Mercer Fieldhouse. With turf fields, however, the teams rarely were forced inside for practice, which was especially important early in the season.

“Turf also provides us a consistent surface to practice on, rain or shine,” Summers said. “This is especially important early in the season when we cannot afford to lose practice time in preparation for our early-season games.”

Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 31

Hill Athletics

Briggs S. Cunningham ’26 ’50 Field and William West Hauser ’81 Track

William West Hauser ’81 Track Ushers in New Era Track and field is one of the oldest sports at The Hill, with the first school record in the sport dating back to 1888. For more than 100 years the track was located on the campus’ east end. In 1985 the cinder track was replaced with an all-weather surface and named Colbath Track in memory of Henry Colbath, who coached track at The Hill from 1910 until 1952.

A quarter-century later, Colbath Track’s base had become so damaged that the track could not be properly maintained.

Constructing a new track became a high priority.

Two options for a new track were discussed: rebuild the track in its existing location, or build an entirely new facility at the Far Fields. After much discussion, the Athletics Department and head track coaches Bill Yinger ’95 and Pat Lake decided to build a new facility at the more spacious Far Fields. The School contracted the highly reputable track construction company ATT Sports, where Tony Cunningham ’78 is president, to build the facility.

Former trustee Mr. Kurt Hauser ’56 P’81 GP ’14, ’15 served as the facility’s lead donor and named the track William West Hauser ’81 Track in memory of his son, Bill Hauser ’81, who passed away in 2003.

Hauser Track is one of the finest track and field facilities in the region, including collegiate facilities. The eight-lane, sandwich surface track was configured so that on most days athletes will run with the wind at their back on the home stretch, opposed to Colbath Track’s layout that typically forced athletes to finish a race

32 | Athletics

into the wind. Two sand pits for the horizontal jumps stand outside of the track in the facility’s southeast corner to allow boys’ and girls’ jumping events to run simultaneously without interfering with running events, and D-zones were built at each end of the track for the vertical jumps. The throwing circles also are outside of the track, minimizing the risk of a stray implement striking a spectator.

Hill runners quickly noted Hauser Track’s quality during early practices in March of 2014, and visiting teams marveled at the new facility throughout the season.

“The new surface on Hauser Track is incomparable to that of the old track,” said Nick Pearson ’15. “It feels like you’re running on a cloud on the new track. I am sure that several records will fall on the new, faster surface.”

With many alumni in attendance, William West Hauser ’81 Track was dedicated prior to the annual Hill Relays meet on April 5, 2014. The boys’ and girls’ teams both tied for first out of eight teams at the meet, making for a memorable dedication day. The inaugural season on Hauser Track concluded with both Hill teams finishing third out of 16 schools at the PAISAA Championship meet, signifying a new era for Hill Track and Field that many hoped would come with the new track.

“As fine a facility that we could hope to play on” For more than 50 years, The Hill’s varsity soccer teams played home matches on the infield of Colbath Track. By 2013, the

For Athletics schedules, scores, and recaps of games visit: www.thehill.org/scoresandschedules

surface had become inconsistent and difficult to play on. A major challenge that players faced was the bumpy surface that made passing unpredictable. Courtney Logar ’15, a four-year letter winner as a defender on the varsity girls’ soccer team, often found herself hesitating when receiving a pass for fear that the ball would unexpectedly bounce over her foot and lead to a scoring opportunity for the opposing team.

“The old field presented many challenges when it came to passing on the ground,” Logar said. “The back center is one of the most important areas on the field. If the ball bounced unexpectedly, we ran the risk of losing possession in a bad spot on the field.”

Low-lying areas also caused areas of the old field to retain water during inclement weather. Rather than attempt to repair the existing structure, an entirely new surface and drainage system was installed following Colbath Track’s removal in June of 2013. The capped surface, improved drainage, and new sod transformed the once-inconsistent surface into a pristine one that allows players to move the ball with more confidence.

“I can definitely say that the new grass has been very beneficial,” Logar said. “I never had to worry about the ball taking unexpected bounces on the new field, which made me play with more confidence.”

No longer confined by the track, the new pitch’s dimensions are consistent with professional standards at 120 yards long by 75 yards wide: 10 yards longer and 12 yards wider than the old field. A large, soccer-specific scoreboard also was installed at the east end of the field next to Foster Dormitory. In one summer, The Hill became a destination for both high-level opponents and top recruits.

“Once our new playing surfaces were constructed, top clubs from all over the east became interested in coming here to play us,” said head varsity boys’ soccer coach Chris Drowne ’89. “The match pitch surface is as fine as any we could hope to play on, including the English stadiums we visit on our bi-annual trips abroad. Additionally, the combination of high quality soccer and a first-rate pitch has made us a destination program for the area’s stronger youth players.”

The soccer teams also occasionally utilize Harry L. Price Field for practices and matches. Having the option to practice on a turf field prior to visiting an opponent that plays on turf is a major advantage for The Hill, as players no longer have to spend the first 15 minutes of an away game adapting to the different pace and feel of turf. Additionally, home matches no longer are cancelled due to rain with turf fields being available on campus.

Having a turf field with lights allows the Athletic Department to schedule games at times that do not cause players to miss valuable class time. This is especially helpful late in the season after daylight savings time has taken effect, as it allows the School to host Pennsylvania Independent School Athletic Association (PAISAA) State Playoff games in November without students having to miss class so the game could be played during daylight hours. The lit fields also allow varsity teams to practice longer during Lawrenceville Week; in the past, teams were confined to one-hour practices leading up to the Lawrenceville game because of darkness.

“Knowing that we can train or compete in any weather, at any time has given us the flexibility to not miss classes or have to cancel matches, which is invaluable at the stage of the season where you simply cannot fit in a makeup game, or late in the list when having to play a post-season match before it gets too dark would pull players out of important classes,” Drowne explained.

Soccer Pitch

Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 33

Lehrman ’56 Pavilion Completes Transformation The final facility constructed on the Far Fields was the Lehrman ’56 Pavilion. The building is named in honor of Lew Lehrman ’56, who was the project’s lead donor along with his wife, Louise.

In all, nine Hill alumni or Hill families donated funds for the pavilion’s construction. Richard McElhiney ’71 served as the project architect. Groundbreaking took place early in the spring of 2014, and the Pavilion opened on August 24, 2014, the first day of fall preseason athletics practices. An official dedication ceremony took place on Saturday, November 8 during The Hill vs. Lawrenceville day.

Located near Harry L. Price Field, Briggs S. Cunningham ’26 ’50 Field, and William West Hauser ’81 Track, Lehrman ’56 Pavilion is easily accessible from all of the Far Fields facilities.

A 360 degree viewing balcony gives spectators an aerial view of these three facilities, and allows spectators to watch multiple games from one location.

The Lehrman’56 Pavilion fulfills many logistical needs that had been lacking at the Far Fields since long before the new facilities were built. The primary need the Lehrman ’56 Pavilion addresses is permanent restrooms, as visitors no longer need to use porta-potties. The facility also contains two team changing rooms, the Ram Shack snack bar, and a small storage room.

Assistant director of athletics and head field hockey coach Julie deLaurentis notes the pavilion’s overall impact for both the School and The Hill’s athletics teams that use the Far Fields.

“The Pavilion is a tremendous addition to the Far Fields Athletics Complex,” deLaurentis said. “The ability for teams to use one of the team rooms during the season allows teams to have their own space for pre and post-game talks, for ‘chalk talk’ sessions during practice, and moreover a space for a team to make their own. During the field hockey season, we decorated the room, put our team goals on the board, and used the space to bond as a team.”

Boys’ soccer defends PAISAA crown On Saturday, November 15, 2014, the varsity boys’ soccer team defeated Mercersburg Academy 1-0 to win the team’s second consecutive PAISAA State Championship. Zach Keller ’15 scored in overtime to give Hill the upset victory over the previously undefeated Blue Storm. Hill finished the season with a record of 16 wins, 3 losses, and 2 ties, capping an impressive four-year stretch in which the program’s record is 67 wins, 11 losses, and 4 ties.

34 | Athletics

O ldest

swimming record falls

Y oung R ecord -S etters L ead G irls ’ T rack T eam Over the past three seasons, the girls’ outdoor track and field program has seen an influx of young talent that has propelled the program to recently unseen levels of success. The girls’ have finished second in the Mid-Atlantic Prep League (MAPL) two of the past three years, and in the top four of the Pennsylvania Independent School Athletic Association (PAISAA) state championship meet in the past two seasons. This season, two record-setting athletes combined to score 41 percent of the team’s cumulative points: Hannah Cummings ’17 and Rachel Schaaf ’18.

Sterg Dikos ’15, Alberto Mestre ’17, Chris Schiavone ’16, and Ryan Owens ’16 immediately after winning the gold medal at the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming Championships.

Heading into the season, head swimming coach Jay Spencer ’84 knew that he had a fast, talented core of boys’ swimmers, especially in the sprints. For the Hill Relays meet on Saturday, December 13, Spencer decided to load the boys’ 200 Free Relay in an attempt at breaking the school record in the event, which was set in 1979 and stood as the oldest school and pool record in program history. Spencer’s decision paid off, as the relay of Ryan Owens ’16, Sterg Dikos ’15, Alberto Mestre ’17, and Chris Schiavone ’16 posted a time of 1:25:69 to better the previous record, set at the same meet in 1979 by Andrew Campbell ’80, Jodi Moore ’80, Tony Campbell ’80, and Greg Salomon ’80, by a quarter-second. The Hill quartet dominated the event, winning by seven seconds. According to Spencer, however, the intention of loading the relay was more than winning the race; it was to break the record.

“It seemed like the time was right on Saturday to make a run at the record, and the boys’ came through with flying colors,” Spencer said. “It takes concentration and precision on the part of all four athletes to have that kind of performance – one small slip by any of them, and it won’t happen. I’m very proud of them and am excited for the rest of the season.”

Cummings, who had not competed in track prior to her third form year, quickly demonstrated her potential as a thrower. She emerged as a national-caliber javelin thrower this past season, qualifying for the New Balance National Meet in the event.

Cummings finished the regular season undefeated in the javelin and bettered the previous school record of 113’3” held by Emily Bless ’05 four times, culminating with a personal best 126’2” in the PAISAA Championship. By season’s end she had topped 100’ in the discus twice and is within striking distance of the school record in that event.

Schaaf, a Hill School legacy and resident of nearby Phoenixville, came to The Hill as a known talent because of her success in local AAU meets. An outstanding hurdler and jumper, Schaaf broke the 14 year old school record in the triple jump, winning the event at the PAISAA Championship with a lifetime-best leap of 37’0”. Schaaf was at her best when the stakes were highest. She won four events in the Lawrenceville dual meet and scored 36 of a possible 40 points at the MAPL Championship, winning the 100 meter hurdles and triple jump and finishing second in the long jump and high jump.

Cummings and Schaaf are just two of many young talents on the girls’ team that have the coaching staff excited about the coming seasons.

The group lowered their event record multiple times throughout the course of the season, culminating with a gold medal in the event at the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming Championships on Saturday, February 21 in a time of 1:23:45.

The same group also won Easterns gold in the 400 Free Relay, and Owens won the 200 Freestyle in a school record time of 1:39:33 to become the program’s first Easterns gold medalist since Frank Hogan ’83 in 1983.

Girls’ track record setters Hannah Cummings ’17 (left) and Rachel Schaaf ’18 (right)

Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 35

A thletics H A LL OF FA ME 2014 I nduction C er emon y

On Friday, November 7, The Hill School held its third annual Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony as a part of the School’s Hill vs. Lawrenceville rivalry weekend. Approximately 120 guests returned to campus to honor the four individuals and one team inducted into the 2014 Hill School Hall of Fame class, which includes William Leckonby ’58; Jamieson Slough ’90; William Porter ’44; longtime baseball coach Dr. James Finn; and the undefeated 1963-64 basketball team.

A thlete : W illi a m R. L eckonby ’58 Bill Leckonby was known for both his athleticism and natural leadership during his three years at Hill. He was a member of the undefeated 1955 and 1957 football teams, and as quarterback was the high scorer on the 1957 squad, scoring both touchdowns in the team’s 12-7 victory over Lawrenceville. He also was a defensive back and kicker, acting as a true triple-threat player. Bill consistently was the high scorer of the basketball team and was the baseball team’s number one pitcher, defeating Lawrenceville in five consecutive starts over the course of three baseball seasons. Bill won the Riley Award at the 1958 Commencement ceremony.

36 | The Hill School

A thlete : J a mieson J. S lough ’90 Jamie Slough was a dominant force on the soccer field, squash courts, and lacrosse field throughout his Hill career. He graduated as both the single-season and career goal scoring record holder for soccer, having led the team in scoring during both his fifth and sixth form years. Jamie was a two-time squash school champion during some of the squash team’s strongest years, and was both an All-State and All-American lacrosse player. Jamie went on to play both squash and lacrosse at the United States Naval Academy, where he was a seven-time All-American in the two sports.

C oach : J a mes K. F in n , P h .D. James Finn, better known as “Doc,” was the head baseball coach from 1979 until 2011 and led the baseball program to unprecedented success in the late 1980s and the 1990s.

Between 1986 and 1999, the baseball team’s record was 188 wins, 46 losses, and 2 ties, with three teams finishing undefeated. In a six-year stretch from 1994 – 99, the team won five Independent School state championships, and finished as runner-up once. Numerous players from this era moved on to play Division I college baseball, with seven being drafted

by Major League Baseball clubs. Doc was inducted into the Tri-County Area Hall of Fame in 2008.

E xtr aor dina ry S ports A chiev ement : W illi a m F. Porter ’44 Though Bill Porter was a record-setting hurdler during his time at The Hill, he is best known for winning the gold medal in the 110 meter high hurdles in the 1948 Olympics.

After graduating from The Hill, Bill Porter’s daughter, Luanne, accepted the award on behalf of Bill ran collegiately her father. Also pictured is granddaughter Jaycee Porter. for Northwestern University. In 1947, he finished second in the 220 yard low hurdles at the NCAA meet, equaling the world-record time of 22.5 seconds. Bill qualified for the 1948 Olympics in the 110 meter hurdles by defeating gold medal favorite Harrison Dillard, who had won his previous 82 hurdle races. Bill won the gold medal in a then-Olympic record time of 13.9 seconds.

Te a m : 1963-64 B a sk etba ll

The 1964 basketball team finished the season with a perfect 17-0 record: no Hill basketball team has finished the season undefeated since. The team’s 17 wins were a program record at the time. Hill dominated the competition that year, as their margin of victory was more than 10 points in all but four games. Three victories came against college freshman or JV teams, including a thrilling two-point victory over the Kutztown University freshman team in the final game of the season. Captain Tom Northrup ’64 set a new program single-season scoring record with 372 points, an average of 22 points per game.

Members of the undefeated 1964 basketball team: Lenny Simpson ’68, Brad Oliver ’64, Tom Chen ’64, Bill Dickey ’65, Jim Matthews ’66, Tom Northrup ’64, Bob Sloan ’64, Neil Tytler ’65

In late April, The Hill celebrated the dedication of the recently renovated Jim Long Field prior to the varsity softball game vs. Lawrenceville. Mr. Long was a beloved teacher, dorm parent, and coach at The Hill for 30 years from 1977 until his unexpected passing in July 2007. During the final four years of his life, he was The Hill’s head varsity softball coach.

Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 37

From the Archives This DeVeau telephone has been the property of The Hill School since around 1900.

This “candlestick” style phone has been noted in photographs to have adorned many headmasters’ desks. The buttons on the phone base are labeled with names such as Hillside, Cottage, Laundry, Infirmary, Doctor, Power House, Carpenter, Office, Steno. (stenographer/ secretary?), W.Wing, E.Wing, W.N.B. (West New Building), E.N.B. (East New Building), and a few others. “The New Building” is what they called Upper School for quite some time after it was built in 1910. The West Wing and East Wing were parts of Middle School, which was a building that was once situated where the Academic Center is presently located.

The phone was rewired for modern telephone circuitry and made operational in May 1979, courtesy of Mr. John D. Gray, father of John D. Gray, Jr., class of 1979. This phone was salvaged from the debris after the great fire of 1973 in the Old Meigs Home/Main Building. It was on Headmaster Charles Watson’s desk at the time. This remarkable artifact is currently on display in the restored Pacanovsky cabinet which can be found on campus in the Class of 1960 Alumni House.

About the Archives

Louis Jeffries, librarian and director of the archives, with Mary Selan P ’09, assistant archivist

The Hill School Archives are currently located on the fourth floor of the John P. Ryan Library, the old Librarian’s quarters at one time. The Archives staff has mounted many framed pictures on the walls of the stairway leading to the Archives balcony. Display cases exhibiting some of our prized artifacts are located in the hallway outside the Humphrey Family Writing Center on the third f loor.

A portion of the School’s Archives collection is available online at www.thehill.org/archives. We are pleased to share some of Hill’s extensive history with the School community, alumni, and friends of the School.

A majority of the Archives holdings consists of printed matter, photographs, yearbooks, school and student publications, scrapbooks, audiovisual materials, artifacts, and textiles.

Hill Ties – Spring 2015 | 79

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