The Horace Mann Record HORACE MANN’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1903
MAY 3RD, 2019 || VOLUME 116, ISSUE 25
RECORD.HORACEMANN.ORG
Jordan Roth ‘93 discusses activism Henry Owens and Gabby Kepnes Staff Writers
Courtesy of the Harvard Alumni Website
BIG SHOTS New Chairman of the Board Larry Grafstein with his wife Rebecca Grafstein.
Larry Grafstein becomes the new Chairman of Board of Trustees Vivien Sweet Staff Writer
INSIDE
Chairman of the school’s Board of Trustees Michael Colacino ‘75 P’22 announced not only his departure from the board, but also his replacement: Board of Trustees member Larry Grafstein P’11 P’12 P’15, at the annual Faculty and Trustee Dinner, last Thursday, much to the surprise of the attendees. Colacino is stepping down from the position after 11 years of dedicated service on the board, including four years as Board Chair, Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly said. Grafstein, who has been on the board for 11 years, has served as the Co-Chair of the annual fund among other positions, some of which involve the school’s legal scandals over the past decade, Grafstein said. Colacino, who described the dinner as his favorite night of the year as Board Chair, retired from the board primarily because he had accomplished two of his key goals this year, he said. “We had completed the new buildings, and we had hit our first major goal in the capital campaign,” he said. “It seemed like an appropriate endpoint.” Under Colacino’s tenure on the board, the board raised threequarters of the money needed for Friedman Hall and the other renovations necessary in the gym facilities such as the pool, he said. Grafstein believes that Michael’s accomplishments as the chairman were extremely impressive, especially HM in Motion, he said. “Sometimes construction projects don’t happen in a timely fashion, but Michael was able to finish the ambitious fundraising aspect and made the facilities ready for people to use,” he said. Since the construction consisted of 100,000 square feet of new instructional space, Kelly thinks that Colacino’s experience in areas of real estate and development were a blessing, he said. “As the project nears completion,
the fact that we are projecting a budget over run of less than one percent is nothing short of miraculous,” Kelly said. “That’s an accomplishment almost unheard of in the construction industry.” Additionally, through this major project, Colacino was able to bring together many of the school’s families in supporting the campaign, Board of Trustees member Justin Lerer ‘[insert] P’[insert] said. “Michael was really just perfectly suited to this project, and he pulled it off phenomenally well.” “From handling issues large and small, everyone admires his leadership for being communicative and decisive,” Board of Trustees member Samantha Cooper Brand said. She believes that Colacino left an incredible impression on the board and the future generations of Horace Mann, she said. According to Colacino and Lerer, the board’s Committee on Trustees and Governance unanimously selected Grafstein through a series of interviews and discussions with the other Board members. “Larry has been on the board for a long time, and he was kind of a consensus choice,” Colacino said. “There was nobody really who thought he wasn’t the best guy for the job.” Lerer hopes that Grafstein has “the opportunity to meet as many people in the school’s community as he can, so that they can see what a kind, thoughtful, and highly intelligent person he is,” he said. “Mr. Grafstein has the breadth of experience to lead HM into the future as we absorb the many changes to the physical structures and academic programs that have happened recently,” said Brand. According to Kelly, similar to previous board chairs, Grafstein’s responsibilities include “the oversight of the school’s operations in conjunction with the Head of School, the School’s finances, and ensuring the School’s compliance
2020 Politics
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Julia Hornstein (12) discusses Democratic presidential candidates.
with applicable state and federal laws,” he said. Grafstein himself is looking forward to building on the tremendous tradition of leadership and education that the school has, he said. He believes that “the urgent cannot eclipse the important,” a phrase that he and Dr. Kelly thinks fits the school well, he said. “Now that we’ve finished HM in Motion, there’s an opportunity to take a pause to think about types of next generation educational innovation that enables us to continue to differentiate ourselves as one of the top schools in the country,” Grafstein said. Moving forward, Colacino hopes that Grafstein will continue the work that he started on finding a way to endow financial aid, he said. Colacino thinks that financial aid benefits students on many different levels as well as “improving the diversity of the student body,” he said. However, Colacino thinks that raising money just for financial aid as opposed to a more tangible thing as a building is especially difficult, he said. “A natural goal of the school should be to make it so that it’s easier to admit more students who don’t have the money,” Colacino said. “Some of our best and brightest kids receive financial aid.” Fortunately, as Board Chair, Grafstein aims to keep the school dynamic and forward looking, while simultaneously keeping critical “tried and true” values of the school, he said. These values include facilitating diversity, staying ahead on intellectual trends, and providing the most holistic range of extracurricular activities for students, he said. “With every new Board Chair, there comes a renewed enthusiasm in the work that needs to be done on behalf of a great school always looking to be even greater,” Kelly said.
Getting Educated
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School teachers discuss the mentors who inspired them.
As part of the Community Council’s (CC) Career Lecture Series, Jordan Roth ‘93 came to talk to students on Wednesday about his job on Broadway as a producer and as the President of Jujamcyn Theatres. Roth has won four Tony Awards for shows he’s produced, and he currently oversees five Broadway theatres. Jaden Kirshner (10), a member of the CC, created the Career Lecture Initiative, which brings people with unique careers to the school to talk to students about the many available career options. “Jordan Roth came to mind because he has this job where he mixes business and theatre; he runs theatres and he’s a producer,” said Kirshner. “I think it’s really unique because we don’t always see these interdisciplinary careers.” The CC thought Roth’s career was significant to talk about because it involves both activism and also theater production, Chair of the CC Jeren Wei (12), said. “I think that since HM is such an academic environment, art sometimes doesn’t get a lot of the attention that it deserves,” Wei said. The event was formatted as a Q&A, with Kirshner and Natalie Sweet (10) moderating G and H periods respectively, as well as an opportunity for audience questions at the end. “When Jaden invited me to come, I said ‘Let’s make it a Q&A,’ because I wanted to be able to bounce off of what is interesting and meaningful to the students here,” said Roth. One large topic of discussion was education. Roth received his undergraduate degree in philosophy and later obtained a degree in business. Although philosophy was not something that led to a specific career, Roth uses what he learned almost every day in his work, he said. “Don’t decide what you need to know before you know it,” Roth said. “I like how he approached college, Griffin Smith/Staff Photographer
CC HOSTS Jordan Roth speaking during a Career Lecture Series period.
Spring Sports
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saying that you don’t know what you like until you try it. I think that’s a good way to think about the future,” Priyanka Voruganti (11), who attended the event, said. Another reason the CC chose Roth was because the school is planning a Pride Week celebrating LGBTQ issues, Wei said. Jordan Roth is an advocate for issues related to the LGBTQ community, so the event is a nice introduction to Pride Week, Wei said. One thing that differentiates Roth from previous speakers from the CC’s Career Lecture Series is that he is an alum of the school, Kirshner said. “We prepared some questions about how Horace Mann influenced his career path,” Kirshner said. “I think those questions will add a new level to the event, and Roth can connect better with the students,” he said. “I’m always happy to come back to Horace Mann because I had a really seminal experience here,” Roth said. “I’m also always happy to talk with students and younger people who want to think about how to find their creativity in their life and/or in their profession.” Kirshner hopes that students who attended the event learned that there are a lot of careers out there that aren’t just medicine or sports, he said. “If a student has two interests and they think, ‘I don’t know what to do,’ Roth can tell students and let them know that maybe there’s something that mixes their interests,” he said. Ben Rosenbaum (12) appreciated Roth’s advice to not limit yourself to one creative outlet. “[Roth] said to show your whole canvas, the complete and the incomplete,” he said. “I hope that students who I engaged with will take with them an ambition to activate all parts of themselves that are exciting and meaningful, and not just pick one or pick the easiest or pick the one with the clearest path, but to see how many of them they can activate and engage,” Roth said.
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