Hotchkiss Magazine Fall 2014

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Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage

PAID Permit No. 36

11 I N T E R L A K E N R O A D LAKEVILLE, CT 06039-2141 (860) 435-2591 w w w. h o t c h k i s s . o r g

Pittsfield, MA

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THE BOARD

OF G OVERNORS SEEKS AWARD NOMINATIONS

The responsibilities of the Board of Governors span many aspects of alumni life, including identifying and selecting recipients of the Hotchkiss School Alumni Award and the Community Service Award. In this spirit, the Awards Committee of the Board of Governors invites you to help us identify potential nominees.

Our growing alumni community spans generations and continents – people with countless experiences, adventures, and accomplishments. Whether through a Facebook news feed, serendipitous run-in, or planned get-together, we as alumni are ideally positioned to hear about and promote the achievements of other Hotchkiss graduates.

Please take a few minutes to think through your Hotchkiss friends and network, and alert us to the endeavors of those who may be a current or future fit for either our Alumni Award or Community Service Awards. Descriptions of each, along with a brief nomination form, can be found online here: www.hotchkiss.org/alumni/alumni-recognition/index.aspx

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save the date.

Board of Trustees Thomas C. Barry P’01,’03,’05 John Coumantaros ’80, P’16 Ian R. Desai ’00 Thomas J. Edelman ’69, P’06,’07 William R. Elfers ’67, Vice President John E. Ellis III ’74 Diana Gomez ’76, P’11,’12

EMERITI

Caldwell Hart ’87

Howard C. Bissell ’55, P’82

Keith Holmes ’77

John R. Chandler, Jr. ’53, P’82,’85,’87, GP’10

Nisa Leung Lin ’88

Frederick Frank ’50, P’12

Alessandra Nicolas ’95

David L. Luke III ’41 Dr. Robert A. Oden, Jr. P’97

Nichole Phillips ’89 VP and Chair, Alumni of Color Committee

Francis T. Vincent, Jr. ’56, P’85

Emily Pressman ’98

Arthur W. White P’71,’74, GP’08,’11

Chip Quarrier ’90

Edward Greenberg ’55 Kevin M. Hicks, Ex Officio Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet ’85

Alumni Association Board of Governors

Sheria Smith ’01 David Tan ’91 Michael Thompson ’66

Kendra S. O’Donnell Thomas S. Quinn III '71, P'15,'17

Lance Beizer ’56

Jean Weinberg Rose ’80, President

Miriam Beveridge ’86

Roger K. Smith ’78, P’08

Doug Campbell ’71 Secretary and Chair, Membership Subcommittee of the Nominating Committee

Marjo Talbott John L. Thornton ’72, P’10,’11,’16 Officer-at-Large William B. Tyree ’81, P’14, Treasurer Daniel Wilner '03 Stephanie Bowling Zeigler ’84, Ex Officio

Adam Casella ’06 Robert Chartener ’76 Charlotte Dillon ’10 Patricia Barlerin Farman-Farmaian ’85 VP and Chair, Gender Committee Mark Gall ’59 Peter Gifford ’93

September 25-27, 2015

Bryan Small ’03

Christina Bechhold ’03 VP, Chair, Nominating Committee

Jane Sommers-Kelly ’81

Classes of 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1960, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010

Tom Seidenstein ’91 Chair, Alumni Services Committee

Ed Greenberg ’55 President

Christopher H. Meledandri ’77, Vice President

June 12-14, 2015

Casey Reid ’01 VP and Chair, Communications Committee

Sean M. Gorman ’72, Secretary John P. Grube '65, P'00

REUNIONS

Class of 1965 - 50th Reunion Class of 1955 - 60th Reunion

Carolyn Toolan ’97

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS

Kevin M. Hicks, Head of School Katie Berlandi ’88 Past President, Alumni Association Dan Pullman ’76 Past President, Alumni Association Stephanie Bowling Zeigler ’84, President, The Hotchkiss Fund Jean Weinberg Rose ’80, President, Board of Trustees

ABOVE: Photographed at the Board of Trustees meeting in May were, from left: front row, Kendra O’Donnell, Marjo Talbott, Kevin Hicks, Jean Rose, Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet, Elizabeth Hines, and John Thornton; middle row, Edward Greenberg, Roger Smith, Stephanie Zeigler, Larry Flinn, Tom Edelman, Eleanor Long, Ian Desai, and John Coumantaros; and back row, Sean Gorman, William Tyree, John Ellis, William Elfers, Thomas Barry, and Forrest Mars.

For more information, contact Megan Denault ’03, Associate Director of Alumni Relations, at (860) 435-3114 or mdenault@hotchkiss.org.

Visit www.hotchkiss.org/alumni (click on Events & Reunions)

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

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COVER PHOTO: WENDY CARLSON

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F On Taft Day 2014, Hotchkiss teams finish strong, 6-4-0; see page 9.

HEAD OF SCHOOL

Dr. Kevin M. Hicks EDITOR

Roberta Jenckes DESIGNER

Christine Koch, Boost Studio CLASS NOTES EDITOR

Divya Symmers

The Hotchkiss School does not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, religion, race, color, sexual orientation, or national orientation in the administration of its educational policies, athletics, or other school-administered programs, or in the administration of its hiring and employment practices.

Hotchkiss Magazine is produced by the Office of Communications for alumni, parents, members of the faculty and staff, and friends of the School. Letters and comments are welcome. Please send inquiries and comments to: Roberta Jenckes, The Hotchkiss School, 11 Interlaken Road, Lakeville, CT 06039-2141, email to magazine@ hotchkiss.org, or phone 860-435-3122.

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With gratitude, Forrest E. Mars Jr.’49 said in his Alumni Award acceptance speech: “I went away from Hotchkiss with a sense of ethics and a set of values. And they’ve been with me all my life.” Students at Hotchkiss do leave with life skills and values, along with formal classroom learning. The opportunities are boundless, as we see on p. 18 in the example of 15 music and art students who studied and practiced in Florence this summer. There’s knowledge to be gained, too, from friendship and collaboration with students from all over the world, such as the outstanding young boys from the Right to Dream Academy in Ghana (p. 24). Our students have whole realms to explore, and in this issue, while sharing the stories of their learning, we also express appreciation for the support of our alumni, parents, and friends, in the 2013-14 Annual Report of Giving.

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Art and Music Students Flourish in Summer Study under the Tuscan Sun

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Right to Dream at Hotchkiss

WRITERS AND CONTRIBUTORS

Wendy Carlson Robin Chandler ’87 Kevin M. Hicks Richard A. Kirby Nick Massella Henry McNulty Ted Scheinman ’03 Divya Symmers

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Campus Connection

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Teaching Matters

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Young Alumni

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Annual Report of Giving

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Athletics Year in Review

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Alumni Names and Faces

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Class Notes

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In Memoriam

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It’s My Turn

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FROM

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of school

Imagine that leafy district of fine old houses one sometimes discovers when driving through small New England towns. Perhaps, because the adjacent neighborhoods are now either blandly modern or decrepit, these boulevards of arrested time seem to testify to something more profound than their current inhabitants’ good fortune.

Built of the finest materials and methods, rich in period detail, each edifice ostensibly pays tribute to the ethic of craftsmen who fashioned things to outlast their children’s children, and to the tasteful ideals of a first owner. Especially if their grounds are lovingly maintained, these places may appear to be engaged in a vibrant conversation with one another. As a collective spectacle, they will often persuade an observer to lament the throwaway quality of contemporary construction practices and the cultural decline it betrays.

But just as our grandparents retained memories of friends who, owing to disease, war, or accident, left no mark on a world that kept its pace following their premature demise, so too might these houses be imagined to recall a motley architectural democracy – barns, stables, sheds, shacks, and even other great houses – that preceded the banal split-level newcomers of today’s next block over. Some of these vanished structures, it stands to reason, collapsed of their own inept design, or outlived their utility, or burned. Others, through neglect, fell into disrepair and were scraped from the town’s landscape and consciousness without ceremony.

Tucked away in a renovated carriage-house behind the county records office, you might find a historical society exhibit of what it all looked like in 1845; here, crackled daguerreotypes document the survivors in their youth.

There is that bed-and-breakfast in its glory, the elderly docent says, when people really lived there: see the ponies? she asks. The sleigh? There is that big elm when it was a child.

Lean closer, and you’ll detect – maybe in the curl of sepia fog near an image’s tattered edge – proof of buildings so long gone that their clapboards have since become dust. Already dilapidated on the occasion of this now-antique portrait, they complicate what we had perceived as the past, remaking spaces we were too quick to assume are now as they have always been.

Their ghostly cacophony haunts a calm that implies itself to be coherent and perpetual, and

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reveals the extant houses to be exhibits like nothing but themselves; artificial and insistent homage to an illusion of pastness that often, and not coincidentally, flatters the conceits of its present curators.

Old pictures aren’t the only place where these lost buildings still stand, of course. But you have to know where to look, and be willing to go there. In municipal archives, the disappeared cast metric silhouettes: a survey map, a tax assessment, a transcript from a civil dispute. Two sentences in a long-defunct county weekly may be all that remain of a dairy that perished in a pre-dawn fire, on a street that now exists neither in name nor fact. In attics, steamer trunks harbor yellowing letters – quilled by relatives whose given names recall the Old Testament – that describe a root cellar, paved over for more than a century now, that one taut August hid a fugitive slave.

To recover these lost structures through such residual forms is to enter the library of disremembered stories, confront the terra incognita upon which we so often construct our sense of the past, and reassess what we think we know about our streets, and others’ streets, too – from Lakeville to Liberia, and from Hong Kong to Ferguson.

This work is not nostalgia. It is nostalgia’s opposite. And it is crucial work for schools blessed – as this one is – with deserving students, stellar teachers, caring staff, trusting parents, engaged alumni, significant resources, and an enduring commitment to values first articulated by Headmaster George Van Santvoord: intelligence, discipline, curiosity, and fidelity.

At Hotchkiss, we believe that education is the means by which we discover the world and contribute to its transformation, and that one’s education is best pursued in the company of others, for others’ benefit as well as one’s own. In this light, we take care to define our terms: when we talk about “critical thinking,” for example, we have in mind “the ability and willingness to interrogate one’s own assumptions about what one holds as normative upon arrival,” a definition that provides the warrant for creating the conditions and teaching the skills that promise to engender our students’ lives of humble consequence.

To pursue this goal, and others equally sober, in a manner that preserves our students’ joy and wonder is a privilege. It is also a daily challenge – living as we do in a terroir that can sulk beneath the aquarium gloom of deadlines, that too often privileges knowing over not-knowing as the best way to meet the world, and that is racked by anxiety regarding futures that are near and personal, on a planet now prone to epochal dysfunction. Precisely owing to these realities, we must protect joy and wonder as human rights – like air, water, food, shelter, liberty, justice, and peace – rather than count them either as toys or decadences reserved for millionaires of time.

As ever, we appreciate and do not take for granted your commitment to this remarkable School, its historic mission and purpose, and its extended society of friends.

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FORREST E. MARS JR. ’49 PURSUING A WAY OF LIFE HE LEARNED AT HOTCHKISS H e n r y

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PHOTOS BY ANNE DAY P’09,’11,’13

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n September 26 Forrest E. Mars Jr. ’49 addressed an all-School audience of 750, when he accepted the School’s highest honor, the 2014 Alumni Award.

True to his nature, he modestly declined to offer Hotchkiss students any advice on this occasion.

“I don’t give advice,” he said later. “I find that it doesn’t help. You can tell people what you think is going on, and whether it is good or not. But to tell someone outright is not part of my way of doing things.”

He did, however, let students know about the five principles by which he and his brother, John F. Mars ’53, ran Mars

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Inc., the multi-billion-dollar company they formerly headed. They are: Quality. “If you’re in the consumer business and you don’t start with quality, you’re in trouble.” Responsibility. “Which means you take your job seriously.”

Mutuality. “You’re trying to depend on other people and work with them.”

Efficiency. “I’m sure you can all understand that.” And Freedom. “That means stay the hell out of the banks, count the cash every morning, and you’ll be fine.”

The principles, Forrest said, “all come from, basically, what both of us learned at Hotchkiss. We learned here what we took to business.”

ABOVE: Forrest Mars prepares to give his speech.With him are, from left, Kevin Hicks, Dan Lufkin ’49, and Edward Greenberg ’55.

LONGTIME VOLUNTEER Forrest retired as co-president of Mars Inc. in 1998, and is now a trustee emeritus of the company. (“I read a financial report from time to time, and that’s about it,” he says.) After living for years in northern Virginia, where Mars Inc. continues to be headquartered, he now has a home in northern Wyoming, where he lives with his wife Jacomien, and operates a ranch with

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4,000 animals a few miles away in southeastern Montana.

For decades, he has volunteered for Hotchkiss in a number of ways. In the 1980s, he was a Class Agent; he worked on the committee organizing his class’s 50th Reunion in 1999; and he is a longtime trustee, with service on committees as diverse as Student Life; Buildings, Grounds, and Environment; and Executive. At his retirement from the Board in July, he held the office of Vice President.

Expansive and discerning in his philanthropy, he has donated generously to the School in numerous ways, from financial aid, Summer Portals, and The Hotchkiss Fund to funding capital projects. He has given Hotchkiss students and faculty the amazing opportunity to take educational and environmental trips – voyages of a lifetime – to Antarctica.

The Forrest E. Mars Jr. Athletic Center is named in his honor. He helped fund the conversion of Monahan Gymnasium into the Alumni and Development Office and the Center for Global Understanding and

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Independent Thinking, and helped renovate Harris House, the former headmaster’s house that was built around 1894. He endowed the Audrey Meyer Mars English Wing and Teaching Chair in memory of his mother.

To Forrest, contributing to Hotchkiss is a natural extension of the education he received here. “In 1949,” he told the audience at the award ceremony, “I went away with a sense of ethics and a set of values.

And they’ve been with me all my life, and they’ve been with Mars Inc. the whole way.

It’s very important that you think about it when you leave: Did you get a set of ethics?

Do you have a set of values? That’s what Hotchkiss does for you. It isn’t just an education; it gives you a way of life.”

MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED According to his classmate Peter Bulkeley, one of the organizers of 1949’s 65th Reunion, Forrest’s professional acumen was evident at Hotchkiss. “He was business manager of the Hotchkiss Record, and he was business manager of the

Hotchkiss Dramatic Association,” Peter says, “so he honed all of his business skills right here on this campus.”

Among Forrest’s more pleasant memories of life at School is his work with the Woods Squad.

“It was basically keeping the woods under control,” he says. “The Duke [thenHeadmaster George Van Santvoord] would have us cleaning up trails; there were cabins out there at the time. We cleaned up the ski jump and kept it from falling apart.

But the big experience of Woods Squad in the fall happened in December before we went home: We put the bees to bed. The Duke would come out with his bee equipment on and say, ‘Boys, the bees aren’t going to bite you.’ Well, we stayed away.

We let the Duke do the bees.”

In his senior year, his classmates voted him “Most Likely to Succeed” – a prediction that has come true.

After Hotchkiss and Yale, Forrest entered the Army. “I got my draft notice 10 days after I graduated, and I was off in October,” he says. “I spent a year at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and then I went to Germany for a year in the finance corps, and got out as a corporal. When I started basic training they had asked me, ‘Don’t you want to be an officer?’ And I said ‘No, thank you. I don’t want to spend an extra year. I want to do my two years and get out.’ I was lucky not to go to Korea; the Korean War was just winding down.”

He then went to New York, where he worked for Price Waterhouse during the day and went to school at night at NYU. “I enjoyed working at Price Waterhouse, actually,” he says. “I thought I was set there.”

But his father, Forrest Sr., had other ideas, and in 1958 summoned Forrest and his brother, John, to Virginia to work for Mars Inc.

YEARS OF GROWTH “My father had only three people working for him,” Forrest recalls. “It was a very

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RIGHT: With Forrest after the ceremony were, from left, nephew Michael Mars ’86, Michael’s daughter Sophie Mars, Forrest and his wife Jacomien, and granddaughter Kimberly Spina ’09.

tiny company with four factories. The office was in Washington – a small one, above a dress shop. But by the time my brother and I became co-presidents in 1977, we were in an office in McLean, Virginia, with a lot more associates.”

Under their supervision, and guided by the Five Principles, the Mars brothers grew the company into a worldwide consumer products giant that now has more than 72,000 employees in 72 countries. Still owned only by the family, it is the thirdlargest privately held company in the United States, with $30 billion in annual sales.

For several years, Forrest concentrated on growing Mars Inc. overseas. “I started off in Holland,” he told the award ceremony audience. “Then I got greedy and I got Belgium – I took that away from somebody else – then I took Germany, then we got France, and added Switzerland and Austria. Italy was my downfall; I never did get it right in Italy, I have to admit.”

After spending a decade in Europe, he said, his daughters “didn’t know whether they were speaking Dutch, reading English, or trying to speak French by the time they came home, but at least they were trilingual.” Two of his daughters, Valerie and Marijke, are alumnae, from the Classes of 1977 and 1982, respectively. Five of Forrest’s grandchildren also are alumni.

These days, his chief volunteer activity – other than his work for Hotchkiss – is helping the Brinton Museum in Big Horn, Wyoming. “It’s a museum for Native American artifacts,” he explains, “and we’re building a new building. I got to know the curator, and we began to raise money for the museum.” He also serves on

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I went away from Hotchkiss with a sense of ethics AND A SET OF VALUES. AND THEY’VE BEEN WITH ME ALL MY LIFE, AND THEY’VE BEEN WITH MARS

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INC. THE WHOLE WAY . the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Board of Trustees and is a trustee emeritus of the Fay School and former Board member of Trout Unlimited.

His Hotchkiss class has an exemplary record of service to the School, but Forrest says the exact reason for that eludes him.

“I don’t really know what made the Class of 1949 become quite so loyal,” he says. “Perhaps it was our time in history, coming here right after World War II. A lot of the class has served on various boards at Hotchkiss, and I think five of us have been trustees at one time or another.”

He is the fifth member of his class to be given the Alumni Award. The others are

— Forrest Mars’49

Robert A. Bryan, Jon O. Newman, Dan W. Lufkin, and the late Thomas Hoving.

It was Dan Lufkin who introduced Forrest at the award ceremony; Dan’s words formed a fitting tribute to a life of service.

A few years ago at a Hotchkiss meeting, Dan said, he heard a four-word definition of education “which just struck me right between the eyes. It was: ‘modeling character by example’.”

Forrest “is an educator,” Dan said. “You may think of him as a number of other things, but he is an educator. And Forrest has modeled character throughout his life – by example. That’s why I am so proud to be a classmate of his.”

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NEW APPOINTMENTS IN THE 2014-2015 YEAR Karen Doyle Grossman has been appointed director of global initiatives, succeeding Dr. Manjula Salomon, the first person to hold that office. Announcing her appointment, Head of School Kevin Hicks noted: “Having worked in 28 countries over a 20year span, Karen brings impressive experience in global engagement, social innovation, and international development.”

Grossman served as the program officer for Central Asia (1995-1997) and vice president of social innovations (2007-2011) at Mercy Corps, a non-profit organization that delivers humanitarian aid and facilitates economic development around the world. In this role, she affected the lives of over one million people in 40 countries through microfinance initiatives, mobile technology solutions, and corporate partnerships. She also founded MicroMentor.

Grossman earned her B.A. from the University of Virginia and M.A. in Educational Policy from The George Washington University, and is currently pursuing her Ed.D. in Learning and Organizational Leadership at Columbia University, Teachers College.

Yocelin S. González was appointed Senior Associate Director of Admission & Director of Multicultural Outreach.

González previously served as the CoDirector of Multiculturalism and Inclusion and Associate Director of Admission at The Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, CA. Prior to this, she spent three years at Miss Porter’s School directing multicultural outreach initiatives for its Admission Office, working in the residential program, and advising students and student leadership groups. At Hotchkiss, she is the advisor to our multicultural student group on campus, BaHSA. A graduate of Kent School, Yocelin earned her B.A. from Boston College.

Amy Elmore was named Director of Stewardship in the Alumni and Develop-

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Karen Doyle Grossman

Yocelin González

ment Office. She came to Hotchkiss from Berkshire Country Day School, where she was director of development. Prior to this, she served for seven years on the development staff at the Thacher School, where she was promoted several times. In making the appointment, Chief Advancement Officer Joseph Flynn said, “Amy brings more than a decade of experience in donor and constituent relations, event planning, fundraising, strategic communications, and volunteer management.”

Elmore earned her B.S. from Trinity University and her M.A. in Not-For-Profit Leadership from Seattle University. Her husband, Toby, is instructor in history at Hotchkiss.

Joining the Faculty this year: Nicole Boyd: Counselor in Health Services B.A., University of Vermont; M.S.W., Smith College School for Social Work Michael Fitzgerald: Humanities and Social Sciences (History) B.A., Colgate University; M.A.L.S., Dartmouth College Daniel Hanley: Humanities and Social Sciences (Teaching Fellow in History) B.A., Bowdoin College Rory Hart: Humanities and Social Sciences (History) B.A., Lafayette College; M.A., Emory University Kari Hart: Math B.S., Lafayette College; M.S., Emory University, Ph.D., Emory University

Amy Elmore

Kay Jones: Math B.S., Keene State College; M.A.L.S., Wesleyan University Adam Lang: Humanities and Social Sciences (Economics) and Math Bachelor of Civil Engineering, University of Delaware; Master of Civil Engineering, University of Delaware; Master of Public Policy Analysis, University of California, Berkeley Rachel Myers: English B.A., Binghamton University; Ph.D., Michigan State University César Pérez: Spanish B.A., Universidad de La Habana; M.A., University of Iowa; M.A., Harvard University Michelle Repass: English B.A., Southern Connecticut State University; M.A., Georgetown University Elizabeth Skoglund: Human Development B.A., Middlebury College; M.Ed., University of Pennsylvania Daniel Skoglund: Associate Director of Admission B.A., Middlebury College; M.Ed., University of Pennsylvania Eileen Sullivan: Science B.S., Chemistry, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; M.S., Organic Chemistry, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Susannah Wales: Humanities and Social Sciences (Teaching Fellow in Philosophy & Religion) B.A., Hamilton College

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Lecture

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The Inaugural George Van Santvoord ’08 Lecture

DEMOCRACY, OF ALL POLITICAL SYSTEMS, BECAUSE IT DEPENDS ON THE

PARTICIPATION OF ITS CITIZENS IN THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT AND BECAUSE IT DEPENDS ON THEIR OWN FREE WILL TO RISK THEIR LIVES IN ITS DEFENSE, STANDS IN

So spoke Donald Kagan, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Classics and History at Yale University, in the inaugural George Van Santvoord ’08 Lecture on September 18. Kagan’s talk, delivered to an AllSchool audience in the Katherine M. Elfers Hall of the Esther Eastman Music Center, was titled “Education for Patriotism.”

The George Van Santvoord ’08 Lecture Series was established in 2014 by Francis “Fay” Vincent Jr. ’56 and Dan Lufkin ’49.

Named in honor of the School’s fourth headmaster and the first graduate to serve in that role, the lecture is intended to further George Van Santvoord’s call for “generations of youth better equipped than ever before, with moral courage, intellectual power and spiritual vision” to “chart the direction of our national future and meet its critical problems.”

Admired by many alumni, Van Santvoord served longer as Headmaster of Hotchkiss than any of his predecessors or successors, his tenure running from 1926-1955. Fay Vincent, with his classmate John Barrett, wrote about their headmaster in The Gift of His Example: George Van Santvoord of Hotchkiss, published in 2012.

Professor Kagan received the National Humanities Medal for 2002 and is a noted scholar on the writings of Greek historians and history. He is the author of On the Origins of War and the Preservation of Peace and The Peloponnesian War, among many other works. After a distinguished career of more than 40 years, Professor Kagan delivered his farewell lecture about liberal arts education at Yale in April 2013.

In his lecture at Hotchkiss, Professor Kagan noted that in calling for an education that produces patriotism, “I recognize that I have said something shocking.

“The last-half century,” he continued, “has seen a sharp turn away from what had been traditional attitudes toward the purposes and functions of education. Our schools have retreated from the idea of moral education, except for some attempts at what is called ‘values clarification’, which is generally a cloak for moral relativism verging on nihilism of the sort that asserts that

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PHOTO BY COLLEEN MACMILLAN

THE GREATEST NEED OF AN EDUCATION THAT PRODUCES PATRIOTISM.

whatever feels good is good.”

“Even more vigorously have the schools fled from the idea of encouraging patriotism. In the intellectual climate of our time the very suggestion brings contemptuous sneers or outrage, depending on the mood of the listener. Many have been the attacks on patriotism for intolerance, arrogance, and bellicosity, but that is to equate it with its bloated distortion, chauvinism. My favorite dictionary defines the latter as "militant and boastful devotion to and glorification of one's country," but a patriot as "one who loves, supports, and defends his country." That does not require us to hate, contemn, denigrate, or attack any other country, nor does it require us to admire our own uncritically. Few countries have been subjected to as much criticism and questioning even from its patriotic citizens, as our own. …” … An abbreviated form of the speech Professor Kagan gave at Hotchkiss on September 18, 2014 was republished by the Wall Street Journal on September 27, 2014. A link to the video of Prof. Kagan’s talk can be found at www.hotchkiss.org by going to the About Hotchkiss section and then to Hotchkiss Today for the news article and link.

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Alumni memories create a colorful history MEMORIES OF BISSELL HALL FLOWED COPIOUSLY THIS PAST YEAR, AS HOTCHKISS PREPARED FOR ITS DECOMMISSIONING IN THE SUMMER.

IT SEEMED THAT EVERYONE

HAD A MEMORY TO SHARE – A FUNNY STORY, A SCARY STORY (MOST EMANATING FROM RUMORS OF A MARIA HOTCHKISS RESIDENT GHOST), AND MANY, MANY WARM AND TOUCHING REMINISCENCES.

Throughout the year alumni were invited to submit their memories. Their reward was a specially designed t-shirt with a portrait of Hotchkiss founder and the dorm’s donor, Maria Bissell Hotchkiss, and the words, “Maria is my homegirl.” Then in late spring, the girls living in the dorm were invited to take part in creating a “Living Museum” on Bissell 2. During June Reunion, alumni visited the space and added their memories to the walls and doors. Photographs were taken of the space and placed in the Archives.

Also saved for preservation and possible future use were significant architectural items, including the date stone, exterior arches above windows, a round window, an arched window, and fireplace mantels.

In late summer, work began on construction of our new dorm, Redlich Hall.

Here are a few memories of Bissell shared by alumni at www.hotchkiss.org/archives.

ALL-NIGHTER IN THE HALLWAY

“Senior year...sitting in the hallway of Bissell 2 (South?) – this was when the fire doors were closed – writing a paper on a typewriter. My roommate/BFF was much more organized than I, and was sleeping.”

— Caroline Reilly ’87 COMING HOME TO BISSELL

“Fall ’08/Spring ’09. I spent my senior year in Bissell as a proctor on the 3rd floor. … I wanted to be there for these young girls as they were learning to face the world – and they were there for me, too. After finally getting all the stubborn lower mids to bed at night, I would often visit the dorm faculty on the first floor, the Henderson/ Thomas clan. Ms. Thomas and I would

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walk their ancient dog Oscar around the campus grounds and talk about life. It was peaceful and meditative to walk the grounds at night. Every day after school, sports, and clubs, I knew that Bissell would bring joy, surprises, and fun. What a treat to be there towards the end of an era.”

— Cakey Worthington ’09 THE SHADOW IN THE WINDOW

“Fall 1986, perhaps late October. I remember the leaves were down, and there was a little nip in the air. I left Main Building to see if Andrea Crow was in her room. Her room faced what is now the Edelman quad. It was dusk so the light was really falling. There was just a warm glow beyond the lake and all the lights were coming on around campus. I looked up to Andrea’s window and saw that there were lights on. The room was sort of back light, a warm yellow glow in the room. The window was open. I called up several times to see if someone was in the room. A woman’s shadow came to the window. It was like a silhouette. With the lighting, I could not tell who it was. The shadow was clearly in the open window, but did not respond to my calls. I remember thinking, ‘That is so strange. Why would the person ignore me?’ The shadow disappeared back in the room. The lights went out, and a few seconds later Christmas tree lights came on in the room. By now, I was really puzzled, and I turned around and slowly started walking back to Main Building. I ran into another friend who lived in Bissell and asked her if she knew if Andrea was in her room. She said Andrea wasn’t back from her weekend yet. I said someone was up in the room and just left. This girl said she

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would be happy to go up and see if someone was there. She came back out and said the door was locked and there was no sign of anyone on the floor. By now I was really puzzled by this. I told a few people later, and not sure who it was but soon learned that Maria Bissell roamed the dorm. I was convinced that it was Maria Bissell that I saw in the window. There is no doubt in my mind.” — Caldwell Hart ’87 ACCIDENTAL BISSELLITE

“I lived on Bissell 4 my senior year. That was the year that the ‘new’ dorm, Garland, was supposed to have been finished during the summer months. It had not been completed on time, so many of us who expected to have singles in Garland found ourselves very unexpectedly paired with roommates (not of our choosing) until the new dorm was completed. I was assigned to the most notorious floor of the most notorious girls’ dorm – Bissell 4. Punishment in its worst form. Or so I thought. I ended up loving Bissell and giving up my room in the brand-new dorm so that I could stay for the balance of year. I remember innumerable late nights filled with backgammon and hearts. All-nighters leading up to the Teagle deadline. There may have been an incident in which we attempted to procure sodas from the common room vending machine free of charge. The vending

machine may have been upside down at some point. No free sodas were procured.”

— Kate (Loetell) Buyuk ’91 BISSELL IN THE YEAR BOYS LIVED THERE

“I was a senior in the fall of 1974 when Bissell was the newly renovated old dorm.

Without warning to me, my room was chosen to be shown to the trustees during the fall meeting as an example of the renovation. Big mistake. After a month or so of senior living it looked like a bomb had gone off in it and probably smelled like it, too. The good news is I was dressed when

they came in.

“I felt bad (not really) for Don Mayland, who was a new teacher and dorm master on my floor, but worse for myself, as the subject of room cleanliness became a subject of the next faculty meeting with me as the bad example. I don’t think there was a good one. For weeks I felt like I had a big red S on my chest (SLOB).

“I moved soon after into a double across the hall so I had more room to spread the mess around (and could share the blame).”

— Phil Tifft ’75

SPIRITS SOAR AT TAFT DAY

PHOTO BY WENDY CARLSON

In the first week of November, students showed their customary enthusiasm and creativity – and then some! – in attire for Spirit Week, leading up to the big games with rival The Taft School. This year, the games took place on Sunday, November 9, at Taft in Watertown, CT. Meanwhile, on campus Hotchkiss was hosting the Cross Country New England Championships. There was good news all around! At home, Carlota Corbella Alcantara ’15 won the New England cross country championships at Hotchkiss. Her time was 18:28, 14 seconds faster than the runner-up from St. Paul’s.

In Watertown, legions of Bearcat Nation fans – led by the student group Blue & White – found much to cheer about, as Hotchkiss defeated Taft for the fourth consecutive year, bringing the overall record to 22-10-2. In all, Hotchkiss teams were 6-4-0 on the day.

Writing to the campus on behalf of Blue & White, Ben MacShane ’15 said, “Thank you all for an exceptional Spirit Week, Pep Rally, Taft Day, surprise holiday, and dance!

A special thanks to the senior class who has the ability to really set the tone for events.”

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Campus events and a new FUNd established to honor Julia Wu Trethaway P’06,’09 n the months following the death in early July of Julia Wu Trethaway, instructor in history and The Audrey Meyer Mars Chair, several occasions brought together members of the extended Hotchkiss community to remember her and to mourn her passing. But these times also have been an uplifting celebration of her joyful and creative spirit, her friendship as a colleague, and her tremendous gifts as a teacher and colleague at the School over a 34-year career here.

On a perfectly beautiful Saturday evening in early August, more than 600 people came together in the Headmaster’s Garden behind Harris House in a celebration of her remarkable life. The invitation to the reception welcomed guests to bring a joke and dress in “summer casual, no black please, by her specific request. … Come in the spirit she showed us all every

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TOP: The late Julia Wu Trethaway, in the classroom MIDDLE: Perry Trethaway ’06 gives her tribute, while Tom Trethaway and Paul Trethaway ’09 wait to give their remarks.

ABOVE: Many young alumni returned for the event.

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day, embracing life and the people in it.”

The gathering included alumni from several decades, current and past parents, current and former colleagues from the faculty and staff, and friends. Julia’s husband, Tom Trethaway ’75, and their daughter Perry ’06 and son Paul ’09, greeted guests. Julia’s mother, aunt, and a cousin were also in attendance.

Tom, Perry, and Paul Trethaway each gave brief and touching remarks, which were followed by the announcement of a new fund in Julia’s honor. The fund will underwrite visits to campus by “comedians, speakers, performers, or anyone or group dedicated to producing laughter and uplifting spirits.” The Trethaways gave a special meaning to this fund, by emphasizing the “fun” in the Julia Wu Trethaway FUNd. Contributions may be made online at www.hotchkiss.org/alumni/giving/index.aspx

PHOTOS BY GREG LOCK

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Embracing OMAH: Open Mind and Heart t the opening Convocation on September 2, Head of School Kevin Hicks spoke to new and returning students and faculty members in the audience about Julia Trethaway, recalling her “good humor, generosity of spirit, passion for teaching, courage, and deep commitment to the quality and integrity of our community life.”

“For the first time in 34 years,” Hicks said, “we begin a year without the comfort of knowing that our day may be brightened by an encounter with Julia Trethaway. … Julia did Hotchkiss and hundreds of students remarkable service as a Class Dean, and ended her run in that role with the Class of 2012. I invited Meaghan Kachadoorian, who served as one of the Student Body Presidents that year, to join us this evening to say a few words about her mentor, but her classes at Duke interfered. In her place, Meaghan sent me these words to read to you.

“When I spoke at Convocation three years ago, I told my peers, ‘the people you meet here might become your closest friends, and even if they don’t, everyone here can enlighten you.’

“The most precious, important connection I made throughout my time at Hotchkiss was with Julia Wu Trethaway, my Class Dean. Her spirit of

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kindness, attention to others, and beautiful humor filled Hotchkiss for 34 years. She adopted each and every one of us. Through her acts of love, she showed that we mattered to her, and that we mattered to the world. My heart caved at the news of her death this summer; at the same time, it swelled with a profound sense of gratitude for her guidance, her kindness, and her love.

“J Wu’s mantra, one I have adopted as my guiding light, is OMAH: Open Mind and Heart. OMAH means living with a mind open to new thoughts and experiences. Embrace those difficult questions in class about how to live well, or how to right wrongs of the pasts, or what it means to be human. OMAH also means living with an open heart, and choosing empathy when empathy is difficult. You’ll be faced with opportunities to engage with and accept others when writing them off is easier.

“In her memory, please continue to help make this community an intentional one, inspired by the spirit of OMAH.” Hicks then announced to the audience that new t-shirts had been ordered for all students and members of the faculty and staff. On the front were the letters OMAH and JWT. “Wear them for the first day of School,” Hicks encouraged his audience. And everyone did.

OPPOSITE: More than 600 people came to the celebration of Julia’s life.

TOP & ABOVE: On the first day of school, everyone wore the OMAH t-shirt.

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Pat Redd Johnson and Hotchkiss: A shared legacy Patricia Redd Johnson, a central figure for many Hotchkiss students and their families for nearly 20 years, retired at the end of the 2013-2014 school year.

BELOW: Pat Redd Johnson

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A number of events celebrated her contributions to the School. The annual Mother’s Day campus picnic sponsored by the Black and Hispanic Student Alliance (BaHSA) drew many of Pat’s current and former students and their families. A reception at the Cosmopolitan Club in New York City attracted professional colleagues, as well as students, parents, alumni, and trustees. Citigroup’s Head of Global Banking Raymond McGuire ’75, a longtime friend and sup-

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porter of Pat’s work at Hotchkiss, spoke movingly about her achievements.

“My challenge tonight,” McGuire said, “was to capture in a few short moments the legacy of a woman whose impact on the lives of so many has been so profound for so long. In a world where exponential change occurs every few years, how has this woman remained relevant for 40-plus years?

“The answer resides somewhere between character and compassion, between passion and heart. It lies between humility and excellence. The answer lies somewhere in the educational institutions that she loves and those that she cherishes. It lies in the love that she has for those students whose lives will be forever impacted by the lessons of life shared by this gift of an education. The legacy that is hers is inextricably linked to the legacy of Hotchkiss. They are one.”

A senior member of the Office of Admission and Financial Aid and an advisor to BaHSA for nearly two decades, Johnson joined the Hotchkiss faculty in June 1994. She holds an A.B. degree from Lincoln University, an M.A. from City University of New York, an M.A. from Harvard University's Graduate School of Education, and an M.A. from Middlebury College. Before joining the Hotchkiss faculty, she had been an admissions interviewer at Harvard and served as Director of Admissions at The Dalton School in New York.

The move to Hotchkiss from Dalton, a day school, was eye-opening. “What a difference it makes when students, staff, and faculty members are available to speak to each other throughout the day, afternoon, and into the night,” she reflects. “Imagine the kinds of discussions that one can have in this 24-hours-a-day, seven-day-a-week environment.”

Recruiting for Hotchkiss at school fairs, high schools, and special programs around the world, she enjoyed meeting prospective students and hearing about their ideas, their value systems, and their desire to do something with their lives. And the students she

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‘‘

As we all continue to work together to deliver this school, schools like this school, and ultimately schools not like this school to the same forward-thinking place – one in which all people experience safety, trust, respect, belonging, and inclusion, such that they can dare take the risks necessary to become great and so be of service to others – the emotional intelligence and cultural competence we know we must develop to achieve our goal will be Pat’s legacy.

’’

met sensed from the start that this outgoing, upbeat woman was genuinely interested in them.

“I remember the day she interviewed me in middle school,” said Brandon Ortiz ’14 in May, just before his graduation. “It was after classes, and I was extremely unprepared and under-dressed. But none of that mattered to Ms. Johnson. She took the time during our interview to get to know me and my story. Upon my entering Hotchkiss, she welcomed me with open arms and the most caring and warm heart. She made sure every time we crossed paths that I was okay and was becoming accustomed to the Hotchkiss life. She is my Hotchkiss mother in every sense of the word.”

“Ms. Johnson is the reason I went to Hotchkiss,” said Eve La Roche ’12. “Not only did she believe in me, but also [she] made me believe that I would succeed. I know that I was not alone in benefiting from her unwavering support and generosity.”

“Even when Mrs. Johnson wasn’t on campus, she was still an active part of my Hotchkiss experience – emailing me just to know how I was doing – and while

PHOTOS BY ANNE DAY P’09,’11,’13

Head of School Kevin Hicks

the gesture might seem small, it was impactful in more ways than I can convey. Ms. Johnson is truly one-in-amillion,” said Marvin Bell ’14.

Hotchkiss parent Susan Hairston says, “Throughout these past four years Pat has not hesitated to pick up the phone to call me nor hesitate to return my calls.

My sincere hope is that her vision, intentionality, and personal touch that appeared as if it were magical become the baseline for what Hotchkiss expects for our multicultural efforts going forward.”

TOP: Pat, with some of the guests as the BaHSA Picnic ABOVE: Members of the Black and Hispanic Student Alliance paused for a photo on the day of the picnic.

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The Special Collections Program announces the recent arrival of a number of gifts to the School.

Gifts

PENNYROYAL CAXTON BIBLE, GIFT OF BRUCE AND SUZIE

This edition of the King James Version of the Holy Bible, illustrated by Barry Moser, the foremost American master of wood engravings, is the first such illustrated Bible since Gustave Dorè’s edition of the Le Saint Bible in 1865. Volume one contains the five books of Moses, the historical books, and the books of poetry. Volume two contains the books of prophecy and the New Testament. Both measure 16 x 11.5 inches, and each is laid into its own full linen tray case. The beauty of this Bible does not rest on the illustrations alone. It is also a singular typographic achievement and an example of some of the finest printing of our time. The papers were made, some by hand, especially for this project, and the exquisitely crafted vellum bindings are a marvel of craftsmanship. Kovner Philanthropy made its gift “in recognition of the academic studies of The Hotchkiss School, the aesthetic and scholarly standards of the Edsel Ford Memorial Library and in particular for your fine Special Collections.”

"FIGURE AT GERARD BEACH," 1971, SIGNED IN PENCIL, FROM THE EDITION OF 32

KOVNER:

TWO PRINTS BY JERRY PFOHL ’49, GIFT OF BEN CARLISLE ’86:

The two prints titled “Nothing is Lost” and “Power Failure in a Co-Ed Dormitory” are displayed on the Main Building secondfloor Rotunda.

TWO SCULPTURES BY FRANK WEEDEN ’78, SELECTED AND GIVEN

Frank’s brother John and his classmates in the Class of 1978 supported Frank in the gift and transmitted the works to the School.

Frank Weeden, who died in October 2013, was a candle-maker, sculptor, two-time candidate for mayor of Trenton, NJ, and a friend to many. Many classmates attended the memorial gathering in his honor on campus in October; at the event the gift of the two sculptures was commemorated.

TO THE SCHOOL BY THE ARTIST BEFORE HIS DEATH:

JOSEPH PENNELL ETCHING, THE GIFT OF GEORGE FAISON

Mr. and Mrs. John Eastman gave three lithographs by Willem de Kooning to the School in honor of their daughter, Louise ’84. The three lithographs, Beach Scene, 1971, Figure at Gerard Beach, 1971, and Woman with a Corset and Long Hair, 1971, hung in the Edsel Ford Memorial Library. Conservation, repair, and reframing for these lithographs were done at the Williamstown Conservation Center, with Chris Meledandri sponsoring the work. The three lithographs, now restored and shown to spectacular effect, are hanging in the Deans’ Wing.

CONSERVATION AND REFRAMING, THE GIFT OF CHRIS

PAINTING, DEPICTION #2, 1995:

THE PAINTING, YACHT AMERICA IN NEW YORK HARBOR BY

is from the estate of Compton Allyn ’44, who made this commitment in honor of his 50th reunion; this painting is to be used to support curriculum, particularly Lower Mid Humanities and United States history.

JAMES BUTTERSWORTH, C.1876:

MELEDANDRI ’77, OF THREE DE KOONING LITHOGRAPHS, ORIGINALLY GIVEN TO THE SCHOOL BY THE EASTMAN FAMILY:

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In 1984

Luke Gray ’78 gave the School this acrylic on canvas work and will deliver the painting to campus in 2015.

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MEDIA

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Hotchkiss Alumni in Print The Lines

BY EDWARD RANNEY ’60 YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2014

This 88-page monograph, with 44 striking images and an essay by critic Lucy R. Lippard that situates the work of Ed Ranney ’60 within the context of landscape photography and contemporary art, is a photographic journey to the geoglyphs, or lines, created by the Nazca and other cultures in the arid plains of southern Peru and northern Chile, around 500 AD. First perceived by air in the 1930s and once thought to be astronomically aligned, these mysterious man-made landforms, Ranney believes, “clearly served a ceremonial purpose” and were continually recreated over several centuries. Using a large-format landscape camera, his awe-inspiring black-andwhite photographs offer panoramic as well as close-up ground-level views which, according to one reviewer, “don’t speak directly to any one interpretation of the lines, thus allowing us to imagine ourselves in the ancient landscape without distraction.” Another writes, “It’s rare to find a body of photographs that is admired by and useful for both artists and scientists.”

The White Nile Diaries

BY JOHN HOPKINS ’56 I.B. TAURIS & CO. LTD., 2014

The candid, compelling account of a journey taken by John Hopkins ’56 and fellow Princeton graduate Joe McPhillips on a sleek white BMW motorcycle – the “White Nile” of the title – from Tunisia down to Kenya in the early 1960s, The White Nile Diaries is both a rollicking adventure and a reminder of a more innocent world. Sucking on lemons to survive in a sweltering salt desert and narrowly escaping being killed by border guards, the two travelers hold an insouciant belief in their youthful indestructability that sustains them, whether climbing the Great Pyramid of Giza or watching baboons rip through a pack of friendly dogs. Hopkins observes the places they pass through with romantic intensity: at the Roman port of Leptis Magna in Libya, a “sea of a thousand hues, ranging from the lightest blue to the deepest purple”; on the Kenyan border, there are “pine trees foresting the great rolling hills.”

Uncle Anton’s Atomic Bomb

BY IAN WOOLLEN ’75 COFFEETOWN PRESS, 2014

Its opening chapter set in the spring of 1951, Uncle Anton’s Atomic Bomb is the fabulist tale of Mary and Ward, freshly graduated from college, who renew a childhood acquaintance on a train ride home to Indianapolis. Sparks fly and later they get married under romantically noirish Cold War circumstances that involve rescuing Mary, now pregnant, from behind the Iron Curtain. Spanning three generations over the latter half of the 20th century, it’s “a tragicomic mix of upper-crust romance, sibling warfare, boarding school drama, and CIA skullduggery” that includes a quirky bedtime tale inspired by the idea: what if Anton Chekhov wrote a story about the atomic bomb? Novelist Ron Carlson, former Hotchkiss Instructor in English, describes this third novel from Woollen ’75 as “a wild and curious saga, told as Vonnegut might have, with the strange shadow of a weapon over the carnival of years. Disco, acid fog, prep school, and white gloves.”

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ART AND MUSIC STUDENTS FLOURISH IN SUMMER STUDY UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN For these Hotchkiss students, summer days in Florence provided the perfect opportunity to focus exclusively on their art. Music students had time to practice skills and performance, while art students concentrated on improving their technique in watercolor and other media.

OPPOSITE: The Hotchkiss group at the Duomo BELOW: Art by Vivian Xiao ’15

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For two unforgettable weeks last summer 15 Hotchkiss students and their five faculty instructors basked in the pleasures of everyday life in Florence, Italy. The students were based at the Accademia Musicale di Firenze to work on their music skills or in the field, to perfect their watercolor technique or feast on the art all around them, guided by their Hotchkiss teachers and additional guest faculty from Germany and Italy.

Happily cocooned in the city whose very name is synonymous with art, music, and culture, the students observed with interest everything to be seen in their new environment. Along with the program’s organizers, Music Instructors and Co-Directors Fabio Witkowski and Gisele Witkowski, the music students gave performances in the historic Saint Mark’s Church in Florence, while the art students displayed their work in an exhibit in the lobby of the church on the same day as the culminating artistic performance. The concerts drew an ever-growing appreciative public, Gisele Witkowski notes.

“The local people were interested and really supported the students,” she recalls, noting the “regulars” who began coming to each concert. “The students were amazing,” Fabio Witkowski says admiringly. “They played soooo well. They began to take

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more risks in their performances. They were proud of each other, too. That was very, very special.”

For the students, the opportunity to focus solely on their art was priceless. “This morning we had time to practice before heading out on an excursion to the Accademia Gallery,” Claire Flynn ’14 wrote in her blog entry in July. “Having so much time to practice without the other commitments we have at Hotchkiss has really allowed me to connect with my music and improve my playing in ways that would not be possible otherwise. Every time I go in for a lesson or to practice I discover ways to improve my performance of the piece.”

And at the same time that they were working to improve their skills, they could feel the inspiration of Italian life all around them. “There was so much for them to see and to do and to understand. Our students really appreciated going to the Uffizi and to the Accademia, which has a collection of musical instruments taking us to the origins of the invention of the piano, which was created by Bartolomeo Cristofori for the Medicis around the 1700s,” Gisele says. “It was a great opportunity.”

“We chose to stay in a quiet neighborhood outside the center of Florence,” says Fabio Witkowski.

“It was only a ten-minute walk to the music school,

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HOTCHKISS IN FLORENCE MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL SUMMER 2014 Music Students Attending: 1. Matthew Bach-Lombardo ’14 2. Lucas Balsinde ’16 3. Jessica Deng ’14 4. Claire Flynn ’14 5. Alex (Hye Woong) Jeon ’17 6. Joo Hyung Kwak ’17 7. Mingxi Li ’14 8. Jonny Cruz Walma ’16 9. Carina Zhang ’16 Art Students: 1. Locke Curtis ’16 2. Hannah Isaac ’14 3. Sidney Lee ’17 4. Chloe Otterson ’17 5. Zoe Smith ’15 6. Vivian Xiao ’15

TOP: Claire Flynn performs in Saint Mark’s Church.

ABOVE: Jonny Cruz Walma ’16 in his concert recital

STUDENTS’ BLOG ENTRIES “At the beginning, my summer of 2014 wasn't so much the summer of my piano program in Florence as it was the summer of the World Cup in Brazil. An entire month, purely devoted to football?

Yes, please. …

“A few days after arriving in Florence, Brazil played Chile in a round of sixteen game. Naturally, I was there to watch the game at our school, along with the Witkowskis and their friend, piano teacher, and fellow Brazilian, Marco de Almeida. It was then that I stumbled upon something I believe I subconsciously realized, but never fully understood. Music and football are more closely connected than expected.

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Teachers: Fabio Witkowski, Music Instructor, Co-Director Gisele Witkowski, Music Instructor, Co-Director Terri Moore, Visual Arts Instructor Verena Drake, Art History Instructor David Bolmer, chaperone ART BY VIVIAN XIAO ‘15

and every morning when we left, we would see the owners of the local restaurant where we ate. They would wave to us and say, ‘Hi. …. We’re getting ready for dinner. See you in the evening.’ The students saw how meals are a completely different experience in Italy.”

“Their sensibility was really increased,” Gisele said, recalling one beautiful summer afternoon on the bus as they crossed the Ponte Vecchio, one of Florence’s architectural marvels, on their way to the final student concert at Saint Mark’s. “I looked around to the students and said, ‘Wow, we ought to treasure this moment.’ It was so perfect.”

“If we go to Florence for four years,” Fabio agreed, “we might be able to say, ‘Now we’ve taken in nearly all of the relevant places.’”

“Many of a footballer's skills are parallel to those of someone studying the piano. The incredible amount of time and attention to detail during practice is the same across both disciplines. The slightest change in phrasing can alter a passage completely. Likewise, the shaping of a pass one way or another can redefine a movement up the field. Whenever they step on a pitch or sit in front of keys, footballers and musicians are always honing their skills, trying to become the best they can be.” —Matthew Bach-Lombardo ’14 “I’ll always remember how I felt when I first saw Botticelli’s pieces in real life--how different they were from prints on copperplate paper, and how unbelievably divine and graceful they seemed to me now.

And I’ll probably never forget the piano master classes--the Italian professor didn’t speak English, and Mr. Witkowski was in no hurry to translate full conversations, but the way he used voice and gestures made everything so crystal clear. I’ve experienced so much in these two weeks. …

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“Personally, this trip has opened my eyes to more than just watercolor techniques but also a new way of life and intricate language.

“One day, the six watercolor students as well as Ms. Moore and Dr. Drake headed out into the city for a day of museums, cathedrals, and markets. For lack of a better word, it was incredible. We went to the first cathedral in the center of Florence, across the Arno from our hotel. It was under some slight construction so we had it nearly to ourselves. Inside we were able to see an entire room full of some of Michelangelo's most impressive sculpture work. As we exited this place, we stumbled across a street ven-

dor/talented water colorist who gave us an impromptu art lesson accompanied by words of wisdom such as, ‘If people critique your work, then clearly it was interesting enough to produce thought.’ I left full of his positivity and encouragement as we headed to the central market to grab a bite to eat. This diverse market was quite a sight to behold. It was the perfect place to set up and do some sketching. …The day and this trip altogether have been extraordinary and I am so thankful to Hotchkiss for giving me this opportunity.”

—Locke Curtis ’16

BELOW: The artist whose stunning work from Florence appears on the next pages, 22 and 23 BOTTOM: Terri Moore works with students painting from the Piazzale Michelangelo.

Painting from Piazzale Michelangelo: “Florence is an experience unlike any other. Today we started by painting on top of a hill overlooking the city. I had never used watercolors, so being asked to paint the vast city skyline was daunting.

Sitting on the stairs and painting was such a luxury. …The best part of all was towards the end when a musician set up next to us and serenaded the crowd.

The experience will stay forever in my mind as the most beautiful and lovely arrangement I have ever seen. I cannot wait to see what else is in store.”

—Chloe Otterson ’17

ALL PHOTOS BY FABIO WITKOWSKI

“To me, art and music are about expression, about losing control, about conveying emotions, thoughts, philosophy, and beyond. But one loses control by first controlling himself. A pianist has to practice repeatedly, slowly, and in section for thousands of times before he could put the piece into an entity to endow it with meaning. In order to create a certain atmosphere through music, a pianist must control the sound he produces and know precisely how a note would sound before even pressing the key.”

—Mingxi Li ’14

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| SUNDAY, JUNE 29, 2014 Time does a funny thing when you're traveling.

The first weird thing: jet lag.

I'm pretty sure most of us had a rough first night, but we managed to survive an early morning hike up the Duomo Campanileâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 414 steps. The hike was a small price to pay for the spectacular 360-degree panorama of Florence right from the heart of the city. < Here's a sketch I did while I was catching my breath.

The pace of life is different in Italy. Cars and motorcycles speed down the narrow roads at twice the speed they should be allowed to (I don't really know what they're all in a hurry for.) A typical motorcycle you'd see in Florence >

< Although, this blind contour might better represent the motorcycles in Italy.

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Of course we saw more than just motorcycles. We saw the Florence Cathedral, the Medici Chapel, the Medici Riccardi Palace, the Piazzale Michelangelo, the St. Maria Novella Basilica and the Central Market. It's been exhausting and exhilarating. When on every corner you turn stands a historic landmark, it's hard not to let your mind imagine what life was like here almost 600 years ago.

The strangeness of time here brings me to another main focus of this trip: art! I don't feel the passing of time while I'm painting or drawing a scene. Time stops ticking; I feel other changes, like the changes in temperature, or changes in what I can see. I can feel the passing of light, the passing of sounds, and the passing of people. This experience is a form of meditation that keeps me sane when all my senses are being bombarded with new information.

For example, here’s me processing the view of Florence (and particularly the Cathedral) sitting from the steps at Piazzale Michelangelo. >

< And here’s my interpretation of the intricate facade of the Santa Maria Novella.

The best part about painting is the hours you spend in a special place or moment in time, when the rest of the world stops moving except for you and your immediate surroundings.

The process, not the image, gives the painting life. I believe the same is true about traveling. The journeys that we take through the city – waiting for the bus, dodging the cars, stopping for gelato, admiring beautiful architecture, hiding from the sun, then taking the wrong street – are what make this destination, Florence, a place worth traveling to.

—Vivian '15

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RIGHT TO DREAM AT HOTCHKISS STORY AND PHOTOS BY WENDY CARLSON

Now in its ninth year – the first Right to Dream graduate has already returned for his fifth Reunion – the collaboration between Hotchkiss and the premier soccer academy in Ghana provides another kind of educational experience. The scholar-athletes bring to the community a diversity of views, the studied ability to focus and to overcome obstacles, and the will to make friends and learn new subjects in a totally unfamiliar culture.

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he dusty dirt field where Francis Atuahene ’15 first learned to play soccer could easily be just a faded memory for the graduating senior. It’s been four years since he last saw his grandmother, with whom he shared a one-room house in a small village in Ghana, and longer since he ran barefoot with a ragtag group of friends kicking a homemade soccer ball. But it was on a dusty pitch in one of the poorest parts of the world that his journey to Hotchkiss first began. So he cannot forget.

“This is my favorite view now,” he said one fall morning as he walked past a bank of windows in the Esther Eastman Music Center, overlooking Lake Wononscopomuc. The azure-blue lake fringed by lush

trees, the expansive green playing fields, and the redbrick Georgian dormitories and academic buildings are vastly different from the dirt-road, tin-roof landscape in rural Ghana. But the Hotchkiss campus has been his home, his community. He is at ease here, and his infectious spirit radiates throughout the arched hallways. He high-fives a nearby friend, waves hello to a prep.

A co-captain of the varsity soccer team, Francis is one of four scholar-athletes at Hotchkiss from the Right to Dream Academy, a non-profit organization founded in 1999 by former Manchester United African soccer coach Tom Vernon. The Academy, located about 55 miles from Accra, provides talented boys – and more recently, girls as well – full scholarships and the opportunity to succeed both in sport and F a l l

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TOP: Prep Saviour Anyagri in the Frantz Family Entrance of the Main Building ABOVE: Upper-mid Eric Opoku greets a friend near the snack bar.

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education. Some of the Academy’s students go on to play professionally, and each year a handful of academically qualified students apply for full scholarships at private schools in the United States and the U.K. Since 2006, Hotchkiss has accepted one Right To Dream scholar-athlete a year, more than any other participating school in the country. Seven alumni have gone on to attend top universities and colleges in the United States. While at Hotchkiss, Albert “C.K.” Kumah ’09, the School’s first Right to Dream student and a 2013 graduate of Bucknell University, earned all-state honors, co-captained the 2008 New England Prep School Champions, and won the Charles E. Lord Prize awarded to the senior who “during his or her time at Hotchkiss has shown the largest measure of general improvement, perseverance, and courage.”

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But such high achievements are not unusual among Right to Dream students, according to Toby Elmore, boys varsity soccer coach.

The boys are exceptional athletes, but “they’re also exceptional in every way,” said Elmore.

“They shine in all elements of school life. They are dedicated and hard-working in the classroom.

They’re great citizens of the community, and they are great ambassadors of the School beyond this campus.

As much as anyone, they recognize what a gift this school is and what an important role it will play in their development.”

When Elmore visited Ghana for the first time last summer, he observed the highly competitive process young boys go through to be accepted into the Academy. (See his story on p. 29.)

More than 120 boys aged 8 to 11 gathered in one rural village for what was just one of many tryouts the Academy held throughout Ghana that summer, he said. After academic testing and tryouts, the field was narrowed down to ten boys who were invited to participate in an all-star game. From that game, only three were invited to try out at the Academy.

Ultimately, none of those three were accepted.

“There is a lot of heartache for those who don’t make it, and it was hard for me to look at those faces knowing that this was as far as their journey was going to take them,” he said.

But for Francis and the School’s other Right to Dream students – Eric Opoku ’16, Farouk Osman ’17; and Saviour Anyagri ’18 – acceptance to the Academy is the path to a more promising future and, ultimately, the first step to helping those they left behind.

Not surprisingly, all four scholar-athletes share a similar narrative. They come from poor, rural villages where they lived with extended family members who make a living by subsistence-farming. Before attending the Academy, the boys spoke only their native dialect, and their elders were often illiterate. Good schools are few and far between; so excelling at soccer, called “football” in Ghana, is often seen as a way out of a cycle of poverty.

“I was more interested in playing soccer in school because I thought it was the only logical thing to do,” said Francis. He had heard stories of boys who were recruited to the Right to Dream Academy or one of the many other soccer academies in Ghana. With his peers, he spent more hours playing soccer than in the classroom until a Right to Dream scout visited his village and invited him to try out.

Playing professionally is often the initial draw for those who make the cut, although they must prove themselves academically. Farouk, a striker on the Hotchkiss team, had been on a professional pathway while at the Academy. But his parents urged him to get an education first. “My mother didn’t even want

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me to go to the Academy because there is so much competition to play professionally, and she wanted me to get an education. When she found out I was coming to Hotchkiss, she was so happy,” Farouk said.

At Hotchkiss, these athletes bring a new dimension to the team and to the sport. Aside from their speed, agility of movement, and technical knowledge of the sport, they exhibit a high degree of focus.

“The game to them means something different than what it means to almost everybody else here. During their initial experience in those first years at the Academy, they approached each and every training session with complete attention,” said Elmore.

In Ghana, they lived, ate, and slept soccer. At Hotchkiss, the students have had the opportunity to try other sports during the year. Eric, who is a striker, joined the golf and wrestling teams. Francis took a modern dance class, and Farouk plays squash and runs track.

Beyond adjusting to the academic rigors, the students faced cultural and social challenges. At the Academy, students are taught practical skills, such as money management, for when they are thrust into a situation where they are on their own and they have to deal with the resources they’re provided, Elmore said.

Still, the transition from their dirt-road villages to the rolling Connecticut countryside is a shift that often exceeds their expectations. “I remember coming to the campus and walking around and seeing the huge white columns. I said, ‘This is where I’m going to school?’ I couldn’t believe it,” said Saviour.

Students are taught English at the Academy, as well as math, science, I.T., French, and human development. Still, they have adjustments to make at Hotchkiss.

“Teachers here speak a lot faster, and, you know, English is not my first language, so that was a big challenge,” said Francis. The boys’ perseverance helps them prevail.

“They’re really hard-working and willing to go that extra mile,” said math instructor Letty Downs. “And they have a positive influence on the other students in the classroom,” she added.

Then, there are myriad new situations they confront once here, which most students take for granted.

What is a buffet? A salad bar? What is a contra dance? How do I tie a tie? Laptops, cell phones, and most electronic devices that were unavailable in their rural villages are now part of their everyday life.

They learn to assimilate quickly. Francis was elected class president as a Prep; Eric mastered snowboarding; and Farouk developed an appetite for Chinese food and pizza.

Some new experiences, though, were difficult for them to express in words. The first time it snowed, Francis rushed outside and raised his hands skyward

LEFT: Lower-mid Farouk Osman in math, one of his favorite classes BELOW: Senior Francis Atuahene with his host brother, Will Pasik ’15, a goalie on the boys varsity soccer team

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in amazement. “I think I stood outside like that for at least a half-hour. It was just so beautiful,” he said.

Host families help make the transition to Hotchkiss, assuring students they have the basic necessities, including them in holiday and family celebrations, and sometimes helping them apply to college. For most, they become their surrogate family, a relationship that extends beyond graduation.

“Hotchkiss will forever have a place in my heart,” said Mohammed Rashid ’12, who is now a junior at Williams College majoring in economics and playing as a midfielder. He visits his host family on almost every vacation.

“My host brother, Brian Cintron, and I both go to Williams, so it makes things so much easier,” he said.

RIGHT: Prep Anyagri, who plays defense, holds his own in this play.

SPORTS ACTION PHOTOS BY DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY GREG LOCK

BELOW: Senior Atuahene controls the ball, while teammate Opoku, at left, waits to assist.

He credits the guidance and support he received at Hotchkiss with his success at Williams. “I had wonderful, loving, and caring faculty who made my time at Hotchkiss a remarkable one,” he said.

The athletes, in turn, share their culture with the Hotchkiss community.

“We’ve learned to appreciate the simple things in life like having clothes on our backs and a bed to sleep in at night,” said Katherine Furman Pasik P’15. The Pasiks have been a host family for Francis since he and their son, William ’15, met at orientation. They have hosted him every summer. “I call him our fourth child. He’s a part of our family, and he always will be,” she said.

Character education is also a major component at the Academy, according to Elmore. Giving back and passing on what they have achieved to others is the end goal for all Right to Dream scholar-athletes.

“My ambition is to became a medical doctor, and I'm planning on getting my degree here in the States and to work here for a while to gain more experience; then go back to Ghana and help others with the skills I have learned,” said Farouk.

The next four years will bring new challenges for Francis, who plans on attending the University of Michigan. But the final leg of his journey will take place when he, too, returns to Ghana.

“I want give back to the people who have given me so much, and that includes the people here at Hotchkiss,” he said.

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THE TRIAL IN TARKWA Last summer Boys Varsity Soccer Coach Toby Elmore traveled to Ghana to participate in a trial for prospective Right to Dream students. In a scene that’s repeated 100 times a year, with 20,000 boys competing in villages and cities throughout Ghana for a call-back, the talent and heart shown on the pitch leave a lasting memory. | By Toby Elmore, instructor in history, boys varsity soccer coach as nervous as the prospective players, informing us that we “must take” one young man or the other.

The trial was supposed to be only for eight-10-year-olds, and nearly a quarter of the players looked a good deal older; “he is big for his age” and “no, really, he is only eight” were common refrains, but thankfully the veterans from Right to Dream were able to break through this façade and ensure that only those of a proper age would be allowed through this first stage.

The classroom where the testing would take place was a short walk through dusty streets and alleyways. My first task was to remind the family and friends of these young men that they must get away from the window and not talk to those taking the test. It was a fruitless task, as by this point word had spread throughout the town that Right to Dream – Ghana’s premier soccer academy among the many that exist in the country – had arrived and the trial process had begun. The ranks

swelled around the classroom, a spartan space filled only with small wooden desks, a large chalkboard at the front of the room, and a podium awkwardly placed on one of the desks. I had little luck convincing these cousins and brothers that they must step away from the window, and it finally took a threat of closing down the trial to get the adults away. The boys taking the test seemed relieved, as they made their way through word associations, number series tests, and equation building exercises.

It wasn’t until they finished the academic testing and stepped onto the dirt pitch that their smiles returned, their shoulders loosened, and their nervous energy was transformed into effortless grace and skill. The pace of play was remarkable, the technical ability of many on the dusty field rivaled that of some players on my varsity team; and they were eight years old! With a heavy heart we selected the 10 who

would play in the all-star game.

From that 10, three exceptionally talented boys were called to the Academy for a formal trial.

I learned this fall that not one from Tarkwa was chosen. There is another trial scheduled for Tarkwa next June, and I am certain the above pattern will repeat itself. This is the opportunity of a lifetime for these boys and their families.

BELOW: The boys take their required tests.

BOTTOM: Very young, but polished players on the field

PHOTOS BY TOBY ELMORE

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he drive from Takoradi to Tarkwa, Ghana, was a bumpy one, and our gear was not yet dry from the downpour we experienced the previous day. Sadly, Friday’s Takoradi trial had been cancelled due to heavy rains, but the weather forecast looked promising for Saturday’s trial in Tarkwa. You never know with the rainy season, however.

Cyanide Park seemed an odd name for a soccer pitch, but our truck driver claimed to know the location and informed us that we were headed to mining country.

We arrived at the location two hours late and already the boys had gathered, nervously fiddling with their oversized jerseys and bags of water.

The Tarkwa coaches lined up the boys so that we could get their names and ages and begin the process of registering the players and administering the academic tests. The coaches seemed almost

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Journalism 101 with Politico’s Daniel Lippman ’08

BY NICK MASSELLA

Reprinted with permission from Capitol File Magazine

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For Daniel Lippman,

doing anything other than what he’s doing now

Politico announced the full-time hire of Lippman in June as a researcher-reporter working alongside the venerable Mike Allen in the production of “Playbook,” the publication’s morning must-read newsletter. Having joined Politico in a part-time capacity in February, Lippman was well-known by top talent at the Rosslyn news outlet even then.

In 2009, Politico profiled Lippman for being recognized by Washington media as the GW student with a penchant for e-mailing reporters to flag misspelled names, grammatical errors, and broken hyperlinks in published pieces of work. “Since I read so much news, I’d notice errors and typos,” Lippman says, “I just thought, it only takes me a couple of minutes to send off a quick note, and they can fix the story so thousands of readers won’t see that inaccuracy in there.”

But his record of corresponding with some of the nation’s top political writers didn’t just begin when he moved to DC from Connecticut, where he penned articles on national politics for his high school paper, The Hotchkiss Record.

“While I was in high school,” Lippman recalls, “the Bush White House had a thing called ‘Ask the White House,’ which was a Web forum where they brought in Cabinet officials to answer public questions.” Lippman routinely participated, and doing so led The New Yorker to do a “Talk of the Town” piece on him in 2005, when he was just 15.

After graduating from GW in 2012, Lippman interned with The Wall Street Journal and The Huffington Post before traveling to Antakya,

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PHOTO BY STEPHEN VOSS

is unimaginable.

Turkey, to cover the Syrian civil war. There, he reported on the Syrian refugee crisis for CNN’s website and, for The Huffington Post, on injured Syrian civilians who crossed into Turkey.

With the 2016 presidential election fast approaching, Lippman hopes to be involved in Politico’s coverage of it, “maybe on the trail or following a particular candidate.” And he describes working for Allen – the face of Politico – and assisting him in the production and delivery of “Playbook” as “inspiring.” “[Mike Allen] knows what Washington will talk about the next day and what people want to read. Politico encourages its reporters to write stories no one else has, to push for details, and

to really understand the behind-the-scenes story,” says Lippman. “What Mike has told me is that the most important thing is your work – it’s not a clock-in or clock-out. It’s more about, ‘Are you writing interesting articles? Is ‘Playbook’ serving its readers and continuing to inform people who are reading it?’

“I keep in mind that you can’t get too close to your sources; you have to write what the truth is for the readers – they’re the most important thing. Politicians have their own PR folks, so we serve our readers.”

At just the tender age of 24, Lippman promises a media trajectory that we’re excited to follow – for the next 40 years or so.

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Annual Report of Giving

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Dear members of the Hotchkiss community,

We are grateful for your continuing and extraordinary support.

You have given your money, time, and energy to Hotchkiss with generosity and enthusiasm. Your successes include the $5,638,950 raised by The Hotchkiss Fund (with 40 percent alumni participation­—the highest number of alumni donors ever), and another record-setting year for The Hotchkiss Parents Fund, which collected $1,537,736. Overall, your support for the Fund, the endowment, and our other critical initiatives totaled $17.4 million.

The School’s team of volunteers deserve much of the credit for these results, which ensure that Hotchkiss remains dynamic and strong. We are indebted to those who have helped sustain this exceptional school for yet another year.

Sincerely,

Head of School

a year in review July 2013

August 2013

July 1 A new fiscal year begins

The first of 90-plus alumni and parent events in the year begin, attended by more than 5,000 people.

Events included Hotchkiss Career Connections, Young Alumni College Dinners, and Holiday Celebrations.

July 5 Summer Portals 10th Anniversary celebration with the Shanghai Quartet July 20-21 Greater Opportunity (G.O.) Reunion The reunion of G.O. alumni celebrated their years in the Hotchkiss summer program for boys from cities in Connecticut and New York. The announcement of the Walter J. Crain Jr. P’86,’89 Scholarship was made at the reunion.

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August 19-23 The Summer Faculty Symposium The Symposium is an intensive workshop of professional development and critical reflection for Hotchkiss faculty.

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Financial Aid When she was in middle school, Erika Hairston ’14 didn’t think she would go to an independent boarding school.

“No one in my direct family had gone to a private school,” she says, “and everyone expected me to go to the Summit [NJ] High School, the way my sister did.”

But a close friend who is four years older than Erika had gone to Deerfield Academy.

“Every summer she lived with my family,” Erika remembers, “and she would whisper to me how wonderful boarding school was.”

Wonderful, certainly – but also beyond her family’s economic means. “With two half-siblings in college and my sister about to begin, I knew that without financial aid, private school was not going to be an option for me,” she says.

But with the help of the Messa Family Scholarship, Erika was not only able to attend Hotchkiss, but to thrive here.

“I still have to pinch myself to believe the relationships I formed and situations I found myself in, due to my Hotchkiss attendance, were real,” she says. “Thanks to the generosity of Hotchkiss, I was able to travel.

The Round Square program brought me to a conference in London and as an exchange student to Kenya, where I fell in love with the people. I fundraised for a volunteer trip to Colombia and was one of the lucky students on the Antarctic expedition.”

Wyatt Walsh ’14 also had his doubts about being able to attend a private boarding school.

“I live in Independence, CA, in the eastern Sierra Mountains,” he says. “With a population of 669, it can’t be said that Independence is home to abundant resources! As a primary school student, I was homeschooled, because my parents felt that Independence did not have the type

September 2013

‘Welcome, New Families’ Receptions Parents hosted receptions to welcome new incoming families from around the country and across the globe that took place in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Montreal, Greenwich, New York, Beijing, and Shanghai. Over 336 Hotchkiss parents and students attended these events.

August 30 - September 2 Opening Days on Campus: Orientation, Contra Dance, Matriculation, and Class Themes During Orientation, 201 new students learned more about campus life and their new home. All 600 students turned out for the traditional Contra Dance in the Field House. At Matriculation new students, who come from 27 states and 19 countries, introduced themselves to a Chapel audience and were welcomed into the School community. In the Class Themes program all students engage with a topic — environment, intercultural, service, or leadership — according to their class year.

“ I still have to pinch myself to believe the relationships I formed and situations I found myself in, due to my Hotchkiss attendance, were real.”

Erika Hairston ’14

Coast to Coast alumni events begin Seven Coast to Coast events in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Darien, West Palm Beach, and London featured Head of School Kevin Hicks who gave an update on the state of the School.

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of educational opportunities that would furnish me with the skills to succeed.”

Wyatt, now at the University of California at Berkeley, did start to attend a public high school, but it was in a town an hour away from his home. “I had to wake up in the morning to catch the 6:30 a.m. public bus, and would not return until 7:30 p.m., when the bus brought me back to Independence,” he says. After two years, he had exhausted the school’s math curriculum, and would have completed the science curriculum by the end of his junior year.

“I felt I needed to change schools to provide myself with a greater opportunity to

learn math and science,” he says. That meant a boarding school and the expense involved.

After doing some research, Wyatt thought Hotchkiss would be a good fit, but “when I was looking into boarding schools, I could only look at the schools with great financial aid funds available.”

Fortunately, Hotchkiss offered him the Class of 1957 Scholarship, established by members of that class at their 50th Reunion in 2007.

It made all the difference: “That Hotchkiss could give me a generous scholarship was life-changing, to say the least,” Wyatt says. “My scholarship

consisted of the cost of tuition and boarding fees, a stipend for personal use every year, plane flights back and forth to California four times a year, and small costs, such as my Senior Dance ticket.”

The experiences of Erika and Wyatt are hardly unique. In the past school year, some 211 students – 35 percent of the Hotchkiss student body – received some sort of financial aid. Some $8.2 million was awarded in need-based tuition, and $250,000 was given for non-tuition expenses such as books, transportation, and athletic equipment.

Providing financial assistance is not

a year in review Celebrating Bissell: The Memories Poured in A yearlong celebration of Bissell Hall began, marked by an opportunity for all to share stories of time spent in and around the 120-year-old dorm. The memories that came in from alumni, parents, and current students created a treasure trove to be kept in the Hotchkiss Archives and in the hearts of former Bissell Hall residents.

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September 7 – October 6 The Tremaine Gallery season opens with Common Denominator Common Denominator was the first of six shows in 2013-14—all of which were free and open to the community.

September 14 Special Olympics Inaugural Fitness Club Walk The inaugural walk included Susan Saint James P’90,’93,’01,’04, an active volunteer with the Special Olympics and supporter of the organization since 1972, and nearly 80 participants—close to half of whom were Hotchkiss students. Dean of the Class of 2017 Keith Moon helped to coordinate the event to raise awareness for the Special Olympics and its programs.

September 17 Media specialist David Pakman gives the Beal Lecture David Pakman, a radio, television, and Internet talk show host, spoke on news and media. The Beal Lecture Fund, established in honor of Thaddeus R. Beal Jr. ’35 by his friend, classmate, and former trustee John Shedd Reed ’35, brings to campus speakers on current issues.

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new at School. Indeed, founder Maria Hotchkiss famously said, “I have no interest whatsoever in a school for the pampered sons of rich gentlemen.” In establishing Hotchkiss, she included as a requirement that free tuition be forever offered to “at least three boys from Salisbury and three from Sharon.”

Since Maria Hotchkiss’ time, both the makeup of the student body and the amount of financial aid have changed greatly, but the requirement to educate those of limited means has been here from the very start.

Arnelle Ansong ’14 is another graduate who is grateful for the financial aid Hotchkiss provided.

“My parents are from Ghana, and moved to the United States in the early 1990s,” she says. “I live in Manchester, CT, with my younger brother, Kofi, and my older sister, Crystal. My parents have always been interested in education – my mother even went to boarding school back in Ghana ­– and my mother had a friend whose daughter went to Miss Porter’s. I was intrigued by her success, researched boarding schools, and then landed at Hotchkiss.”

She was able to attend thanks to the Harry Beach Clow Jr. ’20 Scholarship, established in January 1999.

“I have been incredibly blessed by the resources afforded me by attending

Hotchkiss,” says Arnelle, who is now at Stanford. “I had a number of amazing mentors, and I don’t think I would have grown quite as much without them. This integral feature of the Hotchkiss community has made it all the more valuable to me.”

Hotchkiss students receiving financial aid are a diverse group, and many of the students come from middle-income families, who are often caught in the middle. These families struggle with tuition, and often multiple tuitions. Special consideration is given to legacy families as well. In 2013-14 Hotchkiss students came from all over the United States and from 13 countries, including Vietnam, Kenya, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Bulgaria. Students also came from well-established programs

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set up specifically for minorities, including Prep for Prep, the Wight Foundation, Yes for PREP, and Breakthrough New York.

“The people I formed relationships with taught me so much about myself and the world,” says Erika Hairston. “My advisor, Mrs. Jennifer Craig, inspired and challenged me every day to find a different strength in myself and remember who I am – ‘a positive human-being who makes her own luck.’ Ms. Cornelia Holden also served as a mentor for me during my last two years at Hotchkiss. So while the academic rigor kept me passionate about learning, Hotchkiss most influenced me by being a haven for incredible experiences as a proctor, a friend, and an open-minded student.” Erika is now at Yale University.

“ That Hotchkiss could give me a generous scholarship was life-changing, to say the least.”

Wyatt Walsh ’14

October 15 SM&SH Day The Hotchkiss Math Club, along with faculty members, hosted a math and science exploration day called Sixth-Grade Math & Science at Hotchkiss Day (SM&SH) for sixth-graders from the Region One middle schools.

October 2013 October 4 Q&A and movie premiere with director Gabe Polsky ’98 The campus community enjoyed an early premiere of The Motel Life, produced and co-directed by Gabe Polsky ’98 and his brother Alan. The film won four awards at the 2012 Rome Film Festival.

October 11-12 Parents Weekend More than 1,200 parents attended School events and performances and sat in on classes with their children.

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“ I had a number of amazing mentors at Hotchkiss and I don’t think I would have grown quite as much without them.”

Arnelle Ansong ’14

Wyatt Walsh says, “I was able to have so many firsts that I can think of right now: first time in New York, first time riding a major train, first time seeing the Atlantic Ocean, first time playing competitive Ultimate Frisbee. I couldn’t see doing these things for a long time if it weren’t for Hotchkiss. My scholarship allowed me to broaden my lens and see the world in a different way. My first-time experiences gave me a better sense of the world around myself, and I was surrounded by a group of people that don’t exist at home.”

The list of graduates who have received financial aid is long, and their accomplishments many.

Just from the Class of 2004: Sarah Adams is an internal medicine physician; Matthew Boller teaches biology at Choate Rosemary Hall; Emilie Bydwell is a professional rugby player who competed in her third World Cup; and Alana Rigal is studying American Sign Language to be an interpreter for the deaf.

And from 2005: Oheneba Amponsah is a patent analyst in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; Carla Williams teaches biology at Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, MA; Lisa Ruskin is an analyst at Pacific Community Ventures, a nonprofit organization in San Francisco; and Douglas McPherson is Director of Accounts at CipherHealth in New York.

Financial aid recipients from the Class of 2014 have just begun college, but they, too, have every reason to plan for future success.

“My long-term career goal is to work in the nonprofit and technology industries, eventually leading my own tech-forward corporation or foundation,” says Erika Hairston.

For Arnelle Ansong, “the problem is that I have a lot of different academic interests; I’m really interested in classics, and chemistry and biology. I’ve recently developed an interest in economics. My goal for now is to take lots of different classes until I figure it out.”

And Wyatt Walsh plans “to finish my double major in bioengineering and materials science and engineering, as well as my pre-med requirements. This education will allow me to have the lens of a problem solver, which I hope to apply to the medical and business fields. Then, I hope to get admitted into an MD/MBA program which will allow me to become a doctor, but still have a deep understanding of business.”

High ambitions indeed! But as many former recipients of financial aid at Hotchkiss have discovered, not the least out of reach.

a year in review October 17 Presentation, “After Chernobyl,” with Michael Forster Rothbart, photojournalist Photojournalist Michael Forster Rothbart’s work explores the human impacts of environmental contamination. A Fulbright Fellowship enabled him to spend two years in Chernobyl, photographing and interviewing those who remain a generation after the 1986 nuclear accident.

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October 22 Mathletes’ winning season Accompanied by Head of Mathematics and Computer Marta Eso, four Mathletes traveled to the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Invitational Meet, winning the event.

October 24 Real Food Day This particular day focused on farm-to-table freshness and sourcing local and sustainable foods every day. The Dining Hall’s menus included: FreeRange Chicken with Forty Cloves, Autumn Crisp with Hudson Valley Fresh Whipped Cream, Hotchkiss Farm Kale Slaw, and Hotchkiss Farm Roasted Turnip, Carrot and Beet Medley.

October 25-26 Fall Reunion Eighty alumni and guests from the Classes of 1963 and 1953 returned to campus for the Fall Reunion, attending classes and School events, and catching up with each other’s news.

A n n u a l

R e p o r t

o f

G i v i n g

Town Hill Society Generosity has been a hallmark of The Hotchkiss School since its inception and continues to make a real difference in the day-to-day lives of our students. The Town Hill Society, established in 1994, ensures that Hotchkiss will be wellpositioned to educate future generations of students. This sense of legacy is a powerful and admirable spirit that connects one generation to another, preserving the past while steadfastly building an even more relevant future. We are deeply indebted to the 502 Town Hill Society members who have demonstrated their unwavering confidence in and support for Hotchkiss.

We are very pleased to report that The Town Hill Society welcomed 17 new members in 2013-14. We are profoundly grateful to each of these new members, representing a range of classes from 1939 to 2002, whose generosity will help Hotchkiss to thrive in the future. Hotchkiss received $3,321,687 (face value) in new irrevocable estate commitments and $587,980 in realized planned gifts.

November 8-10 Volunteer Leadership Weekend 135 participants took part in the School’s annual Leadership Conference for alumni and parent volunteers.

November 2013 November 3 19th Annual Hotchkiss Swimathon In total, 148 Hotchkiss students, faculty, and staff members took part in the 19th Swimathon, raising a total of $7,000 for the Northwest Connecticut Special Olympics swim team.

November 6 Education Forum in New York City “The Economics of Education: the future of the classroom,” featured panelists Head of School Kevin Hicks; Elizabeth G. Hines ’93; Harvard’s James Honan; and Erica Larsen Woolway ’97. The event took place from 6:00-9:00 p.m. in Lincoln Center, New York.

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G i v i n g

Revenues and Expenditures

2013-2014

The 2013-14 operating budget was approximately $44.92 million. The School takes great pride in being careful stewards of its funds. Charitable giving allows Hotchkiss to continue to provide an outstanding education.

Percentage of Total Revenues

%

Percentage of Total Expenditures

%

Net Tuition (Gross less financial aid)

45.7

Salaries, Wages, and Stipends

43.9

Authorized Endowment Utilization

35.9

All Benefits

15.7

The Hotchkiss Fund

11.7

Plant Operations

9.7

Fees and Other

2.8

Other General Institutional

8.6

Auxiliary Enterprises

2.3

Plant Capital and Special Items

7.9

Summer Portals

1.6

Student Support

5.2

Legal, Insurance, and Other Professional Services

3.6

Interest on Debt

2.9

Summer Portals

1.4

Contingency 1.1

We are grateful for the 1,157 volunteers who gave freely of their time, energy and talent this past year to The Hotchkiss School.

a year in review November 9 Taft Day After a colorful School Spirit Week leading up to the big day, the Hotchkiss flag-waving â&#x20AC;&#x153;Blue Mobâ&#x20AC;? led legions of fans at a number of Taft matches. The Bearcats stunned the Rhinos in several games.

November 14-17 HDA presents Ragtime: The Musical The Hotchkiss Dramatic Association season opened with Ragtime: The Musical, which ran November 1417. Also, The Crucible by Arthur Miller ran February 21-23, and Prelude to a Kiss by Craig Lucas ran May 2-4. Throughout the season 235 students were involved in all aspects of putting on the productions.

November 11 In honor of Veterans Day, the students in the Veterans Club produced a program for Auditorium and sponsored a letter drive to send letters to troops stationed overseas.

Prelude to a Kiss

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A n n u a l

Report of Gifts

R e p o r t

o f

G i v i n g

July 1, 2013 – june 30, 2014

n The Hotchkiss Fund

$ 5,638,950

n Restricted Current Use

$

n Restricted Endowment

$ 2,932,355

n Unrestricted Endowment

$

560,715

n Gifts Pending Designation

$

740,107

n Property, Plant, and Equipment

$ 4,440,131

n Deferred Gifts at Present Value

$ 2,946,110

Total Gifts

$ 17,460,558

32%

202,190

17%

17%

26% 4%

Giving Societies

3% 1%

July 1, 2013 – june 30, 2014 all cash gifts to the school

Gift Level

Head of School’s Council $50,000 or more Leadership Council $25,000 - $49,999

Donors

The Hotchkiss Fund

40

762,509

$ 1,227,114

122

$ 1,120,545

$ 1,477,878

Maria Hotchkiss Society $5,000 - $9,999

141

$ 701,457

$ 775,918

The 1891 Society $1,891 - $4,999

240

Pythians 6th – 10th Reunion $500 - $4,999 Blue & White Society up to $1,890

$

Total Given

$ 9,526,430

St. Luke’s Society $10,000 – $24,999

Olympians 1st – 5th Reunion $250 - $4,999

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$ 1,650,397

$

13

$

9

$

3,531

$

552,569

$

604,715

5,975

$

12,800

7,786

$

9,286

837,712

$

880,306

November 20 Susan Cheever speaks about E.E. Cummings Students and faculty members filled the living room of Harris House to hear writer Susan Cheever present her uniquely knowledgeable perspective on 20thcentury poet E.E. Cummings.

December 2013 December 8 Hotchkiss Invitational Debate Tournament December 8 Festival of Lessons and Carols Hotchkiss chaplain Lou Pressman, with choral director Jack Brown conducting The Hotchkiss Chorus, led the service.

December 17 The Second Marking Period ends

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A n n u a l

R e p o r t

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G i v i n g

The Hotchkiss Fund Highlights

The Hotchkiss Parents Fund Highlights

Total Raised $5,638,950 Total Raised $1,537,736

Alumni Participation 40% (the highest number of alumni donors ever)

20 classes achieved 50% participation or higher Our youngest 15 classes reached 34% participation overall

Current Parent Participation 81%

Thanks to the extraordinary leadership of Parents Fund Chairs Doug and Julie Ostrover P’16, and the tireless work of

THF Awards brief: • The Class of 2009 reached the highest number of donors – 89 – and achieved 48 percent class participation.

• The Class of 1984 had the greatest improvement in class participation and dollars raised.

• The Class of 1986 won the 1986 Hotchkiss-Taft Participation Challenge.

• The Class of 1949 achieved 100% participation for the ninth consecutive year, raising the most dollars for The Hotchkiss

their team of 60 families, the Fund set a new record for total dollars raised from current (non-alumni) parents.

The Class of 2014 parents’ total giving to Hotchkiss (including gifts to endowed funds and scholarships) reached approximately $1M.

Fund of any class, $526,475.

a year in review January 23-26 A Big Win for Speech and Debate Nineteen members of the Speech and Debate team and their advisor, David Conti, traveled to the Yale Model UN competition. In a competition of 1,700 delegates, the Hotchkiss team won eight individual awards and the overall title of Best Large Delegation.

January 2014 January 20 MLK Day A daylong program involving alumni as well as faculty, staff, and student participants, celebrated the life and achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 29 Stu-Fac Basketball Game Students 33-Faculty 30: The final score in no way speaks to the heart and soul expended by the boys and girls, and men and women in this highly anticipated annual event.

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A n n u a l

R e p o r t

o f

G i v i n g

Hotchkiss Bequest In September 2013, the School received a wonderful bequest from the estate of the late John Calhoun, Class of 1944, designated to the Paul van Marx ’44 Memorial Scholarship; yet this story really began in 1940 with the arrival of Paul van Marx to Hotchkiss.

Only the year before, Paul, his parents, Alexander and Ellen, and two siblings (including Robert ’46) came to the United States after fleeing Holland upon the invasion of the Nazis parachuting into Amsterdam. The family was able to board a freighter to London and then to New York, as Alexander, (an Oxford graduate of German Jewish birth) was secretly employed by the British underground.

At Hotchkiss, Paul would soon become a leader and one of the most popular members of the Class of 1944. He was known as a dogged competitor in soccer

and distance running, despite his short legs.

His intellectual curiosity was insatiable, and he was fluent in five languages, eventually seven. But he was forgiven the mandatory Latin as a prep, because at the time both his English and Latin were so poor he couldn’t possibly translate from one to the other. Paul founded the Geopolitical Club at Hotchkiss and was always interested in world affairs, which was indicative of his career path which would eventually lead to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

After Yale and Columbia Law School, Paul went into the Army as a cover for what would become a lifelong CIA career.

He did this in order to compensate the United States for having saved his entire family from what was otherwise certain execution by the Nazis, had they been captured before their escape from Holland.

Never boasting or one to call attention

to himself, Paul gave his entire adult life to our country, first fighting against the Nazis and later the Soviets. The late Ted Leisenring ’44 said, “I have been told by my friends in the CIA that Paul was one of the most effective agents in training spies and counter-spies, needless to say in a dangerous business, in which many individuals have ‘disappeared.’”

John Calhoun, among many others in the Class of 1944, had a deep friendship with Paul van Marx. He never forgot Paul, and when John died, he left behind a bequest to the Paul van Marx ’44 Memorial Scholarship to honor his beloved friend and classmate.

Appropriately so, the Scholarship is to be awarded every year if possible to a student from Western Europe, where Paul began his life and his eventual journey to Hotchkiss.

January 28 Eleven students selected for the Connecticut Scholastic Art Awards The works of 11 Hotchkiss students were chosen by a jury of professional artists at the 25th annual Connecticut Regional Scholastic Art Awards—the largest juried student art exhibition in the state.

February 2014 Lunar New Year Celebration Friday, February 14-15 College Admission Forum for Upper Mid Parents February 15 Blue and White Ball

February 25 Professor Laurie Santos addresses students and faculty members In her talk in Auditorium, Prof. Santos informed her audience on the groundbreaking work that she is doing in primate and canine cognition studies.

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Awards The McKee Award Mary and Stephen Holmes P’10,’15 were honored with the McKee Award this year. Named in honor of Hugh and Judy McKee P’78,’80,’84,’89 in recognition of their tireless work for The Hotchkiss Fund, this award is presented annually to a Hotchkiss parent for distinguished service to The Hotchkiss Fund.

Mary and Stephen began volunteering for The Hotchkiss Parents Fund in 2007, when their daughter Hadley ’10 arrived at Hotchkiss. Since then, they have achieved remarkable results, particularly as the “class captains” for their son Austin’s Class of 2015. By developing a tremendous sense of community within the class, Mary and Stephen achieved the highest level of parent participation by any class in the history of the School – 95% in 2012-13!

Mary and Stephen Holmes pictured with their daughter Hadley ’10.

Hotchkiss is very grateful to the Holmes family for all of their contributions.

The Armitage Award Marvin Deckoff ’49, P’87 is the recipient of the Thomas W. Armitage ’25 Award, given annually to a member of the Hotchkiss alumni body for distinguished service to The Hotchkiss Fund. A longtime volunteer for Hotchkiss, Marvin has served the School in many roles: as a trustee, reunion agent, phonathon caller, and most recently, Marvin was elected Lead Agent by his classmates.

Under his leadership, the Class of 1949 has consistently achieved 100% participation. Marvin also serves as a mentor for our young volunteers, speaking at class agent workshops and at the annual senior pizza feed.

We extend our sincere thanks to Marvin for his long-term commitment to Hotchkiss and dedication to The Hotchkiss Fund.

Stephanie Bowling Zeigler’84, president of The Hotchkiss Fund, and Marvin Deckoff ’49, P’87.

athletics: a year in review Boys Basketball made it to the finals of the New England Tournament for the first time in School history.

62 Hotchkiss teams played 19 sports 379 games won or tied 5 Founders League Champions: Field Hockey, Boys Soccer, Girls Lacrosse, Boys Track, and Girls Track

New England Fleet Racing Champions: Sailing Western New England Champions: Field Hockey, Girls Lacrosse Wrestling New England Champions: Angus Cowell ’14 at 195 pounds Joey Rossetti ’17 at 120 pounds Boys Varsity Tennis made it to the finals of the New England Tournament for the fifth time in 7 years.

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Four hosted championships on campus, including the Western New England Wrestling Tournament (February 8), New England Division One Swimming & Diving Championships (March 1-2), Connecticut State Ultimate Frisbee Championships (May 4), and Founders League Track & Field Championships (May 10)

A n n u a l

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Class Giving Summary Results

July 1, 2013 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; June 30, 2014 all cash gifts to the school

Class Year

Percent of Participation

The Hotchkiss Fund

Donors All Funds

Total Dollars

Class Year

Percent of Participation

G i v i n g

The Hotchkiss Fund

Donors All Funds

Total Dollars

$30,529

1935

90%

$34,691

12

$34,716

1975

39%

$20,429

46

1936

100%

$5,454

2

$5,454

1976

44%

$51,748

54

$87,493

1937

40%

$1,291

2

$1,291

1977

28%

$114,312

42

$560,282

1938

55%

$26,100

7

$249,853

1978

65%

$158,933

87

$696,683

1939 (75th)

85%

$2,662

11

$3,562

1979 (35th)

38%

$158,609

58

$268,318

1940

33%

$4,100

3

$4,100

1980

31%

$225,623

41 $1,603,719

1941

31%

$900

7

$6,100

1981

38%

$235,575

55

$303,043

1942

55%

$10,750

12

$51,850

1982

27%

$72,239

41

$102,761

1943

48%

$3,871

9

$3,871

1983

40%

$91,355

54

$165,355

1944 (70th)

73%

$23,475

25

$69,330

1984 (30th)

55%

$213,814

77

$233,814

1945

50%

$4,970

19

$19,970

1985

43%

$89,798

60

$127,798

1946

47%

$7,700

17

$7,700

1986

53%

$64,002

88

$64,745

1947

75%

$14,404

40

$14,429

1987

42%

$51,299

59

$51,799

1948

47%

$19,784

23

$33,784

1988

41%

$47,540

60

$47,540

100%

$526,475

46 $1,049,266

1989 (25th)

56%

$89,926

83

$92,867

1950

61%

$28,209

32

$40,068

1990

44%

$42,730

59

$42,730

1951

33%

$7,995

19

$7,995

1991

35%

$34,984

53

$37,301

1952

44%

$11,415

23

$11,815

1992

30%

$30,629

43

$33,229

1953

75%

$148,346

41

$250,946

1993

34%

$18,912

58

$19,112

1954 (60th)

46%

$21,067

28

$28,067

1994 (20th)

30%

$9,930

46

$31,630

1955

71%

$46,190

37

$47,156

1995

25%

$20,199

38

$21,198

1956

48%

$29,075

35

$39,175

1996

38%

$18,893

61

$25,693

1957

54%

$23,240

37

$23,340

1997

27%

$41,460

44

$44,385

1958

69%

$29,467

46

$58,507

1998

19%

$12,721

29

$12,821

1959 (55th)

51%

$32,391

42

$61,491

1999 (15th)

26%

$7,339

42

$7,389

1960

48%

$64,523

30

$242,153

2000

28%

$15,855

43

$15,855

1961

40%

$12,720

29

$13,320

2001

22%

$9,730

34

$13,031

1962

30%

$5,330

24

$5,430

2002

34%

$11,361

52

$11,511

1963*

53%

40

$550,498

2003

41%

$9,713

62

$11,238

2004 (10th)

42%

$10,211

74

$10,211

1965

53%

$28,127

46

$72,428

2005

40%

$3,768

68

$5,038

1966

37%

$27,291

30

$27,791

2006

47%

$5,672

72

$6,227

1967

31%

$59,986

24

$65,386

2007

36%

$4,036

67

$4,036

1968

20%

$9,475

18 $2,009,475

2008

39%

$9,368

74

$9,573

1969 (45th)

55%

$64,793

47

$358,743

2009 (5th)

48%

$5,740

88

$7,790

1970

71%

$18,987

56

$20,087

2010

28%

$1,930

48

$1,930

1971

46%

$73,390

32

$75,390

2011

26%

$3,186

47

$5,598

1972

40%

$45,906

39

$56,956

2012

34%

$2,970

61

$5,382

1973

32%

$33,336

30

$62,476

2013

21%

$2,612

37

$2,612

1974 (40th)

45%

$92,720

45

$108,520

1949 (65th)

1964**(50th)

* The Class of 1963 celebrated its 50th reunion in October 2013. This comprehensive total reflects gifts and pledges to The Hotchkiss Fund, restricted funds, and planned gifts raised throughout the Classâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reunion campaign. ** Members of the Class of 1964 celebrated their 50th reunion this September. Their 50th-reunion totals will be included in the 2014-2015 Annual Report of Giving.

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Hotchkiss-Taft Challenge The Hotchkiss Class of 1986 loves a challenge.

The Class’s cheerfully competitive nature first took center stage at its 25th reunion in 2011, when it bested all comers in a contest to see which reunion class could have the highest percentage of members making a donation to The Hotchkiss Fund. The prize was an annual award to be named for whichever class won.

“The Class of ’86 had a great group involved as reunion agents – probably 18 people,” says Kate Beatty, associate director of The Hotchkiss Fund. “They really got behind that challenge.”

As the weeks went on, “it got down to a fight between 1986 and 1951,” Kate says, “and 1951 is also a very generous class with a lot of enthusiastic alumni. In the end, 1986 beat 1951 by one percentage point.

So there is now a Class of 1986 Award that goes to the reunion class that has the highest participation.”

The victory only whetted 1986’s appetite for another opportunity to shine.

“Two of the ’86 agents were interested

in keeping the participation numbers up,” Kate explains, “So in 2013, they said to me, ‘Let’s try and do something new, something different, to keep the interest high.’ They brainstormed a while, and came up with starting a fundraising competition with another school. They suggested Taft.”

When the ’86ers were students, Taft was not Hotchkiss’ major rival; if anything, that honor went to Kent. But Taft came up, Kate says, “because it’s now a big School competitor, and also because it’s just down the road,” in Watertown, CT. The agents got busy, and in January 2014 contacted Taft’s Alumni and Development Office.

“Taft said they’d be game; it would be a win/win for everyone,” Kate says. “Their 1986 class is very similar to ours size-wise and participation-wise, so it was a pretty fair contest.”

Quickly, the ground rules were set: The winner would be the school whose class of 1986 had the highest percentage of alumni

giving, not total dollars pledged. The contest would end May 16. And the prize would be awarded at Taft during its reunion weekend.

“That was a little bit of pressure for our guys, but they got behind it,” says Kate.

The Hotchkiss team posted a bar chart online every week showing the giving percentages of each school’s class of 1986. “We both started at 18 percent participation, so it was even at the start,” Kate says. “But all through the months, Taft was ahead.”

Hotchkiss alumni in the Class of 1986 who aren’t agents got involved as well.

“One alum called me and said, ‘Kate, I want to help. Give me some names to call,’ so we brought him in as a pinch-hitter.”

Finally, in the last week of the challenge, Hotchkiss made a final push, helped by 30 lastminute gifts, and charged ahead for the win.

“We ended up with 53 percent participation, and Taft had 46,” says Kate. “It was a lot of fun, but mostly it’s a reflection of a really great, connected class

March 2014

April 2014

March 27 Preston Lecture presented by Professor Jonathan Holloway, Professor and Dean of Yale College

Hotchkiss students place first in the Science Olympiad In the Connecticut Science Olympiad at the University of Connecticut-Storrs, the Hotchkiss Science Olympiad team placed first in Circuit Lab and Chemistry Lab.

a year in review

February 27-28 Student-Choreographed Dance Performance The annual program gave students of Director of Dance Alice Sarkissian-Wolf the opportunity to actualize their ideas in movement from an initial concept, through the hard work of rehearsal, to the fruition of performance.

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of people who care. We raised good money, and so did they; it’s for the good of both schools.” The prize was an engraved plate.

The victory in the Hotchkiss-Taft Challenge has let to planning for a similar event this fall: a short-term contest between the young alumni of both schools. The one-week event, which will end on Taft Weekend, will involve alumni of both schools who graduated no more than 20 years ago. Again, the winner will be the school with the highest percentage of young-alumi donors.

The donations go to The Hotchkiss Fund,

which “is very important to the School because about 12 percent of the budget comes from The Hotchkiss Fund,” Kate explains. “This year, we raised $5.6 million, which was a great year. We beat our goal; we got 40-percent alumni participation, and the highest number of alumni donors we have ever had. Twenty classes achieved 50-percent or greater participation, which is terrific. Young alumni reached 34-percent participation, which is up five percentage points from last year.”

Proceeds from The Hotchkiss Fund can be used for financial aid, any sort of faculty-

related expenses, sports – in fact, anything that’s a budget item. And friendly intramural or interscholastic fundraising challenges are one way to help boost this vital part of making Hotchkiss fulfill its mission.

“Competitions work,” Kate Beatty says.

“You know why that is? A contest gives people a reason to pick up the phone and make a phone call. Also, these challenges are fun. They bring a class together again. Now when I talk to 1986 they’re asking, ‘what are we going to do next year?’

a year in review Violinist Midori, in concert The Hotchkiss Concert Series presented violinist virtuoso Midori in a performance that was free and open to the public.

April 17 Eco Day The School’s annual Eco Day program saw 697 students and faculty members working in teams on various initiatives in caring for the campus and cleaning area roadsides.

April 22 Lufkin Prize presented to Richard Kirby Instructor in Chemistry Richard A. Kirby received the Lufkin Prize, given in recognition of faculty members who make a significant contribution to character development within the Hotchkiss community.

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Thank a Donor Day On May 27, 2014 dozens of students, faculty, and staff gathered to write thank-you notes to hundreds of alumni donors to The Hotchkiss Fund. The gratitude expressed came from the heart. Here are selections from some of the notes.

“ I am a senior, and I would like to thank you for your incredible generosity to the School. Without people like you, I never would have been able to even dream of coming to Hotchkiss.”

“ I’ve really enjoyed being captain of the swim team, proctoring in Tinker, and working on the farm. With graduation in only a few days, I’m starting to get quite nostalgic! I’ll be sad to leave this place.”

“ I have been able to be a part of cross country, diving, the Asian Culture Club, and the debate team, thanks in part to your donations. I am sure you had similarly amazing experiences here at Hotchkiss.”

“ I hope to maintain such a loyal commitment to the School when I join the alumni society. Everything here at Hotchkiss would not be possible without such strong and loyal alumni support.”

“I cannot even begin to thank you for your 32 years of support.” a year in review Thursday, April 24 Lambert Lecture: Paul Muldoon An audience of students, faculty, and staff members filled the Faculty Room for a memorable Lambert Lecture by Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish poet Paul Muldoon.

May 2014 Friday, May 2 Retirement Dinner The School honored retiring faculty members at a dinner on campus. Retiring in June were Nancy Gaynor, Robert Barker, Dr. Charles Mirabile, George Faison, Tom Trethaway ’75, and the late Julia Wu Trethaway.

Saturday, April 26 Grandparents Day On Saturday, April 26, the School welcomed 178 grandparents and other family members to campus. The visitors attended classes and musical performances, took a tour of the campus, and participated in panel discussions.

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Sunday, May 11

“ My experiences are grand and adventurous with an enlightening moment every day. …I have heard great sounds of music in Elfers, seen the beautiful night sky with our telescopes, tasted the food from our cultural clubs, built robots from attending science meetings, and participated in complex conversations in our classes.”

“ Hotchkiss has radically altered my perspective on the world around me. I have become especially involved in the debate team along with soccer, diving, softball, and cello. Donations like yours keep this school running.”

“ I am a current lower mid and I would like to thank you for your contributions to Hotchkiss. It means so much that alumnae like yourself give back and help preserve the Hotchkiss that you knew while making our current experience great!”

A n n u a l

R e p o r t

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“ Thanks to the generosity of you and fellow alumni, Hotchkiss continues to flourish as a school. Each year, the students get brighter and more diverse as we each try to live the ‘Hotchkiss dream.’”

“ I have been able to enjoy all of what Hotchkiss has to offer. Whether it is working in our state of the art recording studio, or observing the skies using a 10" Meade SchmidtCassegrain telescope, I can safely say that I am a vastly different person coming out than I was going into Hotchkiss. As I move on to other things such as college (Princeton!), Hotchkiss will forever remain close to me.”

“ …Looking at my life now, I’m a completely different person. I am friends with people I had never even heard of my first year, I have tried new sports – I was even the lead role in a student-run musical (something I NEVER would have thought I would do).”

Friday, May 16 Third Annual Hotchkiss Film Festival At the Hotchkiss Film Festival, Zoe Smith ’15 won the Jury Prize for A Sunday Kind of Love, and the Audience Award went to Ladies Over Drinks by Sam Burbank ’15.

Saturday, May 17 Day of Service In this fourth annual Day of Service on May 17, more than 250 alumni, parents, families, and friends participated in the 14 events planned in 13 locations around the world.

Sunday, May 11 BaHSA Picnic and Celebration of Patricia Redd Johnson The annual picnic of the Black and Hispanic Student Alliance (BaHSA), held on the Main Building patio, honored Patricia Redd Johnson, senior associate director of admission and mentor to many, on her forthcoming retirement.

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a year in review Friday, May 23 Hotchkiss Ensembles: The Hotchkiss Orchestra & Right Brain Logic Friday, May 30 Graduation On this day 173 seniors were officially launched as new Hotchkiss alumni and celebrated by their classmates, schoolmates, parents, faculty members, and friends.

June 2014 June 13-15 Hotchkiss Reunion The campus buzzed with the activities, both planned and unscheduled, of the 724 people at Reunion 2014.

Guests returned, some from distant locales, to catch up with classmates, enjoy time with friends and family, and relax by the lake in June. Many alumni attended the memorial service on Saturday for Nels Corey Pâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;71,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;72, former director of athletics and instructor in mathematics, in the Hotchkiss Chapel.

Sunday, June 22 Summer Portals begins its 11th season.

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news

The 2013-2014 Athletics Year in Review COMPILED BY C0-DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS ROBIN CHANDLER ’87

Fall Season Wrap-Up:

BOYS SOCCER:

V A R S I T Y BOYS CROSS COUNTRY:

6-3

3rd in Founders League, 6th in New Englands. New School Record: Marco Quaroni ’16 set a new course record of 16:43 on 10/12/13. He broke his own record of 16:58 set on 9/14/13 GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY: 6-1

3rd in Founders League, 4th in New Englands. Samantha Glass ’14 was Founders League Champion New School Record: Sami Glass ’14 set a new course record of 18:09 on 10/12/13. She broke her own record of 19:22 set in 2012.

FIELD HOCKEY:

GIRLS SOCCER: 13-3-2

Co-Founders League Champions New England Tournament (#7): (Quarterfinals: Hotchkiss 0, Westminster 2 (OT)) WATER POLO: VOLLEYBALL:

1-9 9-8

New England Tournament (#7): (Quarterfinals: Hotchkiss 2, Loomis 3) J U N I O R

V A R S I T Y

A N D

T H I R D S

JV BOYS CROSS COUNTRY:

6-3

JV GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY:

N/A

JV FIELD HOCKEY:

9-1-2

THIRDS FIELD HOCKEY:

7-3-0

JV FOOTBALL:

0-2

JV BOYS SOCCER:

6-6-3

BOYS THIRDS SOCCER:

10-3-2

JV GIRLS SOCCER:

5-3-2

T E A M S

12-2-2

Western New England Champions Founders League Champions New England Tournament (#2): (Quarterfinals: Hotchkiss 2, Taft 0) (Semifinals: Hotchkiss 0, Greenwich 1 (3OT)) FOOTBALL:

12-3-4

Founders League Champions New England Tournament (#5): (Quarterfinals: Hotchkiss 2, Kent 1) (Semifinals: Hotchkiss 1, Berkshire 2 (OT))

1-7

GIRLS THIRDS SOCCER:

2-5

JV VOLLEYBALL:

8-6

LEFT: Founders & Western New England Field Hockey Champions

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Winter Season Wrap-Up: V A R S I T Y BOYS BASKETBALL:

20-5

New England Tournament Finalists Quarter Finals #3 Hotchkiss vs. #6 Avon, W 53-50, Semi Finals #3 Hotchkiss vs. #2 TP, W 62-58 Finals #3 Hotchkiss vs. #1 Exeter, L 40-46 GIRLS BASKETBALL:

13-7

Northeast Eight Tournament Quarter Finals #1 Hotchkiss vs. #4 Deerfield, W 49-37, Semi Finals #1 Hotchkiss vs. 2 Choate, L 42-44 BOYS HOCKEY:

5-19-1

GIRLS HOCKEY:

10-8-2

BOYS SQUASH:

16-4

4th in New England Class A GIRLS SQUASH:

6-4

13th in New England Class A BOYS SWIMMING:

4-4

5th at Founders League Championship, 7th at New England GIRLS SWIMMING:

3-7

5th at Founders League Championship, 11th at New England Championship WRESTLING:

11-3

5th in Western New England 7th in New England Angus Cowell ’14 New England Champion at 195, Joey Rossetti ’17 New England Champion at 120

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BOYS JV BASKETBALL:

8-3

BOYS THIRDS BASKETBALL:

6-3

GIRLS JV BASKETBALL:

8-3

GIRLS THIRDS BASKETBALL:

1-3

BOYS JV HOCKEY:

3-7-2

GIRLS JV HOCKEY:

3-7-1

BOYS JV SQUASH:

6-4

TOP: Makai Mason ’14 shows a crowd how it’s done.

GIRLS JV SQUASH:

6-5

ABOVE: New England Tournament finalists Boys Varsity Basketball

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Spring Season Wrap-Up:

Finals: Hotchkiss 1, Andover 4 GIRLS TENNIS:

BASEBALL:

5-12

BOYS GOLF:

19-6

6th in Founders League, 6th at KIT GIRLS GOLF:

BOYS TRACK:

BOYS LACROSSE:

9-7

GIRLS LACROSSE:

10-2

Founders League Champions Western New England Co-Champions

10-0

Founders League Champions, 3rd in NE GIRLS TRACK:

8-1

Founders League Champions, 2nd in NE

3-6-1

4th in Founders League

SAILING:

8-4

3rd at Kent Tournament

V A R S I T Y

ULTIMATE FRISBEE:

14-4

2nd at NEPSUL GIRLS WATER POLO:

0-6

J U N I O R

A N D

V A R S I T Y

T H I R D S

JV BASEBALL:

1-9

BOYS JV GOLF:

6-7

BOYS JV LACROSSE:

1-9

GIRLS JV LACROSSE:

6-4

GIRLS THIRDS LACROSSE:

3-2

BOYS JV TENNIS:

11-1

GIRLS JV TENNIS:

6-2

BOYS THIRDS TENNIS:

5-2

GIRLS THIRDS TENNIS:

2-1

16-3

1st at New England Fleet Racing Championship, 2nd at Connecticut Championship, 4th at New England Team Racing Championship SOFTBALL:

0-11

BOYS TENNIS:

12-3

New England Tournament Finalists Quarterfinals: Hotchkiss 4, K-O 0 Semifinals: Hotchkiss 4, Taft 3

ABOVE: Bucky celebrates one of many Bearcat wins.

LEFT: Tri-Varsity Athletes, 2013-14

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Building Hope for the Future: Architect Barry Svigals and his team create a soaring vision for the new Sandy Hook Elementary School

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BY DIVYA SYMMERS

To be an architect, believes Barry Svigals ’66, requires two things: Life experience and the ability to make things with your hands. Even more valuable is having “an experiential connection with the things that you make,” he says.

“This is probably the best grounding for architecture: It requires, I think, the broadest appreciation of how we live as human beings.”

At the very essence of architecture is what Svigals calls “collaborative creativity.” This can only occur, as he explains, “with an understanding of ourselves as participants, that how we are is what it becomes. It’s an acknowledgement that we need to have the greatest ability to respond and listen to one another and acknowledge that all of us are smarter than any one of us.”

Just over a year ago, Svigals + Partners, the New Haven architectural firm he founded in 1983, was selected to design the new Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, about to rise phoenix-like near the site of the school carved into our collective hearts two years ago. Opening with more than 500 students in fall 2016, the two-story, 86,000-square-foot structure will stand adjacent to the footprint of the old building, which was torn down before the one-year anniversary of the 2012 massacre in which 20 children and six educators died.

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Set on 12 acres bordering Treadwell Memorial Park (dedicated to former Newtown Selectman Timothy B. Treadwell, father of Mead Treadwell ’74), the new school’s welcoming “Main Street” design, with its two embracing wings, incorporates images suggested by town residents, including a façade of familiar church spires rising above the rolling tree line. The area’s unique geology of water is also a familiar theme.

“Sandy Hook was named after a “hook” of sand created by the Housatonic River,” explains Svigals. “And as time goes on water will be increasingly a topic of concern for everyone on the planet. To incorporate it into the learning process for these children seemed to be an important thing to do, as well as reminding them of where they’re from.”

Inspired by “the strong sense of community and the inherent natural beauty of Newtown,” the reborn Sandy Hook Elementary will be filled with light and connected to nature in a way that provides both spiritual nourishment and a clear sense of place. There will be canopies that connect, bridges and thresholds, even tree houses.

A bioswale at the front of the school, fed by rainwater from the roofs, will offer indirect security while also reflecting the natural environment. Interior views will give children a reassuring sense of where they are – a feeling of familiarity.

“That element of clarity allows them to feel safe and secure where they are,” Svigals says.

“And in responding to the need for security, the devices used to make the building more secure are as unseen as possible. The last thing we wish to create is fear of what might happen or fear of the outside world.”

As a student at Hotchkiss, when he thought of his future, he envisioned law school, not architecture. At the time, however, he was content to experience everything life in Lakeville offered. He loved art. He played as many sports as possible, including soccer. He was in as many clubs as he could join, including the Dramat. He sang in the Blue Notes and in a folk group and in a band called The Exiles, with Scott Powell ’66 and Denny Greene ’68, who went on to form the popular ’50s takeoff group Sha Na Na. “I was interested in so many things, my father wondered if I ever studied,” he said

recently, laughing. “And looking at my grades he was right to ask that question.”

There are many Hotchkiss faculty members he remembers fondly, including the late Robert Burrer, who taught art, and George Stone, who taught math (“which was not my strongest subject!”). Dave Coughlin was also important to him. “I was just so fortunate, as I think we all were. We had teachers who were just larger than life and fun to be with and deeply inspirational.”

He graduated from Yale with a degree in political science and went on to attend the Yale School of Architecture; after working for a local architect, he took a year off to study sculpture at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts de Paris. He returned to the U.S. enthralled by the way buildings in the City of Light were enlivened by everything from gargoyles and angels to fleurs-de-lis, and in 1983, “wishing to reinterpret figurative sculpture in a contemporary way for what might be called contemporary architecture,” he founded his own firm – one that combines his twin passions for architecture and art.

Svigals Associates (as it was originally

PHOTO: RHONDA CULLEN

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OPPOSITE: Svigals calls sculpture in architecture a “reminder of our humanity.”

TOP: The new school’s front courtyard has wings that “extend like the fingers of an open hand.”

ABOVE: Newtown residents suggested that the town’s church spires be incorporated in the design.

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LEFT: Local water courses inspired the main entry’s bioswale, or rain garden.

OPPOSITE: From the main lobby, vistas of nature appear between classroom wings.

called) quickly became known for “its ability to tell a powerful story through the integration of figurative art and building design” – a concept, he once told Minnesota Public Radio, that “transforms buildings from simple vessels into reflections on who we are and why we’re here.”

Over the past 30 years, the firm has completed major projects for Boston College, the University of Connecticut, and Yale-New Haven Hospital, along with several Yale medical research laboratories, and a sprinkling of high-profile homes (one for Keith Richards and another for cartoonist Garry Trudeau, a Yale classmate); even the FBI’s Connecticut headquarters. It’s also become increasingly lauded for its innovative public elementary school designs, in which figurative, whimsical, community-reflective, child-friendly touches are cannily incorporated.

In 2007 Svigals was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) for “reawakening the tradition of figurative sculpture in architecture.”

Svigals + Partners’ commitment to the process of community input made it a frontrunner when the time came for the bereaved residents of Newtown to choose an architectural firm, at almost the same moment they approved the state’s $50 million one-time funding grant for a new school. Recently, Barry Svigals spoke with Hotchkiss Magazine about his collaboration with the community, the ongoing evolution of the Sandy Hook Elementary School

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design, and his hopes for the school’s future.

Can you describe what the selection was like? I think something like 17 firms were competing?

Yes, well, obviously this received a tremendous amount of attention internationally, and people responded from all over. And we have had experience with elementary schools but in particular with community process.

Every one of our schools has reflected a unique and hopefully meaningful connection to that specific community, to that specific school, and to the people involved with it. So we came to the table with experience of inclusion and a process that brought together the different strands of communities to contribute to the creation of a new school. That process in and of itself in all communities is a healing one; it’s a nourishing one. That was one piece of it.

Could you describe how you came up with your final design?

For us the distinguishing characteristic going in was to say that we really didn’t know what was needed. And indeed no one could say at that moment what was needed, except for a process of discovery and one of listening. So we stated that outright. We didn’t come with any preconceptions, with any preconceived ideas, with any design – but we did come with experience in creating learning environments that are nurturing for children, that are delightful to be in. We have a deep belief that there is extraordinary

creativity embedded in the communities in which we work. And we see an important part of our job to be opening up the channels to that creativity so it can contribute to the making of an environment, a building, a school that is resonant with the very particular characteristics of the community in which they live.

For input from the community, you listened to some 200 people – is that right? Or is it ongoing?

It’s ongoing. We have spoken to hundreds, including an advisory committee that we suggested be pulled together. In this particular case, it is an advisory group, not a building committee, and that was clear from the beginning. But we took their advice very seriously.

This group was 50 or so people, pulled together in collaboration at the very beginning with town officials, including the first selectman, the head of the building committee, the superintendent of schools, teachers and staff from the school, and others.

Were the parents of the Sandy Hook children who lost their lives included in this process?

We met separately with the parents of the children who were lost, and we continue to communicate with them privately through the superintendent of schools and their website. They were not actively involved in the creation of the new school although they let us know what their concerns were.

Can you talk about the images that community members gave you that helped you with the design? Were some of these incorporated into the final design?

Oh, great question – and I’ll back up a little bit. Part of our process has to do with various

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exercises and homework assignments, and one of the exercises was for them to bring in images from their homes, from their neighborhoods, from the town, that were meaningful to them. One was an image of the town from a distance, where the spire of the church and other town buildings appeared above the rolling canopies of trees. And that image is now evoked in the façade of the front entrance, where there is a rolling horizon line to the top: it’s made of wood in various tones that suggest a tree canopy. The connection to nature was a large part of our conversation: as we designed the outside and inside and the courtyards and various other parts of the design, our goal was to integrate the school itself into the natural environment as closely as we could.

An article in Architectural Digest questioned whether designing schools that helped heal trauma could actually help reduce the conditions that result in violence. Is there anything in your Main Street design that addresses this?

Well, we would like to think that it addresses it in the sense that those desires should be elemental to any school – and in the best schools that have been designed, they are part of it.

Yes, there are ways in which children feel attended to and cared for and indeed loved, and architecture supports that. Some very simple things have to do with light and air and a connection to the outside. Another is the ease with which you can move through a school and understand all the time where you are, particularly in relationship to the outside world. So there are views that connect to the outside that are repeated such that the children very quickly will have a sense, despite the size of the school, of where they are and how to get from one place to another.

So it doesn’t look like a fortress?

Well, that’s certainly the impression we want to avoid. Our goal was to incorporate devices that contribute to the safety of the school in ways that are largely invisible and indeed might actually be things that are viewed positively. One example is the bioswale at the front of the school. It’s an opportunity for the children to experience the seasonally

changing natural environment. It also creates a zone over which bridges go – not real bridges, these are just areas that are raised above the bioswale. They’re metaphoric bridges, not unlike the little bridge that goes through the middle of town, over the Pootatuck River. But they control the points of access to the school from the parking area, so in an unseen, simple way this contributes to overall surveillance and the ability to see who is supposed to be coming towards the school and who is not.

How many people at your firm are working on this?

In total, seven or eight key people, including the project manager, Julia McFadden, and my partner, Jay Brotman, have been working together on this as a team. We’re highly collaborative internally. We’re also highly collaborative with our other team members in engineering and structure and landscaping and civil engineering: we included them from the very beginning in the design process, and we welcomed their input. There is also a construction manager who was on from day one.

That’s something that doesn’t happen all the time, but the chairman of the building committee suggested that it should happen, and it’s been a great advantage. There was a certain necessity to it because we had to remove the school, the existing school, as one of our first tasks, so he needed to be in place.

Do you consider this project the culmination of your philosophy of architecture for schools?

Or have you taken what you already were doing and magnified it one-hundredfold for Sandy Hook?

That’s a great question. I’d like to believe it’s a continuation of what we have endeavored to achieve in all our past projects. Fundamental to that is a wish to create prosperous, compassionate communities – to nurture those communities, and to support them. It might be a school community. It might be a community of academics. It might be a community of people within companies that we design for. And to that we bring a process whereby we invite people to join us in creating something that will be unique for them, that will allow them to be productive and delighted in what they do; literally, a playground for them to be productive in their own endevours. That goes from our research laboratories to our schools. The creativity and innovation of play is extremely important.

What is your very highest hope for the new Sandy Hook Elementary School when it opens in 2016?

We hope it serves the individual child, the families that are part of it, and the community in which it lives for many years to come. That it serves that need of nurturing each child in the direction that they might grow. They’re like flowers, and we want to water them and care for them such that they grow and become more fully the remarkable beings that they are.

So it’s a garden?

Yes, it is a garden. It’s a garden.

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IT’S

MY t u rn

A life’s journey, with all its ‘bends and curves’

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BY RICHARD KIRBY, INSTRUCTOR IN CHEMISTRY

The following are excerpts of Dr. Kirby’s remarks on April 22 to students and faculty members, on his receiving The Lufkin Prize. The Prize recognizes faculty who make a significant contribution to character development within the Hotchkiss community and thus serve as role models for the students.

Good morning. I am honored to be the recipient of this award, and I am extremely grateful for the opportunity that I have to work and live with you in this amazing place. …

Let me take this opportunity to share a bit about my journey – my path to Hotchkiss, the principles I live by, and what has informed my decisions along the way.

As many of you know I am from the beautiful island of Jamaica. I was born in Spaldings, a town in central Jamaica. The setting here at Hotchkiss reminds me of my hometown, very beautiful and peaceful. I am fortunate to have been born into a very special family. I am the third of eight children, born to two extraordinary parents who provided a very loving and nurturing environment; and taught us to appreciate the value of hard work, honesty, humility, and respect for others. My parents valued education and encouraged and supported our educational pursuits. All of my siblings are college-educated and are making significant contributions in their fields. Our success has been our parents’ great reward.

I attended Knox College high school in Jamaica. Knox is modeled after the European boarding schools. So, my high school experience was in many ways similar to the experience here – a very demanding academic program where extracurricular activities were also important. After high school I went on to college where I majored in chemistry and pursued a Ph.D. in chemistry. During my high school and college years I played soccer and ran track.

My favorite event in track was the 400 m; this event takes a lot of guts to run well. In my opinion the mental toughness that it takes for

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this race is good training for the race of life. …

After completing my graduate studies I took up a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. This was a very exciting time in my early career. I worked diligently and dedicated myself to research and teaching, and was on the verge of making a difference in the scientific community. But, my life was not to be without adversities. In my second year as a Postdoctoral fellow, my world was rocked when I was diagnosed with cancer. This was devastating news and turned out to be the biggest adversity that I would face in my life to this point. I was scared and worried; and was forced to face my own mortality. The uncertainty of my fate consumed me; there were nights when I would go to bed and sleep for no more than five minutes. All of a sudden, many things that seemed important were suddenly not important at all.

This seemed unfair, but forced me to stop and think about how I wanted to spend the rest of my life. I recognized that I had always wanted to make a difference in the lives of others, and I realized that the time to do so was now. I was determined to make the most of the time that I had left. I continued with my

Post Doc research fellowship; in addition, I started to tutor students with disabilities at the University of Guelph. Among them was an amazing blind student, Scott, who ended up helping me to put my adversity in perspective and ultimately helped me respond better to my illness. I realized that at some point we will all face adversities, so it is not whether adversities will come but it is how we respond to them.

Cancer turned out to be nothing more than a hurdle that I had to clear in my life, and instead of tripping up, I stepped back from that hurdle, regrouped, and made a deliberate choice to live by a new set of principles. I chose to take a positive outlook on life, to try to do my best to focus on the good in people, and to view every situation in a positive way. …

I moved to Connecticut to be closer to my family; in the end the most important thing is the time we spend together. As a child I dreamed of working in industry, so I went back to college to pursue further studies in order to fulfill this dream. This led to my dream job in research and development at a division of Bristol Myers Squibb. While working at Bristol Myers, I also continued teaching as an adjunct professor at CCSU and Wesleyan University.

Ultimately, I realized that teaching and working with young people were how I wanted to spend the rest of my professional life and when the opportunity to teach at The Hotchkiss School presented itself, I realized that my life’s journey, with all its bends and curves, had led me to begin what has proven to be an amazing chapter in my life. …

This recognition in a very powerful way validates my decisions … and I thank you.

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save the date.

Board of Trustees Thomas C. Barry P’01,’03,’05 John Coumantaros ’80, P’16 Ian R. Desai ’00 Thomas J. Edelman ’69, P’06,’07 William R. Elfers ’67, Vice President John E. Ellis III ’74 Diana Gomez ’76, P’11,’12

EMERITI

Caldwell Hart ’87

Howard C. Bissell ’55, P’82

Keith Holmes ’77

John R. Chandler, Jr. ’53, P’82,’85,’87, GP’10

Nisa Leung Lin ’88

Frederick Frank ’50, P’12

Alessandra Nicolas ’95

David L. Luke III ’41 Dr. Robert A. Oden, Jr. P’97

Nichole Phillips ’89 VP and Chair, Alumni of Color Committee

Francis T. Vincent, Jr. ’56, P’85

Emily Pressman ’98

Arthur W. White P’71,’74, GP’08,’11

Chip Quarrier ’90

Edward Greenberg ’55 Kevin M. Hicks, Ex Officio Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet ’85

Alumni Association Board of Governors

Sheria Smith ’01 David Tan ’91 Michael Thompson ’66

Kendra S. O’Donnell Thomas S. Quinn III '71, P'15,'17

Lance Beizer ’56

Jean Weinberg Rose ’80, President

Miriam Beveridge ’86

Roger K. Smith ’78, P’08

Doug Campbell ’71 Secretary and Chair, Membership Subcommittee of the Nominating Committee

Marjo Talbott John L. Thornton ’72, P’10,’11,’16 Officer-at-Large William B. Tyree ’81, P’14, Treasurer Daniel Wilner '03 Stephanie Bowling Zeigler ’84, Ex Officio

Adam Casella ’06 Robert Chartener ’76 Charlotte Dillon ’10 Patricia Barlerin Farman-Farmaian ’85 VP and Chair, Gender Committee Mark Gall ’59 Peter Gifford ’93

September 25-27, 2015

Bryan Small ’03

Christina Bechhold ’03 VP, Chair, Nominating Committee

Jane Sommers-Kelly ’81

Classes of 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1960, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010

Tom Seidenstein ’91 Chair, Alumni Services Committee

Ed Greenberg ’55 President

Christopher H. Meledandri ’77, Vice President

June 12-14, 2015

Casey Reid ’01 VP and Chair, Communications Committee

Sean M. Gorman ’72, Secretary John P. Grube '65, P'00

REUNIONS

Class of 1965 - 50th Reunion Class of 1955 - 60th Reunion

Carolyn Toolan ’97

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS

Kevin M. Hicks, Head of School Katie Berlandi ’88 Past President, Alumni Association Dan Pullman ’76 Past President, Alumni Association Stephanie Bowling Zeigler ’84, President, The Hotchkiss Fund Jean Weinberg Rose ’80, President, Board of Trustees

ABOVE: Photographed at the Board of Trustees meeting in May were, from left: front row, Kendra O’Donnell, Marjo Talbott, Kevin Hicks, Jean Rose, Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet, Elizabeth Hines, and John Thornton; middle row, Edward Greenberg, Roger Smith, Stephanie Zeigler, Larry Flinn, Tom Edelman, Eleanor Long, Ian Desai, and John Coumantaros; and back row, Sean Gorman, William Tyree, John Ellis, William Elfers, Thomas Barry, and Forrest Mars.

For more information, contact Megan Denault ’03, Associate Director of Alumni Relations, at (860) 435-3114 or mdenault@hotchkiss.org.

Visit www.hotchkiss.org/alumni (click on Events & Reunions)

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

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THE BOARD

OF G OVERNORS SEEKS AWARD NOMINATIONS

The responsibilities of the Board of Governors span many aspects of alumni life, including identifying and selecting recipients of the Hotchkiss School Alumni Award and the Community Service Award. In this spirit, the Awards Committee of the Board of Governors invites you to help us identify potential nominees.

Our growing alumni community spans generations and continents â&#x20AC;&#x201C; people with countless experiences, adventures, and accomplishments. Whether through a Facebook news feed, serendipitous run-in, or planned get-together, we as alumni are ideally positioned to hear about and promote the achievements of other Hotchkiss graduates.

Please take a few minutes to think through your Hotchkiss friends and network, and alert us to the endeavors of those who may be a current or future fit for either our Alumni Award or Community Service Awards. Descriptions of each, along with a brief nomination form, can be found online here: www.hotchkiss.org/alumni/alumni-recognition/index.aspx

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