Hotchkiss Magazine Summer 2019 by The Hotchkiss School

Summer 2019

Board of Trustees Charles Ayres ’77, P’22

Thomas Quinn ’71, P’15,’17,’19

Austin Beutner P’20,’22

Christopher Redlich Jr. ’68

Howard Bissell ’55, P’82

Craig Bradley, Head of School

Jean Weinberg Rose ’80, P’18, President

Robert Chartener ’76, P’18, Vice President John Coumantaros ’80, P’16,’19

Tom Seidenstein ’91 President, Alumni Association

John Chandler Jr. ’53, P’82,’85,’87, GP’10,’14,’16,’22

Elizabeth Ford P’11,’13

Roger Smith ’78, P’08, Secretary

William Elfers ’67

Robert Gould ’77

Timothy Sullivan ’81, P’13,’16

Lawrence Flinn ’53, GP’22

John Grube ’65, P’00

Rhonda Trotter ’79

Frederick Frank ’50, P’12

Elizabeth Hines ’93

Rebecca van der Bogert

Dan Lufkin ’49

Nisa Leung Lin ’88

Gwyn Williams ’84, P’17, ’19, President, The Hotchkiss Fund

Robert Oden Jr. P’97

Daniel Wilner ’03

Francis Vincent Jr. ’56, P’85

Raymond McGuire ’75, Vice President Kendra Stearns O’Donnell Carlos Pérez ’81

EMERITI

Thomas Edelman ’69, P’06,’07

John Thornton ’72, P’10,’11,’16

David Wyshner ’85, Treasurer

Alumni Association Board of Governors Natalie Boyse ’09

Annika Lescott ’06

Blake Ruddock ’12

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS

Sirin Bulakul ’06

Barrett Lester ’81

William Sandberg ’65

Craig Bradley, Head of School

Rafael Carbonell ’93

Nicholas Moore ’71, P’89,’01,’06

Tom Seidenstein ’91, President

Weijen Chang ’86, P’22

Adam Sharp ’96

Nathalie Pierrepont Danilovich ’03 VP and Chair, Gender Committee

Paul Mutter ’87 VP and Chair, Nominating Committee for Awards

Katheryn Allen Berlandi ’88, P’19,’21 Past President, Alumni Association

Marita Bell Fairbanks ’84

Steve O’Brien ’62, P’87,’01, GP’17

Sheria Smith ’01 VP and Chair, Alumni of Color Committee

Carlos Garcia ’77

Emily Pressman ’98

Richard Staples ’74, P’10,’12

Peter Gifford ’93

Thomas Terbell ’95

Brooke Harlow ’92

Chip Quarrier ’90 VP and Co-chair, Alumni Services and Communications Committee

Caldwell Hart ’87, P’16,’20 Secretary and Chair, Nominating Committee for Membership

Charlotte Dillon Ross ’10 VP and Co-chair, Alumni Services and Communications Committee

Edward Greenberg ’55 Past President, Alumni Association Jean Weinberg Rose ’80, P’18 President, Board of Trustees Gwyn Williams ’84, P’17,’19 President, The Hotchkiss Fund

PHOTO BY WENDY CARLSON

More than 40 students joined the new rowing program this spring led by head coach Victoria McGee. On left, the boys team practice on Lake Washinee near Salisbury School.

COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY WENDY CARLSON

HEAD OF SCHOOL

Craig W. Bradley INTERIM DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

Danielle Sinclair

EDITOR

Wendy Carlson MAGAZINE DESIGNER

Julie Hammill WRITER & DIGITAL CONTENT PRODUCER

Chelsea Edgar VIDEOGRAPHER AND DIGITAL MEDIA SPECIALIST

Tyler Wosleger WEBSITE AND DESIGN MANAGER

Margaret Szubra CONTRIBUTORS

Roberta Jenckes, Sarah Austell Cart ’77, Robert Miller, Kristen Shipley, Roger Wistar

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 are welcome. Please keep under 400 words. We reserve the right to edit and publish letters. Please send inquiries and comments to: The Hotchkiss School, 11 Interlaken Road, Lakeville, CT 06039-2141, email magazine@hotchkiss.org, or phone (860) 435-3122.

F E AT U R E S

8 Hotchkiss Celebrates Its 127th Graduating Class 16 Blades In: New Rowing Program Launches 18 124 Years of Service: Hotchkiss Honors Four Retirees 26 From Boas to Bearcats: 20 Years of Ultimate at Hotchkiss 31 When the Cows Come Home 36 The Banker and the Beatniks 39 Open Studio with Alex Beard ’89

D E PA RT M E N T S

4 Campus Connection 41 Class Notes

60 In Memoriam 68 Parting Shot

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From the head

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n important part of the strategic planning process has been a discussion about the vital role of competitive athletics for students and for the life of the School community. There are many facets of the athletic experience: the physical and mental benefits of participation, the lessons learned about teamwork and sportsmanship, the excitement and joy of competition, and the deep personal satisfaction of doing one’s best for the team. This issue includes a story, “From Boas to Bearcats: 20 Years of Ultimate at Hotchkiss,” by Wendy Carlson. In May, the Hotchkiss Ultimate program celebrated its 20th anniversary, and players returned to campus to spend time with current players and coaches, including David Thompson, director of international programs, who has been coaching Ultimate at Hotchkiss for 19 years. Bonnie Dana ’19 created a 30-minute documentary about the history of Ultimate at Hotchkiss, which was shown during the weekend; if you’re interested, you can watch it on YouTube at https://bit.ly/2I70Kkg. I love watching Hotchkiss teams compete and observing the improvement of studentathletes during the course of a season, and from one season to another. I have long been aware of the sport of Ultimate but had not watched an Ultimate tournament prior to coming to Hotchkiss. The more I watch Ultimate, the more I come to respect what is referred to in the Ultimate community as “The Spirit of the Game.” The USA Ultimate rules describe “The Spirit of the Game” as follows: “Ultimate stresses sportsmanship and fair play. Competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of respect between players, adherence to the rules, and basic joy of play.” One of the unusual aspects of Ultimate is that the games are self-officiated. The first time one witnesses the resolution of a foul called by a player and resolved by dialogue between the players involved, one realizes that the culture of this sport is quite different from other sports. This is an integral, defining aspect of the game, one that is resonant with much of the learning and growth that Hotchkiss students experience in all areas of School life. I am always gratified to learn post-facto about a situation between or among students that they sorted out in a sensible and fair way, without the intervention of adults. Of course,

Alumni fling their discs in the air during a reunion celebrating 20 years of Ultimate at Hotchkiss.

“It is gratifying to celebrate our success in a self-officiating, co-ed sport that stands for respect among players, adherence to the rules, and the joy of play.” — Craig Bradley adults play a central role in responding to conflict between and among students and upholding standards, but in general, the ethos of the School community dovetails with “The Spirit of the Game”: respect among students, adherence to the rules, and the basic joy of play and learning. At the New England secondary-school level, Ultimate is also a co-ed sport. Moreover, compared to many other sports in which children specialize from a young age, very few of our Ultimate players have played the game prior to coming to Hotchkiss. It is exciting to watch the dramatic progress of each of these motivated athletes, regardless of their prior experience level. The team includes varsity players from more “specialized” fall or winter season teams, who have chosen to play Ultimate for the fun and fitness of it. If the pattern of Hotchkiss Ultimate alums are indicative, many graduates will continue to play in college and beyond. I am especially proud to note the growth and success of the Hotchkiss Ultimate team over its 20 years of existence. It is gratifying to celebrate our success in a self-officiating, co-ed sport that stands for respect among players, adherence to the rules, and the joy of play.

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PHOTO BY BRIAN WILCOX

A Message from the Board of Trustees ROBERT CHARTENER ’76, P’18

In early May, the Trustees met in Lakeville to discuss the following: Admissions – Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Erby Mitchell P’21 gave a comprehensive report on Hotchkiss admissions for the coming fall. The yield increased from 47 percent last year to 49 percent this year, an early indicator of the “curated yield plan” that includes contact by a specific teacher, coach, student, or current parent to accepted students. This program will be expanded next year. A cursory look at our admitted student questionnaire data indicates that Andover and Exeter are our two closest overlap schools. There were 56 students of color out of 184 new students, a somewhat larger and more diverse group than last year. About 36 percent of new students will receive financial aid; the combination of additive gifts to financial aid and the significant new endowment from Ned Goodnow ’44, P’80 made a more aggressive policy possible.

PHOTO BY BRIAN WILCOX

College Placement – Director of College

Advising Rick Hazelton P’19,’22 remarked on the unusual year in college advising. There continue to be significant shifts in the demographics of admitted classes, and the bribery scandal has brought even greater scrutiny on wealth and equitable access in the process. At Princeton, for example,

alumni children dropped to 11 percent of those accepted, and 56 percent of admitted students self-identified as people of color. In terms of the overall landscape, among the 24 most competitive schools in the nation, all but three experienced their lowest acceptance rate in the past three years. Early admissions continued to grow in popularity at Hotchkiss, with 92 percent of the Class of 2019 applying early, up from 86 percent in 2018. Hotchkiss has 36 students matriculating at “Ivy+” (Ivy League schools, plus MIT and Stanford) institutions, which is on par with admissions at this group of schools over the last decade. The school with the highest number of matriculants was the University of Chicago (12), followed by Penn (9), Cornell (8), Washington University in St. Louis (7), and Middlebury College (6). Overall, it was a very strong year for the Class of 2019. Athletics – Merrilee Mardon, associate

head of school and dean of faculty, led the board discussion of how athletics can best serve Hotchkiss. The athletic program affects the School from admission to college placement, and it remains a vital aspect of School life. Hotchkiss is paying particular attention to training and evaluation for coaches, such as a new program in coaching leadership through the University of Washington’s Center for Leadership in Athletics.

Rowing Program – Dr. Mardon also reviewed Hotchkiss’s new rowing program, which practices on Twin Lakes in Salisbury. An enthusiastic group of 43 boys and girls signed up, only three or four of whom had rowed before, and students practiced in new boats purchased through a special gift. Dr. Mardon expects competitive rowing to begin next year. RAINN Wellness Committee – The

Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) audit resulted in a specific recommendation that Hotchkiss form a “wellness committee” consisting of several senior administrators. The committee is creating consistent and cohesive programming related to student wellbeing and is composing a comprehensive sexual misconduct policy. Members of the community with knowledge of sexual misconduct occurring at any point in the School’s history should contact Allison O’Neil of Locke Lord at (800) 403-7138 or (617) 239-0729. Board of Trustees – Bob Gould ’77 and

Liz Hines ’93 were elected co-presidents of the Board of Trustees, succeeding President Jean Weinberg Rose ’80, P’18, who will step down on June 30. Ms. Rose was recognized and thanked by the Board for her extraordinary contributions to Hotchkiss during her years as a trustee. Gwyn Williams ’84, P’17,’19 was elected a term trustee.

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A Well-Respected Leader Board of Trustees President Jean Weinberg Rose ’80, P’18 Retires After 23 Years of Distinguished Service

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On left, Robert R. Gould ’77 and Elizabeth G. Hines ’93 will succeed President Jean Weinberg Rose as co-presidents beginning July 1.

“While so much progress has been made over the years, there is still much work to be done to deliver on the promise and potential of The Hotchkiss School,” she said. Since Rose became president of the Board of Trustees, Hotchkiss has raised more than $161 million for financial aid, annual support, and capital improvements. Several campus enhancements were successfully completed during her presidency, including the construction of Redlich Hall and the Biomass Facility, the completion of the Mary M. Graf Barn and the Grange buildings at Fairfield Farm, the renovation of the Cullman Art Center, and the creation of the Class of 1964 Teaching and Learning Center and the Class of 2017 EFX Lab.

Trustee Roger K. Smith ’78, P’08, who has served on the Board for the last nine years, holds a deep respect for Rose. “She gave me one of the most difficult challenges a trustee is ever given [the head of school search], but then she worked tirelessly to help and support me through the process from beginning to end. She ensured I had an outstanding committee of trustees, faculty, and staff. In short, she set me up for success,” he said. Trustee Kendra Stearns O’Donnell also praised Rose for her leadership. “Jeannie elicited the best in her colleagues, as individuals and as a group, by setting the standard for vision, commitment, and engagement at the highest level by her own

PHOTO BY DANIELLE SINCL AIR

o the many trustees who have worked with President Jean Weinberg Rose ’80, P’18 over the years, she has been more than an extraordinary leader; she has been a friend and an alumna who exemplifies Hotchkiss’s enduring values. “Jeannie,” as she is known, has held many leadership roles as an alumna, serving as a class agent from 1984 to 1996 and reunion agent for the Class of 1980’s 25th reunion. In 1995, Rose, who holds a B.A. from Princeton and an M.B.A. from Harvard, joined the Board as a trustee. From 1999 to 2011, she was vice president of the Board; in 2011, she became the Board’s first female president. During her tenure as president, Rose has worked with four heads of school, providing steadfast leadership in times of transition. In 2016, the Board initiated an independent investigation into instances of sexual misconduct in the School’s history and, in the spirit of transparency, published the full report of the investigator in August 2018. Rose has emphasized the importance of an honest reckoning with the past while supporting those who suffered abuse while at the School. “The School has thrived through some challenging times, and throughout, we have worked to ensure that the School’s priorities and initiatives are aligned with our core values and mission,” Rose said. “Craig Bradley and his team have intensified their efforts on our strategic priorities, and I believe the work currently being undertaken in the advising, residential, and athletic areas is substantial, essential, and foundational, and will distinguish Hotchkiss as a truly distinctive student-centered learning community,” she said.

example,” she said. Head of School Craig Bradley echoed those sentiments: “Her devotion to Hotchkiss as an excellent, student-centered learning community is an inspiration and a model of what it means to serve a purpose greater than oneself.” For Rose, Hotchkiss has served as a lifechanging educational institution twice in her life — first in her days as a student, and then as a trustee. “I will be forever grateful to the Hotchkiss alumni, faculty, administrators, and trustees who have taught, mentored, and inspired me,” she said. Incoming Co-President Elizabeth G. “Liz” Hines ’93, who has served on the Board for 14 years, noted Rose’s ability to lead under difficult circumstances. “Her calm and thoughtful leadership has steadied the boat more times than can be counted, and I remain profoundly grateful to her for all that she has taught me — and all that she has done for the Hotchkiss community, in Lakeville and beyond,” Hines said. Rose is excited and confident about new co-presidents Elizabeth Hines and Robert R. Gould ’77. “They have complementary skills and make a fantastic team,” she said. Gould has served as a trustee since 2016. He is chairman of the Investment Committee and a member of the Finance Committee and the Buildings, Grounds, and Environment Committee. In addition, Gould has served the School as an event committee member, parent and alumni admission council member, reunion agent, and 25th reunion gift committee member. Gould is a principal and vice chairman of Spinnaker Trust, a trustee and chairman of the Investment Committee of The Pinkerton Foundation, and vice chairman of Magnetic Analysis Corp. For almost 30 years, he was associated with Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., where he was a general partner, co-founded the firm’s private equity business, and ultimately headed the firm’s global investment and wealth management businesses. Gould is a co-chairman of Squash Haven, a member of the board of advisors of the Yale

School of Management, and a member of the board of the Portland Museum of Art. He is also a managing member of BPI Partners, LLC, which owns the Black Point Inn in Prouts Neck, ME. Gould has previously served as a board member of Lapham’s Quarterly and Portland Community Squash, an overseer of the New England Aquarium, and president of the Prouts Neck Association. He received his B.S. from Yale University and an M.B.A. from the NYU Stern School of Business. Gould and his wife, Sarah, have three children and reside in Hamilton, MA, and Prouts Neck, ME. His late father, William Gould, was a member of the Hotchkiss Class of 1950. “The opportunity to serve the Hotchkiss community at such a critical time in the School’s history is both humbling and invigorating,” Gould said. “I am grateful to have Liz as my partner in this endeavor and know that the two of us will work diligently to lead the Board in a careful and measured way. Hotchkiss alumni have a passion for our School that has no parallel. If we can come together as a community to overcome some of our recent adversity and strengthen Hotchkiss in all respects, the opportunity exists for Hotchkiss to fulfill its highest ideals.” Hines has served as a trustee since 2004. She previously chaired the Board’s Gender Task Force and now chairs the Community Life Committee. In addition, Hines has served as a member of the Student Life Committee, the Academic Matters Committee, the Organizational Review and Nominating Committee, and the Head of School Search Committee. She led the effort to rewrite the School’s Mission Statement, which was approved by the trustees in 2017. Hines is an author, editor, and strategic communications specialist. She was the founding education editor at AlterNet, a syndication service and online community of the alternative press, featuring news stories from alternative newsweeklies, magazines, and web publications. Her written work has appeared in the Huffington Post, Women’s eNews, AOL’s Black Voices, Black Enterprise Magazine, and Babble.com. She is the co-

author of the best-selling biography, Black Titan: A.G. Gaston and the Making of a Black American Millionaire, winner of a 2004 non-fiction book honor from the American Library Association. Previously, Hines served as the communications director for the White House Project, a non-profit organization that worked to increase female representation in American institutions, businesses, and government. She was also a senior member of the communications team at the Ms. Foundation for Women and now heads her own communications and consulting business, which works with foundations and advocacy organizations to advance their communications capabilities and improve their messaging effectiveness. Hines has served on the boards of a wide variety of organizations, including The Third Wave Fund, The Women’s Media Center Advisory Board, LIFT (Legal Information for Families Today), People’s Production House, and The Independent Media Institute. She currently serves on the board of directors of the New World Foundation, a national community foundation that supports leaders and organizations working to strengthen democracy. She holds a B.A. from Yale University and completed her graduate studies at Harvard University. Hines lives in New York with her partner, Jessica Mudry, and their three children. “It is an honor to be asked to serve our School community in this role,” said Hines. “I am grateful to the Board as a whole for putting their trust in Bob and me, and to the administration, faculty, and staff of Hotchkiss, who have taught me so much about what it means to give of oneself, fully, for the betterment of our collective future. Bob and I look forward to partnering with the Hotchkiss community broadly writ, to continue building an institution that inspires talented young people, from around this nation and the world, to bring their best selves to the proverbial table — and create space at that table for all voices to be heard.”

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In True Blue Spirit Edward “Ned” Goodnow ’44, P’80 Makes Unprecedented Gift to Support Financial Aid Initiative

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Ned Goodnow, center, holds a resolution from the Board presented by President Jean Weinberg Rose and Head of School Craig Bradley.

respectively, encouraged Ned and his brother, Wes, to apply to Hotchkiss. Both did; Wes graduated from Hotchkiss in 1941, and Ned was awarded his diploma in 1944. While at Hotchkiss, Goodnow was an excellent student and an active member of the community. He sang in the choir and the Glee Club; he was a member of HDA, and performed in theatrical productions; he skied and played

tennis and football; was a member of the Photography Club and served as an editor of The Record. “Hotchkiss gave me a very solid educational foundation, and more important, it greatly broadened my horizons and probably encouraged me to shoot higher in life,” Goodnow said.

PHOTO BY WENDY CARLSON

dward “Ned” Goodnow ’44, P’80 made a $10-million gift to supplement the Goodnow Family Scholarship Fund, it was announced earlier this year. It is the largest gift for financial aid in the School’s history. In 2011, Goodnow and his family established the Fund, which provides needbased scholarship to four Goodnow Scholars, one in each class year. This new gift will allow the School to have a minimum of three Goodnow Scholars in each class. In recognition of his long-standing dedication to and generous support of the School, Jeannie Weinberg Rose ’80, P’18, president of the Board of Trustees, presented Goodnow with a resolution that the Board adopted at its meeting earlier this month. Over the years, Goodnow has been a devoted and generous supporter of Hotchkiss. In addition to the Goodnow Family Scholarship Fund, his family has made gifts to endow two teaching chairs in honor of Russel Murray Bigelow and E. Carleton Granbery respectively, and to the Goodnow Family Teaching Fund, and the Summer Faculty Symposium. “Building up the endowment for financial aid is the single most important strategic priority of the School, and Mr. Goodnow’s extraordinary gift accelerates our progress and will have an immediate and enduring impact,” said Head of School Craig Bradley. Goodnow himself was a scholarship recipient at Hotchkiss. His uncle, E. Carleton Granbery, whose two sons, John and Carleton, had graduated from Hotchkiss in the Classes of 1930 and 1931,

Four Faculty Honored with Endowed Teaching Chairs

Building a Healthy, Inclusive Community

our faculty members were presented with honorary chairs in recognition of their exceptional dedication to teaching during an All-School Meeting in Elfers Hall on Friday, May 3. “In the university world and at Hotchkiss, being named to an endowed chair is among the highest forms of recognition an institution can bestow on a faculty member,” said Head of School Craig Bradley. Below are the recipients of each endowed chair, presented by Associate Head of School and Dean of Faculty Merrilee Mardon. Instructor in Mathematics Liz Dittmer received the Maria Bissell Hotchkiss Teaching Chair, established in 1989 by members of the Class of 1964 and gifts from the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Foundation and the Edward E. Ford Foundation. Dittmer, who came to Hotchkiss in 2008, also serves as thirds volleyball coach and an affiliate in Buehler Hall, where she lives with her husband, Instructor in German and Dean of the Class of 2019 Marc Dittmer, and their four children. Instructor in English and Theatre Parker Reed received the Peter J. Sharp ’48 Teaching Chair, awarded to a junior faculty member of exceptional promise. In addition to his role in the classroom, Reed directs plays for the Hotchkiss Dramatic Association, coaches basketball, and serves as head of Edelman Hall. Instructor in History Mike Eckert received the Class of 1964 Teaching Chair, established as part of the fund that endowed his current role as director of the Class of 1964 Teaching and Learning Center. Eckert, who oversees the Hotchkiss Summer Faculty Symposium, has taught AP U.S. History and courses in the Humanities Program since 2013; previously, he served as the associate dean of academic life. Instructor in Chemistry Dr. Richard Kirby received the Independence Foundation Chair, awarded to a faculty member whose duties are primarily related to teaching rather than school administration. Kirby, who came to Hotchkiss in 1996, has been the head coach of the track and field team for 21 years. In 2014, he received the Lufkin Prize, awarded annually to a faculty member who makes a significant contribution to character development within the Hotchkiss community and serves as a role model for students.

otchkiss launched a number initiatives last spring to foster a sense of community and to continue to ensure that all students feel safe, seen, and supported. The School held its first annual “Wellness Day” on March 6 with keynote speaker Katie Koestner, an activist against sexual assault, who addressed characteristics of healthy relationships and how gender norms can influence behavior, perceptions, and biases in relationships. In the afternoon, facultyled breakout discussions covered issues such as dating violence, unhealthy relationships, harassment, and gender stereotypes. A variety of other activities were offered to enhance community building and well-being, including yoga, meditation, open gym, trivia, board games, and cooking. “Community Conversations,” an inclusive community initiative, invited members of the community to listen, learn and educate themselves about a different topic at each of the four meetings. Discussions included three separate conversations on “Everything You Wanted to Know, But Were Afraid to Ask” about Black, Asian, and Jewish identity. The final conversation focused on mental health awareness on campus. “Watson Workshops,” a series of evening gatherings in the Watson Dormitory common room, showcased the expertise of Hotchkiss community members in issues of gender identity. Open to the entire Hotchkiss community, the student-led workshops addressed topics including “LGBTQ and the Supreme Court” and “LGBTQ in the Workplace.” Speaker Rosetta Lee addressed the Hotchkiss community on April 12 prior to the Asian American Footsteps Conference, a day of workshops and networking opportunities for Asian, Asian American, and mixed-heritage Asian students attending independent schools. In Lee’s presentation, she emphasized the importance of communicating clearly, authentically, powerfully, and assertively, but also relationally and respectfully.

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Hotchkiss Celebrates its 127th Graduating Class

“Always Forward, Forward Always,” A Mantra for the Graduating Class of 2019

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Katya Giffenig, senior Jailyn Mallard, and Chaplain Jason Larson. In her address, Mallard spoke about her journey as an insecure prep from Chicago to finding her path of self-discovery at Hotchkiss. Outside, on Harris House lawn overlooking Lake Wononscopomuc, family, friends, and alumni welcomed the Class of 2019 as the Hotchkiss Orchestra played Pomp and Circumstance No. 1. Following remarks from All-School Presidents Daniel Pai and Caitlin Reilly and a musical performance by seniors Gemma Tung and Brian Wong, Head of School Craig Bradley introduced Commencement

PHOTOS BY WENDY CARLSON

nder picture-perfect blue skies, 180 seniors took their final walk out of Elfers to Harris House lawn for Commencement exercises. An hour later, after singing “Fair Hotchkiss,” they became Hotchkiss’s 127th graduating class and official alumni. The festivities leading up to graduation kicked off on the evening of May 30 with the senior recital and awards ceremony in Elfers, then continued the following day with the Baccalaureate Ceremony in the Chapel, which included a performance by the Hotchkiss Chorus and reflections by class co-presidents Souleman Toure and

Cheo Coker ’90, Commencement speaker

speaker Cheo Hodari Coker ’90. “Cheo embodies the power of an excellent liberal arts education at Hotchkiss and Stanford and how that education prepares talented and creative people to have a broad impact on society. He understands deeply the power of storytelling across all media,” said Bradley. A graduate of Stanford University, Coker is former music journalist turned television writer and producer known for such television series as Luke Cage, NCIS: Los Angeles, Southland and Ray Donovan. Despite the pressure of working in Hollywood, Coker told the seniors that

the most difficult challenge he faced in life was making the honor roll at Hotchkiss. “Stanford was a piece of cake after this place,” Coker said. He credited the late Robert “The Hawk” Hawkins, an English instructor who was equally revered and feared by his students, with giving him solid writing skills and unlocking the magic of words. As a student, he found a mentor in the late Walter J. Crain Jr., the first African American instructor at Hotchkiss, who kept Coker on his toes. “Hotchkiss teaches you that there is nothing you can’t handle if you put your mind to it; I call it ‘Hotchkiss Grit,’” he said. He told students that no matter where

they go as Hotchkiss alumni, they have the skill set, the focus, and the poise to meet the challenges they will face. “It is ‘Lakeville Grit,’ not ‘Palo Alto Grit,’ that gets me through my toughest, most demanding deadlines,” he said. Evoking the star of his hit Netflix series, Luke Cage, he left seniors with the mantra: “Always forward, forward always.”

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2019 Senior Awards On May 30th, Head of School Craig W. Bradley, Class Dean Marc Dittmer, Athletic Directors Danny Smith P’18,’20 and Robin Chandler ’87, as well as academic department heads presented School awards to the Class of 2019. Among the recipients are the following:

The Arts

School Prizes

The Peter D’Albert ’70 Memorial Art Award Bonnie Dana and Jailyn Mallard

The First Scholar Prize Krit Boonsiriseth

The Thomas P. Blagden ’29 Award Dear Liu and Zoe Wilson

The Head Of School’s Prize Annabelle Duval

The John Hammond ’29 Music Award Shine Peng, Gemma Tung, Brian Wong, and Matthew Yao

The Frank A. Sprole ’38 Social Service Prize Alisa Ghura and Daniel Pai

The Bragg Vocal Performance Prize Hannah Liu The Edward K. Klingelhofer, Jr. ’43 Award Hannah Lothian The Robert and Sandy Haiko Prize Edward Guo

English The Thomas H. Chappell ’24 Prize Zoe Wilson The Teagle Essay Prize Hannah Lothian

Humanities and Social Science Classical and Modern Languages

The Edward B. Preston ’79 Prize Alisa Ghura

The Hoey Senior Greek Prize Ian Gill

The Philosophy & Religion Prize Bea Kiggen and James Li

The Senior Latin Prize Annabelle Duval

Mathematics and Computer Science

King Tak Lam Chinese Prize Chris Williams The David Demaray Senior French Prize Amanda Hill The Emerson Bigelow ’13 and John Emerson Bigelow ’44 Prize For Conversational French Hannah Liu

The Faculty Prize Julian Bahramipour, James Herring, Jailyn Mallard, Joseph Richards, Ashton Welch, and Zoë Wilson The Charles E. Lord Prize Aidan Constant, Gill Duquette, Josline Mitoguena, and Maggie Ryan

Science

The Albert William Olsen ’13 Prize Ian Gill, S. K. Hurlock, Meredith Moran, and Brian Wong

The Robert B. Flint ’23 Science Prize Sk Hurlock

The Senior Spanish Award Julian Bahramipour and Ellie Farrington

Lewis A. Clarke ’30 Prize Elizabeth Koobatian

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The Centennial Prize Denzel Bullen, Annabelle Duval, Dylan Kalaydjian, and Hannah Lothian

The Senior Computer Science Award Ashton Welch

The Charles E. Berry German Prize Edward Guo

H o t c h k i s s

The Walter Cleveland Allen, Jr. ’32 Prize Mason Harris, Priyanka Kumar, Nia Talley, and Souleman Toure

The Charles Denton Treadway ’14 Memorial Prize Daniel Pai and Caitlin Reilly

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The George Norton Stone Senior Math Prize Krit Boonsiriseth and Josephine Li

Major School Prizes

A Force for Social Good Community Service Award Recipient Caroline Barlerin ’91

PHOTOS BY COLLEEN MACMILLIAN

aroline Barlerin ’91, global head of social innovation at Eventbrite, accepted the 2018-19 Community Service Award at an All-School Meeting in Elfers Hall on April 26. Barlerin was introduced by her nephew, Cyrus Farman-Farmaian ’21, who shared their family’s Christmas tradition: “From the first year I can remember, my aunt never gave me or my siblings traditional gifts, but rather, a donation in our name to a charity of our choosing.” In her address to the Hotchkiss community, Barlerin told students to practice empathy — and that creating change starts with listening. “The people who you want to help, the people who are most in need, are the experts in what it’s going to take to help them,” she said. She encouraged them to think about questions that would concern them as citizens and activists. “Everyone is a student, and everyone is a teacher,” she told them. “Research says you’re going to have an estimated five careers in your lifetime,” she said, adding, “Why not make social good – making a difference – be the bright line that threads through all of them?” Head of School Craig Bradley praised Barlerin, calling her “one of the most remarkable social entrepreneurs of her generation.” Effective social entrepreneurs, Bradley noted, “address unmet needs in areas of the world that many others, including the local governments, had overlooked.” At Eventbrite, the world’s largest platform for live experiences, Barlerin is passionate about exploring what can be created at the intersection of social good and technology. In her role, she is helping mobilize event creators, attendees, and employees to tackle some of the most complex social challenges through product innovation, strategic partnerships, and community outreach.

Caroline Barlerin ’91, with her husband, Hunter Walk, and daughter, Astrid Walk

Berlin’s nephew, Cyrus Farman-Farmaian ’21, introduced her during the ceremony.

Prior to her role at Eventbrite, Barlerin led community outreach and philanthropic efforts at Twitter, which included the launch of Twitter NeighborNest, a neighborhood learning center supporting low-income families by providing access to technology, classes, and resources to learn, connect, and grow with the guidance of Twitter volunteers. She is no stranger to taking on big challenges and inspiring people to take action. Her previous experience includes designing a bicycle-powered rice thresher for small farms in Burma; creating the blueprint for Taproot Foundation, which connects nonprofits and other social change organizations with skilled volunteers through pro bono service; and, building game-changing programs like HP’s “Matter to a Million” partnership with Kiva, which has made more than $12 million of loans to more than 350,000 people globally. Silicon Valley Business Journal has recognized Barlerin as one of its 40 “Under 40,” and the state of California awarded her the Hoffman Prize for her dedication to impactful service, both locally and

around the world. She was a fellow in The Aspen Institute First Movers Fellowship program — a leading global network and professional development program for corporate and social entrepreneurs. She currently sits on the boards of the Global Fund for Women, INSEAD’s Hoffman Institute for Business and Society, and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF NW Chapter. Barlerin received her B.A. from Vassar College and M.B.A. from Stanford and was a Sloan Research Fellow at Stanford University Business School. The Community Service Award, created on the anniversary of the School’s centennial in 1992, is given each year to an alumnus who demonstrates, through their volunteer or vocational endeavors, an exemplary sense of caring, initiative, and ingenuity. Barlerin has strong family ties to Hotchkiss, including her father Michael Barlerin ’58, P’85,’91, GP’21, her sister Patricia Barlerin Farman-Farmaian ’85, P’21, nephew Cyrus Farman-Farmaian ’21, and several great uncles and cousins.

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For the Love of Teaching Ana Hermoso P’16 Awarded 2018-19 Lufkin Prize

t’s all about love. Those simple words define Ana Hermoso’s 28-year career teaching Spanish at Hotchkiss and her long-standing devotion to the School community. Hermoso, who holds The Audrey Meyer Mars Teaching Chair and is the Spanish Program Coordinator, was honored as this academic year’s Lufkin Prize recipient during an All-School Assembly on April 16. The award is given annually to a faculty member who makes a significant contribution to the character development within the Hotchkiss community and serves as a role model for students. Before presenting the award to Hermoso, Dan Lufkin ’49, P’80,’82,’88, who established the prize in 2006, spoke to the community about how the values that shaped his character were rooted at Hotchkiss in the classroom and on the playing fields. In his address to the community, Head of School Craig Bradley said Lufkin’s philanthropy has touched nearly every corner of Hotchkiss. The Lufkin Prize, in particular, exists “to recognize those faculty members who consistently demonstrate

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ethical character, moral leadership, and a commitment to those values in day-today interactions.” “We think about Hotchkiss as a student-centered learning community, and Ms. Ana Hermoso exemplifies a faculty member who always places the students at the center of the experience,” Bradley said. Hermoso arrived on campus in 1991, after completing an internship in English at Vassar College. At Hotchkiss, she met her husband, Blake Wynot, and together they raised their two children, Oihana ’16 and Raleigh, a student at Salisbury School. In her acceptance speech, Hermoso expressed gratitude for having the opportunity to teach at Hotchkiss. “For almost 30 years, I have been very lucky to work with wonderful colleagues and motivated students who have enriched both my work and my life here at Hotchkiss. In many respects, Hotchkiss is a teacher’s dream,” she said. Her passion for teaching began at an early age in Spain, where she grew up. “In

my childhood, I was always playing teacher with my little blackboard and my neighbors and my cousins as students. I felt the same then as I feel now, the magical combination of doing what I love while also giving others something precious, the gift of knowledge, and a part of myself,” she said. Hermoso said that she felt she was given a gift to keep learning about her favorite subject forever while impacting young people’s minds and hearts, and in turn, being touched by them. “I want to believe that my love of the Spanish language is contagious, and that it becomes part of many of my students’ lives for good,” she said. And the students, she said, “teach me as much as I may teach them.” “Ultimately,” she concluded, “it is all about love, about the all-encompassing explanation that defies explanation. I am here in front of you today because I am a teacher. I am a teacher because I love teaching. It is as simple and as immeasurably complex as that.” — Wendy Carlson

On Eco Day, Hotchkiss Pitches in to Help the Environment

PHOTOS BY WENDY CARLSON

n April 25, members of the Hotchkiss community rolled up their sleeves to work on outdoor service projects on campus and in neighboring towns to celebrate the School’s 24th annual Eco Day, an event that highlights Hotchkiss’s commitment to environmental stewardship. The day kicked off with a keynote address by Sam Eaton, a freelance journalist and filmmaker, who spoke to the community about strategies to fight climate change during an All-School Meeting. Eaton’s stories and films on climate change, international development, and environmental conflict have taken him to more than two dozen countries around the world. In a special reporting project in partnership with The Nation and PBS NewsHour, with support from the Pulitzer Center, he explored whether the Amazon rainforest can be saved. Eaton’s series focused on indigenous groups and rural communities fighting to save the Amazon rainforest from illegal loggers and lobbyists working for politicians, who want to use the land for agriculture and mining. Scientists have warned that increasing deforestation has pushed the world’s largest remaining tropical forest dangerously close to a tipping point, Eaton said. The destruction of the Amazon would send global warming into hyperdrive, transforming a powerful carbon consumer to a net source of carbon in the atmosphere. Creating new economic models is one approach to fighting climate change. Farmers living in the communities surrounding the Amazon have worked to promote sustainable crops, like Brazilian nuts, which creates local jobs and helps to preserve the rainforest. How we effectively communicate about climate change is crucial, he said. “Right now, climate change has a deep communication problem. It’s not resonating with the rest of the world,” he said, adding that part of it stems from a growing disconnect between humans and the natural world. “When there’s a drought, we can still go to the grocery store and get food,” said Eaton. To many, he said, climate change is an abstract concept.

“You are the next climate warriors, and our place in the world depends on what you do,” he told students. In the afternoon, under picture-perfect blue skies, students, faculty, and staff members broke into small groups to work on projects ranging from ripping out invasive plants and transplanting raspberry bushes at Fairfield Farm to picking up trash along the roads leading to campus. “It’s a perfect day to do something for the environment,” said Jeffrey Zhai, an upper mid, who was lugging a garbage bag full of trash he had picked up on campus. Trailing behind him, senior Cathy Wang chimed in: “As part of the Hotchkiss community, it’s our responsibility to make a difference, and I’m really glad that I could do some work that helps out both our community and the environment.” — Wendy Carlson S u m m e r

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Beal Lecturer Anne-Marie Slaughter Speaks on Gender Equality

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the workforce. We made a lot of progress, but since then, it’s moved at a snail’s pace,” she said. “If we continue at that pace it will take more than 300 years for women to be fully integrated, and it will take at least 100 years to close the pay gap. We need to get there sooner; we can’t afford to lose all that talent.” Women, in turn, also have to change their definition of masculinity and rethink men’s roles in relationships, she said. “It’s up to all of us to challenge the definition of gender. If you are willing to

continue to break the box, we can make a much better world,” she told the community. The Beal Lecture series, coordinated by Instructor in English, History, and Russian Keith Moon, was established in 1983 in honor of Thaddeus R. (Ted) Beal Jr. ’35 by his close friend, classmate, and former trustee John Shedd Reed ’35, P’81, GP’85,’89,’05,’08,’12,’14,’18. It was Reed’s belief that the Hotchkiss community would benefit from exposure to visiting speakers addressing current issues of national and global concern.

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his year’s Beal Lecturer was Anne-Marie Slaughter, an international lawyer, foreign policy analyst, political scientist, and the aunt of Gwen Slaughter ’19. Slaughter was the first woman to serve as the director of policy planning for the U.S. State Department, from 2009 to 2011, under U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She is a member of the International Law Association, the American Society of International Law, the American Bar Association, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the World Peace Foundation. She received a B.A. from Princeton, an M.Phil and D.Phil in international relations from Oxford, where she was a Daniel M. Sachs Scholar, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Slaughter has authored and edited eight books, including Unfinished Business: Women, Men, Work, Family (2015). Her article, “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All,” published in The Atlantic in 2012, addressed the difficulties women still face in finding a balance between a fulfilling career and family life. She is currently the president and CEO of New America, a think tank dedicated to renewing America in the digital age. In her address to the community in Elfers on May 20, Slaughter focused on achieving gender equality. She emphasized the role men have in moving women’s equality forward. “If we are ever going to achieve equality, we need men to find powerful and strong women worth working for.” Over the past 30 years, according to Slaughter, women have made up just a quarter of the people in positions of power and authority. “That’s how stuck we are,” said Slaughter. “In the 70s and 80s, women flooded into

Delving into the Underworld with Poet A. E. Stallings She especially loves to dive into the the underworld in Greek mythology, exploring its mysterious depths and the host of characters who live there, including Hades, the dark god who rules it. “I don’t know maybe it’s because I lived exclusively in basement apartments during my life,” she mused about her fascination. In First Love: A Quiz, which is written in the form of a teen magazine quiz with multiple answers, she imagines Hades vying for Persephone in the modern world.

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ambic couplets, sestinas verse, quatrain stanzas — you name it. Poet and translator A. E. Stallings is a master at using traditional form in ingenious ways in her poetry. “I write in form, but not all of them are poetic forms. Some are conventions. And I love conventions, you can fulfill them or subvert them,” said Stallings, this year’s Lambert lecturer. Stallings, a recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation, addressed the Hotchkiss community during an All-School Assembly on April 17. She read a selection of her poems and translations of works by ancient Greek and Roman poets and philosophers. In interviews, Stallings has spoken about the influence of classical authors on her own work: “The ancients taught me how to sound modern,” she told Forbes magazine. “They showed me that technique was not the enemy of urgency, but the instrument.”

The Lambert Fund, established in 1981 by Paul C. Lambert ’46 and his wife, Mary, in memory of the their son, Christopher ’76, who died of cancer in 1979. It was the Lamberts’ wish that the funds be used to provide a stipend for writers of prose and poetry to visit the School twice each year to work with students in the English department and offer an evening of reading for the community at large.

First Love: A Quiz He came up to me: a: in his souped-up Camaro b: to talk to my skinny best friend c: and bumped my glass of wine so I wore the ferrous stain on my sleeve d. from the ground, in a lead chariot drawn by a team of stallions black as crude oil and breathing sulfur: at his heart, he sported a a tiny golden arrow The Poetry Foundation writes that Stallings poetry is noted “for its ingenuity and wit, and dexterous use of classical allusion and forms to illuminate contemporary life.” Her poem Fairy-tale Logic pokes fun at the ridiculous plots in folk tales. Stallings studied classics at the University of Georgia and Oxford University. She has published three books of poetry: Archaic Smile (1999), winner of the Richard Wilbur Award; Hapax (2000); and Olives (2012), which was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award. Her verse translation of The Nature of Things by Lucretius is composed in rhyming fourteeners, and was published by Penguin Classics in 2007. She lives with her husband and two children in Greece, where she is the director of the Poetry Center.

Poet-in-Residence Susan Kinsolving released her latest collection of poetry in the spring. Peripheral Vision goes behind the scenes in a military hospital, an elementary school, and a disturbed family. Her poems were described in the New Yorker as “grand and almost terrifying.” In this new collection, she takes her readers to England, Hollywood, Wyoming, France, and Chile. Her poems demonstrate a keen love of language, its dimensions of meaning and musicality of sound.

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BLADES IN!

New Rowing Program Launches

efore the School’s new rowing team even dipped their their oars into the water, they had to work up to it. First, they readied themselves physically by training indoors on rowing machines. Then, they used Hixon Pool to learn basic rowing practices, like how to carry, launch, and maneuver their shells. The culmination came in mid-April when the team members got their first experience rowing on Twin Lakes in Salisbury. “They were so happy that week, some of them were smiling the biggest smiles I’ve ever

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seen,” said head coach Victoria McGee. “You could tell they were so happy to be on the water. That’s why we row.” For the 43 boys and girls who joined the School’s co-ed varsity rowing program this spring, the experience has been a blast. With the exception of a handful of rowers, none of them have any prior experience in the sport. “This is one of the best teams I have been on at Hotchkiss,” said Zoe Wilson ’19. “This season has been so inspiring that I am going to pursue rowing next

year in college and beyond.” McGee made a conscious decision in the program’s first year to give anyone who was interested in the sport a chance to learn it. At the beginning of the season, the team committed to keeping everyone on board who signed up in March, said Cyrus FarmanFarmaian ’21. “Not many of us were very close before the season started, but that hasn’t stopped everyone from cheering each other on at every turn,” he said. “I’ve never been on a team with such a supportive mentality.”

PHOTO BY WENDY CARLSON

The ethos of camaraderie comes from McGee, according to her rowers. She came to Hotchkiss having rowed at the University of North Carolina and coached the novice program at Duke University. At Duke, however, one of her strategies was pairing the completely new rowers with rowers with experience, which she couldn’t do this year in Lakeville. “I’ve just had to be very thoughtful about how I’m teaching and introducing it,” said McGee. “At the end of the day, they all want to feel empowered and supported and that they

have a purpose. As a coach, that’s my job.” McGee strikes a good balance between pushing her rowers and making the sport fun. “Even though she is fun, she knows when to be serious,” said Jeffrey Lim ’21. “She makes our team even more supportive.” Both McGee and Co-Director of Athletics Robin Chandler ’87 acknowledged that the process of building the program will take several years. This spring, the team used Salisbury School’s boathouse and launch on Twin Lakes. The focus was on learning

fundamentals, with an eye towards beginning competitive rowing next spring, when the program will move to Long Pond at Hotchkiss. “Long-term, rowing is going to be a very successful program here at Hotchkiss,” said McGee. “With what I’ve seen so far, the excitement and enthusiasm, there’s a big opportunity to be competitive next spring.” — Roger Wistar

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124 Years of Service: Hotchkiss Honors Four Retirees

Finding a Home at Hotchkiss Charlie Noyes ’78, P’03,’07 The Edgar M. Cullman ’36 Teaching Chair, Fairfield Farm Curriculum Coordinator, and Instructor in Art

Perhaps more than any other faculty member, Charlie Noyes’s life at Hotchkiss has shaped and defined him, both as an educator and as an artist.

harlie, as he is best known, retired this spring after teaching art for 33 years. But his connection to the School goes back to when he first set foot on campus as a lower mid in 1975. Noyes grew up in Norwich, Conn. He never gave much thought to following in the footsteps of his father, Harrison Noyes, Class of 1941, until one day he showed him an essay he had written. His father found numerous grammatical errors, which made young Charlie wonder if there wasn’t something to this Hotchkiss place his father often talked about. After being accepted, he was asked to repeat 10th grade as a lower mid. On top of that, Noyes said, he was “pudgy, shy, and didn’t know a soul.” But a young faculty couple, Jennifer and Carl Hagelin, whose apartment was down the hall from Charlie’s room on the third floor of Memorial, took him under their wing and made him feel at home.“I spent a lot of time with them that first year, working through my issues, mastering the Etch-a-Sketch, listening to Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen on their huge reel-to-reel tape players,” he said. The kindness, patience, and generosity they

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showed him would greatly influence his own teaching style. For many of his students, Noyes has been much more than an instructor. “He was an incredible mentor and role model,” said Vivian Xiao ’15. This June, Xiao was selected to receive the prestigious Frederick E. Terman Award, presented each year to the top five percent of the senior class at Stanford University’s undergraduate School of Engineering. In the ceremony to honor recipients and the secondary school teachers who influenced them, Xiao chose Noyes. “He’s certainly influenced my creative interests. But more so, he has helped me develop my leadership and teamwork skills and taught me how to balance multiple commitments — which has been especially valuable in college, when so many things demand your time and attention. He also emphasized being present and attentive, being articulate, and expressing gratitude,” said Xiao. As a student at Hotchkiss, Noyes discovered his own passion for art under the uncompromising guidance of art instructor Blanche Hoar. After Hotchkiss, Noyes attended Middlebury College, where he

graduated magna cum laude, majoring in English with a minor in studio art. After graduating, he worked at a number of different jobs, including stints as a college administrator, a carpenter, and a caterer. But he ended up returning to Hotchkiss to teach visual arts, and he moved into Buehler Hall with his wife, Karin, and their baby, Megan. Sons Merrick and Nick would follow later. Noyes went on to earn a master of art education from Rhode Island School of Design in 1993, but he stressed that he learned his most important lessons about students, teaching, and learning during his career at Hotchkiss. He served as chair of the Visual Art Department for 13 years, followed by two years as the co-head of the newly established Department of Visual and Performing Arts. In 2015, he was awarded the Lufkin Prize for teaching. He lived with his family in dorms for 17 years, serving as a dorm head for 14 of those years. For more than 15 years, he was co-director of the Tremaine Art Gallery. He is also credited with developing the Fairfield Farm Ecosystems and Adventure Team (FFEAT) as a co-curricular in 2009; in

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years

2013, he became the curriculum coordinator for the Farm. In that leadership role, he has taught students everything from how to slaughter a chicken to how to seed, sow, and harvest vegetables. Sunwoo Kim ’13 recalls the strong work ethic Noyes instilled in her. “At 25, I’m proud to have grown into a young professional woman who rarely gives up and whom my teammates can count on,” said the 2016 Johns Hopkins graduate. “It is this sense of grit and teamwork that Charlie instilled in all of us at FFEAT — to show up rain or shine, and to never be standing around when my team is at work.” Being part of the Hotchkiss community has allowed Noyes to do things beyond the classroom that he would never have imagined. “I’ve traveled to places I might never have had a chance to visit: Italy, Tanzania, India, Antarctica, China, and on and on — always with students,” he said. Hotchkiss has also allowed him to pursue his love of singing as a member of the Gospel

Choir, which he joined in 2001. Through it all, Noyes still found time to paint. “I’ve immersed myself in art while at Hotchkiss,” he said. For him, students are a constant source of inspiration: “They’ve kept me humble as an artist, because I’ve worked with kids who have imaginations that I’ll never have. “Once you transcend the notion of skill and technique, art is all about where your ideas come from. So for me to see kids struggle with that and develop their art so that it has meaning to them has helped me understand my own art,” he said. Since the time he was a student at Hotchkiss, Noyes has seen sweeping changes in the art department, including the addition of the Tremaine Gallery, renovations to the art wing, and changes in the visual arts program’s educational philosophy. “We’ve shifted from teacher-driven assessments to student self-assessments,” he said. “We work with the students as they become more mature and engaged in the

program and aim toward fostering intrinsic motivation, both in and out of the studio.” Noyes will still be a familiar face around campus. He will continue to work parttime in the Alumni and Development Office, travel on speaking engagements, and build faculty development programs. As for what’s around the bend, Noyes jokes that he won’t be “sitting around picking daisies.” For the first time in decades, he will be able to join Karin on her annual trip to the Maine coast in September. He also plans to hike the Grand Canyon with classmate Tim Bazemore ’78 — and devote more time to his own art. Despite the adventures that await him, Noyes said he will deeply miss his role as a mentor and instructor. “Working with students who come to you at a certain level, and then watching them evolve, expand and grow over time – that’s what I’ll really miss about teaching,” he said. — Wendy Carlson

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A Caring and Compassionate Heart Pat Kelly P’07,’10,’13 Head Athletic Trainer

Emma Rouse ’10, an emergency room nurse at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, might have pursued a different career path had it not been for the compassionate caring of Head Athletic Trainer Pat Kelly, who retired in June after 33 years at Hotchkiss.

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y prep year was difficult,” said Rouse, who had knee surgery that year. “I had a lot of pain in my knee while playing JV soccer, and Mrs. Kelly helped me through the season. I had surgery for a torn ACL over winter break and returned to School in an immobilizer, but Mrs. Kelly had me recovered and back to new in time for varsity softball that spring. “Mrs. Kelly saw students sometimes at their most vulnerable – in pain, scared, and not able to function physically at their full potential,” Rouse continued. “It takes a special kind of person with the right mix of concern and tough love to take care of those students, and Mrs. Kelly has it. She was one of several mentors who led me to become an emergency department nurse. I am so thankful for her,” she says. There are countless students and alumni who would say the same. No-nonsense, but at the same time attentive and patient, Pat Kelly has led the Athletic Training Office since coming to Hotchkiss in 1987. The Office’s work has grown; today an average of 502 students participate in a team sport or co-curricular activity in each of the three sports seasons. “There are a lot more kids coming to us than when I first started,” Kelly notes. “On our daily list of students getting treatment or using our whirlpool or other resources here, it can be as much as 80 in the fall.” In the years since Kelly has been at Hotchkiss, the School has hired two additional athletic trainers to provide optimal coverage for students.

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A typical game day for Kelly requires her to cover a lot of ground. “Our fields are some distance apart,” she says. “The ’49 Fields are probably a quarter of a mile from the MAC. When I first got here, I would run from my office in Monahan to the Taylor fields or ride my bike to the ’49 Fields if help was needed. Sprole Field and the Hemingway Track are at least a half mile down Route 112, so in the fall and spring one athletic trainer needs to be over there to cover football, track, and boys lacrosse practices and games. We have added motorized golf carts to get around the campus, and walkie-talkies to improve our response times to injuries.” In 2018 she was the recipient of the Connecticut Athletic Trainers Association 2018 Donald Bagnall Secondary School Athletic Trainer of the Year Award, which is presented annually to a CATA member for outstanding contributions in the secondary school setting. The experiences of student-athletes before they get to Hotchkiss have changed as well. “Today kids are playing organized sports at age five. The incidence of injury that we see often is overuse of a body part in whatever sport it is. You have to train for a sport, get ready for a sport. Everybody’s bigger, stronger, faster, too. If people are training properly, that’s fine. “Over the past 25 years, we’ve certainly seen an increase in the incidence of concussions. We administer a baseline concussion test to all students during

Orientation. The highest-risk sports are football, soccer, and lacrosse,” she says. Always physically active, as a teen Kelly thought she might become a physical education teacher. “I spent a lot of time at the Torrington YMCA,” she says. “In high school, I was a Leaderette, and at 12, I was a junior lifeguard. The Girl Scouts and the YMCA really shaped me. I really liked history, too. I might have become a history teacher – but I married one instead.” After graduating from Springfield College, she joined Cushing Academy as its first certified athletic trainer. She also coached volleyball, basketball, and softball and was head of a dormitory. In 1986, sensing that she and her now-husband, Ed Kelly, would likely get engaged soon, she applied for the athletic trainer position at Hotchkiss. Both Pat and Ed grew up in northwestern CT and wanted to be close to their families if possible. They were married in July of 1987 and moved into Bissell that summer; later, they lived in Tinker and Van Santvoord dorms before moving into a house on campus with their children, all of them alumni – Liz ’07, James ’10, and John ’13. Kelly’s other activities on campus include teaching American Red Cross courses in lifeguarding and in first aid and CPR/AED. “I have certified approximately 400 students, faculty, and staff as lifeguards and countless numbers of faculty, staff, and students in various FA/CPR courses during my time here. The

33 years

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“One of the main reasons I look back so fondly on my time at Hotchkiss is that I had a person like Mrs. Kelly in my corner, helping me navigate growing up at a boarding school. She was a parent, friend, mentor, and advisor all rolled into one.” – Tim Gannatti ’08 certified lifeguards provide coverage at the pool, and having people trained in those courses makes our campus safer.” This summer, Kelly is moving again, this time full-circle, back to where she grew up. She and Ed will move to Ed’s family home in Litchfield, where she will have time to go kayaking and hiking, and continue her charitable work and role in the

church as a Eucharistic minister, bringing Communion to the homebound. Tim Gannatti ’08, one of Kelly’s former advisees, is one of the many people who can’t imagine the athletic training room without her. A former U.S. Navy submarine officer now studying for his master’s degree in education, he says, “One of the main reasons I look back so

fondly on my time at Hotchkiss is that I had a person like Mrs. Kelly in my corner, helping me navigate growing up at a boarding school. She was a parent, friend, mentor, and advisor all rolled into one, and I consider myself very fortunate to have met her on my first day at Hotchkiss.” — Roberta Jenckes

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A True Talent for Teaching Charlie Bell Instructor in Math

Senior Matthew Yao recalls vividly his very first class at Hotchkiss prep year – math, a double period on Wednesdays. “I had no clue what to expect and only knew that some guy named Charlie Bell would be my teacher in Algebra I. Right on cue with the bell, this 60-year-old man jumped through the doorway and with a wild look in his eyes asked, ‘Has anyone seen Mr. Bell?’ Of course, we were all preps and had no clue what Mr. Bell looked like. He smiled at our bewilderment and said, ‘Oh wait, that’s me!’”

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else he did … Teach? Meet lots of people? Run long distances? Yes, yes, and yes … “I wanted to see how good a marathon runner I could be,” he says. “When you’re going out for a training run, you do a loop. And so, I thought, ‘What if I just did the whole perimeter of the country?’ The idea just seemed so dazzling.” For the next year and a half, he continued working full-time in New York, while he trained, planned, and saved for the trip. From August 1979 until March 1981, he ran an unsupported solo lap around the perimeter of the U. S., a trip of about 10,000 miles. Along the way, he met countless friendly people and savored a lifetime’s worth of memorable experiences. The journey also led him to his career of choice. “In a surprising way, it affirmed to me how much I would enjoy teaching,” Bell says. “The trip was a clear, concrete lesson that you can only live your life one day at a time. Given that, it was important to do something that was both fun and meaningful.” After his trip, he landed a position teaching math and coaching in Mercersburg, PA, where he wrote articles about his trip that were published in Reader’s Digest and Sports Illustrated. In 1985, he was appointed

“Mr. Bell had a true talent for teaching and coaching high school students, and it was clear how much he enjoyed his work. He always acknowledged my accomplishments … I don’t ever remember him saying anything critical. I am forever grateful for Charlie Bell as a coach and a role model!” —Jennifer Signori Johnson ’86

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or more than 30 years Charlie Bell has been surprising and delighting his students, teaching a range of courses from first-year algebra through precalculus. “The courses I’ve most enjoyed teaching were the students brand-new to Hotchkiss and the students nearing the end of their careers who hadn’t enjoyed math very much, or didn’t feel very confident about it. I try to make them feel better about math and about themselves. I like the stimulation and the challenge. In that respect, I am fundamentally a marathoner. I don’t get the quick high. I like the long view.” His penchant for long-distance running isn’t just a metaphor: During his years at Hotchkiss, he has always coached cross country in the fall and track in the spring. In college at Princeton, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a certificate in the Teacher Prep Program, he played soccer all four years. After college, while working in New York for IBM, he began distance running for pleasure and completed the Boston and New York marathons. Then, while waiting one day on a train platform, he began thinking about what he would really enjoy doing long-term. Write? Yes, but he could do that wherever and whatever

to teach math and coach at Hotchkiss. He lived in Memorial, Coy, and Van Santvoord dorms for 16 years; after his marriage to Kay Lindsay, the family, including daughters Amelia and Eliza, lived in the dorm. Living on campus was a kind of homecoming for Bell. A faculty child, he lived at Hotchkiss from 1954-1963; his father, Frank Bell, was the School’s athletic director, coached football, and taught math. “I have really good memories of Hotchkiss from my childhood,” he says. “I can remember dinners in the dining hall, baseball games, and a tea with Mrs. Van Santvoord. I remember when the addition to Alumni was built, when Van Santvoord was under construction, and the School’s first outdoor rink. I knew a lot of the celebrated teachers and headmasters.

They are not just names on a wall or a dormitory in my world.” During his three-plus decades at the School, Bell has taught and coached countless students, served as co-head of the math department and led its curricular review process, supported by the Grainger Initiative in Math and Science. “It has been a real blessing to have the opportunity through the Grainger Initiative to pump new creativity into the curriculum and to be much more deliberate about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it,” he notes. Reflecting on his Hotchkiss career, he says, “I’m really going to miss the students and the act of teaching and coaching. And living the life that I’ve led here.” In retirement, he will finish writing the story of his solo run around the country. “I’ve

32 years

“ I now regard Mr. Charlie Bell as one of the best teachers I’ve ever had – not only in math, but in learning and maturing over my four years at Hotchkiss.” – Matthew Yao ’19

always enjoyed writing,” he says. “I’ve spent decades, on and off, working on the account of the trip, and now I’m looking forward to sharing it far and wide.” — Roberta Jenckes

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Keeping an Even Keel Coach Roger Rawlings P’12,’14,’19

Roger Rawlings’s sailing expressions, or as longtime assistant coach and English instructor Jim Fornshell calls them, “Rogerisms,” are but a small part of the legacy he leaves behind after 26 years as head coach.

“

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alance — you need balance!” is the one call heard most often by team members sailing on Lake Wononscopomuc. For Rawlings, balance means more than just the trim of the sails. “It goes in so many ways — balancing the good with the bad, balancing schoolwork with sleep, balancing the wind shifts,” he said. For the hundreds of students he has coached, from All-American champions like Graham Landy ’11 to first-time sailors, the even-keeled approach of Rawlings has been a key to their growth and development. “I remember that Roger did a masterful job of being a friend to the team but also being the adult in the room, or the boat,” said James Benenson ’97. “It’s difficult to inhabit both of those roles at once.” Rawlings will miss that camaraderie with his coaches and sailors.“The fact that I can laugh with them and joke with them is huge – that’s the fun part,” said Rawlings. At a June 8th ceremony, a permanent endowment was announced in Rawlings’s name to support the sailing program, and the observation deck of the Hotchkiss Boathouse was named in his honor. Rawlings’s involvement in the Hotchkiss sailing program happened almost by coincidence. In 1993, the Bearcats had qualified for the national fleet race championships in his native Newport Beach, CA. With longtime sailing coach Fritz Mark away on sabbatical, Rawlings, who is married to Christie Rawlings ’85, the summer

PHOTO BY ANNE DAY

“ Rog keeps everyone grounded. He is the heart and soul of the sailing team and knows exactly what needs to be said and when to say it.” – Chris Lukens ’19 program director of admission and residential life, came along to provide interim coach Lisa Motter with a little local knowledge of the Newport sailing environment. A few words of wisdom turned into a few practices down at the lake, and pretty soon, Rawlings was hooked. After a year as Mark’s assistant coach, Rawlings assumed command of the program in 1994. Under his leadership, the Bearcats have consistently ranked among the top sailing teams in their league, earning multiple trips to nationals and winning multiple New England titles. Although Rawlings values the lives he has touched more than the trophies, this spring provided a truly special moment for him, as the Bearcats won the New England fleet championships at home in his final season. “Watching them get the trophy this year was really emotional, partly because we were hosting and also because it went really, really well,” said Rawlings. “I wanted it to be my last hurrah, and I wanted it to be perfect.” No one would have expected any less from the tirelessly and highly organized Rawlings, who manages so much more than lineups and practice time. In addition to the normal extra sailing coach duties, such as organizing a spring trip and managing the logistics for countless away regattas, Rawlings has been instrumental in managing the purchasing and updating of the Hotchkiss boat fleet, including a complete overhaul this year. And his influence extends far beyond Lake Wononscopomuc. Fornshell noted that Rawlings was instrumental in helping neighboring Salisbury School launch their sailing program, which still shares waterfront space with the Bearcats each spring. Rawlings said that having the details on autopilot is one of his most important contributions, noting that he is already in the process of laying out a monthly calendar for successor Tom Peabody, associate director of college advising.

But more than managing dates, and boats, and schedules, Rawlings has learned how to expertly work with the students – something that did not come naturally to him when he first began coaching at Hotchkiss. “He is very patient, and not afraid to ask questions, too,” said his wife Christie. “He learned quickly that he had as much to learn about residential coaching as he had to give to the coaches and players.” One of the icebreaker activities Rawlings has given his team on their Spring Break trip is to build a boat that can float in the hotel pool. “Knowing that I preferred to work alone, he put me in the largest group just to watch me deal with my frustrations,” said

26 years

Landy, who credits Rawlings for teaching him the finer points of team racing and double-handed boat sailing. During Landy’s senior year, the team won both the New England fleet championships and team championships, still the only team championship in the program’s history. It is the calm, level-headed demeanor of Rawlings that helps keep the team pointed in the right direction. “Rog keeps everyone grounded,” said current co-captain Chris Lukens ’19. “He is the heart and soul of the sailing team and knows exactly what needs to be said and when to say it.” — Roger Wistar

Preceding the Alumni Sailing Regatta on June 8, Roger Rawlings was honored during a ceremony at the Hotchkiss Boat House. Hollis von Summer ’96 and James Benenson ’97 (picture above) presented Rawlings with the “The Roger C Rawlings Observation Deck” plaque recognizing his 26 years of dedicated service as the sailing team coach. With support from many Hotchkiss sailing team alumni and parents, Summer and Benenson led an effort to create an endowed fund that will help maintain the boat house.

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From Boas to Bearcats: 20 YEARS OF ULTIMATE AT HOTCHKISS BY WENDY CARLSON

Ultimate began as a club sport in the late 90s, but it wasn’t until 2004 that it gained varsity status. Achieving that recognition wasn’t easy, but today, Ultimate is one of the most successful team sports at Hotchkiss.

Souleman Toure ’19 leaps for a catch.

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rom the time students began throwing frisbees around on college campuses in the 60s, die-hard sports traditionalists cast it as just another fad, relegating it to the ranks of whiffle ball and hacky sack. Today, Ultimate still conjures images of lank, long-haired teens wearing tie-dyed T-shirts, tossing discs back and forth to the music of the Grateful Dead.

At Hotchkiss, Ultimate went from being a club team to an interscholastic sport in 2000. Back then, team members were a pretty colorful lot. On the field, they played up their countercultural image by competing in plaid polyester thrift shop skirts and boas, regardless of gender. Boys wore their hair in top-knots long before it was cool. They had nicknames for each other, including “Gross” and “White Castle,” and they cheered each other on while taking turns beating a primitive leather drum. “We were weird, but not in a popular way,” recalled Xtehn Titcomb ’01, who, along with his four siblings, went on to found an Ultimate apparel and disc company. Players adhered to the ethos of the Ultimate rules, which place equal emphasis on competition and “The Spirit of the Game” (See sidebar, p.29). That was yet another departure from the “no blood, no foul” mentality of some other competitive sports, said Dave Thompson, director of international programs and the Ultimate coach since the sport’s inception at Hotchkiss. But it was the game’s laid-back, quirky reputation that attracted athletes from traditional sports, like Young So Ellen Rim ’08, who played basketball her prep

year and took up Ultimate as her spring sport on a whim. “One of the reasons I picked it was because I thought it was going to be super chill. But then I stuck with it because it turned out to be really competitive and athletic,” said Rim, now a Ph.D student at Stanford. She captained the Hotchkiss team and went on to play for the women’s team at Harvard, where she was also captain. Later, she played professionally on the San Francisco Flame Throwers during its final 2018 season and continues to play on Mischief, a co-ed Bay Area club team. Like other Hotchkiss athletes who took up the sport as an afterthought, Rim found Ultimate more physically challenging than she had imagined. Players say that it requires the endurance of a cross country runner, the leaping ability of a wide receiver or basketball player, and the quickness of a soccer player. Despite the level of athleticism required,

Ultimate is not sanctioned as a NCAA sport. Recently, the International Olympic Committee recognized Ultimate as a sport but has not yet approved it for potential inclusion in future games. Ultimate bucks the norms of organized sports, which has been an impediment to its broader acceptance. For one thing, players referee their own games, which can make it difficult for spectators to follow. When a foul is called by a player, members from both teams talk through a decision — a process that can last for several minutes. At the end of the games, both teams perform original cheers and songs, or gather arm-in-arm in “Spirit Circles,” where players on both teams dole out praise and helpful criticism. In spite of these idiosyncrasies, Ultimate has grown rapidly over the past two decades, with an estimated seven million players in more than 80

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of frisbee a “disc.” Nearly a decade later, an Amherst College student, Jared Kass, took the game to a summer camp at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts, where he was a counselor. One of the male campers introduced the sport to his high school in New Jersey, where he was credited with writing the first edition of an Ultimate rulebook. The first official game was played in the high school parking lot. At Hotchkiss, the administration first called the quirky club team The Independent Republic of Ultimate. Then, in 2000, when Ultimate was introduced as an interscholastic sport at Hotchkiss, the team named itself the Naugahyde after the faux-leather upholstery fabric invented in Naugatuck, CT. The team mascot was a Naugahyde stuffed animal that had been introduced into the company’s ad campaigns in 1966. The Nauga, as it was called, which looked a bit like a creature out of Where the Wild Things Are, presided over games from a folding lawn chair. As Ultimate gained popularity at Hotchkiss, the players and coaches began pressuring the School for varsity designation. “It became a lightning rod,” recalled Robin Chandler ’87, co-director of athletics. “This was at a point when people weren’t necessarily taking it seriously, so there was a lot of pushback from students and faculty as

to why it should be a varsity team,” she said. “They didn’t have a good understanding of the athleticism involved. It took time for Ultimate to prove to the community that yeah, this sport is quirky and fun, but it’s also physically demanding.” To help speed the process along, Thompson launched the first tournament at Hotchkiss, which, in recent years, has become the CT State Championships, featuring 26 teams from 22 schools across the state. Finally, in 2004, the athletics program decided to drop boys thirds hockey, which freed up funding for transportation and uniforms for a varsity Ultimate team. In the years that followed, the team fielded junior varsity and varsity teams, and its popularity has continued to grow. “Since 2007, we’ve won three New Englands, two CT State championships and have a 218-66 record. At the end of last season, we were in the top ten in the national power rankings,” said Thompson. Today, the team competes against 50 teams in two leagues, the CT State League and the New England Prep School Ultimate Leagues. Many Hotchkiss Ultimate alumni have gone on to play at Bowdoin, Bates, Carnegie Mellon, University of Chicago, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Tufts, Williams, and other top universities and colleges. Hotchkiss has six alumni who have worn the national uniform on the

Topknots: left to right, Harrison Merrick Noyes ’07, John Norris ’05, Blair Kidney ’04, Alex Bettigolo ’04, and Colin McEachern ’06

countries. The international governing body, The World Flying Disc Federation, represents 65 member associations in 62 countries and regularly holds major World Championships in Ultimate, beach Ultimate, freestyle and field events in divisions for men, women, and mixed teams from youth level to grand masters (45 years old and older). But to appreciate how far the sport has come, you have to go back to its inglorious beginnings. Like baseball, Ultimate has its roots in America — in Connecticut. In 1871, William Russell Frisbie founded the Frisbie Pie Company in Bridgeport, Conn. At its peak, in 1956, the company baked more than 80,000 pies a day in tin plates embossed with the words “Frisbie.” Employees would fling the metal pie tins during lunch breaks and yell out “Frisbie” to alert bystanders. Since the company delivered its pies to nearby college campuses, it wasn’t long before Yale students discovered that the tins, if thrown properly, could take various trajectories. The concept was picked up by Wham-O, the same company that created and marketed the Hula Hoop, Silly String, Superballs, and Hacky Sacks. In 1959, Wham-O began marketing the Pluto Platter, which was eventually rebranded and trademarked as the Frisbee, a protection that requires the sport to be called “Ultimate” and any other brand

Dressed in a pink skirt, Alex Bettigolo ’04 takes aim. Rohre Titcomb ’05 plays defense.

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world stage; five of them have ended up with gold medals around their necks. “One of the things I’ve always loved about Ultimate is that it is co-ed,” said Thompson. “And the players that have gone the farthest with Ultimate in college, club, and national teams have been our female players.” As it has grown in popularity, the Ultimate community has tackled the issue of gender equity, especially since the growth of professional leagues. “Gender equality is a very big part of the Ultimate culture,” said Rim. “I remember a discussion we had with our national governing organization about why ESPN was broadcasting only men’s games, and since then, they have been working at shifting things around.” The Titcomb siblings — brothers Zahlen ’00, Xtehn ’01,Vehro ’03, and sisters Rohre ’05 and Qxhna ’11 — all of whom played Ultimate at Hotchkiss and beyond, have been integral in pushing the conversation on equality forward through their ownership of the Seattle Cascades and leadership meetings with the American Ultimate Disc League, which oversees the professional teams. Qxhna, the youngest of the clan, is training to earn a spot on the 2020 U.S. National team. She helped create more visibility for female athletes through organizing the 2015 and 2016 All-Star

Ultimate Tours for top players from women’s college teams, and by adding both an all-women’s roster and a mixed roster to the Cascades 2018 season. In addition, the siblings founded Five Ultimate, an apparel line designed for players with the aim of creating a recognizable brand to distinguish the sport. In keeping with Ultimate’s quirky reputation, Five Ultimate jerseys and shorts have tags that read: “Do Not Set on Fire” and “Do Not Wear Bungee Jumping.” The company also donates old gear to organizations that support Ultimate around the world. Last year, the siblings launched ARIA Ultimate, which produces discs; for every disc sold on their online store they donate one to an organization that uses the game as a tool for social change. Business manager Xtehn, who, at 35, is the oldest player on the the family-owned Seattle Cascades, credits Hotchkiss with sparking the siblings’ business endeavors. “It was our time at Hotchkiss that fueled our drive to take something we were passionate about and run with it,” he said. The sense of community and good citizenship, he added, is a big part of Ultimate, which stays with the players long after they’ve left the field.

Ultimate is a player defined and refereed non-contact team sport played with a flying disc on a playing surface with end zones. The game combines elements of many other sports: the long throws and end zone catches of football, the zone defenses and vertical jumps of basketball, and the cardiovascular intensity and strategy of soccer. Single games are played to a point total of 15, or a time cap of 90 minutes. Seven players on each team cover an area approximately the size of a football field. All actions are governed by something called “The Spirit of the Game.” So, what exactly does that mean? “The Spirit of the Game,” essentially, means a commitment to fair play. To that end, rules state that “highly competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of mutual respect among competitors, adherence to the agreed upon rules, or the basic joy of play.” Players referee their own games, which teaches them about conflict resolution and self-control. What spirit feels like, however, is what draws many people into the Ultimate community. It promotes an atmosphere of mutual respect and inclusiveness. Teams write original cheers and songs for each other at the end of the games, or gather arm-in-arm in “Spirit Circles” and praise other players. The sport has also been progressive in terms of gender, equity, and inclusion, with mixed teams comprised of all genders.

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The following was reprinted with permission from SISU, an art and literary quarterly launched last fall by Lauren Bello ’95.

When the Cows Come Home Biodynamics is a holistic, ecological, and ethical approach to farming, gardening, food, and nutrition. We wanted to learn more about this somewhat controversial philosophy and method of farming, so we asked Tibby Plasse ’97 to share her experience on Paradise Springs Farm, a biodynamic raw dairy based in the Teton Valley of Idaho that was recently ranked number one in the country by The Cornucopia Institute for Organic Practices.

What is the difference between biodynamic and organic farming? Biodynamic farming is based on a series of lectures delivered nearly 100 years ago by the founder of anthroposophy, Dr. Rudolf Steiner, in what is now Poland at the turn of the century. Dr. Steiner is more widely recognized as the godfather of the Waldorf School movement (Waldorf schools are called Steiner Schools everywhere but the U.S.). He was approached by farmers who were seeing a shift in the capacity of their soils to produce. The preparations and holistic management practices of biodynamic farming provide a clear path forward for us to enliven the soil and bring it back into fertile capacity by repopulating a certain percentage of microbes per square inch in the soil and providing enough nitrogen. Essentially, biodynamic agriculture asks that every operation exist to accomplish itself as a single organism, becoming an independent closed system. A closed system would mean that the farm would be able to satisfy all its needs from within itself, with no need for any inputs. So for example, if you

need compost, you have a cow or if you need feed, you grow it. The requirements for livestock and animals are that they exist as they were originally intended to on this planet. Animals are free-range, have their horns and tails, and exist in a living environment that serves them to be their highest self. Processing methods follow the Biodynamic Calendar, which takes into account all planetary movements not just the moon like the Farmer’s Almanac. Biodynamics is a dirty practice. It’s about the soil, whereas USDA Organic might not include soil. And unfortunately it can include a list of ingredients such as corn syrup or additives. Organic food was intended to steward clean food, but like everything else it has come down to dollars and cents. In this case, it’s licensing fees and what’s the lowest common denominator on farm inputs to meet the certification requirements. Certifications shouldn’t be the lowest expectation, but a standard for the healthiest way to consume food.

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Biodynamic farming has been criticized by the scientific community for being grounded in a philosophy rather than proven methods. How do you respond to this? Biodynamic farming delivers on what organic promises. Biodynamic farming is all about the health of the animals and the soil. Its mission is to be a regenerative support system and is structured as a complete system. Unfortunately (and Dr. Steiner recognized this), we still don’t have all the scientific tools to reflect the process. What we currently can use is observation. You begin to see the difference in the plants, their color, their vitality, and their growth. Then you see a difference in the personality and energetic presence of the animals, their availability, their calmness, their integration. Then you see the wild life return. There isn’t a biodynamic farmer or gardener who doesn’t see the emergence of the true natural world begin to populate the farm once more. Farming is all about observation. When to plant, when to harvest, when to breed, when to calve, how to improve the process, the yield, how to fix the equipment, why is it broken — you are aware of every component of your farm 24 hours a day. How do you stand in solidarity with the communities that are disallowed from celebrating their local food because of forced displacement at the hands of settler-led or corporateengineered takeover of rural lands, seeds, and livelihoods? As I said earlier, biodynamics is a way of healing the earth. Dr. Steiner’s meditations came from a focus on peasant traditional cultures and their practices. Agriculture and community sustainability are all based on living in harmony with the earth, the weather, the soil, the animals. There’s no question that the land stores the scars of many agricultural and social injustices. Dr. Steiner’s preparations to aid and replenish the soil are part of a role to help heal those scars. Imagine if every disaster site was treated to heal, not just barricaded off. The greater biodynamic community around the world, and the

Lauren Bello ’95 starts a magazine to inspire outdoor sports for all SISU, a quarterly art and literary magazine, was launched last fall by Lauren Bello ’95 and her business partner, Jen Gurecki. The publication grew out of Coalition Snow, an outdoor equipment and apparel company specializing in skis and snowboards, which the two women founded in 2014. The word “sisu” is a Finnish concept that embodies the characteristics of perseverance, grit, and guts. “We chose it as the name of our publication because we wanted to explore the breadth of perspective of those who live, love and work in the outdoors, and the tenacity it takes to stay there,” says Bello, an avid skier who makes her home in Truckee, CA, with her husband Kyle, and daughter, Poppy. Says Bello: “There is a growing need in the maledominated outdoor industry for platforms that showcase the diversity among its participants. The magazine’s “art journal” format is intended to be creative, engaging, and honest, offering contributors space to express diverse perspectives. Each issue has a theme; Grounded, the latest issue, explores the ways we find wellness and strength through community and land.” In the current edition of SISU, Bello interviewed classmate Tibby Plasse ’97, an advocate of biodynamic farming in Teton Valley, Idaho. Bello and Plasse have known each other since their Hotchkiss days, where they both shared a passion for the outdoors. “She lived near Jackson, WY. Once a year, I would travel to ski and visit friends, between Idaho and Wyoming, and we connected during one of those early visits,” Bello says. When she launched SISU last fall, Bello knew a feature on biodynamic farming would be perfect for the magazine. Plasse also works as a journalist and has written for several regional publications, including the Teton Family Magazine.

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Biodynamic Association (BDA) here in the USA, is spending a lot of time exploring the conversation with indigenous and traditional cultures. There’s a growing voice for traditional culture in the farming community as a methodology most akin to how Indigenous cultures interact with the land and natural rhythms of the planetary calendar. How can people vote with their fork? Spend money on better food that’s better for you. If you don’t support these chemical assembly lines disguised as food production, then the opportunity arises to make a different decision to choose better. Special order the products at your store and expose the manager to something else. Take advantage of online availability and spend the dollars on independent farmers. If you’re willing to support them with a few extra dollars, the whole economy changes. The power to make change resides with the consumer. And the truth is, nothing will ever taste as good as a biodynamic apple sauce, cheese, or oranges. What rattles you most about biodynamics? It’s that it works. When you come to an understanding that everything from the ecosystem to the emotional system is connected, you can make changes that are not only

transformative but high frequency. I work for the Flourish Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to mindfulness curriculum and implementation. Much like decision making for a herd of animals, creating systemic change through healthy habits for individuals promotes higher forms of well being, or what Dr. Steiner refers to as will forces. Will forces connect the very bite of a high frequency Feuerkugel beet to the eventual outcome of a student, a garden, a cause — all the elements that pool out to create a healthy community. Dr. Steiner has a regularly repeated quote that goes something like, “Food should nourish the mind, body and spirit, not just be stomach filler.” So extend that principle to all your practices. Healthy minds create social action, environmental stewardship, and gratitude. What a practice to calibrate all of us to — our mental and emotional life determines how we view and engage in the world, as our eating life informs how our bodies feel. Subscribing to these different standards can create positive change for the microparticle and the mainstream. Tibby Plasse moved to the Tetons to snowboard, but instead became the dairy wife at Paradise Springs Farm, a biodynamic and organic raw dairy, rated number one in the country for organic practices by The Cornucopia Institute. She is the development director for the Flourish Foundation.

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The Banker and the Beatniks How One Alum’s Friendship with a Bohemian Couple Led to a Rare Book Collection

PHOTO BY JONATHAN DOSTER

BY WENDY CARLSON

dwin James Blair ’55 could have easily joined the counterculture revolution of the 1960s. He was in his 20s and living in New Orleans when the French Quarter was rich with Bohemian types. But instead, he chose to lead a more conventional life, raising a family and building a career, first in the oil industry and later in banking. Then, one day in 1965, a friend introduced him to Jon Edgar and Louise “Gypsy Lou” Webb, a quirky, endearing couple who founded Loujon Press on Royal Street in the French Quarter. Back then, the Webbs were cult figures in the Beat movement. They were chummy with novelist Henry Miller, artist Kenneth Patchen, and a postman-turned-poet named Charles Bukowski, who dubbed the Webbs “the oddest set of living gods ya ever saw.” Blair, too, became captivated with the Webbs, spending many of his off-work hours with them and helping to underwrite their publishing endeavors. It was the Webbs, more than the literature itself, that first piqued Blair’s interest in the Beat Generation, leading him to amass one of the most significant collection of Beat-era literature, magazines, pamphlets, photos, memorabilia, and chapbooks, some of which he gifted to Hotchkiss’s Rare Book Collection in 2015. More than 50 years later and still living in New Orleans, Blair likes to wax nostalgic about his friendship with the Webbs.

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“They were my heroes,” he says. “They lived in almost abject poverty; they gave everything for their art. At these small presses, nobody had a Ph.D, and nobody was getting paid.” Wearing a well-worn Hotchkiss baseball hat and a V-neck Bearcat-blue sweater, Blair was giving an impromptu tour of his old stomping grounds in the French Quarter, where he once kept an office. Today, the neighborhood is choked with tourists shuffling along Bourbon Street, where the sound of live music flows out onto the sidewalk, along with a goodly amount of alcohol. A few street artists, dressed in scruffy blazers, sit on overturned milk crates in front of manual typewriters, trying to cash in on the quarter’s literary lore by writing poems for tips. Back in the day, the Webbs were the real thing. They were part of an eclectic, close-knit group of artists and writers who would hold court at the Bourbon Street Bar, where Gypsy Lou reportedly matched Bukowski drink for drink, then returned to typeset an entire magazine, according to Bohemian New Orleans, The Outsider and Loujon Press by Jeff Weddle. In their tiny apartment on Royal Street, the Webbs

produced books with a high quality of craftsmanship, giving a voice to writers who were outside of the literary mainstream. The same space is now given over to a trendy boutique called Glitter Box, but Blair still remembers it the way it once was. “Sometimes I go to the coffee shop across the street from it, because I can look out and remember when I met the Webbs way back,” he reflects. Blair’s life could not have been more different from theirs. He followed his father, Edwin Foster Blair, Class of 1920, to Hotchkiss, and then to Yale, where he earned a B.A. in history. He went on to study petroleum and land management at the University of Oklahoma, which landed him in New Orleans working in the oil industry, before he turned to banking and real estate. Meanwhile, in the 1960s, Loujon Press had become the giant during the small press

“They lived in almost abject poverty; they gave everything for their art.”

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Ed Blair in the New Orleans French Quarter

revolution, earning accolades from the Village Voice and The New York Times for the literary review, The Outsider, which featured emerging Beat writers, including Bukowski, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Robert Creeley, Denise Levertov, and Walter Lowenfels. Loujon also published books by Henry Miller along with the two early poetry collections by Bukowski. Blair helped finance one of the Webbs’ first Bukowski books by pre-purchasing 100 copies at cost, which he then sold back to them for the same price once the book hit the market. As issues of The Outsider became collector’s items, Blair started buying everything Beat-related, making stops at San Francisco’s City Lights and New York City’s Phoenix Book Shop while he was on business trips. To Blair, the Webbs’ lives were the stuff of fiction. Before moving to New Orleans, Jon went from being a stringer for The

Cleveland News to editing the inmate newspaper after he was arrested and thrown in jail for committing armed robbery. In New Orleans, the couple lived in poverty: Jon hawked his typewriter and his watch for cash and wrote crime stories in longhand for detective magazines. While Jon worked on the second of his two novels, Lou would set up shop on the street corner and peddle copies of The Outsider and her paintings of street scenes. In an old photo of Blair with the couple at their press, Blair is pictured with short hair, wearing a white button-down shirt and tie and sporting horn-rimmed glasses, a stark contrast to the Webbs in their berets and colorful attire. “I think they were like a magnet; their lives were just so opposite from his,” says Jean, Blair’s wife. “I mean, he was very religious and that group, well, I could never use the language they did when I was growing up.” Like true Bohemians, the Webbs didn’t stay in one place for long. They left New Orleans two years after Blair met them, moving to Tucson, Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Nashville, hauling their letterpress along with them. They lived separate lives, but managed to stay close. In 1971, when Jon Webb died in Nashville, Blair was one of the first people Lou called to break the news. Meanwhile, Blair continued collecting thousands of books, papers, letters,

artworks, manuscripts, and photographs of the Beat era. At one point, he developed a correspondence with Bukowski, who penned: “A Poem for Blair,” describing a trip they took to the racetrack: “I was sick and delerious [sic] wandering through that fat crowd. and those Southern hard voices Made me think hell was longer than a Season” After leaving New Orleans, the Webbs published two acclaimed books by Henry Miller and one more issue of the The Outsider before Jon’s death. Bukowski went on to write 45 books, including Screams From the Balcony, which contains letters he wrote to the Webbs. After he retired, Blair had planned to open a bookstore in the French Quarter to house his collection of more than 3,000 works by Beat writers. But in 2005 Hurricane Katrina hit, and his office was ruined. He was forced to pack up the thousands of books he kept there, and with no place to house them, he reluctantly began donating and selling them. At auction, several of his letters from Bukowski sold for $4,000 each; a legendary photo of Hal Chase, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs, taken in 1945, sold for $7,475, and classics like Kerouac’s On the Road and Burroughs’s Naked Lunch fetched several thousand each. Blair eventually used the sale earnings to help

Loujon Press was famous for its high-quality printing.

support Lou Webb, who, at 102, lives in a nursing home in Arizona. In 2015, he gave Hotchkiss approximately 70 books and pamphlets, dating from 1927 to the early 1970s, featuring writers Ginsberg, Bukowski, Sam Shepard, and Kenneth Patchen. “For our Rare Books collection, which had almost nothing written post1950, and certainly nothing from the counterculture, his collection moved us into the 20th century,” says Joan Baldwin, curator of Special Collections. The first exhibit of the collection was held on the Upper Rotunda last spring, coinciding with the lower-mid reading of Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Blair never dreamed his friendship with the Webbs would led to a life of collecting books from a lost literary age. “I really started off just wanting to help the Webbs,” he says with characteristic humility. As for passing up his chance to become a beatnik, Blair quips: “I never had any intention of becoming one — my wife would never let me.”

A memorial booklet to Timothy Leary with replica acid blotter paper

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Campus

con n ec t i o n

H o t c h k i s s

M a g a z i n e

with Alex Beard ’89

PHOTO BY WENDY CARLSON

rowing up in New York City, Alex Beard would often come home to find Andy Warhol, Truman Capote or Jackie O. visiting his uncle Peter Beard, a legendary wildlife photographer who crashed on the family’s couch for months at a time. Alex’s mother, Patricia, is a writer and former editor at Town and Country and Elle. His father, Sam Beard, co-founded the Jefferson Awards for Public Service. Given his parents’ careers, it’s not surprising Alex followed artistic and philanthropic paths. After graduating from Tufts in 1993, he embarked on an odyssey that involved shark fishing in Panama, fishing in Belize, diving in Australia and Tulum, and a sixmonth quest searching for a tiger in India. His whimsical, gestural-style oil paintings of animals and birds reflect his travels and his deep interest in protecting wildlife and their habitat. He has also written and illustrated several children’s books that incorporate ecological themes and produced a documentary film. In 2012, Alex established the Watering Hole Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at saving endangered species and preserving their environments. Hotchkiss Magazine caught up with Alex at work in his open studio in New Orleans, where we posed a series of rapidfire questions. — Wendy Carlson

What is your current state of mind? Somewhere between bemused, confused, and enthused. Who are your best studio companions? My best studio companions, not necessarily in this order, are Whisky, the overly friendly lab, Roux, the blind cocker spaniel, and my daughter, who likes to read while I paint. Your favorite music to paint by? Mid-70s to late-80s Grateful Dead What is your daily mantra? Time to make the doughnuts. What is your greatest fear? Flying. What is your most treasured possession? Outside of health and family, everything is just stuff. What is your favorite mode of procrastination? Futzing. What is the most difficult animal for you to paint? People and bears (they can look too much like dogs if you’re not careful).

What was your childhood impression of Andy Warhol? Of Truman Capote? They were both odd, but I’ve known a lot of strange people and they were no weirder than the weirdest. What is your spirit animal? The obvious answer is elephants, but I have not gone on an Ayahuasca trip yet to find out – stay tuned. Your ideal sandwich? A fried shrimp po’ boy with brown gravy and Swiss cheese from Domilise’s in New Orleans. What is your idea of perfect happiness? Not having to answer questionnaires. Which historical figure do you most identify with? Sir Richard Burton (not the actor). What you most deplore in other artists? Pretentiousness. Most vivid Hotchkiss memory? Spring holidays and frozen hair walking back from hockey practice at night. If you died and were to return as a person, animal, or thing, what would it be? A Bearcat, of course.

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$1,245,290 RAISED 71

269

683

ALUMNI

PARENTS

116

STUDENTS

PARENTS of ALUMNI & FRIENDS

FACULTY & STAFF

GRANDPARENTS

'40s '50s '60s '70s '80s '90s '00s '10s 4

150

145

108 184

NUMBER OF ALUMNI DONORS BY DECADE

REUNION CLASS CHALLENGE:

H o t c h k i s s

M a g a z i n e

Champagne Toast Winners!

Messages from the Alumni Association Day of Service The ninth annual Day of Service took place this spring in 13 markets worldwide with over 150 participants led by 18 dedicated volunteers. Alumni, parents, spouses, children, current students, and friends all worked together in service to others, which remains integral to the Hotchkiss mission and is a vital value of our learning community. Many thanks go to our 2019 site chairs! Natalie Boyse ’09 Dana Brisbane ’08 Caroline Kenny Burchfield ’77 Elizabeth Dougherty ’76 Jon Gifford ’90 Lionel Hong ’08 Shelina Kassam ’09 Barrett Lester ’81 Roger Liddell ’63, P’98

Daniel Lippman ’10 Peter McCurdy ’93 Chip Quarrier ’90 Abby Rogers ’11 Sheria Smith ’01 Tom Terbell ’95 Ezra Velazquez ’06 Stephen Woo ’87 Julia Zhu ’87

Norwalk, CT

Beijing

Washington D.C.

“Since giving back is such an important part of the Hotchkiss education, it is exciting to continue a tradition centered around helping alumni give back to their communities. Special thanks to all of the site chairs, our partner organizations, and, of course, all the participants of this year’s Day of Service.” – Natalie Boyse ’09, Chair 2019 DOS

Be an Advisor! Our alumni network is a valuable resource. The Hotchkiss Alumni Career Network allows users to tap into this network, pairing advisors with advice seekers. This network allows advisors to choose the services they would like to offer (i.e., career conversations, resume critiques, or mock interviews), and advice seekers can search for alumni in many fields. Signing up is fast and easy at www.hotchkiss.firsthand.co. Questions? Email Caroline Sallee Reilly ’87 in the Alumni Office: creilly@hotchkiss.org

Other ways to stay in touch:

ALUMNI

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