From the Head of School

Noam Ginsparg ’22, cellist, and Kenny Zhang ’22, pianist, performed a magical musical piece for a thrilled audience during commencement ceremonies.

A Place in the Sun

THE MORNING OF JUNE 3 dawned behind a curtain of rain. The Commencement stage and hundreds of chairs dripped on Harris House lawn as we hopefully watched the skies. Then, as if in a gesture of congratulations to the Class of 2022, the clouds parted to reveal a beautifully sunny day. A lovely Commencement ceremony followed, including a memorable address by Adam Sharp ’96 (see p. 9). At its conclusion, seniors walked across the stage for the last time as Hotchkiss students, cheered on by hundreds of family members, friends, faculty, staff, and schoolmates (see p. 8).

Just as the rain gave way that morning to clear blue skies, so certain challenges of this year have given way to joy. Like the rest of the world, this spring we continued to manage COVID, with numerous cases among students and campus adults. Thankfully, none of them were serious. Despite this, it has been a spring filled with joy—a Head of School holiday on May 12, the Main Building harmlessly ransacked by senior pranks, emotional “last clap” for retiring faculty (see p. 33), athletic triumphs large and small (see p. 12), delightful performances on stage and screen, and innumerable special moments.

This spring we resumed on-campus reunions, welcoming hundreds of friends from classes ending in 2s and 7s; those who graduated in 2010, 2011, 2015, and 2016; and BIPOC (Black, Indiginous, People of Color) alumni for a reunion and celebration of Patricia Redd Johnson’s shining legacy at Hotchkiss (see p. 37). In mid-June, we were delighted to invite the Class of 2020 and their families, who were not able to participate in a traditional Graduation due to COVID, to a special Baccalaureate ceremony as part of a unique two-year reunion celebration.

All of this joy was experienced in

“One of the important qualities every Hotchkiss graduate carries with them for the rest of their lives is a fundamental understanding of what it means to be part of something larger than oneself.”

community: students, families, and alumni enjoying Hotchkiss as they have for 130 years.

One of the many lessons of the pandemic that I, personally, will never forget is that of interdependence. No matter our place in the community, we are dependent on one another in myriad ways. A community like ours operates successfully because we draw together. It is thanks to this drawing together that we fared relatively well during the pre-vaccine period of greatest risk of COVID infection. Equally, it is thanks to the commitment of alumni who remain connected to Hotchkiss year after year and generation after generation that the School continues to thrive.

As I shared with the Class of 2022, one of the important qualities every Hotchkiss graduate carries with them for the rest of their lives is a fundamental understanding of what it means to be part of something larger than oneself.

I hope you enjoy the stories on the following pages. As always, I thank you all for the many ways in which you contribute to the Hotchkiss community.

Stay safe, be well, and keep in touch!

All good wishes,

Craig W. Bradley

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor’s Note: If you have an interesting photo and would like to test your fellow alumni about it, please send it to magazine@hotchkiss.org.

Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme

You asked us to identify any of the other people in the two-page photo of the performance of Le Bourgeios Gentilhomme performed in 1967. The person with the feather in his hat is me, Demetrie G. Comnas, Class of 1967. I was portraying the role of the Maître à Danser (the dancing teacher). I do not remember who the two other actors are in the background.

DEMETRIE COMNAS ’67

I have just perused the electronic edition of the Spring 2022 Hotchkiss Magazine. As usual, it is a premium piece of communication, for which I thank you. On pp 50-51, in the article on Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, I note that the lead confronting Peter Beaumont in the chair is Demetrie Comnas ’67. Dem remains one of my good friends today. He lives in Florida and would be thrilled to see his picture. Thanks to all the staff for this outstanding publication, to which I look forward quarterly.

ALAN HAAS, FACULTY 1962 TO 1966

Peter Beaumont had to have been one of my favorite Hotchkiss masters. He had the famous musical chairs as one of his pedagogical tools. I realize that that photo of him in The Prodigious Snob was taken two years after I graduated, namely in 1967. Other Hotchkiss masters who made a difference in my life? Prentiss K. Stout, Charles Garside Jr. (my first cousin), Dr. Peter Randolph (husband of my first cousin, Helen Garside Randolph), Mr. Haas, and George Norton Stone (although I stank at math; those were the days of the dubious “new math”). One day I went in desperation to Mr. Stone and said, “Mr. Stone, I am terrified of my Math III final. I just know I am going to bomb it. I will get a failing grade unless I get some honest help from you.” Mr. Stone was kind enough to give me some needed coaching. At the end of our session he said, “Ted, you know that the last problem will be a lulu of a word problem. Before you attempt to do it, take three cleansing breaths. Obviously it will be on concepts that you have been going over all year. Then pray, if you have to. Read the problem three or four times. Take up your pencil. Show your work. Godspeed.”