Parents of alumni: If this magazine is addressed to a son or daughter who no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, please email us at kzsenak@lawrenceville.org with his or her new address. Thank you!
Lawrentian SPRING 2020
usps no. 306-700 the Lawrenceville School Lawrenceville, New Jersey 08648
THE LAWRENTIAN • SPRING 2020
Lawrentian THE
THE
Stay Safe and Strong,
Big Red!
Makerspace and
Lawrenceville’s spring term was just beginning as this issue of The Lawrentian was going to press. While we hope to share the unprecedented experience of distance learning – a truly Virtual VILLEage – in our summer issue, our primary concern is with you, our cherished community of Lawrenceville alumni, students, parents, and friends. Over its 210-year history, the School has weathered epidemics and withstood wars, standing resolutely through each challenge, and we will again.
MORE
We want to keep sharing our story with you for many years to come, and for you to remain an integral part of it, so please continue to be safe and smart, Lawrenceville.
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20 JUST SAY NO
GCAD, the
School’s community hub for innovation, creativity, and collaboration, is the place for students’ big ideas.
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LEADING OFF
Reflections of the Past
Moonshot This January 10 image of a busy
Bunn Library under the light of the moon became the first photograph to reach 1,000 likes on the School’s Instagram account, @lvilleschool.
Lawrenceville’s future often echoes its past, such as the way the new Gruss Center
for Art and Design elegantly
reflects the venerable Fathers Building. Read more about the new GCAD on page 28.
Photo: Sean Ramsden
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Photo: Lisa M. Gillard Hanson
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FROM THE HEAD MASTER
We Will Find a Way
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othing in my thirty-five years as an educator has prepared me for our current circumstances with the global pandemic. Not even close. An alumnus said to me on a call not long ago, “Lawrenceville is all about relationships; how will that all work virtually, from a distance?” My answer was, “We will find a way.” And we are
“As you leave Lawrenceville, you will take with you a lesson, a lesson learned the hard way to be sure, that you can face unprecedented challenges and do it with a calm, inner strength, the kind of settled selfreliance that only comes with experience.”
doing just that. Simply put, we are living a moment of history, and as we navigate this as a community, we keep the faith. We focus on what we can control, not on what we cannot, and we are tapping tinto abundant reserves of strength and resilience. In the process, we are reminded that these are precisely the moments when we can rely on the deep and enduring foundations of this school. Indeed, we’ve been learning in recent weeks just how good we are under these adverse conditions, and this experience is inspiring an even greater appreciation for Lawrenceville: for the power of Harkness teaching; for the close-knit communities we build in our Houses; for the fiercely committed dedication that pulls our athletic teams together; and for the confidence and poise that propel our various ensembles and troupes onto the stage to perform so beautifully. At the outset of this spring term, I said to the faculty via Zoom, “…obviously these are not normal circumstances, and this is not business as usual.” As I rallied the troops, I described to them a rather emotional moment I had had on a video call with Student Council a few days prior to that: “They are doing their best to exhibit leadership, and they are looking to us for guidance. They are showing creativity and resolve, but the senior class is heartbroken, and they need us to be steady, positive, and at our posts. Like players in a game up against difficult odds, they look to their coach – ‘Does coach still think we can win, or has she given up?’ They can read the answer in our eyes – if we are still in this game, then so are they.’” It comes as no surprise that the faculty have responded beautifully, leading the way in converting our tried-andtrue pedagogies and adapting our entire curriculum to a remote-learning environment. We are learning as we go, but we made more progress in the initial planning phase than I could have imagined possible, thanks to the
creative initiative of my teaching colleagues and the support from both our Information Technology and our Communications teams. Following that meeting with Student Council, I went back and rewrote my Olla Podrida letter to the Class of 2020, which, written back in February, suddenly seemed out of touch with current circumstances. In the amended version of the letter, I referenced my Convocation comments from September in which I encouraged students to seek out challenges at Lawrenceville, to stretch themselves, in order to find the beginnings of real confidence – “not brash, cocksure bravado, but the kind of settled self-reliance that only comes with experience.” “So who could have foreseen,” I wrote in my new Olla Pod letter, “the actual challenges that this year would bring with a global pandemic? Who knew that calling on you to test your mettle would be strangely prophetic? Character and strength of heart are not measured by what you intend to do; they are measured by what you actually do when tested.” I finished by saying, “As you leave Lawrenceville, you will take with you a lesson, a lesson learned the hard way to be sure, that you can face unprecedented challenges and do it with a calm, inner strength, the kind of settled self-reliance that only comes with experience.” Classes come and go, and they are all special in their own way, but the ones that are truly remembered are those classes that are confronted with unusual and unprecedented challenges, and their legacy, the way they are remembered, is based on how they step up to and face those challenges. For this reason, the great Class of 2020 will always have a very special place in my heart. So as we confront these extraordinary circumstances, as we navigate rough waters, we are steadied by our strong traditions and our deep and abiding belief in the School. We will find a way. Sincerely,
Stephen S. Murray H’54 ’55 ’65 ’16 P’16 ’21 The Shelby Cullom Davis ’26 Head Master
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INSIDE
20
Better Know No: Rolling Stone said
“Narcissus” by Lizzie No ’09 is as a “Song You Need to Know.”
FEATURES
28 Hey, What’s the Big Idea?
A community hub for innovation, creativity, and collaboration at Lawrenceville, GCAD – the Gruss Center for Art and Design – began hosting classes in February.
34 C hanging the Channel
Through Lawrenceville’s YouTube channel, the most-viewed such outlet of its kind, students are telling the School’s story, one video at a time.
DEPARTMENTS 4
A Thousand Words
6
In Brief
11
By the Numbers
12
Inside the Gates
14
On the Arts
16
Sports Roundup
18
Go Big Red!
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Take This Job and Love It
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Table Talk
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Ask the Archivist
40
Alumni News
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Class Notes
82
Old School
La
On the Cover: Inside the Fab Lab: Creativity is key inside the new Gruss Center for Art and Design. Photo by Michael Branscom
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SPRING 2020 VOLUME 84 | NUMBER 2
EDITOR Sean Ramsden ART DIRECTOR Phyllis Lerner STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Paloma Torres CONTRIBUTORS Christine Cheng ‘21 Chris Delaney ’20 Gil Domb P’17 Ashley Duraiswamy ’20 Andrea Fereshteh Lisa M. Gillard Hanson Jacqueline Haun Barbara Horn Donnelly Marks Ellie Shin ’21 Nicole Stock ILLUSTRATION BY Tiago Galo – Folio Art Joel Kimmel Wastoki CLASS NOTES DESIGN Selena Smith PROOFREADERS Rob Reinalda ’76 Linda Hlavacek Silver H’59 ’61 ’62 ’63 ’64 GP’06 ’08 HEAD MASTER Stephen S. Murray H’54 ’55 ’65 ’16 P’16 ’21
FROM THE BASEMENT OF POP HALL
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ormally, by the time I compose this letter for the spring issue of The Lawrentian, I am in the hopeful grip of the season. A time of renewal, spring also underscores the covenant we have with nature, affirming that life always begins anew, blossoming in full color along with a wink that seems to assure us that even after another long, cold winter, everything is going to be all right now. This spring, nature offered us no such guarantee. The worldwide spread of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 has altered our lives in a way unseen in a century. Life is changing so quickly, and news from even a week ago seems almost innocent as we the people adapt our lives to cope with the fears and threats posed by this microscopic menace. This is no less so at Lawrenceville, where our entire culture of community has been transformed in order to keep students, faculty, and staff members as safe as possible. By the time you read this, the term “social distancing” will have become as familiar as the tenets that speak to the heart of the Lawrenceville experience: House and Harkness. We are already planning a summer issue of The Lawrentian that will take you inside the ways the School has adopted “distance learning” for the spring term – a first in our 210-year history – in a way that aims to remove the word “remote” from the experience. Every effort is being made to preserve the sense of community that defines The Lawrenceville School in a way that aligns with the “Virtual VILLEage” we have become for the time being. As you’ll be able to gather, the spring Lawrentian was essentially complete by the time we began to understand the sweeping extent of change headed our way. Still, the pandemic that altered our world in March does not erase the triumphs that animated our campus prior to spring break, and to a large extent, we have preserved those stories for you for in this spring issue. While some fundamental experiences have been lost or irrevocably transformed, there remains much to look forward to. And with the ingenuity, integrity, and courage that are so often the foundation of the stories we bring to you in these pages, we will get there. Until we meet again, please stay strong, healthy, and hopeful. Virtual Semper Viridis,
ASSISTANT HEAD MASTER, DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT Mary Kate Barnes H’59 ’77 P’11 ’13 ’19 The Lawrentian (USPS #306-700) is published quarterly (winter, spring, summer, and fall) by The Lawrenceville School, P.O. Box 6008, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648, for alumni, parents, grandparents, and friends. Periodical postage paid at Trenton, NJ, and additional mailing offices. The Lawrentian welcomes letters from readers. Please send all correspondence to sramsden@lawrenceville. org or to the above address, care of The Lawrentian Editor. Letters may be edited for publication. The Lawrentian welcomes submissions and suggestions for magazine departments. If you have an idea for a feature story, please query first to The Lawrentian Editor.
POSTMASTER
Sean Ramsden Editor sramsden@lawrenceville.org Setting the Record Straight Though we reported in our winter issue that Champ Atlee ’62 H’74 ’75 ’79 ’83 ’84 ’87 ’89 ’06 P’92 was the youngest-ever subject master hired when he returned to Lawrenceville in 1969, John Magee H’73 informs us that there was at least one who was younger – him. John was just 21 when he joined the English faculty in 1967, months after graduating from Dartmouth. The editor apologizes for the original, difficult-to-substantiate claim.
Please send address corrections to: The Lawrentian The Lawrenceville School P.O. Box 6008 Lawrenceville, NJ 08648 ©The Lawrenceville School Lawrenceville, New Jersey All rights reserved.
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A THOUSAND WORDS
One ‘L’ of a Show
L10, Lawrenceville’s student-produced, ten-minute video news program, marked its one-hundredth episode in February. Each show begins with lively programming meetings, such as this December discussion, inside the L10 office in Pop Hall. Read more about L10, Lawrenceville’s robust YouTube channel, and the fluky how-to video that consistently outperforms all on page 34.
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IN BRIEF
RAY’S POETRY PUBLISHED IN COMSTOCK REVIEW
A poem by English Master Margaret Ray has been published in the literary magazine The Comstock Review. Readers can enjoy Ray’s “Dead Ringer” in the fall/winter issue. The Comstock Review is now one of America’s most respected poetry journals, with a long-established reputation for publishing the finest known and unknown North American poets.
2020 WELLES AWARDS GRANTED
Thirteen Lawrentians will pursue academic research ranging from immigration studies to solar-powered computers this summer with support from the William Welles Award. The annual grants program benefits Third and Fourth Form students in memory of William Bouton Welles ’71, allowing select Lawrentians to tackle an independent study project of their choosing. A faculty committee selects grantees. The 2020 Welles Award winners and their projects are: COURTNEY ABBOTT ’21
ARATA FUJII ’21
MICHAEL SOTIRESCU ’22
Implement a robotics program at the SOS Children’s Village in Jamaica.
Educate teachers in Tokoyo about the Harkness method of teaching.
RACHELLE CHO ’21
RACHEL KRUMHOLTZ ’21
Document sustainability efforts at the Lawrenceville School and in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Help Latinx students in New York City prepare for the Specialized High School Admission Test.
Form a political action committee to raise awareness and promote the cause of childhood literacy.
JOSH CIGOIANU ’22
ASHLEY LEE ’21
Research Romania’s Voronet Monastery, a UNESCO Heritage Site.
Study biodiversity in the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
ARIANA CODJOE ’21
Write a book that will help children overcome their fear of learning to swim.
Create study strategy materials for students with learning disabilities in Bronx, New York.
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SYDNEY MCCORMACK ’21
ERIC MORAIS ’21 Investigate the relationship between NBA team success and their use of analytics.
NICO TORRES ’22 Examine the differences in childhood education between rural and urban schools in Brazil.
MICHAEL ZHANG ’21 Survey the influence of social media on the opinions and voting patterns of young voters.
Drummer Mark Lomax’s 400: An Afrikan Epic, musically tells the story of the African diaspora over the course of a 12-album cycle.
LOMAX BRINGS JAZZ AND BLUES TO LAWRENCEVILLE Mark Lomax II, who visited Lawrenceville in February to present excerpts from his landmark work, 400: An Afrikan Epic, also stopped by School Meeting to guide students through a quick lesson in musical history. Lomax, a Wexner Center for the Arts at the Ohio State University Artist Residency 2018 Award recipient, described how jazz and the blues were originated by African Americans in the midst of slavery, drawing from traditional African musical influences. “The blues is a musical language that comes from African American slave roots,” he said. “It’s a form of communication that developed out of slavery.”
T H E L AW R E N T I A N
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The Pond, one of Lawrenceville’s enduring landmarks, is part of the Shipetaukin Creek, which currently suffers from parking-lot runoff and eroded banks.
FUNDING FLOWS FOR CAMPUS STREAM SYSTEM Lawrenceville has received funding for a baseline study of water quality in the campus stream known as the Shipetaukin Creek, which is part of the Delaware River Basin. The Fair Play Foundation of Wilmington, Delaware, led by Blaine Philips P’22, will support a partnership beginning this spring with the internationally recognized Stroud Water Research Center of Avondale, Pennsylvania. The project will involve working with Stroud Center Director of Education Steve Kerlin and the Center’s education and research staff to support student research in documenting current watershed health conditions. A long-term, student-led study will also be developed to measure planned improvements in water quality and environmental stewardship actions following the implementation of stream best practices as part of the School’s proposed Tsai Dining Hall and Athletics Complex construction. New practices include stream buffers, rain gardens, and permeable pavers that will prevent polluted runoff from campus paved surfaces behind the Tsai Complex from draining directly into the campus stream. “The section of the Shipetaukin Creek on campus is currently in an impaired state with parking-lot runoff and eroded banks,” said Stephen Laubach P’23, Lawrenceville’s director of sustainability. “As a tributary to the Delaware River and a source of drinking water for millions downstream, it is important for us to do our part to demonstrate improvement, and this will allow our students to accomplish that goal.”
MODEL U.N. SWEEPS YALE CONFERENCE Lawrenceville earned the title of Outstanding Small Delegation, as well as six individual honors at the 46th Annual Yale Model United Nations Conference in January. Anika Bagaria ’20 won the Best Delegate award, and Jack Hallinan ’21, Avigna Ramachandran ’21, Ayan Schwartzenberg ’22, Arya Singh ’20, and Elaine Wang ’20 earned the Outstanding Delegate award in their respective committees. Bagaria and Dami Kim ’20 led the delegation as co-presidents, and History Master Kim McMenamin served as the faculty adviser for this event. Other members of the successful delegation were Chris Delaney ’20, Chris Crane ’21, Chris Pandapas ’21, Jasper Zhu ’21, and Maksym Bondarenko ’22. — Chris Delaney ’20 and Ellie Shin ’21
‘GOOD BONES’ POET SMITH VISITS
Maggie Smith, the School’s 2019-20 Merrill Poet, spoke to an English class in the Heely Room in January.
Prize-winning poet Maggie Smith visited campus in January as the 2019-20 Merrill Poet. During her residency, Smith served as a guest lecturer in English classes, led a poetry master class with students and alumni, and read from her works during an event in the Edith Memorial Chapel. Smith is the author of four books of poetry, one of which, The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison, earned both the 2012 Dorset Prize and the 2016 Gold Medal in Poetry for the Independent Publishers Book Awards. She is perhaps best known for her poem, “Good Bones,” which went viral after the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, and the murder of British parliamentarian Jo Cox in June 2016. The work was tabbed the “Official Poem of 2016” by Public Radio International, and it has been shared widely around the world, having been translated into nearly a dozen languages. In April 2017, “Good Bones” was featured on the CBS primetime drama Madam Secretary – in an episode also called “Good Bones” – and Meryl Streep read the poem at the 2017 Academy of American Poets gala at Lincoln Center. Lawrenceville’s Merrill Poetry Seminar commemorates Pulitzer Prize-winning alumnus and poet James Merrill ’43. The program invites notable poets to spend time on campus teaching classes, lecturing, and reading from their work. Former participants have included Billy Collins, Louise Glück, Robert Hass, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Dennis Nurkse ’66.
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HIGH TRASHION
McPherson House finished first in the 2020 Lawrenceville Trashion Show, part of the School’s environmental awareness month, Sustainuary. The annual Trashion Show challenges Circle and Crescent Houses to create couture from recycled materials, with faculty judges rating each creation based on acceptable and diverse material use, creativity, wearability, stage presence, and how well the piece inspires waste reduction.
BIG RED ‘SQUASHES’
THE M.A.P.L. GIRLS’ TRACK AND FIELD TAKES A TRIO
The boys’ and girls’ squash teams both nabbed Mid-Atlantic Prep League (M.A.P.L.) championships in February. The boys topped Mercersburg Academy at the Hill School for their title on the same day the girls claimed the crown at the Semans/ Lawson-Johnston Squash Courts.
Girls’ indoor track and field claimed three championships in as many weeks this past winter. The team won its second consecutive Mercer County Indoor Track and Field Championship, with Charlotte Bednar ’22 setting two Indoor Mercer County Meet Records: 4:56.72 in the 1600m (first in New Jersey/third in the U.S. this year) and 10:22.64 in the 3200m (first in New Jersey/first in the U.S.). Amy Aririguzoh ’20 placed first in the high jump and second in the 200m. Days later, the squad took the N.J.I.S.A.A. Prep A state championship, with Big Red scoring in every single event behind the leadership of captains Grace Faircloth ’20, Aririguzoh, and Carolyn King ’20. The girls added the M.A.P.L. crown two weeks later at Lavino Field House to complete the track and field trifecta.
A CUT ABOVE The entire School community helped Lawrentians raise over $21,000 for St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a leading pediatric cancer research organization, in February. St. Baldrick’s hair-razing signature event sees students having their heads shaved in order to earn pledges to the foundation. In topping their $20,000 goal, students had hoped to earn a day off from classes and to see Dean of Students Blake Eldridge ’96 H’12 sporting a Mohawk coif – dyed (Big) red, of course – prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
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BEST OF BIG RED
HEADED TO THE NCAA
Dozens of members of the Class of 2020 announced in February that they will continue their careers as student-athletes next year at some of the nation’s finest colleges and universities. Pictured here are just some of the Lawrentians who will compete in college.
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VILFORT WINS
SCHOLAR-LEADERATHLETE AWARD C.J. Vilfort ’20 was honored in March as a George Wah Scholar-Leader-Athlete for his excellence on and off the football field. Vilfort, who will play football for Williams in the fall, received a $1,000 scholarship at the organization’s 58th annual dinner at the Princeton Marriott. The event honors football players who have made an impact on the area in and out of football. The award is sponsored by the Delaware Valley Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. A stalwart on Lawrenceville’s defensive line, C.J. Vilfort ’20 fights his way to the ball-carrier.
GIRLS’ SWIMMING TAKES STATE TITLE
BURNING UP THE TRACK AT EASTERNS One gold medal and two broken Big Red records made for a fine day at the 86th annual Eastern States Championships at the New Balance Track and Field Center in New York City in February. Jakob Kunzer ’20 smashed a School record in the 400 meters set in 1972, crossing the finish line in 48.84 seconds to finish third in the event. Charlotte Bednar ’22 added yet another title to her impressive running résumé, finishing first in the two-mile at 10:29.86. Bednar is now New Jersey’s best in the 1600m, 3200m, and two-mile runs (seventh in the U.S.), and second in the mile. The girls’ distance medley team Kiera Duffy ’22, Amy Aririguzoh ’20, Bednar, and Laila Ritter ’22 blazed around the track in 12.04 minutes – a Lawrenceville record – making them the thirdfastest quartet in New Jersey and seventh in the U.S.
GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT – INCLUDING STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS! CONGRATULATIONS TO
THE GIRLS’ SWIMMING SQUAD, WHICH CAPTURED THE N.J.I.S.A.A. CHAMPIONSHIP IN FEBRUARY, THE TEAM’S FIRST TITLE IN EIGHT YEARS. • “IT WAS A GREAT TEAM EFFORT CAPPED OFF BY AN EXCITING WIN. IT WAS REALLY EXCITING TO BRING THE TROPHY BACK HOME TO LAWRENCEVILLE,” SAID HEAD COACH STEFANIE HARRISON. “ALMOST ALL OF OUR GIRLS SWAM PERSONAL BEST TIMES, WHICH IS A VERY SPECIAL OCCURRENCE.” • MIRANDA CAI ’20 TOOK FIRST PLACE IN BOTH THE 50-METER AND 100-METER FREESTYLE RACES AND SET A SCHOOL RECORD OF 52.60 SECONDS IN THE 100M.
GIRLS’ FENCING TOPS IN STATE
BIG RED ICES HILL TO WIN M.A.H.L.
Lawrenceville’s girls’ fencing team won the N.J.I.S.A.A. Prep A state title in February, finishing first in both epée and foil and third in sabre to win the overall title at The Hun School. Individual finishes were as follows:
L Epée Marta Baziuk ’20 – 2nd Parrish Albahary ’20 – 7th
L Foil Ashley Wang ’23 – 1st Katelyn Ge ’21 – 2nd Divya Sammeta ’20 – 4th
L Sabre Olivia Simonian ’23 – 2nd Ashley van den Bol ’20 – 5th
Lawrenceville’s boys’ ice hockey team scored a trio of goals at home to blank rival Hill School, 3-0, and earn the Mid-Atlantic Hockey League (M.A.H.L.) trophy in February. Big Red followed up its M.A.H.L. title by winning its first two games in the New England Affiliate Tournament before falling to Stanstead College of Quebec.
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#VirtualSemperViridis Adapting to the spread of the novel coronavirus, Lawrenceville becomes a Virtual VILLEage. As it did everywhere, the spread of the novel coronavirus across the United States came with surprising speed in March, as institutions maneuvered just as quickly and carefully to stay ahead of the virus that causes COVID-19. The month began with students departing campus for spring break, though not to any of their planned service trips. By the time March was through, Lawrenceville had effectively reconceived its model of learning, with students beginning the spring term from their homes. A bold, new “Virtual VILLEage” began the term on Monday, March 30, with online distance learning the new reality for the remainder of the 2019-20 academic year. Upon their return from spring break, every
faculty member completed an intensive course on distance learning and is using the skills and practices they gleaned to redesign their courses for the online environment. Teachers developed clear and engaging work for students to complete independently, planning “live” classes via the Zoom virtual meeting platform to build on students’ independent efforts and maintain and deepen community connections. “Our VILLEage has adapted
to the current circumstances in a remarkable fashion,” said Head Master Stephen S. Murray H’54 ’55 ’65 ’16 P’16 ’21 in an informational document outlining the School’s approach to battling the pandemic. “Our teachers, department chairs, housemasters, and deans have led the way with a can-do, we-will-find-a-way, positive spirit.” The students’ independent work – referred to as “asynchronous” – will loom large, given that the young learners are now spread out across sixteen time zones. Still, the importance of Harkness dialogue, community, and House culture will remain as vital as before, underscoring the importance of the “synchronous” experiences students will share. Zoom, which gained a foothold this spring as so many professionals switched to a workfrom-home model, has become as ubiquitous in educational settings as it has in the virtual workplace. At Lawrenceville, Zoom is now the central platform for synchronous classes, meetings, and any other kinds of “virtual”
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gatherings. All students and faculty have access to the platform, which will be used for House and advisee meetings. A pre-recorded School Meeting will also occur via YouTube each week. With the transition to distance learning for the spring term, students will be adjusting to a completely new academic environment – one that occurs amid the looming uncertainty and stress the global pandemic will continue to cause families, increasing the difficulty of students doing their very best work this spring. All coursework for the spring term will be assessed on a pass/fail basis. “As we all work to navigate what will likely be a challenging and new learning environment, we felt it important that we give everyone the space to make mistakes and learn from the experience,” said David Laws P’21 ’23, dean of academics, in a letter to students. Because preparations for distance learning caused the spring term to begin a week after its original start date of March 23, classes will continue through Friday, June 5, for all students, including Fifth Formers. However, there will be no final exams at the end of the term. Murray was confident that together, students, their teachers, and their housemasters could withstand the challenges presented by the pandemic, beginning with their response to life as a Virtual VILLEage. “Times like these reorder our priorities and teach us what is important,” he said, “and it is precisely at such moments that we learn how strong and resilient we are as a community.”
Ed. Note: The COVID-19 pandemic was spreading to the Lawrenceville area as production of the spring Lawrentian was closing. Look for a comprehensive look into how the School adjusted to distance learning in the summer issue.
T H E L AW R E N T I A N
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BY THE NUMBERS
Totally Tubular!
Since it was launched in November
2010, The Lawrenceville School’s YouTube channel has surged beyond all of its peer schools in terms of views. Visual Arts Master Gil Domb P’17, who oversees the channel and advises L10 news, believes it is the most-watched high school YouTube channel in the United States. He attributes this distinction to its overwhelmingly studentgenerated storytelling and news programming, which provides interested viewers with an authentic glimpse into life at the School.
499
TOTAL VIDEOS UPLOADED TO LAWRENCEVILLE’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL.
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13-17 Age group that recorded just the fifth-most views, but also most closely mirrors the age of students at the School.
46.9 Percentage of viewers who watched Lawrenceville videos on their mobile phones in the past year.
134,657 Total views of Lacrosse – a Guide for Dummies! by Regina Parker ’12, the channel’s most-viewed video, as of March 10.
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Average view duration of all videos.
19,769
18-24
Total views of Lawrenceville videos over the 28-day period ending March 10.
Age group that most watches videos on the Lawrenceville channel.
161,385 Total views of Lawrenceville videos over the one-year period ending
2.3
Percentage of total views from India, the second-highest percentage outside the United States.
257,816 Difference in total views between the Lawrenceville channel and its nearest competitor in the Eight Schools Association.
March 10.
878,406
10,417
TOTAL VIEWS OF VIDEOS ON
Views of the mostwatched L10 episode, featuring an interview with Joe Tsai ’82, from January 2015.
LAWRENCEVILLE’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL SINCE ITS DEBUT ON NOVEMBER 10, 2010.
Information supplied by Gil Domb P’17, visual arts master and faculty adviser to L10, using YouTube analytics.
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INSIDE THE GATES
ONE TO WATCH Quick, Clean Water Name: Michael Zhang ’21 Age: 16
5Q4
Working in the Dartmouth lab of Biomedical
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questions for English Master Pier Kooistra H’14 P’20, who reveals a surprising book recommendation you’ve probably not read and the literary work that reframed his understanding of equality. What is your suggestion for one book that every Lawrentian should read? Their most curmudgeonly parent/grandparent/teacher’s baby book. Information is power.
Which twelve authors would you like to invite to your Harkness table? James Baldwin, W.E.B. DuBois, Ralph Ellison, William Faulkner, Herman Melville, Toni Morrison, Mark Twain, Alice Walker, TaNehisi Coates, George Saunders, Jesmyn Ward, and Colson Whitehead.
What would you discuss with them there? With twelve, we can have a fullscale discussion: “Friends, we’ve
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Engineering, Michael helped create a system that breaks down organic contaminants in water, turning them into harmless substances such as carbon dioxide.
“So far, we’ve tested samples up to about the size of your average water bottle,” he says. “If you fill it up with dirty water and use my technique, it will be clean and safe to drink within half an hour.”
Michael’s research was published in the Journal for Chemical Engineering in December 2019.
The article also received first place in the senior
got a mess on our hands. What’s our best next move?”
division of General Engineering and the Stockholm Junior Water Prize in the Mercer Science and Engineering Fair in 2019.
What book inspired you to think differently or do something out of your comfort zone?
OFTEN OVERLOOKED
The Color Purple is the first book that made me cry. It forced me out of my greenline-secured (and warped) suburban idyll. It helped me to understand “liberty and justice for all” as an aspiration; as work we have to do — not as a state we’ve already achieved.
What talent would you love to have? To be able to dance. My poor wife — she deserves that.
Given its purposefully sylvan surroundings, it’s easy for Lawrenceville’s Outdoor Harkness Classroom to be overlooked. The classroom’s table, which mimics the dimensions of the School’s traditional oaken oval Harkness tables, was built three years ago by Phil Giordano ’17, Marcos Coronado ’17, and Jack Larkin ’17, with the aid of master carpenters Ryan Yura and Tim McElroy of the Department of Facilities, as well as Dean of Students Blake Eldridge ’96 H’12 and then-Director of Sustainability Sam Kosoff ’88 H’96 P’19. Used seasonally, the Outdoor Classroom can be found in the woods just off the southern end of The Bowl.
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THEY SAID IT If we want “citizens to be
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IN THE CLUB
Things we learned producing this issue of
The Lawrentian
1. The most-viewed video
on Lawrenceville’s YouTube channel – with more than 131,000 views – is 2012’s Lacrosse – A Guide for Dummies, created by Regina Parker ’12.
informed of local news and civically engaged, politicians to be held accountable, and quality journalism not to be squashed under the necessity of economically viable content, we must somehow save local journalism or create a new model for its
”
continuation.
— Cherie Fernandes ’21 in The Lawrence, February 21, 2020.
The Avant-Garde Lego Club Founded: 2018 Current Membership: 6 Purpose: Providing members the chance to have fun and explore their creative potential through Legos, and even chances to benefit the community. If you haven’t been paying attention, know this: Legos are having a moment, and the interlocking plastic building bricks are hotter than ever. Founded by Samuel Tang ’22, the Avant-Garde Lego Club began as an opportunity for students to use Lego bricks to create what he called “fun and interesting projects.” Tang was soon joined by club copresident Thomas Atkinson ’22, who introduced the idea of adding a community-service element to the group. This past winter, the club collected Legos on campus, which they donated to local community centers and schools. “Legos are a great medium for kids to explore their creativity while having fun,” says Tang, “yet they have become increasingly expensive and unaffordable to many kids.” Tang adds that the Avant-Garde Lego Club’s social component is vital, too, saying, “Legos have given us the opportunity to talk, work with other kids, and make friends.”
2. Hollywood producer
Carey Wilson, who brought Owen Johnson’s The Lawrenceville Stories to the silver screen as The Happy Years, was made an honorary member of the Class of 1909.
3. Jakob Kunzer ’20,
who smashed a 48-yearold School record in the 400-meters this winter, began his running career chasing chickens around his old schoolyard in the Cayman Islands. SPRING
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ON THE ARTS
Poetry in Motion: Moving Up! Bernice Hightower ’21 won the New Jersey Poetry Out Loud Region One contest in February, becoming one of 12 students to qualify for the New Jersey Poetry Out Loud state championship, which was to be held in March at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, prior to its cancellation due to the coronavirus pandemic. State victors were to earn spots at the Poetry Out Loud National Finals in Washington, D.C., which was also canceled. Hightower presented “Movement Song” and “Worth” by Marilyn Nelson, and “To S. M., A Young African Painter, On Seeing His Works” by Phillis Wheatley to advance from the regional event. Students from grades 9-12 must recite their selections from 14
Bernice Hightower ’21 was in contention to become the national Poetry Out Loud champion.
memory, one poem per round of competition.
Poetry Out Loud is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, along with state arts agencies to encourage the nation’s youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation. This program helps students master public speaking skills, build selfconfidence, and learn about their literary heritage.
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Not Merely Players
Periwig’s annual production of Winterfest enjoyed its annual two-night run in the Kirby Arts Center in January and February. Twelve student-directed and -acted short plays made their way to the black box stage over two nights, allowing students to turn the tables, becoming both performers and creators. “The actors and directors were really on top of everything and the show ran smoothly,” said Emily Matcham ’20, head of Winterfest. “We had full houses both nights, which was really exciting.” This year’s edition of Winterfest featured the hard work of 17 student directors andNoah over 70 actors and technicians. Laubach ’23, Gunn Wanavejkul ’20, and Jayden MacMillan ’20 excelled in the Pennington Classical Piano Competition.
— Christine Cheng ’21
Keyed Up at Piano ompetition Noah Laubach ’23, Jayden MacMillan ’20, and Gunn Wanavejkul ’20 gave virtuoso performances at 2019 Pennington Classical Piano Competition in January at The Pennington School. Wanavejkul captured both the Grand Prix and Best Classical Era awards, and Laubach brought home the Bach Award. The competition required each pianist to perform two contrasting works of classical music, lasting up to 15 minutes. SPRING
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SPORTS ROUNDUP Compiled by NICOLE STOCK
WINTER SPORTS ROUNDUP Boys’ Basketball
Record: e Team: Jacob Stat All.A. I.S.A N.J. • 8-19 Kane ’83 P’20 Sussman ’20 • Coach: Ron
girls’ Basketball
Runner-up • Record: 16-12 • M.A.P.L. m: Heaven Figueroa Tea e Stat AllN.J.I.S.A.A. n P’20 ’22 • pso Sim y ’20 • Coach: Gre ’20, Victoria Captains: Heaven Figueroa ’20 Dugan ’20, Jeree Murray
Boys’ Ice Hockey
Record: 17-10• Harry Rulon-Miller 4 • M.A.H.L. Champions • All-M.A.H.L. First Tournament Champions Semptimphelter T.J. ’20, z Get hlan Lac Team: m: Mike Rocco Tea ond Sec . .H.L M.A ’20 • AllKeith Dupee ch: Coa • ’21 as lian Pou ’20, Peter thew Mat ’20, z Get hlan • Captains: Lac suo ’20 Manahan ’20, Kazuma Mat
Girls’ Ice Hockey
Record: 6-10s: Kelsey tain Cap • sz 4 • Coach: Nicole Ulia arlo ’20 McAlister ’20, Ellie DeC
Boys’ Fencing
Record: 6-2 • mpions • Coach: N.J.I.S.A.A. Boys’ Foil Cha s: Areeq Hasan ’20, tain Cap • r che Beis Rich Lee ’20 Max Wong ’20, Tae Hee
Girls’ Fencing
Record: 6-1 N.J.I.S.A.A. • ons mpi Cha .A. • N.J.I.S.A N.J.I.S.A.A. Girls Girls’ Foil Champions • ch: Rich Beischer • Epée Champions • Coa a ’20, Ashley van Captains: Divya Sammet ’20 den Bol ’20, Marta Baziuk
Girls’ Indoor Track
Record:
• N.J.I.S.A.A. 3-0 • M.A.P.L. Champions nty Champions • Champions • Mercer Cou : Distance Medley School Records Broken y Aririguzoh Am ’22, fy Duf ra (Kie y Rela rlotte Bednar Cha and ’22, er Ritt a ’20, Lail ’22: 1600m nar Bed te rlot Cha ’22) 12:09; 1 mile 4), 22.6 (10: 0m (4:56.72), 320 6) • Shannon Duffy (4:53.08), 2 mile (10:29.8 ’20 • Coach: Erik Award: Amy Aririguzoh Aririguzoh ’20, Chaput • Captains: Amy King ’20, Grace Ashley Warren ’20, Carolyn Faircloth ’20
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boys’ Indoor Track
Record: 3-0 • M.A.P.L. Champions • N.J.I.S.A. A. Runner-up • School Records Broken: Jako b Kunzer ’20: 400m (48.84) • Edward Pore da Track Trophy: Alex Pesendorfer ’20 • Coach: Stephen Wallis • Captains: Jakob Kunzer ’20, Alex Pesendorfer ’20, Jack Wragan ’20, Vishnu Rajakannan ’20
Boys’ Swimming and Diving
For the most current athletic news visit www.lawrenceville.org/athletics.
Record: 3-6 • N.J.I.S.A.A. Runn er-up • Coach: Stefanie Harrison • Captains: Henrique Giangrande ’20, Marvin Domingu ez ’20
Girls’ Swimming
Record: 4-4 • M.A.P.L. Runner-up • N.J.I.S.A. A. Champions • Coach: Stefanie Harrison • Captains: Miranda Cai ’20, Sara Ptaszynska ’20
Coed Diving
Record: 2-3 • Coach: Kirk LeCompte • Captain: Margaret Waldman ’21
Boys’ Squash
Record: 7-4 • M.A.P.L. Champions • All-Mid-Atlantic Second Team: Hamza Mian ’21, Christian Bae ’20, Victor Park ’22 • All-M.A.P.L. Team: Christian Bae ’20, Victor Park ’22, Mitchell Tung ’21 • Coac h: Rob Krizek • Captains: Andrew Tokarski ’20, Christian Bae ’20
Girls’ Squash
Record: 4-7 • M.A.P.L. Champions • All-Mid-Atlantic First Team: Isabelle Tilney-Sandberg ’21 • All-Mid-A tlantic Second Team: Isabel Paine ’20, Anne Bunn ’23 • All-M.A.P.L. Team: Anne Bunn ’23, Mia Mah food ’20, Hazel Schaus ’20 • Coach: Narelle Krize k • Captains: Mia Mahfood ’20, Mia Mancuso ’20, Hazel Schaus ’20
Wrestling
Record: 14-8 • Lilly Gessner ’23, 2nd place at National Prep Tournament, Girls Division, 113 lbs. • Coach: John ny Clore H’02 • Captain: Nicholas Clark ’20
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GO BIG RED
WINGING IT
After being introduced to track by chasing chickens in his native Cayman Islands, Jakob Kunzer ’20 is taking flight as a runner.
I
n the movies, Sylvester Stallone’s iconic boxing hero Rocky Balboa trained for the rigors of the ring by chasing a chicken around a vacant Philadelphia lot. Thirty-five years later, the same type of “fowl play” helped launch Jakob Kunzer ’20 toward New Jersey’s fastest time in the 400-meters this winter. In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan battered Kunzer’s native Cayman Islands, displacing numerous families, but also countless animals. Among those were the chickens that took up residence outside his school, where they remained for years afterward. “I used to chase them around the schoolyard during break and lunch,” Kunzer recalls. “And the coach for the track team – my school team – saw me doing that, and he said, ‘You should try out for track.’” Kunzer recalls running in the 400 at his coach’s urging, but also that he was no star. When he enrolled at Lawrenceville in 2016, it was with the intent of playing baseball, which he did, as well as soccer and basketball. “Then my sophomore year, I realized that my basketball skills were not up there, so I tried track,” he says. “I wasn’t planning to do
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it in the spring, but in the winter term, the indoor track meet surprised me – I did pretty well, I had some good times – and I decided to pursue it in the spring. Kunzer’s development was swift. That year, he was part of the speedy 4x400-relay team that earned the Penn plaque in the prep division at the 124th Penn Relays. After earning a spot on The Times of Trenton All-Prep team last spring in the 400 and on the NJ.com AllPrep first team in the 200, Kunzer posted the state’s best time in the 400 this winter – 49.67 seconds – and also ran the 500-meter in 1:05.46, good for second in the state and 14th in the United States. Kunzer credits a pair of former Big Red teammates from his early days for challenging him to become an elite runner. “I had Meinhardt Rentrup [’18] and Jefferson Mott [’18] in front of me [as teammates on the 4x400 relay team]. I really worked hard to try and get to their level,” he recalls. “I was always in the back of the pack in workout, and I really just wanted to be on their level as quickly as possible.” Kunzer says that Rentrup and Mott meant more to him as a Third Former than merely talented teammates.
“They were the seniors on the team – they were the captains – and when I had problems on the track, like when I was nervous or something before a race, they would tell me to calm down and [say,] ‘You’re the best guy going in there, you can do this,’” he says. “I believe that in track, you only get better if you have someone pushing you.
“Those guys were my mentors throughout my sophomore season, and without them, I don’t think I would be where I am now,” continues Kunzer, who will compete for the powerhouse program at Villanova University next year. “I chose Villanova because it was a really strong business school, and the track program has a lot of history,” he says. “It is one of the best in the Northeast.” Had he remained in the Cayman Islands, it’s
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also unlikely Kunzer would have run the same route to Villanova. “People take track really seriously here. In the Caribbean, it’s much more laid back,” he says. “There’s no path to college in the Caribbean, so once you run track in high school, you’re trying to compete for CARIFTA (the annual Caribbean Free Trade Association Games) and compete for your country.” Kunzer has already competed for the
Cayman Islands in the junior championships at CARIFTA, something he had hoped to do again this year prior to their cancellation due to the coronavirus pandemic. Kunzer said he’d welcome the chance to continue competing on the international level for the Cayman Islands if the opportunities were there. “We’ll see,” he says. “My father and mother always talk about 2024 Olympics and stuff,
but I [don’t think] I’m at the level where I can start talking about that yet. But, past college, if there’s one goal, I’d love to represent Cayman Islands further in senior competition.” First, though, comes college – just a few miles west of the city where Rocky Balboa learned to be quick on his feet with the help of his elusive feathered friend. — Adapted from a Big Red Profile Q&A by Ashley Duraiswamy ’20
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TAKE THIS JOB AND LOVE IT
I
‘THOSE ARE THE BEST MOMENTS’
A little bit country and a little bit rock ‘n’ roll, Lizzie No ’09 lets her music do the talking.
t was almost a confession, a plea to the world to understand the unnerving thought that always threatens to stifle the voice of Lizzie No ’09. After pouring out lyrics and dressing them in a melody, there is that moment just before she commits her creation to a recording when doubt seizes her. She made this clear in late January when she tweeted, “Every time I sit in front of a mic and record, I’m like, Wow, I’m nothing.” “It’s such a crazy feeling because I really do believe that writing songs is the thing that I am best at in this world,” says No, perhaps better known to Lawrenceville classmates as Lizzie Quinlan. “It is what I’m meant to do.” She’s got a point: In 2016, No was the recipient of the American Songwriter lyrics contest and was a finalist in the New England Indie Rock Competition. Last May, No and the first cut off her second album, “Vanity,” were highlighted by Rolling Stone as a “Song You Need to Know.” She has every reason to express herself with confidence, and she does. “You get really excited, and you become almost obsessed with this thing for however
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long it takes to finish it,” No says of songwriting. “It’s a little love affair that you have with the song, and you’re so excited.” Growing up, No and her sister were encouraged by their parents to be musical, and she played the violin and sang in a choir. Soon her creativity began to blossom, making up lyrics to parody pop songs, or singing harmony to music on the radio. “That’s when it started to become my own thing,” No says, “and not just something that someone else was having me do.” Later, as a Lawrenceville student, No and a few friends played at a Valentine’s Day coffee house in Irwin Dining Center. They came up with an arrangement of “I Hear Them All” by Old Crow Medicine Show, a bluegrass country hit, and afterward they continued to play together. For No, the experience resonated. “That’s when I really felt that feeling that anyone who’s ever been in a band feels like: I’m part of something. This feels really, really good,” she says. “So I’ve just really been chasing that forever.” No says she grew up steeped in folk music, with James Taylor and Peter, Paul, and Mary providing the soundtrack of her youth.
Branching out, she soon identified with Tracy Chapman and the Indigo Girls – “People who were really talented musically, but also had a message, and who were just so substantive and spoke truth to power,” she says. Only at Lawrenceville did No gain an ear for the sounds of country and bluegrass, which instantly attracted her stylistically. “It’s a spiritual thing. That’s just what sticks with me the most,” she says. “And it wasn’t until I heard Valerie June that it clicked in my head that you could be a black girl and play twangy country music. It is still a surprise to me, but it also was inevitable.” At Stanford, No played in a number of bands before graduating, a milestone that placed her at her first crossroads. “You face that moment once you’ve graduated, when you say, ‘I have this fancy degree; what am I going to do with it?’” No says. “But I still felt this pull, like I really needed to keep writing and performing. So that was my path to it, and I’ve just been hustling since then.” The hustle is perhaps the defining characteristic for a performer like No, who balances writing and recording with tours to
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String-Alo ng: Wheth er by harp or gu itar, Lizzie No ’09 creates the melodies th at back her awardwinning ly rics.
Photo by Donnelly Marks
support her albums and build her audience. Dividing her performances are long days on the road. “You’ll drive one day, play one day, drive one day, and play one day,” she says of the pace, noting that a typical tour includes a variety of venues – bar shows, festivals, and smaller theaters – “with a ton of driving and podcasts and coffee in between.” Perhaps you’ve seen a performer take the stage at night and wondered what they did with their day prior to that moment. “They probably sat in a car!” No quips, before elaborating about life on the road. “You’re very isolated, and all you have to do is do a good job at the show and drive safely to where you’re going,” she says. “Your focus is, Let me get a healthy meal so I feel good. Let me take a nap in the afternoon. Let me drink a bunch of
water. It’s almost a meditative state where all of your focus is towards this one purpose.” No’s debut album, 2017’s Hard Won, came on the heels of her winning entry in the American Songwriter magazine’s lyrics contest. In a sense, the victory imbued her with the confidence to take that next step as an artist. “I was blown away – not only were they going to publish my lyrics in the magazine, but I was winning a guitar, and I didn’t know how to play guitar at the time,” she says. “I got this beautiful Gibson SJ-100 in the mail, and I was like, ‘OK, I guess it’s time to launch my solo career.’ That was definitely a kick in the butt to start working on my own music.” The folky Hard Won, which garnered No a spot on NPR’s Weekend Edition, was followed by last year’s Vanity, which has more of a rocker’s edge. It also features a cover photo that links
No back to her childhood in a very personal way, while cleverly playing on the name of the album. “I got this bathrobe that was my mom’s that she wore in the hospital when I was born,” No says in explaining her wardrobe choice for the image, on which she sits atop a bathroom sink, in front of a mirror. “I just thought it so pretty, and it was so meaningful.” Those recordings have become touchstones for her fans, who are often eager to relate a song’s personal relevance to No, an experience she savors. “Sometimes someone I’ve never met will say, ‘I heard that song of yours on Spotify,’ and it means something to them that I hadn’t thought of,” she says, “but somehow relates to the song that I wrote. Those are the best moments.”
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QA &
TABLE TALK
FINDING RESILIENCE THROUGH MATH When Etienne Bilodeau, who grew up speaking Quebecois French, was learning English and German as a student, he relied heavily on math as a common denominator. The son of educators, Bilodeau later took his mathematical fluency into the classroom, a decision that led him to Lawrenceville twenty-three years ago. The mathematics master told The Lawrentian about his first encounter with Lawrenceville faculty, how math imbued him with a sense of resilience, and why the subject sometimes needs to be messy. How did you find your way to mathematics as a discipline?
That’s a logical career for a math lover. Why did you change course?
I was drawn to math early in my youth, whether it be from studying all four corners of the sports statistics section in the newspaper or my parents who, incidentally, were both educators, tasking me with adding the subtotal of points for their students in the margins at the kitchen table.
Ultimately, I was fortunate to be part of two Canadian governmental study-abroad programs. The area where I grew up [SainteMarie, Quebec, 45 minutes southeast of Quebec City] was basically only Frenchspeaking, so I went to British Columbia, and the following year to Germany, to study English and German. Fast-forwarding, those two events led me to Middlebury College.
I don’t suppose that counts as your first math teaching job…
No, no – but then I recall that even in high school, I always projected myself to potentially be an architect. I was really interested in the idea of design, playing with shapes, and playing with the sizes and the spaces. All of that is something that really was of interest to me.
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What happened there to point you in this direction?
Well, even when I was at Middlebury – and in all three of those situations when I was in the process of becoming more fluent in English – I turned to math. Math was really the common denominator, the universal language. Three
out of the four classes I took that first fall term were math classes. What were you looking to do, having taken all that math?
I was looking to go pre-med, but then all of a sudden I woke up and I was like, I think I
have enough credits to graduate next year if I want. So my senior year came a year early and I graduated in three years. That also spelled the end of pre-med, however.
At the end of the day, my parents and my siblings – all my family – have had a major influence on my life’s path. My parents both being educators – and not everyone has the opportunity to be taught by their parents – that happened to me, too. So all along, you were preparing to teach, even if you weren’t entirely conscious of it.
When I think about my evolution as a teacher – and I’ve been fortunate to teach calculus for twenty-four years now – what I learned most when I went to graduate school was the idea of becoming more aware of how I, as a teacher, structure conversations and lead conversations in the classroom. Once you decided to teach, where did you begin?
After I graduated college, I spent a year as a
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Mathemat ics is just on e of a number of languages Etienne Bilodeau h as mastere d. He says it is a discip line that p romotes problem-sol ving, logic, and resiliency.
teaching fellow at St. Paul’s in New Hampshire.
my aim is to think of math not simply as a set
in your axes. Think in terms of units. All
Also during that year, my brother was the
of procedures and tricks, but to think of it as
of those little intermediate steps from a
captain of the hockey team at Middlebury and
a discipline that promotes problem-solving,
procedural standpoint really come down to
it was an easy back-and-forth type of trip to
logic, and resiliency. I want it to come across
promoting mathematical fluency. You’ve got
watch him play.
through Harkness and how we use synergy to
to be able to speak math, to write math, to be
solve problems.
able to visualize it.
Right, and Rusty Hlavacek [H’95 ’17 P’06 ’08]
That idea of resiliency is interesting. It’s something you found through math, too.
and Mike Goldenberg [H’96 ’97 P’05 ’10]
Well, I think the key here is to ask the right
were in the stands in the old Kenyon Arena, so
questions, to give students an opportunity to
that was my first encounter with Lawrenceville
think, to listen, and to do math. Maybe that
Earlier, you mentioned math being a universal language. In class, do you draw connections between it and other academic disciplines, in terms of problem-solving and critical thinking?
faculty members. And I played hockey at
means allowing time and space for them to put
Middlebury with Ryan Goldman [’94], who
things in their own words.
This sounds like you’re leading us somewhere…
is one of four brothers who graduated from Lawrenceville. You’re in your twenty-third year at the School, but looking back, your own approach to math and calculus as a student seemed to set you up well to teach in this environment, too.
Faculty members often tell us in this space how Harkness starts by giving students the resources they need to find the truth around that table. That sounds like what you’re doing here.
There is a greater focus now in my courses, and more so in the new calculus course that was designed this year, to put students in their context to dig. To put students in the context to draw their own conclusions, to have students build and formulate their own understanding of ideas. So, yes, and I think math can be – needs to be – messy at times,
I often say we don’t do math in the clouds,
but the flow and the technical details of a
Absolutely, even without really knowing what
meaning: Get a pencil out, draw a diagram.
mathematical solution are elegant in so many
my career was going to be like. Right now,
Think of the variations. Label your coordinates
ways.
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ASK THE ARCHIVIST
Pioneering Hollywood screenwriter and producer Carey Wilson, seen here in 1935, was the force who brought Owen Johnson’s The Lawrenceville Stories to the silver screen. (John Springer Collection/Corbis via Getty Images)
After bringing Owen Johnson’s tales to the silver screen, famed producer Carey Wilson found himself in Lawrenceville’s loving embrace.
The
Unexpected
Alumnus By JACQUELINE HAUN
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his summer marks the 70th anniversary of the release of what remains the most notable celluloid portrayal of Lawrenceville, The Happy Years, based on author Owen Johnson’s comedic Lawrenceville Stories that fictionalized his own schoolboy experiences as a member of the Class of 1895. Still beloved by many, the 1950 feature film was brought to the screen by Carey Wilson, a pioneering Hollywood screenwriter and producer responsible for many of his era’s most memorable motion pictures. Though not educated as a Lawrentian, Wilson showed such fondness and appreciation for the School that he was named an honorary member of the Class of 1909 at a time when the honor was only rarely bestowed. Carey Wilson was born either May 19 or 20, 1889, in Philadelphia. He often told the story that
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his birth was around midnight, and although the physician who arrived at the home after his delivery registered Wilson’s birth as May 20, Wilson’s mother insisted he was actually born before the clock struck midnight. When he was 13, Wilson’s family moved to Rutherford, New Jersey, where he attended Rutherford High School and developed a passion for the theater. There, Wilson founded and edited the high school’s magazine, organized the school Dramatic Society, and wrote, produced, and acted in several plays. Following his graduation from the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art in Philadelphia — today’s University of the Arts — Wilson became a film projectionist and manager for the local movie house in Rutherford. His passion for the burgeoning film industry saw him embark on a career as a film salesman for Famous Players Film Company,
I Student extras swarmed from Kennedy House in September 1949 during filming of The Happy Years.
Carey Wilson paused for a moment during production of The Happy Years to chat with child stars Scotty Beckett and Dean Stockwell around the Circle. SPRING
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which would become Paramount, and later for Fox Film and First National. Tasked with establishing new methods of global film distribution, Wilson traveled the world, helping to set up new movie theaters in locations as far flung as Samoa, Australia, and New Zealand. Despite his enjoyment of the film industry’s business side, Wilson retained his early love for the creation of stories. In the early 1910s, he went to work for a small, independent film studio, Peerless Film Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey, as a story developer and screenwriter. Wilson’s early stories and scripts caught the attention of Samuel Goldwyn, who brought him to Hollywood to work for Goldwyn Pictures, where he quickly became one of the studio’s top writers. After Goldwyn’s 1924 merger with Metro Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Productions, Wilson remained a top writer for MGM until 1939, crafting such notable screenplays as Ben-Hur (1927) and Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). He also became a producer, overseeing such noteworthy films as The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) and Green Dolphin Street (1947). Among Wilson’s other accomplishments at MGM was the creation of the “Andy Hardy” comedy series and the television medical drama, Dr. Kildare. In all, Wilson is credited with writing for more than a hundred films and producing thirty other titles, as well as being one of the thirty-six founders in 1927 of of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the organization behind the Oscars. Wilson’s emotional connection to Lawrenceville began in his teen years when he followed Owen Johnson’s initial publications of the Lawrenceville Stories “breathlessly and religiously” as they were serialized in the Saturday Evening Post. Captivated by the schoolboy shenanigans of Dink Stover and the Tennessee Shad, Wilson hoped that he could bring his experience with the Andy Hardy series to bear on the comic aspects of the film adaptation, and perhaps even create a series of films if the first movie proved popular. Above all, Wilson was committed to remaining as true to the Johnson stories and the Lawrenceville setting as possible. As he
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roles of Dink Stover, “Tough” McCarty and the Tennessee Shad, respectively. Some thirty Lawrenceville students were also drafted as film extras at a cost of $10 a day per student. Onehundred fifty students were asked to participate in a scene in which the entire student body rushed out of buildings to the freedom of summer. Following the successful filming in Technicolor but after several production delays, The Happy Years was released in summer 1950. While reviews were generally positive, many felt the film was overly long and too old-fashioned for a modern audience. However, the Lawrenceville The Jigger Shop, then located community was pleased with the across Main Street from the result, feeling that the School School, played a role in The Happy Years, too, as seen was well represented and that here during production. sufficient attention had been paid to authenticity. Touched by the devotion and “best taste” wrote to Head Master Allan Heely H’27 in Wilson had shown for the portrayal of the 1946, “Let me assure you I am pledged to the School on screen, the Alumni Association conviction that complete authenticity will sought the approval of the Class of 1909 – the be one of the most important assets of the class to which Wilson would have belonged film version.” True to his word, Carey not had he actually attended Lawrenceville – to only consulted with the alumni after whom approve granting Wilson honorary class Johnson had modeled his Lawrenceville membership. On May 20, 1950 – his “official” characters, but did extensive additional birthday – Wilson was inducted into the class. research to portray Lawrenceville “customs, He was regarded so fondly at the time that costumes, and procedures,” as much as a production photo featuring Wilson with possible as they had been in the 1890s. young stars Stockwell and Beckett was given By August 1949, a plan was in place. The prominent placement in the large murals on movie – initially titled You’re Only Young the newly built Lavino Field House. Twice, a play on the first Andy Hardy movie For the next several years until his death in You’re Only Young Once – would be filmed that 1962, Wilson would remain in contact with his September on Lawrenceville’s campus and honorary classmates, keeping them updated along Main Street, with modern conveniences on his activities through The Lawrentian’s Class such as paved roads carefully hidden from Notes. During the course of the project, he sight. Only exterior footage was shot at the had also become close with several members School, with interiors in the various houses of the campus community, including Heely such as Kennedy and Green House filmed and longtime director of publications Alden on replicated sound stages in Culver City, Groff, himself a member of the Class of 1909. California. Wilson visited from time to time with both To direct, Wilson brought in William A. men and their families when they traveled Wellman, for whom The Happy Years was a to California or Florida. At his passing, significant departure from his usual crime and Wilson’s honorary classmates praised him as a action-adventure films. Cast in leading roles “talented and discriminating gentleman.” were film veteran Leo G. Carroll as The Old — Jacqueline Haun is the archivist of the Roman, and juvenile actors Dean Stockwell, Stephan Archives in Bunn Library. Darryl Hickman, and Scotty Beckett in the
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Stay connected with the NEW Lawrenceville Alumni Network App
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The NEW! Lawrenceville Alumni Network, now powered by Graduway, makes it easier than ever for alumni to connect worldwide. Available on your desktop/laptop or your Apple or Android mobile device, the Lawrenceville Alumni Network app combines the scope of our alumni database and the power of Facebook and LinkedIn to connect you with your fellow Lawrentians wherever you and they may be. For download instructions, go to lawrenceville.org and click “Connect and Network” on the Alumni tab, or simply search for “Lawrenceville Alumni Network” on the App Store for iPhone or Google Play for Android.
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HEY, WHAT’S THE
BIG IDEA? By SEAN RAMSDEN
A community hub for innovation, creativity, and collaboration at Lawrenceville, GCAD – the Gruss Center for Art and Design – began hosting classes in February.
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or eighteen months, Lawrenceville students watched the space just west of the Fathers Building slowly transformed. Gone was the 60-year-old Carpenter Wing, which originally extended the old John Dixon Library. Rising in its place, the reflective, floor-to-ceiling windowed glass “cube” containing the promise of a creative haven. By mid-February, it was open for business: The Gruss Center for Art and Design – known colloquially as GCAD – beckoned students to enter, their imaginations in tow, ready make their big ideas come to life. Work to finish and furnish the entire GCAD building – which also includes the Hutchins Galleries and the completely renovated visual art building – continued through the spring, but Science Master Michael Hickey’s class was one of the first to use the new space. Hickey’s chemistry students printed three-dimensional versions of the periodic table of the elements, with variations depending on the periodic trend, such as atomic radius, ionization, and electronegativity. Those variables were physically manifested by the elevations of each particular element rendered by GCAD’s 3D printer. “I am so impressed that my class is able to use these facilities to better our understanding,” said an enthusiastic Birney Sherard ’22, who believes these 3D prints will simplify the task of memorizing such periodic trends. “The new GCAD definitely exceeded my expectations.” Sherard and her classmates are already thinking about what else they can build in the 16,000-square-foot creative design center and makerspace. “I have a couple projects in mind, all of which require skills beyond my own,” Sherard said, “but I know that I have access to professionals on campus who will be happy to help anyone with a project!”
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WHAT IS THAT THING? JUST SOME OF THE MACHINERY THAT’S MAKING GCAD HUM. ShopBot PRSalpha 4’x8’ CNC
Like a hand-held router, but tool paths are guided via programmed computer numerical control.
LulzBot TAZ 6 3D Printers Desktop threedimensional printer can use a variety of materials to create objects.
Tormach CNC Router Computer
Numerical control router designed to accurately cut aluminum, plastics, wood, and more.
Roland GS-24 Vinyl Cutter
Ideal for cutting heatapplied materials such as appliques for apparel production.
Torchmate 4400 CNC Plasma
Computer numerical control plasma cutting table.
Epilog Fusion M2 32 laser cutter
For engraving on wood, metal, acrylic, or plastic.
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“WE ARE GRADUATING STUDENTS INTO A WORLD WHERE THERE ARE NO SIMPLE SOLUTIONS, AND THEY WILL NEED TO HAVE A RANGE OF INTELLECTUAL AND PRACTICAL SKILLS IN THEIR TOOLBOX.” – Head Master Steve Murray
Whether students enjoy robotics, have the heart of an artist, or simply want to try something new, GCAD gives them the freedom and support to grow as they will. GCAD pulls together collaborative energy from all departments, extending the Harkness table by providing space for experiential and project-based learning across disciplines. A community hub for innovation, collaboration, and creativity, the open environment of GCAD was deliberately designed to inspire ingenuity and support spontaneity. The new construction, notable for its signature glass cube, includes a clean fabrication lab, digital design rooms, and a large flexible project room for ideation and rapid prototyping. The facility also features wood and metal shops equipped with
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computer numerical control (CNC) routers, a welding bay, milling machines, and laser cutters, along with traditional manual arts tools. Collaborative workstations will support team projects. “The possibilities for creating and making in GCAD are virtually endless,” said Rex Brodie, director of design and fabrication in the Visual Arts Department. These enhancements complement the existing Gruss Center of Visual Art, which will continue to house gallery, collection, and fine arts studio space in what was originally the John Dixon Library. The ambitious GCAD expansion and renovation project was made possible through a $17 million gift from the Audrey and Martin Gruss Foundation. Martin Gruss ’60 is a trustee emeritus of the School. The Gruss gift also enabled
improvements to the adjacent art studios, and support from Debbie and Glenn Hutchins ’73, with help from Jean Fang ’90, is funding a renovation of the Hutchins Galleries and collections storage space. Lawrenceville began studying best practices for development of a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) facility and related programming in fall 2016, when the School’s Board of Trustees adopted a new strategic plan, Lawrenceville 20/20, which called for “energizing academic culture” through experiential learning. Onsite surveys of corporate innovation hubs and visits to Stanford University’s d.School (the Hasso Plattner Institure of Design) and similar facilities at Yale and MIT helped to shape the School’s thinking for a
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1. GCAD welcomed students with the Inter-Arts Council’s festive All Arts Night in February. 2. The interior of the GCAD “cube” incorporates the brick exterior wall of the Hutchins Galleries and the highest seating in the amphitheaterstyle classroom. 3. Students in Rex Brodie’s woodworking class created these elegant standing screens. 4. Science Master Michael Hickey used the amphitheater-style open classroom to host one of GCAD’s first classes. 5. Rex Brodie, director of design and fabrication, acquaints Head Master Steve Murray with some of the machinery in the GCAD “fab lab.”
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“FOR THE STUDENTS
WHO NEVER LOST THEIR
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CREATIVE SPIRIT, AND
6. A flash-sketching workshop produced this image of Audrey and Martin Gruss ’60, founding donors for GCAD. 7. A GCAD 3D printer rendered this periodic table of the elements, with variations depicting periodic trends, such as atomic radius, ionization, and electronegativity.
creative design center and makerspace. The architectural specifics were rendered by Sasaki Associates, an internationally recognized planning and architectural firm. “We are graduating students into a world where there are no simple solutions, and they will need to have a range of intellectual and practical skills in their toolbox,” Head Master Steve Murray H’54 ’55 ’65 ’16 P’16 ’21 said. “We aim to produce graduates who are inventive, adaptable, and able to attack an issue from multiple perspectives, who see solutions and possibilities when confronting a problem.” Manoc Joa-Griffith ’22 was eager to get his hands on what he called the “coolest” tool – the WaterJet Cutting Machine. “It propels water at a high velocity and pressure to cut through objects,” Joa-Griffith explained. “I’m in the process of making a bench for GCAD and I hope to use all the
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FOR THOSE LOOKING TO FIND THEIRS – GCAD cutting tools, especially the WaterJet, to cut my bench out of wood.” Sneha Kondru ’22 contemplated the “tons of opportunities” offered by the building, including the possibility of building a chessboard for Stephens House furnished with 3D-printed pieces. “It’s so cool to think that the multiple 3D printers and the wood and metal shops are available to the student body to use, make creations, and build things all on our own,” Kondru said. “The possibilities are endless.” Hickey’s chemistry class met in the GCAD’s amphitheater-style open classroom, eight rows of descending wooden levels that direct students’ gaze to a set of nine interlocking flat-panel televisions that function as one massive screen. This two-level open classroom sits in the very center of the GCAD cube. “I think that more classes should make an effort to hold a class there,” Kondru said, “because it offers a nice change of scenery while also being practical with its very large screens and computer lab.” Faculty members also see GCAD as a boon to existing creative projects, such
IS THE PLACE TO BE.” – Keith Roeckle, chair, Performing Arts Department
as set design for Kirby Arts Center stage productions. “We’re looking for students who built imaginary worlds out of cardboard boxes, for the students who created backstories for their dolls and action figures, for the students who built forts in the woods, for the students who put a bucket on their head and imagined they were flying to Mars,” said Keith Roeckle, chair of the Performing Arts Department. “For the students who never lost their creative spirit, and for those looking to find theirs – GCAD is the place to be.” — Lisa M. Gillard Hanson, Andrea Fereshteh, and Barbara Horn contributed to this report.
Learn more about the Gruss
Center for Art and Design at gcad.lawrenceville.org.
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Planned Giving
is for Young Alumni/ae, too!
As he recalls, Bowie
Helm ’03 was a reluctant Law-
rentian. As a Houstonian far from home, he was struck by the tradition, history, and beauty of the School’s community and campus, though he initially ached for the privileges of home not available to him as a boarder. “Still, I was fortunate to make lifelong friends, in large part through the camaraderie fostered by the School’s formidable athletic program,” he says. “My fondest memories are times spent on the track with Doc Shilts H’93 ’11 ’13 and others.” Bowie says that with each passing year, “my appreciation grows for the unique opportunity presented to me when former Board of Trustees President Thomas Carter ’70 P’01 ’05 introduced me to the School.” He wants to be sure that others know that benefit, too.
“I made a commitment to include Lawrenceville in my estate because had others not done the same before me, the world would lack an institution that has enriched me and all those who have shared my experience.” – Bowie Helm ’03
For more information on leaving a bequest to Lawrenceville or for other planned giving opportunities, or if you’ve included Lawrenceville in your will but not yet informed the School, please contact Jerry Muntz at the Lawrenceville Office of Planned Giving at 609-620-6064 or jmuntz@lawrenceville.org, or go to www.lawrenceville.org/plannedgiving.
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Through Lawrenceville’s YouTube channel, the most-viewed such outlet of its kind, students are telling the School’s story, one video at a time. 34
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f, as Marshall McLuhan famously said, “the medium is the message,” then Lawrenceville’s YouTube channel – believed to be the mostviewed YouTube outlet of any secondary school in the United States – has fundamentally altered the paradigm for communicating the story of campus life. Through the use of this video-hosting social medium, Lawrenceville – and, more specifically, its students – created what McLuhan called a new “structure of awareness,” expanding its reach to truly global proportions in a dynamic, vivid way. Fueled by the ubiquity of high-quality phone cameras, YouTube has democratized video storytelling. Many schools and their districts have established YouTube channels to host their content, but the vast majority populate their pages with “official” messaging from administrators, dimly lit, unedited recordings of meetings, and promotional videos. Lawrenceville’s channel is distinct for its student-driven content. An estimated 90 to 95 percent of the 499 videos populating the School’s YouTube outlet (as of March 10) were produced by students – a
factor Visual Arts Master and videographer Gil Domb P’17 believes is responsible for its resonance with viewers in search of authentic voices. “It’s heading towards a million views, and there’s no other school that I’ve yet seen whose YouTube channel has got anything close to that number,” says Domb, who teaches video journalism and created Lawrenceville’s YouTube channel in late 2010. “It means that people are really enjoying all this student-created content and it’s only going to keep flourishing.” Domb, who spent twenty years traversing the globe as a wildlife documentary filmmaker for National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and the BBC, is the person most responsible for Lawrenceville’s dominance in the arena, but even he will admit that it is as much the result of some serendipity as it is the residue of good design. The London native took his zoology degree into the wildernesses of the Serengeti more than thirty years ago, working under Hugo van Lawick, a National Geographic photographer and the recipient of eight Emmy Awards for his documentary work. Later, Domb was as a director of
photography for the legendary Jane Goodall during her studies of chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park in in Tanzania. “My job just took me all over the place, from filming killer bees in Arizona to the biggest bat cave in the world in Texas, to Komodo dragons in Indonesia,” he recalls. “I spent two months basically isolated in Gabon, where the only way in and out was by boat, with just one other human being, filming hippos and elephants that come out onto the water’s edge.” His work also saw Domb survive malaria and an attack from thousands of biting driver ants in Africa – “it’s like being electrified,” he says – and evade stampeding wildebeests. He was even once groomed by a female gorilla. “Which is the highest honor that I can imagine,” he says, “because it means that they’d so fully accepted my presence in the forest.” Though he savors his experiences in such far-flung places, Domb believes they also revealed to him a wider truth. “You actually don’t need to travel the world to find really good stories,” he says. “One of the biggest skills I walked away with from my professional career was the ability to find stories wherever you are.” That realization served Domb well at Lawrenceville after his arrival a dozen years ago. He and wife Leah Domb P’17, whom he met on the shores of Lake Tanganyika when he was working with Goodall and Leah was an anthropologist studying baboons, sought a more homebound environment in which to raise their two small children. Leah joined the Science Department faculty, and Domb quickly began using his videography talent for the School.
Managing editor Carolyn King ’20 and features producer Brian Tan ’21 hear what anchor Makayla Boxley ’20 has to say during a production meeting.
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“It was hard to figure out how to meaningfully bring my skills to this place,” he recalls. “The first year or two, I was making films about campus and the School. Then I quickly figured out that, no, that was completely the wrong way to approach my job. It was like someone in the Art Department painting the paintings you see around campus, or an English teacher only making books.” With what he says was “huge support” from then Dean of Faculty Kevin Mattingly H’05 ’13 P’99 ’01, Domb was able to recast his role, essentially creating a teaching job that would allow him to impart his twenty years of experience on his students. “It was a huge turning point, conceptually,” he says. “I said, ‘No, I shouldn’t be making films. I should be helping them to make films, enabling them to tell their stories. Out of that, you’ve got a YouTube channel that is basically a student product.” Domb says the creation of Lawrenceville’s YouTube channel was simply intended as repository for student-made videos, and that it didn’t really hit its stride until Ghael Fobes ’17, then a Third Former in his first year at Lawrenceville, approached him with an idea for a news program. “He had been involved in a news show at his last school that he felt was scratching at the surface as something, and he was interested in telling stories of campus life,” says Domb of what would become L10, the School’s weekly 10-minute news program. “Ghael was utterly committed to the idea and it’s very hard not to ride that wave of enthusiasm.” L10 debuted on November 1, 2014, and celebrated its one-hundredth episode earlier this year with a look back on its evolution from a two-person production to an expansive staff of producers, reporters, and production engineers. It wasn’t long before students swelled the ranks of L10, whose seventh board now boasts a staff of thirty-
Gil Domb P’17, the faculty adviser for L10, hears story ideas from the show’s staff members.
Thacher Smith ’20 frames his shot of L10 anchor Makayla Boxley ’20 inside the L10 studio in Pop Hall.
four. While many absorbed the power of creative energy, others found an avenue for self-discovery with an eye on their future. “You learn what a good story is. L10 taught me storytelling, and here I am at film school putting that to use, growing even more as a filmmaker,” says Toby Ilogu ’19, now studying film production at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. “I honestly don’t know where I’d be
without L10, and that’s not an exaggeration.” Domb, who pushes students to produce a professional-level production, is gratified by helping to connect their talents with their interests. “It really has become a launching-off platform for certain creatives who want to go in that direction,” he says. “I think that will only grow.” The show exists to take deeper dives into
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campus life, using video to tell stories in ways print and the written word cannot. “The Lawrence does a great job and has for well over a century, but what L10 can do is show you things,” says Lisa Gillard, the School’s director of public relations. “Same thing with the performing arts – the dance programs or the musical, that’s where L10 really takes off. It can do what we tell Lawrentians to do, which is show, not tell.” Domb recalls some early hiccups, such as when the staff used a drone to capture sweeping aerial footage of the football team picking tomatoes at the Big Red Farm. “Unfortunately, we crashed that drone,” he says. “And so we bought another drone and crashed that other drone, too.” Still, they got the shot and provided an early glimpse into the narrative potential not only of L10, but of the entire medium. “Out of L10 came the video journalism class and out of that, it meant I was able to expand what I was doing filmmaking-wise here,” Domb says. “There was lots more filming activity going on all the time.” Indeed, just 20 percent of the videos on Lawrenceville’s YouTube are full episodes of L10. The vast majority of uploads are projects from Domb’s class, with titles such as “A Day in the Life of a Lawrenceville Student,” and “Selfie Stick Lawrenceville,” performances from Midday Music and School Meeting, and messages from the head master. There are also a number of official, professionally produced, admissions-focused videos aimed at prospective students and their families. While Domb appreciates the quality and the purpose of those videos, which also boast high view counts, he says that the bulk of the studentproduced videos showcase the very best the School has to offer, including its emphasis on interdisciplinary and experiential education, told with an authentic, firsthand style. “I think the marketing component is part of the story, too, which makes it even more exciting,” he explains in discussing L10. “It makes it more like the real world – it is the real world. We’re dealing with real-world production, where we’re trying to get views and we’ve got to get it right.”
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LAX RESPONSE
A quirky 8-year-old lacrosse video remains the School’s most watched. Every student hopes to leave a legacy at Lawrenceville, and Regina Parker ’12 was no different. After continuing her education at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where she double-majored in biomechanical engineering and American politics and graduated in the top 1 percent of her class, you might assume that Parker could count the ways her commitment to school is measured. Well, add one more way.
Now a third-year medical school student at Harvard, Parker is also the filmmaker behind “Lacrosse – A Guide for Dummies,” which just happens to be the most-viewed video on Lawrenceville’s YouTube channel with an astonishing 134,821 views as of March 11. Learned as she is, Parker is at a loss to explain her video’s enduring popularity. “That’s crazy,” she says. “I don’t think it has this many views because it’s such a good video. I think I just picked a topic that a lot of people happen to be interested in.” Parker received academic credits for the 2012 video, which she made for a public relations class taught by Lisa Gillard, the School’s director of public relations. “This was before L10, so it was like, What do you want to do?” Gillard recalls. “And she said, ‘I think I’ll try lacrosse.” By her own admission, Parker knew nothing about the sport, which actually shaped her decision. “I still really don’t,” Parker says of lacrosse. “So I was coming from a place of ignorance myself and I thought, Hey, why don’t I make a video about this?” The result was a three-minute, fiftysecond primer on the game, as told by
Lawrenceville and U.S. Military Academy grad Regina Parker created the most viewed video on Lawrenceville’s YouTube channel.
members of the girls’ team, as well as head coach Lisa Ewanchyna. A funky groove and some quirky old-time player-piano music provide the score to the film, which ends with a 16-14 Big Red win over Blair Academy. A bonus segment features a referee wielding a lacrosse stick to explain just how to play within the rules. “That fall, Gil [Domb P’17, who maintains the School’s YouTube channel] came back and said, ‘You know, this thing’s getting a lot of hits.’ And he kept coming back and saying the same thing.” Month after month, the analytics report kept listing “Lacrosse – A Guide for Dummies” atop the channel’s most-watched videos. “It’s never stopped,” Gillard says. “It’s the Energizer bunny, it just keeps going and going and going. “This thing is so far out of her wheelhouse; it’s such a quirk,” she continues. “I’ve sort of joked with her if the med school thing doesn’t work out, she should really think about creating videos.” Parker says learning of the film’s continuing appeal is just another revelation in a life that has shown her a few of them. “I have a lot of different interests, I guess,” she says. “I’m in medical school right now and I wasn’t even pre-med in college. And I went to a military academy, so it’s just another one of those weird things I did that I’m just surprised by.”
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LAWRENCEVILLE VIRTUAL SCHOLARS
MIDDLE (6-8) SCHOOL HIGH (9-10) SCHOOL July 13 - July 30
Harkness pedagogy This three-week program will engage and challenge students with a special twist of House & Harkness. Virtual scholars will develop social, academic, critical thinking, and leadership skills by attending House activities and interdisciplinary classes. Many Lawrenceville faculty are teaching, and current Lawrenceville students and alumni will serve as prefects. The program is three hours per day and runs three days each week. You may select from morning or evening sessions.
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VISIT
SUMMERSCHOLARS.LAWRENCEVILLE.ORG 5/6/20 12:53 PM
ALUMNI NEWS 1 – Don Weiss ’62, Ted Lyons ’62 P’86, and Tom Anathan ’62 P’95 gathered at the home of host Ray Viault ’63 P’96 at the Lawrenceville Alumni event in Jupiter, Florida, in February. 2 – Goodwin Gaw ’87 P’21, chair and managing principal at Gaw Capital Partners, held an audience of Lawrentians in thrall at the Princeton Club of New York this winter.
3 – Lawrentians gathered in Miami for an alumni reception in February.
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4 – Oscar Mattsson ’11
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and Amir Sharif-Emami ’08 were among the Lawrenceville alumni who turned out for the speaker event at the Princeton Club of New York in February.
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5 – Han Choi ’86, Rob Danzig ’83, and Michael O’Callaghan ’83 enjoyed the Lawrenceville Alumni Event at the Princeton Club of New York in February. 6 – Alicia Jetton ’13, Sophie Epstein ’13, Priyanka Chodhari ’13, and PJ Finley ‘13 enjoyed the Lawrenceville Alumni Event at the Princeton Club of New York in February.
7 – Nnaji-Semayi Campbell ‘03, Kyle Webster ’11, and Jai-Yoo Lee ’04 were three of the many alumni in attendance at the Princeton Club of New York in February.
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OLD SCHOOL
40 years ago in
The Lawrentian
APRIL 1980
CARRYING THE TORCH
The Olympic torch came through Lawrenceville and paused at the School’s front gate at 6:40 p.m. on Sunday, February 3, en route to Lake Placid, New York. This event came as the climax to a day of “mini-Olympic events” staged in the Lavino Field House. More than 500 residents of Lawrence Township — mostly youngsters — took part in an array of swimming, track, ice skating, and other events. The scheduled snow-sculpture contest had to be postponed; Lawrenceville is witnessing one of the most snow-free winters in many years. Twelve days after it made a brief stop at Lawrenceville, the Olympic torch was carried into Lake Placid Equestrian Stadium on February 14, 1980, by U.S. team doctor Charles Morgan Kerr. (Photo by Eric Schweikardt /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images)
25 years ago in
The Lawrentian
SPRING 1995
HOLLYWOOD AND IQ HIT TOWN
How do you get from the ground floor of Pop Hall to the roof of the John Dixon Library in one step? You don’t have to be an Einstein to figure that one out. Well, maybe you do. Albert Einstein, played by Walter Matthau in Paramount’s motion picture IQ, does exactly that — at least on film. Pop Hall appears as Princeton Hospital in the romantic comedy, which opened at theaters worldwide on December 25 and stars Meg Ryan, Tim Robbins, and Mr. Matthau. Director Fred Schepisi — Roxanne, Six Degrees of Separation, and Iceman — filmed Einstein’s deathbed scene in Master of Spanish Roger Brink’s classroom, room 23. — From an “Around the Campus” special by Barbara Preston.
Actors Walter Matthau and Tim Robbins visit the Circle, in costume.
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LEADING OFF
Reflections of the Past
Moonshot This January 10 image of a busy
Bunn Library under the light of the moon became the first photograph to reach 1,000 likes on the School’s Instagram account, @lvilleschool.
Lawrenceville’s future often echoes its past, such as the way the new Gruss Center
for Art and Design elegantly
reflects the venerable Fathers Building. Read more about the new GCAD on page 28.
Photo: Sean Ramsden
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Photo: Lisa M. Gillard Hanson
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Parents of alumni: If this magazine is addressed to a son or daughter who no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, please email us at kzsenak@lawrenceville.org with his or her new address. Thank you!
Lawrentian SPRING 2020
usps no. 306-700 the Lawrenceville School Lawrenceville, New Jersey 08648
THE LAWRENTIAN • SPRING 2020
Lawrentian THE
THE
Stay Safe and Strong,
Big Red!
Makerspace and
Lawrenceville’s spring term was just beginning as this issue of The Lawrentian was going to press. While we hope to share the unprecedented experience of distance learning – a truly Virtual VILLEage – in our summer issue, our primary concern is with you, our cherished community of Lawrenceville alumni, students, parents, and friends. Over its 210-year history, the School has weathered epidemics and withstood wars, standing resolutely through each challenge, and we will again.
MORE
We want to keep sharing our story with you for many years to come, and for you to remain an integral part of it, so please continue to be safe and smart, Lawrenceville.
18 FOWL PLAY cover assembled.indd 1
20 JUST SAY NO
GCAD, the
School’s community hub for innovation, creativity, and collaboration, is the place for students’ big ideas.
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