Lawrentian SPRING 2019
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
30 Features On the Cover: This 1920 concept by architects Appleton & Stearns, unseen at Lawrenceville in a century, would have considerably altered the layout of the School’s campus.
24 Lawrenceville’s ‘Lost Campus’ A trove of architectural plans, unseen at the School for a century or more, tells a fascinating alternative history of our familiar campus.
30 Come Fly with Me Georgia Dean ’10 and dad Warren Dean ’75 P’07 ’09 ’10 flew their turboprop plane to 23 countries during an epic 54day journey.
Image courtesy of Boston Public Library
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2 From the Head Master 3 From the Basement of Pop Hall 4 A Thousand Words Sustainable couture hits the runway at the Trashion Show.
TAKE THIS JOB AND LOVE IT
6 News in Brief Track runs away with MAPLs, Enrollment management ‘Buckles’ down, Shelby M.C. Davis ’54 rides a tailwind to an Aldo Leopold Award. 11 By the Numbers Lawrenceville’s Bunn Library is so much more than books. 12 Inside The Gates
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14 On the Arts Winterfest warms the stage. 16 Sports Roundup 18 Go Big Red! The retiring Allen Fitzpatrick ’73 H’85 ’89 P’99 ’04 leaves a lasting legacy. 20 Take this Job and Love It 22 Table Talk Q&A with performing arts chair Keith Roeckle.
36 Alumni News 39 Class Notes 88 Old School
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89 Student Snap
20 If it’s been printed, Joseph Felcone ’64 can probably find it.
KEEP UP WITH LAWRENCEVILLE EVERY DAY! YOU CAN FOLLOW MORE THAN 25 LAWRENCEVILLE SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS! GET CONNECTED TO ALL OF THEM AT HTTP://BIT.LY/SMDIRECT.
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FROM THE HEAD MASTER
W “Had he not been tending to their grandmother’s health that morning, Rabbi Berkun would have been in his office at the synagogue, and he would have taken his usual seat in the back row during the service, the same row where every one of his fellow congregants, who also typically shared that row, was shot dead.”
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hen I’m on the road for Lawrenceville, alums often pull me aside at events and ask, “How’s Lawrenceville doing, I mean, really?” They are not asking about building projects or admissions statistics; they want to get their finger on the pulse. They want to know about our heart and soul. Two recent moments come to mind that remind me so clearly of the strength of this community. Just a few short months ago, we were all shocked to read about the tragic killing spree at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. It struck all the more close to home when we learned that the beloved, longtime spiritual leader of the congregation, Rabbi Alvin Berkun GP ‘17 ‘19 ’21, is the grandfather of Lawrentians Teddy ’17, Caroline ’19, and Drew Friedman ’21. Had he not been tending to their grandmother’s health that morning, Rabbi Berkun would have been in his office at the synagogue, and he would have taken his usual seat in the back row during the service, the same row where every one of his fellow congregants, who also typically shared that row, was shot dead. It is hard to describe how powerful it was in School Meeting the following Thursday to hear Caroline speak of her friends and family members who were so connected to that congregation, now united in their grief and mourning. It was just as moving to be part of the standing-room-only, student-run Shabbat service in the lobby of Memorial Hall the following evening. When events defy logic and reason, when mere words fail to comfort, sometimes all we have left is to draw close together, to pray, and to feel the quiet presence of others who care deeply. I continued to reflect on this some weeks later as I attended our Lessons and Carols service in Edith Memorial Chapel the evening before students headed home for winter break. Each year, I find the candlelit beauty of the space and the music almost overwhelming, but somehow this year, given recent events, the oft-
told story of a humble Jewish family took on a greater poignancy as well. After all, the verses describe the vulnerable seeking shelter in the face of oppression and persecution, and they also evoke hope and faith. Something about the closeness of the Lawrenceville community pulled these two narratives together in my mind; one story quite ancient, and one quite recent. As I looked out over the remarkably diverse gathering of students and faculty, I have to believe I was not the only one making this connection and moved by this thought. There is something consoling about our ability to come together, especially when faced with unthinkable tragedy, and it gives meaning to some of the simple yet important ways in which we show our care and respect for each other every day. As I said to the students days after the attack in Pittsburgh: …when we work to reinforce [our] shared beliefs as a community: when we greet each other on the pathway, whether or not we’ve met before; when we work to engage in civil, respectful discourse even as we disagree; when we assume positive intentions in all of our daily encounters; and when we allow compassion and trust to guide our actions, it is a clear rejection of the fear and base impulses that seem to be welling up all around us, and in fact it is an act of faith, faith that we can do better, faith that we can build a better world. The world needs this faith right now, and it starts with how we live together and work together, right here, in this community. So my answer, when I am out on the road, is that our heart and soul is alive and well. You have to be here to really experience it, to feel the steady strength of our pulse, but you can take my word for it. I feel it every day. Sincerely,
Stephen S. Murray H’55 ’65 ’16 P’16 ’21 The Shelby Cullom Davis ’26 Head Master
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SPRING 2019 VOLUME 83 | NUMBER 2
PUBLISHER Jennifer Szwalek
EDITOR Sean Ramsden
ART DIRECTOR Phyllis Lerner
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Paloma Torres
PROOFREADERS Rob Reinalda ’76 Linda Hlavacek Silver H’59 ’61 ’62 ’63 ’64 GP’06 ’08
CONTRIBUTORS Michael Branscom Andrea Fereshteh Tiago Galo-Folio Art Lisa M. Gillard Hanson Jacqueline Haun Barbara Horn Joel Kimmel Shreya Kumar ’20 Isabelle Lee ’21 Sahil Malhotra ’19 Sarah Mezzino Eric Moran ’21 Nicole Stock 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. Visit us on the web at www.lawrenceville.org. www.lawrenceville.org/alumni/the-lawrentian
POSTMASTER Please send address corrections to: The Lawrentian The Lawrenceville School P.O. Box 6008 Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
FROM THE BASEMENT OF POP HALL
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e don’t have to be too closely acquainted for you to know that I have a fear of flying in airplanes – aviophobia, they call it. My anxiety doesn’t keep me grounded anymore, but I once managed to avoid commercial flight for all but two fairly short trips over a thirty-year stretch. As I approached my mid-forties, I confronted the reality that this fear was keeping me from seeing many places to which I’d longed to travel, so I began to schedule trips that required me to step out of my comfort zone – the highways and railways of the Eastern Seaboard – and board an airliner. So far, so good. My writing you today indicates that I’ve managed to return home safely each time, and I almost feel as if the friendly skies have become a comfort zone of sorts for me. Still, I was mindful of the flight from Philadelphia to Miami I had scheduled for the next day while I was speaking to licensed pilots Georgia Dean ’10 and her father, Warren Dean ’75 (“The Deans of Flight,” page 30), about the perils that arose during their fifty-four-day odyssey in the air. Can you imagine losing your altimeter on day one? Or having two close calls with airliners due, in part, to Ethiopian air-traffic controllers’ being on strike? I was beginning to question my plans. As I got to know the Deans, however, one thing became apparent: It was easy for me to consider them daredevils, but they don’t really see it that way. Warren says he flies for the enjoyment it brings him, and he savors the analytical approach it requires. “But some people get that from playing 18 holes of golf, and it’s a lot less dangerous,” I countered. “Well,” he answered, “I think breaking 80 is a lot harder than flying around Africa.” Fair enough. I’ll probably never do either one. Rather, what both Warren and Georgia say they have gotten out of life, including their time at Lawrenceville, is that they both come alive at the chance to learn through doing – or what we often call “experiential learning.” To Warren, flying is learning. “I don’t really consider myself adventurous as much as interested in how the world works,” he says of aviation. Georgia, who also shies from the tag of “adventurous,” admits she savored the challenge to step outside her comfort zone at Lawrenceville, participating in the rigorous Island School program, as well as traveling to the Serengeti as part of the Harkness Travel Program. “I found every corner for it at Lawrenceville,” she says of experiential learning, “and that was not within my normal range of challenge. So, it was definitely there, and I’m sure it’s growing more and more.” She’s right. The School’s opportunities for hands-on learning grow broader by the term, and the opening next year of the Gruss Center for Art and Design will add a dimension of creativity heretofore unseen on campus. You might even say the sky is the limit. All the best,
Sean Ramsden Editor sramsden@lawrenceville.org
©The Lawrenceville School Lawrenceville, New Jersey All rights reserved.
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HAUTE It was more Carter House than Cartier and more Dickinson than Dior, but Lawrenceville’s own fashionistas set the catwalk ablaze with couture that was simultaneously stylish and sustainable at the 13th annual Trashion Show in February. These fashion plates were outfitted exclusively in recyclable materials that frequently end up in landfills. This year’s judged event, won by Kirby House, is part of the School’s yearly Sustainuary celebration, a month-long effort to raise awareness about environmental
Photograh by Paloma Torres
sustainability.
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NEWS IN BRIEF
Ojo Nabs Third School Record Marcia Ojo ’21 blazed her way to a new Big Red girl’s indoor-track record in the 600 meters, crossing the finish line in a speedy 1:41.68 at the 65th annual Bishop Loughlin Games in December. Ojo now holds School records in three events. She helped set a new mark last spring in the outdoor 4x800 meters, along with Jesse Brewer ’18, Margaux Terrasson ’19, and Carolyn King ’20, and this February established a new standard in the indoor 4x800 (9:27) with Terrasson, Allison Haworth ’22, and Kiera Duffy ’22. During this winter excitement, the boys’ side did not sit idly by. At the New Balance Games in New York City in February, the boys’ sprint medley relay team of Jakob Kunzer ’20, Bob Fish ’21, William Murray ’21, and captain Robert Enck ’19 not only won the relay in 3:33.66, but also set a School record and posted the fourthfastest time in the nation this season in the process.
Marcia Ojo ’21 is a key par t of two record setting rela y teams.
Smithey Wins CASE Support Staff Award Nancy Smithey was the recipient of this year’s Support Staff Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). The award honors a support staff member for long-term service as a dedicated member of an independent school advancement team. Smithey, an integral part of the School’s Alumni and Development team since 1997, was the assistant to Mary Kate Barnes H’59 ’77 P’11 ’13 ’19, assistant head master and director of advancement, before retiring in the spring.
A Model U.N. Delegation
It was a triumphant return trip home from the 45th Yale Model United Nations conference in New Haven, Connecticut, for twelve Lawrentians in January. Fifth Formers Shaezmina Khan, Stephanie Yoon, Sahil Malhotra, Cameron Desnoes, Lex Decker, Zain Fazal, and Rishi Bagaria, and Fourth Formers Dami Kim, Arya Singh, Deven Kinney, Anika Bagaria, and Chris Delaney won the award for Outstanding Small Delegation. Several individual students were also recognized for their policy and debate acumen, with Khan, Yoon, Decker, Fazal, and Anika Bagaria winning Best Delegate awards within their respective committees, while Desnoes captured the Outstanding Delegate award. – Sahil Malhotra ’19
FIELD HOCKEY SCORES IN THE CLASSROOM
BIG RED FIELD HOCKEY SAW TEN MEMBERS NAMED TO THE 2018 NATIONAL FIELD HOCKEY COACHES
ASSOCIATION HIGH SCHOOL NATIONAL ACADEMIC SQUAD: FIFTH FORMERS CHARLOTTE ALBERT, MEG BARNES, AUDREY LAZAR, AND LYDIA WILCOX; AND FOURTH FORMERS GRACE FAIRCLOTH, CIARA HOOVER, LIZZIE HUESMAN, OLIVIA KOCH, ALLISON NEMETH, AND VICTORIA SCHOLTZ. THE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES THOSE HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS AND JUNIORS WHO HAVE ACHIEVED A MINIMUM CUMULATIVE, UNWEIGHTED GPA OF 3.50 OUT OF 4.0 OR THE EQUIVALENT THROUGH THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE 2018-19 SCHOOL YEAR.
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Big Red Heads to College Several members of the Class of 2019 announced they will continue their careers as student-athletes at some of the world’s finest colleges and universities in February. Pictured here are just some of the Lawrentians who will compete in college. They are:
L Caroline Friedman Colgate Rowing
L Thomas Ehret Amherst Lacrosse
L Lindsay Kucker Dickinson Softball
L Brittany Sun Harvard Squash
L Ashley Orser Washington & Lee Track and field
L Gardner Howe Brown Rowing
L Rob Enck Cornell Cross country Track and field
L Meg Barnes Dartmouth Field hockey
L Charlotte Albert University of Richmond Lacrosse
L Audrey Lazar Middlebury Field hockey Ice hockey
Second row, from left:
L Tripp Welborne Director of Athletics
L Kate Monihan Princeton Ice hockey
L Courtney DeNaut Yale Ice hockey
Front, from left:
L T aylor Zahirnyi Rensselaer Ice hockey L B iren Reddy University of Chicago Tennis L Chloe Ashton Harvard Ice hockey
LAWRENCEVILLE ‘SQUASHES’ M.A.P.L.
L Karina Leung Columbia Fencing
Back, from left:
L Jaden Baile Queens University Football L Raghav Pemmireddy Brown Squash
L Thomas Bavuso University of Pennsylvania Lacrosse L Fabrizio Serena di Lapigio Boston University Rowing
THE BOYS’ AND GIRLS’ VARSITY SQUASH TEAMS BOTH BROUGHT BACK TROPHIES TO LAVINO FIELD HOUSE
AFTER WINNING THEIR RESPECTIVE 2019 MID-ATLANTIC PREP LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS IN FEBRUARY. THE BOYS DEFEATED HOST BLAIR, 8-1, IN THE FIRST ROUND BEFORE DROPPING HILL BY THE SAME SCORE IN THE FINALS. AT HILL, THE GIRLS CRUISED BY BOTH THE HOST SCHOOL AND BLAIR BY IDENTICAL 9-0 SCORES EN ROUTE TO THEIR TITLE.
(Courtesy: Sandi Yanisko, The Hill School)
Girls’ squas h shut out H ill and Blair to win the M.A.P.L. ti tle.
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Buckles to Lead Enrollment Management Experienced admissions dean at several top colleges will guide the School’s enrollment and financial aid goals. Gregory B. Buckles has been named the Shelby M. C. Davis ’54 Dean of Enrollment Management, a newly endowed position. Buckles, who currently serves as the dean of admissions at Middlebury College in Vermont, will begin his work at the School on July 1.
Greg Buckles
THE GREG BUCKLES FILE Education:
• B.A., English Literature, Denison University
.A., Literature, •M Trinity College
Professional: •M iddlebury College 2011-present: Dean of admissions (director of admissions, 2008-11) • Kenyon College 2007-08: Director of admission (associate director of admission, 1993-94) • The Hill School 1996-2007: Assistant headmaster • Denison University 1994-96: Associate director of admission • L oomis Chaffee School 1984-89: English teacher
As a key member of the School’s senior leadership team, Buckles will be responsible for enrollment management at Lawrenceville, which includes setting the strategic direction for the School’s enrollment and financial aid goals, as well as recruiting and admission operations. He will arrive at Lawrenceville with three decades of experience as an educator and administrator. Since Buckles joined the staff at Middlebury in 2008 as its director of admissions, applications to the college have increased 32 percent, which represents the largest application pool in the college’s history. He was elevated to dean of admissions in 2011. Buckles’ tenure at Middlebury also reveals a commitment to expanding access to education without compromise. He built classes of admitted students that reached the college’s historical highs over the past four years with regard to students of color, first-generation students, international applicants, average academic rating, and average standardized testing. “I have spent my career thinking about, visiting, and evaluating schools throughout the world, and a significant part of my attraction to Lawrenceville is its status as one of the country’s most exceptional schools,” Buckles said. “I began my career as a triple-threat faculty member at Loomis Chaffee in 1984, and I love the idea of coming fullcircle in 2019.” Head Master Steve Murray H’55 ’65 ’16 P’16 ’21 was equally enthusiastic about bringing Buckles aboard. “In making our determination from a field of highly qualified professionals, Greg particularly stood out as a national-caliber leader in enrollment management and admissions,” Murray said. “We recognize the imperative of moving beyond a more traditional admissions model and are fully committed to adopting a proactive, market-oriented recruitment strategy that anticipates rapidly shifting demographics and educational attitudes.” On the personal side, Buckles has a great zeal for the outdoors, including cycling and skiing, and was once a professional fishing guide in Alaska. He and his wife, Elizabeth Honea Buckles, a teacher at The Hotchkiss School since 2009, have four children: Virginia, a boarding school teacher; Grace, a boarding school admissions counselor; and
Track Runs Away with M.A.P.L. Titles
Lawrenceville’s boys’ and girls’ indoor track teams swept the Mid-Atlantic Prep League championship in February at Mercersburg Academy.
FIRST PLACE – BOYS: Robert Enck ’19 800m – 2:01.59
Theo Bammi ’20 3,200m – 10:22.48 William Murray ’21 long jump – 21-10.00 Jack Wragan ’20 pole vault – 11-06.00
FIRST PLACE – GIRLS: Carolyn King ’20 800m – 2:32.08 4x400 meter relay – 4:22.83 Jordyn Ford ’20 high jump – 5-00.00 Kendall Onley ’19 triple jump – 35-03.75
Earlier in the season, the girls’ team won the School’s first ever Mercer County winter track championship. Lawrenceville scored in 11 of 13 events, defeating competitors from 12 other high schools.
Ben and Charlotte, who are both college students. 8
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WELLES AWARD WINNERS FOR 2019 ANNOUNCED
A dozen Lawrentians will pursue academic research ranging from immigration studies to solar-powered computers this summer with support from the William Welles Award. The annual grant program benefits Third and Fourth Form students in memory of William Bouton Welles ’71, allowing selected Lawrentians to tackle an independent study project of their choosing. A faculty committee selects grantees. This year’s projects include: L Shriya Annamaneni ’20 will examine the academic and social effects of El Sistema programs on students. El Sistema is a nationwide alliance of programs seeking to enact social change through music for underserved youth. L Merrin Foltz ’20 will work to expand volunteer opportunities at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut. L Areeq Hasan ’20 will deliver solarpowered desktop computers to a school in Shafipur, Bangladesh, and examine the significant difference these machines can make for local students. L Natalia Ibarra ’20 plans to recruit Chicago sixth graders to High Jump, an academic enrichment program for underserved middle school students. L Lauren Recto ’20 will study the ways people have been affected by recent changes to U.S. immigration policy. L Divya Sammeta ’20 will create a photo series to share the stories of LGBTQ+ teens who struggle with issues surrounding sexuality and body image.
MOCK TRIAL TEAM TRIUMPHS
L Olivia Sieler ’20 will investigate ways to better prepare immigrant children for success in U.S. schools, ultimately producing a website, teaching videos, and purchasing textbooks. L Thacher Smith ’20 will hit the rails, traveling by train to explore two remote towns. His goal is to document the importance of and reliance upon train service for the residents of Winnemucca, Nevada, and Green River, Utah. L Jeffrey Tao ’20 will create a multimedia exhibit based on his research of Chinese “trash pickers” and their growing role in China’s urban waste management system. L Miles Williams ’20 plans to explore the values of different people and the varied reasons they hold those beliefs. L Jack Wragan ’20 is developing a vest that will assist individuals with impaired vision in navigating their surroundings. L Jasmine Zhang ’20 is completing a documentary on the effects of the criminal justice system on formerly incarcerated women.
THE SCHOOL’S MOCK TRIAL TEAM WON THE MERCER COUNTY
CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE VINCENT J. APRUZZESE HIGH SCHOOL MOCK TRIAL COMPETITION IN JANUARY. LAWRENCEVILLE DEFEATED MARSHALL ACADEMY IN A TRIAL HELD IN THE CEREMONIAL COURTROOM OF THE CRIMINAL COURT BUILDING IN TRENTON. LED BY CAPTAIN EMILIA ONUONGA ’19, THE MOCK TRIAL TEAM RECEIVES GUIDANCE FROM ENGLISH MASTER CHAMP ATLEE ’62 H’74 ’75 ’79 ’83 ’84 ’87 ’06 P’92 AS WELL AS TWO ATTORNEY COACHES, LYDIA FABBRO KEEPHART P’01 AND CHRISTOPHER DEANGELO.
The Schoo l’s hair-razi ng annual St. Baldrick’s event has ge nerated nearly $76 ,000 for pediatric ca ncer resear ch.
Shorn to Please More than 20 members of the community answered the hairrazing challenge: shave their heads in order to raise funds for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation for childhood cancer research. Several subject masters and students from all four forms submitted to stylists from Mane Design Hair Salon in Lawrenceville, losing their locks for a good cause, raising more than $23,000 in the process. This was the School’s fourth St. Baldrick’s event; Lawrenceville’s participation has now raised nearly $76,000 for pediatric cancer research. – Lisa M. Gillard Hanson SPRING
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Leopold Award Winner Davis Rides a Tailwind
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t’s often said that certain people wear their hearts on their sleeve, but Shelby M.C. Davis
Alumni Association President Ian Rice ’95, Board of Trustees President Michael Chae ’86, and Head Master Steve Murray H’55 ’65 ’16 P’16 ’21 were on hand to greet Lawrenceville Medal winner Shelby M.C. Davis ’54 GP ’06 ’07 ’15 ’18.
“I hit a seam in the educational world that needed filling,” he explained. “The internet was making it clear that the world was going to change drastically.”
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’54 GP ’06 ’07 ’15 ’18 wears his on his tie. On a day he was to become the 28th recipient of The Lawrenceville Medal, Davis sported a black necktie colorfully adorned with many of the world’s flags. Davis’ sartorial gesture spoke of his commitment to global education, a mantle he has taken up through his two pioneering international scholarship funds, which have enabled thousands of students spanning the globe to attend participating secondary schools, colleges, and universities over the past 20 years. “I may have had two careers: one in business, and one in philanthropy,” Davis said. “And in both cases, I caught a tremendous tailwind.” Davis returned to Lawrenceville in January to receive the medal, conferred annually upon an alumnus or alumna of the School who represents “brilliant, lifelong work in a lifetime endeavor.” The medal is dedicated to the memory of Aldo Leopold, the distinguished environmentalist and author who graduated from Lawrenceville in 1905. To Davis, his philanthropic scholarship programs represent the third act of a lifelong strategy prescribed by his father, Shelby Cullom Davis ’26. “And that is, the first 30 years of your life, focus on learning. Then, the next 30 years, focus on earning,” he explained. “And the last 30 years, if you’ve been solid and fortunate, focus on returning.” After graduating from Princeton, Davis ascended quickly at the Bank of New York, becoming its youngest vice president since its founder, Alexander Hamilton, at age 28. Not quite 30, however, he was still learning – especially about the stock market – but his lessons took deep root. “So at age 30, I left the bank and started my own business,” he said of the firm, Davis Advisors, which he founded at a time – the late 1960s – when the Dow Jones Industrial Average was fairly steady. “We grew, but it was slow; we didn’t have any tailwind at all.”
The 1980s brought a gust at Davis’ back, and by the time he retired from Davis Advisors in 1997, the fund had grown tenfold and he was hailed by Money magazine as “Mr. Reliable” for his investing acumen. Though he built his three-stage life plan based on the lessons of his father, Davis credits his mother with instilling his philanthropic bent. “The genes I got from her, I think, were the humanitarian genes, if that’s what you want to call philanthropy,” he said. Davis was inspired to focus his on international education and saw an opportunity in extending the mission of the United World Colleges (UWC), an international high school program that brings together students across nations, cultures, and socioeconomic divides with the goal of advancing global understanding. He established the Davis United World College Scholars program in 2000 to continue the lessons of the UWC at the undergraduate level, where international scholarships are rare. “I hit a seam in the educational world that needed filling,” he explained. “The internet was making it clear that the world was going to change drastically.” Davis placed a premium on building crosscultural understanding through experiential education. Students of the 21st century, he knew, would have to “work side by side with people from other cultures, religions, races,” he said. “That’s just the way it was going to be.” As he had done with Davis Advisors, he started small, with 43 students in five colleges – schools attended by family members. Since then, the program has grown to include 95 participating colleges and universities and more than 8,500 program alumni. Davis jokes that he is currently paying 3,300 college tuitions. “It’s much bigger than I ever dreamed,” he said. In 2008, in response to a proposal from Lawrenceville, Davis expanded his United World College Scholars program to a select group of independent secondary schools. Since its inception, the Davis Scholars program has supported 219 students from underrepresented countries in an effort to enhance the global and economic diversity at American boarding schools. Among these are 60 Lawrentians. Still, Davis says he is the one who is fortunate. “I’ve been in the right place at the right time with the right group. Call that a tailwind if you will, but life doesn’t get much better than that,” he said. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.” – Barbara Horn contributed to this report.
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BY THE NUMBERS An Open Book
Since the first recorded example in 1836, Lawrenceville
has been served by a series of libraries, each more functional than the one before. Bunn Library is the latest and greatest repository of virtually limitless information, but it’s so much more than just books. A haven for students working together on projects and homework, Bunn also hosts a panoply of academic and social events from poetry readings and discussions to library-sponsored dances. Downstairs, the Stephan Archives organizes and preserves a trove of Lawrentiana, with each piece telling a small part of the School’s robust history.
Average number of emails sent from Lawrenceville email on a typical weekday. number of reference questions answered in aaccounts year by Bunn librarians. 6,000Approximate 2,000
23
Age of Bunn Library, which opened for use by Lawrenceville students, faculty, and staff and 1996.
29,704
54,382 Combined number of
feet of documents, photos, audiovisual materials, and books held in the Archives.
searches on the library’s JSTOR, Gale, and EBSCO digital library databases in the past year (as of Feb. 10).
5
Number of main libraries that served the School, including Bunn.
30,708 Individual visits to the library in the past year (as of Feb. 10).
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Generations of the Bunn family, to attend Lawrenceville, beginning with George W. Bunn, Class of 1878.
1,963.27 Linear
Visits by therapy dogs to ease student stress at exams time in the past year.
100,000
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Staff librarians, each glad to offer instruction on efficient research strategies.
Page views of the Bunn Library website in the past year.
6
Capacity of volumes able to be held in Bunn Library. Its predecessor, John Dixon Library, had 40,000 volumes stuffed into its stacks. academic year.
74 Yoga classes taught in the library in the past year.
26,355 Student records held in the custody of the Stephan Archives. SPRINGuseUSEuse.indd 11
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INSIDE THE GATES
ONE TO WATCH
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questions for David Hernandez ’19, Hamill House prefect and Periwig member, about the benefits of touring schools and what’s best to eat at Abbott. What has been your favorite class so far?
As a Lawrenceville Hutchins Scholar, Jacob began work on his project, which would become “Spray and Stick: A Novel Agent for Pesticide Adhesion.” “Spray and Stick” saw Jacob named a top 300 scholar in the 78th Regeneron Science Talent Search, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors.
What questions should every prospective student ask while touring?
What makes Hamill the best House on the Circle? Unfortunately, there’s not enough space for a satisfactory answer to this question. Put briefly, Hamill is a House that fosters companionship and pride. We help ourselves in whatever way possible because, through House events and other competitions, we share experiences of 12
Jacob has filed a patent for a single-step spray system that helps pesticides to cling more consistently to plants, lessening runoff into groundwater. He noticed that M.I.T. researchers had created a twostep process to increase pesticide adhesion, which he found “fascinating, but not particularly practical. I wanted to see if I could fit everything into one bottle.”
Honors Physics with Calculus, or “PhysCalc.” It’s expanded my learning of different STEM disciplines. I learned how to code in JavaScript, which, although it surprised me, I found myself enjoying a lot. Because of coding in PhysCalc, I decided to take Honors Computer Programming this year and to study computer programming in college.
I never had the opportunity to visit the boarding schools I applied to. I had to pull information from school websites; that was my only impression of them. While touring, it’s unnecessary to ask general questions or to ask for statistics because those can simply be taken from the website. A tour allows prospective students to recognize the environment and culture of the school. Students should ask questions that would apply to them if they were attending.
Making it Stick Name: Jacob Wu ’19 Age: 17
unity. Once a Hamillite, always a Hamillite. It really is no surprise that the Spirit Award is given to Hamill almost every year. What have you learned by being a prefect? The biggest realization is recognizing how adults deal with certain situations. As a kid, I always thought that adults knew exactly what to say and how to deal with any situation. However, as a prefect, I’ve learned that hasn’t really been the case. I’m still learning how to be more responsible and working on being a better and more effective prefect. What is your favorite thing to eat or drink in the dining hall? They are very rare, but I will always get the churros, especially if they have chocolate inside. Otherwise, I will regularly get the roast beef or steak.
OFTEN OVERLOOKED
When the firm of Delano & Aldrich designed the classic brick Fathers Building in the 1920s, they incorporated one of the day’s trendiest design movements: Art Deco. The style, which debuted in Paris in 1925, created streamlined and often geometric images, using classical symbols and figures from the Native American, Egyptian, and Greek/Roman civilizations. It can be seen today in the chandelier hanging high in the Pop Hall Rotunda, which is encircled by a band marked with the symbols of the Zodiac, first employed by the Greeks around 500 B.C.E. to track time by monitoring the movement of planets across the night sky.
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THEY SAID IT “We continue to complain about the repercussions of fake news without admitting our own culpability: By sharing certain posts instantaneously – without truly evaluating the content and scrolling past those that do not fit our preconceived narratives and beliefs – we control what trends.” – Anika Bagaria ’20, “Preventing Polarization,” in The Lawrence, February 1, 2019.
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IN THE CLUB
Things we learned producing this issue of
The Lawrentian
1. Nearly 50 years before
Raymond and Dawes Houses were constructed, there were plans drawn for two dormitorystyle buildings in roughly the same locations, to sit on either side of a small circle behind Memorial Hall.
Girls Who Code Founded: 2015 Current Membership: 15 to 20 Purpose: To promote females in programming on campus and within the Lawrence Township community, creating outreach programs with local schools. Society has long cast computer programming as a bit of a “boys’ club,” but Girls Who Code aims to change that – and they already are doing so. The club hosted an event at Lawrence Elementary School’s Science and Discovery Night that saw more than 100 children participating in a programming activity. “The club is about igniting computer science and programming as a passion or future career interest among girls on campus,” says founding member Trisha Bansal ’19, noting that culture and historical patterns have squeezed women from science and technology despite their equal potential to thrive. “Outside of Lawrenceville, I am often the only girl in a room full of programmers,” adds Erin McNulty ’19. “We are showing girls that they do belong in tech and that they will succeed there.”
2. After landing in Tanzania
for a safari in the Serengeti, you run the risk of having your plane’s tires torn apart by the teeth of hyenas in search of a meal.
3. Prior to 2008, there were
25 known copies of first printing of the Declaration of Independence – that is, until a 26th was inadvertently discovered by Joseph Felcone ’64.
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ON THE ARTS Danica Baj aj ‘21 is help ing 10-year-ol d Mekhi beco me a guitar her o.
The Beat Goes On
Lawrenceville Performing Arts Camp counselors extend their summer lessons for local kids. “Without music, I don’t think there would be an actual world, because I feel like everything is music,” says 10-year-old Mekhi.”
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tring by string and note by note, 10-year-old Mekhi is learning to play guitar. His teacher, Danica Bajaj ’21, shows him how to arrange his fingers for an A chord, then a D, gently sliding them closer to the frets for a sweeter sound. She shows him an E, and now he’s got everything he needs for the first stanza of “Sweet Caroline.” “I really want to get this right,” Mekhi tells Bajaj. “You will,” she responds. The two meet weekly in the Clark Music Center, continuing the music lessons Mekhi began last summer at Lawrenceville’s Performing Arts Camp (LPAC). During those two weeks, some 100 underserved Lawrence Township elementary school students received free performing arts lessons from current Lawrentians. All involved were sad to see the lessons end –
it seemed unfair to spark a passion for the arts but not keep that fire burning. So, with help from LPAC director Colette Burns and the School’s Community Service Office, Lawrentians volunteered to give weekly lessons to interested campers. “Mekhi is very passionate about guitar. During camp, all he wanted to do was play guitar, so it’s special for me to be able to continue teaching him,” Bajaj says. On the last day of LPAC, Bajaj explains, Mekhi told her his grandfather bought him a guitar. “How could I say ‘no’ to continuing his lessons?” she says. Mekhi “loves everything” about playing guitar, adding that, “In my opinion, it’s very cool and better than most instruments.” Katie Li ’21 is a volunteer tutor for 7-year-old LPAC alumna Veronica, who is learning both piano and voice. Li is showing Veronica how to read music. “It can be hard, because she’s young,” she explains, “but I want her to get the idea that even if she’s playing a song through muscle memory, at least she’s attaching those sounds to a note on the page. It will make things so much easier for her in the future.” Both Bajaj and Li are enthusiastic about their afterschool service, with plans to continue. “When you get to see them improve week after week, and you are a part of that, it’s very special,” Bajaj says. Those are sweet sounds to Mekhi, who says everyone should take lessons. “Without music, I don’t think there would be an actual world, because I feel like everything is music,” he says. “The tone of your voice; that’s music. Anything can be music and that’s awesome.”
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Winterfest Warms the Stage
Periwig’s Winterfest, a set of studentdirected and -acted short plays, enjoyed its annual run in the Kirby Arts Center’s Black Box Theater in January and February. Nine productions made their way to the stage over two nights, allowing students to turn the tables, become both performers and creators. “Winterfest gives students who have learned some theater technique the freedom to create on their own without adult interference,” said Christopher Cull P’20, director of theater. Periwig’s student-led comedy troupe, Impulse, also performed during the last week of Winterfest. - Shreya Kumar ’20 and Isabelle Lee ’21
Bring the Bass
Praneel Chakraborty ’20 was named to the 2019 National Association for Music Educators (NAfME) All-Eastern Honors Orchestra, with which he performed on double bass in the NAfME in April in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh. Selection to the orchestra recognizes the finest student musicians of Eastern Division NAfME members, which includes music educators associations in a dozen eastern states, plus the District of Columbia.
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SPORTS ROUNDUP
WINTER SEASON STATS
Compiled by NICOLE STOCK
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Boys’ Basketball
Boys’ Swimming and Diving
Record: 13-11 • All-M.A.P.L.: Ryan Conroy ’19 • All-State Team: Ryan Conroy ’19 • Coach: Ron Kane ’83 P’20 • Captains: Ryan Conroy ’19, Matan Zucker ’19
Girls’ Swimming and Diving
Girls’ Basketball Record: 13-12 8 All-M.A.P.L.: Heaven Figueroa ’20 • All-State Team: Heaven Figueroa ’20 • Coach: Grey Simpson P’20 ’22 • Captains: Heaven Figueroa ’20, Victoria Dugan ’20
Boys’ Ice Hockey Record: 20-10-1 • All-M.A.H.L. First Team: Nikita Nesterenko ’20, Lach Getz ’20, T.J. Semptimphelter ’20 • Coach: Keith Dupee • Captains: Trevor White ’19, Matthew Manahan ’19
Girls’ Ice Hockey Record: 9-8-4 • Coach: Nicole Uliasz • Captains: Sydney Bechtel ’19, Kate Monihan ’19, Chloe Ashton ’19
Record: 5-3 • Hill Relay Champions Coach: Stefanie Harrison • Captains: Jeffrey Cheng ’19, Anthony Damian ’19, Thomas Eglin ’19
Record: 2-5 • Miranda Cai ’20, new records in 50 free/ 100 free • Juliette Peel ’22, new record in 100 fly • Coach: Stefanie Harrison • Captains: Kate Liu ’19, Allison Chou ’19
Boys’ Squash Record: 7-4 • M.A.P.L. Champions All-M.A.P.L.: Raghav Pemnireddy ’19 Hamza Mian ’21, Christian Bae ’20 • Coach: Chad Smith • Captains: Raghav Pemmireddy ’19, Christian Bae ’20
Girls’ Squash Record: 11-4 • M.A.P.L. Champions All-M.A.P.L.: Isabel Paine ’20, Margo Mancuso ’20, Isabelle Tilney-Sandberg ’21, Ellie Hopkins ’19 • Coach: Narelle Krizek • Captains: Brittany Sun ’19, Ellie Hopkins ’19
Boys Wrestling Boys’ Fencing Record: 6-2 • N.J.I.S.A.A. First Overall, Foil: David Prilutsky ’21 • N.J.I.S.A.A. First Overall, Sabre: Jamie Ren ’19 • Coach: Rich Beischer • Captains: Sean Lee ’19, Hunter Mellon ’19, Andrew Ni ’19, Jamie Ren ’19
Record: 13-7 • Coach: Johnny Clore H’02 • Captain: Alexander Williard ’19
For the most current athletic news visit www.lawrenceville.org/athletics.
Girls’ Fencing Record: 7-0 • N.J.I.S.A.A. Champions • NJISAA First Place, Epée: Karina Leung ’19 • Coach: Rich Beischer • Captains: Diana Bianco ’19, Lisa Miller ’19, Karina Leung ’19, Divya Sammeta ’20
Girls’ Indoor Track Record: 5-0 • M.A.P.L. Champions N.J.I.S.A.A. Champions • Mercer County Champions • School Record: 4x800 (9:27.68) • School Record: Distance Medley Relay (12:44.84)• Coach: Erik Chaput • Captains: Meg Barnes ’19, Amy Aririguzoh ’20, Kendal Onley ’19, Margaux Terrasson ’19
Boys’ Indoor Track Record: 5-1 • M.A.P.L. Champions N.J.I.S.A.A. Champions • Mercer County Championships Record: Will Murray ’21, Long Jump (22-1) • School Record: Sprint Medley Relay (3:33.66) • Coach: Stephen Wallis • Captains: Daniel Irvine ’19, Dev Chhokra ’19, Robert Enck ’19
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GO BIG RED An accomplished teacher and artist, Allen Fitzpatrick ’73 also painted a winning picture as a coach.
ABRUSH WITHSUCCESS
H
ave you ever piled hay in a barn in the sticky summer heat of Virginia? Allen Fitzpatrick ’73 H’85 ’89 P’99 ’04 says it’s about the most satisfying thing he’s ever experienced. For Fitzpatrick, who will retire as the chair of the Visual Art department and as head varsity lacrosse coach at the end of the academic year, it’s all about the rhythms of the work. “You gather hay outside, and then you go in this barn that could be up to 140 degrees, and you sweat your tail off, stacking the bales perfectly, neatly, because you’re trying to fit as many bales in that barn as you can,” explains Fitzpatrick, who, as a youngster, often labored this way at his grandfather’s farm in south central Virginia. “Then you go outside, sit on the back of the wagon, and cool off. You have a cold drink, and then you go back to the field and do it again,” he says. “There was a rhythm to it that I’ve always liked, and that’s one of the reasons I came back here to teach. I like the cycles. I like the rhythms.” For forty years, those seasonal rhythms have moved Fitzpatrick as a coach, art teacher, and housemaster. His career at Lawrenceville
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reflects the experiences he savored as a student in the early 1970s, learning to express himself not only on canvas, but on the ice or on the playing field, as well. He’s always valued the complete learning experience and says that his summertimes in the rural South also shaped his approach as a teacher and coach. “In 1965, I’m 11 or 12 years old and wondering, Why am I drinking out of a whitesonly fountain? Why am I eating in a whites-only restaurant?” says Fitzpatrick, who grew up in nearby Princeton. “Those were weird questions for me. And a lot of people didn’t have that experience, because they never went south.” That eye-opening observation shaped the curious Fitzpatrick’s desire for his own players to go places they otherwise might not. Three times in the 1980s, he took his varsity ice hockey teams to Europe to compete against top developmental programs. John Atherton ’89, who played on Fitzpatrick’s varsity hockey team for four years, was well aware of the gift he and his teammates received through those trips. “His ability to take a situation and turn it into a learning opportunity, whether as a teacher, acting as a parent, or as a coach on the field, sticks with me,” Atherton says. Fitzpatrick’s influence began almost as soon
as Atherton arrived at the School as a Second Former in 1985. “The faculty members there are so instrumental in your life, but he was my mentor,” Atherton says. “He brought me under his wing. As my housemaster, he and [wife] Sally [Fitzpatrick P’99 ’04] became surrogate parents to me.” Like Fitzpatrick, the artistic and athletic Atherton excelled in hockey and lacrosse, even captaining both teams at Middlebury College – Fitzpatrick’s alma mater. He also returned to Lawrenceville not long after earning his bachelor’s degree with a minor in studio art. “I was like ‘Little Fitz’ in some sense,” says Atherton, who worked part time in the Admission Office, taught in the Visual Art department, and was an assistant housemaster in Kennedy. “He was a major mentor of mine, in an enriching way, through the different facets of the school experience. He was the classic triple threat.” Though Fitzpatrick’s first decade on campus is closely associated with hockey, the most recent generations of Lawrentians know him as the varsity lacrosse coach who, by his own estimation, has sent some one hundred players to compete for NCAA Division I programs in the past twenty years. His urge to create unique
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After leadin g the boys’ varsity hockey pro gram from 1982 to 19 Allen Fitzp 92, atrick ’73 H ’85 ’89 P’9 ’04 assum 9 ed the rein s of the boys lacrosse te ’ am in 200 0. He will at the end retire of the curr ent season .
experiences for them led Fitzpatrick to routinely schedule the nation’s top competition. “Often, we’ll play five of the top ten teams in the country, so our kids are competing against the best lacrosse players in the entire United States,” he says. “Then later, I get to watch those kids play on TV [in college]. It’s kind of fun to watch kids compete for the national championship in lacrosse.” No matter the sport, the students who suited up for his teams understood they would not be coddled but rather challenged to improve, on and off the field. “I think Fitzy was – and he probably takes pride in this, too – he’s ‘tough love,’ but he ultimately wants what’s best for you, for his kids,” says Sam Kosoff ’88 H’96 P’19, who once played for Fitzpatrick and now serves as an assistant coach on his lacrosse staff. “He’s sandpaper. I think it challenges kids.” Kosoff, whose affection for Fitzpatrick’s persona is apparent, says his former teacher’s sometimes gruff exterior should be read as wanting his students to progress with a purpose.
“He’s well-read and intelligent, and he likes to engage in back-andforth, to debate,” Kosoff says. “It’s that tendency to push kids to be thoughtful about what they’re doing and not just be willy-nilly and think it’s fine. His point is to be more thoughtful about your decisions.”
Atherton, who now works in supply chain management, says that the relationship between art and athletics he absorbed from Fitzpatrick still informs his outlook today, even thirty years after his last game in a Big Red uniform. “He taught the idea of being creative in the classroom and on the field. There are lots of similarities, but they can be total opposites, too,” he says. “On the field, there are rules, a game clock, and parameters. In the darkroom or at an easel, there are no rules. You can be an athlete or an aesthete, and I still enjoy the intensity while expressing my creativity.” In that vein, Fitzpatrick says that his own style is shaped by his student days at Lawrenceville. “I think most people who watched me play sports knew that I tended to be impactful. I was a pretty physical player,” he says. “I’ve always kind of liked that word. And I’ve always felt like the teachers I remembered the most were the most impactful upon me.”
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TAKE THIS JOB AND LOVE IT
Antiquarian bookseller Joseph Felcone ’64 finds new homes for ancient Tomes.
TRADING TIMELESS TEXTS
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ou’re probably familiar with the quaint second-hand bookstore on the charming main street, the shop with the large, inviting windows on either side of the front door, beckoning strollersby to step in and peruse the pages of the past. Joseph Felcone ’64 knows all about them. They occupy a place in his heart, too, even if they cause him to dodge questions about his trade at cocktail parties from time to time. What Felcone wants you to understand, though, is this: Those noble little shops bear almost no resemblance to what he does as an antiquarian bookseller. His customers aren’t the curious shoppers idly popping in on a Saturday afternoon, coffees in hand. No, the clients Felcone has cultivated over forty-five years in the business include renowned museums, prominent university libraries, and some of the nation’s top private collectors. “I’m not Ye Olde Book Shoppe,” explains Felcone, whose business, Joseph J. Felcone Inc., Antiquarian Booksellers, has connected buyers with books dating to the very earliest days of print publishing. “I have no public space, but people will ask, Where is your shop? That’s the public image, but these are rare books. These are books you don’t find in second-hand bookshops.” Though Felcone has built a reputation as
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one of the more notable brokers in his field, he started small, too. Long before he billed himself as a bookseller, he began collecting things as a boy, starting with stamps, coins, and baseball cards. After enrolling at Lawrenceville and reading The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden, Felcone grew interested in John Steinbeck and wanted to consume more on his own. “I remember going down to the bookstore at Lawrenceville and asking if they had any other Steinbeck books,” Felcone recalls. “They said, ‘You need to go to a second-hand book store.’ I didn’t know what that was.” Felcone grew his nascent collection via mail
A Revolutionary Revelation There were just twenty-five known copies of the Declaration of Independence first printed by John Dunlap of Philadelphia when Joseph Felcone ’64 discovered the twenty-sixth in 2008. He found the rarity buried among volumes of largely neglected documents while researching printing in New Jersey before 1800 at Britain’s National Archives in London. The Dunlap print now resides in The National Archives’ Safe Room, where it joins two other copies of the document.
order while studying law at the University of Miami before moving back to Princeton, when his attention swung to local history. “I’ll never forget, in 1972, I saw an ad somewhere for Swann Auctions, which still exists,” Felcone says of the New York auction house, recognizable to regular watchers of PBS’s Antiques Roadshow. “I sent away for an Americana catalog, and in it there was a book printed in Trenton in 1793. I thought, This is really extraordinary.” Fascinated by the chance to own an artifact of local history, Felcone bid via postcard and won the published work, a relatively inconsequential book that had been part of a library collection. Two days after receiving notice that his bid had been accepted, he received the book. “And it’s just hard to describe how exciting that was to me,” he says. Felcone, who by this time was working joylessly in his family’s law practice, attended his first book fair in New York a few months later, and he slowly began buying and selling books. More than that, however, he had found his tribe. “I liked all these folks,” he says. “These were nice people, and they were interesting.” Within two years, Felcone would eschew law and join their ranks. By 1975, he was conducting transactions via mail and began using a rubber stamp with his name on it, identified by his newfound vocation: “Bookseller.” Joining the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of
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When it comes to sampling London’s best macarons, Lynne Mullervy Staartjes ’07 (left) always points her customers in the right direction.
Felcone says, explaining when he might exceed the client’s predetermined maximum if he senses it can be had for slightly more. “You might have told me to go to $35,000, and it’s at $35,000 but getting weaker…You know, you just get a sense of the room after you’ve been sitting in them for forty years.” Felcone also still holds tight to the seminal tome that launched his career more than four
decades ago, his 18th-century book produced in Trenton. “That was my first early New Jersey book,” says Felcone, who today owns what is considered to be the most important privately held collection of Jerseyana ever assembled in the Garden State. “It’s an absolute wreck, but I still own it, of course. I would never get rid of it.”
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Photograph by Donnelly Marks
Photograh by Michael Branscom
America, Felcone now had entrée to the world’s top-level book fairs, including those in New York, London, and California. “I was off and running,” he said, “and I loved every minute of it.” The books and manuscripts Felcone brokers are marked primarily by their rarity and cost. It’s not uncommon for books at the New York Book Fair to sell for a half-million dollars. His customers consist of three types: private collectors, institutional collectors, and other dealers. Many of his clients are not interested so much in the subject matter of the books, but in the books as products in their own right. For example, Felcone says the field sees many collectors seeking incunabula – that is, books printed before 1501 – with an eye on works through which they can trace the spread of early printing-press operations through Europe. “Printing began in Mainz, Germany, with Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-1450s, and it spread very quickly throughout Europe,” he explains. “These collectors want books printed in as many towns as they can get.” He has located and sold rare volumes to the libraries at Princeton, Harvard, and Yale, among other major institutions, but these days, Felcone largely represents private collectors. “I’m an agent. I go to auctions. I represent clients at auctions and find books for them,” he says. “When you’ve been in a relatively small field for a long time, you get to know everyone.” That’s a good thing, Felcone adds, given that the antiquarian booksellers business is heavily driven by relationships. Understanding a collector’s interest is vital. Earning his or her trust is essential. “You build up a personal relationship; you like that person, and he likes you. You’re sort of on the same wavelength,” he says. “There’s a lot of trust involved, because the numbers can get pretty high.” At auctions, Felcone will inspect the lot and brief the client on its expected value. If he believes an item will fetch from $15,000 to $20,000, for example, he will recommend a bid that the client will authorize or decline, based on his interest. Customers might give Felcone the green light along with a maximum offer should bidding escalate. It’s then that the familiarity and trust the pair have fostered become crucial. “If I’ve known you for twenty years, and I know how significant that book is, and the fact that you’re probably not going to see another copy…”
Joseph Felc one ’64 says his collection of “brown bo oks” – dark brow n leather, bo und in calf and sh eepskin – w ou ldn’t be of much interest to m os t people, but within the w or ld of antiquar ian books, he lives near the to p.
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TABLE TALK
AN
Q&A
INSTRUMENT OF LEARNING Considering the rich baritone of Keith Roeckle’s speaking voice, it’s curious that the chair of the Performing Arts department has gravitated toward instrumental music. Within the walls of the Clark Music Center, however, Roeckle’s voice has resonated with students since his arrival seven years ago. Roeckle, who conducts Lawrenceville’s student orchestra, told The Lawrentian about the ways in which his students’ collaborative spirit yields benefits for the entire School community, and how he’s got the best seat on campus for House Football. What were the origins of your interest in music?
program. I enjoyed it thoroughly, studied with
I was a musician from a young age; I always
suburban high school outside of Philadelphia. I
enjoyed it. I took piano from age 4 and grew up
was there for a few years before I was recruited
in an artistic household. My mother’s painting
by the school district of Philadelphia, where I
is hanging here in the office. My father, whose
took a job at Lincoln High School.
day job was at Comcast, was a sculptor and a pretty good musician. And my brother is a graphic artist for Disney. So, the arts were part of our household, but I was the rogue sheep who went to study music.
What led you to Lawrenceville? I enjoyed Lincoln, thoroughly. Unfortunately, urban education being what it is, they always have funding problems. The district got into financial trouble, and a lot of us had to look
How did teaching enter the picture?
elsewhere. Lawrenceville had a posting and, on
Through most of high school, I knew I was
a whim, I came up here and took a look around.
headed in that direction. I long thought about being an English teacher, but at some point, music and teaching just came together, so I went to Temple University for music education
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great people, and immediately landed a job at a
Did your expectations of Lawrenceville jibe with the reality of it when you got here?
How so? Sometimes the danger as a teacher is to expect a little bit too much. When you see this bright and glorious building, and you see 75 kids show up on a whim for rehearsal, you have to remind yourself to keep one foot in reality. They’re still 14-year-olds.
What classes do you teach now? I teach our Honors Music Theory classes, Foundations of Music, and the sophomorelevel Explorations of Music class. Explorations is a four-part course. There’s some basic music theory and a fair amount of composition. We also do work upstairs in the recording studio, as well as some music-history reading. That’s a small part, but it’s an important part. Something for everybody.
A recording studio? Wow! This is where music education really benefits from having resources. Yes, well, we do. We have a very nice facility, and it’s very well stocked. Our classrooms have wonderful grand pianos, and thanks to stewardship and donors, we have a lovely Steinway Model B in there that’s to die for. We have very good a recording studio upstairs [in the Clark Music Center]. It’s nice, they way we built it, it isolates the sound nicely.
and jazz studies.
That’s an interesting question. I had really
That’s where music and teaching aligned?
department. They struck just the right balance of being supportive, but not intrusive. They
It must make our students feel like pros to practice with such amenities.
Yeah. I got there in 2001, and it’s a five-year
also helped modulate my expectations.
The ensemble rooms are really nice, and
good support from the other members of my
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they’re acoustically treated. It was actually a problem for the choir room – it’s the nicest room anybody will ever sing in! It’s too nice, so they never have to work. It’s like singing in a bathtub – you sound great in there!
But that must present other challenges for you as a teacher, no?
music history. But the great Harkness benefit that we’ve found has been critiquing. We do an artistic critique in a Harkness style, and that is great for students. They get peer feedback instantly. There’s an interplay with their peers about what was good, and what were you thinking about this?
We actually got acoustically treated curtains, so now we can actually tune the rooms. If we have the curtains open, the sound is a lot more reflective, and if we close them, it’s a lot deader in there. I do use it purposefully. If we’re having a jazz concert, I’ll deaden the room because of the electronic amplification in it.
That must be a delicate thing for them to learn how to do.
And what does that mean for the students?
Lawrenceville has an excellent music program, but is not a music specialty school. Our students also tend, by and large, to be high achievers. How does that manifest itself in your program?
If I want to make the orchestra work a little harder, I’ll deaden the room and they’ll kind of realize, Oh, I have to do something to produce sound. Yes, you do! It really helps from a teaching standpoint.
One thing we always want to know from subject masters is how their discipline interacts with the Harkness. In the case of music, it’s not so obvious. We do Harkness, especially for reading for
It is. You have to teach them how to do it, and that’s the thing. Thankfully, our English colleagues actually do a very good job with critiquing writing, so we can use that as a model.
Would you say that is a by-product of not having all their proverbial eggs in the music basket? I think some of that, yeah. There are many ways to succeed at Lawrenceville. If you self-identify as an athlete, great. If you self-identify as a science person, great. You can gravitate towards your identity here. And we have musicians who gravitate towards here.
If someone asked you what role the performing arts play at a school like this, how would you answer?
We don’t have fights over who’s in first chair. We don’t. Our ensembles are actually pretty warm places, and it’s not that way everywhere. Some places are kind of cutthroat, but it’s not here. And it doesn’t take anything away from the musicianship. Actually, I think it adds to it, in our case, in terms of cooperation and encouragement.
It goes back to that broad liberal-arts mentality. I would say Lawrenceville is structured around getting a broad education, and the arts are a part of that. I think it’s easy to feel that we are merely a peripheral enhancement here, but we’re not that for the hundreds of kids who come and see us every week. People develop an appreciation for the arts and for beauty. They develop an appreciation for work.
Probably a sense of patience, too. I’m sure if you asked the students what they learned in orchestra, they’d say, You know, F major. OK, great. But they also learned things like teamwork, cooperation, and to help each other – all those soft skills that are really, really, really needed. We’re doing that.
So athletics isn’t the only path to learning teamwork? The so-called arts-athletics dichotomy … as a ’90s kid, I lived the height of that. I’ve now realized that’s false, because I can tell you I have plenty of athletes who play instruments here. From my office, I also have a great seat for House Football, and I do watch games!
You’re right – your office is like a skybox for the Green Field! Yeah, in the fall. It’s really quite nice. I was a marching-band teacher for many years, so I hear the football whistle and think, Oh yeah, I remember those days. According to the Raw leigh Warn 1909 Acade er mic Teachin g Chair, Keith Roeck le, there ar e many way to succeed s at Lawren ceville. “If self-identify you as an athle te, great. If you self-ide ntify as a sc ie nce person great,” he sa , ys. “You ca n gr avitate towards yo ur identity here. And we have m usicians w ho gravitat towards her e e.” SPRING
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Lawrenceville’s “Lost Campus”
tells ntury or more, ce a r fo l o o h the Sc pts, unseen at ce n co l a r tu pus. ec hit e familiar cam th f A trove of arc o ry to blic Library It’s no is h courtesy of Boston Pu t hard to see ho alternative RRES • All images w choosing TO A M LO PA a fascinating by y ph th gra is oto 19 Ph 20 concep • EZZINO EN AND SARAH M By SEAN RAMSD
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t by Appleton & Stearns wou ld have altere d Lawrencevill e’s familiar ca mpus. Note how the proposed addi tion to Memorial Hall would ha ve doubled its si ze, obscuring the site where the Fath ers Building w ould be built less th an a decade la te r. Also, note the Old Gym loom ing on the horizon .
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A hand-draw n sketch from May 28, 1884, by Robert S. Peab od y shows two po tential dormito ry buildings behi nd Memorial Hall, as well as a th ird building w hose purpose is un clear. This co ncept, similar to toda y’s Raymond and Dawes House s, was drawn ne arly fifty years befo re the Delano & Aldrich-design ed Fathers Bu ilding, Raymond an d Dawes Hou ses, and Bowl were bu ilt.
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he Lawrenceville School’s famed architecture and landscaping are as ingrained in the collective Lawrentian consciousness as memorable classes and extracurricular exploits. In many ways, the School owes as much to the men who shaped the look and layout of the Circle as it does to those whose Harkness teachings and House life lessons have resonated long after graduation. Working almost in tandem with landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted, the architectural form of Peabody & Stearns were the imaginative minds behind the new campus that emerged following the incorporation of the John C. Green Foundation and the reestablishment of The Lawrenceville School as we know it today. Peabody & Stearns’ first generation of construction yielded some of the School’s most iconic edifices: Foundation House, the Bath House, and those stalwarts of the Circle, Cleve, Dickinson, Griswold, and Woodhull houses, were completed in 1885. They were joined by Kennedy House in 1889, and followed by Woods Memorial Hall in 1890, Upper House in 1892, Edith Memorial Chapel in 1895, and the Old Gym in 1901. For more than one-hundred thirty years, these are the buildings that have stood as a kind of visual shorthand, affirming Lawrenceville’s sepiatoned history in a way that requires no words. Generations of alumni draw reassurance from the steady familiarity of their seemingly timeless presence. But what if the familiar look of the Peabody & Stearns campus didn’t exist as we know it today? What if Memorial Hall was doubled in size, or if the common areas of Upper House and its student bedrooms were separated by
long colonnades? What if there were no Pop Hall? It all could have been a reality, as detailed sketches from the Boston-based firm show. These concepts were all once committed to paper and even blueprints many years before being lost to time – or worse. In early 2012, with Lawrenceville eyeing multiple construction projects, several questions arose regarding the School’s status as a Historic National Landmark. Sarah Mezzino, the curator of decorative arts and design for the School’s Stephan Archives, discovered that they held only four original blueprints from Peabody & Stearns and very little of the firm’s correspondence. She was dismayed, but not terribly surprised. “Although paper is a relatively stable material, it can still succumb to numerous agents of deterioration,” Mezzino says. “These agents loosely mimic the ten plagues beset on Egypt: fire, flood, vermin, and such.” Human error and behaviors, such as theft, can also play a role, she added, noting that one-hundred thirty years had left time for any of these factors to play a role. Despite the firm’s prominence in the late 19 th century – Robert Swain Peabody and John Goddard Stearns Jr. tallied more than a thousand contracts by the time of their 1917
deaths, including the Machinery Hall and Massachusetts State Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893 – very little scholarship on their work exists today. Confounded by the lack of relevant information, Mezzino recalls a conversation with former archives assistant Zoe VybiralBauske, who said, “If Peabody & Stearns are as famous as you say they are, then maybe there are copies of the blueprints.”
With their primary
office situated some 300 miles northeast of Lawrenceville, it seemed likely that Peabody & Stearns would have been disinclined to coordinate building the Circle without multiple sets of blueprints. Assuming that such a set of plans survived every imaginable agent
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The top portio n of this 1912 drawing show s a scaled bird ’s-eye view of two po tential locatio ns for School expa nsion – a bulk y addition in th e shape of thre e conjoined rect angles, and a separate twostory structur e placed diagon ally behind U pper House and M emorial Hall.
the Peabody & Stearns blueprints and drawings, an effort Mezzino says was worth every mile. “These blueprints not only answered many of our questions, such as where fireplaces were originally located,” she says, “but they also illuminated previously unknown aspects of the development of the School’s physical plant.”
According to “The Sanitary Engineer and Construction Record” from December 4, 1886, the School’s initial campus plan allocated space for future growth, with spaces designated for specific buildings. A chapel was intended for the land now occupied by Upper House, whereas the land where Edith Memorial
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Chapel has stood since
Thinking logically, Mezzino and Vybiral-
Mezzino says that although the library’s
Bauske began soliciting a long list of libraries,
reply was thrilling, it also relayed some
1895 was flagged for an
museums, archives, and historical institutions
disappointing news. Of Boston Public Library’s
within Boston they believed might possess
twenty-six rolls of blueprints pertaining to
additional House.
the blueprints. Weeks passed as staffers from
The Lawrenceville School, only twenty-two
the various organizations politely apologized
rolls were accessible to researchers. Later, she
for being unable to help before the pair
learned that the Peabody & Stearns collection
received an email from the Boston Public
at the library was discovered in 1968 within
Library.
the wreckage of a building destroyed by fire.
“Not only did they have Peabody & Stearns
Boston Public salvaged these documents, but
records but they had a near complete set
many were horribly charred.
of blueprints pertaining to Lawrenceville’s
Mezzino and School photographer Paloma
campus,” Mezzino says. “The email was akin
Torres traveled to Boston three times within
to finding a winning lottery ticket.”
spring 2013 and spring 2014 to photograph
Peabody & Stearns envisioned two traditional dormitories set back behind Memorial Hall, flanking an open plot of land similar to Olmsted’s asymmetrical Circle, in the location of today’s Bowl. Coincidentally, the firm of Delano & Aldrich would place Raymond House and Dawes Houses in almost these exact locations nearly fifty years later. These plans already existed within the Stephan Archives’ materials. However, Boston Public Library also possessed a
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The proposed building in th e 1912 sketch sh ows a large ar ched doorway – si milar to Mem or ia l Hall’s, but sm aller in scale – placed under what appears to be a rose window.
hand-drawn sketch dated May 28, 1884, by Peabody that shows this layout with an addition – an unlabeled, somewhat triangular building situated on the approximate site of the present-day Raymond House. Its purpose remains unclear. “Was it perhaps another dormitory, or administrative offices?” Mezzino asks. “We may never know.” Mezzino says blueprints and sketches dated 1912 and 1920 hidden within Boston’s holdings were even more intriguing, as she’s able to draw a historical rationale. In 1912, the number of alumni children wishing to enroll at the School spiked. Although Head Master Simon J. McPherson had raised the institution’s national profile since his arrival in 1899, the expansion of the School’s physical plant stalled due to monetary shortages. The Board of Trustees tried to be as proactive as possible with the School’s budget, purchasing small plots of land surrounding the School’s grounds to prevent
nearby development. The Board approached Peabody & Stearns about an addition to Memorial Hall to be completed at a future date should funding become available. Trustees’ notes from this period are sparse but the records state: “Your Committee would further report that sketches have been secured from Peabody & Stearns looking towards the enlargement of Memorial Hall, to include an adequate Auditorium and provide recitation rooms sufficient to meet the School’s requirements. A sketch was also submitted for a separate recitation hall.” – June 14, 1912 Though detailed descriptions of the firm’s proposal for the School are lacking, the endless possibilities are fun to consider. “And, to our delight,” Mezzino says, “the firm kept copies of these concept drawings, too.” Dated May 1912, a single rectangular sheet of paper hand-drawn by the firm in pencil is divided into two sections. The top portion shows a scaled bird’s-eye view of campus with two potential locations for School
expansion. Situated on the southern side of Memorial Hall, parallel to the Hall’s main corridor, a new wing was envisioned. Bulkier in layout with a sizable foundation formatted in the shape of three conjoined rectangles, the building was attached to what was then the auditorium – today’s Heely Room – and study hall. The second proposal shows a separate twostory structure with a full basement placed diagonally between the southeastern corner of Upper House and the southwestern side of Memorial Hall, on the approximate site of the current Gruss Center of Visual Art. An ellipsoidal roadway adorns the landscape in front of the proposed building. With twenty-two recitation rooms, a conference room, two laboratories, and two dedicated storage areas for laboratory equipment and supplies, “this building would have been a significant addition to the School,” Mezzino says, “though it was conceived without water closets.”
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In 1920, App leton & Stearn s showed an at tached additio n to Memorial Hall mirrorin g the original’s shap e. They wrapp ed this proposed building in th e same Longmeadow brownstone ex te rior as Mem Hall and ornamen ted it with various carvings, pitc hed roofs, arched windows, and doors.
Before Upper House was completed in 1892, concep ts for its design includ ed one showin g the reading and di ning rooms fla nked by detached re sidential win gs connected by excessively lo ng open-air colo nnades.
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We’d love to thank you.
Please tell us if you have included Lawrenceville in your will or living trust, or as a beneficiary of a retirement account or life insurance policy. We want to welcome you to the John Cleve Green Society – alumni, parents, and friends who have committed to keeping our school great for generations to come.
For more information on leaving a bequest to Lawrenceville or for other planned giving opportunities, or if you have included Lawrenceville in your will but have 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.planyourlegacy.org.
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By SEAN RAMSDEN • Photographs contributed by PAULINA DEAN '07
For aviators Georgia Dean ’10 and her father, Warren Dean ’75, the sky is the limit.
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n a chilly late February night in New York City, Georgia Dean ’10 was glad to be inside the home of a friend who was hosting a rather large dinner party for some Lawrenceville schoolmates. Now nearly a decade removed from their time together on campus and poised for their next steps, the young friends were trading stories about the new experiences unfolding daily before them as college and its carefree days silently receded into their collective past.
Inevitably, the inquiry – What’s new? What have you been up to? – worked its way around the room to 26-year-old Georgia, a licensed airplane pilot who had just four months earlier completed an epic fifty-four-day odyssey that took her and co-pilot Warren Dean ’75 P’07 ‘09 ‘10 – yes, her father – to twenty-three countries. “I was like, ‘I’m going back to Colorado to do flight training,’” says Georgia, who was barely letting on to the full story. “And they’re like, You?! Flight training? It definitely does surprise people. Most people expect
their pilots to be kind of nerdy, straightedge guys, but it’s a bunch of wahoos out there … just people who like to do it.” To be perfectly sure, “wahoo” isn’t the first word that comes to mind in the case of Georgia, who skillfully completed the challenging requirements to earn her pilot’s license in 2015. They don’t give those to just anyone who jumps into the cockpit. In fact, several of the you’ll-probably-never-need-toknow-this approaches she learned in flight school were exactly the things she needed to know five or six times while landing in Georgia D ean ‘10 was all clear for takeoff when she an d dad Warren Dea n ‘75 bega n an epic 54-day jou rney in War ren’s Pilatus PC -12.
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Africa, so you’d better believe Georgia Dean is no mere wahoo. That isn’t to say, however, that she doesn’t have some zest for adventure.
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she attended close to home in Colorado Springs but had too many competing interests and obligations to commit. After graduating in 2014, however, she resumed her training, earning her license a year later and, in 2018, her instrument rating. “It’s more advanced flying; it gets you up higher, gets you into weather, which was necessary for flying to Africa,” she explains. “It’s a more complicated way of flying, the
awrenceville had a little sheet tacked up by the athletic office when my girls were there, and I really liked it,” says Warren Dean, who also sent Georgia’s two older sisters, Paulina ’07 and Lucy ’09, to the School. “It Georgia w said No Comfort Zone. It’s getting people out as a skilled right hand to Warren, of doing what they normally do, because who has be en flying fo that’s what stimulates you and stretches r more than forty years. you.” Warren was about 10 years old when his godfather chartered a plane to fly over the lower Delmarva Peninsula. “He was just doing it to entertain his godson, but he kind of gave me the bug,” he recalls. “I can remember every turn of that flight.” He started flying in college, obtaining his license and drawing enjoyment from the stimulation that counterbalanced what he calls his “regular old coursework.” Warren continued to fly recreationally, even as he built a career in real estate development. “It’s a very logical, satisfying endeavor when you do it right,” Warren says. “Of course, you can take commercial airliners anywhere you want, but it is way more interesting and satisfying to do it yourself.” Flying became part of growing up for the Dean girls, though to the two older sisters, it wasn’t anything more than a “dad” thing. “But I always really liked it,” Georgia says. “I was always the one who was riding in front, and we did a lot of flying when I was younger.” Georgia is clear that her father never pushed her to take up flying, but she admits that her proximity to it was a lure. “Being in the cockpit of an airplane is a very unique experience,” she says. “I don’t know if I would have been drawn to it not knowing how cool that actually is.” Georgia started flying in college, which 32
way airliners fly as opposed to the way a small private Cessna would fly.” Georgia’s mention of Africa was relevant, as the Deans had been discussing a lengthy journey that would take them over parts of four continents. The journey would have them leave from Colorado Springs for Canada, on to Greenland, then Iceland, before traversing Europe with stops in Spain, Italy, and Greece. They
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Even after a couple of close calls, Paulina, mom Betsy , Warren, an d Georgia D ean were al l smiles on th e ground in Africa.
would continue to the Middle East before turning south toward Africa, from Djibouti to Tanzania to South Africa, typically at about 26,000 feet. Warren’s turboprop Pilatus PC-12 requires only one pilot, and he was experienced in flying the passenger craft. But whereas the advanced radar technologies in the United States facilitate solo aviation, Georgia says international flight becomes more complicated, given the need for increased analog navigation and communicating with air-traffic controllers using their own antiquated technology. “So, having a second pair of eyes and an educated pilot in there with you is a definite plus,” she says. “My mother and Paulina
were going to be with us the whole time, and they wanted a second pilot in the front, so the closest known second pilot was me. “I had to get that advanced rating,” she continues, “and I was good to go.” Late last summer, in the weeks before the Deans were set to embark, Georgia was working in New York for Barron’s in the magazine’s live events department. She happened to find herself in conversation with Pilar Guzman, the editor in chief of Condé Nast Traveler, the luxury and lifestyle travel magazine published by Condé Nast. Guzman’s interest was piqued by Georgia’s plans, so she asked Georgia to author a series of blog posts from along her way for the
Traveler website. “I was really excited to write for them,” she says. “It was a phenomenal opportunity.” Georgia filed her first dispatch on September 5 after five days in the air. On the very first day, her recent instrument rating proved vital. She wrote: We lost our altimeter during our approach into Thunder Bay, Canada. Not a huge deal as we have a backup instrument that we can monitor. The only challenge is the backup doesn’t talk to the auto-pilot or tell air traffic control what our altitude is, so we had to use precise hand flying and self-report altitudes to air traffic control. This is a great example of why it’s nice to have two people in the cockpit. SPRING
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“You know, you can’t concern yourself about that stuff too much. Things happen. Airplanes are electronic, and that’s why there’s redundancy,” she says. “I’m not going to lie, though. There is a moment right when it happens where you go, Oh no, this isn’t happening to me. But then you try to fix it.” There are times when flying allows you to see the world from new perspectives, both from inside the plane as well as on the ground. Georgia’s second dispatch, dated September 14, spoke to both: I’ll never forget … seeing the pyramids of Giza from the airplane. Also, this is the first flight we had to wear our uniforms – even non-pilots wear them. I always get a kick out of that! “The world from above is a special thing, and being in a cockpit getting the 270-degree view, it’s really cool,” she says. On the ground, Georgia says the difference between traveling in civilian gear and being uniformed becomes apparent, as well. It’s the difference, she says, between being able to disembark and walk freely around the landing strip or being shuffled right off to customs without being able to so much as grab your bags. “And if you want to tell someone to move your airplane or put fuel in, but you’re just standing there in jeans and a T-shirt,” Georgia explains, “they’re not really going to listen to you as well as they’re going to listen to someone with captain’s stripes on and the shiny shoes.” Even for the most experienced pilots, however, international flight carries some chilling moments, as Georgia’s September 25 dispatch reveals: Our approach into the Kilimanjaro Airport was surprising for both my father and myself, despite the countless approaches we’ve done together over the last few years. To start: The airport doesn’t have radar services and requires pilots to make their own position reports – which makes the radios very busy. My father and I confirmed the approach and set up the air-
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“For me to transition to taking more of a captain’s position, getting in that seat and overcoming the bumps in the road – doing that together, and having that be recognized – it’s a fantastic feeling.” plane to fly it. As we were coming in, the tower requested our position in relation to a waypoint we couldn’t find, causing a lot of stress in the cockpit. […]My father ended up flying the plane while I looked for the waypoint – which I found on an entirely different approach plate. On the ground, my father expressed that this was something that he has never experienced flying. Even seasoned pilots get surprised! To Warren, however, such challenges are part of the appeal. “Absolutely, that’s the whole point,” he says.” You’re not just doing it to get from A to B; you’re doing it because the ride is interesting.” Sometimes, “interesting” occurs on the ground, such as in Zambia, where the Deans touched down for a planned safari in the Serengeti. The sturdy PC-12 allows pilots to land on dirt air strips in order to access safari locations, but that also leaves aircraft vulnerable to hungry hyenas tearing away at its tires, effectively destroying them. “They’re just as mischievous as The Lion King made them out to be,” says Georgia, who adds that they ultimately opted for a safer parking location. Both Warren and Georgia draw a similar type of satisfaction from flying, being able to apply analytical skills to the task – some-
thing they see more as a way of working out the world than defying danger. It was with that shared sense of aviators’ kinship that Warren ceded the captain’s chair to Georgia for the leg of their journey that took them from Zambia to Botswana, as described by Georgia in her October 3 dispatch: I flew in the left seat! The left seat is the Pilot in Command, or captain position, where my dad usually is. I had already been flying from the right, but there’s something exhilarating about sitting in the captain’s seat. It’s a big mental shift to switch positions in the cockpit. […] I figured the experience would be similar to driving a car for the first time with a nervous parent, but this was the opposite. I could feel my dad’s confidence in me. It was a confidence that Georgia not only earned, but kept throughout the remainder of their trip. The very last day that she updated her blog for Condé Nast Traveler, which saw them fly 2,455 nautical miles from Reykjavik, Iceland, to Winnipeg, Manitoba, she capped their journey by sharing this heartfelt exchange: This was the longest day of flying my father or I have ever done in our lives! […] When we were securing the airplane at the end of this grueling day, the exhaustion was all worth it to hear my dad say, “I would not have taken this on without you, and I could not have done it with anyone else.” “Well, it was appropriate,” Warren says. “She was really, really helpful and capable, and took charge, and added a tremendous amount to the cockpit.” For Georgia, it’s the sort of validation that represents a significant arc of their lifelong story in the skies. “We happened to do all that work sitting a foot and a half apart, and it’s a very special thing. I’ll never forget doing any of that,” she says. “For me to transition to taking more of a captain’s position, getting in that seat and overcoming the bumps in the road – doing that together, and having that be recognized – it’s a fantastic feeling.”
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Stay connected with the
Lawrenceville
Alumni NetworkAPP The Lawrenceville Alumni Network app combines the scope of our alumni database and the power of LinkedIn to connect you with your fellow Lawrentians wherever you – and they – may be. Search by name, class year, profession, company, college, location, and more. For download instructions, go to www.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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ALUMNI NEWS Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai ’82 hosted several Lawrentians, including Boston Globe sports columnist Bob Ryan ’64 and Board of Trustees Chair Michael Chae ’86, at the Barclays Center when the Nets battled the Boston Celtics in January.
Jane Gore and Director of Alumni Relations John Gore H’61 ’64 visited with Marion Rentrup P’15 ’18 and Konrad Rentrup P’15 ’18 in Bermuda.
Former Davis Scholars Felicia Harris ’11 and Sisi Miteva ’11 (far right) welcomed current Lawrentians from the program, Sara Ptaszynska ’20, Edward Miller ’19, Nadiia Dubchak ’19, Shin Ota ’21, and Marta Baziuk ’20, at a reception celebrating ten years of the Davis Scholars Program in New York in November.
Director of Alumni Relations John Gore H’61 ’64 joined Shannon Watson Zullo ’02 and Matt Zullo ’02 at Lawrenceville’s night at the Philadelphia Phillies game.
Gary Friday ’69 and Harry Mirach ’69 rooted for the home team at Lawrenceville’s night at the Philadelphia Phillies.
Lenny Hayes ’09 and fiancée Caitlyn Miller joined Dean of Students Blake Eldridge ’96 H’12 at Lawrenceville’s night at the Philadelphia Phillies.
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JULY 7 - JULY 27, 2019 • SUMMERSCHOLARS.LAWRENCEVILLE.ORG
BHEREE. E B KNOWN. E B CREDIBLE.
IN
UDENTS T S Y A D D N A RDING A O B • 0 1 9 GRADES D N A 8 6 S E GRAD
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f ered, them d here 70.
OLD SCHOOL 75 YEARS AGO IN THE LAWRENTIAN ■ SPRING 1944
50 YEARS AGO IN THE LAWRENTIAN ■ SPRING 1969
SCHOOL GUEST HOUSE TO OPEN
NEW CHAPEL ROUTINE…
The Lodge, located opposite the main entrance to the School campus, is now undergoing repairs and renovations, and will be re-opened for guests early in May. While it is now owned by the School and will be under School control, the Lodge will be conducted entirely as a guest house, catering to alumni, parents, and other guests. Meals can be had at all hours and it is expected that facilities will be available at an early date for dinner parties, afternoon tea, and between-meal food service. Plans are now being made for entirely new dining room equipment. Bedrooms will have private baths or running hot
Compulsory daily chapel at Lawrenceville is now a thing of the past. The opening of the new spring term will mark the beginning of a new schedule and new rules governing religious observances at School. The schedule has been rearranged so that daily chapel comes in the middle of the morning, between third and fourth periods, but it is no longer a required service, and it will held only four days a week […]. Lawrenceville thus joins other well-known schools that have abolished daily chapel services. […] Speculation is rife, of course, about attendance. Since this is written before the beginning of the term, we will report in the summer issue on attendance and on student and faculty feelings about the change.
and cold water.
– From the “Echoes of the Campus” news roundup.
– From the “Echoes of the Campus” news roundup.
30 YEARS AGO IN THE LAWRENTIAN ■ SPRING 1989 GAZE INTO THE CRYSTAL BALL Fifth Former John Atherton was named the Princeton Packet Athlete of the Season for his hockey prowess. John, who starts for the soccer and lacrosse teams as well, is going to make a host of coaches happy at Middlebury next year.
– From the Sports Roundup compiled by James Adams ’65 H’82 ’93 ’96 ’01 P’93. Adams’ prediction proved prescient when John Atherton ’89 was inducted into the Middlebury Athletics Hall of Fame in November 2018.
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STUDENT SNAP: FIONA PANDO’21
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L
Lawrentian THE
usps no. 306-700 the Lawrenceville School Lawrenceville, New Jersey 08648 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!
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