The Pingry Record - June 2019

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Volume CXLIV, Number IV

June 3, 2019

The Pingry School, Basking Ridge, New Jersey

COMMENCEMENT 2019

Making Memories at Home and Afar:

Seniors Embark on ISPs week in America doing research before traveling to northern Thailand and Bangkok. They learned traditions like dancing and kickboxing, and worked on a jewelry-making After completing their nonprofit. classes in early May, 139 As a second-generation seniors pursued IndeJamaican-American, pendent Senior Projects Nava Levene-Harvell in(ISPs). These projects terviewed 16-18 year old ranged from translating a students of her generagrandfather’s autobiogra- tion in three major cities: phy about the Korean War Johannesburg, London, to studying the effects of and the New York City climate change on beach metropolitan area. She betowns, allowing seniors lieves that although lots of to explore their interests attention has been given in the final months of their to the opinions of milhigh school careers. We lennials, Generation Z’s break down the projects views have been largely by their general field of ignored. interest.

Inspired by their Intro to Arabic class, Ally Travel and Cultural Lima and Sophia Smith Exchange tutored and interacted Nicole Kloss and with refugee organizaLily Rockoff traveled tions in New York City to Thailand to immerse and Patterson, New Jersey themselves in the culture to learn more about Midand learn to read and dle Eastern culture. They write the native language. also interviewed Syrian They spent their first immigrants, both within

By NOAH BERGAM (IV), BRYNN WEISHOLTZ (V), EVA SCHILLER (IV), MEGHAN DURKIN (IV), VICKY GU (V), ANEESH KARUPPUR (IV), BROOKE PAN (IV), FELICIA HO (VI), MARTHA LEWAND (V), JUSTIN LI (IV)

SENIOR REFLECTIONS P. 2-4

and outside the Pingry community, to understand their experiences of immigrating to the United States, how American culture might be different from Middle Eastern culture, and how American perspectives on Middle Eastern immigrants might have changed after 9/11.

Lucas Vazquez and Jack Lyons researched, planned for, and hiked El Camino de Santiago, one of the oldest pilgrimages in Europe. Though the endeavor had been strictly for Catholics for much of its 1200-year history, El Camino has since evolved to be a more secular trail.

Lucas and Jack explored this change through vlogs and interviews of hostel owners and other travellers.

Allie Matthias visited museums in Italy and the east coast of the United States to examine how visual art is considered “genius”. Her podcast includes comparisons be-

tween artists of similar art movements, analyzing the opportunities they were given, and how some may have been more successful within their lives than others.

Music, Theatre, and Literature Lydia Gargano, Nick Grimaldi, and Isabel DeVito casted, blocked scenes, and rehearsed their own play. Using their own experiences from participating in Pingry musicals, they were curious about how some of the technical aspects of directing a production and building sets would manifest in the real world.

They had to plan their own meeting times to utilize time spent with cast members as efficiently as possible, and performed in Pingry’s Attic Theater.

Furthering the experiences they had in their first semester creative writing class, Nick Robinson, Elliott LaGorce, and Kyle Aanstoots

wrote together in Warren Library in New Jersey.

Because they were able to immediately bounce ideas off of each other in their process, they worked efficiently to compile their stories and create a book with a cover and illustrations.

Curious about the daily experiences of professional fiction-writers, Paige Maultsby dedicated her time to writing and reading short stories. Her stories are centered around girlhood and experiences of being a young adult in the 21st century. Her visits to Summit Free Public Library helped her read other short stories to benefit her own writing.

Breaking the stereotype of boring operas and art songs, Kristine Fu sang and created a comic for Mozart and Gabriele von Baumberg’s “Als Luise die Briefe ihres ungetreuen Liebhabers verbrannte.” She designed

the main character and each frame for the comic, featured in her YouTube video.

Applying his experience from playing the piano, various saxophones, guitar, and various other musical instruments, Jason Bisgay learned to play the Pingry School’s organ.

To further push his musical abilities, not only will he learn an organ piece, but he will also play as the lead member of Lydia Gargano, Nick Grimaldi, and Isabel DeVito’s pit band for their musical.

Evan Taylor pursued his passion for making various types of electronic music, including house music, dubstep, and bass music. Using virtual synths, a field microphone, and a small drum machine, he was able to concentrate on only making music with an uninterrupted workflow.

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THE PINGRY RECORD

SENIOR REFLECTIONS JUNE 3, 2019

Stick to the Spontaneous

EDITORIAL

Thoughts on Moving Forward

I’ve always been one to get too attached. Whether it’s an album, an actor, a character, or a furry creature, give me a little time, and before you know it, I’ll feel a deep, inordinate sense of attachment. I listen to albums on repeat for days at a time, conflate actors and characters with people who are actually in my life, and can continue to think about a cute dog I just met for several weeks after our interaction. In other words, I think and feel deeply about anything and everything.

I’ve thought a lot about the pros and cons to this trait of mine, but seeing that my senior year is coming to a close, I’d like to take a moment to focus on this trait in how it relates to my high school experience and its ending. Knowing myself, I would think that I’d feel this same intense sense of attachment to high school and that those feelings would work to exacerbate the pain that comes with leaving. Knowing that the end is coming has sparked a lot of reflection on my part, and to my surprise, my actual feelings don’t quite align with that sentiment.

I feel ready to leave Pingry. My initial reaction to this thought was sadness. What did I do wrong in my time here that made Pingry exempt from my usually overwhelming sense of attachment? Why couldn’t I relate to that one A. A. Milne quote that appears on so many senior pages every year without fail: “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard?”

Coach Scott’s final speech to the class of 2019 as our form dean provided some clarity. He explained that, while we had each left our own mark on Pingry and Pingry had, in turn, left its own mark on us, we were never meant to be here forever. Our futures are waiting to be carved outside of these walls. We have infinitely many people and institutions to both teach and learn from beyond Pingry and our community.

Our work is not done.

In my seven years here, I have grown and changed in unimaginable ways. I’ve met people who shaped me into the person I am today. I’ve written papers and completed projects that worked to forge my current academic career and will continue to shape it in the future. I’ve gotten a little closer to discovering who I am, what fulfills me, and how I can make an impact. Pingry has undoubtedly left an indelible mark on my life.

What I’ve realized is that my feeling ready to move on doesn’t take away from how grateful I am for the past seven years. It doesn’t undermine my high school experience or mean that I’m leaving with a bitter taste in my mouth. Rather, I’m beginning to learn that every place, every position, and every stage of life has its limitations. We are dynamic people who are meant to push boundaries and test our limits. This transition, as difficult as it may be, is a pathway to build on the growth and experiences that Pingry has offered us.

I’m excited to see what the future holds.

I would be remiss not to thank the friends, teachers, and family members who have made the past seven years so formative and memorable. I hope that this newspaper can continue to impact the Pingry community in even half the way that working on it has impacted me. It is with love and a full heart that I say this final, bittersweet goodbye.

—Ketaki

Tavan

By FELICIA HO (VI)

“Welcome to Pingry.”

Reaching into the envelope, I pulled out a small blue book. It was emblazoned with the Pingry emblem and filled with post-it notes and tabs of all colors and sizes. An extensive office supply of post-its, perfect for a wide-eyed thirdgrader who still struggled to choose between getting the zoo animal or dinosaur pack of Silly Bandz.

Naturally, I took this opportunity to capture my first impressions of Pingry using a few doodles – a penguin and a bear; a few music notes; a pencil and squiggly lines on paper; what looked like a beach ball, but was probably intended to be a basketball. The classic, yellow post-it note seemed to be yet another canvas to decorate with peace signs and happy faces.

Was this post-it waiting for these spontaneous doodles, or had it been eager to be lined with todo lists and notes? While The Pingry School has academically and extracurricularly challenged me to be comfortable with the latter, the Pingry community has inspired me to embrace the former.

In third grade, we always made time to experiment with different instru-

By VERONICA WILLIAMS (VI)

To be completely honest, I didn’t want to go to Pingry. When I arrived on campus on my first day of freshman year in September 2015, I was shaken (or, in more modern terms, “shook”). As I looked around at the freshmen class, I was in complete awe. Everybody was dressed the same. The colorful blouses, pearl white pants, and Tory Burch sandals left an indelible mark on my mind.

As everybody headed into Hauser, I just remembered that I didn’t know where to sit. Looking around and seeing large friend groups already made, I felt far behind the curve.

There were many nights during the beginning of Number IV

Editors-in-Chief Miroslav Bergam Ketaki Tavan

Copy Editors Meghan Durkin Aneesh Karuppur Brooke Pan Eva Schiller Martha Lewand

Assistant Editors Vicky Gu Brynn Weisholtz Noah Bergam

keyboard synthesizer.

What ties all of these events together? It is the willingness and the courage to leave behind lines, steps, rules, and plans for something better: the authentic, spur-of-the-moment decisions that open up new doors. Improvised musical pieces, discussions on plasma physics, my love for

retreat freshman year, I “dropped the microphone” to close a performance. I will never forget how the entire class of new and old faces lit up and rose to their feet in thunderous applause and cheer, helping support my first steps into the world of public speaking.

Sophomore year, I joined the pit orchestra of the winter musical, Curtains, fully expecting to play piano or violin. Two months later, I was raving about the celeste I played on the

speechwriting, and joining the pit were not premeditated in neat bullet points on a 3x3 post-it. These experiences were born out of curiosity, and, more importantly, they existed because of the support and guidance I received from friends and teachers.

During senior year, you at long last acknowledge this amazing group of people, and finally see the beautiful and strong safety net that caught you each

time you took a risk and jumped. It’s when you say thank you to Won Ho and Easter for making lunch an adventure to embark upon every day. It’s when you say thank you to your teachers for sharing book recommendations (Mrs. Grant and Madame Geacintov!) that spark your interest in existentialism.

It’s when you say thank you to your friends for making you laugh at an impromptu stand-up comedy show, and for encouraging you to go up there and give it a try (and for laughing at your jokes even if they’re not the best).

Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors: take this to heart. Don’t give into the pressure to feel prepared, to have your entire high school career planned before it has even started. Every moment could change the course of your life forever. Be open-minded, and follow the twisting, winding path to its end.

Because at the end, you will close that little blue book filled with post-it notes and tabs of all colors and sizes, and each one will have something different scribbled on it. Each one will remind you of a moment – planned or not – that made you cry, or laugh, or scream with joy. And because they’re post-its, you know they’ll stick.

Diary of a 46% Extrovert

Volume CXLV

Layout Editors Noopur Bhatt Justin Li

ments under Ms. Finn’s careful guidance, and – perhaps accidentally – created original compositions from just a few glockenspiels, recorders, chimes, and drums. In seventh grade, Mrs. Leffler led the class into deep research after just one question about the sun’s plasma, leaving us eager to learn even more. At the peer

Faculty Advisors

Mrs. Meghan Finegan

Dr. Megan Jones Layout Advisor

Mr. Thomas Varnes

Photo Editor Rhea Kapur

my freshmen year that I went home and cried.

I would get extremely nervous over little daily things, such as where I would sit at lunch. Being 54% introverted (as my Myers-Briggs personality test has told me multiple times), it was a daily struggle to try to put myself out there and make friends. Whenever I tried, I was not truly myself, and subsequently failed to make true connections.

At this time, I was resentful.

It’s hard to go somewhere every day where you feel misplaced.

There were many different students around me who made up the Pingry puzzle. Everybody supposedly has their role, but I felt like a puzzle piece that belonged to a different set.

It took some time before I began to find my people.

As most people probably know, because we are attached at the hip, I found my best friend Solape and made a great group of girlfriends. By continuing to push myself not just through freshman year but through all of high school, I have been able to interact with so many amazing people. Looking back, I realize I was close-minded as a freshman. I only

saw people for what they wore. Although everybody dressing the same is kind of weird in my personal opinion (there are brands other than Vineyard Vines and Aritzia, people!), it should not define who they are.

Attending Pingry has allowed me to not only experience an incredible

range of people, but it has also given me the opportunity to step outside my comfort zone in ways that I wouldn’t have foreseen.

I was a peer leader during my senior year, and during our retreat in late August, I got to experience thirtyfive people for who they truly are and it was beautiful. It is an experience that I will cherish forever, because I don’t think it can be imitated. Not only did I get a lot from the other peer leaders, but I learned so much from my group

of freshmen. They are all way cooler than I was at fourteen.

This year I have grown even more confident in myself through SAC. Looking back to my freshman year, I would have never seen myself playing Ms. Chatterji and ripping off my wig in front of the whole school. However, it happened. Through my friends and SAC, I have been able to explore that 46% extroverted side of myself that I usually didn’t tap into when I was in middle school. I knew I loved to laugh, but I discovered that I really love putting a smile on other people’s faces.

Thanks to the opportunities that I have received at Pingry, I have the goal to make somebody’s day better through a quick joke.

To be completely honest, I didn’t want to go to Pingry. But now, I don’t want to leave. I finally found where I fit within the Pingry puzzle.

Pingry has taught me so many lessons inside and outside of the classroom that will stay with me forever.

As I embark on this new chapter of my life, I now know that no matter where I go, although it may not feel like it, I have value and I have a place.

Although we are all just puzzle pieces, we need each other to be complete.

Cartoons by Georgia Liu (VI)

THE PINGRY RECORD

Pull Up a Chair at Pingry

By LEO ZHU (VI)

When my mother sent me a picture of a wooden chair that she had won for four hundred dollars at Pingry’s Spring Soiree auction, I was livid. I immediately responded, “Am I supposed to be happy for you?” followed by a curt, “Waste of money.” I found myself repeatedly zooming in on the picture in disbelief and desperately reading the description, trying to find some sort of special feature in the chair that allowed it to recline or heat up in the winter. To my dismay, the chair didn’t look like it had any magical powers—all it had was a blue engraving on the top of its frame that displayed the Pingry logo. “How ridiculous,” I thought.

“That should have been money going towards my college tuition.”

The chair was more basic in real life.

It was a small, black chair with brown armrests and a concave seat that creaked under my weight. Better yet, it had colonized my living room, looking like a complete anomaly next to all of the Chinese art and design surrounding

it. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Purchasing that chair was against everything my parents believed in financially. Just a few days ago, I had been ridiculed for attempting to buy a shirt that wasn’t on

I found extremely puzzling. After expressing my frustration about the chair to my mother, who had nothing to say, I threw my hands up in resignation. My mother told me that she

sale. Now, at least, I had something to sit on in case I got tired walking across the living room to the bathroom—just for the price of an arm and a leg.

At home, I demanded an explanation from my mother. She did not seem to have a single ounce of regret, which

would hold it up for her own auction between my brother Charlie and me, and I responded, “You can just give it to Charlie...I don’t want it.” My mother gave me a look of disappointment, and I instantly regretted my words. I saw how much value it held for my parents—

Find Your Voice

By ALISA CHOSKHI (VI)

When I walked through the doors of the Pingry Lower School nine years ago as a brand new third grader, I was terrified. I didn’t know anyone, and my “no-nonsense” teacher Mrs. Euwer didn’t tolerate monkey business. Third grade is a tough year for anyone, and on top of that, I was transitioning from public school. My parents were worried that I was behind everyone else, and that I wouldn’t be able to thrive at Pingry.

Fast forward nine years later. I’m back at the Lower School for my Independent Senior Project. A few days ago, I stopped by to say hello to Mrs. Euwer, and I realized just how much I’ve evolved since then. One thing that’s really changed (besides a few feet in height and crazy life experiences) is my voice. Not only has my voice literally changed, but it’s actually been turned on.

To give you some more context, I’ve always been a bit eccentric. In first grade, we wrote poems about our favorite food.

While other kids picked cookies or pizza, I chose lentil soup. Growing up, especially when I was new at Pingry, I was naturally quite hesitant to insert my “lentil soup” thoughts

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SENIOR REFLECTIONS JUNE 3, 2019

into classroom or social settings. I always waited until someone else took the risk. I didn’t want the respectable, sweetgirl image to be ruined by my unconventional comments. I soon realized that “respectable” was a façade that masked my true personality, and

Though feelings like these punctuated my high school career, it was the support of the Pingry community that taught me to let out my voice, take risks, and pursue different passions. Mr. Vehslage, my sixth grade advisor and squash coach for six years, helped shape me

that it ultimately did a disservice to others and to myself.

There were times during senior year where I couldn’t help but feel as though I was masking my true identity. I went through a crazy, topsyturvy roller coaster ride like many of my classmates. I found myself fretting over college decisions and test results. I would stay up late without being productive, and I’d feel exhausted the next day. My “voice” was weak, and I sometimes missed out on exciting moments.

into the person I am today. He instilled in me a love of squash, which taught me the values of perseverance, dedication, and sportsmanship.

Mrs. Ortner, Mr. Benoit, Mr. Karrat, Mrs. Jordan, and Mr. Vazquez, as my language teachers, were crucial in helping me recognize my love for foreign language and culture; this is a passion that continued throughout high school and influenced my future goals. My patient math teachers like Mr. Thomson, Mr. Lagarde, and Mr. Poprik made frustrating problems crystal clear,

how much being Pingry parents meant to them.

I think it’s ironic that this four hundred dollar piece of furniture is what helped me finally realize how much I actually love Pingry. The chair ’s jarring placement prompts sudden retrospection upon my experience at the school, and it will continue to do so for years to come. Every time I pass the chair, I can look back at all the brilliant people who shaped me to become the unique individual I am today. I can reminisce about what it was like to be part of such a tight-knit and welcoming community.

What limited practicality the chair offers is overwhelmingly outweighed by its sentimental value. I like to look at the chair as a time machine now. Every time I walk past it, I can reminisce about my experiences at this school—all the good memories and the bad, the tame moments and the wild, and all the successes won and failures I’ve surmounted. I came into Pingry as a young and unmotivated semidelinquent. Now, I will leave it as a confident and inspired adult.

which gave me a strong desire to pursue a subject that did not come easily to me initially. My irreplaceable advisor Mr. Peterson would stop everything he was doing to talk to me if I was going through a tough time.

My Pingry teachers, advisors, and coaches gave me a safe space to grow and use my voice.

I stopped worrying about what I thought people wanted to hear and stayed genuine to myself. I slowly broke out of my shell, and let my adventurous spirit take over. This led me to take new risks, including climbing a forty foot pole at West Point, visiting a remote Chinese village with no adult supervision, and speaking in front of large audiences.

During senior year, I even played basketball for the first time in front of the entire school.

Reflecting on my Pingry experience, I realized life (for me, at least) is more or less a random walk that cannot be engineered or preset. You may have letdowns, but you can’t know what wonderful things a fork in the road will lead to. Wherever your path takes you, you will meet wonderful people who will enrich your journey. When new experiences present themselves, no matter how counterintuitive or scary, don’t be afraid to use your voice!

EDITORIAL

Originality on Top

One Party City wig, two trips to Bart’s Glass, and many psychological horror movies later, my ISP is finally coming to fruition. I spent the last month experiencing the filmography of David Lynch, a director famous for his logic-bending thriller movies and TV shows (Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, etc.), and attempting to make a short film inspired by his works.

I designed my ISP to round out my secondary education: while I consider myself a creative person, I almost never delved into visual arts, drama, or film in the past four years. This month was my chance to harness the concentrated effort I’ve put into critical essays, problem sets, and exams, and channel it into something entirely creative. Here’s what I learned: being successful in analytical projects and being successful in creative projects aren’t very different at all and require the same key ingredient: originality.

As I was co-creating the film, I had several moments where I needed to step back and ask myself if I was simply stealing from the source material of David Lynch – copying rather than taking inspiration from.

Trying to evoke the same feelings in a viewer without using the same images or tricks requires innovation.

It begs you to focus on the intangible and manifest it in your own way rather than rehash the literal.

The entire time, I was reminded of writing critical essays in English class. Mr. Peterson’s grading rubric is rather unorthodox, split into four categories: choreography, awkwardness, empathy, and originality. The criteria works amazingly and has certainly polished my writing skills. While the first three deal with clarity and writing quality, there is notably an entire bucket dedicated to originality. Mr. Peterson and I agree: a masterfully written paper is useless if it’s not saying something new. Even in the most dense, analytical essays where you’d think there’s little room for creativity, originality must be the scaffolding that the essay rests upon. Once you begin applying this belief across disciplines, it’s universality becomes apparent. I kept the importance of originality in mind when I chose my AP Stats research project and when coming up with the concept for my ISP film. I even try to employ it on a conversational level, avoiding statements or claims that are repetitive or reductive.

Reflecting upon high school from my final destination, I realize this formula has always been present: my proudest moments have been acts of originality and my failures lacked the quality. My acts of unoriginality aren’t necessarily disastrous or detrimental, they just don’t contribute to my current identity or advance me as a person. Instead, I, with all of my virtues and follies, am the net sum of all of my bursts and pops of creative thinking across the years. Changing up my hair; participating in talent shows and speech contests; making spontaneous friends; taking a full course load and dropping a class by second semester; going out past midnight or missing out to spend time with my siblings; quitting sports and STEM to run the school newspaper – whenever I’ve mustered the courage to make one of these bold choices, I know I’m onto something important.

I may not be leaving ISP (and high school) with a masterful piece of cinema (it’s, like, fine, but don’t watch it with high expectations), but I got to take a good look at my thinking process over the last four years. I’m confused right now. I don’t know what I want to study in college, I don’t know what type of people I’m going to befriend, and I’m not quite sure who I’ll be in a year or two. I don’t even have enough of an idea to fake my confidence, like so many do as they enter college. But I’ll know to always make originality – and all the messy moments of life that come with it – the North Star of my decision-making. From death-dropping on stage as a freshman to closing my final editorial as a senior, I’m happy with where that golden rule has gotten me.

It is with melancholy and bittersweet sentiment that my collection of editorials is finally complete. These little snippets from my life have helped me process the whirlwind of senior year in a very meaningful way and I’ll always be indebted to the paper and its readers for offering me this platform. I hope we’ve advanced the paper as an institution and I know we’ve set up an amazing team of editors to follow. As a writer and editor, I sign off.

—Miro

Bergam

Cartoons by Georgia Liu (VI)

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THE PINGRY RECORD

SENIOR REFLECTIONS JUNE 3, 2019

Welcome Uncertainty: Beckmen Reflects on Year as Honor Board Chairperson

By DREW BECKMEN (VI)

There is no “Crash Course” for being the Honor Board Chairperson. A Google search renders nothing more than an arbitrary collection of links describing honor at different colleges. I would know—I’ve googled it many times before.

The greatest lesson I learned as Chairperson of the Honor Board was how to deal with the feeling of unpreparedness. In all aspects of my life, I obsess over being prepared; I study for hours to prepare for a test and I plan my hydration and meals in preparation for soccer games. By preparing properly, I feel a sense of comfort and ease.

However, as I learned this year, relying on that sense of comfort does not always lead to personal growth.

Although I was anxious beforehand, I now realize that assuming the role of Chairperson without any specific training was what fa-

cilitated much of my growth this past year. I was forced to think on my feet and learn from my experiences as I worked to develop my own leadership style.

Before our first meeting in September, I worried about creating a comfortable space to discuss difficult topics related to the Honor Code. I prayed that our group would be cohesive and that everyone would see me as a friend, rather than an authority figure. Being my normal self, I tried to prepare by creating a list of discussion topics, though that list could not prepare me for what was to come.

As I sat down at our first meeting, Mr. Ross immediately gave me control. Putting on a facade of self-confidence, I checked my list for the first item: “Ask everyone about their summers.” After posing the question, silence ensued. Aside from a few people who muttered “good” and “fun,” I got nothing.

Not exactly the upbeat and energetic start I had hoped for.

During our subsequent meetings, more people began speaking; however, there were

presented me with another challenge. What could make a group of freshmen want to speak in a room with older, unfamiliar, and seemingly powerful peo-

still times when the room fell into an uncomfortable silence. I knew people had more to say, and I wanted them to feel comfortable saying it.

As we entered October, the new freshmen members joined, which

ple? Thinking back to my first Honor Board meeting freshman year, I distinctly remember pondering the validity of my statement for almost the entire meeting before summoning the courage to say it.

To help incorporate

her upside down to explain reciprocals to us.

I remember coming in early in the morning to play the old-school game “Jacks” in Ms. Martin’s classroom.

My real issues started to expose themselves in middle school. I don’t know if it was

time I look back upon fondly. I remember I split with my friend group in the middle of eighth grade, and while it was quite a brutal thing to go through at the time, it helped determine who I wanted to be in high school.

High school, though,

the school or the work or the pressure from my peers or just my teenage body reacting to all the hormones (I still don’t know if I made it out okay), but it was challenging for me. My middle school experience was marred with academic issues, including being called into the academic counselor to talk about my poor performance, being a brat a home, and just overall not living my life way in which I should have. I was constantly in a fragile state of mind, and it is not a

did not start out as well as I would have hoped.

I was placed in an introductory physics course that made my attempt to switch into the Buttondowns impossible.

Additionally, due to my math placement in fifth grade, I was stuck on the lowest math track.

The biggest blow to my ego was not being elected to student government freshman year after being on it during my seventh and eighth grade years. I ended up participating in the school play and musi-

the freshmen, I learned that I had to ask each of them individually if they had anything to add. Otherwise, a crucial perspective or suggestion might not be included in the discussion. I also worked to occasionally make jokes (mostly at the expense of Varun— sorry, man) to establish a fun, easygoing environment. The skills I developed, however, were not from a selfhelp book on managing a discussion; they developed naturally as a product of my own experiences.

Wi t h t i m e , I w i tnessed members of the Honor Board, both underclassmen and upperclassmen, speaking with greater confidence and openness. I saw members contemplate issues and questions at a far deeper level than they had at the beginning of the year. The ideal group dynamic finally materialized, and I was able to serve more as an observer than as a moderator.

Although I wish I

could credit this transformation to a proprietary plan I developed myself, that is not what happened. I learned how to lead the Honor Board by experiencing it. Nothing else could prepare me.

As I enter college, the importance of embracing the unknown has never been more i m p o r t a n t . Wi t h a seemingly unlimited supply of classes and opportunities, limiting my options to only those classes or activities for which I feel prepared would be a catastrophic mistake.

Although I might feel unprepared or unqualified at times, the Honor Board has taught me that discomfort is a harbinger of growth.

To the next Honor Board chair, my advice is this: there is no perfect recipe for success.

You must acknowledge your uncertainty and unpreparedness as an opportunity for growth, rather than as a source of anxiety. So don’t bother googling it. Just enjoy the ride.

Student Body President Cowen Embraces the Good and Bad of His Time at Pingry

By ANDREW COWEN (VI)

When asked to write a reflection on my time at Pingry, I immediately encountered a dilemma: what part of the experience do I include, and what do I leave out?

It’s very easy for me to pretend, especially in writing, that my Pingry experience has been nothing but sunshine and rainbows, that over my thirteen years here I have had endless opportunities and wonderful experiences. On the other hand, I don’t think it is right for me to leave out the uglier side of it all, the story of how the institution has, at some points, failed me. Ultimately, it was hard for me to find a way to encompass all the ways I have felt about this place in one piece. But I decided I had to start somewhere.

I didn’t quite have a choice in where I went to elementary school. I don’t exactly remember the first official time I came to Pingry, but I have been told stories about my interview. I went in as my gregarious five-year-old self and proceeded to bake the admissions staff an imaginary pizza. That pizza has followed me ever since, and Dr. Artis and I still talk about

it. I personally do not think I have ever had the raw IQ or extracurricular strength to get into Pingry in any other year besides Kindergarten, so that pizza is probably the most important thing I have ever baked in my life.

I don’t remember much of my elementary school education, but I do remember in the later years that I started to feel that, for whatever reason, I was falling behind in my classes. I had the top number of homework late slips in my fifth grade English class and was reprimanded quite harshly for bumping into another student in the hallway (think staying inside for recess and being sternly talked to by your homeroom teacher). Also, my two best friends left for both Florida and California which did not make the transition to Basking Ridge any easier. And yet, I can’t help but remember the awesome music classes we had with Ms. Finn or the amazing times in homeroom during which Ms. Springmeyer-Dugan would read the “Peter and the Starcatchers” book series to us in class. I remember Mr. Smith picking up Gaby Preziosi and turning

cal during my freshman year, which helped me find a group of new friends. At the same time, I enjoyed spending time with the senior class so much so that I would go down to the senior area after practice every day to play the video game “Injustice” with them. I truly am indebted to them for letting me hang out with them. It made me feel like I was a part of this community. The next year, I was elected to student government, and, mostly because I felt like I wasn’t being challenged in the right ways academically yet, I let it define me. I threw myself into everything in student government. I took my idea of Senior vs. Faculty Basketball and ran with it, and I was one of two students that helped pick out dance decorations for school dances. I chose to devote myself to that because it was something I felt I could have a realistic impact with.

Junior year I picked up steam, taking a math course over the summer and participating in the Honors Bio class as the sole junior. I was also elected to be the class president and kept putting many hours into my role on Student Government. The year

was not without its own drama when it came to friendships, but I finally felt happy with who I was and what I was accomplishing, both inside and outside of the classroom.

So now, as I sit here typing this out to send to you all, thinking about how many of these reflections are supposed to have a greater point, I am somewhat at a loss.

My experience in the whole of Pingry is one I would not wish on anyone. And yet, this allowed me to become who I wanted to be. I have not been through complete failure or serious struggles, but it was quite taxing for me as a thirteen or fourteen-year-old to fully comprehend everything that was going on and how to handle it. I don’t necessarily think I have a greater point–I have no infinite wisdom or cure for everyone at Pingry. I just think we could all benefit from knowing that the senior me, the kid who was smiling or dancing or laughing around like a goofball, was acting like he was because there were times that he really couldn’t imagine growing into the person he is today.

Cartoons by Georgia Liu (VI)

THE PINGRY RECORD

SCHOOL NEWS JUNE 3 , 2019

GLSEN’s Day of Silence Puts Privilege Into Perspective

By JOSIE ALSTON (IV)

On Friday, April 18th, students participated in GLSEN’s Day of Silence.

It was hosted, once again, by the Pingry Gay-Straight Alliance to shed light on the experiences of many LGBTQ+ youths.

In the morning meeting prior to the Day of Silence, GSA presented the student body with statistics demonstrating the disproportionate and shocking amount of hate crimes and bullying that queer kids suffer through.

Students and teachers chose to take vows of silence to show solidarity with those who are forced to be silent in order to protect themselves from becoming victims of such crimes. Eva Schiller (IV) said, “It was a really good experience because it helped me relate to other people in the school who have different experiences than me. It was also really difficult to be silent for the whole day. It helped me realize how difficult it would be to be silent for a long time.”

Eva was not the only one

finding the silence difficult, as many teachers struggled to find ways to creatively lead classes without using their voices. Mr. Steven Benoit, a faculty organizer for the event, discussed his past experiences participating as, “challenging, but doable.”

Although participation this year was light, Mr. Benoit said, “The experience as participant or observer … really resonates with me and my experience as a gay man.”

At the end of the day, there was a “Break the Silence Party” where anyone was welcome to discuss any and all aspects of their silent

experiences, both positive and negative. Callie Mahoney (IV), who participated both during her freshman and sophomore years, found that some students participated in order to get out of school work and others chose not to participate due to prior academic engagements.

She said, “It shouldn’t be a thing of convenience. If it’s a cause you support, you should do it anyway.

Maybe the point is that it is inconvenient. Being aware of what that feels like is important and shouldn’t be compromised. The move-

ment as a whole is a symbol to gain awareness for what this feeling of silence and oppression for LGBT students feels like.”

If anything, the Day of Silence sparked a dialogue for students and teachers surrounding awareness and activism for silenced LGBTQ+ students who have to live with the difficulties that underrepresented spaces and closed conversations present. Looking forward to next year’s event, the organizers hope to inspire more participation and document the number of people who pledge their silence.

Students and Parents Flock to Expanded Research Exhibit

By BRIAN LI (III)

On Sunday, April 14, students, family, alumni, faculty, and staff attended the 7th Annual Pingry Research Exhibit.

Organized by Science Faculty Dr. Morgan D’Ausilio, the exhibit is an opportunity for students to present developments in their research projects. This year featured a variety of programs, including Independent Research Team (IRT), SMART Team, Humanities IRT (HIRT), High School and Middle School Robotics, Computer Science, AP Biology Master Projects, Anatomy Club, Journal Club, Pingry Community Research (PCR), Fyi Sci, and Belize Marine Biology Research. New additions this year included the Middle School Robotics Team and the expansion of Humanities IRT. The research exhibit began with keynote speaker Andrew Beckmen (VI), who reflected on the entirety of his research experience at Pingry. Using the plasmid, a ring-shaped segment of DNA, as an outline for his presentation, Beckmen walked the audience through his Pingry experience. He frequently connected back to the metaphor, illustrating how, like a plasmid, his path in research has come full-circle. He explained, “The use of a plasmid allowed me to connect the scientific literature I found with the rest of my research experiences.” From details about HIV research during his freshman year, to an article about the “London Patient” (supposedly the second

patient ever to be completely cured of HIV), Beckmen’s keynote presentation gracefully demonstrated how his research experience at Pingry has come full-circle.

After the keynote, visitors toured and took part in the exhibits on display. IRT presented a variety of projects, each including posters and interactive activities. For example, attendees could watch as methane bubbles were set aflame or listen to a sound increase in frequency until it was inaudible to the listener.

Students on SMART Team had spent their year working with a researcher from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Recently, the team and faculty advisor Dr. D’Ausilio traveled to Orlando to present at the Undergraduate Research Symposium. At the Exhibit, they recreated their presentation for attendees, showing off a 3D printed model of the cGAS

protein, an immune sensor for DNA. HIRT, led by Mr. Brian Burkhart and Mr. Graig Peterson, displayed its research on humanities and social sciences.

Students on Mr. Peterson’s team collected data on Lower School students regarding social justice, and presented their findings on whether altruism in children is actively developed or naturally innate. Mr. Burkhart’s group examined American Modernist literature and described how the information they gathered through close readings and digital humanities techniques can give insight into some of the philosophical problems posed by thinkers like Nietzsche.

Journal Club featured three student presentations during the research exhibit. Led by Ms. Stephanie Mygas, Journal Club helps students read and present cutting-edge research from universities around the world.

The event closed with an alumni keynote by Teddy Leit-

head ‘14. Leithead explained a new antibiotic activity evaluation developed at the Rutgers Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Its potential uses include testing the survival and development of bacteria that live inside cells.

In future Pingry Research Exhibits, Dr. Colleen Kirkhart, the head of IRT, said she “would like to get more middle school and lower school students involved, and include the whole school in the exhibit.” Dr. D’Ausilio would like to “include other types of research that are not just science,” because “research is not only science.” Mr. Burkhart would also like to expand the breadth of the exhibit, and hopes “that HIRT can expand further to incorporate other humanities, such as history or language.” He added, “I know I really enjoyed the research exhibit and I hope everybody else did too.”

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Analyzing Propaganda within the Nazi Regime

By ALEX KAPLAN (IV)

On Monday, April 29, The Pingry student body gathered in Hauser auditorium for the annual Holocaust Assembly. Each year, the school holds an assembly to remember the events of the Holocaust, the genocide during World War II, where the Jewish people were systematically killed by the germans. It challenges the student body to think about the causes and effects of the holocaust, and encourages discussion of our responsibility to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again.

The assembly typically follows a theme. In past years, there have been presentations, speakers, survivors, and even a one-man show. This year, the theme was propaganda and how it impacted the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in the early 1900s.

Multiple students spoke about the use and manipulation of propaganda throughout the rise and fall of the Nazi party.

The presenters included Alex Kaplan ‘21, Ethan Malzberg ‘19, Ketaki Tevan ‘19, Vicky Chen ‘19, Alexandra Weber ‘20, Lance Perlow ‘20, Kaley Taylor ‘21, Hyla Lear ‘25, Aviv Cohen ‘24, Noah Bergam ‘21, and Natalie DeVito ‘22. The event was organized by Ms. Hartz. They delivered a variety of different talking points throughout the assembly, with a particular focus on the dangers

of allowing prejudice and the fear of the unknown dictate our ability to communicate and engage with groups outside of our own. The assembly also touched on the trends and propaganda of the modern day, including the effect of social media as it relates to propaganda and the importance of vigilance in communications with others. The assembly also devoted time to showing was is and is not propaganda, and how to distinguish them, so that the audience is better equipped to deal with propaganda in daily life.

The assembly served to highlight the importance of educating the public on how propaganda feeds upon fear and hatred.

Through looking at propaganda with the context of Nazi germany, this becomes incredibly clear.

The rampant anti-semitism and hatred that permeated german society throughout the first half of the 20th century were heightened and manipulated using propaganda and government messaging. Ms. Hartz stated that she hopes the assembly helps the student body “recognize that as citizens of the world we must be vigilant in fighting hatred, bigotry, racism, and anti-semitism.” Through providing a basis for this discussion, the Holocaust assembly ensures that people can not forget the events of the Holocaust, how they came to be, and how they can be pre-

Spring Sports Records Baseball 6-10 Softball 13-7 Boys’ Golf 11-4 Girls’ Golf 11-4 Boys’ Lacrosse 8-8 Girls’ Lacrosse 17-4 Boys’ Tennis 10-5

Photo Credits (Left to Right) : Rhea Kapur (IV), Pingry Communications, Pingry Communications

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THE PINGRY RECORD

SCHOOL NEWS JUNE 3, 2019

Robotics Team Makes Pingry History at World Championship For the second year in a row (and the second time in Pingry history), the Pingry Robotics Team joined 40,000 people, including 17,000, and 1,300 robots descending on Detroit for the FIRST Robotics World Championship. The event is the largest student celebration of STEM in the world and the participants are passionate, creative, and diverse.

Pingry’s robot (fondly named Liftoff in accordance with this year’s space theme)

competition.

Out of nearly 4,000 FRC teams, only 400 qualify for Worlds, and each competes in one of six 70-team divisions.

Achieving its best results yet, Pingry Robotics (FRC Team 2577) finished ranked 13th in the Archimedes division, which was one of the most competitive. “Being among the best teams in the world made me so proud of our team for all the hard work we put in to get there,” remarked team member Alesia Paliwoda (IV).

Beyond robots, the event

competed in the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) division. This competition involves robots approximately four feet tall and weighing around 120 pounds, and provides specific yearly challenges that a robot must accomplish. The challenge this year involved manipulating balls and discs and placing them into designated spots on the space-themed field, as well as climbing up a one-and-a-half foot step.

Matches were played with alliances of three random robots on each side of the field, introducing a defensive aspect to the

promotes cross-cultural connections through RoboProm and a high-tech welcome party at Ford Field, as well as advancements in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) at the Innovation Fair, featuring cutting edge technology. Additionally, famous people within the FIRST community, such as founders Woodie Flowers and Dean Kamen, addressed the teams and interacted with students during competition.

Mr. Jeffrey Jenkins, the faculty advisor, noted while reflecting on the experience that “the past several seasons have

By EVA SCHILLER (IV)

seen tremendous growth in the team. This is most evident in awards during FTC [FIRST Technology Challenge, a competition with smaller robots] and FRC, and trips to the World Championship in Detroit. But, the more important growth has been less visible. We have worked to embrace the core values of FIRST: Gracious Professionalism and Cooperation. We look past our own robot to the community and, in giving to the community, have improved as a team in ways that transcend any build season or any single robot.”

The team dynamic will undergo some changes next year with the graduation of captains Alex Strasser (VI) and Brian Kaplan (VI). Looking back on his years of robotics at Pingry, Kaplan comments, “It’s amazing to see how far the team has come since I joined four years ago.” Strasser also recognized the team’s growth, noting how it helped him to “appreciate the value of what we do in robotics, as well as the amazing team I’ve been lucky to be a part of.”

While robotics has a reputation for being difficult, being part of the culture of FIRST is also extremely rewarding, and the world championship is a testament to the power that STEM has to connect people and change the world.

Team member Jamie Wang (V) says it best: “Strategizing with the best and brightest minds of the next generation has reminded me of what robotics is all about: the friendship, the laughter, and the love. I know we will miss the seniors dearly next year. As a junior, it reminds me how precious this time really is. I’m looking forward to another great year.”

Upperclassmen Enliven Prom

By ALISON LEE (V)

On Thursday, April 25, the annual junior and senior prom was held at Stone House at Stirling Ridge in Warren. The day was filled with much anticipation and preparation. Hair and nails needed to be done, corsages and boutonnieres needed to be bought, and dresses and tuxedos needed to be worn.

Before the dance, each class had their own pre-party. Many photos were taken with family, friends, and dates. As it started to drizzle, students paraded into cars, party buses, and stretch limos for the ride to Stone House.

As they walked in, juniors and seniors were greeted by the chaperones, including Dean of Students, Mr. Jake Ross; Form VI Dean, Mr. Douglas Scott; physics teacher, Mrs. Jill Law; and college counselors Mr. Scott Garrow, Mrs. Amy Cooperman, Mrs. Meghan Finegan, and Ms. Ananya Chatterji.

As students waited to enter the main room, they had their pictures taken and ordered drinks from the open bar. Jack Grier (VI) noted that the “shirley temples and ginger ales were great.” Waiters served hors d’oeuvres, including mozzarella tomato skewers and

tuna tartare. When the grand ballroom was finally open, students observed the lavender, white, and gold color scheme.

Students took photos with fun props in the photo booth, and a wall of candles outside provided a nice ambiance.

The DJ played a mix of popular music, such as “Wobble”

by V.I.C, “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond, and “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X. However, many students, including Renee Chan (V), commented that “the DJ could’ve been better.”

Despite the music, both students and chaperones danced the night away, including Assistant Headmaster Dr. Delvin Dinkins, who showed off his dance moves to the surrounding students. After attending over

20 proms, Dr. Dinkins concluded that this was the best one yet. He remarked, “ My favorite part was seeing everybody have a fun time and chatting with the kids there. When you see people in a new environment, not stressed, you see an entirely new side to them–it’s like they come alive.”

The dinner buffet included burgers, fries, and rice. Grier affirmed that the food was good.

Later on, the desserts were of a great variety: chocolatecovered strawberries, cookies, deep-fried Oreos, fruit tarts, and much more.

As the event wound down, students left with a night to truly remember. As they kicked off their heels and dress shoes, they looked forward to their relaxing next day off.

Balladeers Belt Out in the Senior Commons

By MEGHAN DURKIN (IV)

On April 17, the Upper School students and faculty enjoyed a performance by the Balladeers, Pingry’s allfemale acapella group, during their annual assembly. Led by Isabel Devito (VI), the girls serenaded the Upper School with six love-themed songs.

This year, the assembly took place in the Lower Commons, moving out of their usual location in Hauser Auditorium. This location offered better acoustics as well as a unique twist that differentiated them from the Buttondowns, Pingry’s all-male acapella group. Overall, this change in location served as a refreshing modification to distinguish this year’s concert from the rest.

The concert opened with A-ha’s “Take On Me,” featuring Devito as a soloist. As the first choreographed song to be performed in a Balladeers Assembly, “Take On Me” became a quick favorite of students, including many of the Balladeers. Unsurprisingly, when asked about her favorite part of the assembly, Lauren Drzala (IV) chose the opening number, as “it was such a fun experience to really step out of my comfort zone and incorporate some choreography into the song.”

Following “Take On Me” was Coldplay’s “A Sky Full Of Stars,” with Alexandra Lima (VI) as a soloist. Complement-

ing the more subdued mood of the song, the Balladeers approached the song with a laid-back vibe, scattering themselves among the senior couches as Lima took centerstage.

The next songs were a mashup of Christina Aguilera’s “Genie In A Bottle,” and Camila Cabello’s “Havana.” Followed by Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” these songs, as well as the rest, encapsulated the love–based themes in this year’s assembly: “We wanted the set list to tell a kind of love story,” says Balladeer Nicole Toney (VI).

Next, Katerina Deliargyris (VI) performed of this year’s most popular hits: “thank u, next” by Ariana Grande. The audience loved the performance of the song, as well as the tasteful “yee,” added by the group at the end. According to Simone Toney (VI), it demonstrated the group’s chemistry and familiarity, as they were able to “improvise the last part and not worry about it sounding off. We

committed to what we wanted to do and the audience responded.”

The concert closed with Q u e e n ’s “ S o m e b o d y To Love,” featuring the seniors.

They lined up on center stage, taking turns delivering each line of the song. “It was such a sweet bonding moment for all of the seniors,” said Mary Kovacs (VI), adding that it was “a nice goodbye to the school.”

Looking back after her years in the Balladeers, Simone commented on how cohesive the group has been and how well it has facilitated interaction and communication between grades: “It’s a class where I can be myself and fool around with friends.”

The Balladeers Assembly was a great success among the Pingry community, receiving roaring cheers from the captivated audience. “We really wanted to leave a mark on the Balladeers for our last year,” said Simone. The seniors can rest assured as this year’s assembly was one to remember!

Student Government Undergoes Reform

By BRIAN LI (V)

On May 16, Student Government held its first meeting of the 2019-2020 session, voting to pass its new constitution by a vote of 11-0. This marks the first time the constitution has been amended since 2012. The vote is the culmination of a project initiated in the latter half of the 2018-2019 school year by graduating Student Body President Andrew Cowen (VI), who saw a need to provide more structure to Student Government’s work.

“Many criticisms of Student Government are valid,” he conceded. “But the goal is to return the students’ trust to Student Government.”

Student Government faculty a d v i s o r M r s . We i n b e rg e r agrees, noting that the new constitution will “give the students more empowerment in that process” as well as “focus our energies on our priorities.”

The constitution represents just one part of a larger suite of reforms intended to improve Student Government’s reach in the community.

Although the new constitution is largely based on the provisions drafted in the 2012 constitution, there are a few notable changes, especially with regards to membership. The position of Class Vice President has been removed, and each Class Council has been reduced to four members excluding the Class President. This change is designed to reduce the clamor at Student Government meetings and allow for more organized discussions. These changes were implemented for the first time during the 2019 elections this past

April. Cowen believes that “Student Government is an organization that is centered on small-group work, and a smaller organization lends itself better to that goal.”

The positions of Secretary and Treasurer have also been resurrected. Applications for these positions were released to student government members and, on May 22, Ola Weber (V) and James Cummings (V) were appointed as Secretary and Treasurer, respectively. Although the 2012 constitution calls for these two positions, there were no appointments to them for at least three years.

Measures have also been taken to ensure more openness and accountability in Student Government. Select meetings are now open to the student body and the discipline procedures for member violations have been updated.

The Deans of Students and the incoming Head of School will also be invited to Student Government meetings starting in September. The aim of these changes is to allow students and faculty outside the program to witness Student Government work firsthand and even provide feedback.

Student Government is also aiming to secure a budget through the school’s Business Office. Burke Pagano (V) sees obtaining a budget as an important means by which “we will have the support needed to accomplish what we promise.” In previous years, Student Government has been largely self-funded through its events. Although a positive balance exists, a Student Government budget will be able to supplement income generated by Student

Government events and allow for more flexible spending on the part of individual Class Councils. The handling of these finances will be the responsibility of the incoming Treasurer.

Debate on the new constitution dominated the previous three Student Government meetings. Concerns focused on the new discipline policy (a modified “three-strike rule”) and election rules following the disqualification of two candidates running for the Senior Class Council. After the inclusion of new sections dedicated to targeting these issues, debates about these issues have largely subsided.

Now that the new constitution has been approved, Student Government intends to begin planning its work for the 20192020 school year. Although Cowen will not be able to witness the constitution take force, he is optimistic that it will steer Student Government in the right direction and help regain the student body’s trust. He believes that the document “is not a constitution in the strictest sense, but rather an example of what Student Government ought to be capable of if it has more leeway.”

This is a sentiment that was echoed by many at the May 16 meeting. “The idea here is that we have a framework, but we have to follow through,” commented Noah Bergam (IV). Other representatives such as Ola Weber (V) see the constitution as a boon t o S t u d e n t G o v e r n m e n t ’s work but views these changes cautiously—“implementation is the key here.”

Photo Credits (Left to Right): Pingry Communications, Pingry Communications, Peter Chollick Photography

THE PINGRY RECORD ADMISSIONS

STATISTICS JUNE 3, 2019

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Class of 2019 Thrives Despite Heightened Competition

By VICKY GU (V)

Pingry’s Class of 2019 achieved a record number of early program acceptances.

With 99% of students applying, an incredible 91% of this year’s graduating class was accepted to an early program, which includes early decision and early action programs. This year’s class also had a particularly diverse range of colleges they were interested in: the 140 students applied to 190 colleges, breaking the record of 184 set in 2014. The students will matriculate at 65 colleges.

The record number of colleges to which this year’s graduating class applied does not come as any particular surprise, as colleges are generally receiving more and more applications every year. “The competitiveness is increasing ever so slightly every year” for each college, according to college counselor Mrs. Cherilyn Reynolds. Thus, there are “many more regular

decision schools that kids are applying to.”

Colleges are also beginning to offer a wider range of early programs as well, and Mrs. Reynolds remarked that “more schools are adding [Early Decision 2], so what used to be for only a handful of schools a few years ago is now becoming mainstream for many institutions.”

The average of 13.1 applications written per student this year reflects the increasing competition for both early and regular decision acceptances. The average number of applications per student in the past 10 years, in contrast, was 12.4 applications.

Thankfully, the class has received 18 acceptances off of the waitlist for 14 colleges.

Interestingly, only 14% of the class was recruited for athletics, which is lower than the 19% and 17% of students who graduated in 2018 and 2017, respectively.

Some colleges accepted an unusually

large number of students. For example, the class of 2019 received 10 acceptances from Lehigh, the highest number since 2015, with 8 students matriculating. Similarly, the class also received 10 admittances from NYU, with 6 attending. The class has enrollments at Union College and American University this year, which has not happened since 2013 and 2015, respectively. In addition, a student from Pingry will be attending West Point for the first time in over a decade.

As for advice about yearly trends of increasing competition, Mrs. Reynolds remarks that “It really is important to have a balanced list because institutional priorities shift from year to year… Our admissions colleagues discuss these trends during the Junior Case Study Night each spring, and Pingry families recognize the reality of the selectivity ” with increasing applications per student and decreasing admit rates.

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THE PINGRY RECORD

SENIOR PAGES

JUNE 3, 2019

Senior Awards Academic Awards John R. Whittemore ‘47 Biology Award Caroline Friend, Annette Jones Ernest C. Shawcross Chemistry Award Aditya Gollapudi, Felicia Ho Physics Award Aditya Gollapudi, Kevin Ma Science Book Award Dylan Stein Science Research Award Andrew Beckmen Science In Society Award Alessia Zanobini Whitlock Prize for Math Aditya Gollapudi Advanced Math Prize Andrew Beckmen, Avery Didden Computer Science Prize Alexander Strasser, Christopher Yu Economics Prize William Rothpletz, Brandon Spellman Robotics Prize Brian Kaplan, Alexander Strasser Union College Casmir A. France Award for Excellence in English Avery Didden,

Alessia Zanobini Paul H. and Sarah Rouslin Excellence in English Award Mary Kovacs, Paige Maultsby Martin B. O’Connor ‘26 Journalism Award Miroslav Bergam, Ketaki Tavan Yearbook Award Gabriela Preziosi, Veronica Williams Justin Society Award Competition

Prize for Essay: Miroslav Bergam, Felicia Ho

Prize for Flash Fiction: Paige Maultsby

Prize for Poetry: Paige Maultsby, Annaya Baynes, Ethan Malzberg

Prize for Memoir: Miroslav Bergam Jean S. MacDonald History Prize Thomas Drzik Psychology Prize Caroline Santoro Language Prize Chinese: Rajeev Doraswamy

French: John Grier

German: Katerina Deliargyris, Georgia Liu

Latin: John Grier, Georgia Liu

Spanish: Andrew Beckmen Advanced Language Prize Chinese: Allison Matthias

French: Kristine Fu, Felicia Ho

German: Nicole Kloss Latin: Grace Brown Spanish: Ethan Malzberg, Lucas Vazquez The DeGryse Prize in Modern European Languages Alisa Chokshi

Arts & Drama Director’s Award for Achievement in Dramatic Arts Katerina Deliargyris, Alessia Zanobini Drama Department Award for Musical Theatre Dorothea Miller Drama Department Stage Manager Prize Udochi Emeghara, Allison Matthias Drama Department Award for Technical Theatre Paige Maultsby Michael E. Popp Photography Prize Grace Brown, Benjamin Ingrassia, Leighton Mayers Brendan J. Donahue ’79 Memorial Prize for Fine Arts Georgia Liu, Paige Maultsby Brendan J. Donahue ’79 Memorial Prize for Pottery and Sculpture Alejandro Briones,

Hanna Davis, Grace O’Mara Barbara Berlin Prize in Art History Holden Shikany Music Award Jason Bisgay, Felicia Ho

School Service and Leadership Michael Jupka, Jr. ‘76 Blue Key Award Amanda Saunders Community Service Award Miroslav Bergam, Ethan Malzberg, Ketaki Tavan Paul R. Leary ‘90 Award Rajeev Doraswamy, Anne Leithead John Taylor Babbitt ‘07 Award Nicole Toney Student Government Achievement Award Andrew Cowen

Cum Laude Society Darlene Fung Aditya Gollapudi Nathan Hefner Felicia Ho Annette Jones Jackson Lubke Kevin Ma Ethan Malzberg Allison Matthias

Shail Avasthi Annaya Baynes Andrew Beckmen Miroslav Bergam Grace Brown Vicky Chen Avery Didden Kristine Fu

Paige Maultsby Caroline Santoro Varun Seetamraju Brandon Spellman Alexander Strasser Ketaki Tavan Jeffrey Xiao Alessia Zanobini

National Merit Scholarship Program Commended Students Shail Avasthi Annaya Baynes Grace Brown Vicky Chen Isabel DeVito Zachary Dobson Rajeev Doraswamy Thomas Drzik

Udochi Emeghara Dilan Mushayandebvu Dillon Shu Jeremy Newman Kristine Fu Brandon Spellman Zoe Papandreou Aditya Gollapudi Alexander Strasser Cathleen Parker Nathan Hefner Michael Sun Nicholas Robinson Josephine Jahng Jeffrey Xiao Zachary Ross Andrew Lee Cassandra Yermack Caroline Santoro Georgia Liu Christopher Yu Benjamin Mandelbaum Varun Seetamraju Alessia Zanobini

National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists

Drew Beckmen Miroslav Bergam Abigail Berger

Felicia Ho Annette Jones Matthew Keller Jackson Lubke

Kevin Ma Paige Maultsby Ketaki Tavan

National Merit Scholarship Finalists Felicia Ho Annette Jones Jackson Lubke

Miroslav Bergam Abigail Berger

Kevin Ma Ketaki Tavan

National Merit Scholars Miroslav Bergam*

Ketaki Tavan**

*National Merit Scholarship Recipient ** National Merit Liberty Mutual Sponsorship Recipient

National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholars Cassandra Yermack

Presidential Scholar Candidates Jackson Lubke

Ketaki Tavan

Scholar-Athlete Awards

Cipriano Family Scholar-Athlete Award Olivia Lai, Brandon Spellman Somerset County Scholar-Athletes Darlene Fung, Kevin Ma Special Awards Skyland Conference Nathan Hefner, Grace O’Mara Josephine Jahng The Pingry School Gift To Our AFS Student Lena Klier NJSIAA (State) Leighton Mayers, Cathleen Parker Pingry School Parents’ Association Women’s Sports Award Darlene Fung NJISAA (Independent Schools) Centennial Cup — Gift of the Class of ’61 Nathan Hefner Sandy Apruzzese Big Blue Award Oluwasolape Fakorede Class of ’26 Reese Williams Award Joseph Shilts Athletics Awards C. B. Newton Pingry-Princeton Scholarship Prize Allison Matthias The Elizabeth Allan Smith ‘83 Memorial Pingry-Duke Scholarship Prize Katerina Deliargyris, Girls’ Cross-Country Award Cathleen Parker

Avery Didden Boys’ Cross-Country Award Jeffrey Xiao Faculty Prize Thomas Campbell Andrea Montague Field Hockey Award Josephine Jahng Charles B. Atwater Valedictory Award Felicia Ho Tom Boyer Football Award Nathan Hefner, Joseph Shilts The Henry G. Stifel III Award Jack Lyons Michael Jupka, Jr. ’76 Football Award Jake Austin, Jack Baulig Timothy C. Cornwall ’64 Boys’ Soccer Sportsmanship Award Alberto Choussy Dick Gradwohl Boys’ Soccer Cup for Most Team Spirit Andrew Beckmen Advanced Placement Scholars Elizabeth Allan Smith ’83 Girls’ Soccer Award Ava Dziadzio Shail Avasthi Darlene Fung John R. Dufford, Jr. Tennis Trophy Nicole Kloss, Allison Matthias Georgia Liu Alejandro Briones Aashiya Jaggi Water Polo Award Kevin Ma Cathleen Parker Alisa Chokshi Josephine Jahng Frank L. Romano Boys’ Basketball Award Kyle Aanstoots Alexander Rabney Thomas Drzik Annette Jones Joe LaValley Boys’ Basketball Award Nathan Hefner Zachary Ross Ava Dziadzio Mary Kovacs David M. Allan Memorial Girls’ Basketball Award Veronica Williams Alexander Strasser Udochi Emeghara Alexandra Lima Virginia Nazario Fencing Award Georgia Liu, Michael Sun Varsity Boys’ Ice Hockey Award Matthew Keller Girls’ Ice Hockey Award Clare Hall, Sophia Smith Advanced Placement Scholars with Honor Girls’ Ski Team Award Anne Leithead Jonathan Chen Rajeev Doraswamy Margot Present Boys’ Ski Team Award Brian Kaplan Vicky Chen Allison Hosler Allison Riddell Girls’ Squash Team Award Alisa Chokshi Isabel DeVito Matthew Keller Caroline Santoro Boys’ Squash Team Award Christopher Zachary Avery Didden Paige Maultsby Varun Seetamraju Boys’ Swimming Award Kevin Ma Ashley G. Marsh and Family Swimming Award Darlene Fung Michael Jupka, Jr. ’76 Wrestling Award Zachary Dobson, Brandon Spellman Advanced Placement Scholars with Distinction Girls’ Winter Track Award Cathleen Parker Boys’ Winter Track Award Joseph Shilts Andrew Beckmen Nathan Hefner Ethan Malzberg Class of 1935 Graham Churchill Baseball Award Nathan Hefner Miroslav Bergam Felicia Ho Allison Matthias Girls’ Golf Award Christine Shao Abigail Berger Luke Ittycheria Michael Sun Boys’ Golf Award Michael Gallagher Isabella Drzala Andrew Lee Ketaki Tavan Richard C. Weiler Boys’ Lacrosse Award Luke Ackerman Kristine Fu Jackson Lubke Jeffrey Xiao Girls’ Lacrosse Sportsmanship Award Abigail Beckmen Aditya Gollapudi Kevin Ma Christopher Yu Pingry Girls’ Lacrosse Cup Olivia Lai, Cathleen Parker Pingry Softball Award Jillian Bahr, Mary Kovacs, Angelina Mayers Boys’ Tennis Award Luke Ittycheria National Advanced Placement Scholar Boys’ Track Award Joseph Shilts, Jeffrey Xiao Aditya Gollapudi Kevin Ma Jeffrey Xiao Richard G. Gradwohl Girls’ Track Award Grace O’Mara Twelve Letter Award Benjamin Ingrassia, Grace O’Mara, Cathleen Parker, Jeffrey Xiao Advanced Placement Scholar Designation based on 2018 testing

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The 1902 Emblem

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The Class of 1902 Emblem is awarded to Katerina Deliargyris of the Class of 2019, who, while at The Pingry School, by the efficiency and the amount of service and loyalty of attitude has done the most for the school, and who has been judged therefore by schoolfellows and faculty to have shown of them all the greatest amount of school spirit.

The Class of 1902 Emblem represents the highest ideals of The Pingry School. The nominees chosen by their classmates and faculty are considered to embody the very principles of integrity and service that lie at the heart of the institution.

Thus, even to be nominated for this award is regarded as a paramount honor.

E, M Nominee

Years at Pingry: 7 Trademark Characteristics: Passionate, creative, very loud and recognizable laugh, Patriots fan Activities: Balladeers, Drama, Fall Play, Winter Musical, German Club, SAC College Plans: Duke University Career Possibilities: I want to be able to use the languages I speak, as well as the ones I’m going to learn!! Also maybe something having to do with environmental conservation and policy? Who knows!

Senior Year Song: Thank U, Next. Just kidding. We Are The Champions

by Queen Favorite Memory at Pingry: Definitely the Saturday night show of RENT this past February. It was by far the best of our four performances, and I couldn’t have imagined a better way to say thank you to the Drama Department for the best four years of my life.

What I’ll Take Away: Forming long-lasting relationships with your teachers and mentors is incredibly rewarding. I love having teachers who know who I am outside of the classroom and then support me in my extracurricular activities.

What Piece of Advice Would You Give to Underclassmen?: Savor it.

Savor. It. Senior year went by faster than any other year of high school.

Make sure you have fun in everything you do, and make as many new friends as you can. Don’t be afraid to try something new :)

KATERINA DELIARGYRIS

The Magistri Laudandi Award In every class, there is one student who graciously gives of him/herself to help the school and fellow students, who demonstrates a personal integrity and generosity that inspire the best in others. This person’s own achievements are many, yet his/her sense of purpose is to the greater good. While others may be identified as "the student most likely to succeed," this person is prized as "the student who helps all succeed.”

The Magistri Laudandi Award is awarded to Andrew Beckmen.

E, M Nominee

ANDREW BECKMEN

Years at Pingry: 13 Trademark Characteristics: motivated, adventurous, organized, dependable, and “the twin” Activities: Soccer, IRT, Honor Board, and Outing Club College Plans: Yale! Go Bulldogs Career Possibilities: Unsure Senior Year Song: Better by Khalid Favorite Memory at Pingry: Hoisting the Field Day trophy with my sister in 5th grade after leading the White Team to victory What I’ll Take Away: You can learn just as much from the people around you as you can in the classroom. I credit my intellectual curiosity to the interactions I had with teachers and peers during flexes and CPs. There’s always more to learn and more to experience!

What Piece of Advice Would You Give to Underclassmen?: Although much of life is out of your control, you have the power to determine your own attitude and work ethic. Come to school everyday and work to be the best version of yourself. If you are warm, kind, inclusive, and hardworking, you will earn respect from others and find success in everything you do.

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Nominees for 1902 Emblem (E)

MIROSLAV BERGAM E, M

ANDREW COWEN E, M

AVERY DIDDEN M

DARLENE FUNG E

Years at Pingry: 10 Trademark characteristics: Changing my hair every 3 months, listening to bad pop music, journalling like a maniac Activities: The Record (plug!), SDLC, Student Gov, Humanities iRT, The Broken Wreckord, The Denan Project College Plans: Harvard University Career Possibilities: Anything from comedy writing to publishing to government to something math-y.

Senior Year Song: Godspeed by Frank Ocean.... or Shallow by Lady Gaga Favorite Memory at Pingry: Hearing all of the supportive feedback following my LeBow speech.

I was really happy to share that story with this community in particular. I also have an unnatural amount of fun staying late after school to create the paper and satire paper, so any of those evenings might take the cake.

What you’ll take away: A lot of academic interests in a lot of different areas, which is equally confusing and exciting. I also learned to thank the people who get you where you are (AKA your teachers).

What piece of advice would you give to underclassmen? Show, don’t tell. If you want someone – whether it be a friend, teacher, or institution– to trust and believe in you, put your money where your mouth is. Fall down rabbit holes, take risks, and don’t worry about the immediate payoff.

Years at Pingry: 13 Trademark Characteristics: Stunning Good Looks, Fashionista, Hilarious Jokes Activities: Student Government, Play, Musical College Plans: I intend on going to William and Mary, but my grades might cause that to be changed.

Career Possibilities: I have literally no idea. I’ve always wanted to be a stay at home dad. Playing video games and doing nothing else? Sounds like the dream if you ask me.

Senior Year Song: The 1812 Overture Favorite Memory at Pingry: My final act as Student Body President saluting the school while wearing only unicorn underwear.

What I’ll Take Away: All the stuff I stole from the bookstore ;).

What Piece of Advice Would You Give to Underclassmen?: Savor the time you have here.

MARIAH SMITH M

ALEXANDER STRASSER M

KETAKI TAVAN E, M

VERONICA WILLIAMS M

working, didn’t get senioritis, made the Pingry app, robotics, literally addicted to coding.

Activities: Student Tech Committee (STC), Robotics, Track College Plans: Carnegie Mellon University Career Possibilities: Electrical Engineering, Computer science Senior Year Song: “High Hopes” by Panic!

At The Disco Favorite Memory at Pingry: When the robotics team went together to worlds, it felt like all my hard work was finally coming together. I felt so proud to be a part of that amazing team.

What I’ll Take Away: The teachers and students at Pingry have been so supportive through all my struggles and hard work. I will take away the strength to pursue my passions and want to support others as I myself was.

loving, thoughtful, that one black dress with the white stripes.

Activities: Honor Board, The Record :), Swimming, South Asian Affinity Group, Peer Leadership, The Denan Project College Plans: University of Chicago Career Possibilities: We’ll see ¯\_()_/¯ Senior Year Song: Rose-Colored Boy by Paramore Favorite Memory at Pingry: Getting to travel to Peru with some of my teachers and classmates to visit one of The Denan Project’s sites there. It was an incredible way to conduct nonprofit research and see our work with the organization through.

What I’ll Take Away: The special relationships I’ve developed over my seven years here, a simultaneously improved work ethic and ability to procrastinate, and a greater appreciation for life’s simple pleasures.

What Piece of Advice Would You Give to Underclassmen?: Don’t get caught in the trap of just going through the motions. Approach your limited time here with intentionality, and make sure you can say that you’re a different person from the time you arrived when you’re finally ready to leave.

Caring, and Disciplined Activities: Basketball, Track and Field, Editorin-Chief of the Yearbook, Co-Leader of GSA, Conference Period Band, Peer Leadership College Plans: Georgetown University Career Possibilities: Possibly a psychologist... but my dream job is to have a show that’s a mix of Dr. Phil and Oprah called “Tea with V”...we’ll see what happens Senior Year Song: Kiss it Better by Rihanna Favorite Memory at Pingry: Definitely doing the Dean Chatterji Anger Translator skit with Solape at the first SAC assembly of the school year.

What I’ll Take Away: My friends, newfound confidence, and leaning into ALL TYPES of discomfort (shout out to the Peer Leadership advisors...love y’all :)) What Piece of Advice Would You Give to Underclassmen?: Keep grinding young grasshoppers. It’s a long road, but you have the strength within you to achieve your goals. Believe in yourself and always give your best effort. Can’t wait to see you all do your thing :)

Years at Pingry: 7 Trademark Characteristics: Loving everyone like crazy, consistently having ridiculously overdue assignments, losing anything valuable I own, and drawing all over anything and everything.

Activities: Balladeers, Fyi-Sci, SDLC, Pingry Girls XC and Track, Peer Leadership, and Blue Key College Plans: Boston University!! :) Career Possibilities: If all else fails, I want to open my own foster home. until then, I’m looking into some career in the international relations field Senior Year Song: Mine - Leven Kali (have not stopped listening to this song all year. It simply captures a little bit of my senior year mood) Favorite Memory at Pingry: either my experience with the other peer leaders in the Carriage House before senior year began, or getting to drve with some of my friends to the beach and just enjoying being around each other.

What I’ll Take Away: the most amazing relationships I’ll ever have - genuinely could not have lucked out any more than I did. I hope the people I meet in the future will only be half as incredible and inspiring as the people I met at pingry What Piece of Advice Would You Give to Underclassmen?: these four years will go by quicker than you know, and quicker than anyone tries to tell you they will. focus on what makes you happy and how you can help the people around you be happy too. keep doing the stuff you’re passionate about but don’t be afraid to leave old passions behind - just because you’re comfortable with it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right choice for you. more than anything, soak up every moment because you’re gonna miss it more than you think you will.

Years at Pingry: 10 Trademark Characteristics: Honest, hardworking, and passionate Activities: Calliope, IRT, Honor Board, Field Hockey, and Handbells College Plans: Duke University Career Possibilities: I want to be a lawyer or a journalist. My ideal dream job is editor of a magazine like The New Yorker.

Senior Year Song: Tongue Tied by Grouplove Favorite Memory at Pingry: I loved the senior retreat and doing the princess theme!

What I’ll Take Away: How to work hard while still being involved in extracurriculars. I think I learned how to balance my life.

What Piece of Advice Would You Give to Underclassmen?: Sounds cheesy, but savor the memories. Everyone who tells you it goes by too fast is telling the truth. Also, don’t miss the opportunity to visit your teachers and to make memories with them too!

Years at Pingry: 4 Trademark Characteristics: Smiley, dedicated,

absent for swim meets Activities: Swimming, Peer Leadership, Writing Center, Journal Club, Blue Key College Plans: Harvard University Career Possibilities: Health science related fields.

Senior Year Song: Anything and everything played in the car on the way to get food!

Favorite Memory at Pingry: During one of the last few days of school, the grade spontaneously gathered in the lower commons for an impromptu standup comedy show, which started from a few kids telling jokes in front of an empty mic stand.

It was so heartwarming to see the class come together and just enjoy each other’s company.

What I’ll Take Away: Countless fond memories, friendships, and life lessons. I truly can’t imagine going to high school anywhere else.

What Piece of Advice Would You Give to Underclassmen?: Just be yourself! Stay true to who you are and follow your passions — the rest will come.

Years at Pingry: 4 Years at Pingry: 4 Years at Pingry: 7 Trademark Characteristics: Passionate, hard- Trademark Characteristics: Big smile, tall, kind, Trademark Characteristics: Generous, Funny,

What Piece of Advice Would You Give to Underclassmen?: High school isn’t about college. You should enjoy high school as much as you can while it lasts, and do the things you really love to do. Once you find what you love, go all in. Don’t leave high school regretting you should’ve done more.

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JUNE 3, 2019

& Magistri Laudandi (M) Awards

NATHAN HEFNER M

Years at Pingry: 4 Trademark Characteristics: Driven, Compassionate, Fun Activities: Football, Basketball, Baseball, Model UN, Fyi Sci, Blue Key College Plans: Northwestern University Career Possibilities: Financial Advisor, Lawyer Senior Year Song: Gotta go with the classic “Old John Pingry,” sung after every football win Favorite Memory at Pingry: Senior Year Snowball or the Peer Leadership Retreat What I’ll Take Away: The people, teachers and peers included, I have formed relationships with that will last a lifetime What Piece of Advice Would You Give to Underclassmen?: Do not be afraid to try something new and apply yourself to a facet of Pingry that you have never been a part of before.

FELICIA HO E, M

Years at Pingry: 10 Trademark Characteristics: always smiling or laughing, a natural at music and bio puns, super positive, raves about all kinds of food, city girl, passionate, the “mom” who’s got your back Activities: orchestra, student government, winter musical, tennis, The Record, PCR, STEM Center College Plans: Harvard University Career Possibilities: Saving lives with medicine (pediatric oncologist) or with a healthy dose of laughs (stand-up?)

Senior Year Song: “Hey Look Ma, I Made It”, Panic! At the Disco Favorite Memory at Pingry: My favorite mem(e) ory? There are so many! What stands out is the peer leadership retreat freshman year: I “dropped the mic” during our performance, and the whole grade - kids I had known for years or met only a few hours ago - erupted into cheers. Y’all are amazing.

Thank you for fostering such a caring and supportive community all these years.

What I’ll Take Away: Invaluable advice from teachers who genuinely care about you, big blue moments with the epic class of 2019, a final “Bye Felicia” What Piece of Advice Would You Give to Underclassmen?: Listen to Shakira’s “Try Everything” from Zootopia, and be that bunny! There is no limit to what you can do, no matter what other people say. Don’t chase your dreams alone. Reach out to classmates you’ve never talked to before - they are kind, smart, funny, and incredibly talented.

ETHAN MALZBERG E, M Years at Pingry: 7 Trademark Characteristics: Hardworking, loving, open. Everyone’s friend!

Activities: Senior Class President, Peer Leadership, SDLC, The Denan Project, GSA, Jewish Affinity Group, Community Service Club, and Humanities Research.College Plans: Columbia University Career Possibilities: Law/politics? Tech/finance?

Something that involves multiple things I love Senior Year Song: My My My! by Troye Sivan Favorite Memory at Pingry: I love outdoor lunches during Spring, walk-and-talks around campus during flex times, and planning/seeing through the trip to The Denan Project’s site in Peru.

What I’ll Take Away: Incredible work ethic and loyal friends. Pingry ingrained putting 100% into everything I do. Experiences here taught me how to unconditionally support everyone around me emotionally and spiritually, especially when it’s not easy.

What Piece of Advice Would You Give to Underclassmen?: You can do anything you want, even if you’re not good or the best at it. Follow your gut, do whatever you love, and listen to yourself -- you’ll make it out more than okay!

ALLISON MATTHIAS E, M

Years at Pingry: 6 Trademark Characteristics: Curious, open-

minded, driven, passionate, and spending too much money on coffee Activities: Winter Musical (Stage Manager), IRT, SDLC, Student Government, Varsity Tennis, some lighting design, and CASE College Plans: Princeton University Career Possibilities: Maybe journalism or production management? But who knows?

Senior Year Song: imagine (Ariana Grande) Favorite Memory at Pingry: Calling the show for Rent and, in those moments, watching months of hard work come to fruition and becoming part of the show with some of my favorite people.

What I’ll Take Away: The value of genuine friendships and the importance of stepping back and looking at the bigger picture.

What Piece of Advice Would You Give to Underclassmen?: To be open to new people, ideas, and opportunities because you never know how they will change you. Also, give yourself time to process and relax—it’s so importance. And have some fun!!

Congratulations ALESSIA ZANOBINI E

Years at Pingry: 4 Trademark Characteristics: Watching movies/ Twilight Zone, talking about politics, EMT, tie dyeing, theater.

Activities: Journal Club, SDLC, fall play/winter musical, peer leadership College Plans: Claremont McKenna College ‘23 Career Possibilities: Medicine? We’ll see.

Senior Year Song: God Is A Woman by Ariana Grande Favorite Memory at Pingry: Taking pictures at the senior retreat when the sun set, and then sitting outside in the middle of the night talking about fears and excitements for the upcoming year with two of my friends.

What I’ll Take Away: I have had some incredible teachers who have really challenged me intellectually while caring for me deeply as a person. I cannot thank them enough for this.

What Piece of Advice Would You Give to Underclassmen?: Don’t peak in high school!! Realistically, you won’t be completely satisfied with your life as a teenager. And you shouldn’t be. People (as in, you) are inherently dynamic and will definitely change over four years. So, trust that things really do get better, and there is so much of your life that lies outside of high school.

to the winners, the nominees, and the entire

Class of 2019!

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JUNE 9, 2019

College Placement THOMAS DRZIK UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

MARY KOVACS GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

WILLIAM ROTHPLETZ LEHIGH UNIVERSITY

LUKE ACKERMAN COLGATE UNIVERSITY

IAN DUGAN NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

JOHN LAGORCE ST. LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY

CAROLINE SANTORO UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

JAKE AUSTIN UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND

AVA DZIADZIO VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY

OLIVIA LAI WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY

AMANDA SAUNDERS NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

SHAIL AVASTHI UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

UDOCHI EMEGHARA HARVARD COLLEGE

AANYA LALL NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY

SYDNEY SAUNDERS TULANE UNIVERSITY

JILLIAN BAHR LEHIGH UNIVERSITY

OLUWASOLAPE FAKOREDE LAFAYETTE COLLEGE

ANDREW LEE CORNELL UNIVERSITY

DANIEL SCHNACK QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY

CHASE BARNES UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, AMHERST

CAROLINE FRIEND UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND

ANNE LEITHEAD MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE

VARUN SEETAMRAJU COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

JACK BAULIG KENYON COLLEGE

KRISTINE FU COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

NAVA LEVENE-HARVELL SPELMAN COLLEGE

MIHIR SETH UNION COLLEGE

ANNAYA BAYNES SPELMAN COLLEGE

DARLENE FUNG HARVARD COLLEGE

ALEXANDRA LIMA BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY

CHRISTINE SHAO COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

ALEXANDRA BEARD YALE UNIVERSITY

MICHAEL GALLAGHER FRANKLIN & MARSHALL COLLEGE

GEORGIA LIU BROWN UNIVERSITY

LAUREN SHELBY WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY

JOSEPH BEATTY BROWN UNIVERSITY

JACK GAMBELLO BOSTON COLLEGE

JACKSON LUBKE NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

HOLDEN SHIKANY BABSON COLLEGE

ABIGAIL BECKMEN UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

LYDIA GARGANO COLBY COLLEGE

JACK LYONS DAVIDSON COLLEGE

JOSEPH SHILTS THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER

ANDREW BECKMEN YALE UNIVERSITY

ELISHA GODBOLD HOWARD UNIVERSITY

KEVIN MA AMHERST COLLEGE

DILLON SHU CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

BRIAN BENSON GETTYSBURG COLLEGE

ADITYA GOLLAPUDI PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

ETHAN MALZBERG COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

ALLISON SIMON BABSON COLLEGE

MIROSLAV BERGAM HARVARD COLLEGE

JOHN GRIER GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

BENJAMIN MANDELBAUM PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

MARIAH SMITH BOSTON UNIVERSITY

ABIGAIL BERGER CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

NICHOLAS GRIMALDI LEHIGH UNIVERSITY

ALLISON MATTHIAS PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

SOPHIA SMITH WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY

JASON BISGAY EMORY UNIVERSITY

HANNAH GRUBER TULANE UNIVERSITY

PAIGE MAULTSBY JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

BRANDON SPELLMAN GAP YEAR

ALEJANDRO BRIONES PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

CLARE HALL COLGATE UNIVERSITY

ANGELINA MAYERS BOWDOIN COLLEGE

NICHOLAS SPINELLI RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE

PAUL MAX BROTMAN LEHIGH UNIVERSITY

NATHAN HEFNER NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

LEIGHTON MAYERS BOWDOIN COLLEGE

DYLAN STEIN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS

GRACE BROWN BARNARD COLLEGE

RYAN HENRIQUES AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

DOROTHEA MILLER NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

ALEXANDER STRASSER CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

KAMAL BROWN PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY

FELICIA HO HARVARD COLLEGE

RASHIDATU MOHAMMED GETTYSBURG COLLEGE

MICHAEL SUN UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

THOMAS CAMPBELL UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND

ALLISON HOSLER UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

DILAN MUSHAYANDEBVU CORNELL UNIVERSITY

KETAKI TAVAN UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

JONATHAN CHEN EMORY UNIVERSITY

BENJAMIN INGRASSIA UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER

JEREMY NEWMAN TUFTS UNIVERSITY

EVAN TAYLOR THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

VICKY CHEN UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

LUKE ITTYCHERIA WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS

PETER NICOLETTI KENYON COLLEGE

JACK TIMKO UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

ALISA CHOKSHI CORNELL UNIVERSITY

AASHIYA JAGGI BOSTON UNIVERSITY

GRACE O’MARA LAFAYETTE COLLEGE

NICOLE TONEY WILLIAMS COLLEGE

ALBERTO CHOUSSY BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY

JOSEPHINE JAHNG YALE UNIVERSITY

ZOE PAPANDREOU UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

SIMONE TONEY WELLESLEY COLLEGE

ANDREW COWEN COLLEGE OF WILLIAM & MARY

OLIVIA JAMES LEHIGH UNIVERSITY

CATHLEEN PARKER UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY - ARMY

ZACHARIYA TRICHAS MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE

PRAESANA DANNER UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

NABEEL JAN BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY

NIA PHILLIPS SPELMAN COLLEGE

LUCAS VAZQUEZ NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

HODIAH DAVIDSON BARNARD COLLEGE

ABIGAIL JAY BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY

MARGOT PRESENT NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

MICHAEL VESSA LAFAYETTE COLLEGE

HANNA DAVIS DARTMOUTH COLLEGE

CHRISTYAN JEAN-CHARLES LEHIGH UNIVERSITY

GABRIELA PREZIOSI BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY

VERONICA WILLIAMS GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

KATERINA DELIARGYRIS DUKE UNIVERSITY

ANNETTE JONES RICE UNIVERSITY

ALEXANDER RABNEY UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

JEFFREY XIAO UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

ISABEL DEVITO MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE

KATHRYN JONES BOSTON UNIVERSITY

ALLISON RIDDELL GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

CASSANDRA YERMACK NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

AVERY DIDDEN DUKE UNIVERSITY

STEPHEN KANARAS BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY

NICHOLAS ROBINSON EMORY UNIVERSITY

CHRISTOPHER YU GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

ZACHARY DOBSON VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY

BRIAN KAPLAN NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY

LILLIAN ROCKOFF NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY

CHRISTOPHER ZACHARY DARTMOUTH COLLEGE

RAJEEV DORASWAMY UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

MATTHEW KELLER UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

BAILEY ROMANO LEHIGH UNIVERSITY

ALESSIA ZANOBINI CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

ISABELLA DRZALA GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

NICOLE KLOSS UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

ZACHARY ROSS UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

LEONARD ZHU NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

KYLE AANSTOOTS PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY

as of May 28, 2019

THE PINGRY RECORD

DEPARTING FACULTY JUNE 3, 2019

Mr. Thomson Retires After 43 Years of Teaching and Coaching

By LAUREN DRZALA (IV)

After 43 years of roaming the halls of Pingry as both a teacher and a coach, Mr. Peter Thomson is retiring. Mr. Thomson began working at Pingry in 1976 and has been contributing to the Pingry community ever since.

Throughout his teaching c a r e e r, M r.

Thomson taught a variety of math courses: Algebra 1 and 2, Geometry, Precalculus, and Calculus AB and BC. In addition, he spent 25 years coaching the Junior Varsity Baseball team. Mr. Thomson enjoyed working with the team and this experience left him with a number of lasting memories to look back upon. One story in particular stood out to Mr. Thomson as he looks back on his years at Pingry.

In May 1999, the baseball team took a trip to Cooperstown, New York, where they visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame. After this excursion, the team took to the famous Doubleday Field, where they had a game. Once the

Varsity team wrapped up, the JV team began to play.

It seemed to be an uneventful game, until, suddenly, busloads of children began to pile into the stadium.

The children began yell-

ing and cheering for the JV team as if they were a professional baseball team. A former Pingry JV baseball player, Michael Renda, thought of the idea to start signing baseballs with his autograph on them and throwing them into the crowds. “There are kids in the world who have baseballs with Michael Renda’s autograph on it!” exclaimed Mr. Thomson.

Aside from the adventures of the baseball team, Mr. Thomson also loves

“the interaction with the kids.” He says that that is what he will miss the most about Pingry. Reflecting on her previous school year with Mr. Thomson, Teodora Kolarov (IV) says, “I was always unsure of my math ability before freshman year, but Mr. Thomson was the first teacher who taught me to be confident and never second-guess m y s e l f . ” M r.

Thomson also admits that he will miss his long-time math coworker, Mr. Manny Tramontana.

Once he departs from Pingry, Mr. Thomson says that he is unsure of what the future holds. “I have no idea. I will make it up as I go. I know I want to spend time with my wife and my grandkids.” All in all, Mr. Thomson wants to enjoy all the free time he has with some rest and relaxation: reading books, taking day trips, going to the shore, so on and so forth.

Mr. Thomson, thank you so much for what you have done for all the students of Pingry. From your lighthearted jokes to your endless amounts of patience, we appreciate the impact you have had on the entire community.

Mr. Delman Departs Pingry After 44 Years

By NOAH BERGAM (IV) and BRYNN WEISHOLTZ (V)

After 44 fruitful years at Pingry, Mr. Delman, a beloved art teacher and Green Group coordinator, is retiring.

Mr. Delman has been p a r t o f P i n g r y ’s A r t Department since he first joined the faculty in 1975 as a studio art teacher.

Throughout his years, he co-developed courses such as Drawing and Painting and Environmental Art. He also helped create the gallery program. In 2018, after many years leading environmental green team projects, his role changed––he became the school’s Sustainability Coordinator, with a mission to advocate for and oversee green campus projects and outdoor education programs, such as those of the farm team.

Within a year of

assuming this new position, Mr. Delman has already led the Green Group in creating an outdoor classroom, building and maintaining hiking trails, establishing a summer Farm and Garden Intern Program, and more.

For much of his career, Mr. Delman has been an avid art enthusiast, acting as a curator for and contributor of his own art to numerous exhibitions in New Jersey, New York, and Washington, D.C. Interestingly, for the past twenty years, Mr. Delman

and his wife have been involved in a project focused on preserving a stone railroad embankment in Jersey City, where he lives.

Mr. Delman is closely tied to the school community; regarding Pingry, Mr. Delman says, “I am particularly thankful for my great colleagues in the Art Department, especially my collaboration with and support from Ms. Sullivan and Mr. Boyd.” He has two children, both of whom are Pingry graduates and teachers, including Mr. John Crowley-Delman ‘97, who teaches history and serves as the school’s Director of Experiential Education.

As Mr. Delman heads into retirement, he “plans to be an influencer and enjoy a lot of ‘executive time.’”

The Pingry community wishes Mr. Delman the best in his future endeavors.

Madame Geancintov Retires as Director of Studies

By KRISTINE FU (VI)

After 38 years of teaching, Madame Geacintov will be retiring from Pingry’s Upper School. During her time at Pingry, Mme Geacintov has served as Chair of the World Languages Department, worked to revise the Pingry Honor Code, chaired the curricular committee of the transition of the Short Hills campus into Basking Ridge campus; she currently oversees the mentoring program and peer coaching program for new teachers.

Growing up in several countries as a child, Mme Geacintov had a multicultural educational experience that inspired her love of exploring different cultures. At Pingry, Mme Geacintov has taught French, Latin, and Spanish.

When she served as the Chair of World Languages Department, she worked to restructure the curriculum and developed the Advanced Topics courses.

She has also led the student travel programs to France.

Since 1981, Mme Geacintov has observed many changes at Pingry, especially the way in which technology has improved the learning experiences of both students and teachers.

“Technology has changed the way that we think, the way we get information, the way we interact, the way we teach, the way that we explore thoughts and

ideas. It changed the vision and direction of the school: the way that it can combine arts, sciences, and humanities,” Mme Geacintov said. She added, “As teachers, we have to look forward because we are preparing our students for the future. The past created the present and the present must look into the future so the explosion of technology has changed the whole educational platform.” When asked what memories she will carry with her from Pingry, Mme Geacintov stated, “I will remember my students and the discoveries we made in class. I’m very privileged to have been able to teach very bright students. I was able to discover a book that I’ve read many times through the eyes of a student reading it for the first time, and I was amazed by the new discoveries.”

Mme Geacintov’s students will miss her energetic spirit and passion for French culture. A student of her Advanced Topics II class Annaya Baynes (VI) said, “I will miss the time she spent to really connect with us.

A lot of classes I had this year, I had no problem

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saying goodbye to them.

French class, however, I will always miss because Mme Geacintov made it more than a class. She made it a sisterhood.”

Simone Toney (VI) agreed, adding, “We learned in French class but we also grew close as friends. So close that we all went to dinner during spring break.

She bonded us when she could have just taught us.”

Moving forward, Mme Geacintov plans on spending more with her grandchildren in England and volunteering with Girls Learn International, which promotes universal girls’ education. To keep her mind both active and engaged, she will also be attending a two-week immersion program in Italy to study Italian art as well as taking courses at NYU.

Dr. Artis of the Diversity and Inclusion Department Departs

By ANEESH KARUPPUR (IV)

After fourteen years serving our community, Dr. Diana Artis of the Diversity and Inclusion Department will be departing to further her career.

Having graduated from Smith College, Dr. Artis received a Doctorate of Education from Columbia University in Counseling Psychology.

She worked at a private practice in New York City as a licensed psychologist, and later was a consultant for Columbia Business School. She then took some time off to be a stay-at-home mother, which allowed her to develop a closer connection to Pingry.

She served as Co-Chair of the PSPA Fall Benefit and the Short Hills Fun Fair before joining Pingry.

Her two children, Jackson ‘16 and Maya ‘09 attended Pingry during her tenure.

Dr. Artis arrived at Pingry in 2005 as an Assistant Director of Admissions and Multiracial Outreach Coordinator, with a specific goal of increasing the number of students of color in the School. She then worked to build Pingry’s diversity program, saying that “we needed to create

an infrastructure to retain [families of color].” Dr. Artis helped build multicultural teams and affinity groups, and pushed the community to engage in difficult conversations. Currently, Dr. Artis is the Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Department. In this role,

she works to bring out all voices within the Pingry community and emphasize the importance of having multiple viewpoints. Dr. Artis is also an Assistant Director of Admission and teaches Middle School and Lower School Cultural Competency courses. Dr. Artis led the African-American Affinity Group during her time at Pingry. However, she stepped down because she felt that “it was sending an unintended

message that [she] was only here for black students.”

Dr. Artis considers her most important achievements to be the changes she creates for students: “I am always encouraged when graduates email me to share that what they learned at Pingry prepared them for college.

It’s the students that motivate me, that’s why I do it every day. I know what the world outside is like and what can set them apart in this area.”

In the next phase of her career, Dr. Artis plans to continue her work as a diversity consultant and open her own firm. She plans to work with other schools, universities, and companies.

As she prepares to leave, Dr. Artis offered some direction and advice for Pingry students. She believes that the future of diversity at Pingry is promising, saying, “I hope that folks become more comfortable looking at themselves and how they can make a difference. We are all unique and bring different aspects of diversity to the community.” Her final advice to the community is to remember that everything stems from love: “Those of us who do the work really care and love others enough to do the work.”

Photo Credits (Left to Right):Writer, Writer, Pingry Communications, Pingry Communications

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THE PINGRY RECORD SCHOOL NEWS JUNE 3, 2019

Ms. Hao Departs as an Active Member of the Pingry Community

By MONICA CHAN ( IV)

Ms. Yi Hao, Upper and Middle School C h i n e s e t e a c h e r, i s sadly taking her leave at the end of the 201819 school year. Hired in 2012, she has been a prominent figure in many aspects of the Pingry community. She will be remembered by the community as a bright teacher, dancer, and active parent.

Before working at Pingry she was a business analyst, software developer, and systems engineer, and she says that during the time she was working as a substitute teacher at Pingry, she was drawn to the community because of the students: “The students were dynamic and engaging, so they attracted me to come here.” Her students also appreciate her bright personality in the classroom: “She has always been a very accommodating and understanding teacher, and very enthusiastic about the content,” says Jason Lefkort (IV).

When asked about her

future plans, she plans on moving to New York City to “enjoy the performing and visual arts scene that New York provides.” She will also continue her participation and leadership role in the Purple Swans Dance Troupe and be involved in building and strengthening the Chinese community in New York City.

Ms. Hao’s favorite part about being a part of the community has been the people at Pingry: “parents I’ve been friends with for years even before I was a teacher, the students that made life so much more interesting with their youthful energy and optimism, and the faculty and staff that provides such a strong support for each other… They gave my life new meaning.”

Her hopes for Pingry students after she leaves is for them to relax a little: “I just hope the students will have a bit more of breathing time to enjoy heir youth; I see so many of them working really hard, some of them put a great emphasis on attending a selective college. While it is important, it is one of many steps in life, and it is important to take care of your physical health, and also your mental health.”

Ms. Kent Says Bittersweet Goodbye to Pingry

By ETHAN MALZBERG (VI)

After five action-packed years at Pingry, beloved history teacher Ms. Colleen Kent is moving on to teach and live in Washington, D.C. “Leaving Pingry is very bittersweet. I will very much miss all the wonderful people who make up the school – both students and colleagues,” says Ms. Kent, who has worn many curricular and extracurricular hats since coming here in 2014.

Before coming to Pingry, Ms. Kent majored in history and minored in education at Princeton U n i v e r s i t y.

Currently, she is working on a Master of Liberal Arts at the University of Pennsylvania.

Throughout her tenure at Pingry, Ms. Kent has taught World History 9 and American Society & Culture. She has also been the leader of the World History 9 team for the past two years.

Not only was she a Yearbook Advisor and Middle School Softball Coach, but she also designed and coled a global program with Dr. Cottingham to Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Ms. Kent reminisces on the Spring 2017 trip with great

fondness, seeing it as her favorite memory from her time at Pingry. “We went to some amazing places and it was really special to share some of my favorite places with students,” she says. Ms. Kent had previously taught in England at Sherborne, an all-boys boarding school in Dorset, as part of a one-year teaching fellowship from 2012-2013. The following school year, Ms. Kent taught at Princeton Day School before coming to Pingry.

Ms. Kent has served as the Student Government Faculty Advisor, overseeing a plethora of initiatives including the redesign of the Homecoming layout to the recent rewriting of the Student Government constitution. Regarding her time with Student Government, Ms. Kent says: “I’ve really enjoyed getting to work with

students across grade levels, and getting to know students I haven’t taught. One of my favorite things to witness is when representatives had an idea and were able to carry it through to fruition, from Family Feud to Homecoming decorations.”

The news was especially bittersweet for her advisory of four years. Ava Dziadzio, Jack Grier, Ethan Malzberg, Dilan Mushayandebvu, Cathleen Parker, and Alex Strasser – all seniors – were heartbroken to hear the news but are excited to walk across the stage and “graduate” with Ms. Kent on June 9. Ms. Kent will continue teaching history in the Washington, D.C. area next fall. About her future plans, she says: “I’m really excited to be moving to D.C.! It’s a great city with so much history and great resources for teaching and learning, like the Smithsonian. I’m looking forward to integrating more place-based education into my teaching.”

Ms. Asch Leaves Pingry to Start a New Chapter

By MEGHAN DURKIN (IV)

After 15 years at Pingry, Ms. Jane Asch is leaving to further pursue her role as Warren Township’s Emergency Manager full time.

Ms. Asch attended Washington University in Saint Louis for her B.A. in Drama before going on to get her M.A. in Studio Art at New York University. Prior to Pingry, she worked on numerous films and theater productions as a scene designer.

She designed for the Off-Broadway production of “Little Shop of Horrors,” served as the camera scenic for the film “Jungle Fever,” and was the senior scenic artist for “Sesame Street” on television.

Joining the Pingry community in 2004, Ms. Asch became the set and costume designer for the theater produc-

tions. She was “very thrilled to come back to high school to create the magic of theater,” so that it “wasn’t just a job anymore” to her.

In 2009, she received a Papermill Rising Star award for “Outstanding Scenic Achievement” for “Les Miserables.”

Eight years ago, she started teaching Art Fundamentals and Architecture as well. Ms. Asch also took on the role of Emergency Op-

erations Manager and has been formulating an emergency operating plan for Pingry since.

With nine years of experience as Warren Township’s Emergency Manager, she plans to continue her role there, as well as her service as an emergency medical technician. She also hopes to “spend time with family, paint, read books, and travel.” Ms. Asch, expressing her fondest Pingry memories, said, regarding the musicals and plays, that “every one of them has been a lot of work, but filled with joy and accomplishment and even love.

My memories of opening night and closing night: I’ve just loved it. I feel very lucky to have been able to have that opportunity to work with the kids and colleagues in the theater and art departments.”

Director of Global Education Mr. Jewett Says His Goodbyes to Pingry

By EMMA DRZALA (III)

After years of assisting students in going abroad and changing the world for the better, Mr. Jeffrey Jewett will depart Pingry this June to pursue a new career in Colorado.

He leaves Pingry in a bittersweet manner, excited for the future to come, but sad to depart such a great community.

Throughout his entire Pingry journey, Mr.Jewett has developed an appreciation for the school.

He describes it as a place that is “very welcoming to different kinds of kids. Kids are encouraged to excel and be themselves.”

Although not involved with Journal Club, Mr. Jewett recognizes it as a prime example of this. “Pingry is a place that kids want to learn, and I find that quite extraordinary,” he stated.

When he first arrived, Mr. Jewett was a biology t e a c h e r w h o w a s n ’t expecting Pingry to have such a large impact on his life. He has seen students

mature and experience new ideas and trips that made a difference in their life. In his final year, Mr. Jewett taught Environmental Science.

He credits the students with “taking a small issue and trying to make

the world a better place.”

He has enjoyed being able watch his students grow into people who want to save the world.

However, Mr. Jewett is better known as the man who puts together Pingry’s Global Programs. He breaks down this job into three parts: helping to design the global summer trips,

assisting students in year abroad trips, and helping to write a strategic plan for the future of Pingry.

His most treasured memory was the trip he led alongside Ms. Torres to Peru last summer. In his 17 years, he describes the trip as “the best program [he has] ever worked with.” In a job that exposes him to so much culture, he found Peru to be unique.

Mr. Jewett’s job allowed him to dig deep into other cultures, and this trip let him compare e x t r e m e l y different modes of living.

M r. J e w e t t is moving to Colorado with his wife, where he looks forward to “charge the mountain.” It is obvious that Mr. Jewett’s care and love for his job cannot be replaced.

Pingry would like to wish a fond farewell to a prized member o f t h e c o m m u n i t y. ”

Photo Credits (Left to Right): Pingry Communications, Pingry Communications, Writer, Pingry Communications

THE PINGRY RECORD SCHOOL NEWS JUNE 3, 2019

Mr. Karrat Leaves Language Department to Pursue New Possibilities

By ANDREW WONG ( III)

After six years of teaching French, Spanish, and Arabic at Pingry, Mr. Richard Karrat will be departing to teach at the Greenwich Country Day School.

Following his education at Hamilton College, Mr. Karrat lived in Amman, Jordan, teaching English to local college students as a Fulbright Scholar. He also earned his Master ’s Degree in Arabic at Middlebury College while teaching at Pingry.

Bringing extensive knowledge of the Arabic language and Middle Eastern culture, as well as his Lebanese/ Syrian background, Mr. Karrat built up Pingry’s fledgling Arabic program and turned it into an yearlong exploration of the Arabic world. By bringing his students to Paterson to meet with the largest Arab population in New Jersey, taking them to meet Syrian refugees, and skyping guest speakers from the Middle East, Mr. Karrat was able to introduce his students to the many facets of Arabic language and

culture as well as its millennia of history.

Mr. Karrat also taught French and Spanish in both the Middle and Upper Schools and was well loved by all of his students. He was best known for his cheer and energy each day in class.

In addition to teaching, Mr. Karrat served as an assistant to Global Programs and a Spanish curriculum coordinator, helping to organize and chaperone various language trips to Panama, Spain, Quebec, and France, as well as a faculty trip to Honduras. Mr. Karrat also served as the advisor of the Italian Club and the faculty liaison for the Lebow Oratorical Competition.

Out of all of his Pingry memories, M r. K a r r a t most enjoyed watching his first Middle School students mature into the Class of 2019. During his six years here, he

developed wonder ful relationships with the students and their families, shared experiences with them, and introduced an entire generation of Pingry students to new languages and cultures.

Mr. Karrat will also miss his wonderful colleagues in the language department and the rest of Pingry.

Throughout his time at Pingry, he “always felt very welcomed by my wonderful colleagues, and I will miss them dearly.” Mr. Karrat will be missed greatly by everyone at Pingry, and we wish him the best of luck wherever

As the end of the school year approaches, we realize that there is a list of things that we will miss—our friends, our campus, and most of all, our departing faculty. This year, Ms. Coxe joins that list.

Throughout her six years of teaching Upper School math at Pingry, her sunny attitude and commitment to her students has kept many classrooms in the math wing lighthearted and kept students excited to learn. Ms. Coxe has taught a range of math courses since her arrival in 2013, and in each, she has been a guiding force to her students. Jason Xiong (IV) affirms, “Her ability to make us grow as students is both challenging and rewarding.

She does so by forcing us to understand new situations without simply being handed the answer, and this is a life skill that we all must learn and one that she has

taught exceptionally.”

However, Ms. Coxe’s impact at Pingry is not limited to the whiteboard.

In her first year at Pingry, she served as the faculty advisor to the ECLC club, where she worked with stu-

dents in Chatham with disabilities. She has also been involved in gathering props for drama productions, as well as site management for the athletics department to help behind the scenes to facilitate the use of fields, courts, and tracks for Pingry

Dr. Chin-Shefi of the Chinese Department Departs Pingry

By EVA SCHILLER (IV)

After one year teaching Chinese in the Middle and Upper Schools, Dr. Sabrina Chin-Shefi will be departing Pingry to continue her path as an educator elsewhere. Next year, she plans to return to her former position at the Father Ryan School in Tennessee. Although her time at Pingry was short, her gentle nature and enthusiasm in the classroom will be remembered by all of her students.

Affectionately known by her pupils as Chin Laoshi, Dr. Chin-Shefi immediately struck her students as both a mentor as well as an educator, dedicating a portion of nearly every class to sharing life advice. Unsurprisingly, when asked about her greatest academic con-

was my first experience teaching middle schoolers, and it was a bit challenging for me, and for them,” she noted. In the end, however, she felt content with her impact on her students, as “they have not only advanced to a much higher level; they have learned many study skills that will help them later on.”

Dr. Chin-Shefi will miss the many people that she has met during her time at Pingry. She recalled, “I have gotten to know some very special people, both students and colleagues, that make me so honored to have worked here.” She is “so thankful for the opportunity to work with these wonderful people.” Thank you, Chin One challenge she faced Laoshi, for your contribuas a Pingry teacher was tions to Pingry—you will adjusting to teaching in be missed! the Middle School. “This tribution to Pingry, she responded, “introducing my students to Chinese culture beyond the textbook.” She added, “I think the unanimous response is that we have all learned a lot this year.”

Mrs. Kinney Departs After Influential Years as Associate Director of College Counseling

By RHEA KAPUR (IV)

Ms. Coxe Ends Tenure at Pingry to Pursue New Opportunities

By JUSTIN LI (IV)

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athletes.

She will miss her colleagues and students who have fostered the sense of community at Pingry that she has grown attached to; some of her favorite memories at Pingry were made during community events like the annual faculty-student basketball game, in which she has participated for the last four years. She recalls a particularly memorable play during one of these games in which she alley-ooped Mr. Murdock for a dunk to the cheers of the entire student body behind her. She’s also enjoyed watching the musicals, where “every year, the students continue to impress [her].”

Ms. Coxe will be moving to Cleveland next year and plans to marry her fiancé.

There, she wants to reain open and keep “looking for the next adventure.”

Although Ms. Coxe’s students and colleagues will be sad to see her go, they wish her the best in her future endeavors.

Following twelve years as a college counselor at Pingry, Mrs. Kinney will join the College Counseling Department at Phillips Academy, a co-educational preparatory school for boarding and day students in grades 9-12 in Andover, Massachusetts.

Immediately after college, Mrs. Kinney worked as a stock broker at the World Trade Center in the Human Resources Department, where she helped with recruiting, interviewing, and more.

She switched careers and received a Masters Degree in teaching and subsequently t a u g h t history and psychology for a few years. Mrs. Kinney later joined the Admissions Office at Lafayette College, where she worked for seven years and served as Assistant Director of Admissions.

In 2007, she made the switch to Pingry and joined the College Counseling Department - a role Mrs. Kinney describes as “the perfect marrying of my love for teaching and counseling.” She immediately recalls one of her happiest memories as a college counselor

to be the day when a student she worked with, who was waitlisted at one of his first-choice schools, got a phone call. “A group of us were standing in the front foyer,” she describes, “and he got a call. It was the college calling to offer him admission off of the waitlist!” Smiling, Mrs. Kinney remarks, “I feel so lucky to have witnessed that moment and to have been there with that student when his life changed. I’ll never forget the feeling.”

The camaraderie within the College Counseling

Department and with the faculty members is also something she will miss dearly; Mrs. Kinney notes that they are “just the most amazing, loving people and have never failed to brighten [her] day or make [her] laugh.”

This 2018-2019 season,

Mrs. Kinney also served as the Head Coach of the Ski Team - a role which she has greatly cherished and will forever look fondly upon. She details a Ski Team bonding experience when the bus broke down, leaving the team stranded at the mountain late at night.

“Not all of the kids had their backpacks, because they are usually left on the bus, but they made the best of it. We played games together Uno, Dance Revolution!

We were just having fun and making the best of a bad situation.

I was so proud of them and their team dynamic - they are honestly such a great group of kids, and I will miss them very much.”

Mrs. Kinney leaves Pingry with these l a s t w o r d s : “ Tr y not to lose sight of how special this community is. No place is perfect, but this is an institution filled with wonderful, achieving, generous people. Even on a bad day, remember that. I am so very grateful for all the years I have been lucky enough to experience the power this community holds, and the care we have f o r o n e a n o t h e r. ” Mrs. Kinney, you will be dearly missed. We wish you all the success and happiness in the next stages of your career!

Photo Credits (Left to Right): Pingry Communications, Writer, Writer, Writer

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THE PINGRY RECORD

DEPARTING FACULTY JUNE 3, 2019

Mr. Varnes Leaves Legacy of Four Faculty Members Depart from Language and Philosophy Middle School

By CAROLYN COYNE (IV)

Mr. Varnes will be departing the Upper School this year after two decades working as a Latin, English, Greek, and Philosophy teacher.

Besides teaching, Mr. Varnes has had a tremendous effect on the Pingry community through his extracurricular contributions.

During his many years here, he has helped out with the Pingry Record and various publications. He also built theater sets for eight years, coached fencing for six years, and coached Quiz Bowl for a few years. Mr. Varnes has fond memories of these experiences, especially of building. He has helped build sets for large productions like The Re-

memberer, Into the Woods, and The Laramie Project, which he declares were “just amazing.”

When asked if he has a favorite Pingry memory, Mr. Varnes stated, “I have so many memories that I couldn’t narrow it down to just a few.” This is a true testament to just how many facets of our community he has been involved in over his twenty years.

Mr. Varnes’s personality and sense of humor will also be missed by Pingry students, especially his pupils. By integrating jokes and puns into his lessons, he engages all of his students in a fun way. If one were to walk into his class, one might hear Mr. Varnes telling a joke such as, “Cae-

sar was as Roman as you can get… I mean, he was ROAMing around Gaul all the time!”

Once he leaves Pingry, Mr. Varnes will “be looking around” and continuing to learn languages. He loves to understand multiple languages and is especially excited to become a German speaker again. We wish you the best of luck, Mr. Varnes!

Lower School Director and Three Others Depart ByNOAH BERGAM (IV) and BRYNN WEISHOLTZ (V)

This 2019 school year marks the departure of numerous faculty from all divisions of Pingry.

The Lower School in particular will lose its beloved Director, Mr. Theodore Corvino, as well as three other teachers: Ms. Mary Ogden, Ms. Pat Casey, and Ms. Dara Polera.

Forty-five years ago, Mr. Corvino started his work at Pingry as a fifthgrade teacher. As time went on, he was fortunate enough to become the Assistant Head and, ultimately, the Director of the Short Hills Campus.

He has always been in awe of the strong sense of community: “The focus at Pingry has always been on the students and I have always been impressed with the dedication of the faculty and staff.”

In his tenure, Corvino has tried to keep an opendoor style of leadership where discussion is encouraged. “I have always felt the best approach is to hire the best teachers, support them in every way possible, and then let them do their jobs. It is important to listen to those who are working with students every day.

We want to hear their ideas and suggestions and involve them in the process of decision-making that will impact curriculum and guidance.”

As he departs, he looks forward to spending more time with family, especially his grandchildren.

He also looks back on some of the fond memories of his time at Pingry, including shaking hands with students every morning (a signature tradition of his) as well as seeing the students perform in the annual Holiday concert.

He wishes the best for the Lower School, hoping that it will “continue to evolve and remain a leader as the world changes around us. I also hope that the Lower School is able to maintain the things that make it such a special place: focus on the students, the Honor Code, bringing the best teachers to our classrooms, and building a strong sense of community. As I leave, I know the Lower School is in good hands moving forward.”

He also wishes the best for his departing colleagues. “I am very proud to be sharing these last few days with Mary, Pat, and Dara. I consider each of them to be a dear friend. All three of them put their students first and often themselves last. They have each been an important part of our school community and each has left quite an impressive legacy at Pingry. All three will be missed.

mental Studies where she will earn her Master of Environmental Four teachers are Management. leaving the Middle Mr. Dave SzelinSchool this year. gowski Ms. Sara Hall Mr. Dave SzelinAppointed in 2018, gowski came to PinMs. Sara Hall joined gry right out of colthe Pingry faculty as lege in 2006. He spent a Spanish teacher. his first 11 years at In addition to teach- t h e L o w e r S c h o o l ing, Ms. Hall coached teaching fourth and Middle School girls’ fifth grade science, soccer, taught Physi- and also coaching cal Education, as- varsity football and sisted with the MS JV baseball at the musical “Matilda,” Upper School. For and served on the MS the past two years; multicultural team. however, Mr. SzelinSome of her favorite gowski served as the memories include the MS Dean of Students.

Form II trip to Wash- He coached both MS ington D.C., bond- football and softball, ing with her advisory, and co-taught the Outthe MS Talent Show door Research course and dancing Zumba for Form II students. with fellow faculty When asked about member, Ms. Bonds. some of his favorite Another one of her memories at Pingry, favorite memories is he noted, “Whether collaborating with they be my advisees, members of the MS athletes, or science faculty, whom Ms. students—I have reHall calls, “the most ally enjoyed watchsupportive group I’ve ing them grow up at ever worked with!” Pingry and I have enMs. Hall is looking joyed their successes. forward to teaching It is especially fun Spanish at a Con - to see students come necticut Montessori back after they graduschool, where both ate.” He also menof her sons will be tioned that he found attending. She also the students’ excitehopes to spend her ment for science to summers traveling be refreshing, as he and embracing new “really enjoyed the genuine excitement cultures. young students had Ms. Maddy Zim- for science and learning.” As of now, Mr. merman Szelingowski is not Ms. Maddy Zim- certain of his future merman came to Pin- plans, but is excitgry at the start of this ed for what the next school year. Along chapter in his and with teaching MS sci- his family’s life will ence, Ms. Zimmer- bring. man coached the MS Mr. George Sulswim and water polo teams; she played a livan vital role in helping M r. G e o rg e S u lthe swim team to a livan came to Pinvictory at the Rangry five years ago in ney Invitational, their the fall of 2014. He championship meet. started out teaching When asked about her Financial Literacy favorite memory at Pingry, Zimmerman in the Upper School said, “My favorite before transitioning moments are when over to the MS to students finally un- teach seventh-grade derstand a topic after History. In addition struggling with it for to his academic teacha bit, and seeing kids ings, Mr. Sullivan become confident in coached wrestling and themselves and excel lacrosse at the MS, JV at their sport, activi- and varsity levels. ties, or in the class- He was also involved room.” Ms. Zimmer- with Journal Club, man will be attending Outing Club, Pingry the Yale School of Credit Union, and Forestry and Environ- various other clubs.

By MARTHA LEWAND (V)

“Mary is a master teacher and a dedicated citizen and public servant. She has served her town and state well, while also being an amazing teacher at Pingry. She taught me a great deal about civic responsibility, compassion for students, and tireless work effort.”

“Pat is an amazing teacher and a true professional. She is a quiet leader who is supportive of all of her colleagues and students. She can always be counted on to volunteer whenever needed. Pat is passionate about the teaching of literature and has truly shaped the fourth grade curriculum.”

“Dara is an dedicated educator and an excellent leader. She is knowledgeable, innovative, organized, dedicated, and supportive. She has taken our literacy program to new heights through her hard work and dedication.”

One of his favorite memories at Pingry included coaching at the state wrestling tournament in Atlantic City. When asked further about his most treasured times at Pingry, Mr. Sullivan said, “There are so many memories I have of the students I’ve worked with and gotten to know, it’s hard to pick even a few. It’s these moments that have made teaching at Pingry such a rewarding experience.” Next year, Mr. Sullivan will return to teach and coach at his alma mater, the Belmont Hill School, in Boston.

Although he is excited and looking forward to this opportunity, he “will miss Pingry and the many wonderful people who make it such a special place.”

Photo Credits (Left to Right): Pingry Communications

(continued from page 1)

For her ISP, Rashida Mohammed continued her interest in theatre and production at the Paper Mill Playhouse offices, where she worked on the various tasks assigned to her. Ranging from helping with the company’s productions to marketing plans, Rashida created a powerpoint for each of her projects, detailing all the steps involved in each process.

Inspired by his prior work with pottery, Stelio Kanaras created ten pieces to be displayed in Pingry’s gallery.

When he was not working on his pieces, Stelio also pursued his love of sports, delving into the statistics and analytics that go into draft prospects. After researching online, he and Ben Mandelbaum created a formula that helped to predict prospects in the NFL Draft.

Eli Godbold wrote three songs to memorialize three locations dear to his heart that he will miss after he leaves Pingry. To create a lasting memory of each location for his listeners, he traveled to those locations himself to take notes and accurately depict them in his music.

Interested in the different roles of a theater team, stemming from her love of acting, Dorothea Miller interned with the company management team at Papermill Playhouse.

She helped set up meals for cast rehearsals, grabbed coffee, and assisted the cast. Each day she reflected on her new understanding of professional theater in a journal.

After exploring poems and stories in her Creative Writing class, Armani Davidson found a passion for poetry, a genre she was previously hesitant toward. Using her new interest, she published a book of short stories and poems based on high school and the troubles teenagers face throughout the process.

Combining her love of communist history and music, Annette Jones composed four musical numbers for a musical following the careers of communist leaders. She wrote in various styles including traditional musical theater and salsa/waltz as she sought to connect the story through song.

After facing the college admissions process himself, Rajeev Doraswamy decided to help other students by creating a guide to admissions.

He used both statistics and conversations with admissions officers to provide a thoughtful and supportive guide. Also, to pursue his love of music and acting, he participated in a student-led musical.

Visual Arts Inspired by their love of art, Mariah Smith and Alessia Zanobini created an art exhibition based on identity. Spending time at art galleries in New

York City to gain insight on self-expression, they sought to discover a relationship between self-portraits and portraits of others.

Hoping to explore a passion of hers and connecting with her culture, Udochi Emeghara designed and sewed an African dress. She also met with designers to get a deeper insight into the consumer side of fashion. To show her process, she created a video of her experience.

Praesana Danner, inspired by her love of museology, interned at the Montclair Art Museum. There, she helped with fundraising and the Vance Wall Art Education Center, in order to gain a full experience in numerous parts of the museum.

Based on an Arts Ambassador’s project and their interest in the effects of public art, Angelina Mayers and Vicky Chen worked on creating a mural on the baseball dugout.

Using trips to Jersey City and Bushwick to see artwork, they sought to find the importance of art, specifically public murals.

After watching films directed by David Lynch, Miroslav Bergam and Amanda Saunders became interested in Lynch’s ability to add surreal aspects to plain environments.

Focused on understanding and analyzing Lynch’s work, they watched more films and blogged about their thoughts daily. With their research, they wrote and directed a short film based on Lynch’s work.

Driven by their love of filmmaking and comedy, Nabeel Jan and Ian Dugan wrote and directed short films centered around the theme of coming of age. They drew inspiration from the Coen Brothers, who created films with similar styles, along with the partnership of Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney on SNL, which plays into their humour.

Nicholas Spinelli, influenced by his passion for architecture since a young age and hopes to pursue it as a career, designed and printed a 3D model of a building. Following the steps an architect would normally take, he researched possible styles for his building, used SketchUp to create the 3D design, and printed the final model.

Having developed a love for art history and an interest in how seeing art in person changes a piece’s perception, Zoe Papandreou and Gabriela Preziosi explored art museums throughout New York City and Paris. For their deliverable, they put together a book of pictures and explanations for each piece, along with a blog of their trip.

Hoping to share an informative documentary to preserve

THE PINGRY RECORD the story of the Battle of Hayes Pond, Lexy Beard visited North Carolina, the center of the Lumbee tribe who were targeted in the attack, to talk to witnesses and participants. Using research and her interviews, she put together a documentary and manuscript.

Ketaki Tavan broadened her interest in art to that of Southern Asia. She researched various artists, themes, media, and styles, both online and in New York City galleries. She then created her own art and exhibited her pieces in the Hostetter Gallery with artist statements and photographs of the inspirations for each piece.

Kathryn Jones’ interest in fashion was showcased in her ISP. She wrote a research paper examining the evolution of men’s fashion in corporate America from 1910s to the current decade. She researched magazines, newspapers, and articles about fashion, and traveled to museums to conduct interviews and explore exhibits.

Jake Austin’s love for clay shaped his capstone of his Pingry career. He honed his skills in pottery by working with porcelain and working with different glazes. He made around twenty pieces of pottery, perfected three of Pingry’s crystalline glazes, and researched glazes to try to invent or discover a new glaze.

Another clay artist in the senior class is Grace O’Mara, who created a life-size cheetah out of cement. This was a new media for Grace and so required new techniques, like building frame supports, a raised and movable base, and a cart. She also submitted a written summary of her process.

The next clay-based ISP was that of Alex Briones, whose primary goal was to develop and invent new crystalline glazes for pottery and sculpture. He created glazes with iridescent crystals and used new techniques, like reduction firing, to create more sophisticated art. His work required a cross-disciplinary approach, and he used math and chemistry in his process.

Brandon Spellman explored mixed-media creations in his ISP, which centered around the Maker Movement.

This movement was created

by DIYers, hobbyists, and engineers. Brandon continued his success and experience in this field by creating various projects and inventions.

Hanna Davis extended her love for art by creating one mixed-media art project. She worked primarily in porcelain clay and acrylic paint, but also used one of her photographs as inspiration. She developed her artistic voice and style to combine pottery, painting, and photography into one project.

Alessia Zanobini created

ISP JUNE 3, 2019

her own small gallery and voice and individuality as an artworks to fill it during her artist, Alli divided her time beISP. She created her art with tween exploring galleries and painting, drawing, photogdoing independent work as she raphy, and various 3D and builds her personal portfolio. installation art techniques.

She built her gallery in the Alberto Choussey broadcorner of the arts wing atrium, ened his work in photography and presented a planning and as he commuted to New York development journal as well.

City, photographing based on Photography the theme of each day. To conOlivia James visited New clude his ISP, Alberto created York City and Paris to explore a series of the edited pictures her photography skills and he took while in NYC to be style. She travelled to New York City for day trips to visit galleries and shoot street photography, landscapes, and buildings. Then, Olivia travelled to Paris to visit galleries and capture Paris’ landscapes and buildings.

Varun Seetamraju and Shail Avasthi explored their photographiPhoto credit to Varun Seetamraju cal abilities in a broad project in printed and hung in the Pingry the continental United States.

Gallery.

They first learnt the basics Media and Communicaof photography, including tions camera operation and more For their ISP, Matthew advanced techniques, and then Keller, Jack Timko, and Jack practiced these skills at variGambello created a podcast ous parks around New Jersey, in which they interviewed like Harriman State Park and many of Pingry’s successful Buttermilk Falls. After gainalumni in hopes of getting a ing experience at these sites, better grasp of the paths they Varun and Shail travelled to took to arrive at where they are Rocky Mountain National today. Entitled A2B: ConversaPark in Colorado to hike and tions with Pingry Alumni, the capture more photos in differpodcast consisted of a series of ent scenes. Varun and Shail key questions, all intended to also edited all of their photos. unpack each alumni’s unique Leo Zhu and Bailey Rostory to success. mano continued their interests Josie Jahng, exploring her in the arts by studying and interests in social media and experimenting with art and marketing, interned for Kendra architecture in New York City.

Malloy, a marketing director They researched notable sites and entrepreneur. Working and neighborhoods, and then directly with Malloy, one of they compiled a coffee-table Josie’s main projects included photo book with their photos helping one of Malloy’s clients, and descriptions.

American Bible Society, as Grace Brown created a they prepared for a large techunique photography showcase nology conference. Following based on historical artwork the event, Josie concluded of theatrical tableaux scenes. her ISP by condensing all of She combined her interests the new information she had in photography and theater to amassed throughout her experiexplore staged photography, ence into a short book. both by visiting galleries and Inspired by his previous by taking photographs herself. work for the company, Holden For his ISP, Ben IngrasShikany worked at Opex sia continued his interest in Communications to further photography by branching pursue his interests in sales out into a new genre and style and trading. Holden’s primary of photography. Ben spent a role at the telecommunications majority of his time at Pingry, company consisted of collectwhere he created several ing overdue funds owed by pieces of large–scaled still life delinquent customers, granting pictures, while also keeping a him the opportunity to practice journal detailing his struggles his communication skills over throughout the project. the phone. For his deliverable, Further exploring her interHolden created a write–up and ests in photography, Alli Sipresentation, detailing everymon expanded her knowledge thing he had learned throughand experience in photography out his time at the company. by broadening her exposure Driven by her interest in to galleries in both NYC and business and economics, HanParis. Hoping to solidify her nah Gruber spent her time at

17 Ernst and Young, shadowing mentors Michelle Strong and Nancy Lan. With their help, Hannah learned the basics of problem solving in business environments, observing and absorbing the different approaches EY had toward developing industry specific solutions.

For her ISP, Annaya Baynes interned at the Metro Media Institute, where she expanded her knowledge and

understanding of journalism.

After her day at the office, Annaya wrote about the day in a blog, delving into the processes of the projects she worked on as well as what it felt like going through each step. With this experience, Annaya hopes to have a firmer grasp on which aspect of journalism she wants to pursue in the future.

Ava Dziadzio, influenced by her interest in current events, spent her ISP time working at CBS, where she worked on the evening news segment On The Road with Steve Harman. For her deliverable, Ava wrote a blog in which she addressed her thoughts both prior to and following her time at CBS, documenting the insights she gained as she observed the process of transforming raw news into a consumer product.

Aashiya Jaggi worked with Pingry alumni, Ayesha Saksena to explore the business aspects of YouTube creators, such as branding strategies and target demographics. Aashiya spent her time in New York City in restaurants and coffee shops, completing ongoing daily tasks assigned by her mentor, mainly comprised of competitive landscape research and monitoring recent press.

Technology, Mechanics, and Computer Science Mary Kovacs continued her work in Humanities IRT by helping to launch Pingry’s Digital Humanities Lab. Fascinated by the use of philosophy as a framework to study literature, as well as the potential role of computers in analyzing text, Mary learned Python and researched, designed, and coded programs pertaining to her project. She has a three part deliverable, including a report on her research, a dem-

18

THE PINGRY RECORD

onstration of the programs she mountain biking with his pasBaltimore at the end of May. creates, and a web page for the sion for engineering, Brian Having run track since Digital Humanities Lab. Kaplan created an energysecond grade and planning to Michael Sun, pursuing efficient electric bike equipped continue in college, Joe Shilts his newfound interest in the with pedal assistance and solar was excited to explore the mechanics of cars, interned panels. During this process, scientific side of track and field at Hilltop Auto Repairs. By Brian researched the imporby videotaping middle school shadowing the mechanics tance of renewable energy and athletes in the high jump and there, Michael gained hands-on developed the skills needed long jump events and analyzexperience performing repairs to implement it on a technical ing their form using Biomeand learned about the technilevel. chanics. He also studied videos cal aspect of making a car run.

Alex Strasser investiof Olympian jumpers to help For his deliverable, he created gated the mathematics behind coach the middle schoolers and a blog including pictures and 3D rendering in his ISP. He created a journal to document reports of his day-to-day experi- implemented a rendering ence in the shop. engine from scratch and For their ISP, Max Brotcreated a 3D animation man, Zach Ross, and Dillon for his deliverable. After Shu collaborated to create significant research in the their own playing space, or field, he has learned linear map, for a popular video game algebra vector and matrix called Counter-Strike: Global math in order to create his Offensive. Their goals included rendering engine. making the map as detailed and Sports bug-free as possible within the Pursuing his interest in four week time frame, as well lacrosse, Luke Ackerman as learning how to overcome spent his ISP shadowing the difficulties of designing the founder of Swax Lax, something in a collaborative an innovative lacrosse setting. equipment store located in By interning at Cross Summit. He developed an Country Powersports, Thomas interest in the store after Campbell and Leighton May- learning about the Swax ers explored their passion for ball, a unique, non-bounce motorcycles and learned how training ball. His new to properly maintain them. knowledge of finance, Through this experience, they media, and advertising were able to develop greater culminated into a Powknowledge about motorcycles, erpoint presentation on as well as gaining insight small businesses. into the daily workings of a Combining his love dealership. For their deliverof golf with his interest able, Thomas and Leighton will in landscape architecuse what they learned at Cross ture, Michael Gallagher Photo credit to Vicky Chen Country Powersports to repair a explored the world of golf power sport vehicle, making it course design. He began his growth in coaching. safe and rideable. by testing out various holes in Olivia Lai interned at GaInspired by his interest in America, eventually designing briele Fitness and Performance data analytics, Ryan Henriques his deliverable: a full 18-hole (GFP) to get a closer look at spent his ISP shadowing the course. During the second half the strength and conditioning CTO and Director of Technolof his ISP, Michael travelled field and help make every cliogy at True Arrow Capital Man- to Scotland, where golf was ent’s experience as positive as agement. With their guidance, created, to determine the differ- her own, having trained there he explored data structures and ences between traditional golf for the past four years. She computer languages relevant courses and American ones. journaled her activities on the to investment fund advising, Interested in women’s training floor, detailing instrucand even helped to add Chinese lacrosse at the collegiate tions on new exercises, client language fields to True Arrow’s level, Nicole Toney dove into experience, challenges, and reports. After each day of shadowing, Ryan documented his experiences and progress using the firm’s internal Wiki page.

Georgia Liu and Chris Yu spent their ISP creating a single-player platformer game called “Good Boy Astray,” featuring a Shiba Inu whose quest takes him through four drastically varying worlds.

The artistic aspect of their project, including Photo credit to Annie Leithead animation and game other insights. design, was carried out Grateful for and inspired statistics, articles, and videos to

by Georgia, while programming by all the help he has received analyze the twenty-six NCAA and sound design were done in Mr. Spezio’s and Ms. Championship teams this year.

by Chris. During this process, Carannante’s office, Zachary To document her research, she they learned about the intricaDobson dove into the fields of created a blog with articles cies of game development and athletic training, strength trainabout each team and even put expanded their collaborative ing, and orthopedics. He practogether her own dream team of skills. ticed injury-prevention training the tournament’s best players.

Combining his love of with Mr. Spezio and met with She hopes to attend the final in

ISP JUNE 3, 2019

Dr. Hunt, an orthopedic doctor.

He related his experiences exploring athletics and science through a journal.

William Rothpletz engaged in an internship exploring the financial side of Mane Stream, a nonprofit improving the quality of life for individuals with special needs through equine activities. He wrote daily blog entries as a part of his deliverable, documenting his

experience learning about the challenges nonprofits face to remain financially stable.

Lauren Shelby and Caroline Santoro blogged about, designed a study, and wrote a research paper on the benefits and drawbacks of group exercise classes. Measuring calories burned, heart rate, and oxygen consumption, they attended fitness classes and gathered data from Pingry athletes.

They hope that this data will help inform graduates on whether to participate in club/D3 sports or attend group exercise classes in college.

Jack Baulig worked with Storm Trentham, the founder and head coach of the Kenya Lacrosse program in Nairobi, to help prepare their U19 Kenyan Women’s National Team to potentially compete in the World Champions in Canada this summer.

He helped with training sessions, administrative work, and more, documenting his experience by making a presentation, video, and written reflection.

Having played tennis since fifth grade, Isabella Drzala was eager to explore the other side of the court: being a coach. She shadowed her coach, Coach Jhon Diaz, learning how to interact with

clients and develop key business and leadership skills. To reflect upon her experience, she wrote a detailed report as her deliverable.

Both avid bike touring fans, Drew Beckmen and Annie Leithead completed a memorable six day bike tour from Salisbury, MA to Bar Harbor, ME, finishing in Acadia National Park and creating a photobook. Before embarking upon this journey, however, they carefully and deliberately finalized routes, accommodations, and developed an extensive risk management plan with help from Mr. Touhey.

Cathleen Parker worked in marketing and administrative jobs at the Essex Horse Trials Office after having volunteered there for the past two years.

She blogged about all the ins and outs of running a charity horse event and even worked with a local trainer to learn what type of riding competitors would be using at the event.

Drawing upon his love for football, Ben Mandelbaum worked with Stelio Kanaras to create an index and grade 100 NFL draft prospects from a wide database of statistics. Ben also worked with Michael Gallagher to study how golf courses are built, and they designed their own ideal golf course working with Chris Carson, Head of Maintenance at Echo Lake Golf Club and Rutgers Professor.

Having been an ice skater for the past decade or so, Abigail Berger decided to trade in her skates as performer for a chance to be properly be trained as a coach at the ProtecHockey Ponds Ice Center in Somerset, New Jersey. She developed new skills and shadowed numerous coaches with different skills and techniques.

Using her established experience in Competitive Show jumping, Abby Jay trained horses and riders at The Cloverfield Equestrian Center in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey. Jay learned how to train horses to be able to complete specific tasks and help aid their riders, in addition to training riders.

Abby Beckman chose to work at Williams Sport Training in Whippany, New Jersey.

Beckman tore her ACL and has gone undergone multiple surgeries within the past few years, which inspired her to want to better understand the methods used in rehabilitation and performance.

Community Service With a passion for children and giving back to her community, Nia Phillips chose to volunteer at a daycare center in New York for a week as well

as volunteer at a Senior Center in her town for the following week. After this, she spent the remainder of her ISP time researching and writing a paper comparing and contrasting the psychology of the two groups: children and senior citizens.

With a motivation to give back to the Pingry community, Oluwasolape Fakorede worked in the Development Office. She learned skills within the field of communications, filing and archiving, organizing, and assisting with event planning.

For her ISP, Dylan Stein worked with the Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Greater Mercer County in Princeton, New Jersey. By volunteering with this organization through working with Holocaust survivors, Stein connected with her religious identity and immersed herself within the world of community service.

Passionate about the environment and sustainability, Chase Barnes interned at the Newark Science and Sustainability Center. She worked on projects with them regarding initiatives for Urban Agriculture and Renewable Energy.

Science Sydney Saunders and Caroline Friend traveled to The Island School in Eleuthera, Bahamas to get more involved with the research done by the Cap Eleuthera Institute (CEI), an organization that focuses on researching environmental issues. They spent their time doing field work in the ocean and on campus analyzing and sorting results.

Medicine Inspired by her Honors Biology II cancer seminar her sophomore year, Felicia Ho shadowed Dr. Ari Marciscano ‘03, a radiation oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City. Ho explored a subfield of cancer treatment, radiation therapy, that has historically been the standard for all patients and observed how it is evolving today to work with groundbreaking therapies like immunotherapy.

Dilan Mushayandebedvu spent her ISP shadowing Dr. Jacquelyn Loughlin at Rutgers Medical School in Newark, New Jersey. She worked on data collection and participated in lab procedures in the field of gynecology.

Influenced by her interest in medical research, Darlene Fung shadowed a collection of doctors across New Jersey and New York City. Varying from the specialized areas from Dermatology to Anesthesiology, Fung shadowed numerous fields in hopes of learning about the daily life of a doctor, and gathering multiple perspectives about the benefits

THE PINGRY RECORD and disadvantages of being a doctor.

Ever since Daniel Schnack first learned of his near-death encounter as an infant, he has wanted to help others with their health issues. That is why, for his ISP, he worked with his local volunteer first aid squad. For his deliverable, he documented his experience in a blog and created First-Aid kits for public spaces.

Brian Benson, in his passion for psychology and philosophy, decided to shadow a clinical therapist, Dr. Powell, to examine more into this possible career path. His deliverable was a blog full of reflections on real life experiences as well as hypothetical scenarios given to him by Dr. Powell.

For years, due to the influence of family members and past shadowing experiences, Aanya Lall has known she wanted to pursue an occupation in the medical field. As such, for her ISP, she has chosen to shadow Dr. Sanjay Lalla, a plastic surgeon in West Orange.

Education Margot Present was a teaching assistant for her former Kindergarten teacher, who now teaches first grade at the Pingry Lower School. Her deliverable, a Humans of New York-style gallery of photos and interviews with the first graders, combined her love of kids and passion for photography.

Seeing it as a great way to go full circle as his Pingry days come to a close, Mihir Seth worked at the Short Hills campus as a teaching assistant with the P.E. department. For his deliverable he created a slideshow presentation of his work with the kids.

Recognizing that most of her history education was lacking in terms of African-American history, Veronica Williams designed a semester course for juniors and seniors about the Harlem Renaissance. She also created a vlog to document the process of her research and planning of the different units of the class.

Hoping to solidify some of her interest in the career path of education, Katerina Deliargyris shadowed Mrs. Ogden, a second grade teacher at the Pingry Lower School. While the age group was new to her, she has found the teaching process in many settings very interesting. Her deliverable was a written reflection of her thoughts on the process.

Inspired by the unique styles of past teachers, namely Mr. Crowley-Delman and Mr. Benoit, Jack Grier knew that he wanted to teach. As such, for his ISP, he worked as a middle school history and language teaching assistant at Peck. Throughout the process,

he graded papers and designed tests for kids from grades 6 to 8.

Building on a website (www.conjugateme.com) he developed for students struggling with foreign language verb conjugations in French, Spanish, and Italian, Ethan Malzberg used his ISP to expand this model to include German as well as ESL, or English as a second language.

His deliverable was the updated website along with a journal documenting some of the comparisons he drew between different language learners and the experience as a whole.

Clare Hall expanded her volunteer work to the Greater Brunswick Charter School, where she worked with the Dean of Students, Carmen Rine, as well as other members of her team to get a better understanding of the goals and education services of the school. Clare also worked with the teachers at the school to design her own lesson plan to administer in either a classroom or after school program.

As his thirteen-year Pingry career came to a close concurrently with Mr. Conard’s, Andrew Cowen used his ISP to create the “Pingry Papers,” a group of 15 to 20 essays on some of the good (and bad) changes to come out of these past years at the school. He interviewed numerous faculty about topics ranging from performing arts to mental health to science extracurriculars.

For her ISP, Allie Riddell decided to work at the Pingry Lower School campus due to her interest in interacting with children. Attempting to find a career path, she will shadow a teacher in the hopes of helping students learn more about themselves. Her deliverable will be a personal reflection in which she will compare the teaching/learning methods between second and twelfth grade students.

As a finalist in a business competition sponsored by Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Alisa Chokshi plans on researching the effects of social corporate responsibility at the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Stockholders meeting.

In a separate part of her ISP, she will be shadowing a Pingry Lower School teacher in order to give back to Pingry for all that it has given her by mentoring its future. Her deliverables will be report describing why people should give back to their communities and an online blog detailing her own progress and growth.

Politics and Law Due to his newfound interest in politics, Luke Ittycheria proposed he intern at Congressman Malinowski’s office.

In addition, he will also be volunteering at Corey Booker’s

ISP JUNE 10, 2018

They would love to apply their presidential campaign events. understanding of physics to His goal throughout his ISP is the structural design involved to be able to go to college with in the planning process of a solid understanding of the engineering an observation political sphere. His planned platform; they were able to deliverable will be a journal incorporate math/physics and detailing his day to day work art/design into their ISP. They at Malinowski’s office and at hope this construct will benefit Booker’s campaign events. the Pingry community for Passionate about American years to come. politics, Tom Drzik plans on For their ISPs, Joe Beatty, working for Dr. Lisa BhiaMichael Vessa, and Chris mani’s State Assembly camZachary are making a website paign for his ISP. In pursuing this work, he hopes to gain a better insight into how smallerscale political campaigns operate. Ultimately, Tom will write an essay detailing his experiences on the campaign trail and how he now perceives political campaigns in general.

Interested in pursuing a career in law, Nate Hefner decided to use his ISP as an opportunity to become more familiar with the field by interning at Yorkville Advisors Global and shadowing David Gonzalez J.D., the General Counsel and Managing Member at the firm. Through this, he will be able to observe Photo credit to Olivia James the full process of the legal, compliance, and regulatory that reviews local New Jersey aspects of the firm, while also hikes, compares them to Canaconversing with other brokers dian hikes, describes their risk and managing partners to learn Management strategies and more about the financial side of protocols, and reviews their a hedge fund firm. His deliverexperience from the Wilderable will be a report outlining ness First Aid course they will the life of a General Counsel at take. To accomplish this, they a hedge fund. will even travel to Canada to For her ISP, Simone Toney explore the country’s geograwill be creating a podcast in phy. Their final deliverable will hopes of helping other become be the website full of reviews, as interested in the “American descriptions, pictures, and Royal Family”, The Kenvideos. nedys, as she is. Her podcast Business, Finance, and will consist of seven episodes, Management each exploring a different As a child of two commerKennedy or topic associated cial real estate professionals, with the Kennedys. Serving Peter Nicoletti decided to use as her deliverable, her podcast his ISP as an opportunity to will attempt to answer why we gain experience in the field. He care about the Kennedys as a will be working under Richard culture, why their impact has Adelson, Senior Vice President outlasted their lives, how their of Brown & Brown Metro family celebrity status has afLLC; he will be an apprentice fected our society and more. to a fiduciary advisor for the Growing up with a family insurance industry whose focus member in the civil service has been on real estate related field, Kamal Brown has insurance products. His final always been fascinated with deliverable will be a powerpublic policies made by the point presentation showcasing government to appease the what he has learned throughout people. In accordance with his month as an apprentice. this, for his ISP, Kamal chose For his ISP, Zach Trichas to shadow a New York judge will intern at J.P. Morgan, in the hopes of learning about shadowing Mr. Tran and his asthe judicial system and how sociates, in order to gain expea courthouse works. For his rience in the world of finance. deliverable, he will write a He would like to learn as much short paper and create a social as possible about the field and media page to detail the knowl- gain firsthand knowledge about edge he has gained and post his a career in finance. His planned daily activities. deliverable is a journal about Environment and the his experience along with a Outdoors final paper about the entire For their ISPs, Allison Hoexperience. sler and Jeremy Newman proUsing their ISP as an opposed to design and construct portunity to be entrepreneurs, a nature observation platform Kevin Ma, Jeffrey Xiao, and for environmental research Jon Chen started a customizand educational development. able pillow business. Each of

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them brought their own expertise to the table; Kevin focused on creating a website, Jeffrey designed and produced the pillows from scratch, and Jon managed the finances of the business. However, they were not limited in their contributions, regularly collaborating with each other in order to gain a more holistic sense of running a business. Their deliverable includes the pillows, their website, income statements,

to further her knowledge of marketing, she researched various programs to determine their profitability, competition, demand, and how she would most effectively advertise them. Everyday, she wrote a blog with her daily accomplishments and suggestions for improving the program.

Avery Didden explored her interest in the music production industry through an internship at Vevo, the world’s

and a blog describing their experiences.

Jillian Bahr shadowed the owners of Sweet Melissa’s Patisserie in Lebanon, NJ to gain a better sense of what a career in marketing and advertising might be like. At the bakery, she worked the cash registers, managed inventory, and promoted the business through their Instagram page while improving her communication skills.

In order to understand the operational and managerial aspects of different firms in the business world, Jackson Lubke shadowed at Anchorage Capital, a hedge fund, and Notch Partners, a consulting firm. For his deliverable, he produced a survey of what he learned during his experiences at both firms.

In order to pursue her interest in Law, Cassie Yermack examined estate law, age discrimination, retirement planning, and disability discrimination at the Miller Elder Law Firm in Gainesville, Florida.

For her deliverable, she delivered a presentation about her experience and kept a journal which detailed the lessons that she learned from the internship.

For his ISP, Chrityan Jean-Charles gained a better understanding of the world of finance by interning for the CFO VP of Finance & Accounting at Baccarat Inc. He used his ISP as an opportunity to gain insight on financial crises in inner cities and develop methods to improve education and living conditions in these areas.

Christine Shao interned at Bedminster Mathnasium to learn about the operation of small businesses. There,

leading music video and entertainment platform. Specifically she spent time in Sales, Research, and Sales Solutions in order to gain insight on how modern music videos make their way from set to Youtube and the mechanism behind their sales. For her deliverable, she compiled a profile of her assignments and provided snippets of the music videos she worked on.

Coupling his passion for tennis with his knowledge of business, Andrew Lee served as a consultant for his tennis coach’s startup company.

He advised financial projections, developed presentation strategies, researched the Gen Z demographic and marketed the company on social media.

His deliverable was a report of what he learned and his impact during the time at the company.

Alex Rabney worked in the Research and Development department at FreshDirect for his ISP. Motivated by his fascination with food and desire to explore the business side of producing and selling prepared foods, Alex learned about the process of choosing ingredients for products, pricing them, and testing them with consumers.

For his ISP, Aditya Gollapudi interned at Alpha Venture Partners to gain an understanding of the workings of the venture capital industry. Doing the work similar to that of an analyst, he hopes that this internship will provide him with real work experience that he can use in his future career.

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THE PINGRY RECORD FAREWELL JUNE 10, 2018

Farewell, Mr. Conard: The Impact of a Headmaster

“It’s pretty difficult to praise someone who doesn’t like to be celebrated. Mr. Conard has brought so much to Pingry, and yet so much of what he has done is not widely known. I imagine that most students don’t know how hard he has worked to enhance the facilities, to improve the student experience, and to recruit and retain the best faculty possible. He cares very much about how connected the students, faculty, parents, and alumni feel to the school. In addition, Mr. Conard has an exceptional ability to always consider the big picture — to always think about the Pingry of 5, 20, 50 years from now. He believes in Pingry’s mission and keeps that at the top of his mind in long-range planning. I have been very lucky to work with him.”

– Ms. Chatterji

“I am grateful for all the Headmaster has done for Pingry. Mr. Conard has touched every aspect of our community and made our school a better version of itself. As an alum, administrator and parent, I am truly proud of today’s Pingry. I am going to miss Mr. Conard next year! But, I hope that he finds that retirement is just what he was looking for. ”

– Mrs. Brunhouse

“Mr. Conard and I have only worked together for 4 years, but in that time it is very clear that he is interested in the well being of the student body. His job is much more complex and demanding than any of us are really aware of and he has to balance the interests of many different groups. I have had many conversations about difficult issues, and Mr. Conard is willing to listen to all opinions. In doing so he has gained the trust and respect of many people in the building. I think one thing that many people don’t realize is just how willing he is to talk. Because he is so busy and his office is off the main hall, many don’t realize that his door is always open to chat and to listen.”

– Mr. Ross

After serving fourteen years as Pingry’s Headmaster, Mr. Nathaniel Conard is moving on. Such a significant change in leadership requires us to examine the initiatives Mr. Conard has pioneered during his tenure and take stock of his legacy. In an exclusive interview with Record editors Noah Bergam (IV) and Justin Li (IV), Mr. Conard shared some of his thoughts on leadership, his road to becoming Headmaster, and his opinions about Pingry’s past and future.

Because his own parents ran a boarding school, Mr. Conard was exposed to academic leadership from a young age. However, this early exposure initially turned him away from the career path, leading him to “conclude the only thing [he] didn’t want to do was run a school.” He adds, “You can see how that worked out.”

Mr. Conard worked as a strategic management consultant for Bain Capital before becoming a teacher at a boarding school.

As time went on and he taught at more schools, Mr. Conard began to develop an interest in administrative positions at schools. To that end, he began to enter Head of School searches, going through long interview processes with parents, teachers, and alumni.

He knew what he wanted: a K-12 school that could shape the whole spectrum of a student’s life, a school that offered the trifecta: athletics, arts, and academics.

This balance of activities, he believes, can help teach important life lessons and allow students to take risks and develop the mechanics of coping with failure. Moreover, he wanted to make ethics and character center stage in the academic experience.

He kept this in mind in his interviews, making sure not to compromise or change himself to fit what others wanted. He did not seek to be the best candidate – he wanted to be the best fit for the school.

After three fruitless searches, it was Pingry that stood out. It had a heavy focus on moral lessons, centered around the Honor Code. It had the ‘whole-child’ focus and the K-12 experience. It was student-centered, but it still had room for improvement, of course. In one of his interviews, he challenged the putative student-centeredness by asking why, when he visited, he heard almost only the voices of teachers in the classrooms. “With that kind of response, I would either get the job or lose the job.” The response paid off, and the position fit him well.

Humility is a defining part of Mr. Conard’s leadership style – he focuses not on the image and legacy of his work, but on the end result. He worked to make the Pingry experience more fun, engaging, and, most importantly, student-driven.

The effect? Student discussion has grown inside the classroom, but it also has flourished throughout student life; this is perhaps best seen in the research programs offered in both science and the humanities.

Throughout his years at Pingry, Mr. Conard has led in a decentralized way, giving others the opportunity to take responsibility. He likes to believe that he does not “have a monopoly on good ideas” – rather, it takes sustained team effort and sense of community to make good change. His diverse administration team helps strengthen this “we” mentality.

As he departs the post of Headmaster, Mr. Conard is looking forward to “seeing if [he is] any good at retirement: traveling, kayaking, gardening, skiing, woodworking, and more.” Over the course of this year’s Head search, he made sure the next Head of School was worthy; Mr. Conard has known Mr. Matt Levinson (the next Head of School of Pingry) for a few years and believes his “values are aligned with the values of the school and community.”

In other words, he is “definitely not like the [Student Activities Committee] version.”

Different Heads of School have different strong suits, and Mr. Conard’s ability to raise funds for Pingry deserve recognition.

Throughout the past fourteen years, Mr. Conard has brought the Pingry community an immense amount of support and resources. From fundraising for the capital campaign to implementing the current block schedule to expanding Pingry’s financial aid program, there is plenty of reason to thank him for his contributions and commitment to Pingry.

He told us that “legacy is what other people think of in terms of your impact.”

We leave this school, its students, teachers, and alumni, to determine the legacy of Mr. Conard.

We also offer our fondest goodbyes in recognition of Mr. Conard’s intentions and work at The Pingry School. Mr. Conard wishes the best for us. “Ten years from now, I hope that I can look back at Pingry and say ‘That place is much better now than it was when I left.’”

“Mr. Conard and I joined the Pingry community at the same time, August 2005. During the past 14 years, he has actively supported the mission of Diversity and Inclusion. There are many memories I could share but three stand out. The first memory dates back to August of 2006 when an anonymous letter, questioning the merits of our D&I program, circulated within the school community. Mr. Conard stepped up and responded in a clear and definitive manner. New in my role, his response provided the encouragement and support to keep moving forward when I was wondering, “what did I get myself into?”

Second, Mr. Conard attended the People of Color Conference (PoCC) 11 of the 14 years that Pingry has participated. The representation of heads of schools at PoCC is minimal. His presence at the conference was significant and sent a strong message of support about the value of D&I work at Pingry. Finally, Mr. Conard continually held me accountable for the norm of “leaning into discomfort.” There were times when I would have preferred to give up and avoid a difficult conversation with a colleague or parent. He provided a safe space to vent and then challenged me to get back into the work. I will always be grateful for his partnership in this work. I wish Mr. Conard all the best as he begins the next chapter. ”

– Dr. Artis

“It may sound strange, but one of my fondest memories of Mr. Conard dates way back to his first year here, an incident he probably doesn’t even remember. Someone had spilled a small amount of mercury in one of the science labs, and this was basically Mr. Conard’s first public test in crisis management. Reactions to the spill varied greatly: some saw it as no big deal; others wanted to alert the EPA and break out the hazmat suits. It occurred to me that the situation required more diplomacy than familiarity with hazardous waste, and I marveled how Mr. Conard heard all our concerns and acted in a way that reassured everyone that he had it covered.

Again, that was early on, and it let me know that Mr. Conard was the right individual to lead our school.

He has certainly confirmed that confidence in the years since, and I am forever grateful for all he has done for Pingry. We are a far better school for all his efforts.”

– Mr. Keating