Prairie Alumni Magazine

what makes a reid? | p. 08

something in the water | p. 10

the mission to know more | p. 16 a talented triumvirate | p. 18

ALUMNI MAGAZINE

SOMETHING IN THE WATER A TRIP TO TANZANIA HELPS BEN GELHAUS ‘12 LEARN THE IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP

VOLUME 2 ISSUE 1

Contents — 01

letter from the head of school

02

faculty notes

04

campus happenings

06

pictured at premiere

08

what makes a reid?

10

Something in the Water

14

Ben Gelhaus ’12

Elissa Mueller ’08

A Force to be Reckoned With Adam Paluka ’03

16

The Mission to Know More

18

22

Anita Bhattacharyya, Ph.D. ’82

A Talented Triumvirate

Gerald Davis ’16

Ellie Plachinski ’16

Kylie Kamm ’16

class notes

CONTRIBUTORS Editor: Brendan J. O’Brien Designer: Austin Gundlach Photographers: Jeff Wilson / IBC Studios Jeff Lazewski / Gravidee Photography & Design Authors: Nat Coffman Diya Mehra Brendan J. O’Brien David Thome

On the Cover: Ben Gelhaus ‘12 & Habakuuk, local plumbing expert

Imogene P. Johnson, Founder and Board Chair, addresses guests at Premiere 2016.

For more pictures of this year’s event see page 06.

Letter from the Head of School —

Dear Alumni and Friends:

“Prairie graduates excel and lead thanks to the foundation they received here.”

For over fifty-one years, The Prairie School has prided itself on educating well-rounded young people. In this issue of Prairie, you will read stories that show first-hand how our balanced approach – one that emphasizes the scholar, the artist and the athlete – naturally translates into an alumni corps of groundbreaking leaders in fields as diverse as our graduates. Prairie alumni are bringing clean water to underdeveloped nations. They are senior scientists, studying genetic abnormalities. They are working with the Hispanic population in Oklahoma to build trust between a community and its emergency responders.

Regardless of their chosen field or personal interests, Prairie graduates excel and lead thanks to the foundation they received here – a foundation that continues to successfully prove itself even today, over five decades after the school’s founding.

What passions did you pursue at Prairie, and how did those influence the person you are today? We would love to share your story with our community, as the paths our alumni take are what encourage our students to explore new ideas, careers, and questions – all things they might never have considered had they not learned of them here.

It is the primary mission of The Prairie School to both know and value our students while simultaneously supporting and challenging them. As you know, our teachers are dedicated to this task, but we rely on the powerful accounts of your lives after Prairie to help our Hawks soar to new heights. Share your journey with us – and who knows, it might just be the inspiration the next generation needs in order to change the world.

Sincerely,

Nathaniel W. Coffman, Ed.D. Head of School & President

Faculty Notes

TEACHERS THAT INSPIRE GREATNESS — JAMIE BREIWICK, Instrumental Music Teacher, was

highlighted as “one of Southeast Wisconsin’s most indemand and respected trumpet players” in Glenn Kleiman’s essay, “Why should we still care about Miles Davis?” that appeared on radiomilwaukee.org March 31st. As the director of Prairie’s newly formed Upper School Jazz Band, Mr. Breiwick also secured a live radio performance for his students during the May 12th edition of “Radio Drill Time” on 91.7 FM, a non-profit, listener-supported radio service educationally licensed to the Milwaukee School of Engineering. Mr. Breiwick plays a robust local performance schedule, including weekly shows at Milwaukee’s Mason Street Grill. This July, he’ll be performing at Silvana’s in Harlem and The Dead Poet in New York City.

Additionally, he is recording a collection of Miles Davis’s solos for a new Hal Leonard Publication, “Miles Davis, Artist Transcription Series,” which will be released in June by Hal Leonard, the world’s largest music publishing company. [A] A

GALEN STEIG,Middle School Math Teacher, assisted

Veterans Outreach of Wisconsin this spring by creating digital designs of tiny houses for the Veterans Village the organization hopes to build in Racine. The village will provide housing to homeless vets, and Mr. Steig’s expertise was an invaluable part of the planning process. He created digital images using SketchUp and tinkered with various layouts by utilizing Google Maps to assess the proposed land area. This summer, Mr. Steig and his wife, Michelle, a Kindergarten Teacher at Prairie, will begin building their own tiny house. During his research and planning, he also realized it would be a great unit for his students – this year his 5th graders created their own digital 3D models in SketchUp.

CRYSTAL VESPERMAN, Upper School Mathematics Teacher, spoke at two national conferences this academic year, presenting at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) 2015 Regional Conference and Exposition in Minneapolis last November, and at the Wisconsin Mathematics Council Annual Conference in May. Last fall, a former student also nominated Ms. Vesperman for The Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth’s Sarah D. Barder Fellowship Program.

DR. JEAN WEAVER, Upper School Science ALIYA PITTS, Assistant Head of School for

Community Relations, was lead presenter at the Marketing and Communication for Nonprofits module conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside on May 4th. The seminar was part of the school’s Nonprofit Leadership Certificate program. It was the second time Ms. Pitts has been asked to present – last fall she co-presented the Secrets of Donor Stewardship module.

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Teacher and Department Chair, authored a trio of articles in Chem13 News, a magazine for chemistry teachers published by the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Her series focuses on complex class demonstrations she encourages students to explain for extra credit. The articles include Extra yardage out of the floating penny (March 2016), Getting extra yardage: the crushing can (April 2016) and A spoonful of sugar (May 2016).

MELODY OWSLEY, Physical Education Teacher, is one

of the most successful coaches in Prairie School history.

Starting in 1990-91, she led the girls’ varsity basketball team to a 345-266 record, a run that included eight conference titles and a state championship in 2004.

This April, that run came to an end when Ms. Owsley announced she was stepping down from her coaching position to focus on building Prairie’s youth basketball program. Following her announcement, Owsley was featured in both The Racine Journal Times and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for an exceptional career during which she was also named Racine County Coach of the Year six times.

The Hawks went 2-19 in her first season, but by 1997-98 her team was a conference champion playing in the state championship of the Wisconsin Independent School Athletic Association tournament.

Now, she hopes to be just as successful in building a robust program in Prairie’s Primary School.

“I started playing when I was in kindergarten,” she said in Mark Stewart’s April 8th article in the Journal Sentinel.

“We don’t have that at Prairie. Kids don’t start basketball until they’re older. That’s the problem on the girls’ side right now. Girls start soccer when they’re three and four and in kindergarten so they start to sway towards soccer and that’s all they do. Or they start volleyball earlier.”

Campus Happenings

THE SWEET MELODY OF REMEMBERING —

By Brendan J. O’Brien

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rmed with old electronics, the students descended into the nursing home basement. They were eager to help the residents they’d soon meet, but a certain hesitancy still swirled around their visit – could something as simple as a song really assist individuals with reclaiming pieces of their past?

This spring, under the watchful eye of Pat Badger, Advisor to the Head of School for Arts & Equity, 8th graders from The Prairie School visited St. Monica’s Senior Living to find out.

The project, iPods for Alzheimer’s, saw students utilizing music to help residents afflicted with memory loss or other cognitive and physical conditions experience feelings and emotions from years gone by.

Conceived by Badger and fellow Racinian Lois Solberg, the idea for iPods was born out of Alive Inside, an award-winning film that documents the fight Dan Cohen, founder of the nonprofit Music & Memory, wages against America’s failing healthcare system while simultaneously highlighting the healing power of music.

Prairie students spearheaded every aspect of the project from talking with residents about their musical tastes, to creating personal playlists, to hosting bake sale fundraisers, to prepping donated iPods.

“Our students are meaningfully immersed with this. They see the results when they spend time with the residents, and the impact of the partnership is beyond words. The most powerful lesson: the 8th grade students are entirely responsible for the success of this amazing undertaking.”

– bonnie benes

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“Music can change the world because it can change people.” ~Bono The reward for their work? Seeing face after face light up when hearing the sounds of Johnny Cash or Billie Holliday or Louis Armstrong.

“Hearing their own music unlocks people in ways you can’t imagine,” Badger said in the April 20th Racine Journal Times article, Unlocking memories, one iPod at a time.

Bonnie Benes, Middle School Head, has enjoyed watching her students take ownership of the project.

“The power of meeting the needs of others can never be over-emphasized,” says Benes.

“Our students are meaningfully immersed with this. They see the results when they spend time with the residents, and the impact of the partnership is beyond words.

The most powerful lesson: the 8th grade students are entirely responsible for the success of this amazing undertaking.”

Have an old iPod lying unwanted in a drawer?

We’ll take it! Drop it in the donation box located at the campus Welcome Desk (Door #2).

CREATING A PLATFORM

By Diya Mehra, Class of 2020 – Project Leader When a group of us went to interview at St. Monica’s, I was told I would be interviewing Barb. She had recently suffered a stroke and so her hearing, understanding and response levels were hard to get and had to be treated with patience. Although at first I was nervous, I am so happy I got to interview Barb as she made my experience special and meaningful. As I showed her some of the music she liked, I could see the effect it had on her and how much one song helped her get into her past. I can only imagine what a whole playlist, based on her life, could do.

Music is a special key in this program. The music you listen to throughout your life defines where you are at that moment, and where you will go. Music can help people get over many things. When they listen to a special song, it can take them back in time and return memories they associate with a particular song or artist.

What makes Prairie’s project so interesting is that we are using students and youth. Using students to help people two generations their elders connects the community in a special way. It creates a platform that allows two groups of people to connect with things they have in common and help each other. I don’t know about others, but Barb will sometimes show up in my mind, and I will wonder about her. I hope that all the other students that take a part in this program give as much, and get as much as I have.

Pictured at Premiere UNLOCKING POSSIBILITIES 2016 —

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ure as the pink and white tulips push through the beautiful bedded gardens on campus, come April, hundreds of giddy guests fill the Johnson Athletic Center to celebrate in support of Prairie’s students.

This spring was no exception.

The 460+ guests filling the JAC on April 28th for Premiere 2016 marked an all-time attendance record for the school’s marquee event. The Upper School Jazz Combo sounded terrific, the tenderloin fillets and chicken bruschetta prepared by Zilli Catering were delectable, the menu of live auction items – from racing Ferraris in Germany to an NYC Fashion Week getaway – was amazing, and the $200,000+ netted by evening’s end will unlock countless possibilities for our students.

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We are grateful to everyone – attendees, donors, sponsors, volunteers – who helped make Premiere 2016 one for the books.

We’re already looking forward to next year.

Mark your calendars for April 29th, 2017!

Premiere

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“Fifty-one years ago, Prairie was a dream. Today it is a dream come true – a great school with a great future ahead.”

– gene johnson

Pictured: A. Premiere paddle raise B. Richard Ruffo ’83 and Diane Ruffo C. Daryl Babu ’88 D. Lauren (Martin) Bissinger ’08, Mitch Harris ’08 and mother Rita Harris E. Imogene Johnson and Helen Johnson ’74

What Makes a Reid ?

TAKE A TRIP INSIDE THE MIND OF BILL REID ’73

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ill Reid’s artistic reservoir is forever bubbling over.

Typically, you can find Prairie’s Artist in Residence hunkered in the corner of the school art studio, welder’s mask down, light blue flame flickering from his torch.

Renowned for his remarkable and outlandish metalwork, Bill Reid’s creations have been commissioned and exhibited all across the country. This spring, the school asked him to oversee a painting to be auctioned off at Premiere 2016.

Over 20 Prairie artists, including a student from every grade and numerous art teachers, worked under the guidance of Hilary Rinke, Art Department Chair, and Reid to create this truly one-of-a-kind creation.

Depicting a deer with desserts in its antlers, the piece is perfectly Reid-ian. Seeing it, we wondered, “What exactly makes a Reid?”

“It was great working with the students.

What surprised me the most was how fearless the youngest kids were to take on the project. I’d ask them what color they needed, mix it up and they went right at it with amazing brush control.”

“A couple of my little touches include a Prairea 51 spaceship (with pheasant under glass) celebrating the school’s 51 years and three teepees near the lighthouse.”

“We ended up going with a deer in a Wisconsin landscape, the antlers supporting and framing each dessert. After all, life in Wisconsin revolves around deer hunting and Premiere!”

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few of

“Hilary decided the theme should be “Desserts” and left it up to me to frame the idea. I went through a few concepts, including a peacock or a Prairie Aerie type of thing where the students would paint desserts in bird nests.”

Reid’s Trustiest Tools

Something in the Water

TWO ALUMNI. TWO DIFFERENT VOLUNTEER MISSIONS. ONE SIMILAR LESSON: THE BEST LEADERS ARE OFTEN BORN OUT OF LIFE’S UNCERTAINTIES. —

By David Thome

S

ometimes the path you choose leads directly to your intended destination. Sometimes, however, it doesn’t, and as two Prairie graduates discovered, that can be a very good thing.

As college students, Ben Gelhaus ’12 and Elissa Mueller ’08 both spent time abroad working on water quality initiatives they thought would help them develop engineering skills. In Ben’s case, though, engineering took a back seat — at least for a while — to communication skills. In Elissa’s case, water itself took a back seat while she and other students redirected their focus to a more urgent, land-bound concern.

“When you’re trying to solve real-world problems, it’s more important to have the people skills to ask the right questions than just being a number-crunching guru,” Ben told Inventing Tomorrow, the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering’s magazine.

“Understanding your problem is key before you try to solve it.”

The statement sums up Elissa’s experience as well. “You go to a place and experience life the way they experience it and help them develop a project that is theirs,” she told Prairie earlier this spring. “If you bring people a project, they’ll be polite and accept whatever you’re offering even if it’s something they don’t need. But, if you ask, ‘What do you need?’ you start a conversation.”

Elissa and Ben did, ultimately, develop engineering skills during their respective excursions, but they also learned how to think on their feet, adapt to the situation at hand and assume leadership roles they hadn’t quite anticipated.

SOMEONE TO TAKE CHARGE A chemical engineering major, Ben travelled to Illula, Tanzania, a city of 28,000, with a group of University of Minnesota students and instructors during winter break in 2015 to address water supply issues plaguing a hospital. Water quality was fine and the design of the system seemed reasonable, so Ben and his team quickly determined that the pipes were so clogged with scale that it was necessary to temporarily cut off supply to some of the hospital’s thirty buildings just to deliver an adequate supply to others.

The solution? Re-plumb the entire site with scale-resistant plastic pipes.

Still, collecting information on the system was difficult not only because of language differences, but also because there were no schematics or blueprints. “The discussion kept getting pulled in different directions,” Ben said. “It wasn’t efficient. Too many things were happening at once.”

It became obvious that the problem was far more complex than first thought. The biggest impediment was that no one seemed to know where all the pipes were or how the various parts of the system interacted.

Someone needed to take charge.

That someone was Ben.

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“I said, ‘We have to figure out where the pipes are,’” he recalled. “I wasn’t the dictator.

I wanted a solid plan. Everyone on the team spoke up.”

The next day, the team connected with Habakkuk, the local plumber whose job was to operate the valves that directed water around the campus. As it turned out, Habakkuk knew the location of every pipe even though no written plans existed.

“We followed him around all day,” Ben said.

“He would say, ‘this direction,’ and then, ‘this direction,’ and then, ‘here it splits three ways.’

When that happened, we would follow each branch separately.”

Habakkuk spoke little English, but Ben found that by serving as moderator, communication remained efficient.

The process remained orderly afterward when each team member had a chance to lead. “We were lucky to have one talented teammate who had the ability to scratch out a bird’s-eye map of the whole system,” Ben said.

“Another teammate was a very quiet guy who was excellent at coding, so when we were done with the mapping and needed to enter the data in our computers, he took charge.”

The advisor, who wasn’t “a veteran engineer,” allowed the students to work through the situation. “He had the same attitude we did: ‘I’m trying to figure this out,’” Ben explained. “He kept us where we needed to be and made sure we were safe.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF A (BACKUP) PLAN Elissa’s experience was similar to Ben’s in some ways. After her freshman year at Boston University, she travelled with the school’s Engineers Without Borders group to Chirimoto, Peru, a small, rural village where a flood had knocked out electricity and degraded the water system with silt, clay and coliform bacteria.

The group started out intending to get the power back on, but switched its focus to providing clean water. However, when they got to Peru they discovered the water supply originated from several sources, not all of which could be traced. Elissa wrote in her journal, “We are worried that the sample will have more contaminants than the source because much of the mountain is cow pasture.”

Furthermore, the system was not only old and leaky, but had not been built as designed, leaving it without proper filtration. The students concluded that fixing the water problems was beyond their scope.

Fortunately, they had a backup plan. Respiratory illness is a concern in Chirimoto because many homes have improperly vented wood-burning kitchen stoves that allow smoke and fumes to build up indoors. The students set out to tackle that problem, only to confront an obstacle that had more to do with culture than engineering. Specifically, the ovens in most homes sat over a boxlike space where guinea pigs were fattened on table scraps until they themselves became dinner.

That wasn’t expected, but Elissa says the group accepted the reality and buckled down to the task. “We were there doing an assessment, surveying and interviewing people,” she said. “Our job wasn’t to say what people should do, but to determine what needed to be done and evaluate if it could be done.”

In the end, the students learned how to make adobe bricks, helped establish a mobile library and consulted the villagers on how to safely install electrical circuits.

Elissa got an even bigger dose of leadership training after the Chirimoto trip when the Engineers Without Borders club tapped her to organize its next project, a trip to Tanzania.

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“We were there doing an assessment, surveying and interviewing people.

Our job wasn’t to say what people should do, but to determine what needed to be done and evaluate if it could be done.”

– elissa mueller

Elissa faced challenges ranging from working with a new sponsoring organization to trying to communicate with people half a world away. Looking back on the experience, Elissa said she picked up important lessons about managing people that she’s used in her career as a mechanical engineer with the Wrightsoft Corporation in Lexington, Massachusetts.

“I had to learn that you’re not being a nag when you follow up with people and ask them how they’re doing with the tasks they’ve been assigned,” she said. “We get projects from builders and give assignments to our teams. They work on them overnight, I review what they’ve done the next day.

I stay in contact with them about their progress, change orders and make corrections so that the projects are completed smoothly.”

PREPPED AT PRAIRIE Elissa and Ben said that experiences at The Prairie School prepared them for the leadership roles they cut their teeth on in college.

Elissa credits her parents, who served overseas in the Peace Corps, with imparting to her the desire to apply her knowledge and skills to helping people in need. Toward that end, she plans to return to school at the University of Michigan to study public policy and sustainable energy.

She credits the liberal arts approach at Prairie with helping her develop the discipline to think through challenges.

“There’s an atmosphere of independence,” she says, “and that’s important.”

During his time at Prairie, Ben served as captain of the soccer team and student government president.

Weekly meetings kept him abreast of events, and daily announcements kept him on his game, requiring him to delegate tasks, meet deadlines and think on his feet — all of which came in handy not only in Tanzania, but as his college coursework became increasingly demanding. For one project in particular, his student team had to meet a pressure-packed timeline that involved gathering data and allotted very limited time for lab work. “Before you got to the lab, you had to plan everything through, and in the lab, you had to use every minute efficiently,” he said.

A laid-back guy, Ben is often inclined to let others decide what to do and when. “I don’t mind going along with what someone wants to do,” he said. “Leadership comes in different forms. You can remain quiet and in the background in one situation and still be a leader in another.

A leader is someone who steps up when there’s a need for someone to step up.”

CHRIS HENKE MUELLER, Primary School Teacher, is not only beloved here on campus, but throughout the Racine community-at-large for her active role in promoting environmentalism. She’s been instrumental in initiatives like the school’s Giving Garden, Edible Schoolyard and C.L.A.S.S. program (Character, Leadership, Accountability, Sustainability and Service) that she created to help students develop diverse perspectives on the world around them. She’s also a proud mom who has reveled in watching her daughter, Elissa, travel around the globe to effect environmental change.

“She’ll be studying public policy and sustainable energy this fall at the University of Michigan,” says Henke Mueller. “She hopes to head back to help developing countries and communities here in the U.S. to implement sustainable energy technology.

She’s a pretty awesome person and I’m really proud of her.”

A Force to be Reckoned With —

By Brendan J. O’Brien

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t’s been a wild, unforgiving spring, violent tornadoes ripping through his jurisdiction, but now Adam Paluka’s focus is shifting to the heat, a relentless, oppressive blanket that will soon roll in and cover Oklahoma for the next several months.

“That’s the thing about the weather here,” says the Class of 2003 alumnus.

“There’s always another phenomenon right around the corner.”

Paluka is the Community Relations and Social Media Manager for the Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) in Tulsa, an agency that works with independent ambulance companies to provide emergency services to 17 communities in the Tulsa and Oklahoma City area. His job is to ensure the agency is seen in the best possible light, something he’s excelled at ever since leaving his position as a television news reporter with FOX23 three years ago.

“It feels good to have a job where you’re responsible for providing support to the community,” he says. “No matter where you live or what walk of life you’re from, we are here to take care of you.”

In 2015, Paluka and his team dominated the Bronze Quill Awards presented by the Tulsa Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). He worked on teams that garnered recognition for initiatives such as Work at EMSA Week, CPR Education and Paramedic Response Time Change.

Perhaps his most meaningful accolade to date, however, came at this year’s IABC show when his team was honored with a Bronze Quill for their EMSA Hispanic Outreach Program. “[The recent award] meant a great deal because there’s a lot of distrust between the Hispanic community and local law enforcement and emergency organizations,” says Paluka. “Even in an emergency, they’re often hesitant to call because they’re worried someone might try to deport them. However, our work has continued to make inroads with that community, and that’s something I’m really proud of.”

That work includes distributing bilingual literature to residents, attending local festivals and having EMTs visit schools with a high percentage of Hispanic students.

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WHERE IT ALL BEGAN Paluka very much believes his desire to help others, to positively influence a community as it works to achieve a greater good, is an ambition that was born out of his Prairie experience.

“My mom passed while I was in high school, and I’m not sure what would’ve happened to me if I didn’t have the support of the Prairie community,” he says. “Everyone was there for me. The idea of a village raising a child very much applies to me — I believe the support I received was instrumental in choosing the path I did.”

Whether it’s in his role with the EMSA or his busy volunteer schedule — Paluka regularly sits with 2nd and 3rd graders to help them with their reading skills in advance of a state-mandated comprehension test they’ll take in 4th grade — Paluka seems intent on paying back all the love and support he received while in Wind Point.

“I’m of the mind that if you’re going to accept help from someone, then it’s only right that, as time and opportunity allow, you turn around and give help to others.”

Something to Think About During his career as a TV reporter, Adam Paluka interviewed lots of famous folks, names like Hilary Clinton, Elie Wiesel and Joe Paterno.

He enjoyed doing stories that made his viewers think, and so there’s a hint of irony in how the EMSA approached him — giving him something intriguing to mull over while he was working with FOX23 in Tulsa.

“It was a situation where, being a reporter and constantly working with various members of the community, they knew I had existing relationships with different city officials,” he says. “They sort of swooped in with the opportunity.”

It was one Paluka was happy to seize.

In his position he’s able to engage with a wide swath of citizens — everyone from residents to non-profit organizers to elected officials — as he highlights the benefits of living, working and governing in a city served by the EMSA. “The reality is very few people will actually ride in ambulances in their lifetime,” he says. “Yet, we want to be seen in a positive light and respected as we work to show people the positive things about their communities.”

The Mission to Know More —

By Brendan J. O’Brien

I

t’s a tough, sometimes underappreciated profession. Long hours in the lab. Time away from family. Ongoing fights against a state legislature trying to stifle your research.

It’s a profession that demands not only relentless passion, but also a constant, unquenchable thirst for progress.

And it’s something Anita Bhattacharyya, Ph.D. ’82, has wanted to do ever since her days in Wind Point.

“I’m one of those unusual people who kind of knew what I wanted at a very early age,” she says. “I knew I was going to go into biology and not medicine as early as middle school.”

A Senior Scientist at the Stem Cells and Developmental Disorders Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the bulk of Bhattacharyya’s research is focused on understanding genetic disorders such as Down syndrome and Fragile X syndrome.

Specifically, her work focuses on the cerebral cortex, the most complex area of the brain, and how it’s altered in these developmental disorders.

Problems in any of the major formative developmental steps of the cerebral cortex can lead to mental impairment.

Bhattacharyya utilizes human pluripotent stem cells from affected individuals to observe how genetic mistakes in neurodevelopment can alter brain formation from the beginning of one’s life. Her hope is that by understanding and defining these mistakes, researchers will be able to target therapeutics to treat the diseases.

“There’s really no better way to study a progression of a disease or a disorder in brain development,” she says.

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FROM INTERIM TO ALWAYS Bhattacharyya came to Prairie as a sophomore after her family moved from Marshfield. Having attended large public schools all her life, there was a bit of culture shock associated with the transition, but she soon came to relish her time at TPS, particularly because of the school’s interim program.

As a junior, she interned at a microbiology research lab in Marshfield. It was through that experience she confirmed that her interest in science was something to which she wanted to make a lifelong commitment.

“I was interested in biology, but I wanted to work in a lab and see what it was really like,” she says. “The interim program was fabulous for that. It really helped kids get a feel for a certain job, really helped them learn the culture.”

In college, Bhattacharyya realized she was most interested in animal biology, and after a class in developmental biology, she was off and researching.

“I was so fascinated by it,” she says. “I thought, ‘this is what I want to do.’

Developmental disorders give you a way to understand normal development by seeing what can go wrong.”

The Prairie School Interim Program The interim program at Prairie continues to afford juniors and seniors the opportunity to experience careers they are interested in.

This spring, 150 students ventured out into the communities of Southeastern Wisconsin to receive the kind of life experience that proved so pivotal in Anita Bhattacharyya’s Prairie School experience.

This year’s interim locations include: • andis • arcadis design & consultancy • aurora hospital • belle city veterinary hospital • biosci consulting • brookfield zoo • carthage college • cliftonlarsonallen • cree • first place dentistry • galbraith carnahan architects llc • kenosha school of technology • intrinsic landscaping • little saints childcare center • milwaukee summerfest • racine eco-justice center • racine health department • nx level • nvisia • rockwell automation • sc johnson • schlitz audubon nature center • tower energy • twin disc • warren eye care • wheaton franciscan healthcare Interested in serving as an interim location for Prairie students? Contact Rebecca Wheeler at rwheeler@prairieschool.com

A Talented Triumvirate

INTRODUCING THREE OF THE PRAIRIE SCHOOL’S NEWEST ALUMNI —

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ach spring, a decorated senior class departs Wind Point, ready to take the next step in their lives. The talents and passions of the Class of 2016 are many, and whether they’re interested in science, art, education or business, one thing is certain – the things they’ve learned here will help turn their aspirations from dreams into reality.

Just ask them.

GERALD DAVIS Attending Wake Forest University What are you most looking forward to about attending Wake Forest?

Most people tell you that when you’re selecting a college, you just know it’s the place you want to be, and for me, I knew instantly. It’s a place where you feel everyone knows your name and that they care about who you are as a person. Additionally, I’m looking forward to enhancing my education, growing as a person, and discovering more about myself.

Of course, I look forward to meeting faculty and peers.

Most of all, I want to explore my interest in biology and science. Wake Forest is known for its outstanding biology department. The student-to-faculty relationships are strong as well. I spoke with a few students on campus and they all said they were happy, and that attending Wake Forest was the best decision they have made.

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How has Prairie prepared you to succeed in college and beyond?

The Prairie School has prepared me to succeed through rigorous coursework and study. From Primary School to Middle School and now as a senior, I was challenged to deliver the best work possible. I was not compared to other students. My instructors insisted that I perform at a level that was best for me. My studies will ultimately allow for an easier transition to college because I am prepared. Prairie does an excellent job creating a college-like atmosphere that continuously challenges its students.

As students, we learned valuable lessons in time management. I can balance my life with homework, extracurricular activities, sports and community service, not to mention participation in clubs such as Math, Science Olympiad, and Technology Club. These activities have reinforced my love for an interest in the STEMs.

What will you miss most about TPS? What’s not to miss? Is it the grounds, is it the building, is it the classrooms, or is it the countless relationships I have developed over the years with the students and my teachers? My teachers have been outstanding over the years. Their attention to detail, even with the simplest projects, has allowed Prairie students to soar. I will miss my teachers because they cared, and most importantly, they listened. Every instructor was always available if questions arose about material. The teachers offered an environment that was comfortable as they listened to understand what a student may be struggling with.

I will also miss my relationships with my friends. Over the years, as we have grown from preschoolers to high school students, we have changed, developed, and grown in how we value each other. As students, we have always tried to help others whether it involved academics or social concerns. We were always there for each other.

What’s one unique thing from home you’re bringing to your dorm room?

My lava lamp. I’ve had it for about seven years and just love the way it adds to the room. I do not use it at night anymore, but I find myself turning it on during the day every once in a while. The illumination of the colors relaxes me. I always wanted a lava lamp since I was a little boy and now that I have one, I should continue using it.

Who is someone you credit with your success to date and why?

I cannot credit only one person, but two. Of course I’m speaking of my parents. It’s because of them I am a lifer at Prairie. They often recount that it was on their very first visit to Prairie when they decided this would be my school home. Education has always been paramount in their process of raising me. From the beginning, they have stressed the importance of a well-rounded life. Their determination to provide the best education possible has persuaded me to do my absolute best in school and in life. My parents have also always stressed the importance of balance – working hard pays off, but enjoying life with fun, family, and friends is truly what makes life enjoyable. The amount of credit I give them for influencing my life is endless.

ELLIE PLACHINSKI Attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology What are you most looking forward to about attending MIT? On some level, I don’t think it has quite sunk in that I’m attending MIT. Some part of me is still that freshman who decided that attending MIT was my goal (closer to a dream), now that it’s actually happening. So part of me is excited about that, but I’m already emailing professors and post-docs about research. I’m so excited to be a part of math research (my intended major), and I’m excited to learn from my future professors and peers. I can’t wait to be part of a group and an atmosphere that’s excited about the same topics and ideas that I am.

What will you miss most about TPS? I’ll miss the Prairie community, particularly my classmates and teachers. I’ll miss spending the fall running with a group of awesome people for cross country; I’ll miss the countless hours spent in the music room for pit orchestra; I’ll miss the conversations I have every day with teachers in the Commons; and I’ll miss all of the Science Olympiad meets and Model UN summits. I’ve had the honor to meet with, and learn from, some incredible people. It’s the people I will miss the most.

How has Prairie prepared you to succeed in college and beyond?

There are a few attributes Prairie instills in its students: communication, teamwork, and critical thinking. Not only have I learned how to evaluate and write papers, but also to work with those similar and different from myself, and how to communicate effectively with my teachers and peers. TPS helped me get over my fear of talking to teachers, something which I’m sure will be useful in the coming years.

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What’s one unique thing from home you’re bringing to your dorm room?

For my birthday this year, my sister got me what she calls a “hipster periodic table,” because she claims it was the most Ellie thing she found. It’s a giant poster done in vintage style with all of the basic periodic table (and orbital information as well, which is extra cool) and it’s been a great help with my chemistry coursework. I don’t know what I’d do without having it to reference during Webassigns, and considering I’ll be doing more chemistry in college, I’ll certainly be bringing it with me.

Who is someone you credit with your success to date and why?

There are three Prairie teachers I credit with my success: Mrs. Benes, Mrs. McDonough, and Mr. Brown. Mrs. Benes was the first person I knew here, and she was both a second mother and a staunch believer in all of the crazy things I wanted to do. Mrs. McDonough was my advisor all four years of high school, and when I told her that I wanted to go to MIT, she worked with me to make it a possibility. She’s listened to me ramble about math and was genuinely interested (a surprising and new thing), and I would not be going to MIT without her support and help. Lastly, it was Mr. Brown who taught me how to love math. He taught me how to see things in the proofs and equations that I had no clue existed until then, and it’s because of him that I set myself on the course that I did.

KYLIE KAMM Attending Milwaukee School of Engineering What are you most looking forward to about attending MSOE? I am looking forward to focusing my studies on my future career path, nursing, while playing volleyball. I want to be the best nurse I can be, just like my grandmother once was. I hope to become a pediatric nurse, so I am beyond excited to gain knowledge on how to do that. I am also looking forward to playing volleyball because I love being a part of a team and knowing that your team always has your back. I am looking forward to being pushed to become the best nurse, player, and person I can be.

What will you miss most about TPS? On my last day of school I was trying to think of all the things I am going to miss and one thing kept coming to mind: the connection we have with our teachers. I am going to miss knocking on the teacher’s door whenever I had a question and receiving an answer right away. I am going to miss being able to email my teachers at night and set up a meeting for the following morning because I saw a grade that I was concerned with. I am going to miss walking into class early and having a conversation with my teacher just because. The teachers here not only establish a connection with students, they are also flexible and dedicated to ensure their success.

What’s one unique thing from home you’re bringing to your dorm room?

I will be bringing the photograph of my grandmother when she graduated from nursing school.

Who is someone you credit with your success to date and why?

Ever since I was a little girl my parents have been, and I know they will continue to be, my biggest supporters. They have supported me through my academic and athletic career. If I did not understand a math assignment they were there to help me figure it out, even if that meant they had to learn the material themselves. When I finished a paper and was not sure if something sounded correct, my parents were there to proofread. When I would get home late from practice but still had a test to study for, they would stay up and help me study.

They were my biggest supporters in athletics as well. I cannot remember a game where one of them did not attend. My mom was always my personal cheerleader; whatever mood I was in she was there to cheer me up. I would consider my dad a cheerleader too, but also my all-time coach. He was not correcting me from the sidelines, but after a game I would give him a look and he knew when I was upset. He always knew what I was doing wrong, so before my next game he would remind me what I needed to fix.

I have always admired this characteristic about my parents, and I aspire to be like them when I become a parent someday. I credit them for my success not only because they were my biggest supporters, but because they were the ones who pushed me to be the best I could be.

How has Prairie prepared you to succeed in college and beyond?

The workload on top of athletics taught me good time management skills. I think this skill will allow me to succeed throughout MSOE and in my career. Nursing is a tough field with all of the classes, clinicals, and homework, especially while playing a sport. That is why I am so thankful for all of the papers, projects, and assessments Prairie put me through. They taught me to be a successful student while doing what I love.

Class Notes —

1970s

Danusia (Diane) Szumowski ’76 is the owner of Test Kitchens, a market research, usability and ethnography for new products development firm. She recently took a year sabbatical to study winemaking at Portola Vineyards in Portola Valley, California. She’s currently working on her certification in Enology and Viticulture at the University of California, Davis and is building a home in St. Helena, California, where she plans to live with her husband and two standard poodles. She’s eager to point out that the chemistry she learned from Mr. Benson has finally come in handy.

Tom King ’78 graduated from Case Western Reserve University this May with a Doctorate in Management. Following a 30-year career at Progressive Insurance in Cleveland, he will begin an appointment as a professor at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve starting July 1st.

1980s

Sharon Guskin’s ’83 novel, The Forgetting Time, was published by Flatiron Books in February. The novel, about a mother who goes far into the unknown to help her child, has sold in over 16 countries. The New York Times Book Review called it, “gripping, deft and moving.” The novel was also selected as an Indie Next Pick, an Amazon Best Book of February and a People Magazine Book of the Week. She would be happy to Skype into any alumni book groups. Contact her at sharon@ sharonguskin.com.

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Ann-Elise Henzl ’83 has been a reporter at WUWM Milwaukee Public Radio since 1993. She was Executive Producer of Project Milwaukee – an in-depth series reporting on vital issues in the region. The recent story “Black Men in Prison” covered the incarceration of black males in Milwaukee and examined why Wisconsin has the highest rate of black male incarceration in the nation. Henzl and staff created more than 60 reports that were broadcast during 2014 and 2015, organized two community forums, and compiled an award-winning blog (morethanmyrecord.tumblr.com) exploring the personal experiences of ex-convicts. [E] Amanda Cosgrove Paffrath ’85 is the owner of Funky Hannah’s Beads & Art and Hot Shop Glass Studio & Gallery in Racine. Well-known for her popular bead camps, she was featured in the February issue of Bead & Button Magazine as “an enterprising, talented artist that approaches everything with an infectious sense of fun.”

Jenny Boese ’89 is VP of Federal Affairs & Advocacy at the Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA) where she directs WHA’s federal relations and advocacy operations. This May, she earned her Master’s of Science in Management, Leadership and Strategy from Michigan State University.

1990s

Joanne Ramos ’91 lives in Tribeca with her husband and three kids. She is a writer.

Andrew Chud ’93, a Senior Software Developer at Amazon Web Services (AWS), recently presented a workshop for the company focusing on the invention and launch of the AWS Mobile Hub. He was responsible for designing the software architecture and writing much of the

code across the core web services and two sample mobile app projects. The AWS Mobile Hub lets you enable AWS cloud resources in a mobile app.

The Recording Academy recently placed Suzanne Gasiorkiewicz Selmo ’98 on the official ballot for the 58th Annual Grammy Awards in the categories of Best Children’s Album for “Shine,” and Best Pop Solo Performance for “I’ll Miss You ‘Til the Morning.” This is the second album to receive a Grammy nomination for Selmo, a Musical Theater graduate from Syracuse’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. To date, “Shine” has won a Parents’ Choice Award, a NAPPA Award, a Kids’ First Endorsement, Creative Child Magazine Album of the Year Award, and a Kids’ Choice Award.

2000s

In March 2016 Angeline Gragasin ’03, a New York-based writer and filmmaker, was a presenting speaker at Just Food?, a forum on Land Use, Rights and Ecology at Harvard University. Her lecture, The Impossible Case of Sonny Nguyen, offered an intimate, first person account of her experience researching, scouting, and meeting Hoagson “Sonny” Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant and commercial chicken farmer from South Carolina.

Kara Metzger Ohmstead ’03, Associate Manager in Financial Planning and Analysis for North America Sales at SC Johnson, recently earned her Masters of Business Administration from Marquette University’s Graduate School of Management.

Brian Watt ’03 is a Sales Representative for TaylorMade-Adidas Golf responsible for the growth and development of the Virginia/West Virginia territory. In January 2016, he received the 2015 Chairman’s Club Award given to the top six overall performing sales reps. This follows his 2014 Rookie of the Year award.

After spending five years in engineering, Brittany Holterman ’04 left her job last October and opened Legacy Gym MKE in Wauwatosa. A functional fitness studio without the treadmills and ellipticals that typify big box gyms, Holterman wanted a gym with heart. “We’re about the whole person,” she says. “We’re gonna work out with these people. We’re gonna serve with these people. And, hopefully, we’ll go out and have dinner or grab a drink with these people. It’s a cool little community.”

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

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Erin MacDonald ’04 co-wrote, produced and starred in Harlem Knights, a film that was a recent finalist in the New York Television Festival, a pioneer of the independent television movement. Knights is the story of five childhood friends whose one defining moment of glory on the court was tarnished.

Austin Schultz ’04 became owner and President of Racine’s Plumb Gold Ltd. in November 2015. He discovered his love of jewelry through Prairie’s interim program and subsequent part-time employment at Plumb Gold during his high school years.

He studied Metalsmithing and Jewelry Design at Miami University of Ohio, and returned to Plumb Gold full-time in 2009.

Currently completing courses to become a GIA Graduate Gemologist, Schultz looks forward to shaping the well-known local store into something new and fresh while paying homage to the brand’s legacy of quality and design.

Class Notes —

Ryan Grossheim ’05 was an Assistant Art Director on Grease Live that aired on Fox on January 31st, 2016. He assisted in the design and management of the scenery, ensuring everything was built, dressed and delivered on time.

and photo content highlighting runway trends, street styles and the best in celebrity fashion. He previously resided in New York City where he produced content for outlets like Refinery29, Lucky, E!, Time Out New York, and Us Weekly.

Peter Holzinger ’05 is a financial representive for Northwestern Mutual in Milwaukee. He helps people gain confidence in their finances and makes sure they are on track to fulfilling their long-term goals.

Alana Trotter ’06 graduated from the Medical College of Wisconsin. In school, she launched DoctorGoals.com, a website designed to serve as an online advice platform for medical school applicants.

Informative, interactive, and engaging, the website features dozens of successful applicants from throughout the country to showcase the many journeys to medical school.

Dominic Maio ’05 was a member of the Milwaukee School of Engineering’s 2015 Athletic Hall of Fame Class. The most accomplished runner in school history, Maio qualified for the NCAA Championships in both cross country and track & field. A three-time All Conference selection in CC and the winner of six individual track & field conference titles in two seasons, he currently holds seven school records.

Cory Sebastian ’05 is General Manager of the popular Sebastian’s eatery in Caledonia. She was highlighted in the May 9th edition of The Racine Journal Times not only for her success in overseeing the family establishment, but for efforts to advance Racine. She also teaches etiquette to Racine Unified middle schoolers, plans events for Racine-based organizations, and works with local nonprofits.

Lauren Parlin Craton ’06 is a Kindergarten teacher at Northeast College Prep, a K-8 charter school in Minneapolis.

She was a semifinalist for 2016 Minnesota Teacher of the Year.

Bobby Schuessler ’06 lives in Los Angeles where he’s the West Coast Style Director for Who What Wear, a Clique Media Group company. He produces video

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Brian Wagers ’06 is a Senior Applications Engineer at SGS Cybermetrix in Columbus, Indiana. He recently launched his first product on Amazon, an ecofriendly stainless steel pour-over coffee filter.

Amanda Krueger ’07 is director of client services at Strike Social, a large YouTube advertising intelligence platform.

Previously, she served as a media supervisor at Spark SMG. Ela (Elizabeth) Wojt ’07 is the Marketing Coordinator and Event Planner for Perillo Exotic Cars in downtown Chicago. She recently hired Isabel Price ’07 to join the group’s marketing department.

Greta Iliev ’08 graduated from The George Washington University Law School in May. In the summer of 2015 she served as a law clerk for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and this spring she was a legal intern for the U.S. Department of Energy. She is looking forward to taking the Virginia bar exam later this summer.

Tim Callaghan ’09, father of current student Jess Callaghan ’30, is the owner of Smith Welding and Fabrication in Racine.

He bought the business earlier this year after serving as foreman in 2015.

Stephanie Kreager ’09 graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in May and will be earning her Master’s of Public Health at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. She will be working part time at Disability Rights Wisconsin (DRW), a private non-profit designated by the Governor to ensure the rights of all citizens.

2010s

Terah Hennick ’10 will be attending the University of Central Florida College of Medicine in August.

Nik Sethi ’10 has a new startup, Support Me Plus, devoted to providing online support group and mental health services.

You can check out his site at: www.supportmeplus.com Matt Cain ’11 is a consultant for Cerner Corporation in Kansas City, Missouri.

Cerner supplies health information technology solutions, services, devices and hardware to businesses of all sizes.

Javier Campos ’11 recently graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Master’s degree in Structural Engineering & Mechanics. Since January he has been working as a bridge engineer intern at ARUP, an independent firm of designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists located in San Francisco.

Stephanie Schmidt ’11 recently graduated from Officer Candidate School (OCS) in Fort Benning, Georgia. She is a Second Lieutenant and will be going to Arizona for further military training.

Arielle Exner ’12 recently graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and minors in Journalism and French.

Hayley Driscoll ’12 graduated with Highest Distinction from the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business this spring. She was recently hired by SC Johnson as a Sales Analyst.

Madeline Henderson ’12 earned her Bachelor’s of Accounting (December 2015) and Master’s of Accountancy (May 2016) from Abilene Christian University’s College of Business Administration in Oxford, England. Upon graduation, she accepted a position with Ernst & Young in Fort Worth, Texas. In the summer of 2014 she snapped this photo at the Cliffs

of Moher while studying abroad in Ireland.

[F]

Ashely Monti ’12 was recently crowned Miss West Allis. Her Support Others and Understand Loss (SOUL) platform is spreading awareness about the services offered by grief management centers. A senior at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee, she is double-majoring in Conservation Environmental Science and Political Science. Ashely will compete at the Miss Wisconsin Pageant this summer.

Jeanette Morelan ’12 recently graduated from Belmont University with a degree in Social Entrepreneurship. She was one of three students to speak at the university’s baccalaureate ceremony during Commencement. Morelan was also

recently named Miss Nashville 2016, and will be competing in the Miss Tennessee pageant this June. She serves the Nashville Community with her Power of One platform – the belief that each one of us, no matter how ordinary we may seem, has the extraordinary power to impact and influence our families, communities, and world. She plans to soon move to South Africa to continue her work in community development.

approximately 50 voices representing the School of Music and other areas of the university. In April, Ryan performed Bach’s “2nd Suite Prelude,” Shostakovich’s “Sonata for Cello and Piano,” and Tchaikovsky’s “Pezzo Capriccioso” for his Junior Cello Recital at Wesleyan.

Mia Pinero ’12 graduated Summa Cum Laude from Montclair State University with a BFA in Musical Theatre in May. Her show credits at MSU include The Threepenny Opera and The Winter’s Tale, among others. She will be heading to Portland this summer to perform at the Broadway Rose Theatre as Maria in West Side Story. The show runs June 30 - July 24, 2016.

Margaret Zimmermann ’14 is attending St. Olaf College in Minnesota, where she’s double-majoring in Computer Science and Math.

Andrew Plebanek ’12, a biology student at the University of California-Santa Cruz, has accepted a microbiology research internship at the Ames Research Center (ARC), a major NASA research center at Moffett Federal Airfield in California’s Silicon Valley.

Regena Yu ’12 was on a team of students from the University of Minnesota College of Design that won Industrial Fabrics Association International’s (IFAI) recent Textile Student Design Challenge. The group designed a Mechanical Counter Pressure (MCP) glove to provide pressure to the hand in a zero gravity atmosphere – a project originally designed for NASA. In March 2016, Ryan Andersen ’14 traveled cross-country for a performance tour with the Illinois Wesleyan Collegiate Choir. The group is composed of

Lauren Chars ’14 has been accepted into the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Butler University.

Mateo Garcia-Novelli ’15 was named a 2015-16 Stamps Scholar at the University of Notre Dame. The program recognizes exceptional students who exemplify leadership, service, innovation, and character.

Class Notes —

WEDDINGS

BIRTHS

Alex Nielsen ’11 married Paige Steed ’11 on July 11, 2015. They met at Prairie and have been dating since October 5, 2006. [G]

Steve True and Lauren Wideburg True ’03 Addison - September 16, 2014

Peter Olesen ’05 married Kim Rybicki ’05 on August 29, 2015. [B]

Phil Carter and Brielle Roskom Carter ’05 Maddox - April 23, 2015

Nick Wietfeldt ’07 married Natalie DeCheck ’09 on August 29, 2015.

Jason Smalkoski and Irena Linev Smalkoski ’04 Aiden - August 4, 2015

Ryan Schowalter ’05 married Kim Braun ’05 on September 26, 2015.

James Korsmo and Jess Steig Korsmo ’05 Benjamin James - September 3, 2015

Ryan Devine ’04 married Amy Roehl on October 10, 2015.

James Borowick and Meg Kane-Borowick ’’00 Liam Jameson - September 23, 2015

[H]

[D]

Amy Walton ’04 married Taylor Schrage on October 10, 2015.

Ari Hagopian ’03 married Rosie Espinoza on October 17, 2015. [C] Matt Adamczyk ’10 married Abby Gaertig ’10 on June 27, 2015 [A]

Charles Starnes and Kristen Chylla Starnes ’01 Arden Kate - July 2015 Zachary Harmon and Courtney Eberle Harmon ’02 Gavin Nicholas - September 14, 2015 Ryan Dembroski and Kristen Pichelman Dembroski ’00 Elaine - June 3, 2015 Brandon Davis and Erica Lindeman Davis ’04 Michael Chase - April 2, 2015

Josh Naker and Suzy Johnson Naker ’05 Logan Heffel - January 1, 2016 Fun Fact: Logan was the first baby born in Racine in 2016.

Mike Bradshaw and Liz Biland ’04 Braelyn Rose - January 16, 2016

STAY IN TOUCH AND SHARE YOUR NEWS

You, The Prairie School alumni, are an inspiration to all of us.

We would love to hear from you!

Share your special news with us, whether it is a new job, a promotion, a special award you have received or some other accomplishment — we would love to hear it and share it with others.

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Michael O’Neil and Alisa Prochaska O’Neil ’06 Jack Michael - January 29, 2016

Please take a minute to fill us in on what is happening in your life. Class Notes are published as space permits. The editors of this magazine reserve the right to revise and rewrite items for content and length.

Submit your news at www.prairieschool.info/class-notes

REUNION WEEKEND RECAP

Maestro, Mentor, Friend Without question, the highlight of Reunion Weekend 2016 was a special concert paying tribute to one of Prairie’s alltimers – the one and only Pat Badger.

Over 20 past and present TPS musicians took the stage to play a wide-ranging score that celebrated Pat’s legacy and ongoing commitment to Prairie.

The show concluded with a performance of “Prairie Fires,” a piece that was written by composer Nelson Keyes and premiered on June 2nd, 1977.

And you’ll never guess who took the stage for the concert’s final number to perform alongside her former students and forever admirers.

“Long before we had a theatre and performing arts studios, we performed in the small gym,” Pat reminisced after the show. “We were young and eager, and Keyes wrote a jazz orchestra piece that challenged all of us. This time we performed it in the Mitchell Theatre, named after Prairie’s first headmaster, who, incidentally, played a very fine jazz trumpet.”

“She showed genuine care for her students and their development not just in music, but as well-rounded citizens preparing to live lives that will positively affect others. She always made time for chats after school about the current musical event we were preparing for, discussions about adolescent school struggles, or appreciation for nature or art. Now that I am a teacher myself, I realize that she was sacrificing her limited prep time or lunch to make time for her students.”

- Beccah Schmidt ’03 “What makes her so special is her unwavering commitment to her students, her community, and her craft. She supports her students so fully in their musical pursuits and lives at large. She spreads goodness and love to those around her, through her music, life knowledge, and joy. Pat has filled my life with a love of music for nearly twenty years, and I am so grateful.”

- Dr. Elizabeth Steffensen ’04 To see a selection of images from Pat’s concert, as well as other Reunion Weekend events, visit our online gallery at www.prairieschool.com

He’s not the only one. Thanks for everything, Pat.

PAT BADGER TRIBUTE CONCERT PERFORMERS Mark Paffrath ’74 Ronnie Quella ’75 Heather Martin-Bixler ’82 Ieva Swanson ’88 Janet Miller Kaido ’93 Suzanne Selmo ’98 Rebeccah Steffensen Schmidt ’03

Angeline Gragasin ’03 Elizabeth Steffensen ’04 Robert Schuessler ’06 Jim Castaneda ’08 Luke Patterson ’12 Ryan Andersen ’13 Mateo Garcia-Novelli ’15

Andrew Herndon ’15 Ellie Plachinski ’16 Rachel Brown ’16 Alex Rehorst ’16 Kyler Krenzke ’16 Kurt Ringwalt ’16 Annli Nakayama ’18

Save the Date Friday, Sep tember 16th

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Join us for a day on the links at the Racine Country Club! For more information visit us online at www.prairieschool.info/golf

The Last Word

THANK YOU, MIKE DAVENPORT —

P

at Badger remembers how, every now and then, Mike would join her on stage to jam on the guitar. Kevin Pearson remembers how Prairie’s baseball players used to rave about the strength of his throwing arm. Jim Vass remembers him sharing his intricate knowledge of Prairie’s campus. They all remember him as a man you could count on.

In March, Mike Davenport, longtime Facilities and Grounds expert and former varsity baseball coach, retired after 37 years of service. His final day was a festive celebration complete with flowery beach shirts and plastic flamingoes — afterward, Mike left for his new home in Florida.

Here through the construction of the Theatre/Administration Wing, the Student Resource Center, the Upper School and the Johnson Athletic Center — no one knows the ins and outs of The Prairie School better than Mike Davenport.

So, thank you, Mike, for everything you’ve given to Prairie. Here’s hoping you enjoy a healthy, happy retirement filled with plenty of ball games and strumming on the guitar.

Below, some of the people who knew Mike best share their thoughts about the quiet guy with the big heart.

“No one knows the heating and cooling of this place the way he does. And I wouldn’t know what I do about our campus if it wasn’t for him. He is, without a doubt, an all-in Prairie player.”

– Jim Vass, Director of Facilities “His affection for this place is obvious, and he has always worked wonders with our campus. No matter the season, this place just shines. It looks good. It smells good. The beauty of Prairie always shows and it’s because of people like Mike.” – Pat Badger, Advisor to Head of School for Arts & Equity

“We had this joke where, when we’d pass one another in the hallway, he’d say, ‘Between you and me, Sandy, between you and me.’ Neither of us is really much for gossip or the type to get overly reflective, but this was our way of acknowledging the many crazy things that happened on campus. So now, between you and me, Mike, I hope you know how much you will be missed.”

– Sandy Freres, Athletic Director

“He was always very patient and kind with the students, no matter what level. Also, if we ever needed anything, at any time, Mike never hesitated. This included hand trucking boxes of clay to the art department – often 1,000 pounds or more – or clearing a drain or fixing a locker door. Mike was a go-to guy for us.”

– Kevin and Christine Pearson, Former Art Teachers

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