Tower Hill 2017 Spring Bulletin

Tower Hill Bulletin Spring 2017

Innovation in Action Student Innovators in the Upper School Andrew Fong ‘99 Directs Engineering at Dropbox Laura Permut Sparks ‘93 Leading Cooper Union Forward A History of Innovation at THS

The boys’ soccer team won the Division II DIAA Soccer Championship in November 2016, defeating Indian River 4-2.

Photo: Jason Minto/USA Today Sports

Tower Hill BULLETIN

SPRING 2017

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IN THIS ISSUE

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A COMMUNITY OF INNOVATORS

AROUND SCHOOL

12 Diagnosing Sickle Cell Disease: Tej Vaddi ‘18

47 Social Justice Program

7 Innovation as Mindset: Anthony Pisapia

46 Strategic Planning Update

14 Prosthetic Limbs and 3D Printing: Morgan Rollins ‘17

49 New Spaces

16 Shooting for the Stars: Joseph Pinto ‘17

18 Du-ing Well by Du-ing Good: Ben ‘82 and Thére ‘84 du Pont 22 Laura Permut Sparks ‘93 Named President of Cooper Union 24 THS -> IBM: Preston Boyden ‘10

26 Dropbox Engineer Andrew Fong ‘99 28 A History of Innovation at THS 34 Mindfulness in the Classroom

38 Multimedia Town Meetings in the Lower School

40 A MacGyver Approach to Middle School Science 44 New Tradition: Senior Speeches 45 Head’s Council

50 Living Legend: John Robinson 52 In Tribute: Jack Holloway 53 New Horizons

54 THS in Photos

62 Global Connections: Soren Kjaergaard ‘76 DEPARTMENTS

3 What‘s Online

4 Around School

59 Athletics

64 Homecoming and Reunion 68 Alumni Events 70 Class Notes

72 Faculty Notes

On the Cover

Morgan Rollins ‘17 built a 3D-printed, voice-activated prosthetic hand in Accelerated Physics, inspired by her experience in anatomy class and her interest in physical therapy (read more on page 14). Photo by Grace DeSeta.

Tower Hill BULLETIN EDITOR Teresa Messmore Director of Communications and Marketing LAYOUT Grace DeSeta Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing CONTRIBUTORS Kathy Warner Director of Alumni Programs Kate Bailey Advancement Associate Michael Bradley Jennifer Houston Tara Malloy Kathryn Mahon Peach Anthony Pisapia Julia Stone Leslie Sysko Ellis A. Wasson Timothy Weymouth STUDENT CONTRIBUTOR Joseph Zakielarz ‘20 PHOTOGRAPHY Grace DeSeta, Teresa Messmore, Kathy Warner, Michele McCauley, Geo Ritteneyer/Feld Entertainment, Jason Minto/USA Today Sports, Dan Stroud The Tower Hill Bulletin magazine is published twice annually to share how alumni, faculty, staff and students embody the school’s motto Multa Bene Facta, Many Things Done Well.

Send Class Notes to thalum@towerhill.org with a high-resolution photo.

TOWER HILL SCHOOL 2813 W. 17th Street Wilmington, DE 19806 302-575-0550 | www.towerhill.org HEAD OF SCHOOL Elizabeth C. Speers DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT Julie Tyson 2016-2017 BOARD OF TRUSTEES Michelle Shepherd – Chair Ellen Kullman ‘74 – Vice Chair William Daiger Jr. – Treasurer Linda Boyden – Secretary Jon Abramczyk, Ted Ashford III, Earl Ball, Ed.D., Anthony Cucuzzella, M.D. ‘82, Regis de Ramel, Benjamin du Pont ‘82, Charles Elson, W. Whitfield Gardner ‘81, Laird Hayward ‘02, Eric Johnson, M.D., Henry Mellon, Ann Rose, David Roselle, Elizabeth C. Speers P ‘19, Head of School, Carmen Wallace ‘93, Gina Ward Tower Hill School welcomes students of any race, religion, color or nationality. The school does not discriminate in its administrative policies or in the administration of its program.

From the HEAD OF SCHOOL Dear Tower Hill families and friends, Last year, I began my tenure at Tower Hill by asking teachers and students to join in a year-long conversation about curricular innovation. What does innovation mean for us at Tower Hill, and what innovative approaches to teaching and learning are already happening here on 17th Street? What might innovation look like embedded in a program that will continue to be firmly rooted in the liberal arts? How is tradition important to innovation and vice versa? What skill sets are required across disciplines for our students to lead in a world that values creativity, entrepreneurship, agility and the dexterity to iterate? How are we teaching our students to develop the tenacity, perseverance and grace to succeed and grow? In response, I have been mightily impressed by our faculty, staff, students, alumni and parents who have engaged in robust conversations, initiatives, task forces, committee work and a year-long comprehensive strategic planning process. We are all indeed fortunate to be part of an educational community wherein considering the future is part of our daily work.

Top schools across the country are challenging themselves to deliver their missions in innovative ways. At Tower Hill, we have the luxury of asking ourselves bold questions from a position of strength. Just as we ask our students to stretch and grow every day, we are approaching 100 years of Tower Hill education with the same spirit, all the while ensuring that our mission is the bedrock upon which we build with a growth mindset. As you will read through these pages, it is part and parcel of Tower Hill’s “DNA” to embrace innovation. Our school has many examples of innovation—past and present—from Burton Fowler’s emphasis on cooperative “learning by doing” in the 1920s and 1930s (see pages 28-31) to our Global Scholars Certificate Program, Model United Nations, engineering class and Robotics Club, to name a few.

As I convene with heads of school from across the country, one gains a national perspective on the independent school landscape. While all schools are different, one theme is consistent throughout education today: change is a constant, and the pace of change is increasing exponentially. In the workplace our students will enter, automation is upending human effort and freelancing is replacing traditional employment (see pages 7-10). For some this is daunting, however for Tower Hill, the revolution that is happening in education provides us the opportunity to pose important, fundamental questions about our purpose. Why and how do we educate our students for their world, versus ours?

While none of us has a crystal ball, there is one thing I am clear about when it comes to Tower Hill: intelligence and integrity will go hand in hand in all we do. We are committed to being a school of Wilmington and the World, and we will continue to do so in a way that calls upon our students to use both their intellect and integrity, as it is within this very combination that Tower Hill students will distinguish themselves as engaged citizens and leaders.

I hope you will agree as you read through the pages of this magazine that Tower Hill teachers, students and alumni are using their intelligence in innovative ways. It continues to be a privilege to lead Tower Hill into its centennial chapter. Please mark the date for Tower Hill’s Centennial Celebration: Sept. 20-22, 2019. We will surely be celebrating both tradition and innovation within Tower Hill’s extraordinary history. We will be “calling” all Tower Hill artists, athletes, scholars, entrepreneurs, leaders, innovators and everyone in between as we wrap our arms around this wonderful school. Thanks for all your support, and as always, please feel free to be in touch—as we are so proud to claim the creativity, intelligence and innovation of the entire Tower Hill community!

Sincerely,

Elizabeth C. Speers Head of School

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What’s ONLINE

instagram.com/ towerhillschool

facebook.com/ thsde

DISNEY ON ICE 88 likes Tower Hill alumna Hope Alexander ‘07 starred as Princess Tiana in Disney on Ice.

SOCCER STAR 3,646 impressions, 27 likes Varsity soccer goalie Bo Anderson ‘18 was featured as The News Journal’s Athlete of the Week.

SEMIFINALS BOUND 149 likes THS field hockey broke Cape Henlopen’s 6-year winning streak and were state runner-ups with an outstanding 14-1 season.

HERO IN RIO 1,869 impressions, 27 likes THS field hockey team with THS alum and Olympian Caitlin VanSickle ‘08 after the Team USA vs. India send-off game.

LEGO ROBOTICS 48 likes Congratulations to the Middle School Lego Robotics team for placing 3rd at the FIRST Lego League Qualifier Event, receiving the Gracious Professionalism award and qualifying for the state competition in February.

HIGHER ED 1,106 impressions, 10 likes Bryn Mawr College President Kim Cassidy spoke to faculty about high-impact experiences in higher education.

THIS YEAR IN VIDEO...

EXPERIENCE TOWER HILL The Communications Office’s Grace DeSeta used a drone camera to create a new homepage video highlighting the Tower Hill campus and student experience.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL TIMELAPSE 9,800 FACEBOOK VIEWS, 363 LIKES A timelapse video showed beloved safety officer Marvin Swanson during his morning routine high-fiving students on their way into school.

TREE TRIM LIVE 1,300 FACEBOOK VIEWS, 44 LIKES The 88th Annual Tree Trim streamed live on Facebook for family and friends to watch from around the country.

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Around SCHOOL Student Spotlight

The Upper School’s Model United Nations team competed in December at New York University’s Empire Model United Nations Conference. Rory Britt ‘18 earned Best Delegate, Barron Jones ‘20 earned Honorable Mention Delegate and the group won Outstanding Small Delegation for the entire event.

Global

Tower Hill’s Guatemalan exchange student, Natalia Martinez, visited with first-graders in Natalie Moravek’s Spanish class. She shared her experiences growing up in Guatemala and traditions about Las Posadas, a Central and South American Christmas celebration. Each year, first-graders form a Las Posadas procession, pretending to search for lodging in classrooms around school as they sing in Spanish.

Research In Elizabeth Brown’s Advanced Chemistry class, students examine research on alternative energy. In addition to the harmful effects of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, Brown said, concerns of safety and scarcity have led scientists toward research that would create renewable energy sources. One such source is hydrogen gas, which can be burned in fuel cells to produce energy and gives off only water as a byproduct. Students conducting independent study projects in chemistry have worked with a series of metal oxides that, when excited by sunlight, have the ability to catalyze the reaction to split water into oxygen and hydrogen gas—the desired alternative fuel—without the production or use of fossil fuels.

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Athletics Special Olympics Delaware, in partnership with the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association, hosted the 2016 Student Leadership Conference in November. Matthew Santos ‘17, Isabelle Pilson ‘18, Cameron Cucuzzella ‘18, Natalie Hobbs ‘18, Julia Quinlan ‘19 and Brianna McCoy ‘17 joined Linda Ogden, who presented an exhibit on the DIAA Student Leadership Conference and Camp Barnes. This one-day event served to motivate student leaders and educate them on ways they can make a difference in their schools through sports, youth leadership and awareness activities.

Culture

Upper School international students and their host families celebrated the Chinese New Year at Hayward House, hosted by Head of School Bessie Speers and her husband Tom. Mandarin teacher Wendy Liu and Director of Global Initiatives Eduardo Silva also joined the festivities.

Faculty

History teacher Arturo Bagley took part in a weeklong Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Teacher Seminar at Columbia University titled Reconstruction. Led by Columbia historian Eric Foner and University of Michigan historian Martha S. Jones, the seminar examined “the history of Reconstruction, understood both as a specific period of the American past which began during the Civil War, and as a prolonged and difficult process by which Americans sought to reunite the nation and come to terms with the destruction of slavery.” Bagley met with Aurian Carter ‘15, a sophomore at Barnard College, during the seminar.

Service

The Upper School service learning program gives back to the local community through acts of generosity and kindness. The Stocking Project helped to provide gifts and necessities to hundreds of underprivileged children and their families in downtown Wilmington.

Students filled over 100 stockings for children at Urban Promise and the Boys and Girls Club.

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COMMUN OF INNO

Last year Tower Hill began a school-wide conversation about curricular innovation, as the educational landscape is ever-changing. Discussion spanned makerspaces to mindfulness, project-based learning to personalized instruction, sometimes arriving at the question, “What do we mean by innovation, anyway?” Ask Latin teacher Harry Neilson to derive the word, and he’ll trace it back to innovare—meaning “to change; to renew.” The influential book Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World by Tony Wagner puts forth several definitions, among them: “Innovation may be defined as the process of having original ideas and insights that have value, and then implementing them so that they are accepted and used by a significant number of people.”

—Rick Miller, President of the Olin College of Engineering “Creative problem solving.”

—Ellen Bowman, retired Director of External Relations for Procter and Gamble “It’s about the process by which… new things take place. I look at innovation as an approach.”

—Sir Andrew Likierman, Dean of the London Business School

Our students and faculty have their own answers, some of which are included in these pages.

Here Tower Hill’s Chief Innovation and Information Officer Anthony Pisapia, who joined Tower Hill in July 2016, explores why innovation is important.

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ITY VAT O R S

INNOVATION AS MINDSET: BRIDGING THE PREPARATION GAP BETWEEN COLLEGE AND THE WORKPLACE

BY ANTHONY PISAPIA, CHIEF INNOVATION AND INFORMATION OFFICER

Children are magical. Every day I am amazed at the gains my three children make. With a tot, a secondgrader and a fourth-grader, I am seeing it all as a THS parent.

But I do believe students and teachers need to be aware of how quickly things are changing. I have seen, in my own lifetime, how much the world has changed. I want my children to be prepared for the future we see on the horizon. I want them to outpace me and succeed.

I think about: • The fact that freelancers make up 35 percent of the U.S. workforce today, a number that is rapidly increasing. Our children may have no choice but to be entrepreneurs, as the typical 9 to 5 makes way for more flexible, and less certain, opportunities.

• The rise of automation and the fact that existing technologies threaten to replace $2 trillion worth of human effort are sobering. Our children must be able to work with technology throughout their lives.

• Globalization and the fact that many Fortune 500 companies work across a minimum of seven different time zones will require our children to collaborate and communicate across dozens of cultures, and languages, on a daily basis.

Our students are entering a world where it may no longer be enough to be a lawyer. They may have to be lawyers who can mine vast databases to create the argument on which a case rests. It may no longer be enough to be a doctor. They may have to be doctors who can use a robot for surgery or help design an app for wellness. All of these data points bring me to the core question of my work: “What are the core skills that children will need in order to be successful throughout their lifetimes?”

The Role of an Innovation Officer I sit in a very interesting seat. My position is one that effects change throughout Tower Hill. I get to ask questions like the one above. I get the opportunity

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“We will innovate, not for innovation’s sake, but for the children we serve.” to consider the future and help drive changes to our children’s education in order to meet that future.

We must, as a school, continue to adapt our approach to teaching and learning if our children are to succeed. But we must also identify, and hang on to, those things that make a Tower Hill education timeless.

A century of successful teaching and learning has created, inarguably, one of the finest education institutions in the world. There is a balance here that we must get right.

We must keep emphasizing teamwork, time management and the ability to learn new tasks quickly.

We must add things like entrepreneurial mindset, global perspective and the ability to use technology as a powerful tool.

We must be vigilant to not chase fads. We must instead uncover underlying truths about where our children will need to go and what they will need to be able to do. They need to be ready for a future that is not yet realized. We must ensure they are prepared.

These Skills Must Be In Place Before College My experience starting a coding boot camp, Zip Code Wilmington, was eye opening. At Zip Code, I saw college graduates—some with master’s degrees, some with doctorates—frustrated by the opportunities they had to advance in their careers.

I also met with dozens of employers who were frustrated by the fact that they couldn’t hire college graduates because they didn’t have the requisite skills.

And it wasn’t just technology skills that these college graduates lacked. The key skills necessary for their success were problem solving; analytical ability; and the capacity to learn new tasks quickly, deliver finished work and communicate effectively in a team. Those skills were in short supply.

As K-12 educators, we are in a unique position to teach those skills. We give students that core skill set rarely taught in college, where research is king. We teach our students how to connect the dots, put it all together

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and deliver a finished product. We teach them to analyze, adapt, learn and succeed. We put students in control of their educational development, and career opportunities, for a lifetime. We “future-proof ” our kids.

Bringing Home the Magic Parents a generation ago were astounded by the new skills their children brought back from school. Their children were using technology they had never used and learning about complex concepts with intricacies they had never explored. It was clear their children were moving ahead.

This generation is working a bit differently. Parents are seeing innovations in their workplace, and in the world, and fear their children might be left behind. It is this new reality that is driving innovation in schools across the country.

Parents are looking to schools for help. They want help keeping their children ahead. They want to see their children bring home magic. The question we should be asking is not, “Are we doing enough?” We’re doing plenty. The question should be, “Are we doing the right things and making the right choices?”

For me, the only way to answer that is to define what we want to achieve. We need to ask: “What do we want our end product to look like? What should our students be able to do when they leave?”

Innovation Isn’t Just About Technology Steve Jobs has an often-misunderstood quote: “Everybody in this country should learn to program a computer, because it teaches you how to think.”

This does not mean that children who can’t code can’t think. It means that our children are entering a world where they will be required to be analytical. They will be required to break down a problem and design its solution. They will be required to learn new skills at an incredibly brisk pace.

Our children may be missing a key piece of their education if they do not understand the process, the tools and the language of innovation.

Pisapia sits in on Natalie Moravek’s Lower School Spanish class, where students use a SMART Board to enhance their learning experience.

For our part, at Tower Hill, we will be studying our end product. Our alumni become as important in this conversation as our educators. We must ask our alumni to expose our blind spots. They need to tell us what skills they wish they had before leaving Tower Hill.

We must also ask our parents and universities. To adapt a quote from the hockey great Wayne Gretzky, we need to ask them, “Where is the puck moving?”

Finally, we must engage employers. Employers can expose gaps and opportunities. They can also give us a global perspective and show us where other countries are exceeding expectations.

companies and colleges to explore innovations elsewhere. We will also break down barriers to innovation.

What is most important is that we will begin with the end in mind. We will measure and hold ourselves accountable to the high bar set by the world around us.

We will innovate, not for innovation’s sake, but for the children we serve.

Fielding an Innovation Team As faculty, we are innovating every day. The challenge is in making innovation purposeful, comprehensive and relevant.

To meet that challenge, we are creating an innovation team. This team will elicit feedback from teachers, parents, students, employers, alumni and universities.

We will research best practices and visit other schools,

Lower School students using a SMART Table.

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INNOVATION TEAM Tower Hill is at an exciting juncture. With our Centennial ahead and our school in the midst of a strategic planning process, the opportunities in front of us are endless. In order to approach innovation in a way that is unique to Tower Hill and hone in on the right opportunities, we’ve created an all-school Innovation Team.

The Innovation Team’s members represent each division and department. Members include: Ellie Bailer, 1st Grade Meghan Donlon, Technology Tom Hoch, Science Lista Lincoln, Technology Wendy Liu, Mandarin Rowena Macleod, Art Cherie Martinez, 2nd Grade Chelsea Myers, Science Richard Pierce, Art Lea Quimby ‘87, Kindergarten Jill Roop, 3rd Grade Charles Sharon, Technology Julie Smith, 3rd Grade Mary Elizabeth Snyder ‘07, Spanish Samantha Spruance, Learning Specialist Nancy Tate, Science

Top: Ben Spiro ‘16 talks to fourth-graders about a prosthetic hand he designed with Morgan Rollins ‘17 (read more on page 14). Bottom: A Middle Schooler explores circuitry during science class.

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Over the course of this year and next, the Innovation Team will be tasked with making some of these concepts real and gathering new ideas.

The team’s work will also include travel, both virtually and physically, to understand what other high-quality independent schools are doing to encourage innovative approaches to teaching and learning. Together, the team will enable experimentation in focused and fruitful ways. They will also bring resources to bear in order to ensure our teacher’s best ideas are not squandered and that opportunities to innovate are not missed. The impact of this team’s work will be felt by every student who attends Tower Hill.

Favorite Apps in the classroom

We asked Tower Hill educators what their favorite classroom apps are and how they are using them to help achieve their learning goals. Here is what they had to say!

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1. Kahoot! helps teachers create fun quizzes, discussions and surveys—on any subject, in any language, on any device, for all ages.

2. Fifth-grade science includes a unit on trees, where students collect leaves from around campus and try to identify the trees. They use the Leaf Snap app, which can identify the trees based on taking a picture of the leaf.

3. Educreations transforms an iPad into a recordable white board. It records voice and handwriting and allows users to insert pictures to produce personal video lessons that teachers and students can share online.

4. The Noodletools app shows students how they can add sources to their bibliography lists easily. The camera on an iPad (or smart phone) can scan the ISBN on any book and immediately convert the source to MLA, APA or Chicago format. Then, with the touch of a button, students can add the source to their projects.

5. With Quizlet, teachers and students can create their own flashcards or choose from millions created by other Quizlet users to give students materials to help them learn in a more fun and efficient way.

6. French classes use Flipgrid to see a question posted by the teacher, and then they have to respond while recording themselves speak in French. The tool is used to get kids in the habit of speaking extemporaneously.

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7. Advanced and regular biology students use iMotion to make stop-motion videos of photosynthesis and cell signaling.

8. With Book Creator, students can add text, photos and video and record their own voices to save, send or share books.

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STUDENT INNOVATOR TEJ VADDI ‘17 After traveling to Africa with his father for a medical conference, Tej Vaddi ‘17 learned that the diagnosis and treatment of sickle cell disease is a challenge in sub-Saharan African countries. He is developing a patented skin-prick test for simpler, cost-effective diagnosis at birth.

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How would you describe your project?

It’s kind of like a pregnancy test, in that there’s a place where you put some of the sample, which is blood. You put a drop of blood on it, and then it runs onto a pad.

On the pad there are some antibodies that can detect if the hemoglobin in the blood is sickled or not. If it’s sickled, it binds to the antibodies. Then you’d see a line because they’re tagged to gold, which is a red color.

How did you figure out how to make the test?

The technology has been in use for 30 years or so, and it came into prevalence with the pregnancy test. There is a company in Claymont, Delaware, called CD Diagnostics, which specializes only in lateral flow immunoassay. So we talked to some of the people who work there, and we asked them if we could use their lab space and if one of the people who was there could guide us a little bit in the beginning. Then we got antibodies, and we tested different ones.

In the U.S., doctors take a sample of blood, look at it under a microscope and do some detailed blood testing when you’re born. But in sub-Saharan African countries, they typically don’t do any tests until you show signs of sickle cell disease—they just don’t have the health infrastructure to do it routinely—and then they would examine your blood. So I wanted to create a device that could be used by anyone right after birth. It comes as an entire kit, and all you have to do is take some of their blood—like a heel prick—and then you dilute it in the solution that we give, and then you take a drop of blood put it on the test.

STUDENT INNOVATORS

What inspired you to create a test for sickle cell disease?

In the summer before 8th Grade, my dad and his colleague were giving a talk about CML, a type of leukemia, in Kenya and Tanzania. My dad asked me if I wanted to go and hear what they were saying—and he said he would take me on a safari—so I was pretty interested. The talk was mainly for physicians, and I was able to talk to them. They said that sickle cell disease is something they have to treat the most, because in sub-Saharan African countries it’s really prevalent. The way that a person gets it is if you have two alleles from each parent that are both sickled, then you have sickle cell disease. Those people who have sickle cell disease don’t get malaria, and malaria was so prevalent there historically, that this was like a natural defense. But then it has its own terrible consequences.

have the right antibodies. So our biggest challenge was finding the right antibodies because there are so many antibodies out there. You have to kind of target antibodies that are specific to the location where the mutation is at with the hemoglobin. It’s kind of lucky if you find it, so we had to screen a ton of antibodies until we found one that worked with a certain amount of accuracy.

This past summer, Ryan Cleary ‘15 and I worked like every day, five days a week for 40 hours a week. And the previous summer I did it for one month, using my dad’s lab space at UD. What do you hope to do with your project?

My final goal is to implement it in low-resource, subSaharan African countries. I think that’s our long-term product goal. But I guess short term, we want to work with Nemours Hospital, because they have a pretty strong sickle cell program and they see a lot of patients who have sickle cell disease. The closest we’ve had to fetal blood to test our product is we’ve had a sample shipped from Ohio State, but they just came in vials. If we could do more of a live situation, I think that would definitely help.

What else do you do at Tower Hill?

I started the Entrepreneurial Club, and I play lacrosse and football. I’m also in Young Democrats; I enjoy doing that.

What does innovation mean to you?

I think people make it out to be a lot more than it is. It’s just finding a simpler solution to bigger problems; that’s what innovation is to me. It could be the most complex thing, but in the end, if you try to find something simple, it’s just way easier.

Have you encountered any difficulties during the project, and how did you tackle them?

I think the biggest part of the project was finding the right antibodies, because the technology itself is pretty simple, and creating the test is simple enough if you

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STUDENT INNOVATOR MORGAN ROLLINS ‘17

Influenced by her experiences in athletics, physics, anatomy and engineering, Morgan Rollins ‘17 has found a fascination in creating prosthetic limbs. She built a 3D-printed, voiceactivated prosthetic hand last year in Accelerated Physics, and she is now working on an independent study project to develop a prosthetic leg. She will attend Temple University in the fall, playing Division I soccer and participating in the Biomedical Engineering Program.

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Then last year I took anatomy with Ms. Morrow, and we did this really cool hand project with strings. It really interested me; I loved anatomy. Then I took physics the same year with Mr. Hoch, and I absolutely fell in love with physics. After we took the AP test, we got to pick a project. I really wanted to do something involved with giving people the ability to do what they want to do again, and I really, really loved physics, so I thought, “How could I mesh that together?” After making the string hand, I was like, “Oh, I’ll go into prosthetics, this is a great idea.”

How did you do it?

My partner, Ben Spiro ‘16 (now a student at Miami University), and I studied how to build a robotic hand for our physics project. At first we were trying to build it by mind control, and then we realized, “Oh my God, no.”

So we decided to use voice control. It was very hard, but I learned a bunch of stuff on how to program. I made the hand—it’s all 3D printed—and we got the CAD files off the Internet. The program is in Arduino, and we had to figure out the wiring and everything.

What are you working on now?

I decided to do an independent study this year with Mr. McCarthy about the design and development of prosthetics. He came up with the great idea of finding a patient, and I did—I thought that was really cool.

I’m making a leg that is 3D printed. It’s cheap, and it’s relatively easy to make. It’s durable, made with carbon fiber, and there’s a click-in where the patient puts in her thigh. It’s not too complicated. I should have started with the leg, instead of the hand, because there are fewer moving parts! You have a board—the foot—that keeps it from just like flopping down, a spring, and then a carbon fiber tube and joint. I started making synthetic muscles, which sounds complicated, but all you do is take fishing wire and twist it up with a drill and then you heat it. Once it’s heated, it contracts. So little things like this, when you do research, it’s just DYI, easy, piece-ofcake stuff.

STUDENT INNOVATORS

How did you come up with the idea to build a prosthetic hand?

I’ve always wanted to play college soccer, but I’ve had three shoulder surgeries and thought my dream was kind of ripped away. The positivity at my physical therapy office changed my life. So for someone to have an impact on another person who’s going through such a bad time, that’s when I knew I wanted to do something that helps people who are currently unable to do what they want to do.

Do you like troubleshooting?

Oh, yeah. I love it, because it’s suspense. We did a project in engineering class where we had to build a bridge, and you had no idea how it’s going to work. The design process was to research it, draw it out, come up with two or three solutions and pick the one that you think is going to be the best. After we made them, some people’s couldn’t hold a bucket, and other people’s could hold 300 pounds.

Our first class was how to do an engineering notebook— how to write it and how to label everything. It’s tedious, but I love it. I love drawing it out and writing little notes, because once you start writing notes, you really see what’s wrong with the product.

What’s next?

I just got into Temple’s Biomedical Engineering Program, so I’m going to go play soccer there next year, and I’m really excited. My dream job would obviously be “here is a lab, go invent stuff.” But more specifically, I want to work with veterans to help them walk again.

Because imagine not walking, and then being able to take your steps again. My dream job is either personally contracting with the Department of Defense or joining the armed forces to do research. That’s what I want to go into, because there are such amazing men and women that I want to help, and they’re willing to work.

How have Tower Hill teachers influenced your plans?

Without Ms. Morrow introducing me to how anatomy could be applied to physics, I would never have found this. She explained it to me. And Mr. Hoch giving me the opportunity to actually make it within class with his help made a difference, because I was just going to do it at home. The teachers here are amazing. They didn’t choose to just see me as the jock who plays soccer. They were like, “You really like this? Let’s get you to another place in your life.” I love it. I’ve never been so passionate about anything else in my life.

What does innovation mean to you?

In high school it’s very hard to be innovative, because you don’t know what to be innovative about. So I think it’s finding something you’re passionate about—it could be English, it could be math—and putting something on the table in that area.

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STUDENT INNOVATOR JOSEPH PINTO ‘19

A longtime stargazer, sophomore Joseph Pinto ‘19 enrolled at Tower Hill this fall and started an astronomy club for Upper School students. Sharing his interest with others, he gathers club members during the school day and some late evenings to use the Wuerstle Family Telescope in the DeSantis Family Observatory.

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How did you come up with the idea to make the Astronomy Club?

I didn’t want to just practice astronomy on my own—I wanted people to know why I love it so much, and I wanted to try to inspire other people to explore it on their own. I’ve always loved looking at the stars, but the math part of it that I love now I started last year with a science teacher at my old school in Massachusetts.

When I knew I was moving to Tower Hill, I was upset that I couldn’t practice astronomy with him, but then when I came here and met Mr. Hoch and saw the Wuerstle Family Telescope, I was really excited. When I heard that there was no astronomy club, I thought this was a void that needed to be filled, and Mr. Hoch and I created the club.

How did you start the club?

The first thing Mr. Hoch and I did was cultivate interest.

The best way of doing that, and the way that I got interested, was by observing stunning objects. The first object that we saw when we met at night was the moon, at night, through a telescope. It was really beautiful because the moon was really close to full, and that excited everyone.

We have a mixture of some meetings in school and some meetings out of school, and the focus of the meetings outside of school is to practice actual astronomy.

The focus of the meetings in school is to learn about what we’re going to be seeing—like a super moon. I think as we go on, we should focus more on the actual astronomical aspects of astronomy, rather than just the observational aspects. That’s what interested me the most, and I think now that people know how awesome astronomy can be, it will be more interesting.

STUDENT INNOVATORS

What is it about astronomy that is so interesting to you?

I like thinking big! The universe is just so vast, and there are so many unknown answers and mysteries in space.

No one knows what dark matter or dark energy are, so there are many questions that can still be answered.

I feel that one of the problems that turns people away from science is they feel like everything is already known, which it definitely isn’t. In astronomy, it’s easy to see that. I really like the idea that I can find an answer to a question that’s been asked for hundreds of years.

Astronomy is all math; it’s so nice. I really like math, and when it can be applied in something like science, that’s even better.

and we can’t see anything. It’s been difficult to schedule out-of-school observations, but so far we’ve had two really successful ones when the night has been very clear.

The other challenge is that the telescope takes practice to maneuver at first, because it’s all mechanical and you can’t position it with your hands. It can be difficult to align. The first night, Mr. Hoch and I arrived about an hour early so that I could master maneuvering the telescope.

What do you hope to get out of this experience of having a club?

At Tower Hill, I definitely want this club to stay once I leave. I want to be able to come back in 30 years with my kids and say, “I started that club.” I also hope that through the astronomy club, students begin using the telescope even more.

How do you think this might help others?

I have always thought of astronomy as something kind of nerdy, and then when I learned what it is actually about, I think I actually said, “This is amazing.” So if someone has preconceived notions about what astronomy is, I hope to break those down and inspire more people to pursue astronomy.

What else do you do at Tower Hill?

I play soccer in the fall, I play squash in the winter and I play lacrosse in the spring. I’m also a co-founder of the Spanish Conversation Club.

What does innovation mean to you?

I think of innovation as seeing the world as it is, and then changing or bettering it. By making the club, I “innovated” because I wanted to make the environment around me better for the people who are in the club. I hope they can uncover a deep-seated love of science, or continue to fuel a raging passion, through the club. In summary, I think innovation is trying to make the world a better place by making something new.

Have you encountered any problems or challenges, and how did you tackle them?

The weather can be really unpredictable, because we’re so close to the coast, so we might schedule a meeting two weeks in advance at night, but then it can be cloudy,

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DU-ING WELL BY DU-ING GOOD

Ben ‘82 and Thére ‘84 du Pont can do anything they want. And what the sons of former Governor Pete du Pont want is to make Delaware better for all, just like Dad.

BY MICHAEL BRADLEY

THIS ARTICLE IS REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE MAY 2016 ISSUE OF DELAWARE TODAY. PHOTOS BY LUIGI CIUFFETELLI.

Ben and Thére du Pont can do anything they want. And what the sons of former Governor Pete du Pont want is to make Delaware better for all, just like Dad. Ben du Pont opens the door to the Zip Code Wilmington classroom and apologizes for the rather Spartan look of the place.

“We should probably decorate this a bit more, but we’re growing so fast,” he says. “I don’t know how much longer we’ll be here.”

The brainstorm of du Pont, Porter Schutt, Jim Stewart and Rod Ward, Zip Code Wilmington has du Pont excited, and that’s a good thing. Once the 52-year-old directs his considerable energy toward something, big things usually happen. And Zip Code Wilmington is well on

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the road to becoming a local phenomenon. Because Wilmington didn’t have anywhere capable of teaching people how to write Java code, and because no outside company wanted to come in and start a satellite, the four men started Zip Code Wilmington in late 2015 with 19 students, culled from 140 applicants. Seventeen graduated from the 90-day immersion program, and all of them had jobs. Average starting salary: $52,000.

The second cohort began in early 2016, only this time, 240 people wanted in. The next group should attract even more aspirants. You can see why du Pont isn’t too worried about hanging some photos and buying furniture. He’s going to need a bigger boat.

“It’s specialty education,” he says. “Very focused, intense training programs like Zip Code Wilmington give

Thanks to Ben and his brother Thére, Wilmington gets another win.

Two of the four children of former Delaware governor and one-time Republican presidential candidate Pierre (Pete) du Pont, Ben and Thére have the Diamond State in the center of every cell in their bodies. They may have spent time in other parts of the country, but their duty and allegiance to the state remain strong.

“Both left Delaware during their lives, but they made the decision to come back and make it here,” says Rod Ward, CEO of Corporation Service Company (CSC) and a longtime friend of the brothers. “You and I could leave and slip back in, but with that [last] name comes a responsibility, and they have embraced that.”

As the du Pont brothers go about their daily business, whether it is venture capitalism (Ben) or running the Longwood Foundation and serving on the Board of DuPont USA (Thére), each maintains a strong sense of obligation to Delaware, especially to Wilmington. Some might say they don’t have much choice. Each has an office across the street from the Hotel du Pont. Ben lives close to DuPont Country Club. It’s not like either could pack it in and move, say, to Atlanta.

“There are many reasons to be proud of Delaware,” Thére

says. “First off, it’s the First State. And there are only two degrees of separation for everybody here. If you don’t know the person, you know someone who does. We need to make that accessible to people who are new to Delaware. I want to be part of that facilitation process.

There are some very talented people at companies in this state, and we have a really capable workforce. And some of the people in their 20s who have been here only about a year have already met the governor. There’s a closeness here and an accessibility that you don’t find elsewhere.”

ALUMNI INNOVATORS

people the skills they need. If you were to get a computer science degree at Delaware or Temple, you would get 400 hours of coding experience in four years. With this, you get 800 in 90 days.”

On his first day of work as a management trainee at Wawa, Thére parked his car and headed inside, eager to learn. His first lesson came about 15 seconds after he walked through the door.

“I had taken a spot close to the store, and the manager told me to move my car to the far end of the lot so that the customers would have the best places,” Thére says.

“That showed me how important their culture was to the success of the enterprise.”

Thére is sitting in his surprisingly small, definitely busy office on the 11th floor of Wilmington’s Community Services Building. Energetic, with a quick smile, he earned a degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s in business administration from Stanford. In addition to his 13 years at Wawa, for which he eventually became president, he spent three years at W.L. Gore & Associates, helping to design equipment that made waterproof fasteners. “I traveled the world,” he says, and remembers giving his first impromptu speech to a group of 20 workers in a Korean shoe factory. It wasn’t exactly the best

Thére du Pont, foreground, at Zip Code Wilmington’s offices.

Tower Hill Chief Innovation and Information Officer Anthony Pisapia, formerly head of school at Zip Code, is seen in the background.

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venue for a young man to launch his public speaking career, but Thére remembers it with a smile—and no shortage of pride. He made it through and continued to succeed. After Wawa, he spent time as director of operations and CEO at Drugstore.com.

Those are some pretty impressive résumé entries, but they don’t quite define Thére today. His world has changed from the corporate to community, and through his work with the Longwood Foundation and, more recently, Reinventing Delaware, he has helped promote growth, potential and optimism.

“I want to help people paint a bigger picture of what they can do,” he says. “I would love to leave a trail of great ideas so that Delaware is a better place for everybody and a trail of new connections in the state. Seeing that happen around me is exciting.”

Reinventing Delaware may only be a year old, but it has already achieved its first aim of bringing together young and “wise”—as Thére refers to them, euphemistically— to come up with ideas in a variety of sectors. The concept is to create enough critical brainstorming energy to find some projects worth pursuing with enthusiasm and resources. Zip Code Wilmington is one of its first offspring.

Each year there is a meeting of some of the state’s big minds, with the goal for all to agree on three ideas to develop. The format is almost like the World Series of Poker: In a two- to three-hour session, people at tables of 10, each divided into sectors like education, finance, jobs and nonprofit, bat around their initiatives until one emerges as best. That is then brought to the room, where it competes with others to be one of the three the whole group will work for.

The goal is to foster a spirit of risk-taking and entrepreneurial fulfillment. To that end, the organization has partnered with University of Delaware’s Horn Program in Entrepreneurship. But accelerating those who have the ambition isn’t enough. There must be follow through with the financial and technical talent and expertise in town to make sure this isn’t just a bunch of good ideas that never reach fruition. The 2016 event was held in January at the Wilmington Club.

“As long as we harness the resources and actually do something, we will be successful,” Thére says. “That’s the challenge.”

When Pete du Pont was governor, he considered part of his mission to encourage those who were willing to take advantage of opportunities and thrive because of their conviction and hard work. He worked to foster an

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environment in which those individuals could succeed.

To honor that, Thére and Ben were among those who created the Pete du Pont Individual Freedom Award, which carries on their father’s legacy of fighting for the rights of people to choose their own paths, with limited government intervention.

“It’s an opportunity to recognize my dad and what he did for Delaware,” Thére says. “I’m sure he’s pleased.”

Six people have won the award since 2003, with the most recent recipient Ellen Kullman, former chair and CEO of DuPont, who was honored last year. Thére’s goal is to have the prize presented every year, and plans are in the works for the 2016 recipient. The award is an opportunity for Ben and Thére to take what their father taught them and carry it on.

Thére tries to have a similar influence on his daughters, who are 13 and 9, and who force him to keep moving at a pretty good clip. When he has some time to relax, he likes to sail Lasers. He was on the team at Stanford, and while he mostly takes to the sea for fun, he does still race, often against Ben. “He’s still better than me,” Thére says with a smile that belies the modest rivalry between brothers. It’s a friendly competition, based not on animosity but on two people interested in fostering the same sense of service to the state their father displayed. “To see my father’s name and legacy continued in that way is wonderful,” Thére says.

If Ben du Pont is right, it won’t be long until you will be able to learn from your smart phone that a friend you haven’t seen since college is at a nearby restaurant, enjoying dinner with his wife, and would like to see you, though you two haven’t connected for more than 20 years.

“Our devices are going to be more proactive and will be making suggestions to us,” Ben says.

We have already experienced some of that, but as technology advances, that so-called phone is going to know more about you than you know about you. Ben believes the U.S. economy is on the cusp of its sixth step of technological development. After the growth of processing power and memory, the development of keyboard searchability of data, the increased convenience of devices used to harness such power and the allocation of resources to the people for easy use, we will soon have individual profiles contained in our equipment, and suggestions for things to do and goods to purchase will flow our way.

For Ben, it’s the next step on a technological contin-

But not entirely. Yet2.com was one of the earliest investors in Mobeam, which is based in Palo Alto (where Yet2.com has a headquarters) and is responsible for the bar-code scanning technology that allows users of Samsung devices (352 million of them) to pay for items all over the world with their phones.

Sitting in Ben’s modest office, which is crowded with photographs and features a collection of neckties hanging on a hook behind his door, one finds it hard to imagine that the global marketplace can be harnessed in one’s hand. Then, Ben turns to his computer and brings up the Mobeam site to reveal that 751 new phones across the planet had just adopted the company’s technology in the past 20 seconds. As that expertise expands, Ben can see a time when we walk into the grocery store, select our items, sort the contents of our carts into our environmentally friendly shopping bags then just walk out the door, with not even a thought of the checkout aisle.

to provide training for those seeking work in the New Economy. Ben’s role in it fits perfectly with his business vision and his desire to help Delaware maximize its resources.

“He’s a very passionate and smart guy who is very connected,” says Stewart, the CEO of Wilmington-based Epic Research. “He is filled with hope and is an optimist, but also a pragmatist who doesn’t let stuff get in his way.

He loves Delaware. His roots are here. His family is here.

His dad left a huge legacy here, and Ben is doing his part to make this a great place.”

His office may not have the trappings of a “great place,” but it sure is interesting. Those who enter the suite encounter a clock on which each of the numbers is a mathematical equation. (3! = 6; cube root of 1,728 = 12.)

While waiting for an appointment, visitors can peruse the 1964 Sears Catalog. There is a short-wave radio, a passion since, as a young boy, he bargained with his parents to put an antenna on the roof of the house if he got his ham radio license. It helps him reach out to people all over the world, something that fits his outgoing personality.

“He’s got an infectious zeal,” says Schutt, a wealth manager at Brown Advisory in Wilmington. “That’s how I think about him. We exchange a lot of late-night emails.

Ben’s a connector and a great people person who is a fun guy who likes to work hard and play hard.”

Civil disobedience? Thievery? Nope. Scanners placed at stores’ exits will read the prices of what we have chosen, calculate the prices and deduct the money from our bank accounts before we can load the food into our cars.

Pretty cool, right?

Like Thére, Ben sails. He’s a photographer who has taken most of the shots that adorn his office walls. He recently began fly fishing and also delights in spending time with his 13-year-old son, Ben, and his 9-year-old daughter, Janie.

“It’s not entirely a rosy picture,” Ben says.

“He is entrepreneurial, passionate, energetic and knows more people than anybody I know,” Ward says.

That ease of shopping will also cost the jobs of people who used to slide your items across the scanner and help you bag them. Ben also talks about the autonomous vehicle travel that has already started out west and could have a huge impact on the estimated 3.5 million longhaul drivers on the road right now.

“They won’t all be displaced, but [driverless] trucks can run for 48 hours straight,” Ben says. And how long will it be before “Siri starts giving you good legal advice?” Ben asks.

ALUMNI INNOVATORS

uum that will lead us toward more convenience and have a drastic effect on our economy. “Software is how the world is going to work,” he says. “Software and imagination.” If that’s the case, he’s in pretty darn good shape. The 52-year-old was trained (like his brother) as a mechanical engineer. He now blends that technical knowledge with a business acumen that has helped him build yet2.com, a 17-year-old venture capital business that invests mostly in companies in the second stages of development.

To some, the name says it all. They hear “du Pont” and a knowing smile appears. The scions of famous Delaware family have it so easy. Except they don’t act like it.

Thére and Ben live as if they have to prove it every day.

The result is two lives committed to achievement and to Delaware.

There may be some who are delighted with a thinning of the attorney herd, but an economy changing at eye-blurring speeds will definitely exclude millions of workers.

“They are both very hard working, with good work ethics,” Ward says. “They are conscientious and dedicated.

A lot of that was formed by their parents. Their father and mother instilled it in them when they were young and gave them a front-row seat to how the state was run.

They learned about hard work and the responsibility of service. That has carried on.”

Thus projects like Zip Code Wilmington, which seek

And on.

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LAURA PERMUT SPARKS ‘93 NAMED PRESIDENT OF COOPER UNION The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City was built in 1859 on the radical idea that higher education in technology should be accessible to all who qualify regardless of gender, race, religion or economic status. Since then the college has developed a reputation for world-class programs in architecture, art and engineering, with many graduates becoming leaders in their fields.

Tower Hill alumna Laura Permut Sparks ‘93 took the helm at Cooper Union as president in January 2017, bringing her strong background in community-focused philanthropy to the historic college.

“We are so fortunate to have identified a new leader who brings substantial executive-level experience from the non-profit sector as well as industry,” said Johnny C. Taylor Jr., Cooper Union trustee and co-chair of the Presidential Search Committee. “We wanted someone who valued Cooper as a first-class, unique educational institution, and also had significant experience leading a large, complicated organization through challenging financial circumstances. Laura Sparks has both skill sets.”

Sparks graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College, where she was a philosophy major and economics minor. Her coursework in those areas grew into an interest in community development finance, where capital can help underserved populations. She worked in finance and earned an M.B.A. and a J.D. with honors from the University of Pennsylvania before becoming director of business strategy and director of development finance initiatives at Citi in New York. There she worked to build programs to increase affordable housing and eliminate barriers to opportunity for low-income families.

In 2012 Sparks became the executive director of the William Penn Foundation in Philadelphia. There she was responsible for numerous initiatives addressing social and environmental challenges in the city and

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for designing programs in education, public space, the arts and the environment. Under her guidance, the foundation launched and refined new strategic priorities, focusing its $115 million grant budget on improvements in urban education for economically disadvantaged children, protection of the water resources serving 15 million people across four states, development of world-class urban parks and trails in underserved communities, and cultivation of a vibrant cultural sector.

Sparks’ experience putting finance to work to bring about meaningful change will likely prove useful at Cooper Union. The college has faced financial difficulties in recent years, necessitating the introduction of tuition to the traditionally free school. Yet if anyone is prepared for the challenge, it’s Laura Sparks.

“Cooper Union holds a unique and important place among America’s colleges and universities,” Sparks said. “Its remarkable history and the visionary goals of its founder, Peter Cooper, continue to provide an inspiration for American higher education, with its emphasis on excellence, admissions based on merit alone and scholarships that support full and equal participation by all students.”

Sparks is married to fellow Tower Hill alum Andrew Sparks ‘91, whom she has been with since their high school days. Her husband has worked extensively in the K-12 and higher education fields to address the needs of students and teachers in urban schools. They live in Philadelphia and have two children.

WITH LAURA SPARKS

You have described your interest in the intersections between different areas—economics and moral philosophy, capital and social justice, policy and finance —to help people. Why are they interesting to you?

It has always struck me that the most interesting things in life seem to happen at intersections. We live in a world that is increasingly complex, and most social and economic problems cannot be solved in isolation. Housing, childcare, education, healthcare, economic access, hunger, water quality... These issues are all intertwined. If we can’t put forth multi-dimensional solutions, we will fail to improve peoples’ lives. We were founded as a nation that proposed to offer equal opportunity; to do that within a capitalist context, we need to think about how our economic systems and social policy choices increase or limit opportunity.

Were there any experiences at Tower Hill that you think shaped your outlook and career?

I always come back to the school’s motto, Multa Bene Facta, Many Things Done Well. While I haven’t always done everything well, the motto that was embedded in my Tower Hill experience has always served as an important reminder to try new things, to embrace a variety of experiences, and to do more than just dip a toe in. It is through this combination of breadth and depth, a focus on multi-dimensional experiences, that life has stayed interesting, full and fulfilling. I am also reminded nearly every day, through tasks big and small, of the importance of an excellent education. Tower Hill prepared me to think critically and creatively, to write objectively and persuasively, to listen to a variety of perspectives, to act decisively and to hold myself accountable.

What are your proudest accomplishments from working at the William Penn Foundation?

Truthfully, my proudest accomplishment at the Foundation was creating an environment that allowed our staff—some of whom I hired and some of whom were there when I arrived—to work together in collaborative and creative ways to forward the organization’s mission.

It was a pleasure to be surrounded by smart, dedicated people at all levels of the organization who supported our grantees, pushed their thinking and the Foundation’s thinking forward, and designed powerful collaborations and coalitions. These are highly educated and committed people who have been and will be successful wherever they go, but I like to think that I helped to create an atmosphere and working platform for them to maximize their potential.

Finally, innovation requires some acceptance of failure. Not everything is going to work immediately or work at all. Some of Peter Cooper’s greatest achievements were, ironically, failures. A number of his early business ventures were unsuccessful. His earliest efforts at laying the first transatlantic cable failed as well. But he kept working hard, kept experimenting, and in the end his successes far outweighed his failures and laid the groundwork for an institution that continues, over 150 years later, to help shape the world in which we live today.

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ALUMNI INNOVATORS

Q&A

What interested you about leading Cooper Union?

The Cooper Union is an amazing institution that has played an important role in moving our country forward for over 150 years. Its progressive founder, Peter Cooper, built the institution in 1859 to ensure that working class people of all races, religions and genders could access a high-quality education without financial burden. He also wanted the institution to be a hub of important civic discourse that could improve our country. Cooper Union’s Great Hall is where Abraham Lincoln made his famous “Right Makes Might” speech, launching his bid to the presidency while publicly calling for the emancipation of slaves. Susan B. Anthony had an office at Cooper and advocated vigorously there for women’s right to vote. Before they were elected, Presidents Lincoln, Grant, Cleveland, Taft, (Theodore) Roosevelt and Obama all spoke there. The list goes on and on, serving as a critical reminder of the important role that institutions can play in elevating our public discourse and advancing positive social change. Like many colleges and universities, Cooper is exploring how best to continue making a world-class college education affordable to its students, currently offering scholarships that cover 50 percent of tuition for all of its students. I am excited to lead an institution that will play a critical role in defining new models that will keep college affordable for future generations.

The theme for this issue of the magazine is innovation; from where you sit, what does innovation mean?

To me, innovation is about new things that make a difference in peoples’ lives. That doesn’t always mean that we are always better off for it or that all innovations are positive ones. At Cooper Union, our task will be to innovate, while not losing sight of or dramatically altering the traditions, history and mission that make the institution so special. In many ways this is Tower Hill’s challenge, as well. How do you keep the great things that make Tower Hill, Tower Hill, while also making sure that it changes with the times, utilizes new technologies and serves an increasingly diverse population? And how do you stay ahead of the curve, so that you aren’t just reactionary, but serve in a leadership role? Innovation isn’t just adapting new technologies; it might be new ways of thinking about an organization, new ways of sharing information, or new ways of distributing or developing leadership.

PRESTON BOYDEN ‘10

DESIGNING THE FUTURE AT IBM TECH HUB IN MUNICH

BY TERESA MESSMORE, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING

Preston Boyden ‘10 at IBM in Munich with Pepper, a robot that uses Watson natural language processing and situational training to act as a type of “concierge” in almost any environment.

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When Preston Boyden ‘10 was studying economics in college, for example, the Watson supercomputer first appeared on Jeopardy!, the term “Internet of Things” was not in everyday parlance and the smart home concept was just catching on. Now three years after graduating, he is on the cutting-edge intersection of these technologies at an IBM think tank in Germany.

Boyden took a position in January as an interactive experience designer at IBM’s new Watson Internet of Things (IoT) headquarters in Munich, where he is working with clients to build innovative ways to combine emerging technology with industry. Fast-moving tech companies like IBM are looking not just for programmers and engineers, but also business-minded creative thinkers who can make connections between disparate fields.

IBM’s Watson, of course, is the pioneering computer system that can process the equivalent of 1 million books per second to answer questions by voice control.

The robo-contestant famously beat Ken Jennings on Jeopardy! in 2011 and has since been integrated into healthcare decision-making, with other potential applications in legal research, finance, online commerce, weather forecasting and government.

Boyden joined a team at IBM that combines four sectors: insurance, electronics, industrial products and automotive. Developers and designers with experience in each field work together across industries to come up with solutions using Watson that would not arise if they were focused on one particular industry.

“The new part is to try to combine Watson speech recognition and big data analysis,” Boyden said. “We want to take data from all different sources, crunch the numbers and figure out relationships to make new insight out of it.”

The possibilities are endless. Think smart home technology—remote-access deadbolts, lights that repeat your usage patterns when you’re not home—playing into insurance policies. Or smarter agriculture, with improved soil sensors to better predict water demands and harvest timelines. Or automatic crash detection with sensors that pull in braking, acceleration and even more behaviors. Boyden’s collaborative workgroup brings together people with different, but not specific, skill sets for the cross-pollination of ideas.

His openness to the career opportunity can be traced, arguably, back to his Tower Hill days. While wary of sounding cliché, Boyden shared that the school’s Multa Bene Facta approach fit well with him. He grew into a student who was as comfortable taking art as math, English as athletics. He found a focus in studying economics at Vanderbilt, but even then he never articulated a clear vision of what he wanted to do.

“It was a great way to teach me to try out different things and not tunnel myself into one particular area,” he said.

Eying a move to New York after graduating from college in 2014, he considered working in wealth management or investment banking before being accepted into IBM’s Consulting by Degrees program. The entry-level, two-year program exposes recent graduates to in-house consulting with various aspects of the company. Boyden consulted on insurance pre-sales work with AIG and New York Life, and then he spent six months on a design team creating “Journey Map” murals, user stories and other materials for sales meetings.

“I really liked it, but I didn’t know where it could take me,” he said.

A year later, he received an email sent to IBM’s design team for a two-year assignment as a designer in the Munich hub that merges Watson with IoT, the network created through the billions of devices, vehicles, buildings and other everyday objects connected to the Internet.

As an interactive experience designer, he is drawing on his knowledge of insurance and design to help clients explore use cases for different industries with prototype-style apps and web page designs. His workplace is full of gadgets and technology from all sorts of companies to spark inspiration—facial recognition equipment, Under Armour smart scales, The Nest home security products, Apple watches, Amazon Echoes, different types of sensors. The building also serves as an incubation center for tech startups, with Munich in general having grown into a nexus for new technology businesses.

“It’s a really cool atmosphere,” he said. “I’m very happy to be a part of it.”

“It ended up sounding really attractive,” he said.

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ALUMNI INNOVATORS

Certain professions are impossible to prepare for, as they simply don’t yet exist.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION

DROPBOX ENGINEER ANDREW FONG ‘99 PRAISES ALMA MATER FOR GIVING HIM THE TOOLS TO SUCCEED

BY KATHRYN MAHON PEACH

When it comes to the skills it takes to become successful at a tech firm in Silicon Valley, excellence in computer science and math might be the first things that come to mind. But according to Andrew Fong ‘99, the director of engineering at Dropbox, it’s the ability to think creatively, prioritize and communicate—all skills that he learned at Tower Hill—that give tech leaders the extra edge.

“For me, an engineer who has leadership skills and has the ability to prioritize is going to have more of an impact on the company,” Fong said. “Almost everybody we hire has the same GPA, but it’s the intangible skills that

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you get through life that make a huge difference to us.”

Fong joined Dropbox, the secure file sharing company, in 2012. At the time, the 5-year-old San Francisco-based startup had just over 100 employees. In the past four years, the company has experienced the “hypergrowth” that has become common for companies in the startup world and now boasts 1,700 employees in offices throughout world. An IPO is expected this year.

As Fong sees it, working in tech you’re a day-to-day problem solver. “It’s not about computer science. It’s not about math. Those are just the tools you use to solve

ALUMNI INNOVATORs

a situation,” he said, adding that his ability to problem-solve was honed by educators at Tower Hill who routinely presented students with problems and encouraged them to figure things out for themselves.

“People who come from straight-up math and science backgrounds often don’t have the creativity to think outside the box to solve a problem. They approach a problem from a completely logical perspective, and there’s very little intuition or ability to flex, which you have to do a lot because these companies grow very fast,” Fong said. “At Tower Hill, they made sure that you could think creatively and come up with solutions that weren’t necessarily black and white. There are a lot of grey areas when companies grow, so it’s important to be adaptable.”

Fong notes that his English teachers Hugh Atkins and John Robinson inspired him to reflect on these grey areas, as well as his role in the world. Their classes included authors ranging from William Shakespeare to Neal Stephenson who explored a common theme: “How do you view the world, and how can you make it better?”

“These courses were a lot about how do you see the world and how can you push the boundaries of the world, which I found very interesting, and I think it probably has some thematic parallels about how every single person in Silicon Valley views the world,” Fong said. “You’ll never find anyone here who doesn’t think that they can’t change the world in some crazy way. It’s very idealistic, and I think those classes were very idealistic.”

Tower Hill also fostered Fong’s interest in computer science. He remembers accessing his email via a workstation in the Science Department, but noted that the program never worked properly—and he enjoyed the challenge of fixing it. That, coupled with a programming course, jumpstarted his interest in tech and led him to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) upon graduation in pursuit of a computer science degree. After one semester, Fong found that he missed the liberal arts.

At RPI, “there wasn’t a lot of English, there wasn’t a lot of philosophy, there wasn’t anything that made you think outside of a very defined black-and-white system.

And I actually missed that. I just really hated not being able to have any books to read aside from an algorithm or a book on pure programming or a straight-up calculus. It didn’t fulfill everything that I wanted to do.”

ery day. During college, he combined his coursework with jobs at Ameristar Technologies/Versalign, Emron and LNH Inc. This work experience—as well as some old-fashioned networking—helped him land a job at AOL and later YouTube.

His advice to students feeling overwhelmed by the pressures of school: learn to prioritize.

“I never really realized it until actually post-college, but at Tower Hill there is a massive amount of things going on with athletics and class work and homework and class trips and all that, and the ability to pick what’s important and decide ‘This is where I’m going to spend my time’ is important,” Fong said. “To actually have good time management is probably one of the most valuable things I’ve gotten out of Tower Hill. Nothing felt hard after Tower Hill.”

Second semester, he transferred to the University of Delaware and combined his major in computer science with a minor in philosophy, which taught him how to construct a logical argument, a skill he uses nearly ev-

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A HISTORY OF INNOVATION

Tower Hill School has a long tradition of academic innovation. One of the school’s earliest leaders, Burton Fowler, was a champion of progressive education in the 1920s and 1930s and encouraged handson teaching, cooperative learning, independent investigation and self-discovery. These approaches are alive at the school today, within a modern context and amidst technological advances.

Tower Hill’s woodshop during the Fowler years and today.

EXCERPTED FROM FOREVER GREEN: A COMMEMORATIVE HISTORY OF TOWER HILL SCHOOL

BY ELLIS A. WASSON, FORMER HISTORY DEPARTMENT CHAIR

In the 1920s and 1930s, Tower Hill was an exciting place to be. The halls were thronged with enthusiastic children enjoying themselves. Everything was fresh, clean, crisp and new. The equipment glistened.

Each day new traditions were established. Parents and visitors swarmed around the building. A steady stream of speakers from the most advanced research centers in the country held forth on scientific methods of education. Exuberant students put records on the Victrola and danced in the halls. There was an exhilarating sense throughout the Tower Hill family that the school was in the van of a revolutionary experiment that would transform the shattered remnants of traditional teaching in

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America into a new world of humane learning. From time to time there was a distinct feeling that this small school in old-fashioned Wilmington was leading the nation.

John Davis Skilton had advertised in the local newspaper in April 1923 that Tower Hill was dedicated to “scholastic efficiency.” Four months later a new advertisement appeared. Tower Hill was now a school where boys and girls were to be taught to lead “happy lives.”

The presiding genius over this remarkable transformation was Burton P. Fowler, who arrived in July of that year. His passion for innovation was equaled only by

his love for children. His energy bowled over doubters and inspired supporters. He made Tower Hill’s name synonymous with “progressive” education in America, and in the early thirties he came to assume the official leadership of a great national movement. He was determined to overthrow the tyranny of outmoded methods and believed, as his favorite quotation from Browning suggested, that a teacher’s task was to be a midwife to self-discovery not a taskmaster pounding knowledge into empty heads. Unfortunately, Fowler was a flawed person and his philosophy became his undoing. But to be a child in the wonderland he created was a marvelous thing.

Burpy P. The man whom children affectionately called “Burpy P.” was born on a farm in upstate New York in 1887.

He attended Syracuse University, where he received his diploma while still only 20. Within a year he was launched on a meteoric career in administration as the principal of a small high school near his hometown, at age 21. Within a few years he escaped the rural fastness of his native state to become the head of Milton High School in an important suburb of Boston. He made his reputation, however, at Central High in Cleveland, Ohio, where he conducted research and reforms that earned his master’s degree from Columbia and the attention of the du Ponts.

The disciple of Dewey arrived in Wilmington with his wife and two daughters in the summer of 1923 full of plans to transform Tower Hill into one of the great schools of America. The vision and financial resources of Irénée du Pont combined with Fowler’s intellectual stamina made the achievement of such a goal more than a pipe dream. The new headmaster’s physical vigor and, despite his youth, the authority and eloquence with which he spoke helped him build support rapidly. It did not hurt that he was handsome, an elegant dresser, a good player of tennis and squash, a devoted churchman and deeply immersed in community service. A strain of directness bordering on eccentricity, which, for instance, led him to greet a candidate for a teaching interview in the nude when he was interrupted in the shower, only rarely presented itself.

Students loved his fairness, frankness, courtesy and vibrant sense of humor. Life was always fun around him.

Even his harshest critics in later years felt no personal rancor toward him, and he returned none. When one of the best teachers at Tower Hill, Miss Sachs, deserted to Friends School in the early 1930s without concealing her conservative disapproval of his reforms, Fowler’s response was to raise funds to print a hardbound collection of the best poems published in the Dial, which she had founded, and to write a glowing tribute to her teaching in the preface. He came to love Tower Hill and

was deeply loved in return, which makes his unwilling departure in later years a poignant chapter in our history.

In the winter of 1929 an orthophonic Victrola and radio was placed in the upper hallway. “We have had the grandest time dancing at noon,” the Dial exulted. “The corridor rings with mirth and great glee.” Burton Fowler Burton Fowler gave his blessing as his charges Charlestoned. “I am heartily in favor of dancing in our curriculum,” he wrote to a teacher a few years later.

“I think we do not have nearly enough of it.” How could you not like a headmaster who believed in dancing in the halls?

The Apotheosis of John Dewey Fowler went on in his letter about dancing to resist the notion of establishing a mandatory course. “Making any subject compulsory by requiring it so many times a week,” he declared, “has never yet solved any educational problem.” His repugnance toward formal requirements of any kind was at the heart of his philosophy of education. “Deliberately and painstakingly,” he said, American schools set out to destroy the intellectual curiosity of youth. He disliked both the content of the traditional curriculum, much of which he characterized as “meaningless information,” and the methods used to inculcate knowledge. He advertised Tower Hill under the motto: “The new school organizes itself around the child’s intention to learn; the old school organized itself around the teacher’s intention to teach him.” The old style teacher- and textbook-centered system was “archaic,” the mere “frantic absorption of facts.” “If a subject is developed in an interesting and significant manner,” he assured parents, “it will stimulate the average pupil to independent activity in the form of reading, experiments, construction or other forms of investigation.

Piecemeal daily assignments destroy capacity for independent effort and make a child into an unthinking, docile ‘lesson-learner’. ” Fowler hated grades and examinations, which were emblems of the old regime and in addition taught unhealthy and selfish competition when “children climb over other children to reach a coveted goal.”

Though usually the most gentle and courteous of men, he seethed with anger when Miss Judge failed 15 students on a final exam. He wrote bluntly: “Your philosophy of education is at fault—you are more concerned with achievement than you are in making changes in human beings. Next year you must teach your subject

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Fowler hoped to liberate the minds and lift the hearts of the children under his care. This playground scene from the 1930s illustrates the emphasis he placed on healthy and spirited outdoor activity.

from the point of view of the needs of the children and not from some kind of an arbitrary standard that you have set up.” If she did not change her ways, he intended to fire her.

Fowler put positive value on cooperative learning by doing. He believed teaching the essential academic skills such as reading and writing should take up no more than one-fifth of the school day. The remaining time could then be devoted to “social living and creative activities.” He wanted greater emphasis put on laboratory science work and the fine arts, prime areas for experiential learning and self-expression. The more practical and vocational the activity the better, for such learning emphasized the continuity between school and society.

That idea was at the heart of Dewey’s philosophy disseminated most broadly in his great work Democracy and Education published in 1916. The first thing Burton Fowler said to the faculty on his arrival in Wilmington made clear his agenda: “We want to build a democratic school where each child shall have a chance to serve the school community by preparing him- or herself for broader service.”

Progressive educators laid great stress on the importance of cooperation between home and school. Tra-

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ditional academies fended off parental interest with barge polls. The adults in the Tower Hill community, on the other hand, were inundated with letters and bulletins informing them about life in the school from the moment of Fowler’s arrival. They were invited to come and see for themselves. Lecturers were brought in from Columbia to edify and educate them as well as their children. Discussion groups and child study classes were instituted as Fowler made clear that Tower Hill was as much an experimental research station as the buildings the du Ponts were erecting a stone’s throw across the Brandywine. Education at the top of Rising Sun Lane would be the moral equivalent of nylon. In November 1925 he founded the Home and School Association, which further quickened the pace of ideological indoctrination.

Meanwhile Fowler was publishing pamphlets and magazine articles. Some of these were printed by the Home and School Association to spread the good news of progressive education to the benighted denizens of Wilmington. Others aimed at a much wider audience.

Tower Hill’s message was to be seen in the pages of Redbook and Reader’s Digest. Fowler edited a collection of essays jointly with Henry Holmes, dean of the Harvard School of Education, titled The Path to Leaming (1926).

Soon major publishing houses were soliciting a manuscript from him about his own interpretation of Dewey, which, in the words of the head of E. P. Dutton, Co., he owed “to the world.”

Fowler was unable to comply with this demand because he was being pulled in too many other directions.

He was asked to run “Demonstration Schools,” summer teaching workshops for public school teachers, which he did, although increasingly it was the Tower Hill faculty that fanned out across the country to spread the faith during summer vacations. Fowler attended international conferences in Denmark and Switzerland during several summers in the 1920s as a leading American delegate. He was also a regular speaker at commencements in many states and was asked to become a trustee of the leading progressive women’s college, Sarah Lawrence, where he later became chairman of the board. He was called to the White House conference on “Child Study and Health” in 1930 by President Hoover.

Meanwhile Fowler was developing handsome catalogues and other materials intended to entice new students to Tower Hill and to instruct a wider audience about progressive education. He paid careful attention to typography and paper quality, and these pamphlets were lavishly illustrated. The great catalogue of 1929 was 181 pages long with a color cover and the size and thickness of a substantial trade paperback one might purchase today. Such a production was unprecedented in secondary school if not also in collegiate circles in the era before the Second World War. Du Pont funds must have subsidized the printing. It was reviewed in educational journals as if it were a major book.

Observers descended on the school in amazing numbers, totaling over 450 in the 1929-30 school year. These included college presidents, professors of education, school heads from as far away as Tokyo and groups of parents interested in starting progressive schools in their own cities. In 1930 Burton Fowler was elected president of the Progressive Education Association, a national group with 10,000 members that became the leading force in setting the future agenda and research goals for modern American educational practice in these years. The honorary president was John Dewey.

Fowler’s successor in the office appeared on the cover of Time magazine.

National attention focused by Fowler on the school brought a number of benefits. The Carnegie Foundation donated a valuable collection of prints and books that would be worth tens of thousands of dollars in today’s currency. The American Council on

Education chose Tower Hill to be a research site for a study of motion pictures and the curriculum. They funded the rental of over 190 films (silent and “talkies”) shown at the school over the course of 1936-39 and published a book on the results, written mainly by Marjorie Sharp, the head of the lower school, and Fowler, called A School Uses Motion Pictures (1940). The most important undertaking initiated by the Progressive Education Association under Fowler’s leadership came to be called the “Eight Year Study.” He organized initial financial support from the four leading progressive schools (Lincoln, Francis W. Farke, John Burroughs and Tower Hill), although later funding was provided by the Rockefeller and Carnegie foundations. Though many aspects of education were studied, the most celebrated project was aimed at breaking the hegemony of the loathsome College Board examinations. Two hundred leading colleges and universities were persuaded to admit graduates of 30 major progressive schools, including Tower Hill, on the basis of recommendations alone. Beginning in 1936 for five years these students were exempted from the examinations and the straitjacket of unit requirements. A survey comparing performance with students admitted in the normal way would, Fowler hoped, prove that progressive education could prepare students for scholastic success just as well or even better than traditional schools. (The results, published in 1942, were inconclusive and to Fowler’s dismay colleges returned to examination and unit requirements.)

Burton Fowler’s idealism and leadership lifted Tower Hill to the pinnacle of educational practice in America. He spoke with pride about the school’s role in “the remaking of secondary education.” His philosophy of learning by seeing, hearing, feeling and creating meant that the school hummed with activities and projects and happy children.

BULLETIN EXTRA

Read the rest of the chapter at http://www.towerhill.org/our-history

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THE BIG PICTURE James Li ‘19 took this image of the Zhujiang River when traveling in Guangzhou, China, last summer.

He received a Gold Key in the Scholastic Art Awards for this shot, created with a long exposure.

MINDFULNESS IN THE CLASSROOM

BY TERESA MESSMORE, DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS

It’s 8:10 a.m., and a small group of third-graders have gathered in the Lower School’s Math Lab with learning specialist Samantha Spruance. Geometry projects and place value posters hang on the walls around them, but the students are not delving into mathematics—yet.

They are taking a minute for mindfulness.

One at a time, the children share what they need to prepare their minds for learning. “Patience,” says one.

They all stretch their arms out over their heads and take a deep breath.

Spruance starts each lesson guiding the students to breathe in and out through their noses to activate the parasympathetic nervous system for relaxation, encouraging them to open their hearts to love and accept themselves and those around them. From this place of calm, she explains, their brains are open to learn new information.

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The brief exercise and others like it have been shown to improve student learning and performance in the classroom. Heart rates lower, attention increases and confidence builds. According to Mindful Schools, an organization that helps educators implement mindfulness into the school day, the parts of the brain associated with learning, memory and behavior regulation become more active after mindfulness training.

“Mindfulness is learning to pay attention to what is happening within you without being reactive or judgmental,” Spruance said. “Mindfulness techniques support student self-awareness, self-regulation, social and emotional learning, and resilience while cultivating a positive and productive classroom climate.”

The Math Lab is a place where students need to be bringing their academic A game. There they are challenged with difficult group work or multi-step problems

INNOVATION IN ACTION

“We are looking to arm our students with a full complement of tools and skills that will allow them to find joy in all that they do.”

Opposite: Samantha Spruance leads students in a mindfulness activity in the Math Lab. Left: Yoga is offered as an after-school activity in the Lower School. Above: Andrea Sarko introduces mindfulness concepts to kindergartners.

with more than one solution—or to conquer skills that might have tripped them up in homeroom. With expectations high throughout Tower Hill, mindfulness approaches are trickling into other areas of school.

Tower Hill history teacher Andrea Sarko, who is certified by Mindful Schools and a yoga instructor, led a 16-week program for the 2nd Grade—an age where squiggles and giggles can distract from learning. Two minutes of mindfulness practice, she said, can save 15 minutes of poor behavior or inattention later on. Sarko also opens her Middle School classes with a breathing or meditation exercise and provides some “breathing room” in the corner for a student to take a moment to mentally regroup if needed. They’ve come to expect it as part of the routine.

“They ask me, ‘Mrs. Sarko, can we do an extra minute of mindfulness?’” she said.

Sarko, Spruance and school psychologist Amy Cuddy taught a Delaware Association of Independent Schools (DAIS) workshop at Tower Hill last fall for area teachers, and they have spearheaded teacher participation in an online training through Mindful Schools. Yoga, which incorporates many elements of mindfulness, is offered after school for preschool, Lower School and Upper School students.

“Tower Hill functions at a rapid pace,” Cuddy said.

“Sometimes we don’t recognize that until we stop to be present in the moment.”

The mindfulness initiative is one facet of Tower Hill’s schoolwide Wellness Program, led by Cuddy and encompassing students’ mental, emotional and physical health. School counselors get involved with one-on-one cases if a student faces a particular challenge, but the Wellness Program provides a broader framework for supporting students’ wellbeing. The school’s Wellness Committee includes counselors, the nurse, athletic trainers, physical education teachers and health faculty members coordinating various efforts from fitness walks to parent workshops.

Schools tend to focus on intellectual development, but emotional and social intelligence can be a stronger predictor of success in life than academics alone, Cuddy said. In an increasingly global world, engaging with others becomes more and more important.

“The goal of wellness is balance,” Cuddy said. “We are looking to arm our students with a full complement of tools and skills that will allow them to find joy in all that they do, regardless of the context or content.”

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WILD ABOUT ANIMALS VETERINARY SCIENCE INTRODUCED IN THE LOWER SCHOOL

BY GRACE DESETA, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING

At her first session, Hanna introduced herself and her profession to students with the help of her family dog, Laval. She demonstrated a brief physical exam, allowing students to examine different parts of the dog and learn about the human senses and instruments used to make diagnoses. Students explored the dog’s eyes and ears, listened to the heart and counted respiratory rate. In the months following, Hanna shared chickens and rabbits and planned to bring a pony and “Baby Doll” sheep before year’s end.

Veterinarian and Tower Hill parent Lexie Hanna shows animals to students in the Lower School.

Growing up in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, Lexie Hanna was exposed to many animals at a very young age. She believes that every child should have the opportunity to explore the amazing world of animals, not only to increase their knowledge base, but also to experience firsthand the gifts that animals have to offer.

That’s why the veterinarian, parent and former teacher introduced an animal science program to Tower Hill’s Lower School this year.

“Animals teach us compassion, relieve our stress and offer skills to the world of health and science that we are just beginning to discover,” she said.

With the encouragement and support of fellow animal lover and Lower School Head Susan Miller, Hanna designed a program for Lower School classes that is both instructional and hands-on with real animals. She meets with students once a month during 20-minute small group sessions. Lessons focus on farm animals and companion pets and incorporate many aspects of health, math, language arts and social skills.

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She uses three rules of kindness during her sessions: Be kind, stay calm and try to be quiet. Students are taught to respect animals and others by sitting quietly and making observations. Hanna explains that just like people, animals have feelings, and expressing and understanding feelings is an important part of being healthy.

Hanna studied French in college and taught at West Nottingham Academy in Maryland before deciding to pursue her dream of becoming a veterinarian. With the support of her husband, Thomas Hanna ‘91, she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine and became a certified veterinary acupuncturist. In 2015, she started her own acupuncture house call business, called Peaceful Pet, LLC, which allows her to visit dogs and cats in the comfort of their own homes. Two of her three sons, Tommy ‘24 and Sam ‘27, attend Tower Hill.

“Tower Hill School is an academically challenging, well-rounded school where students are encouraged to achieve their individual best, while being supported by a caring, intelligent and passionate faculty,” she said. “It is my hope that the students’ educational experience is enhanced by making connections between animals and humans.”

THE WORD OF THE YEAR IS “One of the best ways to encourage kids to be generous is reminding them of their past kindnesses.”

—Paul Mulvena, THS faculty member

Second-graders recite the poem Kind Words during the fall Lower School Town Meeting.

Right: The 6th Grade began a Kindness Journey with their advisors and teachers by participating in multiple acts of kindness lessons. Themes for the activities involved “Kindness in the News,” a “Sounds Like” activity, “Positive Self-Talk” and “Working Together.” Here students work as a team during Play-Doh Pictionary. Below: A super-sized Kindness banner in the After School Building.

A Lower School student leaves a kind message on the Thoughtful Thursdays bulletin board.

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TOWN MEETING

A STUDENT-LED, MULTIMEDIA PERFORMANCE

BY GRACE DESETA, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING

Ba da dum, ba dum, ba dum dum dum...

That’s the sound of the Town Meeting drums, followed by students singing the catchy tune: Celebrate this special day.

Celebrate in each and every way.

We’re here to celebrate this special day.

Celebrate… today!

Town Meetings are student-produced variety shows featuring writing, poetry, news, artwork, dance and music. The multidisciplinary stage productions were introduced into the curriculum in 1997 and quickly became a favorite Tower Hill tradition.

“We wanted them to be a celebration with our entire Lower School community,” said longtime fourth-grade teacher Laurie Edinger. “We got together, formed a committee, allowed the children to make submissions and started celebrating their work. It has been a wonderful adventure.”

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Each fall a Cultural Explorers Board is formed, made up of fourth-grade students and teacher-advisors who review writing pieces submitted from Grades 2 through 4 throughout the school year. Students place their submissions in the Cultural Explorers Mailbox, designed and painted by a group of fourth-graders in 1999. Students are encouraged to submit original poetry, stories and plays for the board members to determine if the writing is ready to be celebrated with the Lower School community. The board meets during recess to choose the finest samples of Lower School work for the week, which may be displayed on a hallway bulletin board, shared in classrooms or read during lunch as a WOW (Writer of the Week).

“Faculty representatives from across the divisions later get together and review these celebrated pieces to choose those that they feel are exceptional in their quality and fit with the theme of the Town Meeting,” Edinger said.

INNOVATION IN ACTION

“I think it’s just phenomenal. I think it makes

Tower Hill special; I love it! ”

Opposite: The Lower School dance team performs.

Clockwise from top left: The Cultural Explorers mailbox created in 1999; fourth-graders kick off Town Meeting with the beats of a drum; Theater Department Chair Matt Kator works the control booth with the fourth-grade tech crew; a student interviews a celebrated writer; Upper School Vocal Ensemble, led by choir teacher Zerrin Martin.

Occasionally there are guest performers from across the three divisions, both faculty and older students, who share their talents during the show. The first Town Meeting of the 2016-17 school year featured the Upper School Vocal Ensemble singing White Winter Hymnal a capella using body percussion. The fourthgraders have been trying to teach themselves the song and all the moves from that performance ever since!

Town Meetings provide fourth-graders leadership opportunities to not only perform, but also to produce the show. Emcees determine the script, the order, the theme and how content is going to be presented.

Reporters share updates about what is going on around school, from a new rock-climbing wall in the gym to the third-grade Iditarod project, with photographers and a camera crew in tow. Interviewers ask questions of students being featured in the show, and readers offer to read for younger students who may be uncomfortable on stage. Techies work the sound and lights from the booth with Theater

Department Chair Matt Kator. They also operate the projector that allows the audience to view the celebrated work on the big screen and broadcast the shows live via the school’s Facebook page.

“Next year is our 20th anniversary of celebrating Town Meetings,” Edinger said. “I think it’s just phenomenal.

I think it makes Tower Hill special; I love it! Town meetings are open to anyone. If you can find a seat, you are welcome to come.”

VIDEO EXTRA

Watch a video about Lower School Town Meetings at towerhill.org/bulletin

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A MACGYVER APPROACH TO MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE

BY TIMOTHY WEYMOUTH, MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE CURRICULUM COORDINATOR

In Middle School science class, we want our students to be Renaissance men and women with the resourcefulness of the 1980s television hero MacGyver—who was able to solve a range of challenging problems using a Swiss Army knife and duct tape backed by deep scientific knowledge, adaptability and innovation. This many-things-donewell philosophy sounds familiar…

Enthusiastic Entropy Chances are, if you walk by a Middle School science class in session, you will see constructive chaos.

Students will be in small groups, talking and moving with great excitement about their projects and experiments. We start with big, weighty questions: “What affects light?” “What determines the period of a pendulum?” “How are adaptations passed on?” “What do atoms really look like?” Teachers and students alike realize that if the question is not challenging, it probably is not worth studying. Thus, we have to embrace mistakes and even some colossal failures.

There will be burning, explosion, confusion, melting, destruction… and most of it on purpose. We embrace

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our initial disorder of ideas because here we can always find meaning.

Sages and Guides The process involves the teacher as both “sage on the stage and guide on the side.” We have a generation of students who are not only curious but want supposed truths proven. A class works collectively to refine questions to start a unit; then we dive in to empirically figure out how things work, using elbow grease and occasional electronic wizardry to observe and model changes in systems. This represents true hands-on science, often done without any textbooks. We gather data and measurements, look for patterns, make scientific tables/notes/illustrations, graph our results, conclude and share. The cooperative work needs each student to take part for synergistic success.

At the end of the studies, we process the information with traditional worksheets and lab reports along with more modern means. Students may craft “infographic posters” to prepare with a peer group, create oral/digital presentations or master new demonstrations to perform

An Academic Swiss Army Knife A few examples can help illustrate our Swiss Army knife approach to sparking innovation. “Stream Watch” has satisfied fifth-grade STEM and physical activity needs for years. Our students monitor the physical, chemical and biological health of the Brandywine River over the course of the school year.

This “place-based” education program leads children to understand their environment and the importance of stewardship. Together with parent volunteers, we collect data on temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen and nitrate levels (from fertilizer run-off); survey terrestrial plants and animals; categorize and count aquatic macroinvertebrates; and collect trash. If we find evidence of pollution, we report to the Delaware Nature Society and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Control (DNREC). We jump into learning without getting too wet along the way!

The sixth-grade students recently explored an ethereal concept of hot and cold gases after tackling the tenacious world of solid and liquid density. We were able to determine the weight of air, and students asked, “How does a hot air balloon work?” To see how hot air balloons take flight, we gathered materials, constructed scaled-down balloons in groups, got the mass of the balloons and measured dimensions. Then, under close adult supervision, lit attached candles to see if the balloons took flight independently. They did. Students’ performance showed in an illustrated poster depicting all of the physical principles demonstrated in their lighter-than-air craft.

INNOVATION IN ACTION

for the class. Additionally, there could be new challenges laid out to apply what has been learned to engineering tasks or practical, real-life test questions. As a result, our students often become teachers themselves.

believes that all objects accelerate at the same rate, regardless of mass. (“You mean to tell me that a bowling ball and a pea fall at the same rate?”) Using smart phones for video, an established 2-meter distance and any object of their choosing, students film a dropped object. We analyze the video, marking the falling acceleration of something like an emoticon pillow, and find that every student’s object falls at the same rate!

Like a lot of things in Middle School science, you really would have to see it to believe it.

Ingenuity in the 21st Century Who knows who these kids will become and what they will do with their skills? Our goal is to grow and enable collaboration, critical thinking, presentation, scientific modeling and comfort with technology to enhance creativity and communication. We see the students’ time here as an “apprenticeship” for all of the do-ityourself work and analysis a young person will face beyond his or her K-12 school years. We are making an army of problem-solving MacGyvers, so look out world!

Below: Fifth-graders analyze a specimen from the Brandywine River; Science teachers Timothy Weymouth and Mary Hobbs ‘09 demonstrate a projectile motion activity on DeGroat Field. Opposite: Sixth-graders test the principles of density while their hot air balloons take flight.

A seventh-grade chemistry unit included a tried-andtrue investigation of white powders to determine the properties of a mystery compound at the end. We measured, observed, analyzed, reacted, evaporated and generally compared known substances to see their qualities. Like the lab coat-toting organic chemists on the other side of the Brandywine, we used our knowledge of “why and how” to determine that the mystery substance was a mixture of citric acid and baking soda. Knowing we could make this multisensory in all aspects, we mixed our reactants with orange flavoring, ate them and voilà, we made our own mouth-frothing “pop rocks.”

Eighth-graders love their phones. While we do not recommend that they roam the halls with them, falling into the sad state of other “screenagers,” teachers here know that phones are also incredible tools. Nobody

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BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE HISTORY, LITERATURE AND ART COMBINE FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY MIDDLE SCHOOL UNIT ABOUT ANNE FRANK AND WWII

BY JENNIFER HOUSTON, MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER

Anne Frank. Just the name conjures emotions both deep and profound: outrage, sympathy, grief, hope.

When Anne Frank began writing in her now-famous, red-and-white checkered diary she affectionately named “Kitty,” she had no way of knowing how her words would one day change the world. People don’t often recognize this—the power of words.

Within this framework, seventh-graders start their study of a tumultuous time in history and a young girl who dared to write about hope in the face of crushing adversity. The unit begins with students researching various topics in small groups—Hitler, Nuremberg laws and propaganda just to name a few. We also utilize Anne Frank: The Authorized Biography to delve more deeply into the history of World War II and the Holocaust in order to further enrich students’ understanding of the historical context. Gradually, students come to the realization that very little in Anne Frank’s adolescence was serene or predictable.

By the time we begin reading the diary, many students already feel like they know Anne, and they are anxious to hear her words. What many students don’t realize, however, is that the words they will read are nothing like what they expect. Instead of being bitter or despondent, Anne responds to her grim circumstances with determination and unfailing hope. Organic discussions about how we all handle difficult situations provide a glimpse of the emerging maturity in our seventh-graders.

Similarly, through the details of Anne’s diary, a surprising theme often emerges: She’s not that different from the students who walk the halls of Tower Hill today. She picks fights with her mom, dreams of movie stars and has a complicated, love/hate relationship with her sister.

Anne’s words, in the form of musings and observations, help our students feel connected; their feelings are validated through the sense of something shared across both time and space.

Throughout this month-long unit, students also study how Anne’s diary is used today, both as anti-U.S. propaganda in places like North Korea and in our country, as a reminder to never let hate become stronger than love. They write poetry, debate authenticity and create artwork, all of which brings Anne’s words to life.

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In 2014, seventh-grade English teacher Annie Zeberkiewicz and I received a Tower Hill Summer Enrichment Grant, and so we took our love of Anne’s powerful story and our shared passion for history on the road! In Copenhagen, Denmark, we explored the Danes’ resistance to the Nazi occupation of their country and how they helped save thousands of Jews from deportation to concentrations camps and almost certain death. At our next stop—Amsterdam—we toured the “Secret Annex,” Anne and her family’s hiding place for over two years.

After several stops in Belgium, we headed home with Anne’s powerful words ringing in our ears and a renewed sense of responsibility for spreading her message of peace and hope.

Each year, we approach this unit with great anticipation, and there’s always a twinge of sadness when it ends. Luckily for our Middle Schoolers, Anne Frank’s inspirational story lives on through the power of words.

INNOVATION IN ACTION

EPIDEMICS IN SOCIETY

NEW HISTORY ELECTIVE COURSE FOLLOWS STUDENTS’ INTEREST

BY TARA MALLOY, HISTORY DEPARTMENT CHAIR

2017-2018 History Electives African-American History Dead Empires Economics Epidemics in Society: The Impact of Disease on Patterns in World History Greco-Roman History History of East Asia History of the Middle East Inventions that Changed the World Modern European History Refugees and Forced Migrations Supreme Court United States from 1945 to present U.S. Government and Politics

T

he History Department’s educational philosophy has always centered around the idea of instilling a love of learning and history in our students, and during my 10 years at Tower Hill there have been countless moments where I’ve seen student interest peak on a particular topic. I happily take the time to indulge the intellectual curiosity of my students, and from some of those moments I developed a fall semester elective titled “Epidemics in Society: The Impact of Disease on Patterns in World History.”

We start the semester with an intense examination of the Black Death, which is a topic that students were very interested in while taking the World History 1 course, and we finish with a look at HIV/AIDS and Ebola—both epidemics that students continue to see in the news, leading to discussions of prevention and eradication. In studying the symptoms and mortality of the epidemic, students are able to better understand the devastation and psychological trauma, which can spur migrations, demographic shifts, scientific discovery or ethical problems such as genocides. Through the analysis of primary and secondary sources, and sometimes film, the course envelops aspects of political science, public health and governance, civil liberties and economics among others.

These discussion-based classes are so engaging that I hate to stop them in order to assess students!

This class has wonderful opportunities for outside speakers and experiential learning. We welcomed an epidemiologist who specializes in cancers associated with the human papillomavirus and a doctor who treated Ebola patients in Africa. A highlight this fall was a combined class with Noreen Jordan and Nicole Keith’s pre-calculus classes, where students modeled how the Spanish Flu impacted New York City in 1918. Donned in facemasks, one student became “infected” and started to spread her illness through a simulation (rolling dice). Students saw that the number of infected people was dependent on time, and we graphed the collected data on their calculators. Students expected that we would all be infected by the end of class, and they were surprised to see that the numbers eventually slowed down and stopped, just as the “forgotten pandemic” disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Lastly, we compared our data to the actual data from New York City’s public health records that represented deaths in the city from September through November, the heart of the pandemic, and the data looked very similar. These experiences raise questions for further discussion and discovery.

The 2017-2018 school year unveils many new electives for students in 11th and 12th Grades so they can enjoy unique offerings, ones that cannot be found at other area schools. Allowing faculty and students to have choice in exploring topics that they are passionate about enriches our program, as well as the student experience.

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SENIOR SPEECHES

UPPER SCHOOL SHOWCASES COMMUNICATION SKILLS WITH NEW TRADITION

BY GRACE DESETA, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING

“We have been really impressed with what kids have done, and hopefully they will remember it as a touch point of their experience in the Upper School at Tower Hill,” Cover said.

Student Perspectives What have you learned from this experience?

“That as long as you speak up, you will always be heard.”

The Upper School started a new tradition this year with the addition of Senior Speeches. With the support of the Upper School faculty and Head of School Bessie Speers, these individual speeches about varying topics from personal growth, life experiences, tragedies, empowerment and more are now an expectation for all seniors.

“Our Tower Hill seniors, who are truly the leadership class of the school, have important voices and perspectives to share,” Speers said. “Their thoughts, ideas and stories are important, and it is often through listening to a senior speech that a younger student will recognize that they are not alone, that perseverance, respect and kindness are noble attributes, and that the Tower Hill community stands ready to support them.”

The speeches happen every Tuesday and Wednesday during morning assembly, with one member of the senior class presenting a speech on a personally meaningful topic. The subjects have ranged from stories of personal growth to things students have learned or invented.

“We have been looking for ways to showcase our seniors, as Tower Hill prides itself on developing excellent written and verbal communication skills in our students,” Dean of Students Megan Cover said. “We wanted to give each senior a chance to share his or her voice and to get up in front of the Upper School student body and tell the students something about themselves.”

Student speeches are filmed and uploaded to the Student Government Association (SGA) YouTube channel to share with the broader community.

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“I’ve learned its OK to share you passions or struggles with people from Tower Hill without fear of being judged—just go for it.”

What have been some of your more notable feelings or reactions as a speaker or audience member so far?

“I have been pleasantly surprised by the willingness of my classmates to speak about such personal topics. The senior speeches have brought us closer as a class, as we have learned so much about each other through the creation of these speeches. It takes a huge amount of confidence to stand up in front of the entire Upper School and speak on such an intimate level, and I applaud my classmates for doing so.”

“I’m impressed that all the speakers have taken this so seriously and have created some genuinely amazing speeches. It takes a lot of bravery to speak about oneself like that in front of such a large audience.”

What you would suggest to underclassman when preparing their speeches in the future?

“I would recommend that you really put time and effort into how you want to express yourself to the student body.

Your speech is one of the greatest opportunities to express a personal opinion or share an experience that has impacted you, for better or for worse. Keep your speech real and authentic, and you will receive a great response.”

“Really think about a message or something you want to convey to your audience. Make it personal to you.”

BULLETIN EXTRA

For more on Senior Speeches and a link to the SGA YouTube channel, visit towerhill.com/bulletin

INNOVATION IN ACTION

THE HEAD’S COUNCIL THE FUTURE OF LEADERSHIP

BY JOSEPH ZAKIELARZ ‘20

One of the most daunting tasks independent schools face each year is driving innovation and progress without neglecting tradition or core principles—and Tower Hill is no exception. With the world becoming increasingly technology-driven and globally connected, we as a school are determined to find the right balance.

To achieve this goal, 2016 marked the beginning of a great legacy at Tower Hill: Head’s Council. This group is focused on turning key ideas and dreams into reality, based on learning more about the business side of our school.

Back in September, 10 other high schoolers and I applied for this mysterious council without knowing much about it; it required filling out a formal application describing my motives and reasons for becoming a member of Head’s Council. Head’s Council is a group of students selected by Mrs. Speers each year who want to learn more about the inner workings of our school, from finance to fundraising and everything in between.

“It is kind of like a behind-the-scenes view of school,” said Maryam Javed-Ismail ‘17.

Once or twice a month, we meet with Mrs. Speers at Hayward House over a couple slices of Grotto’s pizza.

The first 15 minutes are open to suggestions for improvement in any part of the school, which means we are indirectly changing our school for the better! Examples of previous suggestions include: student ID key cards, adding a pool (I don’t know if that will work out), and how to strike the right balance between athletic requirements and other student interests at Tower Hill.

After we offer our insights, the group advances to the main part of the meeting that focuses on identifying how a specific facet of our school functions. This is the “meat” of the council, which Leo Garonski ‘18 refers to as the part that has “opened [our] eyes to the complexity and difficulty of running such a venture successfully.” Oftentimes, a guest from the chosen topic of the meeting walks us through his or her role at the school for a more in-depth perspective. At one meeting, Mrs. Kristin Mumford informed us about the admissions process by having us look through a real student’s full application from a few years ago (of course without any names) and decide whether we would accept or deny him or her. In another meeting, Mrs. Teresa Messmore walked us through Communications and the importance of the school magazine, alumni and having a con-

Head of School Bessie Speers and the Head’s Council during a meeting at Hayward House

nection with everyone related to your organization.

Planned Head’s Councils in the future will take us to finance, facilities management and admissions interview role plays. Also on the calendar is a meeting with our school’s Chief Innovation and Information Officer, Mr. Anthony Pisapia, to learn about the Tower Hill’s technology infrastructure and how we are approaching decisions that will help ensure our school’s success in a rapidly changing time. By the end of the school year, we will become very familiar with “everything from what the endowment and annual fund are and why they matter, to marketing, communications, enrollment management, fundraising and finance,” stated Mrs. Speers.

“This is a wonderful group of students who care deeply about their school. They share excellent ideas and will take what they learn and apply it to virtually any field they choose to pursue.”

The most unique part about Head’s Council is our opportunity to sit in a small group with our Head of School, Mrs. Speers, and know that we can make a difference—while gaining real-life skills in the process.

The entire Head’s Council has grown a “greater appreciation for all that goes on behind the scenes thanks to the valuable insight [we] have gained,” noted Josephine Thrasher ‘17.

In the not-too-distant future, I can see myself applying these skills in areas such as running a business, politics or being a leader in general. Our input will make the school an optimal learning environment and positively influence upcoming Hillers. Mrs. Speers indicated that this inaugural Head’s Council has begun a tradition. As for my perspective, I envision Head’s Council positions as being highly sought after, as those who are chosen to participate have a front row seat and can be seen as Tower Hill ambassadors, helping others to understand.

I am honored to be part of such a great group of people, to work with Mrs. Speers, and to experience a unique opportunity to effect positive change at Tower Hill.

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STRATEGIC PLANNING UPDATE

BY JULIA STONE, STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE CO-CHAIR

Excitement is building around Tower Hill’s strategic planning initiative, as the Board of Trustees prepares to approve a final plan by the end of the school year. The Strategic Planning Committee spent the fall months reviewing the findings and recommendations from the school’s positioning and institutional strategy study with the Art & Science Group and considering a wide range of ideas to craft a strong vision for the future of Tower Hill. Currently the committee is engaged in the work of sharing its thoughts with the broader school community and eliciting reactions and suggestions.

Following a retreat at Hayward House during a January snowstorm, the committee shared its initial set of recommendations with the Board of Trustees in early February. Eager to hear what members of the school community thought, committee representatives also engaged in widespread dialogue with faculty, administrators and parents. Two student committee members, junior Rory Britt and senior Louise Conaty, designed and implemented an online survey for Upper School students to share what excites them about their future and how Tower Hill can best prepare them to strike out into the world after graduation. Britt and Conaty also developed a creative plan for Middle and Lower School students to share their ideas in a variety of classroom conversations.

As the spring progresses, the committee will take all the insight and input it gathers from the full school community back under consideration. From there we will develop a final iteration of the plan for approval in May and release in September, coinciding with the launch of planning for Tower Hill’s Centennial Celebration. What an amazing opportunity we have as a community to look back on our history and think about our future at this extraordinary juncture!

Founded by innovators, Tower Hill, from its inception, was never meant to rest on its laurels. Innovation and leadership are themes present in the school’s founding documents and evidenced in its longstanding record of academic excellence and student success. The school will maintain its commitment to being one of the finest college-preparatory schools in the nation. As expectations in academia and the work world change rapidly, we know that innovation is critical to sustain that commitment.

The Strategic Planning Committee studied and discussed what Tower Hill students will need to be successful in our rapidly changing world. Here is what we came up with:

• to be self-starters who can adapt to increasingly fragmented and project-driven work; • a variety of real-world experiences to develop their intellect and character and turn their knowledge into action; • the ability to relate to and collaborate with diverse groups of people as new communication tools make the world more connected; • the ability to manage, analyze and synthesize information as it becomes increasingly accessible; • to leverage technology to creatively find novel solutions to complex problems.

For Tower Hill to meet these evolving needs, the committee is centering its work around three important goal areas: Preparing the 21st Century Student, Faculty Support and Development, and Building & Engaging a Diverse Community. We are researching and examining a broad range of ideas—from new curricula, scheduling and instructional methods; to ways to recruit, develop and retain exceptional teachers; to strategies for engaging in sustained relationships with the Wilmington community and the broader world. We seek to build upon the many things that Tower Hill already does so well, and preserve what is unique and exceptional about the experience here.

Committee members representing all school constituencies are undertaking this strategic planning initiative with thoughtful deliberation, careful research and an eye toward all that is possible for Tower Hill as it begins its next century. Stay tuned for further updates into the fall.

STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE Ben du Pont ‘82, Trustee, P ‘20, ‘24, Co-Chair Julia Stone, P ‘19, ‘23, Co-Chair Jon Abramczyk, Trustee, P ‘15, ‘18 Arturo Bagley, History Faculty Member

Madeleine Bayard ‘97, Rodel Foundation of Delaware Rory Britt ‘18, Student

Louise Conaty ‘17, Student Sutton Faller, Quintiles, P ‘20, ‘22 Paul Harrell, Delaware Commission on Early Education and the Economy, P ‘94 Dan Hickey, Ed.D., Head of Upper School/Assistant Head of School, P ‘18, ‘22 Eric Johnson, M.D., Trustee, P ‘16, ‘18 Orin S. Kerr, J.D. ‘89, George Washington University Teresa Messmore, Director of Communications and Marketing, P ‘27 and ‘29 Lois Miller, Home and School Association Vice President, P ‘18, ‘22, ‘25 Anthony Pisapia, Chief Innovation and Information Officer, P ‘25, ‘27, ‘31 Lea Gummey Quimby ‘86, Lower School Faculty Member, P ‘17, ‘17 David P. Roselle, Ph.D., Trustee, GP ‘19, ‘21 Michelle Shepherd, Chair of the Board of Trustees, P ‘20, ‘22 Bessie Speers, Head of School, P ‘19 Leslie Sysko, English Department Chair, P ‘21, ‘24

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AROUND SCHOOL

SOCIAL JUSTICE PROGRAM Tower Hill’s mission begins, “Tower Hill School prepares students from diverse backgrounds for full and creative engagement with a dynamic world.” To that end, Director of Social Justice Dyann Connor has been working with students, faculty, staff and parents to provide new and engaging opportunities this year for deeper understanding of the many backgrounds, experiences and viewpoints shared by our community of learners.

SEED In June 2016, Connor and fourth-grade teacher Ann Sullivan attended The National SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) Project in San Anselmo, California. This peer-led professional development program creates conversational communities to discuss personal, organizational and societal changes to toward greater equity and diversity. The faculty members then established a Tower Hill SEED discussion group for teachers and staff, members of which represent the three divisions and a variety of departments and grades. The group meets monthly to discuss key concepts including teaching methods and practices that are gender fair, multiculturally equitable, socioeconomically aware and globally informed to create the most effective environments for all to learn and flourish.

MOVIES THAT MATTER FILM SERIES The Movies that Matter Film Series introduced Upper School students and parents to thought-provoking documentaries, providing occasion to reflect on one’s own beliefs and consider the perspectives of others. The series encouraged discussion on the intersections of social identities in America with screenings and thoughtful discussion of I’m Not Racist… Am I?, Miss Representation and The Mask You Live In. The program provided the opportunity to partner with the University of Delaware’s Vice Provost for Diversity, Carol Henderson, with whom Connor now regularly communicates about professional development and cultural competency topics in education.

Lenny Walker, Director of Programming for Point Made Films

FACULTY SPEAKER: ELIZABETH DENEVI, PH.D. Noted speaker Elizabeth Denevi, Ph.D., visited Tower Hill for the Opening Faculty Meeting in August. Denevi is associate director of the Mid West Educational Collaborative, a non-profit agency that works with schools to encourage equity and diversity education.

Drawing on her experiences in the classroom and the independent school world, her dynamic presentation covered various aspects of diversity and equity.

STUDENT DIVERSITY LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE The leader of Upper School Diversity Club, Alexis Wrease ‘17, along with students Ashleigh Brady ‘17, Sabrina Luther ‘17 and Safiya Miller ‘18, attended the Student Diversity Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, on Dec. 7-10. The gathering of approximately 1,000 student leaders from across the country focused on self-reflection and building community, led by a diverse team of trained adult and peer facilitators.

BULLETIN EXTRA

To watch a video about diversity and inclusion at Tower Hill, visit towerhill.org/bulletin.

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FORUM SPEAKER SERIES CHANGING THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE FUTURE In determining the theme for this year’s series, student and faculty interest was steered towards the fact that we as a country and as a world are at an interesting and exciting time of change. Pivotal political, environmental, technological and social changes are felt each and every day as we get a glimpse into what the future will hold. The 2016-2017 Forum theme focuses on change in a variety of areas and with a broad base of notable experts.

Thank you to the Rappolt Family for founding the Forum in honor of their children Gabrielle ‘93, Sarah ‘96 and Bill ‘99, and in recognition of the dedication, scholarship and professionalism of the Tower Hill faculty.

YEONMI PARK

In Order to Live Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016 21 year-old human rights activist and North Korean defector Yeonmi Park is a leading voice of oppressed people around the world, delivering passionate and deeply personal speeches about the brutality of the North Korean regime.

FEN MONTAIGNE

Melody Young ‘18, Yeonmi Park and History Department Chair Tara Malloy

PW SINGER

Next War: The Future of Technology and Geopolitics Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016 Robots, Artificial Intelligence, Cyberwar, 3D printing, bio-enhancements, and a new geopolitical competition; the 21st century is being shaped by a1range of exciting, and scary, new trends and technologies. A best-selling author described by the Wall Street Journal as “the premier futurist in the national-security environment” and a consultant for groups that range from the CIA and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to Hollywood and the Call of Duty video game series, Singer explored the key trends emerging today that will shape the world of technology and security tomorrow.

REBECCA LINDER BLACHLY

Peace, Conflict, and Religion: A Career in Foreign Policy Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016 Rebecca Linder Blachly is the Director of Government Relations for the Episcopal Church. Prior to her job in the Episcopal Church, she was the Senior Policy Advisor for Africa in the Office of Religion 5 Global Affairs at and the U.S. Department of State. Blachly was Acting Chief of the Strategic Communication Division at U.S. Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany, and Special Assistant to the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy at the Pentagon, where she focused on humanitarian assistance, disaster response and peacekeeping.

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Travels from the Antarctic to the Arctic: Melting Ice, Global Warming and What Can Be Done About It Tuesday, March 28, 10:25 a.m.

A native of Wilmington, Fen Montaigne has worked for four decades as a journalist, author and editor. Fen was on the staff of The Philadelphia Inquirer for 15 years, serving as the paper’s Moscow correspondent during the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of the new Russia. As a freelance writer, Fen worked primarily for National Geographic magazine, traveling the world to report on the environment.

EVAN THOMAS

Confidence, Humility and Leadership in a Time of Change Wednesday, April 12, 7:30 p.m.

Evan Thomas is the author of nine books and a New York Times bestseller.

Thomas was a writer, correspondent and editor for 33 years at Time and Newsweek. He wrote more than 100 cover stories and in 1999 won a National Magazine Award. He has appeared on many TV and radio talk shows and taught writing and journalism at Harvard and Princeton.Thomas is currently writing a biography of Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court.

JACK GANTOS

It’s All Personal: From picture books, to autobiographical collections of short stories, to middle grade novels, and upper school memoirs—from rotten cats, to heroic kids, to prison time, it’s all about me.

They say, “Write about what you know about”—and I do.

Monday, April 17, 10:25 a.m.

Jack Gantos is the author of 49 books for children from the Rotten Ralph picture books, collections of Jack Henry short stories, upper elementary and middle school young adult novels—Love Curse of the Rumbaughs, Desire Lines and two memoirs, Hole in my Life and The Trouble in Me. His works have received a numerous awards is the field of Young Adult and Children’s Literature.

UPPER SCHOOL CAFE

The Student Government Association (SGA) recently opened the doors to J.R.’s Hillside Café, dedicated to longtime English teacher John Robinson.

Painting by former Art Department Chair Kirby Smith.

ADMISSION OFFICE

Stop by the new TOWER HILL SCHOOL STORE (located near the 4th Grade hallway) to see new THS items available for purchase, supporting the Home and School Association and the Green and White Club. The school store is the go-to spot for all things Hiller, from gym clothes to rugbys, fleeces and stadium chairs, to pens, pencils, frisbees and bucket hats. Thank you to Louise Barton and Ashley Schlobach (pictured above) for their hard work and dedication to get the store up and running.

Shop online at towerhill.org/schoolstore.

This fall the Tower Hill Admission Office moved to its new location in the After School building on 17th Street. Be sure to stop by and say hello on your next campus visit!

1919 UPDATES

Last summer the 1919 Auditorium received beautiful upgrades with the addition of new lighting, a leveled floor and new carpeting. New furniture was also added to make this a multi-functional space for school gatherings, open houses and student performances. “I knew my vision for this space succeeded when I heard a student playing the piano one day while other students relaxed,” Head of School Bessie Speers said.

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AROUND SCHOOL

CAMPUS UPDATES

LIVING LEGEND

JOHN ROBINSON RETIRES AFTER 35 YEARS LIVENING UP ENGLISH CLASS

BY LESLIE SYSKO, ENGLISH DEPARTMENT CHAIR

When asked who they look up to these days, most high school kids say, “Steve Jobs” or “Elon Musk.” There’s something in the Tech Water that tastes like ambrosia—not just to the millennial set but to us all. The stuff of contemporary digital life coalesces and confuses discourse; it’s Mr. Toad’s wild ride with a new soundtrack: disparate voices singing in cacophonous unison. The music seems louder than ever before, but does it follow that our cutting edge is sharper than that of previous epochs? After all, Shakespeare, the man himself, exclaimed about the rapidity of map revision during the Elizabethan age of exploration. Heraclitus quipped that rivers are never the same twice. It seems that everybody says, “Whew! I can’t keep up!” with a mix of awe and chagrin, regardless of epoch.

If we ask Tower Hill students whom they look up to, they may point to scions of algorithmic industry. Or they might just as likely reply, “Mr. Robinson.” Nothing changes.

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Coalescence, amalgamation and synergies (what used to be called thinking and reasoning) have been the stuff of Mr. Robinson’s daily domain longer than his students have been alive. He’s been a Tower Hill Upper School English teacher for 35 years, garnering admiration and engendering passionate inquiry for all those decades, class periods and pages, and he’s due to retire in June.

When John Robinson joined the English faculty in 1981, he acceded to a stalwart group that taught the old way—Western canon, New Criticism and directed standardized test prep. This kind of English instruction, John saw, was anathema to free thought. John was ahead of his time. He felt that, if we were to encourage students to spelunk among the caves of the written word for relevance, we’d have to give them brighter headlamps—ones they could turn on for themselves.

Show them, don’t tell them. Now (and since the early 1980s), we teach 20 different courses to students in their junior and senior years from which they select freely.

Courses like John’s “Is You Is, Or Is You Ain’t?” about

AROUND SCHOOL

race and jazz and the American Predicament. Or John’s “Old, Weird, America,” about identity, non-conformity and the Paradox of Opportunity. Or John’s “Myths and Motifs” about Joseph Campbell’s heroic monomyth and Tolkien’s high fantasy, with George Lucas’s little film called Star Wars thrown in for good measure. Achievement in the perennial forms—acquisition of critical thinking and writing skill, performance on tests, ability to speak and present—these remain central to students’ work in English, but why not add a little rock-and-roll?

Sometimes change comes in the form of a white-bearded Yoda who’s as given to quoting Dylan as Homer.

Once, I observed John teach a class in which, by the end, he’d written a parallel novel in situ—on existentialism, James Dean, Sartre, Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle with You,” R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts,” the Bible and luggage. I wish you could’ve been there. Another time, the result was more like a painting: Vietnam War history, “This Little Light of Mine,” Platoon and David James Duncan’s novel The Brothers K, which alludes, of course, to Dostoyevsky’s novel. These are just two examples of 45-minute class periods… on any given day inside of a school year that contains about 165 similar days, each including four classes… taught with about 16 students enrolled (because John’s classes are packed full)… over a four-decade career. Can someone, potentially with a snappy algorithm, please do the math?

How much light’s been shed? How much role modeling—of creative discipline, joyful rigor and passionate hope—has Mr. Robinson performed? And that’s only counting the work done within the academic classroom; Mr. Robinson’s service as an advisor, mentor and friend adds rings to his reverberations.

Whitman wrote, “He that by me spreads a wider breast than my own proves the width of my own,/He most honors my style who learns under it to destroy the teacher.” No one wants to be outdone or outshone—“destroyed,” as Whitman bluntly put it—more than John Robinson. He’s “disruptive” in today’s parlance, and he’s been that way forever. He teaches us all to push beyond, to ask the prohibited question, to reach for the unknown, even if that means we’ll ultimately breach the riverbank. So what? Our cup runneth over, and John’s got a sound effect for it.

Above: The Upper School English Department Robinson’s first year at THS (1982). From left: Dave Scherer, John Sandman, John Robinson, Hillary Russel, Jim Wood. Below: Robinson shares his experiences participating in the Civil Rights Movement with eighth-graders during their Week of Service in January.

BULLETIN EXTRA: A CONVERSATION WITH JOHN ROBINSION Watch an interview by Leslie Sysko with John Robinson at towerhill.org/bulletin.

Every student Mr. Robinson ever taught who’s reading this—from his most recent pupil to the one who harkens back a while—remembers what it was like. We may wish that we could return to the river for another drink, but it was never, ever the same river twice anyway.

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IN TRIBUTE Congratulations to Athletic Director JACK HOLLOWAY on his upcoming retirement this spring. Tower Hill School is grateful for his dedication and leadership over the past 12 years.

DOYOUKNOWJACK?

18

State Championships as Tower Hill’s Athletic Director

11 DIAA

sportsmanship awards

297

Coached Wrestling Wins at William Penn High School

2016

National High School Hall of Fame Inductee

2000

National High School Wrestling Coach of the Year All-American Football Player at Salesianum High School

Former Executive Director of the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association “When I think of words to describe Jack, I think of fair, loyal, supporting… a man of his word. It has been my pleasure to work with Jack, and I wish him a wonderful and well-deserved retirement.”

—Wendy Berkover, girls tennis head coach “Jack has supported me both as a student athlete and as a coach at Tower Hill. He is enthusiastic, dedicated and passionate about athletics. Whether he’s giving spirited graduation speeches or announcing/commentating at sporting events with gusto, his presence in the community will be sorely missed.”

—Mary Hobbs ‘09, basketball and field hockey coach, science faculty

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“To me, Jack is like Pinocchio’s Dad, Jeppetto: supportive, loving, encouraging, always there to help mend and fix, but whose ultimate goal is to help get you on your own feet.”

—Linda Ogden, volleyball and tennis coach, college counseling “It is not very often you get to work for an actual living legend. One of the greatest lessons Jack has taught me in coaching is it is not the wins and losses that define you as a coach; it is the principles and lessons that you are teaching your players and students.”

—Chris Sanna, basketball and football coach, history faculty

AROUND SCHOOL

NEW HORIZONS DAN HICKEY NAMED HEAD OF SCHOOL AT UPLAND COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL Dan Hickey, Head of Upper School/Assistant Head of School, has been a fixture around campus for the past 10 years, whether at open houses and athletic events or lectures, plays, concerts and presentations—even incognito as our tiger mascot or in character as Lt. Schrank in West Side Story. His commitment and intellect have shaped the academic and community experience of students in impactful ways, and his good nature and clever wit have lightened many an assembly, class and meeting.

Tower Hill is proud to congratulate Dr. Hickey on his acceptance of the position of Head of School at Upland Country Day School in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, effective July 1.

Hickey joined Tower Hill in 2006 as the Director of Admission and became Head of Upper School in 2008.

In this position he oversaw the successful launch of our Beyond AP Program, our advisory program and an enhanced daily schedule that provides more time for faculty meetings and planning. As a member of the English Department, he has taught Upper School electives and a speech course. He has also served as an advisor and assistant coach of the football team. In 2013, he spearheaded Tower Hill’s successful reaccreditation process with the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools. The strength of the Upper School today is a credit to his leadership, and he will remain a Tower Hill parent as father to Aidan ‘18 and Brendan ‘22.

JILL LAUCK DEPARTING FOR COLLEGE COUNSELING POSITION IN FRANCE Director of College Counseling Jill Lauck will say au revoir to Tower Hill in June, as she has decided to accept an extraordinary opportunity to oversee college guidance at the American School of Paris. Lauck has served Tower Hill students, parents and colleagues for the past seven years. Following her 12-year college admission career at Hampshire College, Wellesley College and Princeton University, she began her senior administrative role at Tower Hill by creating the practice of summer hours for the College Counseling Office, meeting with parents and students, and writing a comprehensive College Guidance Handbook.

During her tenure, she has embedded age-appropriate education and outreach within each Upper School grade level. She developed and shaped use of the Naviance system, enabling our students to personalize their college search online throughout the year. In addition to counseling students and families individually, she has developed workshops on college essay writing, brought summer SAT and ACT preparatory classes

to Tower Hill, organized and hosted a four-school financial aid presentation and invited top college admissions officers from around the country to serve as panelists.

From chaperoning dances, serving as an advisor, cheering on students at games, plays and virtually every aspect of their lives here at school, she has been an engaged and important educator, well respected by her colleagues, students and parents. Bon voyage à Paris!

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OPENING DAYS

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1. Head of School Bessie Speers greets students on the first day of school. 2. Lower School students eagerly adjust to their new classroom.

3. Students exchange a laugh during opening assembly. 4. The THS community gathers for an all-school picnic on the Nitsche Pitch.

5. Home and School Association Vice President Lois Miller and President Evelyn Brady prepare to greet new parents. 6. Olympian Caitlin Van Sickle ‘08 speaks to students about her experience in the 2016 Summer Games in Rio. 7. Director of Admission Kristin Mumford and Megan Greenberg at the welcome reception for new parents on the first day of school.

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THS IN PHOTOS

TREE TRIM One of Tower Hill’s longest-held traditions, the 88th Annual Tree Trim brought together the school community for a joyous celebration on Dec. 12. Students, parents, grandparents, faculty and staff sung holiday songs and decorated the giant tree.

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5 1. Julia Ward ‘17, poses for a photo with a preschooler. 2. Alexis Wrease ‘17 introduces a new senior class tradition of hanging a garland around the tree. 3. Assistant Heads of School Harry Baetjer and Dan Hickey. 4. A preschooler smiles big for the camera.

5. Lifters from the Class of 2017 pose for a photo at the close of Tree Trim. 6. Grayson Donohue ‘24 hangs his ornament on the tree.

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The ARTS

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1. Upper School students take the stage in the fall production of Flyer. 2. The 3rd Grade performs its annual Shakespearean production, Tower Will. This year was a student-led reimagining of Hamlet. 3. Strings teacher Csilla Lakatos practices with Upper School Orchestra students.

4. A Lower School student works in the woodshop. 5. Second-graders and their parents participate in a hoedown, coordinated by music teacher Sara Bush.

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THS IN PHOTOS

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10 9 6. Led by Music Department Chair and band teacher Scott Zeplin, the Middle School band performs in a winter concert. 7. Members of the Upper School Choir practice with choir director Zerrin Martin.

8. Kindergarten performs the original play Snow in Sunnytown, written by music teacher Sara Bush. 9. Lower School art teacher Jane Chesson works on a collaborative art project with PreK students.

10. Fifth-grade handbells players perform, led by music teacher Joan Jennings. 11. Art teacher John Bartlett poses behind a sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art during a trip to New York City with Upper School students.

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The ARTS

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5 1. Pierce Carter ‘17, watercolor. 2. 3rd Grade, abstract assemblages.

3. Nicholas Kulda ‘21, plein air painting. 4. Darren Wu ‘21, reverse acrylic painting. 5. Sweeta Yaquoobi ‘17, watercolor landscape. 6. Bianca Fritsky ‘24, sculpture.

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THS IN PHOTOS

ATHLETICS

Tower Hill’s boys’ soccer team took the state title in the Division II championship game against Indian River. Strong winds in the Hillers’ favor contributed to an impressive four goals in the first half by Andrew Cercena ‘17 (2), Drew Manning ‘17 and Malcolm Johnson ‘18. Tough defense and great goalkeeping by Bo Anderson ‘18 kept the Indians at bay in the second half for a 4-2 final score. Congratulations to the entire team and coach Chris Aitken!

Tower Hill’s exceptional field hockey program took the Hillers to the state final at UD’s Rullo Stadium to face a very competitive Delmar team. The Hillers fought hard but came up short on offense for a 3-0 finish. The team ended the season with a remarkable 17-2 record and second place in the state.

Junior Hudson Pepper, the fastest cross country runner in Tower Hill’s history, finished ninth in the DIAA State Championships.

The volleyball team finished a stellar season with a win in the runner-up match against Archmere. The girls swept the match and earned third place in the state. Pictured are Daysha Shamlin ‘17, Ashleigh Brady ‘17 and Josephine Thrasher ‘17.

Harry Quimby ‘17 (#3) will play for the blue team in the DFRC Blue-Gold Football game on Saturday, June 17, 2017 at Delaware Stadium.

Pictured with Steve, Lea ‘86 and Charlie Quimby ‘17.

Thank you to Dave Spartin, our regular announcer at football, soccer and lacrosse games, for his time and energy in support of THS athletics. Pictured here with Jamie ‘17 and Lisa Spartin.

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SERVICE

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1. THS faculty member Stef Rutkowski ‘06 and Head of School Bessie Speers volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. 2. Upper School students participate in community outreach cleaning up Bellevue State Park. 3. Upper School students and faculty prepare gift bags for the Stocking Project.

4. Alexandra Caimi ‘17 sells handmade Nicaraguan bracelets as part of her participation in the Upper School’s Global Scholar Certificate Program.

Proceeds support South American artisans through the Pulsera Project. 5. Fifth-graders create “empty bowls” for Family Promise and the food ministries of St. Stephen’s. 6. A Middle School student places an American flag at the foot of a fallen soldier’s grave in honor of Veterans Day.

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GLOBAL EXCHANGE PERSPECTIVES SCOTLAND AND GUATEMALA

“I am very grateful for the opportunity. It was great to see the comparison between my school in Scotland and Tower Hill at an extremely exciting time in the USA with the presidential election.

My hosts were incredibly welcoming. I hope the rest of the year goes well, and I look forward to hosting Harry and Sander when they come to Scotland!” —Edward Potter

1 “During my stay in Delaware I experienced American culture firsthand being a student and living with the Greenberg family. As soon as I stepped into the school campus I felt like my life was going to change, and my two weeks at Tower Hill really weren’t enough—I could have stayed for much longer.”

—Rosie Biggart

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“I had an amazing two weeks at Tower Hill! Living the life of a Tower Hill student gave me a fascinating insight into how school life operates in America. I found Tower Hill to be an incredibly positive and inspiring place. Everyone was so welcoming, and I was very impressed at the hardworking culture of the community, making classes both interesting and fun to be part of! Hopefully I have made some lifelong friends together 3 with a lasting connection to Tower Hill. My hosts were extremely kind, and I can’t wait for Kathryn to come to Scotland next year! Thank you so much for this amazing opportunity. It has been the experience of a lifetime!”

—Lucy Mackenzie

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“My experience has been incredible. When you’re here you realize that it is totally different than you thought, at least for me. All the classes are really fun, teachers let you participate in discussions and projects as a normal student. Everyone is super nice to you, they ask you questions about your country and ask you if you want to be friends with them. I would LOVE to come back to Tower Hill, to come back and see my friends, to come back and learn many more things.”

—Natalia Hurtarte

1. Scottish exchange student Edward Potter pictured with his host family siblings, Sander ‘20, Harry ‘20 and Dean ‘19 Saridakis in NYC. 2. Scottish exchange students Rosie Biggart and Lucy Mackenzie at THS. 3. Lucy Mackenzie and Kathryn Cover ‘19 visit the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

4. Guatemalan exchange student Natalia Hurtarte with Delaware Senator Tom Carper. 5. Hurtarte enjoys a fall meal with fellow THS students.

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Director of Global Initiatives Eduardo Silva, Kristian Emil Kjaergaard, Soren Kjaergaard and Head of School Bessie Speers

GLOBAL CONNECTIONS SOREN KJAERGAARD ‘76

BY KATHY WARNER, DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS

In 1975, 17-year-old Soren Kjaergaard, who was about to start his senior year in high school in Denmark—the only place he ever lived—thought he might take a chance and become an American Field Service (AFS) student for a year of school in America. He had no say in where he would go, but fate brought him to Wilmington, Delaware, and a school named Tower Hill. Little did he know that this luck of the draw would introduce him to a Wilmington family he has never lost contact with; a school where he still returns to attend his reunions; and friendships from peripheral to lifelong with his twelfthgrade THS classmates and teachers. Kjaergaard calls this his “meeting with America.”

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Kjaergaard is a familiar alum to those of us who have been around Tower Hill for a few years, despite the fact that he lives in Denmark. It’s not just that he returns to his alma mater regularly, but he has a big, outgoing personality, is never at a loss for words and is eager to engage with all—whether it is stories about sitting at the lunch table, making the team vs. occupying the bench, teacher expectations or extracurricular life at THS in 1975-1976. This year as he returned for Homecoming Weekend for his 40th Reunion, he was accompanied by his 16-year-old son Kristian Emil, who is a junior in Denmark and considering an exchange experience of his own.

ALUMNI PERSPECTIVE

“Don’t be afraid to be uprooted.”

Kjaergaard is a strong and steadfast advocate for the AFS experience. He feels like high school students are at a peak in terms of curiosity, sociability and learning ability. They have reached an age and a level of maturity where they are able to fathom a world outside their own. They are beginning to think of college and the notion of moving away from home, so they are open to the world and the thoughts and experiences that travel makes possible. Kjaergaard met with Head of School Bessie Speers, and the two of them found that they agreed about the importance of travel and the tremendous impact it can have on a student’s educational experience.

“As my eyes were opened to the American way of life—dress code, legendary teachers, sitting at the ‘jock table,’ Grace’s famous sticky buns, Gatorade, SATs and competition on the fields as well as the classroom—in a small way, my presence at THS made my classmates think of a way of life different from their own in another part of the world,” he said.

After attending Tower Hill, Kjaergaard finished his schooling at his Danish high school, Hasseris Gymnasium, in his hometown of Aalborg. He obtained his master of laws degree from Aarthus University, and some years later, he also earned a master of law degree from Duke University. He initially worked as an attorney and later as an executive for the National Road Authority. For the past decade, he has worked as a consultant and contract manager on major projects.

He is happily married and the father of two grown daughters and his son.

Before all the reconnections with classmates and teachers and the many events over Homecoming Weekend, Kjaergaard was able to talk to Tower Hill’s Upper School students and made a persuasive argument “to seek and take the opportunity to go abroad for a semester or two. Don’t be afraid to be uprooted.” As we expected with his engaging personality, Kjaergaard entertained and amused his audience with anecdotes of his days at THS in the mid-1970s. But hopefully he also inspired students to take a chance and add some international experience to their high school years.

Top: Kjaergaard addresses the Upper School during a presentation about his time at Tower Hill. Bottom: Kjaergaard, senior year at THS.

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H 2016 O M E C O M I N G

Tower Hill alumni and the entire school community gathered to connect with friends and cheer on the Hillers at Homecoming and Reunion 2016 on Oct. 21-22.

On Friday, the all-school Founders’ Day assembly united all three divisions as Head of School Bessie Speers and Student Body President Matthew Rovner welcomed students, faculty, staff and parents. Students shared facts about Tower Hill history, with a special “appearance” by the school’s first headmaster, Dr. John Davis Skilton. Pep rallies throughout the day filled the school with THS cheers, spirit and friendly competition.

That evening, a large crowd rooted on the volleyball team in the Weaver Gym as the Hillers posted a 3-0 win against Wilmington Christian. The senior players were recognized with their parents, and Athletic Director Jack Holloway was commended for his induction into the National High School Hall of Fame.

On Saturday morning, children participated in a Fun Run on the track, and runners of all ages and abilities ran a 5K down Pennsylvania Avenue and around campus. Students, alumni and their families enjoyed make-and-take crafts in the kindergarten wing, while Speers, faculty members and students led a “Tower Hill Today” presentation in the Math and Science Center Lecture Hall followed by school tours.

Balloon creatures and face painting entertained kids at the noontime lunch in the dining room, where alumni classes also gathered to reconnect in anticipation of the Alumni Reunion reception later that evening. The well-attended Reunion at Hayward House covered classes ending in “1” and “6,” with the classes of 1991 and 1966 celebrating 25th and 50th reunion years respectively.

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The Hillers dominated Saturday’s sporting events with good sportsmanship and a competitive spirit. The varsity field hockey team beat St. Andrew’s 7-1 to earn a 11-1 record overall. Olympians Caitlin Van Sickle ‘08 and Meredith Keller Giacco ‘99 were honored before the game as Tower Hill retired their jersey numbers.

At DeGroat Field, the soccer team battled St. Andrew’s squad—the only team it had lost to all season. The teams were tied 1-1 after 90 minutes as they fought for the division title, and St. Andrew’s scored the winning goal in overtime. The cross country team had a tri-meet with St. Andrew’s and Centreville Layton at Rockford Park, with runners finishing their races on the Markley Track in the stadium. In the final Homecoming match-up, the football team finished victorious against St. Andrew’s 35-0.

All in all, Homecoming 2016 was a memorable and funfilled weekend!

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1. Fun Run 2. Head of School Bessie Speers recognizes Athletic Director Jack Holloway for his induction into the National High School Athletics Hall of Fame.

3. Meredith Keller Giacco ‘99, a member of the Olympic Field Hockey team in 2004 and Caitlin Van Sickle ‘08, an Olympian in 2016 at the Rio Olympics, with their retired jerseys before the Homecoming game on Richardson Field.

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4. The varsity field hockey team before their impressive 7-0 win over St. Andrew’s School on Richardson Field. 5. Senior Andrew Cercena ‘17 charges the ball for a gallant effort resulting in a 1-2 loss over St. Andrew’s School. 6. Maddie Sachs ‘19 and Captain Ashleigh Brady ‘17 celebrate their 3-0 victory over Wilmington Christian School. 7. Kai Glover ‘17 scores a 52-yard run for a 35-0 win over St. Andrew’s School.

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REUNION 2 0 1 6

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SAVE THE DATE Homecoming and Reunion 2017 Oct. 27-28 Visit towerhill.org/homecoming this fall for updated schedules and events.

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ALUMNI Events - New York & D.C. 2

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1. On Nov. 17, 2016, Chris Casscells ‘02 hosted an alumni gathering at the Yale Club in New York City. Pictured are Tom Speers, Paritosh Raval ‘16 and THS faculty member John Robinson. 2. Bessie Speers and Jennifer Bayard Particelli ‘02. 3. Chris Casscells ‘02 and George Mueller ‘01.

4. On Dec. 6, 2016, Lisa Olson ‘76 hosted an alumni gathering at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C. Pictured are Lucy Nutting ‘10 and Maria Rocca ‘11. 5. Lisa Olson ‘76 and Liz Hardy (wife of John Hardy ‘67). 6. Paul Foldi ‘83, Jack Morton ‘85 and Rich Stetson ‘81.

7. Tower Hill Alumni Council members Amanda Walker Friz ‘92, Alisha Wayman Bryson ‘91and Missy Wagner Flynn ‘91 at the Tower Hill vs. DMA Alumni Tailgate on Sept. 23, 2016. 8. Back row: Matt Twyman ‘88, Carmen Twyman, Wooja Holden, Robb Gardner ‘83, Tony Garcia ‘87, Mo Holden ‘84 and Tracey Twyman ‘84; Front row: Chris Holden ‘01 and Trustee Eric Johnson.

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ALUMNI Events - Wilmington 2

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1. On Dec. 23, 2016, Mike Kelly ‘75 along with the Tower Hill Alumni Council hosted the Annual Holiday Gathering at Kelly’s Logan House in Wilmington. Pictured are Jonathan Sun ‘94, Cole Flickinger ‘94, Ashley Altschuler ‘90, Monty Hayman ‘87, Deb Colbourn ‘92 and Amanda Walker Friz ‘92. 2. Greg Berger, Erica Bickhart ‘08 and Maggie Kullman ‘08. 3. Ashley Altschuler ‘90, Kelle Doherty Sanchez ‘89 and Chris Sanchez. 4. Deanna Kelly, John Hogan ‘19, Mike Kelly ‘75, Patrick Kelly ‘14 and Joanna Kelly ‘10.

5. On Nov. 15, 2016, Trustee Henry Mellon and his wife Elizabeth hosted a donor reception at their home. Pictured are Chief Innovation and Information Officer Anthony Pisapia, Peggy Barton and Randy Barton ‘59. 6. Home and School Association President Evelyn Brady with her husband Drew. 7. Bessie Speers, Henry Mellon, Elizabeth Mellon and Board Chair Michelle Shepherd.

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Class NOTES 1941/1942 Classmates Glenn Tisdale ‘41 and Lloyd Thoms ‘42 were reunited at gathering of Camp Blue Wing and Camp Red Wing campers on Lake Champlain in Chazy, New York. Also in attendance were Glenn’s wife, Pat Tisdale, and their son (also Lloyd’s godson), Glenn Evan.

1950 Nancy Ritter Raftery had a wonderful trip on the Snake and Columbia Rivers in Oregon, which was her 50th state—representing 1950 when she graduated from Tower Hill!

1952 Tom Gallallee reports that he is doing well and plans to live to be 100! He has also been married for 50 years.

1957 Richard Ullman has moved from stairs and four floors to a flat after selling his wonderful townhouse in Philadelphia’s Society Hill to move 2.5 blocks to a 24th floor condo, which has wonderful views of the city and the Delaware River.

1959 Leigh Johnstone sent a wonderful photo (1) of his classmates, stating that it is “fun to show how we three, four counting Miss Kitty, have survived (or not so) the effects of age and gravity...”

Carroll Morgan Carpenter was awarded the Josiah A. Marvel Cup by the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce in honor of her contributions as a health care advocate and philanthropist in Delaware.

1964 Kyle St. Claire has recently published a book, Unfolding: Appearances, Disappearance, God and Native Americans, which is available online and in book stores. Kyle says, “This was a nice project that I have wanted to do for years. I am now retired and can do it!”

1970 Dave Cundiff was elected as an AMA Delegate for 2016-2018.

1972 After 40 years of living in many places, Ellen Cannon moved back to Wilmington in May 2016. She is looking forward to being an active THS alumna!

1974 Ellen Jamison Kullman has been named to Northwestern University’s Board of Trustees and the Board of Directors of the Goldman

Sachs Group, Inc. as an independent director of the firm. She was also inducted into the Delaware Business Leaders Hall of Fame.

1992 Rob Lovett lives with his wife and two children in Manchester, Massachusetts. He continues to work in the Middle East and North Africa.

1976/2004 John ‘76 and Janet Jornlin became the proud grandparents to Mary Terese Jornlin, daughter of Ryan ‘04 and Meghan Jornlin.

1993 Laura Permut Sparks was elected as the President of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.

1977 Susan Dickson has completed her first year as a full-time Assistant Professor of Horticulture at Northern Virginia Community College. She now lives in Sterling, Virginia, and enjoys the parks around the Potomac in her free time.

1999 Paul Stemniski, a director at Wright Medical Technology in Memphis, Tennessee, was awarded the company’s Global Innovation Award. Paul presently holds six patents.

2000 Katie McCoy Dubow won the Emergent 1981 Communicator Award from the Garden Charlie Copeland has been named president of the Wilmington-based nonprofit educational Writers Association. organization Intercollegiate Studies Institute.

2001 Mona Yezdani recently joined Brandywine 1983 Eric Brumskill is working for Aloha Air Cargo Urology Consultants in Wilmington, Delaware.

She is excited to be the first female urologist in as a first officer on their 737. He is back in Delaware.

Hawaii and says, “Feel free to drop in if you’re ever out in the Pacific”.

On Nov. 13, 2016 at the Beverly Hills Hilton, Carolyn Schultz received the California On 1984 Location Award for her work as Location Evie Lovett, a painter and a photographer Manager on the HBO show Silicon Valley. working with sculpture, was awarded a National Endowment of the Arts grant for a On September 22, 2016, Russell Lewis and project in Bratteboro, Vermont.

Cecilia Chang welcomed baby Alexandra.

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1. Front row L to R: Leigh Johnstone ‘59, Chris Getman ‘59, Steve Hyde ‘59, Sherman the Yale Mascot and Edward the Scottie; Back row L to R: Kitty Wheelock Johnstone ‘59, Toddie Getman and Sally Hyde. 2. Mary Lou Golding, wife of former THS Headmaster Tim Golding, with her granddaughter, Taylor. Taylor is the daughter of Adam Golding ‘97. 3. Carolyn Schultz ‘01 with her mother and former THS nurse, Madalyn Schultz Petit. 4. Katie McCoy Dubow ‘00 accepts her award from the Garden Writers Association.

*Send Class Notes to thalum@towerhill.org with a high-resolution photo.

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2007 Kory Trott was appointed to the Presidential Management Fellowship with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

2008 Caitlin Van Sickle made her Olympic debut in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as a member of the U.S. Field Hockey Team. After graduating from Tower Hill in 2008, she went on to become a key player on the women’s field hockey team at UNC, where she was named a three-time All-American. During her Olympic debut, Caitlin scored one of only two goals made in a 2-1 winning match against Australia. Way to go, Caitlin!

2010 Alumnae from the class of 2010 gathered at the wedding of former THS Director of Communications Nancy Schuckert.

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1. Alumni from the Class of 2010: Katie Applegate ‘10, Caroline Holliday ‘10, Lexi Saunders ‘10, Lucy Nutting ‘10, Molly Rosen ‘10, Logan Weaver ‘10, Gaby Dressler ‘10, Caitlin Forsthoefel ‘10, Emily Schuckert ‘10 and Remy Denner ‘10. 2. On Homecoming Weekend, the Class of 2006 gathered for their 10th Reunion at Kelly’s Logan House in Wilmington, Delaware.

WEDDINGS

2012 Faith Lyons graduated with distinction from the University of Virginia with double major in Commerce and Global Development Studies.

She began working as a Business Analyst in McKinsey & Company’s Atlanta office this fall.

2013 Lindsay von der Luft earned a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award on July 6, 2016. It is awarded to student athletes with a minimum GPA of 3.7 or higher for the previous academic year, excluding summer school.

Lindsay has been the starting goalkeeper for Northwestern field hockey for two years. She is in Communication Studies.

2002 Jennifer Bayard married Ryan Particelli on May 7, 2016 at Hagley. They currently reside in Greenwich, Connecticut, with their black lab, Chevy.

2006 Raisa Shulkov married Benjamin Dunton on Oct. 8, 2016 in Durham, North Carolina.

2007 Julie Durante married Jeremiah Long on June 18, 2016.

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2008 Stephanie Luke Lazar, granddaughter of Betty Keith Luke ‘50, married Nicholas J. Turner on September 3, 2016 at Winterthur.

2009 Benjamin Craig married Megan Smith, granddaughter of Jack Smith ‘50, on August 6, 2016 in Marble Hill, Georgia.

4 3. Chrissy Palmer, daughter of Administrative Assistant to the Head of School Stacy Palmer, married Adam Holubinka, on August 19, 2016 at Deerfield Country Club. Tim Golding (Headmaster 1986-2005), Mary Lou Golding, Harry Baetjer (Assistant Head of School), Bessie Speers (Head of School) and her husband Tom Speers were all in attendance. 4. Front Row, L to R: Scott Nickle ‘07, Madison Houff ‘07, Julia Durante ‘07, Jeremiah Long, Julia Miller ‘07, Madeleine Durante ‘12. Back Row, L to R: Laurence Durante ‘71,Charles Durante ‘69, Stephen Wein ‘07, Alexander Barteau ‘09, Samuel Wein, Friends ‘06, William Lassen ‘07.

CONDOLENCES 1927 Elizabeth Baily Siner on Oct. 22, 2016

1950 George P. Edmonds, Jr. on June 25, 2016

1962 Alexis duP. Valk on Aug. 31, 2016

1939 Peggy Huber Hopper on Nov. 20, 2016

1952 Nancy Brill Harvey on Nov. 25, 2016

1975 David H. Curry on Nov. 29, 2016

1943 Coleman F. Metzler on June 28, 2016

1957 John (Sandy) Riegel on Nov. 26, 2016

1979 Nancy A. Martin in June 2016

1946 Doris A. Marshall on Nov. 7, 2016

1962 James C. Feldmann Jr. on Aug. 20, 2016

1984 Blair Nowland on Dec. 5, 2016

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Faculty NOTES Lower School learning specialist Samantha Spruance attended the Harvard Graduation School of Education’s The Future of Learning Institute at Project Zero in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in July.

The program explored what educators can do “to create innovative learning environments—inside and outside the physical classroom—that promote deep, relevant and engaging learning.”

History Department Chair Tara Malloy attended a two-day EdTech Teacher Summer Workshop in Chicago on teaching history with technology.

She also attended a Gilder Lehrman summer institute in San Diego called The Global Cold War in August.

First-grade teacher Ellie Bailer and Head of Lower School Susan Miller participated in the Reading and Writing Project Summer Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. During this 5-day conference, they partnered with elementary school educators from across the country and received training in the Reading Workshop Units of Study model of teaching reading in elementary grades.

Upper School biology teacher Jenn Jones took an online course titled Introduction to Blended Learning, designed for teachers interested in learning more about the concept, pedagogy and good practice of successful blended courses. She now has a portion of each of her classes “online” in some way.

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Upper School art teacher Rowena Macleod attended a plein air painting workshop where participants chose various locations to set up their paints along the Cape Ann, Massachusetts, coastline.

In June and July, choir director Zerrin Martin returned for her sixth summer singing in the professional Berwick Chorus of the Oregon Bach Festival. She was honored and thrilled to be invited to sing at the Weimar Bach Cantata Academy in Weimar, Germany.

Assistant Head of Upper School/ Dean of Students Megan Cover spent a week in June at the Gardner Carney Leadership Institute at the Fountain Valley School in Colorado with 50 educators from around the nation.

The Institute focuses on best practices in the pedagogy of student leadership. She spent time exploring current research in not only leadership development, but also in adolescent brain development and how this affects teaching and learning in schools.

Director of Global Initiatives Eduardo Silva went to the EF/PAIS Global Education Symposium in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The conference had about 200 participants from around the country stretching all the way to Hawaii.

English Department Chair Leslie Sysko will publish a poetry book titled Battledore with Finishing Line Press this spring.

WEDDINGS

Upper School Chemistry teacher Elizabeth Bielinski married Mark Brown on Sept. 3, 2016 at The Bernards Inn in Bernardsville, New Jersey.

Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing Grace Frazer married E.J. DeSeta on Nov. 23, 2016 at their home in Charleston, South Carolina.

BIRTHS

Biology teacher Jenn Jones, mother of Anthony ‘27 and Ava ‘29, welcomed a baby boy, Jeffrey Patrick on Dec. 29, 2016.

After School teacher Toria Avigliano welcomed a baby boy, Stanley “Stash” Joseph, on Oct. 23, 2016.

Day Camp, Enrichment and Sports

Visit towerhill.org/summer to register now!

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Tower Hill School 2813 West 17th Street Wilmington, DE 19806

Centennial Celebration Save the Dates

SEPT. 20-22, 2019