Class Notes John Jackson ’61, Connie Roberts Amend ’61, Nancy Spargo Goodridge ‘56, Bill Amend ’59, and Don Goodridge.
CLASS OF 1957 Tom Baker hosted several members of the Class of ’57 for lunch on the Saturday of Homecoming Weekend. He shared: “It was good to see, and catch up with, Jacquie (Bostick) Coyle, Alice (McGovern) Doering, Ann (Harper) Heaton, Nancy James, Pete Shields, his wife Chris, and Caroline (Schwartz) Sutton. As Caroline later said, we missed all of you who could not make it and remembered those we have lost.” CLASS OF 1961 Connie Roberts Amend shared that she and her husband Bill Amend ’59 enjoyed seeing John Jackson and Don and Nancy Spargo Goodridge ’56 after the Christmas concert at Westminster Presbyerian Church in West Chester, PA on December 12. CLASS OF 1982 Stephanie Hoopes shared some of her latest work as National Director of United For ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), a project of the United Way. ALICE released a new national report, “The Pandemic Divide: An ALICE Analysis of National COVID Surveys,” which reveals the vastly different pandemic experiences of those below and above the ALICE threshold, available at https://www.unitedforalice. org/covid2019. They also released an ALICE Wage Tool with interactive maps comparing wages, household types, and costs of living across the U.S. At the end of November, they issued an ALICE Report for Delaware, which includes data by race/ethnicity, age, and household type, and is available at https://www.unitedforalice.org/ Delaware. Dr. Hoopes also recently had the opportunity to testify before the U.S. House Rules Committee on food insecurity.
Design Thinking Forum at Homecoming CLASS OF 1974 Pev Hukill had a vision to add a program to Homecoming: a new opportunity for meaningful conversation. The alumni/development team then worked with Pev to produce the first discussion group known as The Forums during Homecoming ‘21. Julie Rodowsky and Chris Loeffler '00 from the lower school facilitated a presentation of how Design Thinking is applied at WFS and led an exercise for the parents, alumni, and a student to practice designing for themselves. The class discussed how best to distribute information before and during Homecoming and learned that empathy is at the heart of meaningful problem-solving. Participants suggested ways to create a Homecoming experience that appeals to multiple generations. For example, the School could consider using digital applications such as Google Maps Street View to make it easier for the community to find parking spaces. Design Thinking has been practiced widely at WFS. The lower school redesigned Back to School Night to share key information and develop a stronger teacher-family connection. The middle school has created annual sixth- and seventh-grade Design Thinking projects titled, "That's not fair!" and "The Waste Not Project."
CLASS OF 1989 Erin Brownlee Dell was named chief of staff and secretary of Swarthmore 35
