Winsor Traditions A-Z

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The Winsor School May 8-9, 2015

In spring 1963, Virginia Wing and Valeria Knapp ‘16 survey construction of Winsor’s very first addition, the Franklin Dexter Wing or “New Wing,” made possible by the school’s first capital campaign. Miss Wing succeeded Miss Knapp as director later that year.

Winsor Traditions a-z

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Winsor School

Board of Trustees 2014-2015 Linda H. Thomas P’02, ’06 President Anne Swinton Ruggles ‘85, P’14 Vice President William R. Elfers, P’14, ’17 Treasurer William P. Collatos P’03, ’05, ’09 Assistant Treasurer as I reminded students on the first day of school this year, Winsor traditions are John M. Westcott, Jr., P’90 touchstones that they can count on throughout their years here.

Clerk Our traditions connect us to the past and remind us of our aspirations for Nancy the future.

B. Gardiner, P’04, ’09 Clerk One, the lamp of learning, led the way on the opening Assistant day of classes, as it has David Belluck P’17, for over a century. It leads Class VIII in as they prepare to graduate and the’19rest Jane Brock-Wilson P’07, ’11 of the school out at the end of the ceremony. The lamp represents the power and Elizabeth Bennett Carroll ’89 promise of learning, how it illuminates our minds—how our minds are expanded Raymond Chung P’18, ’21 by knowledge and opened by the dynamic exchange of ideas in the classroom.

Bart Epker P’13 The bell we rang at the close of that first morning’s assembly belonged to Mary Davis Fulkerson P’17, ’18, ’21 Pickard Winsor, the school’s founder 128 years ago, and it announced beginBrenda Haynesthe P’16 ning of a new year. These two artifacts connect us to Winsor’s Jean mission M. Hynesand P’16,values. ’18, ’21 They remind us that as a community we gather each year with a shared purpose.’87 P’20 Kimberly Heald Krawshuk In this issue, we present an “a-Z” of Winsor’s traditions.Elizabeth Some are relatively Lempres P’17 Anne McNay P’16 new, some ancient. a few, though no longer observed, lasted forC.decades and fill Joseph J. O’Donnell alumnae memories. Besides the cover feature, the biographies of the 10th, 25P’05, and’07 th Krishna Palepu P’21 50 reunion classes continue a long tradition of the Bulletin, showing again the Adrienne Penta Lissner’96 decades-long connections of alumnae.

Allison Kaneb Pellegrino ’89, P’21,’22 These traditions connect us not only to each other but also to the school Jeremy Sclar P’18, ’22 throughout its history. It is worth noting that this year will be like no other in Bruce Shaw Winsor’s history, except maybe one. In 1910, Miss Winsor’s school for girls in the M. Forbes Singer ’72 Back Bay, on Beacon Street, accepted the very generous offer of a group of parents Kimberly Stanfield P’15, ’20 and advocates of girls’ education, agreeing to be the first school this, “a modRachelin Friis Stettler ern school house.”

Pankaj Tandon P’05, ’08, ’10 The world has changed a bit since that last big move andPerry ourM. students Traquina don’t P’09, ’13 much resemble the girls in blue smocks who sat at their own writing desks Jordan Warshaw P’14and Weldon P’16 did precision drills and Swedish rhythmic gymnastics in theKent courtyard.

There are Emily Lubin Woods ’91 I many ways, though, that I bet that they were very much like today’s students:

How Traditions Connect Us

on the cover: Lilia Brooker ’19 and classmates carried on one of Winsor’s oldest traditions with this year’s Class iV shakespeare production.

on this page: An archival photograph captures Winsor friends—and fashions— on campus in the mid-1950s.

cover story: Winsor Traditions A-Z /12–55 In this special issue of the Bulletin, we celebrate the power of Winsor traditions to capture our imagination and connect us to a storied past. The list is by no means comprehensive—that would take volumes. The feature invites you, as a few of our alumnae writers do, to reflect on the deeply personal meaning that traditions can hold for each of us. Enjoy!

Alumnae Update /56 Featuring White House reflections from Karen Gordon Mills ’71 and “Newsmakers” annie Keating ’88 and Dalia Ganz ’01.

am certain that they were dreamers. I bet they loved to readHead andoflearn Schooland let Rachel Friis Stettler their imaginations soar.

Chief Advancement Officer Thankfully, for Winsor students of today, many of their dreams are within Nancy Skinner reach—at least the kinds of dreams and aspirations that a great education can Editor launch.

Joe Broughton This fall, carrying on another tradition, Class VIII chose Assistant to paintEditor the senior Naomi Walkerhad to be a homeroom with “superhero” theme. In 1910, a young woman almost Director Alumnae Relations superhero to be independent, to be able to pursue a life or path of ofher own makBeth Peterson ’80, P’11 ing. Now, as I said in September at our opening assembly, Winsor girls just have Design to commit to /60 taking school seriously and taking what follows oneDesign step at a time, LLC reunion Biographies Sawyer Associates, departments having confidence and respect for themselves.

Photography Classes of 1965, 1990 and Bonnieof Baker ‘88, Kristie Gillooly, This spring, our students will take a huge step into the future Winsor when From the Head of 2005 Ellen Harasimowicz, Joseph Lambert, they begin classes in the extraordinary new spaces of the lubin-O’Donnell Center.

Margaret Lampert, Sara Macaulay, school /4 Meyer traditions.

They’ll bring with them their dreams and aspirations—and Jörg Winsor’s — Rachel Friis Stettler

From pilgrim road /5 Class notes /73

4 Winsor BULLeTin

First person /80

The Winsor School does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, creed, national origin, or sexual orientation in the administration of its educational policies, scholars programs, athletic and other school-administered programs.

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Winsor Traditions A Z

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Where to begin? All girls, our first and oldest tradition, dates to 1886, when Mary Pickard Winsor began teaching eight 10-year-old girls in a home in Boston’s Back Bay. She founded and grew the school with a clear conviction: girls deserved an education on par with boys. Even in its earliest days, “Miss Winsor’s was no finishing school, it was a beginning,” wrote Alice Brown DeNormandie. Alice graduated with the Class of ’96—1896, that is. In 2008, Head of School Rachel Friis Stettler reminded us of those words, articulating a vision reaffirming single-sex education as a defining assumption of Winsor. “What still matters is the education of girls,” she wrote.

Facing a future of change, “what matters is what kind of women our students will become and that their futures are open to boundless possibility.”

Even in its earliest days, “Miss Winsor’s was no finishing school, it was a beginning.”

— Alice Brown DeNormandie, Class of 1896

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Assembly Assemblies are both one of Winsor’s oldest traditions and home to many traditions. In 1910, the archival “Record Books” began to document a familiar range of assemblies, in the then “new” assembly hall. But sources place the beginnings of the tradition even earlier. From era to era, the day of the week has fluctuated, but the proceedings have remained remarkably constant: seasonal concerts, class plays, student readings, alumnae speakers, guest presentations and more. Each Winsor year opens with a tradition-filled assembly and ends with graduation, which is “at its heart an assembly,” as Dianne Haley writes in her history of Winsor, Generous-Minded Women.

Alumnae Weekend

Elizabeth Saltonstall, Class of 1918, right, reminisces with a friend at Alumnae Day 1982, at which she received the Julia Lyman Simonds Award.

Each May as many as 250 alumnae return for Alumnae Weekend. The

“Traditions connect us not

tradition of the weekend and class reunions traces its beginnings to the

only to each other but to the

early 1920s. As early as 1907, a desire for connection to each other and the

school throughout its history.”

school spurred passionate alumnae to establish the Graduate Club of Miss Winsor’s School, now the Alumnae Association. The year of Miss Winsor’s retirement, 1922, marked the first of what became annual luncheons for

—Head of School Rachel Friis Stettler, 2014 Opening Assembly remarks

alumnae. The events have grown in scope through the years—and shifted to the evening in 1987 at the suggestion of that year’s 50th reunion class.

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Banners Since 1931, the hand-sewn banners made by successive classes of Winsor sophomores have remained among of the most vivid memories for alumnae. After creatively honoring the year’s seniors, the makers get to enjoy the tradition from the other side two years later. The ceremonial unveiling has changed through the years. But the unique tradition endures. Reunion classes still relish spying their own banners on display at Alumnae Weekend.

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Photographs here are from a new digital image archive of all the banners, created in 2014.

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Bell

In a touching new tradition, the Lower School Council co-presidents ring Miss Winsor’s bell to open the school year. The cover of the Fall 2009 Winsor Bulletin featured Janice Fidalgo ’14 and Rachel Scholz-Bright ’14, who enjoyed the privilege at that September’s opening assembly. To new students, of course, every ritual can seem to have ancient roots. In fact, an early pair of bell-ringers described their role as one of the oldest traditions. While the bell belonged to Miss Winsor, the tradition dates to 2005.

“I see the new venture as the best way yet to keep in touch with one another.”

—Director Katharine Lord, 1934

Bulletin The Bulletin was launched by the Graduate Club, “experimentally and somewhat tentatively,” in March 1934. In the inaugural issue, the editors wrote “we are sanguinely hoping that, whether you are professionally, parentally, or merely abstractly interested in education, or whether you are simply curious about the experiences of former schoolmates, you will find something in it to read and to interest you.”

Miss Lord added: “I see the new venture as the best way yet to keep in touch with one another.” Today, in the world with countless digital options to “keep in touch,” alumnae still receive the magazine twice a year.

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View of Boston from top floor of Winsor’s new Lubin-O’Donnell Center, 2014.

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Miss Winsor relocated her school six times around the Back Bay ... But Boston has always been home to the school.

City Campus

Winsor has always made a conscious choice to be in the city. By the turn of 19th century, “Miss Winsor’s was already regarded as the leading institution of its kind in Boston,” wrote promi-

Spring days under the courtyard’s cherry trees

nent author Frances Parkinson Keyes, Class of

have an air of timelessness. Yet old campus pho-

1903. Before settling on Pilgrim Road in 1910,

tographs can puzzle students. Was there really

Miss Winsor relocated her school six times

a tennis court in the courtyard? And a busy city

around the Back Bay as her student body steadily

street running through it? The bounds we know

outgrew facilities. But Boston has always been

today date to the 1920s, when the Corporators

home to the school. Today, Winsor relies on an

fulfilled their pledge to provide a playground

active connection to Boston’s vibrant cultural and

for their “perfect schoolhouse.” Buying the four

intellectual life. Our enviable location attracts

acres of the neighboring Longwood Cricket Club

highly capable students from a wide circle.

allowed the addition of a gym and playing fields.

The 1983 closing of Pilgrim Road unified the campus, enhancing the sense of an oasis in the

1925

midst of our bustling Boston neighborhood.

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Class I Play “And It Is, It Is a Glorious Thing”

By Juliet Siler Eastland ’86

I entered Class I in 1978, a shy, bespectacled bookworm. I loved to write, but was loath to read aloud. I was a decent pianist, but never played for others. It’s astonishing that I mustered the courage to audition for “Pirates of Penzance.” Credit the power of Art: I’d attended several performances by Harvard’s Gilbert & Sullivan Society, and the hilarity and high jinx—not to mention the superbly bouncy music—had impressed me. So when auditions began, I held my breath and jumped… … aboard! Even now, I can’t believe I won the role of Pirate King.

What an entertaining swashbuckler he was—ferocious yet emotive, loyal to his comrades, in his own piratical way a man of principle. “Always act in accordance with the dictates of your conscience,” he boomed. He vowed vengeance for traitors, yet sobbed at the thought of harming an orphan (thus Frederic’s complaint, “Every one we capture says he’s an orphan. The last three ships we took proved to be manned entirely by orphans, and so we had to let them go”). Confronted by the British Police, he crumpled (we “yield at once, with humbled mien,/ Because, with all our faults, we love our Queen”), but this being G&S, a preposterous last-minute twist ensured a happy ending, with lives spared, couples paired, and freedom preserved.

Over the next months, the King became me, and I him. I hummed his songs on the bus, and declaimed his lines in the bath. I swaggered and strutted through the house, wielding a fearsome tin-foil sword and black-yarn-improvisation of a beard (sadly abandoned after it fell off during numerous rehearsals and finally unraveled altogether).

“Pirates” was my first onstage experience, and I loved it. The camaraderie was intoxicating; suddenly, I was part of a team. I adored the silliness—wayward noblemen! weeping policemen!—but also the seriousness of purpose, the shared assumption that where one stood onstage, or how one gestured, warranted consideration. The exact spotlight, the moment of entrance, the delivery of a word: it all mattered. Rehearsals might feel repetitive, but never pointless. When the curtain finally rose, it was as if I had molted, shedding the remnants of myself to emerge, fully-formed at last, where I belonged: on the Cornwall coast, a glass of grog in hand.

I still remember my costume: black mary-janes adorned with tin-foil buckles; a pair of dark knickers (my own; unbelievably, these were au courant for a moment in the ’70s); wide belt, ruffled shirt, long coat, and tricorne from Winsor’s costume department. Best of all was the flag, a jerry-rigged contraption involving a wooden dowel and old pillowcase.

My mother and I spent several evenings outlining skull-and-bones on each side of the cloth, then coloring the background with black Sharpie markers.

The flag, extant, has passed to the next pirate generation. Currently, it marks my daughters’ lair underneath the stairs, but who knows where next? It’s dusty and faded, but, on my pirate’s honor, it’s ready to fly again.

Juliet (Siler) Eastland ’86 is a writer in Brookline, Mass. Juliet and her daughters are pictured above with her pirate flag!

“We aim to educate girls during critical phases of development.”

—A Vision for Winsor, Fall 2008 Bulletin

Class I performs Gilbert and Sullivan’s “H.M.S. Pinafore” in 1984.

Classes I-VIII y While each class year harbors traditions, Winsor’s structure of Classes I through VIII has a long history of its own. Miss Winsor began her venture with 5th graders, in effect the original Class I. Roman numerals surfaced early on and became part of Winsor’s nomenclature. Into the early 20th century, a year “IX” designated one-year students, but an eight-year plan of study formed the curricular core.

Since the school’s earliest days, a shifting array of grade-level plays, retreats and activities—some now decades old—have forged bonds among classmates. The ongoing focus on grades 5 to 12 remains a key assumption of the school’s vision. Now as at the beginning, “we aim to educate girls during critical phases of development of the intellect, character and physical self.”

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In the early 1900s, Anna Hamlin, pictured with mother Huybertje, inspired her parents’ advocacy for girls’ education.

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Corporation The Corporation’s earliest minutes begin: “The first meeting of the incorporators of the Winsor School for the purposes of organization was held at No. 2 Raleigh Street, Boston, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, December 18, A.D. 1907, at 3:00 P.M.” The seeds of the Corporation date to 1905, when Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hamlin opened their home near Kenmore Square for a dinner meeting with like-minded parents. Within two years, many more proponents of girls’ education gathered around the Hamlins and began to explore the possibility of building a “perfect schoolhouse.” They convinced Mary Pickard Winsor to move her well-respected girls’ school to a new campus and lead it forward. Today, the Corporation comprises nearly 200 of Winsor’s most loyal friends and knowledgeable ambassadors.

The Class of 1937’s graduation picture includes four past, present and future directors. Mary Winsor sits in the center, wearing a hat; to her left and right, are Frances Dugan and Katharine Lord, and Valeria Knapp ’16 stands directly behind her.

Directors

Only seven women have led the school during its long history, a sign and source of Winsor’s leadership stability.

Winsor’s Directors: Mary Pickard Winsor, 1886-1922 Katharine Lord, 1922-1939 Frances Dorwin Dugan, 1939-1951 Valeria Knapp, Class of 1916, 1951-1963 President Charles Eliot of Harvard, a Winsor grandfather and early Corporator, suggested the motto for the school seal, “Sound mind in sound body.”

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Virginia Wing, 1963-1988 Carolyn McClintock Peter, 1988-2004 Rachel Friis Stettler, 2004-present

Virginia Wing

Carolyn McClintock Peter Rachel Friis Stettler

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“That fine body, the Teaching Faculty. ‘L’Ecole, c’est elles.’” At the school’s 50th anniversary, Miss Winsor reminded those gathered in celebration of the singular place of teachers in Winsor’s history.

“We may well say, ‘Hurrah for the Faculty!’ But as the teacher’s success is measured only through her students, it is our graduates who prove that all this highly specialized and consecrated labor has not been in vain.” The contributions of Winsor’s unforgettable teachers remain beyond measure.

Faculty “That fine body, the Teaching Faculty. ‘L’Ecole, c’est elles.’”

— Miss Winsor

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Top photo: Tracy Powers

Bottom, left to right: Jennie Slingerland Skeele ’71, Connie Houghton, Cynthia LaMothe, Frank Rogers

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Fifes and Drums

With the “innovation” of the Fifes and Drums as two inter-school squads, “the entire spirit of the school life has changed,” reported the Lamp in the mid-1930s. Originally conceived as the “Reds” and “Whites,” the spirited idea had “every one, regardless of classes, united in common enthusiasm for her team.” Girls kept their team identity throughout their Winsor years.

Younger sisters affiliated with their older sister’s team, and, as years went on, daughters followed in their mother’s footsteps. When a Fife or a Drum was on a victorious sports team, she earned a point for her division. The tradition sparked greater interest in Winsor athletics, which gradually became a focal point of its own as times changed.

An archival photo depicts the traditional field day that culminated each year’s Fifes and Drums competition.

Founder’s Day

A 1922 photo, Miss Winsor’s retirement year, shows her getting in on the fun of a costumed performance by Classes VII and VIII, a prelude to her later birthday visits.

The 1951 Bulletin tribute to Mary Pickard Winsor noted how “In the years after her retirement in a rare degree she was still a beloved part of the life of the School.”

After retiring in 1922, she began the tradition of “Founder’s Day,” returning to celebrate her birthday with the school every Halloween. Allie Flather Blodgett ’52 still smiles to have thought her classmates broke out in “Happy Birthday” to serenade her on her first Halloween at Winsor, only to discover whose birthday she shared. While Miss Winsor continued the Founder’s Day tradition for almost three decades, she visited often, “following the careers of her academic grandchildren and enjoying the widening interests and activities of the School.”

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The school’s history captures one of the true gifts—and oldest traditions—of Winsor: “durable friendships lasting lifetimes.” Friendship—like learning—is everywhere at Winsor. In a 1984 Bulletin, Helen Morton, Class of 1916, wrote of “my wish for every student” to have the kind of lifelong friendship she enjoyed with classmate Valeria Knapp ’16, later director. Then as now, girls build enduring friendships thanks, in Helen’s words, to the “rare and wonderful privilege of school days at Winsor.” Thumb through the pages of reunion biographies in that same issue—a Bulletin tradition— and references to “cherished friends” abound. Eleanor Ruggles O’Leary ’34 writes of 50 Septembers, and her annual “nostalgic flash” of reuniting for a new school year with friends “on the sun-warmed terrace at Winsor!” At their coming 50th reunion, she trusted, “our faces will look the same to us as ever—well almost. Our spirits, we know, haven’t changed.”

1992

“I couldn’t ask for any better friends, any better teachers. I feel like I belong, and it’s just the nicest thing.”

—Samantha Goldenson ’19, on “Building Community,” Spring 2013 Bulletin

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2007

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“Generous-Minded”

“I have sometimes puzzled over the phrase ‘generous-minded.’ What did Mary

“I believe that Miss Winsor...

meant for her students to help create a spirit of tolerance in the face of small-mindedness,

valuing the well-being of the

Winsor mean?... Miss Winsor undoubtedly assumed that her students would naturally accept the basic responsibility to share the world’s resources. I think instead that generous-minded refers to a greater quality of spirit, a sensitivity to and compassion for others, an open-mindedness to differences of view, background and culture. I believe that Miss Winsor meant to inspired her students to make a commitment to communities beyond the familiar ones of

largest community over indi-

home, neighborhood and school. She meant for her students to help create a

vidual interests.”

spirit of tolerance in the face of small-mindedness, valuing the well-being of

— Carolyn McClintock Peter

the largest community over individual interests.”

–Carolyn McClintock Peter, “A Message from the Director,” introducing a volunteerism issue of the Bulletin, Spring 1995

The Mather School tutoring program, captured in this 2008 photo, exemplifies Winsor’s tradition of service.

Giving “It is hoped and believed that the response to this request will be prompt and

generous,” wrote the original Corporators in a small fund-raising “circular” sent in June 1908. Today, that tradition of generous response to Winsor appeals still sustains the school’s excellence. Some named funds date back to those early days. The 1923 Playground Endowment Fund had more than 825 contributors—including students, who raised money via drama productions and bake sales. Annual Giving as we know it dates to 1952, when the Corporation’s president first wrote to solicit “contributions to an annual sustaining fund.” Winsor’s

75th anniversary in 1961 saw the first capital campaign—and inspired robust annual support. By 1965, Sallie Adams Lawrence ’35 had taken on the role of Winsor Fund director, and in 1979, Cory Hurley McPeek ’58 inaugurated the Mary Pickard Winsor Associates, hand-writing notes to invite gifts. That personal touch lives on in the many loyal volunteers who continue to make the case for support.

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Graduation

Strange as it may seem today, for many years what we call graduation or commencement was called “Last Day.� The ceremony remains perhaps the most tradition-filled of Winsor moments. Diplomas were awarded for the first time in 1908. The modern tradition of holding graduation outside under a tent had its start in 1993 when the gymnasium was being renovated and was unavailable. Before the gym was built in 1924, graduation took place in the Assembly Hall.

The all-school procession, white dresses, welcomes, songs, and other facets hold a familiar feel. Fittingly, as always, the seniors are at the center of it all. Behind the scenes, each senior class continues to have a voice in choosing speakers, readers and readings, making it their own.

Class of 2003

Class of 1905, the first of what became traditional pictures of graduating classes (though, in this case, not taken at graduation, hence no white dresses) 3 6 W i n s o r B ull e t i n

Class of 2014

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“This Winsor hymn seems to sweep me up when I need to return to myself..”

— Victoria Tilney McDonough ’83

Jerusalem Hemenways

“And did those feet…”

By Victoria Tilney McDonough ’83

It first happened on Valentine’s Day of my sophomore year in college. It was the day my mother died. I was walking along the snowy sidewalk toward the Dean’s office to tell them I had to go home. The school knew my mother was dying, but even if you want to fight it off with a stick, death must be made official. As I climbed up the stairs to the Admissions building, I heard it. Loudly. Clearly. Voices I knew, including my own — surprisingly my own — the loudest. And did those feet in ancient times … Walk upon England’s mountains green … By the time I reached the third floor, the fourth and final stanza of Jerusalem was reaching its crescendo … I will not cease from mental fight…

Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand …. Then silence. I stood there, taller, steadier, somehow okay — at least for a moment — on my new landscape of motherlessness.

The Jerusalem soundtrack inside my head has happened many times since, in moments of both unfathomable joy and loss. This Winsor hymn seems to sweep me up when I need to return to myself, that truest me who, counterintuively, is most present when I fully and totally forget myself. There was the morning of my wedding when I watched ducks swimming along in a little family line on the Potomac River. The hymn played excitedly, confidently: “I’m here.” And the days my two sons were born. The words thrummed against my eardrums: “Look what you made; The annual Hemenway speaking competition traces

glorious perfection.” And most recently, when my father died … Till we have built Jerusalem … In England’s green and

its roots to 1913 and reflects a longheld value of speak-

pleasant land. England, his favorite place.

ing one’s mind. Established by an original Corporator,

Winsor gave me many gifts and traditions, countless, really. And as I near 50 and hear those notes, those words,

Harriett Hemenway, the prize competition challenges

not just on days of births and deaths when planets shift and stars alight, but during small moments, too, yes, so

all seniors to develop and deliver a speech of substance.

many small moments; I am thankful all over again for my school, my life, and for being me. There is courage in

Every Winsor spring, seniors still gather to present their

that. And grace. I’m not sure why, but I think anyone who has sung Jerusalem, especially in a high-ceilinged, light-

speeches to classmates. A select panel of judges considers

saturated room filled with other young voices will know what I mean. Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold! Bring me

the quality of content, preparation, clarity, vocal delivery

my chariot of fire.

and more. The finalists vie for the Hemenway Prize by presenting on stage at an all-school assembly. The winner

Victoria Tilney McDonough ’83 lives in Alexandria, Va., and is the director of communications at The Lab School of

must wait until graduation to receive her prize.

Washington, D.C.

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“The Lamp of Learning” Great lamp, whose light alone can show,

Lamp

Among the devious paths of life, Which way our stumbling feet must go

To reach the peace beyond the strife, We bring to thee from out the dark The still unlighted torch of youth,

The handmade lamp used in Winsor ceremonies today was a gift of the

Seeking thy animating spark:

Class of 1910, the last class to graduate from Miss Winsor’s on Beacon

The first and final fire of truth.

Street. It symbolized the “light of knowledge” shining in Miss Winsor’s Back Bay school and then moving to Pilgrim Road. More than anything else,

With hope and infinite desire

it connects the incorporated school to its simple origins. At the 1910 dedica-

We reach our cherished lamps toward thee

tion of the new schoolhouse, the lamp rested on a pedestal, a tradition of its

And watch the moment when thy fire

own. “This Lamp is our emblem,” Susan Hallowell Brooks, Class of 1901,

Shall wake the flame that sets us free.

said that day. “We loved our school but we often did not realize until after

Oh Lamp of Learning, may the light

we graduated what it was toward which we aimed and what it was for which the School stood. These vague feelings have now shaped themselves about the Lamp—the Lamp of Learning whose product is the Light of Truth.” She ended with a wish that “we may pass on the Light undimmed to coming

Which thou dost give us ever grow, And resolutely win from night A dawn, a day, an afterglow.

generations.” After her impassioned remarks, a chorus of seven alum-

By Gretchen Howes Waldo, Class of 1902

nae sang, probably for the first time, the “Lamp of Learning,” penned by

Sung to the tune of “Peniel.”

Gretchen Howes Waldo, Class of 1902.

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The Lamp In December 1915 the Winsor Lamp made its debut, a magazine to be “issued quarterly by the girls of the Winsor School, Longwood, Mass.” and “run” by them. Cost of a year’s subscription: $1. Early editions included not only stories and poetry but also editorials, essays, school news and alumnae class notes, until those migrated

“We were delighted to

to the Bulletin. This new venture was much more ambitious than

find (not that

its predecessor, the hand-assembled, tied-with-a-red-ribbon Scrap-

we were surprised, of course)

Book, produced at the end of each year. In 2005, then seniors

Winsor Girls of yesteryear were

Emma Firestone and Abby Rubenstein led the staff in an intensive

an astute and engaged bunch.”

review of 85 years of past Lamps and publication of a retrospective.

They were delighted to find “(not that we were surprised, of course) that Winsor Girls of yesteryear were an astute and engaged bunch.”

— Emma Firestone, ’05 Abby Rubenstein, ’05

The Panel The first “coordinated” edition of the Panel appeared in September of 1973.

The Lamp was for many years the closest thing to a school newspaper the girls had. When Winsor journalists joined forces with peers from Belmont Hill, they inherited the name of the then two-decade-old publication but quickly filled its pages with the their own news and opinions. Today, as the masthead proclaims, “the Panel is the voice of the student body.” The “offi-

The Panel’s 2011 editorial leadership

cial school newspaper” continues to be eagerly awaited on both campuses.

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Rings The 1926 Lamp editorialized in favor of school rings as “an eternal, lasting bond between ourselves and all other classes of Winsor.”

While the All-School Awards Celebration dates only to 2002, Winsor prizes have far deeper roots.

Today, nearly 40 prizes honor achievement in academics, arts and athletics. A few, such as the Hemenway Prize, have become traditions in their own right. Their names honor beloved teachers, supportive families and memorable classes and alumnae. Many have stories to tell. When Nora Saltonstall, Class of 1911, died after her return from wartime work in France, her family and friends remembered her by creating an endowed scholarship in her name that still sends a Winsor graduate to Paris for an academic year at the Sorbonne. At graduation, the Virginia Wing Outstanding Teacher Award carries on a tradition of faculty honors, while Alumnae Weekend features prizes of its own, including the Julia Lyman Simonds Prize. Equally prized at Winsor—in a school without class rank—are the rewards of learning. At the first awards celebration, the late Diane Bezan asked girls to “remember how much each and every one you achieved this year.”

Prizes Every spring seniors find new ways to surprise juniors with their Winsor rings. The annual rite of passage remains one of many that bind together classes. From their introduction in the 1920s, a simple engraving of the “lamp of learning” has adorned them. Interestingly, that most cherished of Winsor symbols won out over a committee’s initial proposal of a W in the ring’s center. Amid heated homeroom debates about the new tradition, the 1926 Lamp editorialized in favor of school rings as “an eternal, lasting bond between ourselves and all other classes of Winsor, those that have gone before and those that will come after.” Graduates turn their lamps outward at commencement. Like the lamp itself, rings connect girls to the past and light the way to the future.

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School City A Winsor mayor? Ten-cent taxes? Locker inspections by health officers?

Arrests for loitering? Yes, they were all part of the “School City,” active from 1918 till 1956. After some fledging attempts at student government, the student body “almost unanimously” welcomed the idea of a SchoolCity government in fall 1917. Ratified in May 1918, its charter led to the first elections, with nominations, rallies, and voting day. The City Council had representatives from each ward (i.e., Classes). While elections decided the holders of most Executive, Legislative and Judicial positions, the Chief Justice was appointed by the “State,” as embodied by the school’s director.

The fire chief’s helmet is still available for the faculty member who oversees fire drills.

Senior Homeroom How do you want to be remembered? Rising seniors ask themselves that question every spring on the Class VII retreat. Besides the talk of being role models and leaders, there’s a special tradition on the agenda. How will we paint our senior homeroom? For Winsor seniors, the room itself is a retreat of sorts. Each August its walls become a blank slate for the girls’ creativity. Everyone grabs a brush and pitches in.

Pop art, Monet and Oz are just a few recent themes. “There’s so much of our spirit embodied in the room,” says one senior.

—from “A Room of Our Own,” 2007 Winsor School Viewbook.

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Shakespeare Play “Girls gain self-confidence and pride as well as respect for each other’s individual talents.”

—Anne Nowell Kramer ’48, on the “The Arts at Winsor,” Spring 1980 Bulletin

The tradition of an annual Class IV Shakespeare production dates to 1931. Twelfth Night, the first play produced, holds the record for the most productions, followed closely by A Midsummer’s Night Dream and As You Like It (12 each). Macbeth was performed in 1934 and Hamlet in 1941; A Winter’s Tale and Two Gentlemen of Verona were also given only once. Presented in May for many years, the play shifted to February in 1950 and about 25 years ago into its now familiar spot in early December. (See page 8 for more on this year’s production, the last in the old theater.)

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Wildcats “

It was a ‘monumental day,’ the Panel declared. After years without a team mascot or moniker, Winsor entered a new era in spring 2002. Puzzled competitors would often ask, what are you? The Lamps? The Red? Actually, our athletes had never been anything but, well, Winsor athletes. No longer.

After the administration gave the go-ahead to then athletic director Karen Geromini, student leaders worked with coach and faculty member Laura Gregory to champion the search for a mascot. Students filled a suggestion sheet in the gym with many creative ideas: Wildebeests, Wombats, Double Ewes, Walruses, and Salamanders, to name a few. In the end, four made the first cut: Wizards, Wildcats, Red Wings, and Red Hawks. When the votes were tallied, it was no contest: Wildcats ran away with the election. Now, when girls cheer ‘Give me a W,’ it’s no longer just for Winsor. It’s for the Wildcats.”

—Fall 2002 Winsor Bulletin

Under the Lights A high-energy week of “Wildcat” spirit reaches a crescendo on Friday with Under the Lights, the school’s annual celebration of sports and community. Since its 1994 debut, UTL has quickly—if two decades can be considered “quickly”—become a favorite tradition of students and teachers alike.

Athletics “have an uncanny ability to unite entire school communities,” notes director of athletics Karen Geromini. Year after year, tradition showcases how “sports bring people together,” she says.

UTL pep rallies turn the gym or courtyard into a massive sea of red.

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The Winsor School Surprising as it may seem, it took years to decide on the name of the school. Mary Pickard Winsor deals with the issue in many letters. In 1907 she asked, “As far as the name of the school, why would not ‘The Berner St.’ do? ‘The Winsor’ seems to me quite ridiculous as long as I am still in evidence on this round earth, and neither the ‘Fenway’ nor the ‘Longwood’ seems to be sufficiently accurate.” In a later letter she was suggesting “Suffolk

“Winsor…is a place where writing is celebrated.”

—Weslie Turner ’06

and Bay State are non-committal. Hubham or Owl’s Head would be amusing. And Longwood would be highly sensible.” As the well-documented story goes, when the Corporators chose to name it the St. Botolph School, her alumnae and students rose up in protest, drew up a petition and succeeded in making certain the school would bear Miss Winsor’s name.

Writing Encouraging Girls’ Voices

By Weslie Turner ’06

Winsor is not simply a place where writing is taught—it is a place where writing is celebrated. The main academic rite of passage during my time on Pilgrim Road was the Expos Paper, the research paper each student wrote in Class VII on a topic of her choice. Expos was just one part of the Winsor writing tradition, however. I remember the first time I earned an A on an English paper: the thrill of seeing my essay passed around the classroom as an anonymous example paled next to my genuine love of my topic and the pride I felt at finding the right words to make my argument. I remember volunteering to write my first op-ed for The Panel and the heady rush of seeing my thoughts in print, circulating on two campuses. I remember English, history, and even biology teachers helping me master timed writing, my personal kryptonite, with strategies I would use on every standardized test and exam for the rest of my academic career. I remember falling in love with my classmates’ writing experience as I read submissions to Lamp—and my enjoyment of that experience led to a year of InDesign, layouts, and late nights on deadline as simultaneous editor of both Yearbook and Lamp. (In other words, I have Winsor to thank for my career in publishing.) I remember choosing to write a novella for my senior project, fulfilling a goal I had decided on in Class III. Most of all, I remember circulating an extracurricular Harry Potter fanfiction chapter by chapter to my interested classmates—and teachers. To me, the tradition of writing at Winsor has always encompassed not just the writer but also the community that encourages her voice, celebrates her writing and values what she writes. I wrote then, and I write now, in that tradition.

—Writer Weslie Turner ’06 graduated from Harvard in 2010 with a B.A. in history and literature. She currently works as an editorial assistant to the Arthur A. Levine imprint of Scholastic, Inc. in New York.

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Yearbook

“The Heart of the Enterprise” As a valedictory, we give the last word to Valeria Knapp ’16, writing during her years as director on the “fine tradition” of Winsor itself. The Spring 1959 Winsor Graduate Bulletin—edited by legendary English teacher Ellen Endicott Forbes ’27—shared a director’s report on the work of faculty, titled “The Heart of the Enterprise.” While written more than a half century ago, Valeria’s words sound remarkably familiar: “We are having a profitable and stimulating year as we strive to construct a curriculum best suited to challenge and develop fully the abilities of students entrusted to us in the rapidly changing world….”

“We are asking ourselves, ‘Is the development of the course material sound and ade-

“We all…know her, love

quate for students who will make their contribution to this country and to the closely

her, and what is far more

interrelated world in which they will be living…? Are we giving them methods of attack

important, respect her. This

on work that will stretch their minds and strengthen their intellectual drive?’

year’s garduate rejoices in

“Because we have a fine tradition to maintain, we must make sure that we keep our-

her traditions and will not

selves alert to the needs of a changing time, that we today are as keenly aware of the

rest in them.”

—Director Katharine Lord , on the Class of 1936

Scan through the archive of yearbooks, and you see that few traditions give as vivid a picture of Winsor girls and their experience across

needs of the future as Miss Winsor was when she met the challenge of education for girls in 1910.”

eras. As early as 1921, Winsor seniors began to publish a “Class Book.”

The first yearbooks often reveal a trove of the graduates’ memories from each of their years at Winsor. On each graduate’s page were a hand-pasted-in picture and a list of her extracurricular activities.

The publication has evolved with the times, with each new editorial team building on the past with its own fresh ideas. In 2014, the traditionally black-and-white, senior-focused yearbook was printed in full color and editors took a “revolutionary” step of making the book more accessible to the entire school.

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THE WINSOR SCHOOL 103 Pilgrim Road Boston, Massachusetts 02215

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also inside: f r o m p i l g r i m r o a d

•

newsmakers

•

reunion biographies

•

campaign update

If you have received this for your alumna daughter who is living elsewhere, please let us know by contacting Alumnae Relations at (617) 912-1321 or alumnae@winsor.edu.

B U L L E T I N

alumnae

weekend

The Winsor School May 8-9, 2015

In spring 1963, Virginia Wing and Valeria Knapp ‘16 survey construction of Winsor’s very first addition, the Franklin Dexter Wing or “New Wing,” made possible by the school’s first capital campaign. Miss Wing succeeded Miss Knapp as director later that year.

Winsor Traditions a-z

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