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Alumni magazine of St. George's School
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ST. GEORGE’SST. GEORGE’SWinter Bulletin2008
St. George’s SchoolP.O. Box 1910Newport, RI 02840-0190
PresortedBound Printed Matter
U.S. Postage PAID
Burlington, VTPermit No. 21
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In this issue:Chapel talks:
The real magic of Christmas BY ALEXANDRIA REGAN ’08
Forgiveness BY MORGAN BEESON ’08
Thankfulness BY JEREMY GOLDSTEIN
Transported BY LUCIA JACCACI
People of the world BY LEON KANDELAARS
Signature altar window in chapel to be replaced
Students, teachers prepare for trip to Uganda
Q & A with the Director of Operations
New summer Geronimo program offered
Strategic Plan Update
Reunion Weekend 2008
Student achievements
News from the classrooms
Athletics, Arts and Community Service
Class Notes
St. George’s School admits male and
female students of any religion, race, color,
sexual orientation, and national or ethnic
origin to all the programs and activities gener-
ally accorded or made available to students at
the school. It does not discriminate on the
basis of religion, gender, race, color, sexual
orientation, or national or ethnic origin in the
administration of its educational policies,
scholarship and loan programs, or athletic and
other school-administered programs. In addi-
tion, the school welcomes visits from disabled
applicants.
St. George’s Policy onNon-Discrimination
In 1896, the Rev. John Byron Diman,
founder of St. George’s School, wrote in his
“Purposes of the School” that “the specific
objectives of St. George’s are to give its stu-
dents the opportunity of developing to the
fullest extent possible the particular gifts that
are theirs and to encourage in them the desire
to do so. Their immediate job after leaving
school is to handle successfully the demands of
college; later it is hoped that their lives will be
ones of constructive service to the world and
to God.”
As we begin the 21st century, we continue
to teach young women and men the value of
learning and achievement, service to others,
and respect for the individual. We believe that
these goals can best be accomplished by expos-
ing students to a wide range of ideas and
choices in the context of a rigorous curriculum
and a supportive residential community.
Therefore, we welcome students and
teachers of various talents and backgrounds,
and we encourage their dedication to a multi-
plicity of pursuits —intellectual, spiritual, and
physical—that will enable them to succeed in
and contribute to a complex, changing world.
St. George’s SchoolMission Statement
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN 1
From the Editor’s Desk ........................................................................................................................................2Letter to the Editor: Behrend Pool memories ................................................................................................3Behind it, the sun rises: Altar window gets a redesign BY SUZANNE M. HADFIELD ..................................4Caring for the campus: An interview with Director of Operations George Staples ............................6The real magic of Christmas BY ALEXANDRIA REGAN ’08................................................................................12Forgiveness BY MORGAN BEESON ’08 ..................................................................................................................15Thankfulness BY JEREMY GOLDSTEIN ....................................................................................................................18Community Service: Reaching out to others ..............................................................................................21A chance to reflect and refocus BY C. JOSEPH GOULD ..................................................................................22Transported BY LUCIA JACCACI ............................................................................................................................26People of the world BY LEON KANDELAARS ........................................................................................................28Faculty members will again head to the East ............................................................................................31Students, teachers prepare for trip to Uganda ..........................................................................................32There in spirit BY LAUREN O’HALLORAN ’10 ......................................................................................................34New summer program offered on Geronimo ..............................................................................................36Highlights: Student achievements ................................................................................................................38College Acceptances ........................................................................................................................................40Classrooms ..........................................................................................................................................................42Arts ........................................................................................................................................................................48Athletics................................................................................................................................................................50Giving back: News from the Alumni/ae office ..........................................................................................55Board of Trustees Notes ..................................................................................................................................56Reunion Weekend 2008 ..................................................................................................................................58Post Hilltop: Alumni/ae in the news............................................................................................................60Faculty/staff notes ..........................................................................................................................................64Campus happenings ..........................................................................................................................................66Traditions..............................................................................................................................................................68Around campus ..................................................................................................................................................74Class Notes ..........................................................................................................................................................77
The St. George’s Bulletin is published bi-annually. Suzanne M. Hadfield, editor; Dianne Reed, communications
associate; Toni Ciany, editorial assistant; and members of the Alumni/ae Office, copy editors.
ST. GEORGE’S SCHOOL
P.O. BOX 1910
NEWPORT, RI 02840-0190
Office of the Bulletin Editor
tel: (401) 842-6792
fax: (401) 842-6745
e-mail: suzanne_hadfield@stgeorges.edu
Main School Tel: (401) 847-7565
Main School Fax: (401) 842-6677
Toll free: 1.888.ICALLSG
Alumni/ae web site: http://www.stgeorges.edu
The choir enters the chapel at the start
of the Christmas Festival.
PHOTO BY ANDREA HANSEN
On the cover:
Ellie Myers ’08, Will O’Connor ’08 and
Sasha Munn ’08 celebrate at the
Christmas Festival in December.
PHOTO BY ANDREA HANSEN
On the back cover:
Esi Ozemebhoya ’11 and Hillary Wein ’11
share some time during
Parents Weekend.
PHOTO BY ANDREA HANSEN
St. George’sB u l l e t i n
C o n t e n t s
The Alumni/ae Magazine ofSt. George’s School
Newport, R.I.
2 S T. G E O R G E ’ S 2 0 0 8 W I N T E R B U L L E T I N
Acompact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb, aplane ticket to Uganda, the new HonorCode, a sketch of the chapel’s new altar
window: If SG were to compile a list of items for a timecapsule, these might make the cut. They say somethingabout the times we’re living in; they show that we’re
able to grow and change—and yet still adhereclosely to our mission.
As this edition of the Bulletin goes topress, we’re in the full throes of a multi-school competition called the Green CupChallenge, trying to reduce our energy usageand win the title of most energy consciousamong 32 peer schools. Meanwhile, 10 stu-dents in Tony Jaccaci’s Global Seminar classand four teachers are preparing to leaveschool on March 4 for a 12-day trip toUganda, the first such school-sponsored tripfor the school—and the direct result of the“Global Engagement” initiatives outlined inthe 2006 Strategic Plan.
Another goal of that plan was an expandedteacher-exchange program and increased oppor-tunities for professional development. We’recontinuing our exchange with the Chinese In-ternational School in Hong Kong (“Trans-ported,” p. 26 and “People of the world,” p. 28),as well as sending another seven teachers to
Korea, China and possibly Japan this June.Like campuses nationwide, we’re thinking more
globally and more about being green. We’re alsodoing our fair share of self-examination, not settlingfor the status quo.
A revamped Honor Code, signed by every mem-ber of the community last fall, reminds us that it’s notenough to stand by quietly while injustices takeplace. “St. George’s School expects all members ofthe community to act honorably, to encourage othersto act honorably, and to address any violations of thecode they might encounter,” the code states.
Indeed, our students are thinking more about the
impact of their actions on the world beyond theirhomes and about the people unlike themselves whotouch their lives (“The real magic of Christmas,” p.12; “Landon family spends the holidays volunteeringin Africa,” p. 33). They’re also committed strongly tohelping others and recognizing good works (“Com-munity Service,” p. 21.)
This past year, we’ve examined long-standingprograms (“New summer program offered on Geron-imo,” p. 36) and taken care to not forget our past,which needs, in turn, to be cared for. For years thesignature window in the chapel has remain untouched,but weather and time have taken their toll. It’s timefor a renovation (“Behind it, the sun rises,” p. 4). Andas Director of Operations George Staples reminds us,our campus only stays beautiful with careful planningand attention (“Caring for the campus, p. 6). In facteven something as unglamorous as deferred mainte-nance, the “budget deficit” of independent school fi-nance offices, is part of the strategic plan.
When community members met to draft that planin the fall of 2006, they also committed to keepingtrack of our progress on it. Each of the seven strategicelements of the plan—Advances in Science and Tech-nology; Community, Responsibility and Leadership;Culture of Innovation; Diversity Gender and Equity;Global Engagement; Professional Excellence; andSustainability and Stewardship—contains actionitems that the community has agreed to accomplish.
We’ve already made headway on a number ofthem. In this Bulletin, as well as in future publica-tions, we’ll graphically illustrate our progress onthese items by publishing the appropriate strategicplan icon with news stories that pertain to them.These seven strategic elements have been identifiedas most important to our students’ and the school’ssuccess in the next five to 10 years.
At St. George’s, a spirit of innovation and deter-mination prevails. We hope you find our latest initia-tives aren’t just about words, but actions.
St. George’sF r o m t h e e d i t o r ’ s d e s k
My son, 15-month-old Connor E.J.,and I at my parents’ house inStonington, Conn.
Suzanne M. Hadfield
Bulletin Editor
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN 3
Alum recalls spotting a celebrity at the oldBehrend Pool
TO THE EDITOR:Since I was Class of 1959, I’d guess the year was
winter of 1957 or 1958.
I was in the gallery watching a swim meet and, be-
cause of all the older people crowded into the tiny bal-
cony, it must have been Parents Weekend.
Whether we all knew she was coming, or I learned
it from eavesdropping, I became aware that the elegant,
old, fading woman, shrouded in a black dress to her
ankles and wearing a wide-brimmed hat, with whom
Mr. C.P.B. Jefferies and his wife were conversing was
Tallulah Bankhead, the movie actress from my parents’
generation. Her nephew, Billy Bankhead—who was in
the class of 1960 or 1961—was on the swim team;
maybe he was a diver.
I pressed in closer to hear the conversation.
Tallulah Bankhead was not only the most famous per-
son I could imagine, but she was a Southerner—from
Alabama—and I was from North Carolina, and South-
erners were a rarity at SG in those days. (In the Lance
for our year you will see a photo of me standing at the
podium in the Study Hall giving a talk to the school
on Lincoln’s birthday which, the inscription says, was
titled, “Abraham Lincoln, Friend of the South.”)
The pool was much warmer than the frigid
outside temperature, and the heat rose making
the gallery warmer and steamier yet. As I sidled
up next to Ms. Bankhead I caught a whiff of her
heavy perfume.
So had Mrs. Jefferies.
“Ms. Bankhead,” she exuded, “I love that scent
you’re wearing.”
Ms. Bankhead smiled and considered the awed
faculty wife for a moment. Then, “Thank you, Dahling.
Every morning after I bathe and before I dress, I put a
dab on every pulse point on my body.”
As I remember, Mrs. Jefferies was too stunned
to respond.
—Blayney Colmore ’59
Have you recently moved? Due to the high cost of postage, Bulletins cannot be forwarded, so please let us know
your new address. Give us a call toll-free at 1-888-422-5574 or log in to the SG web siteand update your profile. If you need help logging in to the web site, click “Login help” inthe sign-in box and enter your e-mail address under “Request Sign-In.”Thanks for helping us make our communications more efficient—and for helping us
save some paper!
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Film and Broadway actress Tallulah Bankhead once appearedin the crowd watching a swim meet at the old Behrend Pool.
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN4
Behind it, the sun rises
THE CHAPEL’S OLDEST STAINED-GLASS WINDOW IS
SCHEDULED FOR A NEW LOOK]
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Design and manufacturing legwork for a
new signature window above the altar in
the chapel has begun in earnest now that
the SG Board of Trustees voted unanimously on
Dec. 8 to move forward with the project.
Boston-area stained-glass artist Lyn Hovey,
who’s created every new chapel window since 1999,
has been hired to take on the job.
A huge undertaking, the window project is
scheduled to take two and a half years and, along
with remedial work on the masonry of the East
Wall and the nearby buttresses, will cost approxi-
mately $3 million.
The present altar window was the first stained-
glass window to be installed in the chapel—and the
only one in place when the chapel was consecrated
in 1928.
What to do with the aging window has been
pondered for the past several years.
The window itself never was meant to be per-
manent, according to Jack Doll ’52 in his 2002
“Heart of the Hilltop.”
Chapel donor John Nicholas Brown ’18 knew
that the altar would be the focus of the consecra-
tion in 1928, and designed the window himself to
add color to the area. Interestingly, the window is
not made up of leaded-glass panels, but clear glass
panels that were painted. The design is a multicol-
ored pattern of diamonds and ellipses, intention-
ally decorative, although the three panels at the top
are meant to convey the Trinity and the seven
panels at the bottom represent the seven days of
Creation, according to Doll.
Brown “wanted others to also have the oppor-
tunity to add to the magnificence of his chapel by
donating such things as stained-glass windows,”
Doll said. Since then many members of the com-
munity have stepped forward to donate windows,
including the recently completed Michel Window
on the west wall, in memory of Mickey Michel, the
husband of former board chair Betsy Michel (see
page 55).
Hovey presented a watercolor of his proposed
new design for the altar window that includes the
story of the creation on the bottom panes and
images of Abraham and Sarah, Ester and Ruth,
Moses and Elijah, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Anna
and Simeon, and Martha, Mary and St. Paul on the
panes above.
A trustee has agreed to help underwrite the
window installation to ensure that the process gets
under way right away, and fund-raising for the
project is in progress, according to Assistant Head
of School for External Affairs Joe Gould.
The earliest the new altar window could be
installed would be in the summer of 2010.
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Stained-glass artist Lyn Hovey unveils his design for a new altar window in the Chapel.
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN 5
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Caring for thecampus
N E W S F R O M T H E O P E R A T I O N S D E P A R T M E N TInfrastructure
AN INTERVIEW WITHDIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS GEORGE STAPLES
George Staples arrived at St. George’s as the newfacilities administrator in 2005. His current title isDirector of Operations. Prior to his arrival, he servedas the director of facilities and operations for theRoman Catholic Diocese of Providence for five years,as the director of architecture and engineering atCVS Corp. for seven years, and as campus planner/designer at Phillips Exeter Academy for six years. He
holds two bachelor’s degrees—one in architecturalengineering from Wentworth Institute of Technologyand one in computer science from NortheasternUniversity. His wife, Mary Jane, who now serves asthe head of Zane Dormitory, was a special educationteacher for 13 years prior to moving onto the Hilltop.The Staples have three children—Colin, 8, Luke, 5and Ryan, 2.
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN 7
N E W S F R O M T H E O P E R A T I O N S D E P A R T M E N T
Q. Was working at the Diocese of Providencegood preparation for working at St. George’s?
Certainly. The Catholic diocese has approxi-
mately 157 parishes and 55 schools that serve
about 20,000 students. We managed an operation
that included approximately 850 institutional
buildings throughout the state of Rhode Island.
The majority of my focus was on capital renewal,
which included renovating and restoring existing
churches and school facilities. Managing the
Diocesan real estate portfolio was also one of my
major responsibilities. I worked closely with the
chief financial officer and the chief development
officer for the diocese and I consider our teamwork
to be one of the key components to the success of
our operation. I am fortunate enough to have
worked on some of the most beautiful, architec-
turally detailed buildings in Rhode Island and have
gained extensive knowledge just through the sheer
volume of work that was completed each year.
In the five years you that were there, were therespecial projects that became close to your heart?
Yes, working closely with the inner-city
parishes, schools and daycare centers along with
the volunteers who worked endlessly to support
their mission was very rewarding. My services were
most needed in those locations and had an imme-
diate impact on their programs.
You interviewed for the job here at SG withformer Business Manager Wes Hennion. Whatwere your impressions?
It’s hard not to be in awe as you come up Main
Drive and approach the circle in front of Old
School. You immediately notice
diverse architectural elements that
frame green quads, and of course,
views that would rival any others on
the East Coast. I spent more than four hours with
Wes on my first visit to campus. He knew I had
expertise in conducting facility assessments and
the ability to estimate costs fairly quickly. We took
a detailed tour of campus and he asked me what I
thought might be some immediate needs. St.
George’s is like any other boarding school or col-
lege campus in New England: There is a constant
need for roof repairs, brick pointing, window
replacement, and mechanical- and electrical-sys-
tem upgrades. They are hard projects to raise funds
for and are usually on a list of deferred mainte-
nance that is next to impossible to budget for. I
certainly felt as though Wes already knew the needs
of the campus facilities, but wanted me to know
what I may be getting into. I had subsequent inter-
views with Pat Moss (Assistant Head of School for
Academic Affairs), Bob Weston (Dean of Faculty)
and Tim Richards (Assistant Head of School for
Student Life), and they all painted a similar picture
of a very engaged community that was committed
to the success of the student body. At that time I
believe they were looking for an individual who
would understand the needs of the community and
strive to make changes that would enhance the
lives of the faculty and students. It was clear to me
at that point that this position would be more than
tending to bricks and mortar.
And then you met Head of School Eric Peterson?
Yes. Wes had told me on more than one occa-
sion during our discussions that he thought Eric
and I would be a good match. He thought that was
important because of the close relationship the
facilities director would have with the head of
school. We are the same age. Eric is actually one
day older and we share some of the same philoso-
phies about how to operate a school. Eric was very
passionate and specific about the facilities and
operations he needed to fully support his faculty
and staff so they could provide their best effort. It
was reassuring to me to have a very detailed discus-
sion with a head of school about non-academic
topics such as institutional architecture, emergency
preparedness, food services and housekeeping—
major components that effect the day-to-day oper-
ations outside of the classroom. This was going to
be a new position for St. George’s and Eric care-
fully laid out his strategy for its implementation,
which included becoming part of the on-campus
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN8
community. I came away from our meeting excited
about the opportunity, but still unsure about leav-
ing my current position with the diocese as well as
selling our home and moving our family.
But you wanted a new opportunity?
My wife Mary Jane was expecting our third
child and was on summer break from teaching at
the time of the offer. I was intrigued with the con-
cept of being involved with more of the day-to-day
operations of the school, and living on campus was
going to be critical to the success of the proposed
position. It would allow me to directly provide
services to the community in which I would be
living, a kind of a talk-the-talk and walk-the-walk
scenario. This position also provided a great
opportunity for us to have Mary Jane stop working
and spend more time with our children. She has
since become the dorm head of Zane Dormitory
where we live and enjoys her interaction with the
students and faculty. As for my children, what is
not to be excited about? We live across the street
from the ocean; we have access to two hockey rinks,
a state-of-the-art pool, a field house, tennis courts,
squash courts and playing fields. We have great
neighbors who are welcoming and share some of
the same duties we have, and there is a good fam-
ily-like feeling to that.
People coming back to campus after a whileoften say, “Wow this place has changed since Iwas here!” What have been some of the majorimprovements?
SG has done an exceptional job in the last 15
years with providing new facilities that it needed.
The Wheeler/Buell dorm complex, Drury/Grosvenor
Art Center, Hamblet Campus Center, East and
Zane dorms and the new Hoyt pool are all very
successful projects. What used to be the back of the
campus (behind the chapel) is now a featured part
of the campus. That was all done, obviously with-
out me here, and a large part of it through the hard
work of the Development Office and Joe (Gould)’s
guidance but also Wes (Hennion), Pat Moss and of
course, Chuck and Carol (Hamblet). The recent
removal of the Behrend Pool remedied a safety
issue, but also brought new views to campus. Port
Draper, who was the head of the buildings and
grounds committee of the SG Board of Trustees,
always thought bringing the library and its archi-
tecture into the open by removing the pool was
significantly going to change the view of the cam-
pus. He was right. The Behrend Quadrangle is the
new open space where the pool once was and pro-
vides new paths of travel to all who once walked
around Auchincloss Dormitory to get to the arts
center, field house and campus center. Diman
North was built around the west end of the pool,
and with the pool’s removal, Diman North became
the beneficiary of a new common room and three
new student rooms with the capacity to sleep five.
The addition of the porch was a nice architectural
design that brought symmetry to the east faces of
both Arden and Diman North, and a newly refaced
west elevation of Auchincloss was returned to its
original state. We have also completed some very
large capital renewal projects that may not be very
visible, but were well needed. For instance, the
chapel roof replacement was a $1.2 million project
that you can’t really appreciate unless you are up in
the chapel tower, yet it is a critical piece of the total
restoration of the chapel and a positive step toward
the management of deferred maintenance.
The school made the decision last year to renovate Twenty House, Diman, Diman Northand Arden. What went into that decision?
A committee chaired by Tim Richards was
initially assembled to review dormitory space
needs. Working with specific student-to-faculty
ratios defined by the committee, an architect pro-
vided options that showed additions to both the
Diman complex and Twenty House. This planning
effort came on the heels of our decision to hire a
campus master-planning firm and it was decided
that we would complete an interior renovation to
all four dormitories and allow the master-planning
process to unfold and look at all campus space
needs before investing in such a large project that
would include any additions to buildings. With
N E W S F R O M T H E O P E R A T I O N S D E P A R T M E N TInfrastructure
the renovation project behind us, I think I can
speak for all of us in saying it was a huge success.
Student living spaces in all four dorms were signif-
icantly enhanced.
You mentioned the chapel roof restoration project. What do you envision the next stepswill be in maintaining the chapel?
SG contracted with Durkee, Brown, Viveiros &
Werenfels Architects in 2004 to complete a study
that would provide a road map for the eventual
restoration of the chapel. We are fortunate to have
Martha Werenfels as our architect of record. She is
highly recognized as one of the best restoration
architects in New England and has extensive expe-
rience with church restoration projects. Even those
with an untrained eye could see that there was a
water infiltration problem compromising the exte-
rior and interior walls of the chapel. With the new
copper roof in place, we have started to focus on
the exterior sections of the building, with an
emphasis on the east wall because it is the location
in most need of repair. An advanced study of the
east wall masonry was completed last summer, and
has given us a better understanding about how to
approach the restoration of the wall systems. In
December, the board of trustees approved moving
forward with the development of construction
documents that would be used to remedy and
restore the exterior east wall and contiguous
buttresses on the chapel.
And then what comes after that?
The approval to complete construction docu-
ments for the restoration of the east wall coincides
with the approval to complete the artwork neces-
sary to construct a new stained-glass altar window.
With a three- to five-year construction timeline for
the window, our next step would be to restore the
interior east wall prior to the completion of the
altar window. We would then work ourselves
around the building systematically restoring each
wall until completed.
You’ve repeatedly said we can’t overlook maintaining our buildings.
All schools have deferred maintenance. The
goal is to not let the campus condition deterio-
rate to the point where it will impede delivery.
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN 9
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ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN10
N E W S F R O M T H E O P E R A T I O N S D E P A R T M E N TInfrastructure
Schools that have identified and quantified the
costs associated with their deferred maintenance
will make better business decisions with regards
to how they allocate their capital renewal dollars.
I am extremely happy with the support I have had
from our Finance Council and trustees in deter-
mining our deferred maintenance exposure and
working on a financial plan to improve our cur-
rent condition. In 2006 we had a facility condi-
tions audit report completed by Shawmut Design
and Construction to identify and quantify our
deferred maintenance.
Why was the audit needed?
The audit provides empirical data; it’s accurate
and gives us the current aggregate backlog of total
deferred maintenance as well as providing renewal
costs for the next ten years. In essence, it can predict
the future. It can tell us when and where there will be
capital renewal needs. Without this kind of report,
institutions like ours would normally run their sys-
tems and equipment to failure, and then respond to
an emergency rather than a planned capital project.
The information in the audit can be used to develop
financial models for budgeting purposes.
How did you start tackling it?
The decision to not have summer school on
campus certainly provided access to facilities that
would have been otherwise unavailable. The ability
to have four dorms available to renovate in one
summer both helped in terms of cost and it accel-
erated our efforts to reduce deferred maintenance.
We were able to complete a large amount of work
in the core of the campus that could not have been
done if we were housing students.
Most recently you’ve also been involved indeveloping a campus master plan. Can youexplain what the purpose of a campus masterplan is?
A campus master plan is a guide plan that
aligns educational objectives and strategic plan
goals with physical development. It will establish a
broad and comprehensive framework that will
identify future facilities projects, define the interre-
lationships among physical planning decisions and
serve as a basis for financial planning. In its most
basic form, the master plan will be more of a com-
pass that keeps us moving in the right direction.
Does the master plan have a shelf life? For how many years does the master plan providedirection?
The master plan should be revisited every five
years or so to recalibrate after major components
have been completed, but the original plan would
provide a guideline for 15 to 20 years.
What are some of the components of the master plan?
Academic space is one of the top items being
reviewed. That analysis will be helpful in determin-
ing the square footage of teaching space we would
strive for during any future renovations to Memo-
rial Schoolhouse and will certainly help in the early
stages of the design process for the enhancement of
the science facilities. Student life is another very
important component to the master plan. The day-
to-day program that the students follow will be
looked at in detail to ensure the supporting struc-
ture is in place to maintain our particular program
and schedule; that means dorm space, faculty resi-
dences, study spaces, athletic facilities and all the
other supporting structures will be reviewed in
detail. Pedestrian and vehicular paths of travel also
will be reviewed along with the interior spaces.
Are there any keepsakes?
Naturally because of our location, we would
want to maintain certain views to the water, and
open green spaces as we become a more sustainable
community. There are iconic buildings such as the
St. George’s Chapel and Memorial Schoolhouse that
will always remain as key elements and are sacred
to the culture of the school. The one thing to note
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about the campus master plan is that it is not a
facilities plan; it is an entire campus plan. Members
of almost every academic and non-academic
department were interviewed and the final plan will
be a collaboration of all of their thoughts and ideas.
What will a master plan look like?
I would expect it to represent in both graphi-
cal and text format our roadmap to the future.
It would graphically capture as much of the
seven components of our strategic plan as possible
along with list the criteria for us to reflect
on when making decisions that would alter the
campus infrastructure.
Will it be a philosophy that we would like toadhere to?
Definitely; holding true to a student body size
or committing to student/faculty ratios with
regards to dormitory coverage are some of the
important principles we would need to adhere to.
All that information quantifies how many cars will
be on campus, how much water, electricity and gas
we will consume and how much food we need to
prepare. The master planners will come back with
many options that address some of our pinch-
points. Some of those options may not fit into our
timeline of need. Some of them may be far too
expensive for us to tackle immediately, but they
may be shelved for the long term with the under-
standing that they are goals to reach. There will be
a balance between their suggestions and what we
are able to immediately accomplish.
Where are we in terms of the process of build-ing/renovating our science facilities?
We sent out Requests for Qualifications
(RFQ’s) to 12 architectural firms and have nar-
rowed our selection to five firms that specialize in
science building design. We expect to interview all
five during the third week of January and to select
a firm within a week after the interview process is
completed. A very well prepared needs-assessment
completed by the science department faculty will
allow the firm selected to start immediately on
determining the exact square footage of building
space needed and potential building layouts.
Will we be rebuilding on the same site?
That is yet to be determined since we have not
started the design process, but with sustainability
in mind, it would have to be a very special set of
circumstances for us to not utilize the existing
building as part of the new science complex. With
the assumption that we would need a facility at
least twice as large as the existing one, I can foresee
new construction somehow wrapping around the
existing building and then a renovation to the
existing facility.
After you get done with your day and you gohome to the dorm, what’s your life like?
Well to start, to be able to walk from my
office to my dorm apartment with a total com-
mute of less than two minutes and the ability to
see both First Beach and Second Beach on my
way, it’s hard not to be happy. Prior to moving
onto campus I lost 10 hours per week to my com-
mute alone, so to recover 40 hours a month of
family time is a great benefit for a young family.
Besides my wife and three children and the 23
girls we live with in the dorm, I have six advisees
who really put the St. George’s student experience
in perspective for me. They have become part of
our immediate family and truly help me under-
stand their daily needs, which is such a great
advantage as the director of operations at a
boarding school. It certainly is not the traditional
“leave your work at the office each day” job,
especially when the entire campus is your office.
I have been fortunate enough to travel through-
out most of our country while working for CVS
Corp. and Mary Jane and I have owned a few
homes while both of us had jobs most would be
envious of, yet I can’t imagine being in a better
place than we are now.
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Alex and her brotherBilly carry on afamily tradition—cutting down thetree two days beforeChristmas.
BY ALEXANDRIA REGAN ’08
Following is a chapel talk delivered on Dec. 11, 2007.
I will admit it. I am obsessed with the holiday
season. From the day after Thanksgiving through
Christmas Day, I just can’t get enough of this time
of year. If you ask anybody who knows me well,
they will agree, but I don’t think I have ever really
expressed the true reason why this part of the year
is my absolute favorite.
Sure, I love the Christmas carols, the corny “25
days of Christmas” on ABC Family, the decorations
and the holiday spirit that fills the air. I love the
traditions as well. Every year my family and I go to
our house in the Catskills for Christmas, where we
embark on a number of interesting traditions. Two
days before Christmas we drive up to a tree farm
and cut down a Christmas tree. After bickering
over what tree to get and even one year getting lost
in the tree forest, we then go to our house and put
the tree in our stand (a job my dad particularly
The real magic of Christmas
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dislikes, as it inevitably falls down several times),
and then we decorate it. Then the day of Christmas
Eve arrives. We are all woken up by the sound of
my mother freaking out because she has invited
too many people to our annual Christmas Eve
party and does not have enough food or enough
time to cook it. However, we always seem to get by,
and by seven o’clock our tiny house is flooded with
so many people it is almost impossible to move
around, let alone eat.
Then arrives my favorite day, Christmas. It is
not my favorite because of the presents I receive
(although that is a perk), but because of the weird
Christmas festivities we celebrate. After my brother
and I have shaken off the laziness of Christmas
morning, we go over to our family friend’s house,
where if it has snowed enough, we go on “Mr.
Toad’s wild ride.” Now I am not really sure who Mr.
Toad is or why he has a wild ride, but it is some-
thing my family friends and I have been doing for
as long as I can remember. It entails seven of us
piling onto a toboggan (probably actually meant
for three small children) and tying the toboggan to
the back of their pickup truck. We are then driven
around unplowed windy back roads. It is as dan-
gerous as it sounds, and I have childhood memo-
ries of my mother watching nervously with a
petrified look on her face from the back of the
pickup truck, as we were being pulled down the
hill. The worst part, however, is that if you fall off
you must run after the toboggan or you’ll be left in
the dust with a long walk back to the house. One
year I was unfortunate enough to slip off the back
of the toboggan, and in fear that I would be left
behind to walk the mile back to house, I ran for
dear life, grabbed the back of the toboggan and was
dragged for about 500 feet eating snow until finally
my brother Billy (after getting in his few laughs)
decided to help me back on. After this, we some-
times partake in some canoe sledding, which is
where we sled down a snow-covered hill in a canoe
trying to prevent a full on tree collision using only
paddles—and every so often, unfortunately, the
tree will come out victorious. Sure, I love the
bizarre traditions that my family and I celebrate
over Christmas, but there is something more to
why I love this holiday so much.
This summer, I applied for an internship with
the International Rescue Committee, whose mis-
sion is to bring aid to refugees and internally dis-
placed people overseas as well as to help the few
refugees who are permitted to resettle in the
United States. This organization provides housing,
food, employment, health care, and youth pro-
grams to resettled refugees. I was offered a position
as a teacher’s assistant at the summer youth pro-
gram in New York City. The purpose of this sum-
mer program was to prepare refugee children,
most of whom have had an interrupted formal
education, to attend New York City schools in the
fall. I was assigned to the middle-school class,
which included children ages 11-14. I was nervous.
I had remembered my middle-school years as ones
filled with much awkwardness. I didn’t know how
I was going to handle middle-school kids, espe-
cially ones who had been through so much and
who spoke very little English. However, this job
that I had taken to fill my summer turned into a
life-changing experience that has come to mean
a great deal to me.
One girl in particular named Ida left a great
impression on me. Ida was from Guinea and had
been resettled in the United States for a little over
a year. Ida and I formed an instant friendship, and
she quickly became one of my favorite people in
the class. Before she came to the United States, she
had been directly affected by the poverty the cor-
rupt government of Guinea had created. Up until
she resettled in the United States, the life she
described to me was full of hardship, uncertainty
and instability and it is hard to imagine how she
endured it.
One day, the children were given the task of
writing a paragraph about their favorite holidays
and reciting it. I was assigned to help a group of
five students and Ida was among them. When it
came to Ida’s turn, she talked about how Christmas
was one of her favorite holidays of the year. She
said that in Guinea it was hard for her and her
family to celebrate Christmas because of the
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instability of the situation in her home country.
She said, however, that last year, on her first Christ-
mas in New York, her parents took her to see the
Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. She said it
was the most amazing tree and that she had never
seen a Christmas tree that big. She continued by
saying that before last year her family and she were
never able to exchange gifts or have a tree, and that
her Christmas last year in New York had been one
of the highlights of her year.
This story had a huge impact on me. It is hard
for me to imagine a Christmas where my family
and I do not have our annual Christmas traditions,
which include a tree, good food, presents, and even
“Mr. Toad.” This story from Ida made me appreci-
ate Christmas even more and made me realize the
main reason why this is my favorite time of year.
The holidays are a time when you are able to step
back and reflect and be grateful for what you have
among family and friends. It is also a time when it
is incredibly easy to give back with heightened
holiday cheer.
So as everyone anxiously awaits Christmas
break on the Hilltop and as we approach the busy
next two weeks, reflect and be grateful for every-
thing you have and consider giving back this holi-
day season even if it is only spreading holiday
cheer. Enjoy the traditions that this school has,
starting with Lessons and Carols and continuing
with the holiday formal and the Christmas Festival.
Enjoy decking the halls, lighting the Menorah and
what Johnny Mathis refers to in his song as “The
Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Have a great
Christmahanukwanzaakkah season. Thank you.
Alexandra Regan is a sixth former from New York City.
She can be reached at Alex_Regan@stgeorges.edu.
Alex and childrenfrom the Interna-tional Rescue Committee ham it up while playingin a park in NewYork City.
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Morgan in thechapel cloister.
BY MORGAN BEESON ’08
Following is a chapel talk delivered on Sept. 27,2007.
For those of you who don’t know me, I am
Morgan Beeson, most commonly referred to as
Beeson. I live in Connecticut, my mother works at
a well-known bank in New York City, I get pretty
good grades, am surprisingly not that stressed about
college, I have no major health issues, I laugh at
more jokes than should be laughed at, and I proba-
bly seem to have led a carefree and seamless life.
Let me prove you wrong.
Until I was eight years old, my life truly was
seamless. Then came the fall of third grade. It was a
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Lessons learned from his Amish relatives help this senior come to terms with a painful past
Forgiveness
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school day and, as was customary, my mother left for
work early in the morning and my father dropped
my sister and me off at school. I proceeded through
the day, and at the end of it went to the school drive-
way to get picked up. After waiting for a while, my
sister and I decided instead to take the bus home,
not an uncommon decision. When we arrived at
home, we put our bags down and prepared to jok-
ingly beat up our dad for losing track of time. In his
absence we found a note written on yellow paper.
The only passage I remember from this note was
this: “I’ve failed you. I no longer belong here,” writ-
ten in my father’s messy handwriting. At the time I
could not comprehend what that meant. I went to
a family friend’s house that night, and when I re-
turned the next morning, I was greeted by a mix of
policemen and every relative I had ever met. Ironi-
cally, at the time I thought that was an ideal situa-
tion: I always wanted to be a cop, and I’d never been
able to see all of my family at the same time. How-
ever, even a third grader could feel the icy atmos-
phere in the house. As I walked into my living room
with my sister, everyone’s heads turned toward us,
only to turn away quickly, ashamed to show their
tears. I recall still not understanding what had hap-
pened, as I persisted in asking my mom, “Where’s
daddy?” She replied, “In heaven, Morgan. Daddy’s in
heaven.” It was only later that I discovered that he
killed himself. After that, everything seems a blur. I
honestly don’t even clearly remember the funeral
service; I was too filled with anger and confusion,
both at him for what he did, and at myself for not
foreseeing it and stopping it from happening.
The lesson I urge this community to take from
my talk is forgiveness. I could’ve gone, and did go for
a while, through life venting the anger at my father I
had trapped inside me, for causing my mom and sis-
ter so much pain. I could’ve blamed him for every-
thing that went wrong in our lives, but that would
have gotten me nowhere. Having been influenced by
Amish country(above): peaceful,rural and forgiving.
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the incredible forgiving ability of the Amish com-
munity, in which my mother grew up, I forgave him.
A couple days after my father’s death, my
mother saw two white doves hovering over my fa-
ther’s apple orchard in a flight path that resembled
a halo. From that moment on I not only gained my
faith, but I took it as a sign that everything would
be alright.
Forgiving my father for the tremendous sin that
he committed was a major milestone in my recovery
from his death, but there was one more person that
I needed to forgive before I could fully recover:
myself. While forgiving oneself only is necessary in
certain situations and with certain people, this situa-
tion most definitely called for it. I have the tendency
to blame myself more than anyone else. That being
said, you can imagine how much blame I took after
my father’s death. It took me a lot longer to forgive
myself, but reaching that milestone was equally im-
portant for me to move on.
Forgiveness can be a very difficult thing to grant
someone if they have done something wrong to you,
or even worse, to your family and loved ones, but I
assure you that you will both be a better person and
feel better about yourself for having the maturity to
do the right thing if you at least attempt to grant it.
Another powerful demonstration of forgiveness
occurred with the Amish last year. As many of you
know—it made headlines for several days on na-
tional television—a truck driver brutally murdered
five Amish schoolgirls ages 7-13, one of whom was
my cousin, in a town less than five miles from my
family’s farm in Lancaster County, Pa., and then
proceeded to kill himself. The first thing that the
Amish did was to set up a fund for the family that
the killer left behind. When interviewed by CNN, a
member of one of the Amish churches gave this
statement, which sums up very well the ideals the
Amish have with regard to forgiveness: “I don’t think
there’s anybody here who wants to do anything but
forgive and not only reach out to those who have
suffered a loss in that way but to reach out to the
family of the man who committed these acts.” The
funeral procession purposefully drove by the killer’s
house to show their forgiveness of his sins. If we
could try to mirror the Amish community’s forgive-
ness, we could work toward creating, at least to a
small degree, a community with the same ideals of
the near-utopian society that the Amish have created
and continue to flourish in.
While my experiences with forgiveness provide
a strong example of how powerful it can be, my ex-
periences are also extreme. Forgiveness can be used
in daily life and, in fact, this is where it makes the
most difference.
If someone does something wrong to you, first
let them know that what they did was wrong and
that it cannot happen again, but make sure they
know that they are forgiven and will be granted
another chance. Forgiveness only works if the per-
son knows what they did was wrong, but using
anger to counteract their wrongdoing will only
spark more anger.
Through forgiveness, both the Amish and I have
been able to escape dark parts of our past and move
on from them without any lingering anger. I
strongly recommend that you all do the same so that
you, too, can move on from similarly dark situations.
Morgan Beeson is a senior from Greenwich, Conn. He
can be reached at Morgan_Beeson@stgeorges.edu.
Forgiveness can be used
in daily life and,
in fact, this
is where it makes
the most difference.
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ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN18
BY JEREMY GOLDSTEIN
Following is a chapel talk delivered on Nov. 15, 2007.
Today marks approximately the halfway point
between two great American traditions—Veterans
Day and Thanksgiving. And today, I want to talk to
you about what these two traditions mean to me.
My experience with war makes the act of giving
thanks extremely meaningful to me. I am especially
thankful for those who have made the ultimate
sacrifice and for those who have come back home
from conflict. And—I am thankful to be where I
am today.
I haven’t always been a teacher. In fact, my old
job had a lot to do with what happens when negoti-
ations stop, dialogue breaks down, and war is
believed to be the only option. My old job took me
ThankfulnessIn a war zone, nothing is taken for granted
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Jeremy Goldstein on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laosin 1997. Goldsteinworked for the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers directingexcavations to re cover the remains of personnel missing since theVietnam War foridentification.
to Vietnam and Laos, former war zones, with the
goal of bringing the war dead home.
In 1994, I was an archeology graduate student at
Wake Forest University when I received a job
announcement from the U. S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers looking for healthy civilians who were willing
to work in “rustic and remote” settings for “extended
periods of time.” I thought to myself, “Wow, this is
why I became an archeologist, a job in the jungle, the
great outdoors … adventure.” Less than a month
later I was walking through the jungles of Laos after
having fallen into a rice paddy my first day on the
job. My mission was to direct excavations or “digs”
to recover the remains of missing personnel from
the Vietnam War for identification. Sort of like CSI,
but much dirtier and less glamorous.
It takes a long time for the wounds and sting of
war to fade; even 25 years after the Vietnam War,
when I spent time in Southeast Asia the land had
not recovered. Many Americans were still missing.
One of them was a 1968 graduate of St. George’s
named Charles Dean for whom a scholarship has
been named here by his family. Ten years before I
started at SG, I worked on recovering the remains of
Americans who shared the same fate as Charles
Dean. As I look back on my time with the Corps of
Engineers, I find that my three years in Southeast
Asia have made me thankful for many things.
As simple as it sounds, one of those things was a
standard Army-issue quilted poncho liner. I received
“issue” from a large supply warehouse in Oahu,
Hawaii. I was given a mosquito net, a couple pairs of
boots, a field mess kit, some incredibly caustic bug
repellent that I think was DDT, and the most impor-
tant piece of equipment: that quilted poncho liner. I
remembered reading in Michael Herr’s excellent
book “Dispatches” about the author’s somewhat
embarrassing solitary moments in front of a mirror
wearing all of his new “free” stuff from the govern-
ment, in mock salute and at attention. I did the
same thing, ready to play Army. In reality, the only
thing I really needed was the poncho liner, because
of the way it kept me warm in the surprisingly cold
jungle nights and at high altitude during long flights
on uninsulated planes. I was lucky that I had a
friend, an old sergeant who had been around the
block a few times, rifle through my footlocker and
throw out the excess equipment. Thanks to Sergeant
Cope, I ended up with two poncho liners and the
advice to carry as many pairs of socks as possible.
I give thanks for the little gems of information
that my three years working with the military gave
me. Advice like, always shake your boots out before
putting them on, in case a scorpion has moved in.
Or, the advice to let the goats run through the mine-
field before you. You see a war leaves devastation
that lasts longer than a few years. Land mines and
unexploded bombs outnumber people in certain
areas of Laos, and people, mostly children, harvest
war scrap for resale and for personal use like fishing
weights. And people, mostly children, get killed or
injured when they handle these unexploded pieces
of history. I worked on a mountaintop in Northern
Laos that had a special regiment of goats who would
run ahead of the soldiers stationed there, setting off
any leftover trip wire mines, sacrificing themselves
to keep us relatively safe.
One of the kindest gestures that I have ever
experienced was when I was working on recovering
the remains of an escaped prisoner of war killed
while fleeing a remote jungle prison camp. He was
the one who didn’t make it, but his counterpart
made it and told the story, which is now immortal-
ized in the recent film “Rescue Dawn.” After inter-
viewing the individuals who buried the escapee, we
started to dig, digging for 30 days straight with no
results. And as we closed the site, and were wrapping
things up, a package arrived on one of the supply
helicopters. It was some homemade cookies from
the missing pilot’s mother, giving us pause, making
us think about our own families very far away, and
also the families of the missing that were waiting to
hear news still, many years after the war had ended.
There are many memories that I am thankful to
carry with me; helping to deliver a baby on the Ho
Chi Minh trail, living with a Hill Tribe for three
months, letters from my family every month, running
out of food and being forced to learn Lao to order
dinner. But most importantly, I have learned that
there is a reluctant fraternity of families, veterans, and
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Jeremy Goldstein(above) with mem-bers of the boysvarsity soccer teamduring a game onAlumni of ColorWeekend.
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innocent bystanders who have survived war. We often
feel separated from the war that is going on right now.
We are removed from the sounds, smells, and sensory
overload that a war zone possesses because we are able
to watch it from the relative quiet of our living rooms.
It is easy to forget about the war when so many other
important things take up our days.
Veterans Day was last week and we are still at war.
Honor the men and women who serve this country in
uniform, and thank them when you see them. This
past summer, a 21-year-old Iraq war vet was out for a
day of boating with his friends at the kayak shop
where I was working. The vet was home on leave for
his birthday. As he was getting ready to get in the
water, he put on his life vest over a large scar that ran
the length of his chest and abdomen. As he put on the
vest, he said matter-of-factly, with a tinge of irony,
“feels like home” referring to the other vest—the
Kevlar one—that he had to wear in Iraq. I was speech-
less. All I could say was “thank you,” as his friends
looked at the ground or headed silently to their boats.
The young soldier looked out at the water, buckled his
vest, and paddled out into the channel.
So as I anticipate the time I’ll spend with my
family and friends during the upcoming break, I
hope to be thankful in a way that surpasses my usual
thankfulness. I often tell my students that people
who witnessed Pope John Paul in prayer swore that
he was praying with every cell in his body. This year,
I wish to give thanks with every cell in my body. I
give thanks for those who serve our country. I give
thanks for my family and friends and the relative
safety we enjoy here in the United States. I give
thanks for the cookies we have every day in the fac-
ulty room, the beautiful view of Second Beach that I
wake up to every morning. I give thanks for my wife
and my dog. I give thanks for the hope I hold that
someday we will be free from the shadow of war, and,
mostly, I give thanks for all of you—my students and
my colleagues—for giving me that hope.
Jeremy Goldstein is a teacher of French and
Religious Studies. He can be reached at Jeremy_
Goldstein@stgeorges.edu.
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Community Service Council members WillO’Connor ’08 and Anna Mack ’09 organized a special
assembly announcement in December to
honor the school’s housekeeping staff.
The two students offered a few words of
thanks for all of the work that the staff
does for the community, notably the impressive holi-
day decorations that grace the campus every year.
“When we got back from Thanksgiving break and saw
how beautiful the decorations were, I talked to Mr.
Carrion (Director of Housekeeping) about getting
the members of the staff who put up the decorations
to assembly, so we as a school could thank them,”
O’Connor said. All the members of the housekeeping
staff were present. Everyone in attendance, including
most of the student body, then gave the staff a stand-
ing ovation. “It was moving to see!” reported Assis-
tant Chaplain and head of the Community Service
Council Lara Freeman.
Students Vianca Masucci, Sam George, KelseyCrowther and Hillary Wein, along with art teacherLisa Hansel, groundskeeper Jay Panaggio and Assis-tant Chaplain Lara Freeman, planted a box full of
tulips, crocuses and hyacinth next to the Meryl Staley
Bench on South Field overlooking Second Beach.
The bulbs were donated by Paul Jagger, father of
Meryl’s good friend Emily Jagger ’06, in memory ofMeryl ’06 who died of complications from leukemia
in 2005. “It will be a beautiful site in the spring and a
lovely way to remember one of the members of our
community,” Freeman said.
Joe Lanuez, a member of the Grounds Crew, waspart of the pit crew for Jim Gubelman’s (SG class of’65) race car staff. The car headed down to Oaxaca,
Mexico on Friday, Oct. 12, and the crew took school
supplies donated by members of the SG community
with them. Many folks contributed spiral notebooks,
pens, pencils and erasers—badly needed after a recent
hurricane tore apart several school buildings.
The fall blood drive took place on Monday, Nov.
12, in the Dorrance Field House—and St. George’s
community members came through as usual. The R.I.
Blood Bank had a goal of 35 pints, and once again, SG
had no problem meeting the challenge. Assistant Ath-
letic Director Wendy Drysdale organizes the blooddrives at SG.
For the sixth year in a row members of the SG Commu-nity took part in a day of community service on MartinLuther King Day, Jan. 21. More news on this event willbe forthcoming in the next Notes from the Hilltop.
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Members of the 2007-08 Community ServiceCouncil: (in the front row) Jake Riiska ’10,Carl Nightingale ’10, Vianca Masucci ’09,Lela Wulsin ’10, Ping Praneeprachachon ’10and Tori Hensel ’08, (middle row) MaryO’Connor ’11, Maggie Uhlein ’10, Englishteacher Lucy Goldstein, Jenny Chung ’09,Sophie Domanski ’11, Alexandria Regan ’08,Kelsey Crowther ’08, Ann Wheeler ’08, LaneyYang ’10, Caroline O’Connor ’10, Kim Drew’08, Callie McBreen ’09, Camilla deBraganca’09, Council Head Lara Freeman, CaseyHansel ’10, and (back row) Leigh Archer ’09,Merrill Pierce ’09, Jonathan Maio ’11, WillO’Connor ’08, Martin Ejiaku ’11, PatrickGuerriero ’09, Drew Miller ’09 and HalseyLandon ’09.
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN 21
R E A C H I N G O U T T O O T H E R SCommunity Service
BY C. JOSEPH GOULD
Late in the summer of 2005, I decided to ask for a
sabbatical. I had lots of reasons for wanting to take a
leave. I had just returned from the first St. George’s
faculty trip to South Korea and China. It was my
eighth trip to Asia since 1996, but to me this 2005 trip
was a seminal event in the life of the school. I had also
just read Peter Hessler’s memoir “River Town” about
his two years in the Peace Corps in Fuling, China. The
book had conjured up old dreams and old memories
of my school days at Exeter in 1963 where first the
principal and then two long-serving teachers an-
nounced that they were leaving to join the newly cre-
ated Peace Corps. And, I guess my age had something
to do with it too; I would turn 60 in 2006, a milestone
which was prompting all sorts of introspection.
During that 2005 trip, I had visited Taejon Chris-
tian International School (TCIS) in Daejeon, South
Korea, as part of our ongoing effort to develop
teacher exchanges and other partnership arrange-
ments. A friend had urged me to go there because it
Joe Gould atOjeongdongSeongyosachon, amissionary’s homebuilt in the 1950s,near TCIS.
PHO
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JEN
NIF
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A chance to reflect and refocus
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN22
C O M M U N I T Y M E M B E R S G E T A W O R L D V I E WGlobal outreach
Graduation day at TCIS on June 1,2007.
PHO
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had a boarding component. TCIS wasn’t in session,
but I toured the school and met briefly with head-
master Tom Penland.
Somehow, these disparate thoughts and experi-
ences came together. With the support of Head of
School Eric Peterson, I wrote to Tom Penland and
asked if TCIS would be interested in hosting my wife,
Jennifer, and me for all or part of the 2006-07 school
year. Two weeks later, Tom wrote back and said “yes.”
After considerable discussion with Jennifer, Eric, and
others, I decided that three months in the spring of
2007 would be best. Thus began nearly a year and a
half of anticipation and preparation.
One might think with all that time to plan and
dream, the trip itself might have been anticlimactic.
But in fact, not knowing what would be expected of
us at TCIS, we hadn’t planned much at all. We just
knew that we were departing on Korean Air #82 to
Seoul on March 14, and were coming home on Ko-
rean Air #81 on June 13.
I had dreamed, however.
I had dreamed we would travel and I read guide-
books with a passion: Moon Handbooks, Lonely
Planet, Insight Guides, Culture Shock. I had
dreamed that we would learn Korean and I was sure
that, once immersed, I would overcome my difficul-
ties with the CDs and cassettes. I had dreamed of all
the little adventures we’d have in Daejeon. Indeed
for months, my last thoughts before I fell asleep at
night were of the trip.
It’s funny how things can turn out for the better,
even from your wildest dreams. We traveled in Korea
and to the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore,
China—twice—and to Japan. But the trips weren’t
as meaningful as I had imagined. We learned the
Korean alphabet and could read signs, which helped,
but we hardly learned the language. We had adven-
tures in Daejeon, but the city offered more chal-
lenges than sights.
I was right about something. Before we left home,
I remember saying that after two weeks in Korea we’d
be wondering what the heck we were doing there.
That turned out to be true. And then I’d said that
when it was time to leave, we’d be asking: “Where did
the time go?” That was true, too. In my last journal
entry of the trip, I wrote: “Of course, we’re excited
about going home, but part of us will stay behind at this
warm and caring school.”
Presbyterian and Methodist missionaries have
been in Korea since the 19th century; the Southern
Baptists arrived immediately after the Korean War,
when several other denominations also sent smaller
missions. In Daejeon (formerly “Taejon”), which is lo-
cated in the center of South Korea, the Presbyterians,
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN 23
the Baptists, and the Methodists bought land and built
their missionary enclaves side-by-side. There, they cre-
ated their western (predominately American) world,
raised their families, and withdrew from their work
among the Koreans. In 1958, they founded “Taejon
Foreign School.” Its purpose was then, and remains so
today, to educate foreign students through high school
in a Christian environment. The “foreign”
students in those early days were primarily
mission kids.
In 1960, the trustees changed the name
of the school to “Korea Christian Academy.”
The teachers were almost all missionaries,
appointed and paid by their U.S. mission
boards. It was a very small school with
fewer than 100 students until the 1990s—
but by then things had begun to change
dramatically. What had been the missionary
“family” school was disappearing, due to
external forces. With the growth of Christianity in
Korea, the missions were redeploying their efforts to
other parts of the world. Korea itself had trans-
formed. The war-torn, impoverished country of the
1950s had risen from its agrarian roots into an indus-
trialized economic engine. Daejeon was emerging as
the country’s science center. And the environment
around the school was changing from rice fields to a
densely populated urban area. In 1992, the trustees
changed the name of the school again—to “Taejon
Christian International School.” By the mid-1990s,
the students were predominantly ethnic Koreans who
either held foreign passports or who had lived out-
side the country. The school was also “hiring” its
teachers and paying them. Now TCIS is a school of
more than 600 students, grades K-12. It is no longer a
western enclave removed from the world around it.
Instead, it seems to me, it carries on the missionary
work of its founders.
As liberal New Englanders, Jennifer and I were
skeptical about this Christian school at first. Mission-
aries to us were just historical figures. But we said to
ourselves that the spirituality of the school didn’t
matter. We were at TCIS to take a break, to “peek into
the tent,” so to speak, to use the school as a base for
our East Asian exploration, and to help with a project.
(I had agreed to counsel the school on a plan to estab-
lish a fund-raising program and to offer some ideas
for the school’s 50th anniversary in 2008.) So what if
every meal, and every bus trip, and every meeting
started with a prayer? Devotions and Bible study?
Whatever. They didn’t matter to us—or so we thought
those first few days.
But kindness did matter right from the start. The
Penlands, the Nelsons, the Suhses, the Wilders, the
PHO
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OSE
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Suwon
DaejeonY E L L O WS E A E A S T
S E A
SEOUL
SOUTH KOREA
NORTH KOREA
JAPAN
DaeguPohang
Busan
Ulsan
Incheon Ullung-do
YosuMokpo
Gyeongju
Jeju-do
K O R E A S T R A I T
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C O M M U N I T Y M E M B E R S G E T A W O R L D V I E WGlobal outreach
Jen Gould and kimchee pots nearTCIS. TCIS islocated in Daejeon.
Moimois, the Woods, the Levretses, Brian, Lee, Callie,
Becca, Mike, Jeff, Darren, and so many others em-
braced us. Boarding schools are warm nests for those
who stay for several years; but often the old-timers
don’t even bother to get to know those who just pass
through like us. TCIS was different. We thought we un-
derstood the reasons why. We were novelties, grandpar-
ent-types, and a long way from home in a strange land
like so many of the teachers. But then, how do you ex-
plain the warmth of Ms. Nam, Ms. In, Mr. Choi, Ms.
Lee, Ms. Kim, Ms. Bang, and so many others?
I enjoy Chapel at St. George’s. I listen most of the
time, and some things I hear I believe and some
things I don’t. But the pause in my week is always
welcome because the hymns, the readings, the ser-
mon and the environment help me refocus on what’s
important in life. So as I sat in on my first TCIS ad-
ministrative meeting somewhat aghast at the time
being spent on team building from a Christian per-
spective, I found myself thinking about how I could
do better with some of my colleagues at St. George’s.
That was just the beginning. Each day thereafter
throughout our stay, I’d use those many pauses for
prayers as moments to reflect and refocus. Perhaps, I
was praying too.
At the TCIS graduation near the end of our stay,
speaker Bryan Munson, a gifted English teacher, spoke
about “serendipity.” Quoting from Wikipedia, Bryan
told us that “serendipity is the effect by which one ac-
cidentally discovers something fortunate, especially
while looking for something else entirely.” Jennifer and
I spent many of our last days at TCIS talking about
our experience. We thought we had come simply to
have a home base for our East Asian travels. What had
really drawn us to TCIS, in Daejeon, South
Korea, for our sabbatical? We’d been asked the
question so many times by family and friends
that we’d wondered ourselves why we were
there. Was it just serendipity?
On our last Sunday, we took a long walk
along the river. It was a warm, sunny day and
we talked every step of the way. We were en-
gaged and in sync, almost as one, but I had the
feeling that we were not alone, as we tried to
put our sabbatical in perspective. Though we’d
loved the travel, it seemed then, and even now,
to be superficial. The essense of the experience had
been the school, its people, and its spirituality.
Serendipity, perhaps. But on that Sunday, at least, we
let go of our skepticism and … we believed.
Joe Gould is St. George’s assistant head of school for external affairs. He can be reached at
Joe_Gould@stgeorges.edu.
Top: Joe and Jennmake time to shop at Jagalchi Market in Busan. Above: Field of rape along the Yudeungcheon River in Daejeon.
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN 25
C O M M U N I T Y M E M B E R S G E T A W O R L D V I E W
A St. George’s history teacher travels toChinese International School in Hong Kong
Transported
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LUC
EY
BY LUCIA JACCACI
Following is a chapel talk delivered on Oct. 23. Ms. Jaccaci was introducing Mr. Leon Kandelaars, a humanities teacher from the Chinese InternationalSchool in Hong Kong who visited St. George’s for twoweeks in the fall.
It is with great pleasure that I introduce Mr. Kan-delaars and speak to you a bit about my experience in
the SG-CIS faculty exchange program. Asmany of you know, I traveled to CIS lastspring as part of an ongoing teacher ex-change that began two years ago when
Mr. Lewis went to Hong Kong and continued last fallwhen Dr. Hakim visited the Hilltop. The exchange isan invaluable chance for the two schools to learn fromone another, as on the surface the schools are ex-tremely different: While SG is a boarding high schoolof 350 students overlooking scenic Second Beach, CISis a large day school of 1,300 students, ranging from
Pre-K to Year 13 in the urban landscape of HongKong. And while SG follows an AP curriculum basedin the English language; CIS participates in the Inter-national Baccalaureate Program with a bilingual Eng-lish and Mandarin curriculum.
Mr. Leon Kandelaars, a member of the CIS Hu-manities department where he teaches economics andhistory classes, went particularly out of his way lastspring to welcome me to both China and his school.He gave me a memorable heritage history walkaround Hong Kong and allowed me to observe manyof his classes. I am forever indebted to him for hiskindness and the hospitality he showed me on my tripto his school.
For those of you who haven’t had the opportunityto meet Mr. Kandelaars yet, let me tell you a fewthings about this interesting and well-traveled man.His family is originally from Holland and they immi-grated to southern Australia, where he grew up withhis parents and three brothers in Adelaide. Like manyAussies, Mr. Kandelaars is a world traveler and has ex-
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN26
C O M M U N I T Y M E M B E R S G E T A W O R L D V I E WGlobal outreach
plored many corners of the globe, including travelingaround the states more than many of us in this room.He first started his career in international educationteaching in an international school in Frankfurt, Ger-many, before moving to Hong Kong 11 years ago tostart working at CIS. He and his wife, Eva, also haverecently bought a farmhouse in France that they arerenovating, so they spend good chunks of every sum-mer in Europe. To put it simply, Mr. Kandelaars is aman of the world.
And me, on the other hand, well, I am made ofless adventuresome fabric. Me? I am a woman of …Aquidneck Island, Yes, it is true—I am a townie. Bornand raised in Newport, it was not until my 10th gradeyear that I left Newport for any extended time— toattend boarding school in that far away land of Mas-sachusetts.
But, never fear, I returned to Rhode Island forcollege, and then after a brief stint of living inWyoming and Massachusetts again, I moved back toAquidneck Island 12 years ago. It turns out, however,that the decision to attend boarding school was a for-tuitous one for me. During this informative time, Iwas exposed to people from all over the world, and asmany of you now know from Mrs. Lewis’ clever fac-ulty crossword game from the first seated dinner, thisis also when I met Mr. Jaccaci. And, it has been as aresult of my relationship with him that I have traveledthrough much of Europe and different parts of Asia.Without him by my side continually pushing me outof my own comfort zone, I truly do not know if I everwould have witnessed the running of the bulls inPamplona, camped out overnight on a tower of theGreat Wall, or taken a particularly memorable 24-hour bus ride from Prague to London.
In retrospect, though, the decision to go toboarding school was, at the time, an extremely harddecision—to leave my friends, classmates and familyall behind. I still remember tears filling in my eyes as Iwatched my parents’ pull out of my dorm driveway,leaving me there waaaaaay up in the hinterland ofMassachusetts. But in the end, leaving my comfortzone of Aquidneck Island was ultimately rewarding inmore ways than I ever could have imagined. Similarly,last March, I was somewhat nervous for my trip toHong Kong and CIS. While the thought of immersingmyself in another school halfway around the worldhad seemed romantic and fun when I applied for theexchange, the actual reality of the experience sunk inas I said goodbye to my family and boarded the air-plane alone. What had I gotten myself into? I won-
dered. Why was I leaving comfortable and familiarNewport and my spring break behind to do this?What would I really gain from the experience? And,finally, would my three boys all survive the “two-weekboy party” that Mr. J was promising them would hap-pen once Mom left town?
Very quickly upon arriving in Hong Kong, myfears were allayed (much of which was due to the hos-pitality of Mr. Kandelaars and Dr. Hakim). And, al-though the schools on the surface were quitedifferent, the longer I was there I started to see moreof the similarities instead of the differences. Bothschools were filled with bright and motivated stu-dents and dedicated, committed and interesting fac-ulty. I learned so much from the CIS faculty aboutinternational education and the baccalaureate pro-gram, Chinese history and culture, and the complexrelationship between Hong Kong island and themainland Chinese government. Mr. Lewis had oncesaid this exchange was the best professional develop-ment experience of his life and after an inspiring twoweeks at CIS, I couldn’t agree more.
As teachers, I think it is important that we modelfor students what we hope for them to do. While thissounds great in theory, at times the reality can be quitehard. For instance, when Ms. Lonergan suggested somefaculty grow their hair for Locks for Love in solidaritywith the students, in theory it sounded great. The real-ity of Ms. Ducharme chopping my hair off with a bigpair of office scissors in front of the school—terrifying!Teachers are continually encouraging students to ex-pand their horizons and engage themselves with thelarger global community—to get out in the world byparticipating in international exchanges, doing globalcommunity service work or considering study abroad.As New York Times columnist and author ThomasFriedman has argued, our world has become increas-ingly flat and it is crucial that today’s students recog-nize the new realities of our increasingly global world.The CIS-SG faculty exchange is just one small way thatour schools and our faculties are embracing this newreality and are dedicating ourselves to learning fromone another and to sharing our enthusiasm for teach-ing. I personally have learned much from Mr. Kande-laars and look forward to continuing the partnershipbetween our two schools, and even more importantly,our friendship in the years to come.
Lucia Jaccaci is a history teacher at St. George’s. Shecan be reached at Lucia_Jaccaci@stgeorges.edu.
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN 27
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People of the world
People of the world
28 ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
BY LEON KANDELAARS
Following is a chapel talk delivered on Oct. 23.
Some years ago, my wife and I visited theZambesi in southern Africa, one of the great rivers of
the world. As the sun was setting oneevening, we cruised downstream on asmall flat-bottom boat with our guide andanother couple, university academics
from North Carolina. Keeping a safe distance fromthe hippos, we exchanged the usual pleasantries. A
lovely inquisitive couple, they asked many questions,as we did of them. The conversation went somethinglike this.
“Where do you come from?”“We live in Hong Kong.”“But you’re not Chinese, so where do you come
from originally?”“We’re from Australia.”“But your wife has a different accent!”“She was born in Poland, I was born in Australia,
but my parents migrated to Australia from Holland.”“Do you have children?”
C O M M U N I T Y M E M B E R S G E T A W O R L D V I E WGlobal outreach
29ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
“Yes, a daughter.”“And where was she born?”“Germany.”After hearing this complicated introduction, the
professor then made a comment, “Doesn’t anyonejust come from Wisconsin these days?”
This reminded me of a similar question I asked ofa student at Frankfurt International School, where Ionce worked. He paused for a moment, not reallyknowing how to answer what I thought was a simplequestion: “Ben, where do you come from?” In aFrench accent, he said that his mother was English,his father was Dutch, and that the family had movedto Germany after spending most of his life in France.He spoke French to his English mother and English tohis Dutch father. Sociologists would identify him as a“third-culture kid,” a child who has spent a significantpart of his or her developmental years outside theparents’ culture, does not entirely fit into the host cul-ture, and does not have full ownership of any. This isthe world of international schools, where there maybe as many as 50 nationalities or more. The studentsat Chinese International School are not quite as di-verse as that, but the faculty at CIS is truly interna-tional. We have teachers from Britain, Ireland, theU.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines,India, Switzerland, France, Finland, Hungary, Russia,South Africa, and of course from China, Taiwan andHong Kong itself. The students themselves are mainlyHK Chinese and most are fluent in English and Can-tonese, and all must learn Mandarin as part of thecurriculum. On the whole, they speak English withAmerican accents and aspire to go to college in theUnited States, Britain, Canada and elsewhere. Only 10percent remain in Hong Kong itself to do furtherstudy. They are fluent in two languages and oftenthree. They put me to shame. I would also describethem as being bicultural, something they take forgranted. They move seamlessly from one culture toanother—and they are oblivious to it. There is sometruth to the hackneyed phrase ‘East meets West.’
Every year I take a group of students on a culturalheritage tour of Hong Kong. Dwarfed by the skyscrap-ers of Central Hong Kong is Man Mo Temple, a seem-ingly chaotic place of worship far removed from thequiet reverence of a Christian chapel like this. Thosewho practice Taoism often come here to pray before
the altar of the God of Literature, especially hopefulstudents preparing for exams. The elegant brass deeron the altar, which has a mushroom in its mouth, sym-bolizes immortality because deer are the only animalsthat can sniff out the fungi of the immortality. The de-scending lines of green roof tiles on the temple aremade to look like shafts of bamboo, symbolizinglongevity. Two lions cast from stone guard the entranceof the temple. These are enduring symbols of a culturethat predates anything found in Western civilization. Inmany villages of the New Territories, shrines to theEarth God still guard over the inhabitants, and the an-cestral hall is still the focus of village life. During theHungry Ghost Festival, it is a common sight to seeshopkeepers burning fake money in the streets to ap-pease wandering ghosts from the underworld. At CISitself a couple of weeks ago, we celebrated the Mid-Au-tumn Festival, another ancient Chinese custom.
No matter how much I appreciate the culture,and want to learn about it, I will always be looking infrom the outside. Living 12 years abroad, I sometimesfeel like a third-culture kid. When I visit my home-town of Adelaide in Australia, it feels very familiarand yet alien at the same time. I have changed with-out noticing. Shared experiences with some people Iused to know are diminishing, and I have more incommon with friends who are on the internationalcircuit of teaching. My life is not better; I have simplytaken a different path. My wife and I sometimes argueabout what country not to live in. For our next post-ing, I would like to stay in Asia, she would like to re-turn to Europe, but we may well compromise ongoing to a country in Africa. I have always loved his-tory, and my experience abroad has given me a fasci-nation with how countries see themselves and howthey acknowledge their past.
Hong Kong is going through an interesting transi-tion right now. Signifying the final chapter of colonial-ism, it is now 10 years since Britain returned HongKong’s sovereignty to China. Under what late Chineseleader Deng Xiaoping dubbed “one country, two sys-tems,” Hong Kong embarked upon the experiment ofthe 21st century—capitalism under the world’s biggestcommunist regime. The rule of the law and the inde-pendence of the judiciary, which are so vital to HongKong’s success, are being upheld. Essential rights andfreedoms are being protected, and challenges to them
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fully and freely debated. However, they are not guaran-teed. It caused me to worry when I heard one of HongKong’s legislators say that history textbooks for schoolstudents should be vetted for patriotic content, espe-cially in content related to the Tiananmen Square inci-dent of 1989. It would be unpatriotic to call it amassacre. Fortunately, there was a huge outcry. TheCommunist Party is in power in China, but no one hasyet dared to write the obituary of communism. Newschool textbooks were introduced in Shanghai last yearand there is barely any mention of the disastrous effectsof the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.Mao for that matter is barely mentioned. What mattersnow is to sow a nation taking its rightful place in theworld. No country has changed as much as China in thelast generation. You only have to look at the city ofShenzhen just across the border from Hong Kong.Twenty-five years ago it was a sleepy town of 30,000. Asone of the original free economic zones of China, it hasnow grown into a mega-city of 10 million people.
History does matter, or why would so many gov-ernments try to change it? China has company in thedemocratic country of Japan. Starting in the 1980s, asconservative politicians have tried to restore pride andpatriotism in Japan, revisionists have become alarmedby what they perceive to be “foreign interference” intoJapan’s domestic issues such as textbook revisions.Failing to convince the horrified Chinese that theNanjing Massacre of 1937 was simply an “illusion,”they have shifted their attacks to the numbers of thoseactually “massacred.” What they would like to achieve,ultimately, is to remove a major blemish in Japan’s re-cent past. Australia also is still coming to terms withits past. It has been debated several times whether, as asign of national reconciliation, the Australian govern-ment should apologize to the “stolen generation” ofaboriginals who were taken from their parents to livewith white foster parents. This happened as late as the1960s. Massacres of aboriginals still took place in the20th century, and I never learned about them in schooltextbooks. Fortunately, that has now changed.
William Faulkner wrote, “The past isn’t dead; it’snot even past.” This was very apparent to my wife andI as we took the road less traveled in the Deep South.At the tourist information center in Charleston, wecame across two groups of Americans searching for avery different past. Instead of doing the Fort Sumtertour, where black faces were conspicuously absent, we
joined the black history tour of Charleston. We wereeyed suspiciously at first by the driver of the van whowas also the guide, but she eventually warmed up tous when she discovered that we were not American.The rest of the group was delightful from the begin-ning. Most were seeking their own heritage, and wediscovered that one island off the coast processedone-third of all American slaves. This was the Ellis Is-land of African Americans. On another occasion, Idragged my wife along, yet again, on another journeyof American memory that included a visit to Gettys-burg. I had just finished reading a book from DavidHorowitz called “Confederates in the Attic, Dispatchesfrom the Unfinished Civil War.” Wheeling down thesteep slope from Little Round Top, in the steps of theMain Regiment, we came across three guys, who onfirst appearance looked a little rough with their heav-ily tattooed arms. However, they were impeccably po-lite and, in order to greet us, one of them interruptedhis Herodotus-like epic account of the battle that hadraged there. He had finished wrapping his tonguearound the names of rebel generals like Braxton Braggand Juba Early. Shelby Foote, a historian from Ten-nessee, once said laconically: “Southerners are verystrange about that war.” History can be as much aboutthe present as it is about the past.
I am very impressed by attempts in the UnitedStates to keep a faithful record of the past. This lastsummer I did a teacher’s workshop at the NationalArchives in Washington, D.C., where I did research onPresident Nixon’s visit to China in 1972. Apart fromthe strict security arrangements, I had access to nearlyany document that I wanted to see. I read memos sentby Kissinger to the President, signed by Kissinger andannotated and underlined by Nixon. These were ac-tual documents, all stamped “secret” but now declas-sified. Unlike the Watergate tapes, these were alwaysintended to be part of the public record one day. Andit is open to all—even non-American citizens like my-self. However, such privileges should never be takenfor granted.
On public display at the National Archives, I sawthe Declaration of Independence, an inspirationaldocument that has become part of American scrip-ture. But is it enough to treat as sacred text? I remem-ber when Bob Woodward was interviewed on “60Minutes” about the 20th anniversary of PresidentNixon’s resignation in disgrace following the Water-
C O M M U N I T Y M E M B E R S G E T A W O R L D V I E W
Another faculty trip to
Korea, China and possibly
Japan is planned
for this June, and
to prepare, teach-
ers are taking part
in a monthly reading group.
Director of Global Pro-
grams Tony Jaccaci has chosenseveral books for the group to
read, preparing several of the
members for what will be their
first trip to the East.
On the list so far: “Confu-
cius Lives Next Door,” by T.R.
Reid, “Lost Names,” by Richard
E. Kim, and “The Death of
Woman Wang,” by Jonathan D.
Spence.
Taking part in the trip this
year will be theater and English
teacher Betsy Durning, math
teachers Linda Evans and War-ren Williams, biology teacherHolly Williams, Dean of Fac-ulty and English teacher BobWeston, history and religiousstudies teacher Jeremy Gold-stein, and Art Department
Chair Mike Hansel. The grouphas been meeting since Octo-
ber. Look for a report on their
trip in the next winter Bulletin.
Faculty members will again head to the East
31ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
gate scandal. Prodding him, the interviewer askedWoodward, “You knew that many of the top executivesat the Washington Post thought that Watergate in itsearly reporting was insignificant, a non-story, but onethat potentially could have caused severe embarrass-ment for the newspaper. And yet you pursed it. Why?”
I remember Woodward’s steady and deliberate reply:“All good work is done in defiance of management.”
Put into context, Woodward’s comment suggeststhat it takes courage and conviction to ignore popularopinion in seeking the truth. In that same interview,he warned that democracy will always be a work inprogress and that you should never take it for granted.
Watergate was the culmination of enormous tur-moil in American history. From an outsider’s per-spective, I sense that the United States is goingthrough another major re-evaluation of its values,what it represents to the rest of the world and whatrole it should play in the post 9/11 world. Frankly, Iwas disturbed by the mood that I witnessed in personat a rally being held at Ground Zero in New York onthe day that American troops entered Baghdad. Thiswas the time when French fries were being namedFreedom fries. That mood seems to have shifted since.It is interesting how many times I have been asked atSt. George’s about how Americans are perceived inthe rest of the world. I can only give my opinion, butif St. George’s were a microcosm of American society,it would be outward looking, tolerant of diversity,and not afraid to disagree.
In closing, I would like to thank St. George’s forits generosity. Dr. (Dorothy) Hakim said that the peo-ple here would really look after me, but honestly thishas exceeded my expectations. I know now why Dr.Hakim still raves about St. George’s. I too will havevery fond memories of my experience here. Thankyou to all the people who have taken me out to din-ner nearly every night, even if you said that it was agood excuse to get off the Hilltop. I would like to givea special thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Jaccaci who wel-comed me so openly and smoothed the way everyday. And this was perhaps the biggest act of kindnessextended to me: I was not forced to choose betweenthe Red Sox and the Yankees.
Leon Kandelaars is a humanities teacher at the
Chinese International School in Hong Kong. He can
be reached at LeonK@CIS.edu.hk.
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Director of Global Programs Tony Jaccaci (back row, right) will lead a group of 10 students and three teachers on a research trip to Ugandain March. Pictured here are (in the front row) seniors Tori Hensel, Matt Bakios, Alex Merchant and Sofia Covarrubias, (in the middle row)Sasha Munn, Sophie Goodwin, Alia Eads, Alex Regan and Kathryn Connor, and (in the back row) faculty members Kevin Held and CarrieKelly. Missing from the photograph is student Will O’Connor ’08, who will also make the trip.
Students, teachers prepare for trip to Uganda
32 ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
Ten students in Tony Jaccaci’s Global Seminar
class and four teachers will be leaving school on
Thursday, March 4, for a 12-day trip to
Uganda.
Students will use the research tools
they have studied—including economic, political
and conflict resolution analysis—to pursue per-
sonal research projects. The group will begin its
travels in Kampala and spend a week conducting
research primarily in the Nakasongola province.
The group will then travel to Murchison Falls to
see some of the country’s parks. The 10 students
will be accompanied by four teachers, two of
whom (Kevin Held, head of the Department of
Theater, Speech & Dance, and Assistant Librarian
Carrie Kelly) have been auditing the course since
September. During the last two months of the
school year, the students will combine their
research projects into a class report on Ugandan
development, Jaccaci said.
C O M M U N I T Y M E M B E R S G E T A W O R L D V I E WGlobal outreach
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visitors from the United States.
“They greet you and they all want to tell you
their names,” Halsey said, “and they proudly
showed us around the orphanage and the school
that is part of it.”
At the orphanage, the children ate mostly rice,
beans and corn, porridge for breakfast, and “lots of
bananas,” according to Halsey. Days were spent
teaching the children English, working on reading
and writing, sharing meals, and playing.
The Landons brought lots of items to donate—
clothes, books, art supplies and sports
equipment—and the children played loads of soc-
cer (which they were very good at) and many games.
The center hopes to expand in the near future,
and build new school facilities, all of which Halsey
said he’d like to help with. A member of SG’s Com-
munity Service Council, he hopes to organize fund
raising for the center back here at home.
Nonetheless, he remains committed to staying
connected to his new friends, all of whom he thinks
about often.
One of the African boys at the center named
Lowie, 7, gave Halsey a Christmas card with a
Polaroid photo of the two of them on the front.
“You get really close to them,” Halsey said.
“They were amazing.”
Landon family spendsthe holidaysvolunteering in Africa
Halsey Landon ’09 reads to Christopher and Joshua at the Living Waters Children’sCenter in Tanzania. Halsey and his family spent two weeks in Africa volunteering atthe orphanage.
33ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
It was a different kind of holiday break for
the Landon family.
Halsey Landon ’09, his mom Jennifer, his
dad Russ and his 15-year-old sister Chelsea
spent two weeks volunteering at the Living
Waters Children’s Center—an orphanage in
Arusha, Tanzania, in December.
The trip was organized by an international
volunteer organization based in Louisiana, and
the family members say it was a particularly
rewarding experience.
The Landons spent most of the trip living
with a host family who started Living Waters in
2004. There were 35 children at the orphanage,
many of whom had been abandoned due to
poverty or who had parents who had died from
diseases sich as malaria or complications from
AIDS. The children ranged in age from 4 to 14
and came from different parts of Tanzania and
Kenya, many from local tribes like the Masai.
Every child had a sad story as to why he or she
was there, but all were very happy to be at the
center and always supportive of each other as
though they were one big family.
Halsey said he intends to keep in touch
with several of the boys, who told poignant
stories of family hardships and illness. One
boy, a Masai, had been severely injured and
landed in the orphanage because the commu-
nity felt it wouldn’t be able to care for him.
It was Halsey’s first trip to Africa. The
family left from Boston, flew through Amster-
dam and arrived in Nairobi, Kenya. The first
part of their trip took them to the David
Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, where they adopted
four elephants. This is an organization that
rescues injured elephants and rhinos that have
been abandoned by their herds.
Then they traveled from Nairobi to Arusha
on a long seven-hour bus ride.
When they arrived at Living Waters, Halsey
said, the children were overjoyed to receive
C O M M U N I T Y M E M B E R S G E T A W O R L D V I E W
BY LAUREN O’HALLORAN ’10
Following is a journal entry written aboard Geronimo during the Fall 2007 trip.
When I was first accepted into the Geronimo pro-
gram I was slightly apprehensive about the voyage.
My grandmother had passed away from pancreatic
cancer over the winter when I had finally adjusted to
school. My family and I like to remember her for the
accomplished life she led as a school teacher and the
dedicated wife, mother, grandmother, friend, and role
model she was to each of us. The savory linguini and
clam sauce on Christmas Eve and the soft jingle of her
gold bracelets on her aged and sturdy wrist are just
fractions of my favorite memories of my grand-
Lauren O’Halloran’10, Anna Schroeder’09, Allie Barrows’10 and GeronimoSecond Mate RachelBahm make a stopat a local schoolduring the Fall 2007Geronimo trip.
There in spirit
34 ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
N E W S F R O M G E R O N I M OOn board
While the boat wasin drydock, the fallGeronimo crewstopped for a photoat St. George Episco-pal Church inFlorida. Picturedabove: Tutti Davis’09, Lauren O’Hal-loran ’10, ThomasGrowney ’09, AnnaSchroeder ’09, Maddie Carrellas’09, Allie Barrows’10, Second MateRachel Bahm, NontJiarathanakul ’10,and First Mate PaulBostrum.
35ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
mother. She was a strong woman who never gave in
without a fight.
My grandfather, Tony, as my sisters and I call him,
loves to lounge poolside reading and reflecting after
long days without my grandmother. Being together
for nearly their whole lives, this transition has been
extremely painful and slow. As a family, we try to
bring back her spunky stubbornness in everything we
do, but nothing can ever replace the reality of spend-
ing moments with her in person. Memories are all
that we can hold onto and use to connect to her.
Sometimes, we try connecting with that person on a
more spiritual level through a message or reminder of
some sort. These reminders can come in the form of
your favorite sports team winning a title or the occa-
sional surprising coincidence. Coincidences like these
remind you that although that person isn’t there in
the flesh with you, they are still there in spirit, guiding
and supporting you in any way they can.
The sun began to set on a hazy June evening as
my grandfather rounded the leaf-scattered pool for
the last time before he returned back into the house.
He heard a small rustle in a nearby tree and at first
glance the tiny sound revealed nothing more than a
soft breeze whistling through the lush, green leaves. At
second glance, however, a small grey-feathered bird
darted across the branch. Tony thought nothing of it
until the same bird perched on the fence returned
each day for the rest of the summer. It never made a
noise, and always came alone, just puffed its pepper-
colored wings and darted its gaze around the yard. As
the weeks of the summer slowly passed, the bird still
came every morning and left every evening without
fail. My grandfather began to rely on that bird and he
waited for its visit each day. Watching it, he came to
be familiar with the bird and its mannerisms. He
began to be convinced that it was my grandmother
there to watch over him and our family. That summer
we planted a tree in her honor. The bird, sure enough,
found its perch on that tree. Ever since, I have had the
feeling that no matter what we do in life someone we
trust and love will always be there to watch over and
guide us through both the worst and best of times.
The Geronimo experience is a rare and extremely
unique one that can be, at times, an overwhelming
and difficult one. Family, to me is something that I
thrive on and value greatly. On Geronimo you are
separated from your biological family, and living in
such close quarters with the other seven members of
the crew, you are forced to gain a new family as well.
When my grandmother died, it was something that I
have never really experienced before and I miss her
more and more every day. When that bird arrived at
the pool it was truly something special to my entire
family. It stood as a symbol that we are never alone.
During our first sailing leg, the longest leg of our
journey to the Bahamas, from Block Island, R.I., to
Beaufort, N.C., my watch mates, Thomas (Growney)
and Maddie (Carrellas), became extremely seasick.
Their sickness forced me to be a one-person watch. I
had to be at the helm, plot positions, and cook our
meals single-handedly. They were my family during
this long period and without them I was struggling to
get through each day. With no one to talk to, I began
to think about other things such as my family at
home. At that point, my energy and will to keep push-
ing on and through was slowly dwindling, until one
afternoon while at the helm I spotted a small bird
struggling to fly. We were out in the open ocean at this
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point and the bird was in need of rest. However, the
bird was reluctant to reach for the boat and it contin-
ued to try to fly on. Finally, it gave in and found a
perch on the stern of the boat. I thought nothing of it
at first until I returned later that evening to find the
bird still perched in the same spot. It immediately be-
came apparent to me that this bird possessed the same
persona as my grandmother. The night air was crisp
and the stars were shining brightly against the clear
night sky as I proceeded to feed it trail mix and set out
a bowl of water. Its presence reminded me of my
grandmother’s strong will and courage to push
through. I now know that no matter where I am and
whatever obstacles and struggles may try to slow me
Third-, fourth- and fifth-form students now
have another opportunity to take part in the Geron-
imo program. A four-week course on
board the boat will be offered this sum-
mer from June 16 to July 14.
Upon successful completion of the
course, stu-
dents will be
granted ¼ ac-
ademic
credit—the
equivalent of
a half of a se-
mester-long
course taken
during the
regular school
year. Topics
covered will
include
oceanography,
marine biol-
ogy, marine
geology, mete-
orology, navigation and seamanship.
“We’re always asking ourselves, ‘How can we
get more kids on the water?’” said Geronimo Cap-
tain Deborah Hayes. “Being out on the water builds
character and perspective.”
Oftentimes, Hayes added, students become
stewards for the environment after they travel on
the ocean. “They’ll say, ‘Look at all that plastic
floating by,’” she said.
The audience for the summer trip will be stu-
dents who shy away from the regular school-year
trips because of other commitments, such as three-
sport athletes and students who are in AP classes,
according to
Hayes.
During
the trip, stu-
dents will
travel in west-
ern North At-
lantic and
coastal wa-
ters, with the
specific cruise
track deter-
mined by re-
search needs.
Applications
are available
through the
Geronimo of-
fice and students will pay only for the cost of travel
to and from the vessel and $150 to cover inciden-
tals.
The trip will be run as a pilot program this
year, with the hope that it may be run on an annual
basis in the future, Hayes said.
Geronimo of fers new summer program
N E W S F R O M G E R O N I M OOn board
36 ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
down, I am never alone. I will never forget this
moment in my life and it will stand as a reminder to
anyone who is in need of a friend or the will to push
through that someone is always looking out for you.
Lauren O’Halloran is a fourth former from Middletown, R.I. She can be reached at
Lauren_O’Halloran@stgeorges.edu.
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Above: Tori Hensel ’08 prepares a meal in the galleyfor the crew of Geronimo during a trip last summer.Right: Captain Deborah Hayes at the helm.
N E W S F R O M G E R O N I M O
37ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
Twelve students and
two teachers
headed to Hamp-
ton, N.H., on Jan. 8 to “get out
the vote” for Barack Obama. Members of the group, an official chap-
ter of the national Students for Barack Obama called “SG for Barack
Obama ’08,” went door-to-door to visit voters, made phone calls or
held signs outside polling places.
Senior Prefect Alex Merchant, who’s been on Obama e-mail lists
since last June, arranged the trip.
“I really liked his speech at the Democratic National Conven-
tion, and after reading about the sort of pragmatic way he handled
things both in the Illinois legislature and the U.S. Senate, that pretty
much sealed the deal,” he said of his decision to support the Demo-
cratic presidential candidate. “I think my support of him has really
been confirmed in the readings I have done about his trade and
economic philosophy, especially when contrasted with Edwards
or Clinton.
Accompanying Merchant on the New Hampshire visit were stu-
dents Lindsay Beck, Stockton Bullitt, Kathryn Connor, Luke Erder, Eileen FitzGerald, Tori Hensel,Nick Kiersted, Will Mason, Anna McConnell, Alex Merchant, West Resendes and Lela Wulsin and
faculty members Patricia Lothrop and Kevin Held.Merchant has high hopes for his candidate, even though he lost narrowly to fellow Democrat
Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary.
“His large support from
Independents and Republi-
cans both in Iowa and New
Hampshire bodes well both
for the election and if he be-
comes president,” he said.
SG for Barack Obama ’08
started out as a Facebook
group this summer. Though
the campus has its share of
supporters for other candi-
dates, both Democrats and
Republicans, the Obama
group has been the most or-
ganized—so far.
Clockwise from the top left:Alex Merchant ’08 andstudents who worked on theObama campaign in NewHampshire were featured inthe Jan. 9 edition of theProvidence Journal; NickKiersted ’09 and AnnaMcConnell ’09 show theirsupport at the polls; AnnaMcConnell ’09, KathrynConnor ’08, Tori Hensel ’08,Alex Merchant ’08, LukeErder ’10, Lela Wulsin ’10,Will Mason ’08, Nick Kier-sted ’09, Lindsay Beck ’09,West Resendes ’08 andStockton Bullitt ’08 on thebus ride to New Hampshire. PH
OTO
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FITZ
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S T U D E N T A C H I E V E M E N T SHighlights
38 ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
Laney Yang ’10 placed seventh out of 50 studentviolinists vying for a spot in the Rhode Island All-
State Youth Orchestra during a competition at Rhode
Island College in November. Yang played some Bach
and Brahms, as well as scales, during the audition.
She’ll now take center stage in some upcoming spring
performances.
Will Bruce ’08, Lauren Hilton ’10, Kinyette Hen-derson ’10 and Lara McLeod ’10 attended the StudentDiversity Leadership Conference in Boston, Mass.,
Nov. 29 through Dec. 1.
Hosted by the National Association of Independ-
ent Schools (NAIS), the Student Diversity Leadership
Conference is a multiracial, multicultural gathering of
student leaders in grades nine–12 from around the
country. It focuses on self-reflecting, forming allies,
and building community. Participants examine issues
of social justice, develop effective cross-cultural com-
munication skills, practice expression through the
arts, and learn networking principles and strategies.
Twenty-six students—one student from each his-
tory class—made it to the semifinal round of the All-
School Presidential Debate, which took place on Jan.
10, and six students made it to the finals. The semifi-
nalists were asked to take on the role of either one of
the Republican campaign frontrunners—Rudy
Giuliani, Mitt Romney, John McCain or Mike
Huckabee—or one of the Democratic frontrunners—
John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama or
Hillary Clinton.
“We tried to keep it as simple for the students
to prepare for as possible since they were gearing
up for mid-term exams in January,” said debate
organizer and History Department Chair Deb Foppert. “So we kept to a set number of Republi-
cans and Democrats and we picked those who
were front-runners at the time and/or those whom
the students had shown an interest in during their
preliminary rounds.”
Molly Boyd ’10, Hendrik Kits van Heyningen ’10,Paula Pimentel ’09, Alex Merchant ’08, Matt Bakios’08 and Selena Elmer ’08 emerged as victorious in the
second round.
The all-school debate, which usually takes place
just before Spring Break in March, was moved up this
year to take advantage of the heightened interest in
the national campaign.
The debate final is scheduled to be held Feb. 7.
Matt Bakios ’08,Morgan Beeson ’08,Clay Davis ’09 andLinda Lho ’08 participate in the semi-final round of the All-School Presidental Debate,which took place in January.
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S T U D E N T A C H I E V E M E N T S
39ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
DRESS DOWN DAY NEWS:Along with a successful Dress Down Day on Oct.
12, the girls’ varsity soccer team raised money for
KickAIDS, a group that educates Africans about HIV
and AIDS through the use of soccer, by hosting a
“Juggle-Off.”
The team challenged other girls’ soccer teams in
the ISL to a soccer skills contest, and four other teams
in the league and Governor’s Academy, Brooks,
BB&N and Lawrence Academy participated. The
teams began by averaging the number of juggles it
could complete in a 10-minute window at the begin-
ning of the season (a “juggle” counts as a touch on the
ball off the player’s body, except the hands, without
the ball touching the ground). The challenge then had
three categories: the most juggles, the largest number
of juggles improved from the beginning to the end of
the season, and the most money raised. CarolineRindlaub ’08 coordinated the SG team efforts. The
girls completed their challenge on Nov. 8, and the
results were fantastic, according to head coach Tony Jaccaci. The SG team registered 57 juggles on average,
a 26-touch improvement from the beginning of the
season, and in total, raised more than $1,800.
On Friday, Nov. 2, Will O’Connor ’08 helped or-ganize a Dress Down Day for the Potter League for
Animals, a local animal shelter. Several SG faculty
members received their pets from the shelter.
A Dress Down Day on Nov. 30 and individual
donations, as well as donations from the Board of
Trustees, helped raise hundreds of dollars for an
adolescent group home supported by Newport Child
& Family Services. “We were able to buy a wonderful
amount for the 12 young adults we ‘adopted,’” Assis-
tant Librarian Carrie Kelly told the community. The
money was used to purchase requested items such
as iPod Shuffles, a microwave, a bike, winter jackets,
hooded sweatshirts, socks, hats, gloves, and gift cards.
Kelsey Crowther ’08, Polly Murray ’10, Ann Wheeler’08, Katie McCormack ’11 and history teacher LuciaJaccaci helped organize the fund-raising efforts.
College Acceptances (as of Jan. 10)
Following is the list of colleges that have accepted SG seniors in either the early-admission or early-action process:
Early DecisionBarnard College - 1Bates College - 1
Boston University - 1Bucknell University - 2Columbia University - 1Connecticut College - 2Cornell University - 1Duke University - 1Elon University - 1
Gettysburg College - 1Hamilton College - 2
Johns Hopkins University - 1Lehigh University - 1
Mount Holyoke College - 1Skidmore College - 1
Stevens Institute of Technology - 1Trinity College - 1Tufts University - 1
University of Pennsylvania - 1University of Richmond - 1Vanderbilt University - 1Wake Forest University - 3Wesleyan University - 1Williams College - 1
Early ActionBabson College - 3Boston College - 1
College of Charleston - 5Cornell College - 1Drexel University - 1Elmira College - 1Elon University - 1
Fordham University - 1Franklin College Switzerland - 1
Georgetown University - 2Howard University - 1
Northeastern University - 3Roanoke College - 1
Southern Methodist University - 2Temple University - 1
Texas Christian University - 1Tulane University - 1
University of Chicago - 1University of Denver - 1University of Maine - 1
University of San Francisco - 1University of Vermont - 3Washington College - 1
University of Colorado at Boulder - 2University of Mississippi - 1
40 ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
S T U D E N T A C H I E V E M E N T SHighlights
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN 41
On Thursday, Dec. 13, the day before students left
on the holiday break, Sam Redway ’09, Sophie Good-win ’08 and Claire Kudenholdt ’10 helped organize aDress Down Day to raise money for the Schools for
Schools program, sponsored by the Invisible Children
organization, to generate funds for war-affected
schools in northern Uganda.
And on Friday, Jan. 11, a Dress Down Day was
held to raise money for Asociación SOLAC, a non-
profit organization founded by students of the Pontifi-
cia Universidad Católica del Perú that focuses on
social and economic development/improvement in
Lima as well as its surrounding areas. A devastating
earthquake in August struck 95 miles southeast of
Lima, killing 519 people and injuring more than
1,800. After the tragedy, SOLAC took on the task of
helping the smaller and harder to reach communities
on the outskirts of the city. Spanish teacher AnthonyPerry spearheaded the efforts for the Dress Down Day.
Sophie Goodwin ’08 attended the month-long
Spoleto Study Abroad program this past summer,
visiting cultural centers in Siena, Florence, Assisi,
Tivoli and other medieval hill towns in Central Italy.
The program, an international program co-spon-
sored by a consortium of independent American
schools, is for students, ages 15-19, interested in
vocal music, visual arts, photography, film and in-
strumental/chamber music.
Alex Layton ’09 was honored at a Rhode IslandMake-A-Wish event last fall for his decision to donate
the proceeds from his Fire Fly CD to the organization
that arranges special experiences for children with
life-threatening illnesses. Alex sold his CDs through
the St. George’s bookstore. Layton performed for a
large group that included Make-A-Wish board mem-
bers, supporters, Make-A-Wish children and friends
of the organization. He played cover songs, as well as
a few songs that he himself wrote last year.
The Mock Trial Team had their first trial Monday,
Dec. 3, at the Murray Courthouse in Newport. Acting
as lawyers were Sophie Goodwin ’08, Clay Davis ’09and Logan Hoover ’09. And acting as witnesses wereSophia Noel ’09, Si Min Yun ’09 and George Williams’09. The team argued the plaintiff ’s case and the pre-
siding judge was Judge Erickson, whose daughter
Althea graduated in 1998.
Sophie Goodwin ’08spent a month thispast summer studying art inCentral Italy.
S T U D E N T A C H I E V E M E N T S
PHOTO
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Lisa Hansel distributes sketchbooks to students in the architecture class.
PHOTO
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Bob Wein addresses his physics class.
ClassroomsL E A R N I N G O N — A N D O F F — T H E H I L L T O P
42 ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
PHOTO
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Hillary Wein ’11 studies in the library.
PHOTO
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Ed McGinnis uses an interactive whiteboard to teach his mathematics class. SMART Board technology is now available in most classrooms.
43ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
PHOTO
BYST
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Charlie Fleming ’09, a student in SteveLeslie’s marine biology class harvests saltmarsh seeds in the fall.
PHOTO
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CORNOG
Members of Gary Cornog’s English class, Novels and Tales of the Sea, visited the New Bedford Whaling Museum Nov. 8 for a presentationon “Moby Dick.” Pictured here are seniors Peter Miller, George Gebelein, Sean O’Brien, Whit Curtin, Chris Swanson, Chris Fogg, MichaelMiller, Ben Bainbridge, Ashley Friend, Bennett Geyer, Morgan Beeson and Juan Flores at the Seamen’s Bethel in New Bedford.
ClassroomsL E A R N I N G O N — A N D O F F — T H E H I L L T O P
44 ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
PHOTO
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Zhuo Lin Wang explains an assignmentto Lit Cao ’10 during Chinese class.
PHOTO
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Kathryn Lemay reviews the course syllabus with members of her photography class.
45ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
PHOTO
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Seniors Matt Bakios, Peter Johns,Kathryn Connor, Anna Mascarenhas and Ellie McDonaldreceive instructions for their assignment on “Beowulf ” fromAP English teacher Jeff Simpson.
PHOTO
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Students Tony Kim ’10, Si Yun ’09 and Alex Layton ’09 look on while chemistry teacher Pierre Yoo conducts an experiment.
ClassroomsL E A R N I N G O N — A N D O F F — T H E H I L L T O P
46 ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
Upcoming events and programs
For the winter musical, students will perform “Ok-
lahoma!” for the public and parents on March 1
at 7 p.m. and on March 2 at 2 p.m. Playing lead
roles will be: Alex Merchant (Curley), Will Bruce (Will
Parker), Will Mason (Jud Fry), Jason Andrews (Ali Hackim),
Peter Miller (Andrew Carnes), Ellie Myers (Laurey), Mar-garet Hawkins (Ado Annie), Allie Barrows (Aunt Eller),
Hailey Feldman (Gertie), and
Eileen FitzGerald (Dream
Laurey). Tickets may be re-
served by calling (401) 842-
6694 or e-mailing
boxoffice@stgeorges.edu. All
seats are reserved. The admis-
sion charge is $5 per person
to benefit Camp Ramleh.
On Sunday, March 9, 14
of our students will be partic-
ipating in the Academic De-
cathlon, a national scholastic
competition, at the Commu-
nity College of Rhode Island
in Warwick. Eliza Foster ’08,Diatre Padilla ’09, BrianLowry ’08, Johnny Norfleet’09, Justin Hoffmann ’09,
Sarah Harrison ’09, LoganHoover ’09, SiMin Yun ’09, Jenny Chung ’09, Laney Yang ’10,
Juan Flores ’08, SoYoon Jun ’09, Ellie Myers ’08 and LeighArcher ’09 will match their wits in 10 categories against
other high school students. The theme for the 2007–2008
season is The Civil War.
The Mobile, Ala., affiliate of Habitat for Humanity will
be getting another visit from St. George’s folks in March.
Thirty SG community members—10 teachers and 20
students—will be heading back to the area to help build
homes for residents displaced after Hurricane Katrina. The
group heads out March 9 and returns on the 15th. “We
worked with Mobile’s Habitat affiliate last year, and had a
great time, and they asked us to return, so we were happy to
be able to,” said English teacher Lucy Goldstein, who with
her husband Jeremy, a French and religious studies teacher,
organized the trip. The students will work 8-4 every week-
day, and at night they’ll be staying in a volunteer dorm
at a church.
Eleven SG students and several faculty members will
spend four days in Washington, D.C. this spring in a special
program designed to enhance their understanding of the
American political process.
The program, which will take place March 9-13, is being
funded by the William S. R. Rogers Endowment for Public
Policy Studies, an initiative of Jeff Kimbell ’89.“My professional career is a direct result of Mr. Rogers’
‘White House’ class,”
said Kimbell, owner
of Jeffrey J. Kimbell
and Associates, a fed-
eral affairs and politi-
cal strategy firm
specializing in med-
ical technology, de-
vice, and health care
legislation. “By establishing this endowment, I hope to en-
sure that graduates of St. George’s recognize the importance
of public policy in Washington, D.C.”
Details are still being worked out, but the program will
likely feature visits to the White House, the Capitol, a televi-
sion news channel station, a party headquarters and a lobby-
ing firm, plus “discussions with various leaders involved in
the myriad aspects of public life in our nation’s capital,” ac-
cording to Assistant Head of School for Academic Affairs
Pat Moss. Kimbell says he wants students to be able to experience
the effects of government on all businesses and industries.
“All U.S. citizens should understand how our representative
democracy truly operates and respect the unique brilliance of
such a system,” he said. “My hope is that through this endow-
ment, St. George’s students will share in a relevant policy ex-
perience and experience the excitement of Washington, D.C.”
Washington, D.C.
L E A R N I N G O N — A N D O F F — T H E H I L L T O PPH
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Dancers Stephanie Johnson’10, Elizabeth Bayne ’10and Oxy Nagornuka ’10prepare for the Marchperformances of “Oklahoma!,” this year’swinter musical.
47ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN48
Clockwise from top left: Lela Wulsin ’10 works on a charcoaldrawing in the arts center; Chase Uhlein ’08 completes a modelfor architecture class; Kate Woestemeyer ’09 finishes a drawingfor entry in the Scholastic Art Competition.
PHOTOS BY SUZANNE HADFIELD
C R E A T I V I T Y O N T H E H I L L T O PArts
The Rhode Island Scholastic Art Competition took place in January.Winners will be published in the nextNotes from the Hilltop newsletter.
Best of the arts
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN 49
Above: Matt Bakios ’08 gets a moment in the spotlightduring a solo performance on Parents Weekend.Below: Members of the SG Jazz Ensemble SoYoon Jun ’09,Elizabeth Bayne ’10, John Park ’09 and Esi Ozemebhoya’11, impress the crowd on Parents Weekend.
The school’s new Digital Lab at the Drury/Grosvenor Art Center is apopular place for graphic artists and video editors, includingChristina Haack ’09 and Nam Hee Kim ’09 (foreground), heads of aclub called Pulchritudo that puts together videos of St. George’s eventsto sell to the community. Here, Haack and Kim use iMovie to addmusic to video footage from Middlesex Weekend.
Apple-filled computer labattracts budding filmmakers,digital artists
C R E A T I V I T Y O N T H E H I L L T O P
Generous donations from the Edward E. and Marie L.
Matthews Foundation, the family foundation of Russ Matthews
’87, have made professional-quality video editing available to
students with a gift for movie-making. State-of-the-art video
cameras, Apple’s Final Cut Pro video editing software and a fleet
of G-5 computers with cinema-display monitors were all pur-
chased with awards from the foundation over the last three years.
Matthews says he’s glad to help students who are drawn to
the video medium. While at St. George’s, he did an independent
study with fellow student Peter Brown, now an actor.
“It was my first big exposure to creating something visual like
that,” Matthews said. But he learned quickly he was making a
video, a project they called “Our Movie,” without many resources.
Matthews, now a principal with MOR Entertainment in Los
Angeles, says he wanted to help today’s students get a better start
in the field. “I trace my filmmaking roots back to SG,” he said. He
also said he will never forget a comment from his faculty advisor,
Phil Dickinson. “He said that Peter and I recognized that we
didn’t have a God-given right to an audience—that we had to
make something worth people’s while.
“I still keep that in mind.”PHOTO
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The 2007 Alumni/ae Hockey Game took place on Sunday, Dec. 9, and the veterans, who faced off against the boys varsity squad, won in ashootout. The alumni team—Tim Ghriskey ’73, Jerry Kirby ’74, Tim Lineaweaver ’75, James O’Brien ’75, John Corcoran ’78, Brett Sanidas’84, Steve Connett Jr. ’86, Ray Woishek ’89, Ryan Mulhern ’91, George Sargent ’00, Todd Curtin ’02, Cam Dyment ’04, Bryce Roberts ’05,Liam Chatterton ’06, Anthony Longo ’06, and math teachers Joe Elias and Marc Haskell—did get a little help though: Varsity team star goalieSean O’Brien ’08 was playing for them and made some incredible saves. The game, which had been a tradition, is slated to again become anannual event. Contact varsity coach Ryan Mulhern at Ryan_Mulhern@stgeorges.edu if you’re interested in playing at the end of this year.
A T H L E T I C D E P A R T M E N T N E W SSG Zone
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Varsity field hockey players Allie Conti ’08, Tori Curtis ’08, Courtney Jones’10, Jen Noesen ’08 and Eliza Foster ’08 ready for a play during a gameagainst Brooks in October.
Allie Conti ’08 in January became the first-ever
field hockey player from St. George’s to earn All-Re-
gion Team honors from the National Field Hockey
Coaches Association. Coach Kelly Richards made the
announcement in Assembly on Jan. 7. Conti, a team
captain who was named Most Valuable Player, heads
to Northeastern University this fall.
The St. George’s girls’ hockey team won its sec-
ond consecutive championship at the Howard Invita-
tional Tournament held at the SG’s Cabot/Harman
Ice Center on Dec. 15. The girls captured the title
with a 2-0 victory over Millbrook in the final game.
SG senior forward Rita Capaldi (4 goals, 2 assists)
Continued on the page 54
50 ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
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Clockwise from the top: Varsity swimmers Teddy Collins ’09, Timon Watkins ’11and Drew Miller ’09 cheer on teammate Ollie Scholle ’08 in the 200 Medley Relay;Charleen Conlogue ’08 competes in the 500 Freestyle; Coach Tom Evans gives someadvice to his swimmers.
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51ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
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Clockwise from top left: Varsity soccer playerBridget Killeavy ’09; varsity football’s GalimahBaysah ’09; cross-country team member Lara McLeod ’10; the boys varsity hockey teamvisits the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto last summer.
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52 ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
BOYS’ CROSS COUNTRYGalvin Cross Country Award ........................................Bennett GeyerCross Country Coaches’ Cup .............................................Peter JohnsCross Country Most Improved.......................................Geoff PedrickAll-New England .............................................................Bennett GeyerAll-County............Bennett Geyer, Chris McCormack, Geoff PedrickCaptains-elect ..............................Chris McCormack, Dan Fortunato
GIRLS’ CROSS COUNTRYGalvin Cross Country Award .....................................Kathryn ConnorCross Country Coaches’ Cup ...............................Charleen ConlogueCross Country Most Improved.......................................Allie BoyntonAll-ISL, first team.........................................................Kathryn ConnorProvidence Journal All-State .....................................Kathryn ConnorAll-County ..........Kathryn Connor, Sophie Domanski, Hillary WeinCaptain-elect..............Leigh Archer, Sarah Harrison, Eliza Richartz
FIELD HOCKEYWalsh Field Hockey Bowl.....................................................Allie ContiField Hockey Coaches’ Cup................................................Eliza FosterField Hockey Most Improved Player ..............................Ann WheelerAll-New England Tournament Team..................................Allie ContiAll-ISL, first team ..................................................................Allie ContiAll-ISL, honorable mention .................Eliza Foster, Ellie McDonald,
Leslie Muzzy, Charlotte DeaversProvidence Journal All-State...............................................Allie ContiNFHCA Academic All-American ......Ann Wheeler, Ellie McDonald,
Ali Fornell, Eliza FosterCaptains-elect ..........................................Leslie Muzzy, Merrill Pierce
FOOTBALLThayer Football Cup.....................................................Devin O’RourkeClaggett Football Award.................................................Bennett ByrdFootball Most Improved Player ........................................Brian LowryAll-New England ...................................Devin O’Rourke, Drew MillerAll-ISL. First team.................................Devin O’Rourke, Drew Miller,
Patrick Guerriero, Galimah Baysah, Kyle CorkeryAll-ISL, honorable mention .......................Peter Hahn, Doyle Stack,
Brian Lowry, Tom EvansProvidence Journal All-State ..............Devin O’Rourke, Drew MillerCaptains-elect .............................................Drew Miller, Doyle Stack,
Galimah Baysah, Pat Guerriero
BOYS’ SOCCERSoccer Most Valuable Player Award ................................Max FowlerSoccer Coaches’ Cup.......................................................Nick CarrellasMcElhinny Most Improved Award ..................................Ollie ScholleNEPSSA Senior All-Star Game ........................................Ollie Scholle,
(Parker Knisley nominated)All-ISL, first team.................................................................Max FowlerProvidence Journal All-State .............................................Max FowlerCaptains-elect.......................................................Carmen Boscia, TBA
GIRLS’ SOCCERSoccer Most Valuable Player Award ...........................Lindsay WhiteSoccer Coaches’ Cup.....................................................Lindsey BrooksSoccer Most Improved Player ..........................................Rita CapaldiAll-ISL, first team ............................................................Lindsay WhiteAll-ISL, honorable mention..........................................Lindsey BrooksProvidence Journal All-State ........................................Lindsay WhiteCaptains-elect ...........................Megan Leonhard, Maddie Carrellas
F A L L A T H L E T E S M A K E T H E I R M A R K20 0 7 S T . G E O R G E ’ S F A L L A T H L E T I C AW A R D S
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Max Fowler ’08 was the varsity soccer team’s M.V.P.
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53ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
Field hockey standoutAllie Conti ’08 willplay for NortheasternUniversity this fall.
was named tournament MVP. Senior captains AllieConti, Eliza Foster and Jamie Mey accepted the
championship plaque at center ice following the
game.
Meanwhile, Williston-Northampton claimed its
second consecutive championship at the tournament
with a 6-4 victory over BB&N. The Wildcats have won
the tourney four out of the past five seasons.
Football players Devin O’Rourke ’08, Drew Miller’09, soccer players Max Fowler ’09 and Lindsay White’08, and field hockey standout Allie Conti ’08 were
named Fall Independent School All-Stars by the Prov-
idence Journal in January.
Staff members for North East Sports Fitness and
Rehabilitation of Warwick, R.I., signed on to be St.
George’s strength and conditioning coaches for the
balance of this school year. They began their work
Monday, Jan. 14.
The coaches meet with athletes four days a week
from 2:15-6:15 p.m. whenever school is in session.
Their objective is to work with all of our athletes,
both with the teams and with individuals as well, ac-
cording to Athletic Director John Mackay. “What we
envision is that during the sports season, each team
will work out—doing exercises in speed, agility,
quickness, flexibility and strength—with them at least
once per week,” he said.
Time before 3 p.m. is being spent with individual
athletes, and NESF is also serving as a resource for SG
coaches.
Julien Greco ’06, a sophomore forward on
Goucher’s men’s soccer team, was named to the ESPN
The Magazine 2007 Academic All-District II College
Division Men’s Soccer Team in December.
The team is chosen by members of the College
Sports Information Directors of America.
Greco, who supplied the Gophers with eight goals
and four assists to lead the Landmark Conference in
points (20) during the regular season, currently car-
ries a 3.90 grade point average. He is a political sci-
ence and international relations major with a minor
in Spanish.
The women’s squash team at Middlebury College
has a strong SG connection. Two of the three captains
are SG grads: Ellie Buechner ’04 of Newport and SallyHatfield ’05 of Barrington, R.I.
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A T H L E T I C D E P A R T M E N T N E W SSG Zone
Continued from page 50
54 ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
Nick Hare ’80, P’10, was the
recipient of the 2007 Philip Murray
Reynolds Volunteer of the Year Award,
presented annually to an outstanding
Annual Fund volunteer.
The award was given to Hare on
Dec. 7 at a gathering for the St.
George’s Board of Trustees at Merrick
House “for the incredible work he did
with his class,” according to Associate
Director of External Affairs Cindy
Martin.
Hare said he was so pleased with
his son Alex’s experience at St.
George’s and with all of the good
things that were happening at St.
George’s these days that he wanted to
give back to the school in any way he
could, so he signed on as class agent
last fall to fill the position that had
been vacant for a number of years.
With the belief that his class could do
better than its 31-percent participa-
tion in the Annual Fund the previous
year, he then set out on a mission to
reach the class, one by one, to tell
them about the importance of sup-
porting St. George’s. Hare worked
with the Development Office to estab-
lish a challenge match with one of the
generous members of his class. The
classmate would give at the Dragon
Society level ($11,450), but only if the
class achieved 50 percent participa-
tion. Hare, with the help of another
classmate, convinced several members
of the class to give. The final partici-
pation exceeded 51 percent, the high-
est of any class in the ’80s decade, and
established a new class “personal best.”
PHOTO
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Chair of the SG Board of Trustees Francis “Skip” Branin ’65 (left) and Head of School Eric Peterson (right) award the Volunteer of the Year Award to Nick Hare ’80 (center).
This new stained glass window, located on the west wall in the southwest corner of theantechapel, is a gift from the estate of MickeyMichel P’85, ’89. Like the other two lancetwindows in the antechapel, the Michel Window, installed last fall, was inspired by the Psalms, in this case Psalm 23.
Volunteer award goes to Nick Hare ’80
N E W S F R O M T H E A L U M N I / A E O F F I C EGiving back
55ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
The SG Board of Trustees voted unani mously
on Oct. 6 to elect Phoebe W. Muzzy P’06,
’09, ’11 to a three-year term.
Muzzy, of Houston, Texas, is an active volunteer in
the community. She graduated from St. John’s School
in 1974 and from Vanderbilt University in 1978.
She is a former trustee of St. John’s School and a
director of the family’s McCrea Foundation.
She and her mother, Phoebe Welsh, have hosted
several receptions in Houston for the school. And
she and her husband Gray, a partner with the law
firm of Bracewell & Giuliani, have been members
of the SG Parents Committee since 2002.
The board also voted to appoint Arthur F. “Port”Draper Jr. ’61 and Richard N. “Richie” Sayer ’65 ashonorary trustees. Draper, an architect who for
decades maintained Phillip Johnson’s Glass House
in New Canaan, Conn., was a trustee from 1980-
2007. He served as chair of the board’s Building and
Grounds Committee, which oversaw the construc-
Muzzy elected toSG Board of Trustees
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Newly elected board member Phoebe Muzzy P’06, ’09, ’11 (second from the left) with her children Leslie ’09, Everett ’11 and Crispin ’06.
56 ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
N E W S F R O M T H E B O A R D O F T R U S T E E SBoard notes
tion of the Dorrance Field House, Merrick House,
Buell and Wheeler dormitories, Hoopes Squash
Center, Cabot/Harman Ice Center, Drury/Grosvenor
Center for the Arts, Hamblet Campus Center and
Hoyt Swimming Pool, as well as many renovation
and repair projects.
Sayer, a Newport lawyer who specializes in
estate, tax planning and business law, served on the
board from 1981-2007. He served on the Committee
on Trustees and the Finance Committee. A school
branding campaign, of which he was an avid
proponent, resulted in the school’s “Because the
Journey Matters” tagline.
Sayer graduated from the University of Pennsylva-
nia in 1969 and Suffolk University Law School in 1978.
The board formed two new committees at its
meeting in December—the Education Committee,
which will keep an eye on academic issues, and the
Student Life Committee, whose goal will be to track
the latest issues surrounding our students’ lives
outside the classroom. Trustee Bill Prescott, former
headmaster of the Wheeler School, was appointed
chair of the Education Committee and Bambie de la
Gueronniere was appointed chair of the Student
Life Committee.
St. George’s School is committed to fostering and mod-eling an ethic of environmental stewardship of the natural
world entrusted to us by God. We believe thatthis commitment is a critical component of theschool’s goal, expressed in our school missionstatement to graduate young people whose
“lives will be ones of constructive service” in a “complexchanging world.”
The St. George’s School community is dependent upona wide range of natural resources that sustain our lifeprocesses; we recognize our responsibility to preservethose resources, now and for the future. As an institution,we are committed to understanding the impact of our ac-tions on the environment, paying particular attention to the
use of our land, the construction and renovation of our facilities, our consumption of energy and other resources,and our choices of transportation.
Integral to our educational mission is the responsibil-ity to promote understanding and awareness of our relationto the natural world, both through our academic programsand in our daily habits and choices. Active learning, effec-tive sharing, and consistently sound environmental prac-tice will confirm our school’s success in achieving thismission. St. George’s School seeks to develop leaders in thestudy, practice, and promotion of ecological sustainabil-ity—“constructive service” of the most vital kind as ourgraduates confront the global environmental challenges of the 21st century.
The board adopted the following Sustainability Vision Statement at its meeting on Dec. 8, 2007:
57ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN
N E W S F R O M T H E B O A R D O F T R U S T E E S
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN58
Home Athletic ContestsSaturday, May 17, 2008
Boys Varsity Lacrosse vs. St. Paul’s3:30 p.m. (North Field)
Boys J.V. Lacrosse vs. St. Paul’s3:30 p.m. (Cliff Field)
Varsity Softball vs. St. Paul’s3:30 p.m. (Softball Field)
Girls Varsity & J.V. Tennis vs. St. Paul’s3:30 p.m. (Upper & Lower Tennis Courts)
ST. GEORGE’S SCHOOL REUNION WEEKEND 2008
Mark your calendars for another great Reunion
Weekend in May, says Reunion Weekend coordinator
Ann Weston.
Scheduled events beginning Friday, May 16, are
many and of special note to reunion classes. As usual,
the weekend kicks off on Friday evening with the
presentation of the St. George’s distinguished alum-
nus/a award, the Diman Award. Following the Diman
Award presentation will be a welcome reception as
well as a variety of evening events for individual
reunion classes.
Saturday’s activities include Chapel tours with
Jack Doll ’52, class visits, student and faculty panel
discussions, a picnic lunch on the front lawn, assorted
home athletic events, and a formal dinner at the
Stephen P. Cabot and Archer Harman Ice Center.
Reunion class alums are encouraged to be on campus
Saturday night, May 17, for this festive dinner celebra-
tion in honor of all the reunion classes.
A special alumni/ae chapel service takes place on
Sunday morning, May 18.
Alums will be receiving an invitation to Reunion
Weekend events in early March, but for now, save
the dates—May 16-18. Please check online at
www.stgeorges.edu for reunion class hotel, weekend
schedule and special event information. You’ll be able to
register online after March for Reunion Weekend 2008.
Alumni/ae invitedback May 16-18
1938 • 70th
1943 • 65th
1948 • 60th
1953 • 55th
1958 • 50th
1963 • 45th
1968 • 40th
1973 • 35th
1978 • 30th
1983 • 25th
1988 • 20th
1993 • 15th
1998 • 10th
2003 • 5th
REUNION CL ASSES
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R E T U R N I N G T O T H E H I L L T O PReunion Weekend ’08
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN 59
The dormitory currently referred to as Diman
North will be named Eccles Hall this spring in
memory of Willet L. Eccles, the fifth headmaster of
St. George’s School (1943-51), who is credited by a
generation to have “saved the school” during World
War II and the early post-war years when financial
constraints nearly forced its closure.
The open path between the Arden/Diman Quad
and the Hill Library in front of the dormitory, for-
merly occupied by Behrend Pool, which was demol-
ished this past summer, will now be called Behrend
Quadrangle.
Both dedication ceremonies will take place on
Saturday, May 17, at 11:45 a.m. as part of Reunion
Weekend.
Diman North dorm named in memory of former headmaster
The outdoor area once occupied by the Behrend Pool will be named Behrend Quad—and dedicated on Reunion Weekend.
Diman North Dormitory, in front of the library, will be namedEccles Hall, in memory of St. George’s fifth headm aster.
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R E T U R N I N G T O T H E H I L L T O P
Honorary trustee and 1961 grad Port Drapergot decked out in Barneys New York suit,
Dunhill shirt, Prada tie and Ermenegildo
Zegna shoes for a photo shoot featured in the June
2007 issue of Men’s Vogue. The magazine produced a
special series on iconic ar-
chitecture featuring Phillip
Johnson’s Glass House, for
which Draper, an architect,
has been a consultant for
years. “Johnson knew the
work was experimental, so
he just assumed there
would be problems,”
Draper told the magazine.
“But he never once com-
plained.” Draper also over-
saw construction of all the
buildings at Johnson’s es-
tate beginning in 1968.
Billy Bush ’90 got his chance to go up against thebig guys on Thursday, Jan. 10. He was a featured con-
testant on Fox’s “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?”
The latest success of fine furnishings artist TedSturtevant ’96 was the subject of a Newport DailyNews article on Dec. 15. These days Ted is concentrat-
ing on concrete—cast concrete countertops, that is.
His company, E.G. Sturtevant LLC makes and installs
the countertops for both private and commercial cus-
tomers, including Scales & Shells on Thames Street.
Stephanie Wein ’06 was the subject of a profile inthe Newport Daily News on Aug. 11 for her environ-
mental activism. Wein, now a sophomore at Skidmore
College, attended a camp in Washington, D.C., last
summer called Change It ’07, an activist training pro-
gram led by Greenpeace designed to empower stu-
dents to become more socially active. Among the
change initiatives Wein has undertaken on her own:
an attempt to get Skidmore to stop using Kleenex tis-
sues because of their negative impact on the environ-
ment. “People would care if they were more
informed,” she told the news. “People don’t realize
how much power they have. Apathy is dangerous.”
Petra Pilgrim ’99 got a taste of celebrity when sherecently was tapped to pose for a poster promoting
Texas Tech University’s School of Medicine. The
poster features Pilgrim and a professor and advertises
the school’s “Training Tomorrow’s Physicians”
tagline. Pilgrim is in her third year of medical school
at Texas Tech and will graduate in 2010. She is con-
currently pursuing honors in cardiovascular research
and would ultimately like to do her residency in ei-
ther dermatology or psychiatry. “I am really enjoying
my lab research at the moment,” she says. “We are
currently working on a paper about how Cyto mega -
lovirus infection directly leads to cardiac inflamma-
tion (which translates into myocardial infarction) in
transplant patients and elderly patients. Other
than hanging out in the lab, I am constantly study-
ing! Or at least feeling guilty if I’m not studying!”
Ned Johnson ’96 is the developer of the propertyfor this year’s “Dream Home” featured on the HGTV
(Home and Garden Television) network. The devel-
opment features eight homes built on Plantation Key
in the northern section of the Florida Keys, and is
called The Shore at Islamorada.
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN60
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The June 2007 issue of Men’s Vogue featuredarchitect and honorary SG trustee PortDraper ’61.
A L U M N I / A E I N T H E N E W SPost Hilltop
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Hank Harder ’83 gets a welcome home from his children following his recent tour in Iraq. See p. 100 for more on his military service.
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN 61
A L U M N I / A E I N T H E N E W S
Assistant Athletic Director Wendy Drysdale (left), andmath teacher Julie Butler (second from right) met upwith Debbie Edgar ’90, a member of the SG AthleticHall of Fame and winner of the SG Medal and MaryEustis Zane Cup, and Chris Tolan ’07 at a Los AngelesDodgers game last June.
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN62
Morgan Mandeville ’00 visited the Global StudiesClass in January. Seniors Alia Eads, AlexandriaRegan and Kathryn Connor listen as Mandevilletalks about how the nonprofit agency she works for, Revenue Watch Institute, helps governmentsmanage profits reaped from natural resources.
Sylvester Monroe ’69, a senior editor at Ebony magazine, went on a 10-day trip with former president Bill Clinton to gather material for apackage of stories in Ebony’s December 2007 edition. One highlight of the trip was meeting up with Nelson Mandela: “He remembered mefrom 17 years ago,” Monroe said. “I was the only African-American print journalist to interview him in Capetown on the day that he wasreleased from prison.”
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A L U M N I / A E I N T H E N E W SPost Hilltop
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FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:Bill DouglasSt. George’s Planned Givingbill_douglas@stgeorges.edu or (401) 842-6730Visit our web site at www.stgeorges.edu/plannedgiving
A wide variety of planned giving opportunities available to alumni/ae, parents and friends of St. George’s
OGDEN NASH SOCIET Y PROFILE:Jonathan L. King ’47
Wyckoff, N.J.
Planned gifts can be both personal in nature and a means of honoring your many connections to St. George’s
Jonathan L. King ’47 is an active and committed volunteer at St. George’s. He has dutifully served as class agent since the 1990s and
in 2005 he agreed also to take on the important role of class correspondent to help keep classmates in touch with the school and one
another. He last visited the Hilltop on Reunion Weekend in May of 2007 to observe the 60th reunion of his class.
Last year Father King, a retired Episcopal priest, informed the Alumni/ae Office that he had decided to include St.
George’s in his will, “…for personal, but also for family reasons.”
“I spent five of my most formative years at the school, beginning in September 1942 and culminating in
my being awarded the Frissell Prize at graduation in 1947 for having… ‘made the best use of (my) talents.’
I remember, fondly and gratefully, both longtime friends and my teachers, most notably Father H.
Martin P. Davidson and William A. Buell, to whom I paid tribute in the sermon I gave in the chapel
at my 50th reunion in 1997.”
Of particular note from Father King’s 50th reunion sermon was his observation that “…the most
enduring influence of this school is, I believe, its spirit, its values, its ideals, its understanding of what it
means to be a human being and the quality of the relationships that that understanding encourages…”
“But my devotion to the school also has a family basis. My beloved father, Frederic Rhinelander
King, was an early graduate (1904), a trustee for many years, and, as an architect, the designer of
Twenty House and of the World War II memorial plaque. In addition, my great-uncle, George Gor-
don King, gave King Hall, and my second cousin once removed, John Nicholas Brown, was the donor
of the chapel.
“These are the principal reasons why St. George’s is dear to me, and why I have for decades supported
the Annual Fund…”
With his planned gift, Father King will continue to contribute to SG even after his passing.
Jonathan King and his wife, Jacquie, live in Wyckoff, N.J. They are the parents of four children and have
10 grandchildren. Father King joined the Ogden Nash Society (ONS) in 2007. He may be reached through
the Alumni/ae Office or via e-mail at jlking340@aol.com.
The ONS recognizes and honors those alumni/ae, parents and friends who have made special provisions to support the
school in their estate plans. To date, the society has 195 members.
Jonathan L. King
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN64
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Director of Operations George Staples expresses histhanks to painter Norbert Pacheco, who retired inNovember.
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Berta Encarnacao retired from her job as baker andbreakfast cook in King Hall after 25 years.
Director of Counseling & Health Educa-
tion Cheryl Jenkins will be a keynotespeaker at a conference at Hotchkiss
School this summer co-sponsored by the Independ-
ent School Gender Project. The conference, to be held
June 19-21, brings together schools from the United
States and Canada to talk and consider the results of
The Independent School Gender Project, a study of
the experiences of girls and women in independent
schools that began in 1995.Workshop topics include
Wellness and Health, Leadership Relationships,
Women and the Curriculum and Women’s Issues in
the World.
Jenkins will attend the conference for the third
time with two female faculty members and two
female students from St. George’s. The first such
conference was held in the summer of 2004.
This year’s new Director of Library
Services and Archives, Jen Tuleja, takes amodern twist on delivering information
by keeping a blog of library news avail-
able to the community. It can be found
at http://stgeorgeslibrary.blogspot.com.
Among other items, Tuleja gives her
picks for new fiction and new nonfiction
of the week.
Latin teacher George Briggs was electedto the executive board of the nonprofit
Coalition for the Advancement of Student
Activities (CASA) in November. The group
develops leadership education programs
and conferences for high-school students.
Daniel Tittle and Kristin Bove joined the KingHall staff this fall. Tittle, SG’s new dinner cook,
started his cooking for the U.S. Army as part of the
82nd Airborne division. From there he worked at
many Newport restaurants and recently was on the
staff at Salve Regina University.
Bove, our new utility person, comes to us from
Blue Rocks Catering where she was a kitchen aide
and waitress.
The school witnessed the departure of two long-
time staff members in November.
Berta Encarnacao, a baker and breakfast cook inKing Hall, traded in “her spatula and whisk for golf
clubs and the gentle breeze of Florida,” according to
Director of Dining Services Steve Moyer. Berta was
hired on Jan. 4, 1983. “For over a quarter century,
Berta has worked for dining services serving thou-
sands of students and alums with a smile on her face
and a passion for the Hilltop to match,” Moyer said.
“Her dedication and commitment to this great school
will surely be missed.”
Meanwhile, Norbert Pacheco, our “painter extra-ordinaire,” retired from the Hilltop on Nov. 30. Nor-
bert, a native of Portugal, came to St. George’s on
May 23, 1994.
Three faculty families have been sponsoring
International officers attending classes at the Naval
War College in Newport and their families this year.
Committed to exposing these foreign guests to
American culture, the War College recruits civilian
Director of Library Services andArchives Jen Tuleja’s blog.
Faculty/Staff Notes
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN 65
volunteers to welcome the families to the Newport
area. This year, the families of Associate Director of
College Counseling Kelly Richards, History Depart-ment Chair Deb Foppert and Director of GlobalPrograms Tony Jaccaci and his wife, history teacherLucia Jaccaci are hosting officers from Senegal,Algeria and Pakistan, respectively. The guests have
been participating in the life of the school, attend-
ing dinners on campus as well as skating parties,
Halloween trick-or-treating events and the Christ-
mas Festival. This spring may even bring a cricket
demonstration, according to Jaccaci.
Chaplain interviewsunder way
Interviews got under way in January for
candidates applying for the position of school
chaplain, and it was hoped
an offer of employment
could be extended in Feb-
ruary, according to Dean
of Faculty Bob Weston.
The school continues
to seek an Episcopal priest
to serve as permanent
chaplain since the depar-
ture last summer of Father
Mark Pruitt, who served
the school from 1999.
The Rev. Christopher Epperson, rector of
St. Columba’s Chapel in Middletown, has been
serving as interim chaplain for this school year.
(His sermons at St. Columba’s can be found at
www.stcolumbaschapel.org.)
Among his or her many responsibilities, the
St. George’s chaplain will plan, conduct and
oversee two weekly chapel services; teach in the
Religious Studies department; offer pastoral
counseling and spiritual guidance to all mem-
bers of the school community; participate in the
residential life of the school; and assist in after-
noon activities.
The new chaplain will begin work in July.
The Rev. ChrisEpperson
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Left: Associate Director of College Counseling Kelly Richards and Kabir Sow of Senegal at the SG Skating Party. Kabir is the son of a student from the Naval War College, whichpairs international students with local host families.Right: Alia Al Abid and Ateeq Al Abid of Pakistan, with Krista Peterson and Head ofSchool Eric Peterson, at a dinner for sponsored families from the Naval War College.
A faculty “in service” day on Jan. 3 featured workshops on the use of
technology in the classroom organized by the SG Technology Depart-
ment. Math Department Chair Doug Lewis, Latin teacher
George Briggs, English teacher Kelly Richards, math teacher
Melanie Lewis, chemistry teacher Pierre Yoo, and Director of
Technology Charles Thompsonmade presentations on such
topics as using discuss boards in Blackboard, our web-based course
management software, to stimulate class discussion, and using a SMART
Board, an interactive white board, to present material and record class
lectures. Breakout sessions in the afternoon offered hands-on training.
Another in-service day is planned for March.
Teachers learn more about usingtechnology in the classroom
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN66
The community did an extra effective job
helping to raise funds for the Martin
Luther King Center in Newport this year.
Not only did students, teachers, staff and par-
ents help collect non-perishable food items during
the 23rd Annual Feed-A-Friend food drive, but a
thank-you note requesting extra help and distrib-
uted by the students
helped the MLK Center
get through a rough
fund-raising patch.
All in all, the center
put together about 1,300
holiday food baskets for
approximately 8,000
needy local residents.
The food drive took
place on Oct. 28.
Galimah Baysah ’09,Will Bruce ’08, and KimDrew ’08, heads of theInsight Club, helped or-
ganize a Kwanzaa cele-
bration at the home of faculty members James and
Kim Bullock on Sunday, Jan. 6. The celebration fo-
cused on traditional African values of family, com-
munity responsibility and self-improvement. Some
of the students were invited to learn more about the
celebration of Kwanzaa, which means “first fruits of
the harvest” in the African language Kiswahili, while
others said they’ve been celebrating the holiday at
home for years. A candle was lit and placed in the ki-
nara for each day of the week-long celebration. An
explanation of each principle was followed by pass-
ing a cup to represent unity and to offer libations to
honor the ancestors. The celebration ended with the
traditional enthusiastic “Harambe” chant for each of
the seven principles and a delicious soul food dinner.
Students in Betsy Durning’s Voice in Speech and
Acting performed A. R. Gurney’s “Love Letters” on
Sunday, Jan. 13, in the Main Common Room.
Featured were Kelly Bullock ’10 and JordanWatson ’10, Graham Anderson ’11 and MagdalenaFranze-Soeln ’11, Mack Feldman ’11 and KinyetteHenderson ’10, Wayne Chang ’11 and Oxy Nagor-nuka ’10, Will Mason ’08 and Lara McLeod ’10, and
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Members of the Handbell Choir, conducted by AssistantDirector of Athletics Wendy Drysdale, practice before theChristmas Festival.
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Campus happenings
Actor, writer and performer Steven Tejada performedselections from his one-man show “Boogie Down Jour-neys,” in Madeira Hall on Nov. 8. The appearance wasorganized by Director of Diversity Kim Bullock. The showcombines comedy, drama, and real emotions “to explorethe stories of struggle, survival, love and laughter thatemerge from the souls of Black and Latino men andwomen.” Here, Tejada signs autographs after his performance for Timon Watkins ’11, Polly Murray ’10 and Vianca Masucci ’09
Students in Betsy Durning’s Voice in Speech and Acting class performedselections from Edgar Lee Masters’ “Spoon River Anthology” in the WheelerGarden for Halloween.
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN 67
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Oxy Nagornuka ’10 was among a number of students toperform at the Rock Guild on Jan. 6.
Author Tina Brownoffers thoughts on journalism, womanhood
Tina Brown, bestselling author of “The Diana Chronicles”
and the former editor of Vanity Fair and the New Yorker maga-
zines, was the featured speaker at an all-school event sponsored
by the Women in Leadership Club Dec. 6.
Brown, whose career in magazine publishing began in Eng-
land when she took over the editorship of the British tabloid
glossy The Tatler, reflected on her career in journalism and op-
portunities for women.
Brown said she learned to take calculated risks in her career,
and to hire writers and photographers whom she admired and
depended upon. She also learned to expect jealously and criti-
cism. She was once called “Stalin in high heels.”
“But that one was correct,” she quipped.
Young people, notably young women, need to stand up for
themselves, she said.
“And believing in yourself is not the same as being arro-
gant,” she added.
At the time Brown said she was currently pondering what
her next project would be, but recently her publisher, Double-
day, announced she’ll be working on a book about Hillary and
Bill Clinton.
Brown is the mother of Isabel “Izzy” Evans, a fifth former.
Izzy Evans ’09 with her mom, author Tina Brown.
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Jake Shimmel ’10 and Harriet Manice ’08.In the play, two characters sit side-by-side read-
ing letters to each other about their lives—the high
points, the low points, the dreams and the disap-
pointments—while they were apart. In the end they
realize they were, in fact, love letters.
Red Key tour guides showing off King Hall have
been playing up the Hogwarts reference for years. So
when the Entertainment Committee
sponsored its first-ever Harry Potter Din-
ner on Friday, Nov. 16, it was a natural.
Each dorm was asked to create a
dorm banner to celebrate its home base. On the
menu: carved turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, stuff-
ing, cranberry sauce and apple pie.
Of course, Director of Dining Services SteveMoyer helped pull the event together.
Members of the Service to SG Community sec-
tion of the Community Service Council organized a
special assembly announcement to honor the
school’s custodial staff.
All members of the Housekeeping Department
were present.
Will O’Connor ’08 and Anna Mack ’09 offered afew words of thanks for all of the work that the staff
does for the community. Everyone present, includ-
ing the entire student body then gave the staff a
standing ovation. “It was moving to see!” reported
Assistant Chaplain and head of the Community
Service Council Lara Freeman.
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN68
Clockwise from top left: Alex Merchant ’08, Morgan Beeson ’08 and Mike Miller ’08; Ali Fornell ’08; Julia Oak ’10, Courtney Jones ’10, and Jesse Pacheco ’10; and Lydia Willie ’09.
PHOTOS BY ANDREA HANSEN
C H R I S T M A S F E S T I V A L 2 0 0 7Traditions
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN 69
Clockwise from the top: Mariana Tellez ’08, Angus Anderson ’08, Stockton Bullitt ’08, and Alex Layton ’09; Eileen FitzGerald ’08 and Lacey Young ’08; and Head of School Eric Peterson and his wife, Krista.
C H R I S T M A S F E S T I V A L 2 0 0 7
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN70
Junior Phil Royer of Portsmouth, R.I., won the49th annual St. George’s Pie Race with a course
record time of 12:13 on Tuesday, Nov. 13. Royer
finished ahead of fellow junior Chris McCormack(12:40) of Newton, Mass., and sophomore MattMartyak (12:52) of Spotsylvania, Va., to win his thirdconsecutive Pie Race. Senior Antonio Diaz-Gonzalezof Mexico City was the first senior to cross the finish
line (14:30), while freshman Wayne Chang of Taipei,Taiwan, paced the freshman class with a time of
16:30. Eliza Richartz (15:50) of Old Lyme, Conn.,was the first female finisher, narrowly beating RitaCapaldi (15:52) of Montreal, who was the firstCanadian to finish the race. English teacher AlexMyers (13:30) was the first faculty finisher for thesecond year in a row. A total of 115 students, teach-
ers, staff members, faculty children, and dogs
finished the 2.2 mile race.
Founded in 1959 by former physics teacher and
track coach Ted Hersey as a lighthearted way ofboosting school spirit, the St. George’s Pie Race has
been run annually ever since. Runners typically wear
outlandish garb and attempt to outdo each other
with their zany antics. This year, for example, several
students dressed up as characters from the video
game Super Mario Brothers, two senior boys ran the
race dressed in gorilla suits, and one anonymous
student dressed as a dragon careened around the
race course in a golf cart. A quartet of freshmen,Katie Harris, Alice Johnson, Hillary Wein, and TaylorWilliams were awarded the coveted “Last RunnerFinishing Before Sundown in Cedar Rapids” Prize
with a remarkably slow time of 37:20.
Approximately 20 pies were awarded at a school
assembly on Friday, Nov. 16.
—Doug Lewis, Chair of the Math Department
Clockwise from thetop: The runners ofthe 49th Annual PieRace are off to agood start; WestResendes ’08 as St.George and WillMason ’08 as thedragon; Mario Partyof Seven includedLogan Hoover ’09,Mary Behan ’10,Alison Johnston ’09,Juan Flores ’08,Sophia Noel ’09,Diatre Padilla ’09and Katherine Pryor’09; seniors SeanO’Brien and ChrisFogg hide behindtheir gorilla suits.
P I E R A C E 2 0 0 7Traditions
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“RICHARDGRO
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Former Art DepartmentChair Grosvenor to behonored by museum
Former students and friends are invited to attend a
summer gala organized by the Newport Art Museum to
honor former Art Department Chair Richard Grosvenor
(1953-1993) and his many contributions to the local
art community.
The event, called “A Picture Perfect Evening,” will be
held on Saturday, July 12, at Griswold House, 76 Bellevue
Ave., Newport, R.I.
The event will also mark Mr. Grosvenor’s 80th birthday.
For more information please contact Stasia Anthony
at (401) 848-8200.
E V E N T S A N D M I L E S T O N E SIn Brief
Kelly Bullock ’10, Jack Weston (son of Dean of Faculty BobWeston), Sam ’11, Will and Jake Peterson (sons of Head of SchoolEric Peterson) and Milan Boscia ’10 helped promote St. George’sduring Gibson Guitar Tennis Week at the Tennis Hall of Fame,which featured tennis champions John McEnroe and Todd Martin.
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN72
London readers get a nice view of SG
Fresh off attending this year’s Christmas festivitiesin the chapel, author and editor Tina Brown gave St.George’s a brilliant plug in the Dec. 12 edition of Lon-don’s The Spectator magazine. In her “New YorkDiary,” Brown writes, “If you’re looking for the old-style Yuletide celebration on this side of the ocean, thebest place to find it is at my daughter’s (co-ed) boardingschool, St. George’s, in Rhode Island. This idyllic edu-cational establishment perched on a cliff over the brac-ing New England sea has plenty of what I love aboutAmerica—its energy, its human variety, its sense ofpossibility—while still having the traditional flavour ofthe place (and state of mind) I’ve never quite stoppedthinking of as home. We chose the school in a hurry in2005 when Izzy, then 15, suddenly tired of Gossip Girllife at her all-girl day school in Manhattan. It’s turnedout to be one of our better family decisions. Services inthat soaring Gothic-style chapel … are such rousing,full-blooded celebrations of 19th-century Americancan-do-ism that they make me want to rush off and—Idon’t know—start a steamboat line, or become a mis-sionary, or drive a herd of longhorns on the ChisholmTrail. Izzy’s ‘Silent Night’ solo at the carol service wasonly one highlight in a last week of term filled with na-tivity pageants, Christmas feasts and percussive cele-brations of charitable giving.”
Now we’re really the darling across the pond.
Students from St. George’s and Liceo GalvaniSchool (Bologna, Italy) held a video conferencethis fall as part of St. George’s participation in aGlobal Issues project promoted by the NationalAssociation of Independent Schools. The 20-20program links together schools around the worldto investigate the “20 biggest challenges to human-ity with the next 20 years.” St. George’s was pairedwith Liceo Galvani to look at the issue of immi-gration. Ten members of the St. George’s Interna-tional Relations club met early in the morning inMemorial Schoolhouse and spoke with peer stu-dents from Italy for a little under an hour. Duringthe exchange, students introduced themselves andexplained why they felt immigration is an impor-tant issue in the future of global relations. The St.George’s students and their counterparts in Italywill continue their inquiry into immigrationissues through additional video conference calls aswell as blogging on a web site which has been setup by the two schools.
PHOTO BY SUZANNE HADFIELD
E V E N T S A N D M I L E S T O N E SIn Brief
This new sign wasinstalled Sept. 12at DunlapWheeler Park(next to theAtlantic BeachClub at the bot-tom of the hill).The park isnamed in honor
of Anne Slater Dunlap, who served the town of Middletown in many volunteer capacities and is thelate mother of Rowena Dunlap Burke ’75, and AlanR. Wheeler, a history teacher at St. George’s for 45years, who was president of the MiddletownImprovement Association.
WANTEDA football letter sweater from the1940s or 1950s—to complete a
collection for the Gilbert Y. TavernerArchives. The sweater would be black with SG in red block letters. If you’d like to donate yours, please contact Jack Doll ’52 at archives@stgeorges.edu or (401) 842-6692.
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN 73
Community members s ignnew honor code
The Dean of Students Office embarked on several
new initiatives this year to support the “Community,
Responsibility and Leadership” pillar of
the Strategic Plan. The office revamped
the orientation program in the fall so
that new students arrived on campus
earlier and took part in a more comprehensive open-
ing program.
The office also appointed “form deans,” faculty
advisors for each form. (English teacher Lucy Gold-stein is the third form dean, math teacher Joe Eliasis the fourth form dean, math teacher Melanie Lewisis the fifth form dean, and Dean of Students KatieTitus is the sixth form dean.)
In addition, a new revised and expanded Honor
Code was put into place this year that “calls on stu-
dents and faculty not to be passive in the face of im-
morality or dishonesty,”
according to Assistant Head of School for Student
Life Tim Richards.All faculty and students signed the code and
it’s posted in every dorm and every classroom.
“Those are all efforts to try to ingrain the concept
of honor into the fabric and the daily life of the
school,” he said.
For the first time ever, the dining hall in October
sent its used cooking oil to Newport Biodiesel, which
processes it into biodiesel to be used in place of fossil
fuels in cars. The school is also looking at the possi-
bility of purchasing a school vehicle that can run on
biodiesel fuel, according to Science Department chair
Steve Leslie, who also heads up the campus Sustain-ability Committee. “Instead of paying to add to the
waste stream, we are closing the loop, reducing waste,
and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels,” he said.
Strategic Plan Update
Young Family FarmLittle Compton, RI
Scratch FarmsProvidence, RI
Ferolbink FarmsPortsmouth, RI
Salisbury FarmNo. Scituate, RI
Wingover FarmsTiverton, RI
Ryan FarmCharlestown, RI
Schartner FarmsExeter, RI
Confreda FarmsCranston, RI
Wishing Stone FarmsLittle Compton, RI
Jaswell’s FarmSmithfield, RI
Sunset OrchardsNo. Scituate, RI
Urban Edge FarmCranston, RI
Pippin OrchardsCranston, RI
Quonset View FarmsPortsmouth, RI
Dame FarmJohnston, RI
Maplewood FarmsPortsmouth, RI
E V E N T S A N D M I L E S T O N E S
Local produce featured in King Hall
Vegetarians, especially, are delighted with the
latest efforts by the Dining Hall to use more pro-
duce from local farms. As part of a
campuswide sustainability effort,
Director of Dining Services SteveMoyer has been using fruits and
vegetables from suppliers close to home—saving
shipping costs and putting a fresher product on
the table. A list of those farms is below. But the
efforts haven’t stopped there: On one day last fall,
the vegetarian moussaka was chock full of egg-
plant grown on campus in compost manufac-
tured right here.
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN74
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S E E N O N T H E H I L L T O PAround Campus
A Committee on Multifaith/Interfaith Space was
established this fall to explore use of the Little Chapel
and other areas as space for either multifaith or inter-
faith worship services. After a series of meetings, the
members of the committee, who come from a number
of different religious/spiritual backgrounds, deemed
the Little Chapel a good potential space for some serv-
ices, but inadequate for all desired uses. They will look
toward recommendations from Sasaki and Associates,
designers of the new Master Plan, for further sugges-
tions on where services and meetings might be held.
Teachers Alex Myers, Lara Freeman, Kevin Held,
James Bullock, Peter Anderson, Linda Evans, Tony Jac-caci, and Jeremy Goldstein; Development Officer BillDouglas; and students Callie McBreen ’09, Izzy Evans’09, Emma Jansen ’08, Sophie Covarrubias ’08, andNam Hee Kim ’09 participated in the discussions.
The group will continue to meet after reviewing
the master plan, which was expected to be presented
to the SG Board of Trustees in February.
“Of particular interest are the diverse perspectives
people can bring to the table,” said Assistant Head of
School for Student Life Tim Richards, who’s chairingthe committee.
Multifaith/Interfaith Space Committee established
Tori Curtis ’08 uses the online catalogue in the Hill Library.
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN 75
Students enjoy some down time in the Hamblet Campus Center.
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Chemistry teacher Pierre Yoo meets with third former Will Rosen in Dragon Quad.
S E E N O N T H E H I L L T O P
ST. GEORGE ’ S 2 0 0 8 WINTER BULLET IN76
Want something fun from SG?
Call the bookstore at 1-401-842-6662 for these items and more, or visit our online store at www.stgeorges.edu
Under Armor Sweatshirt • BlackS - M - L - XL
$59
Key Rings • Assorted Styles$6
ST. GEORGE’SST. GEORGE’SWinter Bulletin2008
St. George’s SchoolP.O. Box 1910Newport, RI 02840-0190
Nonprofit OrganizationU.S. Postage
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In this issue:Chapel talks:
The real magic of Christmas BY ALEXANDRIA REGAN ’08Forgiveness BY MORGAN BEESON ’08Thankfulness BY JEREMY GOLDSTEINTransported BY LUCIA JACCACI
People of the world BY LEON KANDELAARS
Signature altar window in chapel to be replaced
Students, teachers prepare for trip to Uganda
Q & A with the Director of Operations
New summer Geronimo program offered
Strategic Plan Update
Reunion Weekend 2008
Student achievements
News from the classrooms
Athletics, Arts and Community Service
Class Notes
Recommended