AIS Magazine Spring 2012

Spring 2012

Opening in Fall 2013…

Visit www.agnesirwin.org for regular updates and detailed information

about the Campus Improvements Project

ATHLETIC CENTER

NEW STUDENT LIFE CENTER

STUDENT STREET

REMODELED ASSEMBLY ROOM

NEW CAMPUS ENTRANCEWAY

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

The Campus Improvements Project will be funded in its entirety by philanthropic gifts.

Spring_Mag_inside_front_cover.indd 1 3/2/12 11:55 AM

EditorWanda Motley Odom

Director of Marketing and Communications

ContributorsAndrew Connally

MS/US History Teacher

Megan Boyle Flinn ’87Director of Stewardship

Anna HeleniakCommunications Specialist

Clare LuzuriagaCommunications Manager

Michelle TrenholmSenior Communications Specialist

Maxine Zhang ’01Member, National Alumnae Advisory Council

PhotographyPete Bannan, Katya Chilingiri, Anna Heleniak,

Clare Luzuriaga, Robert Moss-Vreeland, Michelle Trenholm

DesignProof Design

Ithan Avenue and Conestoga RoadRosemont, PA 19010-1042Grades PreK-4 Tel 610.525.7600 Fax 610.526.1875Grades 5-12 Tel 610.525.8400 Fax 610.525.8908www.agnesirwin.org

The Agnes Irwin School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religious creed, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin in administration of its admission and educational practices, financial aid program, athletic and other school-administered programs.

Sophomore Jenna Roland, a Media Arts student, took on the assignment of putting an “Agnes Irwin” imprint on the United States and reflecting where AIS alumnae live across the nation and around the world. The cover art is an illustration for our feature story on the newly formed AIS National Alumnae Advisory Council. (Page 14)

C Printed on recycled paper

All photos are captioned left to right and front to back unless otherwise indicated.

FeaturesScholarly Pursuits Enliven the Classroom ............................................. 10

Reaching Back and Pushing Forward National Alumnae Advisory Council Takes Flight ................................ 14

On Their Own, Exploring Science Students Follow Passions in Independent Research Projects ........................................................................................ 20

¡Que Viva El Español! Lower School Wades into Second-Language Acquisition .................. 24

8th Grade Drama Quarterly .................................................................... 26

A Record-Setting Year ................................................................................ 28

DepartmentsAround Campus ............................................................................................. 3

Faculty News ................................................................................................ 13

AIS Athletics ................................................................................................ 30

Class Notes................................................................................................... 32

Spring 2012

Contents

8th Grade Drama Quarterly 26

Reaching Back and Pushing Forward 14 ¡Que Viva El Español! 24

The Agnes Irwin School Magazine :: Spring 20122

It should come as no surprise that the accomplishments of Agnes Irwin graduates run deep and wide within and across an array of fields and professions. And is it any wonder? The girls and young women who enter our doors each day are some of the most talented students in the Philadelphia area. They receive a rich and vibrant education from a skilled and committed faculty, in a supportive environment that reinforces the message that our girls – Agnes Irwin girls – can achieve any goals their hearts desire.

For decades, alumnae and students alike have lived out the meaning of our school motto, Se Dio ti ‘asci, lettor, prender frutto di tua lezione, which loosely translated from Italian to English says that “if you have the ability to read, reap the fruit of your lesson.”

The formation of the National Alumnae Advisory Council (NAAC) reflects our maxim. This group of alumnae will serve as a think tank of sorts, providing perspectives and opinions about the real-life impact of an all-girls’ education on their futures and bringing their expertise and influence to bear on the lives of current students.

More than half of the group returned to campus in November for their inaugural meeting. They are physicians, lawyers, media executives and financial leaders. Many had never met. But they came with a common agenda, to help craft an initiative that would bring the knowledge and experiences of all alumnae together as resources for the school and AIS girls. Our feature article in this spring issue sheds light on their weekend gathering and offers a taste of the great efforts that are sure to come from their work.

No great student body exists without great teachers, and one such faculty member at Agnes Irwin is Dr. Ellen Wayland-Smith, an Upper School English teacher. Her scholarship in French and English literature has been recognized by her peers through the publication of her writings in several academic journals – which means her students benefit from her keen intellect and her demonstration of her craft in the classroom. This issue also

includes great news about other faculty, from sabbatical trips to art exhibitions.

Our curriculum is the heart and soul of “the Agnes Irwin experience,” and at every division there is remarkable teaching and learning taking place. Our Lower School has embarked on a shift in World Languages, with the goal of developing fluency at the younger grades through a focus on daily Spanish instruction. Research shows that the earlier a child acquires a second language, the greater the likelihood of success in fluency across multiple languages. The Middle School is in its third year of the 8th Grade Drama Quarterly, a redesigned curriculum that puts play-writing skills and not simply performance skills at the forefront. Our Independent Science Research Program continues to grow, with students designing and participating in imaginative studies that truly demonstrate their passion for science.

And exceptional achievement doesn’t rest only in the classroom at Agnes Irwin. Varsity basketball captain Emily Wetz ’12 thrilled us all with her nail-biting drive to reach 1,000 points in her scoring career. The crowd went wild at the January game where she hit the basket that put her into our athletic record books. We, and she, will always remember that prideful day! Other athletic records were set this year, and you can read about them in the pages that follow.

Even before my first days as Head of School, I remarked about what a special place Agnes Irwin is. Not simply for its stellar history or academic and athletic achievements … but also for the caring spirit and generosity of giving demonstrated by parents, students, alumnae, faculty and staff.

Our alumnae have taken a new step in supporting their alma mater, and we are truly grateful.

Warmest regards,

Mary Seppala

Head of School

From the Head of School

3www.agnesirwin.org

AIS Lower SchooL:

L o w e r S c h o o L • M i d d L e S c h o o L • U p p e r S c h o o L

AkilAH ViSitAllen Kazarwa (front) and Noella Abijuru, college students from The Akilah Institute for Women in Kigali, Rwanda, enjoyed a sing-along with third and fourth graders during a music class in November. The women, survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, visited on the last leg of a trip to the United States. They were guests of the Upper School’s Akilah Club, which educates members of the AIS community about the East African nation and helps raise funds to support the school.

SEnSory GArDEnThe Upper School Ecology Club teamed up with the kindergarteners to teach them about cultivating and caring for the Earth as they planted the school’s first Sensory Garden in October. Shown: Kindergartener Anna Altman (left, squatting) and ninth grader Amber Dai.

worm ComPoStinGThird grade science classes dug into critter-filled bins in February as the Upper School Ecology Club guided them through the first steps of worm composting. Thanks to a generous grant from The Dominion Foundation, the project will reduce waste produced by the school. Seniors Victoria Hammarskjold (left) and Niki Warden helped third grader Naya Summy with the project.

mlk DAy oF SErViCEFirst graders Abigail Blejwas (left), Michelle Yu and Bailey McQuaid participated in the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service in January by making fleece blankets for Project LINUS, an organization that provides blankets to children and babies in need.


Around Campus

AIS Lower SchooL:

inStrumEntAl StrinGS ExPoIn January, third grade cellists debuted at the first-ever Winter Instrumental Music Expo. Organized by instrumental music teacher Ben Vaughan, the performance combined the talents of the Lower School strings program with the Middle and Upper School instrumental ensembles. Shown from left: Marion Reidenbach, Camryn Aronsky, Ashton Odiorne, Elinor Morrisey and Sydney Brooks.

FlAG DEDiCAtionRaquel Coren ’21, daughter of U.S. Marine Corps Officer Derek Coren, and Head of Lower School Donna Lindner showed off a display box containing American and Afghan flags dedicated to The Agnes Irwin School. The flags, which once flew in Afghanistan, were given to the school by Raquel’s father. They were presented at the Lower School Veterans Day assembly in November.

HAllowEEnDressed as their favorite storybook characters, fourth graders Avery Niedland (left), Christina Lowther and Katherine Glaser headed over to the Middle/Upper School for the annual Halloween Parade through the hallways.

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Around Campus

AIS MIddLe SchooL:

CulturE FAirSeventh graders presented their interdisciplinary projects exploring six major ecosystems – desert, island, lake, rainforest, taiga and tundra – at November’s Culture Fair. Shown from left: Alyssa Negron-Samonte, Xiomara Lozano-Torres, Brooke Bekkedam, Kerry Hanrahan and Charlotte Meltzer.

A PASSion For FASHionEighth grader Caroline Mosimann (left) shared her passion for fashion with her classmates during a Middle School assembly as fellow students modeled her artistic creations inspired by different historical periods. She researched, designed and stitched each costume herself!

rEbECCA wAlkErRebecca Walker, influential American author and co-founder of the Third Wave Foundation, spoke to the Middle School in November about her five foundational elements of leadership and emphasized the importance of maintaining resilience.


Around Campus

AIS MIddLe SchooL:

robotiCS tEAm ADVAnCES Members of the Lego Robotics Club Blue and Gold teams took home trophies in two categories and qualified for the Champion’s Tournament at the FIRST LEGO League competition in December. Gold Team members (top photo) shown from left: Gillian Diebold, Anisha Mittal, Déjà Lewis-Nwalipenja, Hunter Sessa and Olivia Caroy. Blue Team members (above) shown from left: Madeline Warner, Joanna Wickersham, Alyssa Negron-Samante and Lydia Somani.

SErVinG tHE CommunityAt the winter bake sale, Middle School students raised nearly $600 for six charitable organizations – Water Wells for Africa, The Kelly Rooney Foundation, Marine Mammal Stranding Center, PAWS (Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society), HEADstrong Foundation and the Bryn Mawr Hospital Comprehensive Breast Center. Shown from left: seventh graders Riley Flick, Cordelia Hare, Sabina Smith, Sara Wada and Skyla Segel, with a Bryn Mawr Hospital representative.

biG SiStEr/littlE SiStErFifth and eighth grade students competed in the fall at the Big Sister/Little Sister Games. The Big Sister/Little Sister program creates a one-to-one mentoring relationship between a fifth grade student and eighth grade student throughout the academic year.

Mark your calendars!

Saturday, November 10, 2012 Laura Thomas Buck ’49 Pavilion

ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME Awards Ceremony

Celebrating the fifth Athletic Hall of Fame Inductee Class, outstanding athletes who excelled on the sports fields and courts of Agnes Irwin and carried their passion for athletic excellence into the rest of their lives.

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Around Campus

AIS MIddLe SchooL:

immiGrAtion StoriESEighth graders researched, wrote and performed compelling dramatic scenes set during “The New Immigration” period in the United States as part of their study of American history. The period stretched from 1880 to 1920, when huge waves of European immigrants arrived at Ellis Island in New York.


Around Campus

AIS Upper SchooL:

GlobAl GirlS CinEmAIn partnership with the Girls Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania, the Center for the Advancement of Girls (CAG) inaugurated a Global Girls Cinema Series, a collection of documentary films that address issues affecting girls and women around the world. The program is a Global Citizenship initiative of the Center. CAG has shown two of three films scheduled in this year’s series.

kuDoS For SHAkESPEArE!The AIS Repertory Company presented The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged)! as the drama selection in January. The quick-witted, fast-paced dialogue and surprises in rhyme, energy and satirical repartee kept audience members heartily laughing.

VioliniSt DiAnE monroEIn February, acclaimed violinist Diane Monroe celebrated Black History Month by playing a mixture of African-American spirituals and other familiar songs with a twist for students.

Cowboy PoEtAward-winning poet Paul Zarzyski, a host of the Big Timber Roundup arts excursion in Montana attended by juniors and seniors each year, shared his approach to writing and the spoken word with students during a campus visit in January.

9www.agnesirwin.org

Around Campus

In the fall 2011 magazine, the caption for the above photo should have read: 1971 Classmates Pam Brewer Smyth (left) and Gail Evans Guthridge (right) visited Nini Nalle Wolitarsky (center) in Lake George, NY this summer. Pam’s daughter Sara Smyth is pictured behind.

Sophomore Day: In the above photo, Jaylyn Harris (left) was incorrectly identified in the fall 2011 issue of the magazine.

AIS Upper SchooL:

HAlF tHE Sky Studio Art and Art History students received a private tour of the exhibition “Half the Sky: Women in the New Art of China,” co-curated by the National Art Museum of China and the Leonard Pearlstein Gallery of Drexel University. FiroozEH DumAS –

onE book AGnES irwinThe One Book Agnes Irwin program hosted Firoozeh Dumas, author of national bestseller Funny in Farsi, on campus in January. Dumas recounted her personal stories about immigrating to the United States from Iran at the age of seven. One Book Agnes Irwin is a community-wide reading project.

SEttinG tHE rECorD StrAiGHt

10

A couple of years ago, Wayland-

Smith had a group of students who

were particularly interested in the use

of images of magic and enchantment in

Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Although

she had been teaching the novel for 10

years, she recalled, “I had never really

picked up on this aspect of the story

before, and I started researching it on

my own. It led me to investigating

the birth of advertising in the early

part of the 20th century in America.

I was struck by the way language

in advertisements from that period

(which promised to ‘magically’

transform people into beautiful,

youthful, alluring beings if they only

use certain products) is echoed in

Fitzgerald’s text.”

Now, her 11th grade AP English

course includes a unit on advertising

in which the classes assess how

Fitzgerald, who worked for an ad

agency before becoming a writer, was

influenced by the emerging consumer

culture of the 1920s. She has also

developed a dynamic curriculum for

her ninth grade English sections and

12th grade Craft of Writing course. She

continually draws inspiration from her

students and values their insights.

Although she majored in English

at Amherst College, Wayland-Smith

was intrigued by the French ideas of

existentialism and structuralism and

found a way to incorporate several

philosophy classes into her studies.

When a friend invited her to move to

France for a year after graduation, she

eagerly accepted the opportunity. She

immersed herself in the culture there,

SCHOLARSHIP AT THE AGNES

IRWIN SCHOOL is not simply

a degree of excellence for which

students strive; it is a trait exemplified

by the instructors who shape their

learning experiences each day.

Like many faculty members, Dr.

Ellen Wayland-Smith is not just an

educator. She is a life-long learner

with a passion for advancing the

disciplines of English and French

literature. She is among 75 teachers on

staff who have attained a degree at the

master’s level or higher. Such academic

achievement demonstrates to students

that their instructors are seizing every

opportunity to learn and are working

alongside their pupils to improve

their craft.

In addition to raising a family,

teaching five English classes and

conducting research for peer-reviewed

journals, Wayland-Smith is currently

working on a book entitled Detecting

the Telegraph: Technology and Modernism

in Henry James, Mallarmé, and Claude

Monet. The book examines how the

advent of the telegraph in the middle

19th century influenced these three

artists’ theories on perception.

She has already published three

articles in academic periodicals, two

of which relate to her dissertation

and another that was inspired by a

family sabbatical in Florence, Italy.

The University of Pennsylvania’s

French Forum will print her fourth

piece, “Mallarmé, Technology, and

the Poet-Engineer,” in their upcoming

summer issue. She also is writing an

article on F. Scott Fitzgerald, celebrity

culture and advertising that emerged

from a discussion of his works in her

Advanced Placement (AP) classes.

Scholarly Pursuits Enliven the Classroom

By AnnA heLeniAk

Faculty Spotlight

:: Dr. Ellen Wayland-Smith

11www.agnesirwin.org

studying French and attending classes

at a local university.

The next fall, she moved home

and entered a master’s degree

program at Princeton University.

After completing her courses, she

received a scholarship from the

French government to return to

France for her dissertation. One year

abroad turned into two. She met

her husband there, who was also an

American studying in Paris.

In 1999, she earned her doctorate

in Comparative Literature, specifically

French and English 19th century

literature, from Princeton. During

her post-doctoral fellowship, she

conducted research for a book

project that investigated parallels

between technology and written texts

in the 1800s.

Wayland-Smith feels most at

home when in the classroom, so

becoming an educator like her father

and grandmother was always a part

of her plan. She began working

at Agnes Irwin in 2002; when she

started to have children the following

year, she put her post-doctorate

research aside to focus on her family.

After six years away from her

academic project, a seemingly typical

day in the classroom sparked her

interest in pursuing this topic once

again. She was teaching Henry

James’s novella Daisy Miller in her

American literature class. James

describes the interactions between

his characters in terms that parallel

the telegraphic sending and receiving

of messages. Dr. Wayland-Smith was

immediately reminded of her study

on technology and the telegraph

in literature.

She started reading all of the

works by James that she could find

to confirm her hypothesis that face-

in spring 2010, i received the greatest honor of my 25-year career as a history teacher. I was awarded a six-month

sabbatical to research my father’s ancestry in Ireland. I flew to Dublin in early

May 2011 and stayed in the Irish capital for a week, conducting genealogical

research and seeing the sites.

Despite my best efforts and the assistance of experts at the National Archives

and the National Library, I found no records pertaining to my dad’s ancestors. That

did not prevent me from enjoying a great historical walking tour of Dublin and a

wonderful production of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion at the Abbey Theater.

I spent Week Two on Ireland’s west coast in Galway, the Connally ancestral

home. I did even more long but fruitless hours of research and wonderful

sightseeing. I also took day trips to Connemara, the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren

and Inishmore in the Aran Islands. It was an awesome two weeks on the

beautiful “Emerald Isle” with Ireland’s warm, hospitable and hilarious people.

I then flew from Dublin to Bosnia-Herzegovina, where I spent four days in

Sarajevo and Mostar and saw how well those two beautiful cities have recovered

from the Yugoslav Civil War in the 1990s. I went next to Serbia, where I spent

four days in Belgrade and Novi Sad, the cultural capital of the north.

Next came Croatia, where I spent two days in its stately capital of Zagreb

and two days in amazing Pula, the site of a huge Roman amphitheater AND the

boyhood home of Captain von Trapp of The Sound of Music fame! I crossed into

Slovenia to spend three days in its stunning capital, Ljubljana, which reminded

me of Prague in its beauty.

Then I headed to Italy for two days in sunny Trieste, in the northeast of the

country. Afterward, I headed to Padua to spend a couple of days gawking at

the city’s art treasures, including Giotto’s breathtaking frescos in the Scrovegni

Chapel. I also took a day trip to Venice.

From Venice, I embarked on a seven-day cruise of the Adriatic and Aegean

Seas. We visited Dubrovnik and Split (ancient cities built originally by Italians but

now firmly in Croatia), Athens and Izmir in western Turkey, from whence I took a

guided tour of the incredible ruins of the great Greco-Roman city of Ephesus.

I finished my trip with a stay in one of my favorite cities, Istanbul, the former

Constantinople, soaking up the architectural glories and history of the former

capital of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. To stand under the massive

dome of 1,500-year-old Hagia Sophia or to gaze in awe at the exquisite tile

work in the Blue Mosque is my kind of heaven! After all that, I flew to Munich,

changed planes, and flew on to my beloved Philadelphia. It was a mind-

expanding six-week journey that I will never forget.

TravEloguE: on SabbaticalBy Andrew connALLy


to-face communication is modeled

on electric messaging in his fiction.

This resulted in the development of an

article that she published in the spring

2011 edition of The Henry James Review

entitled “Conductors and Revealers:

Henry James’s electric messengers in

The Ambassadors.”

“My prior research had always

been centered on 19th century French

literature because my degree had

directed my academic path. Teaching

American literature and discussing

it with a group of lively, intelligent

students gave me an opportunity to

expand my field into English-language

texts that I would never have gotten

a chance to explore if I hadn’t been

teaching at Agnes Irwin,” she said.

Balancing her work, family and

various writing pursuits definitely

remains a challenge for Wayland-Smith,

but it is one that she manages with

care. She usually wakes up at four in

the morning and works until six, before

helping her two daughters, Sophia ’19

and Lydia ’23, get ready for school.

“When I have classes to prepare or

papers to correct, I do that. When my

schoolwork is done, I turn to my own

writing. One of the joys of teaching is

that you never know what is going to set

your mind on fire. I teach a lot of the

same texts year to year, but each time is

a different experience; each time, I learn

something new about literature or about

myself. One year, Faulkner’s As I Lay

Dying appears as a grotesquely comic

novel to me. The next year, I am moved

by its tragic enormity. I try to convey

both perspectives to my students, as well

as teach them that multiple viewpoints

– infinite depths – are what make great

literature great.”

She finds helping students discover

their own voices and become confident

writers and thinkers to be very

fulfilling. She tries to take the “fear-

factor and the drudge-factor” out of

writing so that students can “own”

their work as expressions of their

individuality.

“I love to see students, who see

themselves primarily as analytical or

academic writers, free themselves up

to write from their guts, from their

own personal experiences. I do a lot of

‘stream of consciousness’ workshops

in which they just empty out onto

the page whatever words, images or

feelings happen to be crossing their

minds at that particular moment. Then,

we use this material and refine it and

refine it again until it becomes poetry,”

said Wayland-Smith.

By the NumBers (75 percent of AIS faculty have advanced degrees)

❚ 6 faculty members hold J.D.s, including one with a Ph.D.

❚ 9 faculty members hold Ph.D.s, including one with a J.D.

❚ 60 faculty members hold master’s degrees, five with two and one with three

“I teach a lot of the same texts year to year, but each time is a different experience; each time, I learn something new about literature or about myself.”

Faculty Spotlight


middle/upper School Spanish teacher

Jennifer kakuk spent last summer

exploring Colombia and visiting an all-

girls’ school in suburban Bogota, the

capital city. She visited an eighth grade

English class and interviewed three

Upper School students about their school

life. Kakuk spent time in the Andean

mountainside near Cali and the Caribbean

coastal city of Cartagena, known as

the best-preserved colonial city in Latin

America. She has used photographs

and videos from her experiences with

Colombian and Latin American culture in

her classroom teaching.

third grade teacher kimberly walker

attended the annual International Society

for Technology in Education (ISTE)

Conference in Philadelphia. The highlight

for her was an interactive workshop for

Pixie 3 – the latest creativity software

from Tech4Learning, Inc. Walker learned

how students can create works of art

that include audio recordings, images

and text. She is excited about having

her students create electronic portfolios

that include visual, audio and digital

representations of their work across

all subjects.

First grade teacher marisa Peterson

attended a week-long course at a

writing institute at Columbia University’s

Teachers College. In small and large

grade-specific groups, they examined

various components of the writing

process. The highlights of the course

were the hour-long keynote talks given

by experts in the field – Lucy Calkins,

Carl Anderson, Colleen Cruz and noted

children’s book authors Kevin Henkes and

Georgia Heard.

middle School English teacher and

essayist kathy Stevenson has had three

essays published on Newsworks.org, the

online news source for WHYY-FM, the

National Public Radio affiliate station in

Philadelphia. She is a regular contributor.

She also has an upcoming essay in the

April issue of Main Line Today magazine.

lower School art teacher trish Siembora

mounted an exhibition of her fabric works

in January at The Gallery at St Asaph’s

Church. The show was a mix of older and

new quilt-like art that use photographs

printed onto fabric.

upper School history teacher Susan

kahn and Lower School’s Siembora

joined area independent school teachers

to hike, rock climb and camp in the Blue

Ridge Mountains of North Carolina as a

catalyst to transform their classrooms.

They were immersed in a collaborative

environment where firsthand experiences,

hands-on learning, and individual and

group reflection fostered professional

growth and personal transformation.

This year, the pair joined a network of

like-minded colleagues to focus on how

to incorporate experiential education into

their classrooms.

Jennifer Hoffman, who teaches eighth

grade science and 12th grade Advanced

Placement Environmental Science, has

been selected as an inaugural member

of the Pennsylvania Earth Science

Teachers Association Teacher Advisory

Committee. PAESTA is a nonprofit

educational organization committed to

the advancement, extension, improvement

and coordination of Earth science

education across all levels. Hoffman, along

with Lower School science teacher Cassie

woestman, also received a grant from the

Dominion Foundation to begin a worm-

composting project with students.

lower School learning specialist

Elizabeth “liz” mcCaffrey and lower

School reading specialist Elizabeth “biz”

Sands both have successfully defended

their dissertations. McCaffrey received

her Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology from

Chestnut Hill College and Sands received

her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership

and Administration from Immaculata

University. Congratulations to them both!

Anne weeks, Director of upper School,

has organized the Greater Philadelphia

Independent Schools’ participation in The

Independent Curriculum Group’s National

Assessment Project. Agnes Irwin, Haverford,

Shipley, Westtown and Tower Hill in

Wilmington, DE, are sharing cutting-edge

classroom assessments that will be further

developed to add to a national assessment

database open to all schools for curricular

enrichment. There are independent school

groups working on this project in five major

cities in the United States.

Dr. Cara latham, middle School music

teacher, volunteered on Saturdays

throughout the fall to produce and

direct the play Godspell Jr. at the St.

Rose of Lima Elementary School in

West Philadelphia. This small inner-city

school has no art or music program. She

enlisted the help of senior Alicen Davis,

sophomore Paige Davis and eighth grader

Elizabeth Latham. The play raised more

than $5,000 for the school to support an

after-school music program.

:: Faculty News iN BrieF ::


National Alumnae Advisory Council

Takes Flight

By MegAn BoyLe FLinn ’87 with AnnA heLeniAk

On a brisk day in November, a group of accomplished women from

across the country eagerly gathered on the Agnes Irwin campus for

the inaugural meeting of the National Alumnae Advisory Council

(NAAC). As physicians, lawyers, media executives and financial

leaders, they met, many for the first time, with a common goal to

craft an initiative that would bring the knowledge and experiences of

all alumnae together as resources for the school and its students.

ReAChiNg BACk and PushiNg FoRwARd

Continued on page 16


:: Susan Hirtle McEvoy ’00 giving her perspective


Conversations about forming a committee of alumnae

representatives have been in the works for several years.

More than 30 women were nominated by fellow alumnae

and agreed to serve on the new Council. Many of them had

previously expressed an interest in getting involved with their

alma mater, but they were not sure how to have an impact if

they were no longer living in the Philadelphia area.

Ann Laupheimer Sonnenfeld ’77, Chair of the Board of

Trustees, was among the first to recognize the alumnae’s

enthusiasm to share their experiences and support for

the school and quickly seized the opportunity to tap into

their expertise. Along with the Offices of Development and

Alumnae Relations, Sonnenfeld helped form the Council

in hopes of boosting alumnae involvement with the school

community and expanding the alumnae network’s reach.

Representing six decades of Agnes Irwin history, various

geographic regions and diverse career paths, the Council

members bring distinct perspectives but remain unified

in their commitment to the success of the school. The

Council will serve in an advisory role, assisting the Board

of Trustees, the Head of School and the Alumnae Board by

providing advice and service on important matters. They

recognize the school’s accomplishments and see its limitless

potential for growth.

Eighteen members of the Council traveled back to Agnes

Irwin for the first meeting to reacquaint themselves with the

school, visit classes and host discussions with Upper School

students. Whether it had been months or years since they

had been on campus, each Council member acknowledged

how attending Agnes Irwin had a profound impact on

her life. They all expressed a sense of gratitude for the

confidence, self-discipline and independence fostered within

them during their time as AIS students.

“The skill set you learn at Irwin’s is the skill set you’ll

need to succeed in life,” said Maxine Zhang ’01 (see sidebar),

an associate in corporate brand management for The Walt

Disney Company. Publisher of InStyle magazine Connie

Anne Phillips ’83 recalled that, after receiving an education

at Agnes Irwin, she assumed that women would be in

leadership roles wherever she went. She soon discovered,

however, that this was not the reality in many places. The

surprising revelation did not stop her or her classmates from

pursuing their dreams.

At the opening luncheon, alumnae greeted one another

and former teachers with smiles, hugs and joyful remarks

about coming home to Agnes Irwin. Their visit was highly

anticipated by faculty, particularly those who taught the

Anastasia Dorrance '03

Middy Dorrance '67

Anne Dillon Fisher '90

Laura Wheeler Golding '64

Lisa Howell '83 Vice President

Elizabeth McQuiston '90

Annie Casey Milligan '95

Devon Kennedy Nickel '95

Elizabeth Cuckler Odiorne '93 President

Mary Catherine O'Reilly-Ginhardt '08

Deborah Boas Pakradooni '65

Lindsey Marshall Pierce '89

Katheryne Kerr Ferguson Rogers '57

Pam Brown Russell '69

Chandi Ziesing Smith '63

Elizabeth Farrell Van der Waag '95

ALUMnAe ASSociAtion execUtive BoArd

:: Twelve members of the Alumnae Board pose for a photograph after a January meeting. Seated: Annie Casey Milligan ’95; First Row: Pam Brown Russell ’69, Lisa A. Howell ’83, Laura Wheeler Golding ’64; Middle Row: Lindsey Marshall Pierce ’89, Chardi Zeising Smith ’63, Elizabeth Farrell Van der Waag ’95; Top Row: Elizabeth Cuckler Odiorne ’93, Alumnae Association President; Anne Dillon Fisher ’90, Katheryne Kerr Ferguson Rogers ’57 (in black turtleneck), Lisa A. McQuiston ’90 and Anastasia T. Dorrance ’03. Not pictured are Alumnae Board members Middy Dorrance ’67, Devon Kennedy Nickel ’95, Mary Catherine O’Reilly-Ginhardt ’08 and Deborah Boas Pakradooni ’65.

The Agnes Irwin Alumnae Association has been led by the Alumnae Board, also known as the Executive Board, since the association’s establishment in 1898. The Alumnae Board is a partner in enriching the cultural life of AIS and fosters alumnae interaction and participation in the school community.

ReAChiNg BACk ANd PushiNg FoRwARd

LeAderShip ABoUndS


alumnae, and current students, who read the professional

profiles of the visitors and admired their accomplishments.

The Council enjoyed lively discussions with Head of

School Dr. Mary F. Seppala and Sonnenfeld about what

it means to be a leader. They also shared their views on a

variety of topics, from current curriculum and the Center for

the Advancement of Girls (CAG) to the variables that make

alumnae feel connected to the school.

They listened intently as Dr. Darin Katz, Chair of the

Science Department, explained his philosophy of teaching

science in the ways that girls learn it best, with plenty of

practical yet sophisticated lab experiments. After explaining

that more than 90 percent of each year’s senior class elects to

take one or even two optional science courses, Katz discussed

the importance of the school’s Independent Science Research

Program. He invited alumnae to assist him in increasing off-

campus research opportunities for the girls as they seek to

explore the professional world.

Senior Evelyn “Fifi” Yeung explained the gene therapy

research that she conducted at the University of Pennsylvania

last summer as a part of the program. She spoke with ease,

proudly sporting the quirky tie-dyed shirt of the stage crew

for the Upper School’s production of Xanadu! She discussed

the complexities of her project and the incredible experiences

she had working alongside her mentors and professors in the

lab. She also mentioned her interest in robotics and hopes of

attending medical school one day.

theresa Bailey Baker ’75 Rochester Hills, MI

L. Lee Brown ’94 San Francisco, CA

Mia thompson Brown ’83 Northeast Harbor, ME

virginia rulon-Miller caldwell ’64 Sausalito, CA

gwendolyn campbell ’87 Menlo Park, CA

patricia richards cosgrave ’59 Haverford, PA

courtney Leimkuhler de Segundo ’97 New York, NY

courtney Fretz ’98 Houston, TX

Stephanie haldy d.M.d. ’00 New York, NY

Margaret henry ’87 Houston, TX

hads ogden holmgren ’98 Alexandria, VA

Lisa howell ’83** Chesterbrook, PA

elizabeth Buck king ’77 Greenwich, CT

Antoinette knorr ’69 Mill Valley, CA

Adrienne Lucier ’90 New York, NY

kelly Malloy, M.d. ’93 Philadelphia, PA

elizabeth Marshall ’91 New York, NY

Susan hirtle Mcevoy ’00 New York, NY

Mary patterson Mcpherson, ph.d. ’53 Bryn Mawr, PA

kristin heim Mowry ’88 Chevy Chase, MD

elizabeth cuckler odiorne ’93** Bryn Mawr, PA

christine wheeler patton ’65 Key Largo, FL

Joan e. pew ’80 Ellsworth, ME

Maggie poulos ’95 New York, NY

clare putnam pozos ’00 Washington, DC

Lindsey wilkins press ’01 New York, NY

connie Anne phillips ’83 New York, NY

Barbara Johnson riley ’84 Bethesda, MD

Sarah roth ’94 Dallas, TX

robin Scullin ’83 Alexandria, VA

Min Suh Son ’89 Washington, DC

Ann Laupheimer Sonnenfeld ’77** Haverford, PA

Amy west ’78 New York, NY

Averel roberts wilson ’73 San Francisco, CA

Maxine Zhang ’01 Los Angeles, CA

** Ex Officio

“The skill set you learn at Irwin’s is the skill set you’ll need

to succeed in life.”

national Alumnae Advisory Council members

Continued on next page



systems. Such interaction provides opportunities for students

to learn from the experiences of alumnae; it also gives real-

world relevance to classroom lessons.

The Council also was treated to presentations by Rebecca

Kamens ’13 and Emilie Melvin ’12, who shared stories about

their Special Students Program (SSP) opportunities in the

medical field. Kamens worked in a neonatal intensive care

unit, and Melvin shadowed a Boston physician. Council

members reminisced about their own SSP experiences and

the topics they chose for their Senior Assemblies. They were

intrigued when told that the curriculum is now intentionally

shaped to build on the elements of a Senior Assembly

throughout the girls’ entire education – beginning with

“show and tell” projects in Lower School and advancing to

public-speaking classes in Middle School and outstanding

presentations during senior year.

The Council’s weekend included thoughtful discussions

on the relevance of an AIS education in the workplace and

what guidance alumnae would impart to students who may

be planning for their future careers. The women shared ideas

about how to engage alumnae who may be very busy but

still point to their Agnes Irwin experience as one of the most

important in their lives.

After participating in discussions and brainstorming

sessions with the Council, one alumna said, “I am incredibly

proud to be an Irwin’s alumna and am grateful for all

that the school has given me: a great education, amazing

friendships and exceptional opportunities in my professional

and community life. I am so impressed with the National

Alumnae Advisory Council, not just because of all that

they have accomplished, but also because of their passion,

After her presentation, Yeung delved into conversation

with Council member Dr. Kelly Malloy ’93, Assistant

Professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head

and Neck Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at

the University of Pennsylvania. They continued to have a

lengthy discussion about robotic surgery and tactile feedback

“I am incredibly proud to be an Irwin’s alumna and am grateful for all that the school has given me: a great education, amazing

friendships and exceptional opportunities in my professional

and community life.”

:: Courtney Leimkuhler de Segundo ’97 (left) and Connie Ann Phillips ’83 listen during a roundtable discussion.

:: (From left to right) Maxine Zhang ’01, Min Suh Son ’89 and Hads Ogden Holmgren ’98 enjoy a reception during an alumnae gathering.



dedication and creativity. The support of these women and

their commitment to the success of Agnes Irwin is meaningful

and unwavering. This weekend has inspired me to do more.”

As the governance committee works on the vision and

by-laws of the Council, the members look forward to

increasing their presence in the school community. Robin

Scullin ’83, Director of Communications at the YWCA USA,

wrote on Facebook after leaving the gathering, “Just wrapped

up a great two days at Irwin’s. What an amazing group of smart,

ambitious and articulate women...I feel so lucky to have spent my

twelve formative years there. Two centuries later, Agnes and Sophie

would be amazed at our progress.”

The Council members spent the weekend in true

celebration of the Agnes Irwin spirit. Over the years, as the

school has continued to grow and people have moved further

away, the number of active alumnae has mushroomed.

Currently, Agnes Irwin has more than 3,000 alumnae living,

working and making a difference in nearly every state and

several countries around the world.

All alumnae are invited to take advantage of the developing

opportunities to be role models for current students and

strengthen the AIS network. Agnes Irwin graduates remain an

incredible resource to the school. With their influence and

capacity to network, the Council, in concert with the local

Alumnae Board, hopes to be instrumental in helping the

school continue to lead the way in all-girls’ education.

“First and foremost, it was just heart-warming to be on

campus and to see how well the school is doing. The new

spaces look incredible, and the old and familiar places (are)

just as I remembered. I was struck by the great job AIS does

with recruiting and retaining talent — I remember when Dr.

Katz started, and it is incredible to see how much his role has

expanded since that time.

At the university level, I know it is increasingly a challenge

to attract and retain talented educators, so it is great to see

AIS getting it right. Since we know that community is what

differentiates AIS from other schools, it naturally follows that

having and keeping the best educators is crucial to the culture

of the school. It is only in retrospect that one can fully realize

the impact a teacher has had on one’s life — it was very

emotional to realize today, now, how much all my teachers still

remembered about me, to feel again how much they truly cared

about my success and well-being. I think I only just realized how

special it is to be surrounded by teachers like the ones I had.

I feel so lucky to be part of the AIS community and so

happy that there is an opportunity for me to give back. Yes,

AIS did indeed give me all the tools I’ve needed to succeed,

and on top of that, attitude and confidence. College was easy

after Agnes Irwin — to this day, I always ask people about

their secondary school experiences, because I know every

success I have had since AIS was built on the foundation set

at AIS.”

one Alumna’s reflectionBy MAxine ZhAng ’01

:: NAAC Member Maxine Zhang ’01 receives a hug from her niece, Sydney Rong, a member of the Class of 2023


The Agnes Irwin School Magazine :: Spring 201220 The Agnes Irwin School Magazine :: Spring 201220

21www.agnesirwin.org 21www.agnesirwin.org

Students Follow Passions in Independent Research Projects

O n T h e i r O w n ,e x p l O r i n g S c i e n c e

Today, more and more women are working in

biomedical, engineering and technology careers,

breaking the institutional and societal barriers

that once kept the ranks of women in these fields

very small.

By MicheLLe trenhoLM

Continued on next page


T THE GROWTH OF

WOMEN SCIENTISTS, ENGINEERS

AND MATHEMATICIANS has been

linked to an increasing curricular

focus popularly known as STEM (for

science, technology, engineering and

mathematics), which seeks to educate

girls to succeed in traditionally male-

dominated disciplines.

Independent science research

plays an important role in the STEM

programming at Agnes Irwin. Mentored

by Dr. Darin Katz, Chair of the Science

Department, Upper School students with

a passion for a particular area of science

conduct their own research projects.

Students can be assigned to research

units at local colleges and universities to

experience higher-level lab work through

projects that have the potential for real-

world application, or they can develop

original projects of their own.

This school year, junior Phoebe

Smukler designed a research project to

determine the effect of a good night’s

sleep on how teenage girls performed

when they were given a verbal memory

test. She administered the tests to

approximately 70 AIS students; 7.5

hours of sleep was the marker of a

good night’s rest.

Freshman Lauren Schafrank

developed a study to examine a

person’s ability to identify a genuine

smile, known as a Duchenne smile,

versus a feigned one. Roughly 60

people, including Agnes Irwin

students, some adults and some boys,

participated in her online test. She

then analyzed the responses based on

four perspectives: gender, age, level of

optimism and which physical feature

the participant found most important.

Last summer, sisters Kui and Chiru

Murage, both Class of 2012, spent

time on the Naboisho Conservancy

in Kenya. Chiru researched the effect

of the conservancy on the African lion

population and the Maasai community,

while Kui conducted a similar project

focused on African elephants. The

conservancy, four hours from the capital

of Nairobi, is located just north of the

Maasai Mara National Reserve.

Gene therapy – a technique for

correcting defective genes responsible

for the development of disease –

captured the interest of seniors Miji

Ryu and Fifi Yeung. In the summer

of 2011, Ryu and Yeung had the

opportunity to investigate different

aspects of the biochemistry of adeno-

associated viruses at the University of

Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine. The

two seniors conducted sophisticated

research work in the lab of Dr. James

Wilson, Director of the Gene Therapy

Program at Penn.

Yeung’s first task was to create

a biological affinity column – an

apparatus used in biology and

biochemistry labs – to draw specific

antibodies from blood containing

adeno-associated viruses. She then

worked with Dr. Wilson’s staff to

determine the effectiveness of the

affinity column, which works in similar

fashion to the filtration of minerals

from water.

“Basically, gene therapy uses viruses

to deliver DNA. For example, if your

liver isn’t making certain enzymes, the

idea is to send DNA to encode into

those cells to make the enzymes,”

explained Yeung. “However, the body’s

immune system attacks the viruses

so they can’t deliver the DNA. The

biological affinity column I was making

filters out the antibodies attacking the

viral vectors so they can deliver the DNA

more efficiently (and the effects of the

DNA will last longer).”

“The goal of the experience, as with any

research-based program, is to expose our

girls to higher-level lab work and to see

if the field of science research might be

something they want to pursue in college

and/or careers.”

O n T h e i r O w n , e x p l O r i n g S c i e n c e


For Yeung, it was the technical hands-

on work that she enjoyed the most. “I

gained confidence and independence

in the lab. In school, we are typically

given a set of instructions to follow, and

we collect data. In Dr. Wilson’s lab, my

mentor and I devised our own protocol,

and there was no ‘right’ answer. It was

simply an answer. This experience really

reinforced my love for science.”

Ryu was equally thrilled by the

experience. “Nothing was more

rewarding than walking through

University City after a seven-hour

workday at the lab, nibbling on a Magic

Carpet’s falafel and wondering which

assay (a biochemical test) would be

waiting for me at my desk the next day,”

she recalled.

For the past two summers, Dr.

Wilson, father of Lilly Wilson ’13, has

generously offered internships in his lab

to two rising seniors who are interested

in conducting research in a university

setting. The first Agnes Irwin students to

work in Dr. Wilson’s lab were Samantha

Schafrank ’11 and Katarina Mattila ’11.

According to Katz, the projects taking

place at Dr. Wilson’s lab and other

research-based practices are some of the

most advanced that he has seen in years.

“The goal of the experience, as with

any research-based program, is to expose

our girls to higher-level lab work and to

see if the field of science research might

be something they want to pursue in

college and/or careers,” said Katz. “For

those girls with a passion and talent

for science, this provides them with

opportunities beyond what we can

provide here at AIS.”

Since the summer of 2010, Avery

Crits-Cristoph ’12 has teamed up with

Dr. Karin V. Rhodes, Director of the

Division of Health Policy Research

at the Hospital of the University

of Pennsylvania, to examine the

relationship between alcohol and

intimate-partner violence. She helped

collect data from Emergency Room

patients and conducted follow-up

statistical analysis on the data. She will

receive co-authorship on the resulting

research paper.

“Projects like these prepare students

for college-level science courses as

well as give them an advantage when

applying for research positions as

undergraduate students,” noted Katz.

“By the end of this process, each student

has a journal-style research paper that

can be used to show a potential research

mentor what she was able to accomplish

as a high school student.”

The opportunity to work in the Penn

Medicine lab as a high school student

was the chance of a lifetime for Yeung,

and she believes any rising AIS senior

should consider it.

“I would definitely recommend this

program,” said Yeung. “This is a very

unique (opportunity) where you can

get hands-on experience in a world-

renowned lab. Even if you are only

curious about science, this is a program

to consider because you apply what

you learn in the classroom to solve

medical problems.”

A Few Independent Science Research Projects Since 2002

“effect of Maternal prenatal care on immunization rates of newborns” M. Guinan ’02, conducted with Dr. Evaline Alessandrini, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

“Stellar evolution” D. Marchetto ’03, conducted with Dr. Rex Saffer, Astronomy Department, Villanova University

“Decorative Arts conservation for collections: A Scientific perspective” H. Meadway ’04, conducted with the Bryn Mawr College Collections Department

“Do Development and Aging Affect Facial processing?” S. Kelly ’05, conducted with Janet Heed, The Haverford School

“Transgenic Mouse Models: procedures and Applications” J. Kovalski ’06 conducted with Dr. Janet Sawicki, Lankenau Institute for Medical Research

“genetics of Fragile x Syndrome” M. Samant ’07, conducted with Dr. Anita Pepper ’91, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

“involvement of host cellular proteins in Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KShV) DnA replication,” E. Yun ’09, conducted with Dr. Yan Yuan, University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine

“characteristics of Breast cancer Molecular Subtypes” C. DeCamp ’10, conducted with Dr. Hallgeir Rui, Department of Cancer Biology, Thomas Jefferson University

“Developing Molecular Markers for the Diagnosis of lupoid Dermatosis in canines” G. Lin ’11, conducted with Dr. Ping Wang, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine

The Agnes Irwin School Magazine :: Spring 201224 The Agnes Irwin School Magazine :: Spring 201224

From the moment she walks into the classroom,

Montserrat Nomdedeu (known to Lower School

students as Señorita Montse) speaks in her

native language – Spanish. She uses lots of hand

gestures to help convey meaning. Students are

expected to ask questions in Spanish. If they

don’t, they aren’t likely to get a quick response.

“This was difficult at first for the girls, but it has now

become second nature to them – they don’t question it,”

said Nomdedeu, who joined the Agnes Irwin community

this school year to help implement a bold shift in the Lower

School’s approach to the study of foreign languages.

The Lower School has long boasted a strong world

language program, the goal of which, explained Head of

Lower School Donna Lindner, “has been to expose girls

to various cultures through lessons in Spanish, French,

American Sign Language and Chinese. In reviewing current

trends in early language instruction, we decided to shift our

goal to having the girls become as fluent in one language as

they could possibly be before moving to the Middle School.”

Spanish was the obvious choice. Global demographics

indicate that Spanish is one of the most widely spoken

languages in the world. It also is increasingly prevalent in

the United States.

For many native English speakers, a second language can

be merely an academic subject studied briefly in school, the

rudiments of which recede in adulthood. The traditional

approach to the study of foreign languages in American

education has not focused on achieving fluency at an early

age. Without a particular affinity for language acquisition,

many people never experience a second language truly

coming to life.

Agnes Irwin has an innovative Modern Language

Department, driven by a dynamic and talented faculty

at all grade levels. The new focus on Spanish in the Lower

School takes into account current understanding of

the natural aptitude children under age six have for

language acquisition.

Lindner described the Spanish program as a work

in progress. “The plan is to grow the program one year

at a time, with Spanish as the primary language taught

throughout the Lower School in the next four years.”

Adjustments will be made as necessary. “For example, we

have shifted the PreK classes from 30 minutes a day to

¡Que viva

el español!Lower School Dives into Second-Language Acquisition

By cLAre LUZUriAgA


they have the foundation to tackle the more academic

aspects of the language as they move into the upper grades.

“I try to transmit my knowledge and passion for

something that is so much a part of me, hoping they will be

able to use it some day in real life,” explained Nomdedeu.

She is thrilled by how proud the students are of themselves

when they greet her with an “Hola, Señorita Montse!” in

the playground or hallway, and they realize they are actually

speaking another language with ease, even if it is only to

exchange basic conversation.

Lindner hears similar stories from PreK and Kindergarten

parents, who have noticed their children speaking Spanish

at home and who have reported that their girls “love

Spanish and adore Montse.”

In the few months that she has been at Agnes Irwin,

“Señorita Montse” has clearly had a positive impact and has

succeeded in bringing Spanish to life for the Lower School

girls, who will progress to Middle School, equipped with

the confidence and aptitude to become truly fluent in a

foreign language.

20 minutes a day to match the stamina of the students,”

Lindner explained. She encourages feedback from parents

as the program progresses.

Lindner sought a native Spanish speaker to help

lead the effort and welcomed Nomdedeu to the faculty

last September. Nomdedeu was born in Castellón, the

northernmost province of Valencia, Spain. For the past 18

years, she has lived in the United States, where she has

worked as a medical/legal interpreter and taught Spanish to

children and adults.

To reinforce the concept that Spanish is not just a class

in school, Nomdedeu occasionally shows video clips

of her daughters on vacation in Spain, speaking fluent

Spanish. This has been a big hit with the students, who

love to see other children speaking Spanish.

PreK and Kindergarten have Spanish daily, with a focus

on basic vocabulary – colors, numbers, weather, animals

and days of the week. Using a variety of games, singing

and even the occasional cartoon in Spanish, she aims to

have the youngest classes absorb the fundamentals so that

:: Señorita Montse, as students fondly call her, places tokens on a table for the start of a game of Bingo!


The theater is dark and the setting is bare, except for the drawn

curtain and the 17 black-clad girls neatly seated in a row that spans

the width of the West-Wike stage. Four girls step forward with

scripts in hand to the music stands that hug the edge of the deck

downstage and begin reading stage directions and dialogue about

friendship, drugs, peer pressure and family dysfunction.

By wAndA M. odoM

8th Grade Drama Quarterly


STuDENTS LEARN ThE CRAFT OF PLAYWRITING


This is 8th Grade Drama Quarterly, the capstone of the

theater arts program in Middle School and a new approach to

the curriculum that puts students through the paces of writing

the script for a stage play.

“The basis of all theater is text, and the one piece of theater

we had not (covered) was text,” said Middle School theater

teacher Ann Ramsey.

Throughout Middle School, the girls study character

building, stage-craft, public speaking, movement and voice

– the full palette of what happens in the craft of theater. But,

until a few years ago, creating the language of the stage had

not been tackled.

Ramsey worked with award-winning former Mum

Puppettheatre Director Robert Smythe, as part of his student-

teaching program, to develop a curriculum that would bring

playwriting into the Middle School theater program. This is

the third year of the new curriculum, which once focused

primarily on performance skills.

Together, Ramsey and Smythe wrote 10 lesson plans that

can be stretched over the course of 11 to 12 weeks of theater

class. In a stepped fashion, the girls create three scenes with

dialogue as well as stage directions. They write the climax

first, then the ending and, lastly, the beginning of their plays.

This sort of zigzag approach allows students to envision and

map out how to get from one point to another in their plots.

There is a lot of creative writing and journaling involved as

students attempt to work through their ideas and give voice to

their stories. Ramsey gets the girls started by requiring them

to write a monologue from a “prompt,” asking students to

describe what has just happened in a Pulitzer Prize-winning

photograph. About one-third of the grade ends up using their

monologues as the basis for their plays.

Ramsey also requires the students to practice writing

dialogue in the ancient Greek form known as stichomythia, a

style of dialogue in which single lines are uttered by alternate

speakers. In addition, students must write a five-minute piece

consisting only of stage direction. The goal is to depict the

main character having a private moment.

All of the required writing steps culminate in a 10-minute

play penned by each eighth grader, on topics ranging from

bullying and suicide to friendship, betrayal and gender identity.

Once each play is written, it is read to the class for critique, and

the writers use the feedback to hone their final scripts.

The entire grade votes on which plays are the most

performance-ready; these plays end up being read before the

entire Middle School. It takes about six classes to give every

play a reading and two to three classes to rehearse the scripts

selected for presentation to the Middle School.

“The most important piece of this is the process,” said

Ramsey, noting that there is no censorship and the girls often

expound on tensions and issues rooted in real-life stories.

“(But) what I love … is that the girls tend to choose the

best writers (when they decide which plays should be staged).

They are recognizing good writing when they hear it.”

:: Students participate in a reading – complete with stage directions – of a script written by a fellow eighth grader.


ith a packed gymnasium

of students, faculty, family

and friends, senior Emily

Wetz accomplished what few

high school or collegiate basketball

players do.

Wetz entered the record books at

the January 26 game by becoming

only the second player in Agnes Irwin

basketball history to score 1,000

points. Three games later, she ended

her fourth Varsity season having put

1,074 points, her high school career

total, on the board for The Owls!

The only other AIS basketball

player to surpass the 1,000-point

mark was Megan Pauley ’08, whose

career total reached 1,032 points.

Pauley went on to become captain

of the women’s basketball team at

Franklin & Marshall College.

In the hard-fought January game

against the Academy of Notre Dame

de Namur, Wetz scored 10 points

overall and went down to the wire

in her effort to claim a place among

Agnes Irwin’s elite athletes.

A ReCoRd-Setting YeARVarsity basketball captain scores

1,000th point anD beyonD

:: Wetz is all smiles with AIS Athletic Director Sheila Pauley and Varsity Basketball Coach John Novarina (above left). A point guard, she was known for driving hard to the basket and going up for the rebound.

W

ais atHletics


As the game clock started, the Varsity

captain was only nine points shy of

hitting the milestone. In the first half,

she pulled within four points but had

a scoring drought until the final five

minutes of the game. She exceeded the

mark with a hard-won basket under

the goal with 1 minute, 40 seconds to

go. The Owls lost the game 54-33, but

scores of students flooded the floor

when Wetz sank the two-point basket

that put her career score at 1,001.

“I’ve been training for this moment

since my freshman year,” said Wetz. “It

was both nerve-wracking and exciting!”

Wetz joined Agnes Irwin in ninth

grade after finishing St. Anastasia School

in Newtown Square. She was recruited

to the basketball program through the

Carter A. Mannion ’81 Student-Athlete

Scholarship. The scholarship is available

annually to incoming Upper School

(9-12) applicants who play two sports.

Wetz also plays field hockey.

In her freshman year, Wetz earned a

valuable position on the Varsity squad

as a starter, clocking a significant

amount of playing time.

She led the Owls with an average

of 12.6 points per game in her final

season. In addition, she led the team

in steals per game (3.5) and assists

per game (2.4).

“Scoring 1,000 points is a huge

milestone for any high school player,”

said John Novarina, Varsity basketball

coach at Agnes Irwin. “It says so many

things…not just that she can score

but that she was good enough to play

at a young age and that she had the

endurance to play at a high level for

many years. The fact that she is Agnes

Irwin’s second 1000-point scorer tells

you how difficult an accomplishment

this is.”

Wetz, who in the fall was a captain for

the Varsity field hockey team, reflected

on how she has advanced athletically

over the years. “Without coming to AIS,

I wouldn’t be the person I am today.

Many people have shaped me into who

I am. My coaches have been invaluable,

helping me learn the skills I needed

to become a better basketball player.

Without them, I would not have been

able to succeed as a player.”

In college, Wetz, a highly sought-after

player, will play Division III women’s

basketball at Franklin and Marshall.

Wetz is active as head of the

Athletic Association Board at AIS,

making honor roll and relishing the

intense and introspective discussions

she and her classmates have during

their bio-ethics class.

“Agnes Irwin has shaped me into

a strong and independent woman. I

have learned many leadership skills

and also how to be a team player. In

short, I have become a better person

because of this school.”

“i’ve been training for this moment since my freshman year,” said Wetz. “it was both

nerve-wracking and exciting!”

:: Wetz enjoys the media spotlight after surpassing the 1,000-point mark. At right, she celebrates with her parents, Deb and Bob Wetz.

other records set tHis Winter

SwimminG:

50 yard Free: Catherine Miller ’12 - 25.38200 yard Free relay: Catherine Miller, Morgan Pergolini ’14, Lauren Fox ’13, Vivien Hastings ’12 - 1:45.06

DiVinG:

6 Dives: Marin Bloise ’15 - 247.6011 Dives: Marin Bloise - 429.60


ais atHletics

AIS/EA DAy Photo RounDuP

School spirit filled the air as community

members cheered on the tennis, cross-country,

field hockey and soccer teams at the 2011

AiS/eA day games held november 11 at

the episcopal Academy.

WE ARE ChAmPIonS! the varsity volleyball team was named inter-Ac League champions in october with an exciting 3-1 victory over the Academy of notre dame de namur. they also raised more than $3,000 for the Side-out Foundation at their annual “dig pink” event. Shown front row: (l-r) Mackenzie Lucas, victoria hammarskjold, kate tocci, camille Flint; back row (l-r): katharine Boris, victoria Joughin, Madeline yoh, Martine white, emma Joughin, elizabeth hollander, Anne Mentzinger, Alexandra hammarskjold and Meridith pollie


agnes irWin cross country

PErSonAl bEStS – toP 20* | 2003 – Present

name time Date Event/Course

1. Courtenay Devlin 19:16 9/20/08 Bulldog/Rose Tree

2. Ellie Hastings 19:17 10/13/07 Delcos/Rose Tree

3. Vivien Hastings 19:22 9/18/10 Bulldog/Rose Tree

4. Courtenay Devlin 19:41 10/11/08 Delcos/Rose Tree

5. Christina wusinich 19:48 9/30/11 Paul Short/Lehigh

6. lauren Fortunato 19:57 10/19/09 Inter-Acs/CHA

7. Georgia Fortunato 19:58 9/18/10 Bulldog/Rose Tree

8. Ellie Hastings 20:03 10/27/07 States/M’burg

9. Vivien Hastings 20:07 10/17/11 Inter-Acs/CHA

10. Vivien Hastings 20:09 9/30/11 Paul Short/Lehigh

11. Vivien Hastings 20:14 10/15/11 Delcos/Rose Tree

12. lauren Fortunato 20:16 9/18/10 Bulldog/Rose Tree

13. Georgia Fortunato 20:23 10/14/09 Bulldog/Rose Tree

14. lauren Fortunato 20:23 10/20/08 Inter-Acs/CHA

15. Christina wusinich 20:25 10/15/11 Inter-Acs/CHA

16. kate Alden 20:27 10/17/11 Inter-Acs/CHA

17. kate Alden 20:41 9/30/11 Paul Short/Lehigh

18. Danda Greco 20:41 10/28/06 States/M’burg

19. mary Allison Gretz 20:45 10/29/05 States/M’Burg

20. Vivien Hastings 20:48 9/18/11 Briarwood/Bel.Pl.

*Certified 5K courses only (no dual meets)

ais atHletics

:: Varsity Lacrosse captain Campbell Crochiere ’12, with her parents, signed a National Letter of Intent in November to play Division I women’s lacrosse at the University of Richmond in Virginia.

:: Hall of Fame Basketball Coach Cathy Rush visited in October for a special pre-screening of “The Mighty Macs,” a film inspired by her life story as a pioneer in women’s collegiate sports. As head coach of women’s basketball at Immaculata College, she led her team to three consecutive national basketball championship titles from 1972-1974.

BASketBAll legend CAthY RuSh


1930-1939Neal Gilkyson Thorpe ’37 doesn’t think she will make Reunion at age 92! But, she would be interested to know how her classmates are doing.

1940-1949

Patty Gilkyson Agnew ’42 writes, “Nothing new from Santa Fe–I’m still active on the museum’s board but have had to give up skiing and fly fishing–heartbreaking, but I am very busy with my three girls and my grandchildren.”

Jean Bradley Anderson ’42 writes, “A second edition of my Durham County: A History of Durham County, North Carolina was published by Duke University Press in April 2011. I wrote an additional chapter and updated it. What a relief to get that done! The usual parties, readings, signings and talks followed, all of which, I hope, are also behind me. But, it was fun if rather too much excitement. I keep in touch with Frankie McMillan Russell, Emily Dorrance Mayer and Barbara Gibbon Rowland to my delight.”

Class Notes

Marjorie Carpenter ’42 reports, “I now live at Meadowood in Lansdale, PA–a retirement community. I volunteer, play lots of golf and play bridge on the first bridge team at Philadelphia Cricket Club. We play bridge against all the clubs around Philadelphia. I lived out West and was married to two ski instructors, so I did not live in the East for many years. My cousin Genevieve Lee had gone into the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots) and influenced me to learn to fly and teach. After teaching in Hawaii for two years, my father wanted me home and offered me a plane. I came home and got a Bellanca cruiser and flew friends all over to see their families etc. for weekends. I flew to East Hampton, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Bermuda and Palm Beach, where my family lived. When I did get married, I moved to Denver, CO, and sold my plane to a test pilot who worked with the military. Both of my husbands were skiers in the 10th Mountain Division during the war.”

Margaretta Wharton Hoadley ’42 has lived at Evergreen Woods, a retirement

STaY CoNNECTED!

Please send us your Class Notes for inclusion in the 2012 fall issue by July 1, 2012.

You may submit them online at: www.agnesirwin.org (click on alumnae), email them to:

[email protected], or mail them to: alumnae office, P. o. Box 407, rosemont, Pa 19010.

We want to hear from You!

community in North Branford, CT, for 10 years. She is happy and busy. She has a son and a daughter living in Connecticut, a daughter in Ohio and a daughter in California. She has six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren–all boys. Margaretta enjoys playing bridge two or three times a week, has a garden full of flowers, arranges flowers in the health center and reads to a group with macular degeneration.

:: Charlotte Landreth-Melville ’40 enjoying herself at the St. Andrews Ball in Budapest, Hungary.

:: Marjorie Carpenter ’42 swimming with dolphins.

:: Margy Wharton Hoadley ’42 and Bessie Wharton Beeler ’41 at Circle Garden in Dunwoody Village in June 2007.


Class Notes

Betty Zengel Johnson ’42 spent time in Jackson, WY, on the R Lazy S Ranch this fall. She rode every day and saw lots of wild animals. Her granddaughter, Kelly Ann Caldwell Yontef, has two daughters, Avery and Cassidy.

Mary Riter Pancoast ’42 writes, “After my husband died, I moved to Whitefish Bay, WI, a suburb of Milwaukee. My daughter, Beth Pancoast Baxter ’64, lives here, as do my two grandchildren and great-grandchildren. My two sons live in Colorado. Thankfully, I still live in my own home with a dog and cat. I keep busy reading, doing needlepoint and taking short trips.”

Thelma Austin Fry ’43 currently lives in Allen, TX. She has two children, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. She lived in Colorado Springs, CO, for 30 years and moved to Allen three years ago to be close to her daughter and family.

Elizabeth Wright Latta ’44 writes, “My husband passed away in 2005. I sold my house in Florida and bought a Victorian in Maryland, closer to my five children, 11 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. I visit my children and take vacations when I can. I keep busy with my home and garden. I love to swim, so I put in a pool, which the children enjoy. I think of AIS in Wynnewood often and feel that I received a special education there.”

:: The Dorrances at a family gathering: (front) Middy Dorrance ’67, Emily Dorrance Mayer ’42, Doug Mayer (Emily’s son); (back) George Dorrance, Anne Mayer Cheezam ’71, Sallie Mayer Hendrick ’77, Anastasia Dorrance ’03, Mary Carter Dorrance ’07.

Elizabeth Drayton Hopkins ’47 moved to Waverly Heights, a CCRC retirement community, in September 2008 with her very sick husband, who sadly passed away in December of that same year. Her children live nearby–son in Devon, Mary Hopkins ’78 in Berwyn and Elizabeth in Wayne. Bessy writes, “I’m just an ordinary ‘retired’ housewife who did lots of volunteer work and assisted at the Gateway School and the Booth School.”

Augustine Janeway Rhodes ’47 says, “I live six months of the year in a retirement community in Princeton, NJ, and the other six months in Bradenton, FL. I have finished my film script, “Dinner with Henry van Dyke,”

but have not yet sold it. No matter! It was a kick just doing it. I am still enjoying all 18 of Henry van Dyke’s books, which I am fortunate enough to own, as 16 of them are out of print. I hope there is a good turnout for our 65th Reunion.”

Joan McAdoo Simmons ’47 is an active volunteer at her church and enjoys helping out where needed. She reports that she is “lucky to have all four of my married children living here in Jacksonville, FL. I also have 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. I consider myself very blessed.”

1950-1959Virginia McCoy Braun ’52 is active in her community and is a past president of her sorority, P.E.O. They further educate women and also give emergency assistance to local women. Her son, Jim, has a daughter, Hayley–who attended Maret School in Washington, D.C., Vanderbilt University and Duke University. Her daughter, Virginia Henderson Hunter ’73, has three sons and six grandchildren. “They are adorable, and that makes me the great-grandmother–known as ‘Grams.’ I’m on the run all the time! My house in Stone Harbor, NJ, is the hub for everyone!”

Dorigen McCutcheon Clare ’52 writes, “I appreciate you including me in your notes section and love hearing what other AIS alumnae are doing. I still keep in touch with Virginia McCoy Braun.”

Eleanor Jarrett ’52 is a volunteer docent at the Philadelphia Zoo. Jean still enjoys traveling and exercising by basseting with Skycastle French Hounds.

Jerry Parke Kinkead ’52 writes, “In spite of a recent hip replacement, in September I was frisky enough to go on safari in southern Africa. I stayed in tent camps in Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, finishing out the 24-day tour with four nights in South Africa. It was a mind-altering experience–living with wild animals up close and personal, learning about different cultures and meeting wonderful people. The trip will stay vivid in memory, yet it is indescribable.”

Sally Winsor Miller ’52 is still enjoying life at Beaumont with her husband, Bill, to whom she has been married for 53 years. Her primary civic interest is still volunteering (40 years) for the Philadelphia Orchestra. She really hopes and prays they can make a full comeback without sacrificing that famous “Philadelphia sound.” There is a vast amount of money that still needs to be raised to solve the bankruptcy problem. Sally and Bill couldn’t be happier at Beaumont, and they highly recommend it. Nonie Wickware Knight and Sally have written a couple children’s books together for the “under five-year-olds” but don’t know any agents or editors. If any alumnae know of any, they are looking for a contact!

:: Jerry Parke Kinkead ’52 stops to enjoy the view on a recent trip to South Africa.

:: Bill and Sally Winsor Miller ’52 at dinner at Beaumont at Bryn Mawr in March 2011.

:: Tina Janeway Rhodes ’47

:: Virginia McCoy Braun ’52 celebrating the birth of great-granddaughter Olivia Hunter, daughter of Howard and Virginia Henderson Hunter ’73. Also pictured are Emma and Adam Hunter.

:: F. Gardiner and Patricia Hansen Bridge ’43 on their way to a symphony benefit in Cape Cod, MA in 2011.

Patricia Hansen Bridge ’43

Emily Dorrance Mayer ’42


Class Notes

Nancy Hunter Wessells ’52 moved to Waverly Heights in Gladwyne–a retirement community–after selling her farm of 48 years. She has one son in Montclair, NJ, and three sons on the West Coast–two in Seattle and one in San Francisco. She likes to paint and garden and beagle on Sundays in the country. She has four granddaughters whom she visits out West.

Very few folks can claim to have rubbed elbows with the Hollywood elite, let alone to have hosted an entire movie set production in their living rooms. But SAnDy StrAuSS krAuSE ’52 can!

The Sarah Lawrence College graduate, who started attending Agnes Irwin in kindergarten, is now a retired designer living in Los Angeles. Back in the 1950s, when the real estate market in L.A. was booming, she sold her first house, a “fixer-upper” that she had renovated and decorated in order to sell. Before she knew it, she had found her niche in remodeling and selling homes. “It was then that I realized this could be a business,” said

Krause. “It just meant living in your investment until it sold and then getting started on the next project…always looking to either build or fix a wreck of a house.”

Her final renovation project – the house in which Krause currently resides – is regularly leased for short periods of time for photo shoots and for filming commercials, infomercials and, once in a while, a movie or a television series. “The last movie, What Just Happened, was not a great commercial success but it did star Robert De Niro…a very nice, non-attitude guy,” said Krause.

Similarly memorable for Krause was the filming of the comedy-thriller Silver Streak Highway, for the amount of severed rubber hands that she found lying around the house.

Popular television series shot at Krause’s home include the American teen drama “90210” and “Cane,” starring Jimmy Smits, which chronicled the lives of a powerful and wealthy Cuban-American family running a successful rum and sugar cane business in South Florida.

Krause’s advice to the next graduating class from Agnes Irwin: “Agnes Irwin gave me the confidence to trust myself when an opportunity presented itself—to

take that sometimes scary chance. That is what I would pass on to a younger generation.”

Hollywood Style: Turning Homes into Movie Sets

Nancy Lloyd Rieger ’52 has been on the road this year. She keeps equipment for cross country skiing and snow shoeing at both of her residences in Rhode Island and in New Hampshire since she travels between them frequently. On one trip to New Hampshire, her car was rear-ended; Nancy was not hurt, but the car was totaled and she had a long siege of dealing with a difficult insurance company. Nevertheless, Nancy drove to Maine in a rental car to visit friends this summer. Last April, she spent time with her daughter and family in the Florida Keys. In August, she made it through three days with no power during Hurricane Irene and then traveled with Overseas Adventure Travel to Patagonia for an October trip. Thanksgiving took Nancy to the Keys again for fishing and petting manatees. Nancy hopes to travel again in May for her 60th Reunion.

Mary Lloyd Robb ’52 writes, “Ted and I most enjoy keeping up with our families. Ted has three sons and three grandchildren; I have six children and 14 grandchildren. With four of these families on the West Coast, one in Japan, one in Boston, two in Philadelphia and one in Washington, D.C., we have great opportunities to visit some interesting places. We also travel as much as possible ourselves. A recent walking trip to the English Lake District was a highlight, if a bit damp. I do some fundraising for Planned Parenthood, in which I strongly believe.”

Margaret Tryon Bennett ’54 shares that Susy Brandt had a fabulous voyage on the Queen Mary 2. Margo often sees AIS alumnae Annabelle Pierson Irey ’53, Mary Knox Tatnall ’55, Teal Zalinksi Davidson ’63 and Julie Dill Williams ’55.

Jessamine Brandt ’54 completed the first year of the Barnes Foundation course, traveled to Montana and Alaska and then had a fabulous 25-day trip on the Queen Mary 2 in fall 2011. Susy is now back doing volunteer work with a first grade class at the Cassidy School in Philadelphia. She loves every minute of it!

Helen Clothier Ballard ’57 writes that she and Ian made a major change by moving to the Beaumont retirement community. “I said I would never do it, but I did it and am glad I did! Cleaning the house of 30 years of stuff was made much easier by having five

kids and 17 grandkids. We have a house in Maine that we love and try to spend at least six weeks there every year. In February, we get two weeks in our timeshare in Aruba. Don and Peggy Justice Scholl are in the apartment above us–lots of fun.”

Langdon Manley Mannion ’57 (See profile) spent the past two summers traveling with her husband, Bill, in their van to Montana, the Oregon coast and all parts in between.

:: Ted and Minnie Lloyd Robb ’52

:: Nancy Hunter Wessells ’52

:: The Class of 1953 was saddened by the loss of their friend and classmate, Polly Ostheimer ’53, who died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. She is pictured here six years ago. Described as having “a heart and love larger than life,” Polly will be missed by her family and her AIS friends.

:: Helen Clothier Ballard ’57 at the lighthouse in Portland, ME.

:: Bill and Langie Manley Mannion ’57 in their 23-foot van.


Class Notes

Helene Slack McMullan ’57 writes that 2011 was a busy year. She is still making jewelry, coaching and started playing the ukulele, transposing all of her old guitar songs to ukulele. She loves it and is in a ukulele group. Her husband, Jim, is publishing another children’s book, Flocks, Herds, Litters & Schools, which should be in bookstores now. Their son, Tysun, is still head of photography at a rafting center in the Sequoia National Forest, edits for TV part of the year and has a website selling still photography, which is his passion. Their daughter, Sky, is a senior account executive at an ad agency in Los Angeles. Helene and Jim divide their time between their home on the river in Island Heights and their cabin in the Sequoia National Forest...two diversely different lifestyles!

Lynn Keebler Miner ’57 is traveling a lot. Her latest trips include Bhutan (hiking) and the Galapagos Islands. She is still teaching and guiding at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Lynn also plays tennis, both singles and doubles, twice a week.

Katheryne Kerr Ferguson Rogers ’57 writes, “Looking forward to our 55th Reunion. Our Whitney Rogers Davis ’82 will be

celebrating her 30th Reunion and Courtney Rogers Christopher ’86 will celebrate in four years! Whitney’s daughter, Katie, is in the seventh grade at AIS and Courtney’s son is in third grade at Haverford, so we are a very ‘local family!’ Beau and I are having a great time with grandchildren, traveling and watching all the changes at AIS. See you all in May!”

Margaret Justice Scholl ’57 and her husband, Don, still live in the home they built 10 years ago. Don will retire at the end of this year and will pursue new avenues. Peggy is active in her township historic commission, is on the Meals on Wheels board and is very active with Chester County Fund for Women and Girls development committee. She is taking lessons in watercolor, travels and sees lots of her eight grandchildren–three are in various colleges. She writes, “Life is good. I try to keep in touch with numerous classmates who are spread from Italy to Colorado, Florida to Maine. We are a very close-knit class!”

Polly Rightmire Scoville ’57 lost her husband, Russ, three years ago to multiple myeloma. Her son and his family, including

three small and wonderful children, came to live with her. “They brighten my days. We live in the same timber frame house in the country by the Blue Ridge Mountains that we had built 10 years ago. The views are still and always amazing. I travel often to be with my four children and 16 grandchildren, aged newborn-18. Most live fairly nearby, but one is in Southern California. I have taken some Elderhostel trips, the most recent to study the Amish and Mennonites in Lancaster County, PA. Though I have retired from teaching English as a second language, the international connections continue. We are hosting a Chinese high school student this school year, one daughter is adopting two Ethiopian girls and I’m planning to go on an educational mission for my church to Madagascar for 18 months this summer. Life continues to be full, and I’m trying to enjoy and appreciate every minute. I am looking forward to seeing all your smiling faces in May!”

Elizabeth Stouffer Thompson ’57 and her husband, Josh, have eight grandchildren between them. They live in Colorado and California, so they visit as much as possible. Lissa plays some tennis and golf and belongs to the U.S. Women’s Senior Association.

Renny Parke Wood ’57 says, “I entered AIS in the ninth grade at age 13. Traveling to school was a challenge as I lived in West Chester, but we ‘hicks’ carpooled to Paoli where we got the train to various schools. In Wynnewood, we walked from the station to the ‘castle.’ Those train-riders were my first Irwin’s pals. In spite of the arduous trip, I loved the school and still do. This probably had a lot to do with our great class. They were and are a wonderful, diverse group of personalities with many interests. Sally and Joanne rode horses, Kate was musical, Lynn was an ice skater, Francie, Langie, Bales, Susie, Helene, Sandy and most of the others were great athletes; and they were all smart and funny. I feel lucky that we still get together often. We renew each other’s spirits. I’m still fortunate to be married to Larry. We travel when we can, always to the Berkshires in August. I take art classes and paint watercolors, dabble in politics, sing in a choir, walk a few miles every day and belong to a book club. I’m the town Tax Collector; I take care of grandchildren, the house and

:: Polly Rightmire Scoville ’57 with her daughters, Becky and Jenny.

lAnGiE mAnlEy mAnnion ’57 and her family have lived all over the United States, but Agnes Irwin will always hold a special place in their hearts. Following their passion for remodeling homes, Mannion and her husband slept by the heat of a wood-burning stove while restoring a historic 150-year-old farmhouse and rode their own horses while renovating a classic Western ranch in Colorado.

Now, the couple enjoys their retirement and the warm weather in Vero Beach, FL. She volunteers at The Women’s Refuge, a small residential Biblical counseling center, and helps with fundraisers and public relations as a board member. She even attributes an AIS course on the Bible as a source of inspiration to further discover her

spirituality and to become an aid at the center. Although several years separate Mannion from the beginning of her Agnes Irwin

journey in the fifth grade, her family’s legacy is still felt on campus each day. The Carter Mannion ’81 Student-Athlete Scholarship honors the memory of her spirited and talented daughter. It provides a four-year scholarship to an outstanding two-sport athlete in the Upper School.

“The scholarship is the most exciting and meaningful way to remember Carter that we could ever imagine. A scholarship fund was started soon after her death in 1982 and has been growing for all these years because of generous and faithful donors. Five years ago, the fund became a full scholarship given each year. I had the pleasure of meeting the first four recipients in 2011 and hope to meet the newest scholar during Reunion Weekend,” she said.

Following in the footsteps of her grandmother, great-aunt Keith Manley ’65, and aunt, Grace Carter Mannion ’21 now carries on the family tradition as an Agnes Irwin student.

Keeper of a Meaningful Remembrance


Class Notes

garden; and I try to take care of my body parts without too many doctor’s appointments. There aren’t enough hours in the day. From my friends, I gather that’s pretty much the case for all of us oldies. I can’t wait to see the whole class at our 55th Reunion.”

Catherine Tryon Mick ’59 writes, “It’s been an outstanding year in that we welcomed grandchild number nine to the family. Our daughter Heather Peterman had a little girl in September, Charlotte Aldan. My daughter Kate has four daughters and a son; and, our son, John, has two boys. Family gatherings are fun! My husband, Mickey, and I have enjoyed some weekends away and are looking forward to summer vacation. I have been in touch with my favorite classmate, Judy Carrigan Sykes. We plan to get together in the spring when we visit Nantucket. Groupon and Social Living have been wonderful for us! I am still working full-time in the Commercial Lending Department of Royal Bank America. I am coming up on 19 years, and I sill enjoy it. I am looking forward to seeing as many classmates as possible when we celebrate 55 years. Yes, I plan ahead!”

Judith Carrigan Sykes ’59 writes, “I continue to fight for a cure. In March, I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. I have responded very well to treatments and am feeling fine. I was well enough to travel to Europe in October and spend a ‘Carrigan Thanksgiving’ in Virginia along with Pauline Carrigan Charles ’54 and Joan Carrigan Forester ’57. When all are present, we total 41–not bad for the three Carrigan girls!”

1960-1969Margaret Mulford Bartholomew ’62 retired from teaching last year and is relishing her free time. Sadly, her husband, Edward, passed away in 2009. She has since become a member of the UVM Friends of the Horticultural Farm board that looks after the collections nearby. She likes to sing barbershop and is currently singing with a local chorus. Her daughter, Molly McCooey, was expecting her first child in December 2011, a girl. Margaret’s constant companion is Quincy, her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

Kate Thompson Calano ’62 recently retired from her 40-year career as a landscape architect, working for a consulting firm in

Boston. She is now assisting her husband with his real estate development business, spending much time with her projects for the Cambridge Plant and Garden Club, traveling and having fun doing things she hasn’t had time for before. Kate writes, “Generally a great time of my life for me. My son is 25, living in Washington, D.C., working as a business consultant and enjoying that so far!”

Marguerite Roller Choate ’62 welcomed the arrival of her first two grandchildren. Her son, Brian, and his wife, Debbie, welcomed Amanda Wynn Choate in September 2010. In April 2011, her daughter, Melissa, and her husband, Bryan, had a son, Nolan Bryan Gordon. Both families live nearby and she sees them often.

Alice Dayton ’62 says, “Although I started life as an economist, most of my time has been spent in public relations and advertising, which introduced me to some really interesting projects and people (and a few horrors). For the last 10 years or so, I have handled assignments under my company, Wisteria, Inc., but in this economic climate, clients have faded and a younger generation is moving in. In 1971, I married Peter Strickland, who worked for Freeman’s and Sotheby’s. We had some very good years and a lot of fun, including buying back and starting to renovate my great-grandmother’s house at 926 Spruce Street, where I remember going for New Year’s parties as a child. But, we divorced and by career accident, I found myself living in New York City, where I have stayed. I am now lucky enough to have a small apartment with a huge terrace; since I grew up on a farm,

PAulA FrEEmAn SzAbo ’62 has had many joys in life. She graduated with honors from Briarcliff College in Briarcliff Manor, NY, and won the prestigious Cartography Prize. She went on to serve as a cartographer for Aero Service Corporation in Northeast Philadelphia and later for the Lower Merion Township Planning Commission. She also worked for a commercial artist.

After taking a short break from her career to raise her two children, Szabo returned to the workforce as a part-time teller at the Philadelphia National Bank. She soon decided to take on a full-time position as Service Manager in her branch. Following several corporate mergers, Szabo applied for a sales associate position and was accepted. This new role put her math and business skills to the test. She enjoyed the challenge of working in the banking industry for many years. Her time at Agnes Irwin laid a solid foundation for success in her professional endeavors.

“AIS was a wonderful place to learn and to be given the opportunity to participate in all sports, regardless of the ability level that one was able to achieve. It also prepared me to go to college and further my learning experience,” she reminisced.

Szabo is now happily retired and enjoys playing golf, tennis and bridge. She also loves spending time with her four grandsons and attending their various events. She looks forward to celebrating her 50-year Reunion in May and hopes to see many of her old classmates there!

Building Grounds for Success

:: Margaret Mulford Bartholomew ’62 enjoying a summer day in Vermont with her daughter, Molly Hover.

:: Judith Carrigan Sykes ’59 and her family at “Walk for the Cure” in October 2011.

:: Larry and Renny Parke Wood ’57 in front of the Kennedy Center and Watergate in October 2011.


Class Notes

it is a great pleasure. If any of you come to New York, I give walking tours (free), including views of the Hudson, Lincoln Center and Central Park from the roof, everything you can do around one block, from opera to Chinese takeout, a 13-screen movie theater, supermarket and drugstore, hardware store and shoeshine. I will show you anything you want to see, from the Battery and Chinatown to the Harlem Bazaar. I have also written stories about things that have happened to me over the years, with more to come. They are all true. If you would like a copy of Dayton Observatory, I can email or mail it.”

Margaretta Markle Lovell ’62 is currently teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, and enjoys the new courses and new students every year. She finds pleasure in instructing undergraduates, shepherding dissertations and solving administrative policy and implementation puzzles. Her recent research has focused on the mid-19th century American artist Fitz H. Lane, whose stunning landscapes are also intriguing records of contemporary ideas about New England’s extractive industries–lumber, fish, granite. In family news, she is delighted to be able to spend one day a week looking after her baby twin granddaughters and finds herself planning adventures with them to enlarge their world and their worldview. A baby brother is expected this spring and that event, unfortunately, conflicts with Reunion. “I have had the pleasure of catching up with a few classmates during my visits to Bryn Mawr to see my father and these mini-reunions will be as close as I get to celebrating our (astonishing) 50th.”

Susan Clark Ogden ’62 writes, “Computers. Internet. Email. Facebook. And, Twitter! While they keep us in touch, they are quite an assault on my typewriter-driven world of 1962. Phone messages keep me as busy as text messages,

and then there is just plain snail mail! What to think? The Age of Information definitely means that I need a little time to be outside, away from the computer; so, I go to Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts on weekends or Maine in the summer. In those spots, I kayak, play tennis, walk, hike and volunteer tagging Limulus Crabs (Horseshoe crabs) on Connecticut and Rhode Island’s Sandy Beach. In New York City, I volunteer in schools, working in the field of substance abuse prevention and also enjoy tennis and yoga. (Since 1975, when substance use tied in with a PTA job, my interest has linked me in with our schools, our economics, our times and our politics.) Best of all, I have three adult children! For six years, Mary and Cecily were AIS girls and Wat was a Haverford boy. In the past five years, Mary and her husband, Jesse Johnson, added a ‘melting zone’ of grandchildren, Reeve and Morgan, to the family! For years, I loved teaching in

a day school and also in a graduate school (a rewarding but insane combination) and now have given in to tutoring students and working in the graduate school…Computer Lab! As for ‘organizing’… let’s talk about that at our Reunion. Let’s say organizing parts of our 50th Reunion has been a joy and highlight of getting reacquainted with AIS and our class. You will find that, too! I am full of admiration for Brooke Norrett ’95 and Melanie Gaspari Albahary ’92, our Alumnae Office contacts–though fun and supportive–really par excellence! We also have an inspiring and hard working class team of Barbara Page, Nancy Davis Rosan and Alice Marshall Sharp, and the team is growing. Most of all, I have learned (electronically and non-electronically!), that we can be truly proud of the many accomplishments of our class from the unseen types of achievements to the splashy successes. Bravo!”

Martha Pitman O’Kane ’62 has recently moved. “In July, John retired after 47 years at IBM, and we moved from Vermont to Seattle to be close to our son, John Jr., and his family. We love living in Seattle, playing golf and watching Katie, our granddaughter, play soccer on a Seattle Select team. Our grandson, John III, is in several productions of Broadway Bound. Currently, he is playing Daddy Warbucks in Annie. Our daughter, Susan, is still in Vermont with her two children, Ella, 6 and Tucker, 4. As much as we love Seattle, our hearts are partly still in Vermont with Susan.”

Barbara Page ’62 says her daily routine centers on her studio in Upstate New York, where she is currently working on a commission from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. She has designed a history of life for a 140-foot-long bridge connecting the museum with a new wing. This three-part project involves porcelain tiles for the railings of the bridge, sandblasted floor patterns and a series of bas-relief paintings for the entry gallery. The opening festivities take place in April 2012. Other work appears at www.barbarapagestudio.com. Having an engaging career has helped her keep a positive outlook as caring for her husband can be challenging. Barbara says, “I am fortunate to have an entertaining group of grandchildren between ages 8 and 14. One of my sons is a tech specialist at Boston College and the other is head coach of men’s crew at Brown University. Sports still play an important part in my life. I row a single scull and bike in the warmer months and cross-country ski in winter...actually, I’m biking this winter! I am currently training for a sprint triathlon, which requires adding swimming to the mix. I barely have time to breathe, but I am practicing yoga, which helps. Looking forward very much to our Reunion.”

Carol Marshall Paumgarten ’62 is the mother of two boys and the grandmother of four. She is working as the Owner and Artistic Director of Steps Studio, a professional dance school for children of all ages in New York City.

Mary Elizabeth Wildman Postigo ’62 writes, “We go to Los Angeles two to three times a year. Our granddaughters, Libby, 5, and Nina, 2, go the CEC Center for Early Education in Los Angeles...a most remarkable school. Needless to say, our daughter, Jessica, and son-in-law, Eric, are very involved, as Fernando and I try to be as well when we are there. Jess is a screenwriter and her husband a studio executive at Sony. Our son, Pablo, rents out apartments on the north shore of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. His passion is surf and he travels a lot, especially to Mentawai Islands, Sumatra, where he is setting up shop to teach the locals to repair the surfboards that the tourists break when visiting. This would bring them a much-needed source of income. My husband, Fernando, a photojournalist, is retired but lives camera-in-hand. I took up bridge eight years ago and am addicted, federated in Spain, France and US, as well as frequently play on BBO...anyone else? Looking forward to seeing you in May!”

Nancy Davis Rosan ’62 loves the freedom and flexibility of retirement, after 40 years of working in elementary education, city planning, economic development and affordable housing finance. She enjoys volunteer work with her church and Washington Literacy Council. She also is involved in yoga, centering prayer, sports, gardening, birding, photography, reading and travel. Recently, she was biking along the Danube and hot air ballooning over Cappadocia, Turkey! Nancy says, “I enjoy my old and new friends, my three happily married children and six grandchildren–they are my passion! I am eager to spend time with all of you dear classmates at our 50th Reunion at AIS!”

Paula Freeman Szabo ’62 (See profile) and her husband, Frank, are busy with their six grandchildren–and go to most of their activities. So far, these include swimming, baseball, soccer and ice hockey. Frank and Paula enjoy tennis and golf and especially love spending the spring and fall months at their home-away-from-home in Flat Rock, NC. She also enjoys playing bridge on the Merion Cricket Club 3rd team. Last April, they welcomed a new son-in-law to the family when their daughter, Karen, got married in Nashville. Paula says, “I am looking forward to our 50th Reunion!”

Julie Mannix von Zerneck ’62 says, “I celebrated my 45th wedding anniversary with Frank von Zerneck on January 15, 2012. I

:: Nancy Davis Rosan ’62 with four of her six grandchildren.

:: Susy Clark Ogden ’62


Class Notes

and her husband surprised me right in front of my favorite museum in Berlin, where there was an exhibition of Pergamon. In this museum are the archaeological remains of Uruk, Mesopotamia. It is so beautiful, just like in your museum in Philadelphia where you have the most wonderful remains of the king tombs in Uruk, Mesopotamia. I loved it there. I felt like a teenager being together with Lee and having the atmosphere of our youth at Agnes Irwin in 1966. Then came many emails from the girls in my class to whom Lee had sent a photo. Agnes Irwin was so important for me. I think about the time very often. Greetings to all!”

Jessie Disston Watters Brittingham ’67 has taught math and physical education for many years, from 1971-2006, and also coached all levels of field hockey, soccer, basketball and tennis from 1971-2012. She was voted into both the Hall of Fame at Roanoke College in 1979 and at Central Bucks High School in 2006.

Katharine Brown Grala ’67 is married and living in Sleepy Hollow, NY. She continues to work as in-house counsel for a community bank and loves her job. Her oldest, Broni, 30, works for the Outdoor Gear Exchange in Burlington, VT, and spends lots of time skiing, hiking and climbing. Meggie, 28, got married in May 2011 and lives in Baltimore, where she is a pediatric resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Nicholas, 25, is an associate at JP Morgan Private Bank – he just climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and finished a 50-mile ultra marathon. She would like to extend a special thanks to Middy Dorrance for keeping us all up to date and informed of everyone’s comings and goings.

Deborah Aikens Laverell ’67 (See profile) Debbie retired in 2009 after working for 40 years. She is now busier than ever, pursuing a lifelong passion for photography. She reports, “The real love of my life is my little grandson, Judson, named after his grandfather.” Jud and Debbie celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary this year. They

Laura Wheeler Golding ’64 reports that she saw Lisa MacLaren, Brooke McInnis Ranck, Millie Clark van Griethuysen and Connie Barnes Haydon at both Lisa’s and Millie’s mothers’ funerals. “While the occasions were sad, it was wonderful catching up with classmates whom I hadn’t seen for many years. Millie has two daughters and continues to live in The Netherlands; Connie has one son and lives in England, while Lisa, with two daughters, is still in Wisconsin. All of them look terrific! Exactly the same! I have also been in recent contact with Gina Rulon-Miller Caldwell, who promises to make her way east from California for a visit this spring. I have been sending out ‘round-robin’ emails a couple of times a year to everyone in our class who has shared email addresses. It’s been fun for all of us to hear what everyone has been doing throughout the year and a simple way for all of us to keep in touch. Please send me your email address if you have not been receiving them–we’d all love to hear your news! It’s a simple email ‘reply all’ that goes back to everyone. Contact me at [email protected] so I can add you to the distribution.”

Christiane Jung-Kallfass ’66 writes, “This summer, I had a big surprise. Lee McIlvaine Manonian came to Berlin, Germany, to see her son, who works as a painter here. Lee

did indeed marry the love of my life, and our time together has been awesome. When we first met and fell in love, we had a child out of wedlock, who we gave up for adoption. Three years ago though, much to our surprise and utter delight, Kathy found us. After getting to know each other, we wrote a book together, A Daughter Lost and Found. Redbook Magazine just printed an excerpt from it in their December 2011 issue with pictures and all. For the last 25 years, our family has owned and run Portrait of a Bookstore, which is located in Studio City, CA. My husband is also a film producer, as is my daughter, Danielle, and my son, Francis, is a writer/director. We also lease our house out for television series and commercials. For the last four years, our house has been the home of Ari Gold on the series Entourage. We have two West Coast granddaughters, Martha, 18, who is a freshman at Bard, and Irene, 15, who is a sophomore at Oakwood School. We also have two ‘new’ East Coast granddaughters, Amanda, 21, and Kathryn, 15. Kathy is an English teacher in Florida and the head of her department. I loved my years at Agnes Irwin. I loved the teachers and the stories Mrs. Bartol told during Friday assemblies. I loved playing hockey, lacrosse and, for some reason, doing a lot of marching on rainy days. I also loved the daily walks from the Wynnewood train station to school and then back again at the end of the day. I consider myself to be very blessed, not only to have been a part of Agnes Irwin, but also for knowing the girls in my class, all of whom I am so looking forward to seeing again.”

Elaine Biddle Whitman ’62 shares that her most recent news of note is becoming a grandmother to Aidan, 2, son of Ellen Whitman Stoddard ’93. Elaine says, “What a delight! Over all the years, I have maintained my love of the outdoors, and exercise is still important to me. Since I no longer play tennis, I have had to settle for walking and mild hiking. My husband, Brad, is retired from an environmental law practice and has reinvented himself as an artist doing woodturning on a lathe. We garden on a small scale and try to take care of our natural surroundings. Our three children have found interesting careers, and we enjoy following their lives as they progress. I am looking forward to our 50th Reunion, but do not believe that many years have gone by.”

Kathleen Wright ’62 took a trip in July 2011 to Beijing, China, where she studied the texts of Confucians with Chinese and English-speaking scholars for a month in Qufu, Shandong Province, the birthplace of Confucius. She has been teaching some new courses at Haverford College that incorporate German and Chinese philosophy. Her daughter, Sophie, 18, spent the summer playing violin at Kinhaven Music School in Weston, VT. Sophie will be attending Grinnell College, where she intends to double major in music and another subject. Kathy writes that she is looking forward to the Reunion this year!

:: Kathy Wright ’62 with her daughter, Sophie, in August 2011 on the way home from her summer playing violin at Kinhaven Music School in Weston, VT.

:: John and Martha “Mel” Lewis Bonder ’67 pictured with their children, Tory, Lindsay and Brooke.


Class Notes

since 2008. I used to take dental students from the previous dental school to the Amazon region and other parts of northern Brazil.”

Deborah Fritz Noble ’67 writes, “Since the last Reunion five years ago, I have changed jobs and I am engaged. The wedding is dependent upon the sale of both of our homes, so the date is a big unknown. Once both homes sell, our plans are to move to the Naples, FL, area. I enjoy my volunteer positions, serving on the neighborhood board and the recreational committee. Both of my sons, 29 and 32, are attorneys; one started his own firm in Boca Raton, FL, two years ago. The other son is married and living only 15 minutes from me in Richmond, VA. No grandchildren yet–just can’t wait until that day.”

Carol Boerner ’68 is starting her third career as the founder of Vermont Facial Aesthetics, LLC, a posh, private oasis for Botox, facial fillers and neutriceuticals in Norwich, VT. She enjoys the artistry of rejuvenating tired faces and seeing the joy on those faces afterward. Visit www.vermontfacialaesthetics.com and see what she is doing.

1970-1979Caroline Lutton Nunez ’70 is back to full-time work, after having her hours drastically cut. Her daughter, Anita, is back to work after almost two years of unemployment. She is part of a women’s a cappella quartet, which she says is challenging and a lot of fun. “My grandsons, Cadel, 11, and Declan, 6, are growing like the proverbial weeds! We had a lovely vacation in the Eastern Sierra Nevada in October 2011. We stayed in a cabin on a creek, and we went for walks, bird-watched and relaxed. I enjoy following a few of you on Facebook!”

Phyllis Kent Barber ’72 is a middle school counselor in the Greenville County public school system. She lives at Seabrook Island, SC, just outside of Charleston, during the summers. She enjoys time in the Charleston area with classmates Alex Wood Del Viscio and Chrissy Hemingway Jones. Her son Kent married last year and her son Clark graduated from University of Virginia and lives in Washington, D.C.

travel extensively–this year, they spent a month in Australia and New Zealand and spent three weeks in Europe sailing the Adriatic on a five-mast clipper ship. Planned travels for 2012 include South Africa and a river cruise in Italy. Their daughters, Brooke Laverell Gilbert ’99 and Paige Laverell Goll ’00, are both happily married and living respectively in Richmond, VA, and New York City.

Erica Jany Migliorati ’67 says, “Once again, we have moved. We are now in Memphis, TN, and this time just the two of us. Our sons are gone. Marco, 37, lives in Orlando, FL. He and his wife work for ‘Disney Imagineering.’ They have one daughter, Maya Giulia, 7. Our son, Ricardo, 35, lives in Brazil in a southern state. His house is by the ocean; needless to say, he is an avid surfer. So far, he is single and has no kids. Our moms are still alive, and they are housemates. They have been living together since our dads passed away about 10 years ago. They get along well and are always there for each other. We visit them as often as we can (they are now in their late 80s). Hilary Gardner Keaton and I have tried to see each other multiple times without success. It is amazing how time flies, and we cannot seem to slow it down. At the University of Tennessee, my husband, Cesar, and I teach at the College of Dentistry in different specialties. For more than 10 years now, I have dedicated my time to laser dentistry, and somehow it became my passion. I still play tennis at least four times a week and love it. As for medical/dental mission trips, I have not been on any

In 1963, DEborAH AikEnS lAVErEll ’67 left Radnor Junior High in Wayne, PA, to enter eighth grade at The Agnes Irwin School. Granted the move was not far, but the environment and curriculum were vastly unlike that of her public school. “My first impression was how nice everyone was and how helpful and welcoming,” Laverell recalled. “Noticeably absent were the ‘cliques’ that were so evident at Radnor. It was

quite a transition from Radnor to AIS.”Laverell adapted quickly to the culture at Agnes Irwin and soon

found herself on the Varsity tennis team, managing the holiday bazaar and becoming president of the photography club, which sparked a lifelong passion for photography that she would further develop in retirement. “We said in our yearbook that ‘the key to success is to live, love, laugh and experience school in any fancy, but do it with hard work,’ and this has been a motto by which I have lived my entire life.”

Laverell majored in fashion merchandising and marketing at Averett College in Danville, VA, and found her collegiate career

more survivable than her peers as result of her time at AIS. “At Irwin’s, we had to really manage our time and be super-organized in order to keep up – traits that served me well throughout my career.”

And indeed, they did. Laverell went on to accept a job at Strawbridge & Clothier, a

premier Philadelphia department store at the time. She successfully rose through the corporate ranks before taking a gigantic leap into a different industry. As a program manager for SAP Consulting, a software company at which she worked for 11 years, Laverell enjoyed traveling and learning new technology. “One of the greatest rewards I had working at SAP was traveling all over the country. I developed lasting friendships with people of many different cultures.”

Today, Laverell is retired but busier than ever. Aside from current appointments as president of the Main Line Camera Club, events chair for the Appleford Committee and Technology Committee chair of the Garden Workers Garden Club, to name but a few, she remains active through artistic photography.

Laverell and her husband, Judson D. Laverell III, are the parents of Agnes Irwin alumnae Paige ’00 and Brooke ’96. “The most important thing in my life is my family above all else. We have a two-and-a-half-year-old grandson, named after his grandfather, who is the light of our lives.”

An Enduring Agnes Irwin Allegiance

:: Debbie Fritz Noble ’67 (center) with her sons, Joey (left) and Ron, celebrating Joey’s marriage in 2010.


Class Notes

Emily Dixon Hannan ’72 lives in Bucks County and works at the Emily Fisher Charter School in Trenton, NJ. Emily and her husband have three adult sons and two yellow labs.

Catherine MacNeal ’72 has been living in Berkeley, CA, since 2003, after 22 years in Los Angeles. Her daughter Rosalie is a sophomore at Berkeley High; Charlotte is a fifth grader at The Berkeley School. Both are great soccer players (unlike their mom!). Her stepson, Jake Foster, practices law in San Francisco and interned at the criminal court in The Hague and the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Her stepdaughter, Julia Dalzell, graduated from the University of Michigan, where she was a varsity coxswain on the crew team. She now works in food justice and nutrition education in Los Angeles. Catherine’s partner, Tom Dalzell, continues to head IBEW 1245 and write books on slang. Damn the Man! Slang of the Oppressed in America was released in 2010 and Far Out Depends on Where You’re Standing: A New Look at the 1950’s was released earlier this year. She continues to do some acting and teaching theatre and helps run Cambodia Tomorrow, a nonprofit providing educational opportunity in Cambodia. The whole family also has been farming lavender every summer since 2006 on Vashon Island. Her parents, Ed and Priscilla MacNeal, still live in Wayne and they visit as often as possible. Her sister Madeleine MacNeal ’74 is in Texas and works as a special education supervisor. Katherine wishes that they lived closer to each other. She says, “So, I’ll be 65 when my youngest graduates from high school – my mother was 40 when I went off to college, and then spent 27 years teaching at Irwin’s. Shared experiences, but not in the same order. I’m looking forward to our 40th Reunion (well, not the 40th part!). Our small class of 34 is a fascinating group of women, and I’m eager to get together, compare notes and see how far we’ve come. Hope to see you all there!”

Nancy Lincoln McBride ’72 and her husband, Scott, live in Wayne. She splits her work activities between a professional career in information technology and teaching meditation. She spent the greater part of the 1990s living in a Buddhist monastery in Nova Scotia in retreat! Visit her at Verge Yoga in Wayne for classes and retreats.

Susan McCown ’72 writes, “My active interests are in the outdoors, nature enjoyment and the multicultural disciplines. I kayak in the Schuylkill River, where I see lots of herons, ducks, turtles and other wildlife. I work for REI, Inc. as a part-time employee.”

Judith Young Neer ’72 and her husband, Frank, are learning what it is like to be “empty nesters.” Their daughter, Jenna, is now a freshman at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. She is following her passions as a singer, songwriter and musician. She is majoring in

:: Catherine MacNeal ’72, her partner, Tom Dalzell, and daughters, Rosalie and Charlotte, visiting her mother, Priscilla MacNeal, former head of the AIS Drama Department, in Wayne, PA.

One does not always find her calling in high school or during the cumbersome years of job exploration after college. For some, a niche is not discovered until much later in life. In the case of Ann CAuFFmAn SnyDEr ’72, it was 25 years in coming.

At the urging of an instructor at the Main Line Art Center, where Snyder had been taking an arts course, she enrolled in a part-time certification program at the

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) at the age of 43. There, she would refine her painting technique and use of pastels, channeling the creativity initially fostered during her Agnes Irwin days as a member of the sewing and photography clubs.

“Painting coincides so well with travel, which I also love,” said Snyder. “In the past, I organized a group that went to Florence and painted, and I have also spent time in Martha’s Vineyard for that purpose.”

While Snyder considers herself to be a mostly realistic artist, she has recently taken a plunge into the abstract. In the fall of 2011, Snyder participated in “Absolutely Abstract,” a show hosted at The Philadelphia Sketch Club, America’s oldest continuously operating club for professional artists.

Since graduating from PAFA in 2003, Snyder has been actively exhibiting her work in galleries in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont and on Martha’s Vineyard. In addition, she teaches an arts enrichment program at a Philadelphia charter school.

Following in the tradition of many Agnes Irwin alumnae, Snyder brought her daughter, Sarina Snyder ’08, to AIS, where Sarina immediately found her calling in Studio Arts. Bestowed with her mother’s artistic talents, Sarina received the Agnes Dixon Rowland Art Award on Class Night. Today, Sarina is a senior at Tulane University in New Orleans.

“When I think of The Agnes Irwin School, I think about the talented, multi-dimensional women who attended Irwin’s,” said Snyder. “The alums of all ages are such a supportive community who continue to grow, learn and share with one another.”

A Venture into Abstract Expression


Class Notes

taping of a TV show in Manhattan. Libby is still very active with her garden club and is president of a small investment club. She has also recently started taking Spanish classes and continues to love to read, ski, play tennis and travel; she hopes that someday she will progress beyond a beginner golfer! Every August, she spends as much time as possible at their camp in Rangeley, ME. She says, “So, if you find yourself nearby, please come and visit!”

Elizabeth Williams Madtson ’77 is living in Colorado and says it has been a wonderful experience after living in Pennsylvania for 37 years. “I still cherish coming ‘home’ every few months to see my family. My husband, Jay, and sons, Jake, 9, and Derek, 8, keep busy with skiing, biking and hiking with our dog Roxy. Jay manages family real estate, and I spend many hours at the boys’ elementary school volunteering. I look forward to seeing my 1977 classmates this May and catching up.”

Mary Masters Opila ’77 celebrated as her son, Chris, graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in International Relations and Economics and an emphasis in the Middle East in May 2011. He speaks Arabic fluently and is presently living in Cairo, Egypt, where he is continuing his Arabic studies at the American University on a CASA fellowship, funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Andrew is a junior at Gonzaga University studying Communications and Electronic Media, Art and Entrepreneurial Leadership. Ryan is a sophomore at Brophy College Prep, a Jesuit high school in Phoenix, AZ. Mary is active in various school and community boards. In her spare time, she likes to hike, garden and read. She just recently hiked rim to rim in the Grand Canyon with a group of friends, all in one day.

music and loving it. Judy writes, “As president and partner of Pile and Company, I have plenty to do to keep me busy. I am looking forward to our 40th Reunion. How did that happen?! Didn’t we just graduate?”

Pauline Carlton Sirkin ’72 opened Winslow Interiors, an interior design and architectural renovation company, in spring 2011. Her daughter, Mattie, graduated from the Center of Arts and Technology in Phoenixville, PA and is presently taking a break from her education. Her husband, Adam, expanded his business, Liberty Uplink Inc., into New England. They are big supporters of Main Line Animal Rescue with their three adopted dogs.

Susan Alrich Stair ’72 is looking forward to settling in New York City after moving several times. Susan is a part-time art teacher for a non-profit, Studio in a School, in the city. The rest of her time is spent in Rochester, NY, or Lake Ontario, where her husband, Bailis, works. Both of her boys graduated in May 2010 from Swarthmore College and University of Rochester. Dan works in Boston and Chris works in New York City. Susan continues to enjoy making artwork and sharing the joy with her students in the Bronx.

Susan Ward ’72 writes, “John and I met in Miami in May 2009. He is from Toronto, and I lived in Wayne. We dated long-distance for about two years and married on April 2, 2011. I am now living in Toronto with John and his five children, ages 9-16, and our black lab puppy, Zoe.”

Elizabeth Buck King ’77 is presently living in Greenwich, CT, but finds herself on the road quite often visiting her daughters. Jenny, 22, graduated from Wake Forest in May 2011 and is currently living and working in Jackson Hole, WY. Hopie, 19, is a sophomore at Bates College in Maine and Lila, 17, is a junior at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts. Her husband, Charlie, is teaching and loving it. He is a seventh grade U.S. history teacher at Greens Farms Academy and is also coaching soccer and lacrosse. As a new empty nester, she is having lots of fun with an empty nester women’s group that meets monthly to visit museums, take cooking classes or attend a

:: Jay and Bonnie Williams Madtson ’77 skiing with their children, Jake and Derek, in Colorado.

:: Susan Ward ’76 and John Byberg celebrate their wedding with classmates (l-r) Martha Madiera, Suzanne Hooper, Kirven Ringe Talone, Elizabeth Smith and Betsy Moran Legnini.

:: Suzy Ward ’76 with her grandchildren, John III, 11; Tucker, 4; Ella, 6; Katie, 9.

:: Jenny, Hopie and Lila, daughters of Charles and Libby Buck King ’77.


Class Notes

enjoys playing tennis and growing organic vegetables and flowers.

1980-1989Paige Andersen ’82 lives in Wayne with her husband, Andre Gardner, and works as a senior project manager for GSI Commerce, an eBay company. She manages projects for ecommerce stores like NFLstore.com and shop.MLB.com. Paige and Andre are thrilled that their daughter, Gigi ’17, is in seventh grade at AIS. Paige says that, aside from getting a terrific education, Gigi is on the AIS tennis team and loves acting and singing.

Alexandra Dodge Panarese ’77 lives in Milton, MA–just outside Boston. She has been married to Mark since 1981 and has four children. Ted, 29, went to Cornell University and now lives in Baltimore. Her son Sam, 21, is a student at Cornell University; Sophie, 18, studies at Georgetown University; and Bart, 16, attends Milton Academy. She has been very active in the Garden Club of America over the years and has a keen interest in environmental issues. She also

Making it on Wall Street was a significant achievement in the career of bEVErly CAtHCArt tArikA ’77. But raising a family of four across two continents was an even greater feat.

In 1990, Tarika was the Vice President in Foreign Exchange with Emerging Markets at Citibank. At the height of her career, living in Manhattan, she decided to leave the hustle and bustle of Wall Street to pursue the culinary arts. She attended the French Culinary Institute before her husband’s job with Morgan Stanley would have the family move to the United Kingdom.

“Irwin’s did a lot to groom me by giving me the confidence to move to New York without a job and pursue an exciting

and rewarding career in Foreign Exchange trading,” said Tarika, “which at the time was extremely active and volatile and a big money-maker for the institutions we worked for.”

Once settled in the U.K., Tarika was able to resume her passion for riding as well as travel extensively in Europe and parts of Africa…“as much as one can with four children under the age of 10!”

In 2000, Tarika and her family returned to the United States and moved to a small farm in Connecticut, where she has raised her children and remained active riding, showing and breeding her own horses and ponies. She is also heavily involved with Horizons at Greens Farms Academy, a cultural and academic enrichment program for underserved children from the neighboring city of Bridgeport, Connecticut.

“I have had an extremely interesting and active life so far but have been fortunate enough to be able to spend the last 22 years raising my family as my primary job, with the time to be involved with several key boards, including the Athletic Council at Colorado College, the Juvenile Diabetes Association in Connecticut, Horizons at Greens Farms Academy Board and the Executive Board of the Parents Association at Greens Farms Academy.”

From Wall Street to the UK and Back

:: Gigi Gardner ’17, daughter of Andre Gardner and Paige Andersen ’82.

:: Don and Mary Masters Opila ’77 celebrating their son Chris’ graduation from Middlebury College in May 2011. With them, sons Chris (cap and gown), 22; Andrew, 20, and Ryan, 16.

Lisa Gerhardt Bamford ’82 reports, “The last 10 years I have seen two stepchildren, Rebecca and Edward, graduate from college and go onto a Ph.D. program in chemistry (Rebecca) and join a shipping firm in London (Edward). I retired from careers in the hotel and medical equipment sales. My husband, John, and I designed and built a house. We also fostered three children with various levels of success; one is graduating from The Hotchkiss School this year. We currently live with our two dogs and two cats in Stamford, CT.”

Dawn Stevens Brennan ’82 and her husband, Dan, have been living in Gilbertsville, PA, for the past 11 and a half years. They are currently planning a move to the Elkton, VA, area. They have two children–Tori, who is a junior at the University of Tampa, and DJ who is a freshman at West Virginia University. Dawn and Dan spend lots of time with their families and look forward to holidays when the children are home. They have two Vizlas who keep them on their toes.

Margaret Riley Mahoney ’82 has recently moved back to Pennsylvania from Norfolk, VA. She writes, “I am really happy to be back in the Philadelphia area after being gone for almost 30 years! My son, Jack, is in eighth grade and my daughter, Maddie, is in ninth grade at Penn Charter, where Jay is the Head of Middle School. It was very strange to be back at AIS when Maddie played varsity soccer against them. The school looks great!”

Lisa Ginn Mottes ’82 says, “I am looking forward to seeing and reconnecting with my fellow classmates in May! I recently completed my master’s in elementary education at Cabrini College and am currently teaching preschool, as well as serving as the After School Director at Wayne Elementary School. I still have to student-teach in the fall for certification purposes. I may well be the World’s OLDEST student teacher! My daughter, Catherine ’21, is in the third grade in the Lower School. She loves going to Agnes Irwin and truly has the school spirit. She is kind, bright and witty. I am enjoying the experience of watching her grow into a lovely young lady. I am truly blessed and in denial it has been 30 years since we graduated!”

:: Catherine Grace Mottes ’21, daughter of Lisa Ginn Mottes ’82.


Class Notes

Katherine Elliot van Liere ’82 is still living in Grand Rapids, MI, raising her two boys, Kees, 14, and Thomas, 12, with her husband, Frans. She is teaching history and Spanish at Calvin College. She tells us that her parents still live in Radnor, so she returns a few times yearly to visit them and is hoping to come to the Reunion this spring.

Lee Carroll Roebuck ’83 has been calling Baltimore home for 19 years. Her son, C.J., is 15 and in 10th grade at The Gilman School. His English teacher this year is the brother of Mr. Christ! Emily is 13 and in eighth grade at Roland Park Country Day School. Her husband, Charles, continues to run his family’s printing business. “When I am not running C.J. and Emily everywhere, I volunteer for local organizations. Life is good!”

Jara Dean-Coffey ’84 is “happy to report that we are finally getting settled into our new old house in Gerstle Park, CA, in Marin County.” Jara’s practice – jcdPartnerships – is growing and having greater impact with organizations in the social and philanthropic sectors committed to equity and social justice. Mike still enjoys working at the National Park Services with details on Alcatraz and the Marina Bay, preserving and maintaining some of California’s most historic and beautiful lands. Hope all my classmates are well.”

Beth Ann Riley ’84 shares that she has been sidelined by a serious knee injury (four knee surgeries), but hopes to get back to her OB-GYN practice within the next year. Her children, Jasmine and Quincy, are entering third and fifth grades respectively. Her

husband, Wayne, still heads the Adolescent Medicine Department at the University Hospital in Portland, OR. She would love to hear from classmates, [email protected].

Courtney Schlein Altman ’87 writes that she is dong well and lives in Haworth, NJ, with her husband, four sons – Sebastian, 11; Spencer, 9; Tyler, 7; and Aiden, 6– and their 13-year-old German shepherd, Jake. Her husband, Ken, is a physician at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. Courtney has taken a break from teaching elementary school since having her children, but is embarking on a job search this spring since they are all in school. “I went back to school to become a reading specialist when we were living in Chicago. We spent six years in Chicago, where I saw Stuart Dyer around my neighborhood with her husband, George, a number of times. We moved to Bergen County, NJ, six years ago. Prior to my wedding in June 1998, I received a master’s in elementary education from Bank Street College in New York. I look forward to hearing how our classmates are doing.”

Gwendolyn Campbell ’87 says, “I’m living near Palo Alto, CA, just outside of San Francisco, with three kids. Cameron is 9, Max is 4 and Zoe is 2. I’m working full-time as a managing director with Merrill Lynch in Private Wealth Management. I manage money for high net worth individuals. Since we graduated 25 years ago, I’ve had lots of hobbies and served on boards, etc. But now I am focused on the kids when I’m not at work. My husband, John, is English, and works as a software engineer. I still have great memories of Agnes Irwin, and I hope to send my daughter to an all-girls school when she is old enough.”

Carla Huber Dosmond ’87 writes, “Graduation from AIS feels like a long time ago. I have seen some of my classmates over the years, and I am sorry to have missed the 20th Reunion, which I heard was a big success. I have been living in the United Kingdom since 1998, when I moved to London to work for Morgan Stanley in Equity Sales covering Germany. I met my husband, Cyril, at work and have been here ever since. Cyril is from France, so I have put to good use all those French classes with Mme. Barnett and Mr. Ross to speak with my in-laws! I stopped working when my daughter, Natalie, was born in 2003. My son, Felix, was born in 2005. We now live outside of London in Cobham, Surrey, and feel very settled here. Fortunately, we get to spend time each summer with my parents in Devon, PA. I usually see Laura Wood Collamer and her sons every summer and recently met up with Lisa Frack and her two children as well. In addition to staying busy looking after the kids, I am active on the Board of the American Women of Surrey and started a small stationery and gifts business importing U.S. merchandise into the U.K. Hopefully, I will make it to our 25th Reunion in May, but if not, I would like to say a big hello to the Class of ’87.”

kArEn JorDAn GowEn ’82 did not follow a roadmap after graduating from Agnes Irwin. Her path had a more unconventional trajectory, one she wouldn’t trade for the world.

After college, armed with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Art History from Hobart & William Smith Colleges, Gowen pursued a career in advertising at a mom-and-pop shop. Working in an office of only four, she learned how to become a one-woman enterprise, wearing several hats. Gowen’s next assignment found her working as a sales assistant in television advertising.

After marrying in 1988, she experienced a health scare that put her career plans on hold but spurred motherhood. Two years later, when her daughter Emily was born,

Gowen threw herself into volunteer work “whole hog.” She stuffed envelopes, weeded gardens, ran fundraisers, coordinated children’s concerts and sat on numerous committees.

It was not until she became a board member of the Chester County Fund for Women and Girls in 1997 that Gowen had the opportunity to connect with AIS alumnae Heidi Hartshorn McPherson ’75. For 15 years, they have worked side by side to make the community aware of issues affecting the women and girls of Chester County. The fund has awarded over $1.2 million in grants to more than 45 organizations.

Today, Gowen works as a professional photographer, which she fell into – as she puts it – completely by accident.

She attributes her success in photography not only to her exposure to the darkroom at Agnes Irwin, but also to the investment AIS places in the arts. “The arts were valued at AIS and I remember being so excited when we got a new darkroom and great studio art spaces.” Looking back, Gowen fondly remembered the trips that her photography club took to the Italian Market in Philadelphia and New York City.

Her advice to current AIS girls: “It is so hard in this day and age for girls to be calm, especially in environments as rigorous as AIS. Don’t be afraid if your ‘life plan’ doesn’t pan out. Be resilient and ready for what comes your way.”

Embracing the Zig-zags of Life


Class Notes

Keri Bennett Edwards ’87 says, “I can’t believe we are celebrating our 25th Reunion. I have so many wonderful memories of Agnes Irwin and hope to be able to relive some of them when we all get back together. I am fortunate to have two jobs that I love. I am a preschool director in King of Prussia, and I have a successful home business with Arbonne International, a health-and-wellness, Swiss-based company. I am an executive regional vice president with that company. I also have a wonderful husband named David and three beautiful children–Kailey, 14; Tyler, 12; and Lindsey, 10. I would love to hear from classmates and hope to see everyone at Reunion.”

Alison Regan Edwards ’87 has worked at Susquehanna International Group for 13 years as a market intelligence analyst. She married Neil Edwards in June 2008 and has two children, Katherine, 2, and Ben, 9 months.

Lesley Mentzer Findlay ’87 wrote, “My passion is living (and loving) the life of Mary Tyler Moore on the Dick Van Dyke show. Raising two incredibly happy and wonderful children – son, Nathaniel, 7, and daughter, Grayson, 3. My husband, Josh, and I celebrated 16 years of marriage in October 2011 and neither of us believes it’s been that long! Home with friends and family is where we are most happy. My other passion is being an integral member of Sole Ryeders

& Friends in Rye, NY, a volunteer-driven, community-based organization that provides and supports local cancer-related programs. Since our inception is 2007, we have raised over $1 million for our Sole Ryeders fund and the Avon Foundation. 2012 will be my third time walking in the New York Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, and it certainly won’t be my last. (And yes, I do camp out!). I use my events background to run the operations for all of our fundraisers, which keeps my fingers on the pulse of the “old me!” The “new

me” wakes up each morning knowing it will never be the same as the last and looking forward to whatever life will bring. Irwin’s was an amazing environment in which to grow and develop one’s confidence, intellect and curiosity...I will always be thankful for those years and the friends made in those halls.”

Megan Boyle Flinn ’87 continues to work at Agnes Irwin and enjoys keeping in contact with alumnae. Megan and her husband, Mason, live close by with their three children, Nina, 9; Rex, 9; and Wells, 7. “I love my annual visit to Massachusetts to see Shaun and Sydney Brown Clarke and their children, Riley, 8, and Max, 6. I’ve enjoyed seeing

At the tender age of four, mEGAn HEnry ’87 entered the wondrous world of Agnes Irwin as a kindergarten student. As the daughter of former AIS faculty member Ann Henry (Math Department, 1974-1987), it wasn’t difficult for the young student to acclimate to the social and academic life at the school.

“Irwin’s was always home to me,” recalled Henry. “From the time I was in kindergarten, I loved the place, and I loved knowing ‘big kids,’ faculty, and feeling familiar and comfortable all over the

school. I know that my time at Irwin’s has greatly influenced who I am as an educator!”As Middle School Dean of Students for St. John’s School in Houston, TX, Henry

attributes her current success in educating and empowering today’s youth with the strong foundation fostered at an all-girls’ school.

“Being in an all-girls’ school, where it is girls who are the leaders, girls who are the athletes, girls who effect change and speak out on behalf of others… all of this taught me that I have a voice and have an obligation to use that voice. As an educator in a coeducational environment, I find myself always pushing to support our girls, to give them the same opportunities that I had (for leadership and responsibility),” said Henry.

Today, the Princeton University graduate still exercises the vocals she developed during her time in the Bel Cantos and as a member of the Houston Symphony Choir, which she has performed with throughout Houston, New York City and Europe. She is also an active member of her church, Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church, where she has served on several committees.

Henry has recently been inducted into the newly formed National Alumnae Advisory Council for Agnes Irwin. “Irwin’s has always been such an important part of my life – truly a part of my family – and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to help guide the school as it moves forward.”

Educating and Empowering Today’s Youth

:: Dave and Keri Bennett Edwards ’87 on the beach with their children, Kailey, Lindsey and Tyler.

:: Felix Dosmond (left), son of Carla Huber Dosmond ’87, Van Pelt Collamer, son of Laura Wood Collamer ’87, Natalie Dosmond and Wren Collamer enjoying a summer visit to Devon, PA.

:: Children of Joshua and Leslie Mentzer Findlay ’87, Nathaniel and Grayson.


Class Notes

Megan Henry and Helen Paranzino Goss this fall, and keeping up with so many of you on Facebook. How is it possible that it has been 25 years?”

Lisa Knight Gibby ’87 lives with her husband, Todd, and two children, Mac, 8, and Samantha, 11, in Bethesda, MD. After graduating from Colgate University, she lived in New York and Los Angeles before settling down in the Washington, D.C. area. Lisa is a seasoned communications professional who spent many years working for HBO and AOL before opening her own public relations firm in 2008. After not playing team sports since her AIS days, she recently took up ice hockey and plays on a local women’s team. Lisa and her family spend the summer in the Poconos, where she met her husband at the age of 10.

Joanne Hemingway ’87 shares that “after a two-and-a-half-year career at Kawasaki Motors Corporation as creative coordinator in the Graphics Department, a company-wide layoff sent me into a spin! I ended up working my way through Diagnostic Ultrasound School (as a bartender!) in a year-and-a-half program, including an internship. I will graduate in March 2012 and receive my certification as a registered vascular technologist after passing my boards. I live with my partner of three years, Michelle Loomis, who is a lieutenant of 21 years in LAPD. We travel and enjoy the time that we can snag together during our busy schedules! I’m so sorry that I will miss seeing everyone at this historic Reunion! I am inviting any class of ’87 visitor of Los Angeles to come visit!”

Margaret Henry ’87 (See profile) Megan has been the Middle School Dean of Students at St. John’s since 1999. She writes, “Our lacrosse team won both our conference and the state championships last year, and we have won a championship in one or the other for the past eight years in a row. Hosting and competing against AIS varsity lacrosse last spring was really fun! Outside of work, I am actively involved in my church, Palmer Memorial Episcopal, where I served on a clergy search committee and currently serve as a verger. I also serve as the president of the Houston Symphony Chorus, of which I have been a member for seven years; I am serving on the Steering Committee

planning the Houston Symphony’s Centennial Celebration. Before coming to St. John’s and Houston, I taught at The Chapin School in New York City and at Germantown Academy, PA. In addition to studying music at Princeton and Westminster Choir College, I also earned my bachelor’s in religion from Princeton University and a master’s in education from Harvard. I am honored to be a part of the National Alumnae Advisory Council at AIS, and I love keeping in touch with many Irwin’s alums, especially Nina Hutchinson Pruitt, Ann Elise Smoot, Margaret Macdonald, Lesley Mentzer Findlay, Megan Boyle Flinn, Ginny Sharp Williams ’88 and my sister, Marion Henry ’91!”

Margaret Macdonald ’87 is practicing law as a partner at Perkins Coie, LLP in Washington, DC. She specializes in patent litigation before the U.S. International Trade Commission, but lately her work is taking her to the District Court in Delaware. Margaret has been married for five years to her husband, Brian. They have a daughter, Josie, 3, and are expecting their second child in early February 2012. Margaret stays in touch with classmates Megan Henry, Lesley Mentzer Findlay and Ann Elise Smoot.

Kathleen Gage Parr ’87 married Robert “Robin” Kitterman, in April 2008 and gave birth to Robert Alexander Kitterman, “Xander,” on December 5, 2011. She is still working as a cardiac anesthesiologist at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore and is the assistant chair of the Department of Anesthesia. Robin is a

Ann Elise Smoot ’87 still lives in London with her husband, James Vivian. She recorded her latest CD (of French and German baroque music) in September 2011 on two historic Alsatian instruments and on the JAV label. The CD should be released in

early 2012. She has also been appointed to the professorial staff of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, a post she took up in September 2011, and has just started to contribute to a documentary film project about J.S. Bach–though filming won’t begin on that for some time. Apart from the usual teaching and performing, she now also helps train the boys of the choir of the Temple Church, where her husband is director of music (two CDs have now been

:: Ann Elise Smoot ’87

:: Keith and Katy Hornsey Noser ’87 enjoying the sights in London with their children, Drew and Audrey.

:: Robert Alexander “Xander” Kitterman, born to K. Gage Parr, MD ’87 and Robin Kitterman.

:: Gage Parr ’87 wed Robert “Robin” Kitterman in Boca Grande, FL on April 12, 2008.

:: Megan Henry ’87 and Nina Hutchinson Pruitt ’87 enjoying an afternoon with Nina’s daughter, Carly.

:: Jody Hemingway ’87 enjoying the LA sunshine with her partner, Michelle Loomis.

federal employee and currently working at Fort Meade in Maryland.


Class Notes

released on Signum Classics) and runs various educational programs and study days in London. She is currently the education editor for Organists’ Review magazine. Her next U.S. tour is in October 2012.

Kendall Ames Wayner ’87 writes, “25 years later? What can I say that is interesting? I am still working for a party rental and event planning company and have been doing this for 20 years. It is fun and flexible while raising kids. My children are growing up so fast. My oldest is in high school, and my youngest is seven! They keep me busy with all of their activities and schoolwork! My husband and I spend a lot of time traveling to many swim meets throughout the year, as all three children are year-round competitive swimmers. We volunteer with the USA Swimming Association, and that has been very rewarding. My hobbies are running and reading. I have done half marathons and hope to do a full marathon one day!”

Megan Holt Ryan ’88 tells us, “My husband, Peter, and I welcomed a baby girl on April 28, 2011. She has her grandmother Helen Holt’s eyes. My mom, who passed away in 2003, taught at Irwin’s for 25 years. In November, we invaded Disney World with Stephanie Gibbons-Neff Boulden and her family and had a fantastic time!”

1990-99Melanie Gaspari Albahary ’92 writes, “Connecting with AIS alumnae from all ages through my job these past three years has been fulfilling and interesting. I particularly enjoy hearing about how AIS has provided so many alumnae with long-lasting bonds of friendship that have helped shaped their lives. I was recently married to Ron Albahary, and I am thankful to have him home instead of commuting to Washington, D.C. Fortunately, he was able to take a position as the chief investment officer of The Threshold Group in Philadelphia, located 20 minutes from our home. He loves coming home to my dad and me in the evenings when he isn’t traveling. My mom passed away suddenly in August 2009, and I am grateful to currently live in a loving, peaceful and, at most times, hysterical triumvirate with my husband and dad in Bryn

Mawr, close to my friends who are truly family to us. The Class of ’92 has been more than energetic and helpful in planning what’s going to be a memorable 20th Reunion.”

Dana Aspinwall ’92 writes, “I think our gypsy lifestyle has finally run its course! After moving every year for the past 15 years, from coast to coast, we have planted roots outside of Atlanta. The Southern weather and outdoor lifestyle suits us well. My daughter, Morgan, 9, is in fourth grade at a science and engineering charter school. She dances with the Atlanta Ballet six days a week and performed as “Sassy Mouse” in the Nutcracker at The Fox Theatre. She didn’t get it from me! Our son, Hayden, 6, is in kindergarten and can be found hamming it up in a pool or on the soccer field. I’m a “retired” interior architect. I finished obtaining my contract managers degree, but the closest I am to using it right now is renovating our mid-century ranch! It’s been too long since I was in Philadelphia. Greg and I hope to make the 20th Reunion. Where did the time go?”

Gabriela Martinez Bradt ’92 lives with her husband, Shane, in New Hampshire, where they are raising their two boys, Charlie, who turns 3 during Reunion Weekend, and Sam, who was born in July 2011. “We enjoy traveling to visit family and always take visitors. I look forward to catching up with classmates in May.”

Samantha Sawin Brennan ’92 is living outside of Boston in Natick, MA, and is the Dean of Students at the Rivers School, where she also teaches anatomy and physiology and directs the leadership program. She and

Stephen Brennan were married on August 1, 2010, at the Samoset Resort in Rockport, ME. In attendance were Katherine Keen ’93, who was the maid of honor, and Allie Keen ’95, as well as members of the Class of 1992, Courtney Miles, Dana Aspinwall, Sara Callaghan Chapell, Alissa Davis, Carrie Fanelli Santoro, Louisa Heller and Marjorie Frazier Maschler.

Lauren Schaffer Campbell ’92 writes, “Life is good! I love seeing my AIS friends in the area and spending time with family. My husband, Al, and I are busy raising two daughters, Elizabeth, 7, and Molly, 2. Just finished my 12th year at Morgan Stanley–time flies! I can’t believe it is our 20-year Reunion. Looking forward to seeing everyone in May!”

Noel Spahr Cappillo ’92 – proud Mom of Maddie, 9; Kaitlyn, 6; and Chris, 3 – lives in Wellesley, MA, with her husband, Dave Cappillo. She continues to work part-time as a chiropractor. She has enjoyed watching her kids play soccer and coaching her oldest daughter’s lacrosse team.

Sara Callaghan Chapell ’92 continues to live in Haines, AL, a small town surrounded by mountains and water in southeast Alaska. Sara and her husband, Rich, are raising their three children–Dylan, 9; Sally, 7; and Lucia, 5–in a close-knit community and are happy that they are growing to love the outdoors as much as they do. In summer 2011, they went rafting a lot and love that they’ve found an easy way to get the whole family out and

:: Children of Megan Holt Ryan ’88 and Stevie Gibbons-Neff Boulden ’88 enjoying themselves in Disney World last spring. From left: Christopher Boulden, Liam Ryan, Kennedy Ryan, Finn Ryan, Sadie Boulden and Piper Boulden.

:: Newlyweds Samantha Sawin Brennan ’92 and Stephen Brennan in Rockport, ME. Bridesmaids included Katherine Keen ’93 (left) and Allie Keen ’95, as well as several members of the Class of ’92.

:: Wright Amoroso ’92 and her son, Marco, skiing in Galena, ID.

:: Morgan and Hayden, children of Greg Plog and Dana Aspinwall ’92.

:: Maddie, Kaitlyn and Chris Cappillo, children of David and Noel Spahr Cappillo ’92.


Class Notes

enjoying their surroundings. Sara writes a weekly column for the local paper and leads two volunteer boards in town. “I’m coming back to our 2012 Reunion and can’t wait to catch up with our class.”

Elizabeth Dixon ’92 (See profile) Lisa is still living in Baltimore and working for the Baltimore Ravens as the special assistant to the president and manager of the special events. “My parents are still here, as well, and doing great! I have been keeping really busy with work, gym, giving lacrosse and field hockey training sessions (still run a camp in the summer and clinic in the winter) and my favorite...helping new moms/moms-to-be with registering, preparations and when the new baby (or babies–lots of multiples) arrives home. I look forward to seeing many of you over Reunion Weekend and have plans to head to the Olympics this summer, which will be awesome!”

Emily Calvert Goodling ’92 currently resides in Beverly, MA, with her husband, Seth, and two children, Max, 4, and Georgia, 2. Since her time at Agnes Irwin, she has had a long career in the arts. After graduating from Savannah College of Art and Design with a major in photography, she went on to be an art buyer for the advertising agency Arnold and later managed a prominent professional photographer. While working in the arts, Emily went back to school and earned her master’s in early childhood education from Lesley University. Upon receiving her degree, she taught first and second grade in Cambridge, MA, before her son was born. Emily continues to enjoy her photography, and her children are some of her favorite subjects. She also loves being in the classroom as a volunteer in her son’s school once a week.

Stephanie Hedges ’92 is living in Greenwich, CT, and is in her seventh year working at Greenwich Academy. “Greenwich Academy felt pretty close to coming home! So much like AIS! I teach Upper School math, am the director of community service and coach the crew team, which was fifth at the U.S. Rowing Youth Nationals in June 2011 in Oak Ridge, TN! Having ‘needed’ a new sport after college, I took up rowing and have been fairly busy racing at many regattas all over the East Coast. Looking forward to seeing everyone in May!”

Amy Gregg Maher ’92 lives in Silver Spring, MD, right outside of Washington, D.C., with her husband, Rob. She is working at Georgetown University as a senior development director and spends a good deal of time on the road. “Recently, on one of my layovers in Philly, I got to spend 20 minutes at the airport hanging out with Melanie Gaspari Albahary and her husband, Ron. This year, I will graduate with a master’s in leadership from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown. This past summer, my master’s program had me traveling to South Africa. I am looking forward to our Reunion Weekend, and I hope to see everyone there.”

:: Georgia and Max, children of Seth and Emily Calvert Goodling ’92.

:: Stephanie Hedges ’92 (center) at the Head of the Schuylkill last fall.

:: Children of Lee and Marjorie Frazier Maschler ’92, Natalie, Ben (left), and William.

:: Amy Gregg Maher ’92 and her husband, Rob, in Cape Town, South Africa, last summer.

As the Special Assistant to the President and Special Events Manager for the Baltimore Ravens, liSA Dixon ’92 has seen many great football games – most memorably, the Raven’s Super Bowl XXXV victory in 2000, the year she joined the franchise.

She has held a number of positions, including Director of Marketing, where she oversaw all aspects of fan development, advertising, Internet, retail, game entertainment, events and promotions. She then moved into working on the bids and proposal requests for major events like the Army/Navy football game, NCAA

Men’s Final Four Lacrosse Championships and International Soccer. Dixon graduated in 1997 from The College of William & Mary,

where she majored in psychology and kinesiology. There, she played field hockey and lacrosse alongside other Agnes Irwin alumnae Erin Olivier ’93 and Mary Beth Noel Todd ’95.

Dixon’s impressive athletic abilities have won her recognition and a wide range of athletic awards, including the 1997 Ensign C. Markland Kelly Jr. Award (“Goalie of the Year”) for Division I lacrosse.

She fondly recalled her time at Agnes Irwin, “… it helped shape who I am today. More importantly, it gave me experiences I will never forget on the athletic field and in the classroom, along with lifetime friendships. I can honestly say that I loved going to school!”

Sports continue to play an important role in Dixon’s personal life as she lists golfing, swimming and “exercise of any kind” among her favorite activities. This past summer, she swam in the Two-Mile Cable Open Water National Championships in Lake Placid. For more than 10 years, she has been Director of Between the Pipes, a nationally recognized lacrosse goalkeeping program that offers summer camps and winter clinics for girls in grades 5-12.

Tackling the NFL


Class Notes

Sarah Paul ’92 writes, “For the past seven years, I have been living in Brooklyn, NY, and working at The Museum of Modern Art as a museum educator for community and access programs in New York City. I fondly remember my AIS art classes and teachers and look forward to seeing Ms. Halton and Mr. Moss-Vreeland during Reunion Weekend.”

Carrie Fanelli Santoro ’92 says, “I hope everyone from the Class of 1992 is well and will be coming to the Reunion in May. I can’t believe it has been 20 years; YIKES we are old! Life is busy for Joe and me with our children, Jake, 4, and Maddie, 2. I am also working as a physician assistant at Penn Medicine Adolescent Medicine Practice. It is a wonderful place to work, and I get to reminisce with some of my Irwin’s patients about a few of their teachers who also taught us (and a few whom Kathleen Tinari McGuiness now teaches at Notre Dame). Hope to see you all in May!”

Kelly Fenlin Sullivan ’92 is a busy farmer with five horses, two dogs, four fish, two stepchildren, Walker, 14, and Annparke, 17, and a funny husband! She spends the winters in Palm Beach and Wellington, FL, but will be back in time for Reunion.

Cecily Tyler ’92 writes, “For the past 15 years, I was working in television and film while based in New York City. About three years ago, I moved to Boston and decided to take a hiatus in my TV career in order to consult for YouthBuild USA. Together, we

developed a four-year multimedia e-learning initiative funded by the Department of Labor that looks at sustainability and internal support in youth development programs nationally. Looking forward to getting to know more of the youth, teachers and program directors while serving as the producer and editor for this initiative.”

Ashley Hundt Ventrone ’92 is living in Oaks, PA, with her husband and kids, Hunter, 6, and Rebecca, 3. “I am volunteering in the area and have done some fundraising. I am also looking forward to working with our local food bank to restock after the holidays. Otherwise, I am home with the kids! Hunter plays a myriad of sports with Coach Dad, and Beck is readying herself for her first season of golf. I’m excited to see everyone at Reunion.”

Devyn Williams ’92 moved back to the East Coast from Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, in summer 2010. “I’m teaching history (again) at a small independent school called Highland, about 40 miles west of Washington, D.C. I teach ninth-grade European history and AP World History. In addition to teaching, I’m also the head coach of the varsity swim team. And, as if I wasn’t busy enough, I’m slowly but surely pursuing a Ph.D. in history at George Mason University. I’m mostly very busy!”

Christina Mills Astley ’94 shares that this was a year full of great joy and great sorrow. “Our first child, Alexander Scot Astley, was born on December 24, 2010 at 8 lbs., 7 oz. He is an absolutely wonderful baby. He loves to laugh and smile, and we feel so lucky to have him in our lives. I’m very much looking forward to spending more time with him now that I’ve finished my pediatrics residency–I just completed my training in the Boston Combined Residency Program at Children’s Hospital Boston and Boston Medical Center. I’ll be working as a hospitalist in the Medical Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Hospital Boston this year. My husband, Mason, (great-nephew of Jeanie Swain Astley ’44, an AIS alumna who passed in 2008) will be working as the assistant coach to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s women’s tennis team.” Sadly, Christina’s family experienced a tragedy in summer 2011 when Lauren Astley, her husband’s first cousin, passed away shortly after her graduation from high school. She was a vibrant young woman with so much to offer the world.

Susan Heller Hallett ’95 and her husband, John, welcomed a baby girl, Bryn Lewis Hallett, on December 5, 2011. She joins big sister, Mary Beth, who will turn 4 in March. “We had such a fun holiday with both our girls!”

:: Jake and Maddie Santoro, children of Joe and Carrie Fanelli Santoro ’92, taking a stroll on the beach.

:: Cecily Tyler ’92

:: Stuart (right) and Kelly Fenlin Sullivan ’92 (second from right) at the Black Tie Tailgate for The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

:: Hunter and Rebecca Ventrone, children of Michael and Ashley Hundt Ventrone ’92.

:: Kelly Malloy ’93, FACS, and her colleague, Andrew Shuman MD, with a little girl whom they treated on a mission trip to La Ceiba, Honduras, in May 2011. It was Kelly’s third surgical mission trip to Honduras. She is planning her second mission trip to Kenya for this fall.

:: Alexander Scott Astley, son of Mason and Christina Mills Astley ’94, shows his school spirit.


Class Notes

Lydia Morris Olsen ’95 writes, “My husband, Joe, (a Philadelphia firefighter) and I are living in the Far Northeast section of Philadelphia. I am a stay-at-home mom to Peter, 5, and Margaret, 2. We get together often with my sister Penn Morris Richmond ’91 and her twin daughters, Smith and Risley, 2. I look forward to catching up with my classmates in the Philadelphia area in 2012!”

Maggie Poulos ’95 is currently living in Brooklyn, NY, and working as a music publicist. “My roster of artists includes “Fitz and the Tantrums” – a neo-soul outfit based in Los Angeles. I’m very close with my AIS classmates and enjoyed meeting up with and getting to know other alumnae this fall in New York City and at AIS during the inaugural meeting of the National Alumnae Advisory Council. Being back on campus for a few days and getting to know some of the current students was truly wonderful.”

Caroline Nagel Suttmeier ’95 writes, “I had a baby boy, Robert Henry Suttmeier, on August 19, 2011 at 8:18 a.m. He was 6 lbs., 13 oz. and 19.5 in. He’s great, and his big sister, Emily, 3, is very proud. We live in Cranbury, NJ, and I’m a senior manager at Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, responsible for hospital marketing.”

Amy Williams ’96 married Brad Guidi in South Beach, FL, on December 10, 2011. Classmates Marla Mullen Sanford and Kelli Brennan Czajkowski were bridesmaids. Carolyn Alburger ’97, Shannon Casey ’00, Katie Alburger Christopher ’99 and Cole Shaw Costa ’96 also attended. Amy moved back to Philadelphia from New York three years ago to start a theatre program at Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia. In addition to fundraising

for the program, she is currently working on a documentary that follows high school students through their first Shakespeare production and ultimately shows what is possible when viable educational options are made available in a failing school district. Amy also does hosting and commercial work and, most importantly, is grateful to have remained close with so many AIS ladies.

Amanda Scanlan Barton ’97 is married to Patrick Barton, Episcopal Academy ’97, and has two children, Jake, 3, and Kyle, 1. “I’m due with my third the weekend after Reunion! I started a PR and copywriting business

:: Amy Williams ’96 celebrates her wedding to Brad Guidi with AIS friends (l-r) Marla Mullen Sanford ’96, Carolyn Alburger ’97, Shannon Casey ’00, Katie Alburger Christopher ’99 and Kelli Brennan Czajkowski ’96.

Living in a vibrant, diverse city and having the opportunity to interact with so many interesting people each day provides JACquElinE “JACkiE” kEH ’97 with infinite sources of inspiration for her art. Searching for the creative energy of a fast-paced urban setting, she moved to San Francisco shortly after graduating from the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University.

Keh began her career in the gift product industry, working at Marcel Schurman/Papyrus and then Punch Studio as a developer and designer of greeting cards.

She currently serves as an IT support engineer at Eventbrite, a rapidly growing event-ticketing company. She also takes on freelance design projects in her spare time.

“AIS taught me to juggle multiple demanding tasks at once. I spent a lot of time in the art room and have fond memories of the close friends I made there. We’ve kept in touch since graduation, and I’ve been fortunate to witness the group ‘grow up’ through weddings, having children, etc. I know we have a special bond that’s rare, and I can thank Agnes Irwin for that!” she said.

Keh looks forward to starting a business of her own that blends her passions for design and technology. Until then, she will continue to enjoy riding her bike to work, traveling, cooking and exploring the Bay Area. To fuel her creativity, she likes printmaking and figure drawing. On the technical side, she participates in various computer programming workshops. As much as she loves her computer, Keh still keeps her traditional artistic skills sharp by getting her hands dirty with painting and crafting.

Blending a Passion for Design and Technology

:: Cousins - Peter and Margaret Olsen and Smith and Risley Richmond, children of Lydia Morris Olsen ’95 and Jane “Penn” Morris Richmond ’91.

:: John and Susan Heller Hallet ’95, along with daughter, Mary Beth, 4, welcomed Bryn Lewis on December 5, 2011.

:: Anne Thompson ’95 and her husband, Alex Bortolot, with their son, Charlie.

:: Maggie Poulos ’95 (center, in striped dress) with band Fitz and the Tantrums, who were featured in Billboard magazine.


Class Notes

called Barton South Communications in 2011 with my business partner Lauren South.”

Lindsey Carson ’97 shares, “After two years practicing law in Washington, DC, I began doctoral studies at the University of Toronto in fall 2011. My work focuses on corruption in developing countries, and I’m having a wonderful time exploring a new city.”

Christina McCabe deForest Keys ’97 says, “I am very much looking forward to our 15th AIS Reunion. I think often of my Irwin’s days, and although I still see quite a few of my classmates, I am really hoping to reconnect with the whole class this May. Since graduating from Georgetown, I have lived in New York City. The past few years have been very busy with starting an interior design firm with my sister, as well as having two daughters, Annabel, 4, and Emilia, 2. I have still resisted joining Facebook, so I am really hoping to get face time at the Reunion and really find out how everyone’s been doing! I would love to get in touch with anyone living in New York City.”

Josselyn Rimel Delussey ’97 is now living in Bryn Mawr with her husband, Ed, and son, Liam, 3. “We have been kept busy for the last two years completing a total renovation of our current home (a stone barn built in the 1820s), while getting used to life with a toddler. This past year, we were also excited to be a part of two weddings–my sister Morgwn (Amanda) Rimel ’95 to Saul Betmead and Jenga (Jennifer) Gatmaitan ’97 to Erik Watkin. 2012 is looking to be a great one too, as we are expecting a baby girl in March.”

Katherine McCabe Juhas ’97 writes, “I am very much looking forward to our 15-year Reunion! I think it will be a special time for as many of us as possible to reflect on our time at Irwin’s and reconnect with friends, classmates and teachers. Personally, I am grateful for a weekend that will provide socializing, nostalgia and fun. My life right now is great but very busy–especially with my family’s upcoming move from New York City to Greenwich, CT in the summer–and I cannot believe how fast five years can fly by. So, it is my hope that this Reunion Weekend will provide me with lots of overdue face time and be a healthy break away from my adorable and energetic boys, Lyon, 4, and Charlie, 2.

Wait...scratch that, I think they will be coming with me, along with my hubby of almost 10 years, Peter. But my mom, aka “Grandma,” will definitely help in giving us some free time that weekend! Wishing all the best to my fellow ’97 classmates.”

Susan Lewis ’97 was married to John T. Chew III on November 12, 2011. AIS friends Carrie Garinger, Eve Poussot Ramsay, Emily Garinger Dingle ’00 and Meade Morrison ’00 attended.

Kimberly Russell ’97 received a veterinary degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006. After graduation, Kim worked in the equine practice before focusing on emergency medicine. She was previously the Director of Emergency and Critical Care for the Rutherford Memorial Hospital of the PSPCA. She also served as the lead forensic veterinary expert and has been featured on the television show “Animal Cops Philadelphia.” She currently is an owner/partner and the director of Keystone Veterinary Emergency and Referral in Havertown and lives in Berwyn.

Megan Dorsey ’98 writes with the sad news that her brother, Todd Edmund Dorsey, 35, died July 13, 2011. Todd graduated from St. John’s Preparatory School in Danvers, MA, and attended college at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA. He will be greatly missed by his family and many of Megan’s AIS friends who knew him well.

Courtney Fretz ’98 has moved to Houston, TX, with a new position at Dow Chemical as Marketing Director in Dow’s Hygiene & Medical business. She and her husband, Joe, welcome anyone to stop by if they are traveling through!

Shannon Casey ’00 writes, “There is a lot of news in my personal and professional life. I am currently living in Philadelphia by the Italian Market and have switched gears from fashion to finance. I am now working at Hirtle, Callaghan & Co. as an event planner and marketing associate, which has been

:: Class of ’98 alumnae Brandynn Dempsey (left), Monica Moyer Stoltzfus and Hads Ogden Holmgren celebrating the Christmas holiday in Alexandria, VA.

:: Susan Lewis ’97 celebrating her marriage to John T. Chew III in November. From left: AIS alumnae Meade Morrison ’00, Eve Poussot Ramsay ’97, Susan Lewis ’97, Carrie Garinger ’97 and Emily Garinger Dingle ’00.

:: Todd Edmund Dorsey, brother of Megan Dorsey ’98 (see note)

:: David and Christina McCabe deForest Keys ’97 with their daughters, Annabel and Emilia.

:: Jenn Emmi Fiorini ’97 (right) and Alana Salvucci ’97 with their new babies, Jackson William Fiorini and Lily Margaret Johnson.

:: Peter and Katie McCabe Juhas ’97 with their sons, Charlie and Lyon.


Class Notes

an amazing transition. I recently became engaged to Walter Zimolong III. Wally and I have been planning our wedding at the Union League set for December 2012, and we are so excited to celebrate. Stephanie Haldy and I kicked off the celebrations this past November by celebrating our 30th birthdays. This coming year will be filled with AIS alumnae 30th birthday bashes as well as weddings for Jodi Housman and Allison Dodd. There is so much to look forward to!”

Corina Sylvia English ’00 married Michael T. English II on June 3, 2011. Cori and Mike were married at St. John Vianney Church in Gladwyne and the reception was held at the Overbrook Golf Club in Bryn Mawr. Mike is a graduate of Devon Preparatory School ’98. Her brothers, John Sylvia, Haverford School ’03, and Robert Sylvia, Haverford School ’05, were groomsmen. AIS classmates in attendance included Elisa Makoon-Singh Advani, Ashley Cook and Janelle Pearson Jackson. Cori has been working in client service/business development at Hamilton Lane since returning from New York City almost four years ago. Cori and Mike currently reside in Bryn Mawr.

Adrienne LaFrance ’00 says, “In July 2011, I moved from Honolulu, HI, to Washington, DC, to open a Washington bureau for the investigative news service Civil Beat. Covering Capitol Hill has been one of the most fun and challenging jobs I’ve ever had as a reporter. The proximity between Washington, DC, and Philadelphia makes it even better.”

Alexandra Fergusson Powell ’00 and Kristopher Stewart Powell were married on May 14, 2011 at Trinity Church in Solebury, PA. A reception was held at her family’s home in Buckingham, PA. Her sister, Elspeth L. Fergusson ’04 was her maid of honor. Bridesmaids included Paige Laverell Goll, Joan Frondorf Mule and Molly E. Moore. Other AIS alums in attendance were Megan Arthur, Kristen Caldwell Byers, Leslie Frondorf ’04, Debbie Aikens Laverell ’67 and Courtney Malloy.

Emily Brown Kennedy ’01 was recently hired by Justice Samuel Alito to clerk on the U.S. Supreme Court for the 2012-2013 term.

Emily Davis Betz ’02 writes, “I have really enjoyed working in admissions for the MBA program at Ohio State University and can’t believe that I went on my third trip to China and Taiwan in December 2011 to interview students! I will also be traveling to Brussels and Paris in spring 2012 to meet with future MBA students and am looking forward to these international trips. I can’t wait to see everyone at our 10-year Reunion this May!”

Laura Bornstein ’02 graduated from Georgetown Law in 2010 and spent a year working for a national women’s advisory organization in Washington, DC. In September 2011, she moved to Kansas City to take a job with Legal Aid of Western Missouri. She is now representing low-income domestic violence victims in divorce and child custody cases.

Elise Gelinas ’02 is a second-year associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in the litigation practice group. She lived in Baltimore while attending University of Maryland Law, but moved back to the area and now lives in Center City Philadelphia.

Melissa Mackay ’02 is currently a first-year student in Columbia Business School’s full-time MBA program. Prior to attending Columbia, Melissa worked at UBS and Citigroup in the Investment Banks’ Sales and Trading divisions. Most recently, she was a vice president at ICR Inc., a financial consulting and communications firm that specializes in investor relations. Melissa graduated from Georgetown University in 2006 with a double major in Finance and Marketing and has been living in Manhattan for the past six years.

Katherine Latta ’02 married Thomas Mark Pountney on May 28, 2011 at the Church of St. Gregory the Great in Cheltenham, England. Katherine and Tom met while

:: Jennifer Latiff Stroud ’00 at her wedding, with classmates (l-r) Lizzy Sall, Jen Platow, Alison Dodd, Susan Hirtle McEvoy, Jodi Housman, Libby Berlacher, Stephanie Haldy and Shannon Casey.

:: Kally Perkins ’02 was married to Bennett Love on July 2, 2011 in Charlottesville, VA. Bridesmaids included (l-r) Lauren Donohoe ’02, K. Lucille Moore ’02, Molly C. Scudder ’02, Ryan Perkins Woodbury ’93, Kristen Berlacher ’02, Victoria Hagin ’02, Kristen Kessock ’02 and Nina Mayfield ’05. Attendees not pictured: Katelyn Sinatra ’02, Dorothy Perkins Gilbert ’69.

:: Alexandra Fergusson Powell ’00 with her husband, Kristopher Stewart Powell. AIS alumnae pictured are the bride’s sister and Maid of Honor, Elspeth L. Fergusson ’04 (7th from left), Paige Laverell Goll ’00 (3rd from left), Joan Frondorf Mule ’00 (4th from left) and Molly E. Moore ’00 (5th from left). Other AIS alumnae in attendance were Megan Arthur ’00, Kristin Caldwell Byers ’00, Leslie Frondorf ’04, Debbie Aikens Laverell ’67 and Courtney Malloy ’00.


Class Notes

studying philosophy, politics and economics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, and both graduated in 2005. Katherine also holds a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and works in Cheltenham at UK NARIC, the national agency in the U.K. for researching and advising on international education and qualifications. Tom attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst after college and now works for the British government.

Molly Scudder ’02 shares news of her 2002 classmates. “Lauren Donohoe, Tory

Hagin and I are all in New York City working in fashion–Lauren is at Ralph Lauren as the Women’s Fashion Public Relations Manager, Tory is at Kate Spade as the Raw Materials Manager for Handbags and Accessories and Molly is an Executive at Lilly Pulitzer. Kally Perkins Love is happily married in Charlotte, NC, and teaching second grade. Lucy Moore is a lawyer in Philadelphia practicing civil defense. Katelyn Sinatra recently moved to Washington, DC, in fall 2011 and Kristen Kessock, Kristen Berlacher and Rachel Frondorf are all enjoying living and working

in Chicago. Everyone is looking forward to catching up with classmates at the 10 year!”

Laura Seward ’02 (See profile) Laura is a doctoral candidate at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, studying physics with a concentration in planetary science. She received her M.S. in Astrophysics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, where she worked at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and received her bachelor’s in astronomy/astrophysics at Florida Institute of Technology. She lives on the “Space Coast” of Florida, where she is deeply involved in the space program, serving in organizations both locally and nationally.

Erika Smith ’02 graduated from the University of Delaware in 2006 and has been working as a restaurant manager for Ruby Tuesday since 2007. She currently lives in Baltimore and married Gary Green on April 16, 2011.

Cynthia Whitman ’02 spent 2008-2009 living and working in Uganda as a field officer for an AIDS project in conjunction with the Uganda Virus Research Institute. Her main activities took her to remote islands and fishing communities on Lake Victoria to coordinate medical outreach and HIV voluntary testing and counseling. She then moved to Manhattan Beach, CA, just south of Los Angeles, to earn her master’s in public health. She graduated in June 2011 with an additional certificate in Global Health. Currently, between road races, water sports and cycling, she works as a research coordinator for the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs group, CORE – a center that focuses on health outcomes research and education with a specialty in gastrointestinal health.

Victoria Wolcott ’02 writes, “I am sorry to say that I won’t be able to attend the Reunion this May, as I will be preparing to give my thesis presentation a week later....But I was delighted to run into my classmate, Mica Wilson, at the GSD this fall, where she is a first-year planning student and I am finishing my master’s in architecture. I hope she will pass along my best wishes to our class! Cheers!”

lAurA SEwArD ’02 describes herself as a “space enthusiast,” and it is plainly clear from her impressive curriculum vitae that she has thrown herself wholeheartedly into the study and exploration of the cosmos.

President of the Florida Space Coast Chapter of the National Space Society, Federal Relations Subcommittee member of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences, Graduate Research Assistant in astrophysics, Assistant Operations Manager, NASA Academy; NASA Student Ambassador and Ph.D. candidate in planetary science – these are a few of the positions she has held.

“I love pondering the mysteries and fundamental questions posed by space fields such as astrophysics and cosmology. Understanding space helps us to understand humanity and our lives here on planet Earth,” said Seward, who as a researcher at the University of Central Florida is conducting experiments to better understand how planets are formed.

In her senior year, Seward met astronaut Sally Ride when she spoke on campus in 2002, but has known since first grade – when she wrote a short story about being an astronaut and visiting the Moon – that she was destined to be a stargazer. “I attended Space Camp six times. It was a natural fit for me to pursue my passion as a career,” she said.

Seward participated in one of NASA’s most prestigious internships during the summer after her junior year in college, NASA Academy at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. (She graduated summa cum laude from the Florida Institute of Technology in 2006.) Seward took the lead in organizing several trips to other NASA facilities as well as other activities, and at the end of the program was honored with the Von Braun Leadership Award. She became the student leader for the program the next year, and returned to NASA for several years thereafter as a research fellow to earn her master’s degree in astrophysics.

She credits Agnes Irwin’s Advanced Placement classes in math and science, and the independent science research program with nurturing her interest in space. She spent her SSP at the Goddard Space Flight Program, shadowing three scientists and engineers, and participated in the first two years of the robotics program at AIS.

Her success has taught her that fortitude is the key to reaching one’s goals. “I have never been a top-of-the-class, straight-A student. I’ve had to work very hard and put in a lot of time and effort to succeed in classes and in my research. Many times I have gotten the message that I should give up. (But) I have learned that perseverance is crucial to success.”

Soaring in the Field of Space

:: Erika Smith ’02 celebrating her marriage to Gary Green. AIS bridesmaids included 2002 classmates Laura Urbanski, Joanna Mikhail and Mica Wilson.


Class Notes

Ann Duckett ’05 will at last be moving to New York City this winter to pursue her professional performing career after completing a rigorous year-long acting internship at The B Street Theatre in Sacramento, CA.

Samantha Bell ’07 says, “I am graduating in December from the University of Maryland with degrees in kinesiology and Spanish. While at Maryland, I was the manager of the men’s wrestling team and studied in Spain during my junior year. I now hope to enter a master’s program for a duel degree in sports nutrition and exercise physiology.”

Emily Blynn ’07 (See profile) writes, “I can’t believe it’s been four years. Now that I’ve

graduated from college, I’m dying to know what all my other AIS classmates are up to. As for me, I’m just finished a seven-month internship in Ecuador with UNAIDS, the UN agency that coordinates policy and action around HIV/AIDS. It was a great experience! I have had my calendar marked for the Reunion all year, and I hope I can make it!”

Alexandra Greco ’07 graduated from Georgetown University in May 2011 with a B.A. in French and a pre-med concentration. She applied to dental schools in June with hopes of joining the Class of 2016. “For the year, I have been living at home, working in my father’s office, nannying and, of course, helping shuttle my brother and sister around (Nicholas ’15 at Haverford and Caroline ’14 at AIS). I can’t wait to see you all at Reunion!”

Andrea Lucas ’07 graduated from Lehigh University in May and moved to Atlanta as a 2011 Teach for America corps member. She currently is teaching eighth grade physical science in an underserved area in Metro-Atlanta. “After serving my two-year commitment in the Corp, I hope to go to medical school and become a doctor. I am looking forward to planning and attending our five-year Reunion in May!”

Christina Vaganos ’07 was a history major with a minor in faith, peace and justice at Boston College and graduated in May 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts. She currently is in the medical sciences preparatory graduate program at Drexel College of Medicine and is working as a volunteer teaching assistant and tutor at YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School for high school drop-outs ages 18-21.

Adriana Vetrano ’07 currently takes graduate psychology courses at the University of Pennsylvania and will begin a full-time master’s program next summer. She graduated cum laude from Skidmore College with a major in English and a minor in Studio Art and French.

Alana Yoel ’07 was a mechanical engineering/cognitive science double major at CMU, but she decided a few months before graduation that she wanted to have a career in fashion technology. “Fashion designers are beginning to incorporate engineering into their designs for aesthetic, artistic and functional value, and I feel like it is the perfect way to involve some creativity in my profession while still using my engineering degree. As you can imagine, it is a very small field. Right now, I am out in the Palo Alto, CA, area working for a woman who is starting her own fashion technology company. Currently, it is a temporary commitment, but who knows? It may turn into a full-time position. Everything is kind of up in the air right now, but now’s the time to take risks, so I am seeing where this takes me.”

Lindy Li ’08 is serving her fourth term as class president at Princeton University. The Commencement Committee, which she chairs, has recently announced that both Steve Carell from “The Office” and Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and The Blind Side, will be speaking at graduation. She worked in the mergers and acquisitions group within the Investment Banking Division at Credit Suisse this past year.

Emily Nagel ’08 has been keeping busy in New York, interning at the Atlantic Theater Company and the arts education organization Story Pirates. After graduation in spring 2012, Emily will be joining Teach for America in the Mississippi Delta.

After graduating from Georgetown University in May 2011, Emily blynn ’07 was offered the opportunity of a lifetime to partner with the United Nations in Quito, Ecuador. Working with UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, Blynn collaborated on the creation of a strategic plan to help the nation counter the HIV epidemic.

As part of the team generating the 2012 Global AIDS Report (UNGASS) for Ecuador, she had the chance to interview key multi-sector contributors and gather information to provide a snapshot of the epidemiological and economic indicators, national and civil society responses, and challenges that the country may face in

future years. She also worked with transgender groups to determine the behaviors, risk factors and estimated HIV prevalence within their population.

Blynn studied Science, Technology and International Affairs and sought dual concentrations in Biotechnology and Global Heath and International Development while in college, but it was her love of Latin American culture sparked by her Middle School Spanish classes that drew her to Ecuador.

“From kindergarten through 12th grade, The Agnes Irwin School and its teachers undeniably shaped who I am today. From the beginning, I was instilled with a curiosity to learn and the confidence to ask questions. I have no doubt that Agnes Irwin is the reason that I was very often one of the most outspoken women in my Georgetown classes. I know it is also the reason that I was able to embrace my independence and move to another continent on my own,” she said.

Blynn will return from Quito on March 31 and begin work in April as a functional analyst in the systems integration group at Accenture in Washington, D.C.

The Opportunity of a Lifetime

:: 2008 classmates Lexi Kelly and Megan Pauley reunite at a basketball game.

:: 2003 classmates Ali Gonzalez-Martinez, Amanda Earl, Abbe Wright, Kara Elverson and Winnie Schulz reunite on the High Line in NYC last August.


Class Notes

:: Philadelphia alumnae from 1986-2007 enjoy a gathering at the home of Taylor Campitelli ’93 last December.

:: 2005 alumnae in NYC with History Department Chair Wigs Frank. From left: Anita Sellers, Guili Vetrano, Frank, Kate Morsbach, Natalie Jones, Kate Archer and Olivia Romeo.

Regional / alumnae events

:: Alumnae gather in New York City last October.

:: Philadelphia alumnae Molly Moore ’00 (left), Alexandra Fergusson Powell ’00 and Elisa Shore ’02 gather at the home of Taylor Campitelli ’93.

:: Maggie Poulos ’95, History Department Chair Wigs Frank, Liz Farrell Van der Waag ’95 braving the cold to cheer on the Owls at AIS/EA Day 2011.

:: Alumnae return to AIS on Thanksgiving weekend for the 1st Annual Alumnae Basketball Game. Back row (l-r): Former Coach Wigs Frank, Kaitlin Klagholz ’01, Sara MacIntyre ’05, Katie Best ’05, Lexi Kelly ’08, Megan Pauley ’08. Front row (l-r): Laura Marchesani ’02, Jocelyn Tarbox ’03, Sary Kinosian ’06, Natalie Jones ’05, Parker Lynch ’03, Kelly Crosby ’11.


Class Notes

Regional / alumnae events

:: 2006 alumnae kick off the holidays at the Merion Cricket Club last November.

:: 2007 classmates at the AIS/Haverford/Baldwin Pre-Thanksgiving Party last November. From left: Alexis Williams, Alexandra Greco, Alice Goldenberg, Jenea Williford, Caitlin Finnegan, Kelly Appino.


Class Notes

1995 To Seth and Heather Kubach Adler, a daughter, Lily Ann, November 24, 2010

To John and Susan Heller Hallet, a daughter, Bryn Lewis, December 5, 2011

To Stephen and Caroline Nagel Suttmeier, a son, Robert Henry, August 19, 2011

1996 To Anthony and Cole Shaw Costa, a daughter, August 2011

Marriages

1976 Susan Ward to John Bybert April 2, 2011

1996 Amy Williams to Brad Guidi December 10, 2011

1997 Susan Lewis to John T. Chew, III November 12, 2011

2000 Corina Sylvia to Michael T. English, II June 3, 2011

Alexandra Fergusson to Kristopher Stewart Powell May 14, 2011

2002 Katherine Latta to Thomas Mark Pountney May 28, 2011

Birth Announcements

1987 To Robert “Robin” Kitterman and K. Gage Parr, a son, Robert Alexander “Xander” Kitterman, December 5, 2011

1988 To Peter and Megan Holt Ryan, a daughter, Kennedy Hope, April 28, 2011

1992 To Shane and Gabriela Martinez Bradt, a son, Sam Richard, July 15, 2011

1993 To Will and Caroline Marshall Harries, a daughter, Celia, October 11, 2011

1994 To Megan Reed and Christine Landry, a son, Gabriel, August 2011

MIlESToNES Submit updates online at www.agnesirwin.org, by email: [email protected], or at 610.525.6125.

In Memoriam

1927 Dorthea Harrison Rodimon December 3, 2011

1929 Josephine Rothermel Bull January 29, 2012

1939 Cecily Geyelin Clark October 24, 2011

1940 Elizabeth Spangler Edgell August 14, 2011

1942 Virginia Barton Brownback September 3, 2011

1943 Kathleen Stull Smith December 31, 2011

1945 Margaret Wright Tilghman December 4, 2011

1949 Jean Wike Faust October 17, 2011

1952 Sally Warden Stone November 16, 2011

Sally Makiver Cummings July 26, 2010

1953 Penelope Churchman Bartholomew November 12, 2011

Patricia Lockhart Culbertson August 9, 2011

Katherine Johnson Holman February 7, 2012

Mary Parke Ostheimer October 24, 2011

1954 Barbara Ahrend Sudlow September 30, 2011

1960 Sandra Peake Winfield October 23, 2011

If you would like to contribute, visit www.agnesirwin.org or send your donation using the enclosed business reply envelope to:

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Please contact Brooke Record, Director of Annual Giving Programs, at [email protected] or (610) 526-1674 with questions

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Thank you to all of you who have made a gift in 2011–2012 to The Agnes Irwin Fund.

Formerly called the Annual Fund, The Agnes Irwin Fund is a significant contributor to the operating budget of the school. With your donation, you have the power to make a meaningful difference and further enhance the education of the students at The Agnes Irwin School.

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Documents

AIS Magazine Spring 2012