Fall Bulletin 2010

The Park SchoolFall Bulletin 2010

Annual Report Issue

Board of Trustees 2009–10

Officers

Kevin J. Maroni ChairPaula A. Johnson Vice ChairRichard Banks ’74 SecretaryMartin J. Mannion Treasurer

Marcus CherryTeresa ChopeJohn ConnaughtonWilliam B. DruckerRichard EdieLisa Black Franks ’78Abigail JohnsonHeidi JohnsonBrian KavoogianPatti KraftAnne Punzak MarcusStuart MathewsAmy Lloyd McCarthy ’86Pamela McLaurinNicole MurrayPeter RiehlHappy RoweCarmel ShieldsGarrett Solomon ’86Harold SparrowSuzie TapsonLanny Thorndike ’81Ralph L. Wales

Ex Officio

Jerrold I. KatzHead of School

Cynthia A. HarmonAssistant Head for Program &Professional Development

Jane H. CarneyAssistant Head for Finance & Operations

Board Chairs Emeriti

Kennett F. BurnesDavid D. CrollCharles C. Cunningham, Jr.George P. Denny IIIDavid G. FubiniM. Dozier GardnerJohn L. Hall IIJ. Michael MaynardAnne Worthington PrescottDeborah Jackson Weiss

Headmaster Emeritus

Robert S. Hurlbut, Jr.

Alumni Committee 2009–10

John Barkan ’85 Co-ChairAli Epker Ruch ’89 Co-Chair

Minnie Ames ’86Peter Barkan ’86Bob Bray ’53Greg Cope ’71Lilla Curran ’95Lisa Amick DiAdamo ’86Mark Epker ’86Abigail Ross Goodman ’91Anne Collins Goodyear ’84Jennifer Segal Herman ’82Jeffrey Jackson ’95Julia Lloyd Johannsen ’93Greg Kadetsky ’96Richard Knapp ’90Amy Lampert ’63Abbott Lawrence ’85Nia Lutch ’97Melissa Daniels Madden ’85Allison Morse ’89Chip Pierce ’81Meredith Ross ’86Jordan Scott ’89Rebecca Lewin Scott ’89Garrett Solomon ’86Anna Sullivan ’95Kathrene Tiffany ’96Eve Wadsworth ’95Diana Walcott ’85Phoebe Gallagher Winder ’84

Fall Bulletin 2010

Annual Report of Giving 2009–10

Editor

Kate LaPine

Design

Irene Chu

Photography

Tom Kates ’84Kate LaPineMichael LutchTony RinaldoJerilyn Willig

Proofreading

Debra Bradley Ruder

Printing

Universal Millenium/Acme Printing

The Bulletin is published twice yearlyfor the alumni, parents, and friends ofThe Park School. We welcome yourcomments and ideas.

The Park School171 Goddard AvenueBrookline, Massachusetts 02445

To contact the Bulletin:

Kate LaPineDirector of [email protected]

To report alumni news:

Eliza Drachman-Jones ’98Director of Alumni [email protected]

To support Park:

Rob CrawfordDirector of [email protected]

To report address changes:

Sarah BragaDevelopment Office [email protected]

Park is a coeducational school that admitsqualified students without regard torace, religion, national origin, disabilities,sexual orientation, or family composition.Our educational policies, financial aid,and other school-sponsored programs areadministered in a nondiscriminatory mannerin conformance with applicable law.

Front Cover: First-grade scientists study the Amazon rain forestin an interdisciplinary unit which complements the Grade Isocial studies curriculum. After learning all about the teaminglife that dwells beneath the thick canopy of trees, they

transform their hallway into a veritable paper jungle.The trees on the cover, which stand nearly 7-feet tall, werecreated by students in Sarah Rose's 2009–10 Grade I class.

2 Around Park

Phyllis Ong RetiresFaculty UpdatesNi Hao! Chinese in Grade VI

4 New Trustees

Caroline ScherneckerVincent ChiangDana Weiss Smith

6 Graduation 2010

Graduation Address: Adetola Olatunji ’04Class of 2010 Graduation Speakers: Brittani Jones andHannah Oettgen

16 Learning Science at Park

18 Preparing for a Yearlong Review of Park’s Science

Curriculum

22 Park Alumni Scientists

Susan Mabrey Gaud ’61Douglas Boynton Quine ’65Lora Fleming ’71Rick Berenson ’73Nina Frusztajer ’79Elizabeth Wiellette ’85David Shaff ’87Ijeoma Uzoma ’99

35 Reunion 2010

Class of 1985 25th Reunion Biographies

43 Alumni Notes

Alumni Service Award 2010: Robert F. Kenerson ’53Alumni Achievement Award 2010: Joseph F. Kahn ’80

The Park SchoolFall Bulletin 2010

2 The Park Bulletin | Fall 2010

around�

After 17 years of Grade II fairy

tales, autobiographies,

Colonial silhouettes, class trips to

Old Sturbridge Village and Plimoth

Plantation, and countless lost

teeth, Phyllis Ong retired in June.

Her many friends on the faculty

feted her with a small reception

this spring.

A stalwart member of the

second-grade teaching team, Phyl-

lis is described by her colleagues

as rock solid, unflappable, reliable,

and a loyal teacher and friend.

“Phyllis is a wise woman,” says

Kimberly Formisano, “who looks at

children and the world with hon-

esty, care, and compassion.”

Phyllis will enjoy six months of

solo retirement before her hus-

band, Richard, joins her at the end

of 2010.

Giovanni Bradley-Campbell Kung-Yi Chang Mulian Chen Liesl Gilman Cyndi Guerard Dean Laabs

Mulian Chen Mandarin TeacherBA East China Normal University, Shanghai; MEdHarvard Graduate School of Education

Liesl Gilman Grade IV Associate TeacherBS Skidmore College; MA Wheelock College

Cyndi Guerard Technology SpecialistBA University of Massachusetts; MA MarlboroCollege

Dean Laabs Woodworking TeacherBM Lawrence University; MM New EnglandConservatory

Sheika Luc Grade II TeacherBA Amherst College; MS Bank Street Collegeof Education

Nicole Maddox Science TeacherBA Wellesley College

Allison Raabe Grade I TeacherBA Providence College; MA Smith College

Kimberly Rothrock Assistant Head for Finance& OperationsBS Boston College; MSA Boston College

Nicole Siverls Kindergarten TeacherBA University of Michigan; MS Bank StreetCollege of Education

Mally Smith ’01 Kindergarten Assistant/After-School Program TeacherA George Washington University

Faculty Updates 2010

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2010 3

RETIREMENTS:

Phyllis Ong Grade II Teacher 1993–2010

DEPARTURES:

Rebecca Abrams Grade I teacher

Jane Carney Assistant Head for Finance &Operations

Megan Carney Permanent Substitute

Rachel Costello Spanish Teacher

Jeannie Hahn Kindergarten Teacher

Chris Hartmann Math Teacher

Chris Lindsay Technology Specialist

Siobhan Quigley Annual Fund Director

Mario Rubio-Ospina Woodworking

Amy Salomon Grade II

Emily Sweany Kindergarten Assistant

Jorge Vega Technology Specialist

CHANGES:

Sarah Bourque Grade III Associate Teacher,joins Betsy Platt’s class as Pre-K Assistant Teacher

Marshall Neilson Technology Specialist,returns from sabbatical

Alan Rivera French & Spanish Teacher,returns from sabbatical

APPOINTMENTS:

Giovanni Bradley-Campbell After-SchoolProgram Teacher

Kung-Yi Chang Math TeacherBA Chinese Culture University, Taiwan; MEdBoston University

here’s no question that current

and future Park students will

be living in a world where being

able to communicate successfully

across cultures and languages will

be an essential skill. Over the past

five years, growing numbers of our

alumni have begun to learn Man-

darin, either in secondary school

or college.

When school opens this Sep-

tember, a section of 9 sixth-graders

will start their elective study of

Mandarin, which is a challenging

language for native English speak-

ers to learn. Park has begun

a partnership with the Greentown

Yuhua Qinqin School, a private

elementary/middle school in

Hangzhou, China, to facilitate

exchanges, initially with faculty

and ultimately with our Grade IX

Mandarin students. The Chinese

trip (planned for 2014, when the

current sixth-graders are in Grade

IX), will be modeled after the

beloved trips to Europe that been

a highlight at Park for more than

20 years.

TNi-hao! Chinese in Grade VI

Sheika Luc Nicole Maddox Allison Raabe Kimberly Rothrock Nicole Siverls Mally Smith


Vincent Chiang

hen Vinny and his wife, Susanne,

looked at independent schools,

The Park School was the only one they

considered. “In our minds, Park really

distinguished itself. Its commitment to

academic excellence, a diverse community,

as well as a child-focused approach to

learning really resonated with what we

wanted for our children’s educational

experience,” says Vinny. All three of their

children, Molly ’15, Grace ’17, and Aidan

’20, are now Park students.

Born in Virginia, Vinny moved to Massa-

chusetts at age 5, after a year in Taiwan,

and has remained ever since. Following

graduation from Weston High School,

Vinny attended Harvard College and the

University of Massachusetts Medical

School. He completed his residency in

pediatrics and fellowship in pediatric

Caroline Schernecker

s transplants in Boston, Caroline

and her husband, Fred, were unfa-

miliar with the primary education options

in the area. (She was born in North Car-

olina but grew up in Connecticut, and he

hails from Madison, Wisconsin). When

looking for the right school for their first

child, Lily, they soon realized that Park’s

mission and educational environment

exceeded their hopes. “We were thrilled

to find a community that offers such a

rich tapestry of individuals and experi-

ences for our children,” Caroline recalls.

“And, we have grown to appreciate that

this is a family school. As parents, Fred

and I receive as much from the Park com-

munity as our children do.”

Caroline’s first experience in the Boston

area was as a boarding student at Dana

Hall School in Wellesley. After graduating

in 1985, she returned to her Tar Heel

roots and attended the University of North

Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH). Caroline

moved back north to work in New York

A

City for Time Warner’s publishing depart-

ment, and studied graphic design at

The Pratt Institute and the Parsons School

of Design.

In 1991, at a mutual friend’s wedding,

Caroline met Fred, who was living in New-

ton after attending Harvard College.

Eventually, despite a clash of Carolina Blue

vs. Crimson, Caroline moved to Boston to

marry Fred and worked as the art director

at Reebok. After Lily was born, Catie ’17

soon followed, and Caroline left corporate

life to pursue freelance graphic design.

Caroline remains involved at UNC-CH

sitting on the Board of Visitors and the

Women’s Leadership Board. When her

daughter Lily joined the Park School Class

of 2014 in Kindergarten, Caroline joined

the Parents’ Association, first as a library

volunteer. She served next as a Class Rep,

then as the Class Rep Coordinator, co-

chair of fundraisers and community service

projects, and as an advisor to the P.A.

“I’m honored to be serving the community

now as the president of the Parents’ Asso-

ciation, and am looking forward to my

two-year term on the Board of Trustees,”

she says.

W

NEWT R U S T E E S


Dana Weiss Smith

orn and raised in Los Angeles, Cali-

fornia, Dana made the trip east for

college and has made Boston her home

ever since. She graduated with a BA

from Tufts University and a MEd from the

Harvard Graduate School of Education

with a concentration in children and

adolescents at risk. Since then, she has

devoted her time as an employee and

volunteer to area nonprofit organizations

whose missions focus on improving the

quality of life for Boston’s youth.

Having worked at the Boston Community

Centers, The Prevention Center, Boston

Housing Authority, and as director of

operations for the Boys & Girls Clubs of

Boston, Dana brings to Park’s Board a

wealth of experience and knowledge

about children and the issues they face

today.

In addition to serving on Park’s Board,

Dana is involved with several area non-

profit organizations and affiliations,

emergency medicine at Children’s Hospital

Boston, which is where Vinny and

Susanne met while she was working as a

senior communications officer in the pub-

lic affairs department and at the Children’s

Hospital Trust.

Currently, Vinny is chief of inpatient

services for the Department of Medicine

and associate chief of the Division of

General Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital

Boston. He is actively involved in medical

education and serves as the associate

program director of the pediatric resi-

dency program and the director of med-

ical student education at Children’s.

Clinically, he divides his time working in

the emergency department and on the

inpatient general pediatric units. He

also serves on the editorial board of the

Journal of Hospital Medicine, is co-editor

of the textbook Comprehensive Pediatric

Hospital Medicine, and is a member of

the American Academy of Pediatrics

Section on Hospital Care.

At Park, Vinny has served on the Board of

Trustees’ Diversity Committee and is a

standing member of the Springfest clean-

up crew. He looks forward to increasing

his involvement as a trustee.

B

including Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston,

Facing History and Ourselves, and the

Boston Women’s Antipoverty Initiative.

Not only is Dana a Park School parent,

but she is married to a Park alumnus,

Robert Smith ’74. Dana and Robert have

three children: Madeleine ’09 and Ryan

’11, currently students at Noble and

Greenough School, and Jackson, who is

in Grade IV at Park.


GRADUATION 2010

— Class of 2010 —


2010GRADUATION

ADDRESSby Adetola Olatunji, Class of 2004

Each year, an alumnus/a with six years of post-Park experience addresses

the graduating class. Following this Park School tradition, Adetola Olatunji

saluted 19 ninth-graders at the 122nd graduation exercises in June. Adetola

joined the Class of 2004 as a short, shy sixth-grader, but found her voice in

Janice Allen’s chorus for eighth- and ninth-graders and established a Grade

IV and V dance club with classmate Liz Wilsker. She carried her passion

for singing and dancing to Milton Academy and Princeton University,

where she sings with the Princeton University Gospel Ensemble and serves

as the artistic director of the Black Arts Company. Adetola is a pre-law

student—studying political economics with minors in both African studies

and Spanish—and she plans to pursue international law after graduating

in 2011.

ood morning! To the trustees, Mr. Katz, faculty, staff,alumni, students, and their families, thank you so much forinviting me here. It is truly an honor to have been given the

opportunity to speak with you this morning, and I am humbled tohave been chosen to share with you some of the experiences I havehad in the past few years. And most importantly, to the Class of2010, congratulations to you on such an amazing accomplishment!You made it, and we are all here because we are so excited to cele-brate your wonderful achievements thus far. I have a few hopes foryou especially by the end of this speech: first of all, that you rememberat least 30 percent of it. Don’t even worry about it, though; I’ll try tokeep this interesting. But more importantly, I hope that as youreflect on the past three, four, or even 11 years for some of you, you

G


will learn something meaningful from hear-ing my words today that you can take withyou as you move on to the next stage ofyour lives.

Let’s start off with what I’m sure will bea memorable image for all of you. The yearwas 2000; the place was the sixth-grade hall-way on the third floor. The time was about7:55 a.m. The outfit. . . sometimes I shudderto even think about it. . . black dress shoes(with the straps across the foot), white socks,black dress pants, and a bright pink buttonup. Oh, and let’s not forget the cornrowbraids and pink bubbles in my hair . . . ohgoodness. Let’s just say I was trying to make a

Asher Bohmer

I am taking a large plaster head that still

isn’t dry and new-found self confidence.

I am leaving behind my kid sister, Isobel.

Annalin Carroll

I am taking my independence and good

memories. I am leaving behind my 11

years at Park.

What the Ninth Grade willTake and Leave Behind

statement. . . that’s classy though, right?But all jokes aside, I entered my first day

at The Park School as a new kid with onlyone mission: to get good grades. Growing upin a Nigerian household where excelling wasthe only option, my mindset upon enteringmiddle school did not anticipate the need ordesire to be involved in anything other thanacademics. Now, don’t get me wrong, I neverforgot how grades are still very important.But as I look back, I can say I have this won-derful institution to thank for exposing me tothe importance of extracurricular activities.Although I entered middle school thinkingthat grades were the only thing that mattered,

the exposure that The Park School gave me tovarious sports and performance activitiesshowed me not only how much fun theycould be, but also how crucial they would beto my growth in the long run.

For me, Park School was an opportunityto experience so many new things for the firsttime. While here, I tried everything from therecorder, to soccer, even knitting club! Some-where along the line, I found that sports andthe performing arts would combine to be aperfect fit for my passion and talent. While atPark, I was exposed to one of my first soloopportunities in Ms. Hillmon’s seventh-gradechorus. I also had the opportunity to leaddance club for the fourth- and fifth-gradersalongside one of my best friends at the time,Liz Wilsker. Singing and dancing are still twoof my biggest passions today, and I am sograteful to have found these passions while Iwas here, passions that to this day help me tostay sane in the midst of a rigorous academicenvironment at Princeton.

As for sports, I tried quite a few, but Ifound basketball to be my absolute favorite.

“While here, my teachers encouraged me to find my voice,

and with the help of their kind encouragement, I did.”

Defense was definitely my specialty in thegame; because I was so little, I had to be waymore aggressive than the rest to be successful,though. I guess it showed in the nickname Iquickly earned among my teammates: “LittleLion Addie.” You might be wonderingwhether I was that girl who would acciden-tally scratch her teammates during loose ballsand hustle plays. . . guilty! It was that serious. Iplayed all through my Park years and evenwent on to play through my high school yearsat Milton Academy. However, I found thatafter Milton, my only basketball-related roleneeded to be in front of the television screenwatching the professionals do the game ofbasketball justice. However, I will never for-get the moments I shared with my teammatesand the lessons of discipline and work ethicthat I am still able to apply to my life today.

I know that for many of you, extracurric-ular activities played a big role in your ParkSchool experiences, from the soccer team toStudent Council, from jazz band to OneWorld Club, now called Pangaea. I want toplead with you to remember these activitiesthat you invested so much time in while here.I will guarantee you that in high school, yourinvolvement in extracurricular activities willbe what helps you to stay sane. In all honesty,when school gets difficult, and it will if it hasnot already, you will appreciate the outletsthat you have built for yourself while inschool here. They are what teach us team-work and leadership skills and make us morewell-rounded people. Most importantly,though, over time your involvement in theseactivities will be an important indication ofhow much you have gained out of high school,when you eventually seek to move on yetagain to the stage of life after your soon-com-ing high school experiences: COLLEGE.

And maybe you didn’t have the opportu-

Phoebe Clark

I am taking a better understanding of

the world and those in it. I am leaving

behind that skid mark on the gym

floor from tripping over my own feet.

Daniella Colombo

I am taking confidence and maturity

found through my leadership of

Helping Hand. I am leaving behind the

amazing teachers who have helped

me become who I am through their

encouragement and belief.

Annie Goodridge

I am taking my Park “P”! I am leaving

behind the memory of falling on my

face in the gym.


The Joan Crocker Award for Community Service

ROMA HOYT

Emily Hoyt

I am taking with me Lilybet MacRae and

all the colors on my palette in painting

class. I am leaving behind the colors

green and white.

Emily Jacob

I am taking Omni Ball. I am leaving

behind TOTAL Day.

Brittani Jones

I am taking with me the independence to

make my own decisions. I am leaving

behind the voice to inspire others to do

the same.


nity to try that new sport or join that excitingclub that you always wanted to. Even if that’sthe case, don’t think it’s too late to startsomething new. High school will be a wholenew experience where you will have thechance to start again and discover a new partof your personality while remaining true towho you are. But regardless of whether youtry baseball for the first time or continue thetheater background you started early in yourPark years, I urge you to continue to investtime in these passions because you will be somuch better for it.

Besides what I learned outside of theclassroom, I cannot go without mentioningsome of the lessons I learned while inside theclassroom doors. The Park School blessed mewith some of the best teachers I have everhad. Mrs. Lucey, Ms. Baker, Mr. Kellogg, Mrs.Aldins, and Mr. Amershadian (to name afew) were instrumental in pushing me to set-tle for no less than a mindset of excellence.They also taught me to understand that myopinion was just as valuable in conversation asthe next person’s, and to never allow my per-spectives or dreams to be overshadowed. Ithink about the wonderful teaching that Ireceived at the Park School every time I amcalled upon to speak in a small classroom set-ting. When I first entered Park, I was one ofthe shyest in the bunch, but people who havemet me more recently in life would be sur-prised to hear that. While here, my teachers

2 0 1 0 G R A D U AT I O N AWA R D S

THE ELLEN FOWLER AWARD FOR CITIZENSHIP

Asher Charles Smith BohmerEmily Abase Jacob

THE ISABELLA T. GROBLEWSKI ARTS AWARD

Alexandra Nicole Waye

THE HEAD OF SCHOOL’S AWARD FOR

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

Emily Anna Hoyt

THE CURTIS E. SMITH ATHLETIC AWARD

Michela Nora Thomsen

THE JOHN T. SPICER AWARD FOR UNIQUE SERVICE

Lillian Elizabeth MacRaeGilad David Gamson Seckler

“When you leave this place, remember the

lessons you learned about high standards,

teamwork, independence, friendship, respect,

love, and trust.”

EACH YEAR, the

Parents’ Association

presents this award

in honor of former

Park parent Joan

Crocker, who exem-

plified the kind of

devotion and stead-

fast zeal this award

recognizes in its

recipients.

Lilybet MacRae

I am taking Emily Hoyt. I am leaving

behind my favorite time of the day:

recess!

Mackenzie Mills

I am taking my backpack. I am leaving

behind my sisters and my mom.

Hannah Oettgen

I am taking the confidence that I

need to go to my next school. I am

leaving behind my Morning

Meeting seat.


encouraged me to find my voice, and with thehelp of their kind encouragement, I did. Itwas about discovering the type of person Iwas and expanding my comfort zone, as theclassroom setting was just another opportu-nity for me to be myself. I was pushed tospeak up more, to work with my classmatesand learn from them, and to use all availableresources to make it.

I bring up the role of teachers in my lifeto remind you to reach out to the teacherswho have dedicated their lives to helping youreach the next level in life. That resourcenever goes away; especially the blue M&Ms inMr. Katz’s office that I hear you love. Knowthat your teachers still care and will still bechecking up on you long after you graduate.Believe me. But a resource only works when itis in use. When you leave this place, remem-ber the lessons you learned about high stan-dards, teamwork, independence, friendship,respect, love, and trust. As corny as it maysound now, these lessons that have beeninstilled in you will be what sets you apartfrom the rest as you continue on your journeyin high school, but only if you remember touse them. Please do.

In addition to using the resources thathave been made available to you, I also urgeyou to refuse to allow limits to be placedupon you. As much as it sounds cliché, don’tlet anyone tell you that you can’t do some-thing. I’m sure that students as bright as all ofyou will have high expectations and goals foryourselves. As you strive for new levels,thoughts of doubt might come as you thinkabout a class that you want to take, a newhobby you want to pick up, a career path thatyou want to explore, or a traveling opportu-nity that you want to look into. It’s easy to notpursue something out of fear, or out of play-ing it safe.

But you know what? It takes courage totake a risk and challenge yourself in ways noone expects from you. You are lucky becauseyou have already been exposed to so manyopportunities that most people your age haveyet to experience. So all I am asking is thatyou continue to take advantage of the edgethat you already have. Aim high, and that’sexactly where you will go. You have learned somuch and built so many friendships and con-nections that will last you a lifetime, but onlyif you make sure those connections last. Iwant to encourage all of you to work to keepthe love that I can tell you all have for eachother. I’m just saying that you are quite thedynamic bunch, and if you can remember tokeep each other in mind as you move on tothe next level, you will be so much better forthose sustained relationships.

Don’t forget where you came from, thestandards that you have set for yourself, orthe people who helped to mature into thepeople who you are today. I am confident thatif you continue to be aware of your educationthus far and keep reaching high, there isabsolutely nothing that you as individuals andas a group cannot achieve. I look forward tohearing about you excelling in all of yourendeavors.

Thank you so much for taking the timeto listen to my words, and again, congratula-tions—you did it!

“Don’t forget where you came from, the

standards that you have set for yourself, or the

people who helped to mature into the people

who you are today.”


Charlotte Ross

I am taking the sportsmanship and

leadership Park has taught me. I am

leaving behind my Park uniform.

Gilad Seckler

I am taking my people skills. I

am leaving behind the spit that

I emptied out of my trombone

onto Mr. Lyons’ rug.

Grif Seeley

I am taking my yearbook. I am leaving

behind an exclusive T-shirt available in

the Park Plaza for only $20. You should

buy one!

ood morning, everyone. Iam honored to speak on

behalf of my class, the Class of2010. Just two weeks ago, I waswalking through the cafeteria andwas pulled aside by Ms. Lucey. Shebrought me to a corner table andtold me to sit down. Instantly, Ithought I was in trouble. But thenshe had this huge grin and said,“Brittani…” and I started yelling,“YES! YES! I WOULD LOVE TO!” Thekitchen staff looked at me from thekitchen and probably thought some-thing bad was happening since Iwas so loud. Oops.

Ms. Lucey looked at me and said,“Do you even know what I’m goingto ask you?” At that point, Ithought about it and concluded that

G

Class

Graduation

Speaker:

Brittani Jones

Mr. Rivera told us that this yearwould fly by us, but I never actuallythought it would. I never thought itwould feel like just yesterday when Iwas walking into the School, antici-pating the day that we were leavingfor Stump Sprouts, Europe, or evenSix Flags. These are all the thingsthat have brought us closer andhave given me the opportunity toreach out to each of the studentsyou see sitting here behind me.

One thing that I will take withme as I make my departure fromPark is what I have learned through-out my journey here. The curriculumfor each year isn’t just a mound ofinformation that one has to eventu-ally be tested on—it is much more.Often teachers say, “The course youwill be taking this year will be use-ful to your later years in highschool, or even college,” and theymean it. I’m now beginning tounderstand the concept of just howwell Park prepares students for the

future; each subject gives an indi-vidual student a chance to ruminateupon the lessons and morals thatcome out of each of the courses.For instance:

Kindergarten: It was the simplethings like etiquette, holding thedoors for others, sharing, and mostimportantly NOT being greedy andeating each other’s snack!

Grades I-III: Learning how tohelp the environment and preservethe rainforest; to become eco-friendly; acknowledging the goodand caring things that other stu-dents do, and report it for recogni-tion in front of the class.

Grade VI-VIII: Learning how tomanage money and finances withthe House Project; being creativeand gathering a collection of poemsthat represent us for our PoetryAnthologies.

Finally, Grade IX: The last year atPark puts together all the lessonsone has learned from youth. It’s the

I was getting trouble for something,although I wasn’t quite sure why.But turns out that I was right, andshe was, indeed, asking me to be[one of] this year’s graduationspeakers. (And yes, Mom, that meansthat those times staying after schoolweren’t to meet Ms. Barre, or to fixan essay, or to set up for the dance;I was really meeting with Ms. Luceyand Ms. Fries. SURPRISE!) That beingsaid, I am here speaking in front ofall the faculty, parents, alumni, cur-rent students, and of course, myfavorite, the Class of 2010!

I began my years at Park in2000, starting in Kindergarten, mak-ing this my tenth year. Ten yearsseems like a long time, but it hasgone by in a blink of an eye. As stu-dents have come and gone from ourclass, we have created a wonderfuland unique grade. This is why wewill never be forgotten. Our grouphas such a variety of personalities,from quiet ones to some who arealways enthusiastic, and those whohave transitioned from one end ofthe spectrum to the other.

We’ve all had our share of transi-tions, and the results are what yousee here today. No matter what kindof change, I can say one thing: Weare all in front of you as youngadults getting ready to depart. Youhave all witnessed our growth andmaturity, and we thank you for themany lessons you’ve taught us. Wethank you for giving us the opportu-nity to make and mold who we havebecome today, and for showing uswhat the world has in store. I knowthat we want to do great things inthe future, so I can assure you thatthis will not be the last you hearfrom our class.

Barbara Singhakiat

I am taking all the skills I have devel-

oped as a writer. I am leaving behind

the most amazing track team ever.

Padraig Sullivan

I am taking the memories of several

Park plays. I am leaving behind the

stage on which I performed them.

Nyle Thomas-Andrews

I am taking sincerity. I am leaving

behind simplicity.


Asher BohmerWellesley High School

Annalin CarrollBeaver Country Day School

Phoebe ClarkSt. Paul’s School

Daniella ColomboMilton Academy

Annie GoodridgeThe Winsor School

Emily HoytPhillips Academy Andover

Emily JacobMilton Academy

Brittani JonesBoston Trinity Academy

Lilybet MacRaePhillips Academy Andover

Mackenzie MillsBeaver Country Day School

Hannah OettgenBoston University Academy

Charlotte RossMilton Academy

Gilad SecklerNewton North High School

Grif SeeleyCommonwealth School

Barbara SinghakiatThayer Academy

Padraig SullivanThe Cambridge School of Weston

Nyle Thomas-AndrewsBoston College High School

Michela ThomsenThe Rivers School

Alex WayeDana Hall School

N E X T S C H O O L S F O RT H E C L A S S O F 2 0 1 0

year to reflect upon all that youknow and to take the opportunity tobe a leader of the School. It givesyou a chance to make changes forthe future. But above all, it was animportant time in our lives becauseit allowed us to display the maturityand the skills we’ve learned tobecome great leaders.

You can never be sure where lifewill take you, or what it has in storefor you, but there is one thing thatI know will never happen. Thereisn’t another place that I can callhome like I can call Park, or a placethat I will stay for 10 whole years.That is a very special thing that onecan never forget about Park. It alsomakes it hard to forget being a stu-dent here, since I’ve been here forso long. But, with the lessons I’velearned during my time here and thememories I have created, I cannever forget Park or even begin tocompare it to another place, consid-ering all that it has done for me.

Being yet another member of myfamily to graduate from Park, frommy mom, my uncle, my manycousins, to now me—it has trulybeen an honor. It’s amazing to knowthat they, too, had the same cere-mony and have come out to supportme and congratulate me on my suc-cess at Park. However, it doesn’t endhere. Since my brother is going tobe here at Park, the torch has nowbeen passed down to him. The bestthing of all is to know that I havepaved the way for him. Park hasgiven me the opportunity to beindependent and to make decisionson my own—to become a leader. Iwant to continue to use this and toguide others in some way, being arole model. I plan to do great thingswhen I get old, but I will never beable to do these things withoutstopping first to remember where itall came from: one little place that Ican call home—Park.


to Spain was another unforgettableexperience this year, and the 10 ofwho went together become closerthan we ever were. We all tried lotsof new things, had a great time,and learned a lot. Almost right afterreturning from Spain, we jumpedinto our work-study jobs. It wasreally strange to be away fromschool for a month, but it was anincredible experience.

And then there are the littlethings about ninth grade, like get-ting M&Ms from Mr. Katz’s office atbreak, or at 8 in the morning! Iremember taking swimming lessonsduring P.E. in, once again, reallycold pool water. I remember saying,“Hi, I’m Hannah, and I’m runningMorning Meeting today.”

One of the best things aboutPark is the amazing faculty. Duringmy years at Park, I have grown as astudent, and my teachers have allbeen there to support me and help

me do well. None of us would behere right now, ready to graduate,without all of our teachers.

So, I want to say thank you toeveryone at Park who has helpedmake our years here so amazing. Ialso want to thank all of our familyand friends who are here to supportus today. Although I am going toanother school next year, Park willalways be an important part of mylife, and I will come back to visitall the time!

Finally, I want to congratulatethe ninth grade because soonwe will be graduates of The ParkSchool. Thank you.

Class

Graduation

Speaker:

Hannah Oettgen

ello, everyone. I rememberwhen I was in sixth grade

and I decided to come to Park. Ididn’t realize it at the time, butthat was one of the best decisionsI have ever made. Park has done somuch for me as a person and for myeducation. I have become a betterreader, writer, mathematician,linguist, scientist, artist, actress,and singer.

There are countless things thatmake Park unique that I will neverforget. I will always rememberMorning Meeting and the momentof silence—my favorite part of theday. I will remember having mygrandparents with me at school theday before Thanksgiving and takingthem to all of my classes. I willremember singing “Children Go

H

Where I Send Thee” at Yule Festival.Everyone in the school knows all ofthe words and the hand motions,and all the alumni come down tosing. I know that I will be one ofthose alums next year.

In seventh grade, I remembergoing to Project R.E.A.S.O.N. Wehiked Mt. Monadnock, slept in cab-ins, and played with the dogs,Moose and Kofe. In eighth grade,we had a blast during our day inBoston. The day before that, weswam in the coldest pool water everafter cleaning up Jamaica Pond.

Ninth grade has been an espe-cially great year. We have become soclose as a grade, and I will neverforget any of you; I know we’ll stayin touch. We have all had so manyleadership opportunities. Whether itwas leading clubs, being captains ofsports teams, or being TOTAL Daycaptains, we have all taken advan-tage of those opportunities. Going

Michela Thomsen

I am taking the knowledge I gained from

my work-study job. I am leaving behind

my smile.

Alex Waye

I am taking my love for music. I am

leaving behind my echoing voice.



LEARNING SCI

ark’s youngest students in Pre-Kindergarten

are eager scientists: observing the natural

world and the change of seasons, producing

ice crystals in winter, and growing seeds in

the spring. The Kindergarten classrooms

are equally full of life—hatching monarch

caterpillars in the fall and baby chicks in the

spring. But formalized science classes begin

in Grade I.

First-graders are excited to venture

down the corridor to Brian Cassie’s Lower

Division science room. He capitalizes on the

children’s fascination with the world around

them and introduces them to an inquiry-

based, hands-on science program that

begins by looking at the trees on campus

and culminates in a study of the ecology of

American rainforests, which complements

the Grade I social studies curriculum.

When students reach the Upper

Division science labs, they are introduced to

the scientific disciplines of earth science,

physics, and biology, and begin to develop a

foundation of scientific skills: observing,

hypothesizing, analyzing, inferring, and

drawing conclusions.

In 2010–11, Park’s Science Depart-

ment is undergoing a periodic review to

assess both the quality of teaching and the

curricular content. In the review process,

every topic and unit will be considered.

Some may get expanded and some may be

dropped. You can read more about this com-

prehensive evaluation in a piece by Science

Department Chair Karen Manning.

ENCE AT PARK



Preparing for a Yearlong Reviewof Park’s Science Curriculumby Karen Manning, Science Department Chair

R E V I E WReview and assess currentscience program in gradesK–IX at Park.

R E S E A R C H

• Articulate philosophythrough trying to answer“big” questions.

• Benchmark other schools.

• Assess what resources areavailable to us (confer-ence proceedings, find-ings, other surveys, etc.).

• Research effective andappropriate assessmentand evaluation strategies.

D E V E L O P

• Develop a K–IX scopeand sequence.

• Adopt or adapt curricu-lum materials for grade-level use.

• Create a professional-development plan forfaculty.

R E P O R TDescribe the findings of thisprocess in a report.

I M P L E M E N TOnce implementation begins,we will continue to evaluatethe effectiveness of thesechanges, and make changesas necessary.

The Review Process


his summer, Park’s science facultymet to outline the challenging butexciting process that we are about

to begin to review our approach to teach-ing science across the grades.

As we began planning for the review,it became apparent that we were limitedin our understanding of what otherschools were doing and of the currentthinking regarding science education. Weunderstood that it would take a hugeamount of time, effort, and expense(which were all in short supply) to gatherthe information we needed. So, wedecided to hire a consultant to assist uswith the process.

We wanted someone who was inti-mately involved in education, was famil-iar with different types of schools, andhas developed curricula at the local andnational level. While this seemed like atall order, Jerry Katz said he knew justthe person for the job.

Jerry contacted Carolee Matsumoto tosee if she might be interested in taking onthis project. Carolee, a third-generation

Japanese American, brings enthusiasmand experience leading technical assis-tance, curriculum development, and lead-ership development to projects across theUnited States and the world. She is cur-rently working with the National ScienceFoundation and the Watershed IntegratedScience Project at UMass Boston, andshe is an advisor for public television sci-ence programs at WGBH. At Park, Car-olee’s role will include helping to facilitatediscussions and encourage us to think“globally,” as well as helping us connectwith key resources throughout theprocess.

What intrigued Carolee was ourprocess. Instead of taking our existingcurriculum and comparing it to a state ornational standard, then adding or elimi-

nating topics to meet those standards, wedecided to take a really novel approach.

We are starting with a completelyblank canvas—or, to use a sciencemetaphor, an empty Petri dish. We wantto design a science curriculum that wouldbe state-of-the-art in both approach andcontent without worrying about time,budget, or space limitations. Of course,these constraints will eventually have tobe considered, but to generate reallyinnovative thoughts, we wanted to stripaway all of the typical limits.

Before we can lay out a “scope andsequence” for the curriculum, we need toarticulate a philosophy that will guide usthrough the process. We plan to generatethis philosophy be answering some big,fundamental questions:

K A R E N M A N N I N GScience Department Chair

How long have you been atPark?I have been teaching here for 10years, since 2000.

What grades do you teach?Sixth- and seventh-grade science.

What turned you on to science?I have always loved the ocean andwanted to become an oceanogra-pher at a very young age. I used towatch all of the Jacques Cousteauspecials on TV when I was young,

which I think inspired me to followthis path. My high school biologyteacher also encouraged me to pur-sue my love of the ocean.

What do you remember aboutlearning science in school?One of my most vivid memories wasfrom a fifth-grade science class,when we were exploring the senseof taste. We were blindfolded and asample of a powder was put on ourtongues, and we had to figure outwhat it was for ourselves—insteadof just being told about it. I wasamazed that when we put the samesubstance on different parts of my

tongue, it tasted completely differ-ent, depending on what spot ittouched. Who knew that yourtongue could sense food differently?

What is your favorite lesson thatyou conduct with Park students?I have several favorite lessons, and,perhaps not surprisingly, almost allof them involve edible labs. In partic-ular, I love the “Taste Tectonics”lab where we use graham crackers,frosting, and fruit roll-ups to simu-late tectonic plate interactions. Itactually is quite effective in modelingwhat happens at those plate bound-aries. The simulations we do with

Grade VI modeling different partsof the digestive system are prettygreat, too!

What do you hope Park studentstake away from your scienceclasses?I hope my students maintain theirsense of wonderment—always.Ihope they continue to be curiousand to ask questions. I also hopethat they begin to understand howto approach finding answers totheir questions and that they learnhow to explain phenomena in theirown words.

Getting to Know the Park School Science Teachers

< After creating a “cloud” in the lab, KarenManning answers questions about condensationfrom her sixth graders.

T


B R I A N B E AV E R

How long have you been atPark?Sixteen years. My first year was[Head of School] Jerry Katz’s secondyear, September 1994.

What grades do you teach?I teach physical science to Grade VIIIand biology to Grade IX.

What turned you on to science?I’ve always loved science, so it ishard to pinpoint any one thing.Throughout my life, I’ve spent a lotof time outside in nature, hiking,backpacking, and canoeing. Muchof my love of science (particularly lifescience and earth science) is con-nected to my love of being in the

woods. But life science is not theonly science that I love; I’ve alwaysenjoyed physics and mechanicalthings as well.

What do you remember aboutlearning science in school?Taken as a whole, my science educa-tion was very uneven. I had somegreat experiences, but not consis-tently. Some teachers were inspiringand skillful while others had goodintentions, but failed to teach well.And, as we all know, the teachercan make all the difference, regard-less of the topic.

I have only murky memories ofelementary school science until fifthgrade with “Mr. Nick.” He was thefirst male teacher that I had, heloved math and science, he was a

fan of baseball and sports, andevery day, it seemed, he organizedsome sort of game during recess.These things made all the differencefor me. Mr. Nick introduced me tomodel rockets and showed me howto make videos of experiments.Pretty primitive stuff perhaps, butfifth-grade science was a milestonefor me.

What is your favorite lesson thatyou conduct with Park students?I don’t have a favorite lesson per se.I am, though, fascinated by allthings DNA: the history of the dis-covery of its form and function, howit works in a cell, genetic engineer-ing, and current research—includingwork with stem cells. This is more ofa “unit” than a “lesson” and fea-

tures a series of cool experimentsthat include the extraction of DNAfrom strawberries.

What do you hope Park studentstake away from your scienceclasses?That science is important and thatscience is for everyone.

B R I A N C A S S I E

How long have you been atPark?This year is my 10th at Park School.

What grades do you teach?Grades I, II, and III.

What science is worth understanding today andtomorrow?

What should science learning look like?

How and where does science thrive?

What evidence demonstrates students’ sciencelearning?

At this point, our goals include:

• Developing a coherent philosophy ofscience learning across grade levels;

• Working toward common studentoutcomes of knowledge, skills, andhabits of mind;

• Reviewing what and how we teachand measuring that against our ownaspirations and best practices;

• Identifying existing areas in the cur-riculum, schedule, or facilities thatwarrant improvement to achieve thegoals effectively.

The Science Department met severaltimes over the summer for initial brain-storming sessions. Once school begins,we will meet monthly with Carolee andJerry Katz. We will begin the process witha review of what currently is taught atPark, includes an assessment of currentfacilities, equipment, and other resources.

Next, we hope to articulate a philosophyfor using some of our responses to the“big” questions. In the research phase, wewill examine science programs at otherschools and examine resources such asconference proceedings or surveys to helpevaluate current the best practices in sci-ence education. By the end of the year,our goal is to have developed a consistentand coherent scope and sequence for sci-

ence education at Park for Grades Kthrough IX. This will be an evolvingprocess. We will implement new strate-gies and content based on the findings ofour work. Going forward, we will evalu-ate the effectiveness of these changes, andmake adjustments as necessary.

All in all, 2010–11 will be an excitingyear for science at Park. Stay tuned tolearn what we learn about ourselves andour recommendations for the program!

It is my fondest hope that every

student will leave my class every

day with something that they

just cannot wait to share with

their family.

—Brian Cassie


What turned you on to science?I have been passionately interestedin science for as long as I canremember. My earliest recollectionsare of searching for and then raisingthe caterpillars of black swallowtails,monarchs, and cecropia moths, so Iguess lepidoptera probably turnedme on first.

What do you remember aboutlearning science in school? Anyfavorite stories to share?I took science for the first time in thesixth grade, but it is my seventh-grade science class I remember mostvividly. My teacher was a real meanieand my whole year of life science,my favorite scientific field, wasdreadful. When I got to high school,I had biology again in 10th grade.Yea! Except for the fact that myseventh-grade teacher transferredto the high school and was now myscience teacher. Good grief. Some-how I survived.

What is your favorite lesson thatyou conduct with Park students?My favorite classes are right at thestart of Grade III, in September andOctober, when my students and I gooutside and watch the skies over thePark School campus for migratinginsects and birds. We make predic-tions based on the weather, but wenever know what we are going tofind. One day, we saw 1,400 mon-archs [butterflies] fly over Park. Thatwas the highest count from anyschool in the country that year.

What do you hope Park studentstake away from your scienceclasses?It is my fondest hope that every stu-dent will leave my class every daywith something that they just can-not wait to share with their family.

H E AT H E R O F F E N

How long have you been atPark?I am starting my third year at Parkthis year.

What grades do you teach?All of Grade IV and V science andone section of sixth-grade science.

What turned you on to science?My father encouraged me to takethe science electives my elementaryand middle schools offered. In fifthgrade, I was able to take coastalecology and “starwalk” (astronomy)classes, which were wonderful. Inseventh grade, I reluctantly agreedto take an elective chemistry classand after the first day, I loved it!That pretty much sealed my love forall sciences.

What do you remember aboutlearning science in school?I don’t remember much science fromelementary school, other then study-ing dinosaurs in the second grade.My middle-school science years arewhat have stuck with me the most.I remember growing beautiful,turquoise blue copper sulfate crystalsin seventh grade and raising brineshrimp babies in eighth grade. Mylab partners and I tried to name

them all! By the end of the lab wehad a list of about 250 names.

What is your favorite lesson thatyou conduct with Park students?Hard question! I love teaching aboutconstellations to the fourth-graders,helping them to find the ‘pictures inthe sky’ (a nice tie-in to Greekmythology, too!). The fifth-gradersthink its cool learning how to light abulb with one wire and a battery.And, in sixth grade, it would proba-bly be singing “The Bloodmobile”song by They Might Be Giants as thestudents, dressed as red blood cells,walk though a giant model of theheart, picking up and dropping offoxygen.

What do you hope Park studentstake away from your scienceclasses?I hope by the time they move to theUpper Division, my students feel pre-pared for their future science classes.Many of my classmates growing upwere intimidated or overwhelmed byscience. But, science is all around usand is what makes the world turn;if my students understand andappreciate that, I have succeeded asa teacher.

R E B E C C A R E G E R

How long have you been atPark?I’m beginning my sixth year.

What grades do you teach?Seventh-grade earth science andeighth-grade IPS (Introduction toPhysical Science).

What turned you on to science?I always loved it in school. I hadgreat teachers growing up, and theymade me love science. I enjoy learn-ing about how things work, andwhy things happen the way they do.

What do you remember aboutlearning science in school?I remember making acetylsalicylicacid—Aspirin—when I was intenth-grade chemistry, and thenresearching its properties for areport. It was my first true chemsynthesis lab, and I enjoyed thework immensely. I still love chem-istry, particularly synthesis labs.

What is your favorite lesson thatyou conduct with Park students?I have a lot of favorites. In seventhgrade, it’s probably making “fossils”or the “graham cracker plate tecton-ics” labs that we do. In eighthgrade, I love the sludge lab; it’s chal-lenging, but it provides a chancefor students to design their ownexperiment and plan their ownwork, thus testing their knowledgeby the practical application of skillsalready learned. The students trulyappreciate what they accomplish bythe end.

What do you hope Park studentstake away from your scienceclasses?I hope they gain a curiosity aboutthe world around them and thatthey learn to question how thingswork. One of the best things thatkids can take away from a scienceclass is the ability to challengeknowledge constructively. Withoutthis type of questioning, many scien-tific discoveries would never havebeen made. After a year with me, Ialso want my students to be able toexplain what they know. I’m knownfor returning homework papersmarked up with “WHY???” and“EXPLAIN!!!” in the margins.


’m sure there was some geneticpredisposition for my becoming ascientist. My father was a doctor,a physician at Mass. GeneralHospital and an early adopter oftechnology. Once I had taken

Winsor’s tenth-grade introductory sci-ence class—one term of physics, oneof chemistry, and one of biology—Iwas hooked. (I’ve even remainedfriends with Judy Fellows, my wonder-ful physics teacher who took us onfield trips to collect pinecones from theWellesley campus. She taught usingthe eye and ear—the physics of seeingand hearing—to explain fundamentalprinciples.) I discovered that I wasgood at math as well and loved thechallenge of equations, both mathe-matical and chemical.

I knew that I wanted to study sci-ence and major in chemistry in college.My father looked through ConnecticutCollege’s course catalog and encour-aged me to go there when he saw thatthere were a number of full professorsin the chemistry department. I thor-oughly enjoyed Connecticut andcontinue to value the liberal arts edu-cation and the many friendships Imade, but it was an eight-weekorganic chemistry class at Dartmouthone summer that inspired me to go tograd school. Coming from a single-sexschool and college, I was unfamiliarwith the gender disparity in the sci-ences. At that time, it was harder forwomen in co-ed schools to break intoscience. When I began the program atNorthwestern in 1968, it happenedthat because of changes in eligibilityfor military draft deferment my classwas one-third women, and that out ofour class of 39, 11 of the 13 womenwent on to receive their PhDs.

My experience in grad school andat Yale was wonderful. My professorsat Northwestern and Yale had alreadybeen elected to the National Academyof Sciences, so they were under lesspressure to publish. They were verydedicated teachers and excellent men-tors. (Of course, there weren’t anywomen professors for many, manyyears—I never had one in all my yearsof training!) Northwestern’s philoso-phy was that all graduate studentsneeded to be teaching assistants

(T.A.s) in order to earn their degree.The mantra was, ‘No matter whatyou’re doing, you’ll have to do someteaching.’ To be honest, I wasn’t wildabout it at the beginning. I had been alittle shy, and there I was in front ofmy peers all the time, giving seminars.In fact, it was a real confidencebuilder. Eventually, I loved teaching,and was a T.A. all through graduateschool and during my postdoctoralyears.

Enhancing my post-college experi-ences, while studying small peptidesand proteins and how cholesterolaffects the cell wall membrane, I waslucky to do collaborative work withseveral universities throughout theU.S. I always thought I would becomea university professor, and although Iinterviewed for a number of teachingpositions, I found my niche in industryinstead.

In 1978, I became a research sci-entist at Kraft, studying the clottingproperties of milk. At that time, thecompany was known for high-moistureproducts like cheese and mayonnaise,which had more room for error andspoilage. One goal was to increase theefficiency of cheese making and cap-ture more protein in the product. Thatfirst year, I felt I really paid my dues asone of the few PhDs on staff. Afterdoing experiments all day, we had towash up all the glassware because thelab supply company was on strike!

Leaving the ivory tower for indus-try was a bit of a culture shock inother ways as well. When I firstarrived at Kraft, I had to adjust toworking an 8–4 job. I had grownaccustomed to the flexibility of acade-mia—I could play tennis at two in theafternoon and work until midnight inthe lab if I wanted. At Kraft, I workedon the company’s schedule. And thenthere was getting used to the hierarchyand a very generous budget. In gradschool, I had a lot of autonomy, butbuying a $400 balance was a majorexpenditure. At Kraft, we did have tojustify every purchase, but therewasn’t much scrutiny unless it had avery high price tag. The companymade sure we had state-of-the-artfacilities and were rarely denied a rea-sonable request.

Susan and her sisters, Sally ’62 and Nancy ’65, attended

Park before going to The Winsor School. In high school,

Susan discovered her penchant for science, often

coming in on Saturdays to do extra work and find out

more. She majored in chemistry at Connecticut College,

received a PhD in physical chemistry from North-

western University, and spent several years as a post-

doctoral associate at Yale. In 1978, one of Susan’s

roommates learned that Kraft Foods did ‘real’ research

(not just recipe development) and was hiring PhDs for

its Research & Development Department. A few years

after joining Kraft, she received an MBA in finance

from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

Her scientific work at Kraft included research in dairy

and soy proteins, starch structure-function relation-

ships, lipid chemistry, and fat replacement technology.

Susan also managed a broad range of research depart-

ments, from Physical Chemistry to Food Science to

Ingredient Technology, Biotechnology and Analytical

Chemistry, and was responsible for several strategic

programs until her retirement in 2007. She continues to

serve on Northwestern’s Industry Advisory Board, is a

science advisor to Carthage College, and serves on the

board of editors of a peer-reviewed management jour-

nal. Having hung up her lab coat for the time being,

Susan is now playing more tennis and serving as a

consultant to a wide range of nonprofit organizations,

including a music festival, an art group, and a charter

school. She lives in Evanston with her husband, Henry

Gaud, a fellow chemist whom she met at Yale. They

have two grown children, Emily and Henry, who both

live in Colorado.

A L U M N I S C I E N T I S T :

SUSAN MABREY GAUD ’61 I

Susan, as an 8-year-old Park School student, anda more recent shot fom last year.


became the manager of an 80-personanalytical science department spreadbetween Madison, Wisconsin (OscarMayer meats), Tarrytown, New York(coffee, Tang, Jell-O), and Glenview,Illinois (cheese, Miracle Whip, Velveeta,Kraft caramels). It was challenging toget the three groups working togetherbut ended up to be very satisfying.Kraft is a huge company (it recentlypurchased Nabisco) with a broad rangeof products and many trade marks (nosoup but just about everything else:Grey Poupon, Planter’s, Triscuits,Oreos, Seven Seas, Maxwell House,Kraft Singles, etc.) We were responsiblefor everything from nutrition analysis,claim substantiation (is our Macaroni &Cheese really the cheesiest?), and trou-ble shooting (why is this product’s fla-vor off?, why is this cheese wrappertearing?) to flavor analysis. Weincreased our efficiency by creatingcenters of excellence in each locationand by having weekly video confer-ences to share results.

As Kraft grew, we realized that wecouldn’t possibly do everything in-house and became more outwardlyfocused. I moved into a newly createdposition where I helped our scientistsand engineers use external resourcesmore strategically and effectively. It

was so energizing to be on universitycampuses and interact with a broadrange of scientists. We funded manyfascinating projects, including one withNASA on developing food and foodprocesses for long-duration missions,one on new approaches to food safety,one on understanding the genetics oftaste and smell, and several on devel-oping new packaging materials. Iretired as senior director of externalscience and technology after almost30 years of a challenging and reward-ing career.

I must admit I don’t remembermuch about Park School science butam aware that I had the privilege of anexcellent education from first grade on.A combination of a genetic predisposi-tion to science, inspiring teachers, andencouraging parents certainly con-tributed to my having an interestingcareer. I was fortunate that I lived closeto work and to our children’s school.My husband, who worked full-time as ascientist in the pharmaceutical indus-try, was supportive, and we managed toget to just about every concert, confer-ence, play, and sporting event. Now, asa volunteer with some distance fromthe laboratory bench, I continue toencourage women to pursue scienceboth in academia and in industry.

For the first five to seven years, Iwas doing research at the bench,working on different projects. Shortlyafter starting at Kraft, I enrolled inbusiness school at The Kellogg Schoolof Management. An MBA did not nec-essarily assure me a management jobbut it did provide me with some usefultools, a good perspective on how busi-ness works, and a valuable networkthat continues to be of use. I reallyenjoyed the challenges of management—seeing the big picture, teamwork,creating order out of complexity—andhaving the opportunity to be involvedin a broad range of scientific chal-lenges. Much of food industry researchinvolves understanding how ingredi-ents (protein, carbohydrate, fat, water,flavor, etc.) function and interact witheach other and making sure the food issafe and of high quality. Strategiesevolved over the years, but fundamen-tally we needed to deliver on taste,quality, convenience, and variety, all atan affordable price. I was surprised athow much research was needed toaccomplish this!

In the late 1980s, Kraft set a cor-porate goal to develop fat-free food.The whole company—top to bottom—was dedicated to that single goal.In our corporate culture, it was rarethat research would take the lead; usu-ally we were just contributing players.But in this case, I found myself, withtwo other colleagues, leading thiswhole project. It was a terrific way tosee the full scope of what it takes toget a product from a concept to aconsumer in the grocery store. Whenwe made presentations to the patentlawyers, marketing departments, theFDA, and advertising agencies, it feltlike I was back in grad school, teach-ing. We really had to understand theaudience, and although it would befun to wow them with exotic equa-tions, our job was to make the sciencerelevant and give them the informa-tion they needed to file a patent ordevelop an ad campaign.

Around this same time, Kraft wasgoing through several mergers. Thecompany was purchased by PhillipMorris and it, in turn, merged us withGeneral Foods. Each company had itsown specialty and research facilities. I

Susan Mabrey Gaud in Kraft’s R&D laboratory in the 1980s.

Douglas Boyn



DOUGLAS BOYNTON QUINE ’65

Doug started at Park in the middle of Grade II when his

family moved to Boston, but he spent third grade in

California where his philosopher father, Professor W.V.

Quine, was at Stanford while on sabbatical from Har-

vard. When the Quines returned to Boston the follow-

ing year, Doug attended Park for four years, graduating

with his Grade VIII class*. After half a year of travel in

Europe and a semester at Middletown High School in

Connecticut, he graduated from Roxbury Latin School.

At Princeton, Doug studied biology, then worked at

The Rockefeller University as an acoustical consultant

before going to Cornell University to earn a PhD in

neurobiology and behavior in 1979. In 2008, to parallel

a series of international conferences recognizing the

centennial of his father’s birth, Doug co-edited two

books (with Harvard University Press) of his father’s

out–of-print papers and unpublished work from the

family archives. Early this year, after a 22-year career in

engineering postal systems, Doug took early retirement

from Pitney Bowes. Having lived in Nova Scotia, New

Orleans, Illinois, Florida, Virginia, and Albuquerque,

Doug and his wife, Maryclaire, returned to their New

England roots, settling in Bethel, Connecticut, in 1993.

Doug and Maryclaire enjoy traveling immensely; they

have visited all 50 states, and this summer’s trip to

Gibraltar makes 52 countries. Their children, Alexander

(Oberlin ’07) and Victoria (Hampshire ’10), have begun

their independent lives.

* Over Park’s 122-year history, the number of grades offered and thegraduation year have varied. For many years, Grade VIII was the yearof graduation; others graduated when VI or VII was Park’s final year.Also, it was never unusual for some students to leave Park beforethe year of graduation. During the last 43 years, Park has offered aGrade IX program as the final year. The School therefore assigns to itsalumni a class year based on the Grade IX year.

research and independent study. AtPrinceton, research for my undergrad-uate thesis revealed the ability of barnowls to detect shifts in sound pitch(which might help them find prey)and resulted in my first refereed scien-tific journal article in the Journal ofComparative Physiology. As anacoustical consultant at The Rocke-feller University, I measured the envi-ronmental acoustics of naturalenvironments in Maine, New York, andPanama, helping to explain differencesin animal vocalizations in differenthabitats. My doctoral research at Cor-nell in animal behavior required devel-oping new equipment to uncover thehoming pigeons’ ability to hear 10octaves below human hearing. (Suchinfrasounds can travel very long dis-tances and might have value as navi-gational cues.) My postdoctoralresearch on hearing changes in multi-ple sclerosis revealed unexpected pitch(frequency) and loudness (amplitude)channels in hearing system.

Following my postdoc in Halifax,we moved to New Orleans and enjoyed

The Thrill of Innovation and Research

enjoy understanding how exist-ing things work and inventingnew things. As a child I readvoraciously and pestered every-one from winemakers to tele-phone repairmen for details of

what they were doing and why. Mycuriosity and love of independentlearning continues to this day.

At The Park School, Mr. Meadowsintroduced me to the study of science,the experimental method, and the ideaof bringing order and sense to randomassortments of facts. Since then, mypassion has been to explore emergingtopics. Through my high schoolresearch project at Massachusetts Eyeand Ear Infirmary (polarized light-induced Haidinger Brush illusion),summer work at Fruitlands Museumsin Harvard, and my independent studyprogram at Roxbury Latin School(heart surgery and artificial heartvalves at Massachusetts General Hos-pital), I discovered the thrill of

I

The value of education is to prepare one

to discover new things, to solve problems,

and to become a continuous learner.

Doug with the Honda Civic hybrid purchased with his32 patent awards.

ton Quine ’65


years later, I was offered a job at Mar-tin Marietta, which was diversifyinginto postal automation. As a scientist,problem solver, and software manager,I was privileged to participate in theemerging delivery point automationprogram for mail that would result inhuge time and cost savings comparedwith manual sorting.

Later, I moved to Pitney Bowes tobecome program manager of the postalbarcode sorter business. Within a fewyears, I was named the first-ever“product guru” for digital documentdelivery, including electronic bill pre-sentment and payment. This positionlaunched me on a intensive inventioneffort which has resulted in 32 issuedpatents for improvements in suchdiverse fields as environmentally sensi-tive expiration dates (i.e. ice cream), e-mail address correction, multimediabusiness-to-employee communications,paperless checks, and voting by mail.After the anthrax letters disrupted mailservice in 2001, I was called upon formy scientific and problem-solvingskills to help develop a portableanthrax detection system. That effortled to three issued patents, having theDepartment of Homeland Security des-ignate the system as a “Qualified Anti-Terrorism Technology,” and myproviding mailroom security solutionsfor seven years.

It is now time to begin planningCareer 9.0—my next big project.Throughout my life’s journey, I’ve beendiscovering that the value of educationis to prepare one to discover newthings, to solve problems, and tobecome a continuous learner.

the local culture. At Tulane MedicalSchool, I learned to do microsurgery ina frog’s ear (my first real experiencewith anatomy) and recorded nervepulses from the eighth (hearing) nerve.I also developed a new undergraduatecourse in psychology called ‘SensoryWorld of Animals’ at Tulane Univer-sity. As microcomputers were justemerging, I developed some neuro-physiological software tools with col-leagues and even started a businesswith my wife to meet the need foraffordable computer supplies. Thatentrepreneurial experience continuesto be valuable.

When a former colleague invitedme to join his research group at theIllinois Natural History Survey, I hadthe thrill of working with emergingDoppler weather radar (NEXRAD)systems to detect birds and warn air-craft of threats aloft. While bird strikeswere a significant and expensive prob-lem then, the work was underappreci-ated at the time. But 21 years later,when US Airways Flight 1549 had tomake an emergency landing on the

Hudson River after colliding with aflock, bird strikes—the aviation termfor birds hitting a windshield of aplane or getting sucked into an enginefan—are now a common topic of con-versation. It was gratifying that ourearly work laid the foundation forsome solutions being implementedtoday.

As a lifelong stamp collector (Ibought my Scott International StampAlbum for 30 cents at a Park Schooltag sale), I recall the moment in 1982that a brief article in Linn’s StampNews about postal barcodes onenvelopes captured my imagination. Idiscovered envelopes with handwrittenaddresses had a very high error rate.When I reverse-engineered the failurepatterns, I realized that when thepostal optical character readers failedto read illegible addresses, theysearched further afield and sometimesencoded the return address, whichdirected the envelope back to thesender. My volunteer research won anumber of awards in the philatelic(stamp collecting) community. Six

Doug ‘at work’ in personal protective equipment.

High school photograph on a valid personalizedpostage stamp that Doug helped develop.


Lora’s memories of Park are from the Kennard Road

campus, where she spent Grades I–VI. After Park, Lora

graduated from Milton Academy and was a member of

the last “official” class at Radcliffe. In college, she

majored in Hispanic studies, but was an “undercover”

premed student. She earned a master of science degree

at Imperial College London University, and then

returned to Boston for a joint MD-MPH degree from

Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Pub-

lic Health. She completed her residency in social family

medicine at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, N.Y., and

did a postdoc in occupational/environmental health

while working on her PhD in epidemiology from the

Yale Schools of Medicine and Public Health. For the

past 21 years, Lora has been the only occupational and

environmental medicine physician and epidemiologist

in South Florida. When she’s not teaching at the Univer-

sity of Miami’s Medical or Marine Schools, she’s in the

field researching the health effects of harmful algal

blooms (red tides), microbial pollution of marine waters

(from feces in the water), or health risks and behaviors

of workers in the U.S. Her daughter, Aleja, who gradu-

ated from Wellesley College in May, confessed to her

mother that she “hates people but loves rocks,” and

has begun her own PhD in geosciences at MIT/Woods

Hole Oceanographic Institute. In January, Lora plans

to say goodbye to Miami to direct the newly created

European Centre for Environment and Human Health

in Cornwall, England.


LORA FLEMING ’71

Iam so lucky—there’s not a daywhen I don’t learn somethingnew. Environmental and occupa-tional medicine are fascinating.I can’t wait to learn more—especially from my colleagues.

If you want to experience lifelonglearning, just assemble an interdisci-plinary team of diverse and enthusias-tic students and researchers!

As the only board-certified occu-pational and environmental medicinephysician and epidemiologist inMiami, I get involved with many proj-ects and serve on many teams. As theco-director of the University of MiamiOceans and Human Health Center(rsmas.miami.edu/groups/ohh/), andthe associate director of the FloridaInternational University/University ofMiami Advanced Research Coopera-tion in Environmental Health Program(http://arch.fiu.edu/), I work in theareas of marine and freshwater toxins,microbial pollution of recreationalmarine waters, environmental humanhealth, and epidemiologic issues.

Sometimes I’m reminded of how,when I was in third grade, I couldn’tread. I was having a very hard time inschool, but my teachers and parentscame together with strategies to helpme. To coax me through third gradescience and my first project studyingmeal worms, my father wrote a poemfor me: A meal worm is not a realworm, but a bug…ugh! My teachers atPark correctly diagnosed and helpedwith the treatment of my dyslexia,which was far-sighted for the times.My family supported that fortuitousintervention with teams of teachers,tutors, and phonics instruction, whichhelped me become a good student andan avid reader. At Park, we got toknow our teachers in many different

roles as well. I loved studying Latinwith Mr. Bourne, but I also knew himas a terrific shop teacher, mountainclimber, and environmentalist. Parktook a “liberal arts” approach to edu-cation, which has served me well. Butit may be the social skills (shakinghands, being truthful, and playing wellwith others) that have carried me thefurthest!

I love putting multidisciplinaryresearch teams together, thenapproaching a single problem frommany points of view. For example, as aphysician and epidemiologist studyingmicrobial pollution (“poop”) of recre-ational marine waters, I have had theprivilege of working with and learningfrom researchers and students who areenvironmental engineers, biostatisti-cians, microbiologists, physical andbiological oceanographers, marinebiologists, and environmental publichealth professionals. It can take a fullyear (or more) to go from an idea topublishing our research—especially ifthere are 15 people writing the papertogether. But we learn so much! Col-laborating in a team with multiplepoints of view helps uncover newquestions and, ultimately, newanswers. The more diverse perspec-tives, the better.

To make this kind of team work,you have to be able to admit when youdon’t know something, and be willingto ask very, very basic questions.Often, I’ve seen my fellow scientistspretend to know the answer to a ques-tion, but in an interdisciplinary team,that doesn’t fly. One time, I was pre-senting our findings from a study ofoceans and human health at a nationalconference. I kept mistakenly saying“cephalopods,” but my colleague, theoceanographer and marine biologist,


biology, which studies the affects ofUV light on the skin. I’m excited bysome of the novel approaches that wewill be taking. For example, ECEHHwill be an active partner of theNational Health Services’ new BlueGym Program (bluegym.org.uk/). Theprogram encourages people with costlychronic health conditions (such asdepression, obesity, diabetes, and car-diovascular disease) to interact safelyand healthfully with the marine envi-ronment, improving not only theirown physical and mental health, buthelping the environment as well. Ulti-mately, in these times of great environ-mental change and uncertainty, wehope that the Centre will help makeCornwall a model of sustainable andbeneficial environmental health thatcan be exported to other countries andpopulations around the world!

would shout out the real name, “cope-pods.” It was humbling, but an effec-tive (and amusing) demonstration ofhow we all worked well together.

Working with various colleagues,I have created educational materialsconcerning the human health effects ofmarine and freshwater natural toxins,and performed research in ciguaterafish poisoning, red tides in Floridalooking at brevetoxins, and cyanobac-terial toxins. Currently, I am involvedin a federally funded study of thehuman health effects of aerosolizedred tide toxins (mote.org/niehsredtidestudy/) and in a study of the possiblehuman health effects of microbial pol-lution in recreational beach waters. Inanother interdisciplinary group, I amexploring the health disparities, mor-bidity, and mortality of U.S. workers(rsmas.miami.edu/groups/niehs/niosh/),as well as issues involving the effectsand prevention of tobacco-relateddiseases. As the medical director ofthe Florida Cancer Data System(fcds.miami.edu/), Florida’s incidentcancer registry, I work with researchersand students to promote work in can-cer epidemiology and prevention, andin health disparities in Florida. I alsoact as a consultant in occupational andenvironmental medicine and epidemi-

ology, both locally and internationally,and I serve on a number of university,state, and national task forces andcommittees.

This fall, I will begin to wrap upsome of these projects as I prepare tomove across the Atlantic for a newchallenge: directing the new EuropeanCentre for Environment and HumanHealth (ECEHH). Cornwall lies in thesouthwest corner of England and is aneconomically depressed, but fantasti-cally beautiful, area. In addition tolooking at the environment and humanhealth, the ECEHH is designed to stim-ulate the region’s economy by fosteringstrategic partnerships with local busi-nesses and organizations, and todecrease health expenses by encourag-ing local people to become more physi-cally active by getting outside. TheCentre is an initiative of the PeninsulaCollege of Medicine and Dentistry,which is itself a joint entity of the Uni-versities of Exeter and Plymouth, theBritish National Health Service, and issupported by the European Union. TheECEHH will focus on three key themeswithin the environment and humanhealth field: chemicals—includingpharmaceuticals and nanomaterials—in the environment; climate, oceans,and human health; and clinical photo-

Ric

kB

eren

son

’73


Richard Berenson graduated from Park in 1973, Phillips

Exeter Academy in 1976, Harvard College in 1980,

and Harvard Business and Law Schools in 1984. He

has worked at AT&T Bell Laboratories, McKinsey &

Company, and for a long string of technology startup

companies. Today he runs Venzyme Catalyst, LLC,

(www.venzyme.com) a virtual incubator that organ-

izes, launches, and consults to life-sciences companies.

He served as founding co-chair of the Park School

Alumni Committee in the early 1990s and on the Park

School Technology Advisory Committee from 1999 to

2004. His two children, Daniel ’06 and Alice ’09,

attended Park from Kindergarten through Grade VIII.

f I call myself a technophile, it’sbecause I caught that bug atPark. In seventh grade at theold, yellow Upper School build-ing, Mr. Merrill taught a sciencecourse so hands-on and engaging

that it would be banned today forsafety reasons. He burned magnesiumover a wooden desk (it blazes purewhite and drips a white liquid ash!),put out explosive phosphorus for us tosee pop, and poured liquid quicksilver(mercury—highly poisonous!) ontoour individual blocks of dry ice tofreeze so we could later melt it in ourhands. Best of all was Mr. Merrill’safter-school rocketry program. Wemade rockets out of black gunpowder,

match heads, rolled-up notepaper, andmasking tape. I was totally hooked!

We moved to Goddard Avenue formy eighth-grade year, and I had IPS(introductory physical science) in whatis now the Middle Division scienceroom. I was so enthusiastic that inone experiment on the heat expansionof different liquids, we ran the datacollection way past where we weresupposed to stop … and managed tocreate a flaming volcano out of ouralcohol test tube.

Ninth-grade biology wasn’t soexciting, and while I loved my tenth-grade physics course (pass-fail: drop aball in a randomly positioned cupfrom 10-feet away using only a sliderule to calculate where the ball wouldgo), chemistry in eleventh grade com-pletely turned me off. I didn’t take sci-ence my senior year in high school. Incollege, I took math and computercourses and one engineering course,but not a single science class: Imajored in economics and focused onpolitics. I became a Town Meetingmember in Brookline and wasappointed to chair a committee on theFinance Committee. Luckily for me, Iended up as the only politico in a col-lege rooming group who all went on toget PhDs in science. Nonetheless, Iwent on to attend law and businessschools, intent on running for officewhen I graduated.

Toward the end of graduateschool, I came to realize that if I weregoing to change the world, it probablywasn’t going to be through politics.There were just too many people withdifferent ideas (most of them not verygood) to make progress practical. Per-sonal computers were just coming out,and high-tech seemed to be the future.So I decided to focus on business ingeneral and technology businesses inparticular.

I started in software—manufac-turing, artificial intelligence, and ulti-mately IT strategy. I formed my firstcompany in 1988; it was a cool soft-ware idea that ultimately floppedbecause I didn’t really know what Iwas doing. So, I tried again. Since thenI have become CEO or COO of 10 dif-ferent startups and joined the boardsof many more. All of them have

involved technology. Recently, all arein the life sciences.

I have come to believe that thebest way for me to make a differencein the world is to help bring great newmedical technologies to patients; theonly way to do this in our system isthrough companies. My work isgreat fun. It exposes me to amazingdiscoveries. It lets me collaborate withbrilliant and sometimes stubborninventors, asking scientific questionsin different ways than they mightbecause I need to find out if a discov-ery is useful in the real world. Itrequires that I learn new science andtechnology all the time and learn itwell enough to explain it to others.It forces me know how to work withthe regulatory process, with healthinsurers, with physicians, and withinvestors. But most importantly, itgives me a chance to make every daya community-service day.

Today, I am working with compa-nies that may have a cure for cancer(a little disk doctors would put undera patient’s skin to make the patient’simmune system attack the cancer),that may change how diabetes istreated (a new, ultra-fast insulin thatwill make an “artificial pancreas”practical), that may make every doctoras good as Gregory House (softwarethat knows all of medicine and canconsult on diagnosing unusual dis-eases), and that may change how wedo heart surgery (a miniature inch-worm robot that crawls in through asmall incision and “walks” on the out-side of a beating heart).

At Park, I learned to love scienceand to take risks—but smart risks.Both of my children have nowattended Park, and both like science.Their science education at Park wasmuch safer than mine (thank good-ness!), but it was wonderfully effectivebecause of the same kind of engagingand enthusiastic teaching that I had. Ihope all Park science students, past,present, and future, have a chance tointernalize this kind of inspiration andmake a big difference in the world.


RICK BERENSON ’73

I

Nin

aFr

usz

taje

r’7

9


Although Nina Frusztajer attended Park for sixth grade

only, she has remained a loyal member of the Class of

1979. After graduating from Concord Academy, she

studied chemistry at Duke University and earned a

master’s in nutrition from Columbia University, where

she studied the epidemiology of hypertension and

conducted peer-reviewed published studies on the rela-

tionship between nutrient intake and stress. In medical

school at George Washington University, Nina contin-

ued to specialize in the interaction of nutrition and

lifestyle and the onset of disease and overall well

being, followed by postgraduate training and medical

practice in internal medicine and pathology. She co-

founded a private weight-loss practice in Boston and

opened a center in Palo Alto, where she lived for four

years while co-authoring The Serotonin Power Diet. In

2007, Nina moved back to the East Coast to resume her

pathology practice and now works at Strata Pathology

Services and a local community hospital. She lives in

Lexington with her three children, Catherine (8), Zeno

(7), and Hugo (5), and hopes that they find school as

challenging, hip, nurturing, exciting, and bright as she

remembers Park to be.

cience—particularly chem-istry—has always beeneasy for me. It was thepuzzles that drew me in.At Concord Academy, I hada terrific teacher, Gary

Hawley, who introduced me to chemi-cal equations, and I was hooked. Myfather, who was an electrical engineer-turned-entrepreneur, encouraged meto pursue science in college, “becauseyou can always study liberal arts onyour own!”I’m so glad I followed hisadvice. By the end of my freshmanyear, I knew I was meant to studychemistry. Organic chemistry and bio-chemistry were ways to solve puzzlesthat had answers in real life; for me, it

didn’t get much better than that.After college, I set off for Salvador,

Bahia, in Brazil to work on three pub-lic-health studies. We were examiningthe impact of high-sodium diets onblood pressure, an infectious diseasecalled Chagas Disease, and drug abusein the local population. Although mymother is from Brazil, I was unfamiliarwith the culture and was eager toexplore the field of world health. Ihadn’t realized the impact that cul-tural, economic, and social factorshave on public health and, after sixmonths, I concluded that it was morethan I wanted to tackle. I decided tofocus on a more discreet goal: the dis-ease process itself.


NINA FRUSZTAJER ’79

S

Elizabe30 The Park Bulletin | Fall 2010

In Kindergarten, Elizabeth remembers taking a magni-

fying glass out to the playground at recess to look at

ants. Although she nearly set fire to a pile of leaves,

the smoke also kindled her love for science and discov-

ery. Following 10 years at Park, Elizabeth graduated

from Milton Academy and earned a BA in chemistry at

Swarthmore College. At Yale University, she researched

fruit fly genes for her PhD in molecular biophysics and

biochemistry. Coming out of graduate school, Elizabeth

was very interested in looking at the differentiation of

cells, particularly the combinatorial effects of mole-

cules. Returning to Boston for postdoctoral research at

MIT’s Whitehead Institute, Elizabeth made her name as

a zebra fish researcher, examining molecular interac-

tions that determine what happens to cells in early

brain development. In 2005, she joined Novartis Insti-

tutes for Biomedical Research, where she is now a

research biologist. Elizabeth and her husband, Brian

Kelley, live in the South End with their 7-month-old

son, Owen, (pictured above).


ELIZABETH WIELLETTE ’85After earning a master’s in nutri-

tion, I began my medical career ininternal medicine because I was inter-ested in the overall health of mypatients. But I soon discovered thatprimary-care medicine is filled withmanagement issues: filing worker’scompensation claims, medical compli-ance, screening protocols, and socialfactors that cannot be addressed inbrief office visits. Realizing that Iloved the science of medicine, I turnedto pathology.

A pathologist is a doctor’s doctor—puzzle solving at its best. My wholeday is filled with science, looking intoa microscope and diagnosing a widerange of diseases in every organ sys-tem of the body. Is this biopsy benign,suspicious, or malignant? Are themargins clean? Did the surgeon getthe whole mass? What kind of canceris it? How big? Is it aggressive? I needto understand what the clinician sawand what the course of treatment willbe. I enjoy the collaboration with clini-cians and other pathologists knowing Ican have a positive impact on manypatients’ lives.

When I first began working as apathologist, I missed nutrition. In2000, I started a private weight-losspractice with MIT scientist JudithWurtman and became a certified pro-fessional life coach focusing on well-ness and stress reduction, as well as ayoga instructor. One of my passions inthe field of nutrition and health—reversing and preventing weightgained as a result of antidepressants—stemmed from our weight loss-practicein which many people had put onpounds from antidepressant use. In

2007, Judy and I co-authored a bookbased on Judy’s research and our clini-cal experience that offers a scientificapproach of using food’s positive effecton brain chemistry and appetite toreverse the well-documented weightgain side effect of antidepressants.While I loved helping my clients loseweight and lead more efficient,focused, and relaxed lives, I wasalways most energized by the scientificaspects of nutrition. It was time toreturn to pathology and the intellec-tual aspects of medicine and health.

Now, I’m following my own adviceand trying to live a balanced life. Iwork three days a week as a patholo-gist, which gives me time to be withmy kids and continue to work innutrition and wellness. I’m active onour Serotonin Power Diet Facebookpage, and I communicate directly withreaders of our book and the media. InJuly, I served as a guest expert onWebMD.com’s “Depression Commu-nity.” It’s equally gratifying to help aperson on antidepressants who hasgained 95 pounds as it is to identify atumor and determine the best treat-ment for that patient. Both are solvingpuzzles with real life benefits based onthe chemistry and science that I havealways enjoyed.

My whole day is filled with science,

looking into a microscope and diagnosing

a wide range of diseases in every organ

system of the body.

th Wiellette ’85The Park Bulletin | Fall 2010 31

n eighth-grade IPS at Park, wedid experiments with openflames that I’m sure I couldn’t donow in my state-of-the-art facil-ity in Cambridge. We meltedwood! Mr. Atkinson had us heat

wooden coffee stirrers until they disin-tegrated, and then conducted experi-ments to figure out what the elementswere. It was so cool to be asking ques-tions, doing experiments, gettingresults, writing them in our lab books,and figuring out the implications.Exactly the practice I rely on still.

I love the scientific process. And itreally is the same process that welearned in eighth grade—only now theexperiments can run for several years.At Novartis, I work at the very earlieststages of the drug-developmentprocess, pursing basic research toidentify new potential therapies. I’mpart of a team of researchers that isworking to understand the underlyingmolecular basis of diseases. In the tra-

ditional pharmaceutical companyapproach, scientists usually specializein targeting a disease, such as canceror diabetes. Our approach is moreakin to an academic model, where westart by studying the foundation of thedisease. Disruptions in commonmolecular networks can lead to manydiseases. For example, the Wnt path-way is involved in cancer and boneloss, and the Hedgehog pathway isimplicated in skin cancer, brain can-cer, and the regeneration of tissue. Mydepartment, Developmental andMolecular Pathways (DMP), searchesfor drug-responsive nodes in these keygenetic pathways. The goal is to iden-tify new drugs that act on these nodesand thereby change the course of thedisease.

While we are given tremendouslatitude as researchers, I’m aware of aclear distinction between industry andacademia. When I was a graduate stu-dent, we asked, “What’s the interesting

question here?” with the understand-ing that someone else would thinkabout practical applications later.At Novartis, we always have thepatient in mind, and constantly askwhether the science that we are doingis making a contribution to the discov-ery of a new therapy. There are manyaspects to finding a new drug: biology,chemistry, understanding the patientpopulation, and navigating the patentlandscape, to name a few. This com-plexity requires extensive collabora-tion, making teamwork and goodcommunication essential parts ofmy job.

But it is working at the lab benchand following the same scientificprocess that we learned in Grade VIIIthat makes me happiest at work. Whatgets me out of bed every morning isvery immediate: there’s new data wait-ing for me when I get to the lab!

I

I love the scientific process.

And it really is the same process that

we learned in eighth grade. . .


A member of the Class of 1987, David was an “almost

lifer,” attending Park from the first through the eighth

grades. He then joined several of his Park School

classmates for high school at Belmont Hill. From there,

David headed north to Dartmouth College where he

studied biology and competed internationally as a

lightweight rower. After college, David was accepted

into the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

However, he was granted a one-year deferral from

medical school in order to return to Belmont Hill to

teach Introductory Physical Science (IPS) to the eighth

graders and biology to the tenth graders. Although

staying at Belmont Hill was a tempting possibility,

David travelled to Worcester to study medicine. He

completed medical school but not before marrying

fellow med student and Natick native Heidi Salsbury.

David served his residency and fellowship at the

Massachusetts General Hospital where he trained to

be a cardiac anesthesiologist. Currently, he is a senior

staff member at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Massa-

chusetts. David and Heidi make their home in Need-

ham. They have two children, Rebecca (6) and Adam

(4), who are looking forward to their first year of Park

School this fall!

he human body is a simplyamazing machine. We aremade of organs and tissues,each masterfully designed toperform a function. Whencoordinated, these organs

and tissues work together to producelife—unless something goes awry.Unfortunately, through aging, injury,or genetic predisposition, we all haveor will experience an illness or “mal-function” in the machine. Happily,through extensive research, physicianshave learned a great deal about thefunction of our bodies, and have dis-covered medications and techniques torepair and even prevent disease.

I consider myself fortunatebecause I go to work every day to helpfacilitate the healing process comfort-ably and safely. As a cardiac anesthesi-ologist, I care for patients who haveproblems with their heart: coronaryartery disease, heart valve disease,heart rate and rhythm issues, or evendiseases of the main artery of the body,the aorta. My first responsibility is toprepare these extremely ill people forsurgery. Preparation begins with athorough and often frank discussion ofthe plan. Topics include the types ofprocedures I will perform, the poten-tial side effects of the anesthetic, and acandid conversation about outcomes.No matter how long I do this job, it isalways difficult to tell someone theymay not survive the procedure.

Preparation involves placingcatheters in the patient to deliver med-ications and fluids. Once these med-ications are given, the patient isrendered unconscious so that he or sheis not aware of the surgery during theprocedure. Surprisingly this is the easi-est part of my job! More difficult iskeeping these sick patients alive dur-

ing the operation. Based on scientificliterature and experience, I carefullychoose the proper medications andtechniques to achieve this goal. Eachcase is as individual as the patients forwhom I care. There are no instructionsor recipes to follow. While this vari-ability makes the job more difficult, itis one of the things that attracted meto cardiac anesthesia. Each case is anopportunity to assess a situation andto act on that assessment.

Anesthesia can be stressful attimes. They say that anesthesia is“hours of boredom interrupted bymoments of terror.” Most of the time,cases proceed smoothly. However,when a critical event occurs, I haveonly moments to rectify the situationbefore harm befalls the patient. In thatregard, my responsibilities are similarto that of a pilot. There is a lot ofactivity at the beginning, the middleis (hopefully) smooth, and there arecritical moments at the end.

My job requires an immersion inscience from the moment I step footin the hospital to the moment I leave.Even in my formative years, I wasnaturally drawn to science class. Formany, elementary-school science classconjures memories of tedious measure-ments and dreary lab work. My expe-rience, however, was very different. Ifound comfort among the beakers andtest tubes of the science lab while oth-ers preferred math or language classes.A substantial reason for my apprecia-tion of science was the enthusiasm andcreativity with which my Park Schoolteachers introduced a subject I nowpractice every day.

Two examples immediately jumpto mind when I reflect on my scienceexperience at Park. The first involvedengineering in the sixth grade. Ms.


DAVID SHAFF ’87

T

My job requires an immersion in science

from the moment I step foot in the hospital

to the moment I leave.


Russell challenged us to build thestrongest bridge possible using onlytape and paper. While some teams(including my own) designed great,complex structures that could barelysupport their own weight, the bestdesign was a simple piece of paperaffixed to the edges of adjacent tables.Less is more—an important lessonthat is just as applicable in my currentjob as it was in the sixth grade.

The second example involves aclass called IPS (Introductory PhysicalScience) taught by Mr. Schiffris. Mr.Schiffris was not a typical scienceteacher; he was not concerned withmemorizing equations. Rather, hetook a more unconventional approachto education. In addition to teachingscience, Mr. Schiffris was known tohold Morning Meetings where hewould encourage the student body tomeditate and breathe through theireyelids. However, his greatest contri-bution to my scientific education wasthat of process. He was rarely con-cerned with the right answer focusedinstead on the process of arriving atthe right answer. This essential educa-tional nugget proved useful in mysubsequent scientific career.

Ijeo

ma

UIjee Uzoma is a fourth-year graduate student in the

Department of Pharmacology at Johns Hopkins School

of Medicine. She attended Park School from Kinder-

garten through Grade IV and graduated from Medfield

High School. Ijee studied biology at Tufts and went on

to a post-baccalaureate research program at Yale Uni-

versity. She expects to graduate from Johns Hopkins in

2013 and plans to return to the Boston area for her

postdoctoral fellowship.


IJEOMA UZOMA ’99

s far back as I can remember,I enjoyed my science classesabove all. This is not to say Ihad burning questions aboutthe universe or the desire todo research. I simply enjoyed

learning about biological processes inthe body, diseases, and other naturalphenomena. At Park, we were exposedto these subjects early on in our educa-tion. I remember loving science withMr. Jones, where we learned how HIVinfects the body and how differentorgan systems function. In college, Imajored in biology, but up until senioryear my relationship with science wasalmost exclusively via textbook. Icredit a very persuasive professor, Dr.Theoharis Theoharides, for my transi-tioning from purely academic scienceto hands-on research. His formativecourse in pharmacology gave me theopportunity to work on a smallresearch project in his laboratory atTufts Medical School. It’s fair to say I

A


of proteins simultaneously, my labhas developed a human proteomemicro-array that contains about17,000 individually purified humanproteins that are spotted and immobi-lized onto single glass slides. We canthen incubate our human proteomemicro-arrays with DNA, RNA, otherproteins, enzymes, or drugs to under-stand how these interactions mightoccur in a cell.

If someone had told me six yearsago that I’d be on a path to become abiomedical researcher, I would haveentertained the notion, but doubtedhow I would get there. Thankfully,Park instilled self-confidence that hasallowed me to pursue my passion,despite having no clear road map to

reach the goal.It still amazes me that only a few

years ago the closest I had come tobiomolecules was our eighth-gradeCampbell biology textbook! At thetime, the dogma of DNA→RNA→protein seemed so abstract. I love thatI am now able to get my hands dirtyand clone DNA to produce protein.Following grad school, I’ll have tochoose between a career in academiaor industry. Either way, I’ll have theopportunity to become a principalinvestigator and run my own lab. Myscientific curiosities have evolved intoan exciting journey. Although I haveno idea how it will end, I am happy tosay it started at Park.

didn’t have any groundbreaking find-ings, but I began to gain some basiclaboratory skills: the ability to inter-pret data and ask critical questions.

Following my undergraduatedegree, Dr. Theoharides encouragedme to apply to post-baccalaureateresearch fellowships with the hope thatI would become hooked on researchand commit to pursuing a PhD. I wasambivalent about a career in biomed-ical research, even during my postbaccalaureate fellowship. I wasn’t surehow many more disastrous days in thelab I could handle. As a rookie, it’seasy to ruin an entire day’s work withone small pipetting error or a mis-placed decimal point. One of the firstthings a newbie to research is told isthat 90 percent of science doesn’twork, so get used to the disappoint-ment. After several years of lab experi-ence, I can balance the frustration offailed experiments and incorrecthypotheses with a love of the scientificprocess and the unique ability toanswer complex biological questions.

I am currently working on myPhD in the Department of Pharmacol-ogy at Johns Hopkins. My lab is partof the Center for High ThroughputBiology, where we develop semi-auto-mated technologies that allow forupwards of thousands of experimentsto be performed in parallel. Thisenables us to address bigger questionswhose exploration has been limited bytraditional approaches. My project isfocused on characterizing specificchemical modifications that occur onhuman proteins, resulting in changesin their activities. The human bodycontains somewhere between 20,000and 24,000 unique proteins that arethe workhorses of the cell. When pro-teins are mutated, damaged, or disreg-ulated, a host of diseases may result.One major goal of my laboratory is toprofile the complement of human pro-teins to better understand how theyare all regulated and organized inorder to gain insight into how theyinteract with one another to executecritical biological functions. With aclear understanding of the fundamen-tals, we can then identify which genesand pathways are involved in particu-lar disease states. To study thousands

I can balance the frustration of

failed experiments and incorrect hypotheses

with a love of the scientific process.


A lumni from the classes ending in “5” and “0” came backto Park from far and wide on the Saturday of Mother’sDay Weekend to celebrate their reunions. The festivities

took place in Park’s newly renovated library, where alumni had thechance to both see something new and walk down memory lane.Head of School Jerry Katz, Alumni Committee Co-Chair JohnBarkan ’85, and Director of Alumni Relations Eliza Drachman-Jones’98 all spoke briefly to the assembled crowd before photos andvideos commenced. The party finally broke up when alumnideparted for further revelry at their class-specificdinners off campus. Many thanks to thedozens of reunion volunteers who helped tomake Reunion 2010 a memorable event for allwho attended. We look forward to seeing the“6s” and “1s” next spring!

2010

Top to bottom: 1. Quinn Spear ’53;

2. Christina DeVaughn ’90

enjoying her visit back to Park;

3. Lulli Ateneh ’00 gets into the

Park School spirit

Ali Burnes Balster ’90, Sadia Shephard ’90, and Sadia's

husband, Andreas Burgess, share a laugh.

1.

2.

3.


1950s Reunion

lumni from the Classes of 1950–1959 returned to Parkin May for a very special event. With the help of a robustReunion Committee, dozens of Park graduates convened

on campus, some seeing one another for the first time in more than50 years! On Saturday, guests gathered and sang a rousing rendi-tion of the Park School song at a luncheon at Faulkner House.After lunch, alumni met for a tour of the Brookline Music School,better known as Park’s Kennard Road campus.Bob Kenerson ’53 was honoredwith the Alumni Service Award forhis dedication and service to theSchool, much of which wasdisplayed with his involvementorganizing the 1950s Reunion.

A

Left to right: 4. CharleyFaulkner ’50 and GeneBoehne ’52; 5. RuthKenerson, Bob Kenerson ’53,and Peter Wetherbee ’53catch up on old times;5. Former classmates reuniteover lunch

Members of the Classes of 1950–1959 celebrate a special Park Reunion atFaulkner House

Top to bottom: 1. Debra Smith Roberts andJean Snedecker Hughes ’53;2. Charley Faulkner ’50 and

Tony Winsor ’51 look at picturesfrom their days at Park;

3. It’s all smiles for Alfred Gray ’54and Peter Wetherbee ’53

2.

4.

5.

6.

3.

1.


Former Headmaster Bob Hurlbut helps Bill Sullivan ’75 celebratehis 35th Reunion

Class of 1980 classmates Stephen Conkling, Marc Abbott, and David Mandell celebratetheir 30th Reunion

Top to bottom: 1. Ben Wolbach ’90 andHannah Wolbach catch up with RichKnapp ’90; 2. Amit Bansil ’00; 3. JenniferHershfang ’85 and Jess Greenfield ’85

Top to bottom: 5. Jill Kantrowitz Kunkel ’90;6. Jamie Folsom ’85 and his son enjoy some time in the

classroom; 7. Rachel Levine Foley ’85 catches up withRob Madden and Melissa Daniels Madden ’85

1.

5.

7.

6.

2.

3.


Class of 1990—20th Reunion. From top: John Collins,RichKnapp, Lars Albright, Ali Burnes Balster. Second row: JillKantrowitz Kunkel, Ben Wolbach, Sadia Shephard, ChristinaDeVaughn. Bottom Row: Sarah Osteen, Gigi Saltonstall andNancy Felty McKinney.

Class of 1995. Zac Johnson, Nashan Vassall, Julie Hume Talmage Gordon, Lilla Curran,Sara Leventhal Fleiss and Diana Potter celebrate their 15th Reunion.

Ben Hindman ’99 enjoys a laugh

The Class of 2000 celebrates their 10th Reunion. Top row: Mike Kavanagh, Max Realeand Spencer Bush Brown. Bottom row: Josh Hall, Caroline Goldsmith, Amit Bansil andDavid Kehlenbeck.

Clockwise from left: 1. Dick Beckwith ’51and Sherburne Reidy Worthen ’51;2. 1995 classmates Julie Hume TalmageGordon, Lilla Curran, and Sara LeventhalFleiss; 3. Kyrieh, the daughter of ChristinaDeVaughn ’90 having a great time in therenovated Park School library; 4. AdamGreenberg ’85 and John Barkan ’85

1.

2.

3.

4.


Whitney Wood Bylin

I am very sorry to miss the 25th Reunion. Ithas been great seeing all the familiar names ine-mails, and I just wish I could be there in personto see the faces. I live in Palm Beach, Florida,with my husband, Eric (whom I met in 1989!),and our two boys, Alexander (7) and Johnny (4).We moved here 10 years ago from New York sothat Eric could open up an office, and we werepleased to find out that there are many peopleunder 65 in the neighborhood. But even better,being 40 in this town is like being 20 in Boston—we will be “juniors” for a good decade more.

When we moved here, I kept my job as aproducer and director for a New York-based doc-umentary production company and continued totravel to New York or elsewhere when necessary.I have made films on a wide variety of topics,including ancient and survival cannibalism,archaeology, medical innovations, wildlife conser-vation, and natural history. I feel lucky that Ifound a job that combined my love of travel andmy interest in writing. Before starting my careerand after graduating from Brown, Eric and I tooka year to travel around the world. That experi-ence really shaped my interests and eventuallyled to my job as a filmmaker. My work has alsotaken me all over the world— from the Outbackof Australia to film saltwater crocodiles toEcuador to film struggling climbers; from Zim-babwe to film sick elephants to Uruguay to inter-view survivors of the famous plane crash in theAndes that resulted in heroic feats of survival. Ilove interviewing people, learning about differentworlds, and then trying to figure out a way toexplain it all in film and narration. After havingour second son in 2005, I cut way back on worktravel and focused more on writing and develop-ing projects. I am now focusing my work onwildlife conservation films and spending moretime on the kids because I am all too aware ofhow quickly it goes by. I am on the board of thePalm Beach Zoo and help them produce films ontheir international and local conservation proj-ects. I am also developing a film on an elephantsanctuary that will be built near where we live.

The Park School Class of 1985Twenty-Fifth Reunion Biographies

We are lucky to live in a place that is warmmost of the year. Our kids have a much differentlife than I did in Chestnut Hill. They surf allyear round, they know how to bait a hook andfish by themselves, and seeing snow is a once-or twice-a-year treat. We do make sure to getthem on skis at least once a year, and we spend alot of time in the summers visiting family in NewEngland. The only drawback to living here isthat I am not closer to family and friends, but Ido stay in touch with Nancy [Baker Cahill] (whois even farther away in L.A.!), and occasionallyI get to see old Park friends who visit Palm Beachin the winter, including Diana [Walcott] andMissy [Daniels Madden]. I wish I could be thereon the 8th. Enjoy, and I hope to see many of youover the next few years.

Jamie Folsom

It’s wonderful still to be so close to friends youmade a quarter century ago. It’s a sign of ourcollective good taste in my book, as is the choicesome of us have made to put down roots in theBoston area. Of course, it’s great to have the oldkid network in far-flung locales, too: San Fran-cisco and Nanshan [China], to name two.

After Park, Boston Latin School, VassarCollege, and Southern France, I spent a year asa teaching intern at a N–9 school on GoddardAvenue in Brookline. I split the remaining yearsbefore 2010 between careers in foreign languageteaching (first locally, then with the Peace Corpsin Guinea, West Africa), and technology, as aprogrammer, trainer, and manager.

My wife, Beth, and I live in West Roxbury

with our boy, August, who will be 1 just beforeour reunion in May. Looking forward to it!

Elisabeth Morse Giovine

While I attended Park only for one year, it wasan important and memorable year for me. Every-one at Park welcomed me into the community onthe first day and made my transition there soeasy. I was able to make friends easily becauseeveryone was so incredibly kind and friendly. Iam sorry to miss the reunion, as I would love toreconnect with all of my classmates.

After Park, I returned to Seattle with myfamily and completed high school at LakesideSchool. I attended the University of Virginia(class of 1993) and then moved to New YorkCity, where I worked in investment banking forMorgan Stanley and then Allen & Company.I earned an MBA from Stanford in 1999 andthen moved to Los Angeles. In 2001, I marriedTom Giovine and we now have three children,Dylan (age 6), Piper (age 5) and Cosimo (age3.5). We live in Pacific Palisades. If anyone livesin Los Angeles, I would love to reconnect, or ifyou are visiting, look us up!!

Jennifer Hershfang

How to sum up 25 years? I don’t have anythingto share in the handsome husband and cutekids department (let me know if you happen tofind them!), but the rest of life has kept me busyand happy.

My career path has been totally serendipitousyet, in retrospect, surprisingly coherent. After

Class of 1985—25th Reunion. Top: Rachel Levine Foley, Adam Greenberg, Gretchen

Weissman. Bottom: John Barkan, David Ball, Jen Hershfang, Abbott Lawrence, Jess Greenfield,

Melissa Daniels Madden.


Left: A.T .Howe married hissweetheart, Sherri Shaffer, inNew Orleans. Right: Melissa

Daniels Madden, Diana Walcott,and Rachel Levine Foley celebrate

at the 25th class party atAllandale Farm.

PA R K S C H O O L C L A S S O F 1 9 8 5 2 5 T H R E U N I O N B I O G R A P H I E S

Milton, I studied international relations at Brown,with vague aspirations of living in Washingtonand becoming a diplomat. After Brown, I movedto Japan to teach English for a year, loving it somuch—and being so embarrassed to be told that Isounded like a seventh-grade girl— that I opted tostay a second year to study Japanese full-time. Ireturned home with only two firm ideas aboutmy next job: it wouldn’t be in New York and itwouldn’t be at a bank. So off I went to Manhat-tan to work for Lehman Brothers, helping coordi-nate with their Tokyo and other Asia offices. Ijumped at the chance to work for Japan’s nationalbroadcaster at its United Nations bureau, whereI learned a lot about diplomacy and developed ahigh tolerance for cappuccino. Harvard LawSchool came next, after which I knew one thing:I would not return to New York. So off I went towork for Cleary Gottlieb Steen & HamiltonLLP’s New York office, in the Latin Americapractice. I left Cleary to take my current job as alawyer at the Treasury Department, working oneconomic and financial sanctions. Not a diplomat,but living very happily in Washington and work-ing on fascinating matters of national security andforeign policy.

Along the way were any number of terrificinternational trips with my sister. Just one high-light was being on safari in Botswana and watch-ing a tiny baby elephant trip and fall on its head(it was fine, if a bit embarrassed). So many otherhighlights, including seeing Gretchen Weissmanjump into a lake, fully clothed, about 45 minutesbefore her own wedding ceremony (for whichshe showed up lovely and on time). I look for-ward to seeing all of you at the reunion (or inD.C., if you’re here).

A.T. Howe

I moved out to San Francisco about eight yearsago. I currently work in sales at Diageo here inS.F. I was married to Sherri Shaffer (whom I metout here about six years ago) in New Orleans onOctober 11, 2008. Finally, we just had a son,Andre, on March 3, 2010, and are managing—like all new parents—on very little sleep, but veryhappy to have a new member of the family.

Nathan Lamont

I am a freelance web developer for small- andmedium-sized businesses (recent projects includeNational Endowment for Democracy’s site andDeval Patrick’s site). I live in Roslindale with mylovely wife, Chrissy. In our spare time, we per-form in non-professional local theater (where wemet), which is great fun. In my professional life, Ioften think of Mr. Smith, who was responsible for

introducing me to computer programmingthrough his “KidStuff” project. I distinctly recallmanaging to perplex Mrs. Williams with a com-plicated-looking handwritten page of code, amemento I have kept all these years. In my the-atrical life, I will never forget Mrs. Kellogg’s pro-duction of Twelfth Night, where our scene changeswere set to contemporary hits such as CarlySimon’s “You’re So Vain” and Kool and theGang’s “Celebration.”

Abbott Lawrence

I have always enjoyed reading the 25th Reunionupdates, but it is still with great shock this year Ihave been asked for mine. After Park, I went toGroton and then Harvard. I majored in history,which I think was directly the result of my enjoy-ment in studying the Second Punic Wars withMr. Conway and taking three years of historywith Mr. Cunningham.

Next I moved to Hong Kong, where I wasintroduced to realities of the working world in thewaning hours of the British colony. Much to theamusement of anyone who has ever had to proof-read or grade my papers, I got a job editing (andwriting) stock research reports. (Thank you Mrs.Haskell!) Pretty much since that time, I have

been involved in investment research. I movedback to Boston for a several years before I wentChicago to attend Kellogg Business School. After-wards, perhaps not shockingly, I moved back toBoston again, where I still am.

Shortly after business school, I met my wife,Amanda, who is an architecture professor. Wecurrently live in Jamaica Plain about a mile fromthe school with our two kids, Amos (4) andEstelle (18 months). One of the many joys ofbeing a parent has been an excuse to revisit myown memories of childhood. When I think ofgrowing up, almost all experiences involve Parkin some way: a decade of carpools with Brognas,Butterworths, etc., getting in trouble repeatedlywith Mrs. Williams, playing kill the carrier andwearing the exact same costume in three consecu-tive Park plays.

I am looking forward to seeing classmates atthe reunion and hoping my children have anequally positive educational experience as theygrow up.

Melissa Daniels Madden

I really cannot believe 25 years have passed by soquickly. My fondest memories of Park all includethe friends that I made. I will never forget the


I applied to the Intern Program at Park and wasluckily accepted right before graduation! Iworked in the Pre-Kindergarten and Transitionprograms, as well as helped in the AdmissionOffice and coached field hockey. This transitionback to Park was one of opportunity, but mostlyof coming home and connecting to a communitythat was a huge part of my life. Working side byside with my former teachers, using their firstnames instead of “Ms. or Mr.,” learning fromthem in a new way, walking the halls and relivingmemories, all of this made my first job experi-ence an incredibly special one. The Alumni Steer-ing Committee was created at this time, whichbecame a wonderful way for me to reconnectwith people, having been away for many years.

After my internship at Park, I decided tointerview where I did my work-study in ninthgrade, The Apple Orchard School. I was hired toteach 3-year-olds and work in the After-SchoolProgram. I absolutely loved working with chil-dren on the farm, but also missed my experiencein the Admission Office at Park. I was fortunatethat a job became available as the director’s assis-tant and director of parent activities, where Iwas able to combine all the things that I love:connecting with people and children, admissions,development, and event planning. Seventeenyears later, I am still loving every minute of it!

I look forward to catching up with many ofyou at the reunion.

playground and playing house under the tree,falling off the top of the slide and chipping myfront tooth, the tire swing, the smell of the con-crete stairwells, art projects, the house project(that my Dad basically built!), the sugar cookiesbefore recess (YUCK), May Day, feeling like agymnast at Gym Shows, The Harvest Fair… andmore….

After Park I went to Nobles and then on tothe University of Vermont. After college, Iworked in marketing, and then went back toschool for my master’s degree in education. I thencombined the two and worked at Scholastic inNew York selling pre-K curricula to teachers.During graduate school, I came back to Park andtaught with Ann Kopp in Grade III. I loved beingback at the school after so much time. I realizedwhat a unique place Park is and how committedthe teachers are. Through my work on theAlumni Committee at Park, I have reconnectedwith so many wonderful people. I love being apart of such a dynamic and fun group. I am nowmarried to Rob Madden and live in Wellesley. Wehave three energetic, busy, and sweet boys. Life isbusier and more tiring than I could have everimagined. But we love being parents and laughingour way through both the challenging days andthe enjoyable ones! Our oldest is in Kindergartenthis year at Park and is thriving. He is very firedup for the Dining Room next year in first grade. Ihear the food is MUCH better than it was backin the ’80s… I feel very fortunate to be able tocome back to Park each day as a parent and expe-rience it again in a whole, new way.

I really enjoyed working on the ReunionCommittee this year and getting back in touchwith some great people that I have not spoken tosince Park! Please e-mail me and let me knowhow you are [email protected]

Katrina Newbury

Making up for past transgres-sions, namely not sending timelynotes for previous Park Bulletins, Iwill attempt a recap of life since1985. Here goes. . . AttendedNobles with Missy Daniels Madden,Rachel Levine Foley, and StephanieStamatos, then Mount HolyokeCollege [not with Missy and co.],followed by Harvard UniversityExtension School for a Certificate ofMuseum Studies and, finally, a masterof science from the University ofDelaware/Winterthur Program in artconservation. Living the requisitenomadic existence of the conservator, Imoved from DE to CA to MA to GA to


VT to MA and worked in various capacities as apostgraduate fellow, intern, assistant and associ-ate conservator in both regional lab and fine artmuseum settings. Presently, I work at theMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston as the Saundra B.Lane Associate Conservator [of paper and photo-graphic materials] and live in Waltham with mydearest bookbinder husband, Richard Lamb, andtwo children, Gillian (born February 2008) andBenjamin (born January 2010).

Fond memories of Park include: The YuleFestival and Mr. Hurlbut’s rendition of theBoar’s Head song; art classes with Ms. Hale andMs. Gallo; consuming A LOT of Ritz crackersand milk in the cafeteria at the beginning ofrecess; being one of the lucky ones to spend11 years [?!!] - nursery through ninth grade—at171 Goddard Ave.

Diana Walcott

I have always looked forward to reading the 25thReunion bios in The Park Bulletin, and now that itis my turn to write one, I realize how daunting itis! After enjoying 11 years at Park, and walkingto school for the majority of those years, Iattended boarding school at Tabor Academy andthen moved on to Denison University. In myjunior year of college, I was fortunate to be ableto take a semester abroad and attend the Univer-sity of Sydney. I was away for most of the year,exploring Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji. Itwas quite an eye-opener, considering I had nevertraveled alone, or much outside of the U.S.During my senior year, I started to think aboutwhat I wanted to do with my life after college.It became clear how my teachers had influ-enced me and that I loved working with chil-dren. The place where that all began wasat Park.

Left: Katrina Newbury with husband,Richard Lamb, and their children,Gillian (born February 2008) and

Benjamin (born January 2010).Right: Dana Welshman Studley with

daughter River Studley ’16


Dana Welshman-Studley

At this point, I have spent 22 of my 39 years atPark… AMAZING! As always, Park feels likehome to me. My cousin Tracy runs Park’s After-School Program, my daughter, River, is in thethird grade this year (she will be performing theMay Day dances in two weeks), and my mom,Pat Zifcak, was here until two years ago, whenshe decided to retire to spend more time atchurch. She is a deacon in the Episcopal Dioceseof Massachusetts. This is my 15th year as ateacher in the Physical Education department atPark, I am the head advisor for the ninth grade(they just recently went to Europe and completedtheir work-study jobs), I am a faculty advisor tothe yearbook committee, I coach varsity fieldhockey (we were undefeated this year), sixthgrade girls’ basketball, and varsity lacrosse, and Iam the pool director in the summer. My husband,John, and I are about to celebrate our 18th wed-ding anniversary in July, and things are great! Weown 11 pets, including cats, dogs, a guinea pig,and two Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs. We live inBrockton, and we vacation in Maine as often aswe can—yes, the animals come, too. All is wellhere at Park. Many things are still the same, butwe are keeping up with the times and learning alot as we go.

Luke Wolbach

In typical fashion, I’m attempting tosqueeze something in just before thedeadline. If you’re reading this now, itmeans someone was kind enough toinclude it, despite the late hour. Nonethe-less, Sam Potts’ e-mail to the class (titled“Attention Park School people whose e-mail Istole from an e-mail Jen Hershfang forwardedto me”) has inspired me to share a little newsfor our 25th Reunion (or, as Sam put it, the“You’re Turning 40 Reunion”).

I live in San Francisco with my wife, Alex,and two kids, Otis (6) and June (4). Alex grew upin the Bay Area and hasn’t developed a NewEnglander’s appreciation for bone-chilling coldweather, so for now, there is no imminent moveback to the East Coast. It’s been established thatthe kids can cheer for the Giants, except whenthey play the Red Sox. So far, so good. Mybrother, Ben, lived nearby in Sonoma County foreight years, but now manages a farm with hiswife in Cohasset. My sister, Anna, lives in Marinwith her husband and two young kids, so we gettogether often. It’s a real pleasure.

I am a documentary filmmaker, though morerecently by day, I edit commercials for skin-careproducts. One of the larger endeavors of my 30swas to make a feature-length film with my father,

Row Hard No Excuses, which we took to severalfilm festivals, including one in Boston where wescreened at the Coolidge and Brattle Theatersand saw several old Park School friends andteachers. I still work on documentaries at night,but won’t likely start another feature-length proj-ect until my daughter finishes pre-school.

Speaking of which, after a lengthy kinder-garten search for Otis (made difficult by a lotterysystem in the city), we were assigned to a newChinese immersion school on Haight Street and

decided to go for it. It has been a remarkablefirst year, and we are consistently impressed bythe community’s enthusiasm. It’s exciting tohelp shape a school from the beginning.

These days, I am still in close touch withJamie, Sam, Gretchen, and David Wiborg, alldear friends. I am sorry to miss the reunion andlook forward to hearing others’ news. I alwaysliked our class and truly enjoyed my experienceat Park.

Left: Luke Wolbach with wife, Alex,and two kids, Otis and June. Right:

Mark Simmons and David Ball catchup with friends at the 25th class

party at Allandale Farm.



1955Elizabeth Dane is still happily split-ting her time between Red Lodge,Montana, and Tucson, Arizona. Shetells us “the lure of Montana after 12years in Helena drew us back forsummers.” Elizabeth has four grand-kids living smack in the middle ofMontana growing up with a lifestyleas far from Brookline as one couldimagine. “Periodically I bring one ofthem to the East Coast to seeextended family and to enjoy theocean. What an experience it is toshare these ‘firsts’ with them. My hus-band, Pat, collects Central Americanfolk art, while my life revolves aroundplaying the recorder with severalgroups for the local farmers’ market,summer festivals, nursing homes,really any group that asks us to play.Assorted volunteer activities, lusciousMontana garden, accessible moun-tains in both locales, make for anunending array of pleasures.” Eliza-beth would enjoy catching up withold classmates, and welcome visitorsto either Red Lodge or Tucson.

1957Ruthie Chute Knapp’s book,WhoStole Mona Lisa?, published by Blooms-bury, was released on Aug. 31, 2010and has been selected by the JuniorLibrary Guild as one of its featurednew children’s books.

1960Peter F. Dickson is still working forIRS (35 years) and playing churchorgan (30 years) and has no plans toretire anytime soon. “I have a 10-year-old daughter,” he explains. Peterwishes his class a “Happy 50thReunion!”

1961 50th Reunion

Class Representative Needed!

Read about Susan Mabrey Gaud’scareer in science on page 22.

1963Class RepresentativeAmy [email protected]

In 2009, Nathalie Saxton De Perezwas creating and constructing kilome-ter markers in the Dominican Repub-lic. They were a commissioned workfor the town hall of San Juan de la

Alu

mni

Not

es1933Ruth Crocker Young has moved to anew retirement community knownThe Woodlands in Lebanon, NewHampshire. Ruth now has three greatgrandchildren, all under 2 years old.

1938Class RepresentativePutty [email protected]

1947Renny Little enjoyed watching his sonBob Little (Park’s athletic director),daughter-in-law Kathleen, and grand-children Caitin and Erin do an Irish jigat the annual family “Little Talent”show last summer. “Bob was a littlewinded at the conclusion, but held uphis end pretty well with the girls.”

1950Class RepresentativeGalen Clough812-477-2454

1953Class RepresentativeBob [email protected]

Margaret “Sally” Casey enjoys beingback “home” in Chestnut Hill. Shesays it’s “hard to believe it’s almost ayear since I left Connecticut. Hope todo better this coming year connectingwith Park classmates.”

B ECOME A

Class RepresentativeStay in touch with old friends!

Gather class news for the Bulletin!Help plan your reunion!

Want to learn more?

Please contact Eliza Drachman-Jones ’98Director of Alumni Relations

617-274-6022 or [email protected]

Maguana in the south west part of thecountry, middle of the Island of His-paniola. The largest ceremonial Circleof the Taino People in all the Antillesis located in this area, and the mayorand others are trying to put it on themap. Thali says, “Now I’m in Brook-line as part of a care team for my95-year-old aunt and would love totouch base with any of my classmatesfrom Park.”

1965Read about Doug Quine’s career in scienceon page 24.

1966Class RepresentativeWigs Frank610-964-8057

1967Class RepresentativeE. D. [email protected]

1968Class RepresentativeVicky [email protected]

Mark Zamcheck tells us that 2010“has been a wild year so far.” His old-est daughter, Doria, just graduatedHampshire College. In August, sheset off for the Tel Aviv Zoo for aseven-month internship. Her youngersister, Kyle, just returned from a four-month international studies program

Nathalie Saxton De Perez ’63 poseswith one of her kilometer markers inthe Dominican Republic.


ROBERT F. KENERSON

CLASS OF 1953

Established in 1999, the Alumni Award for Distin-

guished Service is presented annually at graduation

to an alumna or alumnus of The Park School for

dedicated service to the Park community. Board

Chair Kevin Maroni presented the award on behalf

of the Alumni Committee.

ob Kenerson, who this year begins his42nd year in the private practice of

psychiatry and psychoanalysis, is a graduateof The Park School, Wellesley High School,Dartmouth College, Boston UniversitySchool of Medicine, and Harvard MedicalSchool, where he trained in psychiatry andhas been on the clinical teaching staff forover 40 years. In 2010, he and his wife,Ruth, who have four children and six grand-children, will celebrate their 44th weddinganniversary.

Bob’s dedication to The Park School andits alumni body is genuine and inspiring.A graduate of the Class of 1953, Bob andhis late brother, Ted, who was a member ofthe Class of 1952, were students at Park’sKennard Road campus. Bob’s love for Parkhas never been about the campus and build-ings, however; it’s always been about thememories of growing up, about classmatesand their families, and about teachers andcoaches. His intense interest in education isa reflection of his fascination with humandevelopment. He views psychotherapy andpsychoanalysis as a personal re-education.

The Class of 1953 is one of The ParkSchool’s most loyal and connected classes.Over the past decade, the class has cele-brated its 50th and 55th Reunions, eachattended by 11 of the 12 remaining class-mates—a rare and impressive accomplish-ment. Bob has served as a leader not only forhis class, but also for all alumni of his era,bringing them together both on and off

Park’s campus. Most recently, Bob was thecatalyst for a special Reunion Weekend forthe members of the Classes of 1950 to 1959(see page 36). He led a committee of 10alumni from the 1950s who personally con-tacted more than 200 alumni to promote thespecial gathering. Off-campus, Bob hasdemonstrated his passion for Park by helpingto keep classmates connected to each other.He is the one who spreads the news when aclassmate—or sibling, or spouse of a class-mate— is ill or has reached a major career orfamily milestone. Bob is always quick towrite a heartfelt note or to make a personalphone call.

The Alumni Office has learned a greatdeal from Bob, as he has extensive experi-ence as a trustee at Cardigan MountainSchool in New Hampshire, and as an activealumnus of Wellesley High School and Dart-mouth College. He has profound under-standing of the unique joy that comes fromremaining connected to one’s schools andformer classmates. Bob serves as a memberof the Alumni Engagement Task Force, asmall group that meets annually to advise theAlumni Office on how best to engage withthe men and women who attended Park.

We are grateful for Bob’s many years ofthoughtful and dedicated service to bothalumni and the greater Park School commu-nity, and we know his future service to Parkwill continue to unite and inspire all of us.

T H E A L U M N I S E R V I C E A W A R D

in India. She plans to graduate Hamp-shire College next year. He goes onto say, “Tracks from my most recentalbum ‘Drawing From Life’ havestarted generating a following on theInternet radio station, Jango.com.The music is an experiment in cross-ing new-age and jazz piano in a com-pletely improvisational setting.” As ofJuly, the global fan count was over5,000 and growing quickly. Check outMark’s tracks at: www.jango.com/music/Mark+Zamcheck”

1971 40th Reunion

Class Representative Needed!

Read about Lora Fleming’s career inscience on page 26.

1973Class RepresentativeRick [email protected]

Read about Rick Berenson’s career inscience on page 28.

1974Class RepresentativesRodger [email protected]

Margaret [email protected]

Shady Hartshorne updated us withthe news that about a recent vacation.“My wife, Laurie, and I recently gotback from a Swim Trek vacation inthe Cyclades Islands in Greece. Weswam about 4 km per day sometimes

along the coastlines of islands andsometimes going from island to islandin open water. We went to Schi-noussa, Koufonissi, Naxos, andParos.” Early in the summer, PollyHoppin wrote, “We’re looking for-ward to having everyone together inAugust — after a trip to Nicaraguafor our oldest (Emma Thomas ’06)and me, a few weeks for ElizaThomas ’11 at her beloved summercamp in Maine, and a trip to CostaRica for my husband, Bobby, who ison the board of a new nonprofitbased there (good choice of a board to

B


be on!) We take Emma back for hersecond year at Swarthmore College atthe end of the month . . . This hasbeen a new and exciting phase for allof us. I’m still enjoying colleaguesand environmental health projects atthe Lowell Center for SustainableProduction at U. Mass., though foun-dation funding continues to be con-strained and adds a level of stress tothe work that I hope will resolvesoon. It’s been such a treat to recon-nect with some old Park friends aftertaking the Facebook plunge afew months ago!”

1975Class RepresentativesColin [email protected]

Bill Sullivan978-568-1303

1976 35th Reunion

Class RepresentativeTenney Mead [email protected]

1977Class RepresentativeSam [email protected]

1978Class Representatives Needed!Erin Marcus is blogging at the Huff-ington Post. “Take a look at what Ihave been working on at www.huffin-gtonpost.com/erin-n-marcus-md”

1979Class RepresentativesSarah [email protected]

Lalla [email protected]

Nina Frusztajer updated us on arecent vacation. “I just got back froma trip to Orlando, where the high-lights were not Magic Kingdom andthe other parks where we spent mini-mal time, but the gigantic pools withwaterfalls and tunnels and poolside

hot tubs that we used as late as 9 p.m.Plus, we had time to hang out withmy parents with whom we went, soall around it was very, very fun!”Nina is working three days a week asa pathologist, enjoying her kids (8, 7,and 5 now), and learning guitar forabout eight months now. “I can mud-dle my way through Beatles, SherylCrow, Eagles, Tracy Chapman, andeven a few measures of some Kinkssongs. I’m a long way from live per-formances, and I’m certainly nevergoing to switch professions, but it’sbeen really fun! I am also hooked onCore Fusion, which is this greatpilates-type/yoga intense core condi-tioning that is the most efficient andeffective exercise I’ve ever done.”Christopher Lamont spent summervacation on North Haven, Maine.“Nice swimming quarries on Vinal-haven! The ocean was a bit coldwhere I was, but nice to swim in aftera good run!”

Read about Nina’s career in science onpage 29.

1980Class RepresentativeSusan [email protected]

Andres Hurwitz is still living andpracticing law in Southern California,and was lucky to work on a case withSusan Schorr, who is in Maine. Hetells us that “it was good to catch up,and Susan was gracious enough topick up the baton as our new ClassRepresentative.” Andres was inBoston in June to celebrate his par-ents’ 50th anniversary, which was atreat. “However, I wasn’t able tomake it to the 30th Reunion; maybenext time.”

1981 30th Reunion

Class RepresentativesMatthew [email protected]

Alex [email protected]

2010–11 Park Alumni Achievement Award: J O S E P H F. K A H N ’ 8 0

This award is given annually to the alumnus/alumna who exemplifies The Park School’svalues and educational mission through distinc-tive achievement in his or her community orfield of endeavor. This person’s leadership andcontributions have made a meaningful impactand inspire our current students and alumni.

Joe Kahn is a lifelong journalist with a successfulcareer that has led him across the globe and back. Heis currently the deputy foreign editor at The New YorkTimes. Prior to returning to New York City, Joe servedas the Beijing bureau chief for the Times from July2003 to December 2007. Joe’s expertise is equallywide-ranging: He has covered international econom-ics and trade, as well as Wall Street.

His work has brought attention to a variety ofimportant world issues. In 2006, Joe and his Beijing-based colleague, Jim Yardley, won the Pulitzer Prizefor International Reporting for their “ambitious sto-ries on ragged justice in China as the boomingnation’s legal system evolves.” At a time where mostjournalists were writing about where China’s legalsystem was headed, the pair covered the legal system

as it exists. In 2004, Joe won a Robert. F. KennedyJournalism Award for his series of stories on laborconditions in China’s export factories. In 1994, whenJoe worked as a city desk reporter and foreign corre-spondent for The Dallas Morning News, he was partof a team of reporters awarded the Pulitzer Prize forInternational Reporting for their stories on violenceagainst women around the world.

Born in Boston, Joe attended Park from 1978to 1980 and graduated from Harvard College in1987 with a bachelor’s degree in American history.In 1990, he received a master’s degree in East Asianstudies from the Harvard Graduate School of Artsand Sciences.

Joe plans to be at Park in the fall to accept thisaward in person and to speak with current studentsabout his career in journalism and living overseas.


1982Class RepresentativeAllison Nash [email protected]

Jared Mazlish has lived Brecken-ridge, Colorado, for the last 20 years.“For the first 15 years, I competedprofessionally on the big mountainextreme skiing world tour, then fiveyears ago I started a ski company.Originally, we made powder skis, butit has grown to offering everythingfrom a skinny mogul ski to the widest“superfat” powder ski on the market.The name of my company is “Fat-ypus skis” at fat-ypus.com. Two yearsago, Jared got married, and now heand his wife, Darcy, are expectingtheir first child in August. Congrats,Jared!

1983Class RepresentativesElizabeth Livens [email protected]

Elizabeth [email protected]

Laurie Kohn tells us that she is leav-ing Georgetown Law School after 12years there as a professor and directorof the Domestic Violence Clinic. “I’llbe starting at George WashingtonLaw School in the fall as the directorof the Family Law Clinic. My boysare 6 and 3—and they keep thingsactive, interesting, and LOUD!”

1984Class RepresentativeAnne Collins [email protected]

1985Class RepresentativeRachel Levine [email protected]

Read about Elizabeth Wiellette’s careerin science on page 30.

1986 25th Reunion

Class RepresentativesMark [email protected]

Jay [email protected]

Jonathan Segal recently directed hissecond feature film, “Norman,” apowerful coming-of-age drama cen-tered around a self-aware and darklyfunny teen who’s just trying to handlehis daily existence. The film stars theAcademy Award-nominated RichardJenkins, Dan Byrd (“Cougar Town”),Emily VanCamp (ABC’s “Brothers& Sisters”), and Adam Goldberg(“Saving Private Ryan”). “Norman”also features an original score andsongs from acclaimed musicianAndrew Bird. The film is currentlyon the film festival circuit. Forupdates, info, and photos check outthe movie’s Facebook page at face-book.com/pages/NORMAN-the-movie

ASPCA volunteer counselor Mary Sarah Baker ’87 with oneadorable puppy.

Nicole Barrick ’87, Mary Sarah Baker ’87 and Richard Leigh-Pemberton ’87 had a great evening at the MSCPA’s PartyAnimals benefit in Boston on July 15, 2010.

Christina McGinnes McCormick and John McCormick with their beautiful family.

1987Class RepresentativesMary Sarah [email protected]

Geoffrey [email protected]

Mary Sarah Baker tells us “life inN.Y.C. continues to offer constantexcitement and new experiences.”Last August, Sarah moved acrossCentral Park to the Upper East Sidein Manhattan and took a new job asgeneral manager of the Danny KayeTheater on East 68th Street. “There isnever a dull moment in the perform-ing arts! On the weekends, I volun-teer for the ASPCA as an adoptioncounselor for dogs and cats, as well asa new member leader at Marble Col-legiate Church.” On Nov. 7, Sarah

plans to run the NYC Marathon aspart of the ASPCA’s inaugural teamand hopes to finish the race beforesundown! Kate Milliken got marriedin December 2009 and successfullyconceived a honeymoon baby! Shewrites, “We’re expecting a son in Sep-tember, and we are headed to cowboycountry in July … Phoenix, Arizona,where my husband, Tyler, works forAmerica Express.” Kate will continueto run her video production companywhile juggling motherhood. “If any-one knows anyone in Phoenix, let meknow!” Greg and Annamary BurtonThompson are proud to announcebaby girl Catherine “Cate” Judith KayThompson, born on July 12, 2010 at7 pounds, 8 ounces, 20 1/2 incheslong. GodmotherMary Sarah Bakeris very proud, too!

Read about David Shaff ’s career inscience on page 32.

1988Class RepresentativeLiza Cohen [email protected]

Jordan Kimball updates us all theway from West Africa. “Workingthroughout the Upper Guinea forestecosystem to promote transboundarybiodiversity conservation in key pro-tected areas. The forests here in WestAfrica are unique and full of immensebiodiversity resources. Our team isfocusing on sustainable livelihoods(community forestry, beekeeping, eco-logical sylviculture [forest cultivation],agroforestry, private-sector alliances,and understanding and enforcementof forestry and wildlife laws) as astrategy to conserve biodiversity. Liv-


ing in Freetown, Sierra Leone, sinceNovember 2009 has been most inter-esting for the family. We still managean organic family farm in Guinea,where we produce honey, peanuts,millet, hot peppers, eggplants,bananas, peas, and various fruits.We’ve also launched a small-scalepoultry operation for egg production.Living in this part of the World hastaught me a great deal about thetremendous beauty of West Africa, aswell as the great struggle and chal-lenges that humanity faces—civil con-flict, political imbalances, foodinsecurity, loss and degradation ofecosystems, and the burgeoning forceof climate change.”

1989Class RepresentativesDahlia [email protected]

Ian [email protected]

Rebecca Lewin [email protected]

Rob Colby recently moved toChapel Hill, North Carolina, to workat UNC-Chapel Hill’s Ackland ArtMuseum, as the coordinator of aca-demic programs. Aside from keepingbusy teaching university classesthat come to the Museum, Rob isenjoying life south of the Mason-Dixon line.

1990Class RepresentativesZach Cherry561-659-1022


Keisha Powell is very proud toannounce that her daughter, BrittaniJones ’10, graduated from Park inJune. She adds, “my son Myles willbe attending his first year at Park thisfall, in Kindergarten—Class of 2020!My husband, Shawn, and I are veryproud of them!”

1991 20th Reunion

Class Representatives Needed!

Keisha’s kids continue The Park School tradition: daughter Brittani Jones ’10 withher brother, Myles Burgess ’20 who enters Kindergarten this fall.

Proud mom, Keisha Powell-Burgess ’90celebrates daughter Brittani Jones’sgraduation from Park this spring.

1992Class Representatives Needed!

Louise Baker married Rich Lee onMay 15 at Desconso Gardens in LaCanada, California. Many of Louise’sPark School friends and family wereat the wedding: Laura DahmenMerriman, Vanessa Kerry, formerfaculty Sally Baker andWanda Hol-land Greene, Nancy Baker Cahill’85, andMary Sarah Baker ’87.Louise wore her mother’s weddingdress from 1968! Louise and Rich livein Atwater Village, about 10 minutesfrom the Cahill family. Diana Birkettnow lives in Seattle and leads the pub-lic policy and government relationsteam for a health-care company calledGroup Health. Diana tells us that ithas been “fascinating work during thehealth reform debate and now thatwe’re implementing the new law andhoping to see some positive results.”In addition, Diana was married thissummer and headed to Europe for abike trip around Italy and Corsica. “Ido miss Boston, but Seattle is a won-derful place to live, despite the rain,with a great community and amazingmountains and views and spacearound it to explore. Best to everyonein the Park family!” Laura DahmanMerriman and her husband, Zac,welcomed their second child, Alex, onApril 27. “He now joins his olderbrother, Drew (2), in a plot to makeour house as chaotic as possible.”Laura also recently had the joy of see-ing some of her Park classmates: “Igot to celebrate Louise Baker’s mar-riage to Rich Lee with her andVanessa Kerry in Los Angeles. It wasa beautiful and fun wedding! And, I

REU

NIO

N

2010

CELEBRATE!CELEBRATE!REUNION 2011Saturday, May 710th 2001 30th 1981

15th 1996 35th 1976

20th 1991 40th 1971

25th 1986 50th 1956

If you are interested in helping to plan your reunion,please contact Eliza Drachman-Jones ’98

Director of Alumni Relations617-274-6022 or [email protected]


Tod Hynes ’95 poses with one of his XL Hybrids; his new company converts exist-ing fleet vehicles into energy-efficient hybrid cars.

also got to spend some time withElizabeth Sandman, who came outto help me after Alex arrived.”

1993Class RepresentativesJessica Ko [email protected]

Jaime G. [email protected]

Alison [email protected]

Clark Friefield just graduated fromthe MIT Media Lab and is starting aPhD program at the B.U. biomedicalengineering department this fall.Andrew Scott is starting a new job atTufts Medical Center and the Float-ing Hospital for Children in Bostonas a pediatric ENT surgeon. He willbe specializing in cleft lip and palatesurgery, vascular birthmarks, andhead and neck procedures.

1994Class RepresentativesAlan [email protected]

Aba [email protected]

1995Class RepresentativesLilla [email protected]

Lilla Curran “had a fabulous timecatching up with other members ofthe Class of ’95 as we assembled tocelebrate our reunion. Julie HumeTalmage Gordon, Dan Wilson,Nashan Vassall, Alex Henry,Diana Potter, Sarah LeventhalFleiss, and I gathered first in thelibrary at Park, and later, around adinner table at The Met Club inChestnut Hill. We wined, dined,reminisced, and laughed with oneanother, while also acknowledgingthe swift passage of time. Theevening was a happy success. . . look-ing forward to our twentieth!” “Sincegraduating from Columbia,” writesWill Dick, “I have started workingas director of business developmentat Tom Chappell (of Tom’s ofMaine)’s new business, RamblersWay. We offer a line of 100% Ameri-can-made, all natural and sustainable

lightweight and comfortable woolclothing. Take a look at our website:ramblersway.com.” Tod Hynes is start-ing a company called XL Hybrids thatconverts existing fleet vehicles intohybrids. He’s working with a team outof MIT and already has demonstra-tion vehicles on the road and cus-tomers lined up for this fall. Tod alsoteaches a course at MIT called“Energy Ventures” and loves connect-ing with people interested in energyand the environment.

1996 15th Reunion

Class RepresentativesNick [email protected]

Merrill [email protected]

Katayoun [email protected]

Kathrene [email protected]

On June 12, Rob Higgins was mar-ried to Julie Cumming (a Tuck class-mate) in Newport, Rhode Island.Charlie Simpson and Rob Weyman’95 were both there to help us cele-brate. It was a great day!” Liz Privesis in her fourth year teaching at BingNursery School, a child-centered, play-based laboratory school for youngchildren at Stanford University. Lizteaches in the nursery school programfive mornings a week and in the pro-gram for 2-year-olds two afternoons aweek. Liz says, “I’m enjoying living inSan Francisco with classmate JuliaKung and across the street from mybrother, Todd Prives ’92. LaurenHendrick Sutton has lived in the BayArea for three years and currentlylives in Oakland with her husband,Patrick, and daughter, Nora, who wasborn Oct. 3, 2009. She adds that“Park classmateMerrill Hawkinscame West for a visit last summer!”

1997Class RepresentativesSarah E. [email protected]

Sarah [email protected]

Suzanne [email protected]

Sarah Conway still lives in Bali,

Lauren Hendrick Sutton ’96 and Merrill Hawkins ’96 on the Golden Gate Bridge

Sarah Conway ’97, Chloe Lewis ’99 and Anna Lewis ’97 take in a beautiful sunsetin Cape Town, South Africa.


Indonesia, but has been traveling agreat deal for work and fun. Shewrites, “In April, Anna Lewis and Imet in Cape Town, South Africa for avacation with Chloe Lewis ’99. Wehad a fabulous adventure whichincluded time in Cape Town, KrugerNational Park, and the Nkomazi,where Chloe was working forTRIAD Trust, an NGO serving localleaders and their communities in theareas hardest-hit by HIV/AIDS.”Sarah goes on to tell us that while inBoston in June, she bumped intoAshley Hall, Becca Sullivan, AnnaSullivan ’95, Katherine McMan-mon ’95, and Ladd Thorne ’96 at abar in the South End. “It was great tosee them and catch up; everyone isdoing well.” Katharine Jose left herposition as politics editor of the NewYork Observer to start a new journalismventure called Capital (capital-newyork.com). Lennie Larkin isabout to finish hiking the entireAppalachian Trail. Danielle Miley iscurrently interning with the UNDPEnergy and Environment unit inPhnom Penh, Cambodia, and willreturn to the Yale School of Forestryand Environmental Studies this fall.Kelly O’Reilly is writing for NBC’sfashion blog, “The Thread,” andproducing Taxi TV fashion segmentsin N.Y.C.

1998Class RepresentativesLydia [email protected]

Meg [email protected]

Sarah [email protected]

Adam Cohen moved back to theBoston area to head up the EastCoast work for his company, PioneerGreen Energy: pioneergreen.com.Cindy Doseretz writes in with excit-ing news that she was married in Mayto her college sweetheart, MatthewArenson. “We met at the first footballgame of the season our freshman yearat the University of Michigan andhave been together ever since. Wewent to French Polynesia for twoweeks on our honeymoon.” ClairePasternack tells us that, “after eatingmy way through Paris during a post-Harvard graduate fellowship year, Iembarked on a career in education. Idecamped to Los Angeles andtaught 8th- and 9th-grade English andFrench at the Harvard-Westlake

School for four years. I also coachedthe Middle School Debate Team andwrote curriculum for a new Debatecourse. Former Park intern RonnieCodrington-Cazeau, now MiddleSchool Head at Harvard-Westlake,was my fabulous boss and mentor.”This fall, Claire will start a one-yearmaster’s in policy, organization, andleadership studies at the StanfordUniversity School of Education,where she plans to focus on educa-tional leadership. On Aug. 28, at theBoston Public Library, Claire marriedher sweetheart of over seven years,Brian Goldsmith. “Several close Parkfriends— Jonathan Tucker, AshleyWhite-Stern, Abbie Johnson, andAnna Deknatel—were in atten-dance,” she reported. Brian begins hissecond year at Stanford Law Schoolthis fall. Claire says, “After years oflong-distance dating, Brian and I arethrilled to live not only on the samecoast but in the same house in PaloAlto.” Prior to the wedding, JonathanTucker crashed Claire’s bacheloretteparty in N.Y.C., which included fel-low ’98 park alums Anna Deknateland Abbie Johnson.

1999Class RepresentativesElizabeth [email protected]

Susanna [email protected]

Colin M. [email protected]

Earlier this year, Chloe Lewis wasliving in a rural region of SouthAfrica, working as the director ofHealth education for the TRIADTrust, an HIV-education nonprofitbased out of Boston (triadtrust.org).Chloe says, “It was a pretty spectacu-lar four and a half months. We gotsome great press on our program/work recently, in The New YorkTimes and WBUR, and ESPNcovered us as a World Cup feature.TRIAD works in the Nkomaziregion, in the MpumalangaProvince of South Africa, which isabout five hours east of Johannes-burg. The area is estimated to havethe highest infection rate of HIVamong adults anywhere in the world(65%), and joblessness is around70%, so the area is very, very poor.Despite these conditions, the peopleare wonderful and the landscape isgorgeous! I really valued being inSouth Africa and the work I wasdoing — and continue to be involved

Thursday, May 20On an unseasonably warm May evening, more than50 Park alumni and their guests met on Yawkey Way forthe Annual Alumni Night at Fenway Park. WithJon Lester on the mound, the Red Sox beat the Min-nesota Twins 6-2. Our group enjoyed seeing “WelcomePark Alumni” displayed on the Jumbotron, munching onCracker Jacks, and reconnecting with old friends.

N O M I N A T I O N S S O U G H T F O R

THE PARK ALUMNIACHIEVEMENT

AWARDThis award is to be given to the Park alumnus/alumna

who exemplifies the School’s values and educational

mission through distinctive achievement in their

community or field of endeavor. This person’s leader-

ship and contributions have made a meaningful impact

and inspire our current students and alumni.

To nominate a Park alumnus/a for this award, please

include your nominee’s name, class year, profession,

and reason for nomination. All submissions must be

received by December 1, 2010 to be considered

for the 2011 award.

Send nominations to [email protected] or The

Park School Alumni Office, 171 Goddard Avenue,

Brookline, MA 02445


with — over there.” Chloe is nowworking in Wyoming, leading back-packing trips for teenage girls for thesummer, before heading to ColumbiaUniversity for a master’s in publichealth in the fall. Alex Goldstein isserving as the communication directorand spokesman for Governor DevalPatrick’s reelection campaign in Mas-sachusetts. He says, “While burningthe midnight oil and overdosing oncampaign pizza, I’m loving everyminute of it and looking forward to abig victory in November!” On May29, a gorgeous sunny day,MaeganScott married Joshua Faden, whomshe met at American University in2007. The wedding was held outsidein a public garden on in Maryland,where they currently reside. Maegan’ssister, Kristen ’03, served as her maidof honor and sang with her father atthe service. The newlyweds vaca-tioned in Kauai for two weeks andthen headed back to work in D.C.Congrats, Maegan! Speaking ofWashington D.C., David Cavell willbe starting at Georgetown Law in thefall. Liz Stahl just received an impres-sive promotion and has become thedirector of Integrated Marketing atthe record label Eleven Seven Music.Following a trip to Israel this summer,she will be making the move fromN.Y.C. to L.A. to start her new posi-tion. Classmate Kasia Chmielinskiis another recent arrival in Los Ange-les. She has joined a tech start-upin the financial space as a productmanager. Please send any recommen-dations about L.A. to her [email protected]. Susanna

Whitaker-Rahilly is returning toBrooks School for another year ofteaching history and coaching basket-ball and lacrosse. She recently boughtan apartment in the South End andruns into neighborMargaret Gorm-ley, who ran the Boston Marathonthis spring, as did Lindsay Segar.Lindsay was awarded her master’sdegree in psychology this spring, amajor accomplishment on the road toher doctorate.

Read about Ijee Uzoma’s career in scienceon page 33.

2000Class RepresentativeJessica [email protected]

Luanna Bessa is about to enter herfourth year in the counseling psychol-ogy PhD program at the University ofTexas, Austin. “I am also taking afilmmaking class, which is excitingbecause I’ve always loved the arts. I’mlooking forward to beginning my dis-sertation; my research includes issuesof identity and transition, trauma andresiliency. In particular, I am inter-ested in underserved and marginal-ized populations. I will be a therapistat the Austin V.A. this fall.” Ali Hen-dren is heading to George MasonUniversity for a two-year master’s ofscience program studying environ-mental science and policy.

IN MAY, LOREN GALLER RABINOWITZ ’01 graduated as a

pre-med major from Harvard. In June, she was crowned Miss

Massachusetts. Loren decided to enter the competition at

the urging of Michelle Hantman (Miss Massachusetts 2000),

who suggested that the goals of the Miss America Organi-

zation would fit with Loren’s commitment to academics and

public service. In addition, there are many scholarship

opportunities for the contestant, including the Allman

Scholarship, which is specifically for students accepted at or

attending medical school. Loren says, “As Miss Massachu-

setts, I have committed my year to charity work and public

service. In addition to doing appearances at events across

the state, I’ll also be working to promote Miss America’s

national platform, the Children’s Miracle Network, which

raises funds for the medical treatment of nearly 17 million children annually.” Be sure to tune in

in January, when Loren heads to Las Vegas to compete for the national title.

2001 10th Reunion

Class RepresentativeBenjamin [email protected] 617-734-8841

2002Class RepresentativesAlejandro [email protected]


Alejandro Alvarado is working atInvestor Group Services, a private

equity-consulting firm in Boston. Hecontinues to master the art of tennis.Gabrielle Emanuel graduated fromDartmouth College with a major inhistory and a minor in brain sciences.She is moving to Mali for a year on aLombard Postgraduate Fellowshipand the Colby Scholarship. She willbe working on issues of water accessand water purification.WillFaulkner writes, “I am currentlydoing a two-year master’s in LatinAmerican studies at Tulane Univer-sity in New Orleans (can’t seem toleave the place, too much good food, Ithink).” He is interning this summerwith FINCA International, a microfi-nance organization. “A team of us are

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working this summer with FINCAEcuador, a commercial bank affiliatedwith the program, carrying out asocio-economic survey of clients todetermine the range of programeffects on clients.” Farrell Frankelmoved from Colorado to Brookline inFebruary. She is working as a thera-peutic mentor at Arbour Counselingin Alston. Pino’s Pizza continues to bea stomping ground for her and therest of the Class of 2002. SamHawkins is a project engineer forSea-Dar Construction in Boston. Hehas aspirations of returning to Parkand rekindling the spirit of GregCope’s “Bafana Bafana.” Lee Roten-berg is spending the year in Tel Aviv,Israel. Julia Spiro is an assistant to anagent at United Talent Agency in LosAngeles. Hidde Tonegawa is cur-rently working for DeNA Co. Ltd inTokyo. Soon he is moving to SanFrancisco to head up its marketingdivision for the smart phone market.After a short pursuit of a semi-probasketball career in Europe,MattWeinberg moved to Washington,D.C. to live with Nathan Kellogg.Matt works as the coordinator of gov-ernment relations for the U.S. TravelAssociation, while Nathan teachesreading to middle-school-aged specialeducation students.

2003Class RepresentativeDiana [email protected]

2004Class RepresentativesMolly [email protected]

Steven [email protected]

Anne Wernikoff and Annabel deBraganca are currently spendingtheir summer in Paris and then willbe senior-year roommates at GeorgeWashington University.

2005Class RepresentativeLily [email protected]

Daly Franco writes, “Although it’sbeen five years since I graduated,Park still remains in my heart! Cur-rently, I am entering my junior year atBarnard College of Columbia Univer-sity in N.Y.C, where I have been pur-suing my love for neurons as aneuroscience and behavior major(with a concentration on behavior).This summer, I’ve been doing neuro-science research with my adviser (aprofessor at the College). Thisupcoming fall, I will serve the Collegeas an upper-class (wo)man R.A.”Gabe Saltzman is a junior at TuftsUniversity and just got back from anincredible service trip in Africa. “Iwent with a group of 20 studentsfrom Tufts to a youth village inRwanda. We stayed and worked atthe Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village.Agahozo means ‘where tears are dried’in Rwanda’s native language, Kin-yarwanda, and shalom means ‘peace’in Hebrew. The village is for Rwan-dan orphans from the genocide whoare in the most need from all differentvillages throughout Rwanda. Weworked on building stadium seatingfor a soccer field that will be inaugu-rated in quite the grand fashion: theRwandan national team will comeplay against the students. The village,which works in a similar system to anIsraeli kibbutz because of draught andno means of planting sheaths of grassand cultivating the seeds, had to planteach blade of grass (it was an incredi-ble amount of work!) by hand. We atethree times a day with the kids (agesfrom 15-20) and went into their class-rooms and participated in servicework with them; we went to helpbuild a mud house for an HIV-posi-tive woman in the community wherethe gated village is located.” Gabelearned a great deal on this trip. “Ihad been many times to impoverishedplaces in the world and have done afair number of service trips to SouthAmerica, where my mother is from,but never have I seen poverty to suchan extreme degree.” Gabe goes on tosay that he first learned and per-formed community service and was amember of Helping Hand. For more

Alumni Volunteer DaySaturday, April 24

ON A BRIGHT SUNNY DAY IN APRIL, alumni, families, andfriends gathered in Concord for the second annual Park Vol-unteer Day at Gaining Ground. This organization relies onthe help of hundreds of volunteers to grow 20,000 pounds oforganic vegetables and fruit, which is donated to area mealprograms and food pantries. It was great day of planting,tilling, watering, and giving back to the community. Join usnext April in Concord as we continue our tradition workingwith Gaining Ground!

Jenny Walton Burke ’91 brought her kids, Phoebe and Peter.

Middle Division Head Jon Ross Wiley with his wife, Sahar,daughter, Soraya and son, Zia.

Gabe Saltzman ’05 and friends posefor the camera on a service trip toRwanda this summer.



CC OO LL LL EE GG EE CC HH OO II CC EE SS

Please note that the above list, compiled by the Alumni Office, does not include all members of the Class of 2007. Alumni not appearing on this list are either postponing attending a college or university in the fall, or have not submitted their information to our office. Please call the Alumni Office at 617-274-6022 with anychanges or additional information. Thank you.

Jacob Aduama Northeastern UniversityLuisa Alvarez Boston CollegeNigelie Assee DePauw UniversityAri Benjamin Oberlin CollegeSascha Bercovitch Harvard UniversityJacob Brandt Harvard UniversityElizabeth Cabot Franklin & Marshall CollegeElyssa Carlson University of New HampshireLouisa Carroll Hartwick UniversityNicholas Carter University of Massachusetts AmherstJonathan Chau Trinity CollegeGreg Corrado University of RochesterSkylar Cruz Spelman CollegeElisabeth Dalton McGill UniversityMark Eaglesfield University of St Andrews (Scotland)Melanie Fineman Brown UniversityRebecca Freeman-Slade Wellesley CollegeWilliam Fubini Bates CollegeCamilla Golestaneh Santa Clara UniversitySamantha Greenberg George Washington UniversitySarah Hackney University of Texas at AustinErin Haggerty Marist CollegeJulia Hermann University of St Andrews (Scotland)James Hoagland Tufts UniversityNatalie Hunter Wesleyan UniversityGrant Jones Harvard UniversityAlexander Jundanian Hobart and William Smith CollegesAnna Lau Williams College

Scott Mahoney Bowdoin CollegeWilliam Maness Boston UniversityJack Manzi University of PennsylvaniaJacob Modest Georgetown UniversityGabe Murchison Yale UniversityOlaitan Oladipo Brown UniversityOlamide Olatunji Harvard UniversityNicholas Parker Columbia UniversityEmily Polk Brown UniversityAnna Porter University of VermontJames Poss University of California, Los AngelesArielle Rabinowitz Harvard UniversityDanielle Rabinowitz Harvard UniversityJacob Romanow Yale UniversityNelson Santry Dartmouth CollegeElse Sharp Vanderbilt UniversityJulia Shepley University of Colorado at BoulderMolly Sinsheimer Skidmore CollegeEmily Summit Georgetown UniversityIsabella Terhorst Dartmouth CollegeAlexandra Turner-Owens The New SchoolKaveh Veyssi Tufts UniversityHarris Williams Boston CollegeBenjamin Wilsker University of Edinburgh Nina Wolpow University of PennsylvaniaMollie Young Middlebury CollegeAlexa Zilberfarb Claremont Colleges

Ice Cream SocialWednesday, June 16

More than 20 recent graduates returned to Park’sFaulkner House patio for a night of fun, friends, and ice cream! We had a great turnout from Park’s newest

alumni, the Classes of 2010 and 2009. Alex Barden ’09 and Padraig Sullivan ’10

Cary Williams ’09 and Mercedes Garcia ’09

2010 classmates: Peter Woolverton, Ryan Simhauser

and Gilad Seckler

Emily Jacob ’10, Carter Smith ’09, andAnnie Goodrich ’10

Tyler Dillard ’09 and Miranda Haymon ’09

Quinn McCarthy Beaver Dedham Academy

Danny Benett Commonwealth School

Adam Carlson Buckingham Browne & Nichols School

Tarun Chally Buckingham Browne & Nichols School

Alex Charles The Lawrenceville School

Alec Cover The Rivers School

Ben Daly Thayer Academy

Hadley Edie Noble and Greenough School

Catharine Hemp Moses Brown School

Matthew Johnson Groton Academy

Ryan Johnson The Rivers School

Troy Joseph American School of Shanghai

Danielle Kim Buckingham Browne & Nichols School

Alexis Kelly Boston Latin School

Emma Mehlman Phillips Academy Andover

Isabel Meltzer Newton South High School

Kaleigh Mentzer Buckingham Browne & Nichols School

Caroline Muggia Noble and Greenough School

Henry Muggia Noble and Greenough School

Bernardo Pacini Belmont Hill School

Carter Rose Dover-Sherborn High School

Ryan Smith Noble and Greenough School

Allie Tearney Thayer Academy

Jamie Thorndike Groton School

Next Schools forDeparting Members of the

Class of 2011

Classes of 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008Save The Date!

Yule Festivaland

Bagel BreakfastFriday, December 17, 20109:00 a.m.–10:00 a.m.The Park School Dining Room

information on Gabe’s trip and theAgahozo-Shalom Youth Village,please contact him at [email protected]

2006 Class RepresentativeMcCall Cruz [email protected] 617-442-1747

2007Class RepresentativesThomas Cope [email protected] 617-552-5662

Benjamin Schwartz [email protected] 617-566-5626

2008 Class RepresentativesMarielle Rabins [email protected] 781-431-8668

Manizeh Afridi [email protected] 781-449-4340

This summer, Mia Ferguson and herfriend, Blake Alessandroni, started acompany called Wolfeboro Bay WaterSports, providing water-sports instruc-tion and coaching on Lake Win-nipesauke in New Hampshire. “We

erve people of all ages and levels. Weare very excited to share our passionfor water sports with everyone whovisits the lake. We coached one visit-ing Park family just last week!”

2009Class RepresentativesMercedes Garcia-Orozco [email protected] 617-361-6928

Cary Williams [email protected] 617-696-3663

In September, Tyler Dillard entered ayearlong exchange program in Japan.Trace Smith graduated from BurkeMountain Academy in June 2010 andwill be going to ski for Dartmouth infall of ’11. In the meantime, he willcontinue to train hard at Burke, racearound the world, and study statistics,African history, and French literature.

2010 Class RepresentativesAnnie Goodridge 617-522-3901

Gilad Seckler [email protected]

Michela Thomsen [email protected] 781-251-6699



interviews between his busy teaching schedule at Boston University

Academy. “But a year into the project, with the economic downturn,

the publisher let my editor go, and then dropped the project.

By that time, I had become passionate about doing the book, so I

enlisted a literary agent who put me in touch with the Wisconsin

University Press.”

Switching to an academic press mid-course necessarily changed

the expectations for the book. “They had more constraints,” Phil

says, “and could only commit to a book with 120,000 words. In all, I

interviewed 102 individuals, but we had to whittle the list down by

more than half.” Profiles in this first volume include Kate Clinton,

Barney Frank, Hilary Goodridge, Gene Robinson, and David Sedaris.

The book captures each of the 44 subjects in a moment in time.

“It is not intended to be a definitive biography,” Phil elaborates.

“I try to give a sense of setting, context, and what each person’s work

is about. I have a talent for getting people to relax and talk about

themselves.” To prepare for each interview, Phil immersed himself in

his subject’s work. “I really did my homework,” he admits. For every

interview, which typically lasted one to two hours, Phil prepared

10-20 hours.

No doubt, Mr. Gambone’s former students will recall their teacher’s

high standards. For 26 years, Phil shared his enthusiasm and curiosity

with Park School students in English, Latin, and social studies class-

rooms. Since 2004, he has been a member of the Humanities Depart-

ment at Boston University Academy, where he now teaches all sections

of freshman English and a seminar in Chinese literature (in translation)

to seniors. Phil dedicated Travels in a Gay Nation to his students (collec-

tively) “and hopes that everyone—gay or straight—will find stories

that will inspire them.”

Former Faculty Member Phil Gambone Portrays Gay, Lesbian Americans by Kate LaPine, Director of Communications

In his new book, Travels in a Gay Nation: Portraits of LGBTQ Ameri-cans (University of Wisconsin Press, 2010), Philip Gambone tells

44 authentic stories of 44 authentic gay and lesbian Americans. One

of his subjects, the writer Randall Kenan, notes that most people have

a “monodimensional” view of African Americans, much the same as

they do for Queer Americans (LGBTQ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,

Transgender, and Queer/Questioning). Fellow writer Dorothy Allison,

another subject in the collection, concurs, “We are complicated

and enormous.”

“I love telling stories,” says Phil, smiling. We are sitting at a surpris-

ingly crowded Starbucks in Brookline Village on a hot summer day.

I want to hear from Phil about the recent release of his book, and how

it came to be. In the introduction, he writes,

Stories. Haven’t they always helped us to learn who we are, whoever we are? Stories both anchor us in reality and inspire ourimaginations and dreams. They remind us where we have beenand hint at where we are going. Stories allow us to discover thecommon humanity in all people. Other stories initiate us into theculture of our tribe: This is what it’s like to come from our people,to belong to our people. Stories give us vital information. Theyhelp us to make our own story stronger. They save lives. (p. 4)

Phil then proceeds to tell me the story about a collection of stories:

In the spring of 2007, a New York publisher contacted Phil while

considering a series. He explains, “They called me because of an earlier

book, Something Inside: Conversations with Gay Fiction Writers, which

appeared in 1999.” This project would be different in three ways: not

just men, not just fiction, and not Q&A, but written profiles. “I said

‘Yes!’” Phil tried to identify individuals who were successful or impor-

tant in his or her own field. He sought geographical and occupational

diversity, ethnic and racial diversity, religious and ideological diversity,

and generational diversity,

with participants aged 19–84.

Geography proved difficult

because urban spaces have

created ‘gay culture,’ and so

the book is heavily skewed

toward cities. However, Phil’s

subjects hail from both

coasts, Chicago, Texas, North

Carolina, and Florida.

That first summer

was filled with interviews.

During the following year, he

managed to squeeze in more

Phil Gambone caught up with theentire Wilsker clan, including Becca ’00,Ben ’07, and Liz ’04.


In July, Sadia Shephard ’90 married Andreas Burgess.

Pat Zifcak attended her 34th May Day in 2010. Her granddaughter, River Studley ’16, was performing as a third-grader. “It reminded me that I taughther mom (Dana Welshman-Studley ’85)the May Pole Dance and she, in turn,taught River. Park for us is truly a familyschool.”

When Louise Baker ’92 married Rich Lee in May, a large Park School contingentgathered for the celebration. L-R: Rebecca Kellogg, Laura Dahmen Merriman ‘92,Vanessa Kerry ‘92, Rich and Louise, Sally Baker, Wanda Holland Greene, NancyBaker Cahill ‘85, and Mary Sarah Baker ‘87.

This summer, Jen Berylson Block ‘94and Jon Block celebrated their honey-moon in Tanzania!

Weddings

1990Sadia Shephard and AndreasBurgess July 24, 2010

1992Louise Baker and Rich LeeMay 15, 2010

1994Jen Berylson and Jonathan BlockJune 26, 2010

1996Rob Higgins and Julie CummingJune 12, 2010

1997Reid Diamond and Sarah HildebrandJune 24, 2010

Paul Naddaff and Ursula August June 19, 2010

Josh Zweig and Jacqueline SmithOctober 17, 2009

1998Caitlin Connolly and Kate KolesSeptember 4, 2010

Cindy Doseretz and Matt Arenson May 29, 2010

Alex Kehlenbeck and Kate NielsonAugust 28, 2010

Claire Pasterneck and Brian Goldsmith August 28, 2010

1999Maegan Scott and Joshua Faden May 29, 2010

Former Park teacher Phil Gambone sent us two photos from Boston UniversityAcademy’s graduation in June. Here, Phil is flanked by the four Park alumni who graduated from BUA in 2010. L-R: Jonathan Chau ’07, William Maness ’07,Phil Gambone, David Spierings van der Wolk ’07, and Benjamin Wilsker ’07.

Rob Higgins ’96 and Julie Cumming ontheir wedding day in Newport, RhodeIsland in June.

Former Faculty News

In September, former HeadmasterBob Hurlbut was presented with a“Leading Role Award” by CambridgeCommunity Television (CCTV) tomark his many years in service to theyouth of Cambridge. Since retiringfrom Park in 1993, Bob has been theexecutive director of the CambridgeCommunity Foundation, which hassupplied funding to dozens of Cam-bridge-based youth initiatives. Beyondwork and enjoying his family, Bobmost values his volunteer work with the Cambridge Senior Volunteer

Clearinghouse, which he co-foundedin 1994. Former students and otherPark School friends in the area cancatch Bob on CCTV: he hosts a pro-gram about volunteer opportunitieson Channel 9 at 4 p.m. on the fourthFriday of each month.


In Memoriam

D. Chadwick Braggiotti ’27February 2, 2010Brother of Rama Braggiotti ’25

Victor BurgAugust 5, 2010Father of Hal Ebbott-Burg ’03, Lily Ebbott-Burg ’08, and Simon Ebbott-Burg ’06

Marion ConnollyJune 10, 2010Mother-in-Law of Alison Connolly andgrandmother of Caitlin Connolly ’98 andBrianna Connolly ’01

Frederic Crocker ’29May 2, 2010Brother of Homer Crocker ’27, RichardCrocker ’41, Ruth Crocker Young ’33, andfather of Ellen Crocker ’65

Benjamin Gardiner ’35January 23, 2010

Elizabeth GoldsmithMay 28, 2010Grandmother of Nia Lutch ’97 and Alex Lutch ’02

Marian HaffenrefferJuly 15, 2010Mother of Beth Haffenreffer Scholle ’74and grandmother of Liza Scholle ’10

MacDonald HalseyMarch 23, 2010Father of Comfort Halsey Cope, father-in-law of Greg Cope ’71 and grandfather ofEliza Cope ’04, and Thomas Cope ’07

Richard “Dick” HaskellJuly 11, 2010Husband of Betty Haskell, father of MaryMartell, and grandfather of Jack Martell ’15

Susan H. McVeighMarch 23, 2010Mother of Katharine (Tina) McVeigh ’74and Alice McVeigh Mayberry ’75

Allene L. RussellMarch 22, 2010Mother of Katherine Russell McCurdy ’69,Allene Russell Pierson ’74, and Laura Russell Malkin ’75

Joseph C. SegarSeptember 1, 2010Father of Andrew Segar and grandfather ofLindsay Segar ’99 and Hilary Segar ’03

David B. Stone ’42April 12, 2010Brother of Robert Stone ’37, Galen Stone’35, and Henry Stone ’51, and father ofDavid Stone ’98

Steven Trustman ’78March 25, 2010Brother of John Trustman ’70 and LaurieTrustman Senger ’72

Births1985A.T. Howe and Sherri ShafferAndre HoweMarch 3, 2010

1987Annamary (Burton) Thompsonand Greg Thompson Catherine “Cate” Judith Kay Thompson July 12, 2010

1992Laura Dahmen Merriman and Zac Merriman Alex MerrimanApril 27, 2010

1995Dan Friefield and Leila Abolfazli Caleb FriefieldJune 23, 2010

Sara Leventhal Fleiss and Peter FleissSolomon FleissMarch 7, 2010

Greg and Annamary Burton Thompson ’87welcomed baby Catherine Judith Kay Thompson in July. She is called “Cate.”

Alex Merriman was born in April to Zac andLaura Dahmen Merriman ’92.

Sara Leventhal Fleiss ‘95 and Peter Fleiss’s newson, Solomon.

A.T. Howe’s son, Andre, was born in March. Dan Friefield and Leila Abolfazli, proud parentsof Caleb, who was born in June.

In April, the School hired photographer andformer parent Michael Lutch to capturePark’s campus from a helicopter. The result?A spectacular view of 171 Goddard Avenue!

The Park School171 Goddard AvenueBrookline, Massachusetts 02445

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Documents

Fall Bulletin 2010