Summer 2015

Summer 2015

GraduationThe 86th Annual Commencement Exercises

Stand and Deliver Boys Find their Voice at Fenn

FENN’S GRADUATION DAY 2015 dawned bright and beautiful. An hour before commence-ment exercises began under blue and sunny skies, our seventy-five soon-to-be graduates—thirty-nine eighth grade and thirty-six ninth grade young men—gathered on the green out-side of the meeting hall to savor their final time together. In those bittersweet, waning moments, clusters of boys conversed, joked, high-fived, hugged, and in a few instances donned and tied their Fenn blue and gold striped alumni ties. And then it was off to the steps of Thompson Hall for the photograph of the graduating members of the Class of 2016 and to the stairs of W.W. Fenn for the photo of the Class of 2015.

Standing in the front circle opposite the school flag pole and the memorial bench of Roger and Eleanor Fenn, faculty and staff who were present could recall welcoming these same Fenn boys on a warm and sunny Wednesday afternoon in early September five or six years ago on New Boys’ Day. Seeing them on this bright June morn-ing, we realized they had grown into Fenn young men. They stood straight and tall, handsomely attired in their blue blazers, white shirts, Fenn ties, and white pants as they posed for their final class photo. They gently bantered with each other and, on cue from the photographer, smiled with a measure of adolescent self-consciousness balanced with equal measures of pride and confidence. Then it was to the meeting hall for their final review of instructions about the order and proce-dures for commencement. Their Fenn education would now come to a close.

As each about-to-be graduate ascended the stairs to the stage to receive his Fenn diploma that morning, the conferral marked his comple-tion of a very full education at a transformative

period in his life. The boy who had arrived at Fenn a half dozen years before had, almost indis-cernibly, grown into a young man at a pace and in ways that likely would be unmatched in his life. His teachers and parents had strived and yearned for each boy’s discovery of his unknown talents, development of his personal gifts, nur-turance of his self-confidence, unfolding of his physical growth, and his maturation into a promising young man. And then, with his Fenn diploma in hand, each new alumnus descended from the graduation stage to step into the world past Monument Street, to secondary school and beyond, with the foundation of a Fenn education within. In that moment his parents and teachers held in their full hearts the belief that this young man held inside him a lasting gift for life, a gift that prompted one Fenn alumnus to reflect as he looked ahead to his college years: “I know that I will carry Fenn with me every day.”

In this edition of Fenn, we share with you the high and moving moments of this year’s Graduation Day and the highlights of a season in the life of Fenn in its growth and maturation as a school. Of special note is our feature article on one of the most valuable gifts of a Fenn edu-cation: the confidence and ability to speak before others. Like most things in life that are of great and lasting value, acquiring that gift is not easy for Fenn boys. But it proves over and over to be worth the effort.

At the close of this most fruitful year for Fenn, I thank you as members of our school community for your sustained interest in and support of our school, knowing as we do that your care for Fenn rests in your belief in the promise of boys and all that Fenn can mean in their full and ever-unfolding lives.

FROM THE HEADMASTER

Seeing them on this bright June morning, we realized they had grown into Fenn young men.

F E A T U R E S

3 Stand and Deliver Boys Find their Voice at Fenn

Public speaking is “an unwritten part of our curriculum,” with boys across divisions presented with many opportunities to practice proficiency in this “real world” skill in a setting where they are supported and encouraged.

12 Graduation 2015The 86th annual commencement exercises will be recalled for laughter and tears, and for the good wishes thirty–nine eighth and thirty-six ninth graders received from their families, classmates, and teachers.

D E P A R T M E N T S

22 Around Campus

28 Advancing Fenn

36 Tribute: Abbott Fenn

38 Class Notes

54 In Memoriam

56 Reflections

FENN is published twice a year for alumni, parents, and friends of the School. Letters and comments are welcomed and can be sent to Laurie O’Neill, The Fenn School, 516 Monument Street, Concord, MA 01742; [email protected]; 978-318-3583.

vOluME 84 nuMbER 2 SuMMER 2015

EDITOR AND WRITERLaurie O’Neill

EDITORIAL BOARDDerek BoonisarAnne Ames BoudreauVeronica Jorge-CurtisHarris Rosenheim ’02Jerry WardLorraine Garnett Ward

PHOTOGRAPHYEllen HarasimowiczJoshua TousterLaurie O’NeillLlewellyn CreativeTony Santos

COVER PHOTOJoshua Touster

DESIGNDan Beard Design

2 F E n n m a g a z i n e

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Stand and DeliverBoys find their

voice at Fenn

What causes not only boys, but just about everyone to be filled with fear, dread, and loathing?

The answer is addressing an audience, even a small one.

Even the phrase “stand and deliver” has an unpleasant

origin; it was the “your money or your life” command that

highway robbers made of travelers back in the 18th century.

Public speaking is said to be a necessary part of a well-

rounded education, along with the arts, athletics, and other

skills. But as an ability that must be taught and practiced, it

is often overlooked. A recent survey showed that only 25% of

college graduates enter the working world with well-developed

speaking skills and that many young people are not asked to

speak in front of others until they are in college.

But this is not the case at Fenn, where public speaking,

Headmaster Jerry Ward says, is “an unwritten part of

our curriculum.” Communicating clearly and confidently,

and feeling comfortable in front of people, is necessary

in all aspects of personal and professional life, and Fenn

students have many opportunities across all levels to

practice proficiency in this “real world” skill—in a setting

where they are supported and encouraged. “Boys,” says

Mr. Ward, “find their voice at Fenn.”

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Speaking Opportunities for All Boys

On stage, in front of All School Meeting, in classrooms, and in many other situations and locations, Fenn boys of all ages stand and deliver. They present dramatic monologues and play roles in productions on the Ward Hall stage. They compete in the Debate Club. They provide opening comments at special assemblies and at conferences held for visiting educators, and they bring to the School’s attention the significance of events such as Armistice Day. They share their experiences participating in a diversity conference or community service project, and report the results of a recent math, music, or athletic competition. Boys prepare and present senate and presidential and vice presidential campaign speeches, and school leaders speak at graduation in front of hundreds of their peers, families, and friends.

Boys speak on panels at events, and some travel to nearby receptions to address alumni and alumni parents. Even the youngest students make announcements and speeches; their numbers tend to grow through the year as they model the older boys and feel more confident. In special assemblies such as at Thanksgiving and for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, students offer remarks, reflections, and poems. It is particularly moving when even the smallest boys stand during the gathering of 400 or more at the Thanksgiving assembly and express their gratitude for their parents, their friends, and their school.

Fenn holds two annual public speaking competitions: the Hector J.

Hughes Extemporaneous Speaking Contest and the W.W. Fenn Public Speaking Contest. Each ninth grader must offer a Senior Reflection, presented in front of All School Meeting, in which he describes a life-altering experience, a lesson he has learned, a passion or talent he possesses, or a person who has inspired him. Ninth graders also read their original poems in front of their classmates and a panel of faculty judges at the Poetry Slam each March.

Mr. Ward often reminds the community that public speaking requires—and illustrates—one of the School’s four core values: courage. “Sometimes,” he says, “I see a pant leg shaking and I know how nervous the speaker is.” He points out that being in the audience asks for—and reflects—another value: empathy, and says that “The boys are safety nets for each other.”

A Safe Place to Stumble

Is it easy for Fenn boys to stand up and address a crowd? Do they ever cease to stammer, tremble, fidget, or say “uhhh” or “um” every few words? A group of eighth graders offered their thoughts on public speaking one day while they munched on chicken tenders and happily spun their padded conference chairs around and around while gathered in a Farm House meeting room. In their conversation, the boys described how they have overcome their early trepidation—or at least what they continue to do in order to conquer it. “I used to be really nervous,” conceded Max Steinert, to which his classmate Sam Pring declared, “The more prepared you are, the better.”

A large part of their confidence has to do with their audience, boys said. “It’s a safe place to make a mistake,” said Sam Farley. Added Max Steinert, “If you mess up, the crowd laughs with you, not at you.” And their teachers, they say, are endlessly supportive. Ninth grader Billy Van Walsum recalled in an interview following his Senior Reflection the time he was to present an origi-nal monologue for his drama class in seventh grade. “I walked out on stage. And froze,” he said. After an excruciat-ingly long pause, Billy muttered a few words and walked off, mortified. But his teacher, Tiffany Toner Culp, “was so understanding,” he said, and his friends offered expressions of kindness and told him not to worry, that he would “do fine next time.” With poise and confidence, Billy presented his Senior Reflection this spring, about Fenn being a “safe place to put yourself out there.”

Eighth grader Tyler Arle conceded that acting a part on stage is less terrifying than speaking in public. “I thought I’d be a good public speaker because I liked to do theatre, but I realized it’s harder to be yourself on stage than to play a role.”

Fenn boys even speak publically about public speaking. In his Senior Reflection, Mickey Feeney described a painful experience he had on stage as an eighth grader, when he was to deliver a lengthy monologue in the Winter Musical. He had practiced and practiced, and felt he “had it down pat,” he said. Opening night went well, as did the second performance. He approached the third night with confidence, but though

“Public speaking requires, and illustrates, one of the School’s four core values: courage.” – Jerry Ward, Headmaster


he began delivering his lines with ease, “suddenly I went blank,” he said. Seconds passed that seemed like hours. Mickey paced, brow furrowed, looking out at a “sea of people who were looking back at me expectantly.” Finally he remembered the last two lines of the piece and after he spoke them, he slunk off stage.

After the performance, Mickey was in no mood to talk to anyone, and certainly not to attend the cast party. Downcast, he went straight to his mom’s car, where he broke down and cried. His mother offered sympathy, but also encouragement, urging him to shake off his disappointment and join his cast mates for the celebration, which he did. For months afterwards, Mickey was

terrified to speak in public, a skill he thought he had mastered. But his Senior Reflection went flawlessly, and Mickey was back on stage for this year’s Winter Musical. “Don’t let failure get the best of you,” he told his fellow students. “When you get knocked down, get back up.”

Peter Blau remembered making an announcement in All School Meeting as a nervous fifth grader. “It was a disaster. I had gotten false information and on top of that I didn’t enunciate. I don’t think anyone understood a word I said,” he recalled, laughing. Sam Pring said he had to stand and speak as a Lower School student after a performance of the Treble Choir. “I was so nervous that I called the lady who was playing the piano ‘he.’ It

was horrible. But I got more and more comfortable over the years.” Sam Farley. said that he “used to dread having to speak for a week before I had to do it. I’d be so relieved when it was over.”

Some say their initial anxiety has evolved into excitement. Ethan Bondick, who won this year’s W.W. F. contest, said that he now gets “a rush” from speaking. “It’s a whole different experience.” Adds Peter: “I feel proud of myself when I sit down.” By their Upper School years, boys feel “that sense of accomplishment and pride,” said Matt Kleiman, even to the point at which they look forward to each opportunity to speak.” I am already pumped to do my Senior Reflection,” declared

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When he was a little boy, Willie Swift was sometimes teased for “looking different” and it was sometimes assumed, since he is part Asian, that he possessed exceptional proficiency in math and on the violin, “which isn’t the case,” he said to laughter while addressing his teachers and fellow students in Ward Hall.

Willie went on to talk about his love of playing the drums and the guitar, and of taking photos, and about how his family celebrates both Chinese New Year and Christmas. “There are all kinds of differences, from skin color to religious and cultural beliefs,” he said. “It wouldn’t be good if everyone was the same, right?”

Willie was offering his Senior Reflection, a ninth grade tradition. The short talks are an opportunity for boys to build confidence in public speaking and

to develop leadership skills, and they are given during All School Meetings throughout the year. The boys might reflect on a significant person or even a beloved pet, or talk about a passion, a journey—whether literal of figurative—or an experience that has taught them a valuable lesson.

“We want the boys to speak from the heart,” says Derek Boonisar, associate head and head of the Upper School, “and make a connection with the audience. Lorraine Ward, former Fenn English teacher, helps the boys prepare and rehearse their reflections, and each boy is interviewed later for a short profile that is published on the Fenn website.

This year the topics included valuing family and friends, learning how to bounce back from adversity, and working hard to achieve goals. Some presenters waxed philosophical, like Anthony Duane, who spoke of the tendency for boys to “act cool instead of being

themselves” in order to prove they are “not weak or unmanly.” Reminding his peers that Fenn “is a place where you are not watched or judged by others,” he urged them to “do something once a week that allows you to take off that mask of coolness—even something as simple as asking a teacher for help instead of pretending you don’t need it.”

Speaking from the Heart: Senior Reflections

“We have always been strong for developing leaders…men with sound ideas who were ready and willing to speak in public and do it effectively.”– Roger Fenn

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Tyler. Reflecting on their experiences in a philosophical way, the boys said they are grateful for the practice they have gotten. “It’s an important skill to have,” said Sam Farley. “It helps you with everyday interactions, especially with adults,” said Tyler. James Bernene offered that at his next school he will be taking a public speaking class, saying, “I feel I’ve got an advantage, having done so much of it.”

A Long-standing Tradition

Public speaking has been fostered at Fenn from its earliest years. In a collec-tion of essays in which he reflects on the

School’s first forty years, founder Roger C. Fenn in the 1970s writes that, “We have always been strong for developing leaders in a democratic society, men with sound ideas who were ready and willing to speak in public and do it effectively.” Student government, he continues, “is one training ground.” The extemporane-ous and memorized speaking contests are others, he adds, and these, too, are long traditions at Fenn.

Mr. Fenn relates a story of a young “extemp” contestant who chose to speak about antique cars. “He couldn’t stop when the two minutes were up. As moderator, I gave him the signal to

wind up. With an ugly look at me that acknowledged receipt of the news, he took a long breath and with the use of one conjunction after another, he went on and on in an endless stream of interesting facts, all tied together with ‘ands,’ ‘buts,’ and ‘becauses’….” This memory prompted Mr. Fenn to cite an oft-quoted poem, including the lines, “Softer than the summer breezes/Gently wafted from the south/Are the tintinnabulations/Of my automatic mouth.” However, Mr. Fenn was clearly amused and admittedly gratified by the boy’s pluck, calling such shows of fearlessness “miracles.”

When eleven-year-old Sammy Agrawal’s phone rang before dawn one morning, it was Mr. Ward asking the seventh grader to meet him in the Fenn parking lot. Shaking in his shoes, Sammy sped to campus. “I’m not what you call a great student,” he said in an aside as he told the story at All School Meeting. Facing the headmaster in the parking lot, Sammy “proceeded to hear a tale of deceit and intrigue.” Mr. Ward “needed to disappear” and “I was to help relocate him to the most remote location in the world.”

Sammy wasn’t telling the truth when he related this tale, but he wasn’t expected to be honest. He was competing in the Hector J. Hughes Extemporaneous Speaking Contest, for which he had chosen the topic, “When I picked up the phone at 4 a.m.….” Sammy, who delivered his response with no shortage of enthusiasm and drama, was named the winner.

The competition is held each year for interested Middle and Upper School

students, and is decided by a panel of judges usually comprised of alumni and former faculty members. The boys draw three topics selected by faculty members and select one just ten minutes prior to the competition. Even Lower School students have an opportunity to try extemporaneous speaking; teachers hold contests in their classrooms and the finalists present in front of the whole division.

Arguably the most famous Fenn speaking competition is the annual W.W. Fenn Public Speaking Contest. “W.W. F.,” as it is called, was established in 1946 and named for William Wallace Fenn, the father of the School’s founder, Roger C. Fenn, and dean of the Harvard Divinity School. Each year boys in sixth

to ninth grade declaim a memorized poem, speech, or excerpt from a novel or work of non-fiction that can be recited in two to four minutes. Students compete in their English classes during contest trials, after which the semi-finalists, selected by their peers with teacher input, declaim their pieces in Ward Hall. Ten finalists who have been selected by a committee of

faculty judges present their pieces in front of the community and a winner and two runners up are selected by outside judges.

This year the pieces ran the gamut from rousing to amusing to poignant. The winner, Ethan Bondick, offered the speech that Alexander the Great made to his exhausted troops to persuade them to follow him into India and conquer all of Asia.

“Extemp” and “W.W.F.”: The Ultimate Fenn Speaking Contests

“It’s an important skill to have. It helps you with everyday interactions, especially with adults.” – Tyler Arle ’16

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PERHAPS NO OTHER Fenn tradition is as bittersweet as graduation. This year’s

86th annual commencement exercises on June 5 will be recalled for the laughter

and tears of graduates and their families and friends and the good wishes the

seventy-seven young men received from the Fenn community. This time it was

the Ward Hall bell that pealed as thirty-nine eighth and thirty-six ninth graders

processed across the green into the New Gym, filing to their seats to the stirring

notes of a regimental march by Handel, performed by the Concert Band.

As is traditional, Headmaster Jerry Ward offered personal reflections on each member of the Class of 2015, singling him out for traits such as honesty, intellect, spirit, and enthusiastic commitment to Fenn life. Several prizes were awarded for excellence in character, service, academics, arts, athletics, and citizenship, with additional awards presented on Prize Day. The Treble Chorus performed and President Alex Hill and Vice President Jack Tyrie addressed their families, friends, and teachers, opening their remarks by expressing gratitude to the Fenn faculty. Alex noted that “our teachers taught us with focus and love,” and said that “they will live on in our hearts.”

Alex and Jack presented two symbols of school leadership—a cane given to founder Roger Fenn and a gavel—to incoming President Andrew Metellus and Vice President Colin Cunningham. Walker Davey and Ali Sheikh presented the class gift, a framed and mounted campus map that will be positioned to help visitors to Fenn.

After the ceremony the graduates walked along the traditional receiving line on the paths of the Ward Hall green so that faculty and staff members could bid them farewell.

Earlier in the week, an evening celebration of the eighth grade was held in Ward Hall for all members of the class and their parents and advisors. Mr. Ward offered a reflection on each graduating boy’s life at Fenn. Associate Head of School and Head of the Upper School Derek Boonisar commended the class for its “exuberance,” for the joy its members drew from working—and playing—together, and for their empathy and courage. He exhorted the boys, both departing and remaining, to “be kind, be motivated, and be resilient” as “you push forward in life,” then introduced the four eighth grade speakers who had been selected by their peers to address the class. Departing eighth grader William Locke recalled highlights from each of his five years at Fenn and closed by saying, “Fenn is my home. And part of me will always stay here.”


Graduation 2015

“Our teachers taught us with focus and love, and they will live on in our hearts.”

– Student President Alex Hill ’15

GRADuATIOn

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WALTER W. BIRGE III PRIZE FOR PHILANTHROPY AND SUPPORT OF THE FENN COMMUNITY

Nominated by the faculty and selected by the headmaster, the recipient of the Birge Prize demonstrates qualities that were championed by Mr. Birge, Fenn’s fourth headmaster (1983-1993). The prize recognizes one or more members of the ninth grade class who have continually distinguished themselves through their support of Fenn community service projects, their helpfulness to teachers, and their support of their peers. The prize was awarded this year to (l to r) Matthew M. Hart and Adam Jamal.

FACULTY PRIZEThe Faculty Prize is Fenn’s highest honor. It recognizes a ninth grade student or students whose breadth, character, and consistency of involvement in the life of the school have best exemplified the faculty’s ideals for Fenn students. This year the Faculty Prize was conferred upon (l to r) Walker L. Davey, Robert P. Brower, Nicholas R. Steinert and Thomas Patrick Ryan III.

LOVEJOY PRIZE

Created in 1998 by Trustee Emeritus Frederick H. Lovejoy Jr. ’51 and his family, the Lovejoy Prize honors a graduating eighth grade student or students whose exceptional character, effort, and achievement have so enriched the life of the school as to merit special recognition from the faculty upon their departure from Fenn. The prize is awarded only in years when there are students of extraordinary merit. This year the Lovejoy Prize was presented to (l to r) David A. Meneses-Ontiveros, Kevin C. Ewing, Kevin Y. Gao, and David R. Andrysiak.


Each year, before diplomas are awarded at graduation, the headmaster presents, on behalf of the faculty, six prizes that recognize in different ways members of the eighth and ninth grade classes for their exceptional character, effort, achievement, and growth, all vital elements of a Fenn education. The recipients are chosen on the basis of recommendations and votes of the Fenn School faculty.

GRADuATIOn awards and honors

MARK BISCOE AWARD

Named for retired master teacher Mark Biscoe H’95, who gave thirty-six years of service to the school, the Mark Biscoe Award honors the extraordinary example that Mark set for his colleagues and students. The award is presented to a ninth grade student or students who, through their personal growth in their years at Fenn, have come to value and live out the ideals of school citizenship which Mr. Biscoe, as teacher and coach, inspired generations of Fenn students to embrace. This year the honor went to (l to r) Christian J. DiPietrantonio and Matthew M. Hart.

BURBANK PRIZE

The Burbank Prize is awarded by the teacher-coaches of Fenn to those graduating athletes who have distinguished themselves through their generous and unselfish spirit, which fostered the success, happiness, and self-esteem of their teammates. This year the prize was awarded to (l to r) Boyd M. Hall, Matthew M. Hart, and Walker L. Davey.

DR. SAMUEL C. FLEMING MEMORIAL PRIZE

Established by members of the Class of 1965 on the occasion of their 25th Fenn reunion, the Dr. Samuel C. Fleming Memorial Prize honors their classmate and friend who wore a “wonderful, ever-present smile.” The prize is awarded each year to an eighth or ninth grade student or students who merit recognition for determination and perseverance in meeting academic challenges, whose efforts never languished, and who contributed to the school through qualities of friendliness, unselfish conduct, and sensitivity and warmth to their classmates. This year the faculty honored (l to r) Zack S. Goorno, Sammy A. Hankaoui, Adam Jamal, and William L. Swift.

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ELEANOR B. FENN MODERN LANGUAGE PRIZE

Originally a prize for achievement in French, the Eleanor B. Fenn Modern Language Prize commemorates the many contributions of Mrs. Fenn, the school’s first French teacher and the dedicated wife of founder Roger Fenn. Today, with this prize, Fenn recognizes the most accomplished Spanish students for their talent and interest in the language and culture of Spain and for their exemplary academic work in the Spanish language. (l to r) Walker L. Davey, Conor A. Zachar, and Zack S. Goorno were honored with the prize.

ALAN S. MOATS MATHEMATICS PRIZE

The parents of Alan S. Moats ’62 established the Moats Mathematics Prize in 1966 in their appreciation for Fenn’s excellence in preparing their son for the rigors of Phillips Exeter Academy. In its first year, the prize was given “for the curiosity which raised questions, the perseverance which sees through to the answers, and the thorough-ness which is the mark of excellence in any field.” This year the prize was awarded to (l to r) Kevin Y. Gao, Walker L. Davey, David R. Andrysiak, and Jonathan J. Gong.

LENNOX LINDSAY LATIN PRIZE

Lennox Lindsay was Fenn’s first Latin master, who taught at the school from 1929 to 1939. Mr. Lindsay, according to Roger Fenn, “made Latin a living language, not a dead one” through his explorations of Roman manners, culture, and artifacts. Initially conferred upon the boy who shared Mr. Lindsay’s passion for these areas of the curriculum, today the Lennox Lindsay Latin Prize is awarded for overall excellence in the study of Latin. This year the prize went to (l to r) Jonathan J. Gong and Jacob H. Pine.

GOULD ARTS AWARD

The Arts Award is named for Kirsten Gould, who retired in 2011 after twenty-seven years at the School, for her “visionary shaping of Fenn’s arts program in its rich and full dimensions.” The award is given by vote of the arts department faculty, and in its first year was presented to three students who have demonstrated throughout their careers at Fenn exemplary dedication and accomplishment respectively in music, drama, and the visual arts. This year (l to r) Anthony N. Duane was honored for distinction in drama, Alexander J. Tung for distinction in music, and James R. Morse for distinction in the visual arts.


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WILLIAM O. TRAVERS WRITING CONTEST

At graduation in 1979, the Fenn School Board of Trustees established an English prize to honor the long and dedicated service of William O. Travers, English teacher and assistant headmaster from 1956 to 1979. Mr. Travers’ keen interest in writing and his long-held desire for a composition prize prompted a contest to be created in each division of the school for which submissions of imaginative, creative, and descriptive writing were sought. This year, the William O. Travers Writing Contest winners in the Poetry category were Liam S. Brown (Lower School), Gray M. Hussey (Middle School), and Matthew N. Kleiman (Upper School). For Personal Narrative, the winners were Tucker T. Winstanley (Lower School), John L. Michaud (Middle School), and Kadin O. Ali (Upper School). In Fiction, prizes went to Adam R. Ewing (Lower School), Nicklaus G. Beck (Middle School), and Kiefer B. Read (Upper School).

Winners of Travers Writing awards (l to r front): Adam R. Ewing, Matthew N. Kleiman, Tucker T. Winstanley, Liam S. Brown, and John L. Michaud. Back row l to r: Kiefer B. Read, Kadin O. Ali, Nicklaus G. Beck, and Gray M. Hussey.

THE CARTER PRIZE FOR HISTORY AND SOCIAL STUDIES

The Carter Prize for History and Social Studies, named in honor of Jim Carter ’54 for his distinguished forty years of teaching history and social studies at Fenn, is awarded to a graduating student or students who in their years at Fenn have shown exceptional interest, knowledge, and diligence in their study of his-tory and social studies. This year the recipients of the Carter Prize, shown with Jim Carter, were (l to r) Colin M. Regenauer, Siddhartha G. Modur, Samuel W. Breault, William E. Locke III, and William L. Swift.

BAND AWARD

The Band Award is presented for leadership and dedication. The winners, with Instrumental Music Director Maeve Lien, were (l to r) Alexander J. Tung, Maxwell E. Boyle, and Michael J. Feeney.

MILLAR BRAINARD SCIENCE PRIZE

The Millar Brainard Science Prize was established by Edward C. Brainard II ’46 in memory of his father, an old friend of Roger Fenn’s at the time the school was founded. The prize is awarded to a mem-ber or members of the ninth grade class who have not only demonstrated an outstanding knowledge of science but have also displayed enthusiasm, creativity, and an impres-sive understanding of the scientific method. This year the winners of the Brainard Science Prize were (l to r) Robert P. Brower, Conor A. Zachar, and William L. Swift.

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P.G. LEE MEMORIAL PRIZE

Each year, the P.G. Lee Memorial Prize is awarded at Prize Day to honor a member or members of the graduating class who contributed outstanding determination, hard

work, positive spirit, and cheerfulness to their athletic teams. Established in memory of P.G. Lee ’87, the award honors the spirit of a boy who was a true competitor but is perhaps best remembered for “his smile and his ability to make people laugh, and the happiness he brought to people around him.” This year’s eighth and ninth graders voted to honor (l to r) Boyd M. Hall and Walker L. Davey.

JOSEPH A. HINDLE JR. SCIENCE RECOGNITION AWARDThe Joseph A. Hindle Jr. Science Recognition Prize was established in 2011 in honor of Mr. Hindle, who retired that spring after thirty-two years at Fenn. The prize is awarded to the ninth grade student or students who consistently demonstrate mastery of laboratory skills and who creatively apply critical thinking skills to the field of biology. This year the recipients of the Hindle Prize were (l to r) Kevin Y. Gao, Walker L. Davey, and Jonathan J. Gong.

Fenn School Citizenship Prizes honor boys in grades four through nine who show exceptional citizenship traits and epitomize the ideals of the School: they are especially hard working in their school activities, they are particularly cheerful, positive, and supportive to other students, and they are relied upon by faculty to lend a hand when important jobs need to be done. The prizes are chosen by faculty in consultation with the entire student body. This year the following students were honored with Citizenship Prizes on Prize Day:

4th GRADECharles G. KesslerJohn J. DrapeauEdward G. Takacs,Byron E. Woodman

5th GRADEWalter P. BrookbyTimothy J. SmithAdam R. EwingDaniel W. HainesNoah J. Lippa

6th GRADEAlexander J. BrownThomas J. FitzsimmonsOwen R. HickeySamuel L. RemondiMarshall G. Wesel

7th GRADEOliver E. CheeverJames J. EwingOwen T. HeatonDuncan R. MacKenzieIan M. MooreEamon J. O’MalleyLucian W. Sharpe

8th GRADETyler E. ArleMaxwell E. BoyleSamuel J. FarleyThaddeus M. Sheibe

9th GRADEMichael J. FeeneyBoyd M. HallStephon J. Kindle IIJack C. Tyrie

AUSTEN FOX RIGGS AWARD

First presented by the Class of 1951 as their parting gift to Fenn, the Austen Fox Riggs Award is given in memory of Austen, a Fenn student from the Class of 1955 who lost his life attempting to save his younger brother from drowning in the Concord River. Determined by vote of the Lower School faculty, the award is given to the student or students who most resemble “Autie” in the helpful effort he contributed in work and in play. This year the award went to Ryan H. Lewis.

citizenship prizes


Robert Prescott BrowerBuckingham Browne & Nichols School

Mark Chapman BruniGroton School

James Andrew CorreiaRivers School

Walker Leigh DaveyGroton School

Christian Joseph DiPietrantonioNoble and Greenough School

Anthony Norman DuaneMaynard High School

John Warren EamesSt. Mark’s School

Lucas Bo EwingConcord Academy

Michael James FeeneyLawrence Academy

Charles James FitzsimmonsMaynard High School

Hayden Fitzhugh GaluszaPomfret School

Zack Solomon GoornoMiddlesex School

Harry Connelly Groome VLawrence Academy

Grant Owen GundGroton School

Boyd Morgan HallSt. Mark’s School

Sammy Adam HankaouiCambridge School of Weston

Matthew Michael HartSt. Mark’s School

Alexander Bryce HillDexter Southfield School

Adam JamalArlington Catholic High School

Kevin Martin KelleherSt. John’s High School

Stephon Jose Kindle IIThayer Academy

Nicholas Fortin LaPlanteRivers School

Sidharth Ganesh ModurCommonwealth School

Reid Patrick MonahanSt. Mark’s School

Spencer Picasso PavaAvon Old Farms School

Thomas Patrick Ryan IIIGroton School

Benjamin William SackettBrooks School

Alexander Campanile SheikhConcord Academy

Maxwell Newman SolomonGroton School

Nicholas Ransom SteinertGroton School

Elliot Prescott StevensonKimball Union Academy

William Lawrence SwiftPhillips Exeter Academy

Jack Campbell TyrieNoble and Greenough School

Willem Martin Van WalsumLawrence Academy

William Blake WeselConcord-Carlisle High School

Conor Alejandro ZacharPhillips Academy, Andover

S u M M E R 2015 17

F E N N G R A D U A T I N G C L A S S O F 2 0 1 5

awards and honors


GRADuATIOn

Erik Alexander AbeleConcord Academy

Noah Lev AlterConcord-Carlisle High School

David Roswell AndrysiakMiddlesex School

James Rich BerneneLawrence Academy

Charles Nathan Levitt BirnbergLexington High School

Maxwell Edward BoyleConcord Academy

Samuel Wilson BreaultConcord Academy

John Dewitt CadwaladerRivers School

Ethan Y CheungBoston College High School

Dalton Raymond ChurchSt. George’s School

Charles Morey CookConcord-Carlisle High School

Abraham Arch DekinFessenden School

Owen Powell EltonConcord Academy

Paul William EmelloBoston University Academy

Kevin Clarence EwingMiddlesex School

Izak David FureyHolderness School

Kevin Yun GaoMiddlesex School

Jonathan Jieqiang GongActon-Boxborough High School

Charles Cyrus JafariSt. Margaret’s Episcopal School

Daniel Michael KentMiddlesex School

Matthew Nelson KleimanConcord-Carlisle High School

William Everett Locke IIIPhillips Academy, Andover

Peter John McCauleyConcord-Carlisle High School

David Ariel Meneses-OntiverosRoxbury Latin School

Aditya Roshan MeruvaLexington High School

Nolan Richard MooreSt. Mark’s School

James Robert MorseBeaver Country Day School

Jacob Henry PineConcord Academy

Kevin Pereira QueridoBelmont Hill School

Kiefer Brooks ReadConcord-Carlisle High School

Colin Murphy RegenauerConcord Academy

Will Roger RobichaudConcord-Carlisle High School

Christopher Thorne TheodoropoulosConcord-Carlisle High School

Alexander Julian TungLexington High School

Parker Luis WeilRivers School

Samuel Eli WinnegGovernor’s Academy

Benjamin John WintersSt. Mark’s School

Griffith Charles WoodConcord-Carlisle High School

Eric ZhouCommonwealth School

S u M M E R 2015 19

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FACulTY AnD STAFF nEWS

Celebrating Derek Boonisar’s twenty years of service to Fenn as a teacher, coach, advisor, and currently associate headmaster and Upper School head, Headmaster Jerry Ward said Derek “never fails to place at the center of his work the School, our community, and the individual for whom he is present…it is Derek’s rock solid groundedness that girds everyone and inspires our shared faith and confidence that leading Fenn is a willing, able, and deserving educator who embraces Sua Sponte.” Dave Duane, science department chair, paid tribute to Tete Cobblah, director of Diversity and Fine Arts coordinator, who came to Fenn thirty years ago, saying that Tete, originally hired to teach art, rose to the challenge of addressing the issue of diversity and making it part of the fabric of Fenn with the founding of the Diversity Committee and programs such as the Fenn Diversity Institute and the Multicultural Educators’ Forum. Other faculty and staff members honored for their years of service during a dinner held in February are: Tony Santos, thirty years; Peter Bradley and Mike Potsaid, twenty-five years; Elise Mott and Anne Boudreau, twenty years; Eric Corfield, Rob Morrison, Liz Wei, and Amy Stiga, fifteen years; Dana Pacheco, Jane Potsaid, Dave Sanborn, Karen Viola, and Nat Carr ’97, ten years; and Olivia Boger, Judy Bashta, David DiMatteo, Kristin FitzGerald, and Anne Spitzer, five years.

Derek Cribb attended the National Green School Conference held in

Virginia Beach. The event drew a wide range of people, including teachers, architects, sustainability coordinators, and compost bin makers. “I was pleased to see that Fenn is firmly in the middle regarding sustainability; we have an established recycling and composting program,” said Derek. “The next step is for us to involve students even more in identifying areas in which we can reduce the amount of resources we use as a community.” Michelle Heaton

was selected to participate in the International Boys’ School Coalition 2015-2016 Action Project as one of a group of U.S. educators who will conduct research on the topic of boys as global citizens at their schools. She will attend the 2015 IBSC Annual Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, this summer for orientation and training and the 2016 IBSC Annual Conference in Vancouver, Canada, where the projects will be presented.

Amy Jolly, Laurie Byron, Jen Waldeck, Kathy Starensier, Dr. Eden Dunckel, and Steve Farley participated in the “Reading Development and New

Understandings from the World of Neuroscience” conference at The Carroll School. Eden also attended the 2015 spring conference of the Massachusetts Psychologists’ Association, on the topic of psycho-educational testing. Jerry Ward, Derek Boonisar, Steve Farley, Gisela Hernandez-Skayne, and Nat Carr ’97 attended the annual National Association of Independent Schools conference, held this year in Boston. The theme was “Design the Revolution:

Blending Learning, Leading, and Innovation,” and participants explored innovative ways to use design-thinking techniques and blended-learning models. They were offered practical, immediately applicable solutions to a wide range of school challenges. Several faculty and staff members organized by Tete Cobblah viewed the film Selma at a Burlington cinema, following it with a discussion and dinner at

a nearby restaurant.

Winnie Smith called the sessions she attended at the Massachusetts Environmental Education Society program titled “Our Common Wealth: Environmental Education is for Everyone” in Worcester “stellar” and said they inspired her “to implement some changes in my curriculum and to our community service program.” Beth Shiffler attended the National Council of Mathematics conference and took away “the value and importance of creating opportunities in the classroom and school for students to communicate with each other mathematically.

Faculty and Staff News Briefs


Derek Boonisar with a visitor at the Multicultural Educators’ Forum

S u M M E R 2015 21

Several faculty members are meeting periodically for what they call “Learning Lunches,” where they discuss how to bring larger world issues to their classrooms and how to cultivate such qualities as grit and resilience in their students. Laurie Byron, John Sharon, and Ralph Giles gleaned the idea for such gatherings at an Educational Records Bureau conference in Boston last fall.

At the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Assembly, MLK medals were presented to three members of the community: Rob Morrison, who teaches Integrated Studies and is on the executive board of the Drinking Gourd Project, which is working to establish a permanent African American and Abolitionist

Heritage Tour in Concord and provide educational resources for local schools and community groups; Marilyn Schmalenberger, the assistant to the director of admissions and financial aid and an active member of the Diversity Committee, who serves on the board of One Penny Per Mile, an organization that uses donations to finance green energy systems for other non-profit organizations; and Jenn Youk See, Fenn’s assistant diversity director who was honored for her tireless work for

the community. The annual Multicultural Educators’ Forum, organized by the diversity department led by Tete Cobblah and the Fenn Diversity Institute, was held at Fenn in February. It featured a screening of the documentary film I’m not a racist…Am I? and workshops on how to have conversations about race, privilege, and justice with students. The event drew some seventy-five participants from Fenn and several area schools.

Mike Salvatore, Tete Cobblah, Elizabeth Cobblah, Tiffany Toner, and Lisa Francine participated in a conference titled “Sources of Inspiration: History through the Arts and Lives of Artists” at the JFK Presidential Library and Museum. Elise Mott, Matt Ward, and John Sharon attended a Think Tank on Global Education at Harvard, which brought together educators from all over the world to engage deeply on issues schools face regarding global education, from technology to global citizenship. A Sustainability Curriculum Development Summer Institute was held at Fenn in June, organized by Cameren Cousins and attended by educators from a number of area schools.

Sue Fisher and Pauline MacLellan attended SXSWEdu, the annual

South by Southwest Conference in Texas, a combination of interactive workshops, engaging sessions, keynote speeches, exhibits, a learning space “playground,” and educational documentary screenings, all with a focus on innovative ideas in education. Sue and Pauline were interested in learning more about the makerspace movement in

schools. (Read about makerspace at Fenn on p. 28).

Fenn welcomes Maggie Magner as Summer Fenn’s new camp director. Maggie has a long history of involvement in day camps in New England and had been the director at Hill House in Boston, working with elementary school children. Melissa Gordon is Fenn’s newest math learning specialist; she is an educational consultant, an editor of science textbooks, and a private tutor. She has master’s degrees in agricultural and biological engineering from Cornell and in education from Boston College.

In personal news, Kristin Fitzgerald and husband Kris welcomed Baby Clare Ann to their family on February 26.

John Sharon, left, and Ralph Giles at a Learning Lunch

Winners of the MLK Medal (l to r): Marilyn Schmalenberger, Rob Morrison, and Jenn Youk See.

Clare Ann FitzGerald

Around CampusTHOUGH WINTER WAS spent digging out from endless snow storms, the boys seemed to love it. A visiting sled dog team felt right at home on the soccer field, delighting the Lower School and making us wonder if the Iditarod should have been moved south this year. Mother Nature didn’t cooperate much as winter melted into spring; the Marching Band wore plastic ponchos in the Patriots’ Day Parade and for Field Day in early June it was Blue vs. Gold (Blue won by 10 points) under showery skies. But nothing dampened the spirits of boys on stage, in their classrooms, in the gyms, in the art studios, and on the fields, where they were busily and happily productive.


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S u M M E R 2015 23

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THREE FENN BOYS were honored in this year’s Small Independent School Art League Show (SISAL). Of the 525 pieces submitted to the show by seventeen participating schools, all of Fenn’s thirty-seven pieces were admitted, a remarkable achievement, according to Fenn Fine Arts Coordinator Tete Cobblah. Sixth grader Jo-Jo Solomon (at left) won first place in hand-built ceramics for a piece titled “Bust and Torso.” Seventh grader Max Ewing was awarded second place in the woodwork category for his piece “Table,” and sixth grader Andre Vlahakis won third place in digital photography with his untitled photo.

“ITS ABOUT HELPING their com-munities while reinforcing their own learning,” says Michelle Heaton of efforts being made to better integrate community service into the curriculum. Michelle, who teaches science and coor-dinates the community service program, is working on transitioning to a “service learning” program. This year’s theme was Hunger and Homelessness. For example, boys who helped out at Open Table Pantry or Gaining Ground Farm in Concord discussed why it’s healthi-er and more economical to eat locally sourced foods.

Michele has developed a list of teaching resources, accessible on the Fenn website, for each discipline. One idea for social studies classes is to study where our food comes from and to learn about the interdependency of our global food system. Boys in English classes could read online stories about people trying to survive in rural areas of devel-oping countries, and they would decide who they want to “be” in the story and make decisions key to their survival.

Community service at Fenn has grown dramatically over the years. Faculty member Mike Potsaid, who retired in June, worked hard for several years to build up the program. “Now it’s time to move towards teaching the boys more about why we are doing these projects and what has caused the prob-lems area organizations are working to address,” Michele explains. “We want to get creative.” To that end, Michele and Winnie Smith, Lower School coordina-tor for community service, are devising more ways to link service efforts with classroom studies and activities.

For example, Jon Byrd’s fifth grade class has discussed and written blog entries about volunteering at Open Table Pantry in Concord, pondering the question of why area people need help feeding their families and where the food comes from. Winnie Smith’s fifth grade class, having studied the Iditarod this winter, made fleece blan-kets for sled dogs this spring.

Service learning, Michele says, “is an important component of a boy’s

education at Fenn. It strives to mean-ingfully complement and strengthen classroom learning with service oppor-tunities that teach civic responsibility and benefit the broader community.” Michelle was selected to participate in the International Boys’ School Coalition 2015-2016 Action Project as one of a group of U.S. educators who will con-duct research on the topic of boys as global citizens at their schools.

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Fenn Earns Three Arts Awards at SISAL

Linking Service with Learning

24 F E n n m a g a z i n e24 F E n n m a g a z i n e

W I n T E R 2014 25S u M M E R 2015 25

CURTAINS, a riotous murder mystery, was this year’s Fenn-Nashoba Brooks winter musical production, presented in Ward Hall in early March. Drama Coordinator Tiffany Toner Culp direct-ed, Dr. Charlie Streff was assistant direc-tor, and Rob Morrison was technical director. Set at the Colonial Theatre in Boston, the play involves the mysterious on-stage murder of the supremely untal-ented female star of Robbin’ Hood of the Old West, an incident which causes the entire cast and crew to be regarded as suspects. Enter a local detective who just happens to be a musical theatre fan. It is up to him to save the show, solve the

case, and maybe find love before the cur-tain rises again.

The cast included Fenn boys Anthony Duane, Walker Davey, William Locke, Kevin Gao, Sammy Hankaoui, Tyler Arle, Nick Steinert, Tad Sheibe;

Adam Jamal; Ali Sheikh, James Bernene, Erik Abele, Mickey Feeney, Max Solomon, and Boyd Hall. Fenn tech crew members were Rob Brower, Patrick Ryan, Ben Sackett, Elliot Stevenson, Paul Emello, Matt Kleiman, and Matt Hart.

THE FIRST TIME ninth grader Lucas Ewing attended a Youth in Philanthropy meeting, “I learned so much,” he declared, including that, “With a little bit of effort I can make a huge difference in someone’s life.” Lucas was one of twenty-four ninth graders in YIP, as the group is called, which was led by Harris Rosenheim ’02, director of alumni giving and alumni relations, and Veronica Jorge-Curtis, director of advancement.

The boys, meeting once a week over break-fast throughout the fall

and winter, learned about philanthropy, researched several non-profits in the area, and conducted site visits before deciding which organizations they would like to support using funding that

has been provided for this effort by an anonymous donor. YIP was established ten years ago. In March they presented a total of $9000 to four organizations: The Learning Center for the Deaf (TLC),

The Food Project, Artists for Humanity (AFH), and Rediscovery.

YIP members work closely with the Foundation for MetroWest. After students presented the checks to rep-resentatives from each orga-nization, Harris expressed his pride in the boys for their hard work and dedication, adding that, “It’s been a great oppor-tunity to work with them.”

Murder Creates Mayhem in Winter Musical

Ninth Graders Learn How To Make A Difference

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LEGEND HAS IT that Jim Carter ’54, long-time Fenn teacher, discovered Mike Potsaid at Nashoba Brooks, where Mike was one of two male teachers. Jim grabbed Mike by the hand and led him to Fenn, where he would teach science, coach, advise, direct the school’s community service efforts, spend untold hours helping young hands create tables and tool boxes in the woodshop, and tackle a myriad of other tasks for twenty-five years.

Mike’s students enjoy spending time in his classes, say-ing he is “friendly and caring,” “really patient,” “a great listen-er,” and a teacher “who can have fun and get the job done.”

Organized, methodical, principled, creative (he once made a replica of a parlor guitar for Old Sturbridge Village), diligent, direct, honest, and humble are all words his colleagues have used to describe Mike, who, says colleague Tete Cobblah, “has always promoted the resourceful spirit of Roger Fenn.” His fellow faculty mem-bers know Mike as someone who values hard work, cares passionately about nature—he will often pause on his way down Carr Road to look skyward, peer-ing up into a tree where a bird is trilling or pointing out one of the resident red-tailed hawks to a passerby—and uses his own stories of struggling as a student to inspire the boys in his classes.

As a coach, Mike emphasized play-ing the game over winning or losing, believing that “it’s okay to lose as long as you don’t lose the lesson,” says Tete. Mike believed that soccer doesn’t build character but rather reveals it, Tete adds.

Mike’s first teaching job was at the

Carroll School, in 1972. He described that experience and his introduction to Fenn in an All School email when he announced his impending retirement. “Everyone there worked extremely hard to give this greatly expanded fledgling school credibility in the world of private schools for kids with learning challenges.” One day, Mike wrote, the headmaster, Bill Adams, excitedly announced that a Carroll student had been accepted to The Fenn School. There was great jubilation and high fives all around. Mike, however, had never heard of The Fenn School, “but from the reactions of everyone else, I knew this was a very big deal and that The Fenn School must be a very special place.”

Years later, the Potsaids’ two sons attended “this very special place” and then Mike began teaching here, “learn-ing firsthand why everyone was so excit-ed back there at The Carroll School.”

As he transitions to retirement, Mike says he “can’t even begin to adequately

express how fortunate I feel to have been able to spend the major-ity of my working years here, for all of those reasons that those who have been here for any length of time know so well. There are lots of different ways to go through life. For some people, their working life isn’t so great, or at best it is routine and mundane. And then there are the truly lucky ones, like me. I have enjoyed every year, right up to the very end. I have enjoyed working

with you all and with the hundreds of students who have passed through my classroom door.”

Now, Mike says, “it’s time to take all those things I want to do off the back burner, where they have been patiently waiting.” His labor of love with his wife, Jane, a Fenn learning specialist, has been the home they have been building on a lake in northern Massachusetts, where they will now be able to spend more time. Mike’s pride in the project is pal-pable, and one can imagine that he has placed every board and shingle with his characteristic determination and seri-ousness of purpose, and with the utmost love and care.

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Mike Potsaid Embodies the “Resourceful Spirit of Roger Fenn”

Fenn Bids a Fond Farewell to Two Longtime Colleagues


S u M M E R 2015 27

THAT “STUDENT AND PERSON” is David Shapiro ’09, former president of the student body at Fenn, who is going into his senior year at Wake Forest University, working on a business major in analyt-ical math. And “the best teacher I ever had?” That would be Kathy Starensier, who, says David, “saw poten-tial in every student.” A timid and apprehensive fourth grader when he arrived at Fenn eleven years ago, David bloomed under Kathy’s care because, he says, “her commitment to her students was unparalleled; she would never let a student fail and her affection was unconditional.”

Kathy, who retired this June (see her Reflections piece on p. 56), spent thirty years nurturing and inspiring boys at Fenn. Some of the students she taught have gone on to teach alongside her. One is Nat Carr ’97, who says that Kathy’s gift is “her ability to instill confidence in her students.” Nat says that there “was no year at any point in my education that came close to being as transformative as my fourth grade year in Kathy’s class.”

Though she has shaped the lives of hundreds of students and been the recip-ient of countless compliments similar to David’s and Nat’s, Kathy is not one to seek praise or attention. “She just gets things done in order to make everyone’s lives better,” says her former colleague Lorraine Ward. Kathy demonstrates a

quiet dedication, a “luminous intelli-gence,” says Lorraine, and an ability to show grace under pressure that is admira-ble and inspiring.

After graduating from Rice University, Kathy was trained as an Orton-Gillingham tutor. The tutoring,

she recalls, was intensive, involving three to five sessions a week with each student, during which she got to know the chil-dren and their families well. As her own nest grew, she decided to focus on her three sons until her youngest, Josh, was in first grade.

Kathy came to Fenn “by accident,” she says. While going through the applica-tion process with son Eric, she learned that the School was looking for learning spe-cialists. Kathy “jumped at the chance” and immediately loved working with Lower School students. What convinced her that she wanted to be a part of the Fenn com-munity was the first “welcome back” party

for faculty and staff, right after Labor Day, when she “found it remarkable to watch everyone embrace and happily greet one another.” Fenn, she thought, “must indeed be a warm, healthy community of people who like each other.”

After a year, an opening occurred for a fourth grade teacher and Kathy was hired. With former tutor and teacher Norma Harrington, Kathy taught math, science, and social studies. “Norma and I taught dinosaurs and archeology, which were big hits,” she says. In 1989 Kathy took over an ILP (Intensive Language Program, now called Intensive Literacy Program) class for Rosie Shiras, who stayed on for a semester to mentor her; “I learned so much,” says Kathy, who was able to return to her

original work teaching the mechanics of language skills.

As she transitions to retirement, Kathy says she has “lots of ideas and interests to pursue,” among them classical music and fine art, and she may sign up for online college courses. And of course, her priorities will include devoting more time to being a grandmother, reading, and visiting family. But wise retired friends, she notes, have advised her that “life will evolve in unexpected ways.” No matter where life takes her, Kathy will “never be far away in spirit,” she says, in part because husband Bob will still be here at Fenn.

Kathy Starensier’s Commitment to her Students is “Unparalleled”“I still believe the student and person I became was born in her

classroom. I will never understand how she created the resilience, work ethic, and confidence in me that has come to define my academic career. She was and is the best teacher I ever had.”

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ASK FENN BOYS how they best like to learn, and they will not hesitate to reply, with an abundance of enthusiasm, “Doing things with our hands!”

Designing, tinkering, questioning, and employing their curiosity and love of experimental play, students in and after class have been participating in a number of activities that are in the mak-erspace “playbook,” all of which satisfy that need for exploration and invention.

Makerspaces are active learning centers that combine art, science, and technology and cultivate curiosity and imagination. They are filled with edu-cational tools such as 3D printers for fabrication, LEGOs, and K’NEX, a con-struction toy system. Students can work together, programming robots and build-ing everything from model cars and cities to electric circuits, and engaging in many other hands-on projects.

Fenn is taking the opportunities it has provided to students for hands-on problem solving to another level this summer, transforming a former School House science lab into a makerspace and purchasing more materials with which to design and build. A gener-ous grant from The Sharpe Family Foundation is providing funds to sus-tain the program’s advancement.

For the last five years or so, Fenn has offered boys many opportunities to design and engineer: students have been building with LEGOs and creating robots to tackle challenges in the classroom. In past years Fenn’s LEGO Robotics teams, organized when interest was sufficiently high, have gone on to win awards in regional and state competitions. Students have spent

time coding, including during a school wide participation in the international Hour of Code, and working with electrical circuits to solve engineering challenges.

The driving forces behind Fenn’s makerspace movement are science teacher Pauline MacLellan and librarian Sue Fisher, who are passionate about designing and engineering and who have participated in workshops, visited

area schools that have designated spaces for STEM activities, and done indepen-dent reading, research, and experiment-ing to learn as much as possible about incorporating makerspace programs into educational settings.

Pauline and Sue have offered after-school opportunities for boys to build Junior Solar Sprint Cars and enter their creations in a competition, which was

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Makerspace Being Created on CampusGrant Helps Advance Project


W I n T E R 2014 29S u M M E R 2015 29

held at Fenn in May. In classes, activity periods, or after school programs, boys have created a drone, a hovercraft, a vacuum pump to launch ping pong balls, a door “unlocker” (which was installed for a while on a classroom door), and a robotic dog food dispenser. “We want to support these boys who have dreams,” says Pauline. Students have done com-puter programming and have used a 3D printer that has been located in Pauline MacLellan’s science lab and has been used by both science students and after school groups. A handful of older boys oversaw the printing of a fifth grade sci-ence project, displaying focus, responsi-bility, and carefulness, says Pauline.

Other teachers have incorporated makerspace activities into their curricu-lum. Derek Cribb’s seventh grade science class built and tested wind turbines for generating electricity, deciding how many and what kind of blades to construct.

Some boys are so passionate about robotics that they are on area teams that compete locally and beyond. Rob Brower, who graduated this spring, is a former Fenn Lego Robotics team member who now competes with the Brainstormers, a Lexington-based robotics group that made it to the Super Regionals East this spring and got “really close,” Rob says, to advancing to Worlds. The Brainstormers are captained by David Nguyen ’15 and advised by his parents, Tricia and John, who also oversee a team of budding engi-neers, the Robot Revolution, in which their son, Andy, a rising Fenn fifth grad-er, participates.

Last fall Pauline and Sue approached Headmaster Jerry Ward and Steve Farley, assistant headmaster for the academic program, with a Fenn makerspace pro-posal that would include a designated area for “both messy work and higher level thinking/processing/collaboration.” Besides seeking a specific “home” for makerspace activities, they requested that the space offer adequate ventilation and

electrical outlets and storage space for ongoing projects, tools, and other equip-ment. The main objective of the proposal was “to create a center that would allow Fenn boys to become “creators, entrepre-neurs, innovators, tinkerers, and problem solvers,” according to their proposal.

After-school classes and Upper School activity blocks will be held in the space, providing opportunities for boys to be taught how to use tools and tackle challenges. Though “there is flexibility in

this sort of curriculum,” Sue says, in its first year she and Pauline hope to offer Lego Robotics, computer programming, introductory electric circuits though snap-together kits, electronics integra-tion with software using Makey-Makey cards, basic soldering tools and hand tools for electric circuits, electrolumi-nescent wire and spot welding, and 3D printing. As a capstone project, Upper School boys will be building a laser cutter from scratch for the makerspace. This spring Pauline and Sue offered the first professional development oppor-tunities for faculty “to try, experiment, tinker, test, and learn using new tech-nology, tools, and teaching practices.”

In the second year, the program could expand to include several more activities and tools, including a second 3D printer and fabric crafts such as sew-ing, knitting, and weaving. Long range, Pauline and Sue envision a year-long course for all Fenn boys, an “experi-ential learning experience” in which students would “grow in creative con-fidence through trying, failing, improv-ing, and building,” concepts that “align well with the ideals of Roger Fenn.”

Excitedly describing the new venture, Pauline, who will be attend-ing, with Sue, a summer institute in California on incorporating makerspace into a range of classes and curricula, says, “We can’t wait to launch, then expand and grow, this exciting resource. The boys are very excited about this work,” she adds. “They are the drivers, but I want to go with them.”

“We can’t wait to launch, then expand and grow, this exciting resource. The boys are very excited about this work. They are the drivers, but I want to go with them.” – Pauline MacLellan


ATHlETIC REPORT

Fenn Athletics Report

SPRING 2015

S u M M E R 2015 31

Winter SportsThe Varsity basketball team (9-4) “epitomized the idea that the whole is greater than the parts,” said Peter Bradley, who coached with Bob Starensier. “They consistently performed at a high level, working hard, playing hard, and finding success.” The team, captained by Patrick Ryan and Conor Zachar, took first place at the 35th annual Fenn Varsity Basketball Tournament, beating BB&N in the finals 62-44.

The JV basketball team (5-6) was “very exciting to coach this year,” said Freemon Romero, who coached with Kofi Obeng. The team was a mix of seventh, eighth, and ninth graders who ranged in skill level, “but the boys competed in every game and grew as basketball players each day,” he said. Captains were Chewy Bruni, Matt Hart, and Nick Steinert.

Varsity hockey (7-5-5) “battled through adversity this year,” according to Coach Derek Boonisar. Despite many injuries to key experienced players, the team “found a way to stay competitive throughout the season and worked hard, improved, and had fun.” Captains were Christian DiPietrantonio, Zack Goorno, Boyd Hill, and Cole LaPlante. Also coaching were Topher Bevis ‘02, Jeff LaPlante, and Ryan Miklusak.

JV hockey (2-3-1) featured “very good lead-ership” from captains Ollie Cheever, Jake Harvey, and Jake Magee, said Dave Duane, who coached with Jason Rude and Tim Seston. Coach Rude praised the players for “really picking up on what the J.V. hockey program at Fenn is all about: developing good hockey skills, being a good teammate, respecting opponents, and having fun.”

Varsity wrestling, led by captains Jack Eames, Charlie Fitzsimmons, Ali Sheikh, and Elliot Stevenson, exhibited “excellent skills and good character in victory and defeat,” said John Fitzsimmons, who coached with Steve Gasper. The team competed in the New England Junior Prep School Championships, with Fitzsimmons, Welles Hatch, Sheikh, and Stevenson advancing to the semifinals and Sheikh earning 4th place, Stevenson winning a 3rd place medal, and Fitzsimmons taking home the Senior Sportsmanship Award.

Spring SportsVarsity lacrosse (7-1-2) earned the Sportsmanship Prize and 2nd place at the New England Junior School Tournament. Nat Carr ’97 coached with Topher Bevis ’02. Tourney highlights were wins against Fay, Shore, and Indian Mountain. Fenn’s victory over undefeated (in tournament play) Hillside earned it a #1 ranking and a spot in the finals against Hillside. Team captains were Dalton Church, Nick Steinert, and Conor Zachar.

JV lacrosse (6-3) was captained by Ian Moore, Ali Sheikh, and Declan Smith. “The season was defined by hard work,” said Matt Ward, who coached with Charlie Painter ’10 and Jeff Trotsky ’06. “The team improved greatly throughout the season due to each player’s dedication, positive attitude, and willingness to learn more about the game in practice.”

Fenn sent four varsity tennis (8-3) players to the Fessenden Tournament: Ethan Bondick, Aidan Dove, Owen Gund, and Tad Scheibe (captain). Gund captured the Consolation

Championship, securing 3rd place for Fenn. “The players showed great progress in practice and gelled well as a team,” said Coach Rob Morrison

Coach Dave Sanborn called his JV tennis (4-2-2) players “plucky and resilient.” The “vastly improved” team faced a slate of mostly varsity level opponents, he said. Kevin Gao captained. Season highlights included an 8-0 victory against Fay and a 5-3 win against a previously undefeated Fessenden team. Kofi Obeng assisted Coach Sanborn.

Varsity baseball (9-3), coached by Jeff LaPlante and Bob Starensier, earned 3rd place at the New England Junior School Baseball Tournament. Skilled fielders “committed very few errors against some tough hitters…and a talented pitching staff issued few walks and threw strikes,” said Coach LaPlante. Captains were Walker Davey, Matt Hart, Alex Hill, and Cole LaPlante.

The JV baseball (9-2-2) season featured highlights such as “being down 9-1 against Fay and coming back to win 10-9 on a Danny Kent walk-off double, an out-of-the-park home run by Noah Alter against Solomon Scheckter, and Peter McCauley pitching a four-hit, 5 to 0 shutout against Fessenden,” according to Tony Santos, who coached with Ryan Miklusak and Freemon Romero.

Track (16-2), captained by Billy Van Walsum and Sammy Hankaoui and coached by Dave Duane and Mike Potsaid, placed 5th overall among nine teams at the Hillside Jamboree, where several Fenn boys set personal records, including Van Walsum, who took 3rd in the pentathlon. At the Annual Fenn Relays, Fenn placed 3rd of seven teams.

FOUNDER’S DAY is an annual tradition that honors Roger

C. Fenn and the School’s history. Celebrated since 2005,

the event includes an assembly—this year Chris Davies ’44

shared his experiences as an evacuee from the UK during

WWII, a journey that led him to Fenn as a student and back

again several years later as a teacher. The Marching Band,

with police escort, leads students, faculty, and staff to the

headmaster’s home, and birthday cupcakes are served. This

spring, the first ever Founder’s Day reception, intended

to bring together the extended Fenn family, was held in

Boston’s Back Bay the evening before the on-campus event,

drawing more than 100 alumni, alumni parents, and faculty

members. Ninth grader Walker Davey, Headmaster Jerry

Ward, and Associate Head and Head of the Upper School

Derek Boonisar offered remarks, photos of Fenn life over

the years were displayed on tables and easels, prompting

recollections and smiles of recognition, and the School’s

86th birthday was celebrated with a blue and gold cake.


ADvAnCInG FEnn

Founder’s Day: Boston Reception

The Board of Visitors in the new Jafari Library

The Board of Visitors in the new Jafari LibraryS u M M E R 2015 33

A MORE DIVERSE student body is crucial in allowing Fenn to educate boys to become leaders in an ever-diverse world that demands competence, confidence, and skill in reaching across culture, race, and class, according to Headmaster Jerry Ward. It is inspiring and exciting news that in December, 2014, Fenn successfully met the $1 million Diversity Initiative Challenge generously made by anonymous donors in the fall of 2011.

A total of $1,052,950 million in gifts and pledges ranging from $25 to $200,000 from contributors including current and former parents, a former faculty member, and a Fenn grandparent was raised to qualify for the match. The funds will provide Fenn with $2.1 million in restricted endowment for financial aid for qualifying and talented African American and Latino students who are well matched with the School.

With the catalyst of an initial and separate seed gift of $750,000 provided to Fenn by the same anonymous donors in 2011, the Diversity Initiative has already had a significant impact on the racial composition of the School. For the first time, three boys from the Boston-based Steppingstone Academy graduated this spring from Fenn, which is launching

them into the next academic chapter of their lives. With substantial funding, they will attend independent secondary schools in the fall.

In 2011 Fenn established a relationship with Steppingstone, a non-profit organization that develops and implements programs to prepare urban school children for educational opportunities that will ultimately lead to college admission and success. Steppingstone scholars are admitted to the academy the spring before their fifth or sixth grade year and participate in a rigorous course of academic

preparation that spans two summers in one academic year. The boys and their families, says Fenn Admissions Director Amy Jolly, “make extraordinary sacrifices to participate in this program.” Amy and her staff host all of the applying Steppingstone families on in November so they can complete all of the admissions steps in a single visit. In the coming year there will be five Steppingstone students at Fenn.

The Diversity Initiative is truly mission-driven, says Mr. Ward. “We want families to see us as a school that embraces difference in the world and

ADvAnCInG FEnn


“We want families to see us as a school that embraces difference in the world and that is true to its mission to educate boys in ‘a personal community that honors diversity’ to nurture responsible and skilled leaders.” – Jerry Ward, Headmaster

$1 Million Diversity InitiativeFunding Forwards Fenn’s Mission

W I n T E R 2014 35S u M M E R 2015 35

ONCE AGAIN, the Parents Association Auction on May 2 was a wild—as in Wild West—success, with its western theme, Tex-Mex food prepared by Fenn’s own Flik chefs, and donated auction items ranging from a day of golf with Derek Boonisar and Bob Starensier and a “private movie night in Ward Hall for your son and his friends” to laser tag with Headmaster Ward for twelve boys and various trips, dinners, summer camp weeks, hotel getaways, and concert and sports tickets.

The auction, held every other year and chaired this time by parents Melissa McCray and Clare O’Connor, who oversaw a committee of twenty-three, directly benefits the Faculty Professional Development and Curriculum Fund. (For a list of just some of the many professional development opportunities Fenn faculty took advantage of this winter and spring, see p. 20).

Each boy received a complimentary ticket to a raffle on May 1 during All School Meeting, at which donated items included headphones, retired Fenn soccer and football jerseys, and a Go-Pro camera.

Mr. Ward praised the PA for its efforts, calling the committee co-chairs “tireless” and acknowledging their “enthusiasm, hard work, and goodwill,” and he thanked everyone who donated items, time, and effort to the auction.

that is true to its mission to educate boys in ‘a personal community that honors diversity’ to nurture responsible and skilled leaders.” The initiative is a key element in helping Fenn to realize the 2012-2022 Strategic Plan goal of enrolling “talented, well-matched boys of strong character and diverse backgrounds from a broadened geographical base.”

Mr. Ward acknowledges that despite our efforts, Latino and African American students are underrepresented, but that the School is working hard to increase enrollment of these boys and to support those who are already attending Fenn. While “our progress may not be dramatic,” Mr. Ward notes, “it is substantial and promising

as we look to the future. As families of color from nearby and more distant communities consider Fenn for their sons, they will see a school that embraces differences in the world.” These boys,

he says, “not only benefit personally from the transformative gift of a Fenn education, but they also enhance our school community and the educational experience of all Fenn boys.”

Fenn is very grateful for the generous support of the Diversity Initiative, Mr. Ward says, “which has advanced Fenn’s evolving realization of our vision of a more racially and socio-economically diverse student body.” Such support, he adds, “ensures the future of our school and the future and education of Fenn boys.” Fenn hopes that the recent success of the Diversity Initiative will inspire and inform future efforts to support socio-economic and racial diversity at the School.

“Wild West” Auction Supports Faculty

TRIbuTE

ABBOTT FENN LIKED to tell this story about the naming of the school his father, Roger, founded: “The summer before the School was to open a Mr. Brown came in with an application for his son. My father asked him to wait for a moment while he pulled a blank application from his desk drawer and filled in my name at the top. The old joke was that’s how the school got its name and if the Brown boy had been first on the list, the place would have been called ‘The Brown School’.”

Fenn’s first enrolled student and a long-time environmentalist and educator, Abbott Thayer Fenn,

93, died peacefully on April 3 this year in Middlebury, VT. Born in Concord to Roger Carlisle Fenn and Eleanor Baldwin Fenn, and named for Abbott Handerson Thayer, a noted naturalist and artist, Abbott spent his childhood at the School, going on to attend Middlesex School and Harvard College. He would return as a Fenn faculty member in 1945-46, teaching math, science, and Latin, coaching, and serving as housemaster for a half dozen boarders who lived in the headmaster’s own home.

Abbott graduated from Harvard with a major in engineering sciences.

He was the goaltender for the college hockey team—before the days of face masks. Abbott enlisted in the Army Air Force as an engineering cadet in 1942 and spent two years at an airfield in England, preparing planes to fly WWII bombing missions. Returning to the U.S. as Captain Fenn for thirty days’ home leave before being assigned to the war in the Pacific, he would ignite a personal passion that would sustain him for decades.

During his college summers, Abbott had worked at Keewaydin Camps, where for his first season he was paid $40. In a 2006 interview

Abbott Fenn ’34 (1921-2015): Fenn’s First Enrolled Student


Abbott Fenn, far right, with fellow eighth graders in 1934

S u M M E R 2015 37

with a reporter at the Valley Voice, a Champlain Valley, VT, publication, Abbott told a story about being in Paris on a dark night during the war and surprising a friend, Alfred Hare, on the doorstep of the Grand Hotel by calling out “Waboos!”, an Algonquin nickname known only to a select group of Keewaydin campers and counselors. During their leave, Alfred and “Abby,” as he was called, reunited with another Keewaydin staff member, “Slim” Harold Curtis. The three visited their old camp, where, though they didn’t know it at the time, they would make a life-changing decision.

Upon their visit to Keewaydin, the men discovered that the camp was for sale. Within a week they had formed a corporation and purchased the property. Roger Fenn agreed to serve as the interim president and camp director while continuing as the School’s headmaster until the time that, as Abbott recalled years later, “we three idealists could return from the Pacific.” But the war ended shortly after they purchased the camp and Abbott and his partners successfully ran Keewaydin for the next forty years.

A birder and bird bander, Abbott spent twenty-five of those years teaching as a National Audubon naturalist in the Everglades and then instructing

students in mathematics at independent schools including Milton Academy and Applewild School in Fitchburg, leaving teaching in 1970 to devote all of his time to Keewaydin. There, he created an environmental education experience for schools that brought groups to the camp for a week-long, hands-on program and led wilderness trips—in wood and canvas canoes—in northern Quebec, assisted by a Cree Indian guide.

After retiring from Keewaydin in 1986, Abbott became active in local and state Audubon Society groups and helped establish the Vermont Audubon Camp at High Pond in Brandon. He helped to found conservation committees in Weybridge and Middlebury, where he had lived since 1977, and was a member of that town’s planning committee.

According to one published article about Abbott, he was “embraced as a good neighbor for his passion and dedication to the maintenance and growth of Keewaydin Camp…and for his commitment to his community.” In another of the tributes, Abbott is referred to as “a man of wisdom, strength and principle.” Declared a local environmentalist: “He was a warrior for the natural world.”

Last fall Abbott and his sister, Margot, and several of their family members, attended the dedication

of a bronze likeness of Roger Fenn on campus. Wearing a blue cap emblazoned with the School’s motto, Sua Sponte, Abbott spoke lovingly of his father and of his days as a Fenn student and teacher and declared that he and his family “are inordinately

proud of the history that joins us to Fenn.”

Abbott is survived by his son, Ethan Abbott Fenn, of Burlington, VT, and Cambridge, MA; his sister, Margaret “Margot” Borden of Weybridge, VT; and several nieces, nephews, great nieces, cousins, and other extended family

members. He is also survived by Gale Hurd of Weybridge, his former wife and trusted friend. A memorial service for Abbott was held in Middlebury, VT, in mid-June.

Abbott speaking at the dedication of a bronze figure of his father in 2014

Abbott was “a man of wisdom, strength, and principle” and “a warrior for the natural world.”

1935 REunIOn

1940 REunIOn Can you help us find these lost classmates? Email [email protected].

Charlie Washburn


Bob Day, George Peck, Ralph Wells

1948Jim Clarke writes, “In September, this 80-year-old Fenn grad took the Mensa Admission Test and scored so high he qualified for Mensa (top 2%), Intertel (top 1%), and the 999 Society (top .001 %).” Jim is very active in Elks, National Active and Retired Federal Employees, and Mensa. He and his wife, Bertie, travel a lot and, from April through September (hopefully into October), Jim is totally tied up with the Atlanta Braves.


Peter Hamilton

1951 In April, David Rintels traveled to London to see Kevin Spacey in a revival of David’s 1974 play Clarence Darrow, which Spacey is performing for the second straight year at the Old Vic Theatre. Russ Robb has break-fast monthly with Tom Piper and Fred Lovejoy and emails regularly with Sam Jewell and Mike Whitney. Russ is recently retired but his new project is writing anoth-er book. Justin Robb ’14, Russ’s grandson, is a sophomore at Acton-Boxborough High School, where he played first string for the varsity soccer team, which made it to the divisional finals championship game for high schools in Massachusetts.

1953Mike Rozsa lived in Newton Center, MA, after Concord. At the age of fourteen, he moved to Pasadena, CA, and four years later

entered the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he graduated with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. Mike taught elementary school for thirty years, in addi-tion to serving in the Army for three years. Never married, he is now retired and living in Cathedral City, CA, near Palm Springs.

1954Jim Carter’s daughter Stephanie Lydon had her first child—and Jim’s eighth grandchild— on March 3. Wilder Lydon arrived at 4:59 p.m. and weighed 8 lbs. 12 oz. Archie Cox reports that “We moved last December from New York to Aspen, CO, where we have had a home for sev-eral years. I continue to work more than perhaps I should, but the work fascinates me. I’m not in touch with my classmates as much as I should be, but would be very pleased to hear from any and all of them. My memories of Fenn are still very strong after all these years. What a great school it was and is! Best to all in the class of ’54.” Tony Willcox writes, “We are still here in Colorado. The skiing has been fair this winter. No injuries...knock on wood.

Class Notes

38 www.fenn.org

Now that I am retired there is more time to work on those ‘honey do’ projects. My biggest and hardest was to rebuild our back deck, which is a great place to sit and enjoy the mountain scenery. I have enrolled at Hillsdale College, where I am taking a course in the Constitution of the United States. My wife, ‘Sam,’ is still very busy with her interior decorating com-pany. She does some wonderful designs. Hiking, kayaking, and fly fishing season is now upon us so we will be finishing up skiing and moving to those activities. We hope to get back to our favorite place, New England, this fall.”


Charles Allen, Kip Kemp, Harris Lane, Vernon Schaller, Alexander White

1958George Moore writes that he is alive and well in Tulsa County, between Tulsa and Sand Springs, OK, above the north bank of the Arkansas River. George retired four years ago after forty years with the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. He has four children and eight grandchildren.

1959Ben Riggs sends along the following news: “For being supposedly retired, things have been pretty busy. I went through transferring the Circle of Scholars, an academic lifelong learning program for seniors, from Salve Regina University to the City of Newport-owned Edward King House. I don’t like political battles like this was. But I still teach the International Current Events and the Global Environment courses there as well, and that’s the fun part. I also continued my activities in trying to defend Rhode Island from an absurd offshore wind energy project called Deepwater Wind. And I still volunteer for Race Committee activities at the Navy

Yacht Club. Three jobs and no pay, but lots of interaction with interesting people. My wife, Lee, continues with her art for a local gallery and gives art therapy and meditation sessions for mental health patients at Newport Hospital. In between, we visit grandkids, to which we’ve added a third, fortunately located in Santa Monica. That beats visiting in Nebraska, but that’s where my daughter Lisa has a very successful fine art business (Kiechel Fine Arts). Our solution is to meet up with her gang in the Caribbean. Of all the schools I attended, Fenn is the only one that seems to have remained closest to its original mission, and consequently is the one I support.”


Edward Besse, John Handal, Arthur Jackman, Joseph Seronde

Jack Denny-Brown retired in June 2014 after 27 years of teaching fifth grade at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge. He writes, “Ann and I are now living in central Massachusetts, in the town of Lunenburg, and enjoying some free time and freedom from the commute. We man-aged to make it to the Fenn Homecoming last year, in September, where we marveled at the many changes in the school. Man, if you haven’t been back, you may notice a few changes from June of 1960! Little did we

S u M M E R 2015 39

Clockwise from top: Mike Rozsa ’53 (center front) and friends celebrate a birthday • Ann and Jack Denny-Brown ’60 • George Moore ’58

ClASS nOTES

know that we were living in the Stone Age…. Speaking of the Stone Age, we met with Mark and Jane Biscoe over the summer and again at the school. The school has changed, but Mark and Jane look pretty much the same! Go figure! Ann and I would love to see any classmates who happen to make it to central Massachusetts. We have a lake, a pontoon boat, and a bottle of red wine wait-ing for anyone who wishes to join us and reminisce. We’d love to see you.”


David Day, Peter Douglass, Simon Duhamel, William Ford, Bruce Frothingham, Tim Fuller, Jeff Hill, Robert Taylor

Tom Porter writes from California that he is still working at Pixar Animation Studios and is senior vice president of production. His role is “to make sure that all film projects (and there are about six in progress at any one time) have the proper

staffing and are working to avoid common problems and bottlenecks.” Each film is a new challenge,” says Tom, who has been with Pixar since Steve Jobs launched the company in 1986 but adds that, “We Pixar veterans actually count the years—in his case five—in the computer division at Lucasfilm before that, has won three Acad-emy Awards. The directors and production designers keep pushing for more and more sophisticated characters and environments. We now have 3600 times more computing power than we did in 1995 for Toy Story, but we struggle right to the finish line in making each film. It’s a wonderful team sport.” Tom and his wife Armav Christine Baron will celebrate their 40th anniver-sary this summer. They have three sons: Spencer, Tom says, lives in LA and writes for a new show on Cartoon Network; Ross graduated from Harvard Business School in May; and Chase completed his sophomore year in the Engineering School at Stanford. Tom says he is “happy to say that I’ve been back to Boston a couple of times in recent

months,” adding that Pixar worked with the Boston Museum of Science on an exhibit titled “The Science Behind Pixar,” which opened on June 28 this summer. It gives visitors a behind-the-scenes look at the process used to create Pixar’s groundbreak-ing and award-winning films. The exhibit highlights the science, technology, engi-neering, and mathematics (STEM) concept used every day at Pixar. Nathanael Slater reflects that “happy coincidence endures through receiving the Fenn English Award, with production of The Lantern Graduation Issue June 1965 (92 pages of hand-drawn captioned cartoons, under Bud Cross, ded-icated to Mr. and Mrs. Frothingham, emu-lating Gil Bovaird Camp Pasquaney CPA math tutor artist for ‘the art of life’), to the publication of Abc Dadb, a book for ages 11-21 about two girls exploring mathness with their father; that charm being content with conversation, at home.”

1970 REunIOn Alumni Class SenatorCharlie Denault [email protected]

Can you help us find these lost classmates? Email [email protected].

David Ames, Chad Forman, Penn Hulburd, Tim Payson

Tom Haynes writes that his daughter, Anto-nia, is six and going to the French Interna-tional School in Chicago and reports, “She already makes fun of my accent when I try to talk French with her.” Reflecting back on Fenn days, Tom notes that his most memo-rable experience was the two-day Outward Bound camping trip in 8th grade. They spent 48 hours without food, “since our compass skills weren’t good enough to lead us to the food drop. Nevertheless, a cool experience.”

1971John Sweney runs a staffing and recruiting firm in Houston with his partner Mike Stargel. They have a couple of old cars, including the 1932 Cadillac pictured above which won Best in Class at the Concours d’Elegance.

40 www.fenn.org

ClASS nOTES

“We now have 3600 times more computing power than we did in 1995 for Toy Story, but we struggle right to the finish line in making each film. It’s a wonderful team sport.” – Tom Porter

Clockwise from top: Tom Porter ’65 and his wife Armav Christine Baron right before getting into the limo to attend this year’s Oscars. • John Sweney ’71 and his award-winning 1932 Cadillac • Fenn alums gather at a Middlesex reunion, May 2015: Larry Slattery ’69, Jamie Jones ’71, John Sweney ’71, Brad Keeler ’70, Bill Truesdale ’71, Cam Lewis ’71

S u M M E R 2015 41S u M M E R 2015 41

ALUMNI OUTREACHAmong the many events this winter and spring meant to increase engagement of the Fenn community outside the greater Boston area were receptions in (top left) San Francisco, (second row, left) New York City, and (bottom) Washington, D.C. In early June, soon-to-be graduates in classes 2015 and 2016 were welcomed into the Alumni Association at a breakfast in Connelly Dining Hall (top, right and third row, left) and some 75 alumni (most shown in photo second row, right) in classes from 2007 to 2016 attended a barbeque at Fenn.

1972Brad Bailey reports, “Susan and I became first-time grandparents with the birth of Siobhan Rose Bailey last May (son William and daughter-in-law Brianna). We’re still living in Winchester, where we have happily learned ‘empty nest’ is a fluid concept. My Boston-based state and federal criminal defense practice remains engaging, stimulating, and challenging, with recent high profile jury trials that include: United States v. John O’Brien, et al (racketeering); California v. Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, A/K/A ‘Clark Rockefeller’ (murder 1); and Commonwealth v. Timothy Cahill (false pretenses/conflict of interest). I also enjoy providing regular legal commentary on television for FOX 25 and radio for WBUR.” Fred King writes from Seattle that he has been living there with his wife, Lisa, and their two sons, Nate and Alex, since 1993. Lisa and Fred have been married for 27 years. Nate (23) earned his undergrad degree in journalism this past year from the University of Colorado and Alex (20) is in his sophomore year at Tufts studying computer science. “When we moved to Seattle, I first worked in healthcare acting as a financial analyst/consultant to physicians. I gradually moved into the design and analysis of physician compensation. That

experience paved the way to my next position in financial services designing the commission and bonus programs for investment executives. In 2003 I jumped to an incentive compensation management role at a national insurance company where I’ve worked for the past eleven years. Living in the Seattle area has been a very positive experience for us. We appreciate how the diversity of industries here drives a strong economy with so many creative opportunities. We have become passionate fans of our major league soccer team, the Seattle Sounders, and we can definitely be counted among the “12th MAN” for our Seattle Seahawks. “When the sun occasionally comes out (we do wait for it a lot) it is clear to see that we are living in a beautiful part of the world.” George says he vividly remembers French class with Jim Carter “and I have good memories of that. I remember that he handed me an old tennis ball on the last day of school, saying it was my prize for having the top score in dictation, and I appreciated it very much. I also remember that he bucketed a basketball, throwing it behind his head from the free throw line at the opposite end of the court, first try—nothing but net—and then he walked to the line and did it again on the next shot. Pretty cool.” Dick Stewart writes, “A special shout out to Mark Biscoe up there in Maine, ayuh! A heartfelt greeting to Jim and Jeannie Carter. I miss Read Albright, I miss you. Whatever happened to former teacher Richard Waite? A howdy howdy to Ames Stevens, Brad Bailey, my former roommates Fred King, Eddie [Parnum]Loring, and Rick Stockwood ’73. Where the heck is Eric Schwaab? Well, I have survived cancer five times. I wrote and studied until my eyes nearly fell out of my head, but I completed my doctorate with Northern California Seminary and Oxford University School of Theology. A Ponzi scheme wiped me out and I lost almost everything; now I

live in abject poverty. It is a far cry from my preppy upbringing. I need a car or a pickup truck desperately. At my age I still have plenty of work left in me and now that I have gone past a whole bunch of medical issues, I need to get back to work. Please send good thoughts and prayers my way.” Nick Wallerstein has been living in the Black Hills of South Dakota for 18 years. He is a professor of English at Black Hills State University, where he recently won the 2015 Distinguished Faculty Award. Nick teaches mostly in early British literature, including courses on Shakespeare, Milton, and Chaucer. He also teaches the Bible as literature.

1974Phil Lynch just took a new job in Zurich, Switzerland, as global head of markets, products, and strategy at SIX Financial Information.


Philip Athas, William Charbonneau, James Penhune

Oliver Griswold runs a small ranch in Marshall Township in western Pennsylvania. He raises cattle and hogs that have spent their entire lives outdoors, doing what they naturally do best. They graze on pesticide-free range and are never given growth hormones, antibiotics, or any other synthetic inputs. North Woods is committed to providing all-natural cuts of beef and pork directly to local neighborhood consumers.

1978Tom Orcutt is still living in Groton center with “my wonderful wife, Beth, and our children—Thomas (13) and Brooke and Cara (both 10). Been married going on 25

42 www.fenn.org

ClASS nOTES

“When the sun occasionally comes out (we do wait for it a lot) it is clear to see that we are living in a beautiful part of the world.” – Fred King ’72

Nick Leone ’79 and his family welcome baby Luciana Giulia

years now. The family skipped the annual Patriot’s Day Parade in Concord with the Fenn School Marching Band and instead took a trip to Washington, DC. We all remember that class trip!”

1979Tom Asher reports he is alive and well, living in Fairfax, CA, (just north of San Francisco) with his wife, Kirstin, and son, Skyler. “I had the pleasure of recon-necting with Jim Carter, who sent me a photo of classmate Gordie Huggins and me looking at a solar eclipse through pinholes in cardboard—from the 4th grade. Oh to be young again! I also really enjoyed reconnecting with Mike Spangler ’79, who has moved back to the U.S. after a long stint teaching English to graduate students in Asia. Based on his students’

video testimonials, they thought very highly of Mike as their professor and I’m not surprised at all. For work, I’m help-ing start a customer care smart phone app, which is a nice change after running customer care contact center operations for almost 20 years. Kirstin continues to shoot gorgeous heirloom-quality photog-raphy portraits for families. And Skyler is wrapping up 6th grade and expresses a real talent for designing and building complex mechanical objects. Please feel free to drop me a line at [email protected] if your travels ever take you to the San Francisco Bay Area and we can get together.” Nicholas Leone recently began writing for U.S. News & World Report (see http://www.usnews.com/top-ics/author/nick-leone.) The Leones also welcomed the birth of their third child, Luciana Giulia.

1980 REunIOn Alumni Class SenatorJon Cappetta [email protected]


Scott Alexanderson, Craig Arnold, Dan Ratcliff

Brooks Beisch just moved from Cambridge to “up-and-coming Roslindale” in Boston. He’s also just launched a new advertising and design agency named Feral Creative Group. Brooks says, “Go to actferal.com for my full bio and what I’ve been doing the last two decades!” Karl Jacoby recently began a position as a professor of history at Colum-bia University. He would love to see any classmates when they are passing through NYC. Bob Jones is living in Concord with four children—two girls in college—and “had the privilege of having two boys attend Fenn.” Bob adds, “It’s as good as ever! Best

S u M M E R 2015 43

HIS GRANDFATHER’S CHAIN of ice cream parlors, Bailey’s of Boston, used to prompt Ben McKean ’01 to dream, as a child, of one day owning his own ice cream shop. But Ben, who graduated from St. Mark’s School and earned a B.S. in economics from Georgetown, where he also pitched for the university’s Div. I varsity baseball team, went in a slightly different direction; he became a serial entrepreneur whose most recent venture is a company that ships farm fresh skillet-ready “seven-minute meals” to customers east of the Mississippi, from New England to the Midwest to the South.

Hungryroot, launched in April 2015 and headquartered in Manhattan, where Ben lives with his girlfriend, was born of his desire to “build a product that would meaningfully brighten people’s daily lives.” Ben’s co-founders and partners, both restaurateurs, are Franklin Becker, a nationally recognized chef, and Gregory Struck, founder of Long Island Iced Tea brands. “We’ve come together around a shared love of a delicious meal and with

the mission to bring vegetables forward to give them the love they deserve,” Ben says.

Prior to Hungryroot, Ben was VP and GM of Groupon from 2012-2014; co-founder and CEO from 2009-2012 of Savored, the nation’s leading provider of yield management solutions to the restaurant industry (sold to Groupon in 2012); founder and CEO from 2004-2009 of CSH, Inc., which helped consumers find and book local services such as painting, moving, landscaping and cleaning; and an investment banker with Merrill Lynch from 2006-2008.

Startup businesses, Ben says, “give you a blank canvas on which you can

draw whatever inspires you. There are no steadfast rules in startups outside of ‘do your best to positively impact people’s daily lives and you will achieve success.’ I believe [Hungryroot] offers the best opportunity to do this and it’s been the most rewarding startup so far.” His penchant for starting businesses was inspired in part by his mother, Ben says, who is “extremely entrepreneurial—I’ve always admired how she pushed the limits.”

Hungryroot’s meals are organic whenever possible, Ben says, gluten-free, and packed with vitamins, protein, good fats, and fiber. Special packaging keeps the food fresh without preservatives. The meals prove that fast food can be good food, and the reviews have been positive.

At Fenn, Ben loved playing baseball and “being mischievous but not too much.” With his interest in producing “nutritious meals that people will crave,” it’s not surprising that one of Ben’s favor-ite Fenn memories is of “eating lunch outside with friends in fall and spring.”

Ben McKean’s Mission is to Uproot How America Eats

Ben, center, with his business partners

to all of my classmates.” Tom Mottur is still living in Rhode Island with his wife, Jen, and their three boys. He writes, “The boys are doing well in school and sports, and we are keeping busy with them and work. I’m sad to share that my Mom, Libby, passed away on March 11. I received some nice notes from old Fenn connections and had a great service on the Cape to celebrate her life.” Chris Stoddard lives in Brooklyn, NY, with his wife, Aida, and two boys, Jasper and Zane. Chris is an architect with Allied Works Architecture, a design firm specializing in cultural buildings.

1983Alumni Class SenatorScott Van Houten [email protected]

Andy Gabron became engaged to Michele Wilde on Christmas Day 2014. George Panagakos lives in a house on the beach in Winthrop, MA, but his business as a free-lance advertising and editorial photographer is based in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Still making pictures after 20 years, George specializes in super yacht, hotel/resort, restaurant, and

architectural subjects. While this work fulfills the traveler/adventurer in him, George’s heart has led him to begin work on a long-term documentary project about genetic disorders and differences. Still under wraps at this point, the project is taking shape. He is con-stantly on the road heading to his next assign-ment. George invites everyone to get in touch.

1984David Wacks lives in Eugene, OR, with his wife, Katharine Gallagher, and children, Eitan (9) and Zev (7). He is professor of Spanish and acting head of the Department of Romance Languages, University of Oregon.

1985 REunIOn Alumni Class SenatorNick Elfner [email protected]


Jungmok Bae, Jim Geary, Rob Pearson

Nick Elfner works in Boston and lives in Cohasset, MA, with his wife, Raina, and

their two sons, Ben (7) and Sam (5). He is looking forward to catching up with Blue and Gold classmates alike at the 30th reunion the night before Fenn’s Home-coming this fall.

1986James Christian sends word that “all is swell in Kenya. Our twins, Rufous and Daisy, are currently enjoying pony club camp, but their camel riding skills are even sharper.” Elliott Donald is serving in the United States Navy in San Diego, CA. Roger Duncan reports that he and his wife, Martina, are parents—again! Ava was born in June 2014 and is little sister to Julianna, now age 7. “No exotic travel or other major adventures—thankfully.”

1987This past September Chris Broyles was named creative director for FTI Consulting’s Strategic Communications segment. He is excited about this internal opportunity (a departure from litigation graphics consulting after 12 years). Chris and his wife, Jacky, still live in Chicago with their twin daughters, Josephine and Emerson (5th grade), and son, Nathaniel (pre-K). Brad Puffer recently joined Greenough-Brand Storytellers, a PR agency in Watertown. He previously spent four years leading communications for the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office. Brad and his wife, Loren, live in Framingham with their two daughters, ages 12 and 9.

1988Doug Asano works as vice president of sales for J. M. Huber Corporation.

1989Ritch Duncan is living and working in New York City, managing social media for truTV and contributing comedy writing to such programs as Billy on the Street and NPR’s Ask Me Another. He is significantly balder than you remember him.

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Clockwise from top left: Ava, daughter of Roger Duncan ’86 • Elliott Donald ’86 and family • James Christian ’86 on his walking safari • Twins Josephine and Emerson Broyles with brother Nathaniel, children of Chris Broyles ’87

1990 REunIOn Alumni Class SenatorAlex Zavorski [email protected]


Josh May

Jamie Cappetta and his wife, Kristina, are moving to Los Angeles in June with their five boys for Jamie’s new job. They are looking forward to the exciting new chapter in their life! Steve Gottlieb and his family—wife, Jill, and son, Miles, who is a year and a half now—moved from San Diego to Austin, TX, in September 2014. He’s heading up demand generation for Main Street Hub, which is a start-up focused on marketing for local businesses. They love living in Austin so far. Steve adds, “Any alums in the area, please touch base! Would be fun to connect.” Alex Zavorski recently moved back to Massachusetts after living in the metro Washington, DC, area and Atlanta, GA. He is the director of product management at Veracode and is volunteering as Fenn class senator for the class of 1990.

1992Alumni Class SenatorJames McNamara [email protected]

Grafton Pease lives in Natick, MA, with his wife, Julia, and two-and-a-half-year-old son, Emmett. Grafton is currently an account manager with ValleyCrest Land-scape in Boston and tries to be outside as often as possible.

1993Josh Hahn and his wife, Stephanie, wel-comed the birth of Anna Elisabeth Hahn on December 14. David Spinola is living in south Florida with his wife, Kelly, and his five-year-old twin daughters, Robin and Julianne. He has recently launched a private equity fund, Millpond Equity Part-ners, focused on education and business service investments.

1994Alumni Class SenatorBreman Thuraisingham [email protected]

Marc Hustvedt reports that he is missing the snow-packed winters of Concord and snowball bouts at recess. He is working in the entertainment business as a film producer and living in Manhattan Beach, CA, with his wife, Carly Feingold, and their 15-month-old son, Maverick. But fear not, Maverick is being raised a diehard Patriots fan (see photo). Jon Rosen lives in San Francisco and recently began leading product management at a legal technology company. He was engaged to Katy Merritt in August 2014, and they will marry in October. They both enjoy spending time on the SF Bay boating, for

pleasure and in competition, and Jon was part of the sailing team that won the SF J105 fleet season championship in 2014. This fall, Jon and team will compete for the North American title.

1995 REunIOn Alumni Class SenatorsNat Heald [email protected] James Southern [email protected]

Matt Bonoma’s wife, Maggie, gave birth to daughter May Sage Bonoma in December.

1996Alumni Class SenatorsJohn Jenkinson [email protected] Glenn Kasses [email protected]

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Clockwise from top left: (At left) Jill, Miles, and Steve Gottlieb ’90, with Andy Gottlieb ’84 and his wife, Jenny, at right • The five sons of Kristina and Jamie Cappetta ’90 • Emmett Pease, son of Grafton ’92 • Patriots fan Maverick Hustvedt, son of Marc ’94

1997Alumni Class SenatorNat Carr [email protected]

Scott Annan recently started a new compa-ny called LiquidTalent with his co-founder Alex Abelin. He writes, “Alex and I met in 2012 and built a friendship around entre-preneurship—in particular the on-demand economy. We noticed a big problem: hiring talented people takes far too long and is too costly. So we resolved to build a mobile job platform that matches high-end talent with employers in real time through social connection. After all, what’s better than working with your friends! We are based in NYC and will look to grow with the trends of the freelance economy as more

and more work takes place on a part-time basis. I’ve experienced that the very human-istic qualities that we learned as Fenn boys (humility, citizenship, work ethic, kindness, empathy) are the qualities that provide a basis for success as an entrepreneur. I’ve also learned that the better person you seek to become, the more fulfillment you feel and can provide to those around you—les-sons instilled in us as Fenn students. I look forward to seeing more Fenn friends in the near future and wish the Fenn community a wonderful summer!” Matt Jameson has accepted a position as staff psychologist at the Salem, VA, medical center where he will work in the inpatient Post-Traumatic Stress Unit. Peter LoVerme and his wife, Alissa, live in Connecticut with their daughter, Annie, and their Siberian Husky, Balto. They are expecting their second child in June—“maybe a little minuteman?!” Jarrod Shoemaker claimed back-to-back honors in the Olympic/ITU Athlete of the Year category. He finished the 2014 season as the top-ranked American man in the ITU standings with 8 top-10 finishes in ITU events. He was seventh in the Grand Final in Edmonton and posted second-place finishes at ITU World Cups in Jiayuguan, China, and Cozumel, Mexico. Bill Vigne and his wife, Meghan, welcomed a second son to their family on March 25, 2015. Gra-ham Bradford Vigne was born at Emerson Hospital and weighed in at 7 lbs. 10 oz. His big brother, Will (2), is psyched to have a future playmate. Bill and Meghan are still living in Concord and love it. James Ward and his wife, Sophie, welcomed the birth of their first child, John “Jack” Avery Ward, on May 7. He weighed in at 9 lbs. 5 oz. Seth Wylie has a full life in Somerville, between working like the dickens at a tech startup, wrangling his absurdly needy and adorable puppy, and planning his wedding this year to his fiancé, Matt.

1998Alumni Class SenatorsRichard Connolly [email protected] Patrick Jones [email protected]

In March, Ben Bonoma married Sarah

Booth. Jon Bonoma and his wife, Jen, wel-comed the arrival of daughter Ryan Claire Bonoma on December 26, 2014. Alan O’Neill moved to Lakeville, CT, to take on a new position as director of admissions at Indian Mountain School. He and his wife, Lauren, welcomed their first child on May 19, 2015.

1999Alumni Class SenatorRyan Connolly [email protected]

Matt Bassett finished his graduate degree in public administration at the University of Pennsylvania in May 2014 and, in February 2015, completed his training to become a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Fire Arms & Explosives. He’s currently assigned to the Louisville, KY, field division. Roger Hewer-Candee is writing a doctoral dissertation on the ancient Roman poet Horace at Oxford University. He sends his best wishes to everyone in the Fenn com-munity. Taylor Sahl has been working at Oxford Academy in Westbrook, CT, since 2010, teaching English/ESL, coaching basket-ball, heading Oxford’s literary magazine, and running the photography club. He lives on campus with his wife, Sarah, their daughter, Magnolia, and their cats, Van and Fiona.

2000 REunIOn Alumni Class SenatorsGeorge Carr [email protected] Matt Ward [email protected]


Ian Goldstein, Brendan Lawrence, Daniel Meyer, Eric Schroeder, Brendan Smith, Peter Tully

Raph Daste is now a senior manager of enterprise technology strategy at the Walt Disney Company. Eric Schroeder married Soren Capawanna on May 2 in the Berk-shires. Matt Taylor is in law school at Boston College. While living in San Francisco, Erik Trautman founded the Viking Code School, a fully online software engineering program. Peter Vigneron is a freelance journalist who

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From top: Bill Vigne ’97 and newborn son Graham • Seth Wylie ’97 and his canine friend

writes for Outside, Boston Magazine, Runner’s World, and Competitor. He’s on Twitter at @petervigneron. James Wise and his wife, Pamela, welcomed their fourth child and sec-ond baby girl, Smith Sergeant, on January 29, 2015. James, who lives in Washington, DC, is working to develop the first magnetic levita-tion train in the U.S.

2001Alumni Class SenatorJimmy Hall [email protected]

Mark Grande was married to Nithya Saban-ayagam on March 22, 2015, in Chennai, India. In attendance were approximately 1,500 family and friends, including Chris Fincke. Eric Kester married Leigh War-rington at the The Catered Affair at the Boston Public Library on January 3. This year’s Middlesex School graduates were treated to an address by Eric, who was their graduation speaker. Matt Kilfoyle received his MBA from the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business on May 1. He adds, “Michigan was perhaps a pre-determined landing spot for me, since I was a proud member of the Blue Team for

Fenn Field Day! Go Blue!” Scot McFarlane got engaged to Molly Seaward and also left his farm in Oregon to get a Ph.D. in Amer-ican History at Columbia University. Ben McKean has founded a new company, Hun-gryroot, a brand of farm fresh seven-minute meals delivered nationwide. Check it out at Hungryroot.com and read more about Ben on p. 43. Taylor Yates started work again after receiving his MBA degree from MIT in 2014. He and his wife, Karen, are keeping busy in Cambridge with work, book club, Netflix, weddings of Fenn alumni like Brooks Diehl and Lars Trautman, and house hunting in Boston’s Metro West.

2002Alumni Class SenatorsWill Howerton [email protected] Graham Jenkins [email protected] Davis Rosborough [email protected]

Aaron Colby finished his Ph.D. in biomed-ical engineering last year and is currently at Harvard Medical School and Brigham & Women’s Hospital researching nanotechnol-ogy-based solutions for treating cancer. He lives with his good friend and Fenn classmate Tudor Foote and older brother Luke Colby

’96 in Boston’s Back Bay. In March, Rohin Jaiman married Manasi Sinha in Mexico. Graham Jenkins is leaving the exciting world of nuclear weapons and joining Ernst & Young, where he will be working on enter-prise risk management for government and public sector clients. He still lives in Wash-ington, DC. After 3 ½ years of consulting at Accenture, David Rubin has transitioned to

S u M M E R 2015 47

SINCE HIS DAYS AT FENN , where he was “an outstanding goalie, fundamentally sound and composed under pressure,” according to his coach, Derek Boonisar, Graham Hunt has lived and breathed hockey, spending nearly

all of his time at the rink, the gym, or in team activities. While playing for the Middlesex Islanders his senior year at Concord-Carlisle High School, Graham was scouted by the Moncton Wildcats of New Brunswick, of the Quebec Major

Junior Hockey League. After a short time

with the Wildcats, Graham was offered a starting position with the Swan Valley River Stampeders of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, a Junior A league, and helped the team reach the league’s quarterfinals. Swan Valley is six hours north of Winnipeg and near the

Saskatchewan border. Graham has had a taste of life in rugged northern Canada, which might make our recent winter seem tame in comparison. In 49 games with the Stampeders, Graham had a 3.07 goals against average and a .915 save percentage. He was a nominee for league MVP honors.

Graham also played lacrosse in high school and was a member of the 2012 Div. 2 state champion boys’ lacrosse team. He is eligible for one more year of junior hockey, as players must be 20 or younger as of the season opener. Graham is not sure what is next for him; he’s home in Concord for the summer and says that he may next try to play for an NCAA program or a Canadian university.

Graham Hunt ’09 Experiences Life, and Hockey, in Canada

Surrounded by his parents and siblings, Matt Kilfoyle ’01 celebrates receiving his MBA

Salesforce.com to help grow the company’s interactive marketing division. Chris Seward is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illi-nois at Urbana-Champaign’s Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology.

2003Alumni Class SenatorsJack Carroll [email protected] Bronson Kussin [email protected] Christian Manchester [email protected] Mike Spiak [email protected]

Mark Berger is one of the lead actors in and is the producer of an indie film called That’s Not Us, an improvised romantic comedy that

follows three couples—one gay, one lesbian, one straight—as they travel to Fire Island to enjoy the last days of summer. But what should be a fun beach weekend, actually shines a hard light on what it takes to make love last. Mark is thrilled that Xander Singh, formerly of the internationally acclaimed band, Passion Pit, is writing the score for the film. And PigPen Theatre Co., Ryan Melia’s incredible theater and music collective, is providing additional music for the film. Mark writes, “I am so excited to be working with these guys. We have all been in touch in the last few years, keeping up with each other’s work. These guys have been doing incredible and inspiring work. I have been a fan of both of them, and so it is an awesome privilege to get to bring them in to collaborate on this film. All I can say is that the film is going to sound amazing because of these guys. It’s just the beginning of future collaborations!” This past September Stephen McCarthy began serving as curate at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Alabama and will be ordained in the Episcopal Church first to the diaconate in Boston and then six months later to the priesthood in Birmingham. Tim Padden married Megan Elizabeth Garbe at the Red Barn in Westport, CT, on October 4, 2014.

2004Alumni Class SenatorBJ Moriarty [email protected]

Will Kussin moved out to Seattle in Janu-ary. In April, BJ Moriarty got engaged to Kath Rose.

2005 REunIOn Alumni Class SenatorsSpencer Lovejoy [email protected] Will Stone [email protected] Pete Valhouli-Farb [email protected]


Marc Buckland, Nathaniel Hack, Daniel JohnStefan Lowenstein, Brad Mattison, Tejas PathakBradley Taylor, Tom Thompson

Krish Jaiman has graduated from New England Conservatory with a bachelor’s

of music degree in music composition. He will be spending the next year in New Delhi, India, working with Music Basti. “With this organization, I will be providing music-based artistic lessons and experience to at-risk children from underprivileged communities around the city. I will also be performing with other musicians around New Delhi and getting private Indian Clas-sical lessons.” Will Notini recently started a new job in Chicago as a research analyst for Technomic. John Tylko is living in San Jose, CA, and working for Apple with busi-ness and education customers under the Product Marketing organization.

2006Alumni Class SenatorsTyler Davis [email protected] Luke Rogers [email protected]

Luke Eddy is working at Merrill Lynch in Worcester as a financial advisor. Duncan Gillespie moved from New York to San Fran-cisco in the fall and is enjoying West Coast life. Adam Reeve has a new job as an analyst at DC Energy. Matt Ricketson has been hired by Apple, Inc. as a software engineer working on Apple TV. Johannes Wesselhoeft spent the spring semester doing graduate work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Center for European Studies. After taking summer courses in calculus and statistics, he will prepare for a January 2016 departure for England, where he’ll be studying at the University of Bath for about a year and a half as part of UNC-CH’s TransAtlantic master’s program. He intends to write his thesis on trade flow between the U.S. and Western Europe, but adds, “Hey, you never know.”

2007Alumni Class SenatorsWill Joumas [email protected] Joe Rinaldo [email protected]

In June, Hunter Baggen traveled to Ghana to work as a field representative for the NGO Saha Global. This organization works with women in rural Ghana to create sustainable businesses that provide clean water and elec-tricity to their local communities. Hunter’s

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From top left: David Rubin ’02 • Meg and Tim Padden ’03 celebrate their wedding • Thomas Livingston ’07 receives the Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League Defenseman of the Year Award • Coral O’Connor ’07 visited Hong Kong in March

Miles Petrie ’12: A Distinguished Career at Middlesex Leads him to Stanford

role in the organization will be to set up a solar power business. Thomas Livingston was the captain of the hockey team at the University of Virginia and won the Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League Defense-man of the Year Award. He is moving to Austin, TX, after his graduation in May. Jack Moore has been hired into Oracle’s sales training program and will relocate to the San Francisco Bay area after graduating from USC in May. In late March, Coral O’Connor wrapped up an amazing two-week solo trip that took him through Seoul, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Osaka. He is looking forward to starting Columbia University’s “Business Edge” summer program at the end of May.

2008Alumni Class Senators Dan Giovacchini [email protected] Walker-Jacks [email protected] Winslow [email protected]

Ben Ticknor graduated from Dartmouth College in May and is now working for a startup company in Kendall Square in Cambridge.

2009Sam Doran has transferred from Whea-ton College to Emerson College. Connor Frazier is headed to Endicott College this fall, where he will play hockey. Graham Hunt has been playing hockey up near the Saskatchewan border, for a team in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. (For more on Graham, see p.47.) Jeffrey Mara, with his brother, Jack, is collaborating on 10Thoughts.com, a start-up which features the ten best articles from the web every week as selected by business school students and other motivated individuals. Jeffrey and Jack were admitted into Darden Business School’s incubator program, i.Lab, and are excited for this opportunity to continue to grow the website, which currently has 500 registered users. David Shapiro just finished his junior year at Wake Forest University, where he is a business major in analytical math and exploring psychology, Spanish, and physics as minors. David spent the spring semester in Spain, and he will be working for Navigant, a consulting group in Washington, DC, this summer as a paid intern.

2010 REunIOn Alumni Class SenatorsGabe Arnold [email protected] Drew Coash [email protected] Will Crowley [email protected]

Jacob Kotlier is currently attending Pomona College in Claremont, CA. In March, Keller Scholl got back from a visit to Romania, while on vacation from Oxford. He sent along a picture of himself at the Voronet Monastery (p.52), which predates the first voyage of Columbus by four years.

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MILES PETRIE ’12 faced a difficult dilemma during his senior spring at Middlesex, but one that would have been welcomed by many a graduating senior. Miles won the school’s coveted Morehead-Cain Scholarship, offered to a small fraction of the exceptional students who apply for it each year. The scholarship would have granted Miles four years of tuition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an annual stipend, customized summer internships, “discovery” funds for additional learning opportunities, and access to influential scholars and leaders.

Miles was thrilled to learn he won the honor; it was only the second time since 2006, when Middlesex was first invited

to nominate one candidate annually, that a senior there was so honored. Miles, a High Honors student who was active in drama and music at Fenn, continued pur-suing his passions at Middlesex, where he served as a proctor, peer tutor, choral offi-cer, cellist, head of Freedom of Speech, cross-country captain, and lead performer in drama and musicals.

Deciding whether to accept the scholarship was “extremely tough,” says Miles, who spent four days at UNC, meet-ing Morehead-Cain staff and scholars he called “wonderful, engaging, and invigo-rating people who are clearly making the world a better place.” But in the end, he went with his heart: it has always been his dream to attend Stanford University,

and Miles will head to California in the fall. “I can see myself thriving there,” he declares. “I am so excited for the start of this new chapter in my life!”

Miles performing in Rent at Middlesex

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Mark Lagon ’79Committed to the Fight for Human Rights

Among his many responsibilities, Mark has been U.S. Ambassador-at-Large, directing the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the U.S. Department of State, chairing by statute the Senior Policy Operating Group coordinating all U.S. agencies’ efforts to combat human trafficking domestically and internationally. He has served at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and worked for UN Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick as a senior aide at the American Enterprise Institute.

Mark co-edited with Anthony Clark Arend the 2014 book Human Dignity and the Future of Global Institutions and wrote The Reagan Doctrine: Sources of American Conduct in the Cold War’s Last Chapter. He is the founding Board member of the Global Business Coalition Against Human Trafficking and the Advisory Board of ECPAT-USA (End Child Prostitution Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes.)

Raised in Concord, Mark attend-ed Middlesex School. He earned his Ph.D. in government from Georgetown University and his A.B. magna cum laude from Harvard. Mark is married to Susan Sullivan Lagon, senior fellow

at the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University. Their daughter, Elena, graduated this year from Duke University, having majored in neuro-science and theatre. She will attend University of Virginia medical school in the fall.

We caught up with Mark by email this spring to ask him about his work and his years at Fenn.

Q. Why did you accept the position at Freedom House?

The son of Polish immigrants, Mark Lagon ’79 has made a career of fighting for human rights, says he raised his child to be “focused on dignity of all,” and has a passion for blues that he sometimes shares with his “old-est Fenn friend,” Sam Brown.

Last fall Mark was appointed the president of Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom around the world. His appointment follows a distinguished career in university, think tank, Capitol Hill, State Department, and nonprofit quarters chiefly working, he says, for human rights. Prior to heading Freedom House, Mark served as chair for Global Politics and Security and pro-fessor in the practice of International Affairs at Georgetown University’s Master of Science in Foreign Service Program. He was adjunct Senior Fellow for Human Rights at the Council for Foreign Relations and Senior Advisor for Human Rights First.

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A. It uniquely promotes both human rights and democracy and engages in both research/analysis and program-matic work on the ground, too. No U.S. organization has those combinations.

Q. Why is the work of the organization so important?

A. Democracy and basic human rights are the great enablers—of expression, innovation, prosperity. When confront-ed by dictatorships, corrupt rulers, and terrorists, people’s hope and dignity are at risk.

Q. What are its biggest current challenges?

A. Dictatorships have reverse engineered the playbook of civil society activists and use of social media. We need a political consensus in the great democracies of the world to make the small investments to enable non-violent resistance to those illiberal regimes and bring about reform.

Q. What is a typical day like for you if you could explain it in a way that Fenn boys might understand?

A. It involves writing or interviews about the human rights situations in the world, managing our team of analysts and spe-cialists helping human rights defenders on all continents, and working to raise money for a good cause from North American and European governments and private contributors.

Q. Can you provide an example of a human trafficking situation that you are addressing?

A. In recent years I’ve worked with businesses to fight human trafficking arising in supply chains (helping found

the Global Business Coalition Against Human Trafficking, gbcat.org) and hope to increase that work on business and human rights at Freedom House.

Q. Can you illustrate how Freedom House can make a difference day to

day despite facing such overwhelming problems?

A. We offer emergency assistance to human rights defenders, journalists, religious freedom advocates, and dig-ital rights activists. Every day we offer funding, shelter, advice, care, and legal support to these people on the front line of fighting for human rights—from China to Central America.

Q. What message would you send to young people?

A. Even in tough economic times, one can make a solid living committed to a good cause helping others. That as a son of two Polish immigrants I have made a career in working for human rights is a sign that one should follow one’s inter-

ests and passions and be unafraid about paying the bills.

Q. When did you first become interested in history and government?

A. My interest in history and social stud-ies developed at Fenn, especially with Rob Shoemaker in ninth grade social studies, studying China. But it deepened at Middlesex.

Q. Any particular vivid memories of your Fenn years?

A. When President Ford came to speak at the Bicentennial Celebration at the Old North Bridge, his helicopter landed on the varsity soccer field. Someone from each grade was selected (names out of a hat) to stand in line and shake his hand. I was picked for the fourth grade, even though I had technically been accelerated to take all fifth grade classes. I also vivid-ly remember my first trip to Washington with the seventh grade.

Q. Your middle name rather than your last name is Przybyszewski. What is that about?

A. My father flipped his middle (Lagon) and last (Przybyszewski) names to be easier. Once in a Fenn classroom I was asked to write the name out and fell over while leaning so far to the right at the chalkboard. In a rehearsal for our Fenn graduation, the same teacher, senior faculty member Mr. Travers, read out my name as “Polyethylene-ski” as a joke.

“My interest in history and social studies developed at Fenn, especially with Rob Shoemaker in ninth grade social studies, studying China.” – Mark Lagon ’79

2011Alumni Class SenatorNathaniel Sintros [email protected]

Alex Hreib has put his deposit down at Trinity College but will spend a year playing Junior Hockey before matriculating. Conor Ingari was selected as an ISL All-Star for soccer. Miles Petrie was named an ISL All-Star for cross country. See more about Miles on p. 49).

2012Alumni Class SenatorsWill Baxter [email protected] Andreas Sheikh [email protected]

Spencer Anton was named a NEPSAC All-Star for squash. Frank Bruni was captain of the Groton School football and lacrosse teams this past year. Joey Crowley will be doing a PG year at Kimball Union Acad-emy in New Hampshire next year. He played four years of varsity basketball at Concord-Carlisle High School and wants one more year of playing before college. He was named a Dual County All-Star for basketball. Bryce Dion was goal keeper for Concord-Carlisle High School’s varsity soccer team which won the MIAA State Soccer Championship in November. The team finished number 1 in the state, num-ber 1 in New England, and was ranked 8th in the National Coaches Association poll. Bryce posted the lowest goals against average in the state at 0.28 goals per game, allowing only 6 goals in 21 games, with 18 shut outs. Austin Dorsey was named

an ISL NEPSAC All-Star for basketball. Gates Dupont was awarded The Humane Society of the United States Gold Award in recognition of his “extensive and varied work for animals: volunteering/externing with pets though the National Education for Assistance Dog Services (NEADS) and Angell Animal Medical Center, and with an eye towards preserving habits through Concord Land Conservation Trust (CLCT) and New England Aquarium (NEAQ).” He was also acknowledged for his “illustration and design of notecards to raise awareness about birds and their habitats.” Gates began volunteering with NEADS while at Fenn, after his Youth in Philanthropy class decided to donate funds to the organization. He volunteered for two summers and continues to main-tain a relationship with the group. Gates has externed with lead cardiologist Dr. Nancy Laste at Angell for more than two years and worked for CLCT for two years and NEAQ for more than four years. The Humane Society award comes with a col-lege scholarship; Gates will attend Cornell to study biology on a pre-vet track.Clayton Gilmour will be spending his senior year at Gould Academy in Maine. In his third season on the Lawrence Acad-emy boys’ varsity cross-country team, Tim Joumas received the Coach’s Award for extraordinary spirit and dedication for his participation on the cross country and track teams, of which he was a captain for two years and one year, respectively. He was also one of four Lawrence Academy singers to perform in a large ensemble chorus at Carnegie Hall on Easter Sunday. Tim was also selected as a Peer Counselor his senior year. Andrew Kielar was one of the captains of the varsity lacrosse team at Concord-Carlisle High School this spring. In the winter he was recognized as an Eastern Massachusetts and Dual County All-Star for football. John Lamont is taking a gap year (plans to be determined) before entering Williams College in the fall of 2016. Alex McNulty has been on the Concord-Carlisle High School varsity wres-tling team for four years and served as team captain for two years. He has been named a Dual County League All-Star for wrestling

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College plans for the Class of 2011

Jack Barron Wake Forest UniversityMatt Boudreau George Washington UniversityBlaise Foley Colby CollegeAlex Hreib Gap Year/Trinity CollegeConor Ingari Boston UniversitySam Isaacs University of VermontJames Jennings Georgetown UniversityBen Marchand College of the Holy CrossDanny Meyerhoff Reed CollegeMiles Petrie Stanford UniversityJackson Price Skidmore CollegeLuke Randle Denison UniversityPaige Sanderson St. Lawrence UniversityAugust Voelk Franklin & Marshall College

Clockwise from top left: Keller Scholl ’10 at Voronet Monastery • In April former Fenn baseball coach Dave Rouse visited Lawrence Academy to cheer on Fenn grads (l to r) Mitchell Groves ’13, Matthew Killian ’14, and Brendan Seifert ’12. • (l to r) Patrick O’Brien and Bryce Talbot-Dion, both Class of 2012, after CCHS won the MIAA State Soccer Championship last fall • (l to r) Jeff LaPlante, Garren LaPlante ’14, Matt Cunningham ’14, and Kevin Cunningham at the Fenway Park ceremony honoring Nashoba Regional H.S. state championship teams

three times. Patrick O’Brien was named a Dual County All-Star in soccer while scoring four goals and six assists, with three game-winning goals, for the CCHS state championship team. Brendan Seifert played on the Lawrence Academy varsity soccer team which won the ISL championship for a second straight season and went on to earn an historic first NEPSAC Class B champi-onship in a game against South Kent School that was decided by penalty kicks.

2013Alumni Class SenatorsJake Goorno [email protected] Mitchell Groves [email protected] Reid Shilling [email protected]

Patrick Crowley, Austin Hoey, and Ethan vanderWilden were selected as Dual County All-Stars for football. Austin was also named a Dual County All-Star for basketball. James Sanderson earned All-Scholastic honors for alpine skiing. Nick Stone played on the Law-rence Academy varsity soccer team which won the ISL championship for a second straight season and went on to earn an his-toric first NEPSAC Class B championship in a game against South Kent School that was decided by penalty kicks. Cole Winstanley was named a Dual County All-Star for both cross country and track.

2014Alumni Class SenatorsChad Arle [email protected] Andrew Brown [email protected] Ewing [email protected] P.J. Lucchese [email protected] Christopher Ruediger [email protected] Zachar [email protected]

Matt Cunningham and Garren LaPlante were honored at Fenway Park on April 28 for their participation on Nashoba Regional High School’s winning state championship teams. Matt wrestled in Division 2 of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Asso-ciation, and Garren played ice hockey in MIAA Division 3A. Matthew Killian played on the Lawrence Academy varsity soccer team which won the ISL championship for a second straight season and went on to earn an historic first NEPSAC Class B champi-onship in a game against South Kent School that was decided by penalty kicks. Daniel Kramer was selected to attend the U.S. Junior National Crew Team Development Camp for the coming summer.

2015Alumni Class SenatorsPaul Michaud [email protected] Nick Schoeller [email protected] Dylan Volman [email protected] Ben Zide [email protected]

S u M M E R 2015 53

College plans for the Class of 2012

Garnet Alex-Barton University of South FloridaDrew Anderson Providence CollegeSpencer Anton Princeton UniversityAneesh Ashutosh Northeastern UniversityWill Baxter Lafayette CollegeGriffin Bishop Worcester Polytechnic InstituteFrank Bruni Bowdoin College Dan Carlson Colby CollegeJoey Crowley PG Year at Kimball UnionBrandon David University of ArizonaAsher Dawson Santa Clara UniversityBryce Dion Fairfield UniversityGates Dupont Cornell UniversityAngelo Eliopoulos Providence CollegeAustin Galusza Ithaca CollegeMax Gomez Middlebury CollegeJames Henderson Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteCarter Hochman Springfield CollegeMatt Hrabchak University of VirginiaAdrian Huertas Skidmore CollegeWilson Indermuehle UMass AmherstAdam Jolly Colorado CollegeTim Joumas Loyola University - MarylandPaul Kinard Princeton UniversityAlaric Krapf Yale UniversityJohn Lamont Gap Year/Williams CollegeBen MacShane Trinity CollegeAlexander McNulty University of ArizonaRyan Metro Pennsylvania State UniversityPatrick O’Brien University of VirginiaTyler Parke Bates CollegeBobby Reardon University of San DiegoMatt Richman Colby CollegeSameer Sarma Tufts UniversityJackie Scholl New College of FloridaOwen Sette-Ducati Gap Year/University of Denver Andreas Sheikh Colby CollegeMatt Simon University of Southern CaliforniaBen Stone Colby CollegeJordan Swett Dartmouth CollegeNeel Taneja Cornell UniversityChris Thomas Syracuse UniversityJonathan Trusheim Champlain CollegeCole Turissini Colby CollegeErik Zimmer Duke UniversityParker Zimmerman Vassar College

Todd Nelson (English and drama) is the principal of Brooksville Elementary School in Brooksville, ME. He and wife Lesley moved east from Pennsylvania, where he was head of The School at Rose Valley. Nelson said he might be remembered for his bagpiping (see photo). As Todd likes to say, “The piping will continue until morale improves.” He also reports that he had a “delightful lunch” a few years ago with a former student, Derek Vaillant ’80, who is now a professor at the University of Michigan. Todd has written articles about education for publications including Independent School, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Science Monitor, and for Maine Public Radio, and he says that writing is “my area of creativity, now.” Robert Shoemaker, who was mentioned in the former faculty and staff column in the Winter 2015 issue of FENN, writes to say that reports of his retirement are premature. He is an independent registered investment advisor and he volunteers at the Gettysburg National Military Park Visitors Center, assisting the rangers, answering visitors’ questions and suggesting how they can best spend their time at the park. Ted McMahon (former director of development) is currently vice president for development and member services at the New England Historical Genealogical Society.

Former Faculty and Staff News

A. Dilek BarlasDecember 24, 2015Father of Nuri Barlas ’99

William K. Bovey ’43 February 12, 2015 Father of Ted Bovey ’86Brother of Martin Bovey ’42

Gerald L. Broyles March 2, 2015 Father of Chris ’87 and Greg Broyles ’89

Jonathan E. Diehl October 10, 2013 Father of Brooks Diehl ’01

Philip Faversham ’53 September 12, 2014

Abbott T. Fenn ’34 April 3, 2015 Son of Roger and Eleanor Fenn

Nancy W. GradyFenn Tutor and Teacher 1974-1983 May 4, 2015Mother of Ted ’61 and Tim Fisher ’63

Albert C. Lesneski April 8, 2015 Father of Reid ’84 and Connor Lesneski ’07 Grandfather of Sam Gifford ’07

Libby Mottur March 11, 2015 Mother of Tom ’80 and Peter Mottur ’84

Henry C. Nields May 28, 2013 Father of Henry M. Nields ’68

Michael C. Toth December 11, 2014 Father of Zack ’99

Judith Robb Watriss March 6, 2015 Mother of Scott ’75, Eric ’79, and Ian Robb ’83 Grandmother of Justin Robb ’14 Wife of Fred Watriss ’61 Stepmother of Jamie Watriss ’89 Sister of Tony Harris ’71 Former wife of Russ Robb ’51

Harold M. Whitcomb January 12, 2015 Father of Mark Whitcomb ’79

in memoriamWe extend our heartfelt sympathy to the families

of these Fenn graduates and friends


In MEMORIAM

HOMECOMING! Saturday, September 26, 2015Student and alumni sporting games, musical performances, kids’ corner, BBQ lunch, presentation

of Distinguished Alumnus Award, alumni tailgate, and more. Bring your family!

For more information, visit www.fenn.org/homecoming.

REUNION! Friday, September 25, 2015Alumni classes ending in “0” and “5” will be celebrating their reunions. Enjoy cocktails,

dinner, and a chance to reconnect with your classmates

HOMECOMING! Saturday, September 26, 2015Student and alumni sporting games, musical performances, kids’ corner, BBQ lunch, presentation

of Distinguished Alumnus Award, alumni tailgate, and more. Bring your family!

For more information, visit www.fenn.org/homecoming.


GRADUATION THIS SPRING marked the official end of my time at Fenn but it nearly overwhelmed me with delight. Usually distracted by the restless boys around me, I sat appreciating every detail: the eloquent words, the prize winners bounding up on stage, the rousing band, and the tender Trebles. My heart beat right along with the graduates, all of us suspended in that moment between a warm and wonderful past and an unknown but exciting future. I felt abundant gratitude yet a poignant sense of letting go.

Of the thirty plus Fenn commencements I have attended, among the most memorable are the three when my sons graduated: 1985, 1988, and 1993. I loved sitting with other Fenn families, witnessing my sons’ passages from their nurturing Fenn years and their excited anticipation of the next step. The ritual seemed to say, “Fenn has taught you much and you are ready to move on.” How reassuring it was to feel this promise for myself this June!

Most Fenn graduations have been a very different experience for me. I sit with the Lower School boys, and the occasion is often a rite of endurance—a tightly packed mass of 100 blue blazers worn by increasingly fidgety boys who are waiting for the lengthy proceedings to end. Programs become confetti, airplanes, or hangman games. But there are times when they listen and watch carefully: when the band plays, when Citizenship Prizes are named, and when students speak. I am convinced they are absorbing our Fenn values of honoring achievement,

nurturing citizenship, and cherishing community. Even though they explode out of their seats at the end, our youngest students tuck away the belief that someday this honored tradition will feature them and they will be as accomplished as the confident eighth and ninth graders in front of them. I, too, have been profoundly shaped by the values of this community

and share the optimism that my future is full of potential.

My favorite part of the ceremony is when the president and vice president speak, their earnest voices so full of nostalgic details and gratitude. Time telescopes as I remember them as tentative fourth graders and marvel at their current poise and grace. Their pledges to stay connected to friends and Fenn ring true; year after year, they return to touch base and some even come back to work here.

I have been privileged to journey with each ILP class for two years as the boys grew into more self-aware, self-

assured readers and writers. I treasure having watched them take risks to open themselves up and address their difficulties. The shy fourth grader who became president of the school in ninth grade, the boy who struggled to read and became addicted to the Harry Potter series, the reluctant writer whose poem was recognized by a Travers Prize, the

college student who returned to say he still uses an assignment notebook like the one he used back then—all are treasured memories, as are the boys who came into my class not believing they were smart or capable but who adopted the strategies that slowly convinced them otherwise. The partnerships I have forged with their parents have been rewarding, too; with their bravery and honesty they have taught me how to understand their sons.

I have been honored year after year to do this work with my colleagues; these talented, committed, caring people are

models of courage, integrity, energy, balance, and humor and have supported me and made me a better teacher.

Finally, how can I express sufficient gratitude for a community that nurtured my own three sons and one where I met and then taught alongside my husband for thirty years? One that introduced my oldest son Eric to his future wife, Jill Guzzi? Too many blessings to count! Fenn has been my home, my workplace, and my family for most of my adult life. Like the graduates, I am excited for the future, secure in the knowledge that Fenn has taught me well.

REFlECTIOnS

“I have been profoundly shaped by this community.” – Kathy Starensier

Helping To Secure Fenn’s Future

And why an annuity bequest? “We feel that we can give capitol when we are gone, but until then it will generate interest that we might continue to need,” Jay explains. “People should realize,” he notes, “that an annuity bequest this is a viable option if they still need income as they grow older. It’s great,” he adds, “that Fenn has the ability to accept a gift like this and do such a transaction in house.”

Jay and Judy, whose home near the Fenn campus overlooks the Old North Bridge, have many interests. Jay, former CEO of the Boston Financial Group, now Boston Financial Management, is actively involved with several organizations including The Trustees of Reservations, Community Builders, which develops low-moderate income housing, the New England Forestry Association, The Concord Land Trust, the Concord Museum, and the Ralph Waldo Emerson Memorial Association, which maintains the Ralph Waldo Emerson House and provides financial support to scholars working on Emerson-related projects.

Jay’s grandmother was instrumental in having another historic Concord home, The Old Manse, built by Emerson’s grandfather Reverend William Emerson, opened to the public in the late 1930s, “for ten-cent tours,” he recalls. Once the house was acquired by the

Trustees of Reservations, Jay’s grandparents George and Alice lived there in the summer, George serving as groundskeeper. Jay stayed there many nights as a little boy—during one visit he toppled into the goldfish pond that used to be in the front yard—unaware, of course, that it was the house where Emerson (a relative to the Keyes by marriage) had penned his most important works and where another New England icon, Nathanial Hawthorne, once lived and wrote.

Judy, who worked for many years as a gallery instructor at the Museum of Fine Arts, says

she enjoys doing genealogy research and keeping her eye on the activities of the local historic commission. The couple is lucky “to be able to be deeply involved in things we care about” in Concord, she says.

The generosity of the Keyes (rhymes with “skies”) will help secure Fenn’s future success. And the couple invites others to leave such a legacy to the School. “I see how enthusiastic our sons and grandson are as alumni, and I envy them,” Jay says. ”We’re so happy that Fenn is making a difference in the lives of boys.”

If you have included Fenn in your estate planning or you wish to discuss making provisions for Fenn in your estate plans, please contact Veronica Jorge-Curtis, director of advancement, at 978-318-3520.

Why have Jonathan (Jay) and Judy Keyes decided to make a planned gift to their sons’ and grandson’s school? “We’ve always admired Fenn,” says Jay, father of Jared ’75 and Philip ’72, grandfather of Simon ’03, and brother of Henry ’52. “It’s such a unique institution and it’s so important to have it here in Concord,” he says.

NONPROFITU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDN READING MA PERMIT NO. 121

The Fenn School516 Monument Street

Concord, Massachusetts 01742-1894

Parents of AlumniIf this publication is addressed to your son, and he no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, please notify the alumni office of his new mailing address (978-318-3525 or [email protected]). Thank you!

Documents

Summer 2015