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BULLETIN Fall 2009 adventurEs in sCIENCE Ingree’sPort IncludesYear end P re board of trustees 2008–09 Jane Blake Riley ’77, p ’05 President contents James D. Smeallie p ’05, ’09 V ice President Keith C. Shaughnessy p ’04, ’08, ’10 T reasurer Philip G. Lake ’85 4 Pingree Secretary athletes Thanks Anthony G.L. Blackman p ’10 receive Interim Head of School All-American Nina Sacharuk Anderson ’77, p ’09 ’11 honors for stepping up to the plate. Kirk C. Bishop p ’06, ’06, ’08 Tamie Thompson Burke ’76, p ’09 Patricia Castraberti p ’08 7 Malcolm Coates p ’01 Honoring Therese Melden p ’09, ’11 Reflections: Science Teacher Even in our staggering economy, Theodore E. Ober p ’12 from Head of School Eva Sacharuk 16 Oliver Parker p ’06, ’08, ’12 Dr. Timothy M. Johnson Jagruti R. Patel ’84 you helped the 2008–2009 Pingree William L. Pingree p ’04, ’08 3 Mary Puma p ’05, ’07, ’10 annual Fund hit a home run. Leslie Reichert p ’02, ’07 Patrick T. Ryan p ’12 William K. Ryan ’96 Binkley C. Shorts p ’95, ’00 • $632,000 raised Joyce W. Swagerty • 100% Faculty and staff participation Richard D. Tadler p ’09 William J. Whelan, Jr. p ’07, ’11 • 100% Board of trustees participation Sandra Williamson p ’08, ’09, ’10 Brucie B. Wright Guess Who! • 100% class of 2009 participation Pictures from Amy McGowan p ’07, ’10 the archives 26 • 100% alumni leadership Board participation Parents Association President William K. Ryan ’96 • 15% more donations than 2007–2008 A Lumni L eadership Board President Cover Story: • 251 new Pingree donors board of overseers Adventures in Science Alice Blodgett p ’78, ’81, ’82 Susan B. Brown ’70 The Pingree Theater John R. Chandler p ’92, ’97 production of Zombie Prom 10 Herbert F. Collins p ’80, ’84, ’86 James C. Deveney, Jr. Alice Dietrich ’68 4 John P. Drislane p ’90, ’93 36 Mimi Davis Emmons ’64 p ’87, ’90 Richard Harte, Jr. p ’69, ’74, ’77 Richard C. Kennedy p ’75, ’76, ’78 Anne H. Kneisel ’66 Susanne Phippen p ’75, ’78, ’80, ’82 T he Pingree School Bulletin is Published twice y early for alumni, PA R EN T S, Charles W. Pingree p ’78 and friends of the School . Please send address changes and other communications to: John R. Pingree p ’74 Charles P. Rimmer, Jr. p ’86 Marketing & Communications Office Edward P. Roberts * p ’68, ’72 Pingree School, 537 Highland Street, South Hamilton, MA 01982-1399 William S. Rogers p ’68, ’70 Phone: 978.468.4415 • Fax: 978.468.3758 Edward S. Rowland p ’77, ’80, ’82 Web Address: www.pingree.org Gilbert L. Steward, Jr. p ’83 Alumni e-mail: [email protected] Alexander A. uhle Publications e-mail: [email protected] * deceased Director of Institutional Advancement: Kimberley C. Moore Director of Marketing & Communications: Samantha Drislane Markowski ’93 Director of Alumni Relations: Laurie Harding Polese ’84, p ’13 The 2008–2009 Director of Annual Fund & Parent Relations: Diana Batchelder Mathey p ’01, ’04, ’09, ’11 Pingree School Database Administrator: Paul Tetta year End Report Events Coordinator: Shelley McCloy Vassallo ’76, p ’05, ’08 Development Office Coordinator: Donna Maggio p ’05 57 Editor and Writer: Samantha Drislane Markowski ’93 Alumni Editors: Laurie Harding Polese ’84, p ’13 and Shelley McCloy Vassallo ’76, p ’05, ’08 Photography: Blind Dog Photo, Dan Courter, Samantha Drislane Markowski ’93, David Pratt Photography, Tracy Emanuel Photography, Ned Jackson, Mark Drury, Chris Muise p ’11, Bob Stewart, Laurie Harding Polese ’84, p ’13, Brad Mintz Photography, Pingree School archives Design: Mark Drury, Percolator Design, Inc Printing: Cricket Press Pingree School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration policies, scholarship, and loan programs, and athletic and other School-administered programs. Every effort has been made to ensure that the information in the Pingree Bulletin is correct. Please direct any errors to the Marketing & Communications Office and accept our apologies. the pingree annual fund * deceased “It takes a village to raise a child” is an ancient African proverb that most of us are familiar with thanks to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s book. During this past academic year a variation of this proverb often ran thru my head, “ it takes a village to run a school.” Although Pingree is not technically a village, it certainly is a close knit community of caring individuals. During this past year of leadership transition our “village” came together and in many ways went the extra mile to make sure that our School ran smoothly. Faculty, Administrators, parent volunteers, and the Board of Trustees, just to name a few, all put in extra time and effort; these groups of people deserve our thanks and praise. There is however one individual who needs to be singled out for a “The imagination in its loyalty to possibility often takes special thank you, and that individual is Tony Blackman. When the Board of Trustees called the curved path rather than the linear way.” — John O’Donohue upon Tony to step in as Interim Head of School, Tony responded immediately and It is with great pride and enthusiasm information was there all along, but it took From physics labs exploring “How do enthusiastically. His willingness to serve as Interim Head of School allowed us to conduct a as Head of School that I write my inaugu- someone who could think imaginatively, we know?” questions to case studies on thorough search for the next Head of School without disruption to the important task of ral Bulletin introduction on technology communicate creatively, and present cou- water and air quality in our national parks, and science, areas of great significance to rageously to address the problem. Think- our students articulate with joy and preci- running Pingree. He skillfully guided our School, and his leadership enabled us to continue me as an educator and artist. The inspira- ing about our current students and gradu- sion their most meaningful learning ex- working on many important initiatives. We are grateful that Tony will remain at Pingree this tional stories of Pingree alumni, students, ates, I can’t think of a more important set periences. We owe a great deal of gratitude and faculty within this publication cap- of skills to develop. to long-time master teachers and progres- year as Associate Head of School to assist Dr. Timothy Johnson with the transition. ture the imaginative spirit that thrives in a Today, new tools for visualizing and sive thinkers like Eva Sacharuk for estab- Dr. Johnson, his wife Jennifer Groeber, and their three adorable children; Jasper learning community committed to collab- modeling, especially in the sciences, offer lishing an experiential philosophy at Pin- oration, exploration, and “taking the students ways to experiment and observe gree, and to Rob VanTuyl and Tammy (2 yrs), Mica and Reid (11 mos), moved into Rogers House on July 1st. I think it is fair to say that curved path.” phenomenon and to view results in graph- Conrad for their leadership and vision for Rogers House has not seen this level of activity in a long time! Tim has assumed the headship Last year, I was fortunate to have an ic ways that aid in understanding. Tech- the science and technology departments, opportunity to audit a class on “envision- nology alters the way we teach, offering ef- respectively. of Pingree effective July 1st. We are excited about his arrival and look forward to introducing ing information and the visual display of fective ways to reach different types of Picture again Snow’s dilemma, as Tim and his family to the Pingree Community this fall. Many special events are in the works quantitative data” with Edward Tufte, Pro- learners and assess student understand- shared by Tufte. What would our students fessor Emeritus at yale. Referencing his ing through multiple means. need to approach, solve, and communicate to celebrate Tim’s installation as Head of School. Plans are also underway for Pingree’s 50th book Visual Explanations: Images and We all need to be scientists. At its core, a complex problem today? With whom Anniversary which will be celebrated during the 2010–2011 academic year. The coming year Quantities, Tufte shared the compelling science is an activity that involves the on- would they collaborate? How could they story of John Snow’s explanation of the going writing and rewriting of a common convincingly present their findings? What promises to be an exciting one at Pingree. I look forward in sharing in this excitement with all 1854 cholera outbreak in London. By plot- story to which the observations and stories tools would they need at their disposal to of you. ting cholera cases on the city grid, Snow of all individuals make valued contribu- facilitate and illuminate the process? isolated a contaminated water pump han- tions. Teachers and students —both those These types of questions fuel the scientific dle on Broad St. Telling the story of the currently involved with science and those and technological explorations that are Sincerely, data in a creative, unexpected, and visual not — are engaged in a process of story- central to Pingree’s mission; I am proud to manner, he was able to counter an original telling in which our intuitions interact join students and teachers in this exhila- explanation of divine intervention, and fi- with our observations. The beauty is in the rating work. nally, to get the pump handle removed.