TALK TALK ThistleThistle FROM BEIJING TO THE ’BURGH www.winchesterthurston.org 1 Winchester Thurston School Winter 2015 TALK Winchester Thurston School College Choices BOARD OF for the Class of 2015 TRUSTEES ThistleMAGAZINE Members of the Class of 2015 have enrolled 2015-2016 Volume 42 • Number 2 Winter 2015 at the following colleges and universities: Thistletalk is published by Winchester Thurston Jennifer Gonzalez McComb ’89 School for alumnae/i, parents, students, and American University friends of the school. Letters and suggestions President Berklee College of Music are welcome. Terrance A. Hayes Boston University Vice President Bowling Green State University Editorial Team Brown University Nancy-Rose Netchi, Director of Deesha Philyaw Marketing and Communications Bucknell University Vice President Lee Moses A’98, Director of Digital Carleton College Communications Paul Rosenblatt Carnegie Mellon University Alumnae/i Editor Vice President Case Western Reserve University Linsey McDaniel A’96, Director Dusty Elias Kirk College of William and Mary of Alumnae/i Relations Treasurer Cornell University Contributors Dickinson College Kathleen Bishop Kathleen L. Metinko ’91 Duke University Drew Chelosky Assistant Treasurer Emory University Michelle Wion Chitty Jason Cohn Kerry Bron ’84 Fashion Institute of Design Dave DeNoma Secretary and Merchandising Maura Farrell Gordon College Marie Forst Cindy Akers Gerber Grinnell College Ashley Gottwald ’01 Assistant Secretary Kristen Maser Michaels ’01 Illinois Institute of Technology Renee Rosensteel Gary J. Niels Indiana University at Bloomington Jane Schilling Head of School Ithaca College Northeast Ohio Medical University Printing Northeastern University Broudy Printing Kathleen W. Buechel Oberlin College Manny Cahouet-Rotondi School Mission Pennsylvania State University Winchester Thurston School actively engages Simin Yazdgerdi Curtis Point Park University each student in a challenging and inspiring Robert I. Glimcher learning process that develops the mind, Purdue University motivates the passion to achieve, and cultivates Rosanne Isay Harrison ’56, Rochester Institute of Technology the character to serve. Emeritus Savannah College of Art and Design Elizabeth S. Hurtt ’74, Core Values The George Washington University We activate our Mission by creating a learning Emeritus environment that promotes and instills University of California, Berkeley appreciation for these five Core Values: Critical Vincent O. 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MaryJean Rusak Villanova University Sharon Semenza Winchester Thurston School is a member of the Wake Forest University National Association of Independent Schools. Kurt C. Small Washington University in St. Louis Winchester Thurston School is accredited by the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools. Christine M. Stone Wellesley College Winchester Thurston School does not discriminate Philip T. Sweeney Wofford College on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, Jane Arensberg Thompson ’57, Xavier University religion, or disability in the administration of its Emeritus educational policies, admission policies, financial aid programs, and athletics or other school- Jimmy Zhu administered programs. Copyright © 2015 Winchester Thurston School. All Rights Reserved. 2 Thistletalk Winter 2015 VOL. 42 • NO.2 Winter 2015 inside ... during the past five years, demand from international students has increased dramatically, mostly driven by students from China ... WT’s Pioneering Spirit 2 FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL Gary J. Niels 2 Features wt smart 21 wt sports 24 Commencement 2015 26 wt community 28 Alumnae/i News 30 Class Notes 33 From Beijing to the ’Burgh About the cover WT International Student Seniors Jiaying ‘Jessie’ Zhang (L) and Jia ‘Karen’ Ou (R) are Population Increases with two of 22 students from China who attend WT. Turn to page 4 Largest Chinese Cohort to Date 4 to learn more about WT’s international student population and to hear from Jessie and Karen in their own words about what it means to them to be part of the WT community. Gaylen Westfall 40 Years of Service 9 THISTLETALK GOES DIGITAL Get more news, photos, and fun at winchesterthurston.org/digitalthistle www.winchesterthurston.org 1 Gary J. Niels world of social media, and the so-called culture wars that now define our American society, I was struck and school inspired by Brooks’s poignant articulation of the qualities of that compose these deeper and ever disappearing eulogy character traits. head Having been helped by a Jewish theologian, Brooks defines his differentiation through a perceived division in the Biblical Creation accounts defined by Adam I (resume character) and Adam II (eulogy character). Adam II wants to have a serene inner character, a from the quiet but solid sense of right and wrong—not only to do good, but to be good. Adam II wants to love intimately, to sacrifice self in service to others, to live in obedience to some transcendent truth, to have a cohesive inner soul that honors creation and one’s own possibilities. WT’s Road to Character He goes on to explain that we have lost our cultural capacity to discuss and cultivate such qualities. This Last spring Kristen Klein, our Director of Upper led me to begin a conversation here at WT among my School, and Matt Bachner, our Upper School Dean of colleagues, wondering if I wouldn’t be perceived as an Students, presented each senior with a copy of David aging artifact. Quite the contrary! The discussion led to a Brooks’s book The Road to Character. Kristen and Matt’s preview of the book at our Senior Appreciation Assembly inspired me to pick it up. In the opening chapters, Brooks provides insight into how we have drifted from a society Never was there a time that seeks and lauds such qualities as humility, gratitude, when we needed more to and deference. Rather, today we gravitate toward self- enthusiastically embrace our promotion and even boastfulness. Brooks differentiates between our inclinations to accentuate our “resume founder’s command. character” from the selflessness embodied in what he calls “eulogy character.” There is much dialogue in the world of education chorus of concerns among our teachers and administra- about character development in schools. A New York tors about today’s social climate and its impact on our Times article entitled, “What If the Secret of Success Is young people. So, we purchased The Road to Character for Failure?” stirred conversation as it depicted an impressive all of our leaders. Although we have had varying responses effort by two very different schools to more purposefully to the characters that Brooks depicts, apparently as cultivate character traits within their students—one models of Adam II, there seems to be unanimous support through a visual campaign throughout the buildings as for his overall thesis about our society’s waning, if not lost, well as a grading system, the other through a less systemic, capacity to cultivate or promote the redeeming benefits of more organic emphasis. a life lived in service to others. Some of the character traits emphasized in these Of course, this leads me to “Think Also of the schools could be components of Brooks’s resume Comfort and the Rights of Others.” I’ve always been character, traits that improve our performance and our struck by the realism of our founder’s mandate: that opportunities for success—not at all bad and certainly Miss Mitchell recognized the realities of taking care of worthy of distinction. ourselves, but also her call to take care of others. Never Paul Tough, the author of How Children Succeed, was there a time when we needed more to enthusiastically compiled a list of some of the more helpful resume embrace our founder’s command. So, we are in the midst character traits: grit, curiosity, zest, and optimism. What of discussing and pursuing what an even more deliberate great qualities! Any school would be proud to say that it perpetuation of this declaration might mean here at WT. cultivates these qualities within its students. Certainly to Our only firm agreement at this point is that this intention embody these traits is to position oneself for life success. will not be programmatic, but relational. I look forward to Nonetheless, in the midst of an increasingly cynical, keeping you informed about our developments. even nasty climate of American politics, the ubiquitous 2 Thistletalk Winter 2015 WT Alumna Takes Helm of Board Jennifer Gonzalez McComb ’89 was elected president of WT’s Board of Trustees in June. A Trustee since 2012, McComb is a pulmonologist and intensivist at UPMC, and is Chief