Darrow School Peg Board Fall-Winter 2015-16
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PegTHE MAGAZINE Board OF DARROW SCHOOL FALL/WINTER 2015–16 imPACt Transforming the performing arts at Darrow MISSION At Darrow School, we are dedicated to serving students with diverse backgrounds and abilities, building on each student’s individual talents and interests to inspire enduring confidence Photo by Steve Ricci for success in college and life. FALL/WINTER 2015–16 Peg Board 14 Duck Dominance Founded in 1932 on the site of the first Shaker On the soccer fields and the community in America. cross-country trails, the 2015 fall sports season was marked by championships 110 Darrow Road and historic accomplishments. New Lebanon, New York 12125 P: (518) 794-6000 18 imPACt! F: (518) 794-7065 Darrow’s performing arts curriculum has been www.darrowschool.org transformed by the new Performing Arts Editor Center (PAC), which is rapidly becoming the Steve Ricci, Director of Communications Mountainside’s coolest place to be. Contributors Paul Gundlach ’71; Jim Healey; 22 Our Sincere Thanks Alexandra Heddinger P’13, ’14; Simon Holzapfel; Lawrence Klein; Your stories. Your voices. Our thanks. Ross Matican ’16; Nikki Pressley; The 2014–2015 Annual Fund campaign Joelle Russo; Don Singleton; was a huge success because of Tom Tift; Craig Westcott the generosity of Darrow’s legion of supporters. HEAD OF SCHOOL Simon Holzapfel 48 Cheese Passion BOARD OF TRUSTEES Robert W. Kee ’71, Chair Lily Spencer ’07 has turned her passion Jennifer Cholnoky P’13, ’18, Vice-Chair for, and expert knowledge of, cheese into H. Barton Riley, Treasurer a successful career creating beautiful and Sharon A. Kennedy P’10, Secretary delicious works of edible art. Patrice Pisinski Angle P’14 DEPARTMENTS Errol Glasser P’07 Robert Greifeld ’05 2 Learning First 32 Advancement News Paul S. Gundlach ’71 4 Scene Around 36 Alumni Notes Thomas Hallowell ’82 Samuel Harper ’74 6 On Campus 47 In Memoriam Daniel Holt ’92 Christian Masters ’82 17 From the Board 48 Alumni Spotlight Peter Rosemond ’70, P’15 Mark C. Russell ’73 Henry L. Savage, Jr. ’59 Laurence Van Meter On the cover: Fei Wang ’18 has got the beat in the Darrow Performing Arts Center’s (PAC) performance studio. In just one semester, the PAC is already Peter S. Wadsworth ’72 transforming the School’s performing arts curriculm. Story on page 18. Robert C. Warner ’60 Photo by Steve Ricci David Webster ’66 DARROW SCHOOL 3 LEARNING FIRST Designing Time Long before teenagers even start to think about SATs, summer jobs, and college choices, they face one of their most fundamental challenges: identity formation—that essential question, “Who am I?” This isn’t meant to imply that such a complex and introspective process can or should be finished simply because someone has reached the age of 20; far from it. But for so many people, high school remains the most common place and time in which we begin to uncover the answer. Recognizing that fact, one of the best things a school can do to shepherd students in this development is to provide them with an assortment of creative outlets—designing spaces where self-expression is safe and encouraged, where collaboration and feedback are abundant, and where creativity is allowed to flow. This summer we built such a place—the Darrow School Performing Arts Center—in a Dairy Barn space that had been largely unused. Throughout the fall semester, both inside and outside of classes, students, teachers, and guest performers packed the PAC, making friends, expressing themselves through music, mixing and recording songs, crafting inventive and inspired movies and animation, and bringing stories to life for the stage. For some students, a free block during which to bang on a drum kit for a few minutes is a great stress reliever, lightening the pressures of the academic day. For others, perhaps visiting during open hours, the PAC provides a fun and educational opportunity to learn the technological know-how behind music and movies. And for a few, the PAC is a place where they discover and cultivate a previously unrealized talent, building the confidence and acquiring the expertise they’ll need to display those talents before a live audience. Education is indispensible to identity formation. We cannot learn who we are and what our place is in the world until we’ve learned how that world works. It is gratifying to help students make better sense of the world by making better sense of themselves. I appreciate your involvement in that process and I welcome your thoughts about other ways in which we can do it better. As always, feel free to email me at [email protected] or send a tweet to @saholzapfel. SIMON HOLZAPFEL HEAD OF SCHOOL 4 PEG BOARD FALL/WINTER 2015–16 DARROW SCHOOL 5 SCENE AROUND 1 2 3 4 5 6 PEG BOARD FALL/WINTER 2015–16 1 The Darrow community gathers around Tanner’s Pond following Convocation in September. 2 From left: Maya Woolridge ’17, Jess Cooper ’17, and Theresa Russell ’18 lend a hand to socialize kittens during Hands-to-Work volunteer service in September at the Berkshire Humane Society. 3 The Bio-Orbs have landed! In October, the bins (made of recycled plastic) were placed in the North Family and Center Family areas, between Neale and Hinckley Houses, and at the garden, and are being used to compost yard waste and food scraps. In the photo, Dulce Lopez ’16 displays one of the orbs, and Craig Westcott, Sustainability Coordinator, displays one of several new five-gallon buckets being used in the kitchen to recycle food waste. 4 Grandparents and Special Friends Day in November set a record for attendance, as grandparents like Roberta Temes GP’18 (with Abe Pritzker ’18) joined classes in session, attended receptions and dinners, and watched the debut of the Darrow Theater Workshop’s fall play. 5 Spanish teacher Josh Brown managed to be one of Halloween’s most colorful and most creepy characters. 6 Grace Bell ’16 gets a lift while trimming the tropical and subtropical plants in the Samson Environmental Center during Hands-to-Work in October. 7 In September, members of the Print and Other Matters: Bookmaking and Zines class enjoyed a special opportunity to watch a local book artist in action when they visited Valerie Carrigan (center) of Messenger Press Studio in North Adams, Massachusetts. From left: Ross Matican ’16, Leona Wang ’16, Kehao Su ’16, Carrigan, Emily Handler ’16, Nyaiah Lamb ’17, and Maya Woolridge ’17 (photo by Nikki Pressley) 8 Sam Carton ’10, Assistant Director of Admission, leads a tour of the campus during Berkshire Chamber Night at Darrow in August. The event welcomed members of the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce to the Mountainside for a reception and an opportunity to see the newly renovated kitchen facilities and the Performing Arts Center. 6 9 Teacher Chris Ouellette pilots the tractor crew across the Mountainside. 7 8 DARROW SCHOOL 7 9 ON CAMPUS Blazing Trails of Innovation by Joelle Russo This summer, as one of three recip- ients of the Learning First Grant, I was fortunate to be selected to embark on an expedition to the future of learning. The Learning First Grant is a profes- sional development grant awarded to faculty who want to pursue an interest related to their professional objectives Last summer (from left), Joelle Russo, Director of Academic Mentorship; Jennifer Pytleski, and goals as Darrow educators and Chair of the Performing Arts Department; and Ingrid Gustavson, Director of Studies; leaders. In June, I packed my bags and received a Learning First Grant to attend the Trailblazer: The Innovative Leadership Conference in Boulder, Colorado. headed off to Newark airport—with Director of Studies Ingrid Gustavson and Chair of the Performing Arts De- One of the key takeaways from the “...people don’t follow ideas, partment Jennifer Pytleski—where we conference was the ability to under- they follow people. It is through boarded a flight bound for Trailblazer: stand the traits of innovative leaders, this concept of embracing and The Innovative Leadership Conference, and the signature presence that they in beautiful Boulder, Colorado. bring to an organization. Using case fostering empathy that new A trailblazer is defined as a person studies, we identified these traits opportunities are to be found.” who makes, does, or discovers some- in addition to how each successful thing new, and makes it acceptable leader exudes and utilizes them. We or popular. It is also a term used for a learned that people don’t follow ideas: —Joelle Russo person who marks or prepares a trail they follow people. It is through this for other people to follow. These were concept of embracing and fostering tively collaborated, and developed precisely the skills we honed and put empathy that new opportunities are to prototypes for possible solutions. At into practice over the course of the be found. the close of the conference, time was four-day workshop. During the final two days of the set aside for individual reflection, as In a partnership with two profes- conference, we undertook a design well as for discussion of the team dy- sional development providers—the challenge as an introduction to Design namics that emerged while engaging in Watershed School and Leadership+ Thinking. A framework was utilized creative collaboration. Design—the conference was facilitat- to lead us to creative and collabora- The experience of Trailblazer has ed by Carla Silver, Greg Bamford, and tive problem solving. The challenge been invaluable to my work here at Ryan Burke, and focused specifically enabled us to understand and practice Darrow as the Director of Academic on providing school leaders with the the skills and mindsets of innova- Mentorship.