Fall-Winter, 2016-17
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PegTHE MAGAZINE Board OF DARROW SCHOOL FALL/WINTER 2016–17 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 for success in college and life. Photo by Steve Ricci FALL/WINTER 2016–17 Peg Board 12 Animal House Founded in 1932 on the site of the first Shaker A new social studies elective uses community in America. project-based experimentation to gauge social engagement at Darrow 110 Darrow Road and around the world. New Lebanon, New York 12125 P: (518) 794-6000 18 Access Hollywood F: (518) 794-7065 From the foothills of the Mountainside to the www.darrowschool.org footlights of the theater, and the small and big Editor screens, many Darrow alumni have forged Steve Ricci, Director of Communications stellar careers in entertainment and media. Contributors Gregory Cherin; Nancy Dutton; Art Evans; 26 The Annual Report Sam Harper ’74; Shawn Holcombe; As it has since our inception, the Simon Holzapfel; Chloe Kalna; support of Darrow’s donors enables us Lawrence Klein; Lisa Leary P’10; to continue providing an exceptional Alan Mayers ’50; Eileen Ordu P’20; Joel Priest; Catherine Stines; Tom Tift; education in our close-knit community. John Villinski; Craig Westcott Our 2015–2016 Annual Report salutes their generosity. HEAD OF SCHOOL Simon Holzapfel 46 The People’s Mayor BOARD OF TRUSTEES We remember the accomplishments of one of Robert W. Kee ’71, Chair our most distinguished alumni, William “Bill” Jennifer Cholnoky P’13, ’18, ’20, Vice-Chair Hudnut ’50, the former mayor of Indianapolis, H. Barton Riley, Treasurer who passed away in December 2016. Sharon A. Kennedy P’10, Secretary Patrice Pisinski Angle P’14 DEPARTMENTS Errol Glasser P’07 2 Learning First 17 From the Board Robert Greifeld ’05 Paul S. Gundlach ’71 4 Scene Around 34 Advancement News Thomas Hallowell ’82 6 On Campus 38 Alumni Notes Daniel Holt ’92 Pei Jing ’11 15 Faculty Profile 48 Legacy Society Christian Masters ’82 Richard O’Leary P’11 Peter Rosemond ’70, P’15 Mark C. Russell ’73 On the cover: Don Singleton, Director of Athletics and Head Coach of the Henry L. Savage, Jr. ’59 Girls Varsity Basketball team, gets his players fired up to start a January Travis Shedd ’04 game in D’s House. Photo by Steve Ricci Laurence Van Meter Peter S. Wadsworth ’72 Robert C. Warner ’60 DARROW SCHOOL 1 LEARNING FIRST Sailing a Blue Ocean In addition to the day-to-day responsibilities of ensuring that our students and staff are continually learning and growing, my most impassioned work for 2017 has been in the realm of strategic planning. Strategy, the art of making good decisions about the future, is not easy. There are 280 North American boarding schools actively competing to recruit the approximately 40 new students Darrow needs to enroll each year. Finding and acquiring those students requires a distinctive approach: offering an experience that people will value, and telling the story of that experience in a compelling way. Although that concept may be simple to articulate, executing it effectively demands a long-range strategy. Toward that end, I’ve been using a framework outlined by Renée Mauborgne and W. Chan Kim in their book, Blue Ocean Strategy (Harvard Business Review, 2005). The blue ocean they describe stands in contrast to a red ocean, i.e., the blood-filled waters resulting from aggressive, head-to-head competition for resources. Rather than engage in protracted and expensive battles with competitors, an organization finding its blue ocean pursues differentiation and low cost as a means of opening new, uncontested market space and creating new demand. So how does a boarding school do that? Last October, I visited the five boarding schools with whom Darrow most frequently crosses applications to see in person what they look and feel like. At the same time, I’ve been interviewing parents and students to get a finer sense of how they experience Darrow, particularly the joys and the challenges. With nearly two dozen interviews done, I’m forming a more accurate impression of what our constituents value, expect, and need. The next step is synthesizing this information to inform what we should be doing more of (and less of). In December, Darrow’s Board of Trustees began to consider a few versions of a vision statement, which was then submitted to the staff for feedback and refining. In February, we dedicated an entire school day to a new event called Design Day, in which students and faculty contributed their talents and insights to designing parts of the School’s future. The goal is to help us better understand possible paths forward and consider which of our values will best support the realization of our vision. Gathering input from the students who will live most immediately under those values day to day will be an essential part of our strategic plan’s ultimate success. Our goal is to have the plan’s vision and values established by late spring. We will then begin to specify the focus areas that will enable us to realize our vision. Although we have a general timeline for completion of this process, I have heard repeatedly from strategy consultants that it can’t be rushed responsibly. A strategic plan has to steep over a period of time. It needs to be done as soon as possible, but no sooner. To properly conclude such an important undertaking, we also need the input and ideas of Darrow’s alumni and friends. Please email me at [email protected] to let me know how you would like to be involved. We won’t find our blue ocean without you. SIMON HOLZAPFEL HEAD OF SCHOOL 2 PEG BOARD FALL/WINTER 2016–17 DARROW SCHOOL 3 SCENE AROUND 1 3 2 4 PEG BOARD FALL/WINTER 2016–17 4 1 In November, members of Darrow’s new dance class gave their first public performance in the Darrow School Theater. From left: Derin Cubukcuoglu ’18, Elizabeth Lerch ’19, Nyaiah Lamb ’17, Solana Russell ’18, Jeri Hautzig ’20, Hunter Evans ’17, and Victoria Chen ’19 (Photo courtesy of Chloe Kalna) 2 Max Sidell ’18 holds some of the many pledges he received from fellow students committing not to text and drive. Max’s effort was part of the December Health Fair, which featured interactive displays and presentations on important topics for teens, including energy drinks, opioid addiction, sugar addiction, body shaming, and nutrition. 3 Students in the PACs, Polls, and Primaries class participated in a mock debate on Election Day, representing the viewpoints of each of the candidates: (from left) Desmond Tracey ’17 (Jill Stein), Eric Hernandez ’17 (Gary Johnson), Connor Sakal ’17 (Hillary Clinton), and Xander Kaylan ’17 (Donald Trump). 4 Grandparents and Special Friends Day in November saw a record attendance, as visitors like Stu and Eve Leher, aunt and uncle of David Feinman ’19 (left), joined classes in session, attended receptions and dinners, and saw the debut of the fall play. 5 Laxmi Beard ’19 gets busy cleaning The Living Machine® in the Samson Environmental Center during the first Hands-to-Work in September. 6 Students in the Herbology elective prepared a variety of products to sell at the Mountain Road School Holiday Fair in December. Products the class made include lip balm, handmade soaps (lavender, lemongrass/grapefruit, peppermint, cedar, and eucalyptus), ointments, red clover cough syrup, 5 tea, and more. From left: Ewen McManus ’18, Robert Lee ’17, Max Sidell ’18, science teacher Lily Corral, Paul Ferch ’17, and Felix Sanchez ’18 7 If you’re going to the Halloween parade as Thing 1 and Thing 2, it’s probably a competitive advantage to be twins, just like Cassidy Roberts ’18 and Louis Roberts ’18. 9 Chris Sano ’17 (right) drives against teacher and mentor Joe Paradis during November’s Senior/Faculty Soccer Game. The seniors emerged victorious, claiming a 6-3 win over the faculty. 6 7 8 DARROW SCHOOL 5 ON CAMPUS Sharing the Shaker Experience In summer 2016, three members of Left: Workshop the Darrow faculty —Lisa Leary P’10, participants toured the Administrative Assistant to the Dean Darrow campus of Students; Eileen Ordu P’20, World and the Mount Languages Department Chair; and John Lebanon site, Villinski, History Department Chair—par- including the ticipated in a weeklong professional de- Great Stone Barn. (Photo by Lisa velopment workshop entitled “Religious Leary) Revivals, Utopian Societies, and the Shaker Experience in America.” Part of a National Endowment for the Humanities program called Landmarks of American History and Culture (which offers site-based professional develop- From left: Lisa ment experiences for teachers, cen- Leary P’10, tered on sites of historical and cultural Administrative Assistant to the significance) the workshop was based Dean of Students; at Siena College, in Loudonville, New Eileen Ordu P’20, York. The 36 participating educators World Languages hailed from around the U.S. and learned Department Chair; about the evolution of religion in the and John Villinski, th th History Department U.S. in the 18 and 19 centuries, with Chair particular emphasis on the Shakers. Field trip sites included Hancock “It made me wonder what always been a very spiritual place, and Shaker Village, the Shaker Museum | our site would be like today its history remains a part of the place.” Mount Lebanon, the Watervliet Shaker “It made me wonder what our site Historic District, and the New York State if there had been no Shaker would be like today if there had been Library and Archives for research in village here.