PRINCETON DAY SCHOOL JOURNAL B o a r d o f T r u s t e e s Marilyn W. Grounds Chairm an ' PRINCETON DAY SCHOOL Richard F. Ober, Jr. Vice Chairman, Parliamentarian JOURNAL Thomas E. Gardner Vice Chairman Vol. 27 No. 1 Fall 1991 Clifford A. Goldman Treasurer Judith E. Feldman Contents Secretary From the Headmaster, Duncan W. Ailing ..................................................................... 1 Duncan W. Ailing H eadm aster Alumni Abroad ....................................................................................................................... 2-6 Mrs. J. Richardson Dilworth International Harmony: Promoting Peace Through M usic ............................... 7 Honorary Trustee Fair Exchange, Daniel J. S k v ir.............................................................................................. 8 Henry P. Bristol II '72 Robert E. Dougherty '43 Exchange Students at Princeton Day School................................................................ 9 Marlene G. Doyle Geographical Awareness, William A. Stoltzfus....................................................... 10 Prabhavathi Fernandes Peter G. Gerry Do You Have Memories of Pretty Brook Farm?...................................................... 10 Betty W. Greenberg Latin Lives On, Todd Gudgel............................................................................................ 11 Peter W. Hegener Cymbals Too .............................................................................................................................. 13 J. Parry Jones Stephen F. Jusick On C a m p u s........................................................................................................................... 14-15 Jane Henderson Kenyon '79 S p o rts ....................................................................................................................................... 16-17 Winton H. Manning Twenty Years of Architecture Career Day, Adam Bromwich '9 2 .................. 18 John T. McLoughlin Randolph W. Melville '77 Parade Highlights PDS's 25th Anniversary, Joshua Ticktin '92 ...................... 20 Barbara M. Ostfeld Founders Day Celebration ................................................................................................. 21 Cathi Ragsdale Edward W. Scudder III Panther's Party .......................................................................................................................... 22 Mitchell L. Sussman '71 Alumni Reunions.............................................................................................................. 23-24 Howard F. Taylor Lower School Final Assembly ............................................................................................25 Kilin To Ann B. Vehslage Middle School Final Assembly ......................................................................................... 25 L. Thomas Welsh, Jr. Commencement '91 ................................................................................................................ 26 Mary Strunsky Wisnovsky '57 Commencement Speech, Campbell Levy '91 ..............................................................27 1991 College Choices ............................................................................................................. 28 A l u m n i C o u n c il Board of Trustees Report.................................................................................................... 29 Jane Henderson Kenyon '79 President Welcome Back ..................................................................................................................... 30-31 Anne A. Williams '74 Alumni Association Report................................................................................................ 32 Vice P resident Parents Association Report, Cathi Ragsdale, President.........................................32 Linda Staniar Bergh '66 Katharine Burks Hackett '75 Alumni News .............................................................................................................................. 33 James Y. Laughlin '80 Kirk W. Moore '72 Contributing photographers: Eileen Hohmuth-Lemonick, Won Kim '90, Marie Matthews, Ruta Smithson, Liz Terrell '92, Joe To '91, Wendy Varga. Craig C. Stuart '87 Susan Barclay Walcott '57 On the cover: adapted from a design by I’DS parent Karen Lynam, the cover depicts the school's global awareness and focuses on the US flag and those of the countries with which Dorothea Shipway Webster '62 we have exchange programs: France, Spain and the Soviet Union. Back cover: design by PDS parent Karen Cotton was used to promote the lower school Science Series. Editor: Linda Maxwell Stefanelli '62 It is the policy of Princeton Day School to admit boys and girls of any race, color, religion, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded and made available to students at the school. The school does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, national and ethnic origin in employment or in Contributing Editors: Duncan W. Ailing administration of its educational policies, scholarship programs, athletic and other school-administered programs. David C. Bogle FROM THE HEADMASTER _ by D uncan W. A iling Senior year in high school: a phrase filled with a rich range of expectations, whether you are student, teacher or par­ ent. Most adults probably view the year asonethatbuildssteadily toa wonderful conclusion to secondary school. To be sure senior privileges, college admission, class activities (including at PDS the now-traditional prank), athletic and ex­ tracurricular endeavors, the prom, completing challenging classwork suc­ cessfully, prize day and other traditional activities distinguish the course of the year for seniors. However, teachers and administrators in a number of indepen­ dent schools are questioning the overall quality of the current experience. PDS is among those schools. Because of our growing concern, I formed an ad hoc committee last fall to Duncan Ailing leads a discussion of school spirit during a senior seminar. examine the issue. The Senior Year Com­ mittee, which included faculty members dinary energy, concentration and com­ Headmaster's Seminar. We hatched and administrators Jamie Atkeson, Seth mitment. ideas. Last June we acknowledged that Baranoff, Anne Shepherd, Markell On the one hand this sem ester is a good our work will address these three points: Shriver, Nancy Young and Jim Walker, challenge, and has value. But once the • Promoting stronger senior class and seniors Joel Totten and Lahn You, semester ends, we begin to see "senioritis" unity. started its work by describing what, if sooner in more students and expressed • Reducing the pressure of the first anything, has happened to the traditional more intensely than we did in the past. A semester. events of the senior year. This endeavor greater emotional letdown occurs due to • Developing a new academic program confirmed what we had suspected: that the greater intensity of the first semester. for all seniors in the second semester that the year was no longer building steadily Although "senioritis" will never go away, contains transitional features for college. toward a wonderful conclusion, but ap­ its volume, intensity and earlier emer­ Our enthusiasm over our work to date, peared to be divided into two gence makes it more difficult to build particularly in addressing the third point, experiences. steadily toward a more complete, posi­ has been exhilarating. We look forward The first semester comprises all the tive ending of the year. to sharing our endeavors with faculty features that previous PDS seniors con­ This reality has also had an impact on and appropriate committees for construc­ fronted. However, the college admission other areas of the school. It especially tive commentary and guidance, and to process has come to demand more, ear­ affects teaching when Juniors and sopho­ sharing the results with alumni, parents lier in the year, from seniors. As an mores share classes with disaffected and friends. example, the concept of early decision seniors. We have athletic teams and ex­ In closing, let me refer to a quote by and early action, whereby students must tracurricular activities which lose seniors William Mayner, college placement offi­ complete their college search in the sum­ who opt out. Other school endeavors cer at Noble and Greenough, from his mer in order to submit applications by which count on seniors who should be 1989 paper on the senior year which was October or November for December or reaching the zenith of their commitment prepared while he was a Fred January decisions, has recently become and experience are also hurt. Klingenstein Fellow at Columbia Uni­ more popular with students and colleges. Following general discussions about versity: Another phenomenon is the possibility observed changes in seniors and the pat­ Instead of making seniors spend of some seniors applying to ten to fifteen tern of events during the year, the their last months in school rico­ colleges rather than five to seven (once committee recognized that the school had cheting off what they feel are upon a time it was three or four!). This an opportunity to address the bother­ increasingly arbitrary and oppres­ development is a significant multiplica­ some aspects of the changes and shape sive regulations while Just going tion factor in terms of student time and new endeavors to help seniors under­ through the motions in the class­