HILLTOPPER + COMMENCEMENT 2016 REUNION WEEKEND CHECKING IN summer/fall 2016 VOLUME XXV / ISSUE 1 CONTENTS 26 Jessica Phillips ’89: from Worcester Academy, to Broadway and Hollywood, and back again! SUMMER 2016 contents Use the Layar App to 4 discover digital content 13 ONWARD Campaign with your mobile device. Worcester Academy’s transforms campus, Download the App from 182nd Commencement iTunes, Google Play, student and or Blackberry World. teaching experiences for 21st century BY CAROLINE REICH 1 Find a page with a Layar call to action 16 (pages 15, 20, and 26) reunion 2016 2 Use Layar to scan the page by tapping device screen (Hint: make sure entire page is viewable for scanning) 30 3 27 Watch for a photo gallery to open or for a ESPN studios video to play departments 3 HEAD OF SCHOOL 24 ALUMNI NEWS 4 26 ON THE HILLTOP Tap video to view in full 30 VARSITY CLUB screen, or slide finger to 34 GIVING NEWS view additional images 35 CHECKING IN in photo gallery 44 PASSINGS 5 Enjoy! 33 the HILLTOPPER BOARD OF TRUSTEES summer/fall 2016 officers & members VOLUME XXV / ISSUE 1 President Henry Dormitzer III ’88 Head of School Ronald M. Cino P’21, ’22 First Vice President Susan Weagly Jacobs, J.D. P’03 Second Vice President Sarah (Sullivan) Pulsifer ’91 Hilltopper Editor Neil R. Isakson P’15, ’19 Secretary Brian A. O’Connell, Esq. ’67 Treasurer Jonathan S. Stuart ’86 Associate Editor Barbara Strogoff P’97, ’03 2015 Case DI Bronze Award Benny Sato Ambush ’69 Graphic Design Good Design LLC Dr. Lauren S. Baker P’15,’18 winner for Best William Breidenbach ’69 Photography Ursula Arello Designed Magazine Patricia Z. Eppinger P’16,’20 David Barron, Oxygen Group R. Victor Fields ’71 Greg Cappello Matthew Finkle ’87 Barbara Gould 2016 CASE DI Silver David P. Forsberg ’65 Hockmeyer Studios Award winner for J. Michael Grenon ’88 Neil Isakson Arthur Kentros ’74 Tom Kates Photography General Excellence, Jamie E. Lavin ’02 Marcia Mallett Independent School Dana R. Levenson ’75 Anette Macintire Magazines Andrew B. O’Donnell, Esq. ’73 Mike Nydam Jacqueline Peterson Peter Smith James J. Pietro ’81 J.P. Ricciardi P’15,’17 Videography Neil Isakson Hervey S. Ross ’46 OskeeVision Robert Scumaci P’15,’18 David V. Shamoian ’70 Advancement Office Marillyn G. Earley, Director of Advancement Luke M. Vaillancourt ’01 Ursula A. Arello ’85, P’21, Director of Donor and Alumni Engagement Frank R. Callahan ’71, Director of Planned Giving Alicia Figueiredo, Manager of Alumni Programs and Events Neil R. Isakson, Director of External Communications Anette Macintire P’22, Annual Fund Coordinator ON THE COVER Dexter P. Morse, Headmaster Emeritus Kingsley Laboratories Tara Probeck, Director of Marketing received a complete Erica Driscoll Ribeiro P’20, Director of Annual Giving renovation during Donald E. “Dee” Rowe ’47, Special Assistant to the Head of School ONWARD: The Campaign Kim Stone, Director of Donor Development for Worcester Academy. Barbara Strogoff, Gift Coordinator/Editor Featured Writer Caroline Reich P’06,’08 is a former development staffer for Worcester Academy. She and her husband, Joel Reich, are benefactors of the Summer Scholars Program, which serves children living in the WA neighborhood. Contributing Writer Jody McNamara P’09,’12, a marketing and communications consultant, is a longtime feature writer and former director of parent relations at Worcester Academy. Jody, who organized and chaired two consecutive MISSION auctions for WA, lives on Cape Cod. FPO Worcester Academy exists to instill in its students the desire to learn The Hilltopper is published twice yearly by Worcester Academy. throughout life, to engage passionately with the world around them, Reader comment, as well as information of interest, is always welcome. and to be honorable persons of strong and resourceful character. Please write to Neil R. Isakson, director of external communications, at Worcester Academy, 81 Providence St., Worcester, MA 01604 USA, CORE VALUES or email [email protected]. We are a community—curious, thoughtful, generous, and thriving in our diversity. We embrace each of our core values as essential to the mission of Worcester Academy and as testimony of our beliefs and commitments. HONOR | RESPECT | COMMUNITY | PERSONAL GROWTH | CHALLENGE 2 the HILLTOPPER : summer/fall 2016 from the head of school impact of Worcester Academy’s ONWARD campaign measured in stories of success and growth I am pleased to announce the successful completion of ONWARD: We also should honor the impact of the campaign on our historic The Campaign for Worcester Academy, which has exceeded its main campus. We dreamed of renovating and properly steward- goal of $50 million with a total of $52.2 million! I am humbled ing our historic buildings. Our phenomenal faculty and student by the generosity of our alumni, parents, and friends around the body deserve learning environments that are equal to their tal- world. To all of you who care deeply about Worcester Academy ent, passion, and overall excellence. For example, as we became and the role it plays in the lives of our students and this commu- better known as a top math and science school, we renovated nity, please accept my deepest appreciation. Your investment in Kingsley, creating customized science laboratories and equip- the school’s future is inspiring and has brought to fruition exciting ping classrooms with important resources that match our desire opportunities for our great school. for excellence. Walker, too, is now a state-of-the-art academic The Worcester Academy Board of Trustees, led by Henry building that projects the ways in which we value both our tradi- Dormitzer ’88, current Board President, and Jim Pietro ’81, who tion and our innovative spirit. The work on these buildings has served as Board President at the start of ONWARD and continued allowed our faculty to create collaborative learning opportunities to steer the campaign to its successful completion, have collectively for students and themselves, and to demonstrate the depth of supported this effort with bold decision-making and personal gen- what our students might explore. erosity. Their leadership, together with Dexter Morse (Headmaster This campaign has created 22 new endowed funds that honor 1997–2012), provided the vision for this campaign and the convic- faculty excellence, support learning, and provide scholarships tion that it was both necessary and possible. for students. As the cost of education rises, these funds enable The impact of this campaign on Worcester Academy is noth- Worcester Academy to stay true to its roots, as Dr. Abercrombie ing short of remarkable and will be remembered as historic in envisioned, when he said, “The academy should ever invite the many ways. Twenty years ago, the idea of completing a campaign worthy student of slender means.” These funds speak to the impact of this magnitude would have seemed unrealistic at best. We that dedicated and talented teachers have on students and the received a $15 million challenge gift at the start of the campaign, desire that alumni and parents have to continue the spirit and prac- which at the time was not only the largest gift the school had ever tices that have made Worcester Academy special and accessible. received, but also was the largest single gift ever donated to a I am honored to be part of the accomplishments of this historic Worcester organization. campaign. So, it is with pride and tremendous gratitude that I say, The continued growth of the campus is shaping not only our “Thank you!” and offer stories in this Hilltopper issue of success present, but also our future. Purchasing 17 acres of land in our and growth. You will learn more about the many ways in which the own neighborhood connects us with our community while open- generosity and support of many have set the highest standard for ing a world of possibilities to us. The construction of Morse Field Worcester Academy while opening our eyes to the next set of ideas has enabled us to expand our program while providing a space about what is possible. Onward, indeed. we share with our community. The opening of the Performance Center, the first new arts building since the construction of Warner Theater, gives new prominence to our outstanding performing arts programs and connects arts, academics, athletics, and community space in an authentic, unique way. Ronald M. Cino Worcester Academy 3 campaign TRANSFORMS CAMPUS, STUDENT AND TEACHING EXPERIENCES FOR 21ST CENTURY by Caroline Reich 4 the HILLTOPPER : summer/fall 2016 THINK BACK TO WORCESTER ACADEMY IN 2005. Those days were heady times on the Hilltop—innovative programs happening in classrooms NEW APPLIED TECHNOLOGY and a recent successfully completed $31.5 million capital campaign, the OPTIONS FOR STUDENTS, FACULTY largest in WA’s history. The Hilltop was thriving. The Goldsberry family’s ties to WA run strong and deep, with a senior currently studying on the School leaders were busy working on plans to meet the needs of the Hilltop and two generations of the family as active talented student body. Our teachers and students needed modern spaces alumni. The family established the multigenerational and places to learn, play, and grow. Several of the historic buildings “Goldsberry Family Fund for Applied Technology” during the ONWARD Campaign through gifts from that define the character of our campus were outdated, and would need Drs. John and Dorista Goldsberry and the families of renovations requiring open-minded vision and serious investment. “We knew,” their children: John ’77, Yvonne ’78, James ’82, and says James Pietro ’81, ONWARD Campaign co-chair and then-president of the Carol ’83. “We decided that applied technology for teaching and learning was what we wanted to sup- board of trustees, “that the next campaign would have to be transformational port with our fund,” explains Yvonne.