F S p r i n g 2 0 1 1

Sustainability:Doing Our Part

Think globally. Act locally.

This environmental charge is a most

familiar one to us in our age of

heightened environmental awareness

and responsibility. In school

communities, including Fenn, the

succinct command is a call to educate

young people for responsible

environmental citizenship and, as

important, to do as an institution what

we say we should do to preserve the

environment.

After all, in educating our students and in managing our

school’s impact on the environment, what is at stake is the

air and earth that sustains all of us on this planet—no small

matter in the context of humanity and our students’ own

futures in which we so carefully invest in so many other

ways.

A look back at Fenn history reveals a surprising

commitment in earlier days to the environmental principles

that guide us today but with a different context. In some

respects, with Fenn’s current awareness and practice of

sustainability in its many dimensions we are returning to

some of the environmental practices that guided Fenn

seventy years ago, if not earlier.

In his writings, Roger Fenn referred to the “waste not,

want not” ethos that prevailed at this school in the nineteen

thirties for financial reasons and in the forties due to the

national wartime directive to preserve needed resources.

Cultivation of home gardens, informal recycling, and

careful consumption of food, fuel, and other materials were

moral responsibilities of the day for Fenn boys and for their

school. The outside world with its dire circumstances of

economic depression followed by world war made these

compelling demands even in the lives of boys in this small

school in Concord.

Yet, the comfortable plenty we enjoy in our lives, in

contrast to the hard realities of the Depression and

wartime years, can easily obscure our unavoidable

responsibilities as local and global environmental citizens.

As a result, the drive in our time to educate our students

fully and rationally and to adopt responsible

environmental practices must in the end come from

within. As educators, we must be the

change we wish to see in this world

that we wish to sustain.

A look at Fenn today reveals our

community’s response to the call for

responsible environmental citizenship

which we could say our school’s motto

Sua Sponte spurs us to embrace. Our

Lower School boys comprising the

Green Team engage the non-

glamorous work throughout the

school of regularly emptying

containers filled with paper, cans, plastic, and compostable

material. Our buildings and grounds staff continually

works to “green” the campus using biodegradable, non-

toxic cleaners and installing motion sensitive lights, among

other measures.

The appointment and charge of faculty member

Cameren Cousins as our Sustainability Coordinator reflects

Fenn’s commitment to developing and supporting its

educational and extracurricular environmental programs;

she is making sure we maintain the momentum of our

efforts.

Our students join in challenges to reduce their carbon

footprints by using alternate modes of transportation and

monitoring electricity use and reduction at Fenn. Our

faculty and staff learn how better to educate our students

about environmental science, policy, and practice.

Administrators confer with independent school

environmental consultants to plan and take concrete steps

to green our campus further in its operations and as an

environment. And we design and create new buildings and

a new athletic field with the commitment to being

environmentally safe, sound, and forward-looking.

This current issue of Fenn, the newly re-named seasonal

bulletin of our school, brings you inside sustainability as it

is lived and taught here today. As members of our school

community who care deeply about Fenn’s efforts to educate

boys, you will find in this edition a picture of our best

efforts as a school in word and deed to teach boys to be

stewards of our planet’s environment and to embrace that

moral responsibility in leading their lives.

From the Headmaster

VOLUME 79 NUMBER 2 SPRING 2011

2SUSTAINABILITY: DOING OUR PART

Fenn celebrates students, faculty, staff, and alumni who are “greening” their lives on campusand beyond, from recycling, composting, and the incorporation of “sustainable thinking” into the design process for new construction, to oyster farming, kitchen gardening, andteaching students to “give back.”

22ADVANCING FENN

Welcoming new Board Members

24CAMPUS ROUNDUP

Annual Poetry Slam and W.W. Fenn Speaking Contest; Bubs Visit Fenn; Woodshop: Where Sua Sponte is Literally True; Fiddler on the Roof: Last Musical in Robb Hall

30FACULTY DEVELOPMENTS

Gould, Hindle, and Ward Retire

34WINTER SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS

36ROBERT “MIKE” WHITNEY ’51: DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS

38CLASS NEWS

44TRIBUTE: “MORGAN “KIM” SMITH ’49, FENN’S THIRD HEADMASTER

FENN BULLETIN

Editor and Feature WriterLaurie O’Neill

Editorial BoardDerek BoonisarAnne Ames BoudreauThomas J. Hudner III ’87Laurie O’NeillJerry WardLorraine Garnett Ward

PhotographyGustav FreedmanAnthony J. SantosJoshua Touster

Design Michele Page

Page 4

Page 24

Page 30

In keeping with our Sustainability theme, this issue of Fenn is printed on Rolland Enviro 100 #80 paper,which contains FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified post-consumer fiber. It is EcoLogo, ProcessedChlorine Free, and FSC Recycled, and is manufactured using biogas energy.

Fenn is produced by the Office of Communications for alumni, parents, and friends. Letters and comments arewelcome, and can be sent to Laurie O’Neill, The Fenn School, 516 Monument Street, Concord, MA 01742. Emailloneill@fenn.org or telephone 978-318-3583.

Students Perform

“Acts of Green”

At Home and On Campus

RECYCLING

The Green Team, led by Lower School

teacher Laurie Byron, continued Fenn’s

recycling efforts. On Wednesday

afternoons, some thirty students in

fourth and fifth grade dashed around the

school taking blue and green recycling

containers from classrooms and offices to

the large industrial bins in Thompson

Hall, Boll Building, the School House,

W.W. Fenn, the Admissions building, and

in other designated places. The contents

were picked up every two weeks by a

paid environmental organization.

Fenn this year moved to a single-

stream recycling system,

by which paper, glass,

plastic, and metals go

into one bin and are later

sorted at a facility.

Part of the campus recycling effort

involved a half dozen Green Team

members who deposited empty Frito

Lay bags and Capri Sun pouches in

white cardboard boxes. The bags and

pouches were shipped to a company

called Terracycle, which pays two

cents for each item. The team donates

the money to a charity at the end of

each year.

3

Fenn boys are doing their part to make their campusgreener. In December, Headmaster Jerry Ward signed apledge which allowed Fenn to join the Green Schools

Alliance, which asks that students be involved in sustainabilityinitiatives, that energy consumption be measured, and that

strategic plans and goals be developed to reduce the school’s carbon footprint. These actionswere “already well underway” at Fenn, so joining the GSA was “a logical step,” saysSustainability Coordinator Cameren Cousins. These were the student-centered initiativesthis year:

COMPOSTING

It began last fall with science and

math teacher Pauline MacLellan

holding a meeting for interested

students, which led to the boys

staging a skit at All School Meeting.

The presentation included an off-

stage character called “Composting

King,” who in a deep, authoritative

voice explained the importance of

composting and described the team’s

initial efforts to collect fruit and

vegetable waste around campus.

Six composting tubs decorated

by the boys were in place by spring,

and community members were able

to toss in their apple cores and

orange and banana peels. The

containers were emptied every two

or three days, when team members

took the contents to a large wooden

bin in the field between the New

Gym and the headmaster’s house.

“These small efforts,” MacLellan

says, “will provide rich organic

material to flower beds around

campus and will keep compostable

materials out of the trash bins.”

MANPOWER MONTH

October was dubbed Manpower

Month at Fenn, during which

students, faculty, and staff were

Sustainability

Sustainability

4

encouraged to walk or pedal, when

possible, instead of driving. Participants

logged more than 1000 miles of

alternative transportation that included

walking, bicycling, rollerblading, riding

a scooter, and even unicycling. That

month sixth grade Integrated Studies

students took a bike tour of the

Underground Railroad in Concord.

Entire families got involved, with

parents doing “dry runs” with their

boys to make sure they knew the route

and that travel along it was safe. The

effort prevented more than a thousand

pounds of CO2 from entering the

atmosphere, Cousins says.

GREEN CUP CHALLENGE

During January and February, a

group of Middle School boys led by

math teacher Sean Patch charted the

kilowatt hours from five electricity

meters around campus once a week

while encouraging the community

to turn off lights, shut down

computers, and close windows

when leaving a room.

The project was part of a nationwide

student-driven initiative that asked

participating schools to measure and

reduce energy consumption. “It was a

means,” Patch says, “for the boys to

find out in a tangible way whether or

not they could reduce their school’s

energy usage.”

Each Friday morning

team members arrived

early to hike through

snow banks to the meters,

notebooks in hand. They

discovered that certain factors

affected the readings and made

comparisons to historic data difficult.

Construction of the Meeting and

Performance Hall actually drove up

the numbers in some buildings that

were providing power for the work,

but in others, usage went down.

Patch says the students “were able

to observe how their message got out

to the community and how acts as

simple as changing bulbs can really

add up.”

ACTS OF GREEN

This year the Earth Day Network

launched the Billion Acts of Green

campaign to deliver a billion pledges to

world leaders at the 2012 UN

Conference on Sustainable

Development, asking them to take

action against climate change. Inspired

by the challenge, Fenn boys submitted

635 Acts of Green slips, each reporting

an effort made to reduce energy

consumption.

“No electronics during the week,”

was ninth grader Joe Pacheco’s

submission.

“Took a Navy shower,” wrote fourth

grader Andrew Metellus. Eighth grader

Austin Galusza “biked into Concord.”

Other boys reported activities ranging

from carpooling to reusing water bottles

and ordering ice cream in waffle, rather

than plastic, cups.

The students “were able toobserve how their messagegot out to the communityand how acts as simple aschanging bulbs can reallyadd up.”

5

The new Meeting and

Performance Hall, set for

completion in the fall, is being

built with the goals of creating a sense of

well-being and ensuring a reduction of

energy use, in keeping with Fenn’s

commitment to sustainability practices.

Malcolm Kent, the architect for the

project and the father of Alex ’99, says,

“We must do this kind of construction as

a matter of course now; sustainable

thinking has to be part of our overall

design process.”

The building has been designed to

optimize the use of natural light and

ventilation, to incorporate highly efficient

Structural Insulated Panels (SIPS) on the

roof and eight-inch-thick sprayed foam

insulation in the exterior walls to help

reduce energy costs, to maximize water

efficiency and minimize wastewater

effluent, and to heat and cool the space

using a displacement ventilation system.

This method involves blowing

warmed or cooled air from under the

seats so that it treats an area that extends

to about seven feet above the floor and

not the area under the ceiling, according

to Peter Reilly of the AKF Group of New

York and Boston, which is handling the

mechanical, electrical, and plumbing

elements of the new construction.

Reilly adds that high efficiency lamps

and occupancy sensors are being used

and a waterless urinal and faucet aerators

installed. Water closets will have ultra

low flush valves, he said, and the overall

use of low- and no-flow fixtures will

reduce the amount of water use and

wastewater generation by more than

40% based on occupant load,

frequencies, and run time. The building

will contain a gas-fired condensing boiler,

which will enable heat normally lost up

the flue to be used, and which is said to

be 94% efficient.

“This is a far more sustainable

building than if it had been built five

years ago,” Kent declares.

Outside, other measures have been

made to be “green.” The building, Kent

says, is “balanced within the Fenn

landscape.” Open space has been created

with grass rather than paving to reduce

impervious area. Bioswales, shallow

drainage ditches that have gently sloped

sides and are filled with vegetation, will

filter surface runoff from the pick-up and

drop-off area.

At the start of the design process,

much consideration was given to the

decision whether or not to have the

building certified under the Leadership in

Energy and Environmental Design Green

Building System (LEED). For LEED

certification, buildings are assessed

against a wide range of environmental

and sustainability issues in a number of

categories and are awarded points, the

number of which determines the level of

certification.

It was ultimately decided to

incorporate the sustainable principles

espoused by LEED in the construction,

but to forego the considerable expense of

additional record keeping, consulting,

testing, and modeling required for

certification. Instead, the school decided

to turn that money back into the

building, says Kent.

A LEED accredited professional with

Imai Keller Moore Architects in

Watertown, MA, Kent says that most of

the construction processes and materials

that would be necessary for certification

“are in the building.” The hall, he notes,

would have picked up many points,

including a Sustainable Sites credit for the

maximizing of open space, Storm Water

Design and Quantity Control credit, and

Indoor Environmental Quality credit for

increased ventilation.

Designing the building with a

commitment to the sustainable measures

that are covered by LEED “is the most

responsible approach for us,” Kent says.

“We all want to do the right thing.”

New Meeting Hall Reflects Commitment to Sustainability

“We must dothis kind ofconstruction as a matter of course now;sustainablethinking has to be part of our overalldesignprocess.”

Sustainability

6

High efficiency boilers and air conditioner

systems, motion sensitive lights and fans, low

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and non-

toxic cleaning agents, compact fluorescent bulbs,

carpeting with high recycled materials content, composting of

kitchen scraps, and recycling of paper, plastics, and snack

wrappers are “green” measures that have been implemented

on campus in the last several months.

Hundreds of fluorescent bulbs, dozens of lead batteries,

and countless pieces of computer hardware collected by the IT

crew have been recycled. “Green” motor oil, made from

animal fat, is being used in campus equipment. It burns very

clean, with no smoke or odor. Plastic plates and utensils are

no longer being offered as back-up or take-out ware in the

dining hall. These changes represent an ongoing commitment

by the school to provide a safer, cleaner, and more

environmentally sound facility for students, staff, and visitors.

Fenn has partnered with State Industrial Products, a

Cleveland-based chemical manufacturer, to promote a safer

and healthier work environment, and now all the products

used on campus are GS-37 certified, non-toxic, biodegradable,

fragrance-free, and hypoallergenic; they contain no

carcinogens. GS-37 is the environmental standard set by

Green Seal, a national independent non-profit organization,

for industrial and institutional cleaners. Green Seal promotes

the manufacture, purchasing, and use of environmentally

responsible products and services.

“We’re committed to this,” says Dave DiPersio, director

of Facilities at Fenn. He has been working with Fenn’s

Sustainability coordinator, Cameren Cousins, to implement

sound environmental practices and educate the school

community to “make decisions,” Cousins says, “based on

the good of the planet.” Members of her Sustainability

Work Group (SWG) include Dave Platt, director of Finance

and Operations, and Steve Farley, director of the Academic

Program.

DiPersio says that green technology is growing

increasingly more affordable and that the investment makes

sense on the Fenn campus, which includes several old New

England-style buildings. “It’s a no-brainer,” he declares, “to

do such things as opt for high efficiency boilers; we want a

higher SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) rating and

we’re getting there.”

Last spring a comprehensive sustainability audit looked at

the Fenn curriculum and campus operation, and its

communications and student engagement, and made several

recommendations, many of which have been addressed,

including the reduction of waste in the dining hall and the

recycling of plastic as well as paper and cans. Dave Duane,

head of the Science department, is pushing sustainability as a

core theme in the curriculum.

Fenn’s efforts are already paying off; Platt reports a

significant savings in electricity since some of the more recent

energy efficient measures were implemented.

Efforts to Go Green Are Campus-Wide

pictured left to right,Dave Platt, DaveDiPersio, andCameren Cousins

SShe prints her Latin quizzes on scrap paper and uses

refillable whiteboard markers. She bicycles to school in

good weather, a thirty-two-mile round trip. She prefers bar

soap and shampoo to liquid products in plastic bottles,

eschews aluminum cans in favor of glass containers, which she

says take less energy to produce and recycle, and favors a

moisturizer from a company that encourages customers to

return the jars, which are cleaned and reused. She even shops

for kitchen utensils at thrift shops.

Cameren Cousins has been environmentally conscious since

long before it became a social catch phrase. “It’s who I am and

it’s so important to me as a human being,” she declares.

When Cousins was appointed Fenn’s Sustainability

coordinator last summer, she was charged with organizing the

school’s existing efforts, which she had helped initiate, to make

Fenn a greener place. Cousins

defines sustainability as “the ability

to maintain. It asks us to cut back

and make sure we do not use

more than our share of resources

and it asks us to grow and reach

out to other communities as we

work to repair human and

environmental health.”

The new coordinator’s

immediate goals were to draft a

mission statement and to create

an action plan, which she did

with the help of Dave Platt, the school’s director of Finance

and Operations; Jerry Ward, headmaster; and Steve Farley,

director of the Academic Program. The four researched what

other schools are doing and drafted a list of tasks tailored to

Fenn’s campus and community. They studied a sustainability

audit that had been conducted by Wynn Calder, a consultant

to the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS)

in the spring. The audit, Cousins notes, “reaffirmed our

initial instincts; we were already taking some of the

initiatives that were recommended, such as recycling, or

were thinking about them.”

Encouraging members of the Fenn community to recycle, or

to walk rather than drive, or to compost fruit peels and cores

“should not be our only purpose,” Cousins says. “We need to

teach students why they need to do these things.” To that end,

Cousins organized a number of student-centered projects

(see article on page 2) this past year.

Cousins’ efforts and influence have already resulted in

several changes across campus. Bottled water is no longer

provided at school events in favor of pitchers, local food

items have found their way into the school kitchen, and

100% recycled content paper is used in printers and copiers,

to name a few measures. Cousins checks in regularly with

Dave DiPersio, director of Facilities, who she says is “totally

on board and always thinking of ways to get greener.” Her

Sustainability Work Group is developing a green purchasing

policy that will guide the consumer decisions the school makes.

Fenn is “the perfect place” to tackle issues of environmental

sustainability, Cousins points out, “because we are used to

asking difficult questions and relying on logic and reason to

guide us.”

A Maine native, Cousins graduated from Middlebury

College with a B.A. in Classics and is working on an M.B.A. in

Sustainability at Antioch University

New England in Keene, NH. Prior to

joining the Fenn faculty in 2007, she

managed one of the Chesapeake Bay

Foundation’s island education centers,

overseeing its administrative,

programming, personnel,

maintenance, and financial aspects.

As part of the center’s efforts to

educate young people and adults

about ecology and conservation, Cousins ran day trips to Port

Isobel Island in Tangier, VA, for middle and high school

students, and for teachers and legislators.

Cousins is married to Josh Fischel, who works for the

Steppingstone Foundation, an organization that prepares

children to get into and succeed at schools that lead to college.

The couple lives “frugally” and “we don’t consume a lot,” she

says, and they mostly walk, bike, or take public transportation

to and from their home in Somerville. Cousins and Fischel are

avid canoeists and spend as much time outdoors as possible.

As coordinator, Cousins sees her role as “keeping us going,

but getting everyone involved so that eventually sustainability

will become a way of life.” It already is for Cousins. “If you

love it,” she declares, gesturing to the world outside the

window, “you want to protect it.”

7

Fenn is “the perfectFenn is “the perfectplace” to tackle issuesplace” to tackle issuesof environmentalof environmentalsustainability, Cousinssustainability, Cousins

points out, “because we are used topoints out, “because we are used toasking difficult questions and relyingasking difficult questions and relyingon logic and reason to guide us.”on logic and reason to guide us.”

Sustainability Coordinator Walks the Walk

Sustainability

id you know that that the reason carrots are

orange is a political one?

Faculty and staff members who attended

a spring workshop at Drumlin Farm in Lincoln didn’t

know that, nor did they know that tomatoes originate with

the Aztecs or that earthworms, which seem to be such

quintessential New Englanders, came to this country

from Europe in the soil and rocks used for ships’ ballast.

Drumlin was among six settings where activities were

held as part of a Professional

Day in April on sustainability.

Food was a theme common

to all of the workshops, most

of which were held off

campus at venues as varied as

the Concord Wastewater

Treatment Plant and the

internationally-renowned

food co-op Equal Exchange

in East Bridgewater.

The event, organized

by Fenn’s Sustainability

Committee, led by

Cameren Cousins,

Sustainability

coordinator, also

featured a lecture on

the topic “What

Sustainability Looks

Like in Independent

Schools Today,” by Wynn Calder, a consultant to the

National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) who

conducted the first comprehensive sustainability audit at

Fenn last year.

Drumlin staff members Tia Finney and Kris Scopinich

offered a full program that included cheese making (and

tasting), ideas for classroom activities to raise awareness of

what we eat and where it comes from, and answers to the

question “Is local always best?” The group toured the

farm, visiting new goats and lambs, eyeing seedlings in the

greenhouse, and listening to Finney as she regaled her small

audience with stories about the origins of certain plants and

critters. She explained, for example, what a sticker on a

banana can tell you (where it’s from and even how it got

here.)

As for carrots, which used to be purple, white, or yellow,

Dutch growers cultivated the orange ones we see most often

today as a tribute to William of Orange, who led the

struggle for Dutch independence.

At Promethean Power, participants learned about solar-

powered refrigeration, and took away the message that to

launch a start-up company one needs to be able to accept

A few participants eschewed their

automobiles and biked or jogged, despite

the chilly and damp weather, to the

Wastewater Treatment Plant, for a tour and a

discussion of how ingested food and

pharmaceuticals affect the ecosystem.

DCo-ops to Carrots:

Faculty, Staff Study Sustainability

8

failure, be resilient, and

learn how to solve

problems creatively, lessons

applicable to the classroom. Those visiting Equal Exchange

heard about the benefits of co-ops and ethically sourced

foods, and were offered samples of fair trade chocolate. At

the Food Project in Lincoln, the mission of which is to

engage young people in leadership in the areas of food and

sustainability, the ideas of service learning and gardening on

campus were explored.

A few participants eschewed their automobiles and biked

or jogged, despite the chilly and damp weather, to the

Wastewater Treatment Plant, for a tour and a discussion of

how ingested food and pharmaceuticals affect the ecosystem.

An on-campus workshop was dedicated to exploring the

hows and wheres of creating a school garden and doing

some “TLC” on the compost bin.

In his presentation, Calder talked about initiatives being

implemented by independent schools around the country,

from biofuel systems to campus wastewater treatment

facilities to kitchen gardens, and discussed ways they are

incorporating sustainability into the curriculum.

“Why not study how much water goes into the making

of a Big Mac?” Calder suggested, providing an answer that

elicited a gasp of surprise from the audience: 3000 gallons,

mostly involving the beef cattle that are raised for the

hamburger. He urged teachers to make their classes more

relevant to the issues of food. “Why not,” he posed, “study

the history of coffee in Spanish class: Where does the coffee

come from? Where does the money go?”

Calder said Fenn has made positive steps in its

commitment to sustainability education and practice,

including the appointment of a

coordinator and programs such as

the Professional Day workshops

that were held that day. Fenn is to

be commended for not only

publishing but also making efforts

to fulfill a sustainability mission

statement, he added. “You have a

unique opportunity as a fourth to

ninth grade school,” Calder said,

“to make sustainability education

and practice a significant aspect

of your program.”

9

“Why not study how much water goes into the

making of a Big Mac?” Calder suggested,

providing an answer that elicited a gasp of surprise

from the audience: 3000 gallons, mostly involving the

beef cattle that are raised for the hamburger.

Sustainability

It grows in trays, smells like “mowed lawn times

ten,” and is stored, once juiced, in ice cube

trays, ready to be added to fruit or vegetable

beverages. Its advocates, of whom Steve Garrison,

a Fenn technical support specialist, is one, claim

that wheat grass is literally condensed sunlight

energy and one of the most potent healing agents

and sources of green leafy vegetable nutrition on

the planet. It has been reported that wheat grass

improves one’s immune system, is a natural source

of antioxidants, detoxifies the body, and is an

excellent source of Vitamin C and folic acid.

Garrison, who grows his own wheat grass and

sprouts in his Newton Center kitchen, says he was

convinced of its benefits many years ago, when he

was diagnosed with Epstein Barr syndrome and

was ordered to stay home and rest.

He wanted to try additional ways to help

himself recover, and for a month he drank carrot

and other root vegetable juices, mixing them with

wheat grass that he purchased and juiced. After a

month he was retested and his readings were

normal. “Ever since then I have been interested in

healthy eating,” he says.

Garrison enjoys doing research on growing

vegetables for health and economic reasons. He has

a garden, cultivating tomatoes, peppers, and

lettuce, and uses a dehydrator to dry vegetables and

fruit. He buys sprout mixtures online—organic

alfalfa, clover, and radish, to name a few. Sprouts,

which go into the salads, burgers, and tacos he and

fiancée Erica White make, are “very healthy,” he

contends.

“You are eating a living organism, not

something that has been plucked off its stem like

an orange or apple,” he says. A quarter cup of

sprout seeds, he adds, will yield about two pounds

of sprouts.

What’s So Special about Wheat Grass?

Ask a Believer.

11

Wheat grass is a more recent Garrison crop; he buys the

seeds in the bulk foods section of a market such as Whole

Foods, usually choosing hard red or white summer or winter

seeds. He soaks the seeds overnight, plants them in trays,

keeping them in the dark for the first two or three days, and

waters them every twelve hours. The grass, which can be

grown year round, is ready to harvest in about six to eight

days, when it is about six inches high. Garrison employs a

special type of juicer that pulverizes the wheat grass and he

fills ice cube trays with the liquid. The cubes last for a couple

of weeks, he says, and he and White use them all.

Garrison composts the roots and points out that the

blanket that holds moisture in the bottom of the tray is

biodegradable.

Wheat grass “smells pretty bad,” he notes, saying that White

has to leave the kitchen sometimes when he is juicing it. But

when mixed with other liquids, “you can’t smell or taste it.”

The benefits of growing wheat grass and sprouts, besides

their nutritional value, include ease and economics. “It’s

amazing to realize you can grow your own food in your

house, even in a high-rise apartment, for a fraction of what it

costs in a market,” he declares, adding, “Think of the potential

for impoverished communities and individuals.”

Imagine tasting savory rosemary or pungent chives from a Fenn garden in

your Dining Hall salad or soup, or passing by ripening crimson tomatoes on

your way to class in September, or harvesting Halloween pumpkins during

recess. Susan Fisher does, and to that end she is one of several faculty and staff

members who hope to make such dreams a reality at Fenn.

Fisher, a Fenn librarian, and a group of interested gardeningFisher, a Fenn librarian, and a group of interested gardening

advocates met for three hours during last spring’s Sustainability Professional Dayadvocates met for three hours during last spring’s Sustainability Professional Day

to perambulate the campus, eye potential sites that would be sunny and well-to perambulate the campus, eye potential sites that would be sunny and well-

drained, conjure visions of sweet peas and potato vines, and discuss possibledrained, conjure visions of sweet peas and potato vines, and discuss possible

connections with community service, Summer Fenn, the Science department, theconnections with community service, Summer Fenn, the Science department, the

Dining Hall, and other Fenn facilities and programs. Dining Hall, and other Fenn facilities and programs.

Fisher was involved in CitySprouts, a ten-year-old non-profit groupFisher was involved in CitySprouts, a ten-year-old non-profit group

that has planted gardens at every elementary school in Cambridge. Following herthat has planted gardens at every elementary school in Cambridge. Following her

volunteer work for the organization, she served as its treasurer for six years.volunteer work for the organization, she served as its treasurer for six years.

Fisher, who grew up in rural New Jersey, where her school was closed on theFisher, who grew up in rural New Jersey, where her school was closed on the

opening day of hunting season and where many students had to milk the family’sopening day of hunting season and where many students had to milk the family’s

cows before classes, has always been a gardening enthusiast. cows before classes, has always been a gardening enthusiast.

Fisher says the school gardens in Cambridge are planted withFisher says the school gardens in Cambridge are planted with

vegetables, strawberries, sunflowers, and native perennials, and efforts havevegetables, strawberries, sunflowers, and native perennials, and efforts have

been made to tie in horticulture at each level of the curriculum. For example, inbeen made to tie in horticulture at each level of the curriculum. For example, in

math, children may learn how to make charts while recording pea growth.math, children may learn how to make charts while recording pea growth.

The gardens are funded by a combination of money from principals’The gardens are funded by a combination of money from principals’

budgets, grants, and the school department. In the summer, the crops need to bebudgets, grants, and the school department. In the summer, the crops need to be

tended, a problem faced by anyone contemplating campus gardens, Fisher says.tended, a problem faced by anyone contemplating campus gardens, Fisher says.

CitySprouts has an intern program for which participating middle school andCitySprouts has an intern program for which participating middle school and

college students receive a small stipend for working in the gardens when schoolcollege students receive a small stipend for working in the gardens when school

is closed. They also take produce and food items, like the salsa and dill butteris closed. They also take produce and food items, like the salsa and dill butter

they make, to farmers’ markets and visit local farms to help out. This could be athey make, to farmers’ markets and visit local farms to help out. This could be a

model for a Fenn garden, she says. The schools hold drop-in times for themodel for a Fenn garden, she says. The schools hold drop-in times for the

community, during which activities such as apple pressing in the fall or plantingcommunity, during which activities such as apple pressing in the fall or planting

seedlings in the spring are offered.seedlings in the spring are offered.

Fisher recalls being given a tour of Fenn three years ago by ElizabethFisher recalls being given a tour of Fenn three years ago by Elizabeth

Cobblah, and wondering aloud why the school didn’t have a garden. “IfCobblah, and wondering aloud why the school didn’t have a garden. “If

Cambridge can eke them out of mostly tarmac-covered space, think of what weCambridge can eke them out of mostly tarmac-covered space, think of what we

could do here, on a former farm,” she declares. could do here, on a former farm,” she declares.

This fall a group including Fisher, Mike Potsaid, Jerry Cabral, TonyThis fall a group including Fisher, Mike Potsaid, Jerry Cabral, Tony

Santos, Sarah Gianfriddo, and others hope to find a site on campus and beginSantos, Sarah Gianfriddo, and others hope to find a site on campus and begin

preparing the soil for spring planting. “It’s exciting and tremendously motivatingpreparing the soil for spring planting. “It’s exciting and tremendously motivating

to realize that so much interest is being shown by so many people from all areasto realize that so much interest is being shown by so many people from all areas

of school life,” Fisher says. of school life,” Fisher says.

Dreaming of a School GardenDreaming of a School Garden

Sustainability

Jezebel and company are

MacLellan’s chickens, which

she raised from infancy two

years ago upon deciding that the

next step in being sustainable at

home was to

“grow” her own

eggs. For Mother’s

Day that spring,

her sons, Alex,

Stephen, and Ian

built their mom an insulated coop in their Lincoln backyard,

with handsome cedar shingles and electricity to ensure that

the chickens receive twelve hours of light a day, which they

need in order to lay eggs.

“It’s very elegant,” declares MacLellan, who teaches science

and math and is on the Fenn Sustainability Committee. She

procured the chicks from Codman Farm in Lincoln, a non-

profit community enterprise that seeks to teach and advance

agricultural practices while producing hay, meat, eggs, and

other farm products.

MacLellan says she was “entertained from the very

beginning,” while watching the three-day-old chicks as they

snatched flies from the air. The appeal has not diminished.

On summer afternoons she will take a book and a chair to

a spot under an old apple tree and observe the chickens

taking dust baths. “Their pleasure is so obvious. It makes

me happy just to watch them,” she says.

In August of their first year the chickens began laying,

and now the flock provides four “absolutely wonderful” eggs

a day. MacLellan, who also grows organic vegetables and

berries, gives them organic feed and kitchen leftovers, and says

they love watermelon. “They are my living composters,” she

points out.

The birds are “free range” only when MacLellan is home,

but she likes to keep an eye on them even then; when the

coyote plucked Matilda from the yard, “I saw the whole

thing,” she says, adding that a passerby in a car began

honking her horn and the other chickens were up in a tree,

screeching, all to no avail.

MacLellan now secures the chickens in their coop during

the day. Still, danger is never far away. When she arrived home

recently, MacLellan saw that Jezebel had escaped from the

coop and was being chased around an outdoor table by a

coyote. Panicked, she opened the French door to her kitchen

and in shot the chicken, running up to MacLellan’s bedroom

to hide. The chicken had never come in before, “but I guess

she knew she would be safe there,” MacLellan says.

Having feared that her husband, Stephen, would not be as

fond of the fowls as she was, MacLellan was pleasantly

surprised. “He was even more upset than I was” when

Matilda and Amelia were killed, she says, and he has taken

over the morning feeding, often worrying that “the girls”

don’t get enough greens in their diet.

When chickens stop laying at around four years old,

their owners must make the decision whether or not to eat

them. For MacLellan that’s easy. “The hens,” who come

when she calls and are enamored of the color red, pecking

at her feet when she has on her favorite scarlet clogs, are

part of the family.

13

Chickens Provide Egg-citement in LincolnPauline MacLellan counts her girls—Jezebel, Henrietta, Alice, and Agatha—each day when shearrives home from school and each night before they go to bed. That’s because, like allmothers, MacLellan worries about her brood and does not want them to meet the fate of theirformer companions, Matilda and Amelia, who have gone to their maker after run-ins with aneighborhood coyote.

Sustainability

Ask Sean Patch what his favorite poem is, and he might recite these lines:

The Walrus and the CarpenterWalked on a mile or so,And then they rested on a rockConveniently low:And all the little Oysters stoodAnd waited in a row.

After all, the poem, by Lewis Carroll, was the inspiration for the

name of the company that Patch (the Walrus) and a partner, Jules

Opton-Himmel (the Carpenter), operate in Rhode Island.

Walrus and Carpenter Oysters reflects Patch’s long-time fascination

with the way a business can be profitable and beneficial, in this case,

sustainable. Patch, who teaches math at Fenn, grew up in Maine and

remembers hauling lobster pots and clamming with his dad in Casco

Bay, and, after earning a captain’s license, running a ferry boat each

summer. He knew nothing about oysters before he teamed up three

years ago with Opton-Himmel, a Wesleyan classmate.

Now they are among a group of oyster farmers “planting” baby

oysters, or “spat,” on racks below the surface in their three-acre

underwater farm in Block Island Sound, about an hour and a half

from Concord.

The two hatched their plans at a New Year’s Eve party in Vermont,

following up in earnest a conversation they had at the same time and

place a year earlier. When they began talking about oyster farming,

Patch had left his job as a Wall Street trader and was living on a sailboat

on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, teaching math at the

Harbor School in New York City and “trying to bring real world

problems” into his classroom activities. After school and on weekends

he was growing oysters that he kept in a submerged bag in order to

calculate their growth and mortality rates. The ninth and tenth graders

who worked with him received course credit.

Opton-Himmel, who was trained as an ecologist, most recently

worked as an environmental scientist with the Nature Conservancy,

overseeing East Coast Shellfish Restoration projects.

The two consulted other oyster farmers and offered to work for them

for free so they could learn skills and techniques involved in the work.

Patch stresses that raising oysters is commercial farming and, as such, is

subject to the vicissitudes of the weather, such as hurricanes, floods, and

ice, and to natural diseases, just like any other crop. The farmers, he

Adventures in Aquaculture:Sean Patch and his Oyster Farm

15

says, were surprisingly open

and helpful, and, even now,

“are a close knit community;

we keep an eye on each other’s farms.”

Next came the search for the right

location, and the two looked up and

down the East Coast for a site with

water that was clean and of a moderate

temperature and a community that had a

positive attitude towards aquaculture,

both in a state where they could obtain a

permit quickly. They settled on Block

Island for its excellent growing

conditions, salt water ponds, consistent

water depth and good water quality, and

an active oyster farming culture; several

young farmers there have established a

co-op which Walrus and Carpenter plans

to join. They also considered the

proximity of restaurants that would

demand a consistent supply of oysters,

and their farm, marked only by four

bobbing white buoys, is not far from

either New York or Boston.

Patch and Opton-Himmel bought one

million baby oysters in the summer of

2010, most of which were one to two

millimeters, half the size of a grain of rice

to about one inch long. They don’t feed

the oysters—the creatures feed

themselves, feasting on algae. “People

think oysters ingest bad stuff,” Patch

says, “but they eat the algae before it

dies—not after it is killed by land-based

pollutants such as those in fertilizer—and

begins sucking the oxygen out of the

water. The entire pond benefits.” An

adult oyster, he notes, can filter forty to

fifty gallons of water a day.

Patch makes it a point to dispel any

myths about oysters. “When people

hear ‘Avoid farmed,’ they need to know

that this is mostly true for fin fish, but

not for shellfish,” he says. When oysters

are harvested in the wild, the sea

bottom is dredged up, which can

destroy fish and eelgrass and therefore

ruin the habitat. Farming involves “a

much smaller imprint,” he noted. Patch

and Opton-Himmel plant the spat on

underwater racks that also provide

shelter for fish and crabs and form a

sort of artificial reef. They have used

bamboo poles recycled from a

temporary exhibit on the roof of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art last year,

a move that was the subject of a “Talk

of the Town” article in The New Yorker.

The old saying that one isn’t supposed

to eat oysters in a month that doesn’t

have an R in it is also untrue, Patch says.

As long as the oysters are kept on ice,

they can be eaten any time. It takes two

years for an oyster to grow from spat to

market size, he notes. Restaurants prefer

the three- to three-and-a-half-inch size.

Last summer they harvested about 5000

of the shellfish and sold out.

The bulk of the team’s work is done

in the summer, which fits well into

Patch’s academic calendar, but they get

started in the spring, repairing racks,

observing their brood, and comparing

notes with other farmers.

Patch is dedicated to being sustainable

at home as well as at work. Debi, an

optometrist in Waltham, is just as

enthusiastic about preserving the

environment as her husband is. Their

wedding, which they won in a contest

last summer, is a case in point.

To enter the all-inclusive Green

Wedding Giveaway offered by an

Ogunquit, Maine, restaurant, the couple

created a video essay in which they

described how they met in California,

where Debi lived. (“He flirted pretty

heavily,” she says. “And you ignored

me,” Patch replies.) The video highlights

each other’s efforts to be “green” and

includes a segment from a CBS News

program in New York that shows Sean

in a wetsuit, kayaking to work from

New Jersey each day.

In the video, which is posted on

YouTube, Sean describes Debi as

“conservative” and says he means that

“in the most loving way,” explaining

that his wife grew up hearing her

Taiwanese parents say over and over

again: “Don’t waste.” The two, who live

in Somerville, have an organic garden

and compost bin, and would love to

keep chickens, though Patch

says his landlord might not share

Debi’s and his enthusiasm.

Patch stresses that raising oysters is commercial farmingand, as such, is subject to the vicissitudes of the weather,such as hurricanes, floods, and ice, and to natural diseases,just like any other crop.

Sustainability

“How can we justify the resources it takes to educate a student

in an independent school unless we teach him or her to give

back?”

This is the question that drives Josh Hahn ’93, who has

spent his professional life integrating sustainability and

education. Students today have “lost touch with the land,” he

declared in a recent conversation at the northwest Connecticut

school where he serves as director of Environmental Initiatives

and assistant headmaster. “It is our responsibility to teach

them to feel powerful, that they can be part of the solution to

our global problems.”

Hahn’s resume reflects a path that has steadily led to his

current position at the Hotchkiss School, a coeducational

independent secondary school of 587 students set on hundreds

of bucolic acres in the foothills of the Berkshires. After

graduating from Fenn, where “my ability as an educator was

informed by the way I was taught and the knowledge that

every coach and teacher was looking out for me,” Hahn

attended Lawrence Academy and the University of Vermont,

graduating with a degree in Environmental Studies. He headed

next to Shelburne Farms to work in the Vermont Education

for Sustainability Program, and then ran school programs

for the Interlocken Center for Experiential Education, now

Windsor Mountain International Camp in New Hampshire.

Prior to earning his master’s degree at Harvard Graduate

School of Education, Hahn spent four years at Lawrenceville

School as an Aldo Leopold (American ecologist, forester,

and environmentalist) Fellow, developing and implementing a

large scale sustainability initiative while teaching, coaching,

and living in residence halls. Along the way he started Stone

Bridge, LLC, a consulting firm that integrates sustainability

and education, because “I was talking to schools about

environmental education all of the time.” But Stone Bridge

didn’t provide what Hahn valued most: working with

students.

Joining Hotchkiss was a “golden opportunity,” he said.

“It was the vision of the head [Malcolm H. McKenzie] that

the school would keep what was best about itself but address

global and environmental issues in meaningful ways and not

just with lip service.” Hahn’s challenge was, and is, he noted,

“to figure out how one can keep what is best and traditional

about a school yet adapt it to move into the future.” He says

16

Josh Hahn ’93:Making a School a Model for Environmental

Education and Practice

he feels strongly that independent schools “are going to

have to justify their existence and demonstrate their public

purpose,” and that teaching students “to give back” is the

way to do it.

Hahn spent the first several months after his appointment

in July 2009 identifying areas where the school could take

sustainability forward. This included keeping on top of day-

to-day campus management such as in the dining hall and

physical plant, incorporating environmental education into

the curriculum, increasing participation in the school’s outdoor

programs, and providing students with hands-on opportunities

outside the classroom, enabling them to develop “a tactile,

tangible connection to their daily life.”

A nearby 280-acre farm that was given to the school by

an alumnus has contributed significantly to sustainability

education, serving as a laboratory, Hahn said. Fifteen students,

known as the Fairfield Farms Ecosystem and Adventure

Team, work the farm for one or two seasons as a co-curricular

requirement and sports option, supervised by a faculty

member. (In the summer, local students and residents tend

the crops and chickens.)

A local farmer provides heavy equipment when needed

and keeps fifty head of grass-fed beef cattle on the property.

Hotchkiss grows its own potatoes, tomatoes, squash, herbs,

kale, carrots, winter spinach, cucumbers, and beets, and raises

300 boiler chickens that are fed organic grain; their waste is

used as fertilizer. Working on the farm gives students “a break

from their academic classes,” he said, “and it teaches them

first hand how it’s okay to fail, something that isn’t allowed in

their academic world.”

The farm has touched nearly every aspect of the school

program, Hahn said. The ninth grade theme each year is

learning about food, energy, and water in an experiential way.

During their freshman orientation, students harvest potatoes—

ten tons of them, enough to last the school through January.

Hahn said that when considering curricular approaches to

sustainability, “We need to be very careful about how we

present information about climate change and environmental

degradation: they are complex issues. How can we expect

a fourteen-year-old to understand them?” He has observed

students learning about climate change when they realized

that tomatoes are growing earlier in northwest Connecticut

because its hardiness zone is what New Jersey’s was ten years

ago, and that maple syrup production continues to move

farther north.

The farm serves as outdoor classroom for other areas of

the Hotchkiss program: an English class did a unit on Aldo

Leopold that involved nature writing, students painted

landscapes there while studying Impressionism, and farm

production has been a topic in math and economics classes.

Hahn is most excited about the next project he is

overseeing: the creation of a “green and clean” biomass energy

facility that will replace the current power house that provides

steam heat for most of the campus. The plant will be fueled by

wood chips from managed and sustainable area forests, with

its emissions, ash as fine as baby powder, to be used on the

farm. It will cut the school’s carbon footprint in half, saving it

more than half a million dollars a year, if not more, he said.

Tracking the process from the unloading of chips to its

journey on conveyers to the boilers, students will be able to

monitor the system by receiving readouts on their iPhones

and on flat screens in the science center.

Hahn is grateful, he added, for having the opportunity to

address the issue of sustainability “in hopeful ways” and for

working in education. Getting to know students, he said,

including the golfers and the basketball and water polo

players he has coached, is “critical” to the education process,

something he learned well at Fenn.

This summer Hahn will marry his girlfriend, Stephanie

Roy, an actress and acting teacher in New York City. The

two will be moving to a house in a most appropriate part of

the Hotchkiss campus: the farm.

Sustainability

“It is our responsibility to teach them to feel powerful, thatthey can be part of the solution to our global problems.”

Boys Collect Tortoise Data in Darwin’s Galapagos

Twenty-four boys had what they called a “once in a lifetime opportunity” inMarch when they traveled with their teachers to an archipelago off the coastof Ecuador and worked side by side with scientists conducting research on

tortoises in the Galapagos National Park.

“This was a true adventure,” declares

Gisela Hernandez-Skayne, chair of

the Spanish department at Fenn. “We

collected data that is being used by

scientists all over the world.”

The boys, eighth and ninth

graders, were “unplugged” for a

week. They played games, snorkeled

in the Galapagos Marine Reserve,

observed sea lions, iguanas, and sea

turtles, and enjoyed beach visits and

swimming in their free time. Living in

a simple hostel, they ate sustainable

organic food and learned that portion

control was critical to the food

lasting through their stay.

The students quickly experienced

first hand the reality that in some

parts of the world, water is an

endangered resource. “There is

only one fresh water source in the

archipelago and the rest must be

shipped in,” says Luke Randle, a

ninth grader. “We had to be very

careful with the water we used. We

were allowed one shower a day and

in one place we stayed there was no

hot water.”

Collecting data on the Galapagos

tortoises involved measuring carapace

length, width, and weight in order to

provide information used by scientists

who are working on the critical issues

of species survival and habitat

improvement. The tortoises, which

are tagged with a monitoring device

the size of a grain of rice, says Nat

Carr, who teaches science at Fenn,

live for more than 100 years. Adult

tortoises can weigh between 200 and

300 pounds.

Luke and his classmates got to

meet Lonesome George, who is about

100 years old and the only known

living Geochelone abigdoni tortoise.

19

“Sometimes it took four or fiveof us to flip over a tortoisevery carefully so as not tohurt it, and hold it down inorder to measure itsunderside,” Luke says.

The creatures would usually resist

the efforts of the boys to measure them,

struggling during the process.

“Sometimes it took four or five of us

to flip over a tortoise very carefully so

as not to hurt it, and hold it down in

order to measure its underside,” Luke

says. The boys also got to work with

juvenile tortoises. The groups explored

the world famous Charles Darwin

Center in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz

Island and were allowed to go into the

breeding pens, which regular tourists

cannot do, Carr says.

The program is run by Ecology

Project International, a non-profit

organization that provided financial

aid so that all interested Fenn boys

could participate. Students and the four

teachers who accompanied them studied

tortoise biology, island biogeography,

and Galapagos conservation, and

completed over twenty hours of field

research, for which each was given

a certificate.

Carr says that in past school trips,

“we’ve been visitors and observers. But

this time we had an opportunity to go to

one of the most amazing places on earth

and do important scientific research.”

Students also got to meet and spend

time with their Ecuadorian peers. Local

high school students gave the Fenn

groups a tour of the area and spent time

playing beach games and basketball

with them. “They found ways to

communicate with each other; it’s

amazing how kids can do that,”

Hernandez-Skayne says. “All of them

had a great time and many traded email

addresses so they could keep in touch.”

“The future belongs to thosewho give the next generationreason for hope.” –Pierre Tielhard de Chardin

21

Math teacher Dave Sanborn has replaced the 120 V X-ACTO Powerhouseelectric pencil sharpener in his classroomwith a hand-cranked model that is efficient, prevents oversharpening, and is “blissfully quieter.”

Patricia McCarthy, head of the Middle School, has requested allcatalogues coming to her condo bestopped, no matter how seductive theirpages might be, and does all of hershopping online.

Joanna Jameson, coordinator of Special Academic Services, uses cloth bags for shopping and giftwrapping, andin the spirit of “reduce, reuse, recycle,”notes that she has had the same husbandfor thirty-five years.

Admissions Director Amy Jollyrecently installed a solar hot water systemat her home.

Marilyn Schmalenberger,Admissions assistant, receptionist, and artteacher, mulches her raised garden bedswith salt hay to conserve water (and cutdown on weeding). Gardening is not onlysustainable; it’s also therapeutic, she says.

Ceramics and painting teacher Elizabeth Cobblah, who tends her twenty-two-year-old compost pile in the corner ofthe family’s yard, says she conserves waterin the ceramics studio by rinsing tools andhands in a bucket of water instead ofunder a running tap.

Science teacher Derek Cribb’s sixth graders grew tomato plants to takehome in June, and he and Arts coordinator Mike Salvatore carpool most days fromWakefield and Reading.

Dr. Charles Streff, Fenn’s consultingpsychologist and Student Life teacher, isamong a group of faculty and staff, including Joanna Jameson and KirstenGould, who drive hybrid cars. He drives a Ford Fusion.

Chuck Wooster ’86 runs SunriseFarm, a 120-acre Community SupportedAgriculture (CSA) farm near White RiverJunction, VT. He and wife, Sue, tend adozen pigs, twenty-three lambs, two dogs,114 chickens, “and the herd of fifty-fourdeer that played through last weekend.”

Ed Wilson, father of Titus ’14, is the president and CEO of Earthwatch, aglobal environmental organization thatengages people worldwide in scientific field research and education in order topromote the understanding and action necessary for a sustainable environment.

Doing our Part

“Never doubt that a small groupof thoughtful, committed citizenscan change the world. Indeed, itis the only thing that ever has.”

–Margaret Mead

Sustainability

22

Weston “Tony” Howland III ’68Weston “Tony” Howland III ’68 is the president of Howland Capital

Management (HCM), an investment firm providing investment advice and wealth management to

individuals and families. Prior to joining HCM, where he also serves as a trustee and portfolio

manager, he worked for Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company and Lloyds of London.

Howland, who earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Ohio Wesleyan University, is a

member of Boston Security Analysts Society and serves on a number of local volunteer boards

including Rural Land Foundation of Lincoln, Dana Hall School, Manomet Center for Conservation

Science, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

With his wife, Susanah, and their three college-age children, West ’02, Kit ’05, and Alys,

Howland lives in Lincoln and enjoys fishing, riding, sailing, and skiing. He is an avid beekeeper.

Howland says he is excited about coming to Fenn at this time “because single sex schools

remain an integral part of the education system, particularly at this critical time in a boy’s life. I saw this in the experience my two

boys had and how it provided a springboard for the choices they made in and out of school.”

When he and his wife sent West and Kit to Fenn, he says, “I was struck by how grounded the school had remained.”

AdvancingAdvancingFennFennWelcome to our New TrusteesWelcome to our New Trustees

Charles “Chuck” E. Huggins Jr. ’74Charles “Chuck” E. Huggins Jr. ’74 is the new Alumni Association

president, and he will begin a three-year term on the Board of Trustees. Huggins is the chief financial

officer of Xenith, LLC, based in Lowell, and has over twenty years of experience building top-

performing organizations.

Xenith has developed patented head protection technology that has been applied to the football

and team sports industries. It was founded with the goal of reducing the risk of concussive episodes

by providing both innovation and education in its product offerings. The helmets are worn by Fenn

football teams.

Prior to working at Xenith, Huggins was CFO of Kazmaier Associates for more than ten years;

Kazmaier focused on investments in the sports and event management industries. Huggins has also

been an executive officer at local internet and technology companies during his career.

Huggins earned a B.A. from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from the University of Denver. He grew up in Concord, where he

currently lives with his wife, Lynn, and two daughters, Alyssa and Sarah.

Huggins played Varsity hockey at Princeton for four years, receiving the “1941 Championship Team” leadership award as a senior. He

has been the assistant coach for Concord-Carlisle High School’s Varsity ice hockey team for the past four seasons. An active member of

Fenn’s Alumni Council since 2007, Huggins has chaired its nominating committee since 2008.

Fenn is extremely fortunate to have an exceptional group of volunteers who give generously ofFenn is extremely fortunate to have an exceptional group of volunteers who give generously of

their time and energy as members of the Board of Trustees. The Board’s newest members bringtheir time and energy as members of the Board of Trustees. The Board’s newest members bring

special gifts of leadership to the school, drawing upon their broad and varied backgrounds inspecial gifts of leadership to the school, drawing upon their broad and varied backgrounds in

business and counseling, and their shared commitment to non-profit and community service. Ourbusiness and counseling, and their shared commitment to non-profit and community service. Our

thanks go out to them for their tireless efforts and selfless support of the school.thanks go out to them for their tireless efforts and selfless support of the school.

23

Robert “Bob” T. Jones ’80Robert “Bob” T. Jones ’80 was appointed to the Board of Trustees in 2010.

Jones, the portfolio manager for the Robeco Boston Partners Long/Short Equity fund for seven

years, was a founding partner of Boston Partners Asset Management and has twenty-three years of

investment experience.

Jones lives in Concord with his wife, LeeEllen, and his four children: Katie, Charlotte, Timmy,

who is a Fenn fifth grader, and Peter, who will be entering Fenn as a fourth grader in the fall.

Jones, who earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Denison University, says he has

enjoyed his experience on the Board so far, and adds that “all schools go through periods in their

history when the leadership is granted the opportunity to grapple with decisions that could

influence the community for decades to come. I believe,” he continues, referring to the new

Meeting and Performance Hall and turf field, and plans for a new library and classrooms, “that

Fenn is currently in the midst of such a period. It is exciting to be a part of this process.”

With his family, Jones enjoys spending time on the Cape, and says his favorite activities include boating, fishing, and golf.

“It’s been gratifying,” he says of his year on the Board, “to experience first hand the efforts in place to sustain the Fenn

culture as it was thirty years ago when I was a student.”

Dr. Rachel KramerDr. Rachel Kramer, mother of sixth grader Daniel, has been elected president of the Parents’ Association. Dr.

Kramer, a pediatric psychologist in private practice, says she is looking forward to working

with Fenn parents and to serving a one-year term on the Board of Trustees. This past year

she served as vice-president for Parent Programs and Events for the PA.

Dr. Kramer says that Fenn’s philosophy of educating the whole boy and the school’s focus

on character development, “have always resonated with me both as a parent and as a

professional.”

Dr. Kramer, who lives in Concord with her husband, Bob, and three children, including

two teenage daughters, earned bachelor’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, one

from The Wharton School and another from the College of Arts and Sciences, and received

her master’s degree and doctorate in clinical psychology from New York University. She has

extensive experience working with children and adolescents and teaches parenting seminars at

several local preschools.

Adam D. Winstanley ’82Adam D. Winstanley ’82 has twenty-one years of real estate acquisition,

development, finance, construction, leasing, asset management, and disposition experience. Since

co-founding Winstanley Enterprises in 1990, he has acquired and redeveloped over forty projects

worth approximately $450 million, including shopping centers, multi-story office buildings, and

biotech facilities.

Notable recent projects include the acquisition and redevelopment of the vacant 410,000

square foot Superior Electric facility in Bristol, CT, from a vacant manufacturing plant to a multi-

tenant office facility that is now fully leased to ESPN.

Winstanley, who earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Denison University, has worked

with several non-profits, including the Copley Society in Boston and the Concord Art Association.

He is a board member for the Concord-Carlisle Community Chest. A member of Fenn’s Board of Visitors since 2004, Winstanley was

recently appointed chair of this key volunteer group, taking over from Ann Marie Connolly.

Winstanley and his wife, Susie, live in Concord with their children, Tucker and Allie, who attend Nashoba Brooks. Winstanley’s

father-in-law and brother-in-law are Fenn graduates: Tom Piper ’51 and John Piper ’86, respectively. His nephews, Cole and Jalen, are

Fenn students.

They wrote about family, about love,

about loss, about sports, school, and

pets. Some lines were rhymed and

others presented in free verse form.

The annual ninth grade Poetry

Slam, a morning of verse, friendly

competition, good food, and

camaraderie, was held on the day

before March break, as is traditional,

at the Wards’ house.

After tucking into fruit, eggs, and

pastries, students performed in self-

selected teams of three, and their

poems were judged by a panel of five

faculty and staff members excluding

their English teachers Steve Farley and

Laurie O’Neill. Serving as judges for

the event were Peter Bradley, Dave

Duane, Dave Irwin, Jeff LaPlante, and

P.J. Libby.

The Dapper Gentlemen, comprised

of James Jennings, Carter Reed, and

August Voelk, who were jauntily

dressed in bow ties and bowler hats

(August wore a French beret) and

carried walking sticks, won first prize

in the contest. Team Voldemort

(Conor Ingari, Luke Randle, and Nick

Demsher), The Poetry Finders (Tom

Morrison, Andrew Wilson, and Ryan

Alipour), and Not A Total

Disappointment (Ben Marchand,

Danny Meyerhoff, and Paige

Sanderson), were finalists.

John Fitzsimmons and his guitar

opened the event with a ballad, Duane

shared a poem he had written about

his time spent in the Peace Corps, and

O’Neill read a piece by Mary Oliver.

Poems written for the Slam and by

students in other grades were

posted on the Fenn website each day

during April, in honor of National

Poetry Month.

24

Ninth Grade Waxes Poetic at Annual SlamNinth Grade Waxes Poetic at Annual Slam

The BurdenThe Burden

Lost in vacancy,Lost in vacancy,Blank skies and emotionless faces,Blank skies and emotionless faces,Rising seas and falling stars.Rising seas and falling stars.Breaths go and come again,Breaths go and come again,Leaving me alone, in a catatonic state Leaving me alone, in a catatonic state Of racing emotions.Of racing emotions.

Alone, boarded between walls,Alone, boarded between walls,Sinking, deeper and deeper into a stateSinking, deeper and deeper into a stateof repentance.of repentance.An unbearable burden placed upon myAn unbearable burden placed upon myshoulders: shoulders: Regret, sorrow, and pain.Regret, sorrow, and pain.

Opportunities wasted.Opportunities wasted.Choices that put me against the grain,Choices that put me against the grain,Spreading further away with everySpreading further away with everybreath,breath,But never forgotten.But never forgotten.

Never does the world stop spinning.Never does the world stop spinning.Never slowing,Never slowing,Never stopping.Never stopping.

by August Voelk by August Voelk

CampusRoundup

The award-winning Tufts Beelzububs, an a cappella group

that has skyrocketed to fame since appearing on the TV

competition show The Sing Off and recording the vocals for

the Dalton Academy Warblers on the Fox show Glee,

performed for the Fenn community in April.

The Bubs brought down the house with a forty-minute set

that included their hit single “Teenage Dream,” which had

briefly topped the iTunes charts as the top-selling track in the

nation. They released a new album in May.

Before the performance the singers spent an hour with

Fenn’s a cappella group, which was launched three years ago

by eighth grader Max Gomez and is coached by Mike

Salvatore, music director. The Bubs taught the boys Stevie

Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” and invited them up to

sing it with them in Robb Hall.

During the Bubs’ set, the men escorted to the stage Tina

Kinard, mother of eighth grader and Fenn a cappella group

member Paul and a member of the Parents’ Association,

which makes such assemblies possible. They sat her on a stool

and sang her a love song. Ms. Kinard, a “huge” Bubs fan,

began the legwork nearly a year ago to arrange for the Bubs,

who are often on tour or recording, to visit Fenn.

Playful and earnest despite their celebrity, the Bubs have a

motto, according to member Jack Thomas: “Fun through

song.” He said that “before every performance we talk to

each other and remind ourselves why we’re doing what we’re

doing. The only thing that has changed,” he added, “is how

busy we’ve become.”

Fenn’s a cappella group also includes Aneesh Ashutosh,

Mark Benati, Henry Dalby, Tim Joumas, Alaric Krapf, and

Parker Zimmerman.

“Do the thing you fear,” said Concord’s

own Ralph Waldo Emerson, “and the

death of fear is certain.”

There is nothing much more

frightening than speaking in public—

studies show that it is what people most

fear—but each year Fenn boys

overcome their trepidation to compete

in the W.W. Fenn Speaking Contest,

held in Robb Hall.

Choosing a poem, a passage from

literature, or a speech, the boys are asked

to recite rather than act out a piece,

making their voices do the work. In front

of a supportive audience and with a

prompter in the wings, each student

recites for approximately three minutes.

This year seventh grader Zahin Das

was named the winner for his recitation

of “The Highwayman” by Alfred

Noyes. He was awarded first prize for

his “impeccable memorization,

powerful interpretation, and emotional

delivery that grabbed and held the

audience,” according to the judges,

Walter Birge, former Fenn headmaster;

Read Albright, former faculty member;

and Dr. Bradford Lyle, father of Lower

School teacher Jen Waldeck.

Receiving an Honorable Mention

were ninth grader James Jennings, who

presented the moving final passage from

The Great Gatsby, and Maahin Gulati,

a sixth grader who offered a stirring

speech delivered by Prime Minister

Jawaharlal Nehru upon India’s winning

independence in 1947. Jennings was

honored for the second year in a row.

The W.W. Fenn Speaking Contest is

named for William Wallace Fenn, a

scholar, preacher, and public speaker

who was the father of the school’s

founder, Roger Fenn.

25

Campus Roundup

Seventh Grader Rides to Victory in Speaking Contest

B u b s S i g n , S e a l , D e l i v e r a R o u s i n g P e r f o r m a n c e

26

Neil Young is

wailing about

having been

to Hollywood

and Redwood,

and one

sixth grader

grumbles, “I don’t get this song.” But it’s

the only complaint heard in this bright,

airy, and sawdust-scented space that the

boys have run to from various parts of

campus in order to pick up chisels, awls,

and other tools and go to work.

“Nobody trudges to woodshop,”

declares John Fitzsimmons who, with Jay

Samoylenko and Mike Potsaid, teaches

Fenn boys across divisions how to work

with their hands to create something

useful and beautiful, to solve problems,

and to learn responsibility in “the one

place where Sua Sponte is literally true.

The tools are in their hands,” he says.

At an increasingly technological time,

when kids, Samoylenko says, rarely

interact with the world around them,

woodshop is all about experiential

learning.

“Through learning manual skills, the

boys are better able to do sequential

processing; they learn how to think

about problems in a step by step way.”

Potsaid notes that most household

repairs used to be done by family

members, with kids watching and

learning. His father made pine bookcases

to convert their attached garage into a

family room, and “I was part of the

process.” Now families are so busy that

they outsource such work, which means

their children “miss out on a great

opportunity.” This, he says, threatens to

separate young people from hands-on

work even more.

“But not so with Fenn boys,” he

adds. “The skills they learn in shop will

serve them well.”

Woodworking, once a part of the

curriculum in most schools, fell into

disfavor in the 1990s, when many

woodshops were dismantled to make way

“Itʼs the one place where Sua

Sponte is literally true. The

tools are in their hands.”

In Woodshop: Hands-On Learning Amid the “Sounds of Real Life”

27

for the age of technology. What has

resulted, woodworking advocates say, is

a generation of young people that

doesn’t know how to fix things and

who lack basic manual skills.

In a winter Boston Globe article on

the subject, woodworking teachers

maintained that the craft has strong

value as an educational tool, reinforcing

math, science, social studies, and

problem solving skills. Samoylenko,

who teaches math at Fenn and has a

background in architecture—he started

out as a house and road builder—

Fitzsimmons, an English teacher, and

Potsaid, who teaches science, agree

wholeheartedly. “Manual arts are taught

differently than academics,”

Samoylenko points out. “It’s the old

Guild method: watch and learn.”

Though woodworking has been

phased out in some schools, at Fenn it

never left. The shop used to be in the

Lower School’s Brooke Hall, adjacent to

Roger Fenn’s office, because Fenn,

according to Fitzsimmons, wanted the

boys to “hear the sounds of real life. He

believed in a hands-on education.” Boys

have a “psychic need,” Fitzsimmons

adds, “for mastery. Creating a tangible

object that is artistic and utilitarian is the

response to that need.” The shop is now

in a spacious studio at the back of the

Summer Fenn building, once Fenn’s Hall

Infirmary.

In Lower School woodshop, taught by

Potsaid, the boys make simple items such

as small boxes to learn basic skills.

Expectations increase as they move on

from grade to grade, until in the Upper

School they are drafting plans and

creating a stock list in order to build a

piece of custom furniture. Scrap wood is

used whenever possible, and is the

primary material in the Adirondack

chairs students build in the shop.

Woodshop is a graded class only in the

Upper School, and its instructors want all

of their students to get a good grade even

if they are not expert craftsmen, as long

as they show an investment in learning

the required skills. What pleases their

teachers is watching how intensely the

boys focus while in woodshop. “We

rarely lose the kids’ attention; they

respond to the master-student relationship

here,” Fitzsimmons says.

During a late spring class when a

group of sixth graders are creating relief

carvings, Samoylenko steps in here and

there to offer words of encouragement or

advice: “Both hands behind the blade,

boys.” “Work towards the vein, not

away from it.” “Good job!”

The boys are standing around the

worktables chatting quietly—about the

music, about an upcoming Fenn game,

about their carvings—and pausing

occasionally to help each other or to

offer a supportive word to a classmate

who might be struggling with a project.

They are eager to tell a visitor how much

they like the class. “It’s fun and

relaxing,” says Shep Greene. “And you

can talk and listen to music,” adds P.J.

Lucchese. “It makes you calm.”

Andrew Brown concedes that the

“hard part” is working against the grain

in a piece of wood. “You have to be

patient,” he says, knowingly.

“No, the hard part is if you blow out

your piece,” proclaims Jack Feeney,

eliciting an “Oh yeah, you’re bummed

when that happens!” from P.J.

Blowing out, or having your carving

tool jump your intended track and gouge

the wood, is a dreaded turn of events,

but the boys, perhaps because they feel

so little pressure in the woodshop, can be

circumspect when it happens. “You live

with it,” Shep says with a smile.

“That’s the great thing about this

class,” contends Samoylenko. “It teaches

kids that if they make a mistake, they

can redo it. It’s only wood.”

“Thatʼs the great thing

about this class,” contends

Samoylenko. “It teaches kids

that if they make a mistake,

they can redo it. Itʼs only wood.”

Campus Roundup

It was fitting that one

of the classic numbers

in musical theatre is

“Tradition” and that it

was a highlight of the

spring musical, staged

in early March as a

joint production of

Fenn and Nashoba

Brooks School. Fiddler

on the Roof elicited standing ovations and more than a few

tears, and only partly because of the poignant nature of the

story, which focuses on Tevye the diaryman to illustrate the

lives of impoverished Jews in Czarist Russia.

It has been “tradition” that the joint Fenn-Nashoba

musicals have been staged in Robb Hall for nearly three

decades, and “tradition” that Kirsten Gould, Fenn’s drama

coordinator, was the director of the shows staged at Fenn.

Gould retired at the end of the year.

Tom Morrison performed the role of Tevye and Miles Petrie

was Motel in the musical, which also featured Max Gomez,

Carter Reed, Parker Zimmerman, Clayton Gilmour, and Henry

Dalby, with Nick Walters filling the role of the fiddler. Other

boys in the production were Jordan Swett, Neel Taneja, Chris

Thomas, Austin Galusza, Alex McNulty, Andreas Sheikh, Ben

Stone, Ben Marchand, Patrick O’Brien, and Will Royal. A

faculty chorus included Headmaster Jerry Ward.

John Schnelle served as musical director, Rob Morrison as

technical director, Dr. Charles Streff as assistant director, and

Cathie Regan as backstage director, and a number of Fenn

and Nashoba parents helped with the production. The sizable

tech staff included student stage managers Jack Barron and

Aneesh Ashutosh, and many other boys ran lights, spots, and

sound, and worked as stage crew chiefs and crew members.

In the playbill, a note at the end, added by Gould’s

colleagues, expressed gratitude to their “beloved” director

for her dedication to twenty-seven years of Fenn-Nashoba

musicals.

28

The “Tradition” Continues With Spring Performance of Fiddler on the Roof

FacultyFaculty

Fenn Salutes its Retiring Faculty Members

Developments

Winnie Smith’s strongest memory of retiring teacher Joe

Hindle is not only working with him in the science

department for the last six years, but also relying on him as a

source of strength and support when her nephew, Brendan

Smith ’00, was deployed to Afghanistan.

Hindle is no stranger to soldiering, as the Fenn community

knows. He served in Vietnam, and for the past several years has

shared his emotional remembrances of his “band of brothers”

during Veteran’s Day assemblies.

“Joe lent me an ear when I needed to talk and he reassured

me when we hadn’t heard much from Brendan,” Smith recalls.

And when her nephew returned, safe, “Joe was the first to give

me a congratulatory hug,” accompanied, she says, by an

empathetic sigh of relief.

Hindle has tallied thirty-two years at Fenn. Demonstrating

his characteristically dry wit, he adds, “But who’s counting?”

Over the years he served as head of the Upper School and of

the Science department, coached Varsity and Junior Varsity

football, Middle School basketball and lacrosse, taught math,

and was a member of the Tech team. Hindle even did

maintenance work one summer. Along the way he had two

senior seats dedicated to him, and two yearbooks.

Colleague Derek Cribb says that Hindle “seems to know

something about nearly everything.” Dave Duane, Science

department chair, agrees, calling Hindle “a resource for the

layman’s inquiries,” and says Hindle’s colleagues would pepper

him with questions such as “Hey Joe, what’s the chemical

compound for SPAM?” or “Will antibacterial soap keep me

safe from viruses?” They knew that if Hindle didn’t have the

answer, he’d look it up.

Hindle is possessed of a quick wit and “a well-timed pun,”

Duane says, and is a skilled storyteller, regaling his colleagues

with tales of growing up in Rhode Island or of his college track

and field exploits. He is also a creature of military habit. “If

you beat him to the parking lot in the morning, you’ve really

accomplished something,” Duane says.

Hindle says he will miss interacting with students, in whom

he hopes he has instilled “a love of learning and the realization

that science can be fun (and funny).” He kept the bulletin

board in his classroom papered with cartoons, especially those

by Gary Larsen, “who really gets science.”

While offering a tribute to his colleague when the latter was

honored for thirty years of service, Duane said he was

reminded of what Isaac Newton once said when attributing his

discoveries to others: “If I have seen further, it is because I have

stood on the shoulders of giants.” He closed by saying, “It has

been a pleasure to stand on your shoulders, Joe.”

Hindle, who has two grown daughters, and his partner,

Jane Higgins, are moving to Lebanon, New Hampshire,

where they can ski, hike, bike, and otherwise enjoy the

outdoors. That the headquarters of King Arthur Flour is

nearby is a bonus. Declares Hindle, an accomplished baker,

“What else could I want?”

Joe Hindle:Joe Hindle: Thirty-Two Years of Making Science Fun (and Funny)Thirty-Two Years of Making Science Fun (and Funny)

32

Each year, when alumni return to

Fenn for a gathering traditionally

held after the Thanksgiving assembly,

one of the teachers they tend to swarm is

Kirsten Gould. “It’s obvious she respects

them and they her, and they’re happy to

bask in a bit of her charisma again,”

says Dr. Charles Streff, consulting school

psychologist and Student Life teacher

who has worked with Gould on many

musical productions.

The charisma is clear to anyone who

knows Gould, whose enthusiasm and

good cheer seems never to flag, even

when a string of snow days threatened

to derail an upcoming production, as it

did last spring with Fiddler on the Roof.

Gould has spent the last twenty-seven

years at Fenn, arriving after being asked

in 1984 to direct a musical fund-raiser

called “Fenn Fables” to benefit

renovation of the library. She recalls

Roger Fenn, then in his 80s, being in the

cast of alumni, parents, faculty, and area

headmasters. Soon after the drama

position became available, she was hired

to fill it by then headmaster Walter

Birge.

Mike Salvatore, who took over as

Arts department chair from Gould in

2001, says he believes Gould is the only

woman to be granted an honorary

degree by Roger Fenn. Gould, he says, is

the embodiment of the director’s motto

“The show must go on,” once

choreographing dance steps for a

musical with her leg in a cast.

Gould was “the key player” in

helping to make the new theatre in the

Meeting and Performance Hall a reality,

providing valuable input during the

design process. “I’m heartbroken,” says

Rob Morrison, coordinator of Theatre

Tech, “that she won’t be here to produce

a show on a stage she worked so

tirelessly to bring about.” Gould

possesses “the rare combination,” he

adds, “of artistic passion and an

accountant’s organizational skills.”

Among the many adjectives used to

describe Gould are “wildly creative,”

“tireless,” “endlessly encouraging” and

“dedicated.” Cathie Regan recalls

becoming involved with the Fenn drama

program several years ago. Though she

had worked in community theatre, with

adults, she had never worked with

children or adolescents. Gould’s

“boundless energy, positive attitude, and

dedication to teaching boys about

theatre were teachable moments for

me,” she says. “She set the bar for me.”

Gould is looking forward to traveling,

staying involved in theatre, and spending

more time with her husband, David, and

their family, particularly new grandson,

Arlo, with whom she is admittedly

smitten.

Passionate about the arts, she says

they are “necessary for a full and

satisfying life.” Gould was presented with

flowers at the end of this year’s Cultural

Arts Festival, and she fist-pumped the air

with the cry “Arts forever!”

Salvatore declares, “We should thank

Kirsten Gould for being the single person

having the vision and passion necessary

to build, from scratch, so much of what

we know as the Fenn Arts program.”

Kirsten Gould:Kirsten Gould: She knew “The show must go on!”She knew “The show must go on!”

33

Over the years, most of us have

compared personal stories with

Lorraine Ward, who has often attributed

her open and empathetic nature, her

passion for teaching, and her warm and

welcoming personality to her many years

spent in schools with young people, her

acknowledgment that as the wife of the

head of school she must be the hostess to

a large extended community, and, not

the least, her colorful Italian roots on her

mother’s side.

Ward “has lived and breathed Fenn,”

she says, from 1993 on, with two of the

couple’s three children attending the

school and with Ward joining the faculty

and staff by first being asked to help out

with the Annual Fund and then covering

a maternity leave for Elise Mott. Prior to

teaching English and Social Studies here

for eleven years, serving as department

chair for one and for a while both

departments, Ward spent more than two

decades as a dean and held a writing

lectureship at Wellesley College. She

began her teaching career in the 1970s

in Montreal, at a public high school.

Laurie Byron, who succeeds Ward as

English department chair, says Ward

“has always had the ability to ask tough

questions in order to get us to look at

our teaching practices and see how

effective they are, especially for boy

learners.” Rob Morrison says Ward

has a “strong set of values about

teaching English, yet she has always

been open to fresh approaches.”

Most important to Ward as a teacher,

she says, has been “a willingness to

be open to others and to the paradoxes

of being human in a world that can be

so beautiful and so terrible at the same

time.”

When asked to recall a memorable

moment in the classroom, Ward

describes an eighth grade class in which

All Quiet on the Western Front was

being discussed. Also present was Ward’s

teaching intern, Olivia Achtmeyer. As the

boys began talking about the poignancy

of the narrative, when the protagonist

goes home on leave and discovers his

mother is dying of cancer, Ward (who,

ironically, would later be diagnosed

with the disease), and Olivia (who had

just lost her mother to cancer), were so

moved by their emotional honesty that

they began to cry, and the boys,

concerned, tried to comfort them.

One boy tentatively touched Ward’s

arm and asked, “Are you all right?

Should we go on?” and he was “so like

an adult,” Ward says, smiling at the

recollection, “that I began laughing as

well as crying.” When she was diagnosed

a year later, the class showed up to visit

Ward, and one boy was carrying a

hardbound copy of the Erich Maria

Remarque novel. Inside was a message

expressing the boy’s hope that Ward

would read it with her grandson and

enjoy it “as much as I did reading it

with you.”

When Kathy Starensier honored Ward

for ten years of service last year, she

called her “a compelling storyteller who

has told her own story with refreshing

honesty.” She said that Ward

“understands that we are each a complex

story, full of great and not so great

chapters. She has deep empathy for the

way our journey shapes who we are as

people and as teachers.”

Ward’s next chapter, she says, will

involve “doing what I want when I want

to,” including reading and writing in the

morning, taking long walks, and

spending time with her family.

“Who can think of a more inspiring

model of courage?” Starensier asked in

her Years of Service remarks. “She has

persevered with grace and resolve,

believing, as Mary Oliver says,

‘Meanwhile the world goes on.’”

Lorraine Ward:Lorraine Ward: Compelling Storyteller, Impassioned TeacherCompelling Storyteller, Impassioned Teacher

FennSportsSports

34

VARSITY HOCKEYThe team, “an energetic, competitive group,” respondedwell to the challenges of the season and competed hard,says Derek Boonisar, who coached the team with TopherBevis and Jeff LaPlante. With Alex Hreib, who scored 38goals, as captain, and assistant captains Sebastian Sidneyand Matt Azarela, the team tallied a 10-3-1 record thatfeatured key wins over Noble and Greenough, Fessenden,Fay, and Shore. “We talked about the importance ofworking hard, moving our feet, and making gooddecisions,” Boonisar says. Contributing heavily up front, henoted, were Patrick O’Brien, Gavin Kennedy, WillRobertson, Jake Goorno, and Jonathan Tesoro, andproving effective on defense were Andrew Wilson, BrendanSeifert, Matt Boudreau, Ben Marchand, and Sam Hesler.

VARSITY WRESTLINGThe team this year combined a mix ofseasoned, wily veterans with youngMiddle School recruits. Tri-captainsWill Reynolds and Jake and AlexAmorello started each practice with achallenging workout and helped keepthe team focused. Coaches JohnFitzsimmons and Steve Gasper madesure that the team did not “gloat overvictory or mope after failure,” saysFitzsimmons. High points this seasonincluded Andreas Sheikh garneringsecond place in the New EnglandWrestling Championships and E.J. Fitzsimmons winning outstanding wrestler at the Fay Wrestling Championship. In Junior Prepwrestling, he explains, team scores are not kept, “but in our heads and hearts Fenn always seemed to come out on top.”

VARSITY BASKETBALLCoaches Peter Bradley and Bob Starensier were“pleased with the progress” of their team, “a nicegroup of boys who worked hard to improve,” Bradleysays. The team was challenged by a series of setbacksincluding snow days, injuries, and illness, and “nevercould hit its stride,” he adds. The season record was 4-7 and the team placed fourth of four in the annualFenn School Basketball Tournament.

W I N T E R H I G H L I G H T S 2 0 1 0 - 2 0 1 1

Science teacher Derek Cribb tells an interesting story about Steve

Gasper, saying that one morning, just after a snow day, when Cribbmentioned to Gasper that he was tired due to shoveling his (admittedlyminimal) walkway and had to be atschool early to cover the gym, he asked Gasper, who is on the buildingsand grounds crew, if he had been oncampus during the storm.

Gasper had indeed been here,arriving at 4:00 a.m. to plow, shovel,and spread salt, and not leaving for his home in Shrewsbury until afternightfall.

Cribb’s point in sharing theanecdote was that Gasper, a licensed construction supervisor and a carpenter by trade, works hard, hustling around campus in hisblue Fenn jacket and Bruins cap, apencil over one ear and a walkie talkiein his hand. He is “the guy to go to,”according to Cribb, and can be found

both in front of and behind the scenes, fixing broken doors and desks,replacing fence posts, clearing snowfrom roofs, overseeing parking at aschool event, pulling out and replacingshrubs, mowing lawns and fields, andtackling a variety of other tasks.

Gasper, who is Dave DiPersio’sassistant, assuming charge when thelatter cannot be on campus, is known

to be extremely generous with his time, helping several faculty and staffmembers with jobs at their homes,from relocating a closet to fixing afireplace.

Since 1996, Gasper has been atFenn, bringing a wealth of knowledgeabout how to get a job done right. He brings this same quality to theMulti-Purpose Room, where for twoyears he has been coaching Varsitywrestling, one of his passions, withJohn Fitzsimmons.

What many people don’t knowabout Gasper is that he has years ofexperience working with young people.For a decade at the Lowell Boys’ Clubhe wore several hats, including that ofpool instructor. Gasper was a wrestlerin junior high and at Greater LowellVocational Technical School, and apretty good one at that, though he is

famously modest and unassuming. Gasper is devoted to his family,

including children Megan, eleven, and Ryan, nine, and wife Kristen, the assistant principal of Oak MiddleSchool in Shrewsbury.

He loves coaching at Fenn,especially “getting to know the kidsand learning about their backgrounds.”Wrestling “makes kids tougher andteaches them about discipline,” hedeclares.

“It’s great to see them grow frombeing tentative and even timid, tobeing confident and brave,” he adds.“All kids should wrestle.”

Fenn SportsFenn Sports

35

STEVE GASPER: WRESTLING COACH AND GO-TO GUY

Wrestling “makes kids tougher

and teaches them about

discipline,” he declares.

Coaches, left to right: Derek Cribb,Steve Gasper and John Fitzsimmons

“I think it was Jung who said that there are only two things

that make up a good life: productive work and love. I have

been lucky in both.”

The words belong to Robert “Mike” Whitney ’51, and

are from one of the many reflections he has written on his

life and work in his years since Fenn. Whitney, who has

been selected in this, his 60th reunion year, as the 2011

recipient of Fenn’s Distinguished Alumnus Award, is

admittedly shy and private. But he has often sat at his desk

to review his life and his gratitude for his education, his

family, and the opportunities he has had to “do something

good in the Northern forest.”

Whitney regards life “as a challenge to be purposeful

and to enjoy the quest, and as a test of survivorship.” He

acknowledges his decades of “business ups and downs, of

luck (missing the wars, good genes, and boon companions),

and of love to make it all meaningful.”

On a chilly and damp early spring day, Susan

Richardson, director of Constituent Relations, and Carol

Estes-Schwartz, director of Annual Giving, visited Whitney

at his farm in tiny Pownal, Maine, (pop. 1400), that he and

his wife, Rosemary, who is from Lincoln, purchased in

1996. Whitney prepared lunch, and as fog and drizzle

settled over the 168 acres of fields and woods, the three sat

inside the family’s renovated 1800 Cape and talked for

hours about Whitney’s life in Concord, where he was raised

by a single mother, his years at Fenn, where he later served

on the Board of Visitors, and his current passions—for land

preservation, the outdoors, his family and friends, and his

vintage motorcycles.

The old Cape and the new additions were meant to be a

gathering place for both Mike’s and Rosemary’s families,

including their daughter, Eleanor, who lives in Brooklyn,

and his two daughters and three grandchildren from his

former marriage.

Whitney credits Roger Fenn with teaching him the

powers of observation and the value of hands-on

experiences. He says he was influenced by “Thoreau and

the river,” and by teachers Twitchell, MacLane, Ward,

Crook, and others. Whitney’s interest in and knowledge of

music, shop skills, winter sports, arts and crafts, and

reading “all had roots at Fenn,” he adds. As a boy he also

attended the Keywadin Camps on Lake Dunmore in

Vermont, where outdoor education and tripping were the

focus. (Keywadin was run in those years by a group of co-

owners including Roger Fenn’s son, Abbott ’34 .)

“Nurtured,” he says, by Fenn, and “toughened” by

Milton, where he was taught to “work like a dog,”

Whitney was accepted to Yale, after which he did a stint in

the Marines. Then it was back to the Yale School of

Forestry (YSF) for its graduate program in forest

management, which provided him with a “tremendous

scientific and business education” and where he became

immersed in the school’s deep connection to the forestry

and conservation movement led by Teddy Roosevelt and

Gifford Pinchot.

Wanting to remain in

the Northeast, Whitney

took a consulting job at

the New England

Forestry Foundation in

East Barnard, Vermont.

He remembers that his

take-home pay was

$333 a month. His next

move was to Maine and

Robert “Mike” Whitney ’51: Robert “Mike” Whitney ’51: Distinguished Alumnus Distinguished Alumnus “A Life of Luck, Luck, and More Luck, and Love to Make it Meaningful”“A Life of Luck, Luck, and More Luck, and Love to Make it Meaningful”

Mike, pictured at the Keywadin Camps, is at far left, in aMike, pictured at the Keywadin Camps, is at far left, in awhite shirt.white shirt.

a management position at the SD Warren Paper Company

in Westbrook.

By chance, Whitney reconnected with two Milton

“mates,” he says, borrowed money, and with six months

of operating capital, started LandVest, Inc. in 1968.

LandVest is a multi-discipline real estate services company

that specializes in consulting and land planning, high-

end real estate marketing, and forest land investment

and management. The company matured into a large

regional firm with a national reputation and national

and international clients. Over the years the company

was sold to Merrill Lynch, was bought by Prudential,

and was back in its original owners’ hands by 1991.

According to Wade Staniar, one of Whitney’s first

partners in the endeavor and an old friend from the YSF,

Whitney was “both the founding and driving force”

behind the company’s Timberland Division, “which has

grown from acorn size to one of the largest private

consulting firms in the country….He has been its

[LandVest’s] financial and ethical conscience.”

Whitney says he is proud that he helped to bring

progressive forest management to the nearly one and a

half million acres that are now managed by the company.

“It was a good

run,” he says.

In retirement,

Whitney reads up on

junior stocks and

tends his farm, fields

and woodlots, which

are home to

Rosemary’s two

horses and the family’s

two dogs. He enjoys

biking, canoeing,

hiking, and skiing, and

keeping up with

friends, fostering

relationships that, he

has said, “have

endured the tests of

time and distance.” Rosemary, who is a retired landscape

architect, shares his love for conservation; while leading the

local land trust in Pownal, she was instrumental in adding

500 acres to the 1500-acre state park adjacent to the

family’s farm.

Whitney has had a long love affair with motorcycles,

sports cars, and hydroplanes, all of which he used to race.

A “life list” of 115 motorcycles he once owned is down to

seven and he notes in a 2010 piece for his Fenn classmates

that his “chosen paths,” including his work in forestry

and his racing, “often put me in harm’s way.” While

on his motorcycle he hit a moose one night, emerging

unscathed and upright, an outcome he attributes to “Luck,

luck, and more luck, and perhaps

some skill.”

In a circa 2005 reflection

penned for his 50th Milton

reunion year, Whitney writes that

it was time to “age gracefully,”

and that among his aspirations

are to be “kind and wise, and to

be able to laugh, and to tell good

stories that won’t bore people. I

think I’m doing okay at all that.”

We agree.

Whitney credits Roger Fenn with teachingWhitney credits Roger Fenn with teaching

him the powers of observation and thehim the powers of observation and the

value of hands-on experiences. value of hands-on experiences.

To nominate an alumnus for the DistinguishedTo nominate an alumnus for the DistinguishedAlumnus Award contact Susan Richardson,Alumnus Award contact Susan Richardson,Director of Constituent Relations, at 978-318-Director of Constituent Relations, at 978-318-3526 or srichardson@fenn.org3526 or srichardson@fenn.org

Young Mike is sitting on the ground, center front, in the light-Young Mike is sitting on the ground, center front, in the light-colored jacketcolored jacket

38

Class of 1940Robert Cobb sent a message that “RogerFenn was a remarkable man. I hope theschool stays remarkable also.”

Class of 1945Don Thompson retired as an Emeritus Pro-fessor of Anthropology almost twenty yearsago. He still manages to hike, canoe, andfolk dance quite a bit.

Class of 1946John Leahy is doing well in spite of under-going multiple chemotherapy treatments.He has been able to sail, race, and play golf !

Class of 1947James Gilmour sent a message that he is“learning to live on less in my old age.”

Class of 1949Bill Speidel and his wife Joan celebratedtheir thirty-seventh wedding anniversary lastJuly with a renewal of their vows whilecruising the coast of Norway.

Class of 1951Rusty Robb wrote that he and Fred Lovejoy

enjoyed organizing their class’s 60th reunion.They have received written updates from

most of their classmates (some up to fourpages) on their lives since their 50th reunion.Rusty’s grandson, Justin, finished his sixth-grade year at Fenn this spring.

Class of 1970Brad Simonds is celebrating thirty years as acharter fishing captain in the Florida Keys.Information on Southpaw Fishing can befound at www.southpawfishing.com.

Class of 1974Topher Browne’s book Atlantic Salmon Magicwas recently published by Wild River Press.Topher is a professional fishing guide whohas fished for Atlantic salmon in Canada,Iceland, Scotland, Norway, and Russia.

Class of 1975Max Barrett, son of Bill Barrett, played forthe Concord-Carlisle High School Patriotsin the Division IIA Super Bowl at GilletteStadium last December. In 1978 Bill playedon the winning team at Boston University.

Class of 1981Aldy Milliken is living in Sweden with hiswife and two children. Aldy runs the Mil-liken Gallery, which opened in 2004 withthe goal to specialize in emerging and mid-career artists. Because of the gallery’sdynamic size and location, more established

artists have made large scale exhibitions inthe space. In addition, Milliken hosts a variety of events such as fashion shows,magazine launches, and other culturalhappenings.

Class of 1982Paul Bellantoni is back in NYC after livingin Germany and Austria for almost fiveyears. Paul was an opera singer and living“the opera life” with all of its travel andstress. He now enjoys life doing voiceoverwork for commercials, audio books, corpo-rate work, and video games. Last winter hewas the gravelly, stuffy voice of a Britishman for Kraken spiced rum. He has alsorecorded the title role in Macbeth in a con-densed audio version. In addition to hisvoiceover work, he is also doing some stageacting. Fenn classmate Norm Veenstra is stillhis closest friend for over thirty years. Normis a real estate developer in Washington,DC, and a part-time rock musician. LastMarch, Norm’s band played for a DC dancecompany at the Kennedy Center.

Class of 1984Sky Blackiston and Sandy Blackiston haverelocated to Vermont. They returned toFenn in June for the Alumni Celebration,where they provided music during thereception. The brothers can be found onYouTube playing fast boogie woogie atwww.youtube.com/watch?v=7kjLTUfP1xM.

Class

Class of 1986Derek Bingley is living in California and isengaged to Samantha Brown. The coupleplan to be married on June 25 in California.Fenn alumni in the wedding party are Ted

O’Rourke and Will Pitkin. Charlie Mitchell

is still working at Cheshire Academy, butrecently made the transition from coachingand teaching to the Alumni and Develop-ment Office. He and his wife, Katie, areraising two sons, Zander (5) and Timmy (3).He says that “family life is wonderful, excit-ing, and tremendously rewarding.”

Class of 1987Zach Corkin is married to Nicole Ashburn.The couple lives in Golden, CO, with theirthree children, Trey (8), Colette (7), andWesley (3). Craig Surman continues hisclinical research work on adults withADHD. He is the father of two daughters,Lilah (4) and Evie (2).

Class of 1990Eli Chan is working as a director at Dell,Inc. in Austin, TX.

Class of 1992Damon Corkin is married to Angela Véliz.They are the proud parents of two-year-oldOlivia Suzanne Corkin and live in Quito,Ecuador. Damon’s travel company is AndeanDiscovery. You can check out some greatphotos at www.andeandiscovery.com. Jon

Fortmiller is teaching studio art, graphic art,and filmmaking at Kent Denver School inColorado. Jeff DeMartino married EleanorHong on April 9, 2011, at the LanghamHuntington Hotel in Pasadena, CA. Thecouple met in NYC, where Jeff is an attor-ney with Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett andEleanor is a marketing executive with ToysR Us. The couple honeymooned in Argenti-na and will make their home in Milwaukee.

Class of 1996Paul-Henri Pesquet is a studio manager fora Dutch photographer based in Paris. Heis mainly working on advertising and fash-ion. Drew Jameson is working on his mas-ter’s degree in the “Teach to Learn” pro-gram at UMass Boston. He is teaching

English at the Boston Science and HealthHigh School in Dorchester. Drew current-ly teaches fiction and non-fiction writingto middle and high school students in theYoung American Writers Program at GrubStreet in Boston. His story “Drown” waspublished in The Drum, an online literarymagazine.

Class of 1997Scott Annan is living in NYC, where hestarted a mentorship program and positivenews site called Aimbitious. In January2010 he published his first book Aimbi-tious: A Life of Enlightened Self-Leadership,in which Scott describes his philosophy on“living a life of passion, purpose, and ulti-mate fulfillment.”

Class of 1998Starting this summer Conor Maguire willbe attending the Bread Loaf School ofEnglish at Middlebury College in themaster’s degree program. This past year hetaught sophomore English at Chapel Hill-

39

Class News

Ryan and John Mulvany, sons ofTaragh ’87

F E N N T E N N I S T R O P H I E S

The Fenn archives recently acquiredThe Fenn archives recently acquired

several silver Fenn tennis trophies.several silver Fenn tennis trophies.

These trophies were first awardedThese trophies were first awarded

during the late 1930s wduring the late 1930s when Fenn had

their own tennis courts (where studenttheir own tennis courts (where student

drop-off is today). If you havedrop-off is today). If you have

additional information on the tennisadditional information on the tennis

cups or if you find any special Fenncups or if you find any special Fenn

items in your attic that you wish toitems in your attic that you wish to

donate to the school archives, pleasedonate to the school archives, please

contact Susan Richardson, director ofcontact Susan Richardson, director of

Constituent Relations.Constituent Relations.

Chauncey Hall to fellow Fenn alumnusNeeron Sam ’10. Matt Jameson received hismaster’s degree in clinical psychology fromWestern Michigan University last April. Hewill continue his studies in a Ph.D. programat Western Michigan University. Matt isengaged to marry Master Sergeant AngelaWeiss, US Air Force, in June 2012.

Class of 2000Isaac Chan graduated from NorthwesternUniversity in 2007. Since graduation he hasbeen working at the Brattle Group in Cam-bridge, MA. Next fall he will be starting anMBA program at the University of Chicago,Booth School of Management.

Class of 2002Kyle Shulman sent an update on what he hasbeen doing since “leaving my seat in RobbHall.” In 2009 he graduated from Queen’sUniversity in Kingston, Ontario, with a B.A.

in German language and literature. He thenwent to the Maxwell School of Citizenshipand Public Affairs at Syracuse University,where he received his master’s degree ininternational relations. Upon graduation, hebecame a consultant at the United Nationsoffices in Geneva, Switzerland, working forthe Internet Governance Forum. Today he isworking with an Austrian-based film com-pany, running their administration, finance,and acquisitions.

Class of 2003Tim Padden spent this spring at Fenn as anintern with the Fenn Fellows Program. TheFenn Fellows Program is a one trimester,non-compensated position for a Fenn alum-nus and recent college graduate who is seek-ing initial teaching, coaching, and generalschool experience with fourth through ninthgrade boys to explore possible entrance intothe teaching profession.

Class of 2005Malcolm Eaton is attending Wheaton Col-lege, where he is majoring in physics. He ishoping to pursue a dual degree in electricalengineering in a program with DartmouthCollege. Patrick Mara spent last semesterstudying abroad in London at Birbeck Uni-

versity. While in London he ran into fellowFenn classmate Patrick Walker, who was alsospending a semester in London. Graham

Roth was in Japan for a quarter whileattending Stanford University.

Class of 2006Roger Hurd is an economics major at YaleUniversity and is president of the club soc-cer team.

Class of 2007Rex Littlef ield is attending Dartmouth Col-lege along with Fenn classmates Kyle

Bojanowski, Neil Greene, and Tyler Hale. Rex,Neil and Tyler played freshman rugby together.Thomas Livingston is attending Bates College,where he is playing lacrosse. Mike Maggiore

and Nate Marchand, friends and teammates atFenn, did not know that they were both beingrecruited by the same college. Today Mike andNate are roommates at Tufts University, wherethey both play lacrosse.

Class of 2008Chris Calkins will be attending DartmouthCollege this fall. Dan Giovacchini will beattending Brown University in September.Chris Walker-Jacks and Mike O’Brien ’09 weremembers of last fall’s Concord-Carlisle HighSchool Division II state championship soccerteam. Chris was the backbone of the defensewhile Mike scored many goals during the runto the state crown.

Class News

40

FENN ANDFENN ANDNASHOBA BROOKSNASHOBA BROOKS

PUB NIGHTPUB NIGHT

Class of 2005 classmates Patrick Walkerand Patrick Mara

Tim Padden ’03

A group of alumni from both schoolsA group of alumni from both schoolsgathered at the Bell in Hand in Bostongathered at the Bell in Hand in Bostonduring the winter for an evening ofduring the winter for an evening ofsocializing and networking. This popularsocializing and networking. This popularevent will continue throughout the year.event will continue throughout the year.Go to the alumni page at www.fenn.orgGo to the alumni page at www.fenn.orgfor details on future pub nights. Picturedfor details on future pub nights. Picturedabove, left to right, are: Nat Carr ’97,above, left to right, are: Nat Carr ’97,Christian Ford ’01, Teddy Whittemore ’97,Christian Ford ’01, Teddy Whittemore ’97,and David Kitendaugh ’97. and David Kitendaugh ’97.

Class of 2009S. Levi Doran has been writing articles forLexington’s Colonial Times, a monthly publi-cation. His most recent piece, in the Febru-ary-March issue, was about Lexington nativeand mystery writer William G. Tapply, inwhose name a memorial fund has been cre-ated to fund a sophomore writing programat Lexington High School. Sam is currentlya junior at Lexington Christian Academy.

Class 2010Jack Littlef ield played freshman soccer at St.Mark’s last fall. Neeron Sam ’10 was sur-prised to discover that his sophomore Eng-lish teacher this past year was Fenn alumnusConor Maguire ’98. Neeron complained that“Mr. Maguire gives me the Sua Sponte evileye when homework assignments are late.”

Former Fenn Faculty & StaffLori Day, former director of Admissions andFinancial Aid at Fenn, has started her owneducational consulting practice, Lori DayConsulting. With expertise in private schooland college admissions, psycho-educationalconsultation, school administration, diversitywork, writing and editing, Lori offers a vari-ety of services to parents, students, schools,and small businesses. Information may befound at www.loridayconsulting.com.

Marjorie Gornall, former faculty member,writes that retirement in Arizona is “great!”She recently heard from class of 1962 class-mates Jeff Cook and Gerry Gefen.

Chris Gorycki, former teacher and director ofAdmissions and Financial Aid from 1995 to2002, has been appointed headmaster of theKent School in Chestertown, MD, on theEastern Shore. He will start his new positionin July. Chris and his wife, Cri-Cri, formerFenn development assistant, celebrated theirtwentieth wedding anniversary last fall. Theirchildren, Taylor (16) and Christopher (13),are keeping them active with theater andsports activities.

Peter Keyes, former faculty member, has beenliving in Vermont since his retirement fromMilton Academy. Peter owns a bookshop,Oxbow Books. In addition to running theshop, he also enjoys taking classes at Dart-mouth. Some recent course selections were“Great Decisions,” a class based on eightcurrent issues in a foreign policy magazine,and “Armchair Traveler,” mostly about trav-eling outside of the United States.

41

Class News

Tufts teammates Mike Maggiore ’07 and Nate Marchand ’07

Neeron Sam ’10 with his teacher, Conor Maguire ’98

(l to r): Christopher, Taylor, Cri-Cri,and Chris Gorycki

CLASS OF 1937CLASS OF 1937Thomas Wheelock

CLASS OF 1942CLASS OF 1942Mark DunlopGeorge GarfieldJames KittredgeMichael OhlFrederick Richardson

CLASS OF 1947CLASS OF 1947

Reid ArchibaldEdward GordonPeter JohnsonMilton NicholsRichard Rice

CLASS OF 1952CLASS OF 1952

Bradford LampshireFrank Pope

CLASS OF 1957CLASS OF 1957

David FitzpatrickChristopher Lundberg

CLASS OF 1962 CLASS OF 1962

T. P. Lindsay CopelandDavid EwingMichael HoldsworthEverett JewettWilliam MalcomThomas NewboldLee NewmanCharles PlimptonJames Schwarz

CLASS OF 1967CLASS OF 1967

David BemisJonathan BillingsStephen BrookesJames DavenportIan DouglassJohn HackfordJames HallenbeckJohn HammondMarcus HeilnerGeorge HeywoodHubert JohnsonJames JohnsonStarr LothropJohn Oakley

Jonathan RoofStanley SaxlRobert ShepherdRichard Woodard

CLASS OF 1972CLASS OF 1972

James BurgMarshall CampbellWilliam CounihanWander DehaasGeoffrey GibbonsRobert HendrieDaniel HollandJohn PetersonMark Robinson

CLASS OF 1977CLASS OF 1977

Alexander CarltonDavid DennisRobert HallahanRick HodgesChristian HoskeerJay JohansonBenjamin MacArthurMatthew MeyerLee Roberts

CLASS OF 1982CLASS OF 1982

David BrissThomas BryPhilip DeBoaltAnthony FrielWilliam GeorgiadesChristopher GuidoChristopher HallGeorge HumannRobert LeaverDavid LokChristopher McCarthyShawn McCormickJames MooreKenneth QuinnWilliam RoseElijah ShawNicholas StevensRodney TownleyChristopher Wyatt

CLASS OF 1987CLASS OF 1987

William BarlowColin CampbellDaniel GilbertGregory Gilchrist

Charles GordonFrederick LeeJohn MorseJohn PattiJay PorterMatthew PottingerFrederick TauschFrancis Yans

CLASS OF 1992CLASS OF 1992

Reid AdamsZachary ChampaCharles KeeganEthan MartinChristopher Ruettgers

CLASS OF 1997CLASS OF 1997

Stefan Mendez-DiezWilliam KeyserSamuel Rosen

CLASS OF 2002CLASS OF 2002

Kyle BoylanAndrew HackMeng Tan

If you have information on any of these alumni who will celebrate a reunion in 2012, please contact Susan Richardson, Director of Constituent Relations, (978) 318-3526 or srichardson@fenn.org

Class News

42

CALLING FOR CLASS NOTES

E-mail: alumni@fenn.orgFax: (978) 318-3527

Phone: (9788) 3) 31188-35526

Four Fenn alumni on their high schools’Varsity baseball rosters (l to r): centerfielder Dan Giovacchini ’03, a senior atLawrence Academy; backup centerfielder Drew Coash ’10, a freshman atMiddlesex School; second baseman CarlHesler ’09, a sophomore at Middlesex;and pitcher and third baseman MichaelWoo ’08, a junior at Middlesex, shownafter an April game between Lawrenceand Middlesex that was attended byseveral radar gun-armed Major Leaguescouts, including Theo Epstein of theBoston Red Sox, who were interested inone of Lawrence Academy’s players.

Please help us find our “lost” 2012 reunion alumni.

Milestones

Milestones

43

To Babbie and Taragh Mulvany ’87

a son, RyanAugust 6, 2010

To Debbie and Ben Fortmiller ’89

a daughter, Adela YumiApril 28, 2010

To Lesley and Cort Stratton ’94

a daughter, Robin IreneJanuary 15, 2011

To Stacy and Richard Mucci ’95

a son, BenApril 11, 2010

To Kristina and Gary Duncana son, Arlo James

April 5, 2011 Grandson of Kirsten Gould

Fenn faculty

To Suzanne and James Kelley

Fenn staff

a daughter, Jasmine MaeApril 20, 2011

Eli Chan ’90 toClare SonApril 16, 2011

Jeff DeMartino ’92 toEleanor HongApril 9, 2011

Robert N. Bowser ’38

February 27, 2008

D. Malcolm Leith ’49

January 30, 2010

Snelling Brainard ’41

July 13, 2010Brother of Edward Brainard ’46

Father of John Brainard ’67

Uncle of Edward Brainard ’72

Thomas Motley, Jr. ’55

November 30, 2010Brother of Warren Motley ’62

A. E. “Ben” Benfield

December 8, 2010Father of Peter Benfield ’52,

Michael Benfield ’54, and

David Benfield ’58 (deceased)

Stedman Buttrick, Jr. ’43

February 23, 2011Brother of William Buttrick ’47

Father of Samuel Buttrick ’72

Morgan K. “Kim” Smith ’49

February 6, 2011Fenn Headmaster 1971-1979

Chilton Cabot ’47

February 8, 2011

William B. RussellMarch 18, 2011Father of Willy Russell ’81

Husband of Anne Russell

Fenn Trustee 1978-1984

Nicholas Dimancescu ’00

May 23, 2011

Births Marriages Deaths

Baby Ben Mucci, son of Richardand Stacy

Eli Chan ’90 and Clare Son

Jasmine Mae Kelley, daughter of Suzanne and James Kelley

Arlo James Duncan, grandson offaculty member Kirsten Gould

Cort Stratton ’94 with Robin Irene

44

Morgan K. Smith, Jr. ’49, Fenn’s third headmaster,

passed away on February 6 after battling cancer.

His devoted wife, Binnie, and family members

were with him at his home in Concord. Known as Kim by

friends, family, and colleagues, he led the school from 1971

to 1979.

Smith was central in the education of Fenn boys forty

years ago. During his tenure he enlisted the support of the

Board of Trustees to establish the ninth grade program, to

fund and construct the New Gym, to create the Intensive

Language Program, and to solidify Fenn’s identity as a day

school that had evolved from its roots as a boarding school.

Mark Biscoe, who taught Latin at Fenn for thirty-five

years, lists as among Smith’s many contributions that he

“worked so hard, physically, with parents to clear the woods

for the present Varsity and JV soccer fields.” He recalls the

opening of the New Gym and locker rooms in January 1976,

after which Fenn beat Fessenden 55-16 in front of a crowd

of 500.

Smith also began the tradition of the ninth grade starting

the year with an outdoor trip, which at first was to his

family’s home in the Adirondacks. The goal was to help

the members of the relatively small class “to begin building

their own chemistry,” says Jim Carter ’54, a Fenn teacher

for forty years. “The ninth graders owe this very important

part of the year to Kim Smith.”

“Kim loved the outdoors and drew strength and

inspiration from the natural world,” says Headmaster

Jerry Ward. A photograph that hangs in the Portrait Room

with the images of other Fenn headmasters shows Kim

standing tall and content on a hiking trail, birding field

glasses slung over his shoulder. Despite the physical

challenges Kim incurred as the result of a harrowing ski

accident, he continued to pursue his passion for fly fishing.

“Kim lived his life with courage, grace, vision, and

generosity and inspired so many of us,” Ward says.

Following his years at Fenn, Smith was the business manager

and a teacher at Noble and Greenough School and was

highly regarded in the independent school world. In the latter

part of his professional career, Smith served as the executive

director of the Association of Independent Schools in New

England (AISNE).

“We mourn the loss of a loyal alumnus, dedicated

headmaster, and generous human being,” Ward says.

Fenn student Kim Smith ’49 steering the go-cart andsurrounded by fellow students

In Memoriam:

Morgan “Kim” Smith, Fenn’s Third Headmaster

In Memoriam

NONPROFITU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDN READING MA PERMIT NO. 121

THE FENN SCHOOL516 MONUMENT STREET

CONCORD, MASSACHUSETTS 01742-1894

Parents of AlumniIf this publication is addressed to yourson, and he no longer maintains apermanent address at your home,please notify the alumni office of hisnew mailing address (978-318-3526 oralumni@fenn.org). Thank you!