E A S T M E E T S W E S T

GGRRAACCEECCHHUURRCCHH SSCCHHOOOOLLnewsGGRRAACCEECCHHUURRCCHH SSCCHHOOOOLLGRACECHURCH SCHOOL

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Fall/Winter 2009, No. 42 NewYork, NY

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The High School division of Grace ChurchSchool is slated to open in September 2012,a mere three years away.

Why a high school?

How was that momentous decision made?

What will characterize Grace’s high school?

How will the school afford it?

The Decision ProcessThe intense study that led to the high

school decision occurred over more than twoyears and brought together a number ofparents, former parents, educators, expertsin finance and real estate professionals whodevoted countless hours to the project.Grace Church School’s 2006 Long Range

Plan mandated, “At an appropriate time inthe future, conduct a feasibility study of thepotential for a GCS high school.” The appro-priate time came quickly. Not only were thenumber of available

GRACE CHURCH SCHOOL The High School Division

ONLY THE URLREMAINS THE SAME

www.gcschool.org got a whole new looklate last summer, in the nick of timebefore the start of school and the admis-sions season. In this first phase of theWeb site rollout,

The Grace InternationalExchange Program has estab-lished new bonds, this timemuch closer to home than Asiaor Europe—yet similarly far-reaching in its exploration ofcultural frontiers. For the firsttime, in June, GCS studentsspent a day visiting the JapaneseChildren’s Society (JCS) in NewJersey. It wasn’t seventh andeighth grade students whoenjoyed this travel experience,though.

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Future home of the High School Division, ‹8-∞‚ Cooper Square.

Kermit the Frog made the song, “It’s NotEasy Being Green” famous in the 1970’s. Wesawhim simply as awoebegone frog trying to

fit in. The notion of “Being Green” has taken onnew meaning and is something many of us arestruggling to become. The question might legiti-mately be asked, “What has conservation got to dowith educating children in a JK–8 setting?” Wheremight a “G” fit in with the three “R’s”?Where does Sustainability Education fit into our

mission? Our mission statementasks us to “strive to help eachchild develop an active ethicalconsciousness supported by aclose association with Judeo-Christian beliefs.” In the Bible youwill find multiple references inboth the Old and New Testamentsto our responsibility for the divinegift of this planet. So it is not a leapto say that environmental sensitivityis integral to the development ofan ethical consciousness, thereforeconsistent with the mission ofour school.If we are going to graduate green

people, the first imperative there-fore is to include “Sustainability Education” in theprogram of the school and the daily life of the stu-dents both in the overt curriculum as well as in whatis called the hidden curriculum. To borrow a sayingfrom the discussion on diversity and inclusion inschools, “We need not only to talk the talk; we needto also walk the walk.”What are the overt programs?The science department has a full offering thatbegins in Kindergarten with simple explanationsof how not to pollute, first grade learns aboutecosystems, the second grade curriculum is allabout natural resources, the third grade science andhistory curricula combine to create a unit of studyon the Hudson River, with a focus on its ecologyand the environmental issues that plague the river.Fourth grade has a full unit that is designed to

develop an “eco-consciousness.” The fifth gradespends a full quarter of the year on marine science.Sixth grade spends a week at the GreenkillEnvironmental Education center. The seventh gradehas a full unit on ecology as well. Then there is Ms.Chaloner’s “Green Team,” which is described in anarticle on page 11 and has twice won theDepartment of Sanitation’s “Golden Apple” forrecycling. We also signed up with a group calledEnergy Curtailment Services, where we are obligat-

ed to be available to reduceour power consumption ondemand by at least 15%. Inreturn, they give us a rebate.If there is no power call in acalendar quarter, we still haveto demonstrate our ability tocut back, and so on two occa-sions so far we have powereddown. It was a great learningexperience for all of us onexactly how much power weneed and how many lightsmake a difference.It is not only in science, but

also in history and geographywhere we actively teach

green. You cannot study Lewis and Clark withoutgaining a clear sense of the ecology of the NorthAmerican continent before the advent of theEuropean immigration. The trip on the sloopClearwater puts our third graders on the Hudsonand in touch with its issues. The study ofGeography in grades three, four and five gives thestudents the language of climate and physical geog-raphy, demonstrating how they interact with humanculture and economy. Clearly GCS talks the talk,but does it practice what it preaches?My father would always respond to my pleading

against an order of his by saying: “Do as I say, notas I do.” The part about living a green life at schoolis much harder than teaching the green life. It is,however, no less important to our goal of develop-

It’s Not Easy Being Green

a MESSAGE from the HEAD

“What hasconservationgot to dowith educatingchildren ina JK-8setting?”

CONTENTS

2 Message fromGeorge Davison

8 MeetYour Trustees

9 News Aroundthe School

14 InternationalFamily Night: Greece

18 Teachers Going Places

26 Alumni/ae News

35 Class of 2005College Choices

GCS NEWS

Fall/Winter 2009No. 42

Director of DevelopmentJoyce Kuh

Associate Directorof Development andPublications DirectorKate Marcus

Database ManagerRobert K. Brown

PhotographyTrini ArcosTivi DivékiRod KeatingJoyce KuhKate MarcusEric Schneider

DesignThe Blank PageNewYork, NY

GCS News is published forstudents, parents, alumni/aeand friends of the school.We welcome commentsfrom our readers.

ing an active ethical consciousness in our students thatincludes an environmental consciousness. There is theeasy stuff of expecting others to do the green work foryou and then there is the hard stuff of doing it your-self. It was easy to say that we should replace all of ourincandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents. It washarder to do the work to replace them. It is easy tosuggest that we adjust the thermostats so it is cooler inwinter than it is to remember to wear a sweater. It iseasy to set up a recycling center in the lobby; it isharder to remember to bringthings in. It is easy to say toturn off the lights when youleave a room. It is harder toremember to actually do it. Ourstudents/children are keenobservers of adult imperfec-tions and they will model ourbehaviors. They can also nudgeus to have our words andactions match. Having thestudents here to watch theadults makes us more aware.They make us greener.Given what the students and

the teachers are doing, theother adults in this communityhave a high standard to match.In fact, the adults at GCS areremarkably focused on not only reducing our carbonfootprint but also on reducing thewaste that we produce.Three years ago we joined the Green SchoolsAllianceand promised to reduce our energy use by 25%.However, we thought that was not enough, as it did notrecognize the less tangible ways that we pollute. Twogreat initiatives that have come out of the parent bodyare the Book Swap and the Costume Swap. If you startcounting the polymers in a typical Halloweencostume, you have several pounds of CO2.TheParents’ Association has also instituted reusable cupsand recycled materials at all of its events. TheAdministration transferred three different publications(the Curriculum Guide, Parent Directory and the

Admissions Brochure) from paper to theWeb site andmore will follow next year. So far no one has missedthem, and there are several trees still standing thatotherwise would not. Guess what? We saved moneytoo! The maintenance team has gotten into the act.Every bulb is now a compact fluorescent, includingthose that dim. Not to be outdone, the Business Officehas switched our “ESCO” electricity supplier to GreenMountain Energy, which in addition to giving us abetter rate than we were getting is supplying power

only from renewable sources. TheKitchen saw that as a challenge andmatched it bothwith “GreenLunches”where no energy is used to preparethe lunch and with new coffee cupsmade from recycled materials andcoffee pouches that recycle. Evenour venerable Board of Trustees iswith the program.Our recent purchaseof new boilers for the campus means40% less energy consumption, andthey were able to get a 0% loan topay for it from NYCERDA, the NYState energy agency because thiswas so green. The energy savingsfrom the new boilers will pay offthe loan in ten years.

Yes, it’s not easy being green.Instead, I would say that it is

exciting being a part of a greening process. This is theclassic co-relation between learning and action thatbegets more learning.We have not reached zero waste,zero carbon footprint as a school or attainedLeadership in Energy and Environmental Design–Existing Building (LEED-EB) certification for ourcampus buildings and until we do, we will not havereached a Kermit the Frog shade of green, but we willcontinue to graduate students with an active ethicalconsciousness that includes being good stewards ofthe earth’s bounties that they have inherited.

George P. Davison

“You cannot studyLewis and Clarkwithout gaininga clear sense of theecology of the NorthAmerican continentbefore the adventof the Europeanimmigration.”

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Audrey Manley and Tom Fritton

Duane Wall and Laurent Chaix

Stacey Goergen and David Weil

Jim Marcovitz, Jennifer Geiger, Kevin Rotheroe, Shauna and Remi Hinduja

Betsey Ely and Alex Edlich

George Davison, Eric Gilioli and Vivia Chen

Bruce and Naomi Usher, Chris King

Leading Donors ReceptionGrace Church School thanked its Leading Donorsat an October reception in Tuttle Hall.

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Maura Dickler and Chris Panczner

Greg and Aline Gooding, Jen Roff and Brad Schiff

Scott and Charlotte Sabbagh

Currie Estreich, Audrey Meyer, Leslie Abbey

Lee Chamberlin, Doug Evans, Connie Newman Jim Berman, Janice Min, Peter Sheehy

Tom Maheras, Sarah and Bobby McCain

Margarette Lee, Miyoung Lee, Ik-Joong Kang

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It was the fourth grade, in one final event asmembers of the Lower School, who comprised our group of culturalambassadors. Then, in October, JCS students came to GCS andexperienced a regular school day here.The initial visit in June was the result of an invitation to a

“Bilingual Day” from Harumi Nakagawa, the ESL Coordinator atJCS, with a goal to “encourage and promote communication andactivities” between Japanese and American students. That JCS con-tacted GCS is not entirely a coincidence. JCS uses GCS classroomsfor its Manhattan-based Japanese language school on variousSaturdays during the school year.In considering the JCS proposal, we realized that this could be a

wonderful opportunity to broaden the scope of the Grace InternationalExchange Program. All GCS students have had access to culturalexchange through the biannual visits of foreign middle schoolstudents to our school. This new relationship gives our youngerstudents an age-appropriate experience of being in the visitor’s role—before they make a big decision in seventh or eighth grade aboutparticipating in one of the two-weekGrace International Exchange trips.

While JCS may be just across the George Washington Bridge, inEnglewood Cliffs, in some respects it seems a world away. Therelatively small school runs from nursery school to Grade 6, and hasfewer than 200 students. Japanese students who are living in theUnited States for varying amounts of time attend the school, whichfollows a typical Japanese educational program. Classes are conductedin Japanese, but students take an English language class once a day.As hosts of this first meeting, JCS planned the schedule for our

two-hour visit. They made one request of us, to prepare a song to singfor them. With the help of Ms. Abrams, the fourth graders learned“Make New Friends,” in canon, along with an accompanying dance.Upon arrival at JCS, both groups gathered in a multi-purpose roomfor some welcome speeches and a performance of songs. Studentsfrom JCS sang “It’s a Small World” in both Japanese and English.After that GCS students were matched with JCS students and split

into small groups for an origami activity. Thanks to the careful guid-ance of our hosts, students and teachers folded a variety of colorfulcreations. Then we proceeded out into their schoolyard for a picniclunch. GCS students took note of the compact bento boxes, containing

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E A S T M E E T S W E S T

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rice and an assortment of other small servings, which many of theJapanese students had brought from home. Some things are universal,though, and as soon as students finished eating, they ran around theyard and enjoyed the playground together.Reactions to this inaugural trip were uniformly positive. “I had a

great time at the JCS!” exclaimed Catherine Toms, mentioning eachactivity with enthusiasm. Francis Pacia remarked on the successfulaspect of “meeting people who lived in the same country but differ-ent culture.” Ms. Freireich, similarly impressed, commented on the“truly exceptional experience for all of the students.” The friendshipsthat blossomed in June live on in mementoes. Sasha Herman drew apicture at the bottom of a thank you letter, noting, “Mai gave me herninja star (origami,that is!), and I gave her mine.”The idea for the reciprocal visit in October was sparked when

Gemma Guttenberg suggested, “It would be a good idea for them to

visit us.” Indeed, the first event was intended to establish an ongoingrelationship that will also include an annual visit by JCS studentsto GCS.In October, GCS welcomed 59 JCS students in grades one through

six. After a welcome ceremony, the students went to a variety ofclasses with their hosts and were treated to a pasta lunch. The youngvisitors enjoyed classes including dance, music, art and gym. Theyalso had library time, attended a Bible class, French and a specialacting activity. Teachers tailored the lessons so that our guests trulyfelt part of GCS. Origami was a favorite in art class. The acting classwas non-verbal. The students stood in a circle and had to try not tomake eye contact. Easier said than done. The dance class was a frenzyof movement. And at lunch, everyone bonded over popsicles fordessert. JCS and GCS said their sayonaras at a farewell ceremony.—Eric Schneider, Co-Director, Grace International Exchange Program

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Leona S. ChamberlinLeona (Lee) Chamberlin returns to the Grace Church School board, having first joined the boardin 1993 and served as board chair from 1996 to 2001. A practicing attorney, she has worked at NewYorkUniversity as Associate General Counsel for more than 20 years. Prior to that, she was a federal prosecutorin the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of NewYork. Lee is a graduate of Cornell Universityand NYU School of Law. Lee and her husband, Win Chamberlin, also a former Grace Church Schooltrustee, have three children: Brandon (Class of 2000 and a graduate of Northwestern University), Felicity(Class of 2001 and a student at NewYork University), and Ned (Class of 2004 and a student at GuilfordCollege). Lee is also a member of the Grace Church Vestry.

Sara B. QueenSara B. Queen is a Senior Asset Manager of Brookfield Properties, a large commercial real estatecompany, where she is responsible for overseeing Brookfield’s U.S. portfolio of office buildings. Beforejoining Brookfield, Sara spent ten years at Ing Clarion and four years at MetLife. She received a B.A.degree in history and economics fromWellesley College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.Sara has served on the Grace Church School Buildings and Grounds Committee, the Tuttle Hall and BoilerSubcommittees and the High School Real Estate Committee. She and her husband, Jason Slibeck, havetwo children at Grace Church School, Bennett in fifth grade and Emma in second grade.

Felicia WashingtonFelicia Washington served two terms on the Board of Trustees of The Dalton School, from 2001 until2007. She has been involved on a number of committees at Dalton, including the Executive Committee,the Diversity Committee, the Committee on Trustees, and the Development Committee. Felicia has beenan active volunteer at Dalton for a number of years, where her son, Amadi, is currently a senior. Herdaughter, Zuri, graduated from Dalton in 2009 and is now a freshman in the Conservatory of PerformingArts at Point Park University in Pittsburgh. Felicia’s professional background is in the fields of advertising,cosmetology, and business management. She is a graduate of the State University of NewYork at Buffalo.

David WeilDavid Weil is a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Group of Credit Suisse, where he isresponsible for managing relationships with media and information companies. He has worked on awide range of merger and acquisition and financing transactions with companies such as Time Warner,McGraw-Hill, Nielsen, Thomson Reuters, The Tribune Company, Martha Stewart Living, and HoughtonMifflin Harcourt. David joined Credit Suisse in 2003 after ten years in the Media Investment BankingGroup at Merrill Lynch. He graduated from Princeton University and received an M.B.A. from HarvardBusiness School. David has served on the GCS Development Committee, which he currently chairs. Heand his wife, Cindy, have two sons at Grace Church School, Elliot in third grade and Max in first grade.

MEET YOUR TRUSTEES

Ashley LeedsAshley Leeds is a founding partner of RIME Communications Capital, a partnership focused on investingin innovative, growing companies in the technology, media and communications sectors. Prior to foundingRIME, she was a founding partner at Baker Capital, a private equity and venture capital firm based inNewYork. She began her career in banking at Lehman Brothers. Ashley graduated from Harvard Collegeand received an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. She is Co-Chair ofthe Grace Church School High School Study Committee, and has previously served on the Board’s Financeand Investment Committees. Ashley and her husband, Christopher Harland, have three sons: Samuel (classof 2003 and now at Harvard College), Michael (Class of 2006 and a senior at Collegiate School) andBenjamin (Class of 2008 and a sophomore at Collegiate).

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NEWS AROUND SCHOOL

WORLDS APARTYET SO TOGETHERStudents exchanged their usual uniform for anotherto support their favored teams.

YUKUHASHI VISITS GRACEStudents and teachers from Yukuhashi, Japan, were our guestsin late October, just in time for theWorld Series and Halloween.The students participated in the regular school day and enjoyeda field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While thestudents were busy with schoolwork at GCS, George Davisontook their teachers and several GCS parents to visit two otherschools, the Business of Sports High School and PS 3. TheYukuhashi contingent and the GCS hosts enjoyed a farewelldinner at the school on a Sunday evening.

For more than a decade GCS fifth graders have participatedin the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s Math-A-Thon,which raises funds to help find ways to deal with childhoodcancer. The fifth graders always take great pride in raisingmoney for this worthwhile project. A positive byproduct ofthe project is that it allows the students hone their mathskills by solving up to 200 math problems. They electhow many problems they are going to solve and then askrelatives and friends to sponsor them for an agreed-uponamount of money per problem. The children areinvolved in the project for about three weeks.

In the spring of 2009, the class of 2012 raised inexcess of $30,000, which is not only the most everraised by Grace Church School students but also wasthe highest amount raised nationwide by any schoolparticipating in the Math-A-Thon.

IT ALL ADDS UP AND BREAKS A RECORD

NEWS AROUND SCHOOL

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GRACE STUDENTS AND ALUMNI/AEWIN ¤‚‚· SCHOLASTICART & WRITING AWARDSIn the Short Story category, the winners are Tim Doner ’10 (gold key),

Libby Ford ’09 (silver key) and Lucas Zwirner ’05 (gold key), and in the

Short Short Story category, Molly Estreich ’05 (silver key). In the

Drawing category, the winner is Eliza Rockefeller ’09 (silver key). Eliza

was also awarded the gold key in the Photography catalog. In the Art

Portfolio category, the winner is Isabella Malbin ’05 (gold key).

Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra

Wows GCS Audience

SAVE THE DATEThe 24th Grace Church School Annual

Scholarship Benefit Auction

THURSDAY, MARCH ⁄⁄, ¤‚⁄‚

NOHO RODEO

�

From a spirited Haydn quartet to Scott Joplin and Duke Ellington, Gary Fagin(father of Cora, Grade One) gave a captivating music lesson to Lower Schooland Early Childhood at an October 2 assembly. Conductor of the KnickerbockerChamber Orchestra, Gary brought his players with him, who in turn offeredengaging demonstrations of their instruments between renditions of Scottishreels and Civil War tunes. The theme of the performance centered on the musicthat Americans were hearing from the time of the country’s birth (Haydn) andhow American music developed through history.The orchestra had a rapt audience, and in closing, while the group maintained

the lively rhythms of Maple Leaf Rag, the conductor relinquished his baton toseveral students who led a rousing finale.

NEWS AROUND SCHOOL

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Caregivers EnjoyA CAREFREE NIGHTThis fall Grace Church School

celebrated our families’ caregivers,

who are a vital part of our Grace

community, with an evening event

at the school, without children.

While they spend some time at GCS,

many had not had the opportunity

to do so in a relaxed setting. On that

special evening, the caregivers were

given a tour of the school, which

was followed by a gala dinner.

Green Team Is GoldenIn 2008 and 2009, the Grace Church School Green Team, in con-junction with the Sustainability Task Force, worked on a yearlongcontest called “TrashMasters: Reduce and Reuse Challenge” hostedby the New York City Wasteless Program at the Department ofSanitation. Contestants are asked to devise innovative and successfulwaste prevention programs for their schools. For its efforts, the GCSGreen Team is proud to have won the Golden Apple Award in the2008-09 school year and is continuing their efforts in this school year.To come up with ideas on how to accomplish the demands of the

contest, kids and adults worked together during electives, communityservice, and workshop meetings to reduce the school’s carbon foot-print. The brainstorming and innovation was non-stop.We focused onreducing the amount of energy and waste, as well as reusing valuableitems throughout the school.We placed signs of our efforts in unexpected places. Small foot-

shaped switch plate covers reminding students and teachers to turnout the lights and turn off computer monitors appeared first. Next,our first annual Costume Swap helped families exchange spookyitems for Halloween. We began a unique program, inspired by ChefSheehan, called “Green Lunch.” About once a month a meal is madewithout using major kitchen appliances. We started a Freecycleprogram that helps families freely exchange items of value through asimple sign-in sheet, adding to our already substantial re-use programsfor uniforms, sports equipment and books. Through an EnergyCurtailment program, we saved the school money and energy byreducing the amount of electricity used at regulated times during theyear. Students helped GCS events go green by creating recycled artfor the Auction and International Family Night. They also created

adorable recycled snowmen as holiday shopping decor with left overunused tube socks!Upper School GreenTeammembers took a new look at learning by

creating lesson plans about Carbon Footprints for kids in the EarlyChildhood and Lower School. They created a giant footprint puzzlethat when taken apart, revealed simple steps all kids can take toreduce waste and energy use.We hosted the Lower East Side EcologyCenter’s composting workshop and the Parents’Association organizedwonderful park clean-up days with the center as well. We partneredwith Junior Energy during April to sell compact fluorescent lightbulbs to the GCS community, raising funds and saving watts.Our efforts won the city-wide Reduce and Reuse challenge. The

Golden Apple Award was delivered to GCS by the NYC RecyclingMascots. It was fun and challenging, but more important, it helpedtake GCS further down the road to sustainability.—Kim Chaloner, Science Teacher, Substainability Coordinator

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This fall, Stokes Library joined other libraries across the nation inhonoring Banned BooksWeek. Since 1982, Banned BooksWeek hascelebrated the freedom to read and the right of Americans to accessthe opinions of others by drawing attention to attempts to ban certaintitles from libraries. Every year, toward the end of September, teachers,librarians and booksellers use this time to focus on the importance ofthis First Amendment issue and how it connects with the meaningof literature in a free society.Here at Grace Church School, the library publicized Banned

Books Week with a special bulletin board poster designed by artteacher Justin Hawkins. Inside the library, books that have been chal-lenged were pulled from the shelves and placed on a book cart. Ineach book, there was a piece of paper describing the reasons for thechallenges and where they took place.

Seventh grade history classes, whichare currently studying the Constitutionand the Bill of Rights, came to the libraryfor a special presentation that incorporatedvideo displays on the SmartBoard.Discussion topics included the differencebetween a challenged and a banned book, thereasons for book challenges and what theyindicate about the time period in which they are

made, and how the First Amendment protects individual rights. Theywere surprised to learn that many of their favorite book titles, includingthe Harry Potter series, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Catcher in theRye, were all challenged books.—Eve Wolfsohn, Librarian

BANNED BOOKS WEEK

Eating lunch was a scaryproposition on HalloweenEve but fright quicklyturned to delight at thefirst bite.

GHOULISH BUT DELICIOUS

NEWS AROUND SCHOOL

NEWS AROUND SCHOOL

NOSTRIS CULPIS(In case you wondered, Dr. Wheeler tells us that this is the plural of mea culpa.)

Elizabeth Herman and Jane KrolikCo-chairs

Acknowledgements Teresa Louie

Certificates Anne Zaccaro

Check-In Joy Foskett

Check-Out Rose McSween

Class Projects Alice Pearce

Clean-Up Vikki KingLannyl Ossorguine

Costumes Maria GonzalesCushla KellyMary Ann OrbeAmber Ward

Database Libby McCabeDavid Montes de Oca

Decoration Stephanie MoultonCoordinator

Chrissy ArmstrongWendy ChaixLouise EastmanNegar FerhangilJennifer FordDonna FrancisAline GoodingNancy LorenzSarah McCainMaureen McQuillanCharlotte SabbaghYoko SanadaConnie TarrantKelly WarrenCindy WeilBlanche Williams

Display Lisa ArnoldShellyann BainlardiVanessa McGarryCaroline TomsConni Walsh

Donation Pick-Up Shellyann Bainlardi

Entertainment Sherman Foote

Event Managers Susie GilbertFrancesca Goodwin

Food and Beverage Meaghan CheungTaisa MarkusEllen McElduff

Graphic Design Naomi UsherConni Walsh

Red-Liners Linda Cooper

Inventory Jan GeniesseMiyoung Lee

Lighting Ilta Adler

Media Manager Serge Ossorguine

Media Production Lisa Chapman

Quilts Stacie Waring

Raffle Lynn Marchand

Solicitations-Art Pamela BellDonna Francis

Solicitations-General Elyce AronsMiyoung LeeCaryn Levitt

Solicitations-Journal Anne Davison

Ticket Sales Dana Foote

Web Site Libby McCabeAlfredo BarbosaDavid Montes de Oca

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Auct ion Commit tee Chairs

When we make a mistake, we don’t mess around with small ones.We make BIG ones. It has come to our attentionthat in the 2008-09 Annual Report, while we thanked and listed the worker bees on the 2009 Go-Go Auction,we somehow failed to include those who took on the biggest responsibilities for that fabulous production. Thus,we reprint here the page from the 2009 auction catalogue that gave credit where it was surely due. Thesealtruistic souls stepped up to the cooperative plate and put all the pieces together for a spectacularly successfulscholarship benefit auction. Grace Church School is most grateful.

NEWS AROUND SCHOOL

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AROUND THE WORLD AT GCS: INTERNATIONAL FAMILY NIGHT

GREECE MEETS GRACEFor two hours on a mid- November evening,86 Fourth Avenue was transformed into theVillage’s newest Greek hot spot.International Family Night, an annual GCSevent, celebrated Greece this year. Completewith Trojan Horse, gods and goddesses,plenty of dolmas, tzaziki, and baklava tosavor, bouzuki music by Nicos Nicolaidas,the toga-clad crowd enjoyed the night toOlympic proportions. Celebrities Zeus(George Davison), Chronos (Sam Wheeler)and Hera (Carol Collet) mingled through thesymposia while the Parthenon towering inTuttle Hall provided a monumental backdropto the traditional Cretan dancing. Theyounger set constructed evil eye bracelets,learned to tie their togas, and made masks.The Goddesses in charge of the Herculeantask were Francesca Goodwin, SarahMcCain and Leela Petrakis.

NEWS AROUND SCHOOL

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Event Co-Chairs Francesca Goodwin, Sarah McCain,Leela Petrakis

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NEW FACULTY & STAFFFACULTY AND STAFF NEWS

Julie BlausteinFluteMs. Blaustein has taught woodwindinstruments at several schools in the NewYork City area. She holds a B.F.A. from theLeonard Davis Center of the PerformingArts at City College, received aCertificationin Orff-Schulwerk from Montclair StateCollege, and anM.F.A. in jazz performancefrom the Aaron Copland School of Musicat Queens College.

Jennifer BullockGrade Two Assistant TeacherBefore joining Grace, Ms. Bullockworked as an associate teacher at the KewForest School in Forest Hills and has donestudent teaching at several independentand public schools. Along with teaching,Ms. Bullock is currently completing herM.A. at Teachers College, ColumbiaUniversity. She also has a B.A. in journal-ism from NewYork University.

Emily CruzGrade One Assistant TeacherMs. Cruz is a graduate of New YorkUniversity where she served as a peerleader and choreographer for high schoolstudents for the Sociedad Latina. Ms.Cruz also has plenty of experience withchildren, having been a camp counselor.

Hayeun KimGrade Three Assistant TeacherMs. Kim comes to Grace with a strongbackground in education and advertising.She received a B.A. in mass communica-tions fromU.C. Berkeley and anM.A. fromTeachers College, Columbia University.

Annaleigh KressJunior Kindergarten Assistant TeacherMs. Kress graduated from New YorkUniversity with a degree in EducationalTheater. Prior to becoming Junior Kind-ergarten Assistant Teacher, she was astudent teacher in second grade at Grace.Her musical talents come in handy in JK.

Mimi LiuGrade Four Assistant TeacherPrior to being the grade four assistantteacher, Ms. Liu was a student teacher atGrace. She is a graduate of the EducationalTheater program at NewYork University.

Kate MarcusPublications DirectorMs. Marcus comes to Grace from Spence.She has been a ghostwriter, and heldmarket-ing positions at The NewYorkTimes, Chase,and at a spectacularly failed savings and loanin Dallas (not her fault). She has a B.A. inart from Rice University and an M.B.A.from Southern Methodist University.

Patty TangJunior Kindergarten Assistant TeacherMs. Tang comes to teaching at Grace witha B.A. from Columbia in psychology, andis currently enrolled in the master’sprogram at Bank Street College ofEducation Graduate School. She alsoteaches Sunday School at her church.Prior to her career in teaching, Ms. Tangwas an assistant buyer in the children’sdepartment at Barnes & Noble.

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Faculty News

NEW FACULTY & STAFFFACULTY AND STAFF NEWS

Emily VinesKindergarten AssistantMs. Vines is an exhibiting artist and an artteacher. She has taught art in schools inwide-ranging locations, from NewYork toCalifornia, to Australia. She has a B.S. inart education from the University ofMissouri. You can see her work onEmilyvinesart.com.

Sara Jo WyllieGrade Three Assistant TeacherMs. Wyllie is a graduate of New YorkUniversity. She returns to Grace as anassistant teacher after being a studentteacher at Grace last year.

Joyce Kuh, Director of Development,and Theo Kuh

Former GCS Kindergarten teacherLiza Oneglia and her husbandwelcomed daughter, Beatrice WhitneyOneglia, on March 17.

Carol Collet, AssistantHead, and Julien Collet

Susan Cross, English DepartmentHead, and Ginger Cross

Sam Wheeler, Head of Department of Religionand Ethics, and Zach Wheeler

RECENT GRANDPARENTHOODFOR A STARTLING NUMBER OF GCS FACULTY AND STAFF

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TEACHERS GOING PLACES

For the last 12 years I have beenrunning an international mathcompetition on the Internet, called

Abacus. Each year I have a few participantsfrom Australia and New Zealand. I wantedto visit the participating schools and stirup more interest about my program inthat region of the world, as well as see thebeautiful countryside of New Zealand.Thanks to a faculty travel grant, myfamily was able to do so. We started our

trip by spending four days in Sydney, afantastic city. (From the time we checkedinto the hotel, my son Christopher, whowas nine months old at the time, slept for 16hours and woke up as if he were a nativeAustralian, without the accent,of course.)The geographical location of the city is

just beautiful. It is in the innermost sec-tion of a huge bay, parted by severalinlets. At the tip of one of those inlets,right in the middle of the city, is where

the famous Sydney Opera House islocated. The opera house is a culturalcenter with several philharmonic audito-riums and theaters. The opera is just onepart of the whole complex, which runsabout 15 different programs every day. Inever realized until we took a tour of thebuilding complex that it is made ofdifferent sections of the same sphere, sothe curvature of each piece (1/radius) isthe same, and that is how they could fitso smoothly with each other. What agreat idea from the architect! I even for-gave him for not making the inside partmore intricate.I met with math teachers and adminis-

trators in three elementary schools inSydney (St. Andrew’s Cathedral School,St. Mary’s Cathedral College, andSydney Grammar School) and madecontacts with two other schools fromaround Sydney.We also spent a day in the Sydney’s

Taronga Zoo, which is the only place tosee koalas, kangaroos and wallabies onthe west coast of Australia. Then we flewto Auckland, New Zealand, where werented a van and toured for 18 days.New Zealand consists of two islands,

the North Island and the South Island.The North Island is home to two-thirdsof the whole population, and almost halfresides in Auckland. Both islands havelots of rain and therefore, rich vegetationon the west coast with a beautiful land-scape. There are rolling hills andgorgeous valleys all over. As we weredriving (on the left side of the road), wedid not know where to look because wedid not want to miss the view in anydirection. So, we stopped a lot, whichmade Christopher very happy! Our firststop was about 50 kilometers north ofAuckland at a very peaceful and stun-ning lookout. From the van we could seehappily grazing cows and sheep on thedistant hills.We could hardly wait to take

Tivi DivékiDown Under

19

a breath of really fresh air after spendingso much time on airplanes and in the cityof Sydney. Well, as soon as we steppedout of the van, the distant hills were not sodistant anymore because you could smellthem, or I should say, their occupants.Wolves would be so happy there, but therearen’t any in New Zealand.Actually, thereare no predatory mammals at all.One of the schools participating in the

Abacus program from New Zealand isthe Johnsonville School in Wellington,which is the southernmost city of theNorth Island. I spent a day there talkingwith math teachers and a math coordina-tor, who works with ten other schools inthat district. I also visited first throughsixth grade classes and talked with stu-dents who are interested in math. (Ourauction committee will be happy to hearthat each year the Johnsonville Schoolauction raises around 10,000 NewZealand dollars, which is about $6,000 inU.S. currency. I asked them if they want-ed to invite our organizers for advice.)Then we took a ferry over to the South

Island. What a beautiful 3-hour ride thatwas! Standing on the bow of the ferrywhile it cruised out of WellingtonHarbour, crossed Cook Strait and saileddeep into Queen Charlotte Sound toreach the South Island Ferry Station inPicton, it felt like discovering a new land.Fjords, waterfalls, seals and huge semi-circular rainbows amazed the passengers

along the way. The SouthIsland is occupied by onlyone million people, andits population wants tokeep it that way. Themountains are higher and the valleys aredeeper there than on the North Island, yetwe saw snow only above the snow line,even if it was their winter season.From Queenstown, which is the skiing

capital of New Zealand, we took a smallairplane to see the remote and absolutelygorgeous Milford Sound, which is rathermore of a fjord. I have not been to a morebeautiful place. It is still so pure andclean.We got our breath of fresh air there.In Christchurch, we visited the

University of Canterbury, where thefamous kiwi genius and Nobel Prizewinner, Ernest Rutherford, studied andtaught. He is the physicist who came upwith the idea of the planetary model ofan atom, which I teach about to my sixthand eighth graders.We also took a virtual tour of Scott

Base in Antarctica at the InternationalAntarctic Center.My wife said after the trip, that if she

could ever come back to this life in a dif-ferent form, she would want to be asheep in New Zealand.I want to thank all the former and

future sponsors of the Eighth Grade travelgrant for providing teachers with such agreat opportunity.

20

Travels WithTrini Arcos

Growing up in Ecuador, my Jewish heritagewas always present, although never explicitly. Asif having a very unique first name weren’t

enough, using “Godesteanu,” my Opa’s last name and“Friedman,” myOma’s last name, always brought interest-ing looks, pronunciations and questions. (In Ecuador,maternal last names are usedmore frequently than they arein the States). But with every annoyance that I felt, mymomwould just remind me of the significance of being a“Godesteanu,” indeed so unique that it would only have asingle phonebook listing in all of Ecuador—myOpa’s.And thus, my maternal last names are just a label to

my family’s past—a past so intriguing, difficult andprosperous, a history so rich that I am fortunate tohave, even when at times “Godesteanu” and all itspossible variations created by school children was anuisance in my life.My Oma’s family fled Mariánské Láznê, a small

town in the Czech Republic in 1939, days beforeHitler invaded the region. They arrived in Ecuador afewmonths later in a third class ship and without theirtwo trunks. At age 12, little did my Oma know thatshe would never set foot in her house, ride her bike orhave the need to speak Czech again.My Opa, on the other hand, stayed in Bucharest

during the war, living with his recently widowed

mom, while his two older brothers had already movedabroad. It was right after the war, on a New Year’sEve, at age 18, that he decided to leave, “runningaway from the Communists” as I always heard itexplained. He backpacked towards Croatia, crossedthe Adriatic to Italy, eventually came to New Yorkthrough Ellis Island (trying cheesecake for the firsttime there), lived in Cuba and the DominicanRepublic, and eventually arrived in Quito, where hefell in love with my Oma and the mountains, anddecided to stay for good.And now, sixty years after they met, I was fortunate

to take my mom on a trip back to her parents’ home-land, the Czech Republic and Romania. Bothastounding countries for different reasons, my EighthGrade travel grant gave us an unforgettable journeyinto our family’s past and heritage.Our trip began in Prague, a city true to its reputation:

fairy tale buildings, charming cafes and a culturalnightlife that satisfies every taste. But the main focusof our trip was Mariánské Láznê, in West Bohemia,close to the border with Germany. A normal hour-and-a-half train ride from Prague took more than fivehours over damaged train tracks and a commuter bus.The slight delay only built anxiety and excitement inmy mom and me. We felt like young children, ready

TEACHERS GOING PLACES

and nervous for their first day of school. The townitself is gorgeous, built in the middle of the moun-tains, surrounded by majestic trees and greenery. Thebuildings, mostly dating from the late 19th centuryare painted primarily in bright tones of pink andyellow, a touch that was recently added to celebratethe fall of Communism. Marienbad, its Germanname, appeals to people in search of natural healingsources. Its famous springs have a wide arrange ofchemical compositions, which can treat anything fromthe digestive system to the respiratory tract. There arevarious colonnades built around the fountains, build-ings that celebrate the town’s main attraction.Although the taste and smell of the water is less thanappealing, people have been relying on its healingproperties from more than a century.We could not have asked for a more beautiful and

picturesque place to search for my Oma’s past and tofinally place all her childhood stories within a tangi-ble setting. We had one picture of the house taken inthe 30’s, as well as the address and the name of itscurrent owner. Mr. Klat and his son were extremelykind to welcome us in their home. Over black coffeeand “Petit Ecoliers” we had a conversation in English,German, probably a bit of Czech, and to everyone’ssurprise, even Spanish. Mr. Klat recollected how helearned Spanish from his Andalucian mates in aconcentration camp. We were touched by his storiesand willingness to share part of our common history.We found out that the dairy factory that my Oma’sfamily ran in the first floor still operated during thewar, and all the tiling was still intact to this day. Wewalked through the old train tracks where my Omarode her bike, and saw the lake behind her housewhere she learned how to ice skate. And we finallyunderstood my family’s love for “Oblaten” a delicateround wafer filled with nuts and sugar, which we nowknow are original from Mariánské Láznê.After striking scenes in the Czech Republic, our

arrival in Bucharest and initial impressions were hardto digest. Still a country that struggles to leave its longCommunist era behind, Romania is a place of extremecontrasts. It was not rare to see Ferraris, Maseratis andBentleys accelerating through blocks and blocks ofdecaying Communist areas. We saw the “People’sPalace,” the world’s second largest building after thePentagon; a monstrosity of a building that demolishedthe city’s historic neighborhood, and left more than30,000 people without a home. We were finally see-ing and experiencing what we always heard my Opa“ran away from.”Although it took us a couple of days

to feel at ease with our surroundings, we ended upappreciating and enjoying every aspect of our stay.The livelihood of Romanians has no comparison,their spirit and interest in foreigners made us feel atease and welcome—especially when they found outwe were Latin American, and they started reciting allthe soap operas they love to watch. We visited beauti-ful castles in Sinaia and Singishoara, saw theTransylvanian mountains that are tenderly present inmy Opa’s recollections of his land, and witnessedsome of the oldest Medieval towns.But most important, we met Sofia, my Opa’s

youngest cousin, and theonly person from his familywho lives in Romania.Chatting with her transport-ed us to decades past, andthe details of her storiesgave us an accurate andvivid image of what myOpa’s family and life werelike before the war. Sheunlocked a door that hadnever been open to us,especially since my Opa hasnever shared much of hisyears during the war inBucharest. She made us trymyOpa’s favorite dish,mititei,a specialized Romaniansausage, with a taste worthyof being remembered aftersixty years. Meeting Sofia, hearing her anecdotes,opinions and views was a unique gift that we are sograteful and fortunate to have received.My summer travel grant took my mom and me to

her parents’ roots and cultural heritage, to two ex-Communist countries that are at strikingly differentstages of development. It allowed us to relive my Omaand Opa’s stories, to paint a setting for countless oftheir verbal recollections. Yet most important, weclosed a loop that was left incomplete for decades.Through our trip, we were able to takemy grandparentsback to their homeland, and as they heard our stories,adventures and experiences, they lived, once again inEurope before the war.

21

Iwas born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, of American and Englishparents. I attended a local American school until the seventh grade,after which I came the United States for boarding school and

college while my family remained in Argentina. Thanks to a generousgrant from the Eighth Grade Faculty Fund, I was able to spend sixweeks inArgentina this summer replayingmy tangos—those poignantmem-ories that riff not just on the past but on the passing of the past. I also travelledas far North as Iguazu Falls, visited schools whenever possible and reflectedon “third culture” issues, especially as they affect middle school children.My wife and I rented a traditional Buenos Aires corner apartment

with 15-foot ceilings, antiques, polished hardwood floors, stained glasswindows, a piano, and plenty of books. We arrived in mid July at thepeak of a swine flu epidemic. All schools were closed, using publictransportation was discouraged, and many concerts and public gather-ings of all kinds were canceled. Nonetheless, museums and mostrestaurants were unaffected. The weather was clear and crisp; we revis-ited favorite cafes, parks, and landmarks. We explored unfamiliarneighborhoods and met up with three former classmates.Twoweeks later, we set out on an 18-day journey throughMesopotamia,

the vast territory between the Parana and Uruguay rivers that stretchesNorthwards 800 miles from BuenosAires and ends up sticking out likethe thumb of a left hand into Paraguay and Brazil.We traveled by bus between major destinations and hired drivers

with four by four vehicles to get to remote areas. Bus service inArgentina is uniformly efficient, remarkably luxurious, and very inex-pensive. Long distance routes are served by elegant, double-deckerbuses that feature movies, hot meals, and astonishingly ample legroom.On the first leg of our journey, we traveled overnight to Carlos Pellegrini,

a town that serves as the entryway to the Esteros de Ibera, the secondlargest wetlands in the world, covering an area the size of Connecticut.Ibera is home for 350 species of birds. Of the more than 150 that my

wife, an expert birdwatcher, pointed out to me, many—such as the ibis,the egret, the heron, the woodpecker, and the kingfisher—were famil-iar. Others were not—such as the rhea, the Southern screamer, thechaja, the giant wood rail, and the streamer-tailed tyrant.From our inn we explored by boat and canoe the shores of Lake

Ibera and the waterways that thread through its thousands of mattedislands created by floating vegetation. During our daytime excursions,we saw marsh deer, and capybaras (large, amphibious rodents) grazingcontentedly while 9-foot anacondas coiled on rocks and countlessyacares (Argentine alligators) sprawled in the sun. At night, by shininga strong torch, the darkness came menacingly alive as dozens of sets ofember-like eyes of otherwise invisible creatures surrounded the boatand a highly territorial capybara attacked our stern.Our next destination was the Parana River and the city of Posadas,

where we visited the ruins of two 17th century Jesuit missions beforetraveling across the province to El Soberbio, a tropical village on theUruguay River.We stayed in a jungle lodge by a waterfall 20 miles downa barely passable, unpaved road, along which I found Satellite School232, an outpost of a regular school an hour away, established so that nochild has to walk more than 4 kilometers to attend classes. It serves 93students in two shifts. The school curriculum is centered on rural life andsustainable development. The students take care of a garden, prepare

22

Rod KeatingHeads South

for the Summer

TEACHERS GOING PLACES

their own lunches and bake bread in a traditional brick oven.Traveling north, we rejoined the Parana at Montecarlo.

Founded in 1920 by German immigrants, the town is the orchidgrowing capital of Argentina and the home of three remarkableprivate institutions: a fascinating research aquarium, a zoo thathouses the only harpy eagle in captivity, and a botanical gardenwith a maze over half the size of a football field and a trajectorymore than one mile long.We continued our trip by shadowing the Parana to Puerto Iguazu.

Here the Parana and the Iguazu rivers meet. The Iguazu—whichserves as the frontier between Argentina and Brazil—originates500 miles to the east. Eleven miles before getting to PuertoIguazu, sections of the river spill over the edge of a huge canyon,forming a complex of waterfalls that are the heart of the 220square mile Iguazu National Park, where we spent five dayshiking, rafting and bird watching.At least 275 falls cascade along a 1.5–mile canyon stretch. The

average falls is 210 feet high. (By comparison, the steeple ofGrace Church is 222 feet high.)The water from all the falls forms the Lower Iguazu River. We

went rafting on it to the base of Devil’s Throat, the widest, tallestand most dramatic waterfall. To get a sense of what it was like tolook up at the 270-foot-high, 490-feet-wide roaring torrent, standon the sidewalk in front of the entrance to Stewart House andimagine that it is 6 floors higher and a single curtain of water.We returned to Buenos Aires by once again following the

Parana—this time going south to the city Corrientes. Sinceschools were back in session, I got a chance to speak with highschool and middle school students and meet the director of aschool for the deaf.Sixty years ago, I attended the American Grammar and High

School, a 250-student, K-12 neighborhood school that held classesin two converted private homes. The school has evolved intoLincoln, the American International School of Buenos Aires. It isnow a JK through college institution with 900 students and anextraordinary 21-acre campus situated on the River Plate thatincludes not only a theatre, an Olympic pool, two libraries, threecomputer labs, tennis courts, and gymnasiums but also an eco-logical reserve Lincoln created by filling-in waterfront acreage.I visited Lincoln twice. The students were uniformly friendly,

focused, and extremely polite. All administrators and the sixfaculty members I spoke to were enthusiastic, welcoming, andlavish with their time.Currently, 17% of the students at Lincoln are Argentine; 33%

are from the United States; and 50% are from 47 other countries.The number of “other countries” is obviously much higher nowthan it was in the school I attended. But the basic proportion ofAmerican, Argentine and “other nationalities” is about the same.Today, however, the average student spends only 3 years at

Lincoln, since the parents of the students are mostly “globalnomads” who are routinely transferred from country to countryby their employers.When children are raised in a country that is not the country

their parents grew up in, they face special challenges: They do notfully share their parents’ culture, but they also do not fully sharethe culture of the country they are living in. They are forced tocreate for themselves a third culture—a synthesis of values,beliefs, and habits that reflect their ownmulticultural experiences.The problems of doing this have come to be called “third cultureissues” and the children themselves are often referred to as,“TCK’s,” third culture kids.My faculty grant gave me the opportunity to live and travel in

Argentina, and it also introduced me to ways of understandingthird culture issues. This understanding is not only valuable to mepersonally; it is a dimension that could be usefully incorporatedat Grace into our already rich perspective on diversity.

23

GRACE CHURCH SCHOOL The High School Division

high school seats diminishing at the presenttime but demographic studies also revealed that the shortage wasbuilding to a critical stage. The number of students applying toKindergarten in independent schools in 2007-08 rose by 44%, anincrease of 1,000 applicants over the number a short six yearsearlier. K through 12 schools in the city were operating at or closeto capacity. A survey of ten downtown pre-schools showed adramatic increase in the number of neighborhood children ages onethrough five.The High School Task Force began its investigation in January

2007. They interviewed other schools that had experienced similardeliberations with different outcomes. They interviewed collegeadmissions personnel as to thecriteria for students they sought.A High School Real EstateCommittee began to surveypotential sites. A FinanceCommittee explored the finan-cial implications and the meansof financing such a move.At the November 2007meeting,

the Board of Trustees consideredpros and cons of the undertakingand devised key questions to beanswered at the daylong July2008 board meeting, whichwould be devoted to the highschool issue. The Novembermeeting also posed the questions,“Should we do it? What kind ofhigh school would Grace ChurchSchool have? Is there sufficientdemand?” Following that meet-ing, a survey was sent to currentparents, recent graduates andtheir parents as well as parents atthree schools that end in eighthgrade for quick feedback on apossible High School Division.An academic program commit-tee fleshed out the requirementsfor staffing a strong programand defined that program.The July 2008 board meeting

dealt with the issue in depth andfocused on demographics, realestate, finance and program.Questions focused on demand,cost and how to finance it.“Could it be accomplished with-out affecting the current school?

How would a high school enhance the mission in concrete terms?How would you staff the high school, and how would that affect theexisting school?”The demographics were compelling, but there was healthy

skepticism among trustees who challenged the proposal at everyjuncture. Ultimately the group reached consensus on the next steps.We entered serious discussions with a real estate group thatplanned a new building to occupy the entire block from 8th to 9thStreet and 3rd to 4th Avenue. An architectural study was completedto define space needs. A finance committee developed a businessplan based on information from the other committees.As the economy fell in the fall of 2008, so did the prospect of the

new Astor Place building. Theastute real estate group identifiedmore than 20 other sites, whileprices in the neighborhood weredropping precipitously. In thespring of 2009, Grace ChurchSchool entered into negotiationswith Hartz Mountain, owner of38-50 Cooper Square. The four-story yellow brick building, afive-minute walk from 86 FourthAvenue, enjoys a prominent streetpresence. Many of the formerNYU classrooms are in move-incondition. Months of negotiationsyielded favorable terms includinga 35-year lease with optionsto renew.

The moment of decision hadarrived, and the September 29,2009 board meeting was devotedto making that decision. Afterrevisiting the information gath-ered by all of the committees,trustees again argued the pros andcons, asking incisive questionsand challenging the proposal untilthey were satisfied that every riskhad been investigated. The boardthen voted overwhelmingly togo ahead.

An OverviewThe high school program will

offer a rigorous college preparatoryprogram with classes organizedaround a seminar-style model. Itwill maintain Grace’s approach tomulti-sensory teaching, balancedamong the intellectual-academic,

continued from page 1

A CLASSROOM WITH A VIEW

Just steps away, Cooper Square is an island of foliageflanked by The Bowery, the East Village, and the LowerEast Side.

24

Looking to thenortheast is theCooper UnionFoundationBuilding, a NationalHistoric Landmark.

Directly acrossCooper Squarestands CooperUnion’s NewAcademic Building,designed byMorphosis andcompleted in 2009.

25

the non-password protected parts of the site werelaunched, featuring a more robust calendar, curriculum guide, photo galleries,searchable faculty directory, a quick factual overview, school hours at a glance,directions to school athletic events, and more. Prospective parents can applyonline or download an application and mail it back in the traditional way. TheAdmissions Office eliminated the application packet in order to be green andmore quickly responsive to prospective parents.Phase II launched in October by opening up the password-protected portals to

parents. With user names and passwords at hand, GCS parents received access tomore sensitive information such as class lists, permission release forms, and thefamily handbook. Site users can customize calendars to show only what theywant to know. For instance, if a child is involved with athletics, the parents cansubscribe to the athletic calendar. If a parent wants to know the upcoming PAevents, there is a PA calendar that can be added as part of the customizing process.Users can add links to their phones, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks.Features to come are the ability to have class descriptions and assignments on par-ents, faculty and student pages, along with a comprehensive homework section.The faculty/staff, alumni/ae and students’ password-protected sections of the

site will be released as the final phase of the project. Alumni/ae will be able tocatch up on former classmates’ news and check out plenty of photos, both vintageand new. Along with reducing our carbon footprint, having so much informationavailable online makes finding what you need to know more efficient.We hope the new Web site will become part of your everyday experience at

Grace and invite you to explore it often. It is updated constantly so there is alwayssomething new to discover. If you have questions about the new site, pleasee-mail webhelp@gcschool.org.—Margery Stone, Director of Admissions

ONLY THE URLREMAINS THE SAMEsocial-emotional, ethical-spiritual and physical

realms. A graduation requirement will include atleast two courses that explore the ethical, spiritualor religious. In addition to the humanities, therewill be particular emphasis on the teaching ofmath and science. Students will be oriented to theglobal community through the study of languages,literature, cultures, and histories. They willparticipate in an expanded version of the existingGrace International Exchange Program. Studentswill be able to take courses at nearby colleges anduniversities including New York University. Thehigh school will accommodate 80 students pergrade, providing an ample and diverse socialatmosphere. The current level of providing need-based financial aid for 22% of the students will bemaintained in the high school.

The Next StepsOver the next 14 months we will work to obtain

a zoning variance needed for the site and engagean architect to develop construction drawings. Wewill take possession of the first two floors in July2011 and begin renovations, moving into the otherfloors as the division grows. Our finance groupwill move forward to insure that constructionfinancing is in place, and we will prepare afundraising campaign for the High SchoolDivision of Grace Church School. The school willopen in fall 2012 with a ninth grade.

George Davison

Douglas Evans

Sarah Hines

Ashley Leeds

Sandy Pelz

SamWheeler

Olivia Douglas

Susan Hewitt

Patsy Howard

Ellen Jewett

Frank Kamenar

Joyce Kuh

Grant Marani

Bruce Phillips

Sara Queen

Kevin Rotheroe

Scott Sabbagh

Denise Shirley

Cara Wall

Donna Zaccaro

High School Committees

Real Estate, Finance and Program

Study Task Force

continued from page 1

26

ALUMNI/AE NEWS

1949Nancy Schmidt Dowd8755 Lakeside BoulevardVero Beach, FL 32963nsdowd@aol.com

1951Janet Campbell3221 Meadowlark LaneKennesaw, GA 30152cruachan@bellsouth.net

Fredericka Lott Lancaster writes from Lafayette,CA: “Here I am, hale and healthy and enjoying my“golden years.” John, my late husband, died in 1995,after a bad accident in Thailand. We had 35 wonder-ful years together, and he is still missed by all. Wehave two wonderful sons, John and Jeff, both ofwhom live close by. When I remarried in 1999 to BillRaymond, I sold the 1150 house to Jeff. John lives inOakland. The former has two children, Jeffrey (13),and Mary (11). John has one, Lara, almost 3. I havetaught first grade here in Lafayette for 12 years andtutored disadvantaged teens in Oakland . They areeither striving to learn how to read or to get theirGEDs. Does anyone know the whereabouts of DianaBartholomew? I’ve never been able to make an alum-ni reunion or auction as we have spent a good deal ofour time in Mexico and France.”

From Irvine, CA, Lamar Hill writes: “We’ve been onthe road some. I wanted Ellen to see the HudsonValley that I love from bygone days. This was lastSeptember. Then in December to Zihuantanejo inMexico. Otherwise we’ve been here and involved withour grandsons’ baseball or with the symphony orches-tra, or we’ve been in Portland with our other twograndsons. I serve on the vestry of our parish church,still supervise two remaining Ph.D. candidates andplan to do some more writing soon.”

Gail Richards Tirana writes: “I have no adventuresto report other than what might go on in reflection,and the lovely and lively but not extraordinary days ofteaching, family, friends and entertainments.”

Thomas Reese writes: “My latest assignment: work-ing with youth. At one end of the scale, I work on jobskills with at risk youth, in an ‘on the job environ-ment,’ and at the other end of the scale, I mentor EagleScouts with the technical aspects of their projects.”

Class Agent Jan Campbell reports: “Managed to beout of town during the record Georgia flooding, enjoy-ing clear skies and interesting tours of the HanfordNuclear Facility, Columbia Gorge and other beautiesof Washington State with my daughter and old familyfriends. Adopted another cat (now we are three) tokeep Cricket and Mr. Cool Beans company and toaggravate the dog.Also in the process of trying to takeadvantage of all the foreclosures to find a stair-less,hill-less property that will be gentle to arthritic knees!Seems that more and more of our class news involvesmedical adventures, except for folks like Lamar andNorm who go globe/grandson-trotting!”

Norm Hall writes: “I am still working three days aweek and keeping very busy indeed. I have been in anumber of plays, the last one being David Mamet’sGlengarry Glen Ross. This Christmas season I will bein an original Christmas farce called Ham For TheHolidays! That ought to be a lot of fun. Then inMarch, Shirley and I will be reprising The Gin Gameat a theater near our house which will be very con-venient. We have been doing a good deal of traveling.This last spring we went to England and Paris, but thebig deal for us was two weeks in South Africa. Weflew from London directly to Cape Town and prettymuch concentrated on that area. The country is mag-nificent. Very hospitable, scenic beyond imagination,world class food and wine and best of all affordable.It is one of the few countries where the dollar is verystrong. We visited NewYork City for a week, went toCambridge, MA and Cape Cod for about a week andwill be visiting friends in Tucson next week. Ouryoungest son, out of four, will be married in June2010, and if that weren’t enough, our oldest grand-daughter just graduated from law school and becameengaged! So, our lives are full and we try to stay ashealthy as possible. I try to do my 2000 jumps at jumprope at least three days a week at the gym.Time, as weall know, just flies by too quickly. I mean to corre-spond with my classmates and I vow to do a better jobin the future. Shirley and I send our love to you and toall the other 1951ers.”

Charles Collini responded to 1959 class agent DurellGodfrey: “I read with a great deal of nostalgia yourmemories of GCS in the recent GCS News. I wasparticularly interested in the dining room memories. Ican recall Al Grant and Mrs. Grant sitting at the“honored” table at the end of the dining room, onesmall level above us. I also remember that once in awhile, the students would have to dine at that tablewith the Grants. This always petrified me when itbecame my turn. For some reason or another Al Grantintimidated me like hell. I remember you from dodge

CLASSAGENT

CLASSAGENT

SAVE THEDATES

ALUMNI/AE REUNIONCOCKTAIL PARTY

Friday, April 30, 20106:00-8:00 p.m.

(For the Classes of 2001and earlier)

MAY FAIRSaturday, May ⁄, 2010

ball, even though I was 4 years behind you in school.The last time I was at Grace, I was impressed by howsmall everything looked now that I was older becauseit really looked large when I was there from Grade 1through Grade 8. I can recall the line of kids goingdown the stairwell to recess through that dark alleyand how the world seemed so much brighter when wereached the playground. I lived at 10th and Fifth Ave.and walked to school, and the walk was a very shortwalk even though back then it seemed to take forever.I remember egg creams and cherry cokes after schooland theYPF dances on Friday nights when we listenedto the Everly Brothers, Duke of Earl and the BristolStomp. I remember the blue mats placed in the diningroom for tumbling and my blue button down shirt,maroon tie, and blue corduroy pants. Oh the memories.”

1954Cynthia Pyle470West EndAvenueNewYork, NY 10024c.m.pyle@nyu.edu

1956Pamela Soden35West 81st StreetNewYork, NY 10024pasoden@aol.com

1957James Levy79 North Main StreetSt.Albans,VT 05478

1958Durell “DeeGee” Godfrey7 HunttingAvenueEast Hampton, NY 11937durellgodfrey@optonline.net

1961Diane M. Falk508 Columbia Road, NWWashington DC 20001dianemfalk@yahoo.com

1962Alan Bernheimer1721 Cedar StreetBerkeley, CA 94703-1119abernhei@yahoo.com

Before visiting Melissa and AlanBernheimer in San Francisco,Peter Ratner and his wife, Carol,spent two weeks in New Yorkvisiting their new grandson, EzraJames Minnick, born on 16 July2009, to their daughter ErinRatner and son-in-law ChristopherMinnick. They also caught upbriefly with Robin (Boucher)Benet and her husband.

Alan Bernheimer writes: “Peter Ratner and his wife,Carol, visited San Francisco in September. We spentan evening together in North Beach, and took a cartrip to tour anAndersonValley vineyard owned by oldfriends of the Ratners.”

In May, Jan Jarrett joined PamMacdonald Eaton at the Breakers inPalm Beach to celebrate Pam’s brother,Jim Macdonald’s 60th birthday.”

1963Cathryn Guyler1928 Cadiz StreetNew Orleans, LA 70115-5516clguyler@earthlink.net

1965Christopher “Kit” Rachlis11619 Laurelwood DriveStudio City, CA 91604

David Ratner380 Riverside Drive,Apt. 2TNewYork, NY 10025dratner@hurrlaw.com

1966J. BrandonWilson Evitt34 JosephineAvenueSomerville, MA 02144brandonathome@alum.conncoll.edu

27

ALUMNI/AE NEWS

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Jan Jaerrett, Pam Eaton

1967Verne Deffner Leven172 CarolineAvenueGarden City, NY 11530-5510vleven1953@yahoo.com

1968Paul Rittenberg14 Montgomery Place,Apt. 2Brooklyn, NY 11215Paul.rittenberg@foxnews.com

1969MarkAlonso920 Broadway, FL16NewYork, NY 10010-8004mjaesq@prodigy.net

Niles “Niki” Burton6 Horizon Road,Apt. 1501Fort Lee, NJ 07024nilesburton@yahoo.com

Rodney Hobbs713Washington Street,Apt. 7NewYork, NY 10014Rodney.hobbs@aya.yale.edu

1971Mary-Paula BaileyAllegaert76 HillsideAvenueGlen Ridge, NJ 07028mary-paula.allegaert@gothaminc.com

1972Marc Falcone61 Jane Street,Apt. 7DNewYork, NY 10014mfalcone@paulweiss.com

Sidney Monroe710 Coyote Ridge Road,Apt.ASanta Fe, NM 87507Sidneysmonroe@cs.com

1973Elizabeth Bailey336 Central ParkWest,Apt. 8BNewYork, NY 10025ebailey@nyc.rr.com

1976Ethan Silverman915West EndAvenue,Apt. 4FNewYork, NY 10025-35913redsplus1@nyc.rr.com

1977Alexandra Calas KochHohoenzollernstrasse 35Munich D-80801 GERMANYMaximilian_Koch@t-online.de

NancyWeigner Shapiro85 Cross HighwayWestport, CT 06880Toddlers2@aol.com

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GCS ALUMNI/AE ARE CONNECT ING ONL INE

Join us on Facebook,

the Grace Church School Alumni group

Visit us at our new virtual home,

the revamped GCS Web site

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1979Constance “Conni”Walsh Langan3 Sheridan Square,Apt. 5HNewYork, NY 10014stintzy@yahoo.com

1981Director of Development, Joyce Kuh, reports: WhenTom Walsh and his wife, Ursula, visited GCS inAugust, we asked him what he’d like to see.“Everything,” was the quick reply. Tom had not beenin the school since he graduated, so we started withsome renovated spaces—Music Room and TuttleHall, then on to more familiar territory. Tom was par-ticularly interested in the small room on the fifth floorwhere he had Latin. He and Ursula pored over theeighth grade ceramic art murals in the stairway, mar-veled at the transformation of refectory into library(“where we used to have dances,”), and admired thenew dining room—twice as large as the old. The newgym evoked the same expression we usually hear atfirst sighting, “Wow!” The Walshes were visitingfrom Ft. Lauderdale, FL where they live with theirtwo-year-old son, Josh. “No wonder Susanna loves ithere,” Tom said. Susanna is Tom’s niece, daughter ofhis sister, Connie Walsh. “Maybe we should moveback to NewYork,” was Ursula’s parting remark.

1982Christopher Collet232 President Street,Apt. 4RBrooklyn, NY 11231crcollet@aol.com

1983LoriWasserman455 FDR Drive,Apt. B1605NewYork, NY 10002littlelor7@aol.com

1984Kieran Jason Hackett7 East 14th Street,Apt. 1005NewYork, NY 10003jhackett@rockwell.com

Sara Martin writes: “Living in Darwin Australia,with my husband, Phil, and children Samuel (6 years),Matthew (4) and Noah (2). I am training to be a [gen-eral practitioner].”

1985Evan Silverman525West EndAvenueNewYork, NY 10024emsnba@yahoo.com

Evan Silverman reports: “Mia BaerSilverman was born on September 25, 2009,at 2:06 a.m. to my wife, Liz Krieger, andyours truly.”

1986Charles Buice39 Plaza StreetWest,Apt. 5ABrooklyn, NY 11217charlesbuice@hotmail.com

Mike Kuh145 Hicks Street,Apt.A21Brooklyn, NY 11201michael.kuh@lw.com

In June, Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointedDiahann Billings-Burford as NewYork City and thenation’s first Chief Service Officer. She leads NYCService, the Mayor’s comprehensive programdesigned to meet President Obama’s national call toservice through three goals: channeling the power ofvolunteers to address the impacts of the current eco-nomic downturn, making New York City the easiestcity in America in which to serve, and ensuring everyyoung person in New York City is taught about civicengagement and has an opportunity to serve. Prior toher appointment, Diahann was Deputy ExecutiveDirector of External Affairs for City Year New York,leading efforts to recruit volunteers to help publicschool students.

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Alison Grippo’s new photodocumentary book, Chasing:The Friday Night Fights NYC,was published in the summer.Alison writes, “The book isa selection of photossurrounding the Friday

Night Fights in NewYork. It aims totell the story of love and loss and to show a

different side of what is often construed as a bloodsport. I spent two years with these fighters watchingas they worked from being amateur to pro and, often,just walking away. It’s about chasing a dream.”

1987Katherine Baker1202 TreatWaySan Francisco, CA 94110-4125katebaker6666@yahoo.com

Jody Kuh55 Eastern Parkway,Apt. 2HBrooklyn, NY 11238jkuh@speakeasy.net

Tyler Maroney88 Livingston Street,Apt. 5Brooklyn, NY 11201-5055

1988Alexander Edlich124West 93rd Street,Apt. 7FNewYork, NY 10025-7538alexander_edlich@mckinsey.com

1989Greg Hewett and his wife, Katie, report: “We areproud to announce the birth of Maya Spering Hewett,born on May 26, 2009 at 12:07 p.m. 7 pounds, 6ounces.”

1991Kevin McGhie33-46 92nd StreetJackson Heights, NY 11372

1992Michael Smertiuk440 East 6th Street,Apt. 6ENewYork, NY 10009msmertiuk1@aol.com

GCS teacher and alumni mother, Susan Cross writes:“My new granddaughter’s name is Ginger SusanCross. (She was named after both of her grandmothers.)Her mother is Sarah Fowlkes and her father is JaredCross. She was born on June 10, and she weighed 6lbs 11 oz. She is, of course, totally adorable.”

1993James Benenson122 Duane Street,Apt. 3ANewYork, NY 10007james@jamesbenenson.com

Katherine de Vos235West 75th Street,Apt. 3MNewYork, NY 10023katherine.devos@alumni.duke.edu

Amy Sonnenborn35West 9th Street,Apt. 1CNewYork, NY 10011amysonnenborn@gmail.com

1994Sophie Rosenblum33West 10th StreetNewYork, NY 10011SophieRosenblum@yahoo.com

John Jasper Speicher280 Degraw StreetBrooklyn, NY 11231jasper@tellant.com

1995Rachel Zabarkes Friedman30 Sacramento Street,Apt. 5Cambridge, MA 02138-1820zabarkes@post.harvard.edu

Brian Platzer710 BroadwayNewYork, NY 10003brianplatzer@hotmail.com

Class agent Rachel (Zabarkes) Friedman writes:“Kristin Brief and I are practically neighbors inBoston’s Back Bay, and Sara Schoenfeld lives innearby Brookline. Kristin is working as a seniormanager at clean-tech company EnerNOC and wasmarried to Todd Herrington in March 2009. Sara was

SAVE THEDATES

ALUMNI/AE REUNIONCOCKTAIL PARTY

Friday, April 30, 20106:00-8:00 p.m.

(For the Classes of 2001and earlier)

MAY FAIRSaturday, May ⁄, 2010

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Kristin’s maid-of-honor at the wedding, andElizabeth Affuso was also in attendance. Sara is inher fourth year of medical school at Tufts and wasmarried to Marc Wein in June of 2008 (Kristin washer maid-of-honor). I’m in my second year at HarvardLaw School and am also working toward my Ph.D. inpolitical theory from Harvard. My husband, MichaelFriedman, and I welcomed our first child, Leah RoseFriedman, in March of 2008.”

Elizabeth Affuso, Sara Schoenfeld, Kristin Brief

1996Ryan Hawkins370 First AvenueNewYork, NY 10010teas0n@aol.com

RyanWashburnc/o Diana Burroughs3 Minetta LaneNewYork, NY 10012

1997Eric Raicovich235 East 80th Street,Apt 2FNewYork, NY 10075eric.raicovich@gmail.com

Suzanne (Roberts) Boyd was married to Mark Boydon May 16, 2009, in Savannah, GA. The Boyds arecurrently living in Atlanta.

Michelle Roberts ’94, Dana Ianuzzi, David Roberts ’93,Christina Ianuzzi ’97 and Suzanne (Roberts) Boyd.

1998Lauren Shockey35 Essex Street,Apt. 8CNewYork, NY 10011ldshockey@gmail.com

Ariane Tschumi227West 17th StreetNewYork, NY 10011arianetschumi@gmail.com

1999Gillian Bleimann41West 10th StreetNewYork, NY 10011gillianb22@aol.com

2000CourtneyAllen1751 SecondAvenue,Apt. 19TNewYork, NY 10128quatts816@aol.com

Kamelia “Kammy” McRae1750 SedgwickAvenue,Apt. 15HBronx, NY 10453kammy724@aol.com

Karina Nascimento married Martin Saunderson September 26, 2009, in Asheville, NC.

Isabel Wilkinson writes: “Graduated from Princeton’08—am finishing masters degree at ColumbiaUniversity School of Journalism—working at TheDaily Beast!”

2001Cecilia Magnusson71 Ludlow Street,Apt. 4BNewYork, NY 10002cimagnet@gmail.com

Tilden Marbit2Washington Square Village,Apt. 8BNewYork, NY 10012tilden.marbit@mail.mcgill.ca

Sheila Weber reports that her daughter, RachelWeber, having graduated with honors fromVanderbilt, has been awarded the first annual KolbeFellowship for her upcoming work in Rwanda.

Marie Parsons shares that Chris Parsons graduatedcum laude with a B.S. in Computer Science fromCornell and is “planning to return to Cornell to worktoward his Master’s Degree in Computer Science.”

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2002Saga Blane44A Morton StreetNewYork, NY 10014thedalaisaga@hotmail.com

Luce de Palchi33 Union SquareWest,Apt. 6RNewYork, NY 10003pinkmouse4@aol.com

James Estreich12West 17th Street,Apt. 9NewYork, NY 1001106EstreichJ@Gunnery.org

2003William Horton74 FifthAvenue,Apt. 8ANewYork, NY 10011willhhorton@gmail.com

Jasmin Stanley writes: “Since we are all off atdifferent schools and doing different things thesedays, I find the short amount of time we are back inthe city to be perfect for gathering as many peoplefrom the class as possible. I try to get everyonetogether at least over the summer and winter breaks tocatch up. It’s always nice to see old friends.Hopefully, these parties will be an excuse to keep theclass in contact over the years to come. I can’t believewe’re more than halfway through college, it still feelslike yesterday we were graduating from GCS!”

Sitra Bowman writes: “Since August, I have been inLima, Peru studying abroad with CIEE. I am studyingat the Pontificate Catholic University of Peru. I am

staying with a host family who is really nice. I recentlyvisited Machu Picchu and Cuzco, which wasabsolutely incredible. I am really enjoying it and willbe returning to the U.S. next summer.”

Max Dworin writes: “All is well down here in SouthAmerica, where I am currently studying abroad inBuenos Aires, Argentina! The city is amazing and thelanguage is even better; although, with the way theArgentines speak it, you would think they were speak-ing Italian. Before coming here, though, I actuallytraveled and volunteered in Brazil for two months(mostly in Rio de Janeiro). Unfortunately, I feel likeI’ve lost most of my Portuguese—I actually got pret-ty good—but I guess there’s still time to learn it allover again.As much as I love this continent, I’m look-ing forward to getting back to New York for winterbreak and then back to Baltimore for second semesterjunior year. It’s hard to believe we only have threesemesters left of college! It feels like just yesterdaywe were all graduating from GCS.”

Katherine Demartini writes: “I’m studying abroadin Vienna for a semester taking German and historyclasses with my school group at the Uni Wien indowntown Vienna. The program has been a lot offun—we’ve already visitedBudapest and Prague in thelast few weeks. Hope every-one else is having a greatthird year!”

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back row: Scott Matarese, Owen O’Leary, Kent Shelp, BobbyAbramson: front row: Ferry Foster, Kasia Garland, Briana Bierman,Jasmin Stanley, Sitra Bowman.

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Class agentWill Horton reports: “Over the summerAdam Fry volunteered for Cy Vance Jr’s campaignfor Manhattan District Attorney. (One day whilecampaigning around Union Square, classmatesAlexandra Boghosian, Ferry Foster, Will Hortonand Jasmin Stanley bumped into Adam.) Adam waspromoted to being part of Vance’s traveling staff,briefing the candidate on his meetings, fundraisersand daily schedule. ‘Normally 20-year-oldinterns/volunteers don’t get the opportunity to be full-time staff of the campaign so I was extremely excited,albeit nervous,’ Adam said. It was an around-the-clock, seven-day-a-week campaign, but the staffreceived a huge boost after winning endorsementsfrom The New York Times, The Post, and The DailyNews. Vance won the election, andAdam is now at theLondon School of Economics for his junior yearabroad from Princeton. He reports that he is playingfirst team football (soccer) and enjoying his studiesthere in London.”

Alison Kumro writes: “This year I am studying inAmman, Jordan, and I absolutely love it so far! I livein an apartment with several roommates in a very niceresidential neighborhood of the city. Through mystudy abroad program, I am taking classes at theUniversity of Jordan, where I am studyingArabic andInternational Relations. I am also playing on a localclub volleyball team, which has been a great way tomeet Jordanians and improve myArabic. Fortunately,I have many opportunities to travel while I’m here. Inaddition to exploring several historical sites in Jordan,I have also traveled to Egypt and plan to make it toSyria, Lebanon, and Turkey at some point.

Scott Matarese has his plate full at Washington andLee University. He has declared a double major inGlobal Politics and Global History, is the Head ofDevelopment and Promotions for WLUR—Washington and Lee University Radio—continues tohost his classic rock radio show “Scott Rock”, isCo-Chair for the second year of College Republicans,VP of Communications for his fraternity (SigEp), is atour guide for the admissions office and an online“e-mentor” for local high school kids. He reports livingoff campus “is the greatest thing ever.”

2004Sarah Roma Chatham55 Crosby StreetNewYork, NY 10012romachat@aol.com

2005Amanda Kreuter370 First AvenueApartment 7-CNewYork, NY 10010acey62622@yahoo.com

Marketa Ort39 Gramercy Park North,Apt. 17DNewYork, NY 10010marketa_ort@marymount.k12.ny.us

Marie Parsons relays the news that JonathanParsons graduated from Calhoun School withdistinction in Math and Science, and also won aCalhoun Music Award for his accomplishments onthe flute in the Calhoun ensemble/orchestra. “MsHicks would have been proud.” Jon is now a freshmanat the Rochester Institute of Technology.

2006Peter Shapiro30 East 9th Street,Apt. 6GNewYork, NY 10003pshapiro1@nyc.rr.com

2007Cecilia Smith237 Lafayette Street,Apt. 4NewYork, NY 10012cecill237@gmail.com

SAVE THEDATES

ALUMNI/AE REUNIONCOCKTAIL PARTY

Friday, April 30, 20106:00-8:00 p.m.

(For the Classes of 2001and earlier)

MAY FAIRSaturday, May ⁄, 2010

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Martha Randall Carson, mother ofRalph Carson ’72, Caroline Carson ’76,and Grady Carson ’80, May 19, 2009.

Linda Preston, mother of Dean Preston ’83,August 2, 2009.

DominickAiello, father of Dominick Aiello ’90and Jane Aiello ’92, September 7, 2009.

MaryAnne Schwalbe, grandmother ofAdrian Schwalbe ’14 and Lucy Schwalbe ’18,September 14, 2009.

Hope Cromwell, former Business Managerof Grace Church School, August 2009.

Ruthe Gottfried, former Grace Church Schoolpsychologist and mother of John Gottfried ’58,October 2009.

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IN MEMORIAM

2008Christopher Pelz395 South EndAvenue,Apt. 27JNewYork, NY 10280Blooboy1@mac.com

HudsonOrbewrites: “This summer I enjoyedworkingat The GO Project with Cole Gimbel, RebeccaMcSween and Beatrice Steinert. After that, I attendedRobin Hood Camp in Maine with Jon and ChrisPelz, Ben Smith, Duncan Abbot, Max Liu, KishanPatel, Sam Nakagawa and Liam Fistos. In August, Itraveled to Barcelona and the Costa Brava with myfamily. This fall, I worked on the soap opera, ‘OneLife to Live,’ and also appeared in Saturday NightLive’s season opener in a skit featuring guest host,Megan Fox. I am happy to be back at CollegiateSchool where I attended preseason wrestling and theScience Olympiad.”

OndineVinaowrites: “This summer, I went to an artscamp called Bucks Rock Camp, where I did oil paint-ing, glassblowing, leather making, and also performedin a musical! Hello to everyone at Grace.”

Lily Susman, Maya Johnson, and AlexandraSimonian report: “This summer we traveled to Chinawith a program called China Prep. It was really a fan-tastic program. It was an experiential learning trip,including language classes. We really became famil-iar with the the culture and the people, as well as thetourist attractions. We were in Bejing, Xi’an,Chengdu, Hangzhou and Shanghai

Lily Susman,Maya Johnson,Alexandra Simonian

DuncanAbbot writes: “I continue to play cello in theTrinity Orchestra and now am also playing with theInterschool Orchestra. In November, I will be playingwith the cast of New York City Opera at Lincoln

Center for an abridged performance of Don Giovanni(the kids play in the orchestra and the real actors dothe performance). I enjoy playing in the Chess Club atTrinity and continue to play squash out of school.”

Ben Smith writes: “My summer was great! It wasfilled with fun, family, and friends. My sophomoreyear has been extremely loaded with work; however,it has still been wonderful. I am still involved withdebate, and I am still expressing my ideas in studentgovernment. I say “hello” to all my friends fromGrace and hope to see you soon.”

Jon Pelzwrites: “Things are going great at Browning.I am running on the Varsity Cross Country team andsinging in the Upper School Chorus. I am also a PeerTutor and have joined the staff of the literary maga-zine and EnAvant, the French newspaper. Chris and Iare often asked to host kids who are applying toBrowning when they visit, and it’s great to see somany Grace kids.”

Class Agent Chris Pelz reports: “I am having anoth-er terrific year at Browning. I work on both The Litand EnAvant. I also sing in the Upper School Chorus.This summer, my brother Jon and I spent our eighthyear at Robin Hood Camp in Maine with fellow GCSclassmates. We all had a wonderful time and partici-pated inThai Boxing, tennis, archery, sailing, golf, andmany other sports. My brother and I were captains ofour team, “The Greens”, and we all participated in acounselor training program. Later, Jon and I wentwith our mom to Annecy, located in the French Alps,and took language immersion classes in French. Hi toall the class of 2008.”

from left, back row:Chris Pelz, Hudson Orbe,Ben Smith: from left,front row: Sam Nakagawa,Jon Pelz, Duncan Abbot

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C L A S S O F ¤ ‚ ‚ ∞ — C O L L E G E C H O I C E S *

Navid Ahmadzadeh The Gunnery Salve Regina University

Eva Anderson Chapin University of Southern California

David Balme George School Clarke College

Syrie Bianco St. Paul’s Columbia University

Lewis Bondor Packer Collegiate Institute SUNY Buffalo

Hilary Brashear Brearley Haverford College

Oliver Calvo-Platero Trinity University of Edinburgh

Sarah Consagra Chapin Middlebury College

John Coyne Collegiate Wesleyan University

Jessica Dirks Sacred Heart Maryland Institute College of Arts

Hayley Doner Dalton University of Chicago

Samuel Eisenman Brooks Cornell University

Mary Estreich Berkeley Carroll Ithaca College

Mia Falzarano Sacred Heart Hamilton College

Henry Ginna Masters University of Chicago

Jakob Gollwitzer Regis NewYork University

Devon Head Nightingale-Bamford University of the Arts London

Hannah Kauffman Phillips Academy (Andover) Stanford University

Amanda Kreuter Spence Gettysburg College

Olufemi Leverett Packer Collegiate University of Pennsylvania

Isabella Malbin LaGuardia Rhode Island School of Design

Melissa Mason Marymount Abilene Christian University

Alexandra McClure Brearley Johns Hopkins University

Lorcan McGonigle Groton Pomona College

Liseanne Miller Marymount Boston University

Samantha Mullen Dwight Skidmore College

Marketa Ort Marymount Bates College

Jonathan Parsons Calhoun Rochester Institute of Technology

Ashley Privett Berkeley Carroll Goucher College

Caroline Prozer Brewster Academy SUNY Oneonta

Lillian Reape Phillips Academy (Andover) Carnegie Mellon University

Mollie Schwartz Packer Collegiate Smith College

Benjamin Seiler Collegiate Williams College

Rachel Sloane Poly Prep George Washington University

Austin Wright Public School Grand Canyon University

Lucas Zwirner Collegiate Yale University

* list incomplete

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