FRIENDS ACADEMY SPRING 2014

BLUE & GRAY

First-time investors If you have not donated to the Friends Academy Fund in the past, a gift of $50 or more will be increased by an additional $50 from a challenge grant that has been set up by an anonymous donor. Returning investors Gifts from past supporters of Friends Academy who increase their last gift by $50 or more will have an additional $100 added to their donation—twice the amount of last year’s challenge fund. Either wayYou’ll want to take advantage of this opportunity to increase the impact of your gift. Your support of the Friends Academy Fund helps us plan course-based field trips and outdoor education activities, to purchase new uniforms and equipment for our athletic teams, and provide tools and supplies for our art, music, and dramatic arts programs. REMEMBER! Any donation is appreciated. It’s not the size that matters but the fact that you give. Make your tax deductible contribution on-line by clicking on the green “Donate to Friends” icon at www.friendsacademy1810.org or call Jodi Pink, Director of Development at (508)999-1356 x 1129.

E V E R Y G I F T T O T H E F R I E N D S A C A D E M Y F U N D I S A N I N V E S T M E N T I N T H E E X C E P T I O N A L S T U D E N T S A N D T E A C H E R S W H O M A K E F R I E N D S A C A D E M Y T H E S C H O O L I T I S T O D A Y !

Invest IN THE GRAY and BLUE

inquiring minds

confident communicators

creative problems solvers

green thumbs

respectful collaborators

courageous learners

joyful innovators

inspiring artists

These are the qualities that describe

the students and teachers who benefit

from your unwavering support.

The Challenge is back!ACT TODAY! Fund Closes June 30

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Message from the Head of School

Citizen Scientists on our 65-Acre Laboratory What They Can Do Learning to Serve, Serving to Learn

Volunteers Among Us

Installed! Mika Seeger and Our School-Wide Collaboration The Next Step: Transitioning to High School from the Sally Borden Program

Advocacy: Acting for Change

Science ExpoThe Intersection of Science and Culture

A Carnival for the Canteen 2014

A Kitchen Classroom

Master Class: with Ariadne Daskalakis

Class Day Celebrating the Promise of the Class of 2013

Alumni ProfileRobin Shields, Sippican Lands Trust

Alumni ProfileAndy Pollock, Silverbrook Farm, Dartmouth CSA

Serving Through Partnership

Recent Appointees to the Board of Trustees

Faculty and Friends Notes

Class Notes

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B L U E & G R A Y spring 2014

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M E S S A G E F R O M T H E H E A D O F S C H O O L

Dear Friends,

Friends Academy has a long tradition of community service and a demonstrated spirit of “giving back.” Every member of our community—be they student, faculty, parent, alumnus, administrator, or friend—has the opportunity to learn by serving others. This issue of Blue and Gray highlights these opportunities and the many genuine ways that we learn and relearn the age-old lesson that in serving, one often gains far more than one actually gives. Service learning is definitely a two-way street at Friends Academy.

Our school has maintained strong ties with its original home in New Bedford. Our Center for Education Innovation has FA faculty working directly with New Bedford teachers sharing technology, software, and innovative teaching techniques throughout the year. Friends Academy administrators partner with their counterparts at Our Sisters’ School, Nativity Prep, Alma del Mar, and Global Charter School to share resources, professional development, and student enrichment programs. This is role modeling at its finest.

Friends Academy has long benefitted from the generosity and talent of parent and community volunteers. So many give so freely of their time and talent. We all benefit from the artist, musician, chef, storyteller, horticulturist, library organizer, and costumer (among many others) who interact with our students and beautify our campus environ-ment. Students learn from specific lessons and activities, but they also grow when they experience expertise, commitment, and passion. Our volunteers are rewarded by insightful student questions, “aha moments,” and the personal relationships that develop.

In and out of the classroom, FA students work with their teachers to build a stronger community. They interact with younger students, travel locally to support a variety of agencies, and contribute to regional scientific research. Best of all, there is a seamless quality to all of this. It is just what Friends Academy does. When talking about “life lessons” it is difficult to overstate the value of service learning and volunteerism. As evidenced by the fact that secondary schools want our graduates and actively seek them out, Friends Academy students are well prepared for the next stage of academic challenge. More important, perhaps, thanks to service learning, they are also well prepared for life.

Please enjoy this edition of Blue and Gray. It captures well the spirit and the vitality of a Friends Academy education.

Stephen K. BarkerHead of School

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If you just happened to be walking down the hall as Friends Academy sixth grade science students were about to go outside for a field study, you might swear that this group of kids had never been outdoors before in their lives—such is their energy and enthusi-asm. As their science teacher, this enthusiasm is, simultaneously, one of the greatest assets and most challenging obstacles to a class period of effective fieldwork. Ask any of my students and they’ll tell you that I’m fairly strict when it comes to touching play-ground equipment during science class—we all need boundaries. But it rarely happens that we get through an entire session outside without at least one cart-wheel or creative dance move. This is the joy of teaching adolescents. This is the energy, that when directed, allows for incredible learning opportunities.

Increasingly, best practices in life science education are leading teachers and students away from their desks and textbooks, and out into their schoolyards and campuses. And, while it doesn’t take a lot of outdoor space to create meaningful units of study,

Friends Academy’s extensive acreage provides abun-dant opportunities for this kind of learning. Using our immediate surroundings instead of the artificial world that exists on the pages of a textbook, learners can engage in real experiences, and teachers can utilize those experiences to promote inquiry, investigation, and understanding.

Citizen science programs are growing in number and popularity worldwide. Average citizens with an interest can choose to participate in countless scientific studies, helping professional researchers collect much larger data sets than would be possible otherwise. For school groups, these projects have the added benefit of making the research process—comprised of following protocol and procedure, careful observation and record keeping, and data analysis—more authentic and meaningful.

Citizen Scientists O N O U R 6 5 - A C R E L A B O R A T O R Y

by Peter Zine, Middle School Science and Social Studies Teacher

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In recent years, Friends Academy students have par-ticipated in several citizen science projects, including:

Collecting dissolved oxygen samples from the Paskamansett River to determine water quality for the Buzzards Bay CoalitionCataloging the physical and biological characteristics of vernal pools for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife Observing and recording evidence of breeding bird activity for Mass Audubon’s Breeding Bird AtlasMonitoring bird feeder stations and recording winter visitors for Cornell University’s Project FeederWatchCollecting and cataloging of invertebrate specimens from aquatic environments on and around campus for the Lloyd Center’s Biodiversity InitiativeMonitoring and recording leaf drop and bud burst data for Harvard Forest’s Schoolyard Long Term Ecological Research Project. (You might have noticed the pink flagging on some of the trees along Tucker Road.)

Each of these experiences have provided unique learn-ing opportunities that have allowed Friends Academy students to contribute to actual scientific research. At the same time, participating in Citizen Science programs has enabled our students to develop a greater aptitude for scientific inquiry, careful data collection techniques, the ability to critically analyze findings, and a context within which they can connect more deeply with their surroundings. It’s this skill set and this less measurable “sense of place” that stays with kids, and sets them on a path toward future scientific investigation and discovery, perhaps with a cartwheel or two thrown in for good measure.

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W H A T T H E Y C A N D O

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According to decades of research, a core need of pre-teenagers and young teens is to feel connected to others through their families, friends, and in their schools and the larger communities in which they live. When renowned psychologist and educational consultant Adam Cox spoke with Friends families earlier in the school year, he stressed the value of authenticity in education and the need for students to connect with one another and their communities doing necessary and meaningful work. As the Service Learning program at FA has repeatedly demonstrated over the past decade, it is by working to serve others that students connect in meaningful ways and often gain more in the process than they actually give.

Long before students reach Middle School here, they have been gradually introduced to the concept of service. By the time they reach the age of eleven or twelve and enter sixth grade, they are ready for more formal opportunities to pursue meaningful work. Through a carefully constructed program that has been part of the Middle School curriculum for close to six years, students spend a double-block period each Friday, devoted to on- and off-campus assign-ments that support school, local, and global service initiatives.

Wth the guidance of their teachers, students identify, select, and pursue meaningful jobs that can range from collecting recycling around campus, to working in the woodshop or the garden, or being a literacy helper in a first-grade classroom. These opportunities align with the school’s five virtues and its mission. They encourage compassion, build responsibility, develop leadership, and broaden students’ awareness of the world.

by Kyle Riseley

LEARNING TO SERVE,

SERVING TO LEARN

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Develop a strong sense of social responsibility, civic

awareness, respect for diversity and differences and

enhance personal growth and life-long learning

That’s a tall order, but as an example, Middle School teachers, Morgan Lord and Blinn Dorsey use the International Bill of Human Rights as a framework for teaching students about the all too frequent abuse of civil liberties around the world. Students learn practical ways of standing up for and with the oppressed. (See the article on page 20.) Help students become responsible community

members and productive citizens Students are in a perpetual state of becoming so the word “productive” is key here. In order for learning to be truly meaningful, students need to be given oppor-tunities to put concepts like social responsibility and advocacy into practice. “What can I do?” is the motto of the newly enlightened middle school student, and service learning not only provides an action plan but also the means to taking action for a cause.

This spring, students are serving their community by working in the garden, building in the woodshop, recycling, helping at the Schwartz Center and at the Emeritus Assisted Living Center, singing in the Vocal Performance ensemble, assisting first graders with reading and writing, and helping develop a Spanish literacy program for preschoolers. Although not spe-cifically offered this spring, in previous years students have had the chance to participate in an open-ended project whereby they design their own original service project. A few short years ago, three seventh graders came up with a plan to bring solar energy to campus as part of their Service Learning experience. Check the back cover of this publication to see how that turned out.

At the heart of the program are five goals that help set the compass, so to speak, during the annual planning process so that students are ensured opportunities that:

Integrate with the curriculum Work in the community is related to academic study in ways that enhance both. Students learn best and most profoundly by constructing knowledge and rooting it in personal experience. When students volunteer for beekeeping, not only do they learn how to cultivate honey, but they learn about the science of bee colonies and honeybee culture.

Create a reciprocal relationship between the school

and the community Most local land conservation organizations don’t have enough employees to manage their large land holdings and rely on volunteers to help maintain and improve properties. Friends Academy has developed partner-ships with many organizations who inform us of tasks they need help with, while consistently providing stu-dents with meaningful service projects. Additionally, students are given opportunities to see, explore, and improve some of the amazing preserves of southeast-ern Massachusetts, making meaningful improvements for wildlife and human visitors, alike. Meet a genuine community need Our community garden for example, provides well-needed and appreciated fresh vegetables to the people in New Bedford and Pawtucket, RI, by way of the Grace Church Food Pantry and the Pawtucket Soup Kitchen. Students learn about plant growth cycles, photosynthesis, crop rotation, seed propagation, weed mitigation, and harvest techniques all within the context of providing food to people in need.

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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can

change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”—Margaret Mead

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Among Us by Kyle Riseley

Volunteers invest their time, talent, and energy every day. Some days, their efforts and artistry jump

out in obvious ways. Other days it manifests itself quietly, with a committed regularity that we come

to rely upon. This story is the first in an ongoing series devoted to recognizing the contributions of the

many individuals who give their time and expertise to Friends Academy.

A strong partnership between volunteers and school defines our community. In the best cases, this

collaboration strengthens the breadth and reach of our programs and adds a special ingredient to the

mix that defines who we are and just what it is that makes our Friends Academy community unique.

Volunteers

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S A L L I E B A R K E R

Considered a bit of a celebrity in kindergarten classrooms, Sallie Barker, a.k.a. “Mrs. B” is on first glance recognized for being married to head of school, Steve Barker. But to her credit, this former children’s librarian has made her own mark as volunteer reader in Lower School K-5 classrooms, sharing the extraordinary collection of picture books that she has amassed over the past thirty-five years. “Mrs. B. has a wonderful knack for storytelling, complete with sound effects and different voices for every character in a story,” says Lower School teacher, Dana Bullard, whose kindergarteners enjoyed the book Harry the Dirty Dog, by Gene Zion, when they were studying the letter ‘D.’ Barker’s story selections and lively delivery are what make her a highly sought after classroom reader.

A A R O N D E R E G O

On Friday mornings throughout the winter months, chef and restauranteur, Aaron DeRego, parent of Abigail ’14 and Emilia ’16 and spouse of Early Childhood teacher, Amy Peckham ’86, faithfully creates and serves up a series of signature soups (won-ton, kale, beef stew, and turnip and mushroom to name a few) with the goal of feeding our faculty during the coldest and snowiest months of winter. Aaron is also sharing his expertise as an advisor during the design and construction phase of the canteen renovation project commencing this summer. “As owner of the Back Eddy in Westport, Aaron’s restaurant expertise has been an invaluable asset to us through the planning and execution of this project,” said Jodi Pink, development director. (See full story on page 27.)

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T R I S H L A D I N O

Dresser to the stars, Trish Ladino (P’15 and ’15) has outfitted every student thespian from Snow White to the Oompa Loompas. With a sewing machine, a big imagination, and access to a treasure trove of costumes in the FA attic (many of which she has helped to create, collect, and maintain over the years) Trish ably and efficiently puts her expertise to the test, creating colorful and whimsical ensembles for each and every member of a cast. Willy Wonka, Jr., the seventh and eighth grade musical this year, marked what just may be her second to last show (daughters Alessandra and Alyssa graduate next year). Trish has helped to conduct a massive inventory and organization project for the drama department, cataloging, sizing, and efficiently storing the hundreds of costumes in our collection. “Trish’s contribution is immeasurable and invaluable…she is creative and passionate about student drama and her organization skills are phenomenal,” says Jim Bean, drama director.

P A U L I N A A R R U D A

Planning, prepping for, and running a week-long book fair and author’s festival all while keeping up the normal pace of running a Lower School library is no easy task. Thanks to the efforts of Paulina Arruda, past parent of Matthew ’13 and wife of trustee, Henry Arruda, Friends Academy is able to conduct a major fundraising event, host a guest author or two, and most importantly, prepare students by familiarizing them with the guest author’s work in advance of the event. “The more our students are prepared, the better Authorfest is,” says librarian, Janice Griffin, “and Paulina plays an invaluable role in that process. She is organized, purposeful, and on site for the entire week of the event, as well as helping with preparation, planning, and wrap up.”

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There are many ways to become involved in volun-

teering at Friends Academy and opportunities are

matched to meet individual’s availability, whether

for a day, a week, or on a seasonal basis. Although

we could easily fill an entire issue of Blue and Gray

with the people who serve as volunteers here, we

have chosen instead, to highlight a handful, and

to dedicate their stories to the many who help us

throughout the year by sharing their gifts.

A sincere thank you to all.

S U S A N M E A D

Chances are you have paused to admire the pedestal planters at both the front and side entrances to the school, or glanced through the doors to the Beech Tree Terrace and noticed the abundance of flowering vines and blossoms spilling from the planters placed along the stonewall. These colorful accents are the work of Susan Mead (parent of Lydia ’14 and Grace ’16) who for the last six years has quietly beautified our campus, reliably and effectively, with just the right touch of color, texture, and flow. Susan changes the plantings four times a year bringing an array of seasonal varieties that delight the eye and are never ordinary.

This spring, a ceramic tile installation that has been over two years in the making will be complete. A labor of love and friendship spearheaded by Mika Seeger, parent of Isabelle Long ’14 and prominent Tiverton artist, the mural-making project has involved the entire Friends community. Students, teachers, and parents have joined in the process of creating and installing meaningful art in a well-traveled corridor of a newly-renovated wing of the school.

Early in 2012, Seeger met with Melinda Foley-Marsello, Head of the Lower School, to discuss an idea she had for a school mural project. “I wanted to give some-thing back,” said Mika, “but I’m not really good with computers or committees.”

At the same time, the school having recently com-pleted renovations to the Lower School, was looking for a way to add art to the big blank wall in the stair-well leading to the kindergarten, first, and second grade classrooms. “I knew of Mika’s work,” said Melinda. “She has a beautiful mural in the Tiverton Library and her niche is with projects that involve communities. It quickly became apparent that Mika was the artist who could creatively lead an all school project and that she would transform the space spectacularly.”

Mika Seeger has been independently creating murals for over twenty years and has 21 installations to her credit. “Every mural I’ve made has been different from the one that came before,” she says. Her work

Installed!

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can be seen in downtown Providence at India Point Park, at Kennedy Plaza, along the beach in Narragan-sett, at the Norman Bird Sanctuary in Middletown, and in numerous schools, libraries, and hospitals. Her first mural, completed in the early 1990s when she returned to the states after living in Nicaragua, is installed at the Beacon Sloop Club, in her hometown of Beacon, New York.

As a muralist, Mika works frequently with Peter Geisser, a RI-based artist-educator with whom she has been collaborating for the past ten years. Geisser, an accomplished stained glass and mosaic artist taught art at Rhode Island School for the Deaf for many years receiving numerous honors including the RI Pell Award for his work in art education, so it was no surprise that Seeger called him in to collaborate on the Friends Academy project.

The artists’ vision for the school centered on inter-preting the concept of friendship, and work began when Ms. Seeger visited art teacher Wendy Goldsmith’s Friday afternoon Art Studio students in the spring of 2012. “We spent our first day talking about friend-ship and what it means for kids to be a good friend,” Seeger says. As the conversation unfolded, images emerged and the students began molding clay to resemble what they saw as symbols of friendship—helping hands, pets, and items related to sports and games. The items were glazed, fired and then set aside. Eventually they would form the basis for the trunk of the giant beech tree at the center of the mural.

The following fall, nine new students signed up for the Friday afternoon Art Studio class. Unbeknown to them, soon they would be creating life-sized sculptures of themselves that would one day be a permanent fixture in their school. Charlotte Gebhard, Laney Goodrich, Molly Kracke, Mira Michaud, Maddy Pelissier, Noah Sylvia, Anthony Vallone, Xzavia Williams, and Alex Bellora set about the process with a mixture of excitement and aplomb.

M I K A S E E G E R A N D

O U R S C H O O L - W I D E

C O L L A B O R A T I O N

by Kyle Riseley

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Geisser and Seeger brought in a spotlight and long rolls of paper and asked each student to “strike a pose.” Anthony Vallone sat down cross-legged and assumed a meditative posture. Maddy Pelissier sculpted herself with her arms in the air. “I don’t know why, but when they said, ‘strike a pose’ I put my arms in the air. That’s what I usually do when someone says that.” Laney Goodrich’s figure is sliding down the banister on her back. As the students held their poses, Geisser and Seeger traced their outlines onto white paper forming patterns.

Next, students began the process of working with clay, building and shaping their figures in two-and- a-half dimensions. They were given guidelines for thickness and each piece was hollowed to a desired thickness to minimize the firing time. “The thicker the piece, the longer it takes to fire, and the slower you have to fire it to prevent breakage,” says Seeger, describing the painstaking process of first “bisque firing” pieces at the school, and then re-firing in her Tiverton kiln to much higher temperatures. Meanwhile, with a theme of “friendship” at the core of the project, Ms. Seeger wanted everyone in the school to participate. She came to campus throughout the 2012-13 school year, working with the clay studio students and with kids in all art classes from early childhood to grade eight, as well as with faculty and staff.

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Seeger visited art classes and helped teach students to create the ceramic objects that make up the back-ground of the composition. Using a mosaic approach, the background of the wall is comprised of hundreds of small clay objects. “The youngest students created tiny hand prints that to them communicate friendli-ness and the act of waving or greeting one another,” says Mika. “Kindergartners made hearts; first grade—letters and numbers; second grade—celestial objects; third grade—birds and insects; fourth grade—human and animal faces; fifth grade—sea creatures; sixth grade—garden vegetables and leaves; seventh grade—food; and eighth grade—land animals.”

The nine life-sized student figures underwent a pains-takingly careful installation process to adhere them to the wall with valuable help, notes Seeger, from Gilly Medeiros and his crew.

The business of adding smaller tiles to fill in the places in between and around the figures fell to volunteers from our parent and faculty community who arrived religiously from January to May. Seeger and her volunteers met on the stairway, applying mortar to the back of the tiles and securing them to the wall leaving cracks no more than ! inch for grouting. Once all the tiles are in place, a dark gray grout is applied to complete the composition.

In the end, this project speaks volumes about the value of “community,” a word we often employ, but rarely stop to consider. Through the effort and vision of Melinda Foley-Marsello, and visionary volunteer, Mika Seeger, who acted as self-described “gang leaders” and rallied our entire school community, we have created a beautiful and original work of art that will grace our halls for generations to come.

Every one of us contributes to the strength of our school by finding a way to give back, whether it is by serving on a committee, shelving books in the library, helping out in the development office, volunteering in a classroom, baking for a class party, or adding mortar to the back of a mosaic. The success of our school is dependent upon the contributions of each member of this unique and caring community—dedicated volunteers and talented individuals taking time from their busy lives to give back.

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Transitioning and placement into high school from the Sally Borden Program at Friends Academy is a yearlong process that begins when students are in seventh grade. Together with their parents, students are invited to informational meetings in the spring of their seventh grade year. A calendar is provided to each family outlining a step-by-step process for mak-ing the transition into high school. Above all, we try to encourage students and their families to approach the process with an open mind.

Just like the college search, each family should explore all types of schools, identifying and applying to “reach,” “target,” and “safety” schools. Kids change; it’s a fact, and during eighth grade students change dramatically! Subsequently, a school that may have been a top choice in October may no longer be an option in March, and vice-versa.

Throughout the 8th grade year, students meet regularly with their advisor/teacher to discuss the transition process. They are taught that finding the right school can be challenging and stressful, but

never impossible. Looking for the right “fit” depends upon many factors. First, kids need to be honest with themselves about their strengths and weaknesses. They need to find a school where the teaching style matches their learning style. We recommend that parents encourage their kids to apply to at least three or four schools, and that they talk regularly with their child during this important transition year.

It is not unusual for eighth grade students, and/or their parents, to change their minds during this placement process. My goal is to assist each family in finding the right school for their child and it is my hope that each child will graduate from this “right school.” Keeping an open mind and remaining flexi-ble may be the two most important qualities of this process.

Early in the process students practice good interview techniques, practice filling out applications with sample forms, and develop good questions to utilize during interviews with admissions personnel.

by Steven Robitaille Middle School

SBP Teacher and Placement Counselor

The Next Step: T R A N S I T I O N I N G T O H I G H S C H O O L F R O M

T H E S A L L Y B O R D E N P R O G R A M

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A bright spot in the year is enjoying the letters of acceptance students receive in late winter and early spring. This is also the time of year when we help students come to terms with those inevitable rejection letters. Our central goal is to help students understand that through rejections, schools are really saying, “we can’t meet your needs.” It is never a question of being “good enough,” and although this can be a stressful time, the emotional growth in students is incredibly exciting to witness.

Finally, to reiterate my personal mantra, when look-ing for the right placement, it is important to keep an open mind and explore all kinds of schools, be they private, public, parochial, boarding or day. Equally important is finding good matches in terms of teaching philosophy, methods, materials and aca-demic support that match the student’s learning style. These are the key elements in the process of finding the best placement that will surely lay the foundation for a bright and productive future for our students.

T H E S A L L Y B O R D E N P R O G R A M A T F R I E N D S A C A D E M Y E I G H T H G R A D E T R A N S I T I O N C A L E N D A R

April/May Initial meeting with Steve Robitaille and Katherine Gaudet to review the transition process.Families begin discussions about the transition.

June to AugustStudents receive an updated evaluation.

SeptemberParents begin contacting potential schools to arrange parent visits (student visits occur after school opens in the fall).Students adjust to Middle School program and routines.Student files are reviewed. Advisor groups meet and discuss placements.

Register for SSAT (you may request untimed or special accommodations, talk to Steve about formal letter request).

October/NovemberParents’ Night. Parent-teacher conferences.Students begin visiting potential schools. Parents should schedule these visits beginning as early as late October.Students begin applying to schools.

December/January Families narrow list of potential schools.Students finish applying to schools. All requests for letters of recommendation must be submitted to the appropriate teachers by December 1st.All requests for transfer of transcripts must be made in writing by December 1st.Students fill out applications to schools with teacher and parent support.

February2nd trimester mid-term reports.

March /AprilFamilies who are considering other schools narrow list and make final decision.2nd parent-teacher conference—status report on applica-tion process, discussion of next year’s education plan and initial determination about next year’s academic support.

May/JuneFollow-up discussions as necessary.

We recommend that parents apply to at least three or four schools and that you talk regularly with your child during this eighth grade transition year. It is not unusual to have eighth graders and/or their parents change their minds during this placement process. Our goal is to assist you in finding the right school for your child and it is our hope that your child will graduate from this “right school.” Keeping an open mind and remaining flexible may be the most important qualities during this process.

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Not a day goes by that I don’t think of Malala Yousafzai. Last year, the Middle School Human Rights Advocacy Group spent the duration of the year talking about her story. She opened our eyes to a pervasive injustice: the denial of education to many young people all over the world. Since then, Malala has become an international symbol for the fight for global education and she continues to be our source of inspiration.

At the start of the 2013-2014 school year the Advocacy group, made up of a dynamic and dedicated corps of 8th graders, had no problem picking up where many of them left off as 7th graders. Co-facilitator Blinn Dorsey and I shared a common goal: to use the Friends’ celebration of Peace Day as a catalyst for teaching about the deep connection between human rights and peace.

I can think of few conversations we’ve had about human rights that do not also relate to peace. We started the year identifying basic human rights and came up with: food, water, shelter, education, medical care, and equality. Much of advocacy education theory suggests beginning by building a focused awareness and mindfulness in students that can lead to broader “teachable” moments.

Advocacy:This philosophy informed our goals and approach.

As advisors, Blinn and I knew we wanted to shape the year around a discussion of global human rights, and that we needed some sort of accessible “hook” to do so. We eventually decided on using Human Rights Day, an annual celebration on December 10th that commemorates the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, crafted in part by Eleanor Roosevelt, and ratified by the UN in 1948. The declaration serves as a framework for many of our discussions as we consider the challenges to living peacefully in a world where many don’t even have what they need to survive, let alone thrive.

In the fall, members of Advocacy created a presenta-tion for All-School Meeting that reaffirmed the historical significance and relevance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Advocacy students made flags, each painted with a symbol for a particu-lar human right. In All-School Meeting, members each read a different article of the Declaration and held up a corresponding flag. Next, they presented each grade K-5, with a flag and announced their plans to visit Lower School classrooms after the holiday break.

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by Morgan Lord, Middle School Social Studies Teacher

Acting for ChangeBeginning in January, Advocacy members began planning mini-classes to teach lower schoolers about human rights on a class-by-class basis. Students wrote questions, planned activities and games, and focused their presentations around the grade level of their audience, highlighting the extraordinary work people are doing all over the world to secure basic human rights. They asked questions like: “What is shelter and why do we need it?” “What are some causes of hunger?” “When people do not have clean water, what happens to a society?” While the student presen-tations shed light on the harsh reality that basic human rights are unavailable to millions, they also introduced ways people are taking action to improve conditions, and how those actions are making an impact. Our Advocacy students acknowledged that the lack of basic human rights is not a far away problem, and that many here in the United States, and even Massachusetts struggle to get by.

In each 30-minute class, Advocacy members led thoughtful discussions and gently addressed some sophisticated topics with the younger students, presenting lessons that were age appropriate, while careful not to over-simplify and dilute the content. As we reconvened after each class, several of the

Advocacy members remarked how surprisingly astute and participatory the Lower School students had been expressing a steadfast sense of hope and a desire to find a way to make a difference.

As witness to this process over the course of the school year, what never escapes my mind is the power of students working together and learning from each other. Those experiences build over time and have implications far beyond the classroom. John Hunter, an inspiring social justice educator, and author and designer of The World Peace Game and Other Lessons from a Fourth Grade Classroom, writes: “Knowledge, creativity and wisdom: that’s what I try to foster in my students. And then I want to teach them what I believe to be the ultimate point of education and everything else, which is simply to express compassion in the world.” It is my sincere hope that our Advocacy group is encouraging and fostering that kind of com-passion, and I am regularly impressed by the maturity and thoughtfulness of the students in our group, and throughout the school.

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This year’s Science Expo was, as expected, a testament to the hands-on, inquiry-based approach to science instruction that has made it a hallmark of the Friends Academy Middle School experience. While eighth graders exhibited impressive and original experiments, the seventh grade students created disaster proof structures as a culmination of their earth science unit. Choosing between a home or a bridge that could withstand a tsunami or earthquake brought out the industrious nature of our hardworking seventh-grade science students, and creativity abounded in the designs and approaches they took.

Having already been introduced to engineering design principles (using Sketch-Up software during the Dream House project) in sixth-grade, the seventh-graders applied their knowledge of science, technology, engineering and math to the design of a house or bridge that could resist environmental disasters.

Each student had been assigned a country earlier in the school year as part of an earth science research project. With the purpose of providing continuity and further depth of study, students maintained the same assigned country to be used as a social indentifier for this project. They had to research the country’s economics to determine its GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Based on the financial resources of their country, they calculated a budget for materials to be purchased. Early in the project, students realized that the financial and natural resources of a particular

S C I E N C ETHE INTERSECTION OF SCIENCE AND CULTURE

E X P O by Sean Hamer, Middle School Head

country had a direct impact on the design of their project.

Sonia Nieto, Professor Emerita of Language, Literacy and Culture at the School of Education, UMass, Amherst, and author of Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education, defines multicultural education as “antiracist basic education for all students that permeates all areas of schooling and is characterized by a commitment to social justice and critical approaches to learning.” Through the addition of a cultural identifier, Friends’ science students compared their financial resources to one another and felt the differentiation of economic resources among them.

An option was given to students representing countries with limited resources allowing them to use natural resources at no additional cost to their budget. It was this factor that led to much creativity, as students traversed the school grounds, their neighbor-hoods, or backyards to acquire the leaves, sticks, stones, soil, etc., that would best replicate the supplies their nation could not purchase. Students quickly began to see the socioeconomic variances between countries, and the kinds of factors people encounter when faced with economic challenges.

It is this level of critical thinking and cultural inclusivity that models the best practices of twenty- first-century education. Projects of this nature help

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students to understand the greater world around them, the implications of economic status and the differences in the lifstyles of people representing the greater global community. As students explained the reasoning behind their designs, it became clear that many had made connections to the country or culture they represented.

Students could speak to both the trial and error in the engineering design process as well as the design’s relationship to the climate, culture and resources (or lack thereof) of their respective country. The benefits of our one-to-one laptop program were also apparent as each student displayed videos of the structural integrity tests of their designs. Students were able to witness the flaws and successes of various designs and note the adjustments and improvements they could make to their designs moving forward.

While many educational institutions struggle to find the nexus between social issues and scientific princi-ples, this project neatly embedded both. Teachers, students and parents walked away feeling empowered about the student learning that resulted from the successful completion of the project in addition to the validation students felt from presenting that understanding to an audience by way of a Science Expo. All parties contributed to a powerful curricular experience that left life lessons and cultural under-standings for years to come.

S E V E N T H G R A D E P R O J E C T S I N C O R P O R A T E M U L T I C U L T U R A L E D U C A T I O N W I T H

T H E P R I N C I P L E S O F S C I E N C E , T E C H N O L O G Y , E N G I N E E R I N G , A N D M A T H ( S T E M )

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by Kyle Riseley with Jodi Pink and Jennifer Pope

A Carnival

This year, Friends Academy put on a winter carnival in late February. It was a spirited gathering, a colorful and festive evening that brought together families, faculty, friends and even some recent alumni for one of our most successful fundraising efforts to date.

The sellout crowd braved a February thunderstorm complete with thunder, lightning, and torrential rain to share in what Head of School, Steve Barker called “an evening of old-fashioned carnival hoopla.”

There seemed to be something for everyone. From the moment children and their families set foot inside the door they were greeted by an exquisite and mysterious hand-painted carney mural, created by professional scene painter, Paula Bird (parent of Audrey ’14 and Emmett ’18). Paula was inspired by the old fashioned traveling carnivals she remembered as a child and wanted to create a similar feel and build a sense of excitement and curiosity about what was lying around the corner. She also enveloped the lobby pillars with red and green painted designs, and cre-ated yet another colorful entrance sign for the Magic Show, held in the Library, with three scheduled performances.

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for the Canteen 2014

Volunteers outfitted in tie-dyed Friends Academy t-shirts hung coats in the conference room and guided children to the sign-in table where they could person-alize a gift bag to carry their prizes. Now they were free to wander the halls, stopping in various class-rooms to take part in activities like hat making, face painting, hair braiding, or rainbow looming. For those looking for answers, there was Madame Leia Maria, the fortune-teller, with a crystal ball, exotic accent, and a monk-like bodyguard named, Mustafa.

The Commons was “Command Central” for the active set where two bouncy houses kept kids jump-ing. Once they had worked up an appetite, there was pizza in the canteen along with popcorn, cotton candy, fresh fruit with frozen yogurt, cookies and beverages for all. A brightly lit midway filled with colorful games, many of them built by Charley Pelissier and his woodshop students, provided enter-tainment and challenging fun for children of all ages and stages. Sailboats were sailing and frogs were jumping and a rather large troll strolled around the room accompanied by a clown-like bodyguard.

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At the center of the midway was a photo booth (also constructed in the Friends Academy Woodshop) and built to resemble a Victorian living room. Open picture frames hung on wallpapered walls and antique furniture provided plenty of possibilities for costumed posers. FA technology director, Christine Moore-Berube operated the camera and doled out props including, boas, hats, mustaches, and pirate gear. Without question, smiles and laughter ruled the evening.

Many people helped to create the games, food, decorations, and activities. Under the able and cheerful direction of committee chair Heidi Holland (parent of Nils ’16 and Sophie ’21) and Katie Goodfellow (parent of Alden Beals ’20) the Carnival for the Canteen benefitted from the expertise of Alison Costa (parent of Mia ’19 and Ella ’21) who shared face painting talents, Sonya Bradford (parent of Lyla ’22) whose catering chops helped in the planning, visualiz-ing, and installation of a colorful tented theme, and Alyn Carlson (grandmother of Levi Parker ’17) who brought her hat-making artistry to the fair. Student and faculty volunteers and alumni helpers, Lexi Pope ’13, Hannah Terry ’13, Mackenzie ’08 and Maddiy Reimer ’11 ran the games and saw to the smooth flow and fun spirit of the evening. Aaron DeRego provided the deli-cious and popular frozen yogurt, and Gilly Medeiros and his crew got everyone parked and also kept the lights on when they faltered. The entire event was reflective of the strengths and virtues of community, as we know it, here at Friends Academy.

In sum, the Carnival for the Canteen was a lively and memorable evening, all in support of a worthy cause. The renovated canteen will surely add to our program strength and to that sense of the possible that continues to propel our school forward.

Sincere thanks to everyone who made the magic happen!

A Kitchen ClassroomThe FA Canteen, adjacent to the art studios and the gymnasium, is an over-utilized space that serves as a launch pad for many food-related activities on campus. Pizza Day, Sub Day, and Wrap Day, all are orchestrated from the little corner kitchen. On Fridays in the winter, Chef Aaron DeRego serves soup to the faculty there. Afterschool cooking classes taught by DeRego and other volunteers also take place in the canteen. When a Constellation Group decides to embark on a service project that involves food—like baking dog biscuits for a local animal shelter—it all takes place in the canteen.

“As the central staging area for all institutional events that involve food, the canteen is well used and currently under-equipped,” says school head, Steve Barker. That is until now. Thanks to the vision of our resident restaurateur, (DeRego) and the fundraising success of our recent Winter Carnival, a canteen renovation project is underway that will soon result in a clean, efficient, new workspace. “Aaron’s sage advice is helping us visualize and design a modern canteen that will be clean, efficient, easy to maintain, and if all goes according to plan, ready for classroom use in September,” says Barker.

The Carnival raised $48,000 to be used toward the renovation, reports development director, Jodi Pink. A pre-event online gift registry, gave registrants and

guests an opportunity to equip the canteen with everything from refrigeration and a new stove to cookware, cutlery, utensils, flatware, mixing bowls, gadgets, and serving pieces. Before the Carnival doors even opened, the lions’ share of fundraising was in hand and registrants had purchased every-thing from All-Clad cookware, to muffin and cake pans of all shapes and sizes, measuring cups, spatulas, dishes, a mixer, colanders, cutting boards, cookie sheets, and more.

Beside the obvious advantages of improving our kitchen space for after-school programs and activi-ties, teachers are planning ways they can utilize the space to incorporate cooking into their lesson plans. In the fifth grade, lessons that integrate cooking into the social studies curriculum will help teach students about the agricultural practices and cultural mores of the various time periods they study. Across the grades, mathematical concepts can be taught utiliz-ing concrete examples of measurement, fractions, ratios and conversions. All students will benefit from an appreciation for healthy eating choices and a love of cooking.

The project is in the design and planning stage of development with John Montano of Clearwater Architects on board to begin construction over the summer.

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“Is there anyone here who likes to practice?” asks Ariadne Daskalakis, professional violinist, who visited campus in early spring to play for us at All-School Meeting. A few days later she was back to conduct a master class with six middle school musicians— two violinists, a cellist, and three pianists.

The parent of two Friends Academy student musicians (Julia ’14 plays piano and Manu ’19 plays the violin) and a world renowned performer whose career has taken her all over the globe, Ms. Daskalakis admitted that there were times in her youth when she didn’t always want to practice. “You get to a certain place however, and you realize that you’ve put so much time into it, that it just doesn’t make sense to stop. So you practice.”

Over lunch, this master violinist, whose career includes solo appearances with the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Cologne Chamber Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, and the Stuttgart Philharmonic and Athens State Orchestra, asked students about their training. She learned that most had begun playing between the ages of seven and nine with some starting as early as five, and she shared a laugh as the kids remembered the names of some of their earliest pieces, in particu-lar, a song called “The Happy Farmer” that brought shudders of remembered torture.

As the conversation shifted from practice to performance, students were asked if they ever felt nervous. They talked about shaky hands and feelings of light headedness. “Feeling nervous is normal,” Ms. Daskalakis told them. “Remember that nervous-ness is your body helping itself by moving into high concentration mode, which ultimately helps your performance.”

Students were also reminded of the tools musicians employ to ease the process of preparing for a recital. “Eating well is an easy way to improve your perfor-mance,” noted the violinist, reminding them not to eat fatty foods before a recital. Other areas over which they have some control are concentration, mindful-ness, and preparedness. “Does anyone know about the First Time Test ?” she asked, and proceeded to explain that when a performer sits down to practice a particular piece of music, the first time through is the truthful one, meaning that though one may play the piece three more times to get it right, it is the first rendition that matters in a recital. “Practice the piece to perfection and then walk away. When you sit down and play it again, play it once through. You want your first play-through to be your best. That way you’ll be better prepared in recital. Now, who wants to go first?”

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In the beginning, it was Isaac Blinn who stepped forward to play Prokofiev on the school’s new baby grand piano. “Something from Romeo and Juliet,” he announced. Next on piano, Sekou Hamer played a contemporary piece, The Dream Catcher, by Jennifer Linn. After each performance, master teacher Daskalakis approached the piano and quietly spoke with each student before sharing feedback with the rest of the assembled musicians. Sometimes, she had the student play the piece a second time to demon-strate a technique.

Sophia Yates played a Paganini concerto giving Daskalakis an opportunity to demonstrate the physics behind harmonics along with some practice tips. Posture, contact of the bow to the string, and positioning of the fingers and their distance from the bridge are all factors that affect the sound, she said. “These are the tools at your disposal and they all affect the sound of your instrument.”

Isabelle Blinn played a Mozart concerto (No. 3 in G). “People put a lot of time into evaluating how to get the best sound out of a violin,” explained Daskalakis, as she had Isabelle demonstrate the different possible positions—elbow high or low— that affect sound. Her instruction demonstrated how a simple change in the position of an arm can make a huge difference in the quality of the sound from a violin. With the encouragement of her teacher,

Isabelle played the opening of the concerto with more mobility in her elbow and suddenly, the sound coming from her instrument opened up considerably. Fingers, wrist, elbow, arm, these are all possible ways to manipulate a bow, and as different muscles are employed, the sound changes.

The class closed with a powerful rendition of a section of Beethoven’s Sonata Number 8, Opus 13 in C minor (Sonata Pathetique), played by Greg Schneider. “The words of a teacher are often taken lightly but the advice of a recognized master should never be overlooked,” he said after the class. “I have partici-pated in a few master classes before, always coming away with a fresh perspective and renewed faith in my ability.”

Music teacher, Jackie Maillet, selected the students to participate in the master class based on their interest in performance. “I knew I had some serious strings players and then I looked for advanced piano students who were focused on performance,” she said. Maillet is hoping to bring more artists to the school for master classes next year. “Ariadne Daskalakis set the bar high,” she said. “She is nurturing and professional, a consummate performer and educator who treats her students with respect as fellow musicians, and provides them with valuable lessons that will last a lifetime.”

by Kyle Riseley

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C L A S S D A YC E L E B R A T I N G T H E P R O M I S E

O F T H E C L A S S O F 2 0 1 3

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The accomplishments of Friends Academy eighth graders were celebrated at annual Class Day festivities on Wednesday, June 12, 2013. Outside, beneath the Beech Tree Terrace on Tucker Road, Head of School, Stephen Barker and Head of Middle School, Sean Hamer presided. Class Day marked the completion of eighth grade for 31 members of the Class of 2013, who this year hailed from the towns of Dartmouth, Mattapoisett, Marion, New Bedford, Rochester, Fairhaven, Seekonk, Assonet, Freetown, Dighton, Berkley, and East Sandwich. In his welcoming remarks, Head of School Barker cited the words of former Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes as food for thought: “I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity,” he said. “Holmes was warning us about settling for the easy answer to difficult issues,” said Barker. “I join Justice Holmes and urge you to avoid simple answers, and concentrate instead on the quality of the questions you ask.” The headmaster then asked the audience to join him in “celebrating the promise of the Class of 2013, as we send them into the wider world, well and purposely prepared for the next segment of their journey.”

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2 0 1 3 G R A D U A T E S D E S T I N A T I O N H I G H S C H O O L

Matthew Rocha Arruda Proctor Academy

Bendrix Nakuusiaq Bailey* Tabor Academy

Margaret May Cannell St. George’s School

Ashley Ainsworth Cern Providence Country Day

Sarah Elizabeth Crosby* Tabor Academy

Courtney Ann Greenspan Bishop Stang High School

Daniel Grubbs-Donovan* Dartmouth High School

Allen Louis Jarabek III Holderness School

Dylan Thomas Jarabek Bishop Stang High School

Christopher Ryan Kearley Tabor Academy

James Brown Lanagan IV Portsmouth Abbey

Emerson Rand Lawton* Tabor Academy

Jonathan LeBlanc Unger Fairhaven High School

Lucas Lomba Dartmouth High School

Jonathan Edward Mabie Tabor Academy

Phoebe Alexandra Mock Tabor Academy

Brendon Patrick OKeefe Dartmouth High School

Keegan Charles Pelissier Putney School

Sophie Catherine Polonsky Bishop Stang High School

Alexandra Jane Pope* Providence Country Day

Jonathan George Reimer Moses Brown School

Cody Matthew Reynolds-Sylvia Dartmouth High School

Eleanor Claire Russell* Tabor Academy

Makenzie Nicole Smith* New Bedford High School

Sophie Ann Stockwell Cape Cod Academy

Hannah Nicole Terry St. Mary Bay View Academy

Nathaniel Auclair Vargas Middlebridge School

Caroline Elizabeth Veale* Moses Brown School

Nicholas Daniel Velcea* Portsmouth Abbey

Emma Joseline Anabel Walsh Bishop Stang High School

Cassandra Elizabeth Zammito Bishop Stang High School

*denotes academic distinction

Class President, Nicholas Velcea, of Dartmouth, gave the Class Address, and Student Council President, Caroline Veale, also of Dartmouth, presented the school with a gift from the Student Council.

Four students were honored with awards: The Clifford Cup for Excellence in the Visual Arts

was awarded to Emerson Lawton. The Friends Award recognizing citizenship, positive

attitude, and class spirit was awarded to Alexandra Pope and Hannah Terry.

The Head of School Award for scholarship and a love of learning that exemplify the academic traditions of the school was awarded to Eleanor Russell.

First grade teacher, Nancy Fletcher, was honored with the Claudia McClure Daggett Distinguished Service Award. Mrs. Fletcher retired after a 32-year teaching career at Friends Academy.

A L U M N I P R O F I L E

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S I P P I C A N L A N D S T R U S T E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R

by Kyle Riseley

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“I’ve always been an outdoors person and realize that just about everything I’ve done in my life has prepared me for the job I have today.” As Executive Director of the Sippican Lands Trust (SLT) in her hometown of Marion, Massachusetts, Robin (Arms) Shields ’86 is a passionate advocate for land and coastal waterways. “The environment has always been an important part of my life,” says Robin, who grew up in the harborside town on Buzzard’s Bay, surrounded by woods, fields, and streams.

Robin spent a lot of time hiking, sailing, skiing, and rock climbing—growing up on the water and going to college in the mountains of New Hampshire. “I have always found comfort in the woods as well as on the water,” she says. The time Robin spent outdoors cemented her connection to the coastal environment she holds dear.

Robin attended Friends Academy and remembers experiences like the seventh grade week-long camping and canoeing trip to Chewonki, Maine, and the prevalence of campus open space and the way teachers used nature as a classroom. Today, she and her husband Tim, also an avid outdoorsperson who enjoys duck and upland game hunting and fishing, send their two children, Abby (grade 5) and Ben (grade 1) to Friends Academy. They believe in the school’s emphasis on outdoor education and value the way children grow up learning to love the outdoors while also recognizing the importance of land and water conservation and environmental sustainability at an early age.

“I love the after-school activities like mountain biking and organic gardening that take place here,” says Robin, “Kids can really get their hands dirty and their boots muddy.” She cites the prevalence of hiking trails that criss-cross the 65 acres of woods, vernal pools, rivers, and open fields on campus, allowing teachers to weave nature and the outdoors through everything they do.

Robin also believes that recess is an important part of the school day and likes that her children are encour-aged to bring their snow clothes and boots to school in the winter and to always be prepared to spend time out of doors. “The research is indisputable,” she says, “fresh air is good for developing gray matter, and kids really work better when they are allowed to take time out for physical activity during the school day.”

When Robin graduated from Friends, she attended Tabor Academy, where she was active on the school’s field hockey, squash, and lacrosse teams and took courses in marine and nautical science. She began volunteering early as a Class Reunion committee chair and a member of the Headmaster’s Council. Her volunteerism continues to this day. At Friends, she has served as co-president of the Parent Association and as a room parent, committee chair, and tireless volunteer for events, including Spring Swing, and as a member of the Bicentennial Campaign Steering Committee.

But it was at Dartmouth College where Robin, while earning a BA in psychology with an Elementary Education certificate, feels that her interest in environmental stewardship and education solidified. During that time she became active with the Dartmouth Outing Club and her roots in the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School (HIOBS) took hold. She eventually became a HIOBS instructor for students ranging in age from early teens to late six-ties in courses that focused on developing self-reliance, interpersonal communication, environmental aware-ness and technical skills through participation in activities like sailing, rock climbing, kayaking, and overnight solos.

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She also spent one memorable semester at sea, crew-ing aboard a 36-ft sailboat bound for the Caribbean from New England. The trip was an eye opening time for the college sophomore who visited over 16 differ-ent islands with three other crew members, all from Outward Bound. She remembers finding her way around small villages on foot, looking to purchase eggs and fresh produce for use on board the boat. But it was an experience on one island in particular that has stayed with her over the years.

“We were on the island of Dominica and it was ‘Carnival’ season,” Robin relates. The regional holiday coincides with Mardi Gras and is a time for island-wide celebrating in the streets. “People were laughing and dancing in the streets to the blaring beat of boom boxes and it was quite a spectacle. As Americans, we were well aware of a visible level of poverty on the island and had been warned of the dangers of staying out after dark,” she said. So when the group discov-ered they had lost the keys to their anchored sailboat, they became concerned.

“I learned a huge lesson in cultural preconception that day,” says Robin. “Within minutes of hearing about our lost keys, and in the midst of all the partying, numerous local people stopped everything and formed a circle searching the ground until we found them. The entire street full of people pitched in to help us. It was a lesson for me in human nature--that you have to be careful, there certainly was risk there, but you can’t prejudge people based on economic or cultural differences.”

After graduating from Dartmouth College, Robin continued working for the Outward Bound School teaching in both their Maine and Florida Sea Programs. She later moved to Boston and applied for a Patagonia sponsored environmental internship in coastal zone management. She helped implement the Citizen’s Water Quality Monitoring Program for the Buzzards Bay Coalition and soon after, enrolled in a Master of Arts graduate program in Marine Policy at the University of Rhode Island.

Robin strongly believes that her job today, running the non-profit Sippican Land Trust organization is the right job at the right time of her life. “Running a non-profit is about commitment and being passionate about service to a cause that you believe in,” she says. With the position comes a lot of responsibility, including fundraising, stewardship, educational out-reach, marketing and communication, and land management.

“My Friends education gave me the confidence and ability to write well and advocate for myself, Robin reports. It also taught me to appreciate my educational opportunities which in turn obliges me to give back to my community and beyond.”

These days, Robin’s attention is focused on steward-ship. “At the land trust, we are in the process of making our acquired properties more accessible to the community,” she says. The SLT is a member-based, non-profit environmental organization founded in

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1974 for the purpose of acquisition, management, and the protection of natural areas in Marion.

“We currently protect 1382 acres of undeveloped land in town,” says Robin, “and our focus is on opening more public trails on our properties, restoring habitat for wildlife, building partnerships with the town, and most importantly, expanding our community out-reach programs for outdoor enthusiasts of all ages.”

Robin wants to offer outdoor educational activities that encourage families to use and enjoy the SLT properties. “With competition from organized sports and technology, many young families live busy, overly programmed lives,” she says. “I’m hoping to build an outreach program that will motivate parents to go outside with their children, to have fun, learn some-thing, and to take a moment to slow down and savor the environment surrounding them.”

So far, a program that encourages literacy in nature called “Story Walks for Children” has been a tremen-dous success. “We take the pages of a book, laminate them, and mount them on trees along a path through the woods. Children and their parents read the stories, take a hike, and learn about something new at the same time.” One recent book was The Busy Tree by Jennifer Ward. Pages were hung along a trail on the town’s Peirson Woods property. “We had one family that liked the book so much they visited the trail on eight separate occasions in one summer!” Robin says the family packed a picnic dinner and stopped to dine at the end of the trail where a platform affords a rest-ing place with a water view.

Robin also organized a post-Thanksgiving dog walk at the White Eagle property in Marion. Twenty dogs and forty-five people showed up for a guided two-mile walk through the woods to a cranberry bog. Robin admits that the prevalence of dogs lent a humorous component to the outing. “When you put that many dogs together in close quarters, you never really know what’s going to happen!”

Robin’s next initiative is an Arbor Day Celebration. It’s a free public event that will combine elements of the town’s annual Arbor Day and Clean Up Day, followed by a celebratory fest. The event will involve collaboration by many of the town’s committees including the Tree and Park Committee, Open Space Committee, the Garden Club, Scouts, Recycling, and Green Teams from local schools. “It will be celebra-tory in nature and there will be a climbing wall, a petting zoo, puppets, crafts, and music,” says Robin, who also hopes the day will bring record numbers of volunteers out in force to pick up litter from the town’s common spaces and to celebrate spring.

“We are so fortunate to live in a state that is second only to California in the number of recognized and established land trusts,” says Robin. She wants people to know that no matter where they live, it’s easy to get involved at the local level and an enjoyable way for young families to spend time together.

“We have been blessed with the advantages of a good education, and the gift of being able to live in a beau-tiful place,” Robin says. “My education impels me to give something back.” In Robin’s case, the “giving back” is as an educator and environmental steward in the community in which she grew up and where she is now raising her own family.

Her advice to readers looking to get involved in environmental stewardship at the local level is simple and straightforward: Google your town and visit the town’s website. Is there Open Space? Where is it located? Does your town have a local lands trust office? A tree warden? A Parks Department? If so, figure out how you can support them and get involved.

“We all share a responsibility to the land on which we live,” says Robin. “There’s no better way to honor that land than to get outside and take a hike on it.”

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A L U M N I P R O F I L E

Delivering fresh produce to urban food deserts (so named for those impoverished sections of cities where people lack access to healthy food choices) is just one of the ways that Andy Pollack ’77 is putting his resources to work for the greater good. This Dartmouth sustainable farmer, owner of Silverbrook Farm, is partnering with the Codman Square Health Center, a community focused healthcare service center in Dorchester, that made the news a few years back when they piloted a program allowing healthcare providers to prescribe” fruits and vegetables as part of their health care plan. Known as “Veggie Rx” patients are given vouchers that can be redeemed at the Farmer’s Market in Codman Square to provide families with fresh produce every week.

Pollack and his team deliver fresh produce to Boston year-round. In the winter, they bring root vegetables, eggs, jams, and other prepared foods as well as cheeses, breads, locally raised meats, and fresh fish from neighboring farms and suppliers. The farmers in Dartmouth and Westport have joined forces and formed a co-operative, he says. Together, local growers supply goods at below market prices to keep patients of the Codman Square Health Center sup-plied with healthy choices and first quality goods. Dorchester’s was the first winter’s Farmer’s Market in the city of Boston. Held indoors on Sunday after-noons from January through March, Silverbrook Farm delivers there as well as to local hospitals including Tobey, St. Luke’s, and Charleton.

We caught up with Andy in early April as the weather was just beginning to turn warm following the longest and coldest winter on record. He and his farmhands had just gotten their peas in the ground. We asked him to help us understand his motivation and passion for returning to the family farm. Here’s a bit of background.

Andy returned to the SouthCoast ten years ago, to care for his ailing mother and reclaim the family horse farm converting it over time to a thriving CSA. “Silverbrook Farm is probably one of the oldest

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continually-farmed pieces of land in the Common-wealth,” he says. Established by early Quaker settlers in the seventeenth century, the farm operated contin-uously over the next three hundred years. Pollack’s family bought the property in the 1950’s and ran it as a horse farm. Andy was raised there, attending Friends Academy from the time he was a young child until the eighth grade.

He remembers “really great teachers, like the Hankwitzes and Kathleen Fair.” And he can tell you the exact location of his plaque (in the hallway along the ramp, until it was moved, along with all the copper plaques from the 60s and 70s to the Commons last year) and that it was decorated with horseshoes and had a farming theme. “Friends Academy provided a great education for me,” he says, “and it propelled me through life. It’s where I learned how to think, and study, and it developed in me a love of learning for learning’s sake.”

But the image he most carries with him from those early days at Friends are of its beautiful rolling campus and of ice skating in the woods. “It was Dartmouth at its most pristine,” he says. When he moved back to the family farm ten years ago, he knew he wanted to do his part to preserve the beauty of the area. One of the first things he did was to see that

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his farmland was put into APR (Agriculture Protection Restriction) ensuring the farm will be preserved as farmland in perpetuity.

“If you want to see farmland when you drive around Dartmouth,” Andy says, “you need to support that. Farms don’t exist on their own. They have to have a purpose and they need a market. In the words of Michael Pollan, the food and nature author, ‘Eat your view,’” he says.

Supporting local farms can be a simple and satisfying process. By purchasing a share in a CSA farm, you agree to provide a farmer with a reliable source of income in exchange for viable goods in the form of fresh fruit, vegetables, flowers, and more. You are also helping to preserve the land and the rural character of your community, as well as supporting the farmer’s pledge to protect the watershed using sustainable methods of agriculture.

Siverbrook Farm sells over 750 CSA memberships a year from the SouthCoast, to Boston, to Cape Cod. Using sustainable growing methods—no herbicides or pesticides—the farm does its part because, as Andy says, “it’s the right thing to do…for our watershed, for the families who consume our produce, for the farm workers, and for the environment.” Located on Chace Road in Dartmouth, a quarter of a mile from Russells Mill Road, the operation, says Andy, is totally self sufficient, producing 120% of its electrical needs using wind and solar power.

A harvest calendar posted on the farm’s website lists a vast array of fruits and vegetables available with the purchase of a CSA share. Lettuce, kale, parsley, cilantro, carrots, broccoli, beets, collard greens, radishes, spinach, strawberries, summer squash, swiss chard, basil, blueberries, corn, cucumbers, currants, eggplant, flowers, green beans, leeks, scallions, and tomatoes are offered in the first half of the summer

(May-July). Apples, Asian pears, basil, blueberries, beets, broccoli, carrots, cilantro, collard greens, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, flowers, grapes, green beans, kale, leeks, lettuce, onions, okra, parsley, peaches, peppers, potatoes, radish, salad mixes, strawberry tomatoes, summer squash, tomatoes, turnips, and winter squash are offered in the latter half. As an added bonus, this year, the farm is growing shitake mushrooms. There are also thousands of jars of jams, jellies, honey and four varieties of mustards available for purchase.

Although he grew up on the farm, Andy didn’t set out to make a career in farming. After lots of time on the tractor, first while attending Dartmouth High School and later spending summers home from Penn State University, Andy decided to attend graduate school and obtain an MBA from the University of Maine with thoughts of pursuing a career in finance.

Today, Andy runs a business that employs 27 employ-ees at a time. Aside from managing the business side of a CSA, he is involved in the growing of small fruits and multiple varieties of vegetables, and he collaborates with other farms throughout Dartmouth, Westport, and the SouthCoast to provide fresh produce and engage in civil partnerships. He helps facilitate visits to Dartmouth from young inner city

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kids who make presentations at Quaker meetings here once a year, and plans reciprocal visits to Dorchester for members of the Quaker community.

He and his associates are working to engage urban youth with farming, in hopes of strengthening their communities by connecting individuals from diverse backgrounds and organizations in community service activities.

Silverbrook Farm also provides housing and intern-ships to young people to teach them about sustainable growing techniques. Interns come from as far away as Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Colorado and are clearly intentional about farming. Many of these interns take the experience they garner and move to other farms where they assume management positions.

Moving forward into the spring and summer months ahead, it’s tempting to dream about the fresh corn, peaches, and strawberries sold at roadside stands throughout the area. Local farmers like Andy Pollack maintain that support from the community is not only appreciated, but imperative to their survival. “If everyone spent $20 a week on fresh produce from a CSA, we’d all be doing our part to maintain the land-scape and help small farms stay in business,” he says.

So, next time you pull into a strip mall or the asphalt parking lot at your supermarket or box store, remem-ber that you could be allocating some of your weekly food budget to a local CSA to purchase fresh purchase —a by-product of the scenic farms and fields that define our beautiful community.

To learn more about community sponsored agricul-ture and Silverbrook Farm, visit their website at: www.silverbrookdartmouth.com

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Friends Academy was part and parcel of New Bedford’s fabric, educating its young men and women for 150 years, before moving to Dartmouth in 1949. In 2011, the school returned to its roots and estab-lished the Center for Education Innovation (CEI) under the leadership of Katherine Gaudet. Created with a generous gift from Al and Kate Merck, CEI sends teams of talented Friends faculty into New Bedford public elementary schools to coach teachers in how to thoughtfully integrate technology into their curricula. This partnership embodies the Morgan Bell’s call to learning and service by offering New Bedford public schools significant upgrades to tech-nology infrastructure, as well as critical professional development opportunities for teachers. The partner-ship currently provides sixty teachers and, in turn, over 1000 students at Elwyn Campbell and Abraham Lincoln Elementary schools with access to an array of 21st century learning tools.

This unique partnership is inspired by the expertise, altruism and collaborative ethos of Friends Academy teachers and administrators Jonathan Felix, Laura Velazquez, Jamie Ross-Cory, Katherine Furtado, Katherine Gaudet and former FA teacher, Beth Donahue. Along with a newly appointed executive director, they continue to sustain the Center’s initia-tives. Their curricular knowledge, technological aptitude, organizational acumen, and generosity of spirit guide every step of the Center’s mission.

At the core of the training is a 13-week professional development course, Teaching to Standards with New Technologies, offered by WIDE World, a program designed at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and used at FA. Teachers are initially introduced to Teaching for Understanding, a frame-work that develops a strong foundation of learning and then applies it in new ways, deepening the level of understanding for students. Teachers are also intro-duced to a variety of software that is available to all students to be incorporated into their “renovated” curricula.

In addition, the New Bedford schools are outfitted with hardware necessary for students to access technology. This year, Campbell School’s outdated computers have been replaced with 69 new desktops, the entire building has been wired for internet accessibility, a Promethean Board for the computer lab and an iPad cart equipped with 30 new iPads was installed. New laptops and software applications for teachers have also been purchased. At Lincoln School, the CEI underwrote the purchase of 60 new iPads, provided headphones to the computer lab, and purchased a suite of software applications. Once equipment was installed, students began to use programs like Lexia Core 5 reading software, Timeliner, Comic Life and Kidspiration.

The CEI mission would not be possible if not for the support and generosity of many members of

F R I E N D S A C A D E M Y A N D N E W B E D F O R D P U B L I C S C H O O L S A R E P A R T N E R I N G U P T O T R A I N

T E A C H E R S A N D E Q U I P S C H O O L S W I T H N E W T E C H N O L O G Y A N D S O F T W A R E

by Ben Parsons Executive Director

S E R V I N G T H R O U G H

P A R T N E R S H I P

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H E N R Y M . A R R U D A is president of radio station WJFD-FM, Inc. of New Bedford. WJFD-FM 97.3 is a 50,000 watt FM radio station that has been broadcasting in the Portuguese language to the various Portuguese, Cape Verdean and Brazilian communities sprinkled throughout eastern New England for over 38 years. An attorney-at-law since 1991 Henry has taught law on an adjunct basis at the Southern New England School of Law and the University of Massachusetts School of Law.

Henry holds a BA degree in economics from Boston College and a JD from the University of Connecticut School of Law. He and his wife, Paulina (see page 12) and their son, Matthew ’13, a student at Proctor Academy, reside in South Dartmouth. Henry and Paulina are active volunteers in the community helping to raise funds for the annual Standard-Times Salvation Army’s Neediest Families Fund and they sponsor various community events.

M A T T H E W A . M O R R I S S E Y is founder and Managing Director of the New Bedford Wind Energy Center. Founded in 2013, the Center builds capacity in the emerging offshore wind industry. For the previous seven years, Matt was the executive director of the New Bedford Economic Development Council, a business-led non-profit that, in conjunction with the Mayor’s office, sets and executes New Bedford’s economic development agenda. Prior to his public service, Matt was a higher education administrator, co-founder of a knowledge management software company, and a management consultant.

Matt is a graduate of University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth holding a BA in English Literature. He is also an alumnus of Harvard University’s non-degree Advanced Management Development Program in Real Estate. Matt was born and raised in New Bedford (fifth generation) and lives there with his wife, Kristin, and their four children, Alexander, Zoelle, Henri and Wilson. Along with serving on the Board of Trustees, Matt is the parent of a sixth and an eighth grader at Friends Academy.

R E C E N T A P P O I N T E E S T O T H E B O A R D O F T R U S T E E S

the SouthCoast community. New Bedford School Superintendent, Pia Durkin, and her staff are committed to closing the opportunity gap created by an absence of technology in city classrooms. New Bedford’s Mayor Jon Mitchell has also endorsed and supported the CEI mission. Likewise, New Bedford elementary school teachers, deeply committed to ensuring all of their students’ success, have embraced innovative best practices and shared with FA faculty as much as we have shared with them. Lastly, and critically, donors like Kate and Al Merck and Lucile Hicks see in the CEI the possibility that can come of carefully constructed public-private educational partnerships.

Without question, the CEI is a community-based organization intent on enriching the lives of local children. There is no doubt that our students are taking note, for they are always watching. This is role modeling at its best.

A Ph.D. candidate in Educational Leadership and Policy at UMass-Dartmouth, Ben Parsons is the Executive Director of the two year-old, Center for Education Innovation (CEI) at Friends Academy. He holds an undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College and a master’s from Dartmouth College. Upon graduating from Dartmouth, Ben was named a Klingenstein Summer Fellow at Columbia University. Prior to joining FA, Ben served as Dean of Students and was a teacher at Falmouth Academy.

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Hillary Parker, Admissions/Outreach Assistant, was cast in the 2nd Story Theater’s production of “Le Dindon” or “The Dupe” by Georges Feydeau. Hillary played the part of Madame Pontagnac in the ninety-minute French comedy translated and directed by Ed Shea. For more information about the Warren, Rhode Island theater, visit www.2ndstorytheatre.com.

Alyn Carlson, grandmother of Levi Parker (grade 5) and mother of Admissions Associate, Hillary Parker has published a new paperback picture book. The Paper Hat Book: Super Hats for Super Kids is available through Amazon. Friends Academy students were able to work with the talented artist and designer at this year’s Carnival for the Canteen, where she conducted a hat making booth. The Paper Hat Book offers creative families 20 fantastic paper hats, all of which can be created quickly and easily from readily accessible papers: shopping bags, newspapers, comics, recycled story books, magazines, packaging scraps, and junk mail! The paper hats are perfect for birthday parties, play dates, costumes, and everyday dress up. The hat themes range from Floral Flappers to Viking Warriors and from superheroes, and pirates, to beauti-ful butterfly hats.

Students in Wendy Goldsmith’s Friday afternoon Clay Studio worked hard this fall to create a unique installation for the Rotch-Jones-Duff House and Museum’s “Celebrate the Seasons” table settings show. The event showcased the work of professional designers and included grand and formal tablescapes tailored for each room of the historic, whaling-era mansion.

Friends Academy students were invited to participate in the event over the summer and chose “water” as their inspiration. Throughout the fall, these dedicated fourth and fifth graders created theme-based ceramic table settings as well as water-inspired table linens and a festive aquatic-themed centerpiece. The group of talented ceramicists and designers whose work was exhibited include: AJ Boxler, Pearl Mallick, Steve Andonian, Signe Gierhart, Kathy Patys, Morgan Murphy, and Isabella Nicoletta.

Janice Griffin, Friends Academy librarian, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Little Compton Free Public Library.

F A C U L T Y A N D F R I E N D S N O T E S

PAU

L C

LAN

CY

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Pete Seeger GP ’14, singer, songwriter, and champion of folk music who spearheaded an American folk revival and spent a long career championing American folk music as both a vital heritage and a catalyst for social change died early this year at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He was 94 years old and the grandfather of Isabelle Long ’14 and father of artist Mika Seeger (see story page 14.) Seeger is pictured here with FA music teacher, Jim Bean, at Grandfriends Day, 2013. Also shown here, Seeger’s signature five string banjo inscribed with the message: “This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.” He believed that “the right song at the right moment could change history.”

Meris Enright (nee Tombari) was married to Charlie Enright in Bristol, Rhode Island last summer. Meris teaches fifth grade at Friends Academy. Her former student, Isabelle Blinn ’15 played the violin along with Friends fifth grade teacher, Putnam Murdock on guitar, providing music for the harborside ceremony. Friends second grade teacher, Brigid Conlon was maid of honor and fifth grade teacher, Laura Velasquez was in attendance. Meris grew up on Fisher’s Island and Charlie is a Bristol native. The two met while students at Brown University.

Charlie has made headlines in the sailing world, most recently as captain of the Alvimedica sponsored sailing team for the upcoming Volvo Ocean Race in October, 2014. A world class sailor and member of the Volvo Ocean Race sailing team, Charlie was a four-time College Sailing All-American while at Brown where he graduated with a BA in Business Economics. He has also been featured in the Disney sailing movie, Morning Light, a documentary that followed the train-ing and participation of the TP52 Morning Light team in the 2007 Transpac Race (in which all team members were between 18 and 23 years old).

Cindy Mock, P ’13, ’17, ’22, spouse of Fred Mock ’79 has published a children’s book. Magic Circles is the story of transitioning seasons on a family’s pond as seen through the eyes of a child. A young girl’s cre-ativity fuses with the environment as she encounters real and imaginary pond dwellers. Available at No Kidding in Mattapoisett, Eight Cousins in Falmouth, Village Toy Store in Fairhaven, The Bookstall in Marion, and Isabelle’s in Mattapoisett.

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1930sAnne Perkins Mitchell ’36 writes with a correction to Class Notes. We incorrectly spelled Anne’s mother’s maiden name. The correct spelling is Louise Bartlett Allen. Anne also writes that she enjoys catching up on all the news in the Blue and Gray and “thinking about the ‘good ole days’ when I was a student at FA—I loved being there.”

1940sPauline Clark Reid ’41 (left), died peacefully at her home in New York City, July 12, 2013. Born in San Francisco on Halloween 1927, she grew up in Westport, Mass. A graduate of Friends Academy, Miss Hall’s School and Vassar College, class of 1949, she worked as a TWA flight attendant before marrying Jim T. Reid and settling in Kansas City, where she lived until 2003. Among her many interests, she was head docent at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, active in the Vassar Club, a volunteer at Saint Luke’s Hospital Auxiliary, and a member of the Altar Guild at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. Challenged by the effects of the surgical removal of an acoustic neuroma at age forty, she never lost her sense of wonder or her love of adven-ture. She is survived by her sisters, Phoebe Chardon of Westport, MA, and Jane Ashley of Windsor, VT, her children, Sarah Reid of New York, NY, Bill Reid of Cave Creek, AZ, and Catherine Cox of Salem, OR, their spouses, and six grandchildren, Stephen and Emily Gikow, Sarah Caldwell Grimes, and Rachel, Ian and Patrick Caldwell. Published in Kansas City Star on July 14, 2013.

1960sThomas Richmond Burrell IV ’61 Thomas “Tadpole” R. Burrell, IV, 65, of New Bedford, formerly of Westport died Wednesday, August 15, 2012 at St. Luke’s Hospital. Born in New Bedford, son of the late Thomas R. and Elizabeth M. (Williamson) Burrell, III, he had lived in Westport Point most of his life until mov-ing to New Bedford. Mr. Burrell was the owner/operator of the former Off Shore Original, Inc. A veteran of the Vietnam era, he served his country in the United States Navy. He was a member of the Little Compton United Congregational Church. Tad was a graduate of Friends Academy, Cushing Academy and attended the University of Vermont. He enjoyed fishing and boating, and was an accomplished guitar and banjo musician. Tad also pursued woodworking as a hobby.

1980sThis is proud Gray team member John Cockrell ’84 checking in. I’m currently living in New York City with my wildly talented actor/singer wife Theresa Bruno and our wonderful 21/2 year old son Theo, who it turns out is not just a genius but a future all-world athlete and musician. (Who knew?) My life since Friends has gone from acting and stand-up comedy to a sharper focus on writing over the last decade or so. While our home is in Staten Island—come visit, Superstorm Sandy is long gone! We spend a decent amount of time in Los Angeles, where I work as a writer/producer for television. I worked on the final three seasons of USA Network’s witness-protection-themed program, In Plain Sight, including spending the last two as the on-set writer/producer in Albuquerque, NM, where the show was filmed. Additionally, in 2012 I found myself basking in the dream scenario of writing/producing a campaign ad featuring the incredible (and reunited) cast of The West Wing.

I’ve also been spending time in develop-ment on various film/TV projects, savoring my time with Theo and Theresa, watching various Boston teams win various champi-onships, and keeping up via Facebook (and otherwise) with my sister Stephanie Cockrell Lyon ’81 and her family, as well as various FA friends like…the L.A.-based and terribly impressive Debbie Portnoy, Jason Peckham (of the “five homers in a Friends Academy gym wiffleball game” Jason Peckhams), Grammy-winner Clay Stites and, of course, Betty “Grubby Little Paw” Hankwitz.

‘Though it’s been far, far too long since I set foot on the hallowed grounds of 1088 Tucker Road, the flame of Friends Academy burns steadfastly in my heart and represents, truly, a touchstone of my childhood. It is a place to which I compare all my other academic experiences and no spot comes close to holding a candle to it. I love FA and Bubbling Brook and skating on the pond and seeing the plaques…I love these things with everything I have, and I long for the peace I associate with (almost) every moment of it, and every one of you.

Would LOVE to be in contact with any other Friends Academy folks!Email John at patsox23@aol.com

Samantha Viall Ward ’892013 marked 20 years of ranching with my husband Joe at Lazy J Ranch in George West, Texas. Over two decades of being a cattle rancher’s wife, I have delivered calves, milked cows, moved hand-lay irrigation pipes, plumbed water troughs, built fence (both barbed and electric), stacked 70-pound hay bales and 50-pound feed sacks, and performed countless other chores. I still can’t drive a tractor or back up a Gooseneck trailer, and I am not confident with a shotgun when rattlesnakes come in the yard. People always ask me how a Massachusetts girl ended up here, and my answer is: “I married a Texan.” As a mother of 2 Texans, daughter Reese (age 13) and son Hale (age 9), I hope we can pass our small business on to our children to continue the tradition that has been in Joe’s family since the 1800’s.

1990’s

Ralph Tavares, Sr. father of trustee Ralph Tavares, Jr. ’93 and Amber Tavares Chaves ’92, appeared in concert for the first time in thirty years with his four brothers, all mem-bers of the Grammy Award winning group, “Tavares.” The group, pictured above in the 1970’s, performed at Bristol Community College’s Jackson Arts Center in early April. The concert, to fund a scholarship in memory of their late parents, Albina and Feliciano “Flash” Tavares, featured the New Bedford brothers who made a name for themselves in the 1970’s bogeying and harmonizing their way to fame with six gold and two platinum albums, and a Grammy. Ralph, who gave up his performance career in 1984 to settle down and raise a family, returned to the spotlight to reunite with his brothers and sing the signature songs that the group made famous in the seventies, including: “It Only Takes a Minute,” “She’s Gone,” and “More than a Woman,” featured in the soundtrack for the movie, Saturday Night Fever which earned the group their Grammy. Earlier this year, Tavares was inducted into the R&B Hall of Fame for their contributions to the R&B, funk and soul music of the past five decades. Congratulations Ralph!

C L A S S N O T E S

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James Barton-Souza ’10 and Maria Veale ’11 (pictured above) worked in the same Vineyard Vines store in Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard last summer. The two attended Friends Academy and are now students at Tabor and Moses Brown respectively.

2009 Graduates of Friends Academy

have matriculated at the following

postsecondary institutions:

Barnard College

Babson College

Boston College

Boston University

Brown University

Davidson College

George Washington University

Harvard University

New York University

Lesley University

Northeastern University Honors College

Northwestern University

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)

Trinity College

United States Naval Academy,

Annapolis

University of Colorado, Boulder

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

University of New Hampshire, Durham

Vanderbilt University

Congratulations all!

Sarah Lemelin ’99 was married to Tom Maddux (West Point ’08) in July. They are living in Williamsburg, Va.

2000’s Michael Chambers ’00 On May 16, 2013, Michael Chambers (pictured above left) came within 1,000 vertical feet of achieving his life-long goal to climb Mt. Everest. His expedition was halted when ice and 85 mph winds began freezing climbers’ oxygen masks and corneas. Mike’s efforts leading adven-ture treks for the Flying Kites Foundation continues. The Foundation is building a home and school for orphaned children in Kenya.

From Janet Spaulding, mother of Katya Ruddell ’11, Happy Birthday to the Sally Borden Program! Katya was recently invited into her high school Chamber Orchestra— she auditioned and won one of three seats available, as a 10th grader. There are about 150 violins in the school and many tried out. Nice for Katya to feel a sense of real accomplishment after years of playing.

I hope you have a great anniversary and please give hugs and best regards to all of our friends who return for the celebration. SBS was the best thing ever for Katya. It was transformational! She is now attending a huge public high school, on the honor roll consistently and using all the skills you taught her. (Even getting A’s in math.) The refrain: “Do you have a plan? What is your plan? And how far are you along in it” is emblazoned in her mind and guiding her like a North Star daily as she negotiates a big, complex school and many academic challenges. All of you get credit. From the first day of our campus visit, the focus was totally on the individual student and who she was as a person. That means so much!! Please keep at it, it really works. I wish we had all been educated this way. Love to all —special hugs to Katherine and Mr. Robes.

Annie Lemelin ’01 graduated from Tulane Law School (Environmental and Animal Law) magna cum laude.

Marty Schnure ’02 returned to Friends Academy this fall to share stories, maps, and pictures from her three-month expedition into the Patagonia region of Chile. She and her partner Ross Donihue (pictured above) received a Young Explorer’s grant from National Geographic to map the mountains and valleys of what soon will be the Patagonia National Park. Marty’s company, Maps for Good, provides interactive mapping

services to companies and organizations whose work is “good for communities and good for the planet,” she says. The interac-tive map resulting from her expedition is available at mapsforgood.com and in Patagonia stores. Marty told students about her adventures carrying solar panels on her back in order to charge the GPS and camera batteries that she needed for her trip. She also spoke with Hannah Wetmore’s Spanish students about how her training in Spanish allowed her to quickly learn the names and local buzzwords for identifying sites and places of interest in the region.

Karl Schoch ’03 is currently a Lieutenant stationed with the United States Army in Germany.

Emily Holding ’06 (pictured above right) was on campus this year taking the Sally Borden Orton-Gillingham Training Course. Emily, a senior at Tufts University and a passionate education advocate, is majoring in child development and working toward OG certification.

Scott Lauermann ’07 is currently a junior at the George Washington University study-ing business economics and public policy.

Jenna McKinley ’07 is spending a year abroad at Oxford University.

Rachel Schwartz ’09 is on the George Washington Crew Team and was recently in Boston attending an international indoor rowing event.

Kristen Mabie ’09 who attended Tabor Academy after Friends is now a freshman at Boston College and has embarked on an internship with ArtLifting, a Boston-based startup that provides an online platform for homeless artists in art therapy programs. The website features artists’ stories, original works, prints, and even iPhone covers imprinted with artwork. The company, Mabie says, is “giving integrity to homeless artists.” An article in the Marion publica-tion, Sippican Village Soup quotes Kristen as saying: “We are working to combat that stereotype of homeless people being the people you see sitting on the street that aren’t working for themselves…(to the contrary) these people are all around the city selling their work, standing outside with their art. They are really trying.” The company gives the lion’s share of online sales to the artists and a portion to the art therapy program where the artist works.

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wonderful experience,” says Kristen, who volunteered her time in the Summer at Friends program for pre-school age children. She has been training for the past few summers to become a counselor at Chewonki in Maine. “Ever since I first visited Chewonki with Friends Academy, I’ve wanted to work there,” she said. In the meantime, Summer at Friends has given her a chance to continue working with children. Kristen is also active in drama and music at Tabor acting in annual musicals and singing with the Chamber Choir. Her latest role was as Pilar in Tabor’s production of Legally Blonde. Logan Russell ’11, Casey Bono ’10, and James Barton-Souza ’10 were also involved as cast and crew in the production.

According to camp director, Charley Pelissier, “FA’s summer camp is greatly enhanced by the quality of instruction and the invaluable contributions that our faculty, staff, and alumni make.”

Summer at Friends, attracts young alumni back to campus for salaried jobs and interning experiences. The camp attracts hundreds of area youth for six weeks of extraordinary classes spread out across our beautiful campus. One of the best things about Summer at Friends is that every year, graduates of the school and camp programs come back to work as counselors, administrators, and volunteers.

Andy Root ’08 (4) is a student at UVM. He worked with Blinn Dorsey last summer helping to run the Survivor Friends pro-gram. He is pictured here demonstrating a time-honored technique for keeping cool in the summer midday heat.

Blace Houle ’06 (5) taught a two-week fencing class at Summer at Friends and is pictured here with his students in protec-tive fencing garb.

Jack Kenney ’11 (6) worked in the Summer at Friends office with Charley Pelissier in an administrative capacity and continues to help out during the school year in our Afterschool Enrichment program.

Summer at Friends offers many area graduates the opportunity to gain valu-able work experience as summer camp counselors. This past summer, Matt Walker, Tatum Leclair, Kristen Burke, and Czarina Shartle all of whom graduated from FA in 2010, returned to Tucker Road to work or volunteer. They joined Friends alums, Blace Houle ’06 and Andy Root ’08, and a host of others doing everything from lifeguarding to teaching fencing, work-ing in the garden, helping out with preschoolers, or in classrooms with our youngest campers.

Many attended Summer at Friends while students at Friends Academy. Though they have all graduated and are making their way through various high schools, colleges, and graduate programs, soon they will be entering the workforce and for many their experience at Summer at Friends served as valuable, early work experience.

Czarina Shartle ’10 (1) attends Sturges Charter Public School on the Cape where she applied and was selected by lottery to attend the highly regarded school. She hopes to study art in college and is the daughter of Janet Shartle and the late sculptor, Len Shartle, of Fairhaven.

Matt Walker ’10 (2) attends Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, and works as a counselor, lifeguard, and adminis-trative aid to Camp Director, Charley Pelissier. “When I was a student at Friends, especially in eighth grade, I couldn’t wait to get on with things and enter high school. Now, as a high school senior, I find myself coming back to the place where it all began,” said Matt, who will be attending Franklin and Marshall College in the fall.

Tatum Leclair ’10 and Kristen Burke ’10 (3) both attend Tabor Academy and traveled to Italy and Greece last summer. The girls spent ten days over-seas with a group of students from Tabor and other boarding schools, many of whom study Latin. “It was a

summerA T F R I E N D S

(1)

(2)

(5) (4)

(3)

(6)

Cash

Unrestricted gifts of cash are the easiest and most popular way to support Friends Academy. Gifts may be made as a single contribution or pledged and paid in installments through the close of the fiscal year ending on June 30th.

Credit Card

Friends Academy accepts Master Card and Visa. You may fill out the Annual Fund gift envelope included with this magazine or call the Development Office with your credit card number and expiration date.

Appreciated Securities

Gifts of stocks or securities benefit both the donor and the school. The donor can avoid capital gains tax on the increased value of the appreciated stocks and receive a deduction for the full, fair market value of the stock at the time the gift is made to the school. To make a gift of stock to Friends Academy, please call or write the school’s Development Office to let us know of your intentions. Have your broker transfer securities to the school’s account at: RBC Capital Markets Corporation, 617-725-2000, DTC# 0235, Account #30132087. Our contact is either A. Griswold or B. Gill.

Matching Gifts

Many employers have a matching gifts program and will generously match contributions made by their employees to charitable institutions.

Gifts in Kind

Donations of goods and/or services to Friends Academy are always welcome.

Planned Gifts

Individuals can easily include bequests for Friends Academy in their wills or living trusts. Many of these vehicles offer tax savings and advantages to the donor while also providing support to the school. A financial advisor can provide information on optimal methods for including Friends in overall financial planning. For more information on this extraordinary way to offer your support, please contact Jodi Pink at 508-999-1356.

WAYS YOU CAN GIVE

When considering a gift to Friends Academy, there are many ways you can give. To find out more about these options, please contact the Development Office.

BLUE & GRAY Spring 2014EDITOR

Kyle Riseley

CONTRIBUTORS

Stephen K. Barker

Melinda Foley-Marsello

Katherine Gaudet

Sean Hamer

Morgan Lord

Jacqueline Maillet

Ben Parsons

Charles Pelissier

Jodi Pink

Jennifer Pope

Kyle Riseley

Steven Robataille

Peter Zine

PHOTOGRAPHY

Ray Carpenter

Paul Clancy

Ryan Conaty

Marian Howell

Kyle Riseley

Dawn Terry

Angel Tucker

Marcia Douglas

Jeanne Machado

T H E 2 0 1 2 - 2 0 1 3 A N N U A L R E P O R T I S A V A I L A B L E F O R V I E W I N G A T W W W . F R I E N D S A C A D E M Y 1 8 1 0 . O R G

Friends Academy1088 Tucker Road, North Dartmouth, MA 02747-3122 508-999-1356 www.friendsacademy1810.orgR E T U R N S E R V I C E R E Q U E S T E D

Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDSIGNATURE GROUP

Parents: If this publication is addressed to an alumnus/a of Friends Academy who no longer maintains a permanent address at your home,

please notify the Development Office of his/her new mailing address (508) 999-1356 or jpink@friendsacademy1810.org. Thank you!

Friends Academy and My Generation Energy flipped the switch and made the move to solar-powered en-

ergy this month. What began with a student-inspired dream (thanks Matt Walker ’10, Colin Babbitt ’10,

Ben Wiegandt ’10 and Mary Pierce!) has blossomed into a fully operating solar field that will provide us

with electricity and many powerful learning experiences in the years to come. powering up!