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Parents’ Post A Newsletter for Parents and Friends of The Thacher School Mid-winter 2003

IDear Parents and Friends:In the seasonal cycle of conception-design-print-send, each of the four Parents’ Posts is begun in a time and space uniquely different from the other three. The Fall issue, for example, is born amid the excitement of September’s new faces and personalities, a time when all things are yet possible, and it’s anyone’s guess as to just how the fresh will blend with the seasoned, and what unique Thacher will emerge. The final Post originates in the bittersweet paradox of any high school’s early June: in commencing or even in moving up a grade, “our” children effect an ending, and the last, fat Post of the academic year wraps it all up. This issue starts in the middle of the whirlwind of the two weeks pre-Christmas: where the fast-moving river of academic focus (wrapping up the second quarter, reviewing reams of material, writing con-cluding papers and portfolios and labs, taking final exams) converges with the equally swift one of irrepressible holiday spirit (cookie baking, spoofing on Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, gingerbread house raising, Secret Santa-ing, noting yet another set of antlers or candy canes on Ms. J’s head). Stay-ing afloat in these exhilarating rapids is a matter of keeping balance and perspective, of staying centered in the middle of the raft with a steady hand on the tiller, of strategically look-ing ahead to see what’s coming and to prepare an appropriate reaction – all the while not missing one whit of the glorious scenery going by. And around the corner? The pleasures of the holiday break and the relatively calm beginnings of second semester. With our safe arrival in those more serene waters, our pulse slows, we pull in the oar, and we rest. But only for a moment!

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NNothin’ but (mostly) blue skies for the three vibrant days of this fall’s Family Weekend – and loads to do during those precious hours of reunion: cheer the sampler of drama, dance and singing and the rock-climbing exhibition; attend mini-classes, a talk on “The Col-lege Admissions Mystique” and a gallery exhibit of student art; root for the Orange and Green at athletic events; buy a book for the Library; saunter up to the Outdoor Chapel for the ecumenical service; whoop it up or play Connect Four or bake a batch of cookies at the Head’s Open House. All this and unparalleled dining got everyone geared up for what is always the jewel in the crown: witnessing first-hand what’s good for the inside of a kid in the outside of a horse when the dust gets moved around by the no-longer-greenhorns out on the gymkhana field. This year’s horsemanship exhibition proved no exception to the quality of those in years past, as the 9th graders and other new riders provided just enough “yeehaw” to keep everyone on the edge of their dusty seats.

FamilyRe-


connection


FALL SPORTSVarsity Girls’ TennisCoach: Stacy Margolin PotterCaptain: Sarah Shaikh

With a win-loss record (4-2) that stood them, at season’s end, in 2nd place in the Condor League, this team aced, lobbed and volleyed to beat the band. Ellen Adams, Arielle Flam and Jackie Au played numbers 1,

2 and 3 singles, while Sarah Shaikh and captain-elect Virginia Dawson, Cara Bonewitz and Ella Carney, and Lizzy Brewer and Sarah Tap-scott played on the top three doubles rungs, with Dana Gal, Hana Chang and Sabrina Lee moving in and out of the line-up, as the competition demanded it. By vote of their court-mates, Ella Carney and Dana Gal won Most Improved, while Most Valuable went to the quad of Ellen, Arielle, Virginia and Sarah Shaikh. “I feel it was one of our best seasons yet,” said Captain Shaikh, who was voted Most Inspirational by the other players. “We worked harder than we ever had, played hard – and had fun. I am so proud of the whole team.” Said their coach, “It was rewarding to see the girls make the connection between putting in hard work and develop-ing both mental attitude and physical skills – and to see them come together; their spirit and sense of team grew dramatically from the beginning of the season.”

JV Girls’ TennisCoach: Jane McCarthyCaptains: Mary White and Vivian Wu

This team, as is often the case with the JV squad, repre-sented a wide range of abilities, talents, and experience with the sport, and yet, when the last volley of the fall echoed into silence, they’d accrued a very respectable season record of equal wins and losses. Steffi Rauner, named MVP, led the singles, while a variety of players – including Justine Robinett, Lindsay Hunt, Elizabeth Craver, Mary White and Jamie Siegel—won doubles matches. Everyone

played in matches against other Condor League schools, learning much from the challenge of modifying their game to play effectively against a variety of strategies and styles. Winning Most Improved was Felicia Butts.

Varsity Girls’ VolleyballCoach: Melissa FabulichCaptains: Annie Wheatley & MacKenna Chase

This team returned to school at the start of the fall a week early to practice and to create squad they were to be, and while their win/loss record favors the latter, they proved in several moments, to be made of gritty stuff. Leader in blocks was newcomer sophomore (and Most Improved Player on the team) Megan Boswell (92); in aces, senior Julia Erdman (20); in digs, senior Shay Cooke (137); in kills, Captain Wheatley (60); and in assists, junior, setter, MVP, and captain-elect for the 2003 season MacKenna Chase (236). Sophomore Becky Horton led the team in the back row with what her coach called “her amazing intuition to meet the ball.” Important kinesthetic contri-butions were made, too, by 10th graders Emma Werlin, and Marguerite Kissel, as well as the team’s two dedicated freshmen (juggling their horse commitments and sports) Elise Post and Caitlin Wyman.

JV Girls’ VolleyballCoach: Raelyn VitiCaptains: Lauren Chase & Chandler Pease

“There’s a theme here,” suggested one of the bleacher fans of this team after witnessing a few matches: indeed, this squad seemed to tuck away a win to start, then lose the second game, and, finally, effect a comeback. While this pattern didn’t always end in a win (equal wins and losses), the girls nonetheless managed out several psychic victories, each contributing her particular talent to the mix: Chan-ning Emord’s “pushing the ball in the face of the other team to score spectacular points of side outs,” Lauren Chase’s infusing the necessary spirit when the chips were down, Nhu Y Dang’s digs and a surprising left-handed hit, Kirsty Mark ’s run of 11 points at serve during one game, MVP Erica Puccetti ’s quickness and game-smarts, Chandler Pease’s rock-solid reliability, Lauren Church’s excellent ball instincts in the face of never having played the sport (she won Most Improved Player).


Varsity FootballCoaches: Jeff Hooper (Head), Eric McCarren, Bill Rexford, Fred ColemanCaptains: Tyler Caldwell & Charlie Munzig

An even ten seniors – “a stellar group,” according to Coach Hooper – helped their coaches to set the high tone and laudable work ethic of Thacher’s first-ever 8-man football team: Tyler Caldwell (the team’s eventual MVP), Robert Cerda (Most Improved, by season’s end), Charlie Munzig, Brenton Sullivan, Will Johnson, Richard Smith (Most Improved), Owili Eison, Michael Dachs, Drew Fleck and Ellery “E.K.” Khazanovich. And a highly successful team it was, that “first-ever” notwithstanding. Defense, led by Robert, Richard and Graham Douds made rapid improvement over the course of the season, and the offen-sive line, anchored by E.K. and Richard, opened holes for Tyler, as well as for second-leading rusher Owili and Gabe Yette. (In fact, the team scored 48 points or more in six out of nine games!) Expert kicker Charlie converted all but one of his extra point possibilities. The fall’s high-light was surely the dramatic CIF tournament play-off victory of Viewpoint School, in which Thacher sprang to an early 21-0 lead, capped by an electrifying punt return by Tyler. Eventually, however, Viewpoint pulled to within two points with less than a minute on the clock. On the 2-point conversion attempt, defensemen E.K. Richard and Robert dug deep to find a way to stop the Patriot fullback short of his destination in the end zone. Thacher emerged victorious, at 36-34.

Girls’ Cross CountryCoach: Theana HancockCaptain: Bessie Hatch

The girl harriers started off the year powerfully, beating Cate solidly at the first Condor League meet, run on The Mesa.

Unfortunately, that race proved to be the highlight of the season for the team as a complete team, as four of its five top runners were soon hobbled by injury and illness. Yet Elly Harder, Bianca Kissel, Cindy Sorrick, Becky Swan, and ultimate MVP Bessie Hatch soldiered on, and, as you can read below, the last (in this list) was incontrovertibly first: undefeated in the Condor League, first in the Ojai Invitational, third in the Division III, IV and V sweepstakes at the Mt. SAC (San Antonio College) Invitational, as well as first in the CIF preliminaries (for which Katie Frykman also qualified) and the finals in Fresno, there beating her nearest competitor by 40 seconds. In that victory “lap,” Bessie took an early lead and never let it go, consistently leaving at least a half mile between her heels and the toes of the rest of the pack.

Boys’ Cross CountryCoach: Pierre YooCaptain: John Babbott

First, there’s quantity: with a super-abundance of runners, this team (called by Coach Yoo “Thacher’s Little Army”) kept every Thacher trail busy (and a few in the High Sierra, where some members of the squad spent their Fall Extra-Day Trip) throughout the practice season, the older boys encour-aging the younger ones at every step. Next, there’s quality: for the third year

running, the Toads took first place in the Condor League, besting the competition at Cate, Laguna Blanca, Dunn and Ojai Valley School. In addition, our harriers snagged first place at the Brentwood Invitational and 5th place at the CIF preliminaries. Seniors included Captain John, Nate Parker, Matt O’Meara, Eddy Tavernetti, Troy Pollet and Chance Phelps ; also running varsity were Peter Gierke, Ben Babbott, Stephen Rooke, Bel Lepe and Dillon Valadez. Putting in “great performances,” in the words of their coach, at the CIF Finals were Peter, Bel and Matt. Concluded Coach Yoo: “All season, I was impressed by the heart of these runners, as well as the personal sacrifices they made. Great attitude. Great team!”


LSHORT TAKES

Lucky – make that very lucky —for us, Thacher was one the whistle-stops on the western hemisphere tour of Brazilian songster Claudia Viella and her guitarist Ricardo Peixoto. A virtuosi singer with a several-octave range and a chameleon voice (melodic, percussive, sensual, stark), Viella delighted her audience with original and derivative works, and, in consort with Peixoto’s playing, brought folks to their feet by their final number. e Equally entertaining was the troupe of singers, actors and instrumentalists from Moira House Girls School of Sussex, England whose performance included an astonishingly wide variety of musical theater, dance, and classical pieces for solo piano, voice and cello, as well as for small ensemble. The two dozen young Brits and their teachers, hosted overnight by the Middle School junior and senior girls and faculty members on campus, joined the Thacher hordes at the Open House following the show. e Actors from Theatre 150 took over the Centennial Amphi-theatre for their reading of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, bringing clarity to that work for the many students who attended. e Through the generosity and care of Tamima Al-Awar CdeP 2002 and her parents Sheryl & Khaled, artist and activist Poteet Victory, critically acclaimed as “an emerging force in contemporary American art,” came

to speak to the school about his current under-taking: a 15 X 60- foot monumental painting that will serve as the first memorial to The Trail of Tears – and to the thou-sands of Native Ameri-cans from forty differ-ent tribes (including Mr.

Victory’s own paternal ancestors) who died as a result of the government’s imposed relocation beginning in the 19th century. [We are deeply saddened to write that Tamima, who was to have worked as one of Mr. Victory’s assistants on the project, died suddenly this fall. The Thacher News will carry a full obituary in its next issue.] e Senior Phoebe Barkan, Head of Thacher’s Equestrian Team, organized that group’s second-in-three-years major horse show out at the facilities at the eastern edge of campus. Ojai Valley School provided the biggest competition in numbers to our girls – Katherine Bechtel, Kaitlin Walter, Rebec-cah Gore-Judd, Hannah Uscinski, Deirdre Herbert, Martha Gregory, Sara Schneider,

and Annie Lathrop – but the Thacher riders nonethe-less brought home fluttering ribbons of every color, and certainly plenty of blue and red ones. In late February, Thacher will host an Interscholastic Equestrian Associa-tion show that will qualify some Toadly riders to qualify for Nationals again this year in Ohio in April. Directing the English Riding Program is Elizabeth Mahoney CdeP 1988, with assistance from Elissa Thorn. e Ojai’s Rotary Club chose senior wide-out Tyler Caldwell “Athlete of the Month,” citing his 25 season touchdowns as pace-setting in Thacher’s inaugural season playing 8-man football. (Tyler scored an unheard-of six of those in the first half of the game against Villanova.) Tyler is also a varsity lacrosse, soccer and baseball player. e Too late for press last issue was this snippet that ought to have been part of the summer gifts Thacher students brought to others last summer: for several years, Alex Gidwitz has quietly and unobtrusively helped behind the scenes to make Deborah’s Place – an overnight women’s shelter in Chicago – a more hospitable place for its patrons, volunteering his time to gather used clothing, to prepare breakfasts for the women, to seek donations of basic toiletries for hygiene kits. “It’s not just about looking to serve the homeless,” says Alex. “It’s more about being truly aware of their needs, being conscious and respectful of their dignity.” e You think the food’s good here when you visit? Truth is, it’s fabulous year-round, thanks to the tireless efforts of Director of Food Services Richard Maxwell, his right-hand manager Dennis Mattson and Executive Chef Ismael Martin. But twice yearly, Bon Appetit, the food service to which Thacher sub-scribes, sends to our dining room master chefs from other nearby schools to put on what are known as “Chefs’ Tables,”

everyone creating his or her own specialty on site. For an army that most assuredly moves on its stomach, it’s one of the highlights of our gustatory year. This fall’s Wednesday night event was as excellent as ever, featuring enough tempting dishes to make most of us waddle out the door – including items such as Whole Suckling Pig, Island Garden Tofu Salad, assorted empanadas with homemade salsas, Cajun Catfish with Creole Remoulade Sauce, Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and,

“If you have an idea in your heart, keep

talking about it. Eventually, you’ll run into the right person, someone

who’ll help you put it into action.”


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fthanks to our own baker Robin Schlitt, Ginger and White Chocolate pots de creme to knock your tongue sideways. You get the picture: haute cuisine doesn’t begin to describe it. e The Sydney Brody Gallery has opened its doors this fall to several compelling exhibits, thanks to the dyna-mism and wide-eyed artistic view of Library Assistant and Archives Czarina Alissa McCoy: “Notes & Readymades – objects and works on paper by Houston, TX, artist Chad Sager;” student artwork; “The Chair,” featuring works by current Thacher fathers and woodworkers John Bueti and Jamie Kuhl; and presently, a retrospective on the life of Jesse Kahle, Horse Program Director Emeritus whose 95th birthday the School community celebrated in early December. Be sure to include a swing by the Gallery (on the east side of the Anson Thacher Humanities Building) whenever you’re on campus. It’s well worth the extra steps. e Seventy-six of you purchased and donated books to Thacher’s Library on Family Weekend, representing a total addition of over $3,650 to that program’s account. Thanks to all of you whose generosity put yet another tome on the shelves. Incidentally, for a gander at recent acquisitions, go to Academic Services at Thacher’s website (www.thacher.org), updated often enough for you to keep current. e Direc-tor of Athletics, Rich Mazzola, orchestrated two events to help a local Ojai boy, Colby Chapman, who is presently battling leukemia at L.A. Children’s Hospital. Proceeds from sales of Thacher football caps, totaling $550, made their way to Colby’s family to facilitate their staying close by him; Rich (along with Kara and Jeff Hooper and Eliza-beth Bowman also took two van loads of Thacher seniors down to L.A. to give blood. All who made the trip got to meet Colby, including those on the football team, who pre-sented the boy with a hat and autographed pigskin. Since the visit, Colby’s mother, Tracy, says that Colby has continued with his treatments, which have included transfusions using the blood donated during that visit. For all those involved, she says, “Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!” Senior Laurel Back also spearheaded a fund-raiser for Colby during Family Weekend, which netted around $600.

HONORED

for “their exceptional academic promise” by the College Board – and for serving as one form of inspiration by the Assemblied throng of students and faculty –were several members of the senior class. Named as Commended Students for placing in the top fi ve percept of more than one million students taking the 2001 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test were Kather-ine Bechtel, Hana Chang, Graham Dunn, Hugh Gordon, Alex Huth, Will Johnson, Emily Nathan and Whitney Snyder; Semi-fi nalists going on to the fi nalist round are Will Chamberlain, Alison Flynn and Lucy Hodgman.

HAPPY TRAILS

Today’s Red Reef Rangers – Walker Cahall, Peter Arnold, Chris Cahill, Vince Chen, Nate Parker, Brendan Keane, David Moore and Brian Keane – proudly uphold a long-standing tradition of community service that benefi ts both Thacher and the hundreds of hikers who annually access the Los Padres National Forest through Thacher’s property. Call on them when you need: to build a new trail down from the little ridge above the Gymkhana Field to the fi eld itself for a dramatic Grand Entry; to cut a switchback in order to rescue a horse that’s fallen off the Phelps Trail. Launched in the mid-80’s by then-Camping Director Chuck Warren, the program began before the Sespe River area was declared

protected wilderness; the boys’ fi rst project was – you guessed it – the Red Reef Trail, which had fallen into disrepair as a result of Forest Service budget cuts. The group disbanded for several years – but “when the current group of students, as sophomores, asked about doing trail work as a sport,” says Chuck, “I sup-ported their request and revivi-fied the RRR battalion.” Last year’s projects included replac-ing deteriorated dirt bunkers on the Morgan Barnes and Phelps trails, the total brush-clearing of all trails, the construction of a bypass to the gymkhana fi eld, clearing deadfall on the Red Reef Trail, and rerouting the fence at Patton’s to include the stream for at-will water access for penned

“There’s nothing like rolling, smashing, breaking, swinging at, striking, lifting, chucking and demolish-ing anything in your way. I don’t see how the School could possibly use this as punishment. I wish I had more time to crew! “ - Chris Cahill


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horses. The group, with the help of local horse packer Tony Alvis, also cleared large Ponderosa pine deadfall on the Haddock trail, facilitating trips last spring. According to local Thacher historian and octogenarian Jack Huyler, there’s nothing new under the sun: when several of our present RRR boys came down with poison oak after the Phelps rescue, he recalled his very first weekend at Thacher in September, 1949, when two boys met and tried to pass on the same trail. As Jack tells is, “The outer horse was rolled to the bottom of the draw, where he lay, feet in the air, in a humungous growth of poison oak. The boy left on the trail above, though violently allergic to poison oak, had no choice but to go down to extract the horse. In those days, there was no effective treatment for the rash, and he had those itchy ridges from feet to scalp; for days he sweated and itched, sending the school thermometer into the hundreds.” Like so much of Thacher, it’s timeless.

FIELD TRIPS

Three dozen juniors and seniors – all students in Emily Etchell’s and Spencer Stevens’ Biology, Brian Pidduck’s AP Environmental Science and/or Alice Meyer’s AP Psy-chology classes – were the happy beneficiaries of tickets to hear two-time Pulitzer Prize winner (and National Medal of Science recipient) E.O. Wilson, considered by many to be the founder of “sociobiology.” Dr. Wilson gave his

address on biodiversity at the Brentwood School in Los Angeles as part of that school’s speaker’s series. Senior Vincent Chen spoke the next day about the excitement of hearing a pre-eminent and influential scientist talk so passionately about principles he and his peers had just learned about in the classroom and lab: “The lecture made me want to understand more about the subject – in particu-lar, about the ways we can

make changes to the threat we pose to the environment.” Closer to home, Emily’s Biology classes hiked out the gate and spent some time touring Thacher’s waste treatment facility and learning from resident expert (and a member of the Maintenance Department) Jesus Carbajal about its workings. After explaining the “how” of the facility, Jesus pulled out some slides he’d prepared, and the class

got up-close-and-personal with the microorganisms on which the plant relies to do its job.

Students in Alice Meyer’s AP Psychology course had the chance witness in action the theories of Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg, key 20th century developmental psy-chologists, when they visited Monica Ros School, a pre-K through 3rd grade school of which Alice is the former head. There, each Thacher student was assigned to a preschool or kindergarten child as a case study, working in a variety of activities that would reveal discrete elements of these psychologists’ theories of child development.

“All work and no play…” was the operative by-word for Elissa Thorn’s AP Physics class when they vanned it down to Ojai’s picturesque Soule Park playground to investigate friction on the slide and centripetal force on the merry-go-round.

Other students have traveled dramatically further to activate their learning: juniors Whitney Livermore, Eliz-abeth Craver and MacKenna Chase, at different times this fall, headed east to Washington, D.C. where they attended the National Youth Leadership Forum on Defense, Intel-ligence and Diplomacy; Julia Robinson did the same, though her focus was Law. In addition to the requisite Capitol sight-seeing (including special visits to the FBI and the Department of State), Whitney, Elizabeth and MacK-enna spent part of their time preparing for and participat-ing in a simulation in which they projected themselves into 2004, with conflicts in Panama and Columbia escalating. The rest of the program involved speakers from all walks of government work talking about their positions and roles. As for Julia, the whirlwind included meeting influential attorneys (such as the DA for Montgomery County, VA), participating in mock trials and a mock Supreme Court case, both of which involved actual cases, visiting vari-ous courthouses (including the U.S. Court of Appeals for

I left Thacher before the trip with an inter-est in diplomacy and foreign affairs; as a result of this trip, that interest has [certainly] intensified – but even more, my eyes have been opened to many other aspects of gov-ernment work. There’s a lot out there for me to do!

-Whitney Livermore


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the Armed Forces, after which all five justices spent time talking to the Youth Leadership Forum students. Senior Will Chamberlain attended a similar weeklong seminar in Los Angeles, where he met with the City Attorney of Los Angeles, as well as other notable lawyers and law professors, and visited the Compton Courthouse, Loyola School of Law, and a large downtown law firm. Like Julia, he participated in trial simulations and a Supreme Court trial in which he played Chief Justice. Heady stuff!

NO “DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!” HERE

From Kurt Meyer, Mathematics and Java and Engineer-ing teacher:

The joys of teaching at a great school include working with creative, energetic students from whom we teachers receive as much as we give. The Java and Engineering class at Thacher is a case in point. This project-based course, open only to students who have already passed the Advanced Placement AB examination in Computer Science, is a rich opportu-nity for highly skilled students to work creatively—both individually and in teams. As they work out problem solu-tions, the students uncover new ideas and techniques that are as instructive to their teacher as they are to their peers. This shared experience in discovery, analysis and assessment makes everyone in the classroom an active learner.

There are few disciplines richer in opportunity for such activity than robotics. Do not confuse these devices with radio-controlled cars or other remote control “toys.” The robots created by the Java and Engineering students are fully autonomous, pre-programmed, vehicles that must be pre-pared for any condition that may arise in the course of under-taking their assigned tasks. The interaction of hardware and software is a unique challenge in this branch of computer science. A successful robotics team must excel in developing

Brian Keane, Ian Whittinghill, Alex Huth, Hugh Gordon, Luke Myers and their teacher Kurt Meyer

both a reliable “chassis” that will stand up to the hard knocks of moving around in the real world, and clever, efficient code that gives the robot responsiveness and agility.

The special features of this undertaking are easy to convey. Think about assessment! Whether or not the robotic device is discharging its duties faithfully is only too obvious: If the task is to pick up the ping pong balls and deposit them on the other side of the court (as the video clip @ www.thacher.org depicts), it is painfully all too clear, when the craft becomes caught banging against a wall or hopelessly entangles itself with its opponent, that the programming team has not planned for all eventualities. The results can often be quite humorous.

Robotics lends itself naturally to friendly, if often, tenacious competition. As a motivator, nothing beats a contest for getting students to posit unusual, inventive solutions and to work to implement them.For a video of the Family Weekend robot soccer game, go to the School’s website, at www.thacher.org.

You know Thacher is an incredible place when you have the opportunity to try things usually found only at universi-ties. I got to build a robot that competes in games! It’s like a hobby becoming a part of your academic life.- Luke Myers

Calligraphy artist and Oriental Painting teacher Tomi Ito-Levin instructs Li Li’s Chinese VI students in the highly-specialized technique she learned in her native Japan.

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10 :: Parents’ Post

NO END OF WAYS TO PITCH IN

Over a third of the student body volunteered – school days, weekends or evenings – in the many opportunities offered through Community Service. Molly Perry, the director of the program, and student heads Laurel Back and Katie Telischak have partnered Thacher students with more than a dozen schools, convalescent homes, and civic organizations throughout the Ojai Valley, where they tutor and teach, walk the dogs and pet the cats, serve food, sing oldies, keep company – in general, engage in the give-and-take that keeps the world going around. New to the roster of possibilities this year are the Adopt-a-Grandpar-ent program (in conjunction with Ojai’s Rotary Club), in which students are paired with residents who do not have family or friends living nearby to visit them, and the Ojai Historical Preservation project, headed by Holly Mitchem (Art History), in which students help photographing and collecting data on historic homes in the Valley.

MORE PROF-DEV

for faculty came this fall in several forms: Derick Perry and Peter Robinson attended the National Association of Independent Schools’ People of Color Conference in Chi-cago, while Dean of Students Chris Mazzola spent a day with other Ventura County educators interested in learn-ing more about drug use and abuse in our area. What she gathered from Trinka Porrata , 25-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department as Head Narcotics Officer for Juveniles, will become part of this winter’s HR&S (Human Relationships and Sexuality) Program. Supported by the School’s professional development fund, as well as the airline miles of the ever-generous Marvin Shagam (who has taken other academic departments aboard in previous years), several members of the Foreign Language Depart-ment took the Thanksgiving holiday to travel to France, setting up base-“camp” in Cannes and sojourning in other cities and towns nearby -- St. Paul de Vence, Grasse, Eze, Antibes and Monaco, to name a few of the stops along the way. Presenting a seminar – “Beyond Anecdotes”– on the value of schools like Thacher actively pursuing research at The Association of Boarding Schools’ annual meeting of approximately 600 educators were Head of School Michael Mulligan and Director of Admission/Assistant Head for External Affairs Monique DeVane. They spoke from Thacher’s enormously successful experience about how honest feedback from various school constituencies can inform policy in positive, meaningful and often pro-found ways.

HISTORY IS HERSTORYWriting a page in Thacher’s books this fall was one swift senior: after taking first place in the CIF preliminaries and then at the Southern Sectional meet at Mt. SAC (San Anto-nio College) just before Thanksgiving Break, Bessie Hatch went on to snag the number one spot in the CIF Division 5 State Championships. Her 18:58 beat out the other 138 harriers handily (or, we guess, footily) – and bested the time she made last year by more than two minutes – “almost unheard of,” according to her coach, Theana Hancock. This makes Bessie – also a varsity soccer and lacrosse starter – the first ath-lete in Thacher’s history to win the individual State Champi-onship Cross Country title for our divi-sion. Pictured here, Bessie be-garlanded.

Sea shanty expert Ben Tassinari from the tall ship

Tole Mour delights the many scrunched into the living

room at Open House one Saturday night this fall.


The plot: David Mamet’s (American Buffalo, Glen-garry Glen Ross) The Water Engine is set against the back-drop of Chicago’s 1934 Century of Progress World’s Fair. A Depression-era machinist, having invented an engine that runs solely on water, approaches a lawyer to patent it, then finds himself fighting to save himself and his family from the dark corporate forces who want to destroy it.

From the director: Although Mamet origi-nally conceived The Water Engine as a radio play, in our produc-tion, we dramatized all of the action while retaining the sound effects of a live radio show. With the SFX technicians visible on stage and the actors creating doors, windows and props using mime technique, we witnessed a new dimension to live theater – what has been described as a third reality, a different scenic honesty. We could then take a truly collaborative art form one step further and fully engage (if not require) the audience to become a collaborator in collective imagination. This inter-pretation also heightened the running theme of “All people are connected” and dramatically demonstrated our profound need to create and to communicate.

Water EngineTHE

Now, having just spent eight wonderful weeks with thirty-six gifted Thacher students, I can attest that, as an ensemble we were not only connected, but we became a theatrical family, brought together in a powerful experience of bonding and buoyancy. When we see our students on stage we are witness to the remark-able, the mysterious relaxation of the laws of nature. Gravity gives way to levity. We see these young men and women grow-ing, floating, and flowing with self-confidence, creative ability and artistic truth. It is a time-tested experience, a chapter in the high school tradition – but it also reminds us of the effervescence of the human spirit.

From the critics: Theatrically fearless and eager to tread where few high school players have gone before, the Thacher Masquers recently took on David Mamet’s The Water Engine – and with great success. Originally conceived as a radio play, the work sets a high bar for both actors and technicians, as minimal stage sets and precious few props heighten the impor-tance of sound effects and precise timing. Intense, bold, intellec-tually challenging for those on stage, behind the curtains and in the audience: What more could we ask for?


The players:

Charles Lang..................................................John Babbott

Rita Lang .................................................... Cara Bonewitz

Morton Gross ..................................................Chris Cahill

Lawrence Oberman ...................................... Ian Strachan

The Creepy Guy ................................................Calvin Lieu

Mrs. Varec ....................................................... Jackie Fiske

Dave Murray ............................................. Armando León

Mrs. Wallace .............................................Charmiane Lieu

Bernie ............................................................ Nhu Y Dang

Gross’ Secretary ............................................. Keely Walsh

Newspaper Secretary ...................................... Mary White

Barker........................................................Annie Wheatley

Chainletter.................................................. Mary Leighton

Announcer ...................................................... Juliana Ma

Newspaper Runner/Foreman................. Michael Quintana

Woman in Elevator/Voice Over ....................Emily Nathan

Woman 2/Soapbox speaker........................Lucy Hodgman

Operator/Watcher ............................................Ariel Wang

Companion/Customer .........................................Jessie Liu

Radio Announcer/Railroad Conductor ................Jim Sligh

Cop 1 .............................................................. Ben Babbott

Cop 2 ............................................................... Zach Behar

Worker/Paper Boy/Moderator........................Alison Flynn

Mailman..............................................................Jim Sligh

Elevator Operator/Bum .......................Sarah Chamberlain

Knife Grinder/Rewrite ..........................................Julia Oh

Lecturer ........................................................... Juliana Ma

Postal Processor Inventor................................Michael Yun

Singers ..................................... Jackie Fiske, Emily Nathan,

Charmiane Lieu, Jessie Liu,

Mary White, Julia Erdman

Mid-winter 2003 :: 13

PHOTOS

TO COME

Monoprint by Juliana Ma, Sophomore

Production CreditsEditor:Joy Sawyer-Mulligan

Design & Production: J. Bert Mahoney

Photography:Louie Elias, Dick Hodgman, Jane McCarthy, Elissa Thorn, Theana Hancock, Joy Sawyer-Mulligan

The Thacher SchoolParents’ Post5025 Thacher RoadOjai, CA 93023-9001

Address Service Requested

Non-ProfitOrganization

U.S. Postage PaidPermit Number 17

Ojai, CA 93023

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Another raucous Assembly moment, when Head of School Michael Mulligan held aloft a road-killed toad, flattened and suitable to join others contributed by students to his growing collection. (An alumnus whose business is custom casting actually sent the School one such relic.) But really, the treasure’s in those smiles.

All of us here at Thacher hope your holidays were bright and very merry and that you got to savor the moments you had with your sons and daughters (those moments after 10 a.m. when, we’d wager, the earliest birds among them finally arose).

Happy New Year to all!

parents post · parents’ post a newsletter for ... virtuosi singer with a several-octave range...

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