the hotchkiss magazine, winter 2010

P. O . B O X 8 0 0L A K E V I L L E , C T 0 6 0 3 9 - 0 8 0 0( 8 6 0 ) 4 3 5 - 2 5 9 1w w w. h o t c h k i s s . o r g

HOTCHKISSM A G A Z I N E

Nonprofit Org.

U.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 8

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THE HOTCHKISS FUND

SUPPORTING CURRENT NEEDS

The Hotchkiss Fund provides 12% of theSchool’s operating budget. The Fund sup-ports a range of critical resources: academicprograms, financial assistance and scholar-ships, faculty compensation and profes-sional development, athletics and studentactivities, health services, and facilitiesmaintenance. These are real priorities andtangible needs.

If you have questions or would like to dis-cuss your gift, please call Electra Webb Tor-torella at 860-435-3145. If you would like tomake a gift online, please go tohttps://www.hotchkiss.org/alumni/makeagift.asp.

We thank you.

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FR O M T H E H E A Dof school

2 H O T C H K I S S M A G A Z I N E

“ C E L E B R A T I N G O U R C O M M U N I T Y ”

If we know where we come from and are

secure in that knowledge, we can go any-

where and welcome anyone, everywhere.

But many never find their voices, and so

they spend their lives always clearing their

throats. Communities are fractured and do

not provide fertile soil for their members to

plant themselves deeply. And home can be a

distant memory, if not a figment, for those

many who wander in search of security.

This was my internal dialogue that I pon-

dered as we celebrated Martin Luther King

Day on Monday, January 18. MLK Day at

Hotchkiss is a fine celebration. This year, in

addition to remembering and honoring

Martin Luther King Jr., the organizing com-

mittee, comprised mainly of students, took

‘celebrating our community’ as the major

theme for the occasion. How did we do this?

We began on the Sunday night with

advisees having supper in the homes of their

advisors. Judith and I entertained, and were

entertained by, a lively group whose advisor

was away and who skipped across the snow

and ice to get to us. We all drove back to

Main afterwards to a riveting production of

“Enemy of the People” by the Aquila Theater,

watched attentively by the entire school.

Themes of community, finding your voice,

standing up against deception, and ostracism

were all relevant to the Monday’s events.

When did MLK Day really start for us? I

said that we began on the Sunday evening.

Perhaps we began on the Friday night, when

Mamadou Diabate, a thrilling kora player

from Mali, played solo to a rapt audience. A

few days later, at the Grammy Awards, he

won the Best Traditional World Music

Album. Our visiting artist concert series is

generously endowed, and this enables us to

offer thrilling performers to the School and

surrounding community without charge. On

this occasion, our students decided to appeal

to the audience to make a voluntary contribu-

tion to the Hotchkiss effort to help the relief

work in Haiti. We took in just short of $1500.

That was our community in action. Or maybe

we began during the preceding week, when

Lou Pressman gave two stirring chapel

addresses on the Civil Rights movement. In

describing the brave and extraordinary sacri-

fices of young people, he reminded us all that

where you go to school does not matter near-

ly as much as what you do and how you act

with the education that you receive.

j When I speak with my own, true voice, confident in a sense

of my individual identity, I am able to create space for others to

try to do the same. When we are rooted in our own community,

we can reach out to others whenever the need arises.

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So to Monday, and a whole-school gather-

ing in the morning addressed initially by Lloyd

Zuckerberg ’80. Lloyd spoke to us about his

passions and interests, about how difficult it

was to become part of the Hotchkiss commu-

nity when he first arrived here, and about the

magnitude of Dr. King’s impact on our world.

He reminded us that “the most racist word in

the English language is ‘they.’” He spoke beau-

tifully of the power of difference and the

rewards of struggling to understand and con-

nect with those who are different from us: “in

order to expand and grow you must find peo-

ple that you disagree with.”

Following on from this, we listened to stu-

dents and adults talking about deeply person-

al experiences of finding and sometimes los-

ing their sense of community. One member

of the faculty shared a complex and demand-

ing family situation. He told us how he had

informed a class about this and of the

responses from some of the students who

opened up to him with their own stories of

hardship: “my candor inspired their candor.”

The rest of the day was devoted to work-

shops offering a wide array of activities and

to a period of “reverie, rest, relaxation”

before athletic practices. In a Hotchkiss vari-

ant of the website PostSecret, many individ-

ual yet anonymous comments about our

school and community were posted in the

Main Building. Some were negative, others

positive; some truly personal and moving,

others apparently exaggerated, perhaps even

invented. One student said of this: “There

were things that I could relate to. It laid out

Hotchkiss for everyone to see, bringing us

together rather than apart and showing us

what Hotchkiss is and what our peers think.”

The workshops were indoor and outside,

and many participants tried new activities for

the first time. Here’s just such an account: “ I

had the opportunity to sing with the Gospel

Choir in the afternoon. About forty people

were crammed in the front of the chapel,

ranging from preps to senior faculty mem-

bers. Despite the small pitch deficiencies for

many of the amateurs, including myself, we

belted out ‘We are the World,’ led by

Michael Brown, the Director of the Gospel

Choir, for the sole purpose of enjoying our-

selves. Surrounded by my friends and teach-

ers, the Hotchkiss community had never

seemed so tightly knit.”

We are a powerful community, and we

become ever stronger by sharing our travails,

by opening ourselves to and learning from

each other, and by coming together from

time to time to sing in unison, knowing that

there might always be those ‘small pitch defi-

ciencies’ but belting it out nevertheless.

OPPOSITE PAGE: The all-School audience on MLK Day

FAR LEFT: LloydZuckerberg ’80 with thecatalog of MLK papers

LEFT: Presenting the cata-log to Malcolm McKenziefor the School

BELOW: Having the chanceto sing with Hotchkiss a cappella groups

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BACK TOTHE WOODS:

—A New Generation Discovers the Wild Heart of Hotchkiss

B Y D I V Y A S Y M M E R S

P H O T O S B Y J O N A T H A N D O S T E R


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OPPOSITE: Students joined a supervised walk in theHotchkiss Woods on MLKDay in January.

BELOW: Richard Brinckerhoff’37 drew this beautiful mapof the Woods when he was astudent. Brinckerhoff wenton to chair the sciencedepartment at Exeter andpublish two textbooks.

amateur naturalist and a great lover of the out ofdoors for its own sake,” according to Into the Woods:1893-1950, written by Archives Assistant JoanBaldwin for an in-depth, eponymous School exhibitin the spring of 2008.

Van Santvoord organized the Woods Committee– a dozen or so students and a handful of hardy fac-ulty members – to appeal to boys “with interest inoutdoor exercise” and “experience in woodcraft” butlittle interest in regular team athletics, according toThe Record of November 1932. Rules were estab-lished for the construction, maintenance, and own-ership of cabins, deeds to which could be transferredto lowerclassmen when seniors graduated. Over thenext two decades, a thousand pine trees were plant-ed, a pair of ski jumps constructed, apple trees werepruned, and geese and swans kept. A few studentseven tried their hand at beekeeping.

In the mid 1950s, English teacher Blair Torrey ’50began offering an elective for seniors dedicated, as aHotchkiss Magazine story on his retirement noted,“primarily to the business of seeing and the closeobservation of nature.” Today’s nature elective carrieson in the same spirit, thanks to Geoff Marchant, the L.Blair Torrey ’50 Chair, who reports that after the

of 1952, when Chuck Jarecki and his father arrivedin Lakeville from their home in rural Pennsylvania,Headmaster George Van Santvoord told them storiesabout the Woods Squad he had founded 20 yearsearlier, which was then reaching a peak of populari-ty. Its primary activities – building cabins, clearingtrails, and cutting firewood – were part of a robustoutdoor tradition going back almost to the dawn ofHotchkiss time, when second Headmaster HuberBuehler kept a log cabin in the woods for entertain-ing friends and faculty. “I couldn’t wait to get toHotchkiss so I could go out and chop down trees,”Jarecki remembers. “Woods Squad was my passion.”

Of everything that makes Hotchkiss one of theworld’s outstanding independent secondary schools,the Beeslick Brook Woods are the most quintessential-ly New England. Also known as the Hotchkiss Woods,this 200-acre span of hemlock, white pine, oak, ash,cedar, and sugar maple that lies south of Route 112 isthe School’s wild heart, where deer forage, ferns growfrom rock clefts, and yellow trout lilies bloom at brookside. Like so much of northwestern Connecticut, it’salso where layers of history peel away to reveal stonepasture walls built by 18th-century farmers, old rail-way ties from the Central New England Railroad, andeven – unique to Hotchkiss – a group of structurescreated by hardy Grateful Dead fans of the 1970s: MarsHotel, Terrapin, and Shelter from the Storm. It makessense, then, that for generations of Hotchkiss studentsthe Woods have provided shelter of one kind oranother: Mysterious, inspiring, educational, andrestorative, they serve as a respite from the pressures ofacademic life and a living laboratory whose uniquevalue is increasingly recognized.

“There are traces of the environment the way it was25, 40, 80 years ago, and clues that help you read thehistory of the landscape and discover how the forestthere now came to be,” points out Instructor inBiology Chris Oostenink, who teaches Introduction toChemistry and Biology, popularly known as bio-chem,a core class for Preps and Lower Mids. “If they’re citykids, a walk in the woods is just a walk in the woods;they have no idea why a particular tree species exists ina particular place. No real sense of how the historicalhuman impact on the landscape continues to shape it.But if you can get them to a point where they can startseeing, just opening their eyes to a different way of see-ing the world, that’s a pretty incredible thing.”

Part of a greater campus ecosystem comprised ofnewly acquired Fairfield Farms, the still-incipientArboretum, and shimmering Lake Wonoscopomuc,the Beeslick Brook Woods have long been a resourcefor teaching students to see what they might other-wise miss. The practice likely began with George VanSantvoord ’08, the School’s fourth headmaster, “an

IN THE SPRING


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March break his kids are almost never indoors. Using averb favored by Henry David Thoreau in his essayWalking – one of Torrey’s perennial favorites –Marchant writes: “We saunter at least once a week.Each student has binoculars, hand lens, and bird andwildflower guides. We track the entrance of spring,starting with skunk cabbage and hepatica, and follow itright through columbine and marsh marigolds. On agood day, we will hear or see pileated, red-bellied, anddowny woodpeckers, ovenbirds, Carolina wrens,ospreys, and great blue herons. The idea really is to getthe seniors to look up, look around, and listen.” Inaddition to Thoreau, assigned reading material nowincludes contemporary essayists such as MichaelPollan, Annie Dillard, and Wendell Berry. But the tra-dition of granting an A for the course to any studentwho identifies a particularly rare plant or flower con-tinues, though so far no one yet has spotted either ascarlet-crested cladonia (Torrey’s choice) or a pinkladyslipper (Marchant’s). Still, each spring Marchantbrings his students to the edge of the Woods to tapsugar maples, just as Blair Torrey did until 1984 whenhe abruptly, and some feel mysteriously, stopped.

“He’ll say it’s because he and his wife, Ellen, startedgoing up to Maine during the spring break so he didn’thave time any more,” Marchant confides. “But the realreason is that his favorite Irish tweed hat fell into theboiling syrup when we were dumping it out.”

Rare or endangered species observed in theHotchkiss Woods encompass bog turtles, walkingferns, and tiny freshwater mollusks as well as unusuallydedicated English teachers. Art and philosophy classesdo their own sauntering in good weather, while physicsand bio-chem students conduct field studies thatinclude an annual measurement of the carbon storedin the trees and how it offsets overall Hotchkiss energyconsumption. From spring through fall a multitude ofdelicate wildflowers are identified and photographed,especially along the Long Pond Trail, where GeoffMarchant and his students – assisted by School carpen-ters John Worrall, Hugh Curtis, and Chuck Luminati –have built walkways and small bridges.

Last spring they replaced an observation platform(ideal for spotting the occasional eagle) built by BlairTorrey and his seniors more than 20 years ago.Another time they constructed a raised extension overa marshy place on the Beaver Pond Trail originallyblazed by Jim Morrill and a pair of independent-studystudents in 1992. “We’re on the verge of doing a muchbetter promotion of this trail, which nicely illustratesthe ecosystem of the Woods,” says Morrill, who beganteaching at Hotchkiss in 1972 and started the first FieldEcology course here a decade later. “We’ve developedinformation sheets for six pedestals we’ll be putting inas soon as the frost comes out of the ground.”

Ensuring that major trails in the Woods – which runfrom behind the golf course to Long Pond – are easy tofollow was also a goal of this year’s Outdoor Leadership

group coached by Gap Year Coordinator Elsie Stapf.“We wanted to simplify the trail network and let someof the land recover,” she noted at the end of thegroup’s fall semester. “Basically, we want to mark themwell so that people stay on the trail, and so that the for-est can recover in places that may have been overrun.”The six students who chose this particular co-curricu-lar activity in lieu of sports met four to five times aweek, rain or shine. “Some days it was drizzling andcold. Some days, when they had tons of homework,

ABOVE: In this Archivesphoto, Blair Torrey’50,right, joins Geoff Marchantin the sugaring work.

OPPOSITE: Students consulttheir maps of the Woods,aided by Instructor inPhysics Stacey Nicholson.

they didn’t necessarily feel like going out in the Woodsto learn how to light camp stoves,” said Stapf, whospent several years prior to Hotchkiss leading experien-tial education programs for the YMCA and other orga-nizations. “But everything they learned, from trail blaz-ing to tent pitching to map reading and route plan-ning, was based on the group’s specific goals, includingknowing when and why to cancel a trip because ofweather conditions.”

At least one member of Outdoor Leadership was anEagle Scout, but two were city girls whose only previ-ous exposure to the great outdoors may have been afew weeks of summer camp. “I’ve always been a cityperson, so going into the woods was a completely newexperience for me,” admitted Lamia Faruk ’12. “Ilearned a lot about outdoor survival.” Fellow NewYorker Monique Grocia ’13, who calls the Woods “aquiet, relaxing, beautiful place,” was even inspired tolead her mother and her grandmother on a hike toBeeslick Falls during a fall visit. “It’s not a straightshot: you have to take multiple trails to get there,”Elsie Stapf points out. “But she did it comfortably,and she had fun, and her mom was proud of her.”

Not far from Beeslick Falls, on the shore of LongPond – also known as Lake Wononpakook – sitsRanger’s Cabin, the oldest of three vintage Hotchkisscabins still standing and by far the best preserved. Usedfor cookouts and occasional overnights by the School’sOuting Club, it was built close to the original cabin

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belonging to Headmaster Buehler anddonated in 1948 by the widow of formerhistory teacher Alfred Hall. (In acceptingthe gift from Mrs. Hall, George VanSantvoord proclaimed that it was an idealspot for entertaining “fellow members ofthe faculty…under delightful conditions.”)

By the early 1950s, when membership inthe Woods Squad reached a record high of35 boys, the trails were in constant use,

from spring brush-clearing to winter cross-countryskiing, recalls Chuck Jarecki, a former Montana cattlerancher and active pilot. “Woods Squad was whereyou could do projects that lasted and there was nodrive to win or beat anyone. The skills we learned havelasted a lifetime,” he said. Voted the most uncivilizedmember of the Class of 1956 because he spent somuch time spent outdoors, he notes proudly that heand two classmates – John Cowan and Dave Northrop– were given a special Woods Squad award at gradua-tion that year.

“They built a bridge across the Beeslick Brook atthe bottom of the ski jump there, using old quarriedstones that had been dumped near the ’49 Fields,”explains retired Instructor in Mathematics andScience Bob Royce, who took over as Woods Squadadvisor from Van Santvoord. “Just the three of themby themselves. Hard-working kids. Great kids.” Royceremembers students’ cutting tangled tree roots andmaintaining the old hockey ponds (“it was a constantbattle, patching the dams and shoveling snow andice”) although their primary job was cutting firewood.“You get tired. It gets cold in winter. The wood getshard. And axes bounce,” he says. “I chopped my legonce. The Duke did, too. But he held Chapel the nextday anyway. He was a good man.”

Time passed, the old ski jumps were dismantled,

and Woods Squad gradually lost its cachet, although itwas occasionally revived in less ambitious incarna-tions. For a few years beginning in the late 1990s itwas reborn as the Green Corps, organized by JimMorrill and Lynn Mattoon, wife of former headmas-ter Skip Mattoon. “We were basically doing trailmaintenance, and we helped build some of thebridges that are out there now, though GeoffMarchant has repaired them,” says Morrill, for whomthe Woods are an invaluable living museum and arequired destination for at least two fall field trips byhis AP Environmental Science seniors. “For a lot ofthem it’s the first time they’ve been in there. And theirreactions range from ‘I didn’t know these things exist-ed in our own woods,’ to ‘I never understood howrewarding natural history could be.’”

Today’s Outdoor Leadership participants have inher-ited the spirit of yesterday’s Woods Squad even if theydon’t spend their time repairing cabins or cuttinggirdling tree roots. The trails they’ve blazed – this springwith help from Students for Environmental Action(S.E.A.), the on-campus group that sponsors Eco Daycleanups of invasive species and other projects – willultimately end in the installation of new signs and dis-plays at trailheads and a new map for students to carrywith them. All of this is destined to encourage greaterexploration while still protecting what a 2005 report bythe Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studiesterms “an extraordinary educational and ecologicalresource that has made a significant, positive impactupon generations of Hotchkiss students and faculty.”

The report, which recommended clearing trails butleaving the rest of the Woods as natural as possible,might be considered a kind of delayed response to a1933 article in the Hotchkiss Alumni News, in whichconcern was expressed that the rules of the WoodsCommittee would result in over-organization “and theold wildness and freedom of the woods would vanish.”

In fact, easier access simply means more students willexperience the delights of sauntering, be betterinformed about the interdependency of forest, lake,stream, and farm, and become more attuned to the col-lective memory of this particular place. Peel back a fewlayers and the Buehlers are offering sherry to friends onwinter weekends; a few more, and farmers are grazingcows on open pastureland on sunny spring mornings.Go back far enough and you may catch a glimpse of theWawyachtonoc tribe that local histories say held regu-lar gatherings by Lake Wononpakook.

“If students can visualize what this forest lookedlike a hundred years ago, then they can apply thosesame rules to imagine what it’s going to look like ahundred years from now, or even just when theycome back for their 50th reunion,” said ChrisOostenink, calling the Hotchkiss Woods an essentialextension of the classroom experience. “It’s a wonder-ful and complex ecosystem, a critical resource andlaboratory, and it’s right here.”

TOP: Archival photo of“Winter Cabin,” a photo

from the 1938 Mischianza

ABOVE: As a senior, CharlesWhittemore ’77 designedand built the cabin now

known as the Mars Hotel.When he died in 1989,

friends, family, and fellowalumni contributed to a

fund in his honor. The fundis used for maintaining cab-

ins, trails, and bridges inBeeslick Brook Woods.

OPPOSITE: Students visit Ranger’s Cabin, the

oldest of three vintageHotchkiss cabins

still standing.


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Winter Lifeon Campus:

WP H O T O E S S AY B Y A N N E D AY P ’ 0 9 , ’ 11 , ’ 1 3

Rich andSustaining

WITH A CAMPUS DESIGN THAT REINFORCES THE TIGHT COMMU-

NITY THAT IS HOTCHKISS, WINTER'S CHILL HAS LITTLE EFFECT.

WHETHER IN THE MAIN BUILDING, THE DORMITORIES, THE

A. WHITNEY GRISWOLD SCIENCE CENTER, OR ON THE CAMPUS'S

SNOWY SLOPES, STUDENTS AND TEACHERS FIND COMFORTABLE

SPACES FOR CONVERSATION OR STUDY, FOR LECTURES AND READ-

INGS, AND FOR FUN. EACH DAY HOLDS ITS SHARE OF WARM

ENCOUNTERS, EVEN WHEN THE THERMOMETER SAYS OTHERWISE.

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BELOW: Just after 7 a.m. on a

January morning,the sun’s glow

finds Coy Dorm.

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BBELOW: It’s not the food at this“dorm feed” inBuehler – chipsand dip. Clearly,it’s the companythat’s the starattraction.

ABOVE: At theInternational

Dinner for thePrep class, speaker

Ian Pounds talkswith students at

his table.

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RIGHT: A little downtime

and conversationin the Main

Building hallway

BELOW: The Bulls by Peter

Woytuk catch theeye of passersby in

every season. OOPPOSITE:Grammy Award-winning koraplayer MamadouDiabate per-formed in whatbecame theSchool’s firstfundraiser forHaiti relief.

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RIGHT: In a comfy spot in

the Edsel FordMemorial

Library, this stu-dent warms to

his work.

BBELOW AND

OPPOSITE CENTER:Speaker OrvilleSchell P’11 standsbefore one of theillustrations for histalk on disappear-ing glaciers.

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LEFT: Novelist and memoiristSusan Cheeverdrew a large andattentive audiencefor her talk in theFaculty Room.

AABOVE: Dorm-mates in Buehlertake a break fromstudying on theweekend.

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FOR THE LOVE OF

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1 0 0 Y E A R S O F

H O T C H K I S S H O C K E Y By Molly McDowell, with Robert Johnson ’38,

writer of early Hotchkiss hockey history

evening in late autumn, and

voices ricochet around Schmidt

Rink, just as an errant puck

bounces off the boards that surround the ice. Twelve girls skate circles around

each other, ponytails poking out from beneath their helmets. The game is fre-

netic, pingponging from one end of the rink to the other. After a scramble in

front of the Hotchkiss net, an opposing player tips in a goal; the red light goes

on. It’s a setback, but as the clock runs out, the Bearcats skate off the ice and

into the locker room unbowed.

The game is the latest page to be written in the rich history of Hotchkiss hock-

ey. It’s one that was first authored on the hockey pond several generations before,

by boys who braved the New England winter chill to play a sport that existed for

them as little more than a passion. In the first half of the last century, hockey at

Hotchkiss involved the toil of ice maintenance by the players, far-flung contests

sometimes derailed by poor playing conditions, and no payoff beyond the joy of

the game – very few young men went on to play in college.

Today, Hotchkiss figures prominently in the New England prep school tradi-

tion of top-notch hockey. Both male and female players frequently go on to play

at top colleges, and recent years have produced NHL players (like Matt Herr ’94

IT’S EARLY

SPORTA

Action on the ice,

circa 1960,

when grooming

the ice was part

of the game

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Zamboni motors around the playing

surface, transforming chewed-up ice

into a sheet as smooth as glass.

Leaning on a shovel is not as much of

a concern for team managers as are

making sure water bottles are filled

and sticks are properly aligned behind

the bench.

Although the maintenance of

Hotchkiss’s Tom Schmidt and

Andrew K. & Martin Dwyer III Rinks

now takes place independent of the

blustery chill that envelops this corner

of Connecticut, the rink staff is still an

integral part of keeping the teams at

their best. Former head coach Jeff

Kosak related how Frank Marino, a

familiar, affable figure to anyone who

has set foot in Mars Athletic Center,

was an invaluable resource to him in

keeping team dynamics positive.

“Each day when I ran into Frank in

the gym, I would ask him, ‘Frankie,

what do I need to know?’ He would

quickly explain little dissatisfactions,

unhealthy rivalries, and issues of the

day. Sometimes it was simply, ‘All ok!’

Often I could make changes without

the players’ ever knowing how I had

anticipated problems."

Much of the early history of hockey

at Hotchkiss can be gleaned from the

Mischianza, which traces the history

of the sport at the School from its

beginnings on the hockey pond,

Baker Field, and other outdoor

venues, to Bierwirth (the School’s first

artificial surface) and to the School’s

current rinks. 1901 marked the first

mention of a hockey team in the

Misch; however, the team’s evolution

was stalled due to an outbreak of scar-

let fever in 1904, when the School

closed in the winter months.

In the first half century of play,

when hockey was elevated from a

minor sport to a major sport along-

side football, track, and baseball,

Hotchkiss teams battled Taft, Kent,

Lenox, South Kent, the Princeton

freshmen, Loomis, Berkshire,

Pawling, Choate, and others. Writes

Johnson about this evolution:

One might wonder when and how

tools to make ice serviceable for the

next period. There were no Zambonis

in those days; this was true even at

indoor artificial rinks, such as Madison

Square Garden. There between periods,

four men on skates would come on the

ice with shovels to take off the accumu-

lated snow and shavings, followed by

two guys pushing a barrel on wheels

full of warm water, which froze quite

quickly. This was not done on natural

ice because most times it would not

freeze fast enough. I don’t think

Zambonis were a practical phenomena

until the mid-’50s. After a heavy snow-

fall, removal of same was always a

problem; the hope was that the ice was

thick enough to support a tractor with

plow or similar machine, or even in

some areas a team of horses pulling a

dumper.

Indicative of the conditions we were

often faced with, in our 1938 yearbook

(Mischianza) there is a picture in the

hockey section of our team manager,

Meyers, wielding a shovel in the snow –

if leaning on the handle of the shovel

can be considered “wielding.” Anyway,

all I know is we seemed to spend more

time maintaining the ice than playing

on it. But we still had a lot of fun.

These days, Hotchkiss employs a

talented rink staff to groom the ice,

while teams receive pep talks in the

locker room. Between periods, a

and Torrey Mitchell ’04) and Olympic

medal winners (Caitlin Cahow ’03 and

Gina Kingsbury ’00 join August F.

Kammer ’30 and Fred Pearson ’40 as

Olympians).

THE EARLY YEARSLike every great success story,

Hotchkiss hockey has grown out of

hard work and humble beginnings,

and a time when, writes former goal-

tender Robert Johnson ’38, “we

seemed to spend more time maintain-

ing the ice than playing on it.”

In fact, ice maintenance figures in

Johnson’s hockey memories as much

as gametime heroics. In a narrative

called “Skating on Thin Ice” that

serves well to illustrate the nascent

Hotchkiss hockey program, he recalls,

We relied solely on nature’s whims,

and even then it could mean an awful

lot of work to get a practical skating sur-

face. It seems that winters on the whole

were harsher in those days, with ponds

and lakes freezing over sometimes even

in early December. However, a great

deal of physical labor was needed to

maintain the skating surface. Shovels,

scrapers, and brooms seemed to be in

constant use, mostly handled by team

members, leaving limited time to

improve skating, puck handling, and

shooting capabilities.

After each period, we would all grab

Bystanders

brave the cold

to cheer on the

1938 team.


131604_18_23:features 20-27 3/23/10 11:13 AM

21W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

hockey became a formal sport at the

School. A search of School archives

reveals in a Mischianza that the first

mention of a hockey team was in 1901.

That is interesting, because while hock-

ey is supposed to have started in

Montreal around 1875, the

International Ice Hockey Federation

was not founded until 1908. References

to hockey are shown in the Misch

through 1903, but nothing again about

the sport until 1911; however, not in

1912. The following year, 1913, the

Misch shows a team, with a list of

scores for games against other schools.

1913 seems to be the year that a consis-

tent program was launched. It was con-

sidered a minor sport until 1931 when

it assumed the same status as football,

baseball, and track. As a matter of

interest, an 1899 Hotchkiss Record

carries an article about Yale’s joining a

newly-formed intercollegiate hockey

league, no doubt influencing similar

interest at Hotchkiss. In those days

Hotchkiss was a preparatory school

almost exclusively for Yale.

Not immune to world affairs, the

hockey team suspended interscholas-

tic play in the early 1940s. A world

war being fought on two fronts meant

that gas for travel was scarce. With the

exception of contests with Kent

School, games were intramural,

played between dormitories.

Today Hotchkiss hockey players

feed not just Yale’s teams, but many

top college programs. A visit to the

office of girls’ varsity hockey assistant

(and former head) coach Robin

Chandler ’87, daughter of former

Headmaster (and former Hotchkiss

goalkeeper) Rusty Chandler ’53,

reveals a wall peppered with photos of

alumnae who have thrived at the col-

legiate level.

Chandler played for Dartmouth,

part of a crop of particularly talented

female varsity athletes who skated for

Hotchkiss in the 1980s and went on

to collegiate success. Still, she insists

that the last decade or so of Hotchkiss

girls’ hockey has produced the most

all-around talent. When speaking of

her favorite Hotchkiss hockey memo-

ry, she speaks not of her accomplish-

ments, but of traveling to Torino in

2006 to see alumnae Kingsbury and

Cahow win their respective gold and

bronze medals.

“In the last 12 years, the student-

athletes who have played girls’ hockey

have been incredible citizens of the

School,” she said. “Many have been

prizewinners, and a lot of them have

gone on to have stellar college and

post-college careers. The girls who

play hockey are not only phenomenal

hockey players, but are those elusive

three-sport athletes who strengthen

the teams outside the hockey team.”

The boys’ teams have also fed play-

ers to many storied programs. But

head coach Damon White battles the

junior hockey developmental leagues

to place talent at Division Ischools. He

states, “Colleges are more willing to

take the bigger, more mature 20-year-

old who’s played in Junior leagues

than the 18-year-old Hotchkiss gradu-

ate who is academically prepared and

emotionally ready for these institu-

tions and the challenges of Division I

hockey. We have kids who go play in

Division III because they aren’t willing

to play juniors for a year.”

As the Hotchkiss hockey program

has developed, a constant has been

the athletes’ commitment to acade-

mics. Says Jeff Kosak, head coach

from 1984-1998, “In our time togeth-

er, Blair [Torrey ’50], Damon, and I

never promised a position to a poten-

tial student-athlete. A number of

them decided to go elsewhere, where

they were promised a slot on the var-

sity team should they be accepted and

enroll. We wouldn’t do that, and in a

strange way, it became one of the

strengths of the program.

“On one occasion, a young goal-

tender, highly thought of and justifi-

ably so, came for a revisit after being

accepted. The boy and his father were

particularly interested in how Blair

saw him fitting into the varsity pro-

gram. Blair settled back in his chair,

lowered his glasses, and responded,

‘Son, it’s very simple here. If you’re

good enough to make the varsity, you

will. If you’re not, you won’t.’” The

boy enrolled, had a great career at

Hotchkiss, and then matriculated to a

Division I program at a top college.

During the 1980s and ’90s, the

mighty triumvirate of Torrey, Kosak,

and White led a program that

achieved great success not because

they recruited the strongest, most

skilled players, but because they took

on what Kosak called “meat and pota-

to players” – boys who knew hockey,

knew academics, and knew where they

wanted to head after Hotchkiss. The

coaches encouraged the players to

round out their experience at the

School with courses in theater, art,

and music.

The three coaches also used their

scholarly wisdom with teams. During

one practice, Torrey was working with

a goaltender he felt had a poor atti-

tude and work ethic. Frustrated, he

skated across the ice to Kosak, who

taught French, and said, “Kosak, how

do you say sieve in French?”

“Passoire,” replied Kosak.

Torrey zipped back to scold his

young player. “Son, you think you’re

terrific, you think you don’t have to

work. Do you know what you are so

far? A passoire. That’s French for sieve!”

Having been chastened in two lan-

guages did the trick. The young man

had a successful career at Hotchkiss

before playing Division I hockey.

“We tried to emphasize excellence

On a frozen Lake

Wononscopomuc,

from left: Coach

Jeff Kosak, JV

Hockey Captain

Chris Crane ’08,

and Coach Chris

Oostenink

131604_18_23:features 20-27 3/23/10 11:13 AM


for the Bearcats (and brother of for-

mer girls’ player and captain Alana

BreMiller Collins ’01), BreMiller

remembers his Hotchkiss playing days

as much more than a series of drills;

for him it was greater than an exploita-

tion of power and skill.

“Coach had a litany of phrases he’d

repeat, cementing them in our heads,”

says BreMiller. “Those phrases would

manifest during games, and we’d look

at him like he was a prophet. He knew

the power the mind had to affect

play. Playing for him was one of the

best experiences of my hockey career –

he was philosophical and cerebral, and

he got us all to buy into his way of

thinking about sport, to believe in

ourselves.

“He’d gather us and have us raise

our sticks to the ceiling to ‘paint’ our

contributions on the blank canvas of

the white ceiling. ‘You are all artists!’

he’d say. Coach was big on

metaphors, and there we were, lolling

at center ice painting an imaginary

image with imaginary hockey stick

paintbrushes, while other teams were

undoubtedly getting skated into the

ice. But it worked.”

BreMiller recalled how the team

would stand on the boards in front of

the home bench, looking down onto

the ice where Kosak stood. He wanted

his boys to understand what it felt like

to be larger than their opponents, and

then to play with the tenacity, strength,

and poise that such size would imply.

“When you donned the Hotchkiss

uniform, you felt a part of something

bigger than yourself—you felt the

weight and expectation of tradition

holding you accountable to something

better. I was proud to play for

Hotchkiss; it made me feel like I was

participating in something that tran-

scended the moment.”

Ten years later, BreMiller is one

part of the two-thirds (BreMiller ’99,

Chandler ’87, boys’ assistant Mike

Traggio ’91, White ’71) of varsity

coaches who are Hotchkiss alumni.

The girls’ hockey program, while

decades younger than the boys’, has

more than winning,” says Torrey.

“We did win our share, and a mys-

tique grew around Hotchkiss hockey,

but we kept our players in line. The

emphasis was always on academics

first and athletics second. We were a

good part of Hotchkiss, but only one

part of Hotchkiss.

“Character was what it was all

about. I coached a kid who would

run through the boards for me. He

wasn’t a great skater, didn’t have a

great shot, but he had a great atti-

tude,” Torrey recalls.

Sheer grit often took solid, but not

outstanding, players deep into tour-

nament play. The 1991-92 team was

not expected to do very well in the

postseason, but won the New

England Championship by “slam-

ming the door” on their final round

opponent. Tied with Westminster

after two periods, head coach Kosak

was faced with a locker room full of

exhausted players. He said, “Here you

are in the third period. We need to

jump out, score a quick goal, and

then slam the door on them.”

The players snapped out of their

thousand-yard stares and focused on

their coach. He continued, “Do you

know what a door sounds like when

it’s slammed?” He grabbed one of the

old metal doors on a locker and

slammed it shut. “You do it,” he

commanded. And so they did, creat-

ing a thunder that reverberated

through the cinder blocks between

their locker room and Westminster’s,

rattling their opponents with the din.

The Bearcats took the ice. Matt Herr

scored right away. Another Hotchkiss

goal came. And another. White, work-

ing one door on the players’ box for

line changes, slammed the door each

time he opened it. Thus in 1992, the

tradition of Hotchkiss slamming the

door on opponents began.

The boys’ varsity head coach for

more than 10 seasons, Damon White’s

history with the program is lifelong.

His father, former Headmaster Arthur

White, coached basketball from 1960-

64 and again from 1983-85, and base-

ball from 1961-83. Basketball was the

catalyst for the younger White’s love

affair with and great success at hockey.

“I was young, holding my father’s hand

on the way to the gym, when I saw the

outdoor rink. The ice was glimmering.

That was the last basketball practice for

me,” recalls White, laughing.

After Hotchkiss, White attended the

University of Maine, where he played

and coached the first two teams of a

program that has gone on to national

prominence. He returned to the

School in 1983 to teach English,

coaching the junior varsity team for a

season before becoming an assistant to

new head coach Jeff Kosak alongside

Torrey, who gave up head coaching to

work as a goaltending specialist. Says

White of Torrey, “Blair Torrey was the

original architect of modern-day

hockey at the School. He took on a

moribund program and garnered a

reputation for excellence by the 1970s.

Since then, Hotchkiss has consistently

been a force in prep school hockey.”

Like Torrey, Kosak was a coach

whose style was steeped in the mys-

tique and mythology that weave

through Hotchkiss hockey, drawing

players back to the places in their

minds where their playing-days mem-

ories live. “Jeff was good at getting his

players to balance being a good player

with school and becoming a good

man,” said White.

One such former player is girls’ var-

sity assistant coach and English teacher

Jason BreMiller ’99. A former forward

1947 Team:

row 1:

T. Keresey,

J. Kittredge,

H. Woodhouse,

J. Zabriskie,

F. Kittredge;

row 2: Pat

Howe, Jr., R.

Bryan, D

Fenton, D.

Lufkin

AL

L B

LA

CK

-AN

D-W

HIT

E P

HO

TO

S P

RO

VID

ED

BY

T

HE

HO

TC

HK

ISS

SC

HO

OL

AR

CH

IVE

S

131604_18_23:features 20-27 3/23/10 11:13 AM

similar pluck, verve, and cohesiveness

that has helped elevate their level of

play. The first girls’ teams organized

with the same spirit expressed in

Robert Johnson’s musings: girls joined

the boys’ club teams (Baker, Forty-

Niners, Hoyt, Monahan, and Taylor),

and the female lines were matched

against each other during play. The

next year, 1977, 22 girls were led by

faculty member and inaugural girls’

varsity head coach Sally McLaughlin

to an 0-5 record as an unofficial team.

The following season, Hotchkiss girls’

varsity hockey made its official debut,

with Eliot Ammidon ’81 scoring the

team’s first-ever goal in a 1-4 loss to

Stuart Country Day School.

The 1980s ushered in the era of

feeding players to post-secondary pro-

grams. The ’80s also brought Christy

and John Cooper to Hotchkiss, with

Christy replacing standout head coach

Kelly Stone for eight successful sea-

sons before handing over the reins to

Chandler in 1997. When Chandler

stepped down in 2000, John Cooper

became head coach.

“The girls’ team has come so far

since its inception, and even since

Christy and I arrived here,” said

Cooper. “In 1988, we had six kids who

could play, and six figure skaters

whom we taught to play hockey. The

rest learned how to skate and stick-

handle when they joined the team.”

Today’s girls’ hockey landscape is

dramatically different. Despite having

the premier Polar Bear tournament in

Connecticut, which draws 4,000 girls

to the region, he finds himself on fre-

quent scouting trips. “I started off as a

student volunteer coaching alongside

Christy’s dad (the late Bernie

McKinnon) at St. Lawrence

[University]. Hockey owns me now,”

says Cooper, also a dedicated mathe-

matics instructor, chuckling.

“Our players are the most orga-

nized, motivated people I know,” he

says. “They have to travel throughout

their childhoods to play hockey, so

they’ve learned to sacrifice. They’re

well-balanced people and contribute

to every facet of Hotchkiss life, not

just to the hockey team. Though I

often tell the girls that ‘heroes are

born on the backcheck,’ they’re loyal

Bearcats, which makes them all heroes

in my book.”

Cooper sums up the allure of girls’

hockey: “It’s cool, because these girls

are powerful and assertive; they’re not

meek. The kids who play are very dri-

ven. There’s a great loyalty to our pro-

gram here, and I think a lot of that is

owed to Robin. She’s a strong female

role model for our girls.”

The passionate words expressed by

the coaches about their players and

the contributions those players have

made to the program are reciprocated

in the many ways Hotchkiss hockey

has impacted the lives of former

Bearcats. Writes Robert Johnson,

After returning from WWII, I played

hockey in a New Jersey commuters’

league, first on nearby lake ice surfaces

using 4”x 4” timbers to enclose a sem-

blance of a rink. On this kind of open

rink we spent a lot of time looking for

and retrieving pucks, and obviously did

not have the boards to confine the

game and use for checking. My brother

recalls playing in a game that had to be

terminated because they ran out of

pucks. It wasn’t until early 1960 when

I, along with others, was instrumental

in getting an outdoor artificial rink

installed in our neighborhood. With

our new rink I even took up figure

skating so that my wife and I could do

some ice dancing. It helped a lot in my

overall skating ability.

A certain amount of dedication and

love for the game of hockey was vital in

those days as it probably is today.

Hockey gets into our blood, and I

played every winter until I was 52 years

old, when I broke my neck playing in a

commuter league game… We’ve come

a long way at Hotchkiss from ice on

that little pond down near the golf

course to two super indoor artificial ice

facilities, with those gadgets invented by

Zamboni. I hope current Hotchkiss

skaters, and those of the past half-cen-

tury or more, appreciate how lucky they

are and were to skate on such fine, easi-

ly cared-for ice.

O U R T H A N K S G O T O R O B E R T J O H N S O N

’ 3 8 A N D H I S C O N T R I B U T O R S T O

“ S K A T I N G O N T H I N I C E A T

H O T C H K I S S ” : E D C I S S E L ’ 3 9 , V I N C E

C A R P E N T E R ’ 3 8 , F R E D G O D L E Y ’ 3 8 ,

C O L L I S T E R J O H N S O N ’ 3 5 , A N D F R A N K

S P R O L E ’ 3 8 . T H E F U L L T E X T O F

J O H N S O N ’ S E S S A Y C A N B E F O U N D A T :

W W W . H O T C H K I S S . O R G .

23W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

The newest chap-

ter in the story –

Hotchkiss girls’

hockey – has

brought Olympic

glory to the

School.

131604_18_23:features 20-27 3/23/10 11:13 AM

CA M P U Sconnect ion


VolunteersAlumni Help Haiti through Ties with

Volunteer Organizations

…we can and must all do something… W H AT E V E R C A N B E D O N E M U S T B E D O N E . ‘‘ ’’

THE INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: WINSTON LORD ’55

Founded by Albert Einstein, The International Rescue

Committee (IRC), is a leader in humanitarian relief. Its mission

is three-pronged. First, it extends relief to refugees uprooted by

civil unrest and persecution. This organization provides shelter,

clean water, healthcare, and education to displaced people, so

that they may live out their exile in dignity and begin new lives.

Second, the IRC resettles refugees within the U.S., where they can

have a fresh start and work toward self-reliance. Third, the IRC

defends the rights of the displaced by advocating for them with

the Congress, the administration, and the media. It has 23 offices

in the U.S. and a presence in over 40 countries, including Haiti,

Democratic Republic of Congo, Darfur, Pakistan, Afghanistan,

and Iraq. (http://theirc.org/our-work)

The Hon. Winston Lord ’55, former U.S. Ambassador to China

under President Reagan and a key figure in the restoration of rela-

tions between the U.S. and China, also served as Assistant

Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs under

President Clinton. His work led to extensive travels abroad, where

he saw firsthand some of the complex problems in other parts of

the world. This exposure served him well in his work for the IRC.

A member of the IRC’s Board of Directors for an impressive 22

years, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, he was Co-chairman of

the Board and Co-chair of the Overseers. He is currently Chair

emeritus. As a Board member, Lord has often traveled overseas

and throughout the U.S. to supervise IRC programs.

Although the IRC normally responds only to manmade disas-

ters, leaving natural catastrophes to the Red Cross, it deployed its

Emergency Response Team to Port-au-Prince. “We felt it was

such a huge tragedy, and we already have a history with Haiti

(the IRC has in the past settled Haitian refugees in the U.S.), and

we have a particular experience working with displaced people,”

said Mr. Lord.

The Emergency Response Team includes experts in emergency

health, shelter, and children’s welfare who are working with local

The imperative to help Haiti links people in every corner of theworld. In Lakeville, the Hotchkiss community responded with ener-gy and imagination, finding fundraising opportunities at schoolevents and creating new programs where more money could be gen-erated to help the Haitian people. Beyond Lakeville, alumni turnedtheir energies to the life-sustaining effort, sometimes workingthrough organizations with which they have been involved foryears. In a January letter to alumni, Head of School MalcolmMcKenzie described the efforts of students and faculty and staffmembers. The Hotchkiss Help for Haiti initiative began just twodays after the earthquake struck on January 12. In his letter,McKenzie mentioned three organizations working on the ground inHaiti that had links to the Hotchkiss extended family. These arePartners in Health (http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti), the CRU-DEM Foundation, an acronym for the Center for the RuralDevelopment of Milot (http://www.crudem.org/), and theInternational Rescue Committee (http://www.theirc.org/). In allthree organizations, Hotchkiss graduates either work, volunteer, orplay leadership roles.

Here are the stories of those three organizations and the alumniwho support them.

131604_24_35:toc 4/7/10 10:57 AM

25W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

aid groups. One such endeavor is the partnering between local

agencies and IRC child protection experts. According to Rebecca

Chandler, one such expert on the ground in Haiti, “Tens of thou-

sands of Haitian children are homeless, traumatized, disoriented

and distressed, and those who have been separated from family

members are especially vulnerable.”

Children and teens can find healing, recreational and learning

programs, food and other basic services in large, tented “child-

friendly spaces” across Port-au-Prince. These tented spaces are

staffed with case workers who also serve as community coordina-

tors in efforts to identify, register, and assist separated children—

working closely with outreach workers who are already searching

the streets and settlements to identify separated children and other

kids with special needs. With the use of an inter-agency database

managed by the IRC, efforts are underway to trace the children’s

families and hopefully reunite them in a standardized and coordi-

nated way. (http://www.theirc.org/news/international-rescue-

committee-steps-aid-and-protection-haitian-children-6814)

Lord reports that IRC President, George Rupp, with the sup-

port of the Board and Overseers wrote to Secretary of Homeland

Security Janet Napolitano and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

asking them to support the effort to extend special protection to

Haitian nationals residing in the U.S. “It is evident that the infra-

structure in Haiti is not adequate to support the safe return of

Haitian nationals at this time,” he wrote. Rupp pointed out that

Haitians who were granted the right to work would send funds

back to their needy relatives, enabling them with the resources to

rebuild. The IRC received word from Secretary Napolitano that

Haitian immigrants who were already in the U.S. when the earth-

quake struck would be offered temporary protected status for 18

months. (http://www.theirc.org/news/irc-supports-protection-

haitian-nationals-us-6732)

The IRC has also committed to raising $5 million for recon-

struction work in Haiti over the next year. In addition, the IRC is

supporting members of the Haitian-American community who

are in the process of organizing a major response. Many of them

are refugees who were resettled in the U.S. by the IRC.

Winston Lord’s commitment to the work of the IRC was

inspired by the service of his mother, Mary Pillsbury Lord. A dedi-

cated public servant, Mrs. Lord was ambassador to the United

Nations Human Rights Council, and a delegate to the United

Nations. Mrs. Lord served on the board of IRC from the 1950s

until her death. Winston Lord continued his mother’s service to

honor her memory and also because the IRC is “the gold standard.”

When Lord was a student at Hotchkiss in the 1950s, service was

not a focus. But he adds, “To Hotchkiss’s great credit, there is

more emphasis on community service and global issues. The

School community’s concern with Haiti reflects both.”

C R U D E M : M I C H A E L G I L L I S ’ 7 5

In January of 2008, Michael Gillis ’75 made an “impact trip” to

Haiti. That trip, of such consequence in his life, came about after

he became involved with CRUDEM, a nonprofit organization

working in Haiti. He learned about CRUDEM through the

Sovereign Order of Malta, a Catholic religious order.

CRUDEM, an acronym for the Center for the Rural

Development of Milot, was founded in 1968 by the Brothers of

the Sacred Heart of the Montreal Province. By 1983 the Brothers

had built roads, schools, wells and several cooperative ventures.

The people were desperately in need of healthcare services, and so

in 1986, the Brothers constructed a hospital – Hôpital Sacré

Coeur. The largest private hospital in the North of Haiti, the 73-

bed hospital has provided uninterrupted service for 23 years.

(http://www.crudem.org/)

“I had always talked about assisting such a charity; I never

acted upon it,” Gillis recalls. After contacting the Foundation, he

was invited to join a group who would be traveling to Haiti in

January 2008. “There were 100 excuses not to go, family, work,

expenses, etc., but something beyond myself was forcing me to go

forward with the trip.”

“Once you are there, you can’t walk away. Once you see the sit-

uation, it’s tough not to do something about it,” says Gillis. When

volunteers arrive, they want to jump in and start helping. But

CRUDEM encourages people to observe life in Haiti and soak in

the culture. This allows volunteers to think about the complex sit-

uation in Haiti, and link those thoughts to their actions.

OPPOSITE: Liz Bird ’03 worked for

Partners in Health.

RIGHT: Michael Gillis ’75with children in Haiti

131604_24_35:toc 4/7/10 10:57 AM



The CRUDEM Foundation assists with many other projects as

well. Project Vénérable Pierre Toussaint serves children living on

the streets by providing a residency program where they can have

meals, a shower, academic classes and vocational training.

Mothers who want to work while being home to care for their

children are provided fabric by a local church, which is then sewn

into scrubs for the ER at HSC or items for tourists.

Following the catastrophic earthquake, CRUDEM ramped up

its mission to provide much-needed help. Since Hôpital Sacré

Coeur is not located in Port-au-Prince, where the epicenter of the

earthquake was, its building is intact. However, HSC has been the

primary triage center in Port-au-Prince for patients airlifted by the

U.S. Navy. The hospital has taken over a soccer field, two schools,

and nutrition center for less critical patients, increasing its size

from 73 beds to 400. It is projected that the hospital may expand

to 1000 beds, for which it has taken over area high schools and set

up a portable facility. This is possible due to the philanthropy of

people who have made donations.

Gillis believes, “..we can and must all do something. Whether it

is financial contributions, talking about our trip in hopes of getting

others involved, educating others about the reality of the Haitian

people, sending clothes to the St. Vincent de Paul Society, conserv-

ing resources – whatever can be done must be done.” He raises

funds to support CRUDEM and the people of Haiti through plan-

ning and hosting of an annual “Taste of Haiti” Dinner in Boston.

A member of the St. Luke’s Society while at Hotchkiss, Michael

is aware that the School today has expanded its service opportuni-

ties. He hopes students will be involved in community outreach –

perhaps by making their own “impact trip” one day.

P A R T N E R S I N H E A L T H : L I Z B I R D ’ 0 3

Elizabeth Bird ’03 fell in love with biology and physiology in

Instructor of Science Jim Morrill’s A.P. biology class. After gradu-

ation, she went to Brown University, intending to study pre-med.

Her plans changed with one question, asked by her professor in a

class called “Burden of Disease in Developing Countries.” The

question was: What is perhaps the most fundamental determinant

of health?

“True to my scientific mind, I tried desperately to conjure up

the ailment that was apparently so important,” says Bird. The

answer, however, is poverty.

“This discussion marked the first moment I realized that health

and disease trends were dependent on more than a microbe or

bacteria. I began to see the need to examine broader issues such as

In Haiti, Gillis observed the Haitians’ friendliness and personal

pride. He toured many of CRUDEM’s service centers and assisted

in a few during his stay. While other hospitals in Haiti require

patients to purchase their own supplies for medical procedures,

Hôpital Sacré Coeur provides all the necessary equipment. A phar-

macy distributes medications as basic as children’s aspirin and

iron pills for pregnant women. In a journal he kept from his trip,

he noted of HSC, “We would never take our families to a hospital

like this at home, but they line up in their best-dressed outfits for

hours in order to be treated here.” In fact, the poorest of the poor

will not come to the hospital for treatment because they do not

have any good clothes. As a result, HSC formed a mobile clinic to

go out and serve the people in the countryside.

A nutrition center serves children who have been diagnosed

with malnutrition. “Approximately one in three children in Haiti

suffers from malnutrition before the age of three, and 118 of every

1000 children will die before the age of five due to malnutrition or

related diarrhea and dehydration,” Gillis says. Another organiza-

tion started by CRUDEM, Aziole, provides a home for abandoned

elderly people and also houses deserted children, many of them

physically or developmentally handicapped. “The homes are badly

overcrowded and understaffed, but we are told that it is the most

rewarding work,” he says.

Michael’s most emotional experience of the trip came at the Asile,

an orphanage run by Missionaries of the Poor, with whom CRU-

DEM has a close working relationship. He wrote, “The site is gut-

wrenching. In the first room are about ten cribs, each with an infant

that is cuter than the next. One of the other members of our group

put a baby back in her crib, and she immediately began screaming. I

felt so badly that I picked her up, and within a few minutes, she was

silent. Just holding her brought tears to my eyes. It was one of those

experiences, like so many on this trip, which are beyond words.”

LEFT: Winston Lord, right, visitsan IRC agricultural demonstrationproject in Afghanistan in 2003.

PH

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131604_24_35:toc 4/7/10 10:57 AM

27W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

socioeconomic status, gender relations, and risk perception,” said

Liz. Instead of continuing on the pre-med track at Brown, Liz

decided to enroll in a global health abroad program through the

School for International Training in South Africa. In South Africa,

a country still struggling with the aftermath of apartheid, and in

her continuing studies at Brown, she learned about health from

human rights, economic, and anthropologic perspectives.

Bird focused on access and utilization of contraception while in

South Africa, where the HIV epidemic was highly visible in the

townships. “During that time, I started thinking and reading about

the predominant rhetoric of HIV prevention, which focused on edu-

cation and ‘behavior change’ interventions. Given the amount of

resources that were being spent on HIV prevention programs, I

wanted to take a critical look at these interventions on the ground

and see how they were impacting young people.” Liz received a

Fulbright grant to carry out research in Malawi on HIV prevention

for adolescents. About 14 percent of the country’s adult population

is infected with HIV, and hundreds of thousands of children have

been orphaned by the disease. (http://www.pih.org/where/Malawi)

Before Bird began her work in Malawi, she had known about an

organization called Partners in Health and believed in their

approach to health care delivery. Her path in Malawi led her to

working with Abwenzi Pa Za Umoyo (“Partners in Health” in

Chichewa, the local language.) She managed the community health

worker program, which hires community members to monitor and

support people on TB and HIV treatments. Part of her work

involved making sure services and support systems reached the

poorest and most marginalized. In addition, Liz worked on expand-

ing the model for community health workers to include maternal

health and primary care. When she left PIH in December 2009, 200

community health workers were visiting over 20,000 people month-

ly, tracking pregnant women and children under five, referring

individuals to the health centers for services such as antenatal care

(pre-natal care), health center deliveries, and vaccinations for chil-

dren. She worked through the public sector to provide medical care,

an important part of the PIH model.

The Partners in Health model is a successful one, driven by a

passionate vision: Whatever it takes. The PIH Website declares,

“At its root, our mission is both medical and moral. It is based on

solidarity, rather than charity alone. When a person in Peru, or

Siberia, or rural Haiti falls ill, PIH uses all of the means at our dis-

posal to make them well – from pressuring drug manufacturers,

to lobbying policy makers, to providing medical care and social

services. Whatever it takes. Just as we would do if a member of

our own family – or we ourselves – were ill.”

After having worked for PIH, Liz has full confidence in its

model of providing health care services. “PIH believes in a com-

munity-based model of care, one that utilizes community

resources, such as community health workers to help improve the

health and lives of patients. It also works through the public sector

to strengthen and enhance the existing structure so as not to cre-

ate a parallel system. This type of work is difficult and takes a long

time. PIH has never left a country that it has worked in.

Eventually, as is the case in Haiti where PIH has worked the

longest, the goal is that local nationals run the programs in con-

junction with the local government structures,” Bird says.

A string of natural disasters, beginning with the hurricanes that

hit in September 2008 and the January earthquake, has forced PIH

to assume the role of an emergency relief organization in Haiti.

“PIH is fortunate in that it has worked in Haiti for over twenty

years and already had a staff of over 4000 on the ground when the

earthquake hit. For that reason, they were able to mount a quick

and efficient response to the needs in Port-au-Prince and will con-

tinue to work to improve the health and lives of Haitian commu-

nities for many years to come,” says Liz.

When did Liz’s interest in community programs begin? A

Sharon native, the daughter of Hotchkiss Director of Health

Services Nancy Bird, she wanted to stay connected to the commu-

nity outside of School. She assisted with Sharon Center School’s

special education program, and with a very small non-profit that

provided arts and music opportunities. However, it was through

Hotchkiss that Liz was able to have her first international experi-

ence. Using a grant from the School, she spent part of a summer

in Western Samoa. “Perhaps this is what got me started on my

career in global health work. Certainly, it exposed me to a type of

poverty that I had not witnessed before and to the benefits and

challenges of living and working abroad.”

RIGHT: On campus,students wrote letters to

children in Haiti.

131604_24_35:toc 4/7/10 10:57 AM



ABOVE: The Class of1959, with spousesand partners,paused in the chapelfor the class photo.Thirty-two class-mates attended theReunion, of the 92in the class.

LEFT: Dick Ehrlich’59 traveled toHotchkiss by motor-cycle from his homein Texas, stoppingfrequently along theway to take photosof some especiallyscenic vistas.

Two Classes Celebrated MilestoneReunions in October

T H E C L A S S O F ’ 4 9 R E T U R N E D F O R I T S 6 0 T H R E U N I O N

O N T H E F I R S T W E E K E N D I N O C T O B E R , A N D T H E C L A S S

O F ’ 5 9 C E L E B R A T E D I T S 5 0 T H R E U N I O N T H R E E W E E K S

L A T E R O N T H E L A S T F U L L W E E K E N D I N O C T O B E R .

F A L L R E U N I O N S

Both Reunion classes had a full program of events, visit-ing classes and catching up with former faculty membersas well as with classmates.

Class of ’59 Reunion Social Chair Jon Rose observedin his post-Reunion letter to the Class: “Those of us whoattended classes on Friday and Saturday came away pro-foundly impressed with the quality of the students and faculty. Most of us thought we would have had seri-ous trouble competing with the students now there. And ... all of them seemed to feel happy and privileged tobe there.”

Members of the Class of 1949 set a 60th reunion record for attendance: 28 classmates (47 percent of living

class members) and 52 people. In considering their history, members of the Class noted that four from ’49have received the Alumni Award, and four membersof the Class have served as trustees of the School.

131604_24_35:toc 4/7/10 10:57 AM

29W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

FAR RIGHT: SteveBolmer greets

a member of theClass of 1949.

RIGHT: Al Sly, right,talks with a member

of the Class of ’59.

BELOW RIGHT: Robert Hawkins,

center, speaks withformer students

before dinner.

BOTTOM: Membersof the Class of 1949,

with spouses andpartners, stand for a

class photo on thesteps of Monahan,

the former gymnasi-um, before goinginside for dinner.

F A L L R E U N I O N S

131604_24_35:toc 4/7/10 10:58 AM



HM: There are so many environmental initiatives atHotchkiss right now. Where do you want to begin?

JH: The logical place to start is with the power house –and note, I didn’t say ‘power plant.’ It’s much morethan that. As part of the Residential Life Initiative,Bissell Dormitory is slated to come down. The currentpower plant, which produces steam heat for most ofthe campus, is attached to Bissell, so we looked at it,too. It was determined that the steam plant has run itscourse; the equipment is at the far end of its expectedlife, and the space is cramped and difficult to work in.So we re-examined the idea of central steam, and whatit means to power the School in general, and as welooked at it more and more, it made sense to replacethe plant. That created an opportunity to do somethingreally interesting with energy generation on campus.

HM: How will it differ from the present facility?

JH: First, we are leaning toward biomass energy pro-duction – that is, energy produced from a renewable

source, in this case, wood instead of No. 2 diesel oil.But an important factor is that we want to buildsomething that’s not just a place that produces steam,but inspires students to think about energy use and allthe issues – ecological, geopolitical, conservation –that surround energy in the 21st century. A changingenergy market, and energy sources, are central to thefuture that our kids are facing. So the building willlikely include some program space that is specificallyfocused on student interaction with energy, ratherthan what we currently have, which is basically abunker that nobody wants to go into and is not a partof any student’s experience. The idea that energy isproduced “away” is a misconception that is importantfor our students to understand. In fact, the idea thatthere is no “away” is a critical concept for all of us tograpple with.

We want to think of Hotchkiss as being a place thatis not just consuming, but is actually generating ener-gy – not just consumer-oriented, but a place of public

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T H E S C H O O L ’ S C U R R E N T E N V I R O N M E N TA L I N I T I AT I V E S By Henry McNulty

OSH HAHN HAS BEEN ASS ISTANT HEAD OF SCHOOL AND D IRECTOR OF ENV IRONMENTAL IN I T IAT IVES S INCE

JULY 2009 . RECENTLY , HE SAT DOWN WITH WRITER HENRY MCNULTY TO TALK ABOUT HOW THE SCHOOL IS

ADDRESS ING ENV IRONMENTAL CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUN IT IES .J

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31W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

purpose … a place that is regenerative, in that it can bea catalyst for new ideas, inspiring creativity in our stu-dents rather than just looking at current practices.And, obviously, we want it to be cost-competitive. Wethink this biomass solution meets all those criteria.

HM: Another initiative involves Fairfield Farms?

JH: Yes. Fairfield Farms is a 280-acre piece of farmland,not quite contiguous to the School, about a quarter of amile down the road toward Sharon. We have an agricul-tural easement, which means it can be used for farmingbut not much else. It’s an important part of Hotchkiss;the School has manicured, beautiful grounds that are thetraditional academic campus; conservation areas; wet-lands; woodlands and trails; and now, we have a workinglandscape – a laboratory, and I think an important one.

We’ve been working on developing programs therethat are aligned with the ethos of the Hotchkiss Plan.These include crop management studies – what can begrown, and where – and increasing support foralready-existing programs such as the Fairfield FarmsEnvironmental and Adventure Team.

Some of what the students grow is used right here.In 2009, students grew enough potatoes at FairfieldFarms to last us through the middle of this pastJanuary. And we grew kale and squash. Again, this istied into that regenerative education concept – the ideathat the School itself can be producing food, not justconsuming food. This is not a place where we justabsorb costs, but we can actually produce somethingthat has added value, and that includes student leader-ship. We are also exploring ways that the farm can be aresource for the local community. Again, this relates tothe regenerative concept we were discussing earlier.The School can at once produce food, build soil, andgenerate energy, and that promotes creative, generativethinking on the part of our students and faculty.

HM: So for some Hotchkiss students, a part of their edu-cation is actually getting out and farming the land?

JH: That’s right. Some of us in the environmental fieldfeel that students today have lost touch with the land.Certainly, a lot of our students have taken a wildernesstrip or have gone camping, but the idea that humansand the land can interface is really critical. We can workthe land. What the impact is through that work, andhow we can be restorative, are questions we want ourstudents to wrestle with. You can teach about the energyembodied in food, but that concept is truly apparent toa student who has planted a seed and seen it grow.

OPPOSITE: Harvesting potatoes in the fall

BELOW: Assistant Head of School JoshHahn, left, andInstructor in BiologyChris Oostenink atFairfield Farms

HM: But there are still the traditional outdoor programs,aren’t there?

JH: Oh, yes. There are wilderness hikes, and OutdoorLeadership, which can be taken as a sport in two sea-sons. Its curriculum is leadership-based, expedi-tionary-based, and skills-based: What sort of skills doyou need to lead an expedition? These range frompractical skills such as lighting a stove and cookingyour own food, to plotting your course off-trail in thewilderness. We’re trying hard to think about how tomake those programs more robust, give them theinfrastructure that they need, the human resourcesthat they need, and the equipment that they need.They exist now – what we’re trying to do is to improvethem and increase participation in them.

HM: And indoors?

JH: We teach about environmental issues in all sorts ofcourses, from ecology and environmental science class-es to poetry and art. The trick is transferring those the-oretical classroom experiences into behavioral actions. Ihave a great partnership with Assistant Head of Schooland Director of Global Initiatives Manjula Salomon.We’re constantly exploring the synergy and paradox ofglobal and environmental issues. There aren’t clearanswers to how you reconcile a school that wants to beboth global and local in scope, but the fact that theSchool is wrestling with those issues is quite important,and certainly one of the issues that our students aregoing to be grappling with in the future.

131604_24_35:toc 4/7/10 10:58 AM



RIGHT: In Sept-ember, students did weeding at

Fairfield Farms aswell as harvesting.

Manjula and I sponsored two major speakers on cam-pus this year. The first was Peggy Liu, one of Time maga-zine’s Heroes of the Environment in 2008. She has done alot of work on US-China climate change relationships.The second talk involved a Hotchkiss parent, OrvilleSchell P’11, who’s the director of US-China relations atthe Asia Society and one of the leading people in thatfield, and David Breashears, who is one of the world’s bestknown mountaineers. They have joined forces on theGlacial Research Imaging Project. It involves comparingold and new photos of the ice mass of the TibetanPlateau, 50,000 glaciers that feed Asian rivers. They willuse new technology to compare images of these glaciersfrom the past and from today, pixel-to-pixel, to under-stand better the rate of ice melt there.

HM: What about collaboration with other schools?

This winter, four of us went to Seattle to participate inthe Independent School Experiential Education Network(ISEEN), a network of people who are thinking abouthow to integrate experiential learning theory – hands-onlearning – into more conventional school curricula. Forexample, it involves taking the theory of learning fromorganizations like Outward Bound or the NationalOutdoor Leadership School and trying to get the best outof that and integrate it into our classroom practices.ISEEN has become a real hub for conversations aboutleadership, service learning, global education, and envi-ronmental education at private schools. It’s those areasthat Hotchkiss is looking to develop in the future, and inmany ways we’re already a leader.

And in late January, we hosted the Eight Schoolsenvironmental coordinators group. It was a two-day

conference, and it was illuminating to hear all the different ways our peer schools – Deerfield,Choate, Exeter, St. Paul’s, and so forth – are address-ing environmental issues.

HM: And long-term?

JH: We are about to embark on a climate action planthat will help us with decision making on lots of dif-ferent fronts, based on our greenhouse gas emissions,and project forward for us ways that we can reduceour greenhouse emissions to meet our goal of carbonneutrality by 2020.

Every major undertaking like this requires not onlyhuman and economic resources, but also cultural buy-in, a cultural recognition of what resources are aroundus, or what food we can grow here. Each of these thingsis designed to bring people closer to the place, even thepower house. Someone might ask, why aren’t we doingmore with solar power here? Because of place. Forestsare abundant here; solar power might be appropriatefor Arizona. The farm is another example, the idea thatwe’re at once looking globally and giving students toolsso they can understand this very place, then go to otherplaces and transfer their understanding there.

We give them a lens to view energy generation orfood production or water conservation in a develop-mentally appropriate way, which is their everyday life.We give them local tools, so we can succeed in ourglobal mission of having kids be prepared for differentenvironments all over the world. One key to this isunderstanding limits – that resources are not infinite.

HM: What’s the reaction from students to all this?

JH: Kids are hard-wired to think about this. They havebeen learning about conservation and ecological issuessince they were in kindergarten. Global warming hasbeen talked about for their entire lives; it’s not some-thing in the future for them, it’s real-time. I think kidssee our expansion of environmental initiatives as a nat-ural evolution of the School. It’s almost, ‘What’s the bigdeal?’ It’s similar to the advanced technology we haveon campus. Adults are wowed by it, but not the kids.

Hotchkiss has a tremendous number of really inter-esting programs, classes, activities and experiences,related to the environment. They are happening all overthe place. The challenge for me is: How do you take allthese really engaging experiences and assure that somekids aren’t falling through the cracks? We want to besure it’s not just happening in some classes or for somekids; a comprehensive program will ensure that certainconcepts are made known to everyone.

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33W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

chance late in the third period. Cahow also featured

prominently on the American power play, including a

good scoring chance on the power play in the first peri-

od that was gloved by Szabados.

Both goalies played at an exceptionally high level, as

they were under assault nearly the entire night. For most

of the first half of the game, it seemed as if Team USA

was controlling the tempo, despite being down 0-2. By

the end of the second period, the Americans had outshot

the Canadians 23-18. But as the clock wound down, and

the Americans were forced to take more chances, they

began to have more difficulty controlling the puck, and

Canada slowly tightened its grip on the gold medal in the

third period. By the end of the game, the Americans

were not able to get Vetter off the ice for an extra skater

because Canada would not surrender the puck.

At Hotchkiss, members of the School community

followed the game with enthusiasm. The girls’ varsity

ice hockey team members watched the game while hav-

ing dinner after the day’s practice session. A television

crew from the Hartford NBC affiliate, Channel 30,

filmed them during the game and interviewed the girls

for their reactions. Just seven years ago, Caitlin Cahow

had been playing on the varsity team, as they are now.

After Hotchkiss, Kingsbury graduated from St.

Lawrence University. Cahow graduated from Harvard.

Congratulations to these Olympic medalists and thanks

to them for the distinction they’ve brought to the School!

This time, they met as competitors in the exciting

championship game on February 25 between the U.S.

and Canada.

For Kingsbury, a forward, the script ended exactly as

it had four years ago: with her wearing Olympic gold.

The Canadian women’s ice hockey team defeated

Team USA, on which Caitlin Cahow ’03 played

defense, by a score of 2-0. The contest featured intense,

physical play on both sides and excellent goaltending,

and marked Canada’s third consecutive Olympic

championship. The margin came on two first-period

goals by young forward Marie-Phillip Poulin, who

scored her first goal at 13:55 and then scored a second

goal at 16:50 following an American penalty.

The matchup provided the heavyweight tilt that

most fans had been anticipating, given the incredible

dominance of the American and Canadian women’s

hockey programs. The U.S. and Canada have met in

the finals of every IIHF women’s championship and

three of the four Olympic finals. Still, it would have

been impossible for either team to

overwhelm the other in the same

way that the two teams had

marched through the four games

leading up to the final. Instead, the

game featured the incredibly physi-

cal play and numerous scoring

chances that one would expect

from two archrivals.

Both Kingsbury and Cahow

played important minutes in the

game. Kingsbury was frequently

involved in the Canadian power

play, finishing the game with three

shots but no points. Cahow, who

plays defense, also played well,

making numerous key stops,

including foiling a Canadian 2-on-1

Alumnae Bring Home Olympic Medals in Ice Hockey B Y T H E H O T C H K I S S S P O R T S I N F O R M A T I O N S T A F F

RIGHT: Members of the girls’ varsity

ice hockey teamwere filmed watch-

ing the champi-onship game by the

Hartford NBC affil-iate, Channel 30.

BELOW: Screen shotsof the exciting

action, where GinaKingsbury and

Caitlin Cahow wonOlympic medals

For Gina Kingsbury ’00 and Caitlin Cahow ’03, the Vancouver Olympicsrepresented a chance to meet again, as they had in Torino in 2006.

131604_24_35:toc 4/7/10 10:58 AM



By all accounts the naturalist intelligence was

alive in Rhys V. Bowen ’78 from a very young

age. Instructor in Science James Morrill

recalls that Rhys as a child was “an expert

catcher of frogs in the hockey pond, which

were used for the senior frog races.” The

young Bowen lived on campus, the son of the

late Gerry Bowen ’42, a much-loved English

master who taught at Hotchkiss for 36 years,

and Anne Bowen, who worked in the Edsel

Ford Memorial Library.

Morrill keeps in touch with Rhys Bowen,

who is now a leading ornithologist. In

January Bowen gave a talk to students in

Morrill’s A.P. Environmental Science class.

Fortunately, Rhys has returned frequently to

lecture at Hotchkiss since receiving his diplo-

ma cum laude in 1978. After graduating from

Harvard College with a major in biology, he

returned to Hotchkiss to teach biology from

1982-1984. He then embarked on a long and

fascinating journey of doing fieldwork while

RHYS BOWEN ’78: SHOWING SCIENCESTUDENTS THE VALUE OF FIELDWORK

AND LOVE FOR HIS LIFE’S WORK

By Andrea Tufts

at the University of California-Davis, where

he earned his Ph.D. Since then, he has stud-

ied orangutans in Borneo and wild dogs in

Botswana, and created a use and manage-

ment plan for a national park in Pakistan.

His real passion is birds, specifically the

Northern Harrier, and he has spent the last

decade studying this magnificent creature.

Bowen’s talk in January, “A Case Study in

Protecting Endangered Species: The

Northern Harrier in Massachusetts,” focused

on data he has collected during 12 years of

ardent fieldwork on Cape Cod, Nantucket

and Tuckernuck Islands, and Martha’s

Vineyard. “To love the bird, you need to get

out in the field and see it in its natural splen-

dor,” Rhys told his audience of engaged stu-

dents. Behind him illumined slides of the

slender, graceful flyers.

An underlying theme in the talk was bio-

diversity loss and especially, how the

Massachusetts Endangered Species Act works

to protect the Northern Harrier. There are

many characteristics of the Circus Cyaneus

that make it worth preserving. The male is

grey, while the female dons rich brown feath-

ers, which is unusual in hawks. Very efficient

flyers, Northern Harriers log 60 miles of

flight per day and do not spend a lot of time

perching. Perhaps the most impressive dis-

play of the Northern Harrier is the aerial

prey transfer. During the nesting season, the

male hunts while the female incubates the

eggs full-time. As he approaches with his

catch, the two birds become like perfectly

timed acrobats. The female flies up toward

her mate, rolls over with her talons up, and

catches the prey he has dropped for her. She

returns to the nest to eat. “You feel like an

angel has appeared. It is fantastic!” said Rhys.

The Northern Harrier first became listed

on the Massachusetts Endangered Species list

in 1995. It was thought that changes in its

natural habitat caused its numbers to decline.

Post-colonial Europeans cleared a great deal

of the wooded landscape for agriculture.

Birds such as the Northern Harrier, who pre-

fer this type of habitat, flourished in

Massachusetts. Then agriculture moved out

west, and the land closed in once more as

forests grew back. To counteract the decline

of the species, Massachusetts prescribed the

restoration of open grasslands. The object of

Rhys Bowen’s field research was to gather

and apply his data in guiding the manage-

ment of the restoration process.

Beginning in 1998, Bowen observed the

species to determine its population size,

spatial distribution throughout the state,

habitat selection patterns, and breeding suc-

cess, and to witness any changes in its num-

bers. He showed the A.P. Environmental

Science students some of the methods he

used to collect his data. These were: census

LEFT: Rhys Bowen in the classroom

131604_24_35:toc 4/7/10 10:58 AM

35W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

teaching. We want our community to feel the

joy of learning, to seek to use that learning for a

public purpose, and to question independently

and inquisitively.”

Steve Albert will leave Hotchkiss at the end of

the current academic year. During his 17 years at

Hotchkiss, he has been an instructor in science,

served as a coach and as the advisor to Hillel. As

Dean of Faculty, he has recruited outstanding

new faculty and overseen the professional devel-

opment programs available to all faculty mem-

bers. In his letter to the Hotchkiss community

about his new position, he expressed his grati-

tude for “the support and assistance that I have

received from all of you in so many ways

throughout my 17 years at Hotchkiss,” adding, “I

will miss this community greatly.”

Serving on the Search Committee are Anju

Taneja, Tom Drake, Juliet Henderson, Chris

Burchfield, and Malcolm McKenzie. Finalist

candidates for the Dean of Faculty position will

have interviews on campus early in the spring

term.

With the announcement by Dean of Faculty Steve

Albert that he has accepted a position as the Head

of Sandia Preparatory School in Albuquerque,

New Mexico, Head of School Malcolm McKenzie

began the search process for a new dean. He initi-

ated discussions with faculty members at the end-

of-term meetings in December to gather opinions

useful to the search, and he engaged Larry Becker,

Hotchkiss faculty member from 1964-1986,

whose tenure included service as Assistant

Head/Dean of Faculty, to be a consultant in the

search. The former Head of Brooks School, and

now working with Carney Sandoe, Becker

recently assisted the Westminster School with its

search for a new head of school. Becker spent sev-

eral days at Hotchkiss in January and February,

talking with faculty members about the dean of

faculty position. Candidates from outside

Hotchkiss are being considered for the position,

as well as current faculty members.

“Hotchkiss is looking for a Dean of Faculty,”

said McKenzie, “who will inspire our teachers

to become better and better at the craft of

taking by counting individual territories,

not birds; mapping nest locations (made

easier by the use of GPS); classifying nest

sites by vegetation habitat; and counting the

number of successful nests. He presented

his data to the class, and the findings were

surprising.

In contrast to what was previously believed

about a declining Northern Harrier popula-

tion, Bowen documented 87 nesting pairs.

He found that the count of 30-50 pairs of

Circus Cyaneus statewide was an underesti-

mate. He posed this question to the students,

to be discussed during his visit to the A.P.

classroom the next day: “How does this affect

our thinking of whether the bird is endan-

gered or not?”

In addition, Rhys found the majority of

the birds in habitats such as scrub oak and

the very dense coastal shrub land on

Nantucket, not in open grasslands.

“Reducing forest cover in New England is

needed for the Northern Harrier, but the tar-

get is shrub lands, not grasslands,” said Rhys.

One student asked about the controversy in

reducing the habitat for some animals in

order to preserve another. Rhys promised to

discuss this issue, and that of predator con-

trol as a possible conservation method, in

class the next day.

The students came away from the lecture

with the realization that there is no substitute

for the rigorous, thorough collection of field

data, especially when it will be applied to the

management program for endangered species.

“You don’t know until you go,” said Rhys.

This is all in a day’s work for Rhys. He

wakes up at 4:00 a.m. with excitement and

works from dawn to dusk, eating on the fly.

He incorporates balance into his 12-hour

days by going for a run. He works at this

pace from April 1through August, at which

time he takes a holiday at home. “But you

can’t beat spending a whole day with

Harriers!” said Rhys.

Steve Albert

D E A N O F F A C U L T Y

Search Underway for a New Associate Head of School, Dean of Faculty

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AL U M N Inames and faces


Adam, who was always up for a laugh, said,

‘Why don’t I find out?’ And I said, ‘OK, why

don’t you find out, and then you can use it

for some daily themes.’

“So he reported on the sessions, but his

reports took the form of an old-fashioned

radio play. He wrote it as a ‘Guy Noir pri-

vate-eye’ sort of thing. It really didn’t have

much to do with health education; it was just

sort of a playground for his muse. Once

Adam would get on a roll with an idea, he’d

just run with it.”

After Hotchkiss, Bernstein earned a bache-

lor’s degree from the University of Virginia,

where he reviewed plays for the student

newspaper. “The theater scene in

Charlottesville was not terribly vibrant at the

time,” he recalls, “so they hadn’t done a lot of

stage reviews. It was from there that I was

sucked into the world of journalism.”

He earned a master’s degree at Columbia,

completed an internship at the Norfolk (Va.)

Virginian-Pilot, and in 1997 began work for

The Gazette, a small newspaper in suburban

Washington. Two years later, he joined The

Washington Post as a reporter and copy editor

on the television desk.

In the meantime, Bernstein’s interest in

obituaries was growing. In the mid-1990s, his

parents had sent him The New York Times’

account of the life and death of Harold C. Fox,

described by the Times as the man credited

with creating, as the newspaper put it, “the

zoot suit with the reet pleat, the reave sleeve,

the ripe stripe, the stuff cuff and the drape

shape that was the stage rage during the boo-

gie-woogie rhyme time of the early 1940’s.”

His need to clarify is understandable.

Bernstein is the obituary editor for The

Washington Post – a position he finds

“incredibly interesting,” but one that can

raise an eyebrow or two among those not in

the journalism business. “People either run

away from you, or else they get it,” he says.

“Reaction can be polarizing, in that some

people find the job macabre.”

A properly written obituary, he insists, is

“not only a good feature story, it’s a definitive

summing up of a life. Anybody who loves

profile writing, which I do, and loves learning

about people of all walks of life, should

appreciate obituaries.”

At Hotchkiss, Bernstein showed not only a

talent for writing, but also a knack for mak-

ing a story compelling, says his former

teacher, English instructor Geoffrey B.

Marchant. “When Adam was in my class, it

was an era where they were trying to figure

out how to do health education,” Marchant

recalls. “They wanted to hold health-ed ses-

sions, and they had the idea that English

could be optional for a week, so the kids in

my class would go to health-ed instead. I

wondered out loud what went on there, and

Adam Bernstein ’92: Loving a job that’s not everyone’s cup of teaB Y H E N R Y M C N U L T Y

AAdam Bernstein ’92 makes one thing clear

when he meets people for the first time:

“I’m not a medical examiner,” he says.

“I don’t have corpses on my desk.”

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37W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

It was “the obituary that defined the

course of my life,” Bernstein says. “I thought,

‘Wow! You can have fun with journalism,

even obituaries.’ Later, I read the Associated

Press version, which was dull and routine. I

thought, ‘Gee, if I’d read the AP version

instead of the Times’, I never would have

gone into obituary writing’.”

Then one of the Post’s obituary writers

died, and Bernstein applied for the position.

“I leapt at it,” he says.“They put me through

about 12 interviews, but I got the job.”

The favorite so far among the obituaries he

has written is that of Edward von Kloberg III,

a powerful lobbyist who committed suicide

by leaping from a tower in 2005. The story

began: “As part of Washington’s image

machinery for more than two decades,

Edward von Kloberg III did his best to sani-

tize some of the late 20th century’s most

notorious dictators as they sought favors and

approval from U.S. officials.”

In 2008, Bernstein was promoted to obit-

uary editor; he oversees a staff of three or

four writers. “The Post policy,” he explains,

“is that we have to have an obit for every

person in the Washington area as long as

they’ve lived here 20 years or more. Which

means that we’re writing three-inch stories

about church volunteers and 100-inch sto-

ries about national figures. It’s an enor-

mous volume.”

Writing obituaries, he says, is “no longer

the province of has-beens and drunks, the

old stereotypes. But at times, it can feel a lit-

tle vicarious. For the most part, you’re not

interviewing living people, you’re writing

about them after the fact.”

And as in other parts of the news business,

obituary writers must keep on their toes. “The

worst thing you can be,” he says, “is not pre-

pared when a major figure dies. Look at the

Michael Jackson scenario. I guess one could

have predicted that he had a fatal lifestyle, and

we should have had an obituary ready, but

we’re so busy thinking about very accom-

plished people in their 90s that somebody in

his 50s doesn’t always get on the radar.”

Bernstein, the son of Richard Bernstein

M.D. ’64, Chief Medical Officer of the

Visiting Nurse Service of New York, is mar-

ried to Marina Walker Guevara, a native of

Argentina, who is an award-winning inves-

tigative reporter for the nonprofit Center for

Public Integrity. As deputy director of its

International Consortium of Investigative

Journalists, she has written on a wide range

of subjects, from cigarette smuggling to

courts and human rights. The couple has a

two-year-old son, Santiago.

And although he calls being the Post’s

obituary editor “the best job I can imagine,”

there is still the problem with new people. It

is, he says, “like going to a party and telling

someone you’re a doctor or a lawyer – you’re

always getting consulted in one way or

another. Sometimes the people who want to

talk with me are even angling for a better

‘take’ on their life when the time comes!”

T O F I N D O U T M O R E A B O U T A D A M B E R N S T E I N ’ S

O B I T U A R I E S I N T H E W A S H I N G T O N P O S T A N D

H O W T H E Y W E R E W R I T T E N , V I S I T H T T P : / /

B L O G . W A S H I N G T O N P O S T . C O M / P O S T M O R T E M /

In the mid-1990s, his parents had sent him

The New York Times’

account of the life and death of Harold C.

Fox, described by the Times as the man cred-

ited with creating, as the newspaper put it,

“the zoot suit with the reetpleat, the reave sleeve, theripe stripe, the stuff cuff andthe drape shape that was thestage rage during the boogie-woogie rhyme time of theearly 1940’s.”

131604_36_45:alums 4/7/10 11:01 AM



ABOVE: Ashe, center, with

his family at the presenta-

tion.

These were especially accomplished gradu-

ates, people very prominent in American life:

Bill Scranton, John Hersey, Archibald

MacLeish, Paul Nitze and many more. They

contributed mightily to their fields – litera-

ture, government, and others. Those who

worked in government especially impressed

the young Tennessean. Victor Ashe was

headed for a career in public service; that was

clear, even at Hotchkiss.

“Even when he was young, Victor had a

very clear vision of himself, how he should

conduct himself, and where he was going in

the world,” says his good friend, Leighton

Longhi ’63. “You talk about a shaker and an

organizer … You could see he knew where he

was going. It’s not an idle statement.”

Ashe retuned to campus in the fall for the

all-School meeting where he was presented

with the 2009 Alumni Award, the School’s

highest honor. Each recipient has, through

personal achievement, brought honor and

distinction to himself and the School. Ashe,

who served for 16 years as mayor of

Knoxville, became the longest serving mayor

in the city’s history. Then in 2004, President

George W. Bush named him Ambassador to

Poland; he served longer in that post than

any other U.S. ambassador to that country.

In a career that began right after his gradua-

tion from Yale, Ashe set many historic mark-

ers, giving further weight to the rightness of

the course that he chose early on.

The Hon. Victor Ashe ’63, P’11:Exemplifying a life of public serviceB Y R O B E R T A J E N C K E S

L Like so many Hotchkiss students, Victor Ashe ’63

often paused in Luke Foyer on his way to the dining hall.

There he would study on the wall before him the plaque

bearing the names of the School’s Alumni Award winners.

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39W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

RIGHT: John Armstrong

’63 introduced his

classmate and friend,

offering anecdotes that

brought laughter from

the audience and from

Head of School

Malcolm McKenzie

and Victor, right.

BELOW: Alumni

Association President

Katie Berlandi ’88 made

the presentation of the

Alumni Award.

Ashe arrived at Hotchkiss in 1961, trans-

ferring from Groton after an incident there

that spoke to his interest in the behind-the-

scenes workings of power. He and two

skilled cohorts were found to have arranged

the tape-recording of a Groton faculty meet-

ing. What led the young Ashe and friends to

arrange this stunt? “Curiosity and incredible

boredom on weekends,” says he.

Coming to Hotchkiss as “a disciplinary

refugee from another school,” Ashe found a

welcoming home. “My brother had graduat-

ed from Hotchkiss in 1958, and he had a

great experience there. Bill Olsen was nice

enough to take a chance on me and let me

in. I’d had a good academic record at

Groton, and he knew a faculty member up

there who did a background check on me.

He wanted to know that I wouldn’t do the

same stunt again at Hotchkiss.

“The school was quite liberating,” he

recalls. “I’d come from a rigid and strict

environment to a larger school, and it was

much more relaxed, I felt, in terms of the

atmosphere. I took away a sense of service,

and hopefully the award recognizes that.”

Ashe, whose yearbook page announces

“Goldwater in ’64; Ashe in ’88,” wrote a

political column for the Hotchkiss Record and

was active in the Current Events Club. Like

so many young people in the early 1960s, he

was inspired by President Kennedy. “He was

such a contrast to Eisenhower at the time. I

knew I was interested in what was happening

in the world,” Ashe says. And Ashe’s mother

had been active in civic affairs in Knoxville.

In addition to learning from great teach-

ers like Allan Hoey, David Demaray, and

Tom Stearns, Ashe felt a sense of purpose

and made friendships at Hotchkiss. After

graduation, along with 16 of his class-

mates, he matriculated at Yale. Leighton

Longhi remembers a politically active cam-

pus at Yale where men like George Pataki,

Lanny Davis, and John Kerry, who would

later rise to national prominence, were

active in the Yale Political Union. Victor

131604_36_45:alums 4/7/10 11:01 AM


wrote for the Yale Daily News from 1964-

1967, serving as political editor, associate

editor, and columnist. He was also press

secretary of the Conservative Party and

chairman of the program committee of the

Yale Republican Club. A history major, he

was a member of the debating team for

Branford and was elected to the Skull &

Bones Society and the Aurelian Honor

Society. He was also a delegate to the 1966

Model United Nations. “Any time Victor

talked, you got a very structured answer or

comment, nothing lightweight. He was not

afraid to speak up, whether he felt every-

one would agree or not. He was very true

to himself,” Leighton says.

OFF TO A RUNNING STARTWhile at Yale, Ashe worked as an intern in

the office of Congressman Bill Brock, where

he helped to write a tax sharing for educa-

tion bill. In 1967, the year he graduated from

Yale, he served as a staff assistant in the

office of then-Senator Howard Baker. He

received his law degree in 1974 from the

University of Tennessee College of Law.

At age 23 he was elected to the Tennessee

House of Representatives, one of the

youngest ever elected. He was elected to the

State Senate at the age of 30, the minimum

age required, and served there for nine years.

With his election to mayor of Knoxville in

1987, he began the 16-year tenure that

would set a record in the city’s history. He

also was named president of the U.S.

Conference of Mayors in 1995.

As mayor of this city of 180,000, Ashe is

credited with achievements in a number of

areas: improving the city’s bond rating,

increasing greenways from 5 to 34 miles,

adding 800 acres of new parkland, leading

the effort for waterfront development, and

establishing a police civilian review board.

He received awards for his work on improv-

ing race relations and for growing

Knoxville’s parks and greenways. It’s the

work he did on the latter that most pleases

Ashe, who is an avid hiker.

“Tripling the parks and the greenways and

improving the quality of life for people were

most satisfying as mayor,” he says. “You

know the parks and greenways will forever

stay. With other changes that a mayor might

make, your successor might well go in an

opposite direction.

“Being ambassador was very different,” he

observes. Maintaining close ties between

Poland and the U.S. was his top priority for

the five-plus years when he was ambassador.

“The ambassador represents the President.

Poland is our best ally in Europe after the

U.K.,” Ashe says. “It’s the sixth-largest coun-

try in Europe, and its location is quite strate-

gic. There’s a great deal of American invest-

ment in Poland.”

The assignment in Poland brought great

delight to Ashe, his wife Joan, son J. Victor,

and daughter Martha. “It was a wonderful

experience. We traveled to over 200 Polish

cities. We’ll always remember it. The Poles

are very friendly, very hard-working, have

lots of shared values with us, and have lots of

history, some heroic. Poland was invaded 70

years ago from the west. World War II start-

ed and ended there. Twenty percent of the

Polish population died in World War II.

“Its borders were a curse. It’s a flat, fertile

land, one that has been invaded countless

times. Armies would come and stay for 20

years. Poland has only been independent for

40 of the 90 years since it was declared a

republic. Poles are independent and free-

dom-loving. Even in Communist times, it

was different from other countries.

Communism was never able to shut down

the church, which was the focal point for

human rights. It’s a country that has pro-

duced great world leaders – Copernicus,

Lech Walesa, John Paul II, Marie Curie,

Daniel Fahrenheit,” he says, the affection he

feels for Poland and its people quite evident.

FAR LEFT: In the 1963

Mischianza, Victor Ashe

selected a quote that

closely anticipated his

future course.

LEFT: Ashe’s senior

photo in the Misch


131604_36_45:alums 4/7/10 11:01 AM

“Victor’s success as our ambassador to

Poland is evidenced by his lengthy tenure,”

says The Hon. Clark T. “Sandy” Randt ’64,

who served until recently as Ambassador to

China. “He was one of two political

appointees to be asked to stay by the new

administration. Poland is one of the United

States’ staunchest allies in Europe. The

Embassy’s electronic newsletter that Victor

developed was a model for others.”

Martha Ashe, an upper mid at Hotchkiss,

has observed her father’s career over many

years of her young life. “I think that the

biggest thing I’ve learned from my dad is to

keep in touch with the people I meet,” she

reflects. “It’s something that I try to follow.

It wasn’t until last summer when I worked

as a summer-hire at the embassy that I

realized just how demanding my dad’s job

as ambassador was. When I was working as

an office management specialist in the

political section of the embassy and I saw

firsthand what his daily schedule looked

like, I was amazed. And yet somehow,

despite his busy schedule, he managed to

set aside an hour every day to eat lunch

with my brother and me at some little

restaurant around the corner.”

Last fall, as he prepared to leave Poland to

make way for his successor, Ambassador

Ashe spoke his mind, offering some sensible

criticism of the “fortress-like” feel of the

American embassies that have been built

since 9-11. In an interview with The

Associated Press, he said, “The type of

embassy you might build in Pakistan has a

different set of security needs – which in that

case would be substantial – than an embassy

you might build in Reykjavik, Iceland, or in

Warsaw, Poland. While security is impor-

tant, he said, he believes that fortress-like

buildings can send the wrong message to the

host country’s citizens. And they’re extreme-

ly expensive. “The cost to the taxpayers if

these standards are implemented worldwide

will be huge,” he noted.

Leighton Longhi recalls how Ashe tried to

“go to bat with the state department” on

behalf of young Poles applying for visas. The

visas were expensive, Longhi says, and if the

visa was declined, the student didn’t get the

money back. Ambassador Ashe lobbied the

state department to come up with a different

solution. “He’s never lost his sensibility

toward the people furthest down the ladder,”

this friend says. “These are things that Victor

thought were terribly important.”

In his remarks at the Alumni Award pre-

sentation, Ashe shared Poland’s history with

the students; he also encouraged them to

consider public service for themselves. This

could be through elected or appointed office,

he said. It could also be by being a school

teacher. “The state department is one avenue,

but there is also work in the military, intelli-

gence, commerce, agriculture. Hopefully, a

great percentage of you will give some of

your time to public service. Leave a better

community,” he said.

Recently nominated by President Obama

to the Broadcasting Board of Governors,

Ashe continues his service on several non-

profit boards such as the National Trust for

Historic Preservation and the American

Rivers Association. Beyond those commit-

ments, he is “taking some time off” for six

months to decide on his next steps.

Victor’s lifetime achievements come as no

surprise to Longhi. “There should be more

people like Victor in public service,” he says.

“‘One’s greatest obligation is to one’s con-

science.’ Victor fits that. He’s never, ever

changed.”

T O W A T C H V I C T O R A S H E ’ S A L U M N I A W A R D

A D D R E S S O N T H E H O T C H K I S S W E B S I T E , G O

T O : H T T P : / / W W W . H O T C H K I S S . O R G / A L U M N I /

A L U M N I - V I D E O S / I N D E X . A S P X .

41W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

RIGHT: Students

came up to Ashe

after his speech to talk

with him. Earlier in

the day, he held an

informal session, where

he met with students

and answered

their questions.

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131604_36_45:alums 4/7/10 11:01 AM

43W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

AL U M N Inews

MEET THE BOARD OF GOVERNORSN e w s f ro m t h e A l u m n i A s s o c i a t i o n

C H R I S B E C H H O L D ’ 7 2 , P ’ 0 3

Home: Cincinnati, OHOccupation: Attorney, ThompsonHine LLP BOG: Vice President, Executive Committee, NominatingCommittee (Chair, Subcommittee for Membership)

“Hotchkiss made a meaningful and significant contribution tothe person that I am today, and the success that I have had inmy career; so when the Board of Governors asked me to join, Iwas pleased to accept and pay back part of the debt that I owethe School.”

L A N C E B E I Z E R ’ 5 6

Home: Canaan, CTOccupation: Attorney (retired); Episcopal Priest (volunteerat St. John’s Episcopal Church)BOG: TBD

“I joined the Board of Governors because, frankly, I am con-vinced that my Hotchkiss education provided the primarymotivation for my life-long interests in religion and ethics thathas played itself out in my work as both lawyer and priest.”

B I L L B E N E D I C T ’ 7 0 , P ’ 0 8 , ’ 1 0

Home: New York, NYOccupation: Finance, Alpine Meridan Inc.BOG: Communications Committee

“Participation on the Board of Governors has offered me thedual rewards of working with Hotchkiss alumni and stayingcurrent with students at Hotchkiss.”

K A T I E A L L E N B E R L A N D I ’ 8 8

Home: Sherman, CTOccupation: Interior Decorating, Old Manse DesignsBOG: President, Executive Committee

“It is an honor to be a part of the Board of Governors and itsmission of providing relevant and interesting outreach to thealumni body. It is a great pleasure to work with such a dedicat-ed and innovative group in this effort.”

K E I T H B E R N A R D ’ 9 5

Home: New York, NYOccupation: Media, AT & T Inc.BOG: Nominating Committee; Co-Chair, Alumni of ColorCommittee

THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS (BOG) WORKS WITH THE OFFICE OF ALUMNI AND PARENT

PROGRAMS ON BEHALF OF ALL ALUMNI TO ENCOURAGE SUPPORT OF AND CONNECTION TO HOTCHKISS. MEET THE 25 CURRENT BOG MEMBERS:

“Hotchkiss was a source of major developmental energy for me;I see my membership in the BOG as a means of returning someof that energy to the School.”

C H A R L I E D E N A U L T ’ 7 4 , P ’ 0 3 (ex-officio)Home: Acton, MAOccupation: Real Estate, Bartlett Management, Inc.BOG: Past President; Nominating Committee

“My initial purpose in joining the BOG was to give back to theSchool that gave me so much, with the problem being the moretime I spend on behalf of Hotchkiss, the more rewarded I feel,and the greater my debt to her.”

P A T R I C I A B A R L E R I N F A R M A N - F A R M A I A N ’ 8 5

Home: New York, NYOccupation: Real Estate, Stribling and AssociatesBOG: Gender Committee, Nominating Sub-Committee forMembership

“Being on the Board of Governors has allowed me to be back atHotchkiss in a meaningful way and to be part of the excitementduring the School’s evolution.”

K E R R Y B E R N S T E I N F A U V E R ’ 9 2

Home: Minneapolis, MNOccupation: Finance, CarVal InvestorsBOG: TBD

“The Hotchkiss experience goes so far beyond the years spent oncampus. As a member of the BOG, I hope to help alums enjoyand appreciate what the Hotchkiss community can offer all ofus throughout our lives.”

Q U I N N F I O N D A ’ 9 1

Home: New York, NYOccupation Finance, Scopia Capital LLCBOG: Communications Committee

“Hotchkiss played a critical role in my adolescent developmentand for that I am always grateful - having the opportunity toserve Hotchkiss as a member of the BOG is one of the manyways in which I hope to be able to give back to the School thatgave so much to me.”

131604_36_45:alums 4/7/10 11:01 AM


AL U M N Inews

class members) and 52 people. In considering its histo-ry, members of the Class noted that from from ’49 mem-bers have received the Alumni Award, and four mem-bers of the Class have served as trustees of the School.

M E R E D I T H M A L L O R Y G E O R G E ’ 7 8 , P ’ 0 9 , ’ 1 1

Home: Darien, CTOccupation: At-Home ParentBOG: Alumni Services Committee

“I joined the BOG after Malcolm McKenzie had arrived andwhile I still had 2 out of 3 children at Hotchkiss. As a currentparent and an active alum, I felt it would be important andinteresting to learn about the new directions that Hotchkisswould be taking and to be able to pass that information along toother alumni and parents.”

B R E N D A G R A S S E Y ’ 8 0

Home: New York, NYOccupation: Non-Profit Management, Baby Basics NYCBOG: Alumni Services Committee, Nominating Committee

E D G R E E N B E R G ’ 5 5

Home: Stamford, CTOccupation: Finance (retired)BOG: Vice President, Executive Committee, Chair, AlumniServices Committee

“I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to serve Hotchkissas a member of the Alumni Board of Governors. I enjoy workingwith fellow alumni spanning several decades and members ofthe school administration. My Board involvement has broughtme back to Hotchkiss at a very dynamic and interesting time inits history and given me valuable insight into current planningand its ever-evolving approach to education. I like what I see.”

P E T E R H U N T ’ 5 7

Home: Los Angeles, CAOccupation: Director (Theater) and Filmmaker, Skiff, Inc.BOG: Communications Committee, Nominating Sub-Committee for Membership

“I chose to join the BOG because Hotchkiss had a remarkableand profound affect in my life, and beyond giving me the toolssucceed in a complex world, it inspired me to pursue a careerthat I truly love.”

S E T H K R O S N E R ’ 7 9

Home: San Diego, CAOccupation: Medicine, Mercy HospitalBOG: Nominating Committee

R O G E R L I D D E L L ’ 6 3 , P ’ 9 8

Home: New York, NYOccupation: Finance, Ingalls & SnyderBOG: Secretary, Executive Committee, Nominating Committee

“The benefit of our Hotchkiss experience does not stop at gradu-ation. I am delighted to work with the Board of Governors in its

efforts to enable alumni to maintain relationships with eachother and with the School that are as vibrant as when we wereon-campus.”

J E N A P P L E Y A R D M A R T I N ’ 8 8

Home: Wellesley, MAOccupation: Attorney, Self EmployedBOG: Chair, Gender Committee

“I wanted to serve as a member of the Board of Governors tosupport Hotchkiss by connecting with fellow alumni/alumnae,continuing to have direct communication with the faculty, stu-dents, and staff, as well as giving back a little to a place which isvery dear and special to me.”

A L I S O N M O O R E ’ 9 3

Home: New York, NYOccupation: Attorney, JPMorgan Chase & Co.BOG: Co-Chair, Alumni of Color Committee, NominatingSub-Committee for Membership

“Serving on the Board of Governors allows me to give back toan institution that has so greatly shaped my life and allows meto be a voice for both students and alumni of color.”

A L E S S A N D R A N I C O L A S ’ 9 5

Home: Philadelphia, PAOccupation: Finance, MetLifeBOG: TBD

“I wanted to be a BOG member because I felt it my obligationand duty to give, not just financially, to Hotchkiss but of mytime and service. These are traditions I learned while attend-ing Hotchkiss and I wish to pass them on.”

D A N P U L L M A N ’ 7 6 (ex-officio)Home: Belmont, MAOccupation: Finance, McNamee Lawrence & Co, LLCBOG: Past President, Nominating Committee, NominatingSubcommittee on Membership

P E T E R R O G E R S ’ 7 3 , P ’ 0 7 , ’ 1 1 ( ex-officio)Home: Columbia, MDOccupation: Computer Technology, MICROS Systems, Inc.BOG: President of The Hotchkiss Fund

“I serve on the Hotchkiss Board and BOG in order to serve ourcommunity. I was inspired in my time at Hotchkiss (1970-1973) by the sense of mission that the faculty and board had ineducating students to be future leaders. I serve as a sense of dutybut also because it is fun and fascinating. I am able to workwith extremely bright, energetic, and interesting alumni, faculty,staff and students at a world-class education institute. What isnot to like about this situation?”

131604_36_45:alums 4/7/10 11:01 AM

45W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

W E N D Y W E I L R U S H ’ 8 0

Home: Seattle, WAOccupation: At-Home Parent BOG: Vice President, Executive Committee, Chair,Nominating Committee

“I enjoy working with other BOG members, alums, andHotchkiss faculty and staff to strengthen and broaden the con-nection between Hotchkiss and its (9000) alumni. Having achild at Hotchkiss from 2003 to 2007 gave me a wonderfulopportunity to reconnect with the School and to appreciate thetremendous thought and effort devoted to maintaining andimproving standards of excellence in academics, extracurricularprograms, and, very importantly, residential life. “

P E T E R S C A L A ’ 0 1

Home: New York, NYOccupation: Finance, Apollo ManagementBOG: Chair, Communications Committee

“When I was approached, I chose to join the Board ofGovernors and remain active in the Hotchkiss communitybecause of the friendships I made while at Hotchkiss and a feel-ing that I needed to try to give back to the School. “

J O N S P R O L E ’ 7 3 , P ’ 0 1 , ’ 0 3 , ’ 0 7 , ’ 0 9

Home: New Canaan, CTOccupation: Attorney

BOG: Nominating Sub-Committee for Membership

“As far as why BOG, it is pretty simple. The BOG providesanother avenue to stay in touch with Hotchkiss and hopefully,in a small way give back to the institution that has been such apositive influence on my entire family.”

G E O R G E T A K O U D E S ’ 8 7

Home: Needham, MAOccupation: Architecture, martinBattarchitectsBOG: Gender Committee

“As a four-year Gordon Family Scholarship recipient, I considermyself most fortunate to have been granted the opportunity toattend Hotchkiss despite its being beyond my family’s means. Iam honored to dignify my grant with my commitment to servethe School as Governor.”

J A N A W I L C O X ’ 9 7

Home: Philadelphia, PAOccupation: Development and External Affairs, YoungScholars Charter SchoolBOG: Alumni Services Committee

“Hotchkiss was a huge part of steering my personal and profes-sional life towards one of service. I find it rewarding to give backby acting as a link to the alumni community at large and help-ing to scope out the best way to keep us all connected.”

Above: B.O.G. members photographed at the February meeting are, from left: Back row, Edward Greenberg ’55, Roger Liddell ’63, LanceBeizer ’56, Keith Bernard Jr. ’95, William Benedict Jr. ’70, Christopher Bechhold ’72, and Quinn Fionda ’91; and front row, AlessandraNicolas ’95, Wendy Rush ’80, Kerry Fauver ’92, Katie Berlandi ’88, Alison Moore ’93, Brenda Grassey ’80, and Jana Wilcox ’97.

131604_36_45:alums 4/7/10 11:02 AM

IT’S M Yturn


Hi, everyone. Though most of you know meby Ali, my full name is Jelisaveta Cuic. AndI’m here today to tell you my story. The storyof my country. The story about the firstdemocratic Serbian prime minister after theSecond World War. We are here to celebrate agreat man, MLK, whose ideals spreadthroughout the globe and are still much pre-sent and alive in our world.

His ideas of equality and combat for humanrights inspired many individuals and move-ments around the world. My country, Serbia,is a country with a great democratic traditionwhich was abruptly cut after the Second WorldWar, when communists came to power. Thefight my people led against this oppressiveforce is too long for me to present in this cou-ple of minutes, but I hope you will acknowl-edge the effect MLK’s ideals had on the peopleof my country, if I tell you a story of a greatman, who much like MLK tried hard to bringintegrity and equality to all people; who, muchlike MLK, tried to bring back hope to theirlives. His name was Zoran Djindjic. Sadly, Ihave to say “was,” because he, too, was assassi-nated, and with his death the first prime minis-ter of the new democratic republic of Serbiadisappeared. Decades of his combat for a bet-ter society, for human rights, for a dream, wereended with two bullets.

Yet today I proudly say that I can stillacknowledge the presence of his ideas andvisions in my country. In March, it will beseven years since he died, and yet his followersare getting more and more numerous day byday. He left behind an energy and enthusiasmthat no bullet can kill. He left us the most

important legacy: ideals and ideas that aregradually leading to a change in my country.His death did not end the change. His deathboosted it. Much like MLK, he left a pricelesslegacy. I fear that over the years, new genera-tions take this for granted and do not acknowl-edge the importance of our equality and howhonored we are to have it. In our daily lives,we do take it for granted.

When he was still a prime minister, Djindjictravelled a lot throughout Serbia, wishing tomeet as many common men as possible andunderstand their plight better. He tried tograsp the extent to which my people wereaffected by the previous regime, by which weunfortunately became known worldwide.Because of the wars that my people had to gothrough, the world, and we with it, almost for-got the bright traditions of my people and ourhistory. We ourselves forgot the contributionwe gave to antifascist combat in the SecondWorld War, and the sacrifice we made in theFirst World War. We fought then to bring theintegrity, the equality, the sovereignty back,and now – now, we are trying to do that again.

Therefore, Djindjic emphasized the impor-tance of the change and how vital is the inter-national cooperation in asserting a bettertomorrow. He highlighted that every individ-ual must wake up from lethargy and stopwaiting for government and others to solve hisproblems. He tried to make people realize thatdemocratic change means that each and everyone of us must change, so that we all canadvance and develop.

Once, at the international conference at TheHague, he spoke about the importance of

“It is our virtues that matter.”B Y J E L I S A V E T A C U I C ’ 1 1

A Among the students and faculty members sharing their

stories at Martin Luther King Day on Jan. 18 was Jelisaveta Cuic,

an upper mid from Belgrade, Serbia. Her story added still

more color and warmth to the day’s strong palette.

delivering all war criminals to justice. Quotingan Indian adage he said, “If you have to swal-low a frog, do not look at it much, but do it.And if you have to swallow a few frogs, swal-low the biggest one first.” He was talking toyoung people. He was talking to us. He wassaying that if we have any difficulties in life, wemust immediately deal with them. If we havemany difficulties in our way, we deal with thehardest ones first. People still remember todayhis speeches about the obstacles that we willhave to face on our way to achieving a democ-ratic country.

Today already, Serbia is a country that moreand more people visit. They leave us full ofgreat impressions, unforgettable memories andnew friendships. The ones who visited mycountry will tell you about the hospitality ofmy people. Political affairs are very time-con-suming and take on a long-term track. Butwhat we essentially want is to be perceived asan equal and integrated part of the world,much like our youth feel today. In the end, itdoes not matter how we look; it is our virtuesthat matter. It is our willingness to change thatmatters. It is the pursuit of our dreams thatmatters. Thank you.

131604_60_64:memoriam/ltrs 4/7/10 11:07 AM Page 64

the hotchkiss magazine, winter 2010

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