Pine Point SchoolViewPoints

Winter/Spring 2014

BOARD OF TRUSTEESBob Anderson ’84Alan BanisterDionne ButlerHarvey C. DeMovick, Jr., PresidentDavid DorfmanKimberly Dreier Susan Funk, Vice PresidentAdam ManciniJane Simmons Meiser ’92, Community LeaderDebbie O’Brien Diana Owen, Interim Head of SchoolCarla Petrocelli, SecretaryHamilton Salsich, IIIKaren Stone, Vice PresidentGary WilliamsAdam Wronowski ’87, TreasurerSusan Zimbelmann

CONTRIBUTORSEditor: David Hannon, Director of DevelopmentDesigner: Rosemary Robertson, Publications CoordinatorContributors: Kimberly Fullerton Anderson ‘85, MarthaBattles ’99, Duncan Brown ‘08, Ingrid Caserta, DavidCruthers, Harvey DeMovick, III ’87, Rebecca Graebner,Duncan Grimm ’08, Laura Hagen ‘06, Rush Hambleton,David Hannon, Chris Hurtgen, Lauren Holstein Lovato ’99,Nicky Newbery, Diana Owen, Carla Petrocelli, RosemaryRobertson, Alex Tolischus, and Christopher Wiles ‘05

89 Barnes Road Stonington, CT 06378860-535-0606http://www.pinepoint.orgdevelopment@pinepoint.org pinepointalumni@pinepoint.org

Download a digital copy of the magazine athttp://www.pinepoint.org/viewpoints or scan the QR code.

ViewPoints

The Importance of Community 1In her first letter in ViewPoints to the members of the Pine Point family, InterimHead of School Diana Owen focuses on the sense of community and the need todevelop even closer connections.

Results Matter 2The outstanding performance by the School’s 4th, 6th, and 8th graders on theEducational Records Bureau’s CTP4 test provides solid evidence that aninvestment in a Pine Point education is one that offers real value as today’sparents weigh the merits of an independent school experience for theirchild(ren).

3D Printer Added to Learning Resources 4The gift of a 3D printer by a grandparent has students rethinking the possibilitiesof technology while putting their math and science skills into play; the 3D printerhas also provided a nice start to the School’s maker-space.

Pine Point Returns to the Ocean for the Snow Ball 6Every aspect of this year’s Snow Ball came together to make for one of the mostmemorable evenings in the 66-year history of our school.

Endowment Giving Remains Strong 16The School has been fortunate to have received a number of generous bequests,all of which have played a significant role in building the endowment. Thatpattern continued this year when it was learned that past parent Pete Fullertonhad left Pine Point $50,000 in support of the School’s financial aid efforts.

Just Being with Them 18For the 41st time, Pine Point hosted Grandparents’/Grandpersons’ Day. This year,over 270 beloved members of the Pine Point family came to the campus. Asalways, it was one of the highlights of the year.

Always Exploring 30A junior at Trinity College, Duncan Grimm ’08 has taken good advantage ofinternational experiences with study of the River Cities of China and southeastAsia in 2012 and most recently with a semester abroad at the University ofEdinburgh. One lesson learned from his time in Scotland is that opportunityawaits us each and every day, whether we’re traveling halfway around the world orsimply living our daily lives at home.

Seeing Them Through Their Journey 32Martha Battles ’99 and Lauren Holstein Lovato ’99 were classmates beginning in3rd grade through their graduation from Pine Point. As it turns out, both findthemselves in the same field working as speech-language pathologists. That factseemed to warrant that we reach out to them to learn about their experiences.

288 New Books! 37

Class of Notes 40

Milestones 57Over the last several months Pine Point saw the passing of two former presidentsof the board of trustees (Chet Buffum and Jenny Lassen), the wife of a formerhead of school (Linda Mitchell), and former director of buildings and groundsCharlie Wright. Their lives were very much intertwined with the history of ourschool.

Winter/Spring 2014

ViewPoints 1

ine Point families relish being part of our close-knitcommunity.

For us, community transcends the notion of place, and we havehad many conversations this year about the importance of the PinePoint community. For 66 years, ours has been defined by ourshared commitment to the education of our students, our relation-ships with each other, and our core values of respect, integrity,moral courage, and excellence.

Recently, we all witnessed the strength of this community in ac-tion. Many volunteers worked tirelessly on our Snow Ball galawhich brought over 250 people together. There was a tone of grati-tude on that March evening, a sense that we were linked in dedica-tion to our school. We raised a record-breaking amount of moneywhich will support our academic program and professional devel-opment for our teachers. The event was a certain success becausethe sold-out attendance was a symbol of true devotion to our com-munity.

Grandparents’/Grandpersons’ Day was another record-breakerthis spring. We have never had so many family members and spe-cial friends join us for that event. It’s always a joy for our studentsto introduce some very important people in their lives to theirteachers and classmates and to demonstrate how much they havelearned at the school they are so proud to attend.

Beyond the big events, though, there are subtle and regularways we connect as a community everyday. When parents come into the school to drop off their children in the morning, they enjoysaying hello to other children and their parents, to their child’steachers, and, of course, they love saying hello to Ms. Maureen inthe front office. It’s a ritual for many, one that starts their day offnicely.

From my vantage point, I see teachers enthusiastically planningnew lessons as teams or teaching other teachers to use a new toolin the classroom. Parents help other parents in small ways likeagreeing to carpool when a parent is stuck at work, or even quiet,but significant and heartfelt ways like going on a grocery run for aparent who is grieving after the death of a family member. I over-hear students working together on trigonometry problems, support-ing each other when they disagree by explaining their rationale inorder to help everyone understand. I watch fourth graders practicetheir readers’ theater piece, using diplomatic language with eachother to suggest ways to make their performance even more inter-esting for the listeners. Kindergarteners high-five eighth graders asthey pass their lockers, and sixth graders work as teams to collect

-Diana Owen, Interim Head of School

scraps for the compost bins. Our student ambassadors, the Greenand Gold Guides, enthusiastically give tours to prospective familiesto share their love of Pine Point School.

This is typical of any given morning at PPS. Pine Point School brings us together around a large, central

purpose, but there is an opportunity for us to develop closer con-nections around shared interests. Our students have that opportu-nity every day here at school. We may not realize what we have incommon with those we pass in the hall, so we would like to createa similar opportunity for families. Connecting in affinity groups willhelp us develop our community. The National Association of Inde-pendent Schools (NAIS) defines affinity groups as, “a bringing to-gether of people who have something important in common (race,gender, profession or special interest, etc.)” Our aim is to buildcommunity by generating discussion in small group environments.Perhaps you would like to connect with other parents who are in-terested in sustainability to discuss environmental issues or to hearfrom experts. Parents of students of color or people interested indiscussing topics related to identity and diversity might want toconnect. What about a book group? Parents of students who havelearning differences might want to meet. The School could alsoconnect parents of children who are adopted to share their experi-ences. We will absolutely continue to nurture individual andschool-wide relationships; our Director of Inclusion and Commu-nity Development, Gillian Crawford, and the entire school will alsobe working diligently to establish affinity groups. I welcome yourideas and invite you to be a part of this important conversation.

Our mission calls for problem solving collaboratively, creativelyand compassionately. In order to achieve our mission, we musthonor each other and strive for inclusion. Having the opportunityto learn more about all of the members of our community, not justthose at the School but those who make up the greater Pine Pointfamily, will not only strengthen our relationships with each other, itwill strengthen Pine Point School.

Pine Point School brings us together around a large, central purpose, but thereis an opportunity for us to develop closer connections around shared interests.

Ms. Owen isshown with Bella

Griscom ’14(right), who

returned to PinePoint for morning

meeting tointroduce Mia

Marciano ’14, whowas delivering her9th grade speech.

The Importanceof Community

P

ViewPoints 2

ine Point School has literally raised the bar for southeastern Con-necticut and western Rhode Island. For the 2013-14 academic year, the

results of the Educational Records Bureau’s CTP4 testing show that PinePoint students outperform suburban public schools as well as other inde-pendent schools.

The CTP4 (“The ERBs”) is a rigorous assessment designed for higher-achieving students measuring them against essential standards in languagearts and mathematics, including tests of verbal and quantitative reasoning.Its questions reflect the standards set by leading educational organizationsincluding the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the NationalCouncil of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and the Common Core StateStandards.

Students in grades 4, 6 and 8 take the ERBs and Pine Point uses theresults to evaluate its program, identify individual student strengths andchallenges, and supplement its wide variety of assessments. Teachers do notdevote any class time to test preparation (“teaching to the test.”)

Description of Tests

Verbal Reasoning: the ability to analyze information and draw logical inferences, torecognize analogical verbal relationships, and to generalize verbal categorical attrib-utes

Vocabulary: recognition and understanding of a wide range of grade-appropriate vocab-ulary and use of context clues to determine meaning

Reading Comprehension: comprehension of written material, including recall of infor-mation, identifying of main ideas, and hypothesizing using information from passages

Writing Mechanics: understanding of spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and usageconventions

Writing Concepts and Skills: understanding of the components of effective writtencomposition

Quantitative Reasoning: the ability to analyze mathematical concepts and principles, tomake generalizations, and to compare quantities mathematically

Mathematics: conceptual understanding of mathematics, application of mathematicalknowledge to solve problems, and the ability to compute or estimate solutions

-Christopher Hurtgen, Director of Communications-Alexandra Tolischus, Director of Admissions

P

Results Matter

At its core, Pine Point’s program is anything butcommon. Families choose our school because multidisci-plinary courses in arts and athletics are an integral partof our curriculum. Families value our moral developmentand leadership curricula. Families appreciate our empha-sis on teaching students to solve problems creatively,collaboratively and compassionately.

Along with those signature programs, Pine Pointfamilies receive superior academic results for their chil-dren. The numbers speak for themselves: our studentsconsistently outperform their peers in the quality subur-ban schools of our community as well as those enrolledat highly selective independent schools throughout thecountry.

The results show it, and results matter.

These results are indicative of a program thatworks. Parents may wonder if choosing an inde-pendent school for the early grades is really worthit; it is. Building a strong foundation of skills andhabits from the beginning of their educational ca-reer is vital. While we don’t want to take up pre-cious time in the classroom teaching to a test, wedo want to make sure our students are preparedto demonstrate what they know. Moving forward,they must be able to speak articulately, to workcollaboratively, to design solutions creatively, and,yes, to perform excellently on standardized tests.

-Diana Owen, Interim Head of School

ViewPoints 3

The Educational Records Bureau’s Comprehensive Testing Program (CTP4) ReportAcademic Year 2013-14

Gra

de 4

Gra

de 6

Gra

de 8

The red line represents the national 50th percentile.

Verbal

Reasoning

Auditory

Comprehension

Reading

Comprehension

Writing

Mechanics

Writing Concepts

& Skills

Quantitative

Reasoning

Mathematics

1 & 2

Verbal

Reasoning Vocabulary

Reading

Comprehension

Writing

Mechanics

Writing Concepts

& Skills

Quantitative

Reasoning

Mathematics

1 & 2

Verbal

Reasoning Vocabulary

Reading

Comprehension

Writing

Mechanics

Writing Concepts

& Skills

Quantitative

Reasoning

Mathematics

1 & 2

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independent

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independent

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independent

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independent

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independent

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independent

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independent

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independent

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independent

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independent

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independent

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independent

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independent

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independent

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independent

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independent

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independen

t

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independent

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independen

t

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independen

t

Pin

e P

oin

t S

chool

Suburb

an P

ublic

Independent

ViewPoints 4

he best learning opportunities are rarely found in textbooks. Pine Point teachers know this, and that point is on full display using

the School’s new Makerbot Replicator 2, a 3D printer. “We are learning through our mistakes,” says mathematics teacher Rush

Hambleton.The Makerbot 2 extrudes thin layers of plastic through a calibrated, brass

nozzle onto a polycarbonate plate based on instructions supplied by a sourcefile. The printer was a gift to the School by a grandparent and has been at-tracting interest ever since the students installed it themselves back in Marchbeside a more traditional printer in the computer lab in the GeiseLibrary/Technology Center.

The 3D printer requires a bit of explanation for those who have not seen itin action.

“People have a hard time understanding that we can now print things,”Hambleton said. “We are so hard-coded that, ‘Printing is just what happenson paper,’ that it’s something we read and look at. But the fact is that some-body can send you an electronic file and then you can have a physical repre-sentation of that thing.

“It’s like someone could email you a coffee cup.”Student-printed projects have not included coffee cups yet, but they have

produced miniature plastic animals, bracelets, luggage tags and cell phonecases. Each item they print teaches a new lesson — sometimes related to de-sign and other times relevant to the mechanical operation of the machine.

3D Printer Added toLearning Resources

“I’ve loved hearing the storiesabout the students’ interest in theprinter and the products they’vemade. What fun that suchtechnology can appeal to thediversity of the Pine Point family,including parents! Truly, it’s apleasure to give such an inclusivepiece-for learning, for fun, and forstimulation!”

-Pine Point grandparent

-Christopher Hurtgen, Director of Communications

Part of the education (and fun) of working with the 3D printerwas getting it set up. From start to finish, that work was done bythe students.

Catherine Leuba ’17 and Sam Dorfman ’16 were two of thestudents who got the Makerbot up and running

T

ViewPoints 5

“It does take some trial and error to get itworking,” said Alex Bowdler ’15. “I think, ‘Thisis so cool, but [an alternate idea] could beeven better.’”

Hambleton oversees the students who haveworked with the printer, many of whom cometo use the device on their own time and someof whom are designing projects at home afterschool hours. In all cases, students haveplayed the central role in using the 3D printer.

“Our process from the start was studentdriven—we had students take it out of thebox,” Hambleton said. “We started simply andincreased the complexity. The first thing wedid was to print items that came with [theprinter], and the next thing we did was todownload source files from the internet. Thenwe found some files that you could modify—so you download the template, modify, andthen print. Most recently, we’ve been startingfrom a blank slate and using Google Sketchupto create, for example, an iPad holder.”

Several Pine Point students were aware ofthe capability of desktop 3D printers whichhave been profiled recently in popular media.Others had never seen a device like this beforeits arrival on campus. Whenever it prints, thedevice draws crowds which gather around,mesmerized by the Makerbot at work.

“And to think, this must be what kids awhile ago used to do with the first radios andtelevisions,” said Catherine Leuba ’17.

Pine Point’s goal is for each student in the school toproduce a project which can be printed in three dimen-sions. The new 3D printer is the start of a burgeoningmaker-space at the school, providing tools for studentsto use math and science skills as they produce objectswhich are useful and which illustrate what they are learn-ing in the classroom.

In mid-April the 4-person Honors Geometry classbegan studying three-dimensional solid objects. Whilethe textbook has lessons on drawing three-dimensionalshapes on paper, Faith Williams ’15, Sam Young ‘15,Noam Makover ’15 and Brian McGlinchey ’15 began tobuild. Utilizing the free 3D-modeling software packageSketchUp, each student designed a 3D object which theyprinted and presented to their grandparents on Grand-parents’ Day.

Hambleton acknowledges that it sounds cliché’ to saythat the possibilities seem limitless, but he is supportedby a growing collection of plastic objects—as well as en-gaged students.

“This is definitely one of those situations where thelimitation is only your imagination,” Hambleton said.

Noam Makover ’15 made custom guitar picks withthe Van Halen logo and a case to hold them.

Faith Williams ’15 made an OldMan of the Mountain Pendant.

Sam Young ’15 made a rose pendant for his grandmother.

Brian McGlinchey ’15 built a model of thefacade of his grandmother’s house completewith the street marker above the door!

Instructor of Mathematics Rush Hambleton looks on as Catherine and Sam worktogether on the Makerbot.

ViewPoints 6

n May 1999, Pine Point capped a year-long celebration of its 50th anniversarywith a gala/auction, which was held on the soccer/lacrosse field under a

large tent. It would be another 11 years before the School hosted another auc-tion. In 2010, we gathered at the Branford House at Avery Point for what wasdubbed An Evening by the Sea. Two years later saw us at the Ocean House inWatch Hill, RI for our inaugural Snow Ball. Both events were great successes.Proceeds from An Evening by the Sea supported the operating budget and thepurchase of $10,000 worth of iPads while the first Snow Ball resulted in theconstruction of new athletic locker rooms.

-David C. Hannon, Director of Development

Pine PointReturns tothe OceanHouse

Over $155,000 in Net Income Raised!

The Snow Ball

Every aspect of the Snow Ball—the venue, the food, the music, the auctionitself, people’s spirits, and the end results—came together to make for oneof the most memorable evenings in the 66-year history of our school.

I

ViewPoints 7

This year’s Gala Committee, working with the administration, asked the facultywhat tools they needed to strengthen their teaching, and thus the students’learning. Their requests stretched across the disciplines and the grade levels.The teachers asked for 20 iPads, 22 microscopes, a kiln, “great fit books” for ourvery youngest students to enhance the collection in the Geise Library/TechnologyCenter, a digital map subscription, and backing for their professional develop-ment for the next two school years.

Embracing their mission, the committee started out strongly, quickly securing$31,500 in sponsorships. Throughout the fall, winter, and early spring theyworked tirelessly to secure a range of great silent and live auction items fromsome 75 individuals, families, businesses, and other non-profits who enthusiasti-cally responded to their requests for support.

Our guests enjoyed a variety of wines offered by Jonathan Edwards Wineryand ales produced by Cottrell Brewing Company. Music was offered during thecocktail hour by The Zingerz and after the auction was over current parentCharles Crawford of Ultimate Party Masters had folks up and dancing. Elements,the Old Lyme-based business owned and operated by Carla Steele, specializes infloral designs for all types of celebrations. Carla offered her expertise (and manyof her products) to make the Ocean House an even more welcoming and beauti-ful venue. The floral arrangements shown in this article are an example of her tal-ent and sense of style.

Anyone who has ever been to theOcean House appreciates its beauty,its sense of timelessness, and itsoutstanding service. Thus, it was aneasy decision to head back to WatchHill for this year’s Snow Ball.

BenefactorsOne of the keys to success in running a successful special eventis to cover your costs before you “open the doors.” The fami-lies, businesses, individuals, and groups listed below more thanmade that happen through their generosity.

Platinum Level ($5,000)Cross Sound Ferry/Thames ShipyardDeMovick Design & Development

Mystic Aquarium/Ocean Blue CateringPine Point School Board of Trustees

Karen Stone and David Schulz

Gold Level ($2,500)Pine Point School Parents’ Association

Silver Level ($1,000)Alan and Patience Banister and Bank Square Books

Hannah Childs Interior DesignDan and Jennifer King

Gurdon and Kathy Wattles

Embracing their Mission

ViewPoints 8

President of the

Board of Trustees

Harvey DeMovick, Jr.

officially welcomed

everyone to the Snow

Ball. In addressing

the capacity crowd,

he declared,

“Tonight, we have

the good fortune to

celebrate everything

that is wonderful

about Pine Point. This event offers not only the opportunity to

raise money for some very special causes, but also to renew

our journey into the future with unity of purpose. Our excep-

tional faculty makes Pine Point a special place. Through thick

and thin our teachers strive to provide each student with the

opportunity to maximize his/her abilities. The faculty is the

heart and soul of Pine Point. We’re grateful that these talented

and dedicated individuals continue year after year to bring out

the very best in all of the students, developing their strong

minds and caring hearts. Together, let’s send a strong message

to show the teachers how much they mean to us…Let’s make

sure that this year’s Snow Ball is not only a great time, but

also a great success for Pine Point and especially our faculty.”

Unity of Purpose

Nicky Newbery (right) was enlisted to helpsell the reserved parking spot by GeraldineGriffin. A first-time offering in a Pine Pointauction, the item went for a price beyondeveryone’s wildest expectations. Keeping arecord of the winning bid is Co-chair DebbieO‘Brien. The personalized sign was magnifi-cently created by parent Garth Dolphin.

Adam ‘87 and Jenny Wronowski

Sue and Will Verhoeff

Caitlin and Chris Hurtgen

ViewPoints 9

Thank you to our sponsors for their generosityand the Snow Ball Committee for their dedicationthroughout the year to bring us together for acommon purpose—to celebrate our past and tocontribute to our future.

-Diana Owen, Interim Head of School

The Snow BallCommittee

Kimberly Fullerton Anderson ’85

Hannah Childs

Susan DeMovick

Geraldine Griffin, Co-chair

David Hannon

Morgan Lloyd Hollenbeck ’96

Chrissy Horgan

Jennifer King

Caroline Maynard

Debbie O’Brien, Co-chair

Karen Stone

Jenny Wronowski

DianaOwen,InterimHead ofSchool

Jon Mitchell, Laurie Mortrude, Kim Dreier, and Gary Williams

Sue Zimbelmann, Carla Petrocelli, Chrissy Horgan, and Dionne Butler

ViewPoints 10

While filling the Ocean House was one ofthe determinants of success, we knew wewere there to raise funds for Pine Point.As the evening progressed everyoneseemed to sense that we had the potentialto achieve something extraordinary. Peo-ple were bidding strongly on the silentauction items. The live auction? Ask any-one who was there how much fun it was towatch as folks really got into the spirit ofthings in their bidding.

Pine Point was fortunate to once againhave parent Geraldine Griffin, a seniorvice president at Sotheby’s, as co-chair ofthe Snow Ball Committee and our auction-eer for the night. Geraldine is a master atwhat she does. Midway through the liveauction, Geraldine explained the goal ofthis year’s Snow Ball. With that, she askedthe group to support the purchase of 20microscopes ($12,000) and the faculty’sprofessional development for the next twoyears ($15,000). The response was quickand incredibly generous with the exclama-tion point provided by an anonymouspledge of $25,000 to the faculty’s profes-sional development!

When Geraldine banged her gavel onthe final item we knew that somethingspecial had just taken place. Working to-gether, we had raised over $155,000 in netincome!

David Cruthers andDavid Hannon

David Smith ‘69 (center) and The Zingerz

Dave andDorrie

Thomas

Dina Petroskyand Nikki Scott

Maggie Dey ‘97 and Mary Raftery

(All photos by Harvey DeMovick, III ’87,David Cruthers, and the Ocean House)

ViewPoints 11

A Full HouseIt’s one thing to attend to all of the necessary logistics and details, but it’snot much of a party if no one comes. We filled the Ocean House! There wereover 250 of us representing all of the different constituencies that make upthe Pine Point family—alumni, current and past parents, grandparents,trustees, friends of the School, and a large contingent of faculty. It didn’t feellike a school event; it felt like a family reunion. The mix of “old” and newfriends felt just right, all of us knit together by our common bond. There wasa marvelous spirit that ran through the Ocean House that night. It’s difficultto overstate how important that aspect of the evening was, not just in helpingto ensure the success of the evening but in the message it conveyed. The dayafter the event, past parent Alice Groton reached out to the School, writing,“Saturday was a good indication of the love and support that we all continueto feel toward Pine Point.”

Live Auction ItemsA Day at Fenway Park

Overnight at the AquariumShelter Harbor Golf

Off-Road Driving AdventureSlopeside on Okemo

Reserved Parking SpotCustom Made T-101 Sailing Dinghy

Elephant EncounterParadise on St. John

Private Cruise on AphroditeFaculty Prepared Dinner

atThe Lodge at Moose Landing

DaveSchulzandKarenStone

Sally McGee, Sarah Hambleton, and Sarah Cahill

Ron andChrisSlocumb

Rodney Butler, Harvey DeMovick, Jr., Harvey DeMovick, III ‘87,and Adam Wronowski ‘87

Diana Owen, Lara Dolphin, and Carla Petrocelli

ViewPoints 12

The most coveted auction item was the dinner that would be prepared by faculty members forthe lucky winner and 11 of their guests. Lisa Scott showed up at the Ocean House having baked200 cookies to share with everyone! To get the bidding going, Geraldine Griffin said that any-one who made a bid could help themselves to those cookies being passed by two of the facultychefs, in this case Judy Toscano and Lara Dolphin. Geraldine got the bidding going by taking acookie and making a personal bid of $1,000. From there, things got fun. In the end, twotrustee parents found themselves bidding against each other. At the end, each won a faculty-prepared dinner accompanied by two cases of wines donated by Angela Kanabis ’87! It was theperfect way to end the auction.

Ruth Saunders andJonathan White

Nicky Newbery, Gretchen Federici, AmyHallberg, Maria Iacoi, Charles Crawford,and Jason Rosen

Lisa Scott with Fiona and Chris Hilton

Gillian Crawford and Sarah Cahill

Gary and Jean Williams

Stephen andKate Scott ’09

Harvey ‘87and SusanDeMovick

Michael Dunn andDeb Moshier-Dunn

Hugh O’Brien, Carlaand Bob Petrocelli ’81

ViewPoints 13

Will O’Learyand AlexTolischus withNicky andDave Newbery

Whitney andJohn Algieri

Elizabeth Tobin Brown, Jeanne DeMovick, and Patty Kitchings

Jim and Caroline Maynard

Jon Mitchell and Lara Dolphinencourage the group to supportthe faculty’s efforts

Diana Owen, Caroline Maynard, Jenny and Adam Wronowski ’87

Mark and Susan Fader with Hannah and Jamie Childs

Sue and AJ Zimbelmann

Morgan Lloyd Hollenbeck ’96 andKimberly Fullerton Anderson ‘85

Keith and Karen LaRose

ViewPoints 14

Tom and Melinda Blum, Diane Corwin Seltzer ’67, and Barbara Timken

Mary and Toby Goodmanwith Robin Rice

JenniferKing andAdamMancini

Kate Flanagan and Alex Alpert

Carol Roper, Laurie Mortrude, Judy Toscano, and Robin Smith

Joann Sullivanwith Steve andKate Brown

Harvey and Jeanne DeMovick

Josh andJenniferParsons

ViewPoints 15

Our heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who made this year’s Snow Ball such a great evening.The last three auctions have raised $355,000 in net income for Pine Point. It’s clear the auctionis a vitally important force in the life of our school. Please join us when we get together in 2016for the next auction. It’s always a great time! A complete list of donors who supported the SnowBall will appear in the Annual Report.

Cindy Oksanen, Laura Watts, John Leuba ’82, and Ted Liston

Matt McKenzie, Bob Anderson ‘84, KimberlyFullerton Anderson ‘85, and Shannon McKenzie

Carol Daukasand KateMerryweather

Rich and Denny Caruso

Ashley and Shaun Foley

Jim Belli andShelley McBride-Belli

Tim andCarol Olson

ViewPoints 16

hile Pine Point remains largely dependent ontuition income to operate the School, the

success of the Annual Fund and special events likethe Snow Ball are crucial to the financial health of theSchool. It has only been in recent years, however,that the endowment has emerged as a third source ofreliable, and meaningful, revenue. In 2000-2001,when the School launched The Campaign for PinePoint, which would result in the construction of theGeise Library/Technology Center (2004) and the De-Movick Early Childhood Center (2008), the value of the endowment stood at just $150,000.From those humble beginnings, it’s exciting to report that the endowment went over the $3million mark for the first time back in March. This year, the endowment is providing $89,000to support the operating budget. Where would we be as a school without those funds? In theupcoming school year, the endowment will generate income of $103,000 to help us offer thevery best program we can to this generation of Pine Point students and their talented teachers.To be able to say that the endowment generates an income of six figures is important for us asa school, both financially and in the signal it sends about the health of Pine Point. For years,Pine Point has been searching for an alternative source of income. The endowment is thatsource of income, and its impact is real, substantial, and growing.

There are a number of reasons why the endowment has experienced strong growth over thelast thirteen years. Part of it is that members of the Pine Point family “get” endowment. They

understand how it works, and why it’s important. Many of these donorshave a long relationship with Pine Point and want to see it thrive long intothe future. It’s also true that the School has actively pushed for new com-mitments to the endowment, while also taking advantage of opportunitieswhen they arise. Two examples of this opportunistic approach can be seenwhen we raised funds honoring then-departing Head of School Paul Geisein 2011 and retiring teachers Ham Salsich and Gary Williams in 2013.Those two initiatives alone raised $347,000. As well, each year there are adozen or so named funds that are regularly enhanced by family membersand friends. One also can’t ignore the growth of the stock market since itbottomed in March of 2009. Pine Point was blessed to enter into the eco-nomic downturn with a small endowment with a resulting minimal damageand since then (thankfully) the movement has been in one direction.

Boost Provided by $50,000 Bequest from Pete Fullerton-David C. Hannon, Director of Development

In the coming schoolyear the endowmentwill generate incomeof $103,000 to helpus offer the very bestprogram we can tothis generation ofPine Point students.For years, Pine Pointhas been searchingfor an alternativesource of income.The endowment isthat source of incomeand its impact is realand substantial.

Endowment GivingRemains Strong

This family photo was taken on a summer’s day in 2009. Left to right:Kimberly Fullerton Anderson ’85 (holding Sam Anderson ’24), BobAnderson ’84, Pete Fullerton, Kris Fullerton Stephens ’87, and EricStephens (holding Spencer Stephens). In the front is Isaiah Stephens.

W

ViewPoints 17

Pine Point has also been the recipient of a number of generousbequests, each of which has been directed to the endowment. InJanuary 2000, Kate Johnstone left Pine Point a bequest of $46,000.(It was Kate and husband David who gave the land on which ourschool now sits.) Her gift prompted the School to establish TheKatherine Tod Johnstone Society. Since Kate’s inspiring gift, we’verealized bequests from Loring Bailey, Alan Houghton, John Lee,Miriam Patterson, Talcott Stanley, and Ed Wozniak.

In September, we learned that past parent and former trusteeReginald H. “Pete” Fullerton Jr. who passed away on March 15,2012, had left Pine Point a $50,000 bequest. Over his lifetime, Petewas passionate about causes near and far, be it in his support ofStand Up For Animals in Westerly, RI or The David SheldrickWildlife Trust in Kenya protecting elephants, or in his help withcountless other organizations. There was even a playfulness in hissupport of Pine Point. While not a golfer, he faithfully backed thegolf tournament each year by sponsoring holes in honor of Scout,Duncan, and Smokey, three of his beloved pets!

For 35 years Pete stood by Pine Point. He served on the boardof trustees from 1978-82 and was the treasurer for the campaignsteering committee that resulted in the Mitchell Building. In hislater years, he often expressed the belief that “Pine Point isimportant to this community.” Indeed, he once said that if it wasn’tfor Pine Point he would not have moved his family to the area.Though his children (Kimberly Fullerton Anderson ’85 and KirstenFullerton Stephens ’87) graduated from Pine Point long ago, heenjoyed staying in touch with the School. In April 2011, he joinedKimberly, her husband, Bob Anderson ’84, and 300 other membersof the Pine Point community at Mystic Aquarium to say goodbye todeparting Head of School Paul Geise. In a note about that evening,he enthusiastically wrote, “My family and I love Pine Point!”

For well over three decades Pete kept the faith with Pine Point.(How he would have loved to have enjoyed the relationship of PinePoint grandparent now that Sam Anderson ’24 is at the School!)

Keeping Pine Point in his Heart

-Kimberly Fullerton Anderson ’85

When I walk through the campus at Pine Point, I look and quietlylisten to my surroundings. My heart warms when I pass studentsin the hall chatting with their friends while busily getting readyfor the next part of their day. The giggling in the Preschool andthe Lower School is contagious. Then I peek into a classroom asI pass by and I’m amazed by the determination and considera-tion I see even on the youngest faces. These children love theirschool and their teachers. You can see it, hear it, and feel itwhen you’re here. The excitement of learning rushes back to me,and I’m in that rare moment we sometimes get as adults–that ofbeing a child again.

I have no doubt in my mind that this is exactly the same feel-ing our father, Pete, had when he visited Pine Point so manytimes over the years. He remained connected to our school wellinto his 70s. He was truly a child at heart, and remaining a partof the Pine Point community gave him great joy. Now as a par-ent, I understand that. He loved our school and believed in itspeople, in its success, and in its core values. He was passionate,and embraced all that Pine Point has to offer our children andour surrounding communities. He knew what a privilege it is tohave a school like this in our backyard, and how important it isto give others the opportunity that he could give to his family.

He was a proud grandfather and all the more so to see one ofhis grandsons enter Pine Point’s preschool program.

We are thrilled that our Dad kept Pine Point in his heart. Webelieve, as he did, in the importance of financial aid at ourschool and we are excited to see the endowment grow in theyears to come.

From tiny seedlings come majestic trees

Anonymous (3)Loring and Dorothy Bailey*

Ratna Bindra ‘87 and Raja MukherjeeHilda Brunswick

David C. CruthersJudy Gildersleeve duPont ’56

Reginald H. “Pete” Fullerton Jr.*Richard Gildersleeve ‘53

Rev. Dr. Lynne C. HoldenAlan Houghton*

H. Howard Knox, II*Susan KozelEric Larson

John K. Lee*Dorothy B. LeibLinda Mitchell*

The Katherine Tod Johnstone Society honors those individuals who have made a bequest toPine Point or provided for the School in their estate plans with a bequest, life income gift, or

a charitable trust. Please consider what legacy you would like to leave at Pine Point.

The Katherine Tod Johnstone Society

Julie OlsonHarry H. Orenstein ’68

Miriam Patterson*Annie Philbrick Ana Schneider

Starr White Snead ’66 Alix and Janie Stanley

Talcott Stanley*Edward Wozniak*

Members

His generous bequest created the Reginald H.“Pete” Fullerton Jr. Fund for Financial Aid. Withthe demand for financial aid growing for bothnew families looking at the School and thosewho are already with us, his bequest is criticallyimportant to our well-being as we strive tomake the Pine Point experience available to asmany families as possible. (As it turns out, hisgift would later be matched by a family thatannually gives $50,000 to the endowment, alsoin support of our financial aid program.)

I hope that others will be inspired by whatPete Fullerton and those who came before himhave accomplished by making a place for PinePoint in their estate planning. Maybe there’ssomeone in your life you would like to honor byestablishing a fund that bears their name, and,in so doing, benefit Pine Point today and inperpetuity? Maybe you simply want to add tothe general endowment? Whatever yourinclination, please consider joining the ranks ofthose who have made a long-term investment inthe future of Pine Point.

ViewPoints 18

-David C. Hannon, Director of Development

Just Being with Them

My parents lovedspending the day atPPS and with Sophie.It’s such a blessingfor my folks to beable to get even aglimpse into the lifeof their 14-year-oldgranddaughter.Grandparents’ Dayhas been one of thehighlights ofSophie’s experienceat PPS.

-Heidi Heublein

his year marked the 41st time that Pine Point hosted Grandparents’/Grandpersons’ Day, anannual event that also encourages the attendance of other special guests and friends, or

grandpersons. With over 270 guests in attendance, it remains one of the highlights of the yearfor everyone at Pine Point. It’s an opportunity for our grandparents and others to see what theirgrandchildren are doing each day, if only “to get even a glimpse” into their lives at Pine Point.Some of our grandparents, like Jan Watts and Thomas Nordland, were attending their very firstGrandparents’ Day; others, like Peter and Nancy Devine, Prilly Griscom, Martina Hamilton andBob Peterson, and Bob and Nancy Schachner, have been coming to Pine Point on the last Fri-day in April for ten or more years!

The morning began with a wonderful offering of snacks and beverages provided by the Par-ents Association. Heading up this year’s Grandparents’ Day hospitality again was Wendy Gus-tavel. After a quick welcome from Interim Head of School Diana Owen, it was off to class withthe 8th and 9th graders serving as guides to get folks to where they needed to be. Afterclasses, everyone returned to the Mitchell Building for a marvelous assembly put together bythe arts department.

(Photos by Ingrid Caserta, Nicky Newbery, and Carla Petrocelli)

Amelia Tomlinson ‘23 and Audrey RombergTony and Carole Erdman with Sophie Heublein ’15

Some of our Preschoolers!

T

ViewPoints 19

Grandparent SurveyThere are just under 300 households scatteredacross the globe where you can find a PinePoint grandparent. Pine Point grandparents livein ten different countries and in cities andtowns stretching from Stonington to Seattle.Last year, we surveyed the grandparents andgrandpersons for the first time. It was such asuccess (and we loved hearing what they’redoing and thinking) that we conducted a secondsurvey. Some of the questions repeated what weasked last year; others were new this timearound. We’re delighted to share a portion oftheir individual and collective wisdom with theentire Pine Point family.

What makes a perfect day when they spendtime with their grandchild(ren)? Happily, a greatday isn’t complicated, grand, or costly; they’rehappy just to be with them, “laughing, eatingice cream” (or frozen custard on Colman Streetfor one grandfather), “sharing new adventuresand experiences, playing games, enjoying a walkor a meal together, crafting, being in nature,watching them perform in their studies andsports, reading together, beholding their inno-cence, walking the dog, watercolor painting,crabbing and collecting sea glass, or ending theday with a family hug.” First-year Pine Pointgrandparent Lois McClure of Lubbock, TX,grandmother of Zorah Williams ’22, prettymuch summed up for her peers what makes fora great day with grandchildren when she wrote,“Just being with them.”

As to the historical event from their life-times that most stands out, the assassination ofPresident Kennedy tops the list (with referencesto RFK and Martin Luther King, Jr.), with 9/11 aclose second, and then various aspects ofWorld War II (chiefly the attack on Pearl Har-bor). Others recalled the passage of the CivilRights Act, the coronation of Queen ElizabethII, the launching of the Nautilus, Martin LutherKing’s “I Have a Dream Speech,” OperationSail, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the landing onthe moon, and the election and/or inaugurationof President Obama.

While neither Luddites nor technophobes,Mark Zuckerberg won’t find much of a followingwithin the Pine Point grandparent body. Whenqueried as to the amount of time they spend onFacebook, nearly all responded with the samewords: “zero,” “none,” “as little as possible,” or“no time.”

Ayden Wilkinson ’24 and Jay Wilkinson

Joann and Carl Carboni withAlison Petrocelli ’20

Sylvia Duran and Emanuel Duran ’20

Jean Saunders, Susan Capalbo,and Gabby Saunders ’20

Ella Davis ’21 and Shirley Anderson

Donna Dunbar and River Hambleton ’24David Pesarik, Alexa Pesarik ’25,and Anna Pesarik

Zoe Hutchins ’15 and Sally Pawlick

ViewPoints 20

Karen Anderson – never give up,compassion (empathy) plus toughness

Shirley Anderson – honesty,respect (for other people), and faith (work ethic)

Peter Barlow – notice everything, consider everything,be nice to everyone and all creatures

Pat Blevin – to set goals and persevereto reach them, to have strong moral principles,and to be kind and generous

Janice Botsko – self-confidence; peer standing,respect, inclusion; universal awareness,openness, aptitude, joy.

Edie Bowers – open mindedness,responsibility, empathy

Bea Brown – confidence, empathy,how to get along with others

Dick Brown – live within your means,acceptance of others who are different – color,religion, cultural, sexual orientation, the need forclean, sustainable environment

Joann Carboni – independence,compassion for others, self-esteem

Sharon Carlee – discipline, motivation, perseveranceMilly Carlson – be an independent thinker, be

healthy in mind and body, how to getalong well with other people

Elsie Childs – work hard, tell the truth, try new thingsPeter Devine – to contain passion within the borders

of reason, to remain curious, creative, and skeptical,to insist on fairness and justice tempered with mercy

Judy Dolphin – respect for themselves and others,persistence to complete the task,willingness to work hard

Al Federici – balanced diet, encouragement,grandparents

Pat Federici – responsible citizen: respecting nature,different cultures, and different viewpoints

David Goebel – respect for others,truthfulness, work ethic

Cecelia Grills – good family, good learning habits,good manners

Martina Hamilton – hard work leads to success,respect others, success leads to gratificationand independence (financial and emotional)

Ray Hasse – to be inquisitive, to love to learn,to be considerate

Wilma Hasse – to listen, respond, and questionBob Jastremski – respect, teamwork, integrity

(keeping commitments)Frank Kunc – self-control, self-motivation,

God created everything Elizabeth Langille – children need to learn to manage

their life, physically, mentally, and spiritually

Three Things Children Need to Learnor Know to Lead a Productive Life

Stephen Maynard ’24, John andCarole O’Malley, and Poody Maynard

Deborah Royce and Henry King ’21

Rocio Dresser andEmilia Alpert ’21

ShellyPersico, DebGross, LilahSaunders ‘21,Anna MaeSaunders ‘18,Rhom Saunders,and Ron Persico

Elizabeth Langilleand Faith Williams ’15

Athanasios Georgiadisand Alexia Georgiadis ’24

Alex Kelsey ’20 and Dick Withington

Robbie Darling ’19and Frank Kunc

ViewPoints 21

Veronica Lanoux – responsibility, kindness,self-confidence

Harriet Lloyd – interpersonal skills, how to spendtime alone (offline) on occasion, sense of humor!

Alan Lowe – civic competence, delayedgratification, integrity

Pat Macek – work hard, be honest, help othersKaren McGee – follow your curiosities and you will

find something to be passionate about; followthat curiosity as long as you can and add newones as they come up; don’t worry about makingmistakes (we all do); listen to your own voice andothers, too

Lois McClure – honesty, time management,language skills

Kate Mitchell – kindness, trust, laughterMike Morris – coping skills, leadership skills,

empathy skillsDon Oksanen – get educated, have children

within marriageLynn Palasciano – honesty, hard work, belief in GodTony Palasciano – believe in God, respect others, do

not be afraid to experience new thingsSally Pawlick – to know they are loved, to learn the

importance of kindness to others, and lastly thehuge role of honesty at all times

Dave Perkins – basic core skills,respect for others, self-control

Katherine Perkins – honesty, integrity, humilityGloria Petrosky – treat others as you would like to be

treated, do your best in everything you do, nevergive up (if you fail in something, do not let it stopyou from trying again)

Audrey Romberg – live each day to the fullest,ask a lot of questions, play well with others

Bob Schachner – respect for others, how to solveproblems, how to be their own friend

Nancy Schachner – respect, goal setting, integrityRick and Eileen Skolds – respect for others, trust,

accountability for actions and decisionsJames Stevens – to work hard at their studies,

be respectful to others, and not be afraidto face challenges

Joyce Switalski – to understand the Constitution andits relevance in today’s society, to learn respect foreach other and compassion for those in need, tounderstand religion and its world view

Barry and Dorothy Thomas – consideration of othersJan Watts – being resilient, perseverance with tasks,

to be caring and friendlyPrudence Williams – respect for self and others,

respect for the earth, “seeing” opportunities to helpJill Wilson – to know your own individual gifts you are

born with, to use your own gifts and talents tohelp and serve others, to understand the concept of“oneness” that we are all connected.

Dick Withington – rules, values, communication

Going through thesurveys and readingwhat these cherishedpeople are doing andthinking, it immedi-ately becomes obvi-ous why Pine Pointstudents are so en-gaged, bright, andfilled with life. Theyhave some greatmentors who want tobe with them everystep of the way!

Estelle Lord ’20 and Barbara Lord Charlie Shepherd ’17 and Sheila Banker

Sadie Susskind ’23 and John Tuttle

Carolyn Cellucciand Ava Belli ’21

Gurdon and Kathy Wattles with Sam Anderson ’24

Phil Adin-Atherton, Ella Adin-Atherton ’21,and Paula Adin-Atherton

Jennifer Sang and Jason Sang ’20

Basil Patel, Aarav Patel ‘21, and Bipin Patel

ViewPoints 22

How They View the United States: Strengths and Challenges

In terms of our strengths, over and over they specifically used four key words–freedom, democ-racy, diversity, and the Constitution. Variants on those overarching elements included “the sup-port of human rights,” “acceptance and openness of differences,” “personal opportunity,”“creativity,” “productivity,” and “the willingness to help others.”

It is in the area of the challenges our country faces where one sees a greater range of opinion.Not surprisingly, there is real concern about the economy. Folks want to see fuller employmentand a rebuilding of the middle class and are worried about the growing disparity of wealth.They’re worried about the debt and the deficit, while several expressed frustration with our inabil-ity to find common ground in tackling those issues that must be addressed, and solved.

Looking abroad, they wonder how we can be a responsible global leader while balancing ourdomestic needs. Some cited the threat of terrorism, while one grandparent specifically mentionedthe need to settle differences with Russia. Many seek peace, both at home and abroad.

Others cited the environment, the disintegration of the family, the need to improve the educa-tional system, the importance of respecting God, providing affordable healthcare for all, keepingour foods safe from GMO, getting the balance right between the power of the federal governmentand states’ rights, and simple complacency.

Samson Dorfman ’16 and Beverly RaceSteve and Leslie Greenberg with Addie Allen ’18

Nat Lawton, Owen Bennett ’22,and Pat DeMary

DylanWendle ’21

with PatBlevin inthe back-

ground

Lori Reid and Emily Rundlett ’15 Harvey DeMovick, Jr. and Harvey DeMovick, IV ’20

Heather Richards, Kim Dubs, C.J. Stumpf, and Alex Dubs ’15

Gabe and Enid Ford with Alex Schwindt ’15

Toby Newbery ’21and Tracey Wells

Jean Oksanen andDanielle Liston ’22

ViewPoints 23

Pine Point’s Grandparents are Readers

We asked the grandparents to tell us what they liked to read totheir grandchildren. Some of the favorite authors cited were Dr.Seuss, Maurice Sendak, Shel Silverstein, and Richard Scarry.Beloved books include: The Little Prince, Goodnight Moon, TheNight Before Christmas, Miss Rumphius, Eloise, and a number ofseries including: Harry Potter, the Magic Tree House, Swallowsand Amazons, David Gets in Trouble, and Clifford the Big RedDog.

Looking For That Next Book? Here are Some Great Possibilities!(You’ll note that some of them have been recommended more than once.)

Karen Anderson – Circus Ship (Chris van Dusen)Shirley Anderson – The Best of Me (Nicholas Sparks)Peter Barlow –The Astaires, Fred & Adele (Kathleen Riley)Pat Blevin – The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)Janice Botsko – The Honey Thief (Najaf Mazari)Edie Bowers – They Were Soldiers (Ann Jones)Dick Brown – Bringing Nature Home (Doug Tallamy)Milly Carlson – Knocking on Heaven’s Door (Katy Butler)Elsie Childs – One Summer (Bill Bryson)Peter Devine – The Book of Horace (Patricia Storace) Judy Dolphin – Ella Minnow Pea (Mark Dunn)Al Federici – Sycamore Road (John Grisham)Pat Federici – Songs of Willow Frost (Jamie Ford)David Goebel – Unbroken (Laura Hillenbrand)Cecelia Grills – Proof of Heaven (Eben Alexander)Martina Hamilton – Dear Life (Alice Munro) Ray Hasse – Einstein (Walter Isaacson)Wilma Hasse – Salt, Sugar, and Fat (Michael Moss)Bob Jastremski – Younger Next Year (Chris Crowley)Elizabeth Langille – The Light and the Glory

(Peter Marshall and David Manuel)Veronica Lanoux – The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)Harriet Lloyd – Things That Matter (Charles Krauthammer)Alan Lowe – The Omnivore’s Dilemma (Michael Pollan)Pat Macek – Killing Lincoln or Killing Kennedy (Bill O’Reilly)Karen McGee – Please Look After Mom (Kyung-Sook Shin)Kate Mitchell – The Sixth Extinction (Elizabeth Kolbert) Mike Morris – Things That Matter (Charles Krauthammer)Don Oksanen –Anything by Pat Conroy or Larry McMurtryLynn Palasciano – The BibleSally Pawlick – Twelve Years a Slave (Solomon Northup)Dave Perkins – The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

(Jan-Philipp Sendker)Katherine Perkins – My Life in France (Julia Child)Gloria Petrosky – Innocent Traitor (Alison Weir)Audrey Romberg – The Invention of Wings (Sue Ann Monk)Ellen Ryan – The Goldfinch (Donna Tart)Bob Schachner – Inferno (Max Hastings)Nancy Schachner – The First Man of Rome (Colleen McCullough)Rick and Eileen Skolds – The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

(Jan-Philipp Sendker)James Stevens – 1776 (David McCullough)Joyce Switalski – Seizure (Robin Cook)Jan Watts – Fall of Giants and Winter of the World (Ken Follett)Jill Wilson – The Untethered Soul (Michael Singer)

Amyre Gray ’21 andJuanita Montez

Charlotte White ’15and Ruth Saunders

It was a wonderful day and we thoroughly enjoyed it.We have only missed one Grandparents’ Day sinceIndy ‘16 started school. (We didn't know about it andhad a trip to Europe planned during that time.) Wenow know Grandparents’ Day is held in April and wedo not make any conflicting plans.

-Joan Gill

Lucy Federici ’23 with Pat Federici,John Sutphen, and Al Federici

Paige Goebel ’21and Earline Goebel

Jack Fix and Alex Bowdler ’15

Silvia Carseli,Anca Bulgaru,MariaCarseli ’21,and MirceaCarseli

ViewPoints 24

Pine Point’s Greatest Strength

Karen Anderson – the opportunity totreat each child individually

Shirley Anderson – caring for each other, good educationPat Blevin – tapping into the individual’s strengthsJanice Botsko – excellence in developing

the whole person for their own goodEdie Bowers – small classes, great teachersBea Brown – encourages individualityDick Brown – opens opportunitiesJoann Carboni – sense of familySharon Carlee – nurturing each individual and

respect for our differencesMilly Carlson – a community of people all with the

same goal: a love of learning!Elsie Childs – small classes and original projectsPeter Devine – the quality of its teachersJudy Dolphin – a wonderful facultyAl Federici – Gretchen Federici and Lucia FedericiPat Federici – its curriculum, which seems to be

very student-orientedDavid Goebel – quality educationCecelia Grills –teaching the children to love,

learn, and be proudMartina Hamilton – creativity and intimacyRay Hasse – personalized instructionWilma Hasse – its individual and personal approachesBob Jastremski – teacher qualityFrank Kunc – challenging the child’s mindElizabeth Langille – passion for childhood

education – a cooperative spiritPat Macek – the staff!

Henry King ’21 and Chuck Royce Bryce Antoch ’15 and Dan Viccione

Elizabeth Reid,Izzie Reid ’15, KatiaBourganos ’15, andClaudia Pagnozzi-Schwam ’15

John and SusanWronowski with

JosephWronowski ’23

Joyce Michaud andHannah Hargus ’23

Sophia Gouveia ’22 and James Stevens

Hope Williams ’20,Prudence Williams,Zorah Williams ’22,and Lois McClure

Tova Toriello ’20 withTony Palasciano, LynnPalasciano, and PeggyToriello

Kabir Patel ‘22, Lila Patel, and

Suresh Patel

ViewPoints 25

Karen McGee – individual attention allowing eachstudent every opportunity to succeed

Kate Mitchell – individualized, tailored instructionby caring, devoted teachers!

Mike Morris – seeing every child’s potentialDon Oksanen – small class sizesLynn Palasciano – keeping children [as] children

while instilling good valuesTony Palasciano – they seem to care about the kids

and instill good valuesSally Pawlick –an atmosphere of genuine interest in

each student and a desire to promote whateverstrengths are seen

Dave Perkins – focus on the entire childKatherine Perkins – education of the whole childGloria Petrosky – individual attentionAudrey Romberg – Pine Point is helping my

granddaughter develop a love of learningEllen Ryan – encouraging the idea of compassion

and understanding of others.Bob Schachner – its facultyNancy Schachner – individual attention

for all studentsRick and Eileen Skolds – to develop students

as individualsJames Stevens – the school provides a well-rounded

education, which includes languages, music,dance, and sports

Joyce Switalski – your determination to develop eachchild with an inquisitive, creative, and disciplinedmind with a commitment to academic excellenceand the emphasis on one’s passion for learning

Barry and Dorothy Thomas – what you tout – “cultivating Strong Minds and Caring Hearts”

Jan Watts – strong core subjects and encouragingstudents to be independent learners.

Prudence Williams – the nurturing environment inthe formative years

Jill Wilson – its student body and parentalinvolvement

Dick Withington – teachers and studentsare top quality

Hayden Raithel ’20,Debby and Dennis O’Brien,and Julia Prospero

Eileen and RickSkolds with LanetteHernandez ’15 and

Eleanor Gustavel ’15

Bob Helbig and Addysen Helbig ’20

Catherine Todano, Shane Sebastian-Smalls ’23, Mrs. Mortrude, and Lenora Clunes

George and Karen Satran with Hannah Satran ’22

Richard and Hana Anbari, Katie Anbari ’22, Tom and Joyce Switalski

Ken and Jill Wilson withSam McKenzie ’23

ViewPoints 26

My husband and I have now attended twoGrandparents’ Days at Pine Point. Bothyears we could not have been more pleasedwith the experience of feeling so welcomeand cared for. The attention which wereceived, as well as the excitementexhibited by the teachers, administratorsand the children, made us feel specialindeed!

In all the classrooms the children wereso pleased to show off their learning andto engage us in fun and meaningfulactivities. In the hallways, we were treatedlike visiting dignitaries! Students asked ifthey could direct us, and in some instanceseven took us to our destinations! Theculminating presentation which spotlightedthe cultural and artistic aspects of thecurriculum was highly entertaining; therewas a great deal of talent on that stage, andit was evident that some very talentedinstructors were at work behind the scenes.

Last, but certainly not least, we’d like tothank you for the beautiful and so plentifulspread of fruits, specialty breads, cheeses,coffee, and juices that you provided for us!You made us feel special!

Thank you!

-Phebe and Roland Gonthier

Reagan DeMovick ’23 and Jeanne DeMovick

Sally Brousseau,Avery Dolphin ’19,

and Warren Dolphin

Sarah Cahill, Karen McGee, Theo McGee ’21, and Bill Cahill

Bob Schachner and Bennett Carr ’16

Nic Betts and Daniel Betts ’21

Madeleine Jenkins ’20and Alison Charlesworth

Thandi Taylor ‘23 and Bea Dozier-Taylor

Nancy Nanson, AndrewNanson ’20, Sandy

Tisch, and Sal Vitterito

ViewPoints 27

Jim Royle, Angela Royle ’20, and Ann Gray ’73

Theresa Randazzo,Joe Horgan ’20, and

Louis Randazzo

Bill Michaudand NolanHargus ’25

MaddieHurtgen ’14with Nancyand TomHurtgen

Mike Morris and Cece Zimbelmann ’22

Jim Weeks andMegan O’Brien ’15

Corinna Edringer, Indy Gill ’16, Linda Goddard, and Ayanna Burrell ‘16

Hampton Carr ’19 and Nancy Schachner

Marina Kronholm ’21 and Louise Bailey

Pat Dunn and Michaela Dunn ’19

Sam Childs and Thayer Childs ’21

Ellen Ryan and Maeve Lamson ’21

DorotheaRose andJasonGreene ‘23

ViewPoints 28

Their Proudest AccomplishmentOverwhelmingly, the grandparents’ proudest accomplishment is cen-tered on their families, and, in particular, having raised children whoare “productive,” “independent-minded,” “wonderful,” imbued with“a sense of fairness and compassion for others,” “thoughtful andcaring,” “educated and considerate,” “strong and compassionate,”“responsible,” “good citizens and independent thinkers,” “gentle,caring global citizens instilling the same values in their own chil-dren,” “wonderful, caring men,” “working for social equality,” and“inquisitive.” In all of this, there is a gratitude and appreciation forchildren who are passing on “the values and traditions we tried toconvey to them.”

Outside of their passion for their family, others pointed to theirgraduation from college, “15 years as a faculty member at WesternWashington University,” “going from a teenage gang member to asenior executive in technology,” “becoming an Eagle Scout and serv-ing in the US Army,” serving “as a chemistry teacher for 40 yearstrying to impart a love of learning and science in young people,”“being a grandfather x 4, certified by the American Academy of Or-thopedic Surgeons, having a USCG Master’s License (150 tons) andsurviving nine winters on a deserted, sub-Arctic island,” and being asingle mom “determined my daughter would graduate from collegedebt-free, and she did!”

Quite a number are looking forward. One grandfather wrote thathis proudest accomplishment is “the next one I’m working on now”while one grandmother is “still learning!” and another is proud tohave lived “so far, to a healthy, happy, and productive ‘older’ age.”Another grandmother takes great pride in developing her “innerspirit.”

Doreen Rosen and Gianni Rosen ’19

Brianna Seidel ’14 with Richard and Jayne Fawcett

David Perkins and Olga LaBelle with Jack Ryan ’18

Isaias Sostre, Elijah Butler ’19, and Dianne Watts

David and Karen Krug with Haley Krug ’25

John Nordland and William Coogan ’24

Harriet Lloyd,BowenHollenbeck ’25,Tom Lloyd, andHalseyHollenbeck ’23

Sonia Ramos and Laila Mancini ‘22

ViewPoints 29

“We had a wonderful time.See you next year!!!”

-Al and Pat Federici

Ronnie Capalbo and Joey Saunders ’22

Vinodini Shah, Anni Shah ’21, and Umanglal Shah

Barbara Bates and Jacob Bates ’22

Ted Liston and Yidi Lin ’16

Chloe Maxwell ’23, EvanMaxwell ’19, and NancyNoyes

Diana Brown, Owen Brown ’22, and Phebe Gonthier

Isabelle English,Julian Gay ’20,and Jim English

Leila Brooks ’20,Claudia Lima,

Zyra Nemard, andAntonia Lima

Dan Pantalone, Quinn Marshall ’22, and Marki Marshall

Grandparents’/Grandpersons’ DayApril 24, 2015

Save the Date

ViewPoints 30

--

uring the fall of my junior year at Trinity, I had the privilegeto study abroad at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. I

enrolled in the Institute for Study Abroad’s (IFSA) Edinburgh pro-gram independent of Trinity College, and in late August 2013boarded a group flight with dozens of other college students fromacross the United States. I didn’t know anyone else in the pro-gram—that was part of the fun from my perspective. I started tomeet people in JFK while we were waiting for our flight. The semes-ter proved to be a fantastic opportunity to meet and stay in touchwith many people from diverse backgrounds of varying interests andsharp intellects. We touched down in Edinburgh and were greetedby the highly-organized IFSA Scotland team which had set up infor-mation sessions on the University and scheduled tours for usaround the city. These would be the first of several group eventsduring the semester, one of which included a long weekend tripthrough the Highlands.

Most of us came from small liberal arts schools in the Northeast,and the 30,000+ students at the University of Edinburgh–the ‘Uni’as we soon came to know it–populated large parts of the city itself.We were in heaven! The University, with its amazing student unions,sports centers, and clubs, was only part of what the semester had tooffer. The city of Edinburgh was at our disposal for exploration. Icouldn’t believe the reality of waking up nearly every day and men-tally posing the question: “Where do I want to go in Edinburghtoday?” or as was the case on the weekends: “Where can I take thetrain for the day?” It was also tremendously fascinating to be in apub or restaurant with friends and have a good portion of the pa-trons turn briefly to glance at us, upon hearing our American ac-cents. After the semester had ended, the first weekend I was back inthe States I went to New York to visit family. I’ve been to the Citymany times before, but this time my head was on a swivel at all theunfamiliar American accents. Without knowing it, I’d grown accus-tomed to the fashionable Edinburgh, the detectable Glaswegian, andthe rough Aberdeen. I’d even begun to slip Scottish words into myspeech, and took it to new levels to my surprise upon my return,perhaps a subconscious compensation for being away from what hadbeen for so long a daily immersive experience. I started to calldorms “flats,” and cellphones “mobiles,” for instance.

Always ExploringA graduate of The Williams School, Duncan Grimm ’08 is a juniorat Trinity College in Hartford, CT majoring in history with a minor inlegal studies. In 2012, as part of a class at Trinity, entitled RiverCities of Asia, Duncan traveled with students and professors toChina, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. He wrote about his experiencein the Summer/Fall 2012 issue of ViewPoints. This past fall foundhim in Scotland.

-Duncan Grimm ’08At Urquhart Castle, Loch Ness

D

ViewPoints 31

The classes I took at the University were fantastic, including anall-encompassing Architectural History (pyramids to near present!),Modern Scottish History (1707-1914), and an international relationscourse called Contemporary War: Understanding Change and Con-tinuity (covering the evolution of disproportionate conflict betweenestablished militaries and guerilla forces). This last course (filledwith about 40 students) hosted two phenomenal guest speakers,including David Pratt, the chief foreign correspondent for the Scot-tish newspaper, The Herald (whose resume includes Reuters andthe Institute for War and Peace Reporting) and Andrew Kain, for-mer British Paratrooper, Special Air Service commando, andfounder of the AKE group, a “risk mitigation” security servicescompany. The educational system took some getting used to, and Idiscovered that the onus to learn and interact with one’s commu-nity and class was placed much more on the student than in theUS. It had to be. Instead of classes of 15-40, I was in one lecture of350 students (half the size of an entire grade at Trinity!). It was upto you as the student to be proactive rather than reactive, to takethe initiative in one’s experience.

The same lessons translated to the weekends. No one wastelling you where to go or what to do. There was encouragement,and ample resources (such as the IFSA office, Edinburgh Universityclubs) to plan trips, but it was up to you to make things happen, tomake independent decisions.

I had the privilege to travel to Stirling, St. Andrews, Glasgow,Pitlochry, Fort William, Mallaig, and through the greater High-lands. Our study-abroad program organized a weekend homestay,for which I spent an idyllic two and a half days in the Lake Districtof Northern England. Towards the end of the semester, whenclasses ended and before exams began, I took a week and a halfand traveled south to London and York. Traveling on my own forthe majority of the time, the days were entirely mine to walk thosecities, explore museums, and track down little-known places sug-gested by friends and acquaintances met along the way. Unless youcome to work in a foreign country, never again will you have thelength of time afforded by a study-abroad experience to learn andexplore another place in such detail. The same question positedearlier remained as incredible as it was at the beginning: “What doI want to do in London today?” While I feel I “stepped right into it,”

with little culture shock along the way, I’m happy that for me thingsnever became normal. While I became accustomed to the cars onthe opposite side of the road, the shorter days, the different ac-cents, I never grew complacent. For the entire semester, part of mewas always exploring.

At present I’m back at Trinity, writing from one of the two cof-fee shops on campus. If I were to put everything in one sentence,I’d say that the culture shock is entirely on this end. I know that Iwas conscious of my incredible surroundings while I was in Edin-burgh, but I’ve come to fully appreciate it now that it’s no longerthere. This isn’t to say that Trinity College isn’t incredible–quite tothe contrary. Catching up with friends has been a whirlwind to saythe least, and I’ve picked up a legal studies minor to add to my his-tory major. Thesis proposal deadlines are within sight, and there’s awhole new freshman class that has begun to integrate into Trinity,developing the understanding that college life must be “normal.”Graduation, which was once far off on the horizon, is no longer adistant date; a large group of my friends is coming to terms withthat fact this semester.

Going into every detail about my experiences in Edinburghwould be an impossible task, but ultimately, one of the central les-sons I have taken away from my time abroad is that opportunity vis-its each and every one of us daily, whether or not we recognize it.It is up to us as individuals to act and make the most of anythingthat comes our way. If we sit idle, it doesn’t matter if we are in theUnited Kingdom or the United States–the result is the same:wasted time, a lost learning experience. In short, we must remem-ber to think of the past and future while still living in the present.

Spending an extended period of time in Edinburgh and takingadvantage of all that was around me has given me a skill set which Ican bring back to the year and a half I have left at Trinity. I knowthat in my time remaining, I’ll be able to catch up with friends,have an impact in clubs and organizations, and get more involvedin the community. I’m looking forward to making the most of myinternship at the Connecticut State Legislature this spring, and Ilook forward to the rest of my academic career at Trinity with confi-dence! My time in Edinburgh taught me to seize the day, and I’llnot let one day go by at Trinity or in life without pursuing some-thing with that same inquisitive spirit. Carpe diem!

One of the central lessons I have taken away frommy time abroad is that opportunity visits each andevery one of us daily, whether or not we recognize it.

ViewPoints 32

What was it that drew you to the field ofspeech pathology?

MB - I luckily happened to stumble across the career path, or de-gree, of speech pathology when I was in college, but the job char-acteristics, duties, responsibilities and rewards were things I hadbeen looking for since I was a young child. When I was young, be-tween the ages of seven to 12, I had a few medical issues that re-sulted in several hospital stays and far too many visits tospecialists. Although spending nights in hospitals and hours indoctor’s offices was no fun, I began to fall in love with the medicalfield and to develop a deep respect for all medical professionalsand their daily work. Probably when I was in about fourth grade Iremember thinking I wanted to be a pediatrician. Well, time wenton and I realized medical school was not quite for me so I lookedto teaching. I loved the idea of working with children, helpingthem develop, and making a difference in the lives of others, butafter exploring that option, it just didn’t quite fit either. As asophomore at UConn, one of my friends had been looking intobecoming a speech-language pathologist. I looked into it and wasinstantly intrigued. I registered for Communication Sciences andDisorders I and was hooked. I can vividly remember sitting in theclassroom, listening to the professor and thinking, “This is it. Ihave found it.” From then on I knew that I was going to be able todo everything from studying the human brain, to playing trains onthe floor with toddlers, and making a career out of it!

SeeingThemThroughTheirJourney

In 1992, Martha Battles ’99 and Lauren Holstein Lovato ’99became classmates in the third grade at Pine Point andwould remain so for the next seven years. After gradua-tion, they went their separate ways. Now, their lives havereconverged, in a manner of speaking, as both work inschool systems as speech-language pathologists, Marthain Alexandria, VA, and Lauren in Phoenix, AZ. Martha isin her fourth year in the profession, Lauren in her fifth.With only 14 in their graduating class, one would think theodds would be slim that two of them would go into thesame profession. Not surprisingly, we were intrigued bythe idea of exploring their unique and shared perspec-tives.

Special education is all about

Martha Battles ’99 and her fiancé, Matthew French, are shownon the day of their engagement in Washington, DC. The photowas taken by Martha’s great friend, Taylor Steel ’99.

Lauren Holstein Lovato ’99 and her husband, Anthony, shownon their wedding day in March 2013, are now expecting twins!

ViewPoints 33

LL - I found out about this field by chance, during high school. Iknew I wanted to work with children, but wasn’t sure I wanted to bea classroom teacher, and my mother actually suggested that Ishadow a speech pathologist to see if I would be interested. And ofcourse, as we learn when we are adults, our mothers are alwaysright!

How long have you been doing this, and wheredid you study?

MB - I have been a speech-language pathologist for nearly fouryears now! I completed my undergraduate studies at the Universityof CT and my master’s is from Longwood University in Farmville,VA.

LL - This is my fifth year as a speech-language pathologist. I did myundergraduate work in Boston, at Northeastern University, and re-ceived my graduate degree from the University of South Florida inTampa.

Tell us about your particular work, and the typesof children with whom you work. Do you workwith adults as well?

MB - I work with children in a school setting and adults in an acuterehab/hospital setting. At school I work with preschool-aged chil-dren through fifth grade. Right now, I’m working in an inclusionpreschool classroom where there are five typically developing chil-dren and five children with disorders from developmental delay toautism. It is a fantastic program where the academic content is de-livered in a multimodal way, tailored to the needs of each child.Every child is taught compassion and understanding, and a childwith needs is able to have that peer model to provide learning sup-port. It really is amazing. One of the best moments in this class-room is when a typical peer helps, or prompts, a child with needs,through an activity, or helps them interact with a friend by suggest-ing or modeling conversation. Aside from the inclusion classroom,I have children with needs in all areas. Some are non-verbal anduse augmentative communication to request wants/needs and to in-teract with their peers, have simple articulation disorders or severearticulation disorders. Some children have a difficult time under-standing the underpinnings of language and retaining all of therules of the English language to formulate or understand a com-plete sentence verbally or in writing. The common thread betweenthe children I work with is that their areas of need impact their aca-demic success in the classroom and their ability to access the cur-riculum.

I also love working with adults! I work with adults in a medicalsetting, typically after a major life-changing event with diagnosessuch as stroke, traumatic brain injury, debilitation, head and neckcancer, Parkinson’s disease, MS or Alzheimer’s. Typically, withadults, I’m treating any cognitive changes (attention, memory,

problem solving, reasoning), language changes such as aphasia,swallowing disorders or apraxia. When any major issue occurswithin the brain you can have major changes to your functioningand it is amazing to see, in a matter of weeks, a patient go frombeing ventilated in bed, minimally responsive to anything, unableto eat, unable to walk, unable to sustain his or her attention formore than five seconds, to eating, walking with some assistance,managing their medications, and having a conversation about theirday with you. Although I am just one of the many providers to thepatient, and have a small part in a person’s recovery, bringing themback from such a monumental event, and seeing them through theirjourney is astounding, humbling and amazingly uplifting.

LL - I haven’t worked with adults since grad school. The school thatI work at is K-8, and I have at least a few kiddos in each grade. Theschool is challenged in terms of socio-economic status, and theneighborhood can be pretty rough. The kids have to deal with gangactivity. They have to be careful of the colors they wear when theyare walking home. Almost all of the families I work with are His-panic, and a large percentage of them speak Spanish at home.

What disorders do you address-e.g. generalspeech-language, autism, medically-relatedissues?

MB - I touched on this above–receptive and expressive languagedelays or disorders, articulation disorders, autism, developmentaldelay, various congenital syndromes that result in cognitive delaysor issues for the child, apraxia of speech, stroke, traumatic braininjury, debilitation, cardiac issues, mouth, head and neck cancers,multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s. I had a patient withMad Cow disease (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) once. I will never for-get her.

LL - You name it, I’ve got it! That’s how it is in most schools,though. I work with the most common ones, like articulation (pro-nouncing sounds), and stuttering (one of the first questions I al-ways get asked is, “Did you see The King’s Speech?”). Most of thekids on my caseload have language delays, coupled with learningdisabilities. Receptive and expressive language disorders are themost common thing on my caseload. With a receptive languagedisorder, kids have a hard time understanding and processing whatthey hear, so they may have a hard time following directions, listen-ing to classroom instruction, or answering questions. With an ex-pressive language disorder, children can have a very hard timeformulating complete sentences, using correct grammatical struc-ture, or explaining something that happened. If you ask a kiddowhat they did over the weekend, and you find yourself asking a lotof questions to try and clarify what they are talking about, theymight have some expressive language difficulties. We look a lot atvocabulary as well. So many of our students just haven’t had goodexposure to vocabulary and common topics. We also have a studentwith a traumatic brain injury and a student with a shunt in her brain.

giving the students a different way to learn.-Lauren

ViewPoints 34

My school also has two classrooms that are self-contained (meaning they do notswitch teachers at all during the day). They are cross-categorical classes, whichmeans that the students could have any number of disorders or disabilities. Wehave students with autism, Down Syndrome, low cognitive abilities, and studentswho have severe learning disabilities, and can’t handle being in their grade-levelclasses. With the exception of three students, all of the kids in these classes getspeech and language therapy. Six of those students do not use speech to commu-nicate. They use various types of communication devices, some as low-tech aspictures, and others as high-tech as iPads. Some of them have more complexmedical issues, like feeding tubes, special thickened-liquid restrictions and diag-noses like cerebral palsy that affect their mobility.

What took you to Virginia and Arizona?

MB - I live in Arlington, VA, and have for the past year and a half. My fiancé and Imoved down here for him to complete his graduate work in international affairs atGeorge Washington University.

LL - After living in New England, I decided to try warmer weather for grad school!I hated the Florida humidity, so on a whim I applied to a company in Phoenix, totry the dry heat! I love it out here. I highly recommend trying different places tolive before you settle down. If you try a place for a year or so, and you don’t likeit, you can always go home again!

What is the most common problem that you encounter,and how do you treat it?

MB - With children, the most common problem I encounter is general languageprocessing delays. This can be that the child who has a difficult time compre-hending and retaining directions in the classroom or formulating grammaticallycomplete and correct sentences to express themselves. Treatment typically con-sists of game-like therapeutic activities. For example, you can play Simon Sayswith certain concepts the child may have difficulty with (for example, say a childhas a tough time with temporal concepts, you can say “Simon Says before youtouch your nose, clap your hands”). As long as therapy is fun, the kids typicallydon’t even realize they are working hard. With adults, the most common problemI encounter is attention or language problems after a stroke. These deficits aretargeted with functional tasks, like bill paying or medication management taskswith fading assistance as the patient improves. Language can be targeted witheverything from singing to reading poetry.

LL - That is a REALLY difficult question, as every student is different. Special edu-cation is all about giving the students a different way to learn. Many of them needvisual supports, or information given to them in very small parts. They need con-stant practice answering different types of questions, practice explaining things,and exposure to different vocabulary and topics.

What is the most complex problem you have encountered,and what did you do? Are there times when you’re not suc-cessful?

MB - I’m not sure that I have had one complex problem or disability to treat, butrather a single person with multiple disabilities and figuring out how to prioritizetheir needs for a functional recovery. Apraxia is very tough to treat. It’s a motorplanning problem so even if the brain plans the correct motor movements, to say“Hello” for example, the message gets lost in translation and gibberish comes out.

One of the most medically complex patients I have had was a man I will neverforget, we can call him “Rob.” Rob was a sergeant in the US Marines and had amassive stroke during a surgical procedure leaving him with a feeding tube, tra-

On Pine PointSome of my favorite memorieswere the class trips we took. Itwas so fun to incorporate learn-ing into a whale watch or a walkin the woods, a Broadway show,or visiting the Smithsonian.

When I began working in thepublic schools I had a moment,driving home at the end of theday, where I was flooded withgratitude towards all the teach-ers I had as a child. I was sud-denly floored thinking of all theteachers who have made me theperson I have become today.The educators at Pine Pointeach left their mark on me andprovided me with little piecesof themselves which havehelped me throughout life. Iwas overwhelmed thinking that Icould maybe be that person in achild’s life at school.

– Martha

Whether it’s helping an adultrecover from a stroke, or helpinga child understand socialinteractions with peers, thepersonal, positive impact I havethe privilege of making is what ismost important to me. Nomatter what is happening in thefield, out of my control, what Iam able to control is how I cancontribute to that one person’slife at that one single moment.

-Martha

ViewPoints 35

cheostomy, no functional verbal language, severelylimited gross motor function, and significant im-pairments in motor planning; however, he still had“sergeant” personality traits. His life was instantlyflipped upside down. His needs were so great andcomplex, compounded by his very “stiff upper lip”and proud personality, that picking one startingpoint was difficult. I was constantly juggling treat-ments incorporating swallowing, speech, lan-guage, cognitive, respiratory and family education.I couldn’t pick just one, and I shouldn’t have. Ihad to tailor his therapy sessions to his needs andmake the most of every second I had with him. Insome ways I was unsuccessful with him. He had avery limited recovery due to the extent of his in-juries, and eventually passed away after aspiratingsome food.

In general, I am unsuccessful at my job everyday. Working with kids or adults, no matter howwell you plan, you have to be flexible as certainthings will just not work for that one person.Luckily my bag of therapy tricks is ever changingand growing so when I’m unsuccessful, I typicallycan modify things and try something else.

LL – Again, a difficult question to answer. Most ofour days are spent trying to get around differentobstacles, and trying to find creative ways to helpour students communicate. Some days it feels likethe students who are non-verbal are more complexbecause they need such a huge amount of supportand training. Other days it feels like a constantfight to get others to understand the incredibleimpact that a communication difficulty can haveon the kids that appear “typical.” Because they aresmart, and they are in regular classes, people as-sume the reasons they need speech therapy mustbe minimal. But if you think about what your lifewould be like if you couldn’t explain things verywell, or if you needed every set of instructions re-peated to you at least three times, it would be in-credibly frustrating and depressing. We see a lotof kids who withdraw from social situations orfrom class participation because they becomementally and emotionally exhausted from trying.

What do you consider the mostimportant or pressing issue ofyour work in the field of speech-language pathology to be?

MB - There are currently many issues in the fieldfrom insurance determining how long you cantreat a patient, to overloaded caseloads in theschools. These are big issues that are insanelyfrustrating and have a hand in how you performyour job, but for me personally the most impor-tant issue is the patient’s or the student’s life.Whether it’s helping an adult recover from a

Pine Point’s AliciaZ. Russell Centerfor Assessmentand Learning(CAL) Team beganas the LearningSupport Programin 2003. The origi-nal mission of theteam remains andinvolves acting as aresource for stu-dents, teachers,parents, and thecommunity to understand how individuals learn best in order to providethe optimal environment for academic success as well as social and emo-tional well-being. Presently, the CAL team includes three core members; aspeech-language pathologist, a learning/reading specialist and a schoolpsychologist. They are supported by an additional speech-language pathol-ogist who also teaches at the University of Rhode Island and a learningspecialist employed by Stonington Public Schools. All CAL team profes-sionals have obtained advanced degrees in their respective fields.

The CAL team provides services for the school community as a wholeand individually. In regard to assessment, the team is able to administeracademic/achievement, speech-language, and cognitive evaluations. AllPine Point students have opportunities to benefit from school-wide readingmeasures, classroom sessions for early literacy, writing, pragmatic lan-guage/social skills as well as speech-language screenings and behavioralobservation when needed. Differentiated instruction and direct 1:1 interven-tion are available through small group and individual reading and writingremediation, speech-language therapy, counseling, and study skills tutori-als. In addition, the CAL team assists with admissions visits through ad-ministration of screening measures for candidates, gives expertise as partof the Admissions Committee and English Department and contributes tothe School’s health curriculum. Less well known, but just as important,CAL services the entire student body and collaborates with all facultythrough biweekly participation at every grade level meeting where theneeds of all students are addressed and continued consultation throughoutthe year. Finally, CAL happily fulfills other Pine Point roles as well, includ-ing, but not limited to, recess duty, chaperoning field trips, managing aDEAR group, and coaching for assessment projects.

Moving forward, CAL is committed to remaining current with the latestresearch in the fields of literacy, speech-language development, and schoolpsychology in order to best serve an ever-evolving student population. Oneexample of this is our use of the regular education initiative called Re-sponse to Intervention, or RTI. The proactive program involves providingearly assistance to all students in need of additional support prior to ne-cessity of formal evaluation and identification of impairment. Looking tothe future, the CAL team will continue to work closely and collaborate witheach other, our fellow colleagues, administration, and families to supportthe entire Pine Point community.

An Important Resource

ViewPoints 36

stroke, or helping a child understand social interactions withpeers, the personal, positive impact I have the privilege ofmaking is what is most important to me. No matter what ishappening in the field, out of my control, what I am able tocontrol is how I can contribute to that one person’s life at thatone single moment.

LL - Caseload numbers and paperwork!!!! My caseload thisyear is hovering around 100 students. I have a speech assistantwho comes two days per week to help run some of the therapygroups. For each student, we complete annual paperwork,quarterly progress reports, sometimes evaluations, a hugeamount of parent meetings, and for every single child, everysingle session, we have to bill Medicaid, as the district gets aportion of their funding from Medicaid. I have back-to-backsessions most days, which means a great deal of after-schooland weekend paperwork time. Of course, I understand why thisis important, but it is very frustrating because I always feel likeI am behind, and I feel like I don’t get to dedicate as muchtime as I would like to actual hands-on therapy. As anyone whoworks in the education field will tell you, we got into this be-cause we want to help kids, and I have a lot of days where Ifeel like I could be making more of a difference, but I am beingpulled in other directions. It very much depends on where youwork. Other states have better regulations, and I know of othertherapists in Arizona who have smaller caseloads.

What are your work environments?

MB - In the school settings I typically pull children out into thehallway or therapy room individually or in groups, or I pushinto the classroom to provide therapy where they are learning.It’s a more functional and realistic way to target language goalsto help them in the classroom where they need to succeed. Iam also in the inclusion classroom which I mentioned before.

In the hospital we treat bedside, in a therapy room, performfluoroscopic swallow exams in radiology, or even outside onnice days.

LL - I just work in the schools. I haven’t worked anywhere elsesince graduate school.

Outside of work, what are your passions?

MB - I love working out and riding my bike or hiking aroundthe DC area. I also enjoy my time on the beach and in thekitchen cooking and trying all sorts of new recipes.

LL - I love any kind of project or creative outlet. I don’t draw orpaint very well, but I love to do paper-crafting projects andcard-making. I make a lot of handmade decorations and thingsfor parties. Someday maybe I will turn it into a side business! Ialso love spending time exploring different places in Arizona.My husband and I like to do day trips up north to areas likeSedona and Prescott. I had no idea that Arizona had such dif-ferent landscapes! Before I moved here, I pictured all desert.

On Pine PointI loved all of our wonderful class trips. Ninthgrade was a special year. Even though sciencehas always been my worst subject, havingOceanography was absolutely one of my favoriteclasses ever! Reading and writing were always myfavorite subjects, and I can remember many won-derful classes with Mr. Salsich. It’s pretty hard tochoose favorite memories. I was a student whoneeded creative, hands-on learning experiences,and Pine Point certainly encouraged that at everymoment.

As I think about my time at the School and inmy work, so many of the teachers stand out. I re-member phenomenal English classes with Mr.Salsich, geography with Mr. Williams (and actu-ally, our whole fifth grade year with Ms.Gustafson as well, where our classroom was Mt.Vesuvius!). I remember Mrs. Williams not onlyas a dance teacher, but as a fantastic advisorduring my last couple of years, Ms. Raf coachingme in a lot of sports… And without a doubt, myall-time favorite class, and a reason that I ammore marketable as a speech pathologist now,was Spanish class with Sra. Pancorbo! Ms. Iacoias an art teacher, Mr. T in kindergarten…Andactually, we have a Mrs. Walton who is a kinder-garten teacher at my school here, and every timea student says her name, I think of the PinePoint Mrs. Walton! I remember a lot of theteachers that I never even had, like Mrs. Craw-ford. I think the fact that they stand out in mymemory, regardless of whether or not they weremy teachers, is really a credit to the caliber offaculty members that Pine Point has always had.

- Lauren

ViewPoints 37

288 New Books!

Read on...

ViewPoints 38

n the weeks and months leading up to theSnow Ball, members of the Pine Point family

were frequently apprised of the goals of the effort.While some may have focused their attention onthe technological resources the teachers had re-quested in support of their teaching, there wasalso a resource that was equally important, andalso on the teachers’ “wish list.”

In the fall, Rebecca Graebner, our librarian,laid out the rationale for strengthening the li-brary’s collection of books for our youngest stu-dents. Yes, good old-fashioned books. Theyremain central to a youngster’s learning and devel-opment.

“In my lower elementary classes we are work-ing on the ‘Good Fit Book’ concept. It’s importantthat students not only are able to read a book, butthey must also comprehend the book. Both skillsare vital in developing life-long learners. Studentsare searching for books that are both appropriatefor their reading level as well as interesting insubject matter.

“Non-fiction reading at the K-3 level is important to supporting those early re-search skills. K-3 students have an intense interest in a wide variety of non-fictionreading. I am continually asked for books on animals, insects, seasons, holidays,sports, plants, sea life, biographies, and history. Perhaps the best example lies withthe first graders. There were a group of students in the fall who wanted to explore theRevolutionary War and the Civil War. This was exciting, but we didn’t have the booksthat were basic enough for their ability and yet still interesting. Students can becomefrustrated and ‘turned-off’ when the only book that is available is beyond their read-ing level. Teachers could also enhance classroom curriculum with age/reading levelappropriate books. Pre-reading, non-fiction material for the Preschool is another un-derdeveloped area of our collection. Simple, one or two sentences per page booksare also important. Having a stronger collection would allow the students to explorethe subjects they are interested in without growing frustrated with the materials thatare beyond them. We would be putting the right ‘Good Fit Book’ in our students’hands!”

-David C. Hannon, Director of Development

Library CollectionStrengthened withNew Additions

Alison Petrocelli ’20

Members of the 3rd grade proudly show off some of the library’s new acquisitions.

Mrs. Graebner

I

ViewPoints 39

The library’s

collection has

been substantially

strengthened with

the addition of

288 new books.

This is great news

for this current

generation of

Pine Point

students and

those who will be

with us in the

coming years.

As most know, the Snow Ball raised over $150,000 in net income for the School. In the beginningof May, the first of those funds were utilized. The great news is that the Geise Library/TechnologyCenter added 288 new books to its collection! Those books were barely catalogued before they flewoff the shelves!

Reflecting on this significant upgrade to our offerings, Mrs. Graebner enthusiastically said, “Thisgift allows the students to really stretch what they are learning in those areas where they have a passionand then to expand their personal interests. As well, classroom curriculum is now supported in a morerigorous way. I am so grateful to the Pine Point community for their generous donations, and the com-mitment to enriching our students’ lives.”

Jason Sang ’20

Addysen Helbig ‘20

Maclan Griscom ’20 and Aaron Khan ’20 were happy toopen up one of the boxes containing the new books.

Harvey DeMovick IV, ’20,Julian Gay ’20, andHayden Raithel ’20

Joey Saunders ‘20 is ready to tacklesome reading about things military.

ViewPoints 40

The 1950sPaul Connor, 12 Spring Street, Noank, CT 06340, PACNOANK@aol.com

Ginna Cottrell-Colassano ’57 has been writing for The Day’s magazine forwomen, Grace. Recent articles include a write-up of a visit to Palm Springs,a profile of local runner Heather Bessette, and a trip to France. Ginna livesin New York City.

1960Casey Morgan Peltier, 6807 19th Road N, Arlington, VA 22205-1809,caseyp@patriot.net

Casey Morgan Peltier sent along these thoughts about the School: “PinePoint is still educating students like my parents wanted me educated: lots ofwriting, reading, small classes–the whole thing. My folks and their friendsworked really hard to grow the school, and it’s amazing to think how long it’slasted. It must really fill a need.” Dan Potter has been showing his art in CT,RI, NY, and Vietnam, as well as continuing to perform with the Mystic PaperBeasts. He is helping as a puppeteer with ArtReach and the Voluntown PeaceTrust, and illustrated A Bowlful of Ladoo, a book by his wife, Marya Ursin.

1961Jack Humphreville, 456 South Arden Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90020-4736, Jack@TargetMediaPartners.com

We are sad to report that Rev. Marshall Rice, husband of Betsey Hofer Rice,passed away in December.

1964Michael Petty, 1007 McCeney Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20901, sundan-cepetty@gmail.com

Lloyd Miller was apprised of donations made to Pine Point in memory of hisbrother, Bruce ’68, who passed away last August. Those memorial gifts ben-efitted the Russel T. Miller ’55 Fund, which supports the School’s oceanologyprogram. Lloyd was pleased to hear about some of the work the studentstake on in studying local waters. He wrote, “I did not know that the programwas this involved, which is good to realize. I take care of the launches, mo-tors and trailers for our crew team here in Baltimore, so that I am familiarwith the maintenance issues. Keep up the good work!”

1965David Hemond, 81 Silas Deane Road, Ledyard, CT 06339,davidlhemond@yahoo.com

Geof Aronson reached out to Pine Point in February after that month’s Backto the Point covered the 6th grade’s visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.“The trip to the MET was one we, the Class of ’65, were supposed to com-plete but the bus broke down somewhere west of New Haven and we neverdid get to see the much touted King Tut exhibit. Ah well, so these kids madeit. The trip was organized by Mrs. Julia McKenzie. She prepped us with agood pep talk before on the ancient relics. I recall distinctly being very en-

Bill Adler ’59 visited Pine Point with his wife, Alice, in late September. He hadn’t beenback since he graduated from 8th grade, and the School consisted of one building,

what is now known as the Main Building. He sent along news of what’s going on in hislife. “While I continue to strive to be 100% retired (now working 2-3 days a week) and

hope to be there as of the first of the year, Alice is now completely retired. I have avolunteer position serving on the Hillsborough County Code Enforcement Board and

intend to expand my volunteerism once fully retired. Alice volunteers as an AirportAmbassador at Tampa International. Travel, of course, is high on our priority list. We

have a cabin in North Carolina where we spent three weeks this fall. We have a duplexon Anna Maria Island that we enjoy spending time at as time permits. While Anna

Maria has certainly become busier over the years, it remains far more serene and laidback than the more commercial beach areas, and the beaches are beautiful. In

addition, we have a timeshare in the Cayman Islands that we try to get to every year ortwo. So you can see we are well diversified in the travel arena. Family wise, we have

two daughters (one who resides locally and one who lives in the Charlotte, NC area).And we have one grandchild, a granddaughter, here in Tampa with whom we can’t

spend enough time. She is almost four-years-old and an absolute joy in our lives. Iplay a VERY occasional round of golf although hopeful that may become more frequent

in retirement. And, of course, I am saddled with the typical responsibilities of homeownership in terms of upkeep, yard work, pool maintenance, etc. I have a 1994

Mustang GT convertible, which, while not truly a classic, is somewhat retro andaffords us a fun ride for sunny days in the area.” From 1,500 miles away, Bill lent his

support to Pine Point’s Snow Ball by donating his condo in Tampa to the auction.

Class Notes

ViewPoints 41

thused about seeing them. The best I can recall is the class stand-ing on the median strip on Route 95 and signaling all the 18wheeler drivers to toot their horns. The students were in competi-tion as to who could successfully challenge a driver to give us ablast.”

1966Starr White Snead, 1359 North Edgewater Drive, Charleston, SC29407, 1stStarr@bellsouth.net

1967Lea Jewett, 227 Vauxhall Street, New London, CT 06320,hl_juet@sbcglobal.net

Diane Corwin Seltzer, 4 Windover Turn, Westerly, RI 02891-4407,dcorwinseltzer@gmail.com

Chris Utter enjoyed reconnecting with Charlotte Eckel Brown andThea Moore at the Watch Hill Yacht Club cabanas last summer.

1968 Ellen Humphreville McGuire, 203 Glenwood Avenue, NewLondon, CT 06320, Pigel@ct.metrocast.net

Rob Palmer is the new president of the Stonington Historical Soci-ety, and gave a talk on the history of fire equipment last November.

1969Patty Oat, 35 Campbell Road, Noank, CT 06340,pattyoat@gmail.com

Peter Detmold has formed The 3-Pack, a new band made up of thethree surviving members of The Reducers, which stopped playingafter the passing of their bass player, Steve Kaika, back in 2012.Their debut gig was during Thanksgiving weekend, the same week-end that The Reducers ruled New London for almost 40 years.Bruce Harvey wrote on his Annual Fund envelope, “Visited withformer teacher and librarian Anna Coit and had a very good con-versation about writing. Have seen Jim Corwin and Dave Smith onthe music scene and still envy their chops. Looking forward to see-ing other members of the class.” Charlie Reyburn held a one-manshow of his paintings at the Provenance Center in New London.The show featured 74 of his paintings, many of familiar localscenes.

1970Kassy White, 42 Centre Street, Dover, MA 02030,kassywhiteksw@gmail.com

When Ken Kitchings and his wife, Christine, bought and refur-bished the Old Lyme Inn, he was able to fulfill a dream by openingan intimate jazz club, the SideDoor Jazz Club. Seating only 75, ithas gained a loyal following, not only from jazz aficionados, butfrom jazz musicians themselves, who find that a club just aboutmidway between Boston and New York is a great place to stop overand play! Ken says, “Artists tell us, ‘You don’t know what thismeans to us.’ They call and say they heard about the SideDoorfrom other players. ‘(Musicians) are bragging about your room.Can we play?’”

1973Cynthia Stein Therrien, 31 Aspen Lane, Tinton Falls, NJ, 07724,Therriens@comcast.net

This photo was taken during a recent mini-reunion of Pine Point friends in Framingham,MA. In the center is Marguerite Collier, who was the 4th grade teacher at Pine Point until1968. Her daughter, Heather Collier Vogel ‘70 (left), was a student until the family moved toWellesley, MA after Heather’s 7th grade year. Lynn Kornacki Murray ’70 (right) is the daughterof Mabel Kornacki Carlson, former lower school teacher. Lynn said, “We calculated it hadbeen 45 years since we had seen each other. Apparently Marguerite and my mom exchangedChristmas cards through the years. My step-father gave me Marguerite’s card the year mymom died, and I took up the annual card-sending. Every year, we would write, ‘We should gettogether.’ It only took us 25 years to actually do it! We have agreed to do a same-time-next-year event each year.” Lynn is a middle school reading specialist in Cranston, RI. She has twogrown children and twin two-year-old grandsons.

Paul Marshall ’71 journeyed to Thailand looking for investment opportunities. He wrote in thefall: “I have been working on a big property in the far northern mountains of the province ofPhrae. The best coffee in the world grows wild here along with every fruit and vegetableimaginable. Snakes, Asian bear, wild elephants, giant snakes, and gibbons live in the jungle. Bigcats as well. The farmers burn the corn husks and make charcoal they ship out to otherprovinces. It creates smog up to 700 meters above sea level. The house is at 860 meters, so it’sclear at night. The valley echoes of night activity; there’s a LOT of it. I met a local hunter and hehad cataracts, so I gave him a pair of glasses. I almost cried at his reaction of gratefulness.People are so nice and respectful here. It’s like life is inside-out and backwards. People live inbamboo huts with no doors or windows, but eat incredible food and eat it on the floor. Thevillage the house is in is called Nakham. It’s 28 bamboo huts and this monstrosity of a bricknightmare in a Tudor style with bars and padlocks. Everyone has a big wall (as is tradition) anddogs they never feed. They eat the vermin and snakes! At night the pack howls at anythingintruding from the jungle. Monkeys screech, roosters crow, and crickets make a high pitchedwhine you hear only in the high jungle. It’s really cleansing to be without cell, computer, and TV.The house is empty largely. I visited Chiang Mai, the second largest city. It reminds me of NYCin the late 60’s: hip, happening, and hot in all ways. The Mekong River is not far away and I wentto a festival initiated by the Naga Fireball phenomenon (Google it). Gotta go to Bangkok,Phuket, and Ko Chong on the Cambodia border next.”

ViewPoints 42

1977Betsy Trimble, 3 Heron Road, Mystic, CT 06355, IETrimble@sbcglobal.net

1978Irene Carlson Ritter, 24 Cushman Street, Groton, CT 06340, irene.ritter@att.net

Galan Daukas is no longer at Washington Trust, where he served as Executive Vice Presi-dent of the Wealth Management Division. He was recently named Senior Executive VicePresident of Wealth Management at People’s United Bank. His new division has $15.5 bil-lion in assets. He’ll divide his time between Westport and Westerly.

1979Meredith Jason, 6130 31st Street NW, Washington, DC 20015, crcmlj@msn.com

1974Sharon Butler, 741 West End Ave, Apt. 4F, New York, NY10025, butsharon@gmail.com

Jon Wool checked in during the January polar vortex. “Chicagotemperatures are at a record low and its snows are a recordhigh. Shoveling is nearly impossible. My hands are raw, myback is sore, and my eyelids are frozen shut. I’ve argued thatmen over forty risk heart attack when shoveling but my wife,Carole, wasn’t impressed. I soldier on, snow boots heavy andwet, dreaming of white sandy beaches, suntan lotion, peachesand cream.” When he isn’t battling the snow and the cold (hap-pily, it’s now spring), Jon keeps busy as the owner of FinesseCuisine, a catering business in Chicago.

1976Cindy Jason Sullivan, P.O. Box 90, Higganum, CT 06441-0090, csullivan09@snet.net

Adam Fritzsche let us know that after 14 years he was nolonger with LPL Financial. He was happy to report that he hadactually accomplished his best work with the company over thelast three years but the opportunity to join Citizens Bank man-aging five of their branches was too good to pass up. He canmainly be found in their New London office on Eugene O’NeillDrive. He’s also glad to report that his family is well. In thecoming months, Citizens will be a stand-alone company onceit is divested by its parent, Royal Bank of Scotland. CameronHay writes, “Enjoying retirement in Florida. Doing a lot of trav-eling and recently went to New England to see my first grand-child. Being a grandpa is awesome.”

Wes Woolworth ’78 (left) visited Pine Point in October. With the exceptionof the memorial service for former Head of School Dick Mitchell in

October 2012, it was the first time he had been back since graduation! Heis pictured with 7th grade teacher David Smith ’69, who recollected that he

arrived at Pine Point as an intern when Wes was in 9th grade.

Pine Point has made it easyfor you to support the School.

Last year, over $51,000came to the Annual Fund

via online donations! Thefund runs through June 30. Everygift is important in helping usreach our goal and supporting theentire program at Pine Point.

Why notmakeyourAnnualFund giftonline?

It’s that simple!

• Go to Pine Point’s website• Then to the Giving Section (Annual Fund)• Look for the online giving link

1981Lauren Edelstein Park, 1519 5th Street, Boulder, CO 80302,lparkco@yahoo.com

Niffy Powers Ligeti is the board chair of Sunflower Creative Arts, acreative arts organization in Boca Raton, FL, that offers “a diversecollection of enrichment programs for toddlers through teens andtheir families.” She wrote, “I’ve been involved with Sunflower for thebetter part of the last 17 years. Sunflower has a strong, 21-year his-tory of supporting play-based learning, nature, and science explo-ration and arts expression for children while teaching communicationskills to all ages, including parents. We are outgrowing our rentedspace, and have decided to muster our resources and talents, raisefunds and buy a home of our own. This area is pretty highly devel-oped–so our search for the right property will be a challenge! Onething I have going for me is more time–I’m officially an empty nesternow. My son, Alex, is a freshman at Santa Clara University in Califor-nia, and my daughter, Samantha, is a junior at Washington Universityin Saint Louis.”

ViewPoints 43

heilia Terranova Beattie ’78 of Westerly has been named asthe new board president of the Westerly Land Trust. She

replaced Harvey C. Perry II, father of Ethan Perry ’84 and LauraPerry ’88, who stepped down in January after 13 years as boardpresident.

Sheilia joined the board of directors in 2005 but began vol-unteering before that, often the only woman in the Coffee andClearing Club army that meets weekly year-round to clear brush,build bridges and trails and do much of the necessary but “dirty”behind-the-scenes work of a land trust.

She has a deep love for the outdoors, and the Westerlyarea in particular. A Westerly native, she has fond memories of athriving downtown, and sees the Land Trust’s urban initiatives,unique among land trusts, as an important part of its mission.“I’ve bought into the idea that by supporting both open spaceand downtown regeneration, we create sustainability in our littlepiece of the world.”

A businesswoman herself, Sheilia owns Cornerstone SelfStorage and helps run several family businesses, including Stan-ton Realty, the Newland Motel, and the Cornerstone Inn. Herfamily sold the Pleasant View Inn last year, closing on the sameday she was asked to become Land Trust president.

Among her priorities are building endowments to helpcover operating expenses and to protect land acquisitions in per-petuity, and completing the national accreditation process forthe Land Trust, begun under Perry, which Beattie says is crucialfor securing funds for future projects.

“We’re going to try and get accredited by the Land TrustAlliance. We’ll be nationally accredited, and that will show,hopefully, that we’re in this for the long term. By doing that, weare going to be able to increase the trust that state organizationshave in us as well as the public has in us to conserve these landsin perpetuity,” she said.

She also hopes to foster more cooperation among landtrusts in the area and said several joint projects are in the works:“We would be stronger working as one group rather than as sep-arate groups.”

“How awesome for us is it to be able to wake up in themorning, jump out of our houses and in five minutes, be in thewoods on a trail, but not far from your home?” she asked. “It’sgreat that we can do that and it makes our town extra special.”

Sustainability

“Sheilia has valuable insight related to land conservation and steward-ship through her nine years serving on the board of directors and on theLand Stewardship Committee,” Land Trust Executive Director Kelly Presleysaid. “With the Westerly Land Trust’s tremendous success in protectingopen space comes the responsibility to care for that land in perpetuitythrough conscientious stewardship and management. Sheilia will be a bril-liant successor to the presidency and I look forward to what great thingsare on the horizon with her at the helm.”

Sheilia says another priority is getting younger generations involvedin the organization’s projects. “We have to start engaging our next genera-tion more. Who’s going to take over after us? We need to convince themand show them the value of these lands. The land that we have in Brad-ford, up in Crandall Swamp, all those lands are filtration systems for ourdrinking water,” she said.

As it turns out, Sheilia is well supported by members of the Pine Pointcommunity who volunteer for the Land Trust or support its mission withtheir gifts. Past parents Lyman Goff, Allen Leadbetter, and Harvey Perry allserve on the Board. Leslie Ahern Brown ’64 and past parent DeborahStewart edit the newsletter, and Debby’s son, James Stewart ’08, hasserved as an intern.

Sheilia Terranova Beattie ’78 withher pups Hatchet, left, and Chisel

in our Little Piece of the World

Much of this material was adapted from A Sense of Place, the newsletter of theWesterly Land Trust.

S

ViewPoints 44

1982Dan Wood, 156 Ludlow Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10002,dxwood@work.ac

1983Karen Church, 1951 Canyon Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90068,karen.church@tvc.cbs.com

The new floor of the Ryan Center at the University of Rhode Island(as of September 2013) is known as the Alex and Ani Court, and URIDirector of Athletics Thorr Bjorn is thrilled! “To have a Rhode Is-land-based, Inc. 500 company as highly respected as Alex and Anibuy into the naming rights of our new basketball court speaks vol-umes to the direction and excitement that is surrounding our pro-gram. The installation of this state-of-the-art court is yet anothernecessary step toward building a championship-caliber basketballprogram at the University of Rhode Island.” The men’s basketballteam went 14-18 in the Atlantic 10 this season, a league that sent sixteams to the NCAA Tournament.

1984Bob Anderson, 335 West Beach Road, Charlestown, RI, 02813,anderboard@me.com

1985Amy Leadbetter Higgs, 87 Fernbank Avenue, Delmar, NY 12054,amylhiggs@gmail.com

John Bellone and his family received the go ahead from the WesterlyPlanning Board to build a new hotel to replace Maria’s Seaside Café,which was damaged during Superstorm Sandy in 2012. A 34,483-square-foot hotel, to be known as The Cabanas, will be built, includ-ing 21 hotel rooms, four two-bedroom residences, a bar/lounge, anda restaurant that will retain the Maria’s name. Sarah Pinto hasopened a second law office in Jeffersonville, VT, “located closeenough to Smugglers’ Notch that I can get in a few runs and still beat work on time.” She and her husband, Trevor Ainsworth, welcomedtheir second son, John McAndrew, in July. Giselle Potter continuesto write and illustrate children’s books, while her husband, Kier Kin-sella, designs and builds furniture of great style. Their little ones, Piaand Izzy, have adventures in leaf piles and life.

Like many caught up in the Januarypolar vortex, Marianne SchwartzO’Hearn ’83 also experienced the ice-cold temperatures. Like many, herfamily played a few tricks to takeadvantage of the frigid conditions. “Weare off from school (I am a teacher) forour third day due to frigidtemperatures. On day one, we felt windchills of 45 below for the first time innearly twenty years. My daughter Izzy(10), who had never experienced this,ran outside with a bowl of water andthrew it up in the air hoping it wouldfreeze.

Lauren Edelstein Park ’81 (left) sent along this picture and an explanation. “Over Thanksgiving,while in the lobby of a hotel in San Francisco, a woman asked me if her kids could pet my dog.She then looked at me and immediately said, ‘I know you! You’re Lauren Edelstein!’ It was KarenChurch ’83! She was visiting from L.A. with her parents, partner, and sons and we had a greattime catching up. I’m still amazed that she recognized me so fast!”

It didn’t, but it did freeze almost assoon as it hit the ground. On day twowe saw the thermometer hit -17 withsimilar wind chills. For her secondexperiment, she cracked an egg andput it outside. After less than twentyminutes, it was nearly frozen solid!”

Ethan Perry ’84 let us know how he and his family dealt with the polar vortex. “Here in Duluthwe’ve had several cold snaps this winter with temps down to -20 or lower. We learned that ournew digital thermometer stops working at -25. Between bouts of frigid weather my daughter,Charlotte, and I built a snow house called a quinzhee. It can feel relatively warm inside! Schoolsclosed several times due to wind chill, and starting the car was sometimes challenging, butoverall life goes on in the cold. Chickadees at the feeder seem unfazed.”

There’s something really hearteningwhen alumni return to the area to raisetheir families and enroll their children atPine Point. This year, there are 24 stu-

John Leuba ’82 and Catherine ’17

Bob Petrocelli ’81 and Alison ’20

David Wu ’94 (center) joined his mother-in-law Terry Sakowski and his son, Jason ’25, atGrandparents’/Grandpersons’ Day.

Bob ’84 and Kimberly Fullerton Anderson ’85 stand with theirson, Sam ’24, along with Ellery Griscom ’85 and his children,Dillon ’20 and Maclan ’22.

It’s heartening when alumni return to the area to raise their families and enroll theirchildren at Pine Point. This year, there are 24 students who have at least one parentwho went to Pine Point. These students represent 10% of the student body!

From left: Meredith MichaudHargus ’89 holding Nolan ’25, withHannah ’23 standing in front of her;Meredith’s classmate Julie WrightDelPrado ’89 with Diego ’19,Lorenzo ’23 (Hannah’s classmate!),and Joaquin ’21; Adam Wronowski ’87with Peter ’21, Joseph ’23, and JohnPaul ’17; Irene Carlson Ritter ’78with Charlie ’17 and Erin ’15; AlexBowdler ’15 with his mom, Anne Fix ’76; Harvey DeMovick III ’87 withHarvey IV ’20 and Reagan ’23;and Morgan Lloyd Hollenbeck ’96 withHalsey ’23 and Bowen ’25. Kneeling infront is Alyssa Olsson Gaus ’94 andson Kyle ’24.

A Second Generationof Pine Point Students

Andy Griscom ’75 and Blythe ’18

ViewPoints 45

ViewPoints 46

1986Elaine Anderson, 42 South Street, Middlebury, VT05753-1316, elaineavt@gmail.com

1987Ratna Bindra, 35 Old Post Road South,Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520, ratna.bindra@pfizer.com

Heather Wright, 132 Irving Avenue, Providence, RI02906-4510, hlofkinwright@gmail.com

1988Erica Eppinger Fox, 65 Montauk Avenue, Stonington, CT06378, eeppfox@gmail.com

Dan Leech writes, “Sara, Autumn, and Dan are doingwell and hope that everyone in the Class of ’88 is havinga great year!”

- Kimberly Fullerton Anderson ’85

n July 2013, my hus-band, Bob ’84, and I

traveled north from Yel-lowknife, Canada, in theNorthwest Territories toSomerset Island with ateam of scientists fromMystic Aquarium. Wewere in search of theyearly visit Beluga whalesmake into CunninghamInlet. The majestic whitewhales come in with theircalves to rub up againstthe pebbled rocky shoreand slough off dead skin. The waters, although still freezing cold, are warmer than those of theNorthwest Passage. This makes the inlet a safe place for the calves to spend time. Mothersoften travel with more than one calf. Usually a newborn and a yearling are found followingMom around, playing and singing their whale songs. We were fortunate to be able to witnessthis behavior first-hand.

We stayed in a lodge called Arctic Watch just a short walk from the inlet. The island ofSomerset is about the size of Vermont; and the only inhabitants are those lucky enough to stayat Arctic Watch Lodge. Being 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle, you really feel like you’re ontop of the world. The ground is made up of shale and the tallest tree is the Arctic Willow andstands about ½ an inch tall and creeps along the ground.

Arctic Willow is one of the favored meals of the beautiful Musk Ox that live on the island.Other inhabitants include the Arctic Fox and Arctic Hare and a small number of birds, not tomention Polar Bears. When the ice starts to melt in the Northwest Passage, these amazingbears start to spend more time on land. Unfortunately for us the Passage was still quite frozenand we were not lucky enough to have a bear sighting.

We enjoyed navigating the island on ATVs and fishing for land-locked Arctic Char in a lakeabout two hours by ATV from the lodge. The hiking was beautiful and like no other place wehave ever been. Somerset Island is a place of pure beauty. The weather can change quickly andyou gain a true respect for this incredible planet we live on and all the creatures great andsmall that share it with us. All I can say is “Protect it.” We look forward to the day our son,Sam ’24, is old enough to join us on this great adventure to Arctic Watch.

Arctic Watch

Chloë Potter ’88 continues to live in Vienna. She was visited inthe fall by her father, Dan ’60, who sent along this photo. Shecreates photo art for galleries, commercial sites, and bands. Sheand her children, daughter Adelita, and son Felix, grow and thrive.

1989Meredith Michaud Hargus, 140 Castle Hill Road,Pawcatuck, CT 06379, Meredith.Michaud@gmail.com

1991Sarah Whitford Sweeney, 121 Deepwood Drive, Portland,ME 04103, slwhitfo@hotmail.com

1992Zach Oat, 214 Haviland Drive, Patterson, NY,12563-1326, zachoat@gmail.com

Jessie Hoyt was diagnosed with Celiac disease in 2006,meaning that she needed to go on a gluten-free diet. Liv-ing in New York City at the time, she and her then-boyfriend (now husband) Chris Fondulas, would go onquests looking for food that would agree with Jessie.Chris, who worked on the set of the hit TV show 30Rock, has turned Jessie’s illness into a short film, “TheCurse of Don Scarducci,” about a mobster who also suf-fers from Celiac disease, meaning he can no longer eatpasta–not even a cannoli! It changes his personality.Jessie is a co-producer of the film.

I

ViewPoints 47

1993 Emilie Di Mario, 48 Betenson Ave., Sevenoaks, Kent, England, TN13 3EW,edimario7444@aol.com

Elizabeth Seltzer, 900 State Street, New Haven, CT 06511-3921,elizabethbseltzer@gmail.com

Elizabeth Seltzer is the Executive Vice President, Experiential Marketing forAmplitude Marketing Group, Inc. in Newtown, CT. She has been with thefirm since 2002.

Ashley Wood Moore ’95 (left) sent this great picture at what was for many New Englanders agreat event – Game 6 of the 2013 World Series, where the Red Sox defeated the Cardinalsto clinch the championship. She’s with her sister, Amanda Wood Lopardo ’89, Amanda’shusband, A.J., and Ashley’s husband Jonathan. “My brother-in-law, A.J., got the tickets. Wewere lucky enough to have been invited!”

Sarah Banister ’94, herhusband, Nick Todd,and their son, Hunter,have moved toLondon, where Nickhas a post-doctorateposition at UniversityCollege, London.Here’s a happy Hunterin the UK!

Thanks!

Last year was a banner year at Pine Point

in terms of alumni donor giving to the

Annual Fund. A record was set with 212

alumni making a gift. As of mid-May, that

number for this year stood at 135. Alumni

giving is critically important to the strength

of Pine Point. We need your help to keep

Pine Point headed in the right direction!

The Annual Fund closes on June 30th.

Just go to

www.pinepoint.org/annualfund

and Pine Point will immediately

put your gift to use.

Can we count on your help?

The caption to this photo on Facebook says it all: "Everyone got in on theLeo action!" Leo (bottom left) is Leonidas James Ranfone, born on April 4thto Elizabeth Seltzer '93 and Michael Ranfone. His great-grandmother, MimiBorden, coos with him in the upper left. Mom Elizabeth in the upper rightis the picture of serenity after a 39-hour labor! Rounding out the quartet isgrandma Diane Corwin Seltzer '67, beaming with pride. Aunt KatherineSeltzer '01 flew in from Denver for the occasion as well.

1994 Kate Murphy Gardner, 1740 Church Street NW, Washington, DC 20036,kateemurphy@gmail.com

Matt Hemond writes, “My wife Penny and I moved to Charlestown a fewyears ago. It was a good location between her work in Belmont and mine inSalem. Our news is that we are expecting twins, a boy and a girl. Theyshould arrive at the end of March or beginning of April, so we are keepingbusy getting everything ready for them! I currently have my own private lawpractice in Salem, which focuses on criminal defense. I had previously beena law clerk to a judge and an assistant district attorney. My wife works as aresearch scientist at McLean Hospital, which is part of Harvard MedicalSchool. Her research focuses primarily in the area of Parkinson’s disease. Iwill definitely pass on a photo of the twins after they arrive.” JP Payne servesas the town solicitor for Westerly, as well as continuing as a partner in Payneand Payne, the family’s law firm.

1995Vanessa Tillman-Brown wed Todd Lobins in September in a small ceremonypresided over by her father, Van Brown. The wedding was held in their back-yard after a back-breaking year of hard work! Ana Ursin-Nichols Tiwathiaand her husband, Aditya, are living in Brooklyn. She is completing an M.A.at The New School and writes and edits on the website Daily Candy, whileAditya continues to work for the UN. Ana was back in CT to visit with SageGrigg Thibdeau and her daughter, Maddie, as well as Ashley Wood Moore.

ViewPoints 48

June 7, 2014

10:00 a.m.Please join us to hear this year’s commencementspeaker, Joanna Douglas ’96. In her role as SeniorFashion and Beauty Editor of Yahoo! Shine, Joannacomments on fashion trends of the day. Search herblog out!

We especially hope that members of the Classof 1996 will return to Pine Point to support Joannaas she shares her insights with the Class of 2014and the entire Pine Point community.

1996Heather Honiss Salsich, 190 Bridge Street, #4302, Salem, MA, 01970,hhoniss@gmail.com

Ian Clough works at Electric Boat as an electromechanical engineer and is buying hisfirst home in Mystic. Louisa Muller writes, “All is well with me. I’m just finishing up afew months at the Met, where I was an assistant on Falstaff and L’elisir d’amore. Thisfall I directed Madama Butterfly at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and next up I head toAtlanta to direct Faust. It’s been a busy couple of seasons with work and travel, so myhusband, Eric, and I are planning to both take a step back next season in order tospend more time together. I’m so looking forward to it.”

1997Kate MacCluggage, 468A Macdonough St., Brooklyn, NY, 11233 katemac@gmail.com

Jon Evans is an attorney with Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP in New York. Kate Mac-Cluggage wrapped up her two-play repertoire with the Hartford Stage in February,and the reviews are in. The New York Times called her performance in La Dispute, acomedy of infidelity, “excellent,” and in her portrayal of the First Witch in Macbethshe delivered her lines with a “bone-chilling utterance.” She also played Lady Mac-duff.

1998Tiffany Barres Foley, 6323 South Monaco Court, Centennial, CO 80111,tfoleyram@gmail.com

Gillian Sulick Janus, 97 Hancock Street, Apt. 2, Cambridge, MA 02139,gbsulick@gmail.com

Nate Clough has completed a law degree and was preparing to take the bar exam forpatent law.

1999Tiana Baker Recos, tiana.baker@gmail.com

Brianna Carbonneau is settling into her job at the Department of Justice. “I’m a hy-brid attorney-office manager, so my work is a mix of administrative and legal. It’s awhole new, more challenging path for me and so far, both intimidating and exciting!”Tim Evans is working as a tax attorney in New York.

Joanna Douglas ’96Named as 2014

Commencement Speaker T.J. Capalbo ‘98and his wife,Perrilea, havebecome parents,welcoming ThomasJ. Capalbo IV inNovember. Thiswonderful pictureshows all fourThomas J. Capalbosat the family’s lawfirm in Westerly.

Henry Sockbeson ’99 is engaged! He and his fiancée, Caitlin Smith, will marryin May in New Orleans. A graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute andDuke, Henry continues as a project manager for Skanska USA Building on theconstruction of the University Medical Center in New Orleans.

ViewPoints 49

Alesha ChristensenNewland ’99, herhusband, Nate, andtheir son, Isaac,welcomed Gabriel,who joined their familyin October. Gabriel isadorned with his veryown Pine Point bib!The Newlands live inOklahoma.

n the Winter/Spring 2012 issue of ViewPoints, we profiled MelCollier-Meek ‘01 and Spring Lake Gardens, which she and her

husband, Andy Meek, run in Sterling, CT. It is a Community SupportedAgriculture (CSA) farm, which sells shares to people who are thensupplied with fresh vegetables throughout the season. In March, weheard from Mel that things are a bit different now. “There have been afew changes at the farm! We changed the name to Good Bug Gardensto better describe our mission–to grow good, healthy vegetables andherbs within a diverse ecosystem. Andy has also partnered with alongtime CSA member, Viviana Lusitani, to expand the farm, both interms of land as well as the number of CSA members (100 families thisyear!).” Mel and Andy decided to support the School by donating a fullCSA share for the Snow Ball’s silent auction! “I know that there havebeen a few changes and difficult times at Pine Point recently, and I have

Tiana Baker ’99 was married to William Recos in October in North Stonington. Hersister, Mariel Rice Frechette ’06, was maid of honor, and Eliza Gager ’99 andElizabeth Jordan Traoré ’99 were bridesmaids. “We were surrounded by many familymembers (including her mother, Robin Rice, second from left) and friends and wehad such a wonderful time! I am currently working at Boston Children’s Hospital asan RN.”

been so impressed by how it has beencommunicated and shared with us as alumni. Iam eager to support the Pine Point faculty andthe new Interim Head of School, Diana Owen,as the School forges forward.

Outside of changes at the farm, I’m lookingforward to a new position. In the fall, I’ll startat UMASS-Boston as an Assistant Professor inSchool Psychology in the College of HumanDevelopment and Education. There I willcontinue to research teachers’ implementationof evidence-based practices and how training,professional development, and other strategieshelp them support students. I’ll commute tothe city from CT. Everything is definitelyexciting!”

I

2000Arianna Funk, Elin Wägners gata 43, 2 tr, 12951 Hägersten, Sweden,ariannafunk@gmail.com

Beth Abbiati is in a double masters program at UCONN (Storrs) pursuing a degreein school counseling and one that will also make her an LPC (licensed professionalcounselor). With travel each week to Storrs, Hartford, and Bridgeport for course-related work, she finds the program demanding yet energizing. She is in the firstyear of what is a three-year course of study. James Eppinger and his wife, Kaitlin,are the proud parents of Violet Jane, born on November 12. Ariel Mitchell has re-cently moved to New York City where she is enjoying life as an artist and an entre-preneur.

2001Kathleen Coss, 166 Oswegatchie Road, Waterford, CT 06385, audriie@hotmail.com

Cindy Morren Griffin, 405 Gardiner Road, West Kingston, RI 02892,cindymorren@yahoo.com

Jessica Williams, 1188 Forest Ave., Boulder, CO 80304,jessicaswilliams87@gmail.com

Matt Blum is an attorney in San Diego. His practice, The Law Office of Matt Blum,handles a wide array of civil litigation. Matt is a graduate of California WesternSchool of Law. Kathleen Coss is now an extern associate at Hurwitz Sagarin Sloss-berg & Knuff in Milford, CT.

2002Martina Bottinelli wrote, “I am embarrassed to admit that it has been many yearssince I have contacted Pine Point. Maybe I have been waiting for something great toshare. Well here I am! Since leaving Pine Point I attended and graduated from theInternational Baccalaureate program at the International School of Florence in Flo-rence, Italy. I enrolled at Smith College in 2005, took classes at the University ofFlorence, and then transferred and graduated from Hampshire College in 2010. Itaught preschool in Atlanta, GA, and then entered a master’s of teaching programthrough Bard College in 2012. I then transferred to a master’s of education programat Goddard College in 2013 and most recently founded a learning center for chil-dren and youth in New London, CT called Red Tail Learning Center. I hope all iswell at Pine Point!” Jason Carbonneau now works for Imprivata in Lexington, MA, acompany that provides fast, secure access to patient information through a systemthat secures computer information and access. He is an HR analyst. Chris Fiftal letus know that “I’ve had my business, Emulsion Apparel, approved as one of thelargest distributors of promotional products and apparel in New England!” Emul-sion’s Newport store was named by Rhode Island Monthly as Best Custom T-ShirtPrinter. Chris is also operating his business in Pawcatuck. Chris made a nice gift insupport of the Snow Ball by offering customized apparel. Ms. Iacoi was the winningbidder! Calvin Utter and his fiancée, Lauren Decina, will be married in September.

liza Hannon Smith ‘03 was one of twenty-three projectadvisors or contributors in a report that was written towards

the creation of a new National Historical Park. The Pullman PalaceCar Company, founded by George Pullman, manufactured railroadcars in the mid-to-late 19th century and into the early years of the20th century when railroads dominated the landscape and were theprincipal form of transportation in our country. The workers whobuilt these railroad cars lived in a worker community (or “companytown”) named Pullman on what is now the South Side of Chicago.The existence of the company and the town were relatively short-lived, but they played an important role in the history of the UnitedStates from industrialization to civil rights.

The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) hasproposed that the town be designated as a National Historical Park.National parks are huge economic generators. According to a 2010study, visitors to National Historical Parks supported more than $31billion in private-sector spending, sustaining more than 258,000jobs. In order to bolster its case, the NPCA produced an analysison the potential impact of a Pullman National Historic Park.Regarding its creation, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn said,“Designating Pullman as a National Historical Park means it wouldjoin the Lincoln Home as the second National Historic Site inIllinois. Pullman affords the unique opportunity to tell in onelocation the story of Illinois’ early industrialization, its key role inthe development of the nation’s transportation systems, and itsvibrant African American history. A Pullman National HistoricalPark would draw visitors from around the world to experience ourheritage and generate a large economic impact in the Chicago area.”

The report estimated that in its tenth full year of operation thepark would draw 300,000 visitors each year, create 356 annual jobsresulting in $15 million in annual wages, and generate $40 millionin sustained economic impact.

An instructor of mathematics for the last four years at TheWilliams School, Eliza’s contributions were focused in providingassistance with translating complex economic numbers into figuresthat the public would understand. It falls to the United StatesCongress to pass the designation into law. A national historical sitecan also be designated by the President through use of theAntiquities Act.

If you’re a Facebook member,type Pine Point School in thesearch box, and join our page,as 522 folks already have! Wewant to bring our latest newsdirectly to your homepage, and you’llreceive it by liking us. You can also send your newsto the School and your friends through the page!

“Like” us on Facebook!

E

ViewPoints 50

ViewPoints 51

am always happy to be an active con-tributor, and I look forward to the day

when I can give more. Pine Point is trulya remarkable school, and I can see it hasimproved and grown even more over thelast several years. I always love seeingpictures of teachers I had when I was there, and, amazingly, none of them look any older!

Will Hagen ‘05 persuasively got the word out to us, and it was great to hear from him, andabout what has been going on at PPS. I took the time to explore Pine Point’s website. Seeingpictures and reading descriptions of events taking place at the School brought back some veryhappy memories. I love how the website shows current and upcoming events right on the home-page. My mom would have loved that. Still, somehow she always knew what was coming up,probably better than I did! I noticed there was a “Freedom from Chemical Dependency” eventthat I would have loved to have attended! Very cool stuff, and it sounds like there are excellent,passionate new teachers at Pine Point, too. I loved the teachers when I was there, and, the olderI get, the more I appreciate how lucky I was to have them during my early years.

I’m in the “Interdisciplinary Medical Sciences” program at Drexel University in Philadelphia.It’s almost identical to Drexel’s first-year medical classes since we are taking 5 out of 6 classesalongside the first-year med students. The program is set up, in part, to make students morecompetitive applicants for medical school. I’ve applied to 16 schools, including Drexel, but mytop choice is actually UConn. If everything goes well I’ll be starting medical school in the fall of2014. I want to eventually go into orthopedic or general surgery, but that’s still years away.

I’m approaching two weeks of final exams. It’s going to be the hardest I’ve ever had to studyin my life, but I love the material I’m learning so I don’t really mind. Who I am today is, in manyways, due to my initial introduction to the importance of having both a strong mind and a caringheart. It’s funny actually, because after I finish writing this, I will be back to strengthening mymind, learning how to care for patients with heart problems, since Medical Physiology is my firstexam, and this section of material has been all about the circulatory system, which includes theheart.

A Remarkable SchoolIt’s been nearly 10 years since Chris Wiles ’05was a student at Pine Point, but he remainsever grateful for his time at the School andthe influence it had in shaping him as aperson and as a student. A native of NewLondon, CT, Chris is the son of John ’60 andJoan Wiles, and a graduate of The WilliamsSchool and St. Lawrence University. In earlyDecember, Chris made a gift to the AnnualFund after hearing from Alumni Class AgentWill Hagen ’05. If this looks familiar, it wassent as an e-mail blast at the very end ofDecember to spur giving to the Annual Fund.The strong response indicated that many,including non alumni, were struck by hispassion.

-Chris Wiles ‘05

Sabina Ksiezopolska ’04 wrote, “This is a recent piece byartist Elliott Puckette, who is a graduate of Cooper Unionand has a permanent collection at the Whitney Museum ofArt. The mural is on three separate panels of fiberglass. Asher studio assistant, my work involved helping to prepare thesurfaces by applying 9-12 layers of gesso, each layer carefullysanded by hand and with an electric sander. After everythingwas gessoed she applied the paint, then she sketched thelines with chalk which we both later etched into withrazor blades. It has been an incredible experience workingwith such an established artist, and I’ve been learning somuch about technique, execution, and materials. She reallytook me in, trusting me to work hands on throughout theprocess, asking for my opinions and feedback, includinggranting me solo access to her studio in DUMBO Brooklyn.After she had me help with the final and very permanent step(etching the lines) she told me I was the first person she hasever trusted to etch into her art. It was an incredible honorand compliment! This is a photo of the mural after it wasinstalled mid-November in the New York World FinancialCenter, Brookfield Office Lobby, Tower 4. She has asked meto continue helping her with her work and our next project isher Fall 2014 exhibit at the Paul Kasmin Gallery in NYC.”

2003Bridget Morrissey Breen and her fiancé, Eoin Healy,will be married in July in France.

2004Samantha Luca, 4 Seagull Lane, Mystic, CT 06355,Samantha.sue.luca@gmail.com

Charlotte Evans is a fifth-grade teacher at Lincoln-Eliot School in Newton, MA.

2005 Will Hagen, c/o Chivaun Wolter, 930 M St NW, #613,Washington, DC 20001,will_tucker@comcast.net

Alex Schulz graduated from Northeastern with a de-gree in civil engineering and is with a firm designingbridges. One of the company’s recent projects in-volved work on the Braga Bridge in Fall River. He’s liv-ing in Brookline. I

ViewPoints 52

Emily Gibbs ’06 knows her music! “Every so often there is a group of people whoshake and rattle the very foundation of our civilization. We’re not those people,

just really, really funny. Daniel Aguilera and I met in the fall of our freshman yearat Lehigh University and soon discovered our shared passion for music. We began

training that fall and then developed our own radio show, Gibbles and Witts, onLehigh University’s WLVR 91.3 FM in the spring of 2011. We play almost everygenre of music on our show, and sometimes our music tastes go in completely

different directions in the same two-hour set, and we pride ourselves on thisdiversity. We’ve followed a Bob Dylan song with the Black Keys, and played Frank

Sinatra after Taylor Swift, but it all fits together in a unique way. As DJs for thestation, we are allowed to borrow CDs and download anything from the main

drive, which has opened my eyes to a wide range of artists. One of my favoriteaspects of our show, however, is in between sets of songs when we get to talk on

the air. We always choose to do live PSAs (public service announcements) and wetry our best to make things humorous, relevant, and thought provoking. Our

PSAs can range from how to make the perfect omelets to the importance of safedriving. Listeners of Gibbles and Witts claim that we have developed specific

radio personalities and this adds a unique dimension to our weekly show.Working at the radio station is one of the highlights of my college experience and

I would urge anyone to start their own show. For me, Gibbles and Witts is a wayto escape the chaotic college life. Despite the weekly exams and research papers,

I know I can always look forward to the two hours I get to spend with one of mybest friends listening to music.” Emily will graduate in May, but will stay at Lehigh

to pursue a graduate degree in environmental policy design.

Laura Hagen ’06 has finished with her studies at the University ofBritish Columbia and is now living in Seattle. “UBC actually doesn’thave a winter graduation ceremony, so unfortunately I’ll have to waituntil May for my cap, gown, and diploma. If I’m still in Seattle at thatpoint, I’ll go up there for it, but if I’ve decided to take a ranch jobsomewhere, I’ll just get it in the mail. My only regret is that it’ll say2014 instead 2013, although my mom assures me that one day I’llappreciate being able to seem even one year younger. Always lookingon the bright side. Right now I have no idea when I’ll make it backeast, but a trip to Pine Point will for sure be on the itinerary when Ido.” Laura also won second prize for poetry by the Vancouver WritersFest for her work, “Prairie Weather.”

I had never seen clouds turn green,form a wall – burst with hail,never seen so much rain at once, orwatched the sheet-metal roofingof a barn flap and smack in the wind,never had little sistersto hug, clench hands withwhen lightning crackedtoo close and the radio said the “T” word,or had bottle calves to chivvy into the barn,crops to fret over, tractors and quadsto drive under cover,never run down to the basement and gatheredwith a family that had become mine,burrowed in blankets and pillowseating fresh raspberries from the garden,now covered with rows of buckets, overturnedto protect peppers and tomatoes,never feared for my lifebecause the windsounded like a freight train

or emerged to a world washed and beaten,our lips stained red with juice,yelling about close calls and luck.

Prairie Weather

ViewPoints 53

2006Elma Burnham, 43 Wilcox Road, Stonington, CT 06378, eccburnham@gmail.com

Mariél Rice Frechette, 667 S. Detroit Street, #108, Los Angeles, CA, 90036,mariel.frechette@gmail.com

Elma Burnham wrote in the fall, “I graduated from Middlebury in May with a major inFrench and minors in elementary education and African American Studies. I’m still in thearea completing my student-teaching in an extra semester at the college. I’m working witha great teacher in the 5th and 6th grade at Lincoln Community School, about a 25-minutedrive up the mountains from Middlebury. I have flashbacks to these years at Pine Point andcan’t stop thinking about Ms. Dey, Ms. Roper and Mr. Brown especially! I am definitelyputting some of their teaching strategies to good use and would like to thank all the PinePoint teachers for their time, commitment, and love for their jobs and students. My learn-ing and teaching foundations come from Pine Point, and I am so grateful.” Elma updatedher news in January. “I have spent the winter at home on Fishers and in Stonington. I’vebeen planning a trip for the spring and putting together my application for state licensurein elementary education! Having recently passed the Praxis exam, I hope to be a certifiedVT teacher by the end of the spring. While that’s in progress, I’ll be traveling before I shipout to fish in Bristol Bay come June. My travels start in February, where I’ll visit a high-school friend in France and tour around the south volunteering for room and board. InApril, I’ll start a six-week tour of southeast Asia in Myanmar, where I’ll meet up with Mid-dlebury friends. It’s very exciting to see where everyone is going, and spending this recentchunk at home reminds me of how lucky I am to be from this beautiful coastline. PinePoint continues to hold a special place in my heart, and I love keeping in touch with theClass of ‘06!” Mariel Frechette is now Lead Docent at Diane von Furstenberg’s Journey ofa Dress Exhibition. Molly Hannon is finishing with the City Year program in Providence asa corps member working at Governor Christopher Del Sesto Middle School. By the end ofJune she’ll begin classes working toward a master’s degree at Brown in their Urban Educa-tion Policy program. Tess Williams is finishing up her M.S. in engineering at ColumbiaUniversity. She is currently doing an internship for Lend Lease (one of the foremost con-struction and engineering firms), working on the residential building going up at 1 57thStreet in Manhattan, which will be the second tallest building in the city.

2007 Jay Greenfield, 74 Legare Street, Charleston, SC 29401, jayg763@aol.com

Amber Weinberg, P.O. Box 3114, Mashantucket, CT, 06338, aweinberg89@yahoo.com

2008James Crawford was enrolled in SEA Semester, a study abroad program through Sea Edu-cation Association in Woods Hole, MA, while away from studies at College of the Atlantic.James has successfully completed the Sea Semester’s six-week shore component, earningacademic credit for curriculum in oceanography, nautical science, and marine policy. Atthe program’s Woods Hole campus, James developed a research project that will be testedand completed aboard SEA’s 134’ sailing school vessel, the Robert C. Seamans, one of themost sophisticated research equipped vessels under sail in the US. James will sail on thetall ship from San Diego, with possible port stops in Nuka, Hiva, Marquesas Islands andFakarava, French Polynesia before arriving at the final destination of Papeete, Tahiti–ajourney of approximately 3,000 nautical miles and six weeks at sea. During that time, inaddition to collecting data for a research project, James provided weather observations toa national database, learned to chart the course of the vessel using celestial navigation,and served as the Junior Watch Office (JWO), taking full command of the vessel during awatch. Sam Hodgson is in his third year at the University of Chicago where he’s majoringin political science with a focus on international relations. James Stewart is a junior at theUniversity of South Carolina majoring in public relations and history. He is hoping to havea paid internship in NYC this summer at a PR firm. Emma Sutphen writes, “I’m happy toannounce that I’ll be traveling to Rwanda this summer for a month! I’m taking an anthro-pology course there and we will be visiting the National Park with a well-known primatolo-gist named Amy Vedder. Additionally, I was on the Dean’s List last semester, which I’mpretty happy about. I’m also applying to go to Kenya for the fall semester of my senioryear.” Cassidy Walsh is a junior at College of Charleston with a major in middle school ed-ucation. She wrote to sixth grade teacher Carol Roper, as she was developing a curriculumand wanted to use a project she remembered fondly from sixth grade at PPS. When askedwhat kind of school she sees herself working in, she replied, “One just like Pine Point.”Cody Williams was named to the 2013 fall semester Dean’s List at Ohio Wesleyan. He ismajoring in psychology and considering summer internships.

As he has done every year since his graduation, Charles Glew ’07stopped by the School to visit his former teachers and to see how thingswere doing at Pine Point. A senior at RPI, Charles is finishing up hisdegree in chemical engineering. Charles is going to grad school in thefall at RPI for a one-year program in entrepreneurship/productcommercialization. For now, down the road, it’s his preference to be onthe manufacturing side of things where, as he says, you can “really learnthings from the bottom up” before moving on to greater responsibilities.He is pictured with Interim Head of School Diana Owen.

Allen Davis ’07 is an astronomy major at Williams College. He wrote, “Itraveled to Gabon to observe the total solar eclipse of Nov. 3, 2013. Itwas an extraordinary experience scientifically and culturally. The oddswere against us because historically the weather in Gabon is very poorin November (their rainy season). Although it did rain briefly as themoon began to cover the sun, we had clear skies during totality (the 59seconds when the moon completely covers the sun). It was anunforgettable minute, and despite many last-minute logistical andtechnical difficulties, our expedition was a complete success. I am nowworking with a team of international collaborators to combine ourtotality images so that we can study the structure and motion of thesolar corona (the faint halo of gas that surrounds the sun and is easilyseen during a total eclipse). We were also lucky to capture two coronalmass ejections and one prominence in our images, and we plan to studythe motion of these features by comparing our images with others takenaround the world. One of my raw images of the inner corona wascombined with images of the sun’s surface and outer corona taken byspacecraft. This comprehensive ‘picture’ of the sun was published byNASA as their Astronomy Picture of the Day on Nov. 11.”

ViewPoints 54

uncan Brown ’08 reported on his exciting springsemester. “I am spending the spring at Kariega Game

Reserve in South Africa as an intern, and we are doing manyinteresting projects here. One is called the Birds in ReserveProject and entails identifying different bird species seenduring our time in the reserve. We work with multiple speciesin the reserve. One day, we tried to find elephants for theelephant monitor project. Normally we would use a sheet towrite down where we found the particular elephant andidentified it based on unique markings (e.g. scars, brokentusks, ear markings, etc.). Although we couldn’t find anyelephants the first day, we did find a small pride of lions. Therewas one male, two females, and two cubs. We were in our truckand literally drove to within five feet of the lions and we wereable to monitor them. The lion project is monitoring what preythey hunt and kill. The last few projects are the leopardmonitoring project, where we check photo traps and monitorleopards based upon the photos, the education/communitydevelopment projects, and the conservation project. Recently,for the conservation projects, we cut down invasive species oftrees in the South African bush. We walked around in lion andelephant country while cutting down these trees so we had tokeep our eyes open while working in case we come acrosseither of the two.

So far the volunteering is going great and the livingconditions are amazing. We drive around the reserve and get tosee so many animals while driving about. In just the first dayand a half I saw lions, wildebeest, jackals, kudu, antelopes,waterbuck, giraffes, zebras, and many birds. I keep running intolions on the reserve and love getting to see how they behave intheir natural environment. We tried tracking a rhino namedThandi (that was poached and survived her attack) with a radiocollar and radio signal tracker. I can say with full confidencethat I am having the time of my life and look forward to a greatprofession in this field. I will be here until May 2nd and thenmy mother will come to Tanzania and I will meet her over there,then we willproceed toKenya for abit as well. Ilove it hereand can’twait for therest of theprojects andanimals tocome myway.”

Jake Mortrude ’08 is a sophomore at CCRI, a two-year school. He has applied toURI, RIC, the University of Massachusetts and Lesley College to continue with hisundergraduate studies. Jake wants to be a teacher. Asked why, he said it’s cliche, buthe “wants to help people any way he can” and he thinks that “the education ofchildren should be a top priority.” In looking back on those teachers who stand out,he immediately goes back to his days at Pine Point. In describing specific qualities,he used the words “kindness” and “generosity.” Regarding Mrs. Dolphin, he admiressomeone who still has “the same spark and drive” she had when he was in herSpanish classroom. Of Ms. Iacoi, he said,” She doesn’t just teach art, it goes farbeyond that.” Before he started student teaching at Pine Point he was sure he wantedto be in a secondary school. He’s found that likes the enthusiasm of the youngerstudents, as “they don’t hold themselves back” in the classroom.

Jackson Hallberg ’08was in touch. “I’mmajoring inphotography atRhode Island Schoolof Design andconcentrating oncontemporarypractices inconceptual art. Mywork utilizes video,sculpture, andinstallation, andattempts to discussthe relationshipbetween analog andmodern, digitalmethods. I’m alsostudying psychologyat Brown University.”

D

ViewPoints 55

ture and art publication, about absorbing them and using their funding to pro-vide a more focused publication, but recently we have decided to pursue fund-ing on a different route. We are applying for the Ideas Grant, which wouldprovide Emmanuel and me each with $4,000 to produce our idea. We are cur-rently talking to the English board and I met recently with someone from theart department. The concept of the journal is to provide a quarterly issue thataddressees a specific existential question that everyone faces at some point intheir life. The journal is made up of a brief introduction/context/conclusionwritten by Emmanuel and me, and the body of the journal is composed of sub-missions from anyone willing to participate. The submissions range from writ-ing and art, to photographs and audio submissions. We are currently workingon a prototype that we can present to different parties and possible investors.We collected a surprisingly enthusiastic amount of submissions from a diversegroup of people. What we are currently doing is storyboarding the issue andbuilding a physical copy of the prototype. We are also writing the applicationfor the grant, along with organizing other aspects of the idea.”

2011Shylia Barnes, 148 Mathewson Street, Unit 402, Jewett City, CT 06351,shylia.barnes@gmail.com

Cooper Feltes, 7 Bellaire Road, Niantic, CT 06371, cfeltes5@gmail.com

Shylia Barnes and Hannah Long excelled on the NFA field hockey team thispast fall. Hannah wrote, “We came in third behind Stonington and Killingly inthe Eastern CT Conference. We qualified seventh in states (as compared tofourteenth last year) and secured ourselves a home game against FairfieldWarde. Unfortunately, we did lose our state game so we did not advance. Ialso sprained my ankle pretty badly in the last minutes of the game. Two ofour players earned All-ECC First Team Honors (Emily Devito as midfielderand me as forward) as well as Megan Weir, a junior who received second teamHonorable Mention, which is exciting news! Overall we finished 10-6 with 3overtime losses, which is the best our coach has ever done! I am really, reallysad it’s over for good!” Nolan Burkholder was a winner of the 2013 SaintMichael’s College Book Award for academic achievement with a social con-science. Marion Philippe was involved at The Williams School this past holi-day season in raising money for local charities to benefit the needy both inNew London and Haiti. As of the end of March Victoria White was trying todetermine whether she will enroll at Harvard or Stanford in the fall. She alsowon a national poetry award. Victoria won "best in grade" for writing in theScholastic Arts and Writing Awards as a junior in 2013, and also picked up anational Young Arts award for poetry the same year. She was published in theKenyon Review in 2012 and The Nearest Poem Anthology in February. Herlarger passion is focused on genetics and economics.

2009 Anna Holt, 43 Barnes Road, Stonington, CT 06378, annaholt860@gmail.com

Kyle Sebastian, 65 Coachman Pike, Ledyard, CT 06339,bradliereels@gmail.com

Hannah Staley, 156 Long Wharf Road, Mystic, CT 06355,hstaley245@gmail.com

Eleanor Hilton is doing well at Colgate and has secured a science-related in-ternship for the summer at the university. Kimmie Meneo continues to enjoylife at Connecticut College. She remains focused on her studies in Englishand environmental science. (Her professor for the latter was Dr. Page Owen,husband of Interim Head of School Diana Owen.) Last summer, among otherthings, Kimmie worked for Save the Bay in their Westerly office. Julie Philippewrote, “I am a sophomore at Barnard College and I will soon be declaring amajor in biochemistry. I absolutely love going to school in New York, al-though my major often does not allow for me to go out and explore the cityas much as I would love to, I still sometimes find the time to attend perform-ances at Lincoln Center and see New York City Ballet. I have recently devel-oped a passion for dance, so I’m involved in a few dance groups at Columbiaand take dance classes, and in my free time, I tutor kids at a local communitycenter and volunteer at the hospital right next to Columbia.” Lydia Schulz is asophomore at Tufts majoring in environmental science and architecture. Sheis very involved outside of the classroom working with young women in localhigh schools. At one of the schools (in Lynn, MA) she’s talked with 9th gradegirls about preventing teenage pregnancy. In another program, she spent af-ternoons with young women doing a host of things including each day talkingabout a different woman of excellence. Kate Scott has been invited to partici-pate with the USA Athletes International Field Hockey Team to compete atthe 34551 Scottish Field Hockey Freedom Tour in Scotland in May.

2010Amita Bose has been awarded the prestigious Schupf Scholarship fromAmherst, which will enable her to conduct independent research during herfour years of undergraduate study. Amita graduated from The Williams Schoolwith many honors, including being a member of the Cum Laude Society. Shewas also an AP Scholar with Distinction, National Merit Scholar, and Mysticand Eastern Connecticut Chambers of Commerce Award for Valedictorians.Zoe Moffett is enjoying life at Colorado College studying forensic chemistryand ancient/classical Greek. Joseph Rosen wrote from UConn: “I have starteda literary journal called EXISTENSIA with my writing partner Emmanuel, whois a junior here at UConn. We are currently working to receive funding for theproject, and we discussed some ideas with the Free Press, an alternative cul-

For the second year in a row,the ninth grade had their OffCampus Study in Hawaii,staying for part of the time atHawaii Preparatory Academy(HPA) as they did last year.This year, the students andteachers were greeted byEmmanuel Perry ’12, who hastransferred there as a student.E (far right) poses withJulianna Rick ’14, BriannaSeidel ’14, Mia Marciano ’14,Maddie Hurtgen ’14, andAndrew Hilton ’14. E alsocaught up with teachers JonMitchell and JeannieWilliams.

Not to be outdone by herbrother, E, Mia Perry ’13 gotsome Pine Point love in March,when former history teacherGary Williams and his wife,dance instructor JeannieWilliams, visited with Mia atStevenson School in California.They report that she “is happy,healthy, and very busy atStevenson.” As for the schoolitself, Gary reports, “What aschool! Location, location,location!”

Thea Nedvins ’13 wrote, “So far mytime in Chicago has been great!Before I was accepted into theChicago Academy for the Arts (CAA)I spent my freshman year at Oak Parkand River Forest (OPRF) HighSchool, but then moved to Geneva, ILover the summer. Geneva is about anhour from CAA and I have to take thetrain into Chicago and get homearound 6:00 pm. It is incrediblytiring, but worth it.

In addition to my training at CAAI have taken classes at Second CityChicago, which is one of the mostwell-known theatre schools (primarilyknown as being training forcomedians such as the actors onSaturday Night Live). One of theactors from SNL, Cecily Strong,actually went to both OPRF and CAA.

I was the stage manager for myschool’s production of The Comedyof Errors in the spring. Since I beganat CAA, I have been introduced to somany other aspects of theatre otherthan acting, i.e. stagecraft,play/screen writing, script analysis,movement for the actor, voice, etc.My training has given me a newfoundappreciation for all the hard work thatgoes into the production of a show on and off stage.Not only are the students at my school given opportunities to perform in plays, but also small film productions.The Media Arts department casts actors from the school to be in their original films and our department headinforms us of outside auditions in Chicago. I feel so lucky to go to a school like CAA. I am grateful for myacademic and artistic education as well as my incredible teachers that care about our success in and out ofschool more than anything.”

Eliza Griffin ’13 sent along this photo of her with John Rick ’12when John’s Avon Old Farm basketball team traveled toBerkshire for a game.

2012Andrew Bronk, 14 Bobwhite Lane, East Lyme, CT06333, andrewbronk@gmail.com

Kara Falck, 91 Montauk Avenue, Stonington, CT06378, ffalck1@gmail.com

Two members of Pine Point’s Pouncing Panthers JumpRope Team were chosen to march in the Macy’sThanksgiving Day Parade as part of a group of over200 jumpers from across the country jumping underthe acronym J.U.M.P. (Jumpers United for Macy’s Pa-rade). Kiona Carter and Schyler Davis joined the otherjumpers on November 26 for two days of intense prac-tice before taking to the 2.5-mile route. A group of 72jumpers performed a choreographed routine when theparade stopped in front of Macy’s. Kiona and Schylerwere not part of that group. It’s only fitting that Kionaand Schyler represented the Pouncing Panthers in theparade. They are the two remaining original memberswho continue to jump, and have been performing sincethey were in 4th grade! Since then, the team has com-peted in regional or national championships every year.Schyler was also part of an effort at The WilliamsSchool to raise money to provide fuel to a charity inNew London, certainly a welcome gesture during thislast winter. Kara Falck wrote, “Junior year is one of thehardest years at Berkshire. This year I’m taking sevenclasses. I doubled up on science (physics and environ-mental science) because I hope to get into AP Bio nextyear. I’m also really enjoying my AP government class,and I have continued to take French at Berkshire.”

2013Eliza Griffin, 212 Cove Road, Stonington, CT 06378,elizagriffin2@gmail.com

Mia Perry, 2 Elizabeth Court, Mystic, CT 06355,aimmia@mac.com

ViewPoints 56

ViewPoints 57

Charles “Chet” Cottrell Buffum, a pastparent and President of the Pine PointBoard of Trustees, died on February10, 2014 at his home in Westerly, RIsurrounded by his family. Chet at-tended Pomfret School and graduatedfrom the Hatch School in 1948. Hegraduated from Trinity College in 1952with a bachelor’s degree in history.After college, he served in the U.S.Infantry 2nd Division, 9th Regimentof the U.S. Army in the Korean Waron the front lines. His early careerwas in the hotel business, including the Buffum family’s WeekapaugInn. In 1956, he joined Washington Trust as a loan officer, moving upthe ranks to become executive vice president. He served at the bankuntil 1972, when he founded the Buffum Realty Company. Whilebuilding his realty practice, he served on the Washington Trust boardand ran Buffum Cottages Inc., a real estate rental business. Duringhis banking and real estate careers, he also helped his brother, Bob,with many of the off-season duties involved with running the Weeka-paug Inn. He retired in 1996.

Chet was community minded, and active in many local civic or-ganizations, most notably Westerly AED, an organization he co-founded. Friends and an Automated External Defibrillator (AED)saved his life during a cardiac arrest on the tennis court in Septem-ber 2002. As a result of that experience, Chet dedicated his time toraising funds to place AEDs throughout Westerly, eventually placingover 100 of the life-saving machines with local emergency respondersand at various beaches, churches, sport clubs, and community build-ings. For that effort, Westerly was named the first Heart Safe town in

the State of Rhode Island. He was also an avid golfer and tennisplayer, and served on the board of governors and as treasurer of theMisquamicut Club.

He was also devoted to Pine Point, serving on the board oftrustees from 1965 to 1973. It was toward the end of that tenure,when he was serving as president of the board, that the School inMarch of 1973 dedicated the Sindall Wing in honor of former Headof School Jack Sindall. The creation of that space (which is now en-compassed within the DeMovick Early Childhood Center) marked asignificant development in the growth of Pine Point. Regarding theirlife-long connection with Pine Point, his wife, Jane, wrote, “He wasalways very committed to Pine Point and we constantly thank theSchool for the great start for all of our children.”

He is survived by his wife, Jane M. Buffum; his children, Frederick’72, Charles ’75, and Sarah Prud’homme ’78 and their families, plusfive grandchildren, including Mallie Buffum ’06.

Chet extends his congratulations to a new Pine Point graduate.

Jenny Dunn Lassen, a past parent and former President of the Board of Trustees, passed away inFlorida on March 3, 2014, at the age of 92, due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease. She at-tended the Williams Memorial Institute, graduated from Sacred Heart School in Noroton, and re-ceived her bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College in 1941. She also graduated from the KatherineGibbs Secretarial School in Boston. Jenny came back to southeastern Connecticut to work as theplacement director for Connecticut College for three years. She returned to Katherine Gibbs, whereshe worked for seven years as its admissions and placement director, a job which gave her the oppor-tunity to travel throughout the northeast. She married Grover V. Lassen Jr. on July 25, 1952; hepassed away in 1992.

As an active volunteer, she achieved several firsts for women. Many times she was the first womanon a board of directors and in leadership positions. She served as president of Catholic Charities ofSoutheastern Connecticut and vice president of the Board of Managers of Lawrence + Memorial

Milestones-David C.Hannon, Director of Development

ViewPoints 58

Hospital in New London, where she served as a volunteer inthe emergency room for more than 40 years and was presi-dent of the Hospital Auxiliary. She was also active in manyother organizations both in Connecticut and the Sarasota,FL area, where she and her husband had moved in 1982.

She served as a trustee on the Pine Point board through-out the 1960s. In her later years on the board, she served assecretary before assuming the presidency. In 1967-68, PinePoint initiated the Annual Fund. (In its first year, the AnnualFund raised $9,180.) Two years later, in reaching out to par-ents asking them to consider support of the effort, Jennywrote, “All privately supported institutions…must rely heav-ily upon endowment income and annual gifts. Many of theyounger and smaller schools, lacking any endowment, de-pend entirely upon tuition income and gifts. Pine Point isone of these…The kind of education a child receives duringhis early years greatly influences his success in meeting laterchallenges…Quality education never wears out…With yourhelp, Pine Point will continue to give its students the kindof education they need and deserve.”

Reflecting on her life, Ellen Humphreville McGuire ’68wrote, “I only spent one year at Pine Point, and what a won-derful year it was. Mrs. Lassen warmly welcomed me as didMary–I became a regular at their house on Willow Point.”

She is survived by three daughters, Mary M. Lassen ’68, Ann DunnLassen ’70, and Jane Lassen Bobruff ’75, along with their families that in-clude Jane’s husband, Neal M. Bobruff ’73, two grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.

Jenny (far right) reviews plans at the groundbreaking of what would be the newPrimary Grades Building, which is now the Campbell Building. She is shown withIrene Nicholas (left) and Helen Brewster. The photo is from the 1968 yearbook.

Linda Gail Mitchell passed away on April 16, 2014 in Fayet-teville, GA. She was preceded in death by her beloved hus-band, former Pine Point Head of School Richard (Dick)Mitchell. After graduating from Sioux Falls College, Lindajoined her husband for the first of their many adventures—from Rochester, NY, to Stonington, and finally toAtlanta, GA.

Linda was a social studies teacher, and, following a re-warding teaching career in Groton, CT, and 19 years as amiddle school teacher at Woodward Academy in CollegePark, GA, she hap-pily retired in 2007. A member of SandySprings ChristianChurch, she was an en-thusiastic volunteer onvarious mission trips.

She was always ready to help others and believed strongly in givingback. Following Dick’s death in 2012, she began volunteering at South-west Christian Hospice Care, simply to give back to the place and peo-ple who took loving care of her husband in his final days.

Linda’s passing prompted alumni and friends to reach out to theSchool. Kimmie Ross ’73 wrote, “She was a great teacher. Among otherthings, she brought to our attention the fight for civil rights that wastaking place all around us as we attended our happy little school day inand day out.” Sandy Walton remembered Linda as “a lovely lady [who]complemented Dick. They will be remembered fondly by many.”

One of her truepassions was

golf (or, “goof,” asshe had taken to

calling the game).The photo showshow close she re-cently came to a

hole-in-one.

ViewPoints 59

Linda had a huge heart. In the end, her heart stopped to bring her home to God, andto Dick. She is survived by her children, Eric ’83 and his wife, Marci, and Todd ’85 and hiswife, Tracy; her granddaughter, Samantha (sweet pea), whom she adored; and her brothers,Mark and Mike, and their families.

We had such a great andeasy friendship all theseyears. Linda was a bornteacher and a committedChristian. She was not in-terested in the theology ofthe liturgy; she was com-mitted to doing the worksof righteousness, compas-sion, and generosity. St.Francis of Assisi once said,“preach the gospel all thetime; if necessary usewords.” That certainly wastrue of Linda’s way of livingher faith. She will bemissed by many and theworld has been blessed.-Rev. Dr. Lynne C. Holden

It is with great sadness thatwe report the passing ofCharlie Wright on April 25,2014. As was the case for thelast six years, Charlie wassupported and surroundedby his immediate family aftercourageously battling cancersince 2008.

In alerting the faculty tohis passing, Interim Head ofSchool Diana Owen wrote,“Many of us had the goodfortune to work with CharlieWright as the Director of Fa-cilities at Pine Point. His care for our school was only second to thecare he provided our students and faculty. Although his aim was tomake sure the facilities were both functional and beautiful, his objec-tive was to create a safe and comfortable setting that worked prima-

Christmas Day2010 with TracyMitchell, Todd

Mitchell ’85, EricMitchell ’83,

Marci Mitchell,Dick, and

granddaughter,Samantha

rily for teaching and learning. His concern for each child and eachstaff member and the role they played at our school was evident toeveryone. Charlie helped create the school we work in today, and allof us benefit from his 18 years of labor and love.”

Not surprisingly, soon after the word got out about Charlie folksbegan sharing their thoughts on this beloved man. Past parent BruceHolstein immediately wrote, “While I was on the board, I had manyopportunities to work with Charlie. I have never had the pleasureagain of working with someone who was as enjoyable to work with ashe was. Not only was he a great guy, but he knew everything going onwith the plant, and I learned a great deal from him. Pine Point hastruly lost a great friend and asset to the School.”

Ruth Saunders and her family had recently moved to Stoningtonfrom England and were experiencing the “joys” of winter in New Eng-land. She recalled those early days: “We had been in our house onNorth Main Street for about two months when we awoke to severalinches of snow on our driveway. We shoveled for about an hour andthen Charlie pulled up in his truck, with Debbie and Matt ’98, andhelped us out. ‘I knew you were new here’ was what he said. He was avery kind man. We remember him with gratitude and affection.”

A Huge Heart

He had a huge heart which he shared so generously with all of us. He will be sorely missed for hissmile, his kindness, his deep caring, helpfulness and attention to detail always. –Alice Groton

ViewPoints 60

Charlie’s start at Pine Point coincided with that of Head ofSchool Margie Field. Thinking back to 1990, she wrote, “I’m sittinghere reading the news of Charlie with tears as no one will everknow all the things that he did those first years at Pine Point. Somany areas of the School were in need of attention and Charlie justtook the bull by the horns and said “we’re going to get this placehumming.” Truckloads of junk came out of the basement, wallswere painted, jobs reorganized, etc. He was a prince of a man, andI cannot believe he is gone.”

Each year, on the last Friday in April, Pine Point welcomes itsgrandparents/grandpersons to the School; it’s always one of thehighlights of the year. It wasn’t lost on anyone that Charlie hadpassed away on Grandparents’ Day. Long-time past parent and for-mer trustee Patience Banister offered a comforting view on that re-ality. “I think it makes perfect sense–Charlie fought long and hardto gain years of living and knowing his grandchildren that no doc-tor would have predicted for him. I have a wonderful picture in mymind of Charlie in his rocking chair surrounded by those grand-children, at the party in the library we held back in December 2012to honor him, and another picture of Charlie, with his notebook inhand, getting everything organized for Grandparents’ Day yearafter year. He was a treasure for all of us.”

Charlie was the beloved husband for 43 years of his highschool sweetheart, E. Deborah Wright of Stonington. In ad-dition to his long connection with Pine Point through hiswork, he also felt a deep and enduring sense of pride andgratitude that all four of his children were graduates of ourschool. In addition to his wife, Debbie, Charlie is survivedby their four children, Heather Wright ’87 and her husband,Jon Ford, Julie DelPrado ’89 and her husband, Juan, ErinWright ’91, and Matthew Wright ’98; along with five grand-children, Diego ’19, Joaquin ’21 and Lorenzo DelPrado ’23,and Morrison and Annalise Ford, who all adored their “Digi”and brought great joy and comfort to his life. He also is sur-vived by his brother, Robin Wright. Charlie considered hisvery greatest accomplishment in life to be his family whomhe loved and cherished.

Pine Point remains dearto Charlie’s heart. In thatspirit, in lieu of flowers,Charlie requested that con-tributions be made to PinePoint in support of the en-dowment fund at Pine Point.[Those wishing to make theirgift online can go to theSchool’s website to maketheir contribution.]

I remember the very first time we metCharlie. He took us to Pine Point oneevening so we could see where he worked–he was so proud of the school. I am sure wewill visit the family again in the near futureand if we have the opportunity to pass byPine Point again. How like him to want hislegacy to help future generations!

-Carolyn Lofkin

With his beloved Jellybean

Front: Matt ‘98, Erin ‘91, Juan DelPrado; Back: Heather ‘87 holding Morrison,Jon Ford, Diego ‘19, Julie ‘89 holding Lorenzo ‘23, Charlie, and Debbie holdingJoaquin ‘21

Charlie and Debbie with grandchildren Diego ’19, Lorenzo ’23,Annalise, Morrison, and Joaquin ’21

ince its founding in 1948, Pine Point has enjoyedthe goodwill and concern of so many who care

deeply about a place that past grandparent ParkerRice recently referred to as “this great little school.”

It’s heartening to think there are hundreds of peoplewho are there with us every step of the way, ready tolend a hand, to provide that critical support. Inshort, “to have our back.” Preschooler Haley Krug ’25knows she can always count on her grandfather,David Krug, to be there for her.

The success of the Annual Fund is critically important to thehealth of our school, of your school. It supports everything fromclassroom instruction to the arts and athletic programs to theupkeep of our beautiful campus.

In making her first Annual Fund gift, Bailey Briggs ’04 explainedthe motivation in acting this year. “I received the email from Ms.Owen about all the teachers who were stepping up and takingon new roles and it just tugged at my heartstrings; I was reallyproud of my school. I’ve been meaning to make a donation forages, and I’m so happy to do so, though I could never supportthe school the way it supported me. Keep up the good work–itgoes without saying what a special place Pine Point is.”

ThisGreatLittleSchool

Alumni, current and past parents,grandparents, faculty and staff, trustees, andfriends are all determined to do their part tomake sure Pine Point is just as good as it canbe. To date, 460 donors have made gifts tothe Annual Fund totaling $302,000!

The school year is drawing to a close, buteveryone at Pine Point is focused onfinishing the year off strongly. An AnnualFund record is within reach. Help us to finishoff the year strongly by making a generousgift to the Annual Fund.

We Cultivate Strong Minds and Caring Hearts.

S

Pine Point School89 Barnes RoadStonington, CT 06378-2200

Change Service Requested

Pine Point pays the U.S. Postal Service a fee forevery magazine not deliverable as addressed.Please help us manage our costs by informing theSchool of any change of address of members ofthe Pine Point family.

Covers: After a long winter, it was wonderful to see flowersand trees in bloom, whether it was the artistry of the stu-dents (like the watercolor painted by Eleanor Gustavel ’16)or the beauty of the Alicia Z. Russell Memorial Garden.