e Blue Doors Nightingale-Bamford SchoolVolume … · The Class VIII Memorial Project has become an integral part of the eighth-grade curriculum. THE BLUE DOORS Volume 12, Issue 1

FALL 2017 1

÷e Blue Doors TheNightingale-Bamford SchoolVolume 12Issue 1Fall 2017

2 THE BLUE DOORS FALL 2017 1

Going Beyond Barriers With the new strategic plan comes an updated mission statement for Nightingale.

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Contents4 8 10

22 | HallwaysStories and photographs from around the schoolhouse

37 | Class Notes

44 | Voices

Their Happy PlaceStudent speakers at Convocation 2017 reflect on what Nightingale means to them.

If You Build It After just one year, the Lauder Family Black Box Theater has more than delivered on its promise.

Read, Walk, WriteEnglish Department Head Brad Whitehurst reflects upon his sabbatical and shares some of the poetry he created during his time away.

16 | Reunion 2017Alumnae celebrate Nightingale and each other at Reunion 2017.

20 | Class of 2017Congratulations to our most recent graduates!

14 | History and LegacyThe Class VIII Memorial Project has become an integral part of the eighth-grade curriculum.

THE BLUE DOORSVolume 12, Issue 1Fall 2017

A biannual publication of The Nightingale-Bamford School20 East 92nd StreetNew York, New York 10128nightingale.org

We would like to hear from you! Letters to the editor, story suggestions, corrections, and questions may be directed to [email protected]. If you have a class note to share, please submit it via our online form at nightingale.org/sharenews.

DESIGNPentagram

LAYOUTCZ Design

PRINTING AND MAIL INGAllied Printing Services

PHOTOGRAPHYAll photography courtesy of subject, unless otherwise noted:

Cover, foreword, black box theater, and Class of 2017 by Matthew Septimus

Their Happy Place, History and Legacy (group photo), and Voices by Susan Tilson

Read, Walk, Write by Brad Whitehurst

History and Legacy (individual photos) and alumnae mother-daughter photo by Terecille Basa-Ong

Reunion 2017 by Jennifer Taylor

Hallways: Opening photo by Amanda Goodwin Sydney Ireland by Yasmeen Khan, WNYC Bridgette Radebe, Carol Weston, Bennette Lecture, industry reading, Class IV mindfulness, new faces, and Jordan Polycarpe by Susan Tilson Class VIII English by Sherwyn Smith Class III Skype, Cum Laude, Homecoming (US pep rally) by Terecille Basa-Ong Hutcheson Hall dedication by Victoria Jackson Latin Scholars by Panayotes Dakouras Silhouette project by Andrea Kassar Homecoming (with Nighthawk) by Kim Skrobe P’23 Homecoming (soccer) by David Byrnes Homecoming (volleyball) by Michael Happel P’19 P’21

On the cover: Noa Colman ’30


FOREWORD

Going Beyond Barriers

It is late fall and the Ks, our newly arrived and already beloved Class of 2030, have two pressing assignments. The first? A Halloween costume for the annual schoolhouse parade. The second? Two tied shoes. The end of October has consistently been the time when our youngest girls are asked to cross this barrier, a small rite of passage. As any parent of a young one can attest, there is nothing intuitive about tying shoes. You are asked to integrate the cognitive with the kinesthetic to complete a soon-to-be mindless and everyday task that demands more of you than many other forms of adult independence—like navigating an iPhone, for example. For teachers, a classroom full of students who can self-manage their own shoe-tying means that they can direct more of their time and attention to literacy, math facts, and the scientific method. And for the students? What they get is even more important: a new—and sometimes hard-earned—level of independence. Barrier crossed, and confidence gained.

This is a small and hardly unexpected moment. No one doubts that our students will learn how to tie their shoes. But as tempting as it can be to focus on grand moments of achievement worthy of our celebration—such as college acceptances, test scores on national exams, and victories and performances in public arenas—more often genuine gains come to students in a series of small moments that, when taken together, reveal the bedrock of our educational philosophy.

Another example. At a recent Upper School faculty meeting, Mr. Goede, our dynamic music department chair, said that he stopped a chorus rehearsal recently and told the girls that their efforts and their music in that moment were merely average. “And you,” he continued, “are so much more than that. Let’s do it again.” The girls, per Mr. Goede, rose to the challenge and produced a sound that was markedly better. The reason? They knew that they had a teacher who cared about them and their work. Mr. Goede inspired his students to achieve new heights because his high expectations were buttressed by a relationship grounded in mutual respect. This is what our best teachers do: they see something in students that they may not even see in themselves, and then they give them the opportunity to get there on their own—resulting in a confidence boost that can only come from going beyond barriers. This time the members of Upper School Chorus crossed that barrier together, building connections as well as confidence.

Earlier this year, we introduced our new strategic plan, First Things First, to the Nightingale community. The plan’s title comes from a line in Miss Nightingale’s first Commencement address, in which she asked the Class of 1925—all five of them—to “discriminate, to put first things first, to avoid crowding out things that really matter by things that do not matter.” With these words in mind, we have worked this fall to carry out the first charge of the new plan—crafting and adopting a new mission statement for our school, which incorporates insights gained from the strategic planning process.

To be effective, the new mission had to be true—to identify what really matters. When we now proudly claim that the mission of our school is “to inspire girls to go beyond barriers,” we are pulling both from Miss Nightingale and the everyday moments in our classrooms to make a bold statement about the lasting difference that a Nightingale education makes in the lives of our students.

Tied to our mission is a broader vision of “students who are joyful learners who have the intellectual depth and courage to be critical thinkers, compassionate citizens, and agents of their own lives.” We owe this to the girls, and they then can pay it forward, championing “equity for the betterment of all.” Underlying these ambitions lies a familiar formula—educating girls’ hearts and minds—and, in so doing, “infusing their lives with meaningful relationships, teaching them to value difference as a source of strength and means of growth, and empowering them to question the status quo with confidence, empathy, resilience, and reason.”

I have long believed that the best schools are led by ideas first and people second, and I am confident in the strength and power of the ideas leading Nightingale today. As we move ever closer to the start of our school’s second century, we do so as an intentional, thoughtful community with a renewed, yet longstanding belief in the capacity of a well-educated heart and mind to go beyond barriers for the betterment of all.

Paul A. BurkeHead of School

FALL 2017 54 THE BLUE DOORS

Leilani Moise, Class VIIIWelcome back, everyone. I’m Leilani from Class VIII, as Mr. Burke kindly introduced earlier. As some of you may or may not know, I was new last year, and being the new girl, I was extremely shy. Although I had been to several different schools in the past, the thought of making new

friends AGAIN made me nervous. For probably the first month of school, I only spoke to the one person I knew pretty well before coming to Nightingale. I talked to her so much that many of our classmates would get us mixed up. Some people even thought we were twins! I had been especially nervous about making friends because most of the girls in my class had known each other for a while. I figured they already had their friend groups. After a while, I realized that in order for me to actually enjoy Middle School, I was going to have to step out of my comfort zone. When I finally began to talk to my classmates, I realized it wasn’t at all what I had thought. The girls were very accepting. I had decided that I was going to have to take risks and “be the one” throughout my time here at Nightingale, and in the future.

Helen Wood, Class IVThe first day of school is my favorite day of the school year. Walking the halls for the first time and seeing my friends after a long summer, not to mention going to new classes with new teachers, fills me with excitement. The first day of school sets the tone for the new year. Every

new year is a new journey—it is the start of a new impression. Who cares what you did last year? Today is the start of a new one. Why don’t you start with an upbeat attitude that can spread through the class within a minute? Every action through the first day echoes through the second day, and can last the whole year.

Nightingale is my happy place. I knew it was special from the moment I stepped into the Kindergarten. Joy is everywhere. Laughter spreads through the hallways, secret whispers spread through the classroom, and smiles run on the roof. What I love most is that I feel like I belong in

My coming up here to talk to all of you today is definitely out of my comfort zone, but you only live once! I intend to also participate in whitewater rafting on the Costa Rica Field Studies trip, which is something I’ve never done before, and to audition for upcoming school plays. Just like Ms. du Nouy’s motto for the Middle School: “There’s always one, be the one!” Taking a risk isn’t always a bad thing, so my advice to everyone here is to step out of your comfort zone every once in a while. You just might enjoy it.

this community. Coming back to school after the summer feels like I am coming home. And seeing all the familiar faces of teachers and staff feels like family. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. I hope that all the new girls and the Kindergarteners find the same joy that I have discovered behind the blue doors.

Their Happy PlaceStudents in Classes I–XII gathered with Nightingale’s faculty, staff, and special guests on September 8 for the annual Convocation exercises, which mark the official start of the new academic year. Despite their independent preparation, all three student speakers—Helen Wood ’26, Leilani Moise ’22, and Council President Sophie Osorio ’18—used their remarks, included below, to extol the strength of the Nightingale community, the importance of the people within it, and the exciting opportunities presented by the start of a new school year.

What I love most is that I feel like I belong in this community. Coming back to school after the summer feels like I am coming home.

Taking a risk isn’t always a bad thing, so my advice to everyone here is to step out of your comfort zone every once in a while.

SPRING 2017 76 THE BLUE DOORS

Sophie Osorio, Class XIIThis week marks a very special time for the Class of 2018, as well as the Class of 2030. For the Class of 2018, we had our last “first day” of orientation, last first day of reuniting with friends, and the last first walk up the stairs to our homerooms above. For the Class of 2030, they’ve just

completed their first “first day.” Now, during my week of “last firsts” and testing out new “firsts,” I was tempted to try out the new elevator privilege that we had just gained. I stopped in my tracks, however, when I saw a white-sneakered member of the Class of 2030 staring up at the world of people who are in the “five-foot range.” I bent down and decided to have a chat.

After a bit, I asked her, “What’s your favorite time of the year?”

I’ll be honest, I was expecting an answer similar to summer, because well, we just came back from break. I had follow-up questions in mind to keep her occupied during a busy, and maybe intimidating, display of student reunions and hugs in the lobby.

She turned to me as if the answer was plastered right across my forehead and said: SCHOOL!

School? I said. School.I have to say, although at first I was surprised that this

Kindergartener chose books and learning over sunshine and oceans, it all actually made sense. This student during her first-ever week of school reminded me of a quality that I have been so lucky to take for granted for the past 13 years.

We Nightingale girls love school.In fact, we love school so much that we come back to

the blue doors even when school isn’t in session! Upper Schoolers can agree with me on that one.

Now, if someone outside of Nightingale were to ask Mr. Burke why his students love school so much, the only way he’d really be able to explain this phenomenon would be by welcoming that person into our big blue doors.

The reason really is that our definition of school is not only reflected by the books in the library and the backpacks that line the second-floor hallway. School to us is the Latin class making up its own endings to the story of Cornelia, Marcus, and their family. It’s the in-between-classes-laughter by the agua fresca machine, or even the in-the-middle-of-class-meetings chuckles that force teachers to just pause—mid-sentence usually—and actually wonder how laugh attacks spread across 40 students in under 10 seconds!

We are constantly building connections, whether that be by talking to Chef Hinds-Ortiz about the next Asian action station or waiting outside of the deans’ offices for some candy and wisdom.

Each of us is so immersed in these friendships that we sometimes get lost in our classes and forget that our history class or our XYZ group is part of a grade, which is part of a collection of three divisions—Lower, Middle, and Upper.

When we come together, we mighty, 633 scholars make up the student body. The student body—together with our faculty, staff, parents, and alumnae—make up this school, which is clearly more precious to us than a season as coveted as summer.

We Nighthawks love our own definition of school and make sure that every moment is a connection being made, a relationship being strengthened, and trust being formed.

Each division creates an amazing world of its own through the course of the year, and I want to give you all some advice to kick off the new year.

Classes I through IV: Be ready to explore the WHOLE world within the walls of your classroom. Make sure to keep your eyes, ears, and minds wide open.

Classes V through VIII: Middle School! This is the time to expand your friendships, embrace the preteen years, and challenge yourselves inside the classroom. Just remember: the Nightingale sixth graders tend to be a little more mature than the Allen-Stevenson students.

Classes IX through XII: This year—whether it be your first, second, third, or last on the third floor—will be transformative in one way or another. Use each other and the faculty as a source of support, happiness, magic, you name it.

Faculty: Well, this is a position I have not yet been a part of here at Nightingale, but I can say this: We know that you could enjoy the sweet sounds of silence and comfort in the faculty workroom, but the sounds of giggling students stopping you mid-tracks to just “hang out” are clearly sweeter AND bring you more comfort and joy. In reality, you deserve our biggest thanks. It’s your physics curve balls and your urges to “elaborate” that make us strong students, nuanced thinkers, and good people.

Nightingale girls are lucky. Although most seasons last just three months, our favorite will last for the next nine. So, enjoy every morning handshake from Mr. Burke, every Shakespeare play we act out, and every goal we score, on and off the field.

We Nighthawks love our own definition of school, and we make sure that every moment is a connection being made, a relationship being strengthened, and trust being formed.


By David Byrnes and Terecille Basa-OngAt the beginning of the twentieth century, avant garde directors and playwrights tested the boundaries of traditional European theater. In particular, they began challenging the concept of the performance space, which had largely been confined to proscenium-style theaters since the time of ancient Greece. By the time the experimental theater movement emerged in the 1960s, all manner of spaces became potential stages—from cafes, to churches, to storefronts. What emerged was a new type of performance space: the black box.

A black box theater is typically a large square room stripped down to its essentials. As the name suggests, it is designed almost entirely in black and most often has four plain walls and a level floor. This creates the most neutral setting possible, allowing for a wide variety of staging and set design options and providing the most flexibility for audience seating arrangements.

Nightingale’s most recent schoolhouse expansion project included the construction of a black box theater, which was envisioned as a place where students could drive the creative process. Completed in time for the start of the 2016–2017 school year and named in honor of its generous benefactors, the Lauder Family Black Box Theater has become, in just one year, a sought-after performing arts space that has given students the freedom and opportunity to realize their own creative vision.

For Eleanor Greene ’17, the black box theater allowed her to stage two productions during her senior year. First, she produced and directed This is Happening Now, a series of four

one-act plays by Meghan Brown, which went up in January. Then, she collaborated with Composer-in-Residence Dr. Sarah Taylor Ellis on a production of Chiara Atik’s Women, which she both co-directed and choreographed. Both plays featured student involvement in all aspects of the production, from acting and directing to stage managing, marketing, and sound and lighting design.

The best part about the black box, according to Eleanor, is that “it asks for a new kind of theater—one more modern and intimate.” She explains that the small open nature of the space allows for plays to be done “on a much lower scale—with less need for sets, costuming, and lights than seems necessary in the auditorium.” The benefit of such a pared-down production, she adds, is that “it allowed me and my casts to focus more on the acting and performance aspects of the show, rather than worrying about filling a large stage with a set.”

Dr. Ellis agrees, stating that the black box lends itself to “a different type of theater, true to a black box space, that’s minimal in terms of staging, where everyone is on stage the entire time. It’s ensemble-driven storytelling that wouldn’t be possible in the auditorium.” The staging of Women, for example, could only have been done in the black box, she explains, as “everyone was sitting on the floor to create the intimate environment, which was radically different from the auditorium.”

In addition to its function as a performance space, the black box theater is in constant use as a classroom throughout the day, and teachers have found that it is a space that allows students’ creativity to flow, sometimes in ways that surprise them.

Envisioned from its inception as a flexible, multipurpose space that would allow students to develop their creative voice through their own projects and uses, the Lauder Family Black Box Theater has more than delivered on its promise after just one year.

If You Build It

For example, when Dr. Ellis’s Class V composition classes started meeting in the black box once in every eight-day schedule cycle, she found that her students benefited from having the freedom to move around. “The cool thing I didn’t expect is that the girls would be on their feet, improvising and singing while composing,” she says. “It became a process that was so necessary to have an open space for: one person [recorded] on an iPad while the other waltzed around and sang, and then they decided which parts were catchy, which they liked or didn’t like, and revised from there.” She adds that “the black box was really inspiring and ideal for the process that worked for them. It all happened organically.” In short, she says, “It’s an incredibly inspiring space for students, since the black box is a real theater. Once students enter, they get excited to create, [and] … they’re excited about the fact that there’s student ownership in the space.”

This pride of student ownership took hold almost immediately, especially among Upper School students. In addition to student-led productions, the Upper School Arts Board held their annual coffeehouse in the black box last spring, and co-head Xixi Wang ’18 commented that “the acoustics were better, the room was more spacious, and the lighting was amazing.” She added, “The black box has given students inspiration to put on their own productions, and I definitely hope to see more of that in the future.” Eleanor Greene ’17, who co-led Arts Board with Xixi in the 2016–2017 school year, felt that holding the coffeehouse in the black box gave it “a more serious feel, [which maintained] the intimacy and sense of community the coffeehouse aims to achieve.”

She also has high hopes for the space in general, seeing its potential to “bring a fresh and exciting performance culture that is necessary to any community willing to grow artistically and intellectually.”

The power of the black box has been felt in the Middle School, as well. Class VIII composition students wrote an original musical based on Claire Legrand’s novel The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, and the entire class participated in a staged reading of the musical, which ran in the black box for two nights at the end of the school year. Middle School students also used the space for their semi-annual grade-wide “Open Mic” sessions, in which students showcase their musical talents for their peers in a casual and supportive environment. Dr. Ellis noted that even those informal performances benefited from being held in a more professional setting.

In many ways, the Lauder Family Black Box Theater is the quintessential Nightingale space: it is student-centered, adaptable, and innovative, inspiring girls to push against boundaries and use their voices. In addition, it fosters the relationships and strong sense of community that are at the core of the Nightingale experience. The black box “provides a sense of intimacy in anything that is happening within it, whether it be a performance or a morning meeting,” says Eleanor. It is the “perfect place for everyone to come together more casually and very comfortably.”

SPRING 2017 1110 THE BLUE DOORS

By Brad WhitehurstMy sabbatical last spring was deliberately stripped to its essentials. Unplugged for long stretches, I filtered the 24/7 news cycle and tuned out what passed for political discourse in Washington. As the weeks unfolded, I found it easier to read long books, walk for miles, and write for hours. Yet I also found that our national story, even when held at arm’s length, has a way of infiltrating a writer’s notebook.

One writing moment arrived at Wildacres Retreat, a conference center in western North Carolina, which offers juried residencies to visual artists, musicians, and writers. I had been awarded a mid-May week in a cabin located less than a mile from Little Switzerland, which straddles the Blue Ridge Parkway. The play of the elements—dappled light, breezes, passing showers—fascinated as I sat at my window-side desk and wrote. Meals in the main lodge provided daily human contact. At night, the profound solitude was sometimes eerie, the silence punctuated by squirrels skittering in the rafters or an ominous acorn falling—bang!—on the shingled roof. Only later did I learn of Wildacre’s darker origins.

The retreat was founded in the 1920s by Thomas Dixon, a lawyer, preacher, and legislator. Dixon is best known as the author of The Clansman, a 1905 novel made into The Birth of a Nation, the film that glorified the Reconstruction era and fueled a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan. In a curious twist, Dixon used proceeds from the film to buy land in the North Carolina mountains and create an arts colony.

When asked about the Dixon connection, the Wildacres staff did not shy from their history; indeed, they warmed to the subject, their ironic chuckles suggesting that the past is the past. As a Southern expatriate born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, I was not so convinced. One staffer quipped that Dixon had given birth not to a nation, but to a failed arts haven bought in a Depression-era fire sale. It would take Charlotte businessman I. D. Blumenthal—a Jew, no less!—to buy the place and fulfill Dixon’s vision; in fact, the Blumenthal family underwrites much of Wildacres to this day. As a sign on the property reads, Wildacres (elevation 3,300 feet) is

“a conference center dedicated to the betterment of human relations” to be “used by educational and cultural groups… and religious, interfaith, civic, and science seminars.” I puzzled over this checkered heritage as I trekked back to my cabin on a path punctuated by rhododendrons and twig-and-bark sculptures.

Hiking at Wildacres reminded me of even more spectacular surroundings from my previous summer, when my husband, Alan, and I had toured the Yellowstone/Grand Tetons area. Like so many before me, I had fallen in love with the landscape. As my obsession for Yellowstone has grown, so has my bedside pile of books on the park’s history, topography, and geology.

In 1871, geologist Ferdinand Hayden led the first expedition to survey a remote, unexplored area of the Wyoming Territory. His work prompted Congress to pass

Read, Walk, Write:A Sabbatical’sEssentialsEnglish Department Head Brad Whitehurst spent the spring semester of the 2016–2017 academic year on sabbatical, allowing him time away from Nightingale to step back, reflect, and write.

The view from Wildacres Retreat in western North Carolina


Caption

the Yellowstone Park Protection Act of 1872, which declared the area “set apart as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people”—thus creating the world’s first national park. In 1916, the National Park Service was established, which today (according to its website) manages and operates 417 areas of more than 84 million acres in every state and territory and receives more than 275 million visitors annually.

Hayden had invited his former geology professor at Oberlin College, George Allen, to join the expedition. Fortunately for posterity, Allen kept a journal of his journey by train (the first transcontinental railroad having been completed two years before) and then by mule-drawn caravan. As the expedition threaded its arduous way north, the aging Allen was physically unable to keep up and had to turn back before the group entered Yellowstone proper.

Back in my cabin, I read about the birth of a divided nation in Allen’s journals. Soon I found myself refashioning excerpts from his writing into my own twelve-line stanzas. Here are the first two:

The golden spike was sunk in Promontorytwo years ago. Today I ride the railroad westfrom Omaha to Cheyenne, then on to Ogden.

In the valley of the Platte where gentle slopesof yellow marl allow for cultivation,farms are mushrooming one to five miles backfrom the trestle tracks. Saws buzz and hammers poundas brand-new towns spring up around the depots.Along the ballast beds are bleached-out skullsand skeletons of horses, cattle, buffalocollapsed from heat or hunger, shot and leftto rot, detritus from the wagon trains.

As our train was idling in a station, Indiansbelonging to the nearby reservationroved the platform, begging change. They weredecently albeit grotesquely clad.The eye of the Indian is dark, deceitful,neither a stare nor an index of indifference,but of treachery and blood. Like prairie dogs,they stood erect, bent arms like forelegs drooped.Unlike those so-called dogs, whose warning barksthrow tails and bodies into violentvibration, they remained expressionless,silent, their calculating palms extended.

Wincing at Allen’s gross bigotry, which was no more palatable for being typical of his era, I nonetheless persisted. As the expedition’s botanist, he managed to collect a wide range of specimens, floral, faunal, and mineral.

Arranged and pressed into each niche insideeach padded box inside each double crateis a specimen – shell fossil, rock, bone, insect, plant –to be shipped to the Smithsonian and addedto the nation’s natural history cabinet.But, naturally, this crumbling cliff must stay!Its banded clays with bright-red sandstone capsare wrought into fantastical forms of castles,towers, fortresses, whole cities ruined,a natural diorama to be seenin situ, pulverulent stone exposed to probingfingers of water, wind, marauding men.

In Salt Lake City, Allen heard Brigham Young orate on the timeless American themes of religious freedom and just governance.

A man among Mormon men, Brigham Young,age 70, was seen and heard todayin Salt Lake City. Confident, robust,and resonant of voice, he stirred the crowdwith visions of the New Jerusalemhis Latter-Day Saints are building in the desert.He said religion that did not controlone’s politics possessed no value. Humbledas a little child, each shall be shownhis duty. Duty seemed to Mister Youngwhatever was expedient and business-like.A born orator, he could make a politician.

Politicians in Washington will talk,Young said, about our duty to be governed.I say that we shall govern for ourselves.Yes, we shall manifest our destinyunder God Almighty. We know that other sectsare infidel. They desire to know the truth,but they do not. Let us teach them truth….

As this new poem (now entitled “Greater Yellowstone”) evolved, our national story seemed to converge with the political season. In that Carolina cabin shadowed by a darker past, I recalled our previous summer in the Yellowstone area, when we had visited our friends John and Linda, and I turned to another, unfinished poem. In the final version that follows, I discovered a perspective afforded by distance, a kind of depth perception through the twin lenses of landscape and geologic time.

TrumplandDriggs, Idaho

The yurt’s tent-flap unzipped, three Newfie houndsecstatic in their freedom jostle past,sloshing John’s morning mug. They gain the trees,inspect interstices in rock and root,cavort through creek beds, drop fresh pats. Half-blindedby the stroke, John navigates by soundas his good eye makes out the blur of firsdividing meadow from the woods. He followsin Crocs and bathrobe, clods that mine the pathbe damned, and makes a beeline for the clearing:trampled earth, trailed twigs, fine tumbleweedsof dog hair, Adirondack chair, and stumpcum coffee table. A sign nailed to a treereads Aggie’s Place. Ensconced, he senses the Tetons’rising alpenglow; spies breeze-whipped, flip-flopped coins of aspens, gold and copper; cocksan ear for flocks invading the willows. Hereis retirement: three dogs, two homes, one wife,dear Linda, preservationist of wildnessin daily life.

The etiquette of freedom,Gary Snyder wrote, is how to livewith nature ordering impermanence:improve the campsite, teach the children, oustthe tyrants. Done at last with all the awfulblather of alternative facts that stickin the gorge and choke, we might, like Snyder, takethe longer view, unplug devices, and hikeuntil ego is fatigued and hubris humbledby the parks. Take John, for instance, the onlyDemocrat in Idaho (save Lindaand the folks from the conservancy),who makes his halting way each day to this edgeof wilderness. In geologic time,these stratigraphic eras of rock uplifted,scattered like pages of ancient manuscript,expose rare Paleozoic fossil bedswith palimpsests of species long extinct.Other lines have metamorphosed through their offspringacross the eons, only to declinein genetic cul-de-sacs. In this patheticfallacy, a landscape that devolvesat a glacial pace, indifferent to regimesoutlasted, lacks the human element,this mortal urge to act. Some men make idolsof themselves, which others worship, scorn,ignore. And some like John get moving, refusingto hunker in a man cave of self-pity,lamenting democracy. He’d rather runthe dogs unleashed and trust in a blind man’s timing.

His coffee cooled, he listens to the pack,bur-snagged and tuckered, amble up as Aggie,the eldest in the back, stiffens, sniffs,turns gyroscopic, howling at the scentof dinosaur descendants in retreator coming home to roost. Three sandhill cranescommence another prehistoric ruckus – staccato trumpet bleats to tease the seers –and, rising, wing past John’s appointed seat.


ELIZABETH LOKOYI ‘21Elizabeth created a memorial to the Japanese internment camps that existed in the United States during World War II. This memorial was selected as the winner of the competition.

From the JudgesElizabeth successfully pared back tertiary facets of her Japanese-American Internment Camps memorial, allowing her to focus on developing and dramatizing the primary elements of the design. The model convincingly represented a stark contrast between the bare steel trees and barbed-wire fences flanking the approach to the gateway, and the verdant trees and colorful flora on the far side.

ALICE JOKELA ‘21Alice memorialized Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

From the Judges Alice’s Hurricane Katrina memorial demonstrated close attention to experiential detail and was sympathetically placed in the devastated Ninth Ward of New Orleans.With imagery reminiscent of Dante’s Inferno, the figures clambering from the pool hauntingly evoked both the trials during the storm and the residents’ subsequent struggle to recover.

ANNEKA MURDOCH ‘21Anneka’s memorial honored three people (Elie Wiesel, Benjamin O. Davis, and Elizabeth Peet McIntosh) whom she considered to be forgotten heroes of World War II.

From the JudgesAnneka’s memorial to three war heroes ambitiously engaged an enormous subject from a new perspective by celebrating individuals typically relegated to the margins of history who nonetheless played vital roles in World War II. The detailing of the model and deliberate materiality vividly illustrated the memorial design.

AVERY MYERS ‘21Avery found a new way to honor President Ronald Reagan.

From the Judges Avery recognized and celebrated a singular aspect of the bipartisan optimism that Reagan personified. The serpentine paths suggested the ability of multiple narratives to reach a harmonious conclusion.

For the past several years in Class VIII history, students have studied memorials and considered the intersection of memory, history, and legacy. They visit local memorials, such as the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, and write a research paper on an historical figure or event depicted by an existing memorial in Washington, DC, which they then visit and present to their classmates during their trip to the nation’s capital in November.

Later in the year, students build upon their work in their history and technology/design thinking classes to create and design their own memorials to honor a significant historical event, person, or movement that is meaningful to them. As part of this project, students receive guidance from faculty members, as well as a devoted advisory team of parent

architects and designers, Charles Brainerd P’19, Rebecca Grunwald P’19, Jana Happel P’19 P’21, and Renan Pierre P’19, who push them to think about issues of construction, location, and design that they might not otherwise consider. Ultimately, all Class VIII students create—to scale—an architectural model of their memorial, which they pitch to their history section. Following those pitches, four finalists (one from each section) are chosen to present again at a Middle School morning meeting, which is attended by the entire Middle School, as well as the parent advisory team, who question the finalists and ultimately decide upon a winning memorial.

Featured on the opposite page is the work of the 2017 Class VIII Memorial Project finalists, together with commentary from the judges.

History andLegacy


On May 19, 2017, Nightingale alumnae came back to the schoolhouse for Reunion 2017. Over the course of the busy day, returning alumnae had the opportunity to tour the fully expanded and renovated schoolhouse, enjoy a festive lunch in the Lauder Family Black Box Theater with members of the Class of 2017, participate in a roundtable discussion with faculty members, and celebrate with one another at the all-alumnae cocktail party that evening.

The Class of 1967 enjoyed special morning activities in honor of their 50th reunion, which included visiting with Head of School Paul A. Burke in his office and spending time with the Class IV girls, who had corresponded with them as

“pen pals” in the months leading up to the reunion. In the afternoon, alumnae ranging from the Classes of 1972 to 2012 gathered with faculty in the library to engage in conversations around gender equity and the rewards and challenges of being a Nightingale student at different moments in the school’s history.

The all-alumnae cocktail party on Friday evening provided the perfect capstone to a very full day, as our alumnae—together with current and returning faculty—reconnected and reminisced about their days behind the blue doors. During the evening event, the Upper School student-run a cappella group Bassless Accusations performed for the crowd, and two alumnae awards were presented: Francesca Harper Cohen ’87 P’29 received the Distinguished Alumnae Achievement Award for her work in dance, and Nancy Goebel Rossi ’67 was honored with the Distinguished Alumnae Service Award for her many years of dedicated service to Nightingale.

Reunion 2017

Save the Date! Reunion 2018 For all alumnae • Honoring all classes ending in 3 and 8 May 18, 2018 • nightingale.org/alumnae 14

1) Top: Pamela Saunders ’82, Bettina Shapiro Cisneros ’82, Susan Hoffman Hyman ’82, Head of School Paul A. Burke, Deborah Guiher Chamblee ’82, Catherine Baxter Sidamon-Eristoff ’82, Alexandra Koeppel ’82, and Christina Schlank ’82Bottom: Sarah Tuttle Horner ’82, Dianne Lewis Batista ’82, Melinda McIntire Krigel ’82, Cristina Roig Morris ’82, and Jennifer Maas Jones ’82

2) Head of School Paul A. Burke hosted a roundtable conversation in his office with members of the Class of 1967 and guests.

3) Vanessa Wright ’97, Lauren Potters Horn ’97, Amanda Potters Schumacher ’95, and Annabel Torrey Raymond ’97

4) Stephanie Falconi ’02, Elizabeth Emmons ’02, and Jennie Flateman Rothman ’02

5) Merrill Dauterman Wheeler ’67 visits with Class IV students.

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6) Anna Model ’12, Isabelle James ’12, Sophie Sawyers ’12, Susie Heller ’69, and Katherine Lipman ’12

7) Meg MacCary ’87 and Odette Duggan ’83

8) Miriam Paterson Alexandre ’97 and Anna Sobel ’97

9) Katherine Hemmerdinger-Goodman ’92, Aimee Rodewald Levin ’92, Ellen Cowen Meltzer ’92, and Jill Kleinman Halberg ’92

10) Francesca Harper Cohen ’87 accepts the Distinguished Alumnae Achievement Award with her daughter, Harper Cohen ’29, by her side.

11) Kirsten Meisinger ’87, Franklyn Arthur ’87, and Francesca Harper Cohen ’87

12) Annabel Stearns Stehli ’57, Diantha Guessous ’57, Sandra Brandt Waters ’57, and Jill Hyde Scott ’57

13) Stephanie Falconi ’02, Megan Kilzy-Remennik ’02, and Ingrid Deming ’02

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Class of 2017Congratulations to the 44 members of the Class of 2017 who have chosen to attend the following colleges and universities:

Amherst CollegeBates CollegeBowdoin CollegeBrown UniversityBucknell UniversityCarleton CollegeCornell University (2)Dartmouth CollegeDuke UniversityGeorgetown UniversityHampshire College (2)Harvard University (3)Howard UniversityIndiana UniversityKing's College LondonLafayette CollegeLehigh UniversityNew York University (2)Queen's UniversityRadford UniversityReed CollegeRoyal Holloway, University of LondonSkidmore CollegeSUNY Alfred State CollegeSUNY BuffaloSyracuse University (2)University of Chicago (4)University of MiamiUniversity of Pennsylvania (2)University of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of VermontUniversity of VirginiaWake Forest UniversityYale University


HA L L W A Y S

Stories and photographs from around the schoolhouse

More than half of all astronauts were involved in scouting and 20 percent of West Point cadets are Eagle Scouts. Eagle Scouts are also often members of the honor society known as the Order of the Arrow. They are permitted to be members of the National Eagle Scout Association, making them eligible for scholarships and attractive for admission to select colleges, which frequently leads to highly sought-after positions in finance, technology and in the military.”

In the wake of this historic announcement, numerous media outlets—including most of the major U.S. television networks, the BBC World Service, and The Los Angeles Times, among many others—tracked Sydney down in Maine (where she spent the fall participating in the Maine Coast Semester at Chewonki program) to get her reaction to the decision she had worked so hard to bring about.

In reflecting upon the impact of Sydney’s advocacy work over a number of years, Head of School Paul A. Burke remarked that “Sydney, at a very young age, courageously entered the public arena and used her voice to bring about change. Thanks to her resolve, girls from all over the country will have new choices and new opportunities available to them. We are immensely proud.”

When the Boy Scouts of America announced on October 11—the International Day of the Girl—that it would begin admitting girls next year, Sydney Ireland ‘19 could declare victory after years of advocacy work toward just that result. With support from the National Organization for Women and the nearly 9,000 people who signed her Change.org petition, Sydney’s efforts were key to a decision that will clear a path for younger girls to join Cub Scout troops and older girls to reach the rank of Eagle Scout, the organization’s highest honor. As Head of Upper School Andrea Kassar commented, “Sydney has taken on this cause with incredible bravery, intelligence, and dedication.”

An unofficial member of her brother’s Boy Scout troop in Manhattan for years, Sydney is also a member of a co-ed Canadian troop, through which she received the Chief Scout’s Award, Canada’s highest honor in scouting. Her ultimate goal, however, has been to earn the Eagle Award, which has never been a possibility for a girl. As Sydney herself explained in an opinion piece published in the August 25, 2017, edition of The Washington Post, the Eagle Award confers enormous benefits that can have life-changing ramifications: “While the Girl Scouts provides a great program for many girls, I want young women to have equal opportunity to earn merit badges, ranks and eventually, the Eagle Award, which opens future opportunities.

sydney ireland ’19 effects change at the boy scouts

Eliza Cohen ’24 (front) and Emily Dashefsky ’24 peek out from the shelter they helped build as part of an all-day outdoor education workshop on October 4. Classes V and VI both spent the full day at Mountain Lakes Camp in North Salem, New York, where Class V did team-building activities and assembled their own rafts, while Class VI completed team-building and problem-solving exercises and then focused on wilderness survival and shelter building.


class iii skypes with students around the world During the last academic year, Class III students began communicating with students around the world via Skype. The girls have connected with other students and cultures as part of their new social studies curriculum, which focuses on developing an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of people in a democratic society by learning to effectively, empathetically, and critically look at current events and history through multiple lenses.

One particularly fun activity they have enjoyed with their Skype partners is “Mystery Skype,” a game in which students ask alternating questions to try and figure out where the classroom they’re connected to is located. Class III homeroom teacher Fernanda Winthrop ’00 notes that “It is a wonderful game for students to strengthen their geography and critical thinking skills, as well as to learn about other cultures and discover shared connections with their counterparts in other countries.”

bridgette radebe visits nightingale South African mining entrepreneur Bridgette Radebe spoke to a group of students in Classes VII–XII in September. The founder, executive chairperson, and CEO of Mmakau Mining (Pty) Ltd., Ms. Radebe received the Global Foundation for Democracy’s International Businessperson of the Year Award in 2008, which recognizes businesspeople who have made a difference in a world of changing political and environmental landscapes. South Africa’s Business Day Online profiled her in June, calling her “an economic activist, an agent of transformation, and a pioneer of change who has played a key role in changing exclusionary mining legislation in South Africa and who pioneered the implementation of empowerment mining models in Africa and internationally.”

Through stories about her life under apartheid and her astonishing career path as a black woman in South Africa, Ms. Radebe challenged our students to think outside of themselves and never to forget where they come from.

class viii english ends school year in character

To close out their year in English last June, Mr. Smith’s eighth graders came to class dressed as their favorite character from the Class VIII English curriculum. Look closely and you will see Lady Macbeth red-handed; Champion the dog from Tobias Wolff’s This Boy’s Life; Miss Maudie, Jem, Adolphus Raymond, and Scout from Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird; and Faith from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown,” among others.

During a Class III Skype session with students from the SEK International School in Qatar last year, the two classes sang “We Are the World” together and were able to ask each other questions to learn more about one another and explore their similarities and differences. The students found that they share some of the same favorite books, but not necessarily the same favorite foods. For example, when one Nightingale student said that her favorite food is pizza, the student from Qatar responded that his favorite food is machbous, the Qatari national dish that consists of rice, meat, onions, and tomatoes.

In the first Mystery Skype game of this academic year, Class III students interacted with a group of third graders from a school in Ohio. Using Google Earth, paper maps, and their sharp skills of deduction, the girls pinpointed their mystery partners on a map of the United States, narrowing down their location by asking geographically-themed “yes or no” questions, such as “Does your state border water?” and

“Are you east of the Mississippi River?”


animation accolades for april lee ’19April Lee ’19 has created an original stop motion musical web series, Of Weasels and Chickens, that is receiving nationwide recognition. Last spring, April’s work won first place in the Experimental Short Film category at the Walt Disney Family Museum Teen Animation Festival International (TAFI), which was held in San Francisco, CA, on April 29 and 30. Showcasing animation created by artists between the ages of 13 and 19, TAFI welcomes entries from around the world, providing all participating animators with educational and collaborative opportunities. The festival highlighted excellence in school and independent animation programs, as well as outstanding achievement by individual students in seven categories. All submissions were reviewed by a panel of judges from feature film, television, video game studios, and university programs.

More recently, April was named a finalist in the animation category (for episodes three and four of Of Weasels and Chickens) at the All-American High School Film Festival, which was held in New York City in October.

To view April’s award-winning work, search for Of Weasels and Chickens on YouTube!

author carol weston works with middle school students

Author and advice columnist Carol Weston spent the day at Nightingale on October 6. Best known to middle school-aged students as the author of the popular Ava and Melanie Martin series, Ms. Weston spent her time at Nightingale conducting writing workshops with fifth- and seventh-graders during their English classes, as well as speaking to students at an assembly for Classes IV–VII. During the assembly, she talked about her most recent book—Speed of Life—and her writing process, sharing a diary entry from her childhood to demonstrate her lifelong love of writing and encouraging students to chronicle their own lives through journaling. She also emphasized the importance of “plugging along” in the face of rejection, citing the many times publishers rejected her work before accepting it in revised form. Students had the opportunity to ask questions and were curious about many aspects of her process, including where she gets her inspiration and how she develops her characters. In the smaller writing workshops that occurred throughout the day, Ms. Weston spoke to students about her newest project—a fictional memoir of the princess in Diego Velázquez’s renowned painting, “Las Meninas”—and then led them through a writing exercise in which she gave them seven or eight minutes to write in response to a short prompt, such as “It was at the back of the drawer” or “Hospital.” The students then had the opportunity to share and comment on each other’s work.

hutcheson hall dedicated in special celebration

On the evening of October 14, more than 200 members of the Nightingale community gathered to celebrate Head of School Emerita Dorothy A. Hutcheson, who retired in 2012 after 20 years as Nightingale’s sixth head of school. The evening began with a cocktail reception in the school’s auditorium, which was filled to capacity with alumnae, current and past members of the faculty and staff, current and past parents, and friends of the school. Later, Head of School Paul A. Burke welcomed the assembled guests and spoke about the important role Ms. Hutcheson played in his own career, as well as her many accomplishments during her tenure. Katie Stillman ’10 followed Mr. Burke, remarking upon the long-lasting impact that Ms. Hutcheson has had on her life, as well as the lives of the more than 1,000 young women who graduated under her leadership. Finally, Head of Middle School Claire du Nouy and Head of Lower School Rebecca Urciuoli gave a poignant tribute to Ms. Hutcheson, whom they credited with showing them what it looks like for a woman to lead a school with character, creativity, authenticity, and humor. To cap off the evening, Mr. Burke returned to the stage to officially dedicate one of the schoolhouse’s new spaces in Ms. Hutcheson’s honor. “It is so fitting,” he said, “that from this day forward, every head of school who sits in our new administrative suite will do so in Hutcheson Hall.”

gareth williams p’19 delivers bennette lecture

Last May, Professor Gareth Williams P’19, the Violin Family Professor of Classics and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Columbia University, delivered the annual Shirley Bennette Lecture in Classics before an audience of Upper School students and faculty. His engaging talk, entitled

“Why Homer and Medea are my Friends,” focused on the ways in which a study of the Classical past can inform our view of the present and help us reflect beneficially on our ethical, social, and cultural identities. Using examples from Homer’s Odyssey and Euripides’s Medea, Professor Williams demonstrated how these stories from thousands of years ago raise questions that are still highly relevant today, such as “When is a certain action civilized and understandable, and when is it not?” and the even more fundamental

“What is a civilization?” He reminded us that these stories, at their core, are populated with people—people who fell in love, grew older, and had a wide variety of life experiences. By reading these stories ourselves, we gain insight into the psychology of human behavior, which we can then use to shape our own views and value systems, allowing us to frame issues of vital importance and develop codes of ethical behavior. The lecture was a powerful reminder of the importance of great literature as a means of understanding the world and moving society forward.


music composition students attend industry reading

In September, the lucky students in Composer- in-Residence Dr. Sarah Taylor Ellis’s music composition class attended an industry reading of EMMA, Dr. Ellis’s musical adaptation (with book and lyrics by Meghan Brown) of the Jane Austen classic. The talented cast featured Kerstin Anderson (who played Maria in the most recent national tour of The Sound of Music ), Claybourne Elder (Sunday in the Park with George), and Tony Award–winner Ruthie Ann Miles (The King and I and Here Lies Love). There was time for mixing with the show’s creators and performers following the reading, and our students jumped at the chance to speak to the talented members of the cast and creative team.

achievements in latin Nightingale students continued their consistently excellent performance on the National Latin Exam this year. Under the joint sponsorship of the American Classical League and the National Junior Classical League, the 40th annual exam was given in February to 149,000 Latin students from all 50 states and 16 foreign countries.

In their first year of exam eligibility, 33 seventh-graders earned a ribbon and certificate for outstanding achievement on the Introduction to Latin Exam, and another 11 received certificates for achievement. Students in Classes VIII–XII earned 44 summa cum laude certificates and gold medals, 17 maxima cum laude certificates and silver medals, 16 magna cum laude certificates, and 13 cum laude certificates. In addition, special recognition was given to 15 students for earning a perfect score.

Three Nightingale students also received special book prizes for consistently earning gold medals over a number of years: Jackie Luke ’18 and Mulan Madden ’18 (four consecutive years) and Julia Gourary ’17 (five consecutive years).

In addition to their stellar performance on the National Latin Exam, Jackie Luke ’18 (Vergil category) and Julia Gourary ’17 (Horace category) both won awards and cash prizes in April at the New York Classical Club’s highly competitive annual Latin translation contest, which brings together high school students from all over the tri-state area.

cum laude society inducts new members On May 22, 2017, Ridgely Goss ’17, Samantha Littenberg ’18, Jackie Luke ’18, Mulan Madden ’18, Sophie Osorio ’18, Lucy Ritzmann ’17, Elizabeth Sack ’17, and Isabel Wolfson ’17 were officially inducted into Nightingale’s chapter of the national Cum Laude Society, which celebrates the academic excellence of juniors and seniors with exemplary academic records. They joined the five members of the Class of 2017 who were inducted into the Cum Laude Society at the end of their junior year: Carolina Beroutsos ’17, Julie Coleman ’17, Lia Kiam ’17, Julia Gourary ’17, and Natalie Margulies ’17.

mindfulness moment opens

class iv music classes

Class IV students begin each music class with a few minutes of quiet mindfulness to prepare their bodies and minds for the collaborative music-making to come. When they arrive for class, they enter a darkened music room and silently begin this practice. The girls are asked to check in with their breathing and often imagine a peaceful scene inspired by the recorded music being played. After their overnight trip to Greenkill in October, where the girls enjoyed singing and class bonding around a campfire, Lower School music teacher Mary Beth Alexander added the feature of their own classroom “campfire” to focus girls’ meditation and create a magical ambience.


CHRISTINE JAVIERDirector of Institutional Research

As Nightingale’s first director of institutional research, Christine Javier is charged with collecting and analyzing data that will inform strategic decision making. She has extensive experience in her field and served most recently as director of data and student information for KIPP NYC, which runs 11 public charter schools in New York City and is part of the nationally known KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) charter network. Ms. Javier earned her BA at Georgetown University and a Master of Public Policy degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Since this is a new role at Nightingale, Ms. Javier is excited about the opportunity she has to break new ground. “What I hope to accomplish,” she says, “is showing folks what institutional research looks like at Nightingale and how we can use data to understand the community better. For example, a lot of my work comes from our new strategic plan and one area of focus there is professional development. One of my current projects is figuring out the best way to track and categorize this information so that we have a list of high quality professional development readily available. Are there different conferences, for example, that are particularly helpful to our newer, seasoned, or veteran faculty? Another [longer-term] project is working with faculty to explore ways for students to give teachers feedback.”

Ms. Javier felt drawn to Nightingale for its sense of community and was impressed by how

“incredibly warm and genuinely excited [everyone was] about the work they do” when she went through the interview process. She is also excited to be part of an all-girls independent school, as she knows the power of independent schools firsthand: after attending public schools through eighth grade, she spent her high school years at Choate, which she says was a “transformative experience” for her.

Since she started in July, Ms. Javier has been busy getting to know the people within the schoolhouse and immersing herself in school culture. This “helps me feel connected to my work and see where and how I can be most effective,” she says. “From an analytical perspective, numbers tell a story,” she explains. “I like making that story accessible to people who may not have the time or inclination to focus on data, and hopefully we can come up with questions and solutions together.”

ELIZABETH FERNANDEZDirector of Library and Academic Resource Center

Elizabeth Fernandez has deep experience in independent school libraries. She comes to Nightingale from Sacred Heart Greenwich in Connecticut, where she served as director of library and information services for the past eight years. Prior to that, she spent an additional eight years as the middle school librarian at the Brunswick School, also in Greenwich. Throughout that time, she has done consulting work for two literacy organizations, LitWorld and LitLife, serving as senior adviser for library initiatives and conducting faculty development and parent workshops. Ms. Fernandez received a BA from New York University, an MA from Hunter College, and an MLS from the Palmer School of Library and Information Science at Long Island University.

“I want to help ignite wonder and awe in this special space,” says Ms. Fernandez of her new role at Nightingale, adding that she aims

“to create an inspiring space for reflection and thought, to provide access to and appreciation for the profound power of information itself, and to turn up the volume on the library resources available for the entire school.” In short, she continues, “I want to be our community’s champion for giving everyone ‘a seat at the table’ in the library, a table that is welcoming for reading, research, work, contemplation, and imagination!”

Drawn to Nightingale by its core values and vision for a new philosophy of research, where the library itself is the “nucleus of inquiry and discovery,” Ms. Fernandez sees the school as

“a place where young women are both challenged and nurtured, and where strong and lasting relationships are the catalyst for all learning.” Her first few months have reinforced that view, and she has big plans for the year ahead. “I can feel already the joy of learning from both the students and the faculty,” she says, “and I am so excited to make the library the nexus of sustained inquiry, banding together all disciplines and grade levels. This is a very exciting moment at Nightingale; we are on the threshold of several new initiatives that will enhance an already robust program.”

TAMISHA CHESTNUTDirector of Human Resources

Tamisha Chestnut arrived at Nightingale in May as director of human resources. She brings with her nearly 20 years of human resources experience in the private sector, working at such companies as BlackRock and Morgan Stanley, and most recently, Mitchell Titus, where she served as director of human resources and operations for almost four years. She holds a BA in journalism from Hampton University and an MS in organizational leadership from Mercy College.

This is Ms. Chestnut’s first experience working in a school environment, and she cited Nightingale’s “rich history, culture, and mission” as influencing her desire to make this change. She is excited to bring her vast experience in the corporate world to the school and says that she aims “to advance Nightingale’s human resources function beyond transactional practices to forward-thinking principles and ideas that support our population.”

Ms. Chestnut has already been very busy building a robust human resources program to support faculty and staff in a number of ways. In addition to working to develop employee self-service tools and platforms, as well as to promote and administer employee development and retention programs, she is committed to being a resource for all faculty and staff and providing them with valuable counsel whenever it is needed.

MANDY CECILDirector of Athletics

After nearly a dozen years at the Dalton School, Mandy Cecil has joined the Nightingale community as director of athletics. A Gettysburg College graduate who earned her BA in sports management, Ms. Cecil served as Dalton’s assistant athletic director for the past seven years, in addition to teaching physical education and serving as associate director of Dalton’s summer camp. An experienced coach, Ms. Cecil has coached Dalton teams in basketball, soccer, track and field, and softball, and led the girls’ varsity basketball team to the New York State Association of Independent Schools championship title in 2016.

“Coming to work each day has been a pure joy,” says Ms. Cecil, who began at Nightingale in July. “The staff, faculty, and students make this environment such a community that it has already begun to feel like a second family.”

In her role as athletic director, Ms. Cecil says that her aim is to create “an environment where athletics play a vital role within the entire school community,” and she is focused on continuing to learn about Nightingale in the coming months as she works to create a plan that will build on past successes, as well as create new opportunities for students. Ms. Cecil adds that the athletic department is committed to working closely with the physical education department “to create a foundation for students to succeed while playing their sport, as well as learning what it means to be on a team.”

Ultimately, Ms. Cecil hopes that athletics will contribute in some way to the experience of every student, whether she is in Kindergarten or Class XII. To that end, she says that one of her main goals this year is to build upon “the community feel within the school” by introducing ways for students in different divisions to participate in athletics together. For example, she is hoping to establish Lower School clinics run by Upper School students, as well as a day of combined Middle and Upper School team practices, so the younger girls can see what lies ahead.

“Nightingale is at such an exciting time with new advancements in many departments,” Ms. Cecil says. “The desire of the school to continue to improve the athletic department was an immediate draw for me.”

Meet the people who have joined the Nightingale community in key administrative positions this year.

new faces at nightingale


ERICA LEEDirector of Annual Giving and Constituent Relations

After three years at the Loomis Chaffee School in Connecticut, where she served most recently as associate director of the annual fund for parent giving, Erica Lee arrived at Nightingale in July as our new director of annual giving and constituent relations. She holds a BS in business administration from Bryant University.

When asked what drew her to this position at Nightingale, Ms. Lee cited “Nightingale’s holistic approach to the education of girls and young women,” as well as “the feeling of authenticity and inclusion” she got when she went through the interview process. “From Ms. Smith to [Mr. Burke] to my student tour guide, I felt warmly welcomed and able to see myself in the community,” she said. That strong sense of community and the relationships among the people within it are key to Ms. Lee’s role: “The most important aspect of my role fits in well with our new strategic plan—building relationships,” she explains.

“Relationships are at the center of the work we do in advancement. I’m excited to get to know the people in the community—who they are, what motivates them, what their passions are—and engage them in opportunities to make a positive impact on the life of the school.”

Ms. Lee says that she is excited about the opportunity to grow Nightingale’s annual giving program—already renamed “The Nightingale Fund”—and to empower others to give back.

“Nightingale is a special place,” she adds, “and I want to engage the community in the conversation about why that is, as the answer is different for everyone. I get to listen as they reflect and get excited about making an impact—what a gift!”

SUSAN MOHIDirector of Institutional Advancement

Susan Mohi came to Nightingale in June after 10 years as director of development at St. Hilda’s & St. Hugh’s School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Her experience in independent schools also extends to the parent perspective: before taking on her role in the development office, she served as president of the St. Hilda’s & St. Hugh’s parents’ association from 2005–2007 and co-chair of special events from 2003–2005. Ms. Mohi’s career began in the banking world, where she held a variety of management positions at Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and Banc of America. She earned a BS in marketing and business administration from Central Connecticut State University.

Ms. Mohi first encountered Nightingale when her daughter was applying to high schools six years ago. Although she did not ultimately become a Nightingale parent, the school left a positive impression on her: “I felt then and feel even more so now, that this is a warm, nurturing environment where everyone is heard and appreciated.”

In considering her role at Nightingale, Ms. Mohi sees the new strategic plan as factoring prominently in her work, stating that she hopes to use it “to develop an authentic inclusive community of philanthropy,” and adding that

“it gives us a roadmap to what is important to our school and will guide our advancement efforts for years to come.”

An important priority for Ms. Mohi is building relationships with all constituencies—trustees, parents, faculty, students, alumnae, parents of alumnae, grandparents, etc. “We need to better understand what connects them to Nightingale,” she explains. At the same time, she says she is focused on ”educating our community about philanthropy and illustrating how their gifts to our school are used to enhance all the girls’ and faculty’s experiences,” as well as “stewarding our gifts and donors and acknowledging that every gift of money, time, or talent is valued.”

Ms. Mohi is excited about the year ahead and enthusiastic about her experience so far:

“Everyone I have met—from the trustees to the faculty and staff to the students—has been amazing and I have enjoyed working with many of them already.”

columbia scholastic press

honors student publications

Congratulations are in order for Nightingale’s Middle and Upper School literary and arts publications! For the fifth time, the Middle School’s Out of Uniform has been named a finalist in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) Crown Awards competition, while the Upper School’s Philomel earned a finalist spot for the 15th time. Both are in the running to win either a Gold or Silver Crown at the CSPA ceremonies in March 2018. Philomel has won nine Gold Crowns and five Silver Crowns since 1992, while Out of Uniform has won one Gold Crown and three Silver Crowns since 2010.

students collaborate on

silhouette project

As part of Nightingale’s eight-day rotational schedule, all students and teachers are free at the same time during Schoolhouse, a once-a-cycle period that provides opportunities for community-building and cross-divisional programming. During the Schoolhouse period on October 16, students in all three divisions participated in a special silhouette project organized by the Upper School Arts Board and led by the junior and senior classes. With the goal of showcasing the variety and unity of Nightingale students, the project involved creating life-sized student silhouettes and writing descriptive adjectives within them. Students were divided into small groups, which included representation from each division. By the end of the period, every group had produced three silhouettes that provided composite portraits of Nightingale students.

new faces at nightingale

another perfect season for varsity tennis

Nightingale’s varsity tennis team continued their dominance in the AAIS league last spring, completing their third undefeated season in a row and successfully defending their AAIS tournament title. Congratulations to the entire team and their coaches on another supremely successful season!

Continued from previous page


homecoming 2017

The Nightingale community came out in force to cheer for the Nighthawks at Homecoming 2017 on October 13 and 14. The spirit-filled weekend kicked off with an appearance by the Nighthawk at the blue doors on Friday morning, followed by a pep rally in the gym for Classes VIII–XII. Nighthawks tattoos, stickers, and face paint were all the rage at the Lower School pep rally on Friday afternoon, where students made colorful posters in support of our athletes and had a blast hugging and posing with the Nighthawk. The varsity soccer game at Asphalt Green immediately followed, and hundreds of fans filled the sidelines to cheer the Nighthawks as they battled the Spence Sabers in a tight match that ended 1-0 in Spence’s favor. The festivities continued on Saturday, when more than 700 members of the Nightingale community came to the schoolhouse to enjoy fun activities for all ages, a delicious Dinosaur BBQ lunch, and highly competitive JV and varsity volleyball games against Spence. The JV team beat Spence 2-0 while the varsity fought hard, but fell to a very strong Spence team 0-2.

A special addition to this year’s Homecoming festivities were the 30 dozen cupcakes that Olivia Rosenfeld ‘21 baked and decorated for the Homecoming lunch on Saturday. In addition to being a busy ninth grader at Nightingale, Olivia operates her own company, Olivia Luv Bake Shop, which she founded two years ago. Impressively, Olivia’s company is already profitable, and she donates 20% of her profits to charities she chooses.

The weekend could not have happened without the strong leadership of Homecoming co-chairs Blair Rosenfeld P’21 and Melissa Scollans P’26 P’27 and the countless other wonderful parent volunteers who worked tirelessly to put it together, and we extend a huge thank you to all of them!

FALL 2017 37

Regan O’Connell Burnham ’65 reports: “Moved to the other end of town. We now live in an apartment once again. No house maintenance anymore. Givens Estates is truly lovely—a retirement community with way too much to do. In addition to music (flute and piano) and our little church in the mountains, grandsons on each coast keep us very busy—mostly cheering on their endeavors. I hope I am fully unpacked by the time you read this; otherwise I will be beyond the pale!”

Linda Frank Sicher ’65 writes: “Since retiring from teaching 13 years ago, I reinvented myself. I discovered a passion for creating art and have become a professional artist. I create collages from photos I have taken and have been fortunate to have participated in many curated art shows. I produced a website (www.lindascollages.com) and believe that my former Nightingale art teacher, Mrs. Winkelhorn, is looking down from above with a big smile on her face.”

Betsy Combier ’67 has started a new consulting company, ADVOCATZ, which assists attorneys with case management, research, and reporting.

Barbara Wright Gatje ’48 reports that she had the “unforgettable” and “mind-blowing experience” of witnessing the total eclipse of the sun in the Tetons, Wyoming, last summer.

Pamela Holmes Bergen ’49 was also lucky enough to see the total solar eclipse in August. She writes: “Sat outside on the lawn and was chilled by the cold and the magnificence of the event. Happy days to all.”

Mary Burt Holmes Blume ’54 reports that she is “vastly enjoying life in a retirement community in the hills of California, near Stanford University.” She is a docent at the Cantor and Anderson Museums there, as well as at the Frank Lloyd Wright–designed Hanna House. Mary Burt adds:

“Six grandchildren and three daughters spread from California to Chicago to Cambridge. Life is good!”

Rachel “Dolly” Hall Russell ’72 reports: “After 31 years of teaching, I retired to be able to spend more time with my beautiful grandchildren. I am also able to dabble in art and reunite with old friends. Our 45th reunion (photo above) was such a joy, and I look forward to our 50th. During this unpredictable time in our world, I feel comfort with my Nightingale family, which extends beyond our graduating class.”

Elisabeth Mott DesCombes ’77 writes: “At least 10 years ago I received a telephone call from a fellow Nightingale graduate, Elizabeth Levitt ’69. She wondered if I was interested in helping her start an outdoor pavilion and concert series in Pasadena called Levitt Pavilion. I graciously declined. Two weeks ago, I was reminded of that call: Elizabeth Levitt is an alumna of Scripps College, and I am a resident of the town where Scripps is situated. Levitt on the Lawn’s outdoor concert series is now also held at her alma mater and [in September] I attended a

Dixianne “Dixie” McCall Penney ’54 celebrated her 80th birthday this year with four generations of her family. She writes: “I am still working full-time as a counselor for persons with substance abuse and mental health issues, most of whom have been incarcerated. Since my doctor father worked until six months before he died at the age of 93, I’ve decided to follow his example and keep working for a while longer. My beloved husband of 58 years (Tom) and I have been in assisted living for three years due to his increasing need for care as his Huntington’s Disease progresses. We’ve been pleased with this choice and happy where we are. As I write this note, the hurricane(s) have been devastating the islands and are about to make disastrous landfall over a terrified Florida. We are safe, and I feel blessed. I wish the same for all of you.”

Cornelia Wadsworth Robart ’57 writes: “Volunteering at the Bryn Mawr Bookstore in Cambridge, MA, helping to upgrade heating, electric, roof, and sewer systems, as well as book triage, pricing, shelving, and discarding. Great place, all volunteers. I’ve bought a three-wheel bicycle with electric assist that eliminates problems of spills, hills, and parking. Errands are a now a treat not a chore!”

Jane Goldstone Hilles ’59 writes: “Greetings, classmates! I think of you often and of the early years at NBS—a time now called ‘history.’ Walking into Mrs. Leather’s first grade classroom seems like yesterday; now we watch post-WWII PBS series on TV. Last winter, after Donald Trump was elected, my 11-year-old granddaughter joined in the first Women’s March in Philadelphia; I joined her in spirit. Stay well and keep on marching.”

40s

50s

C L A S S N O T E S

Class notes are published twice a year in each issue of The Blue Doors. If you have any updates

you would like to share with your classmates, please complete our online form at nightingale.org/sharenews.

36 THE BLUE DOORS

Jordan Polycarpe ’18 performed an original song at the Upper School Arts Board’s spring coffeehouse last May. The event showcased the enormity of talent in the Upper School, which ranged from virtuoso piano playing and exquisite singing to impactful personal poetry and guitar performances.

60s 70s

38 THE BLUE DOORS

noticeably less boisterous. Petra has already befriended Harper Cohen, daughter of Francesca Harper Cohen ’87 (see photo at bottom of page). The Eli’s at 91st and Madison (Jackson Hole) sells these cookies! (Yes, they sell Spence, Hewitt, and Sacred Heart ones as well, but we ate them all.)”

Robin Schafer ’88 writes: “Greetings! I am a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and currently the director of Health Services at Iona College in New Rochelle, NY. I am board certified as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner as well and manage all the medications for the counseling patients at Iona College. I am also getting married in November. Lots of great stuff!”

Emily Levin Hammann ’94 reports that Alexis Leibel Granite ’94 hosted a mini-reunion last summer: “All of our kids loved seeing each other. Palmer Jones O’Sullivan ’94, Abby Marwood Romeo ’94, Tara Abrams Levine ’94, Katherine Moncrief ’94, Jenny Kosovsky Flandina ’94, Louise Crane ’94, and Star Haymes Kempin ’94 all joined in the fun. I also recently visited Jenny and her family in Chicago on a family vacation.”

lively Columbia-Cuban performance with African influence called ‘La Misa Negra.’ Kudos to the success of Nightingale and its alumnae.”

Sonia Usmar ’82 is a contemporary artist and concert pianist living in Lagos, Nigeria. To see images of her work, visit http://miriwords.blogspot.com/2017/05/sonia-usmar-contemporary-nigerian.html.

Susan Kaufmann ’84 reports: “Change of life year: empty nester! My daughter Tedi is off to Pratt—already amazed at how much she learned in her first week there! My other daughter Sophie moved close by to Santa Monica (yay) and works at Phase One Foundation. I’ll be re-entering the workforce here in CA—I’ll keep you posted. Enjoyed my visits this year with Amy Peck ’80, Julia Allan ’80, Hailey Huddleston ’11, and Maud Keisman ’80—looking forward to more!”

Marina Rustow ’86 writes: “My daughter Petra started in Class I at Nightingale this [September]. It has been adorable to watch her struggle with getting her navy-blue tunic off without first having unbuttoned the belt. She’s now figured it out. On the first morning of school, the seniors from Spence were whooping and wooting and making a racket audible from three blocks away. I felt like we might need some more school spirit, but another Class I mom changed my mind: she was relieved, she told me, to see that the Nightingale girls are

80s

90sNightingale alumnae living in Los Angeles gathered on October 20 for a special alumnae reception hosted by JoJo Fleiss ’00 and attended by Head of School Paul A. Burke, Director of Institutional Advancement Susan Mohi, and Director of Alumnae Relations Christie Guevara. The LA-area alumnae in attendance enjoyed the opportunity to get together with old friends and hear about the many exciting things happening at Nightingale!

After Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida 25 years ago, Diane de Vries Ashley ’63 wrote a reflection about her experience living through the storm, which was published in the 1992–1993 winter edition of what was then called The Nightingale-Bamford School Bulletin. In September, when Hurricane Irma was pummeling Florida (where Diane still lives), she decided to write a short follow-up, which appears below.

We have power back on...YAHOOOOOOO. This is in contrast to 25 years ago when we waited 23 days for Georgia Power and Light to put us back on the grid. I’ll never forget the hard-hatted man I hugged when he told me we were now connected and our air conditioners could work. And this feels like the perfect opening to an update of life with hurricanes and the human condition that surrounds it, as well as the aftermath. There is always an aftermath with a hurricane—a postscript, a swift kick in the rear as that horrible name moves on to wreak more havoc until it puffs out, never soon enough.

I’m trying to avoid comparing and contrasting Andrew (1992) and Irma (2017) as comparisons can be odious; however, that’s just not what we do. We learn from the past (Mrs. Davis, history). And learn we did, in a truly impressive fashion. Federal, state, and local governments were 100% on point, unlike 1992, when President Bush, 41, was asked “where’s the cavalry.” It took days for it to arrive, and even then, not much help. The utility companies finally started to bury power lines instead of charmingly stringing cables across the skylines, which makes for a much easier restart. The fuel companies are still hampered by “competing hurricane” Harvey, the horror there definitely disrupting our gas supplies, to say nothing of closed ports for ships, closed airports for flights. Putting the puzzle back together isn’t going to be easy. Gas lines are long, and there’s no ice to be had in the entire state of Florida, an important element for those with no electricity.

What we continuously learn is that we, as humans, are startlingly resilient. We have a natural instinct to help each other, and we do. Lots of people say Americans are a generous people, especially in times of disasters, but I am convinced that it’s not just Americans but all humanity that understands the need to bind at critical moments, and I have found that deeply gratifying. My neighbor is still my neighbor and a good person, and as long as I am able to help him or her, I will.

—Diane de Vries Ashley ’63

ON LIFE WITH HURRICANES

The generosity of our community provides the immediate and vital resources that allow our students and teachers to flourish. Together as a community, we can honor traditions of years past, commit to shaping and educating every Nightingale girl, and inspire lives of purpose and meaning well into the future.

Together, Inspiring Lives of Purpose and MeaningTHE NIGHTINGALE FUND • 2017–2018 • NIGHTINGALE.ORG/GIVING


Jordan Connell ’04 writes: “Hi All! After working in finance for the past few years, I decided to go back to school this fall to get my MS in Finance from Baruch. It’s been so much fun already. I can’t wait to see everyone at future alumnae events!”

Jing Jin ’05 writes: “I am thrilled to share that I married my dear husband John Chan on June 10, 2017, at the Otto Kahn mansion (just a block from the blue doors). We were so grateful to have beloved Nightingale friends in attendance, including Ayia Gospodinova ’05, Mercedes Barba ’08, and Katherine Bolander ’08, to celebrate this magical day!”

Eva Hudgins ’06 writes: “Eva Hudgins is excited to announce her marriage to Richard Kerby on June 24, 2017. Her co-maids of honor were her NBS ’06 classmates and life-long best friends, Tracey Hunter and Keiko Katsuragawa!”

Emma Carron ’08 writes: “On July 29, 2017, I got married at Blue Hill at Stone Barns to John Sedlacek, whom I had been dating since my freshman year at Harvard. We spent our honeymoon on safari in Tanzania and Zanzibar. I especially enjoyed sharing my wedding occasion with a few of my NBS classmates, who are still some of my closest friends.”

Valentina Perez ’11 writes: “After working on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in Brooklyn on the research team, I moved to Washington, DC, in February 2017. I’m now working as an assistant account executive at GMMB, a strategic communications and political consulting firm.”

Luisa Sperry ’09 reports that she is a fourth-year medical student at Stony Brook. She is currently applying for residency in Internal Medicine, with an interest in specializing in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. Luisa also writes that she married Michael Adelman in the Catskills this past May; the couple met during their time together on Dartmouth Ski Patrol. Michael is an associate in the litigation group at Pryor Cashman LLP.

Angela Mellon ’08 is working as a small engine repair mechanic in rural middle Tennessee. She reports that she is in EMT school at night and likes to “fool around with sawmills and coal forges” on the side.

Kristin Simmons ’08 opened her first solo show, “Desperate Pleasures,” at Galerie Mourlot in October. The show features original paintings and prints from Kristin’s past three years of work.

Emily Howe ’09 (see faculty and staff notes)

Melanie Kimmelman ’06 reports that after four years at David Zwirner Gallery, she recently joined New York-based fashion accessories company MZ Wallace as their public relations manager.

Gaby Santana ’06 and Adam Goldstein were married on March 18, 2017, at Los Establos Cap Cana in the Dominican Republic. A number of Gaby’s Nightingale classmates traveled to the DR to celebrate with the couple.

Reagan Brown ’13 reports: “[I] graduated in May from Mount Holyoke with a BA in Art History and Photography. From June to July, a college friend and I took five weeks to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain. The Camino is a Catholic pilgrimage route that runs along the north of Spain (about 500 miles), finishing in Santiago de Compostela. To learn about our journey, you can see pictures and more on my travel blog: rbwordadventures.wordpress.com. After completing our journey, I began my job as a Special Events and Membership Work Scholar at Aperture Foundation in New York City.”

Ava Travella ’17 writes: “Ava, Emma [Jarnagin ’17], and Ridgely [Goss ’17] are thriving at college! However, they think of Nightingale and their 2017 sisters every day! GO NIGHTHAWKS!”

Alumnae with daughters at Nightingale gathered in the Lauder Family Black Box Theater on October 25 for the annual alumnae mother-daughter photo! Nightingale currently boasts 45 alumnae daughters within the student body, as well as 11 alumnae faculty members.

Royal Ballet in London first soloist Beatriz Stix-Brunell ’11 has been living and dancing in London for eight years, but she still says that

“Nightingale is and always will be my home and favorite place!” Beatriz is currently appearing on screen in Duet, a new short film on women in dance, which was released on CNN Style in late September and is being shown at several film festivals. The film features Beatriz and her Royal Ballet colleague, principal dancer Yasmine Naghdi, in a female pas de deux choreographed by the Royal Ballet’s Kristen McNally.

BEATRIZ STIX-BRUNELL ’11 APPEARS IN SHORT DANCE FILM

Deborah Wolfson ’00 writes that she is continuing on in her career as a theater director/choreographer and “is happy to report that her sisters Bethany Wolfson ’91 and Sara Wolfson

’94 are both still charming and funny.” Deborah also reports that she “recently picked up the hobby of attending protests with fellow Nighthawk Fernanda Winthrop ’00,” adding that “It’s not how either [of us] would have predicted [we’d] be spending time together in sixth grade, but it’s good company.”

Emily Warner ’02 completed her PhD in Art History at the University of Pennsylvania this summer, with a dissertation on abstract muralism in New York City. This fall, she began a visiting position at Vassar College, where she is teaching lecture and seminar courses in American art. She writes that she is “delighted to be living in the landscape of the Hudson River School painters,” about whom she wrote one of her first-ever art history papers for Mr. Loughery’s American Studies class many years ago.

00s

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42 THE BLUE DOORS

Kathleen Miller ’64 passed away on April 20, 2017, at the age of 69. She is survived by her husband, John Ignacio, as well as a daughter, two step-daughters, and four grandchildren.

Margaret Treadway Sloan ’36 died on April 10, 2017.

Former modern languages faculty member and department head Jacqueline Tellier died on June 12, 2017, at the age of 80. Jacqueline taught at Nightingale from 1988–1999 after being recruited by the late Mary Anne Schwalbe, who had seen her teach at Armand Hammer United World College in New Mexico. According to former Associate Head of School Kitty Gordan, Jacqueline was “quintessentially French, as well as an excellent teacher who set high standards for her students.”

in memoriam

FALL 2017 43

Associate Director of Admissions Abby Balafas and her husband, Evan, welcomed their second daughter, Alice Gray Balafas, on April 26, 2017. Abby, Evan, and big sister Maggie are all doing well!

Chemistry teacher Frank Barros and his family enjoyed a trip to Disney World last summer!

Artist-in-Residence Ian Spencer Bell received an MFA in poetry from New York University in May 2017. His first published poem,

“Climbing,” appeared in Narrative magazine this fall.

Music Department Head and Director of Choral Programs Michael Goede will conduct the all-female Maine Music Educators Association District 1 High School Treble Honor Choir in January 2018. He will spend a weekend working with 90 talented Portland-area high school students selected through an audition process. The two days of rehearsal will culminate in a performance by the choir at the Maine Music Educators Association’s High School Honors Festival.

History faculty member and Middle School Dean of Students Amanda Goodwin received a master’s degree in private school leadership from the Klingenstein Center at Teachers College, Columbia University last spring.

Director of Communications David Byrnes married Jeremy MacKechnie on June 24, 2017, in Highland Lake, NY. They were walked down the aisle by Jeremy’s five-year-old nephew, Harrison.

Composer-in-Residence Sarah Taylor Ellis had an industry reading of her musical adaptation of Jane Austen’s EMMA in late September (see page 28). Sarah spent the summer revising and adapting her dissertation—Doing the Time Warp: Queer Temporalities and Musical Theater—into a book, and reports that she is nearly finished. She is also preparing for a January reading of her musical adaptation of The Trojan Women with libretto by Ellen McLaughlin and direction by Rachel Dickstein.

English and history faculty member Fiona Donovan recently published Jasper Johns: Pictures within Pictures, 1980–2015, which is the first comprehensive study of the artist’s later paintings and works on paper. Supported by the artist’s words and previous scholarship, Fiona explores how representational objects made their way back into Jasper Johns’s work in the late 1970s, after his explosive Pop Art beginnings and a period of abstraction.

Former science teacher Thu-Nga Ho married Benjamin Morris in Stowe, Vermont last summer.

Former Senior Advancement Associate Emily Howe ’09 married Greg Gianis on August 5, 2017, in Memphis, Tennessee. The couple have since relocated from New York to Nashville, Tennessee.

Classics faculty member Sarah Kaczor married Tony McConnell on July 7, 2017, in Meriden, CT, Sarah’s hometown.

Former Head of Middle School Noni Thomas López has been named the next Head of School of the Gordon School in East Providence, Rhode Island. Her tenure will begin in July 2018.

Director of Athletics Deb Malmgren retired at the end of the 2016–2017 academic year after seven years at Nightingale. In announcing her plans to retire, Head of School Paul A. Burke noted that “Deb has led our athletic department with equal parts sensitivity, thoughtfulness, and wisdom.”

Former Director of College Advising Joyce Slayton Mitchell reports that she is consulting on U.S. college admissions for start-ups throughout China, from Harbin in the northeast to Guangdong province in the southwest.

Lana Lagasa-Smith was born to Suzanne Lagasa and English faculty member Sherwyn Smith on May 1, 2017. Mom, dad, and big brother Ezekiel are all ecstatic and doing well.

Math faculty member Chloe Tennyson and Peter Houston were married in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, on June 17, 2017.

Lower School faculty member Kate Theisz married Jeremy Moran at Mount Juliet Estate in Kilkenny, Ireland on July 29, 2017.

English faculty member and Class XI–XII Dean of Students Nikki Willis welcomed twin girls Jocelyn Helena (at left, below) and Nora Serena on May 12, 2017, just in time for Mother’s Day! The girls measured 18”/5.04 lbs and 18.5”/5.01 lbs at birth, respectively, and are doing very well. Nikki reports:

“The journey has just begun and, so far, it’s been so much fun!”

faculty and staff notes

After 46 years as a beloved member of Nightingale’s faculty, Jane Guggenheimer retired at the end of the 2016–2017 academic year. Many members of the extended Nightingale community returned to the schoolhouse in June to celebrate Jane and the indelible imprint she has left on our school.

In honor of her remarkable career, Jane’s family returned with her in September to dedicate a special bench, which sits on the sixth-floor terrace and has already become a favorite spot for Middle School faculty to enjoy a moment outdoors.

celebrating jane guggenheimer


Voic

es

Here we feature the voice of someone in the Nightingale community. If you would like to share some of your thoughts or experiences with others in the community, please contact us at [email protected].

Now in her fifth year as a member of Nightingale’s faculty, Johara Sealy is serving as interim director of diversity and equity for the 2017–2018 academic year. She delivered the remarks below on October 19, 2017 at an open house for families of color interested in applying to Nightingale.

Two years ago, in celebration of International Peace Day, the Lower School students were asked to complete the prompt “Peace is.” Not surprisingly, their beliefs, ideas, and reflections were widely divergent. Some students shared that peace was “watching flowers bloom,” “reading a book,” “helping a friend in need,” “finding a way to make the world a better place,” and even

“lying on the beach.” The response that resonated most with me

came from a student of color who wrote, “Peace is being ME.” This short response was so simple yet so pregnant with meaning. It is important to note that the “me” was written in capital letters, suggesting that she was making a positive and loud declaration about her identity and much more.

I was overjoyed to hear this student express, at such a young age, this level of contentment, confidence, and self-assurance in who she is. At the same time, I pondered what my role could and should be in contributing to nurturing and maintaining this “peace” in who she would eventually become in life’s landscape. A few questions that immediately came to mind were:

• How would the Nightingale teaching and learning community continue to acknowledge and honor this student’s

uniqueness so that her peace would become contagious within and beyond the boundaries of our walls?

• What would we need to do to ensure that within the blue doors her sense of

“peace” was grounded in a deep sense of “belonging?”

• How could we support her and her family along their course at Nightingale and beyond?

These questions are at the forefront of the work that I aspire to do in my role as interim director of diversity and equity, and they reflect Nightingale’s commitment to assuring that each student will become the best version of herself.

This year, our schoolwide diversity focus is “belonging.” The author Brené Brown writes that “true belonging doesn’t require that we change who we are; it requires that we BE who we are.” In a variety of ways, Nightingale students have the opportunity to explore and hone their talents and above all, to find their passions and discover their fullest and most authentic “selves.”

As the world continues to evolve and the human family becomes more diverse and more interdependent, it is important to connect our students to ideologies that promote “self” and

”others.” As a woman of color and an alumna of a women’s college, I can truly say that Nightingale is a community that fosters lifelong learners and prepares young women to enter a universal sphere, to partake of a greater humanity and to lead lives of purpose.

HEAD OF SCHOOLPaul A. Burke

BOARD OF TRUSTEESRebecca Rasmussen Grunwald, President Blair Pillsbury Enders ‘88, Vice President Alexander Evans, Treasurer Gregory Palm, Secretary Paul A. Burke, Assistant Secretary

Jan Abell, Ex-officioRobert Azeke Graciela BitarDouglas Feagin Mark GreeneShoshanna Lonstein Gruss ‘93Trudy HallPatricia Gilchrist Howard ‘62Paul LachmanJiyeun Lee Thomas McGinnRaffiq NathooRenan PierreAlice Birnbaum Roebuck ’94Zoe Settle Schriebl ’00, Ex-officioMonica SpencerRandy Takian Henry TimmsJenny Edwards Wood

HONORARY BOARD MEMBERSJerome P. Kenney Nina Joukowsky Köprülü ‘79Susan Hecht Tofel ‘48 Grant F. Winthrop

HEAD OF SCHOOL EMERITADorothy A. Hutcheson

PARENTS ASSOCIATION OFFICERSJan Abell, PresidentKristen Durkin, Vice PresidentJulie Gardiner, Secretary/Treasurer

ALUMNAE BOARDZoe Settle Schriebl ’00, President

Paul A. Burke, Ex-officio Elizabeth Victory Anderson ’88Francesca Harper Cohen ’87Loulou David ’09Melissa H. Elting ‘92Elizabeth Riley Fraise ’98Sage G. Garner ’04Carmen Ingerman ’09Hillary Johnson ’76Amie Rappoport McKenna ’90Elizabeth Friedland Meyer ’89Sophie Osorio ’18, Student RepresentativePalmer Jones O’Sullivan ’94Amanda Potters Schumacher ’95Hannah Skobe ’18, Student Representative

OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT

Development TeamChristie GuevaraDirector of Alumnae RelationsErica LeeDirector of Annual Giving and Constituent RelationsRene MitchellSenior Advancement AssociateSusan MohiDirector of Institutional Advancement

Communications TeamTerecille Basa-OngCommunications AssociateDavid ByrnesDirector of CommunicationsKristina Kalaw JoyasEvents CoordinatorSusan TilsonAssociate Director of Communications

46 THE BLUE DOORS

The Nightingale-Bamford School

20 East 92nd Street, New York, NY 10128

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Nightingale

e Blue Doors Nightingale-Bamford SchoolVolume … · The Class VIII Memorial Project has become an integral part of the eighth-grade curriculum. THE BLUE DOORS Volume 12, Issue 1

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