GeorGianpublication of george scho ol, newtow n, pennsy lvania

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april 2009

01perspectivesFostering a Global Perspective: George School’s international focus impacts the lives, studies, and careers of students and alumni.

15alumni weekendJoin hundreds of alumni from around the world as we celebrate Alumni Weekend, May 8, 9, and 10, 2009.

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Vol. 81 No. 01

listen ing to all the vo icesGeorge School’s new five-year strategic plan will help us steward our resources during this turbulent economic time.

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Table of ConTenTs

perspectives Fostering a Global Perspective

Alumni Embrace Global CitizenshipAlumnus Advises on Global TelecommunicationsAlumna Studies International Affairs International Baccalaureate Program Engages Students eQuiz Highlights

features

Listening to All the Voices

Come Back to George School for Alumni Weekend

Award Recipients: David RutsteinKaren Callaway WilliamsCarolyn Waghorne

Vol. 81 | no. 01 | aPRIl 2009

GeorGian

PHoTos: Chinese 1 Class (Inside Front Cover) George School teacher Ning Yuan Yu begins his class with tai chi. (Photo: Bruce Weller) Flags from Many Nations (Front Cover) More than seventy flags hang in Marshall, George School’s student center, representing countries that are home to our international students and alumni. (Photo: Mark Wiley)

campus news & notes

alumni tell us

in memoriam

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GEoRGIAn | 1

Students graduating from George School today

will be occupying a very different world from

that occupied by their grandparents. In the

words of Vivien Stewart, vice president for edu-

cation at the Asia Society, “To be successful

global citizens, workers, and leaders, students

will need to be knowledgeable about the world,

be able to communicate in languages other

than English, and be informed and active

citizens.”* George School’s understanding of

this statement is ref lected in our academics,

including our early adoption and recent expan-

sion of the International Baccalaureate Diploma

Program—a curriculum that you will learn more

about in this Perspectives section.

Engaged citizenship requires more than

knowledge, however, and at George School we

also try to provide students with opportunities to

live, work, and make decisions with others whose

backgrounds and perspectives are very different

from their own. our tradition of domestic and

international service trips has provided students

with such experiences for over sixty years. Since

the 1950s, the student body at George School has

become more and more diverse, to the point that

today we have students from thirty-two countries

and twenty-one states, a number of students for

whom English is a second or third language, and

students from a wide range of religious, racial,

and cultural backgrounds. This rich mix of peo-

ple continues to provide George School students

with opportunities to develop the skills and rela-

tionships that will one day be the basis for global

citizenship. The articles that follow attest to the

strength and importance of this work.

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Fostering a Global Perspective

Head of sCHool nanCy sTaRmeR congratulates Kenny Kao ’08 of Taipei, Taiwan, who was named one of forty finalists nation-wide in the 67th Annual Intel Science Talent Search in 2008.

Perspectives edited by jul iaNa rosati

* Vivien Stewart, “Becoming Citizens of the World,” Educational Leadership 64, no. 7 (2007): 8–14.

2 | GEoRGIAn

apr i l 2009

by KareN doss bowmaN

Moritz Rolf ’98 was among the crowd of thousands

who gathered in Berlin last July to hear then-presi-

dential hopeful Senator Barack obama speak. The

German national, who recently received an econom-

ics degree from Humboldt University of Berlin, was

so moved by obama’s message that in September,

he temporarily moved into a friend’s apartment in

Pennsylvania and volunteered for obama’s state

headquarters in Philadelphia. His responsibilities

included anything from recruiting volunteers and

canvassing neighborhoods to serving as line man-

ager at a local polling station on Election Day.

“It was an amazing experience to see all those

people performing their right to vote,” says Moritz.

“That I was not able to vote was not important for

me. I just had the feeling of being part of something

big and enjoyed the amazing experiences I had

every day. I was glad to help people to vote and live

democracy.”

Just as Moritz didn’t let the confines of citizenship

stop him from participating in one of the most

memorable U.S. presidential campaigns in history,

other George School alumni are reaching beyond

borders to embrace the global community. Doing so

has helped many to feel a kinship with their neigh-

bors throughout the world.

Cally Iden ’98 considers herself a “citizen of the

world.” Having spent most of her adult life living

and working abroad, the Pennsylvania native says

that she feels at home just about anywhere. A semes-

ter studying abroad in France while enrolled at

The Cooper Union School of Art in new York City

inspired her to move to France after graduation.

Today she is an artist living in Seoul, South Korea,

where she teaches English and photography classes.

Though she’s always been adventurous, Cally cred-

its George School with opening up her worldview

by fostering relationships with students from other

countries.

“Through my many friendships with inter-

national students from places like Taiwan, Korea,

Vietnam, and Bosnia, I learned that differences in

cultural background or even language are not lim-

iting factors on a friendship,” notes Cally, who met

her Korean husband while both were students at

École nationale Superiore des Arts Décoratifs in

Paris. The two converse primarily in French.

Being part of a multicultural community at

George School was likewise an important experi-

Alumni Embrace Global Citizenship

Perspectives

01. Cally Iden, 02. Marina Urquidi, 03. Saeid Zakeri, 04. Yoshiko Kurotsu, 05. Moritz Rolf

01 03 04

02 05

GEoRGIAn | 3

perspecti V es

ence for Saeid Zakeri ’92, who came to the United

States from his native Iran as an adolescent and cur-

rently lives in new York State. A graduate of SUnY

Buffalo, Saeid says that the diversity he found at

George School made him feel comfortable and chal-

lenged him to be more open-minded. He recalls that

on campus he encountered people of different races

and faith backgrounds for the first time.

“You look at the conflicts in the world, and

you wonder why can’t we all get along—it’s idealis-

tic, but that’s what I strive towards,” says Saeid, who

now holds dual citizenship in Iran and the United

States and works as an electrical engineer. “To be

honest, being an American, or being an Iranian,

your life is pretty much the same—you wake up in

the morning, you make money for your children,

and you try to live a good life. Day to day, life for a

citizen here and a citizen there is not that different.

Governments aside, people are the same.”

For some George School alumni, the seeds of

a global perspective are planted in early childhood.

Marina Urquidi ’67, a dual citizen of the United

States and Mexico who lives in France, remem-

bers, “My family tradition had always included a

strong perspective of the world under the keywords

‘mutual respect and understanding.’” Following her

childhood in Mexico, Marina enrolled at George

School and extended her international experi-

ences beyond the school’s campus, participat-

ing in the exchange with Lycée Alfred Kastler in

Guebwiller, France, where she spent her junior year.

After attending Vassar College, Marina returned to

France, where she has worked as a translator for over

thirty years.

Also a former photojournalist and radio host,

Marina has been working since 1996 as an internet

communication facilitator for an ambitious glob-

al-change project, The Alliance for a Responsible,

Plural, and United World (http://www.alliance21.

org), hosting online international debates on vari-

ous global topics. Following the September 11, 2001,

terrorist attacks in new York City and Washington

DC, for example, she facilitated a debate on “build-

ing peace,” giving people the opportunity to voice

their opinions about issues such as governmental

responsibility, the struggle for energy and natural

resources, and the value of education in alleviating

the world’s problems.

Like Marina, Yoshiko Kurotsu ’98 began devel-

oping a global perspective during childhood. As the

American-born daughter of Japanese immigrants

to the United States, Yoshiko says she has reflected

since a young age on “how to balance and comple-

ment these two cultures within myself.” Though her

first language was Japanese, once she started school,

her f luency in English became much better. Still,

Yoshiko’s parents were dedicated to passing on the

values, customs, and language of their native coun-

try—even sending Yoshiko and her sisters, noriko

’96 and Emiko ’00, to Japanese school, along with

completing their American education.

As a student at Wheaton College in

Massachusetts, Yoshiko chose to spend her junior

year studying abroad in China—a decision that put

her on track for her current position as head of mar-

keting and communications at a five-star hotel in

Beijing. While she considered studying in Japan,

Yoshiko explains, “I finally settled on China after

deciding that it would be interesting to see how

much of Japan’s culture was influenced by China’s,

and how the two are related.”

Yoshiko began studying Mandarin Chinese

when she arrived in China as a student. Today she

finds that people are often surprised to learn that

she is Japanese-American rather than a native of

China. “Being in China definitely adds a new ele-

ment to balancing myself,” she notes. “It has forced

me to really assess my own cultural identity.”

Although she had a multicultural upbringing,

Yoshiko credits George School with further increas-

ing her international awareness. In particular, dur-

ing a service trip to Hanoi, Vietnam, with teachers

Ralph Lelii and Polly Lodge, she learned valuable

lessons from her visits with host families and by

working in the S.o.S. orphanage.

“My time there really opened my eyes to

the disparities that existed in the world, not only

between two countries such as the United States and

Vietnam, but also between citizens of one city, of

Hanoi—some of whom drove around in Mercedes

while others drove ox-carts,” she says.

According to Yoshiko, we will have our best

chance of addressing global problems—such as cli-

mate change, tensions between nations, the possi-

bility of pandemic disease, and the international

financial crisis—if people throughout the world

understand that we are all connected.

“our actions will have an effect on people that

we may not know or see,” Yoshiko states. “People

need to be willing to be responsible global citizens

who, at the very least, consider the consequences of

their actions—not only on themselves, but also on

those around the world.”

4 | GEoRGIAn

apr i l 2009

laRRy sPIwak ’82 (lefT) Now president of the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies, Larry travels the globe to advise on telecommu-nications issues.

Perspectives

by aNdrea lehmaN

From Brazil to new Zealand to Ghana, Lawrence

Spiwak ’82 is helping create an increasingly smaller

world. “I write term papers for a living,” jokes

Larry, by way of explaining what he does at the

Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic

Public Policy Studies. President and cofounder

of this Washington think tank specializing in policy

issues related to the telecommunications and tech-

nology industries, he is both lawyer and scholar.

He conducts research, writes academic papers and

op-eds, and speaks before and consults with indus-

try and government leaders, domestically and inter-

nationally, to provide advice about the law and

economics of telecommunications and high-tech

industries.

His path to this role includes The George

Washington University and the Reagan White

House where he worked as a participant in the

DC-area Presidential Stay-in-School Program.

He attended the Benjamin n. Cardozo School of

Law of Yeshiva University, where he received his law

degree, and worked at the Federal Communications

Commission (FCC), where he spent four years as a

senior attorney with the Competition Division in

the office of General Counsel.

Yet Larry is quick to credit George School’s

fertile political soil and equally rich interna-

tional perspective—not to mention all those term

papers—with helping to prepare him for his career.

For Larry, George School’s biweekly assem-

blies and the daily history class discussions that

arose from New York Times articles are emblematic

of an environment that encouraged political dia-

logue. Larry didn’t always agree with his classmates,

and he reveled in the vigorous debates that resulted.

“I got in my share of political battles there,” Larry

recalls. Two history teachers, Frank Farmer and Bill

Ehrhart, took him under their wing and encour-

aged his interest in policy issues.

Just as important to Larry’s future was George

School’s global orientation—both the presence

of international students on campus and the

Alumnus Advises on Global Telecommunications

GEoRGIAn | 5

perspecti V es

opportunities to go abroad. During his junior year,

he went to Germany as an exchange student just

as Solidarity was starting to break through the

Iron Curtain in Poland. “This was a very exciting

time,” Larry remembers. “There was real tension

in the air.”

The following year, for their senior project, he

and three friends elected to travel independently to

Israel. There, Larry recalls, they found themselves

in the vicinity of Palestine Liberation organization

shelling during a camping trip and were on one of

the last buses out of the Sinai Desert before Israel

returned it to Egypt. Eye-opening as well as hair-

raising, these were experiences “that most kids

don’t get—to travel, to learn to be comfortable with

other cultures and for them to be comfortable with

you,” Larry recognizes. George School, he says,

“made you aware that there was a world out there”

and provided “an appreciation and respect for other

cultures”—a foundation upon which his current

international relationships are built.

Founded in 1998, today the Phoenix Center

does roughly a third of its work internationally, and

Larry travels the globe to advise on telecommuni-

cations issues, particularly the adoption of high-

speed internet access, or broadband. Faster and

more reliable than dial-up internet access, broad-

band is considered essential for economic success in

the twenty-first century. In many rural and devel-

oping regions, broadband is expensive or unavail-

able because the technological equipment necessary

for affordable service has not been installed.

Larry finds it extremely rewarding to work

with developing nations that are trying to build a

modern communications infrastructure. The key

to being successful, he’s learned, is to recognize

that though the underlying issues are similar,

“what works in one country doesn’t work in

others.” His travels include a trip to Manila and

Hanoi in January 2007 as part of President Bush’s

Digital Freedom Initiative, for which he was

selected to lecture about rural broadband develop-

ment and ways to provide universal telecommuni-

cations service.

When he is not traveling and advising, Larry is

busy writing academic-level articles on broadband

and technology that are posted on the Phoenix

Center’s website, published in academic journals,

and often referred to by major media outlets

and policymakers. “We try to be an honest and

dispassionate voice in the policy debate,” Larry

says. The Phoenix Center’s research has been

cited in various major media outlets—including

The Economist, public television’s Nightly Business

Report, BusinessWeek, Forbes.com, and the Wall Street

Journal—as well as by the FCC, the U.S. Securities

and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Federal Trade

Commission, the U.S. Department of State, the

International Telecommunication Union, the

organisation for Economic Co-operation and

Development, and on the f loors of the U.S. House

of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.

Adding communications infrastructure is very

expensive and the solutions complex. “How do you

get broadband to someone with a GDP of $300 a

year?” he posits. “How do you establish property

rights?” Larry’s goal is to provide ideas, not to dic-

tate. “In my work, you have to establish credibility,

especially when dealing with foreign governments

and policy makers.” Larry says that for him, such

interactions are rooted in “the humility that George

School taught.”

George School, he says, “made you aware that there was a world out there” and provided “an appreciation and respect for other cultures”—a foundation upon which his current international relationships are built.

6 | GEoRGIAn

apr i l 2009

by KareN doss bowmaN

As an intern for the Moscow Bureau of the New

York Times, Sara Rhodin ’02 worked around the

clock with her colleagues last summer to report on

the August conflict between Russia and the for-

mer Soviet Republic of Georgia. The internship

gave Sara—a graduate student in Russian studies at

Harvard University—the opportunity to interview

Estonian President Toomas Ilves for an article she

cowrote about reactions to the South ossetia con-

flict among former Soviet republics.

“The past year and a half has been extremely

intensive in terms of the knowledge about the region

that I’ve been exposed to,” she says. Clearly no

stranger to intensive study, Sara has been finding

remarkable ways to develop her interest in interna-

tional affairs ever since high school.

Encouraged by her George School teachers to

travel overseas, Sara visited the Middle East dur-

ing the summer of 2000 after completing her soph-

omore year. She lived with Palestinian family

friends in Jordan and visited destinations through-

out the Israeli and Palestinian territories, as well as

Syria. The trip complemented her studies in Global

Interdependence, a history course that includes a

unit about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“of all the classes that I took at George School,

this was the most memorable,” recalls the newtown,

Pennsylvania, native. During the course, Sara

says, she felt deeply affected by reading How We

Survived Communism and Even Laughed, a mem-

oir by Croatian journalist Slavenka Drakulic, and

by watching a film about relations between Israeli

settlers and Palestinian residents in the Palestinian

territories.

Following her graduation from George School,

Sara enrolled at The George Washington University

(GW) in Washington DC with plans to major in

photography—an interest she had picked up at

George School under the encouragement of teacher

Danielle Picard-Sheehan. After taking required

courses such as international politics and Russian

literature, however, Sara decided to pursue a degree

Alumna Studies International Affairs

Perspectives

saRa RHodIn ’02 received the Distinguished Scholar Award from The George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs in May 2006. She also was chosen to present an honorary doctorate to then-Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan at the school’s awards ceremony.

GEoRGIAn | 7

perspecti V es

in international affairs with two concentrations—

one in international economics and another in

Russia and Eastern Europe.

While at GW, Sara spent her junior year abroad

at Budapest Corvinus University in Hungary and

also held several internships at the U.S. Department

of State, including two positions in Washington DC

and a summer stint in 2004 as a political-economic

intern for the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn, Estonia.

In Estonia, she organized a high-level U.S. congres-

sional delegation to the former Soviet republic. The

group included 2008 presidential candidates Senator

John McCain and then-Senator Hillary Clinton.

“I think that I’ve been lucky with my intern-

ships and jobs to have access to a wide range of

really important and interesting people,” comments

Sara.

Sara returned to Estonia after graduating from

GW, having won a Fulbright Student Fellowship

to spend the 2006-2007 academic year at Tallinn

University. Along with her coursework, Sara com-

pleted an independent research project on aban-

doned Soviet military facilities in Estonia. She

traveled to several formerly closed cities, such as

Paldiski, a Baltic Sea port town that housed the

Soviet Union’s naval nuclear submarine program;

and Sillamae, the site of a chemical factory that

produced nuclear fuel rods and other materials for

Soviet nuclear power plants and weapons factories.

During frequent visits to these towns throughout

the year, Sara took photographs documenting

changes to the facilities and also interviewed

residents, “from women who worked in the

cafeteria of one of the facilities or men who

had been soldiers in the Red Army.” The photo

essay that she compiled from her visits has been

exhibited at Harvard University’s Center for

Government and International Studies, Princeton

University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and

International Affairs, and the Astroturf Gallery in

Washington DC.

Thinking that the Russian studies program at

Harvard could be a good stepping stone to a career

in foreign service, foreign correspondence, intelli-

gence, or academia, Sara enrolled there after com-

pleting her Fulbright fellowship. She is currently

working on a master’s thesis about Soviet weddings

and family policies, and is leaning towards journal-

ism as a career choice.

“I would like to incorporate photography in

my future profession,” Sara says. “one of the most

exciting things about the rise in new media is that

online journalists are given the opportunity to add

a visual element to their written descriptions. That

might be a good fit for me.”

Sara’s worldwide excursions have made her a

witness to instances of the extreme poverty and suf-

fering endured by so many people. In Estonia, for

example, she was surprised by the socioeconomic

disparities between the progressive Estonians and

the nation’s Russian-speaking population, who

struggle with high rates of substance abuse, unem-

ployment, and HIV/AIDS.

As a reporter, she observes, “You are able to

convey a wide variety of experiences—from the

everyday to the monumental,” and relate personal,

intimate details about an event to people who can-

not be firsthand witnesses.

“Most people don’t go to Estonia, and espe-

cially not to cities like Paldiski and Sillamae,” says

Sara. She hopes that readers will be motivated to

gather more information and consider new views

of situations. “As a journalist, you can transfer

information and images of such places to people

all over the world to help them understand the

complexities of conflicts.”

As a reporter, “you are able to convey a wide variety of experiences—from the everyday to the monumental,” and relate personal, intimate details about an event to peoplewho cannot be first-hand witnesses.

8 | GEoRGIAn

apr i l 2009

by jul iaNa rosati

George School’s curriculum offers a number

of international aspects. Academic classes have

long been infused with a Quaker concern for liv-

ing meaningful, responsible lives as global citi-

zens. For over sixty years, faculty have led students

on domestic and international service trips. An

English as a Second Language program was estab-

lished in 1988 to support the school’s many interna-

tional students. In addition, George School was one

of the first schools in the United States to imple-

ment an International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma

Program, which it did in 1985. Today, students with

a variety of interests and goals are taking part in

George School’s IB Program, completing the same

IB course requirements as students in 130 other

countries where IB programs are offered.

An International Academic Community

“I wanted to engage in a challenging curricu-

lum with the intention of studying abroad,” says

norah Hannel ’10 of her decision to enroll in the IB

Diploma Program. She adds, “I also liked the idea

of being part of a global community.” norah, a res-

ident of newtown, Pennsylvania, grew up in the

United States, Germany, and England, and thinks

she might pursue a career in journalism, psychol-

ogy, or law. She says that she likes to imagine stu-

dents in other countries taking the same IB classes

that she takes and bringing different cultural per-

spectives to what they are learning.

The IB Program at George School is overseen

by the International Baccalaureate organization

(IBo), which works with schools worldwide to

implement IB programs. According to its mis-

sion statement, the IBo aims to develop inquiring,

knowledgeable, and caring young people who help

to create a better and more peaceful world through

intercultural understanding and respect.

“This past spring when I was proctoring the

IB Math Studies examination, a student asked, ‘Is

this the same exact test for everyone around the

world?’” recalls George School English teacher and

IB coordinator Ralph Lelii. “I answered that on this

date, students in 131 countries on every continent

International Baccalaureate Program Engages Students

Perspectivesb

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RalPH lelII and Theory of Knowledge students analyze philosophical issues. Ralph encourages students to question what they know and think, giving them opportunities to grow and learn as individuals.

GEoRGIAn | 9

perspecti V es

were united in the same quest for excellence. There

is, I believe, great power in the idea that the IB

Program, in a small but real way, makes us citizens

of the world.”

George School’s IB Program has grown over

the years from an initial class of three students to

the current group of forty senior and forty-two

junior diploma candidates. In addition, George

School now offers students who do not enroll in

the full, two-year Diploma Program the option

of pursuing subject-specific IB certificates or tak-

ing individual IB classes in over twenty different

areas of study. over two thousand U.S. universities

and colleges, including the most competitive, offer

advanced placement for successful IB scores.

Like norah, Max Mosley ’09 of newtown,

Pennsylvania, was drawn to the IB Diploma

Program because of an interest in studying abroad

for college. His current schedule includes Travis

ortogero’s higher-level IB Math 2 class, a calculus

course in which students are frequently expected to

try problems without having been explicitly taught

how to find the solutions, as mathematicians must

do. “I’ve always been a math student,” says Max of

his decision to enroll in this advanced course. He

plans to study computer science in college.

A Challenging Curriculum

An extraordinary and challenging two-year cur-

riculum that students can elect to take during the

junior and senior years, the IB Diploma Program

requires rigorous academic work in English, a sec-

ond language, history or economics, science, math,

and art. Students choose three subjects to take for

higher-level credit and three to take for standard-

level credit. The diploma curriculum balances these

academics with additional requirements, including

creative, service, and athletic activities. Students’

work is assessed both by George School teachers

and an international panel of judges.

An interest in studying abroad is not the only

reason that current IB Diploma candidates cite

for their interest in the program. When Morgan

Humphrey ’09 of Trenton, new Jersey, set out to

plan her junior-year schedule, she discovered that

all of the courses that interested her the most were

IB courses. Fran Bradley’s IB Economics class was

particularly appealing to Morgan, who intends to

pursue a career as an investment banker. The global

economic crisis has provided no shortage of rel-

evant material for the class’s daily discussions of

economic news, and Morgan enjoys the opportu-

nity to exchange views of the situation. “Everyone

has different opinions about whether the stimulus

package will work,” she observes of her classmates.

Morgan has been admitted to the Wharton

School of the University of Pennsylvania under

its early decision program and plans to major in

finance and global analysis. To support her inter-

est in conducting business in Latin America one

day, she has taken Molly Stephenson’s higher-level

IB Spanish class at George School. As focused as she

is, Morgan has appreciated the opportunity to chal-

lenge herself in a number of subjects while fulfill-

ing the requirements of the IB Diploma. Morgan

didn’t think that her projects in Judy Bartella’s IB

Ceramics class turned out very well, but the experi-

ence taught her the value of trying something new.

“The IB Program brings out very well-rounded stu-

dents,” Morgan states.

Respect for a fellow Korean student at George

School who received an IB Diploma two years ago

inspired Kyoung Ho Lee ’09 of Seoul to partici-

pate in the program. His current IB courses include

economics—a subject he plans to study in col-

lege—and Travis ortogero’s higher-level IB Math

2 class. Travis, he says, has a “very careful and

enjoyable” teaching style and is sensitive to the fact

that English is Kyoung Ho’s second language. “He

knows that sometimes because of the language

issue I feel like I’m behind,” says Kyoung Ho. When

that happens, Travis stops to help him catch up.

Kyoung Ho notes, “He always wants a student to

fully know what he’s trying to teach.” Kyoung Ho

believes that the diploma program has offered him

benefits beyond academics. “Having taken the pro-

gram for a year and a half, I feel like I have learned

my own responsibilities not only for schoolwork,

but also for many other things in my life,” he

ref lects.

The diploma program has likewise allowed

Miranda Tarlini ’09 of new Hope, Pennsylvania,

to achieve benefits that will help her after George

School. “When I first came to George School and

the IB Program was explained, I knew it was an

option that would offer me great advantages during

the college application process,” she says. “In the

end, it did in fact pay off.” Miranda has accepted

admission at the University of north Carolina

Wilmington, and reports that many of her fresh-

man credits have been fulfilled through her IB

work. An aspiring marine mammologist, she plans

to major in marine biology at college and is cur-

rently enrolled in Reed Goossen’s higher-level IB

Biology class.

10 | GEoRGIAn

Learning to Question Knowledge Itself

Though their goals and favorite subjects may vary,

all IB Diploma candidates share one course in com-

mon: Theory of Knowledge. Taught by Ralph Lelii

and Kevin Moon, this interdisciplinary class exam-

ines some of the ways in which human beings

acquire knowledge and understand the world

around them. Students in the class analyze philo-

sophical issues and ref lect on their own intellec-

tual experiences as they read and respond to a rich

variety of texts that raise religious, moral, aesthetic,

and ethical questions. Ralph explains, “The Theory

of Knowledge course encourages critical thinking

about knowledge itself, to try to help young people

make sense of what they encounter.”

noorjahan Akbar ’10 of Kabul, Afghanistan,

says, “I like my Theory of Knowledge class because

it makes me think. It makes me a little uncomfort-

apr i l 2009

Rachel Aucott ’04 “The IB Program helped me become much more aware

of my place in the world; I think hard about what

needs to be better—the public education system, the

healthcare system, et cetera—and I work hard to change

my community for the better,” says Rachel. A gradu-

ate of Swarthmore College, she currently works at the

Philadelphia headquarters of the not-for-profit Chil-

dren’s Literacy Initiative, which helps teachers at urban

elementary schools to improve the literacy education of

children from low-income neighborhoods.

Jaron Shipp ’98“one of the reasons my parents and I selected GS over

other established boarding schools was because of the

IB Program—at the time a rarity amongst independent

boarding schools,” says Jaron. A graduate of Howard

University School of Law, Jaron recalls that the IB Pro-

gram influenced his choice of an undergraduate major

at the University of Pennsylvania. “The IB Program is

great because it stresses knowledge of several core disci-

plines and also an interdisciplinary thought process,” he

says. “I went to college at Penn, and selected an interdis-

ciplinary major—Politics, Philosophy, Economics—in

part because of my experience in IB.” Jaron is currently

an attorney at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP

in San Francisco, California, where he represents class-

action plaintiffs in employment discrimination and

securities lawsuits.

Katheryne Kramer ’03Currently a Peace Corps volunteer in Turkmenistan,

Katheryne (left) grew up in seven countries on three

continents and has spent a year studying abroad in Cape

Town, South Africa. “Traveling has proven to me that

the world is fundamentally a small place that shrinks

and gets more cozy each time you meet someone new,”

she says. Katheryne recalls that the IB Program ap-

pealed to her because “I wanted a rigorous academic

program and a world perspective,” and that the program

influenced her decision to study international relations

at college. She notes, “I especially like reading books

from different countries, and seeing how writers saw

their cultures, even in translation.”

IB Alumni Share Their Experiences

Alumna Works at Colombian IB School

GEoRGIAn | 11

perspecti V es

able, but in a way that’s necessary.” The discomfort,

she says, is due to the fact that the course asks stu-

dents to question everything from the definition of

knowledge to the validity of their own perceptions.

Such thinking has made her aware that one could

go to an extreme of “either believing everything

or questioning everything,” she says. noorjahan

names Theory of Knowledge as one of her favor-

ite courses, along with Jackie Coren’s IB Music

Seminar, which offers students who have studied a

specific musical form the opportunity to study var-

ious musical genres and forms, to work with guest

musicians, to compose several works, and to par-

ticipate in performances. noorjahan studies clas-

sical Afghan singing and would like to pursue it

after George School, though she is also interested in

studying educational theory. “I think we can bring

great changes in the way people think and live

through education,” she says.

olena Evans ’09 also names Theory of

Knowledge as a favorite class. “I see the world as

being a unified planet where all people have the

same goals, hopes, dreams,” she says. “The IB

Program contributed to this view on many lev-

els—for example, our long discussions in Theory

of Knowledge class about different ethics and cul-

tures.” olena, who grew up in Ukraine and now

lives in Stockton, new Jersey, will attend American

University next fall and is considering a major in

international relations or psychology.

According to Ralph, Theory of Knowledge

addresses not only the contemporary world but

also the course of human history. He comments,

“The context of the Theory of Knowledge class is

a world immeasurably different from that inhab-

ited by ‘renaissance man.’ Knowledge may indeed

be said to have exploded: it has not only expanded

massively but also become increasingly special-

ized, or fragmented. At the same time, discoveries

in the twentieth century, such as quantum mechan-

ics and chaos theory, have demonstrated that there

are things that it is impossible for us to know or

predict.”

As students come of age in such a world, they

will need not only the academic skills and knowl-

edge that George School classes offer, but also

the habits of mind and spirit that George School

teaches, notes Head of School nancy Starmer.

“The capacity to look for that of God in themselves

and in others, the skill to resolve conflict peace-

fully, openness to change and difference, humil-

ity, ref lection, hope, respect, patience—these are

all things that George School can teach that most

other schools cannot,” nancy says. “I believe that

George School and other Quaker schools have a

unique role to play in education.”

Louisa Fingerhood Soto ’83Louisa is the guidance counselor at an IB school in

Bogota, Colombia. “Every day, I must use English and

Spanish—not the French I worked so hard on at GS—to

do my job working with students and parents,” says

Louisa. “I work with students in their last three years

of high school, helping them develop personal and

career goals. Being IB students gives them an interna-

tional focus for the work they want to do after school.

our school is a member of Round Square, and we are

sending many students to do gap year service projects

in India, Singapore, and China, and are still looking for

more sites.”

12 | GEoRGIAn

apr i l 2009

eQuiz Highlights

The December eQuiz asked alumni to describe the

ways in which they have developed a global per-

spective, both at George School and beyond. Some

of the responses are highlighted here. Thank you to

the 178 alumni who participated.

Remembering GS International Experiences

1944 | T. Vail Palmer Jr.

I was one of only two conscientious objectors

among the boys in my class (during World War

II)—this certainly strengthened my interest in the

Friends peace testimony—and my graduate study,

etc. were focused on contributing to the peace tes-

timony. Teachers who were German refugees were

an important influence—particularly in helping

me see language study as a route into understand-

ing other cultures.

1957 | Jonathan F. Esty

I attended the 1956 GS workcamp in Woffenbuttel,

Germany. I learned how young people from two

nations that had been enemies just eleven years

before can work together productively and joy-

ously toward a common goal.…Work on the George

School Affiliation Committee gave me an oppor-

tunity for close informal contact with a couple

of teachers I greatly admired, William Cleveland

and Walter Mohr. I will never forget the great dis-

cussion Dr. Mohr and I had about railroads, poli-

tics, government, and history while we waited at

the Trenton train station for our foreign New York

Herald Tribune sponsored guests to arrive.

1958 | Martha Scull Haines

Two exchange students from Germany lived with

my family (I was a day student) during two differ-

ent years. This experience gave me great insight to

post-World War II Germany compared to the plen-

tiful United States.

1977 | Marie-Claire Brown

Delia Bass Dandridge ’77 and her family took me

into their home, knowing that I only went [home

to Liberia] once or twice a year. She is my daugh-

ter Paige [Lispcome ’12]’s godmother and I am her

daughter Kendall’s. Delia and I went to Liberia for

senior project, where we worked in an adult lit-

eracy program at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church….

Delia and I were able to help in a program tutoring

adults who wanted to improve themselves by learn-

ing to read and write English. Just knowing that we

were able to make a small contribution to a much-

needed program was satisfying.

1987 | Karl P. Biron

My visits to twenty-three other countries in the

world helped me increase my tolerance and abil-

ity to discover foreign attitudes. My one year at

GS [as an exchange student from Düsseldorf,

Germany] laid the foundation for that. But only in

Singapore did I find a society similarly tolerant as

at GS. There I was strongly reminded of my close-

ness to the Quaker religion—even if I did not meet

any Quakers in Singapore. But Muslims, Buddhists,

Christians, Hindus, and Jews were equally respect-

ed—like they were at GS.

1990 | Joan Burton Whent

[I attended George School as an international stu-

dent from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.] Being around

real “Americans” (as in born and bred as opposed

to my being American but growing up abroad) and

especially my senior year roommate and co-prefect

(who had travelled extensively and had views/opin-

ions on international events) really made me feel

that I did/could fit in in the U.S. We are still great

friends today.

1993 | Frans Guna Wijaya

My experience at GS and USC as an international

student from Jakarta, Indonesia, opened my mind

about the importance of globalization, and the

importance of technology in our life and business.

I made lifelong friends with people from different

cultures and countries. I guess our common bond

of studying at GS as overseas students helped us to

be closer to each other. Friendships make you real-

ize that despite our difference in culture and cus-

toms, we have a lot in common too. So, it’s very

important to respect and know other people’s cul-

tures and customs.

Perspectives

GEoRGIAn | 13

perspecti V es

1998 | Jackie L. Vorhauer

My roommate and fellow co-prefect senior year was

from Korea. Her English was not great in the begin-

ning and I did not speak Korean…so we learned

to communicate in other ways, and we taught each

other our native languages. At first I was afraid she

and I would not make it through the year with-

out any frustrations. But today, we are best friends

and I am her daughter’s godmother. our friendship

makes me think that I went to GS for a reason.

Living with a Global Perspective

1942 | Roger Ernst

I have spent my entire life in world affairs: military

government in Germany, Marshall Plan for Austria,

office of Secretary of Defense-nATo, Foreign

Service: India, Taiwan, Korea, Ethiopia, southern

African nations, Thailand, and the South Pacific

Independent States. I have been teaching interna-

tional affairs since 1994.

1956 | John K. deGroot

I conducted seminars for working journalists

throughout northern Europe. Also, as a journal-

ist, I covered news stories in Latin America, Middle

East, and Europe.

1958 | Robert H. Fletcher

I have directed an international program, spon-

sored by the Rockefeller Foundation, to build

human capacity for clinical research in develop-

ing countries. Also, I have taught internation-

ally, largely because of a textbook I have written

(with others) that has been translated into several

languages.

1964 | Peter H. Fraser

Living and working in economic development

at the community, local, and national levels for

so many years in over twenty countries in Latin

America, Africa, and other countries in the ex-

USSR gave me and my family a unique opportunity

to experience the realities about what life is like for

most people in these places, how things are done,

and what it takes to improve the everyday lives

of the people. Each place is distinct, but there are

common denominators.

Alumni Profile: Kohei Muto ’08

What are you doing now?I’m living in Japan and taking a gap year while I apply to college

and start a small business.

How did your experience at George School contribute to your perspective on the world?At GS, I realized that there are so many things we need to take

into account in our life. For me, the most important things are

not fame, not a great academic background, not money, but love

for my friends, for those who support me, for Japanese culture,

and even for the world itself.

How did the experience of studying abroad for high school influence your life after George School?one of the ways I have changed through the experience is that I

started to think how I can contribute to the society, and to do so,

how I can utilize university education. During last summer, I got

a great chance to challenge myself by volunteering at an ER at St.

Luke’s international hospital in Tokyo. Without the experience of

studying abroad, it would have taken years for me to realize there

is actually a lot we can do in everyday life to contribute to society.

Did you have memorable friendships at GS with students who did not grow up in the same country as you?one of the most memorable things was that I could get to know

wonderful friends from Korea, China, and Taiwan, which the

Japanese government often has conflicts with. To remove stereo-

types, talking to people face to face is most effective. We discussed

and exchanged our thoughts about the political issues, military

or war affairs, religious issues, etc., as well as everyday life. That

gave me not only a good understanding of them but also the skill

to think objectively about general issues. I believe that those

experiences will give me more confidence to meet with any kinds

of people in the future. Also, there is a Vietnamese friend who was

my roommate as a prefect. I was truly inf luenced by his eagerness

to challenge himself. And getting to know a friend from Ukraine

was also memorable.

Are there any other thoughts you would like to share?of course school is the place to study, but GS was also the place

that gave me a chance to consider what is important in my life.

I would like to send great appreciation to everyone in the GS

community and to my advisor, Mabel Houghton, for her support.

14 | GEoRGIAn

apr i l 2009

1966 | Janice M. Powell Crausaz

I have worked in Africa (Cameroon), the Middle

East (United Arab Emirates), and four differ-

ent European countries (France, Switzerland,

Cyprus, and Ireland) in either education or heath-

care or both (I now teach occupational therapy at

University College Cork, Ireland). Because of the

fields in which I worked I always have had close,

personal, daily exchanges with the citizens of the

country in which I resided, rather than moving in

a privileged expatriate “bubble.” Such contact not

only allowed me to become knowledgeable about

the societies in which I lived, but also to develop a

deep respect for very diverse cultures.

1970 | Jenny Stasikewich

I am currently a mosaic artist and my designs

ref lect folk art from around the world. I’ve stud-

ied folk art in Mexico, Croatia, Serbia, Tanzania,

England, and of course, America. Every culture in

every country on every continent produces its own

unique art. What I see are all of their similarities:

ref lections of nature, f lora, fauna, colors of bright

sunshine to the deepest ochers of earth. The world

becomes very small and intimate to me through my

use of folk art. I feel successful when someone look-

ing at a particular piece will say “Is this Persian?”

and the next person will say, “This is Pennsylvania

Dutch, right?”

1972 | Andrew P. Rivinus

At any one time, the largest cargo by weight on the

world’s oceans is recycled paper moving from net

exporters like Europe and north America to net

importers like Korea and China. My company has a

strong export position in the recycling industry. In

past years I serviced the needs of a recycled paper

mill that was a joint venture Japanese/U.S. com-

pany operated under Japanese management style.

Market trends are determined on a global basis

and participation in that market requires a world

awareness and a world view.

1982 | Christine E. Stein Arzt

After long discussions with friends, fellow col-

leagues, and students, I’ve come to the conclu-

sion that study abroad should be a requirement. It

opens your mind to a different world, and different

thoughts and opinions.

1983 | Louisa Coan Greve

I direct the East Asia section of an American grant-

making foundation that supports grassroots, non-

governmental, pro-democracy efforts in other

countries…. I spent two years in China after col-

lege, studying Chinese language and society at

the Johns Hopkins-nanjing University Center for

American and Chinese Studies.

1988 | Tim A. Case

My passion is enabling community decision-mak-

ers to embrace complex problems using computer

systems to organize and visualize information. For

a dozen years I have been with a multi-national

consulting firm working on planning, design, and

construction of nearly every kind of infrastruc-

ture you can imagine: subways, highways, high-rise

towers, power plants, and new cities.

Responses might be edited due to space limitations and

Georgian style guidelines.

GEoRGIAn | 15

features

by odie lefeVer

At its January 2009 meeting, the George School

Committee—the school’s governing board—

approved a Strategic Plan that will guide the

school’s strategic initiatives for the next five years.

The draft is a product of the efforts of many—

alumni, faculty, parents, staff, and students—

such as the 185 people who attended focus groups

in spring 2008, the 85 people who responded to

an electronic survey, the 65 people who attended

a two-and-a-half day Strategic Planning retreat in

June 2008, the teachers who considered it at faculty

meetings, and the entire George School Committee.

Gretchen Castle, clerk of the eleven-person

Strategic Planning oversight Committee, summed

up our efforts in creating a five-year Strategic Plan,

“This has been a particularly important time for us

to be engaged in planning. Though we are blessed

with a strong endowment and a diligent, frugal,

and engaged board and administration, George

School, like all other institutions, is and will con-

tinue to be affected by the turbulence that is grip-

ping the world economy. We will have hard choices

to make in the months and possibly years ahead.

our new five-year Strategic Plan will be critical in

guiding those choices.”

The six key strategic areas that the school will

focus upon are educational program, diversity,

environmental stewardship, facilities, financial aid,

and financial sustainability. They are described in

some detail on page 17.

Generally, when an institution begins the pro-

cess of strategic planning, it starts by grounding

itself in the school’s current mission statement. In

looking at the 1999 mission statement, the Strategic

Planning oversight Committee realized that while

the mission itself has remained constant, the lan-

guage of the mission statement no longer felt suf-

ficiently visionary. To bridge the gap, Head of

School nancy Starmer asked English teacher Terry

Culleton and Director of College Guidance nancy

Culleton, a former English teacher, to tap into their

many years of history as George School faculty

members and their gifts for memorable phrasing

to create a statement that would inspire the greater

community. Their statement, with few edits, was

gratefully received and approved at the December

George School Committee (see page 16).

In revisiting the mission statement, the school

concurrently revisited the values that it cherishes

and felt compelled to update them as well. Those

core values—about transformative teaching and

learning, personal integrity, unity in diversity, and

responsibility to others—also are on page 16.

Listening to All the VoicesGeorge School Approves Five-Year Strategic Plan

br

uc

e w

ell

er

16 | GEoRGIAn

apr i l 2009

Transformative Teaching and Learning

Transformative relationships between teachers and

students are the heart of the George School educa-

tional experience. Based upon a powerful combi-

nation of example, mutual respect, and personal

commitment, these relationships support a pro-

gram that is intentionally balanced between rigor

and ref lection, passion and compassion. They pro-

vide the environment within which George School

teachers challenge their students to hold themselves

to high academic standards, to practice humility,

and to develop lifelong habits of scholarship and

intellectual curiosity.

Personal Integrity

The alignment of belief and action that arises

when an individual decides what is important and

finds a way to be true to it is summed up in George

Fox’s phrase “let your life speak.” Through hab-

its of ref lection that are honed in meeting for wor-

ship, through our commitment to honor the light

of God in everyone, and by developing an under-

standing of the Quaker (Friends) values of simplic-

ity, peace, integrity, community, equality, service,

and stewardship, our graduates are provided with

a firm foundation upon which to build lives of per-

sonal integrity.

Unity in Diversity

George School is committed to being a community

where people with vastly different backgrounds,

identities, and perspectives are united both in their

respect for the unique gifts that each brings and in

pursuit of a common good. We place a high value

on diversity and on the ways that our convictions,

both individually and collectively, are broadened,

strengthened, and enlightened when we appreciate

and respect a range of perspectives. This belief is

ref lected in the school’s motto, “Mind the Light.”

Responsibility to Others

At George School we are grounded by a sense of

responsibility to each other and to the earth we

inhabit. This leads us to practice good stewardship

in all of our daily actions and decisions. A central

Friends value, stewardship recognizes that physical,

financial, natural, cultural, intellectual, and spiri-

tual resources are to be grown and sustained for the

good of all and for generations to come.

Mission:With Quaker tradition as its touchstone and academic excellence at its core, George School seeks to develop citizen-scholars cheerfully committed to openness in the pursuit of truth, to service and peace, and to the faithful stewardship of the earth. We want our students to treasure learning for its own sake and to use it to benefit a diverse world. Above all, we want them to “let their lives speak.”

Core Values:

GEoRGIAn | 17

features

George School Five-Year Strategic Plan (2009-2013)

s t r at e G i c a r e a s a n d G oa l s

Educational Program Ensure that we provide a transformative educational

experience that is deeply grounded in Friends values by

continuously reviewing and improving our academic

curriculum and pedagogy, our community life and service

programs, and the mechanisms by which we attract and

retain a high caliber of students, faculty, and staff.

Diversity Enhance our distinction as an inclusive educational

community by challenging ourselves to address difficult

questions raised by diversity in all its dimensions.

Environmental Stewardship Recognize the pressing need for all human beings to live

simpler, more sustainable lives by visibly integrating

environmental stewardship into the day-to-day activities

of students, faculty, and staff, and into our planning for

the school.

Facilities Improve our facilities to provide the best physical tools

to advance student learning and to meet the needs of our

teachers, while maintaining the pristine beauty of our

campus.

Financial Aid Demonstrate continued leadership in financial aid in the

context of a changing economic environment for indepen-

dent schools.

Financial Sustainability Create new processes for fundraising and financial planning

that will ensure that we can support our strategic objectives

for the long-term benefit of George School.

o v e rv i e w

1. Design and implement a process to carefully and thor-

oughly assess whether our new curriculum is meeting its

stated objectives and to review those objectives over time.

2. Enhance total compensation and professional growth in

relation to peer schools in developing the next generation

of faculty and staff.

3. Increase the scope and reach of our service programs.

1. Reexamine our definition of diversity, both to ref lect

the world of today and to ensure its alignment with the

school’s mission and curricular objectives.

2. Improve our practices school-wide from the perspective

of the diversity of students and families of George School.

1. Design and implement a plan that engages students,

faculty, and staff in adopting behaviors that result in

saving energy, reducing waste, living more simply, and

demonstrating respect for our campus and for the future

of our planet.

2. Integrate environmental sustainability goals into all of

our facilities planning.

1. Update and integrate our multiple campus master

plans into one.

2. Prioritize our needs.

3. Define needed improvements to our academic,

arts, and athletic facilities.

4. Determine funding needs and sources.

5. Create a timeline and begin implementation.

1. Undertake a rigorous study of current practices and

new methods for making a George School education

more affordable to economically diverse families.

2. Define needed changes to our financial aid, admission,

and tuition policies and objectives.

3. Implement the steps that will ensure George School’s

continued distinction in financial aid.

1. Identify the operational, capital, and endowment needs

that are required to implement our Strategic Plan.

2. Prioritize needs and integrate these into our financial

strategies and fundraising goals.

3. Finalize and communicate how we will use the Barbara

Dodd Anderson gift to support the school’s ongoing

goals.

4. Raise the additional funds needed to support our

capital efforts and build endowment to support our

ongoing commitments to compensation, financial aid,

and affordability.

5. Design and implement a plan for engaging a broader

group of alumni/friends in the ongoing work of the

school and of the George School Committee.

18 | GEoRGIAn

apr i l 2009

by susaN QuiNN

Experience the vibrancy of our campus, refuel your

imagination, and refresh your relationships with

friends both old and new. You will laugh, you will

learn, and you will fall in love with George School

all over again. If you are a member of the Class of

1959, celebrating your fiftieth reunion, or the Class

of 1984, celebrating your twenty-fifth reunion, a

special invitation goes out to you. If your class year

ended in a nine or a four, your classmates are work-

ing hard to prepare a fun reunion weekend for you.

All alumni are invited to attend.

Parents, students, and alumni are invited to

George School for Alumni Weekend. Whether you

are coming by yourself or with friends and family,

please let us know so that our faculty, student

workers, and reunion team are ready to show you

a great time. You can register online at http://

alumni.georgeschool.org. Just click on the Alumni

Weekend box on the lower left corner of the screen.

A full schedule also is available online.

Starting with Flashback Friday—an opportunity to

attend classes as if you were a George School stu-

dent—you will enjoy the opportunity to participate

in non-stop events right through Sunday’s meeting

for worship.

This year’s Alumni Award recipients are David

Rutstein ’74 and Karen Callaway Williams ’84.

David is recognized for his strong and abiding

dedication to service in general and to provid-

ing health care to underserved populations in the

United States and the world in particular. Karen

is recognized for professional accomplishments in

the rare and wonderful field of tap dancing and

for her commitment to serving and educating

young people through dance.

In addition, George School will award the

first Distinguished Service Award during Alumni

Weekend to Carolyn Waghorne, parent ’99, who

helped expand our understanding of learning dif-

ferences, making the school stronger in ways that

Come Back to George School for Alumni Weekend May 8, 9, and 10, 2009

geoRge sCHool Class of 1959 will celebrate its fiftieth reunion during Alumni Weekend.

GEoRGIAn | 19

features

Alumni Weekend Master Classes and PresentationsOpen to all parents, students, and alumniSaturday, May 9, 2009

9 : 1 5 – 1 0 : 0 0 a . m .

Dedication of Smith and Streetz HousesJoin June Smith, wife of the late Richard o. Smith

’36, and former faculty member John Streetz and his

wife Jackie for the ceremonial dedication of these

two new twin homes. Located on George School’s

campus between Brown House and the football

field, these two energy-efficient residences were built

to provide greater faculty presence at the center of

campus.

Kickin’ and Clickin’ WorkshopTap dancer Karen Callaway Williams ’84 will lead

you through a fun combination of clapping, snap-

ping, and tapping. This class is open to tap dancers

of all levels, as well as people who would like to

try tap dancing for the first time. Tap shoes are

optional. Dancing will be followed by a question-

and-answer period.

Theory of KnowledgeGeorge School English teacher Ralph Lelii, coordina-

tor of the school’s International Baccalaureate (IB)

Program, will offer a brief introduction to the goals

and aspirations of Theory of Knowledge, a central

course in the IB Diploma Program. The course

encourages critical thinking about knowledge itself,

with discussion of religious, moral, aesthetic, and

ethical questions.

Writing Memoir: Making the Private PublicBased on her experience writing The Plain Lan-

guage of Love and Loss: A Quaker Memoir, Beth

Taylor ’71 will lead a discussion about the challenges

and surprises of writing from one’s own life. Sub-

topics include research, interviews, revisions, ethics,

and marketing. Beth teaches in the nonfiction

Writing Program at Brown University.

1 0 : 0 5 – 1 0 : 5 0 a . m .

Public Health: Population-Based HealthcarePublic health navigates the world between clinical

medicine and politics, using research, disease

surveillance, policy development, regulations,

communications, and the provision of clinical

services to members of vulnerable populations.

David Rutstein ’74 will share how the U.S. Public

Health Service plans and deploys for worldwide

disasters.

From Tragedy to AccomplishmentCarolyn Waghorne will speak of moving from

tragedy to accomplishment—her efforts to make a

difference by raising awareness of meningococcal

meningitis and working to pass legislation requiring

vaccination. In the eleven years since the death of

her son, Carter ’99, Carolyn has worked for greater

awareness of causes that would have mattered to

him.

Food and SustainabilityJonathan Snipes ’78 will speak about the founding

of the not-for-profit Farm School at Snipes and its

educational farm-to-school partnerships, including

one that brings fresh naturally grown produce to the

George School dining room.

A Conversation about Estate PlanningHave questions about estate planning in today’s

turbulent economic times? Wondering about tax

laws that are rumored to change? Drop in on this

open house to talk with Director of Planned Giving

Stephanie Daniels and learn how you can still make

a difference.

will benefit students in the future. The award

honors people who are not George School graduates

for their distinguished service both to the George

School community and the world as a whole.

Saturday’s activities include a faculty recep-

tion, athletic events, children’s activities, an all-

school art show, lunch with friends, and reunion

photos. At 9:15 a.m. we will dedicate the Smith

and Streetz houses, two new twin homes for

faculty members. All in all, it’s not only a weekend

to reconnect with George School but also a time to

renew old friendships and forge new ones.

For more information contact Debbie Chong at 215-

579-6564 or by email at advancement@georgeschool.

org. Don’t forget to visit our alumni website at http://

alumni.georgeschool.org for complete details and

online registration.

20 | GEoRGIAn

apr i l 2009

by aNdrea lehmaN

From a family doctor in Micronesia to the assis-

tant surgeon general and chief medical officer of

the U.S. Public Health Service, David Rutstein

’74 has had what might look like an incongruous

medical career. But there’s a thread that stretches

from those remote Pacific islands to Washington’s

halls of power. In helping underserved populations

around the globe, David has spent his life’s work in

the spirit of service.

David began his medical mission by accepting a

national Health Service Corps scholarship and

attending the then nascent Morehouse School of

Medicine, whose goal—training doctors for under-

served areas—matched his. Following two years

at Morehouse, he transferred to Brown University

School of Medicine. After graduation and com-

pletion of a family medicine residency caring for

migrant farm workers in California, it was time to

honor his scholarship commitment—four years

practice in a needy area. He and his family chose

the island of Pohnpei (and later Yap) located in the

U.S. Federated States of Micronesia.

Encompassing 602 inhabited islands in a swath

of Pacific the size of the United States, Micronesia

has a collective landmass less than half the area of

Rhode Island. Its health indicators, such as infant

mortality, are among the world’s worst. With 80

percent unemployment, a high teen suicide rate,

rampant substance abuse, minimally developed

infrastructure (two hours of electricity a day), and

a host of diseases, both infectious and, increasingly,

lifestyle-related, Micronesia provided David with

the opportunity to make a difference.

Though it took months to adjust to island

life, David says his experience was “professionally

amazing.” He did what was needed without high-

tech equipment or specialists, performing “surgery

in some cases because there were no other good

options.” The Rutsteins fell in love with the islands

and stayed for thirteen years.

When their teenage children needed a

broader education than what they could provide in

Micronesia, David and his family returned to the

United States where David worked for the national

Health Service Corps in Washington. The three

Rutstein children, Jared ’02, Lauren ’03, and Evan

’06, ultimately came to George School, a “very gen-

tle, loving place that welcomes the world,” says

David, who credits George School with helping his

children adjust to the West.

“I consider myself a family doctor who wanted

to serve in remote places. now I’ve become a

Washington bureaucrat,” laments David. But he

is far more than a bureaucrat. He has served in

numerous positions including on the panel that

studied what went wrong after Hurricane Katrina,

drafting its recommendations on health, public

health, housing, and human services. Most of

David’s time today is spent preparing and deploy-

ing the U.S. Public Health Service for disas-

ters, whether natural or of human origin. As he

says, “Fundamentally disaster is simply a sudden

increase in the number of underserved.”

In discussing his career, David pays tribute

to the school that helped shape it. “George School

represents what’s best in the world. It’s remarkably

diverse, and diversity is what makes the world won-

derful…. My time at George School reaffirmed my

own Baha’i beliefs and launched me into the world

confident I could be of service.”

“ Work done in the spirit of service is worship.”

— Bahá’í saying, quoted by David Rutstein in a 2004 George School assembly and part of the new religion curriculum

Alumni Award Recipient:

David Rutstein

GEoRGIAn | 21

features

by aNdrea lehmaN

It’s hard to settle on what’s most impressive about

the career of Karen Callaway Williams ’84. Was it

becoming the first female tap dancer in Riverdance

or a second-generation Silver Belle? Teaching tap

on Sesame Street or to nineteen classes a week?

Performing alongside celebrities at Paul newman’s

Hole in the Wall Camp, in a fund-raiser for an

injured friend, or around the globe? Karen herself is

less concerned with impressing than with express-

ing—her creativity, her respect for the American

tap tradition, and her love of dance.

Karen began dancing at age three and arrived

at George School at fifteen. Unfortunately, the

George School of the early 1980s had no dance pro-

gram, so Karen took her tap shoes to the basement

of Main to practice. She both danced and choreo-

graphed for school musicals, including the stu-

dent-written, -directed, and -choreographed Among

Friends. For its number “Big Man on Campus,” she

had dancers on stilts. Karen attributes her confi-

dence and creativity to the support and example of

faculty and fellow students, who “left the door open

for me to keep growing and kept encouraging me

toward my future as a tap dancer.”

Having become a strong link in the American tap

dance chain, Karen is proud to continue the legacy

of tap dancers Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Shirley

Temple, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers,

and Savion Glover. When Glover was unavailable,

his mother asked Karen to represent tap dancing on

a Sesame Street episode called “Dance from All over

Day” and to perform at the Hole in the Wall Camp

alongside such entertainers as Harry Belafonte and

Whoopi Goldberg. Karen is proud that the Silver

Belles, a group of African-American women who

danced—largely unrecognized—over a half-cen-

tury ago, have passed the torch to Karen and seven

others.

Karen has enjoyed sharing this American

dance form with the world, beginning with her

George School service trip to China. “We went

to China to study, explore, and experience,” says

Karen. “on several occasions I was able to tap

dance or we sang simple American songs and the

Chinese shared their dance and songs with us.”

Karen’s travels continued through Broadway and

touring productions of Riverdance, in which Irish

dancers and tap dancers engage in a sort of dance

duel that culminates in an appreciation for the

similarities and universality of dance. This fall,

Karen used both her feet and her heart to produce

Rhythms for Ruby, a show to benefit a childhood

friend who lost a leg in an accident.

What takes much of Karen’s time these days is

teaching a new generation of tap dancers. She feels

it is her mission to teach them not only the steps

and the f lashy moves but also tap’s history and

chemistry. noting that George School influenced

her to have a world focus and use her voice to help

people, she says, “Having the freedom to be creative

as a teenager taught me the importance of encour-

aging my students to be creative.”

Alumni Award Recipient:

Karen Callaway Williams

22 | GEoRGIAn

apr i l 2009

by aNdrea lehmaN

“I learned a lot from my son. He had a deep pas-

sion for underprivileged people,” shares Carolyn

Waghorne about son Carter, a member of the

George School Class of 1999. Carter died sud-

denly of meningitis in the spring of his junior year.

Inspired by Carter’s life and his death, Carolyn, with

husband Rick, has developed her own deep pas-

sion for causes that would have mattered to her son.

In the eleven years since he died, she has worked

for greater awareness of both meningitis and learn-

ing differences, and has helped a drug and alcohol

rehabilitation center and a school for disadvantaged

youth in Dallas. “Reaching out,” she says, “began

as my way of coping with my loss.” What has come

from Carolyn’s extraordinary empathy, energy, and

commitment is everyone’s gain.

Carolyn’s advocacy began with Carter and his

needs. Carter was a bright student with learning dif-

ferences that prevented him from doing as well as

he could have. In the late 1990s, the understand-

ing of learning differences was incomplete and the

Waghorne family labored to obtain the right sup-

port for him. After his death, the family learned

about the school’s connection with the Hello

Friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation, started as

a tribute to another George School graduate, Ennis

Cosby ’87, who also had learning differences. The

director then was Phil Caputo ’87.

Through Phil, the Waghornes met Hello

Friend’s educational director, Carolyn olivier, a

leading expert in how to respect and foster differ-

ent learning styles. The Waghornes’ financial pledge

to Hello Friend, as well as their pledge to George

School, enabled Carolyn olivier to work with

George School, helping teachers better understand

students with learning differences and demonstrat-

ing how teachers could work more effectively with

students who are struggling. Her work with our fac-

ulty provided the foundation for the school’s recent

five-year review of the entire course offerings and

graduation requirements and resulted in a coordina-

tion of the teaching of structures and skills across all

academic disciplines for all students.

As Head of School nancy Starmer writes in

a letter to Carolyn Waghorne, “our understand-

ing of learning differences has expanded tremen-

dously. You challenged the faculty to examine their

attitudes and assumptions so that they could more

truly live their commitment to honoring that of

God in every student… making the school stronger

in ways that you knew would have benefited Carter

and would benefit other students in the future.”

The Waghornes also served on the George

School Resources Committee, addressing the

school’s physical plant. not stopping there,

Carolyn’s efforts went beyond George School. Along

with others she founded the national Meningitis

Association, which raises awareness of the disease

and its prevention and works to pass legislation

requiring vaccination. She served as president of the

women’s auxiliary that supports a Dallas drug and

alcohol rehabilitation center for women. In addi-

tion, she and Rick donated to a small Dallas inde-

pendent school for children from age two through

third grade.

Alumni Weekend will mark the tenth reunion

of Carter’s class, and the Waghornes have stayed

close to several of his friends. “It keeps him alive for

us,” Carolyn explains. Carter’s legacy also lives on

in his parents’ good works and in the generosity of

spirit with which they’ve been accomplished.

George School will award the first Distin-guished Service Award during Alumni Weekend. The award honors people who are not GS graduates for their “distinguished service both to the George School community and the world as a whole.”

Distinguished Service Award Recipient:

Carolyn Waghorne

GEoRGIAn | 23

campus News & Notes

ESL AssemblyAt an all-school assembly on December 12, 2008,

students in George School’s ESL (English as a

Second Language) Program gave performances to

share elements of their cultures, drawing enthusi-

astic cheers from the audience. The performances

included a Korean song; an Arabic dance; and a

humorous skit about martial arts, in which stu-

dents appeared to be f loating in slow motion.

George School has one hundred students of

foreign nationality or Americans living abroad,

from thirty-two countries: Afghanistan, Bermuda,

Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark,

El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Hong

Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan,

Kenya, Lebanon, Mali, Mauritania, nigeria, Peru,

Portugal, Rwanda, South Korea, Switzerland,

Taiwan, United Kingdom, and Vietnam.

GS Awarded Educational Leadership GrantGeorge School was selected to receive a $250,000

matching Educational Leadership Grant from the

Edward E. Ford Foundation for the purpose of cre-

ating a new Global Service Program. George School

is among the first five independent schools to be

awarded Educational Leadership Grants, which the

foundation introduced this year to allow schools

“to develop truly transformative new programs,

which will strengthen independent education.”

The Edward E. Ford Foundation invited twenty

schools to apply for the grants on the basis of their

demonstrated capacity for transformative think-

ing, and their strong stewardship of previous grants

from the foundation. The foundation noted that

George School has “perhaps the longest-running

commitment of any school in the country” to inter-

national service trips.

The new Global Service Program is envisioned

as an opportunity for students and high school

educators from a variety of schools worldwide,

including some from George School. Plans for the

program include two components: a summer inter-

national program in which students prepare for

and participate in an international service trip, and

a service learning faculty institute that provides

training for faculty interested in implementing ser-

vice learning programs. Planning for the programs

is currently underway. A pilot program scheduled

for the summer of 2009 will include faculty trips to

China and Cuba.

Students Named National Merit FinalistsSeniors Joshua McGowan and Kevin Miller have

been named finalists in the 2009 national Merit

Scholarship Program. As finalists, Joshua and

Kevin are among approximately 15,000 high school

seniors remaining in the competition for about

8,200 Merit Scholarship awards.

Campus News & Notesby jul iaNa rosati

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geoRge sCHool esl sTudenTsAlex Ahn ’12, Sam Lee ’12, Kwan Woo Nam ’11, and Min Jae Cho ’11 rap their story during the annual ESL Program assembly.

24 | GEoRGIAn

apr i l 2009

geoRge sCHool 1907 VaRsITy TRaCk Team. Roy Mercer is in the bottom row, second from right.

Student Photography Selected for ExhibitPhotographs by Julian Abramson ’11, Eliot Bassett-

Cann ’09, Checkie Chu ’09, Lydia Spence ’10, and

Hannah Young ’11 were selected for the Drexel

University High School Photo Contest exhibition.

These five students are enrolled in Danielle Picard-

Sheehan’s photography classes at George School.

The 125 works selected for the exhibition were

chosen from over 3,100 entries submitted by high

school students across the country.

GS Athlete Named First-Team HonoreeAly Passanante ’10 appeared in the January/

February 2009 issue of ESPN RISE magazine as one

of a select group of top female high school soccer

players in the Philadelphia area. Passanante was

named a first-team honoree to the Pennsylvania

Soccer Coaches Association All-State team.

GS Athlete Inducted into Hall of FameRemarkable George School athlete E. Leroy “Roy”

Mercer Sr., Class of 1909, was posthumously

inducted into the Pennsylvania Track and Field

Coaches Association (PTFCA) Hall of Fame on

February 21, 2009, at the PTFCA Indoor State

Championship, an event in which current student

Emily Mapelli ’12 competed.

As a junior at George School, Roy Mercer Sr.

was selected as an alternate for the 1908 olympic

team. A great all-around athlete, he was among the

nation’s best in the 440-yard dash and the broad

jump, and shone in the pole vault. With a best per-

formance of 21 feet, 9 inches in the broad jump,

Roy became the nation’s fourth-farthest scholastic

jumper in 1908. He also ran the quarter mile in 50

4/5 seconds in 1908, becoming the country’s lead-

ing scholastic quarter miler for the year. Roy was a

full-f ledged olympian in 1912 and an all-American

football player that same year.

George School varsity track coach Stephen

Moyer ’82 accepted the Hall of Fame plaque on

behalf of Roy at the championship, which took

place at Penn State University.

GS Participates in Green Cup ChallengeGeorge School monitored its weekly electricity

usage during the month of February as part of the

national Green Cup Challenge for schools, the first

and only national, student-driven interscholastic

energy challenge that builds awareness about cli-

mate change and the environment, educates about

resource conservation, and encourages participat-

ing schools to involve all members of their campus

communities.

This year’s challenge included 150 partici-

pating schools—boarding, day, public, and pri-

vate—in twenty-three states and Canada. George

School’s efforts were sponsored by TERRA (the

school’s chapter of the Sierra Student Coalition)

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GEoRGIAn | 25

and the Environmental Stewardship Steering

Committee (ESSC), a group of George School

students, faculty, and staff who encourage sustain-

ability efforts on campus.

Andrea Lindsay ’11, an ESSC member, says

that the challenge was an opportunity for the

school community “to work together to gain a

better understanding of how our electricity usage

is directly impacting the environment and to

make some permanent changes to become more

energy efficient.”

George School Presents The FantasticksGeorge School musical theater and stagecraft

students presented The Fantasticks by Tom Jones

and Harvey Schmidt on February 20 and 21, 2009,

in Walton Center Auditorium. Actor Scott Willis,

a cast member of the current off-Broadway revival

production of The Fantasticks, visited a rehearsal

of the George School production and coached the

students.

The world’s longest-running musical, The

Fantasticks is a romantic comedy about a young

boy and a young girl who live next door to each

other and fall in love in spite of a feud between

their families. Unbeknownst to the boy and girl,

their parents want them to marry and have con-

spired to stage the feud, believing that young people

will fall in love only if they are forbidden to do so.

Kevin Hang ’09 played the role of El Gallo,

the narrator, who opens the show with the well-

known song “Try to Remember.” Kevin says,

“The whole two-hour show is like a life lesson.”

Because the characters encompass a broad range

of ages, he observes, audience members can easily

relate to the characters. “You can find yourself in

the show,” he says.

Video Students Learn from Hollywood DirectorStudents in Scott Hoskins’s Video Production classes

learned from Hollywood producer, director, and

cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld, parent of Chloe

Sonnenfeld ’11, when he visited George School as

a guest speaker on February 5, 2009. During his

presentation, Barry described his career path,

emphasized the importance of planning shots in

preproduction, and explained how he has used

different camera lenses to achieve specific effects.

He also encouraged students to edit each other’s

films as an exercise in order to gain a new per-

spective on their work. To illustrate his points, he

showed examples of his cinematography in the film

Raising Arizona and scenes from the television pro-

gram Pushing Daisies, for which he is co-executive

producer. He also shared anecdotes from his work

on the films Blood Simple, Miller’s Crossing, The

Addams Family, and Men in Black.

campus News & Notes

geoRge sCHool CelebRaTes maRTIn luTHeR kIng day with a day of workshops and service allowing community members to discuss and ref lect on Dr. King’s message of multicultural-ism, diversity, and peace. This portrait of Dr. King is pieced together from individual squares, each drawn by different student artists as part of the Images and Symbols workshop presented by Pam Grumbach and members of her Painting and Drawing Portfolio class.

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fanTasTICks cast members and student directors wowed the audience with their production.

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dIReCToR baRRy sonnenfeld demonstrates camera techniques to videography students.

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suBmit a class note1. Fill out the form on our alumni website at

http://alumni.georgeschool.org2. or send it by email to: georgian@georgeschool.org3. or mail to:

Georgian, Po Box 4438, newtown PA 18940-0908

upDate Your contact information1. Modify your profile on our alumni website at

http://alumni.georgeschool.org2. or contact the Advancement office:

• By phone at 215.579.6564 • By email at advancement@georgeschool.org • By mail at PO Box 4438, Newtown PA, 18940-0908

contact otHer alumniFor contact information for alumni:1. Visit our alumni website at:

http://alumni.georgeschool.org2. or contact the Advancement office:

• By phone at 215.579.6564 • By email at advancement@georgeschool.org • By mail at PO Box 4438, Newtown PA, 18940-0908

visit tHe alumni weBsiteSee class homepages, update personal profiles, contact friends, check the event calendar, see photos, and moreat http://alumni.georgeschool.org.

stay connected

PHoTos: Ready for Alumni Weekend (Back Cover) George School students look forward to welcoming alumni back to campus for alumni weekend, May 8, 9, and 10. (Photo: Susan Quinn) A Symbol of Hope (Inside Back Cover) this door in china’s wenchuan region symbolizes hope to George School students participating in a service project to rebuild homes in the area devastated by the 2008 earthquake. (Photo: Tony Gao ’10)

Advancement office

George School

Po Box 4438

newtown, PA 18940-0908

NoN-profit

u.s. postaGe

paid

permit No. 4205

southerN, md

GEORGIAN

april 2009 | vol. 81 | no. 01

note: If you have received multiple copies of this issue at your address, please contact us with updated address information at advancement@georgeschool.org or at 215.579.6564.

GeORGIAn edITORSusan Quinn

georgian@georgeschool.org

215.579.6567

GeORGIAn sTAFF Peggy Berger Holly Raudonis

Kim Colando ’83 Juliana Rosati

Debbie Chong David Satterthwaite ’65

Carolyn Di Pietro-Arias

odie LeFever

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