Thacher Magazine: Fall 2014

The Magazine of The Thacher School * Fall

Talking About Our Generation

Millennials on Millennials

CONTENTS12 Armchair Wandering

Thriving beneath the surface: Ian Strachan CdeP 2004 reports on the life of an undersea specialist aboard the National Geographic Sea Bird adventure cruise ship.

14 Talking About Our GenerationThe media have been telling us who the Millennials are and what they stand for since before they were bornand most of the reports have been far from flattering. As Thacher receives the last of this generation, we thought it was time to hear from them directly about how they see themselves, what they value, and where they are headed.

FRONT COVERWe asked about a dozen Milllennials, all current Thacher students, to stand in as poster children for their generation. And then we asked them to make their own posters to tell us a little about how they see themselves. Los Angeles photographer Max Gerber captured their portraits, including this one of Alessandro Lorenzoni

16, our Top Horseman, who hails from a city not noted for its cowboys: Tokyo, Japan. See more photos from this shoot in the Features section beginning on page 14.

01

04

ON & OFF CAMPUS

01 View From OlympusMichael Mulligan asks the three most important questions we can pose to our teenagers.

04 The PergolaAn assemblage of noteworthy School and community intelligence.

ALUMNI & COMMUNITY NEWS

28 GatheringsReunion 2014 and various Thacher gatherings around the world.

32 Class Notes, etc.Alumni news, milestones, and news from faculty, staff, and friends.

42 In Memoriam

45 The Best We Can Do How one sophomores medical emer-gency at Golden Trout became a mis-sion to help other high schoolers.

VIEW FROM OLYMPUS

ATHE THACHER SCHOOL

Center report on this cohort describes them as confident, connected, and open to change. I agree. Technology is their metier. They embrace diversity like no generation before them. They seek to serve the dispos-sessed and the disadvantaged. They work to find green solutions to the environmental mess we have bequeathed them. In this regard, they are focused and unrelenting: a good thing for all of us.

Beneath their energy and commitment to building a better world, though, is stretched, for too many, a fragile membrane that is easily punctured. We have raised a generation that is plagued with insecurity, anxiety, and despair.

Former Yale Professor William Deresiewicz, in his fascinating and controversial book Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life, writes this of the Millennials: A large-scale survey found self-reports of emotional well-being have fallen to the lowest levels in a 25-year study fifty percent of college students report feelings of hopelessness; one-third reported feeling so depressed that it was dicult to function in the last twelve months.... They are stressed-out, over-pressured; [they exhibit] toxic levels of fear, anxiety, depression, emptiness, aimlessness, and isolation.

ACCORDING TO THE SOCIAL SCIENTISTS, the last of the Millennials are now gracing the Thacher campus. If this Thacher crew is any indicator of the health of a generation, we are in good shape. These young men and women are creative, funny, energetic, smart, athletic, musical, artistic, community-oriented, and hardworking. Indeed, the School seems as healthy and vibrant as I have ever seen it. What I do not know, however, is how accurately our Thacher students are indicative of their peers as a whole? Its a good question. We do have a strong self-selecting group. To wit: How many eighth graders have even heard of a boarding school? How many families can aord the tuition? How many families, even if they did know of Thacher, are willing to send their kids away for high school? How many are willing to brave the financial aid application process and the demanding application and recommendation process? And how many young men and women can even contemplate heading o for days at a time into the rugged mountains carrying their worldly possessions on their backs, or rise early each morning to greet and feed, of all things, a horse? Indeed, Thacher is a rare experiment, and the families who come to our door are doubtlessly an adventurous breed by definition. The self-selecting nature of Thacher Toads aside, The Pew Research

The Last of the MillennialsAnd the three most important questions you can ask a teenager

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VIEW FROM OLYMPUS

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His is not a lone voice. Adolescent expert Sarah Levine writes that preteens from auent,

well-educated families experience some of the highest rates of depression, substance abuse, anxiety disorders, somatic complaints, and unhappiness of any group of children in the country. Twenty-two percent of adolescent girls from the auent experience clinical depression.

College deans from elite schools join the chorus. The Stanford provost writes, for example, (and remember that Stanford is now the most selective university in the country): Increasingly we are seeing students struggling with mental health concerns ranging from self-esteem issues and developmental disorders to depression, anxiety, eating disorders, self-mutilation behavior, schizophrenia, and suicidal behavior.

WHAT GIVES?Deresiewicz claims that this generation of highly accomplished, college-bound students have been robbed of their independence because they have been raised in a petri dish for one purpose only: to attend an elite college that ensures their and their families economic and social status. Instead of being nurtured towards real curiosity and a genuine sense of citizenship, these Millennials are conditioned to think that everything they do is for the purpose of looking good in the eyes of admissions ocers and employers: You earn good grades not because they mean you are learning something, but rather because they will help you stand out from your peers when applying to the Ivies. You engage in community service not because you wish genuinely to make a positive dierence in the lives of others but rather because that is how you burnish your resumeservice as a check-o box. You play sports not because they build character and teamwork and are a whole lot of fun, but because you want to try to get recruited for a college team. You study art or music not because you wish to refine your understanding of human nature, creativity, and culture but because it will help you look smarter.There is little intrinsic value in what you do. The result: Many college

students who fall apart under pressure because they cannot conceive of the fact that hard work and learning are positive outcomes in and of themselves. They have no sense of who they are or what is important in their lives. They have spent so much time trying to look good that they do not know what The Good (consider Plato here) really is. They are walking ghosts of seeming, not of being.

Deresiewicz writes: All the values that once informed the way we raise our childrenthe cultivation of character, the development of the capacity for democratic citizenship, let alone any emphasis on the pleasure of freedom of play, the part of childhood where you actually get to be a childall of these are gone.

He laments: Beyond the junior careerism, the directionless ambition, the risk aversion, and the Hobbesian competitiveness, the system cultivates some monumental cynicism. Whatever the motives of which they were established, the old WASP admissions criteria actually meant something. Athletics were thought to build charactercourage and selflessness and team spirit. The arts embodied an ideal of culture. Service was designed to foster a public-minded ethos in our future leaders. Leadership itself was understood to be a form of duty. The underlying sentiment, and Deresiewicz is correct about this, is

that when we teach our children that outcomes are more important than

process they lose the ability to enjoy learning for its own sake. Every-thing becomes about the end game. The problem is that the end gamewhether it turns out as they anticipated or notis often not intrinsically rewarding. Each eort, each moment, rather than being full as a part of a rich life, is simply degraded into being a mere step in a process that leads to an existential abyss.The statistics, as related by college deans, adolescent expert Sarah Levine,

Professor Deresiewicz, and others, unfortunately bear this out. We have raised a generation of kids who are taught that appearance is more impor-tant than substance and that outcomes are more important than character. As a result, they inhabit empty vessels that lead them to a series of nega-tive behaviors that results in, yes, unhappiness, which they try to erase with empty sex, drugs, alcohol, and what Professor Deresiewicz calls

junior careerism and Hobbesian competitiveness. The hookups, drugs, and alcohol, of course, just make this abyss deeper and wider.

Previous page: Mr. Mulligan among Millennials. Above: Caring for others, human or otherwise, and greeting new challenges remain key elements of the Thacher experience.


THE THACHER SCHOOL

THACHERThe Magazine of The Thacher School

Volume 8, Issue 2Fall 2014

EDITORChristopher J. Land

ALUMNI EDITORSuzie Nixon

CLASS NOTES EDITORAaron Boydston

ARCHIVISTBonnie LaForge

CONTRIBUTING EDITORMark Lewis

DESIGNCharles Hess, design director

Lisa Lewis, designer

PHOTOGRAPHY Braedon Flynn, Max Gerber, Camille King,

Christopher Land, Caitlin Jean Peterson, Theana Snyder, Cam Spaulding CdeP 1992, Dana Vancisin

HEAD OF SCHOOLMichael K. Mulligan

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENTBrandon C. Doyle

DIRECTOR OF ENROLLMENT AND PLANNINGWilliam P. McMahon

Thacher is published twice a year by The Thacher School, and is sent free of charge to alumni, parents, and friends of the School. Every effort is made to ensure that contents are accurate and complete. If there is an omission or an error, please accept our apologies and notify us at the address below.

Copyright 2015 The Thacher School

Third class postage is paid at the Oxnard Post Office.

POSTMASTER: Please send form 3579 to the following address.Editor, Thacher Magazine5025 Thacher RoadOjai, CA [email protected] x264

How to Submit Class NotesOnline: blogs.thacher.org/classnotesE-mail: [email protected]: 805-646-1956 (fax)

Thacher is printed by Ventura Printing using an environmentally friendly waterless printing process, soy-based inks, and recycled paper.

DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN READ THACHER MAGAZINE ONLINE?Remember that you can find this and past issues of the magazine in digital form online at thacher.org/magazine. In addition to the full text of each issue, youll find related bonus content and media.

WE CAN DO BETTER.Truth is, we know full well that lasting happiness springs from good health, solid values, mean-ingful work, multiple positive relationships, and selfless service. So how about we cease and desist on the pressure frontand get our eye back on the ball that matters: Stop asking What (What grade did you get? What team did you make?) and begin asking Who, Where, and How?

1) Who tells us who we are?2) Where do we want to go with our lives?3) How do we want to get there?

Question One is important because forces are lined up (Internet, television, movies, adver-tising, just for starters) that tell us who we are is not about how hard we work, how curious we are, or how much we are willing to make a positive dierence to others and to our world in dis-tress. No, these forces say: You are what you wear, what you buy, how thin or bu you are, how many like you (on Facebook or anything else)or, for the elite college bound crowdwhere you go to college. When we focus on the wrong things, we create these conditions for monu-mental cynicism in our kids. Our children need to learn that they are important not for rea-sons of appearance but for reasons of substance.

Question Two is important because if we believe that the only thing that matters is college and job status, then how can we not end up frustrated, angry, and lonely? Where we want to go with our lives is intrinsically linked to the question of what leads us to fulfillment and happi-ness. For most of us the answer is passion. We all know we are in the right jobs when how long we work at something is driven by interest and not only about earning a paycheck. The truth is that we are all going to have to work hard to succeed in life, and if that is the case, lets at least try to work hard on things that matter and that we care about.

Question Three may be the most important because how we get anywhere is as critical as where we end up. Kids cheat in school because they think grades are more important than what they learn. They take shortcuts because they believe the longer, harder path has no value or because they are afraid of stumbling or of being seen as someone who stumbles. They are mean or cruel or uncaring often because they do not like themselves; they feel they cannot make the grade that will earn them a spot at That College. They begin to see others as competitors for those spotsnot as fellow journeyers. Diminished self-respect skulks alongside little respect for others. No one wins. Conversely, the world beats a path to the door of an honest person.

To return to where we started: The Millennials are accomplishing great things, caring about important things. But too many of them look inside only to peer into a void that we, at least in part, have helped to create. In our eorts to push our kids ahead, we have forgotten to ask why pushing ahead is important in the first place. What future, what adulthood are they pushing to?

So Generation Z is on its way. Lets go back to the basics. Lets help them understand that learning is valuable in and of itself; that hard work, genuine curiosity, and heartfelt passion pave the way to a life well lived; and that real success comes when you can look at your life and say, I have done my best to make a positive dierence in the lives of others and the world we live in.

Michael K. Mulligan, Head of School


FALL

THE PERGOLA

FALL FAMILY WEEKEND

THIS ANNUAL GATHERING thundered in with the traditional whirlwind of mini-classes, performances, equestrian displays, Mulligan Open House, chapel service, and athletic contests. New this year was a special push to make the weekend a zero-waste event. Working together, the Environmental Action Committee, the Maintenance Department, and the Sustainability Council retooled Thachers waste, compost, and recycling receptacles, and educated students, faculty, and parents about what goes where. Our eorts succeeded at raising our current recycling and composting rate from 35 percent to 70 percent for the weekend, announced Juan Snchez, director of sustainability, and set a benchmark for future eorts.

Anne Gregory 15 and the Jazz Ensemble roll

with Proud Mary

From left to right: Karl Nozadze 17, Peter Ammons 16, and Anthony Nikitopoulos 17

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MAINE IS FOR LOVERS

The Thacher Masquers explored love and loss in this falls production of Almost, Maine, a collection of nine vignettes examining the comic complexities of falling in and out of love.

Briggs 15 and Bailey 15 (above) and Haydon 16 and Reade 16 (right) try to figure it all out under the stars

THE THACHER SCHOOL

KUMANA PRIZE WINNERS Kipper Berven 15, Sarah Van Son 15, and Lukas Cesea 15 broke ground on their native grass experiment on the Upper School lawn. The project involves planting dune sedge, which, once established, should use 30 percent to 50 percent of the water needed by a typical fescue turf and has the advantage of going dormant (rather than dying) when unwatered. Theyll also conduct some controlled planting experiments elsewhere to determine just how much less water the dune sedge requires. According to Ed. Bennett, our new director of facilities, this sort of experiment has never been tried. Basically, quipped Sarah,

were just watching grass grow. As part of their ongoing project, the trio replaced some sod in the Mid-dle School Courtyard with dune sedge, a possible turf replacement. Im looking forward to seeing it fill in, says Mr. Bennett, and reviewing the data the team will be keeping to confirm its performance. The turf experiment is just one of two ongoing Kumana Prize projects

that will culminate in Senior Exhibition presentations this spring. The other project, an eort to establish a campus system for composting horse manure, was featured in the last issue of Thacher.

What else does sustainability mean to todays Thacher student activists? For the leaders of the Environmental Action Committee, their environmental awareness and stewardship are benefiting a whole host of community projects, from zero-waste events and eat-local meals to dorm gardens and the Green Cup Challenge. Im inspired by the win-win rela-tionship of reducing our environmental impact while simultaneously

IN SEARCH OF GREENER GRASSES

benefiting our community, says Nate Currie 15, student solar head. Students, who once saw recycling as their focus, now embrace ever more ambitious projects.

In Thachers Hog Program, according to its head Inga Conyngham 15, Students feed, care for, and then slaughter the pigs in an eort to become well-informed on the production of their food. Recently, Inga has focused on coordinating the Hog Program with the Composting Program to further reduce food waste on campus. We want to develop the initiatives, oers Lukas, necessary to make Thacher the sustainable and ecient school we know it can be.

Lukas and Kipper busting

some sod


FALL

THE PERGOLA

FALL EXTRA-DAY TRIPS

AS USUAL, Thacher back-to-school shop-ping lists included moleskin and sunscreen along with notebooks and highlighters. This years adventures included backpacking trips in Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks; horsepacking in the South-ern Sierra; kayaking trips to Tomales Bay and Catalina; and a circumnavigation of Santa Cruz Island by sailboat. Following tradition, the freshmen and their prefects made for Golden Trout Camp where they went from strangers to future lifetime friends in a mat-ter of days and managed to fit in innumer-able card games and pancakes as well as side trips to Langley, Windy Gap, Cottonwood Lakes, etc. For Bo Mansons interactive, longform chronicle of his Trans-Sierra back-packing trip, visit thacher.org/magazine/fall2014.


RESULTS FROM SPRING 2014PLAQUE BUILDUP: This puzzle was more challenging than expected. Beatrice Land CdeP 2014 had the most correct with 3 out of 6; George French CdeP 1946 correctly identified 1 out of 6. (See answer key online at thacher.org/magazine/fall2014.)

NUMERACYThe answer was, of course, 125, as correctly determined by Beatrice and George along with Dean Whitter CdeP 1964, Bob Cooper CdeP 1964, and Amber Brown (which is a puzzler for us, because shes not in our database!).

NUMERACY

VERBATIM:

Chuck encouraged us to jump o the lip onto a pillow of fresh powder on our skinny skis and see if we could land the jump. We tried countless times, and mostly flailed in the deep snow, laughing deeply with the kind of joy that comes from being in the mountains with friends and delighting in the utter sense of freedom and abandonment of pretense.

At a campus gathering to celebrate the life of Chuck Warren, Brian Pidduck CdeP 1992 recounted this story about his teacher, mentor, and friend.

AS YOU KNOW, THACHER IS TAKING the reins when it comes to managing manure: We aim to compost into fertilizer every cubic foot of the stu that is produced on campus. So here is a timely puzzler:

Suppose a 100-pound pile of manure is 99 percent water. After lying in the sun for a time, it is now 98 percent water. What is the weight of this slightly dehydrated manure pile?

QUASQUICENTENNIAL TAKES THE CAKE

SHORTLY BEFORE DEPARTING for Winter Break, the campus community marked the ending of Thachers 125th year, devoting a Friday Assembly to screening two new films, enjoying some celebratory cake, and giving us what we hope is our last occasion to use that most ungainly of words: quasquicentennial.

Letters Home: Thacher Through the Years is a 20-minute film produced last year by current seniors (pictured left to right below introducing their work) Laura Kirkland, Apollo Kaneko, and Declan Kelly. It captures the sweep of Thacher history in the form of fictional letters home from students. Drawing deeply from the Thacher Archives, the film is narrated by familiar voices (including Peter Robinsons), and is set to music performed by Thacher students. The second film, This Is Thacher, is a short video recently commissioned

by the Admission Oce to help introduce Thacher to prospective families. The film, which stars Thacher students and our beautiful campus, was scored by composer James Newton Howard CdeP 1969. Michael K. Mulligan supplied the voice-over.

Both films can be viewed on Thachers YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/thacherfilms

Find more detailed coverage of campus news at thacher.org/news


FALL

THE PERGOLA

SCOREBOARDS: FALL SPORTS Our first season in the Tri-County Athletic Association (TCAA) brought strong results. Here are some of the highlights.

FOOTBALLFor the second season in three years, the Thacher football team was still standing after all but one other team had gone home, appearing once again in the CIF Southern Section 8-Man Football championship game. Led by CIF Offensive Player-of-the-Year Lukas Cesea and his senior classmates, including First-Team All-CIF performers John Carey, Nate Currie, and Mitch Weil, this years team set a team record for number of wins and entered the CIF S.S. championship 12-0, already having been crowned league champions for the sixth time in 10 years. Unfortunately, the Toads came up short in the home field championship by one heartbreaking point.

TENNISThe girls tennis team set new standards for success this year as well. In a season that Coach Pete Fagan called the best girls tennis campaign in the history of the School, this group of talented and determined young women reached new heights both individually and as a team. Led by sophomore Libby Kern, league singles MVP, and juniors Grace Callander and Grace Bingham, league doubles MVPs, the team took home the championship in its first Frontier League season. Having beaten sixth-seed Alta-Loma and top-seed Orange in the quarter- and semi-finals of the CIF tournament, the girls were narrowly edged by Maranatha in the championship round.

CROSS COUNTRYOnce again, this season found Thacher runners in top form. The boys won both of their Tri-County Athletic Association meets on the way to securing their ninth consecutive league championship (including eight Condor League victories prior to this years move to the TCAA). Led by seniors Jack Richardson and Kevin Griffee as well as junior Peter Callan, the Toads then went on to place 10th in California at the State Championships in Fresno. After finishing fifth in the TCAA behind strong performances

from seniors Arianna Finger and Emma Rogowski and junior Sarah Voss, the girls team likewise qualified for the State Championships. Having placed sixth in the Southern Sec-tion Prelims, the team ran well enough to finish 13th in California at the State Championships.

FALL

Lukas Cesea 15 (upper left) was named offensive player of the year in the CIF-Southern Section Division 1. Libby Kern (upper right) was named league singles MVP. Both cross-country teams earned spots at the State Meet.


FROM THE ARCHIVES

100... 50... 25.... YEARS AGO AT THACHERA Backward Glance Through the Pages of CdeP Publications

125 years 1889

Henry Farnam, Casa de Piedras first boy, was indeed a tenderfoot on his arrival in the Ojai, according to Miss Bessie Thacher (Sherman D. Thachers sister). He knew nothing of horses or driving, and we met disaster at our first sharp corner. He was so afraid of going off the steep edge at the right that he drove up the steep bank at the left and tipped over the buggy. (Frank Leslies Illustrated Newspaper, Thachers Semicentennial Publication No. 1: 1889-1899).

100 years1914The Rough-House: After being burned down in 1910 and rebuilt in 1914 All in all, the

Rough-House is one of the best appreciated institutions of the school, and it has made rough-housing in the dormitories largely a thing of the past. (El Archivero, 1915).

75 years1939Shacks: Beetleville, that thriving community of shacks, has been a very busy place this year because of the suddenly increased number of shack parties. Competition in hospitality has reached a new peak, with every shack participating in more and better shack parties. (El Archivero, 1940)

50 years 1964September 18: Students enthusiastically attend first days classes.September 19: School recovers from shock of first days classes.(Calendar, El Archivero, 1965)

25 years1989T.O.A.D.: This is a rotating duty schedule for teachers. The letters stand for The Opportunity to Act Dominant.Extra-Day Trips: School-wide contests to see how long you can hold out.Formal Dinner: A reason to take a shower.(Selected glossary entries from From How to Survive 100 Years of Thacher Tradition in The Thacher Notes, January 1990)

10 years 2004

Even before the National Association of Independent Schools contacted their schools in hopes of gathering funds to aid the Tsunami victims, five enterprising seniors had already undertaken this task at Thacher. Students and faculty were urged to think beyond themselves and help those in dire straits. The final total came in at $8,635, an average of over $35 per student. (The Thacher News, Fall 2004/Winter 2005)

5 years 2009 Campus Composters Brianna Bohnett 10, Alex Macmillan 10, Kristin Sawyer 10, and Laura Ammons 10 introduced a new and improved composting system to the crowd on Wednesday. (Thacher website news: Week of 10.5.09)

TWIN PEEKS

THE THACHER SCHOOL

MILLENNIAL TECHNOLOGY THACHER STYLEFor some reason, this fall saw a burst of interest in pre-millennial gadgets including lariats and the bull whip Nick Johnson 16 (top) was often seen cracking. As the Millennials make their way through Thacher, these digital natives continue to push the limits of technology and its roles in our community. This fall on campus brought conversations about the appropriate use of mobile devices in public spaces. Cell phones, for example, should be confined to dormitory areas. But what if your phone is also your watch, your camera, your calendar? Laptops are permitted, of course, but what if your laptop is your phone? Our norms and policies continue to evolve. What doesnt change is the commitmentshared by students and facultyto keep our campus a place where people are present and available to one another, where technology serves us, not the other way around. To that end, some whip-smart students formed a Girls Who Code group. And Casey Gaughan 16 (pictured above) used her laptop and independent to help draft a campus sustainability action plan.


FALL

THE PERGOLA

BOOKS

Jim Riley CdeP 1968 has coauthored The Plant Guide: Maritime Succulent Scrub Region, Northwest Baja California, Mexico. This bilingual wildflower guide was designed to reach a broad audience of botanists, conservationists, and laypeople. More than a wildflower identification book, it also is an educational resource for beginners with a brief introduction to plant evolution and a quick guide to plant families. Jim is the founder of the San Mateo Creek Conservancy and is acting manager of Reserva Natural Valle Tranquilo, where he has spent the last two years coordinating biodiversity assessments.

How can you predict who will be a successful leader? When they all look good on paper, how do you make a choice? Clinical psychologist Leslie S. Pratch CdeP 1980 oers some answers in Looks Good on Paper?: Using In-Depth Personality Assessment to Predict Leadership Performance. Published by Columbia Business School over the summer, this book focuses on the psychological trait of active coping and provides a useful rubric for the evaluation of potential leaders.

Happiness expert and Thacher trustee Christine Carter CdeP 1990 has just published another book. The subtitle says it all: How to find your groove at home and work. Deepak Chopra describes it like this: When you are living in your sweet spot you feel both calm and energetic, accomplished and joyful, strong and at ease. Dr. Christine Carters The Sweet Spot illuminates the simple and sustain-able path toward this precious and happy balance.

BLURB & SQUIB

Leslie Pratch offers tools for predicting successful leadership.

BLURB & SQUIBJOURNALISMRukmini Callimachi CdeP 1991 has broken several major stories in the New York Times in recent months. Focusing on al-Qaeda and Islamic extrem-ism, Rukminis journalismoften taking the front pagehas exposed the role of kidnapping, ransoms, and slavery in the operations of ISIS and al-Qaeda. Interviewed by CNN and NPRs Fresh Air.

MUSICHannah Hooper CdeP 2000 and her band, Grouplove, toured this summer in support of their 2013 album, Spreading Rumours, from which the song Shark Attack made it into the US alternative top 20. Another song, Let Me In, was featured on the soundtrack for The Fault in Our Stars.

TELEVISIONThe latest role for Jonathan Tucker CdeP 2001 is Jay on the show Kingdom (on DirectTVs Audience Channel). This raw family drama is set in Venice, California, and focuses on the world of mixed martial arts. Variety describes it as a solid drama that delivers a surprisingly potent punch. His Thacher friends will no doubt chuckle through an early scene in which Jonathan is clad only in an Indian headdress and white sunglasses, but its not all giggles, as Jonathan learned when shooting a fight scene sent him to Cedars Sinai for stitches. According to the New York Daily News, viewers will find solid setups here for tales of love, redemption, friendship and the same championship dreams that made Rocky an American icon.

FILMIf you are on the film festival circuit, keep an eye out for The Philosopher King, a new film starring Seumas Sargent CdeP 1995. The story follows the reconnection and reconciliation of two brothers as they take a road trip through Sweden. It was recently selected as one of eight films for screening at the Milton Festival in Ontario, Canada, with the hope of more showings to follow.

THE THACHER SCHOOL

Seumas Sargent is the one on the left (top) and thats Jonathan Tucker sporting the topknot in the middle (left).


Thriving Beneath the Surface

watch-standing ocer until I abandoned my Patrick OBrien-esque career track and joined the expedition team to follow my true passion of sharing the wonders of the natural world with others wherever it can be reached by ship, from Antarctica to the Arctic and everywhere in between.

ARMCHAIR WANDERING

A NOWCLICHD TOLKIEN quotation still holds value, as once you step onto the road there truly is no knowing where you might be swept o to. One can mentally wander down the infinite myriad of forked paths, each one leading to a dierent life, and as a result almost be paralyzed by choice. Sometimes decisions are made for you, such as the some-what distressing realization that youve grown too tall to be an astronaut, something I corre-late strongly with the amazing quality and quantity of food almost constantly available during my four years at Thacher. Crushing as it is to be discriminated against for being a paltry six feet four, I somehow managed to accept that I could still have an adventurous life. It isnt until I look back on my life now that I real-ize that the route Ive chosen actually ended up being not all that dissimilar from what I had dreamed of as daydreaming teenager at the top of the hill at 5025 Thacher Road.

I had initially been looking for any sort of work out of college that met a short list of requirements: that I would actually be getting paid, I wouldnt have to worry about room or board, I would be working with people, and, most importantly, that Id be traveling. An expedition tourism ship ticked all those boxes and, what started out as a six-month deckhand contract with Lindblad Expeditions (an eco-tourism company partnered with National Geographic), has turned into a profession that sends me all over the world. Over the past five years I have worked my way up the ranks, from a lowly swabber of decks to a licensed

FALL FALL

SHARING THE WONDERS OF THE NATURAL WORLD WITH OTHERS

Southeast Alaska will forever remain a fixture in my travels and never ceases to amaze me. The northern end of the Inside Passage is a relatively accessible wilderness full of life for those willing to risk getting a little wet. The rain is usually less of an issue for me because for the last two years Ive been the undersea specialist on board the National Geographic Sea Bird. This requires donning a bulky dry suit and plunging into the brisk 38-degree water to film the amazing multitude of life that exists in these nutrient-rich depths. Sea stars bigger than car tires, curious giant pacific octopuses, coy wolf eels, and anemones as long as your leg are all thriving just beneath the unassuming calm surface. The shift of colors from the deep greens of the temperate rainforest above to the pinks, yellows, and reds below can be almost jarring, as they are every bit as vibrant as a coral reef. The most exciting aspect of being able to dive in these waters is that it is pure exploration. The footage that I return with to share with the guests on board is their first look at many of these locations, as Alaska has yet to appeal to the overwhelming majority of sane divers.

Its not so bad out of the water either, and I am always in awe of the sheer scale of the land-scape that these expeditions are able to inti-mately navigate due to the comparatively small size of the 160-foot ship. With our small fleet of Zodiacs on board there is almost no limit to what a day can look like. It could be watching sea otters roll around in the bull kelp, kayaking in

A One-Time Aspiring Astronaut Finds Himself Deep in Anemone Territory by Ian Strachan CdeP 2004

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THE THACHER SCHOOL

to explore every day, wherever that might happen to be. Its witnessing these wonders that has kept me out on the seas, spending brief snippets of time abusing the never-end-ing hospitality of Matt Stenovec CdeP 2004 (my sophomore and junior-year roommate) and his wife, Molly, in Seattle, before shipping out again to the far corners of the globe. Now I have a quiet moment to sit in my cabin below the waterline, while the ship powers onwards around Borneo through the South China Sea. Upon arrival, well launch our Zodiac shuttles and Ill suit up and dive down to what is essentially an alien planet, looking for strange and exotic creatures. It occurs to me that maybe I never needed to go to space to experi-ence all the perks of being an astronaut.

up to 45 feet in length and are in the region to feed. Cooperative groups will sometimes cast a ring of bubbles beneath a frightened school of fish, creating a cylinder of air that their less intelligent prey wont pass through. Taking advantage of this, the whales pack tightly together and surge up from the bottom of this net to the surface, giant mouths agape to swal-low behemoth gulps of herring. This unique behavior happens in very few places on the planet, and can occur continuously for hours, much to the delight of all on board.

THERE IS NO LIMIT TO WHAT A DAY CAN LOOK LIKE

Being immersed in this stunning natural world is a true privilege and I wake up excited

When your office is the bow of a ship, you might as well have an unbeatable view. Above and below

the surface, Ians camera records his experiences with National Geographic Expeditions. See more of

his photos on Instagram: @ianjstrachan

front of waterfalls where brown bears gorge themselves on unlucky salmon, or sailing through the massive granite fjords to end at glaciers that tower hundreds feet above. When your oce is the bow of a ship, you might as well have an unbeatable view. Also the commute from my cabin is under a minute even with traf-fic, so thats pretty manageable. One of the advantages of sleeping below the water line is getting to hear the more acoustically oriented marine mammals vocalizing as the clicks and squeals of porpoise and killer whales will reso-nate through the steel hull. Marine mammals have always held a very special place in my heart and Southeast Alaska happens to be the sum-mer migration point for all the Hawaiian-born Humpback whales. These leviathans can reach

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Talking About Our Generation

Millennials on MillennialsPhotos by Max Gerber

School Chair Owen Driscoll 15 captures the ethical sensibility he shares with many of his cohort, while Elizabeth Zhang 16 exhibits another trait commonly attributed to Millennials: a willingness to question authority.

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WHO ARE THE MILLENNIALS and why have people been saying such horrible things about them? Arguably, no rising generation has been the subject of more scrutiny than the cohort born between 1980 and 2000. Early reports were not compli-mentary. Millennials (also known as Generation Y) have been labeled in the media as coddled narcissists accustomed to collecting trophies for just showing up, or as selfie-obsessed digital natives. Perhaps we ought to consider the source. After all, the Boomers and Generation Xers pointing the fingers are not beyond reproach. Who doled out those trophies and put the smart phones in those young hands? Who are the helicopter parents supplying all of the excessive scrutiny in the first place? Taking a longer view, none of this is very surprising. Doesnt every generation see the one that follows as more spoiled and self-centered? And what parent doesnt tell a few when I was a kid stories of dubious veracity? There is a pattern to this, of course, and part of that pattern is the moment when a generation claims its own voice. Which brings us back to a crucial question that Michael Mulligan has been posing this year to Thacher stu-dents: Who tells you who you are? Individually or collectively, who will tell the Millennials who they are? Well, the grownups have had the floor for a long time, and a lot of what theyve had to say about Millennials hasnt been very fair or accurate. Those of us who invest our hopes and energies in the young have been happy to see in recent months that publications including the Atlantic and The Week have questioned the persistent myth of the narcissistic millennial. Which led us to think, as Thacher prepares to receive the last of this generation, and as many more of them settle into their seats at the adult table, that it was high time we heard what they think.


Who Are e

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AMERICAS MILLENNIAL GENERATION, born between 1980 and 2000, is just now com-ing of age, yet already the end is in sight, at least at acher: e freshmen who arrived on campus this fall represent the last class of Millennials that will pass through the school. Meanwhile, the cohorts first wave, which began with the class of 1998, has now been out of college long enough to establish a track record. So this seemed like an appropriate time for acher Magazine to poll its Millen-nial alums about how they view themselves in the context of their generation.

e Millennials are the children of the Baby Boomers, and to a lesser extent, of Gen-eration X. ey constitute an enormous group, some 80 million strong, and they soon will comprise a majority of the workforce. But their Boomer and Gen X bosses sometimes find it challenging to manage them.

Each rising generation typically finds itself pigeonholed and reduced to a caricature by its predecessors, and the Millennials are no exception. eir elders describe them as tech-savvy, environmentally aware, confident, opti-mistic, and tolerantbut also as narcissistic, with a strong sense of entitlement and little sense of loyalty to their employers.

How do acher Millennials describe themselves? Our survey results cannot be considered scientific, as our 183 respondents comprise a self-selected sample. Nevertheless, a clear pattern emerges: Unsurprisingly, our Millennials embrace all the positive stereo-types about their generation and reject the negative ones. ey expect a lot from life, and they exude confidence about their ability to shape their own futures.

What is most apparent to me about my generation of acher Toads is that we want

acher Millennials Tell Us Who ey Are and What Matters to em. By Mark Lewis

About myself: I graduated from Princeton in 2003 with a degree in comparative literature. I worked as a photo assistant; teacher (at

acher); humanitarian aid intern; in stra-tegic communications; and writer. Along the way, I married Ryan Meyer CdeP 1998. All the time I was working for myself, producing project-based, socially engaged art. In 2012, I gave birth to my daughter, Ainsley Evelyn Meyer. In 2014 I earned an MFA from Port-land State University.

Im a photographer and a social practice artist with a thoughtful, complex, and rela-tionship-focused project style. Ive taught at the high school and university level and con-ducted workshops for an extremely diverse range of participants from female juvenile sex offenders to Australian engineers to teen-agers at an elite boarding school.

On being a acher Millennial: When I look at my acher classmates, I see courage. Not high drama courage, but the kind of courage it takes to really be awake in your life, and to do things you care deeply about. I see people doing what everybody else in the world is doing, but I see my classmates doing it with a sense of self that is different. I see people knowing who they are and taking riskseven when those risks might not always be recognized as risks from the outside.

A good education is not about prestigeits about acquiring real, useful tools to help you make your way in the world; to make a difference in the lives of others; and to be able to make yourself happy. acher deliv-ers a good education because it has figured out how to help teenagers become themselves, while also learning how to care for others and for the place they live in.

Eliza Gregory CdeP 1999: artist and educator in San Francisco.

Each generation

finds itself pigeonholed

by its predecessors.

THE THACHER SCHOOL

to seek a meaningful life, says Bianca Russell CdeP 2004, a second-year medical resident in Cincinnati. It was wonderful to reconnect with so many of my classmates at our 10-year reunion in June and to hear about everyones lives. They couldnt be more unique and more fitting with all our personalities. People seemed to be following their hearts and work-ing towards something they were proud to be doing. Many people were still searching for their perfect fit but I left feeling confident that we would all find our niche.

Within the Millennial cohort, there are sig-nificant dierences between those born in the 1980s and their younger siblings. Tim Sten-ovec CdeP 2002, who covers technology for the Hungton Post, notes that people like him who entered the workforce before 2008 have had an easier time of it than many younger Mil-lennials, who graduated from college into the

teeth of the Great Recession.Another intra-generational dierence is

that the younger Millennials generally are more deserving of the digital native label than older ones like Stenovec. The younger ones grew up in a mobile-app world and take it for granted, whereas the older ones still can remember that primitive age when cell phones were used mostly for talking, and you had to sit down at a desk to access the Internet.

I was born in 1984, Stenovec says. Face-book became popular when I was a junior in college, and I didnt even get a smartphone until I was 25.

The younger Millennials, having grown up in a digitally networked world, can be seen as comprising a virtual community in ways unknown to previous generations (and to many of their older siblings). But Maxwell Barbakow CdeP 2007 worries that this idea

Who Are The Millennials?

About myself: After Thacher, I went to Brown from 2000 to 2004 and built my major in integrated arts and media.I have two small companies: One is an L.A.-based produc-tion company called Test Pattern, the other a bi-coastal music company called Huma-Huma.As an individual artist, I am a director and composer, working on mostly commer-cials, music videos, documentary work, film and video. I am so fortunate to be working with my brother Maxwell (CdeP 2007).I pro-duced and scored his feature documentary Mommy, Im a Bastard!, and he produced my recent short, Byrons Theme.

On being a Thacher Millennial: Thacher builds individuals who think for themselves, and I am incredibly thankful for the sup-port and push in that direction that Thacher oered me. I think it is a unique and magical place (sure, Ill say utopia) that, at its abso-lute core, creates a hunger for learning and an inability to follow in others footsteps when we can carve our own path instead.

Bennett Barbakow CdeP 2000: media entrepreneur and composer in Los Angeles

I see people prioritizing

their families, and being

unwilling to sacrifice family

for ambition.

orn


About myself: After graduating from Thacher, I went to Stanford University to major in international relations and graduated in 2006.During college, I did an internship with the U.S. Senate and studied for a year in Paris. After graduating from Stanford, I moved back to New Mexico, and then I got married, had a baby, and started medical school at the University of New Mexico.During medical school, I was very active with several volun-teer activities, from mentoring Native Ameri-can students to working with the March of Dimes.My research interests have been on breastfeeding benefits and practices. I had another baby during medical school and I graduated with my MD this spring and then started my residency at UNM in family medi-cine in June.

On being a Thacher Millennial: May we do the best work in the world that we can til the best we can do is all done. With many of my closest friends from Thacher, this seems to guide many of their choices in their careers.While I have met many people that seem to do their best for their own glory (unfortunately, there were too many to count at Stanford), there are many of us from Thacher who seem to genuinely want to make a positive impact in the world, helping whatever community they are committed to, whether through work or volunteering.

Stephanie Hubbard McGirt CdeP 2002: medical resident in New Mexico

of connectedness has given rise to a self-rein-forcing stereotype.

To be honest, its a frustrating stereotype because a lot of the negatives accompanying our generation (access to excessinforma-tion, material, contentand the resulting expectation of immediate gratification) are only exacerbated by non-Millennials trying to put a label on who we are, which a lot of Millennials then see and take literally as to who they actually should be, says Barbakow, a Los Angeles filmmaker.

But he sees this is less of a problem for Thacher Millennials: I think my Thacher peers break the mold here as we were educated to think freely and explore the world around us, to not settle, and to embrace a wanderlust, intellectually, emotionally, and physically.

Barbakow is not alone in detecting a sub-stantial dierence between his Thacher and non-Thacher peers. Half of our survey respon-dents endorsed that idea. Thacher Millennials, they aver, are more green-minded, more confi-

dent, and more charitable than other Millenni-alsand less lazy and disloyal.

The lazy and disloyal labels are part of a frequently heard critique of the Millen-nial Generation, which is that it was shaped by a culture of narcissism. The Millenni-als helicopter parents hovered over them throughout their childhoods, offering con-stant attention and endless affirmation that they were special. Every time they entered a contest, they got a trophy. Now, as young employees, they expect lots of attention from their bosses and frequent promotions, even though they are unwilling to put in long hours at the office. Moreover, they hop from job to job instead of showing loyalty to their employers by staying put.

Thats the stereotype. The reality, according to many Thacher Millennials, is more complex.

We do move around quite a bit, concedes Conor Farese CdeP 2006, who works on strate-gic projects for a solar distributor in San Fran-cisco. But this job-hopping reflects a deliberate


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We were educated to

think freely and explore

the world around us,

to not settle.

orn


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o: D

amon

Dah

len

About myself: I spent the summer between my junior and senior years of collegeI was a history major at Colby College in Waterville, Mainedoing an internship at Plum TV, a startup TV station in Vail, Colo. I didnt really have a plan after I graduated, but I knew people in Colorado, and I wanted to ski and mountain bike, so I packed up my car and drove west. My plan was to wait tables at a local restaurant in Vail, but as I was driving out to Colorado, Plum TV called and oered me a job.

I spent three years in Vail, doing all sorts of jobs at the TV stationI was the host of the live morning show; I produced, shot, and edited videos; and I did sales and marketing.

But I soon realized I wanted to go into journalism, so I applied to journalism school, ultimately deciding on a web innovation in journalism program at New York University.

And thats how I got to New York in 2009. Since 2011, Ive been at the Hungton Post, where I write about the future of TV and com-panies like Apple, Netflix, and Amazon. On being a Thacher Millennial: Thacher students are exposed to so much outside of the typical high school students worldEDTs, dorm life, cultural events, caring for horses, a rotating cast of speakers and luminaries, not to say anything of the small classes with incredible teachersthat they emerge incredibly well-rounded and mature. At Thacher, I learned how to write and how to express my ideas and arguments clearly and concisely. This has been invaluable in my career. I also think that Thacher helped instill a desire not only to do well, but to do goodto find a career that you not only find fulfilling, but that also has a purpose.

Tim Stenovec CdeP 2002: technology reporter at the Hungton Post

strategy of pursuing dierent kinds of oppor-tunities, Farese says.

Compared with their elders, Millennials are far less willing to bury themselves in one place for years, or to accept work that is boring. They want to learn new things and be creative. The same thing goes for working long hours: Millennials will work like dogs if they can see a worthwhile reward for the eort. If not, they have better things to do with their timesuch as starting their own businesses.

Theres less willingness to jump into some-thing that youre not excited about doing, Farese says.

Any 14-year-old who arrives at Thacher with a sense of entitlement soon loses it, says Charlie Munzig CdeP 2003, an invest-ment fund manager at the Carlyle Group in New York.

Its hard to be lazy at Thacher. They really instill a work ethic into you, Munzig says.

They expect a certain level of maturity from you from a very young age. And that carries

on as you get older.While many Baby Boomer bosses appar-

ently have issues with their Millennial employ-ees, the Boomers within the Thacher com-munity have a more positive view. When we surveyed them and asked them to describe the Millennials, they rejected such negative labels as disloyal, lazy, and narcissistic. Of course, many of these Boomer survey respon-dents are the proud parents of Thacher Millen-nials, which may tend to color their thinking.

Some of these Boomer parents recently have become grandparents, notes Eliza Gregory CdeP 1999, an artist and educator in San Francisco, and the mother of a 2-year-old daughter. The eldest Thacher Millennials, now in their mid 30s, are embracing parenthood, and thriving within the cocoons of their multi-generational families.

I see my Thacher peers diverging from my college friends in the way they are finding hap-piness, Gregory says. I see them weaving their work and their family together in beautiful

THE THACHER SCHOOL

They hop from job to job

instead of showing loyalty

to their employers.

orn


About myself: I graduated from Connecticut College in 2008 with a BA in environmental studies. I had seriously considered a career in ecology, but I was incredibly frustrated that nobody was listening to what ecologists had to say about the impact and existence of global warming. I felt like I needed to have a more immediate impact on humanity on a day-to-day basis, and I needed people to listen to the science and to what I was saying. So I moved towards medicine.

I lived in the Andes Mountains of Peru the summer between my junior and senior years of college and worked at a small medi-cal clinic. Thats all it took. I was hooked. I completed my MD degree at UC Irvine, where I found my inspiration working with children, and discovered the amazing world of clinical genetics. I am now a second-year resident at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital in a combined

pediatrics and medical genetics program. I may be saddled with a large amount of debt; I may have been 28 years old before I had my first full-time job; and I may still pull all-nighters on a regular basis; but I wouldnt change a thing.

On being a Thacher Millennial: What is most apparent to me about my generation of Thacher Toads is that we want to seek a meaningful life. I cant predict who I would have become without a Thacher education. Maybe I would still be the same person I am today (minus the amazing friends and years of wonderful memories). But I know Thacher showed me how to work hard, respect others and nature, communicate eectively, and to be adaptable. In my life, these are all skills that have served me well, and have never let me shy away from a challenge.

Bianca Russell CdeP 2004: medical resident at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center

ways. I see that in people choosing to become parents, and the ways in which they invest time and energy in their partnerships. I see people prioritizing their families, and being unwilling to sacrifice family for ambition.

But I also see it in the ways that my Thacher classmates relate to their parents and extended families, she adds. I see my class-mates carrying on family businesses (which I never hear being connected to this generation of young people), but with their own innova-tions and original approaches to that kind of legacy. I think of people entering into the same careers that their parents did, not in the context of a family business, but in a context of deep respect and admiration for the exam-ple their parents set.

Whether they are embarking on parenthood or fresh out of college or still learning now to navigate their way around the Thacher campus, these Millennials have much in common, says Stephanie Hubbard McGirt CdeP 2002.

I think many of us lucky enough to be at

Thacher were given the confidence to feel like we do have the means to change the world, says McGirt, a first-year medical resident in New Mexico. I think its all how one is set up in life, whether they come from a place, a fam-ily, an education that makes them feel empow-ered but not entitled. I always feel so fortunate to have had time at such a wonderful place with some really great people who shared my values and enthusiasm for life.

Which brings us back to Bianca Russell, who was so inspired by her former classmates at their recent 10-year reunion.

True to the Millennial stereotype, we werent settling, she says. We were all ide-alistic that we would find that pie in the sky but where we diered from the Millennial stereotype is that I believe we are all going to reach our goals. Maybe thats the fantasy of a true Millennial, but I have no doubt that at my 15-year reunion I am going to be just as proud of my amazing friends and their families.


Phot

o: T

hean

a Sn

yder

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Many of us lucky enough

to be at Thacher were given

the confidence to feel like

we do have the means to

change the world.

orn


About myself: After graduating from Yale in 2011 with a degree in American studies, my life has been pretty nomadic. I backpacked with Thacher friends throughout Southeast Asia and India before moving to New York, where I worked freelance as a director and videographer, creating short Web content for companies like ABC News, Fusion, and Participant Media (the last alongside my big brother Bennett CdeP 2000). I then worked in Boston on David O. Russells film American Hustle as a location assistant. Im most proud to have completed my first feature film, Mommy, Im a Bastard! (a documentary about my open adoption and my families), and to have produced Bennetts short film Byrons Theme. Im currently in my last year as a directing fellow at the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles, working towards an MFA and in production

with my thesis film, which will shoot in early March. On being a Thacher Millennial: I feel that my Thacher Millennial peers and I are less concerned with the destination and more open to the journey and whatever that may bring. Yes, theres a confidence there, but I think its due to the way Thacher guided us toward independence and self-suciency, forcing us to navigate being vulnerable and uncomfortable, and get past not knowingby sacking up and doingin the classroom, in the Sespe, on the playing field, on a pony or a horse.

Maxwell Barbakow CdeP 2007: filmaker in Los Angeles

THE THACHER SCHOOL

Millennial Survey ResultsWith all the things that have been written and said about Millennials since they came along, we wanted to know how the Millennials would describe themselves. So we gave them a list of the most common descriptors (gleaned from the 2014 Pew survey and various mainstream media stories) and asked them to indicate which ones fit and which ones didnt.

We sent one survey to 918 post-Thacher Millennials (which we took to be those who graduated from 1998-2012). We had 183 surveys completed for an impressive 19 percent response rate, which tells you something right there about our Millennials. We also surveyed 811 members of Thacher classes from 1968-1988, thinking that they could speak for the parents and managers of Millennials. From this group we had 98 completed surveys for a 12 percent response rate.

Thacher Millennias Describe Themselves As:

Tech Savvy 92.0 %Networked with friends 89.3Environmentally aware 87.4Tolerant 85.9Accepting of dierence 85.2Stressed 83.6Liberal 82.4Confident 79.3Career-changing 78.5Idealistic 77.7Ambitious 77.3Empowered 75.6

And Not:

Disloyal 72.9 %Conventional 72.7Committed to a political party 61.4Patriotic 61.1


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THE THACHER SCHOOL

Compared to alumni, the lives of current students are more of a blank page, but we wanted to hear from them nevertheless. So we invited a selectionboys and girls, freshmen through seniorsto the campus photo studio, where Los Angeles photographer Max Gerber had set up his white backdrop. Before we set them in front of the camera, we asked each to write a statement that spoke to their idea of what it means to be a Millennial. And we love what we got from (facing page) Kenlyn Mirbach 15, (left to right top row) Bynk Chanuntranont 17, Emma Freedman 17, Valerie Mendez 16, (left to right bottom row) Santi Vargas Garcia 16, Helena Girardoni 18, and Michael Ratsimbazafy 18. If these are the Millennials, our future is in good hands.


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Melanie Larkins CdeP 1999

After UC Berkeley, Mel earned two MBAs and a graduate certificate in business administration. She works as a consultant and is a member of several nonprofts, including A Better Chance, Surfrider Foundation, and the Georgia Aquarium.

At WorkI am always looking for ways to improve the world around me in my personal life and at work. I like change, and the chal-lenges it brings, because with change comes growth and vice versa. I do not like to be stagnant and I like to be supported by my organization to grow.

On ConnectionsMy strongest sense of connection is to my family. And, for me, this family is not necessarily all blood-related. There are certain people, especially friends I made at Thacher, that have become my family.

Since they were born, Millennials have been relentlessly scrutinized, analyzed, and, in many cases, pathologized. So, we thought it was only fair to hear directly from more of them than we could fit in the profiles on the preceeding pages. Here, in their own words, a few more Thacher Mil-lennials talk about their lives and some of the things that matter most to them.

From the Mouths of Millennials

Claire Milligan CdeP 2002

A graduate of Stanford, Claire lives in San Francisco and works to ensure that her companys expense report software is as easy to use and intuitive as possible. She and her wife are active volunteers and supporters of social causes.

On ConnectionsFrom a young age, I was taught that it is the responsibility of those who are lucky to be privileged to help others who are not as fortunate. This has become a fundamental belief of mine and I feel as though it applies in a broad array of life scenarios even beyond philanthropy. Its basic human kindness and a commitment to look out for others. I hope I can pass this along to my future children as well.

Difference from ParentsIm less concerned with other peoples opinions and expectations than they are.

Eric Butts CdeP 2001

A CPA with an MBA, Eric lives in the Bay Area and works for PriceWaterhouseC-oopers. He attended Claremont McKenna College and Northwesterns Kellogg School of Management. He spends most of his philanthropic energy as a mentor for MLT, an organization that helped him in his career.

At WorkI assume I have complete control, because nobody else will look out for my profes-sional wants/needs better than I will.

For FunI play basketball, check out the various local playgrounds with my family, and get talked into YouTubing various crafts my daughter wants to try to make.

Recent SplurgeMy TV last black Friday, but I believe theres an iPhone 6 plus in my near future.

Richard Smith CdeP 2003

A graduate of USC with a bachelors in business administration and finance, Richard now lives in San Francisco, where he works on business development and partnerships for URX, a mobile search company. Outside of work he has helped launch a soccer-based nonprofit.

For FunAs far as fun goes, family and friends are important to me. A lot of my closest friendships were formed through sports and so, not surprisingly sports and an ac-tive lifestyle are still a big part of my life and what I do for fun. That and spending time with family.

Favorite GadgetSmart phone. Were seriously just at the beginning of tapping the potential of having a super computer in our pocket and the whole ecosystem of connected devices is still in its infancy.

Jessica Cornwell CdeP 2004

Following graduation from Stanford, Jes-sica earned a masters in theater. Today, she is a full-time writer who divides her time between London and Ojai, where she was raised. Her soon-to-be-published first novel, The Serpent Papers, is a contempo-rary thriller set in Barcelona and filled with gothic intrigue, alchemy, and witches.

At WorkMy work consumes me. Im new to be-ing a writer, and it isnt easy. But I pas-sionately love what I do, and that helps hugely. I have learned to embrace change, even when it is not welcome or expected. Something fascinating always comes of difference, of newness, of rupture.

Generation Gap AnalysisThe biggest difference I notice between me and my parents is that I lack their English accent. Otherwise, I find that I am actually shockingly similar.


THE THACHER SCHOOL

Sarah Chamberlain CdeP 2005

With an undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and a masters from the Univer-sity of Edinburgh, Sarah now lives in Lon-don where she manages individual fund-raising for The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Her philanthropy isnt limited to her day job; she contributes to some charities that are important to her and volunteers at a local homeless shelter.

At WorkAfter multiple internships and short-term contracts, I am finally settled into a per-manent role. I really enjoy and am proud of the work I do, but I also think my ca-reer is not my entire life.

For FunI read a lot! Two to three books a week, mainly fiction but some history, travel, and food writing thrown in. I also like cooking and going to restaurants, travel-ling, visiting museums, and going to films.

Whitney Livermore CdeP 2004

After graduating from Williams College and living in, among other places, Taipei, Whitney now lives above the Business Office on the Thacher campus. Armed with a masters in teaching from Univer-sity of San Francisco, she teaches history, coaches varsity girls basketball, and helps out in the Admission Office. A loyal and active Thacher alumna, she supports her schoolsthe ones shes attended and the ones where shes worked.

On ConnectionI am deeply connected to Thacher, of courseas a place and an institution, as well as a collection of people (faculty and staff) who I respect and appreciate im-mensely. The same goes for my classmates. Despite not talking to or visiting with many of them very often, the connection that I feel among us as a group is the strongest of any large identity group to which I belong.

Lucy Bosche CdeP 2007

A graduate of Scripps, Lucy enriched her college career with world travel and not one but two gap yearsthe first to travel through Canada and Central America, and the second to work on a dude ranch in Colorado and at a wilderness therapy program in Utah. Today, she is in Bend, Oregon, working at New Leaf Academy, an all-girls therapeutic boarding school.

At WorkI expect my job to be soul-nourishing work. My soul can be nourished in a number of fashions, through physical labor, artistic expression, or brain bending problem solving. I am terrified to even mentally entertain the idea of working in a cubicle.

Recent SplurgeGearing up to through-hike the Pacific Crest Trail, my boyfriend and I have been indulging in super lightweight gear.

Ruth Sawyer CdeP 2006

Following her graduation from Vassar College, Ruth lived in Vermont and Cali-fornia before moving to Seattle, where she works in outdoor experiential educa-tion. Shes also an active participant in a couple of projects that aim to address economic inequality in the Pacific North-west and beyond.

At WorkAt the Social Justice Fund Im working with a cross-class, cross-race group of people to raise money and make grants to social justice work in this area.

Millennial CredentialsOur generation came of age in a time of extreme wealth inequality and environ-mental degradation that our systems do not seem to address at all. I dont know if this is unique to us, but I think we walk a fine line between cynicism and hope.

My generation was pre-ceded by generations in which people were encouraged to live bigger and better than those who came before them. Generation Y is in a unique position in which we still have a residual lust for expansiveness but concrete evidence that we must humble ourselves as humans.

- Lucy Bosche CdeP 2007

Olivia Jacobsen CdeP 2007

After parlaying her undergrad degree from the University of Vermont into a gig at a NYC-based management con-sulting firm, Olivia is now applying to nursing schools. Living in Charleston, she volunteers for a free medical clinic that provides care to uninsured patients who cant afford healthcare.

For FunI love to cook and explore the food cultures of different cities and towns. I probably spend too much time on Netflix and not enough reading, but Im trying to change that about myself!

Recent SplurgeA commercial-grade blender

Millennial CredentialsIm seeking a career that Im passionate about and that allows me to help others, but Im not on social media :)


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THE THACHER SCHOOL

Not all of the networking done by Kami Sims-Traylor 15 (left) is digital; She is also co-founder of Thachers first Black Student Union. Kipper Berven 15 is one of the heads of Thachers Environmental Action Committee and part of a pilot project aimed at replacing some of Thachers thirsty lawns with drought-tolerant native turfs.


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GATHERINGS

FALL GATHERINGS

PARENTS Gretchen and Bruce Jacobsen (Sara 17) hosted a group of approximately 50 in their beautiful, hillside Seattle home.

Parents Katy Durant and Gordon Sond-lond (Max 16) hosted a tour and gathering at the Portland Art Museum in Oregon.

Grandparents Bill and Katharine DeWitt (John 16 and Libby 17 Kern) hosted a Thacher box at the Cubs vs. Cardinals game in Chicago.

Director of the Alumni Fund Derick Perry CdeP 1983 hosted young alumni gatherings in New York City and San Francisco.

Parents Ella and Scott Brittingham (Poppy 17) shared their lovely home and its ocean views with our Santa Barbara community as they gathered to connect and be entertained and inspired by stories of student life on campus.

Brad Hanson CdeP 1978, past Thacher trustee and board member of the USC Pacific Asia Museum, introduced us to this Pasadena venue, the perfect locale for sharing news about our expanding Global Studies program.

Parent and trustee David Chao CdeP 1984 (David CdeP 2014 and Lukas 17 Chao) and par-ents Kathy Matsui and Jesper Koll (Tycho

15 and Pria 18) hosted a dinner party in Tokyo at the Roppongi Hills Club.

In Seoul, a gracious dinner was hosted at the Shilla Hotel by several parents including: Hyun Nam Shim and Jong Hyuk Yoon (parents of Ben 15), Julie Choi and Sangman Han (parents of Lucy CdeP 2012 and Ann 15), Injung Ha and Sungbin Im (parents of Eric 16), Joo Hyun Lee and

This fall, Head of School Michael Mulligan, trustees, faculty, and sta traveled around the country and across the Pacific to join alumni, family, and friends in celebrating and arming our ever-expanding community. We are so grateful for all who attended and, especially, for hosts who opened their homes and provided access to a wide array of venues.

In Jun Song (parents of Ashley 16), Susan Kim and Kyusik Roh (parents of Braden 17), Pamela Hong and Kwang Hee Lee (parents of Jay Won 18), Joo Hyun Nam and Sechang Oh (parents of Kelly 18), So Young and Joon Young Choi (parents of Paul 17), Sally Sohn and Yong Woo Sohn (Parents of Lane CdeP 2014 and Grin 16).

Parents Hong and Kaige Chen (Alexander Yuang Chen 15), Meg Bi and David Zhang (parents of Elizabeth 16 ), and David Chao CdeP 1984 (David CdeP 2014 and Lukas 17 Chao) hosted a dinner party in Beijing.

Parents Limei Zhang and Michael Jiang (parents of Marc 16) and David Chao CdeP 1984 (parent of David CdeP 2014 and Lukas 17) hosted a dinner party in Shanghai.

At the American Club in Hong Kong, parents Helen Du and Tony Chang (parents of Jon CdeP 2014), Valonia and Eric Kang Oei (Hayton 16), and Jacque and Chip Connor (parents of Ben 15) co-hosted a dinner party.

Peter Thacher CdeP 1984 hosted a cocktail hour and southern dinner at the Savannah Yacht Club on the coast of Georgia.

Marc Murray CdeP 1981 hosted a dinner party for Columbia, South Carolina-area folks at the Hampton Street Vineyard.

Christine and Stan Penton CdeP 1976 hosted a weekend-long series of events in the mountains of Georgia at their beautiful York House Inn.

Our Bay Area community joined us, once again, at the Presidio Caf and Golf Club for a holiday-themed reception in San Francisco.

TAKE ME OUT TO WRIGLEY: Stephen Yih CdeP 2010 with Mark and Mary Hoffman (parents of Max CdeP 2010) on either side of Michael Mulligan. Below, Rebekah McFarland CdeP 2005 and Alexander Faraone sing along at the seventh inning strctch.

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THE THACHER SCHOOL THE THACHER SCHOOL

LESS THAN A WEEK AFTER COMmencement, almost 300 alumni gathered on campus to celebrate and reconnect. Joined by 150 family members and beloved faculty, alumni enjoyed a wide range of recreational activities, including horseback rides on campus and farther afield, class parties, dancing and live music, trapshooting, and athletic games. In addition, alumni par-ticipated in three Saturday morning seminars: A History of Thacher, presented by

John Taylor CdeP 1965. The Eects of WWII, as experienced

by CdeP 1944 members Reid Dennis, George Hunt, Wayne Montgomery, and Kelly Clark.

Trends in Education, facilitated by Cabot Brown CdeP 1979 with Perry Gates CdeP 1959, Bob Cooper CdeP 1964, Diane Downey CdeP 1979, Matt Stenovec CdeP 2004, and Catherine Whittinghill Illingworth CdeP 2004.Traditional reunion activities, including the

Saturday evening banquet and the Sunday morning memorial service, highlighted the weekend. During the banquet, Ned Banning CdeP 1974 guided representatives from every class to join a lively and spontaneous competition for a large, carved wooden toad as they oered their toasts. (In the end, Rob Livermore CdeP 1979 took the toad with his rhyming remarks.) Joining Rob at the podium, alumni from each class inspired the 400 gathered under the stars on the Upper Field: Reid Dennis CdeP 1944, Bruce Oxley CdeP 1954, John Lewis, Jr. CdeP 1959, Dick Liver-more CdeP 1964, Neal Howe CdeP 1969, Ben Carter CdeP 1974, Becky Bowman CdeP 1984, Connie Arbogast Lindsay and David Lindsay CdeP 1989, Dermond Thomas CdeP 1994, Eliza Gregory Meyer CdeP 1999, Whitney

REUNION WEEKEND 2014

AT THE BARNS: Heather Marie Look (daughter of Archibald CdeP 1964) gets acquainted with her new mount as a pensive tadpole waits his turn.

Livermore CdeP 2004, and Gabriella Karefa-Johnson CdeP 2009.

Steve Huyler CdeP 1969 facilitated the memorial service overlooking the valley from the Outdoor Memorial Chapel, remind-ing all of the amazing faculty and sta who have passed away and the various ways that each contributed to our lives. Steves class-mates and alumni from each class honored departed classmates, sharing their names aloud while a hawk soared overhead. Thanks to all who joined in the festivities

of Reunion Weekend 2014. We look forward to next years reunion: June 12-14, 2015. Get ready, 0 and 5-year alumni!


GATHERINGS

FALL

CdeP 1994: 20th Reunion CdeP 1999: 15th Reunion


CdeP 1954: 60th ReunionCdeP 1944: 70th Reunion CdeP 1959: 55th Reunion


THE THACHER SCHOOL

CdeP 2004: 10th Reunion


CdeP 1964: 50th ReunionCdeP 1959: 55th Reunion

For downloadable versions of these images and many more candids from the weekend, visit www.thacher.or/magazine/fall2014



125Established in 1889

Years ==

125Established in 1889

Years ==

125Years ==

125Years ==

The Thacher School

The Thacher School


EDMUND COFFIN reports, Im in fine health for someone of the class of 39, writing letters to the editors about income equality, memoirs (in three page chapters, double-spaced), going to the gym, and traveling (last year Italy, this fall Portugal). Lets keep up 1939 standards. I hope those include memorizing and reciting poetry. I can still do If and Build Thee More Stately Mansions (i.e., The Chambered Nautilus), though my wife hated those upward and onward themes.

RICK FOREMAN writes, We would have loved to have been at reunion but Orene and I are not traveling anymore. In January, we moved into a retirement community here in Cincinnati, which was at just the right time as Orene came down with a compression fracture in her back and ended up in the hospital. She is well on the way to mending but we are both suffering the ills of the mid-eighties, with walkers and too many pills and blood thinners. But we are not complaining; we are upright and still with it, and enjoying life with lots of laughs.

RIC LAURENCE details, Unlike in 2013, when our activities were slowed by my wifes foot surgery, 2014 was totally different. In March, we made a trip to Texas and enjoyed the River Walk and the Nimitz Museum. In April, we ventured to Virginiainvited by the MacArthur Memorial Museum. Our group, Bay Area Civilian Ex-Prisoners of War, had three wonderful days of speakers, marchers, bagpipes, and a display of a military tattoo. In May, we took a trip to Florida and saw the Truman Florida White House and Ernest Hemingways home. In June, we attended my 65th reunion, and July found us in the California Delta with our grandchildren.

LEE MOTHERSHEAD informs, As of October, my new address is in Pasadena, Calif. We downsized to a condominium. This seemed like a great ideamoving from two stories to oneuntil we grappled with the problem of weeding out stuff we no longer had room for.

CHRISTOPHER CARPENTER^ writes, I retired in 2000 after 30 years with the United Nationshaving worked in the Congo, Malaysia, China, Japan, Somalia, Vietnam, and Russia. Upon retirement, I set up a foundation to support building small-scale infrastructure projects in the central highlands of Vietnam and (over the past 5 years) primary and secondary schools in North Korea. Having been diagnosed with a serious illness, I now live at home near Geneva, Switzerland, and have the chance to reflect on a life rich with experiencesthanks in no small way to the

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years I spent at Thacher. BILL WHEELER shares, So Ingrids and my life continues much as reported a year ago. Living in Belvedere, Marin County, and still working on our real estate projects in Healdsburg, where we used to have our winery, and still spending time each year in San Miguel de Allende. We feel very lucky indeed! Our son, Justin, and his family live in Santander and love it (his wife is Spanish). Daughter Jessica Wynne and family are close by in San Francisco and we see them frequently. I still paint in my spare, spare time and the work can be seen at bill.wwheeler.com.

CHRIS HENZE^ reports, As promised during my sisters and my pilgrimage in 2012, the village of Zwochau, Germany, changed the name of the main street to honor our great-great-grandfather, revolutionary Pastor Johann Friedrich Baltzer (1801-1885). The original portrait we donated is now in the foyer of his 12th century St. Martins Church, where he preached in favor of democracyfor which he was sentenced to prison. LYNN WHITE and Barbara-Sue greatly enjoyed meeting classmates at Lynns 55th Reunion. Lynns book, Philippine Politics: Progress and Problems in a Localist Democracy, will be published by Routledge before the end of this year. He is now writing about the increasingly lively politics of Hong Kong. The start of 2014 saw the publication of a book by Lynn and his former Princeton students (both former doctoral and undergrad students who now have solid academic careers in Asian politics and law) called Democratization in China, Korea, and Southeast Asia: Local and National Perspectives.

BILL SLATTERY^ says, Heres an update from the Slatterys: Margaret retired after teaching middle school Spanish for 18 years. Bill continues as president of the Atlantic Legal Foundation, which he joined 14 years ago after a long career in the banking legal business. Daughter Cristina is teaching at a private school in Boston, and daughter Susiewith husband Pieter and their two childrenlive nearby our home in Westchester County, N.Y. Inspired by the wonderful photo of CASEY ESCHERS granddaughter in the spring issue of Thacher magazine, I happily contribute a photo of our grandchildren, Hugo and Eloise.

DAVID MARSTEN notes, Milestone coming up at the end of October (70th birthday). Grandchildren are wonderful.

STEVE GRIGGS^ shares, My wife, Trish, and children, Colin and Jessie, went to Brazil for the World Cup in June. We were graciously hosted by CdeP classmate ERIC SWEET and family. Both kids have followed in my coaching footsteps: Colin at Hebron Academy in Maine, and Jessie at Northland College in Wisconsin.

* INDICATES REUNION YEAR ^CORRESPONDING PHOTO ABOVE

FALL

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CLASS NOTES

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THE THACHER SCHOOL

Photos (L to R): Christopher Carpenter 58 at a North Korean school built by his foundation. Portrait of Chris Henzes 59 great-great-grandfather. Bill Slatterys 61 grandchildren, Hugo and Eloise. Son, Colin; wife, Trish; daughter, Jessie; and Steve Griggs 63 in Bra-zil. Archie Look 64 and wife, Sophie, in Japan, were visited by Kim Cardin 66. Trav Newton

68, Edgardo Catalan, and Marvin Shagam picnicked on the Pergola.

SAM EATON declares, Time marches on, everyone. There are only months left until the big one. Lets all plan to work together to find the lost from our flock so we can have a true reunion in 2015. This is the year for an all-out effort, as our class notes creep inexorably closer to the front of the magazine! TERRY ROBERTSON announces,

I got married in June and I am still the dean of the law school at Empire College, with great students and faculty, including ROBERT BOYD 59.

KIM CARDIN^ shares, I spent the first two weeks in April with cousin ARCHIE LOOK 64 and his wife Sophie at their earthquake-proof home in Tokyo. Tokyo is very busy! Nice to have Archie to lead me around. Sophie makes great plum wine! NORMAN LIVERMORE announces, Our big news is that our daughter, WHITNEY 04, changed her teaching career back to the West Coast and returned to Thacher to teach European and American history to 9th and 11th graders! So, after four years of trips to watch her play basketball, we now get to watch her teach and coach the girls basketball team (Beat Cate!). It is a wonderful circle coming back around and makes me feel even more connected with Thacher than when I was there in my youth. Whitney joins our classmate ART SPAULDINGS son, CAM 92, who teaches, coaches, and manages Golden Trout Camp.

CHARLES EVANS says, Thinking out loud: My brother Mitchell Evansfireman, paramedic, ski patrol, and now boat captaincould captain a boat at the Cannes Film Festival. I am thinking bigger is better so, if we could get a group to pitch in, I could probably get some three-day passes at the March du Film, some one-day passes at the VIP pavilion, lots of passes for films at the March du Film, and a very few at festival films, but you can buy those. Cannes is a blast TRAV NEWTON^ shares, I had a picnic with Edgardo Catalan and Marvin Shagam on the Pergola in August. Edgardo exhibited his recent paintings in Santa Barbara, and in the home of his son and daughter-in-law, RODRIGO 83 and SIBYLL 83, in Pacific Palisades. STEPHEN ROBERTS describes, We always knew that living in Gods Country had its risks, but we just came close to losing it all. The King Fire in El Dorado County came within a mile of our home in Pollock Pines. We were packed up and ready to pull the trailer out when the winds changed and the fire sped away from us. It continued to blaze for the next two weeks and then unusual rainstorms calmed everything down. Way too close!

THE THACHER SCHOOL

MILESTONES

Read and submit class notes online at blogs.thacher.org/classnotes

ENGAGEMENTS

CLAIRE FAGGIOLI 02 is engaged to marry Daniel Sternberg.

MARRIAGES

TERRY ROBERTSON 65 married Debra Lee Ford on June 21 in Sonoma County, with fellow classmate SAM EATON in attendance. (photo 1)

LAURA MCHALE 88married Paul Allen onApril 19in Hong Kong. Three of my Thacher classmates made the long trip to the wedding:JAIME ARAUJO BEZIAN,FRANCIS KENDRICK, andELIZABETH GRAHAM TANJI. It was amazing to have them there for the big day!(photo 2)

MICHAELA ANDREWS 99 married Dr. Jan Bruder on August 14 in Mnster, Germany. (photo 3)

CHRIS CAHILL 03 married his medical school sweetheart, Erica Pasciullo, on September 20 in Fairlee, Vt. Many thanks to HUGH GORDON, PHOEBE BARKAN, JOHN BABBOTT, and MELISSA VICKERY, all CdeP 2003, who we got to see in the Bay Area the month beforehand! (photo 4)

ED CAHILL 05 married Whitney Hendrickson in Vermont during the summer.

SARAH CHAMBERLAIN 05 married Tom Curtis in London on September 20. Toads in attendance were Sarahs dad, PARK 68; her brother, WILL 03; cousin, LUCY HODGMAN 03; and JESSICA CORNWELL 04.

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CLASS NOTES

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HANS NIELSEN^ writes, Nancy and I sold our mortgage company and home, and journeyed south to Ojai. Got to walk the changed campus, visit the dining hall, stand in my favorite room in Upper School, and take in a sunset at the Outdoor Chapel. Ojai has a distinctive smell and the best sky for viewing stars. I swear I heard Mr. Chase addressing Assembly as we stood packed in the old Study Hall. I love this place. After three months in Ojai, we still have yet to decide where we will live next. In the meantime, we await Nancys book which comes out in October.

LANCE IGNON^ reports, I finally reached my goa

Thacher Magazine: Fall 2014

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Transcript of Thacher Magazine: Fall 2014