TODAY
AND ACCESS FOR ALLBishop Niles dreamed of an excellent school that wasnot exclusive. Today that dream looms even larger.
HOLDERNESS SCHOOLINSIDE:
Fiston Kahindo ’03 & financial aid
Catching up with Pete Barnum
Alumni newsmakers
Winter 2010
A mild southerly breeze inOctober leaves the Bulllooking off towards LittleSquam atop the belltoweron Weld Hall. Photo by SteveSolberg.
Front Cover: Beneath aspreading maple, studentsrepair from the Chapel tothe Schoolhouse on aMonday morning inDecember. Photo by SteveSolberg.
Back cover: Weld Hall canseem a long way off whenit’s dark and the snow isflying. Photo by Phil Peck.
Nelson Armstrong (Secretary)
Frank Bonsal III ’82
F. Christopher Carney ’75
(Alumni Association President)
Russell Cushman ’80
The Rev. Randolph Dales
Nigel D. Furlonge
Douglas H. Griswold ’66
James B. Hamblin II ’77 (Treasurer)
Pearl Kane
Peter K. Kimball ’72
Peter L. Macdonald ’60
Paul Martini
Richard Nesbitt
Peter Nordblom
Wilhelm Northrop ’88 (Vice-Chairperson)
R. Phillip Peck
Tamar Pichette
William L. Prickett ’81 (Chairperson)
Jake Reynolds ’86
The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson (President)
Ian Sanderson ’79
Jennifer A. Seeman ’88
John A. Straus
Rose-Marie van Otterloo
Ellyn Weisel ’86
Headmaster Emeritus
The Rev. Brinton W. Woodward, Jr.
Honorary Trustees
Warren C. Cook
Mayland H. Morse, Jr. ’38
Piper Orton ’74
W. Dexter Paine III ’79
The Rt. Rev. Philip A. Smith
Gary A. Spiess
The Rt. Rev. Douglas Theuner
Editor: Rick CareyEditor Emeritus: Jim Brewer
Assistant Editors: Dee Black Rainville,Robert Caldwell, Jane McNulty, PhilPeck, Judith Solberg, Steve Solberg, Jo-Anne Strickland, Tracy White, AmyWoods
Photography: Steve Solberg, Art Durity,Rick Carey, Phil Peck
HST is printed on recycled paper threetimes each year by the SpringfieldPrinting Corporation. Please send noticeof address changes to Jo-AnneStrickland, Alumni Office, HoldernessSchool, P.O. Box 1879, Plymouth, NH03264, or [email protected] may also be contacted at 603-779-5220.
Holderness School TodayVolume XXVII, No. 2
Features
4 And access for allFounder Bishop Niles wanted Holderness to be affordable
even to clergymen’s children. Rector Edric Weld found that
the school could not be both that and solvent. Today, in
place of “affordable,” write “accessible.” And then dream
as big as you dare.
12 Out of nowhereFiston Kahindo ’03 seemed destined to be yet another
Central African whose promise was blighted by life in
refugee camps. Instead he was given a chance to attend
Holderness, and now he’s using that promise on behalf of
others.
14 Long-term rewardsPete Barnum was the school’s Director of Admissions for
25 years and the originator of that office’s “Volkswagen”
philosophy. Now he’s the Director of Leadership Giving,
and still helping to ensure that the same sort of kids have
access to Holderness.
Holderness SchoolBoard of Trustees
HoldernessSchool Today
Departments
2 From the Schoolhouse
3 Stopping by Woods
17 Honor Roll
18 Around the Quad
27 Sports
30 Update: Faculty & Staff
32 Update: Former Faculty
33 Alumni Relations
34 Advancement & External Affairs
35 Alumni in the News
44 At This Point in Time
Y
2 Holderness School Today
SchoolhouseFrom the
YESTERDAY I RECEIVED a wonderful
email from an alumnus who attends one of
our country’s finest liberal arts colleges. He
reported that he had made the Dean’s list,
was the assistant men’s basketball coach, and
had been elected vice-president of his class.
Last week I received a photo from an alumna
who is one of the top college athletes in the
country in her sport, is excelling at an intel-
lectually powerful university, and is reaching
out to the community in many ways to serve
others.
Both emails were a reminder to me that
our graduates truly do live up to the mission
of our school:
Within the context of a caring community,
Holderness School fosters equally the
resources of the mind, body, and spirit in
each student, instilling in all the resolve to
work for the betterment of humankind
and God’s creation.
While we admire the excellence and
accomplishments of these two students, I am
reminded of a way of going about that mis-
sion, of building that community, that has
deep roots in Holderness history. Both the
above alumni benefitted from the vision of
our founder, Bishop W.W. Niles, who in 1879
stated that our school’s goal was to “combine
the highest degree of excellence in instruc-
tion and care taking with the lowest possible
charge for tuition and board…”
Today we clearly achieve that goal of
“the lowest possible charge” in a very differ-
ent way than we did for the first 75 years of
our school’s history. Strictly speaking, we are
no longer affordable, but we work hard to be
the most accessible school possible.
In this HST you’ll read how we have
applied ourselves to filling our school with
students who align with our mission’s high
calling, regardless of a family’s ability to pay.
The ways in which we did that 130 years
ago, 75 years ago, and in recent years are all
very different. This issue contains inspiring
stories about some of the people who worked
hard to find those students and make
Holderness possible for them; and also of
those students themselves, who left
Holderness to carry out the balance of that
mission.
The story of Holderness and its determi-
nation to be accessible continues to be one of
good news. Paradoxically, while we become
increasingly expensive, we have also become
increasingly accessible, doubling the number
of students on financial aid to over 40% of
the student body in recent years.
It will always take a lot of hard work for
Holderness to continue to answer to both our
mission and the vision of Bishop Niles. That
said, I hope you find this HST a reminder of
our commitment to making the Holderness
experience a reality for as many qualified
students as possible. That’s the first thing that
this community cares about. �
By Phil Peck
Head of School
Paradoxically, while we
become increasingly
expensive, we have also
become increasingly
accessible, doubling the
number of students on
financial aid.
Holderness School Today 3
Stopping By Woods by Rick Carey
AT 96 PAGES, THE FALL issue of Holderness School
Today was the longest we’ve ever published. That
was due to a combination of things. We publish
class notes every other issue, and that happened to
be a class notes issue, and a rich one at that, with
26 pages of news by and from our alumni.
That coincided with our annual fall Report of Appreciation.
This is our formal thank-you to all the people who gave to
Holderness over the previous fiscal year, and this 22-page report
was a particularly happy and important one. With the recession
having taken a big bite out of the school’s endowment, we were
blessed not only to see the Annual Fund exceed $1 million for
the first time in its history, but to see ten percent of the gifts to
the Annual Fund come from first-time donors. What’s more, an
additional seventy percent of donors increased or sustained their
level of commitment. That’s terrific in a year in which philan-
thropic giving declined sharply throughout the nation.
Then we had our usual raft of school news to report, with
Commencement and Reunion thrown in besides. The challenge
in the Communications and Development offices was to keep it
all under 100 pages, at which point we’d likely need to step up
to a more expensive sort of binding. We squeezed it all in under
that, but just barely.
So that was the good news. The bad news was that in
preparing, assembling, proofing, and printing an unusually big
issue in the usual amount of time, mistakes were made. In our
feature pages, we make a habit of listing—and so providing pub-
lic recognition to—all students awarded prizes and honors at
Commencement. Of course that includes students named to the
Cum Laude Society, but this time, as I laid out those pages, I
simply and somehow forgot about that particular
honor, and I never noticed its omission in proofing the
pages later. I apologize to all the students and families
included in that omission, and (better late than never)
you can find that list now on this page.
In the Report of Appreciation, we like to provide
thanks and public recognition to members of the True
Blue Society—i.e.,
people who have five
or more years of con-
secutive giving to the
school at whatever
level. The names of
these faithful donors
were followed by
Holderness Bull logos
in the document that
we sent to the printer.
But the Bulls dis-
appeared entirely from
certain pages during the printing process. Our friends at
Springfield Printing are still at a loss in understanding how this
happened, but they have agreed to reprint at no expense to us the
ten pages of that report affected by that error. Those pages
appear again in this issue, this time with a complete set of Bulls.
Finally, we were guilty of an incomplete photo caption in
the class note pages. We noted that Finnegan, the son of Karrie
Stevens Thomas ’93, was also the grandson of Brooke
Thomas ’58. We should have mentioned as well that
Finnegan’s other grandparents happen to be Dick
Stevens, the school’s Plant Manager, now in his 38th
year of service to Holderness, and School Store
Manager Gail Stevens. We regret the error, but we’re
glad of the opportunity to print an updated photo of
Finnegan, courtesy of the
Stevenses.
I guess I’m still waiting for the
perfect HST, and probably always
will. As long as this is a human
enterprise, even repeated applica-
tions of spell-check won’t clear out
the last bits of static. We just hope
that our errors don’t cheat people
out of honors or affiliations that
they’ve earned, and we offer heart-
felt apologies to those who endured
such in our last issue. �
Inducted in their junior year:William BohonnonBenjamin MagnanTenley August MalmquistJacob Bradshaw ManoukianJames Randall MathewsSophia Isabelle Schwartz
New members of the Class of ’09:Isabelle Lane CurranElena Crawford HayssenMeghan Ann McNultyDavid C. MorganKelsey Anne MullerMeredith Tracy PeckAllison Bennett Robbins
New members of the Class of ’10:Abigail Jane AlexanderChristopher William BradburyHyun Jung ChungSarah Rogers ClarksonMary Jo GermanosErika M. JohnsonMireille Cécile PichetteSarah Ashby SussmanLaura Olivia Pohl
Ten pages of the fall’sReport of Apprecationsuffered from a printer’serror. Those pages arereprinted in this issue.
The grandparents ofyoung FinneganThomas include long-time school staffersDick and GailStevens. We shouldhave mentioned that.
Cum
Laude
Society
2009
The fall ’09 issue of HST wasn’t perfect.Actually, far from it.
“I
4 Holderness School Today
And
Access
For
All
Towards the end of histenure as Holderness Schoolrector in the 1940s, EdricWeld was disappointed thathe had not succeeded inmaking the school bothaffordable and sustainable.
Now the school’s leadershipis entertaining that dreamonce again, but this time theemphasis is on a different“a”-word, one that promis-es that anybody admitted toHolderness will be able tocome, regardless of income,family resources, or whatsort of car is in the garage.
By Rick Carey
“I WANT TO SHOW you two sides of a coin,”
wrote The Rev. Edric Weld in his 1947 year-
end report to the Board of Trustees. “On one
side are a group of a dozen men, with a teach-
ing experience ranging from twenty-five years
at one end to two who are beginners….”
He continues, praising his faculty. Then he considers their
students, who come from fourteen states and a wide variety of
backgrounds. “Eleven are sons of clergymen, others are chil-
dren of teachers, doctors, social service executives, engineers,
artists, corporate executives, widows. A few are from separated
families, but not as many as you might think. They are of
almost every creed, but not of every color. What binds them
together is the fact that each is judged for himself and not
because of family background. While there is a wide range of
income and scale of living, we are fortunate not to have any of
the ‘super-sophisticates’ who can be a school’s worst
headache.”
Holderness School Today 5
The Rev.Edric Weld,Headmaster1931-1951
He summarizes that side of the coin by observing
that “we have a first-class group of teachers, a likeable
and sound group of boys, an excellent location, and
some fine buildings.”
But on the other side, Weld writes, was “the state-
ment of the auditor, showing a substantial deficit.”
Costs had risen sharply during the war, and he accuses
himself of wishful thinking in his financial planning: “I
paid in deficits and some of the faculty paid in inade-
quate salaries. At least the boys didn’t have to pay in a
shortage of food.”
He reminds the trustees that Holderness “was
founded to run on a simpler scale and provide less
expensive education” than other schools of the time.
That meant charging tuition at rates 15-20 percent lower
than theirs. But at that price Holderness only survived
because recurrent deficits were made good out of Edric
and his wife Gertrude’s own pockets.
“What are we going to do about it?” Weld asks. “I
must repeat some of the things I said last year.” There
are only way three ways to keep a lower-priced school
in the black, he says. The school must either employ
“lower-priced inexperienced teachers”; or it must lay off
some teachers, have bigger classes, and cut such non-
academic programs as music, art, and shop (“which are
essential to education for many boys,” he writes); or
“eliminate all scholarships as fast as scholarship holders
graduate.”
Weld rejected the first two of the above options
“for obvious reasons,” he wrote. Regarding the third:
“Only through scholarships can we make the school
available to at least a few people of lesser income . . . .
Taken as a whole, students with scholarships or grants
have strengthened this school greatly, and other schools
say the same.”
Weld’s solution? “As a long-range policy, there-
fore, I see no alternative but to approach the standard
tuition and not attempt to maintain a rate two or three
hundred dollars lower.”
The trustees agreed, but not immediately. Edric
and Gertrude would spend four more years sponging
away red ink with their own money until their retire-
ment in 1951. The new head, Don Hagerman, was not
so wealthy as the Welds. Over the next decade the
school maintained its strong faculty, its small class
sizes, its various programs—and its scholarship aid.
And quietly, incrementally, year by year, the school’s
fees approached “the standard tuition.”
Today, for the 2009-10 school year, the cost of
tuition, room, and board at Holderness is $42,675, a
sticker price that puts Holderness $3,000 below the
median of fees at its competitor schools, and makes it
the second least expensive. Good, but that’s still an
awful lot of money. Don Hagerman used to say that the
price of an independent school education should be
about the same as that of a Ford station wagon.
Nowadays make that a Lexus GS-10 sedan. But today’s
standard tuition reflects the hard facts of today’s costs in
salaries, benefits, insurance, program support, fuel, and
building maintenance.
And what about the clergymen, teachers, and
social workers whose children came to the Holderness of
Edric Weld, parents who didn’t drive Cadillacs then and
aren’t driving Lexuses now? In 1947 their children,
those students, were judged for themselves, and not for
their family vehicles.
That was when Holderness defined itself, for better
or worse, as affordable to the middle class. Today, in the
strict sense of the term, Holderness can no longer make
that claim.
THIS SITUATION didn’t exactly
sneak up on the school. It was fore-
seen by both Weld and Don
Hagerman, and grappled with by
both Pete Woodward (headmaster,
1977-2001) and Phil Peck. In
December Phil arranged for a con-
versation on the subject, gathering in
his office Director of Advancement
and External Affairs Robert
Caldwell, Director of Admission
Tyler Lewis, Business Manager Pete
Hendel, and—on conference
phone—trustee Peter Kimball ’72,
Executive Director of Gift Planning
at Harvard University.
Peter Kimball began with an anecdote. During a
recent staff meeting in his office, Kathleen Blauvelt
Kime ’99—also a member of the development staff at
Harvard—happened to describe her Out Back experience
at Holderness, saying what a positive turning point it had
been in her life. “It was called Outward Bound when I
was a student at Holderness, and it was a turning point
for me as well,” Peter said. “But a funny thing happened
the day after my conversation with Kathleen—my jour-
nal from OB appeared on my desk at home. I had kept it
in a box for years, and my daughter just happened to run
across it.”
This served as a good example for Phil of how
Holderness, then and now, succeeds by virtue of its peo-
ple and the quality of its programs. “Nobody talks about
the buildings when they recall their years at Holderness,”
he said. “They talk about things like OB, and about fac-
ulty members who changed their lives.”
These also are the things that Tyler Lewis leads
with as he recruits students for admission to Holderness.
In terms of facilities . . . well, Holderness still has what
Edric Weld boasted of, “an excellent location and several
fine buildings.” But Tyler admitted that he feels at a dis-
advantage in the “facilities wars” as he competes with
other schools for top students. One New England school,
for example, has recently opened an athletic facility
whose cost is nearly equal to the aggregate value of the
entire Holderness campus.
“We have a couple buildings that can most gener-
ously be described as quaint and rustic,” he said. “Less
generously, they’re eyesores. We have no building that
really qualifies as a ‘wow’ sort of facility in this market.
Anybody who thinks that Holderness has gotten too
fancy with today’s high tuition, I encourage them to
come and visit the campus, and then compare what they
see here to what they see at our peer schools.”
Perhaps the most startling thing about that Lexus-
level tuition, though, is that it still doesn’t cover the
costs of running the school—in fact tuition pays only 72
percent of those costs. Holderness typically gets another
13 percent from endowment income, six percent from
other sources, and a critical nine percent from the
Annual Fund—which is to say, the generosity of its com-
munity, as opposed to that of Edric Weld.
“We’re part of a new paradigm for school finance,”
said Robert. “You can’t operate these schools on the
strength of tuition. The Annual Fund has become more
important than ever, sort of like an ongoing campaign. In
fact you could describe it as one leg on a three-legged
stool of tuition, endowment income, and the Annual
Fund. You need them all, and you need an overall culture
of philanthropy in the community that supports them
all.”
Edric Weld must be regarded as an icon of philan-
thropy—not just for his years of service as the school’s
6 Holderness School Today
Faced with a choice of either that or the school’s
brand as “a lower-priced school,” Weld reaffirmed
financial aid, and with it the role of a student body
truly representing “a wide variety of backgrounds,”
as the more essential portion of the school’s identity.
PeterKimball
Holderness School Today 7
Each year students who receive financial aid from an
endowment fund established by a particular individual
donor or family are encouraged to write thank you notes
to those sponsors. Below are excerpts from several such
notes.
To Mrs. Robert S. Gillette
My name is Vytas Kriskus, and I’m writing to thank you for
the opportunity which made my enrollment in the Holderness
School possible. The scholarship given in honor of Ned
Gillette has changed my life . . . . As a child of a firefighter
and a nurse, I never even dreamed about the possibility of
being able to study in the United States of America—even
more so, in such a great institution as Holderness School.
As a student at Holderness, I have always made the aca-
demic honor roll. I was elected captain of the cross-country
team this year, which led me to win the Lakes Region Cross
Country Championships. I originally thought I came to
Holderness to play basketball only. While it is still my favorite
sport, I have enjoyed myself on the football field, lacrosse
field, the running trails, and on a bicycle. . . . Out Back is defi-
nitely the best experience of my life so far, and for all this I
would like to tell you THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I cannot
tell you how much my parents and I appreciate this opportuni-
ty given me by you. . . .
Sincerely,
Vytas Kriskus ’08
To The Rt. Rev. Philip A. Smith
. . . I am a second-year junior and I love Holderness. I am a
cross-country runner, a Nordic skier, and a cyclist. I am also in
the chorus, I participate in the Green Team’s environmental
efforts, and periodically I write for the Picador, the school
newspaper.
Holderness is a perfect fit for me . . . . I was looking for a
small, athletic school with focused classes and great teachers.
. . . The people here couldn’t be nicer. It’s true that one can’t
walk on the path to the dining hall without passing someone
who says, “Hi.” . . .
The community here is infectious. Everyone is friendly
and accepting. Contrary to other schools that I have heard
about, every teacher knows almost every student, and nearly
all the students know each other. I really love being at
Holderness and I am very grateful that the fund named for you
was presented to me. Thank you so much for this incredible
opportunity.
Sincerely yours,
(Member of the Class of ’09)
To Mr. & Mrs. Samuel W. Wakeman
Can you believe it? My time at Holderness is almost over. The
countdown to graduation has already begun as my days and
time at Holderness tick away. . . .
Being a senior does have its perks, even if it is incredibly
challenging. With three APs, Literature, European History, and
Statistics, I have a full plate on my hands. However, even with
this tough schedule, I find myself making time for friends, or
for subbing for Pantry, or for Frisbee on the Quad. I am also
taking an art class this fall, which is a completely new experi-
ence for me. I am not artistic in the conventional way, but this
class has allowed me to explore my own creativity, and it has
created an oasis where I can unwind from a day of focused
studying. I am also participating in the Job Program in a new
way as a leader for the Alumni & Development crew.
In addition, I am excited to participate in the Capstone
program this year. I am planning on going to the small African
nation of Botswana with a foundation that works to build
libraries and increase literacy. I haven’t determined my focus
yet, but I am looking into researching Botswanian democra-
cy’s effect on its people in respect to public works projects and
literacy programs. . . .
These past four years will be ones that I will never forget,
ever. . . .Now, for the final time I simply want to thank you
for enabling me to have the opportunity of a lifetime. “I would
thank you from the bottom of my heart, but for you my heart
has no bottom.”—Anon.
Sincerely,
Taylor Sawatzki ’08
To James C. Stearns ’68
I cannot thank you enough for your support this coming year. I
am currently sitting on my porch enjoying the remaining days
of summer and thinking about this coming year. . . .
I love sports, a key to thriving at Holderness, but I also
love the camaraderie of living in a dorm and doing well in
classes. Holderness is a great school for learning valuable les-
sons in balancing all aspects of life. It’s an adventure every
day finding the equilibrium between academics, athletics,
friends, and responsibilities. Finding time to eat can some-
times be difficult, but I love the outgoing and upbeat atmos-
phere. . . .
I hope this year I find the same success I found last year
in the dorm, on the mountain or field, and in the Schoolhouse.
I could not be here without your
support! Thank you very much! I
hope your year is just as exciting
and enjoyable as mine!
Sincerely,
(Member of the Class of ’10)
“Taken as a whole, students with scholarships or grantshave strengthened this school greatly . . . .” —Edric Weld
personal Annual Fund, but for his refusal to even consider
eliminating financial aid. Faced with a choice of either that
or the school’s brand as “a lower-priced school,” Weld did-
n’t hesitate. It was a choice that put Holderness—at long
last—on a path towards financial sustain-
ability. And at the same time it reaffirmed
financial aid, and with it the role of a stu-
dent body truly representing “a wide vari-
ety of backgrounds,” as the more essential
portion of the school’s identity.
DON HAGERMAN, WHO hadn’t a penny
in endowment for most of his tenure,
awarded financial aid. Pete Woodward
awarded more, thanks to a small and
growing endowment. Thanks in no small
part to the efforts of Hagerman and
Woodward and other stewards, Phil Peck’s
nest egg reached a high-water mark of $45
million in October, 2007. Since then the
recession has taken a bite out of that, reducing it to $34
million as of last December.
At the same time Holderness has been welcomed into
the Association of Business Officers of Preparatory Schools
(ABOPS), an organization of the forty most selective East
Coast boarding schools, and one in which sound business
practices are another criterion for membership. And the
school has very quietly launched the
largest campaign in its history. Far away
its most ambitious element, with a target
of $10 million, is endowment for financial
aid.
Much of the conversation that day had
to do with the current status of scholarship
funding at Holderness. During the last two
decades of the past century, Holderness
suffered from a version of the “barbell
effect” that prevailed at many other
schools: a majority of full-pay students,
another group of full-scholarship students
from very low-income backgrounds, and a
slim minority between the two. That has
changed substantially over the last decade.
Phil had the figures at hand. “In 2001 we had 52 stu-
dents on financial aid, and the average grant was 90 per-
cent of tuition. In 2008 we had 108, which doesn’t include
the children of faculty and staff, and the average grant was
60 percent. So we’re distributing a good deal more money
and doing it in smaller packages. We’ve made a point of
targeting middle-class households for partial grants, and
we’ve gotten more of them back into the school.”
Pete Hendel had some overall numbers in terms of
expenditure. “We spent $1.17 million on financial aid in
’01, and $1.92 million in ’08. So there’s a two-thirds
increase. But look at ’09—$2.18 million—and this year:
$2.61 million. Over the decade we’ve more than doubled
the funding.”
“What about tuition increases during that time?” Peter
Kimball asked.
“Tuition has gone up too, but it’s interesting to com-
pare the two,” said Pete Hendel. “From 2007 through 2009,
tuition rose at a rate of 4.9 percent each year. Financial aid,
on the other hand, has risen by 13.9 percent. Ours is the
largest rate of growth for that of any school in ABOPS.”
Tyler pointed out that Holderness was also spending
its financial aid in places where most schools don’t. “A full
68 percent of our day students are on financial aid,” he
said. “Not one of our peer schools can match that. And
international students—most schools go abroad looking
only for full-pay candidates. But we’ve got money invested
in these students as well.”
But even $2.61 million doesn’t go nearly as far as
Tyler would like it to go. Phil mentioned former
Admissions Director Pete Barnum’s definition of the ideal
candidate for Holderness. “He’s the sort of kid with whom
you can drive from one coast to another in a VW Bug with-
out a radio, and at the end of the trip you like each other
more than at the beginning,” Phil recalled. “It’s a definition
that really has much more to do with character than admis-
sions-test scores. We have a certain bar set in terms of aca-
demic accomplishment, of course, but beyond that, it’s all
about character.”
“I love visiting Holderness and running into kids who
say hi and look you in the eye,” said Peter Kimball. “It’s
not something they just put on for the adults, and it has
more to do than with just politeness. It seems to me that it
connects to a good understanding of who you are and of
your place in the world.”
“The amount of money I have to work with now has
been a huge help,” Tyler said. “I can bring more kids exact-
ly like that into this school, and fewer of the sort who
might be risky in terms of character or maturity. So it
allows us to apply a much more appropriate filter to the
admission process, which is great for Holderness in the
long run. But even so, the money runs out and we still have
to make a lot of tough choices involving candidates who
might be less desirable but whose families can afford the
full tuition. And the families who come to us have to make
8 Holderness School Today
TylerLewis
PeteHendel
Holderness School Today 9
Will Prickett ’81
Chairman, Board of Trustees:
THE MISSION OF THE SCHOOL REMAINS VERY clear, and one key
to the future success of Holderness depends on our sticking to
that mission. We need to attract
the best students we can in terms
of intellect, curiosity, and charac-
ter, and the fact is that there usu-
ally is little correlation between
those qualities, on one hand, and
family income on the other.
So while tuition income is
the largest financial driver of our
mission, we can’t focus on maxi-
mizing tuition income to the
exclusion of the best candidates
to our community. Being need-blind in our admissions would
allow us to focus just on the quality of the candidates, and I
think it’s possible for us to get there. It will take some time to
build our endowment to the necessary levels, and we have to
be careful not to go too far too fast, but the closer we get, the
better Holderness will be. �
John Straus
Chairman, Board Investment
Committee:
IN EDUCATION, WHO YOU learn with
is as important as who you learn
from. There’s so much more to it
than just the classroom. There are
all the interactions and exchanges
that occur at dinner, on the athletic
fields, in the dorm rooms, and
those are so much richer if they
involve people of different backgrounds and perspectives.
I think every school out there should want to be need-
blind—not just for the sake of those different perspectives in
its student body, but also on behalf of a community of alumni
who know the importance of giving and are all the more pre-
pared themselves to start giving back.
Is that sort of goal achievable for Holderness? Yes, I
think it is, in the long term, if the school continues to be man-
aged as conscientiously as it has been. And it may not really
take so long. It’s surprising to me how little money, relatively
speaking, it would take for our endowment to support that.
But we’ll never get there unless we first commit to it very
seriously as a goal. �
Jamey Gallop ’83
Former Chair, Board
Investment Committee:
THE ECONOMICS OF private
school education right now are
difficult. Tuition inflation has
outpaced overall inflation by a
wide margin, and it seems that
costs will continue to go up. But we don’t want Holderness to
become the sort of private country club that’s available to a
small percentage of the population. The education of students
of modest means is a central part of our mission and identity,
and that will require a larger focus on financial aid.
Of course it’s harder to raise money for financial aid and
school endowment than it is, say, for buildings. But the great-
est strength of Holderness is really not its buildings, but its
people—its faculty and staff and students. It’s essential to
keep the cost of a Holderness education within the reach of as
many people as possible to maintain the school’s unique cul-
ture. �
“It’s possible for us to get there . . . .”Fully-funded need-blind? Here are the thoughts of two current and one former trustee on theadvisability and achievability of one very audacious goal for a small school.
tough choices as well, and sometimes end up doing all sorts
of painful things—extra jobs, second mortgages—in order to
stay here. Some boarding students will become day students,
in fact, to keep their costs down.”
Robert had another paradigm shift to describe. “You look
at this campaign, and you see financial aid in a very unusual
position—at the top of the list among campaign priorities,” he
said. “We’re renovating certain buildings—Weld Hall, which
has already been done, and then certain classrooms and
dorms. But you don’t see new buildings playing a lead role
here, and traditionally that’s been the path of least resistance
in fundraising. A shiny new facility is big and visible. It
makes an immediate and obvious sort of difference in school
life, and then stands as a permanent memorial to its donors.
So it’s always been relatively easy to raise money for a con-
struction project.”
But lately that’s changed. “There really has been a shift
in philanthropy towards financial aid, and investing in peo-
ple,” he continued, “rather than in buildings and facilities. It’s
a different sort of orientation in values, one that’s more trans-
parently altruistic. Look at the progress of this campaign so
far. The three largest gifts have been for financial aid.”
The largest of the large has been donated by past parents
Eijk and Rose-Marie de mol van Otterloo (Eijk is also a for-
mer trustee, while Rose-Marie is current). The amount is
breath-taking—$2 million, matching the largest single gift in
Holderness history (also courtesy of the van Otterloos)—but
perhaps even more so is the selflessness of the gift. “This is a
gift that has nothing to do with naming rights, with the
establishment, for example, of any sort of van Otterloo
fund,” Phil said. “It’s been given to us simply to build the
capacity of the school, and to provide matching money to
encourage those who sponsor endowed scholarships now to
build them to higher levels.”
THAT, REALLY, IS THE WHOLE key, and the continuing
affirmation of what Edric Weld always demanded of
Holderness. In resigning himself to the fact that Holderness
could not persist without raising its tuition, he surely fore-
saw that the school founded as the economy-priced option
to St. Paul’s would grow to be virtually as expensive as that
other great school, and that the word “affordable” would
have to drop out of Holderness’ description of itself.
Weld refused to yield, however, on an admissions poli-
cy in which each candidate “is judged for himself, and not
because of family background.” Convinced at last that
Holderness could not be bargain-priced in providing “the
highest degree of excellence in education,” he insisted that
it at least be accessible. If the school could run in the black,
in fact, it could perhaps afford scholarships for a few more
children of clergymen, artists, and widows.
It was a choice both pragmatic and deeply principled.
It would necessitate finding enough candidates from the
upper echelons of the economic ladder to make sure the
school ran in the black. The Admission Office would do its
best to filter out the “super-sophisticates” who might be
unsuitable for this rough-hewn sort of school. Some were
sure to get in as the school went about balancing its books,
but at least the school would endure.
Which it has—and flourished. It has flourished
enough, in fact, for Phil Peck and his Board of Trustees to
now dream of making Holderness so accessible that the
word “compromise” disappears from its admission and
financial aid procedures, and the word “painful” from the
considerations of the parents of interested candidates.
“In fact we’re need-blind already in our admission
process,” Phil said with a smile. “We don’t look at family
income in choosing the kids we most want to come here.
We just aren’t fully-funded need-blind. So then we have to
make that next set of decisions about who can afford to
come here, and whom
we can afford to help.”
Need-blind, as in
fully-funded—around
Holderness the idea
also goes by an
acronym common to
the strategic planning
process: BHAG, or Big
Hairy Audacious Goal.
The current $10 mil-
lion campaign goal for
financial aid is perhaps
big, perhaps audacious,
but not quite hairy.
Having enough money
in the endowment of a little school like Holderness to be
able to accommodate each and every admitted applicant
who might need financial aid—now that idea sprouts hairs.
“There’s no question that even the ambition to become
10 Holderness School Today
PhilPeck
Quartile
Endowment
per Student
Debt
per Student
75th Percentile 219,491$ 99,783$
Median 157,123$ 62,622$
25th Percentile 88,051$ 36,269$
Holderness School 117,345$ 10,601$
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Endowment Per Student
75th Percentile $219,491
Median $157,123
25th Percentile $ 88,051
Holderness School $117,345
Debt Per Student
75th Percentile $ 99,783
Median $ 62,622
25th Percentile $ 36,269
Holderness School $ 10,601
In terms endowment and debt,this is where Holderness standsin a group of fifteen schoolswho compete for similar candidates.
Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo are the donors of an historic gift to
Holderness that Phil Peck describes as “transformative,” that Robert
Caldwell praises as “altruism in the purest sense of the word.” Perhaps the
best phrase was coined by the father of Bill Koyama in 1945 (see page 52):
“the Great Providence.” Learn more about the scope, purposes, and potential
impact of this gift in the spring HST.
fully-funded need-blind is a huge undertaking
for Holderness,” said Peter Kimball. “There
are very few schools in the country that are in
that position. Princeton is, but Harvard isn’t.
Seventy percent of Harvard’s undergraduates
receive some form of financial aid now,
though, and there is a broader trend in society
that sees financial aid as a worthy investment
in what might be called social capital. I
believe in fact that there is no more important
goal for Holderness right now, and that this is
a moment where opportunity goes hand in
hand with excellence and accessibility.”
But how could Holderness’ endowment
possibly achieve what Harvard’s can’t? Well,
the former’s endowment may not be impressively big at the
moment—well below the median of fifteen peer schools, in
fact—but at least it almost all belongs to Holderness. The
school’s short-term debt of $10,601 per student is well-nigh
microscopic in a group where median longer-term debt is
more than six times that amount. “That puts our net endow-
ment up there at sixth in that group of fifteen, which is actual-
ly pretty good,” said Pete Hendel.
Size matters also, and this is one situation where it truly
pays to be small. “Given the size of our enrollment,” Tyler
Lewis said, “we wouldn’t really need as much more in our
endowment as people might think.”
Phil knew the math. “That’s true,” he said. “So we figure
our endowment on a five-year rolling average and annually
draw four percent of that amount. Then we could do it, say,
with an additional $40 million. That’s not impossible. It’s
achievable. And whether we get to that level soon or just
make headway there, we’ll be serving the school well, for
now and for fifty years from now.”
Peter Kimball wasn’t so sure about one part of that. “It
may be admirable, but is it achievable? I don’t know,” he said.
“In either event, it’s worth trying for.”
Peter then wondered if being fully-funded might tempt
the Admission Office into changing its thinking in any way.
“Would you start looking more for kids with 90th-percentile
scores on the SSATs? That sort of situation forces a school to
really articulate who precisely is an ideal candidate.”
“We would continue to emphasize character,” Phil said.
“And we would continue to do what we do: Special Programs,
chapel twice a week, the Job Program, family-style dinner, no
specialization in sports. We would look for families who
embrace all those things, whether their children are 60th or
99th percentile.”
“Good,” Peter said. “The money, if it’s ever there,
shouldn’t change our priorities. If I’m a parent bringing a
child to Holderness, I’m looking for a com-
munity of kids who are reflective, who are
inquisitive, but at the same time they’re
active—they participate, they assume lead-
ership, they give back, and they take
responsibility for where they are. We need
to hold on to that ideal.”
“And at fully-funded need-blind,” Phil said, “we would
never again have to turn away a family who embraces that
ideal, whatever their resources.”
That was when Phil asked if Peter if he was enjoying his
Outward Bound journal. “With the holiday season as busy as
it is, I haven’t opened it yet,” Peter said. “But I will, and I
may very well transcribe it.” He laughed. “There’s a chance
it’ll bring back nightmares. It’s just so odd that it showed up
now.”
MANY YEARS AGO EDRIC WELD took a grim sort of sat-
isfaction in making Holderness “available to at least a few
people of lesser income.” The two sides of the coin that he
showed to his trustees in 1947 were basically these: the
breadth, quality, and diversity of the school’s people and pro-
grams, and the challenge posed to those elements by
Holderness’ inability to pay its bills.
Bishop Niles had specified “the lowest possible charge
for tuition and board” in his vision for Holderness, and it fell
to Weld to conclude that a discounted tuition simply wasn’t
possible in any sustainable sense, at least if excellence was
required. Then there were still always compromises to be
made at the Admissions Office, even as the school, through
the decades, largely retired its debt and built an endowment.
Perhaps there always will be such compromises. But Phil
Peck and many others like to think that it ain’t necessarily so,
and that this is the time to start doing some-
thing about it. They like to think that some-
day, maybe, Bishop Niles will get his way
after all—an entirely accessible sort of
school where, from the slam of a car door
(any sort of car door) and the first firm
Hagerman-style handshake, “each is judged
for himself and not because of family back-
ground.” �
Holderness School Today 11
Phil Peck and his Board
of Trustees dream of
making Holderness so
accessible that the word
“compromise” disappears
from its admission and
financial aid procedures,
and the word “painful”
from the considerations of
the parents of interested
candidates.
RobertCaldwell
H
12 Holderness School Today
HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR Holderness School’s
commitment to financial aid, a poor Kenyan girl named
Elizabeth might never have owned shoes.
That’s just one of a great many things that might
never have happened, but let’s begin in 1992 with what
shouldn’t have happened: the sudden death of Dr. Paul
Kahindo, a physician and prominent political dissident in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Soon after Dr.
Kahindo died in circumstances that suggest a political
assassination, his grief-stricken wife succumbed to a
heart attack.
That was when their son Ruga, 20, went to the
Congolese press with questions about his father’s death.
This provoked an attempt on his life as well. Three
weeks later Ruga and his much younger brother Fiston,
8, were in Kenya, and among the hundreds of thousands
in central Africa with no other home but a refugee camp.
IT TOOK NO LONGER THAN that for the world of Fiston
Kahindo—and his presumed future—to be laid waste.
By way of capital, such as it was, he had only a few
years of good schooling. He had just learned the most
brutal sort of lesson about the world’s capacity for
treachery. He was about to learn about its capacity for
grace and charity as well.
Eventually he and Ruga found their way to north-
western Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp, a sprawling
city of 70,000 whose name is also the Swahili word for
“nowhere.” There Fiston was lucky enough to be noticed
by a soccer coach, Jean Kakusu, who helped him gain
admission to a boarding school in Matuu, Kenya, and
funding from a foundation in Nairobi.
At the same time Elizabeth Campbell, the sister of
Carolyn Campbell ’96, spent a month at Kakuma during
a semester abroad from St. Lawrence University. There
she became friendly enough with Kakusu—who is now
Jean Campbell, and who works at a community college
in Portland, Oregon—for him to later be adopted as a
brother into her family.
But there was help coming for Fiston as well. In
2000 Carolyn had joined the math department of the
Holderness faculty. She spoke to then-Admissions
Director Pete Barnum about devoting some portion of
the school’s slim financial aid budget to a student from
an African refugee camp. That led to Pete getting on the
telephone with Fiston. Subsequently Pete sent Fiston an
application and set aside a full scholarship.
Okay, but how does someone who is essentially
penniless get from Matuu to Holderness? “Carolyn sent
me money for a plane ticket,” Fiston recalls. “But then I
Out of Nowhere
At one time thedreams of FistonKahindo ’03were limited tothe meagerpossiblities ofKenya’s KakumaRefugee Camp.Today he helpsother Africanorphans todream biggerthan that. Chalkanother one upto financial aid.
Fiston, left, spent time with Phil Peck and a lot of other old friendsduring a Lynn University recruiting trip this fall. On the right is J.J.Hall ’05, who was about to leave for his new job at Christ theCornerstone International School in Lagos, Nigeria. Read moreabout that on page 40.
Holderness School Today 13
arrived without anything to wear that would satisfy the dress
code at Holderness. So Elizabeth and Carolyn and Jean bought
me jackets, pants, ties, shoes, and so on.”
“Culture shock” only begins to describe this sort of
upheaval, from Nairobi to Holderness and a new set of clothes
for a whole new world. Fiston’s first language was French,
though he now also speaks English and several African lan-
guages. But a second language was just one of the multiple
challenges he faced then. “It was very hard at the beginning,”
Fiston says, “but I always had the support of the teachers
there, and I certainly would not be where I am today had it not
been for Holderness, and the grace of God.”
He arrived as a junior, made the honor roll by dint of
hard labor (and would win the Clarkson Prize for perseverance
at the 2003 commencement), but did not distinguish himself
on the English-language SAT tests he took that year for col-
lege admission. “Bruce Barton was the college counselor, and
he helped prepare my application, edit my personal statement,
and find several good colleges that would accept scores in my
range,” Fiston says. “Bruce was extremely helpful.”
One such school was Florida’s Lynn University, which
has a large enrollment of international students and which at
the last moment offered this student another full scholarship.
And after a couple of years at Holderness, Fiston found him-
self ready to flourish at Lynn. He qualified for the school’s
honors program, became a resident assistant, a student ambas-
sador for the admissions department, and as a junior was elect-
ed president of the Student Government Association—the first
international student to hold that position.
That put Fiston in a place where he could accomplish a
few good turns himself. Distressed to see a number of students
dropping out of Lynn because of money problems, Fiston led a
successful initiative to build a scholarship fund enabling stu-
dents with high grade-point averages to stay in school. He lob-
bied effectively as well for more work-study jobs and more
financial aid for international students. He helped also at the
nickel-and-dime level of student life, establishing a popular
free airport shuttle service for Lynn students.
Today he is still at Lynn, working as a full-time admis-
sions officer, making recruiting trips for the university to
schools that include Holderness, and taking graduate courses
in international business. And as the vice-president of Dream
Sponsors, Inc., he is also revisiting Africa.
“A LADY FROM FLORIDA—her name is Carla Neumann—
had gone to Africa, had come back, and had read an article
about me in a Boca Raton newspaper,” Fiston explains. “It
was about my being the first international president of the
SGA at Lynn. She wanted to set up a non-profit organization
that would help orphans at the refugee camps, and she asked
for my help and advice.”
That organization became Dream Sponsors (www.dream-
sponsorsinc.org), whose mission is to create sponsorships and
support networks “designed to assist orphan youth in Africa
with the emotional, financial, and logistical means to trans-
form their dreams into reality.”
The character of the organization, says Fiston, owes
something to Holderness: “The basic model I proposed had
very much to do with my experience there. We seek to pay
tuition for schooling, to provide uniforms and books, to make
possible medical care and insurance. We want to give them a
chance to dream, and a chance to realize their dreams.”
The bulk of Dream Sponsors’ work involves fundraising,
but in 2008 Fiston and Carla Neumann visited Bunyore, a
small village in western Kenya. There they set up a collabora-
tion with another education-based non-profit and arranged
sponsorships for a dozen village children.
Even Fiston was impressed with how little money it took
to make a big difference there. For example, he and Carla
found the elderly grandmother of one sponsored child very ill
with malaria during one home visit. “It took a small gift of $5
to provide medication to improve her condition in just a short
time,” Fiston says. “We were able to provide mosquito nets
and other supplies to help with their living conditions and to
keep Elizabeth functioning in her small rural school. She
must walk in excess of two miles each way to her school and
had never owned a pair of shoes until our visit.”
Fiston had grown up with shoes, but they wore out during
his flight from the Congo many years ago. He and his brother
trudged three weeks through the forest, subsisting on nuts and
grasses. Fiston’s legs swelled to the point that Ruga had to
carry him.
But from Nowhere, Fiston was carried to Nairobi, and
then to the United States. No one knows better than him the
life-saving importance of philanthropy, the soul-uplifting
strength of its helping hand. And no one is more eager to pay
it forward. “If ever I reach any sort of position of financial
success,” he says, “I will dedicate a portion of that to
Holderness.”
Ruga is also safe and prosperous today, living in Dallas
and raising a family that includes three children. The courage,
energy, and intelligence of these two survivors have played an
enormous role in their success—but so has the sort of helping
hand that Fiston now extends to others. �
Fiston had grown up with
shoes, but they wore out
during his flight from the
Congo many years ago. He
and his brother trudged three
weeks through the forest.
Fiston’s legs swelled to the
point that Ruga had to carry
him.
H
14 Holderness School Today
Catching up with...
HIS FIRST OFFICE was the size of a walk-
in closet on the second floor of Livermore
Hall, and it was never what you’d call a
low-stress sort of job, especially in the
spring, after he and his staff had made all
the tough choices about who to invite into
next year’s class of incoming students, and
the letters of acceptance had gone out. Then
you waited—to see who came back for sec-
ond visits, to see who finally signed those
letters, to see who signed those letters and
then changed their minds in August.
“But in twenty-five years,” says Pete
Barnum, “there was never a single day
when I got out of bed and didn’t want to
come to work.”
His work was as the school’s chief
recruiter and gatekeeper, Director of
Admission, from 1980 to 2005, throughout
Pete Woodward’s years as head of the
school, and into the first four years of Phil
Peck’s. During this day in January he’s sit-
ting down with Phil at the Common Man
Restaurant in Ashland and taking a glance
backwards through the years.
“I was lucky,” he adds. “I arrived just
in time for what I consider to be the Golden
Era of independent school admissions. The
economy was healthy, the market was grow-
ing, the grandparents of the kids coming in
were prosperous. And Don Hagerman, Pete
Woodward, and a lot of other people had
built Holderness into a good place to be. We
drew more strong applicants than we need-
ed, and I was never once in a position
where I had to take someone just to fill a
bed. I would have quit if I’d had to.”
Holderness was lucky too, because it
was all so unlikely to have turned out that
way. Pete was a Kent School alumnus relo-
Pete Barnum
Long-
Term
Rewards
Former Director ofAdmission PeteBarnum is still hardat work forHolderness, but in adifferent role thesedays. He says therewas just one part ofthe old job that brokehis heart every year.Now he’s part of ateam working on thecure for that.
Holderness School Today 15
cated to Colorado in 1970. There he and two friends were
partners in a company that designed and built spec homes,
and Pete began to get tired of that at about the same time the
Colorado real estate market was drying up. In 1979, on the
advice of a teacher at Kent, Pete attended a four-day work-
shop for admission professionals hosted by the National
Association of Independent Schools.
“It was in Menlo Park, California, and I had to talk my
way into it,” Pete laughs. “My name tag said ‘Educational
Consultant, Boulder, CO,’ which—except for the address—
was a complete fabrication.”
He learned enough about school admissions to want to
give it a try, but where? His father told him that Pete
Woodward, who had been chaplain at Kent during Pete
Barnum’s senior year, was now head of Holderness School.
What’s more, the Holderness Admission Director (Steve
Christakos) had suddenly resigned to take a job at Williams
College.
No doubt the Kent connection helped, but so did desper-
ate straits at Holderness, since all the experience Pete could
offer were those four days of conference gate-crashing. “Bill
Clough was the Assistant Head then, and the interim Director
of Admission,” Pete says. “He took me up to that little office,
gave me the file of all the schools they’d visited, and told me
to set up a travel schedule as Associate Director of
Admission. Then in April, after the acceptance letters had
gone out, he asked me, ‘Are you ready?’ I asked him for
what. He said, ‘To take over.’”
PETE LIVED IN LOWER Niles that year, an arrangement
that helped shape his philosophy of admissions. “We were a
boarding school, where teachers lived 24/7 with these kids,”
Pete says. “So I thought first and foremost, they had to be
nice kids, the sort of people faculty members would enjoy
being around.”
Phil laughs, and he repeats Pete’s trademark definition of
the sort of student he sought: “The kind of kid with whom
you can drive coast to coast in a VW Bug, without a radio,
and at the end of the trip you like each other more than when
you started.”
It helped as well that this definition so neatly gibed with
the one Don Hagerman had worked with in the days when the
headmaster was also the admission director. “There were so
many kids who came to visit but who thought they really
didn’t have a shot because of their grades or test scores,” Pete
says. “But if Don saw strength of character, a good personali-
ty, an inclination to work hard, he was willing to give them a
shot.”
So was Pete Woodward, and the result, in general,
through the Hagerman and then the Woodward/Barnum years,
have been students who, adds Pete, “sometimes are knuckle-
heads because they’re kids, but who in almost every case are
great company, fun to be around, and who have the potential
to really flourish, academically and otherwise, in this sort of
environment.”
Pete is grateful as well for the character and constancy of
the environment. Phil delineates the many elements that
Hagerman-era alumni would recognize: multiple-point-of-
contact faculty, the chapel, the dress code, the Job Program,
family-style dinner, facilities that are functional but “not
glitzy,” and more.
“Well, we never had to fiddle with the formula in order
to fill our beds,” Pete says. “Whenever I was among other
educators, and whenever the conversation got around to
Holderness, I’d hear, ‘Holderness created a niche for itself
years ago and has remained true to that.’ They’re right, and it
works both ways. We’ve been able to remain true because of
the steady quality of our applicant pool. That’s what’s enabled
Holderness to weather all the storms of hard times and
changes in educational fashion. We were able to stand by our
dress code, for example, during years when other schools
were tossing that overboard.”
In fact, the applicant pool was so strong and steady that
Pete was able to do more than just recruit for Holderness
School—he became, in fact, a good likeness of the disinterest-
ed educational consultant he had once impersonated.
“I’m thankful that you never encouraged families to
apply just to raise our applicant numbers,” Phil says. “With
you, it was always about finding the right match for a family
in terms of which school would be best. You were always
honest that way, and helpful in finding a good fit, and I think
that’s another reason why we were always full. People knew
they weren’t being manipulated.”
“Well, no kid needed to come here and have his legs
knocked out from under him,” Pete says. “There are some
kids for whom Holderness is just not the right place. But I felt
if I could help the families find the school that is the right
place—and I enjoyed doing that—then we could all feel good
about the process and move on. And because as a school we
were so healthy, and not worried about the numbers, I could
afford to do that.”
Pete says that really he enjoyed every aspect of the job
16 Holderness School Today
that he fell into more or less by chance—with one
notable exception. “That was the financial aid
piece,” he says. “That was one aspect that would
depress me every year, drive me close to migraines.
I’d see these absolutely wonderful kids come into the
office, and of course we’d accept them, but we only
had so much of that sort of money to go around, and
it ran out so fast.”
Accepted, but without any help in paying the
tuition, though they qualified for such: “Then I’d get
calls from distraught parents,” Pete continues. “I’d
take them through the process, step by step, and
explain how there’s a much fiercer level of competi-
tion when financial aid is involved, but of course
that can’t really satisfy them, because this is their
own flesh and blood we’re talking about. They know
how much their child has to offer, and they can’t
help thinking that we don’t. It used to just tear me
up.”
THAT STOPPED IN 2005, when Pete left the homey
suite of offices that occupies most of Livermore’s
ground floor. He handed the reins over to Tobi
Pfenninger, who served a year as the school’s interim
director, and then to Tyler Lewis. He says that by no
means had he stopped looking forward to work each
morning. “I wasn’t burned out,” he explains. “I still
loved it, but I just felt it was time for the school to
have a fresh set of eyes in that job.”
Nowadays Tyler looks for the same good road
trip companions, and Pete applauds the fact that
Tyler does so with a steadily increasing financial aid
budget. He also applauds Tyler’s commitment to ini-
tiatives that Pete began in using that money, includ-
ing scholarship funding for day students, internation-
al students, and middle class families, all of whom
are rarely funded at many other schools.
“But the Golden Era is over,” Pete says. “These
are hard times to work in admissions, even here.
You’ve got a lot more first-generation families com-
ing to campus, and a lot more of them need help in
handling the cost, especially in this sort of econo-
my.”
Phil laughs and remembers the years that he
worked for Pete, 1986-88, as a part-time associate in
the admission office.
“I’d never had so much fun,” Phil says. “Then I
remember one day we were walking over to Bartsch,
and I asked you if you thought I should go full-time
into admissions work.”
“And I told you no,” Pete says. “Because I
knew you loved the classroom so much.”
Phil notes that the years have played a trick on
them both. As Head of School, he has had to relin-
quish the classroom; similarly Pete has a whole dif-
ferent sort of job to do now in the Development
Office as the school’s Director of Leadership Giving.
“The day-to-day rewards of working with the kids
aren’t there so much,” Phil says. “But the long-term
rewards are there for the school. It’s what we have to
do. It’s a calling.”
Phil mentions the school’s current campaign,
with its $10 million goal for financial aid endow-
ment, and the great goal that lies beyond that, a
school that’s need-blind in its admission process, and
fully-funded for that.
Pete pauses over a bowl of corn chowder. He
remembers R.C. Whitehouse ’00, a local kid whose
family needed financial aid but couldn’t be provided
any. R.C. came anyway, and was elected vice-presi-
dent of the school, while his parents sold property,
mortgaged the house, worked extra jobs, and still
struggled. He remembers many candidates like R.C.
who never came, kids with whom Pete would have
loved to share seats in a Volkswagen.
“If it means that more kids like R.C. can be
accepted and funded,” Pete says, “then there will be
many long-terms rewards for this school.” �
“I’d explain how there’s a much fiercer level of competition when financial aid is
involved, but of course that can’t really satisfy them, because this is their own
flesh and blood we’re talking about. They know how much their child has to offer,
and they can’t help thinking that we don’t.”
Pete was honoredby Phil Peck for 25years of outstandingadmissions work in2005. Then hemoved into a newoffice in Livermore.
GRADE 9Miss Elizabeth Winslow AldridgeMr. Jacob Cramer BartonMiss Elena E. BirdMiss Nicole Marie DellaPasquaMr. Daniel DoMiss Jeong Yeon HanMr. Chandler John HoefleMr. Caleb Andrew NungesserMiss Victoria Sommerville-KelsoMiss Iashai StephensMiss Taylor Kathryn WattsMr. Charles Norwood Williams
GRADE 10Mr. Nathanial George AlexanderMr. Keith Michael BohlinMiss Ariana Ann BourqueMiss Josephine McAlpin BrownellMiss Benedicte Nora CrudgingtonMiss Abigail Kristen GuerraMiss Yejin HwangMr. Nathaniel Ward LamsonMiss Kristina Sophia MicalizziMiss So Hee ParkMr. Ryan Michael RosencranzMr. Jean-Philippe Tardif
GRADE 11Mr. Desmond James BennettMiss Madeline Margaret BurnhamMr. David McCauley CaputiMr. Jordan L CargillMr. Se Han ChoMiss Juliet Sargent DaltonMiss Amanda Claire EngelhardtMr. Nicholas James Hill FordMiss Pauline Zeina GermanosMiss Emily Maria HayesMiss Cassandra Laine HeckerMr. Carson Vincent HouleMiss Kristen Nicole JorgensonMiss Paige Alexis KozlowskiMr. Samuel Newton LeechMr. Samuel Cornell MacomberMr. Gabrielius MaldunasMr. James McNultyMr. Christopher Steven MerrillMiss Leah PetersMiss Elizabeth Ann PettittMr. Ethan Patrick PfenningerMr. Colin Thomas PhillipsMr. Derek De Freitas PimentelMiss Brooke Elizabeth RobertsonMr. Adam Jacob SapersMr. Lucas Paul SchafferMr. Nathaniel Owen ShentonMiss Emily Roberts StarerMr. Nicholas E. StoicoMiss Margaret Mooney ThibadeauMr. Niklaus Carl Friedrich Vitzthum
GRADE 12Miss Abigail Jane Alexander
GRADE 12Miss Abigail Jane AlexanderMiss Ashleigh May BoultonMr. Christopher William BradburyMiss Elizabeth Hope BrownMiss Hyun Jung ChungMiss Sarah R. ClarksonMr. Nicholas James CushingMr. Ivan DelicMr. Mark David Finnegan, Jr.Miss Andrea Kourajian FisherMr. Brian Mullin FriedmanMiss Mary Jo GermanosMr. Duong Tung Ha DuyenMr. William James HoeschlerMiss Erika Margaret JohnsonMr. John Scott McCoyMr. Wesley Mitchell-LewisMr. Scott W. NelsonMiss Georgina I. OgirriMr. Benjamin Christopher OsborneMiss Emily Hope PettengillMiss Mireille Cecile PichetteMiss Laura Olivia PohlMiss Gabrielle Jillian RaffioMr. Eric RochefortMr. Jack Kevin SabaMr. Kody Ross SpencerMiss Chelsea Ann StevensMiss Ji Eun SungMiss Sarah Ashby SussmanMiss Marion Trafford ThurstonMiss Aubrey Frances TylerMiss Caroline Patricia WalshMiss Kristen L. WaltersMr. Carter Travis WhiteMr. Chatarin Wong-U-Railertkun
High Honors:
First Quarter
GRADE 9Mr. Christian AndersonMr. Alexander James BermanMr. Christian Elliott BladonMr. Jeffrey Michael HauserMr. Aidan Cleaveland KendallMr. Alexander Min LehmannMiss Celine PichetteMiss Olivia Grace PoulinMr. Jesse Jeremiah RossMr. Peter Pesch SaundersMiss Lauren Louise StrideMr. Robert Patrick Sullivan
GRADE 10Miss Shelby Jeanne BenjaminGRADE 10Miss Shelby Jeanne BenjaminMr. Christopher Hepworth BunkerMiss Samantha Regina Cloud
GRADE 10Miss Shelby Jeanne BenjaminMr. Christopher Hepworth BunkerMiss Samantha Regina CloudMr. Peter Michael FerranteMiss Hannah Morgan HalstedMr. Preston KelseyMr. Andrew Phillip KimbellMr. Matthew Neville KinneyMiss Samantha Anne LeeMr. Brandon C. MarcusMr. William MarvinMiss Carly Elizabeth MeauMr. Bennett McKinley MelvilleMr. Oliver Julian NettereMr. James Ornstein RobbinsMr. Justin Demarr SimpkinsMiss Abagael Mae SlatteryMiss Erica Holahan SteinerMr. Brian Alden TierneyMr. Ruohao Xin
GRADE 11Ms Radvile AutukaiteMr. Thomas William BarbeauMiss Kiara Janea BooneMiss Cecily Noyes CushmanMr. Kevin Michael DachosMiss Samantha DevineMr. MacLaren Nash DudleyMiss Sarah E. FauverMiss Kathleen Nugent FinneganMr. Justin M. FrankMr. Alexander Ulysses GardinerMr. Nicholas William Maher GoodrichMr. Chandler S. GrishamMiss Elizabeth Ryan HaleMiss Paige Nicole HardtkeMiss Lauren Michelle HayesMr. Andrew V. HoweMr. Dewey W. KnappMr. Alex KunoMr. Charles Jacob LongMr. Colin Hugh Gaylord MacKenzieMiss Alexandra Marie MuzykaMr. Abe H. NoyesMiss Charlotte Plumer NoyesMr. Alexander Sprole ObregonMr. Zhachary Render PhamMiss Catherine Hope PowellMr. Isaac SimesMiss Haleigh Elizabeth WeinerMiss Sarah Xiao
GRADE 12Miss Karen Frances AbateMr. Michael Scott AndersonMr. Alvaro Calderon ApraizMiss Sydney Tovah AronsonMr. Philip Klein Brown IVMiss Julia E. CanelasMr. Garrett Andrew CanningMiss Julia Franckhauser CapronMr. Paul Jarvis ClarkMiss Lucy CopelandMr. Samuel Carter CopelandMr. Alex Anderson FrancisMiss Erica F. HamlinMiss Brette HarringtonMr. Sean Patrick HarrisonMr. Colin Edward HigginsMr. William Winsor Humphrey IIIMr. Kyle KenneyMiss Morgan Braid MarkleyMr. Kevin Sander MichelMr. Matthew NolanMiss Marissa Leigh PendergastMr. Jacob Andrew ScottMr. Emmanuel Sherrard SmithMiss Elise Holahan SteinerMr. Shiloh SummersMr. Jeffrey Robert Regan Wasson
Holderness School Today 17
Honors:
First Quarter
18 Holderness School Today
AP History
Around the Quad
AcademicsN
EW HAMPSHIRE’S Lakes
Region is one of the best
places in the world for the
study of flowing water ecosystems,
and the science department is on to
it. All upper-level environmental
science classes devoted study to
these systems this fall, and Dr.
Maggie Mumford’s biology class
went to Squam Lake in September
to do field work with Squam Lakes
Association research associate
Rebecca Harvey and invasive plant
specialist Brett Durham.
The biology
students got a taste
of environmental
science as they
investigated nutrient
levels, water quality
trends, and seasonal changes within
the Squam ecosystem. “That field
work is part of a directed effort
over recent years by the science
department at Holderness,” said
Maggie, “to incorporate place-
based education and environmental
literacy into our curriculum.”
The Lakes Region is a good
place for the study of forest ecolo-
gy as well, and in October
Maggie’s biology students were out
in the woods, learning the basics of
tree identification and investigating
the timing of foliage and leaf drop.
They also studied the formation of
forest soil, the factors determining
local diversity, and the interactions
that lead to forest succession.�
Environmental Science
HISTORY, FOR many of us, is not only useful
but fun. It’s one thing to be whisked away
to a different time and place in the pages of
a good novel. To be whisked away to a world sub-
stantiated by fact, however, and populated by fig-
ures who really lived, is another sort of experience,
one described by genuine history enthusiasts as a
“period rush.” No one experiences this rush more
thoroughly, perhaps, than those who physically
immerse themselves in history as re-enactors.
In October Chris Day brought a re-enactor
into his AP History class, and he didn’t have to go
far afield to find one. That re-enactor was our own
Jack Long ’11, who hails from Riverside, CT, and
who has acquired the uniform, the equipment,
and—not least—the expertise to serve as a First
Sergeant in the Revolutionary War’s First New
York Regiment.
Jack prepares for
and participates in sever-
al re-enactments each
year, most recently a re-
creation of the battle of
Saratoga. It’s a way to
not only live history, but
to teach it, and we can
recommend a good book
about the culture and
challenges of historical
re-enactment:
Confederates in the Attic
by Tony Horwitz. �
THE SCHOOL’S innovative Senior Honors
Thesis program is a spring phenome-
non, but preparation begins in the fall.
In October program director Steve Solberg
took a group he described as the “Senior
Honors Thesis 2009-10 Cohort” off campus
for some good food, good conversation, and
some serious talk about the challenges and
opportunities that await them next semester.
The program combines extensive aca-
demic research with independent experiential
learning into topics of strong student interest.
“Up until now,” Steve said that night, “we’ve
been telling you what you need to know.
Through this program, you get to tell us what
you want to know.”
That preliminary meeting has since been
followed by one-on-one meetings with
Steveand SHT advisor Emily Magnus ’88 as
students define their topics and prepare for
carrying out their research. �
SeniorHonorsThesis
According to Sgt. Long
Inside the Squam ecosystem
So tell
us what
you
want to
know.
Froshers Nicole DellaPasqua, Olivia Poulin,and Caleb Nungessertake the measure ofSquam Lake.
JackLong
Steve Solberg’sSenior HonorsThesis cohort
Holderness School Today 19
WIKI PAGES ARE simple informative
web pages modeled after those
that appear on Wikipedia.com
and that can be edited by classmates,
friends, and family. Among the school’s
academic goals this year is the implemen-
tation of Wiki pages into the curriculum,
and this fall Director of Communications
Steve Solberg visited a number of classes
in order to provide tips and models.
In Western Civilization, for example,
Steve helped froshers create a Wiki page
about a certain classical divinity, one pre-
viously unknown to scholars:
Fordamongus.
“In Holderness mythology,
Fordamongus is the king of the leaders, the
ruler of all things residential (and day), and
the god of the sky, thunder, and communi-
ty,” reads their Wiki page. “His followers
are those that dedicate their lives to the
concepts of initiative, fairness, dependabil-
ity, and—of course—leadership. In addi-
tion to his Indo-European inheritance, the
classical cloud-gatherer also derives cer-
tain iconographic traits from the cultures
of the ancient Near East, such as the ratty
old tie. Fordo (as he is affectionately
termed by his followers) is frequently
depicted by Holderness artists in one of
two poses: standing and striding forward,
with a thunderbolt leveled in his raised
right hand, or seated in majesty.” �
Western Civilization ORLANDO AND Rosalind, the
protagonists of William
Shakespeare’s As You Like It,
flee into the forest in order to accom-
plish a sort of self-realization.
Sounds like Out Back, sort of, and in
November a number of Holderness
students—Monique Devine’s theater
class and Peter Durnan’s AP
Language and Composition class—
made the journey to St. Anselm
College in Manchester in order to
see how that kind of Out Back was
done in the 17th century. They also
got a dose of Shakespeare’s extraor-
dinary language in its true spoken
version.
The language, in fact, was the
chief interest of the AP Comp class.
The theater class focused more on
such dramatic devices as the college
production’s raked stage. Both class-
es, though, came home with
increased admiration for the rich cul-
tural offerings of New Hampshire’s
college community. �
“IN FINANCIAL TERMS, THIS is a different sort of world from the
one your parents grew up in,” said Mark Daniell in an October
all-school assembly. “And if you don’t control your finances,
they’ll control you.”
Mark Daniell is chairman of the Cuscaden Group, an advisory and
investment business based in Singapore; vice-chairman of Aquarian
Investment Advisors, an asset-
management company also
based in Singapore; Director
Emeritus of Bain and Company,
one of the world’s leading strate-
gy consulting firms; and a fre-
quent guest on the BBC, CNBC,
CNN, ChannelNewsAsia, and
Bloomberg TV channels. He is
also the father of Christian
Daniell ’12, and the co-author—
with Karin Iris Sixl-Daniell— of Wealth Wisdom for Everyone: An
Easy-to-Use Guide to Personal Financial Planning and Wealth
Creation (World Scientific, 2006), copies of which he generously dis-
tributed free to the entire Holderness community.
A good portion of that community—all students and faculty, some
early-bird parents, and many interested staff members—were present to
hear Mr. Daniell recall that the the word “wealth” traces its real mean-
ing to concepts of welfare and well-being, and that “wisdom” implies a
mode of understanding that relies heavily on planning. “Hope is not a
strategy,” he warned. “The achievement of welfare and well-being will
require plenty of effort and planning.”
He displayed a graph that recorded the movement of the stock
market from 1950 to the present: a steady upward climb for the first
fifty years, but during this decade nothing but either stagnation or loss-
es. “No more guaranteed returns of nine percent,” he warned. “We’re
going to have to learn how to save.”
He advocates a 21st century wisdom that is actually many cen-
turies old, but which has a new and essential relevance: write down a
financial plan as soon as you can and stick to it; specify a regular sav-
ings target and stick to it; and be both conservative and diverse in your
investments. To that he added a recommendation to minimize our use of
credit cards.
The books that he donated to the community are a special edition
of Wealth Wisdom, copies that bear a photograph of the Holderness
campus on the front cover and an endorsement from Phil Peck on the
back. “I hope the book is helpful to you all in learning how to control
your finances,” Mr. Daniell said. “But there won’t be any exam on it.
Well, actually, there will—the exam will be the quality of life that you
subsequently sustain.” �
Life Skills A wealth of wisdom from a renowned fiscal expert.
Your best source on Fordamongus
Drama/AP Comp.
Out Back as
Shakespeare liked it.
Director ofResidential LifeDuane Ford ’74
Jenn Cameron ’10,Alex Kuno ’11, andLucy Copeland ’10at St. Anselm’s.
MarkDaniell
20 Holderness School Today
Around the Quad
The Arts
OVER THE years, the programs
mounted in performance by
bands and choruses under
the direction of music teacher Dave
Lockwood have been wonderfully
and reliably eclectic, ranging
through a rainbow of musical gen-
res and styles.
Currently Mr. Lockwood is on
sabbatical, but the tradition of a lit-
tle something for everyone contin-
ues under this year’s music teacher,
Matt LaRocca. The composers fea-
tured in a November School Night
performance by the band and cho-
rus ranged from Chopin to Jimi
Hendrix. The performances were all
different, and—at the same time—
uniformly excellent. �
Music
THESE DAYS TIGERWoods and other publicity-
shy public figures might find Neil Simon’s
play Rumors funnier than ever—or they might
not. The play describes what ensues when several
affluent and prominent couples arrive at a New York
suburban party, only to discover that the hostess is
missing and the host (the deputy mayor of New York
City) has shot himself through the earlobe. The
guests decide that, first and foremost, the evening’s
misadventures have to be kept out of the newspapers,
and then things really start going wrong.
But everything went right with theater director
Monique Devine’s production of the play in October.
Lead roles were played by Dillon Corkran ’10,
Kristen Walters ’10, Dylan Zimmermann ’10, Charlie
Poulin ’11, Brette Harrington ’10, Nick Cushing ’10,
Lucy Copeland ’10, Jeff Wasson ’10, Jeff Gordon-
Johnson ’10, Jack Hyslip ’10, and Will Hoeschler
’10. And rumor has it that they did a splendid job. �
Not the way we planned it,
and (shh) don’t tell anyone.Drama
All the
way
from
Chopin
to
Hendrix.
MattLaRocca
Will Hoeschler ’10 performs the lead vocal onthe combined band and chorus’s version of the“The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”
Above, seniorsKristen Walters andWill Hoeschler; left,Lucy Copeland ’10.
Holderness School Today 21
FAMED POTTER Hideaki Miyamura brought an astonish-
ing collection of ceramic work to the Edwards Art
Gallery in October—work that benefits from
Miyamura’s experiments in creating glazes that, as he says,
“have never been made before.”
Their inspiration, however, derives from some very old
glazes, specifically those Tenmoku glazes used on Chinese
tea bowls from the 12th and 13th century Sung Dynasty.
“These are very rare glazes, which no one has been able to
reproduce,” Miyamura explained. “This set me on my own
quest to experiment and create new iridescent glazes that
have a three-dimensional quality and speak to an inner feel-
ing of purity and peacefulness.”
The New Hampshire-based potter was born in Japan
but educated in the United States. After college he returned
to Japan to apprentice himself for five years to master potter
Shurei Miura of Yamanashi. There, after experiments with
over ten thousand test pieces and countless formulas,
Miyamura developed the stunning and unique glazes that
have since built him an international reputation.
He calls these glazes Yohen Tenmoku. “Yohen” literal-
ly means “stars glistening in a night sky,” and they come in
varieties that Miyamura’s Wikipedia entry describes as “a
compelling gold glaze, the ‘starry night’ glaze on a black
background, and a blue hare’s fur glaze.”
Beneath those glazes, Miyamura’s pieces are high-fire
porcelain clay in forms that suggest a classical grace and
simplicity. “I am very conscious of the ways in which form
interacts with the space around it,” he said. “I want my
pieces to feel in balance with their environment, to feel as
though they co-exist naturally with their surroundings.”
Miyamura’s work is collected by individuals, corpora-
tions, and museums all over the world. These museums
include, among others, the Art Institute of Chicago, the
Carnegie Museum, The Sackler Museum at Harvard, the
Minneapolis Museum of Art, the Israel Museum, and the
American Craft Museum, as well as the Pucker Gallery in
Boston. �
THE ART BORN of exile was on
display in the Edwards Art
Gallery last September. “I’m
building up layers of marks that
suggest impermeability, restriction,”
says Dana Velan of works that are
done on paper with oil sticks and
mixed media. “The flags [in one
piece] are red and they are collaged
on to the drawings. They carry the
numbers corresponding to my termi-
nated visas, and some of them have
my fingerprints. My specific experi-
ences with these termination draw-
ings have begun to transform into
other issues of rejection, expulsion,
exile, loss, and
identity.”
Born in
Bratislava,
Czechoslovakia,
Ms. Velan fled the
country during the
political turmoil of 1968. She ended
up in Canada, which is where she
began her training and career in art.
She started out as a printmaker,
but soon moved on to drawings,
one-of-a-kind books, and three-
dimensional mixed media pieces.
Her work has been exhibited
throughout Canada and the
Northeast, as well as at galleries in
New York, Chicago, Italy, and the
Czech Republic.
And she came herself to this
show’s opening on September 18th.
She showed slides and discussed her
work in all-school assembly that
Friday morning.
“My art work is shaped by
many influences that come directly
from my life experiences and back-
ground,” she said. “Folk tales, polit-
ical upheaval, family suicide, and
rebirth.” �
Loss and identity: Dana
Velan’s quest for home.
Edwards Art Gallery
Hideaki
Miyamura’s
supernatural
glazes
Salamarie Frazier ’12,Kiara Boone ’11, and GinaOgirri ’10 confront one ofDana Velan’s emotion-packed drawings.
Hideaki Miyamuraspeaks to students infront of his exhibit inEdwards. Art teacherKathryn Field looks on.
22 Holderness School Today
Service
HOMELESSNESS IS as much a rural as it
is an urban malaise, and that’s all the
more true in times of double-digit
unemployment. In 1989 the town of
Plymouth converted a two-bedroom home on
Green Street into a homeless shelter, and
with the help of the local Community Action
Program (CAP) and a number of local busi-
nesses, churches, and individuals, that mod-
est house was succeeded in 2005 by the
Bridge House, a spacious facility located on
the grounds of the Whole Village Family
Resource Center.
Holderness students have been regular
visitors to the Bridge House to help with
construction and repairs, deliver food, and
provide childcare. This year the Bridge
House came to Holderness, or at least sever-
al families did so in early December.
The visitors came to Weld Hall to join
faculty and students in “the making of the
greens,” which is a necessary prerequisite to
the Hanging of the Greens in the Chapel
each year. Children from the Bridge House
worked side by side with
Holderness students to
decorate cookies and
make Christmas cards
and ornaments. In the
meantime their parents
created wreaths.
“It was a time for
family, friends, candy, hot
chocolate, and snow,”
said Head of School Phil
Peck. “And it was a great
way to kick off the holi-
day season.” �
Bridge House
THESE ARE TOUGH TIMES ALL over for social programs, which
have suffered a series of cuts in the downturn, and one such
program is Meals for
Many, a community organization
that helps local folks who are
down on their luck to get regular
and nutritious meals.
At Holderness, students may
fulfill their community service
requirement by helping out with
the Meals for Many program for
one semester, and last
November—as Thanksgiving
approached—the Plymouth
branch of the program received
some extra help. Faculty mem-
bers and students donated several boxes of food items to the
Community Closet pantry, and over $150 to the cause. Then
Meals for Many students accompanied Janice Pedrin-Nielson
(the faculty coordinator for service programs at Holderness) to
the supermarket, where they bought peanut butter, rice, and
tuna fish to supplement the food distributed to local families.
The experience left these students a little more under-
standing of others and their needs, and helped a number of
local families meet the challenges of the current economic cli-
mate. �.
Meals for Many
IT’S BECOME an annual
event, and a chance for
good high school ath-
letes to test their skills in
coaching and youth leader-
ship. Once again the varsi-
ty field hockey and soccer
teams invited younger
boys and girls from
Plymouth and Holderness
to join them on the prac-
tice field for an afternoon
in October.
Holderness players
matched up with aspiring
youngsters and went
through a comprehensive
set of drills and skill-build-
ing games. Over two after-
noons, more than sixty
local kids came to the
Holderness fields. Later
that month the boys varsity
soccer team also collabo-
rated with Plymouth State
University’s men’s team in
a skills clinic for younger
players. �
Sport Clinics
Around the Quad
Quinn Houseman, the son of sciencedepartment chair Randy Houseman, gotin on the action.
Mee Wong U-Railkertun ’10,Ruhao Xin ’12,Duong Ha Duyen’10, and ThaiDao ’12 wereamong thosewho went shop-ping for othersbeforeThanksgiving.
MarissaPendergast ’10was one of the
students makingdecorations withfamilies from the
Bridge House.
Extra help in the making
of the Xmas greens.
Holderness
athletes
coach up
young
soccer and
field
hockey
players.
Faculty and students help stock the pantry
of Plymouth’s Meals for Many program.
Holderness School Today 23
Community
ONE OF THE GREAT advantages of an inde-
pendent school, and particularly an inde-
pendent boarding school, is the diversity
of its student body. Students of different races,
ethnicities, and cultures learn of necessity how to
live, learn, and work together.
Which is not to say that it’s easy, or that any
school—including Holderness—couldn’t do better
in meshing its various populations. In fact build-
ing a stronger, more encompassing sense of com-
munity is one of the prime objectives of the
school’s current strategic plan, and to help with
that Ms. Randy Ross visited the campus after
Thanksgiving to spend a day with the faculty.
Randy is an equity specialist at Brown
University’s New England Equity Assistance
Center, and her talk that day focused on “cultural
competence”—a concept that gathers up not only
a clear grasp of the differences between race, eth-
nicity, and culture, but also the process by which
an adolescent shapes his or her identity in the con-
text of those realities and also a boarding school
environment.
“It was a provocative conversation, touching
all that we do, from our academic curriculum to
our athletic fields, our dorm rooms to our own
identified ‘cultural norms,’” said Phil Peck. “Our
hope is that this and similar programs will help us
to provide a safe and thoughtful environment for
all members of our community, regardless of their
backgrounds and experiences.” �
Diversity
THINGS ARE also hap-
pening at the student
level as the school
lays particular emphasis on
strengthening its shared
sense of community. Much
of it is thanks to TODAY—
Together in Our Diversity
And Youth—which is a
more-fun sort of name for
the Cultural Alliance Club.
In November, TODAY
sponsored their first movie,
dessert, and discussion event
in the Hagerman Auditorium.
The optional event was open
to all students and faculty
and was centered around a
showing of Outsourced, a
2007 film about a Seattle call
center manager who is fired
and then dispatched to India
to train his own replacement.
That film is a comedy,
but it’s smart enough to earn
a New York Times Critic’s
Pick honor and to raise chal-
lenging questions about cul-
ture, identity, class, and the
global economy. A number of
those questions were voiced,
and thoughtfully explored, in
the discussion that followed
the film. �
Brown University’s Randy Ross maps out
the learning curve of cultural competence
at boarding schools.
TODAY at the movies with Outsourced.
EquityspecialistRandyRoss
A gatheringof TODAY
24 Holderness School Today
LAST SEPTEMBER the school
enjoyed a visit from Edric
A. Weld, Jr., the son of
the school’s sixth headmaster,
The Rev. Edric Weld. The
younger Edric arrived
with his daughter Leisa.
He spent the morning
touring the place where
he and his siblings—
Chris, Kent, and Mary
Anne—grew up, and
where he and Chris went to
school during a time when the
head’s residence was located
where the Ford family now lives
in Livermore Hall.
Then Edric met with
archivist Judith Solberg and
offered up a number of stories
about life at Holderness in the
’30s and ’40s, with several of
them shedding new light on
Holderness history. �
BUILDING A community, of course,
involves more than just meeting the
challenges and opportunities of
diversity. There are also the challenges—
and opportunities—of technology.
Ellyn Weisel ’86, who is also a mem-
ber of the school’s Board of Trustees, has
helped build a thriving initiative that
addresses just that issue. She is the Director
of Outreach and Philanthropy for Common
Sense Media, a non-profit organization that
provides information to parents and schools
about any and all media of interest to young
people.
In an October all-school assembly, Ms.
Weisel spoke of the gap between “digital
natives” (today’s students, in other words,
who have never known a world without
computers, cell phones, and the internet)
and “digital immigrants” (the parents and
teachers who often struggle to understand
these new media). She provided a pop quiz
that effectively demonstrated the breadth of
that gap, and then offered some eloquent
thoughts about why learning to use technol-
ogy responsibly is as crucial as learning
how to use it effectively.
She was followed on stage by School
Counselor Carol Dopp and Director of
Communications Steve Solberg. Their por-
tion of the assembly was titled “Five Things
You Should Know Before Hitting Send,”
and focused on the various consequences—
emotional, social, and legal—of misusing
such tools and media as email, cell phones,
and texting. “A simple mistake can have
long-ranging effects,” said Mr. Solberg,
“sometimes dramatically out of proportion
to the actions taken.”
The rich opportunities of these
devices, however, also extend into the artis-
tic realm. Text messages have a limit of 160
characters, and a new form of poetry is
starting to bubble up from the shorthand
routinely used by texters. That week the
school mounted the 160 Poetry Contest for
the best poem that could fit into a text mes-
sage.
Finally there were two winners:
Christian Daniell ’12 and Julia Capron ’10,
who had their poems presented in that
assembly, and who each received $20 gift
certificates to Biederman’s Deli in
Plymouth. You can read Christian’s poem
above.�
Technology
Al th slpls nits
Spnt pndrin th **
Like <3 in spring
You blve itll last 4ever
But soon ths <3 freezes over
Your lft 2 ponder the **
like dstant city lights
- Christian Daniell
Around the Quad
Community
Prize textpoets JuliaCapron ’10 andChristianDaniell ’12.
Holdernesshistory
Edric Weld ’42 takes another
walk across the Quad.
Edric Weld ’42, withhis daughter Leisa,right, came back tohis roots and enrichedour sense of history.
RU a digital native or a
digital immigrant? And
can U write a poem in
160 characters or less?Ellyn PaineWeisel ’86
Holderness School Today 25
ONE MORE STEP was taken this fall in a long-run-
ning tradition of excellence, one unmatched in
New England Prep School Athletic Conference
play: the Holderness field hockey team qualified for
its 18th consecutive post-season tournament.
“This year’s squad doesn’t have a star, per
se, but has many talented players who have learned
to trust each other on and off the field,” said coach
Doonie Brewer in an article that appeared in the
Lakes Region’s Citizen newspaper (“Holderness
field hockey advances in 18th straight tourney,”
11/20/09). “Team dynamics have played a major role
in our success. As always, the fan support, both
home and away, has been a terrific source of motiva-
tion for the girls as well.”
Third-seeded Holderness endured an open-
ing round nail-biter against the Dana Hall School in
a game not decided until the end of the second over-
time period on a goal by Charlotte O’Leary ’11.
Then the Bulls dominated second-seeded Millbrook ,
3-0, before falling in the finals to top-seeded
Kimball Union Academy, 2-0.
It was the Bulls’ ninth appearance in the
NEPSAC finals since 1992. During that time
Holderness has won the title four times. �
Field Hockey
AT THE AGE of 32, after
having grown up in a
middle-class white family,
writer/actor Michel Fosberg dis-
covered he was black. “Imagine
discovering you are not the per-
son you thought you were,”
Fosberg writes, “that you have a
family, a history, an ethnicity you
never knew. How would this dis-
covery impact your life, the lives
of those around you; your vision
of yourself and society?”
Those questions receive very
personal sorts of answers in
Incognito, the solo performance
piece that Mr. Fosberg has per-
formed in theaters, high schools,
colleges, and performing arts cen-
ters throughout the country—a
production chosen by the Chicago
Tribune as “one of the top theatri-
cal events of the 2001 season.”
In September Incognito came
to Holderness, where it served
both as an engrossing work of art
and an important point of dia-
logue in the school’s diverse com-
munity.
“We’ve reached a place now
where we as a country have
become polarized,” Mr. Fosberg
said during the school-wide dis-
cussion that followed his perform-
ance. “Light-skinned people fear
talking about race. Or at least
they’re too careful, trying to avoid
saying something that could be
considered offensive, and thus
avoiding any possibility of a truly
open dialogue. There are many
dark-skinned people, on the other
hand, who are waiting to pounce
on any language that they consid-
er racist. We need to give one
another permission and space to
have a real dialogue about race.
Until we do, we can’t and won’t
make any progress on this impor-
tant issue.” �
Dialogue
Michael Fosberg, who discovered one
day that he was black, performs his play
Incognito for the school community.
Eighteen post-season appearances
in a row for this proud program,
and nearly another crown. Sports One second after the
game-winning goalagainst Dana Hall.
Michael Fosberg with aphoto of his natural parents.
26 Holderness School Today
ABREATH OF MOUNTAIN air—a big
breath—came to the 2009 fall athletic
assembly, where the guest speaker was
Chris Davenport—the 1996 world extreme-ski-
ing champion, and more lately the author of Ski
the 14ers, a record in text and stunning photog-
raphy of an extraordinary feat in extreme ski-
ing: Chris’s alpine descents, in a single calen-
dar year, of all 54 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot
peaks.
“Chris Davenport’s skill and audacity on
skis is matched by his firm respect for moun-
taineering history and steadfast devotion to the
ideals of boldness, tenacity, and commitment,”
commented fellow alpinist Michael Kennedy in
the feat’s aftermath. “In skiing all of Colorado’s
Fourteeners in a single year he’s pointed the
way to an adventurous future—and by sharing
his and his companions’ experiences in this
book, Chris has not only done justice to the
efforts of his forebears but inspired generations
to come.”
Chris’s appearance on campus did much to
inspire this generation. “I didn’t always appre-
ciate Holderness when I was sitting in your
seats,” he said to the students. “Today, howev-
er, I realize that I was so fortunate to have this
experience, and it has empowered me, and will
empower you, to do anything you want, if you
apply what you learned.” �
Extreme Skiing
WHILE JULIA FORD ’08 continues to post
great results as a member of the US
Ski Team’s development squad, her
younger sister Lily ’12 has also caught the
attention of that organization. So has Sam
Macomber ’11. Both were among the sixty or so
junior alpine racers from across the nation invit-
ed to the National Development System’s camp
in Beaver Creek, Colorado, in December.
“These skiers earned invites after strong
performances in their age-group championships
last season,” said alpine coach Craig Antonides
’77. “This is a great early season training oppor-
tunity and a chance to train at one of the finest
speed venues in America.” �
Alpine Skiing
IN SEVERAL respects, the 14th annual
Tabor Day went better than expect-
ed from a Holderness perspective.
The driving rain forecast that day for
southern Massachusetts went inland
instead, and all of the games were
close, with most decided by a single
goal.
The bad news was that those close
scores went almost entirely Tabor’s
way. Tabor Head of School (and former
Holderness English teacher) Jay Stroud
proudly hoisted the Tabor Day trophy
after his school came out ahead 7-1 in
the game tally. But it was really a lot
closer than that.
Nonetheless it was a very good
day. “The folks at Tabor were great
hosts,” said Phil Peck, “providing deli-
cious food, wonderful facilities, and a
high level of competition.” �
Tabor Day
Around the Quad
Sports The 14th annual
Tabor Day series
won by the host
school— Tabor.
Phil Peck andJay Stroud.
Chris Davenport ’89
at the fall athletic
assembly: “This
experience has
empowered me.”
The speakerand skierwith, from theleft, seniorsErica Hamlin,MorganMarkley,Aubrey Tyler,and AndreaFisher.
Two racers invited to US Development
Team’s December skills camp.
SamMacomber ’11and Lily Ford ’12.
Holderness School Today 27
Sports
Fall 2009: TheSeason in Review
Cross-Country RunningThe varsity cross-country team ran its way to another fun
and successful season! It was a big team again this year—
some 25 strong—and was led by a large corps of seniors.
Despite illness during the Lakes Region championship meet,
the girls managed to win the league title again this year, with
help from seniors Andrea Fisher, Ji Eun Sung and Sarah
Clarkson. The boys, led by senior captain Scott Nelson and
bolstered by first-year senior Kody Spencer and junior Sam
Macomber, also overcame illness and injury to earn a third-
place finish in the Lakes Region.
In addition to great success during competition, we
always managed to have a good time. Whether it was long
distance training on Mondays, speed and hill workouts on
Fridays, or dinner at Coach Magnus’ beautiful home, we
found each other great company. We will miss all of our grad-
uating seniors, but we anticipate another successful season
next year behind a bumper crop of young talent.
By Mike Carrigan
Field HockeyDespite having nine returning letter-winners, this year’s varsi-
ty field hockey squad felt “new.” Carrying a relatively large
roster of twenty, the team also included seven players making
the jump from JV, two joining the program from another
sport, one new student, and one one-year international player.
However, the feeling was “new” also because of the leader-
ship of captains M.J. Germanos, Erika Johnson, and Gabbie
Raffio. They responded to a challenge and assembled an
incredibly cohesive group of young ladies.
That solidarity propelled these players to achieve more
than they dreamed they could. With a record of 10-4, we were
invited to the NEPSAC tournament. This was when the team
peaked, defeating Dana Hall on our home turf in double over-
time and coming away with a decisive victory against
Millbrook in the semifinal game. Although we “got the sil-
ver,” we were all thrilled to have made our way to the New
England championship game.
By Doonie Brewer
The JV field hockey team had an amazing season! Captains
Margaret Thibadeau and Betsey Pettitt led the team to a 6-3-4
record. Although the season
brought cold weather and biting
rain, the Lady Bulls weren’t
deterred! As the year progressed,
each practice and game brought
the team together both physically
and mentally.
New athletes such as Kendra
Morse helped establish a success-
ful season as a first-time goalie.
Returning defender Emery Durnan
and new players Iashai Stephans
and Salamarie Frazier helped to
make Holderness’ defense a daunt-
ing force. Forwards and mids such
as Eliza Cowie, Bee Crudgington,
Sarah Fauver, Xajaah Williams-
Flores, Sarah Stride, and Kiara
Boone worked continuously to
score goals. Not many teams can
2009 cross-country cap-tain ScottNelson ’10
GOAL!! for CharlotteO’Leary ’11 (5) at the endof double-overtime againstDana Hall in the NEPSACsemi-finals. She’s about to
get hugs from ErikaJohnson ’10 (25), ChuckieCarbone ’11 (1), and Juliet
Dalton ’11 (8).
28 Holderness School Today
Sports
say that every member of the team contributed to the
whole’s triumphs and tribulations, especially with twenty-
five athletes, yet this team can. Coaches Magalhães and
Smarse along with coaches Dopp, Dahl, and Lewis are
proud of them all!
By Katie Smarse ’04
FootballThe 2009 varsity football team ended the season 5-3. Once
again the Evergreen League proved to be the premier foot-
ball league in New England. For the second straight year,
three league teams made it to New England Bowl games.
The offense put up some impressive numbers this
year. The Bulls averaged 225 yards rushing and 190 yards
passing per game. The Bulls outscored their opponents
176-127. The offense was led by junior QB Mac Caputi
and senior RB Sean Harrison. Caputi’s key targets were
sophomore Tyquan Ekejiuba, juniors Jamie McNulty and
Carson Houle, and senior Nate McBeath. The defense was
anchored by seniors Nate Gonya, Sean Harrison, and Kyle
Kenney. Highlights of the season were beating higher -
ranked Tilton School 30-21, and just missing upsetting
KUA, 19-12. The Bulls earned a lot of respect in New
England this season and are looking forward to the 2010
campaign.
By Rick Eccleston ’92
Holderness JV football had an excellent year of fun and
competitive growth. For some reason the team did not
begin playing until they spotted the opponent two touch-
downs. This idiosyncrasy allowed for two very exciting
comeback victories, one on Parents’ Weekend versus the
Seacoast Titans, 22-12 and the other a hard fought revenge
match with Tilton, 32-22.
Coach’s Award-winner Brendan Madden represents
the hard work ethic and positive spirit of the team. James
Fredrickson won the Most Improved award, and he repre-
sents the fun-loving attitude of the team.
By Duane Ford ’74
Mountain BikingThis fall cross-country riding made up the majority of the
outings for the mountain-bike team, but the athletes
insisted on seeking out the
most technical of trails—
those with natural drops or
built features. The highlight
of the season was our trip to
Vermont’s Kingdom Trails,
where we joined up with a
professional mountain biker
for instruction in dirt jump-
ing and indoor park riding.
In their sole race, the
team secured a second place
result out of nine teams
competing. In the A
Division, Jordan Cargill
(next year’s captain) made
his mark, coming in second,
and captain Brian Friedman
placed sixth in a field of thirteen riders. In the B Division,
Alex Obregon came in fourth place out of sixteen riders. In
the C Division, Most Improved biker Dewey Knapp topped
the field of 35 racers, followed closely by Oliver Nettere.
Nick Goodrich and Coach’s Award recipient Peter Ferrante
added to the team score with their eleventh and twelfth-
place finishes, respectively.
By Tiaan van der Linde ’89
SoccerThe boys varsity soccer team finished with a 6-7-2 record.
This was disappointing, as we may have made the playoffs
with one or two more wins, and we certainly had those
chances. With the exception of the Bridgton loss, we
matched up well against our opponents in a reasonably
tough schedule. In many games we controlled possession
but struggled to finish on scoring opportunities. An early
season 1-1 tie with Andover was a good example of the
team playing up to its potential.
Finding consistency was a challenge that will be a
goal for the underclassmen who return to the squad next
year. Post-season recognition included Christian Allen, sen-
ior GK, getting the Most Improved Award for four years of
progress in the program. The Coach’s Award went to Thany
Alexander for his steady effort and play. The Weston Lea
Spirit Award goes to senior Dylan Zimmermann. Senior co-
captain Francis Ahia represented the Bulls at the All–Star
game.
By Craig Antonides ’77
The boys JV1 soccer team had a great season this year,
finishing with a respectable 8-5-2 record. We started off the
season hot, going on a five-game unbeaten streak, includ-
Quarterback MacCaputi ’11 passedfor 190 yards pergame for the Bulls.
Nick Goodrich ’11 out on oneof the team’s several cross-country rides.
Holderness School Today 29
ing a 3-2 win against Exeter. There were many exciting
games, such as the first match-up against KUA, where despite
the 3-2 loss, the boys played excellently for 80 minutes. In
our second match-up against KUA, we tied 2-2, showing
improvement over the season. One team we beat 4-2 in the
beginning of the season, and then we shut them out at the end
of the season.
While early on we were hunting for an undefeated sea-
son, the boys showed strength in overcoming much adversity
with all the sickness and injuries that kept key players out of
the line-up. My hope and expectation is that a number of
these boys train hard in the off-season and make it onto varsi-
ty next year.
By Mike Peller
The 2009 boys JV2 soccer team put smiles on faces all sea-
son long and, whether playing at home or away, these boys
worked hard to improve and learn, and they all grew through-
out the season. They had many memorable games against the
usual foes. It was their weekly scrimmages against the girls
JV teams or their own big brothers (the JV1 boys) that
brought out their best, however. Scheduled as a way to shake
up the monotony of the weekly practice schedule, these con-
tests typically elevated the play of all combatants and proved
to be the stone upon which the Deuce sharpened their skills,
and they were a better team for the experience.
In all, the team won as many as they lost. It will be the
shared laughter and camaraderie, more than the record, that
the boys will likely remember about their season with the
Deuce.
By Chris Day
The girls varsity soccer team had a tough season plagued
with sickness and injury. For the last three weeks of the sea-
son there was not a day when the entire squad was healthy.
Nonetheless, the team rallied and put forth incredible efforts
in all the matches they played.
The team was led by two amazing captains, Ashleigh
Boulton and Abby Alexander, and their leadership this season
set an amazing tone for all members of the team. Two other
seniors were also great role models for the younger players:
Jenn Cameron and Ashby Sussman. All four seniors will be
greatly missed next year. There is a large group of underclass-
men who have lots of soccer left in them and they are setting
the stage for serious success in the future.
By Margot Moses
Although the 2009 girls JV1 soccer season could be charac-
terized by waves of illness and injury, it was one of our most
successful seasons with a record of 10-2-1. Our team cap-
tains—Julia Canelas, Kristen Walters, and Caroline Walsh—
kept the motivation and enthusiasm for soccer alive until the
final minute of the final game.
Radvile Autukaite won the team’s Most Improved
award. New to the game of soccer, Radvile stepped in as our
goalkeeper, showing her athleticism by only allowing eight
goals against her all season. Caroline Walsh won the Coach’s
Award due to her leadership on and off the field, and her will-
ingness to help at all times. We would like to thank all of the
JV2 girls that stepped in to help us field a team when our
numbers were low. Although we will be losing five seniors,
we foresee a very promising JV1 squad emerging next fall!
By Jean Henchey
This fall was a great time for the girls JV2 soccer team,
which had a fantastic year and finished with a record of 7-2-
2. Despite the onset of illness and injuries, the team had an
impressive season marked by consistent improvement in
every player. Captain Yejin
Hwang led a solid defense
that included Hannah
Weiner, Haleigh Weiner, and
Lauren Stride. Behind them
in the net, keeper Jazzy
Young let in only ten goals
all season. Our other cap-
tain, Pippa Blau, led an
impressive offense, fronted
by strikers Lizzie Legere
and Katie Leake.
The girls capped off a
great season with a thrilling
victory against Tabor
Academy during Tabor Day,
in which they played their
best soccer of the year. They
won by a score of 8-0,
which included goals by six
different players. I thank all
of the girls for their hard
work and enthusiasm, which
made for a great season.
By Matt LaRocca �
Co-captain AbbyAlexander ’10rallied her teamthrough an injury-plagued season.
Coach’s Award winner Thany Alexander ’12 brought consistency and effort to every practice and game.
30 Holderness School Today
Update: Faculty & Staff
WHAT A GREAT LIFE I have lived," she frequently told friends
and family. Karen Pettitt was the mother of three wonderful
children—Adam Leslie Pettitt, Tyson Rudolph Perz Pettitt,
and Betsey Ann Pettitt.
Her family was her life. She had them involved in church and
sports programs like hockey, soccer, lacrosse, nordic skiing, field
hockey, cycling, crew, and golf. Karen seldom missed an opportunity
to be at a contest to cheer on their teams.
One of her favorite events each year was The Prouty day in
Hanover, NH, a walk/run or ride by individuals and teams like the
Holderness Bull Riders—which she captained in recent years—to
raise money for cancer research at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical
Center. It was "her special day" because it meant that cures for cancer
like hers might be found sooner.
Her diagnosis with ovarian cancer in 2002 began the seven-year
fight she waged to beat the disease. That battle was conducted with
clear resolve and a cheery outlook. She died on Saturday, August 15,
the seventeenth anniversary of her marriage to husband, Reggie. �
ST. PAUL WROTE IN his letter to the Philippians:
“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the
heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” Karen
Pettitt’s prize is to live in the presence of a
loving God and the thoughts I offer now might
be described as a symbolic verbal wreath—the ancient
prize of ancient competitors to symbolize, in green, the
glory that never
fades.
“I press on,”
Paul wrote, “for-
getting what lies
behind.”
Karen, without
a doubt, pressed
on. Both she and
Reggie had lost a
former spouse
when they met.
Their love for
each other
embraced
Reggie’s son
Adam, Karen’s
son Tyson, and brought forth Betsy, our school classmate.
Karen’s cancer arrived in the midst of the school years—
of Reggie as our colleague, and of Adam, Tyson, and
now, Betsey, as Holderness School kids.
To Karen’s eternal credit, she lived with cancer, she
never succumbed to it. She pressed on with care. As a
daughter and as a son, she and Reggie cared for ailing
fathers a number of years back—one with cancer, the
other dealing with by-pass surgery. And she managed to
care for home and family through and beyond the illness-
es of her own.
Karen had a no-nonsense approach to her life. She
A Wreath for Karen
In Memoriam: Karen Pettitt, 1956-2009
Her family was her life: “Whata great life I have lived.”
Karen Pettitt, wife of scienceteacher Reggie Pettitt andformer staffer in the schoolstore, lost a long and valiantbattle with cancer last August.The memory of her courage,grace, and warmth will linger.
Chaplain Rich Weymouth ’70offered this eulogy for Karen ather memorial service this summer.
Both she and Reggie had lost a former
spouse when they met. Their love for
each other embraced Reggie’s son
Adam, Karen’s son Tyson, and brought
forth Betsey, our school classmate.
Karen, left, appeared atthe Prouty Run lastsummer with teachersFrank and Susie Cironeand their children. Karen with
her daughterBetsey in
1993.
Holderness School Today 31
PHOTOGRAPHY/CERAMICS teacher Franz Nicolay
and his spouse Henrieke Strecker were among
the artists featured this fall in an exhibit at the
St. Paul’s School’s Hargate Center Gallery.
The exhibit was called “Larger Than Life:
Manifestations of Portraiture and the Human
Figure,” and Franz contributed four pieces from his
“Encoded Truths” portrait series.
“In this work I create a studio environment in
which the sitter has the opportunity to speak with
someone in absentia, on still film, over a long timed
exposure,” Franz says about his portraits. “I invite
them to say something to that person that they have
previously been unable to express. I compose the
frame, hand them the cable release, and leave the
room—leaving them free to make their statement.
Sometimes we make a series of images, sometimes
we make just one.”
The resulting portraits, Franz adds, “are silent
tributes to this threshold experience of expression, a
pivot point of change. They carry the encoded voic-
ing of that razor-edge moment between the private
thought and its manifest expression to another.”
Henrieke contributed a multimedia piece,
“Pinhole Portrait of War,” that combined pinhole
photography and audio. �
carried on! She could laugh. She possessed and shared a radiant
smile, and her loyalty to family and friends was rock solid—as was
theirs to her. She was an avid sports fan, be it of field hockey,
cycling, nordic skiing, or lacrosse. Where the games and races
went, so did she. Even recently, while battling illness, she would
marshal her waning energies to watch Adam, down at the Ledbetter
Golf Academy in Florida, as he wended his way around the course
in pursuit of his PGA card. She went to Philadelphia to support
Tyson compete on the Schuykill against elite oarsmen. And she
attended races here at school as Betsy competed for the Bulls.
Karen loved the White Mountains and Squam Lake. Summers
were treasured on Shepherd Hill and Grapevine Cove. Just weeks
before she died, one of her prize moments, even amidst great
weakness, was to float, in the cove, on the lake, surrounded by
family. She cherished that time and lived it—spirit full and grate-
ful, ever appreciative of the gift of life.
She offered quality work in our bookstore and, in her time
working with Gail Stevens, she helped it to become a school store
and not just a place for books. Karen devoted herself to work,
places, and persons alike. She battled to maintain happy holidays at
home. She gave great support to Reggie on his sabbatical two
years ago, but remained in Ashland to facilitate Betsy’s start at
Holderness. She wanted Reggie to learn and appreciate all that he
could, to stay excited—and for Betsy to succeed. She more than
accomplished both!
Finally, Karen had guts. She was an avid supporter of cancer
research and made it to the Prouty Ride amidst illness and weak-
ness this past spring. Supported by able “pushers,” she was
wheeled through the 5 K and she loved it! Even at her end,
Karen’s care and tenacity were strong. She did not want her final
moments to be in the hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock, nor did she
want to be at home. She wanted to get to Concord and finish there
in hospice care. And she did! She was surrounded by family. She
never gave up and was always thankful for life and for her loved
ones.
We give thanks for Karen as daughter, wife, mother, friend,
colleague and caregiver. She pressed on and her wreath is well
won! Amen. �
That Razor-Edge MomentFranz Nicolay’s contributions toan exhibit of portraiture at St.Paul’s Hargate Gallery were infact shot by his subjects. But hedid the rest of the work.
These four piecesfrom Franz Nicolay’s“Encoded Truths”portrait series were ondisplay at St. Paul’s.
32 Holderness School Today
DO YOU REMEMBER how peculiar the
ads were in LIFE Magazine’s early
issues? Did you miss Robert Frost’s
final two readings at Middlebury College in
the 1960s? Are you curious about what’s
really going on with the animals in your
backyard? And how does someone else cope
with an older sibling, anyway?
There’s at least one good story in the
answer to each of those questions, and
famed storyteller Jim Brewer knows how to
tell it. He’ll be making his 18th—and
final—appearance at the Corner House Inn’s
Storytelling Dinner Program in Center
Sandwich on Thursday, December 3rd.
Jim began his storytelling career at the
Pasquaney Inn on Newfound Lake in 1985.
At that time he was still in the midst of his
first career as a legendary English teacher at
Holderness School and Phillips Exeter
Academy. After he retired from teaching, he
became increasingly well-known as a story-
teller, performing at area schools and camp-
grounds, heading up the US Forest Service’s
“Woods in Winter” storytelling program,
and leading a storytelling group for
Dartmouth’s Institute for Life-Long
Education.
“As a backyard naturalist, Jim is as
knowledgeable and insightful as any field
biologist,” says Sandwich author Rick
Carey, who has heard a lot of Jim’s stories.
“He’s equally good as an observer of human
nature, and he puts it all together into won-
derful around-the-campfire narratives that
make you laugh as much as they pull at
your heart.”
At the Corner House Jim will tell sto-
ries that will range between his popular
“critter tales,” his life growing up with an
older sister, and storytelling itself as it was
practiced in LIFE’s advertising pages and
by the great Robert Frost at the end of his
life.
“The Corner House is a place that’s
popular with all sorts of storytellers,” Jim
says. “You’re guaranteed great audiences.”
�
Reprinted by permission from the Meredith
News, November 25, 2009
IWRITE TO REPORT with sadness the
death of André Gauthier, a
Fulbright Exchange teacher of
French at Holderness in 1959-
1960. M.. Gauthier, his wife
Claudine, and their children
Laurence and Sebastian, traded
places with the Fiore family for that
school year.
I reconnected with the Gauthiers
about ten years ago, and have visited
them three times since. Always the
teachers, André and Claudine would
help me plan my day each morning
over croissants and bowls of café au
lait. Each day I would be debriefed
in the evening over a five-course din-
ner (prepared by Claudine) and mul-
tiple bottles of wine from André’s
cellar. This would provide them
ample opportunity to continue my
education in French history and poli-
tics (both contemporary and colo-
nial), French, British and American
literature, and the French and English
languages.
André’s favorite cheese, by the
way, was Caprice des Dieux, which
he called Caprice des Vieux. And lit-
erature in English no longer interest-
ed him; he was now on to German.
Claudine says that she will continue
to live in the house that she and
André had built in a hillside orchard
overlooking the then quiet village of
Rosny-sous-Bois a few kilometers
east of Paris just before they came to
Holderness. �
By Fred Fauver ’62
Update: Former Faculty & Staff
Former English teacher Jim Brewer always told a good story, andhe continues to do so on a professional basis. He appeared at theCorner House Inn in Center Sandwich, NH, last December. Belowis a story on the event from the Meredith News.
Guaranteed
great stories
In Memoriam: André Gauthier
Claudine and André Gauthier, center, at theirhome in France. On the left is Fred Fauver ’62,and on the right is Fred’s daughter Alyson.
Always the teacher
André Gauthieras he apeared inthe 1960 Dial.
“As a backyard
naturalist, Jim is as
knowledgeable and
insightful as any
field biologist.”
Holderness School Today 33
Alumni Relations
BEGINNING WITH their class-organized
golf “tourney,” right on through to
their Celebration Dinner, the Class
of 1959 enjoyed their 50th Reunion with
gusto. The Reunion Committee of Dick
Floyd ’59, Jerry Ashworth ’59, Chris Palmer
’59, and Steve Barndollar ’59 pulled togeth-
er a record number of classmates and organ-
ized both a 50th Reunion Yearbook and a
delightful evening at Longhaul Farm. The
weekend’s activities wrapped up with lots of
shared memories and much expressed
appreciation for their experiences at
Holderness during the Celebration Dinner in
Weld Hall. We welcome them all back at
their earliest convenience! �
By Tracy White, Director of Alumni
Relations
Reunion #50! October
2-4,
2009Justin Orr was back for hisfirst reunion ever. Behindhim is an original print bylegendary art teacher HerbWaters. Below, a group ofclassmates hit the links atthe Owl’s Head golf course.
Jerry Ashworth and Chris Hoyt share aFriday night meal and some memoriesat the Longhaul Farm in Holderness.
Dick Floyd returned with threeother members of the HoldernessOctet, an a cappella singing groupwho still sound great, even as aquartet. Dick also had a copy of“Caught in the Oct,” an album theyrecorded in 1959. Later Phil Peckhonored Cushman Andrews for hisyears of steady support for theschool’s Annual Fund.
34 Holderness School Today
TheHoldernessAnnualFundSupporting students... one gift at a time.
The Holderness Annual Fund is the cornerstone of philanthropy for Holderness School,supporting every aspect of the school’s operations, from people to programs. Ten percentof every dollar spent in making the Holderness Experience possible comes directly fromthe Annual Fund. And, beginning July 1, 2010, you can choose how your gifts go to work forHolderness, its faculty, and its students. Thank you for your continued support.
DesignationsThe School’s Top PrioritiesFrom faculty salaries to financial aid, mini-vans to course materials, heating oil to lettuce for the salad bar, the school’s annualexpenses are diverse and real. We need your help to meet these critical and ongoing needs.
Faculty Support and Academic ProgramsThrough our academic program, we prepare our students not only toenter selective colleges, but also to live lives of curiosity, inquiry, andlearning. And it is through our faculty — a committed group ofadults teaching life lessons inside and outside the classroom — thatwe achieve these goals.
Athletics Our teams are known throughout New England for their high level ofplay and—at the varsity level—the frequency with which they qualifyfor post-season play. Yet we do not measure success by win-lossrecords or championships, but instead on the lessons learned throughcompetition: focus, commitment, responsibility, and sportsmanship.
The ArtsAs they explore the arts, students learn and develop their creativity,imagination, confidence, and resourcefulness. Whether through theperforming or visual arts, our students find and share thoughtful andpowerful pieces of themselves.
Financial AidStudents on financial aid—representing over 40% of the studentbody—bring unique talents, stories, and experiences to our communi-ty and to our classrooms. Financial aid makes this powerful opportu-nity available—both for them and for Holderness.
Special Programs The March Special Programs period is something uniquelyHolderness, as students learn lessons about themselves and theirworld through intense experiences in community service (ProjectOutreach), the arts (Artward Bound), the outdoors (Out Back), andthe classroom (Senior Colloquium and Senior Honors Thesis).
Student Leadership Leadership skills are developed through opportunity, practice, anddirection. Holderness provides students with all three through the JobProgram and a strong Student Leadership curriculum that permeatesthe Holderness Experience.
Advancement & External Affairs
Holderness School Today 35
Alumni in the News
Ideas
THINGS DIDN’T START well for David Cayley at
the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in
1971. He was done with Harvard, graduating
with honors in English in 1966. And he was
done with CUSO, a volunteer organization
often described as Canada’s answer to the Peace Corps
(though properly it’s the other way around, since CUSO is
the older organization). He had lived two years in a village
in northwestern Borneo, teaching in a secondary school that
had just switched from Chinese to English as its primary
language of instruction.
Then he came home to his birthplace, Toronto, where
he was uncertain about what direction to go next. In 1970
he acquired a friend who knew how to make radio pro-
grams, and with that friend’s help David recorded some-
thing that the CBC said they might be able to use: an inter-
view with Milton Acorn, a well-known Canadian poet of
the time.
At the end of the interview, however, David discov-
ered that the reel on his tape recorder had never moved.
“So I had to ask Acorn to repeat the entire procedure,”
David says, “which he graciously did, though he was
famously quite a rough diamond, and at other times quite
irascible.”
The interview was finally delivered, but it was never
aired. David’s first effort was not in vain, however. He
began freelancing often for the CBC that year, and in 1974
he landed a regular job as a story editor for a CBC morning
show in Vancouver. Eventually he became executive pro-
ducer and then host of that show.
“It was a way to finance a life-long education,” he
says about that and his subsequent career at the CBC. “I
came out of school without any focused academic ambition,
but with many curiosities. I soon found out that just about
anything I was interested in could become a radio program.
For example, I was very interested at the time in com-
munes, and for a CBC show called Identities I did a pro-
gram on such successful intentional communities as the
Canadian Mennonites and the Doukhobors, who are radical
Christians of Russian origin. That was followed by pro-
grams on agrarian reform and the labor movement, and so
on. I was in my element.”
Then, as now, one of the CBC’s flagship national pro-
grams was an interview show called Ideas. Think Fresh Air
With Terry Gross, but on a higher intellectual plane, enter-
taining scientists, philosophers, authors, and social critics.
Ideas dates back to 1964, or even earlier if you connect it
to certain predecessors, and it was one of the first shows to
which David had sold programs. In the early 1980s he
began to do regular work for Ideas. Today he is a contribut-
ing producer and something of a Canadian media institu-
tion.
By now David’s curiosities have been turned into a
number of books as well. Several are edited collections of
interviews on Ideas with figures such as
philosopher Ivan Illich, literary critic
Northrop Frye, and political theorist George
Grant. Others have to do with specific facets
of that curiosity, such as the role of the
Christian church in Western society
(The Rivers North of the Future,
Anansi Press, 2005) or the crisis in
North American prisons (The Expanding
Prison, Anansi Press, 1998).
His most recent book, published last
fall by Goose Lane Editions, is a collection of
interviews, Ideas on the Nature of Science,
which is itself a companion volume to the length-
iest series in Ideas broadcast history, “How to
Think About Science.”
“The idea for the series, then the book, came out
of a conversation with my executive producer,” says
David, who is the son of long-time Holderness English
teacher Ed Cayley. “We were talking about the way people
view science and scientists, and how that has changed over
the years. I remember when I was a boy at Holderness, for
example, I regularly saw an ad in a magazine that depicted
a grave-looking scientist in a white lab coat, and the ad
claimed that more scientists smoked Kent than any other
brand. Science has always had a considerable mystique
within our civilization, but recently a number of questions
have been raised about the dark side of science, and its
effect on our lives always seems to be intensifying.”
These changes and effects, and the ways in which sci-
ence has directed human thought and shaped society
throughout history, are considered in dialogue with a num-
ber of heralded scientists, rough and smooth diamonds
alike, among them biologist Richard Lewontin, sociologist
Ulrich Beck, anthropologist Margaret Lock, science histori-
an Simon Schaffer, and many more.
“The whole series ran for twenty-four shows,” David
says, “and it was also made available as a podcast. So lots
of people were able to listen at their convenience, which
also meant that they paid very serious attention. It was a
new quality of listening that I think was a boon to the
series.”
Meanwhile Ideas advances on to other theaters of the
intellect, and David continues his life-long tuition-free edu-
cation, reading and studying voraciously to prepare shows
about the hundreds of other things he is curious about.
And oh, yes—he still records his own interviews, and
still has to remember to release the pause button. �
Editor’s note: If you want to hear what David sounds like,
or else learn something more about science (or both),
sound files for “How to Think About Science” are still
available at www.cbc.ca/ideas/features.
A life-long educationProvided to David Cayley ’62 by the CanadianBroadcasting Corporation, his several bookpublishers, and his own insatiable curiosity.
“Science has
always had a
considerable
mystique
within our
civilization,
but recently
a number of
questions
have been
raised about
the dark side
of science.”
36 Holderness School Today
Service
IT WAS ONE OF THOSE “aha” moments,
followed immediately by a good idea.
“I noticed when our teacher said to
click in that everyone raised three hundred
identical i›clickers,” said Jessica Saba,
speaking to a reporter last October from
Boulder, Colorado’s CBS-TV affiliate.
Jess was describing the moment in her
sophomore year at CU-Boulder when the Clicker
Sticker was born. If you haven’t been to college in a
while, the i›clicker is a hand-held audience response
device used by students to help teachers gauge overall
understanding of their classroom material. The teacher
poses a multiple choice question, say, and each and
every student clicks in an answer. The teacher gets
instant feedback on the results and knows what’s sink-
ing in or not. Over one million students are now
required to bring i›clickers to class at some 700 col-
leges and universities across the United States.
But one mass-produced i›clicker looks just like
another. Jess had heard plenty of complaints from her
peers about losing attendance or credit points because
of lost or stolen i›clickers, and when she saw all those
identical clickers raised one day in journalism class,
she also saw that they didn’t have to be identical—and
so the Clicker Sticker was born.
Jessica created an adhe-
sive decal that fits the face of
the i›clicker, and hired an artist
to fashion seventeen different designs for the decal.
Her small business turned a profit in its first year, and
she now sells the stickers on-line (www.theclicker-
sticker.com) and in twenty bookstores in seven states.
And of course there’s a lot more market out there.
It’s worth noting that Jess has innovation in her
genes. Her grandfather is the inventor of the hospital
medical identification bracelet. “Saba still hits up her
grandpa for advice as her business grows,” said CBS
Channel Four, “but she credits his advice to sock away
cash for being able to execute her invention. She’s
never taken out a loan.” �
BECAUSE PAUL AND Louise Squibb saw
the Depression as a teaching opportuni-
ty, and because the California inde-
pendent school they founded continues to carry
that teaching forward so well, Will Graham ’72
got an award (and a handshake) from
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
on September 30 in Los Angeles.
Will is the headmaster of the Midland
School, a co-ed boarding and day school of 90
located on a 2,860-acre working ranch in Santa
Barbara County. And the occasion was the
presentation of the 2009 Governor’s
Environmental and Economic Leadership
Award (GEELA), California’s most prestigious
environmental honor, at the Governor’s Global
Climate Summit 2. Fifteen organizations were
honored with GEELAs, but Midland was the
only school among them.
The Squibbs founded Midland in 1932.
“They saw in the lean economic times of the
Depression an opportunity to teach honest,
essential values within a rigorous academic
curriculum,” says Lise Goddard, the school’s
Director of Environmental Programs. “Their
genius was in making our relationships with
our resources transparent. Working to heat
shower water with wood fires, exploring the
outdoors and placing oneself on a topographic
map, washing community dishes, tending a
garden, or installing solar panels puts people in
the cycle of life and materials.”
For example, much of Midland’s food—
organic produce and grass-fed beef—is raised
in the school’s garden and pastures. For the
past six years, students have been adding solar
installations to the school’s power grid, to the
point where fifteen percent of the school’s
electricity needs are met by student-installed
arrays.
“This honor,” responded Will Graham,
“recognizes Midland School’s long-standing
commitment to develop well-educated college-
bound students who understand the connec-
tions between environmental protections and
social responsibility. Midland has an obligation
to our families and community to protect our
natural resources and environment for genera-
tions to come.”
In a note to Phil Peck, Will added, “My
daily work is still grounded in my Holderness
experience.” �
Alumni in the News
Ideas
Honest,
essential
values
The Midland School, headed by Will Graham ’72, claims California’smost prestigious environmental honor.
Will Graham, right,exchanges that handshakewith California GovernorArnold Schwarzenegger.
Got clicker? Need sticker!
Jess is at the far rightin this shot from lastfall’s alumni gatheringin Colorado.
Available in zebra, andmany other patterns.
Jessica Saba ’06had an ideathat’s clickingwith students allover the country.
Holderness School Today 37
FOR LAURA COTE, THE pivot point came very quietly
one day last spring at Holderness. She had just
learned that a friend of hers from home in
Massachusetts had gone off to a residential treatment pro-
gram for help with some sort of personal difficulty. She was
surprised by her own reaction to the news: sympathy, yes,
but also something else—envy.
That was because Laura was in the vise grip of her
own personal difficulty. She couldn’t be certain about the
when or why of its onset. Maybe it had begun once her sib-
lings went away to college, injecting a vacancy into her
family life that she felt powerless to control. The anorexia
began, perhaps, as an effort to reassert control, any sort of
control.
She left Concord to come to
Holderness as a junior in 2008—another
gesture of control, perhaps, but not one that
in any way reversed that spiral into what
she describes as “not just a disease, but an
addiction.” And in fact the disorder began to
increasingly control her.
Thankfully, that’s not the case now,
and this fall, in an all-school assembly,
Laura came back to Holderness to share—
with remarkable courage and aplomb—the
story of her struggle with anorexia. She was
diagnosed with the disease just before she
returned for her senior year, but by then the
diagnosis was not at all a surprise to Laura.
She returned here with certain medical
restrictions, one of which that she maintain
a certain minimum weight in order to par-
ticipate in sports. She ran cross-country, but
struggled to keep up her weight. One week
she could run; the next week she couldn’t. Her friends and
teammates wondered why, but Laura found herself power-
less to explain. That pattern continued into the nordic ski
season. Finally she quit the ski team, an event that her
friends found even more
Laura Cote ’09returns toHolderness todescribe herstruggle with“not just a disease, but anaddiction.”
AS I STARE INTO the sunset of my World
Race journey, I have been spending
some time flipping through the myriad
pictures I have taken these last ten months. I
glance at an image, and I remember that day... I
remember so much of what I was thinking or
how I was feeling. And I feel blessed.
In nearly every country in which I have
lived this year, I have captured an image of the
setting sun. In some places, it is over buildings
and shrouded in smog, but most of the time, I
have found the sun slipping behind a hill or a
mountain, sliding down behind great boulders,
sinking into a lake or an ocean, or
even escaping beyond a cloud-filled
horizon from an airplane window.
No matter where I have been this
year, the sun has still risen in the east and set in
the west. And unless you are living in Alaska,
you have experienced the same number of sun-
rises and sunsets that I have.
Check out these pictures and think about
this: How many days do you remember in the
last year? How many sunsets do you remem-
ber? � By Angi Francesco
Angi’s home again,sharing time withNat Campbell ’97over the holidaysthis year.
How many
sunsets?
Angi Francesco ‘98 has completed the World Race,an event combining adventure, competition, andservice. Here are some lines from her last blog entry.
Carrying that stone
38 Holderness School Today
Alumni in the News
LAST FALL J.J. HALL began a new job—as assis-
tant to the director and founder of Christ the
Cornerstone International School in Lagos,
Nigeria, with the understanding that he would
take over as the head of school in January this
year. “The school is relatively new,” J.J. wrote last
September, “and its founder and director has tried to
develop a similar model to Holderness—strong programs
in academics, leadership, and extracurricular activities.”
In November J.J. wrote again to describe how things
were going. He said that while English is widely spoken in
Nigeria, the three main languages are Yoruba, Igbo, and
Hausa, and that the English is accented enough to make it
hard to understand. The food is “AMAZING and very
spicy,” and Yoruba hospitality is such that “a host may
give as he can if you demonstrate a desire for it, and will
be sensitive to any cues that indicate that desire. I’ve
learned to accept that it’s too late to go back on those cues
that I accidentally gave before I knew better, and to focus
more on picking up others’ cues.”
Lagos is also a city haunted by the threat of kidnap-
pings. “I want you all to know that I don’t go outside of
the school or the house alone, and I lock my
doors on the drive to and from work,” J.J.
wrote.“I don’t have the opportunity to really
experience Lagos life outside of networking
functions or working at the school, but in the
end it’s a trade-off for my safety and we’re tak-
ing it seriously, especially for this period of
time—long story short, we know the risks, take
them seriously, and try to use caution as much
as possible.”
That month J.J. was charged with taking
six students, ages 8-11, to the offices of a US-
based computer training company. They trav-
eled across town by bus for five days in a row
while the students learned to assemble a PC
system unit, install software, and do some basic trou-
bleshooting. While on the bus that first day, J.J. decided to
teach the students a little bit about history and human
rights….
SO I BEGAN BY TALKING TO them about Wole Soyinka, a
Nobel Laureate and human rights activist. I started with
Professor Soyinka because they would be likely to be
familiar with him, not only because he’s Nigerian, but
because he has a history of involvement with CTC.
I taught them about the importance of respecting
another human because that individual is human, regard-
less of any differences in what they might think or believe.
I asked them to think very hard about the idea of “univer-
sal international law” and whether or not they thought that
it was possible for there to be laws to govern the behavior
of all humans on earth that all cultures could accept or
would use; to compliment this I also asked them to think
very hard about whether or not there still needed to be a
set of rights to protect all humans. This idea is especially
applicable in Nigeria due to the different ethnic and reli-
gious groups and the failing attempts to implement feder-
alized laws. I tried to exercise restraint in these lessons,
allowing them to draw their own conclusions based on the
material, although I did try to impress upon them the
importance of learning about human rights and human
rights leaders. As we boarded the bus the next day I didn’t
hear shouting or arguing; I thought that my strategy to
keep them behaved or else they’d have to sit through
another history lecture had worked.
Then one of the boys, Teniola, spoke up, “Mr. Justin
Hall, Mr. Hall, who are we learning about today?”
“Yeah, continue with the story, continue with the
story!” said Halidah.
I wasn’t expecting that. I asked how many of them
had heard about Martin Luther King Jr. They all had,
some had even read or heard his, “I Have a Dream”
speech. So I began with the way that racism was struc-
tured in the U.S. during that time, trying to impress along
the way the dangers of such ignorance. On the ride home
that day I told them about Dr. King as a charismatic leader
and about the sit-ins and his concept of non-violence.
The next day was the same, and I asked them to
repeat what they had learned the day before I continued to
assure that they had understood the previous lessons. They
had, and more importantly, they were able to arrive at
their own conclusions about the material. So I taught them
more about the civil rights movement and how it tied into
the concept of human rights, as well as the reason that
nonviolence was such a powerful tool. Throughout our
trips I continued with the lessons; from nonviolence and
Dr. King I moved to Gandhi and his own use of nonvio-
lent strategy.
Every day as we left the New Horizons parking lot
we saw a picture of Gandhi with, “The Sacred Warrior”
written beneath it. I asked them what it meant to be a war-
rior; I got a lot of answers, all focused around the use of
Service
J.J. Hall with studentsand other educators at
a computer trainingcenter in Lagos.
Lessons in privilege,
responsibility, and human
rights in Nigeria
“If Gandhi
used non-
violence, how
could he be
called a
warrior? They
didn’t have an
answer.”
J.J. Hall ’ 05takes thehelm of aninternationalschool inLagos.
Holderness School Today 39
Sports
The Outdoors
THE FEATURED SPEAKER and star
attraction at the fall athletic ban-
quet in November was Chris
Davenport, the 1996 World Extreme
Skiing champion, and more recently the
author of an unprecedented feat in
extreme skiing: alpine descents of all 54
of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks in the
single calendar year of 2006. He’s also the
author of a beautiful book about that feat,
already in its second edition: Ski the
14ers: A Visual Tribute to Colorado’s
14,000-foot Peaks from the Eyes of a Ski
Mountaineer.
“I didn’t always appreciate
Holderness when I was sitting in your
seats,” Chris told a dining hall full of
appreciative students and faculty. “Today,
however, I realize that I was so fortunate
to have this experience, and it has empow-
ered me and will empower you to do any-
thing you want if you apply what you
learned.” �
KELLY HOOD, a sopho-
more at Dartmouth,
won first-team All-Ivy
honors in field hockey. We’ll
let DartmouthSports.com
explain why:
“Hood had an amazing
year for the Big Green with a
record-setting 42 points on 17
goals and eight assists,” wrote
the school’s varsity athletics
website. “She broke the sin-
gle-season points record with
a goal against Harvard on Oct.
31 in a 5-3 win for Dartmouth.
The record of 41 was held by
Kim Jenkin ’02 and Lauren
Scopaz ’00. Hood was also
one goal away from tying
Jenkin for the single-season
goal record, but fell short
without a tally in the final
game of the year. Three of her
seventeen goals came as
game-winners and Hood was
the primary option on the Big
Green’s penalty corners.”
Kelly helped lead
Dartmouth to a 9-8 record, its
most wins since 2005. �
Extreme skier andauthor ChrisDavenport ’89speaks at the fallathletics banquet.
violence and physically fighting. I then questioned that, if they already
knew that Gandhi used nonviolence, how could he be called a warrior?
They didn’t have an answer. I began the lesson about Gandhi’s history
of nonviolent activism as a legitimate tactic to achieve independence
from an occupying country, and how it demonstrated that battles and
wars could be won using one’s mind and strength of character rather
than pure military might and ignorance. On the last day I tried to
impress upon them the value of the education and experiences that they
were receiving, and before I continued with the last lesson I made them
promise to appreciate the privilege of their education, and to try to
understand the responsibility that came with such a privilege. Next
term, if things go as planned, I will be offering an after-school human
rights club. � By J.J. Hall ’05
“Hood had an amazing year for the Big Green.”
Kelly Hood ’08 breaks Dartmouth’s single-season points record in field hockey.
“It has empowered me and
will empower you . . .”
courtesy Dartmouth College
Wes Mitchell-Lewis ’10 nowhas an auto-
graphed copy ofSki the 14ers.
40 Holderness School Today
“IT WAS JED Hoyer’s 36th birthday
Monday,” wrote Corey Brock of
MLB.com in December, “and
the new Padres general manager
spent just about every waking
hour holed up inside his suite at the Marriott
with a handful of his staff. Sound fun enough?
Oh, there was a cake, pushed off to the side of
the room, perched atop a dozen Coke cans, but
that was about the only visible reminder of
Hoyer’s birthday. ‘Every year, my birthday is
during the Winter Meetings,’ Hoyer said.”
This is Jed’s first year, however, as the
man in charge in one of the teams at Major
League Baseball’s Winter Meetings in
Indianapolis. In October he had been named the
new general manager of the San Diego Padres,
after eight seasons working in the front office
of the Boston Red Sox.
Jed played shortstop and pitcher at
Wesleyan University, where he helped win the
1994 NCAA Division III World Series. He still
holds Wesleyan’s career record in saves and
won the Ahrens Award as the school’s top male
athlete in his senior year. He coached a couple
years at Wesleyan, and was about to leave base-
ball behind when he got a try-out in 2002 as an
intern for the Red Sox. He became an opera-
tions assistant the next year, and also a student
of the new modes of statistical analysis champi-
oned by writer and statistician Bill James, who
is now Senior Advisor on Baseball Operations
for the Red Sox.
In 2003 a sharp
statistical presentation by
Jed was crucial in con-
vincing free-agent Curt
Schilling that he could
win with his style of
pitching at Fenway Park.
That led straight to an
historic World Series
championship for the Red
Sox in 2004.
In 2005 Red Sox
General Manager Theo
Epstein had a falling out
with ownership and took
a ten-month hiatus from
his job. During that time
Jed served as co-GM of
the Red Sox with Ben
Cherington, and together
they pulled off a couple of significant transac-
tions. One sent young shortstop Hanley
Ramirez to the Florida Marlins for pitcher Josh
Beckett and third baseman Mike Lowell, play-
ers who provided the foundation for the Red
Sox’s 2007 World Series crown. Beckett nearly
won a Cy Young Award that year, and Lowell
was World Series MVP.
In San Diego, however, Jed takes over a
team with a much lower payroll than the Red
Sox, one that this year finished fourth in the
National League West with a 75-87 record. At
more than $122 million, the 2009 payroll of the
Red Sox was the fourth highest in baseball; the
Padres ranked next-to-last at about $43 million.
In October Jed told ESPN.com that in San
Diego he intends to build a consistent winner
through scouting and player development,
rather than free agency and trades, and that he
learned about winning through that route as
well while in Boston.
“First of all, in Boston, one of the things
that Theo always preached was to be a small-
market team with big-market resources,” he
said. “The way I see it in Boston, a lot of time
people focus on the size of the payroll that we
had. If you do that, you miss a little bit of what
happened in Boston over the last seven years. If
you look up and down the roster and the every-
day lineup, bullpen, starting pitching, you have
great young players.”
In other words, success in Boston has been
as much the result of a productive farm system
as it has of sterling imports like Schilling,
Beckett, and Lowell. “I look at that roster and
think to myself, ‘The Red Sox could be a very
effective smaller market team,’” Jed continued.
“I don’t think the process is that much different,
given the payroll. I think it still comes down to
scouting and development, building a team with
talented young players coming up through the
system.”
And the Padres like the sound of that.
“Though Hoyer’s background is in quantitative
analysis,” wrote Thomas Harding of MLB.com
in October, “he has become more schooled in
the ways of Major League transactions, con-
tracts, scouting, and player development, essen-
tially making him the hybrid candidate who can
balance statistical analysis with a scouting
background.”
And it’s already made the new GM too
busy for birthday cake. �
SportsAlumni in the News
Jed Hoyer ’92 is the new General Manager of the San Diego Padres.He tells ESPN that the same model of franchise development thatworked in Boston can also work there.
photo Chris Hardy, San Diego Padres
In 2003 a sharp
statistical
presentation by
Jed was crucial in
convincing free-
agent Curt
Schilling that he
could win with his
style of pitching
at Fenway Park.
Don’t
focus on
payroll
and forget
the cake.
Holderness School Today 41
WHEN THEWORLD Cup’s first
and only slalom race before
the Olympics is held on U.S.
snow, today at Aspen, the
top one hundred fastest
women in the world will be offering a preview.
In addition to well known U.S. athletes
Lindsay Vonn of Vail, Colorado, and Julia
Mancuso of Olympic Valley, California, both
on the USA team, Plymouth, New Hampshire’s
own little firecracker, Julia Ford, 19, will be
making her World Cup debut.
“I feel good,” said Ford, last week, at
home for a short break, some rest, and some
turkey with her family before she cranks it up.
If her last season’s performance is any
indication of what we will see, this year, the
world better watch out. Julia is on fire. The
Holderness School graduate is the first-ranked
junior in the nation. She has deferred enroll-
ment at the University of New Hampshire to
continue to be on the U.S. Ski Team’s
Development team.
She nearly swept the podium at the Nature
Valley U.S. Alpine Championships in Alyeska,
Alaska, last March. It was her title finish in the
NorAmCup Super Combined and several other
factors which had brought her to the phone last
Sunday to hear she was going to get her first
World Cup start.
“Definitely this is the biggest race ever,”
she said, noting she will be with Mancuso,
Vonn, Sarah Schleper, Haley Duke, Kaylin
Richardson, and Sterling Gran, going up
against whatever the world’s best have to offer.
“Aspen is my favorite,” said Ford, who
ranks 82nd in the world in Slalom. She is a
four-event skier who is in her third year on the
team. She can handle the technical aspects of a
slalom as well as the speed and concentration
of a downhill, which is really an amazing range
of talent. When at Holderness she was a stand-
out athlete in lacrosse and soccer, as well.
Ford is bound to be on the 2014 U.S.
Olympic Team and has a remote chance,
depending on how she skis early this season, of
being named to the 2010 team.
“It’s possible,” she said of making the
Olympic roster. But not probable, she noted.
She is leap-frogging a bunch of U.S. Women
on the B and C teams to race this event today.
Attitude, optimism, and hard work are her
strengths. “I feel really good. I just had a camp
in Colorado and I feel ready to start. We skied
this summer in Portillo (Chile) and Saas Fe
(Switzerland).”
And she has been training daily, both in
Park City, and when home at the Holderness
School, where her father, Duane, is a teacher.
Former U.S. Ski Team coach Georg Capaul,
now head of snow sports at the school, keeps
an eye out for her in the gym.
Her mom, Lori (Woodworth) Ford, a long-
time ski coach, said when the call came that
Julia had a World Cup start today, they asked if
she wanted to go out for a few days on snow
before the event at Aspen. “I was a bit sur-
prised but she said, ‘No, I am good,’” and
chose to have Thanksgiving with her family at
home.
Before dawn, Friday, the Fords raced her
to the airport to get her out to Aspen. She spent
yesterday training on snow. “She’s been feel-
ing excellent,” said her mother, knocking on
wood that Julia will stay injury free.
The beautiful Rocky Mountain town has a
long history of hosting races, which date back
to 1939. Dick Durrance brought competitive
skiing to this town known for its glitz and
glamour. The course is rolling, steep, has little
bits of flats. The snow is a pretty solid hard
pack, which should suit Ford just fine, after
spending her childhood ski racing in New
England, mostly at Cannon and Okemo, where
her aunt, Wendy Neal, is director. Her other
aunt, Julie, is director of Vermont Alpine
Racing Association.
If Julia can make the top thirty in the first
run and get a great start spot on the flip, that
would be mighty fine. Good luck to Julia and
all the U.S. Women for a great season. Rip it!
� By Paula Tracy. Reprinted by permission,the New Hampshire Sunday News.
Editor’s Note: Alas, Julia, Lindsey Vonn, andthe whole US Ski Team had a bad outing thatday in Aspen. All six American racers skiedoff an icy slalom course on the opening run.“It was the first time since January, 2008,”reported the Associated Press, “thatAmerican women entered a World Cup slalomand none reached the second round.”
Lindsey Vonn skied off the course again
the next day. Kaylin Richardson turned out tobe the top US racer in the event, finishing34th. Julia finished 44th.
In December Julia returned to theNorAm circuit, posting a third and a secondin both downhill events at Canada’s LakeLouise, and also a fifth in the Super G. She issecond overall in NorAm Cup standings.
“Plymouth’s
Ford competes
with the elite
today in
Aspen.”Holderness parent PaulaTracy is also a skicolumnist for the NewHampshire Sunday News.Her November 29thcolumn was about thedebut of Julia Ford ’08 ina World Cup race.
She can handle the
technical aspects of a
slalom as well as the
speed and concentration
of a downhill, which is
really an amazing
range of talent.
42 Holderness School Today
At This Point in Time...
OUR SCHOOL'S historical mission
and role includes accessibility as
a core principle; it has been, and
will continue to be, an important
distinguishing characteristic of
our school. When we speak of making
Holderness School "accessible," we frequently
focus on financial aid's impact on those families
directly receiving financial support. We argue
for strengthening our financial aid program in
order to preserve certain educational opportuni-
ties for families that might not otherwise have
them.
The impacts on affected families can be
immense, and are not to be lightly dismissed.
During the tenure of headmaster Edric Weld, for
example, financial aid recipients included both
European war refugees and the American equiv-
alent. One such student was Bill Koyama,
whose Japanese-American family had been
placed in a WRA center at the outset of war. In
a 1945 letter, Koyama's father writes to Weld:
"We can see such changes in William by his let-
ters nowadays and we know he owes all these
to the Holderness and to your Reverence and to
all the faculty members. At the time William left
this WRA center, he was a good boy, alright,
clean-minded and ambitious, but we knew there
were bewilderment and uncertainty in his grow-
ing mind. Had he stayed here up to now, he
could have been just about the same or perhaps
worse mentally and spiritually …
“Once again, the grace of the Great Providence
and the American way of life deeply touched
our hearts. […] Our gratitude to the
Holderness, to your Reverence, and to all the
faculty members is hard to put in words."
This is a moving example of how keeping the
school accessible is often simply "the right
thing to do."
Yet to discuss accessibility in these terms
takes too narrow a view. We need to acknowl-
edge that real benefits are reaped by more than
just the supported families, and that the impact
is felt by others, both within the school and
beyond. How better to teach understanding,
openness, and respect than by simply demon-
strating its practice every day? How better to
underscore the inherent equality we have with
our peers than to build it into daily life? A
diverse school—culturally, economically, spiri-
tually, and beyond—is vital to educating our-
selves (all of us) in accordance with our
school's historical principles.
Nobody makes this argument more clearly
than the now anonymous alumnus who wrote to
Weld from the front during the same terrible
war:
"One of my most respected school-mates has
presented himself to me in image many times
recently and through my respect for him I can-
not force myself to believe that despite the color
of their skin, our present foes are all bad. Bill
Koyama is probably one of the finest boys I
shall ever know, and yet while 'over there' our
boys are merely fighting those 'dirty yellow—',
without any real thought as to a decent
cause[…]
"I hope and pray that Holderness will
remain untouched and continue to send into the
world its small number of young men trained in
the right way, to respect all people and the
rights of all men. It is hard to define the manner
by which 'Holderness Boys' aspire to come up
to the 'Holderness Standards ' – All I can say is
that it's wonderful every bit and it will be
passed along beyond you or I, from father to
son and by every medium by which good things
spread."
Weld sent a copy of this letter to the board of
trustees in February of 1951, juxtaposing it with
a letter from a family repaying the school for a
scholarship grant. Weld understood the connec-
tion between the school's commitment to acces-
sibility and the "Holderness Standards" praised
by the alumnus; he wanted to underscore that
connection to the trustees.
As time passes, it becomes only more criti-
cal that we keep reviewing that lesson our-
selves. �
More than just the right thing to do
“All I can say is that it's wonderful every bit, and it will
be passed along beyond you or I, from father to son, and
by every medium by which good things spread."
Bill Koyama
Archivist Judith Solberg recalls the impact aid recipient Bill Koyama ’46had on one anonymous classmate and on the future of the school.
ALUMNI HOMECOMING WEEKENDEnjoy Holderness and the White Mountains
October 1-3, 2010
Celebrating a Reunion Year for the classes of:
1935 . . .1940 . . .1945 . . .1950
1955 . . .1960 . . .1965 . . .1970
1975 . . .1980 . . .1985 . . .1990
1995 . . .2000 . . .2005 All classes are invited to enjoy thefestivites of the weekend.
So . . .Heard about thisthing we callfoliage season?
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