SPRING 2014 1 Nightingale - The Nightingale

÷e Blue Doors
The
NightingaleBamford School
Volume 8
Issue 2
Spring 2014
S PR ING 2014 1
THE BLUE DOORS
Volume 8, Issue 2
Spring 2014
A biannual publication of
The Nightingale-Bamford School
20 East 92nd Street
New York, New York 10128
nightingale.org
Contents
We would like to hear from you!
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DESIGN
Pentagram
L AY O U T
2
Schoolhouse
Expansion
Head of School
Paul A. Burke leads us
through the plans for
our new schoolhouse
CZ Design
12
Reflections on
10 Years of the
London Trip
Faculty members Brad
Whitehurst and Jeff Kearney
share their stories.
16
Embracing
Our Creativity
Art faculty member
Scott Meikle discusses
the importance of creativity
as an essential element
of great teaching.
20
A Conversation
with Sakina
Jaffrey ’80
Director of Alumnae
Relations Amanda Goodwin
interviews House of Cards
actress Sakina Jaffrey ’80.
PRINTING AND MAILING
Allied Printing Services
PHOTOGRAPHY
All photography courtesy of subject
unless otherwise noted:
Cover, Jena Epstein, Fair photos,
museum visit, and snowy rooftop
by Nicki Sebastian
London by Emily Tilson ‘17
Varsity dance, Madeleine Albright,
and Cultural Night by Victoria Jackson
Sakina Jaffrey Christmas Pageant
courtesy of Andrea Demirjian ’81
Fathers Who Cook by Jennifer Taylor
23 | Blackboard
30 | The Fair
History teacher Jena Epstein
is right where she wants to be.
Photos from last fall’s
biennial Nightingale Fair
26 | My Life
in the Gambia
32 | Hallways
Katie Bolander ’08 shares
her experiences as a
Peace Corps volunteer
in West Africa.
38 | Class Notes
44 | Voices
Stories and photographs
from around the schoolhouse
On the cover: Lily Hrazdira ‘24 looks
out at the audience during the Class II
presentation, “Sights and Sounds
of New York City,” on February 11.
2 TH E B L UE DOORS
SP R I N G 2014 1
Our New
Schoolhouse
2 TH
THEE BBLLUE
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DOORS
4
This view shows the two
townhouses that will be
incorporated into the
schoolhouse. The townhouse
facades will be restored to
their original beauty, while
the interior spaces will be
completely redone. From
the inside, there will be no
distinction between the
current schoolhouse and
the new space. It will all
flow seamlessly together.
Head of School
Paul A. Burke leads us
through the plans for
our new schoolhouse.
Imagine a new schoolhouse. Tie it to a vision. Connect it
to our essence. Articulate clearly how the acquisition of
additional square feet could translate to an enhanced
educational experience for Nightingale girls. This was the
challenge presented by Board President Nina Joukowsky
Köprülü ‘79 and our board of trustees in December 2011.
With the acquisition of not one but two townhouses directly
to the east of our existing schoolhouse, we were given the
rare opportunity to rethink every inch of our space.
Thanks to the dedication of trustees committed to our
“one schoolhouse” philosophy and their willingness to
invest in this project, we are able to add more space while
maintaining—and even strengthening—the K–XII community
that is a hallmark of the Nightingale experience. Throughout
the design process, we have remained grounded in our
mission and focused on who we are as a school and a
community. Faculty, staff, students, and parents have all
been given opportunities to contribute their ideas and
perspectives to this project; the final result will reflect
thousands of hours of deep thinking about how best to
educate the mind and heart of every Nightingale girl.
My long-serving predecessors understood the importance
of community to the Nightingale experience—Joan
McMenamin often said that “a small school humanizes the
vast city that surrounds it” and Dorothy Hutcheson embraced
this community with unparalleled energy and purpose—and
we are committed to retaining and enhancing important
spaces for students and faculty to gather. From an expanded
Lower School library allowing for more opportunities for
creativity and collaboration to separate spaces for older
girls to connect with friends and faculty, our schoolhouse
will continue to be a place where community thrives.
Middle School students will have a floor that is truly their
own, punctuated by a signature “disconnect to connect” room:
in a schoolhouse built for the twenty-first century, our students
will learn how technology can create opportunity and enhance
their purpose, but they will also internalize the value of being
fully present with friends, classmates, and teachers. Upper
School girls will have their own space, as well: a spacious new
Upper School Commons that will provide a place for them to
meet with teachers and connect with one another.
The student center—the busiest room in the schoolhouse—
will be redesigned to improve the flow of people within the
space and filled with natural light, thanks to the addition of
a large window at its east end. Our main library is also being
reimagined and expanded to support the role of a library in
the modern age. Certainly there will be room for physical
books, but increasingly our students need places to study,
collaborate, and learn, no matter the source material. With a
new reading room under the historic arched windows, group
workspaces, a host of individual study areas, and soft seating
throughout, our library will be a place of both learning and
connection for our students.
SP R I N G 2014 3
Our new space must be forward looking. With two Lower
School science labs, newly imagined Middle and Upper School
labs, a greenhouse, and the most advanced technology
in every classroom, there is an emphasis on science and
technology in the new schoolhouse, but not at the expense of
the arts, music, languages, and humanities, as we still believe
that a broad-based liberal arts curriculum gives our graduates
the best chance of approaching the uncertainties of the world.
Our design adds new music spaces, larger art studios, and 14
classroom spaces for the humanities and languages, allowing
us to tailor spaces specifically to those areas of study. We will
even have a “maker space”: a special room equipped with
the latest technology, providing a place for our girls to work
together on interdisciplinary projects at the intersection of art,
technology, and science. Every girl will have every chance to
discover and develop her particular interests.
Above all, we will have flexible spaces that allow students
to develop their own uses, their own projects, and their own
voices. A public speaking theater, a new athletic training and
fitness room, a multipurpose blackbox performance space,
and the Upper School Commons are but a few examples.
Twenty-five years ago, Nightingale embarked upon an
ambitious and comprehensive schoolhouse construction
project that required all students, faculty, and staff to vacate
the building for two years; many of our readers may remember
the “Nightingale diaspora,” as students attended classes in
satellite locations all over the Upper East Side. We are grateful
for their sacrifice, as the end result of that project was the
beautiful, unified schoolhouse that we all enjoy today. Now it
is our turn to adapt and expand our space to support the next
generation of Nightingale girls, and we are fortunate that we
will be able to complete this work with minimal disruption to
the day-to-day lives of our students.
The schoolhouse plans embody our absolute commitment
to the success of every girl. Studies show improved student
performance and attendance rates with increased exposure
to natural light, so large windows and glassed walls will
bring considerably more light into classrooms and hallways.
Creativity and innovation will flourish in our new spaces, as we
make room for cross-disciplinary conversations, collaborative
work, and student-directed projects.
This schoolhouse expansion is distinct because Nightingale
is distinct, and in the pages that follow, you will have the
opportunity to see architectural renderings of what is in store.
Our mission statement commits us to the success of every girl
by educating her heart and her mind, and therein lies our cue.
This design is about bringing out the best in every girl in every
space at every moment.
Overview
This plan of the second floor provides a good overview
of the additional space provided by the townhouses
(we gain about 20,000 sq. ft. of usable space, a 20%
increase) and a sense of how the new space will connect
with the current schoolhouse.
We have redesigned our library for the twenty-first century,
creating spaces for students to study, collaborate, and learn.
We have expanded our reading room tables, added individual
study areas, and provided group study rooms for students to
work together on projects or to meet with faculty.
Paul A. Burke
Head of School
This wall of the library will
be glass, allowing natural
light to flood into the
second-floor hallway.
4 TH E B L UE DOORS
The renovated student
center will improve flow,
as well as bring the
outdoors in through a
large window overlooking
a landscaped courtyard.
The presence of a courtyard
will create a sense of campus,
as students will be able to
look out from the student
center over to the beautifully
restored bay windows of
the townhouses.
SP R I N G 2014 5
Greenhouse
Located on the southeastern corner of our sixth floor, this
greenhouse represents our strong commitment to science
education for girls at all levels. It will provide the opportunity
for students to learn with their hands and to run long-term
experiments in biology, chemistry, and the Earth sciences.
Construction Schedule
Demolition work in the townhouses has already begun, and
construction will continue uninterrupted until the summer of
2015. Work in the existing schoolhouse is being scheduled
around the school year; all renovation will happen during the
two summer breaks to minimize disruption to our students.
Summer 2014
school year
summer 2015
Current Schoolhouse
Townhouses
Completion: August 2015
6 TH E B L UE DOORS
SP R I N G 2014 7
Upper School
In the new schoolhouse, the third floor becomes a real
destination, with its own physical identity reflecting our
older girls’ increasing independence. We have incorporated
classrooms of varying size, tailored to different styles of
teaching and learning. Our new two-tiered public speaking
theater reinforces our commitment to every girl’s voice and
provides the perfect space in which to practice presentations
and debate. Glass walls will allow natural light to flow into
the hallways.
The Upper School Commons provides a space for girls to
study, relax, and meet with teachers or each other; it will be a
comfortable, multipurpose space embodying the best aspects
of our Upper School experience. The Upper School offices
are also part of the Commons, cementing the collaboration
between students and adults in the Upper School.
This new workspace is
but one of our new and
expanded spaces for
faculty and staff; with this
renovation, we are able
to ensure a strong adult
presence on every single
floor of the schoolhouse,
supporting the studentteacher connection that
is vital to the Nightingale
experience.
8 TH E B L UE DOORS
SP R I N G 2014 9
Members of our board of trustees have worked diligently
toward the goal of schoolhouse expansion since the
acquisition of the first townhouse in 2007; we are grateful
for their vision and leadership. We acknowledge with
deep appreciation the trustees of the Nightingale-Bamford
School from 2007 to the present who have provided so
much support for this ongoing project:
Blackbox
The strength of this new blackbox/multipurpose space
rests in its apparent simplicity. Located on the lower
level, the room will be flexible enough to support
student-developed shows, drama productions, music
rehearsals, dance rehearsals, PE classes, and a variety
of parent association events and meetings.
10 TH E B L UE DO O RS
Lisa Grunwald Adler ’77
Jennifer Brodsky
Clarissa Bronfman
Jim Chanos
Odette Cabrera Duggan ’83
Brenda Earl
Alice Elgart
Brooke Brodsky Emmerich ’91
Blair Pillsbury Enders ’88
Alexander Evans
M. Fredric Evans
Douglas Feagin
Jim Forbes
Rebecca Grunwald
Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss ’93
John Hall
John Hannan
Liz Hay
Patsy Gilchrist Howard ’62
Jerry Kenney
Susan Kessler
Elena Hahn Kiam ’81
Steve Klinsky
Nina Joukowsky Köprülü ’79
Paul Lachman
Lucy Lamphere
Amy Tsui Luke
Valerie Margulies
Kathy Martin
Eve Chilton Martirano
Curtis Mewbourne
Bill Michaelcheck
Greg Palm
Debbie Perelman ’92
Renan Pierre
Dina Powell
Anna Quindlen
Debora Spar
Susan Tilson
Mary Margaret Trousdale
Wendy Van Amson
Denise Welsh
Juliet Rothschild Weissman ’93
Grant Winthrop
Townsend Ziebold
SP R I N G 2014 1 1
Reflections on
10 Years of the
London Trip
This year marked the 10th anniversary of the Class IX study trip
to London, now a staple of the ninth grade curriculum and a
highlight of the Upper School experience. Longtime chaperones
Brad Whitehurst and Jeff Kearney reflect on travels past.
12 TH E B L UE DO O RS
A La Recherche du Temps Trouvé:
10 Years on the Class IX Trip to London
By Brad Whitehurst
“Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clement’s,
You owe me three farthings, say the bells of St. Martin’s….”
(George Orwell in 1984)
On the same Sunday morning in November for the last
10 years, I have walked up Duncannon Street in London
expecting to hear bells, and I have not been disappointed.
In my mind’s eye, that first full day of the Class IX trip has
always dawned under vivid, azure skies—even though
meteorologists would confirm that mid-November promises
gray skies and sporadic drizzle—and St. Martin-in-the-Fields
has rung in our welcome.
Leading an accordion-like cluster of adolescents, I recall
the English rhyme that the students will feel so smart to
recognize in the spring when reading George Orwell’s novel
1984 (see above). We slip inside the church—a Protestant
interior, the history buffs among us agree, because of the
white walls, prominent pulpit, and large, clear windows.
Back outside, we cross into Trafalgar Square for photos of
the Elizabeth Tower in the distance, home to Big Ben. When
the doors open at 10:00 sharp, we enter the National Gallery.
During the next 90 minutes or so, each girl, in turn, presents
her five-minute docent talk on a painting in the permanent
collection. By noon in the bookstore, at least one student
announces the need to buy a postcard of “my painting.” Like
many of my best moments in the classroom, such experiences
have registered as reassuring routine refreshed by new company.
Several years ago as a student was presenting her docent
talk, a chic French couple in their 30s or 40s wandered by,
paused to listen, and ended up staying. Soon other strangers
strolled by, stopped, and listened. At the conclusion of the
girl’s talk, the admiring passersby, now grown to a group of
eight or ten, broke out in applause. And it was true: she had
done an excellent job. Broadly smiling, the French couple
approached me to ask how they might retain the curatorial
services of my “guide.” When they heard that she was my
student, they were impressed; when I clarified that I teach
not at a university, but at a secondary school, they were
astounded. Different versions of this story have recurred
over the years, usually involving adult tourists flummoxed
to discover what motivated 15-year-olds can do when given
time to research, organize, and practice with a clear goal in
mind. The painting project is only one indication of the trip’s
larger educational value.
As the brainchild of former Head of School Dorothy A.
Hutcheson, the trip was envisioned as an enriching travel
experience that would connect to the curriculum (“Nightingale
Abroad,” as we like to call it) and also deepen bonds among
students and between students and faculty. But how would
the trip be financed? Ms. Hutcheson had an idea. As she
recollects, “I asked the Class of 2004 senior parents if they
would dedicate their class gift to the new trip…and they
immediately embraced the concept and raised the largest
senior parent gift to date at that time. Their generosity
helped undergird the trip for the first three years.” The costs
in subsequent years have been absorbed into the school’s
operating budget.
Ever since that first trip, one curricular challenge often
discussed inside the blue doors has dogged us across
the ocean: how do you fit it all in? Like the exterior of St.
Martin-in-the-Fields, which has transformed during the past
decade from black soot to gray scaffolding to gleaming
marble, our itinerary has been repointed and polished with
the benefit of experience. As former Head of Upper School
David Murphy recalls, “When we arrived at the British
Museum and discovered it crammed with screaming younger
schoolchildren…, I learned to schedule that location for
the afternoon.” For several years now, Windsor Castle has
provided the perfect first stop on our Saturday bus ride in from
Heathrow Airport. The London Eye, always a crowd-pleaser,
has become a permanent feature of our Sunday evening.
Added recently were the Victoria and Albert Museum and,
just this past year, the Maritime Museum in Greenwich. At
the same time, several worthy venues less directly connected
to the ninth-grade curriculum have been let go, including
Apsley House, the Churchill War Rooms, and the Natural
History Museum. Darwin’s House, a very long bus ride south
of London, had to be dropped. The Tate Britain, too, has been
eased out, despite its wonderful paintings by J.M.W. Turner
(and the inevitable groans of dismay from Mr. Loughery).
Meanwhile, the core sites have remained: the National Gallery,
St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Shakespeare’s Globe,
the British Museum, and Hampton Court Palace.
In the balance, what has been gained is time. If we did
not want our students (and ourselves) to act like type-A New
Yorkers on a tourist tear, we needed to slow down. And if
group bonding was a goal of the trip, it had to be built into
the schedule. Now on most afternoons, students spend an
hour or two at the hotel to nap, shower, write in a journal,
or visit friends (but no more than six girls in a room, please!)
before dinner or an evening out at the theater. In short, the
trip’s pace has evolved from breakneck to brisk, allowing some
time to reflect, relax, and regroup. I would like to think that
we are emulating that oft-repeated British maxim, “keep calm
and carry on.”
Peer bonding, however, is not limited to students. Some
of my most meaningful conversations with other faculty have
occurred while walking along the edge of Hyde Park, riding
the boat to Greenwich, or convening in the evening to discuss
logistics for the next day’s excursions. I still fondly recall
specific occasions—for example, chatting with Ms. Epstein
on a long bus ride, raising a glass with Mr. Kearney, and
sharing lunch with Ms. Longley after a morning of painting
presentations. At such moments, we do talk shop but also
share our lives, and we are better for it.
Jane Lee entered Nightingale’s orbit by chance, and ever
since we at Nightingale have been grateful for the role she
plays in our London experience. Ms. Lee, a former actor
and highly sought-after docent at St. Paul’s Cathedral, was
assigned to us that first year and has been with us ever since.
In recent years, she has agreed to come out of retirement
just to lead our groups. Cheeky and deeply informed, Ms.
Lee deploys a winning combination of wry wit and irreverent
humor—nothing too racy, but enough to charm. As she has
been repeatedly reminded for the last several years, she has
a standing invitation to be fêted royally whenever she finally
ventures to New York. She has warmed to the offer, noting
that she wants to see this homey place called Nightingale
that she has heard so much about, but no airfare ticket has
been purchased.
SP R I N G 2014 1 3
a chaperone’s tale
Ask a London chaperone how a recent trip has gone and
you are likely to get a long, smiley yawn. It is no expression
of boredom, but exhaustion coupled with a renewed calm
and lack of crisis. “It’s a well-oiled machine,” we will boast,
adjusting a scarf as if climbing out of a bomber, “went off
without a hitch.” While we owe the satisfaction in part to the
hospitality and patience of the British people—and to the
support of our students—we can mostly thank Sally Edgar
(and, in more recent years, Liz Angney), who spent much
of the previous summer making phone calls while we were
sunbathing or reciting poetry.
To maneuver 45 ninth graders to our cafeteria, let alone
through a foreign capital, can be a fool’s errand. It is too
often compared to herding cats when it is probably more
like chasing squirrels. Yet the London trip has gone so well
for so long that we can forget the moments when, despite
Mrs. Edgar’s or our own oiling of the machine, things have
gone wildly, even comically, wrong. For me, a number of
those moments came in the fall of 2007, my first time on
the trip. Seven years later, the memories have all the clarity
of disaster narrowly averted.
That year, I was told, was different from the previous three.
An accident of scheduling had landed us not in the usual
Kensington hotel but in the pleasant, decidedly suburban
district of Putney; the equivalent of expecting midtown and
getting Yonkers or Rye. The lodgings were something out of
The Addams Family: Best Western meets Miss Havisham’s
house. The building had an almost ramshackle quality—a
number of dull hotels fused together with mildew and thatch.
A maze of corridors led to oddly-shaped rooms of the sort
you might meet in a dream. As we checked in, we asked if
the guests should carry torches or wear garlic. It may have
been the one overnight trip in school history when the girls
refused to leave their rooms.
In search of a home away from home, we have repeatedly
gravitated to the West London neighborhood of Kensington,
just off the High Street. For nine out of ten trips, we have
stayed at the Copthorne Tara Hotel in Kensington. When
the hotel was already pre-booked for 2007, we decamped
to Putney, which was mildly charming in a tatty way but
inconveniently located. Otherwise, the Copthorne Tara’s
large buffet breakfast—whether simple cereal or the heartier
English fare of eggs, bacon, beans, and stewed tomatoes—
has refueled us for each day of touring. For dinner along
Kensington High Street, we have broken into smaller groups.
Typically, two chaperones have accompanied roughly fifteen
students to sample Thai, Indian, pan-Asian, Italian, or even
Californian cuisine. Although we faculty have tried to rotate
among different venues, I may actually have eaten Prawn
Chilli Men at Wagamama 10 times in 10 years.
For the record, let me address the two most frequently
asked questions by adults outside Nightingale. First, do
you think the trip is worth it? In a word: yes. Clearly, such
an undertaking is enormously expensive (I don’t know the
14 TH E B L UE DO O RS
Needless to say, when a first night fire alarm startled us
out of bed and through those winding halls, we were lost.
Bear in mind this was without any actual smoke or flames.
There were so many exits that the class made a ring around
the hotel outside, apart from the few who escaped to an
inner courtyard or, curiously, onto the roof. The irony was
that only Mrs. Edgar, acknowledged queen of the wake-up
call, slept through the alarm.
Not long after, a stomach bug and asthma turned one of
the halls into a makeshift emergency ward. When several
more of the “well” girls should have been in their own oxygen
tents, they convinced us they were healthy enough to tour
St. Paul’s Cathedral and climb the 500 winding steps to the
dome, all without an inhaler or a cough drop. By the next
morning, attendance for breakfast was sparse, but the sick
bay was overflowing. Coughing girls made room for wheezing
girls, both of whom cleared out for retching girls. In a page
out of her own botany notes, Ms. Vivion morphed from
nurse to patient. It was a small group that toured the Science
Museum that day.
By the middle of the week, as the sick were beginning
to rise from their beds, we prepared for an evening at the
Royal Theater. Though we had advised our students to dress
for both appropriateness (it was a royal theater) and comfort
(it was England in November), many appeared in the lobby
decked out for a premiere at La Scala: high heels, pearls, tiny
black purses. Those were the days when you could still land
a prince. Luckily, we assured ourselves, we had left time for
a leisurely commute to the playhouse. Though it was raining,
we would take the tube and still be there in minutes. After a
dinner out in Putney, we walked to the tube station to find
it closed.
So we steered the group through rainy Putney to the
regional train ten minutes away. It would be easy. We would
alight at Waterloo Station and walk the couple of blocks
along the south bank to the show. Despite our insistence
that we were from out of town (New York City!) and had a
show to catch, that both hearts and minds were at stake,
the train dropped us in Waterloo late. Our 30-minute cushion
had shrunk to 10.
Waterloo Station is the busiest in Great Britain and a
European hub. At any given moment it is stuffed with people,
all late for something and most of them grumpy. After all,
2,000 years after Caesar’s invasion, it was still raining. On an
evening when the subway is down, crowds and tempers in the
station just multiply. But there we were, with just 10 minutes to
make it to the theater. All we had to do was cross the station.
I’ll pause here to say again that traveling in a large group
is a trick. As opposed to bringing the six or seven girls with
whom we tour for most of the trip, movement is limited when
we are all together and communication telepathic at times.
It is like being a part of one of those animal costumes, where
the head, trunk, feet, and rump begin joined but invariably
separate, each in a different direction. Our beast had 45
segments, and the station 50 platforms, leading anywhere
from Naples to Ipswich. It was not looking good for the
Nightingale-Bamford School.
Class IX had learned in biology that at moments of crisis,
an impulse drives us to fight or flee. At that particular moment,
perhaps fearing for the integrity of the trip or the survival
of our tickets, our leader did both. War Horse had gotten
excellent reviews and we had front balcony seats. Acting on
raw cultural instinct, Mr. Whitehurst began to sprint, moving
as fast as a man in corduroy could. His aim, we could only
guess as we watched him disappear under Central Clock, was
to cut a diagonal path too swift for the group to disintegrate
or realize its odds. He was not about to let us miss that curtain.
Neither wet stone nor 5,000 crisscrossing Londoners could
slow Mr. Whitehurst that night, but some of us hit snags. Girls
trying to run slid sideways like cars on a frozen lake. Some
pressed on in their complicated shoes, others abandoned the
heels and went for it in socks. Wallets dropped. Train tickets,
jewelry, and room keys went trampled underfoot.
With the head of our line nosing toward the far end of
the station, Mrs. Edgar, Dr. Murphy, and I tried to secure the
middle. In order to look forward and backward at once, we
somehow ran while spinning. Dr. Kasevich and Ms. Epstein
formed—or chased—the tail of stragglers. This increasingly
amounted to everyone. Our reward would be the story of
the “bond between a boy and a horse,” a puppet-driven
production set in WWI, but by then it did not matter. It was
becoming something larger than War Horse or any puppets.
It was about survival. Waterloo may have taken down
Napoleon, but we were not the French.
We arrived at the theater with all of the students and
many of their possessions. As the house lights dimmed, the
chaperones exchanged high fives, knowing that whatever
horrors this horse would witness in the trenches, we had seen
worse. In fact, 10 minutes into the production, before boy
and colt even parted, Dr. Kasevich had to escort three of our
own—stomach bug—back to the barracks. Those of us who
remained either slept the soundest hours of the week or grew
to identify with that irrepressible horse. One jammed pistol
had saved Joey from the slaughterhouse, but we had dodged
any number of shots.
That night we had not seen our last close call or even
bona fide emergency, but it mattered less and less. Whatever
troubles London had served us that week, it had buoyed us
up to meet them. The painting presentations were dazzling
from asthmatic and free-breather alike. The lawns at Hampton
Court glowed just as brightly through the rain. Ms. Vivion
taught through her misery and returned to healing others.
In many ways, that year was no different at all.
Jeff Kearney is a member of the classics faculty and a
Class IX homeroom teacher.
total price tag, though I could hazard a good guess), but
fortunately, the board of trustees and the administration deal
with balancing budgets and covering expenses, and teachers
deal with…well, teaching and learning. From a pedagogical
point of view, this teacher knows that planning, preparing
for, and then spending one week away from school on a
once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunity is absolutely worth it.
Second, do you ever tire of the trip? Samuel Johnson,
as usual, provides the perfect retort: “When a man is tired
of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that
life can afford.” Just as I have experienced in tackling
Romeo and Juliet with Class IX in September, so I have felt
in beginning a round of paintings with them in November:
routine and renewal. With any luck, I will never tire of
re-reading Shakespeare or revisiting Rubens, so long as
new sets of young eyes are there to offer fresh perspectives.
And when I am done, may others carry on.
The Class of 2017 on the most recent London trip in November 2013.
A member of the English faculty, Brad Whitehurst has
chaperoned all 10 Class IX trips to London.
SP R I N G 2014 1 5
Embracing
Our Creativity
Art faculty member Scott Meikle discusses
the importance of creativity as an essential
element of great teaching.
By Scott Meikle
When adults discuss the subject of creativity, they often
make a point of saying that they possess no creative ability
themselves. Too often, I hear people say, “I haven’t a creative
bone in my body. I can’t even draw stick figures.”
Such comments reveal a remarkably narrow view of what
it means to be creative. A limited perspective on creativity
means that many educators are unlikely to be able to guide
students in tapping into their own creative impulses—and
it all but eliminates the possibility of assessing students who
do engage in creative responses to assignments.
Creative is not synonymous with artistic. The idea that
creativity is primarily an artistic phenomenon is a purely
Western one. In Eastern cultures, in fact, people actually
have a bias toward thinking of science as a center of creativity.
Neither of these viewpoints is accurate, nor is either helpful
in school.
Creativity is more accurately defined as the act of solving
problems for which there are no easy answers—that is,
problems for which popular or conventional responses don’t
work. Adaptability and flexibility of thought are essential to
creativity, as is the ability to recognize ideas, alternatives,
or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems and
communicating with others, sometimes in an entertaining,
nonlinear way.
Human beings are naturally inventive. We’ve all felt the
need to communicate our ideas and values as well as to solve
varied and complex problems in novel ways. These are skills
that most adults already possess; they just aren’t commonly
identified as vehicles for creativity.
16 TH E B L UE DO O RS
If you embrace flexibility, tolerance of ambiguity,
unpredictability, and the enjoyment of discovering things
unknown, you are embracing creativity. Indeed, we would
be very limited individuals—and terrible teachers—if we
were truly devoid of creativity.
A CREATIVITY CRISIS?
Anyone who has seen Sir Ken Robinson speak (or read his
books or viewed his TED Talks) knows that he considers
creativity an essential skill for our ever-changing, complex,
at-risk world. Indeed, Robinson, among others, has made
it clear that creativity is fundamental to our future success as
a species. “My contention,” he says, “is that creativity now
is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat
it with the same status.” What he means is that, in school,
if we teach children in ways that enhance their intuitive and
creative abilities, we will be preparing them to meet new
challenges with flexibility and inventiveness. When we nurture
creative thought, we help a child to perceive underlying
facts and ideas, to see old problems in new ways. When we
nurture creativity in students, we help them to develop the
very traits they will need in order to become the productive
adults of tomorrow.
Unfortunately, we are not following Robinson’s lead
particularly well. Educational psychology professor Kyung
Hee Kim has observed a recent drop in the creative skills
among American children. In her 2010 research, Kim has
performed analyses of creativity through a measure known
as the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) for
almost 300,000 American adults and children. The TTCT
measures the creative mind in a variety of ways, including
the creative potential in areas such as art, literature, science,
mathematics, architecture, engineering, business, leadership,
and interpersonal relationships. Through these tests, Kim
has discovered that children in the United States, especially
in kindergarten through third grade, are less creative than
similar children of 20 years ago. In an interview, Kim outlines
the problem: “Countries investing in creativity can expect
new ways of life and of governance, new materials and tools,
and new technologies and occupations that we cannot even
begin to imagine. This is why it is so important for the U.S.
to recognize the importance of, and place a premium on,
fostering creativity and creativity research—to put it simply,
so the U.S. does not get left behind.”
The reasons for this creative decline? While it’s difficult
to say definitively, Kim cites the increased emphasis on
standardized testing and too much screen time among
children. Kim’s conjecture makes sense, but I’d also add
that education’s overall focus on teaching content for
students to do well on those standardized tests—and this
includes many independent school educators—has led us
to downplay the importance of creativity in our teaching and
in the work of our students. By using effective techniques
and strategies, teachers can empower students to develop
their innate creative abilities. The skills that facilitate creative
problem solving are competencies that are universally valued
by educators and can easily be integrated into our current
curricula—without sacrificing any of our academic standards.
As I’ve learned through my own teaching of art to
elementary school students, we can and should teach
sequentially when the process or material warrants it, but
we can and should also teach creatively when warranted.
If you accept the premise that good teaching requires
educators to not only tap into their own creativity, but also
help nurture the creative skills in students, we have to start
thinking about how to do both. No doubt, there are numerous
ways to do this, but in my experience, focusing on the
following four areas will lead to overall improved teaching:
• Understand and embrace the importance of experiential
learning, in and out of the classroom.
• Model creativity for the students.
• Work to understand students’ learning styles.
• Develop the teaching skills and techniques that enable
creative engagement.
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
Experiential learning is the process of learning from direct
experience—from active physical and emotional engagement.
Experiential learning usually extends over a period of time
and involves a number of experiences integrated with directed,
incremental impact. Students are not treated as passive
receptacles to be filled with information; instead, they are
active participants who shape the classroom experience.
Teachers who take an experiential approach to instruction
become skilled at sizing up a situation in order to identify
both the problems and opportunities. The generation
of many solutions to a problem encourages—indeed,
requires—divergent thinking. In such a setting, instructors
serve as guides, mentors, and consultants. They develop
SP R I N G 2014 1 7
Cool And Warm Teaching
COOL creative problem-solving
skills and techniques:
WARM creative problem-solving
skills and techniques:
Practical application of ideas
through deductive reasoning
Feeling, sensing, using
imaginative intuition
Offering reasons for learning:
references to real-life experience/
potential usefulness
eing emotionally expressive/
B
using fantasy
roblem solving through
P
group discussions
Being verbally expressive/
articulate storytelling
Reflective and independent
observation
Employing energetic movement
or action: dance/song/rhyme
Adopting unusual visual and
internal perspectives (seeing things
from different angles)
Creating rich and colorful imagery
to communicate with others
enerating several innovative and
G
relevant ideas when problem solving
Breaking and extending boundaries
approaches that honor varied styles of learning and facilitate
open discussion, introducing new issues and concerns as
needed. They encourage students to be experimental and
flexible, all the while guiding the learning process, monitoring
performance, and encouraging feedback and self-analysis.
Fact-finding and thoughtful research are vital parts of
experiential learning. Concrete facts can inform creativity,
especially when students have discovered how to generalize
their learning experiences for future use. An experiential
approach gives students more choices about what to do
next, rather than relying solely on teacher-directed activity.
Educational goals are met by allowing the learning experience
itself to influence the educational process.
MODELING CREATIVITY
What motivates human creativity? Sometimes creativity
emerges because people need to solve a problem or
communicate an idea. The desire for novel amusement
or complex entertainment also inspires creative thought.
Environmental factors are also influential in motivating
a student’s creativity. An instructor’s personal
enthusiasm for the material taught can
strengthen or dampen the creative impulse.
A teacher who wholeheartedly embraces
the curriculum inspires creative learning.
When we nurture our own creativity, we find
many opportunities to model the creative
process for our students. Educating a child
is almost always an imprecise process.
When things don’t go as planned, I like to
laugh and share this fact with my students.
By modeling constructive responses to
making a mistake, we can show children
that error is a natural part of the creative
process, and that sometimes failure inspires
us to new and more effective solutions.
As Nobel Prize–winning novelist Anatole France put it,
“An education isn’t how much you have committed to memory,
or even how much you know. It’s being able to differentiate
between what you do know and what you don’t. It’s knowing
where to go to find out what you need to know; and knowing
how to use the information you get.”
ADDRESSING STYLES OF LEARNING
Combining and synthesizing—
capturing the essence of what’s being
expressed and identifying it visually
Using humor and spontaneity
Sequential problem solving
Desiring to formulate
creative solutions
Utilizing knowledge from a past
experience for use in the present
Incorporating hands-on activity
Reasonable risk taking
18 TH E B L UE DO O RS
Students benefit when teachers diversify their teaching
methods to address a wide range of learning styles. People
perceive and process information in different ways. A student’s
approach to learning is based on personal strengths,
weaknesses, and preferences. A preferred learning style may
shift according to the task at hand, or one preference might
remain strong and consistent throughout childhood. Students
learn best when they are able to use a learning style with
which they are comfortable. While most children are capable
of using a variety of learning approaches, it’s important to
teach material in such a way that all students are given the
opportunity to express themselves in the manner in which
they feel most fluent, otherwise we run the risk of squelching
an individual’s creativity and enthusiasm for learning.
There are many available models describing styles of
learning and how we can accommodate them in the classroom.
My initial response to reviewing some of these models was to
question how I could apply them to curriculum planning and
teaching style in a natural and consistent manner. I decided to
use this information to analyze my own approach to teaching.
This proved to be a useful exercise. As with many adults, my
preferred learning style changes with the task at hand. When
writing curriculum, I favor a self-directed and strongly intuitive
approach. I enjoy making changes to my curriculum, and I’m
fortunate to be in a position that allows me to teach students
and educate myself at the same time. It proved problematic
to refer only to existing models when assessing my teaching
program; I sought a more personal and compelling connection
to the material. So I decided that a more useful application of
the various learning style models would be to reinterpret them
in the form of a creativity checklist.
This checklist can be applied to my curriculum in order
to ensure that I’m giving my students diverse opportunities
to apply different learning styles. During performance
assessments, the same checklist can be used to help recognize
and nurture individual children’s creative abilities as they
manifest themselves.
I’ve organized my list into categories labeled “warm” and
“cool.” These terms derive from color mixing theory. Each
color has a bias toward feeling warm or cool. The difference
between one color and another can be quite subtle, but
it always has a strong impact on how a
painting is perceived. Color temperature
terminology is personally meaningful to
me, so I chose to organize my checklist in
this manner—and I now make sure there
are opportunities for both warm and cool
elements to emerge in the course of my
lessons. Thinking in terms of warm and
cool learning styles helps me to readily
internalize the concepts and techniques
I’m looking for in any given lesson (see
sidebar on Cool and Warm Teaching on
page 18).
Teachers benefit from being sensitive
to their own interests and favored
approaches to learning. We can better
nurture creativity in children when we understand and accept
the ways in which we express our own creativity.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
I view my role in the classroom as similar to that of an
orchestral conductor: I strive to enable students to be heard
both independently and as part of a harmonious whole.
Students thrive when we present a score that is written for
the instruments they love to play.
Encouraging creativity in the classroom can inspire and
motivate children in unforeseen ways. A healthy balance
of purposeful direction and creative freedom delivers the
best results: a strong and diverse classroom that is varied
and flexible, able to shift course quickly while remaining
enthusiastic about exploring any given subject—what is
known and unknown.
There is value in learning to assess and identify creativity.
If our personal concept of what it means to be creative is
narrow, we can’t effectively nurture it in others. Everyone
benefits, especially children, when adults internalize a more
expansive definition of human creativity. By embracing our
own individual creativity, we can create an inspirational
classroom that nurtures and encourages inventive and
transformative thinking.
Scott Meikle teaches art and woodworking in the Lower School.
A version of this article originally appeared in the winter 2014
issue of Independent School magazine.
SP R I N G 2014 1 9
A Conversation
with Sakina
Jaffrey ’80
Sakina Jaffrey ’80 portrays White House Chief of Staff Linda Vasquez in
the hit Netflix series House of Cards. Director of Alumnae Relations
Amanda Goodwin had the opportunity recently to talk to Sakina about
her career, her character, and the impact of her Nightingale experience.
First off, congratulations on the success of House of Cards.
When you took the role, did you anticipate the strong
response that the show would receive?
When I sat at the first table-read with [Director David] Fincher
and heard Kevin Spacey offer his first direct address to the
camera, I got the chills. I had a visceral reaction to the reading,
and felt that the show was an amazing hybrid of the best of
theater and the best of film. I did not anticipate the widespread
and rapid consumption of the show—how Netflix viewers would
“binge-watch” many episodes at once or that leaders of China
and India would watch the show. I knew it was an incredible
project, but because the show is so political and so intellectual,
I wasn’t sure whose cup of tea it would be (besides mine!).
The response has been extraordinary. I even received a nice
tweet from the child of a former classmate who remembered
that I attended Nightingale with her mother.
I understand that at Nightingale, you were in the drama
club and starred in productions such as Godspell. Did
your love of acting and theater begin within these walls?
It seemed that Nightingale knew I would be an actress before
I did. When I was in fifth grade, I played Nanook of the North,
an Eskimo’s wife. Though I was only 10 or 11 at the time, a
10th grader—Nana Tucker Visitor ‘75—wrote to me: “Dear
Sakina, After seeing the most talented Eskimo wife I’ve ever
seen, I’m positive that Nightingale has a potential star on its
hands.” I enjoyed theater at Nightingale and also played
20 TH E B L UE DO O RS
Peep-Bo in The Mikado and Jesus in Godspell. Before
Nightingale, I attended a public school in Greenwich Village,
which was on strike most of the time. My best friend and I would
make the best of the time by writing plays in the stairwell. So I
have long enjoyed theater, but acting was not something that
was obvious for me. It was a part of who I was in my soul, in the
sense that it was how I expressed myself. I have a longer history
of dancing and performed for several years at City Center with
the Joffrey Ballet before turning my attention to a demanding
academic program at Nightingale.
Sakina Jaffrey ’80 in her role as White House Chief of Staff Linda Vasquez
saying, “Who is he?” I thought to myself, “I have to get out
of this place!” But I was so wrong. Nightingale was great—
my class got really close and had the greatest mutual respect
and love for each other. I was such a geek, especially for
Nightingale—I showed up 15 minutes early to school and
won every sportsmanship and attendance award. I loved being
there. And it has been great to see the school become far
more diverse. I am still close with my best friend at Nightingale,
Eliza Foss ’80; we have been friends since fifth grade.
What was your favorite class as a Nightingale student?
When you think back to your Nightingale experience,
what are you most thankful for?
At Nightingale, I learned how to think and write—gifts that
keep on giving. I am thankful for the teachers. Mrs. Wien [see
page 43] taught us how to write and to this day we can quote
the Canterbury Tales, The Aeneid, and works of Shakespeare.
When you are in an all-girls environment, especially in middle
school, you do not care what others think and you are not
embarrassed. This helped inspire great confidence in me.
Nightingale trained us to speak publicly, and even now when I
have to conduct publicity for House of Cards, I am not nervous.
I am also thankful for my classmates. I came to Nightingale
from a highly eclectic and diverse school in the Village,
where my classmates had connections to a range of religions,
ethnicities, and even the mob! When I came to Nightingale,
people looked the same to me and were more sheltered.
I remember referencing Elvis Presley, and a Nightingale girl
So many! Of course, English with Mrs. Wien, Latin with
Mrs. von Heereman, Spanish with Ms. Terry [to whom the
Class of 1980 dedicated its yearbook], and social studies with
Ms. Howard. I also loved math with Mrs. Finn; it was not a
subject that came naturally to me, but she made it exciting.
Though I have played many doctors on television, I generally
avoided the sciences in school!
How about your favorite extracurricular activity?
I enjoyed theater and really loved athletics. I was a fast runner,
even though athletics weren’t the same at the time, and I
recall winning Field Day awards. I also joined the Nightingale
gymnastics team after I stopped dancing full time, though I
continued to dance outside of school. I also remember working
for the newspaper.
When did you know you wanted to enter acting
professionally?
Not until after college. At Vassar, I took every interesting course
I could, from anthropology to sociology, Latin, and Chinese,
which became my major and allowed me to live in Taiwan.
I have two sisters—one attended Nightingale [Zia Jaffrey ‘77]
and the other introduced me to my love of Chinese. Even after
college, I was not sure that acting was something I wanted to
do. I had this concept that you could not simultaneously act
and be intellectually at the top of your game. Even as recently
as the Academy Awards, Ellen DeGeneres joked [that among
“all of the nominees, you’ve made over 1,400 films and you’ve
gone to a total of six years of college.”] Once I let that notion
go, I knew that acting was my path because it made me
happiest. I have never pursued it for money or awards, but
simply for the opportunity to express myself.
Your character, Linda Vasquez, is the President’s powerful
chief of staff—a smart, loyal leader who is adept at political
maneuvering. Do you associate with Linda’s character?
Linda has such a strong foundation and is carried by the courage
of her own convictions. There has never been a female chief of
staff, and while she is often the only woman in a room of white
men, she never doubts herself. I think Nightingale has taught me
to—if not be Linda—play Linda. Nightingale made us stand up
for ourselves at all costs. Linda, while a powerful power player, is
also elegant in her approach and maintains a high level of integrity.
SP R I N G 2014 2 1
If you weren’t an actress, what do you think you would
be doing?
I would probably be a psychologist or a teacher, but I have no
regrets about my career. I am so thrilled to be in a profession
that is also my passion.
Your senior yearbook sarcastically compared you to
Road Runner and predicted that you would be a coiffeuse.
What is the backstory?
Wow—I can’t even remember! I think they called me Road
Runner because I was fast and had skinny legs. I have no idea
why they pinned me as a coiffeuse. I remember thinking that I
was surprised they hadn’t compared me to Curious George—a
character I’ve always related to.
What advice do you have for Nightingale students in 2014?
Sakina as an angel in the Christmas Pageant in the mid-1970s
Linda Vasquez is a prominent Hispanic character,
and you come from an Indian-American background.
What challenges did you face in playing that role?
[David] Fincher cast me because of an essence or a quality that
I have. If I waited around for a role tailored to an Indian woman
over the age of 40, I would never act! Overall, people have
been very supportive about how I have played Linda. I have
even received e-mails from people over the age of 50 who
started out as actors, but dropped the profession when they had
children. They tell me that I have inspired them to jump-start
their careers. I am honored to receive these notes, even though
entering the acting pool is difficult without having worked
22 TH E B L UE DO O RS
You are completely prepared for whatever comes your way. Be
bold, follow your interests, and don’t let other people dictate
your passions. When it comes to your life, no one’s idea is right
but yours. I would urge students to never pursue something
for money, but to pursue what they truly love. My own children
are 19 and 16 years old and I always tell them that they can do
anything. Peel back the layers of your interests and you will find
what you really love.
I also know that it is tremendous to have the support of other
women. I am now in a position where people look up to me,
and I know that I am here because I was supported by so many
women throughout my life. They have helped me so much.
This is one aspect of Linda’s character that is sad. She functions
entirely on her own.
Lastly, listen and be kind. If anyone describes my children
this way, it is the biggest compliment I can receive as a parent.
It’s important to listen and take things in!
Blackboard
consistently throughout the years. My main piece of advice for
them is to wake up and do something creative and fulfilling,
and that the circle will ultimately come around to them. I also
relate to Linda’s character because of her story. For two years,
I wrote a show [that] is comprised of five interweaving stories
[documenting] the immigrant experience in America. I was
tired of hearing such widespread anti-immigration views!
Blackboard is a
section in which we
feature a member
of the Nightingale
faculty.
Jena Epstein was a girl who hated school. Her
classes were big and undisciplined, her peers
were far more interested in their social lives
out of school than learning, and many thought
reading—which Epstein loved—was boring.
In sixth grade, Epstein shared her feelings
with her parents, who promptly transferred her
from her suburban Westchester elementary
school to the Masters School, an independent
all-girls school in Dobbs Ferry.
The difference between the two schools was
like night and day.
“The teachers cared, learning was considered
cool, we had wonderful discussions and debates
in class,” she says. Her classmates were friendly
and interested in far more than boys, fashion,
and magazines.
“I came home telling my parents how much
I loved school,” she says.
But that didn’t inspire her to be a teacher.
It was a calling that crept up on her.
Wanting something “completely different”
from home, she went to Carleton College
in Northfield, Minnesota. It was a fantastic
experience. She still gushes rhapsodically
about her professors and classmates, as well
as Minnesota and the Midwest in general. At
Carleton, she discovered her love of history,
choosing it as her major.
After college, Ms. Epstein kept her career
options open by applying both for corporate
jobs and to a graduate program at Teachers
College, Columbia University, which she
ultimately chose. Two days into the program,
she knew teaching was what she wanted to do.
Epstein was a bit of a maverick in
her program; she wanted to teach at an
independent school and Teachers College
is passionately focused on improving public
school education. While Epstein embraces
that philosophy, she is
also a realist who saw the
toll public schools can
take on teachers.
“I love teaching and
this is what I want to do
for my career. I didn’t
want to burn out before
I turned 30,” she says.
So when a rare
independent school
internship opened up at
Nightingale, she leaped
at it—especially because
it was Nightingale.
Because of her own
childhood experience,
she was already a fan
of single sex education.
On top of that, her sister
Elana had attended
Nightingale in fifth and
sixth grades and even
now considers it one
of her best educational
experiences. In fact, Epstein had always been
a little envious of Elana’s time at Nightingale.
“I think what Elana felt in general is that the
teachers really care about you and not just you
as a history student but you as a whole person,”
says Epstein. She thinks that Nightingale
students also love to learn and in part that’s
because teachers model their own love of
learning.
Counting the internship, this is Epstein’s
11th year of teaching at Nightingale. She has
taught history in both the Middle and Upper
Schools and has served as a Class V homeroom
teacher. Throughout it all, she has continued to
educate herself, spending summers in programs
such as the Stanley King Counseling Institute
in Colorado, the Klingenstein Program for
beginning teachers at Columbia, and workshops
at the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American
History. And, for the past three years, she has
joined history teacher Jane Guggenheimer in
leading a one-week orientation program for new
sixth graders.
Some things have changed for Epstein since
she began teaching at Nightingale. Most notably,
she married her husband, Eric, in 2009, and last
September they became parents to a son, Jonah,
in whom they hope to instill their shared love of
the outdoors.
Parenthood, not surprisingly, has given
Epstein new perspectives on her students and
their families.
“I’ve always known that being a parent is a
very hard job, just from the conversations I’ve
had with the parents of fifth graders and other
Middle School girls’ parents, but I would say that
I really have a deep appreciation and am in awe
of how parents, especially working parents, do it.
And I only have one right now!” she says.
And she has a new understanding of the
depth of the bond
between parent and child.
“When parents get stressed
out and worried about
something, it really comes
from this place where you
would do just anything for
your child and you want
the best for your child.”
Education clearly
remains a source of joy
for Jena Epstein. She lives
a few blocks from school
and each day as she walks
to work, she sees many
Nightingale students on
their way to school.
“I always smile when
I see how excited the
students are to begin their
day,” she says, adding,
“I am excited to begin
my day, too.”
—Kate Rice PP’13, P’20
SP R I N G 2014 2 3
After months of preparation,
Upper School varsity dancers put
on two impressive dance concerts
in February, showcasing their
performance and choreography
skills. For this fun post-performance
photo, the girls had a chance to
relax and ham it up for the camera!
24 TH E B L UE DO O RS
SP R I N G 2014 2 5
My Life in
the Gambia
Katie Bolander ’08 shares her experiences
as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa.
By Katie Bolander ‘08
I am about to finish the first year of my 27-month service as
a Peace Corps volunteer in the Gambia, a small West African
country almost entirely surrounded by Senegal, except for a
small strip of Atlantic coastline. Despite being the smallest
country in mainland Africa (pop. 1.7 million), it is ethnically
diverse: many different tribes with their own languages and
customs call the Gambia home.
Life is difficult here. Outside of the urban areas, farming
provides the main source of income, but there is not enough
machinery or fertile land to allow for sufficient food and
income production. Although most people have at least one
relative in an urban area or abroad who sends funds to help
their family in rural areas, it is still estimated that close to
50% of the population lives at or below the international
poverty line of $1.25 per day. And the Gambia currently ranks
165 out of 186 countries on the UN Human Development
Index, which measures a nation’s development by combining
indicators of life expectancy, educational attainment, and
income.
My home is a small village (pop. 5,000) called Kwinella,
where I live with a host family who have become my second
family. The village has neither running water nor electricity,
and I walk to the local hand pump every day to fetch my
water for bathing and drinking. I see and live with poverty and
hunger on a daily basis. I eat rice for three meals a day with
my host family—and we are not badly off compared to others.
Everyone shares one large bowl of food at meals, often eating
with our hands. I am privileged that there is always enough
rice, but meals are lacking in protein and vegetables. Kwinella
is not too far from the river so we regularly eat fish, but we
have only enjoyed meat or chicken on three special occasions
when we have slaughtered one of our animals.
I never expected to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer in
Africa. Although my interest in participating in Peace Corps
goes back to my days at Nightingale, I always thought I
would serve in Latin America. In eighth grade I traveled to
Mexico on a school trip for Spanish students during spring
vacation and was both enthralled by the new culture as well
as fascinated by how language could connect people and
open one’s mind to an entirely different way of viewing the
world. During high school I participated in summer programs
in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica and began to think
about volunteering for Peace Corps. I continued this interest
in college, studying abroad in both Brazil and Spain and
holding an internship in the Dominican Republic. Ultimately I
graduated from Georgetown University as a Spanish major—
with a minor in Portuguese and a certificate in Latin American
studies—and I knew that I wanted my professional career to
involve Latin America in some way. I decided that spending
two years in a Latin American country living and working
next to people at a grassroots level would help me to have
a greater understanding of the culture and the people. So I
applied to the Peace Corps, surmising that my language skills
and previous experience would result in my placement in
Latin America.
Katie Bolander ’08 with
two traditional kankurangs
at a cultural festival
26 TH E B L UE DO O RS
SP R I N G 2014 2 7
Katie with her Gambian host mother
Much to my surprise, however, I was invited to serve as a
health sector volunteer in the Gambia. I considered turning
down the opportunity and holding out for a Latin American
alternative, but I soon realized I would likely never see this
part of the world otherwise. The decision to go was scary and
not part of what I considered to be my life plan, but I took a
leap into the unknown and have not regretted it. I am learning
Mandinka, a language that I did not even know existed (those
of my parents’ generation might remember it as the native
language of Kunta Kinteh in the 1970s television mini-series
Roots). I am learning and seeing new things every day, as well
as gaining a world perspective that I know will help me in
whatever I decide to do in the future.
Being a Peace Corps volunteer is about living with the
people you are helping—at their level. It is about learning
what your neighbors truly need and want. I have quickly
seen that obtaining clean water here is very difficult and a
legitimate concern, and my goal is to see a better water
system in Kwinella and at the Upper Basic School before
I leave. This goal is informed by my personal experience
of fetching water every day: if I’m lucky, I make it to a tap
that has running water for about two hours every afternoon;
if I’m not, I manually pump my water. Most women fetch
water for their whole compounds (men are rarely seen at the
pumps) and I understand the large burden this places on them.
Therefore, I will feel comfortable writing a grant and bringing
money into the community for water because I know that it
is needed and will be used, unlike a computer lab I saw that
had been donated to a village without electricity.
28 TH E B L UE DO O RS
I will always stand up for
myself and what I believe in,
with the hope that girls will
see me doing that and learn
that they too can do the same.
In the Gambia, being a woman affects me every day. To
cross the Gambia River, I have been forced to sit in the bottom
of a boat where it is not possible to see out and water shoots
through holes; the men get to sit on top. On a daily basis,
men will greet other men within a group of people but not
greet any of the women. It makes you feel invisible. I have
been exposed to female genital mutilation (it is estimated that
more than 98% of the women here are circumcised). I have
seen wives being beaten by their husbands. I have seen the
jealousy that occurs when a woman’s husband decides to take
a second wife, or third, or fourth. It pains me to see that the
animosity that results is directed at another woman—the new
wife—instead of the man. I am living in a typical patriarchal
African society that is also Muslim, and that has changed my
Kankurangs are traditionally associated with circumcision and initiatory rites (when young Mandinka children learn about the culture and their roles in it),
but now generally appear at cultural festivals and other events as part of an effort to maintain and celebrate Gambian culture
awareness of what it means to be a woman in this world.
I have never before felt hindered by my status as a woman
and have rarely even thought about how being a woman
might affect my path in life. At Nightingale, I learned the
importance of hard work and was taught to be independent,
to speak with confidence, to stand up for myself, and to
express my opinions. I was taught to follow my dreams and
that—with hard work—anything was possible. I learned
to strive to be the best I could be, whether I was in the
classroom or in the pool or on the track; being a girl was not
an impediment. Of course we learned about the struggles
of earlier generations of American women and the plight of
women worldwide. But this never affected me personally.
I am incredibly fortunate that at Nightingale and in New York
City, and at Georgetown and in Washington, DC, I rarely had
to think about being a second class citizen—something that
is the harsh reality for so many women in this world.
It pains me to see women perpetuate cultural norms that
hurt them instead of standing up for their rights. When I see
this happening, I try to stand up for myself to show other
women that they can do it too. While helping at a track
meet recently, I wanted to discipline two boys who blatantly
disobeyed rules by sneaking onto the vehicle that transported
us to the competition. I suggested washing dishes as a
punishment for their actions, but a female teacher would not
hear of it. “This is Gambian culture,” she said. “Even if a boy
is doing nothing or being punished, he should not wash a
dish.” She instead went to wake up resting female athletes.
I challenged her and was so happy to have female students
thank me for standing up for them and speaking the truth.
But all I can do is set an example and try to educate
people. This is not my culture to change. There is a Mandinka
proverb that translates to “for as long as a tree stays in the
river, it will never become a crocodile.” I take this to mean that
for however long I spend in the Gambia, I will never become
a Mandinka. I will always be a New Yorker. I believe change
needs to come from within. I try to educate people and show
them my way of viewing the world, just as they are showing
me theirs. I will always stand up for myself and what I believe
in, with the hope that girls will see me doing that and learn
that they too can do the same. However, they need to decide
for themselves whether they want to try to change cultural norms.
I have spent almost one year here now, a lot of which has
been spent on cultural integration. I do not think this is a
waste of time or resources, as I have made relationships that
will last a lifetime and experienced things that will change me
forever. I have learned to accept people’s generosity with a
“thank you” instead of a “no, I couldn’t possibly.” In a country
that has so little compared to mine, I have experienced a
generosity that does not exist in the United States or any other
country I have been to. Everyone, from the toddlers to the
elderly, shares everything. People truly care about one another
and support each other however they can. When my host
sister’s baby passed away, I saw how quickly word traveled
and how people came together. Generosity and love is part
of the culture in the Gambia, and this makes it rich in ways
that cannot be measured.
SP R I N G 2014 2 9
Building
Our Future:
The 2013 Fair
4
3
1
The weather could not have been better and the spirit of
the Nightingale community could not have been stronger at
the 2013 Fair, held on Saturday, November 2, 2013. Led by
parent chairs Jennifer Gourary P’17, Christina Horner P’20,
P’23, and Leigh Hrazdira P’22, P’24, the construction-themed
extravaganza was an unqualified success thanks to their
tireless efforts, as well as those of our students, parents,
and faculty and staff. As Head of School Paul A. Burke said,
“If it wasn’t already clear that this community knows how to
pull together a blockbuster event, [the 2013 Fair] was the
perfect reminder of the tremendous talent, energy, and
dedication that surrounds us.”
The biennial Fair is one of Nightingale’s most prized
traditions; this year’s event raised more than $150,000 in
support of our students.
5
6
2
1) Associate Director of Admissions Melissa
Providence ’02 with her goddaughter
2) PA Vice President Stacy Calder Clapp ’91 and
PA President Valerie Margulies
3) Math faculty member and Class VII homeroom
teacher Gordon Blyth serves up the ever-popular
lemon sticks
4) Willow Vura ’21 tries her hand at ping pong
5) Kathryn Von Coelln ’19 and Madeleine Riordan ’19
work a shift at the popcorn stand
6) Upper School Dean of Students Claire du Nouy
takes her turn in the dunk tank
7) Former Class III homeroom teacher Laurie Hallen
has a bit of fun with [from L to R] Courtney Horner ’20,
Lauren White ’20, Gavriela Langer ’20,
Caroline Coudert-Morris ’20, and Charlotte Feagin ’20
30 TH E B L UE DO O RS
7
SP R I N G 2014 3 1
Ha llways
Stories and photographs
from around the schoolhouse
madeleine albright
visits nightingale
On February 5, students in Classes VI–XII attended
a special afternoon assembly with former U.S.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Rather
than delivering a lecture, Secretary Albright chose
to run the assembly as a Q&A session, taking
questions first from a panel of students who
shared the stage with her and then moving on to a
half-hour of questions from the audience. The girls
prepared for the visit by learning about Secretary
Albright’s life and career, and their questions
reflected a profound interest in her experiences
both as a global leader and as a woman. With
candor and good humor, Secretary Albright shared
her insights with the girls on a wide range of
topics, from stories relating to her interactions with
world leaders to the specific benefits of having
women in positions of leadership.
nightingale hosts
ted x event
Nightingale hosted its first-ever TEDx event on
February 22. Organized by art faculty member
Maggie Tobin and Academic Technology
Coordinator Nicole Blandford, the day focused
on the topic of resilience in the face of adversity.
Speakers at the sold-out event included singersongwriter and performance artist Tora Fisher ‘08
who, at age 13, experienced the unfathomable
when she was the sole survivor of a plane crash
that killed her father, stepmother, and four others;
Marc Elliot, who overcame a 20-year struggle with
Tourette’s Syndrome by using mind over body;
and Madonna Badger, who tragically lost her three
children and parents in a fire that destroyed her
Connecticut home on Christmas morning in 2011.
With their extraordinary personal stories, these
presenters and others shed light on the ways in
which we can cope with and move beyond difficult
and sometimes even unimaginable life events.
Dashiel Tao Harris ‘21 examines a
painting during a Class V visit to the
Metropolitan Museum of Art last fall.
32 TH E B L UE DO O RS
SP R I N G 2014 3 3
mandela film screening
held at 92y
The Nightingale community gathered at the
92nd Street Y on February 26 for a special
complimentary screening of the film Mandela:
Long Walk to Freedom in honor of the
extraordinary life of South African revolutionary,
politician, and philanthropist Nelson Mandela.
Hosted in partnership with the 92nd Street Y,
the event also featured acclaimed actor Jeffrey
Wright and the film’s producer Anant Singh, both
of whom spoke about their personal connections
to Nelson Mandela and the importance of his
legacy. Pictured above from L to R: Jerry Inzerillo
P’25 (who, with his wife, Prudence Solomon
Inzerillo P’25, was instrumental in putting the
event together), Anant Singh, Associate Head
of School Jennifer Zaccara, Head of School
Paul A. Burke, and Jeffrey Wright.
34 TH E B L UE DO O RS
mika brzezinski urges girls
to know their value
honors for time regained
Cited as “outstanding in content, writing, and
design,” the 2013 issue of Time Regained—
Nightingale’s Upper School current affairs
journal—received Gold Medalist and All
Columbian Honors from the Columbia Scholastic
Press Association in the “General Magazine
Critique” category. Time Regained publishes
essays and photography focused on national
and international current events. Described by
the judges as “a unique and scholarly general
magazine,” the journal provides a forum for an
open expression of ideas, with provocative articles
that spark discourse and debate in the Nightingale
community. Congratulations to faculty advisor
Dr. Heidi Kasevich and the entire staff of Time
Regained on this impressive achievement.
On November 8, 2013, journalist, author, co-host
of “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, and long-time
advocate for women Mika Brzezinski was the
featured guest at Upper School assembly. In
a conversation moderated by President of the
Goldman Sachs Foundation Dina Powell P’24,
P’20 and sponsored by the leadership initiative
Open Doors, she encouraged the Class VIII–XII
girls in attendance to be confident in themselves
and genuine in their interactions; to appreciate
and understand that failure can be a powerful
motivator; and not to squander the gift they have
by virtue of being Nightingale students. Speaking
broadly about the importance of earning respect
and knowing your worth, she also admonished
the girls not to think of the words “ambitious”
and “aggressive” as anything but positive and
encouraged them to be ambitious in everything
they do in life, from their professions to their
families. There was much for the girls to take away
from what she said, and they were clearly listening.
Although this year’s
unusually cold winter may
have been unpleasant for
many city dwellers, the
Kindergarten girls had a
wonderful time taking full
advantage of their daily
roof period for outdoor
fun in the snow.
SP R I N G 2014 3 5
The schoolhouse auditorium
was filled to capacity on
February 21 for CAFE Cultural
Night, a celebration of
diversity within our community.
Showcasing their heritage
through dance, vocal, and
instrumental performances,
students from all three
divisions took the opportunity
to share a bit of their family’s
culture with the rest of
the community. The varied
program was followed by the
annual international potluck
dinner, featuring delicious
dishes from across the globe.
harold holzer delivers
mcmenamin lecture
On April 4, renowned Lincoln scholar Harold
Holzer addressed students in Classes VIII–XII
as the featured speaker for this year’s Joan Stitt
McMenamin Memorial Lecture, presented in
conjunction with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of
American History. Using images from the Civil
War, Mr. Holzer demonstrated the power of visual
media and reinforced the importance of art in
telling the stories of our past. He also delighted
the audience with tales from his work as a script
consultant for Lincoln, the Steven Spielberg film.
At the reception following the lecture, Mr. Holzer
generously gave more of his time to speak with
students in a smaller setting.
36 TH E B L UE DO O RS
fathers who cook 2014
On March 7, Nightingale dads took center
stage at Fathers Who Cook, the beloved
biennial event featuring delicious food and drink
prepared by more than 60 fathers serving as
chefs and sommeliers. The evening kicked off
with cocktails—served up by a spirited group
of Nightingale dads behind the bar—and a
surprise Mariachi band performance, followed
by a festive seated dinner. This year, many chefs
and sommeliers chose a cultural theme for their
menus—from Moroccan and Italian to Fusion
Indo-French and Indian, every table showcased
the unique talents of its hosts. The event was a
huge success and raised over $55,000 to benefit
every girl at Nightingale.
Event co-chairs Jana Happel and Graciela Bitar
SP R I N G 2014 3 7
She looks forward to retiring and
exploring her interests in art and
music, but she is most excited
about spending time with her
two granddaughters, Olive and
Natalie. Rachel’s three sons are all
married and living in Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, and Massachusetts.
class notes
Class notes are published twice a year
in each issue of The Blue Doors. If you have any
updates you would like to share with your classmates,
please e-mail them to [email protected].
40s 50s
Gwendolyn Humphreys
Champniss ‘40 is living in West
London, England, with her
husband of 68 years, Gerald
Arthur Champniss, OBE. She
has five children, four of whom
live in America and Canada; her
only daughter lives in the south
of England. Now 92 years old,
Gwendolyn has 11 grandchildren
and eight great-grandchildren.
Her granddaughter Isabelle
Butcher writes that “Gwendolyn
talks fondly of her time at
Nightingale-Bamford and receives
The Blue Doors publication—she
says [her days at Nightingale
were] some of the happiest days
of her youth.”
Monique Pflieger Leaman ‘51
recently started a new business,
Etiquette Necessities, which
teaches business etiquette to a
variety of clients.
Marion Birdsall Rendon ‘56
writes: “I now have seven
grandchildren—five boys and
two girls. How did this happen?”
Marianne Duggan O’Brien ‘57
likes road trips and will do almost
anything just to go places in her
own car. In the last few months
she has driven to Indiana, Maine,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, and
Massachusetts for family events;
her most recent trip took her to
Boston for the premiere of her
daughter Stephanie Bell Veneris’s
award-winning movie.
Jill Hyde Scott ‘57 spent a month
in Australia this winter traveling
with her husband, Denny.
Annabel Stearns Stehli ‘57
writes: “I saw just about all the
Hydes and Scotts at Jill Hyde
Scott ‘57’s 50th anniversary party
last summer in Vermont. Jill and
Denny have six grandchildren, all
adorable.” Annabel is getting
more involved in improv comedy
in Carrboro/Chapel Hill, North
Carolina, and enjoying every
38 TH E B L UE DO O RS
moment; she gets some of
her best responses from a
performance based on her
Nightingale teacher Miss Cundy’s
fabulously clipped British accent,
which she has been imitating
since the sixth grade. She is still
involved with the Georgiana
Institute, promoting auditory
integration training for autism
and learning disabilities. Annabel
has an exciting travel schedule
planned for the next few months.
She writes: “I’m going to Seattle
mid-March to meet with a
Chinese colleague about opening
markets in China. Tomorrow I go
to Stowe for a family ski vacation
masterminded by my son Mark,
who lives in Hoboken and is
a hedge fund trader in New
York. I’ll have the fun of having
five of my six grandchildren
[(ranging in age from 11 months
to seven years)] under one
roof, and my four teenaged
step-granddaughters as well.”
Annabel’s busy schedule also
includes traveling to Tucson for
the biennial Hatch Family reunion
for descendants of the Hatch
Family who are portrayed in
“The Hatch Family” by Eastman
Johnson, a portrait dating from
1870–71 that hangs in the Met. In
May Annabel plans to attend her
seven-year-old granddaughter’s
Irish step dancing recital in
New York. “I’m fascinated by
this kind of dancing,” she says.
“Apparently [the Irish] learned
to dance with their arms at their
sides because the British, who
frowned on it, could see in their
windows! Is that TRUE do you
think? Mrs. Davis, my history
teacher at Nightingale, would be
telling me to state my source,
and I can’t.”
70s
Helen Mirkil ‘70 published her
first book of poetry, Sower on
the Cliffs, in April 2013 (BookArts
Press). The project took four and
a half years to complete and has
received enthusiastic reviews.
Helen comments: “I worked with
Veronica Miller, a noted book
designer, and am thrilled with
the results.” Since the book’s
publication, Helen has been a
featured reader at several venues
in Philadelphia, including the
Green Line Café reading series
hosted by poet and publisher
Lillian Dunn and the acclaimed
poet Leonard Gontarek. Helen
notes that she traces her interest
in poetry to her days on 92nd
Street: “I have been writing
poetry since the eighth grade at
[Nightingale], when I participated
in an elective poetry course.
There were seven to ten students
in the class, taught by Miss Ross.
I am hoping to be able to contact
her and thank her for helping me
take my first step as a poet.”
Anne Liebling ‘72 writes that
her husband, Christian von
Graevenitz, lost his battle
with multiple myeloma on
November 6, 2013.
Rachel Hall Russell ‘72 has
been teaching in the Concord
and Acton, Massachusetts public
schools as a special educator and
classroom teacher for 24 years.
Licia Hahn ‘73 is happily
celebrating the 13th year of
her CEO advisory firm focused
on improving the performance
of Fortune 500 leaders in the
healthcare, media, and financial
services sectors. She writes: “I’ve
enjoyed sharing my learning with
students, most recently at the
Yale School of Management, and
will be a keynote speaker at the
Ford Foundation conference on
minorities in the media in May.
My husband, Gene, is working
on his third book and just
debuted his first documentary,
The Neglected Story—Race in
the North, at the Natchez Literary
Film Festival.”
Rosemary Williams Begley ‘73
recently signed four of her animal
paintings at Disney’s Animal
Kingdom. She writes: “A dear old
friend from Nightingale, Sindy
Vidor Robinson ‘73, asked me
to sign one of my prints for her
granddaughter. What a privilege,
as Sindy was not only a close
friend way back starting in sixth
grade, but was also close to my
stepbrother Don whom we loved
but who died in 2008 from a
motorcycle accident.”
Cynthia Chase Cook ‘74 writes
that her daughter Caitlin Rose
Cook is engaged to be married
to Steve Miller. Her son Dylan
is a virtual design construction
engineer in Georgia, where he is
constructing a building for Baxter
Construction. For the past 30
years, Cynthia has worked as a
registered nurse in the pediatric
intensive care unit at Children’s
Hospital in Oakland, California.
She and her husband, Bob, live
south of San Francisco.
Empty nesters Deborah Cohen
Holland ‘75 and her husband,
Nick, are now ensconced in
their new home in Gloucester,
Massachusetts, and they love
living on the ocean. Deborah has
moved her pottery to Gloucester
and has discovered the joy of
rowing Cornish Gig boats. She
would love to hear from any
classmates passing through!
Jane Dorian ‘78 will marry
Steven Safan on May 24, 2014.
She sells residential real estate
with Partners Trust and is vice
president of the Beverly Hills
Women’s Club. Her daughter,
Sarah Haspel, graduated from
college and is working at
Frame Denim.
80s
Adrienne Morris ‘80 is still living
and working in Providence, RI
with her husband, Stewart, and
13-year old daughter, Lily. Lily
attends and loves Lincoln School,
an all-girls Quaker school, where
Adrienne also works, overseeing
fundraising and alumnae relations.
She writes: “Too funny to find
my life path taking me back
to a place that feels so much
like [Nightingale]. I enjoy my
connections with classmates and
have become hooked on House
of Cards thanks to Sakina Jaffrey
‘80, who is a principal in the series.
Watch it if you can—really well
written and compelling viewing!
35 years in 2015—let’s try to make
an effort to come back?!”
Carley Rand Weatherley-White
‘80 writes: “My husband, Carl, and
I are still in New York enjoying
the last few months of being
empty nesters as my daughter,
Katherine, is graduating from
Trinity College this spring. My son,
Cort, is a freshman at Dartmouth
studying German and rowing on
the lightweight crew. Needless to
say, like all of us here on the east
coast he is very ready for spring!”
[From L to R:] Katherine Lipton ‘83, Alexandra Stanton ‘87,
Tanya Hernandez ‘82, and Allison Schoenthal ‘93 participated
in the Alumnae in Law panel at the schoolhouse last fall
Vanya Tulenko ‘83 works for
WGBH, the PBS station in Boston
that co-produces the smash
hit series Downton Abbey, and
had the opportunity to travel to
Highclere Castle for work. She
writes: “I was leading a tour of
supporters of WGBH, and in
addition to Highclere, we visited
the town of Bampton, which is
the little village where Mary was
married and where Edith got
jilted. I saw season four being
filmed! I also brought our tour to
Ealing Studios, where all of the
‘downstairs’ parts of the series
were filmed. I was so happy on
this tour because I love Downton
Abbey and also [because] I was
able to return to London, where I
had attended graduate school.”
Amanda Schafer Brainerd ‘85
left Warburg Realty in September
2013 to join Brown Harris Stevens
Residential Sales. She is very
happy with this exciting new
chapter in her career. Amanda’s
daughter Annabelle (Class of
2019) continues to thrive at
Nightingale.
Celene Domitrovich ‘86 works
in Chicago as the director of
research at a non-profit called
the Collaborative for Academic,
Social, and Emotional Learning.
Hillary Smith Ripley ‘86 is
approaching her second year
anniversary at IFM Investors, LLC,
where she is a member of their
infrastructure team and involved
in institutional sales. Her daughter,
Hawthorne, is in eighth grade
now and enjoying her last year of
middle school. They still live in
Park Slope and still love it. Hillary
was able to visit with Hilary Kaye
Kronowitz ‘86 when she was in
New York for a visit and reports
that Hilary, Lowell, and the
children are all doing beautifully
and still living in sunny Savannah.
She was also able to visit with
Cameron Paynter ‘86 and her
family in Lyme, Connecticut last
September, when they were
there for Hawthorne’s first squash
tournament. She comments:
“The squash proved challenging,
but Cameron’s dinner and family
were fabulous!”
Amanda B. Lotas ‘87 is living
in Kitty Hawk, on the Outer
Banks of North Carolina, with
her husband, Lee, and their
10-year-old son, Henry. She just
left her job at the University of
Virginia and is now teaching yoga
on the Outer Banks. Amanda
also does freelance video editing
and writes: “If anyone would like
to stay with me on their travels
to this neck of the woods, by all
means e-mail me!”
Tanya Hernandez ‘82
(see Alexandra Stanton ‘87)
Katherine Lipton ‘83
(see Alexandra Stanton ‘87)
SP R I N G 2014 3 9
The clinic where Kirsten
Meisinger ‘87 serves as medical
director was selected this year as
a Robert Wood Johnson site of
excellence in primary care. Kirsten
also helps lead a team that is
bringing primary care to Brazil.
Alexandra Stanton ‘87 has
joined the Kennedy Center Board,
elected by President Barack
Obama. She serves as CEO of
Empire Global Ventures LLC, a
NY-based international trade and
business development firm. On
November 18, Alexandra joined
Katherine Lipton ‘83, managing
director and associate general
counsel at JPMorgan Chase,
Allison Schoenthal ‘93, partner
at Hogan Lovells LLP, and Tanya
Hernandez ‘82, professor at
Fordham Law School, as panelists
on an Alumnae in Law panel held
at Nightingale and moderated by
Amie Rappoport McKenna ‘90.
Meredith Wong ‘87, senior
coordinator of adult and access
programs at the Jewish Museum,
hosted Nightingale alumnae in
November for a private tour of
the highly acclaimed Chagall
exhibition. The group was also
joined by former school nurse
Ruth Rosenfeld.
Elizabeth Klein ‘88 is celebrating
over a dozen years of her own
art advisory business, Reiss
Klein Partners LLC, which acts
as private curator to both new
and established art collectors,
providing expertise and
experience in an increasingly
complex international art market.
Winnie Abramson ‘88 writes
about food and health; her first
book, One Simple Change:
Surprisingly Easy Ways to
Transform Your Life, was published
in December by Chronicle Books.
40 TH E B L UE DO O RS
Linnea Knox, daughter of
Celena Kingson Knox ‘93 and
Jamie Knox, will be starting
Kindergarten at Nightingale in
the fall!
Marietta Dindo Danforth ‘98
married Brad Danforth on
April 27, 2013. The two were
introduced by Emily Grant
Turner ‘98.
Jessica Kreps ‘03 married Adam
Ian Rothenberg on October 27,
2013 at the Brooklyn Museum.
Jessica is the associate sales
director at Lehmann Maupin, a
New York art gallery, and Adam
is a partner in BoxGroup, a New
York company that invests in
startup technology businesses.
Irene Grassi Osborne ‘93 and
her husband, Steven, welcomed
baby Emilia Cristina Osborne in
November 2013.
Allison Schoenthal ‘93 (see
Alexandra Stanton ‘87)
Alumnae gather at the Jewish Museum for their private tour
90s
In April 2013, Lisa Alexander ‘90
received tenure and was
promoted to associate professor
at the University of Wisconsin
Law School. Her four-year-old
daughter, Kira, and husband,
Thomas Mitchell (also a law
professor at Wisconsin), are doing
well. Lisa will be attending
her 20th reunion at Wesleyan
University in Middletown,
Connecticut this spring.
Amie Rappoport McKenna ‘90
moderated a successful Alumnae
in Law panel in November (see
Alexandra Stanton ‘87), and
continues to devote herself to
the role of chair of the alumnae
fund. She has helped direct
two national campaigns that
established federal legislation
to help children with food
allergies: in 2005, President
George W. Bush signed a bill
requiring food manufacturers
to list major allergens in plain
English on packaged foods,
and in November 2013, Amie
was present in the Oval Office
as President Barack Obama
endorsed and signed a bill
authorizing schools to stock
emergency epinephrine for
use in allergic emergencies.
Caroline Werner ‘90 was
promoted to adjunct assistant
professor at NYU School of Social
Work, where she teaches social
welfare policy and mental health
policy master’s level courses. In
addition to her private counseling
practice at Mt. Sinai Beth Israel’s
Center for Health and Healing,
Caroline continues to consult
with organizations on employee
productivity, retention, and
stress management. She and her
husband, Karl, welcomed their
third child, Nathan, at the end of
2012, joining big brothers Gavin
and Dashiell.
Christina Hewett Call ‘91
welcomed a happy and healthy
Charles Tucker Call, 8 lbs 2 oz
and 21 inches, in February 2014.
Lauren Hirshfield Belden ‘93 and
her husband, Nate, welcomed a
baby boy, Milo Field Belden, on
January 30, 2014. Milo (pictured
here at 2 weeks old) joins proud
big sister Olivia. While adjusting
to life with two munchkins
under two is proving to be both
exhausting and exhilarating,
Lauren and Nate are also busy
gearing up for another exciting
“birth”: their Sonoma-grown and
produced wine brand! The first
vintage of Belden Barns wine will
be released later this year. Please
feel free to reach out to Lauren if
you want to visit the vineyard or
learn more.
Palmer Jones O’Sullivan ‘94 and
her husband, Ryan O’Sullivan,
welcomed twin daughters
in December 2013: Lachlan
Hayes (“Hayes”) and Palmer
Plum (“Plum”). The girls were
welcomed by big brothers Finn (6)
and Ford (4).
Emily Driscoll ‘98 married
Srineel Jalagani in Hyderabad,
India in November 2013. Emily’s
documentaries Invisible Ocean
and Shellshocked aired on
WLIW21 in February 2014. Her
next documentary, Brilliant
Darkness, is about fireflies in
Japan and the importance of
nocturnal environments.
Kathryn Wellin Thier ‘94
moved from North Carolina to
Oregon last summer when her
husband began a PhD program in
educational policy and leadership
at the University of Oregon.
After years as a journalist and
communications professional,
Kathryn has transitioned into
teaching public relations writing
and reporting at UO’s School of
Journalism and Communication.
She writes: “I find myself sharing
insights on writing with my
students from my Nightingale
days and recognize anew the
amazing training I received from
teachers such as Christine Schutt
and Lois Wien.”
Taylor McKenzie-Jackson ’95
writes: “My husband, Stephen,
and I are living in Carnegie Hill
with our daughters, Annabel,
age four, and Allie, almost three.
We’re so happy to be back in the
neighborhood and part of the
Nightingale community!”
Damaris Wollenburg Maclean ’97
(see faculty and staff notes)
00s
Zoe Settle ‘00 and James Hubert
Schriebl were married in February
2014 at the Loeb Boathouse in
Central Park, surrounded by many
Nightingale friends (photo above).
Elizabeth Bacon ‘00 and her
husband, Aaron Scherb, were
thrilled to welcome their son,
Elias Bacon Scherb, in November
2013. Elizabeth is a third grade
teacher at Sidwell Friends School
in Washington, D.C.
Jessica Rochester ‘99 is still
with the Emergency Food
Network and does program and
development work. She’s very
much a Minnesotan/Midwesterner
now, loves her work, and is quite
involved in the community and
volunteering. She writes that her
interest in the environment and
the sciences were kindled and
fueled by Karen Dressner and
Elaine Williamson [see page 43].
Johanna (JoJo) Cohen ‘00
married Eric Fleiss, also from
NYC, on January 18, 2014 in
Los Angeles, where they live.
She became a mom to Teddy
(7) and twins Benji and Caroline
(4). JoJo writes: “I couldn’t be
happier! Still working in fashion
and very busy now as a working
mom but loving every minute.”
Over the summer, Paloma
Figueroa ‘01 left her non-profit
job after nearly five years to join
the tech army of San Francisco.
She now wears several hats at
an exciting mobile app startup
called Gigwalk. Paloma writes:
“I am able to make big, impactful
decisions around culture-building
and people operations for a
rapidly growing team. Every day
is a new and exciting adventure!”
Caroline LeFrak Bierbaum ‘02
(see Daphne Schmon ’05)
Elisabeth Sacks ‘02 writes: “The
past year has been a busy one for
me: In November, I was married
to my husband, William Cornell
Baker, a rare book and ephemera
dealer who currently works as
the executive director of the
Institute Library in New Haven,
Connecticut. Dana Liljegren ‘02
and Rachel Walman ‘02 were
both in the wedding party. Will
and I have been living here in
New Haven for the past three
years while I completed my
residency in internal medicine at
Yale-New Haven Hospital. I also
matched at my first choice for
fellowship: we’re heading west
to Pittsburgh, where I will be a
fellow in pulmonary and critical
care medicine at the University
of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Alexis Lowry ‘03 married Daniel
Murray in August 2013. Alexis
is now a curator at the David
Winton Bell Gallery, Brown
University’s contemporary art
gallery and home to an important
part of the university’s permanent
art collection.
Joanna Mason Anderson ‘03
and husband Michael welcomed
a baby girl, Philippa “Pippa” Mae
Grace, on December 26, 2013.
Joanna writes: “She was quite the
Christmas present! She was 7 lbs
4 oz and 19 inches. I am enjoying
being a new mother and both
Michael and I are getting used to
our new sleep schedule (or lack
thereof!).”
Emily Bailin ‘03 is finishing her
third year as a doctoral student in
the education and communication
program at Teachers College,
Columbia University. Her research
interests revolve around critical
media literacy, multimodality, the
relationship between identity
development and popular culture,
youth media production, and
hip-hop education. She teaches
middle school and high school
media arts electives, offers
workshops on topics related
to her research interests, and
serves as a curriculum writer
and consultant for schools and
non-profit organizations. She
lives downtown with her sister,
Sara Bailin ’05 (and her puppy,
Zombie).
Ashley Billman ‘04 is currently
in her second year of teaching
Upper School English at Norfolk
Collegiate School, in Norfolk,
Virginia.
Samantha Margalit ‘04 started
her own wedding photography
business, Samantha Lauren
Photographie, and shoots
weddings and engagements in
and around NYC and the Hudson
Valley. She also recently got
engaged herself and is planning a
NYC wedding for late summer/fall.
Kate Berger ’05
(see Daphne Schmon ’05)
SP R I N G 2014 4 1
At the January 2014 Young
Alumnae Assembly, Daphne
Schmon ‘05 spoke about her
experiences making films that
inspire social change. Daphne
recently completed her second
film, Shifting Ground, which
follows three women in the Kibera
slum of Nairobi, Kenya. Daphne
also recently mentored aspiring
filmmaker June Liu ‘14. She was
joined on the panel by Caroline
LeFrak Bierbaum ‘02, president
of Empire Athletics Management,
a sports management company
that represents professional
marathoners, road racers, and
track and field athletes; Kate
Berger ‘05, who co-founded
the organizational company
Done and Done NYC; Melanie
Kimmelman ‘06, who recently
completed the Sotheby’s Master’s
program in art business and
works in public relations at the
David Zwirner Gallery; and
Nella Williams ‘06, who recently
returned from three years with the
Japan Exchange and Teaching
Program, which places native
English speakers in Japanese
schools to act as English teachers
and cultural ambassadors.
Tora Fisher ’08 was a featured
speaker at Nightingale’s first-ever
TEDx event on February 22
(see page 33).
Melanie Kimmelman ‘06
and Nella Williams ‘06
(See Daphne Schmon ’05)
Millicent Hennessey ‘12 recently
returned to Nightingale to teach
debate strategy to Upper School
students.
Zoë Johannes ‘07 is living in
London, working at the Rhodes
Project, a research project that
explores the career trajectories
of female Rhodes Scholars, and
attending law school part time.
In 2013 she played Cinderella in
the traditional British pantomime
of the same name and traveled
to Iceland on tour with her LGBT
choir, the Pink Singers. She writes:
“It was very cold.”
Idorenyin Akpan ‘11 is studying
abroad in São Paulo, Brazil for
the semester. She writes: “It’s
amazing here, and I’m hoping
to make some business contacts
(and friends) here so that maybe
I can return after I graduate
next year.”
Sayda Morales ‘11 has received
national attention for starting
a group at Whitman College
in Walla Walla, Washington
called All Students for Consent
(ASC), which strikes back against
patterns of sexual violence on
campuses. The New York Times
recently interviewed Sayda about
her work with ASC, and the
organization also recently won a
Consent Revolution Award from
the organization FORCE, which is
committed to combatting sexual
violence. A junior at Whitman,
Sayda is spending a semester
abroad in Rabat, Morocco,
studying issues of migration
and transnational identity.
Alexandra Stovicek ‘13 will
be interning at the Unitarian
Universalist United Nations
Office this summer.
Idy Akpan ‘11 in São Paulo
42 TH E B L UE DO O RS
faculty
and staff
notes
On March 15, Artist-in-Residence
Ian Spencer Bell danced versions
of new talking dances called
“Translations” at the Queens
Museum as a part of ETERNiDAY:
Queens Poet Lore Festival of the
Language Arts, curated by
Queens Poet Laureate Paolo
Javier. He writes that the “work is
deeply personal and comes from
a long consideration of how to
combine my writing and dancing.”
Ian also appeared on stage
March 19 and 20 in “Elsewhere,”
an evening-length concert of
new work at the Martha Graham
Studio Theater, which received
an enthusiastic review in the
March 21, 2014 edition of
The New York Times.
Initiales 3, a French literary-artistic
journal produced by L’Ecole
Nationale Superieure des BeauxArts de Lyon, recently marked
the centennial of the birth of
renowned French writer and
filmmaker Marguerite Duras by
publishing portions of interviews
conducted with her several
years ago by modern languages
faculty member Susan CohenNicole, who has also published
a book and numerous articles on
Duras. Here at home, in her role
as advisor to Women’s Rights
Club, Dr. Cohen-Nicole helped
to organize a sneak preview film
screening in February of the new
documentary, Brave Miss World.
Music faculty member and
professional violinist Gregory
Harrington performed in the
main hall of Carnegie Hall on
December 4, 2013, opening
for the New York Tenors at their
“The Spirit of Christmas” concert.
Backed by piano, bass, and
drums, Greg’s varied repertoire
included South American tango, a
little gypsy fiddling, Etta James’s
“At Last,” and an arrangement
of “Ashokan Farewell” that Greg
produced for the Ken Burns PBS
series The Civil War.
Class I homeroom teacher Hilary
Lucas and her husband, Keith,
welcomed daughter Harmony
Gale Lucas on March 20.
in
memoriam
Dorothy Barrett Fuller ‘36
passed away on November 14,
2013. She was 95.
Director of Community
Service Damaris Wollenburg
Maclean ‘97 and her husband,
Reid, welcomed their second
child, daughter Ardith Jane, on
February 20. Damaris, Reid, and
big brother Silas are all doing well.
In recognition of her work
as co-chair of the Princeton
University Class of 1993 20th
reunion, Director of Annual
Giving Kristin Green Morse
received the Class of 1947
James Scott Clancy Memorial
Reunion Trophy, which is awarded
annually for the best planned
and run major reunion.
“A Couple of Artists,” a joint
exhibition of work by Art
Department Head Marc Travanti
and his wife, Margaret Clark, ran
for five weeks at the Art & Music
Center Gallery at Aquinas College
in Michigan this winter. The show
marked the first time that Marc
and Margaret had exhibited their
work together.
English faculty member Brad
Whitehurst was named a semifinalist in this year’s prestigious
Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize
competition for his collection of
poems, “The Element We Live In.”
Of the 350 poets who submitted
their work to the competition,
only 22 were selected as finalists
and semi-finalists; judges for this
annual prize have included some
of the most important poets of
our time, including Richard Wilbur,
Charles Simic, and Mary Jo Salter.
Pamela Marsh Heinzer ‘49
passed away on November 24,
2013, in Stamford, Connecticut.
She was 82.
Remembering Lois Wien
Betsy Peters Callahan ‘50
passed away on December 23,
2013, in Vero Beach, Florida.
She was 81.
Pamela Brandt Denniston ’59
passed away on October 19,
2013, after a two-year battle
with lung cancer. She was 71.
Elizabeth Spear Rogers ‘91
passed away in February 2013.
Elizabeth Guile Orr ‘38 died at
her home in Quogue, New York,
on December 10, 2013, at the
age of 93.
elaine williamson
Elaine Williamson, beloved
member of the science faculty
from 1983–2009, passed away
at the age of 74 on November
12, 2013, after a short illness.
She is survived by her husband,
Ron; her children, Jimmy,
Annie, and Elizabeth; and seven
grandchildren.
Elaine’s primary role
at Nightingale was as a
science teacher, but her life
at Nightingale extended far
beyond that. In her 27 years at
our school, Elaine shepherded
an exchange with a school in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s,
coached volleyball, served as a homeroom teacher, and chaperoned
many, many trips to the Mystic Aquarium, among other things.
Elaine loved marine biology. Before arriving at Nightingale, she
served as an educator at Mystic Aquarium, where she developed
and taught in a popular traveling classroom that brought sea
creatures to children in Connecticut and Rhode Island elementary
schools. She also introduced New York City public school students
to marine life found along local shores through her work at the New
York City Boathouse; her teaching was facilitated by a touch tank
that she designed and stocked with local shoreside fauna and flora.
For many of us at Nightingale, Elaine Williamson was more than
a colleague. She was a mentor and a friend. She loved the teaching
life, valued her colleagues, and cherished her time with the girls.
by Fernanda Winthrop ‘00
Sometimes a student will ask me if she might start spelling the word
“you” with a single letter, as that is how it is so often done these
days. But I have one particular student who loves to use big words,
and she does not use them lightly. Words are serious business to
her. This student frequently comes into school with a new word and
a plan to add it to her repertoire. She recently expressed her desire
to use the word “persnickety” in a composition she was writing for
English class. This led to some dictionary work (for my benefit, really,
so as not to mislead her into misuse). What I found was this definition:
“adj. placing too much emphasis on trivial or minor details.”
Lois Wien was not persnickety.
Lois Wien was fastidious (adj. very attentive to and concerned
about accuracy and detail).
Her fastidiousness was decidedly non-persnickety.
In every conversation I have with my Nightingale classmates
or my sisters (also Nightingale graduates), it is Lois’s focus on and
attention to details as an English teacher that trumps all other
memories. Not that Lois Wien is to be remembered only as the
strictest grammarian any of us encountered as a high school
student. It was not lost on her students that every single spelling
correction, misused semicolon, or forgotten comma Lois pointed
out in a student’s writing, marked with her precise (and sometimes
intimidating) pen and deducted from that student’s grade, was
evidence of her love, devotion, and commitment to each and every
one of us. It is a rarity to find another teacher who, as my sister
Elizabeth (Class of ‘97) remembers, often read manuscripts that
crossed her desk backwards to ensure that every word was spelled
correctly, who could squeeze sonnets out of 15-year-olds (in perfect
iambic pentameter), and who was present at every single one of
our performances and concerts, sitting in the upper left hand side
of the auditorium.
We, the graduates of the school of Lois Wien are a quirky
bunch, perhaps slightly masochistic, but certainly high achieving.
Lois instilled standards of written communication that, as adults,
we pride ourselves on maintaining in a world where such standards
are in flux or even in decline. Lois Wien is the teacher who, because
of her devotion to us, brought out some of the best work we would
produce while at Nightingale. Her influence upon us as graduates
has reached far beyond.
Former English Department Head Lois Wien taught at Nightingale
from 1973–2002. She passed away in January 2014 in New York City.
Fernanda Winthrop ‘00 is a Class III homeroom teacher at
Nightingale.
SP R I N G 2014 4 3
Voices
Here we feature the
voice of someone
in the Nightingale
community. If you
would like to
share some of
your thoughts or
experiences with
others in the
community, please
contact us at
bluedoors@
nightingale.org.
44 TH E B L UE DO O RS
Head of School
ALUMNAE BOARD
Paul A. Burke
Brooke Brodsky Emmerich ‘91, President
Zoe Settle ‘00, Vice President
Melissa Providence ‘02, Secretary
Amie Rappoport McKenna ‘90, Chair, Alumnae Fund
Board of Trustees
Rebecca Rasmussen Grunwald, President Blair Pillsbury Enders ‘88, Vice President
Elena Hahn Kiam ‘81, Vice President
James D. Forbes, Treasurer
Gregory Palm, Secretary
Alexandra Damley-Strnad ’13 is a freshman at
the University of Miami.
They say that engineers are professional
practitioners, concerned with applying scientific
knowledge, mathematics, and ingenuity to
develop solutions for technical problems. But is
that all they do? Forever a Nightingale girl, I found
myself questioning this simple definition. After my
first semester as an aerospace engineering major
at the University of Miami’s College of Engineering,
it is clear to me that engineering involves more
than that.
My inaugural steps on campus were on an
unbearably hot and sunny mid-August day. Head
held high during orientation week and eager to
dive into whatever would come my way, I was
amazed by my beautiful surroundings: palm trees
swaying in the breeze, a sparkling fountain in the
lake at the heart of campus, and modern, stateof-the-art buildings with a tropical feel. However,
I soon learned that there was much more to this
school than what met the eye. My classes were
typical for first-year engineering: accelerated
physics and calculus, English, and an introduction
to the field of engineering that exposed us to
ethics, various mathematical programs, computer
science, and program-based design and modeling
tools. Although this course load may seem light,
it came with countless projects, presentations, and
labs. Professors warned us that every hour in class
became three hours of work outside of it. This was
no exaggeration—the time quickly added up!
For me, an engineer’s primary contribution
is solving problems, and there are always
questions to be answered. Projects quickly set
me along this path: building a 10-foot model
bridge compliant with National Bridge Inspection
Standards, designing a mousetrap-powered car
that could travel 50 feet, as well as a contraption
that launches and catches eggs without cracking
them, and using real-world standard shop
machines to build usable nuts and bolts from
scrap metal. These projects demand attention to
detail, thinking on your feet, time management,
resilience from inevitable failures, confidence,
and a fierce, “go get ‘em” attitude—all qualities
I gained from my years at Nightingale.
So far, my time in Miami has been brimming
with personal achievements and learning
experiences for which I am truly grateful. In
addition to my academic work, I am a passionate
sailor and have found a great competitive spirit
among my similarly minded teammates on the
University of Miami’s sailing team. I will never
forget the feeling of my first collegiate regatta
last fall—outfitted in my orange and green pinnie
with the enormous “U” on the back—and I am
particularly proud that my teammates on the
women’s team chose me at the start of second
semester to serve as their captain.
Nightingale reinforced my belief in doing
things to the best of my ability. And with six
months of college now behind me, I am eager to
see what comes next. This summer, I will build on
my personal commitment to being a girl in the
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics) fields by working as a research
assistant in the lab of an aerospace engineering
professor. I have sailed out of the blue doors,
but the lessons I learned behind them remain
with me. I look forward to staying in touch, and
I wish you all fair winds and following seas.
Clarissa Bronfman
Paul A. Burke, Ex-officio
James S. Chanos
Brenda Earl
Brooke Brodsky Emmerich ‘91, Ex-officio
Alexander Evans
Douglas Feagin
Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss ‘93
John Hall
John J. Hannan
Patricia Gilchrist Howard ‘62
Steven B. Klinsky
Paul Lachman
Valerie Margulies, Ex-officio
Curtis Mewbourne
Renan Pierre
Dina Powell
Debora Spar
Mary Margaret Trousdale
Honorary Board Members
Jerome P. Kenney
Susan Hecht Tofel ‘48
Grant F. Winthrop
Nina Joukowsky Köprülü ‘79
Paul A. Burke, Ex-officio
Elizabeth Victory Anderson ‘88
Elizabeth Boehmler ‘94
Elizabeth Riley Fraise ‘98
Sage Garner ‘04
Daphra Holder ‘03
Hillary Johnson ‘76
Elizabeth Friedland Meyer ‘89
Palmer Jones O’Sullivan ‘94
Arden Surdam ‘06, Ex-officio
Melissa Elting Walker ‘92
Samantha Wishman ‘06, Ex-officio
OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL
ADVANCEMENT
Mary Richter ‘93
Director of Institutional Advancement
Amanda Goodwin
Director of Alumnae Relations
Kristin Green Morse
Director of Annual Giving
Jessie Page ‘03
Advancement Associate
Andrew Peterson
Database Manager
Katy Ritz
Development Officer
Nicki Sebastian
Director of Digital Communications
Susan Tilson
Director of Publications
HEAD OF SCHOOL EMERITA
Dorothy A. Hutcheson
PARENTS ASSOCIATION OFFICERS
Valerie Margulies, President
Stacy Calder Clapp ‘91, Vice President
Natalie Stange, Secretary/Treasurer
SP R I N G 2014 4 5
Nightingale
The Nightingale-Bamford School
20 East 92nd Street, New York, NY 10128
nightingale.org
46 TH E B L UE DO O RS