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Noble & Greenough School
10CampusDrive
Volume 4, Number 3
October 2007
A Strong Class Doesn’t Just Happen
Retreats Prepare Students for Best Possible Year
In This Issue
B y t h e O f f i c e o f Co m m u n i c a t i o n S
J o y c e L . E l d r i d g e , A r i e ll e G r e e n l e a f , J u l i e G u p t i ll
Class I Retreat
Page 1
Magic Bus Ride
Page 1
English via Latin
Page 2
New Faculty Enrich
Classrooms
Page 3
Class II Retreat
Page 5
Class III Retreat
Page 6
Class IV Retreat
Page 6
Class V Retreat
L
eadership skills, identity, orientation to new surroundings, thoughts
about legacies…these are four of
the core themes of Classes I through
VI retreats, each tailored to the
needs of students entering the next stage of
their education. As Head Robert P. Henderson Jr. ’76 said in his opening day remarks:
“This is a remarkable and caring faculty who
will help you navigate the tough moments
[and share your joy in the happy ones].”
Ten Campus Drive offers you a bird’s-eye
view of each retreat, some off campus, as far
away as the Cape and New Hampshire, and
some transporting students to other realms,
via their imagination and activities, but never
leaving Nobles’ own 187 acres.
Page 7
Class VI Retreat
Page 8
Veteran Faculty in
New Positions
Page 8
The Achieve Program
at Nobles
Page 10
Bridges Program
Leads to Transitions
Page 11
Cambridge
Kids Contribute
Substantively
Page 11
C L A S S I R E T R E AT
The “L” Words:
“Leadership” and “Legacy”
Fifthies enjoy low ropes course.
Having moved up the ranks from “sixies” (in many cases) to
graduates-to-be, Class I students, at their retreat, appeared to
have earned some of the hallmarks of privilege. Discussions
were more loosely structured than in past years; considerable
free time to mingle was available between activities; some of
the information shared was very personal, some confidential,
almost like an analytical session rather than a focus group.
Class I spent a day and a half at Camp Bournedale, set on
a fairly steep hill alongside Long Lake in Plymouth. Small cabins, replete with cots and showers, dotted the hillside, as did a
spacious gymnasium and an impressive dining hall encircled
by decks that students and faculty alike used to read and so-
News Briefs
cialize. Platters of healthy food were served family style, and
one needed only to lift a platter on high before a server scurried
over to refill the mashed potatoes or the golden roast chicken.
The first day was spent in a story-writing and sharing exercise that was designed to reveal something interesting or surprising about the author. The class was divided into nine
groups, each of which nominated a candidate to tell the group’s
best or most representative story later that evening. Topics
ranged from the lessons learned from being in a car accident,
to feeling out of place racially, to flying for 14 hours in a plane
next to a girl who seemed to be on a “bad trip,” to a hilarious
reenactment of a golf game played with a little step-brother.
Retreats
c o n t i n u e d o n pa g e f i v e
“Magic Bus”
Takes Shape as
Casino Boat Cruise
Page 12
Head of School’s
Opening Assembly
Speech
O
Page 14
n a warm, late summer afternoon, students
of the Upper School took a journey on the
famed “Magic Bus.” It delivered them to
Boston’s World Trade Center dock where they
boarded a casino boat cruise. Not only were the
songs electric, but also the mood.
The start of the school year had Classes IV
through I singing and dancing to the “techno” version of Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” as the
Provincetown II sailed out of Boston Harbor to the
open sea. Old friendships were rekindled and new
friendships made as the lines between classes
Heard in the Halls
Page 15
Parent Spearheads
Effort for CarlsonPietraszek Family
Page 16
Students enjoy each other’s company with the city as
their backdrop.
Magic Bus
c o n t i n u e d o n n e x t pa g e
2
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Campus Drive
October 2007
Duo Magistri, Duae Linguae
B y J oyc e L e f f l e r E l d r i d g e
I
magine entering a class as a Class VI student, where literature, poetry, vocabulary
and grammar are but four phases of the
course. Also promised are writing, art, recitations and field trips. And by the end of the
year: an immense vocabulary, a lifelong understanding of grammar, ancient myths and classical literature that will serve you through college.
This is the new interdisciplinary breakthrough planned for Middle Schoolers entering
the Class of ’13 this September. “This year-long
interdisciplinary course in English and Latin will
show the underpinnings and continuity of language as students grasp derivatives, cognates,
myths and archetypes,” said Middle School Head
Jenny Carlson-Pietraszek when the course
was in its planning stage. “The Middle School
faculty has found that students in the 7th and
8th grades particularly tend to see the world
in many dimensions. When students examine
any one property from other perspectives, they
more clearly appreciate the discipline they are
working through.”
The team teachers for the new English via
Latin course are Sarah Snyder and George
Blake, who teach English and Latin respectively
in the Upper and Middle Schools. “There’s a
connection between Latin and virtually everything else in the world, including politics, history, architecture and city planning,” Blake said.
Furthermore, as in any interdisciplinary course,
some joint goals have been established that transcend subject-specific aims.
Together the two language teachers will enable 7th graders to appreciate and understand
Roman and English literature. In addition to
thorough interpretations of texts such as John
Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and the Biblical Genesis, students will be asked to write often
Magic Bus
c o n t i n u e d f r o m pag e o n e
blurred over the whirr of the roulette table and
the screams of “black jack!” With faculty as their
casino dealers, much laughter ensued.
These Upper Schoolers were ready to leave
summer behind and embark on the adventure
that each new school year brings. “This is a really relaxed way for all four grades to get together
and interact,” said SLC President Raj Dhaliwal
’08. “Once the boat launches, the seniors really
reach out to the younger students and it’s completely relaxed.”
— Arielle Greenleaf
Science teachers Jen Craft and
Dominic Manzo oversee the roulette
table as students watch hopefully
for their number.
Latin teacher George Blake and English
teacher Sarah Snyder share teaching
responsibilities.
and thoughtfully to gain a fluency in literary
criticism. Throughout the year students also
will read excerpts from Edith Hamilton’s book,
Mythology.
The two literary themes that all Class VI
students will study are “innocence” in first semester and “empathy” in second semester. Writers such as Shakespeare and Sophocles are
among just a few whose works will illustrate
these themes.
One of the joys anticipated from a course
like this is finding connections that would otherwise be unrecognized. In some ways that’s what
education is all about, the word “education”
itself being a derivative of the Latin words “ex”
and “ducere” meaning to “lead out.” Many view
education as a leading out of ignorance. For an
“English via Latin” course description, visit
www.nobles.edu/MScurriculum.
October 2007
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Campus Drive 3
New Faculty and Staff Arrive with
Questions, Excitement and Enthusiasm
B y J u l i e G u p t i ll
T
wo weeks before the start of the new
school year, students from the Nobles
Peer Help Program greeted a special
“class” and showed the incoming members the nooks and crannies of campus, answering
every question from “Where is the Academic Office?”
to “Where do we eat lunch everyday?” No doubt
those students spent the first few days of classes answering those questions again when new students
arrived in September; the first round of inquiry
came from another group of “freshmen”—new faculty and staff. The new members of the Nobles
community began their orientation at the end of
August, eager to learn about life at the school and to
kick off the start of the academic year.
New teachers join several departments this
year, including History and Social Science, English,
Modern Language, Classics, and Science. During
the opening series of introductions Ruihua Sun
introduced herself as a “Chinese [woman] who is
teaching Japanese here at Nobles,” while Pamela
Rojas, a Fulbright Exchange Scholar, explained that
she typically teaches English to Spanish-speaking
students, but will switch roles at Nobles to teach
Spanish to English-speaking students for the first
time. Several new staff members also participated,
including members of the Admission Department,
Communications, Development and Graduate Affairs Offices, and Information Systems and Support.
Communications Specialist Arielle Greenleaf,
an alumna of Independent School League (ISL)
St. Paul’s School, had been working with the
department since June, but was excited for the arrival of students and the day-to-day bustle of the
Schoolhouse.
A frontline of Nobles veterans greeted the orientation group to help ease new members into the
“Nobles way”; many offered advice and information from years of experience. Head of School
Robert Henderson Jr. ’76 spoke about the fast
pace at Nobles, noting how it surprises many new
teachers, including himself when he first started.
He also quoted one of our own, Dean of Students
Erika Guy, whose well-known mantra of “Never
worry alone” is invaluable advice for all members of
the Nobles community—new comers and veterans.
“Ask a lot of questions,” urged Henderson. “There
is someone here who will know the answer and help
you do your best for our students.”
Head of Upper School Ben Snyder, Dean of
Faculty Sandi MacQuinn and Dean of New Faculty
Mark Sheeran were also on hand to offer resources and information to help new faculty and staff ’s
first year run smoothly. “The students here love
to learn,” explained Snyder. “And although there
will be both good days and bad days for all of you,
what will push you through is the knowledge that
the students look to you for an interesting classroom experience and reliable guidance. It’s why
we’re all here.”
Director
of Financial
Aid Nan
Bussey,
right, looks
on as
Japanese
Teacher
Rae Sun
introduces
herself to
fellow new
faculty.
Meet the New Faculty & Staff
Michelle Albert, Diversity Teaching Fellow
Albert joins the Nobles staff after completing her first year of teaching at Boston Collegiate
Charter School in Dorchester. She graduated from Middlebury College in 2006 and is eager
to work at Nobles, as she is an independent school alum herself (Groton School).
Kate Blake, English Department
After one year as a teaching fellow at Nobles, Blake told Dean of Students Erika Guy she
might become a professional runner rather than continue teaching, to which Guy replied, “Is
there any money in that?” Blake quickly discovered that the answer was “no.” That fall, Blake
was back in the classroom, this time at Weston High School. After five years, Blake moved on
to her next venture: writing. She will receive her MFA from Emerson College this December
after completing a “work of publishable quality.”
Nan Bussey, Director of Financial Aid/Admission/Coach
Bussey is returning to Nobles...although she never really left. After graduating from Trinity
College in 1989, she worked in the Nobles Development Office as Campaign Coordinator and
coached field hockey, squash and lacrosse. She left in the summer of ’92, married Provost
Bill Bussey and attended Boston College where she received her Masters in Education. During the past several years, Bussey has coached J.V. girls’ squash at Nobles and middle school
soccer at Milton Academy, where daughters Kate and Sarah attend school.
Barry Clifford ’87, Senior Development Officer
Clifford is a Nobles graduate, Class of 1987. After leaving Nobles, he attended Williams
College and then spent the next 15 years outside of New England. He has been a teacher in
Osaka, Japan, a PR professional in Houston, an actor and entrepreneur in Los Angeles, and
more recently Director of Communications for a local community health center.
Tara Cocozza, Spanish Department
Cocozza earned her B.A. in Psychology and Spanish from the College of the Holy Cross and
began her teaching career at Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill. Not accustomed to
the idea of having summers off, she spent three summers at Middlebury College, earning her
M.A. in Spanish. Since then, however, she has learned to take advantage of the summer
months by using them to study French and Italian and to travel to interesting places such as
Spain, Italy and, most recently, China. New Faculty & Staff
c o n t i n u e d o n n e x t pa g e
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10
Campus Drive
October 2007
New Faculty & Staff
c o n t i n u e d f r o m pag e t h r e e
Rob Feingold,
Assistant Director of Athletics
After receiving his B.A. in Environmental Studies
from Lewis & Clark College, Feingold came home
to teach sailing at Cape Cod Sea Camps in
Brewster, Mass. (where he would spend his
next seven summers). Feingold transitioned to
the independent school environment at The
Fenn School as the Assistant Director of Admissions. He also taught math and coached soccer
and lacrosse.
Arielle Greenleaf,
Communications Specialist
Greenleaf received her B.S. in print journalism
from Boston University. After a year at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Children as communications associate, she
channeled her inner “fac-brat” and decided to
head back to independent schools. Greenleaf
grew up and was later a student at St. Paul’s
School in Concord, N.H., where her father is a
religion, ethics and philosophy teacher.
Darryl Hazelwood, Middle School
Social Studies Teaching Fellow
Hazelwood is originally from southern New Jersey, where he attended an all-male Catholic
school in Delaware, playing football, basketball
and track. He received his B.A. from Boston College with a double major in Education and History. Hazelwood worked in the admission office
at BC, and will be involved in many aspects of
Nobles including Brother to Brother, Middle
School MSA and the Middle School social
studies curriculum.
Jamileh Jemison,
Science Department
Jamileh is an Arabic name that means “beautiful” and, in some interpretations, “camel.” Her
fantastic voyage to Nobles began with a
B.A. in Biology from Cornell University (Go Big
Red!), followed by an M.S. in Genetics from The
University of Michigan (Go Blue!). Still working
out that “What do I want to be when I grow up?”
question, Jemison worked at the NIH for two
years before returning to New England to complete the first year of a pediatrics residency at
the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.
Owen Kiely,
Science Teaching Fellow
Kiely comes to Nobles after completing both
his B.A. and M.A. at Wesleyan University in
Neuroscience and Behavior. Originally from
Athol, Mass., Kiely has done extensive research
in neuroscience and has been a teaching assistant in that department as well. He will be
teaching biology and coaching cross country,
basketball and tennis at Nobles.
Jody McQuillan, French Department
McQuillan will be teaching two sections of
French at Nobles after being an Assistant Professor of French at Wellesley College since 2002.
She earned her Ph.D. in French from Brown and
received her undergraduate degree from Amherst. She taught for many years at independent
schools in Colorado, Connecticut and Rhode Island before moving to the Boston area in 2002.
Heather Peterson ’03,
Classics Teaching Fellow
Peterson grew up in nearby Weston, Mass., and
attended Nobles beginning in the seventh grade.
After graduating in 2003, she went on to pursue
a passion for the Classical world that was sparked
by her Latin classes in the Middle School, and
received her B.A. in Classics and Old World
Archaeology and Art from Brown University. Remembering the amazing influence her classes
and teachers at Nobles had on her, she decided
to return this year to experience the school from
a new angle (and a new spot in Assembly).
Pamela Rojas, Spanish Department
Rojas received her B.A. in English Literature and
title as English teacher in the year 1998, from Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso, Chile. She
has been working in Colegio Esperanza, a semiprivate school in Quilpue, for 10 years, where
she was head of the English department for six
years and head of two different grades for 10
years. She speaks Spanish as her native language and English as her second language.
Rojas is a Fulbright Scholar from Chile who is filling Margaret Robertson’s position for the year.
Alycia Scott-Hiser,
Middle School Academic Tech. Advocate
A proud Midwestern native, Scott-Hiser is not
afraid to admit that she grew up in Normal, Illinois (yes, Normal!). At Illinois State University,
she majored in photography, which was the vehicle that eventually got her interested in media
technology. For four years she helped map technology curricula and taught a variety of technology classes. In addition to feeding her passion
for “all things media,” Scott-Hiser spends the
rest of her free time transporting her 8-year-old
daughter to piano lessons, softball practice and
various judo tournaments across the Northeast.
Tessy Smith,
Information Systems and Support
Smith received her B.A. degree in Mathematics/
Computer Science from M.I.T. After graduation,
she started her career at Mercer as an actuarial
trainee but spent most of her time in the computer department where she figured out what
she most loved to do. Now she is a self-declared
geek and considers her job one of her hobbies.
Two of her four children are current Nobles students, Brendan ’11 and Conor ’13. Smith loves
working with kids, especially middle schoolers
and hopes to find time to do that at Nobles.
New faculty member Kate Blake catches
up with Dean of Faculty Sandi MacQuinn
and Head of School Bob Henderson.
Ruihua Sun,
Japanese/Modern Language Department
Sun received her B.A. in Japanese Language
and Culture from Nanjing University, China, and
her M.A. in Japanese Education as a Foreign
Language from Tsukuba University, Japan. She
is also teaching Japanese at the Japanese
Language School of Greater Boston in Medford
and Chinese at the Newton Chinese Language
School. Since she hadn’t used English since
high school, she had to take English lessons
again at 37 years old. Now she speaks Chinese,
Japanese and English. Before coming to Nobles,
she had taught Japanese for more than 10 years
in China and Japan.
Connie Yépez,
Director of Achieve; Assistant Director
of Admission
Yépez, an (U.S.) Army brat and proud daughter
of Ecuadorian immigrants made her way back to
her alma mater, Groton School, to work in the
admission office after receiving her B.A. in Women’s and Gender Studies from Eckerd College.
She really enjoyed admission work and decided
to move on to A Better Chance (ABC) where she
knew she would have the opportunity to work
closely with many students/families of color as
they sought entrance into independent schools
across the country. After several years, she
joined the team at Citybridge (a program at Concord Academy) and finally found her calling and
the kind of program she wanted to run. Now
she is thrilled to be at Nobles where she will
have the opportunity to create a new middle
school academic enrichment program named
Achieve, which will begin in the summer of 2008.
(See story, page 10.)
October 2007
10
Campus Drive Retreats
“Down time”
c o n t i n u e d f r o m pag e o n e
enjoyed on
the deck
Because so much of Class I’s thinking
lends itself to preparing for life after Nobles, a
session was devoted to “Leaving a Legacy.” Students were advised to consider “what words you
would want to be remembered by” at your 5th or
10th reunion. Gandhi’s words, “Be the change
you want to see in the world,” were used as a
guidepost, as they frequently are in Assembly
messages and addresses from Head of School
Bob Henderson Jr. ’76.
C lass I I R etreat
Preparing for Additional
Responsibilities
While a guest speaker and facilitator were
brought into school for the Class II retreat, most
of the insights and decisions emanated from the
Class of ’09 itself, guided by an attentive and
well-primed faculty. The purpose of the dayand-a-half-long experience was to prepare students
for the leadership roles they will be volunteering
and vying for between now and graduation. A
corollary topic involved informal leadership opportunities that everyone assumes at some point
in time. English faculty member and former
Head of School Dick Baker phrased this meaningfully by asking, “Who leads in the alcoves…
Who sets the agenda in terms of conversation?”
Baker’s advice, based in no small measure
on his leadership experience in the military and
in independent school education (his own as
well) included paying attention to “the need to
set values for the group you are leading.” He cited the importance of convincing people to do
something you want [and believe needs] to get
done. One lesson he learned in the military came
from his larger-than-life commanding officer
(Baker was his No. 2 man) Capt. Pete Dawkins,
U.S. Military Academy (a.k.a. West Point) graduate, former Heisman Trophy winner and Rhodes
Scholar: “Leadership is part performance. Take
on a persona that conveys confidence and a cando attitude.” Baker himself later realized, as Head
of School at Nobles, that a leader is tantamount
to a “servant” whose responsibility is to better
the lives of the people he is leading, never failing
to acknowledge that success is generally due to
the work of many others.
As Class II Dean Brian Day phrased it: “My
hope is that the retreat will allow students the
opportunity to identify and think about specific
characteristics of good leadership, formal and
informal, so that they can reflect on how these
may relate to their lives at the present time...and
to think about potential leadership positions
that they may be interested in assuming as they
move through this coming school year into their
Class I year.”
To this end, Day invited as keynote speaker
a close friend, Dr. Robert Puchniak, a faculty
member at Day’s former school, Delbarton, in
encircling the
dining hall
Morristown, N.J. Dr. Puchniak played Major
Junior hockey in Canada after high school, only
to learn his talents were not sufficient to make
hockey his lifelong profession. His decision to
earn his Ph.D. in theology may have seemed like
a giant leap, but Dr. Puchniak used as his mantra
Kierkegaard’s dictum: “We are never finished
with life ’til life is finished with us.” Only by
knowing one’s “inner self ” and determining
one’s non-negotiable set of values can one “truly
lead others,” he advised.
This call for self-knowledge became the
foundation for discussion when students split
into small groups. Students were asked to enumerate qualities of leadership that they considered indispensable. Common answers included
“respect, take-charge attitude, goal-setter, good
communicator, risk-taker, honesty, integrity,
confidence, fairness, good judgment, independent thinker, open-minded, ability to lead by example, ability to compromise.”
During a second discussion period, students
were asked to rank 15 items in order of importance to survive a shipwreck. The purpose was
less to figure out whether a jug of drinking water
was more important than a jug of oil and gasoline than to appreciate the dynamics of leadership: How did consensus evolve? Who/how did
someone step up to lead? Did everyone feel
heard? What means worked best to establish a
leader? New parent Kirk Arnold P’11, a CEO of
her own company which facilitates leadership
groups, spoke to the class about the three essentials to good leadership: “Don’t seek personal
glory. Never ask someone to do something you
wouldn’t do. Be trustworthy.”
Arnold gave the class a few questions to keep
in mind as they assess their leadership opportunities: Whom would I want to follow? Why does
that leader make me want to be part of his/her
team? What is it that makes us trust someone?
She ended by advising the Class of ’09 to “watch
and learn from the leaders amongst you” and
“develop your own list of leadership lessons.”
English teacher and former Head Dick
Baker addressed Class II.
Class II Dean Brian Day,
left, with Keynote speaker
Dr. Robert Puchniak
5
6
10
Campus Drive
October 2007
C lass I I I : Identity
With one year of high school behind them, most
Class III students are faced with the realization
that they’re no longer transitioning into Nobles
—they’re here and ready to identify who they
truly want to be. Class III Dean and math teacher
Karen Gallagher opened the sophomore
retreat with a story of her own high school experience. Gallagher said that freshman year is about
getting up to speed and trying to stay comfortable among new surroundings. “I realized sophomore year that I didn’t want just to be comfortable. I wanted to leave my mark on the school.”
She challenged the students to use the two-day
retreat to examine the theme of “identity” and
what it means to them, not only as students,
but also as family members and as people outside of Nobles.
After spending the morning in small group
discussion, the students heard Dean of CityYear
Charlie Rose speak about identity. He brainstormed ways that people often identify themselves, including race, gender, religion, personality and environment, among others. Rose shared
details of his troubled adolescence, a time when
he says “he identified himself by all that was
wrong in his life.” It wasn’t until he was incarcerated, that a probation officer helped change this,
and Rose, who still keeps in touch with his mentor, started to turn things around. Rose ended,
“You absolutely can change your course.”
The second day had the students taking a
different look at identity and, with help from the
Visual Arts Department, examined how to “make
their mark.” The students took on a threepronged art project, with each component involving every student’s touch and contribution.
The students collaborated on the first two steps
to create a new installation in the Foster Gallery,
using their own silhouettes cut from black paper,
and their own words, symbols and stamps to
mark up the walls of the gallery. (For more information on Class III’s exhibit in Foster Gallery,
visit www.fostergallery.org) “At Nobles, teamwork
arrives differently, whether it’s on the field or in
the classroom, and because of the Foster Gallery,
we can also collaborate in the arts,” explained
photography teacher and Visual Arts Department Head Roger Boulay ’99. After showing
silhouette work from other accomplished artists,
Dean
of CityYear
Charlie
Rose
addresses
Class III.
art teacher Betsy VanOot reaffirmed the importance of collaboration: “This exhibit, which
will hang [in the Foster Gallery] for the next
month, won’t work unless we have all of your silhouettes. Your silhouettes—taken from part of
your identity—will line the walls of Foster.”
Faculty members John Dorsey and John
Hirsch explained the details of the third component of Class III’s art project—a garden, which
will inevitably become a part of the school’s
identity as a new space for students to spend
time. Students worked to create a unique garden,
whose home is purposely positioned between
the old and new arts buildings, to honor the life
and art of former visual arts faculty member
Makoto Yabe, who taught ceramics at Nobles
for 12 years and who died in 2005 after a fight with
cancer. For inspiration and vision as to what
thoughtful design can do to a simple space, the
students saw slides of other spaces that were
transformed with artistic changes in landscape.
As each small group rotated through the
three components of the day-long art project,
the students watched as each piece came together,
evolving before their eyes and changing the campus spaces that had been unmarked just hours
before they arrived. The transformation was an
exceptional bridge between the themes of identity and mark-making and the tangible change
that the students helped evoke. As the Class III
students begin their school year, hopefully that
bridge will remind each of them that the effort to
change can produce direct results.
Class III students and faculty work to
create a new campus garden.
Students leave Towles to begin small
group discussions.
C lass I V : Change Is in the Air
Brittany Reid ’11 helps
her classmate across the
fields during team-building
exercises.
Freshman year is fairly complex; it’s the beginning of what everyone hopes will
be an amazing high school experience, riddled with the anxiety and an instant
rush to navigate everything from new classes and friendships to a new campus
and traffic patterns. For the Nobles freshman class, there’s another complexity.
Members of the Class of 2011 inevitably fall into two categories: those students
who have stepped up from the Middle School and have some sense of how things
run at Nobles, and those who are new to the school. Each group came to the
Class IV Retreat with different challenges and opportunities and, yet, left as one
united freshman class.
New students, although dealing with all that comes with starting at a new
school, have the opportunity to start fresh easily; they can choose the person
they’ll be here at Nobles. Returning students have to deal with change in a different way; people may know them a certain way, and if they want to branch out
to try new things, they’ll have to take risks to get there. Trying to keep all of this
in mind, faculty and staff leaders attempted to help the entire class let its guard
October 2007
down and get to know one another through
team building exercises and ice breakers.
Class IV Dean Alex Gallagher welcomed
the students on Tuesday, Sept. 4, where they
gathered at the Morrison Athletic Center. He
spoke briefly about the retreat schedule, leaving
most of the talking for the students themselves.
During the course of the next two days, the students worked in small groups mixed with both
new and returning students. At times, the tasks
at hand were entertaining, like how to work together to fill a bucket with water when each team
member’s feet were planted to the ground, yards
away from both the bucket and water source.
Other times, the tasks took a more serious tone,
like discussing tough case studies that dealt with
the Nobles’ Community Principles and feeling
comfortable enough to speak openly and honestly with the group members.
During the team building activities, while
one group of students tried to assess how best
to work together to move a soccer ball 10 yards
without touching it, Director of Academic Support Laura Vantine guided them, advising:
“The point is to listen to one another and really
Middle School Retreats Focus
on Teamwork, School Values
C lass V R etreat
At 7:30 a.m. the busses were packed and ready to
go on Nobles’ Class V retreat at Windsor Mountain in Hillsboro, N.H. With sleeping bags in tow,
old friends were reunited and new friendships
were made on a beautiful late summer morning
in the mountains. Led by counselors from the
Windsor Mountain camp and by Nobles faculty
members, the fifthie retreat focused on teamwork,
leadership and communication.
Whether on the waterfront, high or low
ropes course, or engaging in problem-solving
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Campus Drive 7
A small group of
Class IV students
work together on
a challenge.
hear what’s being said; you have to respect each
other’s input and trust each other’s judgment.”
Those words proved true throughout the retreat,
and the more students heeded her advice, the
stronger the bond among them became. Several
days later, sitting in Assembly on the first day of
school, no one would have looked out to see two
groups, one of new and the other of returning
students, but rather, one strong class, ready to
navigate the next four years together.
activities, students accepted each challenge and
worked together to find a solution for success.
Take the high ropes course, for example. While
one student climbed, a Windsor Mountain
counselor belayed while another student was
backup belaying. Essentially, each student had
the life of another in his or her hands. Though
fears were evident at times, students supported
each other both physically and mentally and
helped each other reach their goals. “Being up
there was scary at times,” said Matt King ’12. “I
definitely felt like my group supported me and
helped me get through it.”
Another aspect of the retreat had students
focus on their goals for the upcoming year. Re-
Kimmy Ganong ’13 looks on as her
Class V mentor Megan Hickey guides
her through her day.
The beautiful Bourne campsite was host to Class I’s retreat.
treat leader Fred Hollister really wanted students to look inside themselves and figure out
what it is they are after. “We’ll have them start by
making 20 goals and we’ll have them cut the
goals down until they get to five or maybe even
one,” Hollister said. Once these goals were sealed
in an envelope, they would return safely to school
and be given to each student’s advisor to encourage a conversation about personal goals.
It wasn’t all business in New Hampshire.
The fifthies had plenty of down time to play ping
pong and Frisbee and reconnect with one another after the long separation of summer. It was
an adventure for all and an exciting way for
students to come together and learn about the
value of working together, supporting each
other and helping one another achieve a common goal.
The teamwork was best cited by one camp
leader who asked not to be named: “We had an
8
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Campus Drive
October 2007
Retreats
c o n t i n u e d f r o m pag e s e v e n
Same Faces,
even mix of leaders and participants. Once we
all got in a circle and participated, we were able
to execute the plan.” With that in mind, the
fifthies headed back to Nobles for Day 3 when
they welcomed the Class of ’13 and helped them
find their way.
C lass V I R etreat
With wide eyes and awkward smiles, members of
the Class of ’13 began their Nobles career with a
retreat on Tuesday, Sept. 4. First and foremost,
the Nobles faculty assigned to the “sixies” worked
hard to make them feel comfortable in their new
surroundings, helping them meet new people
and adjust to the layout of the campus. From
icebreaker games to an orienteering exercise
aimed at getting them acclimated to the buildings on campus, Day 1 of the retreat kept the sixies busy.
With the first day of retreat under their
belts, the students were even more excited to explore their new world on Day 2. Learning about
advisors, study hall and dress code, the students
opened up with questions, eager to know all the
rules and how not to break them.
“Tucked in, collared shirts, whoa,” one
young boy loudly whispered to his new pal. As
the dress code was described in specific detail,
students’ eyes wandered, looking for peers who
may be out of code. “If there’s any question in
your mind, don’t wear it,” science teacher Chris
Averill announced after more than a dozen
questions had been asked about the difference
between a sweater and a sweatshirt among other
technicalities. (For more on dresscode, visit
www.nobles.edu/dresscode.)
Dress-code fears aside, Day 2 proved successful as the new students gathered in small
groups to define the three words Nobles is founded upon: community, integrity and respect.
Acting Head of Middle School John Gifford ’86 proudly shared the definitions with the
entire community at the first all-school assembly, citing the wisdom of the incoming sixies: “A
community is a group of people with common
interests and goals who rely and depend on each
other. Respect is to treat other people how you
would like to be treated; it is a trust or honor that
can be given, received, earned and/or deserved.
Integrity is the act of doing ‘right’ when no one
else is telling you to or doing right without seeking credit.”
With wisdom in hand and new friends by
their side, the sixies were ready to be shown the
way by their Class V mentors on Day 3 of the
retreat. Finding their lockers, mailboxes and
schedules helped allay any fears of confusion in
the coming days. No doubt the Class of ’13 benefited from its first three days, designed to help
students start their first day of classes with a little
less anxiety and a lot of excitement.
History teacher Louis Barassi,
new Department Chair
Q. What sort of preparation do you
have for this job?
I held a similar position for five years at the
American School of Milan, and I also hold a
leadership role here at Nobles as director of the
school’s community service program since 2004.
Further, I majored in history, hold two graduate
degrees in history and have taught history for
about 22 years now.
Q. What talents or skills will stand you
in particularly good stead?
I like to cook and host parties so that should help
me keep my department well fed and entertained—which, by the way, is one of my primary
objectives!
Q. Given the relative youth of most
department heads, do you feel Nobles
champions young leadership, perhaps
more than other institutions?
I must be the “relative” variable here since I’m
older than the others in the group, but it seems
to me that Nobles not only encourages younger
faculty to take on leadership roles but also benefits from the fresh perspective, energy and enthusiasm they bring to their tasks.
Q. What changes, if any, do you anticipate
making in the coming year?
My predescessor, Doug Jankey, left me a very
healthy and solid foundation to build upon so I
don’t anticipate making any dramatic changes,
especially this first year. I do, however, plan to
hold fewer department meetings in order to
provide more time for my colleagues to observe
each other in the classroom. I think this is a
key step towards appreciating the varied and
unique strengths the history faculty brings to
this department.
Photography teacher Roger
Boulay ’99, new Chair of
Visual Arts
Q. What sort of preparation do you have
for this job?
I spent a good portion of the summer getting
up to speed on what my new position requires
with the help of Ben Snyder, John Dorsey and
Betsy VanOot. Other than that, I don’t have a
whole lot of preparation. I’ve been in other leadership positions in the past, so hopefully that
helps me out.
Q. What talents or skills will stand you
in particularly good stead?
My colleagues poke fun at me because I often
send lengthy emails, but hopefullly communicating a lot will help me take this position on.
Q. Given the relative youth of most of you,
do you feel Nobles champions young leadership, perhaps more than other institutions?
I think Nobles does a good job of hiring young
adults and challenging them to work hard and
make meaningful relationships with kids. I don’t
know how Nobles stacks up in this respect with
other schools, but personally, Nobles has put me
in several leadership positions—from JV soccer
to the art department—since I started working
here. In some ways leadership seems inherent to
what faculty do here.
Q. What changes, if any, do you anticipate
making in the coming year?
My hope is, if I make changes to the schedule,
events and curriculum, I do so in order to allow
my colleagues in the art department to do what
they do best.
October 2007
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Campus Drive 9
Different Posts
Asst. Head for External
Affairs John Gifford ’86,
now Acting Head of
the Middle School
Q. What sort of preparation do you have
for this job?
After 17 years at Nobles and having worked as a
teacher, coach and advisor, I have a good understanding of the culture of the place and of the
workstyle that allows Nobles to provide such a
strong educational program.
Q. What talents or skills will stand you
in particularly good stead?
I love working with kids and especially middle
school-aged students. It’s not a talent, but I’m
willing to wager that it will serve me as well as (if
not better than) any talents that I could bring
to the table.
Q. Given the relative youth of most of you,
do you feel Nobles champions young leadership, perhaps more than other institutions?
Relative youth to what, the “Joshua Tree”? I know
a number of administrators at other schools;
some are older but many are my age. I don’t
think there is anything particularly calculated
going on at Nobles with the “youth” of some
employees.
Q. What changes, if any, do you anticipate
making in the coming year?
I plan to make few to no changes in the Middle
School. I hope that I’ll be able to keep things
in good working order while Jenny CarlsonPietraszek takes some important time away
from Nobles.
Director of Nobles Theatre
Collective Dan Halperin, new
Performing Arts Chair
Q. What sort of preparation do you have
for this job?
I have been directing the theatre program—
ostensibly a sub-department within performing
arts which also includes dance, choral/vocal music, and instrumental music—since arriving at
Nobles in 1999. In addition, all the productions
I direct—especially large musicals for which I
lead a team that includes six other theatre professionals (band director, music director, choreographer, lighting designer, scenic designer, and
costume designer), parent assistants, professional and student musicians, student technicians,
stage managers, cast, box-office staff and ushers
—are large executive undertakings. Stepping forward into Michael Turner’s shoes and helping
facilitate the day-to-day running and future
growth for the entire department feels like a next
logical step. I’m excited for the challenge and opportunity to help our department serve Nobles
students as well as we possibly can.
Q. What talents or skills will stand you
in particularly good stead?
I have spent many years at Nobles and before,
developing my skills as a collaborator and a
leader.
Q. What changes, if any, do you anticipate
making in the coming year?
The most significant change will surround the
10-year accreditation process, which will give us
a very thorough opportunity to clarify our understanding of what we do and why, how well
we’re doing it, and where we want to be in one
year, five years, etc.
English teacher Julia Russell,
new Department Chair
Q. What sort of preparation do you have
for this job?
I’ve been working in schools more than 20 years,
primarily as an English teacher, but I’ve also had
several administrative and leadership positions
along the way. I also had a chance to “tryout” for
the job here by doing it for one year when outgoing Department Head, Vicky Seelen, went on
sabbatical.
Q.What will you do differently this time?
Be more confident. I am part of a wonderfully
supportive department which believes in me. I
need to believe in myself.
Q. What talents or skills will stand you
in particularly good stead?
I think that I am pretty good at creating a tone
and an environment that can help teachers do
good work. I’m a good listener, and while I do
take care of the small details, I also like looking
ahead and thinking broadly about what we hope
to accomplish.
Q. Given the relative youth of most of you,
do you feel Nobles champions young leadership, perhaps more than other institutions?
My sense is that Nobles works hard to find good
people who have potential, regardless of age. I do
think they want to keep good teachers challenged
and supported so that they stay. Giving leadership opportunities is just one way that the school
does this.
Q.What changes, if any, do you anticipate
making in the coming year?
No big changes right off. I want to make sure
that we do not have any significant gaps or redundancies in the curriculum and that the skills
we teach are the skills our students will need in
the future that awaits them.
My goal is to make sure everyone in the department knows what the goals are for each year,
Classes VI through I.
— Joyce L. Eldridge
10
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October 2007
Veteran Diversity Advocate
Heads Nobles Achieve Program
B y A r i e ll e G r e e n l e a f
C
ONNIE YÉPEZ joined Nobles
this summer as director of The
Achieve Program at Noble and
Greenough School (Achieve for
short), set to begin in the summer of ’08 and dedicated to academic immersion for roughly 70 public middle
school students from the Greater Boston area.
Achieve will be geared to attract students from
ethnically and socioeconomically diverse backgrounds, likely to be first generation college students. All program costs will be covered by fundraising efforts. “We want to give these students a
boost to help them get where they need to be academically,” said Yépez.
Similar to the Upward Bound high school
program operating at Nobles for the past 17
years, Achieve will run for six weeks during
the summer and mirror a typical day at Nobles.
Students will take math, science, language arts
and literacy with Nobles faculty and will also
participate in community service, visual and
performing arts, and athletics. “My desire is to
have it be really high-level academics, but I
Director of
The Achieve
Program
Connie Yépez
understand that middle school students have a
limited attention span,” said Yépez. “We want
them to be well-rounded and get involved in arts
and athletics as well.”
Upper School Head Ben Snyder and Dean
of Enrollment Management Jennifer Hines initiated the process of bringing Achieve to Nobles.
Snyder contacted a friend at the Aim High pro-
gram in the San Francisco Bay Area. With Aim
High’s approval, Hines and Snyder agreed that
they would model the Nobles program on the
successful program, using the California group’s
set curriculum. Once the plan was set, money
was raised to hire Yépez and start the program
at Nobles.
Yépez has spent the summer visiting programs like Achieve at neighboring independent
schools and planning her recruitment strategy.
For now, the program will draw from Boston
Public Schools in neighborhoods like Roxbury,
Mission Hill and Jamaica Plain, among others.
“We’re taking a ‘best practices’ approach with
Achieve, drawing from well established, successful programs to shape a program that works well
at Nobles and best benefits the students we’re
seeking to recruit,” said Yépez.
Yépez brings to Nobles nearly a decade of
experience directing similar programs. In 1999
she started at A Better Chance (ABC) whose mission is “to transform talented students of color
into successful leaders.” Starting as a program
manager, she quickly became a senior program
Bridging the Gap for New Students of Color
W
hen Roberta Phillips ’97 arrived at
Nobles in 1993, she longed for the
familiarity of her former public school
days—missing everything from the yellow school
bus that picked her up each morning to the ease
of classes and comfort of old friends. She recalls her first day at Nobles, arriving for to Assembly, looking around Lawrence Auditorium,
and realizing that the majority of students didn’t
even look like her; there were few students or
faculty of color in the room. Phillips spent the
next few years trying to conjure up the ease of
earlier academic years, to find her place in a
school that seemed so different, and to find support and friendship from people with similar
experiences and backgrounds.
Phillips returned to Nobles in 2003 as a
teaching fellow, and is now an Assistant Dean of
Students and a member of the English department. Although the diversity of the school has
changed considerably over the last decade, she
knows how hard it can be for students of color
to transition to this school, and has helped instiTeacher Ambrose Faturoti ’99 leads the Bridges students in an ice breaker.
tute a program to make the orientation process
go as smoothly as possible. Bridges, a program
for new students and families of color, had its
October 2007
10
Campus Drive 11
Cit y Profile:
Coming from Cambridge
(Ten Campus Drive will periodically spotlight one community
that sends a significant number of students to Nobles.)
manager and then assistant director of field operations helping to recruit, organize, and guide
students who showed potential for academic
achievement.
In 2001, Yépez became the co-director of
the New England Citybridge program based at
Concord Academy. Citybridge aimed to take
middle school students from ethnically and socioeconomically diverse backgrounds and prepare them for an academically rigorous high
school environment. In addition, Citybridge
sought to help students explore careers in teaching or public service. Similar to Achieve, Citybridge recruited students from Boston and
Cambridge public schools who were deemed of
college-bound caliber. In 2003 Yépez became
the executive director, guiding and directing the
program in all aspects.
When she’s not busy with Achieve you will
find Yépez working in the admissions office, as
well as advising middle schoolers and serving
on the Diversity Team. Yépez lives in Woburn
with her partner Gabe, a graphic designer, and
his 8-year-old son Maximillian.
Four of the Cambridge commuters who offer so much to the school are, from left:
Ashleigh Davila ’10, Yara Tercero-Parker ’10, Emma MacDonald ’08 and Shabrina
Guerrier ’09.
E
Roberta Philips ’97 presents Bob
Henderson with an official Bridges
t-shirt.
orientation in late August, helping to provide
insight into both the challenges and resources
that await each student of color at Nobles.
New students gathered together for ice-
breakers, group activities and workshops, and
to meet the faculty and staff who will continue
to work with them throughout the year in Transitions, an extension of Bridges that allows
students to meet each month. New students of
color were also paired with a “big sibling,” an
older student who could share common experiences and help mentor them through the
initial transition.
— Julie Guptill
ighteen miles northeast of
Dedham, Cambridge seems to
be a training ground for some
of the acting, musical and backstage talent in the Nobles community.
Cantabridgians Karan Lyons and Will
Macrae describe themselves as “theatre guys,”
both behind the scenes and on the stage. Will
handles all the technical lighting for the
mainstage productions and this year will expand his theatrical repertoire by taking a
course in acting and directing. Nobles Theatre
Collective and Performing Arts Director Dan
Halperin describes Will as “a rising theatre
superstar who does excellent work in various
support, technical and design roles. As the
first elected Director of Communications for
the Nobles Theatre Collective student board,
Will organizes and leads us through the agendas for our X-Block meetings and even keeps
the minutes. As a frequent member of our student production crews, he has mastered our
sophisticated lighting board and has begun to
investigate lighting design. Will even volunteered to stage manage our Pirandello faculty
production, Chee-Chee, at the start of this
school year.” Karan already works both backstage and on-stage. Halperin describes him as
“phenomenal with computers as well as being
a natural actor” who made his debut on the
Nobles stage while in Class VI. He is also an
excellent 1st tenor in the Nobleonians, according to director John Gifford.
Shabrina Guerrier, a graduate of the
Benjamin Banniker Charter School, is the
first student at school every day, driving in
with her mom who drops her at Nobles at
6:30 a.m. en route to work in Dedham. Shabrina makes the trip home by bus, which takes
an hour and 45 minutes; on some nights she
doesn’t get home until 8:30. What she does in
the interim is enough to exhaust a marathoner. She has been tapped as dance captain
by Nobles’ resident choreographer Kelly
Jean Lynch for the coming year and manager of the girls’ varsity basketball team. Last
year she was one of the youngest students to
appear in the spring musical. Besides a rigorous academic schedule, her biggest investment of time is serving as junior officer in
the Multicultural Student Association where
she helped plan orientation programming
for new students of color (see Bridges story,
page 10), and has worked avidly on behalf of
the Big Sibling Program.
Emma MacDonald has used her Cambridge savvy to enlighten her Nobles classmates to “another culture.” “As the only Cambridge kid in my grade (Class of ’08), I
thought I’d expose my friends to ‘hanging
out in Harvard Square.’ It gave me a great
sense of satisfaction…almost like a trip to an
exotic part of the world where everyone
learned another culture and history.” Her
advisor says that Emma “loves trying new
foods, meeting new people, and placing herself in challenging situations.” To this end,
12
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February 2007
Coming from Cambridge
c o n t i n u e d f r o m pag e e l e v e n
Will Macrae and Karan Lyons
she participated in two Nobles trips in the
past year: a community service venture to South
Africa and a history-based bike trip through
Vietnam.
Ashleigh Davila, as a member of the
Latino community, is looking forward to her
quinceanera coming-of-age party at St. Mary’s
Church in Cambridge this year. “The priest will
bless my crown during a Mass and acknowledge
my entrance into womanhood,” Ashleigh said
with excitement. Ashleigh chose to board at No-
bles after loving the experience of boarding at
Citybridge, a program at Concord Academy for
students who otherwise might not think of independent school. Ashleigh fills her days with basketball, softball and dance, depending on the
season. She hopes to spend at least one of her semesters abroad, either in Italy or Spain. According to Class IV Dean Alex Gallagher, “Ashleigh
has become the person we want at all admissions
events so that we can show exactly the type of
person we care about having at Nobles. She is
committed to her community, her academic
work, and her own overall excellence. This young
woman is a star whom we will see and hear great
things from in the years to come.”
Basketball is one of the passions of Yara
Tercero-Parker, who arrived in this country at
age 6 from Nicaragua. Before coming to Nobles,
she attended the Amigos School in Cambridge
for eight years. “My homework suddenly jumped
from 30 minutes to 3.5 hours,” she said, but she
has plenty of time to tackle it during her commute. The Head of Nobles Upper School, Ben
Snyder, described Yara as “ridiculously smart
and tearing it up here.”
— Joyce Leffler Eldridge
“I thought I would expose my Nobles friends
to ‘hanging out in Harvard Square.’ It gave me a
great sense of satisfaction...almost like a trip
to an exotic part of the world where everyone
learned another culture and history.”
Emma
McDonald
Nobles Yard Sale
Scour the tables for hidden treasure at the
biannual Parents’ Association Yard Sale on
Friday, Oct. 19, and Saturday, Oct. 20, to
benefit the Scholarship and Faculty
Enrichment Funds. If you love the hunt
of finding a great deal, the challenge
Calendar Fields
A new four-color calendar features “The
Playing Fields of Noble and Greenough
School” as the July poster selection. An
inset shows recent Holland Award winner Alan Dull marking the perimeter of
the field. The calendar is produced by
Pioneer, which provides equipment and
materials for creating lines and logos on
all sports fields. About Nobles, Pioneer
writes: “The grounds crew at the Noble
and Greenough School has their work
cut out for them, maintaining 187 acres
that make up the school’s historic campus. Situated on those 187 acres are four
full-sized soccer fields, two full-sized
field hockey fields, a football game day
and practice field, baseball and softball
fields, and lacrosse fields.” Other news
from Buildings and Grounds: Some of
the grounds crew spent a day during the
summer working on the baseball field of
the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the AA
Eastern League affiliate of the Toronto
Blue Jays.
Sunny Days for People
of Ladakh
Science teacher Chris Pasterczyk collected spare eyeglasses and sunglasses
donated by Nobles students and faculty to be distributed to the people of
Ladakh, where Tibetan sunlight is at an
extreme level. She commented: “I am
just back from a visit to the nomadic
area, where distribution of eye- and
sunglasses was a great success and met a
fantastic need. One family gave me a
fresh leg of mutton as a token of gratitude. In fact, I could have used many
more sets of glasses. I ran out after just
several hours, and many eyes have gone
uncovered. Next year I hope we can
run the drive again, bigger and better.”
Her picture of the beneficieries of Nobles’ largesse, at right, was sent via email
on a computer transported over the
Himalayas via yak.
of refurbishing a neglected piece of
Faculty News
furniture or have a knack for picking out
Artist-in-Residence Joe Swayze took a
group of Nobles staff and faculty on a
tour of historic Mt. Auburn Cemetery
in Cambridge in late September. The
cemetery commentary included information on the horticulture, history,
ecology and architecture contained
within the cemetery’s walls.
perfect knick-knacks, this is the event for you.
Although the donations deadline has passed, you can still volunteer during the
week of Oct. 15 to sort and price donations. Planning committee volunteers are also
needed to manage early-bird donations, create and implement a publicity program,
re-vamp event procedures such as check-out, and serve as chairs of sales departments.
Don’t miss this opportunity to work together with other Nobles parents on a fun-filled, yet
beneficial, event!
Contact Yard Sale Chairperson Fancy Zilberfarb P’10 at [email protected] with any ques-
tions or brilliant ideas or visit the Parents’ section of www.nobles.edu for more information.
Cover Story
Rise Magazine, formerly School Sports,
has chosen soccer standout and goal-
October 2007
10
Campus Drive NEWS BRIEFS
hire as their permanent person, and will run
four days a week, leaving time for long
weekends boating and enjoying his home in
Maine. “Should be interesting and fun,” he
writes. “It is the kind of thing I had hoped
might come up about a year from now, but
one does not control the timing of such
things.” Coincidentally, Chamberlin’s predecessor, Kim Smith, started his career at
Fenn before coming to Nobles as our business manager.
Chee-Chee
keeper Jan Trnka-Amrhein ’08 to
appear on the cover of its October
issue for his consistently high-level
performance on the field. Jan is captain of this year’s team and was
selected to the U.S. Under 18 National Team. This summer he won
the Golden Gloves Award for best
goalkeeper at ESP Camp for best
high school players in the country.
Here He Goes Again!
Recently retired Asst. Head for Finance and Operations Bill Chamberlin has apparently finished with full-time relaxing (two months) and
Thanks to a summer faculty grant and brilliant interpretation by the Nobles Theatre
Collective, faculty, students and parents
were treated to a first-week-of-school presentation of Luigi Pirandello’s Chee-Chee
starring Theatre Collective Director and
Performing Arts Department Head Dan
Halperin and Performing Arts faculty Kelly
Jean Lynch and Todd Morton.
— Joyce Leffler Eldridge
taken a new job as of Sept. 4 as the interim business manager of Fenn School in Concord. The
job will last somewhere between two and 10
months, depending upon when and whom they
The Nobles Theatre Collective Presents the
Fall Mainstage Production The Learned Ladies
By Moliere, translated and adapted by Freyda Thomas
This rollicking version of Les Femmes Savantes delighted audiences Off Broadway in a production starring Jean Stapleton as Philamente, a most unliterary lady intent on having a high-toned
literary salon. She has neither literary nor common sense, which makes her easy prey for sycophantic con artist Trissotin who passes himself off as a famous poet and becomes a permanent
house guest. According to Variety, “Thomas’ modernisms smartly put the satire’s emphasis on
the pomposity rather than the feminism of the Precieuse Movement.”
5 performances: Tues 11/6–Fri 11/9 at 7pm; Sat 11/10 at 4pm only
Limited seating. Performed live in a simulated television studio where monitors
catch expressions that will surprise those in the real audience!
Todd Morton, left, and Dan Halperin
13
14
10
Campus Drive
October 2007
The First Assembly Sets the Tone
by
R o b e r t P. H e n d e r s o n J r . ’ 7 6 , P ’ 1 3 , H e a d o f S c h o o l
P
arents sometimes comment to me
that messages conveyed in Assembly often do not get clearly translated when related to parents at
home. This is not surprising, and
my own children have a particular
gift for mangling what they have heard from a
teacher or coach, especially when the specific directions are to explain something carefully to
parents. The reality of Assembly is, however, that
it is not designed for parent participation. It is a
unique and powerful element of the student experience at the school, shaping the culture and
sense of community at Nobles, and it is indeed
difficult to explain what transpired on any given
day to folks who were not there. There are Assemblies that occur every year in rather the same
format, such as the Holiday Assembly right before the December Break, or some of the closure
assemblies in May and June. One of these somewhat predictable gatherings is the “first Assembly” in September, the initial common student
experience that occurs at 8:00 a.m. on the opening day. The tone for the school year is set on
that morning, so I thought it might interest parents to get a sense of what actually occurs, and
what I actually say, in that forum.
We started late. There was so much chatting
and catching up in the halls that it was hard
to shepherd everyone promptly into Lawrence
Auditorium. Plus there was palpable nervousness and anxiety, from new and returning students alike, about all that the incipient school
year would visit upon them. I began by ringing
the handheld bell that has traditionally called
the Nobles Assembly hall to order for as long
as anyone can remember. I introduced Jeff
Grogan ’74, president of the Nobles trustees,
who briefly welcomed students and faculty.
Then I shared my remarks.
This year I opened by relating the challenges
experienced by one of my 10-year-old sons as he
grappled with the idea of “sleep away” summer
camp. It was actually his initiative, way back in
the grips of winter, to imagine going off to camp
when the warm weather returned. So we signed
him up, along with his two brothers, for a 10-day
jaunt at a camp in Maine in July. As the date approached, however, he became very anxious
about the entire prospect. The closer we got, the
more convinced he became that camp just wasn’t
for him. He seriously contemplated how he
could run away once we left him there. Then, of
course, when we picked him up at the end he
was deliriously happy about the entire experience, and asked if he could stay for a few more
days. When we got him home, he made a feeble
stab at running away to get back there, declaring he was “camp-sick.” Eventually he readjusted
and decided home was okay. The moral of the
story was pretty straightforward—change is
just hard sometimes, and anticipating change
is frequently much harder than the change itself. I then took a moment to apply that moral
Head of
School Bob
Henderson
Provost Bill Bussey can hold anyone’s
Jr
attention at 8 a.m. in the morning.
to all that everyone is feeling and experiencing in
a new place and/or in a new school year. The
worst part of the entire experience, I intoned,
is likely the anticipation, and it is amazing
how quickly the new routines and relationships
will feel “normal.”
I then spent a few minutes talking about the
school’s Community Principles. To make the abstract ideas of honesty and respect for self and
others a little more real, I talked about the fact
that much of a teenager’s life is beyond his or her
control, and that is frustrating. Students are
coached, taught, graded, judged, scheduled and
guided through much of the high school experience. But one always, I maintained, has a choice
and control in regard to honesty and respect. We
must choose to be dishonest or disrespectful. So,
I explained, don’t relinquish that over which you
have the greatest control, honesty and respect for
self and others, indeed the key elements of your
character.
Nobles, I continued, will challenge you every
day, stretch you, exhaust you, and ask you to step
outside of what is comfortable, and it will require you to take risks in your work and activities. We ask this of students because we believe
that the real source of confidence and growth is
achievement. But achievement is empty unless it
is accompanied by character. Along the way,
through any school year, there will be great challenges, and certainly there will be mistakes and
disappointments. Your character will receive its
true measure when these moments inevitably
arise, rather than when you encounter success.
Success is easy, but the deeper reality of our experience as human beings is that we will sometimes fail and err. And in the end you are in
charge; responding with honesty and respect is
the key to turning challenge into opportunity.
Along the way, I pointed out, you will receive incredible amounts of support at Nobles; this is a
remarkable and caring faculty who will help you
navigate the tough moments, and that is one of
the things that makes Nobles a special place.
Yet I know that as students sat there in
Lawrence…they were mostly wondering when
it would all end, when they could see their
friends again, and when the day would be truly
underway. In contrast, for me, the resumption
of the familiar rhythms of the school year is the
real relief; the ringing of that bell to open the
first Assembly signifies the true return to the
normal, and this is a change that I eagerly embrace each September.
Welcome back, or welcome to the Nobles
community, as the case may be!
October 2007
10
Campus Drive 15
Heard in the Halls...
What was the
best book you read
this summer?
Tim Nelson, Class I
All Souls by Michael Patrick Macdonald
“I loved it because it was about Boston and it
gave me a new perspective on law enforcement and organized crime.”
Bob Henderson Jr. ’76,
Head of School
The Pirate Queen: Queen Elizabeth I,
Her Pirate Adventurers, and The
Dawn of Empire by Susan Ronald
“I love early modern European history.
It was the biography of Elizabeth
and her sea dogs.”
Megan Bunnell, Class II
The Spirit Catches You and You
Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
“It was great because it had a medical
side and an analytical side, which made
it really cool to read.”
Isabella Tuttle, Class VI
The Fat Girl by Marilyn Sachs
“This was my favorite book this summer because it was so real. She told
the story from realistic perspectives
and that made it interesting.
Marty Morris, Class III
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
“It was inspiring because it showed that anybody
can help another person in one way or another.”
Nikita Shrinath, Class IV
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows by J.K. Rowling
“I couldn’t wait to read it because it was the last one.
I really liked the way it ended.”
Victor Ordóñez, Class V
Big Papi: My Story of Big Dreams and
Big Hits by David Ortiz and Tony Massarotti
“I’m a big Red Sox fan and David ‘Big Papi’
Ortiz is my favorite player. I thought it was
cool that he talked about his life and where
he came from.”
16
10
Campus Drive
October 2007
Pan Mass Challenge
Plus Lotsa Helping
Hands Website Help
Carlson-Pietraszek
Family
F
or 20 years, Jim Shulman P’09 has been
riding in the Pan Mass Challenge bike race,
a grueling trek that challenges the mind
and body and raises funds for the Jimmy
Fund at Boston’s Dana Farber Cancer Institute. “The first year I rode, I thought I would do it
to get into shape,” said Shulman. “Then, two weeks
before the ride, my cousin lost her battle to leukemia
and I decided to ride and raise funds in her memory.”
As more and more people close to Shulman battled cancer, Shulman found himself raising more and
pushing himself harder each year. This year, Shulman
focused his ride in support of Jean Carlson-Pietraszek,
spouse of Head of Middle School Jenny CarlsonPietraszek. “She [Jean] and Jenny Carlson-Pietraszek
have been integral components of the Nobles experience,” said Shulman on his decision to ride this year.
To date, Shulman has raised $36,000 in CarlsonPietraszek’s name.
Shulman is not alone in his mission to help the
Carlson-Pietraszek family. Several members of the
community including Visual Arts faculty John
Dorsey, Middle School Administrative Assistant
Maryanne Macdonald, Dean of Faculty Sandi
MacQuinn, Co-Chair of the Parents Committee
Maryanne Mahoney P’10, Upper School Registrar
Judith Merritt and Data Base Administrator Tessy
Smith P’13, ’11 have developed a website devoted to
helping the Carlson-Pietraszek family during their
time of need. Hosted by “Lotsa Helping Hands,” the
site helps organize volunteers to assist with cooking
meals, house cleaning and other essentials.
If you would like to volunteer your time, please
visit www.nobles.edu and click on “Nobles Support”
on the left-hand navigation bar.
— Arielle Greenleaf
Jim Shulman P’09 rode his
20th Pan Mass Challenge in
Photo: Kim Neal
10CampusDrive
Noble & Greenough School
October 2007
Editor
Joyce Leffler Eldridge, Director of Communications
a s s i s ta n t Editor s
Julie Guptill, Assistant Director of Communications
Arielle Greenleaf, Communications Specialist
D e s ig n
David Gerratt & Amanda Wait/ www.NonprofitDesign.com
P h otograp h y
Joyce Eldridge, Arielle Greenleaf, Julie Guptill, Tony Rinaldo
Please send us your feedback!
We would love to hear from you. Send letters via e-mail
to [email protected] or mail to Joyce Eldridge,
Noble and Greenough School, 10 Campus Drive,
Dedham, MA 02026.
Jean Carlson-Pietraszek’s honor.
Noble and Greenough School
10 Campus Drive
Dedham, MA 02026-4099
www.nobles.edu
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