Post on 29-Mar-2016
description
GOING GLOBALCLAIRE KENNEY‘06
FEATURE q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:39 AM Page 2
SSttaaffffEEddiittoorr
KKaatthhlleeeenn CC.. KKeennnnyy
AAssssoocciiaattee EEddiittoorr
KKaatthhlleeeenn MMccDDeerrmmootttt
CCoonnttrriibbuuttiinngg WWrriitteerrss
NNiiccoolleennee EEmmeerrssoonn
KKaatthhlleeeenn CC.. KKeennnnyy
KKaatthhlleeeenn MMccDDeerrmmootttt
AArrlleennee SSmmiitthh
EEddiittoorriiaall AAssssiissttaannttss
AAmmyy DD.. BBooyyllee
KKaattyy FFiinnuuccaannee ’’0066
MMaatttt LLaaWWeellll
AArrlleennee SSmmiitthh
MMaarryy KKaattee FFaarrrraarr VVeeggaa ’’9933
HHoollllyy YYootttteerr
PPhhoottooggrraapphhyy
JJoohhnn BBaasshhiiaann ’’7788
NNeeaall BBuusscchh
NNiiccoolleennee EEmmeerrssoonn
JJaammeess CC.. FFaarrrraarr ’’5599
MMaarrkk MMoosstt
JJoohhnn OOvveerrmmaann
KKeevviinn RReeeevveess
DDeessiiggnn//PPrroodduuccttiioonn
CCaannaallee SSttuuddiioo,, IInncc..
PPrriinnttiinngg
OOlliivveerr PPrriinnttiinngg
DDiirreeccttoorr ooff DDeevveellooppmmeenntt
JJaammeess CC.. FFaarrrraarr ’’5599
DDiirreeccttoorr ooff AAnnnnuuaall FFuunndd
aanndd CCoonnssttiittuueenntt RReellaattiioonnss
MMaarryy KKaattee FFaarrrraarr VVeeggaa ’’9933
SSppoonnssoorreedd bbyy tthhee
CCoonnggrreeggaattiioonn ooff HHoollyy CCrroossss
NNoottrree DDaammee,, IInnddiiaannaa
10Our 10-Year TreasuredMission to Honduras
30The Academy Awards
36Closing theGender Debate
15Congratulations tothe Class of 2011
32A Site Visit byNature’s Stewards
FEATURE q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:39 AM Page 3
Features
Going Global . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Our 10-Year Mission to Honduras . . . . . . . 10Kingsley Becomes Lower School’s Third
Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
CommencementCommencement Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15Valedictorian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18Salutatorian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20Matriculation List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
CampusThe Academy Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30A Site Visit by Nature’s Stewards . . . . . . . . .32Creating DNA Fingerprints in Class . . . . . . .34Gilmour’s Chessman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34Learning the Rapture of Music . . . . . . . . . .35Closing the Gender Debate . . . . . . . . . . . . .36History Hounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38Margie Picciano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39A Teacher’s Take on Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . .40Everything is Illuminated . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41Taking the Full Measure of Ukraine . . . . . .42Adding Skype to Middle School Lexicon . . .43
CONTENT SGilmour Magazine
Alumni
AlumNews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44Lancer Spotlights . . .44, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52,
53, 54, 56
Lancer Athletics
Athletic Director Tom Bryan Retires . . . . . .57Gilmour Skater Is Aces on Ice . . . . . . . . . . .57Gilmour All-American Swimmer . . . . . . . . .58USA Hockey Camps Select 4 from GA . . . . .58GA Cross-Country Invitational . . . . . . . . . . .59The Places They Could Go . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
MemorialBrother William Joseph Geenen, C.S.C. . . . .60Bernadine P. Healy Loop, M.D. . . . . . . . . . .61Gilmour Extends Sympathy to Families . . . .62
Dear Parents,
We send this magazine to college-age graduatesat their parents’ homes. Please forward this tokeep your son or daughter informed about GA.
FEATURE q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:39 AM Page 4
Fea t u r e
Megan Schmidt-Sane ’05 first visited India as aGilmour high school student in 2002 and the povertyjarred her. “I knew I couldn’t live in a world wherepoverty existed and not do anything about it,” she says.The George Washington University graduate decided topursue a career in international development “and beinvolved with change at the grassroots level. Whathappens in countries as far away as Yemen andSomalia has a direct impact on our domestic affairs,”says Schmidt-Sane who was a Rotary Scholar in Indiaand a Fulbright Teaching Assistant in Vietnam. “If
we focus on globaloutreach, if wefocus on povertyalleviation, we notonly will be helpingothers, but we willensure the safety ofour country andstem the tide ofanti-Americansentiments that hasarisen in recentyears.”
The Gilmour alum worked on an HIV/AIDSawareness campaign and coordinated a youth center ina slum for children at risk, offering swimming, hikingand English classes, and later she taught math andEnglish. As a Fulbright Teaching Assistant, she taughtEnglish at the university level in a poor rural provincedesigning her own classes, running an English club,tutoring students and volunteering in an orphanage.
Schmidt-Sane’s experiences expanded her viewsand allowed her to look at issues from a globalperspective. It permitted her to see the direct effects ofU.S. foreign policy and gave her a greater appreciationfor the United States. In Vietnam, where Facebookand BBC Online are blocked, she had to avoid sayinganything political that could be construed as criticizingthe government. “Coming home, I appreciated theFirst Amendment that much more,” she says.
Revolutions in Arab countries last spring supportthat globalization is helping to spread democracy,she believes. “It has meant more freedom for womenand girls, increased the availability of inexpensiveprescription drugs and has allowed for “a freer flow ofgoods and ideas across international borders.” Still,Schmidt-Sane cautions about blindly supporting
4
OOIINNGG LLOOBBAALL
could be the real global currency of our future. As boundariesgive way to humanitarian service without borders andcultural and religious barriers abate, our resolve to exportour resources and skills will help build the capacity of people
around the world. Gilmour graduates serving around the globe learn to become astute atproblem solving and are ingrained with the idea that a global perspective is imperative forthe future. As U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says, “In this global economy, the linebetween domestic and international issues is increasingly blurred, with the world’s economies,societies, and people interconnected as never before.”
Gilmour alumni serve in Guyana and Ghana, Costa Rica and Brazil, Kenya and India.They are Peace Corps volunteers, Fulbright Scholars and Rotary Scholars. Some serve throughcollege programs. They are a life force in many developing countries and their courage, spiritand drive rival all comers. Whether countering disasters or diseases, poverty andmalnutrition, conflicts and crises, they are steering a course off the charts. These graduatesare citizens of the world destined to secure justice and humanize their world. Here are someof their stories.
Caring
FEATURE q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:39 AM Page 5
globalization without balancing it with the preservationof local culture and ideas. She now sees globaloutreach as a moral issue with wealthy countrieshelping poorer ones. “Maybe it’s my belief in justice,or perhaps a penchant for service that was instilled inme as a Gilmour student, but I truly believe we have aduty to help others and to alleviate suffering wheresuffering occurs,” Schmidt-Sane says. To this end,she plans to pursue a career in global health care,especially the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDSand will pursue a Master of Public Health degree atColumbia University.
For Laura Ondrake Krueger ’02 “Globalizationsimply means that we get to experience things fromdifferent cultures and put our own spin on them.”After graduating from Loyola University in Chicago,she spent a year teaching English at three high schoolsin Toyohashi, Japan, through the JET (Japan Exchangeand Teaching) Programme. Initially Krueger faced thechallenge of “putting down my own barriers withpeople and getting them to put down barriers as well.We struggled to communicate in the beginning, but itwas more rewarding when we did make connections.”
Although the alum loves the Japanese culture andloved living there, she now realizes “the difficultiesfacing someone who is different.” Krueger not onlylearned about what it means to be a foreigner in acountry, but she has a better perception of thestrengths and weaknesses of the Japanese schoolsystem. “I think the Japanese people learned about
accepting someone who was sometimes a little louderthan they were,” she quips.
After Japan, Krueger earned a master’s degree inJapanese literature and language from The OhioState University. She believes that “We really don’tunderstand other peopleunless we understandtheir culture,” and thather year in Japan taughther about herself andthe difficulty of learninganother language. “I’mless afraid to makemistakes and put myselfout there now.”
The challenges ofserving abroad seemto bring out a “can do”attitude in the Gilmourgraduates. “I wouldn’thave thought myselfcapable of many thingsin the Peace Corps,”notes HannahLaBerteaux ’05.“The experience erasedlimits from my life in avery permanent way.”Working alone as a volunteer in a rural African villagereally appealed to LaBerteaux. After graduating fromJohns Hopkins University with a degree in internationalhealth, LaBerteaux felt that the Peace Corps wouldreally test her.
After eight months in Benin, a security problem puther at risk. She was offered the choice of going homeor transferring to another country, so she went toSenegal. LaBerteaux was a rural health volunteer inboth countries. She had to learn a different locallanguage and culture once she arrived in Senegal andher group was halfway through their training.Translating health care concepts forced her to findnew ways to explain ideas. The local language oftendidn’t have words for most of the health terms.
5
It is from numberless diverse acts of courageand belief that human history is shaped.
Robert F. Kennedy
FEATURE q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:39 AM Page 6
OOIINNGG LLOOBBAALL ((ccoonnttiinnuueedd))
In Benin, LaBerteaux worked at a health centerand organized a program to weigh babies and offereducation sessions to help those with malnutritionrecuperate. She also assisted with prenatal health andsex education projects. In Senegal, she helped buildan incinerator and create a trash management program.She also organized a leadership camp for high schoolstudents where she taught creative writing and aboutsexual health and HIV/AIDS prevention.
Working with school-aged children and teachersin both countries underscored how different theirphilosophy of education was in comparison to America.LaBerteaux explains, “Where we value innovation andquestioning, West African schools focus on inflexibleorder and memorization. I never felt luckier to havethe education I’ve had.”
Reflecting on her Peace Corps years she says that itwas a period of many contrasts. “The Peace Corps canbe so hyperbolic,” she says. “I was the happiest andmost fulfilled I had ever been, but also the saddest, theloneliest, the hungriest, the sickest, the dirtiest and themost frustrated.” LaBerteaux contends that humility andopenness are essential for globalization and that peoplego into developing countries with the notion that theyare transferring their skills and resources because therecipients are lacking. “In reality, any lasting changeor development requires an exchange and flow ofinformation,” she says. “There is so much to learnfrom the rest of the world, but only if we are willingto put our own views aside.”
DeLana Turner ’06 just started her 27-month stintas a Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa in July. Shewill teach English in primary and middle schools. TheMiami University graduate says, “This is a wonderful
opportunity for me to beexposed to a new culture,learn a new language andprovide my assistance in anyway possible,” adding,“South Africa has a hugeeconomic disparity betweenwealth and poverty. I justtry to keep an open mindand experience everything
as it comes.” Learning a new language is one of herbigger challenges since South Africa has 11 officiallanguages.
Participating in a mission trip to Honduras hersenior year at Gilmour inspired Turner to serve in thePeace Corps. “Ifeel so much joy,”she says, “helpingother peoplearound the worldthat are lessfortunate.”
Gilmourhumanitarianservice missionsto Honduras andNew Orleansspurred BrittanyCorrigan ’07, arecent graduate ofCentre Collegein Danville, Ky., to train to develop medical clinicsin Africa and Central America.
Corrigan, who majored in Spanish, spent Januarydoing a medical internship working on a missionprogram in West Africa. She helped open medicalclinics in Liberia, working with an emergency roomdoctor on ways to improve and run small andsustainable village clinics. Corrigan lived withoutelectricity and running water and hiked into the jungleto villages to help vaccinate babies against polio,whooping cough, diphtheria and other diseases.She also shadowed a medical team during cataractremoval surgeries, practiced doing stitches and helpeddeliver two babies by Caesarean section and removean appendix.
“Support for developing countries is importantbecause victims of poverty do not have other options,”Corrigan says. “Programs such as food stamps, welfareand Medicaid do not exist. If you do not have moneyto support your family, your family goes hungry, orworse, becomes a victim of preventable diseases.”
Accompanying Centre College professors andstudents on a trip to Nicaragua turned out to be more
Fea t u r e
FEATURE q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:39 AM Page 7
7
than just learning Spanish and culture for Corrigan,but about the impact of globalization. Corrigan talkedwith managers and workers in sweatshops and farmersdisplaced by the Central America Free Trade Agreement(CAFTA). The group also met with U.S. Embassyofficials that implement CAFTA policies.
Corrigan attends medical school at the West VirginiaSchool of Osteopathic Medicine where she will train towork in impoverished areas possibly in the field ofemergency medicine. “I can go back to developingcountries,” she says, “and hopefully save the lives thatare lost to easily treatable and preventable diseases.”
Julia Novak ’03 has come to understand thatglobalization can have positive and negative effects.“It can increase the economy and industry in an area,but this also can come at the price of cultural loss,” shesays. “We need to tread carefully moving forward asour world becomes more globalized to preserve andrespect the diversity of cultures, traditions andlandscapes.”
After earning a bachelor’s degree in environmentalstudies from the University of San Diego, Novakworked with an environmental NGO (non-governmentalorganization) in 2009 studying climate change in theWestern Ghats of India. She helped compile long-termdata about how climate change affects forest ecosystems.She is studying for a doctorate in fisheries and wildlifeat Michigan State University.
Novak’s outreach experience has changed her wayof viewing problems and issues.
“Experiencing something different, whether it isculture, religion or terrain opens up your eyes to therange of possibility on this earth, and makes you realizehow little you actually know and how much you haveto learn.”
Serving abroad not only has given Novak a greaterappreciation for services available in the U.S. –especially emergency services – but it also helpedher realize the effect U.S. foreign policy has on othercountries and their people. “We live in an integratedsociety,” Novak says. “No longer are countries’decisions their own, impacting only their populace.”
Claire Kenney ’06 has a similar take on the prosand cons of globalization. “On the one hand, itincreases communication, trade and knowledge of othercultures,” she says, “but it can also help to destroy localcultures and languages and upset traditional socialsystems.” Kenney is a Peace Corps volunteer teachingscience in the northern region of Ghana in West Africa.“Help has to be tempered by careful self-awareness,sustainability, accountability and responsibility,” Kenneysays. “If you try to work toward the positives, knowingthat there are many challenges, global action hasbenefits that are worth working for.” Countries aremore interdependent with globalization, she says,which makes mutu-al understandingand respectessential.
The alumreceived abachelor’s degreein anthropologyfrom JohnsHopkinsUniversity.In Ghana, shemay also teachintroductorycomputer classesand introducehealth education
FEATURE q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:39 AM Page 8
OOIINNGG LLOOBBAALL ((ccoonnttiinnuueedd))
8
Fea t u r e
and awareness activities. Kenney believes that it isimportant for her to tell Ghanaians about America’sdiversity and that the United States is a country ofdifferent races, religions and economic backgrounds.“One thing struck me right away – how much theelection of a black man to the American presidency hasmeant to African countries and how much of a sourceof celebration it is for them,” Kenney says. The PeaceCorps worker says Ghanaians are very curious aboutAmerica and she now analyzes her own country more.
Kenney reports that this adventure is “teaching meto be flexible and to minimize my expectations. It isbroadening my sense of the richness of humanity.”She notes that she is trying “to be more open and to letgo of my preconceptions and own goals and measuresof success.”
For Meredith Aggers O’Brien ’00, lessons learnedabout global outreach while a Peace Corps volunteerin Swaziland taught her “to find small meaning ineveryday life” and fostered “the patience to pursueanything I’ve set my mind to doing.” At DenisonUniversity, O’Brien majored in political science andfocused on history, disease and politics in developingcountries. As a college student, she confronted her
“privilege as a young white American student,” andafter graduating in 2004, O’Brien served in a ruralvillage teaching health and HIV education classes.
“My hope was to give something substantial ofmyself to those who had less,” O’Brien says, “and tochallenge myself to deepen my understanding of anotherculture, my culture in America and my own identity.”
Rather than quit and return home when frustratedat the lack of progress in her host country, O’Brien wasdetermined to “adjust my expectations by learning tosee, and take pride in, the small victories of each day.”She came to understand that “although the objective ofthe Peace Corps’ presence in Swaziland was to ‘build awall,’ her ‘assignment’ was to add just one brick.”
The Gilmour alum admits that countering thecountry’s vast HIV epidemic, watching friends die,taking fearful villagers to be tested for HIV andobserving the effects of the disease’s stigma made herwork difficult. Still, O’Brien was committed to sparkingdialogues among villagers about prevention methodsand disease transmission. She also taught life skillsworkshops, worked with the men to plant and harvestcrops and empowered women to generate income byraising chickens and selling their eggs.
Leaving behind family, friends and her things tobe a volunteer forced her “to come to terms with thereal me in a way I never could have done in myown culture,” she says. Topping her Peace Corpsexperience was hard, but when she returned to theUnited States, she channeled this new-found self-knowledge and graduated from Duquesne University’slaw school in 2010. A practicing attorney specializingin elder law, O’Brien now applies her skills workingwith diverse cultures as a volunteer and board memberof the AIDS Task Force of Greater Cleveland.
Another Peace Corps teacher, Sarah HelfrichStrong ’02, and her husband, Sean, are giving villagersin Panama a taste of what marriage American style islike. Both are volunteers in Panama. Strong says thatgender roles are defined as follows – women dohousework; men do labor. “Like many Americancouples, we share duties,” Strong says. ThePanamanians see both of them do laundry and washdishes. “At first they thought it was strange, but recentlythey’ve been saying what a good team we make.”
FEATURE q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:39 AM Page 9
9
Strong teaches English to K-6 students, adults andothers who finished sixth grade and are returning toschool for a high school degree. She also conductsseminars for those required to teach English, but whohave not learned it themselves. Her biggest project,though, is a women’s artisan group that she createdthat makes necklaces. Few women in Panamacontribute to the family income, Strong explains. Thewomen have earned $250. The artist keeps 75 percentand the balance goes to purchasing materials. Everyweek Strong transfers responsibility to members of thegroup so they will be self-sustaining after she leavesPanama. Strong is teaching the artists how to registerfor craft fairs, weigh travel costs against prospectiveearnings and keep an inventory and sales records.
As a student at Hobart and William Smith Colleges,Strong studied in Ecuador and Peru so she was nostranger to traveling abroad. Living in a community issomething different. “I spent my first year in Panamabuilding relationships and proving myself,” Strong says.“I was ready and anxious to work, but I had to earnthe support of the community first.” She alsounderstands now that while Americans are able toplan for the future, not all people have the resourcesto do that. “How can I teach about saving money foremergencies,” she asks, “when the community membersbarely have enough money to feed their family that
day?” She believes that when others have a positiveexperience with Americans it improves the image of theUnited States. “Intercultural exchanges create moreactive American citizens with an enhanced awarenessof the role of the U.S. worldwide,” Strong says. “It alsobenefits those living in the host country through theexchange of knowledge and ideas.”
One host country already profiting from a Gilmourgraduate’s expertise is Brazil. If it has a smoother gowith its upcoming World Cup in 2014 and OlympicGames in 2016, Brazil will owe some thanks in part toAllison Maranuk ’04. The alum is a Fulbright EnglishTeaching Assistant at the Federal University in MinasGerais, Brazil. She is helping Brazil improve its Englishteaching capacity by instructing English teachers atpublic schools and students at her university.
“I have been taking elements of the Gilmourcurriculum and integrating them into a required courseat one of Brazil’s best universities,” Maranuk says.
One lesson really hit home when she taught aboutthe realities of being public school teachers in theUnited States, the challenges they face and teachers’unions. At the conclusion of the class, several Brazilianteachers told Maranuk they thought they were the onlyones having a hard time. “English public schoolteachers in Brazil are looked down upon by most ofsociety,” the alum says. Maranuk has observed that“Brazil is an extremely unequal society.” She asked aprofessor there if Brazil had homeless shelters or afoster care system. “I would not know because it hasnever been my reality,” the professor responded.Maranuk also has observed that the United States ismore conducive to entrepreneurship compared to othercountries, and that the spirit of volunteerism is lackingin Brazil despite a “promising” economy.
Maranuk summed up her optimism for globalization.“Hopefully, it will help create a world where we canwork together and share what we have with the rest ofthe world,” she says.
FEATURE q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:39 AM Page 10
Fea t u r e
It was a small cadre of Gilmour volunteers whoheaded to Honduras in spring 2001 – Spanishinstructor Tiho Teisl, social studies instructor Matt
Lindley, two parents and three students. The tripstarted out as a way to immerse Spanish students inlanguage and culture and to assist the people living inHonduras. “After going there we said this is waymore than just a language and culture trip,” says Teisl,coordinator of Gilmour’s Honduras mission. “It is morewhat Gilmour Academy is all about.” The Holy Crosstradition of giving to others through the humanitarianmission becomes more firmly entrenched each year.
Teisl, now the dean of student life and discipline,has traveled to Honduras 16 times. He oversees themission trips to Honduras and the Gilmour volunteerswho work at Nuevo Paraiso, a community developmentproject that provides food, clothing, shelter andeducation to families in Honduras. He coordinates thetrip, working out the logistics and serving as liaisonwith the program coordinator in Honduras, Mae CruzVanenzuela. His job expanded in 2005, when alumni
began making their own summer trip to Honduras.They have gone every year since then with theexception of 2009 when there was a period of nationalpolitical unrest in Honduras. In the last decade, morethan 500 volunteers from Gilmour have paid their owntravel, room and board to help the people of Honduras.Today the mission trip costs about $1,500 per person.
Over the years, the Gilmour group has takeneverything from cast iron frying pans and medicalsupplies to circular saws and shoes – they have evensent a generator, thanks to funding from a Gilmourfamily and others. Upon boarding the plane, eachvolunteer takes one suitcase with personal belongingsand another with donated items from the GilmourCommunity. “It would be hard to put a cash value onthese donations,” Teisl says. “The Hondurans eitherare unable to get the things we take down there orthe items are too expensive.”
As the students deplane and drive through thecountry’s capital, Tegucigalpa, they begin to see thehardscrabble life of its citizens. Shacks built into themountainside line both sides of the road. “When theyleave the capital, they see the level of poverty,” Teislsays, adding that there is no electricity or runningwater, just huts built into the side of hills. ClaireWagner ’11 told The Lance “The first things we sawwhen we turned onto a dirt road were the housesmade of metalscrap pieces.”According to theWorld Bank,Honduras is thethird poorestcountry in theWesternHemispherewith 60 percentliving below thepoverty level.
OUR 10-YEARTREASUREDMISSION TO HONDURAS
10
Addison Barnett ’11
FEATURE q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:39 AM Page 11
Over the years, the Gilmour volunteers haveconstructed houses, a corral for animals, a receptionand storage area in a medical clinic, and built a securitywall around a kinder (elementary) school. They havepainted houses, added rooms to houses, planted treesand gardens, built a park and installed water lines toimprove water pressure in houses. Honduranconstruction workers are hired to work with thevolunteers to make sure structures are being builtcorrectly. Gilmour students Abby Clark ’11 andAndrea Massaad ’11 designed murals with scenesfrom storybooks for the kinder school last spring.
“Our work is primarily for the children’s village,”Teisl says. Currently 125 children live in NuevoParaiso. In 1966 Sister Maria Rosa Leggol from theLatin American Province of the School Order of theSisters of St. Francis established Sociedad Amigos DeLos Ninos, which oversees Nuevo Paraiso. She hopesto see 200 children living there. The nun has rescuedmore than 35,000 Honduran children from the streetsand jails and provided shelter for them.
Last March, the Gilmour volunteers poured thefoundation and built columns to support the walls for anew home for 14 children following a $25,000 donationfrom a Gilmour family. Dubbed “Hogar Gilmour”(Gilmour Home), alumni painted the facility on theirtrip in July. “We go there to help build things thatwill be helpful for the children,” Teisl says.
Although the physical work is hard and studentsswelter in the midday heat, it is the time they spendinteracting with the children that draws them toHonduras. It is not unusual in the evening when theyplay in the children’s village to see Gilmour studentscarrying small children on their shoulders and tossingand spinning them. “These kids yearn for love,” Teislsays. “When our students hold them, walk with themand try to communicate that is the important part.”
On each trip, Teisl says something differentcatches his eye. What impresses him, he notes, is the
advancement of the Honduran children and that thingsare getting better for them in terms of clothing, foodand education. Some of the children, now adults,have made real inroads. One just earned a degree inmechanical engineering and is managing a brick factorythere. Another is a civil engineer. One is completingmedical school. “It is gratifying to see those we firstmet as young children become successful productivemembers of Honduran society,” he says.
From Teisl’s perspective, the Gilmour students whohave made the mission trips are more aware not onlyof what goes on in that part of the world but in otherareas and they have a greater desire to help those inneed. “Our mission to open their eyes and becomemore courageous in the choices they make in caringfor others is at work here.”
Fr. John Blazek, C.S.C.
Señor Teisl
FEATURE q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:39 AM Page 12
Fea t u r e
After a comprehensive nationwide process, GilmourAcademy has selected Diane Kingsley as the new
director of the Lower School. She succeeds MonicaVeto, who retired at the end of June. The veteraneducator brings to Gilmour more than 32 years ofexperience as a teacher and administrator in bothCatholic and independent schools. Most recently, shewas head of the lower school at Allendale ColumbiaSchool in Rochester, N.Y. Kingsley earned a Bachelorof Science in music education and a Master of Sciencein education, both from Nazareth College in Rochester.She received her certificate of advanced studies inadministration from the College of Rockport: StateUniversity of New York and holds permanentcertifications in music education, elementary educationand education administration.
“In Diane Kingsley, we have found a talenteddirector who understands and is willing to embraceour mission,” says Gilmour Headmaster Brother RobertLavelle, C.S.C. “She is committed to a coeducationalenvironment and will collaboratively engage colleaguesand parents in providing an outstanding educationalexperience in our Holy Cross tradition.”
According to Brian Horgan, Upper School directorand a member of the search committee, Gilmourreviewed more than 130 applications for the LowerSchool directorship.
“I am honored to be joining a professional coreof educators who are totally focused on children andon using the best, research-based curriculum to givechildren the finest possible education,” Kingsley says.
Horgan notes thatthe committee was“very impressed withDiane’s credentialsas both teacher andadministrator. She hasbeen deeply involvedin the developmentof a research-basedcurriculum for herschools and has workedwith highly respectedreading programsincluding the HighScopeEducational Foundationand Project Zero fromHarvard University.” Horgan adds that the LowerSchool’s excellent programs will benefit from herexpertise in raising levels of student achievement.
As an administrator, Kingsley was chosen toparticipate in five NYSAIS (New York State Associationof Independent Schools) accreditation teams. Mostrecently she was on the accreditation team for a schoolseeking dual accreditation in AMS (American Montessori
“I am honored to be joining
a professional core of
educators who are totally
focused on children and on
using the best, research-
based curriculum to give
children the finest possible
education.”
Diane Kingsley
12
FEATURE q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:39 AM Page 13
Society) and NYSAIS. “Diane is very well qualified tohelp lead our Montessori experience and to support thestudents, faculty and parents as they prepare for thetransition from Montessori into the program offeredin Grades 1 through 6,” Brother Robert says.
Gilmour has undertaken a multi-year processof developing new initiatives for the Lower Schoolcurriculum. Students are now involved in curriculuminitiatives that include learning from a globalperspective and a school-wide entrepreneurshipprogram. The school also has implemented multipleinitiatives for integrating technology with the curriculumat all grade levels. The new Lower School directorcommented that she “looks forward to the opportunityof engaging our teachers and parents in active andcollaborative communication to create the best possibleeducational experience for our children.”
“Gilmour saw in Diane someone who would buildon the momentum taking place in our school, andwork with our teachers and parents to continue tomove our programs forward,” Brother Robert says.
Kingsley officially joined the Gilmour Academyadministration on July 1. She and her husband, Joseph,relocated to the area over the summer.
13
FEATURE q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:40 AM Page 14
2011 Gilmour AcademyCommencementGilmour Academy Celebrates Its62nd Commencement Exercise
Gilmour Academy, as accredited by
the North Central Association of
Secondary Schools and Colleges and
Independent School Association of
the Central States, chartered by the
Ohio Department of Education, is
vested by the state of Ohio with
authority to confer diplomas in
recognition of those having satisfied
the requirements of a college-
preparatory curriculum. Gilmour
Academy’s graduating Class of 2011
is the 62nd graduating class of the
Academy.
Commencemen t
14
COMMENCEMENT.q8_COMMENCEMENT 10/17/11 10:46 AM Page 1
In 1987, Marc A. Stefanski was elected chairman and chief executiveofficer of Third Federal Savings and Loan, succeeding his father, Ben,
who, along with Marc’s mother, Gerome, founded the company in 1938.Since that time, Stefanski has grown the company from $1.8 billion inassets to nearly $11 billion in assets with 23 branches in Northeast Ohio,eight offices in Central and Southern Ohio and 17 branches throughoutthe state of Florida.
Stefanski has kept the operating costs of Third Federal low,operating with about one-third of the personnel usually associatedwith a financial institution of its size. However, continued technologicaladvances in the industry have not come at the cost of personal service.Third Federal prides itself on its customer service, to the point that allphone calls are answered by real people.
Stefanski took the company public through a minority publicoffering completed in April 2007 and established the $55 millionThird Federal Foundation, which has already donated more than$5 million to communities the company serves.
Stefanski graduated from Gilmour Academy in 1972, earneda Bachelor of Arts from Heidelberg College in 1976 and an MBAfrom Baldwin-Wallace College in 1980.
MarcStefanski ’72
Marc Stefanski ’72
CommencementSpeaker
t o G i l m o u r A c a d e m y ’ s
Class of 2011
15
COMMENCEMENT.q8_COMMENCEMENT 10/17/11 10:46 AM Page 2
16
Going back to when I was a Gilmour student
in the 70s, the Dow Jones industrial averagee
was at a thousand, a new house was $277,,000000,,
average annual income was $11,000, gas priceess wweerree
55 cents a gallon and jeans cost twelve buucckkss..
“The Godfather” was the popular moviiee aatt tthhee ttiimmee..
Eminem, Gwyneth Paltrow, Drew BBlleeddssooee,, SShhaaqquuiillllee
O’Neal and Brad Paisley were bboorrnn tthhee yyeeaarr II ggrraadduuaatteedd
from Gilmour, 1972. For the vveerryy ffiirrsstt ttiimmee,, DDaarrttmmoouutthh
allowed women to join tthheeiirr ggrraadduuaattiinngg ccllaassss aanndd
women were alloweedd ttoo rruunn iinn tthhee BBoossttoonn MMaarraatthhoonn..
Recently, I weenntt oonnlliinnee ttoo llooookk uupp GGiillmmoouurr
Academy and II ccaammee uupp wwiitthh ssoommeetthhiinngg tthhaatt rreeaallllyy
hit home –– tthhee mmiissssiioonn ssttaatteemmeenntt –– ““ttoo ddeevveelloopp tthhee
compeetteennccee ttoo sseeee aanndd tthhee ccoouurraaggee ttoo aacctt iinn ccrreeaattiinngg
a mmoorree hhuummaannee aanndd jjuusstt ssoocciieettyy..”” IInn tthhee eeaarrllyy 11997700ss,
ssttuuddeennttss hhaadd aa ddiiffffeerreenntt mmiissssiioonn ssttaatteemmeenntt.. OOuurr mmission
ssttaatteemmeenntt wweenntt lliikkee tthhiiss,, ““BBeeaatt UUSS”” ((UUnniivveerrssiittyy Schoooll)).
II aallwwaayyss ffeelltt tthhaatt GGiillmmoouurr wwaass aa nnuurrttuuring andd
ccaarriinngg eennvviirroonnmmeenntt.. FFrroomm 11996699 wwhheenn II first cammee to
GGiillmmoouurr,, tthheerree wwaass aa hhuuggee ddiiffffeerreennccee from thee other
sscchhoooollss II aatttteennddeedd iinn tthhee aapppprrooach to education, to
wwoorrkkiinngg ttooggeetthheerr aass aa tteeaamm and ttoo focusing on how
yyoouu ccaann bbee ssuucccceessssffuull.. Those lesssons have meant a
lloott ttoo mmee aanndd hhaavvee hhelped me where I am today.
II ppllaayyeedd bbaasseeball when I was here along with all
tthhee ootthheerr ssppoorts. Ray Janasek was the Varsity Baseball
ccooaacchh.. HHe was ssttanding behind our bench and I had
jjuusstt ssttrruck out. I took my helmet, threw it on the
ggroound. I took my bat and threw it on the ground.
And next thing you know, Coach Janasek – a big guy,
6’2, 240 pounds – put his arm on my shoulder, raised
me up from behind and gently took me behind this big
tree. He looked me right in the eye and said, “Marc,
you made the mistake. The equipment didn’t make the
mistake, you did. So, next time up, make a difference.
Don’t blame it on the equipment.” That was probably
40 years ago and I have always remembered it is up to
me to make the difference.
Gilmour is all about building relationships, about
enhancing your ability to move on, to have fun and to
learn from those experiences.
Earlier today, someone spoke about what’s important
in life. It isn’t about money, sports or self-gratification.
It’s more about what kind of a mother, father, sister or
brother you are; what kind of a teammate or teacher you
are; what kind of a human being you are. The previous
speaker asked, when you are going out in the world what
are you going to do for others? What are you going to do
for a cause? I understand that the Class of 2011 donated
11,000 hours of community service, raised more than
$5,000 to assist Holy Cross missions in Haiti and the
Red Cross African Measles Initiative and that you have
continued a 10-year tradition of assisting a village in
Honduras. That’s good stuff. If you’re doing that now,
can you imagine how you are going to change the world?
Can you imagine what you’re going to do from here on
out? And I guess I am not just speaking to the senior class,
but to all of us. If we are living and working and doing
things for others, how much more meaningful our
existence can, should and will be. It is a powerful
statement.
Commencemen t
t o G i l m o u r A c a d e m y ’ s C l a s s o f 2011Excerpts from the
Commencement Address
Marc Stefanski ’72
COMMENCEMENT.q8_COMMENCEMENT 10/17/11 10:46 AM Page 3
17
I would like to close with a reading that I picked
up. A Zen master noticed that one of his disciples had
done nothing for several days but sit in the meditative
position. When asked the reason for this, the student
replied, “I wish to become a Buddha and acquire the
Buddha nature.” At this, the master sat down behind
him, picked up a brick and began polishing it with a
stone. After a while, the student asked him what he
was doing. “I am polishing this brick into a mirror,”
was the reply. “But no amount of polishing would
make the brick into a mirror,” exclaimed the student.
“And no amount of sitting with your legs crossed
will make you into a Buddha,” the Zen master said.
“And no amount of sitting will bring about the changes
Evan ’11 andMarc Stefanski ’72
that we desire.
We must do
something if we
wish to pursue
the goals we’ve
described – goals
that affect our work,
our recreation, our relationships with others, and most of
all, our deepest understanding of our own nature.”
So I guess my final thought for all of you, the
graduating Class of 2011, is do something, do something
meaningful, do something meaningful for others. Let your
values be your guide. Don’t lose your moral compass.
Br. Robert Lavelle’s advisory group
COMMENCEMENT.q8_COMMENCEMENT 10/17/11 10:46 AM Page 4
Commencemen t
Gilmour Academy
Valedictorian 2011James Miller
Valedictory AddressMay 29, 2011
Ifound that the mostdifficult part of writingthis speech was
figuring out not onlywhat I wanted to say,but also what all of youwanted to hear. I askeda few of you for sometips and I can safelyconclude that a majoritysaid either one of twothings; either “Make itfunny, and don’t use bigwords” or “Write yourspeech in Spanish, Latinand French.” The first
command was simple: scan through my memory to recallall of the “funny” moments of our high school. Thesecond task was also rather easy; after all the largest wordI know is “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcaniconiosis.”Come on, that’s really nothing difficult to say five timesfast. It comes out just as naturally as the . . . excuse me. . . “Yips” we used to hear at convo for four years; youshould try it sometime. As for the second suggestion,as pleasing as it was to me, I believe that it would havegiven Rousseau and Shuttleworth more of an excuse tosleep during this.
Four years ago, this day seemed so far away, like someevent in the future that we knew was inevitable (unless, ofcourse, some kind of rapture happened), but slow movingso as to seem as though we had the control to choosewhen the day would come. Well, whether we’ve chosen itor not, the day is here; the final length of the race of highschool has arrived and another is about to begin as we goour separate ways to make our future! But, before youbegin to smile at the end of our days at Gilmour, I wouldlike to pose a few questions. Are you prepared for thechallenges ahead? As one important part of our lives endsand another begins, are you ready to enter the world, tolive out the instructions and teachings that we have beengiven? In other words, what have you done in preparationfor leaving? What is it about you, about us as a class, thatsays we are ready for the changes that life will bring?
I know these questions require us to return to the pastexperiences as students at Gilmour. Yet, I am well aware
Ihad the pleasure recently of reading collegerecommendations for many of our departingseniors and, as you can imagine, those for
James were particularly stellar. Most remarkable,for me, was that James’ Latin teacher, Mr. Grejtak,and U.S. History teacher, Dr. Gutowski, neitherknown for their hyperbole, both shared that Jameswas perhaps the most scholarly student that theytaught in their respective careers. For those ofyou who may not know either Mr. Grejtak orDr. Gutowski, this, folks, is a combined 68years of classroom teaching!
You can be sure I need no additionaallconvincing that James is a uniquelyy sscchhoollaarrllyyyoung man. But in case I did, theerree iiss aammpplleeenough evidence throughout hhiiss ffoouurr--yyeeaarracademic record to support tthhee ccllaaiimm.. AAnndd iinncase you need more connvviinncciinngg .. .. .. wweellll,, yyoouucan wait for this yearr’’ss yyeeaarrbbooookk ttoo ccoommee oouuttand read James’ seenniioorr ssttaatteemmeenntt –– iitt iiss wwrriitttteennentirely in Latinn!! JJaammeess iiss aa ppoollyymmaatthh bbuutt hheehas a particuullaarr lloovvee ffoorr llaanngguuaaggeess.. HHee ccoouullddhave justt aass eeaassiillyy wwrriitttteenn hhiiss sseenniioorr ssttaatteemmeennttin Frenncchh oorr SSppaanniisshh aanndd pprroobbaabbllyy wwoouulldd hhaavveebefoorree sseettttlliinngg ffoorr EEnngglliisshh.. LLaanngguuaaggeess aarree tthhaattmmuucchh ffuunn ffoorr hhiimm..
BBuutt ddwweelllliinngg oonn JJaammeess’’ aaccaaddeemmiicc eexxcceellencewwoouulldd bbee ttoo ddiimmiinniisshh wwhhaatt II aanndd II ttrruusstt othershhaavvee ccoommee ttoo rreeaallllyy aapppprreecciiaattee aabboouutt James andtthhaatt iiss hhiiss ddeeeepp ccoommmmiittmmeenntt ttoo hhis relationshipswwiitthh ootthheerrss.. WWhheetthheerr iitt iiss iinn his leadership of veryyyoouunngg aanndd ttaalleenntteedd bbooyyss ccrrooss-couuntry and trackaanndd ffiieelldd tteeaammss,, tthhee pplleeasure he haas in keepingccoommppaannyy wwiitthh hhiiss ffrriiends and classmates, theeexxttrraaoorrddiinnaarryy rraappppoort hee has with his teachers,oorr tthhee ddeeeepp ccooncern he has for the well-being offfaammiillyy mmeemmbbers, James, perhaps to a fault, putsootthheerrss ffiirrsst. But this is how we come to havehhooppee iinn thee ffuutture isn’t it? When the educationooff tthe heaart and mind combine in such a wayaas it haass iin James, we are all at least a little bitencourraged about all of our futures.
James will be continuing his education nextfall as a recipient of a full scholarship from JohnCarroll University. It is our good fortune thatwe’ve had him on our campus these past fouryears. Please welcome our valedictorian, JamesMiller, to the podium.
J. Brian HorganDirector of the Upper School
18
James Miller ’11
COMMENCEMENT.q8_COMMENCEMENT 10/17/11 10:46 AM Page 5
19
that history has never been our subject; Crabtree hadtrouble concentrating freshman year; I think hiscountenance is still engraved on the wooden table.Gabrielsen struck Debick in the head with a dictionary justto keep him awake; and junior year . . . well, I guess PeterJennings was able to keep most of our attention! Anyway,despite all of these downsides to our experience withhistory, we must take at least a moment to look back anddetermine whether or not we are truly prepared for whatlies ahead. Of course, it is obvious that we have changedsince the beginning of high school, and I’m not just talkingabout Evan gaining a few inches in height, Pestotnik’svoice finally maturing, Kenny finally growing a mustacheor Tobbe learning to drive a car instead of a golf cart.Rather, I’m referring to the changes that we have madeboth with respect to our minds and to our hearts. Likestatues of Pygmalion, we’ve been sculpted in such a wayto tackle the most rigorous intellectual problems of ourtime; likewise our hearts have been instilled with fires toforge new, long-lasting relationships with our families,friends, classmates and teachers. However, it would befoolish to think that we, alone, on our own, were able tomake ourselves who we are, or that we arrived where weare by our own power. Instead, we have reached thispoint because we have “stood on the shoulders of giants,”as Stephen Hawking once described his success. Thegiants to us were our parents, teachers, peers, counselorsand of course . . . Mrs. Brubaker, who fought tirelessly toprovide us with everything we ever needed. And so it isto them that I would like to extend the highest possiblethanks on behalf of the Class of 2011.
It has come to my knowledge that most of theseaddresses end with words of wisdom or advice for theupcoming diaspora. I suppose that if I had to choosesome advice to give, I wouldn’t try to come up with anykind of “catch phrase” to characterize our class; for I highlydoubt that the words “fluff the shnee” would do justice forthe future. Instead, I would rather leave every one of youwith this. I know for a fact that the future will bring a lotof challenges before us; time itself has put us through trials
in high schoolalready. I’m notreferring solelyto academic orintellectualchallenges.Include athleticsand still the scopeof what I’mspeaking about ismuch greater. Lifecan be unforgivingat times; this is notforeign to anyonestanding here
today. However,with minds andhearts like ours,there is littledoubt in my mindthat “we shallovercome” anyand all thingsthat life throwsinto our path.In some ways,our success will ultimately depend on how well we adaptto and confront our challenges. In other ways, it will bedetermined by our relationships with those most importantin our lives. People come into our lives for reasons,whether apparent or hidden, and there is no doubt in mymind that each one of us has come into each other’s livesfor a reason. It is true that after we depart from highschool some of us may never cross each other’s path again.I cannot guarantee that my road and Kenzie’s road willever intersect again. In fact the two may diverge asintensely as a function and its Taylor series that onlyconverges for a short interval. (Ms. Merkel, that one wasfor you.) However, it is not fundamentally important if wesee each other again. What matters is that we knew eachother for a short period of our lives and that we affectedone another for the better. We’ve learned from eachother’s mistakes, laughed at the jokes, shared the momentsof joy, pain and success. Whether we know it or not, allof us have left a mark both on this school and its studentsand on each other. As we walk out those doors into whatwe call life, never forget what you have learned here,whom you’ve impacted, and what has left an impact onyou. Only through an understanding of what your heartand your mind can do will you be able to tackle the futurethat lies ahead.
These four years have already gone by so quickly, andtime only starts to move faster from this moment onward.It seems just like yesterday we were struggling to learn thewords of the student prayer, amazed at what came out ofthe physics box and dumbfounded that Cambodian rats areso large. We’ll look back on these days in the future andwe’ll ask ourselves what we learned. Perhaps we’ll eventurn to the next generation and give them the advice thatour teachers, parents and elders gave us: “Take advantageof every moment you have. Don’t back down from any oflife’s challenges. You’ll learn the most from them. Neverdo anything you might regret and don’t regret anything thatyou shouldn’t; don’t take any moment for granted, for youknow as well as I that the present moment is valuable; butat the same time it’s very elusive; seize every opportunityyou can because in an instant it can be lost and time willcontinue to move without you. Time will continue to goregardless of what you do or how you feel . . . and itgoes and it goes and it goes.”
Congratulations, James Miller
COMMENCEMENT.q8_COMMENCEMENT 10/17/11 10:46 AM Page 6
Commencemen t
Earlier this year, students, faculty and staff wereinvited to participate in the rereading project inwhich an opportunity was afforded to revisit a
book read perhaps much earlier in life, in order to seehow it may resonate anew – and to see how a readingexperience may be given shape by time and life’sunfolding. At the conclusion of the project, readerswere asked to provide a statement, summarizing theirexperience and I was particularly moved by Kenzie’sstatement, which I found hanging in our library’sdisplay case. Kenzie had reread “The BFG,” byRoald Dahl, and in her summary, she expressedthe delight she had, both as a young child, andnow, in Dahl’s imaginative story and his playyffuullllyyinventive vocabulary. Words like snozzcuummbbeerr,,frobscottle and whizzpoppers tickled KKeennzziiee aannddshe was moved by the story of the lloonnee sseellfflleessssbenevolent giant (among many, lleessss--bbeenneevvoolleennttgiants), protector of little childdrreenn aanndd tthheeiirr ggoooodddreams. It is hard not to ttaakkee ddeelliigghhtt iinn ssuucchh aastory, but harder still, ttoo nnoott ttaakkee ddeelliigghhtt iinn ssuucchha smart, scholarly yoouunngg wwoommaann wwhhoo rreeaalliizzeessthat imagination,, iinnvveennttiivveenneessss aanndd ppllaayyffuullnneesssshave a role inn aallll oouurr lliivveess aanndd nnoott jjuusstt tthhoossee oofflittle childrreenn..
Kennzziiee ppoosssseesssseess aa sseellff--ccoonnffiiddeennccee tthhaatt ccaann bbeedisarrmmiinngg –– ddiissaarrmmiinngg bbeeccaauussee iitt iiss nnoott tthhee aallll--ttoooo--ccoommmmoonn aanndd ttrraannssppaarreenntt ttyyppee ooff sseellff--ccoonnffiiddeennccee tthhatiiss lloouudd aanndd bbooaassttffuull aanndd iiss uussuuaallllyy ttrryyiinngg ttoo ddiissttrraactffrroomm uunnddeerrllyyiinngg iinnsseeccuurriittyy,, bbuutt rraatthheerr bbeeccaauusse it is asseellff--ccoonnffiiddeennccee tthhaatt eemmeerrggeess aauuthheennttiiccaallllyy ffrom a sorrttooff aaggiilliittyy tthhaatt aalllloowwss oonnee ttoo ffllooww uunnsseellffcconssciouslytthhrroouugghh lliiffee,, wwiitthh ggeennuuiinnee ggrraaccee aanndd joy. It helps, Issuuppppoossee,, tthhaatt KKeennzziiee aaccttuuaallllyy ddooes excel at everything.OObbvviioouussllyy,, sshhee iiss aa ssuuppeerrbb ssttuuddent, but her openness toeexxpplloorriinngg ooppppoorrttuunniittiieess hhaas led her to be, among manynnoottaabbllee rroolleess,, tthhee lloonnee ffemale on the golf team, affoouunnddiinngg mmeemmbbeerr ooff the SService Club, and a committedmmeemmbbeerr ooff LLiiffee TTeen. Much of what Kenzie takes onwwoouulldd ccaallll ffoor resilience in your typical teen, not unlikethhee rreessiilliieennce requireed perhaps of the BFG. But itddooeessnn’’tt feel that wayy with Kenzie. It just doesn’t seemlliikkee that much work for her. Because Kenzie just is,sshhe just does. And so, while everything she does isimpactful, what Kenzie is most excellent at is beingKenzie – and from where I sit, that looks like a lotof fun!
Kenzie will be making her mark next year atWashington University in St. Louis, but for now, wehave the pleasure of welcoming her to the podiumto deliver the salutatory address.
J. Brian Horgan
Director of the Upper School
Gilmour Academy
Salutatorian2011Mackenzie Alexander
Salutatory AddressMay 29, 2011
Afew summers ago,some friends and Iwent to see the movie
“Up” at our local movietheater. For those of youwho aren’t familiar with thefilm, “Up” is the story of Mr.Fredricksen, a cantankerousold man who won’t leave hisproperty, and Russell, acharmingly tubby little boywho – for reasons I don’t wantto give away – cannot leavethe old man’s property. Atfirst I simply thought Russell tobe no more than an adorablelittle ball of Boy Scout badges,
but after about an hour of watching him interact withMr. Fredricksen and the very strange new environmentaround him, I began to feel connected to Russell.Something struck me about this young character, hisreadiness to help others and his persistence. And then ithit me, I was Russell, I mean apart from the chubby cheeksand maleness and everything. Just like Russell, I, too, feltthe frustration of being a child in a grown-up world,wanting so desperately to make a difference, but unsurehow to do so. I began to believe that this character was,in fact, me.
But I didn’t just make these comparisons to myself.Upon returning to school in the fall, I started noticingsimilarities between classmates and other notable filmcharacters. Throughout the hallways I saw “The Sandlot”boys, making strange noises at each other and constantlyplotting their next debacle. I spotted the “Anchorman”Channel 5 News Team, providing lots of entertainment,and occasionally some announcements, at Convocation.How could I not notice Allie Hamilton and Noah Calhounplaying out some of the most uncomfortably romanticscenes from “The Notebook” in the Student Center? TheClass of 2011 also has its Ferris Buellers, making life forMr. Teisl a bit less boring. Not to mention, our athleticRocky Balboas, our studious Hermione Grangers, our pureof heart Frodos and our lovably dense Forrest Gumps.
Mackenzie Alexander ’11
20
COMMENCEMENT.q8_COMMENCEMENT 10/17/11 10:46 AM Page 7
21
Our class is full of characters performing their art onthe set of Gilmour Academy, each with his or her own roleto play. Whether that role is boldly heroic like that of theblue mob bravely bending benches and cheering loudlyin the face of defeat, or riddled with humor, like thelaughable members of the Announcement Club creatingthe memorable “Teach Me How to Lancer” video. Wehave more than our fair share of profoundly gifted parts,winning national mathematics competitions and writinglucrative business plans. And there has never been ashortage of compassionate characters, always offering ashoulder to cry on when the going got rough. Because,let’s face it, we all know it did.
And yet, here we are today. An outstandingly acted,deftly directed, painstakingly produced work of art, withan all-star cast, too. It wasn’t light work, that’s for sure.In fact, it was the hardest thing any of us have ever done.Nothing ever came easy. We can’t even decide whichgenre to classify ourselves by. Our time here has certainlybeen dramatic, but we’ve had our comedic moments, too.There has been lots of action/adventure, plenty ofromance, and we certainly can’t put ourselves in thechildren’s section. The Class of 2011, as always, can’treally be placed under a certain category, and during ourfour years, we have believed that this dilemma has beenour downfall. But it’s not. Our inability to be categorizedis what distinguishes us from the endless graduating classesthat have come before us and will follow after. We are
unique. We areextraordinary. Anddon’t think Gilmourhasn’t noticed, either.Why else do you thinkwe are here today butto receive the highesthonor that the Academyhas to offer, Gilmour’sversion of the Oscar:a diploma, and I am sounbelievably honoredto accept it.
So thank you tomy family, you’ve raisedme to be the characterI am today. Thankyou to the teachersand administrators.You have directed usthroughout this wholeprocess and drawn outour best performances. And, most importantly, thankyou to the Class of 2011, because all your hard workhas turned these past four years into a masterpiece.Thank you, everyone, and bravo. The Academy isgoing to be talking about this one for a while.
Kelly Kertis ’11 and Colleen Kelly ’11 Sean Curtin ’11, Kevin Dagg ’11, Allie Dahlhausen ’11
COMMENCEMENT.q8_COMMENCEMENT 10/17/11 10:47 AM Page 8
MACKENZIE ALEXANDER
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITYIN ST. LOUIS
ALISON ALTHANS
CASEWESTERN RESERVEUNIVERSITY
KAITLYN AMBROSE
MIAMI UNIVERSITY, OXFORD
ALEXANDER ANDREWS
WITTENBERG UNIVERSITY
JEFFREY ANGIE
KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
BRADLEY BAKER
ROLLINS COLLEGE
GIULIANA BARNES
JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITY
ADDISON BARNETT
NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
EASTLYN BELLAMY
PLATTSBURGH STATE UNIVERSITY
LAIMIS BELZINSKAS
JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITY
LELAND BENT
MIAMI UNIVERSITY, OXFORD
KATHLEEN BLOOM
MIAMI UNIVERSITY, OXFORD
CARLYN BRANCOVSKY
UNDECIDED
CAITLIN BRETT
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
TAYLOR BROADBENT
MIAMI UNIVERSITY, OXFORD
GREGORY CALABRESE
FLORIDA GULF COASTUNIVERSITY
KEVIN CALLAHAN
HIRAM COLLEGE
CAMERON CARMEN
UNIVERSITY OF MOUNT UNION
Brynn ’14, Mackenzie ’11 andPatrick ’79 Alexander
Alexander ’15, Olivia ’12,Claudia ’17, Alison ’11 and
Jacob ’14 Althans
Connor ’17 andKaitlyn ’11 Ambrose
Jeffrey ’11 andDaniel ’05 Angie
22
Congratulationsto the Class of
2011Matriculation List
Commencemen t
Austin ’09 andAddison ’11 Barnett
Vejas ’05 and Laimis ’11Belzinskas
Grant ’15 andLeland ’11 Bent
Rebecca ’09, Kathleen ’11 andKevin ’07 Bloom
COMMENCEMENT.q8_COMMENCEMENT 10/17/11 10:47 AM Page 9
Thomas ’78 and Elizabeth ’11Coerdt
Ryan ’14 andSean ’11 Curtin
Matthew ’13 andKevin ’11 Dagg
Daniel ’09 andMatthew ’11 Debick
Abbey ’12 andConnor ’11 Deckard
23
Peter ’14, Jack ’11 andPaul ’76 Dolan
Carlyn ’11 andCaitlynde ’06 Brancovsky
John ’14, Caitlin ’11 andAndrew ’03 Brett
Shelby ’13,Taylor ’11 andNoah ’15 Broadbent
Kevin ’75 andKevin ’11 Callahan
Leah ’12, Samuel ’11 andMcAllister ’09 Castelaz
Bailey ’10, Ryan ’08, Abigail ’11and Bennett ’14 Clark
SAMUEL CASTELAZ
CASEWESTERN RESERVEUNIVERSITY
JOHN CHANEY
EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
ABIGAIL CLARK
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADOAT BOULDER
ELIZABETH COERDT
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
NOLAN COONEY
COLLEGE EDOUARD –MONTPETIT
CAMILLE CORBIN
UNION COLLEGE
MEGAN COVINGTON
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME
JESSICA COWAN
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
THOMAS CRABTREE
JUNIOR HOCKEY
ALLISON CROSBY
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
SEAN CURTIN
UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON
NICHOLAS D’ANGELO
UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON
KEVIN DAGG
MERCYHURST COLLEGE
ALEXANDRIA DAHLHAUSEN
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
MATTHEW DEBICK
JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITY
CONNOR DECKARD
WASHINGTON AND JEFFERSONCOLLEGE
GABRIELLE DeFRANCESCO
HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY
LAWRENCE DOLAN
MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE
JOSEPH ECHELMEIER
JUNIOR HOCKEY
KRISTEN ELIA
LYON COLLEGE
MARY FARLEY
MIAMI UNIVERSITY, OXFORD
KENNETH FARONA
JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITY
KIERA FINELLI
MIAMI UNIVERSITY, OXFORD
SEAMUS FINUCANE
BOSTON UNIVERSITY
ASHLEY FRYAR
MARIETTA COLLEGE
KAITLIN FUTEY
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY
ANDREW GABRIELSEN
DEPAUL UNIVERSITY
COMMENCEMENT.q8_COMMENCEMENT 10/17/11 10:47 AM Page 10
TORI GALLO
PURDUE UNIVERSITY
CATON GOMILLION
XAVIER UNIVERSITY
HALLE GRANT
The University of Akron
STEVEN GRECO
PURDUE UNIVERSITY
MATTHEW GRIDER
EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
SAMUEL HANDY
SALVE REGINA UNIVERSITY
NICHOLAS HANSON
XAVIER UNIVERSITY
JOHN HARPER
OHIO UNIVERSITY
HYUN SEUNG HONG
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE HOUDE
UNIVERSITÉ MONTRÉAL
EDWARD HYLAND
NOTRE DAME COLLEGE
OF OHIO
ALLIE KASUBOSKI
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEEN KELLY
UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON
KELLY KERTIS
JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITY
ERIKA KLATTE
MIAMI UNIVERSITY, OXFORD
JENNA KLEIN
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE
OF TECHNOLOGY
MEGHAN KRAMER
UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
MATTHEW LAMOSEK
University of Dayton
BRITTANY LAYTON
LEHIGH UNIVERSITY
ALISON LENCEWICZ
PURDUE UNIVERSITY
BRITTANY LINK
BROWN UNIVERSITY
DAMIEN LONA
JUNIOR HOCKEY
CANDACE LONGINO-THOMAS
TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
NICOLE MANILICH
WASHINGTON & JEFFERSON
COLLEGE
ANDREA MASSAAD
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
ALLISON MAWBY
PURDUE UNIVERSITY
24
Caitlin ’09 andKeira ’11 Finelli
Kaitlyn ’14 andKristen ’11 Elia
Charles ’80, Tori ’11 andCharles ’14 Gallo
Michael ’13 andCaton ’11 Gomillion
Amber ’15 andAshley ’11 Fryar
Greg ’08 andKaitlin ’11 Futey
Caroline ’05, Steven ’11 andAllison ’08 Greco
Kyle ’07, Maggie ’09, Halle ’11and Caitlin ’05 Grant
Tara ’07 andBrendan ’11 Hyland
Courtney ’09 andAllie ’11 Kasuboski
Benjamin ’07 andJohn ’11 Harper
Hyun Seo ’15 andHyun Seung ’11 Hong
Commencemen t
COMMENCEMENT.q8_COMMENCEMENT 10/17/11 10:47 AM Page 11
25
Kristen ’13 andKelly ’11 Kertis
Caitlin ’07, Colleen ’11 andAlexander ’03 Kelly
Michael ’01, Brittany ’11 andRickey ’10 Layton
Alison ’11 andJoseph ’12 Lencewicz
Mary ’10, Meghan ’11 andLawrence ’08 Kramer
Joseph ’17, Kaitlyn ’12,Mitchell ’21, Matthew ’11 andChristopher ’19 Lamosek
Corey Newcomb Lesko ’06and Hannah ’11 Newcomb
Lauren ’15 andAndrea ’11 Massaad
Brittan ’07, Allison ’11 andMadison ’09 Mawby
Patrick ’14 andJohn ’11 Mohorcic
Gee Hyun ’14 andGee Jin ’11 Nam
Sara ’16, Ann ChiarucciO’Brien GO ’76, Kathleen ’11and Robert ’10 O’Brien
MATTHEW McLAUGHLAN
THE UNIVERSITY OF AKRON
BRADLEY MEDINGER
OHIO UNIVERSITY
JAMES MILLER
JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITY
MORGAN MILLS
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
JOHN MOHORCIC
PURDUE UNIVERSITY
COLLEEN MOORE
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
CHELSEA MYLES
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
GEE JIN NAM
UNDECIDED
HANNAH NEWCOMB
OTTERBEIN UNIVERSITY
KATHLEEN O’BRIEN
BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY
MATTHEW OLIVER
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
CATHERINE PACE
OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
MATTHEW PANZO
JUNIOR HOCKEY
MATTHEW PENDER
HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH
COLLEGES
MATTHEW PESTOTNIK
SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY
MICHAEL PHILLIPS
JUNIOR HOCKEY
NATALIE PIKE
BUTLER UNIVERSITY
ANDREW PIKUL
BOWLING GREEN STATE
UNIVERSITY
FRANK PINES
JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITY
NICOLAS PROVOST
JUNIOR HOCKEY
BRAEDEN QUAST
JUNIOR HOCKEY
JENNA RADCLIFFE
LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO
KEVIN RIZZO
THE GEORGEWASHINGTONUNIVERSITY
ALYSIA ROSS
PLATTSBURGH STATE UNIVERSITY
JEFFREY ROUSSEAU
EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
RYAN SHEPARD
LYNN UNIVERSITY
DOMINIC SHUTTLEWORTH
JUNIOR HOCKEY
COMMENCEMENT.q8_COMMENCEMENT 10/17/11 10:47 AM Page 12
26
KATHERINE SIDERAS
UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
KRISTINA SNYDER
MIAMI UNIVERSITY, OXFORD
EVAN STEFANSKI
MIAMI UNIVERSITY, OXFORD
RYAN TOBBE
CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY
MELANIE TRUSHEL
LAKE ERIE COLLEGE
HALLIE TURNER
WASHINGTON AND JEFFERSON
COLLEGE
LAUREN VALA
OHIO UNIVERSITY
KEVIN VARGO
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
John ’16 andMatthew ’11 Oliver
Nicholas ’13 andMatthew ’11 Panzo
Charlotte ’13, Marc ’83 andMatthew ’11 Pender
Brian ’08,Matthew ’11 andAllan ’05 Pestotnik
Andrew ’09,Michael ’11 andSamuel ’06 Phillips
Alexandra ’06, Braeden ’11 andHarrison ’09 Quast
Benjamin ’12 andJenna ’11 Radcliffe
Amy ’14 and Kevin ’11 Rizzo
Morgan ’10 andRyan ’11 Shepard
Leo ’10 andKatherine ’11 Sideras
Jennifer ’08 andKristina ’11 Snyder
Amanda ’13, Evan ’11 andBrian ’05 Stefanski
Commencemen t
ALEXANDRA VENZOR
FORDHAM UNIVERSITY
SAMANTHA VICARI
NICHOLAS COLLEGE
CLAIRE WAGNER
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY
OF AMERICA
LAURA WASNICK
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
CASEY WEINFURTNER
OHIO UNIVERSITY
GORDON WELLS
JUNIOR HOCKEY
KURT WILBER
JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITY
MICHAEL ZAVAGNO
WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY
Candace Longino-Thomas ’11
COMMENCEMENT.q8_COMMENCEMENT 10/17/11 10:47 AM Page 13
27
Grace ’08, Alexandra ’11,Anne ’10 and James ’15 Venzor
Nicholas ’07, Claire ’11 andMichael ’06Wagner
Mara ’07, Kurt ’11 andJack ’09Wilber
Katharine ’14 andMichael ’11 Zavagno
John ’12, Ryan ’11 andJames ’81 Tobbe
Michael ’13, Lauren ’11 andTimothy ’09 Vala
John ’09 and Kevin ’11 Vargo
Class of
2011Fast Facts on GilmourAcademy’s Class of 2011
(114 graduates)
11,000 hours donated tocommunity organizations
$5,000 donated to theHoly Cross Mission in Haiti,The Red Cross AfricanMeasles Initiative, NuevoParaiso, and the GilmourAcademy Scholarship Fund
2 full-tuition scholarshipsto MIT and John CarrollUniversity along withnumerous collegescholarships and grants tosome of the nation’s mostcompetitive colleges
Fifth state golfchampionship inschool history
3 state Final Fourappearances in volleyball
Kevin Dagg ’11,Matthew Debick ’11,
and Connor Deckard ’11
COMMENCEMENT.q8_COMMENCEMENT 10/17/11 10:47 AM Page 14
DDaayyss GGoo BByBByy:: CCaasseeyy WWeeiinfurrtner ’11
CCLLAASSSS OOFF 22001111
SSttuucckk hheerree oonn MMeemory LLaanneeWWiisshhiinngg thatt II ccoould reeggaaiinnTThhee ddays of thee ppaastTThhee good timess nneevveerr llaassttCCoolloring outsiiddee tthhee lliinneessWWaassting just a lliitttle mmoorree timeeTTiill it passes awayIIss iitt so much to stay?
DDaayyss go byWWee wwaitWWee ccrryTTiimmee ggoes byIItt’’ss hhaarrdBBuutt wwe make itIItt ggooees, it goes, it goes,AAnndd it goesDDaayys go by
RReemember all the times we sharedCCoomplaining how life wasn’t fairAAnd the times we smiledEEven just for a little whileWanting every big dream we madeSitting back as the seasons fadeGoing in and outIsn’t that what life’s about?
Days go byWe waitWe cryTime goes byIt’s hardBut we make itIt goes, it goes, it goes,And it gooeessDays go bbyy
LLooookk aatt aallll oouurr ddiiffffeerreenntt ffaacceessLLooookk aatt aallll tthhaatt wwee’’vvee ccrreeaatteeddLLooookk aatt hhooww wwee rriissee ttooggeetthheerrLLooookk aatt hhooww wwee ssttaanndd ttooggeetheerr
DDaayyss ggoo bbyyWWee wwaaiittWWee ccrryyTTiimmee ggooeess bbyyIItt’’ss hhaarrddBBuutt wwee mmaakkee iittIItt ggooeess,, iitt ggooeess,, iitt ggooeess,,AAnndd iitt ggooeessDDaayyss ggoo bbyy
DDaayyss ggoo bbyyWe loveAnd we ffiigghhttTime ggooeess bbyyIt’’ss ssaaddBBuutt wwee mmoovvee oonnIItt ggooeess,, iitt ggooeess,, iitt ggooeess,,AAnndd iitt ggooeessDDaayyss ggoo bbyy
LLooookk wwhhaatt wwee’’vvee bbeeccoommeeLLooookk wwhhoo wwee’’vvee bbeeccoommeeIn these days paasssseedd bbyy
Commencemen t
28
CCaasseeyy WWeeiinnffuurrttnneerr ’’1111
COMMENCEMENT.q8_COMMENCEMENT 10/17/11 10:47 AM Page 15
COMMENCEMENT.q8_COMMENCEMENT 10/17/11 10:47 AM Page 16
Congratulations to those
students in the Class of 2011
who were honored at the
2011 Senior Awards program.
The following students were
recognized with special
awards and commendations:
VALEDICTORIANJames Miller
SALUTATORIANMackenzie Alexander
2010-2011 NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIPPROGRAM FINALISTAlison Althans
COMMENDED STUDENTSBrittany Layton
PHI BETA KAPPA RECOGNITIONJames Miller
GILMOUR TROPHIESMackenzie AlexanderKenneth Farona
BR. THEOPHANE SCHMITT TROPHIESSteven GrecoClaire Wagner
THE DIRECTOR OF THE
UPPER SCHOOL AWARDBradley BakerTaylor BroadbentSean CurtinNicholas D’AngeloHyun Seung HongAllie KasuboskiChelsea MylesMelanie Trushel
2011 GRADUATING SENIORS WHO MAINTAINED
4.0 GRADE POINT AVERAGE FOR FOUR YEARSMackenzie AlexanderKathleen BloomCaitlin BrettElizabeth CoerdtMegan CovingtonHyun Seung HongJenna KleinBrittany LaytonJames MillerMorgan MillsJohn MohorcicMichael PhillipsLaura Wasnick
THE ROBERT B. TOMARO ’67HONOR AWARDColleen Kelly
THE DENIS HOYNES ’51 AWARDBrittany LaytonMichael Phillips
THE CHARLES A. MOONEY ’52 TROPHIESBrittany LinkMichael Zavagno
THE BR. DAVID BALTRINIC AWARDJohn Mohorcic
THE BR. ROBERT KELLY OUTSTANDINGSTUDENT SERVICE AWARDClaire Wagner
James Miller andMackenzie Alexander
30
CUM LAUDE SOCIETY
Dr.W.David Seibert, Jr., Upper School social studies instructor,was the
featured speaker during the 2011 Cum Laude Society’s ceremony. Alison
Althans,Taylor Broadbent, Elizabeth Coerdt, Jessica Cowan,Allison Crosby,
Kenneth Farona,Allie Kasuboski, Brittany Link,Morgan Mills, Chelsea Myles
and Kathleen O’Brien were inducted joining classmates Mackenzie
Alexander, Kathleen Bloom, Caitlin Brett, Megan Covington, Hyun-Seung
Hong, Jenna Klein, Brittany Layton, James Miller, John Mohorcic,Michael
Phillips and LauraWasnick. Inducted as juniors were Jayme Castillo,
Michael Clark,Megan Diemer,Madalyn Kosar, David Mirando, Holly Rapp,
Madison Ratycz, John Renner, Rachel Staton and KyleWiggers.
TheAcademyAwards“
”
C a m p u s O n / O r A b o u t
Campus q8_Layout 1 10/12/11 3:42 PM Page 1
THE SAINT BR. ANDRÉ AWARDSam Castelaz
THE CHARLES MURRAY ’60 STUDENTHUMANITARIAN AWARDColleen Moore
THE CHAPLAIN’S AWARDElizabeth CoerdtJessica CowanMary FarleyMatthew GriderJohn HarperMegan KramerHannah NewcombMatthew PestotnikKatherine Sideras
THE BR. JAMES O’DONNELL CAMPUSRESIDENCY AWARDJenna Klein
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN AP PHYSICSMegan Covington
THE PAUL PRIMEAU SCIENCE AWARDHyun Seung Hong
THE THOMAS JEFFERSONAMERICAN GOVERNMENT AWARDMackenzie AlexanderCameron CarmenMichael Phillips
THE AP THOMAS JEFFERSONAMERICAN GOVERNMENT AWARDSeamus FinucaneJenna KleinJohn MohorcicKevin Rizzo
THE JOHN GALE ENGLISH AWARDAndrea MassaadMichael Phillips
2011 HOLY CROSS LITERATURE AWARDMegan Covington
THE WILLIAM G. MOORE II ’51ENGLISH AWARDKristen Elia
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN FOREIGNLANGUAGELawrence DolanJames Miller
JOURNALISM/LANCE AWARDSteve GrecoClaire WagnerCasey Weinfurtner
JOURNALISM/YEARBOOK AWARDJohn HarperMorgan Mills
MUSICAL CONTRIBUTION AWARDBrittany LaytonCasey Weinfurtner
DISTINGUISHED MUSICIAN AWARDJenna Radcliffe
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN ART AWARDAbigail ClarkAndrea Massaad
Michael Phillips andBrittany Layton
31
The Director of the Upper School Award Recipients
Claire Wagner Brittany Link andMichael Zavagno
Vince Bonacci andJenna Klein
Campus q8_Layout 1 10/12/11 3:42 PM Page 2
Gilmour students with a bent toward ecology had an ecotourism
heyday in Costa Rica for a week in late July. Eleven Upper School
students, science instructor Deanne Nowak and her husband, Tim,
explored the Central American country with its rain forests, mountain ranges
and live volcanoes with coastlines on both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
“Costa Rica is a world leader in environmental protection based upon land
conservation, alternative energy development and protection of endangered
species,” Nowak says.
The country is the third-most ecological country, following Iceland
and Switzerland, according to the 2010 Environmental Performance Index
developed by researchers from Columbia and Yale universities. The EPI index
provides a gauge on a national government scale of how close countries are
to established environmental policy goals. Costa Rica’s biodiversity includes a
national park known for sea turtle nesting, biological reserves, natural parks,
cloud forests and canals that are home to protected species.
“The trip allowed students to discover the complexity and immense
beauty of the cloud forest, an endangered ecosystem rich in biodiversity,”
says Nowak, dean of institutional and curriculum research at Gilmour.
“We heard the howler monkeys, saw the poison dart frog, felt the cool mmiisstt
of the clouds, tasted the fresh plantains and smelled the sweet aromaa ooff rraarree
orchids,” she says adding, “Rather than reading about these thingss,, ssttuuddeennttss
experienced them.”
While on their ecological odyssey, the Gilmour nature ssccoouuttss ttrraavveelleedd
with Earth Explore, which provides on-site education anndd eexxppeerriieenncceess.. IInn
Tortuguero National Park, they watched sea turtles nneesstt aanndd eexxpplloorreedd ccaannaallss
on a boat. They went river rafting, monitored aa hhuummmmiinnggbbiirrdd ggaarrddeenn,, wweenntt
ziplining (traveling on cable lines) in the clouudd ffoorreesstt,, vviissiitteedd aa bbuutttteerrffllyy aanndd
bug preserve and went horseback riding iinn MMoonntteevveerrddee,, wwhhiicchh hhoouusseess tthhee
cloud forest – all the while keepingg jjoouurrnnaallss..
The seniors who participatedd wweerree EErriinn AAbbddaalliiaann,, OOlliivviiaa AAlltthhaannss,,
Diana Klonaris, Maggie Schmmiiddtt,, CCaammiillllee DDoottttoorree,, BBeenn RRaaddcclliiffffee aanndd
Connor Moriarty. Juniors SSaarraahh AAbbddaalliiaann,, JJaaccqquueelliinnee SScchhmmiiddtt,, GGrreettaa TThhoommaass
and Aidan Coyle weree ppaarrtt ooff tthhee ggrroouupp ttoooo..
“Our visit,” Noowwaakk ssaayyss,, ““ttaauugghhtt aanndd iinnssppiirreedd uuss ttoo bbee bbeetttteerr sstteewwaarrddss
of the environmmeenntt..””
C a m p u s O n / O r A b o u t
32
A SITEVISIT BYNATURE’S STEWARDS
Campus q8_Layout 1 10/12/11 3:42 PM Page 3
33
Campus q8_Layout 1 10/12/11 3:43 PM Page 4
C a m p u s O n / O r A b o u t
34
Six forensics students from Gilmour and a Gates Millspolice detective learned to analyze their own DNA
using a technique applied in the O.J. Simpson case.As part of their forensics class, the students created aDNA fingerprint using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)to copy targeted genes in DNA isolated from cheekcells. The technology can copy DNA billions of times.
“Gilmour’s science department acquired the PCRmachine this year to support student research,” saysDeanne Nowak, dean of institutional and curriculumresearch and a science instructor at Gilmour. The$10,000 instrument generates sufficient DNA to allowfor analysis by gel electrophoresis. “Basically gelelectrophoresis is a way to sort a mixture of DNAfragments by size,” notes Nowak, who has a doctoratein organic chemistry. “The little dark lines you seeon a DNA fingerprint result from this process.”
Earlier this year, Michael Day, a detective from theGates Mills Police Department, showed the studentshow to do fingerprinting and expressed interest in thePCR process, so he signed on to learn alongside thestudents. “High school students sometimes isolate DNAfrom strawberries, bananas, or onions, but they rarely
Creating DNA Fingerprints in Classhave the opportunity to do PCR,” Nowak says. “Thereare PCR simulations available, but students are moreengaged by authentic work, particularly when the DNAis their own.”
Purchasing the PCR machine for Gilmour’s scienceprogram also made it possible for Edward Turk, apostdoctoral fellow at Case Western Reserve University,to join the Gilmour faculty. He started a moleculargenetics research laboratory at Gilmour this yearmentoring students such as senior Madison Ratycz,who created a system to investigate the localization ofproteins to the mitochondrion. Mitochondria are thepower house of the cell that convert the energy of foodmolecules into a form of energy used by the cells.Turk has a doctorate in biology and conducts researchon the molecular genetics of mitochondrial biology andsays that the PCR machine makes it possible to obtaina large quantity of DNA for analysis.
The six Gilmour students – now seniors – whoworked on the DNA project were: Alex Corkwell,Alexandra Farone, Bradley Gazdag, Austin Semarjian,Sarah Spech and former student Miguel Cisnal Perez.
In just seven years,Jonathan Botek, a MiddleSchool seventh-grader, hasbecome one of the 100best chess players in thenation among 11-year-olds, according to the U.S.Chess Federation. Onlythree students from Ohiomade the list.
What began as anafter-school projectlearning the game fromthe Vivacity School ofChess has blossomed into
monthly local and regionalcompetitions. Botek competed in his second nationaltournament – the National Junior High ChessTournament – in April in Columbus. He also islisted among the top 50 chess players in Ohio inthe Kindergarten-Grade 6 group.
Gilmour’s ChessmanPlaying against his brother Matthew, a sophomore
in Gilmour’s Upper School, helped Botek hone hisskills. Jonathan also assists with the Lower School’sChess Club, which includes his brother Daniel, aGilmour third-grader.
Playing chess has spurred Botek in hisconcentration, confidence and patience, according tohis parents, Georgeanne Goodrich ’86 Botek, medicaldirector of the Cleveland Clinic’s Diabetic Foot Program,and attorney Fred Botek ’85. Both are Gilmour alumniand Fred Botek is a Gilmour Trustee. The game alsohas helped their son excel in mathematics and in takingstandardized multiple choice tests where he can applyanalytical thinking.
Not one to be pigeonholed, Botek also playspiano, baseball, basketball and football. “Jonny lovescompetition in all of his endeavors, especially chess,”his mother says. With chess he is able to employ hisconcentration, his understanding of the game and hisdesire to outperform the player across the table.
Campus q8_Layout 1 10/12/11 3:43 PM Page 5
Imagine the best musicians in the world visiting aclassroom to personally teach students about themagic of music. Gilmour’s Lower School students don’thave to imagine because the reality is right under theirnoses.
Cleveland Orchestra musician Robert Woolfreyintroduced third-graders to the wonders of the clarinet.The avid hockey fan from Toronto engaged his younglisteners in a way that made music fun yet stillinformative. Cellist Alan Harrell mesmerized Montessoriand Kindergarten students with theability of a snake charmer wooing withmelody. Steven Greenman, an orchestraviolinist who plays Gypsy music, regaledfirst-graders through whimsical tuneswhile second-graders were drawn to thepower of Shachar Israel’s trombonemusic.
The musicians, all part of theCleveland Orchestra’s Learning ThroughMusic School Partnership Program, visited Gilmourthroughout the spring semester and each time thechildren were awestruck. While these visits were adelightful way to spend class time they also had aserious purpose.
The program fosters the use of music and the artsto support general classroom learning by K-5 studentsemploying a combination of curriculum resources,teacher professional workshops and classroom visitsby members of the Cleveland Orchestra. Gilmourintroduced the program to the Lower School in 2005.The musicians have been specially trained as teachingartists. The program is funded by the JPMorgan ChaseFoundation and the Martha Holden JenningsFoundation.
The musician visits are a great benefit, accordingto Camilla Cameron, Lower School music instructor.“They are a way to link the arts to the classroomcurriculum,” she says. “Mr. Woolfrey used his clarinetto address problem solving and making musicaldecisions for a performance: whether to play loud orsoft, fast or slow or when to accent musical notes.The students learn to identify the problem, gatherinformation and to list and consider all the options,”explains Cameron.
“Alan Harrell talked about musicalfamilies and introduced students to thebeautiful music of the cello,” Cameronsays. “We also have enjoyed StevenGreenman who played klezmer music onhis violin and taught about the culturesof Eastern Europe through his music.He brings to life the book ‘SomethingFrom Nothing’ with musical motifs thatrepresent each character,” she adds.
Classes on the clarinet and the trombone were addedthis year.
The Gilmour instructor says that the resourcebooks that are part of the curriculum packets fromthe Cleveland Orchestra are a real addition to her owncurriculum specifically citing “Mysterious Thelonious,”which graphically shows the sound of TheloniousMonk’s song “Misterioso.”
For the last 90 years, the Cleveland Orchestra’seducational programs have brought life to the wondersof music to more than four million area schoolchildren.Fortunately Gilmour’s Lower School students are amongthe beneficiaries.
LLeeaarrnniinnggtthhee RRaappttuurreeooff MMuussiicc
35
Cleveland Orchestra musician Robert Woolfrey
FFoorr tthhee llaasstt 9900 yyeeaarrss,, tthhee
CClleevveellaanndd OOrrcchheessttrraa’s
eedduuccaattiioonnaall pprrooggrraammss have
bbrroouugghhtt lliiffee ttoo tthhee wonders
ooff mmuussiicc ttoo mmoorree than four
mmiilllliioonn sscchhooolchildren.
Campus q8_Layout 1 10/12/11 3:43 PM Page 6
C a m p u s O n / O r A b o u t
“Coeducation offers an educationalexperience for both boys and girls tointeract in the same classroom and tolearn how each other thinks to forgeopportunities for shared leadership.”
Gilmour Headmaster Brother Robert Lavelle, C.S.C.
In 1982, Gilmour Academy, then an all-boys school,merged with the all-girls Glen Oak Schoolconvinced that coeducation would better prepare
students for life’s challenges and that it is better forstudents to compete intellectually than just socially.The Board of Trustees believed that coeducationalso would lead students to embrace a broaderunderstanding of their world since men and womentend to view things from different perspectives andbring different strengths to assessing and resolving
problems. Almostthree decadeslater, Gilmour’scommitment toK-12 coeducationhas not wavered.
Though thetopic has beengreatly debated,the U.S.Department ofEducation notesthat researchindicates nomeasurableadvantage ordisadvantagefor coeducational
or single-sex education. A 2006 study “The Paradox ofSingle-Sex and Coeducational Schooling,” concurredafter examining more than 50 years of research on thesubject. The study also indicated that coeducationmight be more favorable in students’ transition tocollege and their satisfaction in school.
In striving to create a climate of diversity, GilmourAcademy believes that coeducation reflects the kind ofreal-world diversity students will face in the workplaceand beyond. It allows both boys and girls to interact inthe classroom and share ideas fostering opportunities tosee each others as equals. Interestingly enough, overthe last decade at Gilmour, the distinction of graduatingas class valedictorian or salutatorian has been evenlymatched by both girls and boys. For the last 28 years,16 girls and 12 boys have been valedictorian and 16boys and 12 girls have been salutatorian.
“The culture of Gilmour allows both boys andgirls to succeed and to develop their own personalleadership styles,” says Gilmour parent and TrusteeAnn Chiarucci O’Brien (G.O.) ’76.
The National Coalition for Women and Girls inEducation says, “research does not show that gender isan accurate, consistent or even useful determinant ofeducational needs . . .Given the commonalities betweenboys and girls far exceed the differences, the drasticstep of separating boys and girls in public schools isnot warranted.” The coalition also suggested thatsingle-sex schools “risk reaffirming stereotypes aboutthe interests, abilities or learning styles of bothgenders.”
In 2005, the U.S. Department of Educationreviewed eight research studies that cited the benefitsof coeducation: increased test scores, improvedself-esteem and student satisfaction and participationin science-related courses. Deanne Nowak, dean ofinstitutional and curriculum research at Gilmour, did a
36
CLOSINGTHEGENDER DEBATE
Campus q8_Layout 1 10/12/11 3:43 PM Page 7
longitudinal profile of Gilmour graduates from theclasses of 2000-2007 who participated in Gilmour’sCatalyst Program. An elective course, it allows studentsto work on a research team in academia, industry,government or health care under the direction of ascientist mentor. “Science is an area where womenaren’t normally represented well,” says Dr. Nowak,director of the Catalyst Program. “The fact that moregirls participate in Catalyst by a ratio of 2 to 1 levelsthat out. Even though we are coeducational it doesn’tmean that we ignore the special needs of women.”
In analyzing student interest in science and careerchoices in scientific fields, she cited a 2004 study inNew Directions of Child and Adolescent Developmentindicating that belief in achievement and behaviorsin children are impacted by opportunities presentedby parents and the attitudes they convey about theirchildren’s abilities.
Coeducation is a choice just like single sexeducation is. It prepares students for the world theywill encounter in their careers and in life. Coeducationallows both boys and girls to share their ideas andopinions inside the classroom and beyond in a settingthat recognizes them as equals. Students learn fromdifferent leadership styles and are exposed to peoplewith diverse values and from different backgrounds inan enriched academic environment.
37
Humanities Instructor, Bob Gralnick
Campus q8_Layout 1 10/12/11 3:43 PM Page 8
An article published in Education Week earlierthis year – “National History Day LiftsAchievement, Study Finds” – sings the praises
of the program founded by a history professor at CaseWestern Reserve University back in 1974. OriginallyNational History Day was designed to stem the tide oflackluster teaching and scholarship in school systems.
“The first-ever national evaluation of NationalHistory Day suggests that students who participatein the yearlong academic program and competitionperform better on standardized tests, are better writers,and are more confident and capable researchers,”the articles notes.
A program that started with 129 schools in theCleveland area now attracts 600,000 in the United Statesand beyond. National History Day starts off withdistrict competitions and those winners advance to statetournaments. Then, each year in June, the state victorscompete nationally at the University of Maryland inCollege Park, Md. Nine Gilmour sixth-graders whowere recognized in the district tournament had theopportunity to travel to Columbus for Ohio’s NationalHistory Day with their exhibits on the 1960s war
C a m p u s O n / O r A b o u t
protests and a controversial truck tariff as well as aperformance entry on women’s rights. Sixth-gradersKatherine Clark, Maggie Kubicek and Margot Reidadvanced to the national competition for theirperformance called “Four Women, One Dream.”The students acted out portions of history throughletters covering issues such as voting rights for womenand the Equal Rights Amendment.
Gilmour’s Lower School students compete in thejunior division and have advanced to nationals fivetimes since 2005. That year the entries focused onAmerica’s first spy satellites and their impact on modernwarfare and a secret language used by slaves in theUnderground Railroad. In 2006, Gilmour exhibits onthe Miranda Decision, which defined constitutionalrights during interrogation; women’s rights andschool desegregation were selected for the nationalcompetition. Two years later, Lower School studentsadvanced with documentaries on Cleveland’s civilrights busing controversy and a program to rescueburros in the Grand Canyon. In 2009, a documentaryon evolutionist Charles Darwin and an exhibit onaviator Bessie Coleman were showcased at nationals.
HISTORY HOUNDS
Campus q8_Layout 1 10/12/11 3:43 PM Page 9
39
This year, a performance based on women’s votingrights and the Equal Rights Amendment advanced tothe national competition in June.
National History Day invites students to developa historical topic and to link its significance to societyand history. They examine pivotal people, places, andevents in world history through their projects. ThroughNational History Day, students acquire historicalknowledge and perspective and develop criticalthinking and problem-solving skills that will help themmanage and use information now and in the future.
“There is always a different side of a historicalmoment to uncover, a journey worthy to take, as theskills learned along the way will last a lifetime,” saysLower School humanities instructor Carmel Fantelliwho coordinates the program at Gilmour.
“National History Day teaches students research,writing, product development, technology use andinterviewing skills. It is an excellent piece of ourcurriculum.”
For National History Day 2011, Gilmour sixth-graders interviewed auto industry executives and ’60swar protestors. They conducted research using PBS,the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Oberlin College, KentState University and archives at the Library of Congressand the Truman Library, among other sources. In thepast, students have mined resources such as theWestern Reserve Historical Society, John CarrollUniversity’s broadcast archives, television stations,Georgia’s Peabody Awards archives, Northern Indiana’sWomen’s Baseball Collection and the Ryan WhiteCollection at the Kokomo Library in Indiana. Studentshave interviewed lawyers and law professors as wellas firsthand witnesses in the Cleveland Schools’desegregation case.
“The cornerstone of the Gilmour experience isthe rich and varied resources students use to researchtheir topics,” says Fantelli. “Our students analyze andinterpret information from their sources and drawconclusions about their topics’ significance in history.”
As two-time Pulitizer Prize-winning historian DavidMcCullough views it, “History is who we are and whywe are the way we are.”
In many ways, Gilmour Academyand the Picciano family havebeen connected for nearly fourdecades. When Margie Picciano, Gilmour mathinstructor, announced her retirement at the endof the 2010-11 school year, veteran faculty andadministrators paused to think of a time whenshe or her husband, Andy, were not a part ofthe daily fabric of life at the Academy.
Margie’s first introduction to Gilmouroccurred in 1975 when she was dating AndyPicciano, an Upper School social studies teacherand dorm proctor. Two years later they weremarried in Gilmour’s chapel and had theirwedding reception in Tudor Gardens. Duringthis period they forged lifetime friendships withfaculty members and Gilmour parents. Margietaught in the Mayfield City schools for five yearsand then “briefly” retired to raise her threechildren, Jen, Lexi and Drew. All three of thePicciano children were baptized by CampusMinister Father John Blazek ’58, C.S.C., in the oldchapel, and two years ago, Jen was married byFather John on campus in Our Lady Chapel. In1986 Andy departed Gilmour for public schooladministration and eventually became a principalin the Cuyahoga Falls School system. In theinterim before Margie’s hiring at Gilmour, thePiccianos attended Lancer athletic events andhomecoming activities, cheering on formerstudents and good neighbors, the Embleton andMcCamley children. In 2001 Margie returned toGilmour as a math instructor. During her 10years at Gilmour she taught every grade level andmost subjects that the Math Department offered.
Andy is joining Margie in retirement, andboth look forward to playing a lot of golf,traveling without worrying about followingan itinerary and spending time with their firstgrandchild due in June. Safe travels, good friend;well earned!
MargiePicciano
Campus q8_Layout 1 10/12/11 3:43 PM Page 10
40
C a m p u s O n / O r A b o u t
ATEACHER’STAKEON POETRYDave Lucas
sits in theThomas MoreLibrary late onemorning inmid-Marchreflecting onhis days as anEnglish instructorat Gilmour –and on howwelcoming theAcademy’s facultyand students areto those aroundthem.“Welcoming
is somethingHoly Cross doesbeautifully,”
he says. “It is the sort of thing I want to do with mypoetry.”
Now a doctoral candidate at the University ofMichigan, Lucas recently published his first collection ofpoetry, called “Weather,” and stopped by to visit withGilmour students. In his book, he “rewrites the mythof Cleveland,” he says. “It is nothing near a dying city.It is a city that has so many lives like all cities do.”The poems sometimes use seasons and “weather as ametaphor” in the sense of surviving grief, adolescenceor whatever life throws at us.
The son of teachers, Lucas grew up in Mentor anddtaught at Gilmour between 2005 and 2008, and alsoo atOberlin College and John Carroll University,, wheerre hheeearned his bachelor’s degree. He graduatedd withh aaMaster of Fine Arts in creative writingg ffromm tthheeUniversity of Virginia and also taughhtt creeaattiivvee wwrriittiinnggthere as a graduate student. Lucaass lovveess tthhee wwoonnddeerrffuull
sense of freedom that comes from his profession.“I have never felt guilty,” he confides, “about goinginto something that some would view as esoteric orremoved from society.”
Lucas and his wife, Amy, live in his grandmother’sold house in Lyndhurst.
He delights in the fact that so many of his formerGilmour students keep in touch, want to know whathe is doing and to tell him what is going on in theirlives. “A teacher helps you go through the world,”Lucas says. He admits that he has learned humility,self-criticism and forgiveness from his students.“Spending time with them reminds you of how difficultadolescence is and gives you an empathy for them.”
When Lucas addressed Middle and Upper Schoolstudents during Convocation he asked how mannyy ooffthem had ever been to a poetry reading. One ssttuddeennttraised his hand. “On behalf of poetry, II apologizee ttooyou,” said Lucas, who puts poetry readdiings oonn aa lleevveellwith infomercials. “I want to sell yoouu oonn ppooeettrryy –– aannddI don’t mean my book.” He grraabbbbeedd tthhee aauuddiieennccee’’ssattention when he told his listenneerrss tthhaatt tthheeyy ddiiddnn’’ttneed to understand whaatt a pooeemm mmeeaannss.. ““AAllll yyoouuneed to know is that you ffeeeel ccoommppeelllleedd,, iiff oonnllyy ffoorr aamoment or a singlee linnee wwhheenn aa ppooeemm hhaass ssppookkeenn ttooyou,” he said. LLuuccaass bbrriiddggeedd tthhaatt nnoottiioonn wwiitthh tteeaacchheerrss,,too. He faavors aalllloowwiinngg ssttuuddeennttss ttoo eennjjooyy ppooeettrryywithout hhaviinngg ttoo ffiigguurree oouutt iittss sseeccrreett mmeeaanniinngg..
Teacchheerrss ssaayy,, ““‘‘II ddoonn’’tt kknnooww hhooww ttoo tteeaacchh ppooeettrryyanndd ttoo ggeett ssttuuddeennttss iinnvvoollvveedd,,’’”” LLuuccaass ssaaiidd.. ““WWee ffeeaarrthhaatt ppooeettrryy iiss tthhiiss mmyyssttiiccaall tthhiinngg tthhaatt nneeeeddss ttoo bbeeddeecciipphheerreedd tthhee wwaayy sscchhoollaarrss ppoorree oovveerr tthhee GGoossppeellssaanndd tthhee TToorraahh..”” WWhhiillee tthhiiss ccaann bbee ppaarrtt ooff tteeaacchhiinnggppooeettrryy,, LLuuccaass bbeelliieevveess iitt sshhoouulldd bbee sseeccoonnddaarryy ttoo tthheepplleeaassuurree ooff eexxppeerriieenncciinngg ppooeettrryy,, ccoonncclluuddiinngg,, ““TThheerreeaaddeerr iiss aass iimmppoorrttaanntt iinn tthhee pprroocceessss aass tthhee aauutthhoorr..””
Campus q8_Layout 1 10/12/11 3:43 PM Page 11
41
India once was a place of British Bengal Lancers andbusts of Queen Victoria. Visions of Gandhi at hisspinning wheel, the Taj Mahal and women wearingshimmering saris are deep rooted in our mind’s eye ofthe nation. The books that made up Paul Scott’s RajQuartet flesh out India’s literary lore alongside RudyardKipling’s works of “Gunga Din,” “Kim” and “The JungleBook.” From the days of the East India Company thattraded tea to today’s bastion of information technology,India is the site of a rich historical past and aburgeoning future.
And Gilmour’s Cindy Sabik was right at the heart ofit all. Sabik, an English instructor in the Upper School,spent part of July and August in Calcutta, where asmuch as 17 inches of rain the first month and 14 themonth following can deluge the city’s occupants. Shewas there for a month on a Fulbright-Nehru Fellowshipteaching English, writing and literature at St. John’sDiocesan Girls’ Higher Secondary School. Establishedin 1894, the Christian school serves the country’svarious communities. The United States-IndiaEducational Foundation sponsored the program throughthe U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational andCultural Affairs. Nine Americans were selected for theSummer Teacher Exchange Program.
Sabik’s first bit of culture shock came on the streetsof Calcutta. “I absolutely cannot imagine driving here,”she blogged. “Cars come within inches of other cars,bikes, rickshaws and pedestrians.” She describedwalking through the streets as a “sensory experience”and compared the hawkers, the colors, the crowds andthe chaos to a kind of “cacophony.” The Fulbrightteachers’ days in India began at 3:20 a.m – anotherpractice that required adjustment.
Sabik’s goal in traveling to India was to “gaincross-cultural understandings and connections and tolearn about another educational system,” she said.The Gilmour teacher views the opportunity as a
conduit for lifelong learning and reflective practice thatprovides a context for a comparative experience.With a doctorate in Urban Education: Policy Studiesfrom Cleveland State University, Sabik contends that“Education is a critical, comparative endeavor; allthings happen against something.” She explains,“We recognize good writing in juxtaposition to bad;clarity in juxtaposition to ambiguity; brilliant insightas opposed to an inadequate theory.”
She taught students in various grades during 40-minute classes and thought they were “polite andcurious.” The students were interested in knowingabout their counterparts in the United States and thecountry’s geography. “They wanted to know about ourschool, our food, our lifestyle,” Sabik said. She taughtpoetry and personal essays to a group of 12th-gradegirls who elected her class despite language challenges.“The girls are so bright and articulate and want toknow about American colleges and the Americansystem,” she noted on her blog.
In India, the teachers switch classrooms; not thestudents. Teachers are inundated with grading studentcompositions. “With 60 to 90 students per class and sixor seven classes a day that’s 360-to 630 essays to gradein one day,” Sabik pointed out. On her first day, Sabiknoticed that she was the only one in the classroomwith her shoes on, but she felt right at home withthe high school’s commitment to service. On Fridayafternoons, each student brings one potato and oneonion to school and students send 4,000 onions and4,000 potatoes to a retirement home operated by theLittle Sisters of the Poor.
Sabik, associate dean of academic programs andplanning, hopes her experience in India will benefit herGilmour students by enhancing her classes through amore critical perspective. “Comparative studies are oneof the most powerful approaches to learning,” she says.“When you compare another system – whether it belanguage, religion or education – your own educationsystem is illuminated.”
Everything isIlluminated
Campus q8_Layout 1 10/12/11 3:43 PM Page 12
42
C a m p u s O n / O r A b o u t
Before Gilmour English instructor ElizabethEdmondson traveled to western Ukraine inMay as part of a two-way exchange program for
secondary teachers her view was “USSR bad; America,good,” she noted in a blog about her adventure.The experience redefined her thinking. “It was theUkrainian children that really got me thinking whenthey were discussing Ronald Reagan’s comment thatthe USSR was an ‘Empire of Evil,’” Edmondson recalls.“Thanks to the children I realized the complexity of thesituation for the Ukrainian people,” she says. WhereAmericans are “united by our ability to see a problemand fight for change,” she says, “Ukrainians do not fightback; they endure.”
While there, Edmondson says she made a point of“piecing together a general sense of public opinionabout communism and freedom from those who havelived under both.” One of the things Edmondsonlearned was that although Ukrainians lacked choicesunder communism and had to wait in long lines to getgoods, they never went without necessities like foodand clothing. “Although almost everyone said that lifewasn’t fancy, the tradeoff was that life was reliable andthe government was dependable, she says adding,“There were no questions of affording your rent orgroceries under communism.” The downside, she says,is that the Ukrainian people knew nothing about therest of the world.
The Gilmour Upper School teacher was one of110 U.S. teachers selected for the Teaching ExcellenceAward by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau ofEducational and Cultural Affairs and IREX (theInternational Research and Exchanges Board). Teachersfrom other countries traveled to the United States for
professional development at the nation’s universities.The goal was to swap best teaching practices.
Edmondson has taught at Gilmour for seven years.Chair of Gilmour’s English Department, she teachesAP literature, literature and film, and English and iscoordinator of the Peer Tutoring Program. She has abachelor’s degree in secondary education from theUniversity of Akron, a master’s degree in readingspecialization from Kent State University and plansto pursue a doctorate in curriculum and instructionat Kent State.
While in Ukraine, Edmondson team-taught ather host school, spoke about U.S. education andculture and ran workshops on teaching methods andcurriculum design. It was during the workshops thatEdmondson “saw the effects on a generation ofteachers who never learned to make their own choicesand who rely completely on the state for direction,”noting that the Ministry of Education dictated thecountry’s education system. “Teachers have no sayin what they teach and very little choice in how theyteach it,” she says. At the same time, Edmondsonwas impressed with the warmth and enthusiasm ofthe students, especially an eighth-grader named Alexwho was almost fluent in English and was the perfectgentleman, opening doors for her, reading a menu andordering. “I wonder how many American high schoolgraduates are even remotely comfortable with a secondlanguage,” she says. Edmondson was impressed byNataliia Reutska from Gymnasia #1, her host teacherin the city of Khmelnytskyi. “Nataliia believes stronglythat everything happens for a reason,” she says, andthat communism “had to happen in order to shapeher into the woman she is today.”
Taking theFull Measureof Ukraine
Elizabeth Edmondson
Campus q8_Layout 1 10/12/11 3:43 PM Page 13
Edmondson was the keynotespeaker at an English languagelearning conference and gave twotelevision interviews. During hertrip Edmondson also visited localschools, parents’ committees andnon-governmental organizations andmet with the board of educationand Ukrainian educational leadersand American Peace Corpsvolunteers. One poignant momentcame when Edmondson participatedin a nuclear evacuation drill toprotect against radiation at a schooltwo hours from Chernobyl. “I wasprofoundly moved watchingteachers pass out surgical masksto students evacuating the buildingand watching children don gasmasks pulled from their book bags,”she admits. Chernobyl is a life-defining event for Ukrainians theway 9/11 is for Americans.
The Gilmour teacher believesthat a global perspective isimportant for teachers and studentsalike. “We live in an increasinglyglobalized world, and now, morethan ever, an internationalperspective in the classroom isimperative,” Edmondson says.
Prior to leaving Ukraine,fifth-graders presented Edmondsonwith a handmade doll in traditionalUkrainian clothing and a hand-beaded forget-me-not pin, althoughthat’s not likely to happen.
“We live in an increasingly
globalized world, and
now, more than ever, an
international perspective
in the classroom is
imperative.”Elizabeth Edmondson
At a time when our nation istouting its military might eighth-
graders at Gilmour Academy usedSkype to have an Internet telephoneconversation with a Marine serving inAfghanistan.
What did the students want toknow?
Where were you during the attackon the Pentagon on 9/11? What is itlike being on the front lines duringwar? Why did you become a Marine?Can you leave base in Afghanistan and visit its villages?Have you been to the War Room and seen the Big Board?
The students conversed with Lt. Col. Ricardo Player, apublic affairs officer. They emailed their questions and theShaw High School graduate directly answered the studentsposing the questions. Their discourse was dramatizedbecause the soldier and students could see each other.Gilmour English instructor Bonnie O’Leary taught Player atShaw, was his mentor and is his friend. “In the early 2000s,Rick visited Gilmour and talked to our students,” O’Learysays.
The eighth-graders learned that the Marine had a lotto teach them about English. He was selected for a U.S.Pentagon program that allows military officers to work incorporations. Player was an intern for the Chicago Tribunefrom 2002 to 2004 to better understand how the media
works and spent timegathering news.After receiving a fullscholarship to IthacaCollege, he graduatedfrom there and wasa Marine with theWashington Barracksassisting at ceremonialaffairs. The studentsalso discovered duringtheir interaction with
Player that he served in Desert Storm and in Iraq as apublic affairs officer for former U.S. Defense SecretaryDonald Rumsfeld.
ADDING SKYPE TOMIDDLE SCHOOLLEXICON
Campus q8_Layout 1 10/12/11 3:43 PM Page 14
44
Ray Rhode ’51 is one ofGilmour’s “pioneers”
(early graduates). In fact,he graduated in theAcademy’s second class.Rhode gets together withother pioneers to reminisceabout swimming classes inthe Tudor Arms Hotel,Gilmour’s Blue Bus,the orchards and thegreenhouses. “Weconsidered ourselves as theleaders of the generationsto follow,” says Rhode, anhonorary Gilmour Trustee
and current member of the school’s AcademicAffairs and Institutional Advancement Committees.As pioneers “We knew that what we were doingwould set the tone for those who followed us andset an example for future classes,” he says. Stillthe pioneers had a special place in their hearts forSt. Mary’s Lake and the inflatable raft anchoredthere. “Best place to smoke on campus,” Rhodenotes. After graduating from John CarrollUniversity, Rhode was an officer in the U.S. ArmyTransportation Corps from 1956 until 1959.
In 1995, Rhode retired from the East Ohio GasCompany where he worked in sales, marketingand public affairs for 29 years. Still active in thecommunity, he is chairman of the RecordsCommission in South Euclid where he lives withNoreen, his wife of 50 years. He organizes thecity’s band concerts, is a credit union officer inSacred Heart of Jesus Parish (formerly St. Gregorythe Great) and is coordinator of the Lectors andExtraordinary Ministers group. Rhode is scribe forJohn Carroll University’s Class of ’55, a member of
1950sLancer Spotligghtthe university’s alumni group and served on thePresident’s Council from 2003 through 2004.His hobbies are photography and traveling.
Rhode believes that Gilmour’s history has amessage for present day students and he has beenasked to address them several times about what theearly years at Gilmour have meant to him adding,“I was always proud to be asked to do this.”
“Gilmour is an outstanding prep school,” hesays maintaining that the philosophy imparted bythe Holy Cross Brothers is what makes the schooloutstanding. Rhode regularly volunteers as a classagent with Annual Fund phone solicitations and heis a member of the Blue & Gray Society. In 1989,Gilmour named him Alumnus of the Year for hisservice to the Academy. Three of his sons –Patrick ’88, Christopher ’93 and Matthew ’96 areGilmour graduates and Rhode and his wife aremembers of the Gilmour Academy Alumni ParentsAssociation.
Rhode recalls a summer day in 1947 whenhe and his twin brother, Bob ’51, joined theirfather on their first visit to Gilmour. “It was notencouraging,” Rhode says. The trio was to attenda Cleveland Indians game following their visit withBrother Theophane Schmitt, C.S.C., Gilmour’sHeadmaster. After touring the facilities, the groupended up in the tower at Tudor House and whenBrother Theophane reached in his cassock for hiskeys he came up short. “The door to the towerwas securely locked and we were stuck up there,”Rhode says. After almost two hours they got outbut missed the baseball game. “My brother and Iopined that the Jesuits would certainly never go upin a tower without their keys.” Despite the dubiousbeginning, Rhode views Gilmour as “a wonderfulexperience that can never be duplicated.”
RRaayy RRhhooddee ’’5511
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:52 AM Page 1
45
1962In addition to his responsibilities as executive vicepresident of Stewart Title Guaranty Company inWashington, DC, MARK WINTER is a member of theboard of Living Water International, a faith-based NGO(non-government organization) providing clean, safewater in developing countries. Now operating in27 countries, Living Water has completed projectsproviding water to over 14 million people. Wintermet with Kenya’s President Kibaki to dedicate apeace water well in Nairobi.
1967In March, TOM MAZANEC spent a week in Haiti withhis church helping at a local Christian school giving thechildren skills and hope. He looks forward to returningnext year. The GA hat Tom wore was in memory ofclassmate BOB TOMARO.
1971Recovering from surgery, FRED KUGLIN sent bestwishes from Texas to his classmates who celebratedtheir 40th reunion this year. He plans to come for their45th . . . An art teacher at Circleville High School,ROBERT WRIGHT shows his artwork at Central Ohiogalleries and was the 2008 poster artist for the LancasterFestival.
continued on page 47
Tom Mazanec ’67 working with children in Haiti
PPeetteerr SSttaaggeerr ’’5522 wwiitthh mmaann’’ss bbeesstt ffrriieenndd
Mark Winter ’62 (second from right) in Kenya
A l u m n i N e w s
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:52 AM Page 2
A l u m n i N e w s
1960sLancer Spotlight
No one can say Colonel Vincent Horrigan ’67
isn’t a go-getter. The U.S. Air Force fighter
pilot retired in 1998 after 27 years as a career officer
flying Pentagon, NATO and Command assignments
and serving as deputy undersecretary of the U.S. Air
Force in Washington, D.C.
Horrigan began his second career as executive
director of the American Red Cross for Chautauqua
County, the same position he held with the
Southwestern New York chapter. Last May he
retired from the Red Cross after being named a
Hometown Hero by the organization. Now he is
running to represent District 17 in the Chautauqua
County Legislature. The Gilmour alumnus is a
trustee of the Village of Bemus Point, N.Y., where
he lives with his wife of 40 years, Barbara, and
serves on the board of directors of the Chautauqua
Lake Association and the Red Cross Southwestern
NY chapter.
In reflecting on his days at Gilmour, Horrigan
recalls how hard his parents worked to send him to
the Academy. His father used to tell him “That coat
and tie you had to wear to Gilmour didn’t do you
any harm did it?” One memorable moment
involved playing footsie with Barbara at his junior
prom. Their son, Sean, daughter, Carrie, and their
respective spouses, Lynn and William, plus four
granddaughters round out the family dynasty.
As a youngster, Horrigan’s family often visited
Chautauqua Lake and his father bought a
cottage at
Bemus Point.
After various
additions to
the cottage, it is now the Horrigans’ year-round
family home.
What did Horrigan learn at the Academy that
prepared him for such rigorous careers?
“Live your life with integrity and respect others
with different points of view,” Horrigan notes.
“Always look for the glass half full. Surround
yourself with good people – and never jump out of
the emergency door of a school bus or you will face
discipline measurers of Mr. Frank ‘the Tank’
Urankar.”
After graduating from Gilmour, Horrigan earned
a bachelor’s degree in management from Kent State
University and a master’s in business management
from Troy State University, then attended Graduate
Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in
Montgomery, Ala.
Flying and boating are among Horrigan’s favorite
pastimes and he remains active in his parish and
local Catholic organizations. Previously president of
the Rotary Club of Jamestown and the Chautauqua
Leadership Network, he received awards from both,
as well as from the Jamestown Chamber of
Commerce.
VViinncceenntt HHoorrrriiggaann ’’6677
46
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:52 AM Page 3
1975JODY KLASSMAN RESS is apediatric dental hygienist inBainbridge, OH. She loves herwork and reconnecting with GlenOak alums.
1979GREG SAZIMA lives nearSacramento, CA. He has a privatepsychiatric practice and also teachesat Stanford’s Family PhysicianTraining Program. Greg has threeboys – two in college (21 and 19),the third is 11.
1981SCOTT CORRIGAN is happily livingin New York City and bikes to workany day there isn’t snow. He is adigital content strategist at OgilvyInteractive.
1982ANNE CORRIGAN and JOEVECCHIO ’80 were married thispast spring on a beautiful whitesand beach in Sarasota, FLsurrounded by their children andfamily . . . After 22 years withMorgan Stanley Smith, JOHNDIEMER is now the vice presidentof private wealth management forRobert W. Baird & Co. located indowntown Cleveland.
1984CARRIE HANSEN KINNISONand husband, Pat, are on the roadagain. Their current trip is to Indiastopping first in southwestern Indiawhere they explored the countryfrom the deep south to the far northin the Himalayan foothills . . .Congratulations to BILL PORTER,Mentor, OH schools assistantsuperintendent, named Lake County
Education Service Center’s first-everJohn Weiss Lake CountyAdministrator of the Year. This awardis given to a school administratorwho is student-centered, hascompassion and empathy andbelieves in success for all students.Bill was recently promoted toassistant superintendent at MentorSchools after serving as director ofK-8 education for three years.
1986MICHAEL GOLDING lives with hiswife, Leslie, and infant son, Ian, inHouston, TX where he is a seniorattorney with Thompson, Coe,Cousins & Irons, LLP. In 2001, hisinfant daughter, Sydney SalemGolding, died from a rare form ofhistiocytosis known as systemicjuvenile xanthogranuloma (JXG).Since that time, Michael has workedto promote disease awareness,education, fundraising and parentsupport for the histiocytosiscommunity. He founded theSydney Salem Golding Fund,which organized an internationalpatient/family/physician histiocytosismeeting (THE BIG MEETING) andsupported numerous histiocytosisand fundraising events across thecountry (including Hike For ACure). Michael also helped foundthe Histio Heroes Research Fundand served on the parent advisoryboard. The fund supports theHistiocytosis Research Program atTexas Children’s Cancer Center.He now looks forward to theopportunity for advancing theprogress of histiocytosis researchthrough the Histio Cure Foundation.
1988Congratulations to WENDYSTEINHOFF BALDIKOSKI and
A l u m n i N e w s
47
husband, Steve, on the recent birthof daughter, Vivian . . . RENEEWENGER BITTO and husband,Mark, welcomed Morgan Elizabethon March 28, 2011 . . . PATRICKMANCINO, executive vice presidentand director of development of theNational Council on U.S.-ArabRelations, helped to organize anevent in Washington, DC attendedby former UK Prime MinisterThe Right Hon. Tony Blair andHis Excellency Adel Al-Jubeir,ambassador of the Kingdom ofSaudi Arabia to the United States.Patrick and his wife, Lucinda,(former GA Lower School Frenchinstructor) live in Kensington, MD,with daughter, Emmy, age 4.
1990Welcoming daughter Eleanor Janeinto the family was a delight forSUZANNE BEBOUT DEERING,husband, Craig, and their three sons. . . ED DOUGLAS won Best Filmand Best Director at the NashvilleFull Moon Horror Festival for theremake of his 1996 horror film “TheDead Matter.”
continued on page 50
Patrick Mancino ’88, Tony Blairand Adel Al-Jubeir
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:52 AM Page 4
A l u m n i N e w s
1970sLancer Spotlight
Even Emily Post, thedoyenne of social
mores, knew that thank-you notes are more thanjust good manners. Theirabsence in our modernworld not only is a socialgaffe – it’s a real loss.For Gilmour alum JohnKralik ’73, thank-younotes became a lifelinethat pulled him from thedesperation of divorce,distance from his childrenand an impending trial thatthreatened to derail his
legal career but instead ledhim on a journey of gratitude. Today Kralik is aSuperior Court judge for the County of Los Angelesand hears criminal and civil cases. He talks abouthow his life turned around in his 2010 memoir, “365Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of DailyGratitude Changed My Life.”
During a walk in the California hills on NewYear’s Day 2008, Kralik came up with a plan tomake life more tolerable by being grateful for whathe had instead of focusing on what he didn’t have.Each day throughout the year, the attorney senthandwritten thank-you notes to loved ones, friends,foes, business associates, store clerks, doctors,neighbors and others who had shown him kindnessin some way. He gained a sense of peace,companionship and a stronger financial base. As aresult, Kralik discovered that “Until you learn to begrateful for the things you have, you will not receivethe things that you want.”
Kralik attended Gilmour from 1969 to 1972 andfinished high school in three years by doubling upon courses and taking the required senior courses
during free periods. Looking back, he wonders whyhe was in such a rush. “I lost what I have alwaysviewed as a precious year at Gilmour,” he says.“Looking back now, I realize I had nothing betterto save it for.”
Kralik recalls a beloved teacher and basketballcoach Brother Gerontius McCarthy, C.S.C., who diedhis freshman year. “His death left us reeling,” hesays, and taught him the “impermanence of life.”Brother Thomas Maddix, C.S.C., coached him inspeech and debate. Kralik and classmate DaveSchaumberg teamed to debate issues. “Myexperience on the debate team, my first burstthrough painful shyness, gave me the confidence toattempt law school,” Kralik says. Brother Thomasstressed the importance of outlining an argument,he notes, “a skill I would later use in law school,and in writing every significant legal brief of mylife.”
The judge earned his baccalaureate and lawdegrees from the University of Michigan. After lawschool, the Gilmour graduate joined the Wall Streetlaw firm Hughes, Hubbard & Reed and became apartner in 1988. He also was an in-house attorneyfor the Atlantic Richfield Company, known as ARCO,and formed his own law firm Kralik & Jacobs inPasadena, Calif. He has three children – Johnny, 30,Josh, 26, and Katie, 11.
In his spare time, Kralik hikes and runsmarathons for charities and is learning to dance.After his book was released, he connected with afew friends from Gilmour who found him onFacebook. Gilmour classmate Larry Weber, whohas written seven books, encouraged Kralik in hiswriting and provided a blurb for his book.Reflecting on his days at Gilmour, Kralik says,“You will never find it so easy to make friends, orto be sure that your friends are really your friends.”
JJoohhnn KKrraalliikk’’ss ““eennrroobbeemmeenntt”” cceerreemmoonnyy
JJoohhnn KKrraalliikk ’’7733
48
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:52 AM Page 5
49
A l u m n i N e w s
1970sLancer Spotlight
Raising $95 million in charitable gifts anddues for nonprofit organizations qualifies as
a pretty big challenge, but telephilanthropy(phone-based fundraising) combined withintelligent email technology has put a wholenew spin on fundraising. Ask MarthaHolzheimer Connor GO ’72, president andCEO of DirectLine Technologies in Modesto, Calif.“I believe we have the most sophisticated callcenter management technology in the nation,”Connor says.
She has led the corporation since 1990,applying her skills in strategic planning, marketdevelopment and financial management. Connorsays the most important thing she learned atGilmour/Glen Oak was how to use criticalthinking skills. “They support strong decisionmaking, leadership and persuasive writingtechniques – another strong suit at Gilmour,”she notes.
Connor holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts indance from Case Western Reserve University,where she graduated cum laude. She earneda master’s degree in Non-Profit AgencyAdministration from California State University(CSU) Stanislaus in Turlock, Calif., and adoctorate in the same field from BrysonUniversity in Columbus, Miss. In 2006, theexecutive was named Alumnus of the Year atCSU Stanislaus.
During her career, Connor was director ofenrollment service at the University of SouthernCalifornia and held a similar position at a nursingschool in Portland, Ore. She also served asdirector of annual giving and alumni at her almamater, CSU Stanislaus. She met her husband, Gary
MMaarrtthhaa HHoollzzhheeiimmeerr CCoonnnnoorr GGOO ’’7722
Connor, there and the two have been married for29 years. The couple love gourmet cooking, winecollecting and entertaining, and Martha enjoyscontemporary dance, reggae music and jazz, plusreading the classics – with a bestseller thrown insometimes.
As a Glen Oak student, Connor learned theimportance of service for one’s sense ofcompleteness and well-being. “My service onmany nonprofit and civic boards (including theModesto Symphony Orchestra) and 21 years as aRotarian, has brought me fulfillment and broadenedmy perspective,” she says. Connor counts herselfas a “glass half full” person and believes in tacklingproblems pronto. “No problem or challenge getsbetter with time, it just gets harder to resolve,”she says. “So solve it now, act now, do it now.”
Her other honors include Outstanding Womanof Stanislaus County in 2009, Large Business of theYear from the Modesto Chamber of Commerce in2001, a market research and analysis award fromthe U.S. Commerce Association in 2010 and a slewof awards recognizing women who own businesses.
Over the years, Connor says she has lost trackof many high school friends, but she is reconnectingwith them through Facebook. The entrepreneur isgreatly anticipating her 40th Gilmour/Glen Oakreunion next year. She also looks forward to seeingthe Holzheimer clan again, especially cousins,Martha Holzheimer Dempsey GO ’73 andTim ’61, adding “There is a long-shared traditionbetween the Holzheimer family and Gilmour, whichI’m proud to be a part of.”
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:52 AM Page 6
A l u m n i N e w s
1980sLancer Spotlight
Catherine Butz ’84, a pediatric psychologist, crossespaths with more than her fair share of kids. She is
associate clinical professor in the Department ofPediatrics at The Ohio State University, director of thepediatric psychology fellowship program, and is on thestaff at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus.
“I specialize in stress and pain management,” Butz says,“and work largely with a chronic pain population implementingbiofeedback technology.” She also provides clinical care to burnvictims and those having surgery, and works with neurology,cardiology and rheumatology medical specialties. Using virtualreality to minimize the stress of medical procedures has landedthe alum in guest spots on radio and television news programs.Her research also focuses on pediatric burn problems.
Butz, who lives in Columbus, received her Bachelor of Sciencein human development from Cornell University and her master’sand doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Illinoisat Chicago. She notes that her father imbued her with a strongwork ethic and that her experience at Gilmour provided “a levelof dedication and investment in each student that exceeded justencouraging and tracking academics,” she says. “Faculty workedat educating the whole person.” Butz emulates this in her ownprofession by working with individuals to identify barriers and ulti-mately achieve their personal potential. Although Butz hopes tovisit Gilmour sometime soon, she says, “I am sure I will hardlyrecognize the place.”
Living in Columbus with her husband, Brad Hughes, anattorney, and children, Matthew and Helen, Butz is active withthe children’s ministry at her church and serves on its staff parishrelations board. She also volunteers at a community resourcecenter providing meals to the community. She enjoys boating onLake Erie, running, organic gardening and cooking.
“While I love what I do professionally, I also love being amother,” the psychologist says. “As a working mom, achieving abalance is key. Among busy schedules and to-do lists I strive tobe in the moment.”
50
continued on page 55
Catherine Butz ’84 with her family
1991Alumni Association President ROBONDAK was quoted in a recentedition of Crain’s ClevelandBusiness on the web for an articleon “Alumni Ties Stay Strong.”Rob said our alumni associationhas expanded its social calendarto include more charitable andnetworking events, such asparticipating in the nationwideBrothers of Holy Cross service dayand local alums playing host tonetworking functions at their placesof business . . . Timothy James,born in early June, is the son ofBRETT VOGELSBERGER and wife,Jane.
1993MATT HEFFERNAN, wife, Allison,and son, Will, are now living inBirmingham, AL where Matt is aprotective coatings specialist in theProtective and Marine Division ofSherwin-Williams and is responsiblefor the eastern half of the state ofAlabama. Matt says it’s a prettybig territory and great opportunity;he’ll work with industrial engineers,architects and contractors oneverything from bridge work toindustrial plant maintenance.
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:52 AM Page 7
51
A l u m n i N e w s
1980sLancer Spotlight
“There is never a day in my professional,philanthropic or personal life that I do not usemany of the life-changing lessons learned atGilmour,” says Matthew Figgie ’84. “As mydaughter begins her own Gilmour journey, Icannot think of a more perfect environment forher. We had many choices, but there was nevera doubt that I wanted her to gain the very sameadvantage through Gilmour’s broad-based,multi-faceted educational experience.”
Figgie is chairman of Clark-RelianceCorporation, a global manufacturing firm thatserves the power generation, petroleum, refiningand chemical processing industries. He also ischairman of Figgie Capital, a diversified, multi-disciplined investment company that invests ona global basis, and vice president of the Board ofTrustees for The Figgie Foundation. This eighth-generation Clevelander says his competitive spiritwas honed on the Gilmour athletic fields. “Iremember my coaches saying that as long as thescoreboard is on, we are playing to win. Thatsame mindset is so true in business every day,”Figgie says.
He recalls that work ethic was paramount aswell. Off the athletic fields, Figgie was learningabout business from the ground up, working as acode welder, machinist and assembler in factoriesand machine shops. This direct, collaborativeapproach to business and his coworkersultimately contributed to Clark-Reliance twicebeing named one of the Plain Dealer’s TopWorkplaces and the company also being honoredby NorthCoast 99 as a great place to work.In addition to his other responsibilities, Figgiefine-tuned his passion for investments on WallStreet, increasing his knowledge and experiencein equity investing, economic forecasting,currency and commodity trading, global assetallocation and mergers and acquisitions.
MMaatttthheeww FFiiggggiiee ’’8844
Having a greater calling through charitablework is another critical defining factor of theGilmour experience. “My parents instilled thewisdom in me that ‘to whom much is given, muchis expected,’” Figgie says. “This ideal wascompletely reinforced at Gilmour and it has beenthe cornerstone of the work I do in our community.”
Figgie serves on the board of UniversityHospitals, on its Quality and Developmentcommittees, and on the Leadership Councils forboth Orthopedics and Cardiology. The FiggieFoundation has set up seven professional chairsacross the nation, most recently at UniversityHospitals and Case Western Reserve University.He will co-chair the hospital’s corporate committeefor the 2013 Five Star Sensation fundraiser and willalso serve as the 2012 corporate chairperson of theNational Kidney Foundation’s Kidney Walk ofCleveland. Last year, Figgie was a co-recipient ofthe Cleveland Public Theater’s Pan Award.
An Academic All-American in baseball, NationalMerit Scholar and 1984 Gilmour Trophy recipient,Figgie believes that Gilmour’s rigorous academiccurriculum provided the discipline and structurefor his higher education, as he proceeded tosimultaneously earn a Bachelor of Science from theUniversity of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts fromBaldwin-Wallace College. He then completed anMBA from Case Western Reserve University.
“The defining factor that sets Gilmour far apartis its people ... that is what makes my school sounique and fantastic,” said Figgie. “It is not onlythe lifelong friendships that I have made and thesuccessful people who have walked these halls, butthe new friends that I look forward to meeting nowas a Gilmour parent. It is this special network andthe common goals of a broad-based, total educationthat lead to the quality people, leaders and goodcorporate citizens who graduate from this veryspecial school. That’s why I am so thrilled to givemy daughter the gift of ‘Gilmour!’”
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:53 AM Page 8
A l u m n i N e w s
1990sLancer Spotlight
Families taking care of loved ones with multiplesclerosis have a surefire friend in Joe Bradley
’96. Bradley and his brother, Michael ’98, and theirfriend Dan Johnson are raising funds to providerespite and healthcare services to families inNortheast Ohio. The trio started the KarenFoundation for MS in 2007 named for Joe’s andMichael’s mother, Karen Bradley, who has lived withMS for 20 years. The foundation holds an annualNFL Draft Benefit Party and other fundraiser events.
What began as a fundraising party with a smallgroup of friends in his parents’ basement has growndramatically. In April, ESPN broadcast a live on-airinteractive analysis of draft day picks from thebenefit at Barley House with Cleveland Brownsplayer Peyton Hillis and former player Gregg Pruitt.
When he was in fourth grade, Bradley found outthat his mother had been diagnosed with MS. “Shewas the strongest person I had ever known,” he
says. “It never occurred to methat the disease would affecther in any major way.” WhenBradley was in college, hismother’s condition declinedquickly and then she suffered astroke. Despite the loss of herability to talk, eat normally andmove voluntarily, he says, “ourfamily vowed to do everythingpossible to maintain thevivacious spirit in her otherwisefailing body.”Bradley, president of the
Karen Foundation for MS, saysthat the foundation wanted to provide hope andimmediate help to families and that respite care hastraditionally been an unfunded need. Proceeds fromthe fundraisers go to the Ohio Buckeye Chapter ofthe National Multiple Sclerosis Society. In 2010, theKaren Foundation for MS received the organization’s
Award of Inspiration. The foundation is the largestthird-party contributor to the Ohio Buckeye Chapterproviding more than 85 percent for respite caregrants.
“The foundation helps families acquire servicesthat make an immediate impact on their ability tokeep loved ones at home, maintain a high quality oflife and carry on with their daily responsibilities,”Bradley says.
The alum attributes many of his core values andprinciples to his years at Gilmour. “I was surroundedby really smart and competitive classmates,” he says.Bradley notes that he also benefitted from “someoutstanding and exceptional teachers and coaches.”
Bradley, who graduated from Cleveland StateUniversity, is a business development manager atGaneden Biotech, which makes and sells probioticenhanced food, beverages and nutritional supplementsfor the food, health and nutrition industries. He hashelped develop Pierre’s Yovation frozen yogurt,enLiven yogurt and Sustenex Probiotic Gummies.
Bradley and his wife, Krista, live in UniversityHeights with their two dogs. He hopes that theNFL Draft Benefit Party will spread across thecountry to every city with an NFL team to benefitfamilies providing care for MS patients. Bradleysays that his spirited mom is still valiantly fightingMS “with the same fortitude and sense of purposeas ever” with the help of his father and grandmotherwho provide ongoing care.
Joe Bradley ’96 (third from left)with his wedding party
52
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:53 AM Page 9
A l u m n i N e w s
1990sLancer Spotlight
Kristin Franco Kirkpatrick ’94 is no strangerto fame. She has appeared on “The Oprah
Winfrey Show” and “Larry King Live” and is aregular guest on “The Dr. Oz Show.”
Kirkpatrick is a dietician and wellness managerfor the Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Institute. TheGilmour alum is the nutrition expert on Dr.Michael Roizen’s and Dr. Mehmet Oz’s “youbeauty” website and is a regular contributor tothe Huffington Post blog, Doctoroz.com and theCleveland Clinic’s wellness website. She has beenquoted in Martha Stewart Living, Fitness, Self andBetter Homes and Gardens.
“Gilmour provided me with the confidenceto reach for the stars,” Kirkpatrick says. “TheAcademy molded me into a professional whocan effectively communicate and work amongdiverse groups.”
After graduating from Gilmour, Kirkpatrickearned a bachelor’s degree in communicationand political science from George WashingtonUniversity and a Master of Science from AmericanUniversity. “The coolest job I ever had was thatof a White House intern during the ClintonAdministration,” Kirkpatrick says. The registered
dietitian graduated from the University of Akron’sDietetic Internship Coordinated Program.
Before her current position, Kirkpatrickmanaged large-scale initiatives and projects forCleveland Clinic Employee Wellness. She has beena lobbyist for the American Dietetic Association’sPolicy and Advocacy Group for medical nutritiontherapy reform and was regional coordinator of theNational Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s Hearts N’Parks program in Montgomery County, Md.,designing, implementing and measuring healthpromotion programs in the Washington metro area.
She and her husband, Andy, an attorney, met inWashington when they were working as paralegals.The couple is in the process of adopting a babyfrom Bogota, Columbia. She visits Colorado forhiking, running and skiing, and enjoys taking careof “the Kirkpatrick farm” with its three dogs, twogoats and pot-bellied pig.
Since recently joining Facebook, Kirkpatrickhas connected with more than 20 Gilmour alumniand has kept in touch with others over the years.
“The secret to fulfillment in life,” she says, “isto do what you absolutely love for a career andsurround yourself with people that help you growand learn as a person.”
Kristin Franco Kirkpatrick ’94with husband, Andy
Dr. Oz, Kristin, Andy Kirkpatrick
53
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:53 AM Page 10
Michael McHugh ’03 learned just how fastan earthquake can rouse you from your
routine when Japan’s earthquake hit March 11.The engineer moved to Tokyo last January to workfor Boyd and Moore Executive Search and is arecruiter in the medical device industry. He was atwork where he matches Japanese executives withpositions in international firms when his officebegan to shake. He and his coworkers wereforced to evacuate onto the street. With no trainsor cabs, the alum waited out the day and eveningbefore venturing home at about 10 p.m.
“After experiencing the earthquake in Japanfirsthand and then watching the tsunami unfold onthe news, I have gained a strong desire to help inthe relief effort up north,” McHugh says. He hasattended fundraisers and donated goods, and plans
to do more.“People innortheastJapan wereleft withabsolutelynothingafter thedisasters,”he says.“Anythingone canoffer, nomatter howsmall, isnot onlyhelpfulbut also
appreciated.” He used to question whether trivialdonations were worthwhile. “Now I know that theanswer is, a million times over, yes,” he says.
2000sLancer Spotlight
“Even something as simple as a set of plasticwaregoes a long way for these people.”
McHugh has a degree in medical engineeringfrom Vanderbilt University and a master’s degree inengineering management from Case Western ReserveUniversity. He has also worked as an IMS consultantat a hospital and has been a healthcare systemsconsultant.
McHugh visited Japan twice as a tourist and hadsome basic language skills and knowledge of theculture before he moved there. He explains that itis very hard for a foreigner to get the opportunityto work in Japan especially someone with limitedJapanese language skills. “The most difficult partis not being able to do some of life’s basic tasks onmy own,” he admits. “I cannot visit a post office bymyself, since I am unable to read any of the signsand do not know what to ask of the staff.”
Though he finds the Japanese to be “friendly andapproachable,” McHugh notes that he is a foreignerin a “homogenized city” that has its pros and cons,he believes. “To many Japanese, a foreigner isintriguing and some enjoy the opportunity to interactwith foreigners,” he says. On the other hand, dueto this homogenization “many people in Japan arestill rather xenophobic,” he says adding, “Sometimesthe only empty seat on the train will be the one nextto me.”
Another thing he has noticed is that customerservice is better in Tokyo than in America. “Nomatter what kind of establishment you go to, nomatter how menial the job,” he says, “you arepractically guaranteed the greatest of service fromsomeone with a glowing, enthusiastic demeanor.”
From a business perspective, McHugh believesa global experience is “priceless,” noting thatglobalization allows for limitless growth potential,broadens one’s knowledge, strengthens understandingand expands one’s skill-set.
Michael McHugh ’03(in the brown shirt on the right)
A l u m n i N e w s
54
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:53 AM Page 11
55
1994NATALIE QUAGLIATA KUPINSKIand her husband, John, welcomedtheir son, Jack, in February, 2011.
1995MIKE DiPAOLO, executive directorof the Lewes Historical Society inDelaware, was the recipient of the2011 American Association ofMuseums Nancy Hanks MemorialAward for Professional Excellence,honoring a museum professionalwith less than 10 years experiencein the field. Mike became theLewes Historical Society’s first full-time executive director in 2001.Since then the group’s membershiphas grown to more than 1,000 andits revenues increased more thanfivefold . . . DEANNA CARLSONNESS and husband, Scott, wereblessed by the arrival of Ella Ryanon September 6, 2011. Ethan,Elanna and Emery all approve withglowing smiles and joy.
1998JAMIE HANSON and his wife,Katherine, welcomed a daughter,Abigail Elizabeth, on February 9,2011. Abby joins 5-year-old brother,Andrew. The family lives in Union,OH outside Dayton, where Jamieworks for CareSource andKatherine, a nurse, is a staff mangerat Springmeade Nursing Home.
1999PHIL ROBINSON was namedexecutive director of City YearCleveland, the youth serviceorganization.
2000Attorney MEREDITH AGGERSO’BRIEN served in the Peace Corpsin Swaziland from 2004-2006,graduated from DuquesneUniversity law school in May 2010and she married PATRICK O’BRIEN’01 in September 2010. Currently alegal services volunteer with theAIDS Task Force of GreaterCleveland, Meredith and Patricklive in Hudson, OH.
2001ERICA URBAN CHABALKO andhusband, Justin, are expecting theirfirst child in September 2011 . . .MIKE HOWLEY and wife, Kendra,are thrilled with baby Charlie bornJune 24, 2011. Proud dad saysCharlie is adorable and has a nicedark comb-over in his future!
2003An associate attorneywith Meyers, Roman,Friedberg & Lewis,BRITTNEY NASCONECOGAN had an article“Giddyap – A NewLawyer’s Perspective onFinding a Job in thisEconomy” printed inthe April 2011 issue ofthe ClevelandMetropolitan BarJournal.
2005ALEX ROTH receiveda doctor of physicaltherapy from Saint LouisUniversity in May 2011.She received honors
from Alpha Eta, the Allied HealthHonors Society, and Psi Chi, thePsychology Honors Society.Alex was also a recipient ofthe Chairperson’s Awards forCommunity Service and for ClinicalPerformance. She has accepted afull-time physical therapist positionat the Green Park Senior LivingCommunity in St. Louis.
2007JIM SAYWELL graduated from theUniversity of Dayton on May 8,2011, with a Bachelor of Arts inpolitical science and psychologywith a Berry Scholars distinctionand a 3.94 cumulative GPA. He willattend The Ohio State UniversityMoritz College of Law. Beforestarting law school, Jim is pairing
FFaarreewweellll ppaarrttyy ffoorr AAlllliissoonn MMaannaannuukk ’’0044 lleeaavviinnggffoorr BBrraazziill ffoorr aa FFuullbbrriigghhtt SScchhoollaarrsshhiipp..
BBaacckk rrooww:: MMaaxx GGeerrbboocc ’’0044,, CCaarriissssaa RRaayy ’’0044,, MMaarraannuukk,,JJooeeyy DDeeGGrraannddiiss ’’0033 aanndd CCoonnnneerr KKaarraakkuull ’’0077
FFrroonntt rrooww:: NNeeiill SSrreesshhttaa ’’0044 aanndd GGrreeggoorr HHoollzzhheeiimmeerr ’’0044
CChhaarrlliiee,, ssoonn ooffMMiikkee HHoowwlleeyy ’’0011
Deanna CarlsonNess ’95 andher family.
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:53 AM Page 12
With some impressive research underher belt before she heads off to
Bucknell University, Kathleen O’Brien ’11earned a second place award for a posterpresentation at the American Spinal InjuryAssociation’s International Conference onSpinal Cord Medicine & Rehabilitation,held in Washington, D.C., in June. At theconference, poster presentations arerecognized for excellence by a researchcommittee and are based on subjectmatter, clarity and visual presentation.Cash prizes are awarded.
At the poster presentation, O’Briendiscussed research to assess peak force asa wheelchair is propelled over obstaclesduring a wheelchair skills test. The workto aid individuals with spinal cord injuries,was part of O’Brien’s senior year Catalyst
project. Catalyst, a semester-long science elective at Gilmour,connects students with an externship and shows them how sciencetakes shape as they work alongside a scientist. O’Brien workedwith Gilmour parent Jennifer Nagy, project manager for SCI ModelSystems Grant at MetroHealth Medical Center.
The research team studied 23 individuals with spinal cordinjuries who are full-time manual wheelchair users. They useda system called SmartWheel to analyze manual wheelchair useduring each push while subjects negotiated standardized obstaclesover tile, carpet, soft surfaces, ramps and curbs.
“I helped run the computer while the subjects were putthrough different tests with the SmartWheel attached to theirwheelchair,” O’Brien says. “I then ran the data analysis throughsoftware on the computer.”
O’Brien spent four to five hours each week collecting andanalyzing data and helping to evaluate results. At the conclusion,she formally presented research findings to peers and mentors inan exhibition at Gilmour. “Kathleen did outstanding work,” saysCatalyst director Deanne Nowak.
The Gilmour graduate plans to study economics or math atBucknell while preparing to attend physical therapy school. Shewas inducted in the Gilmour Chapter of the Cum Laude Society,which honors scholastic achievement.
A l u m n i N e w s
2010sLancer Spotlight
56
Kathleen O’Brien ’11
with a company called Welcome toCollege, a website that allows highschool students to rate their collegevisits. Jim will visit schools onbehalf of the company . . .In May, BRITTAN MAWBY andSEAN POE both graduated cumlaude from the University of NotreDame . . . SARA ROSSI wasextremely busy this spring. Sheplayed her viola at her graduationfrom Converse College inSpartanburg, SC. In addition toher senior recital, she also gave aspecial recital. She will attendgraduate school at the Yale Schoolof Music in the fall. This extremelycompetitive program includes fullfinancial support. Last Christmas,Sara was part of a chamberorchestra that performed onChristmas Eve at Carnegie Hallin New York.
2008Congratulations to BRITTANYTYREE chosen as a captain forOhio University women’s trackteam.
2009MEGAN MCCONNELL, a zoologymajor at Ohio Wesleyan University,and assistant to Richard Edwards,an assistant professor of Music,accompanied Dr. Edwards toEdinburgh, Scotland, to present theresults of their research on how thehuman brain learns to be musical.The project combined music andscience interests for Megan whoplays the harp in the OWUorchestra.
UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff NNoottrree DDaammee ggrraaddssBBrriittttaann MMaawwbbyy ’’0077 aanndd SSeeaann PPooee ’’0077
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:53 AM Page 13
Tom Bryan, GilmourAcademy’s athletic director
since 2001, announced hisretirement, effective August 1,but will remain as a consultantto the athletic program during atransition period. A search forthe athletic director positionwill begin in early 2012.Kristy Booher, associate athleticdirector, has been namedinterim athletic director.
“Tom has provided invaluable time, guidance andexpertise to Gilmour’s athletic program over the yearsand the program has grown in offerings, participationand statewide success this past decade,” says GilmourHeadmaster Brother Robert Lavelle, C.S.C.
Bryan has had a 50-year career as coach andathletic director and has helped Gilmour’s Athletic
ATHLETIC DIRECTORTOM BRYAN RETIRES
GILMOUR SKATER ISACES ON ICE
Program become one of the most comprehensive inthe state of Ohio with 70 percent participation in atleast one sport by Gilmour students. The Academyoffers 23 varsity sports (12 for boys and 11 for girls)with the only girls prep hockey team in the state.The total expands to 50 teams with the addition ofjunior varsity, freshmen and Middle School teams.
In the 10 years during which Bryan served asathletic director, Gilmour teams have won six statechampionship titles and finished as state runners-upseven times. The Lancer Varsity Football team reachedthe playoffs six of those 10 years.
Bryan has a master’s degree from Kent StateUniversity. Prior to joining Gilmour, he was athleticdirector at Hawken Upper School for 31 years anddirector of its Middle School athletic program forseven years.
L a n c e r A t h l e t i c s
57
Tom Bryan
No doubt about it. Gilmour Academy sixth-graderGianna Stafford is a show-stopper on the ice with
her rock and roll sequined jacket and guitar andSwarovski crystal skate dresses. But she backs this upwith artful skill and talent. Stafford just wrapped up aspectacular season of ice skating for Gilmour in Maywith consecutive second-place finishes in the NorthAmerican Regional Figure Skating Invitational in AnnArbor, Mich. Her performance in the compulsory andshowcase competitions earned her the right to competeat the North American National Figure SkatingInvitational in August where she won a bronze medal.
Earlier this year, the Lower School studentplaced first and won two gold medals in thecompulsory moves and free skating competitions in theOhio High School Team Figure Skating Competition.Gilmour established its figure skating club to allow itsstudents to participate in that competition.
Stafford has been skating competitively for threeyears. She works with both a freestyle figure skating
coach and a choreographer. While the top-notchstudent may have dreams to compete in the U.S.Olympics one day, her focusis on a legal or medicalcareer. The Lower Schoolstudent also plays the piano,softball and soccer.
“Gianna trains hard onthe ice and stays focused,”says Alease Cameratta,figure skating coordinatorand director of Gilmour’sLearn-to-Skate program.“Many skaters go their entirecareers without reaching thepinnacle she has at such ayoung age.”
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:53 AM Page 14
58
GilmourAcademy
senior JaymeCastillo wasselected forone of thepremier USAHockey SelectPlayerDevelopmentCamps June24-30 in St.Cloud, Minn.The campsidentify, train,educate and
assess the best female hockey players in the country.Throughout the week, players chosen for the nationalcamp receive outstanding coaching while professional
USA HOCKEY CAMPS SELECT 4 FROM GA
scouts and college recruiters evaluate their performance.Castillo, a defenseman, was named by the SoutheastDistrict. This is the third time she has been selectedfor the player development camp.
Two seniors from California – Celine Whitlinger, agoaltender, and forward Micayla Catanzariti – joinedCastillo. Both were selected by the Pacific District, andWhitinger was picked as the best goalie from thePacific District. Jocelyn Hunyadi, a Gilmour freshmanand defenseman, represented the Mid-American Districtat the USA hockey camp in Rochester, N.Y., July 21-27.
Gilmour has the only girls prep hockey team inOhio. It is one of 10 teams from the United States andCanada in the North American Prep HockeyAssociation. The Lancers finished their regular seasonwith a 37-17-7 record.
GILMOURALL-AMERICAN SWIMMERADVANCESTO OLYMPICTRIALS
Edging closer to a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team,Gilmour Academy sophomore Macie McNichols
qualified for next summer’s Olympic Trials in the 50-meter freestyle while competing in the Junior NationalChampionships Aug. 12 at Stanford University in PaloAlto, Calif. Her time of 26.29 seconds places heramong the top sprinters in the nation.
“Qualifying for the Olympic Trials is a specialhonor and achievement,” says Adam Katz, head coachof Gilmour’s Girls Swim team. “Only the top onepercent of all swimmers nationwide qualify for thishonor. This puts Macie in an elite class and is theresult of a lot of work and determination on her part.”
The Gilmour student plans to takesome time off from training before fallafter a rigorous summer when she wasnamed All-American by the NationalInterscholastic Swimming Association.McNichols also was recognized forbeing runner-up in the Division II StateSwimming and Diving Championshipsfor her performance in the 50-meterand 100-meter freestyle competitions.She was named to the News-Herald FirstTeam, the Plain Dealer All-Star team andthe All-Sun Team.
Macie McNichols ’14
Jayme Castillo ’12
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:53 AM Page 15
L a n c e r A t h l e t i c s
When Gilmour Academy hosted its 52nd annualcross country event in September, it marked one
of the key reasons the Lancers have proven to have atradition of great team chemistry over the years. PaulPrimeau, a consummate chemistry teacher at Gilmourfor 36 years, sparked energy and commitment toLancer cross country teams for more than two decadesas head coach. In honor of his contribution, the eventis now called the Gilmour Primeau Invitational.Primeau began coaching the team in the fall of 1960.Back then the invitational was held on a Monday, theonly day Vern Weber, Gilmour’s longtime football andbasketball coach, didn’t have practice. Primeau, amainstay at Gilmour athletic events and the cross
GA CROSS-COUNTRY INVITATIONALNAMED FOR CATALYTIC COACH
THE PLACESTHEY COULD GO
country team’s unofficial photographer, was recognizedat the meet.
Gilmour’s invitational brought together a field ofcompetitors from high schools such as St. Edward,Benedictine, Solon, Bay, Perry, Chardon, Shaw, AvonLake, University, Geneva, Brush, Orange, Trinity,Independence and others. It is Ohio’s oldestcontinually-run meet with the exception of the statemeet. About 800 athletes competed. The 5000-meterrace is primarily run on a grass surface with somepaved road crossings and concluded on the Lyle J.Smith Track. Matt Lindley ’89, head coach ofGilmour’s cross country teams for 15 years, noted thatthe invitational attracts runners from across the state.
In the spring of 2010, the Gilmour boys golf team waswondering how they could beat a fourth-place finish
in 2009 and become the Ohio High School StateChampions. Meeting with team coach and Gilmourgraduate, Charlie Tremont ’70, a strategy was developedby which the team would train much the same way asit did the year before, but go about that practice with adifferent emphasis and level of intensity. CoachTremont gave the team members a mantra for theupcoming season that they were to repeat over andover in order to remind the team of the challenge theyfaced and how to face it successfully: We know thegoal! Having travelled that road before, it was notunfamiliar. However, would the team be up for such agrueling trip?
The answer was a resounding YES! The VarsityGolf team posted a regular season record of 11-0; ateam tournament record of 73-10 and a remarkablepostseason team record of 33-0. Gilmour’s statetournament champions were Alex Andrews ’11, GregCalabrese ’11, Matt Oliver ’11, Duncan DeFino ’12 andAndrew Bieber ’13. Connor Moriarty ’12 was the
alternate. The team wonthe state tournament by aconvincing 22 shots!
Andrews was the Statemedalist in 2009 and 2010 –one of 15 players in Ohiohistory to be a two-timemedalist. Included on the listare golf professionals JackNicklaus and Ben Curtis.
The 2010 Lancer golf teamhas left enormous footsteps for the 2011 squad. Withthree returning players from the state championshipteam, Tremont has every reason to remind this year’ssquad of the goal.
*The article on the 2010 golf team in the Spring issuecontained some erroneous facts and omitted the name ofMatthew Oliver ’11. Gilmour Magazine apologizes for theseoversights and hopes this recount clarifies any doubts aboutthis remarkable team.
59
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:53 AM Page 16
60
Brother William Joseph Geenen, C.S.C.
Brother William Joseph Geenen, C.S.C., age 81, died on May 14, 2011,
at Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Fla. He joined the Gilmour Academy
faculty in 1953 and spent the next 20 years as a teacher, counselor and
administrator. He taught religion, English, writing and literature and was
later appointed principal. Brother William served as Gilmour’s director of
admissions for five years and was engaged in fundraising until 1973.
He was an honorary chair of the FAITH IN OUR FUTURE Campaign and a
member of the Campaign Steering Committee.
In 1946, Brother William went to Sacred Heart Juniorate in
Watertown, Wisc., where he completed his high school studies and joined
the Brothers of Holy Cross. He began his novitiate year at Rolling Prairie,
Ind., in 1948, pronouncing his first vows the following year. He then started
his college studies at St. Edward’s University in Austin. In 1951, he taught at
St. Edward High School in Lakewood for a year and returned to Austin to teach at St. Edward’s High
School and complete university courses. Brother William earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Edward’s
University and a master’s degree from Loyola University in Chicago.
On a recruiting trip, Brother William met an elderly man and the encounter changed his mission
and ministry. He began to develop centers and respond to the loneliness and isolation of aging
adults. The mission of the Senior Friendship Centers was to correct the isolation and loneliness, which
Brother William called the “malnutrition of the elderly.” He drew inspiration from the example of
Brother André Bessette, the first member of the Congregation of Holy Cross to be canonized. The
centers in Florida gained national attention when Charles Kuralt did a special feature on his CBS “On
the Road” series. Presently there are Senior Friendship Centers’ programs in five Florida counties
including 24 dining sites, six neighborhood activities sites, four adult day-care facilities, and five med-
ical clinics that serve more than 15,000 seniors. The Sarasota Herald Tribune noted that a former
Sarasota mayor said of Brother Geenen, “He was everybody’s brother.”
From 1994 to 2000, Brother William was Provincial of the Midwest Provincial Chapter. He began
to pursue a plan for a Holy Cross Village at the University of Notre Dame for laypeople and Brothers
as a multi-generational community with medical care and retirement opportunities. He returned to
his Senior Friendship Centers in 2000 and began work on the Center for Healthy Aging, which today
has more than 300 volunteers who deliver health care and programs for seniors on limited incomes.
Three years ago, the Brother William Geenen Founders Fund was established to ensure the
future of the Senior Friendship Centers. Brother William has received numerous awards and honors
including: Brotherhood Award from the Salvation Army, Life Membership with the Knights of
Columbus, Outstanding Humanitarian for 2008, Citizen of the Year in 1987 and the Bicentennial
Patriot Award. The street leading to the original Senior Friendship Center was renamed ‘Brother
Geenen Way.’
M e m o r i a l
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:53 AM Page 17
61
M e m o r i a l
Bernadine P. Healy Loop, M.D.
To the world, Bernadine P. Healy Loop championed the cause of women’s
health and became the first woman to head the National Institutes of Health
(NIH), where she founded the Women’s Health Initiative. She was the first
physician to become president of the American Red Cross and was once
president of the American Heart Association. The former Gilmour Academy
Trustee became dean of The Ohio State University’s College of Medicine and
ran for the U.S. Senate in Ohio in 1994.
Healy died Aug. 6 from complications of brain cancer. Her funeral
Mass was Aug. 10 in Our Lady Chapel on Gilmour’s campus.
To the Gilmour Community, Healy was a former Gilmour parent.
Marie Loop, who graduated from the Academy in 2004, is the daughter of
Healy and her husband, Floyd Loop, former CEO of the Cleveland Clinic, both
physicians. Healy also has a daughter, Bartlett Russell, from a previous marriage.
As a member of Gilmour’s Academic Affairs Committee, Healy was involved with
curriculum review and efforts to assure that the Academy advanced academically.
She also presented motivational talks to girls in Gilmour’s Upper School, showing
them how to successfully navigate their future careers.
A Science Magazine blog reported that “Just as she endeavored to remedy
discrimination in medical research, she staunchly refused to countenance other forms of inequity.”
“Dr. Healy was a great advocate and demonstrated leadership,” Gilmour Headmaster Brother Robert
Lavelle, C.S.C., told the Sun News. “She was a resourceful person who kept her eye on the bigger
picture.” He added that they shared conversations about Gilmour’s Holy Cross mission to make the
world more humane and just, and that they discussed ways to encourage students to be critical thinkers.
NIH’s Changing the Face of Medicine Exhibit notes that Healy “initiated pioneering research into
women’s heart disease” and treated patients for a considerable part of her career.
The Vassar College graduate earned summa cum laude honors and received her M.D. from
Harvard Medical School. She did her internship and residency at Johns Hopkins Medicine and headed
its coronary care unit. She served on the faculty of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and was an
assistant dean. She also worked at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and later was chairman
of the Cleveland Clinic Research Institute.
In an NIH bio, Healy said that her biggest obstacle “was getting into medical school at a time
when women were seen as an exceptional and questionable addition to the profession.” She added
“That made me more determined, more studious, and in the long run, probably more successful.”
Healy was a health commentator for CBS, PBS and MSNBC, was a columnist for U.S. News & World
Report and wrote a book about her challenges with brain cancer.
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:53 AM Page 18
62
M e m o r i a l
MEMORIAL
Gilmour Academy expressessympathy to the families of
the following:
JOHN M. ALFIDI ’86
VINCENT A. CHIODI, SR. ’50
RICHARD L. DECATO ’51,
brother of Alfred R. ’50;uncle of Alfred A. ’76
DENNIS HIRSCH ’62
DONALD E. OSWICK,
brother of Lawrence ’65Ronald ’67 and Paulette Oswick
Cossel GO ’77
HENRY J. SCHMIDT III ’57
Our sympathy also isextended to the alumni
and families of the following:
MARK BARREN,former Gilmour instructor and coach,son of Dan Barren, former Gilmourathletic director and brother ofMary Lee Barren Sprung ’88
LOUISE BESSICK,mother of Patti Strano, cheerleadingcoach; grandmother of Sam Strano ’06
BRUNO G. BOTTI,grandfather of Samantha ’10, Diana ’12
and George ’17 Klonaris
JAMES BROADBENT,grandfather of Taylor ’11,Shelby ’13 and Daniel ’15
AGNES M. BRODHEAD,grandmother of Craig ’04,Tyler ’07 and Owen ’12
KENNETH R. CALLAHAN,father of Kevin ’75; grandfather ofKevin ’11 and Mary Kathleen ’12
TERRY L. CARLSON,father of Deanna Carlson Ness ’95
GRACE S. COUCHMAN,mother of Jeanne Bucchieri,former Gilmour instructor
JAMES D’AMATO,former Gilmour softball coach
GLORIA DEMARCO,grandmother of
Johanna Fabrizio Parker ’92
P. REGINA DIETRICK,grandmother of Kiersten ’15
NOREEN F. DOWD,grandmother of Jean Arkedis ’96
HELEN J. DUNN,mother of Duane ’88
JACQUELINE EGAN,grandmother of Morgan Amend,Gilmour Lower School instructor
JAMES ESPENSCHIED,grandfather of
Elizabeth ’19 and Elena ’22
ANTHONY CARMEN FERRANTE,grandfather of Caitlynde ’06 and
Carlyn ’11 Brancovsky
CHARLES J. GALLO, SR.,father of Lori Gallo Zeiser GO ’76and Charles, Jr. ’80; grandfather of
Tori ’11 and Charles III ’14
MICHAELENE GARBO,mother of Robert Lighthizer ’65,
grandmother of James Lighthizer ’84 andstep-grandmother of Phillip Garbo ’03
WILLIAM GATES,father of Jeffrey ’75
BROTHER WILLIAM GEENEN, C.S.C.,former Gilmour faculty member
ANNE GONTERO,mother of Sandra Gontero GO ’78
JEFF GRALNICK,father of Robert,
Lower School instructor
MARY GREJTAK,mother of Richard Grejtak,
Gilmour Upper School instructor
STEVEN R. HARDAWAY,brother of Charles ’86
EDWARD HERNANEZ III,infant relative of Bradley Broadhead ’04
PATRICK J. HILL,father of Griffin ’81
WILLIAM W. HOLZHEIMER,brother of Roy ’64;
uncle of Richard Coyne ’82
ROBERT KICHLER,stepfather of Susan Silverberg ’80
RONALD KIRKLAND,father of Lindsay Guidone,
Gilmour Lower School instructor
JOHN J. KOMPERDA,grandfather of James ’03, Kevin ’08 andMary Elizabeth Komperda McDonald ’00
CATHERINE KRUDY,mother of George ’72
NEIL KRUSCHKE, JR.,father of Berkley ’16 and Cole ’19
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:53 AM Page 19
MARTHA DREW LINDLEY,grandmother of Matthew ’89,Gilmour upper school instructorand coach; great-grandmother ofBenjamin ’24 and Nathan ’26
BERNADINE HEALY LOOP, M.D.,former Gilmour Trustee and
mother of Marie ’04
CHARLES W. MEHLING,brother of Sr. Mary Ann, I.H.M,Gilmour Upper School instructor
CATHERINE MERRIMAN,grandmother of
Molly ’00 and Michael ’08
ROBERT MULVEY, JR.,brother of Melissa Mulvey Crisp ’05
SANDRA JEAN MUSARRA,grandmother of Jason ’13 and
Marley ’16
RICHARD NOONON,father of Michael ’87
DEBRA PORTLAND,wife of Ronald ’62
ISABEL PORTLAND,mother of Ronald ’62
FRED E. PRUSA,father of Phillip ’98
MARY PRYATEL,mother of Mark, ’76, Steven ’78 andKeith ’79; grandmother of Michael ’08,Steven ’10, Meghan ’13 and Kevin ’15
JOHN RADOVIC,grandfather of Christina Horvath ’21
LAWRENCE REYLEA,father of Kenneth ’83
JOSEPH S. REYNOLDS,grandfather of Brian Stephens ’96
JOHN J. RODDY, JR.,father of Daniel ’83 and Michael ’85;uncle of Matthew ’86 and Timothy ’87;
great uncle of Matthew ’18and Joseph ’21
ROSE R. ROSAPEPE,mother of Joel ’60 and Jon ’60 D’Orazio
MARIE SZANCA,mother of Lynne Sojda,
Gilmour Lower School instructor
BEATRICE L. TANKO,grandmother of Ashley ’00 andCourtney Tanko Fraher ’98
BARBARA KATHLEEN TIGHE,grandmother of Kathryn ’06
TIMOTHY M. TULLEY,former Gilmour instructor and
football coach
JOSEPH R. VETO, SR.,father-in-law of Monica,retired Lower School andMontessori director
DELFINA VISCONSI,mother of Thomas ’60 and Anthony ’75;
grandmother of Michelle ’91 andKatharine ’01 Poklar andMarissa Visconsi ’06
EVELYN WEDEWARD,great-grandmother of Cassandra ’17,
Frank ’18 and Mia ’19
LOIS WEISMAN,grandmother of Robert ’05,Megan ’06 and Molly ’09
* The memorial listing for Merle McLeodin the Spring issue of the GilmourMagazine incorrectly identified himas the father of Norman ’50; andgrandfather of Michael ’75 and John ’77.
63
M e m o r i a l
ALUMNI q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:53 AM Page 20
Non-profit org.U.S. POSTAGE
PAIDCleveland, Ohio
Permit No. 1
Gilmour Academy34001 Cedar RoadGates Mills, Ohio 44040-9356
FEATURE q8_Layout 1 10/14/11 9:39 AM Page 1