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÷e Blue Doors TheNightingale-Bamford SchoolVolume 10Issue 1Fall 2015

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A Peek Behind the Blue DoorsAn inside look at some of our new spaces

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Contents101 14

Soul FriendsJulia Tamlyn ’15 reflects on the Class of 2015 and the importance of Nightingale friendships

24 | HallwaysStories and photographs from around the schoolhouse

20 | Class of 2015Congratulations to our most recent graduates!

16 | Reunion 2015Alumnae celebrate Nightingale and one another at Reunion 2015

37 | Class Notes

44 | Voices

Latin RootsJeff Kearney looks back at the development of Nightingale’s Latin program

ForewordA note from Head of School Paul A. Burke

THE BLUE DOORSVolume 10, Issue 1Fall 2015

A biennial publication of The Nightingale-Bamford School20 East 92nd StreetNew York, New York 10128nightingale.org

We would like to hear from you! Letters to the editor, story suggestions, corrections, and questions may be directed to [email protected]. If you have a class note to share, please submit it via our online form at nightingale.org/sharenews.

DESIGNPentagram

LAYOUTCZ Design

PRINTING AND MAIL INGAllied Printing Services

PHOTOGRAPHYAll photography courtesy of subject, unless otherwise noted:

Cover, foreword, US Commons, new third-floor classrooms, Julia Tamlyn ’15, Class of 2015, global education, alumnae/daughter, annual fund, and Rebecca Grunwald by Matthew Septimus MS/US Library and Open Doors Center by Billy Tidwell Reunion 2015, Spring Benefit, and Maya Popa ‘07 by Jennifer Taylor Convocation, NASA, LS World Record Day, Rebecca Strauss, Tina Kelley, Homecoming, Lynn Sherr, Chelsea Clinton, Sweet Readers, soccer players, and David Byrnes by Susan Tilson

Cum Laude by Liz Layne

US assembly by David Byrnes

On the cover: Holly Miller ’24 works diligently on her painting in her fourth-grade studio art class.

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FOREWORD

Throughout their time at Nightingale, girls engage in academic experiences away from the schoolhouse that integrate and complement what they learn on 92nd Street. These often take the form of field trips or internships around New York City, semester-school programs around the country, or exchanges with institutions around the world. We also build in signature travel experiences at certain grade levels, such as the Class VIII trip to Washington, D.C., and the Class IX trip to London.

This year, as Class VIII returned from our nation’s capital and Class IX prepared to fly to London, news broke from Paris. In response, the school affirmed our well-vetted and practiced safety procedures and monitored the news closely. We did not, however, ever strongly consider canceling or rescheduling the trip.

Our commitment to these trips—even in the face of harrowing worldwide events—is based in a commitment to our mission. Our charge is to educate girls’ hearts and minds, to graduate well-educated young women of character. Girls who are resilient in the face of challenge and prepared to lead amidst uncertainty—uncertainty like that experienced after Paris, or Beirut, or any other number of recent events. For this reason, Nightingale’s faculty is engaging in a yearlong exploration of global education.

This exploration includes looking at the ways in which Nightingale can pursue and mirror the very best of what immediately surrounds us. Even as we embrace and reinforce the value of a one schoolhouse model, we will consider how Nightingale can take advantage of the diverse resources and people of New York City.

An exploration of a global framework should also include curricular and pedagogical reflections on the where, the how, and the who of a classroom in today’s world. Many times the Nightingale classroom is ideal, but we should consistently ask when students are better served by leaving the schoolhouse. We should also consider when traditional academic disciplines can and should take an integrated experiential and interdisciplinary approach. Finally, we can seize this moment to think about how educational experiences are created as much by the girls as they are for the girls.

Nightingale can boldly enhance our public purpose via partnerships with like-minded, values-based schools and organizations. There is an altruistic element to this work: we are fortunate to have the resources that are available to us, and we believe that we know a good deal about how best to educate girls. This is worth sharing with others. There is an unapologetic, self-interested element to this work, as well: the most dynamic schools shine their light outward and provide a model and resources for others on how best to educate. Not surprisingly, and quite quickly, that light shines back on the initiating school, making it that much more vibrant. A global framework for Nightingale must consider what our school community can do for the world.

By the end of this year, the Nightingale community will have a well-articulated and forward-thinking framework for teaching global competence. Our plan will embrace the potential of tomorrow while affirming our long-standing and absolute commitment to educating the hearts and minds of every girl. It is our belief that, in so doing, Nightingale girls will be best prepared to address the global challenges we face today and the ones that will take shape tomorrow.

Paul A. BurkeHead of School

Of the City, By the Girls, For the World


A Peek Behind the Blue DoorsWith the schoolhouse renovation moving toward completion, several new spaces revealed this fall have had an immediate and positive impact on student life, generating excitement for what is still to come.

The Middle and Upper School library has been reimagined and expanded to support the role of the library in the modern age. With more space for the girls to study and collaborate with one another, the library is a place of learning and connection for our students.


The third floor now incorporates classrooms of varying size, which are tailored to different styles of teaching and learning. The seminar room and the two-tiered public speaking room both feature glass walls on both sides, allowing natural light to flow from the library windows directly through the classrooms and into the Upper School hallway.

Two classrooms were combined to create the Upper School Commons, which has quickly become the hub of our vibrant Upper School. The perfect space for girls to study, relax, and meet with teachers or one another, the Commons is the new location of choice for socializing in the Upper School. Students have noted that the addition of this new space has had many positive consequences, not the least of which is that the library (featured on the previous page) is now a truly quiet place, reserved for serious study.

OverviewThe third and final phase of Nightingale’s ambitious schoolhouse construction project is well underway. All major construction within the existing schoolhouse was completed over the summer, resulting in new, open spaces that have already greatly enhanced the day-to-day experience of every girl. The consensus among students and faculty alike is that the new design already makes the schoolhouse feel bigger, even without the additional 20,000 sq. ft. of usable space the townhouses will provide once they are completed in 2016. The abundant use of glass allows natural light to flow into the hallways on several floors, brightening those

spaces and contributing to a feeling of openness throughout the building.

In the pages that follow, you will have the opportunity to see some of our renovated spaces in action, as well as architectural renderings of the new fitness room and Lower School library, both of which are part of the ongoing renovations in the adjacent townhouses. We are excited to share these images with the Nightingale community and look forward to welcoming you back to 92nd Street to see the fully renovated and expanded schoolhouse when the project is complete!


When completed, the Lower School library will anchor the eastern end of the fourth floor. Its inviting design will encourage girls to settle in and discover the joy of reading, with cozy spots to curl up with a book, as well as welcoming spaces for collaborative work and class activities.

In this transitional year, the third-floor Open Doors Center is primarily serving as a conference room for students, faculty, and parents alike. From parent class representative meetings with division heads to meetings of 11th graders from Nightingale and the Young Women’s Leadership School of East Harlem working on a joint project, the room has become a sought-after meeting space, its small size perfectly suited to collaboration and conversation.

In many rooms throughout the renovated schoolhouse, Nightingale students, faculty, and staff are sitting comfortably in ergonomically designed chairs donated by Humanscale, the premier designer and manufacturer of ergonomic products that improve health and comfort at work. Humanscale has been honored with more than 200 prestigious awards since 2007, and its designs have been featured in various museums, such as the Museum of Modern Art. We at the Nightingale-Bamford School extend our deepest gratitude to Humanscale’s founder and CEO Robert King P’18 P’21, Monique King P’18 P’21, and Humanscale for their exceedingly generous donation.

A fully equipped fitness and training space will occupy the ground-level floor of the townhouses, allowing students to work on their physical strength and overall fitness throughout the year, as well as broadening the scope of training for Nightingale’s athletics teams.


Latin Roots

[From L to R:] Clara Wade Boecklin, Marianna von Heereman, and Shirley Bennette were instrumental to the development of Nightingale’s Latin program.

By Jeff KearneyIn June of 1975 the Times News Service reported a story that appeared in papers as far as the Bakersfield Californian and the Post-Crescent of Appleton, Wisconsin:

In a ceremony that ended with the graduates and alumni singing out “In Praise of Old Nassau, My Boys,” two young women from New York, Cynthia Chase and Lisa Siegman, addressed Princeton University’s 228th commencement Tuesday as the valedictorian and salutatorian of the Class of 1975, the first time a woman has been awarded either honor in the school’s history… Adhering to Princeton tradition, Siegman read her salutatory in Latin.

After comments from the graduates on the moment itself (less momentous to students than to the press and alumni) and future plans (comparative literature, law), the article turns to “two most interested spectators” at the ceremonies outside Nassau Hall that afternoon: Mrs. Joan McMenamin and Miss Marianna von Heereman. The historian Headmistress and the Latin teacher had taught both Chase and Siegman when they were students at Nightingale (Chase graduated in 1970, Siegman in 1971). When asked about the role of a single-sex school in her students’ success, Miss von Heereman—likely one of just a few in the audience to understand Siegman’s address without a dictionary—shook her head, saying only,

“Girls of that caliber…under all conditions are better.”

notably, we learn from a 1922–1923 catalogue of Miss Nightingale’s Classes, it was all accomplished between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., October through May.

The first Nighthawks began Latin in Upper School Class IV, the equivalent of our seventh grade. There they tackled a remarkable 35 chapters in Collar and Daniell’s First Year Latin, a book simple in title alone. Though the authors proposed

“not to teach to-day what may be taught more properly to-morrow,” the pace of their book suggests seizing the day rather than waiting for another one. In fact, the book frontloads nearly all of the grammatical terminology—from parts of speech to word inflection to types of subordinate clauses—before the introduction of the alphabet. The purpose was to anticipate questions before they could arise in a 12-year-old mind. While the authors were at it, they decided to address such matters as “What Latin is,” “Why Latin is studied,” and the nine-step “How to study Latin.” The final piece of advice in the last of these was “consider the troublesome parts.”

Students finished the book’s basic training by the end of our eighth grade. The practice sentences that year give a clue that the pace had not slowed: The poor soldiers are tired in body, but they surpass the enemy in speed. The remaining Upper School years were devoted to Roman authors, beginning in Class VI (our ninth grade) with texts used in today’s AP Latin curriculum. They cut generous swaths through the Gallic War and First Catilinarian Oration. When they were not reading Cicero, girls were imitating his

In its aim to educate “girls of that caliber,” Nightingale has always given Latin a front row seat. By the time Marguerite Colson ’06 delivered another Princeton salutatory, the Latin requirement was 90 years old. The language has been offered since the school’s founding in 1920, when it formed the core of a college track that also included classical history, a curriculum comparable to that of the boys’ schools at the time. There was also a general track that was similar to a traditional liberal arts curriculum, comprised, among other subjects, of English, art history, and French. Perhaps most

Classics faculty member Jeff Kearney takes a look at the origins and development of Nightingale’s signature Latin program.

prose style. It would seem unlikely that the 75 lessons in the “beginning” years had left gaps, but Baker and Inglis’s Latin Prose Composition was not going to take any chances. Its stated aim, after all, was “that better results be gained and dishonest work be discouraged.”

Miss A.J.G. Perkins and Miss C.L.W. Wade taught the first Latin classes along with ancient history. According to former Associate Head of School and de facto Nightingale historian Kitty Gordan, they were “part of a group of very well-educated and talented women, mostly graduates of Bryn Mawr, Barnard, and Vassar, who spent their teaching career at Nightingale and played a formative role in the history of the school.” This was particularly true for Miss Wade, later Mrs. Boecklin, whose tenure stretched into the early 1960s. To her colleague and successor Shirley Bennette, Mrs. Boecklin seemed to read the Aeneid “like a newsreel… as if the events in the poem were happening right now.” Her precision with Latin was matched, says Eve Krzyzanowski ’69, by a meticulously woven braid she wore across the top of her head in the Flavian (A.D. 69) manner. Likewise, the curriculum that Mrs. Boecklin began to weave—with strands of ancient history, culture, grammar, and literature—would prove as lasting as the hairstyle; it still lives today. In fact, Mrs. Boecklin’s braided portrait hangs over Latin faculty desks as a tribute to her enduring influence on our work: tradition and innovation, our fundamental warp and weft.

Aside from the years immediately following the school’s founding, the 1960s may have been the single most

Though the authors proposed “not to teach to-day what may be taught more properly to-morrow,” the pace of their book suggests seizing the day rather than waiting for another one.


that has extended beyond a curricular requirement. As she wrote in her department philosophy statement, learning the language was a means of “dealing with LIFE as well as Latin.” It should affect those whose own formal Latin education ended with the requirement in eighth grade or who never enrolled at all. Appropriately, an annual lecture in her name brings classical scholars to Nightingale to continue conversation with the Greek and Roman authors for a general audience. In addition, the spirit of service and fun that drives the Classics Club recalls Mrs. Bennette’s own ethos. At Bronx Classical School our students have shared Latin lessons, tutored in mythology, and helped middle schoolers stage a Roman play. At home they decorate circular sugar cookies to look like Roman denarii. They play knucklebones for an arbiter bibendi (with grape juice) and celebrate Rome’s birthday with cake.

Mrs. Boecklin, Miss von Heereman, and Mrs. Bennette founded and developed a program that has lived on through its many teachers; their personalities (and classes) were present in the dusty sort through the Classics department bookcase last spring, as we packed boxes in advance of the schoolhouse renovation. Londinium and Plato’s Apology, we recalled between sneezes, must belong to Dr. Murphy, who taught the entire ninth grade about Roman Britain

So I kept making the point that Latin should be first.” Her argument, likely grounded in modes of persuasion first learned in Cicero, worked. The requirement that Latin begin in Class VI stands. [Ed. note: modern language study at Nightingale now begins in Class III.]

Mrs. Bennette also extended Classics in another direction—outside the school’s doors. In Nightingale’s first academic trips abroad, “a busload or so” of girls from Classes IX through XII toured Rome and southern Italy much as they do today. As important as the trip’s itinerary was its inclusivity. To Mrs. Bennette it was essential that every academically eligible student come along. Consequently, fundraising was both creative and fierce. The department hosted turkey dinners in which Mr. Bennette played piano, sometimes accompanying a small chorus. Students and faculty sold African violets. There was a block sale in Mrs. Bennette’s Upper West Side neighborhood, where Latinists pedaled records and old copies of National Geographic. John Klopacz, who now teaches at Stanford, recalls Bennette’s reluctance to postpone a sale for a hurricane, declaring that Vermonters do not yield to the weather. “Ever after that day,” Klopacz remembers,

“when confronted with some hurdle, we would look at each other and say: ‘We’re from Vermont. We can do this.’” Later with Klopacz and Diana Stone, now on the faculty at Dwight-Englewood School, Bennette formed a memorable fundraising and traveling team: “We had so much fun doing these things. We were the envy I think of the school because we [were] such a close-knit department.”

As the requirements for the Nightingale diploma changed to include more science and modern languages in the 1970s, the Latin requirement was extended to Class IX. Vergil and Horace-Catullus were among the school’s first AP offerings, classes that Mrs. Bennette recalls earned a spate of fives, the top score. Furthermore, Miss von Heereman’s practice of tutoring Greek was carried forward at all levels. Though the Greek senior elective had not been taught in six years by the time Mrs. Bennette wrote her “Departmental Philosophy and Goals” in 1987, she was hopeful for a Greek revival. Her analysis on Latin was also practical. Showing concern for students entering the school in Class IX with no Latin (or means to catch up), she noted the importance of Latin instruction in secondary school because it is “the rare bird who continues the study of Latin in college…what is accomplished in Latin must be accomplished here.”

When Mrs. Bennette retired in 1990, she left a legacy

before they left for London, but also Greek philosophy to a decidedly smaller group senior year. The Roman Cookery of Apicius was still folded to a recipe for donuts, which Miss Stone made every February when her students were beginning to flag. There was also her well-thumbed Orpheus and Eurydice, a script for a morning meeting her students performed in Latin. Alongside Miss von Heereman’s Rom in 100 Bildern was The Handbook of Roman Imperial Coins, which brought to mind the perennial Class IX project in Dr. Dakouras’s class. Latin Songs for the Classroom—text, CD, and early model, “bass boost” portable stereo—could only be Ms. Schapiro.

Months later we would re-open those boxes in a new, light-filled space unrecognizable to the founders or even to Siegman and Chase’s classmates. Between north and south glass walls, Cicero tumbled out along with Caesar’s Gallic Wars, a bundle of dry erase markers, and a flash drive of articles on the Aeneid. The new light was flattering on Gildersleeve’s Grammar and The Metamorphoses alike. As with the curriculum and the first teachers, they had aged well. Now glass-housed, something of the old would always shine through.

auspicious period for Latin at Nightingale. Two remarkable teachers—and pivotal figures in the program—joined the faculty: Marianna von Heereman in 1958 and Shirley Bennette in 1968. Their long tenures (Miss von Heereman’s until 1976 and Mrs. Bennette’s until 1990) would change and shape the department’s curriculum and faculty in fundamental ways.

At first glance the women could not be more different. Miss von Heereman was from an aristocratic family in Silesia, a German-speaking region of Poland. She was educated by private tutors, including in Latin, which she learned from a Jesuit priest. She emigrated to the United States via Switzerland to escape the political climate. She was single and, while liberally educated in the arts, had little interest in music. In fact, she once presented a vinyl record to Mrs. Bennette with the request that she “find a home for the strange object.” Miss von Heereman’s students recall her as vividly. Eve Krzyzanowski ’69 remembers how “in severe dark suits down to sturdy Oxfords, she cut an imposing figure.” Elena Hahn Kiam ’81 adds that Miss von Heereman carried a picture of Plato in her wallet: “I suppose she liked gazing at his image just as others enjoy seeing photos of their families.”

Mrs. Bennette, by contrast, was a New Englander who received a thoroughly American (and first-rate) education, first at Mount Holyoke College, then at Berkeley and Union Theological Seminary in New York. A Fulbright Scholar at the American School in Athens, she traveled widely with her husband, a classical pianist. Mrs. Bennette’s attention to detail, Alexandra Hahn Murphy ’78 recalls, was less an academic exercise than a moral one. For her, reading Latin was an act of historic preservation: “She wanted to prevent texts from being permanently lost in translation as it were.”

Though steeped in tradition, Miss von Heereman and Mrs. Bennette saw in many ways to the “modernization” of the Classics department that exists today. Under their leadership, the department hired one of the school’s first male teachers, Mr. Hamister, in the 1970s, followed by Mr. Klopacz in the 1980s. When the language was in danger of “starting too late” (the requirement had moved up to begin at Class VIII), Mrs. Bennette championed the cause to move it back earlier and earlier in the curriculum, first to Class VII, and then Class VI. Latin as the first language was not an easy sell on Mrs. McMenamin, a strong advocate of French. Mrs. Bennette recalls the negotiations: “Of course the modern language people wanted [French] to be first, but it didn’t really make sense because Latin is the basis for French and Spanish.

In this undated photo from Nightingale’s archives, Miss von Heereman meets with Nana Tucker Visitor ’75


Parents, family, friends, teachers, and students: it is my honor to welcome you to Nightingale’s 91st Commencement Exercises. I’m going to begin my speech by letting you in on a little secret about the Class of 2015: We don’t like change. If you know anything about us, it’s that. We also like to complain. If you’re a parent, you’ve heard us complain about our teachers. If you’re an advisor, you’ve heard about our workload. Or, if you’re Dr. Willis, you’ve just heard us complain too much. It’s not that we’re unhappy (believe me, you won’t find a class who loves Nightingale more than the one standing up here today). We just like traditions and would prefer if everything would stay exactly the same, thank you very much.

If the constant jackhammering and presence of our very own ModuFlex trailer outside the building isn’t evidence enough, let me tell you: Nightingale is going through a lot of change right now. But this change is nothing compared to what the Class of 2015 has experienced throughout the last 13 years. I entered Nightingale with 14 out of the 32 girls who stand before you today, and we would not be the strong, opinionated, confident, and loving class we are if not for those who have both joined and left us. It has hurt to see friends leave, but those changes have done nothing if not brought us closer together.

I know that we are able to recognize change, good or bad, and adapt to it. We have lived through sabbaticals, seen teachers come and go, hazed the new ones, and even hazed the ones who have been here longer than we have.

When there were changes made to the student center, there was a week of uproar. Why were the new chairs pink? Why were the tables shaped so oddly? Why did we need four flat-screen TVs to tell us what was for lunch that day? But we no longer flinch when we enter the cafeteria and we have learned how to study with the noise of jackhammers in the background. We have—one could say—adapted.

Before this year’s “Around the Tree” celebration, a beloved Nightingale tradition, Mr. Burke came to warn the seniors of a change we would soon see: an olive tree in the center of the auditorium instead of the customary giving tree. While we were all mad, confused, and hurt at first, we were soon able to see why this change was made and we circled it with pride.

A few weeks ago, all of the seniors wore their college apparel to school. Although this was exciting and presented us with limitless Instagram opportunities, my classmates and I were finally forced to wonder: how will we handle the biggest change of all and how will we do it without each other? Four months from now we will look around our college classrooms and be surrounded by different faces, some of them male and all of them new. The classes will be bigger, our teachers probably won’t care what we ate for breakfast that morning, and there won’t be a senior lounge for us to walk into and start complaining about everything that’s going wrong. So, I ask again, how will we face these changes without the best support system any teenage girl could ask for? I truly believe that no matter how much anxiety we feel now, my classmates will face it not only with grace, but with the courage and confidence that they have discovered within themselves at Nightingale.

In an article she wrote about female friendship, feminist and author Emily Rapp said: “Here’s the truth: friendships between women are often the deepest and most profound. It is love...support, salvation, transformation, life: this is what women give to one another when they are true friends, soul friends.” If I had gone to any other school, I probably would only be able to turn to a small friend group, or maybe the one or two girls who I actually managed to keep in touch with after leaving. What’s special about Nightingale is that I don’t have a friend group: I have a grade. I have soul friends. I am so lucky to be able to know that four months from now, I honestly can talk to any one of these 31 girls about how I’m feeling and tell her how much I miss her. This change will be difficult, and I am scared. But I know I will face it in stride because I am a Nightingale girl and a member of the Class of 2015.

The blue doors have been my doors for the past 13 years. When I go through them, I enter a community filled with caring classmates, supportive teachers, and an unparalleled education. But the blue doors are just the first of many doors I will walk through in my life. I am not sure which doors I will go through next, or where they will lead me, but I know that no matter which ones I choose, I’m walking through them 32 strong.

Julia Tamlyn ’15 was this year’s peer-elected student speaker at Nightingale’s Commencement on June 4, 2015. In her remarks, included below, she shares her take on the Class of 2015 and the strength she derives from her connection to her classmates.

Soul Friends


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1) Diana Moody Huston ‘65 chats with Susie Heller ’692) Three generations gather in the student center: Victoria Alexander PP’90, Kira A. Mitchell, and Lisa T. Alexander ’903) Elizabeth Buller ’23 and Julia Demeny ’23 share a moment with Linda Frank Sicher ’65 after the annual meeting of Class IV and their pen pals from the 50th reunion class.4) Top: Diane M. Falk ’65, Jean Goldfrank Bronstein ’65, Maureen Brown Fant ‘65, Sandra Gary ’65, and Diana Moody Huston ’65; Bottom: Elise D. Frick ‘65, Linda Frank Sicher ’65, and Judith Bandler Velenchik ’65 5) The Class of 1965 used Skype to visit with three classmates who could not attend Reunion in person: Betsy Spitzer Walter ’65 (who lives in Australia), Phoebe Russell Ozuna ’65 (who lives in California), and Regan O’Connell Burnham ’65 (who lives in North Carolina and is shown on the screen in this photo).6) Marie Nikolova ’10, Isabella Trentalancia ’10, and Rebecca Maier ‘10 7) Abby Lofberg ’05, Kate Berger ’05, and Julie Lush ‘05

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On May 15, 2015, Nightingale alumnae gathered at the schoolhouse for Reunion 2015. Over the course of the jam-packed day, returning alumnae visited classes in all three divisions, attended a panel discussion with current students and faculty, heard from Head of School Paul A. Burke at the alumnae luncheon, attended the Founders’ Day assembly, and celebrated with one another at a festive evening cocktail party.

The Class of 1965 also enjoyed a number of special activities in honor of their 50th reunion, including separate meetings with both the fourth-graders and the senior class, as well as a Skype session with a few of their classmates who live far away and were unable to make the trip to 92nd Street.

At the annual Founders’ Day assembly, Charlotte Ronson ’95 received the Distinguished Alumnae Achievement Award for her successful career in the fashion industry, and Jean Klingenstein ’60 was honored with the Distinguished Alumnae Service Award for her lifetime of service to Nightingale.

The cocktail party for all alumnae on Friday evening provided the perfect capstone to a very busy day, as our alumnae—together with current and returning faculty— enjoyed the opportunity to reconnect and reminisce about their days behind the blue doors.

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Reunion 2015

Save the Date!

Reunion 2016

For all alumnae

Honoring all classes ending in 1s or 6s

May 20, 2016

nightingale.org/alumnae


8) Top: Erica Wolff ’00, Laura Israel Sinrod ‘00, Ginger Shields ’00, Cara Thomas ’00, Annabelle Saks ’00, Louisa Conrad ’00, Isabel Galassi Slokar ’00, Fernanda Winthrop ’00, Emmie Robinson ’00, Liz Niemiec ’00, and Melanie Flamm ’00 Bottom: Becky Tannenbaum ’00, Zoe Settle Schriebl ’00, Kate Auletta ’00, and Deborah Wolfson ‘009) Honorees Jean Klingenstein ’60 and Charlotte Ronson ‘9510) Head of Middle School Claire du Nouy chats with Nina Stuart ’05 and Alex Kreps ‘0511) Lesley Savin-Martin ’85, Anne Mickle ’85, Cally Adl ’85, Alexandra Limpert ’85, Alexandra Sabin Elliott ’85, Sofia Milonas ’85, and Monica Illich Vogelstein ‘8512) Top: Erica Ross ‘90, Shyama Patel ’90, Jennifer Wilder Belew ’90, Wendy Pillsbury ’90, and Lisa T. Alexander ’90 Bottom: Amie Rappoport McKenna ’90, Patti Moreno ’90, Julie Hess ‘90, and Jessica Rubinstein Katz ‘9013) Jean Klingenstein ’60, Jean Walker Campbell ’60, Sandy Close ’60, Carol Seabrook Boulanger ‘60, Phoebe Sherman Sheftel ’60, Susan Whitney Lewis ’60, Deborah Lipkin Goldsmith ’60, Gina Heaton Greco ’60, and Charlotte Lee ‘6014) Lisa T. Alexander ’90 and Patti Moreno ‘90 show off their vintage Nightingale class jackets!

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Class of 2015Congratulations to the 32 girls of the Class of 2015 who are now attending the following colleges and universities:

Bennington CollegeBowdoin CollegeBrown UniversityCarnegie Mellon UniversityUniversity of Chicago (2)Columbia University (2)Cornell University (4)Dartmouth CollegeEmerson CollegeHarvard CollegeHaverford CollegeLewis & Clark CollegeMuhlenberg CollegeNorthwestern UniversityPennsylvania State University, HarrisburgUniversity of PennsylvaniaPrinceton University (2)University of St. AndrewsSarah Lawrence CollegeUniversity of Southern CaliforniaTufts UniversityTulane UniversityWellesley CollegeWilliams College (2)University of Wisconsin, Madison


Focus on Global EducationThis year, Head of School Paul A. Burke has tasked the faculty with affirming, articulating, and practicing a global education framework that will ensure that Nightingale graduates are globally competent girls who have the disposition and capacity to understand and act on issues of global significance. As the school approaches its centennial in 2020 and examines ways to sustain the Nightingale mission well into its second century, faculty and staff are evaluating the curriculum and developing even more global learning opportunities (through foreign language study, cultural exchanges, service learning projects, etc.) that will foster social, political, scientific, and environmental engagement in a complex and expanding international context.


nasa chief scientist inspires students

In a special joint assembly earlier this fall, Middle and Upper School students had the opportunity to hear from NASA Chief Scientist Dr. Ellen Stofan. In a fascinating and accessible presentation, Dr. Stofan discussed how NASA scientists look outward (studying and exploring the universe), inward (examining the effects of zero- or low-gravity environments on the human body), and homeward (studying Earth from both near and far). A geologist by training, Dr. Stofan spoke passionately about her hope that scientists will one day have the opportunity to travel to Mars to study its surface up close, and she also expressed her desire that the United States move beyond political debates about whether climate change exists to real conversations about what to do about it. She also encouraged the girls to go into

scientific careers, noting that they could fill some current needs at NASA for heliophysicists (to help them understand the sun better than they do now) and engineers (to develop “warp drive” and new propulsion systems to allow astronauts to travel faster in space). The assembly concluded with a number of great questions from our students, who were curious about everything from how Dr. Stofan became interested in science in the first place (she is the daughter of a NASA scientist and a science teacher) to whether she ever feels scared by the knowledge about the Earth she has by virtue of her chosen field (she finds it comforting to know how small she is in the grand scheme of the universe, but she does still worry about climate change). Pictured above, from left: Christina Stebbins ‘16, science teacher Nicole Seibert, Dr. Ellen Stofan, Head of Science Nikki Vivion, Lia Kiam ‘17, and Head of School Paul A. Burke.

ls world record day a huge success!

On April 30, the Lower School celebrated World Record Day, a Lower School tradition based loosely on the Guinness Book of World Records. The purpose of the day is to celebrate the Lower School community, engage in grade-level athletic competitions, and work creatively using math, reading, and writing skills. The World Record Day theme was construction and building, and the girls had a wonderful time throughout the day, competing at the opening games in the gym, solving construction- and building-related problems in math class, and celebrating their accomplishments at the closing ceremonies in the auditorium.

Ha l l w a y s

Stories and photographs from around the schoolhouse

Lillian Magee ’25 took in the scene at Nightingale’s annual Convocation exercises on September 11, which featured three student speakers, as well as Head of School Paul A. Burke and Alumnae Board President Zoe Settle Schriebl ’00. Many of the speakers touched on the idea of Nightingale as a place where lifelong friendships and connections begin, and pointed out that although the schoolhouse may look a bit different, its character is unchanged.


homecoming 2015

The Nightingale community came out in force to cheer for the Nighthawks at Homecoming 2015 on October 16 and 17. The spirit-filled weekend kicked off in the gym on October 16 with dodgeball and dance music at a morning pep rally for Classes VIII–XII and continued that afternoon with a special Lower School poster-making party and pep rally. The celebration then moved to Asphalt Green, where 900 Nighthawks fans cheered our varsity soccer team to an exciting 5-2 win over Spence. The festivities continued the next day, when more than 600 members of the Nightingale community came to the schoolhouse to enjoy fun activities for all ages, a delicious lunch catered by Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, and exciting JV and varsity volleyball games against Spence.

tina kelley speaks to ms about homeless youth

Tina Kelley spoke to Middle School students last spring about the book that she wrote about homeless youth who have been residents at Covenant Houses located in 27 cities worldwide. She opened with a powerful video featuring residents and staff who spoke honestly and emotionally about the circumstances that made them homeless and how Covenant House gave them the resources they needed to regain control of their lives. Both during her assembly and subsequent breakout sessions with students in Classes VI and VII, Ms. Kelley reiterated that the

“secret sauce” at Covenant House is unconditional love for every single person who walks through the doors. Many students asked to hear about success stories, and Ms. Kelley told one about Paulie, a young man who went to Covenant House for help 10 times, yet left every time. His counselor never stopped believing in him, however, and always reminded Paulie that he had the power to get a job and a home and stable family. On his 11th return, the counselor’s message finally stuck and today Paulie has his own house, a wife and child, and a job in management. Our students left Ms. Kelley’s presentation both concerned about the current state of homeless youth and inspired to act.

Rebecca Strauss joined the faculty in July as director of Open Doors, Nightingale’s burgeoning K–XII leadership program. Dr. Strauss comes to Nightingale from Columbia University, where she was a lecturer in the departments of English and comparative literature, as well as co-director of “Readings in Human Rights.” Prior to that, she was director of the first-year writing program at the University of Virginia and taught in the English department. She holds a BA from Barnard College and a PhD from the University of Virginia.

A lifelong New Yorker who attended Fieldston, Dr. Strauss is excited to return to the independent school world in this new position: “I’m so thrilled to join the Nightingale community and so excited for what Open Doors can spark in and for the girls. I regard Open Doors not as a program, but rather as the Nightingale mission in action. Open Doors is a constellation of co-curricular initiatives that exemplify what is so special about Nightingale: the absolute commitment to educate the mind and heart of every girl. By providing ample leadership opportunities through global education, experiential and service learning, civic engagement, interdisciplinary approaches, and diversity and inclusivity curricula, Open Doors works across divisions and departments to develop innovative curricula, design special programs, and cultivate partnerships with like-minded cultural and educational institutions across the city and around the globe.”

Rebecca Strauss Joins Nightingale as Director of Open Doors


class ix students take part in aids walk

Last May, 11 girls from Class IX joined approximately 30,000 other New Yorkers for AIDS Walk New York. The annual 10K walk, which raises both awareness of the challenges facing those with HIV/AIDS and funds for organizations focusing on the disease, took them through Central Park and down Riverside Drive. Nightingale’s team raised over $2,500 for several organizations in the tri-state area that focus on prevention, care, and advocacy programs for those affected by HIV/AIDS.

ms girls hear chelsea clinton

Thanks to Nightingale’s partnership with the 92nd Street Y, about 40 girls in Classes VII and VIII had the opportunity on September 21 to hear Chelsea Clinton discuss her new book, It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going!, with acclaimed novelist Meg Wolitzer at the 92nd Street Y. Ms. Clinton’s book is intended to inspire young people to make positive changes—big and small—in their families, schools, communities, and country. Her message ties in perfectly with Head of Middle School Claire du Nouy’s theme for the Middle School this year, which is to stand up and do something in the face of injustice or wrongdoing, rather than being bystanders.

lynn sherr addresses classes vii–xii

Veteran broadcast journalist and author Lynn Sherr spoke to girls in Classes VII–XII on April 22. After a comprehensive introduction delivered in three parts by Eve Aresty ‘20, Summer Williams ‘20, and Gavriela Langer ‘20, Ms. Sherr shared stories from her own career, as well as from the life of astronaut Sally Ride, who is the subject of her most recent book Sally Ride: America’s First Woman in Space.

sweet readers program expands at nightingale

For the first time this year, all Class VII students are participating in Sweet Readers, a nationally recognized, not-for-profit program that connects children in middle school with adults who have Alzheimer’s disease. The program’s objective is to enable children to “discover the person behind the disease” through hands-on, art-based projects. Before the girls were paired with their “elders,” they received training about the science of Alzheimer’s disease and related research, as well as on how to relate to an elder who has this disease. Each seventh grader will participate with her section for one quarter of the year, with approximately half of the girls meeting their elders at the Jewish Museum on 92nd Street and the other half traveling to the Covello Senior Center in East Harlem. Nightingale is collaborating with the Young Women’s Leadership School of East Harlem (TYWLS) on the Sweet Readers program, and the girls who are at the Covello Senior Center also have a partner from the seventh grade at TYWLS.


former top women’s soccer players address ms

At an assembly earlier this fall, Middle School girls were treated to a visit by two former world-class soccer players, Sara Whalen Hess, who played on both the victorious 1999 U.S. World Cup soccer team and the silver medal–winning 2000 U.S. Olympic team, and Emily Stauffer Keenan, two-time captain of Harvard’s women’s soccer team, three-time All-American, and Ivy League Player of the Year. Both women also played professionally for the New York Power before moving on to other careers: Sara is now a psychologist focusing on teens, and Emily is currently a stay-at-home mom who earlier in her career was a Teach for America corps member, as well as a Teach for America staff member. The girls were very interested to hear about how Sara and Emily balanced soccer with other demands on their time and were curious about Sara’s recovery from a career-ending knee injury in 2002. For their part, the two former players encouraged the girls to find something they like to do that “fills them up” inside, but to be sure that they maintain a number of different interests throughout their lives.

which aims to give white faculty members the necessary historical framework, interpersonal skills, and curriculum development strategies they need both to teach a diverse student body and to take an active role in the diversity and multicultural efforts of their school community. Mr. Byrnes is already making an impact in these areas at Nightingale as faculty advisor to CAFE (Cultural Awareness for Everyone), whose mission is to highlight the full diversity of the Nightingale community and to create a forum for discussion around issues of equity and justice.

After spending the past few months acquainting himself with the school and its people, Mr. Byrnes says that he is looking forward to sharing Nightingale’s story: “In so many ways, Nightingale is a study in balance— a balance between educating the heart and mind; innovative pedagogies and traditional subject matter; the classic liberal arts model and twenty-first century education trends; an honoring of the school’s history and a commitment to its future. Our faculty and staff not only embrace the tension in these relationships, but they harness it in endlessly creative ways. That makes for an incredibly compelling story, and independent school communications is fundamentally about storytelling. As director of communications, I’m grateful for the chance to articulate what makes this community unique. And as we approach the school’s centennial in 2020, I’m also excited to develop strategic plans for communications that will help sustain the school’s mission well into its second century.”

Nightingale welcomed David Byrnes as director of communications in July. Mr. Byrnes comes to Nightingale after serving in similar capacities at two other independent schools in New York. Most recently, he held the director of communications position at the IDEAL School & Academy on the Upper West Side, where he managed all aspects of the school’s internal and external communications and also served as the director of institutional equity. Before IDEAL, Mr. Byrnes was director of communications at the Cathedral School.

A graduate of Amherst College, Mr. Byrnes also brings to Nightingale deep experience in the areas of diversity and inclusivity. He is a member of the NYSAIS Diversity Committee, as well as a co-founder of the CARLE Institute,

David Byrnes Comes to Nightingale as Director of Communications

success at states for upper school debate

Nightingale qualified seven debate teams for the State Championships held at SUNY Oneonta from April 24 to April 26. The topic under consideration was “Resolved: Committing United States ground troops to fight ISIS is in the best interest of the United States.” As history faculty member and debate coach Dr. LE Hartmann-Ting noted, “Simply making it to States is a big deal—students need to reach final rounds at at least two tournaments to earn qualifications.” But two of our teams distinguished themselves even further at the tournament: Annie Abruzzo ‘16 and Megan Yang ‘16 cleared the preliminary rounds of competition and won their double octofinal round, ultimately placing 10th out of 65 teams overall in junior varsity public forum debate, and Katherine Ottenbreit ‘17 and Lucy Ritzmann ‘17 advanced to the finals! In addition, the team as a whole won the fifth place overall sweepstakes trophy in Public Forum debate. Dr. Hartmann-Ting noted that small programs rarely accumulate enough points to be competitive against larger schools, so this impressive recognition of the team as a whole

“confirms that our program has depth, and I hope that all of our debaters who worked so hard all year will give themselves the credit they deserve.”

impressive finish for us students at math bowl

On April 18, seven students from Classes IX and X participated in the Interschool Math Bowl hosted by Browning, which featured teams from Brearley, Browning, Chapin, and Trinity. The students participated in two rounds of problem solving and were then tasked with writing and performing a song with a mathematical theme. According to math faculty member Rachel Labes, “There were some very exciting moments in the competition, as well as some particularly interesting questions. One of the highlights of the day occurred when the Nightingale team had the opportunity to ‘steal the points’ from Chapin by correctly answering a math question posed in Latin.” Ms. Labes also noted that the team’s song about imaginary numbers “was clearly the fan favorite.” In the end, the girls answered all questions correctly, but were just edged out of

first place by a team that strategically picked a question of higher point value. Congratulations to all of the participants—Anna Fighera ‘18, Katherine Graham ‘18, Lia Kiam ‘17, Jackie Luke ‘18, Natalie Margulies ‘17, Katherine Ottenbreit ‘17, and Xixi Wang ‘18—on their impressive second place finish!


nagasaki bombing survivor speaks to students

American history students in Classes XI and XII, together with all students in Classes VI–VIII and X, had the special opportunity on May 7 to hear from Mr. Sueichi Kido, a survivor of the August 1945 US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Mr. Kido experienced the bombing of Nagasaki when he was five years old and now serves as Vice General Secretary of Hidankyo (Japan’s confederation of atomic bomb survivors); he was in New York City to speak at the UN about their review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and our students were lucky that he could take the time to speak (through an interpreter) to them. Many thanks to Mihoko Nagasu P’16 for connecting us to this fascinating and inspiring speaker!

newest cum laude society members inducted

Isabella Beroutsos ‘15, Jazmyn Blackburn ‘15, Olivia Barnhill ‘15, Annie Abruzzo ‘16, Wayan Buschman ‘16, Frances Cohen ‘16, and Kate Wittpenn ‘16 were officially inducted on April 29, 2015, into Nightingale’s chapter of the national Cum Laude Society, which celebrates the academic excellence of juniors and seniors with exemplary academic records. Four additional members of the Class of 2015 were inducted into the Cum Laude Society at the end of their junior year: Arlene Casey ‘15, Evelyn Elgart ‘15, Marlo Knapp-Fadani ‘15, and Rebecca Lin ‘15.

varsity tennis is best in the city!

Last spring, Nightingale’s varsity tennis team had another phenomenal season, going undefeated for the second year in a row! That stellar record earned the Nighthawks the regular season title in the AAIS league, which they then followed up with the championship title at the AAIS end-of-season tournament. That wasn’t enough for the 2015 Nighthawks, however, who went on to win the Mayor’s Cup tournament, which brings together the top teams from NYC’s public, private, and parochial schools. This victory was a first in Nightingale’s history and the perfect way to cap off a perfect season!

latin students shine on national exam

Nightingale students continued their consistently excellent performance on the National Latin Exam this year. Under the joint sponsorship of the American Classical League and the National Junior Classical League, the exam was given in February to 140,745 Latin students from all 50 states and 20 foreign countries.

In their first year of exam eligibility, 22 seventh-graders earned a ribbon and certificate for outstanding achievement in the Introduction to Latin Exam, and another 18 received certificates for achievement. Students in Classes VIII–XII earned 33 summa cum laude certificates and gold medals, 24 maxima cum laude certificates and silver medals, 9 magna cum laude certificates, and 7 cum laude certificates. In addition, special recognition was given to nine students for earning a perfect score.

Three Nightingale students also received special book prizes: Kate Wittpenn ’16, Evelyn Elgart ’15, and Rebecca Lin ’15 were each recognized for their impressive achievement of winning a gold medal for four (Kate) and five (Evelyn and Rebecca) consecutive years.


Over 500 members of our community gathered on May 1, 2015, to celebrate Nightingale at the biennial spring benefit. Held downtown at Tribeca 360°, the festive evening included cocktails and a seated dinner, silent and live auctions, and dancing late into the night. Attendees were also treated to an energetic a cappella rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by a group of Class VII girls.

Chaired by Allison McKibben P’22 P’25 P’27 and Leigh Hrazdira P’22 P’24, the event raised more than $482,000 in support of every girl at Nightingale, with $215,000 of that directed toward Open Doors, Nightingale’s signature K–XII leadership program that strives to educate the hearts and minds of our students by empowering each girl to explore and enlarge her sense of self and world.

spring benefit 2015 turning passions into change at us assembly

At Upper School assembly on October 2, students were asked to think about how and why they give to charitable organizations. The assembly, entitled “Turning Your Passions into Change,” was moderated by Jason Rosado, CEO of Givkwik, a “purpose-driven” software company that works with companies to help them give to worthy causes. During the morning, the students heard from representatives of three organizations—Digital Citizen Fund, Bent on Learning, and Life Vest Inside—all of which emphasize issues of equity and justice, have women in leadership roles, and demonstrate how students can turn their passions into practical ways of improving the world. After each presentation, the girls had the opportunity to ask questions that would help them to evaluate which organization they personally found most deserving of support. They broke into groups to discuss why they supported a particular cause and had the opportunity to lobby for others to join them. At the end of the assembly, the girls were given a link to vote for their preferred organization. The winner of that vote would then receive a $500 donation, while the two runners-up would each receive $250. When all the votes were counted, Digital Citizen Fund, which helps girls and women in developing countries gain access to technology, was named as the recipient of the top prize.

ROMI GOTTFRID

This year’s president of the Parents Association, Romi Gottfrid is the mother of three Nightingale girls—Annika ’20, Emma Rei ’23, and KK ’26. An active parent volunteer within the Nightingale community from the very beginning, Romi has served as a class representative for each of her daughters’ classes and has co-chaired several school events. Prior to having children, Romi worked as an environmental research consultant both with private consulting firms and in the nonprofit sector. Romi was born in California, but grew up in Tokyo, where she attended a K–12 American, independent all-girls school. She holds a BA from Boston University and an MA from Duke University.

RAFFIq NATHOO

Raffiq Nathoo has spent his career in the financial advisory and private equity investment businesses and is Executive-in-Residence at New Mountain Capital, which he joined in 2015 after 22 years at the Blackstone Group. He received an MBA from Harvard Business School and an AB from Dartmouth College. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Board of Visitors of Dartmouth College’s Dickey Center for International Understanding, he also serves on the boards of the New York Community Trust and North Shore-LIJ Health System. Raffiq and his wife, Michele, have three children, including Sofia ’19.

ZOE SETTLE ScHRIEBL ’00

Zoe Settle Schriebl ’00 joins the Board of Trustees in her new role as president of the Alumnae Board, on which she has served since 2010. A Nightingale “survivor,” Zoe is a writer who recently published Living in Style: Morocco, and a contributing editor at Interiors and Ultra Travel magazines. She is a graduate of Connecticut College, where she designed her own major, a variation of comparative literature focusing on international magazines. She is also a design consultant and recently became a certified barre instructor at Exhale, which, she points out, have nothing to do with each other, but demonstrate just a few of her myriad interests fostered in her time at Nightingale.

The board also extends its deepest gratitude and thanks to those trustees whose terms ended this year: James S. Chanos, Stacy Calder Clapp ’91, Brooke Brodsky Emmerich ’91, James D. Forbes, Steven B. Klinsky, and Mary Margaret Trousdale.

Board of Trustees Welcomes Three New Members


My oldest granddaughter (age 29) got married in June in Hull, MA, where she grew up.”

Janine Jordan ’51 has won a variety of notable awards in interior design, including a 2015

“Lifetime Excellence Award” from the Alliance of Interior Designers.

Mary Burt Blume ’54 writes: “On a recent trip to Italy and Greece, all the wonderful teaching from Mrs. Boecklin in Latin and ancient history came flooding back. I remain so grateful for my NBS education!”

Marina Johnson Sutro ’55 writes: “Hello Class of ’55. [I] am still living in Nantucket, a wonderful place year-round. I am thinking of moving south, any ideas?”

Patricia Lee Eoyang ’57 reports: “Back in Hong Kong for the fall semester as my husband continues to teach an MA class in translation here each year since retirement from US and HK universities. All quiet in great contrast to last year when Occupy Central disrupted daily life in the city. Thanks to e-mail I stay in touch with several NBS classmates, for which I am most grateful. Dede Bonnett Guessous ’57 has moved to Michigan (after living in Morocco since marriage to her late husband, a great scholar) and I hope to see Jill Hyde Scott ’57 next spring, when my husband goes to Harvard for a conference. We live most of the year in Bloomington, IN, with Sept.–Dec in Hong Kong, but spend about a month each summer in Europe (this year it was Padua, Lisbon, and Crillon-le-Brave near Avignon) and Christmas holidays in Kona, Hawaii, where our older son, an ex-Goldman partner, has a home. Don’t know how long we can keep this up, but we do enjoy it! From HK we will make short trips to Hoi An and Hue in

Isabelle Butcher, granddaughter of Gwendolyn Humphreys Champniss ’40 writes:

“My grandmother Gwendolyn Champniss née Fincke Humphreys attended the Nightingale-Bamford School and turned 94 this week. Gwendolyn currently lives in the south of England with her husband of 70 years, Gerald Arthur. Gwendolyn and Gerald’s five children live across the U.K and North America. They have 11 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren.”

Penelope Reed Putnam ’48 reports: “We are in a new phase of our lives as Chris has been in hospice care here at home for three months. He is doing well and we are thankful for the excellent care. One of our twin granddaughters was married this month here in Simsbury, CT. Her twin is now working as a physical therapist in a hospital in Boise, Idaho. We helped care for them

Vietnam; Beijing; and Chiang Mai, Thailand. Only regret I have is that my granddaughter couldn’t go to NBS (she lives in Potomac, MD).”

Cornelia Wadsworth Robart ’57 writes: “Enjoying volunteering for my alma mater Bryn Mawr College at their rare and used books store in Cambridge, MA. Family visits filled my summer and autumn calendar—Switzerland, Denmark, Maine, Delaware. Upcoming travel plans interrupted by upcoming spinal stenosis surgery (anyone familiar with this?). Love to all.”

Jacqui Bishop ’59 writes: “I am thrilled to be able to report that the Omega Institute, a highly respected educational and retreat center in Rhinebeck, NY, has asked the nonprofit I started, Sharp Again Naturally, to partner with them in delivering the good news about successes in preventing and reversing Alzheimer’s (AD) and and other forms of dementia. AD is thought to be incurable, but in a small study reported last year by UCLA, 9 out of 10 subjects recovered their minds and are living normal lives. I myself have come back from dementia using the approach we advocate. The author of the UCLA study and two other renowned medical experts will be featured at a weekend conference July 1–3, 2016, at Omega, and Sharp Again will be delivering the opening presentation on Friday night. Our medical advisory board is also convening to develop and refine a testing and treatment protocol to help families and physicians in addressing AD. The UCLA study is the lead article in our upcoming newsletter. We can use all the help and support we can get, so if you’re interested, please contact us to find out more at sharpagain.org.”

as babies so it is fulfilling for us to see them embarking on their new life voyages. I have happy memories of the six years I spent at Nightingale. We were not as involved in sports, the arts, or community activities as the students are now, but it was a different time in 1941–1948.”

Pamela Holmes Bergen ’49 writes: “Are the school colors still silver and blue? Do you still sing ‘Silver and Blue’ as the school song? I am getting ready to move into a retirement home near Portland, OR. Waiting to get the word and clearing out stuff. The above question inspired by looking at my yearbook.”

Barbara D. Horgan ’50 writes: “It is with amazement that I am able to send a class note for the year 1950! When people ask:

‘How are you?’, I usually answer: ‘I’m falling forward!’ To my joy, I am still in contact with several of my class, as well as other NBS friends from the past. The student base was very, very small! Although retired, I am still useful to the New York City Ballet and the George Balanchine Trust and Foundation. In December I will travel to Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam...made possible by most of it being on a boat!”

Virginia Wilner Newmyer ’50 reports: “I am still working (!), lecturing, and teaching British history and literature at the Smithsonian, Politics & Prose, and Florida Atlantic University.

40s

50s

c l a s s n o t e s

Class notes are published twice a year in each issue of The Blue Doors. If you have any updates

you would like to share with your classmates, please complete our online form at nightingale.org/sharenews.

Alumnae with daughters who are currently students at Nightingale came together in October for the annual alumnae/daughter photo. Timing issues necessitated taking photos of two very similar, yet not quite identical groups. In an homage to People magazine’s weekly “second look” feature, can you spot the differences in these two pictures?

Present in top photo, but not bottom: Michele Raynor Littenberg ’87 and Caroline Littenberg ’21; Odette Cabrera Duggan ’83, Faith Duggan ’19, and Isabella Duggan ’21; Alexandra Koeppel ’82, Regina Rosenfeld ’21, and Sarah Rosenfeld ’25Present in bottom photo, but not top: Blair Pillsbury Enders ’88 and Marian Enders ’22; Sofia Milonas ’85 and Alexandra Dingle ’19; Victoria Radford Patricof ’92 and Chloe Patricof ’24; Alexandra Lebenthal ’82 and Ellie Diamond ’22; Alison Griscom Wilson ’84 and Sophie Wilson ’16; Taylor McKenzie-Jackson ’95 and Annabel Jackson ’28

two generations of nightingale girls gather on the roof


Tara L. Jones ’84 writes: “After a winter and spring focused on music, I spent the summer months hosting a multitude of Airbnb guests, working in my garden, and helping out with the deconstruction, plumbing, and electrical work for our (much needed) bathroom remodel. Fall will find me back out in the garden getting it ready for winter and at my piano preparing for a recital in my home sometime this winter. I will also be working on incorporating dozens of new medicinal plants and trees into my garden in preparation for the Scottish Herbalism training I will begin in January.” To hear Tara’s music, visit her website at musicsweetsweetmusic.com.

Elizabeth Kraft Jones ’85 reports: “My oldest, Alexander, is off to college to study composition at Berklee College of Music and my youngest, Olivia, is off to high school where we live in Charlotte NC. Time Flies!”

Heather McLaughlin ’86 writes: “Hope everyone is doing well! We had a great family vacation in Alaska this summer, including the Disney cruise and then bear watching and salmon fishing— our little ones loved it! Colin just started Kindergarten and Kathleen has entered fourth grade. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas/Happy Holiday season and best wishes for 2016!”

Fiona Salmon ’88 writes: “I am in the midst of writing my memoir, An Accidental Lady of Leisure, and my collection of personal essays and true very short stories, Platinum Ever After. I am about to receive a certificate in memoir writing from Gotham Writer’s Workshop[, and] I am also studying narration voiceover. I am still trying to get used to my new life with a traumatic brain injury. I hope to be able to attend our next reunion.”

Abigail Wilentz ’89 married Robert Snow in Toronto, Canada (his hometown), in September. She writes that they “plan to celebrate throughout the year back home in New York.”

Alexandra Shiva ’90’s documentary How to Dance in Ohio debuted on HBO in October. The film centers on a group of young people on the autism spectrum preparing for the spring formal in Columbus, Ohio.

Holly Highley Caracappa ’91 writes: “My daughter Allegra is in Class I. It’s great seeing many Class of ’91 alumnae at pickup and dropoff!”

Claudia Granville Crain ’92 writes: “My twins are nine and a half years old and in fourth grade. We live in Boston with our dog, Annie.”

Stephanie De Wangen ’92 writes: “A quick update— my family and I moved to Mozambique from London two years ago to follow my husband’s business venture in real estate development in East Africa. I continue to work for my company in London (The Up Group, a headhunting firm focused on digital/Internet) by working remotely and using Skype. Just shows how technology can connect us all—wherever we may be! We have two wonderful children—Henry is five and Isabelle is three—and they fill our lives with wonder.”

90s

Alex Mar ’94 writes that her first book, Witches of America— a nonfiction book about present-day witchcraft all around the country—was published on October 20, 2015, by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. “There’s been some lovely early praise from Leslie Jamison, Richard Price, Publishers Weekly, and Bookforum.” For more information, visit alex-mar.com.

Caroline Mortimer Bareau ’94 writes: “After 5 wonderful years in Singapore, we moved back to NYC this summer and are excited to be home!”

Tara Abrams Levine ’94 was named chief marketing officer of Deutsch New York in May 2015.

Jennifer Tanenbaum Heffer ’96 is a new mom and working part-time in the admissions office at Saint David’s School in New York.

Melissa Elting ’92 writes: “I am living in NYC and I have an 11-year-old daughter, Lily, in fifth grade.”

Alex Gilbert ’92 and her business partner, Jennifer Noyes, have started a new luxe womenswear brand, M. Martin.

Debra Perelman ’92 reports: “I am living in NYC with my husband and four kids. My daughter Maia started NBS this year entering the fifth grade, which is very exciting. It is fun to be back at the schoolhouse. I have two sons at Friends Seminary (fourth grade and second grade) and my youngest son is at Jack & Jill preschool. For the past 11 years, I have been working in private investing for MacAndrews & Forbes.”

Katherine Snyder ’92 and her husband, Reto Gregori, welcomed a daughter, Lida Jane Kennedy Gregori, on April 21, 2015. Lida joins big brother Leo, 3, and half siblings, Paul Benjamin and Sarah Angelina.

Mary Richter ’93 reports: “I am enjoying my role at Nightingale—especially when I get to see friends from the past!”

Gail Dravneek Harvey ’64 writes: “I continue to volunteer for RI NOW, serving on their legislative team. Our legislative priorities for the upcoming legislative year are sexual assault on campus, economic parity, ending violence against women, and protecting women’s reproductive rights. I also have a part-time job with the University of Rhode Island’s Providence campus working on programs that deal with urban issues. My husband is busy editing his novel and we are the traveling duo, visiting our grandchildren who stretch from Montreal to Brooklyn and whose ages range from 28 to 5! I am happy to be in the mix! Since our 50th reunion in 2014, I am happy to say some [members] of our class are staying in touch even though many of us are all over the place.”

Jill Combier Danger ’67 reports: “My son Michael Combier married Isabelle Tramoy at the American Church in Paris on July 11, 2015, and my grandson Ethan, three years old, started school in September!”

Liz Levitt Hirsch ’69 continues to bring free concerts to communities across America through her role as president of the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation. She writes: “Our foundation’s new initiative, Levitt AMP [Your City] Grant Awards, is an annual grants competition to transform neglected public spaces through free concerts in small to mid-sized towns and cities.”

Eve Krzyzanowski ’69 writes: “My film, Kosciuszko: A Man Before His Time, [premiered] on PBS stations [in] October. Kosciuszko was a Polish officer who was a hero of the American Revolutionary War and then returned to Poland to fight for the rights of peasants and Jews. My daughter, Alexandra Krzyzanowski-Novitz, a junior at Drew University majoring in computer science and Mandarin, turns 21 on New Year’s Eve.”

70s

Misplaced Day, a collection of poetry and micro-fiction by Belle Fox-Martin ’70, was published in 2015 by the Troy Book Makers.

Rachel Hall Russell ’72 writes: “After teaching for 30 years, I retired to enjoy my grandchildren. In addition, I am getting back into my own art and music.”

Anne Cicero Weisberg ’75 is senior vice president at the Families and Work Institute. She reports: “I am working hard to make the workplace work for everyone and love every minute of it! Our 40th reunion was a blast—and we’re all getting together more often now.”

Nicole Kohn ’78 will be showing her work, including her painting, “80% of The World’s Oxygen,” above, at the Berlin Collective Studio Fundraiser Artist Studios Event in New York from January–April 2016. To see more of Nicole’s work, visit nicolekohnartist.com.

Tanya Traykovski ’82 reports: “I recently completed my MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History and Art Markets at Christie’s Education. In addition to being the official VIP tour provider for the Art Miami group, I am helping to curate a permanent installation for a new MSK ambulatory cancer surgery center and working with private art advisory clients. I am very happy to have made a mid-career switch to the art world and would love to connect with any NBS alumnae who work in the field or are interested in art!”

Alison Edwards Curwen ’84 writes: “After five years of working in a boarding school in the Cotswolds, England, my family and I have relocated to the USA. We do love the intentional communities of boarding school and we are now at Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, PA. It’s been a lovely landing and this area is new to us, which adds to the uniqueness of the experience. In August I had breakfast with Dini Von Mueffling ’84 and even though it’s been way too long since we’ve seen each other, we fell into easy conversation. I have some work in NYC, so I hope experiences like this will happen with more frequency. Facebook is nice, but face-to-face is much better. Another highlight like this was in May 2014 when a group of college friends flew into Seattle to surprise and celebrate Victoria Johnson ’84’s birthday, complete with Korean body scrubs and many meals. Otherwise life with three teens, two dogs, and my husband keeps a certain amount of chaos in my life, which I love; it’s never boring!”

Jessica Saleh Hunt ’79 writes: “As of two years ago, I started my career as a residential real estate agent in Manhattan with very successful results, and I am loving it! I joined a top team at Douglas Elliman’s West Side office. I represent sellers, buyers, and renters in all neighborhoods in Manhattan. I love staying connected to my class and women from other classes through Facebook. It’s great to see what everyone is up to.”

Elizabeth Leef Jacobson ’79 writes: “My daughter Annie Jacobson graduated from Nightingale last June. She had a wonderful 13 years there, and we will always appreciate the excellent education Nightingale has provided.”

Adrienne Morris ’80 writes: “After nine wonderful years working as the Director of Development and Alumnae Relations at Lincoln School, an all-girls school in Providence, where my daughter, Lily, is a sophomore, I have just started a new job as Regional Development Director at Brown University. It is great to be connected with many classmates from NBS on Facebook and in person. I hope we can plan to get together for our next reunion or maybe a mini-reunion in between. I am sorry to have missed our 35th reunion this past May.”

80s

60s

For her work using the Cairo Geniza texts to shed new light on Jewish life and on the broader society of the medieval Middle East, historian Marina Rustow ’86 was named as one of the 24 MacArthur Fellows for 2015. The MacArthur Fellows Program awards unrestricted fellowships to talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction. Known colloquially as the MacArthur “genius grants,” each fellowship comes with a stipend of $625,000 to the recipient, paid out in equal quarterly installments over five years. Marina is a professor in the Departments of Near Eastern Studies and History at Princeton University.

marina rustow ’86 named macarthur fellow

Members of the Alumnae Board gathered recently at the schoolhouse. [From L to R:] Sage Garner ’04, Amie Rappoport McKenna ’90, Liz Victory Anderson ’88, Zoe Settle Schriebl ’00, Hillary Johnson ’76, Palmer Jones O’Sullivan ’94, and Elizabeth Riley Fraise ’98.


Nelly Ward ’00 married Frederick Charles Merkel III at the Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge, PA, on May 2, 2015.

Fernanda Winthrop ’00 and her husband, Alex Michas, welcomed daughter Edith Wise (“Edie”) on October 7, 2015.

Amanda Bassen ’01 writes: “I got married this past summer to Bart Clareman (Collegiate Class of 2001). We are excited to start this next chapter of our lives together.”

Anne Rabbino Bisbano ’01 welcomed a baby boy, Thomas, to her family on September 8, 2015. Thomas joins big sister Francesca, 2. Anne is the director of the middle school at St. Hilda’s & St. Hugh’s.

Cordelia L. Zukerman ’02 reports that she completed her PhD in English literature at the University of Michigan this past summer and has stayed on as a postdoc.

\\

Sophie McManus ’96 recently published her first novel, The Unfortunates (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2015), to excellent reviews, including from The Washington Post, where reviewer Ron Charles called it a “brilliant social satire of life among the 1 percent of the 1 percent.”

Jane Simmons Bullock ’97 writes: “Anne Caldwell Bullock was born on May 29, 2015. Liza (3.5 years) is an enthusiastic and proud big sister!”

Joy Jones ’97 welcomed a son, Henry Blake Jones (above), on September 1, 2015. Henry weighed 9 pounds, 12 oz at birth and measured 21 inches long.

Marietta Dindo Danforth ’98 reports: “I’d like to share the news that my husband, Brad Danforth, and I had a baby girl, Piper Grace Danforth, on April 28, 2015. Piper and I visited Emily

Grant Turner ’98 last week and Sophi Jacobs ’98 this past weekend. I’m also excited to say that I just received my second National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the organization I manage at Zoo Atlanta called the Great Ape Heart Project. Our non-profit research group helps zoos across the globe assess and treat cardiovascular disease in great apes. The grant will allow our research group to establish a national blood pressure monitoring program for zoos that house great apes, as well as conduct genetic testing for inherited heart diseases.”

Elizabeth Riley Fraise ’98 writes: “My husband Adrien, our two-year-old son Harcourt, and I were thrilled to welcome our second son, Porter Riley Fraise, to our family on April 15! In October, Harcourt and I attended the Alumnae Homecoming. The chocolate soccer balls, photo booth, and Nightingale pennants were such a big hit with him that the following week he incessantly asked to go back to

‘Mommy’s school’!”

Fraser Ross Maloney ’98 and her husband, Rob, welcomed their second daughter, Serena West Maloney, earlier this year.

Isabelle Galassi ’00 (see faculty and staff notes) Liz Niemiec ’00 married Marc Braunstein on September 23, 2015, in their backyard in Newport, RI. Liz is a psychiatrist at Newport Hospital. In photo, below, from left: Margaret Niemiec ’04, Marc Braunstein, Liz, and Simon Braunstein (Marc’s son).

Annabelle Saks ’00 has joined Maria Campbell Associates, working on adapting books into film. She reports that Agnes Ahlander Turner ’01 is a colleague.

00sMegan O’Neill ’03 married Jesse Bull on September 19, 2015, in Nashville, Tennessee. Many Nightingale classmates were in attendance to help celebrate her nuptials. In photo, from left: Meredith Blank ’03, Judgie Graham ’03, Kate Schlosstein ’03, Clarissa Striker ’03, Megan O’Neill ’03, Tanya Kaufmann ’03, Jessie Page ’03, Tierney Model

’03, Shoko Katsuragawa ’03, and Susan Crile ’03.

Ashley G. Billman ’04 reports that she currently lives in Norfolk, VA, where she recently began her fourth year teaching American literature at Norfolk Collegiate School.

Ali Jones ’04 married Nicholas Thorne on June 6, 2015, in Richmond, Virginia. Ali writes that she met Nicholas at Yale, despite the fact that he went to Buckley and grew up across the street from her family on 79th Street! Ali’s two older sisters, Ashley Jones Moss ’94 and Catherine Jones ’98 were the matron and maiden of honor; Madeline Bertha ’04 and Caitlin Carabine McLean ’04 were also in the wedding party. Ali is finishing her second year at Harvard Business School, and she and Nicholas plan to live in NYC after her graduation.

Samantha Kleinman ’04 writes: “I’m excited to share with the Nightingale community that I earned my MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business in May 2015. I am continuing my career at the NFL, where I have taken on a new role as Senior Marketing Manager after spending five and a half years working in the Player Engagement department. In my new role, I will focus on player-driven marketing campaigns and initiatives targeting the male fan segment. I look forward to returning to the schoolhouse soon and reconnecting with the Nightingale community!”

Eva S. Hudgins ’06 reports: “This May, I graduated from medical school at the University of Pennsylvania and started my internship in internal medicine at Mount Sinai in July. After this year, I will spend the next three years of residency training in dermatology at North Shore Long Island Jewish Hospital. I’m glad to be back in New York and have enjoyed reconnecting with my NBS ’06 girls!”

Valentina Perez ’11 graduated from Harvard last spring and is back in New York City working in the research department for the Hillary Clinton campaign.

Reagan Brown ’13 is currently a junior at Mount Holyoke College, majoring in art history with a minor in studio art. She writes:

“I love my experience at Mount Holyoke and love being back at an all-women’s institution! For the past two years I have been the Photos-Video Editor for the Mount Holyoke News, the longest running all-female independent publication. I am currently an RA for the second year. I helped re-found the Mount Holyoke Yearbook after it was discontinued in 2010. This past summer I was an intern at Olana State Historic Site, the former home and estate of the Hudson River School Painter Frederic Church. It was an amazing experience and it was beautiful to be in the Hudson Valley for the summer! I will be studying abroad in the spring in Siena, Italy.”

Alexandra Damley-Strnad ’13 represented Canada at the Pan American Games this summer. She competed in the Snipe class with her sailing partner and 2016 Rio Olympic hopeful Evert McLaughlin.

Maritza Fair Williams ’06 stopped by Nightingale this fall with her daughter, Naomi, and her mother, Elaine Fair, who retired from Nightingale in 2014 after more than 25 years of service to the school. They enjoyed seeing the renovated schoolhouse and visiting with Middle School Assistant Sylvia Guzmán, who also happens to be Maritza’s aunt!

The New Yorker magazine published “For My Brother, in Bluegrass,” a poem by Elizabeth Metzger ’07, in their July 6/13, 2015 issue.

Tschabalala Self ’08 had her first solo show in New York, “Out of Body,” at Thierry Goldberg Gallery from May 28–June 18, 2015. The show included her painting entitled “Pink Eye” (oil, pigment on canvas), shown above.

Loulou David ’09, Carmen Ingerman ’09, and Anna Tarassishina ’09 returned to the schoolhouse for Homecoming on October 17 and reported that they loved the new look of the schoolhouse. Of the new, more open design, Carmen wrote:

“Long gone are the days of hallway naps!”

Lucia Perez ’10 left for South Africa on November 1 to pursue a Fulbright Fellowship. She reports that she’ll be doing astronomy research with Dr. Thebe Medupe in Mafikeng for eight months and is thrilled to have the opportunity to experience the Southern Sky.

English faculty member Maya Popa ‘07 won the 2015 Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine, which was announced in London on May 29. From a vast number of international submissions, the Hippocrates Foundation (UK) publishes a shortlist of three finalists every spring and then in May awards a prize of 5,000 British pounds for the best poem submitted on a medical

theme. Ms. Popa’s poem, “A Technique for Operating on the Past,” was inspired by her neuroscientist great grandfather.

maya popa ’07 wins prestigious literary award

The Young Alumnae Board has been hard at work planning activities for the year. [In window at back:] co-chairs Siena Kissel ’06 (left) and Gaby Santana ’06. [Front row, from L to R:]: Sarah Taub ’06, Lizzie Olesker ’06, Laura Salibello ’07, Nikki Schloss ’07, Carmen Ingerman ’09, Anna Tarassishina ’09, and Adrianne Glascock ’09.


Music faculty member Sarah Taylor Ellis is currently composing a “timeless contemporary” musical adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma with Ovation Award–winning playwright Meghan Brown. Emma received a developmental reading at Brooklyn’s Gallery Players in November 2015. Sarah was also recently invited to join the advisory board for Extended Play, an online platform for creative and critical discourse devised by the Civilians, a company that “makes new theater from investigations into the most vital questions of the present.”

Dance and PE faculty member Jeanne Finnigan-John was inducted into the Academy for Teachers this year and selected to participate in a master class with Robert Battle, the artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Company. The Academy for Teachers master classes bring exceptional teachers together with leading intellectuals, scientists, and creative artists for a day of high-level instruction and inspiration. According to Sam Swope, the Academy’s president, “Only 18 teachers are chosen for each master class, and of those, only four teach in private schools. Being selected is a well deserved honor for both teacher and school.” Ms. John commented that her master class with Mr. Battle was “a day for me to reflect and learn and dance. It was wonderful to meet colleagues and especially awesome to take a class with Robert Battle.”

Middle School Counselor Lily Gumz married Nick Joseph on June 13, 2015, in Bedford, NY.

Class III homeroom teacher Isabel Galassi ’00 married Antony Slokar on June 20, 2015.

Art faculty member Kira Lynn Harris created site-specific works examining visual representations of the city in contemporary culture for her solo show, “Glittering Dystopias,” at the Women and Their Work Gallery in Austin, Texas, this summer. In addition to her work at Nightingale, Kira joined the faculty of the Yale School of Art this fall as a visiting critic; her responsibilities include meeting with graduate students six times over the course of the semester.

Former science faculty member Thu-Nga Ho has moved to Pittsburgh, PA, and is now serving as academic dean and director of curriculum at St. Edmund’s Academy. She writes: “While I am sad about leaving Nightingale, I could not be more thrilled about this new and exciting opportunity.”

Head of School Emerita Dorothy A. Hutcheson has been very busy this year. After graduating from Union Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree in May, she spent the summer in Cambridge, England, as the program director at Cambridge Prep Experience for rising eighth and ninth graders, which is part of Oxbridge Academic Programs. While in Cambridge, she had the opportunity to have lunch with Maha Atal ’04, who is working on her PhD at Trinity Hall, Cambridge University. And this fall, she began a new position as school chaplain at Trinity-Pawling School, an all-boys boarding school in Pawling, NY. She spends the week at Trinity-Pawling teaching two classes and leading the school’s four weekly chapels, and commutes back to NYC on weekends to spend time with her husband and work at a church in Brooklyn.

English faculty member Maya Popa ’07’s critical essay on four contemporary Irish poets, “Forever Writing From Ireland,” appeared in the September 2015 issue of Poetry, the preeminent American journal in the field. Maya also published an article on (and interview with) poet Mark Doty—one of the most famous modern American poets—in Poets & Writers, the top magazine of the publishing world. For more on Maya Popa ’07, see the box on page 40.

Math faculty member Shira Sand and her husband welcomed their second child, a son, Isaac Meir Fass, on September 18, 2015. Isaac joins big sister Shoshana, 3.

Director of Technology Marquis Scott married Melissa Goldkopf on September 5, 2015.

Itty Bitty Smitty is here! English faculty member Sherwyn Smith proudly announces the birth of his son Ezekiel, who arrived on May 23, 2015, and weighed 6 lbs, 2 oz. He writes: “Both mom Dominika and son are doing great! And Mr. Smith is over the moon!”

Art Department Head Marc Travanti spent part of his spring sabbatical collaborating on a two-person exhibition and performance, “Hand to Hand,” which ran from May 22–31, 2015, at HilbertRaum Project Space in Berlin, Germany.

Class III homeroom teacher Fernanda Winthrop ’00 (see class notes)

faculty and staff notes

Network Administrator Rachel Gibson died on June 28, 2015. The longest-serving member of Nightingale’s technology department, Ms. Gibson worked behind the scenes to ensure that our network functioned smoothly. As Mr. Burke stated shortly after her death, “Every time Nightingale girls logged on to our network seamlessly; every time they were able to communicate with their teachers and students via e-mail, Ms. Gibson was there.”

Paula McGrath ’87 died on October 4, 2015, after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 46. She is survived by her sons, Dylan and Leopold Diouf, her brother, John McGrath, her parents, Diane McKecknie and John W. McGrath, and her former husband, Pape Diouf.

Sabina FitzGibbon Philip ’44 died on August 29, 2015, in Manchester, Vermont, after an extended illness. She was 88 years old.

Elizabeth Porter Seefeld, who worked at Nightingale for 14 years as administrative assistant to Headmistresses Maya Stevens Bamford and Edna Hill Robillard in the 1940s and 1950s, died on July 26, 2015, at the age of 98.

Nancy Klee Stone ’53 died last spring at age 79. She is survived by her husband, Robert Stone; her children, Peter Kempner, James Kempner, and Carrie Getz, and their families; and her stepdaughter, Lesley Stone.

in memoriam

Your early support of the Annual Fund allows the school to put your dollars to work immediately, which has a direct impact on the education of every girl at Nightingale.

nightingale.org/giving

WE’RE STRIVING TO REAcH 50% OF OUR GOAL BY DEcEMBER 31, 2015

MAKE A GIFT TO THE NIGHTINGALE-BAMFORD ScHOOL

ANNUAL FUND TODAY!


Voic

es

Rebecca Grunwald P’19 is president of Nightingale’s board of trustees. She delivered the remarks below at the 91st annual Commencement Exercises on June 4, 2015.

Many years ago I attended my own commencement ceremony from an all-girls’ school that is, in many ways, similar to Nightingale. Held on a blazingly hot and muggy day, it was an old-fashioned ceremony. We wore wildly short white dresses, but we also wore woven flower crowns of the same design that had been worn by graduating seniors at the school for almost 100 years. The ceremony—held outside, at the side of a scenic pond—began with us walking around the edge of the pond toward the huge white tent in a field on the other side.

It was exciting to be with the girls in my class on that march. My class consisted of girls who were brilliant, funny, accomplished, and kind; who represented different cultures and backgrounds; who had different interests and values.

As I came around the edge of the pond, I saw my father coming toward me. He quickly handed off a small package wrapped in newspaper, inside which was a copy of TS Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. This was in a year prior to Cats becoming a popular musical, when this tome was considered a literary work.

It struck me as an odd choice. Why this book of poetry and not, for instance—if it was to be TS Eliot—Four Quartets, with its reference to time present and time past perhaps being present in time future. I loved my father, but he definitely did not love cats. In his world, cats were for barns. So, why this book? Was it because its cover was orange and black—the Halloween-inspired colors of my then soon-to-be college? Was it a joke?

There were NO hints inside. My father, who always inscribed everything with long messages, wrote only a simple note: “Rebecca, I really do love cats. Love, Daddy.” It was obviously my job to figure this out.

Was I supposed to “be my own cat?” The verses all describe cats that are different from one another—from Jennyannydots to Old Deuteronomy. My parents always encouraged my brothers and me to be independent and to follow our own paths. The message of the TS Eliot collection could simply be this: Be your own true self.

Too simple.After some thought, I have now decided that

the message is tied to the belief that cats have nine lives. Believing that one has nine lives is wildly liberating and, as I have found many years after my graduation day, allows for quite a bit of personal development and change.

When I went to college, I thought I was going to be a musician. I’m not a musician.

But I am, quite contentedly, an architect.When I went to college, I thought my life

would be spent in New England. But I am, quite contentedly, living in New York City.

When I went to college, I never imagined having a daughter who is amazing every day and a husband who, also amazing, writes and produces zombie movies. (This came after completing a college degree in English where he focused brilliantly on the classical works of literature at a very traditional university. He clearly used up a couple of lives making that switch.)

When I went to college, I never imagined that I would be standing here at Nightingale sharing a stage with this wonderfully talented, brilliant, funny, artistic, athletic, accomplished, and kind Class of 2015.

When I went to college, I had a view of what I would be that did not include the twists and turns of life, the changes in my viewpoints, and the development of my desires. Thank goodness for nine lives!

I have been able to try things—to fail and to triumph. To find, as Mr. Burke likes to call it, my own true self. How lucky am I?

Having nine lives means that you can try things, you can follow the paths that you find, and you can keep going even if those paths lead you to places that you never thought were possible or had never even considered. You, like a cat, can always land upright and on your own feet.

So, as you leave the blue doors, keep an open mind and be courageous. Use up eight of your nine lives, live the journey, and love the ninth. If the journey through those lives is truly your own, you too will find your own true self.

Here we feature the voice of someone in the Nightingale community. If you would like to share some of your thoughts or experiences with others in the community, please contact us at [email protected].

HEAD OF ScHOOLPaul A. Burke

BOARD OF TRUSTEESRebecca Rasmussen Grunwald, President Blair Pillsbury Enders ‘88, Vice President Elena Hahn Kiam ‘81, Vice President Douglas Feagin, Treasurer Gregory Palm, Secretary Paul A. Burke, Assistant Secretary

Graciela BitarBrenda EarlAlexander EvansRomi Gottfrid, ex-officioMark GreeneShoshanna Lonstein Gruss ‘93John HallPatricia Gilchrist Howard ‘62Paul LachmanThomas McGinnRaffiq NathooRenan PierreDina Habib PowellAlice Birnbaum Roebuck ’94Zoe Settle Schriebl ’00, ex-officioHoward SilversteinMonica SpencerHenry Timms

HONORARY BOARD MEMBERSJerome P. Kenney Nina Joukowsky Köprülü ‘79Susan Hecht Tofel ‘48 Grant F. Winthrop

HEAD OF ScHOOL EMERITADorothy A. Hutcheson

PARENTS ASSOcIATION OFFIcERSRomi Gottfrid, PresidentLeigh Hrazdira, Vice PresidentJennifer Gourary, Secretary/Treasurer

ALUMNAE BOARDZoe Settle Schriebl ’00, President

Elizabeth Victory Anderson ‘88Elizabeth Boemler ‘94Paul A. Burke, ex-officio Melissa H. Elting ‘92Elizabeth Riley Fraise ‘98Sage G. Garner ‘04Hillary Johnson ‘76Siena Kissel ‘06Grace McCleary ’16, student representativeAmie Rappoport McKenna ‘90 Elizabeth Friedland Meyer ‘89Palmer Jones O’Sullivan ‘94 Gaby Santana ‘06Kate Wittpenn ’16, student representative

OFFIcE OF INSTITUTIONAL ADVANcEMENTJane-Garnet BrownDirector of Capital GivingDavid ByrnesDirector of CommunicationsChristie GuevaraDirector of Alumnae RelationsJessie Page ‘03Events CoordinatorAndrew PetersonDatabase ManagerMary Richter ‘93Director of Institutional AdvancementKaty RitzDirector of Annual GivingSusan TilsonDirector of Publications

46 THE BLUE DOORS

The Nightingale-Bamford School

20 East 92nd Street, New York, NY 10128

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