mag1 - · pdf filea protean career zoë’s wild acrobatic dancing has never shied...
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F A L L 2 0 1 1
T H E Address Service Requested
808 Union StreetBrooklyn, NY 11215www.berkeleycarroll.org
A view from the top at 181 Lincoln Place
Photo by: © Virginia L. S. Freire
Demonstrationsof Learning
Demonstrationsof Learning
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1Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Spring 2011
F A L L 2 0 0 8
MYWORDAn introduction to thisissue from the editor
HEADLINESInsights from the Head of School
CONNECTIONSNews and views frominside and outside thehalls of Berkeley Carroll
CLASSNOTESProfiles, reviews, andpersonal alumni updates
INPASSINGDeaths in the Berkeley Carroll family
<
2
3
40
44
Adventures in the Study of Modern JapanSamurai in New York, Baseball in JapanLorne Swarthout’s students brought historical American-Japanese encounters to life.
Karla Jay ’64Fomenting Change Through Judo and ZapsA funny, passionate gay rights activist in the 1960s,Karla is now a deeply unconventional teacher.
Zoë Klein ’97A Protean CareerZoë’s wild acrobatic dancing has never shied away fromthe autobiographical.
Berkeley Carroll in AfricaA Balance of StoriesFrom Ghanaian art to Kenyan education, BC studentsand grads see the continent in all its complexity.
Matthew Strozier ’91The Real (Estate) DealStrozier’s love of journalism has taken him from theBlotter to the Wall Street Journal.
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26
30
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Board of TrusteesStephanie HolmesChairAmy BenderVice ChairMitch KorbeySecretary Martha HirstTreasurer & Finance Committee ChairMarcia Skyers-JamesCommittee on Trustees ChairNick GuarnaBuildings & Grounds Committee ChairChris BockelmannDevelopment Committee ChairColin HarrisonMarketing & Admissions Committee Chair
MembersShawn AustinCandace CarponterEric ChapmanMark CheffoJackie DeaneMark FriedmanShirley HeddenClaire Hsiang MarxChristopher PetersJoe PolizzottoJamie Principe Christina ShaneMolly Toll-ReedMichael WeaverChris WelchSophia Romero-Schwartz (ex-officio)
The Berkeley Carroll School Magazine ispublished by the Communications Officefor parents, alumni, grandparents, faculty,and friends of the school. The viewsexpressed in this publication are solelythose of the authors.
EditorJodie Corngold
Editorial InternMatt Weinstock
Publication DesignStudio Lane, Inc.
PrintingLiverpool Litho
Email: [email protected]: www.berkeleycarroll.orgTelephone: 718-789-6060
ike most nonprofit organizations, independent schools are mission driven. Acombination lofty and earnest, mission statements greet each newcomer at
the door, as if to say, “Come on in. Here’s what we’re looking for and here’swhat you’ll find once you enter.” But then what? How does a school like
Berkeley Carroll ascertain how well its mission statement did in attracting studentswho would thrive in its classrooms? Or, asked a different way, what standards doesBerkeley Carroll impose in order to determine whether it successfully taught thosestudents?
Patrick F. Bassett, president of the National Association of Independent Schools,asking the same questions recently published a list of ten “demonstrations oflearning”: things he reasons that “well-educated people ought to be able to do.”According to Bassett, these mile markers enable a school to evaluate its students interms of tangible, individualistic output that will become part of their portfolios.
Although Bassett stresses that his list is merely a first draft, adding that everyschool should devise its own list, his list is not a bad place to start, as you can seefrom this partial recitation.
1) “Exercise leadership.” You’ll read in these pages that in the late 1960s,activist Karla Jay ’64 found a foolproof method for maintaining order at GayLiberation Front meetings: she spoke softly and carried a softball bat.
2) “Write a cogent and persuasive opinion piece on a matter of public impor-tance.” When he was still a high school sophomore, journalist Matthew Strozier’91 wrote a New York Times op-ed on gentrification that still packs a wallop today.
3) “Produce or perform a work of art” Zoë Klein ’97’s lifelong devotion to dancespeaks for itself.
4) “Assess media coverage of a global event from various cultural/national per-spectives” In recent years, dedicated Berkeley Carroll alumni have devoted them-selves to working in Africa—and blowing to pieces the problematic, Western-propagated “single story” that frames Africa as a doomed continent.
With this list of criteria Mr. Bassett throws down the gauntlet, providingschools like Berkeley Carroll a tangible way to, perhaps, gauge how well they’redoing, although the real way is to look to our students and alumni. The proof of
the pudding, as it’s said, is in the eating.
Enjoy the issue.
Jodie [email protected]
myword))On the Cover: An encounter that occurred during theKenya Program (summer 2011).Photo: Brandon Clarke
T H E
L
Printed on recycled paper
CO
N T
E N
T S
1Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Spring 2011
F A L L 2 0 0 8
MYWORDAn introduction to thisissue from the editor
HEADLINESInsights from the Head of School
CONNECTIONSNews and views frominside and outside thehalls of Berkeley Carroll
CLASSNOTESProfiles, reviews, andpersonal alumni updates
INPASSINGDeaths in the Berkeley Carroll family
<
2
3
40
44
Adventures in the Study of Modern JapanSamurai in New York, Baseball in JapanLorne Swarthout’s students brought historical American-Japanese encounters to life.
Karla Jay ’64Fomenting Change Through Judo and ZapsA funny, passionate gay rights activist in the 1960s,Karla is now a deeply unconventional teacher.
Zoë Klein ’97A Protean CareerZoë’s wild acrobatic dancing has never shied away fromthe autobiographical.
Berkeley Carroll in AfricaA Balance of StoriesFrom Ghanaian art to Kenyan education, BC studentsand grads see the continent in all its complexity.
Matthew Strozier ’91The Real (Estate) DealStrozier’s love of journalism has taken him from theBlotter to the Wall Street Journal.
18
23
26
30
37
263018
Board of TrusteesStephanie HolmesChairAmy BenderVice ChairMitch KorbeySecretary Martha HirstTreasurer & Finance Committee ChairMarcia Skyers-JamesCommittee on Trustees ChairNick GuarnaBuildings & Grounds Committee ChairChris BockelmannDevelopment Committee ChairColin HarrisonMarketing & Admissions Committee Chair
MembersShawn AustinCandace CarponterEric ChapmanMark CheffoJackie DeaneMark FriedmanShirley HeddenClaire Hsiang MarxChristopher PetersJoe PolizzottoJamie Principe Christina ShaneMolly Toll-ReedMichael WeaverChris WelchSophia Romero-Schwartz (ex-officio)
The Berkeley Carroll School Magazine ispublished by the Communications Officefor parents, alumni, grandparents, faculty,and friends of the school. The viewsexpressed in this publication are solelythose of the authors.
EditorJodie Corngold
Editorial InternMatt Weinstock
Publication DesignStudio Lane, Inc.
PrintingLiverpool Litho
Email: [email protected]: www.berkeleycarroll.orgTelephone: 718-789-6060
ike most nonprofit organizations, independent schools are mission driven. Acombination lofty and earnest, mission statements greet each newcomer at
the door, as if to say, “Come on in. Here’s what we’re looking for and here’swhat you’ll find once you enter.” But then what? How does a school like
Berkeley Carroll ascertain how well its mission statement did in attracting studentswho would thrive in its classrooms? Or, asked a different way, what standards doesBerkeley Carroll impose in order to determine whether it successfully taught thosestudents?
Patrick F. Bassett, president of the National Association of Independent Schools,asking the same questions recently published a list of ten “demonstrations oflearning”: things he reasons that “well-educated people ought to be able to do.”According to Bassett, these mile markers enable a school to evaluate its students interms of tangible, individualistic output that will become part of their portfolios.
Although Bassett stresses that his list is merely a first draft, adding that everyschool should devise its own list, his list is not a bad place to start, as you can seefrom this partial recitation.
1) “Exercise leadership.” You’ll read in these pages that in the late 1960s,activist Karla Jay ’64 found a foolproof method for maintaining order at GayLiberation Front meetings: she spoke softly and carried a softball bat.
2) “Write a cogent and persuasive opinion piece on a matter of public impor-tance.” When he was still a high school sophomore, journalist Matthew Strozier’91 wrote a New York Times op-ed on gentrification that still packs a wallop today.
3) “Produce or perform a work of art” Zoë Klein ’97’s lifelong devotion to dancespeaks for itself.
4) “Assess media coverage of a global event from various cultural/national per-spectives” In recent years, dedicated Berkeley Carroll alumni have devoted them-selves to working in Africa—and blowing to pieces the problematic, Western-propagated “single story” that frames Africa as a doomed continent.
With this list of criteria Mr. Bassett throws down the gauntlet, providingschools like Berkeley Carroll a tangible way to, perhaps, gauge how well they’redoing, although the real way is to look to our students and alumni. The proof of
the pudding, as it’s said, is in the eating.
Enjoy the issue.
Jodie [email protected]
myword))On the Cover: An encounter that occurred during theKenya Program (summer 2011).Photo: Brandon Clarke
T H E
L
Printed on recycled paper
connections))Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
he 55 members of the seniorclass graduated on May 27,2011, at the Old FirstReformed Church. After agreeting from Class President
Danielle Regis ’11, the Upper Schoolchoir performed “Sing Me to Heaven.”
Then graduation speaker AudreyDenis ’11, a Berkeley Carroll lifer,spoke about the school’s supportive,“quirky” environment throughout herfourteen years here. With beautifulbrevity, she summed up those years asones of exponential growth. “When Iwas three,” she said, “we planted grassin our shoes and checked on it everyday to see if it had grown. In sixthgrade I learned the name of theprocess that allowed it to happen:photosynthesis. And in eleventh gradeBiology I learned, maybe in too manydetails, how photosynthesis works.”
After expressing anxiety about nav-igating the world as an adult, Audreyquoted T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Love
Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” and itsmantra, “There will be time, there willbe time.” Audrey added, “I don’t haveit figured out, but what comforts me isthat I don’t need to. There will betime.”
Her speech’s theme—the frighten-ing, exhilarating sensation of “notknowing”—swung smoothly into theremarks of Pulitzer Prize-winningjournalist Isabel Wilkerson. Sixteenyears ago, New York Times reporterWilkerson began researching what shesaw as “the greatest underreportedstory of the twentieth century”: themigration of nearly six million AfricanAmericans from the oppressive JimCrow South to cities in the Northeast,Midwest, and West. “I was about tobegin something that I had never donebefore, and it was scary,” Ms.Wilkerson told the graduating class.“There were no guarantees of success.”
More than 1,200 interviews later,Ms. Wilkerson completed her book.
The Warmth of Other Suns was pub-lished last fall to universal criticalacclaim; it will be taught to BC stu-dents this fall in Marvin Pollock’sAmerican Stories course.
Along with stressing the impor-tance of perseverance, Ms. Wilkersonreminded graduates of their debt totheir families. Whether or not one’sforebears took part in the GreatMigration, she explained, allAmericans are the products of ourancestors’ courageous, odds-defyingjourneys.
As each student’s name was called,he or she received a diploma, a hugfrom Upper School Director SuzanneFogarty, and handshakes from Head ofSchool Robert D. Vitalo and Board ofTrustees Chair Stephanie Holmes. Inher closing remarks, Ms. Fogartyevoked the words of French writerand philosopher Michel de Montaigne:“To compose our character is ourduty.”
3
headlines))2 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
chools put so much time,good effort and resourcesinto planning and preparingthey sometimes neglect totake stock of the effective-ness of all that work. Overthe last decade our society
has pushed to assess the results thatare achieved in schools through analmost maniacal reliance on standard-ized testing. As an independent schoolwe are spared being tied to state-spon-sored test results, but how does aschool such as Berkeley Carroll gaugeits effectiveness?
Realistically, independent schoolsare under pressure to show resultsbecause families make many sacrificesto pay the high cost of tuition. Are we
worth it? While it isimpossible to offer guar-antees there are stilldemands to deliver thegoods—and that is as itshould be.
For the last severalyears the NationalAssociation ofIndependent Schools has
advocated for schools to reflect ontheir academic program and producedemonstrations of learning: what skillscan students expect to have acquiredby the time they graduate from highschool. To give a flavor of thesedemonstrations, here are a few fromthe NAIS list:
1. Write a cogent and persuasive
opinion piece on a matter of public
importance.
2. Declaim with passion and from
memory a passage that is meaningful
— of one’s own or from the culture’s
literature or history.
build to demonstrate that they’ve mas-tered theory as well as practice.
• Collaborate with peers to carryout a complex piece of research, teacha class, or lead a discussion.
• Take part in and ultimately facil-itate a discussion with peers acrossvarious media about the importantaspects of a text: plot, character,theme, and style.
Identifying and articulating thesedemonstrations has been a worthwhileand rewarding exercise. We will haveattained our goals as a school, and oursociety will be better served, if we pro-duce graduates who can think, createand take action. Have we done ourjob? We believe we are headed in theright direction to prepare our studentsfor the demands of the future. Ouralumni are good at giving us feedbackand uniformly tell us that they havebeen prepared for the next level ofdemands. We will continue to keepour eye on the constantly evolvingexpectations of the 21st century andcontinue to make enhancements toour program.
Enjoy the accounts of our manyaccomplishments that are contained inthis issue of our magazine, and asalways, we thank you for your support.
Sincerely,Robert D. VitaloHead of School
�
DEAR FRIENDS,
BOB VITALO
3. Produce or perform a work of art.
4. Using statistics assess whether or not
a statement by a public figure is
demonstrably true.
5. Assess media coverage of a global
event from various cultural/national
perspectives.
Using the complete inventory ofsuggestions from NAIS, BerkeleyCarroll has developed its own list ofdemonstrations. This comprehensiverecord of outcomes can be found onour website in each of the UpperSchool academic departments. Theseare designed to be detailed and specif-ic examples of the results that a BCeducation delivers. When we stop andanalyze all of the aspects of our pro-gram, it is discernible that there is a“BC” way of teaching and learning.The program starts in the LowerSchool and builds through all of theyears. Using the complete inventory ofsuggestions from NAIS, BerkeleyCarroll has developed its own list ofdemonstrations. The “BC” experienceculminates in the Upper School andon our website a comprehensiverecord of outcomes can be found ineach of the Upper School academicdepartments. These are designed to bedetailed and specific examples of theresults that the total BC educationdelivers. Here is just a sampling fromsome of the areas of our program:
• Apply logic, number sense, andestimation skills to analyze the appro-priateness of numerical results.
• Build something—the battery-free flashlight for Physics and 21stCentury science and the human torsomodel for Anatomy and Physiology areexamples of things students need to
C o m m e n c e m e n tClass of 2011
T
S
connections))Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
he 55 members of the seniorclass graduated on May 27,2011, at the Old FirstReformed Church. After agreeting from Class President
Danielle Regis ’11, the Upper Schoolchoir performed “Sing Me to Heaven.”
Then graduation speaker AudreyDenis ’11, a Berkeley Carroll lifer,spoke about the school’s supportive,“quirky” environment throughout herfourteen years here. With beautifulbrevity, she summed up those years asones of exponential growth. “When Iwas three,” she said, “we planted grassin our shoes and checked on it everyday to see if it had grown. In sixthgrade I learned the name of theprocess that allowed it to happen:photosynthesis. And in eleventh gradeBiology I learned, maybe in too manydetails, how photosynthesis works.”
After expressing anxiety about nav-igating the world as an adult, Audreyquoted T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Love
Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” and itsmantra, “There will be time, there willbe time.” Audrey added, “I don’t haveit figured out, but what comforts me isthat I don’t need to. There will betime.”
Her speech’s theme—the frighten-ing, exhilarating sensation of “notknowing”—swung smoothly into theremarks of Pulitzer Prize-winningjournalist Isabel Wilkerson. Sixteenyears ago, New York Times reporterWilkerson began researching what shesaw as “the greatest underreportedstory of the twentieth century”: themigration of nearly six million AfricanAmericans from the oppressive JimCrow South to cities in the Northeast,Midwest, and West. “I was about tobegin something that I had never donebefore, and it was scary,” Ms.Wilkerson told the graduating class.“There were no guarantees of success.”
More than 1,200 interviews later,Ms. Wilkerson completed her book.
The Warmth of Other Suns was pub-lished last fall to universal criticalacclaim; it will be taught to BC stu-dents this fall in Marvin Pollock’sAmerican Stories course.
Along with stressing the impor-tance of perseverance, Ms. Wilkersonreminded graduates of their debt totheir families. Whether or not one’sforebears took part in the GreatMigration, she explained, allAmericans are the products of ourancestors’ courageous, odds-defyingjourneys.
As each student’s name was called,he or she received a diploma, a hugfrom Upper School Director SuzanneFogarty, and handshakes from Head ofSchool Robert D. Vitalo and Board ofTrustees Chair Stephanie Holmes. Inher closing remarks, Ms. Fogartyevoked the words of French writerand philosopher Michel de Montaigne:“To compose our character is ourduty.”
3
headlines))2 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
chools put so much time,good effort and resourcesinto planning and preparingthey sometimes neglect totake stock of the effective-ness of all that work. Overthe last decade our society
has pushed to assess the results thatare achieved in schools through analmost maniacal reliance on standard-ized testing. As an independent schoolwe are spared being tied to state-spon-sored test results, but how does aschool such as Berkeley Carroll gaugeits effectiveness?
Realistically, independent schoolsare under pressure to show resultsbecause families make many sacrificesto pay the high cost of tuition. Are we
worth it? While it isimpossible to offer guar-antees there are stilldemands to deliver thegoods—and that is as itshould be.
For the last severalyears the NationalAssociation ofIndependent Schools has
advocated for schools to reflect ontheir academic program and producedemonstrations of learning: what skillscan students expect to have acquiredby the time they graduate from highschool. To give a flavor of thesedemonstrations, here are a few fromthe NAIS list:
1. Write a cogent and persuasive
opinion piece on a matter of public
importance.
2. Declaim with passion and from
memory a passage that is meaningful
— of one’s own or from the culture’s
literature or history.
build to demonstrate that they’ve mas-tered theory as well as practice.
• Collaborate with peers to carryout a complex piece of research, teacha class, or lead a discussion.
• Take part in and ultimately facil-itate a discussion with peers acrossvarious media about the importantaspects of a text: plot, character,theme, and style.
Identifying and articulating thesedemonstrations has been a worthwhileand rewarding exercise. We will haveattained our goals as a school, and oursociety will be better served, if we pro-duce graduates who can think, createand take action. Have we done ourjob? We believe we are headed in theright direction to prepare our studentsfor the demands of the future. Ouralumni are good at giving us feedbackand uniformly tell us that they havebeen prepared for the next level ofdemands. We will continue to keepour eye on the constantly evolvingexpectations of the 21st century andcontinue to make enhancements toour program.
Enjoy the accounts of our manyaccomplishments that are contained inthis issue of our magazine, and asalways, we thank you for your support.
Sincerely,Robert D. VitaloHead of School
�
DEAR FRIENDS,
BOB VITALO
3. Produce or perform a work of art.
4. Using statistics assess whether or not
a statement by a public figure is
demonstrably true.
5. Assess media coverage of a global
event from various cultural/national
perspectives.
Using the complete inventory ofsuggestions from NAIS, BerkeleyCarroll has developed its own list ofdemonstrations. This comprehensiverecord of outcomes can be found onour website in each of the UpperSchool academic departments. Theseare designed to be detailed and specif-ic examples of the results that a BCeducation delivers. When we stop andanalyze all of the aspects of our pro-gram, it is discernible that there is a“BC” way of teaching and learning.The program starts in the LowerSchool and builds through all of theyears. Using the complete inventory ofsuggestions from NAIS, BerkeleyCarroll has developed its own list ofdemonstrations. The “BC” experienceculminates in the Upper School andon our website a comprehensiverecord of outcomes can be found ineach of the Upper School academicdepartments. These are designed to bedetailed and specific examples of theresults that the total BC educationdelivers. Here is just a sampling fromsome of the areas of our program:
• Apply logic, number sense, andestimation skills to analyze the appro-priateness of numerical results.
• Build something—the battery-free flashlight for Physics and 21stCentury science and the human torsomodel for Anatomy and Physiology areexamples of things students need to
C o m m e n c e m e n tClass of 2011
T
S
uring the June 9, 2011Middle School ClosingCeremonies, seventh grade
speaker Tom Shea told the audiencethat change is not always easy but—
speaking for his fellow seventhgraders, and perhaps for everyone inthe audience—they learned things thisyear that might be useful later in life.
Representing the fifth grade,
Sophia Prud’homme spoke about learn-ing from mistakes. This importanttheme was also evident in the wordsof sixth grade speaker Leah Ross,who talked about the signficance of
learning how to embracelife’s awkward moments.The eighth grade speakers—Maya Littlejohn and KamyarSadeghi—waxed reminiscentabout how much they’d grownat Berkeley Carroll.
The universality of thestudents’ growth was evidentacross the division as, kidby kid, fifth gradersbecame sixth graders,sixth graders became sev-
enth graders, seventh gradersbecame eighth graders, and eighthgraders donned the mantle of thehigh school student.
5
connections))4
McBarron, representing ChissaMireles’s fourth grade class, talkedabout all of the privileges conferred onfourth graders. “Fourth grade is a yearthat prepares us for Middle School,”she said, going on to assure JimShapiro, head of the Middle School,that she and her peers were ready forthe challenge.
Echoing that sentiment was AlaynaThomas, delegate from Trupti Patel’sfourth grade class. “We got a sneakpeek of Middle School at 181 LincolnPlace,” she said. “I’m a little nervous,”she admitted, but eager to move upbecause “I want to advance my stud-ies.”
And that’s Arch Day: a fondfarewell to the year that’s passed, butalso an embrace of the challengesahead.
rch Day is a time-honored,much beloved BerkeleyCarroll tradition. As the
children walk through the arch theysymbolically pass from their currentgrade to the grade they’ll be in nextschool year.
Arch Day is also accompanied byspeeches. Speaking on behalf of hisclassmates in Rebecca Bellingham’sfourth grade class, Nicholas Boninaconfided that when he had first touredthe Lower School building at 701Carroll Street (home to grades 1-4) hethought, “Wow, this building is huge,”but ultimately came to the realizationthat it was just that he had been “real-ly small.” Today, though, Nicholas saidhe was already “feeling like a fifthgrader.”
Fellow fourth grader June
Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
c l o s i n g c e r e m o n i e sMiddle School
A rc h D ayLower School
Eighth grade speakers Maya Littlejohn and KamyarSadeghi greet the crowd.
Middle School Dean of Students Hillary Rubensteinshakes hands with a rising ninth grader.
D A
uring the June 9, 2011Middle School ClosingCeremonies, seventh grade
speaker Tom Shea told the audiencethat change is not always easy but—
speaking for his fellow seventhgraders, and perhaps for everyone inthe audience—they learned things thisyear that might be useful later in life.
Representing the fifth grade,
Sophia Prud’homme spoke about learn-ing from mistakes. This importanttheme was also evident in the wordsof sixth grade speaker Leah Ross,who talked about the signficance of
learning how to embracelife’s awkward moments.The eighth grade speakers—Maya Littlejohn and KamyarSadeghi—waxed reminiscentabout how much they’d grownat Berkeley Carroll.
The universality of thestudents’ growth was evidentacross the division as, kidby kid, fifth gradersbecame sixth graders,sixth graders became sev-
enth graders, seventh gradersbecame eighth graders, and eighthgraders donned the mantle of thehigh school student.
5
connections))4
McBarron, representing ChissaMireles’s fourth grade class, talkedabout all of the privileges conferred onfourth graders. “Fourth grade is a yearthat prepares us for Middle School,”she said, going on to assure JimShapiro, head of the Middle School,that she and her peers were ready forthe challenge.
Echoing that sentiment was AlaynaThomas, delegate from Trupti Patel’sfourth grade class. “We got a sneakpeek of Middle School at 181 LincolnPlace,” she said. “I’m a little nervous,”she admitted, but eager to move upbecause “I want to advance my stud-ies.”
And that’s Arch Day: a fondfarewell to the year that’s passed, butalso an embrace of the challengesahead.
rch Day is a time-honored,much beloved BerkeleyCarroll tradition. As the
children walk through the arch theysymbolically pass from their currentgrade to the grade they’ll be in nextschool year.
Arch Day is also accompanied byspeeches. Speaking on behalf of hisclassmates in Rebecca Bellingham’sfourth grade class, Nicholas Boninaconfided that when he had first touredthe Lower School building at 701Carroll Street (home to grades 1-4) hethought, “Wow, this building is huge,”but ultimately came to the realizationthat it was just that he had been “real-ly small.” Today, though, Nicholas saidhe was already “feeling like a fifthgrader.”
Fellow fourth grader June
Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
c l o s i n g c e r e m o n i e sMiddle School
A rc h D ayLower School
Eighth grade speakers Maya Littlejohn and KamyarSadeghi greet the crowd.
Middle School Dean of Students Hillary Rubensteinshakes hands with a rising ninth grader.
D A
7Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
about how she had wanted to be awriter when she was a kid. It wasinspiring to hear from her. And thewhole time, I was thinking ‘Wow, I’min the White House.’ But I couldn’tmake security jokes!”
Lucy wasn’t the only BC studentwho struck gold, though. In BerkeleyCarroll’s Upper School, eleven stu-dents won Gold Keys for writing orvisual arts: Naomi Brenman ’11, Eve Cantler ’12, Eve Comperiati ’12,Audrey Denis ’11 (who received twoGold Keys), Elise Guarna ’13, Sophie Kriegel ’11, Sage Lancaster ’11,Lily Lopate ’12, Phoebe Miller ’11,August Rosenthal ’13, and Emma Rosman ’14. Four students wonSilver Keys: Mikaela Chant ’13,Allison Brown ’13,
connections))6 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
The Scholastic Art and Writing Awardsstarted small—their first contest, in1923, yielded only seven submis-sions—but since then they’ve grownastronomically in both prestige andsize. This year the contest, designed toidentify emerging talents in the arts,received 185,000 submissions (45,000of them from New York City alone),and the roster of past winners includeswriters such as Truman Capote, Sylvia
Plath, and Andy Warhol.Last spring, Lucy Beers Shenk
’15 not only joined that illustriouslist—she was one of twenty-oneBC students honored by theScholastic Awards—but she alsoreceived an invitation to theWhite House for a poetry sympo-sium orchestrated by First LadyMichelle Obama. On May 11,2011, Lucy attended a work-shop for young writers in theState Dining Room that featuredsuch notables as Poet LaureatesBilly Collins and Rita Dove,and, of course, Mrs. Obama.
“It was unreal,” Lucy says.“On our way there, I was reallynervous and felt kind of sick.I’d only found out a few hoursbefore and then suddenly, itwas a Wednesday morningand I wasn’t in school but onmy way to the White House!
“When we got there, we waited inline and then went through a lot ofsecurity. Then they brought us into theEast Wing and we walked past theKennedy Garden and the White Housemovie theater, and into the mainbuilding. It was amazing. It was reallycool to see the famous portrait of JohnF. Kennedy looking down, especiallybecause I’d just seen CarolineKennedy in person!”
In her opening remarks that after-noon, Mrs. Obama jokingly referred toher husband as “Poet-in-Chief” (he pub-lished two poems while at OccidentalCollege) and stressed the fact that“We’ve brought you here from all overthe country because we want you to bea part of this conversation.”
Lucy says, “Mrs. Obama wasgreat—really calm and chill—and shereally meant what she was saying
Scholastic Gold Medal Winner reads poetry at the White House
What did Middle Schoolers do during their summer vacation?THEY READ!When the Middle School English Department threw down its SummerReading Challenge, over 75 middle school students rose to accept it,choosing to read thousands of pages beyond the summer readingrequired for English and history.
Shown here are the three readers from each grade who read themost pages. The most pages read in 6th grade was 6,522 by BenjaminSchaffzin; Maiya Nielsen and Mokhtar Rajai were runners-up. In 7thgrade, Sarah Holsberg took the prize, with 6,639 pages; close behindher were Lilian Rona and Alessandro Getzel. And Natalie Trautman,8th grader, took the prize for her grade and for the entire middleschool, having read an awe-inspiring 12,782 pages (a mere 142 pagesa day). Audrey Kastner and Cecilia Emy held their own, taking secondand third place.
The basic belief of the Middle School Summer Reading Challenge isthat the more you read, the better you read; the better you read, themore fun reading becomes; the more fun reading becomes, the moreyou read ... These nine readers prove how true this tenet is.Congratulations to all 78 challenge winners!
[cont’d on page 8]
7Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
about how she had wanted to be awriter when she was a kid. It wasinspiring to hear from her. And thewhole time, I was thinking ‘Wow, I’min the White House.’ But I couldn’tmake security jokes!”
Lucy wasn’t the only BC studentwho struck gold, though. In BerkeleyCarroll’s Upper School, eleven stu-dents won Gold Keys for writing orvisual arts: Naomi Brenman ’11, Eve Cantler ’12, Eve Comperiati ’12,Audrey Denis ’11 (who received twoGold Keys), Elise Guarna ’13, Sophie Kriegel ’11, Sage Lancaster ’11,Lily Lopate ’12, Phoebe Miller ’11,August Rosenthal ’13, and Emma Rosman ’14. Four students wonSilver Keys: Mikaela Chant ’13,Allison Brown ’13,
connections))6 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
The Scholastic Art and Writing Awardsstarted small—their first contest, in1923, yielded only seven submis-sions—but since then they’ve grownastronomically in both prestige andsize. This year the contest, designed toidentify emerging talents in the arts,received 185,000 submissions (45,000of them from New York City alone),and the roster of past winners includeswriters such as Truman Capote, Sylvia
Plath, and Andy Warhol.Last spring, Lucy Beers Shenk
’15 not only joined that illustriouslist—she was one of twenty-oneBC students honored by theScholastic Awards—but she alsoreceived an invitation to theWhite House for a poetry sympo-sium orchestrated by First LadyMichelle Obama. On May 11,2011, Lucy attended a work-shop for young writers in theState Dining Room that featuredsuch notables as Poet LaureatesBilly Collins and Rita Dove,and, of course, Mrs. Obama.
“It was unreal,” Lucy says.“On our way there, I was reallynervous and felt kind of sick.I’d only found out a few hoursbefore and then suddenly, itwas a Wednesday morningand I wasn’t in school but onmy way to the White House!
“When we got there, we waited inline and then went through a lot ofsecurity. Then they brought us into theEast Wing and we walked past theKennedy Garden and the White Housemovie theater, and into the mainbuilding. It was amazing. It was reallycool to see the famous portrait of JohnF. Kennedy looking down, especiallybecause I’d just seen CarolineKennedy in person!”
In her opening remarks that after-noon, Mrs. Obama jokingly referred toher husband as “Poet-in-Chief” (he pub-lished two poems while at OccidentalCollege) and stressed the fact that“We’ve brought you here from all overthe country because we want you to bea part of this conversation.”
Lucy says, “Mrs. Obama wasgreat—really calm and chill—and shereally meant what she was saying
Scholastic Gold Medal Winner reads poetry at the White House
What did Middle Schoolers do during their summer vacation?THEY READ!When the Middle School English Department threw down its SummerReading Challenge, over 75 middle school students rose to accept it,choosing to read thousands of pages beyond the summer readingrequired for English and history.
Shown here are the three readers from each grade who read themost pages. The most pages read in 6th grade was 6,522 by BenjaminSchaffzin; Maiya Nielsen and Mokhtar Rajai were runners-up. In 7thgrade, Sarah Holsberg took the prize, with 6,639 pages; close behindher were Lilian Rona and Alessandro Getzel. And Natalie Trautman,8th grader, took the prize for her grade and for the entire middleschool, having read an awe-inspiring 12,782 pages (a mere 142 pagesa day). Audrey Kastner and Cecilia Emy held their own, taking secondand third place.
The basic belief of the Middle School Summer Reading Challenge isthat the more you read, the better you read; the better you read, themore fun reading becomes; the more fun reading becomes, the moreyou read ... These nine readers prove how true this tenet is.Congratulations to all 78 challenge winners!
[cont’d on page 8]
9Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
connections))8 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
Eve Comperiati ’12, and SageLancaster ’11. In the Middle School,eight students won Gold Keys:Kennedy Austin ’15, Isaiah Back-Gaal’15, Maya Littlejohn ’15, Ben Paulson’15, Noa Street-Sachs ’15, and MaggieDuffy ’15 won Gold Keys for personalessay; Lucy Beers Shenk ’15 andEmery Powell ’16 won Gold Keys forpoetry. (Isaiah and Lucy received twoGold Keys each.)
After Gold and Silver Keys are
awarded, outstanding works of artand writing from the New Yorkregion are forwarded to the Alliancefor Young Artists & Writers to bereviewed on a national level by pan-els of professional jurors. Three BCstudents achieved national awarddesignations; Lily Lopate received aSilver Medal for Poetry, Elise Guarnagot a Gold Medal for Photography,and Lucy Beers Shenk got a GoldMedal for Poetry.
and possible socioeconomic causes.Hannah Lemkowitz ’11 studied the
techniques of Method acting gurus LeeStrasberg, Stella Adler, and SanfordMeisner in hopes of determining “the‘best’ method.” Hannah performedMethod acting exercises and conduct-ed an exhaustive interview with one ofMeisner’s colleagues. She eventuallyconcluded that “there is no ‘best’method…Acting is living. Living isnever absolute, so acting shouldn’t beeither.”
Ean Marshall ’11 was fascinated bythe politically troubling work of Sovietfilmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. WasEisenstein “a propagandist whochurned out movies for the state,” Eanwondered, or a bona-fide artist devot-ed to advancing his theory of mon-tage? He was both, as Ean demonstrat-ed in a lecture peppered with clipsfrom Eisenstein’s films.
After noticing that the few tradi-tions her family had “all seem torevolve around food,” Phoebe Miller’11 decided to research the potentialharms and benefits of genetically mod-ified food. “Thinking about what weeat and why we eat,” she writes, “isvital to our ability to relate to eachother.”
Masha Puchkoff ’11 steeped herselfin the poetry of Anna Akhmatova. Inthe course of studying the first well-known female Russian poet, Mashafound herself both arguing forAkhmatova’s continued cultural rele-vance and identifying withAkhmatova’s obsessive “need to write.”
Dylan Scher ’11 asked himself,“How much does the Internet reallyaffect politics? Do blogs really give anypajama-clad amateur the chance tomake a difference?” His zeitgeisty studycovered topics ranging from themorality of Wikileaks to the success ofBarack Obama’s internet-driven campaign.
Senior project presentations culminatean entire year’s worth of intensive,independent study. As juniors, inter-ested students draw up a study planand ask a faculty member to serve asmentor. A year later they write lengthyreports of their research and presentthe highlights in front of a crowd ofteachers, parents, and peers.
Emma Corngold ’11 pored overthree of William Faulkner’s early novels—The Sound and the Fury, As I
Lay Dying, and Light in August—and
wrote a 45-page paper that defendedFaulkner’s non-linear and sometimeschaotic writing style. She discussedthe arduous but satisfying “process ofstraightening out Faulkner’s words.”
While working at her church’s soupkitchen, Sage Lancaster ’11 becamecurious about the backstories of theregulars. She began interviewinghomeless people, city councilmen, andBC community members, and com-piled a study of homelessness in NewYork City that examined its history
Senior Projects
The 4th grade wrote the play, Race Around the World, in a collaborativeway with director, Vanessa Paige. The music was written by Carolyn Sloan.
(l to r): Elise Guarna '13, Eve Comperiati '12, Alison Brown '13, Sophie Kriegel '11, and Audrey Denis '11
9Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
connections))8 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
Eve Comperiati ’12, and SageLancaster ’11. In the Middle School,eight students won Gold Keys:Kennedy Austin ’15, Isaiah Back-Gaal’15, Maya Littlejohn ’15, Ben Paulson’15, Noa Street-Sachs ’15, and MaggieDuffy ’15 won Gold Keys for personalessay; Lucy Beers Shenk ’15 andEmery Powell ’16 won Gold Keys forpoetry. (Isaiah and Lucy received twoGold Keys each.)
After Gold and Silver Keys are
awarded, outstanding works of artand writing from the New Yorkregion are forwarded to the Alliancefor Young Artists & Writers to bereviewed on a national level by pan-els of professional jurors. Three BCstudents achieved national awarddesignations; Lily Lopate received aSilver Medal for Poetry, Elise Guarnagot a Gold Medal for Photography,and Lucy Beers Shenk got a GoldMedal for Poetry.
and possible socioeconomic causes.Hannah Lemkowitz ’11 studied the
techniques of Method acting gurus LeeStrasberg, Stella Adler, and SanfordMeisner in hopes of determining “the‘best’ method.” Hannah performedMethod acting exercises and conduct-ed an exhaustive interview with one ofMeisner’s colleagues. She eventuallyconcluded that “there is no ‘best’method…Acting is living. Living isnever absolute, so acting shouldn’t beeither.”
Ean Marshall ’11 was fascinated bythe politically troubling work of Sovietfilmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. WasEisenstein “a propagandist whochurned out movies for the state,” Eanwondered, or a bona-fide artist devot-ed to advancing his theory of mon-tage? He was both, as Ean demonstrat-ed in a lecture peppered with clipsfrom Eisenstein’s films.
After noticing that the few tradi-tions her family had “all seem torevolve around food,” Phoebe Miller’11 decided to research the potentialharms and benefits of genetically mod-ified food. “Thinking about what weeat and why we eat,” she writes, “isvital to our ability to relate to eachother.”
Masha Puchkoff ’11 steeped herselfin the poetry of Anna Akhmatova. Inthe course of studying the first well-known female Russian poet, Mashafound herself both arguing forAkhmatova’s continued cultural rele-vance and identifying withAkhmatova’s obsessive “need to write.”
Dylan Scher ’11 asked himself,“How much does the Internet reallyaffect politics? Do blogs really give anypajama-clad amateur the chance tomake a difference?” His zeitgeisty studycovered topics ranging from themorality of Wikileaks to the success ofBarack Obama’s internet-driven campaign.
Senior project presentations culminatean entire year’s worth of intensive,independent study. As juniors, inter-ested students draw up a study planand ask a faculty member to serve asmentor. A year later they write lengthyreports of their research and presentthe highlights in front of a crowd ofteachers, parents, and peers.
Emma Corngold ’11 pored overthree of William Faulkner’s early novels—The Sound and the Fury, As I
Lay Dying, and Light in August—and
wrote a 45-page paper that defendedFaulkner’s non-linear and sometimeschaotic writing style. She discussedthe arduous but satisfying “process ofstraightening out Faulkner’s words.”
While working at her church’s soupkitchen, Sage Lancaster ’11 becamecurious about the backstories of theregulars. She began interviewinghomeless people, city councilmen, andBC community members, and com-piled a study of homelessness in NewYork City that examined its history
Senior Projects
The 4th grade wrote the play, Race Around the World, in a collaborativeway with director, Vanessa Paige. The music was written by Carolyn Sloan.
(l to r): Elise Guarna '13, Eve Comperiati '12, Alison Brown '13, Sophie Kriegel '11, and Audrey Denis '11
11Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
ly a ‘What happens in Vegas stays inVegas’ policy,” explains Ms. Prescott.“It’s partly about comfort, and partlyabout helping students get secureenough that they can run things ontheir own.” Along with Ms. Prescott,Diversity Day was organized by UpperSchool faculty members Erika Drezner,Kathleen Ellis, Suzanne Fogarty, CindyMolk, Marvin Pollock, Nick Sautin,Lorne Swarthout, and Bob Vitalo.
Diversity Day culminated in a read-ing at the Sterling Place auditorium.Despite the dreary, overcast weather,students poured with such rowdy fer-vor that Dean of Students Cindy Molkobserved, “That was really exciting. Ifelt like an action hero.” The ten stu-dent readings (along with a readingfrom US Science teacher Scott Rubin)presented an array of sharp, eloquentresponses to “Am I my brother’s keep-er?” Aidan Watson ’14 discussed thelimits of loyalty, which he dubbed a“tricky virtue,” and MunirahBraithwaite ’11 talked about the pit-falls of “feeling unseen.”
Antonia Giles ’12 brought a jokeyintensity to her reading, in which sheargued that excessive, unchecked posi-tive reinforcement might result in “ageneration of stupid, reckless kidswho can’t rap.” Mr. Rubin enumeratedthe various entities—including thecontinent of Africa—that have takencare of him. Andrew Timko ’11assailed BC’s “fuzzy,” entitled atmos-phere, in which, he said, “too manypeople expect to ‘be kept.’” (Andrew’sspeech had particularly strong after-shocks; the March Blotter published atwo-page spread featuring his speechand a slew of polarized student reac-tions.) Andrew’s speech was emblem-atic of Diversity Day’s ideals in that itresulted not in a unanimous standingovation but a patchy, impulsive one.Even in terms of the way theyapplaud, the students of BerkeleyCarroll are insistently diverse.
connections))10
From Aaron Copland to Pizza: the Middle School Explores Brooklyn“There are many ways to end a school year,” Middle School director JimShapiro explained. “We could have ended the 2010-11 school year bytesting and pushing in the old familiar way to the last minute.” Instead,though, the Middle School embarked on Project Brooklyn, an excitingnew experiment in experiential learning two years in the making. Forthree days last June, Middle School teachers, introduced the children to anew or longstanding intellectual passion. These ranged from baseball toBrooklyn street poetry, from meditation to public art.
Project Brooklyn has a heavy travel component intended to build students’ knowledge of the culturally rich borough surrounding them.One group visited music venues and recording studios, and then performed a series of tunes written by Brooklyn-born artists ranging fromAaron Copland to Barry Manilow. Another team visited a local farm in RedHook, met up with alum Caroline Greig ’03, and explored aquatic ecosystems. Taking advantage of Brooklyn’s role in the Revolutionary War,a group visited sites where the Battle of Brooklyn took place while anotherteam fully explored Brooklyn pizza.
Each group returned from their travels rejuvenated in a way not typi-cally seen in the waning days of the school year. As Mr. Shapiro said, “Weare so often hampered by the brick walls that define the way we relate tospace, as if inside is school and outside is the world. Of course, the twoare the same!”
E-Books and Others Publishedin the Lower SchoolPublishing, a dying industry? Not if Berkeley Carroll has anything to dowith it. As one plucky PreK student exclaimed—while raising his fist inthe air in a sort of Power Ranger pose—“I like books! I want to be a pub-lishing person.” He, along with the entire Lower School, had ampleopportunity to test out that career path during BC’s sixth annual publish-ing party, which took place on Wednesday, April 6, 2011. Each gradepresented their work individually, so parents had the opportunity to driftfrom classroom to classroom while sipping coffee and munching onstrawberries and doughnut holes.
The books on display included, but were certainly not limited to, cartoon panels drawn by the kindergarteners, the 4th graders’ biogra-phies of celebrated explorers, the PreK’sweekly journals, and folktale retellingsby the 3rd graders. Most of thebooks were “printed” on construc-tion paper and cardboard, but afew—including animal researchreports written by the sec-ond graders—were com-piled entirely on thecomputer and then displayed on iPads as e-books.
Students “Lean intoDiscomfort” on Diversity DayDirector of Admissions VanessaPrescott said, “The whole point ofDiversity Day is to be uncomfortable.The kids’ expectation each year is thatthey want it to be raw, they want it tobe gritty.” This year’s Diversity Day,held on 25 February 2011, was nodifferent. In a day of respectful, com-munity-building activities, UpperSchool students suspended judgmentand “leaned into their discomfort” inorder to talk about the issues theyhave in common with one another, aswell as the issues that set them apart.
In the weeks leading up toDiversity Day, every Upper School stu-dent drafted a response to “Am I MyBrother’s Keeper?” The school waswallpapered with excerpts from theirwritten reflections, which ranged frombrainy to heartfelt and approached thenotion of “being kept” through theprisms of society, family, race, religion,and politics.
After the Silent Movement, studentsbroke off into a number of intimate,no-holds-barred workshops whose top-
ics included “What Is MyUniverse of Obligation?”,
“Am I a Team Player or aBystander?”, and “I’mAddicted to Facebook.”Students then met in affin-
ity groups whose identifiersincluded “lone wolf,” “gen-
der cheater,” and “don’tfeel fully American.”
Teachers are excludedfrom these groups andworkshops. “There’s real-
A student proudly displays an entry from his weekly journal.
One Project Brookyn group performed famous Brooklyn music, live from the Tea Lounge.
Two students pitch theirstories to a receptive parent.
11Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
ly a ‘What happens in Vegas stays inVegas’ policy,” explains Ms. Prescott.“It’s partly about comfort, and partlyabout helping students get secureenough that they can run things ontheir own.” Along with Ms. Prescott,Diversity Day was organized by UpperSchool faculty members Erika Drezner,Kathleen Ellis, Suzanne Fogarty, CindyMolk, Marvin Pollock, Nick Sautin,Lorne Swarthout, and Bob Vitalo.
Diversity Day culminated in a read-ing at the Sterling Place auditorium.Despite the dreary, overcast weather,students poured with such rowdy fer-vor that Dean of Students Cindy Molkobserved, “That was really exciting. Ifelt like an action hero.” The ten stu-dent readings (along with a readingfrom US Science teacher Scott Rubin)presented an array of sharp, eloquentresponses to “Am I my brother’s keep-er?” Aidan Watson ’14 discussed thelimits of loyalty, which he dubbed a“tricky virtue,” and MunirahBraithwaite ’11 talked about the pit-falls of “feeling unseen.”
Antonia Giles ’12 brought a jokeyintensity to her reading, in which sheargued that excessive, unchecked posi-tive reinforcement might result in “ageneration of stupid, reckless kidswho can’t rap.” Mr. Rubin enumeratedthe various entities—including thecontinent of Africa—that have takencare of him. Andrew Timko ’11assailed BC’s “fuzzy,” entitled atmos-phere, in which, he said, “too manypeople expect to ‘be kept.’” (Andrew’sspeech had particularly strong after-shocks; the March Blotter published atwo-page spread featuring his speechand a slew of polarized student reac-tions.) Andrew’s speech was emblem-atic of Diversity Day’s ideals in that itresulted not in a unanimous standingovation but a patchy, impulsive one.Even in terms of the way theyapplaud, the students of BerkeleyCarroll are insistently diverse.
connections))10
From Aaron Copland to Pizza: the Middle School Explores Brooklyn“There are many ways to end a school year,” Middle School director JimShapiro explained. “We could have ended the 2010-11 school year bytesting and pushing in the old familiar way to the last minute.” Instead,though, the Middle School embarked on Project Brooklyn, an excitingnew experiment in experiential learning two years in the making. Forthree days last June, Middle School teachers, introduced the children to anew or longstanding intellectual passion. These ranged from baseball toBrooklyn street poetry, from meditation to public art.
Project Brooklyn has a heavy travel component intended to build students’ knowledge of the culturally rich borough surrounding them.One group visited music venues and recording studios, and then performed a series of tunes written by Brooklyn-born artists ranging fromAaron Copland to Barry Manilow. Another team visited a local farm in RedHook, met up with alum Caroline Greig ’03, and explored aquatic ecosystems. Taking advantage of Brooklyn’s role in the Revolutionary War,a group visited sites where the Battle of Brooklyn took place while anotherteam fully explored Brooklyn pizza.
Each group returned from their travels rejuvenated in a way not typi-cally seen in the waning days of the school year. As Mr. Shapiro said, “Weare so often hampered by the brick walls that define the way we relate tospace, as if inside is school and outside is the world. Of course, the twoare the same!”
E-Books and Others Publishedin the Lower SchoolPublishing, a dying industry? Not if Berkeley Carroll has anything to dowith it. As one plucky PreK student exclaimed—while raising his fist inthe air in a sort of Power Ranger pose—“I like books! I want to be a pub-lishing person.” He, along with the entire Lower School, had ampleopportunity to test out that career path during BC’s sixth annual publish-ing party, which took place on Wednesday, April 6, 2011. Each gradepresented their work individually, so parents had the opportunity to driftfrom classroom to classroom while sipping coffee and munching onstrawberries and doughnut holes.
The books on display included, but were certainly not limited to, cartoon panels drawn by the kindergarteners, the 4th graders’ biogra-phies of celebrated explorers, the PreK’sweekly journals, and folktale retellingsby the 3rd graders. Most of thebooks were “printed” on construc-tion paper and cardboard, but afew—including animal researchreports written by the sec-ond graders—were com-piled entirely on thecomputer and then displayed on iPads as e-books.
Students “Lean intoDiscomfort” on Diversity DayDirector of Admissions VanessaPrescott said, “The whole point ofDiversity Day is to be uncomfortable.The kids’ expectation each year is thatthey want it to be raw, they want it tobe gritty.” This year’s Diversity Day,held on 25 February 2011, was nodifferent. In a day of respectful, com-munity-building activities, UpperSchool students suspended judgmentand “leaned into their discomfort” inorder to talk about the issues theyhave in common with one another, aswell as the issues that set them apart.
In the weeks leading up toDiversity Day, every Upper School stu-dent drafted a response to “Am I MyBrother’s Keeper?” The school waswallpapered with excerpts from theirwritten reflections, which ranged frombrainy to heartfelt and approached thenotion of “being kept” through theprisms of society, family, race, religion,and politics.
After the Silent Movement, studentsbroke off into a number of intimate,no-holds-barred workshops whose top-
ics included “What Is MyUniverse of Obligation?”,
“Am I a Team Player or aBystander?”, and “I’mAddicted to Facebook.”Students then met in affin-
ity groups whose identifiersincluded “lone wolf,” “gen-
der cheater,” and “don’tfeel fully American.”
Teachers are excludedfrom these groups andworkshops. “There’s real-
A student proudly displays an entry from his weekly journal.
One Project Brookyn group performed famous Brooklyn music, live from the Tea Lounge.
Two students pitch theirstories to a receptive parent.
13Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
connections))12 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
BERKELEY CARROLL SCHOOLClass of 2011Class of 2011
13Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
connections))12 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
BERKELEY CARROLL SCHOOLClass of 2011Class of 2011
15Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
BRAD SALTZMAN
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
TERESA SALVATORE
Cornell University
CASSANDRA SARNELL
University of Chicago
DYLAN SCHER
University of Chicago
HENRY SCHWAB
Bates College
DANIEL SCHWARTZ
Haverford College
ALEXI SHALOM
Macaulay Honors College at CUNY
MORIAH SHAPIRO
Guilford College
JOHN STEINES
College of Wooster
ANDREW TIMKO
Georgetown University
COLIN TREVOR
Reed College
DARIUS VICK
Rochester Institute of Technology
MOLLY WIPF
Loyola University, Maryland
connections))14 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
BIANKA BAILEY
Meredith College
KEYANKA BAILEY
Meredith College
CHRISTINA BANDINI
New York University
EZEKIEL BARDASH
Queens College
NICOLE BARTH
Stephens College
LILY BARTLE
Bennington College
BENJAMIN BOGART
Boston University
NINO BOORNAZIAN
Connecticut College
MUNIRAH
BRAITHWAITE
Fashion Institute of Technology
NAOMI BRENMAN
Reed College
ANDRE CAMBRIDGE
Wesleyan University
MARILYN CARLIN
Reed College
RYAN CARROLL
University of Missouri
CHANDA CHIN
Smith College
CHRISTINA COLON
Boston College
AMANDA CORDISCO
Furman University
EMMA CORNGOLD
Swarthmore College
AUDREY DENIS
Georgetown University
MICHAEL EMMERICH
Muhlenberg College
ANDREA GIL
Eugene Lang College (The New School for Liberal Arts)
ZARA GOLDBERG
Wheaton College
JOSHUA GOLDIN
Tufts University
JULIE-ROSE GOULD
Davidson College
JUSTINE GROSSMAN
University of Colorado
NIA JAMES
Amherst College
SOPHIE KRIEGEL
Hampshire College
SAGE LANCASTER
University of St Andrews(Scotland)
HANNAH LEMKOWITZ
Oberlin College
CONNOR LUONG
University of Vermont
ZOË LYNCH
Hamilton College
LAUREN MALOTRA-
GAUDET
Barnard College
EAN MARSHALL
American University
JOSEPH MARTINEZ
Dickinson College
CATHERINE MCWILLIAMS
SUNY Geneseo
PHOEBE MILLER
Haverford College
MELINA MONTESINO
Beloit College
ROBERT PALLER
Columbia University
MARIJA PUCHKOFF
University of Colorado
DANIELLE REGIS
Cornell University
GRACE RITTENBERG
Reed College
JULIA RITTENBERG
University of Chicago
ANNA SALTMAN
University of Rochester
Congratulations!
15Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
BRAD SALTZMAN
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
TERESA SALVATORE
Cornell University
CASSANDRA SARNELL
University of Chicago
DYLAN SCHER
University of Chicago
HENRY SCHWAB
Bates College
DANIEL SCHWARTZ
Haverford College
ALEXI SHALOM
Macaulay Honors College at CUNY
MORIAH SHAPIRO
Guilford College
JOHN STEINES
College of Wooster
ANDREW TIMKO
Georgetown University
COLIN TREVOR
Reed College
DARIUS VICK
Rochester Institute of Technology
MOLLY WIPF
Loyola University, Maryland
connections))14 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
BIANKA BAILEY
Meredith College
KEYANKA BAILEY
Meredith College
CHRISTINA BANDINI
New York University
EZEKIEL BARDASH
Queens College
NICOLE BARTH
Stephens College
LILY BARTLE
Bennington College
BENJAMIN BOGART
Boston University
NINO BOORNAZIAN
Connecticut College
MUNIRAH
BRAITHWAITE
Fashion Institute of Technology
NAOMI BRENMAN
Reed College
ANDRE CAMBRIDGE
Wesleyan University
MARILYN CARLIN
Reed College
RYAN CARROLL
University of Missouri
CHANDA CHIN
Smith College
CHRISTINA COLON
Boston College
AMANDA CORDISCO
Furman University
EMMA CORNGOLD
Swarthmore College
AUDREY DENIS
Georgetown University
MICHAEL EMMERICH
Muhlenberg College
ANDREA GIL
Eugene Lang College (The New School for Liberal Arts)
ZARA GOLDBERG
Wheaton College
JOSHUA GOLDIN
Tufts University
JULIE-ROSE GOULD
Davidson College
JUSTINE GROSSMAN
University of Colorado
NIA JAMES
Amherst College
SOPHIE KRIEGEL
Hampshire College
SAGE LANCASTER
University of St Andrews(Scotland)
HANNAH LEMKOWITZ
Oberlin College
CONNOR LUONG
University of Vermont
ZOË LYNCH
Hamilton College
LAUREN MALOTRA-
GAUDET
Barnard College
EAN MARSHALL
American University
JOSEPH MARTINEZ
Dickinson College
CATHERINE MCWILLIAMS
SUNY Geneseo
PHOEBE MILLER
Haverford College
MELINA MONTESINO
Beloit College
ROBERT PALLER
Columbia University
MARIJA PUCHKOFF
University of Colorado
DANIELLE REGIS
Cornell University
GRACE RITTENBERG
Reed College
JULIA RITTENBERG
University of Chicago
ANNA SALTMAN
University of Rochester
Congratulations!
Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011 17
connections))16
The Spring 2011 sports season includ-ed fierce competition climaxing withnail-biting, one-game eliminationtournaments for all the teams. Thebaseball and softball teams were bothhigh achieving, and the tennis teamshowed promise for future improve-ments.
Though led by first singles playerJohnny Steines ’11, the tennis teamwas mostly populated by underclass-men, including second and third sin-gles players Jason Grunfeld ’13 andCorbin Hopper ’13. Unfortunately,Steines was forced to miss the majorityof the season due to injury, requiringGrunfeld and Hopper to step up aseating and step up their game.Grunfeld, in particular, had a verysuccessful season, finishing 5th in theACIS tournament. Tennis fans hopethat Grunfeld and Hopper will proveto be a powerful combination in theyears to come as they age and matureinto even better tennis players.
The softball team, led by cap-tains Christina Colon ’11,Lauren Malotra-Gaudet ’11,and Anna Saltman ’11, hada very strong season. Thegirls made it to the semi-finals of the ACIS tourna-ment and the quarterfinals ofthe state tournament, cul-minating with aheartbreaking loss toRiverdale. OliviaWilson ’12 steppedup and hit a home
run in the semi-final game of the ACIStournament. Next season, the teamwill look to her to lead the team withher powerful bat and as a captain.
Berkeley Carroll’s baseball team hada season that the school will proudlyremember for years to come. Led by a“core four”—Joey Martinez ’11, RobbiePaller ’11, Andrew Timko ’11, andDan Schwartz ’11—the team wentundefeated in the ACIS without muchof a struggle. The real challenge forthem was the state tournament, inwhich they were highly successful,making their second finals appearancein three years. After Martinez sus-tained a season-ending injury instate semi-finals, Ian Miller ’14stepped up to pitch in the finalagainst Poly Prep. Miller pitchedbeautifully, holding Poly to fiveand a third scoreless innings.Despite this, the game ended as adevastating 8-1 loss.
Overall, it was a very strongseason for the Lions, one in
which heroes were made,and in which battles werewon and lost. We often
ask ourselves how such a small schoolcan be so consistently dominant, defeat-ing teams that recruit players fromaround the country. This question maybe unanswerable, but we do know thatthe Lions expect nothing less fromthemselves and for our school. �
L ions Spr ing to
V I C T O R Y
B Y M A T T E O H E I L B R U N ’ 1 4
(l to r) Joey Martinez '11, Andrew Timko '11, Dan Schwartz '11, Robbie Paller '11
Team captains Anna Saltman '11, Cristina Colon '11,and Lauren Malotra-Gaudet '11
(right) Johnny Steines '11
The softball team, with coaches Michael Kubera and Joe Wood
The baseball team with Coach Glen and Coach Paller.
Anhony Spina '13
Lauren Malotra-Gaudet '11
Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011 17
connections))16
The Spring 2011 sports season includ-ed fierce competition climaxing withnail-biting, one-game eliminationtournaments for all the teams. Thebaseball and softball teams were bothhigh achieving, and the tennis teamshowed promise for future improve-ments.
Though led by first singles playerJohnny Steines ’11, the tennis teamwas mostly populated by underclass-men, including second and third sin-gles players Jason Grunfeld ’13 andCorbin Hopper ’13. Unfortunately,Steines was forced to miss the majorityof the season due to injury, requiringGrunfeld and Hopper to step up aseating and step up their game.Grunfeld, in particular, had a verysuccessful season, finishing 5th in theACIS tournament. Tennis fans hopethat Grunfeld and Hopper will proveto be a powerful combination in theyears to come as they age and matureinto even better tennis players.
The softball team, led by cap-tains Christina Colon ’11,Lauren Malotra-Gaudet ’11,and Anna Saltman ’11, hada very strong season. Thegirls made it to the semi-finals of the ACIS tourna-ment and the quarterfinals ofthe state tournament, cul-minating with aheartbreaking loss toRiverdale. OliviaWilson ’12 steppedup and hit a home
run in the semi-final game of the ACIStournament. Next season, the teamwill look to her to lead the team withher powerful bat and as a captain.
Berkeley Carroll’s baseball team hada season that the school will proudlyremember for years to come. Led by a“core four”—Joey Martinez ’11, RobbiePaller ’11, Andrew Timko ’11, andDan Schwartz ’11—the team wentundefeated in the ACIS without muchof a struggle. The real challenge forthem was the state tournament, inwhich they were highly successful,making their second finals appearancein three years. After Martinez sus-tained a season-ending injury instate semi-finals, Ian Miller ’14stepped up to pitch in the finalagainst Poly Prep. Miller pitchedbeautifully, holding Poly to fiveand a third scoreless innings.Despite this, the game ended as adevastating 8-1 loss.
Overall, it was a very strongseason for the Lions, one in
which heroes were made,and in which battles werewon and lost. We often
ask ourselves how such a small schoolcan be so consistently dominant, defeat-ing teams that recruit players fromaround the country. This question maybe unanswerable, but we do know thatthe Lions expect nothing less fromthemselves and for our school. �
L ions Spr ing to
V I C T O R Y
B Y M A T T E O H E I L B R U N ’ 1 4
(l to r) Joey Martinez '11, Andrew Timko '11, Dan Schwartz '11, Robbie Paller '11
Team captains Anna Saltman '11, Cristina Colon '11,and Lauren Malotra-Gaudet '11
(right) Johnny Steines '11
The softball team, with coaches Michael Kubera and Joe Wood
The baseball team with Coach Glen and Coach Paller.
Anhony Spina '13
Lauren Malotra-Gaudet '11
19Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
N THE FALL OF 2010, THE TENTH GRADERS
IN LORNE SWARTHOUT’S UPPER SCHOOL
HISTORY OF MODERN JAPAN CLASS PRESENTED
THEIR “FIRST ENCOUNTERS” RESEARCH TO
THEIR TEACHER AND CLASSMATES. THE ENSUING
MINI-DRAMAS WERE REMARKABLY SUCCESSFUL
RESEARCH ASSIGNMENTS THAT PUSHED THE STUDENTS
TO DELVE DEEPER INTO JAPANESE HISTORY.
MOREOVER, IT WAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO PULL
TOGETHER SOME OF THE ASPECTS OF LEARNING THAT
THE BERKELEY CARROLL HISTORY DEPARTMENT
VALUES MOST HIGHLY.
The Shogun beckons the oddly dressed foreigner to
come closer. As he does so, Will Adams bows deeply
and begs to be of service to the Tokugawa regime. The
Shogun suggests that Japan’s shipbuilding program
could use the English mariner’s help. Thus began one
of the oddest of Japanese-Western partnerships,
between Tokugawa Ieyasu and the “barbarian” Will
Adams. This encounter was the subject of James
Clavell’s novel Shogun, and it was also the subject of a
skit by two Modern Japan students when they present-
ed their “First Encounters” research.
18 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
ADVENTURESIN THE STUDY OF
MODERN JAPAN
� B Y L O R N E S W A R T H O U T
I
Demonstrationsof Learning
T H E
I S S U E
The students from Lorne Swarthout's Modern Japan class.
19Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
N THE FALL OF 2010, THE TENTH GRADERS
IN LORNE SWARTHOUT’S UPPER SCHOOL
HISTORY OF MODERN JAPAN CLASS PRESENTED
THEIR “FIRST ENCOUNTERS” RESEARCH TO
THEIR TEACHER AND CLASSMATES. THE ENSUING
MINI-DRAMAS WERE REMARKABLY SUCCESSFUL
RESEARCH ASSIGNMENTS THAT PUSHED THE STUDENTS
TO DELVE DEEPER INTO JAPANESE HISTORY.
MOREOVER, IT WAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO PULL
TOGETHER SOME OF THE ASPECTS OF LEARNING THAT
THE BERKELEY CARROLL HISTORY DEPARTMENT
VALUES MOST HIGHLY.
The Shogun beckons the oddly dressed foreigner to
come closer. As he does so, Will Adams bows deeply
and begs to be of service to the Tokugawa regime. The
Shogun suggests that Japan’s shipbuilding program
could use the English mariner’s help. Thus began one
of the oddest of Japanese-Western partnerships,
between Tokugawa Ieyasu and the “barbarian” Will
Adams. This encounter was the subject of James
Clavell’s novel Shogun, and it was also the subject of a
skit by two Modern Japan students when they present-
ed their “First Encounters” research.
18 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
ADVENTURESIN THE STUDY OF
MODERN JAPAN
� B Y L O R N E S W A R T H O U T
I
Demonstrationsof Learning
T H E
I S S U E
The students from Lorne Swarthout's Modern Japan class.
21Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
a short play dramatizing theencounter.
This was the real payoff for all ofus, the reward for slogging throughdifficult texts and trying to write onepaper on two computers, and losingall that class time. Now we could allsee what might have actually tran-spired…
• when the Toyota engineer disagreed with his American mentor,
• when the Victorian Englishwoman faced the young Ainu shaman,
• when the American MP arrested the black market merchant in 1946,
• when Lafcadio Hearn went walking in the village,
• when exchange student Tsuda Umeko tried to communicate with her American host mother in 1872, and
• when Fukuzwa Yukichi toured San Francisco in 1860.
The skits were lots of fun and alsoa great way to wrap up the project.They forced the teams to zero in onone crucial, dramatic moment whilealso understanding the complicated“back story.” They provided a per-formance conclusion to a very aca-demic exercise. They allowed someteams to improve their scores. Andmost importantly, they allowed eachteam to show the class what they hadbeen doing all semester. They becamethe teachers.
Although I was not really con-scious of it at the time (because teach-ers sometimes just do things that “feelright”), the First Encounters projectadvanced four goals that our historyfaculty has sought to promote duringmy years at Berkeley Carroll. Herethey are, not necessarily in order ofimportance:
1. Traditions and encounters. This isthe name of our world history text-book, but it also describes what wecare about. We are concerned with
20 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
It all began with theMuseum of the City of NewYork’s sesquicentennial cele-bration of the first Japaneseembassy to the United States.In 1860, a high-level delega-tion representing the Shogunjourneyed to Washington tosign a Treaty of Amity andCommerce between our twonations. This was a follow-upto the diplomatic opening thathad been initiated byCommodore Perry seven yearsearlier. The traditionallydressed Japanese samurai andtheir attendants created a pop-ular sensation, especiallywhen they visited New York.The Museum exhibit wasmodest but very wellresearched, full of the first-hand responses of journalists, politi-cians, photographers—and WaltWhitman’s commemorative poem “ABroadway Pageant.”
When I first saw a notice for thisshow in the summer of 2010, Ibecame determined that first semesterhistory elective students would haveto go see it. My colleagues and I beganthinking about how we might use“Samurai in New York.” The upshotwas the First Encounters project.
An important message that the“Samurai in New York” exhibit drovehome was that it was virtually the firsttime people from the United Statesand Japan had ever seen, met or inter-acted with each other. Their reactionsbetrayed both their openness andcuriosity and their blinders and preju-dices. Couldn’t this 1860 encounterbe a model for other such encountersthat have happened in a wild varietyof ways over the last 400 years? I setout to research some of those meet-ings and find documents that wouldilluminate them. I found diplomats
and missionaries, poets and engineers,tourists and soldiers. The loose criteriaI used for selecting these encounters,besides that they fall within the time-line of our course, were dramaticinterest and good documentary evi-dence of both Eastern and Westernperspectives.
For example, the Will Adams storyunfolded around 1600 at the verystart of the Tokugawa Shogunate, theperiod at which the Modern Japancourse begins. We know about thisencounter between Will and theShogun from Adams’s own journal,although we have to guess at why,exactly, it led to a 30-year employ-ment contract.
Another series of encounters theModern Japan students study arethose between American soldiers andJapanese citizens after World War II.These historical episodes are muchmore richly documented. JohnDower’s Pulitzer Prize-winning textEmbracing Defeat was our guide toJapanese and American reactions at
that moment of maximum Japanesedefeat and maximum America domi-nance. Yet, once again, a dramaticpower imbalance did not prevent peo-ple from East and West from workingtogether to their mutual benefit. Howdid the two sides perceive each other?What did they want from each other?How did they try to change eachother? How were they changed in theprocess? Those were the kinds of richand interesting questions I’d hopedthese encounters would elicit from mystudents. I was not disappointed.
But first I had to decide on themechanics of this long-term assign-ment. It seemed tailor-made for groupwork, and the class of fourteen wasneatly split into seven duos. Each ofthe seven teams was asked to examinethe encounter list and pick three thatintrigued them. Armed with books orarticles that explored their encounter,each group produced a five-pagepaper addressing a lively researchquestion about the encounter. Theywere then sent back to work to script
This was the real payoff
for all of us, the reward for
slogging through difficult
texts and trying to write
one paper on two
computers, and losing all
that class time.
‘‘
’’
21Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
a short play dramatizing theencounter.
This was the real payoff for all ofus, the reward for slogging throughdifficult texts and trying to write onepaper on two computers, and losingall that class time. Now we could allsee what might have actually tran-spired…
• when the Toyota engineer disagreed with his American mentor,
• when the Victorian Englishwoman faced the young Ainu shaman,
• when the American MP arrested the black market merchant in 1946,
• when Lafcadio Hearn went walking in the village,
• when exchange student Tsuda Umeko tried to communicate with her American host mother in 1872, and
• when Fukuzwa Yukichi toured San Francisco in 1860.
The skits were lots of fun and alsoa great way to wrap up the project.They forced the teams to zero in onone crucial, dramatic moment whilealso understanding the complicated“back story.” They provided a per-formance conclusion to a very aca-demic exercise. They allowed someteams to improve their scores. Andmost importantly, they allowed eachteam to show the class what they hadbeen doing all semester. They becamethe teachers.
Although I was not really con-scious of it at the time (because teach-ers sometimes just do things that “feelright”), the First Encounters projectadvanced four goals that our historyfaculty has sought to promote duringmy years at Berkeley Carroll. Herethey are, not necessarily in order ofimportance:
1. Traditions and encounters. This isthe name of our world history text-book, but it also describes what wecare about. We are concerned with
20 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
It all began with theMuseum of the City of NewYork’s sesquicentennial cele-bration of the first Japaneseembassy to the United States.In 1860, a high-level delega-tion representing the Shogunjourneyed to Washington tosign a Treaty of Amity andCommerce between our twonations. This was a follow-upto the diplomatic opening thathad been initiated byCommodore Perry seven yearsearlier. The traditionallydressed Japanese samurai andtheir attendants created a pop-ular sensation, especiallywhen they visited New York.The Museum exhibit wasmodest but very wellresearched, full of the first-hand responses of journalists, politi-cians, photographers—and WaltWhitman’s commemorative poem “ABroadway Pageant.”
When I first saw a notice for thisshow in the summer of 2010, Ibecame determined that first semesterhistory elective students would haveto go see it. My colleagues and I beganthinking about how we might use“Samurai in New York.” The upshotwas the First Encounters project.
An important message that the“Samurai in New York” exhibit drovehome was that it was virtually the firsttime people from the United Statesand Japan had ever seen, met or inter-acted with each other. Their reactionsbetrayed both their openness andcuriosity and their blinders and preju-dices. Couldn’t this 1860 encounterbe a model for other such encountersthat have happened in a wild varietyof ways over the last 400 years? I setout to research some of those meet-ings and find documents that wouldilluminate them. I found diplomats
and missionaries, poets and engineers,tourists and soldiers. The loose criteriaI used for selecting these encounters,besides that they fall within the time-line of our course, were dramaticinterest and good documentary evi-dence of both Eastern and Westernperspectives.
For example, the Will Adams storyunfolded around 1600 at the verystart of the Tokugawa Shogunate, theperiod at which the Modern Japancourse begins. We know about thisencounter between Will and theShogun from Adams’s own journal,although we have to guess at why,exactly, it led to a 30-year employ-ment contract.
Another series of encounters theModern Japan students study arethose between American soldiers andJapanese citizens after World War II.These historical episodes are muchmore richly documented. JohnDower’s Pulitzer Prize-winning textEmbracing Defeat was our guide toJapanese and American reactions at
that moment of maximum Japanesedefeat and maximum America domi-nance. Yet, once again, a dramaticpower imbalance did not prevent peo-ple from East and West from workingtogether to their mutual benefit. Howdid the two sides perceive each other?What did they want from each other?How did they try to change eachother? How were they changed in theprocess? Those were the kinds of richand interesting questions I’d hopedthese encounters would elicit from mystudents. I was not disappointed.
But first I had to decide on themechanics of this long-term assign-ment. It seemed tailor-made for groupwork, and the class of fourteen wasneatly split into seven duos. Each ofthe seven teams was asked to examinethe encounter list and pick three thatintrigued them. Armed with books orarticles that explored their encounter,each group produced a five-pagepaper addressing a lively researchquestion about the encounter. Theywere then sent back to work to script
This was the real payoff
for all of us, the reward for
slogging through difficult
texts and trying to write
one paper on two
computers, and losing all
that class time.
‘‘
’’
23Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 201122 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
understanding traditional, mostly non-Western cultures in detail, as well asevaluating the encounters betweenthose societies and the U.S.-EuropeanWest over the last several centuries.Each of the teams had to understandtraditions and visualize the encounter.
2. Research. Independent investiga-tion of the historical record, guided bya research question, is at the heart ofwhat historians do. It is what we wantall of our students to be comfortablewith, from digging the story out ofdifficult texts to understanding multi-ple perspectives to finding the time towrite and rewrite. Each of these teamsfaced this challenge.
3. Collaborate. Students learn fromeach other just as they learn from ateacher. Workers in the “real world”are better workers if they can be goodteam members. This project put everystudent in a position to be a teacher aswell as a learner. It also required themto collaborate and do it in front oftheir classmates.
4. Use the city. We have the culturalriches of New York at our disposal.With a little ingenuity, history teacherscan find something worthwhile in thisworld-class metropolis to advance,embellish or challenge our curricula.
1. Will Adams, shipwrecked sailor, goes to work for Tokugawa IeyasuRead: “Samurai William, the Englishman Who Opened Japan.” By Giles Milton. Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1992.
2. The introduction of firearms into Japan and what happened then…
Read: “Giving Up the Gun, Japan’s Reversion to the Sword, 1543-1879.” By Noel Perrin. Godine, 1979.
3. St. Francis Xavier and other Catholic missionaries bring the gospel to Japan (1500s)
Read: “They Came to Japan, An Anthology of European Reports on Japan, 1543-1640.” Edited by Michael Cooper. University of
Michigan, 1995.
4. Townsend Harris negotiates the first commercial treaty (1856-1858)
Read: Townsend Harris’s Journal.
5. Fukuzawa Yukichi travels to U.S. and Europe (1860 and 1862)
Read: “The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa.” Columbia Press, 1960.
6. Tsuda Umeko and four other girls travel to America in 1872 to attend school
Read: “Japan Encounters the Barbarian, Japanese Travelers in America and Europe.” By W.G. Beasley. Yale, 1995. Also, “Tsuda Umeko and Women’s Education in Japan.” By Barbara Rose.
7. Adm. Togo goes to naval academy in England (1880)
Read: “Admiral Togo, The Nelson of the East.” By Jonathan Clements. Haus, 2010. Also, “Three Military Leaders.” By Edwin P. Hyoyt. Kodansha, 1993.
8. The Japanese adopt American baseball
Read: “Baseball and the Quest for National Dignity in Meiji Japan.” By Donald Roden. American Historical Review, June, 1980.
9. Isabella Bird travels from England to Japan (1880s)
Read: “Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, Firsthand Experiences of a British Woman in Outback Japan, 1878.” By Isabella Bird. Createspace, 2009.
10. Lafcadio Hearn seeks the authentic and traditional Japan, 1890-1904
Read: “Lafcadio Hearn’s Japan, An Anthology of His Writings on the Country and Its People.” edited by Donald Ritchie. Tuttle, 1997.
11. U.S. soldiers land in Japan in 1945 to begin the 6 year Occupation (1945)
Read: “Embracing Defeat, Japan in the Wake of World War II.”By John Dower. Norton, 1999.
12. Nissan engineers test drive their new car in the U.S. (1953?)
Read: “The Reckoning.” By David Halberstam. 1986. �
t’s early June, a time when most professors at PaceUniversity are overwhelmed by term papers—butDistinguished Professor of English Karla Jay ’64 is worry-ing about the fate of an old softball bat. “I need to givethe bat to the New York Public Library,” she says. “Theyhouse my archives. I can’t bring the bat into the library
building because, you know, it’s a weapon—sothey’ll have to meet me here.”
The bat in question isn’t some sentimen-tal sports keepsake, either. It’s a relic fromKarla’s time as a rabble-rousing women’sand gay liberation activist in the late 1960s
Twelve Japanese-Western encounters worth investigating
PH
OT
O: S
Te
ve
n D
an
kS
y
Jay (right) with her partner, Karen F. Kerner, MD,and her seeing-eye poodle Woody.
PROFESSOR KARLA JAY ’64
I� B Y M A T T W E I N S T O C K
Demonstrationsof Learning
T H E
I S S U E
23Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 201122 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
understanding traditional, mostly non-Western cultures in detail, as well asevaluating the encounters betweenthose societies and the U.S.-EuropeanWest over the last several centuries.Each of the teams had to understandtraditions and visualize the encounter.
2. Research. Independent investiga-tion of the historical record, guided bya research question, is at the heart ofwhat historians do. It is what we wantall of our students to be comfortablewith, from digging the story out ofdifficult texts to understanding multi-ple perspectives to finding the time towrite and rewrite. Each of these teamsfaced this challenge.
3. Collaborate. Students learn fromeach other just as they learn from ateacher. Workers in the “real world”are better workers if they can be goodteam members. This project put everystudent in a position to be a teacher aswell as a learner. It also required themto collaborate and do it in front oftheir classmates.
4. Use the city. We have the culturalriches of New York at our disposal.With a little ingenuity, history teacherscan find something worthwhile in thisworld-class metropolis to advance,embellish or challenge our curricula.
1. Will Adams, shipwrecked sailor, goes to work for Tokugawa IeyasuRead: “Samurai William, the Englishman Who Opened Japan.” By Giles Milton. Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1992.
2. The introduction of firearms into Japan and what happened then…
Read: “Giving Up the Gun, Japan’s Reversion to the Sword, 1543-1879.” By Noel Perrin. Godine, 1979.
3. St. Francis Xavier and other Catholic missionaries bring the gospel to Japan (1500s)
Read: “They Came to Japan, An Anthology of European Reports on Japan, 1543-1640.” Edited by Michael Cooper. University of
Michigan, 1995.
4. Townsend Harris negotiates the first commercial treaty (1856-1858)
Read: Townsend Harris’s Journal.
5. Fukuzawa Yukichi travels to U.S. and Europe (1860 and 1862)
Read: “The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa.” Columbia Press, 1960.
6. Tsuda Umeko and four other girls travel to America in 1872 to attend school
Read: “Japan Encounters the Barbarian, Japanese Travelers in America and Europe.” By W.G. Beasley. Yale, 1995. Also, “Tsuda Umeko and Women’s Education in Japan.” By Barbara Rose.
7. Adm. Togo goes to naval academy in England (1880)
Read: “Admiral Togo, The Nelson of the East.” By Jonathan Clements. Haus, 2010. Also, “Three Military Leaders.” By Edwin P. Hyoyt. Kodansha, 1993.
8. The Japanese adopt American baseball
Read: “Baseball and the Quest for National Dignity in Meiji Japan.” By Donald Roden. American Historical Review, June, 1980.
9. Isabella Bird travels from England to Japan (1880s)
Read: “Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, Firsthand Experiences of a British Woman in Outback Japan, 1878.” By Isabella Bird. Createspace, 2009.
10. Lafcadio Hearn seeks the authentic and traditional Japan, 1890-1904
Read: “Lafcadio Hearn’s Japan, An Anthology of His Writings on the Country and Its People.” edited by Donald Ritchie. Tuttle, 1997.
11. U.S. soldiers land in Japan in 1945 to begin the 6 year Occupation (1945)
Read: “Embracing Defeat, Japan in the Wake of World War II.”By John Dower. Norton, 1999.
12. Nissan engineers test drive their new car in the U.S. (1953?)
Read: “The Reckoning.” By David Halberstam. 1986. �
t’s early June, a time when most professors at PaceUniversity are overwhelmed by term papers—butDistinguished Professor of English Karla Jay ’64 is worry-ing about the fate of an old softball bat. “I need to givethe bat to the New York Public Library,” she says. “Theyhouse my archives. I can’t bring the bat into the library
building because, you know, it’s a weapon—sothey’ll have to meet me here.”
The bat in question isn’t some sentimen-tal sports keepsake, either. It’s a relic fromKarla’s time as a rabble-rousing women’sand gay liberation activist in the late 1960s
Twelve Japanese-Western encounters worth investigating
PH
OT
O: S
Te
ve
n D
an
kS
y
Jay (right) with her partner, Karen F. Kerner, MD,and her seeing-eye poodle Woody.
PROFESSOR KARLA JAY ’64
I� B Y M A T T W E I N S T O C K
Demonstrationsof Learning
T H E
I S S U E
25Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
to save him!” says Karla. “It wasn’tthat. I didn’t want to see any of ussent to jail.”
The Ladies’ Home Journal triumphwas a validation of one of Karla’s mostfervent beliefs: as she puts it, “Weneed the more radical movements inorder to help the moderates makeprogress. It’s the Malcolm Xs of theworld who make the Martin LutherKing, Juniors seem like the ones youwant to talk to.” However, the exploitalso made Karla realize that she wouldprobably “spend some part of my lifein prison.”
She never did, as it turned out.More zaps and meetings followed, butafter a brawl broke out at one of herconsciousness-raising groups in 1972,Karla became “disillusioned and dis-gusted” by activism and decided topursue political change through writ-ing (though she used the softball batto maintain order at meetings, as alifelong pacifist she never actually hitanyone). She co-edited the 1972anthology Out of the Closets: Voices ofGay Liberation, declared a “classic” byThe New York Times. After completingher graduate work at New YorkUniversity, Karla joined the faculty ofPace in 1974, and published hermemoir Tales of the Lavender Menace
in 1999. (Gloria Steinem calledLavender Menace “as irresistible as anovel, but as credible, humorous, andunexpected as real life.”)
Today, Karla feels a peculiar dis-connect from her radical past. Whilewriting the memoir, she explains, “Ioften felt I was writing about someoneelse, some long-dead, distant relativewhose name escapes me.” But theseeds of feminist and queer thinkingare imbedded in her teaching style atPace. In 2004, Karla was diagnosedwith a rare eye disease that causesblind spots and eventual loss of central vision. Realizing that she
would have to find nontraditionalways to teach, she began relinquish-ing power to her students. They helpselect the syllabus, take turns leadingdiscussions, and even compose spec-ulative epilogues to the novels theyread. Karla explains, “That’s part offeminism: to empower the reader tobe an active partner in the text.”
Karla believes that her unconven-tional thinking will be rememberedby students. “I get e-mails from stu-dents I’ve had thirty years ago,” shesays, “telling me I’ve changed theirlives.” She’s slightly more worriedabout how the patchy, ephemeral his-tory of the gay rights movement willbe preserved. Though, as she pointsout, “the bat is still in one piece. Allis not lost.” �
24 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
and early 1970s. Karla brandished thebat at Gay Liberation Front meetingsto maintain order; during those years,she also participated in hunger strikes,broke into live television broadcasts,and even discovered that, due to herradical activities, the government hadtapped her phone. “Happiest time inmy life,” says Karla.
Perhaps she recalls those headyyears with such affection because theycame on the heels of what she remem-bers as an almost Dickensian child-hood. “One of the things I loved aboutthe Berkeley Institute,” she says, “wasthat they had a lot of after-schoolactivities, so I didn’t have to go home!”
Born Karla Jayne Berlin (she laterchanged her name in rebellion againstthe patriarchy), she came to theBerkeley Institute in eighth grade anddove into a series of extracurricularactivities ranging from the Blotter toBerkeley’s now-defunct bowling team.
Karla was also among the legion ofBerkeley girls who fell under the spellof French teacher Jeanne Palisse; thetwo kept up a lively correspondenceuntil Palisse’s death in 1986. (After atrip to France plagued by plumbingissues, Karla wrote to Mlle. Palisse,saying, “Maybe you could have spentless time on Racine and Corneille anda little more time on toilets and dish-washers.”)
While at Berkeley, Karla dreamedof becoming a writer, but when shearrived at Barnard College in 1964,she realized “that lesbianism wastaboo, and there was little I couldwrite about without being damned forit.” Karla tiptoed through her fouryears at Barnard, writing nothing butterm papers, passing “steadfastly as aheterosexual,” and remaining political-ly uninvolved.
She traces her political awakeningto the Columbia University protests of1968. Moved by the protests’ violent
finale, Karla wrote in her memoir,Tales of the Lavender Menace, “I knew Icould never again sit on the sidelinesand hope an injustice would simplygo away.” Soon after, she joined thefeminist group Redstockings and cameout as a lesbian.
Though Karla was troubled bywhat she considered to be flaws inboth the feminist and gay rightsmovements (according to her, manyfeminists were homophobic and gayactivists had a tendency to tear downtheir leaders), she nevertheless felt apowerful camaraderie with her fellowactivists. Karla particularly loved“zaps”—humorous, extravagant pub-
lic protests designed to attract mediaattention.
One such zap was a 100-womansit-in at the Ladies’ Home Journal
offices in 1970 intended to highlightthe magazine’s outmoded, sexist con-tent. Karla remembers hostile negotia-tions with the magazine’s editor drag-ging on for hours, until one activist“lunged violently” at the editor andtried to push him through a fifth-floorwindow. Karla sidelined the instigatorwith a judo flip, and the editor—struck by how comparatively reason-able the women’s requests had been—hired them to write an 8-page Journal
supplement. “He thought I was trying
Karla brandished the bat at
Gay Liberation Front meetings to
maintain order; during those years,
she also participated in hunger strikes,
broke into live television broadcasts,
and even discovered that, due to her
radical activities, the government
had tapped her phone.
‘‘
’’Jay speaking at Harvard Law School in April 2011.
25Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
to save him!” says Karla. “It wasn’tthat. I didn’t want to see any of ussent to jail.”
The Ladies’ Home Journal triumphwas a validation of one of Karla’s mostfervent beliefs: as she puts it, “Weneed the more radical movements inorder to help the moderates makeprogress. It’s the Malcolm Xs of theworld who make the Martin LutherKing, Juniors seem like the ones youwant to talk to.” However, the exploitalso made Karla realize that she wouldprobably “spend some part of my lifein prison.”
She never did, as it turned out.More zaps and meetings followed, butafter a brawl broke out at one of herconsciousness-raising groups in 1972,Karla became “disillusioned and dis-gusted” by activism and decided topursue political change through writ-ing (though she used the softball batto maintain order at meetings, as alifelong pacifist she never actually hitanyone). She co-edited the 1972anthology Out of the Closets: Voices ofGay Liberation, declared a “classic” byThe New York Times. After completingher graduate work at New YorkUniversity, Karla joined the faculty ofPace in 1974, and published hermemoir Tales of the Lavender Menace
in 1999. (Gloria Steinem calledLavender Menace “as irresistible as anovel, but as credible, humorous, andunexpected as real life.”)
Today, Karla feels a peculiar dis-connect from her radical past. Whilewriting the memoir, she explains, “Ioften felt I was writing about someoneelse, some long-dead, distant relativewhose name escapes me.” But theseeds of feminist and queer thinkingare imbedded in her teaching style atPace. In 2004, Karla was diagnosedwith a rare eye disease that causesblind spots and eventual loss of central vision. Realizing that she
would have to find nontraditionalways to teach, she began relinquish-ing power to her students. They helpselect the syllabus, take turns leadingdiscussions, and even compose spec-ulative epilogues to the novels theyread. Karla explains, “That’s part offeminism: to empower the reader tobe an active partner in the text.”
Karla believes that her unconven-tional thinking will be rememberedby students. “I get e-mails from stu-dents I’ve had thirty years ago,” shesays, “telling me I’ve changed theirlives.” She’s slightly more worriedabout how the patchy, ephemeral his-tory of the gay rights movement willbe preserved. Though, as she pointsout, “the bat is still in one piece. Allis not lost.” �
24 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
and early 1970s. Karla brandished thebat at Gay Liberation Front meetingsto maintain order; during those years,she also participated in hunger strikes,broke into live television broadcasts,and even discovered that, due to herradical activities, the government hadtapped her phone. “Happiest time inmy life,” says Karla.
Perhaps she recalls those headyyears with such affection because theycame on the heels of what she remem-bers as an almost Dickensian child-hood. “One of the things I loved aboutthe Berkeley Institute,” she says, “wasthat they had a lot of after-schoolactivities, so I didn’t have to go home!”
Born Karla Jayne Berlin (she laterchanged her name in rebellion againstthe patriarchy), she came to theBerkeley Institute in eighth grade anddove into a series of extracurricularactivities ranging from the Blotter toBerkeley’s now-defunct bowling team.
Karla was also among the legion ofBerkeley girls who fell under the spellof French teacher Jeanne Palisse; thetwo kept up a lively correspondenceuntil Palisse’s death in 1986. (After atrip to France plagued by plumbingissues, Karla wrote to Mlle. Palisse,saying, “Maybe you could have spentless time on Racine and Corneille anda little more time on toilets and dish-washers.”)
While at Berkeley, Karla dreamedof becoming a writer, but when shearrived at Barnard College in 1964,she realized “that lesbianism wastaboo, and there was little I couldwrite about without being damned forit.” Karla tiptoed through her fouryears at Barnard, writing nothing butterm papers, passing “steadfastly as aheterosexual,” and remaining political-ly uninvolved.
She traces her political awakeningto the Columbia University protests of1968. Moved by the protests’ violent
finale, Karla wrote in her memoir,Tales of the Lavender Menace, “I knew Icould never again sit on the sidelinesand hope an injustice would simplygo away.” Soon after, she joined thefeminist group Redstockings and cameout as a lesbian.
Though Karla was troubled bywhat she considered to be flaws inboth the feminist and gay rightsmovements (according to her, manyfeminists were homophobic and gayactivists had a tendency to tear downtheir leaders), she nevertheless felt apowerful camaraderie with her fellowactivists. Karla particularly loved“zaps”—humorous, extravagant pub-
lic protests designed to attract mediaattention.
One such zap was a 100-womansit-in at the Ladies’ Home Journal
offices in 1970 intended to highlightthe magazine’s outmoded, sexist con-tent. Karla remembers hostile negotia-tions with the magazine’s editor drag-ging on for hours, until one activist“lunged violently” at the editor andtried to push him through a fifth-floorwindow. Karla sidelined the instigatorwith a judo flip, and the editor—struck by how comparatively reason-able the women’s requests had been—hired them to write an 8-page Journal
supplement. “He thought I was trying
Karla brandished the bat at
Gay Liberation Front meetings to
maintain order; during those years,
she also participated in hunger strikes,
broke into live television broadcasts,
and even discovered that, due to her
radical activities, the government
had tapped her phone.
‘‘
’’Jay speaking at Harvard Law School in April 2011.
26 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011 27Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
n August 2009, Zoë Klein ’97 trudged back to her hotelroom with husband Dave Paris, five months into ahigh-pressure stint on the NBC reality series America’s
Got Talent. Instead of collapsing on the mattress,though, Zoë and Dave tugged it off the bed frame and
leaned it against the wall. They moved the hotel chairsaside, put The Monkees’ “I’m a Believer” on loop on theiriPod, and danced until three in the morning, doing theirbest to avoid the chandelier.
The show had asked Zoë and Dave—better known asacrobatic dance duo Paradizo Dance—to choreograph aroutine for the Monkees tune. Zoë hated the song (she stillcringes when she hears it playing in supermarkets) but, trueto her scrappy, adaptable mindset, she danced to it anyway.An “improviser at heart,” Zoë has been performingimpromptu dances since her Berkeley Carroll days. Evennow, she sometimes whispers last-minute modifications toDave while performing. “We just hope nobody sees it orhears it,” she says.
THE PROTEANCAREEROF ZOËKLEIN’97
� B Y M A T T W E I N S T O C K
I
Demonstrationsof Learning
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26 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011 27Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
n August 2009, Zoë Klein ’97 trudged back to her hotelroom with husband Dave Paris, five months into ahigh-pressure stint on the NBC reality series America’s
Got Talent. Instead of collapsing on the mattress,though, Zoë and Dave tugged it off the bed frame and
leaned it against the wall. They moved the hotel chairsaside, put The Monkees’ “I’m a Believer” on loop on theiriPod, and danced until three in the morning, doing theirbest to avoid the chandelier.
The show had asked Zoë and Dave—better known asacrobatic dance duo Paradizo Dance—to choreograph aroutine for the Monkees tune. Zoë hated the song (she stillcringes when she hears it playing in supermarkets) but, trueto her scrappy, adaptable mindset, she danced to it anyway.An “improviser at heart,” Zoë has been performingimpromptu dances since her Berkeley Carroll days. Evennow, she sometimes whispers last-minute modifications toDave while performing. “We just hope nobody sees it orhears it,” she says.
THE PROTEANCAREEROF ZOËKLEIN’97
� B Y M A T T W E I N S T O C K
I
Demonstrationsof Learning
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29Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 201128 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
A whisper or two is really the lastthing on audiences’ minds whenParadizo performs. Zoë and Dave’sroutines are full of thrilling stunts(including one in which the tiny Zoësee-saws all 240 pounds of Dave overher back), but they’re so emotionalthat they transcend gimmickry. Attimes it’s like watching a sweepinglyromantic skateboard trick.
Paradizo’s work is so expressive, infact, that it seems almost pointless tointerview Zoë about it; movement isher primary mode of thought. As sheadmits, “I can’t figure out my feelingsor my opinions about a topic unless Iput it out there onstage.”
A BC lifer, Zoë had been perform-ing intuitive, autobiographical dancesfor years when Dance teacherDalienne Majors arrived in 1994.Dalienne remembers feeling like aninterloper; “Zoë was like, ‘Who areyou?’” she says. “But after a few weeksor so, we were on the same wave-length. She always had vision—shewasn’t just dancing to music, or pre-tending to be someone else. She wastotally into presenting her ownthoughts and feelings through herbody.”
Indeed, watching videotapes ofZoë’s Berkeley Carroll performances islike thumbing through a memoir. Thegroup piece “Baggage” gives one asense of Zoë’s complicated relationshipwith Colombia, the country fromwhich she was adopted. The elaborate“Starry, Starry Night” (which featureddancers wrapped in Christmas lightsand trailing extension cords) getsacross the kooky determination thatmade Zoë something of a loner atBerkeley Carroll. One dance, “Home IsA Safe Place,” was an indirect responseto the death of Zoë’s father, who wasdiagnosed with cancer during her sen-
ior year of high school. “I think mydad’s illness gave me a lot of perspec-tive,” says Zoë. “I realized that I need-ed to be strong, and that my art couldget me through it. I don’t think Icould’ve done that at another school.”
Zoë continued to dance atHampshire College, where shereceived a BA in Dance and CulturalStudies, but after landing a job asTechnical Director at the BrooklynArts Exchange, she began feeling rest-less. “I’d grown up with artists like BillT. Jones and Bebe Miller who’d reallyshared something of themselves,” shesays. “Nothing like that was happen-ing in the New York scene.”
Then she encountered Lava, anObie Award-winning women’s circuscompany. Dazzled by the extremephysicality of circus acrobatics, Zoëbegan touring with Lava, first as alighting designer and then as a danceapprentice. After two years with Lava,she co-founded Kirkos, a short-livedcircus ensemble group, and met DaveParis in 2005.
“He was this big macho guy,”recalls Zoë, “and he wanted me tolearn all these ballroom tricks.” Beforemeeting Zoë, Dave had burnedthrough twenty-five dance partners—none of whom, he says, “could dealwith the rigid training schedule. I
wanted to dance two to four hours aday, and they kept getting tired. ForZoë, though, it’s not tiring; it’s enjoy-able.”
Their professional relationshipgradually evolved into a courtship—one with all the flashiness you’dexpect from a couple who own eightpairs of matching lamé spandex suits.During a dance tour in India, Daveproposed to Zoë by luring her to theTaj Mahal, lifting her over his headwith one hand, and taking out a ringwith the other. When they married inSeptember 2008, the wedding was cir-cus-themed, with jugglers and tinyswords for the guests to stick downtheir throats.
Less than a year later they wereperforming in front of America’s Got
Talent judge David Hasselhoff, whotold the pair, “I love everything aboutyou.” Paradizo performed four timeson air and made it to the top twentybefore being eliminated. The showwas a confidence booster, but Zoënow thinks it was a distraction fromcircus performing.
She’s fresh off an invigorating tenmonths at the Circus Center of SanFrancisco—though she was by far theoldest student. “Russian and Chinesedance teachers are always telling me,‘Agh, thirty? Too late! Next life!’’’ saysZoë. “But I am among the die-hard. Imean, Merce Cunningham was danc-ing into his seventies. Even if perform-ing becomes more difficult, I think it’spossible to modify the capacity towhich you dance.”
And Zoë’s life is full of modifica-tions, of little tweaks and sweepingtransformations. Whether she’s scram-bling to rebound from a dashed busi-ness plan or ducking to avoid anunexpected chandelier, Zoë is remark-ably willing to improvise. �
Zöe always had vision—she wasn’t just dancingto music, or pretending to be someone else. Shewas totally into presenting her own thoughts and feelings through her body.
‘‘’’
29Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 201128 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
A whisper or two is really the lastthing on audiences’ minds whenParadizo performs. Zoë and Dave’sroutines are full of thrilling stunts(including one in which the tiny Zoësee-saws all 240 pounds of Dave overher back), but they’re so emotionalthat they transcend gimmickry. Attimes it’s like watching a sweepinglyromantic skateboard trick.
Paradizo’s work is so expressive, infact, that it seems almost pointless tointerview Zoë about it; movement isher primary mode of thought. As sheadmits, “I can’t figure out my feelingsor my opinions about a topic unless Iput it out there onstage.”
A BC lifer, Zoë had been perform-ing intuitive, autobiographical dancesfor years when Dance teacherDalienne Majors arrived in 1994.Dalienne remembers feeling like aninterloper; “Zoë was like, ‘Who areyou?’” she says. “But after a few weeksor so, we were on the same wave-length. She always had vision—shewasn’t just dancing to music, or pre-tending to be someone else. She wastotally into presenting her ownthoughts and feelings through herbody.”
Indeed, watching videotapes ofZoë’s Berkeley Carroll performances islike thumbing through a memoir. Thegroup piece “Baggage” gives one asense of Zoë’s complicated relationshipwith Colombia, the country fromwhich she was adopted. The elaborate“Starry, Starry Night” (which featureddancers wrapped in Christmas lightsand trailing extension cords) getsacross the kooky determination thatmade Zoë something of a loner atBerkeley Carroll. One dance, “Home IsA Safe Place,” was an indirect responseto the death of Zoë’s father, who wasdiagnosed with cancer during her sen-
ior year of high school. “I think mydad’s illness gave me a lot of perspec-tive,” says Zoë. “I realized that I need-ed to be strong, and that my art couldget me through it. I don’t think Icould’ve done that at another school.”
Zoë continued to dance atHampshire College, where shereceived a BA in Dance and CulturalStudies, but after landing a job asTechnical Director at the BrooklynArts Exchange, she began feeling rest-less. “I’d grown up with artists like BillT. Jones and Bebe Miller who’d reallyshared something of themselves,” shesays. “Nothing like that was happen-ing in the New York scene.”
Then she encountered Lava, anObie Award-winning women’s circuscompany. Dazzled by the extremephysicality of circus acrobatics, Zoëbegan touring with Lava, first as alighting designer and then as a danceapprentice. After two years with Lava,she co-founded Kirkos, a short-livedcircus ensemble group, and met DaveParis in 2005.
“He was this big macho guy,”recalls Zoë, “and he wanted me tolearn all these ballroom tricks.” Beforemeeting Zoë, Dave had burnedthrough twenty-five dance partners—none of whom, he says, “could dealwith the rigid training schedule. I
wanted to dance two to four hours aday, and they kept getting tired. ForZoë, though, it’s not tiring; it’s enjoy-able.”
Their professional relationshipgradually evolved into a courtship—one with all the flashiness you’dexpect from a couple who own eightpairs of matching lamé spandex suits.During a dance tour in India, Daveproposed to Zoë by luring her to theTaj Mahal, lifting her over his headwith one hand, and taking out a ringwith the other. When they married inSeptember 2008, the wedding was cir-cus-themed, with jugglers and tinyswords for the guests to stick downtheir throats.
Less than a year later they wereperforming in front of America’s Got
Talent judge David Hasselhoff, whotold the pair, “I love everything aboutyou.” Paradizo performed four timeson air and made it to the top twentybefore being eliminated. The showwas a confidence booster, but Zoënow thinks it was a distraction fromcircus performing.
She’s fresh off an invigorating tenmonths at the Circus Center of SanFrancisco—though she was by far theoldest student. “Russian and Chinesedance teachers are always telling me,‘Agh, thirty? Too late! Next life!’’’ saysZoë. “But I am among the die-hard. Imean, Merce Cunningham was danc-ing into his seventies. Even if perform-ing becomes more difficult, I think it’spossible to modify the capacity towhich you dance.”
And Zoë’s life is full of modifica-tions, of little tweaks and sweepingtransformations. Whether she’s scram-bling to rebound from a dashed busi-ness plan or ducking to avoid anunexpected chandelier, Zoë is remark-ably willing to improvise. �
Zöe always had vision—she wasn’t just dancingto music, or pretending to be someone else. Shewas totally into presenting her own thoughts and feelings through her body.
‘‘’’
31Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
there’s also a crop of recent Berkeley Carroll graduates—Kate Morris ’05, Max Hardy ’08, andRobin Riskin ’08—who are devoted to gaining anuanced understanding of individual pockets ofAfrican life, while remaining wary of the pater-nalistic connotations of Americans working forAfrica. “It’s problematic,” explains Brandon, “thisidea of Americans going to a place like Kenyathinking, ‘Oh, we’re going to help the poor people.’” Max adds that “There’s a kind of open-mindedness and curiosity you need to go toplaces like South Africa. Berkeley Carroll reallydid prepare me for that.”
30 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
he first day of Brandon Clarke’s tenth-gradeAfrican History course is devoted to drivinghome the fact that there is no “single story ofAfrica.” According to Nigerian writerChimamanda Adichie, that problematic and
uniquely Western “single story” frames Africa as “aplace of beautiful landscapes, beautiful animals, andincomprehensible people, fighting senseless wars,dying of poverty and AIDS—unable to speak forthemselves, and waiting to be saved by a kind whiteforeigner.” What is needed, Adichie says—andwhich Brandon emphasizes to his students—is a“balance of stories.”
Of course, seeing the world from a variety of per-spectives is at the heart of Berkeley Carroll’s educa-tional ethos. Along with Brandon Clarke’s students,
BERKELEY CARROLL
INAFRICA� B Y M A T T W E I N S T O C K
T
The Berkeley Carroll Kenyaprogram, along with someof the people they met.Summer 2011.
Demonstrationsof Learning
T H E
I S S U E
31Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
there’s also a crop of recent Berkeley Carroll graduates—Kate Morris ’05, Max Hardy ’08, andRobin Riskin ’08—who are devoted to gaining anuanced understanding of individual pockets ofAfrican life, while remaining wary of the pater-nalistic connotations of Americans working forAfrica. “It’s problematic,” explains Brandon, “thisidea of Americans going to a place like Kenyathinking, ‘Oh, we’re going to help the poor people.’” Max adds that “There’s a kind of open-mindedness and curiosity you need to go toplaces like South Africa. Berkeley Carroll reallydid prepare me for that.”
30 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
he first day of Brandon Clarke’s tenth-gradeAfrican History course is devoted to drivinghome the fact that there is no “single story ofAfrica.” According to Nigerian writerChimamanda Adichie, that problematic and
uniquely Western “single story” frames Africa as “aplace of beautiful landscapes, beautiful animals, andincomprehensible people, fighting senseless wars,dying of poverty and AIDS—unable to speak forthemselves, and waiting to be saved by a kind whiteforeigner.” What is needed, Adichie says—andwhich Brandon emphasizes to his students—is a“balance of stories.”
Of course, seeing the world from a variety of per-spectives is at the heart of Berkeley Carroll’s educa-tional ethos. Along with Brandon Clarke’s students,
BERKELEY CARROLL
INAFRICA� B Y M A T T W E I N S T O C K
T
The Berkeley Carroll Kenyaprogram, along with someof the people they met.Summer 2011.
Demonstrationsof Learning
T H E
I S S U E
33Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 201132 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
MAX HARDY’08:ASponge inSouthAfrica
KATE O’CONNOR-MORRIS ’05:Rattling theCage inWashington
Max first traveled to South Africa as a highschool senior, under the auspices of PutneyStudent Travel’s Global Action in Awarenessprogram. He interviewed both civilians andNGO leaders about the HIV/AIDS situation inAfrica, and came away stunned by the factthat, “even though the country was just four-teen years post-apartheid, there was alreadycorruption going on, and a government thatwasn’t working quite as hard as it could be forits people.”
Still, Max remained fascinated by Africa.“The continent’s becoming more and more rel-evant,” he says. “Look at the top twenty coun-tries in terms of GDP growth in the past year:five of them are in Africa. None are in Europe.And culturally, artistically, they’re doing enor-mously exciting things.”
So in Fall 2010, Max returned to SouthAfrica—this time with the African Centre forthe Constructive Resolution of Disputes(ACCORD), an NGO that is contracted in partby the United Nations and runs workshopswith peacekeepers. Max did preliminaryresearch to help determine whether various
conflicts were motivated by environmental fac-tors, such as reduced grazing land and watersupply. Now a senior at Rhodes College, Maxthinks he might go into conflict management.“I love the idea of gaining understanding of aplace by living there for a period of time—justbeing a sponge and absorbing as much as Ican,” he says.
While working with ACCORD, Max livedmostly with lower-middle-class Zulu familiesin Durban—“a very big city, quite urban anddeveloped, which I wasn’t expecting.” Whilein Durban, Max bonded with a pop-culture-savvy group of African teens. “Kids are kids,”he says. “They go to the mall, they watch MTVAfrica. There’s the same kind of drive to besuper social, and on Facebook.” Recently, oneof Max’s South African Facebook friends evenposted an enthusiastic status about JerseyShore. “I was like, ‘No! You can’t watch that,man, it’s going rot your brain,’” Max laughs.“But that generation of South Africans definite-ly has this urge to be people. They’re aware oftheir history, but they don’t want to bescrewed down to it.”
When asked how she became interested in theCongo, Kate O’Connor-Morris ’05 is blunt. “Itwas totally Mr. Swarthout,” she says. Whiletaking Lorne Swarthout’s World History coursefreshman year, Kate was assigned a report onthe Belgian Congo, “a country I knew nothingabout.” She read King Leopold’s Ghost, a historyof the ruthless Belgian colonization of theCongo, Rwanda, and Burundi, and says, “Itblew my mind. I couldn’t believe that I’d heardabout the Holocaust and Stalin and all thesemajor periods of human oppression, butCongo had never come up.”
Kate became a dogged advocate of humanrights (she was even voted “Our (Almost)Hippie” by her Berkeley Carroll classmatessenior year), and upon graduating from Smithwith a BA in History, she decided to work forCentral Africa. She is now press liaison forFalling Whistles, a non-profit dedicated toachieving peace in the Congo. The organiza-tion’s name refers to the fact that Congolesechild soldiers are sometimes sent into battlearmed only with whistles. Falling Whistlesraises money by selling whistle necklaces,
which Kate says are intended to be conversa-tion starters. “It gives you an organic way totalk about the Congolese situation,” she says,“rather than just showing up at a party andyelling, ‘Kids are dying!’”
However, Kate has learned that sometimesyou need to shout to get people talking. ThisJune she published a ballsy, impassioned NewYork Post op-ed about Secretary of StateHillary Clinton’s failure to prioritize the plightof Congolese women. “Hundreds of thousandsof women raped every year,” Kate wrote, “andAmerica is conducting high-level Skypechats?” The op-ed was written out of frustra-tion, along with an impulse on Kate’s part to“rattle the cage a bit.” A week after the pieceran, the White House (which hadn’t issued aCongo-related update or press release in“months,” according to Kate) responded to amass rape in the region by immediately releas-ing a detailed response strategy. “It was, Ithink, a tacit apology,” Kate says.
33Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 201132 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
MAX HARDY’08:ASponge inSouthAfrica
KATE O’CONNOR-MORRIS ’05:Rattling theCage inWashington
Max first traveled to South Africa as a highschool senior, under the auspices of PutneyStudent Travel’s Global Action in Awarenessprogram. He interviewed both civilians andNGO leaders about the HIV/AIDS situation inAfrica, and came away stunned by the factthat, “even though the country was just four-teen years post-apartheid, there was alreadycorruption going on, and a government thatwasn’t working quite as hard as it could be forits people.”
Still, Max remained fascinated by Africa.“The continent’s becoming more and more rel-evant,” he says. “Look at the top twenty coun-tries in terms of GDP growth in the past year:five of them are in Africa. None are in Europe.And culturally, artistically, they’re doing enor-mously exciting things.”
So in Fall 2010, Max returned to SouthAfrica—this time with the African Centre forthe Constructive Resolution of Disputes(ACCORD), an NGO that is contracted in partby the United Nations and runs workshopswith peacekeepers. Max did preliminaryresearch to help determine whether various
conflicts were motivated by environmental fac-tors, such as reduced grazing land and watersupply. Now a senior at Rhodes College, Maxthinks he might go into conflict management.“I love the idea of gaining understanding of aplace by living there for a period of time—justbeing a sponge and absorbing as much as Ican,” he says.
While working with ACCORD, Max livedmostly with lower-middle-class Zulu familiesin Durban—“a very big city, quite urban anddeveloped, which I wasn’t expecting.” Whilein Durban, Max bonded with a pop-culture-savvy group of African teens. “Kids are kids,”he says. “They go to the mall, they watch MTVAfrica. There’s the same kind of drive to besuper social, and on Facebook.” Recently, oneof Max’s South African Facebook friends evenposted an enthusiastic status about JerseyShore. “I was like, ‘No! You can’t watch that,man, it’s going rot your brain,’” Max laughs.“But that generation of South Africans definite-ly has this urge to be people. They’re aware oftheir history, but they don’t want to bescrewed down to it.”
When asked how she became interested in theCongo, Kate O’Connor-Morris ’05 is blunt. “Itwas totally Mr. Swarthout,” she says. Whiletaking Lorne Swarthout’s World History coursefreshman year, Kate was assigned a report onthe Belgian Congo, “a country I knew nothingabout.” She read King Leopold’s Ghost, a historyof the ruthless Belgian colonization of theCongo, Rwanda, and Burundi, and says, “Itblew my mind. I couldn’t believe that I’d heardabout the Holocaust and Stalin and all thesemajor periods of human oppression, butCongo had never come up.”
Kate became a dogged advocate of humanrights (she was even voted “Our (Almost)Hippie” by her Berkeley Carroll classmatessenior year), and upon graduating from Smithwith a BA in History, she decided to work forCentral Africa. She is now press liaison forFalling Whistles, a non-profit dedicated toachieving peace in the Congo. The organiza-tion’s name refers to the fact that Congolesechild soldiers are sometimes sent into battlearmed only with whistles. Falling Whistlesraises money by selling whistle necklaces,
which Kate says are intended to be conversa-tion starters. “It gives you an organic way totalk about the Congolese situation,” she says,“rather than just showing up at a party andyelling, ‘Kids are dying!’”
However, Kate has learned that sometimesyou need to shout to get people talking. ThisJune she published a ballsy, impassioned NewYork Post op-ed about Secretary of StateHillary Clinton’s failure to prioritize the plightof Congolese women. “Hundreds of thousandsof women raped every year,” Kate wrote, “andAmerica is conducting high-level Skypechats?” The op-ed was written out of frustra-tion, along with an impulse on Kate’s part to“rattle the cage a bit.” A week after the pieceran, the White House (which hadn’t issued aCongo-related update or press release in“months,” according to Kate) responded to amass rape in the region by immediately releas-ing a detailed response strategy. “It was, Ithink, a tacit apology,” Kate says.
35Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
Brandon Clarke’s day job is as Berkeley Carroll’sDirector of College Counseling, but he undertookthe teaching of a tenth-grade African History classin a spasm of invincibility. “I thought: why can’t Iteach this?!” he says, laughing. “I ended up doinga heck of a lot of reading.” The semester-longcourse began six years ago to fill what had been “abig hole” in Berkeley Carroll’s History curriculum,as well as that of most American high schools andcolleges. Students “don’t come in with a lot ofknowledge,” says Brandon, “but they do comewith preconceived notions, and they take greatdelight in dismantling them.”
Brandon has attempted to achieve a “balance ofstories” in his curriculum, which covers topicsranging from the slave trade and genocide toAfrica’s middle class and artistic heritage. “What Idon’t want is for students to leave my class think-ing that Africa is hopeless,” he says, “that some-how the continent has charted an irrevocablecourse.”
34 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
ROBIN RISKIN’08:As Seen on Ghana TV
Berkeley Carroll’s African History Course: A BIGGER WORLD THANPARK SLOPE
Robin Riskin first became interested in AfricanaStudies her junior year at Berkeley Carroll, whiletaking English teacher Erika Drezner’s Race andSouthern Literature course. After taking a hand-ful of Africana Studies classes at HaverfordCollege where she is now a senior, Robin decid-ed to spend the summer of 2010 teaching at theJunior Art Club in Ghana. “They say that Ghanais Africa for beginners,” she says, “and it’s true:it’s a really safe, warm, welcoming environment.”That summer, Robin developed a theater cur-riculum that incorporated tongue-twisters fromher Speech and Debate days at Berkeley Carroll,and she also put together an EnvironmentalismDay modeled on BC’s Diversity Day.
After returning to Haverford in Fall 2010,Robin stayed involved with the Ghanaian artcommunity, organizing parallel photo exhibits atHaverford and the Du Bois Centre in Ghana thatraised more than $750 for the Junior Art Club.She spent her Spring 2011 semester in Berlin,researching expatriate West African artists.
Robin had a surprisingly easy time getting intouch with Ghanaian artists like Larry Otoo andWiz Kudowor—“I just sent them Facebookmessages,” she says—and she quickly forged
professional bonds with them. When Robinreturned to Ghana this summer, she even stayedwith Otoo’s family. (She taught his children howto make chocolate-chip cookies; they called her“Auntie.”) Robin created promotional websitesfor Otoo and Kudowor, and organized a com-munity art project in the relatively poor neigh-borhood of Nima, with the aim of breaking per-ceptions of the area as a slum, and a belief with-in Nima that artists are “dirty” and “lazy.”
The community project—titled Nima:
Muhinmanchi Art, or “Nima: The Importance ofArt”—included a mural painted by twenty pro-fessional African artists and individual paintingsby more than thirty children. Robin explainsthat they were working “to break the perception,even among the children living there, that Nimais a crime-ridden ghetto.” An initial brainstorm-ing session with the children resulted in sketch-es of people drinking, littering, and smoking.“We asked them to think more about what theylove and value in their community,” says Robin,“and they came back with some wonderfulideas,” including market scenes and depictionsof the bustling Nima intersection.
The inexhaustible Robin spent hours every
day securing local sponsors and promoting theevent at Ghanaian TV and radio stations—to thepoint that, by the day of the event, strangershad begun recognizing her “from television.”The end result was worth it, though: the exhibi-tion featured an appearance by the award-win-ning hip life group V.I.P. and attracted substan-tial crowds. In fact, discussions are underway tomake it an annual event. “It’s going to happen,”says Robin, who plans to pursue a career work-ing with contemporary African art. “Next yearwe’ll include music, spoken word, and dance.Ideally, we’ll figure out a sustainable model forsponsorship, and get to the point where theywon’t even need me.”
35Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
Brandon Clarke’s day job is as Berkeley Carroll’sDirector of College Counseling, but he undertookthe teaching of a tenth-grade African History classin a spasm of invincibility. “I thought: why can’t Iteach this?!” he says, laughing. “I ended up doinga heck of a lot of reading.” The semester-longcourse began six years ago to fill what had been “abig hole” in Berkeley Carroll’s History curriculum,as well as that of most American high schools andcolleges. Students “don’t come in with a lot ofknowledge,” says Brandon, “but they do comewith preconceived notions, and they take greatdelight in dismantling them.”
Brandon has attempted to achieve a “balance ofstories” in his curriculum, which covers topicsranging from the slave trade and genocide toAfrica’s middle class and artistic heritage. “What Idon’t want is for students to leave my class think-ing that Africa is hopeless,” he says, “that some-how the continent has charted an irrevocablecourse.”
34 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
ROBIN RISKIN’08:As Seen on Ghana TV
Berkeley Carroll’s African History Course: A BIGGER WORLD THANPARK SLOPE
Robin Riskin first became interested in AfricanaStudies her junior year at Berkeley Carroll, whiletaking English teacher Erika Drezner’s Race andSouthern Literature course. After taking a hand-ful of Africana Studies classes at HaverfordCollege where she is now a senior, Robin decid-ed to spend the summer of 2010 teaching at theJunior Art Club in Ghana. “They say that Ghanais Africa for beginners,” she says, “and it’s true:it’s a really safe, warm, welcoming environment.”That summer, Robin developed a theater cur-riculum that incorporated tongue-twisters fromher Speech and Debate days at Berkeley Carroll,and she also put together an EnvironmentalismDay modeled on BC’s Diversity Day.
After returning to Haverford in Fall 2010,Robin stayed involved with the Ghanaian artcommunity, organizing parallel photo exhibits atHaverford and the Du Bois Centre in Ghana thatraised more than $750 for the Junior Art Club.She spent her Spring 2011 semester in Berlin,researching expatriate West African artists.
Robin had a surprisingly easy time getting intouch with Ghanaian artists like Larry Otoo andWiz Kudowor—“I just sent them Facebookmessages,” she says—and she quickly forged
professional bonds with them. When Robinreturned to Ghana this summer, she even stayedwith Otoo’s family. (She taught his children howto make chocolate-chip cookies; they called her“Auntie.”) Robin created promotional websitesfor Otoo and Kudowor, and organized a com-munity art project in the relatively poor neigh-borhood of Nima, with the aim of breaking per-ceptions of the area as a slum, and a belief with-in Nima that artists are “dirty” and “lazy.”
The community project—titled Nima:
Muhinmanchi Art, or “Nima: The Importance ofArt”—included a mural painted by twenty pro-fessional African artists and individual paintingsby more than thirty children. Robin explainsthat they were working “to break the perception,even among the children living there, that Nimais a crime-ridden ghetto.” An initial brainstorm-ing session with the children resulted in sketch-es of people drinking, littering, and smoking.“We asked them to think more about what theylove and value in their community,” says Robin,“and they came back with some wonderfulideas,” including market scenes and depictionsof the bustling Nima intersection.
The inexhaustible Robin spent hours every
day securing local sponsors and promoting theevent at Ghanaian TV and radio stations—to thepoint that, by the day of the event, strangershad begun recognizing her “from television.”The end result was worth it, though: the exhibi-tion featured an appearance by the award-win-ning hip life group V.I.P. and attracted substan-tial crowds. In fact, discussions are underway tomake it an annual event. “It’s going to happen,”says Robin, who plans to pursue a career work-ing with contemporary African art. “Next yearwe’ll include music, spoken word, and dance.Ideally, we’ll figure out a sustainable model forsponsorship, and get to the point where theywon’t even need me.”
36 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
t’s not often that an editorial intended for Berkeley
Carroll’s Blotter gets plucked by the New York Times,
but that’s what happened to an op-ed Matthew
Strozier ’91 wrote when he was just in tenth
grade. The piece, “How Gentrification
Broke My Nose,” appeared in the Times
on December 3, 1988. With intelligence
and empathy, Matthew Matthew’s op-ed
recounted his experience of being a vic-
tim of what may have been a racially
motivated attack at the intersection of
Seventh Avenue and Flatbush, describing
how the gentrification of Park Slope had
rendered the neighborhood “an island of
riches surrounded by a sea of despair.”
MATTHEWSTROZIER’91
37Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
For the past two summers, Brandon has alsotaken about a dozen interested Berkeley Carrollstudents on a Kenya program coordinated bythe World Leadership School. The program isdesigned to be a direct extension of the stu-dents’ Berkeley Carroll education. Last year stu-dents prepared for the trip by taking a seminarin conservation biology, and this year theystudied the art of the memoir with UpperSchool Director Suzanne Fogarty and keptmeticulous journals in Kenya.
The program begins with a six-day stay inShompole working with the Maasai, a ranchingtribe whose cattle population has been decimat-ed due to climate change. In an effort to “movebeyond herding,” the Maasai have asked forhelp overhauling their educational system. Lastyear Berkeley Carroll renovated a bank of class-rooms; this year they put the finishing toucheson the school’s dining hall.
After mixing cement and sawing wood insweltering heat, Berkeley Carroll students spentan hour each day with the Shompole kids,playing games that ranged from soccer to Duck,Duck, Goose. On Berkeley Carroll’s last day inShompole, the Brooklynites and the Kenyansexchanged friendship bracelets.
“We actually did make a lot of strong friend-ships,” says Brandon, “which is weird to say,considering that we communicated primarilythrough hand gestures and smiles and the repe-tition of names.” (They also communicatedthrough song—this summer, two BerkeleyCarroll students serenaded a Maasai family withan a cappella “Yesterday,” and Emmett White’13 played his ukulele constantly.) Brandoncontinues, “I understand on an intellectual level
that language isn’t a precursor to a substantivehuman relationships, but to experience that on asort of emotional, visceral level was really pro-found.”
Rebecca Glanzer ’12 agrees. “I was surprisedby how much you could get across without reallyspeaking,” she says. “The kids in Shompole werevery open. Within seconds of meeting you,they’d pick leftover concrete from the worksiteout of your hair, or grab your hand to show yousomething.”
Then came a homestay with the Maasai fami-lies, during which Berkeley Carroll students sleptoutside on tanned cowhides as goats bleatedthroughout the night. “No one got much sleep,”Brandon says.
“It felt like sleeping on a table,” says SamBellamy ’12. “But I’m glad I did it. I neverthought I would be wedged between my friendBecca and the head of the Upper School on acowhide in the middle of Africa.”
After leaving Shompole, the Berkeley Carrollkids went on safari, spotting cheetahs, hyenas,zebras, and even lions mating. Brandon says,“The kids came back from the program thinking,We have a lot to learn. Look at how resourceful the
Maasai are—for thousands of years they’ve created
this rich cultural tapestry out of some really chal-
lenging geographical realities.” Tess Salvatore ’11,who entered Cornell this fall, grew so interestedin the scarcity of clean drinking water in Kenyathat she now plans to become a journalist cover-ing environmental resource issues. “Studentsreturn with a new confidence,” says Brandon.“Confidence, along with the understanding that,Wow, the world is a lot bigger than me and Park
Slope.” �
� B Y M A T T W E I N S T O C K
I
PH
OT
O: La
ur
en
r. P
en
za
, D
iam
On
D b
uT
Te
rf
Ly
PH
OT
O, LLc
Demonstrationsof Learning
T H E
I S S U E
36 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
t’s not often that an editorial intended for Berkeley
Carroll’s Blotter gets plucked by the New York Times,
but that’s what happened to an op-ed Matthew
Strozier ’91 wrote when he was just in tenth
grade. The piece, “How Gentrification
Broke My Nose,” appeared in the Times
on December 3, 1988. With intelligence
and empathy, Matthew Matthew’s op-ed
recounted his experience of being a vic-
tim of what may have been a racially
motivated attack at the intersection of
Seventh Avenue and Flatbush, describing
how the gentrification of Park Slope had
rendered the neighborhood “an island of
riches surrounded by a sea of despair.”
MATTHEWSTROZIER’91
37Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
For the past two summers, Brandon has alsotaken about a dozen interested Berkeley Carrollstudents on a Kenya program coordinated bythe World Leadership School. The program isdesigned to be a direct extension of the stu-dents’ Berkeley Carroll education. Last year stu-dents prepared for the trip by taking a seminarin conservation biology, and this year theystudied the art of the memoir with UpperSchool Director Suzanne Fogarty and keptmeticulous journals in Kenya.
The program begins with a six-day stay inShompole working with the Maasai, a ranchingtribe whose cattle population has been decimat-ed due to climate change. In an effort to “movebeyond herding,” the Maasai have asked forhelp overhauling their educational system. Lastyear Berkeley Carroll renovated a bank of class-rooms; this year they put the finishing toucheson the school’s dining hall.
After mixing cement and sawing wood insweltering heat, Berkeley Carroll students spentan hour each day with the Shompole kids,playing games that ranged from soccer to Duck,Duck, Goose. On Berkeley Carroll’s last day inShompole, the Brooklynites and the Kenyansexchanged friendship bracelets.
“We actually did make a lot of strong friend-ships,” says Brandon, “which is weird to say,considering that we communicated primarilythrough hand gestures and smiles and the repe-tition of names.” (They also communicatedthrough song—this summer, two BerkeleyCarroll students serenaded a Maasai family withan a cappella “Yesterday,” and Emmett White’13 played his ukulele constantly.) Brandoncontinues, “I understand on an intellectual level
that language isn’t a precursor to a substantivehuman relationships, but to experience that on asort of emotional, visceral level was really pro-found.”
Rebecca Glanzer ’12 agrees. “I was surprisedby how much you could get across without reallyspeaking,” she says. “The kids in Shompole werevery open. Within seconds of meeting you,they’d pick leftover concrete from the worksiteout of your hair, or grab your hand to show yousomething.”
Then came a homestay with the Maasai fami-lies, during which Berkeley Carroll students sleptoutside on tanned cowhides as goats bleatedthroughout the night. “No one got much sleep,”Brandon says.
“It felt like sleeping on a table,” says SamBellamy ’12. “But I’m glad I did it. I neverthought I would be wedged between my friendBecca and the head of the Upper School on acowhide in the middle of Africa.”
After leaving Shompole, the Berkeley Carrollkids went on safari, spotting cheetahs, hyenas,zebras, and even lions mating. Brandon says,“The kids came back from the program thinking,We have a lot to learn. Look at how resourceful the
Maasai are—for thousands of years they’ve created
this rich cultural tapestry out of some really chal-
lenging geographical realities.” Tess Salvatore ’11,who entered Cornell this fall, grew so interestedin the scarcity of clean drinking water in Kenyathat she now plans to become a journalist cover-ing environmental resource issues. “Studentsreturn with a new confidence,” says Brandon.“Confidence, along with the understanding that,Wow, the world is a lot bigger than me and Park
Slope.” �
� B Y M A T T W E I N S T O C K
I
PH
OT
O: La
ur
en
r. P
en
za
, D
iam
On
D b
uT
Te
rf
Ly
PH
OT
O, LLc
Demonstrationsof Learning
T H E
I S S U E
real estate editor. House-hunting was aparticularly convoluted process forhim. “You can probably know toomuch about New York real estate,” hedeadpans. He eventually settled onHarlem, where he lives with his wifeand two children. He says thatHarlem’s “changing neighborhood”reminds him of Park Slope in the1980s.
Indeed, even if Matthew sees hiscareer in journalism as a departurefrom the political grandstanding of hisBerkeley Carroll days, there’s a pecu-liar continuity to his life. For all itsrhetoric, “How Gentrification BrokeMy Nose” is essentially a very person-al, visceral, passionate real estatepiece. Matthew believes this. “The factthat where you live isn’t just a place,but something that you’re emotionallyattached to—and also something thatrepresents you—is something that Ilearned at that moment,” he says. “Itstuck with me. I realized—probably,yeah, in that incident—that I hadbecome Park Slope.” �
“I think by the time I was donewith Berkeley Carroll I was ready tomove on from that role,” he says. Heattended Wesleyan University, andstuck to journalism after that: a stintreporting for India Abroad was fol-lowed by a Master’s in Journalismfrom Columbia University. He coveredplanning and zoning at the Stamford
Advocate, and served as Assistant CityEditor at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Matthew is well suited to thenewspaper business; “I think my mindtends to work in very discrete chunksof about 750 words,” he says.
For Matthew, overseeing one of theSun-Sentinel’s government affairs teamsduring the historic 2008 election wasparticularly memorable. “I was in thenewsroom as Barack Obama wasspeaking,” he says, “furiously trying tofinish all these stories that we’d writ-ten about various elections. The TVwas on in the background, but I hadto resist the urge to listen. I thinkthat’s the joy of newspapers; some-times just by sitting in the newsroom,you can feel like you’re part of some-thing much bigger than yourself.”
Matthew moved back to New Yorkin 2009, shifting into real estatereporting—first with The Real Dealand, since February 2011, The Wall
Street Journal, where he is the online
38 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
What was so remarkable aboutthose observations is that they camefrom a rookie New Yorker: Matthewspent the first twelve years of his lifeon what he describes as a “gentleman’sfarm” in rural Illinois. His new home,1980s Brooklyn, represented “anincredibly dizzying and confusingadjustment” for him.
Despite the abrupt change ofneighborhood, Matthew says thatBerkeley Carroll was “a refuge, a won-derful place.” He says that, “In myfirst few weeks there, I realized I wassupposed to be involved in my educa-tion, and not just someone who regur-gitated things.” This young teenageralso began feeling a compulsion tounderstand the city’s complicatedpolitical and racial tensions. “It was soforeign to me,” he says. “I knew that Ineeded to understand all that in orderto survive, so that I wasn’t out ofplace.” After his attack in the summerof 1988 he spent months reflectingand writing about the experience inorder to “figure out what it meant.”
The eventual publication of thepiece in the Times was thrilling,though Matthew says it became“something of a burden. I got a littletired of being identified as an activist,and always having to live up to thatexpectation.” That said, Matthew morethan lived up to it. As a BerkeleyCarroll student, he organized a one-day student exchange between BC andJohn Jay High School (to help dispelthe impression that John Jay was an“ominous” place). His work for theBlotter covered a wide variety of politi-cal topics—from the Gulf War andthe crime surge in New York to Do theRight Thing and the Berkeley Carrolldress code. Laughing, Matthew evenrecalls that Head of School BongsoonZubay “threatened to kick me out onat least one occasion for political agitation.”
ERKELEY CARROLL’s student newspaper, the Blotter, was firstpublished in May 1929. The paper—then called the Inkwell—was justfour pages long (Funny about the name change. We would have liked tohave been privy to that conversation….)
We’re fortunate to have a mint-condition copy of the Blotter’s debutissue, but as the school newspaper ballooned in both size and ambition,our archives grew patchier. (We’re in particular need of issues from the1970s, 1980s, and 1990s). As part of a continuing effort to preserveBerkeley Carroll’s history, we’re asking BC alumni, family, and faculty todonate any back issues of the Blotter you may have tucked away. In thelong term, our goal is to digitize and make searchable the entire Blottercollection, in what we hope will be a kind of trove or Hit Parade repre-senting 82 years of BC news, opinions, and culture.
Please send issues to:
The Berkeley Carroll School808 Union StreetBrooklyn, NY 11215Attn: Jodie Corngold
S E N D U S Y O U R
BBBLOTTERS!BLOTTERS!
444444444444444444
4444
After his attack in the summer of 1988 Matthew spent months reflecting and writingabout the experience in order to ‘figure out what it meant.’
‘‘’’
real estate editor. House-hunting was aparticularly convoluted process forhim. “You can probably know toomuch about New York real estate,” hedeadpans. He eventually settled onHarlem, where he lives with his wifeand two children. He says thatHarlem’s “changing neighborhood”reminds him of Park Slope in the1980s.
Indeed, even if Matthew sees hiscareer in journalism as a departurefrom the political grandstanding of hisBerkeley Carroll days, there’s a pecu-liar continuity to his life. For all itsrhetoric, “How Gentrification BrokeMy Nose” is essentially a very person-al, visceral, passionate real estatepiece. Matthew believes this. “The factthat where you live isn’t just a place,but something that you’re emotionallyattached to—and also something thatrepresents you—is something that Ilearned at that moment,” he says. “Itstuck with me. I realized—probably,yeah, in that incident—that I hadbecome Park Slope.” �
“I think by the time I was donewith Berkeley Carroll I was ready tomove on from that role,” he says. Heattended Wesleyan University, andstuck to journalism after that: a stintreporting for India Abroad was fol-lowed by a Master’s in Journalismfrom Columbia University. He coveredplanning and zoning at the Stamford
Advocate, and served as Assistant CityEditor at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Matthew is well suited to thenewspaper business; “I think my mindtends to work in very discrete chunksof about 750 words,” he says.
For Matthew, overseeing one of theSun-Sentinel’s government affairs teamsduring the historic 2008 election wasparticularly memorable. “I was in thenewsroom as Barack Obama wasspeaking,” he says, “furiously trying tofinish all these stories that we’d writ-ten about various elections. The TVwas on in the background, but I hadto resist the urge to listen. I thinkthat’s the joy of newspapers; some-times just by sitting in the newsroom,you can feel like you’re part of some-thing much bigger than yourself.”
Matthew moved back to New Yorkin 2009, shifting into real estatereporting—first with The Real Dealand, since February 2011, The Wall
Street Journal, where he is the online
38 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
What was so remarkable aboutthose observations is that they camefrom a rookie New Yorker: Matthewspent the first twelve years of his lifeon what he describes as a “gentleman’sfarm” in rural Illinois. His new home,1980s Brooklyn, represented “anincredibly dizzying and confusingadjustment” for him.
Despite the abrupt change ofneighborhood, Matthew says thatBerkeley Carroll was “a refuge, a won-derful place.” He says that, “In myfirst few weeks there, I realized I wassupposed to be involved in my educa-tion, and not just someone who regur-gitated things.” This young teenageralso began feeling a compulsion tounderstand the city’s complicatedpolitical and racial tensions. “It was soforeign to me,” he says. “I knew that Ineeded to understand all that in orderto survive, so that I wasn’t out ofplace.” After his attack in the summerof 1988 he spent months reflectingand writing about the experience inorder to “figure out what it meant.”
The eventual publication of thepiece in the Times was thrilling,though Matthew says it became“something of a burden. I got a littletired of being identified as an activist,and always having to live up to thatexpectation.” That said, Matthew morethan lived up to it. As a BerkeleyCarroll student, he organized a one-day student exchange between BC andJohn Jay High School (to help dispelthe impression that John Jay was an“ominous” place). His work for theBlotter covered a wide variety of politi-cal topics—from the Gulf War andthe crime surge in New York to Do theRight Thing and the Berkeley Carrolldress code. Laughing, Matthew evenrecalls that Head of School BongsoonZubay “threatened to kick me out onat least one occasion for political agitation.”
ERKELEY CARROLL’s student newspaper, the Blotter, was firstpublished in May 1929. The paper—then called the Inkwell—was justfour pages long (Funny about the name change. We would have liked tohave been privy to that conversation….)
We’re fortunate to have a mint-condition copy of the Blotter’s debutissue, but as the school newspaper ballooned in both size and ambition,our archives grew patchier. (We’re in particular need of issues from the1970s, 1980s, and 1990s). As part of a continuing effort to preserveBerkeley Carroll’s history, we’re asking BC alumni, family, and faculty todonate any back issues of the Blotter you may have tucked away. In thelong term, our goal is to digitize and make searchable the entire Blottercollection, in what we hope will be a kind of trove or Hit Parade repre-senting 82 years of BC news, opinions, and culture.
Please send issues to:
The Berkeley Carroll School808 Union StreetBrooklyn, NY 11215Attn: Jodie Corngold
S E N D U S Y O U R
BBBLOTTERS!BLOTTERS!
444444444444444444
4444
After his attack in the summer of 1988 Matthew spent months reflecting and writingabout the experience in order to ‘figure out what it meant.’
‘‘’’
1970s8
� Angela Caracciolo Keenan ’77writes: “Just wanted to informyou that a few members ofthe Class of 1977 got togeth-er in late December for lunch.Attending the luncheon weremyself, Ivi Dickman Brenner ’77,Kim Holtan Lang ’77, and PatriciaDePino ’77. It was probably thefirst time in close to twentyyears that we’d all seen eachother. Patty brought class pic-tures of us from elementaryand middle school. A won-derful time was had and itwas decided that it should bea yearly tradition.”
41Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 201140 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
1940s8
� Martha McEntee, daughterof Jules Boykin Simpson ’36,writes that her mother “isthriving in Exeter, NewHampshire, and enjoys read-ing the alumni magazine.She has such marvelousmemories of her time atBerkeley. I took my Mom toher 50th reunion in 1986and was amazed to find thather French teacher wasthere! I can’t remember hername.” Jules would love tosee photos of the Class of1936. To contact Jules,please email [email protected]
� Elizabeth H. Keely ’49 wantsto reconnect with othermembers of the Class of1949. To contact Elizabeth,please email [email protected]
1950s8
� Stephanie Bildner Gralnick ’54is living in Coral Lakes inBoynton Beach, FL, andwould love to hear aboutthe whereabouts of her for-mer classmates. To contactStephanie, please [email protected]
� Dianne L. Courtney ’55 writes:“Hello, I graduated from theBerkeley Institute in 1955.My class name was Barbara F.Block. My current name isDianne L. Courtney. I amtrying to find out informa-tion about the other 16classmates. It would be funto correspond with ‘the kids’
in my class.” To contactD i a n n e , p l e a s e e m a i [email protected]
� At Grandparents’ Day atthe Green Vale School inLong Island, New York,Maureen Zerilli Cochrane ’58serendipitously ran intoBerkeley Carroll parent andfo rm er D i r e c t o r o fDevelopment Henry Trevor,who was at that time GreenVale’s Upper School Head.“We realized just how smallour world really is,” writesMaureen. “I mentioned that Iwas so happy that three ofour ten grandchildren had theopportunity to go to a schoollike Green Vale and comparedit to my wonderful experi-ences so long ago(at Berkeley).Several of myclassmates metup a few yearsago and it wasdelightful. Stillcannot believethat so manyy ea r s h av epassed.” Maureenlives with herhusband Frank, and works asa registered nurse (specializ-ing in dialysis) at WinthropUnivers i ty Hospi ta l inMineola, Long Island, NY.Maureen would love to speakwith Evelyn Harding ’58 and iscurious if anyone is in con-tact with her.
classnotes))Members of the Class of 1977 met for lunch.
In addition to the MAGAZINE,class notes are published in ouremail newsletter. At the beginningof the month during the schoolyear, we email the newsletter toall alumni with email addresses onfile. If you aren’t receiving thenewsletter and would like to,please contact Jessica Langbein,Alumni Relations Coordinator, [email protected] withyour current email information.
You can also submit class notes online atwww.berkeleycarroll.org/alumni or by mail to Jessica Langbein, Berkeley Carroll School808 Union Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215
� In March 2011, Irene Nelson Goetz ’60 played CatherineRearden in the Chatham Drama Guild production of PaulZindel’s And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little. The Cape Cod
Wicked Local said, “Nelson rises tothe many challenges this role pres-ents. She hits the right sarcasticnote, while acting tipsy and deal-ing with some of the longest andmost difficult lines.” Irene and herhusband Roger also sing with theChatham Chorale, and she says,“It is very exciting to be a partof the Cape Cod communitywhere many cultural opportuni-ties are available to us.”
Class of ’61
1960s8
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PH
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� Jean Martinson Davio ’61 reports having a“grand time” at the Class of 1961reunion, with a turnout of 17 classmatesfrom a graduating class of 28. Jeanwrites, “Some had been in touch over theyears, but others had not seen or heardfrom each other since graduation! It wassuch fun to all be together again! Someof us were in town early enough toattend the Senior Luncheon. We knowthat the Upper School is now co-ed, butit still seemed a little unusual to see boysat the luncheon. When we went to thecocktail party at 181 Lincoln Place, we
didn’t recognize the library. Total transfor-mation! So colorful and bright and full ofbooks! After cocktails we continued par-tying at Scottadito’s, where we had a littlememorial for our two deceased class-mates—Pat Hermann ’61 and Elena SadockHecht ’61—and heard a summary of ourlives over the past 50 years. The rain-drops did not dampen our spirits, andwe agreed to do this again without wait-ing another 50 years. We all went homewith our Reunion booklets, tee shirts,black and gold earrings, and black andgold beads and boas.”
1970s8
� Angela Caracciolo Keenan ’77writes: “Just wanted to informyou that a few members ofthe Class of 1977 got togeth-er in late December for lunch.Attending the luncheon weremyself, Ivi Dickman Brenner ’77,Kim Holtan Lang ’77, and PatriciaDePino ’77. It was probably thefirst time in close to twentyyears that we’d all seen eachother. Patty brought class pic-tures of us from elementaryand middle school. A won-derful time was had and itwas decided that it should bea yearly tradition.”
41Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 201140 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
1940s8
� Martha McEntee, daughterof Jules Boykin Simpson ’36,writes that her mother “isthriving in Exeter, NewHampshire, and enjoys read-ing the alumni magazine.She has such marvelousmemories of her time atBerkeley. I took my Mom toher 50th reunion in 1986and was amazed to find thather French teacher wasthere! I can’t remember hername.” Jules would love tosee photos of the Class of1936. To contact Jules,please email [email protected]
� Elizabeth H. Keely ’49 wantsto reconnect with othermembers of the Class of1949. To contact Elizabeth,please email [email protected]
1950s8
� Stephanie Bildner Gralnick ’54is living in Coral Lakes inBoynton Beach, FL, andwould love to hear aboutthe whereabouts of her for-mer classmates. To contactStephanie, please [email protected]
� Dianne L. Courtney ’55 writes:“Hello, I graduated from theBerkeley Institute in 1955.My class name was Barbara F.Block. My current name isDianne L. Courtney. I amtrying to find out informa-tion about the other 16classmates. It would be funto correspond with ‘the kids’
in my class.” To contactD i a n n e , p l e a s e e m a i [email protected]
� At Grandparents’ Day atthe Green Vale School inLong Island, New York,Maureen Zerilli Cochrane ’58serendipitously ran intoBerkeley Carroll parent andfo rm er D i r e c t o r o fDevelopment Henry Trevor,who was at that time GreenVale’s Upper School Head.“We realized just how smallour world really is,” writesMaureen. “I mentioned that Iwas so happy that three ofour ten grandchildren had theopportunity to go to a schoollike Green Vale and comparedit to my wonderful experi-ences so long ago(at Berkeley).Several of myclassmates metup a few yearsago and it wasdelightful. Stillcannot believethat so manyy ea r s h av epassed.” Maureenlives with herhusband Frank, and works asa registered nurse (specializ-ing in dialysis) at WinthropUnivers i ty Hospi ta l inMineola, Long Island, NY.Maureen would love to speakwith Evelyn Harding ’58 and iscurious if anyone is in con-tact with her.
classnotes))Members of the Class of 1977 met for lunch.
In addition to the MAGAZINE,class notes are published in ouremail newsletter. At the beginningof the month during the schoolyear, we email the newsletter toall alumni with email addresses onfile. If you aren’t receiving thenewsletter and would like to,please contact Jessica Langbein,Alumni Relations Coordinator, [email protected] withyour current email information.
You can also submit class notes online atwww.berkeleycarroll.org/alumni or by mail to Jessica Langbein, Berkeley Carroll School808 Union Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215
� In March 2011, Irene Nelson Goetz ’60 played CatherineRearden in the Chatham Drama Guild production of PaulZindel’s And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little. The Cape Cod
Wicked Local said, “Nelson rises tothe many challenges this role pres-ents. She hits the right sarcasticnote, while acting tipsy and deal-ing with some of the longest andmost difficult lines.” Irene and herhusband Roger also sing with theChatham Chorale, and she says,“It is very exciting to be a partof the Cape Cod communitywhere many cultural opportuni-ties are available to us.”
Class of ’61
1960s8
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� Jean Martinson Davio ’61 reports having a“grand time” at the Class of 1961reunion, with a turnout of 17 classmatesfrom a graduating class of 28. Jeanwrites, “Some had been in touch over theyears, but others had not seen or heardfrom each other since graduation! It wassuch fun to all be together again! Someof us were in town early enough toattend the Senior Luncheon. We knowthat the Upper School is now co-ed, butit still seemed a little unusual to see boysat the luncheon. When we went to thecocktail party at 181 Lincoln Place, we
didn’t recognize the library. Total transfor-mation! So colorful and bright and full ofbooks! After cocktails we continued par-tying at Scottadito’s, where we had a littlememorial for our two deceased class-mates—Pat Hermann ’61 and Elena SadockHecht ’61—and heard a summary of ourlives over the past 50 years. The rain-drops did not dampen our spirits, andwe agreed to do this again without wait-ing another 50 years. We all went homewith our Reunion booklets, tee shirts,black and gold earrings, and black andgold beads and boas.”
system, saying, “It’s incrediblewhat you can accomplish interms of real actual under-standing versus proficiency.”
2000s8
� Pia Murray ’01 served as aguest choreographer atBerkeley Carroll last year.Portions of her work wereperformed by the Middle andUpper School Dance Electiveclasses at a showcase inFebruary 2011.
� Patrick Lindie ’01 is a certi-fied dental assistant. He liveswith two former classmates,Denise Mui ’01 and Sean Slifer’01, and three cats!
� Congratulations to DavidSinger ’01, who married AlexisClaire Platis on June 18,
2011 at the RichmondCounty Country Club inDongan Hills, Staten Island.The newlyweds honey-mooned in Greece and live inManhattan. Michael Singer ’05served as best man for hisbrother, and among David’sushers was classmate NicholasFord ’01.
� Charles Murrell ’03 lost hismother Doreen Murrell inJune. We send our deepestsympathies to Charles and hisfamily.
� David Shapiro ’05 enteredhis third year of law schoolat Brooklyn College this fall.
� Jerome Carter ’07 graduatedfrom Rensselaer PolytechnicInstitute with a BS in civilengineering; in June, he leftfor Rome and Shanghai tobegin working towards aone-year MS in global man-agement as part of a co-ter-minal degree program. Self-described “proud parent”Hazel Carter writes, “I wantto give Berkeley Carroll agreat and deep ‘Thank you!’for working with Jeromeand giving him that start toexcel in college. Soon he willbegin his career as an engi-neer and a tax-paying citi-zen! As a fellow educator,my experience and researchis geared towards schoolleadership and the impact ofcollaborative programs onat-risk students and theirteachers. I am mindful of theeffectiveness of teaching,
learning and advisory pro-grams exhibited at schoolslike Berkeley Carroll. Youhave a formula that clearlyworks! My dream is to seesome of those best prac-tices become mainstream toaffect more students in ourcity schools.”
� Alyssa Goldstein ’07 is a sen-ior at Bard College, where sheis studying sociology andMiddle Eastern studies. Aftergraduating, she plans tobecome a certified sex educa-tor, and eventually get herPh.D. in sociology and gen-der studies.
� Emily Goodwin ’07 graduat-ed f ro m M ar y m o u n tManhattan College with amajor in communication artsand a minor in business man-agement. She hopes to pur-sue a career in advertising orp ub l i c r e l a t i o n s . O nSeptember 14, 2011, sheappeared on The Rachael RayShow to discuss her frustra-tion with the lack of stylishclothing options for curvywomen. “I loved meetingRachael,” Emily writes. “Shewas such a sweetheart!”
43Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 201142 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
1980s8
� Seana Cameron-Starling ’85, afifth grade teacher and cur-riculum consultant in KeyWest, FL, was recognized asb o t h t h e P o i n c i a n aElementary Teacher of theYear and the Monroe CountyTeacher of the Year. In July2011 Seana headed toOrlando, where she present-ed her video documentationof pedagogical practices andexchanged ideas with educa-tional leaders from across thenation. Seana says, “My fam-ily and friends are very proudof me, and I am grateful forthat…It was the wonderfulteachers at Berkeley that leadme to follow a path in cog-nitive development, educationand to love what I do. Thankyou.”
� Karen Delgado Krase ’87 is apediatric occupational thera-pist and certified infant mas-sage educator. She lives in theBerkeley Carroll neighbor-hood with her husband andtheir two daughters, Isabella,6, and Amelia, 2.
� Deni D. Davis-Sheehan ’87continues to run her printingand design business BrooklynPR. She lives in Brooklynwith her husband of tenyears, Edwin Sheehan, andtheir two children. Her sonJustice is nine and enjoysbaseball and Taekwondo; herdaughter Delilah is two and“enjoys everything!”
� Heather E. Cunningham ’89 isproud to announce that theplay she produced, Womenand War, was performed againat New York City’s ArclightTheater in January 2011.Heather was also nominatedfo r a 2011 New YorkInnovative Theatre Award forOutstanding Actress in a LeadRole for her portrayal ofSheila in Michael Frayn’sBenefactors. Alan J. Miller ofTheatre Is Easy ca l ledHeather’s performance “simplyphenomenal.” Produced byHeather’s company RetroProductions, Benefactors gar-nered three addi t iona lInnovative Theatre nomina-tions, including OutstandingProduction of a Play.
1990s8
� Congratulations to Jill S.Fousek Hirschen ’97 and herhusband, Phil, on the birth oftheir son, Mike, on December13, 2010. Jill and Phil live inArlington, MA, and are bothteachers at the CambridgeportS choo l i n Cambr idge ,Massachusetts. Jill writes thatshe loves every minute ofbeing a parent, and that she’dlove to hear from the BerkeleyCarroll community!
� On June 1, 2011, a NewYork Times article about blockscheduling at the CalhounSchool quoted our very ownDanny Isquith ’98, who teachesmath there. Despite havinginitial reservations, Dannypraised the new scheduling
classnotes))
© Sylvia Weld Brewster
� Sylvia Brewster ’87 stilllives in the WindsorTerrace neighborhood ofBrooklyn. She recentlymoved her art studio to anew location on theGowanus Canal, nearCarroll Gardens. You cansee her photographic cardsand other work atwww.weldbiltstudio.com.
Baby Mike
� In March, Casey Scieszka ’02 published her firstbook, To Timbuktu: Nine Countries, Two People, OneTrue Story. Illustrated by Casey’s boyfriend StevenWeinberg, the graphic novel is an account of thecouple’s globetrotting experiences.
system, saying, “It’s incrediblewhat you can accomplish interms of real actual under-standing versus proficiency.”
2000s8
� Pia Murray ’01 served as aguest choreographer atBerkeley Carroll last year.Portions of her work wereperformed by the Middle andUpper School Dance Electiveclasses at a showcase inFebruary 2011.
� Patrick Lindie ’01 is a certi-fied dental assistant. He liveswith two former classmates,Denise Mui ’01 and Sean Slifer’01, and three cats!
� Congratulations to DavidSinger ’01, who married AlexisClaire Platis on June 18,
2011 at the RichmondCounty Country Club inDongan Hills, Staten Island.The newlyweds honey-mooned in Greece and live inManhattan. Michael Singer ’05served as best man for hisbrother, and among David’sushers was classmate NicholasFord ’01.
� Charles Murrell ’03 lost hismother Doreen Murrell inJune. We send our deepestsympathies to Charles and hisfamily.
� David Shapiro ’05 enteredhis third year of law schoolat Brooklyn College this fall.
� Jerome Carter ’07 graduatedfrom Rensselaer PolytechnicInstitute with a BS in civilengineering; in June, he leftfor Rome and Shanghai tobegin working towards aone-year MS in global man-agement as part of a co-ter-minal degree program. Self-described “proud parent”Hazel Carter writes, “I wantto give Berkeley Carroll agreat and deep ‘Thank you!’for working with Jeromeand giving him that start toexcel in college. Soon he willbegin his career as an engi-neer and a tax-paying citi-zen! As a fellow educator,my experience and researchis geared towards schoolleadership and the impact ofcollaborative programs onat-risk students and theirteachers. I am mindful of theeffectiveness of teaching,
learning and advisory pro-grams exhibited at schoolslike Berkeley Carroll. Youhave a formula that clearlyworks! My dream is to seesome of those best prac-tices become mainstream toaffect more students in ourcity schools.”
� Alyssa Goldstein ’07 is a sen-ior at Bard College, where sheis studying sociology andMiddle Eastern studies. Aftergraduating, she plans tobecome a certified sex educa-tor, and eventually get herPh.D. in sociology and gen-der studies.
� Emily Goodwin ’07 graduat-ed f ro m M ar y m o u n tManhattan College with amajor in communication artsand a minor in business man-agement. She hopes to pur-sue a career in advertising orp ub l i c r e l a t i o n s . O nSeptember 14, 2011, sheappeared on The Rachael RayShow to discuss her frustra-tion with the lack of stylishclothing options for curvywomen. “I loved meetingRachael,” Emily writes. “Shewas such a sweetheart!”
43Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 201142 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
1980s8
� Seana Cameron-Starling ’85, afifth grade teacher and cur-riculum consultant in KeyWest, FL, was recognized asb o t h t h e P o i n c i a n aElementary Teacher of theYear and the Monroe CountyTeacher of the Year. In July2011 Seana headed toOrlando, where she present-ed her video documentationof pedagogical practices andexchanged ideas with educa-tional leaders from across thenation. Seana says, “My fam-ily and friends are very proudof me, and I am grateful forthat…It was the wonderfulteachers at Berkeley that leadme to follow a path in cog-nitive development, educationand to love what I do. Thankyou.”
� Karen Delgado Krase ’87 is apediatric occupational thera-pist and certified infant mas-sage educator. She lives in theBerkeley Carroll neighbor-hood with her husband andtheir two daughters, Isabella,6, and Amelia, 2.
� Deni D. Davis-Sheehan ’87continues to run her printingand design business BrooklynPR. She lives in Brooklynwith her husband of tenyears, Edwin Sheehan, andtheir two children. Her sonJustice is nine and enjoysbaseball and Taekwondo; herdaughter Delilah is two and“enjoys everything!”
� Heather E. Cunningham ’89 isproud to announce that theplay she produced, Womenand War, was performed againat New York City’s ArclightTheater in January 2011.Heather was also nominatedfo r a 2011 New YorkInnovative Theatre Award forOutstanding Actress in a LeadRole for her portrayal ofSheila in Michael Frayn’sBenefactors. Alan J. Miller ofTheatre Is Easy ca l ledHeather’s performance “simplyphenomenal.” Produced byHeather’s company RetroProductions, Benefactors gar-nered three addi t iona lInnovative Theatre nomina-tions, including OutstandingProduction of a Play.
1990s8
� Congratulations to Jill S.Fousek Hirschen ’97 and herhusband, Phil, on the birth oftheir son, Mike, on December13, 2010. Jill and Phil live inArlington, MA, and are bothteachers at the CambridgeportS choo l i n Cambr idge ,Massachusetts. Jill writes thatshe loves every minute ofbeing a parent, and that she’dlove to hear from the BerkeleyCarroll community!
� On June 1, 2011, a NewYork Times article about blockscheduling at the CalhounSchool quoted our very ownDanny Isquith ’98, who teachesmath there. Despite havinginitial reservations, Dannypraised the new scheduling
classnotes))
© Sylvia Weld Brewster
� Sylvia Brewster ’87 stilllives in the WindsorTerrace neighborhood ofBrooklyn. She recentlymoved her art studio to anew location on theGowanus Canal, nearCarroll Gardens. You cansee her photographic cardsand other work atwww.weldbiltstudio.com.
Baby Mike
� In March, Casey Scieszka ’02 published her firstbook, To Timbuktu: Nine Countries, Two People, OneTrue Story. Illustrated by Casey’s boyfriend StevenWeinberg, the graphic novel is an account of thecouple’s globetrotting experiences.
For more information contact:
44 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
� On June 22, 2011, CoreyJeffers ’07 competed in aMicrosoft-hosted event forstudents who want to changethe world through technolo-gy. The students pitched theirideas to Silicon Valley indus-try experts and academics,who then help the studentsrefine their concepts and findmarkets for their ideas. Coreywas a member of IthacaCollege’s Team IC Squared,which presented Embryonic,an HTML 5 web game inwhich the player controls“tiny nanomachines thatweave their way through thefeminine reproductive sys-tem over the course of apregnancy.” Team IC Squaredwas named a worldwide final-ist in game design and com-peted in Microsoft’s ImagineCup in July.
� Dyanna Hallick ’07 graduat-ed from Muhlenberg Collegewith a BA in theater andmedia and communications.She recently spent her fifthsummer working at BerkeleyCarro l l ’s Crea t ive Ar t s
Summer Program, and plansto pursue a career in theater.
� Lionel Johnnes ’07 wasnamed to the Dean’s List forthe spring 2011 semester atWashington University in St.Louis.
� Lauren Menchini ’07 isattending Manhattan Collegefor civil engineering andhopes to work in the engi-neering field after graduatingthis year. This summerLauren worked at TullyConstruction as an intern onthe field and in the estimat-ing department.
� Amanda Sacks ’07 matricu-lated at the University ofMaine this fall to get her MSin ecology and environmen-tal science.
� Blaire Sacks ’07 majored inart history at Bates Collegeand is pursuing a career ingallery work.
� On the tenth anniversaryof 9/11, Max Hardy ’08 servedas a name reader at the WorldTrade Center Memorial,where he remembered hisfather, Jeff Hardy.
� Mary Cleere Haran, moth-er of Jacob Gilford ’09, died ina cyc l ing acc iden t onFebruary 5, 2011. Haran wasa singer and writer bestknown for her cabaret showscelebrating the American songbook. A New York Times obit-uary declared Haran “a singerof remarkable purity…sheeschewed melodramatic pos-turing to deliver deep,thoughtful interpretations ofstandards by Rodgers andHart, Harry Warren, theGershwins and others.”
� Diarra Edwards ’10 wasnamed to the Dean’s List forthe spring 2011 semester atWashington University in St.Louis.
� Georgetown freshmanAudrey Denis ’11 coveredSecretary of State HillaryClinton’s opening address tothe U .S . - Ind i a H ighe rEducation Summit for VoxPopuli, Georgetown’s blog ofrecord. “Three hundred pres-idents, chancellors, and otherimportant educational figuresfrom the U.S. and India”attended the October 13,2011 summit.
classnotes))
Corey Jeffers ’07 (right)
DEATHS IN THE BERKELEY CARROLLFAMILY
� Marjorie Mills Winkler ’36, bornon January 15, 1919, died onJune 3, 2011. She was aBerkeley Institute alumna,teacher, parent of alumna, andTrustee. Marjorie spent twelveyears at the Berkeley Instituteand won a scholarship to Vassar,where she graduated Phi BetaKappa in 1940. In 1941 shemarried John Winkler, and theysettled in Brooklyn in 1944.Marjorie remained tremendous-ly devoted to the BerkeleyInstitute, becoming a member ofthe BI Alumnae Association aswell as the Board of Trustees.She even taught 7th and 8thgrade English at the school forthree years. Marjorie also servedon the boa rd o f Schoo lSettlement House and was adocent at the Brooklyn Museum.In the early 1990s, she and Johnmoved to Rossmoor, a retire-ment community in MonroeTownship, NJ, where they madenew friendships, participated ina variety of activities, and trav-eled extensively. Marjorie is sur-vived by her daughter, NancyWinkler Naftulin ’61, her grand-daughter, Julia, and her great-grandson, Luca.
� Julia Card Arbuckle ’52 passedaway on September 25, 2010.She is survived by her husband,Dave, two sons, a daughter,and seven grandchildren.
Dona ChumaseroEverson’41
is grateful to Berkeley Carrollfor the impetus it gave to herchosen career. Starting inelementary school, then on to theBlotter, with encouragement fromher mentor, English teacherMargaret W. Arnold, she became ajournalist. One of her gifts enabledthe Berkeley Carroll library tochoose 31 books related to writingto guide others along that path.Today’s remarkable students andalumni make her proud to be intheir number and inspire her tokeep on giving.
How can you remember Berkeley Carroll forever?� A gift of a bequest� A gift of life insurance� A gift of real estate� A gift from which you
receive income such as a Charitable Remainder Trust, Pooled Income Fund or an Annuity
� A Charitable Lead Trust
For more information contact:
44 Berkeley Carrol l • MAGAZINE • Fal l 2011
� On June 22, 2011, CoreyJeffers ’07 competed in aMicrosoft-hosted event forstudents who want to changethe world through technolo-gy. The students pitched theirideas to Silicon Valley indus-try experts and academics,who then help the studentsrefine their concepts and findmarkets for their ideas. Coreywas a member of IthacaCollege’s Team IC Squared,which presented Embryonic,an HTML 5 web game inwhich the player controls“tiny nanomachines thatweave their way through thefeminine reproductive sys-tem over the course of apregnancy.” Team IC Squaredwas named a worldwide final-ist in game design and com-peted in Microsoft’s ImagineCup in July.
� Dyanna Hallick ’07 graduat-ed from Muhlenberg Collegewith a BA in theater andmedia and communications.She recently spent her fifthsummer working at BerkeleyCarro l l ’s Crea t ive Ar t s
Summer Program, and plansto pursue a career in theater.
� Lionel Johnnes ’07 wasnamed to the Dean’s List forthe spring 2011 semester atWashington University in St.Louis.
� Lauren Menchini ’07 isattending Manhattan Collegefor civil engineering andhopes to work in the engi-neering field after graduatingthis year. This summerLauren worked at TullyConstruction as an intern onthe field and in the estimat-ing department.
� Amanda Sacks ’07 matricu-lated at the University ofMaine this fall to get her MSin ecology and environmen-tal science.
� Blaire Sacks ’07 majored inart history at Bates Collegeand is pursuing a career ingallery work.
� On the tenth anniversaryof 9/11, Max Hardy ’08 servedas a name reader at the WorldTrade Center Memorial,where he remembered hisfather, Jeff Hardy.
� Mary Cleere Haran, moth-er of Jacob Gilford ’09, died ina cyc l ing acc iden t onFebruary 5, 2011. Haran wasa singer and writer bestknown for her cabaret showscelebrating the American songbook. A New York Times obit-uary declared Haran “a singerof remarkable purity…sheeschewed melodramatic pos-turing to deliver deep,thoughtful interpretations ofstandards by Rodgers andHart, Harry Warren, theGershwins and others.”
� Diarra Edwards ’10 wasnamed to the Dean’s List forthe spring 2011 semester atWashington University in St.Louis.
� Georgetown freshmanAudrey Denis ’11 coveredSecretary of State HillaryClinton’s opening address tothe U .S . - Ind i a H ighe rEducation Summit for VoxPopuli, Georgetown’s blog ofrecord. “Three hundred pres-idents, chancellors, and otherimportant educational figuresfrom the U.S. and India”attended the October 13,2011 summit.
classnotes))
Corey Jeffers ’07 (right)
DEATHS IN THE BERKELEY CARROLLFAMILY
� Marjorie Mills Winkler ’36, bornon January 15, 1919, died onJune 3, 2011. She was aBerkeley Institute alumna,teacher, parent of alumna, andTrustee. Marjorie spent twelveyears at the Berkeley Instituteand won a scholarship to Vassar,where she graduated Phi BetaKappa in 1940. In 1941 shemarried John Winkler, and theysettled in Brooklyn in 1944.Marjorie remained tremendous-ly devoted to the BerkeleyInstitute, becoming a member ofthe BI Alumnae Association aswell as the Board of Trustees.She even taught 7th and 8thgrade English at the school forthree years. Marjorie also servedon the boa rd o f Schoo lSettlement House and was adocent at the Brooklyn Museum.In the early 1990s, she and Johnmoved to Rossmoor, a retire-ment community in MonroeTownship, NJ, where they madenew friendships, participated ina variety of activities, and trav-eled extensively. Marjorie is sur-vived by her daughter, NancyWinkler Naftulin ’61, her grand-daughter, Julia, and her great-grandson, Luca.
� Julia Card Arbuckle ’52 passedaway on September 25, 2010.She is survived by her husband,Dave, two sons, a daughter,and seven grandchildren.
Dona ChumaseroEverson’41
is grateful to Berkeley Carrollfor the impetus it gave to herchosen career. Starting inelementary school, then on to theBlotter, with encouragement fromher mentor, English teacherMargaret W. Arnold, she became ajournalist. One of her gifts enabledthe Berkeley Carroll library tochoose 31 books related to writingto guide others along that path.Today’s remarkable students andalumni make her proud to be intheir number and inspire her tokeep on giving.
How can you remember Berkeley Carroll forever?� A gift of a bequest� A gift of life insurance� A gift of real estate� A gift from which you
receive income such as a Charitable Remainder Trust, Pooled Income Fund or an Annuity
� A Charitable Lead Trust
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808 Union StreetBrooklyn, NY 11215www.berkeleycarroll.org
A view from the top at 181 Lincoln Place
Photo by: © Virginia L. S. Freire
Demonstrationsof Learning
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