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April 12, 2013
The e-Dubliner
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Editor: Nicole Sintetos
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Anne Mackey
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Yiran Ouyang: Hope Fowler Phoebe Bride
Photos: Anne Mackey
Nicole Sintetos Donna Stone
Tyson Laa Deng ‘13
Building Community, One Table at a Time
The smell of freshly milled saw dust springs up from the floor of Von Mertens’ Woodshop on the base of Dublin’s campus. As you walk through the chaos of hammers and half built chairs and head to the back, the friendly sight of Mr. Carl Von Mertens (the man himself) and the sound of classical music greet you. Carl, dressed in flannel and wearing a welcoming smile, is working on one of his famous creations: Dublin’s own Harkness table. The Harkness table, a large, oval table which seats 12-18 students, was conceived by philanthropist Edward Harkness who hoped to revolutionize the academic curriculum at Exeter Academy in the early 1930s. Simply, he believed that students needed to be able to see the eyes of their peers when they spoke, that education should be collaborative and not teacher-centered. His solution was to symbolize this relationship between teacher and student by eradicating all tablet desks for the Harkenss table. Since then, both the Harkness teaching style and
the Harkness table have spread to boarding schools across the nation. Today, as a well-loved trustee of the school, Carl is back in the same woodshop
he built with his students years ago. Carl is no stranger to woodworking and has built hundreds of chairs, desks, and bookshelves during his tenure at Dublin. When he began his career, he was a math teacher and each of his students had a small slab desk. He realized this would never do and built long, rectangular tables Soon, all of the faculty began asking Carl for the fruits of his labor for their own classrooms.
Carl’s glossy Harkness table stands almost seven feet long and will reside in a classroom of its own in the coming week. The table — and Carl’s impact —are lasting; one can imagine that many generations of Dubliners will learn to share and create around these beautiful tables.
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Growing up on the coast of California, I became accustomed to celebrity sightings at a young age. By the time I was a freshman in high school, getting a wave from Tom Hanks (filming Turner & Hooch in my hometown) or walking a golf course with Bill Murray (as a student volunteer for a Pro-Am golf tournament) was rather mundane. I must confess, I didn’t even ask Justin Timberlake for his autograph when he stood beside me at an event. I was never star-struck because of the prevalence of famous people who lived on or visited the Monterey Peninsula. Of course, they weren’t visiting me, but, seeing them never really moved me. Hero worship is a tad overdone in our society. Having said that, if I ever have a chance to dodge and weave through speeding traffic to say hello to Betty White on a New York City sidewalk, all bets are off. So imagine my surprise at my unexpected internal reaction when, at Kennett High School in Conway, New Hampshire, early last Saturday morning, I was within arm’s length of Kelly Gallagher and realized I was as quivery as a 13 year old girl backstage at a Justin Bieber concert. What, you may ask, was I doing at a high school in northern New Hampshire on a Saturday morning,
and who, you may ask, is this Kelly Gallagher person? Answering these questions divulges a poorly kept secret about me: I am an unabashedly nerdy English teacher. I bubble with excitement when one of my students inadvertently incorporates vocabulary words into casual conversation. I read books about sentences. I actually counted down
the days to the Don Graves Write Now Conference at Kennett High School. I did this knowing that I would have to awaken at 4:30am to drive more than three hours on a day off for an academic conference. Like I said…nerdy. But there I was, breathlessly gazing at special guest, Kelly Gallagher, too nervous and intimidated to even greet him. Gallagher, an English teacher, author and presenter from Anaheim, California, is a rock star, maybe THE rock star, in the rarified world of helping other
English teachers become better at teaching reading and writing. And I was standing right next to him. I beat a hasty retreat before
my lack of composure and escaping dignity resulted in a scene. I found my seat next to my Dublin School colleagues, Michelle Knapp and Nicole Sintetos, and tried to appear casual when mentioning I had just seen the day’s keynote
Above: Jenny Lai, a student in Ms.
Hammond’s English 9 class, completes a
creative writing assignment atop the ski
hill one snowy afternoon.
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speaker in the hallway. Seeing right through me, they smiled kindly, in the practiced way an adult smiles at an overly enthusiastic toddler. I can’t blame them. I would have done the same in any other situation. I nervously fidgeted in my seat. It was Michelle who introduced me to Gallagher’s work just over a year ago. During our faculty meetings last June, she mentioned his website as a resource for teaching students how to write. For many English and history teachers, effectively teaching, rather than assigning, writing is one of the more elusive challenges of our profession. Debates have raged for years about the best practices in this field and whether good writing can actually be taught. Gallagher’s books, Teaching Adolescent Writers and Write Like This convinced me that it can be. These and his other titles, Deeper Reading and Readicide, immediately resonated with me, providing pedagogically sound and wonderfully practical ideas for an English 9 curriculum. I mean, just re-read those titles – one can see why I was at the very edge of hysteria that morning.
Gallagher’s approach is brilliant in its simplicity and logic. Students today need to read and write much more than they currently do, while teachers should inspire and guide their students through
meaningful practice in the areas that are most difficult for them. Effective writing is not, of course, a skill new to the 21st century. We are becoming increasingly a writing society, though, and writing clearly, with purpose, is more important than ever, perhaps the number one indispensable communications tool for all. By providing “mentor texts” of real world writing that model writing and allows for student to follow, we can help our students
understand good writing as a craft and process rather than a series of assignments or neatly packaged end products for which one may earn a grade, but that are intellectually opaque for the students. Gallagher’s presentation, echoing concepts he explores in his books, stressed teaching literacy through reading and writing real world texts, encompassing a variety of genres and styles, including, but not
“Effective writing is not, of course, a skill new to the 21st century. We are becoming increasingly
a writing society, though, and writing
clearly, with purpose, is more important than
ever, perhaps the number one
indispensable communications tool
for all.”
Ms. Hammond’s English 9 Class writing about winter
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limited to, literary analysis and the five paragraph essay. Are you still with me here? Trust me on this, even though my explanation may be a little dense, when done well, the techniques that Gallagher emphasizes will bring a passion and a more developed sense of competence to even the most intractable writing-phobic teenager. His stuff works, and when it clicks with a struggling student real magic takes place. What resonated with me the most during the conference is the need for teachers to model the writing process for our students and then serve as a “coach” for meaningful practice and development. This is not a new concept for Dublin School; we, as teachers, model and work alongside our students in all realms of our community. Mel Bride and John Adams demonstrate sound skills and techniques on the lacrosse field, then provide meaningful practice opportunities for their players to improve. Earl Schofield models the process of art, helping his students develop sound skills and techniques to help students transform creative imaginings into works of art. Jason Cox codes alongside his programming students, showing them tangible, real-world applications for their work. Choose any facet of the Dublin program and you will find passionate, skilled adults modeling for and mentoring their students. Why wouldn’t I, as an English teacher, adopt this approach? To get my students beyond
the “once and done” mentality, I hope to more extensively model the writing and rewriting process. As Kelly Gallagher demonstrated the mentor text and model concept, I feverishly scribbled notes on my iPad, pausing only to whisper animatedly to Michelle and Nicole after a particularly inspiring idea. The morning session alone lasted two and a half hours, but I was as transfixed as if I had been viewing an award-winning film. Riveting, I tell you. This is what professional development should do: inspire us to hone our craft as teachers and provide specific strategies and techniques we can employ when working with our students. Whether they are
drafting essays, illuminating their insights through poetry, tweeting intelligently, weaving written tales of fact or fancy, or blogging about the boarding school experience, I want them to become lifelong writers who write well.
In the final minutes of the conference, we learned that Kelly Gallagher will be returning to the Granite State next spring, with a focus on teaching our students to become deeper readers. I have March 22nd, 2014 already marked on my calendar. It is unlikely that there will be promotional posters for his 2014 Tour. And I may not be able to pick up some extra tickets on the secondary ticket scalping market. But maybe by then I will have calmed my fluttering intellect and be grounded enough to say hello. I wonder if he gives autographs?
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Congratulations!!!!!!
All 4’s Emily Beaupre
Phoebe Bride
Lilly Campbell
Fiona Johnson
Max Clary
Hope Fowler
Alex Lange
Patrick Nichols
Elaine Ouyang
Brendan Palmer
Zhiyu Pan
Will Utzschneider
Hannah Whitesel
Tatum Wilson
Ningda Xiong
Highest Honors
Emily Beaupre
Jonas Beymer
Phoebe Bride
Max Clary
Peter Dunphy
Molly Forgaard
Charles Imhoff
Fiona Johnson
Patrick Nichols
Elizabeth O'Rourke
Yiran Ouyang
Zhiyu Pan
Reef Rogers
Jillian Steele
Erin Tourgee
William Utzschneider
Hannah Whitesel
Tatum Wilson
High Honors
Lukas Barth
Amanda Bartlett
Emily Bascom
Peter Bascom
Adam Bloom
Wenzhi Cai
Lillian Campbell
Charlotte Caron
Suk Hun Cho
Sydney Clarke
Mekhi Crooks
Elizabeth Davis
Sydney De Tomaso
Michaela Dempsey
Margaret Elliott
Yuan Feng T2G
Jordan Ferreras
Danyell Figueroa
Stephanie Figueroa
Harry Flores
Daniel Fowler
Myles Freedman
Jesse Garrett-Larsen
Yunfan Ge
Harrison Glaude
Maja Hardikar
Daniel Harrington
Grant Holliday
Katharine Houde
Riley Jacobs
Alyssa Jones
Tyler Jones
Tyson Laa Deng
Alexander Lange
Edward Lawrence
Shutong Luo
Bo Ning Ma
Julia Marcou
Woo Jun Nam
Kendall-Brennen Navedo
Brendan Palmer
Benjamin Phillips
Alexander Popov
Colin Rogers
John Scriven
Myles Spencer
Leah Star
Patricia Sullivan
Elizabeth Takyi
Ning Da Xiong
The Dublin School rowing team informally kicked off
their race season this past Wednesday by competing in
an inter-squad sprint triathlon. The three events includ-
ed a 2000 meter row, 3.5 mile bike, and 1.8 mile run.
The rowing took place on the rowing machines inside
the Whitney Gym, while the biking and running portion
took advantage of a 5.3 mile circuit that eventually
looped all the competitors back to the Dublin School
gym.
The girls were the first to go off for the afternoon, with
Alexis Andrus finishing the 2K row first with a time of
8 minutes, quickly followed by Mekenzie Mattheson
with 8:02, and Phoebe Knox with 8:07. Taking ad-
vantage of the top girls’ fatigue and transitioning quick-
ly to the bike, however, was Tatum Wilson, who shot
off into the lead once finishing the row; she completed
the course with an overall time of 46:53. Coming in
second for the girls was Phoebe Knox in 51 minutes
flat, followed by coxswain Anna Rozier with a time of
52:40.
In the boys’ first wave, top rowing finishers were Mark
Porter (7:14.2), Brendan Palmer (7:14.4), and Jesse
Garret-Larson (7:15.4). In the second wave, top erg
times went to Peter Bascom (7:09. 2) and Sasha Popov
(7:25.9).
In the boys’ overall results, however, coxswain Charlie
Imhoff took first place with a time of 44:52! Next for
the guys was Myles Spencer, completing the course in
46:53, and in third was Jesse Garret-Larson with a
47:48. Charlie Imhoff would claim the fastest time of
the day, and was able to accomplish the feat entirely in
dress code!
1st Annual “Truth and Courage Tri”
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Once upon a time there was something called
a "book."
It probably originated with the Chinese, who
seem to have originated everything.
They were writing on silk, perhaps even earlier
than the expat Israelites were sitting at the outdoor
cafes of Babylon, nursing their shots of goat milk
and jotting down on clay tablets every story they
had ever heard, beginning with Cain and his
brother Abel. (Poor Cain didn't realize he
shouldn't have struck Abel so hard: no one had
ever died before.)
Like the Egyptians, the Israelites later switched
to scrolls, which are still in use today (the
Torah). The material for scrolls morphed from
papyrus to parchment to paper, fodder for the 15th
century Gutenberg press and the 20th and 21st
century library in Dublin's little red schoolhouse.
One of the great joys of study hall at Dublin in
my era was a chance to browse through those
books, the first adult books I read.
The first book I had read at home was the first
book Dr. Seuss wrote: To Think That I Saw It On
Mulberry Street, a little masterpiece. A few years
later I moved into the writings of John R. Tunis,
sports novels that also dealt with social and
psychological issues and were later admired in
Philip Roth's American Pastoral.
At Dublin I discovered Hemingway. He was a
family friend (in northern Michigan, Toronto and
Key West) but I had never read him. What
fascinated me was his Biblical understatement,
which packed an emotional punch as powerful as I
would discover more than 60 years later in the
prophet Jeremiah.
Hemingway's dialogue led me to ferret out all
the plays in the schoolhouse library: Shakespeare,
O'Neill, Sidney Howard, Elmer Rice, Karl Capek
and dozens more. I read them all. This in turn led
to a lifelong love affair with the theatre.
I became president of the Dublin Drama Club,
which put on a number of one-acts, including old
standbys like The Monkey's Paw ("It was a dark
and stormy night," which launched Snoopy's
literary career) and The Valiant, on which the old
Paul Muni death row movie was based.
We also put on a play called Submerged by
Clay Shaw, the bizarre New Orleans business
executive who would later be prosecuted by the
equally bizarre Jim Garrison in the JFK
assassination "conspiracy." Shaw was
acquitted. (Tommy Lee Jones won an Oscar
nomination playing him in Oliver Stone's
farfetched film JFK.)
Submerged was the first real Dublin theatrical
triumph. There we were, trapped at the bottom of
the sea, drawing cards to see who would get shot
out the torpedo tube to signal our presence. I was
the coward who drew the high card (I hope this
wasn't typecasting) and my room-mate Bob
Tillinghast '48 played the dreamer (definitely
typecasting) who volunteered to go in my
stead. In the end, Butch Horner '48 and the other
meanies locked me in the last compartment as the
water came surging in.
My experience in the library at the little red
schoolhouse led me to write a play at Michigan
that won a Hopwood Prize (Arthur Miller wrote a
far better Hopwood play) and after the Army I
spent three years at the Yale Drama School. I
came to New York with a play optioned by Edwin
Wilson, the Wall Street Journal drama critic, but
we couldn't raise enough money. So I turned to
writing monologues for a living -- speechwriting -
- which became my career.
It's been rewarding and a lot of fun. And it all
began in the Dublin library.
Next time you're in the study hall (are the
books still there?) pull out some unrequired
reading from the bookshelves. It's wonderfully
transporting and it could well be the start of your
career.
Al Connable '48 [email protected]
The View from ’48
By Al Connable
That First Book
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A Message from Michelle Lange, President of the Parents’ Association
Dear Parents and Guardians,
The Parents’ Association is getting excited to host the Dublin
School Memorial Mile on Saturday, May 25th! It would be
wonderful to have you take part; we welcome all ages and
abilities. To make it easier to train for the race, Cathy
Utzschneider, parent of Will’15 has designed 2 training
programs for the Dublin School Memorial Mile. Cathy is a
world class masters runner and Professor at Boston College.
She is the Head Coach of the Liberty Athletic Club in Boston,
USATF Certified Coach and site coach of www.women-
running-together.com
Cathy is a 7X national master’s age group track and field
champion, winning a Gold medal at the World Masters
Regional’s, an American Age Group Record for the 4X 1600
relay, and a Silver medal at the Nike World Masters Games.
Cathy is the author of the book, MOVE!. She is a respected
columnist for National Masters News
and New England Runner. She currently
is working on a new book, Mastering
Running, due out in 2014.
You may find the training programs and
registration for the race by visiting:
www.memorialmile.dublinschool.org
Cathy will be running in the race with
women from the Liberty Athletic Club.
I encourage you to participate! Please
contact me with any questions about the
race, registration or if you would like to volunteer on race day.
Thanks!
Have a great weekend!
Best,
Michelle Lange
April Dates to Remember: Grandparents’ Day Wednesday April 17, 2013. We invite you to join your grandson/granddaughter for the day here at Dublin School on Wednesday, April 17th. Invitations have been mailed and a follow up e-mail message will be sent to the parents. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact, Donna Stone at 603-563-1285 or [email protected].
May Dates to Remember
Day Parent Coffee Wednesday May 1, 2013. Time: 7:50am – 8:30am.
Please join us for the last day parent coffee of the school year. I hope you can attend!
Faculty and Staff Appreciation Day Tuesday May 7, 2013.
The students will be helping the Parents’ Association honor our teachers and staff on this special day. We will be in contact with the volunteers who signed up through the volunteer survey with more details about the day. Thank you for your help!
Mayfair Weekend Friday, Saturday and Sunday May 17 – 19, 2013. The Parents’ Association helps at the Spring Concert, which takes place on the Friday evening of Mayfair Weekend. We provide snacks and baked goods for those attending. On Saturday, parents spend time enjoying the Mayfair activities in the morning and athletic events in the afternoon. Details and registration for the weekend will be posted on the school website at the end of April or in early May.
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We were saddened to learn of the passing
of Michael “Mickey” James ’42 and
Christine Alvardo Camacho ’90.
Michael “Mickey” James, 87, died
peacefully on April 4, 2013. Mickey lived a
long and glorious life. He was the author of
“The Adventure of M. James.” Which is
available in the Dublin School library. A
memorial service will be held this summer
at a date yet to be determined. We will
keep you posted with more information
when it becomes available.
Christine Alvarado Camacho, 41, of
Leander, Texas passed away on April 1,
2013.
Please do not hesitate to contact the Alumni
Office if you have any further questions or
would like to share a memory you have of
Mickey or Christine for the Dubliner.
Beyond the Quad
Beyond the Quad
Michael “Mickey” James ’42
Christine Alvardo Camacho ’90
We had a special Dublin School Maple Day on
March 23rd as part of New Hampshire’s Maple
Weekend. We were excited to have alumni Jamie
Huntington-Meath ’67, Guy Jackson ’67, Ben
Sandri ’05 and Scott Olsen ’07 join us along with a
steady stream of parents, grandparents and friends
coming by to watch the boiling and buy our
delicious Dublin School maple syrup. A special
thanks to Brooks and Emily Johnson, and current
student Matt Coffin ’16 for all there help in making
the day possible.
Maple Day at Dublin
Calling all Alumni!
Keep up with your classmates
professionally and personally. Send us
your promotion, career changes,
marriages, births, publication, etc., and
we will share your milestones with the
Dublin School community.
Please contact: Donna Stone
(603) 563-1285
Carl Von Mertens connects
with Paul Floren ’87
Recently, trustee and former teacher, Carl von
Mertens got in touch with alumnus Paul Floren ’87,
a General Electric executive, who is currently
living in Pairs after a couple years in the Middle
East and China. Paul and his wife Sophie live in a
house outside the city in a small town that reminds
him of Peterborough. Paul has three children,
Magali, 21, who is studying neuroscience and
psychology at University, Henri, 18, and Anders
who is just about to turn three.