Woodstock School Alumni Magazine Vol CIV, 2011

Quadrangle - 5
December: Santa breakfast for the Junior School (inset: Quad Christmas
presentations)
We also counted down to
Christmas with the traditional
Junior School morning presentations,
culminating in the
Santa Breakfast. The quad
dining room was decorated
with hundreds of fairy lights
and guests were served
by Grade 6 ‘elves’. A hot
breakfast warmed everyone
and Christmas carols
were sung with gusto. We
also surveyed all the staff to see where they
were going to spend Christmas and how
they would celebrate it. Family and warmer
climates were the winners, of course!
FEBRUARY: Staff packed away their summer
clothes and wrapped up warmly for
a snowy start to the school year. We were
warmed by the news that Woodstock School
had been named among the Top 10 International
Residential Schools of the world by
AsianCorrespondent.com, a news service
owned by Hybrid News Limited in the UK.
SAT results were disclosed and a proud Head
of Senior School, Andrew Plonka said: “Of
particular note was the number of students
who scored in the top 75-99 percentile
worldwide, with well
over half our test
takers falling into
the top quarter.
The best news
for this year’s students
is their writing
score, which is
Woodstock’s best
result in the six years
that the SAT has included
this subject.”
MARCH: It was a month of awards
for the Alter family. Tom Alter ’68 became
Woodstock’s latest Distinguished Alumnus.
Marty Alter Chen’60, herself a Distinguished
Alumna of Woodstock, received a Padma
Shree for her work in areas of employment,
poverty and gender in India under the discipline
of social work. The Padma Shree is
among India’s highest civilian honours. Tom
Alter was a recipient of this award in January
2008.
Another award was to Shonila Chander, head
of the Social Studies department, for her exemplary
contribution to the career guidance
series for students at Woodstock. The ICS
September: our Development Associates team
Silver Jubilee memento was presented to
Ms. Chander at an assembly in Parker Hall.
Thomas Chandy, President of the Board of
Directors, announced the successful completion
of a thorough and inclusive principal
search process and the appointment of Dr.
Jonathan Long as the Principal of Woodstock
from December 1, 2011. The Board also was
delighted to announce that Dr. Eleanor Nicholson
would serve as Interim Principal from
June to December 2011.
The Hawaiian team from New Hope Diamond
Head in Oahu visited again to lead the
senior school retreat. Development Associate
Makani Nakasone attended and declared that
the students over a short twenty-eight hour
period felt more connected to each other,
more in touch with God and more in touch
with themselves as individuals.
In a month of awards Hanifl Centre received
their own. The Confederation of Indian Industry
Environmental Award for the Uttarakhand
region was presented to the Centre for
Outdoor Environmental Education. Some of
the Hanifl Centre activities and programmes
for which the award was given were the Gap
Semester in the Himalaya, the Turner Organic
Garden and the Fleming Nature
Trail, as well as the Mussoorie
Writers’ Festival with themes
such as ‘Writing About Nature’
and ‘Mountain Literature’.
February: snowfall on the campus
March: Distinguished Alumnus
Tom Alter ‘68
APRIL: We celebrated Easter
as the beautiful weather returned
to the mountain. In the subdued
lighting of the Win Mumby
gymnasium, Woodstock gathered
together to celebrate Easter
Sunday. Head of Science Ray
Husthwaite, dressed as a Celtic
monk, narrated the “back story”
of Easter, beginning with creation
and the fall of man spanning the