Alumni Weekend Memories - The Taft School

B U L L E T I N 

A Different Kind of 

SpringBreak 

Students volunteer in the 

Dominican Republic 

115th 

Commencement 

Exercises 

Alumni Weekend 

Memories 

Wordsmith 

for the President 

S U M M E R 2 0 0 5

B U L L E T I N 

Summer 2005 

Volume 75 Number 4 

Bulletin Staff 

Director of Development 

John E. Ormiston 

Editor 

Julie Reiff 

Alumni Notes 

Linda Beyus 

Anne Gahl 

Jackie Maloney 

Design 

Good Design, LLC 

www.gooddesignusa.com 

Proofreader 

Nina Maynard 

Mail letters to: 

Julie Reiff, Editor 

Taft Bulletin 

The Taft School 

Watertown, CT 06795-2100 U.S.A. 

ReiffJ@TaftSchool.org 

Send alumni news to: 

Linda Beyus 

Alumni Office 



TaftBulletin@TaftSchool.org 

Deadlines for Alumni Notes: 

Fall–August 30 

Winter–November 15 

Spring–February 15 

Summer–May 30 

Send address corrections to: 

Sally Membrino 

Alumni Records 



TaftRhino@TaftSchool.org 

1-860-945-7777 

www.TaftAlumni.com 

The Taft Bulletin (ISSN 0148-0855) is 

published quarterly, in February, 

May, August, and November, by 

The Taft School, 110 Woodbury 

Road, Watertown, CT 06795- 

2100, and is distributed free 

of charge to alumni, parents, 

grandparents, and friends of the 

school. All rights reserved. 

This magazine is printed on 

recycled paper.

Flanked by their teachers, 

seniors process into 

Centennial Quadrangle 

for the school’s 115th 

Commencement Exercises. 

Bob Falcetti 

F E AT U R E S 

Heard But Not Seen............................... 22 

Deputy speechwriter for President George W. Bush, Marc 

Thiessen ’85 says the key is to be anonymous. 

By Tom Frank ’80 

A Week’s Difference............................... 26 

Cover Story: Nine students and two Spanish teachers spent 

most of their spring break helping at an orphanage in the 

Dominican Republic. 

By Roberto d’Erizans 

Thanks for the Memories....................... 30 

For more than 100 years, alumni have returned to campus on 

a weekend in May to revisit their alma mater and to renew 

old friendships with friends and teachers. 

Photography by Bob Falcetti and Michael Kodas 

115th Commencement.......................... 35 

Remarks by Jamie Smythe ’70, Sean O’Mealia ’05, Sha-Kayla 

Crockett ’05, Javier Garcia ’05, and William R. MacMullen ’78 

D E P A R T M E N T S 

Letters.................................................... 2 

Alumni Spotlight.................................... 3 

Around the Pond................................... 10 

Sport...................................................... 17 

Annual Fund Report............................... 20 

Endnote: The Boy of Summer, 

The Father of Fall................................... 46 

By Joseph H. Cooper and William D. Cooper ’06 

On the Cover 

Volunteers Neal McCloskey ’07, Phillip Martinez ’06, Helena 

Smith ’06, Chad Thomas ’06, Eliza Jackson ’06, Jamie Albert ’08, 

Kelsey White ’08, Christine Anderson ’06, Chris Papadopolous 

’06, and leaders Kevin Conroy and Roberto d’Erizans at the 

school where they volunteered in the Dominican Republic. 

E-Mail Us! Send your latest news, address change, birth announcement, 

or letter to the editor via e-mail. Our address is TaftBulletin@ 

TaftSchool.org. We continue to accept your communiqués by fax 

machine (860-945-7756), telephone (860-945-7777), or U.S. Mail (110 

Woodbury Road, Watertown, CT 06795-2100). So let’s hear from you! 

Taft on the Web: Find a friend’s new address or look up back issues of 

the Bulletin at www.TaftAlumni.com. 

What happened at this afternoon’s game—Visit us at www.TaftSports. 

com for the latest Big Red coverage. 

Don’t forget you can 

shop online at 

www.TaftStore.com 

For other campus news and events, including admissions information, 

visit our main site at www.TaftSchool.org, with improved calendar 

features and Around the Pond stories.

L E T T E R S 

Letters 

We welcome Letters to the Editor relating to the 

content of the magazine. Letters may be edited 

for length, clarity, and content, and are published 

at the editor’s discretion. Send correspondence to: 

Julie Reiff, editor 


110 Woodbury Road 

Watertown, CT 06795-2100 USA 

Or to 

ReiffJ@TaftSchool.org 

I was happy and more than a bit surprised to 

receive your Winter 2005 issue. Happy because 

of the subject matter and surprised because 

you managed to track me down (with 

the help of my brother Jamie Cox ’87) in my 

village in Madagascar, where I am serving as a 

Peace Corps volunteer. 

Although I am working as an ESL 

teacher and teacher trainer, I have become 

very interested in environmental issues during 

my time here. Madagascar is an environmental 

hot spot; the island is rich in endemic 

flora and fauna, but Madagascar’s people are 

very poor. The result is a constant struggle 

to balance pressing environmental needs with 

the needs of the many people who make their 

living off of the land. There is no easy solution 

to this problem. 

On a brighter note, I am currently rereading 

Aldo Leopold’s Sand County Almanac, an 

environmental classic I first read in Mr. Mac’s 

(do they still call him that now that he’s headmaster) 

wilderness literature class at Taft. 

When I pine for DVDs and indoor plumbing 

I try to remember Leopold’s wise words: 

“Nothing could be more salutary at this stage 

than a little healthy contempt for a plethora of 

material blessings.” 

If any of your readers find themselves in 

Madagascar, they shouldn’t hesitate to contact 

me. Like all Peace Corps volunteers, I love 

visitors and will see that they receive a warm 

“Tonga Soa” (welcome). 

—Libby Cox ’92 

A wonderful article on Peter Berg ’80 in the 

spring issue. You might be interested in this 

picture (below) from our very successful sailing 

team with Peter crewing for Pease Herndon 

Glaser ’79, who went on to Olympic sailing 

success in Sydney [see Winter 2000]. This was 

probably taken in the spring of 1977. 

—Toby Baker 

Faculty 1960–78 

Just wanted to say thanks for the great piece 

about Joe Knowlton and me in the spring issue 

[“Best of Friends”]. We’ve received many 

new hits on the website, and I’m certain the 

article has much to do with it. I did notice 

one inaccuracy: the reference to the both of 

us “spending time in Vietnam.” Whereas I 

did make several trips to the region, Joe was 

the only one to be assigned there for 13 hairraising 

months and see combat. Just thought 

you should know. 

—William Bingham ’64 

Ed. Note: Bingham had a film broadcast on 

A&E over Memorial Day weekend. Based 

on a script he wrote five years ago and later 

adapted for television, Faith of My Fathers is 

the story of John McCain’s military adventures 

and prisoner-of-war experiences. Bingham 

is working on another project for A&E this 

summer. For more information, visit www.aetv. 

com/faithofmyfathers/. 

From the Editor 

The clippings have been pouring in! 

Jeff Baxter ’67 was on the front page 

of the Wall Street Journal, the New York 

Times reviewed a new book by Rudolph 

Chelminski ’52, Will Dana ’81 was promoted 

to managing editor of Rolling 

Stone, and young alumni are captaining 

top-ranked college sports teams around 

the country. How is a small quarterly 

to keep up with such an accomplished 

group of graduates 

I don’t want to tip my hand too 

much—some of these stories will find 

their way into coming issues of the 

Bulletin as well—but you are an impressive 

lot! And yet, even as I write this column 

an obituary crossed my desk that 

made me cringe inside—if only I had 

known about this alumnus when he was 

alive. But some of you are very modest. 

Fortunately for me, your parents and 

classmates are often proud enough to 

speak on your behalf. 

Looking ahead, I’m hoping to focus 

the Winter 2006 issue on alumni who’ve 

dedicated their careers to nonprofit organizations—our 

fifth installment in a 

series about alumni who exemplify the 

school motto (following those who serve 

in the military, ministry, education, and 

the environment). 

Do you know a classmate or an 

alum in your family we might include 

Please help us sing their praises. 

Pease Herndon Glaser ’79 and Peter Berg ’80 as part of the school’s highly successful 

sailing team in the late 1970s. 

—Julie Reiff 

Taft Bulletin Summer 2005

A L U M N I S P O T L I G H T 

S P OT L I G H T 

Availing himself of some of the 

cruise’s perks, Gentleman Host 

Tom Goodale ’55 gives new 

meaning to the term “working 

vacation.” Baerbel Schmidt 

Bon Voyage 

Travel and Leisure magazine decided to 

go “behind the scenes with a veteran 

cruise ambassador to see just how far a 

fox-trot will take a guy.” Their veteran 

was none other than Tom Goodale ’55, 

who has traveled from Cape Town to 

Sydney in the last 10 years on 18 voyages 

as a gentleman host. 

The nine-page feature in the April 

issue (including five full-page photos) 

follows Goodale on a luxury cruise 

aboard the Silver Wind through the 

Brazilian Amazon. An unpaid employee 

who “does his best to make passengers 

feel fascinating,” he is entitled to most of 

the same amenities as the paying guests 

in exchange for being on call for part 

of each day and every evening—to play 

cards, chaperone outings, escort female 

guests to dinner, and of course to dance. 

The ideal host, the article points 

out, is between the ages of 45 and 72, 

is cultured, knows a “tango from a 

two-step,” shows no favoritism among 

guests, and has the highest moral ethics. 

One hosting service called Goodale “one 

of the best.” His experience “navigating 

the choppy waters of closed circles, social 

niceties, and catty jealousies” makes 

for smoother sailing with even the most 

demanding passengers. 

You can read the article at www. 

travelandleisure.com. For his next voyage, 

Goodale is thinking about a 27-day cruise 

in January from Sydney to Singapore. 



An Eco-Home of 

One’s Own 

Carrie Hitchcock ’75 and her family, 

along with twenty others, are currently 

developing a former industrial site in 

inner-city Bristol, UK, which they are 

turning into a sustainable housing community 

by building eco-houses. 

“Building our own house has 

been exciting, scary, all-consuming, 

and inexorable,” writes Hitchcock. 

“In fact, it’s a bit like bringing a child 

into the world.” 

Using self-generated electricity, passive 

solar heating, water conservation, and 

“loads of recycled and sustainably sourced 

materials,” they finished their house just 

over a year ago, but are still working on 

other aspects of the project. 

“John and I, and our two children, 

13 and 17, have been involved 

Carrie Hitchcock ’75 and her daughter Helen, 13, standing on the porch of their selfbuilt 

eco-house in Bristol, England. 

in the project since June 2000,” she 

adds. “We have had our success and 

failures, our bad decisions, and our 

fortunate flukes.” 

Hitchcock also works on urban 

renewal projects with an organization 

called IRIS (Involving Residents in 

Solutions, www.iris42.com), and pilots 

a ferryboat around Bristol’s docks. 

For more information and more photos 

of their eco-housing project, visit 

www.ashleyvale.org.uk 

Big Red Polo 

Senter Johnson ’00 helped Cornell win 

the men’s polo National Title this spring 

with a 21–19 victory over the University 

of Virginia, taking home the 11th title in 

the program’s history, and Cornell’s first 

title since 1992 (also over Virginia). 

Senter Johnson ’00, third from left, and his Cornell teammates after winning the National 

polo title in May. Johnson was also named All-American. Michelle Holmes ’00 

Marking the team’s 26th national 

championship appearance, the win was 

their second two-goal victory of the 

national championships (they defeated 

Texas A&M 18–16 to earn a spot in 

the finals) and avenged last year’s loss 

to Virginia. Johnson had eight goals in 

the final game and took home All-East 

honors and was also honored as an All- 

American and Cornell Varsity Athlete 

of the Week. The team ended its season 

at 14–5. 

This summer Johnson traveled to 

England, hoping to play for four or five 

different teams there. With luck he’ll 

make his way into the British Open 

Gold Cup, which along with the U.S. 

Open is the largest tournament outside 

of Argentina. 

He moves to Miami this fall to 

work in business, but says he “will be 

slowly working on my professional polo 

career at the same time in Palm Beach,” 

most likely exercising horses and playing 

practice games. 



A Passion for Fashion 

Barbie’s clothes may have been fashionable 

enough for some girls, but not for 

Renée Young ’97, who decided when 

she was little that she could improve the 

doll’s wardrobe. By the time she went 

to Cornell to study hotel and restaurant 

management, she was making clothes 

for herself and her friends. 

Cornell gave her a background in 

business, but she decided after college 

that she wanted a career that was more 

creative and hands on. Her passion for 

fashion and design led her back to her 

hometown of Los Angeles, where she 

began her first clothing line, Try Me! 

Two years ago she launched 

KinkyChinky, a line she says is more suited 

to where she is now. “I use higher quality 

fabrics and do gowns as well. Some 

are deconstructed (like Barbie’s outfits); 

I might start with something vintage but 

add to it. Others I make from scratch.” 

KinkyChinky is sexy, feminine, 

daring, and fun, she says, offering casual-wear, 

limited edition, and one-ofa-kind 

pieces “in order to satiate every 

fashionista’s inner desire.” All her pieces 

are handcrafted and made-to-order. 

A number of her pieces have been 

worn by celebrities such as Madonna, 

Fashion designer Renée Young ’97, left, with celebrity publicist Valerie Michaels wearing 

one of Young’s designs. 

Lara Flynn Boyle, and Anne Hathaway. 

“I knew she was big time,” writes 

classmate Crystal Meers, who is West 

Coast editor for the fashion newsletter 

Daily Candy (www.dailycandy.com), 

“when I went to a celebrity-studded 

Flaunt magazine party and Renée’s dress 

was a three-page centerfold spread and 

her panties were in the VIP gift bags.” 

The two reconnected then and 

have stayed in touch since, along with 

Courtney McCraw ’96, who had worked 

with Meers at Nylon magazine, before 

joining a PR firm in Los Angeles. “We 

are really good resources for one another 

in the industry,” Young adds. 

Young and Meers have done events 

together, including Elle Girl Prom, 

where they donated dresses that celebrities 

have worn to charities. 

Singing the Praises of a New Music Center 

Hotchkiss School is just completing 

construction of a new Music Arts 

Center designed by architect Jefferson 

B. Riley ’64 of Centerbrook Architects 

and Planners. A grand opening concert 

is scheduled this fall for the new LEEDcertified 

center, built of glass, recycled 

copper, and other sustainable materials. 

The voluminous, glass-walled, 640- 

seat music pavilion commands panoramic 

views of the nearby Litchfield 

hills and lakes. The pavilion seating is 

configured in the round with parterre 

and upper level balconies surrounding 

a flat floor orchestra modeled after 

Boston’s Symphony Hall. The pavilion’s 

one-inch-thick glass walls open to an 

outdoor terrace for community concerts 

during the summer. 

O&G Industries (the family business 

operated by Greg Oneglia ’65) 

served as construction manager. 

Woodruff/Brown Photography


Identity Claus 

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and 

he lives at Lake Tahoe. 

According to court records, Claus, 

formerly known as Thomas O’Connor 

’65, petitioned for and was granted a 

name change in February. 

The Nevada resident, who says 

he’s always carried the spirit of the jolly 

Christmas character, legally changed his 

name to Santa Claus. 

“It’s a new name, not a new identity,” 

Claus said. “I’ve always had that 

spirit and once I started growing the 

beard it seemed like a blessing and a 

very good fit for me.” 

At 14 months of beard growth, 

Claus, dressed in blue jeans, red suspenders 

and a red button-up flannel shirt, sat 

at Burnt Cedar Beach in Incline Village 

and talked about his life as Santa. 

“Of course it’s a fictional character, 

but as far as I’m concerned, ’tis I,” 

he said. 

And to five children who walked up to 

him in one hour at the beach, he is real. 

“You remember at Christmas you 

gave me that big bike It’s a little big,” 

said a girl, accompanied by her father, 

who approached Claus. 

Claus is no stranger to children 

approaching him with requests and 

questions, and has the answers to almost 

any inquiry. 

“If you grow one or two inches taller 

it should be a good fit,” he told the girl. 

Later, Claus found a thank-you 

note from the same girl on his car—a 

red and white Ford Bronco. 

If Claus seems to always be in character, 

that’s because he is, he said. 

Although he saves his suit—adorned 

in fake fur “for I think what would be 

obvious reasons,” he said—for special 

occasions, Claus does have an outfit he 

wears most days out on the town. 

“I usually wear a shirt like this—a red 

one,” Claus said, tugging gently on the 

flannel button-up he wore to the beach, 

“which is in keeping with the bishops’ 

Santa Claus, formerly known as Tom O’Connor ’65, enjoys the afternoon at Burnt Cedar 

Beach, Lake Tahoe. Bonanza Photo/Emma Garrard 

robes that St. Nicholas used to wear.” 

Claus’ round stomach and wirerimmed 

glasses complete the look, but 

Claus said children and adults know 

he’s Santa Claus no matter what he’s 

wearing. Claus claims it’s his full white 

beard. After five months’ growth, friends 

and community members started telling 

him he should play Santa. 

Now, a couple months after the 

name change, Claus said most people 

are supportive of his decision, but some 

people aren’t so quick to believe that 

“Santa Claus” is actually his name. 

Recently at the Reno-Tahoe 

International Airport, Claus was passing 

through security when an airline 

worker suspicious of the name on the 

ticket had him show identification. 

“They were just being cautious, so I 

gave them my passport, Social Security 

card, and state driver’s license,” he said. 

Claus—who received a bachelor of 

fine arts and a master of arts from New 

York University—has lived all over the 

United States, but has decided to call 

Nevada home. 

“Why would Santa stay in the 

North Pole” he asked, gesturing toward 

the lake. “Lake Tahoe is so beautiful. 

I’ve been coming here for 20 years.” 

Starting this summer, Santa hopes 

to shed his “bowl full of jelly” with the 

Santa Diet—a diet Claus created as a 

way to address obesity. 

Will the weight loss hurt his image 

“The image of Santa has changed 

a couple of times,” Claus said. “Most 

people probably don’t know that St. 

Nicholas, upon whom Santa is based, 

was a thin guy.” 

—Christina Nelson 

North Lake Tahoe Bonanza 



Peter Frew ’75 

Third Klingenstein Joins Board 

Following in the footsteps of her father 

Lee ’44 and brother Paul ’74, 

Jo Klingenstein Ziesing ’78 joins the 

school’s board of trustees this fall, having 

won the annual election for alumni 

trustee in May. 

A theater and English double major 

at Cornell, Ziesing spent a semester in 

London studying at the Royal Academy 

of Dramatic Art. She also volunteered as 

a drama coach at a low-income middle 

school in Ithaca and worked at Cornell’s 

childcare center. 

After college, Jo used her minor 

in graphic design at Pushpin, Lubalin, 

and Pecolick and earned a degree in 

graphic design at Pratt Institute School 

of Art and Design before deciding to 

go into education. She has taught at 

Poughkeepsie Day School, Greenwich 

Country Day, and Fairfield University, 

where she taught elementary education. 

For the past decade, she has worked 

extensively with Horizons, a local and 

national education enrichment program 

for low-income children, and serves on 

its board of trustees. 

She lives in New Canaan with her 

husband, Peter, their three children: Lee 

’07, Annie, and Will. 

Other members of the school’s 

board chosen by alumni ballot are Jamie 

Better ’79, Roger Lee ’90, and Rosilyn 

Ford ’80. Each serves a four-year term. 

Pentagon Promotion 

Ray DuBois ’66 was sworn in as acting 

undersecretary of the Army in 

March. Prior to this appointment by 

President Bush, DuBois served concurrently 

as deputy undersecretary of defense 

for installations and environment 

and as the director of administration 

and management in the Office of the 

Secretary of Defense. 

“I asked Secretary Rumsfeld to 

reassign Ray to the Army because Ray 

has extensive experience within the 

Department of Defense and has demonstrated 

ability to get the right things 

done at the right times,” said Secretary 

of the Army Francis Harvey. “He will be 

a tremendous asset to the Army.” 

DuBois served in the Army from 

1967 to 1969, including nearly 13 

months in Vietnam as a combat intelligence 

operations sergeant in the central 

highlands. He later served as special assistant 

and then as deputy undersecretary 

of the Army in the 1970s. 

Since April 2001, he has managed 

the Base Realignment and Closure 

analytic process and the Defense 

Department’s installations, housing, utilities, 

energy, competitive outsourcing, 

and environmental programs worldwide. 

Since June 2002, he has been responsible 

for Washington Headquarters Services, a 

2,500-employee agency where, as “mayor” 

of the Pentagon, he oversaw all administrative 

services within the National 

Capitol Region, the Pentagon Force 

Protection Agency, and the $5.5 billion 

Pentagon Renovation Program. 

Now, as acting undersecretary, 

DuBois will serve as the secretary of the 

Army’s senior civilian adviser. 

Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey, left, swears in Ray DuBois as acting undersecretary 

of the Army as his wife Helen holds the Bible. Staff Sgt. Carmen Burgess 


In print 

The Perfectionist: 

Life and Death in Haute Cuisine 

Rudolph Chelminski ’52 

Gotham Books, 2005 

On the evening of February 24, 2003, 

an astounding story broke into French 

radio and TV news bulletins, then raced 

around the world: Bernard Loiseau, 

France’s most famous chef, had committed 

suicide. More than a surprise, 

it was simply unbelievable, because 

he was a man who had everything: a 

super luxurious hotel and restaurant 

holding three stars, the highest rating 

of the Michelin guide; media star status 

at home and an enviable reputation 

worldwide for the daring cuisine des 

essences he had invented; a great staff, 

entirely devoted to his cause; an attractive 

loyal wife and three beautiful young 

children. He was on top of the world, 

and yet he chose to end it all—or was it 

was because he was on top of the world 

Rudolph Chelminski delves through 

the outward trappings of wealth, joviality, 

and success to discover subterranean currents, 

hints of which only a few intimates 

had been able to perceive: self-doubt, 

insecurity, and, most of all, the anguish 

underlying the mad perfectionism that 

had driven him to the summit of his art. 

“Everything considered, it was not 

so surprising,” Chelminski writes in the 

opening chapter. “Such a thing could 

have happened before, and it could happen 

again, because the world of haute 

gastronomie française in which Bernard 

Loiseau had been stewing for thirty-five 

years is a very particular, very peculiar 

kind of pressure cooker.” 



Heroes of the Age: 

Moral Fault Lines on 

the Afghan Frontier 

David B. Edwards ’70 

University of California Press, 1996 

(Recently added to the Alumni 

Authors Collection) 

Tales Before Midnight 

Ted Mason ’43 

Bartleby Press, 2005 

The French War Against America: 

How a Trusted Ally Betrayed 

Washington and the 

Founding Fathers 

Harlow Unger ’49 

John Wiley & Sons, 2005 

New Artists Collaborative 

One of the hot new art galleries in 

Boston, Locco Ritoro, recently featured 

art from the newly founded fine arts 

collaborative Scintus Images. Scintus 

represents a partnership between emerging 

artists interested in launching their 

careers, established artists interested in 

making their work more accessible, and 

the world’s finest master printmakers. 

“Our mission is twofold,” explains 

the collaborative’s founder Jeff 

Borkowski ’95, who publishes his own 

work under the pseudonym Seuss. 

“We want to make having unique art 

in your home more accessible by making 

it easier to find and more affordable 

to own. And we want to support the 

b Jeff Borkowski ’95, VB(IV), Iris print, 18 x 26.7 inches, 1997 

art community by making it easier for 

artists to leverage their work to earn a 

living, so they can continue to pursue 

their work.” 

Scintus works with master printmakers 

using the latest digital printmaking 

technologies to produce their 

prints, the same technologies now 

being used by museums around the 

world to reproduce the rarest of original 

works for preservation and display 

purposes. For more information, visit 

www.scintus.com. 

On and Off 

the Wall 

Recent and upcoming exhibits by 

alumni artists 

Selections, Scintus Images 

Jeff Borkowski ’95 

April 1–30 

Locco Ritoro Gallery 

Boston, Massachusetts 

Lyme Academy College of 

Fine Art Faculty Exhibit 

Fred X. Brownstein ’64 

June 3–September 4 

Arnot Art Museum 

Elmira, New York 

Solo show 

Megan Craig ’93 

May 2005 

Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim 

Neuenhaus, Germany

A R O U N D T H E P O N D 

AROUND THE 

Young Voices 

in Great Spaces 

It’s Palm Sunday at the Basilica of San 

Marco in Venice as the 42-member 

Collegium Musicum files in for the 

culminating performance of their 13- 

day tour of Italy. Already, they have 

sung at the Church of Sant’Ignazio di 

Loyola in Rome, the Church of Santa 

Maria Maggiore in Spello, the Church 

of Santa Maria Maggiore in Assisi, 

the Church of Santa Maria dei Ricci 

in Florence, and the Church of San 

Salvador, also in Venice. 

Rehearsing earlier in the day, the 

singers filled the basilica with their frequent 

laughter and conversation, as well 

as their voices. The title of their program, 

“Music for a Great Space,” is appropriate; 

these are soaring, ancient cathedrals 

like few of them have ever seen. 

As they traveled through Italy, they 

were struck as much with the richness of 


10 Taft Bulletin Summer 2005


that country’s cultural heritage, noting 

how it dominates the landscape, as with 

the interiors in which they sang. 

“Our students performed in one 

perfect setting after another,” said Sara 

Beasley, who accompanied the group 

along with Conductor Bruce Fifer 

and his wife Helena, Baba and Peter 

Frew ’75, and emeriti Anne and Jerry 

Romano. “Each church was different 

from the last, ranging from austere to 

unbelievably ornate, but each was characterized 

by the same sense of nearly 

infinite verticality. Each space gave the 

music room to grow and to linger in the 

ears of those gathered to listen: it was 

that rare and transcendent experience of 

form and content perfectly matched.” 

Although Mac Morris ’06 had traveled 

to Italy before, he told the Papyrus 

that “touring with Collegium over spring 

break was a great experience, in that it 

was time well spent, singing in some 

great spaces alongside my friends.” 

In addition to being a CPR instructor for the American Heart Association, Sam 

Dangremond ’05 is certified as a National Registry Emergency Medical Technician, 

a Connecticut EMT, and a Wilderness EMT. He volunteered as an EMT with the 

Thomaston Ambulance Corps this spring as part of his senior project, staying overnight 

at the Thomaston Ambulance barn two nights a week when he was on call. 

Students Teach Others to Save Lives 

Seniors Ren Brighton and Sam 

Dangremond taught CPR classes 

on campus this spring. They certified 

19 people—three faculty and 

staff members and 16 students—in 

Adult, Child, and Infant CPR and 

AED (defibrillator) use through the 

American Heart Association. 

Sam, Ren, Avery Clark ’05, and 

Martha Stacey ’05 had all completed 

a 16-hour heart association CPR 

Instructor course at Bradley Memorial 

Hospital in Southington earlier in the 

year, with tuition provided by Taft. 

Additionally, Sam was certified as a 

National Registry Wilderness EMT on 

a National Outdoor Leadership School 

course last summer. “I’ve wanted to teach 

people the skills of CPR ever since,” 

Sam said. “The more people who know 

it, the more likely it is that there will 

be a trained rescuer around when an 

emergency really occurs. I wanted to 

give back to the Taft community by 

teaching valuable life-saving skills” 

Sam also volunteered as an EMT 

in Thomaston this spring as a Senior 

Project. 

Taft Bulletin Summer 2005 11


The love of learning, 

the sequestered nooks, 

And all the sweet serenity 

of books. 

—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

The dedication 

of the new Moorhead 

Learning Center on 

April 29 

Headmaster Willy MacMullen ’78 thanks 

Rod Moorhead ’62 and his family for 

their vision and support of the school’s 

new learning center, located in the Pond 

Wing (see “Expanded Learning Center 

Moves to New Quarters,” Fall 2004). 

Postcard from Taft 

Last fall, seniors Arden Klemmer, Matthew Chazen, and I decided 

to produce and perform a Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta. Having 

performed in many of the musicals at Taft, we felt that it was 

time to direct one of our own. We chose Pirates of Penzance for 

its score and length and immediately started planning our show. 

After casting a terrific crew of singers, we spent the next few 

months finalizing cuts, practicing harmonies, editing scripts, and 

coordinating the event logistically. Teaching the music was certainly 

a challenge, but one that we accepted with delight and 

enthusiasm. We performed the operetta 

in traditional white tie and tails, so that, 

if nothing else, the performance would at 

least look good. On May 17, however, our 

expectations were certainly exceeded. The 

eleven of us delivered a performance in 

Walker Hall that earned a standing ovation 

from the large crowd of friends, family, 

and teachers. I could not have asked for a 

better turnout or a more fun experience. 

—Mac Morris ’06 

p.s. We just found out that we won the 

David Edward Goldberg Memorial Award for 

Independent Work. 

To: 

Roger Kirkpatrick ’06 



Designers’ Challenge 

The school sent 10 teams to the 14th 

annual Boston University Engineering 

Design Challenge in early June. In a 

field of over 90 teams, four Taft teams 

made it to the final 16. 

In this year’s contest, teams built 

vehicles to climb an 8-foot ramp angled 

at 25 degrees while an opponent 

did the same on another ramp. The 

two ramps shared a common onefoot 

peak area where a small flag on 

the right edge of each track had to be 

knocked over. Points were awarded 

for 1) climbing the hill, 2) knocking 

down the flag, and 3) being closest to 

top center line after 15 seconds. 

The four finalist teams were 

Steven Chiu and John Chiu, Khoa 

Do Ba and Marina Tokoro, Wilson Yu 

and Eugene Young, and Daniel Kim 

and Josh Kim (Josh was away with 

Habitat for Humanity) 

“Luck of the draw had the four 

teams facing each other in the next 

round. Do Ba/Tokoro and Chiu 2 were 

eliminated by their fellow Tafties Yu/ 

Young and Daniel Kim,” said faculty 

adviser Jim Mooney. Those two progressed 

through the next round but 

Yu/Young faltered in the semifinals, 

winning third place in the runoff. 

Magazine Earns Gold Medal 

The Council for the Advancement 

and Support of Education awarded 

Taft Bulletin a gold medal in its annual 

Circle of Excellence awards. The 

jury was unanimous in selecting the 

Bulletin in the Independent School 

Magazine category, calling it “a magazine 

that serves as a model program 

for all institutions of higher learning.” 

The Bulletin was one of 35 publications 

competing in the category. 

Students participating in Boston University’s Engineering Design Challenge, front from 

left, Jasmine Chuang ’08, Derek Chan ’06, Wilson Yu ’07, Jennifer Chang ’07; second 

row, Nathan Chuang ’06, Ben Grinberg ’07, Vanessa Kwong ’06, Steven Chiu ’07, 

Eugene Young ’06, Wendy Lin ’06, Daniel Kim ’07; back row, Pongsak Pattamasaevi ’07, 

Justin Hsieh ’06, John Chiu ’06, Gordon Atkins ’07, H.K. Seo ’07; not pictured, Marina 

Tokoro ’07, Khoa Do Ba ’07, Zernyu Chou ’06, Josh Kim ’06. Jim Mooney 

Meanwhile, Daniel’s technique of 

going airborne at the peak and blocking 

the path of the slower competitors 

on their side of the ramp “had the audience 

ooohing and ahhhing,” Mooney 

said, “but the reckless hurling of his car 

into his competitors caused his flag apparatus 

to break.” Still, speed could 

win out if he could keep his competitor 

from reaching the top. 

In the finals, all the competitors 

and judges crowded around the track. 

The two vehicles raced to the top in 

nearly equal times. A violent collision 

left the cars on top of each other. As 

the judges unraveled the points, they 

declared a tie; the race had to be run 

again! “This time, an equally violent 

collision occurred,” Jim explained, 

“but Daniel’s competitor was able to 

crawl slightly on top of his car and 

get about an inch closer to the top—a 

tough loss but still, not bad. We all 

had a great day.” 


Departing Faculty 

Andrew Bogardus ’88, history, admissions 

Kelley Roberts Bogardus, English 

David Bonner, college counseling 

Billy Coyle, Business Office 

Jacqueline Fritzinger, French 

Marilyn Katz, science fellow 

Dan Keating, history fellow 

Bonnie Liu, Chinese fellow 

Frank Santoro, science 

Russell Wasden, Japanese 

The Concertmistress 


New Faculty 

Jason BreMiller, English 

B.A., St. Olaf College 

Kristen Fairey, history 

B.A., M.Div., M.A., 

M.Phil., Yale University 

Lydia Finley, science fellow 

B.S., Yale University 

Robertson Follansbee, science 

B.A., Williams College 

Kaitlin Harvie, English fellow 

B.A., Vassar College 

Enyi-Abal Koene, French fellow 

B.A., Williams College 

Molly MacLean, French 

M.A., Middlebury College 

John Magee, English 

B.A., Dartmouth College; 

M.A., Middlebury College 

Seiko Michaels, Japanese 

B.S., Indiana University 

Cheryl Setchell, history fellow 

B.A., Colgate University 

Andrew Svensk ’94, mathematics 

B.A., Wesleyan University 

Gil Thornfeldt, business manager 

B.A., Fairfield University; 

M.B.A., Sacred Heart 

Theresa Chang ’08 stood up and signaled 

to the oboist, knowing that all 

of the other student musicians in the 

orchestra looked to her as they tuned 

their instruments for the Connecticut 

All-State Music Festival in March. As 

the concertmistress, Theresa led the 

first violin section and served as assistant 

to the conductor. 

“This is a huge honor given to the 

violinist with the highest score in the 

state,” explains instrumental music 

teacher T.J. Thompson. “This reflects 

her phenomenal abilities as an artist 

and musician.” 

The All-State Orchestra, directed 

by Anthony Maiello from 

George Mason University, rehearsed 

in Stamford for three days culminating 

with two All-State concerts at the 

Westin Hotel. Students were selected 

by two auditions in November and 

February at which over 3,000 student 

musicians from the state competed to 

be part of the festival. 

Impressed by how good everyone 

else was, Theresa said the audition itself 

wasn’t particularly intimidating for her 

though, since final exams at her former 

school, a music school in Taiwan, required 

students to play in front of the 

entire faculty and all their classmates. 

In addition to studying with the 

Taft Chamber Ensemble, she travels 

to New York each week for lessons at 

Juilliard. At 16, she’s played the violin 

for 10 years and started learning piano 

at age 4 from her piano teacher mother. 

Her mom was in the audience that 

day, along with sisters Mischelle and 

Jennifer ’07 who came up from New 

York, and her father made the trip from 

Taiwan. 

In the brightly lit ballroom without 

a stage, the orchestra launched 

into its first piece, Celebration 

Fanfare by Reineke. They followed 

with Bernstein’s Candide Overture, 

and closed with Theresa’s favorite, 

Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. 

“You could see everybody’s faces 

in the audience,” said Theresa, “and 

there were lots of cameras!” With talent 

like hers, there’s no doubt there will be 

plenty more cameras in her future. 

Theresa recently learned that she 

was also accepted into the National 

Festival Orchestra, which will perform 

at Carnegie Hall next year—where 

cameras are not allowed. 


Math Olympiad 

The Math Team receives 

little exposure on campus. 

Students who excel 

are not lauded in victory 

feasts at the end of the 

season, nor do they gain 

much attention from their 

peers. “Who’s on it” one 

student asked when the 

subject came up. Despite 

the devotion of competitors 

in the New England 

Math League (NEML), math, it must be 

admitted, isn’t really cool. 

Roughly 180 schools throughout 

New England compete as teams 

and individuals each month in NEML 

to determine that ultimate question: 

who is best at math The Math Team, 

headed by Ted Heavenrich, gathers 

once a month in Laube Auditorium to 

spend 30 minutes working on a test of 

six problems. The scores of the best five 

tests are then grouped and submitted as 

a team score. 

But this spring the team got noticed, 

particularly when middler Khoa 

Do Ba qualified for the national Math 

Olympiad, scoring very well on two earlier 

rounds of testing in February. About 

400,000 students took the American 

Mathematics Competition exam, and 

12,000 did well enough to be invited to 

take the second round—the American 

Invitational Mathematics 

Exam (AIME). 

Based on their performance 

on those exams, 

255 high-school 

students were invited to 

compete in the U.S. Math 

Olympiad. This exam 

is used to select eight 

students who will represent 

the United States at 

the International Math 

Olympiad (IMO) in Mexico later this 

summer. Khoa, who is a Vietnamese 

citizen, would not be able to represent 

the U.S. 

The test at the U.S. Math Olympiad 

stretches for nine hours over two days, 

and the problems contain extremely 

complex proofs. One question from 

2003 asks the taker to “Prove that for 

every positive integer n there exists an 

n-digit number divisible by 5^n all of 

whose digits are odd.” Khoa, however, 

does not seem intimidated. 

“The first time you look at a problem 

you think ‘This is insane,’” says 

Khoa. “You use your instinct to find 

a way to solve your problem.” But regardless 

of how Khoa performs, one 

thing is sure. Math still isn’t cool, but 

it’s on its way. 

—Skye Priestley ’06, Taft Papyrus 

Come Read With Us! 

This summer’s all-school reading 

selection is Never Cry Wolf by 

naturalist Farley Mowat. The book 

describes Mowat’s assignment 50 

years ago by the Canadian Wildlife 

Service to investigate why wolves 

were killing arctic caribou. His account 

of the summer he lived in the 

frozen tundra alone, studying the 

wolf population and developing a 

deep affection for the wolves and 

for a friendly Inuit tribe known as 

the Ihalmiut, has become cherished 

by generations of readers, an indelible 

record of the myths and magic 

of wild wolves. Faculty will discuss 

the novel in classes this fall, and the 

entire community will revisit the 

key theme of our human relationship, 

interaction, and participation 

in the natural world. 

A Smash Hit 

Students in Helena Fifer’s advanced acting 

class staged an outdoor performance of the 

traditional English comedy Smash. Crowds 

of people showed up armed with folding 

chairs, blankets, and Chinese takeout, the Taft 

Papyrus reported, to spend a pleasant evening 

watching a superb cast at its best. Seniors 

Madeleine Dubus, Don Molosi, Spenta Kutar, 

Will Karnasiewicz, and Monica Raymunt, upper 

mids Michael Davis, Helena Smith, Matt 

Nelsen, and Kiel Stroupe, and middler Ben 

Grinberg comprised the cast. 

Peter Frew ’75


Outwit, Outplay, Outlead 

Samuel P.C. Dangremond ’05 

Upper-Mid Awards 

The Michaels Jewelers Citizenship Award 

Michelle Nina Kulikauskas 

Laura Ruth McLaughlin 

The David Edward Goldberg Memorial Award 

Hillary Nelrose Simpson 

John McInerney Morris 

The John T. Reardon Prize 

in United States History 

Diana Paterson Sands 

The University of Rochester Award in the 

Humanities and Social Sciences 

Michael Ramsey Davis 

The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Medal 

Derek Chun Ho Chan 

The Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science Award 


Brittany Leigh Stormer 

The reason no one ever voted Ethan 

Zohn off Survivor: Africa, he jokes, is 

that after weeks of near-starvation and 

letting his hair and beard grow, he began 

to look like Moses. 

Zohn spoke at Morning Meeting in 

April and discussed how his Jewish values 

helped him win the reality-TV challenge 

and how his civic values guided 

his decisions afterward. 

Zohn, who says he applied for 

Survivor as a joke, sees himself as a 

leader, though one who leads by example 

rather than one who orders others 

around. As a member of a soccer team 

or a contestant on Survivor, he always 

tried to be the first one up, the last one 

to bed, the hardest worker, to make 

himself indispensable to others. 

The only Survivor contestant never 

to receive a single vote against him, Zohn 

says he was stripped of everything he knew 

about himself during the 39-day contest 

in Africa, and was faced with the bare 

essentials of who he was. “When you’re 

tired and hungry, your true colors come 

into focus,” he said. For him that meant 

all the things he learned growing up with 

his family, Hebrew school, and the Jewish 

community in Lexington, Massachusetts. 

A professional soccer player in 

Zimbabwe after graduating from Vassar 

College, he saw the ravaging effect that 

HIV/AIDS was having in African communities. 

A visit to a local hospital during 

the show reinforced for Zohn the 

tragedy that has befallen that continent. 

Having seen firsthand what powerful 

celebrities soccer players in Africa 

are, he used his prize money and his celebrity 

status to start Grass Root Soccer 

(www.grassrootsoccer.org), an organization 

that works with professional soccer 

players in Africa to educate young 

people about AIDS and HIV. 

“You think you know what you’d 

like to do with a million dollars,” says 

Zohn, “but it’s harder than you realize. 

I discovered that I wanted to be the person 

who used a million dollars to make a 

difference. That’s the real challenge—to 

make a difference for yourself by making 

a difference for someone else.” 

Zohn’s visit was sponsored by the 

Paduano Series on Philosophy and 

Ethics and the Curriculum Initiative, 

a national nonprofit educational institution 

that supports Jewish student 

life within the diverse culture of independent 

schools. 

The Hamilton College Prize 

Michael Ramsey Davis 

The Brown University Award 

Sophie Annabelle Lloyd Quinton 

The Smith Book Award 

Hillary Nelrose Simpson 

The Holy Cross College Book Award 

William P. Lane 

The Dartmouth Book Prize 

David Michael Shrubb 

The Harvard Book Prize 


Top 10 College 

Choices for the 

Class of ’05 

Georgetown......................................9 

Boston College .................................6 

Middlebury.......................................6 

Trinity...............................................6 

Brown...............................................5 

Davidson..........................................5 

Bates.................................................4 

Columbia..........................................4 

Denison............................................4 

Harvard ...........................................4 


S P O R T 

Spring Season Wrap-Up by Steve Palmer 

Nobles, Brooks, and Groton to become 

Taft’s first gold medalist boat. At least 

one girls’ boat has medaled for the past 

three years at the New Englands, and 

overall the team finished 7th in a field 

of 30 crews this year. Lauren was a 

Founders League award winner, as was 

Nancy Townsend ’05 who coxed the 

first boat for three years. Hana Nagao 

’05 (cox), Catherine Bourque ’05 (cox) 

Jess Giannetto ’05 were critical in the 

success of the team all year. 

m The girls’ second boat won the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association 

gold medal at Lake Quinsigamond. From left (bow to stern), Kaitlin Hardy ’06, Shannon 

Sisk ’06, Sarah Ewing ’06, and stroke Jenny Glazer ’08. Tucked into the bow-coxed 

boat is coxswain Hana Nagao ’05, who raced from the Commencement ceremonies to 

Worcester in time for the regatta. Sport Graphics, Inc. 

Girls’ Crew 

With ten novice rowers, this was a 

young team, but with great senior 

leadership they improved steadily all 

year and won the Alumnae Cup, versus 

Gunner and Berkshire, for the 

third year in a row. The first boat, led 

by captain Meaghan Martin ’05, with 

Alex Lauren ’06, Sarah Fierberg ’06, 

and Kirsten Scheu ’06, finished with a 

4–3 season record, including an exciting 

win by .3 second against Deerfield. 

In spectacular fashion, the second 

boat won the Grand Final at the New 

England Championships, outdistancing 

Boys’ Crew 

The weather made for a difficult season, 

with plenty of rain and wind on Bantam 

Lake, but the boys’ team rowed particularly 

well at the DuPont Cup and Smith 

Cup toward the end of the season, defeating 

boats from Old Lyme, Pomfret, 

St. Mark’s, Nobles, and Berkshire. 

At the Founders League regatta, all 

four Taft boats qualified for the finals, 

though the Grand Finals were canceled 

due to high winds. The first boat of Pat 

Coleman ’05, Merrill Matthews ’05, 

Red Sammons ’06, Charlie Staub ’05, 

and Ian Donahue ’05 (cox) rowed well 

all season, with Coleman and Matthews 

being named All-Founders League rowers. 

Joel Yu ’05 and Reed Coston ’06 

powered the second boat. 


S P O R T 

m The inaugural girls’ golf team. Roger Kirkpatrick ’06 

Girls’ Golf 0–8 

This was the first official season for the 

girls’ team, though Taft has fielded very 

talented female golfers in the past years. 

This year’s team played in eight matches 

and in the 20th Independent School 

Championship at The Country Club 

in Brookline, Massachusetts. Sammy 

Glazer ’06 shot an impressive 47 to end 

in a three-way tie as the medalist, losing 

to the eventual champion on the second 

playoff hole. Mary Walsh ’06 (11th place), 

Chrissy Anderson ’06 (20th) and Tanya 

Dhamija ’08 (12th) also represented Taft 

at the nine-hole tournament that included 

64 golfers. Holly Walker ’07 played solidly 

all season in the top three for the team. 

Boys’ Golf 13–5 

This solid team had an up-and-down 

season, with two great wins over a talented 

Brunswick team, an 11th place 

finish at the KIT and a fourth place at 

the Founders League Championship. 

Missing co-captain Ben Andrysick ’05 

because of a shoulder injury was a huge 

loss, said Coach Jack Kenerson ’82. The 

season low score of 400 made for a convincing 

win over Berkshire, Suffield, 

and Kent in a quad match in the middle 

of the season where Taft’s four top players 

shot under 80: Reid Longley ’06 77, 

Andrew Foote ’05 77, Will Ireland ’05 

78, Alex Bermingham ’08 79. Longley 

played solidly at #1 all season and tied 

for 2nd in the league championship, 

and was often followed by captain 

Foote and fellow senior Ireland. Gus 

Thompson ’07, Cole Ciaburri ’06, Alex 

Kremer ’06, and Bermingham round 

out a strong crew of young returners. 

Softball 1–10 

The softball team struggled to come up 

with wins throughout this season of close 

games, including an exciting 3–6 loss to 

rival Hotchkiss that went down to the final 

out with the bases loaded in the last 

inning. The key win was an easy one, 

22–4 over Canterbury, and senior Abbey 

Cecchinato led Taft in nearly every meaningful 

category, having pitched every inning 

for the entire season. Also Taft’s leading 

hitter, she graduates with four varsity 

letters and many leading statistics. Allyson 

Carr ’06 was also solid at the plate and 

played well at shortstop all season. 

Baseball 11–7 

Taft finished 7–1 and tied with Loomis in 

first place in the Founders League, with 

the Pelicans taking the title on the basis 

of a head-to-head win. Their Colonial 

League record was 7–4. The key victories 

on the season came over Choate (8–5), 

Avon (4–1) and Deerfield (9–8 extra 

innings). The team loses nine seniors 

but returns nine steady players, including 

starters Hunter Serenbetz ’06, Steve 

Blomberg ’06, and Tommy Piacenza ’06. 

Seniors Chris Baudinet, Jon McDonald, 

Ryan Cleary, Jeff Beck, Seth Lentz, and 

Freddy Gonzalez will be sorely missed. 

Steve Trask ’05 led the team in batting 

(.438 avg.), co-captain Colin Fenn ’05 

was 3–2 on the mound, and Pat Wilson 

’05 provided the power (15 RBI, 3 HR). 

Trask and Piacenza were named to the 

All-League Team, a designation voted on 

by all the league coaches. 

Girls’ Lacrosse 12–1 

Co-Founders League Champions 

This was one of the great lacrosse teams 

ever for Taft, with talented young players 

and great senior leadership. After 

an early loss to Loomis, the girls powered 

past traditional rivals Deerfield 

. Senior Jeff Beck hits a single in a 5–1 

victory over Kent. Roger Kirkpatrick ’06 


S P O R T 

(19–6), Greenwich Academy (13–10) 

and Andover (16–9). The penultimate 

game against Hotchkiss was the peak 

of the season, as both teams were tied 

with Loomis atop the league standings 

with one loss. Jill Fraker ’05 made 

several incredible saves in goal, eleven 

total, and Sarah Dalton ’05 (4 goals), 

Blair Weymouth ’05 (3 goals) and Lexi 

Comstock ’06 (3 goals) provided the offensive 

punch. Brynne McNulty ’06 and 

Mackenzie Snyder ’05 played great defense, 

and the 12–10 win put Taft in a tie 

for the league and WWNEPSLA titles. 

Returners Liz Neslen ’06, Comstock, 

and Heidi Woodworth ’07 will lead the 

offense next year, while Hope Krause ’06, 

Jackie Snikeris ’07, and Lee McKenna 

’06 will anchor the defense. Weymouth 

(37 goals) and Molly Davidson ’05 (35 

goals) led the team in scoring. 

Boys’ Lacrosse 6–8 

This was a solid defensive team that 

struggled to score at key moments. 

Brendan Milnamow ’05 was the core of 

the hardworking defenders, while Shane 

Farrell ’05 was a force in the middle of 

the field all spring. The Rhinos got 

convincing wins over NMH and Kent, 

and finished the season with a solid 

12–5 win over T-P. Perhaps the best 

game of the season was the 7–8 overtime 

loss to Hotchkiss, where Jamie 

Wheeler ’05 scored four goals as Taft 

led for most of the game. Seniors Jack 

Christian (attack) and Robbie Bryan 

(goal) were also key players all season. 

Girls’ Tennis 6–5 

There were many close matches in this 

season, including key wins over Miss 

Porters (4–3), Choate, and Westminster 

(5–2). Annie McGillicudy ’06 played 

strongly at #1 all season, as did Lindsay 

Littlejohn ’05 in the #2 spot—a strong 

1–2 punch. Serena Wolff ’05 and Sara 

Rubin ’06 rounded out the third and 

fourth singles, while Avery Clark ’05 

and Diana Sands ’06 were the top doubles 

team. 

Boys’ Tennis 10–6 

Southern New England Tennis 

League Champions 

The league had great balance, which explains 

why seven of Taft’s matches ended 

in a 4–3 score, including a 3–4 loss 

to eventual New England champion 

Milton Academy. Will Minter ’06 again 

had a great season in the #1 singles spot, 

followed by Will Karnasiewicz ’05 at 

number two and Dominik Hetzler ’06 

at three. The team’s best play came in the 

Southern New England Tennis League 

Tournament, where Taft prevailed over 

Hotchkiss, Westminster, Salisbury, Kent, 

Loomis, Berkshire, and Kingswood to 

take the title. Karnasiewicz, Hetzler, and 

Oat Naviroj ’07 won at the 2nd, 3rd, 

and 6th singles spots, and Minter and 

Watson Bailly ’06 made it to the finals 

in the 1st and 5th draws. Pete Wyman 

’05 played well all season in the 4th 

singles spot and with fellow senior John 

Heckel in doubles. 

Girls’ Track 7–2 

Founders League Champions 

This was an exceptionally talented girls’ 

track team made obvious by their record 

setting 50 pt. win at the League meet. 

The girls’ team has now won three of 

the past four Founders League titles. 

The team of Tamara Sinclair ’05, Ashley 

Wiater ’06, Tracy Dishongh ’05, and 

Taylor Bodnar ’06 set a new school record 

in the 4x100 meter relay (50.9), 

while Dishongh also set records in the 

long jump (17’8.5”) and triple jump 

(35’9”), to go along with her own record 

in the high jump (5’4”). At the 

Class A New England Championship 

meet, the team repeated their third 

place finish from a year ago behind 

Exeter and Andover. Seniors Sha-Kayla 

Crockett, Tania Giannone, and Kristine 

Specht will be missed, but the team returns 

highly talented juniors in Casey 

Bartlett, Shayna Bryan, Liz Carlos, 

Natalie Lescroart, Wiater, and Bodnar. 

Boys’ Track 6–5 

The boys’ team was not deep but had 

solid talent in nearly every area, making 

for four close meets that were decided in 

the final events. Highlights of the season 

included convincing wins over Choate 

and over Berkshire for the Russell Jones 

Memorial track trophy. Senior captains 

Aditya Ahuja (pole vault, hurdles) 

and Jon Carlos (200m, 400m) led the 

team all year, while some talented underclassmen 

scored big points: Ryan 

Rostenkowski ’08 as the top sprinter; 

Gordon Atkins ’07 in distances; Toren 

Kutnick ’06, David Greco ’06, Chad 

Thomas ’06, and Afolabi Saliu ’07 in 

the jumps; and Mike McCabe ’07 led 

the weightmen by winning the individual 

Founders League titles in the 

shot put (49’1”) and discus (132’). Phil 

Thompson ’06 tied the school record in 

the high jump (6’2”) and placed 2nd at 

the New England meet. 

. Blair Weymouth ’05 scored three goals 

in the girls’ 12–10 victory over Hotchkiss 

to end a five-year winless streak against 

the Bearcats. Peter Frew ’75 


A n n u a l F u n d N e w s 

fund 

a n n u a l 

Annual Fund Report 

I am pleased to announce that the 

2004–05 Taft Annual Fund has raised a 

record $2,895,727 in gifts and pledges. 

I am deeply grateful to all alumni/ae, 

current parents, former parents, grandparents, 

and friends of Taft for their 

generosity and loyalty. 

I’m happy to report that the alumni 

raised almost $1.5 million from 38 percent 

of the total alumni body. Thank 

you to all the class agents who worked 

so hard this year to raise these funds. 

Special thanks and congratulations go 

to Class Agent Tom Goodale and the 

50th Reunion Class of ’55 for raising 

$154,629 for the Annual Fund from 84 

percent of the class. 

I would also like to recognize 

a few class agents for the extra effort 

that they have put forth this year. Jeff 

Potter, Rob Peterson, and Corey Griffin 

led the Class of ’80 to raise $37,755, 

with 61 percent participation, for the 

Annual Fund for their 25th Reunion. 

This more than tripled their usual level 

of annual giving. The Class of ’74 

receives the McCabe Award for the 

largest amount contributed by a nonreunion 

class. Thanks to Brian Lincoln 

for helping to raise $66,664 from the 

class for the Annual Fund. 

I would like to announce a changing 

of the guard at the Alumni and 

Development Office. Annual Fund 

Director Jessica Travelstead ’88 has 

decided to spend more time with her 

family, having given birth to her second 

daughter on May 8. She has passed the 

baton on to Kelsey Pascoe P’07, who 

has worked on the Annual Fund for the 

past five years and comes to the position 

knowing many of you already. 

We are all so grateful for the energy 

of the volunteers and for the generosity 

and dedication of the extended Taft 

family. I’m proud to be a part of a school 

supported by such terrific alumni, parents, 

and friends. I wish you all a happy 

and safe summer. 

Sincerely, 

David F. Kirkpatrick ’89 

. Tom Goodale, center, Nick Ciriello, and 

Gino Kelly present a check to the Annual 

Fund on Alumni Weekend. 

2005 Class Agent Awards* 

Snyder Award—Largest amount contributed 

to the Annual Fund by a reunion class 

Class of 1955: $154,629 

Class Agent: Tom Goodale 

Chairman of the Board Award— 

Highest percent participation from a class 

50 years out or less 

Class of 1955: 84% 

Class Agent: Tom Goodale 

McCabe Award—Largest amount 

contributed by a non-reunion class 

Class of 1974: $66,664 

Class Agent: Brian Lincoln 


A n n u a l F u n d N e w s 

Parents’ Fund Raises $1.08 Million 

93 Percent of Parents Participate 

Parents’ Fund Chairs Cindy and Larry Bloch are delighted to announce 

that the 2005 fund met and exceeded its million dollar goal. 

“This success is due in great part to the 

Bloch’s leadership,” said Headmaster 

Willy MacMullen ’78, “along with the 

untiring dedication of the committee 

and the hundreds of loyal parents who 

support Taft and its mission to educate 

their children.” 

Raising $1,084,587 from 93 percent 

of the current parent body made 

this year’s Fund one of major significance 

for Taft and for parent giving nationwide. 

For the sixth time in the past 

seven years, over one million dollars has 

been raised by current parents for the 

Annual Fund. Just as notable is the 90- 

plus percent parent participation for the 

13th consecutive year. 

“A parent body that supports 

a school so unanimously,” said 

MacMullen, “speaks to the strong 

belief that academics must remain 

strong, athletics competitive, and the 

arts flourishing.” 

The Blochs, parents of Reisa ’05 

and Matt ’05, have handed the reins 

over to Kate and Hans Morris, current 

members of the Parents’ Committee 

and parents of Mac ’06. 

Class of 1920 Award—Greatest increase in 

dollars from a non-reunion class 

Class of 1973: $14,100 

Class Agent: Ted Judson 

c New Parents’ 

Fund Chairs 

Kate and Hans 

Morris with Mac 

‘06 and Lucy 

The Romano Award—Greatest increase in 

percentage support from a non-reunion class 

less than 50 years out 

Class of 1973: 34% from 26% 

Class Agent: Ted Judson 

Young Alumni Dollars Award— 

Largest amount contributed from a class 


Class of 1995: $18,984 

Class Agents: Dan Oneglia, Tony 

Pasquariello 

Young Alumni Participation Award— 

Highest participation from a class 


Class of 2004: 67% 

Class Agent: Camden Bucsko 

The Spencer Award—Greatest number of 

gifts from previous non-donors 

Class of 1980: 28 

Class Agents: Jeff Potter, Rob Peterson, 

Corey Griffin 

*Awards determined by funds raised as of 

June 30, 2005 

2004–05 Parents’ 

Committee 

Cindy & Larry Bloch, Chairs 

Rosanne & Steve Anderson 

Sandi & Glenn Bromagen 

Vivian & Richard Castellano 

Len Chazen & 

Linda Rappaport 

Howard & Barbara Cherry 

Gail & Dan Ciaburri 

Peg & John Claghorn 

Pamela & Michael Clark 

Donna & Chris Cleary 

Kate & Dan Coit 

Christine Baranski Cowles & 

Matthew Cowles 

Mary & David Dangremond 

Susie & Chip Delaporte 

Nano & Les Fabuss 

Bill & Nancy Fertig 

Pippa & Bob Gerard 

Deb & Vin Giannetto 

David Hillman 

Robin Houston 

Donna & Jerry Iacoviello 

Leslie & Herb Ide 

Lisa Ireland 

Pam & Michael Jackson 

Linda & Bill Jacobs 

Sally & Michael 

Karnasiewicz 

Meg & Stuart Kirkpatrick 

Ginny & David Knott 

Val & John Kratky 

Meg & Charlie Krause 

Laura & Dale Kutnick 

Karen & T.J. Letarte 

Leslie & Angus Littlejohn 

Carol & John Lyden 

Bridget & John Macaskill 

Mary & Joe Mastrocola 

K.T. & Alan McFarland 

Linda & Clem McGillicuddy 

Lynn & Michael McKenna 

Clare & Howard McMorris II 

Patrick & Patricia McVeigh 

Michael Minter & Emmie Hill 

Marlene Moore 

Kate & Hans Morris 

Kathleen & Peter Murphy 

Kenny & Gordon Nelson 

Tammy & Charlie Pompea 

Adam & Mandy Quinton 

Nancy Rauscher 

Andrea Reid 

Lindsay & Art Reimers 

Sera & Tom Reycraft 

Ann & James Rickards 

Carol & Bill Sammons 

Lindsay & Edgar Scott 

Suzanne & Peter Sealy 

Jean & Stuart Serenbetz 

Debbie & Michael Shepherd 

Judy & Bob Slater 

John A. Slowik 

Charlotte & Richard Smith 

Maria & Glenn Taylor 

Anne K. Thompson 

Doug & Teri Thompson 

Peggy & Joe Toce 

Natica & Victor von Althann 

Sandra & Rick Webel 

Ann & Jack M. Weiss 

Ellen & Chris White 

Peter Wyman 


heard but not seen 

A Wordsmith for the President 

By Tom Frank ’80 


Thiessen, third from left, 

traveled with Secretary 

Rumsfeld, right, to 48 

countries, flying 250,000 

miles. He had carte 

blanche to sit in on any 

staff meeting and take 

notes that would become 

the basis for speeches. 

David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images 

Speechwriters are supposed to be 

anonymous, says Thiessen. “We listen to 

the president’s words, the president’s 

ideas, and help him get his message 

through in effective ways.” 

Shortly after Marc Thiessen ’85 became deputy speechwriter 

for President George W. Bush, he flipped on a 

television and happened to catch The West Wing. 

Though he seldom watches the show, Thiessen became 

engrossed in the episode because his TV counterpart was 

working on a speech to be delivered to the same real-life group 

that Bush had just addressed using Thiessen’s words. 

But any hope Thiessen may have had for true-to-life drama 

ended when the TV speechwriter began hectoring a powerful 

senator for blocking President Josiah Bartlett’s agenda. 

“They try to be accurate to some extent,” Thiessen says. 

But, he adds, “Speechwriting is a lot more spending long 

hours in front of a computer screen than it is arguing with 

Senate committee chairmen in the Roosevelt Room.” 

For more than a year, Thiessen has pounded away at a keyboard 

in a basement office (“ground floor,” he jokes) crafting everything 

from major presidential policy addresses to news conference 

opening remarks to graduation speeches. In May, he flew on Air 

Force One with Bush on his trip to Europe, making final tweaks 

and last-minute additions to speeches the president delivered in 

Moscow, Latvia, and Freedom Square in Tbilisi, Georgia. 

“Enormous attention is paid to every word because it’s 

the president of the United States saying it,” Thiessen says. 

“It’s got to be perfect.” 

The job is equal parts enthralling and humbling. Thiessen, 

38, writes for the most powerful person in the world, but 

doesn’t have a secretary and answers his own phone. His words 

can shape domestic policy and international relations, but he 

works in a building a parking lot away from the White House 

and is tucked away in an anonymous corridor devoid of any 

ceremonial splendor much less decor. 

Thiessen’s office is spacious but Spartan: a conference table 

dominates the floor; the walls feature photos of his wife Pam 

(a top aide to Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada) and 

their children Max, 4, and Jack, 2; on his desk sits sonogram 

images of their twin girls, due in October. By 9:30 a.m., his tie 

is loosened. During a 90-minute interview one recent sweltering 

summer morning, the only interruption was a maintenance 

supervisor who came in twice to talk about interior repairs. 

Anonymous is Thiessen’s preferred operating mode. 

He is friendly, enthusiastic—and utterly unwilling to disclose 


Marc with son Max 

. Pam with son Jack 

c Sitting on Saddam 

Hussein’s throne a 

few weeks after the 

fall of Baghdad. 

details that may reflect his own glory and divert attention 

from its proper target, the president. 

Does he have a favorite Bush speech “I’ve got some favorites. 

But I wouldn’t tell you what they are.” 

“Speechwriters are like the opposite of children: We should 

be heard but not seen. We’re supposed to be anonymous. We 

listen to the president’s words, the president’s ideas, and help 

him get his message through in effective ways,” Thiessen says. 

“A speechwriter’s job is not to take credit for the speeches,” 

he adds. “That doesn’t serve the president, because as 

good as the speech may be and as much as you might have 

contributed to it, it’s his ideas and his agenda.” 

Speeches are such collaborations with other speechwriters 

that “it’s not fair to say, I did it. There’s a lot of people who are 

working on it.” 

Yet writing for the president does stoke anxiety, even though 

speeches go through writing and clearance that take up to 40 

hours before they reach Bush’s desk. “In the end, when it goes up, 

it’s got your name on it, you’re responsible,” Thiessen says. “If the 

president likes it, that’s good. And if the president doesn’t like it, 

your name and your phone number are at the bottom.” 

The process works like this: 

White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett assigns 

a speech. 

Chief speechwriter Bill McGurn or Thiessen assigns it to 

a writer or takes it on himself. 

The speechwriting office’s research team gathers background 

and anecdotes. The writer may spend hours talking 

to academics and White House policy advisers to master the 

subject and grasp the presidential agenda. 

A first draft is produced. 

The first draft is demolished. A three-person team that 

includes Thiessen or McGurn or both sits shoulder-toshoulder 

at a computer reading the speech aloud, tossing 

around words and phrases, perfecting applause lines and 

honing the speech to fit Bush’s style. 

The second draft goes to Bartlett. He returns it with 

comments. 

A third draft is produced. 

The third draft is demolished as it is circulated to White 

House specialists who add their comments. 

The fourth draft is produced and sent to Bush. Heart 

palpitations commence. 

“This is the busiest man in the world. It’s the most important 

job in the world, and the most high-stress job in the 

world, and he doesn’t want to worry about his speeches,” 

Thiessen says. “So when the speech comes to him, you want it 

to reflect his agenda, advance the ball for him, say something 

new that will advance his agenda, not just rearticulate it, and 

not have him worry about spending a lot of time on it.” 

McGurn calls Thiessen “my right-hand man and go-to 

guy. I turn to him several times a day for whatever I need, 

whether it’s a graceful turn of phrase or a judgment call about 

a delicate issue. And he never disappoints.” 

Thiessen says he relishes helping “one of the most consequential 

presidencies of my lifetime.” 

Thiessen’s arrival in April 2004 in the left cerebrum of a conservative 

Republican administration is an unlikely destination for 

a native of Manhattan’s Upper East Side who first tasted politics 

when he handed out campaign buttons for Mario Cuomo’s 1977 

race for the Democratic mayoral nomination (Cuomo lost to Ed 

Koch and was elected New York governor in 1982). 

Thiessen’s parents, both doctors, were “left-of-center liberal 

Democrat types”; his mother was a Poland native who 

fought as a teenager in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, the tragic 

63-day struggle to liberate Warsaw from Nazi occupation. 


Thiessen’s parents, both doctors, 

were “left-of-center liberal Democrat 

types”; his mother was a Poland native 

who fought as a teenager in the 

Warsaw Uprising of 1944, the tragic 

63-day struggle to liberate Warsaw 

from Nazi occupation. Thiessen’s 

grandfather died in the battle. “I 

wanted to dedicate my life somehow 

to fighting tyranny and helping 

people live in freedom,” Thiessen says. 

Thiessen’s grandfather died in the battle. “I wanted to dedicate 

my life somehow to fighting tyranny and helping people 

live in freedom,” Thiessen says. 

Arriving at Taft in 10th grade, Thiessen developed a love 

for writing. Barclay Johnson’s “Experiments in Writing” class was 

particularly influential. He took an “out program” his senior year 

covering local news for the Waterbury Republican-American. 

Thiessen’s politics took an abrupt shift at Vassar College when 

he was “purged” from the Student Coalition Against Apartheid 

and Racism, which pushed the college to divest its endowment 

of investments in companies that operated in white-ruled South 

Africa. Thiessen had wanted the group to condemn “necklacing,” a 

custom wherein some African National Congress members would 

murder people they considered treasonous by draping a gasolinefilled 

tire around someone’s head and setting it on fire. 

“There were no takers,” Thiessen says. “I was told later I 

was no longer welcome to come.” 

Thiessen began writing for the Vassar Spectator, a conservative 

opinion journal, and became embroiled in a controversy 

his junior year over a satire that led the college to cut off 

the Spectator’s funding. It was a propitious event for Thiessen, 

by then the editor. He tapped into a national network that 

was supporting conservative college papers, raised $10,000 to 

keep publishing with the help of National Review publisher 

William Buckley, and made connections that set him on a trajectory 

to the White House. 

Graduating from Vassar in 1989, Thiessen jumped into the 

nerve center of conservative Washington as a researcher at the 

powerhouse political consulting firm Black, Manafort, Stone 

and Kelly. A principal Lee Atwater had just become chairman 

of the Republican National Committee. Charles Black, a veteran 

Republican adviser, became Thiessen’s first mentor. 

Five years later, another mentor, former Republican 

congressman Vin Weber, helped Thiessen get hired as 

spokesman for Michael Huffington’s race in 1994 to unseat 

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat. Huffington 

lost narrowly, but Republicans won control of Congress, 

and Jesse Helms, the North Carolina Republican, rose to 

chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 

Black, a longtime Helms adviser, recommended Thiessen 

to be Helms’ spokesman on committee matters. Thiessen was 

quoted in thousands of news stories from 1995 until a few 

months after Bush took office in 2001 when he got a call from 

an old adviser to Donald Rumsfeld, the new defense secretary. 

After a brief interview with Rumsfeld, Thiessen became his 

chief speechwriter and developed a uniquely close relationship 

to one of the most influential Bush cabinet secretaries. Thiessen 

traveled with Rumsfeld to 48 countries, flying 250,000 miles. 

He had carte blanche to sit in on any staff meeting and take 

notes that would become the basis for speeches. 

“The most important thing to being successful in writing 

is having access to your principal,” Thiessen says. “Your job as 

a speechwriter is to write the speech they would have written 

if they had 20 hours, and the only way you can do that is by 

knowing what they’re thinking.” 

Thiessen loved the job, so he had mixed emotions when 

he got a call one day in the spring of 2004 from Bush speechwriter 

Mark Gersten, who was gearing up for the presidential 

campaign. Going to the White House was “a no-brainer of a 

decision, but still a hard decision,” Thiessen says. 

“If you’re going to be a speechwriter, this is it. Being 

speechwriter for the president of the United States—there’s 

nothing like it.” 

Tom Frank ’80 covers national security issues for USA Today. 

He previously covered the 2004 presidential campaign for Newsday. 


m At the end of the week, 

Helena Smith ’06 poses 

with one of the kids 

from the orphanage 

she has grown close to. 

c Chad Thomas ’06 hangs 

out with an orphan after 

a spirited basketball game. 

A Week’s Difference 

Nine students and two Spanish teachers spent most of their spring 

break helping at an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. 

By Roberto d’Erizans

“Never doubt that a 

small group of thoughtful, 

committed citizens 

can change the world. 

Indeed, it’s the only 

thing that ever has!” 

—Margaret Mead 

My colleague and I drink Kool-Aid while we talk to 

two Orphanage Outreach missionaries. They have 

devoted their lives to working with orphans in the 

Dominican Republic. Part of their service is to help groups like 

ours—who are hoping to make our spring break into something 

for more than just ourselves—have a meaningful experience. 

As we talk, we can see Taft students playing and chatting 

with the 16 kids of varied ages who call the orphanage home. 

This in itself is amazing, given the shortness of our stay, the 

differences in the orphans’ backgrounds from our own, and the 

unconditional love they have shown us—a love that is as contagious 

as the community service that hundreds of volunteers 

have given to this orphanage over the years. In one short week, 

our students tested the theory that “a small group of thoughtful 

and committed citizens can change the world.” 

While many of their peers headed to Italy, Florida, or a 

sunny beach in the Caribbean (something we were sure to 

enjoy ourselves!), nine Taft students, fellow Spanish teacher 

c Local Haitian boys and 

girls sell bananas and 

other goods at a border 

town, located next to the 

Massacre River, between 

the Dominican Republic 

and Haiti. Haitians are 

allowed to cross the 

border several times a 

week in order to purchase 

needed materials from 

the Dominicans, since 

much of their subsistence 

is dependent upon the 

limited food and aid 

provided by United 

Nations peacekeepers.

. At the culmination of 

a long week of hard and 

productive volunteer 

work, the group was 

able to enjoy two trips 

to the beautiful beach of 

Monte Cristi. 

While the daily schedule was full of work projects, teaching, 

and activities with the kids, Taft students found time to spend 

with each other to reflect on the service they were providing. 

“The group we came with was phenomenal. Although 

the group was random and relatively unfamiliar, something 

clicked and we acted like we had known each other for years. 

The humor we originated was unlike anything else,” said lower-middler 

Kelsey White. 

Orphanage Outreach works with two orphanages and their 

surrounding communities in the Dominican Republic. The organization 

provides trips to volunteers who perform a variety of 

work projects, ranging from building to teaching. What makes 

m Neal McCloskey ’07, right, 

and Spanish teacher Roberto 

d’Erizans play and get to 

know a boy who lives at the 

Monte Cristi Orphanage. 

Kevin Conroy, and I traveled 

to the Dominican Republic 

city of Monte Cristi to work 

on a series of community service 

projects. The students 

ventured with no real expectations, 

but left with a lifechanging 

experience. 

“In seven quick days, 

the bonding that I have seen 

among the nine Taft volunteers 

has been impressive and 

powerful,” said Conroy. “This 

was a random group, but they 

soon became tight. They have 

volunteered, taught, learned, 

loved, shared, given, sacrificed, 

and cried.” 

Hope of a Child Orphanage was the physical and emotional 

center of our journey. We spent the week bonding with 

kids at the orphanage, teaching English at a local school, helping 

to improve one of the campus’s activity buildings, and preparing 

the ground for a weeklong English immersion camp for 

the entire community. While this work promised to be draining, 

having fun and experiencing Dominican culture was also a 

top priority. We were able to practice our Spanish through the 

generous contact we enjoyed with the orphanage’s children. 

“It’s truly amazing to me that a group of nine unfamiliar 

students can travel to a foreign country and become inseparable 

from each other and from the strangers they meet along 

the way,” said Helena Smith ’06. 

Orphanage Outreach stand out is the close contact a group enjoys 

with the kids who live at the organization’s homes. Our host 

orphanage was located in Monte Cristi, a poor northern town 

largely dependent on agriculture and fishing, and home to 16 

orphans and the Orphanage Outreach volunteer facilities. 

“I felt a bit skeptical of the Antarctic showers and open 

cabañas the first two days of the trip,” said Chad Thomas 

’06, also known as Profe Cha. “There was and is no way 

to describe the joy, love, and the experience of helping out 

Orphanage Outreach. I have never felt like I was more helpful 

and important to any group of kids before in my life.” 

Living conditions at the orphanage resembled those of the 

surrounding population. Our group lived in cabañas—a roofed 


oom with walls consisting of tarp and fencing, filled with mosquito-net-covered 

bunk beds. The orphanage grounds were also 

home to many animals, and the students especially bonded with 

the goats. The consistently warm weather allows the orphanage 

to construct almost all buildings free of walls, a distinct and 

welcomed architectural feature that lets in the cooling wind yet 

shades the intense sun. In the midst of these challenging conditions, 

our students worked hard and realized the true value of 

service, and many of them plan to return to the orphanage next 

year to spend time with the kids they befriended. 

Most of our time was spent teaching English, which was 

highly valued by the community. The Dominican Republic 

is largely dependent on tourism, and knowing English is a 

secure way of finding employment. Still, many others could 

not attend the English school because they could not afford 

the book the school requires students to have. 

“The children at the English school impressed us with 

their determination and willingness to learn,” said Jamie 

Albert ’08. The students were dedicated and hard working, 

and the Taft students gained firsthand knowledge of the value 

and difficulties of teaching. This experience provided a true 

language and cultural exchange. 

Our last day in the Dominican Republic was also very 

special. We traveled to a town located on the border with 

Haiti that hosts a market open to Haitians, who are unable to 

find basic staples in their badly impoverished country. Having 

spent a week working in a town in need of many basic necessities, 

we were still struck by the hard life of Haitians. Our 

work took on new meaning as we realized the magnitude of 

the service needed throughout the world. 

“It is shocking to get on a plane, travel three hours, and 

be at a completely different place. It is shocking to know these 

problems exist. It is shocking that we can’t do more…,” one 

volunteer said. 

As our time in the Dominican Republic ended, our leaders 

took us to a local restaurant in Monte Cristi to eat a full 

meal of Dominican food. We then went to a beautiful beach 

for the afternoon. 

“Now, at the end of this trip, I find that I have made 

new friends, learned a new language, and made a difference 

in kids’ lives. So now, I have a few new words I associate with 

this program: amazing, breathtaking, fun (and cold showers 

are awesome!),” said upper-mid Chris Papadopoulos. 

Taft students left inspired with the knowledge that they can 

change the world through service. Given the love and power of this 

experience, everyone pledges to make this trip a yearly reality. 

“Saying goodbye to these amazing people and friends 

was so hard,” added Albert. “The hugs that were passed 

around were meaningful and the tears that fell were sincere. 

Orphanage Outreach is an incredible program and I would 

not trade this experience for anything in the world.” 

Roberto d’Erizans teaches Spanish and is co-coordinator of Community 

Service at Taft. For more information on the Dominican Republic 

Orphanage Outreach trip for Spring Break 2006, please contact 

him at RobertoDerizans@TaftSchool.org. For more information on 

Orphanage Outreach, visit www.orphanage-outreach.org. 

“There was and is no way to describe 

the joy, love, and the experience 

of helping out Orphanage Outreach,” 

said Chad Thomas ’06. “I have never 

m Eliza Jackson ’06, Kelsey 

White ’08, Chad Thomas ’06, 

Phillip Martinez ’06, and Neal 

McCloskey ’07, and Roberto 

d’Erizans with their students 

at Johnny’s English School. 

The students are a mix of 

locals from Monte Cristi and 

a number of students 

from the Orphanage. 

felt like I was more helpful and important 

to any group of kids before in my life.” 


Thanks for the Memories 

c An exuberant procession of 

alumni makes its way to the 

McCullough Field House for 

the Alumni Luncheon.

Members of the 

Class of ’04 get their 

first taste of Alumni Day. 

For more than 100 years, alumni have returned to campus 

on a weekend in May to revisit their alma mater and to 

renew old friendships with friends and teachers. 

Photography by Bob Falcetti and Michael Kodas 

It was a little cold, and a little 

gray at first, but the weather 

held, and by the time the 

alumni lacrosse team gathered 

to compete on Camp Field, it 

was a glorious spring day. 

Among the highlights 

this year was Bruce Fifer’s first 

Collegium Musicum reunion, 

held in Walker Hall. Listening 

to alumni sing and laugh along 

with their current Collegium 

counterparts, it made me 

think that we were recreating 

some of the spirit of Horace 

Taft’s first Alumni Day, when 

he invited his handful of graduates 

back one Memorial Day 

weekend shortly after moving 

his school to Watertown, so 

that they could challenge the 

varsity baseball nine. 

Lacrosse may have replaced 

baseball (for now), and 

there are enough alumni that 

they play each other instead 

of the varsity, but the joyous 

sense of returning to a place 

and an activity you loved, 

with some of the friends you 

made along the way, is still the 

same. Sure we eat and drink 

and process across the campus, 

and likely always will, but 

having fun with old friends is 

what it’s all about. 

—Julie Reiff 

b The Class of ’33 joins the 

headmaster and his wife at 

the Old Guard Dinner on 

Friday evening. 


1. 1995 classmates George 

Cahill, Patrick Kerney, and 

Courtland Weisleder 

have a great time at the 

Alumni Lacrosse game. 

b 2. Charlie Yonkers ’58 

enjoys the games on 

Saturday afternoon. 

1 2 

b 3. Bryce O’Brien ’90 and 

Susan Everett at the 

15th Reunion party at Steel 

Lounge in Waterbury 

b 4. Classmates Ginny Poole 

and Andy Deeds celebrate 

their 25th Reunion on Friday 

at the Watertown Golf Club. 

3 4 

5 

7 

6 

b 5. Collegium Musicum alumni 

hold their first musical reunion. 

b 6. Getting in a few rounds 

at the Watertown Golf Club 

on Friday morning 

b 7. Roy Demmon ’45, his 

daughter Nancy ’81, and wife 

Nina at the Alumni Luncheon 

c 8. The men of 1955 at the 

Old Guard Dinner on Friday 

evening (to see the group 

complete with wives and 

guests, see page 57). 

c 9. Bruce Fifer conducts the 

combined alumni and student 

Collegium Musicum in Walker 

Hall on Saturday morning. 

c 10. Lydia Fenet ’95 and 

classmate Tyler Tremaine 

celebrate their 10th Reunion 

at Drescher’s Restaurant 

in Waterbury. 

c 11. Craig Reistad ’80 made 

the trip from Ulan Bator, 

Mongolia, for his 25th Reunion. 

c 12. The three Kellys: Bob ’80, 

father Gino ’55, and Jeff ’85 

c 13. Head monitor Sean 

O’Mealia ’05 talked about life 

at Taft today, as part of a panel 

discussion in the Choral Room. 

More than a few alumni did a 

double take when Sean said 

his mom made him apply to at 

least one boarding school, so, 

not originally wanting to leave 

home, he picked one of the 

hardest ones to get in to: Taft. 


8 

9 

11 

10 

12 

13 

Citation of Merit 

The Citation of Merit Committee selected John Vogelstein 

’52 this year to receive the school’s highest honor. 

In addition to having served for 20 years on the Taft School 

Board of Trustees, four of them as chairman, Vogelstein is a 

trustee of New York University, the Leonard R. Stern School of 

Business, the Rand Graduate School, the Jewish Museum, and 

the New York City Ballet. But nowhere is his public service commitment 

more pronounced than through his stewardship of Prep 

for Prep, which he also served as chairman of the board. 

The Citation praises Vogelstein for embracing “balance 

between personal growth and community outreach, opening 

doors for others as they were opened for you.” 

He is vice chairman and president of E.M. Warburg Pincus, 

the world’s largest investment firm, which he joined in 1967. 

“balance between personal growth and community outreach, 

opening doors for others as they were opened for you.” 


’ 

” 

b The 50th Reunion 

class proudly marches in 

the annual parade. 

At the Alumni of Color reception on Saturday: Marc 

Greggs ’00, Demetrius Walker ’00, Anita Johnson ’80, 

Rosilyn Ford ’80, Felecia Washington Williams ’84, 

Leslie Turner ’80, Elizabeth Perez Burgos ’80, History teacher 

Otis Bryant, Janelle Matthews ’00, Venroy July ’00, Ken 

Pettis ’74, Kendra Pettis ’06, Charmaine Lester ’07, Donald 

Molosi ’05, Shanika Audige ’08, Mike Negron ’05. Attending 

but not pictured were Barry Clarke ’08, Mshangwe Crawford 

’00, Anita’s mother Joan Johnson, and Dozie Uzoma ’04. 

Felecia Washington Williams, who serves as the school’s 

director of multicultural affairs, put together an exhibit for 

the reception that chronicled the history of African Americans 

and Hispanics at Taft. Trustee Rosilyn Ford coordinated a 

phone call to former faculty adviser Warren Henderson at his 

home in North Carolina. Visiting with students in the Harley 

Roberts Reception Room, alumni had the following advice 

for current students: 

“I had such a good experience that I sent 

my daughter here. She hears this from 

me daily, ‘There is plenty of time to have 

a good time, but only after you study.’ 

—Ken Pettis ’74 

“Find people that you consider to be real.” 

—Marc Greggs ’00 

“Alumni Day has historically not been 

a day that alumni of color have returned 

to in number, and this is one of 

my goals while I’m here.” 

—Felecia Washington Williams ’84 

“The communication skills that you learn 

at Taft will help you through life. Enjoy 

your time here. It’’ ’s a starting point.” 

—Anita Johnson ’80 

“Your voice is enriched in numbers, and 

try to have fun.” 

—Rosilyn Ford ’80 


115th 

Commencement 


(previous page left) Aurelian Award 

winner Peter Wyman also received the 

Alvin I. Reiff Biology Prize, the David 

Kenyon Webster ’40 Prize for Excellence 

in Writing, as well as the Daniel Higgins 

Fenton Classics Award. 

Photography by Bob Falcetti 

b (previous page right) Class 

speaker Sha-Kayla Crockett received the 

Marion Hole Makepeace Award, a 

Senior Athletic Award, and the 

Joseph I Cunningham Award. 

c Freddy Gonzalez ’05, center, 

along with his family and 

Headmaster MacMullen after the 

graduation exercises in May 

Excerpts from the 115th Commencement remarks 

Letters Home 

—By current parent Jamie Smythe ’70 

I will start by writing that I firmly believe, indeed know, that 

I cannot tell you what is, or will be, important to you. I can 

only describe to you what I have learned is important to me. 

I married Daisy, I became a doctor, I am the son of Polly 

and Cheves Smythe, and I am the father of Maggie, Sam, and 

Thomas Smythe. That’s what is important to me, that’s what 

I have chosen in life, and virtually everything else flows from 

those simple facts. 

“That’s it” I hear you ask. “Nothing more” and somewhat 

Ravenesque, I respond “Nothing more.” But, indeed, nothing less. 

It is my observation that if you can find something as 

your life’s focus that, first, you do well, second, uses your intellect—in 

which you, never mind your parents, have invested so 

much—and, third, serves others, pursue it. I daresay it is very 

unlikely you will ever regret it. 

As an educator Mr. Taft knew that, he lived it, and he put 

it in the motto. My family and eventual career were not my 

primary objectives or motivations early on, but as time went 

by, when faced with choices and opportunities, I have chosen 

“…if you can find something 

as your life’s focus that, 

first, you do well, second, 

uses your intellect…and, 

third, serves others, pursue it. 

I daresay it is very unlikely 

you will ever regret it.” 


family, and I have chosen a career/profession/life work—whatever 

you want to call it—with a heavy flavoring of service to 

others. And, for me at least, that has made all the difference. 

In some fundamental way most of us are, and surely I am, the 

people, the profession, and the institutions that we love, and 

to which we devote our time and energy. 

I am a small part of a Taft family tree with the first seed 

dating back to about 1884 when my great-grandfather Henry 

Buist, who, like many South Carolinians of his place and station, 

had been packed off to New England for his education, graduated 

from Yale with Horace Dutton Taft. That was a long time 

ago, and it is sobering to realize that it was substantially closer to 

George Washington’s administration than to George Bush’s. 

In the fullness of time my father’s brother faced similar 

choices, and I understand his Grandfather Buist advocated 

very strongly for Mr. Taft’s school. And so my Uncle Gus 

came to Watertown and graduated in 1936. My father graduated 

in 1942, and everyday he smiles down on you, as recipient 

of the Citation of Merit, from his picture in main hallway, 

a bit disheveled I might say. My brother Alec graduated in 

1969, I in 1970, my brother Julien in 1981, daughter Maggie 

in 2003, and Sam in 2005. 

And one of the many things I learned on my first date with 

Daisy was that, among her uncountable array of attractive qualities, 

her father, Tom Moore, a man of immense honesty, courage, 

intelligence, and integrity, graduated one year after my father, in 

1943. Her sister Alexandra and my brother Julien were fellow 

mids at that very moment, probably in G block or something; 

her brother Peter, and her sisters Liza and Susan all were, or were 

to become, Taft graduates. And that doesn’t even count all the 

cousins (reckoned at about a dozen). So between us all we have 

spent our terms under Mr. Taft, Mr. Cruikshank, Mr. Esty, 

Mr. Odden, and Mr. MacMullen. But let me hasten to add that 

there are many eminently successful Smythes and Moores who 

have chosen other schools and pathways. 

My Taft career was less than modest, a brief single year. 

My family was relocating, and I arrived on CPT a socially challenged, 

somewhat adrift, 16-year-old, non-PG, non-athlete; a 

senior, admitted by Mr. Joe Cunningham as a bit of a favor to 

my father. At the time I considered Taft a necessary stop along 

the way, but my boarding school experience made a profound 

impact on me that I cannot fully explain to you, but I can point 

to the educational paths that my children have chosen as the 

most concrete manifestations of the depth of that impression. 

Even though I was only on the periphery here, I could 

feel the intensity of the experience, the depth of the friendships, 

the quality and commitment of the faculty, and I have 

commented more than once that the overall raw intellectual 

power of my Taft classmates, at least at the top, was unequaled 

in any of my other educational settings. From my decidedly 

mixed emotions in May 1970, I have come to love this place 

and take immense pride in my association. 

I must share a few small excerpts from my father’s Taft 

letters. Suffice it to say, much changes, but much remains the 


same. He describes measles epidemics that force the school into 

quarantine with athletic events and debates canceled, Class 

Committee meetings, a monitorship, the Pap, anxieties about 

his athletic abilities, and enormous pride in finally making his 

first varsity team spring term of his senior year, frustrations at 

not being selected for positions that he desired with great intensity 

and passion, complaints about his father’s neckties, listening 

to symphonies in Mr. Douglas’s room, and confronting 

racial issues in ways that seem unimaginable in this day and age. 

There is a six-page copy of his debate with Deerfield in which 

he is assigned the position of advocating for immediate declaration 

of war on Hitler, amazing discussions about the inevitability 

of the war, which he knows is coming, what that will do to 

his college plans, his friends’, his brother’s, and his life. 

He describes the student body having to assume more 

housekeeping chores as many of the staff left to work in munitions 

factories, the senior class just after Pearl Harbor volunteering 

to staff the plane spotting post on the hill behind school, trips 

to New York, complaints that “the girls in the North aren’t nearly 

as pretty, Father. At least the ones who come to Taft” (clearly that 

has changed). And, finally, complaints about the cold, excessive 

quantity of work, the need for an overdue vacation, feeling that 

track practice has lightened up so, “I only feel like I have been 

moderately tortured and not broken over the wheel,” and (this 

hasn’t changed) losing too many football games. 

But what stand out are items from one of his first letters and 

then one of his last. New at the school, but ambitious; he writes: 

“Father, there are a great many things I would like to 

talk to you about. What am I going to take next year, 

what am I going to do for a living, what you think about 

the foreign and domestic situations, and what I should 

think about certain things…. I want to make a success at 

school, that is, I want to make friends.” 

And he goes on to describe those boys he likes, and those 

he doesn’t, and asks rhetorically will he be accepted and how 

will this all sort out. In one of his final Taft letters as a senior 

he writes of the exceptionally heavy weight of casting a vote 

“to toss a boy out of school. However I think we judged him 

honestly.” He concludes with, 

“I could only see the faults in the system and school last 

year, but now I think I can understand them as well, and 

therefore see why they are here and not mind them. This 

is a great school. I’m glad I came here. 

—Your affectionate son, 

Cheves” 

Well, so am I that he did. And so am I that I did. And, Sam, 

whom I love more than you will know—unless or until you 

are so fortunate as to have children of your own—so am I that 

you did. And so am I that each of you did, Class of 2005— 

roommates, teammates, classmates, schoolmates and friends. 

—Your affectionate son, father, brother, nephew, cousin, son-in-law, 

brother-in-law, classmate, pupil, and fellow Taft graduate, 

Jamie Smythe ’70 


. Headmaster Willy 

MacMullen ’78 and guest 

speaker Jamie Smythe ’70 

b Senior Matt 

Davis receives 

congratulations 

from his sister 

Sarabeth. A 

cum laude 

student, Matt 

received the 

Daniel Higgins 

Fenton Classics 

Award, the 

Harley Robert 

Scholarship, 

and the Physics 

Prize. 


m Valedictorian Christopher Lacaria receives the 

Bourne Medal in History from Jack Kenerson ’82; 

Chris also received the math prize. Highpoint Pictures 

Looking 

Backward 

—By Head Monitor Sean O’Mealia ’05 

There is so much to look back on. So much. Some of it is great, 

some inspiring, some lackluster, some devastating. I look back 

on Taft and tons of conflicting images come to mind. 

I think, first, of a scared and shy kid meandering around 

the campus four years ago, pining to escape and return to the 

Jersey Shore. A kid petrified by, and not at all looking forward 

to what lay ahead. 

I think of the experiences that freshman year that changed 

my mind: JV football, ultimate Frisbee before study hall, 

squakey, the thirds hockey team that went 0–11, mudsliding, 

the nickname “Tex” and life on HDT 4. 

I think of all the faculty I have come to know and deeply 

care about here. Whenever I think of my connection with teachers 

here I think of Mr. Palmer, my dean/adviser/coach/teacher on 

Halloween, up on stage dressed as Agent Smith from the Matrix 

and the standing ovation he received for it. I could continue on 

with example upon example of memories I have with teachers at 

Taft. I think we all could. I look behind me and there are so many 

of you that I care about. We are, in my opinion, extraordinarily 

lucky to have a faculty that cares for us as much as this one. 

I think of the last meeting the school mons had in which they 

reflected on the entire year. I struggled to put into words the enormous 

respect I have for them and affection I feel for all of them. 

I think of the rounds of Frisbee golf. Oh, the Frisbee golf. 

I think of my friends. I can’t even begin to capture my 

relationship with them without being cliché, so I won’t try. 

And these are just the experiences of one of us. I can’t 

even begin to imagine what Taft means to all of you. I’m positive 

that the specifics are different than they are for me. I’m 

also positive that those experiences and images do exist. 

How do you say thank you to something so intangible, 

so much larger than I am What does this place mean to me 

There’s one I can answer. It means everything. 

This place has shaped who I am today. Taft and I are 

intertwined because it has helped to define me for the past 

four years. In the same way it has shaped who all of you are 

too. I’m positive of the fact. Regardless of whether or not you 

loved every second of your time here, Taft has made you who 

you are. Today is the day it stops actively shaping you. For 

that reason alone, I think it is appropriate to take today and 

look back on all that has happened here. 

I realize it may be hard, but say thank you to the people 

you love here. That is what I think this day is for. A day of 

thanks and celebration not necessarily of the future, but for 

the time and experiences we have shared together. 


. Head monitor 

and 1908 

Medal winner 

Sean O’Mealia 

with his adviser, 

Steve Palmer 


m Twins Reisa and Matthew Bloch ’05 

and their parents Cindy and Larry, who 

headed the Parents’ Fund this year (see 

page 21). Reisa received the Berkley F. 

Matthews ’96 Award and a Senior Athletic 

Award, and Matthew the Heminway 

Merriman ’30 Award. Highpoint Pictures 

c Minkailu Jalloh 

’05 and his family, 

who dressed 

so beautifully for 

the occasion 

When all is said and done—cross country is over, the 

Tower a mere memory, the pond no longer nearby, the 

Bamboo Chronicles an object of the archives, my room packed, 

Saturdays free, the notion of boarding school a nostalgic one 

in my mind—I will know that I loved it. 

My love for Taft may have come earlier than some of 

yours, but I have faith that, in the end, it will come to us all. 

I think that at some point in our lives, we will—all 165 of 

us—look back and sincerely want to say thank you to Taft. 

There will be some connection made here or some moment 

of maturity made here you will be thankful for. 

The Meaning of 

the Word 

—By class speaker 

Sha-Kayla Crockett ’05 

T-A-F-T, what are your thoughts when you listen to this word 

Now is the time to think back on all the thoughts and memories 

shared with individuals unlike any others you will ever meet. 

T for timid. Timid meeting your old boy or girl for the 

first time, timid as you were surrounded by a world of new 

faces and as you introduced yourself to new friends who 

would last a lifetime. 

A for allowance. Parents, for allowing your children to leave 

home. Students, for allowing yourselves to take risks in more 

ways than one. Teachers for allowing us to share in your intellect 

and allowing us to share ours. Friends, for breaking down 

barriers and allowing yourselves to form everlasting bonds. 

F for future. A future bearing privileges and adversity. 

Futures including friends and foes. Futures filled with uncertainty. 

Futures with abundant smiles. Futures overflowing with successes 

and failures—for without failure success is meaningless. 

T for timeless. The moments spent in the Jig before 

class, the hours of preparation before the formal, the late 

nights in front of your computer screen, all are timeless. 

Timeless are those hour-and-ten-minute classes back-toback 

on Thursdays. Timeless are the moments that leave 

lasting imprints in our minds—moments without which we 

would be left unfulfilled. 

Taft is a place that forced us to face our fears and overcome 

them—the place where we learned to embrace failure instead of 

shy away from it. The place compiled into a community. 

Taft is a word that embodies more than simply the name 

of a school—embodying a history, a reputation, traditions, 

but most importantly individuals are what make Taft the 

place that we have come to know and love. And those individuals 

embody a history, a reputation, traditions, but most 


importantly, immense diversity. We stand for the timid, the 

tolerant, the timeless moments spent here, and in the future, 

but in the end we stand for ourselves—all 165 of us. 

In the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, “Remember always that 

you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an 

obligation to be one.” 

The Recipe 

—By class speaker Javier Garcia ’05 

When I think of our class I can’t help but think of my mom’s 

cooking. No matter what my mom prepares, every ingredient 

is vital to the final product. And the final product is incredibly 

tasty, trust me. On the outside we have jocks, nerds, artsy 

people, social people, people who love politics, religious people, 

diverse people, and the labels go on and on. But on the 

inside, when you have transcended the line of first impression 

or stereotype, it becomes clear that ours is a class that defies 

these labels. We are all of the above, mixed and matched so 

that our strengths complement each other. 

As much as I want to say that as a class we are united 

completely, this is simply not the case. Instead, we are individuals 

who respect each other. We are individuals who can 

see the difference in others and still praise them for their 

accomplishments. We are each an ingredient with a unique 

texture, smell, color, and flavor. We are blended together as 

in any good recipe so that every ingredient though separate 

and different flourishes in the final product. This class cannot 

be understood without the recognition of every member’s 

contribution. We are all dependent on each other to 

create this final dish. Although this is true for many classes 

because of Taft’s savvy manner of bringing people together, 

our class does this especially well. 

I guess in that sense Taft is our great cook, and we are forever 

indebted to it. I know I am taking this metaphor a little 

too far but bear with me. What I mean to say is that a place is 

nothing. It’s the people in it that make all the difference. More 

specifically, our friends and teachers have made the difference 

in our lives here. Our families too, but from a distance. I’d like 

to take a moment now to praise the faculty, who are the personification 

of our motto. Who else has dedicated so much of 

their time and effort to straightening us out In every sense, 

their profession is service: service in guiding us and strengthening 

us, service in preparing us for what is to come. Whether 

through extra help in a subject you are inept at from a teacher 

you barely knew or through countless hours of counsel from an 

adviser, we have each forged relationships with the faculty that 

are unforgettable. And for this I think it’s fair to say that they 

will miss us as strongly as we will miss them. Inside and outside 

of the classroom, they have been our inspiration. They were our 

chefs, and now we are tasty. Thank you so much. 


And what then shall we say about our friends That they 

were second best By no means. Here we struggled together, 

we grew up together, we trusted in the hope that this day 

would come and together we would rise and call each other 

blessed beyond words. Here we are, we’ve finally made it to 

this day. My friends we are blessed beyond words. We have 

blessed each other in ways we cannot even begin to fathom. 

In the past few days, I have noticed our class is mostly 

smiling. Not because we are eager to leave Taft, but because 

we are ready. 

Our Flattened 

World 

—By Headmaster 

William R. MacMullen ’78 

Endings are good, but this is a commencement. And I like 

beginnings where the proportions are all wrong—where the 

humble circumstances don’t merit the size of the dreams. 

One of my favorites we see in an essay given by Massachusetts 

Bay Governor John Winthrop in 1630. We were not yet a 

nation, just a group of desperate and brave men and women 

who wanted to be left alone and were clinging to a sandy 

shoreline and scratching for the next meal. But Winthrop’s 

hopes were noble and high. In his essay “A Model of Christian 

Charity,” he spoke of two broad, timeless hopes: that his 

people “love one another with a pure heart fervently…. And 

bear one another’s burdens.” He ended with an image that 

has endured for centuries: his dream that we would become 

a “City upon a Hill, [where] the eyes of all people are upon 

us.” It was a lovely, sturdy metaphor for a people bent on 

starting a nation. 

Now, for some time, Taft students and alumni have called 

this place the Brick City. It is a fine description of this school 

upon a hill. This class has done what Winthrop asked for: 

they have loved one another and borne each other’s burdens. 

Like those colonists, we feel we can be left alone here. As small 

and confining as this place can be, it is also respite from the 

chaos and cacophony outside these walls. They have found 

sanctuary: on a bench in Lincoln Lobby, at the hushed hour 

in the early evening, walking by the frozen pond on a winter 

night, crossing an emerald quad with shadows lengthening. 

Just a tiny city of brick on the hill, and nothing seems more 

beautiful and peaceful. 

It is an illusion, of course, and no class in this school’s 

115-year history knows this better than this one, for they 

were lower mids on their first day of class on September 11, 

2001, when the dark hour came upon us. To be clear: we did 

not think about that day every moment here. Nonetheless, 


Class speaker 

Javier Garcia gets 

a hug, with an 

arm full of awards, 

including the 

John S. Noyes 

French Prize. 


c Cum laude 

graduate Jessica 

Lee receives the 

Wilson-Douglas 

Mathematics Prize 

from Al Reiff Jr. ’80; 

she also won the 

Japanese Prize and 

the Chemistry Prize. 

Highpoint Pictures 

m The high spirits of the day were just 

too much for some of the younger crowd 

whose attentions were closer to home. 

this era revealed the true character of this class. To account 

for its uncommon decency, for its shared respect, for its 

central kindness, for its emotional resilience, I think of that 

day and the days that rolled forward like a scroll, their lives 

traced upon it. 

Now this was not the first time Taft students heard the 

rumbling of the world outside the school’s gates. In June of 

1918, Horace Taft spoke to the senior class, saying “This war, 

which fills the minds of all of us, is unquestionably an introduction 

to a mighty period of change….” In 1939, Headmaster 

Paul Cruikshank addressed the school as World War II broke 

out. “[Our modern forms of communication],” he said, “have 

served to bring these world affairs to you vividly, dramatically, 

and with lightning speed.” And in 1969, Headmaster John Esty 

spoke at Commencement, saying, “This year must surely rank 

as one of the most uncertain and unsettling years in our history 

as a school.” Their words—of a fragile peace, a shrinking world, 

of global uncertainty—resonate today. This has never been a 

city on the hill, even when we wanted it to be. 

Something did happen to this class, that day and in the 

four years following. It was very complex and marvelously 

simple, and whatever you call it, it is with us still and is, finally, 

this class’s gift to the school. They, like this nation, had 

their best moments in the days and months afterward. We saw 

their spirit in so many ways. 

Many of you will know columnist Thomas Friedman’s latest 

book The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century. 

His argument is this: the world has been flattened by technology; 

and nations and individuals will trade, communicate and 

compete with each other on a leveled field. This is the world 

this class is entering. 

Perhaps this never was a city on a hill, even when 

it was a small school of one building on the edge of 

Watertown farmland in the 1890s. And certainly, 

Governor Winthrop would not recognize this new world. 

Today neither this nation nor this school can strive to be 

what he described in 1630. Those days, if they ever were 

even here, are gone. But something very good and enduring 

has come from the reality that we will never be a city 

on a hill. We just need to ask what is needed of all of us 

in this new landscape where we will inevitably be drawn 

into and touched by world affairs. 

What will be required in this flattened world, at once 

rubble strewn and planted with hope, are your welleducated 

sons and daughters, who in their years here have, 

one hopes, acquired the kind of education to allow them 

to succeed and lead moral and good lives in this world. 

They will have to work with and respect people of radically 

different perspectives; they will have to see new solutions 

made possible in a world of instant communication and information 

sharing; they will have to maintain a firm moral 

rigor and yet avoid moral self-righteousness; they must be 

willing to serve. We hope that Taft has had some small part 

in preparing them. 


CourseNotes 

The third installment 

SP21 

Second-Year Spanish 

This course is a continuation of the work 

begun in SP11 and SP12, focusing on the 

continued acquisition of basic grammatical 

structures and vocabulary. All indicative 

and subjunctive tenses are covered 

during the year. The Language Center 

is used to enhance listening comprehension 

and speaking skills. Students are expected 

to incorporate new grammar and 

vocabulary into written assignments, and 

class is always conducted in Spanish. 

Faculty: Matthew Budzyn, Roberto 

d’Erizans, Elizabeth Frew, Pilar Santos 

in our look at 

academic offerings 

available to 

Taft students. 

Baba Frew checks 

with middler 

Amanda Vidal as 

Adetutu Adekoya 

and Eric Kim work 

away in their 

Spanish class. 

Mrs. Frew “is an 

amazing teacher” 

says upper middler 

Sarah Ewing. “She 

has more patience 

than anyone I have 

ever met. The 

course has a huge 

amount of tenses 

and vocab but is 

interesting and 

challenging.” 


CourseNotes 

“In many ways, Spanish II is my favorite 

class to teach,” says BabaFrew, 

who has taught at Taft for 17 years and 

is the section leader for second-year 

Spanish, “and yet it is also one of the 

most challenging.” 

Students spend the year learning to 

communicate in a variety of tenses, including 

the subjunctive. 

“The array of tenses can be difficult,” 

Frew adds, “but we also include 

some great thematic units such 

as the environment, technology, and 

housing, giving students a chance to 

discuss issues that are relevant to their 

lives in the target language. We also 

include a unit on immigration that 

forces students to consider broader 

socioeconomic issues. Students read 

a short story about a Mexican immigrant 

family, watch a movie, and 

write journal entries and a personal 

response, all in Spanish.” 

Those units clearly resonate with 

some students. “I liked learning about 

illegal immigrants,” TaylorGorham 

’08 said, “because it forced me to look 

at my own life from a different perspective 

and it also made the Spanish course 

seem more relevant to real life.” 

From the beginning, teachers 

train students to use only the target 

Jane Sobel 

language when they cross the threshold 

of the classroom. 

“At my old school, our longest time 

speaking in only Spanish, no English, 

was a record of maybe 25 minutes,” said 

StephSchonbrun ’07, “as opposed 

to 45 minutes in Mrs. Frew’s class. We 

also worked in the language lab at least 

once a week.” 

“Students often amaze themselves 

when they realize the level at which 

they can communicate their thoughts 

in Spanish,” adds Frew. Constant exposure 

to Spanish and practice are the 

only ways for the students to improve 

their comfort level with the language, 

she says, so they present the material in 

a variety of settings. 

“The course was challenging for 

me,” HollandWalker ’07 says, “but 

Mrs. Frew was always willing to help 

me with work. She made me enjoy a 

tough subject. To review for tests we 

would play Jeopardy with Spanish 

grammar questions.” 

Lower middler ArielPicton agrees, 

“The course was really hard because of 

all the grammar, but some things made 

it better: like when we watched the 

movie El Norte, and having Mr. Budzyn 

as a teacher, because he’s really cool.” 

Students remark on the “huge 

amount of tenses” in this course and 

their newfound familiarity with accent 

marks, but most seemed pleased 

with the strides they made in the language 

this year. 

“This was a really challenging 

course, but Ms. Santos was a great 

teacher,” says StephanieMenke 

’08. “We learned a lot of new verb 

tenses and the vocabulary really 

pushed me. Although it was my hardest 

course, the classes were always interesting, 

and I improved so much in 

my grammar and speaking.” 

“My hope,” says Frew, “is that 

students finish the year looking 

forward to more opportunities to 

explore the language and Hispanic 

culture in Spanish III.” 


E N D N O T E 

The Boy of Summer, 

the Father of Fall 

Don’t most parents 

By Joseph H. Cooper and William D. Cooper ’06 

want their kids to 

do well early in their 

working life so that 

they won’t have to 

work unhappily ever 

after—so that they 

won’t be shackled to a 

laborious regimen all 

the days of their lives 

“Dad, you’re obsessing.” 

“It’s what I do.” 

“You worry too much.” 

“It’s a prerogative of parenthood.” 

“You gotta relax.” 

“So, help me.” 

“How” 

“Do some stuff this summer 

that will impress colleges.” 

“That’s not how I want to spend my summer.” 

AND SO IT’S BEEN GOING for months 

of his junior year in high school, via phone 

calls and e-mails. My son at his boarding 

school, “locked down” in academic rigors, 

and me thinking about his future and what 

that means about my future. 

Don’t most parents want their kids to do well 

early in their working life so that they won’t 

have to work unhappily ever after—so that 

they won’t be shackled to a laborious regimen 

all the days of their lives And don’t most parents 

entertain thoughts of their kids’ doing 

so well that they can fund privatized social— 

and economic—security accounts for Mom 

and Dad 

Ted Gahl 

Yes, a fantasy. But don’t we 

all want our kids to achieve 

some financial security for 

themselves—in our lifetime 

Well, that’s my dream—in both 

nighttime and daytime screenings. 

Yeah, his success would 

retire a lot of my anxieties. 

Now, it may be very parochial 

thinking, but I still make the 

connection between schooling 

and success. Maybe it’s 

snobbery or elitism. Guilty. 

The theory-and-rebuttal between me and my 

son goes something like this: 

“Kiddo, not all schools are alike.” 

“Right. Some have winning football teams 

and some don’t.” 

“Parents are paying thousands of dollars to 

have their kids prepped to apply to Brown or 

Harvard.” 

“Dad, I’m gonna save you money.” 

“But sometimes you’ve got to spend money 

to make money.” 

“Why would you pay people thousands so 

that they can arrange to have me do stuff I 

really don’t want to do” 


E N D N O T E 

But what he really 

wants to do this 

summer is spend time 

with his friends. That 

works—assuming that 

his friends’ parents 

haven’t paid thousands 

of dollars to burnish 

the kids’ résumés… 

“It’s résumé building. It’s expected.” 

“It’s not real.” 

“The reality is that lots of kids are doing it— 

there must be something to it.” 

“Who says The colleges or the people running 

the prep businesses” 

[Hesitating] “But lots of kids are doing it.” 

“Yeah, so I can be one of the kids who don’t. 

I’ll stand out.” 

“But college applications ask about your extracurricular 

activities, out-of-school endeavors 

and summer involvements.” 

“Hey, mine will be a quick read.” 

I send him articles on summer global workstudy 

tours, summer enrichment programs 

and summer expeditions. All are geared 

to polishing the résumés of pre-college 

teens. All are aimed at impressing collegeadmissions 

folks with far-flung community 

service, out-of-the-ordinary educational experiences, 

and exotic humanitarian gestures. 

So how is my 17-year-old going to stand out 

amid the 17 million high-school seniors who 

will apply to college this fall 

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal 

noted that there are a number of tour companies 

and counseling businesses that specialize 

in making the most of college-bound 

kids’ summers. 

According to a counselor at the Ivy Success 

Corp.—which charges up to $15,000 for its 

coaching—my kid shouldn’t bother to volunteer 

at a local hospital, “because it’s something 

every single high-school student does.” 

According to Ivy-Wise LLC—which charges 

$24,000 for two years’ worth of molding and 

shaping advice—my kid should be working 

at “a major investment bank” this summer, 

or “an internationally prominent museum.” 

And for good measure, Ivy-Wise will “put” 

him in a 10-week program in Mexico, in 

which he can learn pottery and Spanish. Or 

there’s a 10-week program in Asia, in which 

he can study with Tibetan monks. 

Well, if he were interested in being a potter, he 

could start by enrolling in a summer course at 

the local art college, for a few hundred dollars. 

If he aspired to fluency in Spanish, we’d pick 

up some audiotapes at tag sales. As for absorbing 

wisdom from Tibetan monks, he could 

check out some books from the public library. 

And as for community service, he could walk 

over to the local hospital or take a short $2.30- 

a-gallon drive to the local Boys Club. 

But what he really wants to do this summer is 

spend time with his friends. That works—assuming 

that his friends’ parents haven’t paid 

thousands of dollars to burnish the kids’ résumés 

by having them counsel remote tribesmen 

on hydroponic cross-pollination of endangered 

plant life that may potentially yield 

a sustainable source of fissionable material to 

solve the world energy crisis. And then there 

are those who will merely conceive lesson 

plans for an ashram school, based on ancient 

texts that may forecast the essay questions on 

the new SAT. 

Joseph H. Cooper teaches media law at 

Quinnipiac University’s Graduate School of 

Communications, in Hamden, Connecticut; his 

son, Will ’06, spent the summer working at a 

basketball camp and expected to put in a lot of 

time at the beach and playing the guitar. This 

essay first appeared in the Providence Journal 

and is reprinted here with permission. 




Watertown, CT 06795-2100 

860-945-7777 

www.TaftAlumni.com 

Change Service Requested 

Non-profit Org. 

U.S. Postage 

PAID 

Permit No. 101 

Burl., VT 05401 

Notice: Postal regulations require the school to pay 

70 cents for every copy not deliverable as addressed. 

Please notify us of any change of address, giving 

both the new and old addresses. You may e-mail 

changes to TaftRhino@TaftSchool.org.

Alumni Weekend Memories - The Taft School

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?