ManufactuRed Housing - The Taft School

Model StudentsTraining leaders of tomorrow starts withthe students of today, and so a few dozenTaft students got a sense of whatthose responsibilities might be by attendingModel Congress or Model UnitedNations programs this winter.Twenty-three students spent fourdays in Boston in late February, participatingin Harvard’s Model Congress.“This conference gives kids a tremendousopportunity to learn what it islike to be a member of Congress and tryto get laws passed or act as a lobbyist or amember of the press corps,” says adviserRachael Ryan, noting that senior EmilyGumbulevich spoke about the caseinvolving “under God” in the pledgewith the director of the ACLU whenhe came to Taft “because she had servedIn Briefas a lawyer who argued that case beforethe Supreme Court at Model Congress.It is the best way to learn—by doing.”At the conference, senior NateBreg served as the Austrian delegateon the historical committee that dealtwith the rise of Hitler and Germanyprior to WWII (and won the Awardof Excellence for his role). HannahVasquez ’09 served as AlexanderHamilton on the historical constitutionalconvention. For more details,visit harvardmodelcongress.org.Teachers Kris Fairey and AnnabelSmith took a delegation of ten studentsto Yale for a Model United Nationsprogram a month earlier. They wereassigned to represent the Haitian delegation.(Since that’s a nine-memberdelegation, Jessica Yu ’09 became a delegatefrom Latvia!)“Given both our school-widefocus this year on Haiti (based onthe all-school read Mountain BeyondMountains last summer) and the increasingmomentum in the school forglobal studies,” says Kris, “this renewedparticipation in the Model U.N. offers amost fitting way for students to focus oncurrent issues and events connecting thenearly 200 member states.”Model UN Conferences happen allover the world, and all over the U.S., butthe Yale program has been in operationfor 34 years. Students independently researchthe issues distributed in Decemberthrough position papers to the variousU.N. committees on which they serve.Nearly 50 high schools attend, mostlyfrom the Northeast, but also fromCalifornia, Tennessee, Kenya and China.To learn more, visit yale.edu/yira/ymun/.ACLU speakerAnthony D. Romero, executive directorof the American Civil Liberties Union,spoke at Morning Meeting in March aboutprotecting basic freedoms during times ofcrisis. He took the helm of the 87-yearoldorganization just four days before theSeptember 11, 2001, attacks. In 2005,Romero was named one of Time Magazine’s25 Most Influential Hispanics.Best Taxi Ride EverOver winter vacation, Taft science teacherRobertson Follansbee enjoyed his 15minutes of fame after an appearance onCash Cab, a trivia show on the DiscoveryChannel. He and two college friends piledinto an ordinary looking New York Citytaxi, and, as they were ferried through thestreets of Manhattan, correctly answeredevery question asked by the host. Arrivingat their destination, Rob and his friendschose to go for the difficult double-ornothingbonus question. Rob quickly cameup with “Kodiak” in answer to a questionabout a bear native to the Aleutian Islands.Rob and his friends won nearly $4,000 andstill hold the record for the biggest winnersever to appear on the series.Dial M for MurderAn entirely student cast and crew producedthe well-known thriller written byFrederick Knott and made famous by directorAlfred Hitchcock. Nick Tyson ’09directed the Masque and Dagger productionin the Woodward Black Box Theateron March 1 and 2. The cast consisted ofM&D regulars and newcomers alike, includingKate Sutton ’08, uppermids AlexisMcNamee, Kathy Demmon, Will Sayre,Juliet Ourisman, Brianna Ong, DanielaGarcia, Catherine Winslow, and middlerLara Watling.Photography showTwo Taft photography students, GiovanaEspejo and Barbara Romaine, werejuried into this year’s 28th AnnualPhotography Exhibition sponsored bythe New Canaan Society for the Arts.The show ran from February 10 throughMarch 9. For more information, visitcarriagebarn.org/photoshow08.htmlOff-BroadwayDavid Friedman, withfive Broadway shows,his own off-Broadwayshow, eight Disneyfilms, three televisionseries and recordingsby such artists asDiana Ross, Barry Manilow and NancyLaMott to his credit, brought his upbeatcabaret performance to Walker Hall onFebruary 29. He was joined by Broadwaysingers Scott Coulter and Kristy Cates.Monthly Walker Hall concerts are free andopen to the public.Taft Bulletin Spring 2008 15