2008 December

Christmas Vespers in Memorial Chapel

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Welcome to Newswire, NMH's quarterly alumni e-newsletter. A busy fall semester is coming to a close as the winter solstice nears. Northfield Mount Hermon sends warm wishes to all for a healthy, happy, and safe holiday.

Tip: Click on a title to read the full story. Enjoy!

CAMPUS NEWS

Head of School Sturtevant Travels the Globe

Tom Sturtevant in Shanghai

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Head of School Tom Sturtevant has personally shared the good news about the school with alumni, parents, and friends at home and abroad this fall. NMH 130th Anniversary Campaign events were held in Seattle, Chicago, Shanghai, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Phoenix (trustee Bill Shea ’72 represented him at the latter event). Sturtevant will visit more cities up and down the East Coast over the next several months.

“I am proud and awed by the power of our school's mission and its positive effects on our students today,” Sturtevant has told enthusiastic attendees.

At each stop, he provides updates, answers questions, and thanks guests for supporting NMH. He also emphasizes how important annual and capital giving is in maintaining and strengthening the school's mission and keeping it financially sustainable.

For more news and photos of the events, visit our campaign website.

Alumna Gives $500,000 in Honor of Former NMH Teacher

Heather and Robert Keane Honor Audrey Sheats (c)

At the Moody Society Recognition Dinner in October, Head of School Tom Sturtevant announced a generous gift from an alumna in honor of former English teacher Audrey Sheats. Heather McEvoy Keane '81 and her husband Robert Keane gave $500,000 to establish an endowed fund that will be used to support the school's student financial aid program. Read more.

Raymond Hall Dedicated

Sheila Hazen '60 addresses donors

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The 225-seat concert hall in the Rhodes Arts Center is named in memory of beloved former NMH music teacher, Albert R. Raymond, and his wife Virginia B. Raymond, also an NMH teacher. On October 25, a special performance by NMH musicians was held to celebrate the official dedication of Raymond Hall.

A highlight of the evening was the presentation of In Praise of Singing, a new composition by Director of Choral Music Sheila Heffernon and performed by the Concert Choir. Heffernon shared her memories of Al Raymond, who inspired a love of music for countless NMH students, saying, "No one will ever fill his shoes." The Raymonds' daughter, Sheila Raymond Hazen '60, reflected on her father's influence on the music program at NMH and thanked the many alumni and friends who made gifts to name the concert hall in memory of her parents.

NMH Athletes to the Ivies and Beyond

NMH senior student-athletes have been making quite an impression on top college recruiters this fall. So far, several basketball players have committed to some of the country’s best: Peter McMillan ’09 to Cornell University, Andrew McCarthy ’09 to Brown University, and Brian Fitzpatrick ’09 to the University of Pennsylvania.

Shooting star Mike Marra ’09 received a flurry of press after his University of Louisville coach-to-be Rick Pitino commented that Marra was the best high school shooter he’d ever seen.

Not all of NMH’s most talented athletes wield a ball. Tessa Gobbo ’10, who didn’t know a thing about crew when she entered NMH as a freshman, is now one of the most recruited high school rowers in the country. Wanting to attend college in the Northeast, Tessa is considering Brown, Dartmouth, Princeton, and the University of Virginia, among other schools wooing her.

See more news coverage of NMH athletes.

NMH Hosts NPR’s “From the Top”

The spectacular new Rhodes Arts Center is bustling with a full schedule of music, dance, and theater performances. Earlier this fall, National Public Radio selected the center’s Raymond Hall for a taping of “From the Top,” a weekly program that features promising young classical musicians.



NMH’s Select Women’s Ensemble, chosen from a large pool of candidates to perform, sang a difficult piece with words by the poet William Butler Yeats. (See local news coverage of the concert.) The program will be broadcast the week of January 11 on hundreds of NPR stations around the country (check your local listing). To listen in, check for information on the NMH website or go directly to “From the Top.”

Fall Admission Events Impress

Thanks to the efforts of many in the campus community and a crew of parent volunteers, prospective students and their families are gaining a clear picture of the excellent educational program offered at NMH. While here, our visitors meet with teachers and coaches, attend performing arts events and athletics contests, take tours with student tour guides, and sample the fare at Alumni Hall (most can hardly believe the menu selection).

The Admission Office has increased the number of visiting opportunities for prospectives this fall, organizing two open houses and two class visit days. The Class Visit Day program is a new event at which families spend time in class with NMH students. Reportedly, families have been dazzled by the quality of the academics and the high level of interaction between teachers and students. So far about 140 families have visited, with 60 expected at each of the next two events.

Leading the admission program is new Dean of Enrollment Claude Anderson, who recently received the Everett E. Gourley Award from the Secondary School Admission Test Board (SSATB). The Gourley Award is given each year by the SSATB to an educator whose “interest in students and concern for colleagues is an inspiration to those who serve in admission.”

Bolger House Next Up

Much of the foundation work for Bolger House, our new admission building, has been completed. A large crane recently arrived on site to unload three truckloads of structural steel. Over the next several weeks the steel will be raised and the frame will be roofed in. Plastic sheeting will sheathe the structure so that work can continue throughout the winter. Bolger House is scheduled to open in July 2009.

ALUMNI IN THE NEWS

In the Arts...

Gillian Bohrer '96 made local news for her role as creative executive for Summit Entertainment's smash screen hit Twilight, based on the best-selling novels by Stephanie Meyer. Read more and link to articles in Greenfield's The Recorder and the Fitchburg Sentinel and Enterprise.

In Business...

Maurice Coleman '87



Sam Calgione '88

A graduate of NMH’s Transition Year Program, Maurice Coleman '87 is featured in a December 8 Forbes magazine article about rising African American executives. Coleman is senior vice president and senior client manager for Bank of America in New York and New Jersey.

Master microbrewer Sam Calagione ’88 was featured in a New Yorker profile that describes how he created some of the world's most intriguing (otherwise know as extreme) beers for his Delaware-based Dogfish Head Brewery.

In Sports...

Eleanor Wierzbowski ’06, a member of the Trinity College crew team, and her boat won the Women’s Collegiate Eight event at the Head of the Charles in Boston last fall; gold at the New England Rowing Championship; silver at the Eastern College Athletic Conference; and first place in California for the Women’s Division III Varsity Eight National Championship.

After the Nationals, her varsity squad continued on to the Henley Women’s Regatta on the Thames River in England. At the Henley in June, Wierzbowski sat bow in the Varsity Eight race and won the Senior 8+ Jefferies Cup Championship title. The Trinity College Bantams finished as the No. 2-ranked team in the nation according to row2k.

In Politics...

Valerie Jarrett ’74, friend and advisor to president-elect Barack Obama, will have an official role in the new administration: senior advisor and assistant to the president for intergovernment relations and public liaison. The Chicagoan was a key figure in Obama’s campaign and has been one of three leaders of his transition team. A Chicago Sun-Times story about Jarrett’s new position mentions she went to NMH.

In Humanitarianism...

Kimmie Weeks '00

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Will Perez '04





Britt Lilienthal '08

Kimmie Weeks '00 began his life's work as a child's rights activist when he was a 10-year-old experiencing the horrors of the Liberian civil war in the 1990s. Recently, Weeks was featured on The CW television network with songwriter, performer, producer, artist M.I.A. and producer Sol Guy in Liberia. View video of Weeks, or of Sol Guy introducing the segment.

Will Perez ’04 deferred his acceptance to Brown’s medical school to work for ten months in Les Cayes, Haiti, where he is the public health director and liaison at a clinic that serves an orphanage called Pwoje Espwa, or Project Hope. Perez recently developed a program for the treatment and prevention of tuberculosis, malaria, scabies, and ringworm. Recently, he entered a marathon that raised money for the orphanage. The story was covered in the Caymanian Compass.



A profile of Britt Lilienthal '08 and her activism on behalf of Rwandan children was published in Brattleboro, Vermont's The Reformer. The feature mentions she graduated from NMH and that the organization she volunteers for, Children Affected by HIV/AIDS (CHABHA), is led by Susanna Grannis, also an NMH alum. Lilienthal attends the University of Vermont.

FROM THE ADVANCEMENT OFFICE

Annual Fund Supports Students

The time is now to make your year-end gift to NMH. Class of '88 gift chairs Steve Gauster and Mark Chaffee perhaps say it best: "As you consider your gift, remember that the economic crisis waits for no student. Recession or not, we must insure that deserving young people from all across the globe—particularly the neediest—have access to the experiences that shaped us: a firstrate education of the head, heart, and hand; an exposure to the diverse beliefs and traditions that drive an ever more interdependent and complex world; and a chance to experience the joy of serving others."



All gifts postmarked or received on or before December 31 are potentially eligible for a deduction on your 2008 taxes, and go right to work for students. If you haven’t done so, please take this opportunity to support NMH. You can give online or call 1-866-NMH-GIVE. Thank you.

P.S. Click here for NMH taxpayer identification number.

Last-Minute Holiday Gift

Antigone

Name a seat for a loved one in one of the Rhodes Arts Center performance venues: in the 250-seat Raymond Hall or the 225-seat end-stage-theater ($3,000 each); or in Heffernon Hall or the dance studio theater ($1,500 each, portable seating). The name of the honoree of choice will be etched on seat or wall plaques.

To learn more about how to name a seat (gifts may be made as pledges to be paid over time), contact Allyson Goodwin, chief advancement officer, at 413-498-3334.

Click here to see a video tribute to the arts at NMH.

Take a Tour with NMH Travellers

NMH Travellers in Ireland Itching for an adventure? Join NMH compadres and share the experience on a trip organized by NMH Travellers. Click here to see what's planned.

NMH 130th Anniversary Campaign: Ways to Give

We are well on our way—90 percent in fact—to meeting the NMH 130th Anniversary Campaign goal of $80 million. Please make an investment in NMH today, starting with a gift to the this year's Annual Fund! To learn how, click here. Thank you!

Visit the campaign website for updates, news, and photos.

QUICK LINKS

Here a Link, There a Link

Keep up-to-date with the latest news at NMH: Visit This Week at NMH, where you'll also find links to Athletes and Contest of the Week, the school calendar of events, and recent media coverage of NMH.

Read about NMH athletes in the news, or catch up on NMH arts news.

Another great way to learn more about life on campus is to visit our admission web pages.

• NMH on video
• Day in the Life of an NMH Student
• Scenes of NMH

Alumni are alerted to each Newswire edition via e-mail. If you know of a fellow alum who is not receiving Newswire, please forward this edition and/or tell them about our address update page.

CALENDAR



To view full school calendar, click here

December 18 Off-campus Vespers in Boston

January 11 (week of) NPR's "From the Top" broadcast

January 18 Men’s alumni ice hockey game

January 23 Sixth Annual NMH Hot Stove League

7 PM, Heffernon Hall, Rhodes Arts Center

Join Galen Carr '93, Buster Olney '82, Jabe Bergeron '00, and NMH math teacher Dick Peller for a heated discussion about pro baseball.

February 8  Campaign event in Sarasota, FL

February 14 Women’s alumni ice hockey game

February 15 Campaign event in New York City, NY

February 21 Reunion Work Weekend

March 1 Campaign event in Long Valley, NJ

March 3 Campaign event in Philadelphia, PA

March 4 Campaign event in Washington DC

March 27 - 28 NMH Alumni of Color Reunion

March 31  Campaign event in Ridgefield, CT