2009 Summer

Welcome to the online edition of Newswire, NMH’s quarterly alumni newsletter. On May 24, NMH graduated 173 seniors, who were reminded by longtime teacher, alumnus, and commencement speaker Bill Batty ’59 that even the smallest act makes a difference not only in one's life, but also in one’s community. Two weeks later, nearly 900 alumni converged on campus for Reunion 2009. There, S. Prestley Blake ’34 demonstrated a significant act of giving back when he presented the school with a gift of $1 million. Read on!

CAMPUS NEWS

All Hail the Class of 2009

More photos

Regalia, roses, mortar boards, and tassels; bag piping, marching, and Sheriff Macdonald’s ceremonial call to order: these traditions and more marked Northfield Mount Hermon’s 126th Commencement. For the full story, including speeches and prize announcements, click here.

Sparkling College News

The head of NMH’s college couseling office calls 2009 “a banner year for NMH.” Peter Jenkins, director of college counseling, reported 20 acceptances to Ivy League schools—five each to Brown and Penn; four to Cornell; two each to Harvard, Columbia, and Dartmouth; and one to Princeton.

The bigger picture includes more than 88 acceptances to US News and World Report’s top 50 colleges and universities. These include seven acceptances to Boston College; five to Trinity; four each to Bowdoin and Tufts; and three each to Georgetown, Bates, Chicago, Carnegie Mellon, Oberlin, and Northwestern. Students also were accepted at 28 of the 55 schools listed in Barron’s Guide to the Most Competitive Colleges, including Duke, Middlebury, Wesleyan, NYU, Swarthmore, Colby, and Vassar. Overall, recent NMH grads are currently attending 48 schools on Barron’s list.

Click here to view full 2009 college matriculation list.

Admission for 2009 Strong

It's bittersweet when our seniors leave us, but the arrival of new students and the talents, energy, and perspectives they bring is always eagerly anticipated. Both our admission selectivity and our yield on admission offers strengthened appreciably in 2009. The newly enrolled students will arrive on campus from 19 states, and they will represent 18 nationalities; 27 percent of them self-identify as students of color. As Head of School Tom Sturtevant wrote recently: "Our enrollment for the coming fall affirms the value and quality of our mission and program."

Spring Sports Kudos

Several Hogger athletes won All-Star status from the leagues in which they play. The Western New England Prep School Lacrosse Association named Joe Donnelly ’09 and Nick Shaheen ’09 all-stars; Jessica Guisti ’09 and Tess Vreeland ’09 are New England Prep School Womens Lacrosse Association all-stars; and the Central New England Prep School Baseball League All-League gave Andrew Bonazza ’10 and Matt Morin ’09 all-star honors.

Girls ultimate Frisbee went 18-2. According to the ultimate players association (UPA), the NMH girls team is the No. 10 girls youth team in the nation and the No. 2 team in the Northeast.

Girls varsity softball chalked up a 12-2 record this season as pitcher Kia Jelley ’10 notched some impressive stats. Kia tossed a perfect game against Deerfield and earned two no-hitters. She was a Player of the Week in the Boston Globe, NMH’s representative to the Western New England Prep School Girls’ Softball Association All-Star game, and profiled in the Greenfield Recorder.

Three track and field team members were New England Champions. In the running events, Camille Gooden ’12 is the undefeated 100m and 200m New England Champion and holds three school records. Her long jump of 17’ 4-1/4” broke a 31-year-old record of 17’ ½” set in 1978 by Cecelie Braithwaite ’79, earning her second place. Orelia Jonathan ’11 was the undefeated 100 hurdles New England Champion. High jumper Matt Brown ’10 made a solid 6’ 0” jump to clinch victory.

And in a final nod to an outstanding boys basketball season, four NMH student-athletes participated in the Feinburg Academic All-American Classic basketball tournament on May 9 in Ontario, Calif. The teams were made up of the leading high school basketball players in the country who also have excelled in the classroom. NMH boys varsity basketball coach John Carroll ’89 was head coach of the East All-Stars team. Mike Marra ’09 (Louisville), Pete McMillan ’09 (Cornell), and Ryan Peters ’09 (Lehigh) played on the East All-Stars, and Andrew McCarthy ’09 (Brown) played for the North All-Stars.

A Grand Opening

Students and faculty have been enjoying the new Rhodes Arts Center (RAC) since last September, but on May 2 they finally had a chance to meet and thank in person many of the major donors to the facility, in typical NMH style: through music, dance, theater, and art. About 200 guests came to campus for tours both of the RAC and campus, student performances, and a celebratory dinner with entertainment by—who else?—the NMH Singers and the Jazz Ensemble. In all, about 725 alumni, parents, faculty, and friends have earmarked gifts for the facility. Read more about the event.

Concert Features Multigenerational NMH Composers

An eclectic group of NMH music composers were on hand for a Composers Concert at the Rhodes Arts Center this spring. The work of Erik Lindgren '72 was performed by his quartet, Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, whose music was described by Billboard Magazine as “a mesmerizing venture into the space age jungle.”

Student and professional musicians played pieces by Director of String Program and Orchestra Steven Bathory-Peeler, Performing Arts Department Chair Sheila Heffernon, and promising young artist, Henry Lawrence '12.

Lawrence, of Grafton, Vermont, has been composing and having his works publicly performed by the Manchester Music Festival and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra since he was in middle school.

ALUMNI IN THE NEWS

In Business...

Jodi Solomon '76 booked speaking engagements for Barack Obama for 14 years before he joined the Senate. A brief profile of her in the March issue of Boston Magazine’s The Best of Boston Every Day, complete with a photo of her and the President, calls her prescient.

NMH's Board of Trustees Chair Emeritus William R. Rhodes '53, Citi senior vice chairman, and chairman and president, Citibank, was honored with the 2009 Fulbright Award for Global Corporate Cooperation. He was among those honored by One To World, which brings Americans and students from around the world face-to-face to share their lives and perspectives in life-changing ways.

In Politics...

The Fox News show featured David Rufful '08 and Josh Riddle '08, a.k.a. the Young Cons who rap about conservative values. The Fox & Friends website leads off with the YouTube clip that has received more than 360,000 views. Read more.

In Sports...

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, USA Today, and the Boston Herald, among others, recently announced the news that Brian Strait '04 will leave Boston University to play with the 2009 Stanley Cup Champs, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

FROM THE ADVANCEMENT OFFICE

Blake One of School's Largest Donors

On the occasion of his 75th NMH reunion, S. Prestley Blake '34, cofounder of Friendly Ice Cream Corp., along with his wife Helen Blake, gave his alma mater $1 million to support student scholarships. Read more.

Proud and Generous Class of 2009

This year’s graduating class raised $2,767 for their class gift to the NMH Annual Fund, exceeding its goal of $2009, and presented it to the school at the final all-school meeting in May. Tara Carroll, young alumni liaison and associate director of the NMH Annual Fund, reports that the class of 2009 achieved 100 percent participation in the class gift, a feat achieved only once before.

“This class has really stepped up in a show of pride with the gifts ranging from $2.09 up to $200, with $20.09 the gift most often given,” Carroll said. The upperclassmen have also honored more than 100 people with their contributions, including faculty, staff, students, former faculty, alumni, family, and friends. “This opportunity allows seniors and PGs to say thank you to someone specific while giving back to NMH, just as our alumni do every day,” she added.

Successful Class Giving Marks Reunion 2009

Clark Peters '59 presents 1959's class reunion gift

Reflecting on their own graduations and the difference Northfield Mount Hermon made in their lives, alumni celebrating their 25, 35, 40, 50, and 60 year reunions met and exceeded ambitious class fundraising goals. In fact, those five classes alone raised nearly $5.5 million! Memorial Chapel echoed with whoops and hollers as the class gifts were announced at Reunion 2009.

Class of 1949: Both Mount Hermon and Northfield classes surpassed their fundraising goals for this, their 60th reunion year. With an extensive class caller network, they can proudly claim that each classmate was contacted this year.

Class of 1959: When the class met in 2004 to begin planning their 50th, classmate and former trustee Clark Peters challenged the group to raise two million dollars as its reunion class gift. At the beginning of reunion weekend, they were still short of that goal; however, the group dug deep and by Friday night they not only reached, but also passed the goal, raising a total of $3,854,313 in outright and planned giving gifts. They also reached their Annual Fund goal of $159,000 and completed funding for "59th Street," the main hallway of the Rhodes Art Center, which they named with $250,000 in capital gifts. As of June 22, their 50th reunion five-year class total is $3,886,687. The class of 1959 has notably set the bar high for future 50th reunion classes.

Class of 1969, Northfield: A dedicated committee met on campus in September 2008 to plan reunion and, in the process, set their class gift dollar goal higher than previously suggested. Without a gift chair to focus on the task, this committee of women knew they’d have to assume responsibility for fundraising as well as planning their reunion. They went over their revised goal by reunion, with promises of more gifts to come before the end of the fiscal year, June 30.

Class of 1974: Under the leadership of two able gift committee chairs, the class set a goal to raise $74,000 for the Annual Fund and to establish the Class of ‘74 Scholarship. The scholarship was firmly established by reunion, and the class is closing in on its Annual Fund goal for the year.

Class of 1984: This class celebrated is 25th reunion by beating their class gift goal of $84,000 and raising $92,555 (as of June 19) over the two years leading up to Reunion 2009. Eighty-seven percent of the donors increased their giving over the past, and 31 of the total 106 donors returned to support NMH after a five-year or more absence.

Work Program Tribute

From NMH’s founding, students have labored over mathematical theorems, gerunds and apostrophes, history’s vexing lessons, as well as metaphors lurking in great texts. They also have engaged in physical labor, be it mucking stalls on the farm, scrubbing pots after breakfast, or dusting under beds at the infirmary. Founder D. L. Moody made respect for the dignity of labor a cornerstone of the NMH experience, hence, an education for the head, heart, and hand. View an ode to the NMH Work Program.

End of Year Nears for Annual Fund

June is the final month of NMH's fiscal year. If you have not done so already, please take a moment now to make an Annual fund gift to NMH before June 30, 2009. Every gift counts!

• Click here to make your gift online.

130th Anniversary Campaign Progress Report

As of May 31, the 130th Anniversary Campaign total was $77,923,361. At their spring meeting, the NMH Board of Trustees noted the campaign accomplishments and fundraising momentum and endorsed an extension of the original goal of $80 million by June 2009 to $83 million by June 2010. To make a gift now, click here. Thank you!

The Alumni and Parents Program team is busily planning a slate of on-the-road campaign events for the upcoming year. The next contingent will meet on Martha's Vineyard on August 8. Stay tuned for a possible visit in your area!

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

QUICK LINKS

E-contact, Please!

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NMH in the News

Click here to read media coverage of NMH happenings. Pretty darn good news!

CALENDAR





June 25  NMH-NYC On the Water: information

June 26  NMH-SoCal Kimmel Live: contact Becky Neubert

July 28  NMH-Boston Interprep Event: contact Becky Neubert

August 6   NMH Lobster Bake on Cabbage Island, ME: information

August 8  Campaign event on Martha's Vineyard: contact Becky Neubert

August 22  NMH-Boston Day at the Beach: contact Becky Neubert