News and Events News Archieve

Past News at NMH, 2006-07

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Alumna to Serve on Fellowship Commission
Leanna Brown ’52, a former state senator from New Jersey and the chair of Brown Global Enterprises of Chatham, NJ, was recently appointed to serve on the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. Founded in 1964, the nonpartisan White House Fellows program offers participants first-hand experience working at the highest levels of the federal government.

White House Fellows typically spend a year working as full-time, paid special assistants to senior White House staff, the vice president, cabinet secretaries, and other top-ranking government officials. Fellows also participate in an education program, consisting of roundtable discussions with leaders from the private and public sectors, and trips to study U.S. policy in action both domestically and internationally.

Wall Street Journal Q&A Features Ad Man Alum, Trustee
In the dog-eat-dog world of advertising, the Toronto-based ad firm Taxi targeted the New York market and has emerged with substantial success. The Wall Street Journal recently profiled John Berg ’80, who led Taxi’s expansion to the Big Apple. The NMH trustee talks to the Journal about shedding the “boutique” label that’s been applied to small, independent firms such as Taxi New York, even after clients such as New York Life Insurance Co. and Johnson & Johnson flagged it down.

Click here to read the story.

 

Five Faculty to Receive Fellowships and Chairs
Every year NMH honors excellent faculty with fellowships and chairs. This year’s honorees are math and economics teacher Peter J. Snedecor, who was awarded the Theodore R. Carpenter ’38 Faculty Fellowship, established in 1985 by a gift from Theodore R. Carpenter ’38; math teacher and chair of the math department Richard J. Peller, who received the Herbert P. Blake Chair, established in 1978 by a gift from S. Prestley Blake ’34; English teacher James C. Block, who received the Litchard Faculty Fellowship, established in 1986 by a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Donald B. Litchard and their daughters Anne Litchard Bird ’45 and Joan Litchard Wyon ’46; former dean of faculty Lorren S. Byrom, who was awarded the Perry Faculty Fellowship, established in 1986 to honor members of the Perry family; and math teacher Mark S. Yates, who earned the Elizabeth Howe Rueckert Faculty Fellowship, established in 1987 by Dr. Frederic Rueckert ’41 in memory of his mother. The honors will be presented to them at this year's Opening Convocation on September 9. Congratulations!

Alum Ambassador to Central African Republic
Frederick Cook ’68 was sworn in as the US ambassador to the Central African Republic in late July. Cook served the State Department for 35 years, developing a specialty in African affairs.

The swearing-in ceremony took place in the Treaty Room, adjacent to the Secretary of State’s Office. Cook’s classmate at NMH Varney Hintlian ’68 attended the event. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, praised Cook’s talents and skills as a seasoned, respected, and well liked diplomat with a proven record of significant accomplishments throughout his long and successful career, Hintlian reports. Cook thanked the many people who guided his career, spoke eloquently about the importance of diplomacy versus military force in resolving conflicts, and encouraged developing nations to borrow freely from the ideals laid out in the American Constitution.

NMH Scholar Translates Book on Tolerance
Ted Thornton, NMH’s history and social science department chair, who has been on sabbatical for the past year, recently completed the first draft translation of a book originally published in Arabic in 2005, called The Understanding of Tolerance in Arab-Islamic Thought: Culture and State. The text is by Dr. Abd al-Hussain Shaban, an Iraqi expatriate international lawyer and human rights expert. Thornton has begun the editing and revision process and is seeking a publisher for the book.

At NMH since 1977, Thornton maintains a website devoted to Middle East history and current events. He has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship, an NMH technology innovation award, an Aga Khan Education Services fellowship, and a Perry Faculty fellowship for excellence in teaching.

Extra! Extra! New this Summer at NMH!
This year’s summer session is under way, and a dozen of its participants have left the country. They’ve arrived in New Zealand for the first-ever summer-school trip to that island, led by English teacher Meg Donnelly and outdoor education director (and New Zealand native) Glenn Minshall. The group will spend a month in Auckland, Wellington, and outlying territories, hiking in national parks and checking out the breathtaking beaches. The visit will conclude with a homestay with New Zealand families.

But that’s not the only news that’s fit to print: Megan Gibbons ’95 is heading up the first summer-session newspaper to cover the goings-on in Gill. The name of the broadsheet will be chosen by a school-wide contest. Gibbons is a house director in Upper South Crossley and teaches writing. She’s one of many alumni who have returned to campus this summer as a teacher or intern. Ten alumni interns ranging in class year from 1996 to 2004, will be on hand to teach minor courses and, under the tutelage of a master teacher, instruct summer school students. Interns also run the physical education program, leading basketball, mountain-biking, dance, hiking, running, soccer, swimming, tennis, ultimate-Frisbee, volleyball, and weight-training activities. Regarding the alumni interns, summer school director Greg Leeds says, “They’re back at the school they love in a new role, an authoritative role.”

Sing Low
Mathematics and economics teacher Peter Snedecor is one of 80 male singers who is performing songs from a variety of genres in Eastern Europe. The chorus, called Mastersingers USA, is on a ten-day tour and will harmonize a selection from their repertoire, which includes sacred music (masses, motets, and anthems), folk music from many countries, and American spirituals. Singers receive recordings of the music before the trip and learn the songs by listening to them on iPods or CD players. They then rehearse on location for three days before they perform in front of an audience. Snedecor, who sings the lowest part, second bass, was particularly excited to be making music in Saint Peter’s Cathedral in Prague in the Czech Republic. The group will also perform in and around Budapest, Hungary, and Bratislava, Slovakia.

Computer Teacher Honored by Student
Richard Eisenberg, who teaches computer science, will be recognized by the University of Vermont at a ceremony next month. He was chosen by NMH student Brodrick Childs ’09, who will attend the university’s 2007 Engineering Summer Institute for High School Students in July. The ceremony honors teachers who have made an impact in students’ lives, and who have encouraged them in the fields of mathematics and engineering.

“I get a great deal of satisfaction watching the students learn, catching that moment when the light bulb goes on in their heads,” Eisenberg says. “My courses are intentionally very challenging, and it is quite common for a student to feel completely lost at the middle of the term. From there, all the scattered pieces come together during the second half of the term, and there’s often a large breakthrough right before the course ends. The students learn that being frustrated doesn't mean they are doing something wrong, and they learn how hard work leads to success.”

NMH Hockey Coach a Hall-of-Famer
Nadine Muzerall’s hockey career was launched back in Mississauga, Ontario, when she was 5 years old. Bored with ballet, she opted for the excitement of hockey, so her mother would cart Nadine to practice, five miles away, at 5:30 in the morning on the back of her bicycle. Nadine’s 9-year-old brother would ride along side them, carrying his sister’s equipment. “My passion was hockey,” Muzerall says.

That passion stayed with Muzerall, now in her fifth season of coaching hockey at NMH. She played in high school at Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire, and through college at the University of Minnesota, where Muzerall will be inducted into the “M Club ” Hall of Fame this September. At Minnesota she blazed through four years of MVP awards, league and national championships, and All-American titles, setting records that still have not been toppled. She will be honored with a fellow player at a ceremony during a football game against Ohio State.

Muzerall, twice a finalist for a Patty Kazmaier Award, led the Golden Gophers to wins at both the Women’s College Hockey Association championships in 2000-01 and the AWCHA National Championships in 1999-00 (where she scored the game-winning goal). That season, Muzerall scored 49 goals, a record that still stands.

In the Minnesota career record book, Muzerall also is first in goals (139), goals-per-game (1.08), power-play goals(40), and shots (726).

At NMH, Muzerall also coaches soccer and track.

Alumni Return to NMH
Nine hundred twenty alumni and their families converged on campus for NMH Reunion this weekend, and other than a few rain showers, enjoyed picture-perfect New England late-spring weather. Alumni from the classes that end in “2” and “7” reconnected with classmates, faculty, and staff here in Gill. Current students led tours of the campus and gave attendees the straight story on life at NMH today. Many alumni marched from the dining hall that bears their name to Memorial Chapel amid strains of bagpipe music for the Alumni Convocation, where Head of School Tom Sturtevant presented awards to alumni who serve their communities and NMH.

A series of workshops spawned a wide variety of discussions, from “America in Iraq” to “Diversity, Memory, and Learning at NMH.” Trustees Carol Ramsey ’70 and Becky Parfitt Kennedy ’67 led a presentation called, “Finding the Highest and Best Use for the Northfield Campus: The Journey Continues.” Throughout the weekend, alumni, who stayed in student houses with members of their class, got a taste of how NMH works today—and how it’s pride in the past carries it into the future with well grounded optimism.

Ultimate Win!

The Hogger boys ultimate team won the New England Preparatory School Ultimate League Championship Sunday. Coach Mark Yates and his team accepted the trophy, a golden disc atop a tiered wooden hexagon, at Monday’s all-school meeting. NMH hosted the fourth annual tournament, and after winning three round-robin games and a gruelling semi-final (complete with 30-mph winds), faced defending champ Phillips Andover Academy. The Hoggers pulled ahead and beat Andover 13-6. NMH's win was made possible in large measure by the volunteer coaching of Clayton Cardin. Boys ultimate is now 17-2 on the season and heads to Ohio this weekend to face the best teams in the country at the Eastern Championships.

Congratulations!

Damali Ayo Honors NMH Students and Alum
Writer, artist, and anti-racism activist damali ayo electrified campus this winter with her practical, compassionate, and often funny solutions to racism. Her website, which boasts 3,000 members, singles out several people she’s met as she travels the country who are making a difference. Ayo presented the Liba Nelson Vital Voice Award to a student at Shippensberg University in Pennsylvania. And she gives "honorable shout-outs" to NMH students Terrell Williams ’07, Jerrell Williams ’07, Kelsey Morris ’07, and Sharon Dunmore ’10. Her website also thanks her assistant Heather Day ’05.

Ceremony Tops Off Arts Center
NMH held a topping off ceremony May 4 when the topmost iron beam, signed by the NMH community and the construction crew, was put into place at The Rhodes Arts Center . The event is a tradition among ironworkers, and, in keeping with tradition, a small fir tree was hoisted up onto the bones of the building to signify good luck for those who will occupy it.

Ground for the arts center was broken in the fall of 2006. It is expected to be completed in the spring of 2008.

Russian Students Speak Their Minds
NMH students of Russian earned gold and silver medals in the Annual New England Regional Olympiada of Spoken Russian in late April. Competing with students from across the region, they were rated by native speakers of Russian for their proficiency in conversation, Russian poetry, and the culture and geography of Russia. At NMH, Olympiada, the Russian word for Olympiad, is taught as a spring minor class, which means the students must practice intensively both in and out of class to master both the nuances of conversation and a command of the facts. After the contest, following tradition, the students ate lunch at the famous Café St. Petersburg in Newton. The following students are medalists. Цонгратулатионс!

Advanced Level:
Gold medals: Harriet Booth ’09, Naomi Shafer ’07, Esther Zolotova ’09
Silver medals: Sarah Shepherd-Lupo ’08, Cate Kraft-Kenney ’08

Intermediate Level
Gold medals: Lysander Jaffe ’09, Rosanna Driscoll ’09 , Leonardo Chiquillo ’09, Franklin Redner ’09 , Samuel Watrous ’09
Silver medals: Duncan Spaulding ’09, Nikita Voskoboynik ’10

Beginner Level:
Silver medals: Noah Futterman ’10, Nicholas Sheets ’10

NMH Librarian Thinks Globally
Director of Library and Academic Resources Alison Ernst has been appointed to serve on the Information Literacy Section of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA). IFLA is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the library and information profession. Ernst will be representing the American Association of School Libraries, serving with librarians from Yale and the University of California, as well as other school and university librarians from around the world. She begins her four-year term at the annual conference in Durban, South Africa, this August.

“I suspect that NMH’s commitment to global awareness significantly strengthened my nomination,” says Ernst.

“Small Gesture,” Big Impact
An NMH student group raised half the funds need to purchase and install a new cistern in the West African nation of Benin. The cistern provides drinking water for a new elementary school there. Last spring the NMH student group FROMAGE (Francophone Organization for More Awareness of Global Equity) raised money by selling colorful socks to the NMH community, ultimately collecting more than $2,000. “It’s a great example of the impact that a small gesture can have,” says French teacher and FROMAGE advisor Lydia de Faveri Spiegel, who helped organize the fundraising effort.

Turkey Debate Yields Prize-Winning Argument
A novice debater won a gavel for best speaker as the NMH Debate team shared a day of policy discussion at Belmont Hill School on April 15. Groups presented arguments on whether Turkey should be admitted into the European Union. Present were Christina McCausland ’08 and Sergio Tarraf Filho ’08, who debated that yes, Tuekey should gain entrance. Kevin Bravo ’10, and George Posner ’08 took the negative view. Individual speakers were judged and George won the gavel for best novice speaker on the negative side. Each of the two NMH teams participated in three debates, and each received a 1-2 record.

Congratulations, debaters!

Mideast Expert Poses "Riddle of Iraq"
NMH’s State of the World lecture series continues April 19 at 6:45 pm in the Rhodes Room of Beverige Hall with a talk by Middle East expert Glen W. Swanson. A longtime student of that region, Swanson will present, “The Riddle of Iraq,” a commentary on U.S. involvement in Iraq and the prospects there for peace. Swanson will focus on past and present relations between Iraq and the United States. About the events surrounding the road to war in 2003 and its aftermath, Swanson will weave a tale of politics and shifting alliances. He gives special attention to the wildcards of oil, Osama bin Laden and the insurgents, Turkey, Israel, the Kurdish quest for independence, the mismanagement of information, the Sunni/Shi’i factor, and the nature of America’s cultural awareness and military role in Iraq. He will address such questions as, “Which are more important, democracy and human rights, or power and security?”

Swanson was awarded a Foreign Area Fellowship and is a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies/Social Science Research Council. He received a BS in business administration from the University of Connecticut and a PhD in history from Indiana University. He also completed advanced studies on the Middle East, Islam, the Balkans, and Istanbul at the University of London. Swanson has participated in the US Department of State’s “Scholar-Diplomat Seminars,” has appeared on New Hampshire Public Radio’s “Exchange” program, and has lectured extensively on the Middle East, Islam, Central Asia, East-Central Europe, and American diplomacy.

At the request of the US military, Swanson helped create as Executive Editor IRAQ: Nation at a Crossroads, an educational CD-ROM for the US military and other governmental agencies; the software emphasizes the need for cultural awareness. He is the author of Oil and Water: A Look at the Middle East and Storm Clouds Over Iraq, as well as articles relating to international business, military missions, the social and economic consequences of war, foreign policy and security matters in the Middle East and the Balkans. He has served as a consultant to the US Department of Commerce and to Saudi Arabia. Swanson is also an advocate for the arts.

Alum Wins Golden BRICK Award
Kimmie Weeks ’01 won a $15,000 Golden BRICK Award for his advocacy on behalf of children in war-torn Africa. Weeks won an online vote after he and 11 other BRICK Award winners were awarded a $10,000 BRICK Award from the organization Do Something.

He was interviewed on "The Today Show" last week and rang the bell to open the New York Stock Exchange later that morning.

Author Malachy McCourt to Give Commencement Address
Respected actor, playwright, commentator, critic, newspaper columnist, historian, and radio and television personality Malachy McCourt will be the commencement speaker for the class of 2007. In addition to his many accomplishments, McCourt is the grandfather of a member of the graduating class, Mark McCourt '07.

Born in Brooklyn, NY, from the age of three McCourt was raised in Limerick, Ireland. His was a hardscrabble existence leading him to leave school early to begin work as a laborer in Ireland and England. At age 20, McCourt returned to the US where held a series of jobs as a manual laborer until he became an actor. Throughout his life and work, Ireland and his Irish heritage clearly have impacted McCourt's outlook, resilience, and respect for the power of words.

McCourt recently has been touring on stage in A Couple of Blaguards, a play he co-wrote with his brother and noted author Frank McCourt. In addition to penning a weekly column “Sez I To Myself” that appears in three New York newspapers, McCourt has written eight books and published articles in such periodicals as National Geographic and the New York Times.  His books include a New York Times best seller memoir A Monk Swimming and another memoir Singing My Him Song.  In addition he had written several histories, including Voices of Ireland (an anthology), Malachy McCourt's History of Ireland, the history of the song Danny Boy, and a history of The Claddagh Ring. He also has written Harold Be Thy Name and Bush Lies in State.

McCourt has been a regular guest on television shows, including “Late Night with Conan O'Brien.”  He will appear on the "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" in May, where he hopes to mention giving the commencement address at NMH. McCourt ran for governor in New York on the Green Party ticket in 2006. He has received awards and recognitions from numerous organizations. He has appeared on Broadway and Off-Broadway stages, and has played parts on television and in films such as The Molly Maguires, She's the One, The Devil's Own, Green Card, Gods and Generals and Ash Wednesday.

Malachy McCourt has been married for nearly 40 years to his wife Diana. They have five children, and Mark is one of their four grandchildren.

NMHers Shine at Boston's Symphony Hall
Six NMH students performed at the All-State Music Festival at Symphony Hall in Boston March 24. The students who make up the music ensembles were chosen by audition and competed against hundreds of music students throughout the state.

Nai-Wen Yvonne Chang ’07 played violin in the orchestra. Ting-Chun John Wang ’07, Martin Shedd ’07, Rebekah Wickens ’09, Hye Youn Eunice Choi ’08, and Kaori Nakanishi ’08 sang in the chorus. John and Martin were chosen to be soloists for one of the choral pieces, a very special honor. Congratulations all!

Jeff Jacoby Speaks at NMH
Conservative columnist Jeff Jacoby has been an op-ed writer for the Boston Globe since 1994, when he was asked to offset a famously liberal roster of commentators. He spoke at NMH (offsetting an arguably liberal roster of voices here) March 29 at an all-school meeting. Jacoby delivered a speech about foreign policy that invoked Teddy Roosevelt's coinage, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." He advocated for the US, as the world's only superpower, to act as a police officer as it battles Islamofacism, the latest in a series of ideologies that oppose liberal democracy. The question and answer period was heated, but civil, as several students voiced differing views.

Jacoby is the winner of the Breindel Prize, an award for opinion journalism; has hosted current-affairs programs on television and radio; oversees a theater company in Boston; and holds a law degree. Parents are welcome to attend his address. 

Travel Overseas and Get Credit for It!
The Center for International Education (CIE) has announced its study abroad programs for the 2007-2008 academic year. The roster includes trips to France, Germany, New Zealand, Uruguay, China, Turkey, Brazil, Costa Rica, Greece, and Ireland. Interested students should notify the CIE by March 30. Applications are due April 9. Complete application and program descriptions are available in the International Education folder on SWIS or at the CIE. There will be a general information session on March 28 at noon in the East room of Alumni Hall for students with questions.

NMH Teacher Earns Italy Fellowship
Classics teacher David Demaine has earned a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Fellowship for Teachers that will take him to Italy to study Dante's Divine Comedy. He and 11 other teachers will travel to the land of Dante Alighieri for six weeks this summer.

Demaine teaches Latin at NMH, including an advanced placement class on Vergil; lyric poetry; ancient epics, including Homer and Vergil; ancient drama; and a course on Dante’s Inferno. His trip to Italy will be a chance to learn from “people who will see things I haven't seen,” he says. He added he hopes the trip will help him be a better reader and teacher.

Congratulations!

Alum's BRICK Award Nets $10,000
Kimmie Weeks '01, once a ten year-old African war survivor and now acclaimed international youth activist, has won a 2007 BRICK Award, which honors those who do something to change the world before they are 25 years old. Selected from more than 1,000 applicants, Weeks will receive what CNN has dubbed an "Oscar of youth service awards." Weeks was chosen in the “Global Impact” category. BRICK Award winners receive $10,000 for their causes from Do Something, a nonprofit dedicated to youth action.

Weeks was selected because of his lifelong work rebuilding communities through schools, playgrounds, and business opportunities for women and children in war-torn African countries. He began such work when he was ten years old. Today Weeks leads Youth Action International, a Philadelphia-based organization doing work in Uganda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, and Burundi.

Weeks could also win the coveted Golden BRICK Award, which will be decided by a public online vote. Internet brand Yahoo! is profiling all BRICK award winners and encouraging people to choose their Golden BRICK winners, who will receive an additional $15,000 for their cause. Visit www.brickawards.com to view the profiles, watch videos created by the finalists themselves, and cast your vote (you will need to register with Yahoo! to vote).

The 2007 BRICK Awards will be broadcast on national US television on April 12. It is the only award show for young people making the world better. Tune in to see who wins on The CW, April 12 at 9pm EST.

NMH Chef Turns Tofu into Silver
Executive Chef Chuck Friedhoff had one hour to turn a block of tofu into something special. And so he did, creating a lemongrass-brined loin of tofu stuffed with a mousseline of carrot, accompanied by a mushroom-quinoa pilaf wrapped in a savory crepe with swiss chard, butternut squash, and a sesame vinaigrette. Mmmmm. The judge in the National Association of College and University Food Services Northeast Regional Culinary Competition dished Friedhoff a silver medal for this vegetarian hot entrée. Congratulations!

High-Profile Camp to Use NMH Facilities this Summer
Among the camps and organizations that will lease Northfield campus facilities this summer is Idol Camp, a new performing arts camp for as many as 700 young teenagers. The camp is sponsored by FremantleMedia, the international entertainment corporation that produces American Idol. Donna Milani Luther, head of Inly School in Scituate, MA, and an arts educator for more than 30 years, is the camp director. Luther's many honors include being named Massachusetts Arts Educator of the Year by the Massachusetts Alliance for Art Education and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Rower Glides to Fourth-Place Finish

Tessa Gobbo

Two NMH Students Win Green Cup Prize
The Green Cup Challenge wrapped up last week and NMH’s Sara Tower ’07 and Lillian Chan ’07 won the prize for best student initiative for introducing NMH to its eco-footprint and for their game of Climate Change Jeopardy. The school prevented 7,929 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere, and cut its emissions one percent, garnering an 11th place finish. At the all-school meeting last Thursday, NMH’s Green Cup czar Becca Leslie emphasized that NMH reduced its electricity use by 10.7 percent last year. That we maintained that this year, and reduced consumption by an additional one percent shows our commitment to sustainability.

The dorm challenge was taken by C4 in the small dorm category. It reduced electricity use by a whopping 41 percent. Crossley won the large dorm prize, reducing consumption by 9.3 percent. Collectively, the 15 schools in the competition spared 372,381 pounds of the greenhouse gas carbon donoxide from being emitted. That’s the equivalent of taking 32 cars off the road!

NMH Moves to Second Place in Darfur Fundraising
Dollars for Darfur, the high school challenge created by two NMH students to raise money to stop the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, has now raised more than $115,000 from high school students around the country.

NMH has raised more than $5,000, half of which will go directly to refugees and half of which will go to the organization Save Darfur, which advocates for the region. NMH moved from fourth to second place in the competition among secondary schools.

Upward and Outward Bound
Gisele Litalien, NMH’s director of Upward Bound (UB), has been invited to serve as a member of the Education Committee of the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts. This group sets policies for the foundation and oversees the disbursement of scholarships managed by the organization.

Litalien also has been asked to present a session on diversity in Upward Bound at the New England Educational Opportunity Conference. She will present a program on creating safe UB environments with UB Residential Life Director, JD Guilford.

Batty Chalks Up 300th Win
NMH shattered two records February 16 in a 106-68 win against Worcester Academy. First, Bill Batty ’59 coached the Hoggers to his 300th career win. Bill's record over the past 19 years now stands at 300-144 for a winning percentage of nearly 70 percent.

The record-breaking night continued as the 2006-2007 boys varsity team broke the school record for wins in a season with 22. NMH had a great night of basketball and played one of their more inspired games of the season.

Worcester’s early lead evaporated as scoring by Jerrell Williams '07, Gary Correia '07, and RJ Rutledge '07 rallied the Hoggers. Terrell Williams '07, Ty Nash '07, and Matt Glass '07 also added to the point tally as the game progressed. Bud Gaffney '07, Derrick Thomas '09, and Brian Jones '09 closed out the scoring for NMH over the final 5 minutes as NMH went on to the convincing win over Worcester Academy and Bill Batty's 300th win. Way to go!!

Marty Tarantino '07

NMH Wrestles to Victory
The athletic triumphs continue at NMH as three varsity wrestlers won the Class A Championship in their weight class. Omar Bey ’10 (103 pounds), Marty Tarantino ’07 (130 pounds), and Drew Frazer ’07 (189 pounds) were seeded first and dominated in all of their matches, especially in the finals at the tournament at Phillips Exeter Academy February 17. Congratulations!

Alumni Hall Bulbs Go Cold Cathode
Super-efficient light bulbs in Alumni Hall are projected to save NMH more than $4,000 per year. As part of NMH’s commitment to cutting energy usage, Plant Facilities and Dining Services changed all of the bulbs in Alumni Hall at the start of the Green Cup Challenge.

Last year the school replaced 96 60-watt incandescent bulbs in the upper part of the chandeliers in the main dining room with 15-watt compact fluorescent bulbs. This created an annual savings of approximately $2,100.

This year, Plant Facilities devised a plan to replace all 256 lamps in Alumni Hall with 8-watt cold cathode bulbs, thus reducing the wattage by half and providing dimmable lighting, something compact fluorescents don't permit.

That action is projected to result in an annual reduction in electrical consumption of 44,420 kilowatt hours, and a projected annual savings of $4,442.

Thanks to Plant Facilities and Dining Services for thinking green!

Speaker Unites Sustainability, Research, Learning, and Profit
State of the World speaker Jack Kenworthy ’95 will report on how high school students are diving in to sustainable projects at the Island School in the Bahamas, where he taught science, and is the director of systems, heading the school’s sustainability projects. Kenworthy, who will speak on February 14 at 6:45 pm in the Rhodes Room of Beveridge Hall, will discuss how high schools can create solutions to environmental problems. In particular, he will show the potential for high school learning to be tied to authentic research, and for that research to feed for-profit companies that raise money for the school. He will talk about projects such as commercial biodiesel, offshore aquaculture, sustainable agriculture, and renewable energy.

At the Island School, Kenworthy is involved with design and installation work on renewable energy projects, biological waste treatment facilities, green building projects, biofuels development, legislation reform, aquaculture, and education for sustainability. He has been awarded the George T. Kidder Award for Leadership, Scholarship, and Service and the Crow Award for excellence in systems thinking (Columbia University, 1998). All are welcome to this free talk.

Death Be Not Proud
Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking and outspoken opponent of the death penalty, addressed the NMH community on Founder’s Day, February 5. Warm and engaging, she described her work counseling prisoners awaiting execution. “I’ve met death row inmates, Pope John Paul, Kofi Annan, and many dignitaries—and you know what?—we’re all just human,” she said.

Following her speech, Sister Helen signed books in Alumni Hall, then spoke at a small dinner arranged by the chaplain’s office. The next morning she joined two Humanities II classes, where she posed such questions as “Is the death penalty a form of torture?” and discussed the roots of violence. She also talked about the film version of Dead Man Walking (for which Susan Sarandon won an Oscar for her portrayal of Sister Helen), which the classes had watched in preparation for her visit.

Curler in the House
NMH’s Nikki Rossetti ’08 is competing in the U.S. Junior National Curling Championships in Seattle this week. Winning teams move on to the World Junior Championships in Eveleth, MN, in March. Nikki has been curling since she was in sixth grade and her dad is also a curler.

Curling, which originated in Scotland in the 1500s, involves two teams sliding a 42-pound granite stone down a sheet of ice toward a goal, called a house. Strategy as well as strength and mental stamina are required. Once the shooter propels the stone, other team members sweep the ice with brooms to speed it up or change its direction while the captain, or skip, calls out instructions. Curling had been an Olympic sport from 1924 to 1980, and became one again in 1998.

Acclaimed Author to Speak at NMH
Nuruddin Farah, hailed as one of the world's great authors, will speak at NMH February 1. His latest novel, Knots, follows a Somali émigré who returns to Somalia to reclaim her family home. Farah, an award-winning author, is a regular contributor to the New Yorker and to the Op-Ed pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Newsweek had this to say about Mr. Farah: “It is easy to see why Nuruddin Farah's name keeps coming up as a likely recipient of a Nobel Prize in Literature....His books debate the great themes of people versus the state, clan versus nationality, family versus individual...His strange and compelling books don't just keep you awake.  They haunt you....Like Joseph Conrad and Graham Greene, writers to whom he can be favorably compared, Farah poses questions that, once asked, never go away.”

Gearing Up for the Green Cup Challenge
The third annual Green Cup Challenge begins this week, driving students, faculty, and staff to cut their use of electricity—and consequently, their emissions of greenhouse gasses. Whichever school cuts usage by the largest percentage over the month, compared with a baseline measurement, wins a megaplanet trophy by Shelburne-based artist Josh Simpson, as well as other sustainable prizes.

“By reducing carbon dioxide emissions and other pollutants,” says Becca Leslie, environmental science teacher at NMH, “we’re trying to reduce our impact on the environment. It’s an exciting and competitive way to include the entire community in taking responsibility for our actions.” Data collected during the contest will be incorporated into science and other departments' curricula at NMH.

Students are making videos to spur conservation and schools will screen films such as An Inconvenient Truth, Killowatt Ours, and Who Killed the Electric Car? NMH will hold Dining in the Dark on Valentine’s Day, serving dinner by candlelight to draw awareness to the effort.

Senior Daniel Kim's Challenge Video was screened at the all-school meeting January 22. In it, student actors confronted a nonrecycler, kung-fu style; battled other schools' Green Cup representatives with light sabers; and worked on inventions to stop carbon dioxide emissions, such as the "rebreather," a bubble-like helmet to be worn over the head.

Prizes have been donated by Annie’s Homegrown, Aveda, Ben and Jerry’s, Center for a New American Dream, Chelsea Green Publishing, Live it Green, Native Energy, Seventh Generation, Stonyfield Farm, and other companies that encourage sustainability.

The Green Cup Challenge began at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, NH, in 2005. NMH, PEA, and the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey participated in 2006 and NMH narrowly won the challenge. This year, 15 boarding schools from seven states will be participating. The challenge officially begins January 26. Go Hoggers!

Artspace Prizes Go to NMH Students

The show is on display at Artspace Gallery, 15 Mill Street, Greenfield, until February 8. Gallery hours are 1 to 6 pm from Monday to Friday, and Saturday, January 20 and 27, from 11 am to 2 pm. The public is invited to a reception for the artists and an awards ceremony on January 19 from 5 to 7 pm.

Congratulations to all those who participated.

State of the World Speaker to Address
Complexities of Post-Soviet Georgia
Former Northfield Mount Hermon School history teacher Rick Lussen, who taught at NMH for 20 years, was the State of the World speaker January 11 at 6:45 pm in the Rhodes Room in Beveridge Hall at NMH.

Lussen is now the principal of the American Academy in Tbilisi, Georgia. He shared a slide show that will explore the complexities of history, life, and culture in the post-Soviet nation. The talk was free and open to the public.

Early Decisions Start Rolling in
The NMH class of 2007 has found much success in the early action and early decision rounds of the college application process. While all the statistics are not yet in, here are some highlights: we have seniors accepted at Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Penn, and Columbia. Students have also heard good news from Vanderbilt, Oberlin, Amherst, Johns Hopkins, Tufts, and Georgetown. Still others were very happy to find letters of admission from Skidmore, Emory, George Washington, the University of Vermont, the University of Connecticut School of Business, and Mt. Holyoke, just to name a few. 

At NMH, our focus is to find the school that best suits each senior, that school where he or she may thrive and make important contributions to the community. The decisions of the colleges suggest that our students have done a terrific job of doing just that: finding the right fit. Almost 70 percent of our senior class applied either early decision or early action. More than half of them heard positive news. Most of the remaining seniors were deferred into the regular cycle of admissions.

We are proud to say that an impressive group of NMH students has earned early admission to the best schools in the country.

A Season of Giving
The NMH community “adopted” 70 children in Franklin County this year, giving presents that helped brighten the holidays. Toys, books, and clothing went to families in need, whose names were gathered by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in Greenfield.

Outreach Director Winnie Ganshaw, who oversaw the Adopt-A-Child effort, reports that 11 student associations and NMH departments, as well as 12 groups of advisors and advisees—amounting to scores of participants—donated gifts to the MCPCC. Some community members also brought gifts for the Adopt-A-Child program to the White Gift Service at Memorial Chapel—a celebration that also included the singing of Christmas carols and a Christmas play, with children taking most of the important roles.

Meanwhile, at NMH’s Vespers program, attendees contributed an unusually high number of poinsettias that were delivered to retired NMH faculty, staff, and older alumni for the holidays.  

Separately, Sheila Heffernon, chair of the performing arts department, coordinated an effort to provide gifts for 11 children in need in the Winchester, NH, area—a place where the intense poverty first moved D. L. Moody more than a century ago to found his schools and give all a chance to earn a decent education.

A hearty thank you to all who followed his legacy this season!

Hogger Basketball Wins Boys Club Championship
Rebounding from a 30-19 deficit, the Hoggers pulled ahead of Notre Dame Prep to win the Boys Club of New York prep school tournament title game. Tyrone Nash ’07 scored 20 points to beat the No. 1 ranked prep school team in the nation 55-54. The New York Daily News covered the story and quoted Nash: "We made a great comeback. We had a couple of losses earlier (in the season) and then we got down to them early in the game and came back and knocked off the No. 1 team in the nation. And to do it in New York, it was special."

It was also dramatic. Coming from behind, Nash tied the game with 2:23 to go, making one of two free throws. The 6’7” forward gave NMH a two-point lead with 33.4 seconds left on a power move to the basket. Notre Dame’s top-ranked power forward Michael Beasley tied the game again at the 15.7-second mark. The Hoggers won when guard Gary Correia ’07 was fouled and made one of two free throws with 0.6 seconds to go. Congratulations!

NMH Trumpeter To Play at the Grammys

State of the World Speaker to Address Poverty in Afghanistan

The Global Partnership for Afghanistan works to support Afghanistan’s most critical needs: reducing poverty, rebuilding high-value agricultural land, and establishing alternative livelihoods to poppy production.

In September, President Bill Clinton praised the group by saying, “The Global Partnership for Afghanistan is the essence of what the Clinton Global Initiative is all about. … Its goals include striving for less opium and heroin in cities all over the world. This is a model which is infinitely expandable. Here’s something you can invest in that you know is going to work.”

Selected to be part of the poverty alleviation team of the Clinton Global Initiative, the Global Partnership for Afghanistan will provide sustainable livelihoods for thousands of Afghanistan families and enable the planting of one million fruit and poplar trees.

Straus, a partner in the international law firm of Skadden Arps, et al, specializes in corporate finance, corporate restructuring and international business transactions. Since 1995, he has chaired the Committee on Economies in Transition of the U.S. Council on International Business and has served as a trustee of the council. After graduating from Northfield Mount Hermon School, he earned degrees from the University of Wisconsin (BA’74, with honors) and New York University (JD’77), where he was editor-in-chief of the Journal of International Law and Politics. 

Champions!

NMH Musicians Head to Festival
The following students auditioned and were accepted into the Western District Music Festival. These students competed against hundreds of students from all over western Massachusetts. They will participate in a two-day festival in January with a final gala performance at the University of Massachusetts.

Western District Festival Orchestra:
Violins: Yvonne Chang ’07 (selected to be the first desk, second violin section)
Josh Kim ’07
Gabe Susca Lopata ’08
Double Bass: Susan Maday Travis ’07

Western Disctrict Jazz Ensemble:
Trumpet: Charles Canney ’07 (highest scoring trumpeter for jazz trumpet and piano)
Guitar: Thomas Csatari ’07 (highest scoring jazz guitarist)

Western District Chorus:
Rebekah Wickens ’09 (highest scoring soprano)
Martin Shedd ’07 (highest scoring tenor)
Kaori Nakanishi ’08
Emily Quinn-Bell ’09
Eunice Choi ’08
Jooyeon Kim ’07
John Wang ’07

The following students were recommended to move on to the next level and will audition for the All-State Festival:
Yvonne Chang ’07
Josh Kim ’07
Gabe Susca Lopata ’08
Susan Maday Travis ’07
Charles Canney ’07
Thomas Csatari ’07
John Wang ’07
Martin Shedd ’07
Rebekah Wickens ’09
Emily Quinn-Bell ’09
Eunice Choi ’08

A Successful Career in Education Nets Alum Award
Thomas W. Payzant ’58, the former superintendent of the Boston Public School district, won the College Board Medal for Distinguished Service to Education. The award was given in recognition of Payzant’s unwavering dedication to and advocacy for students during his tenure as school superintendent in San Diego, as an assistant secretary in President Clinton’s Department of Education, and as the leader of Boston schools, where the district saw steady increases in test performance. Past recipients of the honor include Laura Bush, Hilary Clinton, and Bill Cosby. Payzant is now a faculty member at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

NMH Athletes Shine
Several Hoggers received recognition for athletic excellence recently. Anna Leversee ’07 and Claire Barber ’07 were selected to play in the Western New England Prep School Association (WNEPSA) all-star girls soccer game and Jennifer Bobe ’07 made the WNEPSA field hockey all-star team. Yuri Moreira '07, Hayden Johns '07, and Alex Redding '07 were chosen to represent NMH in the WNEPSA all-star boys soccer game. Erika Loomer '08 and Eva Griesshammer '08 represented NMH at a girls volleyball all-star tournament held at Choate Rosemary Hall. From the 36 all-stars representing 15 teams, both Erika and Eva were named to the select, 12-player all-league team.

Meanwhile, the NMH boys varsity cross country team traveled to Exeter, NH, for the 2006 New England Prep School Track Association Division I Cross Country Championships in November. In 2005, NMH finished tenth out of 11 schools. This year, the Hoggers came home with a fourth-place finish. Leading the way was team captain Alex Boll ’07, who paced himself, starting out slow and eventually moving past other runners to take second place overall. Alex earned All-New England honors for his performance.

Congratulations, Hoggers!

Uruguayans Come to NMH
Last winter, 12 NMH students traveled to Uruguay for six weeks, staying with host families, working apprenticeships, traveling through the country, and absorbing the history, culture, and ways of life of average Uruguayan people.

This fall, NMH will welcome from Uruguay four students and their teacher. The five visitors will stay with NMH day students and their families and will attend classes here for 19 days in late November and December. Bienvenidos!

Two Coaches Garner Honors
Wrestling head coach Frank Millard and Josh Brandwene, boys ice hockey head coach, are being recognized for their professional accomplishments.

Coach Millard will be inducted in the C-Club Hall of Fame Nov. 4.  Established in 1969, the C-Club Hall of Fame recognizes SUNY Cortland alumni who have competed as athletes at the college level and who have since distinguished themselves in their professions. Millard, a 1963 graduate of SUNY Cortland, will be recognized for his career as a coach and administrator. He currently is the “dean” of New England prep school wrestling and has been coaching the sport at NMH for 21 years. A head wrestling coach for 44 years, Millard was inducted into the NJCAA Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1982 and into the New York chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2000 for lifetime achievement.

Meanwhile, Coach Brandwene was named the next president of the New England Prep School Ice Hockey Association, effective at the end of the 2006-07 school year. He was elected by a vote of his peers. Brandwene was 2001 Coach of the Year, and in 2003 was assistant coach for Team USA University Selects that competed in the 2003 Winter World University Games in Tarvisio, Italy.

NMH Receives $2.5 Million Gift from Alumnus
David F. Bolger, class of 1950, has donated his second major gift to NMH in less than a year—$2.5 million for the proposed construction of a new admission building. Last May Mr. Bolger gave NMH securities valued at $10 million to be used to endow scholarships, establish a faculty chair, and support an endowment for Memorial Chapel. He has given the school more than $15 million over the past two decades, more than any other donor in the school's 127-year history. Read more

John Irving Addresses Moody Dinner
More than 175 people gathered in Alumni Hall for the Dwight L. Moody Recognition Dinner this year—the largest crowd to attend in the more than two decades since NMH began the event. The big draw? The evening’s speaker, novelist John Irving, parent of Colin ’83 and Everett ’10. Irving used his address to speak about the importance of the arts in education, to describe how the works of the theatre and music departments were integral to Everett’s decision to come to NMH, and to read from the first chapter of his 12th novel, a work in progress that opens in a small logging settlement in
northern New Hampshire.

The dinner, hosted by Tom and Betsy Sturtevant and the board of trustees, was given to thank those who donated to the school at leadership levels last year. It was also an opportunity to announce the new gift levels that were introduced this year. The entry level for the Moody Society is now $1,879, which corresponds to the year of the founding of the Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies.

Attendees were given a pewter miniature replica of The Rhodes Arts Center and enjoyed the sounds of the student group, the NMH Jazz Quartet, under the direction of faculty member Ron Smith.

NMH Plays a Part in The Dining Room
Three adults connected to NMH are involved in the production of The Dining Room at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls. A. R. Gurney’s 1981 poignant comedy is directed by Sharon Weyers, the costume designer in the theatre department; the set was designed by Charles Raffetto, the technical theater director; and Penney Roberts, who is married to art teacher William Roberts, acts in the play.

Set in the dining room of a well-to-do New England family, the show is a series of 18 vignettes. In a twist on traditional theater, the seven actors, rather than stage hands, change the scenery. These same actors play more than 50 characters as the play unfolds.

The Dining Room runs Oct. 27 and 28, and Nov. 3 and 4 at 8 pm. Tickets are available at the door and at World Eye Bookstore in Greenfield or at the Shea Theater Box Office at 413-863-2281, Ext. 1. General admission tickets cost $12, and children and seniors pay $10, with a special price of $8 on opening night, Oct. 27.

Alum Takes the Pie
The oldest footrace in the country was held on a beautiful autumn afternoon, Monday, October 9, 2006. The first to cross the finish line was an NMH alum, Scott Lundquist, class of 1979. Coming in second was current student Alex Boll '07. Alumna Katrina Harriman, class of 1982, was the first female finisher, coming in 20th overall, and Christie Cushing '08 was the first female student to finish at 53rd overall. More than 400 students participated, as did 57 alumni. Those 191 runners who ran the race in the designated time for their division were awarded—as usual—a freshly-baked apple pie, courtesy of NMH Dining Services! Click here to see complete results.

Speakers Reflect on Hezbollah-Israel War
Two speakers delivered the first State of the World address Sept. 28, giving listeners a sense of what’s going on in the Middle East from the perspective of those who live there.

Ted Thornton, who is on sabbatical from his post as chair of the history and social science department, described a Middle East that is rife with tension.

Thornton, who visited Lebanon in March, spoke about conflict between Lebanon’s government and Hezbollah, between Arabs and Israelis, between the United States and both Iraq and Iran. In Lebanon, he said, political tensions are exasperated by the connection of political parties to diverging religious faiths (Christian, Shi’a, Sunni and Druze), and this has stifled dialogue.

Alex Fischer ’01, who was in Lebanon when the bombing began this summer, told the story of his harrowing flight by taxi eastward to Syria. Fischer was a graduate student at the American University in Beiruit studying water issues when the war began.

Students Clean Up Connecticut River Banks
More than two dozen NMH students hauled approximately 800 cubic feet of trash out of the Montague Plains Sept. 30 as part of the Source to Sea cleanup of the Connecticut River. They were part of a four-state effort that included volunteers in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.

In addition to run-of-the-mill litter, 27 NMH students carried off a large boiler that filled up the 5’x8’ bed of the Plant and Property truck they used. They also removed tires, construction debris, mattresses, and an old 10-ounce soda bottle half filled with soil that was sprouting little plants. Ruth Shafer ’09 found the “miniterrarium” and brought it back to her dorm room, according to Outdoor Education Teacher Stephen Allison, who coordinated the effort. Allison, who has been participating in the Source to Sea cleanup for six years, said the process of restoring the river to its pristine state resonated with him. He found that after several years of cleaning in the same crook of the river, it seemed that the wilderness surrounding the river was in better shape than in recent years.

Alumna Artist Awarded “Genius Grant”
Anna Schuleit ’93 was recently awarded a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, also referred to as a “genius grant.” Schuleit, an artist who lives in New York and was born in Germany, uses vital elements such as flowers, grasses, and music, to bring life to historic institutions.

For her 2003 installation, “Bloom,” she blanketed the hallways of the Massachusetts Mental Health Center’s original building with begonias, lilies and tulips. In 2001, she filled the empty Northampton State Hospital, currently being demolished, with more than 100 loudspeakers that blared J. S. Bach's choral piece “Magnificat.”

Schuleit is one of 25 fellows announced by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Each will receive $500,000 over the next five years.

In a note to NMH about the fellowship, Schuleit writes, “It’s a dream, and I am thinking of NMH today and I wish I could drive out right now to lie on the lawn in front of South Crossley and gaze at the clouds again....”

Teacher's Script Takes Honors
Math teacher Ramon Olivier has written a screenplay that took second place in the short screenplay category at the Indie Gathering, an annual film festival for independent filmmakers.

Ramon’s screenplay, “Joanie’s Doghnut,” a 22-page drama, also was a semifinalist in the Gimme Credit Screenplay Competition, a tri-annual, competition.

On the Water
Two NMH students spent their summer rowing in races on the Charles River in Boston. Sisters Elizabeth Donald ’07 and Rebecca Donald ’07 trained and rowed in competitive races, commuting from Cape Cod every afternoon to practice, and racing on the weekends. They were pulling for Community Rowing, Inc., a competitive community rowing program.

Elizabeth and Rebecca raced in the “A” division for their age group. They placed second in their age group at the US Rowing National Championships and first in their age group at the Canadian Henley–the largest regatta in North America.

Opening Convocation Speech
by Head of School Tom Sturtevant

School years begin like the fall mornings here—in the mist. Covering the view is the bustle of getting settled in, meeting new friends and catching up with old ones, and getting one’s feet on the ground. After the first week of school, with that new-year mist subsiding, the landscape of our community begins to come clear, and each of us takes stock of opportunities and goals we can seize.

I asked senior class president Blisse Wilkinson ’07 what topic she thought I ought to address today, and she replied that students might be well served to hear about the purpose of the challenges and educational requirements they undertake. So I will take this opportunity to follow Blisse’s suggestion and reflect upon why we do what we do here. . . read more here.

Read the convocation speeches of class president Blisse Wilkinson '07 and Theodore Samets '07.

Breaking New Ground
At Opening Convocation on September 10, the NMH community gathered on Thorndike Field. The setting—a departure from past convocations in the Auditorium—was literally a breath of fresh air. Head of School Tom Sturtevant gave his convocation address and, with Dean of Faculty Lorrie Byrom, awarded faculty fellowships. Immediately following convocation, the crowd walked to the site of The Rhodes Arts Center for a groundbreaking ceremony. Bill Rhodes ’53, lead donor and chairman emeritus of the board of trustees, spoke briefly about the importance of NMH in his life.

Next, student representatives of visual and performing arts groups took their spades in hand and ceremoniously broke ground. Led by the NMH Singers, the community joined together in song to “sing up” the building—the largest construction project undertaken by the school—in the spirit of NMH’s founder, Dwight L. Moody. Afterward everyone attended a picnic lunch on Beveridge lawn, with a bluegrass band adding to the festivity. Hard hat ice-cream bowls served as souvenirs of the historic groundbreaking.

Faculty Fellowships

• David F. Bolger ’50 Chair for Excellence in Teaching
  John Adams, English teacher
• Bertha Bristol Tracy Chair in Music
  Sheila Heffernon, director of the choral program and chair of the performing arts department
• Byung Ku Huh Faculty Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching
  Bea Garcia, chair of the world languages department
• David D. Hartman ’52 Faculty Fellowship
  Pam Allan, librarian
• John and Carol Pflug Fellowship in Music
  Marianne Lockwood, director of piano studies, accompanist

NMH Student Named Russian Scholar Laureate
Congratulations to Naomi Shafer '07 who was named a Russian Scholar Laureate for 2006 by the American Council of Teachers of Russian this summer. Naomi is one of 62 Russian students from secondary schools around the country so honored. The laureates were chosen by their teachers and principals as the most outstanding Russian students at their schools. Naomi and her NMH Russian teacher, Elena Michelson, will be recognized in a special section of the fall issue of the journal of the ACTR.

Campus Studded With Disc-Golf Buckets
Mysterious structures popping up all over school grounds have caused curious passersby to scratch their heads in wonder. Now the truth can be told: The upright buckets topped with vertical rows of chains are not alien pods or nests for endangered migrating birds, they are baskets for a 19-hole disc-golf course. Players toss Frisbees toward baskets and try to hit the chains at the right angle so they drop in the well in as few tries as possible, as in a game of golf.

The holes vary in difficulty, from a 210-foot stretch over water with a par of 3, to a 705-foot length over the football field with a par of 5, says Glenn Minshall, director of Outdoor Education, who is overseeing the project. The buckets were built by recent alum Scott Anderson ’06 over the summer and Joanne Dowdy, wife of English Teacher David Dowdy, is making the tee signs.

Minshall is hoping the course will provide recreation for students, faculty, and staff and will draw Frisbee-golf tournaments to campus. He’s also hoping to be able to buy sturdier commercial disc-golf buckets eventually.

A Snapshot of the 2006-07 Student Body
from Dean of Admission Deb Wright
As of August 29, our total enrollment is 626 (488 boarders and 139 day students).  The grade breakdown is as follows: 74 ninth-graders, 138 tenth-graders, 173 11th-graders, and 241 12th-graders and postgraduates.

We have great kids who will be joining this community this fall! Our incoming students come from 28 states (top states are Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and California) and 14 foreign countries. We have students coming from, Mexico, Austria, Italy, Slovakia, Japan, China, Germany, and Brazil, just for starters. The incoming class speaks at least eight different languages and several of our new students speak more than two.  

Sixty-nine of our enrollees are involved in community service, 31 in student government, 18 in debate, and more than 100 are involved in the performing arts or in athletics. Within this class, we have an all-American soccer player, the Massachusetts state champ in the long jump, the New York state basketball player of the year, a fencing medalist, a sports talk-show host, a black belt in karate. And a decorated ballroom dancer. Here's more!

• We have a young man who has played the accordion since he was three years old and plays soccer on two teams in Canada.
• We have a young woman who designs costumes for the theatre of dreams, a New York City theater group for mentally challenged thespians.
• We have a young man who is a film editor and website designer. He also runs his own business selling hockey-stick furniture online.
• We have a student who is a fife player and performs in three different drum corps in the Boston area. He also performs Revolutionary War reenactments in his town.
• We have a young woman who has achieved a balance between her two loves, athletics and the arts. She is the Bavarian champion of the heptathlon and 300-meter hurdles. She is also is talented vocalist.
• We have two brothers who train a full team of huskies for dog-sledding throughout rural Vermont. They also started a lacrosse program in their school and are both stars in Circus Smirkus.
• We have a young woman who is talented actress and vocalist who has starred in several musicals in her country’s equivalent of Broadway. She played Cossete in Les Miserables in front of an audience of thousands. She is also a talented visual artist and is very involved in community service.
• We have a young man who carried a demanding full-time professional internship at the department of education in New York City. He is also editor of his school yearbook, president of student government, and debate team leader. On the weekends, he takes classes in mock trial and constitutional law at New York University and aspires to be the first male in his family to attend college.

So you can see we have some extraordinary students coming this fall and that is only a small sample. I believe that they will make wonderful contributions to the community in a variety of ways and that our community will be all the richer because of their presence.

Dance Director Stars in Birth
Gretel Schatz, who is on sabbatical as director of the dance program at Northfield Mount Hermon School, will appear in a production of Birth at the First Church of Christ in Longmeadow Sept. 1 at 7 pm. She will play one of seven women in labor in a theatrical reading culled from 118 true birthing stories by playwright and mother Karen Brody. 

Schatz will play Amanda, a liberal mom-to-be, who chants, “My body rocks!”  The play looks at the choices women in childbirth make--from a woman giving birth at home to one who has a caesarean section--without judgment.

The production, on Labor Day weekend, is part of a global movement to make maternity care more mother-friendly. Between Sept. 1 and 4, Birth will be performed in more than 30 cities around the world, including New York; Washington, DC; Wellington, New Zealand; Los Angeles, and, Austin, Texas.

Proceeds of the Longmeadow reading will benefit Citizens for Midwifery, which promotes mother-friendly maternity care throughout the United States. The performance will be followed by a conversation on mother-friendly maternity care in Massachusetts.

Alumna’s Film on Iraq Opens
My Country, My Country, the acclaimed film about life in war-torn Iraq produced by Jocelyn Glatzer ’87, opened in New York August 4, with wider release scheduled for later this summer. Filmmaker Laura Poitras follows Dr. Riyadh, an Iraqi medical doctor, father of six, and Sunni political candidate in Iraq’s January 2005 elections. As Election Day approaches, the film reveals the agonizing predicament and gradual descent of one man caught in the tragic contradictions of the US occupation of Iraq and the implementation of democracy in the Middle East.

Michael Atkinson from the Village Voice called the movie, “the definitive nonfiction film about the occupation of Iraq. Indispensable, heartbreaking, and ferociously wise.”

Glatzer previously filmed The Flute Player, an hour-long documentary about musician Arn Chorn Pond ’86, which screened in major cities and on the PBS documentary series POV. My Country, My Country will also air on POV.

NMH Trustee a “Super Lawyer”
Trustee John Howley ’75 was named one of New York’s “Super Lawyers” in a supplement to The New York Times this week. More than 59,000 of Howley’s peers were asked to nominate the best lawyers in their fields and the final selections were made by a blue-ribbon panel of the most prominent practitioners of international law.

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