THE RIVERS SCHOOL | SUMMER 2022
Riparian
Photo (above): Alongside a Lake, by Ava Berger ’26 VOL. XXXVII NUMBER 1 EDITOR Jane Dornbusch, Senior Assistant Director of Communications DESIGNER David Gerratt NonprofitDesign.com CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Katie Harrigan, Joel Haskell, John Hurley, Tom Kates, Sophia Lane, Adam Richins, Anna Miller, Bethany Versoy CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Inger Karlsson P’27, Meghan Laska, Jacob Werrick ’16 PRINTER Signature Printing & Consulting Brian Maranian ’96 HEAD OF SCHOOL Edward V. Parsons P’17 DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT Krissie Kelleher P’22, ’25 The Rivers School 333 Winter Street Weston, MA www.rivers.org781-235-930002493-1040 RIPARIAN: “One that lives or has property on the bank of a river or lake.” The Riparian is published twice a year for The Rivers School alumni, parents, students, faculty, and friends. To conserve resources, Rivers has consolidated multiple mailings addressed to the same household so that your home will receive only one copy. If you have reason to receive additional copies at your address, please call Jane Dornbusch at 781-235-9300, ext. 230. ON THE COVER The Class of 2022 celebrates graduation (photo by Joel Haskell) Donations to The Rivers Fund help us attract and retain the very best faculty, provide robust professional development, enhance our classrooms, invest in technological innovation, and support financial aid. The Rivers Fund propels us forward each and every year! Are you All In For Rivers? Please consider donating today. www.rivers.org/giving • Venmo: @RiversSchool
THE RIVERS SCHOOL • SUMMER 2022 Riparian Features 19 BeyondGender: the Binary 22 Rivers OpeningOpeningFaculty:Eyes,MindsFarewelltoRetiringFaculty 16 Middle School Renovations 2 FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL The View From Here 3 CAMPUS LaunchingNEWSthe McLean/ Rivers Partnership; Visiting Artists; Venture Capital Club Competition; and more 9 FOCUS ON FACULTY Yoshi Fujita 10 NOTES FROM THE RSC 35 ALUMNI PROFILES Roger Tackeff ’72: A Legacy of Giving Back Derek Stenquist ’06: Committed to Caring Sturdy Waterman ’74: A Well-Framed Life 38 FROM OUR INBOX Alumni News and Notes 39 MEET OUR New Trustees 40 CELEBRATING THE Class of 2022 14 PHILANTHROPIC IMPACT The Satter Scholars Program 32 ALUMNI EVENTS 12 RED WING REPORT A Year to Remember 13 RIVERSIDE CHAT Five Questions for . . . Tom Bourdeau
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The View From Here
When I sat down to write this note, spring had just arrived. The cold was finally receding—not for good, but long enough to bring the buds out, to allow early glimpses of the daffodils along the wetland’s interior edges and awaken the periwinkle vines in the window boxes along the newly renovated Prince building’s exterior. The season of renewal had begun, as it always does and will. Exciting as it is to greet spring after a long winter, it has also been a moment for reflection, as I weigh the changing of seasons in my own life. In January I informed the commu nity that the following year would be my last as head of school, ending a nine-year run that has been the most rewarding period of my professional life. I have been fortunate to spend these past eight years in a place marked by respect, curiosity, creativ ity, and camaraderie—a community that knows and cares for its students beyond their daily achievements (which are impressive, to say the least), that proudly focuses on how we know over the short-term mastery of what we know. I cannot think of a better place to come to work each day, in the company of colleagues and students who, though arriving each day from more than 70 towns in the area, all share common values that support a vision of a world marked by equity, inclusion, a sense of belonging, and an engaged, intelligent, and proactive approach to life in complex times. We’ve accomplished so much as a community these past eight years. Last fall, we marked the end of the FutureMakers campaign and the completion of that monumental undertaking. We celebrated the many successes we achieved together and all we had done to build an extraordi nary future for Rivers. The completion of the 2015 Strategic Plan and the connected Campus Master Plan laid the groundwork for the many changes that have taken shape across campus, from vital infrastruc ture to extraordinary spaces like The Revers Center for Science and Visual Arts and the newly designed athletic complex to the boardwalk across the wetlands to the renovations to our Middle School classroom buildings. All of this renewal was made possible by the extraordinary generosity of a community determined to come together to build Rivers’s next iteration. Andnew and upgraded facilities were just the start. Those spaces enabled the development of out standing programs and the hiring of exceptional teachers who will continue the tradition of Excellence with Humanity and advance the school’s innovative and entrepreneur ial approach to education. We doubled down on our commitment to auxiliary financial aid; created the McCartney
FROM THE
MESSAGE HEAD OF SCHOOL Scholars Program to give students extraordinary opportunities in math scholarship; partnered with McLean Hospital to provide cutting-edge approaches to mental-health support for our students; enhanced our already robust summer science internships; and so much more. The return of spring resonated for me in the midst of all of these expansions; renewal is essential to life as we know it and to the success of this enterprise. That lesson is no less true for the position of head of school, with the energy and fresh lens of a new leader to take Rivers into the next chapter. This is no farewell note, reflective though I’m feeling as I write it. Rather, it’s a celebration of all we’ve accom plished in these past eight years as a community and a call to all of us to continue to advance Rivers into a future filled with possibilities. My vow to the community remains steadfast: I am here to the end of the 2022–2023 school year and intend to hand to my successor a vibrant school that continues to inspire the members of its community. InJune,Iwas thrilled to see several classes return to Rivers for their reunion—the first we’ve been able to enjoy in three years. And come June of ’23, I will celebrate with you the incoming head of school and cheer on their success . . . and yours!
By EDWARD V. PARSONS P’17
So Much Drama: Students are Back on Stage L
ive theater made a triumphant return to the Rivers stage this school year. Last year’s drama produc tions, curtailed by pandemic restrictions, were miracles of ingenuity and resourcefulness; this year’s, while no less creative, were marked by the joy that connects live audiences and performers.
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The season got off to a strong start in November with the Upper School production of Shakespeare’s A Midsum mer Night’s Dream. Staged in the Black Box Theater under the watchful eye of a full moon that appeared in the back ground of every scene, the production captured all the mystery and magic of the crowd-pleasing comedy. Later the same month, the Middle School weighed in with a fall production in the Black Box, titled 15 Reasons Not To Be in a Play. A play about not being in a play, it sounds a bit meta, but hilarity ensued as the actors played out scenarios ranging from a glory-seeking elementary school teacher to possible disturbances in the global climate.TheUpper School musical is always one of the most highly anticipated events of the year—and never more so than this year. When faculty member Zoë Iacovelli and her team were pondering which musical would be presented by the Upper School this winter, she says the choice was clear. One particular show has the tunes, the laughter, the fun, and the joy—not to mention the numerous ensemble numbers that could accommodate one of the largest casts ever to grace a Rivers stage. In February, months of planning and hard work came to fruition in two energetic performances of Mia at Regis College. Staging a musical takes a village, and Iacovelli was quick to acknowledge the efforts of all who helped make it happen. “The students and creative team poured their hearts into this show in hopes of uplift ing our audience, and I am so proud to say I think we did our job,” she said afterward. “I couldn’t have asked for a better team, cast, and crew; their individu ality and dedication made this music come to life.”
Wrapping up the year’s drama offerings was the Middle School musical, Matilda, in May. This show, based on the classic Roald Dahl book, tells the story of a gifted little girl and her escape from the boorish family that just doesn’t get her—possibly the perfect choice for middle schoolers.Throughout all these productions, the joy of both performers and audience members was evident. The long hiatus, it seemed, simply served to increase the commu nity’s appreciation for the stage.
CAMPUS NEWS A Midsummer Night’s Dream 15 inNotReasonstoBeaPlay
Mamma Mia
The SISAL competition, which typically attracts hundreds of artworks from area independent schools, also gives students the opportunity to show case their talents. Four students received awards: Cameron Baldwin ’28, Natalia Ramos ’22, Sophia Gao ’28, and Alexa Glick ’27. Mulan Zhang ’25, Drawing Illustration,andIt Will Be SomedayClear
Photography Garrett
t was a windy day under the tent at an all-school meeting in May, causing the video screens to wave gently in the breeze. But that didn’t diminish the impact of the display: Students applauded as they watched a slide show of art works recently chosen for honors in both the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards compe tition and the Small Independent School Arts League (SISAL) 2022 exhibition. In all, 21 works by 19 students received Scholastic Art awards, while four students took home SISAL honors. “The Scholastic Art Awards offer a great opportunity to honor our artists’ work by submitting to this incredible juried show,” said Tim Clark, Visual Arts Department chair. “I am thrilled for the artists whose work the Visual Arts faculty selected to enter, as well as for the artists whose work was recognized by the jurors.” Rivers students received five Gold Key awards, eight Silver Key awards, and eight Honorable Mentions in the Scholastic competition. In years past, winning entries were displayed in a gallery on the Tufts campus, but this year— as has been the case throughout the pandemic—the works could be viewed online on the Scholastic website.
ICompetition
CAMPUS NEWS
Student RecognizedArt in Scholastic
Photography Nolan
Printmaking
Photography Sam
Sculpture Keira
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Photography
Drawing
Photography Avery
Photography Eddie
Digital Art 4 Luciano Lewandowski ’23, Sculpture, 2” x 4” Nigiri Summer Pierson ’22, Sculpture, On Gender and Religion Walt Regan-Loomis ’22, Digital Art, Untitled Chelsea Yan ’25, Drawing & Illustration, A Matter of Mindset
Scholastic Silver Key Winners
Sculpture Summer Pierson ’22, Sculpture Lucy
Illustration Chelsea
Ava Berger ’26, Photography Sagine Cazimir ’26, Photography Kyra Coggin ’26, Falahee ’26, Mattoon ’22, Ton That ’22, Mulan Zhang ’25, Cahill ’24, Cahill ’26, De Souza ’26, Henry Fang ’26, Lyons ’23, Mordas ’24, Thompson ’22, & Yan ’25,
Scholastic Gold Key Winners Luciano Lewandowski ’23, Sculpture Summer Pierson ’22, Sculpture
Photography Alexa
Painting Scholastic Honorable Mentions Finn
Walt Regan-Loomis ’22, Digital Art Chelsea Yan ’25, Drawing & Illustration Mulan Zhang ’25, Drawing & Illustration
Above all, the approach promoted by the Rivers Wellness & Counseling Department, along with the new McLean partnership, is a pragmatic one, aimed at putting the necessary tools and skills in the hands of all community members.
NMentalPromotesPartnershipRivers/McLeanProgramPositiveHealth
“You might feel like you get more infor mation today than you can take in all at once,” she said. “And we are confident that every person will walk away with at least one simple, concrete tool or skill that they can use in their classroom to promote positive mental health.”
Julia Martin Burch, a clinician with McLean’s thethroughoutparentService,ConsultationSchoolledsessionsyear.
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“Even if you’re not a clinician,” said Knortz, “you can provide microdoses of intervention” that can keep a concern from becoming a crisis. The new pro gram gives teachers a wealth of tools and resources they can deploy.
Sarah Knortz, former director of counseling and wellness at Rivers, spoke at the program’s culminating event in May.
In her opening remarks, Knortz acknowl edged that mastering all the material and techniques might not be quick or simple.
avigating adolescence has never been easy—but imagine doing it during a global pandemic, under the glare of social media, in the midst of societal upheaval, and with the looming threat of catastrophic climate change. While Rivers in many ways offers a safe haven to students, they are not immune to those stressors. Mental health concerns on campuses across the country have skyrocketed over the past 18 months. Understanding that, the school has en tered into a new partnership with the world-renowned McLean Hospital in Belmont through its School Consultation Service program, which is offering a multi-pronged approach to addressing those concerns. The program involves staff, faculty, parents, and students working together to help guide our com munity through these challenging times. Faculty and staff were introduced to the partnership between Rivers and McLean School Consultation Services at a meeting held shortly before the start of the 2021–2022 school year. In his open ing remarks, Head of School Ned Parsons P’17 thanked faculty member Nikki Bartlett P’21, ’25, ’27 and her family for “their vision, leadership, and generosity” in bringing the program to campus through The Bartlett Family Fund for Wellness. The Bartletts, he went on, were inspired by the work of Rivers faculty and students in promoting wellness and destigmatizing issues of mentalBartletthealth.then spoke briefly about how her family’s involvement grew out of a desire to give back to Rivers, especially following her daughter Schuyler ’21’s own mental health chal lenges and the support she received here. “It’s a gift of love and appreciation for everyone in this room, and a gift of hope,” said Bartlett. Former Rivers Director of Counsel ing and Wellness Sarah Knortz shared some sobering data on Rivers students and their responses to the events of the previous year and a half. She said the number of students seeking mental health support in the fall of 2020 alone greatly exceeded the number who had sought such help over the entire previous year. She told the audience that the McLean School Consultation program works to “eliminate both mental-health stigma and the obstacles to effective men tal health care—obstacles that can and do prevent students from equitably accessing the full Rivers experience.” Beyond the more well-known cir cumstances that might contribute to mental-health challenges, said Knortz, attending a high-achieving school—such as Rivers—has recently been identified as a risk factor. But there are countervailing protective factors, such as an emphasis on values and character, a social-emotional learning curriculum, and, most of all, strong relationships between students and teachers. Fortu nately, such relationships are the corner stone of a Rivers education, and though the challenges are real, the school is well-positioned to take them on. The McLean partnership, which provides teacher trainings, parent workshops, and student-facing services throughout the year, strengthens Rivers’s ability to address mental health challenges.
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hat is the purpose of art?” Tim Clark, Visual Arts Department chair, asked the assembled crowd at an Upper School assembly in April. The question could be answered in any number of ways, but that morning, a pertinent and concise response was provided by Boston artist and guest speaker Cedric Douglas: “Art is a way to change the world.” Douglas was on campus as part of his stint as a visit ing artist, under the aegis of the Rivers Visiting Artist Series. Launched last year with guest artist Naoe Suzuki, the program aims to bring a distinguished artist to Rivers each year to mount an exhibition, speak to students, visit classrooms, and otherwise interact with the community.
Visiting Artists Bring Inspiration to WCampus
“When we started the visiting artist program,” explained Visual Arts faculty member Nicole Winters, “I wanted to be thoughtful about the artist we bring. I wanted it to be about more than just pretty pictures; I wanted the work to speak to our community.” In Douglas’s “Street Memorials Project,” on display from April 7 through May 16 in the Baldwin Family Art Commons in The Revers Center for Science and Visual Arts, the artist commemorates the lives of Black people lost to police brutality. The multi-media, multi-faceted work spurred thoughtful conversation on campus. After Douglas’s talk at Rivers, there was a Q&A period. One student asked about the motif of monarch butterflies that runs through Douglas’s work. “To me,” he said, “they represent growth and transformation.” Another asked about the red roses that were part of the exhibition “ To watch the virtual reception for David Saul’s exhibition, scan here. in the Revers Center, destined—and designed—to decay over the course of the show. Finally, a student asked if Douglas had any advice for aspiring artists. “Just do, make, and create as much as possible,” said the prolific Douglas, who has certainly been guided by that principle from a young age. “Find your voice through doing the things you like.”
An earlier exhibition in The Revers Center’s gallery space and the Campus Center’s Bell Gallery brought a familiar face back to campus. David Saul, who retired in 2021 as chair of the Visual Arts Department after 38 years at Rivers, shared more than 100 works in various media. The show highlighted over 40 years of creative exploration by Saul.Ata February virtual reception for the show (the planned in-person reception was quashed by Covid), Visual Arts Department Chair Clark chatted with Saul about his journey to becoming an artist, his creative pro cess, and his career at Rivers. Of the latter, Saul said, “It was a great opportunity to build a program, hire wonder ful people, teach great kids, and make a difference.” Cedric Douglas came to campus in April, as part of the Visiting Artist Series. Tim Clark (left) and David Saul discussed a retrospective of Saul’s work.
The inaugural class of McCartney Scholars. Front, left to right: Ava Palazzolo, Grace Brosnan, Ian Keusch. Back, left to right: Jacob Sardinha, Jacqueline Lee, Charlotte Diamond.
McCartney Scholars: Math Scholarship and
Members of the VC club at the April competition.
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Swimming with the Sharks: Rivers VC Club Hosts Competition
If you grew up watching Shark Tank instead of, say, SpongeBob, you just might turn out like Sebastian Con nelly ’22, Ryan Douglas ’22, and the other members of the Rivers Venture Capital Club—that is, willing and eager to spend a weekend morning watching pitch decks, conducting due diligence, and creating term sheets, all with the goal of deciding how best to invest their employer’s money. That was the scenario on an April Saturday in the Campus Center, when the VC Club hosted a competition pitting two real-world start-ups against each other in a quest for funding. The students assessed the businesses’ pitches, questioned the entrepreneurs, and presented their positions to the judges. Two teams of Rivers students competed, as did two teams from the Winsor School. “The two startups are actual business es run by Rivers parents,” explained math faculty member Elizabeth Wendorf, who serves as advisor to the club. On the day of the competition, the business founders first shared their pitch decks. Following that, each team had 15 minutes with each entrepreneur to ask questions. Once this due-diligence phase was complete, the teams met to decide which company to invest Finally,in.the judges reviewed the term sheets and interviewed each team. The judges then named the top teams in several categories, such as best term sheet, best due diligence, and best overall. One of the Rivers teams was ultimately named the winner, but—to a greater degree than in most types of competi tion—the event was much more about the process than about the results.
WMentorship hen beloved math teacher Dan McCartney P’08, ’15 passed away unexpectedly in 2020, community members and the McCartney family came together to determine how best to honor the legacy of a man who gave so much to Rivers. From those conversations was born the McCartney Scholars, an endowed program of distinction that provides extraordinary opportunities in math scholarship and mentorship for selected students. An outpouring of community sup port quickly brought in the necessary funds to launch the program, raising more than $1.1M. The inaugural group of six scholars was announced in January, and this special cohort is thrilled to be the first to hold the dis-tinction of being McCartney Scholars. They were chosen from among 16 applicants and advanced through a rigorous selection process that included a written submission and an interview.Thesix students are Grace Brosnan, Charlotte Diamond, Ian Keusch, Jacque line Lee, Ava Palazzolo, and Jacob Sardinha, all members of the Class of ’23. The even tual goal is to choose about six rising juniors each year who will continue with the program through graduation, with each cohort mentoring the next in turn. This year’s group of McCartney Scholars will also be part of the process of building the project and learning how best to deploy the program’s resources. Asked what drew them to apply for the program, the students provided a range of responses. Most had not had the opportunity to know Dan McCartney well, but they were all aware of his impact on Rivers and excited about carrying on his legacy. But first and foremost, all the Scholars share a passion for math—and a passion for sharing that passion. “It may be idealistic for me to say I hope other students come to love math as much as I do,” says Palazzolo. “But that definitely is the goal.”
After the competition, Connelly and Douglas called it a “unique experience for a group of high schoolers.” These types of competitions take place in busi ness schools and colleges, but it is rare to see it at the high-school level. “The opportunity to see real entrepreneurs present their own products in real life was educational, exciting, and inspiring,” they said. “Furthermore, the process of presenting our decisions to the judges is modeled to be like junior venture capitalists selling senior venture capital ists on an investment. The experience felt very real.”
The Hall Family Speaker Series, cre ated in 2019, brings thought lead ers to campus to address issues connected with civic engagement. This year’s Hall Speaker was Yair Rosenberg, a noted journalist, who came to Rivers in April to help mark the Days of Remem brance commemorating victims of the Holocaust.Rosenberg, a writer at The Atlantic whose work has appeared in numerous publications, first asked for a show of hands. “How many of you are against antisemitism?” he asked. Every hand in the room went up. “If you stopped people on the street,” said Rosenberg, “you’d get a similar response. ‘Yeah, I’m against it.’ But it’s not so simple; it never seems to go away.”Antisemitism, he continued, has some distinctive features that differentiate it from other forms of prejudice and that help perpetuate it. Said Rosenberg, “Even if people do want to get rid of antisemi tism, they don’t always recognize it.” He identified three challenges that make antisemitism especially persistent. First, there’s the word itself. It has the dis tinction of having been coined by a per petrator, a 19th-century German journal ist, rather than the victim. That has led to disagreement and confusion over its ac tual meaning. “And when people argue about the term for a prejudice,” said Rosenberg, “it’s usually a way to take at tention away from the prejudice.”
Community Gathers for Fun & Games
Hall Speaker Addresses Modern Antisemitism
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CAMPUS NEWS
The mood was festive as the crowd began to gather at 6:30. By 7:00, the big tent on the Lank Quadrangle was abuzz with activity. Assistant Head of School Jim Long briefly interrupted the festivi ties to make a few remarks. He thanked the parent volunteers for decorating the tent, and, speaking perhaps for all of the evening’s hosts, he concluded, “We’re delighted you’re here, and we hope to be able to continue to hold community events like this one in the months and years to come. Thank you for coming out—let the games begin!”
The second challenge is what Rosen berg terms “the Holocaust trap,” which suggests that antisemitism ended with Hitler’s defeat and that genocide is the only form of antisemitism serious enough to merit attention.
Finally, the third challenge is the con spiracy theories that surround antisemi tism, suggesting that the Jews secretly run the media, the banks, or other global undertakings. That sets it apart from oth er forms of prejudice, he said, and allows antisemites to scapegoat Jews for all of society’sAfterwoes.Rosenberg’s talk, Amy Enright, director of the Center for Community and Civic Engagement at Rivers, said she was pleased with how he helped students see the insidious nature of antisemitism. “With his expertise and broad perspec tive,” said Enright, “Yair equipped us to recognize and stand up against antisemi tism if we see or hear it in our daily lives.”
You couldn’t have asked for a nicer evening under the tent than May 13, when more than 200 members of the Rivers community came together for It’s All Fun and Games. This festive occasion gave adult members of our community, including parents and faculty, the opportunity to enjoy food, drink, and merriment. As temperatures hovered in the 70s under clear skies, attendees crowded around tables for blackjack and roulette, tossed bean bags at the cornhole station, showed off their hoops prowess at Pop-a-Shot, mugged in front of the camera at the photo booth, and, most of all, reconnected with åone“Thisanother.was a way for our parent com munity to get together and enjoy one an other’s company, plain and simple,” said Amy Dunne P’06, ’08, director of parent engagement and special events. “After the necessary distancing of the past couple of years, I think people are just glad to connect with their peers, seeing old friends and new.”
Yair Rosenberg spoke to students about antisemitism in April.
FOCUS ON FACULTY
Fujita is a whiz at solving problems in the lab, but teaching itself was a problem he set out to solve when he changed careers, back in 2008. After graduating from Brown with a degree in electrical engineering, he worked in industry. But, he says, he soon found “cubicle life didn’t agree with me.”
FUJITA
— Jane Dornbusch “has a bad reputation,” dating back to the time when it was taught “from a math“That’sperspective.”changedin the past few years,” says Fujita. “I come from a con ceptual standpoint. The math informs and allows us to apply the concepts. It gives students a chance to practice and reinforce what they learn in math classes but in more concrete situations.” In the engineering class, the work “revolves around the technologies that have revolutionized engineering, which we lump together as digital fabrication.” This can take different forms, but the most familiar one is 3D printing. In The Revers Center’s fabrication lab, students have access to five 3D printers, as well as laser cutters. “Having that equipment allows students to move quickly from concept to prototype,” explains Fujita. “They can test whether things work, and then minutes later have a second version.” With multiple printers avail able, says Fujita, students are able “
to “take ownership of their work,” and the course content can be built around access to rapid, inexpensive prototyping.Robotics, too, has grown by leaps and bounds since The Revers Center opened. The initial semester is spent learning how to program, using preexisting robots, and the second half involves a competition in which stu dents build their own robots. Fujita says that working in the new robotics lab has made a world of difference: “Having more space and a dedicated room with all the tools out and acces sible makes it much easier.”
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The son of two teachers, Fujita says he “had always had in the back of my mind that teaching was some thing I might do.” He took a job teach ing physics at a charter school in Malden and applied his engineer’s analytical mind to the task of learning to be a teacher. “Every day was like a science experiment, with a lot of trial and error,” he recalls. But for Fujita, it was just one more challenge—one that he tackled with typical aplomb. “The problem-solving was very personal and tangible: How do I get these students to understand and learn?” he says. “When you’re teaching, the problem is very much in front of you.” Which is just how this inveterate problem-solver likes it.
I’ve always enjoyed problemsolving,” says science faculty member Yoshi Fujita, who teaches physics, engineering, and robotics. That’s as true today—when he guides students through physics problems, fabrication, and programming—as it was when he worked as an electrical engineer, doing hardware diagnostics. Each of the subjects he teaches brings its own form of problem-solving, of course. Physics, Fujita notes, is not a required course at Rivers, but most students take it. The section he teaches is the baseline course—not advanced or AP—and many students who enroll, he says, “don’t see them selves as science students.” But he’s able to overcome their resistance, he says, because “in physics, it’s very easy to bring in ex amples from real life. People have a lot of everyday experience with things that are relevant to physics, and I can push students to have an intuitive un derstanding.” He admits the subject YOSHI Finding Solutions
Broadening Perspectives with Master Classes
Building Confidence
A significant element of master classes, said Coppock, is the performance opportunity. He explains, “You can duplicate just about every aspect of playing an instrument in the practice room except for what it feels like to perform in front of an audience. I know extremely few musicians without some form of performance anxiety. It’s something one can only learn to manage through experience.”
Last fall, Crettien organized two master classes at the Rivers Jazz Festival with bass trombonist and tuba player Bill Lowe, who leads the Signifyin’ Natives band and has worked with masters of African American music across all Crettiengenres. says, “Master classes are amazing opportunities for students to get into the artist’s head and learn about their process. Having access to that artistry is unique, and there is no substitute for that as a young musician.”
By Meghan Laska P art of what makes music so great is that if you put 10 musicians in a room, you’ll get 15 opinions. There is not just one way to make music,” says cellist Bruce Coppock, chair of RSC’s Chamber Music Department and director of RSC’s ChamberMusicLab. “That’s why it’s so important for young musicians to hear different perspectives—and to learn over time to craft their own point of view. Master classes are a great oppor tunity for that kind of learning.” A strong tradition at RSC, master classes are lessons with a guest teacher for select students, conducted in front of an audience. The goal is to provide the students with feedback on core elements like technique and musicality.Sincemusic is subjective, of course, that feedback may be varied—and that’s part of the point. Roberto Plano, associate professor of piano at Indiana University, who gave a piano master class at RSC last fall, explains, “Music is extraordinarily personal. The student may hear some thing from the teacher giving the master class they have never heard before from their other teachers. That feed back may even conflict, with one teacher suggesting you play one way here and another teacher suggesting you play that same part the exact opposite way. Young
Roberto Plano led a piano master class at RSC last fall.
musicians learn to understand that people can have their own opinions, and they can form their own opinion based on all of those perspectives.”
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Crettien agrees, noting that he begins every morning of the Rivers Summer Jazz Program with a master class. “We create an environment where the students feel safe taking risks by volunteering to play in the master class. Everyone gets a turn, and we encourage all of the kids to participate,” he says.
Connecting with Audiences Master classes have something to offer all attendees—even those who are only there to observe. While students clearly benefit
“
Master classes are valuable for all genres of music, notes saxophonist Philippe Crettien, who is jazz depart ment director for both RSC and The Rivers School. He invites composers or soloists to share their expertise with students in a master class, followed by a concert in which students apply what they have learned.
SUMMER
RSC Director Gabriella Sanna said, “It was important to us to have a woman as our commissioned composer. The classical music world has been domi nated by white male composers, and there is now a movement to make space for and appreciate the works of women composers and composers of color.”
Said Chen, “It is my privilege to have had the opportunity to work closely together with our young musicians at RSC and to have the premiere performance of my two-movement new string quartet work, ‘Song of Spring.’”
More performers from The Rivers School were involved this year than ever before. Chen worked directly with The Rivers Middle School Vocal Ensemble, which performed the composer’s “Capriccio.” Several other Rivers students performed, and a number of student-composed works also had their premieres.
Coppock says that he saw “a notice able difference” in his ChamberMusicLab students’ performances after they started watching and hearing one another in weekly master classes. “It’s excellent for their development musically, and the whole level of the group rises,” he says, noting that master classes also help observers learn how to address common errors. “When someone makes an all-toohuman mistake in a performance, the audience sees that this happens to others, too, and benefits from the teacher’s feedback.”
Crettien agrees. “Every department at RSC offers master classes because it’s the RSC way. We look for opportunities to help students get to the next level musically. It’s also refreshing for faculty to have outside teachers visit RSC because it’s a form of professional development. I enjoy going to master classes in other genres like classical music, because I can adapt those lessons back to jazz.” He adds, “I can’t overemphasize the value of master classes. They are elevating for everyone.”
Chen Yi (front row, right), the featured composer at April’s Seminar in Contemporary Music for the Young, collaborated and performed with RSC faculty and students during the seminar.
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Sanna points out that the Seminar is an important vehicle for exposing young people to contemporary music. She explains, “It is invaluable for students to have the opportunity to talk with a composer while studying their music, rather than only playing pieces by composers who are no longer with us. At the Seminar, the composer and students work together, and the student can learn what the composer was thinking about when the piece came to life.” Chair of the Seminar and RSC’s wind department Ethel Farney says, “The atmosphere at these Seminars is electrifying and inspiring to all who attend. The composers who participate share the same feeling of excite ment and creative energy as the young performers.” —ML 2022 Riparian | 11 from the master teacher’s feedback, the audience benefits by auditing a high-level music class.
The three-day event, which took place this year in early April, includes master classes, lectures, and concerts. The highlight of the seminar is the commissioning of a composer for a major work. This year, the RSC commissioned Chen Yi, a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, a prolific composer, and recipient of the Charles Ives Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Seminar on Contemporary Music for the Young Brings Noted Composer to Campus F orty-three years ago, The Rivers School Conservatory pioneered a unique model to bring together young performers, composers, and audiences. The launch of the Seminar on Contemporary Music for the Young not only began a beloved tradition at RSC, it also set the bar for such events around the world.
Plano says that he enjoys the audi ence aspect of master classes and tries to make the class accessible by contex tualizing the work, explaining his feed back and the history of the piece. “I can tell I am really connecting with the audience when there is silence in the hall, and they are listening to every word. It is a beautiful experience,” he notes. The master teachers also benefit from the classes. Plano explains, “It is our job as teachers to share our knowl edge, and master classes are a way to impact more students outside of our own institutions. We listen to talent and learn other points of view. We always say teachers learn from students— and that is true in music.”
The winter season also brought its share of triumphs. Boys’ basket ball finished the season 22-5 and captured the NEPSAC Class B title, the first New England championship for Rivers since 1976 and the first for Coach Keith Zalaski, after twice falling short in the championship game in his first five seasons at Rivers. “Our group this year was unlike any other I’ve been around,” said Zalaski. “With only one player having experienced what a full season looks like here at Rivers, there was a naiveté to our group that I believe benefitted us throughout the season. Their camara derie off the court translated seam lessly to in between the lines, as they were unselfish and connected in a way you don’t often see with high school teams. They were a joy to be around every day and made it easy on our coaching staff with their com mitment to getting better every day and to each other.”
12 | Riparian | SUMMER 2022 RED WING REPORT
Boys’ soccer got things started in the fall, finishing the season 15-3-2 and capturing the ISL Championship for the first time since 2012. Coach Steve Schechter ’88 said, “We went into 2021 knowing that there was a lot of talent and experience on our team. Winning the ISL was certainly among our goals, but it’s always a tall task and requires more than talent. It takes grit, long-term focus, and even a bit of luck. This year’s team had a ton of guts, and despite some tough injuries, they battled each day to win that banner. We had great leadership from our captains, Cal Lemley ’22 and Drew Stephans ’22, and from the other seniors, and the boys took a ton of pride defensively. It’s certainly going to be a group that I’ll never forget.”
Rounding out a successful winter season, boys’ alpine skiing also won the NEPSAC Class B championship. This was the team’s first champion ship since 2015 and the first under Coach Ross Gormley. “I owe a lot of credit to the kids,” said Gormley. “They can turn on a dime, from a group of fun-loving kids to a seri ous team who can put their heads down and train and race their hard est. We focused on repetition, be ing consistent even as the New England weather offered us wildly different conditions each week. Our captains also did a great job setting the tone for the team—one of inclusivity, respect, and diligence —which paid off when it came time to race for NEPSACs.”
Girls’ hockey finished with a record of 17-9-1, and the team captured its first NEPSAC championship since 2019. In her second year at the helm, Coach Courtney Sheary was able to navigate a difficult schedule and over come a five-game losing streak in January to right the ship and win three road playoff games on the way to capturing the NEPSAC champion ship. Said Sheary, “We could not be happier with how our season ended! Our roster was full of girls who came ready to work every practice and game day. I was very fortunate to have so many upperclassmen during my first two seasons with Rivers. They have continued to be such incredible leaders and are extremely deserving of everything they’ve accomplished.”
By Jacob Werrick ’16 After more than a year with out typical competition, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rivers athletics came back strong in 2021-22. Fans, athletes, and coaches alike were excited to get out there and compete after a lengthy hiatus—and it didn’t take long for Rivers to return to its winning ways, with four teams taking their respective championships.
Back to Normal and Back on Top
RIVERSIDE CHAT
You took on an operations position in July 2019. Eight months later, COVID struck. How has that affected your role?
What do you think was our most significant accomplishment in the effort to provide students with a “normal” experience?
I think we were, at least in the ISL, the only school that was open five days a week in person at full capacity. We operated under best practices and used caution as appropriate. Staying open and keeping the community safe—that was the goal. And we were able to do that.
It’s your birthday and you get to choose the dinner menu. What do you pick?
When I was coaching at Boston College, as a gradu ate assistant, I learned that there’s no such thing as “work hours.” Many times, we were presented with problems that seemed unsolvable, and time was always of the essence. But I was able to keep the pressure from getting to me, because I had been in these situations before. From my time in athletics, I knew how much patience you need to have.
What in your background or experience prepared you for the challenges of the COVID era?
I’m going to the Trillium Brewery in Canton and having a couple of New England IPAs and pizza. No dessert required—just a babysitter.
During the COVID pandemic, schools were required to have a designated point person to oversee and implement virus-related policies. At Rivers, that person was Director of Operations Tom Bourdeau, who also serves as the school’s assistant football coach. Bourdeau, a father of three young children, was fairly new to his job when the pandemic hit. COVID request,”said“ItakeorBourdeau’severything—butchangednotworkethichiswillingnesstoonanychallenge:don’tthinkI’veevernotoawork-relatedhesays.
Five Questions for . . . Tom Bourdeau
It made a lot of sense, since so much of it came from an operational stand point. And regardless of job title, you do what the head coach asks you to do. What’s the biggest challenge in your current job? The day-to-day unknowns— the curveballs that come. That’s the biggest challenge and the biggest source of gratification: Working to solve those problems. Between May 2020 and the start of the following school year, I had no choice but to learn as much as I could about everything that happens on this campus. It was chal lenging, but it was absolutely the best experience I could have had.
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I feel like it has defined my role, since the majority of my time in it has been during COVID. When I started, in 2019, we were focused on the opening of The Revers Center for Science and Visual Arts and reworking safety protocols and policies, but a lot of that was put on the back burner when I became the COVID guy. Ned asked if I would take that on, and I said yes.
us expand our funds for auxiliary financial aid,” said Jan Hicinbothem of the Rivers development office, who helped put the proposal in place. The Satter Fund at Rivers has been supporting student needs beyond tuition since 2015. But that was only the beginning. Building on the success of The Satter Fund, the school—in partnership with the Jack Satter Foundation—decided to launch an even more ambitious initiative: Established in 2021, the Satter Scholars Program awards $2500 annual grants to the Rivers families with the highest need, to be used toward a wide range of expenses. The program began with a pilot group of 10 students and has since expanded to 30 students. An important facet of the undertaking is counseling and advising for participating families. Debbie Argueta, DEI and student life assistant, one of the three Rivers faculty members charged with overseeing the Satter Scholars, explained that advising is at the heart of the program. Advisors meet with the scholars and their families several times a year to discuss budget and expenses, delving into what kind of expenditures can truly make the student experience inclusive and equitable. The oversight ensures that the money is being used as intended and helps students budget and plan.
While it is still a new program, the Satter Scholars program has already had a transformational impact on the lives of our students. Recipients report that the additional funds have provided not just financial freedom but peace of mind. Said one grateful student, “The fund has changed my life in ways I couldn’t have imagined.”
“I was able to feel like I was part of community.”the “It helped our son equal.”feel “It gave me a sense of security.”
Satter Scholars: Leveling the Playing Field
14 | Riparian | SUMMER 2022 PHILANTHROPIC IMPACT F
inancial aid has long been a way to place a Rivers education within the reach of all qualified students, regardless of their family situation. But in recent years, Rivers has taken a closer look at what that really means—and has redefined financial aid in the process. For many years, financial aid primarily took the form of tuition assistance. Such support did indeed make it possible for many students to attend independent schools like Rivers. However, at a time when broader societal con cerns about access, equity, and inclusion have come to the fore, it has become clear that covering the cost of attending doesn’t really level the playing field. To partici pate in the school’s life, students need money for sports equipment and musical instruments, travel and cocurricular activities, SAT classes and the prom, and many more “extras” that truly make up the Rivers experience and allow students to feel fully part of the community. English faculty member Jennie Hutton Jacoby led the way with The Gainie Financial Aid Fund, an endowed experiential equity fund established in 2013 that has allowed students to attend conferences, buy textbooks, purchase musical instruments, participate in school trips, and so much more. But it became increasingly evident that even more such aid was needed. Enter the Jack Satter Foundation. Former Rivers trustee Eric Wolf and his wife, Mary Lou Cocci, P’07, sit on the board of the foundation; through the agency of Wolf and Cocci, a connection was made. “We wrote a proposal knowing that they might be interested in helping
“Our son was able to upgrade his laptop, which has made a big difference in his academics.” “Extra costs can put a strain on the family, and this program helped to alleviate that for us.” “Satter Funds have allowed me to get access to things I did not think I could afford.”“The Satter Fund helped me adjust better to the culture of the school.”
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FAREWELL
FUTUREMAKERSTO
There was plenty to celebrate when the community turned out in force last October to mark the end of FutureMakers: The Campaign for Rivers. The most successful campaign in school history, FutureMakers closed on June 30, 2021, having raised a record-breaking $67 million. The impact has been immeasurable, and we are so grateful to our dedicated and generous community. Scan the QR code to see a full gallery of photos from the event.celebration
16 | Riparian | SUMMER 2022 Middle School Renovations Open a World of Possibilities
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Middle School classrooms and offices, looked dramatically different when students returned last fall. There are now three classrooms—two of them 50 percent larger than previous class rooms—plus two breakout rooms for private meetings or small group work. A large gathering area for community events, as well as refinished offices and restrooms, was also created as part of the renovation.
In Prince, new windows use high-performance glass to cut down on glare and improve climate control; those windows also dramatically change the look and feel of the building. And, says Bourdeau, “From an aesthetic point of view, it has a whole new look, with finishes, paint colors, and furniture to match The Revers Center. It’s a significant improvement.”
The rooms weren’t quite set up yet; boxes still needed unpacking and the walls were a bit bare. But the long-awaited move into the newly renovated building was finally complete, and Middle School students, teachers, and administrators were delighted to find themselves in a bright, modern, airy facility that supports collaboration, community, and creativity at the highest levels.
“The renovated spaces, specifically the gathering space, really open up the feeling of the building. This new community area provides great opportunities for interactive learning and rela tionship building,” said Director of Operations Tom Bourdeau. He went on to describe the specific upgrades: On the upper level of Allen, there are three newly renovated science labs (increasing the number of Middle School labs by 50 percent), a new large gathering area that overlooks Nonesuch Pond, and offices for the head of Middle School and the assistant to the head, as well as an office for MS faculty. On the lower level are two renovated humanities classrooms and a maker space. Additionally, there is a new IT Department suite and IT offices. These upgrades come on top of the renovations to the Prince Building, completed late last summer. The building, housing ON A COLD DAY IN EARLY FEBRUARY, THE NEWLY RENOVATED ALLEN BUILDING WAS ABUZZ WITH ACTIVITY.
Between the completed Prince and Allen renovations, and upgrades to Haynes (including Upper School classrooms) underway at this writing, the Middle School now boasts state-of-theart facilities that truly reflect the excellence of its programs.
“We could not be more thrilled with the outcome of the Allen renovations,” said Head of Middle School John Bower. “The expansive gathering space, complete with a wonderful
18 | Riparian | SUMMER 2022 view of Nonesuch Pond, is the perfect spot for Middle School students to collaborate with each other and with their teachers. It’s also a comfortable new home for eighth-grade homeroom meetings.” Bower is excited about the impact that the upgrades are having on teaching and learning. “The science labs upstairs and the spacious humanities classrooms on the lower level allow for flexible seating configurations where students can engage in full-group discussion or break out into smaller pods for individual or small group work. The whiteboard walls create opportunities for students to make their thinking and learning visible, whether working on a challenging equation in Algebra I or brainstorming ideas for their projects in seventh-grade Life Science and Sustainability. With the completion of Prince, Allen, and Lower Haynes renovations, the Rivers Middle School now has classroom spaces that are up to the same high quality of those in the Revers Center, and we are so grateful for Althoughthat.” they’ve only been in the upgraded buildings a short time, students and faculty already appreciate the potential of the facilities. On that Wednesday morning back in February, science faculty member Josh Shaller P’26, ’28 was conducting class in one of the Allen Building’s new labs. Students worked in small groups as Shaller roamed the room answering and asking questions.
“The room is awesome,” said Shaller. He added, “The students are helping to set it up, so that they will have ownership of the material and equipment they will be using. Their ideas are often better than mine! The space is ideal for running student-centered hands-on science, and each lab group will end up with their own space and equipment to manage.”
A group of students engrossed in a project illustrating plate tectonics concurred. “It’s much better than before, in every way,” said Jordan Senior ’28. And Beckett Tower ’28 added, “I’m new this year, so I didn’t see what it was like before, but it’s really great.”
Nina Martin ’28 and Meaghan Richards ’28, working together in the nearby common area, were asked how they liked the newly renovated building so far. “It’s awesome how the common room is bigger,” said Martin. “There’s so much more space for us to work together.” � R
The previous year’s DEI work on race set a standard for deep, ongoing engagement across the many constituencies that make up the Rivers community: students, faculty, staff, parents, and alumni. In that sense, this past year’s work on gender was no different.“Thewhole idea of having a DEI theme was new last year,” says Henderson. “It reflects a shift toward our DEI work being deeper and more integrated into the everyday life of the school. What that actually looks like is that there’s a student program ming component, a professional development component, a parent engagement component, and a policies and practices component. We’re trying to think about our DEI focus on mul tiple levels, so that by the end of the year, we’ve made substan tiveWhatchanges.”ultimately emerged from those early conversations was Gender: Beyond the Binary, the DEI focus for the 2021–22 school year. This was tied to LGBTQ+ issues—but not synony mous with them. Henderson explains: “From the start, we want ed to be clear about the differences between anatomical sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, and gender expression in order to challenge assumptions and stereotypes.”
t the end of the 2020-21 school year, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion department was deep in conversation about a topic likely to have a broad impact: The DEI focus for the year ahead. The department had just wound down its work on the previous year’s theme, Finding Your Voice Around Race, and, said acting DEI head Katie Henderson, “Our thought was, ‘What are we not talking about—in this school and in all schools?” She said that the decision was clear: “Gender inclusion felt like the obvious choice.”
A
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THEBEYONDBINARY A Focus on Gender
CONTINUED ON PAGE 21 Myers speaks from both a personal and a professional perspective. He was the first openly transgender student at Exeter, transitioning just before his senior year. Today, much of his work focuses on helping schools support students— all students—on issues connected to gender. That work proceeds in directions that may not always be obvious, at least initially. Gender issues may arise, Myers said, around bathrooms or prom-posals, and the first step is to
— KATIE HENDERSON, ACTING DEI DIRECTOR
With the theme in place, the DEI team set to work creating programming that could advance the topic throughout the year. Henderson soon came across the work of Alex Myers, an educa tor and author who is well known for his work on gender and transgender education. Myers teaches English at Phillips Exeter Academy (he is also an alumnus) and is the author of several books, including Supporting Transgender Students. In short order, Myers was engaged to lead several sessions at Rivers throughout the year, both with parents and faculty. He also led professional development at the beginning of the year for members of the senior administration team, who read Supporting Transgender Students as part of the training. Schuyler Bailar, the first NCAA Division I swimmer to come out as transgender, spoke at Rivers as part of this year’s DEI programming. “We’re trying to think about our DEI focus on multiple levels, so that by the end of the year, we’ve made substantive changes.”
The Cultural Calendar
In February, students in Ms. Yang’s Mandarin class and members of the AAPI affinity space organized a celebra tion of the Lunar New Year. The festivi ties included a recognition during assem bly, a slide show, hallway decorations, and the gifting of lucky red envelopes. Students also gathered during lunch for a potluck celebration. February was also Black History Month, with a theme centered on Black art and expression. At an all-school meet ing, faculty member Chris Love spoke to the community about his identity as an artist, and the Rivers Big Band played pieces by Black composers. Kayla Thugi ’25 closed the month by reading a powerful poem titled “Melanin.” And May brought AAPI Heritage Month and Jewish-American Heritage
Celebrating and Honoring our Diversity story,” he said, noting that there is no one way to describe or understand the diverse peoples who are classified as Native Americans. InJanuary, Leila Saponaro ’24 and Ethan Kasparian Weisman ’24, student leaders of the Middle Eastern Affinity Space, shared a presentation celebrating the diversity of the Middle East. Like Clark, Saponaro cautioned listeners to be leery of stereotypes. “The news media often focuses on conflicts, rather than on the people who live there,” she noted.
Leila Saponaro ’24 and Ethan Kasparian Weisman ’24, student leaders of the Middle Eastern Affinity Space, spoke at an all-school meeting in January.
20 | Riparian | SUMMER 2022
While this year’s DEI theme was Gender: Beyond the Binary, the school’s DEI work proceeds on many fronts. Through out the year, Rivers marks events on the cultural calendar—from Latinx and Hispanic Heritage Month to Native American Heritage Month to Black History Month to Jewish-American Heritage Month and more. Students create slideshows and videos, hold fo cused discussions, and hear from guest speakers, in the process learning about and celebrating the many cultures that make up our school and our nation, learning history that isn’t always taught, and raising awareness about stereotypes. Here’s a look at some of this year’s many offerings. In October, the student leaders of the Latinx and Hispanic affinity group hosted a movie night for the entire community. Attendees watched a screening of the LinManuel Miranda musical In the Heights under the tent at the center of campus and enjoyed Puerto Rican cuisine. At a November all-school meeting, guest speaker Jordan Clark, a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah and a history teacher at the Cambridge School of Weston, spoke about Native American stereotypes while cautioning audience members not to replace one set of clichés with another. “Be wary of the simple Month. Members of the AAPI affinity space gave a rich presentation that educated the community on colorism, colonialism, and the history of anti-Asian slurs. They also hosted a screening of Turning Red under the tent. Leaders of the Jewish affinity space educated the community on Jewish holidays and created a slideshow that shared student testimony on what it means to be Jewish at Rivers. Thereturn of Global Fair in May capped off a busy year, bringing the community together for a multicultural celebration and potluck. In introducing the cultural calendar at the beginning of the year, acting DEI director Katie Henderson noted that the work is, of course, ongoing and not confined to particular months. “It’s im portant to keep in mind that even as we highlight a particular heritage or his tory month, the work of learning about different forms of oppression and becom ing more culturally aware cannot be divided into months—it is a year-round and lifelong task that should happen across disciplines and in a variety of set tings,” she said. “But the cultural calendar gives us a way to amplify and honor the many different cultures and identities here at Rivers.” � R Jordan Clark, a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah, spoke at Rivers during Native American Heritage Month. Students celebrated the Lunar New Year with a potluck in February.
On the student side, four sessions unfolded throughout the year, designed to raise awareness and increase gender literacy. Among them was a February keynote talk by Schuyler Bailar, the first NCAA Division I swimmer to come out as transgender.
“If you do the work right, you improve the culture for everyone.”
“If you do the work right,” he says, “you improve the culture for everyone.” He likens it to having curb cuts for students in wheelchairs, or signage about food allergies in the cafeteria. “You may only be working for a small number of students, but the impact is tremendous.” Henderson concurs. “You’re thinking about solutions that make it a better place for everybody. When schools create more space for trans and nonbinary people to be seen, heard, and affirmed, then there’s more space for everyone to exist more authentically in our community.” � R
— ALEX MYERS, EDUCATOR AND AUTHOR
The need to address questions around gender—at Rivers and in most institutions—is widely acknowledged. Yet, said Myers, he is sometimes asked to explain why it’s important to talk about sexual orientation and gender identity in a community where queer and trans people make up a tiny minority. The answer, he says, is obvious—or should be.
During the Q&A session, a student asked if teammates had generally been accepting. Bailar reported that they were, for the most part—but not unanimously. He learned that one teammate whom he’d considered a friend made hurtful remarks behind his back. His response? “It sounds silly, but I taped a big piece of paper to the wall and wrote on it, over and over, ‘His words do not define me,’” said Bailar.
In an hour-long presentation, much of it in the form of a Q&A session, Bailar kept students riveted as he told his story and in vited students to ask questions, however difficult or uncomfort able those questions might feel. Assigned female at birth, he was candid about the struggles and the triumphs that accompanied his journey to embracing his identity as a man.
While on campus, Bailar also visited a ninth-grade English class, had lunch with the Middle School book club, and met with the Upper School LGBTQ+ affinity group. Students debriefed the presentation in their advisory groups, and teachers reported that they were deeply engaged and thoughtful.
SUMMER 2022 | Riparian | 21 acknowledge that those things may be problem atic. “Schools have to admit that they happen, and that they know it causes problems, and that they can’t let it persist,” he said. At the same time, he added, it is to no one’s benefit to simply sweep in and change policies; cultures must also change.Take the example of the prom-posal. “Schools have real problems with this,” said Myers. “Girls often feel pressured to say yes and to have public displays of affection. A boy may demand a kiss, and a girl can’t say no. Anyone can see that’s problematic in the me-too moment, but you can’t just say, ‘No more prom-posals.’ You have to do the education and see if you can identify what’s problematic. It’s not just about promposals; it’s about coercion…. It’s more about longer-term conversations and less about rules.” Though it has a cultural framework, much of Myers’s work also focuses on the concrete and pragmatic. That was part of the appeal to Heidi Ginter P’21, ’25, ’27, who attended the parentfacing sessions with Myers. “Alex was brilliant at painting a practical picture of moving forward,” said Ginter. Ginter said she was eager to join the sessions for the sake of her own education on gender issues. “My kids are comfortable and savvy in a non-binary world, and I want to be, too. I want to soak up as much as I can to be inclusive, to be an advocate and an ally,” she said. This year’s parent DEI programming and last year’s, she added, “have felt like a college course, giving participants a lot of new knowledge in a rapid way. It’s been powerfullyAnotherpositive.”parentsession brought Dr. Jeremi Moss Carswell P’22, ’24 and Dr. John McKenna to campus in April. Carswell is the current director for the Gender Multispecialty Service Pro gram at Boston Children’s Hospital, where McKenna serves as a psychology postdoctoral fellow. The two clinicians spoke with parents and caregivers about supporting youth who are gender questioning or identify as transgender/gender non-binary.
Inger
Rivers Faculty OpeningOpeningEyes,Minds
By Jane Dornbusch and Karlsson P’27
At Rivers, our talented faculty have a knack for innovative teaching. It’s not that the content of their classes is unusual; it’s their way of delivering that content that makes it fresh, memorable, and meaningful. They inspire our students to discover unexpected interests and pursue their passions. Whether it’s in the art studio, the Freight Farm, or the classroom, Rivers teachers find joy in helping young people discover new ways to see the world.
It sounds a bit like the kind of paradox embedded in a Zen koan: What is math without numbers? But for math faculty member Victoria Mizzi, the most intriguing and meaningful areas of math lie beyond numbers. “That’s where high school math and college-level math diverge,” she observes. “I stopped seeing numbers after my first year in college.” That type of post-secondary math is unfolding in Mizzi’s linear algebra class, one of two post-AP courses offered to students who wish to pursue the subject at this more advanced level.
At this level, says Mizzi—who majored in both math and history in college, while simultaneously earning an education degree—math becomes “a study in the abstract. Often, the applications aren’t apparent.” But that, she says, brings its own form of value: “One of the great things is seeing the beauty in the subject itself. After all, we don’t study art just for the applications; you study at that level to see the beauty.” Whether it’s linear algebra or one of the sections of BC calculus Mizzi teaches, her approach in the classroom is similar: To show rather than tell. She says, “I like them to start up at the board. I choose problems that take them where I want them to go, and in solving them they come to life, which is more
SUMMER 2022 | Riparian | 23
It’s an area where students have to “trust the math,” she says, because they’re studying things that can’t be visualized or rendered. “A lot of the answers are not finite numbers; they are proofs or explanations.”
“Linear algebra allows you to study systems and equations with unknown variables,” Mizzi explains. “It’s a way to model complex situations and systems, with applications in machine learning, video games, biological sciences, and computer science.”
Linear Algebra and BC Calculus with Victoria Mizzi
MATH BEYOND THE NUMBERS
As students arrive at Jeff Nisbet’s Advanced Art class at the start of a new semester, the sense of possibility is palpable. Members of the class sit around a large central workspace in one of The Revers Center’s first-floor studios. The lights are off, to allow sunshine to flood the room through its floor-to-ceiling windows, creating a play of brightness and shadow. The atmosphere is tranquil, almost Zenlike, as students try out initial sketches. When class concludes, they stow their works in tall portfolio units, ready to be revisited at the next session.
Nisbet, who joined the Rivers faculty in 2020, is excited to inspire a love of two-dimensional art in these students; he himself has known from an early age that drawing and painting were his calling. He says in his own educational experience, he was fortunate to be able to pursue visual arts at a high level while also having access to advanced academics and athletics. For these reasons, he sees Rivers as the trifecta of his personal and professional interests—academics, arts, and athletics, all with an equal stake on campus. convincing and more engaging. It’s rare that I lecture for more than five or ten minutes. Students are engaged and active and working in groups.” The popular image of the lone mathematician in solitary pursuit of answers couldn’t be farther from the truth, says Mizzi: “Collaboration with my peers was such an important facet of my experience at university.” Stop by one of Mizzi’s BC calc sections and it’s easy—and inspiring—to see her methods in action. In a bright, airy Revers Center class room, students take their places in front of the white boards that ring the room, as Mizzi has them write out their “favorite of the Maclaurin series, of the three you should know.” The boards are soon filled with numbers, letters, and symbols—the notation of a language that the students are well on their way to mastering. Students quietly share thoughts and insights with one another, as Mizzi circles the room answering questions. For anyone who dozed through calculus in high school, it’s a bit of a revelation.Asrelaxed as the classroom appears, Mizzi is meticulous in her approach. In teaching math, she says, “You can’t wing it. I spend a lot of time preparing lessons; you have to be really deliber ate about the language you use. What you say and how you describe it is what makes your proof right or wrong.” She recently finished a project with her BC calculus class where students played teacher for a day, studying a concept and presenting it to their classmates.
“I didn’t—but it’s a good lesson in thinking things through and explaining them carefully.”
24 | Riparian | SUMMER 2022 THROUGH AN ARTIST’S EYES
“They asked me if I assigned it so they could see how hard my job is,” says Mizzi with a smile.
Two-DimensionalArt with Jeff Nisbet
Math, she notes, is an accretion of detail, acquired over time. She rejects the notion that some students are simply “math people”: “To be good at math,” says Mizzi, “is to have patience and persistence. It’s less about a facility with numbers than about disposition. When some one says they’re not good at math, I say, Well, maybe you’re not patient.” And those habits of patience and persistence are really the point, ultimately. “That really speaks to the disposition I want students to have after being in my classroom,” she says. “I don’t expect them to remember all the content we covered. But I want them to learn that practicing, and getting something wrong over and over, is the only way to get good at it.”
The Freight Farmand Sixth HumanitiesGrade with Sarah Cohen P’25, ’26 and Jules Favorito
In their two years at Rivers, Favorito has jumped into teaching math and science as well as coaching. They started out with seventh-grade Life Science and Sustainability as well as Pre-Algebra; this past year brought the opportunity to run the Freight Farm, one of Rivers’s unique classroom set tings. Under former faculty member Emily Poland, the Freight Farm became a springboard for big topics related to social and environmental justice. Favorito and Cohen have continued to build an interdisciplinary curriculum around the facility. An unassuming structure nestled behind the Lewis Building, the Freight Farm is a hydroponic farm housed in a former shipping container. With controlled climate parameters and its own water cycle, the Freight Farm operates as a growing laboratory throughout the school year, offering a unique opportunity for hands-on, exploratory learning and interdisci plinary connections. It is set up to produce leafy greens like
ROOM TO GROW
In the ongoing quest to inspire new artists, this year the Visual Arts department rolled out a new Foundations course, in which ninth graders get a taste of each practice —ceramics, drawing, photography, and sculpture—over the course of one year. In Nisbet’s unit, students work on drawing skills that he describes as “a very expedited study into what drawing can be.” He enjoys seeing how much students grow in a brief amount of time. “One hidden perk of the new Foundations course is that we get to meet so many more students,” he says, noting that they often discover hitherto untapped skills and interests. “Even the beginning-level drawing kids, by the end of eight weeks, it’s this cool little artistic community talking about their work, about their ideas. Each of the students brings a level of intensity to the studio, and that’s what’s most fulfilling.”
One thing Nisbet loves about working with Rivers stu dents is the great variety of talents and perspectives that they bring to the class. “Art-making is so personal, and it’s connected to who you are as an individual, so there is a large level of vulnerability,” he explains. To illustrate this, he shares a drawing that a student created based on a photograph of her hometown from the last time her grand parent, now experiencing dementia, recognized her family. “What I find so cool about the art studio is everyone gets to be themselves and celebrate themselves and celebrate each other through this act of sharing,” says Nisbet.
What do kale, Hurricane Katrina, and a repurposed shipping container have in common? The answer is a thoughtful collaboration between science and humanities, led by Rivers Middle School faculty members Sarah Cohen (above right) and Jules Favorito (pictured on page 26).
For Nisbet, the process of making art basically begins with play. He talks to his class about the role and value of “artistic behaviors,” encouraging students to “just enjoy the space, enjoy the materials.” While exploration is often the starting point, projects in his classes tend to be theme-driven because it gives students greater opportunity to activate their own voices and their own lived experiences, Nisbet explains. A theme he pursues with his advanced class is the idea of messaging. Students can choose to highlight messages they tell themselves, messages they project out to others, or messages they receive from family, from Rivers, or from social media. “We look at how that shapes who they are by coupling image with text,” says Nisbet.
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Though he now calls New England home, Nisbet earned his undergraduate art degree in Hawaii. Most recently, prior to starting at Rivers, Nisbet taught art history. But he found himself missing the opportunities to play, create, and discover that come from spending time in the studio. He explains that teaching at Rivers “has revamped my practice as an artist,” because of the creative collaboration that occurs in his classes. “It’s been the Rivers students who have gotten me back into this practice, with their questions and inquisitive mindset,” he says. “I’m getting pummeled with questions that are just fantastic about materials, and ideas, and about my work and my process.” Having a dedi cated space designed to support that kind of creativity helps, too. “The Revers Center has all the resources and space that an individual needs to really flourish,” he adds.
kale and a variety of lettuces, but students also experiment with growing herbs like basil, mint, and lavender. “There’s a lot of math that goes into timing of when things are planted, harvested, and so forth,” says Favorito, who explains that a majority of the hands-on work is done by students.
Sixth graders visit the Freight Farm with Favorito once a week as part of their humanities class, and Favorito also teaches a weekly segment on themes that bridge the hands-on science and the broader humanities unit. Favorito says that working with Cohen has been a great partnership. Cohen came to Rivers four years ago to teach sixth-grade humanities, having previously worked as a teacher in Georgia and, earlier, as an attorney with a focus in adoption law. She is inspired by the culture of learning at Rivers and by how faculty members learn alongside students. Cohen loves working with the Middle School students because they have so many interests. She enjoys helping them find ways to “harness their passion and energy for positive change.” The overarching sixth-grade theme is The World & Water, which provides lots of natural connections between science and humanities. Cohen views her role as helping students grapple with next-level questions, encouraging them to ask “So what?” and “Now what?” For example, Cohen explains, “One of our humanities essential questions is, ‘How can the actions of one individual positively impact the world around them?’”
In Cohen’s class, students learn how areas affected by Hurricane Katrina experienced food insecurity, leading them to further exploration about the inequalities of food distribution. Each humanities unit has a service component. For the unit on Katrina, students made no-sew blankets for a local animal shelter and created poems and holiday decorations for a food pantry in the Lower Ninth Ward. They also had a chance to Zoom with a staff member from the food pantry to hear firsthand about the neighborhood and the challenges that the local community is still facing in the wake of Katrina. In Favorito’s science class, curricular themes also focus on food justice and climate justice. Students explore these topics both globally and locally. In one instance, the class submitted questions on the topic of food waste to Rivers’s Chef Michael Clancy and used his responses to inform public-service announce ments, creating posters for the dining hall to raise awareness of these issues among the school community. They also penned a poem on the subject, which they shared at an all-school meeting in February. Through their work in the Freight Farm, students explore another set of essential questions: How can food help build a community? What is the relationship between food and water systems? What are the stories of people in the community in connection to food? What decisions and actions can we make to connect to our communities with/through food? With these questions in mind, students can see the fruits of their labor translate into tangible benefits for the Rivers com munity. Greens harvested from the Freight Farm are primarily used by the Rivers dining hall, and often are also available to faculty and students to bring home. Once things are fully up and running, Favorito hopes to establish a faculty herb garden and resume the farmers’ markets that were offered pre-COVID. Favorito appreciates that, when teaching in the Freight Farm, the learning flows both ways; they note that it’s a great place to tackle problem-solving. “One thing I’ve learned in the Freight Farm is to step back and let the sixth graders figure it out,” says Favorito.
Bagley himself is persuasive on the topic of why it’s impor tant for students to pursue this semester-long deep dive into understanding the office of the presidency. “It makes students think about what it means to be a good citizen, to think about what is important and what their role is as citizens,” he says. Recent history and the post-war expansion of presidential powers have made this even more vital, says Bagley: “The president has become much more an instigator of policies…. We expect the presidency to do all kinds of things it traditionally hasn’t done and we think of the president as all-powerful.” He cites, as a kind of counter-example, Hoover—a president who, seen through today’s lens, is sometimes considered a do-nothing. But seen in the context of his times, says Bagley, Hoover “moved the needle” “
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With the introduction, last year, of Bagley’s elective history class, The Evolving Presidency, he’s got the perfect forum for sharing his knowledge and passion on the subject. Bagley begins at the beginning, with the concept created by the framers of the Constitution, and takes the students to the present day, along the way teaching them how “it has become a much more powerful office, with a lot more authority than it had before.”
The Evolving Presidency with Arturo Bagley
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SUMMER 2022 | Riparian | 27 for his party and the country, at a time when less was expected of the office. In the classroom and in conversation, Bagley demonstrates the near-encyclopedic knowledge of a man born to teach U.S. history. But his professional path led down some byroads initial ly. He earned a law degree after college but quickly discovered that the practice of law was not a fit for him. He went back to school to pursue a doctorate in history, only to reach the insight that what he really wanted to do was teach history. A product of an independent school himself, Bagley knew that such a setting would offer the opportunity to teach at a high level. After 11 years as a faculty member at an independent school near his hometown of Philadelphia, he joined Rivers in 2017.
I
’ve been interested in presidents for a very long time— probably since junior high school,” says history faculty member Arturo Bagley. That interest has never abated; even today, visiting presidential libraries is a favorite activity of Bagley’s, and he’s probably put more time into understanding and analyzing the role of the commander-in-chief than many presidential historians.
Inevitably, much of the focus is on policies. But, says Bagley, “What’s new this year is that I’m adding a look at particular presidents at the beginning of the course, to give them an idea of the personalities. For a lot of students, it’s a little dry if it’s just looking at the institution. But if you look at the person, it’s a hook that gets them that much more engaged.”
At Rivers, he has taught U.S. History, AP U.S. Government and Politics, and another elective he devised, Race and the Supreme Court. He brings his passion and perspective to all his classes, but the course on the presidency seems especially resonant. As a final project, the students examine a particular president of their choosing and look at how that president used the office as it existed in their era. “It’s not a traditional ‘I agree’ or ‘I disagree’ approach, but rather a look at how their policies fit into how the office was viewed and whether they utilized the power of the presidency or didn’t use it or pushed it forward,” Bagley explains. Through this exercise and through the course in general, he hopes students will learn the most important lesson of all: “Any governmental system needs to be taken care of. It’s not going to automatically save us; rather, we need to think about how we save it. We as citizens have to take it upon ourselves to support democracy.” � PRESIDENTS AND POWER
In a recent session of the semester-long class, students were taking a closer look at John Adams. As one framework for the class, Bagley uses C-Span’s annual rankings of the presidents, which rates each holder of the office in such areas as public persuasion, moral authority, international relations, economic management, and so forth, as well as assigning an overall rank ing; think of it as a U.S. News & World Reports ranking, only for rating presidents instead of colleges. (Adams, on this scale, ranks 15th among presidents.) Students broke into groups of two to discuss how well Adams might rank in the various catego ries, noting that he lost ground in crisis leadership through his handling of the XYZ Affair and the Alien and Sedition Acts and didn’t shine in the realm of public persuasion, either.
Among them, they have taught hundreds of students, served as advisors, coached, led departments, and left their mark on Rivers in countless ways. Laura Brewer, David Burzillo, Gillian Lloyd, and Alex Stephens all will be greatly missed by the Rivers community. This spring, we asked them to look back at all they’d accomplished here—and to look forward and share their thoughts on next chapters. After 32 years at Rivers—his first year here was 1990–91—David Burzillo still appreciates the inside track that got him in the door. “It was not a great time to be looking for a job,” he says. “I’m not sure I would have gotten an offer without connections.” That “connection” was his wife, Sarah, who started teaching at Rivers two years before he did. Burzillo had also begun a classroom career, first teaching Latin, English, and history at Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg before taking a similar position at Wayland High School. Unexpectedly, that role was eliminated after his first year. But through his wife, Burzillo had gotten to know Rivers and its faculty, and when he heard about the position here, he applied for it. Thirty-two years in the Rivers classroom attest to the soundness of that decision.
A Fond Farewell
Burzillo’s enthusiasm for his subject is contagious. In the early years, he taught European history and other traditional history classes, but his signature course is Big History. The discipline is pretty much what it sounds like: A survey of history that begins with the Big Bang, long before humankind appeared on the scene, and continues to the present day.
With its emphasis on the big picture and tying together seemingly disparate topics, says Burzillo, Big History can pro vide a very different lens for viewing history, human and other wise. “I’d like to think it changes students’ perspective,” he says.
A
The Big History Project, an effort by Bill Gates and others to support teaching Big History, was created the year Burzillo first taught the course. A fellow history teacher of Burzillo’s acquain tance became involved with the organization, and through her, Burzillo was soon invited to join. “I worked for many years on the project, writing lesson plans, creating activities, and editing online content,” he notes. “There is a good amount of material on the website that I created or edited.”
This spring, Rivers said goodbye to four longtime faculty members
Now, having organized the past, Burzillo is eagerly anticipating the future, with plans for travel and spending time with his children, Anthony ’11, Suzanne ’13, and Maria ’16. After 32 years here, he’ll be greatly missed—and leave behind his own Rivers big history.
Also among Burzillo’s lasting legacies at Rivers was his creation and oversight of the school’s archives. At the time of the school’s centennial, in 2015, archival material was gathered from various repositories around campus in anticipation of the celebration. It soon became clear that this material needed to be organized, catalogued, and stored in a more systematic fashion, and Burzillo stepped in to oversee the task. The work is ongoing, but it’s no exaggeration to say Burzillo is singlehandedly respon sible for preserving the school’s past.
David Burzillo P’11, ’13, ’16 | Big History Guy and His Big History Class
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Burzillo explains, “The Big History course had been taught on the college level since the 1980s, and articles about the course appeared in world history journals. I was actively involved in the World History Association and was a founding member of the local affiliate (the New England Regional World History Association), so I had heard and read a lot about this course and was intrigued by it”—so much so that he decided to pitch the idea of a Rivers Big History course to Julian Willard, who was then in the process of creating the interdisciplinary studies department. “I told Julian that Big History would be a great course for the IDS department, and he helped me get it approved,” says Burzillo. “I taught Big History the following fall, creating the course from scratch.” He believes he was the first high school teacher in the country to offer such a course.
Laura Brewer P’04, ’07, ’10
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Colin Falvey ’23, recalling his time in seventh grade, said, “Mrs. Brewer’s bubbling energy could make learning about anything in the world an immersive experience. Her passion for humanities is so apparent every day, and I will never forget the time I spent in the yurt. Mrs. Brewer could truly do it all, and I will be forever Brewer’sgrateful.”various activities at Rivers are too numerous to mention. Among other accomplishments, she spent 21 years as Middle School community service coordinator, eight years on the travel committee, four years overseeing the Middle School student newspaper, and two years coaching softball. The inveterate traveler led student trips to Italy, China, Peru, Costa Rica, and Romania, orchestrated seven “Moth” nights, and studied singing and fiddle at the Rivers School Conservatory. Faculty enrichment grants took her to destinations ranging from Mongolia to Scandinavia. And Brewer has no intention of slowing down. Her postRivers plans include volunteering, spending more time with her children and grandchildren, researching, reading, writing— and, of course, travel. “My husband and I have a lot of [frequentflyer] miles,” she said, “and we plan to use them well.”
Those ideas, which still drive Brewer’s approach, were honed over many years in the classroom. After college, teaching wasn’t yet on her radar; graduating in the late ’70s, at a time of high unemployment, she waited tables at Legal Sea Foods (where she met her husband) while pondering her next move. She pursued a master’s degree in American studies, started a family, and stayed home with her three children (Rhia ’04, Gus ’07, and Jack ’10) for several years. But work beckoned, and after a couple of years teaching elsewhere, she landed at Rivers in 1999 and never looked back. “I have lived my best life here,” she says, noting the opportunities that came her way, the education her children received, and the personal and professional satisfaction she experienced through her work at Rivers.
“This is my favorite place to be,” said Laura Brewer. She was sitting in the yurt—the Mongolian-style tent-like structure that serves as a classroom for seventh grade humanities. Brewer has taught the subject, framed as The World through Story, for 23 years, the past seven of them in the yurt. Eclectic, cozy, and full of colorful keepsakes and artwork collected in the course of Brewer’s world travels, it’s a perfect reflection of her entire approach.Brewer has seen legions of seventh graders pass through her classroom. Middle schoolers sometimes have the reputation of being challenging, but, she says, “I love seventh graders. They are exciting and smart, and they change every day.” She credits former Middle School head Susie McGee with promoting a philosophy of understanding the developing adolescent brain, rather than just attributing students’ capriciousness to hormones or mood.
McGee’s philosophy, which became Brewer’s, emphasizes growth, development, and risk-taking over content. But the cen terpiece of the seventh-grade experience in Brewer’s classroom is content of the most rigorous sort: “I want them to know every country in the world,” says Brewer. To that end, the students spend many months drawing a freehand “memory map” of the world, labeling every country as they go. “It gives them an enormous sense of accomplishment,” Brewer notes. “I want them to know there’s not just one country in the world, and that countries are not just places to go on vacation.” By her count, she’s overseen the creation of 575 memory maps over her years at Rivers.
Brewer’s enthusiasm in the classroom made The World Through Story a memorable experience for many students.
Lloyd had been admissions director at The Governor’s Academy for a few years at that point. But her path into admis sions work was set much earlier. She explains: “After graduating from college, I was thinking of an MBA or law school, but I couldn’t see myself in a cubicle in a glass tower.” A family friend who worked in college admissions suggested she give the field a try, and Lloyd soon landed a position at Lesley College. She went on to earn a master’s degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was later recruited to be director of admissions at Pine Manor College. She pulled back from the role after starting a family (her children are Rivers graduates Matt Burlingham ’08 and Emily Burlingham ’11), later launch ing a small consulting firm with two former colleagues. Eventually, the call came from Govs, and Lloyd settled in for what she thought would be the long haul. But the long haul, from West Roxbury to Byfield each day, was precisely the problem. One day, as Lloyd sat in traffic near Route 30, running late yet again, she took a phone call from a veteran consultant who asked her, “How would you like to be almost at work now?”
Perhaps Lloyd’s proudest moment during her long Rivers tenure came over the past two years, as schools struggled with the challenges of the pandemic. “We were told in surveys, and by word of mouth, that our marketing was the best during COVID,” says Lloyd. “Everything we did in this office made a huge difference.” That leads her to another favorite topic: her admissions colleagues. “The saddest thing for me about leaving Rivers is leaving this team of people. They are so smart; we laugh and have fun, even at the darkest moments.” She’ll also miss serving as a student advisor, one of her favorite aspects of theLloydjob.has plenty of post-Rivers plans, including travel and gardening, but she’s also not quite ready to hang up her profes sional spurs. “I’m not retiring,” she says, adding that she’s drawn to consulting and job coaching. “I’m just looking for my next chapter.”
The prospect of a more manageable commute got Lloyd to walk through the door at Rivers; the potential she saw here got her to stay. Lloyd was charged with helping to implement what was then a new strategic plan. For more than 20 years, she has left a stamp on the school by focusing on marketing strategies and admitting students poised to take advantage of all Rivers offers. It would be difficult to overstate Lloyd’s impact here. To some degree, admissions sets the tone and agenda for the entire institution. As Lloyd puts it, “Our job is to stand on the balcony, 2,000 feet above, and look at what is good for the whole com munity. Only people looking at the aggregate group can see what’s best for the school.” She likens admissions to solving a puzzle: “It’s not until you see all the parts and components together that you see the whole picture.”
Gillian Lloyd P’08, ’11 | Two Decades of Impact
When Gillian Lloyd arrived at Rivers, in 2000, it was a very dif ferent place. “There was no Campus Center and no MacDowell,” she said, recalling her first visit here as a candidate for the position of director of admissions. The entry to campus, behind Haff, was unprepossessing. But, she says, “Then I met Tom Olverson, and I met the wonderful kids here, and I was intrigued by the challenge and excited about the chance to make a difference.”
Stephens likes to relate the tale of his circuitous professional path, especially when talking to students. “When I spoke at the senior banquet, I told that story—to make the point that they should be open to the different paths that come their way.
As someone with a long history at Rivers, Stephens is often asked about the changes he’s seen. “There are a lot more build ings,” he responds. “And the program seems to expand and get stronger every year. But with all the changes, at its core, Rivers is the same as when I was a student here. There was and is a strong culture of teacher-student connections.”
R Alex Stephens ’83, P’24 | Rivers From Every Angle
Stephens is looking forward to spending more time on a project that’s long been in the works, a screenplay based on his father’s Word War II experiences. But he’s also feeling a bit wist ful about leaving the place that’s been part of his life for so long: “I have phenomenal friends and colleagues here. It’s hard to say goodbye.” �
Lo and behold, it brought me to a place where I would spend 30 years of my life.”
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If anyone has earned the sobriquet “Rivers lifer,” it’s Alex Stephens. It’s not just because he’s an alumnus who returned to spend three decades working on campus, or because his daughter, Mia ’24, will soon be an alumna herself. It’s not just because he spent summers in high school and college working at Camp Nonesuch. It’s the sheer number of roles he’s filled here and hats he’s worn, from director of communications and editor of this publication to Rivers Edge advisor to tennis coach to advisor to class dean to English teacher to creator of the senior whitewater rafting trip to the position he held until June, associate director of admissions. Early in his time as a Rivers employee, a colleague advised him to learn how to say “No”— but that was one lesson that Stephens didn’t master. Whenever an opportunity arose, Stephens was the first to raise his hand. That’s not to say that returning to Rivers after college was always in the cards. “I never envisioned that I’d be coming to work here, or working in education at all,” said Stephens. Rather, he thought he would make a career in writing, and he landed a job at a technical magazine before working as a reporter for a local newspaper. After a couple of years, the travel bug bit, taking him through Asia. Upon his return, with no real idea what his next move might be, he settled into a restaurant job. It was there that he crossed paths with Bruce Amsbary, then director of finance and operations at Rivers, who suggested he pursue the communications position here. He was hired, and the rest is history—30 years’ worth, to be exact.
As editor of the Riparian, he introduced the four-color cover and interviewed alumnus Jack Lemmon and former faculty member Roger Tory Peterson, the pioneering ornithologist. The journalist in Stephens enjoyed the communications work, but he also saw the appeal in a more student-facing role. When the admissions office was looking to expand, in 1997, Stephens made the switch. His communications expertise served him well, as he continued to create brochures, handbooks, and other admissions materials. “That’s been a source of pride—finding the best way to market Rivers and tell the school’s story,” he says. He has also overseen The Rivers Edge, the school’s awardwinning student newspaper, for much of his time here.
The Veterans Day assembly has been a tradition at Rivers for more than 40 years. This year, we were delighted to welcome as keynote speaker Callie Bullion ’10. Callie is a graduate of Middlebury College and a captain in the United States Army Reserve. In addition, Mark Klett ’71, CDR, USN-Ret., hosted a conversation with Conor Van Duzer ’12, an infantry 1st lieutenant in the United States Army, and Jake Stenquist ’15, a 1st lieutenant and a student naval aviator in the United States Marines.
VeteransCommemoratingDay
ALUMNI EVENTS
It was a Homecoming Weekend to remember, back in October. The weather was picture perfect, and Rivers teams competed in soccer, volleyball, cross-country, and field hockey. Food trucks, a pop-up shop for Rivers gear, and a football game under the lights (a 28-6 victory over Brooks) completed the festivities.
Homecoming Weekend: Food, Fun, and Fans
Alumni Athletes Return to Campus
Chris Whittier ’07 (left), a development manager, and Dalinda (Ifill) Pressat ’05 (right), a communications professional, shared their stories with students.
Rivers Connect: Life Beyond Winter Street has become a signature event for seniors, held midway through the academic year. Alumni come to campus to host casual discussions on life after Rivers. The alums meet with small groups of students, sharing stories about how their Rivers education influenced their life experiences, career aspirations, and pursuits.
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Alumni Meet with Seniors at Rivers Connect
Kaleigh Hunt ’09 (center), a nurse practitioner, and Georgia (Butler) Mulgrew ’99 (right), a school counselor, spoke with students about their post-Rivers experiences.
Over the winter, alumni athletes now playing at the collegiate level returned to campus to practice with current teams. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces back at MacDowell.
Rivers Golf Outing
Mia Rourke-Falvey and Peter Falvey, P’23, and Craig and Katie Carswell, P’20, ’21, ’22, ’23
Left: Members of the Class of ’07 Right: Members of the Class of ’97
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Rivers Reunion
We couldn’t have ordered better weather for the first Monday in May to enjoy a round of golf at Charter Oak Country Club, as well as to recognize the three alumni who started this event 22 years ago, Matt Tobin ’90, Mike Handler ’90, and Howard Leeder ’84. We also had a chance to remember Bill Whittemore ’69, who passed away in March. Bill was a fixture at this event from the beginning, as a player, sponsor, and member of the golf committee. This outing is still a fan favorite and will be held again on May 1, 2023.
Joe Sacco, Hunter Dempsey, Sean Sullivan, and Will Carlin, all Class of ’15. The spring events calendar concluded with a very special two-day reunion celebration in June. This one was big: More than 300 alumni, faculty, former faculty, and guests came out for the first in-person reunion since 2019. The Friday night kickoff was a festive dinner for all classes celebrating their 50th+ reunions. The evening also saw beloved former faculty member Jack Jarzavek return to campus for an 80th birthday celebration. The festivities continued on Saturday with a night to remember under the tent, complete with fabulous food stations, a beer truck, lawn games, and more. If your class year ends in a 3 or an 8, your reunion will be taking place June 2–3, 2023, so mark your calendars now.
Left: Jarzavekmemberformernight.festivitiesattendedBoboldestRivers’slivingalumnus,Cleverdon’40,theFridayRight:ToastingfacultyJack
Tackeff is not just an alumnus and a former board member—he’s also a Rivers past parent. David ’10, the younger of Tackeff’s two sons, “loved Rivers, and Rivers did amazing things forTackeffhim.” shares that his wife, Mary anne, has said—perhaps only half in jest—that if he wants to take on one more cause, he’ll have to give one up. But the habit of giving back is deeply ingrained, and he has no intention of dialing it down. “Being involved in the community,” he says, “is like oxygen to me.”
Giving Back is in his DNA
From an early age, Roger Tackeff ’72 was taught to give back. “My father and grandfather, as they became successful, got involved in philanthro py,” says Tackeff. The lesson wasn’t lost on the younger Tackeff: By his reckoning, he has served on the board of three dozen nonprofits, from schools (including Rivers) to hospitals to the Boston Preservation Alliance and other historic preserva tion organizations. And it’s not just his charitable work that’s made a difference. Through his company, Renaissance Properties, he has played an important role in preserv ing Boston’s neighborhoods. His tire less efforts have helped make Boston a better place—and make him a fit ting recipient of this year’s Alumni Excellence Award. Tackeff was born in Brookline and lives there today; he likes to joke that he hasn’t gone very far, having lived within a five-mile radius his entire life. His older brother, Matthew ’70, attended Rivers, and Tackeff was eager to follow. “I drove my parents crazy until they agreed I could go to Rivers as well,” he says. Entering the school in sixth grade, he created strong bonds with his classmates and teachers. Tackeff says he “discovered himself” here, learning about history, literature, and the classics. Impor tantly, he was exposed to philanthropy and building (in the form of shop class) at Rivers—two areas that eventually came to define his personal and professional trajectory. “A charitable organization called Camp E was run by a legendary teacher, Paul Licht P’64,” he recalls. Licht recruited Tackeff to sell hot dogs at sporting events, to support the camp. “It was the first time in my life I had the opportunity to raise money for a meaningful cause.” Tackeff attended Brandeis Univer sity, a school that his father had helped found. He studied economics and history, but just as significant, he was elected to serve as one of the University’s first student representatives to the board of trustees. “It was an era when campuses were in chaos,” he remembers. “Universities struggled with how to respond. Brandeis creatively dealt with the unrest by allowing a couple of students to serve on the university’s board.” Despite some trepidation, he pursued the opportunity, hoping that he could “help make a difference and lower tensions.” He became an important liaison between the administration and the students, and he learned what it means to serve on a board.
Today, he devotes much of his time to Hebrew SeniorLife, New England’s largest nonprofit provider of senior care. “There’s a little poetry for me there,” he notes, “because my greatgrandmother was one of a handful of women who founded Hebrew Senior Life.” For four decades, he has served on the board of the Boston Preserva tion Alliance, an organization that represents preservation groups citywide. One of his proudest accom plishments with the BPA was playing a role in saving Fenway Park from demolition. “We fought for a decade for Fenway Park,” says Tackeff. “And now it’s a magnificently preserved stadium for the hometown team, the Boston Red Sox.” As a board member of the Friends of the Public Garden, he speaks with great pride about their recent resto ration of the Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial on Boston Common. And as a trustee of The Rivers School, serving from 1997 to 2009, he gave back to the place where it all started.
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—Jane Dornbusch
ALUMNI PROFILE 2022 ALUMNI EXCELLENCE AWARD | ROGER TACKEFF ’72, P’10
Following Brandeis, Tackeff attend ed Harvard Business School—after convincing the dean of admissions that he wasn’t too young to take up the challenge, going directly from col lege. Eager to set his own course in life, he bought a run-down 1868 town house in the South End and fixed it up. “I was very idealistic,” Tackeff ex plains. “I was passionate about saving the city’s historic neighborhoods and got involved in the effort to preserve the South End.” Thus was born the business he has run for 43 years: Renaissance Properties, a real-estate development firm that works to pre vent old and historic buildings from being torn down. By breathing life into abandoned buildings, creating offices and residential and retail spaces, he has helped preserve the city’s character.AskingTackeff to choose his favor ite nonprofit would be like asking a parent to choose his favorite child.
With all that he’s accomplished, Stenquist says that the most reward ing opportunity of all has been the chance to give back and make a meaningful contribution: “If you can have a career where you get to go to work every day and help others, and work with those who are also motivated to help others, that’s a pretty cool job.” —JD
Somewhere along the way, he picked up Spanish (his wife, a pedia trician, is a native speaker; they met in medical school while taking part in the “second-year musical,” a Harvard Medical School tradition). And at this writing, the couple, along with their toddler daughter, was heading back to the Boston area, where both will be starting new jobs—Stenquist back at Mass General Hospital and Brigham & Women’s Hospital, where he did his residency.
Enrolling at Harvard upon his re turn also proved to be an amazing experience, he says, albeit in a very different way. “Anything you want to do [in medicine], you can find it there. It’s an unbelievable place for re search.” It was there that he realized that his interest lay in surgery: “I can’t sit still too long—I need to be moving. Surgery is using your hands in addi tion to your brain.” He says, too, that there was a throughline from his father’s profession, carpentry, to his own: “It’s very hands-on, with a lot of the same kinds of tools.” Stenquist was drawn to orthopedics because of the dramatic and profound impact it can have on patients. He embarked on a five-year residency in orthopedic surgery at Harvard follow ing medical school, electing to stay in Boston for that phase of his training. Then, he says, within orthopedic surgery, he gravitated toward special izing in trauma. “It is the most practi cal and useful of all the specialties. You’re just taking care of people who are hurt, and you fix them…. You’re getting to use your hands to put people back together.” He also appreciates that trauma “disproportionately affects the disadvantaged,” a population he is particularly interested in supporting.Thusafellowship in orthopedic trauma surgery at Tampa General Hospital followed his residency, taking him out of New England for the first time. Florida provided a different per spective and a new set of challenges. “It’s important to see a different way of doing things,” he notes.
Caring
36 | Riparian | SUMMER 2022 Derek Stenquist ’06 is disarmingly modest about his accomplishments. Ask him about his career path, his pastimes, or his athletic achieve ments, and he’ll lead with how fortu nate he has been and how grateful he is for the breaks that have come his way. But Stenquist’s trajectory is not merely the result of good luck; after all, it takes hard work, talent, and focus to become an orthopedic trauma surgeon, an accomplished musician, and a Division I athlete. Stenquist, this year’s recipient of the Young Alumni Achievement Award at Rivers, has done all that and more, but he keeps it in perspective: In conversation with Stenquist, the word that comes up time and again is “opportunity”—and unquestion ably, he has made the most of his. The path of opportunity, says Stenquist, began at Rivers. The oldest of three siblings (the other two, Nicole ’08 and Jake ’15, also graduated from Rivers), Stenquist was a stand out soccer player and musician who attended local public schools through eighth grade. Hoping to play soccer in college, he looked to enroll at an inde pendent school that might help him reach that goal. “Nobody in my family had been to private school,” he says, adding that generous financial aid put Rivers within reach. He explored a few options, but the connections he made with then athletic director Bob Pipe P’19 and with Philippe Crettien, director of the jazz program, sealed the deal. It was the right choice, says Stenquist: “Rivers changed my life—there’s no question in my mind. It just opened up so many doors and maximized my potential in every area.” After graduating from Rivers, says Stenquist, “I had the opportunity to go to Dartmouth College and play soccer there. That’s where I figured out that I wanted to go to medical school—just from realizing I wanted a career in service, which was some thing Rivers instilled in me.” The path, he says, was “a little intimidating,” as no one in his family had ever pursued a medical career. He was admitted to Harvard Medical School, but he deferred enrollment for a year to pursue another meaning ful opportunity. “I lived in Zimbabwe for a year, working for a program that teaches HIV prevention through a soccer curriculum. I wrote grants, monitored the evaluation of the program, and played soccer. It was amazing,” says Stenquist.
ALUMNI PROFILE
Committed to
2022 YOUNG ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARD | DEREK STENQUIST ’06
Derek Stenquist ’06 with wife Nicole de Paz and their daughter, Luisa.
SUMMER 2022 | Riparian | 37
At Hartwick College, Waterman continued to develop the twin inter ests that had emerged at Rivers, first pursuing a geology major for a couple of years before turning to art history. After graduation, he worked as a wed ding photographer for a time before taking a job at the Sue Page Shop. A few years later, the opportunity to buy the business arose, and Waterman bit. He hasn’t looked back since.
Simple or ornate, antique or contemporary, the right frame can enhance the beauty and value of a piece of art. No one knows that better than Sturdy Waterman ’74, who has run Page Waterman Gallery & Framing in Wellesley for more than 40 years. The gallery sells works of art, but its primary business is custom framing, and Waterman likes to point out that the staff of four has more than 100 years’ combined experience among them.Tucked into an old Victorian set off the street—one of two buildings owned by the Waterman family—Page Waterman’s roots go back more than 100 years. It was located around the corner and called the Sue Page Shop when Waterman went to work there, in the 1970s; it was then owned by the aunt of Waterman’s future wife. Visitors may first notice the gallery to the left as they enter, its walls covered with paintings of New England land scapes. But the heart of the business is across the hall, where Waterman meets with customers at a large wooden work table in front of a dis play rack featuring hundreds of frameWatermansamples.exudes the contentment of a man who has found his calling— but to hear him tell it, the calling really found him. His father (Frank Waterman ’47) and brother (John Waterman ’69) preceded him at Rivers; enrolling here seemed nearly a foregone con clusion. He entered in seventh grade, and in his own description, he “wasn’t the best student.” He learned later that he had an attention deficit disor der, at a time when such conditions were routinely dismissed. But, challenging as it was, Rivers was a fit for Waterman at a time in life when, as he puts it, “You’re trying to figure out your interests.” Here, he says, he found several teachers who “had the ability to engage students, which is a special quality.” In particular, he credits Jack Jarzavek, Erv Prince, and Chris Smick for opening his eyes to art history, math, and geology, their respective subjects. His interest in art actually pre-dated his time at Rivers: Recalling a family trip to Europe at age 10, he says, “My parents thought I’d be bored, but I was interested in the churches and museums. But,” he adds, “in Jack’s class, I realized just how interested I was.” He took up photography at Rivers, which also proved to be a pathway of sorts into his later professional life. The other significant strand of Waterman’s time at Rivers was found outside the classroom—way outside. “I worked at the camp in summer,” says Waterman, “and I got exposed to camping and hiking.” He continues to be an avid outdoorsman who is currently hiking the 500-mile Colorado Trail, accompanied by his daughter, in annual 100-mile increments.
Waterman has been in business long enough to see design trends come and go, which he considers “part of the fun.” He was sorry to see modern, simple frames replace traditional gold leaf frames some years ago, and he’s pleased to report that the pendulum now seems to be swinging back. “Gold frames are starting to come back in style, and that can’t happen soon enough,” he says. And he enjoys the special projects that come his way, such as shadow boxes of memorabilia that require a more creative approach.
A few years back, gallery director Ryan Black came up with yet another way to keep the work fresh. Page Waterman launched Next Up!, a juried art show for high school students from the surrounding towns. “We wanted to recognize these kids; they work so hard,” says Waterman. One benefit to launching the competition, he says, was that it helped reconnect him with Rivers, as he worked with David Saul, former Visual Arts Department chair, to organize the Rivers student sub missions. Prior to COVID, the selected artworks were displayed in the gallery; the pandemic pushed the competition into an online format, and this year Waterman took a brief hiatus, with the intention of bringing Next Up! back next year. At 65, Waterman has no plans to retire, and he knows he’s one of the lucky ones: “I can’t wait to go to work every day,” he says. “My customers are like family, and there are so many facets to the business.” —JD
ALUMNI PROFILE STURDY WATERMAN ’74
A Well-Framed Life
George A. Benway ’54, October 6, 2021
William M. Whittemore ’69, March 4, 2022 Matthew E. Tackeff ’70, October 24, 2021
Frederick N. Jones ’86, April 27, 2021
Michael P. Franchi ’85, July 13, 2022
Oliver H. Rodman ’50, July 23, 2021
Cary Corkin ’69, August 8, 2022
John H. Flahive ’82, June 17, 2022
In DonalMemoriamSisk’49, September 10, 2021
Frederick G. Pfannenstiehl ’59, GP’19, ’21, June 26, 2022
Warren M. Little ’51, Dec. 11, 2021
BJ Dunne ’06 and Azar Swain ’17 connected at The Basketball Tournament (TBT), a 64-team event that features former NBA players and overseas superstars. BJ was coaching at the tournament and Azar was playing.
The Brockton Enterprise ran a story about Yale basketball star Azar Swain ’17 and the influence his father has had upon him; in January, the Yale Daily News reported that Azar had recently become the program’s all-time leading three-point scorer. The Winthrop Tran script ran a story about ice-hockey star Jenna Letterie ’18 and her role in Middlebury’s national championship season. The Needham Times reported on Sophia Buckle ’20’s Boston Marathon debut, which raised $9,000 for Beth Israel Deaconess HospitalNeedham. Hamilton College reported that field hockey player Becca Munoz ’21 had been selected for the Maccabi USA games, which took place in Israel in July. And, reported Jewish Boston, Ziv Deener-Chodirker ’22 was also bound for the Maccabi Games, to play on the hockey team. Alums Tess Sussman ’18, Myles Epstein ’19, and Zach Gruber ’22 also participated in the Games.
Stetson C. Winkfield ’49, P’73, May 30, 2021
Jamie Rice ’85, head coach of the men’s hockey team at Babson, shared this photo after Babson won the NEHC Tournament Championship. David Clifford ’80, right, and his mother, Mariagnes Clifford, celebrated Mariagnes’s 95th birthday in January. Mariagnes, a longtime Rivers community member, passed away in July.
38 | Riparian | SUMMER 2022 NEWS FROM OUR INBOX Rivers lost a stalwart member of the community on July 4, with the passing of Mariagnes Clifford. Back in January, Mariagnes’s son David Clifford ’80 dropped us a note about his mother, writing, “Our mother Mariagnes Clifford celebrated her 95th birthday this Sun day. She worked at Rivers as a teacher and in the alumni development office and is the proud parent of three Rivers alumni. [In addition to David, she leaves Stephen Clifford ’85 and Bruce Clifford ’83.] Those were only a few of her accomplishments while working at The Rivers School and camp from 1976 into 1990s.” The Rivers community extends its condolences to the Clifford family. Jamie Rice ’85 is the head men’s hockey coach at Babson College. In April, the team claimed the NEHC Tournament Championship on home ice, for the first time in the program’s history. Jamie sent along a photo of the team, noting that among the players were three Rivers alumni: John Corrigan ’18, Rory Casey ’19, and Matt Cormier ’20 Adam Lowenstein ’10 writes, “I have completed my postgraduate residency at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine and am practicing pediatric dentistry in Wellesley and Framingham.” Sarah Bargamian ’18 was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant ship this spring, after graduating from Hamilton College as a Hispanic studies/ neuroscience double major. The award will bring her to Spain to teach English. The Hamilton news office interviewed Sarah about the honor, asking her about her pursuit of the Fulbright ETA. Sarah shared that she hopes to “share [her] passion for language learning and to facilitate communication and cultural understanding.” This winter and spring brought a spate of news stories about the collegiate athletic achievements of our alumni.
Frederick J. Fleron ’55, June 2, 2021
Katherine L. Shepherd ’05, January 11, 2022
Currently, Julie advises start-ups, schools, and colleges on strategies to improve student mental health. Julie has a BA from Wellesley College, an MEd from Harvard University, and a PhD from Suffolk University.
John Maldonado P’26, ’28
Mark Benjamin P’25, ’28 Mark and his wife, Courtney, are parents to two children at Rivers, Reese ’25 and Ryann ’28. Mark has been chief executive officer of Nuance Communications, Inc., since April 2018 and serves as its director. Mark has a proven track record of advancing growth initiatives related to cloud, SaaS, mobile, big data, and IoT solutions. He has served on the board of regents at Seton Hall and as chairman of the corporate advi sory board for Voices Against Brain Cancer. He also serves on Nuance’s board and the board of PTC, a public technology company. Mark has a BA from the University of Miami.
Julie and Joseph Lee have a daughter, Jacqueline ’23, at Rivers. Julie is a digital mental health strategist, clinical psychol ogist, and faculty member. Julie has de voted much of her career to improving mental health, wellness, and educational outcomes for students from diverse backgrounds. Julie worked as the associate dean of academic support and transfer at Brown University and as a psychologist at Harvard.
NEW TRUSTEES
Rivers recently welcomed seven new term trustees.Their experience, talent, and enthusiasm make them a valued addition to the Board.
James Croom P’25 James and his wife, Tara Hurley, have a son at Rivers, Will ’25, and a daughter at Shady Hill. James is the managing director of research at Fidelity Invest ments. In this role, he oversees research analysts for emerging markets debt and real estate debt. He has more than 25 years of experience as an analytical investor in financial markets, specializing in developing and managing high yield bond and leveraged loan portfolios. James has a BA from Harvard University.
Julie Condron P’27, ’29 Julie and her husband, Bill, have two children, Michael ’27 and Grace ’29, at Rivers. Julie is the head of corporate sales at Trivariate Research and formerly worked as an equity research analyst at Fidelity and as a research associate at Sanford Bernstein. She serves on the fundraising committees of the Winchester Foundation for Educational Excellence and the Winchester Scholarship Foundation. She was also the president of the Lincoln Elementary School parent associa tion. She is a 2001 graduate of Georgetown University.
John and Shana Maldonado are parents to Savannah ’26 and Lainey ’28. They also have two younger children at The Chestnut Hill School. John is a managing partner at Advent International Corp., a global private equity firm, focusing on buyouts in the healthcare, financial, and business services sectors. His previous private equity experience includes positions at both Bain Capital and Parthenon Capital. John began his career as a consultant with The Parthenon Group, a leading strategy consulting firm. John earned a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Alan Rose Jr. ’87 Alan D. Rose, Jr. ’87 first joined the Rivers board in 2007, but his engagement with Rivers goes back much further and his institutional knowledge runs deep. He has served as president of the Alumni Association, second vice president of the Board, clerk of the Rivers School Corporation, and as a mem ber of numerous committees, including Development, Faculty Enrichment, Diversity, Executive, and Governance, which he chaired for many years. Additionally, in 2013, he served on the Head of School Search Committee that brought Ned Parsons to Rivers. Alan currently chairs the Head of School Search Committee, working to identify Rivers’s next Head of School. In 2008, Alan received the Rivers Cup. With his legal background and dedication to Rivers, Alan has been an indispensable asset to the Board.
SUMMER 2022 | Riparian | 39
Scott Holmes P’23, ’25 Scott has two children at Rivers, Skylar ’23 and Charlie ’25. He and his wife, Jess, also have two younger children. Scott and Jess have served as chairs of the Rivers Fund since 2021. Scott is CFO at Catamaran Bio, having served in finance, administration, and investor relations roles within the life science industry for more than 20 years. Scott began his career as senior associate with Ernst & Young, LLP. He holds a dual MS/ MBA from Northeastern and a BA from Middlebury College. Meet Our Newest Group of Trustees
Julie Lee P’23
Graduation 2022 full gallery thephotos,graduationofscanQRcode.
It was a day to celebrate, a day of cheers and tears and laughter, a day when the Rivers family came together under clear blue skies to toast the Class of 2022. In short, June 4 brought a picture-perfect graduation day, as 95 seniors collected their diplomas and joined the Rivers alumni community. Congratulations to all!
To see a
When you include Rivers in your will, you play a significant role in helping future generations of Rivers students.
For more information about gifts to Rivers, such as bequests, living trusts, and gifts of life insurance or retirement plans, or if you would like more information about the Nonesuch Society, please contact Meret Nahas, senior associate director of development and external relations, at m.nahas @rivers.org or 339-686-2263.
“My dad always said your career path isn’t that important; what matters is what you’re doing in that particular moment. Let it evolve,” says Soloway—advice he has certainly taken to heart. He has held roles as wide-ranging as Deputy Undersecretary of Defense to PBS producer. With a chuckle, he recounts that when he graduated from college, “I thought I’d be producing a nightly sports show.” He had a job lined up, but then “the host got fired, and the dream died.” Other dreams, however, were fulfilled—and then some. After the sports show failed to pan out, Soloway moved to DC to follow his other passion: Politics. He eventually pursued public-affairs consulting, working with clients that included a trade association. That led to a summons that came out of the blue: “I got a call to run acquisition policies at the Defense Department, the largest purchaser in the world.” Today, he serves as president and CEO of Celero Strategies, a full-service strategic consultancy focused on the federal market.
While he has worn many hats, Soloway sees a throughline: “My whole career has centered around the combination of strategy, analysis, government innovation, and public service—and that started with my Rivers experience.” He credits Rivers with teaching him “how to learn,” paving the way for a successful college experience, and he continues to stay connected with former classmates and teachers. Soloway says he’s pleased to see the strides Rivers has made in committing to diversity and emphasizing service.
As a gesture of appreciation for Rivers, Soloway has included a gift to the school in his estate plans. “I just wanted to do something modest to show my support,” he says.
Stan Soloway ’71 has taken what he terms a “zig-zaggy path” through life. But he’s grateful for every byway he’s had the chance to explore.
PLANNED GIVING Forging His Own Path Stan Soloway ’71
The Nonesuch Society was established to recognize the generosity of alumni, parents, and friends who have made provisions for Rivers in their estate plans. Its members have each made a commitment to ensure the continuation of excellence in teaching that is so critical to the education of future generations.
At the same time, by taking advantage of tax laws that encourage philanthropy, making a bequest to Rivers can significantly reduce estate-tax burdens.
THE RIVERS SCHOOL 333 Winter Street Weston, MAPlease02493-1040notify us if your phone number, mailing address, or email address changes so that Rivers can stay in touch with you and your family. Contact Jackie O’Neil at 339-686-2466 or j.oneil@rivers.org. PermitOrganizationNon-ProfitU.S.PostagePAIDBostonMANo.10 CALLING ALL FUTURE MAKERS Rivers needs your help to cross the finish line of our FutureMakers campaign. Your support will help our students make the future extraordinary. Don’t miss your chance to be part of this monumental campaign! Make a gift by June 30 at riversfuturemakers.com or by calling Kim Fox, associate director of advancement, at 339-686-2245. Swing Time This spring, the Honors Big Band (shown) and the Rivers Select 1 Combo performed at Boston’s storied Hatch Shell.
