The Pingry Review: Fall/Winter 2022

The New Chapter of Pingry’s Story

Head of School Tim Lear Poised to Lead with Head and Heart

The New Chapter of Pingry’s Story: Head of School Tim Lear Poised to Lead with Head and Heart

An English Teacher for years, Mr. Lear came to Pingry in 2007 and was also Director of College Counseling before he took on more leadership in 202021 and 2021-22. Now, he has risen to the “opportunity of a lifetime” as the 17th Head of School and wants to see community members support and get to know each other.

40 Digging into Archaeology with Dr. Mary Prendergast ’95

After high school and college courses inspired her interest, why did Dr. Prendergast end up moving from the East Coast to East Africa and back to the United States? Plus, she describes the importance of the mundane, talks about ethics in her field, and shares her perspective on depictions of archaeology in the movies.

48 A Brief History of Student Publications

Pingry students have been publishing news, opinions, humor, art, and more since the 1870s. This survey of many of the publications includes the voices of current and former editors and faculty advisors, as they talk about their inspirations and motivations. One former editor never thought that her staff’s title for a magazine would become permanent!

From the Head of School

Dear Members of the Pingry Community,

As you might remember from my October letter, our cross country course was dedicated this fall in memory of Edward Scott, Jr.—a beloved Hall of Fame coach and Magistri faculty member for nearly three decades (1968–1995). A special marker noting Coach Scott’s commitment to the personal growth and development of his runners now has a prominent and permanent home in front of the signature footbridge on the cross country course.

As a former English teacher, I am intrigued by the symbolism of the bridge itself. Bridges provide support and take us forward—and they also bring us back. Coach Scott was one of my mentors and bridges at Pingry. Who was yours? Who supported you and sent you forward in life—and who brings you back to campus?

No one ever succeeds alone, so we all have people who made a difference for us and helped us succeed. As we head into the New Year, I encourage each of us to take some time to reach out to those people—a teacher, a coach, a friend, a colleague, an advisor, a fellow parent—and express our gratitude. Drop them a note. Send a card. Tell them in person. There’s never a wrong way or a wrong time to say “thank you,” and these small gestures will continue strengthening the bonds of our Pingry community.

Since the cross country course dedication, I’ve also found myself thinking about the various plaques and signs found around our campuses, both indoors and on our athletics fields and courts. They remind us of cherished members of our community, people like John Taylor Babbitt ’07, Barbara Berlin, Ted Corvino, Milton Perlmutter, and so many others. How easy it is to walk past these names as we hurry from one place to another. They often just disappear into the background.

Another way to express our thanks is to take a moment to stop and read these important plaques and signs. It’s the equivalent of taking time to really see each other, show up for one another, and learn each other’s stories. The cross country course joined a long line of dedications, each celebrating a special person whose rich life was filled with choices that made a difference for Pingry. These plaques are reminders of lives well-lived and the true meaning of success. I hope we can always hold space for remembering the special people whose sacrifices and dedication to Pingry continue to shape our community.

Let’s not wait for plaques and dedication ceremonies to thank the important people who’ve made a difference in our lives. Tell them now. Thank them now. Let’s continue to support and appreciate each other—as well as the school we create together.

One Pingry

The Lower School created a COVID-19 time capsule and dedicated it on June 1. The capsule’s contents were coordinated by Lower School Librarian Ann D’Innocenzo during the 2021-22 school year, “to capture this moment in time, remember how we experienced the difficulties, and celebrate how we have risen to the challenges,” she said at the dedication. Contents include digitized photos and videos of Lower School events held during COVID-19, a Pingry mask and face shield, goggles, plexiglass, floor signs with reminders about keeping six feet of distance, a copy of the Pingry Anywhere feature in the Fall 2020 issue of The Pingry Review, K–4 students’ written reflections on attending school during COVID-19, and fifth-grade students’ letters to their future selves. The capsule is dedicated to Health and Operations Team, Facilities Team, and Technology Team, who “have been essential to our ability to teach, to learn, and to attend school safely and in a safe environment,” Mrs. D’Innocenzo said. The time capsule will remain on display on the patio until it’s opened in 2032, senior year for the students who were in Kindergarten when Pingry transitioned to remote learning in March 2020.

Kindergarten Teacher Judy Previti and Math Teacher Manny Tramontana P ’85, ’87 (“Trem”) are the 2022 recipients of The Cyril and Beatrice Baldwin Pingry Family Citizen of the Year Award. It is presented at Commencement to members of the Pingry family who, in rendering meritorious service to the community, have demonstrated those qualities of responsible citizenship that Pingry aspires to instill in all of those associated with the School. Ms. Previti completed her 18th year at Pingry and is known for the traditions of thematic and hands-on learning that combines subjects; singing while playing the guitar because learning through song is part of the Kindergarten curriculum and students have fun singing in multiple languages; and teaching American Sign Language because it helps students learn the songs. Mr. Tramontana’s career has included developing the Upper School math curriculum (especially Math 6), serving as Math Department Chair for 30 years, serving as Head Coach of the Varsity Baseball Team for over 30 years, and being inducted into Pingry’s Athletics Hall of Fame. Mr. Tramontana has stepped away from the classroom after 58 years but will continue to be involved with the School.

During Commencement, Anne DeLaney ’79, P ’09, ’11, ’14, ’14 received the Letter-In-Life Award, the most prestigious honor that Pingry bestows upon a graduate. Ms. DeLaney is a licensed clinical social worker, philanthropist, and former Pingry trustee who served two terms on the Board (1994–2009 and 2014–2020). In 2009, Pingry honored her with The Cyril and Beatrice Baldwin Pingry Family Citizen of the Year Award.

pingry.org/extras: Read Ms. DeLaney’s complete Letter-In-Life citation.

One Pingry Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Title IX

The Departments of Athletics and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging partnered during Women’s History Month in March to present a roundtable discussion marking the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Part of the Education Amendments of 1972, Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance—a watershed moment in the evolution of women’s sports. Pingry’s conversation featured members of the community who have made significant contributions to the athletics program as coaches, athletes, and administrators, and the discussion was supplemented by videos of faculty and staff talking about coaching girls sports at Pingry. Panelists reflected on the impact of Title IX, and Director of Athletics and Student Success Carter Abbott asked the audience to consider this question: “Going forward, how do you plan to support women in athletics?”

Battles-Cobb ’26 and award-winning Biology Teacher and Research Advisor Dr. Morgan D’Ausilio.

A leader in the Middle School and Student Government at the time, Jayden also serves as a spokesperson for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. He shared a few of the challenges that he has faced while managing ocular myasthenia—an eye condition that affects the eyelids.

Dr. D’Ausilio has been teaching at Pingry since 2012 and was diagnosed with cancer in 2021. As a parent and member of the faculty, she continued to give her best for her two young sons, students, colleagues, and advisees. “I honestly was surprised to be nominated [for this award],” she said, “because I never thought I was doing anything extraordinary by pushing through [and] continuing to teach and care for my family during my treatment.”

The Henry G. Stifel III Award is named for Mr. Stifel, who was paralyzed in an automobile accident during his junior year at Pingry. The Stifel Family established the award at Pingry in 1984 to “be awarded to the person who best exemplifies those characteristics exhibited by Henry G. Stifel III ’83 in the aftermath of his accident and spinal injury: courage, endurance, optimism, compassion, and spirit.” A Pingry lifer, Mr. Stifel is a former trustee who has received Pingry’s Cyril and Beatrice Baldwin Pingry Family Citizen of the Year Award and Letter-In-Life Award, is a Vice Chair of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation’s Board of Directors, and works at Morgan Stanley.

pingry.org/extras: Read more about the Stifel Award recipients.

“I played with the boys during recess, but a teacher told me I couldn’t do that. I was really upset and told my mother, who questioned why the teachers wouldn’t let me play. She told me to go ahead and play. The next day, I recruited three of my friends and we started to play. Again, the teacher came out and questioned why I was playing. I said, ‘Because I can.’ I got called into the principal’s office, and the principal called my mother—the best conversation I’ve ever heard. The principal told her that I was being disruptive and playing football with the boys. My mother asked, ‘Why is that a problem?’ They didn’t have an answer and said, ‘She needs to stop.’ My mother said, ‘No, she needs to play.’ Now, when coaching the Middle School players, I give them every responsibility and I hold them accountable.”

– Liliana Torres, who started playing sports in the summer of 1976 and was in Grade 8 in 1977 when this incident took place

FRONT ROW: Student-athletes asking the questions: Jada Watson ’24, Ngozi Nnaeto ’24, Caitlin Schwarz ’22, Cece Korn ’23, Molly Parker ’22, Ally Williams ’22, Devon Nugent ’23, Michelle Lee ’22, and Anna Stowe ’22. (Not pictured: Emily Samaro ’22)

BACK ROW, panelists and moderators, left to right:

Julia Featherman—Assistant Coach of Girls’ Varsity Soccer, Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse, and Girls’ Middle School Lacrosse

Gerry Vanasse P ’14, ’20—Director of Middle School Athletics and former Director of Athletics Margi Dillon P ’17, ’18, ’20—played lacrosse in college; Head Coach of JV Field Hockey; Assistant Coach of Varsity Field Hockey

Liliana Torres—played sports in high school and college; Head Coach of Girls’ Middle School “A” Basketball Taunita Stephenson—then–Assistant Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging for Strategic Initiatives

Lindsay Holmes-Glogower ’99, P ’33—played soccer at Pingry and in college; former Assistant Coach of Girls’ Varsity Soccer; started Pingry’s Alumnae Soccer Game Deirdre O’Mara P ’17, ’19, ’21—played on her high school’s first girls soccer team; Head Coach of Girls’ Varsity Swimming

Kate Whitman Annis P ’23—played ice hockey and lacrosse in high school and college; former Head Coach of Girls’ Varsity Ice Hockey

Carter Abbott, Director of Athletics and Student Success—played sports in high school and college; coached at national level; Head Coach of Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse

Lauren Molinaro—Head Coach of Girls’ Varsity Soccer; Assistant Coach of Girls’ JV Soccer and Girls’ JV Lacrosse Jessica Hoepfl—Head Coach of Girls’ JV Soccer and Girls’ JV Lacrosse; Assistant Coach of Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse

“I was in high school in the late 1970s and I had great coaching. My three sisters tended to have pretty inferior coaching, so when I became a teacher, I said I would dedicate all of my coaching to women . . . At Pingry, I saw the need for a girls track team [instead of a club]. The first year, in 1985, there were six girls on the team . . . after a number of years, the girls won a state championship and I was called into the Athletic Director’s office. The Athletic Director said, ‘I believe you’ve earned the promotion to go coach boys.’ I was incensed. I said, ‘We just won a state championship. The guys didn’t win a state championship. I built a program.’ We went on for seven more years to win state championships.”

Tim Grant P ’03, ’06—Head Coach of Girls’ Varsity Track

–

“In high school in the late 1970s, girls started to become ‘stars of the team’ and wanted to be treated like athletes Later, as an international long-distance runner, I became friends with a lot of women athletes who were amazing runners . . . At Pingry, I’ve been surrounded by great athletes and great teams and extraordinary coaches.”

– Gerry Vanasse P ’14, ’20

“It is important for my two sons to know the history . . . boys and men play a really significant role in equality. It is really important to have not just women and girls fighting for this, but also our male counterparts.”

– Lindsay Holmes-Glogower ’99, P ’33

One Pingry

Edward Scott, Jr. Cross Country Course

Pingry recently dedicated its cross country course to the late Ed Scott, Jr., a member of the Magistri who is best known for coaching cross country and track from 1968–1995; he amassed a career record of 343141-3 for both sports and guided the School to nine prep and parochial state titles. This was Coach Scott’s most recent Pingry honor. He is the namesake of The Edward Scott, Jr. Scholarship Endowment Fund, established in 1995 by Dan Markovitz ’81 and fellow alumni, parents, faculty, and friends. The Fund was fully endowed in 2021, now providing a full-tuition aid award to a student every year. He is also the namesake of the annual Ed Scott Middle School Cross Country Invitational, created by fellow teacher and coach Victor Nazario P ’90, ’94 (1997). In 2001, he was inducted into Pingry’s Athletics Hall of Fame.

Mr. Markovitz believes strongly in recognizing Coach Scott for inspiring his runners’ growth and development. At the dedication, he referenced the new plaque on the Cross Country Course Bridge by saying, “Bridges don’t call attention to themselves. They provide support. They enable a person to cross a divide. Mr. Scott helped all of us cross the divide between childhood and adulthood, between immaturity and maturity, between our current selves and our future, better selves.” Also attending the dedication were alumni runners from the 1960s through the 1990s; other members of the Magistri; Coach Matt Horesta and the Boys’ Varsity Cross Country Team; and Coach Sarah Christensen and the Girls’ Varsity Cross Country Team.

pingry.org/extras: Further coverage of the dedication, and tributes from alumni

Two of Coach Ed Scott, Jr.’s sons—Ed Scott III and Drew Scott— with Head of School Tim Lear and Dan Markovitz ’81 (both of whom were coached by Ed Scott) in front of the Cross Country Course Bridge during the dedication.

“It is my sincere hope that current and future generations of Pingry runners will make Coach Scott proud by demonstrating honor, character, loyalty, sportsmanship, and kindness—both on and off this course that now bears his name.”

Lower School Librarian Ann D’Innocenzo is the newest member of the Magistri, having joined the faculty in 1997 and completed her 25th year this spring. Along with overseeing the library’s collections and teaching classes, Mrs. D’Innocenzo has initiated projects and events to encourage reading. One example is “Postcards to the Library” (launched in 2004), for which students mail a postcard to the library to represent every book they read during the summer. Another was “Go for the Gold,” which motivated students to read as much as possible during the 2018 Winter Olympics. She also coordinates the Lower School Library’s participation in the National African American Read-In, when classes visit the library during Black History Month to listen to guests read stories by African American authors. Mrs. D’Innocenzo is proud to have spearheaded the 2000 Time Capsule to commemorate the new millennium, and the COVID-19 Time Capsule in 2022 (read more about the second one on page 3). Beyond Pingry, the Global Literacy Project (GLP) honored Mrs. D’Innocenzo in December 2007 with the “Librarian of the Year Award”; she helped establish a new library and catalogue system for students in South Africa (her efforts were part of Pingry’s larger collaboration with GLP to donate books to that country).

’19, ’22.

Pingry Robotics competed in two tournaments in March: the NJ State FIRST* Tech Challenge and the Mid-Atlantic Robotics FIRST Robotics Competition Bridgewater-Raritan District Event. Pingry won both tournaments, marking Team 6069’s first FTC state tournament win since the team’s founding in 2012, and Team 2577’s third district event win since the team’s founding in 2008. “It is exceptionally uncommon to have two simultaneous championships,” says Physics Teacher and Lead Robotics Mentor Jeffrey Jenkins. Olivia Taylor ’23 became the first Pingry student to be named a Dean’s List Finalist for the FIRST Tech Challenge, one of 215 worldwide. The award recognizes the leadership and dedication of FIRST’s most outstanding secondary school students.

* For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology

The new turf field adjacent to the driveway of the main entrance to the Basking Ridge Campus was dedicated in May as The Ittycheria Family Field; it was made possible through the generosity of Trustee Dev Ittycheria and Dr. Anju Thomas P ’19, ’22 and their sons Luke ’19 and Daniel ’22. Prior to the renovation, rain made the field unusable most of the year, so converting the field to turf drastically increases the space and time available for students to play soccer, lacrosse, and other sports—a particular benefit for Middle School and JV teams, giving students the space to explore, grow, and prepare for varsity.

The Board of Trustees has made a significant statement about its ongoing commitment to DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) by unanimously adopting—and then sharing with the Pingry community in April—a DEIB Resolution that articulates why DEIB is important to Pingry. Even though DEIB formally became one of the School’s four pillars in 2007 and this Resolution reiterates Pingry’s longstanding principles, it is the first formal comprehensive Board statement on DEIB issues.*

“Pingry’s administration was in the process of adopting policies, plans, and procedures relating to DEIB, but it lacked a comprehensive policy statement from the Board, which is responsible for Pingry’s overall strategy and identity. We felt that gap had to be filled so the administration would know where the board stands and would be empowered to proceed,” says Ian Shrank ’71, Chair of the Board of Trustees.

It’s important to note that the Resolution represents guidance, not action. “This Resolution compels and empowers the School administration to design and communicate how we will achieve the Board of Trustees’ vision,” says Gilberto Olvera P ’29, ’33, Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging. He sees this Resolution as being influenced by and complementary to the Honor Code, 2018 Strategic Plan, and Student Core Competencies.

Board of Trustees DEIB Resolution

to understand, empathize with and respect the differing perspectives of others.

2. The Pingry Honor Code requires “honorable behavior…based on personal integrity and genuine concern for others”, and that everyone “act as responsible members of the community, working for the common good rather than solely for personal advantage. They should honor the rights of others”. These standards are entirely consistent with the principles of DEIB as enunciated in this resolution.

3. Students learn more comprehensively when they learn as part of a diverse group of students, and from a diverse group of faculty, who express a diverse set of perspectives.

4. Diversity within groups leads to better outcomes, better decision making, more effective problem solving, greater creativity, and stronger overall performance of organizations.

5. Pingry as an educational institution must optimally prepare its students to learn from, live with and work with others in diverse communities, both nationally and globally.

6. Adherence to these DEIB principles is an essential ingredient to (i) Pingry achieving its Mission, (ii) the success of Pingry’s 2018 Strategic Plan for all its students and staff, in particular student health and wellness, and (iii) the fulfillment of the Core Competencies for Pingry students, in particular Intercultural and Global Citizenship.

A portion of the DEIB Resolution as it appears on Pingry’s website. Visit the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging page on the website (under the “About” menu) to read the full Resolution.

*The Resolution was generated by the Board’s DEIB Committee—originally the D&I Task Force (formed in 2018), which became the DEI Task Force and, ultimately, DEIB Committee (April 2021), the first committee added to the Board in 17 years. The Board commonly adds a temporary committee, or task force, to quickly address a complex issue that doesn’t fall within an existing committee’s purview. In this case, the Board realized that DEIB issues need ongoing attention, so the task force became a committee. It generated a document in late 2021, explaining the Board’s perspective on the “what,” “why,” and “how” of DEIB at Pingry, for the administration to be able to act on.

One Pingry

Dr. Robert H. LeBow ’58 Memorial Oratorical Competition

Mirika Jambudi ’23 won the 2022 Dr. Robert H. LeBow ’58 Memorial Oratorical Competition with her speech, “Your One True Purpose Might Not Exist, and That’s Okay.” In it, she took issue with the concept of “passion” (as in, “pursue your passion”) because she said “passion” is not fixed— people grow and their interests change. She also took issue with the concept of a “career” as the only thing that can fulfill a passion. “Turning passion into profit—if you write, publish. If you’re an artist, sell . . . Where’s the passion in that? Awards, subscribers, money . . . we do things with the expectation of results. Interest in a job is important, but it doesn’t have to be your reason for existing on earth.”

This annual competition was funded in 2005 through the generosity of the Class of 1958, led by the late William Hetfield, in memory of their classmate. Dr. LeBow was an accomplished public speaker, addressing audiences worldwide about the need for health care reform, and the author of Health Care Meltdown: Confronting the Myths and Fixing Our Failing System, a book drawn from his public speaking engagements. pingry.org/extras: Watch all six speeches from this year’s event.

Celebrate Pingry!

Sailing

Sailing returned to Pingry this spring as a co-ed, studentorganized club team that competed in its inaugural season in the NJISA (New Jersey Interscholastic Sailing Association).

The Sailing Team practices twice each week in Perth Amboy, and weekly regattas take place at the Toms River Yacht Club on Saturdays throughout the fall and spring sailing seasons. The team is coached by Jeff Bonanni and advised by Jane Hoffman ’94, P ’26, ’27, ’28, Associate Director of Development, Annual Giving, and Community Engagement.

Pingry won the NJISA 2022 Girls’ Fleet Championship in April, as skipper Pilar Cundey ’23 and crew Abby Baird ’24 jumped out to an early lead and never relinquished it, recording first- or second-place finishes in eight of the 10 races to win the regatta with a low score of 20 points. Pingry placed sixth out of 15 teams in the NJISA 2022 New Jersey State Championship, with Pilar and Abby placing second overall in the A Division, and skipper Max Naseef ’24 and crew Isabelle Baird ’24 placing eighth overall in the B Division. The fall season began with the annual Sailfest Regatta featuring 18 teams from 13 schools— Pingry Sailing placed third, led by skippers Max Naseef and Charlotte Cundey ’26. After the second season wrapped up in November, the Raritan Bay High School Sailing Association awarded Abby Baird “Crew of the Year” for her athleticism and her ability to motivate her teammates.

Prior to the 2021–22 school year, Pingry had a Sailing Team (a club team that competed against other schools) for about 15 years, inaugurated in 1958–59 by Jim Dunn ’59. One member of the 1962, 1963, and 1964 teams was Carl Van

Duyne ’64, who captained the team his junior and senior years and would become an Olympic sailor with outstanding sportsmanship. He was inducted into the Barnegat Bay Sailing Hall of Fame and Pingry’s Athletics Hall of Fame, among other posthumous honors.

CLOCKWISE, FROM UPPER LEFT: Fall 2022 Pingry Sailing Team: Isabelle Baird ’24, Abby Baird ’24, Avery Hoffman ’26, Charlotte Cundey ’26, Max Naseef ’24, and Zayed Ali ’24; Pingry sailors completing at the Lawrence A. Wight Trophy Invitational Regatta at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT; 1962 Sailing Team with Carl Van Duyne ’64 (3rd from left in the 2nd row)

“I have grown up around the ocean and love pretty much every sport that has to do with it. A couple of years ago, my grandfather bought an old laser—a type of sailboat—and I instantly fell in love. Sailing gives me a sense of freedom that nothing else does. When I’m sailing, nothing else matters . . . In the summer of 2021, I learned that several schools had their own sailing teams . . . so I gathered together the small community of sailors at Pingry and decided to make it happen.” – Abby Baird ’24

COMMENCEMENT

On Monday, June 13, the School celebrated the School’s newest alumni—the Class of 2022—in the 161st Commencement Exercises.

“What defines a moment? . . . I realize now that it’s not ‘What defines a moment?’ but ‘Who defines a moment?’ The experience that I have had here will be far more about the people I have found along the way than any other experience that I might have had . . . High school is not about defining moments, but the people that define them.”

COMMENCEMENT

“Don’t stop yourself from impacting someone’s life, or someone impacting your life, because you feel like you can’t relate to them . . . Hear people out for what they have to say. Understand people and their backgrounds . . . Go make someone else a better person, and allow someone else to make you a better person.”

–

“For machines to create compassionate, equitable solutions that address the complex moral issues of our world— to reflect a genuine sense of humanity—they need our constant collaboration and deliberate engagement. And no one is in a better position to do this than the Class of 2022 . . . As the world locked down, this class rose up . . . Embrace the technology, but let it not exceed our humanity. Continue to rise up, lean into innovation, and ensure your individual voices and unquestionable integrity help create the responsible and revolutionary solutions the world so desperately needs.”

–

On the Map

This list indicates how many members of the class have enrolled at each school.

Middlebury College (1) University of Vermont (1)

Colgate University (1) Cornell University (2) Hamilton College (1) Rochester Institute of Technology (1) Skidmore College (1) Vassar College (1)

Dartmouth College (2)

Carleton College (2)

University of Michigan (1)

Grinnell College (1)

Northwestern University (1) The University of Chicago (2)

Indiana University Bloomington (2) Purdue University (1) University of Notre Dame (2)

Washington University in St. Louis (4)

Miami University, Oxford (1)

Georgetown University (6)

Southern Methodist University (2) Trinity University (1)

University of Alabama (1)

Rhodes College (1) Vanderbilt University (1)

Emory University (1) Georgia Institute of Technology (1) Spelman College (2) University of Georgia (1)

Tulane University (2)

CALIFORNIA

Chapman University (1) Harvey Mudd College (1)

Stanford University (1)

University of California, Berkeley (1) University of California, Los Angeles (1) University of Southern California (1)

Bates College (1) Colby College (3) Johns Hopkins University (1)

Boston College (4) Boston University (2)

College of the Holy Cross (3) Harvard University (1)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2) Northeastern University (1) Tufts University (6)

University of Massachusetts Lowell (1) Williams College (2)

Brown University (4)

Connecticut College (1) Fairfield University (2) University of Connecticut (1) Yale University (2)

Columbia University (2) New York University (2)

Bryn Mawr College (1) Drexel University (1) Gettysburg College (1) Haverford College (1) Lafayette College (2) Lehigh University (3) Temple University (1) University of Pennsylvania (4) Villanova University (3)

Princeton University (4) Rutgers University (5) Stevens Institute of Technology (1)

Emory & Henry College (1) Hampton University (1) Norfolk State University (1) University of Richmond (2) University of Virginia (1)

Davidson College (2) Duke University (4) Wake Forest University (5)

University of Miami (1)

IRELAND University College Cork (1)

SCOTLAND University of St Andrews (2)

Faculty Awards and Chairs

With the following endowed award funds, generous donors have sought to encourage excellent teaching and coaching and recognize teachers’ contributions to the School.

PRESENTED IN JUNE 2022

ALBERT W. BOOTH MASTER CHAIR / 2022–23

Sue Tummarello (Grades 3–4 Science)

Olivia Tandon (Upper School Science; Assistant Director of Experiential Education [Sustainability])

THE WOODRUFF J. ENGLISH FACULTY DEVELOPMENT FUND / 2022–23

Dr. Alyssa Johns (Co-Director of CAST [Counseling and Academic Support Team], K–12 Coordinator)

Allen Thomas (Middle School Academic Dean and Spanish Teacher)

THE GREIG FAMILY ENDOWED FACULTY CHAIR / 2022–23

Davidson Barr (Upper School Math and Economics; Boys’ and Girls’ Varsity Fencing)

HERBERT F. HAHN JUNIOR FACULTY AWARD / 2022–23

Julia Martinez (Middle School Math)

Alan Van Antwerp (Middle and Upper School Drama)

SENIOR CLASS FACULTY CHAIR / 2022–23

Jamie Nanfara P ’33 (Lower School Literacy Specialist)

E. MURRAY TODD FACULTY CHAIR / 2022–2025

Brad Poprik (Upper School Math)

THE JAMES P. WHITLOCK, JR. ’60 FACULTY DEVELOPMENT FUND FOR SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS AND TECHNOLOGY / 2021-22

Jessica Weinberger (Upper School Math)

CURRENTLY HELD

EDWARD G. ENGEL CHAIR FOR MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE / 2020–2023

Debra Tambor (Middle School Science)

THE NORMAN B. TOMLINSON, JR. ’44 CHAIR FOR HISTORY AND LITERATURE / 2020–2023

Gerardo Vazquez P ’18, ’19 (Upper School Spanish)

pingry.org/funds: Read about these awards, including the individuals for whom they are named.

Pingry Announces New Trustees

Lois Fitton P ’26, President of The Pingry School Parents’ Association for the 2022-23 academic year, has volunteered extensively at Pingry. Prior to becoming a full-time volunteer, she spent almost 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry, with a focus on product development and marketing. Most of her career was spent at Pfizer in neuroscience, where she focused on the development and commercialization of new products. She was the VP of Marketing at Bristol Myers Squibb for the U.S. Oncology business. She received a B. A. from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Josh Kalafer P ’27, ’29 is a seasoned entrepreneur with business interests focused on real estate investment and development, the automotive industry, minor league baseball, and investment in start-up ventures. He is Co-Chairman of Clinton Honda and the Somerset Patriots Baseball Team—the Double AA Affiliate of the New York Yankees. He is also Chairman of Jaguar Land Rover Princeton. Mr. Kalafer serves on the Board of Trustees of New Jersey Manufacturer’s Insurance and the Somerset Healthcare Foundation. He received a B.A. from American University.

Allen Y. Kim, Esq. P ’29 is Assistant General Counsel of Johnson & Johnson, the world’s largest and most broadly based healthcare company, with a wide diversity of products in the pharmaceutical, medical technology, and consumer products sectors. He focuses on mergers & acquisitions, strategic alliances, and other complex corporate transactions for Johnson & Johnson, and has served as the Board Attorney for several of its affiliates. He received an A.B. in Government from Georgetown University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

’26

Margaret Santana P ’22, ’24 has volunteered extensively for Pingry, including serving as PSPA President and a trustee during the pandemic from 2020–21 and sitting on the Head of School Search Committee in 2021–22. Her professional career was in marketing and business development at Ogilvy & Mather and American Express. Currently, she is an avid volunteer and sits on multiple non-profit boards, including Meeting Essential Needs with Dignity (MEND), a hunger relief organization, and The Warehouse NJ, which supports individuals/families as they transition into permanent housing following a time of crisis. She received a B.A. in Fine Arts from Amherst College, where she is also an active alumna serving as a class officer and on the Alumni Executive Committee.

Umesh Subramanian P ’24, ’26 is the Chief Technology Officer at Citadel, a leading alternative investment manager, and prior to that, he was a Partner and Co-Head of Technology at Goldman Sachs. He serves on the University of Illinois Grainger College of Engineering Board of Visitors, the NYU Stern Tech M.B.A. Advisory Board, and the Carnegie Mellon Computational Finance Advisory Board. Mr. Subramanian received a BTech in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and an M.S. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Pingry Welcomes New Faculty and Staff

Kimberly Ady, Middle and Upper School German Teacher, has taught combinations of languages during her career: French, German, and Yorùbá at Nerinx Hall High School in St. Louis; German at Yorba Linda High School in California; French, Spanish, and ELL at Ramona Convent Secondary School in California; and French and German at Park Ridge High School. She received a B.A. in French from Carleton College, an M.A. in African Studies/Anthropology from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, and an M.A. in French from the University of California Santa Barbara. Ms. Ady also has an A.B.D. in Doctoral Research from the University of Bayreuth, Germany.

Gabriel Behringer, Upper School English Teacher, has taught Upper School English at five different independent schools, most recently at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. Across these institutions, he has served as advisor, class dean, dorm parent, and faculty advisor to a school newspaper. While teaching at The Salisbury School, he coached soccer, crew, and whitewater kayaking. He received a B.A., cum laude, from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and an M.A. in Liberal Studies from Dartmouth College.

Maribel Blas-Rangel, Assistant Director of DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging), has worked at Cranbrook Schools in Michigan as a French and Spanish teacher and DEI Coordinator for the Upper School. Prior to Cranbrook, Ms. Blas-Rangel worked at the Loomis Chaffee School in Connecticut in a similar capacity. In addition, she has worked for several years with the Cranbrook Horizons-Upward Bound program, which aims to support first-generation and low-income students from the Detroit Metropolitan area in their

goal of entering and succeeding in post-secondary education. Ms. Blas-Rangel double majored in Psychology and French at Kalamazoo College and received an M.S.Ed. from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.

Megan Bull, Middle and Upper School Permanent Substitute Teacher and Head Coach of the Boys’ Varsity Swimming Team, joins Pingry full-time this year after serving as a substitute teacher and swim coach last school year. She has held several positions as a swim coach and lifeguard. Ms. Bull received a B.A. in History, with a minor in Sociology, from the College of William & Mary, where she was an award-winning, record-setting member of the Women’s Varsity Swimming Team.

Breanna Bundschuh, Lower School Nurse, is a Registered Nurse who has served as an Emergency Medical Technician with the Florham Park Memorial First Aid Squad since 2012. She has also worked at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center in the Neuro-Surgical/Seizure-Epilepsy and Intensive Care Units, and as Director of Critical Care for the Intensive Care Unit and Coronary Critical Care. Ms. Feith has received The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses, as well as the Nurse Leadership Achievement Award. She attended Seton Hall University’s College of Nursing and received a Master’s of Nursing in Nurse Executive Leadership and Healthcare Administration from Grand Canyon University.

Hope Coppinger, Assistant Director of Communications, Internal Strategy, has worked in communications at College of Saint Elizabeth (now Saint Elizabeth University), Stevens Institute of Technology, and Drew University; each role had a

different focus, such as a capital campaign, admissions, and annual fund. She has also worked for the Schiff Natural Lands Trust and done freelance communications for the College of Saint Rose. Ms. Coppinger received a B.A. in English from Skidmore College, an M.A. in Education from Tufts University, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

John DiGiorgio, Big Blue Summer Camp Director, currently works as a Special Education Teacher for the Fair Lawn Public Schools. At Fair Lawn, he was also Principal of the Extended School Year Program (which he helped build from 40 students to over 200), as well as a football and lacrosse coach. He has also been Catering Manager for the Barclays/Northern Trust Golf Tournament. Mr. DiGiorgio received a degree in American History from Ramapo College, a degree in Special Education from William Paterson University, and a Master’s in Administration from Seton Hall University. He is grateful to his colleagues for helping create a smooth transition to the Pingry community.

Dr. Thomas L. Dimitry, School Counselor, previously worked as a School Psychologist for the Hackensack Board of Education; an Outpatient Clinician for Newton Memorial Hospital; Director of an NCAA Division I Sport Psychology Program at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Clinical Supervisor at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Center for Psychological Services; and a Clinical Psychologist in private practice, specializing in work with children and adolescents. Dr. Dimitry received a B.S. in Finance and Marketing from Syracuse University, and an M.A. in Psychology and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Ryan Dolan, Facilities Technician, worked in warehouse operations and logistics for WorldPAC, a distributor of original equipment automotive parts, and Carrick Harvest, LLC, as well as customer service for Good Chemistry, quality assurance for Digital Precision Imaging, Inc., and distribution for Dish Network. He attended the Lee County Adult Education Center.

Naomi François, Upper School English Teacher, has developed a reputation for using storytelling to illuminate concepts that might seem mundane or confusing. Prior to Pingry, she was a High School Faculty Fellow at Wesleyan School in Georgia, planning lessons to foster a love of reading and comprehension of literary concepts. She has held other positions that involved SAT coaching, creating lesson plans for SAT tutors, and training SAT tutors. Ms. François received a B.A. in Religion and Africana Studies from Williams College and an M.A. in Religion from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary.

Katie Gardner, Individual Philanthropic Advisor, spent five years with the Institutional Advancement team at Cardozo School of Law (the law school of Yeshiva University), with roles including Administrative Assistant, Leadership Gifts Officer, and Associate Director of Alumni Affairs. Mrs. Gardner is a “proud graduate” of Fairfield University and recently served as President of the university’s New York City Chapter, one of several regional chapters for alumni engagement. She and her husband, Nick, are now residents of Morristown, NJ and are excited to be part of the Pingry community.

Sandhya Ghanta, Lower School Math Specialist, joins Pingry after serving for three years as a math specialist and coach at the Inspired Teaching Demonstration School in Washington, D.C. Previously, she spent five years teaching Grade 4 both at Inspired Teaching Demonstration School and at Democracy Prep Congress Heights also in Washington, D.C. Miss Ghanta received a B.A. in Mathematics Statistics, with minors in Secondary Education and Sociology, from Wake Forest University. She later earned a Dual Masters of Education in Elementary Education and Special Education from Lesley University. In between her degrees, Miss Ghanta worked with City Year Greater Philadelphia (an Americorps organization) before joining Urban Teachers, a teacher residency program in Washington, D.C.

Megan Hilliard, Upper School English Teacher, joins Pingry from the Bentley School in California, where she taught high school English and served as Assistant Dean of Student Life, Faculty Advisor to Student Government and the yearbook, School Photographer, and 10th Grade English curriculum Team Lead. Prior to Bentley, Ms. Hilliard was a Volunteer Tutor at President Kennedy School in the U.K. and taught Summer School at her elementary school. Ms. Hilliard earned a B.F.A. in Photography, with honors, at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, but decided to pursue being an educator, and she later received a master’s degree in English Literature, with Merit, from the University of Warwick.

Dr. Lisa Ievers, Upper School Math Teacher, has taught high school math (algebra, geometry, trigonometry) in addition to a variety of philosophy courses as a college professor. She comes

to Pingry from Morristown Beard School, where she taught Upper School math for four years. Previously, Dr. Ievers taught in the Department of Philosophy at Georgetown University and Auburn University. She received a B.A. in Mathematics and a B.A. in Philosophy, magna cum laude, from Bucknell University, and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Johns Hopkins University.

Maritza Irizarry, Assistant Director of Data Services for Advancement Services, comes to Pingry with experience that bridges both finance and education. At Pingry, she has expanded her commitment to the community as Assistant Coach for Middle School Robotics and Co-Advisor for the Multi-Racial Affinity Group - students. Prior to her role as Assistant Vice President at Bank of America Merrill, she served as Administrative Assistant to the Principal at Regis High School; Assistant to the Admissions & Advancement Directors for All Saints Episcopal Day School; Ex-Officio Board Member & Webmaster for the Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School Parents Association; Ex-Officio Board Member for Música de Camara; and Council Member & Chairperson of After School Activities at the Parents League of New York. Ms. Irizarry graduated with Honors from Saint John’s University, receiving a B.S. and an M.B.A. in Finance.

Keith Karsen, Assistant Director of Middle School Athletics and an Upper School Financial Literacy Teacher, joins Pingry full-time this year after working in Operations and serving as wrestling coach for three years. He previously worked as a P.E. Teacher and baseball coach for 20 years and head wrestling coach for 12 years at DePaul Catholic High School. He also owned and operated Wrestling Plus for nearly 20 years. Mr. Karsen received a B.A. in Sociology from Duke University and a Master of Exercise Science and Physical Education, with a concentration in Athletic Administration and Coaching, from Montclair State University.

Jonathan Kelly, Upper School English Teacher, thrives on “working with students to foster a deeper appreciation for language and the power that it can provide us as individuals and as a society.” Prior to Pingry, he was a teacher, the Library Director, and an Admissions Officer at Delbarton School, and helped design and develop the new library building, St. Benedict Hall. Mr. Kelly received a bachelor’s degree from

Fairleigh Dickinson University, and master’s degrees in Library Science and English, from Rutgers University and Arizona State University, respectively. He is pursuing of a Doctor of Letters in Creative Writing at Drew University.

Michael Kennedy, Operations Officer, joins Pingry full-time after serving as a lacrosse coach since 2019. He is a freelance digital and graphic designer, and photographer, who has held other positions as an art director and coach. Mr. Kennedy received a B.F.A. in Visual Communications from Kean University.

Joe Kinney P ’15, ’18, Middle and Upper School Permanent Substitute Teacher and Coach, has spent most of his career coaching baseball, first as Assistant Coach at the U.S. Naval Academy for seven years and then as Head Coach at Lafayette College for 21 years. Most recently, he worked as Program Coordinator and Facility Manager for 3STEP Sports, the largest youth sport event and club operator in the country. He is married to Sue Kinney, who returned to Pingry as Co-Director of College Counseling after previously serving as a College Counselor, and their daughters Annelise and Alexis graduated from Pingry in 2015 and 2018, respectively. Mr. Kinney received a B.A. in Economics and an M.A. in Secondary Education and Teaching from Lehigh University.

Dr. Sterling Kouri, Middle and Upper School French Teacher, served as a French Lecturer for four years at the University of Pennsylvania, a French teacher for three years at Loomis Chaffee School, and a Middle and Upper School French Teacher at The Brearley School. He received a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in French and Francophone Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.

Sue Kinney P ’15, ’18 has returned to Pingry as Co-Director of College Counseling after previously serving as a Pingry college counselor for 12 years (2007–2019)—most recently as Associate Director of College Counseling. She spent the past three years as an Associate Director of College Counseling at Phillips Academy Andover. Mrs. Kinney is married to Joe Kinney, who joined Pingry as a Permanent Substitute Teacher and Coach, and their daughters, Annelise and Alexis, graduated from Pingry in 2015 and 2018, respectively. She received a B.A. in Psychology and Business from The Pennsylvania State University and an M.A. in Teaching from Montclair State University.

Christopher Kulesza, Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach, comes to Pingry from Saint Joseph’s High School, where he served as Head Strength and Conditioning Coach from 2017–2020. Prior to that, he worked for Monmouth University’s Strength and Conditioning Program. He describes his biggest career achievement as “returning to my alma mater high school to create the strength and conditioning program for all students and athletes . . . I went there with a dream and made it a reality for three years.” Mr. Kulesza received a B.S. in Exercise Science from Sacred Heart University.

Josh Lyons, Middle School Math Teacher, has been teaching for over 20 years and previously taught middle school math and served as Curricular Chair at The Willow School. His additional background in middle school math includes Princeton Day School, Punahou School in Hawaii, and an International Baccalaureate World School, Le Jardin Academy, in Hawaii. Before teaching middle school, Mr. Lyons was a secondary math teacher at the Assets School in Honolulu, and at Winston Preparatory School and M413 School of the Future, both in New York City. He received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Bryant College (now University) and a Master of Arts from NYU’s Steinhardt School of Education.

Coleen Martin, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, joins Pingry after nine years as Director of Communications and a social studies teacher at Oratory Prep in Summit. Prior to her time at Oratory Prep, she taught social studies and coached volleyball and softball at DePaul Catholic High School in Wayne; she is proud to have twice been named “Coach of the Year” in Passaic County for volleyball. Mrs. Martin received a B.A. in History from St. Elizabeth University and an M.Ed. from the University of Phoenix.

Kelly Mauger, Upper School Math Teacher, worked for 12 years at Morristown Beard School (MBS), where she taught courses that ranged from Algebra 1 through AP Calculus AB, helped develop the integrated math curriculum, and co-led the mentoring program for new teachers. She also co-authored, with another member of the MBS Math Department, the internal Integrated Math 3 textbook. Prior to MBS, Ms. Mauger was a founding teacher at a public school in New York City and taught there for three years. She received a B.A. in Mathematics from Drew University and an M.A. in Mathematics Education from NYU.

Robert Melendez, Groundskeeper, has worked as a General Construction Laborer for Lima Contracting and received a diploma from David Brearley High School.

Amrita Minhas, Individual Philanthropic Advisor, has worked for JBWS (formerly Jersey Battered Women’s Services), the Greater Somerset County YMCA, Catholic Charities of Baltimore, and Amnesty International USA. She has served as a board member on the Somerset Hills YMCA Togetherhood Social Responsibility Committee and currently sits on Amnesty International USA’s Board Nominating Committee. Ms. Minhas received a B.A. in Psychology, with concentration in Behavioral Neuroscience, from Fairleigh Dickinson University and an M.A. in Global Affairs and Human Security from the University of Baltimore.

Ahmad Nicholson, Assistant Director of Athletics for Student-Athlete Success, brings to Pingry a background in education, sports, and project management, as well as advanced training in NCAA Division I Compliance, Sports Leadership, and Restorative Practices. He previously worked as Student Athlete Services/Compliance Coordinator at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Dean of Students at Universal Companies/YouthBuild Philadelphia, and Project Manager for the State of Delaware, Wilmington. Ahmad has also been a college advisor and coached boys and men’s basketball. He received a B.S. from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and an M.B.A. with honors from Wilmington University.

Edwin Núñez, Director of Enrollment Management, has a record of managing significant enrollment growth, developing strategic programs, and identifying new enrollment sources. He previously worked at Hebron Academy, an independent, coeducational day and boarding school for Grades 6–12 in Maine, where he has worked twice. Most recently, he served as Assistant Head of School for Enrollment Management. Previously at Hebron, Mr. Núñez was Director of Admissions

and Financial Aid—achieving a record number of new students and revamping the admissions strategy—and Director of International Relations and Recruitment. Prior to his work at Hebron, he was Assistant Director of Admissions at Thornton Academy, and first worked at Hebron as Associate Director of International Admissions. Mr. Núñez received an International Baccalaureate Diploma from Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong, was a CET Academic Program Scholar (C.V. Starr-Middlebury Language School in China) at Zhejiang University of Technology, and double majored in Economics and Chinese Language and Literature at Middlebury College.

Tatiana Oliveira ’15, whose teaching philosophy is centered on equity and justice, returned to Pingry to become a Grade 4 Social Studies Teacher. Most recently, she was a research assistant at the University of Virginia, analyzing higher education institutions across the country to understand how they educate different audiences about issues of democracy, civics, citizen rights and responsibilities, and more. Prior to that experience, Miss Oliveira taught Grade 4 in South Carolina and worked as a research fellow at Furman University, studying how teachers use technology to support English learners. While teaching virtually in 2021, she received the “Miracle Worker Award” from her school district for walking a student through a 911 call when her mother was unresponsive. Miss Oliveira received a B.A. in Elementary Education from Furman University and an M.Ed. in Social Foundations from the University of Virginia.

Taylor Pennell, Assistant Director of Development, Alumni Engagement, has been Interim Head Lacrosse Coach at Columbia University, and Assistant Lacrosse Coach at both College of the Holy Cross and Bucknell University. She is proudest of establishing a partnership between the Columbia University Women’s Lacrosse program and Team IMPACT, which connects children facing serious and chronic illnesses with a college athletics team. Ms. Pennell received a B.S. in Exercise Science and Sports Studies, with a concentration in Sport Management, from Rutgers University.

Akeem Pridgen, Assistant Director of Communications, Multimedia, joins Pingry after working as the Assistant Director of Memberships and Promotions at American University and as a Marketing Specialist at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He is a graduate of Delaware State University with a degree in Mass Communications and a concentration in Television Production.

Maddy Randall, School-Wide Initiatives Coordinator, began her career with the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association and, after moving to New Jersey, joined the President’s Office at Drew University. In 2020, she helped create a new department, University Events, where she was able to build relationships with students, faculty, staff, alumni, and board members. Ms. Randall graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management from Kansas State University.

Stephanie Sa, Experiential Educator, has taught math and science at the middle and high school levels at urban schools in New York City and Boston, and she enjoyed creating an opendoor classroom community. Ms. Sa received a B.A. in Psychology and Education from Dartmouth College, and an M.Ed. from the Sposato Graduate School of Education.

Mary Anne Sacco, Grade 2 Teacher, comes to Pingry with over 20 years of experience in education as a classroom teacher, coach, and administrator in public, charter, and independent schools. Ms. Sacco spent four years at The Hewitt School, an independent all-girls K–12 school in New York City, as Literacy Specialist for three years and Interim Head of the Lower School for one year. She also spent many years at the Manhattan New School (P.S. 290). Outside the classroom, Ms. Sacco co-authored Significant Studies for Second Grade: Reading and Writing Investigations for Children (Heinemann, 2004). She received a B.A. from Gettysburg College and an MS Ed. in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Bank Street College of Education, and completed an Aspiring Leaders Program at Baruch College School of Public Affairs for New York State administration certification.

Giovanni Scolaro, Mechanical Maintenance Technician, previously worked for the UPS, and prior to that he worked as a Head Physical Therapy Aide at SportsMed Physical Therapy, LLC.

Lily Siegel, Upper School History Teacher, received a B.A. in History, with a minor in English, summa cum laude, from Tufts University, where she received a departmental award for Excellence in European History. While at Tufts, she did a significant amount of work with DREAM, a non-profit mentoring organization for underprivileged students in the New England area. Ms. Siegel led the programming for a group of students from nearby public housing and personally mentored a seventh-grade student.

Deanna Smith, Assistant Director of Auxiliary, Signature Programs and Registrar, spent 12 years in nonprofit work before joining Pingry, most recently as Childcare Director at the YMCA, overseeing a preschool program, before and aftercare, along with a summer camp in Middlesex County. Ms. Smith received a bachelor’s degree in Social Work with a concentration in Community Mental Health from Ramapo College of New Jersey.

Michael Snock, Facilities Technician, is a versatile carpenter-handyman with over 30 years of experience in various phases of remodeling and construction. He spent two decades as a carpenter with Mike’s Hammer and, prior to that position, 13 years as a carpenter with Sinkiewicz Construction. He attended the Ocean County Vocational-Technical School, specializing in Building Trades.

Erin Strong, Lower School Performing Arts Teacher, is a devoted arts and wellness educator who believes strongly in the power of the arts to ignite and build community. She previously served as Director of Dance at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center School of the Arts, where she designed and taught classes for all ages in dance genres such as jazz, musical theater, creative movement, movement for actors, and contemporary; she also co-taught interdisciplinary classes in theater, music, and dance for Grades K–5. Ms. Strong also spent 16 years at Phillips Academy as Instructor in Theatre and Dance and Department Chair of Theatre and Dance. She received a B.S. in Dance, with a minor in Business, magna cum laude, from Skidmore College and an M.A. in Dance Education from NYU’s Steinhardt School of Education.

Christy Welborne, Assistant Director of Enrollment Management, is an education administrator with years of experience in K–12 schools and at Fortune 500 corporations. Prior to Pingry, she spent seven years at the Chapin School in Princeton, first as Associate Director of Admission and then Director of Enrollment Management, transforming their approach to admissions. Prior to Chapin, she spent four years as Associate Director of Admissions at Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg. Earlier in her career, Mrs. Welborne worked as an accountant for Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and held positions with Target Corporation and Digital River, Inc., a global e-commerce, payments, and marketing services firm. Passionate about education, equity, and inclusion, she received a B.A. in Economics from The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and an M.A. in Education Leadership from Seton Hall University.

Cristine Wilson, Operations Officer, previously worked as Director of Operations for the women’s soccer team Sky Blue FC (now known as Gotham FC), where she also introduced and hosted the organization’s first Pride Night and continued to grow the night year after year. Mrs. Wilson received a B.A. in Sport Promotion & Media, with a Minor in Communications, from the University of Connecticut.

Dr. Maryann Woods-Murphy, Upper School Spanish Teacher, has served as World Language Coordinator and a founding educator at Bergen County Academies in Hackensack; Spanish Teacher at Northern Highlands Regional High School; and Co-Director of Teens Talk about Racism. In 2009–10, a panel of education experts at the state level and the New Jersey Commissioner of Education named her “New Jersey State Teacher of the Year.” Dr. Woods-Murphy received an undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Humanities from Montclair State University, summa cum laude; an M.A. in Spanish Literature from Montclair State University, and Diploma de Estudios Hispánicos (M.A. Equivalent) from Universidad de Salamanca; and an Ed.D. in Teacher Leadership from Walden University.

Saying Farewell to Administrators, Faculty, and Staff

Matt Levinson, Head of School for three years, left Pingry to become the 10th Head of School at San Francisco University High School. He led the School through the COVID-19 pandemic, preserving the educational experience “with extraordinary effort from the whole community” while trying to ensure student and employee safety on both campuses. Creating “Pingry Anywhere” and the internal Health and Safety Team, and adding regular testing cycles, were key to tackling the challenges.

He cites this quote by James White, former CEO of Jamba Juice and author of Anti-Racist Leadership, that captures the approach he tried to take: “In a crisis, you need to gather the best minds out there, and look at the problem from every conceivable angle in order to solve it.” Mr. Levinson consulted with many outside professionals, the Yale School of Medicine, the local Board of Health, and other Heads of School. “One of the hardest aspects was making really significant decisions with imperfect and rapidly changing information. We had to be thoughtful and intentional in using reliable, accurate information,” he says.

Specifically, partnerships with Mirimus Labs (testing), Lower School parent Margherita Cardello P ’31 and RiteAid (student, faculty, and staff vaccinations), Global Online Academy (training the faculty to teach online), The Jed Foundation (mental health), and Alison Park, Founder of Blink Consulting (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging), have been invaluable to Pingry.

Other major initiatives during Mr. Levinson’s tenure included the School acquiring the Pottersville Campus (“a rigorous process that was energizing and so positive”); increasing and institutionalizing commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging; and forming a K–12 department with a “really clear mission and vision” for student wellness. Why K–12 instead of division-specific? “As students are transitioning from division to division, we need to make sure there’s good continuity and information so that the transitions are smooth. And the wisdom gained from having a cross-divisional team strengthens everybody’s skill set.”

Mr. Levinson and his family are excited to return to the West Coast, where his children grew up, and he wishes Pingry all the best. “You’re in great hands with Tim.”

Judy Baker P ’01, GP ’27, ’28, Assistant Director of Athletics, retired after 31 years. She worked diligently to coordinate game schedules, hire officials for all home games, schedule buses for all away games, organize season reports for Middle School, JV, and varsity teams, and maintain yearly sport information binders, among other behind-the-scenes responsibilities.

Dr. Delvin Dinkins, Assistant Head of School, K–12 and an Upper School English Teacher, left Pingry after five years to become Head of School at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia. “I’ve spent years being part of a ‘sense of purpose’ in independent schools, and this opportunity came up. I felt ready for a wonderful challenge.”

He chaired several committees, including the Academic Committee; Student Safety Advisory Committee; DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) Director Search Committee; Jed Committee (a partnership with The Jed Foundation to improve Pingry’s efforts around mental health); Accreditation Committee (overseeing the mid-point review to demonstrate Pingry’s progress since the most recent accreditation and recommendations); and Student Core Competencies Committee (read more in the Fall 2021 issue of The Pingry Review). As an English Teacher, Dr. Dinkins taught American Literature for five years, and proposed and taught a new course on African American Literature, a “chronological survey from the 1700s through the 21st century.”

“It was a joy to be at Pingry and I was honored to serve the institution,” Dr. Dinkins says. “I tried to be impactful with a sense of purpose.”

Paula Edell P ’95, ’99, Lower School Nurse, retired after 32 years. “I simply adored my job because it wasn’t a job. It was a labor of love, caring for incredibly adorable, bright, articulate children and assuring they were healthy and safe every day,” she says. “Also, I worked with the most talented, caring, committed faculty and staff—and that assured that every day was a joy.”

Anthony Gagliardi P ’22, who worked in Maintenance/Grounds, retired after 31 years. He helped maintain Pingry’s athletics fields and was one of four members of the Facilities Team who participated in Storr Tractor Company’s 2018 “Field Day” at Yankee Stadium to learn how Yankee Stadium’s field is maintained (read more in the Fall 2018 issue of The Pingry Review).

Vicki Grant P ’03, ’06, Upper School English Teacher and a member of the Magistri, retired after a 38-year Pingry career. Among her leadership positions at Pingry, she served as Head of Community Service (1993–1996) and took the Middle and Upper Schools to the food bank, and Chair of the English Department (2009–2014). Mrs. Grant also designed costumes, props, and set pieces for Fall Plays and Winter Musicals; coached JV Field Hockey, Middle School Basketball, and Middle School Softball; and created the first faculty journal.

Asked about changes to the English Department while she was Chair, Mrs. Grant summarizes them as a “great sense of unification and community within the department . . . I didn’t do anything alone. I believed very firmly in facilitating a great working and teaching experience with all of us working together.” To illustrate the changes within the department over nearly four decades, Mrs. Grant offers this perspective: “In 1984, the department taught one woman’s work—poems by Emily Dickinson—and no books by people of color. The curriculum has changed.”

About those curriculum changes: Mrs. Grant is proud that she co-created the World Literature course (expanding on the European and British Literature course) and created Literature by Women. Overall, she taught most of the Middle and Upper School English classes, including American Literature, Creative Writing, Writing About Literature, Greek Drama, New Voices, Magical Realism, and Literature and Madness.

Five years ago, Mrs. Grant introduced a springtime project that was inspired by the videos, photo essays, and graphics that newspapers and TV programs use to bring topics to life. Her idea: Students could react to literature of their choice through a creative multimedia presentation that incorporates writing. “Students want to have a lot of rules—they want you to tell them what to do—but that’s not always good for them. I give options and then say, ‘Go to town.’ I love seeing their pride in their work.”

She also loved to watch the editors of Pingry’s student-run literary magazine Calliope be proud of publishing other students’ work during the past five years that she served as faculty advisor; read more about Calliope in the feature about student publications on page 48.

“Pingry is my family,” Mrs. Grant reflects. “Tim and I grew up here, and our children were lifers,” she says of her husband Tim Grant, who has taught Chemistry and coached cross country and track at Pingry since 1984, and their sons Thor ’03 and Josh ’06. “When the 2008 yearbook was dedicated to Tim and me, I told the audience, ‘We have two sons, but we have thousands of children.’”

Mrs. Grant received the Albert W. Booth Chair for Master Teachers (2001) and Senior Class Faculty Chair (2008).

Dr. Megan Jones, History Department Chair since 2017, left Pingry after 12 years to join Columbia University as Assistant Director for Undergraduate Travel Safety in the Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement. She came to Pingry as an Upper School History Teacher in 2010, added the position of Educational Technology Integrator in 2014, and assumed her most recent position three years later. Dr. Jones also served as an Assistant Coach for Girls’ JV Soccer, co-advised Student Government, co-advised The Pingry Record, and advised Model Congress. She received the Woodruff J. English Faculty Endowment Fund (2016) and the David B. Buffum History Chair (2020).

Brian La Fontaine P ’10, ’14, Lower School P.E. Teacher and a member of the Magistri, retired after 41 years. He also coached boys soccer and lacrosse, and boys and girls ice hockey, for the Upper School.

Sheila Ramirez P ’01, ’04, ’07, Director of Lower School Admission, retired after 26 years at Pingry. She witnessed the transition from composition notebooks (filled with handwritten comments) to computers with lots of databases to keep track of information about prospective students, plus an increase in the School’s marketing efforts. The most fun part of her job was “meeting people from different backgrounds—I loved hearing their stories. I enjoyed meeting all of the families.” When families returned to visit, they always remembered her.

pingry.org/extras: A tribute to all faculty and staff who left Pingry after the 2021-22 school year.

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Introducing Spring Intensives

As experiential education (“ex ed”) becomes ingrained in Pingry’s curriculum, the K–12 “ladder” is complete. Until this past spring, the scenario was: ex ed takes place daily at the Lower School, Project Week concludes the year in Middle School, and seniors embark on Independent Senior Projects in May. As of this past spring, Grades 9–11 now have Spring Intensives from late May into early June.

What are Spring Intensives? An outcome of the 2018 Strategic Plan and Ex Ed Vision Report (which called for the exploration of a “minimester”), they are immersive courses that give students dedicated time to explore a topic on campus and/or off campus; each student selects one intensive from about 40 offerings. Each course is designed and taught by two or three teachers who have the chance to showcase a passion outside of the classroom. The intensives are intended to be hands-on, interdisciplinary, intellectually fulfilling, and joyful, with freshmen, sophomores, and juniors learning together.

Examples of 2022 courses included Adventures in Problem Solving; The Great Pingry Bake Off; From Clay to Kimchi: An In-Depth Look at Two Ancient Korean Traditions; Refugee Stories; The Curious Case of Quantum Science; World War II Through Film and Fiction; Explorations in Artificial Intelligence; Survey of Cryptology; and From Craving to Consumption: The Story and Science of Chocolate.

Spring Intensives

Co-Chairs:

Brian Burkhart, Director of Technology and Curricular Initiatives and Interim Director of Teaching and Learning

Rebecca Sullivan, Director of Experiential Education and Pottersville Programs

The New Chapter of Pingry’s Story:

Head of School Tim Lear Poised to Lead with Head and Heart

The voice of Tim Lear came through the loudspeakers clearly and crisply as he performed a microphone check on a sunny Friday morning in early September, not a cloud in the sky. Middle and Upper School students, dressed up for this special occasion, would soon be walking to Parsons Field, and the Board of Trustees and faculty, dressed in their academic gowns, would soon be processing. Convocation, the ceremony that has marked the official opening of the Pingry school year since 1987, was about to take place for the 2022-23 school year. And it was going to be Mr. Lear’s first time addressing the trustees, faculty, staff, and student body in his new role as Pingry’s 17th Head of School. It sounds cliché, but many people say something along the lines of, “If you told me (fill in a number) years ago that I would one day become (fill in a vocation), I wouldn’t have believed you.” Well, in Mr. Lear’s case, if you told him as a Middle School student at Pingry that he would one day become a teacher and Pingry’s Head of School . . .

If it had been Mr. Lear’s decision, he and his twin brother, Chris, both members of the Class of 1992, wouldn’t have been attending Pingry to begin with. Yet, there they were in Middle School because their parents—who shared a strong work ethic and believed in the power of education—liked what they heard about Pingry. Why the resistance from the brothers? “Part of it was not going to public school anymore with our childhood friends; part of it was that our new friends wouldn’t be next-door neighbors; and we didn’t know what independent school was. It was a risk to leave something comfortable,” Mr. Lear remembers. In fact, the brothers planned, with their parents’ consent, to return to public school if they didn’t do well at Pingry. Behind the scenes, what they really planned to do was perform poorly on purpose.

“I did terribly on my first report card, and Chris did fairly well, so he broke our pact!” Mr. Lear says with a chuckle. “When I realized that we weren’t going anywhere, I had to put in my best effort.” But he was encouraged in this area. “Pingry was hard, so I had to get used to teachers challenging and motivating me to put in more effort and do better work.”

So, what changed? Sports and teacher feedback. Mr. Lear enjoyed early successes with cross country and spring track, coached by Ed Scott and Vic Nazario P ’90, ’94 who gave him

a sense of self-confidence outside the classroom. “And I felt like the teachers met me where I was. Some of them came to the meets and asked how I had done. My history teacher, Mr. [Jeff] Utz, always asked about my sports results and congratulated me on my successes. When people are invested in your success, it’s pretty hard not to be invested in your own. They sensed my potential, so it made me feel like I had it, so I started to care more.”

He certainly did have potential—Mr. Lear is a member of Pingry’s Athletics Hall of Fame for his accomplishments as a runner. Among his achievements, he set school records in cross country and helped lead the team to three consecutive parochial titles. He also set records in track and won county and state titles. He continued his running career at Princeton University, where he earned All-Ivy honors, was named the cross country team’s MVP his senior year, and was recognized as one of the top 15 cross country runners in the Ivy League.

Since Mr. Lear’s parents encouraged visits to bookstores and libraries that led to his love of reading, and since he would become an English teacher, one wonders, was English his best subject at Pingry? “Not at first,” he says with a laugh. “I could not diagram a sentence, and I still have nightmares about diagramming sentences! Even contractions, in Middle

“When people are invested in your success, it’s pretty hard not to be invested in your own.”

School, drove me crazy. But I loved reading and stories and creative writing. My avenue was creative writing, which we did not have, so I was good at what Pingry didn’t offer!” Reading stories, books, and plays in English classes, and having discussions about them, appealed to him—and discussions about books would later play an important role in his Pingry future.

He says the turning point was ninth-grade English with Tom Keating P ’27, ’29. “I loved his class, and the ability to have informal conversations, and I started to become invested in analytical writing.” Then–Assistant Head and Upper School History Teacher Joe LaValley P ’88, ’89 also made an impression on Mr. Lear, related to the printed word. “He was an intellectual who conducted research in Harvard’s library during vacations, demonstrating that he considered ideas, books, and words a valuable way of spending time,” Mr. Lear told The Pingry Review in 2018.

Physics Teacher Chuck Coe P ’88 gave Mr. Lear an important perspective on advising and mentoring: Mr. Coe was his advisor and “gave me his time and attention just like he gave to his science students and athletes . . . He clearly conveyed that these interactions were important to him, so they became an important part of my day.” Mr. Coe’s colleague, Chemistry Teacher and track coach Tim Grant P ’03, ’06, left a huge impression on Mr. Lear for his dedication on a weekend. Mr. Grant entered Mr. Lear in the Bernardsville Relays that took place on a Saturday when Mr. Lear was in Grade 8. The event featured a Middle School Mile, and Mr. Lear believes he was trying to beat five minutes in that race.

“It dawned on me that it was a big deal to me, so therefore, it was a big deal to him,” Mr. Lear says. “This wasn’t normal—that level of effort and attention was extraordinary. He was not here because there were 50 of us. He was here because I was trying to

set a personal best. And in hindsight, I remember thinking that he had fellow teacher Mrs. Grant and two kids at home, and the weekend hours are precious.” That commitment on Mr. Grant’s part has always stayed with him because it represents, in his mind, the sacrifices that school employees’ spouses and partners make on a daily basis. “Working in a school is a huge time investment when it’s done right, and Pingry is at its best when it’s done right . . . I think of those interactions when students go for extra help, when they’re coached, when they’re advised. That, to me, is Pingry—those in-between moments, those after-school activities. That’s not diminishing the core subjects, but elevating the other moments. Fifteen-minute conversations can have a lasting impact.”

With Mr. Lear having graduated from Pingry and majoring in Political Science at Princeton, he likely figured that his career path would take him elsewhere, but he later changed majors to English because of his love for reading (and he was inspired by his college roommate, an English major). Plus, the Pingry influence remained strong in the form of three teachers. Then–Chair of the Language Department and French Teacher Lydia Geacintov P ’84, ’88, then–Director of Alumni Affairs and Biology Teacher Miller Bugliari ’52, P ’86, ’90, ’97, GP ’20, ’24, and Mr. Keating all kept in touch with him and suggested that he consider becoming a teacher.

Mrs. Geacintov shares her reasons: “I was impressed with his intellect, his genuine interest in changing the world through education, the fact that he was someone who did not shy away from discussing ethical dilemmas, his respect of the

Honor Code, and his well-balanced interest in, and participation in, athletics as well as academics. So, I thought that he had those characteristics to become a role model for young people.”

From his perspective in 1988, Mr. Keating saw a teenager who possessed “all the qualities of a master teacher. He was smart, personable, articulate, and dedicated. Above all, though, he had that spark of genuine enthusiasm and passion that all great teachers and leaders have. That we have stayed close all these years makes his becoming Head of School one of the greatest joys of my life.”

Mr. Bugliari went by intuition. “Even though I didn’t teach or coach Tim, I observed him as a member of the student body and thought he would be good at working with kids as a teacher, coach, and mentor. He had that aura of being good with kids, so after he graduated, I suggested that he consider a career in education.”

As Mr. Lear was hearing the same suggestion from multiple Pingry voices, he thought there might be something to this career path and figured that Pingry might be able to help. During his senior year of college, on a whim, he contacted then–English Department Chair Dr. Jane Ashcom “to express my interest in finding out what teaching English might look like, and could I ‘intern?’” She agreed. For several weeks, he visited Pingry as a substitute teacher, and the experience hooked him because he loved talking to students about books. “I felt like Pingry was as invested in my next step as I was. I still wonder if I would have gone down the teaching path if they hadn’t said anything and if Dr. Ashcom hadn’t opened classrooms and accommodated my college schedule. I benefited from a combination of foresight, flexibility, patience, encouragement, and trust.”

Fast-forward about a decade, during which Mr. Lear worked as an Academic Tutor at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, received a master’s degree in English from Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English, and was happily teaching English, serving as Director of College Counseling, and coaching at Oak Knoll School in Summit. He had taken on college counseling to have a new challenge and to be an advocate for students during the college application process. His skills as an English teacher provided a natural transition to college counseling—he could continue to write and was able to encourage students to share their stories. “Each student’s recommendation letter is a puzzle to figure out, in terms of which material to

“Working in a school is a huge time investment when it’s done right, and Pingry is at its best when it’s done right . . . I think of those interactions when students go for extra help, when they’re coached, when they’re advised. That, to me, is Pingry—those in-between moments, those after-school activities.”

“Whether you’re 15 or 45, we all have something to learn, we all have more to contribute than we know, and sometimes, we need to be pushed to meet that challenge.”

choose and how to condense it. You have to be a skilled writer and editor. It’s a fun challenge,” he told The Pingry Review in 2018.

His only thought about Pingry at the time was that “it might be great to return in five to 10 years,” but he was still visiting the School for various reasons, heard about the new leadership in Nat Conard P ’09, ’11 and Jon Leef P ’15, ’18, and wanted to learn about Pingry’s direction. Only a few weeks after meeting with them, the School was looking for a Director of College Counseling.

“I interviewed for a position I hadn’t been looking for,” Mr. Lear says. “When I spent about an hour having lunch with and answering questions posed by current students, that’s the moment when I thought, ‘I hope I get this job.’ They were so dynamic and interesting. The thought of coming back to my alma mater really took hold, and I became somewhat desperate to get the job.” In 2007, Mr. Lear was officially back at Pingry as Director of College Counseling, an Upper School English Teacher, and an assistant coach for the Boys’ Cross Country Team. Little did he know what his Pingry future still had in store for him.

Between 2007 and 2020, Mr. Lear helped transform College Counseling: among other initiatives, he expanded the office from four to six counselors, redesigned the office’s leadership structure, made it a year-round operation, and designed a “College Jump-Start” summer program for rising seniors. What was his motivation for these enhancements? “The process and demands in college counseling had changed. More activities were happening over the summer, so we needed to be 12-month employees—the director and all of the

Mr. Lear’s Monthly Communications

Shortly into his tenure, Mr. Lear began writing monthly letters to the community: the Board of Trustees, alumni, current parents, faculty, staff, and Middle and Upper School students. In them, he shares his thoughts—such as reflections on the recent dedication of the Edward Scott, Jr. Cross Country Course (read more on page 6)— and maintains the connection with alumni, especially after an alumni event. Keep an eye on that inbox!

Mr. Lear’s letters are archived and available at pingry.org/about/head-of-school-tim-lear.

counselors. I wanted all of us to be sharing the burden and to be equally fluent. We all needed to work with recruited athletes, students applying for financial aid, and students applying to arts schools.”

After 13 years as Director of College Counseling, and having attended the NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools) Aspiring Heads Program, Mr. Lear was encouraged to take on more leadership and rose to the position of Dean of College Counseling and Director of Student Support. A year later, in 2021, he rose again, to Assistant Head of School for Guidance and Student Life, K–12. Among other responsibilities, he built and led the Counseling and Academic Support Team (CAST) to support the community’s well-being, and helped guide the School’s practices in SEL (social-emotional learning) and DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging). Of CAST, he says, “The number one goal is accessibility and availability to meet with students. The pandemic provided the opportunity to offer more support. We need a ‘deep bench’ of colleagues and we need more experts because counseling is more important than ever.”

Perhaps not as visible to the Pingry community, by this point in his Pingry career, Mr. Lear was a member of the Administrative Team and had served in some other crucial roles: a member of the Curriculum Review Steering Committee (2010–2013), Co-Chair of the Upper School Director Search (2016-17), a member of the Spring Intensives Committee, and a member of the Purnell School/Pottersville Campus Task Force. (Of his participation on the Administrative Team, Mrs. Geacintov was impressed by his preparation for meetings, objective approach to the topics, attentive listening, open-mindedness, and respect for other people’s views.)

Convocation’s Overlapping Messages

About three weeks after Convocation, Mr. Lear was speaking to parents when he expressed his amazement at the similarities among the Convocation speakers’ messages, especially considering that none of them had shared their speeches with one another prior to the ceremony. Board of Trustees Chair Ian Shrank ’71, Student Body President J.P. Salvatore ’23, Honor Board Chair Stephanie Ticas ’23, and Mr. Lear all spoke about giving back to Pingry, paying attention to those around you, and building community. pingry.org/extras: Read excerpts from the speeches and watch a video of the entire ceremony.

“With three campuses and three robust divisions, we need team players—people who are willing to sacrifice, compromise, pitch in, and listen.”

“When it comes to ‘showing up,’ how you show up is up to you. That you show up is what’s important.”

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Husband-and-Wife English Teachers

Director of College Counseling TIM LEAR ’92, P ’25, ’27, ’30 and his wife ELEANOR P ’25, ’27, ’30 (Elie) both teach English at Pingry—Ethical Dilemma and English 10, respectively. It turns out that a love for English and books brought them together, because they met in Middlebury College’s five-year summer graduate program, Bread Loaf, while Tim was teaching at Oak Knoll School in Summit and Elie was teaching at Hood River Valley High School in Oregon (she later moved to the East Coast, teaching at Summit High School and then at Kent Place School, prior to coming to Pingry in 2015).

They constantly ask each other for advice. Tim doesn’t teach the first half of the school year (Ethical Dilemma is a second-semester course), so he “gets rusty” between June and January. Upon returning to the classroom, he likes to hear Elie’s ideas for lesson plans, as well as suggestions for bringing to life specific ideas from books his class is reading. He also relies on her for “innovative lesson plans that use technology” and seeks guidance on why certain teaching methods do or don’t work. For her part, Elie is constantly nervous about her writing and asks Tim to review her wording, plus she relies on him “to guide me, culturally, through Pingry’s expectations.” And, while it’s not exactly “advice,” they debate each other about grading. For example, Elie writes comments on her students’ essays, while Tim makes corrections on his students’ work. So, English teachers by day, but what about night? Their love of literature continues, inspired by their parents who shared a love of books and reading. Tim reports that, “My dad always bought me books or took me to the library.” Accordingly, Tim and Elie read to their children a lot—he, one-on-one, and she, all three together at home and in the car. And family travels always include visits to bookstores. “We want them to view books as fun, mysterious, cool things—an escape, but also their reality…As a parent, I’m surprised by how little I care about their grades and how much I care about their love of reading. And it doesn’t matter to me what they read. Any reading is good and valuable,” Tim says. Elie adds, “There’s a difference between ‘reading a lot’ and ‘loving to read and being lost in a book,’ especially a good novel.”

What are some of their own favorites?

Tim: The World According to Garp; mysteries (he cites Louise Penny’s Bury Your Dead and Tana French’s Faithful Place); poetry by Seamus Heaney

Elie: Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life and A God in Ruins; classics such as Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park; anything by Charles Dickens Elie adds, with a laugh, “More important than any of that, we each have a subscription to The New Yorker because Tim didn’t like when I bent the pages on his copy!”

Thus, when the opportunity to become Pingry’s next Head of School presented itself, Mr. Lear felt ready for more, for a couple of reasons. “The events of the past five years, a period of uncertainty and change for schools as well as the country, forced me to really think about what distinguishes Pingry from other top institutions. And I kept returning to the value it places on respecting others and building community. I also had ideas I wanted to share, and I wanted to partner with people outside of the Upper School—partnering across divisions and departments is the most effective way to build a healthy community. I would have the incredible opportunities to re-center the Honor Code, highlight Pingry’s core values, and prioritize the importance of ‘showing up for one another.’”

This past February, Mr. Lear was named Pingry’s 17th Head of School effective with the 2022-23 school year. He is humbled to be only the fourth Pingry graduate to serve as Head, following in the footsteps of Charlie Atwater ’31, P ’63 (1961–1970), Scotty Cunningham ’38, P ’78, ’80 (1970–1980), and Dave Wilson ’59 (1980–1987). Reflecting on that legacy, he states: “This is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I feel an extra sense of responsibility. I feel extra-fortunate.” (Because of his new responsibilities, Mr. Lear is not teaching this year, but he hopes to teach a Spring Intensive in 2023 and teach or co-teach an English class in 2023-24.)

As part of his preparation preceding July 1, Mr. Lear was already visible as Head of School Appointee, leading campus tours at Reunion and running the end-of-year employee meeting, which included staff awards for the first time, along with the traditional faculty awards. He was also scheduled to address the community at “Celebrate Pingry!” to kick off Reunion Weekend, but was sick, so he was excited to have his wife, Eleanor (Elie), speak in his place. “Pingry is a team effort and a family,” he says. “It was important for the community to meet her. We spend a lot of our lives at Pingry . . . family members have to be invited in and feel comfortable and welcome. It’s a great opportunity for us to see more of us.”

What’s fascinating is that, at the exact moment when the Head of School announcement was emailed to the community, a defining moment in Mr. Lear’s career and life, a student appeared at Mr. Lear’s office door eager to meet about college placement. Mr. Lear invited him in to talk and continued that meeting when Ian Shrank ’71, Chair of the Board, came to see him. But the context makes it make sense—this is the Head of School that Mr. Lear intends to be: students are at the center of everything Pingry does.

“If the search committee was looking for a Head of School who

“Tim is caring, wise, moral, and trustworthy. I have absolutely no doubt that he will prove himself to be the right person at the right time for this school.”

– Ian Shrank ’71, Chair of the Board of Trustees

was going to be behind the scenes, primarily dealing with adults, then I was not going to be the candidate. I was very interested in continuing to engage with students, listen to students, and prioritize the student experience. In that moment, that student had a pressing question, and it was important to finish that conversation before I started the next one.”

“Engage” and “listen” are two key words in that explanation, coupled with the previously mentioned “showing up for one another,” because they are part of Mr. Lear’s goals for the Pingry community.

First, “be present in the students’ lives by showing up. We have to model the behavior that we want them to imitate or replicate. When I think of my teachers, I think of their actions as much as I do their words. Words fade over time, but I remember the actions—showing up, being present, expressing encouragement.”

Second, build community through “attention to your surroundings.” In his mind, this means being courteous, asking someone if they’re okay, and, if they’ve accomplished something noteworthy—tell them. “It’s easy to lose sight of

the people around us. Those details are no less important than the details of your own life and your own success.”

Third, build community through conversation. Mr. Lear wants people to get to know each other and believes that “curiosity and conversation are two hallmarks of a healthy classroom and community.” He demonstrated this at the Opening Meeting in August by presenting an Employee Aptitude Test that asked the audience to guess fun and delightfully unexpected facts about their colleagues.

Fourth, Mr. Lear wants to see a continuously fun atmosphere because the process of education should be fun. “Fun” shouldn’t be limited to an outcome, a championship game, or an end-of-year celebration.

“The classroom includes the Prom, Moving Up Day, Grandparents and Special Friends Day, Field Day . . . Pingry is healthy and running smoothly when it’s energetic and boisterous. To compete, to realize your potential, to be supported, to support other people and help them realize their potential—how is that not fun?”

17 Questions for Pingry’s 17th Head of School

1. Favorite books?

– Beautiful & Pointless (David Orr*)

– Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (John Le Carré)

– The Snowy Day (Ezra Jack Keats)

– Miss Nelson is Missing! (Harry Allard)

– Running with the Buffaloes (Chris Lear)

2. Favorite movies?

– The Verdict

– This Is Spinal Tap

– The Game

5. If your family could be any TV family, which one would it be?

Modern Family

6. Can you describe what happens during your family trips to bookstores and how long (on average) they last?

Average of 45 minutes, during which:

7. What items are you displaying (prominently) in your office?

– For the World Cup, a Belgian soccer jersey

– a Jack Nicholson One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest movie poster

3.

Favorite musical genre(s) and/or musician(s)?

– Brandi Carlile

– The Rolling Stones

– AC/DC

– The Band

4. Which celebrity would play you in a movie about your life?

Ha! Paul Newman (or Anthony Michael Hall)

– Hyla asks me to buy her an impossibly high stack of books; I say “no”; she says ”please”; I concede.

– James circles the stacks endlessly, complaining that there’s nothing interesting to read; he leaves with nothing.

– Tighe buys 0 books and 3 Lego sets.

– I buy several mysteries that I don’t have time to read.

– Elie, wisely, elects to stay home.

– a photo of running legend Lasse Viren, moments after falling to the track during the 1972 Olympic 10,000-meter final. Despite losing 50 meters on the field, he scrambled to his feet and rejoined the race, winning in a world-record time.

8. Best concert you’ve ever attended?

Brandi Carlile on the beach in Asbury Park

Favorite word? –

– Sisu (Finnish, loosely translated as “the resolve needed to overcome adversity”)

16. One piece of advice you would go back and tell your younger self? Relax 17. Favorite quote or movie line?

– Poet Seamus Heaney: “Noli Timere” (or, “Don’t be afraid”)

– University of Colorado Coach Mark Wetmore: “Risk excellence”

* Award-winning New York Times Book Review Poetry Critic David Orr visited Pingry in 2017

“It’s easy to lose sight of the people around us. Those details are no less important than the details of your own life and your own success.”

his lab was perfectly functional for teaching, but didn’t have the nice bright light that we have now, which is critical when you’re looking at archaeological artifacts. It didn’t have the nice workbench that we now have, so students can be sitting around the same table together . . . it’s great that they can do field work [on archaeological projects around Houston] and then do their research here.”

Dr. Mary Prendergast ’95 is giving an on-camera interview for Rice University’s September 2021 YouTube video about the Department of Anthropology’s renovated archaeology lab that she oversees. The new space has been used for teaching and research since August 2021, seven months after Dr. Prendergast joined Rice as Associate Professor of Anthropology. Until that time, this archaeologist had been living and working in Europe. How she became based in Europe was part of a non-traditional career path that has required decisions about—literally—which direction to go. Equally fascinating: Dr. Prendergast is not a scientist by training.

The arts and humanities in Pingry’s Upper School are strongest in her memory: English Teacher Vicki Grant P ’03, ’06 “making me a better writer—the greatest gift a teacher could give”; Drama Teachers Al Romano and Trish Wheeler teaching her to feel comfortable with public speaking; and the freedom to choose classes “that most of my peers would only encounter in college—Images of Women in Literature, Women’s Studies, Shakespeare.” However, it was AP Art History, taught by Visual Arts Teacher Barbara Berlin P ’85, that is most responsible for Dr. Prendergast’s career.

“I loved it because she showed us how to understand history through art, and I remember it so well, with field trips to Manhattan museums that made me want to work in the world of museums. Her class made me want to study Art History in college,” she says. At Brown University, Dr. Prendergast realized that she wasn’t as interested in Art History as she thought she was, but Ancient Art (which counted toward Art History) grabbed her attention and prompted her to switch majors to Old World Archaeology and Art. She was captivated by “encountering art that seemed remote to me—from a time and place I didn’t understand as well—and the prospect of learning about different world cultures, both past and present.” During the summer before her senior year, she traveled to Jordan for a dig at one of the world’s most well-known archaeological sites, Petra. “It was amazing—being abroad, living in another culture, studying the past.”

The whole time that she was in college, she didn’t have any training in science. But it turned out not to matter much. “Even if I had a degree in science, I would need a doctorate to do the work,” she explains. “I eventually developed the science bug through collaborations once I was practicing

archaeology. I work with people who are trained in various sciences—molecular biology, bioinformatics, chemistry, geology—and I trust their expertise. My role is to help form collaborations and try to develop research questions and interpretations.”

Dr. Prendergast did earn both a master’s degree in Anthropology (2005) and a Ph.D. in Anthropology (2008) at Harvard; the same year that she completed the master’s degree, she traveled to Tanzania and Kenya in East Africa to start her first excavation and to study collections in the National Museum of Kenya. She also began building relationships with collaborators, and working with colleagues from Tanzania, Kenya, the U.S., and European countries has always been a favorite aspect of her chosen field.

Ultimately, her specific research interests became the origins and spread of pastoralism (herding livestock for existence, instead of depending on agriculture), and pastoralism’s relationship to the earlier hunter-gatherers, in East Africa. “I had a lingering desire to work in East Africa because of my interest in how people in the past got their food,” Dr. Prendergast says. Fate also played a role in where she would end up, because, in graduate school, she met her future husband, Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo, who is from Madrid and was working in East Africa (and would become a professor of Prehistory at a university in Madrid). For further insights,

LEFT PAGE: Dr. Mary Prendergast ’95 in the Rice University Department of Anthology’s renovated archaeology lab

ABOVE: Ostrich eggshell beads dated to about 10,000 years ago at Daumboy Rockshelter in Tanzania

Dr. Prendergast contacted Dr. Fiona Marshall, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis and an archaeologist who has also worked in East Africa; Dr. Marshall helped guide her to a doctoral thesis having to do with Lake Victoria.

Two years after receiving the doctorate, Dr. Prendergast got a job (“through total luck”) as a Professor of Anthropology at Saint Louis University’s Madrid campus. While their children grew up and learned to be bilingual, she remained in that position for 10 years, including the last two as Chair of Humanities. In 2016-17, she was a Fellow in the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard.

But the major drawback of the Saint Louis University position in her mind was that it consisted mostly of teaching, and Dr. Prendergast wanted to conduct more research. Then, luck, or fate—or whatever word is most appropriate!— intervened again in the form of a position at Rice University.

“The job at Rice was a rare opening and is a great fit,” she says. “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Rice is one of the premier institutions, globally, if you want to work in

African archaeology. They have a long history of doing what I do, focusing on the most recent few-thousand years. And their training of African-born students in the Ph.D. program is a priority for me and fairly unusual in the United States because most African archaeologists who do a Ph.D. outside their home country go to European institutions. I couldn’t [help train African Ph.D. students] in Madrid because that school doesn’t have a graduate program in Archaeology. I also have the freedom at Rice to do research, create classes, and develop undergraduate training opportunities.”

When asked in early 2022 how she balances teaching with time in the field, she says she hasn’t been in the field since 2019 because of the pandemic, but she visited Tanzania this summer to reestablish relationships before “showing up with a group of students.” But when she was in the field before the pandemic, one of the digs resulted in an exciting discovery. In 2018, her team uncovered “massive accumulations of stones”—specifically, two areas of stones in circle formations at the village of Luxmanda in Tanzania (Luxmanda dates from the Pastoral Neolithic era, 5000 BP–1200 BP, or “Before Present”). They are lower grinding stones, also known as grinding slabs, which are used as the bottom stone in a fixed position when people use an upper stone to grind substances on them.

“We found them as if they’d been discarded,” Dr. Prendergast recalls. “We were excited because, one, nobody had ever found something like that south of the Sahara, and, two, the stones had been used to grind something, but we don’t know what. The sheen suggests plant processing—we know this from experimental studies where people grind up plants today.” This find led to a new project: figuring out what exactly was being ground. To do that, her team will capture residue from the stones, interview members of that community about recent plant use, and record plant names and specimens that could help shine light on those ancient residues.

Dr. Prendergast also uses the stones as an example of archaeology being more mundane than one might expect—but, in many cases, more revealing. “It’s good to move away from glorifying really unusual finds because it’s not a very accurate representation of what archaeologists actually do,” she observes. “Indiana Jones–type movies glorify single, special finds. But most archaeologists are interested in the 99.99 percent of people on the planet who didn’t leave such singular objects behind. Often, their lives are erased [if we don’t use] archaeology. A great example of this is in the United States where, for the last half-century, many archaeologists have worked to reveal the lives of Black people who were enslaved on plantations, in homes, and in other contexts. Often, the

“RICE’S TRAINING OF AFRICAN-BORN STUDENTS IN THE PH.D. PROGRAM

IS A PRIORITY FOR ME AND FAIRLY UNUSUAL IN THE UNITED STATES.”

material traces left behind are seemingly simple—buttons on clothing; animal bones from a meal; fragments of glazed ceramic plates—but taken together, they can help tell the stories of people who were rarely written about.”

Since Indiana Jones is one of the most popular depictions of archaeology in the movies, it begs the question: what does Dr. Prendergast think of those films? “Steven Spielberg did a really nice job of underscoring Nazi Germany’s obsession with the archaeological past as a way of building myths of German superiority. But unfortunately, those movies continue the image of the swashbuckling archaeologist who is always white, focused on an object of cultural heritage made by local indigenous people, and taking it out of that context—exactly what we as archaeologists are fighting against.” (Fun fact: for her Introduction to Archaeology course at Saint Louis University, students watched the Indiana Jones films and then critiqued them during their final exam.)

She cites Black Panther as a better movie for tackling issues in archaeology. “There’s a scene in the West African Exhibit in a museum alluding to the British Museum, when the character ‘Killmonger’ steals a looted artifact. The idea is, ‘This item was stolen from my people and now we’re taking it back.’ I don’t agree with smashing the glass cabinet, but the tension of the scene raises important questions: Whose heritage is this? Who gets to put that heritage in a museum? Who gets to ask for it

back?” (This scene has been written about in various online articles.)

On a more practical, day-to-day basis, Dr. Prendergast has encountered a variety of ethical concerns in her field. For one, she says archaeology has a history of “helicopter” or “parachute” research, in which an archaeologist flies in, collects data or samples from an area, and leaves without involving any local scholars in the work or establishing any long-term relationships. Another challenge is that archaeology has shifted toward partially destructive research—destroying small parts of samples to gather data.

“The destruction is small,” she points out, “but it’s irrelevant whether it’s the size of a grain of rice or a twocentimeter-square fragment because it’s a human body—that person lived, had ancestors, and may have descendants today. You have to respect that human being and the wishes of their descendants. Even if it’s an animal bone—if you destroy a sample, you’re also removing that sample from future research by future archaeologists or other scholars who may have different questions and new methods.” On the topic of respecting the wishes of descendants, how do archaeologists find those descendants? Sometimes, there is a clearly identified community of descendants. Otherwise, options include consulting with a group who is somehow connected to the burials; following the rules of local legislation, if it exists; and

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Magnetometer detects variations in the underground magnetic field, thereby helping the team figure out where to dig.

Paper on a clipboard, for record-keeping (lack of power and lots of wind with dust prevent the use of most technology)

Trowels for digging

Small plastic bag for each artifact (paper disintegrates and cloth is not convenient for labeling)

Photography to visually document artifacts

Time! One day in the field = about 30 days processing that day’s artifacts (washing, drying, labeling, organizing, studying, weighing, measuring, photographing). “Most of what we do is curation, analysis, and—we hope—publication.”

Finding a (modern) giraffe bone at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania

checking with museum curators. “There are also times when research simply should not be done,” she says, “and researchers need to be able to take ‘no’ for an answer.”

At the other end of the spectrum is big destruction from digging a site. “Dig as minimally as possible,” Dr. Prendergast says. “My team has used a magnetometer, which basically senses thermally altered materials underground . . . We often lament what people did in the past, and it makes us wonder, ‘What will people in the future say that we did wrong?’”

Another issue in archaeology that Dr. Prendergast raises awareness of stems from the actions of many European and American explorers who “were trying to understand people by taking artifacts and human remains, many of which are now in European and American museums. A huge ethical imperative is to recognize that history and figure out how to rectify it. I teach a course on Museums and Cultural Heritage, and there’s never been a more important time to think about museums and their functions.” So, how is ownership of these items in museums dealt with? Some museums are moving toward co-custodianship with indigenous communities where the legislation allows for it. In other places without legislation, nothing happens.

Then, considering all of the experiences under her belt so far, Dr. Prendergast offers a perspective on the modern problems affecting her main area of research. “Pastoralism is an incredibly flexible system that has adapted and can continue to adapt to modern times, and could help people to weather the increasingly unpredictable droughts we expect with climate change. Past attempts by African governments to sedentarize, or settle, pastoralists and shift their lives toward farming, in an attempt to be ‘modern,’ have had decidedly mixed results. Luckily, governments and NGOs are increasingly recognizing that pastoralism is a viable lifestyle. The biggest obstacles surround access to land and water, which is often controlled by forces well outside the hands of your typical pastoralist.”

As far as animals are concerned, “We are already seeing pastoralists make changes to their lifestyles—for example, shifting toward more goats or camels, which are relatively hardy in dry conditions, and away from sheep and cattle, which need lush grass. Some will take up fishing or farming. The great thing about pastoralism is that it’s flexible enough to allow all this change, if only people will be allowed to make their own choices.”

With pastoralism having sustained people for thousands of years and now being threatened, Dr. Prendergast and her colleagues are in the valuable position of being able to offer data on how pastoralism has been beneficial, and contribute to the debate about the future of livestock herders—just two examples of how their work can be influential. And that, in a simple sentence, is how Dr. Prendergast succinctly summarizes why archaeology is important: “Studying the past helps you understand the present and future.”

DR. PRENDERGAST’S RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ARCHAEOLOGY COVERAGE IN THE MEDIA

• Africa’s Great Civilizations with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (6-part PBS documentary, 2017)

• Forbes magazine

• Science magazine

• Professor Alice Roberts, a presenter on the BBC

And . . . Dr. Prendergast and her team have had their research published. In 2020, The New York Times and Nature detailed ancient human DNA they uncovered in West Africa. The BBC also interviewed her about this discovery.

Going back well over a century, Pingry has a history of documenting school news, campus life, student opinions, student writing, student artwork, student research, and student humor. In these pages, The Pingry Review surveys many of the student publications through images and the voices of current and past editors and faculty advisors. Among the editors is Mirika Jambudi ’23, who has the distinction of being the first student in Pingry history to serve as editor of Calliope, the Pingry Community Research Journal, The Pingry Record, and The Broken Wreckord in the same year.

FIRST ROW LEFT: The Literary Chip (1874), which published fiction, was an early example of a Zine.

FIRST ROW MIDDLE AND RIGHT: The Pingry Cheese (1899) published humor.

SECOND ROW LEFT: The Scroll covered the Museum Club (first called The Museum Club News; established in 1933; records show publication through 1946).

SECOND ROW MIDDLE AND RIGHT: Off the Record (1939) and The Broken Record (1940) were versions of the satire magazine known today as The Broken Wreckord.

BOTTOM: Language Magazine (1983) was a precursor to Polyglot.

1895,

The Pingry Record

Student Newspaper; the nation’s oldest country day school newspaper (established in 1895)

As written in the first issue: “. . . merely a school paper, and has no higher literary pretensions than to excel in scholastic literature. It has been started for the purpose of inspiring in the scholars more of a school feeling, and esprit de corps.”

The newspaper began life as a small, digest-size publication. In 1924, the paper expanded to full newspaper size because students wanted the experience of managing a real newspaper. Two of the faculty advisors over the decades, former Upper School English Teachers Pat Lionetti P ’85, ’88, ’89 and Dr. Susan Dineen, did their part to raise the paper’s quality: Mrs. Lionetti created a Journalism elective for juniors and seniors, but particularly students who were on the newspaper’s staff or interested in joining (the Journalism class even produced its own issue); Dr. Dineen made sure that news and opinions were balanced by requiring students to write at least one news article on a topic if they wanted to express their opinions about it.

“ We are continually looking at professional newspapers such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal for inspiration when crafting each issue. It is an honor to be in a position to uplift student voices and ideas, as well as highlight different events in our community and greater communities.”

Blue Book

Yearbook (established in 1908) Originally, the yearbook contained fewer pages, more text, and less content (sometimes, only a list of faculty and staff), but it did feature photos and brief biographies of the seniors, with two or four students per page. Beginning in 1970, each senior was given their own page, and the rest of the book has also expanded considerably over the decades—more section editors, more representation of student activities, more candid photography, and more coverage of all three divisions.

– Marge Lear-Svedman, former Upper School Visual Arts Teacher, former faculty advisor (from the Winter 2011-12 issue of The Pingry Review)

“The yearbook has become longer in recent years—last year was 430 pages!—and much more photocentric. Everything is done through special software to lay out the book, as opposed to it having been done by hand. It seemed a natural fit when I was asked to take over the role of yearbook advisor. A huge part of my role as Archivist is organizing and preserving all of our photographs and documents, and those things get used during every class session.”

– Peter Blasevick, Archivist, faculty advisor

“Our goal has always been to produce a student-driven, student-represented, and student-produced yearbook that is historically and factually accurate.”

“I advised Calliope for about 25 years, and I had the good fortune of working with editors who were superb at picking pieces and getting issues to press. I had the final say on submissions, but I wanted the selection and editing process to be as student-driven as possible. I think that is especially important for a school publication that features creative work. In my era, most of the editing was collaborative—that is, a team of editors worked closely together to collect and evaluate submissions, and then oversee publishing. Many fine visual art works found their way into the magazine by way of Pingry’s art department, and this greatly enhanced its quality and appeal. Basically, a wide range of students made all these different contributions in making Calliope an outstanding publication.”

–

Calliope

Art and Literary Magazine (current title since 1978; established in 1961)

Previously named Muse (12/1961–12/1968), Evande (1970), Mistral (1972), Muse (1/1973), Paper Tiger (5/1973), Muse (1/1974), Ipseity (5/1974), Horizon & Co. (12/1974–5/1975), Shadow Boxing (1976), and The Obe (1977)

“Our contributors have demonstrated a strong understanding of the world around them through an artistic lens, using their mature perspectives as a means to shatter the walls that often limit comprehension of our surroundings. I have focused on modernizing Calliope’s format, looking to professional literary magazines such as The New Yorker and The Kenyon Review for inspiration. As an avid reader, I am naturally drawn to the works in Calliope, and I love exploring the intricate worlds and scenes that our artists and writers create.”

–

“As our advisor, Mr. [George] Moffat [Head of the English Department] helped us identify contributors and pull the issues together. In English class, he encouraged us to experiment with creative writing styles in prose and poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Both in class and through the magazine, we came to respect and enjoy the writing of our classmates by sharing our work. As for the name, I’m proud to say that Calliope was chosen during my time as editor. In those days, the tradition was for the staff of the magazine to choose a new title every year. We knew that Calliope was the Muse of Epic Poetry in Greek mythology, and we thought the name itself was beautiful. We had no idea that the title would become permanent!”

– Vanessa Procopio Pumo ’78, editor in 1977-78

“In the last five years, Calliope is now available to be read online, therefore reducing the number of physical journals. Current editor Mirika Jambudi introduced software called Canva that allows the students to create more colorful, engaging text and imagery. We also expanded the staff, moving from one to two seniors to several seniors and juniors teaching and training sophomores and, sometimes, freshmen. I am very proud of the students’ expansions and innovations.”

– Vicki Grant P ’03, ’06, former Upper School English Teacher, former faculty advisor

Polyglot

Linguistic Magazine (established in 1986)

“Joanna Bober ’87 came to me with the idea and we brainstormed. She was passionate about publications, languages, and other cultures. The magazine had student editors for each language and a faculty advisor/editor. Students in all language classes were asked to submit in the language they were studying— such as a creative writing story, cartoon, review of a film, personal story, or commentary on any topic of interest.”

– Lydia Geacintov P ’84, ’88, former Head of the Language Department, former Upper School French Teacher, former co–faculty advisor with former Upper School Spanish Teacher Diana Abreu P ’96

Feature: History Pingry Publications

“Language learning is fundamentally about intellectual curiosity, cultural awareness, and empathy. You learn to understand others—not only their way of expressing themselves, but also their cultural practices, their history, their art, their thinking. Polyglot is a chance for students to explore their creativity in a new language, and it is a celebration of interculturality.”

– Upper School French Teacher Dr. Sterling Kouri, co–faculty advisor with Upper School German Teacher Dr. Igor Jasinski

“It is very rewarding to see our language students use their second or third language to express themselves. The submissions are very creative and insightful. As a language teacher, there is nothing better than seeing students apply what they learned in class to their life and get it published.”

– Upper School Chinese Teacher Weiwei Yu P ’26, former faculty advisor

“Polyglot was, unfortunately, shut down during quarantine. As this came to my attention earlier in the year, I knew I wanted to start it back up again. Raised by immigrant parents from Russia, I fluently speak Russian and English, both of which have become an important part of my identity. I am also doubling up on languages at school, taking both Spanish and French, hoping to broaden the extent of my knowledge of cultures and languages. Polyglot is not limited to only fluent speakers; no matter their level, I hope to encourage students to write. Polyglot compiles a mix of cultures, languages, and topics all into one journal, only broadening the Pingry community.”

– Olivia Buvanova ’25, editor

History of Publications

“The mission is to inform the Pingry community about current events while simultaneously providing a platform for the diversity of political views in our community. I took on Vital Signs because, in a time of political polarization and the growing political divide in our country, I wanted to ensure that there was a place where people can write freely about their opinion. Mainly, we are a free-speech publication, and political discussion and discord are highly encouraged! By providing various angles in our articles to view certain topics, we are able to create a well-rounded analysis of some of the hardest topics to tackle in our world.”

– Alex Wong ’25, deputy editor

“Students may express a particular point of view, but they write in a serious tone that is based on solid research and sourcing. Editors recruit writers and manage their work with care and attention to detail. Last year, [Upper School History Teacher] Ms. [Katy] Smoot did an outstanding job of rebuilding the editorial staff with strong underclassmen.”

– Matt Honohan, Interim History Department Chair, faculty advisor

Vital Signs

Analysis of Current Events (established in 1987)

At first a newsletter (now a magazine), Vital Signs was created by members of the Awareness Society, which had been initiated by then–Upper School History Teacher Madeline Landau P ’91. Her intention was for students to be able to express themselves while developing a point-of-view on an issue. Topics covered over the past 35 years include political campaigns, gun control, Middle East turmoil, abortion, censorship, health care reform, AIDS, reactions to September 11, 2001, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The first issue of Vital Signs in 1987

The Broken Wreckord

Started as Off the Record (1939); also titled The Broken Record (1940), Off the Record (1981), and The Satire Issue (1988)

“The Broken Wreckord puts a lighthumored twist on school news and current events. We know how much the community values The Broken Wreckord—the publication brings our community together over various inside jokes and Pingry-specific content. We look forward to creating each issue, keeping in mind our intention to uplift the spirits of our community.”

–

The Pingry Community Research (PCR) Journal

Journal of Scientific Research Conducted by Pingry Students (established in 2013)

“

The Pingry Community Research Journal provides students the opportunity to publish novel research. Through PCR, we hope to spark intellectual curiosity and promote scientific inquiry among the next generation. In a written medium, students demonstrate their in-depth understanding of complex, collegiate-level scientific topics and their applications in research at Pingry and beyond. As someone involved with IRT [Independent Research Teams] and HIRT [Humanities Independent Research Teams] and other independent research, I know that PCR has provided my fellow student researchers and me a place to showcase our talents in terms of research skills and knowledge of scientific concepts and discoveries.”

– Mirika Jambudi ’23, editor

The Parker Road Review

Peer-Reviewed Humanities Journal (online; established in 2021) Founded in 2021 and published for the first time in June 2022, this journal’s namesake is the Parker Road Campus. Just as Parker Road was neither Pingry’s first nor last home, this journal “acknowledges the dynamic and lifelong learning of our student writers. Where we start is not always where we end up” (from the journal’s mission on Pingry’s website). Selected articles begin life as papers written for humanities classes or Humanities Independent Research Teams (HIRT) and are peer reviewed— the highest standard for academic publication—to encourage “revision and collaboration while challenging students to develop intellectually engaging and sophisticated prose.”

Grace Barral ’22, Elspeth Campbell ’22, Milenka Men ’23, and James Thomas ’23, inaugural Editorial Board

Athletics

big blue highlights

Girls Ski Racing was the #1 team in New Jersey, winning the NJISRA State Championship and qualifying five skiers for the Race of Champions!

Boys Ski Racing saw unprecedented individual success as Tobey Jay ’22 was crowned the overall NJISRA state champion and his brother Dylan Jay ’24 came in first at the Race of Champions!

Perennial power Boys Squash took their 11-3 record to US SQUASH Nationals, placing fifth in their division, including a big 5-2 win over Lawrenceville in the tournament.Girls Swimming sent five swimmers to New Jersey’s Meet of Champions, including the 200yd- and 400ydrelay teams, and earlier in the season, Daniela Karnaugh ’24 took home the prep state title in the 100m breaststroke!



Athletics

big blue highlights

of

right: Boys Golf enjoyed a 9-3 record while only dropping one contest in the division. A five-match win streak to end the season put the finishing touches on a solid 2021-22 campaign. Softball enjoyed another winning season, including a five-game win streak headlined by a dominant 10-0 shutout of Ridge High School in the second round of the Somerset County Tournament.

CLASS OF 2022 COMPETING IN COLLEGE

Twenty-five Pingry graduates took their athletic skills to college teams, playing 12 sports on 25 campuses for some of the nation’s premier college athletics programs. Three students are playing at Division I Non-Ivy schools, which required signed national letters of intent, and many more are also playing for other top Division I, II, and III athletics programs around the country as well as the nation’s top competitive collegiate club teams.

Sports represented: football (2), lacrosse (7), baseball (3), squash (1), soccer (4), swimming (1), softball (1), tennis (1), wrestling (1), water polo (2), equestrian (1), and rugby (1).

Logan Bartels

Tulane University, Rugby

Dora Clark-Schoeb UConn, Lacrosse

Oliver Duryee Gettysburg College, Lacrosse Ainsley Ellison Connecticut College, Squash

Luke Engelke* Duke University, Lacrosse

Gia Graziano Cornell University, Tennis

Tyler Headley Harvey Mudd College, Swimming

Olivia Hung University of Chicago, Lacrosse

Daniel Ittycheria Princeton University, Soccer Harrison Josloff University of Vermont, Lacrosse

Jack Martin Harvard University, Wrestling

Cole Morriello Williams College, Soccer

Ryan Palmer* Rutgers University, Lacrosse

Willow Palmer

Emory & Henry College, Equestrian

Lucas Ribeiro

Trinity University, Soccer

Liam Royster*

Norfolk State University, Baseball

Thomas Santana Columbia University, Baseball

Nate Simon Rhodes College, Lacrosse

Anna Stowe Haverford College, Softball

Herbert Toler III

Vassar College, Baseball

Jacob Ventura Carleton College, Football

Zachary Ventura Carleton College, Football

Anton Volchenkov University of Alabama, Water Polo

Daniel Yanez

Tufts University, Soccer

Peter Youssef

University of Notre Dame, Water Polo

*Signed Official Division I NCAA National Letter of Intent  Baseball posted one of the greatest seasons in program history with a 23-3 record, including a 14-game win streak and a dominant performance in the Prep A tournament, defeating two heavily favored opponents on route to taking home the title!

Athletics

Pingry Adjunct Coaches Enjoy Historic Seasons

From former professional athletes to NCAA national champions to U.S. national team players to a soccer icon with over 900 career wins, Pingry athletics is fortunate to boast a roster of coaches that is second to none. Many of the coaches spend their full day at Pingry as teachers or administrators, connecting with their student-athletes during the school day, then scurrying off in the early afternoon to instruct them on the practice fields. This seamless connection proves to be valuable in terms of staying in tune with school culture and being able to checkin with student-athletes efficiently as needed.

On the other hand, for the adjunct coaches who arrive on campus after the school day ends, there is the added challenge of missing out on the school day interaction that would seemingly create a stronger relationship between student-athlete and coach. Despite this perceived disadvantage, the adjunct coaches are able to stay connected to their student-athletes, either through coordinating with on-campus assistant coaches or additional written communications, and their coaching efforts have yielded some of the best athletics seasons in Pingry’s history.

Look no further than the most recent campaigns of Girls and Boys Varsity Tennis Head Coach Marion Weber and Varsity Baseball Head Coach Anthony Feltre. Coach Weber is coming off of two “Coach of the Year” awards for her 2022 Boys Tennis season, and just wrapped up her Girls Tennis season, which included an undefeated record, a “Team of the Year” award, and an NJ.com #1 final ranking. Last spring, Coach Feltre led the Varsity Baseball Team to a historic 23–3 record, with Big Blue going undefeated in the Skyland Conference, setting multiple school records, and winning three straight games against regional powerhouses to capture the elusive Prep A Championship. The Pingry Review spoke with Coach Weber and Coach Feltre about their coaching careers and how they successfully navigate their roles as adjunct coaches.

When did you start playing your sport, and what made you start coaching?

MW: I started playing tennis at eight years old, at our local tennis club. I was taught to play by my father, who enjoyed much success playing throughout his life, and continued to play well into his 80s. After many years of training, coaching, international junior tournaments, a stint on the pro tour—which came with way too much travel—I decided to go back to college . . . but the tennis court was always calling. I started working behind the scenes at Pingry,

assisting with the tennis program at the start of the 201011 season. With the support of Pingry’s Athletics Directors [Carter Abbott and Gerry Vanasse] and the MS/JV coach, George Roser, who came on board in 2014, we have developed the Pingry tennis program into what it is today.

AF: The earliest that I can remember playing baseball is eight years old. My dad was a big Boston Red Sox fan, and we used to watch the games together when I was young. Twenty-three years ago, I got into coaching because I wanted to share that similar experience with my own son. I originally coached for our town team, eventually becoming a member of the town baseball leadership organization, and that evolved over the years to coaching as a career.

What motivates you as a coach?

MW: When it comes to on-court coaching, I enjoy the challenge of incorporating mechanics, strategy, and the mental aspects of the game into coaching, as well as encouraging players to develop their own unique styles and strengths, in the pursuit to realize their full potential. I am motivated to develop life-long students of the game, and make sure all players benefit not only on the court, but also off the court.

AF: Watching the players be successful and having fun! My motto last year was to have fun. Playing baseball is difficult

enough on its own, and I do not want my student-athletes to feel like the weight of the world is on their shoulders. I also feel such a sense of accomplishment helping young athletes grow and develop their skills.

What are the challenges that come with being an adjunct coach? What are the advantages?

MW: The challenges are trying to keep up with the “news” and events happening during the school day, and balancing that with the afternoon of sports when you are not present for the school day. The benefits of being an adjunct coach: I continue to have my finger on the pulse of what is happening in the tennis world outside of the school tennis curriculum; I am able to bring new ideas and knowledge to Pingry from various different sources; I can rely on the organizational support from the Pingry Athletics Department to focus on my position—coaching the team.

AF: The biggest challenge is not being in the building to be able to address day-to-day operations with administration and players . . . but, I have a great assistant coach in Matt Honohan who takes on that role for me. The advantage of being an adjunct coach is that I get to share a different perspective with the Pingry players. I have connections and relationships with college coaches that can help the Pingry student-athletes play at the next level, if they desire.

When your student-athletes graduate from Pingry, what do you want their takeaway from your program(s) to be?

MW: Even further than the realm of tennis, I strive to positively impact the lives of my student-athletes, instilling in them a strength of character that goes beyond the game. After leaving Pingry, these young student-athletes will branch off into college and then the world, and I hope they carry with them some of the lessons instilled/learned on and off the court from their time on the Pingry tennis team. I hope our team members learn to take initiative to communicate and advocate for themselves, make good

decisions, and take responsibility for their actions. To give their best always, even during times of adversity. As on the tennis court, if we remain coachable in life, we will always be open to improvement in the quest to reach our goals.

AF: I want the takeaway for the student-athletes from Pingry to be that they had a great experience that they can remember for the rest of their lives. That they respected one another, the game, and strived to be the best that they could be on and off the field.

What are you most excited about for the upcoming season?

MW: We just finished an undefeated Girls season in which we achieved all of our goals. Some of the best moments for me aren’t the victories as much as witnessing these young student-athletes realize that hard work pays off and that they had a wonderful experience in our tennis program. I’m excited to see what the Boys team can accomplish next season while defending our five titles from spring 2022, and to see if the girls team can repeat and stay on top.

AF: For the upcoming season, I am excited to see the growth of our returning players and newcomers. I am also excited to see if we can repeat what we accomplished last year, with our goal being to win the division for three years in a row. This year, we were moved up a division as a result of our success last year and the strength of our returning core players, so it will be a welcomed challenge to repeat our 23–3 season of last year. I know our players will be excited about returning to ESPN Disney for our Spring Break trip as it is a great way to build camaraderie amongst the players early in the season.

On the Arts visual

arts

The Return of Large-Scale Charcoal Portraits

As a sophomore, Kit Tyson ’12 had an idea while she was taking the Drawing & Painting class taught by then–Upper School Visual Arts Teacher Peter Delman P ’97, ’98.

“I wanted to make a large-scale charcoal drawing because I liked working with charcoal and we had access to large sheets of nice paper and a bigenough studio that I could tack a drawing to the wall and leave it there for weeks while I worked,” she remembers. “It was 2009, so Obama’s ‘Hope’ poster by Shepard Fairey was on my mind. Our Student Body President was Will Pinke, who I sort of knew—well enough to know he had a sense of humor about himself. So, I made a giant charcoal drawing of him with a hot pink T-shirt. When it was finished, it went up in the hallway and I called it My President is Pinke.”

While Ms. Tyson was working on her drawing, she says her classmates began to make their own large-scale drawings of people around school, and the project took off. Mr. Delman enthusiastically embraced it and recalls that “enrollment in the course skyrocketed because that work was so popular. Students couldn’t wait to do that project.” The tradition continued under the guidance of Upper School Visual Arts Teacher Rebecca Sullivan, followed by Nan Ring, the current teacher of Drawing & Painting 1.

The drawing that started it all: a portrait by then-sophomore Kit Tyson ’12 of then–Student Body President Will Pinke ’10.

“Crafted with precision and care, each portrait represented, to me, a special connection made between a student and an adult in our community, as well as the invaluable gift of being truly seen and recognized by another human being.”

- INTERIM UPPER SCHOOL DIRECTOR DR. REID COTTINGHAM, REFLECTING ON ALL OF THE PORTRAITS

The entire concept is based on a grid, with the face divided into thirds (hairline to eyebrow; eyebrow to bottom of nose; bottom of nose to chin). Ms. Ring explains the process:

– Students are encouraged to choose someone from the Pingry community to photograph themselves, using one source of light from one side.

–

Each photo is printed in black and white, 8 1/2 x 11 inches, and a grid is drawn on top.

– The grid is drawn, larger, on the large sheet of paper.

–

The student draws the portrait, square by square. Each portrait takes about three weeks (nine class periods).

On the Arts

music Lower and Upper School Students Participate in Competitive Musical Theater Conservatory

Brielle Marques ’24, Saniya Kamat ’24, and Sid Kamat ’30 were accepted to Paper Mill Playhouse’s competitive, five-week Summer Musical Theater Conservatory this past summer, making for Pingry’s largest participation in the conservatory in nearly 15 years (each year, 350–400 students audition for 100 spots). According to the theater’s website, this conservatory “represents the ultimate opportunity” for performers ages 10–18 to develop their skills, with classes in acting, auditioning, vocal technique, and dance, plus workshops led by professional actors, directors, and casting agents. The program culminates with the annual New Voices Concert on the main stage.

What does the conservatory look for in auditions? “Experience is helpful. A student must be able to authentically act through their song, connect to the lyrics, and tell the story of the song,” says Lisa Cooney, Paper Mill Playhouse’s Director of Education, Outreach, and Access. “Songs from musicals are intended to tell the story, so the acting is as important as the vocal quality. It’s also important that the performer can match pitch exactly to the piano.”

’24

Musical activities at Pingry: Lower School Musicals, learning the clarinet.

Why I auditioned for the summer conservatory: I love to sing and act, and I had heard that the program was a great one for kids who wanted to pursue musical theater.

What I learned: I learned to express my song when I sing.

Major takeaways: If you practice a lot and memorize your songs well, you will be a more confident performer. You can achieve anything you set your heart upon if you are willing to work hard at it.

Musical activities at Pingry: Middle School Musical, Balladeers, Glee Club, Upper School Winter Musical, stage manager for Middle School Musical, started Indian Dance Club.

Why I auditioned for the summer conservatory: It’s a highly competitive program, especially for a spot in the senior company as a female, and as my passion for musical theater has been growing, I wanted to participate in a more professional production that would challenge me. I also wanted to improve my acting skills, since singing has been my main focus.

What I learned: How to improve my acting skills— something I struggle more with. I learned to think about my character’s story, be true to whoever or whatever I was playing, and make bold choices.

Major takeaways: I gained a lot more confidence and realized that I need to stop caring about what everyone’s thinking when I’m auditioning and performing.

Brielle Marques ’24

Musical activities at Pingry: Balladeers, Fall Play, Winter Musical, stage manager for Middle School Musical.

Why I auditioned for the summer conservatory: I wanted to challenge myself. A few of my friends had previously participated in the program, and the more I heard about their time there, the more I wanted to experience it myself.

What I learned: In acting, motive and truly stepping out of our comfort zone and into a character; in musical theater, the art of auditioning and tips and tricks about the Broadway industry; in dance, the fundamentals of movement and core strength.

Major takeaways: An endless supply of knowledge about the musical theater industry and its inner workings. I was taught how to carefully craft and develop characters, regardless of the amount of material provided. My musical theater teacher helped me perfect several audition songs that I’ll be able to use in the future. In dance, I was able to gain control of my body movements in order to perform precise dances.

drama

Not Just Drama Anymore at the Lower School

What was the Lower School’s “drama program” is starting to look and sound much different, with the curriculum expanding from drama to the big-picture, interdisciplinary “performing arts.”

Assistant Head of School K–12 and Lower School Director Dr. ThuNga Morris says the emphasis in previous years was on acting—rather than a combination of music, dance, and theater—so shifting the focus to performing arts “deepens the student experience in a dynamic way, with lots of physical movement and learning about acting and public speaking.” This update also fits with the K–12 goal of more experiential education in classrooms and on stage.

With that thinking in mind, new Performing Arts Teacher Erin Strong brings to Pingry her extensive background in dance and interdisciplinary teaching in theater, music, and dance. She was charged with creating and building a “comprehensive” performing arts program, so her curriculum is continuing the collaboration that students enjoyed in drama class in the past and increasing the collaboration through what she calls “the languages of drama, dance, and other methods of expression and storytelling.”

“Physical movement is central to so many storytelling traditions and cultures that a truly comprehensive performing arts program must include both dance and drama,” she says. “Students are learning to express themselves with their bodies and voices, and we are celebrating their ideas and perspectives as artists.”

Along with the addition of dance, it’s important to note another major change: all students will be more active in the performing process. Ms. Strong will guide them through the collaborative creative design process so they learn—as an ensemble—how to develop an idea, revise it, and perform. That means all students are being introduced to the various theatrical roles.

“We are going to ask students at all grade levels to create—to put on the hat of playwright, choreographer, and director, so it’s not just me giving them material,” Ms. Strong says. “And by doing that, they will have an understanding of what all of those roles are, and they will value the process as much as the product. It’s like a visual arts class, where the teacher is not making the drawing—they draw and paint for themselves.”

Ms. Strong is also using her performing arts classes to make connections with other subjects, such as acted/danced versions of Grade 5’s poems from Writing class; themes from social studies and science that become stories and dances; and Kindergarten students imagining themselves as pumpkins to dance and tell a story. In general, scenes and dances will be part of assemblies and performing arts class. “We are making sure that all Pingry students have the opportunity to experience what it means to perform and present themselves in front of an audience by the time they finish Grade 5.”

Editor’s Note: This article pertains to the academic program. Musicals are still being staged in the enrichment program, and Ms. Strong will look for shows with large casts to accommodate as many students as possible. Read more about her background on page 25.

“ We are going to be asking the students at all grade levels to create.”

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PERFORMING ARTS TEACHER ERIN STRONG

On the Arts

Gallery Work, Jazz History, and Architecture Represented by Achievement in the Arts Awards

Pingry honored three recent recipients of the Achievement in the Arts Award this past April: Steve Henry ’81, Gallery Director for the Paula Cooper Gallery (2019 award); Dr. Scott Brown ’78, Performing Arts Medicine/Jazz Historian (2021 award); and Scott Loikits ’90, Architect and Design Director (2022 award). The School presents this award to distinguished Pingry graduates or former teachers in recognition of the contributions they have made to artistic pursuits throughout their careers.

Mr. Henry is pictured while meeting with visual arts students in the photography lab. During the assembly, he explained that he studied European Renaissance art in college, then learned about contemporary art, which he found “much more exciting.”

He has found it fulfilling to work with artists in museums and galleries, saying, “Arts become a measure of our culture.”

Read more about Mr. Henry’s career in the Summer 2020 issue of The Pingry Review

Dr. Brown had done independent research at Pingry, and that experience—coupled with his love of ragtime—laid the groundwork for his research about jazz pianist, accompanist, and composer James P. Johnson. Read the story of Dr. Brown’s research in the Summer 2021 issue of The Pingry Review.

As a Pingry student, Mr. Loikits took painting and sculpture classes that preceded his first formal instruction in technical drawing: Architectural Drafting with then–Upper School Visual Arts Teacher Marge Lear-Svedman. “She had a tremendous influence on my career,” he told The Pingry Review. “She taught us that architecture was a profession, that it required skill and precision, and most importantly, that it combined art and science. Under her tutelage, I realized I wanted to be an architect, and I never wavered from that desire.”

A licensed architect who has now worked in the field for 25 years, he is Managing Director of Design/Principal for GreenbergFarrow. Mr. Loikits devoted most of his remarks to illustrating the steps for a job, using a project in Zhuhai, China as an example:

“ Under Marge

tutelage, I realized I wanted to be an architect, and I never wavered from that desire.”

Together, We Create

Gifts to The Pingry Fund support every aspect of Pingry, providing students with experiences that enrich their education, develop their character, and explore their passions.

To learn more about The Pingry Fund or to make a gift, visit pingry.org/give.

True Blue Spotlight

q & a with members of pingry ’ s true blue society

Jack Grier ’19

What inspires you about Pingry today?

While the Pottersville Campus, the Bugliari Athletics Center, and the renovated classrooms definitely add to the Pingry experience, the individuals inspire me the most. Notwithstanding COVID-19’s detrimental impact on student learning and activities, teachers still felt motivated to instruct and lead activities, and students persevered to learn and run clubs. Additionally, conversations with my former teachers on my return visit to Pingry in May 2022 helped me realize that the close bonds between faculty members and students (and even alumni) continued to thrive, due to peoples’ strong commitment to making everyone’s life better in the face of a global pandemic.

Thanks to the Communications and Advancement Teams, social media posts and videos of various virtual events allowed me to observe the School’s impeccable transition from 2020 to 2022. The resilience displayed by the Pingry community went above and beyond what my university and my [Pingry] classmates’ current schools did to improve their situations. I am earnestly proud to be an alumnus of an institution that exudes immense spirit, regardless of how tough the times are.

What is your fondest Pingry memory? What has been your proudest moment as a Pingry alumnus?

Given our interest in tutoring, my friend Zan Rabney (’19) and I founded the “Humanities Center” in our senior year to complement the student-run “STEM Center.” Although our top-choice universities had already accepted us, we sacrificed our time to devise a practice AP U.S. History Exam from scratch and proctor it on a Faculty Collaboration Day. I promised myself that I would finish writing comments on all 12 DBQs [Document-Based Questions] and Long Essays by the end of the day. The four-hour-long process quickly taught me that my numerous complaints regarding teachers who hand back papers late were completely unwarranted. While returning the graded tests to the students’ mailboxes the next morning, I grew increasingly appreciative of all of my teachers for their hard work and dedication to ensuring that our community remains a safe and innovative place for learning.

I still can’t process how many compliments I received later that afternoon. However, the individuals who thought that I had somehow transformed their lives never considered my profound gratitude for their mere participation. I had initially believed that no one would register to take our practice exam, so witnessing a dozen participants fill a classroom made me deeply grateful for the supportive community to which I belonged.

Did Pingry ever encourage or challenge you to try something outside of your comfort zone? What was that experience like? From an academic standpoint, Pingry encourages students to engage in global experiences. In my junior year, Monsieur [Steve] Benoit [World & Classical Languages Department Chair and Upper School French Teacher] organized a trip to visit Québec and Montréal. After having studied the language for 12 years, I had reached a point in my academic career when immersing myself in a French-speaking setting became necessary. A simple five-day program allowed me to develop enough oral and auditory competency to apply all of the skills that I had learned over the years. When I visited Paris last summer and people failed to recognize me as an American tourist, I thought back to this formative time.

While athletics did not dominate my life as it did for others, it still taught me many valuable lessons. I had golfed recreationally for several years, but competitive golf was on a vastly different level. At the end of my sophomore season, Coach [Joe] Forte recommended a golf camp. I trained strenuously and returned to school the next year for weekly workouts at the BAC under Coach Forte’s supervision. As I proceeded to shoot multiple low rounds for the next two years, I always recalled how Coach Forte’s assurance both advanced my athletics career and guided me toward the values of hard work and determination.

who have given to The Pingry Fund for three or more consecutive years

Reunion

Norbert “Woody” Weldon ’91 Receives Nelson L. Carr ’24 Service Award

The Nelson L. Carr ’24 Service Award is named for the former Pingry Alumni Association President (1942–43) and Letter-In-Life Award winner (1982). The PAA presents it—as a surprise—for faithful and dedicated service to Pingry, with special consideration given to the nature and duration of service.

Vice President of Weldon Materials, Inc., Woody Weldon ’91, P ’23 has been an active member of the PAA since 2006, serving two terms as president (2016–2020). As a member of Pingry’s Board of Trustees, he put his industry knowledge to work on Pingry’s Buildings and Grounds Committee. A quiet champion of Pingry, he is a tireless volunteer and advocate for the School. He always puts Pingry’s needs first and is willing to do what is best for students. He seeks no accolades, keeping the focus on the institution and its needs.

In addition to giving his time, efforts, and energy to the School, Mr. Weldon has continued his family’s philanthropic legacy*, furnishing vital resources to help make a Pingry education more accessible to deserving students and families. He is a longtime supporter of The Pingry Fund and remains a fixture at alumni events—whether on campus at Reunion or at alumni receptions. He supports Pingry’s endowment through the Norbert A. Weldon ’35 Scholarship Fund, established by the Weldon family in 2010 to provide tuition assistance to deserving Middle and Upper School students. He has also supported the Theodore M. Corvino Scholarship, which honors the beloved former Lower School Director and awards aid to deserving Pingry students in need of tuition assistance.

A quote from Mr. Weldon in The Pingry Review (Summer 2017) summarizes his motivation: “Pingry has given so much to my family and me that it only feels right to give back to the School. […] It is time for us to help make sure that future generations of Pingry families have an equally positive—if not better—experience.”

*Mr. Weldon’s family has been a presence at Pingry for decades, beginning in the 1920s. Alumni include his great-uncles, William ’27 and Robert ’30; his grandfather, Norbert A. Weldon ’35; his uncles, Peter Weldon ’67 and William Weldon IV ’72; his niece, Whitney Weldon ’11; and his nephew, William Weldon ’09. Mr. Weldon and his wife, Mary, have three children, including Thomas ’23. Altogether, the family has nearly a century of history at Pingry.

Reunion

Pingry Athletics Hall of Fame Inductions

2020 Inductees

COACH MIKE RICHARDSON

Beloved Coach and Counselor Who Started Girls’ Soccer

He started the program in 1972–73 as a club team and served as the team’s head coach for nearly 20 years. Under his guidance, Pingry girls’ soccer posted an overall record of 130-81-15, won two county tournaments, made it to the Prep Finals nine times, and took home the championship trophy four times. “Some of the most fun and carefree days I had at Pingry was coaching girls’ soccer, especially on bright and sunny fall days. I would not trade those days for anything . . . And I thank the hundreds of girl soccer players who gave me so much joy and happiness and effort during those years.”

KATIE SCOTT OLD ’99

Field hockey powerhouse earned All-American and All-Ivy honors Overall, the team’s record was 66-8-6 during her high school career. At Harvard, she would continue her field hockey career as a center back/ sweeper.

“I find myself thinking about . . . the environment and expectations that were set. The development as a student and athlete, but also as a good human. I am so grateful for you, Mrs. Lee, and all the other coaches who make sure students leave this school knowing what is truly important—sportsmanship, accountability, teamwork. In some places, these are just words. Here at Pingry, you make sure students know what they mean.”

halloffame.pingry.org

LIAM GRIFF ’04

Pingry’s “Captain America,” a leader in three sports

He earned eight varsity letters and held three captainships in soccer, basketball, and lacrosse, and was elected Senior Class President. He went on to play four years of varsity lacrosse at Harvard.

“Sports matter. The people in my life, the lessons I’ve learned, the opportunities and experiences that I have been afforded—most of them have some connection to sports. And will power matters.

I am tall and fairly coordinated, but I am not particularly fast or strong . . . and I made it a long way in sports, largely because of will power. I set my mind to certain goals . . . and then I just tried and worked as hard as I possibly could until I achieved them. So, play sports and expose your kids to sports; be willful and go do whatever it is you want to do.”

2022 Inductee

2006 BOYS’ LACROSSE TEAM

With a 17-3 season, this team set the Pingry record for most wins in a season. They won the Bristol Bowl, the Waterman Conference Championship, and the Somerset County Championship, then went on to win the NJSIAA Non-Public Group B championship in that tournament’s inaugural year.

Reunion

Pingry in Your Neighborhood

Upcoming

January 5

Back-from-College Luncheon

January 20

The John Hanly Lecture Series on Ethics and Morality

February 2023 Winter Musical Event

February 3 Career Day

February 5 Naples Regional Reception

February 6 Palm Beach Regional Reception

February 7 Vero Beach Regional Reception

March 5 San Francisco Regional Reception March 7 Los Angeles Regional Reception

Please visit pingry.org/alumni for more information or to register.

April 28

Celebrate Pingry! April 28–29 Reunion Weekend May 11 Boston Regional Reception May 13 Alumni Lacrosse Game May 17

PAA Annual Meeting of Alumni with Student Leadership Panel

June 8 Young Alumni Happy Hour in New York City

July 15 Jersey Shore Regional Reception TBD Nantucket Regional Reception

SAVE THE DATE:

REUNION 2023

Reunion Weekend, April 28–29

Classes Ending in 3s and 8s Visit pingry.org/reunion for the latest information or contact: Taylor Pennell, Assistant Director of Development, Alumni Engagement 908-647-5555, ext. 1223 tpennell@pingry.org

Head, NJ by way of plane, train, car, and beach cruiser to celebrate a new era of Pingry leadership. Joined by Head of School Tim Lear and his wife, Elie Lear, alumni, parents, faculty, and friends

Pingry Creates

Chris Hoffman ’65, ecopsychologist, poet, and climate activist, has published his fourth book of poetry, Son of the Earth (self-published); his poetry speaks of nature, love, intimacy, and the spiritual quest. Now retired, Mr. Hoffman devotes most of his time to writing and to volunteering for social justice and a livable climate.

One reviewer on Amazon wrote, “Legendary environmentalist Rachael Carson said that a ‘sense of wonder and humility’ would save the earth. Humility and wonder are a perfect description of the poems of Son of the Earth Reflecting Hoffman’s Ecopsychology theory developed in his non-fiction book The Hoop and the Tree, these accessible, easy-to-understand, humble, wonderful poems are ideal to use in personal growth, in ecopsychology and ecospiritual practice, and as a resource for environmental communications and climate activism.”

Elif Batuman ’95 is the author of the book Either/Or (Penguin Press), a sequel to her first novel, The Idiot, which was nominated for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize. Either/Or continues the protagonist Selin’s quest for selfknowledge as she travels abroad and tests the limits of her newfound adulthood. NPR says, “The lively, witty, inquisitive protagonist Selin is just as curious about ‘the human condition’ as she was in the first novel [and] continues to muse about every choice she makes, comparing herself to literary characters and thinking deeply about her identity as a writer.”

An article by Archivist Peter Blasevick appears in the May/June 2022 issue of Archival Outlook (Society of American Archivists); this is Mr. Blasevick’s third article for the magazine. In it, he details the efforts to embed Pingry history in the Upper School building’s redesigned interior, beginning with four* wall displays: Pingry People Through the Years; a celebration of the Hillside Campus; student awards; and faculty awards (these walls are also featured in the Winter 2021-22 issue of The Pingry Review).

*Since this article was published, a fifth display was added, for the Letter-In-Life Award (pictured on the back cover of this issue).

“Enough is enough,” declares journalist Chloe Sorvino ’11, a staff writer at Forbes who leads the magazine’s coverage of food, drink, and agriculture. “There’s not enough time to push off environmental commitments years into the future or throw money at the wrong potential solutions. The meat industry’s overdue reckoning is here. Major change is needed, but it just might be possible with more coordination, better financial structures, and transparency.” This is the motivation behind her first book, Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Fight for the Future of Meat (Simon and Schuster), which she says could be a timely read for classes examining policy, business, history, or climate change.

According to the publisher, Raw Deal is an “exposé of the United States meat industry, the devastating failures of the country’s food system, and the growing disappointment of alternative meat producers claiming to revolutionize the future of food . . . Chloe Sorvino presents an expansive view of the meat industry and its future as its fundamental weaknesses are laid bare for all to see. With unprecedented access and in-depth research, Raw Deal investigates corporate greed, how climate change will upend our food production, and the limitations of local movements challenging the status quo.” Publishers Weekly calls it “a deeply informed and eye-opening call for change.”

Former Upper School English Teacher Dean Sluyter P ’90, ’98 has written his sixth book, The Dharma Bum’s Guide to Western Literature: Finding Nirvana in the Classics (New World Library; as of June, the book was No. 1 on Amazon’s list of best sellers in high school). Drawing heavily on his 33 years of teaching English 10, American Literature, and meditation, and developing Pingry’s Literature of Enlightenment program, the book reveals how various literary works teach awakening. As he writes in the Introduction, Mr. Sluyter focuses on Western literature that people read in high school or college.*

“When you teach Shakespeare and Salinger and Emily Dickinson for 33 years,” he says, “you start making connections. I was already a meditation teacher when I arrived, and was pretty steeped in both Eastern and Western enlightenment traditions, so it’s natural that those were the connections I made.”

* The chapter on Waiting for Godot includes a footnote about former student Buzzy Cohen ’03 competing in the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, when Beckett’s play helped propel him to success.

Class Notes

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Submit your Class Note at pingry.org/classnotes,

1948

BILL HILLBRANT writes, “My wife entered me in a bread-baking contest at the annual Ventura County Fair. For a number of years, I have been allergic to wheat. Over time, cornbread, in our household, became the easiest alternative to regular bread. Last year, I switched from yellow to blue cornmeal. Since it is hard to find in the local stores, Sharon thought blue cornbread would be a good item for the fair. And it was— my entry earned second place. The crust turns a little yellowish, but the bread is blue.”

1951

DR. JOE HANAWAY, a member of McGill University’s 1955 Men’s Rugby Team—the Dominion National Rugby Champions of Canada— is the namesake of McGill’s new award, the “Dr. Joseph Hanaway McGill Rugby Gentleman’s Award.” It will recognize and honor “gentlemanly conduct and exemplary behavior which has been consistently exhibited by a McGill rugby player on and off the field over the course of a minimum of two seasons.” Neil D. Stephenson, who played rugby at McGill and is the creator and co-funder of the award, wrote in McGill’s Health e-News, “Rugby is an aggressive sport where two teams of 15 players are engaged in pitched battles that are the athletic equivalent of primal warfare. And yet, it is this same sport where opposing teams who have just engaged in almost-gladiatorial combat are perfectly at ease going to the pub after the game to socialize with each other and engage in fellowship and camaraderie. If there is one person who embodies the spirit of these values and, by extension, of this new award, it is Dr. Joseph Hanaway.”

1952

MILLER BUGLIARI P ’86, ’90, ’97, GP ’20, ’24 was profiled in The Wall Street Journal in early November; the article highlighted the fact that he was coaching for the 63rd consecutive season at age 87.

1957

“This is basically a thank you note to all of you (including Katrina Musto in the Advancement Office) who were kind enough to communicate with us as we worked our way through our 65th Reunion process earlier this year. Out the 70 of us who graduated together, we discovered that at least 36 of us were still here and kicking, for better or worse; 30 of us have moved on to greener pastures; and only four of us still unaccounted for: Ron Diamond, Pan Yatrakis, Stu Crow, and George Rice. We would love to be able to reach them, too, so please let us know if you have any clues.

Special thanks to those who were able to join us in May; no surprise that there were plenty of good stories and memories, as well as equally interesting experiences we’ve had since ’57.

After checking with those who went into the most detail, we hope to share some of those stories in future notes. Several who went out of their way were Claus Mueller (he sent us our ’57 Commencement Program); Ed Yorke and Gaines McMartin (lots of great

Class Notes

Conway, Hugh Kellogg, and Ed Kolaska (great phone calls); Peter Leavens, Romney Biddulph, Larry Holden, Dick Engelman, Harding Ganz, and Bob Schweizer (perceptive and amusing emails); and Bill Cook, Morgan Smith, and others (detailed letters). Also, Gene Shea and Bob Rettig both in the Granite State: Bob hosted Sam Fisk and me for a terrific lunch at the Hanover Inn, and Gene and his wife, Dale, treated me and an old neighbor of Gene’s and mine in Summit to a memorable lunch in their gorgeously renovated barn in Rye, NH.

Last but not least, special thanks to Rob and Cheryl Campbell, who let Charlie Anderson and me cool our heels at their lovely new digs in Chatham the day before the Reunion; Mary Claude and Ray, who treated me to breakfast in Elizabeth the day after the Reunion (my 83rd birthday!) before I hit the road back to Cohasset; and Ed Reeves, who has invited me to lunch the next time I am in Summit to visit my sister. I’m coming, Ed!

Warm wishes to all of you for the holiday season and New Year.”

1958

DR. JIM SMITH attended Pingry’s annual Dr. Robert H. LeBow ’58 Memorial Oratorical Competition in early March and greeted

the audience prior to the student speeches. He spoke about his classmate spending his life giving to others, especially those most in need. Dr. Smith also read the introduction to Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities (he had recently re-read his copy of the book that he received in Ed Cissel’s eighth-grade class) “because of the extremely difficult times right now. In Dickens’ words, we see reasons for despair and happiness, but reasons for hope. Bob gave a message for hope because he cared—even in the face of incredible darkness.”

1960

BILL LOW writes, “I returned home from a European bicycle vacation with my wife, Nancy, and discovered a small box from Pingry

Top: Bill Low ’60 with a Pingry mug for his milestone 80th birthday. Bottom: David Speno ’60 with a Pingry mug for his milestone 80th birthday. Pingry has been gifting alumni who are celebrating milestone birthdays (80, 85, 90, and more) with a signed letter from the Head of School and a Pingry mug, asking them to share photos of themselves with their mug for publication.

addressed to me. To my surprise and delight, the box contained a Pingry coffee mug with a kind note from [then–Head of School] Matt Levinson. The note stated, ‘Congratulations on your milestone 80th birthday! We at Pingry are excited to celebrate with you.’ The gift is intended to be a reminder of my connection to Pingry. Clearly, it is. Since my 50th Pingry Reunion in 2010, each morning I have enjoyed a fresh cup of coffee in another Pingry mug I acquired at that time 12 years ago. I have rarely been back to Pingry due to family priorities and because I lived in California for 35 years of my working life. I feel most fortunate and honored to have graduated from the school

JOHN H. SCULLY ’62 has donated his 3,000-square-foot model of the 1950s Lackawanna Railroad to the Liberty Science Center (LSC) in Jersey City, seen in the exhibit “The Great Train Set.” That railroad fascinated him as a child, and in 2002, inspired by the large train set in Macy’s in New York City that he saw as a child, he began recreating the Lackawanna Railroad in his basement in East Hampton. It includes 425 feet of track and models of six railway stations; the local coal mine industry; suburban homes; bodies of water; 5,000 trees and shrubs; 400 people; a drive-in movie theater; and stores that include a fully stocked grocery store. Engineers, lighting specialists, carpenters, architects, artists, archivists, and electricians worked on the project, making for historical accuracy and attention to detail. Over the years, hundreds of children visited the home of “Johnny Choo-Choo” to see the train set, but the visits stopped because of the pandemic, so John and his wife, Regina, looked to donate the set and chose LSC as its new home. According to a press release, the donation is closely aligned with the couple’s dedication to supporting education, and the model exemplifies science, technology, engineering, and math, which are central to LSC’s mission.

and absorbed the values of hard work and the Honor System. Both were fundamental to continuing my education at Lehigh and Harvard Business School as well as my personal and professional life.”

DAVID WHEATON and CARL HAINES got together for a mini Pingry reunion at Point of Americas in Fort Lauderdale, FL this past February. Good memories and stories of Pingry days were shared during many a pleasant evening.

1961

DAVE ROGERS writes about Pingry meetings in February and March, “The first stop on our southward trip was for lunch with Frank Ali ’62 in Millsboro, DE. Dave Archibald ’61, unfortunately, had a previous obligation. The widow of Jack Martin ’61 left a box of Jack’s Pingry memorabilia for class reps to handle. Several stops later, there was lunch with Peter Delfausse ’61 in Sarasota, FL. While trying to find the restaurant, we asked for directions from a lady on a bicycle at the gate leading to Peter’s community. Her reply was to follow her, which providentially led to Peter. The lady is Peter’s wife! Harry Moser ’62 was to join us, but also had another meeting scheduled. In Naples, my cousin had asked her neighbor, Pat Coughlan ’58, to join us for dinner. He was surprised to see (Jack Martin’s) 1958 yearbook opened to his picture when he arrived in his 1950 MGTD. While shopping in Naples, a three-wheeled motorcycle prompted conversation with its owner, a resident of mid-Jersey and long-term soccer referee. Miller Bugliari ’52 is well known to him. What a small world? Finally, while in Texas, Dick Hufnagel ’61 called to chat.”

1962

HARRY MOSER, Founder and President of the Reshoring Initiative, was interviewed for a story on NBC Nightly News (August 29) about the surge in American manufacturers bringing jobs from overseas back to the U.S.

1965

BOB DWYER writes, “I had Mr. Moffat for English in the Third and Fifth Forms. In late August, I was talking to an expert witness in England concerning a copyright case on which I’m working, and he mentioned that he and his son were avid glider competitors. I asked him if he knew of Mr. Moffat, and he replied: he’s a legend—two-time world champion. Small world! It brought back memories of Mr. Moffat, sitting cross-legged on his desk (we, of course, we’re waiting for him to fall off), while attempting to teach us how to pronounce Chaucer.”

CHRIS HOFFMAN has published his fourth book of poetry. Read more on page 80.

1971

Composer and organist AL FEDAK and his wife, Sue, residents of Albany, NY, were profiled in The Daily Gazette on February 6. In the story, Al relates that he developed his love of the pipe organ at Pingry, and his career as a composer began when a church where he worked in Pompton Lakes, NJ needed a New Year’s Day hymn for the choir and congregation—a hymn that was later accepted by a publisher. According to the article, he has more than 300 choral and organ works in print, and more than 100 of his hymn tunes appear in hymnals and collections around the world. In program notes for a 2017 concert by the Harvard University Choir at Harvard Memorial Church, Harvard University called him “one of the greatest living composers of original hymn tunes.” That event marked the reopening of the church after construction and restoration work, when the choir sang his Last Verse: A Cycle of New England Epitaphs. Five years earlier, Harvard Memorial had commissioned him to write a piece for choir and organ to celebrate the dedication of the church’s new pipe organ—Spring Bursts Today was the first choral work performed on the new instrument. Also in 2012, Al was one of the inaugural recipients of Pingry’s Achievement in the Arts Award.

pingry.org/extras: Watch the performances of Last Verse and Spring Bursts Today

Dr. Ian Alexander ’72, right, with Ohio State University Orthopaedic Department Chair Dr. Andrew Glassman and the plaque for the Orthopaedic Living Legends Award.

1972

DR. IAN ALEXANDER writes, “Over my career as an orthopaedic surgeon, I have had a passion for teaching, and on June 3 at resident graduation, I was recipient of the Living Legends Award from The Ohio State University Department of Orthopaedics. A couple of years ago, I was also recognized for teaching on a national level and for my service to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons with the Lifetime Achievement Award from that organization.”

1978

DR. SCOTT BROWN received Pingry’s Achievement in the Arts Award in person. Read more on page 68.

1979

ANNE DELANEY P ’09, ’11, ’14, ’14 received the Letter-In-Life Award in June. Read more on page 3.

TOM TRYNIN, President of the independent wealth management firm Red Hook Management, announced this spring that his company was joining Simon Quick Advisors, headquartered in Morristown, NJ. The merger took effect on April 1.

MARTIN B. O’CONNOR ’77, P ’11, ’14 served as Executive Producer of Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In, a documentary about the life and career of Sir Alex Ferguson, former manager of the Manchester United football (soccer) club from 1986–2013 and the winner of more trophies than any other manager in football history.

Sir Alex and Martin have known each other for decades as part of a strong friendship with Martin’s classmate, Charlie Stillitano, Jr. ’77, P ’17—a Pingry soccer star who became a soccer executive, was inducted into Pingry’s Athletics Hall of Fame, and received the 2020 Letter-In-Life Award.

In 2000, Charlie approached Martin about establishing a company, ChampionsWorld, to secure the rights to bring Manchester United and other top soccer teams to America for summer tours during their preseasons; Martin was brought in as an investor and advisor, and to manage legal affairs. Charlie and Martin would go on to develop many relationships in soccer, including Charlie’s 2003 introduction of Martin to Sir Alex when Manchester United came to America—the foundation of a special friendship between the three men. Charlie first introduced Sir Alex to Miller Bugliari ’52, P ’86, ’90, ’97, GP ’20, ’24 when Manchester United was in America in 2003.

Charlie’s view of the friendship among Martin, Sir Alex, Miller, and himself can be traced to Charlie hosting dinners for them. “There are all these similarities between great coaches. It doesn’t matter if you’re a high school coach at Pingry or you’re the greatest manager that’s ever lived, as in Sir Alex in my opinion—or maybe Miller is the greatest high school manager that ever lived and Sir Alex is the greatest manager that ever lived—you’re talking about how many people’s lives they shape. Martin and I shared those moments with Sir Alex and Miller, and those are some of the most special moments of my life.”

For his part, Martin has witnessed over the years how Sir Alex views Charlie. “Sir Alex has three sons, and Charlie is his fourth son. His respect, professionally, and his holding Charlie in the highest esteem,

personally, speak to that relationship. I’ve had the privilege of being on their bus as they go forward.”

Fast-forward to May 2021 when, after years of planning, Never Given In was released. Directed by Sir Alex’s son, Jason Ferguson, the film alternates between Sir Alex’s memories of his years as a player and manager with his recovery from a life-threatening event in 2018 that nearly took away his memory. Family members, including his wife of 55-plus years, Cathy, describe his leadership, optimism, and ambition. Among the highlights: an event that helped develop Sir Alex’s concept of a “team”; a major achievement as a player that he calls the “biggest break of my life”; why he wanted to manage; how he turned Manchester United around after their years of struggles; his reaction to people referring to him as a “fearsome character”; and the personal connections that he formed with his players. Nominated for “Outstanding Long Documentary” at the 2022 Sports Emmy Awards, Never Give In can be streamed in America on Paramount+.

“The film shows his humanity and who Alex Ferguson the human being is,” Charlie says. “There are many stories, documentaries, and films about him, but—and I mean this in the best way possible—this is the one that captures who the person is.”

Martin O’Connor ’77, P ’11, ’14, Charlie Stillitano, Jr. ’77, P ’17, Sir Alex Ferguson, Miller Bugliari ’52, P ’86, ’90, ’97, GP ’20, ’24, and Sean O’Donnell ’75, P ’05, ’10 in 2012.

Alumni enjoying their annual dinner with Miller Bugliari ’52 in the spring. Front row: Dr. John Boozan ’75, Miller Bugliari ’52, P ’86, ’90, ’97, GP ’20, ’24, and Tom Trynin ’79. Back row: Steve Lipper ’79, P ’09, ’12, ’14, Martin O’Connor ’77, P ’11, ’14, Jim Hoitsma ’75, Charlie Stillitano, Jr. ’77, P ’17, Ted Daeschler ’77, Chuck Allan ’77, Jonathan Shelby ’74, P ’08, ’11, ’19, Chip Carver, Jr. ’77, P ’09, ’11, ’14, ’14, Frank DeLaney ’77, P ’12, and Kip Haselton ’77, P ’12.

Images by Dwight Hiscano ’80 from his new series, “Trees From Above.”

1980

JOSH GRADWOHL writes, “In August of 1978, the weekend before we started our junior year, I purchased a 1928 Model A Ford, Tudor sedan. I worked on restoring the car during summers while in Pingry and college. I regrettably sold that car in 1992 to fund the renovation of a house I owned at that time. I made a VHS video of the car before I sold it as a keepsake reminder of all the hard work I put into the restoration of the car. In the summer of 2021, my wife, Lynn, was looking at old VHS tapes to see what we may want to convert to DVD. She was not part of my life when I sold the car and had heard about it, but never saw more than a few pictures of the car. She found the video of my Model A and, after watching the video, it got our juices going and one thing led to another and, on November 13, 2021, we purchased a fully restored 1930 Model A Ford Deluxe Coupe. This was the fourth Model A we had looked at in our quest to find a car that did not need a full restoration like my first Model A. While signing the paperwork to complete the sale, my wife noticed that the car was first titled on June 15, 1930. My birthday is June 15 (obviously not 1930). It was almost as if we were destined to find this car. We hope to have many years of fun driving this car.”

Photographer DWIGHT HISCANO has been working on a new series, “Trees From Above,” a collection of black-and-white images that look down on trees from directly overhead. He got the idea while looking at an online satellite view of an oak tree near the Delaware Water Gap. “I was imagining the angle I’d approach it from when the idea hit me: What if I could photograph the tree through the branches, from above?” Shortly afterward, he purchased a drone and then a blizzard hit New Jersey. “During my first attempt, shooting the first tree in the series, I was struck by the image. I had never seen anything like it before. This was something new. It wasn’t quite what I had imagined; it was a photo of the entire tree, not just a portion of the branches, but it was unique and unusual.” All of the white in the photographs came from snowstorms. He adds, “The images reveal the familiar characteristics that we are used to seeing and admiring: grace, power, femininity,

masculinity, symmetry, and balance, but from an entirely new perspective. Additionally, some of the images bear a striking resemblance to the veins and arteries of the human respiratory system, a fitting reminder of the importance of trees and their role as the ‘lungs of the Earth.’” The photographs have received Honorable Mention in the Minimalist Photography Awards, and a Juror’s Top Five and Honorable Mention in the International Photography Awards.

1981

STEVE HENRY received Pingry’s Achievement in the Arts Award in person. Read more on page 68.

1985

WILLIAM MENNEN was confirmed by the New Jersey Senate in June to be a Superior Court Judge. A former Hunterdon County Freeholder, he was nominated in May and is assigned to the Family Division in Hunterdon County.

1988

DR. ANGELICA DIAZ-MARTINEZ P ’25, ’26, an associate teaching professor at Rutgers University and Director of Clinical Training at The Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology (GSAPP), was interviewed by NJ Spotlight News in July about mental health

funding in New Jersey and the state’s shortage of mental health providers. She said two of the problems are that mental health professionals have needed their own support to decrease their likelihood of burnout, and that there is a delay at the state licensing board for graduates who are waiting for their license to be able to practice.

1989

CHANDRA CAIN DAVIS sent a photo from “Golden Girls Weekend” on Amelia Island in Florida in July. She writes, “We were celebrating our ‘50th’ birthday, which we did not get to celebrate in 2021 because of darn COVID. So, we extended it to 2022! It was great!” Chandra has left The Employment Law Solution (ELS), the African American–owned, woman-owned law firm of which she was a co-founding partner since 2013, and started a new position as Associate General Counsel for Employment at WestRock, an international packaging company with over 50,000 employees. She provides legal support to WestRock’s headquarters, as well as offices in the U.S.’s southern region, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. “WestRock is an opportunity for me to use my employment law experience and my law degree in a different way than I ever have before,” she says. “I’ve never had the opportunity to go ‘deep’ into a client. When you’re at a law firm, or even the plaintiff in a case, you learn what you need to learn and then you move on to the next case. When you are in-house, your only umbrella client is one company. I’m learning how to better this company and better the lives of the people who work for this company, and to make sure we’re complying with the law and treating people properly. It gives me a different view of what I’ve been doing for 20 years.”

ASHLEY DEEKS, the Class of 1948 Professor of Scholarly Research in Law at the University of Virginia School of Law and Senior Fellow at UVA’s Miller Center, has returned to UVA after taking a 17-month leave of absence to serve as White House Associate Counsel and Deputy Legal Advisor for the National Security Council (NSC). According to an interview on the UVA website, her role with the NSC involved providing advice to NSC’s senior officials and the

Class Notes

Rear Admiral Brad J. Collins, Commander, Navy Region Europe, Africa, Central, presents Capt. David Baird ’92 with the Legion of Merit, awarded by the President of the United States for “exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services as Commanding Officer, U.S. Naval Station Rota.”

White House Counsel, based on input from interagency general counsels. When asked which national security issues she’s most “fired up about,” Ashley mentions the Mar-aLago documents issue, “both because it’s in the headlines every day and because it tangibly relates to the parameters you’re bound by when you’re at the National Security Council, handling lots of classified information.” For students who are interested in working in the federal government, she recommends taking classes in international law, the legislative process, and national security law.

DR. JENNIFER WEISS, an orthopedic surgeon at Southern California Permanente Med-

ical Group in Los Angeles, was included among “90 women orthopedic surgeons to know” on Becker’s Spine Review in September. Jennifer was Pingry’s Career Day speaker in 2020.

1990

SCOTT LOIKITS received Pingry’s Achievement in the Arts Award in person. Read more on page 69.

1991

WOODY WELDON P ’23 received the Nelson L. Carr ’24 Service Award at Reunion. Read more on page 73.

1992

CAPT. DAVID BAIRD, USN has retired from the Navy and was relieved as Commander, U.S. Naval Activities, Spain and Commanding Officer of Naval Station Rota, Spain on July 14, completing a standard rotation of about three years—the change-of-command ceremony doubled as his retirement ceremony. He had taken command in June 2019 and led the installation through the pandemic and

hosted evacuees from Afghanistan during Operation Allies Welcome, among other accomplishments. According to a press release, he “took a unique approach to leadership during his tenure through frequent social media updates to the community, a trend that began during the pandemic, in which he often times would weave in relevant stories from his personal life to add perspective to the ever-changing situation.” Those updates, commended by the community for their transparency, were posted to the Naval Station Rota Facebook page—initially focused on data on the spread of COVID-19 in the Andalusia region, but then putting the information into perspective.

ANDREW GOLDSTEIN, a former federal prosecutor, was interviewed by The New York Times in July to discuss the challenges of bringing criminal charges against former President Donald Trump—the newspaper spoke with Andrew because he is one of the last federal prosecutors who led an investigation into the former president’s conduct. In the conversation, Andrew explained that a case would be difficult to prove in court, and there would be legal challenges, such as finding an action in

addition to proving intent. There would also be the question for the Justice Department of whether prosecuting, or not prosecuting, a former president would be in the best interests of the country.

1993

STEPHANIE LIM CAPELLO is the new President of the Villanova University Alumni Association.

1995

ELIF BATUMAN has written a new book that is the sequel to her first novel. Read more on page 80.

DR. MARY PRENDERGAST is an archaeologist and an Associate Professor at Rice University. Read more on page 40.

1999

KATIE SCOTT OLD was inducted into Pingry’s Athletics Hall of Fame in May. Read more on page 75.

CAROLINE DIEMAR WOODS married Jason Woods, a Sergeant with the Washington, D.C. Fire Department, on June 3 at Winding Creek Farm in Lovettsville, VA. In addition to her brothers Robert ’91, John ’93, Thomas ’96,

and Charles ’02, and niece Charlotte ’24, Jess Bennet ’99 was also in attendance.

2000

PAUL W. DOWNS, actor, writer, producer, and one of three co-creators of the HBO Max comedy series Hacks—which has won three Emmy Awards and the Golden Globe for best comedy series—was profiled in The Star-Ledger on May 22. In the story, he talks about getting his start while working on skits at Pingry and knowing that he wanted to be in comedy. He joined an improv group while attending Duke University and pursued stand-up in New York after college, but preferred collaborative comedy. He recently married his co-creator, Lucia Aniello.

2003

BUZZY COHEN joined Season 3 of ABC’s game show The Chase as a Chaser. He has also appeared on the new podcast Inside Jeopardy!, hosted the first Jeopardy! Honors ceremony, and presented a fashion category on Celebrity Jeopardy!

2004

LIAM GRIFF was inducted into Pingry’s Athletics Hall of Fame in May. Read more on page 75.

2005

JESSE (MEYER) PERTUZ was named the Principal at KIPP DC Lead Academy, an elementary school serving students in Grades 1–4 in Washington, D.C. Lead is a 2020 National Blue Ribbon School and an EmpowerK12 Bold Performance School from 2017–2019. This year, Jesse celebrates 12 years at KIPP DC, where she has previously served as a thirdgrade teacher, grade-level chair, Vice Principal, Director of HS Instruction, and Principal-in-Residence.

2006

PETER CIPRIANO and James Stout, husband of former Pingry squash director and coach Tina Rix-Stout, won the 2022 US Open Racquets Doubles Championship on March 13. They represent the Racquet and Tennis Club of New York. They defeated Ben Cawston and Mike Bailey, who represent the Queens Club, West Kensington, London. Peter and his wife, Dana, live in Maplewood, NJ with their three children, and Peter works for commercial real estate brokerage firm Savills US in Manhattan.

LAUREN SALZ, Co-Founder and CEO of the climate tech company Sealed, and one of Forbes’ “30 Under 30” for Energy (2018), was interviewed in April for TriNet’s “SHEco-

Class Notes

investors are not going to care . . . and I also thought, ‘If someone doesn’t want to invest in my company because I’m pregnant, I don’t want them as an investor.’”

Lauren also visited with Pingry’s ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance)/Business Club this spring to talk about how she got A-list funding, how she hires executives, how the original idea came to fruition, how Sealed is valued by investors, and other topics. Coming from a privileged family, she always wanted to give back to the world, but didn’t have the hard skills to directly help those in need. But she is applying her business skills acquired from studying at Columbia (Barnard College) and the University of Oxford to lead a company that prioritizes sustainability and lessens clients’ carbon footprint while saving them money on energy costs.

2007

LAUREN VITALE married Michel Robey on August 29, 2020 in Newport, RI. Their reception was held on August 29, 2021 at the Eisenhower House in Newport.

2010

nomics” series that honors women who are “blazing trails as CEOs and founders.” Among other topics, she spoke about her goals for the company (“to be across the U.S. and take all homes off fossil fuels”), her career path (began as an investment analyst at McKinsey & Company to find mentors and develop

skills), and why she started a company (a McKinsey mentor encouraged her, and she wanted to somehow make an impact). Lauren also addressed the question of fundraising as a first-time CEO during her first pregnancy: she was concerned that the pregnancy would affect fundraising, but realized that “the best

EZRA (MYLES) BRISTOW is the Events and Communications Coordinator at the Institute of Governmental Studies. Ezra joins the UC Berkeley community with over a decade of professional experience in event productions, entertainment, communications, and media. Ezra received a B.A. in Studio Arts from Trinity College and studied Visual Arts and Communication Studies at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago. In 2015, Ezra pivoted from visual arts to performing arts when he became one of the principal dancers and volunteer social media & marketing manager for SambaFunk! Carnaval Explosion, an Oakland-based nonprofit arts organization. Over the last five years, Ezra has supported live and virtual performances, fundraising campaigns, and events with companies and organizations like the National Institute for Mental Illness, LiveNation, Boys

Maddie

and Girls Club of San Francisco, Joe Goode Performance Group, and most recently, Cal Performances’ AileyCamp Program. Prior to joining IGS, he worked as a Production and Programs Coordinator and Dance Faculty at East Bay Center for the Performing Arts for three years.

MADDIE (GARCIA) ROBERTS and her husband, Andrew, welcomed their first child, Sage Noel, to the world on August 31. The new parents are loving getting to know their little girl and settling in as a family of three in Greenwich, CT.

2011

Olympian and World Champion NIC FINK is on the April cover of Swimming World magazine; the cover story details his recent accomplishments as a first-time Olympian and in the Short Course World Championships. He is also completing a master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech. In the story, Nic says he is approaching his swimming career on an “every-six-months basis”—after each championship meet, he will reevaluate his future in the sport.

CHLOE SORVINO, a staff writer at Forbes, has written her first book. Read more on page 80.

2012

KEVIN FISCHER married Caroline Fischer on October 2, 2021, in Spring Lake, NJ.

MATT LIPPER married Kate Binder on June 26, 2021, on Peaks Island, ME.

2013

Keyboardist MICHAEL ARROM had the honor of performing with

2017

AMANDA CELLI

coach for Pingry’s Varsity Field Hockey Team this fall. As a Pingry athlete, she received a four-year varsity award and was a captain for field hockey. While studying Public Health at The College of New Jersey, Amanda played field hockey at the D3 level. She currently works at a special education school.

Class Notes

JAKE MAYER, playing golf at Princeton University, received the Class of 1916 Cup as the senior student-athlete with the highest academic standing. He is an Economics major and team captain who also volunteers coaching golf with the Special Olympics of New Jersey. Jake served as Co-President of the Student-Athlete Service Council (SASC) for two years, helping to organize a variety of onand off-campus service initiatives to connect varsity student-athletes with the Princeton community. While at Pingry, Jake won the Somerset County title three times and the NJSIAA Non-Public B title twice, and was named the Somerset County Scholar-Athlete.

SAM SCHERL and his Harvard Squash team (15-1) won their third consecutive National Championship with a 5-4 upset over topranked Penn. Serving as a senior captain, Sam was undefeated—and a unanimous All-Ivy First-Team selection. Sam was a Big Blue captain and three-time All-American who won multiple national titles at Pingry and has been ranked No. 1 in the country for the Boys U15, U17, and U19 divisions.

2018

AMI GIANCHANDANI, a senior at Yale University and captain of the Women’s Golf Team, was named the 2022 Ivy League “Player of the Year” for the second time, having been named both Ivy League “Player of the Year” and “Rookie of the Year” in 2019. She also qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open. She birdied the final two holes of the 36-hole qualifier event in Massachusetts to card a 71-69 (140) and earn medalist honors by two strokes. In April, she was named Vice Chair of the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, which provides insight on the student-athlete experience while offering input on the rules, regulations, and policies that affect student-athletes’ lives on NCAA-member institution campuses. Ami is majoring in Statistics and Data Science; uniting her loves of golf and statistics, she is Co-Founder and CEO of “Accel Golf,” an app that golfers can use to keep track of their statistics, round by round. She developed it with Alex Strasser ’19

(double majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University), one of her teammates in Robotics at Pingry. According to a profile in the August issue of The Met Golfer, Ami plans to play golf professionally after college.

MEGAN HORN, playing basketball at Washington and Lee University, was named Honorable Mention on the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association 2022 All-America teams. Also a D3hoops.com All-Region First Team selection and the 2021-22 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) “Player of the Year,” Megan finished the season ranked fourth in the ODAC in scoring average (13.8), seventh in rebounds per game (7.2), and third in assists per game (4.0). Her scoring and rebounding averages were both single-season career highs, and this was her third season with at least 100 assists, tied for the most such seasons in program history. Megan also crossed the 300-assist mark for her career, becoming the fourth player in program history to do so, and she finished her career as one of two players in program history with at least 300 assists and at least 400 rebounds. Megan ends her career with the fourth-most assists in program history (353), sixth-most three-point field goals (132), and the program’s only triple-double.

AUBREY MOLLOY, fencing at the University of North Carolina, was named a 2021-22 Athletic Director’s Scholar-Athlete.

AVERY SCHIFFMAN, running track and field at Washington and Lee University, set a program record in the 800m at the Liberty Twilight Qualifier in May. She ran a time of 2:15.51 to place seventh, but was the second-fastest Division III runner. Avery was selected to the VaSID (Virginia Sports Information Directors) 2021-22 All-State Women’s Indoor Track and Field College Division First Team, Mid-Distance; she won the mile at the conference meet to earn this honor, posting a season-best time of 5:13.53, which is also the fifth-fastest time in program history. She was also named to the USTFCCCA (United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association) 2022 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field All-Region teams. Her two citations came in the 800m and 1,500m—the latter at the Hopkins/Loyola Invitational, when she placed second in 4:39.94. At the ODAC (Old Dominion Athletic Conference) Outdoor Championships, she won the 1,500m and was runner-up in the 800m. These are Avery’s first two outdoor all-region honors of her career, on top of three indoor citations. In July, she was named to the VaSID 2022 All-State Women’s Outdoor Track & Field College Division First Team, Mid-Distance.

MARIAM TRICHAS, who graduated from Cornell University this spring, was accepted to Rutgers Medical School, Class of 2027.

2019

NABEEL JAN is serving as President of the Class of 2023 at Bucknell University.

ANGELINA MAYERS, playing softball at Bowdoin College, was named to the All-NESCAC (New England Small College Athletic Conference) Second Team. Playing third base in 25 games, she was second on the team with a .375 batting average and 1.023 on base percentage. In 96 plate appearances, she had 26 hits, including a team-leading eight doubles, one triple, and four home runs. Angelina led the team with 32 RBI.

JOE SHILTS, running track and field at The College of Wooster, was named North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) “Athlete of the Week” for men’s sprints and hurdles events in March. He posted an NCAC-leading time of 58.24 in the 400-meter hurdles at the Alan Connie Shamrock Invitational. He also went 17.17 in the 110-meter hurdles, a time that ranked in the top five in the conference.

2021MATT FALLON, swimming at the University of Pennsylvania, broke the college freshman record in the 200 breaststroke at the 2022 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships. He swam 1:49.03 in the preliminaries, surpassing the previous program record of 1:49.71, then swam 1:49.16 in the finals, placing third and earning All-American First Team honors. He was also All-Ivy First Team and Ivy League champion in the 200 breaststroke (1:51.44 at the Ivy League Championships—a new pool and meet record), and All-Ivy Second Team in the 100 breaststroke. In late July at USA Swimming’s 2022 Phillips 66 National Championships, facing seven other competitors—six of whom were older—Matt placed first in the 200 breaststroke (2:07.91), swimming the seventh-fastest 200 breaststroke in U.S. history.

JEREMY LIN, a cellist attending Washington University in St. Louis, won the Friends of Music Concerto & Aria Competition in November 2021 and performed the first movement of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with the WashU Symphony Orchestra this past April. He began playing the cello at age four. For six consecutive years, he was selected by competitive audition to be a member of both the Central Jersey Regional Orchestra and the New Jersey All-State Orchestra.

A paper written by NOAH BERGAM (now at Columbia University) and TEODORA KOLAROV (now at the Georgia Institute of Technology) for a Math 6 project at Pingry was published in the secondary school mathematics magazine Parabola (UNSW Sydney) in August 2021. The subject, “The Black-Scholes model in the context of

econophysics,” reflects Noah’s interest in physics and Teodora’s interest in economics.

“Black-Scholes is a famous model in financial math that touches on a branch of economics known as ‘econophysics,’ in which economists borrow ideas from statistical physics and thermodynamics to try to model different processes—particularly in the trading of options, derivates, and stocks,” Noah explains. “We looked into derivations of the model and its broader connotations within the field. A lot of math research is focused on hyper-specific problems, but we took a more holistic view of interdisciplinary ideas and philosophy. It was ‘meta’ mathematics.” Mathematics Department Chair Dr. Alexandra Lasevich, Upper School Math and Economics Teacher Davidson Barr, and Upper School Math Teacher Brad Poprik reviewed the paper.

With this project complete, both Noah and Teodora are looking forward to more research in math, to explore the fields of applied and pure mathematics in greater detail.

The paper is available to read at pingry.org/ extras.

2022

LUKE ENGELKE, who will play lacrosse at Duke University, was among 44 players selected for the 17th annual Under Armour Senior All-America Lacrosse Game on July 30. A faceoff specialist who stays on the field to play offense, Luke won 71 percent of his faceoffs for Pingry in 2022 and added 32 goals and 31 assists for 63 points. In three seasons for Pingry, Luke won 67 percent of his faceoffs and contributed 69 goals and 62 assists for 131 points.

DANIEL ITTYCHERIA, playing soccer at Princeton University, was named Ivy League “Rookie of the Week” in October. He scored his first career goal as part of Princeton’s 5–0 win at Virginia Tech.

EMILY SHEN and SAM WEXLER, inspired by the information that alumni shared at Career Day, have created a podcast called After the Tassel, focusing on career possibilities for young professionals, with lesser-known details about careers they are familiar with and information about jobs they might not know exist.

In Memoriam

PARK B. SMITH ’50

August 25, 2022, age 90, Lakeville, CT

nMr. Smith served as a Pingry trustee for 13 years (1999–2012), received the Letter-In-Life Award (2001), was named an Honorary Trustee (2012), and served as Honorary Co-Chair of the Blueprint for the Future Campaign. He majored in Business Administration at the College of the Holy Cross and served as an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War; he later said that Pingry, the College of the Holy Cross, and the Marine Corps are three of the finest institutions in the world and believed it was the shared mission of these institutions that led him to live a life adhering to three calls to action: to pursue excellence in all one does; to respectfully serve others; and to always behave honorably.

He founded Dakotah, at one time the largest textile company in South Dakota, plus a second textile company that became one of the largest employers in India. He then founded and became Chairman and CEO of Park B. Smith, a New York–based home furnishings company founded on the belief that the definition of fashion is constant change, so the company offered an ever-changing mix of stylish home textiles. Mr. Smith told a home goods magazine that he was guided by the passion of creating and selling products “that, on the one hand, served a real purpose . . . and on the other hand, added an alluring design element and style to a room, using a unique combination of color, fabric, and texture.”

Because Mr. Smith considered Pingry “the biggest influence in my life,” the Honor Code “phenomenally important,” and the discipline learned from football and baseball “what has made me,” he looked for ways to give back. In turn, Pingry benefited from the generosity of his endowed and capital gifts that provided short- and long-term benefits (“you can’t just live for the present,” he said in 2013). He established the Carol and Park B. Smith ’50 SEEDS Scholarship Fund (1999) to make Pingry “more universal”; was a lead donor to the building campaign for the Hostetter Arts Center (opened in 2003); and made a lead gift to support construction of the Middle School, which would be named The Carol and Park B. Smith ’50 Middle School after Mr. Smith and his late wife, Carol (the building opened in 2007).

Speaking about the Middle School for its 2006 dedication, he considered it a prime opportunity to help improve Pingry with additional up-to-date facilities, and the building reflected one of his core beliefs: “I have spent a life designing things that are beautiful to look at, and yet highly functional. I have always believed that beauty and functionality should have a synergistic relationship in the everyday things we use.”

Mr. Smith was also a renowned wine collector with one of the world’s largest private collections: he amassed an 8,000-square-foot wine cellar with more than 65,000 bottles (those 8,000 square feet consisted of seven cellars built over 25 years). In 1999, to share his wine, he opened the restaurant Veritas in New York City, offering more than 3,600 selections of wine from his private collection.

Survivors include his wife, Linda; son Park B. Smith, Jr. and his wife Terry, and daughter Patricia Smith White and her husband Jim; grandchildren Park B. Smith III ’06, James S. White, Jr., Esq. ’09, Blaire Smith Melius ’08, and Dr. Laura White Baer ’10; and four great-grandchildren.

EDWARD S. “SCUDDER” MACKEY ’42

November 20, 2021, age 97, Jupiter, FL

nMr. Mackey attended Pingry for 12 years, becoming captain of the tennis and baseball teams, pitching a no-hitter, being elected Class President, and receiving the Class of 1902 Emblem Award. The faculty was kind and caring and contributed much to his success. After one year of business school at Lehigh University, he was drafted into the 94th army serving under General Patton. He fought through the European Campaigns, including the Battle of the Bulge, where he was awarded the Silver Star and Bronze Star for bravery, saving his platoon. After the war, Mr. Mackey completed a business degree and obtained a law degree from the University of Virginia. He spent his career in the business departments of oil companies in New York—Caltex, Texaco, and Chevron. His remaining time was spent in all aspects of church, including Sunday School Superintendent. Survivors include his wife of 61 years, Mary; son, Edward; daughter, Mary-Edwina; and grandchildren, Hannah, Mac, Samuel, and Amanda.

JOHN J. BUNDSCHUH ’43

July 17, 2021, age 96, Pittsford, NY

n Mr. Bundschuh, Valedictorian at Pingry, served in the Army Air Corps, attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he held many university track records, and worked for Eastman Kodak Company’s Consumer Products division for 37 years. At Kodak, he was awarded 41 patents and won two Master Design Awards from Product Engineering Magazine: in 1960 for the Automatic 35 Camera, and in 1966 for the Super 8 Movie Projector. He was also a Founding

Trustee, Past Chairman, and Treasurer of the Thousand Acre Swamp Preserve of the Nature Conservancy in Penfield, NY. Mr. Bundschuh was predeceased by his wife, Anna; son, William; brother, Robert ’41 (Jeri); and sisters, Madeline and Gertrude. Survivors include his sons, Peter (Alexis-Ann), John (Marjorie), and Paul (Judith); daughter-in-law Kristine; eight grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. His father Oscar was Pingry’s Business Manager from 1943–1958.

JOHN “JACK” EDMONDSON ’47

January 3, 2022, age 93, Rockville, MD nMr. Edmondson graduated from Union College and earned a law degree at the University of Virginia. His early career began with Cooperative for Assistance and Emergency Relief Everywhere (CARE International) in Germany and Poland as part of the post–World War II Marshall Plan; he met his future wife Krystyna in Poland. They settled in Washington, D.C., where Mr. Edmondson worked in international development as a low-income housing specialist at the Cooperative Housing Foundation (now Global Communities). He was a leader in his field and a steadfast ally in the fight for equality and social justice. The global, compassionate perspective of his uncle, documentary filmmaker Julien Bryan, had an indelible effect on him. He and his wife moved to East Jerusalem, where he worked for the Cooperative Development Project in support of Palestinian farming cooperatives. Upon his return to Washington, D.C., Mr. Edmondson worked for the Unitarian Universalist Affordable Housing Corporation, focusing on the housing needs of D.C.’s low-income population. He was an active member of the Washington Interfaith Alliance for Middle East Peace. Mr. Edmondson was preceded in death by his wife. He was the brother of Jane Wasson (Ed) and Bryan (deceased, Susan); father of Anna (Peter), Bebe (Jose), and Paul

(Maria); and grandfather of Tucker, Chloe, Josephine, Julien, and Sean.

ELWOOD “WOODY” PHARES II ’47

July 19, 2022, age 92, Princeton, NJ nMr. Phares was a member of the football, swimming, and golf teams at Pingry. He majored in Management Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, graduating with honors, and attended Harvard Business School, graduating with honors. At RPI, he was a standout center on the Men’s Lacrosse Team (38-6-1 during his career, including 13-0 in 1948) and served as captain his senior year. Mr. Phares was CEO/President of West/Penetone, Inc. and was inducted into RPI’s Athletics Hall of Fame. Survivors include his wife of 66 years, Jacqueline; brother, Richard ’54; children, Melissa and Craig (Katharine); and grandchildren Hadley, Austin, Didier, Charles, and Keene.

RICHARD PARTRIDGE ’48 February 27, 2022, age 91, Princeton, NJ nMr. Partridge received an A.B. from Harvard University and an LL.B. from Harvard Law School, and served in the U.S. Army in Germany for two years. After leaving law school, he worked in the Legal Division of Western Electric, the manufacturing subsidiary of AT&T. Until his retirement in 1989, he spent his entire career with Bell System companies. He had two tours of duty with the parent company, one in the Long Lines Department of AT&T and one in the General Departments, working on regulatory matters. From 1970 to 1973, he was General Attorney, Secretary, and Treasurer of Sandia Laboratories, a Bell System subsidiary in Albuquerque,

NM, that worked for the U.S. Government, primarily on the design of nuclear weapons. While in Albuquerque, Mr. Partridge was a trustee of the Sandia School, a private school for girls. Survivors include his wife of 67 years, Noëlle; daughter, Lisa; sons, John and William; sister, Joan; eight grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

RALPH CARLYLE “ROBIN”

PORTER III ’51

May 17, 2022, age 89, Middlebury, VT nMr. Porter enlisted in the Naval Reserve as a freshman at Washington and Lee University. He transferred to and graduated from Rutgers University and was commissioned at Officer Candidate School in Newport.

The same year, he married his first wife. He became an Intelligence Officer in the Navy and later, in the Reserves, volunteered twice for duty in Vietnam. Mr. Porter entered the Foreign Service in 1961, responding to President Kennedy’s call to serve, and was posted to Port-au-Prince, Manila, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and Moscow in time for the Nixon-Brezhnev summit in 1972. He returned to the U.S.S.R. in 1976 to lead the first U.S. diplomatic mission to Kyiv, Ukraine. Mr. Porter retired from the Foreign Service in 1983 after 22 years of service. He then began a new chapter when he earned an M.A. in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and arrived in Rhode Island to specialize in restoration of historic houses. It was on Block Island that he met his second wife, the Reverend Marsue Harris, a Rhode Island penitentiary chaplain. Mr. Porter served two terms in the Rhode Island State Senate and was elected to the North Kingstown Town Council in 1998, 2000, and 2004. After retiring from elected politics, he became a leader in the R.I. anti-casino cause. An active Pingry alumnus, Mr. Porter spearheaded the Class of 1951 Scholarship Fund and submitted three

In Memoriam

articles to The Pingry Review—one about former Chemistry Teacher Ernie Shawcross’ military service (Summer 2012), a reprinting of Mr. Shawcross’ address to the student body on Memorial Day 1947 (Fall 2017), and one about Pingry Row (September 2014). Mr. Porter was predeceased by both wives and his brothers, James ’53 and David ’57. Survivors include his children, Ralph “Carl” IV, Christopher (Wendy), Sarah (Kevin), and William (Martha); step-children, Laurisa and Nicolas (Andrea); grandchildren, Lily (Chris), Rosy, Christopher, Cooper, Vivian, Ashley, Beatrice, and Theodora; and sister-in-law, Kathryn.

KENNETH J. VEROSTICK, SR. ’51

July 15, 2022, age 88, Montclair, NJ nMr. Verostick earned a B.A. in Finance at Lehigh University. Fluent in German, he studied Hungarian at the Defense Language Institute and served with the Army Security Agency in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, doing intelligence work in the aftermath of the Hungarian Revolution. He returned to the U.S. in 1959 and was honorably discharged in 1962. Mr. Verostick met his wife, Robie, through regional theater and starred in dozens of musicals, including performances at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton. He worked for nearly 30 years at AT&T in human relations, management and executive education, and leadership development programs. After his retirement in 1987, he and his wife started their own management education/consulting chapter of the Institute for Management Studies. As founding chairs for the Philadelphia region, they would grow the chapter and host seminars for thousands of managers and executives. Survivors include his wife, Robie, and sons, Alan (Nicole) and Kenneth, Jr.

JOHN LOUIS “JACK” NOE ’52

January 26, 2022, age 87, Bedminster, NJ nMr. Noe graduated from the University of Vermont with a major in Business and Finance and served in the U.S. Air Force as an air traffic controller at Mitchell Air Force Base on Long Island. He worked for the insurance company The Kemper Group in Summit, NJ for more than 30 years. He was predeceased by his sister, Carol. Survivors include his wife, Jean; son, Scott (Barbara); daughter, Lynn; grandchildren, Daniel, John, Randy, and Erin; great-grandson, Lewis; and brother, Robert.

CMDR. ANTHONY W. “TONY” DEPAUL, JR. ’55

July 19, 2022, age 84, Port St. Lucie, FL nCmdr. DePaul retired from the U.S. Navy after 25 years of service. Survivors include two daughters, two sisters, four grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and brother-inlaw, John Geiger ’55. His brother, Michael J. S. DePaul ’65, predeceased him in 1971 while serving in the U.S. Army in Vietnam.

DAVID SLAYBACK ’56

September 30, 2021, age 83, New Smyrna Beach, FL nMr. Slayback attended The Peddie School and the College of William & Mary, served in the U.S. Army, operated the O’Hanlon Reports Agency of New York City, and worked in real estate management in New Smyrna Beach.

Survivors include his wife, Leigh; children, Peter and Krista; stepchildren, John, Jason, and Justin; brother, Jeff; and 14 grandchildren.

WILLIAM H. COCHRANE, JR. ’57

May 29, 2022, age 83, Maplewood, NJ nMr. Cochrane attended the Army Language School in Monterey, CA and served in the U.S. Army, where he spent time overseas and received a Good Conduct Medal. He graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in Political Science and minors in Economics, History, and Russian Language. Mr. Cochrane began his career at Bankers Trust Company before joining Neptune Meter Company as an Assistant General Sales Manager. He spent the rest of his career working in Fixed Income Sales for multiple companies. He was predeceased by his wife, Priscilla, and sister, Elizabeth. Survivors include his daughters, Elizabeth (John) and Sarah (Jonathan); sister, Susan; brother, Peter; and grandson, Noah.

DR. JOSEPH EDWARD “JEF”

FRANKLIN, JR. ’59 March 22, 2022, age 80, Evansville, IN nDr. Franklin graduated from Haverford College, earned a medical degree at the New Jersey College of Medicine, and completed his internship and three years of residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology. He then served as a Major for two years in the U.S. Air Force in Homestead, FL. He continued his training at St. Barnabas Hospital in Livingston, NJ and became a certified Gyn-Oncologist. He began his practice in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Welborn Clinic in Evansville; it is estimated that he delivered over 3,500 babies. As the only Board-Certified Gyn-Oncologist in the tri-state area at that time, Dr. Franklin performed surgeries at all three hospitals. He was preceded in death by a granddaughter, Sarah. Survivors include his wife, Neal; four children, Joseph

Edward Franklin III (known as Ned), Pamela (Anthony), Kathryn, and Ellen (Andrew); two grandsons, Andrew and William; and one great-granddaughter.

NORMAN LEWIS SMITH ’59

January 31, 2022, age 80, Brooklyn, NY

nMr. Smith graduated from Georgetown University and, after moving to Manhattan, held several writing and editorial positions in publishing, including at Sport Magazine, where he covered several Super Bowls and was in charge of the MVP Award. During the 1970s, he wrote four books, including The Return of Billy the Kid, a biography of Yankee player and manager Billy Martin, and How I Would Pitch to Babe Ruth, co-authored with Tom Seaver. He finished his career in magazines with 20 years as an editor at Reader’s Digest. In retirement in Florida, he helped investigate complaints at nursing homes through the state’s ombudsman program and, later, delivered meals to homebound seniors through Meals-on-Wheels. Survivors include his wife, Susan; brother, Dr. James Smith ’58; son, Eric; and two grandchildren.

DR. G. THOMAS

STOWE ’61

December 2020

nSurvivors include his wife, Sandra, and children, Matthew, Michael, and Amie.

JOHN CONANT WHITMARSH ’62

January 30, 2022, age 77, Yarmouth Port, MA

nMr. Whitmarsh earned a B.A. in English at Hobart College and an M.A. in Journalism at the Syracuse University Newhouse School of Journalism. Prior to attending graduate school, he enrolled in Officer Candidate

School and served in Vietnam as a decorated combat infantry Lieutenant in the U.S. Army from 1968–1969. He held top editorial positions on nine national trade and consumer newspapers, magazines, and newsletters in New York, Chicago, and Boston. In the high-tech publishing industry, he served as Editor-in-Chief of Computerworld newspaper from 1979–1985 and Editorial Director of CIO Magazine. In retirement, Mr. Whitmarsh pursued his lifelong love of photography and devoted his time to honing his craft of photo impressionism; in recent years, his work has been featured in several Cape Cod galleries and was regularly commissioned by enthusiastic customers. He was predeceased by his wife, Joelle. Survivors include his daughters, Elizabeth and Clair, two sons-in-law, and five grandchildren.

PETER P. “FOX” BLANCHARD III ’70

August 7, 2022, age 70, Manhattan nMr. Blanchard graduated from Princeton University, where he studied Biology and Art History, and received master’s degrees from the Yale School of Forestry (Entomology) and Columbia University’s Teachers College. Early in his career, he taught biology at The Chapin School, The Masters School, and Hardwood Island. He was a nature enthusiast and supporter of environmental and land conservation. He served as a Trustee of Maine Coast Heritage Trust and then as a Council Member. He was also involved with the Maine and New Jersey chapters of The Nature Conservancy. Mr. Blanchard was bestknown as Co-Founder and Chair of the Board of Greenwood Gardens, a 28-acre public garden and non-profit conservation organization that he co-founded with his wife, Sofia, in 2003— after growing up on the estate, Mr. Blanchard and his wife turned his father’s dream of the estate’s long-term preservation into reality (located in Short Hills, NJ, the gardens opened to the public in 2013). In a 2016 op-ed for The Star-Ledger, Mr. Blanchard explained their reasons for turning the land into a public

garden: their personal attachment to it; making it a resource for the public’s benefit; leaving a legacy for future generations; inspiring other conservation efforts; and bringing history to one’s fingertips. (He wrote, “Greenwood Gardens is a tactile, immersive time capsule . . . it reminds us of what we may lose, and why we must protect it.) A painter and an art collector, he also served for many years on the boards of The Frick Collection (his great-grandfather was Henry Clay Frick) and the Helen Clay Frick Foundation (Mr. Frick’s daughter, she founded the Frick Art Reference Library). Mr. Blanchard authored three long-range land conservation studies published by the Trust for Public Land and New York City Audubon: Buffer the Bay Revisited (a review of unprotected open space fringing Jamaica Bay, 1992); The Century Plan (presenting 100 conservation sites on Barnegat Bay, 1994); and An Islanded Nature (a study of remaining natural areas on Western Staten Island, 2001). He also wrote We Were an Island: The Maine Life of Art and Nan Kellam, about this couple who moved to an uninhabited island off the coast of Maine and lived there for over 35 years (University Press of New England, 2010), and Greenwood: A Garden Path to Nature and the Past, about many aspects of the gardens (Greenwood Gardens Publications, 2016). Survivors include his wife, Sofia, and son, Theo.

DANIEL DOLGIN ’70

February 28, 2022, New York, NY nMr. Dolgin was an attorney, and he spent most of his career in private investing, philanthropy, and multiple good needs. While at Pingry, he began his lifelong love of photography. Mr. Dolgin died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rapidly progressing, rare, always fatal neurodegenerative disease. Survivors include his wife of 42 years, Loraine Gardner; brother, Dr. Stephen Dolgin ’67; sister, Janet; two sons; and three grandchildren.

In Memoriam

PAUL JAMES CROOKER ’80

August 10, 2022, age 60, Denville, NJ nMr. Crooker grew up in the Cedar Lake community of Denville and came to Pingry as a junior, when the campus was still in Hillside. An excellent scholar-athlete, he played ice hockey and baseball, and was an outstanding member of teams in the second and third seasons of Pingry’s fledgling ice hockey program. After graduating from Pingry, he attended Stevens Institute of Technology; during college, Mr. Crooker met his future wife, Susan Villagomez, and they lived for two decades in Danville, CA. His work focused on the development and design of mechanical systems operating under high pressure and temperature conditions for the United States government and electric power industry. His contributions led to prestigious recognition, including the EPRI Technology Transfer and Chauncey Starr R&D Awards. Mr. Crooker valued and practiced lifelong learning. In his mid-50s, amid his technical management career, he enrolled in The University of Chicago, graduating with an M.B.A. in 2019. He felt a strong connection to Pingry through his educational experience and many lasting friendships. Mere weeks before he entered hospice, Mr. Crooker carefully prepared and a one-day seminar—assisted by Linda Ginzel, Ph.D., of The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, inspired by her book Choosing Leadership: A Workbook—to Pingry students as part of a Spring Intensive on the Basking Ridge Campus and, days later, spent an enjoyable afternoon on a tour of the Pingry campus and its athletics facilities, guided by Miller Bugliari ’52, P ’86, ’90, ’97, GP ’20, ’24. Mr. Crooker’s desire to share items of knowledge about which he was passionate was legend among family, friends, and mentees. Anyone who knew him always anticipated learning something new in his presence; the imparted knowledge invariably coupled with a memorable quote, cleverly delivered, and always intentional. He was predeceased by his wife, Susan, and his parents. He is survived by four siblings (Richard, John, Glenn, and Kate) and loving nieces and nephews, including Emily Crooker ’11.

FREDERICK ANDREW VIMOND, SR. ’80

August 18, 2020, St. Petersburg, FL nMr. Vimond graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Kenyon College and had a long, successful career as a financial advisor and business partner at Aegis Insurance. Survivors include his loving wife of 27 years, Denise; daughter, Melanie (Ryan); son, Brian; daughter, Blakelie; son, Drew (Courtney); parents, Edmund and Pamela; brother, Chip (Muriel); sister, Cynthia (Jason); and grandchildren, Isabella, Madison, Cecile, Christina, and Jack.

SEAN D. LOVE ’83

July 11, 2022, age 57, Dallas, TX nAt Pingry, Mr. Love was a member of The Cum Laude Society and received four letters for track, which he continued for many years, accumulating numerous medals, trophies, and awards. He also sang with the Glee Club and Buttondowns for four years. Mr. Love graduated from The University of Chicago and received an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago, second in his class. He studied for a doctorate at Harvard University, but left after two years due to complications from Type 1 diabetes. He was Director of Executive Compensation for Tenet Healthcare and, later, for Trinity Industries. Survivors include his brother, David, and loving parents.

MARTINE SUHL ’88

November 2016, FL nMs. Suhl, who grew up in Berkeley Heights, lived in Brooklyn, NY and West Palm Beach, FL and spent time in her spiritual home of Anguilla. A creative

spirit, she was a jewelry artist who crafted wearable art from semi-precious stones and had a practice in artfully arranging displays for storefront windows. She will be remembered by her Pingry friends for her love of music, particularly reggae, which she carried with her throughout her life. Ms. Suhl passed away after a brief illness.

THRUSTON W. PETTUS, JR. ’94 HELEN (DE LA GUERONNIERE)

ARMIDE ’02

February 2022, age 37, Cape Elizabeth, ME nMs. Armide, a fashion writer, was a descendant of the Rockefeller family (granddaughter of Godfrey A. Rockefeller, the great-grandson of William Rockefeller, Jr.). Survivors include her sister, Anne ’99. Ms. Armide died from accidental drowning.

MATTHEW SCOTT MCCURDY ’08

March 18, 2022, age 32, Summerland Key, FL nMr. McCurdy, who died in a spearfishing/ freediving accident, lived his life with passion and a spirit of adventure: his love of all things marine led him to a life on the ocean. His passions included spearfishing; SCUBA diving for megalodon teeth; surfing; fishing; coral reef restoration; ocean conservation; and turtle nest restoration. His many accomplishments include Free Diving; Master PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) SCUBA Dive Certification; Master Boat Captain, U.S. Coast Guard; and Yacht License STCW 195 Rib Master (Standards of Training and Certification of

editorial staff makes every effort to publish an obituary for and pay tribute to trustees, alumni, and employees who have passed away, based on information available as of press time. If family members, classmates, or friends would like to submit tributes, please contact Greg Waxberg ’96 at gwaxberg@pingry.org or 908-647-5555, ext. 1296.

Watchkeeping International Maritime Organization). He was employed as an Eco Tour guide and involved in coral reef restoration in Key Largo and Summerland Key, Florida, where he made his home. Among other marine and environmental-related jobs, Mr. McCurdy was previously employed in the “Restore the Shore” (NJ) effort as an ocean floor surveyor along Barnegat Bay Island, and volunteered in horseshoe crab recovery, and turtle nest and oyster bed restoration on Barnegat Bay. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the Center for Marine Science at the University of North Carolina and interned at the Rutgers University Marine Field Station. He was always the first to identify a whale or dolphin in the distance, sea glass or an unusual shell on beach walks. He also became a Lead Marine Science Camp Instructor and fascinated his young students with his vast collection and knowledge of fossils, shark teeth, shells, and marine vertebra. Family and friends were awed by his intense passion, his encyclopedic knowledge, and his respect for and love of the earth, climate, and environment. His passion for the environment and marine conservation will be his living legacy. Mr. McCurdy was the beloved son of Jeanne and Bill McCurdy, and brother of Lauren McCurdy Kollar and husband Kevin Kollar.

LT. RYAN PAUL CASEY ’12

January 29, 2022, age 28 nLt. Casey attended Pingry from Kindergarten through Grade 8, and Morristown Beard for high school, and earned a B.A. with Honors in Political Science at Villanova University. He received his officer commission from Officer Candidate School, Quantico, Virginia in 2018, completing the Officer Basic Course in 2019. He also completed the Logistics Officer Course that same year and was stationed at the U.S. Marine Corps Detachment, Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. He was proud to be a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. At the time of his unexpected death, he was serving as Commander of the 1st Platoon, Truck Company, 25th Marine Regiment. Survivors include his parents, Alison and James; and siblings, Katlyn ’10, Kyle ’14, and Jack ’16.

Faculty

GEORGES NICOLAS KRIVOBOK

February 12, 2022, age 91, St. Petersburg, FL nA native of Paris, Mr. Krivobok worked at Pingry from 1960–1967, teaching French, Spanish, and Russian and serving as Head of the Modern Language Department (1965–1967), Director of the Language Lab (1964–1967), President of the American Field Service Chapter, and Advisor to the Russian Club. A veteran of the U.S. Army, he received a B.A. in Spanish from Swarthmore College and a Liberal Arts Master’s degree from Middlebury Russian Language Summer School. Survivors include his wife of 68 years, Marilou; and children, Karin, Marliese, and Georges III. Mr. Krivobok died from complications of COVID-19.

JOHN ANTHONY “MAGS” MAGADINI

May 3, 2022, age 89, Mendham, NJ nMr. Magadini coached and taught at Pingry from 1996–2022. He came to the School in his best-known role, Head Coach of the Boys’ Varsity Ice Hockey Team, which he would lead for 20 years until transitioning to Head Coach Emeritus. Five years after starting to coach, in 2001, he joined Pingry full-time in the classroom as a Permanent Substitute Teacher. Those in the audience for Morning Meetings and Homecoming rallies during his years at Pingry were familiar with the cry of “Oorah!” that was instilled in him during his years proudly serving in the U.S. Marine Corps as a First Lieutenant Officer, then captain in the Reserve. He spoke about his experiences during recent Veterans Day Assemblies. (Mags told The Pingry Review that “Oorah!’” was meant to “get the students’ attention and get them smiling.”)

He majored in Management Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), where he played football, ice hockey, and lacrosse; earned All-American Honorable Mention for lacrosse; and was a member of NCAA championship teams in lacrosse (1952) and hockey (1954). He spent his career in advertising, and then designed and marketed new lines of hockey sticks, including the first aluminum sticks. He eventually became a coach, first at the Essex Hunt Club and then Delbarton School. As a head coach, he told his players, “This is a team. We’re all on the same team— it’s just that I have a different job.”

Mags led Pingry’s ice hockey team to Skyland Cup Championships in 2011 and 2012 and a combined 12 county and state prep finals; he earned “Ice Hockey Coach of the Year” honors in 2004 (NJSIAA) and 2010 (Courier News). He was also inducted into four Halls of Fame: RPI (1986), the New Jersey High School Ice Hockey Hall of Fame (2012; Pingry’s first inductee), the New Jersey Scholastic Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame (2013), and Pingry’s Athletics Hall of Fame (2019). “I never tried to impress anybody,” he told The Pingry Review. “I was very fortunate to go to RPI and be national champs in two sports. I was really lucky to have the opportunities to be a player and coach. I’m a lucky guy.”

In 2010, Mags received the Woodruff J. English Faculty Award (for embodying the Honor Code) and was dedicatee of that year’s Blue Book. Pingry’s first coaching endowment was established in 2016 and named in his honor, and the 2022 Blue Book was also dedicated to him in a June ceremony attended by his family (read excerpts from the remarks at pingry.org/extras). Mags will be remembered for his cheerful presence, his kindness and encouragement, his legacy as a coach, and the values that he brought to his athletes. He was preceded in death by his brother, Peter. Carol, his beloved wife of 60 years, has unfortunately also since passed away—on Veterans Day, November 11. Survivors include their children, Lisa, John, Jr., and Peter and his wife Ashlie.

A Visit to the Archives

Within one month this summer, Pingry received memorabilia associated with two significant figures in School history: former Head of School Scotty Cunningham ’38, P ’78, ’80 (served as Head from 1970–1980) and former Athletic Director and coach Reese Williams P ’55 (worked at Pingry from 1920–1965).

The mementos from Mr. Cunningham’s years as a student and an administrator were donated by his daughter, Ann Cunningham Stachura ’78. Mr. Williams’ collection was donated by his granddaughter, Jody Curtis (daughter of Mr. Williams’ daughter, Anne Curtis). Mrs. Cunningham Stachura and Ms. Curtis share their memories with The Pingry Review.

Highlights of the Scotty Cunningham ’38, P ’78, ’80 memorabilia: pennants; track ribbons; news clips collected and organized by his wife and mother; drama programs; Pingry letters; and track medals.

Mrs. Cunningham Stachura donated her father’s report cards from Grade 1 through his post-graduate year “because there are handwritten notes to young Scotty from Harriet Budd—who the heck has seen a handwritten note from Harriet Budd?! C. B. Newton wrote several notes, too. In my Pingry brain, these are celebrities!”

Scotty Cunningham ’38 Leaves Pingry . . . and Returns Mrs. Cunningham Stachura relates this story: “He started at Pingry at age 5 and attended through 1929 when the Depression hit. He had to leave Pingry and went to public school in Elizabeth for a year. But he lived near Pingry and went to the Parker Road Campus in the afternoons to play with his friends on the fields. One day, a trustee was there, meeting with the Head of School [C. B. Newton], and they were watching the boys play. One of the boys got hurt, so my Dad tended to him—the trustee was impressed by his behavior, saying that Pingry wants to produce students like that, who selflessly help others. The Head of School told him that Scott Cunningham was a casualty of the Depression and was no longer at Pingry, so the trustee arranged for a scholarship for my Dad for the rest of his schooling at Pingry, through his post-graduate year. For college, thanks to his running and the exposure at some of the track meets, he was offered a full ride for athleticism at several schools, and he took the football scholarship at William & Mary.”

Asked about her father’s love of running, Mrs. Cunningham Stachura says he excelled at sports—football, basketball, baseball, and track. “He loved being part of a team, and sportsmanship was really important to him.” The collection includes track and field medals from his high school career, covering Union County and State meets.

File Cabinets Were Really Organized That Way?

Mrs. Cunningham Stachura shares a Pingry memory that is certain to make a few eyes widen!

“When I was about 14, I wanted a job. My father arranged for me (an incoming freshman coming from Kent Place to Pingry as one of the first 100 girls!) to work that summer in the Alumni Office. The first thing I was asked to do was file the folders of the new graduates in a room lined with five-drawer metal filing cabinets. I was told that this would take a very long time. ‘Why,’ I wondered, ‘would it take a long time? Just put the Class of 1974 behind the Class of 1973, right? In alphabetical order, of course.’ Well . . . the alumni were all filed alphabetically . . . not by class. I was expected to move files backward to accommodate the new files. Alphabetically. With everyone since Dr. Pingry’s day. I suggested that we reorganize the cabinets by class . . . and alphabetically within each class . . . so that’s what I was allowed to do.

I spent all summer reorganizing those cabinets and going through the files . . . there were a few (!) misfiled items. It was, however, a joy for me. I lived in the C. B. Newton house in Hillside and had grown up on stories of Harriet Budd, Nelson Carr, and others. To go through those files and all of that history was magical and a truly wonderful first job. Reading about all of the people I had heard about brought them to life. Seeing the handwritten notes made it all real—notes from teachers and administrators, college recommendations . . . I love the written word, I love letters.”

A Visit to the Archives

Highlights of the Reese Williams P ’55 memorabilia: commemorative scroll from the 1950 Football Team; commemorative scroll recognizing his 25 years as Athletic Director; his vintage Pingry sweatshirt (Ms. Curtis notes that it is unusually heavy); his 1920s glove; the 1931 football trophy; and photos of Coach Williams leading gymnastics at the Lower School (Ms. Curtis notes that he loved gymnastics, bodybuilding, and acrobatics).

Facts About Reese Williams at Pingry

• As football coach, he never missed a game or practice in 35 years.

• Although he coached football and baseball, he prioritized teaching boys and young men sportsmanship and fair play. (This is reflected in the “In Pingry History” column on this page.)

• He believed players of all abilities should have field time.

• He loved working at Pingry and felt lucky to have landed at the School early in his career and stayed until he retired. At one point, he was quoted as saying that he was glad he had “hitched his wagon to a star.”

• His son, Roger ’55, played football with his father as coach, including as a member of the undefeated, Hall of Fame 1952 team. His daughter, Anne, went to Vail-Deane and remembers teaching swimming lessons one summer at the Pingry pool.

pingry.org: To learn more about Pingry’s Archives, visit the new Archives page under “Teaching & Learning” (pingry.org/teaching-learning/pingry-archives). Offerings include . . .

• Collections (Admiral Halsey, Publications, Theater Programs, Athletics Hall of Fame, and more)

• Displays and Exhibits (Pingry People Through the Years, Community Awards, Hillside Campus, and more)

• Pingry Flashes Back (monthly blog as a virtual visit to the Archives)

• Guidance for donating to Pingry’s Archives

In Pingry History

10 YEARS AGO

The Upper School Fall Play is On the Razzle, with the cast and crew working extra hard— and quickly—after Hurricane Sandy disrupts a week’s worth of rehearsals.

20 YEARS AGO

The Veterans Day Assembly pays tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen, with two guest speakers: Lt. Col. Thomas E. Highsmith, Jr., who served as a Tuskegee Airman, and Leroy Gillead III, Esq., whose father served as one.

30 YEARS AGO

Water Polo is introduced as a fall sport in the Middle and Upper Schools. Then–Swimming Coach Bill Reichle P ’00 initiates the program to help swimmers prepare for the winter season.

40 YEARS AGO

Grades 7–12 participate in the “Walk for Henry” to benefit the Stifel Paralysis Research Foundation, launched after an automobile accident that paralyzed Henry G. Stifel III ’83.

50 YEARS AGO

The “Thursday Afternoon Program” is established for students during their free time if they are not in Glee Club; the block of time features speakers, movies, demonstrations, and seminars.

60 YEARS AGO

Economics is introduced as a voluntary course without credit, appealing to students who want to learn something for the “rewards of knowledge and understanding” (according to The Pingry Record).

70 YEARS AGO

Robert Engisch ’47, in his second year at Cornell University Medical College, speaks to the Upper School about pre-medical education. (He would become a board-certified neurologist.)

80 YEARS AGO

Reese Williams writes a column for The Pingry Record, “Every Boy Has Opportunity To Participate In Physical Development At Pingry.” In it, he describes physical education as “an absolute essential in the physical, mental and moral make-up of a boy” and concludes that “the greatest lesson . . . is the spirit of fair play and good sportsmanship.”

90 YEARS AGO

C. B. Newton defines the purpose, make-up, and functions of Student Council. Purpose: to give the students practice in self-government and provide a body to reflect student opinion.

Make-up: President of the Senior Class (who serves as President of the Council), two other seniors, two juniors, one sophomore, and one freshman. Functions: jurisdiction over matters involving the students outside of classrooms and study halls, and consider matters that affect students’ welfare and happiness.

A Final Look

These interesting organisms are products of a Science 7 project last spring, when students researched topics of their choosing in the category of life science or outer space (depending on which section of Science 7 they were enrolled in). Potential topics in life science included life in the ocean; viruses; bacteria; animal rights; DNA fingerprinting; genetic disorders; and the science of sleep. Outer space offered choices of a planet, comet, or star, or the asteroid belt.

Once they selected their topic, students wrote research papers* of at least two pages (including in-text citations and a Works Cited page) and created visual aids for oral presentations to their class. After completing the research for the outer space projects, students also needed to invent, name, and write about an organism that can survive in their area of research (such as a creature living in the asteroid belt), and create a 3D representation. They could use physical materials or design the creature with Tinkercad software and print it

The Pingry School

Basking Ridge Campus, Middle & Upper Schools

Short Hills Campus, Lower School

Pottersville Campus, K-12 Experiential Education

131 Martinsville Road Basking Ridge, NJ 07920

This wall that displays the recipients of Pingry’s Letter-In-Life Award is the newest modernized presentation in the Upper School building. It was preceded by Pingry People Through the Years; a celebration of the Hillside Campus; student awards; and faculty awards.