Alumni News
Empty the Lot Day video
Rummage Contest video highlights
Gambol Auction Needs Your Help
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Dear Parents, Alumni, and Friends,.jpg)
Dear Parents, Alumni, and Friends,
Fifteen percent of senior class named National Merit Scholar semifinalists
Rummage contest photo gallery
Upper School students rocked the Rummage Contest on Saturday, October 3. The weather cooperated despite threatening skies in the early hours of the day. Thank you, Blue Team and White Team captains for organizing a great event. Thank you, Upper School students and teachers for collecting and sorting an awesome collection of items to sell at our last, best Rummage Sale.
Click on any photo to start a slide show.
Megan Amram '06, co-author of Hasty Pudding Theatricals, featured in Harvard newspaper
Karl Jonske '99 Memorial Lecture Series presents Tracy Kidder
Tracy Kidder is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Mountains Beyond Mountains and Strength in What Remains.
The Karl Jonske '99 Memorial Lecture Series honors a devoted student of English and lover of the written word. The series brings intellectually engaging speakers to campus for Upper School assemblies with students, faculty-staff, alumni, and friends.
Karl graduated from Catlin Gabel in 1999, where he was a National Merit semi-finalist, a member of the varsity tennis team and a captain of the varsity basketball team. He went on to attend the University of Chicago, where he was active in community service, sports and the Model United Nations of the University of Chicago.
His many interests included reading, writing, scuba, and travel. He had a passion for working with young people and volunteered with middle school youth as a math tutor. He hoped to become a professional writer. In addition to the lecture itself, the memorial has provided for the acquistion of 420 titles to date by the Upper School library.
Past lecturers have included poet and essayist Ted Kooser, journalists David Lamb and Sandy Northrop, and photographer Anne B. Keiser.
To support the lecture series, get in touch with Miranda Wellman '91, director of development, 503-297-1894 ext 398.
Student & alumni projects for robotic system for elephants in the news
See TV and print stories online:
KPTV Fox12 news: http://www.kptv.com/video/21000918/index.html
KGW Channel 8 news: http://www.kgw.com/video/video-index.html?nvid=392262
Beaverton Valley Times: http://www.beavertonvalleytimes.com/news/story.php?story_id=125138855686978400
http://www.ecnmag.com/news-oregon-zoo-elephant-robotics-082509.aspx
Also:
See the Zoo's video at http://www.oregonzoo.org/VideoArchive/CatlinGabelStudents.htm
KATU news story about Rummage retirement
The last Rummage Sale: Rummage retires at 65
by Karen Katz ’74 communications director, Rummage announcer, and former sporting goods department chair
This year, we celebrate the Rummage Sale’s 65th anniversary. As we mark this milestone, we will also commemorate the sale’s retirement. Yes, that’s right, Rummage is retiring at age 65 after the 2009 sale. I talked at length with Lark Palma, head of school, and Lesley Sepetoski, Rummage Sale coordinator since 2000, to find out why this amazing sale is being retired after this year.
Why are we retiring Rummage?
Rummage is such a great community event. How will we replicate that?
What were the factors that went into making the decision?
Who made the decision to make this the last Rummage Sale and what was the process?
Will there be less financial aid available without Rummage?
What’s going to happen to Lesley?
Is this the first time the school has considered retiring Rummage?
Then why didn’t we retire Rummage sooner?
Let’s get back to the volunteer question. Why don’t we have the volunteers in place to continue the sale?
As an alumna and the mother of one alumnus and one current student, I really value the lessons students learn through the Rummage Sale. What about that?
What about the way Rummage ties into our sustainability efforts?
What will happen to the sorting center?
Is there anything else you want to add?
Lesley: We need everyone to pitch in this year as we celebrate the many lives Rummage has affected so positively, in so many ways, over its 65 years. Join with us (if you can) to help Rummage retire with a hoot and a holler and a whole lot of fun.
"Catlin Gabel has Changed Me"
From the Spring 2009 Caller
Anthony Lin ’09 presented the following remarks at this year’s Gambol auction in April. His speech led off the special appeal, which focused on financial aid. When he finished his speech, Anthony was floored to see the 360-member audience on their feet, giving him a rousing standing ovation.
“Good evening, everyone. My name is Anthony Lin, and I’m a senior at Catlin Gabel. I want to thank you all for making it out here tonight to celebrate the Gambol with us. As you know, the Gambol supports financial aid at Catlin: making it possible for all students, regardless of their economic background, to receive a top-notch education. My story, like the stories of many others who have received financial assistance at Catlin Gabel, is a testament to the power of philanthropy and the impact an event like this can have on a student’s life.
“Seven years ago I came into Catlin Gabel as a sixth grader, shy and unsure of myself. Transferring from a large elementary school in Beaverton, I knew no one at Catlin Gabel and had a difficult time acclimating to my surroundings. However, the school’s supportive and nurturing environment allowed me to find my place within the community.
“It’s undeniable how great an education one can receive at Catlin Gabel, but the school provides so much more than that. Not only have its programs taught me to think critically, speak confidently, and write proficiently, but they have ensured that I made similar progress on a social level. The teachers, the students, everyone here placed a vested interest in seeing me succeed, not only pushing me to become the best student I could, but encouraging me to carry myself with integrity, to give back to the community—pushing me to become the best person I could. Who would’ve known that this child, seven years later, had the potential to become Catlin Gabel’s student body president, voicing the needs of the students or choosing between colleges like Johns Hopkins, Notre Dame, and Duke?
“Without a Catlin Gabel education, my life would have looked drastically different. The growth each student experiences here is indescribable. In fact, without the financial assistance that allowed me to receive such an enriching education, I’d probably still be the same shy child I was seven years ago, stuttering my way through this speech.
“But today I can tell you with all sincerity that Catlin Gabel has changed me. It’s given me the opportunity and support to redefine myself in ways I never thought possible. Catlin Gabel equips its students with everything we need to face the future. The academic rigor ensures that we’ll be prepared for the work ahead, the cultivated self-esteem makes certain that we’ll appreciate and value the work we produce, and the fostered sense of community guarantees that we’ll continue onwards to be an intricate part of whatever niche we find in this world.
“It is in sadness that I live out my last two months here at Catlin Gabel, but with great joy and confidence that the school has prepared me for the years ahead. And such is the sentiment that’s felt by all those who have gone through Catlin Gabel: a sense of accomplishment and completion, a sense that here a transformation took place in each of us, and a sense that from here we’ll move forward to change the world around us.
“So on behalf of all students here at Catlin Gabel, I thank you for your continued support of the Gambol. I thank you for always looking out for this community. And I thank you for what you do to give each and every student the opportunity to reach his or her fullest potential. Your generosity is truly what makes this place a dream come true for students. So thank you, and I wish you all a wonderful evening.”
Thanks to Anthony’s inspirational story and charisma, the special appeal at the Gambol raised over $120,000 for financial aid. His message about the power of philanthropy is especially poignant right now. Every year students such as Anthony come into our school and leave their mark on everyone they encounter. This can only continue to happen at Catlin Gabel through the generosity of the entire community.
The Complicated Life of Food, and the Scholar Who Studies It
From the Spring 2009 Caller
Food isn’t just food to Susanne Freidberg ’84: it’s a complex web of power relations, trade and globalization, and ingrained attitudes. Fresh: A Perishable History, the second book by this Dartmouth professor of geography, hit the bookshelves in April. A unique exploration of the way fresh food has been perceived through time and cultures, Susanne’s book examines the paradoxes of beautiful, tasteless fruit; of lovely fish whose consumption has depleted their stock; and the ultimate costs of our desires for fresh food.
Susanne’s road to her latest research is a journey both physically and intellectually. Her interest in food began when she studied corn farming in southern Kenya as an anthropology major at Yale University. Later the marketplaces of West Africa caught her attention with their powerful women traders and their colorful produce. That led to London, Paris, and Zambia, where she was intrigued by international power relations between sellers of African food crops and their European buyers, and how environmental and social justice activists influenced the food trade. The result was her first book, French Beans and Food Scares: Culture and Commerce in an Anxious Age, published in 2004 by Oxford University Press.
That line of thinking led to more curiosity: why was early refrigeration thought to be immoral? Why is it that everyone values freshness but no one can define it? “I figured that question would keep me busy for a while. Which it did,” says Susanne, who also holds a doctorate from the University of California-Berkeley.
Susanne’s studies have sparked much interest in these days of “foodies,” when food has become somewhat of an obsession. But, she says, “I try to get across to my students that if they want to change the world—to do something about hunger and poverty and so forth—it’ll depend on a lot more than what they buy and eat. It’ll take big political change. This isn’t always the message that people want to hear.”
Susanne feels well served by her teachers at Catlin Gabel—Dave Corkran, John Wiser, Bob Ashe, Paul Dickinson, Lowell Herr—who taught her how to talk to people who knew a lot more than she did, good practice in her later studies. Although she didn’t plan to stay in academia and “had vague plans” to work in international development, she realized in graduate school that her real strengths lie in research, writing, and teaching.
“I also got to love being around students,” she says. “It’s energizing and humbling. The academic’s work is never done, but I like doing it on my own time, and taking it all over the world.”
Theatre that Gives Life to a Community
From the Spring 2009 Caller
Imagine a Northwest community made up mostly of loggers and Native Americans, and imagine they don’t have much to do with one another. How would you bring them together? Will (Chaz) Weigler ’77 recently took on that challenge, and his answer was to have them work together to create theatre.
Will spent eight months with residents of Darrington, Washington (population 1,100) and the 400 members of the nearby Sauk-Suiattle Tribe creating a musical play. People from both communities, aged from 18 months to 85 years, came together to tell their stories and dramatize their historical relationships with one another and their common relationships with the mountains, forests, and rivers that surround them—and they performed the show to sold-out audiences. It’s a perfect example of what Will has been striving to do with theatre for many years now.
Applied theatre caught Will’s attention in a big way when he was an undergraduate at Oberlin College. He had hitchhiked to St. Peter, Minnesota, to attend an international conference on people’s theatre, which celebrates the lives and concerns of people and their communities. Looking to start his career after graduation, he thought about where he had most felt “alive and happy and connected.” He went right back to St. Peter to the theatre company that produced the conference, ready to immerse himself in this vision of theatre as a catalyst for community building.
That work has become Will’s life work, and it’s taken him down many paths as he has explored the role of theatre in diverse communities. He spent time in Portland producing and directing Peace Child: A Musical of Hope with 75 kids at the then-new Portland Center for the Performing Arts. That led to his co-founding a youth theatre company, Young Actor’s Forum. Turn Loose the Voices, a video adaptation of their performance about young people’s perspectives on prejudice and the value of diversity, has become a widely used teaching tool for diversity awareness training. Will’s reflection on the process of collective play creation became an award-winning 2001 book, Strategies for Playbuilding: Helping Groups Translate Issues into Theatre.
Will is now a doctoral candidate in applied theatre at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. He is researching brief moments in theatre performances that have stopped audience members in their tracks and prompted a sudden personal insight (and he invites Caller readers to contribute to his study at www.aesthetic-arrest.com).
He manages to finds time for acting, storytelling, and public speaking. For Will there’s always a next big project, and right now he’s working with faculty, students, and local theatre artists to establish an international applied theatre center in Victoria. Will hopes that it will serve as a laboratory for improving understanding of how theatre can effectively promote positive social change.
Documents, Dirt, and Diaspora
From the Spring 2009 Caller
The past still lives under the ground, and archaeologists explore and interpret the past through their excavations. Sometimes they uncover the remote past, from before the written record. But Marley Brown III ’65 has spent his work life engrossed in what he sees as a deeper intellectual challenge: unearthing the material evidence of the documented past—in his case 17th and 18th century America—and seeing where it fits in the puzzle of historical evidence. And in most cases historical archaeology vividly reveals new and sometimes startling information about the lives of our forebears.
Right from junior high school Marley was intrigued by archaeology. In high school he learned more about archaeology and excavation through the Oregon Archaeological Society, along with his good friend Henry Dick ’65. Inspired by beloved CGS Latin teacher Ora Belden and others, Marley believed that he would become an archaeologist of the classical world.
He continued to move in that path as a student at Brown University—until a great teacher crossed his path. James Deetz was a founder of the new field of historical archaeology, and when he came to Brown he and Marley hit it off, the start of a 34-year-long friendship. Deetz invited Marley in 1968 to his summer field school in Massachusetts at Plimoth Plantation. “I didn’t look back,” says Marley. “That was the end of Latin and Greek and classical archaeology for me.”
Marley earned his BA and PhD at Brown. He worked bicoastally for several years, founding the historical archaeology program at Sonoma State University. While visiting Deetz in Virginia in 1982, he landed a job as archaeological director of Colonial Williamsburg (and married Kathleen Bragdon), and shortly after became an adjunct professor at the College of William & Mary.
Marley has led historical archaeology studies since then in Jamestown, Bermuda, Barbados, and many sites in Virginia. One of the most important aspects of his research has been the archaeology of the African Diaspora of 17th and 18th century Virginia, a formerly neglected field. One of his most fundamental discoveries was that enslaved Africans were living in separate quarters on a site in Virginia as early as 1640—a finding that shook up historians, who believed that slaves weren’t there until about 1680. “Archaeology challenged that narrative and took it back a generation,” says Marley. “It showed the extent to which Africans were doing things their own way and had an impact on the way they were allowed to live and how their masters lived—all part of the bargain you make when you run a plantation.”
These days Marley teaches full time at William & Mary; his position at Colonial Williamsburg was eliminated last year as the result of the economic situation. He will still run the summer field school as a William & Mary professor and dig in the historical area of Williamsburg. “I’ve had several hundred students, and my major sense of fulfillment has been getting MA and PhD students excited about the subject,” says Marley. “Being able to teach full time now is great. And now I don’t have to obey the formal dress code of Colonial Williamsburg and can wear my jeans for digging.”
Alumni Weekend 2009
From the Spring 2009 Caller
Alumni from classes ending in 4 and 9 happily reunited on May 1 and 2. We had a smashing time at Friday night’s all-class party in the Barn (featuring impromptu performances by Tom Tucker ’66, Laura Stilwell ’74, Nick Weitzer ’74, and David Ewart ’75), and wonderful class parties all over campus and the city! Mark your calendars for June 18–19, 2010, for reunions of classes that end in 0 and 5. Want to help organize your class party? Please get in touch with the alumni office this summer.
Class of 1954
Class of 1959 and friends
Class of 1969
Class of 1974
Class of 1979
Class of 1984
Class of 1989
Class of 1999
Alumni News Spring 2009
From the Spring 2009 Caller
When did you last see your Catlin Gabel classmates and former teachers? For many of you, it was Alumni Weekend, your class reunion, or another Catlin Gabel alumni event. Increasingly, however, we are seeing old friends from school virtually—through various online social and professional networking sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and even Twitter.
These web-based interactions are changing how we all think about our face-to-face interactions. Among Catlin Gabel alumni, connections are no longer limited to reunions every five years and local events throughout the year, but now happen in real time across vast distances. Friends in Argentina, Portland, New York, and Tokyo can connect instantly through the Facebook wall of a fifth friend in Indonesia. With Facebook, every evening can be a high school reunion. With LinkedIn, every morning can be a networking breakfast.
The alumni office—working with the alumni board—continues to look for ways to make the services and programs we provide to Catlin Gabel alumni and their families relevant, given this changing social landscape. Ideas we’ve already put into practice or are kicking around include “cluster” reunions, events that bring together members of three consecutive classes instead of just one class every five years; affinity gatherings for alumni in certain industries or sectors; events that specifically bring together alumni who are age peers—those under 30 or over 55, for instance; and events that bring the unique resources of the school to our alumni, such as art exhibitions, theatrical performances, faculty lectures, athletic games, and college advising sessions for children of alumni.
As always, we want to hear what you think about all this. Are you staying in touch with friends through their blogs, Tweets, and Facebook posts? Let us know: log on to our own alumni online community and directory, Catlin Gabel Connect (http://alumni.catlin.edu/), join a Catlin Gabel Facebook group (search for “Catlin Gabel”) or LinkedIn group (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=53534), or catch us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/catlingabel).
Or do you wish you had more opportunities to meet people—old friends and new acquaintances alike—face to face? Our April alumni event in New York was a reminder of how meaningful these gatherings can be. Alumni ranging from the class of ’71 to the class of ’05 came together at the Manhattan home of Anna Hayes Levin ’71. Folks were having such a good time that they stayed hours past the planned end of the event, sharing their adventures in the city, swapping stories about the economic downturn, and making surprising connections.
Our pledge to you is that we’ll continue to strive for a thoughtful balance of online and offline activities and communications between Catlin Gabel, our alumni, and their families. In the meantime, save the date for 2009–10 alumni events. Hope to see you there!
Cheers,
Lily Thayer Derrick
Director of Alumni
As we went to press, Lily Thayer Derrick announced that she is moving back to her home town of Baltimore. She and her husband are expecting their first child in September. We wish her well and will introduce readers to her replacement in the next Caller.
Save the Date! 2009–10 Alumni Events
Homecoming—Friday, September 25, 2009
Distinguished Alumni Awards Presentation—Fall 2009
Thanksgiving Young Alumni Event—November 2009
Recent Graduates Panel—January 4, 2010
Alumni Weekend 2010—June 18 & 19
Paul Folkestad '82 (left) and David Cory '82 present Manny Greenberg '11 with the Matt Folkestad '82 Memorial Award
for most-improved member of the boys basketball team
Update: Cam McClure '07
From the Spring 2009 Caller
By Mike Moran
Thanks to our grant from the Malone Family Foundation, we can award scholarships to the brightest and most deserving students
In 2005 Catlin Gabel received an extraordinary $2 million gift from the Malone Family Foundation to establish the Malone Scholars Program. This program allows top-level students to obtain scholarships at the finest independent secondary schools in the country. In awarding the grant the Malone Foundation acknowledged Catlin Gabel as a national leader in independent education.
Selection criteria included academic caliber, quality of the staff, accommodations for gifted and talented students, strong enrichment programs, attention to the individual student’s needs, financial strength and stability, commitment to financial aid, and an economically, culturally, ethnically, and socially diverse population. Catlin Gabel is the only school in Oregon to have received this honor and one of only 25 in the country.
Currently we have eight Malone Scholars in the student body. Their talents are extraordinary and diverse, each with the passion for learning that motivates them to be such remarkable students. From the moment they stepped on campus each has displayed the traits that make Catlin Gabel students exceptional—individuality, creativity, and a willingness to succeed.
We checked in on Malone Scholar Cameron McClure ’07 to see what was going on in her life. Cam was a terrific student while at Catlin Gabel, and she shows how the generous gift from the Malone Family Foundation allowed her to reach for what might not have been possible, and how Catlin Gabel’s progressive education shaped her desire for learning.
After graduating from Catlin Gabel, Cam headed to Columbia University in New York. She flourished at Columbia, but she left after she realized it was not a good fit for her. She craved a more intimate community where she felt she could make a difference. Cam says she missed Catlin Gabel, where the faculty and staff encouraged dialogue, and the students were the focus of the school.
“I am currently in Portland, tutoring math at Catlin Gabel and working on transfer applications to a smaller liberal arts college in the same spirit as Catlin Gabel,” says Cam. “This summer I’m heading to New York to work as a residential teaching assistant for Upward Bound, as I did last summer. The program serves New York City high school students who are either low-income or first-generation college bound. The program provides academic help, support, and college guidance to teenagers. At least on a small scale, I can pay forward the gift Catlin Gabel and the Malone Foundation gave me.
“At Catlin Gabel, I was so grateful to the Malone Foundation because the scholarship allowed me to attend, but I don’t think I grasped the significance of the gift,” says Cam. “If I had not received full aid—if I received just enough to make it impossible to turn down, and thus had to work a part-time job—I could never have participated as fully at Catlin Gabel.”
The Malone Scholars Program is just one of our many scholarship funds provided by foundations and individual donors. What our students on financial aid have brought and will continue to bring to the school is of enormous value. Catlin Gabel would not be the caliber of school we are without these students. Financial aid scholarship funds, like the Malone Scholars Program, help keep us strong.
Mike Moran is Catlin Gabel’s director of foundation relations.
Transformative Figures: Teachers Who Inspire
From the Spring 2009 Caller
We asked members of our online alumni community and Catlin Gabel alumni groups on Facebook to share their reflections on teachers who served a transformative role in their lives. Many found narrowing the list down to one or two teachers quite difficult, but they managed! Running throughout the responses, excerpted below, is a common thread: teachers at Catlin Gabel and its predecessor schools were and are united by a passion for working with young people, an inventive approach to teaching, and an uncanny ability to inspire their students’ enthusiasm for the material.
MOLLY MOORES SCHLICH ’44
Producer of film and lecture series, Springfield, Illinois
I had many excellent teachers, but the memory of Rachael Griffin is outsized in her influence on me. She taught art to the young classes at Gabel Country Day School, and she was inspired. She introduced us to many different forms of visual art, and made it such fun. She was warm and outgoing—we all loved her. I am sorry I never had the opportunity to tell her how important she has been in my life.
CINDY LAWSON DeVORE ’80
Corporate manager, Broad Run, Virginia
During these many years since leaving Catlin Gabel, I have thought countless times of Kim Hartzell (known as Mrs. Hartzell to all of us in the middle school). Though I never ended up a professional artist, Mrs. Hartzell greatly influenced the success of my career and my life. The confidence she instilled in her students allowed us all the freedom to experiment with our own creativity, and to be proud of our accomplishments.
Mrs. Hartzell’s small art room in the 1970s middle school was a place of inspiration. She was an incredibly enthusiastic woman who introduced us to arts like Pysanky (Ukrainian egg dyeing), beadwork, and mask-making, all the while exclaiming words like “cool!” and “beautiful!” to describe our “unique” works of art.
My career has traveled a path from military law, to politics, to communications and marketing, and currently rests in management. I’ve had many opportunities to draw from my own creativity—producing a television program, creating advertising, and even making natural soap products for my own small company. Through it all, I must admit that I still see Mrs. Hartzell’s smiling face and hear her encouraging “you-can-do-it” words. Her guidance and adoration for her students will continue to influence my life and how I relate to others.
I’m so thankful for having known Kim Hartzell. Even more, I’m very fortunate to have been one of her students.
TED KAYE ’73
Tech company executive, Portland
Mary Whalen MacFarlane taught me longer than any other teacher. For three straight years—6th, 7th, and 8th grades—she delivered a solid foundation in mathematics. I vividly recall when she exposed us to the wonders of Pascal’s Triangle, the basics of algebra, and the Fibonacci Sequence. Mrs. MacFarlane encouraged innovation in her class—such as when Randy King and I developed a 20-word mnemonic for Pi that began “Yes, I have a green barracuda in school today.” Never theatrical, her serious commitment to mathematics and stretching the capabilities of young minds endeared her to generations of Catlin-Hillside and Catlin Gabel students. I use skills and concepts she taught me every day.
ANNE KILKENNY ’69
Small business owner, Portland
I remember three teachers fondly and with great respect and admiration from my time at Catlin Gabel: Vivien Johannes, Gene Jenkins, and Ann Wright.
“Mrs. Jo” was my English teacher for two years. At the time I did not appreciate her intellect, her joy in life, and what she was trying to teach us. But I did understand in a rudimentary way that she loved teaching, and her students. In retrospect I now realize what a remarkable person and teacher she was. I only wish I could tell her so today. I think her remarkable gifts were mostly wasted on us callow teenagers.
Gene Jenkins and Mrs. Wright taught me the basics for real study habits and how to write a decent declarative sentence.
I can still hear Mrs. Wright saying, “that’s a GROSS generalization . . . be more specific.” And I always remember Mrs. Jenkins’s smile when one of us “got it.”
SUZI EHRMAN ’75
Professional organizer, Charlotte, North Carolina
My hands-down favorite was Sarah Wells, who taught 5th grade for two years while we were still on Culpepper Terrace. Why was she so spectacular? Everything we did centered on the theme of ancient Greece. History, geography, literature, math, science—you name it, it was about Greece. We held our own Olympic Games in the spring in the ancient style (though we were all clothed!). We had to learn how to make togas, we all created our own personalized warrior shields in art, we made wax tablets in shop class and spent a day or two in class writing on them, using Greek letters, as if we were students in ancient Greece. We memorized Greek poetry and performed for our classmates. Truly, the entire year carried the theme. I remember more from this year of school than any other. Miss Wells was tough, but fair and very kind and loving. She started a love of archaeology for me that has stayed with me to this day—I went to Greece in college, was an anthropology/archaeology major, and spent a month on an archaeological dig in Tanzania in 2007.
Finally, Sarah Wells embodied so much of what I think of as great about a Catlin Gabel education: a creative and talented teacher who was given permission to teach in an unconventional manner and was so effective in the process.
UNA CHOI COALES ’83
Family physician, London, UK
My two favorite teachers, John Wiser (history) and Lowell Herr (science), used optimism and enthusiasm when teaching. John always had a big smile on his face, and his passion and joy for teaching American history shone through. It is in part John’s love for history that has spurred me to run for president of the Royal College of General Practitioners. My name will be on this spring’s postal national ballot, and if I win I will be the third woman and first ethnic minority to ever claim the title of president of this esteemed college, representing the majority of family physicians in the UK. I chose to run to fight the injustices that doctors face here because of relentless government regulation. I am working to make a college that is its members’ advocate and not a government proxy.
Lowell smiled and laughed as he taught physics. He loved teaching (and Ferris wheels) and I loved coming to school to learn from him. He included all his
students and actively asked for contributions on the chalkboard. In 2003 I began teaching by chance. I went to a friend’s home and helped her with her oral module of the MRCGP (family medicine) exam. She passed. I have since taught over 2,000 doctors to pass their licensing board exam in family medicine. I reflect the teaching styles of both Lowell and John. I smile, laugh, and invite active participation from doctors. By the end of the day, they all believe they are geniuses and have the knowledge and skills to pass, and do. So thank you, Catlin Gabel, for having great inspirational teachers who are shaping students to become great leaders!
JENNIFER ANDERSON MATHESON ’88
Police detective, Olympia, Washington
Dave Corkran was instrumental in my success at Catlin Gabel, which set the direction for the rest of my life. High school was a difficult time for me emotionally and academically. I came to Catlin Gabel halfway through my freshman year. I had Dave Corkran for C&C, and that placement was the beginning of a very important connection for me. Dave believed in me academically and supported me emotionally. With the foundation that Dave was so instrumental in creating and the support of my parents, I finished high school, graduating from college in three and a half years with a major in human development and performance, and a minor in biology. I have a happy and successful life with a wonderful husband and three children, and owe much of my life’s success to Dave. Outside of my family Dave was definitely the most influential person in my life. It was great to see him at my 20-year reunion last May.
CHERI COLLINS SMITH ’68
Lafayette, California
Gloria Zeal Davis was my English teacher in my junior year at Catlin Gabel. I had many very good teachers during my four years there, but Gloria was the best and had a profound influence on my life. Prior to that year, my academic interests were primarily in the math and science areas. I liked things that were concrete and specific. But somehow, with her warmth and sense of humor, and the style of her teaching and her expectations, she managed to open up another side of my mind, which allowed me to cultivate interests and a kind of awareness that I hadn’t experienced before. That broadened my view of the world in many ways, and was transformative in my life.
I’ve valued what I learned from her ever since, and as it turns out, have stayed in touch with her through the years. I’ve lived in California for many years, but to this day, we stay in touch on a regular basis. It’s a very rewarding and satisfying friendship.
DANIELLE EASLY NYE ’87
Entrepreneur, Bend, Oregon
Reading never came easily for me, but as soon as I could read chapter books I quickly became a book junkie. Going to Catlin Gabel and having a teacher like Sid Eaton brought my love of reading to a new level. As a group we got to delve into authors, enjoy their stories, and use them as a model for our own writing. Having an elective English class with Sid my senior year was learning at its most fun. We studied both essays and short stories, and I still have a strong love of the short story format.
We all became Red Sox fans through the year (if you weren’t a fan you were wise not to speak up), reading specially selected articles that Sid would bring in, and heaven forbid you were in class on a day when the Red Sox lost.
There are the things we need to learn in school and the things that become a part of our lives that we cherish. I am grateful to Sid for the latter.
alumni News