NFA magazine_7

NFA The magazine for Norwich Free Academy Alumni and Friends

Making

Summer 2018

Connections

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Monitoring Donor Impact In the photo above, a student in Kinesiology monitors the kinematic variables of the flight motion using a sensor attached to a Frisbee.

Making Connections On the front cover: Social Norms, Networks, and Influence: One of many social network maps in Betsy Levy Paluck’s 2012 four-year study in 56 New Jersey public schools about combating bullying behavior. Learn about the work of Paluck and other notable NFA researchers and writers.

Alma Matters Class Notes, Faculty & Staff News, and Alumni & Friends We Will Miss

Summer 2018

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aul DeSio ’32 was fond of telling his story. Times were tough during the Depression when he was a student at the Academy, and he decided to leave school to work to help his family. He was hired at the “shoe factory” in the city, but only if he agreed to return to school to finish his diploma.

The owner would arrange hours for Paul to work when he was not in class so that Paul could be educated and earn a wage. In time, Paul went on to school and became a very successful professional, but that requirement and that assistance offered at a critical time in his youth, and gladly accepted by Paul, changed his life.

Founder Rev. John Putnam Gulliver was emphatic about “the importance of adapting the course of study to the necessities of students destined to different callings in life.”

He intended the Academy to provide a liberal grounding in humanities, mathematics, science, and language in the early grades with options for preparation for higher education or training for trades and the workforce in the upper and senior years. For the most part, NFA has adhered to that vision. In recent years the state’s adoption of student performance on the SAT as an assessment measure and a focus upon “college readiness” has pressured districts, NFA included.

NFA has always excelled at college readiness; NFA graduates have always done exceptionally well, and our Honors Program, grades 9-12, is but the latest reiteration of an NFA tradition. But we must never lose sight of our mission’s goal to “return to our hamlets and our homes” an educated student body “prepared for the highest usefulness and the purest happiness.” For many of our young people “usefulness” and “happiness” mean productive work, a living wage, and a chance for a sustainable future. We can do better for these students.

A local collaborative of the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board, Inc., the Department of Labor, Thames Valley Council for Community Action, Inc. and the Eastern Advance Manufacturing Alliance, the EB Pipeline is a General Dynamics initiative to develop a specialized and trained workforce with the skill sets in high demand by Electric Boat and many other industry partners in Southeastern Connecticut. The group asked Norwich Free Academy to participate in a pilot of this program. Now, 19 members of the Class of 2018, who otherwise may not have had a solid

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post-graduation plan, have the opportunity to earn a sustainable wage with benefits including health care, further training, advancement, and retirement. The number of students here is small; their gains will be real and significant.

The EB Pipeline is the launching pad for NFA’s School-to-Work initiative. I am energized and filled with hope by the enthusiasm and deeply-felt commitment of a group of NFA professionals who will be the vanguard of good and needed change. This summer there will be a series of meetings, some to engage with local and regional partners in 9 business sectors – armed services, business & finance, education, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, public safety & law enforcement, technology, and the trades – to help us understand their needs and expectations so that we can prepare our students to meet them. We will assess NFA’s instructional programs for employment readiness objectives and recommend curricular/program changes to meet the needs of employers.

Our collaboration with local and regional employers will give many more students the opportunity for meaningful and productive work – and much needed economic growth to our communities.

Paul DeSio’s story demonstrates the kind of community-school cooperative we believe will provide a pathway to the future for many of our students. Such school-to-work partnerships are firmly rooted in NFA history.

Sometimes, we just need to look back to take a step forward.

NFA Summer 2018

EDITORS Kathleen McCarthy Director of Institutional Advancement Geoffrey P. Serra Director of Communications & Public Affairs ALMA MATTERS EDITOR Linda Clang Ververis ’78 CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Nicholas Bolt ’96 • Kathrine Kohrs PHOTOGRAPHY Andrew Henderson • Laura Howe Alika Jenner, Special Olympics • Egan Matthew B. Jiminez Timothy Long • Matthew Mitchell ’02 • Brian Reubelt ’11 • Kirk Ricketts ’18 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Stephani Jones • Vivian Zoë DESIGN Lavender Design • OverAbove PRINTER The Pyne-Davidson Company NFA magazine is produced two times a year by the NFA Foundation, Inc. and the NFA Office of Communications & Public Affairs.

321 Broadway, Norwich, CT 06360 Phone 860-887-2507 • Fax 860-889-4363 Email: communications@nfaschool.org Letters to the editor, comments, class notes and address changes may be sent to the NFA Foundation, Inc. 321 Broadway, Norwich, CT 06360 or alumni@nfaschool.org Views expressed in the NFA magazine do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the NFA Foundation, Inc., Norwich Free Academy, or the editorial staff.

EDITOR’S NOTE

David J. Klein Head of School

The “Women of 1967” article, Fall 2017, incompletely reported the accomplishments of Elaine Criscuolo. An alumna of Quinnipiac College, Criscuolo was a Clinical Instructor for the UConn School of Allied Health’s Cytopathology Program. She was a Supervisor of the Cytology Lab at Bridgeport Hospital for 17 years and then moved to the Hospital of St. Raphael as Manager of the Cytology Lab for eight years.

For the last 20 years of her career, Criscuolo served as Director and COO of a new lab, Pathology and Laboratory Services. When she first began working there, she was not initially the “principal owner and investor.” Initially, a businessman and a group of pathologists contacted her to start a core cytopathology/molecular laboratory for exclusive use of their six partner hospitals, as well as other hospitals across the country.

After five successful years of directing the laboratory, she became an investor and partner.

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aroundcampus Wildcat Spirit Wins State Award Since the 2014-15 school year, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) has sponsored an annual award to recognize the use of sporting events in school to create a fun and welcoming school climate through sportsmanship, positive fan behavior, and student leadership and participation.

NFA was selected as one of three finalists by a team of CIAC and Connecticut Association of Schools representatives, based on a video submission demonstrating Wildcat school spirit. After a site visit to witness the outstanding fan support and atmosphere at a game, NFA was announced the overall winner for 2017-18.

NFA’s Unified Basketball Team Takes the Silver in Seattle When Special Olympics Connecticut selected NFA’s Unified Basketball team to represent Connecticut at the USA Games in Seattle, Laurie-Jean Hannon, Vice President, Sports and Competition for Special Olympics Connecticut, said “Special Olympics Connecticut is thrilled that the Unified Basketball team from Norwich Free Academy will be a part of Team CT for the USA Games in Seattle. The spirit and enthusiasm of both the athletes and partners truly make this team remarkable.

We are so excited to see them compete against other high school unified teams from around the country.”

In July, the team scrapped their way to the finals against Team Vermont and took the silver medal. “Our athletes and partners played their hearts out all week on the court,” said coach and special education teacher Chris Staley ’97. “More importantly, the experiences the players shared this week cemented bonds of friendship.

Throughout the week, we

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The CIAC presented NFA with the 2017-18 “Battle of the Fans” award during the CIAC High School Basketball Championships at Mohegan Sun, March 16.

heard from representatives of Special Olympics, many other coaches, and parents in the stands – they all shared how impressed they were with our Unified team and their embodiment of the mission of Unified Sports.

The team was a shining example of what’s possible when people open their hearts and minds and work together toward a common goal. This was truly something that none of us will ever forget.”

NFA’s Unified Sports program has established a record of success. Last year, Special Olympics Connecticut and the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference recognized the program for out-standing accomplishment as a Banner Unified Champion School for demonstrating a commitment to inclusion through Special Olympics Unified Sports, Inclusive Youth Leadership, and Whole School Engagement. Coach and special education teacher Chris Staley was also honored as an “Outstanding Coach of the Year” by Connecticut High School Coaches Association in 2017.

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Students Act to End School Violence

Despite snow and cold temperatures, NFA students lent their voices to the National Student Walkout, Wednesday, March 15, honoring the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, and raising awareness of the many senseless acts of school violence in the country.

The event was primarily a memorial event planned by students for students. Participation was voluntary. The NFA Campus Safety Department and Administration helped oversee logistics to maintain a safe environment.

Classes watched a live broadcast including a message from David Klein, Head of School, and remarks from student leaders. Students read the 17 names of the Parkland victims, one by one with a brief biography. A bell tolled for each victim, and a final bell signified the goal to end school violence.

Following the live video broadcast, students, faculty, and staff were invited to participate in a 17 minute walk around campus. Some students carried signs and chanted “not one more.”

Student leaders spoke about the event and the importance of being heard. “There is no better time than now to stand up and use our voices to keep our schools safe,” said Brielle Jewell, 2018 Class President.

“Today, we unite in solidarity for not only the survivors and victims of Parkland, Florida, but for all victims of school violence around the country. We encourage you to take respectful pictures, share your impactful stories, and express your ever-so-important opinions against school violence, today, and any day in the future.”

Kathleen Kelly, Student Advisory Board President, commented about continuing to act to end school violence.

“We cannot make collective decisions for the entire student body,” she said. “We encourage each student to think individually and go from there. Form a new organization on campus, connect with peers, reach out to lawmakers, make change happen. We as students have to understand the extraordinary capabilities we possess. We are full of potential; we are the next generation of voters; we truly are the future of this country. Let us guide this nation into a safer tomorrow where schools are havens of education, not four barricaded walls.”

National Scholastic Art & Writing Award Winners The work of three NFA students received national recognition from among 350,000 works of poetry photography, sculpture, humor, editorial cartoons, and video game design submitted for consideration in the 2018 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

NFA’s three students join an elite group of 2,800 creative teen recipients in the nation’s longest-running and most prestigious recognition program for creative teens in grades 7–12.

Student medal winners and their teachers were invited to attend the 2018 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards National Ceremony held at Carnegie Hall in New York City in June.

Above, Left to Right: Danni Huang ’18 (Silver Medal), Sarah Nash (Metals Teacher), Max Wawrzynowicz ’18 (Gold Medal), Stephanie Blonsky (Sculpture Teacher), Robert Davidson (Painting Teacher), Yiyang (Chelsea) Liu ’18 (Gold Medal).

Above, Right: Max Wawrzynowicz, Lisbon, Sculpture, Good Old Days, Scholastics Art National Gold Medal Above, Far Right: Danni Huang, China, Metal & Jewelry, No Fear to Literary Inquisition, Scholastics Art National Gold Medal Right: Yiyang (Chelsea) Liu, China, Painting, Halcyon Days, Scholastics Art National Gold Medal

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NFA Class of 2018 Graduation Speakers Speakers at graduation are determined by participation in the Cadden-Williams Prize Speaking Contest, one of the oldest at the Academy. Participants are judged on, vocal skills, ability to convey the author’s feeling and intent, gesture, eye contact, poise, enthusiasm, and phrasing. Winners become Ivy Orator and Class Speaker at graduation.

The term “ivy orator” originates from the practice in early NFA history when graduation or “senior exhibition” was held before the original Academy building, which once stood where the Tirrell building now stands. During the closing ceremony, each graduating class planted ivy along the building’s foundation, a practice echoing that of “Ivy League” colleges. Read excerpts from this year’s speeches below.

Joleigh Yim Ivy Orator Not only is this the official end of an era for those of us who were born before the new millennium, but it is also the end of a courageous journey.

Although this high school adventure has come to a conclusion, a new story now begins.

We were the architects of our four years as students at Norwich Free Academy. Now, we are the architects of of our lives as Norwich Free Academy Alumni. This is the grand finale of our journey along this red and white brick road.

I have been inspired by the words of President John F. Kennedy, Maya Angelou, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Who has inspired you? Use their words and thoughts to map your way to the future. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Where will we go from here?”

I say, “Where will You go from here?” What road will You construct? Will yours be a gravel footpath, a two-lane street, or a multi-lane freeway?

I Am. You are. We Are Norwich Free Academy Class of 2018 Alumni.

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Guercie Guerrier Class Speaker The power of education gave my parents the means to improve their lives. My dad was a pastor; my mom, an accountant, but here in their new country their credentials were not recognized.

They learned English, and they found only backbreaking work to support their children. Because of my parents’ selfless actions, today I have an education with credentials that are recognized.

This is my story. On this beautiful campus, there are thousands of stories, but as new NFA Alumni, we share one.

Our family, teachers, and classmates have encouraged our tenacity and resilience. Our NFA education will continue to burn in our soul. We are brighter individuals than we were four years ago.

Whatever we pursue in the future – a college education, military service, or a career in the workplace, remember we have spent four years tending our spark at Norwich Free Academy.

Today we are a flame – a torch of goodness.

Let us go, and light this world.

A Golden Anniversary Celebrating a special NFA tradition, members of the Class of 1968 accompanied the Class of 2018 onto the field for graduation, June 21. Wally Lamb ‘68, former NFA English teacher and nationally known author, addressed the graduates on behalf of his class. In commemoration of their 50th reunion, the Class raised over $50,000 – the largest 50th Reunion Class Gift on record – to support the Sam and Randy Deglin Art & Noise Scholarship, establish an exhibition space in the Atrium, and provide access to technology.

ARTS ARTS AT NORWICH FREE ACADEMY AT NORWICH FREE ACADEMY

JUNE 10-AUGUST 15 JUNE 10-AUGUST 15

On Paper/Under Glass: Contemporary Prints from On Paper/Under Glass: Contemporary the Permanent Collection of the Prints Slater from Museum the Permanent Collection of the Slater Museum SEPTEMBER 23-DECEMBER 7 SEPTEMBER 23-DECEMBER 7

Brought to Light: Ellis Ruley in Norwich at Slater Museum Brought to Light: Ellis Ruley in Norwich at Slater Museum

SEPTEMBER 29 SEPTEMBER 29

25th Annual NFA Classic Marching Band Competition 25th Annual NFA Classic Marching Band Competition

NOVEMBER 16-17 NOVEMBER 16-17

Playshop Presents Anatomy of Gray Playshop Presents Anatomy of Gray

DECEMBER 6 DECEMBER 6

Winter Choral Concert Winter Choral Concert

DECEMBER 13 DECEMBER 13

Winter Instrumental Concert Winter Instrumental Concert

DECEMBER 17 DECEMBER 17

Night in the Atrium Carol Singalong Night in the Atrium Carol Singalong DECEMBER 20 DECEMBER 20

Percussion Ensemble Concert Percussion Ensemble Concert

For more information go to For more information go to nfaschool.org/arts nfaschool.org/arts

For upcoming exhibitions and For events upcoming and go exhibitions to visit slatermuseum.or 2018 11 2017 events go toSummer visit slatermuseum.org

MONITORING DONOR

IMPACT

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hen charged with developing more elective science classes for grades 11 and 12, in 2008 the Science Department incorporated kinesiology into the curriculum in the half-semester class, Sports Science. The student interest in the class was evident from the start, with six class sections quickly filling up in the first year.

Within the first few years, it became clear that many students had a sincere interest in pursuing a career in a kinesthetic field, and that they would benefit from a more immersive experience. The result was the full-year kinesiology course.

Since then, the Science Department has worked to enhance classroom instruction and learning by introducing hands-on activities that, in the past, would be available only to students at a college or university.

As the cost of equipment to study human movement became more affordable, and technology, such as slow motion video capture, increased in availability, NFA’s kinesiology program has grown to resemble one at the collegiate level.

Contributing to the program’s growth is the ongoing development of new accessories by the Vernier Company for their line of Labquest sensor interfaces.

NFA’s current inventory of sensors allows students to monitor many physiological functions including oxygen consumption, blood pressure, heart and

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Make your gift today at nfafoundation.org

respiration rate, and EKG readings. Students can study biomechanics by using goniometers to measure body segment angles and force plates to monitor force production during physical activities such as running, throwing, and hitting.

Until recently, one of the drawbacks of these sensors has been their need to be wired directly to the interface units. However, Vernier unveiled a line of thirty-one wireless sensors that lower functionality barriers. Because of the generosity of donors to the NFA Foundation’s Tools for Learning fund, students taking Kinesiology now have access to wireless accelerometers. These devices attach to any piece of sports equipment (balls, bats, etc.) to monitor kinematic variables including altitude, parabolic path, angular velocity, and acceleration.

Additionally, wireless EKG units can now track both heart and muscle electrical conductivity without direct attachment. This equipment allows the students to perform and monitor a much more diverse selection of physical tasks, such as running around the track.

The field of kinesiology has grown by leaps and bounds since NFA’s program first began. With the help of our donors, we are providing students a foundation for a future in the fields of orthopedics, clinical wellness, sports medicine, biomedical engineering, and other areas of the health and fitness industries.

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SAVE THE DATE

2018 HOMECOMING & REUNION WEEKEND October 12-14

Reunions, Athletics Hall of Fame induction, tailgating, tours and more

nfaschool.org/homecoming

Making

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ropelled by intellectual curiosity, accomplished researchers and writers ask and seek answers to big questions. From inquiry to discovery, they make connections across disciplines discovering clues and uncovering answers. The alumni highlighted here are examples of thousands of accomplished NFA researchers and writers from the Greatest Generation to Millenials. They epitomize the breadth and depth of NFA’s influence upon human life and the world.

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GENIUS Betsy Levy Paluck ’96

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t Princeton University, Room 10, Guyot Hall, Professor Betsy Levy Paluck ’96 lectures to about 75 students about the development of gender identity. Paluck, the mother of a two-year old son, Lev, grounds theory in the field study of parenting.

A student poses a question.

Paluck responds, “Yes, that is a very interesting question. I’ll tell you what I know, but first, what do you think? Do you have an hypothesis?”

The student responds, and Paluck follows, “How might we go about testing that hypothesis? What would we have to do?”

Paluck, the recipient of a 2017 McArthur Foundation Genius Grant for her groundbreaking work in the field of social psychology, is very much focused these days upon training a new generation of social psychologists, helping them ask hard questions about human behavior, test their hypotheses, no matter the scope and methodological challenges, and discover answers to apply to develop public policy. She oversees at least 25 researchers in her laboratory – undergraduates, graduates, and postdoctoral candidates. Their projects demonstrate a high degree of cross-pollination among social psychology and all kinds of other disciplines. Paluck calls her researchers and their work “boundary violators.”

Repeatedly using the word “creative” to describe both her work and research in general, Paluck says, “One of the fun and exciting things about research is that it pulls groups of people together and pools their strengths. There is a role for everyone, and working together, we strengthen the process and diversify the methodology.”

For example, one project currently pairs an MIT software engineer with an undergraduate to build an online platform to allow people to test their ideas and identify behaviors to stop the spread of fake news and harassment.

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How can we understand the interplay of to influence human wellbeing and

“The field of social psychology had its origins in post-World War II attempts to explain the horror of the Holocaust,” says Paluck. For the most part, the Germans were people like you and me living their lives.

So, how did that happen? Forces caused average people to do horrible things to one another. How can we understand the interplay of belief and behavior and use our learning to influence human wellbeing and positive behavior on a large scale?” Paluck asks.

Very few people in the field are doing this kind of work or asking these kinds of far-reaching, probative questions. Betsy Paluck’s research refocuses the study of causality in human behavior from the biochemical, neurological, brain theory trends of at least the past 50 years to more behaviorally rooted understanding of changing human behavior, and then “scaling up” the findings to improve life for large numbers of people.

It is this difference, more than any other factor – though there are many – that attracted the attention of the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant Program.

“The MacArthur is a secret process -- you can’t apply,” says Paluck. “If someone nominates you and the committee decides to investigate, they spend years gathering information about you. No one is allowed to tell you. They solicit many letters about you, etc. By the time they call, it is a surprise call, out of the blue.

As it was for me.”

The kind of research that attracts this attention is the work Paluck has made a career of pursuing and is now encouraging others to do the same.

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Her doctoral work included a year-long research field study in post-genocide Rwanda. She set out to study how a radio drama might affect Rwandans to express dissent and resist blind loyalty to authority. It was an ambitious project centered upon a charged topic in an authoritative regime. What she discovered has become the kernel of much of her life’s work.

Human behavior can and will change if social norms change or even if perception of social norms changes.

That is, a person is more likely to demonstrate openness and tolerance even though his or her beliefs do not change if the person operates in a social system in which the norms of behavior change or one in which they perceive that the norms have changed.

Simply put, we are more likely to support recycling behaviors, even if we don’t believe in their value, if society supports recycling behaviors or if we perceive that most of those around us support recycling. Paluck tested this position in similar studies about many topics, including marriage equality and alcohol abuse among student-athletes. The learning has enormous implications for social change.

Some of Paluck’s most fascinating work includes popular media as a force to shape social norms.

Examination of a Spanish-language soap opera “Más Sabe El Diablo” (The Devil Knows More) upon U.S. Latinos’ willingness to participate in the U.S. census, and a study in Nigeria of how movies can affect the willingness of citizens to report government corruption demonstrate this focus.

belief and behavior and use our learning positive behavior on a large scale?

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Paluck also spearheaded a four-year study in New Jersey public schools about combatting bullying behavior. It was an enormous experiment in scope and depth. Based upon the premise that human behavior will and can change when social norms are altered, the study identified core groups of influential students in each school, helped them identify common conflict behaviors in their school, trained them to become the public face of conflict resolution or mitigation, and then helped them use social media and other forces to alter the norms in their school to reduce bullying and harassment.

Paluck, a high school scholar-athlete, who earned varsity letters in volleyball, basketball, and track at NFA, says “Norwich Free Academy gave me the confidence to believe that I could be good at a lot different things. NFA gave me the chance to explore a lot.”

From NFA, she went to Yale with the intention of becoming a clinical psychologist. In her sophomore year, she volunteered in a research lab coding the smile patterns of women who had been intentionally sexually harassed in a job interview. All the harassed interviewees, because they believed employment was at stake, denied any impropriety by the interviewer when questioned after the interview, but the smiles of the women who had indeed been harassed were subtly, but qualitatively different from those who had not been. Paluck says, “My mind was blown” by the experiment which she found

“electrifying.” She resolved to enter the “research life” and never looked back from a career that has been shaped by “asking questions” and “designing and running experiments to measure the things that are hard to measure.”

Paluck is currently immersed in national and international movements about data transparency.

The focus is to advance learning by making data available to any researcher who wishes to replicate a study. A researcher might disagree with the analysis and conclusion, but the data is available for study.

One goal is to remove proprietary impediments to balancing and using learning to improve human wellbeing and social justice.

“For me,” Paluck says, “research is a long process.

It starts with a big question that is exciting and then moves through phases in which you set out to prove yourself wrong. You keep coming back and designing ways to test your hypothesis. This is the fun and exciting part.

You have to have a high tolerance for revision. You have to be curious, and your ego needs to be set aside. Good researchers know that this will be interesting no matter what they discover. No matter what happens, this will be interesting.”

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PHILOSOP Berel Lang ’50

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he oasis Berel Lang now calls home is a densely developed borough of New York City. In his modest apartment filled with the treasures of a lifetime in academe – a lifetime of thought and writing – family photos are scattered among objects of ethnography.

Some depict the immigrants and first-generation Americans who established the Lang / Stamm family of Norwich. Lang’s mother and her five Stamm siblings were all NFA graduates. Works of art grace the walls in every room, books line the study from floorto-ceiling, and this man and his home exude geniality, kindness, and welcome.

News stories and reports verified Nazi atrocities in western and central Europe, and the Nuremberg Trials made headlines in the nation’s newspapers, including the Norwich Bulletin, as Lang came of age in Norwich. A U.S. Senator from Connecticut, Thomas J. Dodd, also born in Norwich, was leading the quest for justice, and Lang’s immigrant grandfather was a rabbi in the city. These forces, no doubt, shaped the man who believes “philosophy can be transformative” and in the tremendous value of “getting people to think.” He has written extensively about ethics within the context of the Holocaust specifically, and about genocide in general.

After graduating from NFA, Lang went to Yale to study pre-med. He soon realized the linear rigors of physics and chemistry were not his strong suit, and a life in letters began to shape. Lang earned a PhD in aesthetics and the philosophy of art, but his life’s work touches upon a broad spectrum of disciplines, including both science and history. His inquisitive quest to understand humanity, human thought, and the human spirit has been life-long. “The human spirit will put on a struggle to survive,” he says. “That’s what our imagination allows us to do.”

After receiving his BA in 1954, Lang spent a year at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and then continued his studies at Columbia University, earning his PhD in philosophy in 1961. He was Professor of Humanities at Trinity College in Hartford, and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado and the State University of New York at Albany, where he also served as Director of the Center for the Humanities. Since 2005, Lang

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has been Visiting Professor of Philosophy and Letters at Wesleyan University in Middletown. He received fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, American Philosophical Association, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Hebrew University.

Lang’s many books include Act and Idea in the Nazi Genocide (University of Chicago Press, 1990), The Anatomy of Philosophical Style (Basil Blackwell, 1990), Holocaust Representation: Art within the Limits of History and Ethics (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000) and Philosophical Witnessing: The Holocaust as Presence (University Press of New England, 2009).

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During his NFA days, Lang edited The Mirror. He recalls the faculty at NFA profoundly impacting him, singling out Raymond “Pop” Congdon in particular. Lang remembers Congdon as an exceptional teacher, one whom the student wished not to disappoint.

He also recalls history teacher Rose Wilcox as particularly inspiring.

Dr. Lang speaks generously of his family life in Norwich.

He reflects upon “the mingling of different cultures” in the city. “There were so many different identifiable communities,” he says. “There were Italians, French Canadians, Jews, Poles. In all our households, the ethnic-religious identities were strong.

I am more interested in thinking about the research, than about the research itself.

Lang’s body of work includes essays, poetry, and short stories. He describes himself as a writer, not a researcher. “I am more interested in thinking about the research,” he says, “than about the research itself.”

Research, however, clearly serves as the foundation of much of his work, especially for his non-fiction writing which includes his biography, Primo Levi: The Matter of a Life (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2013). Levi, a Jewish Italian Holocaust survivor and a renowned scientist, is a testament to Lang’s interest in history. “The fault of contemporary philosophy is thinking that history doesn’t matter,” he remarks.

“There are no unspeakables in thinking,” Lang reflects, giving even the most banal of questions careful and thoughtful response. His conversation demonstrates a philosopher’s cadence and respect, and he consistently engages at a mindful, deep, and provocative level.

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“I grew up in a Jewish household, so it is odd for me to talk about the Puritan work ethic, but my mother concentrated upon hard work and paying attention to things,” he remarks, recalling his mother’s insistence that he rewrite an essay in sixth grade. He says that she wanted him “to imagine where I was going, and learn that one step affects the next. I suppose,” he comments with a smile, “that might have been the beginning of my writing career.”

Lang is eager to impart bits of wisdom about himself and his world. About the Holocaust, Lang encourages us to read Raphaël Lemkin, who in 1944 coined the term “genocide” and led the movement in the United Nations to outlaw the crime internationally. Lang urges our investigation of Christopher Browning’s Ordinary Men: 1944 Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland, an examination of the German police unit that rounded up and massacred

Jews in German-occupied Poland in 1942. The book concluded that the men of Unit 101 killed out of basic obedience to authority and peer pressure, not out of bigotry or a creed of Aryan supremacy.

“Ordinary people can do horrible things,” he reflects.

“Authority has a great lure to it, and many are comfortable knowing someone else is making the decisions.” Lang admits that “the Holocaust has been a constant theme for me,” but also believes for him as a philosopher “ethics, aesthetics, politics, history, and human behavior all come together in Holocaust studies.” He is intensely interested in the lessons of the past as they apply to today. “We need to ask questions,” he says. “Asking questions is the central role of the philosopher.” Lang cautions that the levers of power today are greater than at any other time

in history, and that technology makes “simple” attack easier. He expresses concern that the combination of unprecedented advances in and availability of technology, coupled with the growing divide among classes, serves to increase violence in our society.

Dr. Berel Lang’s sobering lessons are far from sternly delivered. The contrary is true. A gentle kindness in his voice and manner color his words making them all the more powerful. To remain an active and influential presence in their lives, he frequently emails words of wisdom to his grandchildren. “I didn’t ask my parents enough questions,” he claims. He focuses upon being a good parent and grandparent in the present.

His best piece of advice? “Present yourself as you are.

The impression you make has value.”

Establish your legacy with us | nfalegacy.org Summer 2017 2018

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CHAMPIO William Darrow ’57

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illiam W. Darrow ‘57 says he realized that he had done important work, “When I read my name in And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic.” The nonfiction work, published in 1987 by San Francisco based journalist Randy Shilts, recounts the social, scientific, political, and fatal first five years of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic.

Darrow began his career after graduating from the University of Connecticut in 1962 working as a VDI (Venereal Disease Investigator) for the New York Department of Health at the Social Hygiene Clinic on 9th Avenue in Manhattan. After moving to Atlanta in 1963 to join the Communicable Disease Center (CDC), he received an MA from the University of New Hampshire in 1968 and a PhD from Emory University in 1973, both in Sociology, and was assigned to lead the Behavioral Research Activities Unit of the Venereal Disease Branch at CDC. He was navigating the often choppy waters between biomedical and the social sciences, seeking to influence policymakers to appreciate the role of human behavior in the spread of infectious diseases. By 1981, he had done significant work in public health and disease prevention in the areas of epidemiology and behavioral research. Much of his research had focused upon the role of the condom in preventing the spread of syphilis, gonorrhea, and other sexually transmitted infections.

In summer 1981 when he was invited to join the CDC’s Task Force on Kaposi’s Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections (KSOI), Darrow stepped into the eye of the storm in the race to understand the mysterious epidemic sweeping major metropolitan areas of the country. He helped design and train interviewers to conduct the first national case-control study of AIDS. A 1993 Primetime Emmy Award Winning HBO special portrays Darrow, and the Discovery Channel’s four-part series, A Time of AIDS, recounts how Darrow’s study of Canadian flight attendant Gaëtan Dugas (Patient O) in 1982 helped establish that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was sexually transmitted. The discovery of a sexual network of KSOI patients was a turning point in the epidemic; the methods of social science had informed biomedical research and provoked public health authorities to issue warnings to the public about sexual risks of exposure to an as yet unidentified biological agent.

However, understanding disease and how it spreads and preventing it, are very different.

Public health plays an influential role in the application of scientific knowledge to human behavior. Darrow eventually became Chief of the Centers for Disease Control and

ON

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COACH BILL DARROW Bill Darrow holds the Boys Basketball record for the most consecutive free throws with 23. Bill Darrow’s dad was Coach Bill Darrow, who leaves behind an impressive NFA Athletic Hall of Fame legacy.

Coach Darrow’s work with NFA studentathletes spanned 1932 to 1968. He coached boys basketball for 34 seasons, serving as head coach from 1937-1940. In 1941, Coach Darrow began a 14-year tenure with the baseball team, serving as varsity coach from 1941-1946. The team went 34-2 during that time, winning 3 Eastern Connecticut Conference titles. Darrow also coached football for seven seasons. During his career, NFA teams at all levels – Freshman, Junior Varsity, and Varsity – competed in over 1,600 games.

As an assistant coach, Darrow took great pride in seeing his athletes advance to varsity. He preferred to work with players, developing their skill, talent, and sense of sportsmanship. Although he would step up to coach at the varsity level when his leadership was needed, he found his greatest gratification as a coach in the growth of the younger athletes under his guidance.

Darrow eventually became Head of the Physical and Health Education Department, and he oversaw an extensive, robust intramural program.

The 1967 Mirror honors Coach Bill Darrow with the following language: “The Class of 1967 takes a great deal of pride and pleasure in dedicating its yearbook to a man who has worked with Academy students for 35 years.

We hope that this dedication to Mr. Darrow will in some way show the appreciation that NFA has for his many years of service.”

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Prevention’s Behavioral and Prevention Research Branch of the STD/HIV Division, National Center for Prevention Services. His work had been so impressive that the CDC decided to recruit more anthropologists, psychologists, sociologists, and health economists to address an expanding list of contemporary public health challenges and chose William Darrow to be a champion for the social sciences. His mission was

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. . .a champion of

to improve public health prevention programs, and he pursued it with energy, passion, and zeal. He published extensively and presented scientific papers at national and international conferences, attended endless professional meetings, and consulted with many social service organizations. High points were collaborations with and presentations at the World Health Organization, its regional affiliates, and the European Union.

After retiring from the CDC in May 1994, Darrow moved to Miami, FL, and accepted a position as Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work, Florida International University.

The move was strategic; at the time, despite any forward progress on the control of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, there were tremendous health disparities in the area, including a rate of new infection that was 14 times higher in people of color.

The rates of substance abuse, violence, infectious and chronic diseases in the very diverse Black and Hispanic populations in Broward County were some of the highest in urban areas in the nation. Darrow set out to accomplish two goals: to educate a new generation of advocates for improvement in public health programs and to develop community-based and culturally competent interventions to reduce or eliminate health disparities.

He began attending meetings in church basements and local civic organizations; he sat in public meetings and participated in community dialogues to learn about and understand various ethnic communities. He listened to people talk about their pressing problems and tried to understand the social and cultural barriers which challenged realistic public health solutions. In many ways, this approach reversed the paradigm he had followed at the CDC where solutions often came

from the top. In classroom teaching and community activism, he sought practical solutions “that people in the community could implement,” and tried “to involve them in collaborative, participatory research.”

In this way, “members of the community” became “true partners in the research process who were involved from beginning to end in solutions to public health problems.”

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causes not yet won.

His focus became helping communities of people understand how and why a change in their behavior could stem health disparities and limit the scope of public health crises. In 2003, the Miami Herald reported, “Ironically, then, William Darrow – who played such a pivotal role in the extremely difficult and urgent quest to learn how AIDS is spread – is now engaged in a much more difficult task: figuring out how to change human behaviors that put lives at risk.”

One way was the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) 2010 project - a ten-year federally-funded initiative that reached young people in populations and neighborhoods in which the rate of new HIV infection was very high. The methods were culturally specific, targeted, and intended to override stigmatization. For example, 14 spoken-word poets were engaged to develop and deliver messages promoting health and disease prevention in language and visual images that resonated with youth. Other aspects of the project involved local workshops and hotlines. The project hit the streets with door-todoor canvassing and distribution of information and condoms at local barber shops and corner markets.

“Solutions have a greater chance of success and sustainability,” says Darrow, “when we engage in capacity building” -- being sure, that once a funded initiative is complete, the work and the benefit of the demonstration project will continue. If project interventions promote health and disease prevention, and if people understand how and why, in the long run, attitudes, beliefs, and practices change. In this sense, the role of teacher and activist go hand in hand. His efforts seemed to pay off. Five years after the REACH 2010 project was launched in Broward County the rate of new HIV infections was cut by one-half in the Black population and disparities within Hispanic populations were eliminated.

Over 24 years after arriving in Miami, Darrow is still championing the cause. “I believe it is wrong to think in linear models,” he says, emphasizing the fact, especially in public health, that solutions are not simply lever-like cause and effect. Rather, solutions must be created in a “web of relationships among people with different attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral patterns.”

He advocates a more “systems and dynamics” approach to public health. “We could be doing so much more. You have to be satisfied with small steps.

Great leaps are few and far between,” he says.

Darrow believes his childhood in Norwich and his education at NFA put him on a path that led him around the country and world seeking to understand and affect human behavior. “In Norwich, there were so many different communities – French Canadian, Italian, Polish, Irish, Jewish, Cape Verdean – I became interested in all these different groups. We played together, were in classes together, and were on teams together. I was curious about the way that others lived, and the more I learned, the more I wanted to know.”

He tells a humorous story about how as a high school student he requested a copy of the Kinsey Report (Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, 1948) to read in the Otis Library. He had to ask the librarian for the book because works like this were not readily available on the shelf. “There I was,” he laughs,” an awkward teenager, but I was curious.”

“At NFA, I was in the honors program, and that made a real difference,” he says. At the time the honors program was about two dozen students who met in a conference room on campus. Three teachers collaborated to present a two–year humanities-based curriculum that covered the centuries from ancient to modern times. Students discussed seminar style and wrote and presented papers. “I loved it,” Darrow says.

In some ways, that honors seminar is the kernel of William Darrow’s entire professional career. Learning, listening, researching, presenting, and persuading. He continues. In March, he presented “A Stitch in Time Saves Nine – Tuskegee, Patient O, and Evidence-Based Public Health” in the Lecture Series of the Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP) at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. At FIU he and three of his graduate students recently published a new study about mosquito-borne zika virus awareness and how to improve prevention practices.

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When asked what he has been unable to do in his 57-year career, Darrow says, “Change public polices about sex education, abuses of power, and human rights.” He recalls his years at NFA when he played point guard for the 1956 Capital District Conference champion basketball team and the three times he ran for class president and lost and lost and lost.

“All valuable learning experiences of achievement

and disappointment that help us understand who we are and what we might become,” he says. When asked how he would like to be remembered, Darrow is fond of quoting American pacifist, Presbyterian minister, and six-time unsuccessful Socialist Party presidential candidate Norman Thomas: “For being a champion of causes not yet won.”

JOURNALIST John-Manuel Andriote ’76

Writer John-Manuel Andriote ’76, former Washington Post contributor, is the author of the 1999 work Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America, which bookends Randy Shilts’ And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic as definitive works about AIDS in America. Since 1986, Andriote’s health and medical reporting has focused largely on HIV/ AIDS. The Smithsonian in Washington, DC, curates a significant collection of his extensive writing, research materials, correspondence, and interviews.

In awarding Victory Deferred a Lambda Literary Award, in 2000, former Lambda Book Report editor Jim Marks said the book “tells the rest of the story” of the AIDS epidemic, and while Shilts “chased the story,” Andriote “pursued the facts.” According to Marks “there can be no doubt about the validity of Andriote’s central thesis. The AIDS epidemic, and the forces that had to be assembled to fight it, thrust the gay movement into the spotlight and then into the mainstream of American life.”

Andriote has a journalist’s eye, a social worker’s temperament, and an intellectual’s mind. He began his career in middle school with a photo-journalism project on the Norwichtown Green. “I became a journalist,” he says, “because I realized that I want to live, for the time that I have here, with my senses open to make sense of the world around me.”

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He has published a number of works about a variety of topics, including his “children’s book for adults,” Wilhelmina Goes Wandering, a modern fable, based upon the true story of a runaway cow in Connecticut.

Andriote says the book is about “the very human need to find a place, a home, where we belong.”

His most recent publication is Stonewall Strong: Gay Men’s Heroic Fight for Resilience, Good Health, and a Strong Community (2017). The book’s title plays upon a reference to the Stonewall riots of 1969 in Greenwich Village, NY, and to New England stone walls, including the stone breakwater in Provincetown, MA, as enduring, perhaps political, images of strength and immutability. The book takes up one of Andriote’s enduring interests -- resilience.

“AIDS taught us about ourselves,” he says of the LGBT community. “It taught us about courage and creativity, and strength of character, especially in the face of trauma.”

Like many of his generation, Andriote is navigating the challenges of elder care. He recently participated on a panel about resilience at the 2018 HealtheVoices Conference, in Chicago, an annual forum for online health advocates. The AIDS epidemic “taught us a lot about patient advocacy,” he says. “Extrapolating lessons from the LGBT community applicable to the general public” is a continuing focus, especially as he continues to examine resilience in aging. “These are human lessons,” he adds. “We have to play the hand that life deals us, but we also have to enjoy life along the way.”

HEALER F. Andrew Kozel ’85

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ndy Kozel, M.D., M.S.C.R., DFAPA, Director of TMS Service at James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, will tell you that Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables profoundly affected him. “It is a great example of looking at different types of fairness and justice,” he says. “Sometimes, what may be considered fair and acceptable shouldn’t be accepted or considered fair.” Kozel’s career has always been about seeking justice and fairness for the mentally ill.

“There is great injustice in mental illness. The incredible suffering it causes patients and their families is the overriding factor in my work. We have such a critical need. If you care for these patients, you see it on a daily basis,” he says.

After graduating from NFA in the spring of 1985, Kozel enrolled at Yale University, initially to pursue a degree in business. A volunteer experience as a counselor at a New Haven halfway house shifted him to a career helping people suffering from mental illness and earned him the Lipkind Prize, Roosevelt Thompson Award, and the Dwight Hall Humanitarian Award.

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seeing the suffering of patients…

The conventional approach to the treatment of mental illness did not incorporate enough of a medical model. Kozel recalls, “I became very interested in understanding the brain as a way to treat mental illness.”

Today, Kozel focuses upon using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to treat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. TMS is a non-invasive procedure to stimulate the prefrontal cortex of the brain using magnetic pulses to the brain from a coil on the scalp. Kozel works daily to improve the lives of veterans suffering from depression, PTSD, and other psychiatric disorders. His military service as a flight surgeon provides commonality and understanding that his patients appreciate.

“Depression, PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder are huge problems for the military, for the veteran population, and society as a whole,” Kozel explains.

“Depression,” he continues, “is the number one cause of morbidity in the world that has a dramatic impact on patients, families and their quality of life, for generations to come.

“I very often am referred patients who feel they have tried and been unsuccessful with everything,” Kozel continues. “They think there is no hope. They come and say, ‘I don’t think it will work, but what else can I do?’” While they might, at first, think the treatment won’t help, many patients experience relief. “To see people who couldn’t work, who couldn’t care for their children, and now…some even bring their older children in [to the office] and say ‘my Mom is

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a new person’ and they are productively engaged in things their illness previously prevented; that is really meaningful.”

Kozel received an MD from University of Virginia School of Medicine. To defray the cost of his education, he participated in the United States Air Force Health Professions Scholarship Program. From 1993-98, he was a captain in the U.S. Air Force as a Psychiatry Intern, Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland AFB (TX), and Flight Surgeon at Dyess AFB (TX) and Maxwell AFB (AL).

Following his interest in the research and treatment of mental illness, Kozel went to the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) for residency, mainly to work with Dr. Mark George, distinguished professor of Psychiatry, Radiology, and Neuroscience. George was a pioneer using neuroimaging and brain stimulation technologies like Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to better understand and treat depression. At the time, TMS was new, somewhat controversial, but seemingly effective.

“There is now compelling evidence for TMS treatment of depression. Not only is it effective, but it is also cost-effective.” Data demonstrate that even in the best of circumstances only about half of the patients respond well to other conventional forms of treatment for depression. “This leaves a large number of patients still significantly depressed,” Kozel remarks.

“We have room for improvement and more work to do,” he continues, “but research data indicate TMS

that is what drives me.

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has about a 60% response rate with 40% reporting complete resolution of depressive symptoms in patients who previously did not respond to other treatments.”

In one of his first studies with George, Kozel measured the distance between the coil to the brain to determine that this was a critical factor. Using this knowledge enabled the effectiveness of TMS in older patients to be significantly increased. By adjusting the treatment to account for the greater distance, Kozel discovered that older patients responded as well as younger ones. The study, replicated by other scientists, is now an accepted finding in the field. “Moving the treatment forward and changing clinical care is very exciting,” says Kozel.

After fellowships at MUSC, Kozel served as a faculty member in the psychiatry departments at the Medical University of South Carolina and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Presently, he is Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa.

The rewards of teaching are inspiring. “One of the most exciting things is to start working with someone and watch their progress,” he remarks enthusiastically. Teaching transfers his learning and experience to others, amplifying progress and expanding treatment and research into new areas. A former fellow now working at Mayo Clinic is doing “amazing work with children and adolescents using TMS.”

Research has always been an interest, particularly in understanding brain function using Functional MRI. Kozel’s work has even crossed into forensics and law enforcement because “study of blood flow changes in the brain can be used to determine when a person is lying. These findings have been replicated in multiple populations, even using a mock crime scene.” Conversely, the evidence suggests that the commonly used polygraph is not an effective tool.

Kozel continues to work on examining whether brain imaging such as functional MRI may be a useful tool to understand better and treat neuropsychiatric illnesses such as depression and PTSD, an expanding area of current research. “The fundamentals of the scientific method have been critical to discovery for a long time. When we as a scientific community make mistakes, the cause is often forgetting the basics of that method. I was taught those critical fundamentals at NFA,” he says. “When I went to Yale, I felt as prepared as those who went to the supposed best private schools across the nation. I was just as prepared, if not better.”

Asking questions, seeking solutions for intolerances, and offering care and healing motivate Kozel. “You have to find what inspires you. For me, early on, seeing the suffering of patients…that is what drives me,” he says. He enjoys the collaborative nature of professional research and “solving a difficult problem; however,” he warns, “much will not pan out.” Calmly and quickly, he continues, “The investigation is part of the fun, and the need is too great to ignore.”

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IENTIST Matthew Mitchell ’02

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very day, on his way to work, Matt Mitchell ’02 asks, “What am I going to learn today? What am I going to discover today?”

Mitchell describes himself as naturally curious, a characteristic fostered throughout childhood by his mother, retired NFA math teacher Constance, and father, William. They offered him unlimited support and challenged him to strive always to do better. His curiosity and inquisitive nature led him to a love of books and science. From his childhood, he fondly remembers the Ranger Rick Zoobooks, memorizing all he could about animals. When he was in late elementary school, he was inspired by Jane Goodall’s My Life Among Wild Chimpanzees. Little did he know at the time that the book would have a lasting impact and lead him, one day, to field research in Central Africa in his career as an evolutionary biologist, ecologist, primatologist, geneticist, and bioinformatician.

After graduating from NFA in 2002, Mitchell pursued degrees in biology and music at Colby College where he was assigned to read groundbreaking book Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by UCLA anthropologist Jared Diamond. The transdisciplinary nonfiction work attempts to explain why some societies have thrived and others have not. The synthesis of biography, geography, science, anthropology, history, and sociology had an enormous effect on Mitchell, who then challenged himself to pursue work that would be as impactful and broad-ranging as the book.

In an evolutionary biology course at Colby questions like, ‘How are species formed?’ and ‘What is the relation between chimpanzee evolution and human evolution?’ fascinated Mitchell. He had found his passion. “Big questions have always guided my research and scientific endeavors,” Mitchell says.

This enthusiastic curiosity has been a constant in Mitchell’s career. He lives for “that one moment when everything comes together” and he gets to say “Oh, Wow! This is really cool!”

Graduate school at the State University of New York (SUNY) Albany followed, and in 2013 Mitchell earned graduate certification in Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Analysis and, in 2014, a PhD in Biology.

During graduate study at SUNY Albany, Mitchell began researching chimpanzee evolution and genetics, working with dissertation advisor and mentor, Dr. Mary Katherine Gonder. Mitchell credits Gonder as having greatly impacted his professional career. After completing his dissertation which established a model tool to map genetic diversity across space, he went on to a postdoctoral research fellowship at Drexel University.

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There, Mitchell became part of a research team, led by Gonder, focusing on chimpanzee population genomics, socio-ecology and conservation. The research was based on field study in Central Africa, primarily in Cameroon and Gabon, examining spatial patterns of chimpanzee genetic diversity. Not only because of the toll climate change and globalization had taken upon chimpanzee populations, but also because

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The collection of the data is only part of the equation. Computers transformed genetic research. “Where we once had to use blackboards and calculators, with computers we have the power to process terabytes of data. Now, we are

Big questions have always guided my research....

of the similarities between chimps and humans, this work was important. “We share a common ancestor with chimps,” and this research can crystalize human evolutionary history.

“Chimps are hunted and know how to hide from humans,” Mitchell explains, making it too hard to gather DNA through blood samples, so fecal samples were collected. Mitchell explained that the fecal samples were “degraded and hard to work with. Chimp DNA is only a fraction of what is in them. You’re lucky to sequence a couple genes to do a study.”

Mitchell traveled to Africa several times a year, for 3 months at a time, to collect chimpanzee DNA samples. On his first trip into the rain forest, Mitchell failed to take the advice of others who had cautioned him not to wear cotton clothing.

He was wet, and miserable. But, on the fourth day of the excursion, they ran into a group of chimps.

“I was hooked,” he said. “It was a transformative moment that made every bit of suffering worth it.” Over the course of the African field work, he made 30-40 trips into the rain forest. He has seen chimpanzees only three times, a fact which underscores both the effect of global forces, and the difficulty and the importance of the work.

Through their work, his team went from only a few genes to almost an entire genome by adapting a specific protocol and enhancing an existing process. “It took three years to figure out,” Mitchell explains. “It is a problem scientists have been trying to tackle for a long time in research on big

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mammals.” Ultimately, they established a means of sequencing the entire genome from only one fecal sample – it was a monumental advance.

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able to generate more genomic data than we know what to do with,” Mitchell explains.

When he and his research team received the data confirming that they were able to complete this wild chimp genomics project, Mitchell was in Yaoundé, capital of Cameroon. “This was a project I had dreamed of,” Mitchell says, but once the data was “in our hands, I knew this was real.”

He recalled a “panicked excitement.” It was a crystallizing moment, one in which he realized he was doing important and impactful work.

Mitchell believes that the field of evolutionary biology and genomics is about to explode. “It’s exciting to be at the cusp.”

Today, Mitchell is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biology at the University of Pennsylvania where his research is centered upon bacterial population genomics, analyzing black legged ticks and Lyme Disease. “It is the same methodology [as chimpanzee research]”, Mitchell explains, “for a different question.”

Through DNA extraction, he is examining the genome of the Lyme Disease bacterium from ticks infected with the disease, and those not infected, seeking an answer to the question whether genetic mutations impact the spread of disease or make the disease more infectious. The findings could help better understand the harm caused in human hosts and inform human health care applications. Given the spread of tick-related illness in humans, Mitchell’s work is both timely and important.

“I love to take a deep dive into things,” Mitchell says. He finds that research is about “intellectual itches that I have to scratch. I keep looking until I find a satisfactory answer.

Sometimes it’s like going down a rabbit hole.

But,” he continued, “it’s important not to get lost down the rabbit hole. You have to train yourself, learn how to do research, and accept, at times, a question doesn’t have a solution or an answer.”

Time at NFA allowed Mitchell the opportunity to discover his passions, both in and outside of the classroom. And, NFA prepared him for the intellectual challenge of college and independent research.

Mitchell feels lucky to have been “pushed and challenged” by parents and teachers to be passionate about the things he was interested in and feels that “everybody is curious about something. You just need to find what it is that gives you the need to scratch that itch.”

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BOOKS TO BROWSERS:

Research in

Twenty-five years ago, the Latham Science and Information Center and Edwin H. Land Library opened.

Named for scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs, and 1926 classmates, Allen “Jack” Latham, Jr. and Edwin H. Land, the building and library are tributes to academic and intellectual curiosity. As the research center of campus, the library has seen a great deal of change during the past quarter-century.

Rows of computers now replace stacks of hardbound reference books.

Students no longer spend hours mastering the Dewey Decimal System, maneuvering the card catalog, or searching through the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature. Today, they can solve queries electronically – and almost instantly. Copy, scan, download, and cut and paste have replaced note taking on 3x5” notecards. The challenges of interlibrary loan and books checked off the shelves by another are worries of the past. Remote access by smartphone, tablet, or laptop makes a physical library visit unnecessary. Today’s students research using the library’s resources and databases from home, the classroom, study-hall – wherever there is internet access.

Library Director Kristie Leonard says the most significant change is not finding information; it is the wealth of information accessible to students, available at their fingertips, 24/7.

Because of the sheer volume, a

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challenge for today’s student is to use credible sources. Leonard notes, “We’re trying to move them to using more reliable sources.” She still believes in the use traditional sources such as books and magazines to balance the many electronic options.

The tools of research have changed, and today’s students have grown up with technology, but the processes and protocols of disciplined inquiry are essentially the same. Librarians and classroom teachers continue to instruct and guide, and students still learn the discipline and skills of research.

Technology has even simplified process of documentation. Noodletools, a program made possible by support from the NFA Foundation, Inc., and also available to NFA’s partner districts, makes many tasks easier for students.

For example, one feature compiles and organizes information for citations and bibliographies into a selected format from a menu of options. Formatting ease frees students to spend more time in critical investigation, analysis, and creative thinking about the content and the research.

Technology has even provided tools to allow collaboration and electronic discussion among group members and between student and teacher in the drafting process. Just as books have given way to electronic sources, so too, are “papers” submitted to a teacher electronically by a deadline, only to be returned, graded – electronically.

the Digital Age

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Kirk Ricketts ’18

COLD-BLOODED PHOTOG I

nspired by Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter, Kirk Ricketts ’18 has been photographing and cataloging the reptiles and amphibians of Mohegan Park for over a decade. His father, Jonathan Ricketts ’88 brought him to the park to explore the natural world, teaching him to flip rocks and logs to find amphibians hiding in the damp shadows. His father also helped Ricketts develop a healthy respect for the various species of snakes they saw.

His love for the wildlife of the park didn’t diminish as he entered middle school. Instead, Ricketts began photographing his finds.

“When I was in middle school, I would get strange looks when I was stomping through the woods, like, ‘Why is this big kid playing in the mud?’” he says. “I began carrying a camera as an excuse and quickly became passionate about wildlife photography. Now, I carry my camera everywhere.”

By the time Ricketts began his high school career, he had an Instagram account and a YouTube channel, documenting his work in Mohegan Park, and career aspirations to become a herpetologist. In pursuit of his career goal and support of his passion for photography, Ricketts took photography classes at NFA and many, many science courses. While he loved the challenge of his AP Biology class, he especially enjoyed his role as a

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RAPHER teaching assistant in Unified Zoology.

Since this was the second time he took Unified Zoology, he developed with Mr. Yarish, the teacher, a unique learning opportunity based on his developing interest in wildlife conservation and education.

“Kirk has a natural ability to connect with the students in the Unified [Zoology] class. Students view him as an expert and are often more comfortable asking him questions about the animals in the room, in a way they may not ask one of the adults. During the semester Kirk has developed lessons to present to students and has shown great growth in his confidence and ability to design purposeful learning opportunities for students,” says Yarish.

As Ricketts approached graduation, he refined his dream to become a herpetologist and will study Biology and Wildlife Conservation at Liberty University in Virginia. “Ultimately,” he said,” I would like to use my photography as a tool for educating people about the animals who need protection and conservation.”

From a boy finding reptiles and amphibians in a neighborhood park to a young man on the verge of a college career, Ricketts embraced the opportunities NFA provided him – combining science and photography – to shape his childhood interests into an exciting postsecondary plan.

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ALMA

Matters

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Marion Abel Thelin worked at NFA from 1943 to 1948, then married and moved to New York. She celebrated her 94th birthday in December and still lives alone. Marion likes to keep herself active with local senior groups and church.

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Gerald ’50 and Eleanor Spencer ’52 McKeon were married October 18, 1952.

They have been blessed to celebrate 65 years of marriage.

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Robert D. Lord is the President of New Mills Marple & District Rotary Club and President of Mellor & Townscliffe Golf Club. Bob has lived in England for the past 59 years. He and his wife, Pat, both still play golf. They have a son and a daughter, three granddaughters, two grandsons, and two great-grandsons.

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John Calande, USN (3rd Generation), received his BS from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, and has retired after 20 years serving his country as a

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pilot. He has two MS degrees and is currently pursuing his PhD. He is devout in his faith and gives NFA full credit for preparing him for his life’s journey. John wants his classmates to know that he has returned to Connecticut after 60 years, is currently living in Groton, and would like to reconnect.

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Bob Auwood, retired since 1990, divides his time between Palm City, FL, and Gaspereaux, Prince Edward Island, Canada. On annual Norwich visits, he makes time to visit NFA’s beautiful campus. He feels blessed to have attended a great school and says he will always be a “son of Norwich.”

Barbara Elliott Hall writes that the reunion committee for the Class of ‘59 is planning their 60th reunion (2019). L to R: Mary Lou

s

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James Anderson Block is doing well living in Simsbury, CT. He is enjoying life, his children, and his grandchildren.

Payne Juzwic, Ann Marie Maguire Canova, Chris Izbicki Simoneau, Fran Papineau Blanchette, Chaz Zezulka, Bob Onderdonk, Paul Collins, Lynn Lessard. Front: Judy Amoriello, Barbara (Bea) Elliott Hall, Mary Elizabeth Wiese Kenyon. Missing: Carolyn Fannon Podurgiel Lynn Lessard, after 52 years in the remodeling business, retired because of arthritis, but he was offered a job to build an upscale motorhome in an “MCI” retired bus. Going up and down those “5 steps, 50 times a day” has helped his arthritis and improved his general health. He and his wife Tina have two daughters together, and they each had two daughters. The two oldest granddaughters have five beautiful daughters. He and his wife are thrilled that this year brought them their first great-grandson.

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Judith Mirkin Strom and her husband Rob announce the birth of their grandson, Emory Joseph Strom. He was born on August 1, 2017, to daughter Tammy Strom.

Claire Frankel is the Chief Information Officer for Civicor, Inc., a blockchain startup company.

She also consults with the Institute for International Education.

Lynn Buckley Barrett writes that her aunt, Agnes Robinson Reichert ’39 passed away, November 10, 2017, in Florida. She loved NFA and proud to be a graduate.

She is survived by her son, Thomas Sanders ’66, her brother William Robinson ’43, and several nieces and nephews who graduated from NFA.

Diane Raue Nelson sings with a group called Rock Voices, a choir that performs three times a year with a rock band in West Hartford.

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Rob Lenehan and classmate Dennis Avery, who both grew up in Bozrah, met for breakfast outside Austin, Texas, in February 2017. Dennis, an over-the-road trucker, was on a run delivering heavy machinery to Eagle Pass, Texas. Rob, who lives in Westfield, NJ, and his wife, Janice, were visiting their daughter, Regan, who lives in Austin with her husband, Jody, and their boys, Fields (10) and Hyder (8).

Karen Brozowski Rogers has run a race in all 169 Connecticut towns.

She is one of the founders of the Run 169 Towns Society being the first to complete the 169 towns challenge in 2011. She is known as the “Queen of The Run 169 Towns Society.” Now on Round 2, she is nearing completion of the 169 town challenge a second time.

She shared this quest with former classmates at the 50th reunion graduation ceremony in June 2017.

GRACE BULLARD CURRAN ’49 Grace Ballard Curran holds the distinction of serving as the Town of Franklin’s first female First Selectman. Elected in November of 1979 by a margin of seven votes, she is one of only a few women who held that office in Connecticut in the 1980s. She followed in the footsteps of her grandfather, George Kahn, who was Franklin’s First Selectman from 1921-23. Curran served for four terms.

A five-year town highway surface program was one of Curran’s significant accomplishments in office. It made it possible for Franklin to receive funding for the roads. During her tenure, the town purchased new highway equipment and held tax increases to a minimum.

In 2006, Curran was appointed to the Housing Authority. She served as chair of the committee that developed the Access Senior Housing project. With 27 one-bedroom, low-income senior housing units, it filled a critical need in the region for elderly residents.

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Valerie Campbell Caron celebrated the birth of her sixth grandchild, December 10, 2017. Named Diana Valerie, she is the daughter of Sara and George Harrum and joins big brother, Nolan, and big sister, Felicity.

After her time in public office, for seven years Curran traveled the United States in a 32-foot Class A motorhome as a volunteer for the National Park Service. She logged over 7,000 hours in approximately 10 national parks across the country.

Despite many, Curran believes her proudest life accomplishments are her children: William J. Curran Jr. ’69, Cheryl Curran McKinney ’71, Richard P. Curran ’77, Nancy Curran Miller ’80, and Thomas Curran (Norwich Tech ’78).

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Melissa Clifford retired from Navy Nurse Corps and other civilian nursing jobs after 38 years. She is married and lives in New Mexico.

Bernice Janovicz Rocque released her second book, The Poneham Years: Walking in the Footsteps of My Mother, in December 2017. The narrative follows weaver Gabrielle Picard, an immigrant from Quebec, who experiences significant loss as a child but never loses hope of reaching a better life. In equal portions biography, history, memoir, and family portrait, the story unfolds with 184 images from more than ten decades.

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Kathleen Haviland Griffith retired in 2017 after 32 years as a teacher in the Hancock County Schools System in West Virginia.

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Kathy Barry Boyd retired in January 2018, after approximately 40 years as an X-ray technician. She’ll now spend her time enjoying her two grandchildren, Allie and Madison, while warming her feet in the Rhode Island sand during the summer months.

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Debbie Vuono-Burke is enjoying retirement spending more time with her husband James, family and friends. Her grandchildren have grown so quickly. Her oldest granddaughter attends ECSU. She also has three wonderful grandsons!

One will be receiving his driver’s license soon, another will be graduating from grammar school, and the third will be in eighth grade! Debbie also enjoys yoga, walking, and going to the library.

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Charlene Leone-Johnson is in the M.S. program in Digital Forensics at Champlain College.

Robert Faille lives and works on the Florida Gulf Coast. He is the Vice President, International Business Development, for Defenshield and is responsible for expanding

Class of

Karen Troeger Stewart has taught secondary math and computers in Minnesota, Ohio, and Colorado.

She has also been a high school academic advisor, IT administrator and Knowledge Bowl coach.

She has four married children and eight uniquely wonderful grandchildren. Recently retired from teaching, Karen plans to travel and work part-time on her sewing/alterations business.

She and her husband, David, recently celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary.

1950 Reunion

The Class of 1950 celebrated their 67th year reunion twice in 2017.

Classmates attended the Jubilee Reunion held at the Norwich Holiday Inn on July 13 and met on September 16 at Acorn Acres Campground in Bozrah.

CLASS OF 1950 REUNION AT ACORN ACRES CAMPGROUND (back row, l-r) Paul Portelence, Bob Faille, James Dubois, Joe Coutu, Walt Wadja, Stephen Altschuler, Tom Pappas, Al Fratoni. (front row, l-r) Bob Smigiel, Babe Angelopoulos Ververis, Sis O’Neil, Bob Chabot, Joan Cosentino, Maureen Moore Caron, Charles Stanton, Mary Ann Koscinski Lavoie

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Defenshield’s international business opportunities. Post NFA, he graduated from the U.S. Military Academy (BS, Middle East Regional Studies, and Electrical Engineering) and Georgetown University (MS, Foreign Service and a Certificate in Arab Studies). After college, he spent over three decades in the US Army before retiring in 2009. His military service earned him several medals and honors including two Bronze Stars. He has extensive private sector experience in the Middle East with work in Libya, Afghanistan, Abu Dhabi, and the UAE as a business development executive.

Joyce Payne Pepe recently ended a forty-year career at Aetna/Voya.

She and her husband built their “next” home in the Charleston, SC, area after living in Glastonbury, CT, for many years and raising their daughter (who is a first-year nursing student at Fairfield University). She and her husband are looking forward to their new life in the low country.

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Jane McCaffery DeLisle is Captain and Check Airman on the Airbus 330 for American Airlines. In February, DeLisle was proud to fly the Philadelphia Eagles back to their home town after winning the Super Bowl. She and her Co-pilot were able to hold the Lombardi Trophy in the cockpit. DeLisle’s husband, Joe, is also an Airbus Captain. They reside in Charlotte, NC, and Boca Raton, FL.

DR. CHARLES HEEBNER ’56 On December 18, 2017, Dr. Charles Heebner ’56, a railroad fan, and his wife, Bev, rode the inaugural run of the Amtrak Cascades on the Point Defiance, a new passenger rail route designed for faster speeds and shorter travel time between Seattle and Portland. The project had been ten years in the making at a cost of about $181 million.

The Heebners were seated in car three, close to the front of the train. “As we approached the curve leading to the rail bridge over I-5 (near DuPont, Washington), I looked across the car; one of the passengers had a speedometer app on his cell phone. I could see it read 81 MPH. That’s a bit fast.”

They were travelling at 80 MPH in a 30 MPH zone. The lead locomotive and twelve cars derailed. Some landed on the embankment, but others crashed into five vehicles on the interstate below the bridge. Over 80 people were on board the train. In the end, there were three deaths and every passenger sustained some level of injury.

Heeber recalls, “The noise was horrendous, metal squealing and tearing, stuff flying through the car. It was dark and I had the sensation of rolling. Then it stopped. The train went from 80 MPH to zero in just a few seconds.”

Heebner searched for Bev. “She was lightly buried in a thin layer of soil, gravel, grass, sand, mud, and broken safety glass pellets,” he said. “To get out we had to climb about 3 to 4 feet up a wall, which I believe was really the curve of the roof, as I think the car was not upright.” As they made their way uphill, Heebner reached down to pick up a souvenir – ironically, an Amtrak car safety instruction booklet.

Both Bev and Charlie sustained bruising and injuries in the accident, but unlike the train route which still remains closed, they weren’t slowed down for long. They recently completed a month-long volunteer “stint” with the United States Forest Service at Cache Creek on the Snake River, Oregon.

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Carole A. Oat was inducted into the Norwich Sports Hall of Fame in June 2017.

James Topor recently received a MS in Data Analytics from the City University of New York. He also holds an MBA in International Business from George Washington University and an MS in Computer Science from Virginia Tech.

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Nicholas Johnson and Dana Sullivan Johnson ‘07 welcomed a son Calvin Allen Johnson, September 26, 2017. Calvin joins sister, Hazel Marie, age 5.

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Michelle Kalin Jacobik author of Prosperity After Divorce, her first published book, was the keynote speaker at Bethsaida’s 10th Annual Gala, April 26, 2018.

Michelle received the Bethsaida Community Impact Award. In August 2017, Innovation Destination Hartford honored Michelle for her efforts and success as a start-up Connecticut entrepreneur.

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Florida Reunion

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Aurora Kate Ackley recently published An Elite Dragon Story (The Elite Trilogy Book 1).

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Bryan Fratoni and his wife Krystal welcomed a son, Alexander Joseph Fratoni, June 5, 2017.

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Jessica Stanton Guglielmo and husband, Dan, welcomed their second child, Rocco Giovanni, June 20, 2017. Big sister Abigail is thrilled to have “her” baby home.

Dr. Amy Jancewicz recently earned a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison by successfully defending her dissertation “A genetic study of cadaverine response reveals crosstalk between cadaverine and putrescine pathways in Arabidopsis thaliana.”

She is now a Senior Scientist and Agricultural Product Lead at AmebaGone, developing novel treatments to eradicate pathogenic bacteria. She lives in Madison, WI, with her partner, David, and two sons, Wyatt and Ethan.

Kara Cuprak and her fiance Randy Boles welcomed a son William Jan Boles, February 8, 2017.

Frances Raucher Rothberg ’46 and Meg Sakellarides Mokoski ’82 had the honor of representing the earliest and most recent NFA graduates in attendance at the March 9 East Coast Florida Reunion in Boynton Beach.

Matthew Miclette, a veteran of the U.S. Army, earned a BS in Nursing from University of Vermont, MS in Social Policy and MPH from University of Pennsylvania and will pursue a PhD in Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.

He and his wife, Noelle, reside in Philadelphia.

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Raymond (R.J.) Evans recently accepted a position as the University of North Carolina Asheville assistant men’s basketball coach. Evans joins the UNC Asheville men’s basketball program after spending last season as an assistant coach at the University of Louisville during which the Cardinals finished with 22 wins and advanced to the 2018 National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals. Prior to his time at Louisville, Evans was on staff at the University of Texas for two years as a graduate assistant. Evans joined the staff at Texas after one year as an assistant coach at Nichols College in Dudley, MA. The Bison’s posted a 20-6 overall record and won the 2014-15 Commonwealth Coast regular-season title with a 17-1 mark in his lone season on staff. He played college basketball at both Holy Cross and the University of Connecticut. Evans earned a BA in Economics from Holy Cross in 2012; MA in Educational Psychology from University of Connecticut in 2013; and a MS in Kinesiology from University of Texas in 2017.

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Zach Yeager is an Academic Advisor at the University of North Texas.

Class of

1997 Reunion

The Class of 1997 celebrated their 20th reunion, October 13-14, 2017. Over 40 guests met for an informal gathering at Epicure Brewery in Norwich on Friday.

Saturday’s festivities began with continental breakfast and tour of the campus. That evening, over 100 classmates and guests attended the reunion the Holiday Inn, Norwich. The class gift was a donation to the Sam and Randy Deglin Art & Noise Scholarship Fund.

Zachary and Kellie Labrecque Semmelrock welcomed their son Bennett, future Class of 2036, on March 2.

Bennett will be the fifth generation to attend NFA. Kellie’s parents, grandmother, and great-great-aunt all attended NFA.

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Rebecca Arpin was hired

by Nutmeg Technologies of South Windsor, CT, in February 2017. She had previously worked as an intern and is now their Marketing Coordinator.

After leaving NFA, she attended UConn where she received a degree in Communications and

General Studies. At Nutmeg, she will help manage their social media platforms, coordinate online marketing and advertising campaigns, and assist with related PR items. She currently resides in Vernon with her two furry friends Josh and Kora.

Taylor Driggers is a five-time All-American in Track & Field, competing for UMass Boston.

At the Division III Women’s Track & Field National Championship on May 26, Driggers and teammates placed second and seventh in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays, respectively. She won her first National Championship in the Triple Jump, scoring a personal and program best at 12.56M, a foot over any other competitor. UMass Boston was named co-champion.

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FACULTY STAFFNews Intervention Specialist Danny Charles ’01 welcomed son Donovan, November 11, 2017.

Social Studies Teacher Allison Mohler married James Kane, March 17.

William Howard ’90 was named Outstanding Coach of the Year in Girls Volleyball by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association.

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Kara Kochanski-Vendola ’94 is a finalist for National High School Athetic Coaches Association National Coach of the Year in Girls Outdoor Track.

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Academic Support Specialist Kara Gabordi and PE Teacher/Baseball Coach Luke Gabordi welcomed son Harper, April 3.

Social Studies Teacher Marisa Seng welcomed daughter Amelia, February 16.

Physical Education Teacher Reuben Shirshac and wife Mandy welcomed daughter Reagan Paige, May 31.

Russ VerSteeg was named Indoor Track & Field Assistant Coach of the Year by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association.

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Guidance Counselor Lyndsie Sumner welcomed son Flynn, April 3.

Special Education Teacher Heather Mariani welcomed daughter Nora, January 25.

Upcoming Reunion Celebrations Classes of 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008, 2013 are celebrating milestone reunion years.

To see what your class has planned, go to nfafoundation.org/reunion. Make sure to gather your classmates and join us at Homecoming on October 13!

If you are interested in working on a reunion committee or have questions regarding your class reunion, contact alumni@nfaschool.org.

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FACULTY

We Will Miss

Patricia Peele Burgess ’47 Patricia Peele Burgess ‘47 passed away, January 18.

A dedicated NFA alumna, Burgess served over 20 years as a home economics teacher and Department Head.

She was recognized as a Connecticut Home Economics Teacher of the Year. She was predeceased by her husband of 47 years, Leslie I. Burgess. Patricia leaves behind her children, Timothy Burgess ’72 and fiancé Barbara Altieri; Martha Robarge ’74 and husband Robert; Amy Campbell ’77 and husband Hugh; and many loving grand and great-grandchildren.

Carl Snitkin Carl Snitkin, US Army veteran and Norwich Free Academy wrestling coach and physical education teacher, passed away, May 11, at the age of 72. Snitkin coached wrestling at NFA from 1974-99, winning 13 conference titles and nine CIAC Class LL state championships, including six straight from 1983-88. He coached 63 wrestlers who won Class LL, State Open, or New England championships and had a 471-80-7 record in dual meets. Snitkin was a four-time national collegiate powerlifting champion (1969-72) at Springfield College and a member of the United States world championship team (1971).

He won gold in the super heavyweight division at the Pan American Games (1976) and North American championships (1980 and 1981). He is survived by wife Bernice, daughter Christine Snitkin-Bouley and husband Chad, granddaughter Gracie, and brother Alan.

Jean Gallup Carnaghan ’49 Jean Gallup Carnaghan ‘49 former NFA mathematics teacher and Department Head, passed away, January 24. After retiring in 1991, Carnaghan volunteered in the gift shop at Norwich Hospital until 1996 and Backus Hospital, serving as President of the Auxiliary and as Gift Shop Chairman. She also served as treasurer of the Auxiliary of the Southeastern Mental Health Authority. Her husband, Luason L. Carnaghan ’47, daughters Jane M. Carnaghan ’72 and Ellen P. Carnaghan ’75 survive her.

Merrill Thoresen, Jr. Merrill Thoresen, Jr., history teacher and coach, passed away, February 8, at home with his family in Starkville, MS. His career at NFA spanned over thirty years.

A former student describes Merrill as having been “a positive force in everyone’s life.” After retiring from the Academy, Thoresen began a second career as a fly fishing guide in Montana. His wife, Carol Wiggins Thoresen, a former NFA science teacher, daughter Merrillee Thoresen ’85, son-in-law Alan Fitzeck, and sister Pam Kovach survive him.

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Spri

& We Will Miss

ALUMNI FRIENDS 1931 Irene Jaskiewicz Mahoney

1933 Harold Mahoney

1935 Lillias Woisard Souter David Tongren 1936 Antoinette Falcone Gwiazdowski Helen Koski Quinn 1937 Ruth Proctor Hodgson Rose Morton Mather Nicholas Preston Ruth Abell Tubbs 1938 Mary Mulcahy Pritchard Emily Fullerton Schwartz 1939 Agnes Robinson Reichert 1940 Lucille Metcalf Burns Waltina Slowikowski Demicco Ann Baran Segal Helen Kornacki Shuleshko 1941 James “Babe” Moran Frances Cohen Schlact

1942 James Adams Robert Huntington Doris St. Lawrence LaPre 1943 Theresa Pasqualini Alferi Robert Boyd Constance Coulopoulos Robert Eliasson 1944 Mary Wildred Cipriani Annie Mazur Ely Arlene Martin Ferree Evelyn Sienkiewicz

1945 Mary Laputz Busch Zephirin Caouette Richard Cook Ernest Gates Nancy Bullard Gill Royal Grover Lorraine Valentine Morosky 1946 Angeline Prive Hale Madeleine Tarrant Moran Elizabeth Morse Rosen Dolores Lucier Throwe 1947 Ruth Siegel Baver Donald Bowers Patricia Peele Burgess Thomas Dorsey Anne Shea Navin Donald Steffenson Ann Rybakiewicz Wilber

We express our deepest sympathy to the families and classmates of the following NFA graduates who are known to have recently passed away. They will be missed.

1948 JoAnn Molinari Byrnes Marcus Job Robert McKeon Patrick Quinn 1949 Helene Olenkiewicz Adamec Florence Parkhurst Alletto Frances Desmond Campbell Jean Gallup Carnaghan John Cooper Arlene Corcoran A. Richard Karkutt Janice Newbury Nichols Patricia Kelly Osten Joan Houston Sturgis Stanley Szablinski Emily Thomas Loretta Berry Walker 1950 Robert Morrison Marion “Sis” O’Neil 1951 Beverly Smith Campbell Louis Gaumond Agnes Jesmonth Kulos Donald Weseman

1952 Richard Cellucci Merle Mileski Ellis Phyllis Michon Gray Irene Beauregard Hutchinson Mary Callis Lafakis Gilles Marchand Margaret Griffin Tatro Rosemarie Buttacavoli Topor James Archibald

1953 Joyce Barber Dux Marjorie Hill Grant Leo Lacombe William Longo David Miller Mary O’Neill Robert Roessler 1954 Joseph Buttacavoli Warren Canova Harry Johnson Jean Moody Kempesta Charlotte Kaminski Seatter Henry Buckley Patricia Harris Diodato Raymond Laznovsky Patricia Faretta Sousa Hattie Jahn Vocatura Jacqueline Frink Becker

1956 Ronald Berk Michael Maurice Melvyn Orenstein Lucille Watson Thoma 1957 Helen McManus Fatone Carol Houghton Lathrop Frank Ricker Barbara Stavrou Sullivan 1958 Raymond Champagne Robert Dulac Carol Burdick Marks Patricia Gartner O’Leary Walter Pieniadz Peter Woyasz 1959 George Barlow Joan Ferry Stanley Olenkiewicz Marvin Perry Robert Smith David Turner Julie Zabensky

1960 Paul Brulotte Arnold Kaplan Dorothy Mikolajcik Rose Renaldi Moriarty Carolyn Murray Treadway Robert Gernhard

1961 Robert Mossey Jeffrey Owens Judith Pickering 1962 Brenda Altheiser Chrimes Patricia Walenda Longo Delores Delgado Newson 1964 Jenny Kraemer Cramer Barbara Luty Martinelli 1965 Margaret Marsh LaBranche Nancy Lamb Maurer Robert Standish Thomas Bolduc 1966 Frances Marr Delozier Roger Harwood Leonard Litwin Robert Rondeau

1967 Stephen Garstka Kenneth Gibson Cheryl Benson Kosma Thomas Little Karen Moriarty Peterson Thomas Ricketts Robert Walukiewicz

1974 Joseph Gerst

1968 Anthony Jablonski

1980 John Kennedy

1969 Shirley Avery Murray Elliott Shyer Paula Tedesco

1970 Noel Brehant June Blanchette LaBonte Jane Silverberg Levine Charles Mares Robert Meyer David Nickolenko Lois Burlingham Shumway

1982 Deanna Gatchek Freeman Kokoszka

1971 Frank Grillo Frank Jurczik

1998 Sara St. George Davis Shaun Sibley

1975 Carol Stamos Duhaime Eileen Gallagher Gabler Chester Rogenski Tina Rucker Wilson

1983 Pamela Burdick 1988 Todd Clement Julie Rice Flowers 1997 Christopher Grabarek

1973 Ralph Jarmon

Marion “Sis” O’Neil, Class of 1950, passed away, June 4. Former Assistant in the NFA girls gym and physical education teacher at Notre Dame and Kelly Junior High in Norwich, Sis was owner of Acorn Acres Campground in Bozrah. Sis faithfully planned annual reunions for her class and, for the last 17 years, held reunions at the campground for members of her class. She was named tailgating champion at many NFA Homecoming celebrations and was a member of NFA’s Jubilee Reunion committee.

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learningtolead The governing body for students, NFA’s Student Advisory Board (SAB) represents every club, class, and student organization. The club’s purpose is to “deal with student issues on campus, make recommendations to the administration, coordinate major student activities, act as ambassadors for the school, and promote school spirit and unity.”

SAB representatives take their role very seriously.

2018 SAB President Kathleen Kelly ’18 reflects, “I got involved to make a difference.” Leaders organize and run monthly meetings, listen to issues, and brainstorm solutions to problems brought forth by students. All students with a concern about campus life and culture may attend a meeting. SAB members bring these concerns to open dialogue with the administration.

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SAB, however, is so much more. Elected student members practice the skills of self-governance, representation, negotiation, and collaboration that will serve them well as they become future leaders. Head of School David Klein has monthly breakfast meetings with officers to establish a level of trust and respect that has fostered mutual understanding and appreciation.

History and social studies teacher Lorraine Roberts Dooley ’88 leads a team of advisers who work with SAB members. They sponsor two leadership conferences each year to listen to “inspiring speakers, problem solve, and share ideas.” Dooley says, “Students who participate in SAB realize that they have a responsibility to represent the student body in active and positive ways and they also develop leadership skills that will benefit them for their entire lives.

When first told that NFA would eliminate homeroom to increase instructional time as most schools in the area had done, students worried that student clubs, activities, and organizations would be affected.

SAB worked with the administration for a resolution.

Now, homeroom meets once a week; students can meet with their groups and classroom time has been increased by 40 minutes. This kind of collaborative approach results in real-life learning for young people.

Another recent SAB action was the return of the student section for football games. The student body felt they were losing their expression of the Wildcat spirit without a designated student section, so SAB met with school administrators and arranged endzone bleachers. The move resulted in a resurgence in student spirit and ultimately led to the 2017-18 CIAC Conference “Battle of the Fans” award in March.

Planning for a student response to the school shooting at Parkland, Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School demonstrates the significance of SAB’s leadership. The group worked with faculty and administration, listening, prioritizing, and planning.

SAB officers and members of other clubs and groups took leading roles in the event and made something mature and meaningful happen.

“SAB is a solution-oriented, thoughtful and influential leadership organization. It is a legitimate group of hard-working, emergent leaders who are expected and required to contribute to positive campus change, and they do,” says Head of School David Klein. “SAB members care deeply about their school and advocate passionately and respectfully on behalf of the entire student body to improve campus life.

They make our school a better place for everyone – students and adults.” Dooley agrees. “I believe the SAB helps students become mature leaders and responsible citizens.”

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Non-Profit Org. ORG. NON-PROFIT U.S. Postage U.S. POSTAGE PAID PAID Hartford, CT HARTFORD, CT Permit #3344

NORWICH FREE

ACADEMY

PERMIT #3344

305 Broadway, Norwich, CT 06360 W W W. N FA S C H O O L .O RG

ONE YOU ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES CAMERON KURASZ Class of 2019 Norwich, CT

At Norwich Free Academy, our students are proud to point out what makes us different. It’s pretty simple, and yet it’s not something many high school students get. Options.

Together with their families and faculty, NFA students build a four-year experience that is uniquely theirs— and turn their passions into a lifetime of opportunities.

Learn About Your Endless Possibilities Open House Sunday, November 5, 2017 - 1:00pm Registration at 12:30pm or pre-register at nfaschool.org/openhouse Information Session Thursday, December 7, 2017 - 6:00pm Registration at 5:30pm or pre-register at nfaschool.org/infosession

ELIZABETH BARNES Class of 2019 Norwich, CT

TYLER BRIGGS Class of 2018 Franklin, CT

CAITLIN DOOLEY Class of 2020 Brooklyn, CT