September 2009

Barbecued nachos, anyone?
From our perch at Fogarty’s Winery, the view was spectacular. Vineyards stretching for miles on end; the sun rising over the nearby hill, and the excited buzz of faculty voices as we greeted each other after a long summer apart. These were some of the sights and sounds of the first day of the 2009-2010 school year’s two-day Faculty Retreat. And as we tend to be creatures of habit, we began the morning in our usual way:  sharing summer stories.

After gathering together in a large circle, we began with a welcome back from Amy. Her summer story included a vivid description of a hike in the High Sierras that she took with her husband, Frank, and some friends. Describing the trek as “cushy,” Amy talked of comfortable tent cabins, the plentiful and hearty dinners and breakfasts and, most importantly, the breathtaking views she and her fellow hikers enjoyed. The only downside? A bit of snow and some giant mosquitoes. The upside? As most of you know, Amy loves the outdoors, especially hiking since, in her words, “it gives me time to reflect.”

Truth be told, there were quite a few lovers of the great outdoors among the group, including AJ Goldman, who spent a good portion of his summer outside. Son Dylan’s baseball team won district and section titles, and his proud parents cheered him and the team every step of the way. In addition, AJ sailed 400 nautical miles in a grueling sail race, getting only ten minutes of sleep and facing many challenges along the way. The worst moment was when the racers lost all wind, causing AJ’s boat to drift backwards. As the Director of JumpStart, AJ finished his summer by overseeing that program along with teachers Julia Rubin, Reese Willis, and Andrew Davis. Michael Flynn had a fabulous summer, fishing in the waters of Lake Shasta with family and traveling to Cabo, Montreal, and upstate New York. Vicky Mann-Hauer and John Hauer usually spend their summers soaking up the Hawaiian sun, and this year was no exception. One change, however, was a bicycle trip that John took with 100 other riders, beginning in San Francisco and ending in Santa Rosa. Following in his father’s footsteps, or should I say flip-flops, Dylan, son of Tracy Lum, learned how to ride the waves this summer and mastered the boogie board! Quite a feat for a three-year old.

Ken Considine and his family spent a portion of their summer in Lake Tahoe and another portion cruising in Alaska. One fun fact about the Considines is their deep knowledge of trivia — knowledge which came in handy during the boat’s Trivia Contest. Thanks to son Ben, who knew the literal translation of the word kamikaze (For the few of you who don’t know, it’s “Divine Wind.”), Ken and his family won the grand prize:  five tote bags. Molly Black also spent some quality time in Tahoe with her family, including daughter Emily who is a senior in this year’s Class of 2010.

The lure of the outdoors also attracted the newest members of the faculty, including English teacher, Emily Fawcett, whose passion for hiking ran into a bit of a snag since she spent the majority of her free time this summer relocating from Denver to the Bay Area. Replacing Nicole Sorger who is currently on maternity leave, Andy Keller had a busy summer earning his motorcycle license, visiting lots of friends, and traveling to Australia. Under the not-so-new faculty category, English teacher Julia Rubin, who is teaching a section of 9th grade English after taking over for Mme. Salanon last year, saw many old friends from her days as a Crystal student and traveled with her family to British Columbia. Also included on the not-so-new list is returning math teacher Ned Diamond who spent part of his summer working in a KIPP school in Baltimore while his fiancée finished nursing school at Johns Hopkins. By the way, another fun fact — Julia was Ned’s student during her years here! Jennifer Carleton, our new Assistant Director of College Counseling, native Cape Codder and dyed- in-the-wool Red Sox fan, spent four glorious days in Yosemite. Her colleague, Director of College Counseling, Kelly Sortino, played 70 rounds of golf in fourteen days last May (Yes, you read that right!) in advance of a full summer here on campus. Jennifer joined Kelly in the counseling office in July, and the two met with seniors and their families throughout July and August. Tom Woosnam and his family love to spend time in Ashland, Oregon, and this year, their experience was a good news/bad news affair. Although they were able to reconnect with old friends and bumped into Adam Savage from “Myth Busters,” they were unlucky with the Ashland meter maids. Wife Julia got a $50 parking ticket but decided to fight it since the no parking sign was conveniently hidden behind a tree. While Tom and Julia did battle in the courthouse, an ever-present meter maid ticketed Julia’s car for yes…another parking violation. This time to the tune of $63. And yes, while they won the $50 fight, they lost the war, so to speak. Kent Holubar had an unusual culinary experience this summer. While visiting in-laws in Memphis, Kent went to see a AAA baseball game where he ate barbequed nachos. For those of you who want the recipe, this delicacy consists of pulled pork, jalapenos and cheese sauce. After surviving that culinary nightmare, Kent headed home in order to accompany son Gray to Princeton where he will be a freshman this year.

Reconnecting with family and friends at the close of the school year is particularly important to faculty, and the summer of 2009 saw quite a few reunions, weddings, and births. Topping the list was the addition of the newest member of the Wadleigh clan. Proud grandpa Wells showed off pictures of his first grandchild, daughter of Crystal graduate Maya. David Suskind announced that he and former faculty member Rachel Roseman are planning to get married! Speaking of weddings, it was truly the summer of love for Andrew Davis who won the award for most weddings attended in a single summer:  seven!  Faculty members Niki Stefanelli and Kate Tomatis will become mothers again this school year. After learning of her pregnancy this past May, Niki accompanied the school on the China trip and upon her return, attended an artists’ retreat in Colorado. Kate traveled to Cape Code and North Carolina, meeting old friends at the latter location. Finally, under the category of “who knew?” Peter Kovas officiated at the wedding of a friend at Crater Lake.

Cindy Shanholt enjoyed her well-deserved sabbatical last spring with trips to Pomona College to see her daughter (and Crystal grad) Ellie and to indulge her interest in Spanish by taking language lessons. Please note that Cindy’s other daughter, Callie, graduated from Pepperdine and is now a teacher. Her colleague, Bebes Miller, who also enjoyed her sabbatical last spring, described the experience as “psychological botox.”  Her chief goal during her time away was to read her height in books, and at last count, she was almost there!  When her nose was not buried in a wonderful piece of literature, Bebes took advantage of her time to visit friends and family, and encountered some nasty spiders and sharks in Australia. Like Bebes and Kathy Jany, both of whom spent time in France this summer, Sophie Perisic chaperoned middle school French students to that country. She was a tad concerned that she was being observed, however, when she saw Bebes on her flight to France and Kathy at the Paris airport on her way back!  Accompanying the students on this trip were Yen-Ling Wang and Suzanne Wilsey, and for Suzanne, the trip awoke the sleeping Francophile in her. Because of the trip, Suzanne has begun taking French classes at the Alliance Francaise in San Francisco. Finally, we welcomed back French teacher Chantal Salanon who returned after her health issue kept her away last year. After getting her strength back, Chantal took advantage of some professional development funds to take a writing for non-writers’ course, learning about editing and illustrating books. During her time recuperating, Chantal wrote a children’s book, which she hopes to publish.

Andy Sigears reconnected with friends in Germany, and the trip also included a major highlight for husband Wes — the “Sound of Music Tour” in Salzburg, Austria. For Andy, the summer was significantly brighter because of the barbeque he hosted for 30 former students, but the real highlight came when Andy reconnected with his front teeth after many months of sporting braces. Antoinette Wrubel traveled to the East Coast, seeing her new step grandson at his bar mitzvah and making a pilgrimage to NYC to see several shows, including God of Carnage and Blythe Spirit with Angela Lansbury. Of the latter, Antoinette recounted a hilarious moment in the play when the actress playing opposite Ms. Lansbury forgot her lines. As a director whose worst fear is actors forgetting their lines, Antoinette was in pure agony. Albert Caruana and his wife had a great time at the Safari West in Santa Rosa, feeding giraffes and spending the night in first-class tents.

House improvement projects dominated Idris Anderson’s summer, although she did have time to hike in the High Sierras with friends. Reese Willis described his summer as “crazy” and indeed it was. Beginning as a chaperone on the school’s China trip (where he saw Quincy Jones and Rihanna), Reese returned in time to pack his bags for the week-long SEED training along with colleague Suzanne Wilsey. You will hear more about SEED in the months to come, but in short, it is an organization dedicated to diversity education. Their unique approach brings together educators from across the nation who discover their own biases and work together to foster conversations at their home schools. We are looking forward to working with Suzanne and Reese in their capacity as SEED trainers.

Finally, for some reason I cannot explain, I went to NYC three times this summer. My June trip involved a detour to Florida where I spent time with my parents and together, we spent a long weekend in the city. While there, we saw God of Carnage and Billy Elliot and indulged in the scene that is New York. The two remaining trips happened in mid-August and two-weeks later during the Labor Day weekend, where I saw some early round tennis matches at the US Open. Sandwiched in between the latter trips to New York, I went to Tahoe and attended the Oscar de la Renta fashion show to benefit the Save The Lake Foundation.

Speaking of fashion, the end of Labor Day signals the time when we must put away our white shoes. It is also the sign of school beginning in earnest. As I walk around campus it is hard not to notice how excited everyone is to be back. Cross-country and football are in full-practice, the Upper School drama tryouts have begun and the students and teachers are engaged in the timeless pursuit of knowledge. As you can see from the above stories, the faculty uses their time away to recharge their batteries, reflect and spend time with the significant people in their lives. As a member of this community, I know how important it is for all of us to maintain close relationships, and I firmly believe that our emphasis on community is one of the chief reasons so many of us love working with your children. I wish all of you a happy and fulfilling year ahead.