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Edgehill 2000 Issue 2, 2012 The Alumni Magazine of Peabody Demonstration School & University School of Nashville

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This is the fall 2012 issue of USN's alumni magazine, 2000 Edgehill.

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Page 1: 2000 Edgehill #2/2012

Edgeh i l l2 0 0 0

Issue 2, 2012 The Alumni Magazine of Peabody Demonst rat ion School & Univers i ty School of Nashvi l le

Page 2: 2000 Edgehill #2/2012

2000 Edgehill is published by the Alumni and

Development Office for the Peabody Demonstration

School and University School of Nashville community.

Vincent W. Durnan, Jr. Director

Anne Westfall Development Director

Tom Bailey ’85Alumni Director

Connie CulpepperCommunications Director, Editor

Our Mission

University School of Nashville models the best educational

practices. In an environment that represents the cultural

and ethnic composition of greater Nashville, USN fosters

each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential,

valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love

of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.

University School of Nashville admits qualified students of

any race, color, sexual orientation, religion, disability,

national or ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, pro-

grams, and activities generally accorded or made avail-

able to students at the school. It does not discriminate on

the basis of race, gender, color, sexual orientation, reli-

gion, disability, national or ethnic origin in administration

of its educational policies, financial aid policies, and ath-

letic and other school-administered programs.

We would love to hear from you about anythingyou read in 2000 Edgehill, or, for that matter,whatever you have to say about your studentdays here.

Email [email protected] or write

Connie Culpepper

University School of Nashville

2000 Edgehill Avenue

Nashville, Tennessee 37212

On the cover: The boys reading in USN’s new outdoor classroom by the 19th Avenueparking lot remind us of something you can also read in Story Forum: school doesn’talways have walls and a ceiling. And, if you have ever tried to photograph children thisage, you will know that this photo is not posed. They really were reading.

The editor thanks our volunteer writers and photographers, who make the magazinepossible; the alumni who sent us news and photos for Class Notes or wrote to us forany reason; Tom Bailey, Juliet Douglas, and Anne Westfall for proofreading and editorialsuggestions; Special Collections of Vanderbilt’s Jean and Alexander Heard Library for sharing photos with us; Bonnie Arant Ertelt, Editor of the Peabody Reflector, for sharingthe summer camp story.

Page 3: 2000 Edgehill #2/2012

A Dramatic Mystery 4

Letters to the Editor 5

Story ForumFirst Grade Memories 6

The Musical Genius of Peabody 8

From the Archives 13

Reunion 14

Colonial Times Live 16

Commencement 22

High School Academic Awards 24

Class NotesThis Year’s Alumni Events 34

Bob Doochin ’58 35

Were These Your Teachers? 36

Convocation with Michael Puett ’82 39

A Teacher’s Gift 41

Tim Ozgener ’88 43

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22

n C o n t e n t s

Issue 2 , 2012

Edgeh i l l2 0 0 0

PDS/USN archives

6

photo by Kimberly Manz

photo by B. S. Holden

Page 4: 2000 Edgehill #2/2012

t so happens that we are finishing this 2000 Edgehill just asanother school year begins. The Volunteer on my desk tells thestory of the school year that began exactly eighty years ago.

Equally remarkable are the list of what has changed and the list ofwhat seems just the same at 2000 Edgehill Avenue and inNashville, Tennessee. We included this cartoon from thatVolunteer as a graphic example of “my, how things have changed.”

From down the hall come the sounds of childrensinging, rehearsing for the middle school musicalFlat Stanley, Jr. It’s not Gilbert and Sullivan, butmore than eighty children in fifth through eighthgrades have been showing up at school in the lastweeks of their summer vacation to sing and dancetogether in preparation for their show, which willbe performed not in our historic auditorium—which offers too few seats for the cheering crowdsexpected—but at Blair School of Music.

Music has always been a cornerstone of life here, asyou will read in the following pages. And we are reminded that BlairSchool of Music exists because of the strength of the music depart-ment at Peabody College in the first half of the twentieth century(see p. 11).

But can’t we have more than one cornerstone? The others mightinclude: inspiring teachers (pp. 6, 7, 12, 32, etc.); teaching childrento think, not merely memorize (pp. 16-19); experiential education(pp. 7, 10-11, 16-19); students who have been allowed to discover

and cultivate their singular talents here (pp. 20-21 and the rest ofthe magazine).

That may be too many cornerstones for an ordinary building, but2000 Edgehill is anything but ordinary, and we haven’t exhaustedthe list.

n F ro m t h e E d i t o r | C o n n i e C u l p e p p e r

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y mother was happy when I decided to go to USN.According to her, USN was a place where being intellec-tually curious was encouraged—by students as much asteachers. She was right.

While I wasn’t (and am not) particularly clever, I benefited frombeing around those who were.

I remember the first time I picked up Marc Maier,a classmate, at his house. When I got there, Marcwas sitting in an overstuffed rocking chair readinga biography of Andrew Jackson. I had to waitwhile he finished the page.

Here was a fifteen year old kid happily engrossedin a serious tome of serious history…on a Friday. Iliked reading, but I had never considered readingpopular, much less academic, history books forpleasure before.

Marc was eager to talk about the book…even going so far as tocompare it to other biographies of Jackson he had read.

Shockingly, I found what he had to say interesting.

The next day I cracked the spine on my first nonfiction book thatwasn’t for school. I think it was something about the Tudors.

It was then that I gained a new appreciation for USN’s culture,particularly when I discovered that Marc was not an anomaly.Pursuing outside intellectual and artistic interests was as com-mon as a weekend basketball game. Nothing influences a teenageboy like his peers. In a culture where peers embrace learning as apersonal pleasure, that influence can only be for the good.

Listening to the students who hang around outside my office, Ican attest to the fact that this culture is still alive and well. USNis still a place where kids teach each other to pursue their interestsand where they can grow up without having to grow out of beingthemselves.

www.usn.org/alumniphoto by Kimberly Manz

n F ro m t h e A l u m n i D i re c t o r | To m B a i l e y ’ 8 5

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photo by Kimberly Manz

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ducational reform now commands an expanding and encour-aging portion of our national attention. The topic colors con-versations spanning politics, the economy, citizenship, civility,and security, with the potential to bring people together

from historically divergent interest groups and perspectives. In thisreform moment, USN balances continuity and change.

For the past century, schools have provenremarkably impervious to modification. Inbuildings full of similarly-sized classrooms,trained teachers stationed in each room havereadied young people for a world of workthat changed faster than the school systemever did.

Our school set itself apart by the quality ofthis building, of those who taught here, andof their memorable students. Schools else-where have faced challenges that in manycases overwhelmed the traditional model, to

the point that we developed a federal standard for deeming some“failing” in their critically important societal role.

The resulting urgency of purpose in addressing this widespread con-cern ushered in a range of recent models—ways of structuringschools, ways of connecting with students, ways of supporting teach-ers, ways of defining education. Perhaps not surprisingly, my facultycolleagues find much worth considering in these emerging ideas,seeing also that much of what we currently do still holds up to closescrutiny. In some cases we realize that what was done here decadesago presaged innovations proposed by today’s reformers.

Millions of tax and philanthropic dollars, including federal Race tothe Top funding in Tennessee, support experiments in creatingsmaller, more responsive school settings, staffed by energetic newdynamos, or putting new technologies in the hands of teachers andstudents, or streamlining curricula to link directly with measureableoutcomes. Education historian Diane Ravitch wisely cautioned usin The Death and Life of the Great American School System (2010) toresist expecting a single answer, a “royal road to learning,” but thelure of a simple answer persists.

Our challenge is to identify the right part of the educational recipeto change while leaving the key ingredients in place. Experienceteaches us that the individual student/teacher interaction, in com-

bination with the opportunity to learn in the company of intellectu-ally engaged peers, sits at the center of best educational practice.From that core commitment, we can and should and will exploreextensions on the frontier of schooling.

Recent cases in point for us include:n An invitation from Stanford University to form a consortium

with other Malone Foundation-funded schools to share classes over a high-definition video connection.

n Efforts to confirm partner schools internationally to advance our understanding of language and culture beyond classrooms here in Nashville.

n Summer programs for academic enrichment bringing studentsand teachers together from around the city.

n Ongoing work to best support individual learning style differ-ences by differentiating instruction K-12.

n Providing more materials via digital media, including individual lessons that can be viewed at home to produce questions for discussion back at school.

n Looking to brain science to better align pedagogy with cognition.

This issue of 2000 Edgehill features connections to our curricularinnovator predecessors, some “back to the future” moments. Theyremind us that nature walks were a fixture on the 1930’s program forfirst graders, as they are today. They cite visits to the post office, aspart of experiential learning, just pages away from a report on our cur-rent sixth graders’ visits to our city’s houses of worship. They men-tion full-size classroom building blocks, in the same issue that fea-tures the recent tech theatre construction of talented USN teacherJim Manning.

Our approach to meaningful change starts with an understandingthat we can reinforce what’s best without locking our model inamber. Those who made this school possible would surely encour-age us to explore every avenue on the changing educational map,building our understanding by thoughtful inquiry. The great news isthat we are free to use our best judgment in pursuit of the best forour students. And therein we find our charge for the future.

With excitement,

Vincent W. Durnan, Jr.Director

2000 Edgehi l l 3

What Not to Change

E

n D i re c t o r ’s N o t e s | V i n c e n t W. D u r n a n , J r .

www.usn .o rg

photo by Kimberly Manz

And today, all across America—educators, parents and community leaders are engaged in a healthy, robust and sometimesnoisy debate about how we can better prepare our children for the global economy. –Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education

Page 6: 2000 Edgehill #2/2012

4 2000 Edgehi l l

A New MysterySomeone wrote “Trial by Jury 1939?” in pencil on the back of this photo. But in ink someone else has written “PDS 1945-46 SchoolProduction.” Several familiar names are jotted in pencil: Clara Rawlings, Roxanne Hovious, Dirl Sensing, Elaine Gore, and Linda Harap,all class of 1948. That one-act operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan seems a plausible choice for a school production. We hope someoneremembers singing in it or at least sitting in the audience when it was performed on this rather dilapidated-looking stage. Is that our stage?Who directed the play? Who played the leads? What other shows were produced at Peabody in those days?

The Mystery Remainsn For now at least, we must remain in the dark about this game ofshuffleboard. Whoever these people are, not one of them wasmoved to call or write to us with answers to our questions. Still, wearen’t giving up hope that someone will write to us about thisphoto’s who if not its where and why. Please get in touch if you canshed any light on this game.

n We won’t give up. Just this summer we heard from someone whoappears in the 2008 Mystery Photo, the PDS band on the frontsteps. Lucy Katherine Freeman ‘43, now Katherine White, is thirdfrom the left on the top row. She writes, “I’m not slow just very busy!”

n Dorothy ColmeryWebster ’34 called us to say how much sheenjoyed seeing photos of so many of her friends in the last 2000 Edgehill. She reminisced about these friends, the boys she used to date(Ned Wallace, Billy Bilbro, and Joe Cummins), and her favorite teachers (Miss Lacy and Miss Mac). Dot recalled returning to PDS 29 years

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after she graduated to find her teachersstill there. Dr. Holden took one look at herand asked, “Dorothy, where have you

been?” He recalled what desk she sat in.Miss Lacy, Miss Huggins, and Mr.Beauchamp all remembered her. PDS was

“the most exceptional school in the world.”She said, “It set me on a good path.” Now96, she still lives on her own in Greeneville,South Carolina.

n Bob Rosenfeld ’68 wrote to us after heread the story about one of his favoriteteachers. “I was fortunate enough to be asecond generation student of Helen LacyShane. Miss Lacy taught my father, Louis[‘29], when he was in high school. Andwhen I was a freshman, I was part of Mrs.Shane’s last (I believe) French I class. Thatwould have been 1964. She was so verykind and gentle. I don’t believe she ever toldus about her academic background. Myfather, who became a surgeon atVanderbilt, remembered that she had suchbeautiful hands. Of course, when shetaught me she had been ravaged byrheumatoid arthritis to the point where shehad great difficulty holding a pen. I neverheard a complaint.”

n We also heard from Al ’36 and LucyGarrison Crabb ’38, who had visited Mt.Olivet Cemetery not long before andnoticed a toppled headstone on the gravesof a pair of Shanes in the “Peabody sec-tion.” A field trip revealed that the gravesin question were not those of Dr. HelenLacy Shane and her husband, but of hisparents. Yes, Mt. Olivet does have aPeabody section, and there we saw thegrave of Bruce Ryburn Payne, founder ofPeabody college, and of ThomasAlexander, father of the DemonstrationSchool.

2000 Edgehi l l 5

Mystery Photo/Letters to the Editor

Please email [email protected] call Connie Culpepper at 615-321-8011 to share yourthoughts on anything in this magazine.

The most recent Peabody Reflector

mentions a summer camp held at thecollege’s H.G. Hill Camp, 150 acres onthe Harpeth River. “For several years,students in the [camping educationclass at Peabody] helped administerthe camp for seventh graders fromwhat was then known as theDemonstration School….” MorrisWiener, a 1953 graduate of PeabodyCollege, sent the Reflector an article hewrote about the camp.

You can read that article, and the campjournal written by Elena Harap Dodd ’55

when she attended as a seventh grader, at www.usn.org/publications.

Looking back on the experience now, she writes, “I would say in retrospect thatapart from teaching outdoor skills and providing an opportunity to live in theout-of-doors, the work of that week at seventh grade camp was to create a com-munity. We lived, learned, played, and coped with the elements together, bothyoungsters and adults. We got to know each other in a new way. The informaltime we spent together and the challenge to everyone’s ingenuity was stimulatingand fun, thanks to thoughtful planning and leadership from Dr, DeWitt and hisstaff. The creating of a community that values each person’s contribution is stillimportant to me.”

Who else remembers going to this Peabody summer camp in seventh grade?

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(See previous page.)

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The elementary school in 1931-1932

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All photos in the Story Forum are from the PDS/USN Archives or The Volunteer, except where noted.

Peabody was noisy and active. Children sang, marched, builtwith blocks, discussed what to do next. If the children could bedressed in t-shirts and magically transported to 2012 UniversitySchool, a 1932 first grade class at Peabody would feel at home intoday’s experiential classroom.

One former first grader’s recollections of her brief time herereveal how important music was in the life of the school in thosedays, when the college’s music department was growing inimportance and sending some remarkable teachers across thestreet to the Demonstration School. From the 1930’s throughthe 1950’s, these teachers, some of whom gained a national rep-utation as musicians, would leave a lasting impression on theirstudents.

As part of the 1989 PDS/USN History Project, teacher DianeClements and Jeanny Haw ’90 interviewed Jean Keller Heard,who had attended Peabody Demonstration School for a year and a summer in the early 1930’s when her father taught at Peabody

College. Her memories vividly evoke what it was like to be a firstgrader at PDS in 1931. She had “an extremely interesting” year inMrs. Henrilu Ivey’s class with much “imaginative teaching.”

Mrs. Heard describes a first grade classroom filled with music,activity, and experiences for the children. “We had rhythm bands,and it was always desirable to get a triangle. Some people had rat-tles and others had other instruments, but I loved the triangle.”

A flute player named John Benson used to lead parades aroundthe room, the children playing their various instruments andmarching behind the flute player.

“We had another teacher who taught chorus, a Welshman. Iwant to say his name was Llewellyn, but maybe I’m making thatup. I do know that his hair sprung up on his head like steel wool,and whenever he asked a question, he put the tip of his tongueon his upper lip and waited until the question was answered.And then a sort of aah!”

Noise, Action, Discussion, Music

If we ever think of what school was like in the 1930’s, most of us picture children sitting in rows, heads bentover their work. The girls wear dresses and the boys’ shirts are tucked into their short pants. No one speaksunless the teacher, Miss Somebody Mean Looking, reminds a wiggly child to sit still. And no wonder littleboys resorted to dipping girls’ pigtails in inkwells. That’s not Peabody Demonstration School and never was.

A Happy Experience: Jean Keller Heard’s First Grade Year at PDS

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In the large first grade class-room was anaquarium,“endlessly fas-cinating.” Thechildren tookturns feedingthe fish andcleaning theaquarium.“The only scandal of myentire first grade year waswhen a little boy attempted

to flush a turtle down the toilet. The motive for this was neverrevealed, nor was the punishment.”

That classroom also had “enormous” building blocks, “so largeand so interlocking that we were able to build home structuresthat we could walk in and out of. We built a post office….” Thechildren took turns being postmaster, having visited post officesto learn how they worked.

Such experiential learning seems to have beenthe norm. “We each had a row to garden in thefirst grade. My mother took me to SearsRoebuck and bought me a rake. We couldplant anything we wanted. We wereabsolutely responsible for its cultivationand weeding. I don’t remember anythingabout the harvest, but that didn’t matterbecause we were all farmers.”

Among the ubiquitous student teachers atthe Demonstration School, Jean sometimesrecognized someone from her smallAlabama home town. Student teachersaccompanied the first grade class when theytook their “long nature walks along the Peabodycampus,” counting trees and observing nature. “Thenwe would come back and write up stories of what wehad seen.”

They sat still longenough to learn to readand write. “Mrs. Iveywas very much per-suaded that phonicswas the way to teachreading, and we hadflash cards, every

combination of vowel and consonant.”Jean preferred the arithmetic flash cards,which Mrs. Ivey also used.

The following summer, when Jean brieflyreturned to the Demonstration School, she wasin Nell Parkinson’s class. What she rememberedmost was Miss Parkinson’s “wonderful stories aboutthe founding of Nashville, the Donelson expedi-tion.” She recalled that one little girl in her class,Beth Rush, was a direct descendant of Captain Donelson.

2000 Edgehi l l 7

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Mrs. Ivey

Miss Parkinson

“We each had a row togarden in the first grade.My mother took me to

Sears Roebuck and bought me a rake.”

Page 10: 2000 Edgehill #2/2012

A Traveling OperaThat summer of 1933, the Century of Progress Expositionopened in Chicago. According to Jean, each state sent a “theatri-cal or musical show to represent the state.” Tennessee sent an“opera with Rip Van Winkle that was put on at Peabody,” andshe was asked to be a little girl in the chorus. (Jean’s mothersang in the Peabody Chorus.)

“We had rehearsals that went on late at night. Rather tempera-mental but a very good musical director was a man named Mr.Gebhart.” (Mr. Gebhart also taught music at PDS.) “I think hisdaughter had the lead in the opera, but I’m not sure. Everybodywas larger than life to me. You know, it was like being a memberof a traveling circus. It was absolutely marvelous. And then to

have the wonders of Chicago—the planetarium, the aquarium,Marshall Theater.”

“[Being at PDS] was a happy experience. There was no intimida-tion anywhere. There was support. I think every child in thatgrade felt important, because that was the atmosphere. I expectit was a very good foundation for later elementary school, whichwas more conventional.”

Jean Keller Heard, who died in 2011, was the mother of ChristopherHeard ’71 and Connie Heard ’73 and the grandmother of GeorgeMeyer ’11.

8 2000 Edgehi l l

Mr. Gebhart Conducts “Rip Van Winkle at “A Century of Progress”by C.B. Hunt, Jr., from The Volunteer, October 1933

After two months of extensive work the George Peabody College forTeachers Chorus and Orchestra, numbering about seventy people,presented the light opera “Rip Van Winkle” by Jules Jordan on theFloating Theater in the World’s Fair Grounds. The opera was attend-ed by some five thousand people.

Because of the great friendship which existed between Mr. Jordanand Mr. Gebhart and because of Mr. Gebhart’s skill in producingthe opera, Mr. Jordan has bequeathed the copyright to Mr.Gebhart.

“Rip Van Winkle” was most enthusiastically received, both inNashville where two performances were given, and in Chicago.

There were a number of Demonstration School students whotook part in the opera.

C.B Hunt, Jr. ’34, who grew up to become the Director of thePeabody College School of Music, was called “the father of theBlair School of Music” by its long-time Dean John Sawyer. (Find a link to that article at www.usn.org/publications.)

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From The Volunteer, November, 1932:Mr. Gebhart Directs The Chimes of Normandyby Susan Ann Wallace

Do you like to sing or act? If you do you must not miss being in TheChimes of Normandy, the opera the high school is giving this spring.There are a number of interesting characters to be cast, and there isneed for more talent. There is the sweet Germain; the hoydenishSurpolette, who imagines herself to be the lost princess, Henri, thehandsome count; Grenshaw, the scatter-brained fisherman; and manyothers. The strongest character is Gaspar, the old miser who goesmad in the haunted chateau while counting his gold. Aside fromthese leading characters, the opera needs a large chorus; so if youcan even carry a tune, come down and try out!

(The Chimes of Normandy is the English translation of a three-actcomic operetta Les Cloches de Corneville by Jean-Robert Planquettewhich premiered in Paris in 1887 and had been performed onBroadway only a couple of years earlier. You can hear the over-ture at www.usn.org/publications.)

2000 Edgehi l l 9

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More than a decade after Jean Keller Heard’s first grade year, theGreat Depression had given way to World War II, but at PeabodyDemonstration School progressive education continued.

A 1945 article in the college magazine the Peabody Reflector showsus, with pictures by B.S. Holden, “A Day with the First Grade inthe Peabody Demonstration School.” The photo essay follows alittle girl, Eloise Chase, through her day as a first grader. Both herparents were PDS alumni: “the former Miss Isabel Hibbs, and herfather, Lt. Bruckner Chase [’29] of the U.S. Navy.”

Doc Holden’s photos are called upon to do most of the storytelling, but certain details tell us that the educational philosophyyoung Jean Keller Heard encountered in 1931 has changed littlefourteen years later.

First, the “Adjustment Period” in the morning, when “childrenwork at activities of their own choosing and interest.” Some pickart, a “creative expression of the child’s experiences.”

For “Building Ships,” we are told, “Regular work benches withtools of standard quality are provided, and boys make use of

Our Educational Foundation

photos this page by B. S. Holden

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them in constructing things on theirown interest level.”

Next is “Group Work,” with childrenplanning their day in cooperativegroups “in order to get the full meas-ure of value from an activity.” Thechildren dictate a story to theirteacher, who writes it on a chart. Theyread it together.

Rhythm Band with “miniature musicalinstruments” shows the child his “indi-vidual responsibility to group success.”Story Hour in the library and Scienceare part of “Exploration andEnrichment.” The children plant bulbs.“Through experimentation they maylearn that plants need light, warmth,air, water, and food for growth.”

“Evaluation” includes comparing hand-writing with a standard and with thestudent’s previous work. It also includes “comparison with thewriting of other members of his class.” The children discuss theirartwork with one another. “Children acquire a sense of value andobjectivity by evaluating the work of and by submitting their ownwork to the criticism of other children.”

“Evidence of growth is indicated by measuring. It is most valuablewhen the child assumes a responsible role in the process.” Sixty-seven years later, the belief that a child should assume responsibil-ity remains part of the educational foundation at USN.

Crossing the Street:

Maestros at the Dem SchoolFor twenty years following the time when Mr. Gebhart wasteaching and directing at the Demonstration School, it contin-ued to benefit from the strength of the college’s music depart-ment. Some of the most accomplished professors taught on bothsides of Edgehill Avenue.

Thus the small PDS faculty included a surprising number ofmusic teachers. In 1933, piano teachers Rose McGregor and Marguerite Myers are listed in the faculty roster of TheVolunteer as “Special Teachers.” Mrs. Gebhart taught pianowhen her husband taught something called “public schoolmusic” in the ’30’s. Sometimes violin teachers (Andrew Ponder,Hazel Gentry, Mrs. Greg Oman) appeared on this roster too.

Elementary school’s Miss ViolaBoekelheide, herself bearing the name of amusical instrument, was preparing thechildren for this more advanced study.

The program of an operetta in two actscalled Maid in Japan performed May 24,1935 by Peabody Demonstration Schoolat the Scottish Rite Auditorium, creditsthe music to Margaret and E.J. Gatwood.He was also music director.

In a 2004 letter to this magazine, DeanGatwood ’36 writes that his father firstcame to Peabody College in 1922, leavingin 1928 and returning in 1934. He taughtat PDS while he was at the college. Deanand his wife Grace Gentry Gatwood werein the chorus of Maid in Japan, and thenext year Dean had a solo part in theoperetta Bon Voyage, which his parentswrote.

Other PDS students in those days could add names to the list:Thomas Cowan; Charles B. Hunt ’34, former music critic forThe Volunteer who would grow up to teach music at his almamater. Don Follis ’52 wrote to us about Charles Bryan, whotaught at Peabody in the 1950’s.

In his history of Peabody College, Paul Conkin describes themusic department as the college’s largest, with nine professorsand four instructors in the post-war years. It occupied the topfloor of what was then known as the Social Religious building,across the Peabody Green from us and now called the WyattCenter. Conkin writes, “By 1951, more than half of the musi-cians in the new Nashville Symphony—fifty-one—had aPeabody connection.” Peabody College was at the cultural cen-ter of Nashville, and some of that light shone on PDS.

Famous composer Roy Harris taught at Peabody in 1949 and1950 and in the summers of 1949, 1950, and 1951. PerhapsHarris never darkened the door of the Demonstration School,but the man Conkin describes as the “second Peabody composerof note” certainly did: Charles F. Bryan. His “Bell WitchCantata” was performed at Carnegie Hall. Conkin calls Bryan’stime at Peabody in the early 1950’s the “boom years,” with vet-erans filling the college campus.

It was a good time to be a student at the Demonstration School.

2000 Edgehi l l 11

Charles Faulkner Bryan, one of the famous musicians whotaught at Peabody

Vanderbilt University Special Collections and University Archives

It was a good time to be a student at the Demonstration School.

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“Charles Faulkner Bryan (1911-1955)was a native of McMinnville, Tennessee. Ahistorical marker on the town square*recognizes his accomplishments as a pio-neer and a scholar in the distinctivestudy of American folk music. Beforebecoming a member of the faculty ofPeabody College and the Dem School, hedirected music programs at what is nowTennessee Tech University, and a new andimpressive facility on the campus wasnamed the Bryan Fine Arts Center.”

When he was a boy in McMinnville,Charles Bryan made a musical instrumentfrom a turtle shell and a coffee can. Thatcreative act was just the beginning of alife devoted to music: teaching youngpeople to sing, composing and arranging,sharing the folk music he loved with asmany people as he could. The turtle shelland coffee can proved to be a precursorto the hammered dulcimer he played andhelped promote from obscurity.

A significant and productive part of hisshort life was spent right here at PeabodyDemonstration School or across thestreet at the college. (He died at age 43 in1955, having left Peabody in 1952.)

Last fall Tennessee Technological University,whose orchestra is named after CharlesBryan, devoted a day and evening to com-memorating the centennial of his birth.Bryan’s biographer Carolyn Livingstonspoke. The TTU orchestra and the Techchorale performed a concert of selectionswritten by Bryan.

In The Bulletin of Historical Research in Music

Education, Livingston makes a case forBryan’s importance in making Americanfolk music acceptable in the classroom andthe concert hall long before its 1960’spopularity. She quotes an unpublished 1948paper by Bryan lamenting the fact thatonly European folksongs were “thought tobe very great and refined.” He worked to

change the prejudice against Americanmusic.

While he was at Peabody from 1947-1952, Charles Bryan collaborated withGeorge Pullen Jackson, a musician, schol-ar, and professor of German at VanderbiltUniversity, on two collections of music:American Folk Music for High School andSing, Brothers, Sing. He also wrote thescore for a play about snake-handlers,Strangers in This World, by BrainardCheney, one of the Agrarians**. Later hecollaborated with Agrarian poet DonaldDavidson, who was also a Fugitive**, onthe folk opera Singin’ Billy.

You can read more about Bryan’s work atwww.usn.org/publications. What is men-tioned here barely scratches the surface.

*The marker reads, “A native of Warren

County, Charles Faulkner Bryan was a pio-

neer in the study of American folk music.

Through his talented efforts this distinctively

American form of musical expression gained

worldwide fame and appreciation. He

worked closely with the people of the

Southern mountains and coves in the study

of this music, but his work earned a perma-

nent place of honor and distinction in the

highest ranks of academic and scholarly

achievement.”

**The Vanderbilt English department was

the center of these famous and overlapping

literary movements. While Peabody seemed

the center of musical high culture in

Nashville and perhaps all of Tennessee,

those nearby offices at Vanderbilt loomed

even larger in the literary world. A musician

who believed we should better appreciate

our folk heritage could find much common

ground with those who argued that Southern

culture should be preserved from the creep-

ing industrialization and soullessness of the

North. Of course, it could be argued that

Peabody College was founded (by Northern

industrialists) to promote exactly that by

training public school teachers for the rural

schools of the lagging South.

12 2000 Edgehi l l

A Musical Pioneer: Charles Faulkner Bryan

Don Follis ’52, an alumnus of the choral program, wrote to his classmates after Reunion about their director

Charles Faulkner Bryan, a “treasure.”

Vanderbilt University Special Collections and University Archives

A “Dem School icon,” the Madrigals, directed by Charles Bryan, sang at the 1952 Commencement

Page 15: 2000 Edgehill #2/2012

Another Gem from the ArchivesWritten on the back of this photo from the archives:Trip Through Banner Departments, Boys’ Week, May 3, 1933

Boys’ Day in Industry sponsored by the Engineers ClubFront row: 2 unknown from Hume-Fogg, James Morris, Gordon Smith, Pete Sylar, Chris McClure

Back row: 3 unknown from Hume-Fogg, Watson Barker, Charles McMurray, Alfred Crabb,unknown from Hume-Fogg, Berriman Bilbro, Mr. Farrer.

Thanks to Dad for securing thispicture.

[The Nashville Banner was an evening paper published from 1876 until 1998. The photo was a gift to the PDS/USN archives from Alfred Crabb ‘36.]

College Preparation ComparedWe ran across this scrap of paper in our archives. ThoughUSN is accredited by the Southern Association of Collegesand Schools, we have never seen such a comparison formodern college preparatory schools.

In case you are curious, most of these schools continue toexist. Not the military academies, however. Only SewaneeMilitary Academy (1908-71) survives in another form as oneof the schools that eventually became St. Andrew’s/Sewanee.Columbia Military Academy closed in 1979, Castle Heights in1986, and Tennessee Military Institute in Sweetwater shut itsdoors in 1988.

Three other schools on this list have ceased to be. WallaceUniversity School, the historical marker for which you haveprobably noticed while sitting in traffic on West End, educatedboys from 1886 until 1941 with only one headmaster, ClarenceB. Wallace.

Duncan, a boys’ school which enjoyed a fierce athletic rivalry withPeabody Demonstration School, lived from 1908-1952. You’ve beento its former home too if you have attended a Vanderbilt basket-ball game in Memorial Gym. After Ward-Belmont closed in 1951, agroup of its alumnae formed Harpeth Hall.

2000 Edgehi l l 13

Some Things Have

Changed

USN’s Class of 2012,

84 strong, now attends

63 different schools.

PDS’s Class of 1933 went to thirteen colleges:

Vanderbilt (18), Peabody (13), Ward-Belmont (4), Miami of

Ohio, Stevens, Leland Stanford,University of Washington,

Wheaton, Purdue,Massachusetts Institute of

Technology, Sewanee, Brenau, and Maryville.

USN Class of 2012 Matriculation

Allegheny CollegeAmerican University

University of ArizonaAuburn University

Bard CollegeBarnard College

Belmont UniversityBirmingham-Southern College

Boston UniversityBrandeis University

University of California Santa BarbaraCarleton College

Centre CollegeUniversity of Chicago

Clark Atlanta UniversityUniversity of Colorado Boulder

The Cooper UnionCornell University

Dartmouth CollegeDePaul University

Dickinson CollegeUniversity of Edinburgh

George Washington UniversityGeorgetown University

University of GeorgiaGrinnell College

Hampshire CollegeHarvard University

Harvey Mudd CollegeHoward UniversityIndiana University

Johns Hopkins UniversityKalamazoo CollegeMacalester College

University of Maryland, College ParkUniversity of Memphis

Miami University OxfordUniversity of Miami

University of MichiganMiddlebury College

The New School for Jazz and Contemporary MusicNew York University

Northwestern UniversityOberlin College

Occidental CollegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Puget Sound

University of RichmondUniversity of Rochester

Sewanee: The University of the SouthSkidmore College

University of Southern CaliforniaSouthern Methodist University

St. Louis UniversityUniversity of Tennessee Knoxville

University of VirginiaWake Forest University

Washington University in St. LouisWesleyan University

University of Wisconsin MadisonCollege of Wooster

Yale University

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14 2000 Edgehi l l www.usn .o rg

ReReThis page clockwise: ’07 friends Beth Green, Ari Schiftan, andEdward Gottfried; David Venrick ’52, Elden Gatwood ’44, andDavid Criley ’52; Will Rubino ’07 and Andre Churchwell ’06 at theYoung Alumni Art Show; Nicholas Zumbro ’50 at the luncheon;Chris Tibbott, Marie ten Hoor Slate and Liz Boyce Chesick, both ’52;previous page clockwise: Jack Gayden, Buford Lowe, KnoxMcCharen, Betty Spry Elder, David Boggess, Harry Ward, and MarkSmith, class of ’62; Heather Warren ’77 in a “See, Touch, Create”class; Bud Coltharp and Peg Gessler Werts at the Class of ’67party; Darla Price Davidson, Charlie Burch, and Kristen PetracekMeyer, all ’92; photos by Kimberly Manz

n www. u s n . o r g / r e u n i o n

See more photos of Reunion at www.usn.org/publications and www.usn.org/reunion.

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2000 Edgehi l l 15

“The entire weekend was wonderful,” said one alumna about Reunion2012. It began with more than 120 alumni gathering at CorsairDistillery Thursday evening.

At the Pen Pal lunch on Friday, alumni who had been correspondingwith the second grade classes shared sandwiches and stories with the children.

Then came class parties, the Reunion lunch, the Class of ’62’s induction into the Gold Circle.

Alumni endorsed this year’s new events: the show and reception foremerging alumni artists, “Inside USN” presentations, and “See, Touch,Create,” art classes for alumni of any experience level taught by USNart teachers (who were “genuinely passionate” about their teaching,said one class of ’62 alumnus).

2 0 1 2ReunionReunion

www. u s n . o r g / r e u n i o n n

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Piers Mason placed his thinking right in the middle of the rope, noting, “I am inthe middle because you might not want your family members to starve.”

Caroline Cramer said, “Sometimes you could be very sick and you can’t work,”placing her belief in the middle of the rope.

Carson Kirshner recorded his thinking as “50/50.” He thought that “everybodyshould work, but they should also get food if they’re sick.”

Other children preferred to ration food based on the amount of work eachcolonist performed, while some took a hard line and expected work from allregardless of health or situation. Still others maintained that work should be bychoice only, not a requirement for food. While the children’s understanding ofthe historical context and content is important, it is their ability to form anopinion and articulate their reasoning both orally and in writing that is the truegoal of the lesson.

In a passionate whole-group discussion, children then could explain their think-ing to their peers, and in some instances were able to persuade other childrento change their opinions. Rich discussion and carefullistening to the thinking ofothers in a safe and respectful environment gives young students the chance toevaluate their own thinking while weighing and considering others’ ideas.

Since current scholarship indicates that the hard-won success of the JamestownColony influenced whether subsequent colonies survived or not, secondgraders examined the Jamestown Colony extensively. Each student read a biog-raphy of Pocahontas and worked with a partner to complete a chart differenti-ating between what they found to be important in the text and what they foundto be merely interesting.

During their Colonial Time unit, budding second gradehistorians grappled with this decree by one of the leadersof the Jamestown colony. Each child had to decide forherself whether she agreed with this statement, recordher thinking, and place it on a giant picture of a tug-of-war rope.

Children who wholeheartedly agreed with the sentimentplaced their writing at the end of the rope labeled “Iagree,” children who fully disagreed with the statementplaced their writing at the opposite end labeled “I dis-agree,” and children who had varying levels of agreementor disagreement placed their opinions somewhere alongthe middle of the rope.

16 2000 Edgehi l l

LearningThinking

n L o we r S c h o o l

by Marion Bradford, second grade teacher

Sam Tepper, who “became” a tanner, with his diorama and report

Page 19: 2000 Edgehill #2/2012

Is Pocahontas’s marriage to John Rolfe interesting or important?What about her ability to travel between two cultures? Is hergiven English name trivial or major? Giving children explicitopportunities to build critical reading skills also builds criticalthinking skills, and the children got more practice forming opin-ions and articulating them clearly.

The children also tackled creating and ordering American Historytimelines, summarizing primary source documents such as Smith’sjournal entries, examining the Chesapeake Bay habitat and itsgeographic features, and analyzing historical fiction written aboutJamestown. They began to understand what history is, how welearn history, and how to grasp the legacy of a specific figure orevent. All of this thinking and learning went into their culminat-ing projects for the Colonial Times unit: individual researchprojects into a historic trade. These projects integrated socialstudies, science, reading, and language arts.

Did you know that a milliner was so named for the mille or thou-sand goods she sold? Or that wigmakers pulled teeth as well asmade and powdered wigs? What skills were critical for a tanner topossess? Which of an innkeeper’s duties qualifies as a productand which is a service? How does colonial glassmaking differfrom modern-day glassmaking?

Second grade colonial tradespeople in costume presented theirresearch reports and the shop signs and detailed dioramas theyhad made for their guests at Colonial Day. Having the chance tofield their guests’ questions and to share the information theylearned honed second graders’ presentation and conversationskills while showcasing their thinking.

In Lower School at USN, teachers are working consciously to laythe foundations of critical thinking across all areas of curricula byhelping children explain their thinking, whether in writing, draw-ing, modeling, or orally. Units of study such as Colonial Times,which integrates social studies, science, reading, and languagearts, help them connect what they learn. And learning to makeone’s thinking visible—whether solving a math word problem,explaining a literary prediction, making a hypothesis in a scienceexperiment, or in articulating the legacy of a famous historical fig-ure—is one of the trademarks of USN students, past, present,and future.

2000 Edgehi l l 17

n L o we r S c h o o l

Those who do not work shall not eat.—Captain John Smith

Madisyn Starks tells her mom Yvonne about dressmaking

Glassblower Wesley Smail explains the tools of his trade

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18 2000 Edgehi l l

n M i d d l e S c h o o l

n sixth grade social studies, we devote three months to acomprehensive exploration of World Religions. Studentsinvestigate the history, belief system, practices, andmythologies of our world’s major religions: Hinduism,Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam.

Reading and analyzing world maps, students stuff their headswith a mountain of information. But beyond the four walls ofthe social studies classroom, sixth graders find unique opportu-nities to make personal connections to the curriculum. Seizingan idea common to all religions, the pilgrimage, we undertakethe Pilgrimage Project.

After creating a basketball-sized globe with a Chinese paperlantern and watercolor paints, students design a pilgrimageroute that takes them around the world, stopping at five loca-tions: the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem; Kamakura,Japan, the birthplace of Zen Buddhism; the River Ganges inVaranasi; Muhammad’s make-shift home in Medina circa 622A.D.; tiny Trinity Church on King George Island, Antarctica.

After students share their fictional pilgrimages, we embarkon an actual pilgrimage in Nashville, visiting five religiousinstitutions. We want experiential knowledge of world reli-gions to deepen our well of theoretical information.

Stop number one is Sherith Israel, an orthodox Jewish tem-ple where Rabbi Saul, an old friend of USN, delivers hisnow-famous “Jewish History in Six Minutes” lecture. Heshows the students the hallowed scrolls of the Jewish faith as heexplains what being a Jew means to him and why becoming arabbi was the single most important decision of his life. For manyof the sixth grade boys, this marks their inaugural donning of akippah atop their heads, a gesture that even an eleven year oldunderstands is deeply important, even if it feels uncomfortable.

The busses roll on and into the hillside parking lot of HolyTrinity Greek Orthodox Church. I lose count of the number ofstudents who stare upward and mouth “wow” to themselves asthey enter the Church’s front doors and stare up at theByzantine-style dome made of wood and glass, sixty feet abovetheir heads. Father Gregory greets the students and impresses

I

Sixth Grade Takes a Pilgrimageby Matt Lukach ’04, MS social studies teacher

We want experiential knowledge of world religions to deepenour well of theoretical information.

Page 21: 2000 Edgehill #2/2012

them with his encyclo-pedic knowledge of theover-twenty portraits ofreligious figures thatadorn the church’swalls. “This is exactlywhat a church looks likein Athens,” he explains.

After leaving the grand,echoing Greek Churchwith its cold marblefloors, we travel acrosstown to a simple andsmall red house, thePadmasambhavaBuddhist Center. Afterwe take off our shoesand stash them in the

corner of the tiny room right inside the front door, studentsgather on floor pillows, cross-legged. The smell of lemon grassincense burning fills the small rooms. Our host answers ques-tions and guides us through a meditation in the TibetanBuddhist tradition, focusing on breathing and cultivating aninternal calmness.

It’s something to watch a huge group of sixth graders, eyesclosed, deliberately breathing in and breathing out, experiencinga stillness and a quiet unlike anything in their typical day. Thegroup quietly loads the busses for our next destination, SriGanesha Hindu Temple.

“It looks like a huge sand castle,” one student remarks on theway up to the front doors of the temple. Our gracious hostRadha Reddy, parent of USN alumni, encourages the students towalk about the temple taking notice of all they see and hear. Ieavesdrop on conversations as small groups of students walkaround. Where are all the seats? What’s that big bell for? Can wering the bell? Why are there bananas next to that statue? Thisone’s got six arms and an elephant’s head. Can we ring the bellyet? Look, those are Hindu monks over there. They’re praying, Ithink. This statue has a waterfall. When can we ring the bell?

Our final stop on our pilgrimage through Nashville brings usback to our own school neighborhood. The Nashville IslamicCenter and Mosque, just down the road from USN, doesn’t looklike much from the road. Inside, however, the environment isdifferent, serene, sacred. Students immediately notice the carvedout enclave that faces Mecca. The entire room is oriented in thisdirection. Even the pattern on the carpet points toward Mecca.Students witness one of the five pillars of Islam, Salat, the noon-day prayer, as several Muslims engage in their ancient religiouspractice on the other side of the room.

A field trip like this one is important for many reasons, but nonemore than the opportunity it provides the students to reel intheir theoretical knowledge by experiencing the particulars ofreligion as well as its incredible diversity. The experienceappeals to the senses by allowing students to sit in the woodenpews, hear the ring of the Hindu prayer bell, smell the burningincense, touch the cold stained glass. It is learning in its purestform, something we teachers perpetually strive to offer our stu-dents because it’s authentic and real to them. It is their experi-ence. It is their pilgrimage.

2000 Edgehi l l 19

Page 22: 2000 Edgehill #2/2012

hen I first taught MarkArildsen in his sopho-more year, I knew I

had to do something to keep his livelymind occupied during math class. Isuggested that during class, wheneverhe already knew the topic under dis-cussion, he read a formidable bookentitled Mathematics: From the Birth ofNumbers by Jan Gullberg and PeterHilton. Mark lapped up every word inthis 1,100 page tome, which combinesa history of mathematics with a surveyof the subject. He was elated when hefound a printing error in a difficulttwo-page proof of a theorem.

One of my favorite memories of Markwas when I gave his BC Calculus classa take-home test on series, easily themost difficult topic we cover in thatAdvanced Placement course. To light-en things up, I included this extra cred-it assignment: When you come toclass, be prepared to sing a couple oflines from “Don’t Know Much AboutCalculus.”

Perhaps you are old enough to remem-ber Sam Cooke’s “Wonderful World,” which begins “Don’tknow much about history, don’t know much biology….” But no

one in the class had a clue. So I pro-jected the lyrics and downloaded thesong for the class.

The students decided to rewrite thelyrics around calculus. Mark was at theboard. While he listened to his class-mate’s suggestions, Mark wrote thenew lyrics on the board, sang the song,and danced until the new version wascompleted. The students then invitedother math classes to come see themperform their song.

My math department colleague CindyCrenshaw offers this recent recollec-tion of Mark. Several of her BC stu-dents had asked a question that shewanted to investigate further. Late oneafternoon, when she couldn’t find anyother math teachers to bounce ideasoff of, Cindy saw Mark down the halland called him in. After they checkedout several texts without success, Marksaid, “Give me fifteen minutes and I'llhave your answer.” 

Cindy had to leave then, but when shegot to school early the next morning, a

book lay open on her desk.  The book had come from theVanderbilt Science library, and it answered her questions beati-

20 2000 Edgehi l l

n H i g h S c h o o l

by Debbie Davies, HS math teacher

Mark Arildsen

The Student Equivalent of a Painted Bunting

W

photo by Kimberly Manz

Page 23: 2000 Edgehill #2/2012

fully. For Mark, learning is play, and help-ing others is how he shares his own, per-sonal joy.  

That’s the quality that had him singing tothe BC Calculus class. If you ask QuizBowl sponsor Tim Russell to describeMark, the team’s undisputed star, he says,“The first characteristic that comes tomind is his sense of humor. His constant-ly inventive mind can take nearly anyprompt and devise a pun (especially onRussian czars and Soviet premiers). Thequiz bowl team learned to pre-groanwhenever he might start.”

Tim also calls Mark a mentor to hisyounger teammates, whose “progress hasbeen due in no small part to his efforts.”And despite Mark’s phenomenal successat Quiz Bowl, Tim says, “He would nevertaunt the opposition or crow about ananswer, and after the match (whether a winor a loss) he would be the first across the room to shake handswith the other team and commend their good efforts. While Icannot say that other teams always enjoyed facing us, Mark’sdiplomacy helped to foster friendship and camaraderie withseveral other schools.”

His Latin career is another indication of his love of learning.Teacher Diane Sorrel explains that in seventh grade Mark

decided on his own to accelerate hisstudy of Latin. Looking at the eighthgrade material and deeming it manageable,he worked with a tutor the summer beforeeighth grade so he could begin high schoolLatin early. He completed the five yearprogram by the end of his junior year.

Senior year, Mark took two Latin coursesat Vanderbilt. His spring semester professortold Ms. Sorrel that he was the best studentin that class.

As science teacher George Flatau says,“Mark does several little things each daythat would be amazing contributions fromother students.” Examples include “relat-ing the Latin or Greek roots of scientificterms, writing poems in the place of typi-cal answers, using the entire white boardto draw a picture of a British farmer herd-ing sheep to better relate Graham's Lawof Effusion, laughing readily and often at

almost any joke (often his own science puns).” Flatau adds,“Mark truly is one of a kind—the best kind.”

To quote from my college recommendation for Mark: “You knowall those recommendations I’ve written over forty years of teaching?Lies, all lies! This student is the best one I’ve ever taught.”

2000 Edgehi l l 21www.usn .o rg

Mark with his parents, his grandmother, and Vince Durnan after he received the Stanford Moore Award; Mark with Dylan Young ’14 (l.) and Noah Stafford ’12after a math contest victory

“Mark truly is one of a kind—the best kind.”—George Flatau, science teacher

Mark in fifth grade

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22 2000 Edgehi l l

n H i g h S c h o o l

And whom did we have to emulate? Thebest any kid could ask for: our teachers.

—Sam Douglas ’12, Commencement speaker

e celebrate you, USN 2012, and we are here for you. Now takethe stage. This is your day,” said Vince Durnan soon after

Commencement began. Third grade teacher Lynn McKay, whotaught many of the seniors sharing the stage with her, had greeted

the seniors and their families to begin the ceremony. But true toUSN tradition, the program belonged to the seniors.

Sam Douglas, chosen by his classmates to speak, traced the seniors’ growing under-standing of leadership from their fourth grade dominance of AFTER-SCHOOL,which in retrospect seemed founded on size and power. “What kind of leadership isit to squash the hopes of those smaller than you?” Sam asked.

“In Middle School, we learned that leadership is more than just coercing smallerpeople to follow your will.” And in high school, when they could put what they hadlearned into practice, “we discovered what we loved and funneled our beings into it.That is what creates our community of excellence and innovation: sharing our livesand our beings.”

To read all of Vince Durnan’s and Sam Douglas’ Commencement remarks, visitwww.usn.org/publications.

photos by Kimberly Manz

Page 25: 2000 Edgehill #2/2012

2000 Edgehi l l 23

May you continue to find the power of your words, your questions, your hard work, and your ideals. —Vince Durnan to the Class of 2012

Page 26: 2000 Edgehill #2/2012

24 2000 Edgehi l l

AcademicsMark Arildsen is one of Tennessee’s three2012 Presidential Scholars. Latin teacherDiane Sorrel, Mark’s most influential, wasinvited to accompany Mark to the awardsceremony in Washington, D.C. in June,when he received a Presidential ScholarMedallion. Mark, now a freshman atHarvard University, is USN’s firstPresidential Scholar since 2010, when IanBall and Lauren Coleman were both named.

Mark also received USN’s top academicprize, the Stanford Moore Award, estab-lished by classmates of Stanford Moore ’31,who won the 1972 Nobel Prize inChemistry. Each year since 1982 it has gone“to that student who most nearly approachesStanford’s academic achievement and dedi-cation.” (To learn more about Mark, readmath teacher Debbie Davies’ article about himon p. 20. )

Mallory Leeper and Eli Motycka received theMcMullan Scholarship, given each year tojuniors who have demonstrated outstandingscholarship and leadership. The scholarshipwas established by Mark Venrick ’48 and hisclassmates in honor of their beloved Englishteacher Lois McMullan.

Academic CompetitionsFive juniors took their research papers to theMiddle Tennessee District History DayCompetition and came home with the first fiveplaces in the contest. All addressed the theme“Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History.” First place: Olivia Brown, “‘The CountryNeeded Men’: The Story of Female SoldiersDuring the Civil War”Second:Malcolm Moutenot, “The RomanticWest: Its Death and William F. Cody’s Revival”

Third: Angela Henderson, “From Rags toJazz: How James Reese Europe HelpedKick-Start the Jazz Revolution”Fourth: Hayden Roche, “Mujahideen: TheUnited States Reaction to the SovietInvasion of Afghanistan” (Special award forthe best project on Middle Eastern history)Fifth: Eli Motycka, “‘Millions for defense, butnot a cent for tribute!’: How ThomasJefferson’s Revolution in Foreign PolicyLegitimized a Nation”

L. and r.: Lindsey Khim and Sam Douglas, 2011-12 McMullanScholars; center, Mallory Leeper and Eli Motycka, 2012-13McMullan Scholars.

High School AwardsCivitan Award: Hannah DobieOutstanding Seniors: Marlo Kalb, Lindsey Khim, Josh Kutsko, and Whitney Perlen Faculty Awards: Carmen Baskauf, Abby Easton, Meredith Forrester, Clare SpeerBredesen Leadership Award: Sam Douglas and Christy SloboginHarry and Mary Zimmerman Award: Hannah Dobie

Subject Area AwardsVisual Arts: Carmen Baskauf, Antone Christianson-Galina, Takuma Johnson, Kate Johnston, Kai MotePeggy Weil Steine Visual Arts Award: George RaysonPerforming Arts: Lena Abou-Khalil, Laura Berry, Anna Cone, Malak Doss, Sam Douglas, Josh Kutsko, Katie May, Forest Miller, Rachel Rochester, Sophia Rubenstein, Christy SloboginEnglish: Holt Akers-Campbell, Mark Arildsen, Carmen Baskauf, Laura Berry, Sam Douglas, Abby Easton, Rebecca Ewing, Caroline Graham, Sarah Hanks, Theresa Heitz, Abby Horrell, Marlo Kalb, Josh Kutsko, Kai Mote, George Rayson, Gregory Shemancik, Christy Slobogin, Murphy Spence, Noah Stafford, Leigh Thomas, David ZeitlinForeign Language: Holt Akers-Campbell, Mark Arildsen, Carmen Baskauf, Anna Cone, Will Dossett, Sam Douglas, Sarah Hanks, Marlo Kalb, Lindsey Khim, Josh Kutsko, Forest Miller, Murphy SpenceHistory: Carmen Baskauf, Will Dossett, Sam Douglas, Sarah Hanks, Lindsey Khim, Whitney Perlen, Christy Slobogin, Clare Speer, Murphy SpenceRobert K. Massie Award for research in European History: Sammie Chomsky ’14Robert K. Massie Award for research in American History: William Doak ‘13Mathematics: Mark Arildsen, Carmen Baskauf, Laura Berry, Hannah Dobie, Caroline Graham, Sarah Hanks, Lindsey Khim, Josh Kutsko, Alex Metzman, Christy Slobogin, Zach Snyder, Clare Speer, Noah StaffordPhysical Education: Lena Abou-Khalil, Zach Snyder, Ross WelchComputer Science: Mark Arildsen and Ben BlakelyScience: Madi Abelson, Mark Arildsen, Carmen Baskauf, Sarah Hanks, Lindsey Khim, Will Kochtitzky, Josh Kutsko, Whitney Perlen, Zach Snyder, Noah Stafford, Rachel Vann

High School Accolades

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2000 Edgehi l l 25

In in the Tennessee Mathematics Teachers’Association math contest, these students fin-ished in the top ten in their levels: Lucas Pao’19 (1st in Algebra I); Alexandria Yu ’15 (4thin Geometry); Will Jones ’14 (6th in AlgebraII); Mark Arildsen (3rd in Calculus); DylanYoung ’14 (4th in Calculus).

The Quiz Bowl team of Mark Arildsen, NoahStafford, Adam Hudnut-Beumler ’13, VictorBorza ’14, Lauren Churchwell ’14, and CaseNieboer ’14 traveled to Cookeville for theannual Tennessee Academic Tournament.Undefeated, USN earned a second consecu-tive Tennessee Quiz Bowl Championship.After the state championship, USN’s QuizBowl team of Mark Arildsen, Matthew Hays’14, Adam Hudnut-Beumler, and NoahStafford met their rivals Ezell Harding again inthe championship round of the Quizbusterstournament. A slim lead in the first roundbecame a substantial one in the secondround, then a victory. For the fourth time,the team brought home an enormous trophyand a $10,000 check to USN.

Case Nieboer, Antone Christianson-Galina ’12,Will Dossett ’12, and Mark Arildsen journeyedto Arab, Alabama for the State History Beeand Bowl and became Alabama StateChampions. Case emerged as the junior varsi-ty Bee Champion. Mark won the varsity Beecompetition, although Antone and Will werealso in the finals, and Will came in second.

Then the History Bowl team went to thenational tournament in Washington, D.C.,where 64 teams (twice as many as last year)met in both team and individual competi-tions. USN reached the Elite Eight round,where they came up short. In the HistoryBee individual competition, with its expand-ed field, defending national champion MarkArildsen tied for second place.

The ArtsIn the Scholastic Arts competition, of the22 Regional Golds submitted byCheekwood from USN, nine wonNational awards—an unprecedentednumber in our region.George Rayson ’12received the American Vision award for hisdrawing “Some Girls I Know.” He alsoreceived two Gold and two Silver Keys.Seniors Josh Halper and Kai Mote eachearned Gold Medals, Josh for printmaking andKai for painting. All of the Gold Medal worktraveled to New York to the Parsons NewSchool for Design in the ART.WRITE.NOWNational Exhibition in June.

In the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards,senior Abby Horrell’s Gold Key portfoliowent to national judging. Other awardswere: Silver Key: Marlo Kalb ’12, Poetry;Kellon Patey ’15, Flash Fiction. HonorableMention: Hannah Baker ’12, Poetry; SamBollen ’14, Short Story; Katie Campbell ’15,Flash Fiction; Madi Hunt ’13, Poetry; KatieMay ’12, Writing Portfolio; Kellon Patey,Flash Fiction; Carson Thomas ’15, Poetry.

It was the third year for the high school’sLeaky Pen Contest, an essay contest for sen-iors dreamed up by Susan Yeagley ’89 and herhusband Kevin Nealon in order to reward theart of funny writing. Student essays are judgedby friends of the couple, and during assemblya video announcement reveals the winner.This year’s celebrity announcer was EllenDeGeneres, and the winner was NoahStafford, now a freshman at Carleton College.

USN’s Theater Program has been selected toattend the American High School TheatreFestival as part of the Edinburgh FringeFestival 2013.

Since 2004, USN Interlandi Scholars haveattended Interlochen Arts Camp, immersing themselves in theatre, music, dance, writing,and visual arts. Carson Thomas ’15, this year’s

scholar, will attend a three week session increative writing. The scholarship is in mem-ory of Mary Interlandi ’01.

Community ServiceThe Habitat for Humanity Club, led by MiroMcPherson ’12, raised more than $10,000 thisyear with a 5K run, holiday gift wrapping, aspaghetti supper, and selling concessions atbasketball games. With this money, the stu-dents built a new home for a deserving localfamily.

USN students presented at the TennesseeConference on Volunteerism and ServiceLearning. Sarah Alberts ’13, Sophie Campbell’13, Evie Kennedy ’13, and Maddie Robin ’13their experience of building their social busi-ness, “grow,” a microfinance club which hasbecome a community activism classdesigned to promote nutritional products infood deserts in the Nashville Community.Hannah Dobie and Sophia Jelsma ’13 present-ed their highly successful CommunityService Day model, PEACEing It Together,explaining how such a successful venture canbe planned, led, and implemented by highschool students. Meredith Forrester ’12 andLindsey Khim ’12 led a workshop on JustBecause: the incentive for mentoring, usingUSN’s high school Big Brothers/Big SistersProgram as their primary model.

Community Service Club sponsor BettyWhite and a teacher at Cameron MiddleSchool explained the successful partnershipbetween USN and CMS, discussing USN’sWriting and Service class.

Urban Housing dinner, prepared and served by high schoolCommunity Service Club members.

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26 2000 Edgehi l l

Sports News

Madi Abelson: four years on soccer and track and field teams; three-time DefensiveMVP and All-Region, All-District, All-State in soccer; 6th in state in the 400m as a junior in2011, 6th in state in the 4x200m relay in 2010, 3rd in state in the 4x400m relay in 2012

John Coogan: captain of his team in three sports senior year; cross-country All-Region,All-State; team MVP, and 4th in state; competed in state swim meet three years, on the USNtop ten list in six events, MVP; in lacrosse, Defensive MVP, All-Region; track and field, cham-pion in the Mock State Meet 3200M

Charlie Rubinowicz: six state appearances in sports career; in golf, All-Region, threestate appearances; in ice hockey, league’s goal-scoring leader as a junior and league leader inoverall scoring as a senior, two state team titles with hat tricks in both championship games,team captain, All-Star team; in lacrosse, captain, All-Region.

2011-2012 Tigers of the Year 2012 Sports Awards

Winter SportsIt was an exciting season and post-season for

winter sports, with the boys’ basketball team

reaching the state finals again this year and the

boys’ swim team finishing as district champions.

Boys’ BasketballState runner-up; third in region; 25-7 overallRoss Welch ’12: MVP, All-Region

Region All-Tournament

State All-Tournament

City Paper Honorable Mention

1,000 career points

Liam Nash ’13: All-Region

City Paper Honorable Mention

Best Offensive Player

Nilan Hodge ’12: All-Region

1,000 career points

Charlie RubinowiczJohn CooganMadi Abelson

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2000 Edgehi l l 27

Ashton Hood ’13:

State All Tournament

T.J. Lewis ‘12: Best Teammate

Girls’ BasketballFourth in region; reached state quarterfinals; 19-11 overallBailey Conner ’13: All-Region

Best Offensive Player

Jameice Holmes ‘13:

Region All-Tournament  

Lindsey Khim ’12: MVP

Brianna Porter ‘15: Best Defensive

Player

BowlingBoys’ team: reached district finals;school records in wins, total pinsin a match, and total pins in aseasonJake Wilson ’14: MVP

Hannah Heitz ‘13: MVP

Jamie Cheshire ‘13: Most Improved

Karina Grady ‘13: Most Improved

Ross Levy ‘12: Sportsmanship

Maddie Hagan ‘13: Sportsmanship

CheerleadingSarah Alberts ‘13: Coach’s Award

SwimmingBoys’ team: district champions, undefeated in district; fifth in region;combined team: district runner-up, sixth in region; 28 region and 14state qualifiersElena Escalas ’15: Most Valuable, Region Champion; new school record

Nicholas Ng ‘14: Most Valuable

Mark Rusznak ’14: Most Valuable, new school record

Katie Hein ‘14: Most Improved

William Doak ‘13, : Coaches’ Award

Caroline Graham ‘12: Coaches’ Award

Spring SportsBaseballReached Region quarterfinals; 12-19 overallLance Hamilton ’12: Co-MVP, All-Region, All-Mid-State third team,

Tennessee Baseball Coaches Association

first team All-Region and second team ,

All-State, Senior All-Star game

Holt Akers-Campbell ’12: Co-MVP, All-Region

Bob Minton ‘14: Most Improved

Boys’ Lacrosse7-12 overall Charlie Rubinowicz ’12: Offensive MVP

All-Region

Hop Mathews ’15: All-Region, Impact Player

John Coogan ’12: Defensive MVP

Girls’ LacrosseReached State Quarterfinals; 8-12 overallElizabeth Dossett ’14: All-Region, Golden Stick

Nora Lee ’14: All-Region

Sarah Alberts ’13: MVP

Ella Mathews ’12: Leadership

Ross Welch ‘12 Jake Wilson ’14 Elena Escalas ’15Hannah Heitz ’13

Sarah Alberts ’13

Lance Hamilton ’12

photos by Rob Watts Photography

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Boys’ SoccerLoss in the State Quarterfinals; 13-3-2 overallTré Hardin ‘12: All-State, All-Region,

Golden Boot

Drew Lanigan ‘12: All-Region, MVP

Takuma Johnson ’12: All-Region,

Coaches’ Award

Softball2-13 overallKatie Roth ‘15: MVP,

All-Region

Hope Eidam ‘15:

Most Improved

Emma Oliver ‘13:

Coaches’ Award

Boys’ TennisState ChampionsMichael King ’12: Singles

Region and State

Champion, TennesseanAll-Mid-State,

Most Improved

Michael Stephanides ’12:

MVP, Doubles Region

Champion, Doubles State

Runner-up, Tennessean All-Mid-State

Sathvik Reddy ’12: Coaches’ Award

Doubles Region Champion ,Doubles State

Runner-up Tennessean All-Mid-State

Grantly Neely ’13, Tennessean All-Mid-State

Girls’ TennisReached State QuarterfinalsKate Johnston ‘12: MVP

Tennessean All-Mid-State

Francesca Eluhu ‘15: Most Improved 

Lauren Churchwell ‘14: Coaches’ Award

Track and FieldQualified three runners for State: ChloeKibble ‘13, Kelly McHugh ‘15, and SamDouglas ‘12

Sam Douglas ‘12: MVP

City Meet Champion, Region Champion,

State Runner-up in 300m hurdles

Bailey Conner ’13: MVP

Kelly McHugh ‘15 Most Improved

Daniel Pannock ‘14: Most Improved

Christian Floyd ’14 Coaches’ Award

Ashtan Towles ‘15: Coaches’ Award

Boys’ Ultimate FrisbeeUSAU State and Southerns ChampionsEli Motycka ’13:

Selected to U-19 USA National

Team competing in Worlds

Championships

Mitchell Lutz ‘13:

Invited to U-19 USA National tryouts

Jack Spiva ‘13:

Invited to U-19 USA National tryouts

Thomas Chickey ‘14: Most Improved

Matthew Hoffman ‘13: Coaches’ Award

Girls’ Ultimate FrisbeeFifth in USAU Southerns Tournament Nora May ‘13: MVP

Carson Thomas ‘15: Most Improved

Lena Friedman ‘15: Coaches’ Award

28 2000 Edgehi l l

Eli Motycka ’13

Nora May ’13

Sam Douglas ’12

Tré Hardin ’12 Kate Johnston ’12Michael King ’12

Katie Roth ’15

Elizabeth Dossett ’14

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1 Madi Abelson, Johns Hopkins University (track and field)Madi played soccer and ran track and field all four years at USN.

2 Holt Akers-Campbell, Wesleyan University (swimming)Holt competed on the USN swim and baseball teams forthree years.

3 John Coogan, Centre College (swimming)John ran cross country, swam, and played lacrosse all four years of high school.

4 Caroline Graham, Grinnell College (swimming)Caroline played soccer and swam for USN for fouryears.

5 Lance Hamilton, University of Rochester (baseball)Lance played baseball and basketball at USN all four seasons. He started on the DCA/USN football team as a senior.

6 Kate Johnston, Sewanee: University of the South (tennis)Kate has been a four year player on USN’s high school tennis team.

7 Michael King, Wesleyan University (tennis)Michael is a four year player on the high school tennis team.

8 Gregory Shemancik, Allegheny College (cross country, track and field)Gregory ran four years of high school cross country. He played lacrosse as afreshman and competed in track and field.

9 Ross Welch, Birmingham-Southern College (basketball)Ross played one season of varsity basketball at USN after he transferred to USN from DCA as a junior.

2012 USN Tigers Now Joining College Teams

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Being “athletic” means more thanexcelling at a popular team sport.At USN, where most students play interscholastic sports in middleand high school, lower school field games and sports camps are help-ing to build future athletes and lifetime movers. Some coaches offersummer camps for children as young as kindergarten, teaching funda-mentals and encouraging a love of the game. Every varsity sportplayed at University School has a place in the lower school physicaleducation curriculum, and the children learn good sportsmanship asthey acquire the skills of several sports.

But not all students play on a varsity team, and fewer people contin-ue to play team sports in college and beyond. In lower school at

Athletes Learn Early at USN

n S p o r t s

photo by Kimberly Manz

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USN, students also begin to acquire thephysical skills they can use for the rest oftheir lives. In physical education childrenlearn climbing, kayaking, running, biking,and other lifetime skills.

Lower school’s sequential approach focus-es on the fundamental skills of both life-time sports and the ones students are likelyto play only on a school or club team. Aforward on USN’s high school soccer teammay become at age thirty a triathlete orsomeone who plans every vacation aroundkayaking. Either way, the foundation waslaid in lower school.

A forward on USN’s high school soccer team may become at agethirty a triathlete or someone who plans every vacation aroundkayaking. Either way, the foundation was laid in lower school.

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ust after the curtain fell last August on the middle school musical Willy Wonka, Jr., USN’s new Technical Director Jim Manning arrived on cam-pus, fresh from working as a design-technician at NewYork’s Stagedoor Manor.

Since then, he seems to be everywhere. As the TD for both themiddle and high schools, Jim must meet all of the technicaldemands of the cross-divisional Performing Arts Department. Hedesigns the sets, lights and sound for the five departmental theatreshows. He designed and helped build sets for the middle schoolmusical, Flat Stanley, Jr., which opened the first week of school.

Jim works with the student-led high school Student Theatre Guildtoo, including their production of The Laramie Project. He builtthat set out of wooden pallets donated by Feed the Children andreturned to them after the production. (Jim knows how to buildthings “on the cheap” and “in the green”). As if this weren’t enoughto do, he creates lighting and sets up the sound systems for all theChoral, Band, and Classical Music Concerts and the DanceShowcase.

He isn’t working alone. His technical theatre classes in both themiddle school and high school are learning to construct sets, hangand focus lights, set up microphones, and run the lighting andsound boards. When the curtain rises, students are the light andsound board operators, stage managers, and assistant stage man-agers. One high school students says, “Tech Theatre was myfavorite class this past year.” What I can add about Jim's teachingis: he knows his stuff and imparts it with patience and humor.

by Catherine Coke, HS TheatreJ

GettingTechnical

“Tech Theatre was my favorite class this past year.”

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From design to exe-cution, Jim is theguiding force foreverything technicalin Performing Arts.But this isn’t all Jimand his students do.They meet the tech-nical requirements ofanything happeningin the auditorium—formal rituals such asSports RecognitionEvenings and Convocation, or middle school’s weekly Town Meetings and high schoolAssemblies, guest speakers, even USNA’s Music Night.

But, if you can’t find Jim in the auditorium, he might be doinganother part of his job—on-campus, off-campus, or at the RiverCampus. He sets up his camera (and maybe microphones, photog-raphy umbrellas, and lighting equipment) to tape sports events andlower-schoolers getting off the morning bus or playing on the field.He interviews students, administrators, teachers, and PDS alumniabout the school. (See some of his work at www.usn.org/publications.)

Next Jim takes these tapes home and edits them, produces amazingvideos which help to promote USN to prospective families, donors,and the broader community. He has begun work on a video thatwill help celebrate USN’s Centennial in 2015.

So who is this guy and where did he come from? Jim originallycame to Nashville to attend Vanderbilt University. He worked full-time for 14 years as the Video Producer for Tigert Productions,

travelling the globe tocapture images.Meanwhile his inter-est in theatre, as adesigner and an actor,was growing. He hasworked for Chaffin’sBarn Dinner Theatre,Rhubarb TheatreCompany, and Circle

Players, becoming itsPresident for a two-year stint. When a fal-

tering economy forced him into free-lance work, Jim started look-ing around for other opportunities in theatre. Thus he arrived atStagedoor Manor last summer.

But what seemed unfortunate for him became a lucky stroke for us.Everyone knows that the auditorium is a busy place, sometimeshosting three or four events a day—chairs up, chairs down, tablesin, tables out, chairs up again! It can wear a person down, but Jimhandles it with aplomb and a smile.

And on the theatre colleague side, I’m thrilled to be working withhim. We couldn’t have done two wildly different shows this pastseason: Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson (with its “flash-n-trash”lighting effects) and Noises Off (eight beautifully-functional slam-ming doors on a set that turned around twice) without Jim’s expert-ise, precision, and care.

(And, just so you know, he’s originally from Texas. And he has asecret garden in his backyard.)

Opposite page: Jim Manning working on the Noises Off set; this page, top the Laramie Project set;inset, the Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson set

photos by Kimberly Manz

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34 2000 Edgehi l l

1943Katherine Freeman White, who went by“Lucy Katherine” at Peabody, lives inAtlanta with her husband Perry, a retiredorthopedic surgeon. They both went toBaylor University. Katherine and Perryhave four children, eight grandchildren,and two great-grandchildren.

1953Cary Hunt Johnston wishes her classmateswould share their news. Her latest is hertrip to Russia this summer with her hus-band. Their plan was to stay in Moscow,then take a river boat cruise to St.Petersburg stopping at villages along theway. “I made this same trip in 1991 cruis-ing from then Leningrad to Moscow and Ican’t wait to see the changes.” She waskeeping busy “volunteering for PresidentObama.”

1960Bill Alexander describes his life as “aneventful 70 years! And a long strange tripat that.” He lives in the woods on thebanks of the St. Croix River in Minnesota,working on his seventh book and with his

seventh tattoo.“Bali, Java, Bhutan,Thailand and a year living in the CostaRican jungle finally sent me home to thisbeautiful place.” Bill’s son Will graduatedfrom Bowdoin, where he was the principalcommencement speaker, and his daughterKamala lives in Oklahoma City “with herhusband and their two fine children.” Billsays he is “belligerently single and apt tohop a plane to someplace exotic at anymoment. But, mainly, I’m home.” Herecalls his son’s saying, “People miss thepoint when they say ‘the home is wherethe heart is.’ It’s really ‘the heart is wherethe home is.’”

1963Janet McGinnis Noble writes, “So much ofwhat began with my years at PDS still con-tinues: love of music and literature.” Shesings in the Vanderbilt Community Chorus,which offers three concerts a year. Theirsub-group I, Madrigali, continues singingduring the summer with a focus onRenaissance music, especially madrigals.“Former PDS choral music teacher JerryWilliams is with me with every note. Likeso many members of PDS/USN faculty, he

Class Notes

Bill Alexander ’60 with his son Will

Class of 1938 friends at one of their regular get-togethers (l. to r.) Norma Goldner Neaderthal,Betsy Hurd Bourner, Ann Vaughn Poindexter,Amelia Hancock Minor, and Louise WellsStephenson (seated)

September 19

Knoxville Alumni DinnerNovember 15

Chicago Alumni DinnerNovember 17

Take a Hike at Percy Warner ParkNovember 29

Los Angeles Alumni Dinner

December 20

Young Alumni Party at USNJanuary 13

Washington, D.C./Baltimore Alumni Dinner

January 31

Atlanta Alumni Dinner

February 28

Philadelphia Alumni DinnerApril 18

All Alumni Party April 19 & 20

Reunion 2013 for graduation years ending in 3 or 8

2012-2013 Events for Alumni

n www. u s n . o r g / a l umn i

continued on page 37

Save the Date: Reunion 2013 is April 19 & 20

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ob Doochin came to Peabody Demonstration School onlybecause he got kicked out of Hillsboro High School. Just fiveweeks into his sophomore year, the Hillsboro principal

called him into the office to tell him he was ineligible to attend theschool, which was in Davidson County, since the Doochins livedwithin the city limits, and this was before Metro government com-bined the school systems.

“Here I was without a school. I had good friends at Peabody—BenRowan, Steve Riven—from my neighborhood. It was a naturalchoice….I was pretty discouraged when I went there, but Peabodywas one of the great blessings that ever happened to me. “

One of the best things about coming to Peabody was that Bobimmediately got to play varsity basketball. “Back in those days, ifyou weren’t a starter on varsity, you could play in the B team gamebeforehand as long as you didn’t play more than two quarters. So Iwould do that and then go sit on the varsity bench.”

By his senior year, Bob was off the bench and on the court when theTigers had a strong 13 and 8 season with Coach Dan Finch, whomBob admired. “I learned a lot about basketball from him.”

Another favorite was PDS Director Knox McCharen, “a soft spokenguy.” As student body president, Bob got to know him prettywell—especially when they rode 1,500 miles on a bus together toRoswell, New Mexico for a national student council conference.

Bob tells a story that illustrates how Dr.McCharen achieved the results he wantedwith the minimum of fuss and conflict. Oneweekend, a group of Father Ryan boysbroke into PDS to use the swimming pool.

Dr. McCharen caught them. “He chewedthem out a little bit and then said, ‘Now youall wait here while I go call the police.’ Hewent upstairs and sat in his office for about ahalf hour. They, of course, got the heck outof there, talking about how dumb he was.

“Years later, I was talking to one of the oneswho had committed the crime, and he said,

‘You know, it was a year or two before Irealized that was a very smart man.’”

Bob says, “I learned from Peabody thatmuch of life and your interactions withpeople do not have to be hostile, and asan executive I’ve learned to have employees that get along anddon’t poison the well.”

He recalls “an atmosphere of enjoyment,” a place where you couldenjoy learning, “a warm and friendly place that allowed my person-ality to develop and mature.” PDS helped Bob learn to be lessintense, take himself less seriously—so much so that he won “witti-est” as his senior superlative. Even now he’s learning to laugh aboutDr.Holden’s calling him “Booby” instead of “Bobby.”

Doc Holden’s name appears on a long list of excellent teachers—Dr. Shane, Mr. Connelly, and Dr. Beauchamp. Best remembered ofall is Mrs. Lundberg, who coached the math team in its glory days.Bob competed as an alternate on that team when PDS “always wonthe state competitions in almost every category.” One obstacle wasBob’s cousin, a Hillsboro student who managed to prevent PDSfrom getting a clean sweep. Mrs. Lundberg complained to Bobabout his cousin after each contest. “She was very competitive.”

Dr. Beauchamp helped Bob prepare for the SAT’s. Dr. Beauchampsaid he had to improve his English score to get into an Ivy Leagueschool. “So I spent six months memorizing words, and when I took

the test in my senior year, I pulled up myEnglish score by 119 points. Dr.Beauchamp said he’d never seen anythinglike that before.”

The University of Pennsylvania was chal-lenging, but Peabody had given him thestrong educational foundation that allowedhim to succeed there.

“Back then it was really the only good sec-ondary school in Nashville. Today thereare a number of good schools, but it is stillthe best.”

What He Learned at PeabodyBob Doochin ’58

Bby Tom Bailey ’85, Alumni Director

Bob Doochin with Coach Finch’s team

S u b m i t yo u r C l a s s N o t e s a t www. u s n . o r g / c l a s s n o t e s n

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36 2000 Edgehi l l www.usn .o rg

n S u b m i t yo u r C l a s s N o t e s a t www. u s n . o r g / c l a s s n o t e s

very June, soon after the last graduating senior walks acrossthe stage on Peabody Green, a group of people who longago taught at Peabody Demonstration School or University

School of Nashville returns to campus for a brief reunion.

Each year Janet CarneySchneider and her committee of long-time and former teachers increase their efforts to find those whomay not have returned to USN or even to Nashville in many along year. Each year the group gathered in the auditorium grows.

This year it included those who have been making the pilgrim-age to USN since the first such lunch and several others whocame for the first time. It included some who have been teachingat USN since the early days (Gil Chilton, Debbie Davies, GraceMelchiore, Betty Pearson White) and even more who left USNyears ago.

Visiting were Gracie Allen, Jane Bibring, Betty Walthall ProvostDysart, Lorena Edwards, Mike Hall, Claudia ThompsonHazelwood, Martha Hooper, Denice Johnson, AnnetteAbernathy Langsdon, Sally Lee, Jean Litterer, Pat BurressMalone, Mary McCullough, Bob Moser, Delores Nicholson,Mary Ann Pangle, Carol Percy, Marcia Pope, Janell Puryear,Heber Rogers, Mickey Setaro, Barbara Shirey, Lucy White (for-merly Lucy Barksdale) White, Jayne Workman.

Making the journey for the first time this year and travellingmany miles were former math teacher Beth Baxter and formerhistory teacher John Colozzi.

Janet invited John’s former students from the classes of 1972-1976to drop by and say hello to him after the luncheon. Many of themdid so, and many others, too far away to visit in person, sent himemails that credited him with teaching them critical thinking. AsJohn Surface ’72 said, Mr. Colozzi taught “not how to memorizeor regurgitate, but how to THINK.”

John Colozzi with former students

Former Faculty ReuniteE

We appreciate who we are today by looking back at who we were and where we came from.

—Janet Schneider

All former PDS and USN teachers are invited to attend next year, the first Friday in June.

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ignited a spark that continues to burn with-in me.” Retired from Metro Schools since1993, Janet reads for the Talking Library,a branch of Metro Library Services whichserves blind or partially sighted patrons.“We read newspapers, magazines, books,and develop special programs that includegame shows, historical commentary, and avariety of interesting subjects.” Interestedin quilting, “I do more exploring of quiltexhibits than actual quilting,” recommend-ing the Gee’s Bend quilts at the Frist. Sheloves travel, which offers “other quiltexhibits,” enjoying “natural wonders,” rid-ing on the back of one of her husband’smotorcycles, and visiting “museums thatfocus on his mechanical passions.” Thisfall, “thanks to the guidance of Dr. KnoxMcCharen, we plan…to make a third visitto our Austrian friends, whom we metthrough People-to-People in 1974. Wewere two of Dr. McCharen’s teacher-lead-ers, and the lives of students and teacherswere enriched forever. My class will cele-brate our years together with our 50thReunion in 2013.”

1964William Orr wrote from Albuquerque,New Mexico, “watching a stunning NewMexico sunset.” He’s the Medical Directorof a Medicaid long term care state pro-gram. “As a Geriatrician, I have workedmostly on how to keep the elderly (nowme?) out of nursing homes, only now try-ing to do it state wide. The work remainsinteresting and challenging.” He and hiswife were celebrating their 25th weddinganniversary. They have 2 children, one inHouston as an admission counselor at Riceand the other finishing her junior year incollege. A son by a previous marriageworks as an immigration lawyer in Seattle.

“I did go to one reunion and enjoyed sowill try for the 50th. Did it mean some-thing that Jimmy Huggins and I bothsigned in today?”

1968David Pilcher and his wife are happyabout their new grandchild. “Her name isEmma, born shortly after Thanksgiving.Her parents have just started to introduceher to solid food. Sweet potatoes flopped,but she loves oatmeal!”

1972Curtis Miller has a 31-year old firearmsbusiness, a pending patent for a “Methodfor Preparing Iron Aluminide Products,”and 32 years of service at the Oak RidgeNational Laboratory. He and his wifeDonna will celebrate their 40th weddinganniversary in October. They have twochildren, Natasha and Andrew. Natashareceives a Masters in Education this sum-mer from from Tennessee Tech, andAndrew will receive a Bachelors ofEngineering in Computer Science this fallfrom TTU. They have three grandchildren,Kyle, 11; Katelyn, 4; and Allisyn, 3.

1974Ronnie Steine, a Metro NashvilleCouncilman At-large, a local champion ofyouth issues, has been appointed to twonational leadership positions. With MayorKarl Dean, Ronnie has been selected toserve as co-chair of the National Leagueof Cities Youth, Education and FamiliesCouncil. He has also been chosen by theForum for Youth Investment, a nationalaction-tank, to head its Ready by 21National Leadership Council.

1975Janet Huddleston has been busy in NewZealand winning prizes for her homemadebeer and wine as well as her garden. Shewill be in a documentary about people inNew Zealand National Parks in 2013.Check out “Wild About NZ” on Facebook.She worked in Denali National Park,Alaska for her second summer.

1976Alex (Sascha) Lerman received the“Teacher of the Year Award” for teachingpsychodynamic psychiatry at theCreedmoor program of ColumbiaUniversity. “I try to show psychiatry resi-dents how to integrate emotional and psy-chological factors into the practice of ‘bio-logical’ psychiatry, and share my ownsense of fascination and privilege in work-ing with patients.” Thanks to Skype, healso teaches at the Tehran PsychoanalyticInstitute in Iran. “My good friend DonThieme was recently married in Georgia.My oldest son—at 22 a much better musi-cian than me—and I went on a quick visitto Nashville this winter, and had a beer orthree in the music strip downtown—hopeto see all my old friends some day.”

1979Jackie Bell lives in Columbia, Missouriwith her eleven year old daughter, Maya.She has worked for eleven years as a pho-tojournalism professor at the MissouriSchool of Journalism at the University ofMissouri. “Before I settled in Columbia, Iworked as a photojournalist for 17 yearsand lived in too many places to list. I havea cat, a much-too-large house and a childthat loves soccer, cello, writing and

Eric Rosen ’83 and family

Grandchildren of Curtis Miller ’72

2000 Edgehi l l 37

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drama. Maya and I will be moving toLondon, England in January 2013, whereI’ll teach for 6 months, so look us up ifyou're there!” [email protected]

1980If you’ve been worried about the financialfuture of our country, cheer up by listeningto the latest from Merle Hazard, one ofJon Shayne’s closest friends. It’s a songcalled “Fiscal Cliff.”

1981Laurie Slotchiver Rummel lives inScottsdale, Arizona with her daughters,Rachel, 18, and Jane, 15. “Rachel is head-ed to Northeastern in the fall, and Jane isan avid scuba diver. As a family, we seekshade. Recently, Lori [Greenbaum] Fishelsent me Ann [Meador] Shayne’s newnovel, Bowling Avenue, and I so enjoyedexperiencing Nashville through the eyesof her characters.”

Ann Meador Shayne’s first novel, BowlingAvenue, is available at Amazon.com andat Nashville’s Parnassus Books, where Annread and signed to a standing room crowdin June.

1982Jennifer Kovarik Coleman coaches aFIRST Robotics Team that won the RockwellCollins FTC Innovation Award at the WorldChampionship in St. Louis in April. (FIRST:For Inspiration and Recognition of Scienceand Technology)

1984Mark Levine hosts three different radioshows, one local TV show, and appearsfrom time to time on FOX, CNBC,CNN, MSNBC, Chinese TV, etc. Youcan watch/listen to his shows on hiswebsite at MarkLevineTalk.com. (Twitter:@MarkLevineTalk). Rush Limbaugh hascalled Mark a “glittering jewel of colos-sal ignorance.”

1985In the summer of 2011, VirginieGoffaux and her children (Elodie, nearly 9and Adrien, nearly 11) rented a big RVand toured around the western US. “Wevisited nearly every canyon and nationalpark you can think of and also made stopsin Vegas and Salt Lake City. We boughtshiny shoes in Vegas; went horseback rid-ing in Monument Valley, hiking in BryceCanyon, speedboating on Lake Powelland played ‘dodge the “sister”’ at theMormon Tabernacle.” This summer theyplanned to go to Portugal.

Chris Chamberlain’s new book TheSouthern Foodie: 100 Places to Eat in theSouth Before You Die (and the RecipesThat Made Them Famous) comes out inSeptember.

1986Elizabeth Stelling Bills’ Nashville restaurant,the Wild Hare, “turned one year old yester-day. Almost as much fun as a puppy....

1994Jamie Bradshaw and his wife expectedtheir second child, a daughter, in August,just as their son Martin turns 12. The fami-ly lives an “internationalAmerican/Russian lifestyle” by the oceanin Los Angeles’s Pacific Palisades. Jamie’sdebut feature film as writer/director/pro-ducer, Branded, was set to openSeptember 7 “via Roadside Attractions(and Lionsgate for dvd).” He describes itas “an epic sci-fi thriller starring Max VonSydow, Leelee Sobieski, Jeffrey Tambor,and Ed Stoppard…, one man’s mind-bend-ing, nightmarish journey down the rabbit

hole as heunlocks a mon-strous global cor-porate conspira-cy in which cor-porate brandshave found away to getinside our mindsand controls ourdesires.” Jamiecredits the film’sinspiration to hisUSN teachers,especially thelate Mike Buhl,“who unlockedthe secret powersof the world of phi-losophy,” and his“dear friendsCharlie, Mallory, HB,Alex, Jeremy, Alex,”saying “without theirbelief in me and theircollaboration on filmsas we grew uptogether this moviewould not be.”

1995In May MandyWilliams “had thehonor of performingat AmbassadorAndrew Young’s80th birthday partyin Atlanta. OprahWinfrey was there!”

Andy Straus ‘91 celebrating his 40th birthday with USN friends (l.tor.) Jeremy Roberts, Sam Averbuch, Andy, Sara Lubow Fried, JayRosenblum, Dicky Heller

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Maggie, daughter of Mallory Knox ‘94

Virginie Goffaux ‘85 and kids at Arches National Canyon

Mandy Williams ‘95

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ince Durnan describes Convocation as his favorite night of the school year, whenthe soon-to-depart seniors, their families, and their teachers gather in our historicauditorium to hear from the Distinguished Alumnus.

This year’s speaker, Michael Puett ’82, Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History in theDepartment of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, laid out(without notes) for the seniors a vision of thealtered world they are inheriting from the oldergeneration, one in which it is uncertain whether theWestern view of the world will prevail. After hisremarks, the students tossed away the questionsthey had prepared to ask Professor Puett. Insteadthey probed further about China and what hethinks the future might hold.

In his introduction of Michael Puett, Vince Durnanhad said, “Michael’s singular story prompts two bigquestions for me, and, I hope, for you in the Classof 2012. First, will China and knowing about Chinabe relevant in your adult life? Will you live there, orlearn there, as Michael did at Beijing University inthe 1990’s, or pursue your livelihood in connectionwith that massive and mysterious country?”

Whatever the answer to these questions may be,the seniors enjoyed being together for one of the last times.Convocation ended with student performances: “The Breakingof the Fellowship” from The Lord of The Rings played by agroup of friends, and Show Choir's “The Prayer.”

Then they and their families gathered for punch and cookiesand a chance to ask a few more questions ofProfessor Puett.

Convocation 2012Distinguished Alumnus Michael Puett ’82

V

2000 Edgehi l l 39

www. u s n . o r g / a l umn i n

Michael Puett ‘82, 2012 Distinguished Alumnus; seniorsGreg Shemancik and Madi Abelson; Kate Johnston, ClareSpeer, and Preston Crowder; Show Choir performing atConvocation; Taylor Jones, Joey Kaminsky, Ben Blakely,

John Coogan, and Noah Stafford.

photos by Kimberly Manz

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40 2000 Edgehi l lcontinued on page 42

Jaime Neuman Cole lives in Minneapolis,Minnesota, “loving Midwest living.” She isan attorney at a labor and employmentlaw firm. “My husband, Mike, works forStarbucks, which is great considering wehave 4 kids, so I need all the coffee I canget. We adopted our son last year fromEthiopia. What an adventure—travelingthe world and meeting our 8 year old son.Considering Andenet came into a familywith 3 younger sisters, he’s adjustingremarkably well (he LOVED winter!). If anyUSN alum are ever in Minnesota, let meknow.” [email protected]

Brice Behringer has earned his licensefrom the US Coast Guard, becoming a3rd Mate, Vessels of Any Gross Tons, aswell as a first class Great Lakes Pilotendorsed to run large vessels through therestricted waters of the Great Lakes andconnecting rivers. “I have accepted a jobas a civilian sailor with the US Navy’sMilitary Sealift Command and will be adeck officer on one of the Navy’s manycivilian-crewed ships, such as the HospitalShips Mercy and Comfort, as well as fleetrefueling and support ships. “

1997Nina Interlandi and her husband Ian livein Chicago with their baby boy. Nina doeseco-friendly letterpress printing on vintagepresses with her business, Tweedle Press.

1998Caitlin Habib Mello lives in Nashville andworks for the Land Trust for Tennessee (non-profit Land Conservation) as theirCommunications Coordinator. “It’s beenreally fun running into and working withfellow USN alumni connected to the localenvironmental community—Noah Charney,Brooks Daverman, Richard Bovender. Oneof my favorite art teachers, Gene Sizemore,works in my building! I have a reallyamazing four year old daughter, Marley."

1999Garret Westlake received one of 4 SUNawards at Arizona State University, givenin recognition of employees’ excellence. Toquote his Washington Times profile, Garretis the founder and CEO of STEM Force

Technology who “hasadopted a way of think-ing about disability thathe calls ‘disability as acatalyst.’ Westlake, whofounded his company inearly 2011, has thus farworked with nearly adozen young peoplenationwide to help placethem with companies,and has also created theAsperger’s LeadershipAcademy, which offerscoaching for students withAsperger’s.”

Allison Yazdian had “a blast” at herwedding in Santa Monica lastNovember with the USN alumni whoattended: “Sarah Nadler Wolf,Matthew Wolf, Erin Dittus, AndyShmerling, Daniel Blaser, and let’snot forget all of the Yazdians: Afsoun,Max, Benny, Seth, Rachel, Sarah,Amy, Josh, Aaron, Ariel and David,Carolyn and Stephanie Hecklin, thelist goes on...My husband I had beenliving in San Francisco but we recentlymoved down to Santa Monica and weare loving it so far.”

Ceacy Amanda Werme Hagler and her hus-band Ted recently celebrated theireleventh wedding anniversary. “Our sonis amazing; he’s definitely going to besmarter than I ever was.” She runs aphotography studio in Spring Hill(www.shutterbelle.com)

2000Chris Meadors went on a “great trip” toChina.

Kacey Cypress has moved to Jacksonville,Florida to begin her year-long pre-doc-toral internship at Northeast FloridaState Hospital in Macclenny, Florida,“the last step towards getting my doctor-ate in Clinical Psychology and finallybeing done with school.”

2002Carolyn Westlake has earned her master’sdegree in kinesiology from UT Knoxville andbegun a Ph.D. program at UK Lexington.Her research interests are lower extremity gait biomechanics and osteoarthritis. Thissummer she joined her fiancé in ColdSpring, New York to continue her research.

2004Alex Loosen is an engineer in Frankfurt,Germany, working for a solar energyconsulting company. Between travelingfor work, and with his generous vacationallowance, he’s traveled to over 15countries on 4 continents since startinghis job there in 2009 (picture on pg. 42is from this summer’s surf camp inSagres, Portugal, which was “fantastic”).

2005Jesse-Justin Cuevas was graduated fromNYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized

Allison Yazdian’s wedding was fun for many USN alumni

Amanda Werme Hagler ’99, her husband Ted, and their son

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2000 Edgehi l l 41www.usn .o rg

www. u s n . o r g / a l umn i n

ore than half a century ago Heber Rogers came toPeabody Demonstration School to teach history. Heremained here for four decades, influencing genera-

tions of students and helping to run the school. Many wouldsay that Mr. Rogers helped to save the school during the diffi-cult days of “The Transition” from PDS to USN, when heserved as Interim Head for a year.

PDS and USN affected him at least as much as he affected theschool and his former students and colleagues. Even since his1995 retirement from USN, his ties to the school haveremained strong. And now that Heber is in his eighties, thoughhe is emphatically not slowing down, he does show signs ofretrospection.

One result: Heber and his wife Fran have established theHeber and Fran Rogers EndowedScholarship Fund. “All my experiencehere includes what I perceive as opennessand welcoming to diversity,” Heber says.“The key element in my motivation toestablish this scholarship is promoting theschool’s continuing diversity.”

He interprets the word broadly. “Diversitytakes many forms, not the least of which isintellectual diversity.” That’s a qualitythat this school has always prided itselfon. When Heber talks to his former stu-dents, they often say some version of,“The school exposed me to more pointsof view.”

Heber took that mission literally during much of his teachingcareer, personally taking students to Europe to expose them tonew ways of understanding the world. Five times he supervisedgroups of students on six-week “People to People” summer trips,a program that includes home stays. Five times he led shorterversions of these trips himself during USN’s “Winterim” in theearly eighties, taking students to Germany and Austria. Thesetrips served as the perfect complement to his favorite class, anelective seminar on European History since 1900.

He also thinks about diversity in the racialsense. Heber was at Peabody DemonstrationSchool when it was desegregated in 1964.He remembers that Director KnoxMcCharen sent a questionnaire to the facul-ty to determine their feelings on the subjectbefore school started, and only one teacherobjected to the change.

Heber hopes the scholarship endowmentwill help sustain one of the school’s most important qualities.“When I reflect on those 37 years at the school, that’s the mostimportant element. Diversity among the parents, faculty, andespecially the student body.”

“I hope students who receive this scholarship endowment will enjoythe same experience of success and diversity I’ve seen at USN.”

Heber Rogers Opens Still More Doors for Students

M

Fran and Heber Rogers

PDS/USN archives

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Study in 2009 with a BA in IndividualizedStudy and is now beginning work atNorthwestern University Law School for theJD class of 2015. Before she moved toChicago, she lived in Los Angeles, and inJune she completed a 545-mile bike ridefrom San Francisco to Los Angeles, partici-pating in the AIDS Lifecycle (formerly theCalifornia AIDS Ride). “I rode by myself,not with a team, but would love to recruita team of riders in the years to come. Allof the riders and roadies, approximately3,000 people this year, raised $12.6million together in the 2012 ride, a netthat goes to the San Francisco AIDSFoundation and the LA Gay and LesbianCenter.” She traced her love of cycling toUSN, where in middle school she “partici-pated in Moab, Tri-west, and for the 7thgrade retreat I biked the Natchez Trace.It’s definitely thanks to USN’s outdoor edu-cation that I still cycle and love to partici-pate in long distance rides.” At NYU, sheworked extensively on a city-wide HIV ini-tiative as a peer educator and led work-shops focused on correcting sexual stig-ma, “and this summer’s ride was anincredible opportunity for me to blend the two passions.”

2006Will Akers, who has been writing playssince he was graduated from NYU, had aplay performed in New York this summer,his second production. He has also beenwriting for the New York Observer, aweekly. His play, Pop Dies in Vegas, was

produced by Squeaky Bicycle Productionsat the Drilling CompaNY Theatre, which isat 78th and Broadway. From the play’spublicity: “The author of this teenyboppermurder-farce is W.M. Akers, a reporter,NYU alum, and recipient of the JohnGolden Playwrighting Prize in Excellence.Developed as part of our annual WinterReading Lab, Pop Dies in Vegas is Akers’first collaboration with Squeaky BicycleProductions.”

2007Marci Levy is attending Rosalind FranklinUniversity of Medicine in North Chicago,IL pursuing her Masters in PhysicianAssistant Practice.

2008Hannah Edelman graduated with HighHonors from Swarthmore College (with aB.A. in Biology), and this fall she beginsthe M.D./Ph.D. program at Johns HopkinsUniversity.

After graduating magna cum laude with aB.A. in economics and French fromClaremont McKenna College, JaneBrittingham has come back across thecountry to Washington, D.C. to work as a

research assistant for the Board ofGovernors of the Federal Reserve.

2009In July Yale student Henry Gottfriedappeared in John Holleman’s playPokerface at Nashville’s DarkhorseTheater, then in Chicago for the show’sshort run there. Some alumni rememberMr. Holleman from his days as a USNteacher.

Marshall Moutenot has created a new file-sharing app, Snappi, which is in a competi-tion at Evernote. In July Marshall wrote, “I’vemade it past 6 rounds of weeding out appli-cants and so far I’m in the top 30 out of 180who applied.” http://bit.ly/Moutenotapp

2010Ian Ball, a sophomore at StanfordUniversity, won the Hoefer Prize forExcellence in Undergraduate Writing forhis mathematical paper “Classification ofFinite Abelian Groups.” In the sciences,the Hoefer Prize is awarded to oneStanford undergraduate each year fortechnical writing done to fulfill the major.

2011In June Jordan Lavender, finishing herfreshman year at the University of Virginia,placed 6th at the USATF Junior Nationalswith a personal best, possibly earning aspot on the National team for the Jr. WorldChampionships. Her time in the 400 Meterwas 53.46.

WeddingsJim Rodrigues ’94 and Collette Wieland,April 14, 2012

Allison Yazdian ‘99 and Jamie Auslander, November 12, 2011

Nathalie Lavine ‘00 and Keith Russell,March 27, 2012

Sarah Townsend ‘03 and Brett Morris,May 26, 2012

Jesse-Justin Cuevas ‘05 on “Day 4 (June 6, 2012) ofthe AIDS Lifecycle, smack dab in the middle of theroute.”

Alex Loosen ‘04 in Portugal

42 2000 Edgehi l l

continued on page 44

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he pleasure Tim Ozgener gets out of focusing on detailsand making people happy is rooted in his experience withthe family business. At a time when most kids his age

were raking leaves or mowing lawns to get a little extra pocketmoney, Tim and his little sister were its packaging department.

The company, CAO (Tim’s father’s initials), grew into a leadingpipe, humidor, and cigar company.

“Dad taught me to follow my heart. He also taught me to beintent on the details…the key to being outstanding.”

The lesson was reinforced at University School, where he enteredkindergarten in 1975. The school seems an inevitable choice forhis family, given his mother’s Ph.D. in Early ChildhoodDevelopment from Peabody College.

“It’s a school that teaches you to be … an independent, innova-tive thinker. You learn to have confidence in your thinking, totake risks, and to lead.” In his early years, he was guided by “iconicteachers” Mary Ann Pangle and Ellen Dickinson. “Mrs. Dickinsonstarted each morning playing ‘Oh, What a Beautiful Morning.’ Areally positive way to start the day.”

Through Gus Gillette, in high school he discovered a love of act-ing. It’s no surprise, then, that his classmates chose him to speak athis 1988 graduation. Tim describes the speech as “basically a roast.Everybody liked it, maybe a few didn’t…but hey, it was a roast.”

The roast was an expression of affection. Tim relishes memoriesof his buddies from that time— Reed Edmondson, David Spigel,J.J. Rosen, and Rob Gluck. He still spends time with Fred Jenkins,Drew Alexander, and Mike Trebing.

At first his dad wasn’t sure about Tim’s decision to study acting incollege, but Mr. Ozgener saw that it was Tim’s passion, comingaround when Tim got into USC’s program. His parents came to seehis first performance at a real comedy club in Los Angeles. “It wasgreat to have them in there while I was doing imitations of them.”

Even during his California years, Tim stayed connected to CAOby selling pipes, humidors, and cigars to vendors. In 1999 his dadasked him to come back to Nashville and work at CAO full-time.

Tim’s attention to every detail—from choosing the tobaccoblends to packaging to marketing—helped make CAO cigar

industry leaders.After the Ozgenerssold the company in2007 and the parentcompany movedthe headquarters,Tim left his post aspresident.

Tim and his dadheld on to CAO’sformer headquarters on Cockrill Bend Circle. Developing “Oz”seemed a chance to give Nashville something akin to New York’sPark Avenue Amory and MASS MoCa in the Berkshires. Oz wouldallow them pursue a shared love of art and build something newthat will give people pleasure.

Oz is “not an art gallery, but a contemporary art space.” With ninedifferent distinct spaces—including an outdoor Zen garden and a15,000 square foot grand salon—Oz is able to accommodate spe-cial events of any type. They can stage performances, exhibitions,and concerts there.

“You never really know what is going to happen next, but youknow it will be a pretty amazing experience.”

When not working on Oz, Tim and his wife Arnita spend theirtime with the kids Aidan (4) and Evan (7), who is a USN firstgrader. In addition to “swimming in summer and hockey in win-ter,” the family love to travel. A favorite trip is to Turkey to seetheir relatives.

In order to be able to do that—and retain his dual citizenship—Tim spent 21 days in the Turkish army. Except for cleaning bath-rooms, it appealed to Tim’s sense of adventure. “I would do itagain in a heartbeat,” is his summary of that adventure.

It’s easy to imagine Tim’s saying that about his whole life.“Withstand-up comedy I loved getting people to laugh. When I workedon cigars I loved the idea that someone would be able to derivepleasure for an hour or so. With Oz I love the idea that what weare doing is going to bring the kind of art or performance to peo-ple that will expand their lives a little bit.”

For Tim, “the journey is half the reward.”

2000 Edgehi l l 43

The Wizard of OzTim Ozgener ’88

T

R e u n i o n ye a r ? V i s i t www. u s n . o r g / r e u n i o n n

Tim and his father

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BirthsSusie and Gideon Yu ‘89, a daughter,Emily Grace, June 28, 2012

Lori and Dan Lubetkin ‘93, a daughter,Tova Faith, January 4, 2012

Lee and Sneha Channabasappa Oakley‘94, a son, Arjun Michael, November 15, 2011

Melissa and Mallory Knox ’94, a daughter, Katherine Elizabeth, June 27, 2012

Ben ’94 and Sarah Schleicher Princehorn‘97, a son, Tyler Kyle, February 27, 2012

Stirling Snow ’96 and Janin Otwell, a son,Lawson Grey Otwell-Snow, May 17, 2012

Ian and Nina Interlandi Bell ‘97, a son,Samuel Lindsey, March 6, 2012

Matthew ‘98 and Ellen Duke Haber ’00,a son, Milton Alexander, April 27 , 2012

Matthew and Sarah Nadler Wolf ‘99, a daughter, Anna Adeline, July 2, 2012

Matt ’04 and Grace Ann CunninghamLukach ’03, a son, Brooks Walker, June 29, 2012

In MemoriamPatty Chadwell ‘33Mary Louise Davis Holder ’38[?]Dewees Berry ‘39Mary “Chippy” Hall Pirtle ’40Norman Shaw ‘43Harrington Brearley ‘44Ross Thompson ‘44William Tuggle ‘47Martha Nicholas Greer ‘49Sandra Hoback Long ‘56Herberta Grissom ‘63Ginger Shirey ‘77Karen Jean Elliott ‘78

Tyler Princehorn, Ben and Sarah’s son Tova Lubetkin, Dan’s daughterMax Haber, Ellen and Matthew’s son

Mallory Knox’s daughter Katherine Brooks Lukach, son of Matt and Grace Ann Stirling Snow’s daughter Evie and her little brotherLawson Grey Otwell-Snow

44 2000 Edgehi l l

Reunion 2013 April 19 & 20Pen Pal LunchClass Parties

Reunion LuncheonSee, Touch, Create

Inside USNUSN Golf Tournament

Learn more at www.usn.org/reunion.

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University School Annual Fund Leadership SocietyThe Leadership Society honors those whose strong support of the school helps ensure its financial security. Donors who make a gift at one of theLeadership Society levels below will be listed in the Annual Report in that category.

University School Leadership Society

Visionaries $25,000+ Founders $10,000-$24,999 Innovators $5,000-$9,999 Patrons $2,500-$4,999 1915 Society $1,915-$2,499

The 1915 Society is named for the founding year of USN’s predecessor, Peabody Demonstration School.

Annual Fund Giving LevelsGifts made at these levels each year are the foundation of USN’s Annual Fund. They allow USN the flexibility to meet needs as they emerge.

Garnet & Blue $1,000-$1,914Friends of USN Up to $999

Two New Recognition SocietiesAre you a USN alumnus who has graduated within the last 20 years? With a gift of $500 or more, you become a member of the Edgehill

Society for Young Alumni.

Have you supported USN for 25 years or longer? You are a member of the George Peabody Society, named for the philanthropist who found-ed Peabody College, parent institution of Peabody Demonstration School.

Would you like to learn more? Contact Sam Jackson, Annual Fund Director at 615/277-7496 or

[email protected]. You can also obtain the information at www.usn.org/annualfund.

Introducing University School’s New Annual Fund RecognitionUSN’s Annual Fund fuels every aspect of a remarkable student-centered educational experience. Bydirectly supporting the life of the school each year, it allows us to say yes to exciting opportunities forour students.

The Societies named below recognize all donors of unrestricted gifts to the Annual Fund. We invite youto find a level that is comfortable for you. Donate to the 2012-2013 Annual Fund at www.usn.org/giving.

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USN Launches Alumni App for Smart Phones and Tablets

With this new app you’ll be able to connect with your fellow PDS and USN alumni

as never before. It’s available for iPhone, Android, Windows Messenger phones, and

all tablets.

You can: n Post photos, updates, and contact info instantly through Class Notesn Search alumni by class year, occupation, or location with the Linked In-partnered Directoryn Keep up with all things USN, including various alumni events with News & Eventsn See which alumni are near you with the GPS-enabled “Nearby” featuren Keep USN’s official Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube channels at your fingertips n Share in the excitement of your upcoming class reunion with the Reunion feature

Watch for the release of this app in late September. Meanwhile, make sure we have your current contact information on file so that the Directory is as accurate as possible.