MARCH 2024 NEWSLETTER | VOLUME 7, ISSUE 4 | |
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ALUMNI WEEKEND 2024
is when we all come together!
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Classes ending in 4 & 9 will gather for milestone reunions, but whether it's your reunion year or not, we hope you will join fellow Tafties on campus. There will be events for all alumni, including a Saturday night party honoring retiring faculty Baba & Peter Frew '75 and Susan & Steve McCabe. Come celebrate with us on May 10-11, 2024! | |
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In recognition of his steadfast loyalty and dedication to Taft, John Dayton ’64 will be honored with the 2024 Horace Dutton Taft Alumni Medal. “John Dayton ’64 exemplifies our school’s motto, Not to be served but to serve, in multiple ways,” said John Merrow II ’59, chair of the Horace Dutton Taft Alumni Medal Committee. “Throughout his life, John has given back, serving his community, his country, and his school. Taft has many outstanding graduates who are deserving of the school’s highest honor, the Horace Dutton Taft Alumni Medal, but none more worthy than John Dayton.”
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Class of ’71 Celebrates 50th Reunion at Long Last
The Class of '71 celebrated its 50th Reunion in Watertown over the October 6, 2023, weekend with approximately 20 classmates and their guests returning to campus for the festivities. Delayed by the pandemic, the long-awaited reunion included a surprise visit from Headmaster Emeritus Lance Odden as well as a reception with current Head of School Peter Becker ’95. You can catch up on all the details by reading the Class Notes in the upcoming Spring 2024 Taft Bulletin, which will be available in print and online around mid-April.
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Alumni Hockey Game 2024
On February 10, 26 Taft alumnae, alumni, and faculty met on the ice in Odden Arena for the annual “Scotty Cup” Hockey Game, played in tribute to Scott Richardson ’82. Each year, Scott’s dad, Dave, makes the trip from Clearwater, Florida, to watch the game, recall his son’s time on the Taft ice, and present the Scotty Cup at the end of the game; Scott’s dear friend, Jerry Smith, also makes the trip each year.
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Dr. Angela Davis Visits Taft
Activist, educator, thought-leader, and scholar Dr. Angela Davis visited Taft as part of our Black History Month celebration. In addition to a Morning Meeting talk in Bingham, Dr. Davis led a question and answer session attended by a standing-room-only, overflow crowd in the Black Box Theater. She also met with the student leaders of Taft’s affinity groups in the library, and had lunch with community members. To prepare for her visit, Taft students read some of Dr. Davis’s literary works in their English classes and submitted questions in advance for the Q & A.
Through her activism and scholarship over many decades, Angela Davis has been deeply involved in movements for social justice around the world. Her work as an educator—both at the university level and in the larger public sphere—has always emphasized the importance of building communities of struggle for economic, racial, and gender justice. Dr. Davis has taught at a range of colleges and universities over the years, including UCLA, Stanford, Vassar, and Claremont Colleges. Most recently, she spent 15 years at the University of California Santa Cruz where she is now Distinguished Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness—an interdisciplinary PhD program—and of Feminist Studies.
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Amanda Bohnsack Named Director of Enrollment
Amanda Bohnsack, Taft’s new director of enrollment, comes to Taft with deep experience in both admissions and secondary school placement, most recently as director of admission at Deerfield Academy.
“Amanda’s love of boarding schools and the students and colleagues who comprise them, strategic thinking, leadership skills, commitment to making schools financially accessible and welcoming to first-generation students, and knowledge of the boarding school market position her to lead and grow Taft’s enrollment efforts and serve as a key member of Taft’s administrative team,” Becker said.
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Lydia Mann Appointed Director of College Counseling
Lydia Mann, an accomplished college admission leader with a background in boarding school college counseling, has been named Taft’s next director of college counseling.
“We are thrilled to welcome Lydia to the Taft community,” said Head of School Peter Becker ’95. “Her experience in college admissions, coupled with her background in boarding school college counseling, position Lydia to strategically lead Taft’s college counseling work. Lydia stood out in the search for her ability to build on Taft’s student-centered process, ensure that it is integrated into the school’s overall program, and result in college options that are great for Taft students.”
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Next-Level Learning: Academics at Taft
The depth and breadth of the academic talent in the Taft community has allowed our faculty to continuously look for and create new opportunities for learning at the highest levels. Two such options currently being offered are Dr. Mostafa Mirabi's Honors Modern Algebra (one of the highest-level mathematics classes ever taught at Taft) and Brianne Foley's Honors Seminar in Economic Research. Learn more about how Taft students are pushing the boundaries of academic inquiry.
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Dance Ensemble Winter Concert
The annual Dance Ensemble Winter Concert in February was a stunning exploration of arts and culture, taking the audience on a breathtaking journey of sight, sound, and extraordinary talent. Congratulations to all performers and choreographers, and to Ms. Surber and the fabulous guest teachers. You can watch the entire performance by clicking on the image above.
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Winter Play: The 39 Steps
February was a busy month for the arts! Woodward Theater came to life through the exceptional staging of The 39 Steps, Taft's winter play. The cast included seasoned Taft performers and relative newcomers, each moving deftly through multiple roles, while bringing energy and depth to them all.
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Winter 2023-24 Sports Wrap-up
The curtain came down on yet another remarkable season for Big Red. The boys' varsity basketball team qualified for the NEPSAC tournament, going in with a number 4 seed. They knocked off #5 Williston Northampton in the first round, then fell to #8 Andover—the tournament's true Cinderella story—in the semis. Both games were played at home in a gym packed to the rafters with enthusiastic, supportive Rhino fans. It was an incredible season, and an incredible tournament run.
The girls' ski team finished second in the 2024 Class B NEPSAC Alpine Skiing Championships. Taft also notched a number of top 10 finishes along the way, including 4th and 10th place finishes in the slalom for Esmee Clew-Bachrach and Bella Dane respectively, and 4th and 8th place finishes respectively for Bella and Esmee in the Giant Slalom. Their achievements came with All New England Honors. The boys’ team earned a 4th-place finish at the event. Riley Geurts ’26 took All New England honors for his 6th place finish in the slalom.
Taft wrestlers earned some impressive hardware at the 2024 Western New England Championships including: co-captain Ben Bazarian, 2nd place at 215 pounds; Jefferson Kao, 4th place at 106 pounds; Russ Fitzgerald, 4th place at 190 pounds; Chris Joszczyk, 4th place at 285 pounds. Congratulations to the entire team, whose work across the board earned them a 7th place finish in a highly competitive 19-team field.
Taft’s squash teams had successful runs at Nationals—the 2024 U.S. High School Squash Championships. The boys’ team played well and hard, finishing 7th overall in a very competitive Division I field. The girls’ team played exceptionally well all weekend, ultimately winning the consolation finals. Their only loss was 3-4 to the team that went on to win the tournament. Each team also finished 3rd in their respective New England Championship Tournaments.
Catch up on all the sports news, including incoming end-of-season awards results, by clicking below.
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Meet Peter Becker ’95
Join Peter Becker '95 in Dallas and Denver this April!
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SAVE THE DATE: UPCOMING EVENTS | |
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Never Enough:
A Virtual Conversation About Achievement Culture
Taft parents and alumni are invited to a virtual conversation with award-winning journalist and author of the New York Times bestselling book Never Enough: When Achievement Pressure Becomes Toxic – and What We Can Do About It, Jennifer Wallace. The event will take place Tuesday, April 30, from noon to 1 p.m. EDT; Amy Julia Becker ’94 will moderate the conversation.
In Never Enough, Wallace investigates the roots of and solutions to “toxic achievement culture.” Drawing on interviews with families, educators, and an original survey of nearly 6,000 parents, she exposes how the pressure to perform is not a matter of parental choice but baked in to our larger society and spurred by increasing income inequality and dwindling opportunities. As a result, children are increasingly absorbing the message that they have no value outside of their accomplishments, a message that is reinforced by the media and greater culture at large.
Wallace is a contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and topical news programs. A Harvard graduate, she began her journalism career at CBS “60 Minutes,” where she was part of a team that won The Robert F. Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism. She is a Journalism Fellow at The Center for Parent and Teen Communication at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and serves on the board of the Coalition for the Homeless in New York City, where she lives with her husband and their three children.
Please register for the April 30 program below; a Zoom link will be sent to all registrants prior to the event.
Jennifer Wallace's virtual visit with Taft is made possible by the charlie fund. Launched in 2021, the charlie fund shares a legacy of kindness, love, and openness, while honoring Charlie Himmelrich ’17 by creating and growing spaces, programming, and resources that help build connections and provide many resources that teach emotional intelligence to people of all ages.
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Music for a While
Taft's Music for a While concert series delights with a full schedule of performances ranging from rousing stride piano and jazz concerts to a night at the opera and traditional offerings from Collegium Musicum. Free and open to the public; no tickets are required. Upcoming performances include the opera Turandot with Christopher Browner on April 12 and Taft's own Collegium Musicum and Chamber Ensemble later in the month.
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April 18, 2024: Taft's Day of Giving | |
Taft's annual Day of Giving is an opportunity for the community to come together in support of all that makes Taft Taft, from arts and academics to athletics, our extraordinary campus, and the people who make us who we are. By supporting the Taft Fund, you help generations of Tafties forge their own paths, create their own futures, and define their own successes. Gifts of any amount make a difference.
Gifts made between April 2-18 count toward Day of Giving totals.
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