One of my favorite memories from the fall of 2015 is the Open House Back to School Picnic, and first home football game. The excitement that filled the campus was electric. Students were running from class to class, parents walking with arms filled with school supplies, Lower School students hugging teachers, and Middle and Upper School students looking for their new locker assignments. Nothing beats the enthusiasm that fills the air during a home football game on Skutt field. The North end zone filled

with lawn chairs and blankets, adults and children, current families, and alumni all in attendance to show support for their Brownell-Talbot Raiders. The shelter of the trees surrounding the field with the brisk evening air transports the fans from the center of a big city to a small town community where everyone knows everyone and the kids are trusted to run and have fun without creating havoc. August 28, 2015 was an amazing welcome to this community, a memory that I will cherish as I continue my tenure here at Brownell-Talbot. My family officially became a part of something grand.

However, my fondest memories are from the actions observed everyday while on campus — walking through the halls and getting hugs from lower school students, eating in the cafeteria while having great conversations with faculty and staff, being present at morning drop off to greet students and families as they arrive on campus, and observing students in classrooms engaged in a learning environment of excellence. This is what has an impact on me and what I believe makes Brownell-Talbot truly unique. We are a caring community preparing students for college and life long after they leave our campus. We are a community of educators focused on teaching not only academics but on teaching resilience, compassion, and creativity.

It is hard to believe that my first year as Head of School is more than half over. When I was hired I was told by many, “Brownell-Talbot is like no school you have ever experienced.” Boy, were they correct. This year I have had the opportunity to meet with faculty and staff and learn what they believe makes Brownell-Talbot unique and special. Parents and alumni have met in my office sharing what led them here, what is keeping them here, and their hopes for the future of our School. One thing is for sure, Brownell-Talbot is a caring and compassionate learning environment that provides amazing opportunities for each student from age three through graduation.

For me, this first year has been filled with many opportunities to listen and learn. I look forward to building on the strong foundation of Brownell-Talbot’s rich history and traditions in the years to come.

Dr. Kristi Gibbs, Head of School

“Spring is the time of plans and projects.” - Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

This is a glorious time of the year as we once again watch our flowers burst into bloom and the leaves on our trees dapple patterns of sunlight over our handsome campus. There is a hum and buzz on campus in the spring. As the days get longer and, thankfully, warmer after a long cold winter, you can feel the energy. The air is swirling with plans and projects.

Our seniors are making plans. They are in the final countdown to graduation, which will bring to a close years of diligent study and personal growth. In the coming days they are sure to have moments of bittersweet emotions—each senior glad to have achieved an important milestone, but maybe a little sad to start down a path which may take them away from the friends and teachers they cherish. As we launch another group of bright, poised young men and women into successful college years and adult careers, it gives us hope and optimism for the future. That is the promise of spring.

As spring circles back to the Brownell-Talbot campus for the 152nd time, we invite you to return as well. On the back cover of this magazine is a list of upcoming spring events and you’re invited (especially for graduation to help us celebrate with our seniors). But come see us any time. It’s springtime. It’s an invigorating time to plan a return visit, to come back to your roots and is there a better project than to renew your Brownell-Talbot connections?

In the meantime, thumb through this edition of Fireside which includes the inside stories about some of your School’s plans and projects. We are confident you will enjoy this sampling of stories from our classrooms, swimming pool and theater which illustrate the innovative education and community engagement happening here.

Fireside Contributors:Editor: Renae MackenderWriters: Don Browers, Renae Mackender, Julia Wolfe, Kami LandenbergerPhotographers: Casie Schlueter, Don BrowersGraphic Designer: Don BrowersStudent Assistant: Anjana Srikumar, ’17

© 2016 Brownell-Talbot School. All rights reserved.

If you have a story idea or alumni news contact:Renae Mackender at Renae.mackender@brownell.edu

or 402.556.3772 x1012

2The Road to RioBT Aquatics Dives Into the Olympics

4The (Role) Play is the ThingMaking Lessons More Memorable

One-on-one with BT Alum Virginia (Weltmer) Kassel

9

Coming Up RosesThe Power of a School/Theater Partnership

12

Looking Back, Looking Forward

16

Comfort Food & Connections:Meet Shannon Gilroy

8

7One-on-one with BT Alum Alexandra Dennis-Renner

10House System Reunion 2016

Alumni News & Notes14

Best of the Best

Aquatics International magazine named BT

Aquatics their “Best of Aquatics” in the University/School category in 2008.

When the magazine revisited previous category winners in the fall of 2013 to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the BOA award, BT Aquatics

was recognized as “Best of the Best.”

For swimmers with their sights set on Olympic gold, the road to Rio 2016 first passes through Omaha. This summer, for the third consecutive Olympics cycle, Omaha’s Century Link Center will host the U.S. Olympic Team Trials—Swimming. Brownell-Talbot Aquatics Director Jeanie Neal and BT’s Theisen Pool will play important roles in the biggest swimming event in the country.

The Trials draw a massive audience because they are the only way an American swimmer can qualify for the USA Olympic Team. More than 164,000 swimming fans were in attendance for the 2012 Trials in Omaha. Tickets for this year’s event — to be held from June 26 to July 3 — are selling briskly and organizers expect even larger crowds of enthusiastic fans to turn out to see swimmers like Ryan Lochte, Missy Franklin, Katie Ledecky, and Michael Phelps compete.

Among the fans will be team members from dozens of swim clubs from all parts of the country. “When people are here in town doing any kind of swimming

for anything, we try to be a part of it and make the pool available,” Ms. Neal

explains. “We try to be very welcoming.” Thanks to Brownell-Talbot’s hospitality, individual swimmers and teams will be able to come to the

Theisen pool for workouts and training during the Trials. “They

bring whole busloads of kids down here and they work out before they go watch the competition,” says Ms.

Neal. “While they are here some swimmers do a community

project together.” (For example, in 2012 swimmers packaged pairs of matching rubber wrist bands for distribution to families. A

child in a pool wears one band and a parent wears the other band of the same color. It helps pool lifeguards match children to their parents and the parent’s band serves as a reminder that they are the one designated at that time to make sure their child is safe in the water. Each plastic bag of bands included an encouraging note, handwritten by the swim team member who packaged the wrist bands.)

The week before the Trials, BT will host the Central Zone Diversity Select Camp. Sixty swimmers from 15 states are expected to participate in the camp. Among the many objectives of the camp are goals to help athletes from ethnically under-represented populations achieve excellence at every level of competitive swimming and to encourage them to become leaders and positive role models.

During the Trials, Olympic gold medal winner Josh Davis, who represented the U.S. at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and the Sydney Olympics in 2000, will hold clinics at the Theisen Pool. For his clinics Davis brings with him several Olympians. “These are the top swimmers and he brings them in every day.” Ms. Neal says. He works out with the kids, but he also offers insight into the competition and shares personal anecdotes, helping them to become more knowledgeable fans.

Silver medal won by Ryan Lochte at the 2012 Trials in Omaha. He donated this medal to Brownell-Talbot.

On the Road to Rio

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Alumni Swim for Free

Brownell-Talbot alumni can swim for free at the Theisen Pool.

For open swim times go to swimbt.com click on “Calendar”. Look for Adult Lap times

and then just show up.

(Be sure to bring your swimsuit and a towel.)

You can also join us during “Family Swim” for a modest fee.

We swim for good times! You can too.

After the Trials, if past history holds true, many of the competing swimmers will likely come to the BT pool. “People know about us,” Ms. Neal explains, “and they will bring their team here if they aren’t leaving for a day or two.”

Ms. Neal freely contributes her time and talents in other ways, too. The national governing body of competitive swimming is USA Swimming and under that organization is Midwest Swimming, the local organization for swimming competition. As a volunteer for Midwest Swimming Ms. Neal has been on the front lines for the past two Omaha Olympic Trials and will be again this year. She is the chair for the Awards and Ceremonies Committee. “This is great fun and an important job,” she says. She also is the manager for community engagement. A key community engagement event is the Torch Walk. Ms. Neal explains: “The Torch Walk is a water safety event. The date has not been set, but it will be several weeks before the Trials. We start at the Gallup parking lot and everybody gets a gold medal and a water bottle. [Participants] walk from Gallup to the Century Link Center and all along the way there will be signs with water safety tips. The gold medal then admits them to the Century Link Center where they get to walk right down to the edge of the pool.”

Ms. Neal passionately believes everyone should try swimming and especially every BT student because of the easy access to the Theisen Pool, one of the

finest aquatics centers in the area. “Swimming is not only a good physical activity but it is a life-saving skill, as well. It develops coordination and core body strength,” she says. “Youth sports teach kids discipline, goal-setting, and perspective.” At Brownell-Talbot, K-8 students swim every week at the pool. Even the preschoolers and junior kindergartners jump into the pool a couple of times each semester. Lower, Middle and Upper School students can join the BT Raider Swim Team which is a year-round USA Swimming registered club.

“Swimming is hugely diverse and inclusive,” Ms. Neal says. “Everybody should be on a swim team for at least a year because of all the things it teaches you. USA Swimming is great about training everybody from even our littlest kindergartner that you are part of Team USA. We are all together.”

Olympic Gold Medalist Josh Davis

motivated and inspired Brownell-Talbot students

during a campus visit February 17.

BT Aquatics Dives Into the Olympics

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A few times every December, Sally Weiss’ seventh grade English class starts a little late, as students take the time to change out of their uniforms and into tunics, gowns, capes, and robes. Some don helmets, others fasten on wigs, and most slip into strappy flat sandals. They even carry shields, spears, or bows and arrows that they made themselves. They grab a snack Mrs. Weiss has set out and then find their seats, ready to learn not from their teacher but from their peers about Greek gods and goddesses. This activity, what Mrs. Weiss calls “The Meeting of the Gods,” is the culmination of their unit on Greek and Roman mythology, when they are introduced to classical literature and read an abridged version of The Odyssey.

Planning a costume, dressing up, and performing a character are standard parts of theater arts classes at school and children’s play at home, but we don’t often think of these activities being used in academic classroom settings. However, at Brownell-Talbot School, examples abound of teachers of all grade levels using role-playing to make learning more engaging, with memorable and successful results. In addition to Mrs. Weiss’ Meeting of the Gods, prominent examples of this type of project include the “Wax Museum” in fourth grade and the “Spartan Phalanx” in ninth grade.

Preparation for the Wax Museum, which begins over a month before the final event, touches on skills in reading, research, art, writing, and public speaking. Students choose a figure, living or dead, who has accomplished something significant and read a biography about them. They learn how to look up different aspects of the person’s life and how to cite sources, and are required to find quotes and write full paragraphs. They discuss how an author’s bias can influence the information in biographies, and they must also draw a portrait and come up with captions to go with the photos they find. Janelle Comer, current second grade teacher and formerly a BT fourth grade teacher for fifteen years, notes that this project also represents a valuable lesson in social studies. “You’re talking about the past and how the

past influences the future,” she says, “and how you can use the past to make changes to things so you don’t repeat mistakes.”

After practicing their speech for their classmates, the fourth graders, dressed as their figure and standing in front of display boards they’ve made, spend more than an hour holding a pose and repeatedly giving the speech about themselves to all of the parents, faculty, and younger students who are all excited to visit the Wax Museum in the Lower School gym. Maya Mathews, a current eleventh grader, still vividly recalls her stint as Harriet Tubman almost ten years ago. She thinks that embodying this important figure in a highly interactive way let her “attack the material from a different perspective because I had to literally step into her shoes… It not only helped me learn the facts and dig deeper than I normally would, but also helped me understand her as a person.”

Mrs. Weiss’ seventh graders’ preparation is similar, but they use the software program of their choice to give a slideshow presentation to their classmates. At the start, they receive a guided research sheet that includes the information they should uncover about their chosen god, goddess, demi-god or monster, such as the figure’s family line and occupation, where they live, what they’re known for, what they wear, whether they’re mortal or immortal, and, most important, in

The (Role) Play is the Thing

4

which myths they appear. They must use a certain number of sources and cite them correctly. The project also calls on their creative sides by asking them to draw a design of their costume and to decide what their homemade prop will be. In their presentation, they share what they’ve learned about their character and one or two of their myths, using the same storytelling techniques they learned in Mrs. Weiss’s Middle School speech course. Mrs. Weiss says it’s fun to watch, “because they start seeing the connections [between each other’s characters], like ‘I’m this god’s brother, and I banished this other god to this place.’” These connections can be so vivid because the students are learning the subject matter in such an interactive way.

While the Wax Museum and Meeting of the Gods entail more individualized learning, Mark Smith’s Spartan Phalanx in his ninth grade ancient history course is more of a group activity. They spend time talking about the substantial differences between Athens and Sparta, and acting out a Spartan battle. This role playing “gives them a glimpse of what that’s

like.” They conduct research on what a phalanx is and then build their own shields, the most important “prop,” along with small swords and long spears. Then they go outside and assemble in two groups with shields protecting the bottom, top and sides of the phalanx. They try to infiltrate the opposing group through the shields using their spears and swords.

Mr. Smith doesn’t expect the students to remember all the details, but he wants to give them a sense of

how, in Sparta, the group is more important than the individual, and “the way they fight is basically indicative of that.” As Maya explains, “It definitely helped me understand how difficult it would be in an actual combat setting, with actual shields and armor. It requires a lot of strength and discipline, which helps me understand Spartans more overall.” This activity also lends itself well to exposing ninth graders to the challenges of historical research. Spartans never wrote down how they actually fought, so what we know today is based off visual depictions on artifacts like the Greek vases we see in museums. Mr. Smith tells his class, “This is how we think they used this,” and they discuss how historians might figure that out.

Because BT educates students from preschool through 12th grade, there are so many opportunities for younger students to look forward to doing projects like these that they see older grades doing, and for older students to remember fondly what they did years ago. Fourth grade teacher Betsy Obermoller says that since they had visited the Wax Museum in preschool through third grade, the fourth graders always “remember different characters from the years before and they look forward to being able to do that.” Mrs. Weiss left the pictures up in her classroom of the current eighth graders doing the Meeting of the Gods last year when they were in seventh grade. Her current seventh graders saw the pictures and looked forward to it the whole semester, while her sixth grade study hall students have already been asking her about the project.

A great benefit of these kinds of activities is that it’s incredibly different from what the students normally do every day in the classroom and the students can

“Teachers find that students can retain the lesson content better because of the memorable format, and it also sparks

a love of learning–ultimately every educator’s goal.”

Role playing engages BT students and makes classroom lessons more memorable.

5

have so much fun doing them. Teachers find that students can retain the lesson content better because of the memorable format, and it also sparks a love of learning–ultimately every educator’s goal. Mr. Smith notices that the teacher’s enthusiasm can be contagious too. He says, “The students see...some of the excitement I get out of it when trying to explain it to them and then that carries over and this is just like learning for fun, which is kind of what we’re trying to do all the time.” Mrs. Weiss finds that parents, too, are pleased that she does this interactive activity and that she’s “helped to make their kids excited about reading.” In these activities, the students are also actually teaching their peers. It’s a unique experience where they learn from both the acts of teaching and listening.

This kind of out-of-the-box learning also cements what they’ve learned into their memory. Mr. Smith recalls that alumni he has run into at the grocery store, for example, have told him they remember when they did the Spartan Phalanx. “Obviously,” he says, “they’re not going to remember all the details, but they’re going to remember that they learned something and they’ll remember the big ideas,” Mr. Smith observes. “You can walk me through a hundred

steps but I have to actually physically do it or else it doesn’t really make sense to me. So learning it that way helps kids remember it. Not that it’s critical that they remember the shields are called this and the spears are called this, but it’s kind of an overview, because America is more like Athens than we are Sparta.”

Doing this activity shows “how different that sort of mindset would

be, that you really don’t matter, and it’s the group that either succeeds or fails.”

Since it’s been happening annually for so long, the Wax Museum especially remains an unforgettable experience for so many BT students and alumni. Maya thinks that everyone in her class who’s a “lifer” remembers it almost ten years later, since “it’s just one of those memorable experiences you have in Lower School.” Mrs. Comer says that alumni who come back to see the Wax Museum reminisce about the experience and the character they chose. She claims she can even remember who chose which famous figures among students who have long since graduated from BT. However, she also notes wryly that no student has ever chosen Michael Jordan, because she’s an expert on him. She tells them, “You don’t want to pick Michael Jordan because I’ll know when you’re lying!”

The Queen of the Nile makes her appearance at BT’s Wax Museum.

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A 2010 graduate of BT, Alexandra received her BA from Sarah Lawrence College in 2014 concentrating in politics and creative writing with a particular emphasis on writing for film and television.

She has since pursued her Masters in Media Studies and Filmmaking from The New School in New York City with plans to complete her degree this summer at the University of Southern California. In addition to working as part of the original video content production team at IndieWire.com, Alex writes avidly with published works in several journals, magazines and anthologies.

A proud resident of the Upper East Side, Alex is a student and cast member at The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre improv and sketch comedy group (founded by Amy Poehler in 2002) and performs stand-up regularly in NYC and Brooklyn.

In what ways did BT change you?As a little kid in my jumper at BT I was very shy and demure. By the time I was a senior I was a lot more outspoken and more comfortable being myself. I think that is because your class becomes your family—you have been together since kindergarten– and your teachers become like your parents. You are with your friends, your family. You can become yourself here.

What advice would you give current BT students?Have fun. You will be competing for the rest of your life, so work hard, but take the time to enjoy that this is a family. It may be the closest-knit unit you will have in your life. Get to know people. It’s a unique experience. Enjoy it.

What is the best advice anyone has given you? It was from my advisor in college, my political science professor when I had this crazy idea for a thesis—how Ronald Reagan’s policies shaped punk rock. I thought he would say narrow it down and make it more academic. But what he said was: “Okay, fine.” What he meant was: Once you’re out in life, I won’t be able to hold the reins on you. The best you can do is just try it. Try it and then make it work and if you can’t make it work there is no shame in trying again.

What led you to a career in writing for film and television?This is my favorite question. Writing was a big focus for me and the English department at Brownell really shaped my going to Sarah Lawrence which is known for its writing program. At Sarah Lawrence I signed up for Writ3452 Poetry Writing and they put me in Writ3425 Dramatic Screenwriting. I asked at the Registrar’s office if I could be put anyplace else. They said what is available for your schedule is Applied Physics or Calculus II. I barely got by those in high school. So eventually I got the hang of screenwriting and applying the vocabulary you needed for that. It was great. It was this new medium for storytelling that I barely knew existed. I fell in love with it. Is there a current TV show or movie that you wish you had written?Honestly, TV is going through its second golden age right now. I would love to write for Fargo, because it is taking something iconic in film and formatting it for TV. It is a reworking of what defines TV.

Who at BT had the most impact on your life?Aside from my classmates —we still talk and we’re still buddies — it would have to be the teachers in theater and English, because they saw something in me — a little dramatic flair that was hiding in there — and really encouraged me to follow it. They told me, “Go do something with that.” I never had a bad teacher at Brownell. We were always pushed to be the best and they wanted the best for you.

One-on-one with BT Alum Alexandra Dennis-Renner

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When you ask Shannon Gilroy what makes her happy, she answers without hesitation. “I am happiest when every seat at my dining room table is taken — packed full of family and friends after a meal. My heart is full when people enjoy good food in my home.” But, for her, cooking is really a means to larger goal: connecting with people. Connections loom large in Shannon’s life. “I place great value on the relationships I have both personally and professionally. One of my life’s greatest personal achievements is that I am still friends with my very first friend. We met in preschool and have stayed close throughout our lives.”

It is no surprise then that people and relationships are at the heart of her new position as Development Director for Brownell-Talbot. “This is a perfect fit,” she explains, “for the kind of work that I want to do and the community I want to surround myself with. I love working with donors. I love visiting with families, couples, and individuals and helping them navigate where their gifts can have the greatest impact. I want people to feel they have someone in the Development Office they can trust to fulfill their giving intentions and that they have a resource they can call upon.”

A native Omahan and a Duchesne Academy and Marquette University graduate, Shannon recognizes the value of getting an education at a great institution with a solid reputation. “I am so grateful for the educational opportunities I received,” she says, “and I feel blessed to be in a position where I can work to ensure that future generations of BT students will receive exceptional educational opportunities as well.”

Generational links also play a key role in Shannon’s life story. “I come from a family of determined and accomplished women,” she explains. “My Irish grandmother raised nine children with my grandfather. She got her first job when she was 16, retired 50 years later and then became a dedicated volunteer. My Chinese grandmother fled China during the Communist Revolution when she was only 21 years old. She and my grandfather, along with their five children immigrated to the United States without a penny to their name. Both of my grandmothers showed me that an education, hard work, and the tenacity to succeed would open up doors and opportunities. The obstacles they faced in their respective lives were no match for their determination. They are living proof that you can do anything you set your mind to.” Her message to Brownell-Talbot alums? “I hope you will always think fondly of your time at BT. I invite you to visit campus and see firsthand all of the exciting things happening here—the school doors are always open for you.”

BT’s New Development Director

Comfort Food & Connections

Meet Shannon Gilroy

8

What was the genesis of your award-winning drama series The Adams Chronicles?I was working at Channel 13 (WNET) in New York and we were coming up on the bicentennial. I realized nobody was doing anything serious about the history of this country. I had put on the air The Forsyte Saga (a British TV series based on the novels of John Galsworthy) about an English family from the time of our Civil War up to World War I, but there was nothing like this in American television. Lyman Butterfield who edited the Adams Papers was very welcoming to me and made some of the material about the family open to me. My production team and I worked on [the series] for a long time.

What are your memories of BT that have stayed with you through the decades?It was the excitement created by a love of learning. I remember chapel, too. We went to chapel three times a week– Monday, Wednesday and Friday– and on Tuesday and Thursday we said a little prayer. The chapel building wasn’t built when I started there, so chapel was in the gymnasium in the big white building, the Patrick Mansion. Brownell Hall was quite formal and good preparation for the world I stepped into. In those days the students stood up when the teacher entered the classroom. In my first class on my first day at Bryn Mawr I stood up when the teacher entered the room and I was the only one standing.

What led you to attend Bryn Mawr?There were 11 students in my class in 1950 and representatives from the “Seven Sisters” (seven liberal arts colleges in the Northeastern United States that

Virginia is an award-winning television writer and producer. A graduate of Brownell-Talbot School (1950) and a cum laude graduate of Bryn Mawr College (1954), she has been an executive producer, a producer, a writer, and a coordinator of national programming for national and international production organizations including Primetime Ltd., London; Great Performances, the PBS performance series; CBS Cable; London Weekend Television; WGBH, Boston; WNET, New York; and Primetime Entertainment, Inc. Virginia’s programs have won two Peabody, six Emmy and numerous other awards. At WNET, she developed and produced The Adams Chronicles, the thirteen-hour Bicentennial drama series that drew record audiences for a public television series.

A source of great pride is her farm in the Missouri River valley. It came to her through a land grant given to her great-grandfather before the Civil War. Presently it raises corn and soybeans.

were at that time women’s colleges) came to the campus and they all spoke about how great their colleges were, but they talked about the social life. The Bryn Mawr representative, Cornelia Vorhees – I still remember her after all these years – talked about how that college had among the highest academic standards in the country and I thought I’d like to try that.

Who had the most impact on you during your years at Brownell-Talbot?There was a wonderful woman named Elisabeth Koop. She taught English and literature and she was quite demanding. She was very inspirational. But what was most beautiful is that we were required to write. It wasn’t just yes and no and objective answers. At Brownell it was the first time that it occurred to me that I should know how to write and we wrote a great deal for Koopie.

What are your main “take-aways” from your Brownell-Talbot education?Understanding the importance of intellectual discipline which was enforced by the faculty then. At the time I didn’t even know that’s what it was called. Because of what I learned at Brownell, I am not casual about undertaking any enterprise. And I learned not to take typing class. (She said with a laugh.)

BT Class of 1950 photographed in 1949. Virginia is seated in the middle

row second from the right.

One-on-one with BT Alum Virginia (Weltmer) Kassel

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10

11

Spend five minutes with Brownell-Talbot Theater Arts Teacher Aileen Zeigler and you will want to smear grease paint on your face, slip into a costume and hit the footlights. Her enthusiasm and love for theater, Brownell-Talbot, and her students is contagious. “I love theater,” Ms. Zeigler says, “but I really love educational theater.”

“We learn so much from theater and not just how to talk on stage. We learn fractions. We know history because we connect it to plays. Along with Wade Lanum (BT technology specialist), we are 3-D printing stock set pieces and models of sets. The 3-D printer works in millimeters so we have been converting [dimensions] into half-inch scale and then converting that to millimeters.” Ms. Zeigler strongly believes that education in the 21st century should be about learning process, that is how to think through a problem rather than just memorizing content. “Students need some contextual information, but we have content 24 hours a day accessible in three point two seconds about anything. [Students] need to be able to look at that information and to be able to use in some way. That is process.”

A Brownell-Talbot partnership with Omaha’s Rose Theater, a nationally recognized children’s theater, fits hand in glove with teaching process. The partnership links students with the Rose Theater through several grade levels. In Lower School every grade level has some activity or connection with the theater during the year. They might see a show and have a workshop or they might actively participate in a production. For example, this year the fourth graders watched Nebraskaland, a national touring show, and

after the show the Rose Theater staff had a lively conversation with the students discussing what

the show was about.

“We took that same concept and carried it up to the Middle School and the Upper

School,” Ms. Zeigler explains. “We have the Middle School Play Festival. We started early in the fall with the seventh

grade creative writing classes taught by Mrs. Sally Weiss and [those students] have been writing plays.”

The ninth graders had a workshop with Brian Guerhing, the Rose Theater company education director and playwright-in-residence, on critical analysis and providing feedback. They read all the scripts written by the seventh graders and then advised the teachers about which plays they thought were the best. Together, the ninth graders and teachers chose four plays to be produced.

In November the eighth graders saw Sherlock Holmes at the Rose. Afterward, they met in a two-hour meeting with the Rose Theater marketing team who showed them all the marketing packages they had put together for different shows and explained all the elements involved in marketing the shows at the Rose. The eighth graders then were tasked to create two marketing pieces that were in the same genre as

those the Rose marketing team had created and to come up with one fresh idea. One of the student groups came up with a wristband campaign. “Even the professional marketers at the Rose Theater loved the ideas our students came up with,” says Ms. Zeigler. “They were impressed.”

Later, the students had campus visits from two of BT eighth graders get ready for the play to start at Omaha’s

Rose Theater

Coming Up Roses

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Alumni Show?

“I have a dream,” says Ms. Zeigler, “to do an alumni show. Follies is a show where four main characters come back to a theater years later and perform with these young ‘ghost’ memory characters. How amazing would it be to have our current students playing these ‘ghost’ characters alongside former students of all ages coming back.?”

the Rose Theater marketers who guided the BT kids as they created a marketing campaign and posters for Brownell-Talbot’s plays. Ms. Zeigler points out that this is all about teaching process. “I would argue that even if they don’t go into marketing, 100% of our students at some point will be involved in a marketing campaign. They will have to interact, to talk with a marketer, to provide interesting questions.”

The sixth graders had acting workshops on campus led by Stephanie Jacobson, a Rose Theater company actor. They learned how to make decisions about their characters and to understand objectives and tactics in creating a successful performance. Those students in this grade who expressed an interest in acting in one of the four Middle School Play Festival productions auditioned for parts. Because there were not enough acting roles for every interested student, the remaining sixth graders who wanted to be a part of the process got to be stage managers or to run the lights assisted by Upper School students.

The fifth graders had four workshops with Michael Miller, a teaching artist and literary manager for the Rose, who guided the students in creating the sets for the four selected plays written by the seventh graders. They read through the scripts, came up with some words and features, and drafted design ideas based on those words and features. They drew their design ideas using markers on muslin fabric stretched across large frames which became the plays’ backdrops.

Upper School students, who chose to, came after school for three directing workshops led by Ms. Jacobson and they directed the plays. They organized four or five rehearsals for their shows. “They were all frantically trying to find more time to work on their shows,” Ms. Zeigler says with a smile. “They worked directly with the student casts and crews every day.”

After all the rehearsals were done, the Middle School Play Festival was performed for all of the fourth

through ninth graders. “We included all the students who were part of the process and also the fourth graders so they could see what’s to come for them.” After the play performances, Ms. Zeigler, Mrs. Weiss and School Counselor Katie Tessin led a debrief session to share information between the class groups.

The goal is that over the course of four or five years, our students get to experience every one of the roles associated with producing a play and to see all sides. What they take away from this multi-year experience is “leadership, flexibility and compromise, responsibility, decision-making, and problem-solving—I tell the kids something will go wrong and they will have to figure it out,” says Ms. Zeigler.

“Education in the 21st century should be about learning process, that is how to think through a problem rather than just memorizing content.”

BT sixth graders on stage for the Middle School Play Festival 2016

The power of a school-theater partnership.

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1940sVirginia Cooper Babcock, ’49“Happy to be living in Nebraska again. I am my husband’s caregiver but enjoy attending Omaha Symphony Concerts and being near 10 great-grandchildren.”

2000sJames Szalay, ’03James was awarded a Doctorate of Physical Therapy (DPT) from Mount Saint Mary’s College in Los Angeles, CA in 2013. He is currently working at an outpatient orthopedic clinic in private practice, and preparing for certification as an Orthopedic Clinical Specialist (OCS).

Lauren Zlomke, ’08Lauren married William “Billie” Ruwe in Omaha on December 12, 2015.

2010sKallie Larsen, ’10“I got married August 1 to my wife (Lauren Powell) in Laguna Niguel, CA. Lots of BT alums in attendance including my maid of honor Lauren Zlomke, ’08; bridesmaid, Sara Nordstrand, ’10; as well as Leigh Anne McLaughlin, ’09; and Anissa McGee, ’08.”

Nathaniel Hallagan, ’13Nathaniel graduated from Metropolitan Community College, Omaha, and has moved to Texas for a job. He enjoys woodworking and photography in his spare time.

Will Calderon, ’15“I’m part of Freshman Council, a faction of the Student Association dedicated to improving the freshman year experience. I also am researching under the Hunter Henry Chair of the Swalm School of Chemical Engineering here at Mississippi State designing column packing with the 3D printer that we will use for experiments next semester. When I’ve got time I participate in the table tennis club here as well.”

Larsen-Powell Wedding

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Jane Smith Bernhard, ’35D. January 29, 2015

Janice Johnson Zimmerman, ’35D. June 29, 2015

Jane Cudlip Coblentz King, ’38D. October 7, 2015

Ruth Purney Anderson, ’47D. February 26, 2016

Margaret Jolley, ’67D. March 10, 2015

Madelyn Shumaker, Class of 2025D. December 10, 2015Madelyn (Maddie) is survived by her parents Jesse and Corrie Shumaker, many family and friends.

Maddie attended Brownell-Talbot from preschool through the third grade. Maddie was energetic, funny, curious, and smart. All who met her, loved her, and were loved in return.

Maddie was on the Lower School swim team, played soccer, basketball and tennis, and loved attending high school athletic events. She also enjoyed participating in gymnastics, dance, and piano. Maddie had the warmest heart and a deep soul. We witnessed her compassion grow this year as she got to know many children battling cancer. Her greatest loves, after her family, were pandas; her friends at Brownell-Talbot; her cat, Titan; and her fish, Rosie.

In The Little Prince, Antoine Saint Exupery concludes, “In one of the stars I shall be living, in one of the stars I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all of the stars are laughing when you look at the stars at night.”

About “In Memoriam”

An X in front of the class year indicates former students who attended but did not graduate from Brownell-Talbot.

Due to space restrictions only relatives who are alumni are listed with each obituary. For more detailed information about each person please access the online listings at brownell.edu/Fireside.

Memorials may be made to Brownell-Talbot at 400 N. Happy Hollow Blvd, Omaha, NE 68132. The school notifies families of gifts made in their loved one’s memory.

Our sincere apologies if someone was missed. The listings are complete as we knew them as of February 29, 2016. Updates can be emailed to renae.mackender@brownell.edu or submitted with the online form at brownell.edu.

FriendsJohn Sturgeon

D. September 20, 2015Father to Amy Sturgeon, ’81 and Annie Sturgeon Liebentritt, ’82 and past Brownell-Talbot trustee.

Dr. Patricia SullivanD. December 29, 2015Mother to Katie Anderson McCarville, ’05.

Mary Frances “Fran” GreeneD. August 26, 2015Mother to the late Phillip Greene, x’79; Anne Greene Wills, ’78; Margaret Greene Nolan, ’75; Earl (Chip) Greene, ’74; William Greene, ’72; and Mary Greene Malvasi, ’71.

Fred SimonD. September 28, 2015Stepfather to Richard Ortega, ’69 and Marisa Ortega Mayhan, ’70.

BT classmates release balloons in Maddie’s

memory on her birthday, February 17.

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“With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things.” - William Wordsworth

There have been two times during my education career when I was recognized for my work with a gift symbolizing my efforts in bringing about harmony. I was recently reflecting on this very simple but powerful word, harmony. I find the word speaks volumes to me about my years spent with children.

You might be surprised to hear that in a school day that is often unpredictable and filled with children’s laughter (and sometimes tears )there is great harmony and joy. In the very essence of what I do, the life of things for me, is found in the day to day power of harmony and the deep power of joy watching children grow and learn at Brownell-Talbot School.

Kami Landenberger, Head of Lower School

400 N. Happy Hollow Blvd.Omaha, NE 68132

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

April 15 -17 Spring Play —The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

April 25 - May 1 Online Gala auction at biddingforgood.com/BTS

Friday, May 6 “A Night in Rio”—Annual School Gala

Wednesday, May 25 Omaha Gives

Friday, May 27 US Honors Day Program 2pm

Saturday, May 28 Baccalaureate & Commencement

Mark Your Calendar and Join Us for These Upcoming BT Activities