Vol. X Number 2Spring 2009

Trinity-Pawling School: A Commitment to Character

QUADANGLES

The Newsletter of Trinity-Pawling School

”

Calendar of Events page 2

Commencement page 3

Service, Friendship, Surfing in Panama page 4

How Boys Learn:Science page 6

College List for the Class of 2009 page 7

College looks wonderful. Keggers, girls, freedom, girls. But along with all these girls is another layer of responsibility. The fact of the matter is that in a few months I am going to be working to pay for a car, gas for that car, college, rent, insurance, groceries, dates for those girls. . . . Don’t get me wrong, I am more than ready for college. I am more than ready for freedom. But I real-ize very late in the game that while we need to remain excit-ed for the next step that we will face, at the same time we need to enjoy where we are. I charge everyone in this room to look forward to things to come but slow down. Say hello to kids in the hall that you may not know. If some-one is having a bad day—just talk to them. We may not always like each other, but we are all brothers here. Let’s enjoy the time we have and let’s face the next steps in life together.

—From a Chapel Talk by Stephen Gay ’09

“Looking Ahead

Also in This Issue

Left: T-P boys helped build a latrine for a school in rural Panama. Learn more on pages 4-5.

中文快到了Trinity-Pawling School is proud to announce a modern addition to the school’s foreign language program. Beginning in September 2009, we will begin a program of instruction in Mandarin Chinese Language and Cultural Studies. This program is intended to prepare motivated students for work and life in a world in which one out of every five people learns to speak Mandarin Chinese as their native tongue, and in which those speakers are part of what is already a globally important economy. In addition, we will be incorporating elements from the single largest lan-guage block in the world across the curriculum with offerings in Asian his-tory, literature and culture built into the course work expected from all our students, not just those learning Mandarin. The Mandarin Chinese program at Trinity-Pawling will be taught by a native speaker. It begins by introducing students to the tones at the heart of the language, the production of characters and written text. In its upper-level phases, the program exposes students to the literature and culture of China, with an eye toward preparing them for an immersion experience. This vital new program is made possible with the generous support of Mr. Vincent Lo, parent of Adrian, Class of 2008.

For a description of the courses and a translation of the title, turn to page 2.

2 Spring 2009 Trinity-Pawling QuadAngles

assumed to stay the same—educating the whole boy. Yet for-mulating a consensus around a vision for the school’s future is no small task. When discussing the process, Mr. Ix says, “It is not what I expected, but what I didn’t expect that surprised me.” Comprising faculty, alumni, and parents (current and past), members of the LRPC bring a spirit of negotiation when tackling critical issues. “It is a passionate group of people,” Mr. Ix says, with a smile. Current students and faculty have recently been surveyed to help determine how Trinity-Pawling can be the best school it can be. Mr. Ix will report the commit-tee’s recommendations to the full Board of Trustees in January 2010. LRPC 2010 members are: Robert Ix ’83, Trustee, Chair; Doug Boomer, Faculty, Past Parent ’08 Current Parent ’11; Glenn Carey, Faculty; Bill Dunham, Faculty; Amy Foster, Faculty; Father John Gedrick, Faculty; Janet Keating, Trustee, Past Parent ’99; Jim McDougal, Faculty; Peter J. McCabe ’68, Trustee; Erik Olstein ’86, Trustee, Current Parent ’11; Chris Roux ’73, Trustee.

News from the Hill

T-P Calendar

Classes begin: Sept. 15

Golf Outing: Sept. 17

Scully Hall Dedication: Sept. 25

Homecoming: Oct. 10

Parents’ Weekend: Oct. 23

中文快到了, continued from page 1

Course Offerings in Mandarin Chinese:Chinese IThis course introduces motivated students to the basics of Mandarin Chinese language. The workload is intense, and students must be prepared to adapt to an unfamiliar set of characters and intonations. Students devel-op fundamental writing and pronunciation skills. Lessons emphasize real-life situations and vocabulary development, and com-munication activities also explore elements of native Chinese culture. Daily instruction includes drilling in the four target skills of speaking, listening, writing, and reading.

Chinese IIThis course continues to enhance the fun-damental writing and speaking skills of the first year. Students actively engage in oral exercises and build on their foundation of characters. Instruction is solely in Chinese.

Advanced ChineseRigorous practice of spoken and written Chinese in more complex communication activities will be complemented by intensive drills to fine-tune pronunciation, expand vocabulary, and internalize more complex grammatical constructions. Basic writing skills are developed and practiced.

A Critical AdvantageTrinity-Pawling is committed to prepar-ing its students for the challenges of a global future. Having an understanding of Mandarin —the most widely spoken lan-guage in the world—and Chinese culture gives our boys a critical advantage as they prime themselves to join an increasingly diverse and competitive world.

Note: The characters that constitute the head-line of this story translate as “Trinity-Pawling School Program in Mandarin Chinese and Cultural Studies.” They were translated by Leo Liyeung ’09 of Hong Kong.

2009 National Latin Exam Award Winners

Three Trinity-Pawling students have earned awards for their achievements on the National Latin Exam. This exam is taken by over 135,000 students from all 50 states and 11 foreign countries. To win an award students had to achieve not just a percentage score, but a score bet-ter than half of all participants. Zach Silva ’10 of Brewster, NY: Latin 4, earned Cum Laude. Lars Robinson ’13 of Norfolk, CT: Latin 1, earned Magna Cum Laude. Adrian Appleman ’11 of Brewster, NY: Latin 3, earned a Silver Medal and Maxima Cum Laude.

Long Range Planning Process Is Underway

Ambitious plans adopted in 2000 by Trinity-Pawling School near completion with construction on the last of several major capital projects, Scully Dining Hall, set to be finished by the start of the fall semester. Already, though, a new committee is more than half-way through its work of planning for the school’s next 10 years. The 11-member Long Range Planning Committee (LRPC), chaired by Robert Ix ’83, began an 18-month effort to cre-ate a “road map” for Trinity-Pawling’s next decade in May 2008. Ix says, “The last 10-year plan was incredibly successful, and we are excited to improve upon that suc-cess without losing sight of our mission.” The committee’s task is to develop plans

to ensure the school continues to meet its mission, reaffirm the things we do well, and to discover ways to do things better. This is the third such planning process in the school’s history. The committee seeks to balance the pri-orities of all concerned groups—students, faculty, alumni, parents—as it takes a close look at internal factors including philoso-phy, staff, technology, and facilities. It must also examine the potential impacts on the school of external influences such as the national and global economy, the environ-ment, and demographic trends. “While insuring that the goals are achievable, the idea is to set the bar high,” said Mr. Ix. The mission of the school is

Rob Ix ’83

Spring 2009 Trinity-Pawling QuadAngles 3

Commencement 2009“I see the gleam of an alumnus in your eyes,” Frederick C. Calder told the 88 members of the class of 2009 just before they stepped up to receive their diplomas on May 24. Mr. Calder, retired executive director of the New York State Association of Independent School, acknowledged that he was the last obstacle to that milestone and with humor kept his remarks brief. In short order, the boys were holding their graduation certificates and smoking the now traditional cigars in celebration. In a break with custom, each received his blue-and-gold T-P cap prior to com-mencement. On the day, the class chose instead to wear white caps that had been given to them by the family of Andrew Einstein, their classmate who died this past December. Valedictorian Leo Lugee Liyeung embraced his classmates in his remarks by talking about others whom he praised as “quiet leaders.”

For more photos, commencement speeches, and other information about the class of 2009, go to our website, www.trinitypawling.org. For the list of college destinations for the class, turn to page 7.

“Don’t forget what this place has taught you—to love and to never quit.”

—Shayne Miller Skov, head prefect

Terrence O’Neill walks up to receive his diploma. Eric Castellucci and Alex Caron with diplomas and cigars.

4 Spring 2009 Trinity-Pawling QuadAngles

Service, Friendship, Surfing: Spring Break in Panama

“The people we worked with in the reservation were extremely poor. A family we met were illegal squatters in the school’s dormitory, which we were repairing. The kids often had to look out for themselves during the daytime while their parents traveled hours to earn money for the little food they could afford. Although they were extremely friendly and welcoming to our group, it is clear that they struggle to obtain some of the most basic things that we take for granted.” —Graham Meighan ’09

Captions, clockwise from top left:Eddie Lew ’09 with children of the Ngöbe Indian Reservation in Panama.C. J. Burke ’09 takes a break with his new friend, David.Afif El-Solh ’09 tests his surfing skills at the end of the trip.Will Gallagher ’12 roasts coffee beans the boys had harvested from a local hillside.

Spring 2009 Trinity-Pawling QuadAngles 5

Service, Friendship, Surfing: Spring Break in PanamaFrom March 10-20, twelve Trinity-Pawling students traveled to Panama to participate in an alternative spring break trip, led by Spanish teachers Carolyn Shemwell and Leslie Wittenbraker. The trip began in Panama City, from which the T-P crew traveled five hours to the town of San Felix, in the province of Chiriquí in western Panama. There, the boys stayed with local families. Not much time was spent in town, though, because of the service work the group was doing in the indigenous reservation of Alto Chami. Each day, the boys piled into the town’s only multipurpose Land Cruiser for a 75-minute, six-mile journey up a rustic moun-tain road. The boys worked diligently in Alto Chami, the largest community within the Ngöbe Indian Reservation. The T-P team constructed an 8' x 4' x 10' latrine for a school dormitory (one-third of the school’s 300 students travel from distant villages). In addition, they cleared rubble

T-P students and teachers with completed latrine. Each person completed roughly 30 hours of community service during the course of the trip and managed to have some fun.

from a building destroyed by a wind storm in February, painted the interior of a wom-en’s art co-op, and refurbished the sleeping quarters of an organization for mothers in the late stages of pregnancy. The group met a few members of the Peace Corp during its stay, and from them learned a lot about the Ngobe culture and a bit about coffee production. While significant progress was made on all projects, there were also numerous opportunities for cultural interactions and exchange, such as accompanying a young boy to buy eggs for his family, teaching local children to play Frisbee, and sharing the advanced and “magical” technology of the digital camera. After six hot days of hard labor, the group was rewarded with time for relax-ation at a surf camp on the Pacific Coast of Panama. Sore muscles were tested as the boys sea-kayaked and learned to hang-ten. The group from T-P included: Eddie

“The most important thing we got out of this trip was a new understanding of a different way of life.” —Ryan Olstein ’11

Lew ’09, Ryan Olstein ’11, Ben Ellsworth ’12, Andrew Sergeant ’10, Graham Meighan ’09, Will Gallagher ’12, Austin Shoecraft ’10, Jake Frost ’11, Afif El-Solh ’09, C.J. Burke ’09, Jacques Zelnik ’11, and Jake Sleeman ’10.

6 Spring 2009 Trinity-Pawling QuadAngles

How Boys Learn: ScienceTrinity-Pawling School’s understanding of boys determines how our teachers present their curriculum to take advantage of the energy, imagination, creativity, and enthu-siasm of boys. Two examples of science les-sons this spring illustrate the point.

Free Fall Into Hell Eileen Wildman knows that amusement park rides are physics lessons waiting to happen. After introducing her upper school students to mechanics (force, acceleration, electro-magnetic propulsion), she asked them to apply their lessons in designing their own rides. Working in teams, the boys investigated the physics of their proposals and made either a model or scale drawings from three views of their ride. They also created an advertisement for their ride in a language other than English. Free fall experiences were popular. Craig Edmonds ’09, Michael Grace ’10, Map Teeravithayapinyo ’10, Evan Barker ’10 teamed up to design Free Fall Into Hell, a 500-foot drop that included 200 feet below ground. “The trick of the physics is how to get the passenger cart back up to the top. For this trick the group proposes to use the physics of springs, pressure and electromag-netic repulsion,” they wrote. Bryan Baldassarri ’09, Noah Weitzman ’09, Ben Dunbar ’09, Alex Lowell ’10, and

Robbie MacGregor ’09 worked together to design The Grand Canyon (Death Canyon). They describe their project: “The ride takes place on a huge scale—beginning with a monstrous, nay ridiculous, drop into a simulated Grand Canyon. The ride boasts high speed loops and corkscrews with a sec-ond energy input midway through the ride that brings the ride up a giant hill so that it

can nose dive and plunge into the canyon river below.” You can view a video of what happens when that simulated cart hits the water at our website (look in the March News Archives for “TP Physics: Free Fall Into Hell”). While the boys’ designs were limited to simulations (fortunately!), in May they tested real-life implementation of physics lessons on the roller coaster and other rides at Great Adventure amusement park in New Jersey.

Smell the JelloMeanwhile, middle schoolers learned the scientific method as they designed and con-ducted experiments for the annual science fair. James Kellogg, who teachers the sev-enth graders, explains that the science fair “is designed to push students to question how things work, how things are connected, and how we can use that knowledge.” Each student was required to research a hypothesis, run multiple experiments to test the hypothesis, and analyze the results. You can watch a short video of Joey Barone’s “Smell the Jello” experiment at T-P’s You Tube site (he was testing the links between smell, vision, and taste). It’s just a click away from our website: look for “Kid-pow-ered Science Fair” in the April news archive.Garfield Holland ’10, Guillermo Boisson ’09, and Jeff Nelson ’09 test a model of a ride they designed.

Joey Barone ’14 monitors Arthur Busick-Schneider ’14 as he attempts to identify jello flavors in a taste test.

Spring 2009 Trinity-Pawling QuadAngles 7

Looking for more news of T-P sports?

Find it on our website.

www.trinitypawling.org

For the second year in a row, the varsity lacrosse team has scored goals with a char-ity in mind. Goals for Ryan is the name of their effort to raise funds for the Pawling-based Ryan McElroy Children’s Cancer Foundation. “Goals for Ryan was our way of giving back,” said one of this year’s cap-tains, Steve Louro, who was part of the project during its inaugural year as well. During March break, team members recruited sponsors for every goal they would

A Big Win for Baseball

Robbie MacGegor ’09, (invisible within the hub-bub above) is congratulated by his teammates after belting a grand-slam with two outs and his team trailing Hotchkiss by a run in the bottom of the seventh inning. The team won 10-7.

More from the Hill

T-P students faired well this year in the col-lege process as once again more than 85% were accepted at their first or second choice college. In total, our students earned in excess of $1,500,000 in merit based/ath-letic scholarships. Many students chose value as the economy did play a role in final matricula-tion. Many of the highly selective colleges and universities chose to fill their incoming class with students who declared through Early Decision that the school was their first choice. This helps to guarantee yield on the college side and secures better finan-cial aid and scholarships for the students. Those boys who visited colleges over breaks and during the summer faired better as well, as schools want to see students dem-onstrate interest. The complete list of col-lege destinations follows. Arizona State, Berklee College of Music, Birmingham-Southern, Boston College,

Bowdoin College, Brandeis University, Campbell University, Castleton State College, Catholic University, College of Charleston, Columbia University, U. Connecticut, Cornell University, Delaware Valley College, U. Denver, Elmira College (3), Elms College, Elon University, Emory University, Gettysburg College, Hampden-Sydney College, U. Hartford (2), High Point University, Hobart College (2), Hofstra University (3), U. Illinois-Chicago, Indiana University, Ithaca College (2), Lasell College (3), LIU-C.W. Post, Lynchburg College, Manhattanville College (3), Marist College (3), Merrimack College (1), Michigan State University, Monmouth University, Nazareth College, New England College, New York Institute of Tech, New York University, Nichols College, Northeastern University (2), Pace University (3), Plymouth State University, Providence College, Rensselaer Polytechnic,

College Destinations for ’09

Roanoke College, Sacred Heart University (5), U. Southern California, St. Lawrence University, Stanford University, Stevenson University, Stony Brook University, SUNY Potsdam (2), SUNY Maritime College, Syracuse University, U. Tennessee, Trinity College (3, U. Vermont, Virginia Military Institute, U. Washington, Bothell, Wentworth Institute of Tech, Wesleyan University, Western New England University, Wittenberg University.

Valedictorian Leo Lugee Liyeung, seen at left with his T-P graduation awards, earned the Presidential Scholarship from Trinity College: four years full tuition.

Lacrosse Raises $3500+ for Children’s Cancer Groupscore during this season’s 15-game cam-paign. The team tallied 152 goals and was proud to have raised funds for such a wor-thy cause. Plans are already underway to continue this program in 2009-2010. “We are trying to teach these boys that it is our responsibility to help oth-ers as we have all been touched by cancer in some way,” said Joseph Tweed, head coach for lacrosse and director of College Counseling.

Non-Profit Org.US Postage

PAIDWaterbury, CTPermit No. 411

TRINITY-PAWLING SCHOOL700 ROUTE 22PAWLING, NY 12564(845) 855-3100WWW.TRINITYPAWLING.ORG

Welcome, New Alumni! See page 3.

Trinity-Pawling School is committed to conserving our world’s natural resources. This newsletter is printed on Chorus Art Silk paper containing 50% recycled content, including 25% post-consumer waste.

FP0FSC logo

Address Change Service Requested