mawrginalia, may/june 2014

Mawrginalia

• May/June 2014 •Mawrginalia [mawr-juh-ney-lee-uh]: Latin, plural noun. Notes, commentary

and similar material about or relating to The Bryn Mawr School.

Contents

CONNECT WITH BRYN MAWR!

Want to be up-to-date on what’s happening at Bryn Mawr? Check us out on social media:

facebook.com/BrynMawrSchool

twitter.com/BrynMawrSchool

6 34REGULARS4 | FROM OUR CLASS DAY SPEAKER

5 | REMAWRKS

6 | PICTURES OF THE MONTH Gym Drill, Senior Bell Ringing, ducklings in first grade, International Bazaar, eighth grade Latin Day, Little School Spring Sing, Little School Daisy Day, fifth grade closing assembly, eighth grade closing assembly

12 | MAWRTIAN MINUTES Senior Georgia Carroll Wins Honorable Mention in International Video Contest; Bryn Mawr Dedicates the Colhoun Terrace; Bryn Mawr Welcomes New Leaders

17 | TEACHERS’ CORNER

36 | SENIOR VOICES: THE CLASS OF 2014

PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION40 | THANKS FOR A GREAT YEAR!

ALUMNAE41 | ALUMNAE PHOTO OF THE MONTH

42 | DEVELOPING WOMEN OF DISTINCTION: KATHY MARTIEN SULLIVAN ’74

45 | ALUMNAE AWARDS & REUNION GIVING

46 | ALUMNAE WEEKEND PHOTOS

47 | ALUMNAE EVENTS IN BOSTON

47 | INTRODUCING: KUDOS!

http://www.facebook.com/brynmawrschool

http://twitter.com/brynmawrschool

Editor’s Note: We hope you enjoy reading each issue of Mawrginalia. If you ever have any comments, please email me!

Laurel M-O Weijer, Asst. Director of [email protected]

FEATURES 18 | THE CLASS OF 2014

ON THE COVER

Students process into the Graduation Garden for Graduation on June 10.

18

• THE NEXT STEP: COLLEGE REPORT• THE CLASS OF 2014: AN OVERVIEW

26 | CLASS DAY: HONORING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS

29 | SENIOR GIFT RAISES MORE THAN $107,000

30 | GRADUATION: IN PICTURES

34 | SPRING SPORTS REPORT Spring athletes play hard, have fun and win big on the track, fields and courts

Bryn Mawr is now on Instagram! Follow us to see all of the latest photo updates.

instagram.com/brynmawrschool

http://www.instagram.com/brynmawrschool

Regulars

FROM OUR CLASS DAY SPEAKER

4 / Mawrginalia / May/June 2014

“The events and memories

of these particular

days are the ones that

bind us as a community.”

Diane LevineUpper School English

Teacher

This year’s Class Day speaker was Upper School English teacher Diane Levine, who will retire in June after an accomplished career spanning 37 years at Bryn Mawr. Below are excerpts from her speech.

To the Class of 2014: remember that just as we are all proud of you to-day, we will always be proud of you, even at those moments, as Huck Finn would describe them, when “you light off for the Territory because you don’t want to be civilized” just yet. We will always lay claim to you as Bryn Mawrtians.

Some advice: First, keep abreast of the latest innovations in technology, but don’t forget that encounters between you and those who are your teachers and friends should include face-to-face contact. Only in this way can you establish authentic connections, ones that allow you to hear into-nations and different volumes of the voice, to see gestures, the raising of the eyebrows, the sharing of a joke or two and the giggles that follow, the movement of the hands to punctuate what is spoken. Take the time today during this ceremony and afterwards to look at one another and listen to what your classmates and the members of your family say to you. The events and memories of these particular days are and will be the ones that bind us as a community.

Second, slow down. Choose to be present in the here and now. Embrace the current moment without worrying whether you will miss out on some-thing. You won’t.

And finally: Be brave. Be willing to articulate and defend your beliefs, sometimes to change them. Have faith in your instincts and your point of view. Make a practice of sharing what you believe with others. Don’t be silent when you encounter social injustice. When you find your moral values challenged, when you hear or witness what is intolerable to you, respond. I would encourage you to react differently to human beings in need. Be willing to enter the fray. You’re strong enough to do it.

I am most honored to have had this opportunity to speak to you face to face before you and I together leave Bryn Mawr. It is fitting, I think, that I leave you with the words of Garrison Keillor, my favorite radio personality, the man who inhabits the fictional Minnesota town of Lake Wobegon. “Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.”

May/June 2014 / Mawrginalia / 5

REMAWRKS

Jennifer GalambosUpper School Director

“It is hard to imagine

a profession with richer

intrinsic rewards

than teaching.”

Bryn Mawr students and teachers honored two remarkable, long-term faculty members over the past few weeks by saluting them as each exited her final class. Lining the hallways and stairwells, students and faculty stood shoulder to shoulder and cheered loudly as 37-year veteran English teacher Diane Levine, and several days later, Director of Technology Lynn Byank, a 30-year Bryn Mawr teacher and administrator, bid farewell to the class-rooms that they have called home for decades. By the time each finished her path through the multitude of well-wishers, there was nary a dry eye among us.

By Bryn Mawr standards, the tradition of saluting a teacher who has dedi-cated 25 or more years to our school is very new. It was started two years ago when Arna Margolis, the standard bearer of excellence in the Upper School history department and a 46-year teaching veteran, ended her sto-ried career. In a school with a Gym Drill tradition that dates back 110 years, two years is barely a blip on the radar. But this is a tradition that has quickly found its way into our hearts.

It is well known that one does not embark on a teaching career to get rich. Yet it is hard to imagine a profession with richer intrinsic rewards than that of working each day with bright girls who possess a thirst for learning. Teaching is one of the very few careers in which one can retain the exact same title from start to finish, with little opportunity for upward mobility. And yet if you ask a veteran Bryn Mawr teacher what leads her or him to stay in the classroom for ten, twenty, thirty or more years, the response invariably is our students, and the work that we do with them. Their bright enthusiasm and unquenchable curiosity sustain us through the long nights of prepping and the Sunday afternoons spent grading papers.

Seeing girls run to get in line on the stairwell in time for the salute, over-hearing a junior rally her friends to make sure they joined in the celebration of Mrs. Levine, their teacher last year, and watching students acknowledge and cheer for their teachers reminds me of the magic that occurs, and the mutual respect that builds, between students and their teachers. It is in the midst of their former students, current students and colleagues that our teachers want to end their careers. We applaud both their remarkable com-mitment to Bryn Mawr and the innumerable ways that they have helped to shape, guide and change the lives of the girls to whom they have dedi-cated their careers.

PICTURES OF THE MONTH


GYM DRILL

Gym Drill, the most quint-essential Bryn Mawr tradi-tion, brought together the

community for the 110th

year in a row to showcase the cultural and ethnic

dances girls have been learning in dance class.

New routines for 2014 included dances from Greece and Ukraine.


Bryn Mawr is now onInstagram! Follow us to see more great photos of school life.

SENIOR BELL RINGING

On Monday, May 19, the Class of 2014 celebrated their last official day on campus with the traditional bell ringing, a ritual in which each senior asks a few underclassmen friends to join her as she rings the school bell. It looked like so much fun that the kindergartners wanted to join in!

http://instagram.com/brynmawrschool#


DUCKLINGS IN FIRST GRADE

EIGHTH GRADE LATIN DAY

Each year, girls in first grade learn all about ducks in preparation for incubating and hatching their own ducklings. This year, the girls were so excited to welcome five ducklings, which they

named Fluffy, Appleball, Elizabeth, Rachel and Peanut. After a short time at Bryn Mawr, the ducklings transferred to their new home, a farm owned by a Bryn Mawr grandparent.

The Class of 2018 Latinists clinched

a victory in the chariot race on Latin Day! With

their counterparts from GarrisonForest, eighth

graders enjoyed a day the Roman way, dressing in

togas, enjoying a Roman lunch,

participating in a fashion show

and acting out scenes from Ro-

man history.


INTERNATIONAL BAZAAR

The annual fourth grade International Ba-zaar, another favorite Bryn Mawr tradition, took place in mid-May, and it was a big success! In preparation for the event, girls spent time researching their countries and preparing food and crafts to sell at their booths. The turnout was fantastic, and all proceeds were donated to a Peace Corps project of the girls' choice.


LITTLE SCHOOL SPRING SING

The Little School held the an-nual Spring Sing at the end of May, giving the children

a chance to show off all the music and dance skills they've

learned this year. It was a wonderful event, and fun was

definitely had by all.

Check out our

Facebook page to

view more photos

of school events!

http://www.facebook.com/BrynMawrSchool

LITTLE SCHOOL DAISY DAY


Near the beginning of June the Little School celebrated Daisy Day, bidding fare-well to those students who will be moving on to the Lower School or entering new schools in the fall. The children loved sing-ing songs and receiv-ing their daisies. After the small ceremony was over, they enjoyed an exciting "indoor pic-nic" in the cafeteria!


FIFTH GRADE CLOSING ASSEMBLY

On the last day of school, the fourth and fifth grades gathered for their

closing assembly, which celebrated the fifth grade’s contributions to the

Lower School. Each girl shared a favorite memory from her time at the

Lower School, and then received a special Bryn Mawr charm from Ms. Walsh and Mrs. Broadus. After the

assembly conclud-ed, they officially

“graduat-ed” from

their Low-er School jumpers. So long,

bibs...hello

skirts!


EIGHTH GRADE CLOSING ASSEMBLY

On the morning of June 9, the eighth grade gathered for their closing as-sembly. After enjoying a slideshow put together by their teachers, the girls lis-tened to remarks from Headmistress Maureen Walsh (herself an eighth grade parent), Middle School Director Amanda Macomber, and their classmate, Lucy Kaufman ’18, before celebrating their

successful completion of middle school with a reception on the Carey Quad.


MAWRTIAN MINUTESNoteworthy news from around the school

Senior Georgia Carroll Wins Honorable Mention in International Video Contest

Early in May, Georgia Carroll ’14 earned an Honorable Men-tion for an original video on population and climate change. Carroll produced the video for the “World of 7 Billion” stu-dent video contest, which is sponsored by Population Con-nection, a grass roots organization dedicated to educating people about the troubles with overpopulation.

In her video, entitled “The Way We Live,” Carroll focuses on the issue of climate change. Carroll made the short film as a final project for AP Environmental Science, and says that she pursued this project because she is interested in raising awareness about the problems linked to overpopulation. Click here to watch the video.

Carroll told Population Connection that, while she was previ-ously aware of population issues, the process of research-ing the topic helped emphasize how large a number seven

billion really is. “It’s such a hard concept to understand because those kinds of numbers don’t really exist in my everyday life,” she said.

“The Way We Live” is Carroll’s first video, and she had to learn a lot about production and the vari-ous filming options. She chose to use hand-drawn pictures after seeing several effective videos that used simple, clear graphics. The next challenge was to plan what she wanted to say and to keep the script under one minute. Her final video featured original graphics and a clear message on the rela-tionship between climate change and population growth.

In the fall, Carroll will attend Middlebury College in Vermont, where she will play lacrosse and may pursue environmental studies. In total, Population Connection received 929 entries for the contest that came from 27 different countries around the world. A panel of 26 judges, including college and high school educators, filmmakers, and professionals working on sustainability, selected the finalists. In each of the three categories—climate change, global poverty, and water sustainability—first and second places were awarded, as well as two honorable mentions.

http://www.worldof7billion.org/student_video_contest/2013_2014_winners

On May 2, under a glorious late af-ternoon sky, Headmistress Maureen E. Walsh and special guests, includ-ing many former chairs of the Board of Trustees, celebrated the naming of the Colhoun Terrace in honor of Howard “Pete” Colhoun. Pete Colhoun is the father of Bryn Mawr alumnae Lisa Colhoun Conner ’82, Nina Colhoun Wilson ’84, and Robin Colhoun Catlin ’92. The Colhoun Terrace, located on the north side of the North Building, was named in recognition of Colhoun’s long-term commitment and generosity to Bryn Mawr.

“Pete has been an important part of Bryn Mawr’s community for more than four decades,” Walsh said at the celebration. “He joined the Board of Trustees in 1973 and he has served on board committees ever since! He has been a philanthropic leader at Bryn Mawr for as long as he’s been involved on the board. We are incredibly grateful to him for his generosity, vision, and steadfast leadership of Bryn Mawr.”

Colhoun became involved with the Board of Trustees because, he says, “Bryn Mawr had very high academic standards—and still does—and was trying to promote leadership, self-confidence and tak-ing risks. I wanted that for my daughters.”

Colhoun created the Ella Speer Colhoun & Elizabeth Atkinson Reynolds Faculty Fund, established the Colhoun Lecture Series, the Women and Philanthropy Philanthropic Roundtable, and most re-cently funded the Invest in Girls financial literacy program for Bryn Mawr Upper School students. And he has always, most generously, supported the Annual Fund.

Outside of his work with Bryn Mawr, Colhoun is an experienced businessman, having spent many years working in finance and sharing his knowledge of the industry with television audiences. A graduate of Princeton University and the Harvard Business School, Colhoun was a Fulbright Scholar in Norway before starting his career in finance. He is an avid philanthropist, donating to worthy orga-nizations around the world.

“We are so grateful to Pete for his support,” says Walsh. “He has made an enormous difference for generations of Bryn Mawr students and teachers.”


Bryn Mawr Dedicates Colhoun Terrace

Pete Colhoun, pictured with Headmistress Maureen E. Walsh and daughter Nina Colhoun Wilson ’84.

Justin Curtis will be the director of technology. Currently serving as Bryn Mawr’s website developer, Curtis is a graduate of Stevenson University, where he majored in computer information systems and visual communication. He also holds a Master of Science in Information Systems and Technology from Johns Hopkins University.

Curtis has been at Bryn Mawr for eleven years. Over that time, he has steadily taken on more responsibilities, including teaching AP Computer Science and iPhone App Development, technology electives in the Upper School. He has also been actively involved in all phases of Bryn Mawr’s technology initiatives, both inside and outside of the classroom. His hard work and dedication were recognized on Founders Day in 2009, when he received the Blair D. Stam-baugh Award, given each year to the faculty or staff member who has contrib-uted the most to the overall welfare and well-being of the school community.

“Empowering our girls to use technology in an innovative manner is at the core of our mission,” Curtis says. “I am excited to have the opportunity to lead Bryn Mawr’s technological initiatives and build on our robust computer science curriculum.”

Rebekah Jackson will be Bryn Mawr’s director of enrollment management. Jackson is an alumna of James Madison University, where she graduated cum laude with a degree in media arts and design and a minor in corporate com-munication. She also holds a master’s degree in Public Policy with a focus in Education Policy from UMBC.

Jackson comes to Bryn Mawr from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was senior associate director of admissions and financial aid for the MBA program. In this role, she was responsible for the recruitment, evaluation, and selection of more than 6,000 applicants annu-ally. Prior to joining Wharton, Jackson worked at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County for nine years, serving as an admissions counselor, external communications coordinator, assistant director of undergraduate admissions and orientation, and finally associate director of undergraduate admissions and orientation. Jackson is also a member of the Graduate Management Ad-mission Council.

“I am thrilled join the exceptional faculty, staff, and students who make up the Bryn Mawr community,” Jackson says. “From my first experience on campus, the Mawrtian pride was palpable and I look forward to sharing this enthusiasm with current and future families.”


Bryn Mawr Welcomes New Leaders

Bryn Mawr is pleased to announce two new leaders who are joining the school administration, begin-ning this summer:

TEACHERS’ CORNEREach month we profile three teachers to give them a chance to share, in their own words, their thoughts on Bryn Mawr and their teaching philosophies.

Lora PetersMiddle School Science

Years at Bryn Mawr: 2 Years Teaching: 10

Your first came to Bryn Mawr as a parent. Why did you choose Bryn Mawr for your daughter?

I loved the academics, I loved the athletics, and I loved the fact that she was going to be in a really supportive environment—one that is supportive of strong girls. This is a really great community.

What do you like the most about teaching at Bryn Mawr?

I like middle school girls. I like the challenges, I like that you can go into some depth with them, and that they are enthusiastic and happy. There is a lot of energy with middle school girls, and I love that. I think that, growing in an all-girls environment, they learn to be more confident in themselves. I feel very strongly that there are benefits to girls finding their voices among girls, especially in middle school when they are trying to figure out who they are.

What is your teaching philosophy?

My philosophy is that you learn by doing, and for science in particular, the best way to learn it is by doing the science. I also think it is important to relate it to the real world. Our curriculum for sixth grade science really lends itself to that because we find ways to tie in current events and the world around us.

Patti Rickert-WilburHead Librarian

Years at Bryn Mawr: 9 Years as a librarian: 30

What brought you to Bryn Mawr?

I had always worked in college libraries, and I felt that I wanted to go in a new direction. I’ve always liked working with students, and when I came to Bryn Mawr, I felt that there was a strong sense of community. There is a very definite sense that our students are why we are here—they are our top priority. There is also a lot of interaction between the staff, the faculty and the students, and I really like that.

What do you feel are the library skills and research methods girls should know by the time they graduate?

They are inundated with information—we all are—and we work with them in every grade to make sure that they are learning how to do research, to select good, reliable information, and that they know how to navigate through information in all different formats. By the time they graduate, we want them to have solid research skills, to know the difference between scholarly information and popular information, and to feel ready to do research at the college level.

You started as a ninth grade advisor this year. What do you like about advising?

I felt like I was at a point when I was ready for a new challenge, and I wanted to get to know the girls better. I love advising—it helps me feel very connected to the community.

Diane LevineUpper School English

Years at Bryn Mawr: 37 Years Teaching: 45

What do you like the most about teaching at Bryn Mawr?

First, my students—and I am going to miss them terribly. I think that they have always known what they wanted to achieve, and they have worked to achieve it. Second, my colleagues. I can’t think of a better group of people to be among.

What is your teaching philosophy?

My teaching philosophy is to go where the students are. We have a curriculum and a body of knowledge that we want them to grasp. But my philosophy is to adjust the level of complexity to what the students are able to take in, and then push them just a little bit harder. Hopefully by the end of the unit of work we’re doing, they have hit the mark. I would say that more often than not, they do. When I look back at where they were in September, I can see a great deal of growth, and it is extraordinary. I think the culture of the school is such that they know education is something to value.

What is the biggest change you’ve seen over your 37 years at Bryn Mawr?

The number of activities in which the girls are involved. I hope that above all they learn to make good choices, and not to become involved in so many things that they are feeling fragmented.


Features


THE CLASS OF


THE CLASS OF 2 0 1 4

COLLEGE REPORT 2014

The next step

The 72 talented and motivated students of The Bryn Mawr School Class of 2014 will attend 59 colleges and universities in 22 states across the U.S., as well as one foreign country.

Eighty-five percent will study out of state. Ivy League, “Ivy Plus” and other top-tier institutions are well represented on the Bryn Mawr Class of 2014 college list.

Director of College Counseling Patti Whalen has guided Bryn Mawr girls through this process for 14 years. She leads a team of three—College Counselors Jerry Brown and Bill Waters, and Administrative Assistant Courtney Watkins—and together they work to help girls figure out what

they value in an education and what kind of school would fit them best. “What we want to help them do is figure out who they are, what their values are, and how to articulate that to the world,” Whalen says.

The end goal of the college counseling process at Bryn Mawr is for each girl to find the right “fit”—a program that will be both challenging and fulfilling.

The Class of 2014 cast a wide net, applying to schools across the country and around the world. An unprecedented 100% of the class applied either early decision or early action to at least one school. After a whirlwind admissions season, the class received a total of 289 acceptances, including to many highly selective

institutions.

Senior Kiva Sewell got a peek into the college process long before she began her own applications, as an intern in the College Counseling office. But when the time came for her to make her own list, she confesses, “I had no idea where I wanted to go, and I was really selling myself short.” Sewell says that the counselors pushed her to aim high with her applications, and also gave her

Rachel Park

Princeton University

Prospective major: Computer Science

Hear Rachel’s story >

https://www.brynmawrschool.org/voices/interviews/rachel14

information about the Questbridge program, which provides full scholarships for outstanding students from low-income backgrounds. Sewell applied and was selected as a Questbridge Scholar. However, after doing her research, she realized that the University of Pennsylvania was her top choice. She decided to apply early decision and was accepted. “I like Penn because the faculty really talk to their students, like they do here at Bryn Mawr,” Sewell explains. “I also really like that it is a campus within a city.”

For Rachel Park ‘14, the college process started much earlier than for many of her classmates. A skilled field hockey player, Park began looking at colleges in ninth grade; by the time she was a sophomore, she had received her first offer to play hockey at the college level. “It was so exciting, and of course I wanted to say yes,” Park remembers. “But with the help of my coaches and my parents—they told me, ‘wait, see what comes the next year or two, and we think you’ll be really happy.’”

Shaelyn Rhinehart

University of Rochester

Prospective majors:

Neuroscience and Music

Read Shae’s story >

Park committed to play field hockey at Princeton University in her junior year. Even though her college application process was over very early in comparison to her classmates, Park understood what her friends were going through. “I definitely empathized with the stress that they had looking at colleges and applying to colleges,” she says. “I did the same thing when I was talking to coaches and looking at schools.”

Park is one of 14 members of the Class of 2014 who will continue their athletic careers in college. Like her classmates, Park wanted to ensure that she could strike a balance. She chose Princeton because she felt it would be the right mix of academics and athletics. “Something that Bryn Mawr has always instilled in me is that my academics comes before even my sports,” Park says. “But I’ve also invested a lot of time and effort into playing hockey, [and it is] something that I really love. I wanted to see how far I can go with that past high school.”

Alice SheehanUniversity of

Chicago

Prospective majors: International Studies and Film

Hear Alice’s story >

https://www.brynmawrschool.org/voices/interviews/shaelyn14

https://www.brynmawrschool.org/voices/interviews/alice14

Kiva Sewell

University of Pennsylvania

Prospective major:

Psychology

Hear Kiva’s story >

For other members of the Class of 2014, college offers the chance to pursue a new interest. Shaelyn Rhinehart ’14 says she first discovered her fascination with neuroscience while doing something rather mundane. “I was walking down the stairs to math class, and I had an epiphany,” Rhinehart recalls. “I stopped my friends and said, ‘we’re walking down stairs and we’re not even looking at them! We looked at the first step, and our brain calculated or estimated the distance that our foot had to travel to get to the next one. How is our consciousness doing this? It’s the coolest thing ever!’”

Delving into the interest sparked by that initial ‘a ha’ moment, Rhinehart discovered the field of cognitive neuroscience. After more research, she decided that she wanted to combine it with her first love, music. Then, the trick became finding the right college for that. When she attended the information session for the University of Rochester, something clicked. “The first thing the admissions representative said was, ‘this is

the school for the person who loves everything they do. They are unwilling to give up any of their passions because they love all of them,’” Rhinehart says. “I’ve been struggling with what I want to be when I grow up since second grade, because I always felt like I have to choose. [But] with cognitive neuroscience and music at Rochester, and with the flexibility they give you to do everything, I don’t have to make that choice. I can make everything I love into one thing.”

Like Rhinehart, many members of the class are looking forward to exploring new topics of study. Alice Sheehan ’14, who will attend the University of Chicago, hopes to double major in international studies and film. “I’ve always been very interested in politics, and I’ve always been interested in working abroad, with the UN or a human rights organization,” Sheehan explains. “I think I want to combine [that with film] through documentaries. Film is such an amazing medium. It affects people in ways that


Tori GumtowGeorgia Tech

Prospective major: Computer Science

Read Tori’s story >

https://www.brynmawrschool.org/voices/interviews/kiva14

https://www.brynmawrschool.org/voices/interviews/tori14

Fourteen athletes from the Class of 2014 will play a sport in college. They are, from left to right: (back row); Kendall Sinosky–crew, Zoe Derrickson–soccer, Margaret Pollack–swimming, Anna Yung–volleyball; (middle row) Korby Simpson–swimming, Molly Weinstock–swimming, Dani Hogarth–soccer, Maggie Kane–lacrosse, Katie Groenke–lacrosse, Zoe Zawisa–basket-ball; (front row) Georgia Carroll–lacrosse, Peyton Capute–squash, Rachel Park–field hockey, and Megan Kastner–lacrosse.

other media don’t, and affects the way they think about and decide things.”

As an aspiring filmmaker, Sheehan strongly considered attending the University of Southern California, a well-regarded school for film. Ultimately, though, it was the question of “fit” that made her decision easy. “The University of Chicago—I fell in love with it,” Sheehan says. “I fell in love with the people, I fell in love with the culture. And more than that, I think that it is the place that I am going to be happy, and that is going to help me become who I want to be later in life.”

For Tori Gumtow ‘14, fit was also an important consideration. Gumtow has had an interest in technology as long as she can remember, and in middle school that interest became

directed toward computer science. At Bryn Mawr, Gumtow has taken nearly every technology elective offered, and in her senior year, she served as a teaching assistant for AP Computer Science. Next year, Gumtow will head to Georgia Tech to earn a degree in computer science. She plans to pursue software engineering, and although she isn’t completely sure what that will lead to, she is excited to see where it takes her. “At Georgia Tech, you choose from two ‘threads’ that make up your major,” Gumtow explains. “The threads might lead to robotics, to animation—there are so many different options.”

Gumtow is certain of one thing: she is ready for her next step. “Bryn Mawr has given me so many opportunities to expand my knowledge,” she says. “I feel really well prepared for college.”


THE CLASS OF

2 0 1 4AN OVERVIEW

SOME FUN FACTS ABOUT THE CLASS OF 2014...

Together, the class earned more than

$2,000,000

in scholarship offers, including...

1 Gates Millennium Scholarship

2 Questbridge Scholarships

2 Meyerhoff Scholarships

1 Emory Woodruff Scholarship

13 are scholar athletes (GPA of 87 or higher

+ 2 varsity sports)

32 play at least one

musical instrument (8 play at least 2!)

25 have run a race (5K, 10K, etc.)

72 have performed a combined

total of more than

6500 hours of

community service

37 have held a STEM or humanities internship while in Upper School

72girls in thegraduating

class

22 states

(incl. D.C.) ...and

Scotland!

will attend 59

colleges and universities in

MATRICULATION LIST

• Barnard College• Boston University• Brown University• Carnegie Mellon

University• Case Western Reserve

University• Champlain College• Coastal Carolina University• Colgate University• College of the Holy Cross• College of William and

Mary• Columbia University• Cornell University• Duke University• Emory University• Franklin and Marshall

College• Georgia Institute of

Technology• Haverford College• Hobart and William Smith

Colleges• Howard University• Ithaca College• Johns Hopkins University• Loyola University Maryland• Macalester College• Maryland Institute College

of Art• McDaniel College• Middlebury College• New York University• Northeastern University• Occidental College• Pomona College

• Princeton University• Sarah Lawrence College• Spelman College• Stanford University• Trinity College• Tufts University• Tulane University• University of Alabama• University of California at

Los Angeles• University of Chicago• University of Delaware• University of Maryland,

Baltimore County• University of Maryland,

College Park• University of Michigan• University of North Carolina

at Chapel Hill• University of Pennsylvania• University of Richmond• University of Rochester• University of Scranton• University of Southern

California• University of St. Andrews• University of Virginia• Villanova University• Virginia Commonwealth

University• Virginia Polytechnic Institute

and State University• Warren Wilson College• Whitman College• Whittier College• Yale University

A name in bold signifies that more than one student is attending.

11 have attended

Bryn Mawr since kindergarten

17 have a family mem-ber who attended

Bryn Mawr

15 have traveled abroad with a

school-sponsored program

16 have participated in a tri-school theater

production

36have been leaders

of a club or all-school organization

ACADEMIC HONORS

More than

34% of the class was

recognized by the National Merit Program and the

College Board, including...

15 National Merit Commended Scholars3 National Achievement Commended Scholars

2 National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholars 4 National Merit Finalists

1 National Achievement Finalist



HONORING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS

Class Day


On Monday, June 9, the Upper School community gathered to celebrate the student achievements of the 2013-2014 school year, and to recognize the hard work and dedication of the senior class.

Retiring English teacher Diane Levine, concluding her 37-year career at Bryn Mawr, gave a wonderful speech exhorting the girls to take the time to really be present in their lives as they continue their educational journeys. Seniors Ali McShane and Alexus Roane regaled the audience with a comedic list of their top tips for the underclassmen, while fellow senior Jessica Call gave a beautiful reflection on the intangibles that bind Bryn Mawr girls together.

Afterward, the graduating leaders of the five all-school organizations—Student Government Association, the Athletic Association, Arts Council, Community Service Learning and Community Alliance for Everyone (CAFE)—passed their gavels, and the mantle of leadership, to the incoming presidents. Once the ceremony concluded, seniors were formally welcomed into the Alumnae Association with cupcakes and t-shirts.

Congratulations to all of the award winners, and to the Class of 2014!

Julia McHenry Howard AwardSerena Thaw-Poon ’18

Frances Virginia Wentz Turner PrizeAudrey Song ’14

Community Service PrizeErin Moore ’14

Class of 1953 PrizeLindsay Sanders ’14

Parents’ Association AwardAlexa Philippou ’14

The Wurtzburger CupAnna Yung ’14

Caryatid AwardAmy Singer ’14

Alumnae AwardsLaura Hawes ’14Alex Saiontz ’14Kiva Sewell ’14Christine Wyatt ’14


Public Speaking AwardSarah Bond ’14

Agnes Whiting Memorial AwardNia Ebrahim ’14

State of Maryland Scholastic AwardsLindsay Hexter ’14 Alex Saiontz ’14Alexa Philippou ’14 Anne Wondisford ’14

Bryn Mawr College PrizeClaire Drigotas ’15

Edith Hamilton AwardFeddi Roth ’15

Class of 1943 Cups Arts Council—Lizzie Smith ’15 Athletic Association—Anna Hart ’15 Community Alliance for Everyone— Sydney Okolo ‘15 Community Service Learning— Xiaoxiao Taoli ’16 Student Government Association— Teresa Norman ‘15

The Bryn Mawr School Scholarship(awarded at Graduation)Alexa Philippou ’14

Departmental Awards (given at the Awards Assembly in late April)

Creative Writing AwardJessica Call ’14

Ruth Bridgman Pagon Memorial AwardCriss Moon ’14

Lawrason Perkins deMuth Prize in HistoryAlice Sheehan ’14

Rosemary Elliott Keyser Harder Art AwardKorby Simpson ’14

Frances Wyatt Chisolm Photography PrizeNat Raum ’14

Music PrizeShaelyn Rhinehart ’14


Class of 1974 Prize for Performing ArtsLaura Hawes ’14

Evelyn Estey Sanders Classics AwardCriss Moon ’14

Yvonne Green Goodhue Modern Language PrizeAlizay Jalisi ’14

Clare Coriell Hardy Award in the SciencesAnne Wondisford ’14

Britten Moore Math AwardAnne Wondisford ’14

Computer Science AwardTori Gumtow ’14

Ann Pugh AwardDani Hogarth ‘14

Gymnasium CupClass of 2014

SENIOR CLASS GIFT RAISES MORE THAN $107,000

On Class Day, the results of the 2014 Senior Gift effort were announced. The drive was a huge success, raising more than $107,000, with an incredible 93% of senior families contributing or pledging to the Annual Fund in support and honor of Bryn Mawr’s wonderful faculty! This is the highest level of support that the Senior Gift effort has recorded in eight years. Thanks to all of the donors, and congratulations to the Class of 2014 Senior Gift Chairs Howard and Grace Pollack, and their com-mittee: Susan and Clay Capute, Ziba and Greg Franks, Peggy Mainor and Andy Freeman, Kris and Steve Groenke, Vicki and Karl Gumtow, Robin and David Hexter, Leslie and Dick Leitch, Karen Paterakis Philip-pou ‘86 and George Philippou, Eric and Gaby Saiontz, Ernie Reitz, and Lamarge Wyatt.

Howard and Grace Pollack with daughter Marga-ret, Class of 2014.


IN PICTURES

Graduation


View all of the Class Day and Graduation Photos on

our Facebook page: facebook.com/Bryn-

MawrSchool



TWO GRADUATIONS, ONE DRESS

When Nat Raum ‘14 attended the Alumnae Association’s gently used dress sale earlier this year, one frock immediately caught her eye. For the bargain price of only $10 (plus a little tailoring), Raum (pic-tured, far left) had her graduation dress, and a neat alumnae connec-tion. The dress originally belonged to Caroline Haislip (left), who wore it to her graduation in 2007. “It’s cool to think that another Bryn Mawr alum loved this dress too,” Raum said.


GEORGIE SMITH '72 GIVES COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS

This year's Commencement speaker was Georgie Smith, Class of 1972. Smith served as a trustee of Bryn Mawr for 12 years, including terms as the chair of the Buildings and Grounds Committee and Board Chair. Smith’s great aunt was M. Carey Thomas, one of Bryn Mawr’s founders, and Smith’s family has remained active in the Bryn Mawr community since 1885. Below are excerpts from her address.

It gives me special pleasure to speak with you, the Class of 2014. I know that you are an incredibly gifted and diverse group of strong young women of whom the school, your parents and families are deeply proud. I am awed by your hard work, your dedication to your classmates and the choices you have made for yourselves beyond your life at Bryn Mawr. And while this moment is a celebration of your achievements thus far, so too, it is your commencement, the beginning of your next phase of independence.

You leave this beautiful place, your friends and mentors with a lifelong gift. This gift is framed by your teachers’ and your families’ steadfast belief in you as a woman and in all your possibilities. This boundless belief in you supports a collection of skills that sets you apart from your peers. Bryn Mawr has taught you to think critically, speak and write clearly, read, study and debate at the highest levels. She has instilled in you resilience, composure and a sense of leadership. You are now prepared for whatever choices you want to make. Bryn Mawr’s greatest hope is that you will take her toolbox, discover your pas-sion, and choose a life that you truly love.

So now, Class of 2014, it is your turn. The world and all its challenges, com-plexity and opportunity is your canvas. Each of you is poised to make your mark. Remember, there is no one way, there is no one story. I hope you allow life to surprise you and that you find many diverse passions along the way. Do so knowing that the spirit of Bryn Mawr lies deep within you, urging you on, believing in your possibilities. You are ready. Congratulations and go with pas-sion, Class of 2014!



SPRING SPORTS REPORT

Even with a young squad this year, the Varsity Softball team showed a great deal of maturity and promise. “The freshman class brought an optimistic outlook and positive attitude to the program, complementing our veterans’ drive and determination,” Head Coach James Brown said. “This year’s team showed great chemistry and really bonded as a team.”

Some highlights from this year included a grand slam by Auburn Stephen-son ’15 in the match with Garrison Forest; Emily Maranto ’15 getting close to hitting for the cycle with a home run, triple, and single; and holding Mount DeSales—a team that beat everyone else in the league by a double score—to five runs in five innings.

The highlight of the Varsity Golf team’s sea-son was achieving back-to-back undefeated seasons, something no Bryn Mawr golf team has accomplished before. The team’s big-gest win came in their first match, against Archbishop Spalding, which came down to

the last match, last hole and very last putt. The team started out the season right with that first win, and went on to defend their unbeaten record. Coach Jamie Watson said, “In the end, they will remember each other, the thrill of competition and being their best. It was an honor to be a part of their journey and their future is very bright!”

Varsity Softball

Coaches: James Brown, Courtney

Glancy

Golf

Coaches: Jamie Wat-son, Cassie Andrzjewski

The wet weather this spring was a particular challenge for the track team, making it difficult for them to do quality work. Despite that, the team prevailed. After a solid sea-son of dual meets, the team put it all together at the championship meet, finishing 7th out of 16 teams with 42 points, a significant improvement over last year’s 9th place finish with 19 points. “With a group of mostly freshman and sophomores, this team has a lot of prom-ise,” said Head Coach Jim Lancaster. Captains Lydia Knepprath ’14, Alice Sheehan ’14, Tess Sheets ’14 and Monita Travis ’15 also did a great job of keeping the team together while having fun.


The highlights of the 2014 la-crosse season did not revolve around wins and losses, great individual performances or victo-ries. The highlights of the season were the times this group of 28 hard-working girls spent together, whether on the field getting bet-

ter in practice, on a lazy Sunday afternoon at pick-up, or on a long bus ride after a fun trip to Hilton Head. Although the team was large and relatively inexperienced, the seniors helped create an atmosphere where each player was dedicated to the team’s success and worked to get better every day. “While our final game did not end how we would have liked, the team competed valiantly, playing hard and playing together, staging an amazing comeback and almost pulling off a victory over a very talented Ro-land Park team,” said Coach Wendy Kridel. “The girls have much to be proud of. “

Varsity Lacrosse

Coaches: Wendy Kridel, Kim Simons, Melissa Coyne, Kim

Dubansky

Varsity & J.V. Badminton

Coaches: Terry De-torie and Matilde

Taborda-Almaguer

This was the first season coaching badminton for De-torie and Taborda, and, at first, the coaches didn’t re-ally know what to expect. “After a few weeks, we realized we had players who were willing to do and try whatever we asked of them,” said Detorie. “They worked hard, made adjustments and worked on agility and match skills.” The level of com-petition in the A conference was

very high, and while, the team struggled to win matches, Detorie says they never stopped working to improve. The culmination of this work took center stage during the last match against St. Paul’s, when the team finally achieved a hard-fought win, 4-3.

Track & Field

Coaches: Jim Lan-caster, Neil Weijer, Joan Casey, Erin

Brooks


SENIOR VOICES: THE CLASS OF 2014Each year, seniors have the opportunity to present issues that matter to them to their classmates. Most do this in the form of a Senior Convocation—a fifteen-minute speech on any topic. In every issue, we highlight excerpts from convocations given recently. Occasionally, we will also highlight other senior speeches given at special occasions, letting members of the Class of 2014 share, in their own words, what matters to them.

In this issue, we are featuring the six Edith Hamilton Scholars from the Class of 2014. Every year, the Edith Hamilton Scholars Program gives several seniors the chance to complete a yearlong independent study project on a topic of their choice. Projects are ungraded, and each girl presents her work to the Upper School student body in a convocation near the end of the year. Below, the Class of 2014 Scholars detail the interesting and diverse topics they tackled this year.

ALEXA PHILIPPOU

Regulars

As a lifelong resident of the greater Baltimore area, I have always been intrigued by our city, particularly by the ways in which it is a paradox: there are parts that look like they are straight out of “The Wire,” but there are also parts that are thriving areas of culture, sports, and community. This fascination spurred my interest in completing an Edith Hamilton research project on urban renewal in Baltimore. I ended up studying Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's plan "Change to Grow," which seeks to improve Baltimore's financial stability. My goal was to see whether her plan will achieve its ultimate goal of bringing 10,000 families to Baltimore City over the next decade. I also gave some suggestions of my own that I believe could help achieve the mayor's objective.

My ultimate conclusion was that the mayor's financial plan is necessary for creating a fiscally-sound city government, but will not be enough to increase the city's population numbers. To meet this goal, I offered specific suggestions for how to reduce crime, improve schools, bring businesses to the city and more. For years I have thought that I would go into journalism, but after completing this project, I have developed a greater interest in urban planning and in perhaps returning to my hometown after college so that I can work to improve the city. This may involve a career in public service, something I had not considered before my project. We shall see!

Alexa will attend Stanford University in the fall.


ANNE WONDISFORD

Since June 2012, I have been volunteering at the Pediatric Emergency Department (ED) at Johns Hopkins Hospital. For my Edith Hamilton project, I worked to correlate patient wait times with patient volume and staffing levels for physicians and nurses in the new Pediatric ED on Orleans Street. I then compared this data to historical data obtained from the old Pediatric ED located on Monument Street, which operated from 1960 to 2012. My goal was to analyze the data from a systems engineering approach, which attempts to manage a complex problem by breaking it down into its individual parts and examining how these parts are interrelated. My conclusion was that the new ED was clearly designed with the patient in mind, and most staff and patients believe that the design works. For example, patient satisfaction increased

LAURA HAWES

greatly. One way to measure patient satisfaction is to determine how many patients leave the emergency room without being seen. Patient satisfaction can also be determined by how many patients leave the emergency room against medical advice. Both of these measures decreased significantly in the redesigned ED. However, the new design was not created with physicians in mind, and in some ways, it has made the work of the doctors and nurses more difficult. Based on the data I gathered, I believe that a more

advantageous design would be a compromise between the old layout and the new layout. I believe this would remedy some of the problems that have arisen in the renovation of the ED without compromising patient care.

Anne will attend the University of Pennsylvania.

For my Edith Hamilton Scholars project, I explored gender inequality in the film industry and its role in perpetuating a society that renders people who do not identify with the male gender invisible. The second part of my project consisted of filming a short documentary that drew on the experiences of local independent filmmakers and advocated for Bryn Mawr students to become involved in making films and engaging in this dialogue. Through my studies I found that in order to get diverse groups of people and perspectives on film screens, a diverse body of people needs to work behind the camera. The goal of my project was to inspire some young women from Bryn Mawr to take steps towards helping to achieving greater gender equality in the movie industry both on the screen and off. Although I do not see myself pursuing a career in film, I am looking forward to taking courses in Gender Studies during college.

Laura will attend Sarah Lawrence College.


SOPHIE FREEMAN

For my Edith Hamilton project, I chose to study how American Indians are portrayed in museums. Specifically, I wanted to find out what museums are teaching about Indian history and culture and how this portrayal is contributing to the perception that Indian people are only alive in history books. I became interested in the topic when I interned for Della Warrior at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture (MIAC). Ms. Warrior is the first woman chief of the Otoe Tribe of Oklahoma, and the first Indian director of the MIAC. Under her direction, the way Indian culture is portrayed at the MIAC is changing, from dusty artifacts indicative of a dead or dying

race to live cultural exhibitions demonstrating the persistence and flourishing of Indian culture today. To better understand how this project could be undertaken, I visited eight museums and cultural centers in the United States and Mexico, interviewed museum professionals, read any article I could find on the topic, and visited days of cultural celebration on the pueblos in New Mexico.

I learned an incredible amount about attitudes toward American Indian people from the first landing of Christopher Columbus until today. I needed to educate myself about the history —the reasons why American Indians were relegated to museums in the first place—to understand why they are portrayed the way they are. It was encouraging to learn that as Indian directors take charge of museums about American Indians, attitudes are changing. Museums like the National Museum of the American Indian have transformed into vibrant educational centers that not only teach the history of the native peoples of America, but also showcase the art, culture, and lives of Indian people today.

Sophie will attend Yale University and hopes to study anthropology.

For my Edith Hamilton project, I chose to study the art of translating a quantitative language into a language of accentuated stress, focusing on the mechanics of meter. In other words, I completed original translations of Latin love poetry into English set in the original classical meters.

I know that I want to study classics in college because I am so interested in Latin, poetry, and Latin poetry. But I wanted to study this through the Edith Hamilton program because of the platform it required: a convocation in front of the whole Upper School. People have always wondered why I

CRISS MOON

computer science, so this project exposed me to the intersection of these two areas, through research. I also wanted to learn more about computer science. Learning Python gave me a head start on programming.

The first step in my project was to teach myself Python, so that was an entire learning experience in itself! Overall, this project acquainted me to the world of independent research; I had to do a lot of decision-making and problem solving, as I turned down

many different paths to find the right one. In general, I learned much more about genomics and programming.

This project has allowed me to see the bigger picture that is the interconnection of biology and computer science, exposing me to the importance of applying advanced technologies to biological concepts. Therefore, with the knowledge of possible solutions to seemingly inexorable health issues, I hope to continue research like this in college, and beyond!

Lindsay will attend Emory University.


dedicate so much of my time and passion to a dead language, so I wanted to show why! The dream was to convince others to love Latin and poetry too.

Why I chose meter is quite simple: to me, meter has always been what breathes life into the ancient language, giving it rhythm and a pulse. It also provided a hefty challenge that I really enjoyed tackling. Having finished, I have a fuller vision of my college career. I hope to pursue a double major in Classics and English Literature. For my intended classics major, I plan to pursue Ancient Greek while continuing with my study of Latin lyric poetry and also exploring philosophy and history.

Criss will attend Columbia University in the fall.

LINDSAY HEXTER

This year, I used Python, a computer programming language, to study mutations in the two genes PTEN and PI3K. The proteins made by expressing these genes are involved in cell growth and metabolism, so mutations in these two genes commonly cause cancer. I created a database of protein sequences that included information such as the pathogenicity of the mutation, the database from which it was taken, and the species of the organism. Comparing mutations among different species can lead to other insights as well, so I gathered sequences from many organisms.

After creating the database, I began to learn the technique of machine learning, which is teaching the computer how to classify something based on a training set of data. Thus, the goal of my project was to predict mutations in these two genes, based on data I had gathered and information from my computer.

The main reason I wanted to complete this project was to delve deeper into the field of biocomputation. I am interested in biology and

THANK YOU,PARENTSfor another terrific year!

Under the tremendous leadership of Parents’ Association President Rachel Rubin, P’18, ’21, President-Elect Emily Fearey, P’20, ’24, the Parents’ Association Executive Board, class parents and more than 200 parent volunteers, the 2013-2014 Parents’ Association supported and promoted so many opportunities at Bryn Mawr. These events included the Bazaar, the After-Prom, Parent Socials, Spirit Days, Recycled Uniform Sales, the Lower School Read-A-Thon, Wellness Committee Coffee with the Experts, Faculty/Staff Appreciation, Picture Days, Middle School Mixers and the Spirit Bracelet program. The list of activities goes on and on! Each program and event is chaired by parent volunteers who graciously donate their time and energy to make Bryn Mawr an incredible academic, athletic, artistic and social environment for your daughters. Thank you!

Parents’ Association


Alumnae

Members of the Class of 1964, celebrating their 50th reunion this year, process down the Upper Field during the Banner March.


Each year on Alumnae Weekend, the Senior Alumnae Award is given to an alumna who graduated 40 or more years ago and who has made a significant contribution to the community as a dedicated volunteer or as a career professional. This year’s recipient is Dr. Kathy Martien Sullivan, Class of 1974, pictured at right with her mother, Bunny Martien Bond, Class of 1944.

Dr. Martien graduated from Bryn Mawr in 1974 and in the same year from the Preparatory Department of the Peabody Conservatory. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1978 and received her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1982. After completing her training in Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at Children’s Hospital in Boston in 1986, she joined the health service at MIT and spent the next 10 years in primary pediatric care. In 1994, she moved with her family to Toronto, Canada. She spent the next four years in training and research fellowships at the Hospital for Sick Children in the Department of Neurology, where she focused on autism and epilepsy and conducted EEG studies on children with autism. Her research on cortical-auditory-evoked-potentials was presented in Rome at the First Neurobiology of Autism Conference in 1999. She returned to Boston that year and joined the pre-eminent autism clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital, The LADDERS Clinic.

Dr. Martien is board certified in pediatrics and neurodevelopmental disabilities and is currently the clinical research director of the TRANSCEND Research Program at Mass General. She recently closed her clinical practice to pursue research full time. She also serves as a trustee on the board of The Cotting School, in Lexington, Mass., a K-12 school for students with multiple disabilities. Following is a convocation speech Dr. Martien gave to the Upper School on May 2.

* * *

It is my pleasure to be here and I am delighted to have this opportunity to address the school. It has been 40 years since I graduated from Bryn Mawr, but it seems just yesterday that I sat where you sit, in what we called the ETA, the Elizabeth Thomas Auditorium. Forty years from now one of you will be standing where I am, called upon to make remarks after being honored as an alumna of distinction. But you will know, as I do, that you are not the only distinguished alum.

In thinking about the Senior Alumnae Award I started thinking about the many alumnae that deserve this award for their distinctive contributions, many more than a yearly award can recognize. In my class alone, we count among ourselves a global activist for women’s rights, a minister, social workers, artists and engineers, women who have started and run their own businesses, women making a difference every day in all areas of medicine and the law. These classmates of mine have lived lives of distinction and I am proud to count myself in their number.

DEVELOPING WOMEN OF DISTINCTION


The ability to become a woman of distinction is being built in each of you every day here at Bryn Mawr. When I arrived as a bride in my husband’s hometown, I was asked by a respected and worldly older woman where I had gone to school. When I answered that I had gone to The Bryn Mawr School she quickly noted, “then you have been very well educated.” Each of you is receiving an education rivaled by some, but surpassed by none. You are, in fact, receiving an even better education than we did in the 1970s. When I was a Bryn Mawr student, the word “stem” made one think of daisies, not a curriculum. My senior year, Ms. Groetzinger taught a course on ‘limits and continuity,’ because Bryn Mawr did not offer calculus. I had to wait until my first year of college to take calculus. Today, stronger grounding in sciences, in technology, in math and engineering (and I would add economics and politics), will awaken in you imaginings of what you can be and what you can do that my classmates and I never dreamt of. Learn it well. The survival of the human race will likely depend on it.

As a small child, I learned of the mental illness that had plagued my father’s mother from her late teens and through most of her 83 years. Some of her children and grandchildren suffered similar afflictions. My beloved and wise father explained to me that having mental illness in our family did not make us a bad family. It was due to a biology in our genes that was being passed on from generation to generation, and that some day, we would understand the biology of this illness and be able to cure it (I told you he was wise).

In college, I studied the biological basis of behavior. As a Psychobiology major, I wrote my

senior thesis on experiments I conducted on neuroplasticity, the ability of the brain to form new connections, model and remodel itself to achieve the neurophysiologic function that determines how we behave. Later, as a fellow in Neurodevelopmental Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto in 1996, I discovered that a hormonal treatment for epilepsy in infancy could prevent that child from later autism and mental retardation. I have spent the last 15 years of my life treating epilepsy and neurobehavioral conditions in children and teenagers: autism, Asperger’s syndrome and other “spectrum” disorders. I have conducted research to look for the earliest signs of autism in the brain,

examining biological markers, especially in brain waves, with the goal of early identification and the potential for early treatment. We are now preparing a manuscript for publication showing that we can see the signs of later autism in the brains of two-week-old infants: the biological basis for their behavior even before the behavior is present!

As a Bryn Mawr senior in an advanced biol-

ogy course, our teacher, Miss McIntosh, led us through experiments injecting chick eggs with hormones to see the effect these hormones had on the physical and behavioral characteristics of the newborn and growing chicks—and they were profound! Not surprisingly, my first chosen biol-ogy course at Mount Holyoke: Endocrinology. I aced it! Eight years later, as a fellow in adoles-cent medicine, I learned to treat hormonal prob-lems associated with puberty, and over the last 15 years, I’ve applied those insights to the use of hormones to treat behavioral deterioration in au-tistic teenagers. Last week, I finished a review pa-per for a medical journal, Endocrinology Reviews, where I, along with my co-authors, explored the

”“IF WE DO NOT DELIGHT IN

THE THINGS OF THE MIND—

EVEN MORE SPECIFICALLY,

IN THE THINGS OF THE

BRAIN—WE WILL LOSE CIVI-

LIZATION AS WE KNOW IT.

geometry or the intrigue of a biological system have not applied themselves to these fields in the past. For those of you that have that type of intel-lectual curiosity, your brains are needed to crack the gene-environment interaction and the impact of modern civilization on human kind.

As young women, you bring to the intellectual ring approaches that are novel, important and different from your male colleagues. Edith Hamil-ton is well know here at Bryn Mawr as having said, “Civilization is a matter of delight in the things of the mind.” There is a corollary: If we do not de-light in the things of the mind—even more spe-cifically, in the things of the brain—we will lose civilization as we know it. Your contributions are sorely needed, and as you pursue this effort, you will become a woman of distinction.

And now on a more personal note, I’d like to en-courage each of you to use the self-confidence you have found as a Bryn Mawr girl and ride that confidence to achieve great things. But as you do, do not forget your self and your own hap-piness. When I was in medical school at Penn, I apprenticed to be a pediatric surgeon under the tutelage of C. Everett Koop, who later became the Surgeon General of the United States. After a summer as Koop’s sub-intern, I had to decide if I wanted to be his next protégé, and one of the first female pediatric surgeons in the world. I loved surgery and I was good at it. But I recognized that if I became that surgeon, another dream of mine would likely go unfulfilled: that of being a mother, of having a family. The day I decided to become a pediatrician, rather than a pediatric surgeon, was one of the happiest days of my life. I was going to treat the patient population that I loved and I was going to be a mom too.

I have been married for 32 years this month. I have three sons and a new daughter-in-law. My eldest son wrote on my birthday card last month: “A mother is her family’s strength, a source of hope and light. The one her family looks up to because she makes things right.” Future mothers of the world, be strong and make things right.


role hormones play in the development of be-havior, especially with autism. This paper goes on to point out that chemicals in our environment disrupt hormones and are likely to interfere with normal human brain development, hence lead-ing to behavioral disorders.

So we can measure autism at birth and perhaps even before birth. Can hormones be used to treat it or even cure it? Perhaps even more importantly, how do we stop disorders like autism from hap-pening in the first place?

Genetic studies heavily funded over the last 15 years have revealed that genes contribute to the risk of autism in 20-30% of cases but that genes cause autism in less than 10% of cases. Gene-environment interactions are now the focus of what was previously genetic research. We are starting to recognize that the development of the human brain is vulnerable to the molecular changes in our environment wrought over the last hundred or so years since the Industrial Revolu-tion: in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat…and, further raising the alarm, we have learned that biological changes that impact one generation can be passed on to future gen-erations through epigenetic DNA changes. The Center for Disease Control reported in March of this year that autism is now affecting 1 in 68 chil-dren in the U.S. Since boys are affected 4.5 times more often than girls, the risk of a baby boy de-veloping an autism spectrum disorder is now 1 in 55. Future mothers of the world, recognize that in this room, four of you will give birth to sons that will be diagnosed as having an autism spectrum disorder, and one of you a girl. And since the inci-dence of autism has more than doubled since the year 2000, that may be an underestimate.

This is where STEM comes in. This is where you come in. Unless we develop the minds, your minds, to understand the incredibly complex fac-tors that have come together to place our human race at risk, we will fall, like the Roman Empire. Not everyone is cut out to be a scientist, a te-chie, an engineer or a mathematician. But many women who have minds that jump at the logic of


This year’s reunion classes supported Bryn Mawr with strong reunion gift efforts. Below are the winners of the reunion giving awards, presented on Alumnae Weekend, based on pledges and gifts received by May 2, 2014.

REUNION GIVING

The Reunion Participation Prize goes to the class with the most outstanding participation in its reunion gift ef-fort. Congratulations to the Class of 1964, which achieved 100% participation in celebration of their 50th Reunion! The reunion committee members included Dottie Dowling Downing, Vicki Kempton Fingles, Kathy Thornton Gaskill, Mary Conklin Hammann, Marcie Hanhart, and Barbara Taylor Schofield.

The Reunion Gift Award goes to the class that raises the most money for the Annual Fund in its reunion year. Thanks to their extreme generosity, the members of the Class of 1984 are this year’s winners, raising over $25,000 for Bryn Mawr’s Annual Fund. Thanks to the committee of Lisa Curlett, Brooke Evelyn Swann Delmar, Susie Belgrad Hayes, Judy Snyder Kastenberg, Lisa Lebow Kaufman, Mary Ellen Chandler Mathe-son, and Mary Jo Butterhoff Puglisi.

The Overall Reunion Gift Award goes to the reunion class that raises the most money overall for Bryn Mawr. Annual Fund gifts as well as all other contributions to capital projects and to the endowment are included. This year’s Overall Reunion Gift Award goes to the Class of 1984, with a grand total of $45,700.

ALUMNAE AWARDS

The Senior Alumnae Award is given to an alumna who graduated 40 or more years ago and who has made a significant contribution to the community as a dedicated volunteer or as a career professional. This year’s winner is Dr. Kathy Martien Sullivan, Class of 1974. For more about Dr. Martien, see page 42.

The Young Alumnae Award goes to an alumna who graduated within the last 20 years and who has distin-guished herself in the community or in her profession. This year, the winner was Tia Butler, Class of 1994, who was honored for her incredible dedication to Bryn Mawr during her service on the Alumnae Board.

The Distinguished Alumnae Award goes to an alumna who embodies the highest ideal of the school through her profes-sional or volunteer commitments. Leadership, a humanistic spirit, creativity, community involvement and professional achievement are among the qualities to be considered. This year’s recipient is Heather Hay Murren, Class of 1984. After a career on Wall Street, Murren founded the Nevada Cancer Institute, and was CEO and Chair from 2002 to 2009. She now serves as a volunteer translator for the Nevada Health Centers, Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides health-care to the community of Nevada regardless of the patient’s ability to pay.

ALUMNAE AWARDS & REUNION GIVING: THANK YOU 4’S AND 9’S!

ALUMNAE WEEKEND PHOTOSIt was great to see so many alumnae here for Alumnae Weekend 2014! Reunions were well attended by those with class years ending in 4 and 9. Check out a few pictures from the festivities below.

Click here to visit our Flickr page and see the full album, and like us on Facebook (facebook.com/BrynMawrAlum-nae) to see more alumnae photos!


https://www.flickr.com/photos/brynmawrschool/sets/72157644616609216/

www.facebook.com/BrynMawrAlumnae

ALUMNAE EVENTS IN BOSTONBryn Mawr hosted two events in Boston recently, and it was great to see so many of our Boston-area alumnae. Thank you to everyone who joined us! Click here to see more photos.

Kudos! We’re excited to introduce a new column in our Alumnae section: Kudos! Do you have info to share about yourself or another alumna that you feel is newsworthy? Send it to us

and we will post it in Kudos, which will appear three times per year, in our November/December, March and May/June issues.

Email [email protected] to send your Kudos!

Kudos to Mary Somerville '11, a junior at Wake Forest University, who has been made a Mullen Scholar as part of Wake Forest’s Mullen/Carswell Scholarship Pro-gram. Only 10 students receive this designation each year, and recipients generally stand at least in the top 10% of the class. Mary was elected to Phi Beta Kappa halfway through her junior year.

Kudos to Julia Hemmendinger ‘10, a graduating senior at Stanford University who captained her squash team this year and most recently was the only senior at Stanford awarded the Col-lege Squash Association’s 2013-14 Scholar Athlete Award. To qualify for the award, students must be juniors or seniors, two-time varsity letter winners at their current school, have a GPA of 3.5 or greater, and have played in the majority of the CSA sanctioned matches that year.

Kudos to McKinley Brumback ‘10, who graduated summa cum laude from Hamilton College at the end of May.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/brynmawrschool/sets/72157644873363824/

mailto:alumnae%40brynmawrschool.org?subject=Kudos

THE BRYN MAWR SCHOOL109 W. Melrose Ave

Baltimore, MD 21210410-323-8800

www.brynmawrschool.org

https://www.brynmawrschool.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=196

mawrginalia, may/june 2014

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