Around Campus: Campus News
Upper School Promotes Cultural Awareness
O
n April 11, groups from the Upper School sponsored an exciting and entertaining event spotlighting
many
of the diverse cultures of Kinkaid, Houston and the world. Culture Fest 2007 was sponsored
by upper school clubs Sharing, Helping, and Discussing Ethnic Studies (SHADES) and Kinkaidians
Against Hate and Discrimination (KAHD). The event was organized and planned around the
principle of getting the entire Kinkaid community together to celebrate diversity and raise cultural
awareness. Various upper school clubs, families and individuals sponsored booths representing
countries, regions and cultures of the world. Visitors had the opportunity to taste and experience
the food and culture of each region. Attendees were delighted by excellent (and free) cuisine and
enthralled by performances from students and faculty, and top booths and performances received
prizes. Highlights included:
• 40 countries and cultures were represented from throughout the world. Beyond the traditional
large cultures of China, the United States, Europe and India, smaller cultures like Eritrea, Tibet,
Lebanon, New Orleans and others were well represented.
• Fun activities for kids of all ages were planned, including free prizes in exchange for filling out
a passport to the world, pony rides (sponsored by Texas culture) and a moon walk.
• Awards for top performances were
given to staff member Enrique Ambrosio
“Culture Fest created a wonderful
and Upper School Spanish teacher Vanessa
forum for students to take pride
Riesgo for their Afro-Caribbean salsa (a mixture of African religious dance and Native
in their heritage and for the
American/Native Cuban dance elements),
community at large to learn or taste
to Meghan Rao ’10 for her modern Indian
something different. I thoroughly
dance, and to the group East Meets West for
enjoyed the festivities and I am
its Indian dance
• Awards for top booths went to the Liberals
pleased to see Kinkaid sponsor and
club for the Iraq booth, to the Environmental
embrace this tradition.”
club for its Tanzania booth, and to Thomas
— Mariza Rosado
Garcia ’08 for the Guatemala booth.
Attendance exceeded expectations, as several hundred people attended and most stayed until the end of the evening. Student chairs Coco
Sprague ’07, Serena Mammen ’08 and Angel Gibbs ’08 dedicated countless hours to preparing for
such a large endeavor. Faculty sponsors, Upper School history teacher and diversity coordinator
Leslie Lovett, debate coach Eric Emerson and Upper School English and fine arts teacher Carolyn
McCarthy, also played instrumental roles. All involved hope that this will become an annual tradition
that celebrates the rich diversity of Kinkaid and the world.
Left: Ramya Subramani ‘09; Middle: Jacqueline Mabatah ‘07; Right: Mr. Shepler, John Courtney ‘07
and Allen Pierce ‘07; Far right: Physical education teacher Molly Higby and Tyler Higby ‘15
around campus: Campus News
Kinkaid’s Character
Development Symposium
Yields Rave Reviews
Perennial favorite Joe Ehrmann returned to campus as the conference’s
Keynote Speaker for the Coaching and Parents Tracks.
F
or two exciting days in early June,
Kinkaid hosted a Symposium on
Character Education that attracted
more than 150 attendees. The conference, “Emerging Best Practices in
Character Development,” featured
three different paths for three different audiences—an Educators Track,
a Coaching Track and a Parents
Track—and over 30 presenters
from Kinkaid and beyond. Perennial
favorite Joe Ehrmann returned to
campus as the conference’s Keynote
Speaker and headline attraction for
the Coaching and Parents Tracks.
Hosting the Symposium was
Kinkaid’s final obligation under the
terms of the original matching grant
the School received from the E.E.
Ford Foundation to seed our character education efforts. Twenty-one
faculty members offered as many
as 22 different concurrent sessions
featuring how teachers can use
Kinkaid’s “3 A’s” (academics, athletics, and the arts) in the service
of students’ character development.
Faculty, administrators and staff
from all three of Kinkaid’s divisions
led conference sessions. Joe and
his wife Paula, a licensed counselor, offered their engaging day-long
“InSideOut Coaching” workshop to
more than 80 coaches and half-day
“InSideOut Parenting” workshop to
Kinkaid parents.
In addition to Joe and Paula, key
character-developing collaborators
were brought from off-campus to
supplement the comprehensive,
cross-curricular program. Visiting
speakers included Peter Bachmann,
headmaster of the Flintridge Prep
School in La Canada, California, and
Courtesy of Scott Kohn
Around Campus: Campus News
Conference participants included about 150 teachers, coaches and administrators from Kinkaid as well as other ISAS schools
and the Spring Branch/Memorial ISD. A few people traveled all the way from Indiana and British Columbia!
David Streight, Executive Director of
the Council for Spiritual and Ethical
Education (CSEE).
“It was great to see what Kinkaid
has done in the past four years,”
says Mr. Streight. “The breadth and
depth of what the faculty and staff
are doing was evident in the number
of Kinkaid presenters—from a variety of corners of the School—and
the depth and quality that many of
them spoke about.”
“The symposium filled a real need,
which became quickly evident as I
got to speak with some of the people who were there,” he continues.
“Those of us who work in character
education sometimes think in terms
10
of the ‘finer points’ of how things
should be done. Rather than finer
points, many of the participants at
this event were asking ‘how do we
begin?’ ”
Attendees included handfuls of
teachers and administrators from
several fellow ISAS schools, 10 faculty members from the Chinquapin
School in Highlands, Texas, and
about a dozen teachers and coaches
from the Spring Branch/Memorial
Independent School District. Even
two teenaged youth-league coaches
from Austin attended the Ehrmanns’
full-day “InSideOut Coaching” workshop, and another couple of Canadian
attendees from a school in Vancouver,
British Columbia made this a truly
international conference!
Character Education Director
Mike Pardee was thrilled with how
the two days turned out. “What I
appreciated most,” he remarks, “was
the degree of intense engagement
with character education and matters of moral development shared
by presenters and participants alike.
Kinkaid is emerging as a national
leader in these burgeoning fields.
So it’s exciting for us to be able
to contribute however we can to
this growing character-development
movement.”
around campus: Campus News
Courtesy of David shutts ‘74
Auction 007 presents:
Channel 11 Sports Director Gifford Nielsen, Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens
Texas Sports Legends Enthrall Audience
O
ver 600 members of the Kinkaid
of three Kinkaid alumni and grandparent of a current student, for bringing to
community came together on April 4
for a memorable evening of nostalgia and
Kinkaid Roger, Nolan and Gifford for this
life lessons from two of the most famous
powerful and memorable evening,” said
pitchers in baseball history.
Headmaster Don North. In keeping with
Texas fireballers Roger Clemens and
the baseball theme, the stage was decoNolan Ryan had the audience in the
rated with a backdrop replica of Minute
Brown Auditorium captivated for over
Maid Park, the Kinkaid Theatre lobby
an hour with their inspiring and often
had red, white and blue bunting, and
humorous stories. They spoke about
guests were treated to hot dogs, popcorn
growing up as multi-sport athletic stars,
and Cracker Jacks.
The $60,000 raised from the evethe supportive roles of their families, the
hard work required to be a superstar,
ning benefits the Kinkaid Initiatives in
their many successes, and how they
Leadership Endowment. This endowSanders Keller ‘15 presents his
worked through difficult times. Emcee
ment was originally created with the
grandfather Don Sanders with a
Gifford Nielsen, Channel 11 Sports
proceeds
from “A Conversation with the
special autographed baseball
Director, did a masterful job of engagBushes,” an Auction 2004 event that proing Roger and Nolan to talk about leadership qualities and
vided an opportunity to share stories with the 41st President
encouraging the audience, especially Kinkaid students, to ask
of the United States and Mrs. Barbara Bush. The earnings
insightful questions.
from the endowment support initiatives in leadership includ “I would like to give special thanks to Don Sanders, parent
ing speakers, special assemblies and leadership training.
Special thanks to Event CoChairs Peggy Rathmell and Sara Robins, the underwriters, box office coordinators Shirley
Pearson and Chris Chung, graphic designer Susan Pennebaker and everyone involved in making this event a home run.
11
Around Campus: Distinguished Alumni
Distinguished Alumni
Members of the Kinkaid community came together to recognize this year’s distinguished
alumni on March 27 at The Houstonian. Distinguished Honorary Alumna Barbara
Cooney, Distinguished Alumnus Rear Admiral Scott Sears ’62 and Distinguished Young
Alumnus Dr. Philip D. Floyd ’86 were honored.
Rear Admiral Scott Sears ‘62
Courtesy of fred keinz
Distinguished Alumnus
Headmaster Don North, Barbara Cooney, Scott Sears ‘62
and Philip Floyd ‘86
“I loved everything about Kinkaid –
my classmates, the faculty and the facilities.
The faculty inspired me to achievements
that I never knew were inside of me.”
—Rear Admiral Scott Sears ’62
Georgiana Smyser and Christopher
Brown
12
Scott Sears entered Kinkaid in ninth grade and was active
in drama, art and chorus before graduating cum laude with a
full scholarship to the U.S. Naval Academy. At the Academy,
Scott graduated with distinction (sixth in his class of nearly
1,000) and with two majors, Physics and Economics. The
years at the Naval Academy instilled Scott with “a heart of
service” for a life of duty to our country.
After initial tours of duty on diesel submarines, Admiral
Sears attended M.I.T., where he received MSEE and EE (postMaster’s) degrees. Upon graduation, he applied to the Navy’s
Nuclear Power program and served in a variety of attack and
missile submarines. In 1976 he navigated the USS Flying
Fish to the North Pole and surfaced through the ice. From
1983 through 1986, he commanded the USS Albuquerque,
a brand new nuclear attack submarine, and led the ship on
numerous operations critical to national security.
Following his command at sea, Scott transferred into
Acquisition, where he served as Program Manager for the
Navy’s largest software development program at the time. In
1991 the Navy selected Scott for Flag Rank, and he led the
Naval Undersea Warfare Center until his retirement to civilian life in 1995.
Since retirement from the Navy, Scott has worked in private industry with AT&T, General Dynamics and Raytheon.
Scott is retiring a second time on April 1 to a new home
that he and his wife Barbara have built in the Blue Ridge
Mountains of North Carolina.
2007 Alumni Association Awards
The Alumni Association Awards are presented to a senior girl and senior boy who
meet the following criteria: have attended the
Kinkaid Upper School for at least three years;
have exhibited dedication to Kinkaid through
positive and conscientious volunteer and
extra-curricular activities which have gone
above and beyond the established guidelines;
have demonstrated academic diligence; are
respected and admired by both peers and
faculty; and have exhibited growth in maturity, responsibility and integrity. This award
is the only award where both peers and
faculty can nominate a candidate. This year
the Alumni Association Awards were presented to Georgiana Smyser and Christopher
Brown.
Georgiana Smyser entered Kinkaid in sixth
grade and has made a tremendous impact
on the Kinkaid community ever since. A
true athlete scholar, Georgiana is one of the
top ranked high school tennis players in the
nation while excelling academically in four
Advanced Placement classes. Serving as
captain of the tennis team, she led the group
Around Campus: Distinguished Alumni
“Kinkaid, you its students, its faculty, its staff, share a common purpose and goal:
to develop great citizens of the world who can and will give back to society.”
—Dr. Philip D. Floyd
Dr. Philip D. Floyd ‘86
Barbara Cooney
Distinguished Young Alumnus
Distinguished Honorary Alumna
Philip D. Floyd entered Kinkaid in sixth grade and was
active in soccer, track and chorus. A member of Who’s Who
and the Spanish Honorary Society, he served as Honor
Council President and graduated cum laude in 1986. Philip
attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as
a Morehead Scholar. He graduated with distinction in 1990
with a BA in Spanish.
Philip served for two months during the summer of 1990
as a British Parliament intern in London, England before
returning to teach Upper School Spanish and coach track
and soccer at Fort Worth Country Day School for two years.
Philip taught Spanish and Physics at Second Baptist School
during the 1992-1993 school year before entering Baylor
College of Medicine. After receiving his MD in May 1998,
Philip completed his internship and residency in General
Pediatrics in 2001 at Miami Children’s Hospital. Since that
time, Philip has served as a pediatrician at Physicians to
Children in Coral Gables, FL.
Voted one of America’s Top Pediatricians in 2005 and
2006, Philip also serves as a volunteer faculty member at
Miami Children’s Hospital, rounding with and teaching residents and medical students one month per year. He makes
regular television appearances on local network affiliates discussing various pediatric topics and serves as a community
speaker to parent groups and church groups on topics ranging from vaccines to sex education. He and his wife Debbie
are the proud parents of twins Carter and Mackenzie.
Barbara Cooney came to Kinkaid in 1975 after teaching for
three years in the Houston Independent School District. Guided
by legendary principal and history teacher Art Goddard,
Barbara has become a legend herself after thirty-two years of
teaching the “Cooney note taking method.” Former students
may have forgotten how the pyramids were built or how long it
took, but they will always remember how to determine what is
relevant in a paragraph and how to transfer that information to
a note card. Since her hiring, Barbara has served as sixth grade
ancient history teacher, dean of sixth grade students and history coordinator for the middle school. It was no surprise when
Barbara was honored in 1990 with The Columbiana Award for
Excellence in Teaching. She continues to be admired by both
her students and their parents.
When Barbara isn’t teaching, she enjoys traveling the
world, particularly in Italy. She has generously shared her
love of Italian culture and history with the Kinkaid community during several of the Alumni Association’s Evenings of
Continuing Education. She continues to inspire and impact
generations of students and alumni and represents the very
best in a Kinkaid educator.
to four SPC tennis championships and was
voted All SPC and All South Zone for four
consecutive years. A member of Who’s Who,
Georgiana has served on the Honor Council
since her sophomore year and was elected
President this year. Along with two other
classmates, Georgiana founded the Student
Life Council, a peer-mentoring group which
helps freshmen make the academic and social
transition to the upper school. Georgiana
has earned the respect of both her peers and
faculty who describe her as positive, conscientious, compassionate, loyal and a student
“Teachers at Kinkaid are fortunate because
students and alumni recognize the value of what
they learn in our classes and attribute much of
their later success to that background.”
—Barbara Cooney
of remarkable maturity and integrity. She will
attend Dartmouth College this fall.
Christopher Brown entered Kinkaid in first
grade and has distinguished himself as a
remarkable student both in the classroom
and the outdoors. A recent inductee into
the Cum Laude Society, Christopher received
the Sophomore Academic Merit Award and
has been a member of the French Honor
Society for four years. A member of Who’s
Who, Christopher has served as French
Club President and Secretary of the Young
Republicans Club. He has participated
in football, soccer and lacrosse at Kinkaid
while pursuing his love of the outdoors—
hiking, rock climbing and backpacking with
his family.
Christopher has taken his outdoor activities to the next level by becoming a “Leave
No Trace” trainer and has been certified as a
Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician. Faculty and classmates describe Christopher
as genuine, caring, thoughtful, energetic and
a young man of tremendous character with
a deep love of learning. He will attend Yale
University this fall.
13
Around Campus: Papadopoulos Fellow
Dr. C.N. Papadopoulos and 2007 Papadopoulous Fellow Dr. Mark W. Kline with the Biology II AP classes
Houston’s Mark Kline Makes a Difference
in Children Living with HIV/AIDS
help as well as sending doctors, nurses and other trained
professionals. The latest initiative involves training native
physicians to care for HIV/AIDS patients.
Dr. Kline’s work with HIV/AIDS patients began in St. Louis,
s there such a thing as a hero? The modern view of heroMissouri where one of his first assignments was to work with 15
ism has become somewhat warped,” says Gillian Levy ’10.
hemophiliac boys who contracted HIV from contaminated blood
“Unfortunately, Hollywood celebrities often make headlines
products. He cared for them and their families, but could offer
over candidates running for the upcoming presidential eleclittle in the way of medical treatment. Dr. Kline contacted Merck
tion. It’s hard to remember the last time we as Americans
and the FDA to get permission to monitor a protocol to adminhad someone to look up to. However, there is hope on the
ister the latest promising drugs, protease inhibitors, to children.
horizon,” declares Gillian. “His name is Dr. Mark W. Kline,
The result was nothing short of miraculous, and because of this
and he saves thousands of lives every year.”
treatment, many of these children are
Dr. Kline is Professor of
alive today.
Pediatrics, Head of the Section
“Dr. Kline helped these children
On a visit to Romania, Dr. Kline
of Retrovirology and President of
and so many more is proof that one
saw hundreds of orphans who had
the Baylor International Pediatric
person can make a difference and
been infected with HIV through
AIDS Initiative at Baylor College
even change the world.”
misguided medical practices, such
of Medicine and Texas Children’s
as the injection of tainted blood
—Hilary Cohen ’10
Hospital. As the 2007 Papadopoulos
with contaminated needles. Dr.
Fellow, Dr. Kline demystified HIV/
Kline
persuaded
Abbott
Laboratories to donate drugs to
AIDS, the infectious disease which has become the pandemic
the children forever, and Houston’s Sisters of Charity of the
of this generation of students. He redefined the biological jarIncarnate Word donated money to transform an old building
gon, unmasked the statistics and redirected our tendency to
into a clinic. Deaths dropped from 12% to 1%. Dr. Kline was
define HIV/AIDS as the plague of other countries.
doing what no one had reported doing before—providing
Dr. Kline founded the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS
large scale, effective HIV treatment in a setting with very few
Initiative (BIPAI). Currently more than 20 countries use Dr.
resources.
Kline’s family approach model to treat HIV/AIDS infected
“Despite all of his great accomplishments,” says Ashok
children. With the help of Dr. Kline and BIPAI, governmental
Yerramsetti ’08, “it is evident that Dr. Kline loves being a docleaders from Botswana, Libya, Uganda, Lesotho, Swaziland,
tor for the sole reason that he is able to help people. I find his
Malawi and China receive assistance from Bristol-Myers
example of passion and hard work to be a lesson that can be
Squibb, UNICEF, President Bush’s Emergency Plan for
applied not just to medicine, but to any career choice. Dr. Kline
Aids Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
demonstrates how one can enjoy any amount of work and conTuberculosis and Malaria. BIPAI provides the “know how”
tribute to the greater good if they find a field they like.”
which includes setting up clinics and offering administrative
Contributed by
Katherine Leathem
Upper School Biology Teacher
I
14
Around Campus: Campus News
Papadopoulos Fellow
Student Reflections
Biology I Honors Celebrate Earth Day
Christopher Brown ‘07 “I can talk about
Dr. Kline for a long time. However, the most
important thing to determine now is what we
can do to help. These areas include: funding,
destigmatization of HIV/AIDS and additional
people power. I believe it is important that
we make it known to Congress that HIV/AIDS
is an important global issue and that PEPFAR
should be renewed. A major problem in
addressing the HIV/AIDS issue is ignorance.
Open and informative sessions like the one
today should be held in schools across
America. If only there were more people like
Dr. Kline, the world would be a better
place.”
Hilary Cohen ‘10 “It’s hard for any one
person to come into a school and influence
everyone to whom he speaks. I recognized
that Dr. Kline had a profound impact on me
when I found myself thinking about all that
he has done later in the day during a softball
game. I turned to another player on the team
and said, ‘Can you imagine having done so
much for so many people?’ And soon the
whole dugout full of Kinkaid students was
talking about how motivated we were by
Dr. Kline. I will never forget the pictures of
the 10 and 12 year old kids infected with
HIV/AIDS from Romania who looked like
an average four-year old. Realizing that Dr.
Kline helped these children and so many
more is proof that one person can make
a difference and even change the world.”
Mark Sabbagh ‘08 “When I think of
Dr. Kline’s extensive resume, awards and
achievements, I recognize that none of
these things encompass what he has really
accomplished. How do you document the
lives you have saved on a resume? Perhaps
a photo album would suffice, each page with
a smiling face of a child who lives because
of your treatment. Hundreds of children
and then hundreds of thousands of children
who are their descendants would make an
eternal book of photos unparalleled by any
resume. Dr. Kline’s work will outlive all of
us and will outlive AIDS. And Dr. Kline left
me with one phrase that I will remember for
a long time: ‘You can always ease the pain
with comfort.’ “
BACK ROW: Skylar Dabbar, Sarah Mountjoy, Sahil Patel and Preston Moore
Middle Row: Lauren Krell, Gillian Levy, Julia Weil and Meghan Rao
Front Row: Evan Henke and Devyn Schultz
Helping to initiate a new global attitude of caring for our planet, Biology I
Honors freshmen served as naturalists teaching first graders about the ecology
of The Backyard. In addition, they planted a magnolia tree in the Butterfly
Garden and collected gently used and new bird feeders which will be refurbished by Urban Harvest staff members and given to the 60 affiliate schools in
the School Gardens program which teaches children in the wider Houston community to care for wildlife. “Earth Day means a lot to me because it is great that
we can spend a day making things better for the Earth and the environment. It
helps raise awareness that we are destroying our home and the homes of others
and we need to do something about it immediately,” says Sahil Patel ’10.
Student is a Finalists in National DNA Essay Contest
Preston Moore ’10 is one of 10 finalists in the
annual National DNA Day High School Essay
Contest sponsored by the American Society of
Human Genetics and Applied Biosystems. The
contest challenges students to examine, question and reflect on the importance and social
implications of genetic research in a substantive and well-reasoned manner. Preston
wrote about Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy,
one of nine types of muscular dystrophy that
debilitates voluntary muscles. His interest in
the condition evolved through conversations
with family members from his church who
were helping their son cope with its effects.
Preston’s intent was to raise awareness among
Kinkaid students.
15
Around Campus: Campus News
Creating Global Awareness
Student Life Council Adopts Primary School in Tanzania
T
he senior peer mentors along with their
freshmen
advisories
adopted a primary school
in Moshono Village,
Arusha, Tanzania for
a spring service project.
The idea came
from peer mentor Ford
Beckham ’07, who had
visited Arusha last summer along with William
Simmons ’07 as guests of Danny Friedkin ’07 and his family.
Ford’s concept was unanimously adopted by the Student Life
Council, which is comprised of 23 senior peer mentors.
The mentors believed that collaborating with their advisees on the project would strengthen their existing mentoring relationships, help other students in this Tanzanian
school and foster valuable relationships across the globe.
The Kinkaid students are contributing to Moshono Primary
School’s curriculum for teaching students about basic life
skills such as playing, sharing, washing, sleeping and eating. The team created a “verb” book in which each advisory
focused on one life skill verb. There are 11 copies of the oversized book, filled with pictures of Kinkaid students enacting
the verbs. “Big Book of Verbs: Everyday Activities” is easy
to read and has both English
explanations and Kiswahili
Students from the
translations.
Moshono Primary School
in Arusha, Tanzania send
The team also collected used
their thanks toThe Kinkaid
supplies that are emblematic
School. To see more
of our school’s excellence in
pictures of the students
the arts and sports. Students,
receiving their gifts, go
teachers and parents of the
to www.kinkaid.org and
select the Character
upper, middle and lower
Education link and then
schools donated used and
Service Learning.
new sports equipment and
art supplies. Kinkaid parent
Dan Friedkin, father of Ryan ’08 and Danny, generously took
the equipment and 10 of the “verb” books to the school this
summer. The remaining books will be on display across from
the Upper School office next fall.
“The Adopt-a-School project has truly energized
our seniors and further fostered a healthy mentoring relationship between seniors and freshmen,” says
Dr. Elaine Calaway, upper school Counseling Psychologist.
Dr. Calaway and Coach Scott Zimmerman, Student Life
Council sponsors, credit the success of the first year of the
program to the 23 students who have assumed responsibility for expanding the vision of leadership and service
roles as mentors in both first and second semesters of their
senior year.
Alumna Helps Lower School Form a Partnership with Village in Zambia
T
his spring the Lower School dedicated its fundraising efforts to helping a small village in Zambia. Kinkaid
alumna Chelsea Keeton ’05, currently a student at Franklin College in
Switzerland, expressed an interest to
lower school Principal Gloria Fishman
in sharing information with our lower
school students about a service enterprise that grew out of her Franklin
classmates’ academic travels to Malawi
and Zambia in 2004.
Chelsea explained that her fellow
Franklin students visited the subSaharan area to learn more about an
organic farming method called permaculture and returned home with a calling
to help the villagers of Baobab. They
realized that, without help, the village
children faced a difficult future, so they
16
formed the Baobab Initiative with the
goal of increasing opportunity in subSaharan Africa through the promotion
of permaculture and education.
“It is our hope that the villagers
will learn a degree of independence and
empowerment that will allow them to
prosper and establish further stability
in the village,” adds Chelsea. “It is our
goal that they will impart these skills
of farming and strength to the other
villagers so that they might be able to
support themselves and overcome the
disadvantages that are reality in belowpoverty level areas of Africa.”
This January, Chelsea spoke during
a lower school assembly to share her
slides of the village and the progress
made by the volunteers funding a community garden and sponsoring students
to attend a community school. After
the assembly, the lower school teachers and students agreed to form a partnership with the Baobab Initiative.
“We raised over $1,000 for the initiative,” said Dr. Fishman. “We combined
many of our fundraising efforts to support this partnership…KOCI cookie
sale and ink cartridge recycle drive,
third grade chocolate sale, service day
dog wash and lemonade stand…and
several of our precious children even
brought in their allowances.”
“With our donation,” adds Dr.
Fishman, “the Baobab Initiative can
send two women from the village
to learn farming techniques at the
Freedom Gardens in Malawi and also
buy a pottery wheel and kiln and bikes
and chains for the villagers.”
around campus: Campus News
Students Receive Honorable Mention
in DuPont Challenge Essay Competition
Julian Cooper ‘10, William Papadopoulos ‘92 and Callie Summers ‘10
Freshmen Julian Cooper and Callie Summers each earned honorable Mention
Awards in the DuPont Challenge Science Essay Competition, one of the foremost
student science and technology prize programs in the United States and Canada.
Sponsored by the DuPont Center for Collaborative Research and Education and in
cooperation with General Learning Communications, the Science Essay Awards
Competition is widely recognized and respected.
Callie wrote on “Nuclear Fission: The Answer to World Peace,” and Julian wrote
on “Algae, Biofuels, Fossil Fuels and their Effect on Our Planet.” Their essays
demonstrated a genuine interest and enthusiasm about very important subjects
and evidenced careful thought, insight and research as well as compelling writing.
Callie and Julian joined a distinguished group of twelve Kinkaid former DuPont
Challenge winners. Recently, they had the opportunity to discuss their entries
with former first place winner William Papadopoulos ’92.
Student Discovers New Passion in Interim Term Class
Caroline Burke ’08 discovered a new passion when she
enrolled in Middle and Upper School art teacher Jane DiPaolo’s
jewelry design interim term course this past January. “I just
love making jewelry. I have always liked art and always signed
up for art classes, but I have never done anything like this
before,” says Caroline. “Once I took the class, I realized that I
like it a lot and continued using what I learned even after the
class was over.”
Caroline designed a heart bracelet and necklace that she
has been very busy marketing. She had a booth at The First
Annual “Girls’ Night Out: Champagne & Chamois” event Caroline Burke ‘08
benefiting Bo’s Place (a non-profit organization offering free grief support services
for children) where she sold her jewelry. From her sales, she was able to present a
generous check for $3,010 to Bo’s Place.
“This summer I have an internship with Marnie Rocks who has a shop on
Woodway, and I would definitely like to work with more charities in the future like
I did with Bo’s Place,” says Caroline.
Announcements
Student Summer Internships
Mark Sabbagh ‘08 was selected for
the High School Medical Mentorship
Program at Texas Children’s Hospital and
Ben Kwak ‘08 was selected for the High
School Summer Research Program at
The Stehlin Foundation. Both of these
summer positions are highly competitive
and provide significant opportunities for
academic and personal growth.
Student Leadership Program
This summer Kayla Noel ‘08 and Xavier
Beckwith ‘08 are participating in the
Management Leadership for Tomorrow
program, a national non-profit organization that has made ground-breaking
progress to correct the dramatic underrepresentation of minorities in leadership
positions. Management Leadership for
Tomorrow works to increase the number
of minorities in institutions that develop
talent, such as first-tier business schools
and high-profile companies.
Faculty award
The Jennifer hicks Award
Dr. Sandra Derby, Director of Choral
Music, received The Jennifer Hicks Award
for Faculty Continuing Education. She
will attend the 17th Annual International
Conference of the Robert K. Greenleaf
Center for Servant Leadership, whose
theme this year is “Servant Leadership
for a Flat World.” The servant leadership model is used by many companies, organizations, and educational
institutions as a model and basic philosophy for their mission statements.
Dr. Derby is interested in how she might
use it personally, as a teacher, and as
a member of a learning community. Her
goal is to advance our conversation about
what and how we teach and enlighten
our fundamental personal values and core
institutional values.
17
Around Campus: Campus News
Debate Legacy of Excellence Continues
T
he debate program
coaches within the
at Kinkaid has
debate
community
enjoyed a strong hisacross the United
tory. Started by former
States.
Each year
faculty member Barry
standing members of
Moss in the early
the Key Society con1960s, the program
duct a nomination prohas a long reputation
cess and subsequent
for excellence, recentelection to determine
ly confirmed by the
new members.
Not only does the
recognition it received
from
Montgomery
debate program bring
Bell Academy as
national attention and
one of the “best in
honor to the School,
the nation” during
but more importantly,
its 25th Anniversary
it provides a forum in
event. Furthermore,
which a student learns
many
Kinkaidians
a variety of skills.
have been successful
There are the obvicollege debaters at the Former faculty member Barry Moss and his debate class in 1965
ous efficiencies and
effectiveness in public
at some of the best
speaking and research abilities. But the intangibles of time
universities in the country.
As chronicled in previous issues of this magazine, this
management, interpersonal relationship, and adaptability
aptitudes are honed as well. Debate creates an environment
year’s squad has had a particularly successful year. And quite
in which the students can discuss and banter among themrespectably, Kinkaid has won nearly every national tournaselves, and challenge one another and their peers at other
ment sometime within the last three years.
Head coach Eric Emerson, the former debate partner of
schools on a variety of topics. “The debate program offers
the students the ability to engage in intellectual experimenKinkaid alumnus Jonathan Brody ’90 at the University of
tation and exploration within a close-knit family environTexas, was a major award winner as well. He was inducted this
ment, tempered by the safety net of the squad,” explains Mr.
past year into the Gold Key Society at the Emory University
Barkley Forum. The Gold Key Society began in 1964 as an
Emerson. “It gives the students a voice for student issues,
Continued on page 63
honor society dedicated to highly successful and respected
2007 Debate Team Competes in the Tournament of Champions
Contributed by
Eric Emerson, Debate Coach
In May, the Kinkaid Debate Team competed at the prestigious Tournament of
Champions (TOC) sponsored by the
University of Kentucky. The TOC is widely
considered to be the most difficult tournament in the nation, and the winner receives
the honor of being considered the national
champion. The field of competition is
limited to 72 of the best competitors from
coast to coast. It took an overall record
of 5-2 to reach the elimination rounds.
Going into the tournament, Kinkaid had the
distinction of being among only a handful of schools with multiple policy teams
competing. In addition, Kinkaid was one of
18
only two schools with competitors in both
Lincoln-Douglas and policy debate.
In policy debate, the team of Julia Lovett ‘07
and Daniel Sharp ‘08 barely missed placing
in the sweet 16 (octofinals). They began the
tournament going 4-0 after the first four
rounds. They then had the misfortune of
losing the next three rounds. Two of those
rounds went to the eventual tournament
finalists from Westminster and Glenbrook
North HS. Julia and Daniel ended up being
the 17th seed and the top team in the 4-3
bracket. The team of Lawren Tilney ‘08 and
Ryan Beiermeister ‘08 also ended up 4-3.
While they did not have as close a finish,
they had quality wins in the preliminary
rounds against Greenhill, Chattahoochee
HS (Atlanta) and others. In addition, Daniel
was awarded the eighth overall speaker
of the tournament (out of 142 individuals)
while Ryan was awarded the 12th. This is
particularly remarkably given that there
were only three juniors who placed in the
top 20 overall speakers.
In Lincoln-Douglas debate, Becca Traber
‘08 also had a 4-3 finish. Becca began the
tournament with a rocky start but quickly
recuperated with quality wins over Scarsdale
HS (New York), Walt Whitman HS (Virginia)
and Harker (San Jose). Becca is widely considered to be one of the top juniors returning
next year. Coming into the tournament, she
had more bids than any other junior, and she
was amongst the top in total bids.
around campus: Campus News
Lower School Principal Receives Award
from Anti-Defamation League
Contributed by
Pat Cavanagh
Dyslexia Reading Specialist
The Southwest Region AntiDefamation League honored lower
school Principal Dr. Gloria Fishman
at the 2007 Walter Kase Teacher
Excellence Awards Luncheon on May 3
at the Westin Oaks Hotel. Dr. Fishman
was one of three Houston teachers
honored for creating outstanding educational programs on diversity.
The founder of the award, Walter
Kase, is a Holocaust survivor of five
separate concentration camps. Every
year, he speaks to over 200,000 children about hatred. In addition, his
award honors the people whom he
believes are the most important influences in this world: teachers.
“It’s important for children, early
on, to learn empathy, compassion
and respect. I don’t believe these virtues are innate but are learned both
through observation of those we love
and by direct exposure to situations
that teach these concepts,” said Dr.
Fishman at her acceptance speech.
Dr. Fishman has guided the lower
school faculty as each teacher incorporates the virtues of honesty, respect,
responsibility and kindness into the
Rikki Bleiweiss ‘15 introduced Lower
School Principal Gloria Fishman at the
luncheon.
ongoing life of the School. The concept of diversity is folded into discussions of respect and kindness. From
World Peace Day to our International
Festival, students learn to respect and
honor difference.
In closing Dr. Fishman remarked,
“And so we do what we do and hopefully have some influence on the character of our students.”
Kinkaid: ‘No Place for Hate’ School
Acting Lower School
Principal for the day
Sarah Stukalin ‘18 with
former Kinkaid parent
and current grandparent
Helen Spector and her
mother Anti-Defamation
League board member
Naomi Warren
For the 2006-2007 academic year, all three divisions achieved the designation as a “No
Place for Hate” school. To promote acceptance and celebration of diversity, The AntiDefamation League awards the designation to schools that have completed a set of
diversity activities.
faculty fellowships
Glenn Ballard Fellowship
The 2007 Glenn Ballard Fellowship
recipient is Middle School Texas and
Latin American history teacher Diana
Kokernot. She will take part this summer in a trip to Costa Rica. Sponsored by
Global Exchange, an international human
rights organization dedicated to promoting political, economic, environmental,
and social justice, the trip will give Ms.
Kokernot an opportunity to come to a better understanding of Costa Rican history,
politics, economy, religion, government,
health care, agriculture, education and
environment. It includes meetings and
visits in various cities, towns and villages
with community organizations, government officials, scientists, artists, environmentalists, and representatives from
religious and human rights groups.
The Joseph Barry Moss and
Gary Brent Moss Fellowship
The 2007 recipient of The Joseph Barry
Moss and Gary Brent Moss Fellowship
in the Humanities is Director of Libraries
Dorian Myers. Ms. Myers used the grant
to attend the Western Archives Institute
at San Diego State University in June.
This intensive, two-week program provided integrated instruction in basic archival
practices. The Institute featured site visits
to historical records repositories and a
diverse curriculum that included history
and development of the profession, theory
and terminology, records management,
appraisal, arrangement, description, manuscripts acquisition, archives and the law,
photographs, preservation administration,
reference and access, outreach programs,
and managing archival programs and
institutions. This is especially relevant for
Ms. Myers, since she has primary responsibility at Kinkaid for archival materials.
The Joseph Barry Moss and Gary Brent
Moss Fellowship in the Humanities is
established to create the opportunity for
Kinkaid teachers to enrich themselves in
the formal study of the Humanities or in
other activities related directly thereto. 19
around campus: Campus News
Student Linguists Place in Local, National Contests
EspaÑol
The following students received
a national gold certificate and/or
placed locally in the 2007 National
Spanish Exam. The exam has two
categories for every level: regular
(basically nonnative speakers) and
outside experience (native speakers or students that grew up in a
home where another romance language was spoken). Some levels had
as many as ten of the top schools
in the Houston area participating
and as many as 70 competitors.
Congratulations to the students and
their teachers. Level 1 Regular
Taylor Bass ’09, 4th Julie Weil ‘10 Rachel Zummo ’09
Level 2 Regular
Virginia Albert ‘10
Chris Alexander ‘10
Megan Blaney ‘10
Sam Bursten ‘10
Hilary Cohen ‘10
Ujala Dhanani ‘10
Harrison Harvey ‘10
Matt Johnson ‘09
Caroline Kelly ‘10
Gillian Levy ’10, 6th
Laine Lieberman ’10, 10th
Sabrina Popatia ’10, 9th
Daniel Tepper ‘10
Tara Thurman ‘10
Michelle West ‘09
Level 2 Outside Experience
Julian Cooper ’10, 3rd
Charles Tian ’10, 4th
Level 3 Regular
Jeanie Arnold ’09, 3rd
Michael Atmar ’09, 8th
Corrin Barnes ’09, 10th
Caroline Boerwinkle ‘09
Katie Carpenter ‘09
Benjamin Kwak ’08, 7th
Andy Mishra ’09, 6th
Avery Twitchell-Heyne ’09, 1st
Diana Smiley ’09, 2nd
Margaret Wittenmyer ’09, 9th
Level 4 Regular
Kevin Anding ‘08
Emily Burke ’08, 10th
20
William Clementson ‘08
Yurina Kodama ’08, 8th
Sasha Levine ’08, 2nd
Lawren Tilney ’08, 1st
Maria Vercek ’08, 3rd
May Wang ’08, 4th
Level 4 Outside Experience
Thomas García ’08, 3rd
Franco Silva ’09, 2nd
Level 5 Regular
Eddie Millard ‘07 - Silver
Level 5 Outside Experience
León Brener-Hellmund ’08, 2nd
Chantal Fernandez ’08, 1st
Francais
The following middle and upper
school students earned the top ten
scores and the title of Houston winners of the 2007 National French
Contest. Those ranked the highest
also qualified as national winners.
Congratulations to the students and
their teachers. Middle School
Level 01 - grade 7 Andrew Campbell ‘12, 6th Christopher Dee ‘12, 8th
Matthew Dee ‘12, 7th Evan Eads ‘12, 3rd Niki Frishberg ‘12, 3rd Madeline Gould ‘12, 8th
Maria Henning ‘12, 2nd, 10th nat. Ramille Law ‘12, 1st, 7th nat.
Millie Nishikawa ‘12, 9th
Alexis Roberts ‘12, 8th
Patrick Roberts ‘12, 6th Allison Schuette ‘12, 7th Sheridan Schulte ‘12, 2nd, 10th nat.
Emmy Sprague ‘12, 6th Anna Catherine Wilson ‘12, 10th
Level 1- grade 8
Robert Baldwin ‘11, 7th, 9th nat.
Arya Bekhradi ‘11, 9th
Peter Clifton ‘11, 3rd, 5th nat.
Harrison Hantel ‘11, 9th
Nathan Huynh ‘11, 8th, 10th nat.
Elina Kostyanovskaya ‘11, 5th, 7th nat.
Rachel Morico ‘11, 10th
Schuyler Sher ‘11, 9th
Lailee Taghdisi ‘11, 4th, 6th
Jaime Westendarp ‘11, 6th, 8th nat.
Level 01 B (with an advantage)
Merrick Wilson ‘11, 4th Laura Illich ‘09
Vivian Wang ‘10
Upper School
Level I -division A - (regular)
Katie Carpenter ’09, 3rd, 5th nat.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Gold Medals
Arya Bekhradi ‘11
Ashley Brown ‘11
Aaron Chen ‘11
Peter Clifton ‘11
Ben Grotta ‘11
Laura Lachman ‘11
Brian Lu ‘11
William Montgomery ‘11
Baker Tilney ‘11
Haley Walker ‘11
Merrick Wilson ‘11
Level I, division B (with an advantage)
Ben Hoffman ’10, 9th
Level II Zahra Asharia ’07, 8th, 9th nat. Sean Dadjoo ’10, 9th, 10th Pablo Henning ’10, 3rd, 4th nat.
Luis Juarez ’09, 7th, 8th nat.
Stephanie Keinz ’10, 10th Sidharth Kumar ’10, 3rd, 4th nat.
Sarah Mountjoy ’10, 2nd, 3rd nat.
Mia Nishikawa ’10, 10th
Amanda Singer ’10, 8th, 9th nat. Albert Smith ’10, 9th , 10th nat.
Vivian Wang ’10, 5th, 6th nat.
Julie Weil ’10, 8th, 9th nat.
Level III
Nina Brener-Hellmund ’09, 5th, 7th nat.
Sasha Levin ‘08, 7th, 9th nat.
Rachel Rosenthal ’09, 7th, 9th nat.
Michelle West ’09, 9th
Rachel Bodzy ’09, 10th
Katherine Verity ’08, 10th
Level IV
Jason Adams ’08, 4th, 9th nat. Beau Burns ’08, 9th Aneesh Mehta ’08, 9th Mark Sabbagh ’08,10th Arun Singh ’08, 3rd , 8th nat.
Level V
Danny Friedkin ‘07, 10th place
Meghan Lewis ‘07, 8th place
Clare Schirrmeister ‘07, 9th place
Georgiana Smyser ‘07, 7th place Level V C (native speaker advantage)
Edward Gautier-Winther ‘07, 4th, 9th nat.
Latin
The following Kinkaid students
earned gold and silver medals
for their performance on the 2007
National Latin Exam.
UPPER SCHOOL
Gold Medals
Christopher Alexander ‘10
Anuraag Das ‘10
UPPER SCHOOL
Silver Medals
Mitchell Barth ‘10
Emma Birckhead ‘09
Ujala Dhanani ‘10
Michael Haapaniemi ‘10
Pablo Henning ‘10
Mia Nishikawa ‘10
Matt Ryan ‘09
Amanda Singer ‘10
Sabrina Popatia ‘10
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Silver Medals
Robert Baldwin ‘11
Leslye Barth ‘11
Nikhil Bontha ‘11
Katy Broesche ‘11
Jewel Crosswell ‘11
Heather Goettee ‘11
Lauren Heyne ‘11
Nathan Huynh ‘11
Elina Kostyanovskaya ‘11
Stephen Laswell ‘11
Haley Lockwood ‘11
William Mattingly ‘11
Ashwin Mehta ‘11
Henry Mentz ‘11
Devynn-Rae Moreno ‘11
Jay Mullen ‘11
Jennifer Orr ‘11
Ben Pardee ‘11
William Reade ‘11
Taylor Shingledecker ‘11
Samantha Siegler ‘11
Allyson Soderstrom ‘11
Julian Truscott ‘11
Caroline Wallace ‘11
Lyndsey Watson ‘11
Glen Allen Wind ‘11
around campus: Campus News
Kinkaid Thanks Scholarship Donors
On May 24, Headmaster Don North
hosted the School’s first luncheon to
thank donors who have established
scholarship endowments or donated
other restricted funds for financial aid.
Fifty guests assembled in the Kinkaid
Theatre Lobby and heard remarks from
speakers including two need-based
financial aid recipients, Kinkaid Alumni
Association Board President Michael
Kuhn ’68 and Carvana Hicks ’95.
Michael, Partner and General
Counsel, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP,
spoke of how his Kinkaid education
opened many doors in his life, and
how he and his wife Lucy created an
endowed scholarship to help provide
other students with the special opportunities he had received here. Carvana, who today is an Assistant
District Attorney for Harris County,
also shared some inspiring remarks.
“Kinkaid helped me develop a strong
work ethic and taught me the importance of teamwork, diversity, goal setting and confidence, which I continued
to use as an undergrad at DePauw
University and in law school. Whether
it was on the Honor Council, in the
choir, band, or on the sports field, I was
surrounded by dedicated faculty and
staff who believed in me and encouraged me to reach for the stars!”
In providing details on the scholarship program, Financial Aid Coordinator
David Goodman, Lucy and Michael ‘68 Kuhn, Carvana Hicks ‘95 and Eileen Lawal
Bruce Waldron emphasized that the
life of the School is enhanced by the
contributions of financial aid students
in the classroom, in athletics and in
the arts and by the friendships they
develop with students and teachers
throughout the school.
Kinkaid trustee L.E. Simmons
described the Leadership Scholars
Endowment that he and his wife Ginny
funded. This new program identifies
students with demonstrated financial
need and leadership potential as they
enter the ninth grade and—with their
agreement and with the support of
their parents—involves them in a fouryear plan of guided activities and expe-
riences to help them build the habits
of successful leaders. Recipients also
pledge to “give back” their time to
mentor students and to provide financial support so future generations of
students may benefit.
In thanking the donors, Headmaster
North mentioned the School annually
provides about $1.3 million in tuition
assistance and other support to financial aid recipients, about one-half of
which is funded through earnings from
restricted scholarship endowment.
For more information on the endowed
scholarship program, please contact
Tom Moore, Director of Advancement,
713-243-5045.
48th Science Engineering Fair of Houston
Prep Bowl Teams Excel in Spring Season
The following students won awards at the 48th Science and
Engineering Fair of Houston on March 22 - 24 at the George R.
Brown Convention Center.
In March, Kinkaid sent two prep bowl teams to a tournament
at Bellaire High School. Both teams made it to the playoff rounds
and wound up playing each other in the first match! The underdog
team of Naresh Rammohan ‘07, Aneesh Mehta ‘08, Arun Singh ‘08,
and Ashok Yerramsetti ‘08 won and went all the way to the semifinals, finishing fourth.
In April, Kinkaid again sent two prep bowl teams to a tournament
hosted by St. John’s School. The Allen Pierce ‘07, J.W. Blaney ‘07,
Aneesh and Arun team made it all the way to the finals, finishing
second.
On Memorial Day weekend, eight team members went to
the national tournament in San Antonio where the squad won
three out of six games. The students competing were Naresh,
Aneesh, Arun, Ashok, Allen, J.W., Eddie Millard ‘07 and Matthew
Evans ‘08.
Senior Division
Mark Sabbagh ‘08: Electron Affinities & Reduction Potentials of Aromatics; Special Award from The American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Junior Division
Robert Baldwin ‘11: The Fastest Programming Language; Honorable Mention SEFH Award in Computer Science
Sara Jane Wallace ‘11: Ultraviolet Light - Which SPF Protects Best?; Special Award from The Texas Chiropractic College
Haley Lockwood ‘11: Burning Calories…Literally; Special Award from The American Physical Society
21
around campus: Campus News
Kinkaid Organizes
Parent Diversity Committee
“Kinkaid believes that the diversity of its
school community, which in the simplest
terms means the ways in which people
are different, enhances the school’s ability to implement its mission...” More than
90% of Kinkaid’s students, parents, faculty
and staff agreed with this statement in the
online survey dealing with school diversity
and multiculturalism taken last fall.
This overwhelming affirmation on the
importance of diversity at Kinkaid is in line
with the Board of Trustees statement created in May 2005 that knowledge is gained
by exposure to lots of different people,
experiences, perspectives and ideas. The
Board’s statement asserts that, “This principle is at the heart of Kinkaid’s motto, lux
per scientiam, light through knowledge.”
Over the course of the year, Headmaster
Don North, Director of Character Education
Mike Pardee, and diversity coordinators
from each of Kinkaid’s three divisions (Lisa
Curry from KLS, Alvin Gilmore from KMS,
and Leslie Lovett from KHS) met several
times to study and interpret the extensive
data yielded by the survey. Presentations
and discussions about these diversity survey results ensued in lower, middle and
upper school faculty meetings, Board of
Trustee meetings and presentations to
each of the four grades in high school.
A parent group also gathered four times
during the spring to consider the wideranging parent responses and to identify
ways to bring Kinkaid’s Diversity Statement
effectively to life. This eight-person committee was convened by Mr. Pardee, and will
continue to meet during the 2007-08 school
year. At this point, the parent committee’s
role remains more deliberative than executive. Its members were chosen in an effort
to include the voices of as many different
perspectives as possible from within the
Kinkaid community.
“Our children will be living in a global
and diverse world in the 21st century,
and it’s important that they have a broad
understanding of other cultures and ideas
in order to be leaders and productive members in their communities.” commented
Roni Atnipp, co-president of the 2007-2008
Kinkaid Parents’ Association and a member of the parent diversity committee.
22
Students Experience
New Orleans’ Reconstruction
F
or their first weekend of summer
vacation, twenty-two upper school
students and five faculty members
volunteered to help rebuild homes for
the St. Bernard Project in New Orleans
May 26-29. The St. Bernard Project is
a group dedicated to rebuilding houses
in St. Bernard Parish, one of the areas
most devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
Kinkaid’s association with the project
began through Associate Director of
College Counseling Robin Doran’s college contacts. While she was visiting
colleges in New Orleans this spring,
she had the opportunity to work with
“Katrina is something we all
hear about, something
everyone considers a ‘national
tragedy’ and a ‘worthwhile
effort,’ but you truly do ‘gotta
go there to know there.’ ”
Journal Entry from Beau Burns ’08
the St. Bernard Project and knew
immediately that this was an experience she wanted to share with her
students. Robin, with the help of upper
school Principal Mickey Saltman and
few other faculty members, organized
a fun-filled “working” trip.
First the students explored the city
and heard from our own upper school
history teacher Leslie Lovett’s brother, a law professor at Tulane, about
Serena Mammen ‘08
the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; took
a cemetery tour. Then they took a tour
of the French Quarter, ate at great restaurants and even got in some shopping.
Afterwards, the real fun began. The students insulated an entire house, spackled and sanded another house and hung
drywall in three separate houses. They
worked hard and did it all with a smile.
Junior Beau Burns chronicled his experiences and thoughts about the trip.
Beau Burns ‘08 New Orleans Journal Entry
When, at 6 o’clock the morning of our departure, I was stuffed like a sardine into the backseat of our minivan, I never could have guessed what New
Orleans held in store for me. Based on all I had heard and seen of Katrina,
I pictured a city ransacked and utterly ruined: a devastated, demoralized
town with little or no hope of ever fully recovering. I wanted to be wrong, but
I was hardly optimistic about our destination’s condition. Sadly, my mindset
still hadn’t changed by the time we reached Tulane.
I was pleased to see Uptown (the neighborhood surrounding Tulane) seemingly in such good shape, and the university virtually unaffected. But I knew
the worst was yet to come. It had to be, or why else would we have made the
trip? On the second day, during our tour of the French Quarter, my stance
began gradually to change. I started to see a livelihood about the city, a wonderfully vivacious culture trying and beginning to revive. Continued on page 60