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Country Day School
Newspaper
www.pingry.org/record
Volume CXXXVII, Number 7
JUNE 12, 2011
COMMENCEMENT 2011
The Pingry School, Martinsville, New Jersey
Seniors Explore Their
Interests During ISP
cally in mind; her theoretical donated all of their music arhouse utilized Costa Rica’s six rangements to Dr. Moore for
and a half months of constant the Buttondowns’ use.
Following a Pingry tradi- rainfall to create energy.
Jason Reitman created a
tion, beginning on May 2, all
Anisha Mohin visited dif- CD through the combination
130 members of the senior
class dropped their classes ferent art galleries and muse- of tap dancing and conversain order to pursue Indepen- ums across New York City. tion as the basis of his songs.
dent Study Projects. As the She also experimented with He was particularly interested
list below demonstrates, this some different photography in evaluating and showcasing
how the rhythm of speech
year’s projects ranged from techniques.
differs in people of different
preparing drama productions
Passionate about comic backgrounds.
to cooking to community
service, allowing seniors to books, Michael Sankovich
Digital Arts
explore their interests and take illustrated and hosted his own
full advantage of their final Web comic. Although these
Amanda Devine took an
month in high school. They comics were intended to be
presented the results in the an- humorous, Sankovich oc- online tutorial service to learn
nual ISP night, held this year casionally used them to send how to operate master Maya
political and social messages 3-D animation, the software
on Wednesday, June 8.
as well.
commonly used in movie
studios and video games.
ARTS
Music
After completing each tutoVisual Arts
rial, Devine printed out her
To pursue their interest in final product and assembled
After taking Ceramics at
Pingry, Matt Beattie and music, Arvin Alaigh, Nic a binder containing these
Steve Palazzolo channeled Fink, Victor Hsue, Avi Bhav- works.
their interest in sculpture nani wrote and produced an
Exploring their interest
into producing a fountain extended play (EP) recording
lion sculpture surrounded by of four songs, with each song in both skateboarding and
smaller animal and decorative drawing influence from a dif- computer science, Steve Pike
ferent genre or artist.
and Matt English designed a
sculptures.
website about skateboarding.
Founders of the a cappella They visited different skate
Pursuing her intended college major, Meghan Duarte- group Drastic Measures Jeff parks around the state and
Silva Barry designed a blue- Baum, Ben Hamm Conard, blogged about their experiprint for a single family home and Thomas Schermerhorn ences.
on the Pacific Coast in Costa recorded a 12 track a capRica. Barry drafted this plan pella CD of music arranged
Continued on Page 12
with the environment specifi- by Baum and Conard. They
By DAN ABEND (V) and
SARAH PARK (V)
SENIOR REFLECTIONS
P. 2—4
COLLEGE SUMMARY
P. 5
After 21 Years at Pingry, Mrs.
Deborah Bruning Moves to VA
By ARVIND IYENGAR (V) and
ALAK MEHTA (V)
Most students know her
as the person to go in the
College Counseling office
when they’re seeking out
counselors or need help submitting applications. Now,
after 21 years as an Administrative Assistant in several
departments, Mrs. Deborah
Bruning will be moving to
Virginia, where she will be
working part time at the
University of Virginia. She
also hopes to spend more
time with her children and
grandchildren.
Initially the Administrative Assistant to the Middle
School, Mrs. Bruning has
been an Administrative Assistant to college counseling
for the past 15 years, processing 13,358 applications
for 1,870 Pingry seniors
applying to over 385 different universities. Working
“behind the scenes,” she
helps coordinate all college
application submissions,
making sure that the students’ transcripts, teacher
recommendations, and other
paperwork are submitted on
time.
One of Mrs. Bruning’s
most important accomplishments has been increasing
CLASS OF 1902 EMBLEM
P. 6-7
the use of technology in the
College Counseling Office.
In recent years, she has kept
track of student applications
through computers instead
of cards, making the entire
process easier and more efficient. Additionally, Mrs.
Bruning has helped support
the Advanced
Placement (AP)
process in
school and
scheduled
all meetings for
students
and college counselors.
Mrs.
Bruning
will be
dearly
missed by
students
and faculty alike. Senior
Ashley Feng believes that
Mrs. Bruning’s genuine care
for everyone “lends such
warmth to the college counseling department.” Feng
also praised her “welcoming
smile and complete dedication to students’ needs,”
as well as her “ability to
calm down seniors who are
stressed about college.”
SCHOOL NEWS
P. 13-14
Mr. Timothy Lear, Director of College Counseling,
admires Mrs. Bruning’s extensive knowledge on the
“ins and outs of applying to
colleges. She knows more
about the college process
than anyone.” Lear also appreciates the extent of her responsibilities,
f r o m
“being
the ‘face’
of Pingry
to many
colleges
and universities” to
acting as
a “calming influence on
Pingry
families and
S. Park (V) counselors.”
When
asked what she will miss
the most about Pingry, Mrs.
Bruning responded that she
“will miss the interactions
with the college counseling members and students.”
She added that one of her
Continued on Page 10
SPORTS
P. 15-16
12
THE PINGRY RECORD
ISP JUNE 12, 2011
Seniors Embark On Unique Journeys During ISP
mixed media project collage, Bobbi Brown and a Shop for
which also includes drawings, FOP Day at the Willow Street
boutique in Summit. They also
paintings, and clay.
Theater
wrote letters to previous FOP
Artists Ayana Kareem and donors, informing them about
Combining her love of Ariana King put together a recent medical discoveries in
dance with her interest in business, Lakshmi Davey interned
at the administrative office of
the Carolyn Dorfman Dance
Company. She also worked
her way towards becoming a
certified yoga instructor by
taking classes at a studio in
Bridgewater.
Continued From Page 1
Inspired by children overcoming pediatric cancer, Melissa Murphy chose to work
with the Make Some Noise:
Cure Kids Cancer Foundation. She researched pediatric
To hone his theatrical
skills, Brian Fischer directed
two plays by James McLure,
“Laundry and Bourbon” and
“Lone Star.” Brian ran the
rehearsals, directed the plays,
organized props and costumes,
made the set, and advertised
for the performances.
Displaying his theatrical
prowess, Thomas Schermerhorn followed a “play per
day” schedule where he wrote
and edited a unique dramatic
scene every day with the help
of Mr. Al Romano. He and
other students performed a selected number of these scenes,
and he gave all of his work
to the Drama Department for
future use.
A beauty shot of M. Roach (VI) from S. Neibart’s ISP.
S. Neibart (VI)
Literature
Chloe Sorvino finished a
novella she started last spring
in Creative Writing and had
been working on for months.
With the help of Mrs. Vicki
Grant, she wrote and edited
over 30 new pages and shaped
up her 175-page rough draft to
create a finished product.
FILM
Movie
Alex Fagella and James
Goldberg wrote, filmed, and
edited a 25-minute sketch
comedy show. The two also
wrote a full script for the
show’s next episode.
To examine some of the
stereotypes surrounding skateboarding, Ethan Kenny and
Tim Lee worked together
to produce a documentary.
They interviewed people with
various perspectives on skateboarding, including many
skateboarders themselves.
Passionate about surfing,
Rob Luckfield and Carter
Luckfield created a short film
about east coast surfing. They
also composed and wrote
original music to soundtrack
the film.
Interested in diversity issues ever since she attended
the Student Diversity Leadership Conference, Colleen
Roberts created her own video commentary on diversity
within the Pingry community.
She did extensive research on
diversity through literature
and film and drew on her own
experiences.
Photography
Devoted art students Kevin
Jian and Vitor Oliveira hiked
and took pictures of their
natural environment. They
then met at school to incorporate these photographs into a
photography exhibit to celebrate skin. For the first two
weeks, they photographed
piercings, scars, tattoos, dimples, and freckles at Pingry;
they then selected, edited,
printed, and displayed the
art.
Following her passion
for portraiture, Samantha
Neibart used Pingry girls
as her models to create a
large-scale photography show
focused on teenage beauty.
Neibart was particularly interested in capturing inner and
outer beauty as well as showcasing how beauty changes
over time.
Eric Stock, Stephen Louria, and Matt Stone delved
into the world of underwater
photography. They traveled to
Andros and the Bahamas and
took numerous underwater
pictures, learning much about
reefs and ecosystems in the
process.
To display how people
show images without their
faces, Olivia Tarantino took
focused shots of her models’
necks and collarbones. Her
goal was to surprise people
with such an atypical and
intriguing subject.
the hopes of receiving more cancer, summarized journals
written by parents of children
contributions.
who were fighting cancer, and
Chloe Carver, Henry, organized the second annual
Gadsden, Tierney Griff, “Pedaling for Pediatric Canand Eric Schoenbach helped cer” event.
organize and run the John
To help out a cause close
Taylor Babbitt Foundation’s
Fifth Annual Walk With Heart, to his heart, Matt Sheeleigh
which raises money and in- assisted the communications
creases awareness about sud- director of The Children’s
Tumor Foundation. He mainly
den cardiac arrest.
performed administrative tasks
Emily Crooker and Di- and organized fundraisers.
ana Dzerovych coordinated
Looking to make a differand ran a plant sale for Schiff
Nature Preserve in Mendham. ence for spinal cord injury
They developed their network- patients, Taylor Shepard voling skills and helped out a unteered at the Christopher
local site that is important to and Diana Reeve Foundation
in Short Hills. She worked
their community.
with the foundation in the
Immersing herself in envi- communications and event
ronmental studies, Lindsey planning departments.
Devers took on a multi-faceted program for her ISP. First,
LANGUAGE/CULshe volunteered at the Brooklyn Grange Farm, the largest TURE
rooftop farm in the United
Passionate about New York
States. She then brought what
she learned back to Pingry,
helping to integrate the new
organic garden into the curriculum. She also assisted
Rebecca Spicehandler in
creating an organic garden.
She then created her own bike
from bamboo in Red Hook,
Brooklyn.
Hoping to give back to the
C O M M U N IT Y S ER - community and gain experience in the medical field,
VICE
Wade Homer became an
With hopes of becoming a Emergency Medical TechniFire Investigator in the future, cian (EMT). To do so, he took
Adam Armstrong spent his a course and trained with the
ISP working in the Hillsbor- Watchung Rescue Squad.
ough Fire Safety Office, where
Mary Kate Martinson
he shadowed fire marshals,
helped with data entry, and volunteered at several differresponded to emergencies. ent Crisis Pregnancy Centers,
Armstrong filmed all of his hoping to help young women
activities and created a video who lack the resources and opportunities that many people
montage.
take for granted. Crisis PregTo raise money and aware- nancy Centers is focused on
ness for FOP, Lindsay Burke providing aid to women who
and Whitney Weldon orga- are experiencing or are at risk
nized a makeup class taught by for an unplanned pregnancy.
To immerse herself in Asian
culture, Kira Horiuchi studied food, art, and language.
She took a course to learn
Japanese, learned how to cook
sushi, and examined different
works of art to determine how
Asian cultural values were
represented in the pieces.
Interning at Sonia’s Sweet
Perfections, Elizabeth Manzo
learned how to bake delicious
cupcakes as well as how to
fiscally manage a business,
something that she hopes to
explore further in college.
Pursuing her passion for
global issues, Anna Kamen
interned at the American Jewish Committee (AJC), a Jewish
advocacy interest group. She
also went to the AJC global
forum, where she attended
workshops and speeches from
FITNESS/SPORTS
World Leaders like Madelaine
Albright and Ricardo MarAnalyzing games that the
tinelli.
Pingry Football team has
played over the last two seaPassionate about language, sons, Will Bartlett and Matt
Allie Logerfo immersed her- Damstrom observed overall
self in Italian language and tendencies and playing styles.
culture. She studied the lan- They then passed this informaguage, watched Italian films, tion on to Coach Shilts and the
visited museums about Italian team to better prepare them for
culture, and learned to cook the upcoming season.
Italian food. Additionally, she
taught the English as a Second
To get themselves in their
Language courses at the Ber- best possible shape for college
nardsville Library.
athletics, Will Burchenal,
Adam Jacob, and Andrew
Sharing a love for U.S. Young researched four difHistory, Victoria Meyer and ferent fitness programs and
Rebecca Youngdahl traveled put them to the test. At the
through six states in the south, end of the four weeks, they
visiting important historical wrote reviews on each of the
locations to gain greater in- programs.
sight into our country’s deep
history.
Amanda Flugstad-Clarke
and Kate O’Connor went
to local classes for different
FOOD
varieties of fitness, like yoga
and kickboxing. They wrote
Pursuing their passion for summaries comparing and
cooking, Alexis Bocian-Rep- rating the different classes
erowitz, Julia Dowling, and and compiled the information
Helen Daifotis extensively into a book.
explored four different cuisines: French, Greek, Asian,
Preparing herself for what
and Italian. They took cooking she hopes will be a future
classes at different schools career, Dani Fusaro worked
in the area and tried out new at JAG Physical Therapy, a
recipes on their own.
physical therapy and athletic
training facility. She shadRebecca Gluck honed her owed a physical therapist and
cooking skills at Ninety Acres, learned about the variety of ina culinary center on the Natirar juries and recovery techniques
property in Peapack-Glad- that athletes go through.
stone. She assisted the chefs
To combine his interests
at cooking classes and created
a recipe book from what she in psychology and sports,
Christopher Ju worked with
learned.
sports psychologist Dr. David
Mike Lucciola, Tyler Pilchman at NJ Peak PerforGump, and Robbie Hugin mance, an organization that
started an on-campus grille gives athletes the necessary
to provide food options like mental skills to perform their
E. Crooker and D. Dzerovych sitting in the Schiff garden.
City, Andrew Falk and Alex
Lieberman explored the cultural aspect of the Big Apple,
documenting their adventures
in different locations through
a photograph book.
Working at the Bernards
Inn, Kathryn Kolb shadowed
Executive Chef Corey Heyer.
She learned about culinary
arts, pastry making, and what a
bustling kitchen is like during
dinnertime.
burgers, hot dogs, and lemonade to the community. They
also set up a tent and chairs
outside for students to hang
out in during their lunch and
free periods.
Courtesy of D. Dzerovych (VI)
best. He talked to Dr. Pilchman
about his cases and watched
presentations that he gave to
athletes.
Otis Osman coached chil-
THE PINGRY RECORD
dren’s basketball and held
multiple clinics at the South
Plainfield High School.
Through this experience, Osman helped others improve
their playing skills and developed interpersonal skills that
he hopes will help him reach
his ultimate goal of playing
collegiate basketball.
Hoping to disprove common workout misconceptions, Rachael Williams did
research to educate herself on
what is and isn’t true about
exercise. She then put this
research to the test, alternating between taking classes at
Commit to Change Gym and
completing cardio workouts at
Steve Tylee Fitness.
INTERNSHIPS
Medicine
Interested in the field of
dentistry, Anjana Ganti spent
her ISP shadowing and working with a local dentist. She
also independently researched
the different aspects of the
field, like cosmetic and pediatric dentistry.
Following her passion for
biology and medicine, Stephanie Hanchuk shadowed
Dr. Steven Deak, a vascular
surgeon. She learned different ways to diagnose and treat
vascular diseases. She also
learned how a duplex ultrasound allows for the correct
diagnosis in the lower extremities and carotid artery.
Jeanee Lee worked at the
University of Medicine and
Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) Scientific Hospital. She
shadowed Dr. Lillian Pliner,
an oncologist and assistant
professor of medicine at the
hospital. She also attended
medical lectures.
Exploring the option of
a career as an orthodontist,
Victoria Munn shadowed her
local orthodontist and worked
at the front desk doing paperwork and answering calls.
Hoping to become a physician, Grant Negri shadowed
several doctors at Summit
Medical Group, watching surgeries, observing procedures,
and sitting in on check-ups.
Inspired by her positive
experience working at an animal hospital this past summer,
Mackenzie Roach shadowed
both an orthopedic surgeon
and an Emergency Room
doctor.
To gain experience in the
medical field, Victoria Wei
shadowed a chief cardiac anesthesiologist at Robert Wood
Johnson University Hospital.
She witnessed cardiac operations and saw operations done
by machine technology.
Education
Hoping to interact with
children on a daily basis, Lilly
Holman worked as a teaching
assistant at the St. Justine Preschool in Newark. She helped
teachers with writing, cooking,
play practice, and art. She also
learned about education and
the socioeconomic conditions
of the Newark community.
Motivated by love for the
ISP JUNE 12, 2011
N’Diaye, Ben Rogers, and
Luke Vreeland worked with
Richard Bradley ’07, founder
of the small-scale clothing
company Simply Anti. They
helped the brand expand into
more stores and marketed the
clothing to Pingry students.
Scott Sowinski interned
at the Princeton University
athletic marketing and friends
group departments. He shadowed an administrator there
and learned what the daily
schedule of a sports marketer
and administrator is like.
Research
13
Airport. To accomplish this,
Bianco had to fly a minimum
of 40 hours and pass a written
test. She also recorded a video
of the entire process of flying
a plane.
Ratish Malhotra divided
his time between working
at Tailwind Capital Private
Equity Firm and doing molecular biology research at
Princeton University’s Lewis
Thomas Laboratory. He hopes
Taylor Smith chose a dual to publish his discoveries in
ISP. First, she worked at the St. the future.
Justine preschool in Newark as
a teacher’s assistant where she
Rebecca Spicehandler
assisted the children in activi- took on a three-part ISP. First,
ties and aided the school in the she worked at CORE Mind
integration of an environmen- and Body, a pilates studio
tal program. She also mastered in Maplewood. There she
learned what it takes to run a
the skill of sewing.
successful small business. She
Curious about Buddhism also planted her own organic
and the connection between vegetable garden, and estabspirituality, mental, and physi- lished a healthier diet. Lastly,
cal well-being, Emily Com- she read through a diverse list
bias studied Buddhism and of classic novels that she never
practiced meditation with had found the time to read
Ms. Yorke. She also worked beforehand.
at a Pilates studio, learned
Pursuing a dual ISP, Krisabout therapeutic massage
techniques, and worked with ten Tripicchio made a family
cookbook and interned with an
a craniosacral therapist.
optometrist and chiropractor.
To learn more about avia- The cookbook recorded and
tion, Shaan Gurnani, John organized dozens of family
Varvaro, Matt Vitale, and recipes from her grandparents
Dina Mohamed-Aly took that originated back in Italy.
a course with a pilot at the The second component of her
Morristown Airport. They ISP allowed her to explore the
learned about the business of work of two drastically differflying, air traffic control, air- ent medical professions.
port management, and in-flight
Reed Tyson took on a
training. They also took field
trips to aviation hangers and multi-faceted ISP. His expeworkshops where they were riences included shadowing
able to see how airplane parts heart surgeons at Advanced
Vascular Associates in Morare repaired.
ristown, working with Mr.
To fully immerse them- Andrew Alfano to create transselves in their love of the natu- genic fish, and taking Jui-Jitsu
For their ISP, Mike Hoyt
and Kasra Manoocheri reCourtesy of V. Meyer and R. Youngdahl searched microfluidics with
Sarah Du for her PHD work at
V. Meyer (VI) and R. Youngdahl (VI) at Fort Pulaski in GA. the Stevens Institute of Technology. Microfluidics is being
French language, Alexandra had the opportunity to tour the used to develop new methods
Rajan assisted her former CBS offices at their headquar- to analyze and control biochemical systems.
teacher Madame Roxbury ters in New York City.
with her classes in the middle
Politics
school. Rajan also worked to
integrate more technology in
Business/Marketing
Interested in politics but
the classroom, such as interactive websites and online
To explore a possible career tired of partisanship in Ameropportunity, Lindsey Bissing- ica, Mark Parker-Magyar
textbooks.
er shadowed Pingry alumnus spent his time working at the
Harlen Shangold worked Maggie Porges. She spent her Independent Center, where
with middle school Latin time working at the public he learned how a small third
teacher Ms. Margaret Kelleher relations firm Laforce and party operates. He also wrote
a detailed essay analyzing the
as an assistant teacher to her Stevens in New York City.
possible benefits of the Indeclasses. He created his own
Stepping into the business pendent Center’s goals and
lesson plans and assignments
. He also also visited other world, Jared Cohen spent what effects they would have
foreign language classrooms 5 days in New York City at on America.
to observe teaching methods Goldman-Sachs, where he
Fashion
toured offices and spent time
and styles.
on the trading floor. He also
Danielle Westerman went kept up to date on the business
back to her old elementary world by thoroughly reading
school to be a teacher’s as- the “Wall Street Journal” &
sistant to her favorite teacher. contacted the Short Hills camShe helped him plan lessons, pus about teaching a future
work with children in the seminar to the students on
classroom, and do whatever business and economics.
tasks were necessary to make
To gain experience in the
the lesson plan for the day run
financial field, Susan Contess,
smoothly.
Harrison Yu, and James Elliott interned at Updata PartTheater
ners, a technology investment
Hoping to learn more about firm in New Jersey.
marketing and fundraising,
Will Fischer interned with
Tori Martin interned at the
Community Theatre in Morris- a senior partner at MACRO
town. While there, she also im- Consulting, a financial planning firm. There, he learned
proved her computer skills.
about a variety of pieces of the
Preparing to pursue a career financial process, including
as an actress, Sarah Muirhead reviewing existing portfolio,
shadowed the casting director new client acquisition, and tax
Rachel Hoffmann at Telsey consequences.
& Company in New York
For her ISP, Amanda HaltCity. Through this experience,
Muirhead learned the “dos” maier interned at the Comand “don’ts” of auditions and munications branch of the
gained first-hand insight into company Alcatel-Lucent. She A photo from V. Oliveira and K. Jian’s ISP.
worked with the manager of
the casting process.
corporate media relations to
Preparing herself for a ca- ral world and explore the conKaela O’Connor pursued research facts, write, and edit reer in the fashion industry, trasts between wilderness and
Hayley Shelby interned at the urban environments, Garrett
her love of dance at Pushing with very strict deadlines.
fashion house LUCALUCA Hiscano and Max Ingrassia
Progress, a dance company.
Sports aficionado Lucas in New York. She worked at reviewed literature, like Henry
There, she shadowed an executive Art Director and helped Johnston interned at First the business headquarters, in David Thoreau’s Walden,
advertise the company’s show- Choice Marketing and Preci- the design studio, and at the and films, like Into the Wild.
sion Sports Entertainment, company boutique.
case series.
They then spent time fishing,
two agencies that specialize
canoeing, hiking, swimming,
in selling sports sponsorships.
Engineering
Television
cooking, and observing naHe cold called and prepared
ture at a lake house in Sussex
Tanya Welch worked with County. During the final week
Ashley Feng and Keri business-like sales presentacivil engineers at a company of the project, they spent time
Forness spent their ISP in tions.
called Severud Associates in in Manhattan, photographing
London. They studied British
Exploring a possible career New York City. She assisted a different sections of the city
media and worked at the British Broadcasting Company path, Daniel Kronthal and Principal at the company and and visiting the Museum of
headquarters, assisting em- Pranav Maganti interned shadowed him during his daily Natural History.
ployees with news reports and at KLS Diversified, an asset routine.
management company in New
day-to-day administration.
Computer genius Ted MaYork. Under John Steinhardt,
cioce developed an application
OTHER
Inspired by the presentation one of the founders of the
to work on smart phones, runof “60 Minutes” producer Da- company, they learned about
ning specifically the Android
Wanting to branch out and operating system. He wrote
vid Gelber ‘59 on Career Day, managing bond markets and
try something new, Schuyler the application’s code and
Noinin Gilbert worked along- investments.
Bianco obtained her solo pi- devoted his time to drawing
side him during her ISP. Along
F o r t h e i r I S P, Vi c t o r lot’s license at the Somerset the graphics.
with assisting Mr. Gelber, she
V. Oliveira (VI) and K. Jian (VI)
classes at a Martial Arts school
in Madison.
Pursuing his passion for
music, Victor Hsue worked
with Nic Fink, Avi Bhavnani,
and Arvin Alaigh to produce
an album and expand his musical palette. He also interned
for Mr. David Baum and the
Baum Media group to market
their online golf publications,
Golf Odyssey and Golf Vacation Insider.
Shannon Hughes interned
at Horizon Asset Management
in London, England and shadowed Mr. Spezio. She worked
as the personal assistant to the
CEO of Horizon Asset Management, Mr. Sherif Nadar. In
addition, she learned injury
prevention techniques like icing, taping, heating, and stim
under Mr. Spezio’s guidance.