Seeing old friends

Sean and Kara Nottage were back in Old Deerfield over the holidays and spent time with some even older friends, DA faculty Claudia Lyons and David Dickinson. The ladies still look lovely and the gents debonair!

And then there's this...

Happy Holidays all!

Happy Holidays!

To the Class of '83 - please enjoy a few pics stolen from FB and some rest if you are fortunate enough to have vacation this week!

Leigh Guyer at Nutcracker on Oregon
Wills Elliman and face painted son at Eagles game in PA
Hank LeMieux being himself in San Francisco, CA
The Crow clan playing pond hockey in NH
The Knight family on the slopes in CO

The sound of expertise...

RJ Harrington appeared on a local radio show in Boulder to lay down some fossil fuel facts:

http://news.kgnu.org/2014/12/clean-energy-action-questions-xcel-rate-hike-request/

Nothing like some expertise!

Five is indeed a handful...

Anybody else in our class published five articles in the Huffington Post?

I guess that's why he's the President...of Denison University!

Adam's latest is about what colleges should do for their students.  Adam just had one child go through the college admission process and another one upcoming.  He has lots of perspective! The entire article is pasted below but here's the link:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-weinberg/colleges-must-help-students-get-a-life_b_6254016.html

and here's a link to all of his HuffPosts...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-weinberg/

Colleges Must Help Students Get a Life, Not Just a Job

Posted: 12/03/2014 1:07 pm EST  Updated: 12/03/2014 1:59 pm EST 

What is the value of higher education relative to jobs?

First, we need to get the question right. Graduates need jobs, but that's not all. They also need employment situations that pay decent wages, that enhance their skills, and that allow them to build the kinds of lives they want to lead. 

Second, we need to remember that communities have a vested interest in the answer to this question. We need to prepare a generation of students to be the kinds of professionals who work in ways that drive society forward. 

Higher education can get this right, but not without a whole-of-community approach. We need to understand how the various components and years of a collegiate experience fit together. Six principles matter:

1. Think in developmental terms. The initial years of college should be broad and inquisitive. Early on, students should be given opportunities to ask big questions about human history, the role of work, and the lives they want to lead. Small classes, faculty mentorship, and engaged learning environments are crucial. The linchpins are faculty mentorship and exposure to a wide range of courses.
2. Start early and explore often. By their second year in college, students should be involved in the career exploration process. It should start with a wide perspective and provide plentiful opportunities for students to interact with a range of people and hear stories about how they built careers and lives in different ways.
3. Take advantage of the entire year. Most colleges only occupy students about 60 percent of the year. We need to reimagine the college experience as 12 months and use the times between semesters for professionally oriented activities like financially supported internships, externships and short seminars focused on professional skills.
4. Ask parents and alumni to provide mentorship and expertise. Colleges have alumni who care deeply about their alma mater, and parents who often are very engaged. We need to enlist them in the process, connecting them with students as career mentors and coaches who can offer advice, networks and other forms of support.
5. Support graduates as they find their on-ramps. Building a career is a process that often has stumbling blocks. We need to provide career support for students during the first five years post-graduation, at least, as they seek to refine their goals and navigate the on-ramps into the professions.
6. Embrace technology. Nothing trumps face-to-face classrooms that are small and interactive, but technology is crucial to a great career exploration program. For example: We can connect students with alumni mentors using online platforms. Seminars can be offered between semesters and post-college, using blended learning tools to offer training in profession-specific skills and nomenclature.

So what is success? Five, 10 and 20 years out, students should self-report career success and life satisfaction. Using new data, from sources like LinkedIn, colleges should be able to measure career paths and success across different kinds of professions or geographies.

Running beneath this is an argument about relationships. Simply put, a great career exploration program should focus on exposing students to a wide range of good mentors and role models who offer advice, networks, experiences and skills development. A college is a community, and education happens as students interact with, learn and benefit from peers, faculty, staff, local community members, parents and alumni. If we get the relationships right, everything else will follow.

I also am making a more subtle argument: Work anchors our lives and our communities. In particular, I am intrigued by Harry Boyte's discussion on civic professionalism, which says we need to train a generation of students to reimagine professional practice in ways that allow them to pursue personal and civic passions through work, not outside of it. This generation does not want to bifurcate those roles. As a result, they will lead more meaningful lives, and our communities will be healthier.

A great college experience helps students decide the kind of life they want to lead, how work facilitates that life, and gives them the attributes, networks and experiences to get there.

Follow Adam Weinberg on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AdamAtDenison

Dinosaurs

Doug Schmidt made his regular Sunday morning trek to The American Museum of Natural History in NYC yesterday.

Also in line to enter was John Kikoski, his son and wife (who is expecting a second child).

Perhaps they were all headed to the David Koch '58 Dinosaur Wing?  Did you think the title of this post was referring to something else?

Thank goodness for phones with cameras, which the fast acting among us can use to prove conclusively that we are still a band of brothers...

Flooring Ain't Boring

I noticed from a Facebook post that Rob McGill was part of a team featured at a flooring expo - so I asked Rob for more details.  Here's the original pic...

The story:
The 7th Annual RD Weis Flooring expo was held in NYC "to showcase new and innovative products from our vendor partners in commercial carpeting & flooring and is geared towards our clients in the architect & design community as well as corporate, healthcare, educational and retail end users."

I know we have a few classmates in architecture and design and commercial real estate...take note!

Here's Rob's bio on the company about us page.

Robert McGill, Senior Account Executive/Elmsford NY

Rob joined the RD Weis Companies team in May 2010. With 22 years of experience in commercial floor covering, and familiar with manufacturers and commercial dealers, Rob brings a wealth of skills and knowledge regarding project consulting, estimating, procurement, project management, and development. Rob is a deeply committed sustainability specialist, advising on and creating economically and ecologically viable solutions for corporate, healthcare, A&D, and commercial interiors. An Associate Member of IFMA NY, Rob has a BA in Geology from Bucknell University.

Colorado #5

Colorado classmate number five was two years at Deerfield and originally from Hinsdale, Illinois.  He earned the respect of Mr. Bois on a trip to Russia as a new junior and later proctored in JW with  Al Kerr, Kurt Miller and Andrew Niles (Anybody know of Andrew's whereabouts?)

He interned in DC during senior spring, so admits that he is less attached to DA than his four years at Middlebury, and his singing brethren in the Dissipated Eight...

Two teenagers and a 9 year old keep him busy when he's not focused on being CFO of a family owned moving company thats been in Denver since 1900 and has 11 locations in the US.

Our man Don Hindman gave me a tour of the impressive Centennial facility, which not only handles residential local and interstate moves but also works with companies to store and stage furniture and fixtures during remodeling or new construction.  As a new hotel gets built nearby, the GC is able to warehouse carpets, bathroom fixtures etc. then request next day delivery through an online UI!

Not surprisingly, Don is, like his statemates, a raging Broncos fan and wore his Broncos tie for the occassion.

Saying goodbye to sleep....with a smile

The "final" pic from San Antonio shows our contented classmate saying goodbye to sleep for a while.

In the flurry of FB activity after Grace was born to Brian and Hannah, it was learned that classmate Whit Armstrong has his first child due on December 20! Look forward to another welcoming announcement and the official launch of "old man" jokes...

Welcome!

DA1983 is pleased to welcome Grace Eleanor Steward to the family. Born yesterday after a 17 hour labor, Hannah and Brian are thrilled but exhausted.

Brian is pleased too that I didn't try to have a naming contest!

Like Father Like Son...

It seems that this time of year, Veterans Day specifically, puts our classmate in a spotlight.  But as his ability to tell stories gains seasoning, Ben Patton is clearly navigating his own course through family history. To wit, three short films (5 mins each) about the relationship between his grandfather and his father "between the wars".  A new segment he created for a new website for military families: WeAreTheMighty.

Around the web

Lots of great photos of classmates found here and there.

Top to bottom:

Chris Flagg and daughter Emmeline '18 at Choate Day. Given the smiles - it must have been early in the day...

Willis Elliman looking good....

Chris Lynch looking like he's on assignment...

A working pay phone outside the grocery store near me. Show it to your kids so they know what it looked like - when it was relevant...

Thanks for sending pics and for putting up with my copying stuff from your FB pages...

31 years later...

Some of our classmates we don't remember very well, usually because we had limited interaction with them back at DA.  Well, take the time to connect with them if they are nearby because it's well worth it!

Case in point: Grant Gassman.  Originally from California, Grant went to Colorado College after DA and pretty much never left the state.  He's working at a european reinsurance company these days with a 35 hour work week (half-day EVERY Friday!) so we met for Friday beverages...

It was so much fun to catch up on what we had been doing since DA and what brought us to Denver.  Kudos to Grant too for facing down the impending 5-0 with an improved diet that helped him lose 40+ pounds this summer.  He's happy and that's about all we can ask for at this point!

His hobby is racing his old Porsche (apologies for the layman's lame description of what is probably a great machine - even though its engine is currently broken). Often his fair weather Fridays take him east into the Plains to race on a grand prix like track.  He, of course, does all his own work on his cars.  The street ride he is standing next to is pretty customized as well: i.e. "it's pretty good in the snow"....

Choate Day Details

UPDATE:

It was ugly in the livestream events:

Volleyball CRH 3- DA 0
Football: CRH 45 - DA 0

I think we fared better in soccer and FH...

Well, that's it from Denver...Maybe my day will be saved by the Broncos tripping up against winless Raiders...


ORIGINAL POST from the am:

The pilgrimage to Wallingford (what's that smell?), CT is underway.  Get details on today's events and past clashes on the DA website HERE.

Complete slate of games: HERE

Volleyball LIVESTREAM 10 AM ET

Football LIVESTREAM 12:30 PM ET

hashatg for socialmedia: #beatchoate

If you attend please send pics to the blog as well: jgknight83@gmail.com

PS: This post will automatically resend itself to you tonight - sorry in advance...

Lax Bros

Taylor Watts was in downtown Denver for a lax tournament so I hustled over to Denver University to connect with him.  Both his sons play for 3d Select teams, who train in a Box / Field Hybrid™ Development System that develops skills in both field and box lacrosse.  The system was developed here in colorado but is now nationwide.  Dave Madden has a son playing it in California and so does Dave's older brother Leigh '81, who lives in Virginia.  Small world...

Will Ride for....

Josh Greenberg sent this: "Putting DA cycling skills to good use on recent trip to Sonoma.  Imbibing skills acquired later (well sort of) and not pictured.”

Chasing Gonzalo

With thanks to Mark Beaubien for the info, you should know that when NASA recently sent a special plane to monitor Hurricane Gonzalo:

"The WB-57 aircraft is also testing a new dropsonde system developed by Yankee Environmental Systems. The WB-57's focus is on the upper-level outflow from storms and its connection to the inner-core region."

(more at http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasas-hs3-mission-continues-with-flights-over-hurricane-gonzalo/#.VFKwTYdVft5)

Weather tracking and modeling will improve and probably save lives because of our man Mark!

See also this mission summary:

TCI-HS3 Mission Science Planning Summary

Friday, October 17, 2014 1500 EDT

Mission Scientists: A. Emory, J. Doyle, P. Newman, J. Dunion

Aircraft Conditions:

The WB-57 returned to MacDill AFB earlier this afternoon after its third successful flight to Category 4 Hurricane Gonzalo. HIRAD and HIWRAP appeared to perform well again during the flight today. The WB-57 flew over NOAA43 on its northbound leg and again as the WB-57 flew west outbound from the center of Gonzalo. All 61 HDSS dropsondes were successfully deployed manually from the aircraft cockpit. It appears that the sondes performed well at first in the upper levels close to the aircraft and then experienced dropouts of data at lower altitudes. Tracking of the aircraft was done with SATCOM relayed GPS positions of the sondes in the dispenser.

DA 1983 - Fall Report

Gents of '83,

Our blog (http://da1983.blogspot.com) is in its fifth year and here are a few highlights:

There have been 426 posts since May of 2009 - averaging about one a week.  Doesn't seem onerous - for those of you who are still not subscribers (see link toward bottom). The posts are delivered in a digest on the days there are new posts, usually between 7-8 pm Eastern.  Again, trying to keep it from being annoying...

Our most viewed post ever was the Twilight Skate of a fac brat posted on 1/10/14 - with 319 views

We have a solid 63 classmates subscribed and would certainly like more.  If you don't see a classmate on the list below - shoot them an email to encourage it.

Of our 185 living members of our class - not all of whom graduated, we have email on file for 135 of us, which is astounding.  Maybe not all are still active - which is why you should forward this to the classmates you are still in touch with.

SUBSCRIBE NOW at: http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=898954&cids=1 (you'll need to respond to a verification email as well)

Classmates who appear to be receiving the digests - alert me if not correct:

Mr. Whitney B. Armstrong

Mr. Mark C. Beaubien

Mr. Geoffrey S. Bennett

Kevin A. Bresnahan M.D.

Mr. Spencer L. Brown

Mr. Cameron T. Chalmers

Mr. Scott W. Chesney

Mr. Douglas A. Cruikshank

David P. Currey, Ph.D

Mr. Mark E. Czuj

Mr. Christopher R. Davey

Mr. Timothy G. Ehrhart

Mr. John C. Esty II

Mr. Adam J. Feiges

Mr. Robert E. Fitzpatrick

Mr. Charles R. Gagne

Mr. Grant E. Gassman

Mr. Peter C. Geary

Mr. Jonathan A. Gottscho

Mr. Joshua D. Greenberg

Mr. Alexander W. Grosset

Mr. Leigh J. Guyer

Mr. Robert J. Harrington Jr.

Mr. Christopher J. Harris

Mr. Hardie S. Jackson

Colonel Robert W. Keirstead Jr. USAF

Mr. Alexander K. Kerr

Mr. John N. Kikoski

Mr. John G. Knight

Mr. Moss Krivin

Mr. Henry F. LeMieux Jr.

Mr. Christopher J. Lynch

Mr. Douglas A. Mays

Mr. R. Robert McGill Jr.

Mr. David J. McNeil

Dr. Johannes W. Mortier

Mr. John R. Munro Jr.

Mr. D. Sean Nottage

Mr. Benjamin W. Patton

Mr. Eric F. Peterson

Mr. William B. Piersol III

Mr. Scott F. Pryce

Mr. Paul C. Schlickmann

Mr. J. Douglas Schmidt

Mr. David G. Shelton

Mr. Whitney C. Sheppard

Mr. Shawn M. Shiff

Mr. Dean R. Singewald II

Mr. John B. Sory

Mr. Jeffrey S. Spadafora

Mr. Andrew M. Stewart

Mr. Eric S. Suher

Mr. Van K. Sullivan

Mr. Peter R. Townsend

Mr. James L. Wareck

Mr. Taylor Watts

Mr. Bradford F. Weir

Mr. Philip B. Weymouth III

Mr. William J. Wolf

Mr. Dexter E. Wood Jr.

Mr. Eric E. Wright

Mr. Theodore C. Young III

Mr. Samuel Zales

-- 

FEEDBACK and photos with captions/backstory always welcome...

JK

--

John G. Knight

jgknight83@gmail.com

Playing Dad...

Whit Sheppard acted in a commercial for residential flooring.  Its beautiful... He's the "dad"...who drops his golf clubs...

For more on its making: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/how-company-known-retail-ads-suddenly-made-gorgeous-spot-hardwood-floors-160956

Who Knew?

Chris Lotspeich was best man at the wedding of a Campbell and represented his family, the Macdonalds!

Worthy!!!!

Fresh Berries

Paul Magee made his annual pilgrimage from Mexico to Whately, MA to sample Nate Nourse's finest berries.

Nate continues his advancements in the science of small fruit plants, with his newest R&D building pictured in the background. He is also wearing his Penn State hat in honor of the recent post on RJ Harrington.

Paul is scheming a move back to the NYC area but is looking for a couch to crash on in the meantime.

Thanks to Mark Beaubien for the pic!

In the foothills

As I continue my exploration of Colorado (i.e. my harassment of classmates) I travelled west to Evergreen and caught the men of the Spadafora family splitting the winter's firewood.

Lunch with Lefty

Drove up to Boulder to take RJ Harrington to lunch yesterday, and this was his condition upon arrival...His work as Executive Director of Clean Energy Action is mostly keyboard and computer based, so its a hindrance for sure.  He had shoulder surgery about 2 weeks ago after a nasty fall off his bike.

His spirit was undeterred as we strolled confidently to lunch.  We caught up on his time in Boulder (most of the years since graduating from DA, minus a stint at Penn State with Nate Nourse) and his family (wife and two kids). His health is otherwise excellent and he is grateful. From him I learned the geological term flatiron and why it was invented in Boulder.

He asked about '83 in general and in CO specifically.  He looks forward to getting the DA83 - CO division together sometime.  He was sad to miss the Hindman - Spadafora - Watts beers last year - especially since they bumped into Terry Bradshaw - RJ's childhood favorite on his hometown Steelers!  He won't miss the next one...

Keep connecting with each other and then send the photo please...

JK

Read it

When it makes it to your mailbox, set aside some time to read it.

#tbt

This pic is preserved in a thick lucite block and now adorns my new man-cave bar in Denver. Miss you guys!

RJ Marched

Inspired by the picture of Jay Esty at the march in NYC, RJ Harrington wanted the class to know that he marched in Boulder's Climate March with his kids Maeve and Conall.

Check out RJ's bio at Clean Energy Action where he's Executive Director!

Jay Esty marches

Jay took some Pingree students to the climate march today

Making time to learn

Jeff Spadafora invited me to attend an event hosted by the Halftime Institute and it was great to listen to him speak and even meet his mom!

Jeff is Director of Global Coaching at Halftime, an org that guides those who are looking for more joy in the second half of their life. His talk was compelling and I appreciated the opportunity to meet so many new people.

Notice the green and white shirt to honor the occasion...

#tbt

might be 5th reunion? earlier?










LtoR: Patton, Schiff, Cruikshank, Geary

Dave Z at the door

Only the third time since '83. Was riding the D2R2 local bike tour

President Weinberg takes the challenge

http://youtu.be/fKQAqArqYNM

Hardie takes the challenge

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=703391603065411&id=100001837347314

Knights and Cruikshanks

Visiting in Colorado. Send in your get together photos fellas.

Gagne coaches

Congrats to Charlie Gagne for helping coach the Encinitas Little League team to the West Region semifinals!  Chaz is in the red uniform. His son was the team's catcher.

Last day!?

 

Hiked to the rock this morning on a beautiful summer day to get a little perspective on ending my ten year latest run at DA. Lots of great people at the school working hard to offer the finest education possible.  Worth supporting if you haven't yet this fiscal year, which ends on Monday.  www.deerfield.edu/give.

JK

From DA FB page...an important message...

What’s the GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL? Our goal is 3,900 donors to the Annual Fund by June 30th. You’re already part of the team. Be a part of the win! http://deerfield.edu/give/

Reunion Video - nice...

Reunion Weekend 2014 from Deerfield Academy on Vimeo.

Be sure to check out the awesome Reunion video...

http://vimeo.com/98375199

Knews

 The cake from John Knight's going away party at DA.  His wife has a new job in Denver and his family moves in July.  Bittersweet for him to leave Deerfield but Hindman, Harrington and Spadafora promise to welcome him appropriately in August...

Portlandeiges

Adam Feiges was in Portland and caught up with Leigh Guyer for their own Beer & Burger night. Way to go!