Taft Alumni News

San Fran

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

You are cordially invited to
two performances featuring
Taft Collegium Musicum
Bruce Fifer, conductor
Paul Halley, guest organist and composer

Grace Cathedral
1100 California Street, San Francisco
Sunday, March 7, 2010

11:00 a.m. Episcopal Service
3:00 p.m. Concert

Please join Callie & Hank Brauer '74, P'08,'09,'10
for a reception honoring Collegium
immediately following the concert at
InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel
One Nob Hill, San Francisco

RSVP for the reception to
Ledlie Mosch or 800-959-8238

Click here to download the invitation.

Helping Haiti

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Many Taft students first became aware of the poverty and challenges that confront the small island nation of Haiti when they read Mountains Beyond Mountains as our all-school summer read in 2007. Author Tracy Kidder came to speak to the school that fall, and described the medical and humanitarian work in Haiti by Dr. Paul Farmer.

So when news of the earthquakes came, students were eager to help. Student leaders from all school clubs and organizations met the day after the earthquake struck to coordinate relief efforts at Taft. The Global Concerns Club and the Volunteer Council are working together to consolidate the many different forms of outreach students chose to pursue.

The Volunteer Council is raffling off five tickets to the Trey Anastasio (Taft '83) concert at the Oakdale Theater on February 13, and so far have raised more than $2,000. (See video above. Tickets were kindly donated by Brad Joblin '73.)
Students have had bake sales, and will be having more in the near future.
They are collecting toiletries and towels in all of the dormitories.
There will be a Coffee House next Saturday, and students will be asked to give a voluntary donation to aid earthquake relief.
Students are also planning a music festival in which bands from the surrounding area will participate and from which all proceeds will go to earthquake relief.
On February 14, students are participating in an erg-a-thon in Boston, and are looking for sponsors. All proceeds will benefit Haitian relief.

On and Off the Wall

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Acts and Memory: Paintings by Langdon Quin '66
A 20-year restrospective
University of New Hampshire Museum of Art
January 30 – April 8, 2010
(Closed March 12-21 and April 3-4)
Reception: Friday, Jan. 29, 5-7 p.m.
He has a concurrent show of selected small works at the George Marshall Store Gallery in nearby York, Maine.

Celia Gerard '91
"Open Your Arms to the Sun"
A group show
Sears-Peyton Gallery
210 11th Avenue, Suite 802
New York, NY 10001
Through August 14, 2009

Kendall Ayoub '92
2009 Vaughan Juried Art Exhibition
City Playhouse Theatre
Thornhill, Ontario
April 30 to May 24, 2009
Opening reception Thursday, April 30, 7 to 8:30 p.m.
kendallayoub.com

Bil Hudders '82
"The Third Mind"
Collaborative works on paper with Lehigh Professor Berrisford Boothe
March 6 to 29, 2009
Home and Planet Gallery
williamhudders.com

Jenny Glenn Wuerker '83
"Next Generation"
January 23 - April 8, 2009
Nicolaysen Art Museu
400 E. Collins Drive
Casper, WY 82601
307-235-5247
www.thenic.org

Megan Craig '93
"Lines of Flight"
December 11, 2008 - January 10, 2009
2nd Floor Gallery Space
Sundaram Tagore Gallery
547 West 27th Street
New York, NY 10001
212-677-4520
gallery@sundaramtagore.com
sundaramtagore.com

Sam Whitaker '75
"Poetics of Light, Form and Space
Confluent Visions, Divergent Voices"
November 3 to December 13, 2008
Ferguson Art Gallery, Concordia University
7400 Augusta Street
River Forest, IL 60305
708-209-3013
Concordia University

If you are an alumni artist and would like to include information about upcoming exhibits of your work,
please contact Julie Reiff, Director of Communications

Prep Winter Classic

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

On a beautiful morning in Fenway Park, the Taft Varsity Boys Hockey Team defeated Avon Old Farms 9-5. Five hundred alumni, parents and friends enjoyed watching the game from the luxury EMC Club behind home plate. Over brunch and coffee, they watched Taft topple Avon on the same surface where the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers will meet in the NHL Winter Classic next week. Highlights for Taft were the first puck drop by Cam Neely, Boston Bruins legend, a hat trick of three goals scored by Taft sophomore forward, Corbin McGuire, and a Big Red victory that was the first ever hockey win in Fenway Park. What a great day for Taft and our hockey program!

Coach Murphy's thoughts on the game:

On Monday December 21^st, the Taft Varsity Hockey Team traveled to Boston to play a historic morning exhibition contest at Fenway Park against Avon Old Farms School. The contest was strictly exhibition, the scored revealed that with Taft having the edge in goals scored 9 – 5. But, to be honest this was not about who scored more goals, rather this was about a group of boys having an experience of a lifetime that they, nor this typist had ever experienced in their life - playing hockey at Fenway Park! It was a sight to behold, watching teenage boys, acting like little kids and enjoying the game for the love of sport, and playing the game the way it was meant to be played, for the pure love and enjoyment. Players on both teams had huge smiles on their faces, and you could tell they enjoyed every minute of their opportunity, as they glared at the “Green Monster” over their right shoulder or stared at the “Pesky Poll” in right field. In fact, when Cam Neely showed up to the bench area before the start of the game, the boys from both teams hardly gave him any attention at all because they were all so eager to skate on Fenway’s outdoor rink. And, to have their own “Winter Classic” as the Bruins and Flyers enjoyed on New Year’s Day! It was really something special, and the Taft coaches just sat back and watch their boys play! They gave no instruction to their players; rather they just observed and watched teenagers return to their childhood innocence.

This event was particularly special because it occurred between two historically great prep - school hockey programs. Taft has had ice hockey as a part of their educational program since the early years of Mr. Taft’s school, as far back as 1897. Over that period of time, the Rhinos have had a rich history of tradition and success and the 2009 – 2010 team showed that tradition by wearing retro jerseys and socks that the Taft team of 1910 wore a hundred years ago, representing the past! This was an experience that every Taft and Avon player will always talk about and never forget! “Remember when we skated at Fenway…” In closing, we would like to thank everyone who helped to make this event happen and be such a wonderful and memorable experience.

Gallery photos by Rob Madden '03. Additional photos may be viewed or purchased at LeahLatham.com, with more here.

Lessons and Carols

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Crisscrossing America

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Join John Gussenhoven '65 at 7 pm this evening in the Woolworth Faculty Room to present a slide show and discussion on his new book: Crisscrossing America: Discovering America from the Road

After purchasing his first motorcycle~a Harley-Davidson~in 2004, John embarked on an epic cross-country road trip--a two-year, two-leg, 27-state epic crisscrossing of the United States—from Mt. Vernon, Washington, to Naples, Florida, and then from San Diego, California, to Eastport, Maine.

"All of the images in the book's gallery include map coordinates to allow the reader to take the trip from their computer on Google Earth," adds John, which is a first in publishing circles.

Nor is he aware of any other illustrated book that has a juxtaposition of ground and aerial images for such an expansive journey. Noted aerial photographer Jim Wark's images highlight details that most of us would miss if we were to see them from only one perspective, John adds.

Copper Mining in Peru

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Peru is one of the world’s largest copper miners.While the decline in the price of metals has slowed the industry, mining still has a profound effect on communities in Peru. Kelin Hall is a student at the University of Chicago. She received a Human Rights internship from the U of C to study corruption and human rights violations of copper companies in southern Peru.

While she was in Peru last summer Kelin worked with the environmental and labor rights organization Associacion Civil Labor to do her research. The hills used to be covered with a rare vegetation called lomas that thrives in desert conditions, but since the pollution from the copper mine there's been none. Kelin explains how she got interested in mining issues in Peru and what she learned.

Listen to the interview on Chicago Public Radio.

Rhodes Scholar

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Oppenheim Named Rhodes Scholar

Spending summers working construction in rural Maine while at Taft, Willy Oppenheim '04 felt a chasm between that environment and his affluent hometown in Connecticut. He was determined to forgo college until he “felt certain my elite education could benefit someone other than myself,” he wrote in his essay for the Rhodes Scholarship.

So, at 18, he headed to India and discovered that he could “amplify the voices” of local educators before a global audience and help avoid “the tendency of development efforts to patronize and disempower those they intend to serve.”

Back in Colorado the next winter, and living in a tent, he worked from a public computer to build a database of Indian schools seeking foreign support, which has evolved into the Omprakash Foundation [see “Connecting the Dots,” Spring 2008 Taft Bulletin, p. 4]. Today the Foundation, which he spoke about at Morning Meeting today, connects volunteers and donors with opportunities to serve around the Globe. It's also, he says, a way for us to learn from other cultures, not just an act of charity.

At Bowdoin College, where he continued to live in a tent all four years, Willy designed his own major in international educational policy, with courses in religion, anthropology and education. He wrote his thesis on Muslim schooling in South India. He now teaches for the National Outdoor Leadership School and continues to volunteer his time with Omprakash.

“My ambitions and accomplishments as a student, a teacher and a nonprofit founder emerge from a unitary intention to ‘lead out’ the citizens of the world toward an awareness of the greater human and ecological community from which we are indivisible and within which we can enact change,” Willy wrote. He will use the Rhodes Scholarship to study comparative and international education at Oxford.

Oppenheim is the fourth alum in recent memory to be named a Rhodes Scholar, following Karen Stevenson '76 (currently a member of the school's board of trustees), Julianna Horseman ’85 and Will Polkinghorn '95.

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Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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Berg and Smith

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

View the High-Resolution Video (requires QuickTime)

Director Peter Berg '80 and Hollywood legend Will Smith pulled a few strings and convinced Mr. Mac to declare a Headmaster Holiday--a day off from classes--tomorrow.

After playing the video in Assembly, Headmaster Willy MacMullen reminded students to get plenty of sleep.

"It was great fun talking to Peter about this announcement," Willy adds. "He's a great friend of Taft, and while I might be popular for an hour or two because of this announcement, he is a god in the kids' minds today."

The "announcement" had apparently been in the works for weeks, ever since Peter's visit to campus last month to host a special screening of his film Friday Night Lights for the senior class.

To kick off the holiday, the school will also show Berg's film The Kingdom in Bingham Auditorium tonight.

Download movie for iPhone/iPod/Smartphone (28.1MB, .m4v format)