Taft Alumni News

Annual Event Saves Lives

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Taft’s Volunteer Council and the American Red Cross are sponsoring a blood drive on Monday, February 13. Those interested in donating blood should come to the McCoullough Field House between 1:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The blood drive is open to the public; walk-ins are welcome. Please consider donating blood this year; your donation could save a life.

The Volunteer Council Board is a student group charged with developing and carrying out community service projects, including our blood drive. Past projects include fundraising for Save the Children, clothing and toy drives, Breast Cancer walks, serving food at a local shelter, and weekly homework help for local youth. Last year close to 200 students participated in some type of volunteer work through a variety of local organizations including Planned Parenthood, St. Mary's Hospital, Women's Emergency Shelter and Hospice. This year’s Council leaders are Chris Capece, Lily Tyson, Sammi Morrill, Dechen Gyatotsang, Cathy Chen and Jacky Zheng.

Caitlin Morton '12 Take First Prize in Art Show

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Taft senior Caitlin Morton won first prize in the student category at the 32nd Annual Photography Exhibition sponsored by the New Canaan Society of Art. Photographs by Everett Brownstein and Will O'Meara were also among the approximately 50 entries juried into the show, culled from a pool of more than 300.

The show continues at the Carriage Barn Arts Center, New Canaan, CT through Sunday, February 19. The Carriage Barn is open six days a week, Tuesday through Sunday, from noon until 4 p.m. Entrance to the Gallery is free and all exhibitions are open to the public. Visit carriagebarn.org for more information.

Visual Arts Students Show in Potter Gallery

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Paintings, drawings, sculpture, photographs and ceramics will all be featured in the Mark W. Potter '48 Gallery beginning February 10. The pieces were created by Taft visual arts students during the current academic year.

A reception will be held on Friday, February 10, from 5 to 7 to celebrate the opening of the show. The reception is free and open to the public.

Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. when school is in session.

Games, Gowns and Good Deeds

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The Volunteer Council has a big weekend ahead featuring simple and fun ways for everyone to make a difference.

On Friday night, the Council will host a Scrabble competition. Teams of two to four players will vie for the overall title by building the highest scoring word boards during timed rounds of play. Each player pays a $5 entry fee; proceeds will benefit the Literacy Volunteers of Greater Waterbury (www.lvgwct.org/). Dictionary “sneak peeks,” extra tiles, and two- and three- letter word “cheat sheets” will be available at a price. The fun begins at 6:30 p.m.; hot chocolate and cookies will help to keep the players sharp!

Sunday marks the return of the Winter Formal Dress Exchange. Last year, Taft students donated or loaned 219 pre-owned dresses to the swap shop, where, instead of buying a new dress for Winter Formal, girls rented used dress for a small fee. The event raised $2,100 which, less dry cleaning costs, was donated to charity. The cost to rent a dress this year will be $30, with one-half going to Girls, Inc. (www.girlsincswct.org). Girls, Inc. teaches girls strategies for overcoming social, intellectual, and economic challenges while empowering them to be the change agents for the coming generations.

Students are invited to drop off dresses for the exchange this Friday, 1/27 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the Choral Room, and again from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. Shopping day is Sunday, 1/29 from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. in the Choral Room.

"The dress exchange brings the Taft community together with a fun bonding activity,” explained Ali Tucci ’12. “It lessens the stress of spending a great deal of money on a new dress, and, most importantly, it is a charitable event that benefits more communities than just that of Taft. While this may not be the standard approach to the annual Winter Formal, the dress exchange is an exciting event that highlights Taft’s ongoing efforts to be an especially close community, both in and out of our brick walls.”

Started last year by then-seniors Annie Oppenheim and Abby Purcell, the dress exchange is billed as a cost effective, eco-friendly winter formal solution that also raises money for a good cause. Like last year, shopping day will be filled with music, food, spectacular dresses and of course, full-length mirrors. Dresses that girls do not want back will be donated to a women’s shelter after the formal.

Ready Robots!

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Hidden at the end of the first floor of the Lady Ivy Kwok Wu Science and Mathematics Center is a small work room where students are building robots. Not the kind with arms and legs, but with four wheels and a lot of circuits.

"We now have a dedicated room for robotics activites in the science building," Robotics Team Adviser Jim Mooney notes. "And the school carpenter recently made a practice arena built to our specifications. We also have a more complete workshop with both metal and woodworking tools in the main building."

In teams with two to four members, Taft students are now learning how to design, build and program robots. They also simulate competition in the practice arena as they prepare for Trinity College's annual robotics competition on March 31. Taft will send four teams to the event; the group is also headed to the Science Olympiad in April.

"These are good opportunities for our students," explained Mooney. "They get a challenge while having fun. They get to experience something that stretches them academically, and they get hands-on working experience. The process allows them to get a taste of what interests them, to see if this might be something that interests them in college, and if this might be the thing for them to do."

Science teachers Chris Ritacco, Amanda Benedict, Walt Warner, Will Orben, Dana Bertuglia and Peter Saltsman are working with Mooney to prepare 15 to 20 students for April's Science Olympiad. The event incorporates 23 events: one involves robotics, six have build-ahead components. The team is currently building a robot arm for the competition. Other events require students to do things like design, build and play musical instruments or to make a helicopter with unique characteristics or specifications. Unlike the robotics competition, or the engineering and physics competitions in which Taft competes, the Science Olympiad has events for biology students such as Protein Modeling, Disease Detective and Forensics.

Robotics is an extra curricular activity at Taft, so teams meet when students are free. This usually means during meeting blocks at the end of the day before athletics begin. For the students, the experience is invaluable.

"While programming and building the robots takes most of our time, my best memories are when we all gather around a robot, cheering for it, hoping that nothing will go wrong, and seeing the results of months spent preparing," explained 3-year Robotics Team member Mai Nguyen. "Essentially, as a team, we bond over a machine."

Video of Taft robot at Trinity competition in 2010

(link to bulletin article) http://www.taftschool.org/news/folders/robotics12/BUrobotics2010.pdf

Renaissance Ensemble In Concert

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Taft's Music for a While performance series continues on Friday, January 27 with acclaimed period vocal ensemble Exsultemus. The concert begins at 7:00 p.m. in Woodward Chapel.

Declared “unquestionably in the top-tier of Renaissance vocal ensembles in the Northeast” by Boston Musical Intelligencer and hailed for its “stunningly unified ensemble sound,” Exsultemus was founded in 2003 to explore remarkable but seldom-performed Renaissance and Baroque vocal works. The Boston-based ensemble features extraordinary soloists and reflects the use of the most recent research into historically-informed performance. Exsultemus has performed more than three dozen original programs, from liturgical reconstructions of Renaissance Vespers services to Telemann’s St. John Passion of 1737. Taking its name from the Latin for “let us rejoice,” Exsultemus is modeled after small estate and chapel choirs with musicians performing one on a part and without conductor, working rather as a chamber ensemble than a traditional choir and offering audiences vibrant and engaging performances.

At Taft, Exsultemus will perform “Music for Voices and Brass from Italy and Germany.” The concert features the grand sonorities of cornetti, sackbuts, and organ mingled with the exquisite voices of Exsultemus. The ensemble will take listeners on journey of music for voices and brass from Italy over the mountains to Germany and Eastern Europe. Tickets are not required. For more information on the event, call the Taft School box office at 860-945-7898, or visit www.TaftSchool.org/arts/concertseries. For more information about the artists, visit www.exsultemus.

MLK Celebration 2012

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Our annual celebration honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. allows Taft students to experience the power of his message while applying his wisdom and foresight to their understanding of current social and cultural issues. The focus of this year's event was education as the civil rights issue of our time. Both MLK lecturer David Canton, Associate Professor of History at Connecticut College, and Waterbury Mayor Neil O'Leary considered education as an enduring piece of King's legacy in their addresses to the Taft community. Highlights of the day also included workshops and clinics with local students and our multicultural arts celebration. Enjoy this look back at the day in pictures.

Gallery photos by Peter Frew, Blake Joblin '13 and Yee-Fun Yin.

Yong '14 Wins Squash Title

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

While most Tafties were celebrating the end of exams and the start of the holiday break, Sue Ann Yong ’14 was gearing up for yet another test: the largest individual junior squash tournament in the world. From December 17-20, Sue Ann competed in the 2011 US Junior Open Squash Championships, in Cambridge, MA. Sue Ann came away the winner of the Girls Under 17 division (GU17).

“It was a week of exciting squash,” Sue Ann said. “ It was a great experience and a wonderful feeling.”

A record field of over 750 players from more than 20 countries competed at this year’s Open; 128 of those players were in Sue Ann’s division.

“It was my first year playing the US Open,” Sue Ann explained, “and I had not had much practice time because of exams.”

After a strong opening, Sue Ann moved to the round of 16 with a 3-0 win, where she earned a spot in the quarterfinals with another decisive 3-0 victory. Sue Ann upset #4 seed Egypt’s Laila Omar to advance to the semi-finals where she faced #1 seed Olivia Fletcher.

“I knew it would be difficut as she has beaten me many times,” Sue Ann said.
Sue Ann defeated Fletcher, and went on to win the tournament in an exciting, 5-game match over #2 seed Katie Tutrone.

“I played without any expectations and I upset the top seed in the semi finals, and eventually won the finals against the second seed. I was very surprised, but exhausted and happy at the same time.”

Big Red Goes Green

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The annual Green Cup Challenge™ kicks off January 18 and Taft is ready to rumble. Launched in 2006 as an interschool energy challenge between Exeter, NMH and Lawrenceville, the Green Cup Challenge™ is designed to raise awareness about energy conservation and climate change. It creates hands-on learning opportunities about the environment, and raises awareness about resource conservation and the role each person plays in creating a sustainable future.

Last year, more than 100 public, private, day and boarding schools from around the country competed in the challenge. Taft was one of 41 schools entered in the Northeast Boarding category, ultimately won by the Winchendon School. Winchendon reduced their energy use by a remarkable 22.5% during the four-week challenge period. Millbrook finished second in the Northeast Boarding category, while South Kent and Hotchkiss tied for third.

“Fun and engaging competitions like the Green Cup Challenge™ offer students a chance for to participate in a nationwide effort to take steps towards mitigating the impacts of climate change,” explained Peter Saltsman, Director of Environmental Studies and Stewardship at Taft. “While most schools recognize infrastructure improvements as a mechanism for increasing resource efficiency, changing building occupants’ behavior is just as critical. At Taft, we will strive to raise awareness about efficiency while doing our best in this friendly competition between dormitories, buildings, and schools. Students and staff across the campus will be working together to economize our energy use and have fun in the process.”

The Green Cup Challenge™ takes place each winter to call attention to the peak periods for energy usage. This year’s event runs through February 15. The goal is for all participating schools to work collectively to achieve a measurable, aggregated electrical energy reduction. Last year, participating schools reduced their electricity consumption by an average of 4.5% from the baseline. That means a total reduction of 1,036,816 kWh from their electric bills and 1,396,038 lbs of CO2 that was not released into the atmosphere from power plants.

Taft In Sundance

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The 2012 Sundance Film Festival opens January 19 in Park City, Utah, and Taft will be there.

Goats, directed by Christopher Neil and filmed in part on the Taft School campus, is set to debut in the Premieres section this year. The ensemble comedy tells the story of a 15-year-old boy who leaves his unconventional Tuscon home to attend “the disciplined and structured” Gates Academy, an East Coast prep school (enter Taft) where he reconnects with his estranged father. The cast includes David Duchovny, Vera Farmiga, Ty Burrell, Keri Russell, Minnie Driver and Justin Kirk.

The cast and crew of Goats were on campus for three days in May, a follow-up to a shorter filming session in the fall. Ty Burrell, Dakota Johnson, Graham Phillips and Anthony Anderson all worked on site. Taft students also had the opportunity to act as extras in the film. Location shooting included the faculty room, library, mailroom, main circle, centennial courtyard, pond area and the athletic fields. The cast and crew took over East Dining Hall for their meals, which Chef Jerry Revnon and his crew prepared for the visitors

The 2012 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 19 – 29. To learn more about Goats, visit Sundance.org.