Summer 2021
Summer 2021
Features
Taft Bulletin
Yes, it could be done! Alumni reconnected for virtual class reunions that were still fun and deeply moving. Some shared that even while apart, they still felt closer than ever in this unusual year. Hundreds joined in for a week of live events, on-demand videos, alumni discussions, and programs with faculty and the head of school. The virtual get-togethers made it easy for alumni to join in from all over the world.
Taft Bulletin
Photography by Robert Falcetti, Seamus Conway, and Bonnie Welch
On a beautiful spring day, Taft held its Commencement, with guests attending the May 22 event in person in a spacious tent on Rockwell Field. The ceremonies were also livestreamed so those who weren't able to be on campus could enjoy it. A Prize Night and Dinner for the senior class were held the evening before, which were also livestreamed and recorded.
Alumni Spotlight
![In the Education Business]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1629311815/taft/yrxyfcteiwaodda2kznl/HerreraA2AkiliAcademyNerds_2013.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1629311815/taft/yrxyfcteiwaodda2kznl/HerreraA2AkiliAcademyNerds_2013.jpg","width":500}])
Blake DiMarco Herrera ’00
Blake DiMarco Herrera has helped run schools for underserved children ever since leaving an earlier corporate career. She’s now product manager of school services at Bezos Academy, a nonprofit is opening tuition-free, Montessori-inspired preschools nationwide that will serve low-income and middle-class families, including families who earn too much to qualify for Head Start.
![Moving in the Write Direction]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1629311714/taft/pj5l7swzbbrhdn3gp0ss/Jackson2_PENOutLoud_1.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1629311714/taft/pj5l7swzbbrhdn3gp0ss/Jackson2_PENOutLoud_1.jpg","width":500}])
Jared Jackson ’10
Jared Jackson, literary programs manager for the New York branch of PEN America, helps foster conversations with some of today’s leading minds and works to promote free expression and effect social change, and also also leads the Emerging Voices Fellowship to encourage promising writers and diversify the publishing and media landscapes.
![The Lure & Logistics of Producing Documentaries]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1629310964/taft/mzrcgexxizmvvfaljmm3/Steinman.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1629310964/taft/mzrcgexxizmvvfaljmm3/Steinman.jpg","width":500}])
Hilary Klotz Steinman ’86
Hilary Klotz Steinman has been producing documentary films for more than 20 years, with subjects as varied as contraception and the environmental toll of the digital revolution. Her most recent release is The Codebreaker, the story of the untold hero of cryptology, Elizebeth Smith Friedman. Along with overseeing her production company, Napatree Films, Steinman is the senior vice president/executive producer of the documentary division of Engel Entertainment.
![Seeing Beyond Artificial Boundaries]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1629310580/taft/f7ni99re6ap5zh7tejs2/A1_Donaldson_NJH8668.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1629310580/taft/f7ni99re6ap5zh7tejs2/A1_Donaldson_NJH8668.jpg","width":500}])
Willy Donaldson ’74
Across more than 35 years as a board member, president, and chief executive at eight companies, and more than three decades of teaching, Willy Donaldson has devoted his working life to getting himself and others to see the larger picture through systems thinking. Donaldson is an associate professor and the director of the Biotechnology and Management Program at Christopher Newport University.