Achievement - Spring 2015

Achievement • Spring 2015 1

AchievementSpring 2015

Asheville School Alumni Magazine

Swim Teams Have Best Finish in 19 Years

AchievementSpring 2015

An Education For An Inspired Life

Published for Alumni & Friends of Asheville School

by the Advancement Department Asheville School

360 Asheville School RoadAsheville, North Carolina 28806

828.254.6345www.ashevilleschool.org

EditorBob Williams

Director of DevelopmentDan Seiden

WritersBob Williams

Sheila SteelmanTom Marberger 1969

Travis PriceTish Anderson

Proof ReadersTish AndersonBob WilliamsTravis Price

PrintingLane Press

PhotographersBlake Madden

Sheila SteelmanBob Williams

A special thanks to the 1923 Memorial Archives for providing many of the archival photographs

in this edition.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Ms. E. Parce Ainsworth 1983

Mr. Harris M. Baker 1974

Mr. Marshall T. Bassett 1972

Mr. Gregory R. Close 2003 (Associate)

Mr. Peter J. Covington 1971

Mr. Walter G. Cox, Jr. 1972 P ‘06

Co-Vice Chair

Ms. Ann Craver P ‘11

Mr. D. Tadley DeBerry 1981

Ms. Ayla Ficken P ‘09

Mr. Jim Fisher 1964

Mr. Robert T. Gamble 1971

Mr. Peter L. Hellebush 1964

Co-Vice Chair

Ms. Mandy K. Helton 2000 (Associate)

Ms. Charla A. Hughes 2004 (Associate)

Ms. Jean Graham Keller 1995

Mr. Richard J. Kelly 1968

Ms. Marilyn Higi Kincaid 1991

Mr. Lee McGriff III 1970

Mr. Nishant Mehta 1998

Dr. Gregory K. Morris 1972

Mr. Alexander G. Paderewski 1968 P ‘06 ‘08

Mr. Laurance D. Pless 1971 P ‘09 ‘13

Chairman

Mr. Oliver G. Prince, Jr. 1971 P ‘00

Mr. James A. Rice II 1972

Ms. Mary A. Robinson 2002

Ex officio Alumni Association

Mr. Arthur Rogers III 1988

Mr. Walter A. Ruch III P ‘08

Mr. Michael H. Stoll 1968

Dr. Frederick Wherry 1990

Mr. Jonathan Winebrenner P ‘15, ‘16

Ex-officio Parents’ Association

Mrs. Rebecca Winebrenner P ‘15, ‘16

Ex-officio Parents’ Association

P - Parents of Alumni

Asheville School Mission: To prepare our students for college and for life

and to provide an atmosphere in which all members of a diverse,engaged, and purposefully small

school community appreciate andstrive for excellence – an atmospherethat nurtures character and fosters

the development of mind, body,and spirit.

Asheville School does notdiscriminate on the basis of race,

creed, sex, or ethnic background in itsadmission policies, scholarship and loan programs, educational policies,

and athletic and other schooladministered programs.


Spring 2015

Table of ContentsFeatures06 Clay Smith 1990 Enjoys New Role at Kirkus Reviews

08 New April Books Reviewed by Kirkus Reviews

10 The Royal Thai Scholarship and Asheville School

22 Anderson Hall Project Underway This Summer

26 The Good Old Days at Asheville School

36 Swimming Has Best Season in 19 Years

Departments01 From the Head of School

25 Drama And Dance Performances in 2014-2015

51 Board Welcomes Three New Trustees

Class Notes40 1959-1993

42 1994-2009

44 2010-2014

In Memoriam54 Craig Hunt 1970

55 Henry N. Pharr II 1957

56 In Memoriam

Profiles17 MacPhail ‘04 Describes His Work for the NBA’s Spurs

18 Faculty Profile: Hannah Bonner 2006

20 Student Profile: Charlie Levy 2015

38 12 Bones Cookbook Arrives for Bryan King 1993

Campus News48 Tsinghua Summer Program

49 Summer Camps at Asheville School

49 Senior Wins Morehead-Cain Scholarship

50 Civil Rights Day at Asheville School

52 Blues Robotics Team Prints New Possibilities

53 AS Students Win Scholastic Art Awards

4 Achievement • Spring 2015

Make Your Name Part of Anderson ForeverPreserving our Past; Preparing for Our Future

Alumni Weekend 2015April 23 - 26

Register online at ashevilleschool.org/alumniweekend

• April 23 -

• April 24 -

• April 25 -

Founders’ Day Convocation - 7:15 p.m.

Amity Shales, New York Times bestselling author

Golf at Asheville Country Club - $150 green fee (9:00, 9:10, 9:20, 9:30)

Beer/wine and hors d’oeuvres for all followed by class dinners - 6:00 p.m.

Cocktails/dinner at the Fall House for Old Guard classes 1930 - 1965 - 6:30 p.m.

Don’t miss your class pictures from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. on the Mitchell porch.

All-alumni dinner and dancing in Sharp Hall begins at 6:30.

By making a $120 gift to the Anderson Walk Fund, you can have your name on a brick in the entryway in perpetuity.

Tom Marberger 1969 at [email protected] or call 828.254.6345 ext. 4081.

Intersted? Contact:

Add your name or honor a classmate, a child, or an Asheville School teacher. Thank you for supporting this project and making the Ander-son Walk become a special campus landmark.


Spring 2015From theHead of School

Dear Friends of Asheville School:

Our five-year strategic plan is in its second year. So far, we have the new Vandergrift Science Center in a refreshed Mitchell Hall, two new Bermuda grass playing fields, a new air handling system in Kehaya (under construction), new roofs on almost every building on campus, and a host of smaller deferred maintenance items resolved.

This summer our oldest building, Anderson Hall, will be refreshed. The common rooms, bathrooms, hallways, faculty apartments (northwest side), and Mitchell-side porch will all be redone. The building has new electric, and all the plumbing will be new. No more flushing the toilet to scald the guy in the shower! That’s a generations old tradition that will not be missed. Following Anderson, over the summer of 2016, the Lawrence Hall/Clarke House bathroom stack will receive a complete renovation. Then over the summers of 2017 and 2018, the rooms of Anderson and Lawrence will be renewed. It is an exciting series of unfolding improvements, which aim to leave Asheville School free of deferred maintenance.

In the meantime, a thorough Campus Master Planning project is in process, which will chart our course past 2018 and into the future. Every aspect of the campus is being reviewed - from Ragsdale Creek, to campus drainage, to traffic flow and parking, and facility needs.

All of this salutary momentum was not hurt by Asheville School’s inclusion in Business Insider Magazine’s list of 50 Elite Boarding Schools. Our alumni have greeted the news with typically low-key humility, saying things like, “I knew we were a good school, but I didn’t know everybody else knew it too!” It is always nice to be recognized, even when we don’t put much stock in external rating agencies.

Internally we are having a wonderful year. After our volleyball team earned a 22-3 record to the delight of enthusiastic crowds, our swimming team performed exceedingly well at the state championships with 13 school records and the boys placing third overall and the girls sixth out of 20 teams. This was Asheville School’s best finish in 19 years at this meet. Joey Kriegler 2015 was state champion in the 500-yard freestyle. Our wrestlers too have had a successful season with a 5th place in the state championships and two boys - Sean Wrinkle 2015 and Conor Fenn 2016 - qualifying for the national championships in Lehigh, Pennsylvania. The robotics team also had a successful run at the states, and the musical this winter, Fiddler on the Roof, was little short of spectacular.

While the 2014-2015 academic year continues to be a resounding success, this year is also a springboard for future success. With continued good fortune, Asheville School thrives today and will thrive tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Archibald Montgomery IV Head of School

Founders’ Day Convocation - 7:15 p.m.

Amity Shales, New York Times bestselling author

Golf at Asheville Country Club - $150 green fee (9:00, 9:10, 9:20, 9:30)

Beer/wine and hors d’oeuvres for all followed by class dinners - 6:00 p.m.

Cocktails/dinner at the Fall House for Old Guard classes 1930 - 1965 - 6:30 p.m.

Don’t miss your class pictures from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. on the Mitchell porch.

All-alumni dinner and dancing in Sharp Hall begins at 6:30.


Clay Smith '90 Helps Publishers Discover The Best Books Fit To Print

By Bob Williams

Editor

As the editor in chief of Kirkus Reviews, one might think Clay Smith 1990 was born an avid reader, but as he remembers it, his grandmother often begged him to pick up a book.

“My grandmother would pay me 25 cents if I would stop talking and start reading,” Smith says during a phone interview from his Austin, Texas, office. “The English classes at Asheville School really changed all that for me. We had to read One Hun-dred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, and that book taught me how crucial it is to follow your imagination.”

While at Asheville School, Smith says his teachers and classmates encouraged him to embrace his intellectual side. “I’m from Amarillo, Texas, and I felt that Asheville School was the first place where I could be smart but also be cool,” he recalls. “I didn’t have to pick just one.”

Some highlights of Smith’s Asheville ex-perience were English classes with Martha Parker, witnessing Doc Embler’s passion for teaching science, and studying Latin with Marjorie Hinson. “I took to Latin like a duck takes to water and I ended up as the only student in Latin 4,” he says.

Martha Parker “had a great way of talking about how literature affects your life,” he recalls. “I learned from her that books re-ally mean something.”

The love of literature that Asheville School instilled in Smith helped shape his journal-ism career. Shortly after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, Smith joined The Austin Chronicle, where he later served as senior editor. Smith received his master’s degree from the Cultural Report-ing and Criticism graduate program at New York University, where in 2004 he

won the Edwin Diamond Award, presented each year to NYU’s best graduate journal-ism student.

After graduating from NYU, Smith served as the literary director of the Texas Book Festival. During his 7-year tenure at the festival, Smith increased the number of featured writers from 106 to more than 250. He also secured appearances by such notable writers as President Obama, Presi-dent Clinton, Salman Rushdie, Sandra Cis-neros, Gore Vidal, Amy Sedaris, and Paula Deen, among others. Over the years, his articles have appeared in Publishers Weekly, indiewire.com, The Daily Beast, Elle Décor, and Newsday.

In November 2012, Smith joined Kirkus Media as a features editor before he was named editor in chief in November 2013. His work today at Kirkus Reviews provides industry professionals with a glimpse of the most notable books in the publishing world.

“We review 8,000 to 10,000 books a year and star only 9 percent of those,” Smith says. “We review the book before it is out and we are offering publicists the first indication of the book’s success.”

It’s easy to assume the majority of Smith’s workdays are spent reading and reviewing books, but Smith says he spends more of his time working with publicists.

“People think that I read all day, but that is not what I do,” he says. “Actually, any read-ing that I do is done at home.”

Today, Smith says his position as editor in chief challenges him to take on a much broader purview. “I interact with publish-ers even more today,” he says. “I’m usually concerned more about those big-picture ideas that I’m dealing with every day. How is our message perceived and what are we saying in our journalism and criticism? Are we fair and are we honest?”

photo by Michael Thad Carter

Clay Smith 1990 is the Editor and Chief at Kirkus Reviews.


At times, Smith says his role is simply to listen to publishers who may not be pleased with a review.

“I will usually hear about it if the publisher is upset,” he says. “Diplomacy is something I use a lot now, which is a skill I developed while at Asheville School. The closeness of the community taught me that you had better know how to get along with everyone. I don’t know if Asheville School meant to teach me that, but it did.”

While his weeks consist of editing print inter-views, meet-ing with publicists and assisting editors, Smith says he spends at least part of each week interviewing authors.

“I usually have about 3 inter-views a week — whether that’s a video interview where we inter-view writers on Google Hangout or an interview for print,” he says. “We run about 25 print interviews a month, and I edit those and make sure they are reading well and are fair and thoughtful.”

Although he’s a fan of lots of different types of writing, Smith says fiction is by far his favorite. “As a jour-nalist, there are so many questions to ask a fiction writer,” he says. As an authoritative voice in book discovery for 82 years since it was founded in 1933,

Kirkus Reviews continues to play a crucial role in the publishing industry, Smith says. “It is a daily joy to be on the forefront of what’s happening in the publishing indus-try. We are here to give publishers insight into books they know nothing about.

“We live in a culture that has this abun-dance. There are so many books out there and

we help people nar-row that number down and really connect to a great writer or book, and that is an important service.”

With over 1 million visitors to its website each month, Kirkus Reviews is a major influence on the primary media outlets reviewing books today.

“We influence other media: The Washing-ton Post and The New York Times all sub-scribe to us, and that is very important to us. We are like the canary in the coalmine,” he says. “We are often the first to read the book and the first to write a review.”

As a board member for the National Book Critics Circle, Smith says he helps decide the NBCC Award winners each year. “The board of directors reads a lot,” he says. “The NBCC award is a very prestigious award.”

For students considering a career in journalism, Smith says there are many new opportunities. “It’s an ideal time for such a pursuit. All you need is a place to start in journalism,” Smith says. “For the most part, an alt weekly or college newspa-per provides a solid begin-ning. For me, that was a great education.

“Students graduating to-day have so much access to self publishing that I didn’t have when I was their age,” he says. “You can start a blog for nothing and it doesn’t matter if you have a ton of readers. It mat-ters only that you are writing. Journalism is not dying at all — the way in which we con-sume those stories is changing quickly.”

And in his own journalism, Smith says his writing benefits from the authors he’s lucky

enough to interview.

“The best authors want to make you a better journalist,” he says.

KIRKUSREVIEWS

Featuring XXX Industry-First Reviews of Fiction, Nonfiction and Children's & Teen

VOL. LXXXIII, NO. 5 | 1 maRch 2015

The Life of

Saul Bellow

by Zachary Leader

Will now stand as

the definitive

Bellow biographyp. 58

NONFICTION

People in show biz

have the best stories,

and David Black is no

exception.

p. 126

INDIELittle Kunoichi,

the Ninja Girlby Sanae Ishida

Where do ninja girls come from? This

beautifully designed and illustrated

picture book gives readers a peek.p. 94

CHILDREN'S & TEEN

A God in Ruins

by Kate Atknson

Time takes another spin

in this return to the

world of Life After Life.

p. 7

FICTION

on the cover

Hanya Yanagihara’s bold, unforgettable

A Little Life is the first

must-read literary novel

of the year. p. 14


New Spring, New BooksThis April, a crop of great new books is being published by some of the major houses. Actually, every month I find books that I’m dying to share with readers who may not be aware that there’s a new story, fiction or nonfiction, they might fall in love with; the hard part of my job is winnowing down that list to a manageable size. There are more worthy books out this month than appear on this list, but here are five that have the potential to speak to you.

— Clay Smith

The Light of the World: A MemoirBy Elizabeth AlexanderApril 21 | $26.00

Alexander wrote “Praise Song for the Day,” the poem she spoke at President Obama’s first inauguration. The Light of the World is her prose account of her marriage and the sudden death of her husband at the age of 50. “I am the wife. I am the wife of 15 years,” Alexander writes in the book. “I am the plumpish wife, the pretty wife, the loving wife, the smart wife, the American wife. I am eternally his wife.”

The Water Museum: StoriesBy Luis Alberto UrreaApril 7 | $26.00

Urrea is the rare writer who is as respected for his fiction as his nonfiction; The Devil’s Highway is still one of the most insightful and human books about immigration from Mexico into the United States, even though it was published more than 10 years ago. This new story collection straddles the Mexican-Amer-ican border, both literally and figuratively. “Urrea’s com-mand of language is matched only by his empathy for his characters,” Kirkus’ reviewer wrote in a rare starred review.

By Walter Kempowski, translated by Shaun WhitesideApril 13 | $35.00

Before German novelist Kem-powski died in 2007, he col-lected first-person accounts by both ordinary citizens and public officials who lived through World War II. Swan-song 1945 is a collage-like se-ries of short entries by Hitler, Churchill and lesser-known people about the details of life during war. This book is riveting, moving, weird, and sublime.

Swansong 1945: A Collective Diary of the Last Days of the Third Reich

photo by Rachel Eliza Griffiths

photo by Joe Mazza

photo by Frauke Reinke-Wöhl


The Children’s CrusadeBy Ann PackerApril 7 | $26.99

Packer is a California writer through and through: not only are her short stories and novels set there but the idea of California—the expanse of it and the hope we invest in it—suffuses her work.

This new novel is about a young doctor who buys land in what will later be known as Silicon Valley, and it houses and causes problems for his family in the ensu-ing decades. We also starred this book at Kirkus Reviews. “A marvelously absorbing novel,” we called it.

God Help the ChildBy Toni MorrisonApril 21 | $24.95

Fans of the Nobel winner’s Song of Solomon or Beloved will find something more spare in her new one, though it’s not surpris-ing that God Help the Child is about race, specifically a child who is born with skin so black her mother refuses to touch her. To win her mother’s approval, she tells a lie that tragically affects an innocent teacher.

Swansong 1945: A Collective Diary of the Last Days of the Third Reich

photo by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

photo by Elena Seibert


A King’s Vision, the Royal Thai Scholarship, and Asheville School

A collaboration by Tish Anderson and

Tanapon Janpen ‘05

For 24 years, Asheville School has been en-

riched by the contributions of highly gifted

and talented Thai Scholars, recipients of

the Royal Thai Scholarship. In the fall of

1990, Asheville School welcomed its first

Thai Scholar, Tachai Luangvaranunt. Since

that time, the school has hosted a total of

19 of the most outstanding young Thais of

their generation. These students en route

to graduate programs in the US return to

their homeland to lead the next genera-

tion to excellence as university professors,

economists, or research scientists, and all

become leaders in their fields and within

their sponsoring organizations.

In 1897 King Rama V of Thailand for-

mally and systematically created the King’s

Scholarship program to gather western

skills and knowledge appropriate for the

development of his nation. This and

other initiatives stimulated the country’s

modernization so that Thailand alone in

Southeast Asia retained its independence

from the imperial domination of the 19th

and 20th centuries. Aware that the nation’s

development required the new knowledge

of science and technology, King Rama V

selected young people to attend western

universities to bring back their learning to

Thailand.

Thai Scholars are supported for a year

of post-graduate high school education

to acclimate them to their host country’s

culture and through the completion of the

graduate degree. For each year of educa-

tion, the students are expected to serve

a sponsoring Thai organization for two

years.

Approximately 40-50 Scholars come into

the program in the US each year. Preceding

the beginning of the school year, scholars

attend a two-month orientation program

at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire,

where they focus on writing and college

guidance.

Tachai (Jack) Luangvaranunt 1991

Asheville School’s first Thai Scholar,

Tachai, chose Jack as his nickname because

he liked it; after all, Headmaster John L.

Tyrer went by Jack. Tachai was not only the

first AS Thai scholar, but one of the first to

attend a Southern US boarding school.

In 1990, the number of students in the

Royal Thai Scholarships program had

exploded, and American liaisons were

seeking host schools outside the Northeast.

Asheville School was interested, and Jack

arrived on campus in time for Opening

Day.

In his application letter, he had written,

“Every day I always wake up early… the

earlier I wake up, the more I can do that

day. I am an optimist and do not like

aggression and radicalism. Good charac-

teristics are optimism, broadmindedness,

and amity.

“I like sports which challenge my physical

endurance; running gives me spirit and

fitness. My goals for my year at Asheville

School are to be a good runner, to have

American friends, and to enter a good

American college.”

Anticipating a career dedicated to improv-

ing Thailand’s metallurgical industry, Jack

attended Colorado School of Mines, where

he earned a BS in Metallurgical Engineer-

ing. He earned an MS in Materials Science

from New Jersey’s Stevens Institute of

Technology in 1998 and his PhD from the

University of Tokyo. His doctoral disserta-

tion was on Powder Metallurgy.

As an associate professor at Chulalongkorn

University in Bangkok, Jack is involved in

a research project on Grinding Technology

Tachai (Jack) Luangvaranunt 1991 with his son, Napat (1), and daughter, Nicha (3)


Technology Ladkrabang in Bangkok, Pam

is married to 1997 Thai Scholar Phiphat

Phruksarojanakun and has one son, Pakin,

born July 2014. She received her BS in

Electrical Engineering from Northwestern

in 2002 and her PhD in Electrical Engi-

neering from the University of Wisconsin

– Madison in 2008. Her dissertation was

titled “Spatio-Temporal Framework for

MEG/EEG Signal Estimation and Source

Localization.”

As an early Thai Scholar at Asheville

School, Pam remembers, “Neither the

school nor the students themselves were

familiar with our program. At the time,

most Thai scholars were in New England.

So while other TS students were meeting

up in the North, I spent weekends explor-

ing the school grounds and staying at the

homes of students and faculty members

who kindly invited me to visit during

longer breaks. Only a few computers were

available in the library, students shared

a pay phone in the dorm’s hallway, and a

five-minute phone call to Thailand cost

$20. I quickly learned to be independent.

Being the only Thai student in the school

helped me improve my English skills at an

amazing rate.

“Compared to boarding schools other Thai

scholars attended, AS was one of the small-

with Western Digital of Thailand. He has

published numerous articles about powder

metallurgy, mechanical alloying, and

tribology of ceramics. He and his wife, Pa-

tama Visuttipitukul, also an associate pro-

fessor at Chulalongkorn, are the parents of

daughter Nicha (3) and son Napat (1).

At Asheville School, Jack studied Physics

C AP, a class where Karen Cianciulli says,

“His work was nearly flawless. Jack’s lab

reports were always carefully done and

very thorough, as he addressed all aspects

of an experiment.” Jack won the Physics

Book Prize at graduation and was inducted

into the Cum Laude Society.

In his senior chapel talk, Jack, a Buddhist,

spoke to the need for each individual to

live his own religion. “It doesn’t matter

what religion we believe, because all reli-

gions teach us to live together peacefully.

Let’s follow our religion, respect it, enjoy it,

and love it. Our world will be a better one.”

Continuing this theme of respect and

peace, Jack chose words from Emerson for

his yearbook quotation: Though we travel

the world over to find the beautiful, we

must carry it with us or we find it not.

Jack says, “I enjoyed the experience at

Asheville School, especially P.E., which

put me in better physical shape. I thank all

faculty members, especially those on 2nd

Anderson, for taking very good care of

me.” Hall parents Burt Gordon and Pam

Reid remember Jack’s dedicated study

habits late into the night, even when his

hallmates were relaxing over ice cream in

a faculty apartment. “At first we practically

had to drag him down to join us. As the

year wore on, we remember him enjoying

movies on dorm on the weekends,” they

smile. “His favorites were Pretty Woman

and The Princess Bride.”

Tulaya (Pam) Limpiti 1998

Currently an assistant professor in the

Department of Telecommunications

Engineering at King Mongkut’s Institute of

est and the strictest. I remember forcing

myself to breakfast (we could skip only 2 a

semester!), having daily sit-down lunches

and dinners, and attending chapel. Uncon-

sciously, those habits have shaped me into

a very disciplined person.

“Asheville School has always had a very

strong academic program. I took Calculus

BC AP and Physics C AP, but I also enjoyed

my experience in US History, American

Lit, and music. All faculty members were

dedicated teachers and taught me tre-

mendously, not only in their subjects, but

also in living a good life. Sadly, a few have

passed away.

“I was impressed by the work required for

graduation, particularly the Senior Demo,

and the chapel/ convocation talk. But the

school balances the tough work schedule

with co-curricular activities so that stu-

dents are well rounded. I believe I lost ten

pounds playing varsity volleyball!”

Pam’s high academic standards earned her

book prizes in Calculus BC and Physics C.

Her easy smile, soft voice and laugh; her

focused demeanor, reserved but friendly;

and her gentle yet witty manner left a

strong impression on the school com-

munity as she shared her many talents –

music, art, and cooking skills – and proved

to be a leader by example.

Legendary math teacher Earl Mitchelle

considered Pam “one of the best students

in one of the most talented classes I have

had in my 26 years of teaching AP calculus.

Pam is a most conscientious student…

highly motivated with definite goals and

integrity above question.”

English teacher Jim Gardner made notes

about the bit of “Thai talk” he learned

from Pam; he particularly recalls “mud on

a pig tail” as a term for “lazy.” He adds,

“Tulaya was definitely not mud on a pig

tail. She worked quietly and diligently as

Tulaya (Pam) Limpiti 1998 and Phiphat Phruksa-rojanakun are pictured with their son, Pakin, born July 2014.


we made our way through Hawthorne,

Poe, Twain and Fitzgerald. She shared

poetry with the class and participated in

class debates.

“One day she told the class, ‘Music, for

me, is the artistic way to speak.’ I happily

remember Tulaya’s good-humored, intel-

ligent perseverance through that course.”

Pam recalls “memorable activities - the

big bonfire and Christ School weekend

(freezing cold on the football field) and

the overnight camping trip. I thought it

strange that a camping trip was a gradua-

tion requirement, but that adventure was

extremely fun.

“Three days are most vivid in my memory

(it has been 17 years ago!). First, when

there was heavy snow on the ground, Mr.

Peebles called a holiday. That was my first

snow ever. I looked down at the fields and

thought how gorgeous AS was. Second,

when I gave my chapel talk, I stood shakily

in front of the entire student body and

read a poem I had written about being a

Thai scholar and being away from home.

That was my first public speaking ever!

Lastly, I cherish graduation day - girls

in white dresses, guys in crisp suits. The

ceremony was sweet and brought me great

joy and pride.”

Her advisor, Sharon Campbell, remembers

“a day with Tulaya and another student

hiking on the parkway; I wanted her to

see more of the mountains before she left

NC. Then we shopped for ingredients for a

Thai feast that Tulaya later prepared. Her

mother had taught her to cook. I also re-

member many hours at the mall shopping

for her graduation dress. I admired her

maturity and commitment.”

Applying to Asheville School, Pam wrote

that she wanted a prep school with moun-

tains, forests, waterfalls, nature… a small

school with friendly students. Asheville

School proved to be a good match, and

Pam was surely a memorable match for

Asheville School.

Salinporn (Lin) Kittiwatanakul 2004

“My favorite activity was equestrian. I

had a wonderful time with Ms. Wilson

and many friends,” remembers Lin. The

other riders created a game, Pass the Thai.

Because I am small and lightweight, they

picked me up and passed me around in

a circle, like a sack of potatoes. I had as

much fun as they did as I bounced from

one person to the next.”

Lin now participates in races and works

as a research associate at the University

of Virginia. She completed her BS degree

at Cornell and earned her PhD in Phys-

ics from the University of Virginia in

2014. Her dissertation was titled “Study

of Metal-Insulator Transition in Strongly

Correlated Vanadium Dioxide Thin Films.”

Lin has noted, “I had a great time with

many friends and faculty such as Ms.

Cianciulli, Mr. Gordon, Mr. Prickett, Mr.

Crawford, Guillermo Gonzales, Hye Young

Cheong, Peter Noh, my roommate Panita

Prapasuchart, Kathryn Glenn, Charla

Hughes, and many more. Being at AS was

a great, new, and interesting experience. I

enjoyed all the classes - easy or hard. My

favorites were Calculus BC AP and Physics

C AP.”

Karen Cianciulli remembers Lin’s “su-

perior work and kindness to her fellow

students. She demonstrated a thorough

knowledge of physics, superior problem-

solving skills, and a positive attitude. Lin

was a fully engaged member of the class,

with a great ability to work independently

and self-design experiments in the lab.”

While Lin was anticipating her later stud-

ies in the sciences, she excelled in humani-

ties as well. Jerry Prickett has said that for

a major paper assignment on The Scarlet

Letter, “Lin worked diligently to come to

an understanding of Hawthorne’s nine-

teenth century vocabulary and the text

and worked hard to present her argument,

giving special attention to word choices,

verb tenses, and exploration of nuances in

the language.”

For one special event, Lin recalls, “Panita

and I made somtum carrot (Thai spicy

salad) for the first time; I had never cooked

before, and I cut myself shredding the

carrots. Everyone liked the salad and even

asked for the recipe. Now somtum has

become my famous dish.

“Cheering for our football team vs. Christ

School was fun, although I had no idea

about football then. Thank you, Ashe-

ville School, for many new experiences.

I tried many activities that I had never

even thought about, and some became my

favorites. The experiences that you can’t

buy, you have to feel it, be in it, embrace it

at Asheville School. Go Blues!”

Lin easily blended her playful personality

with serious intellectual pursuits. At grad-

uation she earned book prizes in Physics C

AP and Calculus BC AP and was inducted

into Cum Laude Society. Her advisor,

Sharon Campbell, has described her as “a

determined and high-achieving student,

outstanding in all aspects of school life.

Salinporn (Lin) Kittiwatanakul 2004 works as a research associate at the University of Virginia.


Each teacher appreciated her dedication,

talent, intellect, and kindness. During her

year at Asheville, Lin became a true and

precious friend. ”

Tanapon (Top) Janpen 2005

At commencement, Top won book prizes

in Physics C AP and in Combinatorics, was

inducted into Cum Laude Society, and was

one of four seniors receiving a special Fac-

ulty Prize, commended for his “intellectual

curiosity, scholarly accomplishments, and

dedication to excellence; astonishingly

quick mastery of English; cheerful gener-

osity of spirit in embracing new experienc-

es and all the members of the community;

and creativity and originality.”

During his year at Asheville School, Top

became a significant leader, fulfilling his

belief that “while attaining intellectual

capacity is the goal of education, con-

tributing to society in return is no less

important.”

After earning his BA and PhD in Econom-

ics from Washington University in St. Lou-

is, Top joined the Thai Ministry of Finance

as an economist in the Investment Policy

Division of the Fiscal Policy Office in 2013.

His dissertation was titled “Essays in Entre-

preneurship and Innovation.” He describes

his position as “providing assistance in

forming investment policies. Currently, I

am working on an investment project that

aims to foster innovation among small and

medium-sized enterprises.”

Reflecting on his AS experience, Top

has stated, “My academic experience at

Asheville School was challenging yet truly

rewarding. At the beginning of the year, I

fell behind in English and US History and

was desperate to improve my academic

performance. Thanks to the generous help

of Mr. Battle and Ms. Ruane, I was able

to up my performance tremendously and

continued to receive excellent grades in

reading/writing and discussion courses in

college, all thanks to the skills I developed

and my experiences at AS.”

Top’s teachers re-

member him with

great appreciation.

“Top’s spirit set the

standards for other

students,” Brooker

Battle has written,

praising his “excite-

ment and generosity,

attentive engagement

in class discussion,

humility, incredible

courtesy and absolute

determination to take

full advantage of every

opportunity.” Kelly

Ruane considers Top

“truly one of the most

thoughtful, invested,

creative, and caring

students both in and

out of the classroom.”

Mary Lou Gillum

states that “he wrote

a perfect exam in Calculus AB AP,” while

Karen Cianciulli admits, “I ran out of

superlatives to describe Top. He had a

superior understanding of the material

we studied, his problem solutions were a

delight to read, and his fun-loving attitude

brightened my classroom every day.”

Top recalls his year at Asheville in vivid de-

tail. “I arrived at AS hoping to gain some

new experiences, and left the school with

my memory full of moments that I will

treasure for the rest of my life.

“Erik Cunningham helped correct my

English pronunciation; Nathan Doane

advised me about school rules and expec-

tations; Hye Young Cheong became my

geek buddy in Physics C; Ford Willis made

the evacuation following a water outage

a fun vacation; Richard Volsky filmed a

parodic music video, ‘Pieces of Me,’ with

me appearing with writing all over my

face; Andrew Stuckey joined me when I

Top Janpen , 2004-05 Royal Thai Scholar (far right), visited with physics teacher Karen Cianciulli and Thai

Scholar Steve Tubnonghee 2014 while in Asheville in 2013.


craved sushi; Ki Wong Park shopped for

groceries with me across the street; Justin

Ange advised me how to dress impressively

for classes and the prom; Jessica Scriv-

ner made my prom night full of joy and

laughter.

“My favorite school activity was the over-

night camping trip, when I was introduced

to S’mores, and was fascinated by the wild

woods of the South.”

In a critical position to observe and define

the growth of the Thai economy, Top states

optimistically, “The political situation is

stabilizing, and I expect to see the over-

all economy picking up strength—albeit

gradually—over the year of 2015.”

Pichet (Team) Adstamongkonkul 2007

“In my home country, it is an honor to be

awarded a scholarship to study abroad, to

broaden our perspective of the world, to

study or do cutting-edge research in the

field of interest, and come back to improve

Thailand,” Team states.

Now in his fourth year of Harvard’s School

of Engineering and Applied Sciences PhD

program, Team spent a year at Asheville

School before enrolling in the Whitaker

School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins,

where he earned his BS in Biomedical

Engineering.

“The AP classes were taught by exceptional

teachers, including Ms. Cianciulli and Mr.

Kriegler,” Team remembers. “Although we

learned the materials in Thailand, these

classes reinforced the principles, and the

teaching here is different and fun. Physics

C made me understand the concepts and

love to derive relevant physical equations;

Biology AP let me share my enthusiasm in

the subject with others. Through Calcu-

lus BC, I came to love calculus. The AP

courses well prepared students for the AP

exams and for college in science and engi-

neering majors.

He further comments, “The faculty plays

an important role in student life at AS.

Having faculty members as residential

heads lessens the gap between students

and faculty members, who become second

parents. This relationship is unique for the

Thai scholars here. The school community

is very supportive both personally and

academically.

“My favorite activity was mountaineer-

ing! Not many schools anywhere can

train students to become rock-climbers

or to experience fly-fishing first-hand.

The school’s location is perfect for these

activities. Mountaineering not only taught

me how to climb a rock, but how to train

and use my body efficiently, and to find the

balance. I really miss the activities and the

group.”

Team’s teachers recall his scholarly stan-

dards and personal excellence: He earned a

commendation for his Senior Demonstra-

tion project on Charles Darwin, demon-

strating “his passion for the topic through-

out,” Frank Kriegler remarks. In Biology

AP, Team “always provided excellent

answers to the most complex questions,

and in lab he demonstrated superb skills.”

Karen Cianciulli has praised not only his

“top-notch problem-solving skills” but his

superior courtesy as well: “he never left my

classroom without thanking me.”

In his program at Harvard, Team assists

on research projects developing strate-

gies to improve drug-delivery efficacy in

metastasis. In addition, he is involved in

a study of how forces exerted by cells and

their extracellular matrix may contribute

to solid stress in solid tumors. Team has

published articles regarding drug delivery

and cancer therapy.

Taweewat (Champ) Somboonpanyakul

2011

Champ chose Stephen Hawking’s words

for his senior page in the 2011 Blue and

White: “One, remember to look up at the

sky and not down at your feet. Two, never

give up work. Work gives you meaning

and purpose and life is empty without

it. Three, if you are lucky enough to find

love, remember it is rare and don’t throw

it away.” With this philosophy, Champ has

shared his talents and pursued his dreams

of a life devoted to astrophysics.

Champ will receive his BS in Physics from

the University of Chicago in May 2015. His

senior thesis is on Circumgalactic Medium

and Neighboring Galaxies. He is currently

applying for a physics/astrophysics PhD

program in the US, noting, “I am visiting

schools to pick the right one. I should be

able to confirm my decision by April 15.”

Champ remembers his year at Asheville

School as a challenge and a joy. “Because

of my background as a science student,

Taweewat (Champ) Somboonpanyakul 2011 will receive his BS in Physics from the University of Chicago in May 2015.

Pichet (Team) Adstamongkonkul 2007 is in his fourth year of Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences PhD program.


it was my first time studying history and

English. They were difficult, but I learned

a lot, maybe even more than in my science

classes, which I had previously studied.”

Humanities teacher Helen Plaehn remem-

bers him with great fondness, stating, “It

is rare that a student who has been here

only one year can have such an impact on

our community, but Champ’s exceptional

warmth, commitment, and scholarship

have indeed inspired all around him. His

Senior Demonstration was exceptional.

His compelling arguments about the pos-

sibilities and the limitations of science in

understanding our world showed deep and

careful insight. Yet what has led to Champ’s

impact on our community relates more to

his warmth and compassion. On the final

day of class he offered individual notes and

gifts to each student in his classes.”

Champ recalls, “I had a great time in Phys-

ics C AP with Ms.Cianciulli, who always

challenged me apart from what I could do

in homework; I learned how to conduct

my own experiment by myself.” Karen

Cianciulli noted at the time, “Champ’s

final experiment was a voyage into un-

charted territory, and he handled that

uncertainty with surprising calm.”

Another class that brings Champ great

memories is Dr. Mike Hill’s [Statistics

AP] class. “I still use what I learned from

him even today in my college education,”

he says. Four years ago, Dr. Hill wrote

of Champ, “In my seven years of teach-

ing extremely talented and hard-working

students in Statistics AP, never have I had

a student maintain a perfect average for

the term. What a gifted and charming

student!”

Champ’s favorite afternoon activity was

mountaineering, where “I did almost ev-

erything for the first time: rock climbing,

ice climbing, skiing, cross-country skiing,

and fly fishing. These activities defined

my great experience and memories at the

school.”

Champ has added that he was fortunate to

learn US history at AS. “As an international

student, knowing US history helps me un-

derstand and appreciate a lot more about

other things going on around us.”

He also recalls the senior speaking require-

ment with gratitude. “It was my first time

doing anything like that, but it was a great

chance for me to practice public speaking,

which has led to more opportunities in

my college career. When I had a chance to

speak at the Technology-Society Confer-

ence at KAIST in Daejeon, South Korea,

I accepted because of my experience in

senior convocation.

“Lastly, I had great friendships with my

fellow students at Asheville School. Even

though I was there for only one year,

everyone was always nice to me. I met lots

of new friends whom I sometimes see even

today.”

Theerarun (Steve) Tubnonghee 2014

Steve was a reluctant Thai Scholar. Origi-

nally uninterested in an academic program

outside Thailand, he eventually applied for

the Thai Scholarship but was determined

not to attend school in the US, because

“I hate English,” he said. Yet the program

and the US and even Asheville School have

become an important part of his life.

A photo of Boyd Chapel by Theerarun (Steve) Tubnonghee 2014


Steve observes that the TS program gives

participating students an opportunity to

open their minds to Western ideas and

infuse those ideas into Thai education and

business culture. “It is important to learn

and to work with international thought,

methods, and techniques.”

Now attending the University of Colorado

- Boulder in computer science, Steve plans

to become a computer technology officer

in the Revenue Department of the Thai-

land Ministry of Finance. Steve reflects

that in Thailand, business and economics

offer more opportunity to launch creative

ideas than is possible in politics. Therefore,

young people hope to become involved in

international competition; there is little

incentive to break political tradition.

Steve appreciated friendly students at

Asheville School, particularly noting that

Dylan Zawila loaned him an electric fan

during the hot early days of September

and Alexander da Costa became a good

friend.

“I played football just for the experience,”

Steve said. “I enjoyed mountaineering,

especially mountain biking, and skiing in

the Wednesday night activity.”

Academically, Steve particularly enjoyed

calculus, physics, and programming. He

observes, “The programming class helped

build my own logic and experience before

college.” Joe Speier, Programming and

Logic II teacher, has remarked on Steve’s

“gift of a good sense of graphic design. His

multiplication animation project is a mas-

terpiece in the making… and can become

a great tool to introduce young students to

the concept and facts of multiplication.”

In addition to his Programming project,

Steve pursued an investigation of com-

puters and the effect of the internet on

individuals for his Senior Demonstration.

He explains, “Computer technology has

influenced everything in the world. The

computer works logically, like math and

like our own logic. It makes me want to

use my own knowledge to create some-

thing to help people use the computer in

more effective ways.”

On the morning of Steve’s interview for

this article (May 22, 2014), a military coup

of the Thai government was announced.

Under the coup, the military suspended

the constitution of 2009. While Steve

wondered at the time if the change would

affect the Scholars program for 2016,

Christine Brown, Coordinator and Co-

director of the Brewster Summer Programs

for Thai Scholars, says that the program is

even larger for the coming year. The future

of Thai Scholars seems to be secure.

Wasit (Kom) Wongtrakul 2015

When Kom arrived at AS last September,

“I strongly believed that American Studies

was too hard for me,” he told the student

body in his senior convo talk. Yet in these

humanities classes, Helen and Tim Plaehn

find him “one of our strongest students”

with “a

remark-

able work

ethic,” even

leading a

Harkness

discus-

sion on the

American

Revolution.

Kom

remembers the early weeks of class. “Our

first book was The Tempest, which I had

never heard of before. When I learned

that it was by Shakespeare, I murmured

to myself with excitement, “Wow! Shake-

speare!” But when I read the first act, I was

drowning in the Elizabethan language. “Is

this English?” I wondered.

“I am impressed by the dedication of all

teachers here,” Kom observes. “I don’t have

to struggle in mathematics and science

classes, but humanities were not my cup of

tea, and American Studies is very new to

me. With great support from the Plaehns,

I put most of my effort in American Stud-

ies.”

Lonely and homesick during the first

semester, Kom says, “My life has now be-

come much livelier and more fun. People

welcome me to this warm community.

Moreover, my very helpful and enthusias-

tic advisor, Ms. Cianciulli, helps me a lot

- from college essays to my convo talk. She

and our advisory group make my experi-

ence here complete.” In co-curricular pro-

grams, he says, “I have many opportunities

to try new activities, such as mountain bik-

ing, skiing, taking part in seated meals and

even speaking in public; I was really afraid

of public speaking, so I always avoided it,

if possible.”

Karen Cianciulli praises Kom’s readiness

to be an “effective collaborator, neither

dominating nor hanging back.”

Kom will pursue his undergraduate and

graduate degrees in petroleum engineer-

ing. As he enters college next fall, our

twentieth Thai Scholar will arrive at Ashe-

ville School.

The vision of a distant king more than a

century ago flourishes at Asheville School

today.

Tish Anderson retired from Asheville School

as Director of the College Office in 2006.

Tanapon Janpen ‘05 earned his PhD in

Economics from Washington University and

joined the Investment Policy Division of

Thailand’s Fiscal Policy Office as an econo-

mist in 2013.

Wasit (Kom) Wongtrakul 2015


MacPhail '04 Enjoys His Role With NBA Championship Organization

By Bob Williams

Editor

With a grandfather and great-grandfather

in the Baseball Hall of Fame and an uncle

who coached the Minnesota Twins to

a historic 1991 “worst to first” champi-

onship over the Atlanta Braves, Logan

MacPhail 2004 seemed destined for a

career in Major League Baseball.

MacPhail, who played baseball at Asheville

School and Dickinson College, initially

started along the familiar family career

path that produced the only father-son

combo in Cooperstown. After graduating

from Dickinson, he landed a job with Ma-

jor League Baseball as a salary arbitration

analyst and then spent two years with the

New York Mets as a baseball analyst.

But following a brief stint with Bloom-

berg Sports, MacPhail chose to go outside

the family comfort zone and focus on

an entirely different professional sport –

basketball.

“Yes…you might say I’m a bit of a black

sheep in the family now,” MacPhail says

with a chuckle. “My grandfather and great-

grandfather are in the Baseball Hall of

Fame; my uncle Andy was with the Cubs

and the General Manager of the Twins;

and my cousin Lee MacPhail scouts for the

(Seattle) Mariners. There’s nobody from

my family working in basketball but me.”

In 2014, MacPhail went to work for the

San Antonio Spurs, a team who in 2013

lost the NBA championship to the Miami

Heat.

But judging by the confetti that fell after

his first season as a basketball analyst for

the San Antonio Spurs, MacPhail says he

couldn’t have dreamed up a better transi-

tion from the world of batting averages

and home runs to analyzing free-throw

percentages, three-point attempts, and

double doubles.

“It was surreal,” MacPhail says, describing

the Spurs’ 2014 championship season. “As

the season went along, they won so often,

it just got to be the routine. When we were

in game 5, it was unbelievable being on

the court as the confetti rained down and

watching the commissioner hand Pop

(head coach Gregg Popovich) the trophy. I

was literally a row away from him.”

MacPhail, who watches every Spurs game

in person, described the 2014 team as one

of the most talented teams to play the

game. “They were like the old guys at the

YMCA who play the game so fundamen-

tally sound,” he says. “It was a beautiful

thing to watch.”

As the Director of Basketball Research for

the Spurs, MacPhail says he has opportu-

nity to work at all levels of the organiza-

tion. His main responsibilities include

answering any statistical/analytics-based

questions the coaching staff may have,

helping to maintain and monitor the cur-

rent information system that houses all

scouting, medical, contract, and statistical

information for the San Antonio Spurs,

and providing statistical and advanced

data modeling support for the Spurs’ front

office.

“We serve as a tool to help the coaches

make decisions,” MacPhail says. “I think

they are very appreciative of what we do

for them. Some teams maybe go too far

with analytics, and use it as the only tool

to make decisions. I wouldn’t advocate for

that at all. Our role is to give the coaches

an objective answer.”

In thinking back to his days at Asheville

School, MacPhail says the experience

certainly helped prepare him for his daily

work. “I received a very good mathemati-

cal background from Ms. Gillum and Ms.

Reid,” he says. “Asheville School helped

me a lot with growing up in general. Two

of the people who helped me grow up the

most were Dale Earnhardt and Professor

Lambert. I was at that impressionable teen

age and they set my perspective straight.”

Although he’s been back to campus a few

times since graduating, MacPhail says he

hopes to have the chance to show his wife

where he attended boarding school in the

near future. “I think that small community

feel was one thing that I didn’t appreciate

until I left. It definitely prepared me for the

real world.”

Logan MacPhail 2004, the Director of Basketball Research for the San Antonio Spurs, holds up the NBA Championship Trophy from 2014.

By Hannah Bonner 2006 Humanities Instructor

I learned how to dance while attend-

ing British theatre company Punchdrunk’s

experimental play Sleep No More. Sleep No

More, a staggering undertaking in set de-

sign and choreography, is loosely based on

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. At the risk

of ruining the atmosphere or narrative of

the production, I’ll just say this: the audi-

ence member creates his or her own expe-

rience as much as set and actors. There are

choices and responsibilities placed on the

audience members that eclipse the routine

passivity of the fourth wall in theatre.

There are physical walls in Sleep No More

(the play takes place, after all, in over one

hundred rooms), yet, at times, you pass

through them as swiftly (and effortlessly)

as a specter.

I attended Sleep No More while I was at

David Dunbar’s CityTerm conference

in New York, Teaching for Experience, a

conference whose pedagogy posits the phi-

losophy of learning as an all-encapsulating

enterprise: mind, body, and spirit. While

there was round-table discussion and

brainstorming, a majority of the five days

focused on collaboration, creativity, and

physicalizing the abstractions of academic

jargon, as when we paired various local

cheeses with wine, whiskey, chocolate,

chili honey, marmalade, or biscuits (as

much a worship of Aristeus who taught

men cheese-making, according to Greek

mythology, as it was a celebration of the

sun over the yardarm). While the snacks

provided sensory stimulation, Dunbar

pointed out that if our goal with our stu-

dents is to synthesize information in both

auditory and visual learning, what better

way to directly understand this synthesis

than through an array of tastes, textures,

and smells?

The following day we experienced not

just the synthesis of food, but of move-

ment, namely swing dance. As I watched

our perky, petite instructor Anita prance

around her partner, the dialogue between

these persons struck me, both verbally

and bodily. When the steps didn’t quite

jive in their improvisation (like pair-

ing an Ardrahan cheese with a salmon

spread), they physicalized the importance

of continuation and flow, no matter the

misstep. “Yes, this isn’t totally controlled,”

their dance seemed to say, “but neither is

control the point.” Yet throughout that

hour of instruction and practice, I could

not alleviate my own anxiety as I desper-

ately attempted to anticipate my partner’s

steps and rhythm. I held myself, and subse-

quently my leader, back by trying to con-

trol the movement. Instead of accepting

the leader’s invitation to follow whatever

movement he or she initiated, I refused to

let the physical synthesis occur, so set was

I on my own part in the dance, solo rather

than duo.

The night before the conference ended,

our group attended Sleep No More. As

we handed over our sweaters, handbags,

cameras, umbrellas, and whatnot to the

coat check in the dimly lit hallway, I felt

as if I were walking into David Lynch’s

Inland Empire (2006) -- the hallway’s lights

petered out to complete blackness and an

ominous instrumental soundtrack swelled

to a crescendo. Soon we were in a maze of

walls that eventually opened into an inti-

mate room flecked in candlelight; the Cab-

aret-esque atmosphere included a selection

of champagne cocktails and absinthe shots.

As we clutched the playing cards we’d been

handed and sipped our drinks, we were

called as groups (“six of clubs,” “eight of

diamonds”) one by one, and disappeared

through a side door in the back of the

room. We were played as if we were cards

dealt the experience of the draw. When

my turn came, I downed my cocktail and

joined my fellow theatergoers. We were

handed white masks reminiscent of the

masquerade party in Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes

Wide Shut (1999) and given two sets of

instructions: we were never to remove our

masks and we were never to speak upon

entering the elevator. Once released onto a

floor, my first scene, I was initially direc-

tionless. What was this setting, this maze

of trees lit by a lone lamp, evocative of

moonlight? What was my purpose or role

as an audience member and how could

I attain and sustain access to actors and

their narratives? In that initial half hour I

was still trying to anticipate the dance that

I was now engaged in, albeit it one with

an entire cast, rather than a single part-

ner. By trying to control my outcome and

experience, my first moments in Sleep No

More were isolated and idle. Yet, after the

repeated frustration of not understanding

a character’s arc or how long to follow a

particular actor, I finally stopped thinking

– no longer was I analyzing the movement

of the drama and my role in it. When a

person in front of me turned down a dark

hallway, I followed instinctively and was

suddenly swept through a door I had never

noticed into a swarm of people being

ushered into a dark and dingy room. As

music pulsated and strobe lights churned,

a drama unfolded of violence and sex that

was so intimate and animalistic that our

presence both informed and heightened

the tension, build up, and release of the

performers frantic dance. I stood, trans-

fixed, captivated by the actor’s abandon-

ment, but also by my own. Had I remained

in my fixed mindset, I never would have 18 Achievement • Spring 2015

Strutting and Fretting Our Hour Upon the Stage: Learning how to Dance

learned to dance and let the rhythm of

the other participants and actors carry me

where I was destined to go.

Interestingly enough, the concept of a

fixed mindset is a concept we touched on

frequently in the days prior to our at-

tendance at the play. When discussing the

type of feedback we give our students,

we repeatedly addressed the notion of

person-oriented feedback versus task-ori-

ented feedback. Person-oriented feedback

encompasses repeatedly telling a student

“you’re so smart,” so that his or her iden-

tity becomes enmeshed with their perfor-

mance as a student, leading the student

to develop fixed views of intelligence. A

student told she is “so smart” doesn’t know

how to cope when receiving a B on an as-

signment because her identity has been in-

herently tied to an “A,” and, thus, she falls

apart in the face of an apparent failure.

More importantly, she may lack the tools

to assess what she needs or must do to

improve this work for a subsequent assign-

ment. What students most benefit from is

task-oriented feedback, where the teacher

notes the steps a student took to do well

on an assignment or, even more beneficial,

gets the student to articulate the steps she

took to completing an assignment herself.

Inherently understanding one’s own pro-

cess ultimately allows the student to feel

as if she is the “author of her own learn-

ing”; no longer is the assignment about

her identity and value as a person, but

the product itself, whether it be a paper,

project, lab report, or dance. Instead of

controlling a fixed mindset (“I must get an

A” or “I must anticipate my dance partner’s

next move”), you concentrate on the steps

you need to follow in order to achieve the

synthesis Dunbar initially invited us to

experience over cheese, wine, and various

other accouterments. Yes, you may have

several mouthfuls of the briny Adrahan,

but it’s well worth it when you put blue

cheese, walnuts, and chutney together.

As teachers, we need to devise a way to

give up some control in the classroom so

that students do not always follow our

intended arc or narrative of the class, but

instead they are allowed to construct their

own. How to achieve this autonomy and

authorship for Third Form Ancient Stud-

ies scholars is something I’m still learning

the choreography to, but it’s a dance I

inevitably want to join. While this may not

happen in the classroom as succinctly as

it did in Sleep No More, I think there are

ways we may create that synthesis of ideas

through the feedback we give our students

so that they are not fixed to a set identity

or product. I hope to motivate my students

to be authors of the work they create and

in their own artistic lives, so that they are

consistently open to revision and reinter-

pretation and even, sometimes, to taking

the first step into a narrative whose story

they do not yet know.

Hannah Bonner is in her fifth year of

teaching Humanities at Asheville School.

She is a graduate of UNC Chapel Hill.



Air Jordans to Aristotle

“Today you are you! That is truer than true!

There is no one alive who is you-er than you!

Shout loud, “I am lucky to be what I am!

Thank goodness I’m not a clam or a ham or

a dusty old jar of sour gooseberry jam! I am

what I am! That’s a great thing to be!”

– Dr. Seuss

By Charlie Levy 2015

It wasn’t so long ago that the man

standing before you today was a naïve

eighth grader with his eyes set on the

league. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen,

Charlie Levy was going to be an eventual

first-round draft pick in the NBA. The

only obstacle that seemed to impede my

path was that I was a white, Jewish, upper-

middle-class kid, and not the most athletic,

I might add. I could have starred in White

Men Can’t Jump instead of Woody Harrel-

son. But that didn’t stop me from trying.

Every night I would go play basketball on

the hoop behind my house until it became

too dark for me to see the ball in my

hands. And every night I would pretend

to be a new player: Magic Johnson, Kobe

Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dwayne Wade,

and my personal favorite, Allen Iverson.

Another one of my brilliant schemes was

to watch as much YouTube footage of

these players as humanly possible. I figured

that if I watched enough of their playing

styles that it would somehow transfer over

into me, like a much slower version of the

Monstars in Space Jam.

The people around me realized that my

dream might have been a bit beyond my

reach before I did. One of my friends

even commented on it, saying, “It’s ok,

you’ll just make a really great sports agent

someday.” Similarly, my parents would

try to prepare me for the inevitable by

saying, “If you can’t play, it’s not the end

of the world; coaching is a great option

too.” And “You know what the great thing

is, Charlie? You’re a smart kid, you don’t

need basketball.” These not-so-subtle hints

fell on deaf ears for a long time. And then

one day, after failing time and time again

at dunking the ball, I realized my hoop

dreams were mere pipe dreams. Making

it to the NBA was not in the tea leaves for

me. Devastated, I fell into a depression that

lasted for weeks.

I was upset because I wasn’t going to be

able to become who I wanted to be. I

wasn’t the basketball prodigy that I had

watched in so many BallisLife videos. So

I tried to become someone other than

myself. The music I listened to, the clothes

I wore, and the way I talked all changed to

accommodate my “new self.” Waka Flocka

and T.I. replaced The Grateful Dead and

James Taylor on my iTunes, my unbroken

English turned into broken slang, and bag-

gy basketball shorts and Air Jordan sneak-

ers displaced collared shirts and boat shoes

in my closet. I thought that this “new” me


would fit in better with the crowd that I

was trying to impress. I wanted so badly to

fit in with the kids around me who were

great basketball players that I changed all

these traits and more because I thought

this would help me propel my game to the

next level. However, looking back on it

now, I must have looked pathetic perform-

ing this charade. Creating this new persona

did little to help my game. It definitely

didn’t make me more athletic. Rather, my

world became more complicated. A battle

waged on between my suppressed self and

my caricature self. I constantly struggled

not to step on anyone’s toes, or anger

anyone to the point that they wanted to

cause me bodily harm. There were times

when classmates whom I tried to imitate

confronted me about my change. And yet

their words simply washed over me with

no effect.

I kept this act up for three years, cover-

ing up what I thought people didn’t want

to see. If I was being too clever, I made a

conscious effort to tone it down; if I had

an insightful comment to add to a discus-

sion, I simply kept it to myself. I didn’t

want people to see the “real” me. I went

about this quite easily, and with little

thought, until I tore my ACL in the spring

of my sophomore year here at Asheville

School. Up until that point there was really

no need for me to reflect on what I had

become, who I wanted to be, and how I

portrayed myself. I was on cruise con-

trol. But sitting by myself for hours in the

weeks following my surgery forced me to

reflect on what I’d done over the past few

years. The walls of the infirmary seemed

more like prison walls than those of a place

for healing, and the pain I felt by being

separated from my friends and athletics

only aided in my ability to come to terms

with the game I’d been playing with myself

and the people around me. This painful

discovery both shocked and disgusted me.

The person I had turned into was a fraud,

a husk of a human being. Trying to “fit

in” had led me to let go of everything that

had made me…me. The person I had tried

to be was a one-dimensional portrayal of

a side of America that I had little to no

understanding of. I had supplanted my

real self with an image of what I thought

would be cool, made up of bits and pieces

of Hip Hop culture. But once I made this

intimate discovery, I knew I had to drop

this persona. Afterwards, I felt as if a huge

weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

Nothing changed with how I performed in

class, or my sense of right and wrong, but I

began to feel a deeper calm within myself.

My Air Jordans now sit on a shelf, collect-

ing dust. Waka Flocka no longer parades

through my music. And I can happily say

that Chubbies fit me way better than baggy

basketball shorts ever did.

From an early age, and at frequent incre-

ments, we are told to be ourselves. In his

book Happy Birthday to You, Dr. Seuss puts

a poetic spin on this life lesson, “Today

you are you! That is truer than true! There

is no one alive who is you-er than you!

Shout loud, “I am lucky to be what I am!

Thank goodness I’m not a clam or a ham

or a dusty old jar of sour gooseberry jam!

I am what I am! That’s a great thing to be!”

Too often we hide behind a cloak of fake

characteristics to impress people, or to try

and fool ourselves into thinking we are

something entirely different than what we

really are. It is all too easy to fall into a false

comfort by keeping all, or parts, of our

selves hidden. This cover-up is a natural

impulse of the adolescent brain; it seems as

though every high school student does this

and I would argue some adults do as well,

but it is an impulse we all, adults and teens

alike, must fight to subdue. All of us are

unique in our own right, each and every

one of us is a diamond in the rough, and

what a beautiful thing that is. What a dull

world it would be if we all were the same,

each mimicking one another, sharing the

same ideas and thoughts. We would be a

world of lemmings, living mindlessly in

monotony. Syndrome, the villain in The

Incredibles and once hopeful Superhero,

famously said, “And when everyone is

super, no one will be super.” Despite his

evil plot to ruin the world as he knows it,

Syndrome brings up a valuable point. For

there to be supers, not everyone can be

one. In a world of billions of people, not

everyone should strive towards the same

goal. Some of us may be great at math,

others great at magic. The point is not that

everyone can be super at the same stuff. All

of us have “super” traits and talents that

make us uniquely us, and we shouldn’t let

go of those, as I so foolishly did.

How do you find yourself, though? How

do you remain authentic? Aristotle be-

lieved that to be true to oneself was to de-

velop authenticity over time by cultivation

of traits such as honesty, discernment, and

sound reasoning; people like Sartre and

Kierkegaard believed that creativity and

freedom are the best routes to authenticity,

and Erich Fromm believed that authentic-

ity could be conforming to social norms,

as long as the individual chose to do so

from an enlightened and informed mo-

tivation. These are simply a few of many

theories on how to remain authentic. And

I couldn’t tell you which one is the right

philosophy to follow. It comes down to

your figuring out what you need, just as I

did. Perhaps you will find yourself through

an epiphany, or maybe it will be a gradual

process that over time shapes you into who

you are. Whatever the case, it is not easy to

figure out. As Benjamin Franklin once said,

“There are three things extremely hard:

steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.”

The last point of this trio, knowing one’s

self, will always trump the former two. And

as human beings, cognoscente of the world

around us and of our thoughts and man-

nerisms, knowing oneself is a crucial ele-

ment of interacting with the world around

us. Know yourself, understand yourself,

and most importantly, be comfortable

with yourself.

Charlie Levy 2015 gave this Chapel Talk

in September of 2014 in Asheville School’s

Boyd Chapel. He will attend Dartmouth

College this fall.


By Bob Williams

Editor

This summer, Asheville School will embark

on its second major construction project

in two years. Renovations to Anderson

Hall, the school’s original structure, will

include significant enhancements to the

faculty apartments and bathrooms. Other

notable improvements include a revamped

common room for students, a new eleva-

tor, and a return to the building’s original

wrap-around porch.

“Now that the school’s new state-of-the-

art Vandergrift Science Center is complete,

this next project is about improving our

infrastructure,” says Head of School Arch

Montgomery. “The Anderson infra-

structure will be significantly upgraded.

Anderson will have brand-new housing for

the faculty. It is step one of the dormitory

refreshing and this is a critical phase in

improving this historic landmark.”

He adds, “The idea is to refresh this dormi-

tory without it becoming like a Four Sea-

sons luxury hotel. Our alumni and parents

really want to see this place maintained

properly. We’ve been able to complete

these projects due to the generosity of our

alumni and parents.”

Tom Bleick, the school’s Director of Facili-

ties, expects the Anderson construction

will begin immediately after Commence-

ment Day on May 30.

“If all goes as planned, we

will start to order materials

and get set up during the

month of May,” Bleick says.

“The day after graduation,

we plan to start the demoli-

tion work.”

While the bulk of the

project will happen over

the summer, there could be

a few items on the list that

might not reach completion

until early fall, Bleick says.

“We will completely

renovate the bathrooms, the

north end faculty apart-

ments, the dorm hallways

and portions of the stair

tower, the elevator, and the

common room,” he says.

“The bathrooms and the

corridors will need to be

ready for the opening of

school. The expansion of

the front porch might con-

tinue into the fall.”

Although projects of this scale are quite

demanding, Bleick says he is comfort-

able with the schedule. “The timeline is

achievable, but there’s little room for un-

anticipated complications,” he says. “The

challenge will be to have many different

phases of construction up and ready by

Opening Day.”

The school hired the same two Charlotte-

based firms that collaborated on the $2.8

million Vandergrift Science Center project

— contractor Barringer Construction and

Perkins+Will Architects. The $3.5 million

Anderson project is the largest construc-

tion project at Asheville School since the

completion of the Vandergrift Science

Center in 2013.

Anderson Hall Renovation Project Set To Begin This Summer


“Barringer Construction has been work-

ing with the architects for months already,”

Bleick says. “They understand the intent

and our expectations. They understand

how critical the schedule is and they

showed us from this past project that they

can perform to the schedule.”

Unfolding the blueprints from the project,

Bleick points to the stair tower structure

that he says will change slightly to allow

the elevator to access the attic space in

Anderson. “We will gut where the current

elevator sits and open up the back end to

have a bigger cab in there that will be ADA

compliant. We’ll take off the top of the

stair tower so we can extend the elevator to

the attic.”

Students will notice drastic improvements

to the common room of Anderson and

the front porch, Bleick says. “The common

area of Anderson will be refinished and

a lot more inviting. The front porch will

allow students to access both sides. You’ll

see that porch being used more like the

Lawrence porch is used today.”

The project includes a red-brick entryway

to Anderson called the Anderson Walk.

Coincidentally, the new brick walkway

calls for 1900 bricks, the same year An-

derson Hall was built. Alumni and friends

will have the chance to add a brick with

their name and class year or the name of

a teacher, classmate, or family member by

making a $120 gift to the Anderson Walk

Fund.

Other additions to Anderson include

new laundry facilities for students in the

transformed basement of Anderson, Bleick

says. “There will be a centralized laundry

room in the basement where we will be

purchasing more heavy-duty commercial

equipment.”

The school’s strategic plan is focused

on making it a priority for the school

to upgrade its historic dormitories, says

Montgomery.

“By the time we finish the strategic plan,

Asheville School should have accom-

plished the nagging deferred maintenance

issues that need to be addressed today,”

Montgomery says. “The Anderson project

is part of a larger whole. It is step three of

the strategic plan. We began with renovat-

ing the Vandergrift Science Center and

that was a big deal. We continued with

the Bermuda grass soccer fields and the

Bermuda on Arnold field hockey field, and

other improvements such as the new air

conditioning in Kehaya.”

Once phase one of the Anderson project is

complete, Montgomery expects the school

to move on to upgrading Lawrence Hall.

“We’ll soon move on to Lawrence dor-

mitory renovations and then return to

Anderson to refurbish all of the rooms,”

Montgomery says.

By renovating Anderson and Lawrence, the

school is committed to promoting sustain-

able living and increased energy efficiency

in these century-old residence halls, says

Dan Seiden, Asheville School’s Director of

Development.

“Anderson and Lawrence are such iconic

buildings; they deserve our care and atten-

tion with historically faithful restorations

and tasteful enhancements for students

and faculty members to enjoy,” Seiden says.

“With a cost of $3.5 million for this first

phase of Anderson, and Lawrence expected

to have a similar budget, we will be calling

upon members of the school family to

contribute towards these strategic projects.

We welcome the chance to share oppor-

tunities for support with alumni, parents,

and friends interested in making a differ-

ence for Asheville School.”

Having already talked to many alumni,

parents, and friends about the plans for

Anderson and Lawrence, Montgomery says

he’s thrilled to know he has the support of

the Asheville School community. “The en-

thusiasm for the school is unprecedented

in my tenure,” he says. “Our alumni were

not surprised by the school’s recent elite

ranking, but they did not know that other

people knew about Asheville School.”

With a master plan already underway for

the entire campus, Montgomery says the

school is already looking five years ahead.

“We’re deep into the master planning

process and we will have a long-range look

at how this campus might change in future

years,” Montgomery says. “We’re examin-

ing everything from new traffic and park-

ing patterns to a new arts center. We’ve got

to get through 2019 first, but the next stage

will then be about improving the campus

in significant ways.”

A rendering of the Anderson Hall common room


Wilbert Peck Society members – Allen Nivens '93 and familyTell us a little about your time at Asheville School.

My time at Asheville was a very positive and growing experience for me. Because I came from a small town in north Georgia, my horizons were quickly expanded in every direction. In fact, outside of anything family related, I consider my four years here to be the most important period of my life.

What are you up to now?

Meg and I have been married 15 years. We have two daughters, Sara (11) and Annie (8), who I hope will be AS Blues in a few years. We mostly spend our days trying to maximize our time with them while they still like us. I still play in a rock/country band (down to about one performance a month these days) and am increasingly thankful for that outlet.

Why do you give to Asheville School?

Giving to Asheville School is a cause I describe as one that is “where the rubber meets the road.” As we all divvy up our an-nual giving to charities, sponsorships, schools, etc., sometimes it is hard to know how much of each dollar truly gets put to work. Asheville is just a place in which I like to put as much emphasis as possible because I know how far they stretch every dollar and that makes each gift that much more significant.

When and why did you decide to join the Wilbert Peck Society?

When we were newly married with young kids, I just remember never being able to give as much to Asheville as I would have liked. I learned about the Wilbert Peck Society in The Achieve-ment and it intrigued me, primarily, because it was one more way I could give to the school and, secondarily, because it was one more way I could let the school know I care.

Why is giving back / philanthropy important to you and your family?

While hoping not to sound over the top, I know with absolute certainty that you get back whatever you give (and usually with compound interest). This is just a natural law of the universe and applies to anything, not just money. So we view regular steadfast support, even when in nominal amounts, to be the most important part of our family budget.

What advice would you give someone who is considering joining the Peck Society?

You can set the contribution from your estate to be a percentage, a fixed dollar amount, or a min/max combination thereof. Giving from your estate is just as important as it is to give while you are alive. The donation will show the gift recipient(s) how important they are to you as well as remind your heirs what was important to you, a great way to go out and a win-win-win every time.

For more information on joining the Wilbert Peck Society, please email Dan Seiden at [email protected] or call 828.254.6345 ext. 4028.

Allen Nivens 1993 with his wife, Meg, and daughters, Sara (11) and Annie (8).


Drama And Dance Performances in 2014-2015

Drama, dance and music students performed Fiddler on the Roof.

During the fall production of Play On, students performed a comedic piece about the mishaps that could happen while trying to put on a play.


accused of abusing a political expenses

fund, and Eisenhower was considering

removing him from the ticket. Nixon

went on national TV and radio to answer

the charges. In the process of fending off

those allegations, Nixon did admit to ac-

cepting one personal gift: a cocker spaniel

that his daughter had named “Check-

ers.” Somewhat defiantly, he said he was

keeping the dog. Over 60 million people

heard or watched the speech, the first

broadcast of its kind, which did much to

define Nixon’s public persona. It is unlikely

that any Asheville School student saw it

or listened to it – unless a few brave souls

took their crystal sets out of hiding. Nixon

remained on the ticket and would go on

to have a long career in politics that was

surely checkered in ways having nothing to

do with cocker spaniels.

The 1952-53 school year began, and the

faculty chose seniors Peter Harman, David

Kuhns, P. L. Hay, Mark Reed, Denny Cook,

Edward Somerville, Woody Woodard, and

Tommy Ivey to be prefects. It was an honor

to be selected as prefect, and it brought

with it some extra privileges and responsi-

bility. However, the “task on the dormitory

hall is often so heavy as to outweigh the

advantages …. the duties of managing a

dormitory hall require so much time that

much of [the prefect’s] otherwise free time

has to be spent in studying” (The Ashnoca

October 20, 1952, p. 1). The positive start

of the year must have been enhanced by

the football team’s season-opening 34-6

victory over Weaverville and by the Thurs-

day night refreshments at the Headmas-

ter’s house after study hall.

A different take on the positive start of the

year was offered by Sandy Martin ’55, who

recalls, “The first Sunday I was at Asheville

School I was dressed in a double-breasted

blue suit. Suits were required for Sunday

chapel and Sunday dinner. A sport coat

was okay during the week at chapel but

not on Sunday. There was always a ‘lull’

between chapel and when Sunday dinner

was served. I was waiting around on the

sidewalk outside Anderson Hall when a

group of three old boys came along. They

proceeded to ‘de-pants’ me and threw my

navy blue trousers high up into a fir tree.

Just at that time, Mr. and Mrs. Hutchins

The Good Old Days at Asheville SchoolBy Tom Marberger 1969

“I was 15, alone for my first train ride from

Penn Station in New York … to Asheville,

overnight and slightly awed by it all. When

I arrived at the Asheville station, I followed

instructions and I found the proper bus

that went out toward the campus…. I got

aboard and sat down. The bus didn’t go

anywhere. I thought the driver must be

waiting for other passengers. ‘Excuse me,

sir,’ the driver said, walking back toward

me, ‘but you can’t sit there….’ I looked up

at the driver, bewildered. And then it came

to me. The people near me in the bus were

black, and I wasn’t…. The hair on my neck

stood up. It was a moment in my life I’ll

never forget…. I scurried to another seat

… and counted the seconds until I could

get off the bus. It was 1952, though, wasn’t

it?” (Eric Hartell ’55 letter to Tom Mar-

berger).

Indeed it was, when, “on September 15,

1952, a large group of boys appeared on

the Asheville School campus, having given

up their final week of summer vacation

to prepare themselves for the upcom-

ing football season. Under Coach Hop

Arbogast’s stern tutelage, the boys quickly

– if painfully – rounded into shape” (The

Blue and White, 1953, p. 96). September

20 brought the remaining old students and

the new boys, Eric Hartell among them, to

Asheville School for another school year.

Greeting the students were the familiar

faces of faculty members such as Bates,

Brooks, and Peck as well as four new teach-

ers: Messrs. Crawford, Crone, Roberts, and

Sharp.

September 23 would have been the second

day of classes, and that evening, history

was made: vice-presidential candidate

Richard Nixon delivered his now-famous

“Checkers” speech. Nixon had been

Sunday night brings all of the seniors down to the Fall House for milk, cookies, and a chance to get together to talk about current events and watch TV!


came along the walk headed for the dining

hall and Sunday dinner. Mr. Hutchins

handled the situation with grace, usher-

ing Mrs. Hutchins past me. He then said

something stern to the boys involved. I

got my trousers back, and the boys, I later

learned, were ‘campused’ for a period of

time” (Sandy Martin letter to Tom Mar-

berger).

By the end of October, the football team’s

record stood at 2-2-1. The student body

had had two dances, one at St. Genevieve-

of-the-Pines, and another one on campus

– the Halloween dance, also known as

Fall’s Folly. The Astronomy Club, estab-

lished the previous fall, expanded and

completed the assembly of its new weather

station. The students welcomed the first

whole holiday of the year as the school

celebrated the accomplishments of three

alumni: Jim Woollcott and Sidney Cone

of 1948 and Norman Frith of 1952 (The

Ashnoca, November 3 and 21, 1952).

On November 1 in the Pacific, the United

States exploded the first hydrogen bomb.

A few days later, the American electorate

overwhelmingly chose Dwight Eisen-

hower to be president. Ike swamped his

Democratic challenger, Adlai Stevenson,

by 442-89 in the electoral college. Several

days later, “after a week of intense train-

ing, Coach Hop Arbogast’s varsity foot-

ball team was in excellent condition and

prepared to meet their rival, Christ School”

(The Blue and White, 1953, pp 102-03).

The Blues emerged with a 28-6 victory

over the Greenies.

Rounding out November, the 1952-53 edi-

tion of the Ashpits made its debut. High-

lights of the concert, performed by seniors

Mark Reed, John Giffen, Denny Cook,

Tommy Ivey, Steve Morse, David Kuhns,

Norman Asher, and Woody Woodard, in-

cluded a medley from Oklahoma arranged

by Mr. Bates, and the School’s Alma Mater,

which had been introduced by the Ashpits

the previous year. Students enjoyed the

Thanksgiving holiday (just Thursday in

those days) and a turkey dinner, which was

followed on Saturday by the Thanksgiving

Dance in Memorial Dining Hall (The Ash-

noca, December 4, 1952, p. 1). On Novem-

ber 29, President-elect Eisenhower went to

Korea to fulfill a campaign promise and to

try to end the conflict there.

With Thanksgiving behind them, there was

still plenty for the students to do before

the Christmas break. The varsity basket-

ball team played its first two games of the

season against Warren Wilson and won

them both. The soccer team also faced

Warren Wilson in its first two games, but

lost each time. The Mitchell Cabinet made

its holiday donation to three local families

who wouldn’t have had much of a Christ-

mas otherwise. On December 7, James

Cleland of Duke delivered the Sunday ser-

mon. His appearance was always welcome

because of his “amazing ability for gaining

and holding the attention of even the most

obstinate students, for his great teach-

ings are always delivered in an extremely

entertaining yet dignified manner” (The

Ashnoca, December 15, 1952, p. 1). How-

ever, Emil Cekada ’55 recalls Dr. Cleland’s

visit a bit differently. Cekada writes: “Dr.

Cleland was up for the whole week. At one

service he realized that most students were

not paying attention, so he said, ‘There is

a student here whose name has the same

pronunciation as an insect – cicada and

Cekada.’ That got everyone’s attention”

(Emil Cekada letter to Tom Marberger).

The last formal engagement of the term

was the Christmas Vesper Service that was

followed by the Christmas dinner. The fes-

tive night concluded with the Ashpits sing-

ing carols around campus at faculty houses

(The Ashnoca, December 15, 1952, p. 1).

The term came to a close and the students

headed home for the holidays.

Today’s students return from the Christ-

mas break and have a fresh start of sorts.

In January of 1953, students returned to

face semester exams. As an Ashnoca edito-

rial pointed out, “Exams are not things

to be passed by lightly, without a second

thought; they are proofs of what we have

learned, and how much we have applied

ourselves. Colleges and universities place

much emphasis upon exams, and rightly

so.” It is no wonder, then, that after the

exam period, “Probably not a single one

of us (masters included) is not glad that

the mid-term examinations are past. These

delightful tests of knowledge are gone for

four months” (The Ashnoca, February 27,

1953 p. 2).

On January 20, 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhow-

er was inaugurated as the 34th President of

the United States. It was in many ways the

typical speech, full of platitudes and hopes

and admonitions that are part and parcel

of inaugurations. One short passage from

Eisenhower’s inaugural is of particular

note: “Destiny has laid upon our country

the responsibility of the free world’s lead-

ership.” As an example of American liberal

exceptionalism, there was nothing unusual

about the broad strokes of that comment.

After all, John Winthrop had said some-

thing similar in his famous “city upon a

hill” sermon over three centuries earlier.

However, Eisenhower did not make this re-

mark in a vacuum. It was one thing for the

Democratic Truman to issue a call to ac-

tion against communist expansion in what

came to be known as the Truman Doctrine

in March of 1947, but this was a Repub-

Emil Cekada 1955


lican inaugural address, and Eisenhower

could repudiate Truman’s policy if he so

desired. As long ago as George Washing-

ton’s Farewell Address and as recently as

the 1930’s, the United States was staunchly

isolationist in its world outlook. Truman

changed that with his 1947 speech, and

now Eisenhower was giving that approach

his imprimatur. America was now the

world’s policeman. Although Eisenhower

didn’t necessarily use American force when

the opportunities presented themselves,

many of his successors would.

Happily for students on campus, the new

year included some pleasant activities in

addition to the drudgery of exams. The

students were able to attend a dance at St.

Genevieve-of-the-Pines, and Uncle Will’s

Wit ‘N’ Waffles held its first meeting of

1953. The choir met at the Bement House

for its annual banquet, and it was observed

that “never before had so much [creamed

chicken, waffles, and peas] been eaten by

so few.” After all had sated themselves, Mr.

McCleary and Mr. Bates led the group in

a songfest, and a few of the Ashpits sang

some of the songs they were working on

for their next concert (The Ashnoca, Febru-

ary 27, 1953 p. 1).

The end of exams and the new semester

brought with them a full-fledged athletic

schedule. The cagers absolutely trounced

Christ School and won a close game over

Hendersonville, but then lost the rematch.

The Blues lost to Sand Hill 60-54 and

bounced back with a 71-39 victory over

Brevard with Tom Hicks ‘56, Bob Walker

‘55, and Dave Grumhaus ‘53 leading the

way. Meanwhile, the soccer squad dropped

three tough matches in a row to Ben Lip-

pen, Christ School, and McCallie, despite

fine efforts from Wake Myers ‘54, Mark

Reed ’53, and Mike Simonhoff ‘55 (The

Ashnoca, February 27, 1953 p. 3, 4). The

basketball team won its last two games and

the Prep School Tourney to finish with a

13-3 record. The soccer team turned its

season around by winning 5 of the last 6 to

end with a very competitive 5-6 record.

While these two teams played full sched-

ules, the swimming team was less for-

tunate. They had but one competitive

meet, the Interscholastic Swimming Meet

in Chapel Hill. The Blues gave it their

best shot and had some good individual

performances by Dave Ivey ‘56 and P. L.

Hay. Perhaps the most exciting moment

of the meet was the freestyle relay. Peter

Harman, Don Bigby ‘54, Norm Asher, and

Sam Swint ’53 came within a fraction of

a second of winning the event (The Blue

and White, 1953, p. 112). Although valiant

efforts do count for something and do

matter to athletes and coaches, effort by

itself does not win games and matches.

While the swim team could be very proud

of their hard work, they placed fifth in

their only meet.

The students returned from spring break

and jumped into the final term with full

vigor. Games were won and lost, tests

passed and failed, and college acceptances

and rejections received. And then, before

anyone knew, “Exams are upon us….

The year is about to end. The drudgery

is over…. Exam week is a time of great

pressure … but the break has come…

day study halls are to be forgotten…. If

we have worked hard during the year, the

exams will not be so bad; if we haven’t,

well…. Spring has come and gone in a

flash; water guns were pretty scarce …The

bicycle craze was the big event … and the

golf enthusiasts were seen in ever increas-

ing numbers….” So wrote Bob Brooks ‘54

in his June 1 “Propagandabus” column for

the Ashnoca. And then commencement

arrived.

Members of the class of 1953, perhaps

especially those who had been at the

school for six years, could hardly believe

that they were now graduating and leav-

ing. On the other hand, the very youngest

students, such as soon-to-be-third-former

Jim Fowler, didn’t think that June of 1957

would ever arrive. Whatever one’s per-

spective about time, the class of 1953 did

graduate on June 6. Class president Peter

Harman delivered the salutatory address;

Steve Morse was the Ivy orator; Woody

Woodard used “truth” as his theme as he

delivered the valedictory, and Whitefoord

Cole was the class poet. Some six weeks

later, the Korean War ended.

During the dog days of August, in faraway

Iran, the democratically elected Prime

Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh was

ousted in a coup d’ etat that was orches-

trated, at least in part, by England and the

United States. The coup made it possible

Wit ‘N’ Waffles features fellowship, food, and forensics. Mark Reed serves Whitefoord Cole, Ernest Woodard, Mr. Lewis, Tommy Ivey, and Gary Campbell.


for the Shah of Iran to rule in an absolute

monarchy for the next 26 years. The fruits

of that coup would be fully reaped in 1979

in what became known in this country as

the Iran hostage crisis.

As the class of 1953 headed off to college

in the fall of 1953, the class of 1954 and

the rest of the student body returned to

our campus for the start of another year.

Among those who welcomed the students

that fall was Pop Hollandsworth, who was

returning to the faculty after a second stint

of active duty in the Army. In addition

to his teaching duties, Pop would be the

master in charge of Anderson Hall, where

the school’s underformers resided. In the

year’s first chapel service, Headmaster Fall

told the students that while much of the

specific information they learned dur-

ing the year would be quickly forgotten,

“invaluable knowledge in learning how to

think in a clear and logical manner would

be gained” (The Ashnoca, October 15,

1953, p. 2).

After getting through “that awkward

period at the opening of school during

which all of the old boys seem to stand off

… from the newcomers…,” the students

settled into their daily routine of classes,

sports, activities, meals, and study hall

(The Blue and White, 1954, p 107). The

football team opened on the road against

Tennessee Military Institute and emerged

victorious when Nick Palmer ‘55 returned

a fourth quarter interception for the go-

ahead score to secure a 13-6 victory for the

Blues. The team tied its next game and

then lost the third game of the season to

Canton, 13-12.

Despite the daily routine that can some-

times take on a life of its own, there were

plenty of diversions. “Nestled on the side

of a mountain, a few miles from both

Newfound Gap and Clingman’s Dome, is

a small cabin which has furnished pleasant

weekends for many a boy from Ashe-

ville School.” The cabin was generously

provided by Reuben Robertson, head of

Champion Paper. The boys would hop in

the school station wagon and ride all but

about the last half mile, which they then

hiked to arrive at Timbertop Lodge. The

boys enjoyed the hike, the natural beauty,

the good food, and the break from the

campus routine (The Ashnoca, November

2, 1953, p. 3).

On campus, the Common Rooms served

as a diversion from the schedule. In his

“Propagandabus” column, Eric Hartell

extolled the virtues of the senior common

room, calling it “an oasis of knowledge and

gossip…. It is really amazing how many

unrelated conversations you pick up at any

given time there…. [and] The common

room besides being a forum of sorts, serves

as our Little Opium Den and Dance Hall.

Yes, it is that little area where the select

few may puff-puff-puff their cares away.”

Hartell then admonished his schoolmates

to take care of the room. “It can be a neat,

trim, comfortable room, or a dirty, sloppy

headache…. Let’s take care of it” (The

Ashnoca, November 2, 1953, p. 3).

The dormitory was always a place for

diversions. Bob Brooks recalls that one of

the boys on his hall had a recording of “In

the Mood” and “played it over and over

and over until one day several of us went

into his room, seized the record, and sailed

it out the window” (Bob Brooks letter to

Tom Marberger).

Perhaps the best possible diversion was

the school’s first whole holiday of the year

on October 27, given in honor of Harold

Costello ’48. The night before the holiday,

the student body was entertained by “the

school’s outstanding (and only) jazz band,

The Five Pints and a Fifth.” Boys went to

town, some enjoyed the Smokies, and oth-

ers ate at the Nu-Wray Inn (The Ashnoca,

November 18, 1953, p. 1).

As the leaves fell and took with them the

colors of autumn, the Christ School game

came along and brightened the early gray

days of November. On November 14, the

football squad journeyed to Arden to take

on arch-rival Christ School. Because of

a scheduling mishap, the two teams had

already played once in the season (a 39-14

victory for the Blues), but it is doubt-

ful that players or students were any less

keyed up for the game than they would

have been otherwise. Rivalry games typi-

cally bring out the best in teams, and that

was certainly the case on that November

Saturday when scores by seniors John

Harris, Mike Tanner, and Smith Bradfield

propelled the Blues to a 40-0 thumping

of the Greenies. A week later, the squad

celebrated with a banquet in the school

dining hall and town permission for the

rest of the evening.

Recent graduates who have enjoyed as

much as a week off for Thanksgiving will

find it hard to believe that “disappoint-

ment” is a word that could possibly be

associated with the Thanksgiving holiday.

However, in the fall of 1953, rather than

having the holiday celebrated on Saturday,

thus giving the boys a chance for a long

weekend, the school decided to celebrate

the day on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day

itself. Beginning with a movie on Wednes-

day and concluding with a turkey-and-

all-the-trimmings dinner followed by the

Mr. Brooks fills in a little spare time polishing up the 1932 Ford.


Heaton Owsley ’32 wrote The Ashnoca to

share his memory of the first edition. He

wrote, “With the zeal of the uninitiated, we

decided that we not only wanted to edit a

paper, but that we should set the type and

print it as well. When the price lists for

presses arrived, our ideas of having a sec-

ond New York Times were quickly reduced

to a few pages of Reader’s Digest size” (The

Ashnoca, February 26, 1954, p. 3). While

the paper never reached New York Times

size, the “zeal of the uninitiated” has

remained a constant characteristic of the

editors and writers throughout the paper’s

long existence.

As spring break approached, teams

wrapped up their seasons and students

enjoyed the winter dance. The class of

1954 chose its officers for commencement.

Among those selected were Luis Yglesias,

valedictorian; Tom Pearsall, Ivy orator;

Bob Brooks, class poet. Although it may

not have been the most interesting bit of

news to students, by far the most impor-

tant news to emerge before spring break

was Mr. Fall’s financial report. The alumni

purchased Asheville School in 1930 by

borrowing $600,000. By the 1950’s, that

debt had been reduced to $240,000, but

servicing it was a burden, especially since

the school had no endowment. How-

ever, in the weeks leading up to spring

break, Mr. Fall was able to announce that

play The Dead Sister’s Secret, the students

thoroughly enjoyed the holiday. The fes-

tive spirit lingered into Saturday, when,

after classes and athletic contests, the stu-

dents were happy to have the Thanksgiving

dance to wrap up the holiday celebration

(The Ashnoca, December 5, 1953, p. 1).

The time between Thanksgiving and the

Christmas break passed quickly, and then

Christmas break itself seemed to pass even

more quickly, and students found them-

selves back on campus in January of 1954.

Early in the winter term, the boys learned

that the “Old Boiler-House” was destined

to be converted to a shop where they could

do some woodworking and

other hobbies. The remodel-

ing would be done by students

under the guidance of Mr.

Abbott, the school’s instructor

in manual training. To enhance

their weather-predicting abili-

ties, members of the Astronomy

Club were going to add a max-

imum-minimum thermometer

to their existing equipment.

And off campus, though very

much in everyone’s daily line

of vision, a controversy raged

over a proposal by WLOS-TV

to erect a tower on Mt. Pisgah

(The Ashnoca, February 8, 1954,

p. 1). As today’s students can

verify, WLOS won the argument and the

tower remains part of the campus vista. In

light of the WLOS proposal, it is interest-

ing to note that on December 30, 1953, the

first color televisions had gone on sale in

the country.

Everyone in today’s alumni body (1929-

2014), can remember The Ashnoca, but

it was not always part of school life. The

first issue was published on January 26,

1929, and in February of 1954, the paper

celebrated the 25th year of its publishing

history by printing an exchange of letters

between former editor Ralph Ellis ’32 and

the 1954 editor, Bob Brooks. In addition,

on April 1, the school’s debt would be

liquidated and an endowment of $240,000

would be established. For the first time in

its history, Asheville School would become

“a privately owned, debt-free, endowed

institution” (The Ashnoca, March 19, 1954,

pp. 1, 3).

The students returned from spring break

and fell into the daily routine of classes

and games, and the seniors anticipated

graduation. The weather warmed and the

campus bloomed. Words like Edenic, clois-

tered, or isolated might be used to describe

life at Asheville School in this era. As Mike

Tanner said, “The only TV on cam-

pus was at the headmaster’s house….

There was no daily newspaper that

anyone looked at….There was no

radio except for illicit crystal sets

that students ingeniously hid away

… Halcyon days to be sure… but as

for the pressing events of the day, I

could have cared less” (Mike Tanner

letter to Tom Marberger). Through

no real fault of their own, then, the

boys were relatively unaware of two

stories of national import that were

developing in the spring term. One

was the televised Senate hearings into

Joseph McCarthy’s allegations about

communist influence in the United

States Army. The other story had to

do with racial segregation in the public

schools. That issue was before the Supreme

Court in the form of Brown v Board of

Education.

McCarthy had burst onto the scene in 1950

with his allegations about known commu-

nists in the State Department. His cry of

“I have a list” should have been laughable,

but in the Cold War atmosphere of the

1950’s, his accusations were anything but

funny. Despite Margaret Chase Smith’s

early efforts to derail McCarthy, his cause

gained momentum that peaked with the

1954 hearings. One might argue that the

Brown case had been nearly 60 years in the

making because it challenged the separate

but equal principle established in Plessy v

The tower on Mt. Pisgah erected by WLOS-TV remains visible today.


Ferguson in 1896. More practically, though,

the Brown case arose in Kansas in 1951.

In the spring of 1954, Asheville School

boys may have danced their way to com-

mencement. On April 24, St. Genevieve-of-

the-Pines held a dance for Asheville School

and Christ School boys. St. Genevieve’s

would repeat the occasion on May 15 with

their junior-senior prom. Asheville School

would host its own year-end dance on

Friday, June 4, the night before commence-

ment (The Ashnoca, May 25, 1954, p. 1).

On May 12, the seniors learned of the deci-

sions of Ivy League colleges. The seniors

were five for five in the Ivies, with four

admitted to Harvard and one to Princeton.

The largest contingent of students would

be the seven going to Chapel Hill, includ-

ing Mike Tanner, a Morehead Scholar. Two

were going to Cornell and one to M.I.T.

The other three were “home state” men

and would attend NC State, Wisconsin,

and Washington and Lee (The Ashnoca,

May 25, 1954, p. 1).

In spring athletics, the track team beat

Christ School, lost to Davidson College

freshmen, and placed second in the West-

ern Carolina Relays at Asheville Memorial

Stadium. At the Relays, John Harris set a

record in the discus (122’ 6”) and shot put

(42’ 3 ½”), while Nick Palmer set a record

(5:03), winning the mile. The baseball

team dropped games to Christ School and

Canton, but balanced them with victories

over Bethel and Brevard as Tom Hicks and

Bobby Hicks ’58 picked up victories on

the mound for the Blues. The tennis team,

meanwhile, dropped two contests with

Christ School, with seniors Dave James

and Tom Asher winning their matches

each time in losing causes (The Ashnoca,

May 25, 1954, pp.3, 4).

On May 7, 1954, French forces surrendered

to General Giap’s Viet Minh troops at Dien

Bien Phu. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme

Court delivered its decision in the Brown

case. A unanimous court ruled that “sepa-

rate educational facilities are inherently

unequal” and ordered the states to end

segregation with “all deliberate speed.” It

is impossible to deny the significance of

that decision, but the states were deliberate

only in the speed with which they ignored

the court’s order.

The school held commencement exercises

on June 5, and the class of 1954 entered

the ranks of the alumni body. Class poet

Bob Brooks captured in a very few words

what most senior classes have felt over the

years when he said, “Memories are deeply

seeded, richly planted, strong to grow.”

And so it was that the class of ’54 took

their memories and left the campus for the

challenges of college. Four days later, Army

lawyer Joseph Welch uttered the words that

were to start Senator McCarthy’s fall from

power: “Have you no sense of decency?”

(from the Army-McCarthy hearings of June

9, 1954). In 1957, the once feared and pow-

erful Senator Joseph McCarthy died.

On September 8, 1954, about the time

varsity football players were getting ready

to return to campus for pre-season practice,

the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization

(SEATO) was formed in Manila. The fall

term opened in its usual fashion as the class

of ’55 began to put its unique stamp on

the year. There was at least one new twist

to the year. On Sunday, September 21, two

car loads of students and faculty members

drove to Mt. Pisgah, partly to have an out-

ing and get some fresh air, but also to see

the new 342-foot WLOS TV tower (The

Ashnoca, October 11, 1954, p. 1).

As campus life fell into a familiar pattern,

there were the occasional amusements such

as the annual St. Genevieve’s dance, Sunday

tours of the Biltmore Estate, and swimming

excursions to Sliding Rock, all culminat-

ing with a 14-7 football victory over Christ

School. Touchdowns by seniors Bob Walker

and Mike Simonhoff provided all the scor-

ing the Blues needed and made sure the

victory bell rang loud and clear.

It seemed as though the victory bell had

only just stopped ringing when the Thanks-

giving holiday began on Wednesday after

lunch. Many of the students went into town

and then spent the evening hours watch-

ing a movie in the auditorium. The next

morning, the boys were allowed to sleep

late as “prescribed breakfast was served at

8:30” (The Ashnoca, December 16, 1954, p.

1). That may or may not sound like sleep-

ing-in to today’s students, but the boys in

1954 were happy for the later breakfast and

then headed off to town. That evening, the

Bob Walker 1955 takes the pigskin for 14 yards in the Blues 14-7 victory over Christ School in 1954.


students attended the annual Thanksgiv-

ing chapel service which was followed by a

“turkey and fixings” dinner in the dining

hall. The only “bad” part about the holiday

is that it ended, and the boys headed off

to study hall somewhat sated and less than

eager to prepare for classes the next day.

With Christmas break on the horizon, the

soccer team got off to a good start with

two victories over Bethel and a tie with

Warren Wilson in their first three games.

Returning players Don Cobb ’55, Michael

Conley ’56, and Mike Simonhoff would

be joined by first-timers Charlie Cushing

‘55 and George Ivey ’55 to give the team

plenty of reason to be optimistic about

their prospects for the season (The Ash-

noca, December 16, 1954, p. 3). As winter

sports heated up, so did Uncle Will’s Wit

‘N Waffles group. Uncle Will had seen his

charges in classroom action long enough

to choose seniors Stephen North, Alex Gill,

Eric Hartell, Elijah White, and Joe Barkley

to come down to his house every other

Sunday for discussions (followed by a

good meal, of course) on everything from

“Plato to Pluto” (The Ashnoca, December

16, 1954, p. 1).

Soccer games and basketball games were

fun to play and watch, and dormitory

pranks and bull sessions were good ways to

pass the time. What students really want-

ed, though, was Christmas break. A dance

to the music of Glenn Miller on December

17 signaled that the end of the term was

near. To save money, records rather than

a live band were the source of the music.

Presumably, “In the Mood” was available

to students! The next day featured the

Candlelight service and the Christmas

banquet. The holiday had arrived and the

boys went home.

January is January, and coming back from

Christmas break is never much fun; it

is even less fun when exams are await-

ing you, as they were in 1955. However,

Mother Nature intervened to change the

mood of the campus. “After dinner on

January 18 …. Snow was falling…. When

study hall let out at 9:15, the inevitable

occurred. Enough of the white stuff had

accumulated for a snow fight.” The fight

took on a life of its own, engulfing any

and all around Anderson, Mitchell, and

Lawrence. Only bed-time brought an end

to the action. Activities continued on the

next day, and “after lunch the White War

took on more grandiose proportions as the

benches on the soccer field were turned

into forts.” Although flurries continued,

in a few days “the novelty had worn off

somewhat by the time mid-years arrived”

(The Ashnoca, February 4, 1955, p. 1).

Having survived the excitement of snow

and the rigors of exams, the students

welcomed the news of the “usual post-ex-

amination whole holiday…. The boys were

very excited over their rightful day of rest.”

It may or may not have been a day of rest

as boys hiked, camped, or simply trekked

into town and back. The Ashnoca also

reported that “several studious characters

studied their way through the holiday….”

(The Ashnoca, February 22, 1955, p. 1).

There was additional news concerning

holidays, or at least potential holidays.

Refining a statement he had made before

Christmas break, Headmaster Fall told the

students that if there were no “D” or “E”

classifications before spring break, then the

vacation would be extended one day for

each classification period. That possibility

had to make the dreary month of February

seem a little brighter. A later Ashnoca did

say that spring break would be extended

by a day, but implied that it was simply a

re-locating of the normal “second holiday”

of the term and not an extra day earned

through good classifications (The Ashnoca,

March 11, 1955, p. 1).

As the winter term drew to a close, the

seniors chose the rest of their officers for

commencement. The class picked Steve

North to be Secretary, Alex Gill as valedic-

torian, and Joe Barkley as the Ivy orator.

In addition, Elijah White would be class

poet, Bob Walker chair of the class day

committee, and Nick Palmer in charge

of the class gift committee (The Ashnoca,

March 18, 1955, p. 1). As part of the spate

of elections, The Ashnoca chose Jim Gibbs

‘56 to be the new Editor-in-Chief and Al

Woodcock ‘56 to be Managing Editor.

Meanwhile, the basketball team closed its

season with a 14-6 record, paced by Tom

Hicks’ 22.5 points per game. Led by Cap-

tain Don Cobb, the soccer team split the

last two games of the season against Christ

School and ended with a 3-3-1 record.

The students left for spring break, looking

forward to the additional day at home.

Spring terms tend to be packed full of

things to do and also seem to fly by. While

A snowball fight breaks out in 2015 just the same as they did in the 1950’s.


there might be a connection to the two,

all terms at Asheville School are busy

but seem to pass much more slowly than

spring. The spring of 1955 was no differ-

ent – there was plenty to do and it flew

by. Two square dances attracted attention

during the term, one at St. Genevieve’s

and one at Montreat. The chemistry and

physics classes took a field trip to visit the

Atomic Energy Museum at Oak Ridge and

the Alcoa plant in Maryville. No doubt the

boys learned a lot from the experience, but

the coverage in The Ashnoca focused much

more on the carload of girls on the high-

way, TV’s in the motel room, and a night

on the town than it did on the wonders of

science and technology (The Ashnoca, May

2, 1955, p. 1).

As always, sports played a prominent role

in school life. The baseball team dropped

its first three games before getting into

the win column with a 9-3 thumping of

Christ School. The track squad got off to

a terrific start by winning all the events

and scoring a lopsided 98-18 victory over

Canton. The teams would all finish their

seasons at about .500. Highlights included

Tom Hicks’ no-hitter against Bethel, Don

Cobb’s record-breaking (52.6) 440-run in

the conference meet, and the track team’s

season-ending victory over Lee Edwards

(now Asheville High).

Commencement week began with Bac-

calaureate on Sunday, May 29. James Cle-

land delivered the Baccalaureate sermon,

and told the seniors that they must grow

up (physical), out (intellectual), and down

(spiritual roots) (The Ashnoca, June 4,

1955, p. 1). The rest of the week included

class picnics, exams, the Final Dance,

and, at last, commencement Saturday. As

usual, the seniors would be heading off to

colleges far and wide. Five students would

attend Chapel Hill, and two each would

attend Davidson and Duke. Two were

headed to M.I.T., and two to Harvard. One

each would be going to Brown, Haverford,

and Cornell. The Mid-west would see

four Asheville School students attending

Cincinnati, DePauw, Ohio, and Iowa State.

Two would attend Washington and Lee;

one, William and Mary; and one would go

to Sewanee (The Ashnoca, June 4, 1955, pp.

1, 3).

Not too long after commencement, in

Anaheim, California, Walt Disney hosted

the official, though somewhat private,

opening of his theme park – Disneyland.

While on a post-graduation trip with

family, Emil Cekada visited the new park.

When purchasing their tickets, the Cekadas

said they were from North Carolina. For

many years thereafter, Emil had a certifi-

cate stating that he was the first teenager

from North Carolina to enter Disneyland

(Emil Cekada letter to Tom Marberger).

When the boys returned to campus in the

fall of 1955, one of the first orders of busi-

ness was the selection of prefects. Peter Lit-

ton, Talmage Rogers, Michael Conley, Tom

Hicks, Charlie Morse, Courtney Freeman,

Alex Lawton, Larry Fincannon, and Mack

Pearsall were chosen to help the faculty on

the dormitory halls. In the early days and

weeks, Pop Hollandsworth took boys on

trips to Clingman’s Dome, Mount Mingus,

and Linville Gorge. Mr. and Mrs. Bates

became proud parents of daughter Abby,

and the football team dropped its season-

opener to T.M.I. (The Ashnoca, October

27, 1955, pp. 1, 4).

The Ashnoca of Friday, November 11, fea-

tured the annual game with Christ School

that was to be played the next day. The

paper boldly proclaimed that the Blues

were favored to win. Based on history (the

Blues had won 23 of the 28 games played,

including the last six in a row), it seemed

that the Blues should be favored. After all,

in those 28 games, the Blues had outscored

the Greenies 719-160 (The Ashnoca, No-

vember 11, 1955, pp. 1). When it comes to

rivalry games, the oft-used phrase is “you

can throw out the record books for this

one.” For this game, both teams would

have gladly done so. The Blues were 0-5-1,

had been shut out 3 times, and managed

to score just 6 points in each of the other

games. The Greenies hadn’t fared much

better. They were 1-5 but had scored 27

in their lone victory and so appeared to

have a more potent offense (The Ashnoca,

November 11, 1955, pp. 2).

Still, it was THE game and confidence was

high. Alas, confidence, energizing pep ral-

lies, and history were not enough. Seven

in a row was not to be. In a close contest

on the Greenies’ turf, the Blues fell to

Christ School 14-7. Fortunately, though,

the Thanksgiving whole holiday with its

1955 - 56 Prefects — (l to r) Litton, Rogers, Conley, Hicks, Morse, Freeman, Lawton, Finacannon, Pearsall.


traditional turkey dinner and Saturday

night dance was less than two weeks away,

giving the boys something to look forward

to, despite the disappointing football game.

The holiday did not disappoint. The boys

enjoyed the town day, the vesper service, a

traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and the

fall play, My Three Angels.

Although it has stuck in his memory for

more than 60 years, Eric Hartell’s 1952

bus ride never made the history books.

On December 1, 1955, another passenger

took a ride that not only made the books,

but changed the course of history as well.

On that December day in Montgomery,

Alabama, an African-American seam-

stress named Rosa Parks refused to give

up her seat on a bus to a white man. That

dignified act of defiance prompted a bus

boycott, and coming as it did on the heels

of the Supreme Court’s Brown decision,

launched the civil rights movement. Four

days later, on December 5, America’s two

largest labor unions merged to form the

AFL-CIO. A little more than two weeks

later, Asheville School dismissed for

Christmas vacation.

The students returned in January and re-

sumed their usual routines. The Dramatic

Society announced that it would spon-

sor a dance on February 25 and perform

Gilbert & Sullivan’s Trial by Jury on March

4. Francis Breazeale ’58, Wilkes Black ’60,

Frank Estes ‘59, and David Nee ‘58 were

cast in the lead roles (The Ashnoca, January

28, 1956, p. 1). The varsity basketball team

turned in three winning performances,

beating Christ School 56-53 and Brevard

High 62-39. The third victory occurred

in a much-anticipated re-match with

Charlotte powerhouse, Myers Park. Before

Christmas, Myers Park had given the Blues

a 71-46 drubbing; the rematch was an en-

tirely different matter. “Expecting an easy

win, the cocky Mustangs were knocked off

their pins by a red-hot Asheville team, 72-

66” (The Ashnoca, January 28, 1956, p. 3).

The January 28, 1956 Ashnoca included

a front-page item of true national im-

port: an ad for the March of Dimes. The

reason behind the ad was the March of

Dimes’ significant contribution to the

development and distribution of the polio

vaccine. As the front page article went on

to say, “Polio vaccinations, a direct result

of March of Dimes research, have been

administered to many of the boys here

at Asheville School …. Of the Asheville

School boys, 108 have had two shots at

the infirmary; seven had them at home

over the holidays…. The first two shots

are given a week apart, with the third four

months later” (The Ashnoca, January 28,

1956, p. 1).

The boys plunged into the second semester

with varying degrees of enthusiasm and

diligence. The swim team split its first

two meets, the soccer team elected David

Ivey captain, and the basketball team had

its three-game winning streak halted by

Canton. During the height of the winter

sports season, the editors of The Ashnoca

wrote a bit of a blistering follow-up to an

earlier editorial and made a very concrete

plea to the faculty to find more coaches for

the school’s teams. The editors noted that

145 boys were divided into seven groups

and had but five coaches for the lot (The

Ashnoca, February 23, 1956, p. 2).

On March 4, the boys were treated to two

premiers of sorts. One was not all that

unusual. The Dramatic Society performed

Trial by Jury. The more unusual premier

of March 4 had a musical component as

well, as radio station VOAS (Voice of Ashe-

ville School) went live from the basement

of Anderson Hall. Largely the brainchild

of Francis Breazeale, Edward Davidian ’59,

Carlos Matiz ‘59, Kitchin McDowell ‘58,

and David Nee, the station would air mu-

sic, news, interviews, and items of humor.

While it is a well-known fact that there

were plenty of unauthorized radios hid-

den in shoes or behind walls in dormitory

rooms, The Ashnoca was quick to point

out to readers “that the humorous aspect

of this is that radios are strictly forbidden

on the campus” (The Ashnoca, March 16,

1956, p. 1).

March was a busy month. Although they

had begun working quietly for a month or

so, in March The Ashnoca staff launched

its Campaign for the Library. To present

its case effectively, The Ashnoca compared

various aspects of Asheville’s library with

the libraries of 12 leading prep schools

(that data was made available by the

Woodberry Forest library staff). Their

findings were stark. The other schools

averaged 57 volumes per boy to Asheville’s

1956 valedictorian Talmage Rogers


18; other schools had 12 ½ square feet of

library space per student to Asheville’s 6

¼; perhaps most shocking of all, the other

schools spent $20.00 per boy on library

needs (not counting salaries) to Asheville’s

$.50 per boy. Other schools had profes-

sional librarians who averaged 40 hours of

work per week; Asheville School had no

professional librarian (The Ashnoca, March

16, 1956, p. 2). Appalled as they were by

these circumstances, The Ashnoca editors

challenged the student body to raise $1500

in support of the school library and its

needs.

By mid-March, winter teams finished

their seasons, spring teams got some early

workouts, and the date for spring break

was finally set in stone. A combination of

circumstances that included the date of the

College Board exams, the date of Easter,

and the precise time of some convenient

flights to get the boys home, the date

of the break had been a bit of a moving

target. Originally planned for March 17, it

was then moved to March 24, and then to

March 23 at 1:00, until finally settling once

and for all on March 23 at 10:30 am (The

Ashnoca, March 16, 1956, p. 1). At that ap-

pointed hour, the boys did indeed head off

for their break.

In an Ashnoca article about free time in

1953, Tommy Asher ’54 had made the

interesting observation that “there’s actu-

ally plenty of free time, but it’s always

occupied.” With spring break being pushed

back as it was, the “free time” in April and

May must have seemed more occupied

than ever. The May 7, 1956 edition of The

Ashnoca would confirm this sense. By May

7 the class of 1957 chose Bill Buice and

Henry Pharr to be their president and vice

president. The Ashnoca chose Reuben

Robertson to be its editor for the following

year. The tennis and baseball teams each

won the first two contests of the season,

and it was announced that the prefects

would take charge of monitoring required

morning study halls, a move that Head-

master Fall described as “a step in the com-

plete self-government

of the school by the

boys” (The Ashnoca,

May 7, 1956, pp. 1-3).

Spring brought some

very good news about

the Campaign for the

Library. By mid-

April more than 80%

of the student body

had contributed over

$2000 to the library

campaign. That suc-

cess encouraged the

Trustees to endorse a

$10,000 Ashnoca goal.

Said board President

Phil Clarke, “I feel

confident alumni and

other friends of the

school will be per-

suaded to participate

when they learn that

the student portion

of the campaign has

exceeded its quota.”

In addition to the

encouraging financial

progress, the com-

plete perception of

the library’s status in the life of the school

was upgraded when the school announced

that effective July 1, Mrs. Doan Ogden

would become Asheville School’s librarian

(The Ashnoca, May 7, 1956, pp. 1).

Fast and hectic though the term was, the

seniors still had enough energy to enjoy

the busy culmination of their time at

Asheville School: Commencement Week.

The highlights of the week were the tradi-

tional Sunday Baccalaureate service featur-

ing Headmaster Fall’s sermon. There was

the matter of exams to be faced, but then

Friday night arrived with the buffet dinner

for seniors and guests, the Dramatic So-

ciety’s performance of Twelve Angry Men,

and all capped off with the Final Dance.

On Saturday, June 2, 1956, valedictorian

Talmage Rogers and salutatorian Court-

ney Freeman delivered their addresses

that tried to put feelings and memories

into perspective for the class of 1956. At a

time when I Love Lucy and The Ed Sullivan

Show were the two most popular TV shows

in the country; at a time when the avuncu-

lar Dwight Eisenhower was President; at a

time when nobody had heard of Sputnik

or Fidel Castro, the Class of 1956 could

feel safe, sound, secure, and perhaps even

a bit smug in believing what class poet

Mack Pearsall told everyone: “We leave this

school/ Where we have spent/ The best

years/ We’ll ever know/ Years of Sadness

and of joy/ Years that could not last/ Years

we cannot live again/ Years that now are

past…/ And only in memory/ Can we

relive the past.” At that moment, one could

easily believe that these were indeed the

good old days.

Headmaster David R. Fall


Swimming Has Best Season in 19 Years; Breaks 19 Records

By Sheila Steelman

Staff Writer

For nearly half a decade, the underwater

athletes at Asheville School have bested

every team in our conference. After an

undefeated 2014-2015 season, the Boys’

and Girls’ swim teams both came in first

place at the Carolinas Athletic Association

(CAA) swimming championships — for

the fourth consecutive year. The swimmers

also broke 19 school records this year.

Frank Kriegler has coached Asheville

School’s swim team for 19 years. There

is one student who has been coached by

Kriegler nearly that entire time — his son,

Joey Kriegler 2015, who holds records in

three relays, four individual events, and

brought home a state championship in

the 500 Free.

After winning the CAA Championships,

the teams competed at the NCISAA 3A

State Meet. The boys’ team finished third

and the girls’ team finished sixth.

“This is the highest placing the girls have

had since I’ve been here. The boys got

third last year, but in 18 years, that’s the

highest we’ve been able to achieve. We

easily had more medals at that meet than

we’ve ever had,” Kriegler says. “Joey won

the 500 Free, which is the first time in

17 years that we’ve had a student win an

individual at a 3A meet. It was a goal of his

from the start to win an event at that meet,

and he had to swim really well to do it.”

Joey Kriegler had a personal best, taking

11 seconds off his record at the 3A meet.

He broke the school’s 500 Free record as

a freshman and has shaved 30 seconds off

Swim coach Laura Lawrence joins others in cheering on a member of the Girls’ swim team during Asheville School’s record-setting CAA Championship meet. Both the girls and boys placed first in the CAA meet, which was hosted at Asheville School’s Ambler Pool.


the previous record holder’s time during

his high school career.

Besides breaking records and winning a

state championship, Joey also helped his

team finish second in the 200 Free Relay.

He was among the 85% of Blues swimmers

who celebrated personal records during

the state meet.

For the girls’ team, Alexa Phillips placed

third in the 50 Free, while on the boys’

team, Nathan Alleyne placed third in the

50 Free and Josh Wong placed third in the

100 Breast. Both the boys’ (Miller Albury,

Nathan Alleyne, Josh Wong, Ji-Hoon Jang)

and the girls’ 200 Medley relays (Alexa

Phillips, Rylynn Pierson, Kaylee Pierson,

and Bella Ostlund), and the boys’ 200 Free

relay (Tae-Hoon Jang, Josh Wong, Ji-Hoon

Jang, Joey Kriegler) placed second in the

state meet.

Coach Kriegler says the new talent in

recent years has raised the level of the team

as a whole.

“Senior leadership was strong and the kids

believed they could do well at that level.

They went into it with a higher energy

than I’ve seen before,” Kriegler says. “We

always work towards having our best meets

at the end of the season. When that comes

together, that’s the most rewarding part.

You see them put in the time and then do

really well, and that’s what it’s all about.”

He credits Coach Laura Lawrence for get-

ting the team where they are today. “She

made a huge difference in how we ap-

proach coaching and the team. She knows

the whole student and the whole swimmer,

and manages practices so that we help

them develop as an athlete and a student at

Asheville School.”

Lawrence began coaching Asheville

School’s swim team in 2007, and the duo

just finished their eighth season together.

She has noticed the higher levels of com-

mitment the swimmers have for their

sport. Once a year, the swimmers aim to

swim 100 100’s, and this year, they com-

pleted the most laps since Lawrence began

coaching.

“They work harder and are focused on

their goals. The new swimmers have a

good attitude about swimming and are ex-

cited about their improvement,” Lawrence

says.

She used iPads this season to live stream

home meets, with help from swim team

managers. Lawrence added, “The parents

have been very appreciative of the stream.

They are grateful for the service and the

opportunity to get to see their kid swim.”

The higher level of competition is evi-

denced by the 19 school records set this

past season, with swimmers sometimes

breaking records that were set earlier in the

same meet.

For the boys’ relays: Miller Albury, Joshua

Wong, Nathan Alleyne and Ji-Hoon Jang

set the 200 Medley Relay record; Tae-Hoon

Jang, Joshua Wong, Ji-Hoon Jang and Joey

Kriegler set the 200 Free Relay record; and

Miller Albury, Nathan Alleyne, Tae-Hoon

Jang and Joey Kriegler set the 400 Free

Relay record.

For individual events: Joey Kriegler set the

200 Free, 200 IM, 500 Free, 100 Butterfly

and 100 Breastroke records; and Miller

Albury set records in the 50 Freestyle, 100

Backstroke and 100 Butterfly.

For the girls’ relays: Alexa Phillips, Bella

Ostlund, Rylynn Pierson and Kaylee

Pierson set the 200 Medley Relay record;

Rylynn Pierson, Lucy Hatcher, Kaylee Pier-

son and Alexa Phillips set the 200 Freestyle

Relay record; and Alexa Phillips, Rylynn

Pierson, Bella Ostlund and Kaylee Pierson

set the 400 Freestyle Relay record.

For individual events, Bella Ostlund set the

200 IM and 100 Butterfly records; Alexa

Phillips set the 50 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle

and 100 Backstroke records; and Rylynn

Pierson set the 100 Butterfly record.

Coach Kriegler hopes the teams’ successes

will continue in the years to come. He

added, “I’ve told them that success builds

greater success. We can keep this ball roll-

ing for a long time if we realize that what

we’ve done has been great, but it’s some-

thing we can do every year.”

Swim coach Frank Kriegler shares a proud moment with his son, Joey 2015, during the state meet in Greensboro. Joey claimed a state championship and his personal best finish in the 500 Free during the state meet.

Joey Kriegler 2015 celebrates after his first place finish during the CAA championship meet.


Bryan King 1993 and his wife, Angela, are the owners of 12 Bones Smokehouse in Asheville, a restaurant President Obama visits or mentions whenever he’s in town. They are celebrating the launch of the restaurant’s new cookbook in April. Orders are available on Amazon.com.

By Bob Williams

Editor

Bryan King 1993 and his wife, Angela,

know how to make mouth-watering

barbecue. In fact, their barbecue recipes

inspired President Obama to mention

the name of their Asheville restaurant, 12

Bones Smokehouse, on national television.

While King didn’t have the chance to meet

the President in person in 2013, he says

the secret service stopped by the South

Asheville location in a U-Haul truck after

placing an order for Mr. Obama.

“I’ll take a mention in a speech over a visit

to the restaurant any day,” King says with

a grin.

King '93 Celebrates the Arrival of the 12 Bones Cookbook

This year, as the Kings celebrate the launch

of their new 12 Bones cookbook in April,

one of the first copies they plan to ship will

go directly to the White House.

“I wanted to send our sauce to the White

House, but you can’t do that,” King says. “I

would like to send the President two copies

of our new cookbook and see if he’ll sign

one and send it back.”

Published by Voyageur Press, the 224-page

cookbook titled 12 Bones Smokehouse: A

Mountain BBQ Cookbook was available on

Amazon.com for pre-order in March and

has been available since April 1 for $24.99.

The new cookbook features 60 of the

restaurant’s most famous recipes served at

the South Asheville and River locations.

The Kings also expect to see it for sale soon

at Barnes & Noble and Lowe’s stores across

the nation.

“To see it in its final form — it really is

amazing,” King says, pointing to his only

copy, which arrived in late February. “It’s

pretty cool to see it fully come to fruition.

It’s crazy to think that it’s finally here.”

For the past year, King says he and Angela

have been working at the restaurant by day

and on the new cookbook by night.

“We were trying to create this cookbook at

the same time as running the restaurants,”

he recalls. “We were basically working on it

in the evening. It was really hard work and

now in the back of my mind I’m working

on version two.”

The Kings co-authored the cookbook with

Shane Heavner, the restaurant’s head chef,

and Mackensy Lunsford, a food writer,

journalist, and former chef and restaurant

owner.


“We had to test the recipes in a home

environment,” Angela says. “It’s much

different from what we make here because

we’re making big batches in the restaurant.

We had to be sure the recipes were easy for

the average person to make at home.”

The Kings first started working at 12

Bones in 2011 and officially purchased

both restaurants in March 2013, from Tom

Montgomery and his wife, Sabra Kelley.

Prior to that, they were living and working

in San Francisco and climbing

the corporate ladder.

“If you had asked me four

years ago if I would ever be

back in Asheville or own a

restaurant business, I would

have said you are crazy,” King

says. “I was very, very happy

in San Francisco. All my

friends are out there, but it’s

funny how life works.”

While in San Francisco, King

worked at Apple Computer in

operations management. He

served as the supply manager

for North and South America

for Apple’s MacBook laptops.

“The hours were ridiculous,”

he recalls. “There were lots of

conference calls with China.

It felt like you were at the

epicenter of the technology

world. We would see Steve

Jobs in the cafeteria all the

time.”

King, who attended Asheville School as a

day student, credits his Asheville School

experience with helping him develop valu-

able life skills. “Some of the experiences I

had there have really carried me through

life,” he says. “I had Biology with Doc

Embler and I remember it being hard, but

it was one of my favorite classes.”

Today, King says he’s certainly glad to be

back in Asheville and close to his parents,

who recently celebrated their 41st wedding

anniversary.

“I was 37 when we moved back and Ashe-

ville has really blossomed,” he says. “We

love being back here. My father is an entre-

preneur and that interest in doing my own

thing has always been inside me. As I spent

more years trying to climb the corporate

ladder, it ignited that fire. We were young

enough that we had to think about giving

it a shot.”

While it’s taken a lot of hard work, the

Kings say they have enjoyed the adventure

of owning and managing Twelve Bones,

and hope eventually to franchise the res-

taurant.

“At a restaurant, you must have a consis-

tent quality product,” King says. “When

you have two different stores, they are

really the same recipes, but it doesn’t take

much for someone to tweak the recipe un-

intentionally. I want people to come here

to South Asheville and say it tastes exactly

the same as at the River location.”

He adds: “You’re only as good as the last

meal you serve. I want everyone to come

here and have a good experience. For me,

my favorite part is the camaraderie with

the employees. I’m a people person and it’s

awesome to have a lot of regulars. It’s fun

to see them every week.”

While there are challenges,

Angela agrees that owning a

restaurant has had many up-

sides. “We knew it was going to

be hard, but we came in and we

were bound and determined to

make it work,” she says. “For us,

it’s been important to come in

and show our staff that we are

willing to do anything they are

going to do.”

Among the 60 recipes available

in the 12 Bones cookbook, it’s

not difficult for the Kings to

guess which ones will be most

popular.

“I love the BLT and the turkey

sandwich,” Angela says. “But

the brown sugar ribs are pretty

good too.”

King says his chef ’s special

peanut butter and pretzel bar

is one of his personal favorites,

along with the pork cheeks

served with the craft beers from Asheville.

But there are other standard menu items

that King expects most customers will

enjoy learning to make from scratch.

“Definitely, the blueberry chipotle barbe-

cue sauce and the corn pudding will be the

most popular,” King says. “But whatever is

someone’s favorite from 12 Bones, they are

all in there.”


1959Thomas C. Watson Jr. Tom was awarded the Gaston Regional

Chamber’s Spirit of the Carolinas Award

at the 12th annual Salute to Business

and Manufacturing banquet held at the

Schiele Museum’s Matthews Belk Cannon

Environmental Studies Center in Gasto-

nia, NC, in October. Tom succeeded his

father at Watson Insurance in 1965 and

has seen many changes over his 50-year

career with the company. Under Tom’s

guidance, the insurance firm his father

began in the 1930’s has grown to a busi-

ness with 70 employees. Ann Hoscheit,

the chair-woman-elect of the Chamber’s

board of directors, said it is

Tom’s ability to create per-

sonal relationships with his

customers, his commitment

to employees, and his desire

to give back that has allowed

him to thrive over the past

five decades. Of the award,

Tom said it was a “special,

humbling honor.”

1966John W. Warren Sr.

John writes that he retired

in January 2014 after 40

years in the nonprofit fund-

raising world. He is currently the Prin-

cipal of John

W. Warren &

Associates, fun-

draising counsel

splitting time

between Tuc-

son, AZ, and

Winchester, VA,

and looking

forward to see-

ing classmates

at the 50th

reunion of the

class of 1966.

1971

William P. Garten

Bill Garten has published his fifth book

of poetry, Box of Pain, Box of Fear. Bill’s

other five books of poetry are Black Snow,

Red Rain, Eventually, and Symptoms. He is

the winner of the Emerson Prize for Po-

etry and The Margaret Ward Martin Prize

for Creative Writing. Bill has published

poetry in hundreds of literary magazines

and academic journals across the United

States and has been anthologized in Wild

Sweet Notes, And Now the Magpie, and

What the Mountains Yield. Bill contin-

ues to conduct his financial practice and

when he is not helping people with their

retirement plans, he conducts creative

writing workshops and gives poetry read-

ings across the country.

John Craver 2011 and Tad DeBerry 1981 were both in attendance at the Annual Durham Christmas Ball and Cotillion. Danny Lloyd 1971 was also in attendance, but is not pictured.

Tad Deberry ‘81 caught up with Joey Vendrell in Puerto Rico early in December.

Bill Francis 1964 and Bob Williams, Director of Communications, enjoy watching their SEC alma maters compete in football. Even though they played in Lexington, Kentucky, the Georgia Bulldogs won the ball game. However, the Kentucky Wildcats returned the favor in Athens, Georgia, during their undefeated basketball season.


1973

Steven D. Levin

For the 24th consecutive year, Steve gath-

ered for a long weekend with classmates

Bob Giduz, Mark McPherson and Richard

“Ted” Shaffner. As they have often done in

the past, they gathered in early November

at Lake Norman.

Charles W. Upchurch III

Charles writes: I loved my year at Ashe-

ville School, but it was all boys in 1969

and I decided to finish high school at the

co-ed Charlotte Country Day School. I

received a BA in Psychology and Religion

from Rhodes College in Memphis and

afterwards followed my life-long dream of

travelling the world.

I backpacked through Europe, Northern

Africa and the Middle East and eventu-

ally took employment in the offshore oil

exploration industry to help keep it going.

I worked in Brazil and lived in Scotland

and then worked in Canada and lived in

the Caribbean. After nine years in the oil

industry, I met my Swiss wife in the Ca-

ribbean and moved to Switzerland where

I worked for SGS, a locally based multi-

national company. I worked 16 years for

SGS in Geneva, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur

and New York and ended up as a Senior

Vice President.

In order to move my family back to Swit-

zerland, I left SGS and began a new career

of managing distressed technology start-

ups. We rebuilt the first one and achieved

a successful exit for the shareholders. I am

in the middle of the second one, which

has won a global contract with Shell, and

we are now starting to deploy our tech-

nology in the USA for the first time.

I have been married for 26 years; we have

three children and live outside of Geneva.

1981

Robert I. Blum

Robert, President and CEO of Cytokinet-

ics Incorporated (CYTK), received the

2014 Lou Gehrig Iron Horse Award from

ALS Therapy Development Institute

(ALS.net) at the Fourth Annual A White

Coat Affair Gala November 2014. The

award is the organization’s top honor.

1985C. Joseph Rainero Jr.

Joe and his four-man relay team (Travis

Deckert, Logan Ryan and Sean Casto)

took 1st place in the Swim Around

Charleston 12-mile open-water swim on

September 21, 2014. This is the second

time that Joe’s team has won the relay in

the four years of the annual event.

1986Graham M. Eubank, Jr.

Graham’s Ford agency, Palmetto Ford,

Charleston, SC, was recently the subject of

a full-length feature article in the Charles-

ton Post Courier. Graham is the owner and

CEO of Palmetto Ford.

1990

Linda Stratton

Linda is the director of communications

at St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School, an

independent, coed, JK-12 Episcopal day

school in the Washington, D.C., area. She

has been in this position for five years. As

an administrator at the school, Linda over-

sees all aspects of communications, both

internal and external, and supervises a staff

of three. Previously, Linda served as direc-

tor of internal and external relations at

Nevada Cancer Institute. Prior to that, she

was a television news anchor and reporter

in various markets for 11 years, including

Austin, Las Vegas, and Spokane.

1993James Plaster

James writes: I am now President of

Altamont Capital Management, LLC here

in Asheville. We are an investment advisor

firm that helps individuals, non-profits,

and company retirement plans with

investment management and financial

planning services. We have about $90

million in assets under management as

of December 2014. I am excited to have

made this move, as it will enable my

family and me to stay in Asheville long

term (our son, Walton, is 6 and daughter,

Anna Grace, is 4). I had previously been

with BB&T Wealth Management here in

Asheville since 2008.

Michael Shapira 1982 celebrates during his annual Labor Day birthday party with Kate and Eleanor De-Berry, daughters of Tad DeBerry 1981.


1995Tony Bryant

Tony writes: I have now worked at MWH

Global, an engineering firm headquartered

in Denver, Colorado, for nine years. In my

current role, I establish the conceptual and

stylistic direction for the brand’s visual

identity. Also, I direct the work of design

staff and vendors as well as self-execute

in order to deliver collateral that com-

municates our organization’s marketing

objectives, including our annual report.

Two responsibilities I distinctly enjoy are

visually facilitating planning sessions and

supporting top-tier sales presentations.

Both responsibilities afford me the op-

portunity to work face to face with internal

and external clients in many instances

internationally. 1996

Tucker J. Branham

Tucker is Executive Director of the Porter

Gaud School Foundation. Porter Gaud is

one of the leading independent schools in

the Charleston, SC, area. Tucker recently

visited with former assistant headmaster

Ray Cruitt, who is currently a fund-rais-

ing consultant operating out of Charles-

ton.

1998Laura Elizabeth Hood Poland

Laura writes: My husband and I own and

run Goodwater Vineyards, a 200-acre farm

with over 30 acres of vineyards and an

on-site winery, near Mosheim, TN. After

seven years of teaching ESL and Spanish, I

decided to take winemaking and culinary

courses. My husband studies enological

studies at UC-Davis. Every wine we make

comes initially from our vineyards.

1999Josh Anderson

Josh writes: I am currently finishing a

Ph.D. in Accounting at the MIT Sloan

School of Management and will soon

begin interviewing for positions as a

professor at a business school. I will be re-

sponsible for leading classes and teaching

students as well as conducting research on

the effect of managers’ accounting deci-

sions on investors’ actions.

2000Mark L. Newman

Mark is thrilled to have returned to his

alma mater, UNC-Chapel Hill, as As-

sociate Director of Development for the

College of Arts and Sciences Foundation.

Mark recently was employed at Asheville-

Buncombe Technical Community College

as Alumni Relations and Resource Devel-

opment Coordinator.

2002Gary Shields

Gary is a director at a national music

teachers’ association. He also teaches mu-

sic part-time and occasionally composes

on various industry projects.

Doug Nabors 1993 recently founded his own produc-tion company, Fun Train Media, in Los Angeles, CA. Visit his website at www.funtrainmedia.com.

Andrew Scott 1994 was elected mayor of Kentucky’s fastest growing city, Coal Run Village. Follow him on Twitter at @CommissionerKY.


2003Natalie Balck

Natalie is working in Kenya with a leading

regional Solar Energy and Power Control

distributor, Sollatek, on marketing and

special grants such as solar energy grant-

based initiatives. 2005Patrick Darab

Patrick writes: I moved from LA, where

I lived for almost 5 years, to NYC last

summer. After acting in an off-Broadway

show run of South Pacific, I am now the

lead singer of entertainment on Holland-

America Cruise Lines ms. Westerdam. I

love getting to sing, perform, and travel

the world. I’ll be on the ship until May,

when I’ll move back to NYC.

2008

Robby Archer

Robby was recently accepted into UNC

Asheville’s Mechatronics program, a joint

program with UNCA and the College of

Engineering at NC State University. He

will begin classes this fall.

2009Luke Stark

Recently, I accepted a tax-associate posi-

tion with McGladrey in Charlotte. I am

very excited about moving back to North

Carolina to start my career this fall. In the

meantime, I will be completing my M.S.

Accountancy degree at College of Charles-

ton and preparing to sit for the CPA exam.

2010

Hallie Boyd

Hallie graduated from Centre College

in Danville, KY, last May with a Dra-

matic Arts degree, and for five months

worked for Busch Gardens Tampa as an

Daniel Bradley 2010 is teaching English and Spanish in Daegu, South Korea, at the Beacon Language School. He teaches children and adults in small classes and individual tutoring sessions. Roller blading is a popular sport, so he is enjoying putting his skating talents to good use. He was able to spend time with Asheville graduate Min Ki Kim 2011, who recently completed his military service before returning to University of Pennsylvania.

Mandy Helton 2000 is pictured with =Devang and Gaurang Shah (both Class of 2000) who randomly found her in the lobby of a hotel in Orlando, FL. Mandy was checking in for a CASE conference and the Shah broth-ers were visiting from India for Grainger Industrial Supply. They had not seen each other in 10 years. She writes, “I may have screamed in delight.”

Amy (Shivers) Rowe 1995 is pictured with her baby boy, James Travers Rowe, Jr., born Sunday 9/21/14 (7 lbs 9.5 oz, 21” long).


Entertainment Technician. Now she has

returned to her home of Asheville and is

interning with local establishments like

Echo Mountain Recording and The Grey

Eagle in order to get her foot in the door

of the local entertainment industry.

Madeline Olsen

Mary Wall visited with Madeline Olsen on

her last day of her Disney college semes-

ter. Madeline has returned to Northeast-

ern and hopes to get a permanent job at

Disney when she graduates.

Rebecca K. McKee

Rebecca writes: I was flattered recently to

be a guest on the WFAE/NPR program,

Charlotte Talks. I will admit I was very

nervous, but I am sure the Senior Demo,

chapel talk, and oral presentations at AS

gave me the best foundation possible for

opportunities like this that I could never

have imagined in high school. Rebecca

graduated from Davidson in 2014.

2012Kate Fitzsimmons

Kate writes: I will be spending two weeks

in Iceland with College of Charleston

students and faculty learning more about

the tourism industry! I am so thankful and

excited for this opportunity the hospitality

department has been able to give me.

Anna Rogers 2014 participates in an international study experience with 14 other incoming freshmen from Elon’s Gap semester program.

Maggie Ruch 2008 and classmates met for dinner at The Bull and Beggar in Asheville over the holiday break. Left to right, Gabe Skwara, Tia Simpson, Emmanuel Chimezie, Maggie Ruch, Walker Szurek 2011, Breece Bryan, and Paul Szurek 2007.

Mary Wall and Madeline Olsen 2010.

John Volquez 2013 is a member of Yale University’s Black Men’s Union. He and other mem-bers struggled to find the words to say to the parents of Mike Brown, the 18-year-old young man who was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.


Tobi L. Shannon

Tobi writes: I am currently studying in

Rabat, Morocco, for the semester. I will be

taking classes that include gender studies

in North Africa, and Arabic for begin-

ners. I will also have a chance to intern at

an organization in Rabat. If you’d like to

follow my Moroccan adventure, check out

my blog: blackwomanwanderlust.tumblr.

com . Best wishes to everyone!!

2013John Volquez

John is featured in an Upworthy article

entitled “10 Pictures You May Need To

Show Your Kids. But I Really Hope You

Don’t Have To.” His quotation is: “To my

unborn son, the world and everything in

it is yours. You gotta go get it REGARD-

LESS.” From Upworthy: “The students

of Yale University’s Black Men’s Union

struggled to find the words to say to the

parents of Mike Brown... Instead, they

chose to ask themselves what they would

say to their unborn sons about living in

a world — and a country — that kills

black men with impunity. The quotations

are touching, somber, and somehow still

hopeful answers.”

2014Zan McPherson

During her winter break, Zan returned to

Asheville School in January 2015 to teach

a session on journalism during Jay Bon-

ner’s Honors Humanities Seminar class.

The daughter of Mark McPherson 1973,

Zan is a freshman at Whitman College in

Walla Walla, Washington.

Anna Rogers

Anna had an exciting first semester partic-

ipating with 14 other incoming freshmen

in Elon’s Gap semester program, which

focuses on leadership, service learning,

and international study. It included a

26-day NOLS backpack trip followed by

service learning experiences in several

locations across the United

States. She built bunk beds

for children on the Pine

Ridge Indian Reservation,

helped harvest an organic

urban farm in St. Louis,

and staffed a food bank

in Washington, DC, while

assisting the homeless and

providing for their basic

needs. The last stop in the

program was her stay in

Costa Rica, where she lived

with a host family in San

Jose, studying Spanish and

history. On the weekends,

she traveled around Costa

Rica enjoying the sights.

She found the program

was a great experience to

start her college career.

Zan McPherson 2014 teaches a session on journalism to Jay Bonner’s Honors Humanities Seminar class.

Director of Residential Life Burt Gordon 1986 visits Asheville School alumni at Bates College. Pictured from left to right: Patrick Wood 2013, Dylan Bilski 2014, Paul Jordan 2013, Yoly Rodriguez 2011, Burt Gordon 1986, and Will Patton 2011.

Greenville, SC Event

Chuck Carter (center) was honored on his own home court, Carter Court, during the NCISAA (North Caro-lina Independent School Athletic Association) state championship basketball tournament hosted by Asheville School. Carter, Asheville School’s longtime faculty member and former athletic director, is retiring this year as the Executive Director of the NCISAA. He is pictured with two former Asheville School faculty members Dale Earnhardt (left) and Doug Embler.


Gerry Shields (faculty 1963-69)

Gerry sends this note from his new home

in Michigan: Last summer I completed

another interim headship, my sixth, at

Sinarmas World Academy and Jakarta

World Academy in Indonesia. I will likely

do another after we settle into our new

inn venture. With my partner I bought

Saravilla Bed and Breakfast in Alma, MI,

and we became its owners and innkeep-

ers on October 1. There used to be a fair

contingent of AS alumni in Michigan and

I’d love to see any of them as they travel.

The website is www.saravilla.com. Alma

is a college town, the attraction for us,

about an hour’s drive, respectively, from

Lansing, Flint or Grand Rapids.

Asheville School’s Director of Development Dan Seiden, Associate Head of School Jay Bonner, Director of Residential Life Burt Gordon 1986, and Tom Marberger 1969 joined Asheville School alumni, parents and friends at an event in Greenville, SC.

ALUMNIMOBILEAPP

Reconnect and stay connected

by EverTrue

The AS Alumni App is a great way to:

Connect safely with alumninearby and around the world

Access a mobile version ofthe Asheville School alumni directory

Network with fellow Asheville School alumni through the built-inLinkedIn partnership

Search alumni by name,graduation year, or company

Search by location and viewresults on an interactive map

Here’s how:

Add the AS Alumni Community app to your iPhone or Android by searching for and downloading “EverTrue.”

Once you download the app and open it, you will be prompted to search for your community. Type in “Asheville School” and select the correct community.

The AS Alumni Community app requires a valid email address that matches the email on file with the Alumni Office at Asheville School. This address will serve as your log-in to the app. To update your email address, email [email protected]

Want to opt out? We hope you don’t, but if you wish to opt out of the app, please email Travis Price, director of advancement services, at [email protected] information will be deleted from the AS Alumni Community.

123


Tsinghua Summer Program Prepares For Inaugural Year


By Bob Williams

Editor

For three weeks this summer, Asheville

School’s campus will transform into the

first international summer camp in the

school’s 115-year history.

Thanks to a partnership with Tsinghua

University High School in Beijing, China,

30 of the prestigious high school’s top

male and female students will travel to

Asheville to dive into Asheville School’s

nationally acclaimed Humanities curricu-

lum led by master teachers Tim Plaehn

and Hannah Bonner 2006.

“We have been working on the curricu-

lum and how to structure the classes,” says

Megan Grant, director of the Tsinghua

Summer Program in Asheville. “It will feel

very Humanities-focused and we’ll have

time for an elective like creative writing

or screenwriting. We’re going to hit them

with a lot of English.”

These Chinese students, most of whom

are rising sophomores, will arrive with

two chaperones from Beijing and will live

on campus in the newly air conditioned

Kehaya Dorm from July 12 to August 1,

Grant says.

“There will be 6 residential life counsel-

ors, most of whom are Asheville School

alumni, who will live with them in the

dorms and help out with afternoon activi-

ties,” Grant says, who is in her fifth year of

teaching mathematics at Asheville School.

“I’m really honored and I’m very excited

to be involved in this inaugural program.

Five years ago I thought I would be a camp

director, so starting with something from

the ground up is a neat opportunity to

make a mark.”

Aside from studying literature from

America’s Jazz Age, Grant says the students

will also explore American culture through

several field trips in and around Asheville.

“We’re going to the Biltmore and to the

Thomas Wolfe House, a tourist baseball

game, hiking, and hope to take them on a

few college trips,” Grant says. “We’re also

planning on a walking tour of downtown

Asheville to see the Art Deco architecture.”

Administrators at the Tsinghua University

High School are enthusiastic about having

their students study in Asheville — espe-

cially at one of the country’s highly ranked

boarding schools.

“This partnership will allow Asheville

School and Tsinghua to co-develop

programs that will educate the future

leaders of the world,” said Wang Dianjun,

Principal of Tsinghua High School. “From

Tsinghua, we really want to send our best

students to this campus to experience this

premier boarding school and open their

eyes to a new world where students will be

immersed in this cross-cultural communi-

ty with American students. We think it will

help to foster 21st century future leaders.”

Head of School Arch Montgomery says

he’s cautiously optimistic this program will

flourish for years to come.

“This first year will give a good indication

of how this relationship with Tsinghua

might grow in future years,” Montgom-

ery says. “The school leaders at Tsinghua

would like to expand the program, but

we’re taking it slow because we want to

make sure everything we do is something

we do well.”

Montgomery says the program definitely

has a lot of potential.

“The result may be that being associated

with Tsinghua University raises our profile

in China,” he says. “We get really strong

students from China now, but this part-

nership could guarantee that our students

from China are the best.”

If the program were to expand, Montgom-

ery says it’s possible Asheville School may

send students who are studying Chinese to

Tsinghua over the summer.

“It could be a wonderful thing for some of

our teachers and there could be summer

opportunities for our kids,” Montgomery

says.

For Grant, her hope is that these students

leave Asheville having had a positive

American experience.

“I want them to have a positive impres-

sion of American boarding schools and I

want them to be challenged and have fun,”

Grant says. “I will be working behind the

scenes to make sure every experience is

fruitful and meaningful for these 30 young

scholars.”

Megan Grant serves as director of the school’s first international camp, the Tsinghua Summer Program.


Summer Camps at Asheville School

By Sheila Steelman

Staff Writer

Asheville School senior Isabelle Smith has

been awarded the prestigious Morehead-

Cain scholarship for the University of

North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

According to the Morehead-Cain website,

“...the Morehead-Cain is among the most

highly selective of the elite undergraduate

merit scholarship programs in the U.S.”

Smith was notified in December that she

advanced as a semifinalist, and in January

she participated in regional interviews to

be considered for the finalist round. She

learned in March that she would receive

the highly coveted schol-

arship.

“It was interesting to meet

the students from other

schools who were apply-

ing,” Smith said. “Two

Morehead-Cain alumni

reviewed my application

and interviewed me.”

According to Smith, the 120 finalists are

invited to the Final Selection Weekend at

UNC-Chapel Hill, February 28 – March

3. Smith was one of 60 finalists of the

Morehead-Cain to receive the scholarship.

The Morehead-Cain Scholarship, estab-

lished in 1945, is a four-year undergradu-

ate scholarship to the University of North

Carolina at Chapel Hill, providing full

funding for life at Carolina and across the

world. It covers full tuition, student fees,

housing, meals, books, a laptop, outdoor

leadership, discovery funds for education

opportunities and much more. The More-

head-Cain Scholarship is awarded based

on four criteria: evidence of moral force of

character, scholarship, physical vigor, and

leadership (moreheadcain.org).

Isabelle is the daughter of Arthur and An-

nie Smith of Asheville, NC.

Asheville School Senior Wins Morehead-Cain Scholarship

App Development Summer Day CampAges 13-18 Minimum Age: Must turn 13 by 6-30-15.

iPad® & iPhone® App Development with Swift® & Xcode®Skill Level: Beginner - IntermediatePrerequisites: Some basic understanding of computer programming (Java, Java Script, Python, etc.) is encouraged.

Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. July 27 - July 31

Fee: $750 (lunch included)

Only 15 spots are available, so register early! Register online at ashevilleschool.org/appdevcamp.

Students will discover Swift®, Apple’s® new programming langugage and dive into the Apple® development environment with Xcode® and Interface Builder®, explore the iPhone® SDK, and run apps on the iPhone® simulator and actual iPad Air devices. Note: Students will work in an iMac® computer lab and will leave camp with an iOS 8 book ($30 Value) and sample code projects from the apps they have worked on.

Contact: Charles Long, Technology Director at Asheville School at [email protected]

No. 1 Sports Soccer Camp (Day and Boarding)Dates: August 2 - 6, 2015

Register online at www.no1soccercamps.com

Ages: 7-18

Contact: Director Clark Brisson: 843-270-0596 or [email protected]

Camp Details: Director: Boys Basketball Head Coach,

Jake Engebretsen

Dates: August 3-7, 2015Ages: 8-15, Co-EdDay Camp Price (9AM-3PM): $285

Asheville SchoolAsheville, NC

Camp Highlights:• Experienced and enthusiastic coaching staff• Advanced skill-development drills• Fundamental instruction, lectures and games• Low camper to coach ratio• Official NIKE Camp T-Shirt and other great prizes!

Nike Basketball Day Camps Dates: August 3-7, 2015

Ages: 8-15, Co-Ed

Fee: (9AM-3PM): $285

Director: Asheville School Boys Basketball Head Coach Jake Engebretsen

To register or for more information: USSportsCamps.com/basketball or call 1-800-Nike Camp

Isabelle Smith

Asheville School Legacy Students

Hari Kondabolu Kicks Off Civil Rights Day


First row: Elizabeth Thomas, Karel Koon, Mimsey Milnor, Tomas Ritch; Second row: Campbell Davitt, Emma Kussrow, Lily Formato, Will Casse, Constance Ambler; Third row: Hudson Dickenson, Emma Van Wynen, Walker Garrish; Not pictured: Gracie Pearsall

Comedian Hari Kondabolu shares a moment with Asheville School students and faculty after his Civil Rights Day performance at Asheville School in Graham Theater. The Brooklyn-based comic has appeared on NPR’s Fresh Air, Jimmy Kimmel Live and Late Night with David Letterman. “Mr. Kondabolu talks about issues that surround his experience and ideas that are grounded in social justice,” says Varghese Alexander, Director of Academic Technology. “His words have furthered the national conversation by sparking retweets and poster quotes that have gone viral during the protests in Ferguson and NYC.”

From Staff Reports

Larry Pless 1971, Chairman of the Board

of Trustees, welcomed three new Board

members at the October meeting. Each of

these trustees was recruited for his or her

specific experience and ability to serve the

school in meeting certain needs. Asheville

School’s Board of Trustees meets three

times each year to manage the business

affairs and policies of the school.

James A. Fisher 1964

Jim returns to Asheville School as a trustee,

having served previously from 2004-2012.

After a 30-year career at Ball Corporation,

with experience

in all aspects

of the business

from managing

plants to hu-

man resources to

industry affairs,

Jim retired as

vice-president to

act as president

of a family-

owned business,

Fisher Properties

of Indiana, Inc.,

which comprises several operating entities

including orchards, beverage products,

bottling facilities, and furniture manufac-

turing. Having an uncle, two cousins and

two brothers as graduates, Jim has numer-

ous family ties to Asheville School. As a

student at Asheville School, Jim played

football, ran track, served as Sports Edi-

tor for The Ashnoca, and was President

of Mitchell Cabinet. Jim earned a B.A.

in English Composition from DePauw

University in 1968 and an M.B.A. from the

University of Colorado, Boulder in 1973.

From 1968-1972, Jim served as Captain in

the Air Force. In addition to his work as

trustee of Asheville School, Jim has served

as trustee of DePauw University, and as

chairman of the Ball Brothers Foundation,

Boulder (CO) Community Hospital, and

Indiana University Health Ball Memorial

Hospital in Muncie, IN. He and his wife,

Elizabeth, have four children and eight

grandchildren.

Nishant N. Mehta 1998

As a new trustee, Nishant brings his varied

experience at other private schools, includ-

ing work as a

teacher, admin-

istrator, director

of intercultural

affairs and social

justice, strategic

planner and

finally as As-

sistant Head of

School, Alex-

andria Country

Day School, a

K-8 private day

school in Alexan-

dria, VA. He is currently Head of School at

The Children’s School, a pre-K - 6th grade

private day school in midtown Atlanta, a

post he has held since May of 2013. Nis-

hant made the most of his Asheville School

years, participating in soccer, tennis, and

wrestling. He was a member of Hoste Soci-

ety, Mitchell Cabinet and the International

Club, was Editor-in-Chief of The Review

and Sports Editor of the Blue and White,

and had several leading performances in

drama productions. Nishant earned a B.A.

in Philosophy from Washington University

in St. Louis, an M.A. from the Klingen-

stein Center, Columbia University, and a

certificate for teaching English as a foreign

language from TEFL International, Barce-

lona, Spain. He has written articles for The

Dallas Morning News as well as for NAIS

conference presentations. His written work

and public speaking emphasize his com-

mitment to innovative learning, technol-

ogy, diversity and inclusivity. He lives with

his wife, Neeti, in Atlanta.

Arthur H. Rogers III 1988

Arthur is returning to the board this year,

having served previously from 2003-2011.

His younger siblings, Michael ’90 and

Mamie ’95, are also alumni, as is his cousin

Marshall ’89. Arthur entered Asheville

School as a fourth former and was active

on the cross-country, swim, track and

tennis teams. Other activities included

Mountaineering, The Ashnoca, Student

Council, International Club, Hoste Society,

Film and Fine Arts societies, and Mitchell

Cabinet. Arthur

graduated from

UNC-Chapel

Hill with a B.A.

in Industrial

Relations in 1992,

followed by an

M.A. in Textiles

from NC State in

1994. He is the

Principal at Eno

Ventures, LLC, a

Commercial Real

Estate Development and Management firm

in Durham, NC. A long-time resident of

Durham, NC, he is active in the Durham

Rotary Club, Duke University’s Nasher

Museum, the Caring House and Teach for

America of Eastern NC; he is also a board

member of Durham Academy. As lifetime

supporters of Asheville School, Arthur and

his wife, Caroline, have hosted admissions

and alumni gatherings at their home in

Durham. He and Caroline, also a graduate

of UNC-Chapel Hill, have two sons, Henry

and Edward.


Board Welcomes Three New Trustee Members

Jim Fisher 1964

Nishant Mehta 1998

Arthur Rogers 1988


Blues Robotics Team Prints New Possibilities

By Sheila Steelman Staff Writer

With new designs for the robot in mind,

Asheville School’s Robotics team could fire

up its new 3D printer to create the perfect

part for 5549 – the team’s robot that

placed 5th in the FIRST robotics competi-

tion, qualifying the group for states. They

placed 29th competing at the state level for

the second time in three years.

Selected as one of 1600 robotics teams na-

tionally to compete for the coveted prize,

Asheville School’s “BlueBots” are enjoying

their new EKOCYCLE Cube 3D printer.

Faculty advisor Charles Long applied by

submitting to 3D Systems, The Coca Cola

Company and will.i.am an explanation of

how his students would incorporate a 3D

printer into the Robotics program.

“I knew we would obviously like to build

our own parts for the robots,” Long says.

“Now we can design the part ourselves,

which gives students the opportunity to

learn CAD-like engineering and use their

creativity in terms of mechanical design.”

Even though students created a functional

robot for the FIRST competitions, they

encountered numerous mishaps that could

have ruined their chances of competing.

The team is very excited about the pos-

sibilities the new printer will provide for

future versions of their robot.

Pictured from left to right: Technology Director Charles Long, Jack Hamilton, Suki Affatato, Mark Broeffle, Miles Loftis, Judson Collins, Gobby Caggiano, and Controller Satchel Loftis. These team members participated in the North Carolina robotics competition in Greensboro.

Asheville School fifth-former Jack Hamilton, left, describes the FIRST robotics competition to James Cowan ‘63 (center) during a lunch in the Bement Alumni House with Technology Director Charles Long (right) and the robotics team.


“The 3D printer gives us the option to

create the perfect part on the fly instead of

searching for resources elsewhere,” Long

explains. Previously, the robot’s design was

contingent on what parts already existed

and could be found around town. Now

students can design their own parts using

Google SketchUp, Photoshop, Cubify, or

Shapeways.

“It’s amazing to watch our students brain-

storm ideas for the robot. It forces them

to think like engineers,” Long says. “3D

printing could democratize manufacturing

in the future. If you break a cup or damage

a part on your bike, you could just print

new ones.”

The filament the eco-friendly printer uses

is partially made from recycled plastic

bottles. Long hopes the Robotics Club

will join forces with SEA (Students for

Environmental Awareness) to collect

recyclables and send them to the company

to generate new materials. “I was inspired

by a couple of teachers in high school.

Without the experience they gave me in

programming, I wouldn’t be where I am

today,” Long says. “I hope to give back to

the students. When you give the students

opportunities, it can change the course of

a young person’s career path and change

his or her life.”

None of this would be possible without the

generosity and support of James Cowan

1963 and the Stonecutter Foundation.

They continue to be champions of tech-

nology at Asheville School.

Students Win 10 Scholastic Art Awards

By Sheila Steelman Staff Writer

Five Asheville School students received 10

awards in the 2015 Western North Caro-

lina Regional Scholastic Art Awards held at

the Asheville Art Museum.

Senior Ilona Stanback (Canton, NC) re-

ceived a Silver Key award for her Candles of

Intention photograph.

“The picture was of my friend Daniel

in a dilapidated cathedral in the South

of France. The texture of the wall, the

juxtaposition between light and shadow,

and the thoughtfulness of Daniel’s expres-

sion as he lights a prayer candle all come

together to create a peaceful and nostalgic

image,” Stanback said.

She also received honorable mentions for

three other photographs: More Than It

Seems, Castle In The Sky, and Window To

The World.

“I love photography and the ability it gives

me to evoke emotions and a story through

a single image. Although posing people for

pictures can be fun, I enjoy capturing can-

did moments,” Stanback said. “By docu-

menting natural emotions and actions, I

am able to give viewers the opportunity to

experience vicariously a similar moment

or a place they’ve never been.”

Senior Sophia Curtis (Asheville) received

honorable mentions for her photograph

and two drawings: Psycho, The Treacherous

Trio and Woman on Wood. Senior Perla

Haney-Jardine (Asheville) received an

honorable mention for her drawing,

Untitled. Fifth-former Jenny Lee (Seong-

nam, Korea) received an honorable men-

tion for her painting, Fried Egg. Senior

Robyn Newcomb (Leicester, NC) received

an honorable mention for her painting,

Self-Portrait.

These works were on display at the Ashe-

ville Art Museum from February until

March 8. Students were honored dur-

ing the Scholastic Art Awards ceremony

in February at Diana Wortham Theater.

There is an opportunity to visit the ex-

hibition following the ceremony for any

students, faculty or parents who would like

to attend future events.

The Western North Carolina Regional

Scholastic Art Awards is a juried competi-

tion, which showcases outstanding visual

arts created by middle and high school stu-

dents in grades 7-12 from Western North

Carolina.

This nonprofit organization’s legacy dates

back to 1923 with a noteworthy roster

of past winners including Andy Warhol,

Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, Richard

Avedon, Robert Redford and Joyce Carol

Oates.The school’s new 3D printer, which the school won by participating in the FIRST robotics competition

Pictured left to right: Robyn Newcomb, Perla Haney-Jardine, Sophia Curtis, Ilona Stanback, and Jenny Lee

Asheville School Wrestlers Travel To Nationals

(from left to right) Conor Fenn, coach Christopher Arbor, and Sean Wrinkle. During the state finals round, Sean Wrinkle 2015 won his

weight class and is a State Champion, and Conor Fenn 2016 and John Galusha 2015 were State Runners-Up. Wrinkle, Fenn and their

parents traveled to the Nationals competition at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.


In memoriam: G. Craig Hunt 1970October 7, 2014

Craig Hunt, a resident of San Jose,

CA, died tragically October 7, 2014 in an

airplane crash while fighting the Yosemite

Dog Rock fire.

Craig was a pilot

for DynCorp

International, a

contractor for

Cal Fire, and

was flying an air

tanker deliver-

ing chemical

retardant to the

fire at the time of

his death.

Born in Richmond, VA, Craig came to

Asheville School in the fall of 1965. He

was involved in a plethora of extra-curric-

ular activities. He played Varsity Football,

serving as the Captain and earning All-

conference honors in 1969, Varsity Base-

ball, and Varsity Basketball (also serving as

the Captain in 1970). Craig won Asheville

School’s Best Athlete award in 1969 and

1970, and in 1970 was also named Out-

standing in Buncombe County and the

best over-all high school athlete in Western

North Carolina. In addition to his athletic

achievements, Craig was also involved with

Student Council and The Ashnoca, and was

a Prefect and President of the Senior Class

in 1970.

After leaving Asheville School, Craig

received a B.A. from Wittenberg University

in 1974. He served in the Navy from 1975

to 1995 as a P-3 anti-submarine

patrol plane pilot, flying missions all over

the world including the Pacific, East Asia,

Aleutian Islands, and off the coasts sur-

rounding the Indian Ocean. Craig contin-

ued in the Naval Reserves for two decades

after leaving active duty, at the same time

earning his M.S. in Business from the Uni-

versity of Southern California in 1983 and

a Master’s degree in Biochemistry from

UC Santa Cruz.

After leaving active duty, Craig worked

for 16 years in the high tech industry in

the Bay Area. One day, he happened to see

fire-fighting aircraft in a mountain airport

in the Sierra and thought it would be great

work for him. “I pursued it and in 2001

dumped my coat and tie and got back in a

flight suit, “ he said. Because of the gener-

ally seasonal nature of the work in summer

and fall, he spent most summer days flying

while working as a course assistant at UC

Santa Cruz teaching Chemistry.

He leaves behind his wife of 40 years, Sally,

and two daughters, Nancy and Sarah.


Henry Pharr, of Charlotte, NC, passed

away on January 7, 2015. Best remembered

by his many friends for his sharp intellect

and humor, insightful wisdom, and hum-

ble demeanor,

Henry practiced

law with distinc-

tion for 49 years

in the fields of

commercial

real estate and

finance, as well

as governmental

relations. Already

an Eagle Scout

when he entered

Asheville School

in the Fourth Form, Henry was adven-

turous in both his academic and athletic

pursuits. He was popular not only with his

classmates, but with those younger than

he, whom he engaged and encouraged.

Henry was a natural and standout athlete;

he received the award for Best Athlete in

1956 and 1957, served as captain of the

football and tennis teams, and received

Valier Awards in football and track; he also

lettered in basketball. A loyal alumnus,

he was a very consistent contributor who

served for a time as President of the Ashe-

ville School Alumni Association and an

ex-officio member of the Board of Trustees.

His enthusiasm for sports continued in

college, where he added soccer to his rep-

ertoire and served as Field Captain for four

years. Later he participated in marathons,

triathlons, sailing, white-water canoe-

ing, and fly-fishing. Like his grandfather

and his father, he was a graduate of both

Davidson College (B.A., History, 1964) and

the UNC School of Law (J.D., 1964).

Henry was senior partner of the law firm

Horack, Talley, Pharr, and Lowndes P.A.,

and was well known for strong devotion

to his clients and his tireless work ethic, as

well as his deep appreciation and under-

standing of law. In 2008 he was honored

by Business North Carolina as part of the

“Legal Elite” for 2008, an honor accorded

to only three percent of the North Carolina

Bar Association membership. Henry also

served his community in many volun-

teer capacities. He is survived by his wife,

Carol; his sister, Jean, and her husband;

three sons, Henry, Charles and Stephen,

and their families, two step-children, and

thirteen grandchildren.

In memoriam: Henry N. Pharr II 1957January 7, 2015

“Henry inspired friendship, came to it naturally, with

his wit, his remarkable strength, both physical and

mental, his resilience, his incredible memory for detail

and his inexhaustible ability to carry on a busy law

practice and still have frequent telephone or email

conversations with dozens of us. None of us were ever

‘out of touch’ with Henry.”

– Bill Buice 1957, from his remarks at the Memorial Service


MemoriamIn

Charles S. Allyn 1937

Charles Allyn, of Dayton, OH, and Los

Angeles, CA, passed away July 12, 2014.

He entered Asheville School in the Third

Form from Oakwood High School in Day-

ton and was active in the Tech and Photo-

graphic Societies; he also lettered in Soccer

and Track. After Asheville School, he

earned a B.S. in Physics from Yale Univer-

sity in 1941. From 1941-1946 he served as

a Lt. Commander in the Navy in both the

Atlantic and Pacific. In 1943 he married

Priscilla Morse of Los Angeles, who passed

away in 2007. After the war, he worked

at NCR in the Research Department and

later as a supervisor. Upon his retirement

in the late 1970s, he and Priscilla made Los

Angeles their permanent home but contin-

ued to stay in Dayton during the summer

months. They greatly enjoyed travelling,

particularly long-distance cruises, during

which they circled the world several times.

Charles also served as President of the

Allyn Family Foundation, which his father

established and which generously sup-

ported Asheville School through the years.

Charles was a very consistent contributor

and a member of the Wilbert Peck Society

of those who have remembered Asheville

School in their estate planning. He is sur-

vived by five nieces.

William D. Pettit 1937

Bill Pettit passed away on February 9,

2015. He entered Asheville in 1931 in the

First Form. His father (Karl 1908) and

two uncles (Donald 1911 and Frank 1914)

also attended Asheville School, as did his

brothers Karl 1935 and Walter 1936. Bill

and his brothers loved the school and

excelled at a broad variety of sports. All

three went to Princeton after graduation,

as did Bill’s three sons. Bill was active in all

aspects of student life at Asheville School

and served as captain of the basketball

team in 1937. He stayed in touch with the

school throughout his life and credited his

time here with preparing him for the many

fascinating roles he played in later life.

Bill distinguished himself on the football

team at Princeton and followed the Tigers

throughout his life. During World War II,

he fought with distinction as a member of

the 28th Division of the 3rd Army, com-

manding an artillery battery through the

battles of Normandy, the Colmar pocket,

and the Battle of the Bulge. He won the

Bronze Star and numerous battle decora-

tions. After the war, he joined his father in

leading an investment firm and received

numerous awards for excellence on Wall

Street through his long career before

retiring at age 87. Bill had two long and

successful marriages, the first of which

resulted in five children, 16 grandchildren,

and 19 great-grandchildren.

Arthur D. Goodrich 1939

Bud Goodrich, a lifelong resident of

the Chicago/Winnetka, IL area, passed

away on November 28, 2014. He entered

Asheville School in the Fourth Form from

North Shore Country Day School in Win-

netka and left after his Fifth Form year,

having received enough credits to attend

Oberlin College. At Asheville School,

he was a standout athlete and was later

chosen by long-time baseball coach “Uncle

Will” Lewis as the starting first baseman

for his hypothetical All-Star team of great

players he coached here. Bud’s time at

Oberlin was cut short by the start of World

War II, during which Bud and his twin

brother and best friend Chuck served to-

gether for four years. They landed at Utah

Beach two weeks after D-Day and served

in General George Patton’s 3rd Army, 5th

Infantry, 50th Field Artillery until the war’s

end.

Bud spent most of his career in glass

manufacturing and sales in the Chicago

area. He was also an accomplished and

published haiku and senryu poet, with

most of his subjects being sports and fam-

ily. He was a regular attendee of alumni

receptions in the Chicago area and a very

consistent contributor to the school.

Never married, Bud is survived by his sis-

ter and five nieces and nephews and their

families.

J. Preston Burlingham 1943

Preston Burlingham, a resident of Sara-

toga, CA, died peacefully in his sleep

on February 10, 2013. Preston entered

Asheville School in the Sixth Form from

Winnetka, IL. After graduation, he served

for three years in the U.S. Army during

World War II, spending time in Europe

as an enlisted infantryman. After the war,

he entered Grinnell College and received

a B.A. in History in 1949. Shortly there-

after, he moved to California. Preston is

survived by his wife of 63 years, Margaret,

a daughter, two grandchildren, and three

great-grandchildren.

Taylor Hardwick 1943

Taylor Hardwick, a resident of Ponte Vedra

FL, died on September 27, 2014. Taylor

came to Asheville School in the fall of 1940


from Gwynedd Valley, PA. In the Sixth

Form, he served on student council, was

a senior prefect, editor-in-chief of The

Review, President of the Dramatic Soci-

ety and the Class Poet. During his three

years at school, he played varsity football,

basketball and track. At age 17, Taylor en-

listed in the US Navy’s Aviation Program,

and following graduation in May of 1943,

he entered the US Navy as a cadet in flight

training. In 1945, he received an honor-

able discharge from the Navy and entered

the University of Pennsylvania, where

he received a B.A. degree in Fine Arts in

1947 and a Bachelor of Architecture in

1949. Taylor moved to Jacksonville in 1949

and established his architectural practice

and ultimately the firm of Hardwick and

Lee, AIA, which designed many of the

prominent homes, buildings, and sites in

Jacksonville, most notably the Haydon

Burns Public Library and Friendship Park.

Hardwick and his partner, the late May-

berry Lee, put an indelible stamp on the

architecture of Jacksonville, also designing

the early buildings of St. Johns Country

Day School as well as J.E.B. Stuart Middle

School, Jefferson Davis Middle School,

Wolfson High and Nathan Bedford Forrest

High (now Westside High).

Taylor and his wife, Jo, recently published a

book, Taylor Hardwick: 60 Years of Design.

In addition to Jo, he is survived by his

daughter, his grand-nephew, several nieces,

and many friends.

David A. Fellows 1944

David Fellows, of Crystal River, FL, passed

away November 24, 2013. He attended

Asheville School for his Fourth Form year.

He was an avid outdoorsman, enjoy-

ing boating, fishing, hunting and RVing.

He was also an excellent handyman and

craftsman. David served in the US Coast

Guard with the Amphibious Forces during

WWII in the South Pacific. After the War,

he moved to Oscoda, MI, where he opened

and operated a marina for boats that plied

the Great Lakes, including both fishermen

and tourists. Having served the public for

roughly 35 years, he and his wife, Jane,

retired to Florida. In addition to Jane, he

is survived by two daughters, three step-

children, four grandchildren, three step-

grandchildren, six great-grandchildren,

and four great-step-grandchildren.

James S. Dean Jr. 1947

Jim Dean, of Palm Beach, FL, and Wilm-

ington, DE, passed away on March 7, 2014.

His mother, Paulina duPont Dean, was

the sister of the duPont family patriarch,

Irenee duPont, Jr., and his father, Junius

Simpson Dean, was former president of

the Nemours Corporation (commonly

referred to as DuPont) and director of the

Wilmington Trust Company. Jim came to

Asheville School from the Lawrenceville

School (NJ), and attended for his Fifth

Form year before enrolling in the Bab-

son Institute of Business Administration,

where he earned a B.S. in Business Admin-

istration in 1949.

Jim spent several years working at the

Wilmington Trust Company before having

a several-decade career at the Nemours

Corporation, ultimately serving as

President of Nemours Energy. He served

on boards such as the Brandywine River

Museum, Welfare Foundation, Methodist

Country House, Boys and Girls Clubs of

Delaware, and the Society of the Four Arts,

but his focus was on animals and their

safety and welfare. He was a supporter of

the Delaware SPCA, Faithful Friends, and

Partners for Life.

Jim was a very consistent supporter of

Asheville School and a member of our

Hollandsworth-Maggart Preservation

Society and Wilbert Peck Society. Survi-

vors include his wife, Margaret, two sisters,

three children, and nine grandchildren.

Alexander M. Gill 1955

Alex Gill passed away February 13, 2013.

He lived in Pompano Beach, FL. Alex

entered Asheville School in the Third

Form from Sarasota, FL. He participated

in a host of activities, most actively Drama

and Choir, and was Managing Editor of

the Blue and White. Alex was also Valedic-

torian of his class. After Asheville School,

he enrolled at Harvard College, where

he earned an A.B. in History in 1962. He

resided in Boston for many years before

moving to Florida.

David H. Brasted 1956

Dave Brasted, formerly of Wichita, KS,

passed away on Dec. 29, 2013, in Ajijic,

Mexico. His brother Skip is a member of

the class of 1960. Dave attended Ashe-

ville School for a post-graduate year after

graduating from Wichita East High School.

After Asheville School, Dave earned a B.S.

in Economics in 1960 from Beloit College,

WI. He retired in 1985 as Executive Vice

President of Mid-Kansas Federal Savings

and Loan Association, which his grandfa-

ther co-founded in 1934, and President of

Amarado Investment Company. Dave sub-

sequently became a principal in Gaudreau-

Brasted Properties, a Residence Inn hotel

franchisee that developed a dozen Resi-

dence Inn hotels throughout the Midwest

and Southeast. He also founded Morfacts

Mortgage Application Center, a residential

real estate mortgage brokerage service, the

Brasted Company, a commercial mortgage

brokerage firm, and Professional Products

of Kansas, a water sealant and graffiti-

removal products company. Throughout

his life, Dave was active in numerous civic,

political and philanthropic organizations.

He was the state Finance Chairman for

Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum dur-

ing her 1978 campaign. He served on the

Board of Directors of the Wichita Associa-

tion of Homebuilders, Greater Downtown

Wichita, the Wichita Club, Family Consul-

tation Service, Historic Wichita, the Urban

League and the Wichita Council for Com-

munity Development. Additionally, he was

a Trustee for Plymouth Congregational

Church and was a long-time member of

the Wichita Board of Realtors, Rotary Club

and the Wichita Country Club. Survivors

include his two brothers, two daughters,

and three grandchildren.


Carlysle B. Scribner 1956

Carlysle Scribner, of Seattle, WA, passed

away July 5, 2013. He attended Asheville

School for his Second and Third Form

years before finishing at VMI and joining

the U.S. Navy. He served as a commanding

officer during the Vietnam War.

Stuart W. Butler 1957

Stuart Butler, of Virginia Beach, VA, passed

away on July 5, 2014. He entered Ashe-

ville School in 1953 from Pingry School

(Elizabeth, NJ) and attended for three

years, playing JV Football and Basketball

and Varsity Soccer. He studied at UNC

Chapel Hill for two years, making him a

lifelong Tarheel fan, before enlisting in the

U.S. Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. Stuart

retired from the Navy in 1979 as an E-7

after 21 years of service, including time in

Vietnam during the conflict there. Stuart

subsequently worked in the civil service as

a Pharmacy Technician at the Naval Hos-

pital in Portsmouth, VA. Survivors include

his loving wife, Carolyn, four children, a

grandchild, and two great-grandchildren.

Jennifer Arleen Colledge McHaley 1974

Jennifer McHaley, of Asheville, passed

away on September 3, 2014 after battling a

long illness. Born and raised in Asheville,

Jennifer entered Asheville School in the

Fourth Form from St. Genevieve-of-the

Pines School. Her teachers and classmates

recall her quiet personality and strong

work ethic. In addition to being an en-

thusiastic cheerleader during the fall and

winter terms, she participated in moun-

taineering, horseback riding and field

hockey. Jennifer attended the University

of Tennessee Knoxville, where she earned

a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design in

1978. After the birth of her children, she

returned to school at Mars Hill College,

where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in

Elementary Education. She went on to

earn her Masters of Education in Elemen-

tary Education from Western Carolina

University, eventually teaching second

grade at Ira B. Jones Elementary in Ashe-

ville. She is survived by her partner, Mitch

Quayle of Asheville, her mother, a sister,

two children, and three grandchildren.

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Achievement - Spring 2015

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