Horace Mann - Summer 2016 - 35

Sports and spirit An exciting rhythm began building as the day's athletic events got underway. Spectators cheered and sounded vuvuzelas from the sidelines at Alumni Field, where the HM Lions Girls' undefeated Varsity Soccer team took center stage, and at Four Acres where the Lions Boys Varsity Soccer team played. Prettyman Gymnasium was packed with fans of HM's dynamic Girls' Varsity Volleyball team, and the HM Sea Lions Water Polo team, the Girls' Varsity Tennis team, and Girls' Varsity Field Hockey had their devotees. Many fans wore maroon T-Shirts with white lettering saying #lionhearted on the front, and Homecoming "The Mane Event" 2015 on the back that Upper and Middle Division students and teachers were given at the close of school the day before. All the while, barbecues set up adjacent to Alumni Field and Four Acres kept guests coming back for more of the hamburgers and veggie burgers, ribs and ice cream, popcorn and hot pretzels that made both venues tailgate parties to remember. But, perhaps even better than the food was the chance both provided for friends to sit together at one of the picnic tables, or on a bleachers bench, and catch up on one another's latest news. As the day's fun continued to draw crowds and the shadows began lengthening it was Varsity Football's turn to take on Connecticut's Forman School, and then take the game by a score of 41 to 12. The day's sports activities were not only for current students, but alumni as well, as two dozen former HM soccer players gathered in the afternoon on Four Acres for the annual Dan Alexander '49 Alumni Soccer Game organized by Coach Neil Berniker, and as veterans of the Girls' Volleyball teams came early to watch HM players, and then, following a reception, get onto the court for a game themselves. photo by Jasmin Ortiz Commemorating community members Homecoming was also a day for remembering, and a day for learning. Before the girls' varsity tennis match friends, colleagues, students and alumni who once played tennis under Coach Dorothy Lowenstein Di Cintio's tutelage gathered at HM's Andrew Feinberg Tennis Center to reflect on the life of this memorable HM figure who coached into her 80s, before her death on March 15, 2015. An athlete and human rights activist she was described by students, alumni and athletic department faculty as a person of great wit and kindness who positively impacted the lives of all who knew her. A bit later in the day alumni from the HM Class of 2005 gathered at the Lynn and Lizzie '05 Koch's Corner just outside the Cohen Dining Commons in HM's Fisher Hall to remember a mother and daughter who contributed so greatly to the spirit of HM, and who died in a tragic car accident only weeks before Lizzie Koch would have graduated from Horace Mann School in 2005. HM Dean of Student Life Dr. Susan Delanty '79, along with several of Lizzie's photo by Jasmin Ortiz Alumni Council Corner classmates and her cousin Melissa Gellman Weiss '95, recalled the vibrant personalities of both mother and daughter, and the generous care they extended to all. Remarking that it was difficult, even a decade later, to comprehend how a student whom most had only known for the four years she was at HM could continue to inspire so many, Dr. Delanty noted that this mother and daughter live on through the Lynn and Lizzie Koch Sunshine Fund, an assistance fund established in their memory to support current students. Learning from one another The learning component of Homecoming took place informally throughout the day, in the conversations alumni young and older had with one another about their pursuits since graduating from Horace Mann School, particularly at the 50th reunion for the members of the Class of 65. This year's installment of Homecoming's annual "Life of the Mind" event engaged about 50 guests in a discussion on climate change, the environment, and how scientists, policy makers and the public can respond. Introduced by HM Upper Division science faculty member Dr. Matt Wallenfang the session featured alumni speakers Dr. Benjamin Strauss '90, Vice President for Sea Level and Climate Impacts at Climate Central and Sasha Novograd Brown '02, Vice President of New World Capital. Still other guests took some quiet time from the excitement at the fields and gyms to tour a special exhibit in the Fisher Hall Gallery of "The Photography of Nell Dorr." This moving retrospective of the work of this pioneering photographer was curated by HM Upper Division photography teacher Karen Johnson and Horace Mann School's John Dorr Nature Laboratory Director Glenn Sherratt in honor of the 50th anniversary of HM's nature center in Washington, Conn. "Dorr's" original acreage was donated to HM by Nell Dorr. Johnson and Sherratt led tours of the exhibit during the day. Grade Reunions draw hundreds As the day's athletic events ended, and the photo booth and hot pretzel machine were rolled out from under the carnival tent, as the football game drew to a close and the team enjoyed its own evening barbecue together after their late day win, Horace Mann School alumni from the classes of 1965, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010 headed downtown to the Conrad New York in lower Manhattan for elegant reunion dinners and lively cocktail parties. When one alumna from the Class of 2010 asked if her flight from San Francisco meant she had traveled the farthest to participate in her reunion, she learned that others had come from across the country, from as far away as Israel and Japan. "We didn't want to miss this chance to see old friends," the alums agreed. $ Horace Mann Magazine Summer 2016 35

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