Class Note 1979
Issue
Jul - Aug 2016
Your co-class secretaries went to the bullpen for some relief in this installment of Class Notes, and Polly Ingraham kindly answered our call to share her inspiring change-of-life story—yet another example of a ’79 doing well by doing good.
“When my husband, Rob Hirschfeld ’83, was elected Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire it meant we needed to clear out of Amherst, Massachusetts, where our roots in the community ran deep thanks to church life and three kids who did some growing up there. Up to Hopkinton, New Hampshire, we went, and rather suddenly I became a woman who needed to start over, in a sense. Nothing plugged into place initially except lots of trail time with my dog, Rocky. A part-time gig teaching writing at a local college helped me feel less like a round peg in a square hole, but it wasn’t enough. Then, a few months ago, the stars aligned and I started working at Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts, a once thriving mill town that became the poorest city in the state. The school, which has had a whopping 100-percent college acceptance rate since it was founded 10 years ago, is part of a national network of Catholic schools whose shared mission is to serve students from low-income families and prepare them for bright futures through a combination of high academic standards and on-the-job work experience. I get to train, coach and support these fine teenagers in my role as program coordinator. Sometimes I also weave tales from school into my longtime website, www.pastorswifeblog.com. Through partnerships with almost 80 companies in the region (including Black Duck Software, where our very own Phil Odence can be found lurking in the hallways), each student goes to a paying job one day a week. What they earn while gaining valuable real-world skills goes a long way toward paying their tuitions. Meanwhile, I am missing my friends Mary Cleary Kiely and Steve Schrieber since the move away from Amherst. Thankfully, I’ve been able to reconnect with other classmates around Concord, New Hampshire, including Steve Blackmer, who happens to be one of my husband’s colleagues. And since I now receive regular emails inviting me to events for New Hampshire gubernatorial candidate Mark Connolly, I can look forward to crossing his path one day soon as well.”
Thanks for your great guest column, Polly. We hope to see you and many other classmates at Homecoming the weekend of October 28-29 when, as 2015 Class of the Year, we will have the honor of leading the parade!
On a final note, we urge everyone who has not yet made a “Partycipatory” contribution to class dues, our class project (Dartmouth Partners in Community Service) or the Dartmouth College Fund (DCF) to do so before the imminent June 30 fiscal-year deadline. All donors who make a DCF gift on or before the 30th will be entered in a book raffle featuring nonfiction by ’79 authors!
—Stanley Weil, 15 Peck Road, Mt. Kisco, NY 10549; (917) 428-0852; stanno79@gmail.com; John Currier, 82 Carpenter St., Norwich, VT 05055; (802) 649-2577; john.h.currier@dartmouth.edu
“When my husband, Rob Hirschfeld ’83, was elected Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire it meant we needed to clear out of Amherst, Massachusetts, where our roots in the community ran deep thanks to church life and three kids who did some growing up there. Up to Hopkinton, New Hampshire, we went, and rather suddenly I became a woman who needed to start over, in a sense. Nothing plugged into place initially except lots of trail time with my dog, Rocky. A part-time gig teaching writing at a local college helped me feel less like a round peg in a square hole, but it wasn’t enough. Then, a few months ago, the stars aligned and I started working at Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts, a once thriving mill town that became the poorest city in the state. The school, which has had a whopping 100-percent college acceptance rate since it was founded 10 years ago, is part of a national network of Catholic schools whose shared mission is to serve students from low-income families and prepare them for bright futures through a combination of high academic standards and on-the-job work experience. I get to train, coach and support these fine teenagers in my role as program coordinator. Sometimes I also weave tales from school into my longtime website, www.pastorswifeblog.com. Through partnerships with almost 80 companies in the region (including Black Duck Software, where our very own Phil Odence can be found lurking in the hallways), each student goes to a paying job one day a week. What they earn while gaining valuable real-world skills goes a long way toward paying their tuitions. Meanwhile, I am missing my friends Mary Cleary Kiely and Steve Schrieber since the move away from Amherst. Thankfully, I’ve been able to reconnect with other classmates around Concord, New Hampshire, including Steve Blackmer, who happens to be one of my husband’s colleagues. And since I now receive regular emails inviting me to events for New Hampshire gubernatorial candidate Mark Connolly, I can look forward to crossing his path one day soon as well.”
Thanks for your great guest column, Polly. We hope to see you and many other classmates at Homecoming the weekend of October 28-29 when, as 2015 Class of the Year, we will have the honor of leading the parade!
On a final note, we urge everyone who has not yet made a “Partycipatory” contribution to class dues, our class project (Dartmouth Partners in Community Service) or the Dartmouth College Fund (DCF) to do so before the imminent June 30 fiscal-year deadline. All donors who make a DCF gift on or before the 30th will be entered in a book raffle featuring nonfiction by ’79 authors!
—Stanley Weil, 15 Peck Road, Mt. Kisco, NY 10549; (917) 428-0852; stanno79@gmail.com; John Currier, 82 Carpenter St., Norwich, VT 05055; (802) 649-2577; john.h.currier@dartmouth.edu