Class Note 1979

Men and vimmen of Dartmouth! It is with great pleasure that I address you for the first time as your new class secretary. I am honored to represent you and eager to catch up with old friends and new. Please help make our Dartmouth Alumni Magazine column the best it can be by sharing news of you, your families and your fellow classmates.


Speaking of sharing, let’s give a round of snaps to Bruce Dallas, Otho Kerr, Rachel Krevans and Rob Shaw, four of the 20 volunteers (from eight classes!) who participated in the Dartmouth Partners in Community Service (DPCS) program this summer. Now in its 14th year, DPCS provides students with alumni-mentored internships in their chosen areas of interest.


Here is what Otho had to say about working with Jalil Bishop ’14 after these two varsity track athletes were brought together by chairman of the DPCS board of directors, Billy “Bags” Mitchell: “The genesis of Jalil’s interest in education reform came after he met Geoffrey Canada (founder of the seminal Harlem Children’s Zone) on campus and subsequently viewed Waiting for Superman, the acclaimed but controversial 2010 documentary (featuring Canada) about the failures of public education in America. During his internship Jalil unexpectedly found himself teaching geography and social studies to minority students in one of Canada’s charter schools in Harlem. For me the greatest thrill came from discussing this incredibly challenging but exhilarating experience during the course of five face-to-face meetings with Jalil; his positive, hopeful outlook on life, his observations on teaching in the same community that I was actively involved in as a young man and his thoughts on what he would do to effect change as a school principal were truly inspiring.” This is an example of a healthy marriage, more of which you can promote by supporting DCPS when the next class dues notice (from Brendan “Pooh Bear” Cameron, our esteemed class treasurer) arrives in the mail.


On another wedding note, congratulations go out to my old Topliff roommate Scott Brooks, who reported in from Westport, Connecticut, where he now lives with his new bride, Anastasia, her two boys and his 15-year-old son Julian. While honeymooning in San Francisco in July the newlyweds ran into Dave “Buzz” Campisano and Kevin “Sully” Sullivan. Buzz has opened up a pizza restaurant (called Za because, as was the case at Dartmouth, uttering two syllables just takes too much effort!), while Sully is a part owner of the Philosopher’s Club and the iconic Marina Lounge.


Congratulations are also in order for our Alumni Council class representative Dave Dowd, who early this summer was named president of the Birmingham Sunrise Rotary Club. Dave and his fellow Rotarians will focus on organizing and implementing an international service project that involves providing clean water to a needy (and yet-to-be-determined) community in Central or South America.


That’s all for now gang. Until next time, refresh, enjoy and travel on.


—Stanley Weil, 14 Woodland Road, Mt. Kisco, NY 10549; (917) 428-0852; stanno79@gmail.com