Class Note 1997
Issue
January-February 2021
Congratulations to Drew Spencer on becoming the head coach of Great Britain’s national baseball team. Drew previously served as Great Britain’s under-23 head coach for two years. He led that squad to its best finish ever at the European Championship in 2019, placing fifth while earning the country’s first victory over the Netherlands at any level. He also managed the London Mets to back-to-back titles in the National Baseball League, the United Kingdom’s highest domestic baseball competition.
I asked Drew about his goals for the team. “My short-term goals for the team are to create stronger connections between players and alumni at all levels and all over the world. I want our players to know just how much it means to those who came before them and to carry that pride with them into each competition. In the long term I would like to see us continue to rise in the world rankings. It would be amazing to see us in the top 20 or top 10 in a decade.”
Covid is also posing its own challenges. “Covid is affecting us like everyone else. We have less time with each other and less time on the field, so we have to find ways to communicate with each other to help our athletes develop an approach to getting and staying in shape and to motivate each other from afar.”
Named to an All-Ivy League team in each of his four seasons in Hanover, Drew ended his time at the College as the career record holder in 11 offensive categories. Today he still ranks among the top 10 in batting average, hits, runs, stolen bases, and RBIs. When asked how Dartmouth prepared him for his current role, Drew noted: “Coach Whalen told me, ‘You can get there from here,’ when he was recruiting me from southern California to play baseball in New Hampshire. Indoor sessions at Leverone, where outfielders don’t see a fly ball for weeks, taking batting practice in the spring with snow flurries coming down, and being underestimated as an athlete because your league wasn’t perceived by some to be as competitive are all experiences that taught me things that directly apply to baseball in Britain. I tell our younger players that being from the United Kingdom or playing in bad weather are not reasons to sell themselves short.”
Congratulations also to Carmen (Schmitt) Lopez for being named to Dartmouth’s first presidential commission on financial aid. The 27-member commission is analyzing data, meeting with numerous College officials, and preparing to introduce a multi-year plan to strengthen the Dartmouth community’s commitment to a robust scholarship program that supports every student who needs financial aid. In September President Hanlon outlined the committee’s mandate: to bring greater clarity to the true impact of socioeconomic diversity on students’ learning experience and upward mobility, with an emphasis on the urgency and vulnerabilities of this moment in our nation’s history; to capture and share stories of personal transformation made possible through scholarship funding that expands access to the full Dartmouth experience; to create a vibrant philanthropic plan of action to achieve the remaining $276-million endowed scholarship goal contained in the Call to Lead campaign; and to identify emerging trends that will inform Dartmouth’s vision and strategies for attracting a socioeconomically diverse applicant pool in the coming decades.
Stay safe, everyone, and please send your news.
—Jason Casell, 10106 Balmforth Lane, Houston, TX 77096; jhcasell@gmail.com
I asked Drew about his goals for the team. “My short-term goals for the team are to create stronger connections between players and alumni at all levels and all over the world. I want our players to know just how much it means to those who came before them and to carry that pride with them into each competition. In the long term I would like to see us continue to rise in the world rankings. It would be amazing to see us in the top 20 or top 10 in a decade.”
Covid is also posing its own challenges. “Covid is affecting us like everyone else. We have less time with each other and less time on the field, so we have to find ways to communicate with each other to help our athletes develop an approach to getting and staying in shape and to motivate each other from afar.”
Named to an All-Ivy League team in each of his four seasons in Hanover, Drew ended his time at the College as the career record holder in 11 offensive categories. Today he still ranks among the top 10 in batting average, hits, runs, stolen bases, and RBIs. When asked how Dartmouth prepared him for his current role, Drew noted: “Coach Whalen told me, ‘You can get there from here,’ when he was recruiting me from southern California to play baseball in New Hampshire. Indoor sessions at Leverone, where outfielders don’t see a fly ball for weeks, taking batting practice in the spring with snow flurries coming down, and being underestimated as an athlete because your league wasn’t perceived by some to be as competitive are all experiences that taught me things that directly apply to baseball in Britain. I tell our younger players that being from the United Kingdom or playing in bad weather are not reasons to sell themselves short.”
Congratulations also to Carmen (Schmitt) Lopez for being named to Dartmouth’s first presidential commission on financial aid. The 27-member commission is analyzing data, meeting with numerous College officials, and preparing to introduce a multi-year plan to strengthen the Dartmouth community’s commitment to a robust scholarship program that supports every student who needs financial aid. In September President Hanlon outlined the committee’s mandate: to bring greater clarity to the true impact of socioeconomic diversity on students’ learning experience and upward mobility, with an emphasis on the urgency and vulnerabilities of this moment in our nation’s history; to capture and share stories of personal transformation made possible through scholarship funding that expands access to the full Dartmouth experience; to create a vibrant philanthropic plan of action to achieve the remaining $276-million endowed scholarship goal contained in the Call to Lead campaign; and to identify emerging trends that will inform Dartmouth’s vision and strategies for attracting a socioeconomically diverse applicant pool in the coming decades.
Stay safe, everyone, and please send your news.
—Jason Casell, 10106 Balmforth Lane, Houston, TX 77096; jhcasell@gmail.com