91̽��

Annabell Asare (II) was focused on a career as a politician. Her chance to meet President Barack Obama was an amazing opportunity, but it was also life-changing in ways Annabell didn’t expect.

“The event was so exciting,” says Annabell of the fundraising dinner held on Martha’s Vineyard last summer. “There was so much coordination of the president’s arrival and the security to get into the event. I always thought of politicians as sitting in their office doing their work, but that night I realized that the job is more like being a celebrity with the press coverage and the constant interaction, greeting and meeting people. Your life is not your own. I always thought I would be a politician, but I now know I want to work behind the scenes, maybe as a lawyer working on legislation or in public relations at the West Wing.”

If you get lemons, make lemonade; if you get snow, do snow science.

Last year, science faculty member Matt Bingham traveled to Greenland with a team of environmental scientists to be part of the Disko Bay Ice Coring Project. With the help of his students, Mr. Bingham created a blog to record his research on the influence of sea-surface variability on ice sheet mass balance and outlet glacier behavior.

This week, Mr. Bingham and his team of students used techniques from Greenland’s Ice Coring Project to conduct research on ice formations right here on 91̽��’s campus. The group dug two back-to-back snow pits, leaving a thin wall between the two holes. They then covered one snow pit with a sheet of plywood to block any natural light. Sunlight shining through the open snow pit filtered into the covered snow pit, allowing students in the covered pit to examine the layers in the packed snow that formed over the course of this winter. 91̽��’s researchers then measured the snow stratigraphy and sampled individual layers for density, snow water equivalent, and atmospheric chemistry.

91̽��’s Robotics Team demonstrated their robots in action at the Providence Bruins hockey game on Presidents’ Day. The team was invited to attend the game and then used a dedicated space in the lobby between periods to show hockey fans what their robots can do.

The team uses and competes with the VEX Robotics system. They designed this demonstration as a competition between two of their robots, to determine which would score the most points on a designed course. Carson Prindle (IV) and Truman Marshall (IV) were the robot drivers and the robots’s goal was to stack cubes on a pole or get the cubes past a line to score points. To change it up a bit, the team allowed the robots to “steal” cubes to take away points.

On January 23, the 91̽�� Board of Trustees awarded the 91̽�� Medal to Jack Reardon, Class of 1956—a longtime trustee and a wise and loyal supporter of his School.

Head of School Todd Bland recalled the dinner meeting in 2008 that he and his wife, Nancy, shared with Jack Reardon and Board President Brad Bloom—an evening which solidified Todd’s decision to serve as 91̽��’s head of school. He spoke about the supportive care and insight that Jack reliably and generously provided throughout Todd’s last six years. Similarly, Brad Bloom credited Jack with his own willingness to assume the presidency of 91̽��’s board. Brad noted, in particular, Jack’s ability and willingness to listen, and his effectiveness in helping institutions understand what challenges should be addressed, and what changes should occur. “Four heads of school—Ed Fredie, Robin Robertson, Rick Hardy and Todd Bland—and four board presidents—Harold Janeway, Marshall Schwarz, Fritz Hobbs and I—sought his counsel,” Brad said. “In every conversation, public or private, Jack is steady, calm, and focused on the point. He responds with candor, wisdom and sensitivity, regardless of the issue. He frames the importance of a decision in few but relevant words. We all try to understand the full measure of each of those words.”

Maysoon Zayid—a comedian, actress and activist—warmed up her student audience this week with lots of funny stories, and she also conveyed an important message. Ms. Zayid was the 2015 Margaret A. Johnson speaker, a series that brings noted female leaders to campus each year.

Born with cerebral palsy, Ms. Zayid is a powerful advocate for the disabled. She told stories about growing up in the suburbs of New Jersey, where she was accepted for who she was. But as a theater major in college and a struggling actress pursuing a career, Ms. Zayid realized that disabled people were almost nonexistent in the entertainment industry.

“Hollywood has a bad habit of casting able-bodied people to play disabled people,” said Ms. Zayid. “Then these actors win big awards and everyone says how inspirational they are. And on television, people with disabilities are the largest minority in the world.”