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Nathan Rockwood Contributes to Book

As a freshman at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, Greenwood alumnus Nathan Rockwood '00 joined the design team for the book Serenity Role Playing Game.

The book is based on the motion picture of the same name that was released in September 2005. The screenplay for the film was written by Joss Whedon of "Buffy the Vampire" fame.

Karrie, Mac, Katherine, and Adrian

Karrie Kressler (left) and McCambridge Dowd-Whipple in June 2004 at BTE

In fall 2005, McCambridge Dowd-Whipple '03 began 11th grade at Bloomsburg High School. In 2004-2005, she played "Tootie," the youngest daughter, in the school's musical production of "Meet Me in St. Louis."

Karelyn Kressler '00 began her sophomore year at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, majoring in physics, and eventually astronomy. Over the 2005 spring break, Karrie toured with Earlham's gospel choir to Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Manhattan.

Both Mac and Karrie performed in BTE's production of Gravity Hill in the summer of 2004.

In July 2005, Karrie and Adrian Wright-FitzGerald, another former Greenwood student, traveled to Bosnia to work at an orphanage called Children Without Parental Care in Tuzla, Bosnia. The work was sponsored by Fellowship for Reconciliation (FOR), an organization based in Nyack, NY.

In the fall of 2005, Katherine Kressler '01 began her junior year at Lycoming College in Williamsport, majoring in chemistry. Katie is involved in international activities at Lycoming, and worked for the Young Democrats during the last presidential election. She is planning for a trip to Vietnam in the summer of 2006.

Getting Back Together

GFS alumni held a reunion at the school in August 2003, thanks to the organizing efforts of Karrie Kressler. The pictures below were taken during the reunion.

On the playground seesaw are (from left) Katherine Kressler, Adrian Wright-FitzGerald, Karrie Kressler, Chris Thomas, Dawn Candlish, Julia Dalton, and Johanna Gerig.

Going through some old photos and reminiscing are (from left) Elizabeth Titman, Julia Dalton, and Karrie Kressler, with alumni parent Fred Kressler in background.

Elizabeth Smith, Photographer

Elizabeth Smith '91 has started a photography business, doing weddings, portraits, and special events. She can be reached at (570) 683-6352.

Sarrah Evans in Kenya: Wildebeests and More

GFS alumna Sarrah Evans '93 writes about her experiences in Kenya in an online essay at the Earlham College Web site. She tells of wildebeest skeletons, a visit to a women's co-op in Nairobi, rascally monkeys, and more. See if you can spot Sarrah in the photo on this Earlham Web page. (Hint: Look at the right half of the top row.)

Wamser as Romeo

Shannon Michael Wamser '87, who is now a professional actor, played Romeo in Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble's fall production of Romeo and Juliet from October 11 to November 3, 2002. The GFS community turned out in force for the next-to-last performance, where fellow alumnus Aaron Javsicas (left) posed with Mike for the photo below. [Read more...]

Celebrating Our 2002 Graduates

On June 7, 2002, we celebrated the end of the school year and wished success and Godspeed to our eighth grade graduates, Allison Martens of Hughesville and Andrew (AJ) Lynch of Lewisburg.

Earlier in the week AJ and Allison presented their eighth grade independent study projects to the Middle School, families, and friends. Allison worked with her mentor, Dr. Thom Klinger of Bloomsburg University, to study how human activities affect coral reefs. Allison has long had an interest in marine life; she published a book on dolphins in first grade through Greenwood Friends School Press.

AJ wanted to know more about how a radio station works. His mentor was Drew Kelly, program director for WQKX of Sunbury. AJ followed Drew through the station for a "day in the life of" style video.

Best wishes to both of them as they move on.

Michael Brabander Presents Science Project to GFS Students

In May 2002, former GFS student Michael Brabander (then a 9th-grade student at Danville High School) spent an afternoon at Greenwood Friends School sharing a project that he, along with Danville students Kyle Venarchik and Mike Phillips, entered in a Middle School Science Olympiad. The event, called "Mission Possible," took place on a satellite campus of Penn State.

The objects used in the project were Legos, cars, marbles, batteries, mouse traps, levers, pulleys, a flagpole, and a flag. Michael explained to the students that the teams were given the task of raising a flagpole, then a flag under the time of one minute. Being permitted to use various sources of energy to accomplish this task, Michael's team decided to use batteries and mouse traps. The teams were given so many points to switch from one machine to another. For this, they used levers and pulleys. The teams were penalized for running over the time of one minute and if they ran over three minutes, the entry was disqualified.

Michael placed the marble on the obstacle course and the GFS students cheered the marble as it wound its way towards its destination of the flagpole and the flag. Everybody applauded when the flag was raised.

The boys worked on their project for approximately one hundred hours. Michael's team placed fifth in the regionals and sixth in the state competition.

Erin Meschter Takes Sports and Academic Honors

After Erin Meschter graduated from GFS in 1995, she moved on to Danville High School, where she excelled not only in academics but also in sports. Erin was named Danville's Most Valuable Player for her accomplishments in track and field, by the Press-Enteprise, Spring All-Stars 2002.

In her freshman year she won the District 4 Class AAA gold medal in the high jump and she finished at Danville with four district golds and three state medals.

According to Danville coach Jeff Brandt, Erin is the best girls high jumper the school has ever had. He reported to the Press-Enterprise that, to his knowledge, "...Erin is the first girl in school history to win four district titles and earn four trips to the state championships."

Erin ended the high jump season being nearly unbeatable and she consistently scored points in both hurdle events for the Danville Ironmen. With her help, Danville had an undefeated (7-0) dual-meet season and won the Susquehanna Valley Conference crown. The Ironmen finished second at the SVC championships and at the District 4 Class AAA meet. "For her individual efforts and her contributions to the Ironmen this season, Meschter [was] named the Press-Enterprise girls track and field Most Valuable Player."

Class historian and salutatorian, Erin was one of six class speakers at Danville's commencement ceremony in June 2002. Drawing on the class theme of "Trivial Pursuit," she spoke to her classmates about how the advancements of technology are changing the world, pointing out how easy it is "to get lost in the shuffle." But she reminded her audience that "the values that she and other students have learned will stay with them for life."

Erin spent the summer of 2002 working at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville. In the fall, Erin began her studies at Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island, contemplating a degree in biological sciences.

Keil Troisi Finishes GFS Video

Keil Troisi, a 1996 graduate of GFS, recently finished a video about Greenwood Friends School entitled "Educating Hearts and Minds." The video focused on Greenwood as a family.

GFS alumni and staff were featured in Keil's video. Keil, who was interviewed by Molly Lynch, stated that ..."he chose making this film as his Eagle Scout project because he knew the importance of the project to becoming an Eagle Scout and he knew he would give greater effort to a subject that had personal significance for him." [For an earlier story and photo, click here.]

Aside from creating the video for GFS, Keil also wrote and produced plays for Millville High School and was a student writer for the Press-Enteprise during the 2001-2002 school year.

Keil, who graduated from Millville High School in June 2002, is studying filmmaking at Pratt Institute in New York.

Getting Educated

• Aaron Albecker entered Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia, in the fall of 2002.
• Anna Albecker is a sophomore at Handley High School in Winchester.
• Molly Albecker finished her senior year at Handley High School in Winchester, Virginia, in 2002. She was on the varsity swim and soccer teams. (The Albecker parents have been busy too. David Albecker is a respiratory therapist at Winchester Medical Center. Ceci Albecker is a reading specialist with Loudon County Schools, Winchester.)
• Rebecca Armstrong '91 graduated with honors in art and won one of the creative writing prizes at Yale in May 2001. In January 2002 she began working on her MFA in Poetry at Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont. Rebecca and her family feel that she "got her start [in writing] in Mary Osborne's English class" here at GFS.
• Dawn Candlish '00 is in her junior year at Wyoming Seminary. In June 2002, she traveled to Germany to sing and tour with Madigral, the select chorus from the Seminary. Also a cellist, Dawn was offered a five week scholarship to the Governor's School for the Arts, held at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania. The photo below shows her during a visit to GFS, with Associate Head of School Susan Stone.

  

• Julia Dalton '96 was defender for the Susquehanna Valley (East) all-conference soccer team.
• Gabe DiDomenico '96 is a student at Drexel University in Philadelphia. He is interested in becoming a screen writer. His brother, Will DiDomenico, studies computer science at Penn College in Williamsport.
• Zehner Evans '94 is studying theater and history at West Chester University, PA.
• Andrew Hart '94, a junior in the architecture program at Temple University, Philadelphia, spent the summer of 2002 as an assistant to two architectural firms.
• Erin McConnell '93 completed her sophomore year on the dean's list at Bloomsburg University, where she majors in education. She has been a varsity starter in field hockey since her freshman year and received the scholar-athlete award for field hockey. Erin will remain at Bloomsburg University to enter the deaf education program.
• Kelly McConnell '91, a member of Phi Beta Kappa at Bucknell University, graduated summa cum laude in 2002 with a dual major in psychology and religion. In the fall of 2001, she was named the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year for Indoor Track and Field. She helped the Bisons win their fourth Patriot League title in the last five years. She was also the Third Team Academic All American for 2002 and was given the Subway Athlete of the Month award because she anchored the record-setting relay team in the distance medley relay. In the fall of 2002 Kelly entered a doctoral program in psychology at Bowling Green University in Ohio.
• Jessie West '01 was elected to student council at Danville Middle School.

Getting Married

• Amanda Kate Wenner '83 was married June 16, 2001, to A. Cedric Calhoun in Washington, D.C. Amanda says that Cedric and she are enjoying life outside of Washington, D.C., in Bethesda, Maryland.
• Lisa Cohoon married Mark Coleman in March 2001 (see photo below) and moved to Gratz, Pa. Lisa taught pre-school at GFS from 1996 to 1999. Lisa Coleman (as she is now) teaches a developmental kindergarten group at Shamokin Children's Center.

  

Getting Around

• Sara Sweeney-Denham '82 spent part of the summer of 2002 traveling with a Friends Council on Education tour along the original pilgrimage that the Quakers made through England. Husband Dan and daughter Mary accompanied Sara on this historical journey. The entire Sweeney clan met in Colorado in mid-July for a family wedding.