Twisted light spinning out of the spreading darkness hitting the ground with an unprecedented force, the light charging itself with the electric wave, destroying matter that stands in its way as the darkness surpasses the light
By Toby A., 5th Grade
Robin Becker, Director of
Hannah Swacker Kurnit ’97, Director of Advancement
Elena Sheppard ’05, Communications Manager
Jacob Goodhart, Alumni
In February, Saint Ann’s grandparent and acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns visited the School for a conversation about his career and most recent work, attended by the entire high school. The conversation was moderated by Chris Mellon '87 (History Faculty), with high schoolers Louise K. (12th grade) and Anaia J.-F. (11th grade) also on stage to ask questions. Ken has been making documentary films for fifty years, beginning with the 1981 Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge. His most recent PBS broadcast, The American Revolution, premiered in November 2025 and is a six-part series on America’s founding struggle, which presents the story of the men and women of the Revolutionary generation, their humanity in victory and defeat, and the crisis that they lived through.
During his conversation with Chris, Louise, and Anaia, Ken discussed the nearly ten-year process of creating The American Revolution. He described the approach used for the selection of images, the inclusion of paintings and commissioned watercolors, and the filming of reenactments abstractly and in a painterly fashion. Louise and Anaia asked Ken about the first few years of his career and his personal process as an artist and filmmaker. They also asked about how he creates accurate and representative portrayals of groups outside of his own identity, and how he understands the moment of political unrest we are currently living through. High schoolers and faculty and staff alike were thrilled to hear Ken share his wisdom, anecdotes, and perspective.
In April, Tim Verduin from the NYU Child Study Center visited Saint Ann's parents/guardians and faculty/ staff to share resources for supporting Executive Functioning at home and school.
Executive Functioning involves a variety of abilities, such as organizational skills, time management, and working memory, that are essential to learning and navigating life at any age. As our understanding of neurodiversity expands, it is increasingly clear that certain skill sets, such as those captured by Executive Functioning, are effective and essential for all. During his visits, Tim shared strategies to help support the development of these skills, as well as how to respond when challenges show up at home and in the classroom.
These visits were recorded and are available to watch below. The password to view is ef2026. Each session was tailored to specific age groups:
By Larissa Tokmakova, Chair of the Art Department
During the 2020 Covid pandemic, while we remained in lockdown, we art teachers were surprised to find ourselves overwhelmed by the unprecedented quantity and quality of the visual work we were seeing from students learning remotely. We were isolated from one another in those days, and yearned to be together in any way we could, to communicate as best we could, and art emerged as a primary language. In response to the urgent outpouring of creativity, the art department created a website that evolved into a virtual shared studio space—truly “social media” in the best sense, and very much in the Saint Ann’s mold.
The pandemic passed, of course—but something magnificent remained. We’d seen more clearly than ever before what sharing our work did for us, how it fed our souls, helped us heal, gave us hope. “Us” meaning all of us in the school community. We took our revelation to the physical walls of our school, and called it the High School Art Festival. The event has been a staple of Saint Ann’s culture ever since—each year in late May, a vast and thrilling exhibition pops up all over campus, featuring everything artistic our High Schoolers have been working on that year.
2026 yielded an especially glorious explosion of exhilarating work from our High Schoolers. Drawings, sculpture, photography, paintings, prints, and architecture were displayed in the Rotunda, Undercroft, and the Second Floor Lobby. Filmmakers screened their work in the theater, and musicians jammed in the lobby too. Performance artists, painters, and sculptors created art on the spot in real time.
And we’ll do it all again next year. Please join us.
Activist Ivy Kwan Arce visited the Asian Student Union for an interactive workshop with high school students on HIV prevention for women, public health literacy, and youth-led campaign thinking. Kwan Arce is a firstgeneration Chinese American HIV survivor, HIV/AIDS activist, and artist, as well as a surviving member of the People with AIDS Health Group. She is also a longstanding activist with organizations such as ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) and TAG (Treatment Action Group).
I walked inside and let the air cover me like a cloak as I started up the stairs one step at a time when I got up, the jewel was… gone but sadly there is no explaining I wish there was but sadly there is no explaining
By Noor B., 4th Grade
Learn more about recent Diversity and Belonging initiatives at Saint Ann’s—including programming, affinity spaces, events, and a letter from Stacey Wright , Director of Institutional Diversity and Belonging—in the spring edition of the Diversity and Belonging Newsletter.
By Sam Aronson, Chris Mellon '87, Celia Frey '17, and Ellie Schefelman
As a part of the joint English and history class on the literature, history, and mythology of the American West, fifteen students and four chaperones set out from LaGuardia on the afternoon of April 22, determined to see for themselves what the West looks like in 2026. After one run-for-it flight transfer and a very bumpy descent, we arrived in Rapid City, South Dakota and headed for our hotel in Custer, safely conveyed by our amazing bus driver Colleen. The next morning we headed for our first two stops, Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills. These are very different sites, with one choosing four famous presidents to represent separate eras of American history and the other choosing to use the story of one man to tell the longer arc of Native American history and resistance. One is the result of funding from the national government, constructed by thousands of workers in fourteen years while the other has consistently refused federal funding and has been an ongoing project since 1948. The folks at Crazy Horse led us to the bottom of the memorial and revealed that often only eight people work on it, and that the project is being led by the grandchildren of the original artist. They are aiming to have the memorial done in time for its centennial in 2048.
Our afternoon took us to Badlands National Park. After the seemingly endless flatlands of South Dakota, the change of topography in the Badlands was both sudden and striking. We marveled at the scenery and imagined the reaction of settlers with their overly-laden wagons coming up against the crevices and soaring rock formations that make up this incredible landscape. Did they give up? Go around it? Haul their goods over it?
True to form, the unpredictable weather of the West gave us an overnight blizzard—we awoke to eight inches of snow. Residents of Custer shrugged at our surprise, noting that storms like these appear all the time, sometimes into June. Undeterred, we left for the town of Deadwood, South Dakota, and passed through more snow before arriving at the center of this storied hamlet. Greeted by a statue of Calamity Jane, one of the many legendary residents of the town, we spent some time exploring the borderline theme park atmosphere of this place. The commercialization and mythologization of the West could not have been more evident.
From there, we made our way to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. It is the place where the extraterrestrials appear in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and looms out of the landscape from miles away, almost alien itself in its appearance. We did not see any E.T.s but we were greeted by our first confirmed bison sighting and witnessed a calf make a run for it after jumping a fence. After watching a pretty authentic roundup of this runaway dogie, albeit by someone on an ATV, we made our way to the base of the tower. Setting off on foot, we hiked around the base and the general feeling was definitely one of awe. What made this place possible? The Native American myths say that two sisters were fleeing from bears when their god raised them up on the tower, leaving the bears to scratch the famous striations along the sides of the tower in frustration. The geological explanation is no less amazing, positing that the landscape in the area once extended more than a mile above the tower and then eroded over time to leave it jutting up into the Wyoming sky.
Our next stop was Billings, Montana. In the morning we drove out to the Crow reservation which contains the site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. For some of us, this was the most evocative of all of the places we visited, a site where the violence that our expansion engendered was most evident. Walking the battlefield was a somber reminder of this, but it was encouraging to hear from the rangers and see how the site has changed to be more inclusive of all the stories of the Little Bighorn, honoring the Native Americans who fought and died there alongside the U.S. soldiers.
Tired but full of a real sense of the many layers, past and present, factual and fictional, that make up the history of this part of our country, we arrived back at LaGuardia on April 26. It was an amazing journey for the chaperones, made all the more memorable by the company, thoughts, comments, and reflections of our incredible students.
Fourteen high school students and three teachers from the cycling classes rode to Governors Island on May 7. The group rode over the Manhattan Bridge and through Lower Manhattan to the ferry terminal. Once on Governors Island, the class cycled past Fort Jay and Castle Williams before dismounting and climbing up Outlook Hill. After lunch, the group rode back to the ferry and returned to Saint Ann's to complete the ten mile circuit.
In early April, middle school students ventured outside the classroom to explore topics they had been covering in their science classes. The sixth grade visited iFly in Queens, a vertical wind tunnel where one can practice skydiving. In addition to learning about air resistance and doing some parachute-building activities, each sixth grader climbed into a special skydiving suit to experience terminal velocity in the air tube.
The fourth grade traveled to the American Museum of Natural History to see exhibits related to their geology, paleontology, and evolution curriculum. These included the Hall of Planet Earth, the Insectarium, the current Impact! exhibit, and part of the dinosaur collection.
By Elizabeth Sheridan Rossi, PhD, Chair of the Mathematics Department
Here, every subject is an art and every child is an artist.
The closing line of the Saint Ann’s mission statement purports a bold claim—that “here, every subject is an art and every child is an artist.” But what does that mean for math?
In fact, and unsurprisingly to the mathematician, the School’s mission aligns perfectly with the study of mathematics, which is very much an art in and of itself. The process of doing mathematics is at its heart a creative journey. It is a common misconception that mathematics is a string of formulas and techniques that need to be learned in a specific, rigid order. A more accurate view is that mathematics is a world and the study of it is an exploration. Mathematical research and discovery usually begins with the identification of an interesting pattern. A mathematician then embarks on a process of reviewing things one has seen before and investigating pathways others have taken. It takes creativity, insight, inspiration, and sometimes luck. When one can finally make sense of things, the journey culminates in using proof to rigorously argue about one’s results.
Former Saint Ann’s teacher and author Paul Lockhart describes this journey in his book A Mathematician’s Lament.
Mathematics is the music of reason. To do mathematics is to engage in an act of discovery and conjecture, intuition and inspiration; to be in a state of confusion— not because it makes no sense to you, but because you gave it sense and you still don’t understand what your creation is up to; to have a breakthrough idea; to be frustrated as an artist; to be awed and overwhelmed by an almost painful beauty.
We strive to share this world and this art—this way of exploring—with our students. To teach math in this way is to teach children the true discipline. To love and see the beauty in an art form is a magical thing, and instilling this appreciation in our students is a central tenant to our approach. And, within that context, other questions linger. How do our students learn to really DO mathematics? What are our goals for them?
At a base level, we want our students to leave us with a foundational mathematical knowledge. We want them to be able to go out into the world and use mathematics however they encounter it, and to continue to take pleasure in studying it for as long as they wish. It is essential, however, in building up mathematical skills that all techniques are grounded in conceptual understanding. Far too often, students are taught how to perform mathematical algorithms and techniques without knowing what the manipulation of numbers really means. At Saint Ann’s, informal investigations of concepts precede formal manipulations and codification. We develop conceptual meaning through exploration and pattern discovery.
Mathematical fluency and literacy are important, but the value of the study of mathematics is so much more. It’s a study of critical thinking and of problem solving, promoting skills that can extend far beyond the classroom. We strive to cultivate the sense of curiosity and pattern recognition that comes so naturally to children. And we challenge our students to apply foundational knowledge in novel situations. To ask: How do we break down unfamiliar problems? How do we get started?
At the core of our mathematical studies and permeating all of our classes, starting in the Lower School, is the understanding of rigorous proof. Through this foundational idea, we push students to explain HOW they know what they say is true, what evidence there is to support their claim, and how they can eliminate alternative possibilities. This is truly what it means to be a mathematical thinker.
Our program has much to offer for the aspiring, curious young mathematician. Both middle and high school students can add electives throughout their academic journey with us. They can study mathematical art, take problem solving courses, do independent math research, pursue electives in logic and number theory and so much more. Regardless of whether they see math solely through required classes or decide to fill their schedule with mathematical electives, we see all of our students as mathematicians. We see all of our students as artists.
By Benjamin P., 11th Grade
On May 11th, a group of students from Michele Levin’s Infections and Immunology class attended a panel called Science and Society: Vaccines at Pioneer works in Gowanus. The evening featured speakers Demetre Daskalakis (infectious disease specialist) and Jessica Malaty Rivera (infectious disease epidemiologist) discussing vaccines and vaccine policy in America before a crowd of several hundred captivated guests.
The speakers spent the majority of the conference discussing the government’s response to the Covid-19 virus, as well as the public’s reception of the new vaccine. They detailed how funding was withheld from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, not allowing them to track Covid-19 cases in a detailed fashion in the early stages of the pandemic. Ms. Rivera told the audience of how she helped to jumpstart the Covid-19 tracking program.
The panel was thrilled when one of the students asked them what effect switching to a universal public healthcare system would have on America’s ability to respond to future pandemics and if it was the correct decision. The panel spent ten minutes exploring the question and unpacking the consequences. They explained that the system would provide a wider range of healthcare across America and that it would have increased our ability to fight the pandemic.
When Maayan M. (11th Grade) was asked for her opinion on the panel, she described it as “incredibly interesting and also incredibly inspiring.”
On June 9 we celebrated the graduation of the Saint Ann’s class of 2026. The ceremony was held at the St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church and included speeches and performances by members of the graduating class. Additional remarks were made by Head of School Kenyatte Reid, Head of the High School Alex Darrow ’87, 12th Grade Dean Aidan Thomas '04, and the faculty speaker—history teacher Jesse Kohn.
Amherst College
Barnard College
Boston University
Bowdoin College
Brown University
Carleton College
Columbia University
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Duke University
Emory University
Harvard University
Johns Hopkins University
Kenyon College
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Skidmore College
Smith College
Spelman College
Stanford University
Swarthmore College
Syracuse University
Tulane University
University of California, San Diego
University of Chicago
University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Miami
University of Michigan
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
University of Pennsylvania
University of Rochester
University of St Andrews (U.K.)
Vassar College
Washington University in St. Louis
Wesleyan University
Williams College
Yale University
tomorrow
hot rays of sunlight black every vine curls around rocks sit still in the day
people walk by opal elephant of sound rain snow on the ceiling now
By Opal K., 4th Grade
After a five year hiatus, Second Courses returned to Saint Ann’s this spring. Second Courses are taught by Saint Ann’s faculty and staff to adults in our greater community. We were thrilled to offer courses covering a wide range of subjects, including Beginning Latin, Birdwatching, Life Drawing, and the Fundamentals of Earth Science. Next spring, we look forward to another exciting round of Second Courses. It was joyful to foster a community of lifelong learners.
The trees grow blue at night and The moon bleeds through ultramarine leaves.
The Angel’s tongue is forked down its center. God's odalisque Corpse permeated LED-opal.
By morning,
Limp with wet
The Angel has been sewn to the ground by roots piercing Hand and foot.
God’s two thumbs imprinted into porcelain lower back Squinty-eyed dimples Fill with the ground’s excrement.
Poster Boy Cherub on the yellow cereal carton Flashes cardboard teeth.
Acrid pink gums festering with scintillating sores.
By Chloé P., 11th Grade
With just months to go until the doors of 142 Pierrepont Street officially open, the interior renovation is well under way!
The new elevators have been installed, and major mechanical and fit-out developments have been made throughout the building, including in the Arts & Community Space and the Movement Studio. This fall, the telescopic seating and sprung dance floor will be installed in these spaces, and the new staircase will be completed, marking an exciting point in the building's evolution.
Outside, façade repairs along the east, west, and south faces are complete; work on the north façade is underway; and window infills along the south elevation are progressing. The beginnings of the willow fort and other elements of the Rooftop Playspace are coming together, as is the skylight that will soon flood the top floors with natural light.
Other upcoming milestones include the installation of the “Vault” meeting room feature wall, flooring installed throughout, finalizing furniture selection for the Lower School Science Lab and the Middle and High School classrooms, and continuing interior finishes throughout the building, including custom owl tiles in the double-height lobby.
We’re so excited to finally open the doors of 142 Pierrepont Street—to fill its halls with the joyful sounds of children and cover the walls with their imagination and artwork. We hope you’ll visit the building next year to experience how the efforts of so many have transformed this space into a vibrant, living home for learning, creativity, and community.
For a glimpse into the monumental process of creating thoughtful, innovative, and purpose-built spaces for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, check out the video on the next page!
Celebrate Saint Ann’s features notable and innovative voices and talent from across our community. These events bring our community together to celebrate the centrality of the arts at Saint Ann’s.
Saint Ann’s alumni, parents, and faculty joined Anna Ziegler ’97 for a performance of her play Antigone: (This Play I Read in High School) at the Public Theater on Friday, March 13. The moving performance was followed by a talk back with Anna, cast member Celia Keenan-Bolger, director Tyne Rafaeli, writer and journalist Regina Mahone, and journalist Cindi Leive. Photo credit: Tess Forestieri
On April 9, Saint Ann’s parent and author Katie Kitamura joined our community in conversation with faculty member Troy Patterson to discuss her novel, Audition.
Saint Ann’s Grandparents were welcomed back to school for Grandparents Brunch on Saturday, January 10. They enjoyed a delicious brunch, performances from student musicians Hugo K., 11th Grade and Colin L., 11th Grade, along with tours of the Computer Science Center and theater. We look forward to gathering with our grandparents next winter!
At the end of May, with a few days of school left, students, teachers, and families picnicked in Brooklyn Bridge Park for our second annual Sail Into Summer Picnic.
On March 17, Saint Ann’s families gathered at the LeFrak Center in Prospect Park for a magical evening of ice skating and hot chocolate drinking. Instead of skating under the stars as we had in years past, we enjoyed skating under an early spring sunset.
Outer Space is so fun… Go in a rocket Jump from star to star Then onto a planet then jump down to the North Pole Onto a trampoline Up to outer space Get inside An alien house Fly an asteroid Back to New York
By Santi C., 1st Grade
When you support Saint Ann’s Annual Fund , you have the option to direct your gift. Donations of all sizes make an impact. Choose from one of the four options below:
Our financial aid program allows students to attend Saint Ann’s regardless of their ability to pay full tuition. 29% of our students receive financial aid.
Our talented faculty and staff work together to cultivate the passionate exchange of ideas that is the hallmark of a Saint Ann’s classroom. By supporting the dedicated architects of the School’s educational program, your gift will benefit curricular development, professional growth, and salaries for faculty and staff.
Through opportunities to create programming that encourages our community to make equitable and conscious choices, we can pursue meaningful, measurable change. Allocating your gift to Institutional Diversity and Belonging priorities powers Saint Ann’s commitment to uphold an inclusive environment where all Saint Ann’s students, faculty, and staff feel welcomed, supported, and valued.
When you direct your gift to the area of greatest need, you are allowing the School to use your donation where it is needed most.
At every level, donors to the Annual Fund help make our bold vision of education a reality. Here’s a look back at the 2025–2026 fiscal year as of June 30, 2026:
Our Annual Fund provides critical revenue for our operating budget and helps bridge the gap between net tuition and the full cost of educating a Saint Ann’s student. Throughout the school year, a group of parent volunteers generously donated their time and effort to the Annual Fund. We are appreciative of their time, energy, and support.
Thank you to the 2025-26 Annual Fund volunteer team!
Nisha Atre Richardson P’25, P’27, P’30
Allison Bosworth ’05, P’33, P’37
Andrew Cali-Vasquez ’01, P’32
Erika Diamond P’34
Meghan Force P’36, P’36
Anne Hubert P’36
Rebecca Leighton '97, P’26, P’29
Marcella Manoharan ’99, P’33, P’38
Stephanie Newhouse P’28, P’35
Marion Panas ’95, P’29, P’31
Melissa Prober P’28, P’30
Amy Rowland P’27, P’29, P’32
Ilana Sackler-Berner P’34, P’36
Ben Schippers P’34, P’38
Risa Scobie P’27, P’29
Jeff Sherman P’33
Amanda Sigouin P’34, P’38
Laura Stephens P’35
Aisha Williams P’36, P’36
Andrew Yang P’35
Hannah Swacker Kurnit ’97
Director of Advancement
718.522.1660 Ext.345
hkurnit@saintannsny.org For questions about giving to Saint Ann’s or becoming involved as a volunteer, contact:
Regan Murphy Director of Annual Giving
718.522.1660 Ext.317
rmurphy@saintannsny.org
Cathy Fuerst retired this year after a remarkable 29 years as Head of the Preschool. Her impact on the world of Willow Place cannot be overstated. So much of the magic that takes place in the Preschool is thanks to Cathy’s tireless efforts to create a safe, nurturing, inspiring, and artistic environment for our youngest students. She will be deeply missed, and we wish her all the best in her retirement.
Anne Schelle, who taught in the Music Department for 31 years, retired earlier this year. We thank Anne for her many wonderful years of teaching and for sharing her musical gift with our students and our community. We wish her all of life’s joys and adventures as she embraces this next chapter of her life.
After 32 years at Saint Ann’s, Tony Thomas retired this past January. We thank Tony for keeping our community safe, and for always having the biggest smile on his face. We wish Tony nothing but the best as he enjoys his retirement and spends more time with family, friends, and at the beach!
Golnar Adili
Earlier this year, art teacher Golnar Adili’s solo show
To measure the emotions of others ran at Smack Mellon in Dumbo. Also at Smack Mellon, she led the public program, “Finding Solidarity and Resistance in Collective Mourning.”
Art teacher and artist Jay Batlle’s new variable edition, Les Vendanges 2025, was showcased from April 9 through April 12 at the IFPDA event at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City, in collaboration with Jungle Press. In this new series of twentyfour unique monoprints, Jay builds on his previous print work with a new theme: the grape harvest in Southern France. Jay uses multiple techniques, including woodcut, lithography, and hand-coloring.
Theo George, first associate grade teacher, will have paintings in the Painting Center’s juried 30 under 30 online exhibition.
Science teacher Henry Kandel launched a nonprofit, the Psychedelic Yoga Research Collective, aimed at improving the results of psychedelic therapy through innovative body-mind methods.
Alisha Mascarenhas
Poetry teacher Alisha Mascarenhas contributed poetry to the book Blinded by Your Grace, a collaborative research project that examines risk as a gendered condition through storm chasing. Edited by Sarah Chaplin Esplenon, the project draws on and reframes existing photographic material made by women who intentionally move towards danger. The book was published this spring by Loose Joints, based in Marseille, where Alisha will also be participating in an artists' residency this summer. Blinded by Your Grace is available for purchase here
Leon Reid, art teacher, held an exhibition in May at a pop-up location in Greenpoint. The solo-show — which featured drawing, painting and sculpture — was in association with Greenpoint Open Studios.
Katie Scheele, oboe and yoga teacher, just released the album There's a Yearnin' with her woodwind quintet Wildebeest. The album (conceived by saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer Jeff Lederer) features music by Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Oliver Nelson, and Lederer. The album made its debut at Bang on a Can's Long Play Festival in May.
Susie Sokol, second grade head teacher and a member of the theater group Elevator Repair Service, performed in their Australian production of the show Gatz, as well as in a production at the University of Michigan.
Upper Middle School Office Manager Arden Stockdell-Giesler co-wrote the song “How Was I Supposed to Know?” off of Rachel Bochner’s forthcoming new album.
Larissa Tokomakova, Chair of the Art Department and art teacher, had two new editions of lithographs, from Jungle Press, debut in the IFPDA Print Fair at the Park Avenue Armory in April.
By Liam Flaherty ’85
Joe Flaherty was a writer who taught at Saint Ann’s from the late 1970s to mid 1980s. He was also my dad. But his Saint Ann’s story extends well past the window of time when he taught here. There are former students who still remember him, his books can be found in the Annie Bosworth Library, and his children and grandchildren are Saint Ann’s students—two of whom are still roaming 129 Pierrepont now. Remarkably, I am still roaming these halls too.
The good people of FAQ NYC: The New Yorkest Podcast tracked me down to talk to me about my father’s role as campaign manager in Norman Mailer’s 1969 run for mayor. It was a great talk: lots of old Brooklyn; Saint Ann’s back in the day; and the writing, bar, boxing, and racetrack culture that recedes each year.
The interview is also about the eternal now of our mighty city, and me, a grateful son, who is still bearing witness to it.
Click here to listen to The City podcast episode featuring Liam!
a bird chirping in the moonlight, wind howling
By Sophie B., 2nd grade
It is with deep gratitude and great optimism that we share an update on the leadership of our Board of Trustees.
After a lifetime of service to Saint Ann’s, culminating in her tenure as our Board President, Mary Watson '78 has decided to step down from this role and retire from the Board at the end of the current fiscal year on July 31. Josh Epstein '95 will succeed her as the next Board President.
It is hard to overstate Mary’s engagement and commitment to Saint Ann’s. She is an alumna and the parent of a Saint Ann’s graduate (class of 2016), and over the years has been a Latin and Language Structures teacher, Director of the After School Program, and Chair of the Classics and Asian Languages Department.
Mary served on the Board from 1996 to 2005, then spent two years as Dean of Faculty before returning in 2008. In her many leadership roles, Mary has been the torchbearer for our arts and humanities philosophy.
She is the first to proclaim the brilliance of our faculty, the extraordinariness of our students, and the essential value of learning for learning’s sake. The Board is enormously grateful for her decades of care and service to generations of students and teachers at Saint Ann’s.
Josh is a parent of three current students, and has served on the Board since 2021. His Board service is rooted in his own Saint Ann’s education, the many exceptional teachers and mentors who shaped it, and the conviction that current and future students deserve the same. The Board elected him with enthusiasm and looks forward to his leadership in the years ahead.
The Board wishes to acknowledge and thank the following trustee for her steadfast work on behalf of Saint Ann’s School.
Appointed in 2023, Alaina recently completed her three-year term as a Young Alumni Trustee. The Young Alumni program was designed to enhance the voices of the alumni community and increase a diversity of perspectives on the Board of Trustees. Alaina served on both the Advancement Committee and the Physical Facilities Committee at a unique time in our school’s history as we acquired 142 Pierrepont Street. Alaina will remain a committed alumna of Saint Ann’s and we are thankful to her for all her insight while a member of the Board.
Josh Epstein ’95 President
Tony Charuvastra Vice President
Dan Stone ’92 Treasurer
Tammy Belinfanti Secretary
Kit Tollerson ’04 At Large
This May, a group of college-aged alumni visited Saint Ann’s to share their collegiate experiences with our Class of 2026. The students asked questions, and the alums gave answers—candid, funny, and reassuring. It was the kind of honest exchange that feels like trademark Saint Ann’s.
But there was one moment in particular from the event that stayed with me. A senior asked the panel how they balance their social life with their academics. James Best ’24 answered by referring back to his years at Saint Ann’s. He reflected that while specific lessons from High School may fade, what he can recall without hesitation are the one-on-one conversations he had with teachers after class, and the hours spent with friends in the Stuce. He acknowledged the importance of studying and working hard, but impressed upon the soon-to-be graduates that “ultimately, it’s the people you meet that you remember.”
When I think of Saint Ann’s, just as James said, I think of the people. I think of the teachers capable of finding the spark within their students before those students even recognize it within themselves. I think of the friendships forged in classrooms and hallways, that decades later are still going strong. I think of how graduating classes come back together at their reunions, seamlessly falling back into banter that was fostered by years spent here all together, a shared history that can’t be replaced. From students and faculty who show us year after year that education can be powered by passion, to alumni whose connections from their school days have grown into lifelong personal and professional partnerships—our School now has sixty years of relationships in its books. For many, those memories have become a guiding light for the rest of their lives. Not every school leaves that kind of mark. But then again, Saint Ann’s was never every school.
To the alumni reading this, I hope you continue to stay connected with this community in whatever way feels most meaningful for you:
• Make plans to attend Alumni Day next May 15, 2027. Guests of honor will be the classes ending in 2s and 7s—if you would like to volunteer as a class representative, contact Jacob Goodhart (jgoodhart@ saintannsny.org).
• Keep your contact information up to date (email us at alumni@saintannsny.org to make any changes).
• Give a reading, speak to a class, share your professional expertise and experience. We love visitors!
• Follow our Facebook page (Saint Ann’s School Alumni News), as well as following us on LinkedIn, and Instagram
• Give a gift! Alumni donations to the Annual Fund are a chance to make contributions in honor or memory of a classmate, a teacher, or anyone who impacted your education.
• Suggest another idea! We’re all ears.
Thank you for keeping Saint Ann’s School’s rich history alive through your influence and input and for carrying on our legacy through all that you do. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or suggestions. I look forward to hearing from you!
With love,
Jacob Goodhart
Alumni Relations Manager
718.522.1660 Ext. 323 | jgoodhart@saintannsny.org
Alumni Day began with a panel discussion on the Constitution and its present-day application in higher education. The panel included Stanford Law professor Bernadette Meyler ’91, along with Susan Herman who is the inaugural Ruth Bader Ginsburg Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School and a parent of a Saint Ann’s alum, as well as Saint Ann’s history teacher Josie Ingall.
Afterwards, guests including alumni, current and former staff and faculty, and additional friends of Saint Ann’s gathered for a cocktail party celebrating Tony Thomas’s retirement after his 20+ tenure as a staple of our community. To finish the night, dinner was hosted for our alumni celebrating milestone years that graduated with classes ending in 1s and 6s.
In addition to the programming, there was a small collection of memories and mementos set up in the Undercroft as a small retrospective of Saint Ann’s past sixty years. Some items included were puppets from past parades, Mr. Turkey’s costume, and artifacts leftover from when our main building was known as the Crescent Club. If you have a memory of our School’s past that you would like to share, feel free to let us know by completing this form
To help transition our graduating seniors to college life, College Office Coordinator Celia Frey ’17 moderated a conversation with recent alumni currently in college. James Best ’24, Beckett McCann ’24, Jia Michel ’25, and Daphne Schisgall ’25 all joined us to share their experiences, challenges, and joys offering the Class of 2026 a glimpse of what they can expect as they prepare to begin their own college journeys.
On February 25, Saint Ann’s joined forces with The Packer Collegiate Institute, Poly Prep Country Day School, Brooklyn Friends School, and Berkeley Carroll School for the sixth installment of our joint alumni networking event, hosted this year at Packer. Sixty-five alumni from across the five schools gathered (twenty-five of whom were Saint Ann’s alumni) for an evening of food, drinks, and networking. Guests had the opportunity to receive professional headshots and connect with career coaches from within the five school’s alumni communities.
The evening’s keynote speaker was Lizzie Greenberg Livingston ’05, Vice President of Human Resources at the internationally renowned media company, MrBeast. She spoke on the importance of staying nimble throughout one’s career, and remaining open to the life-changing opportunities that can arise at any moment.
On February 2, alumni, students, parents/guardians, grandparents, faculty, staff, as well as former faculty and staff gathered for a First Monday Concert featuring Susanna Mendlow ’04 and Devree Lewis performing as their multi-genre duo, Cello, World. The duo, who arrange all of their own music, took the audience on a dynamic auditory adventure. Closing the concert, Susanna reflected on her time at Saint Ann's: "Saint Ann's taught me to love chamber music, and I urge everyone here to really listen to their music teachers. They really know what they're talking about!" To learn more about Cello, World and to see where they’re performing next, visit their website at celloworldduo.com.
In June, trustees Ashley Mathis ’08 and Chinyere Odim ’13 hosted a Black Alumni Happy Hour at DEIA in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Alumni representing graduating classes from 2005 to 2019 gathered to reminisce with old friends, make new connections, and celebrate the enduring spirit of Saint Ann’s.
Our biennial Alumni Auction showcases the incredibly diverse talents of our community. If you are an alum that makes, creates, paints, builds, invents, designs, writes, composes, acts, edits, directs, or owns something that you would like to put up for this online auction to go live in May 2027, please let us know by completing this form. All proceeds benefit financial aid.
See examples from last year's auction below.
by Kecia Benvenuto ’85
I lead PR, partnerships, and collaborations for Maison Iris van Herpen, an independent haute couture house based in Amsterdam. Iris’s work sits at the intersection of fashion, science, technology, and craft, guided by philosophy and a touch of mysticism. This May, after many years away, I came back to New York with the Maison for two weeks that felt both intense and strangely full circle.
The first week centered on a collaboration with Eileen Gu that was months in the making and culminated at the 2026 Met Gala. It was a delicate, breathing work created with the artists A.A. Murakami, a glass dress that releases helium-filled bubbles around the body. The second brought me back to Brooklyn for the opening of Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses at the Brooklyn Museum. Finding myself back where I grew up, in this context, compressed years of growth, beauty, and distance into a single Proustian blur.
Standing inside the Brooklyn Museum, surrounded by Iris’s work and inspirations, natural history specimens alongside haute couture savoir faire, I had the strange sensation of my professional life and my younger self briefly occupying the same body. It felt very Saint Ann’s to bring this experience back to my roots.
I arrived at the School at an age when you are still trying to understand whether your oddness is a problem or a compass. Saint Ann’s, at its best, made room for the compass. It didn’t teach me that I had to become one thing. It taught me, more dangerously and more usefully, that the interesting work often happens between things.
Growing up in 1980s New York, with Saint Ann’s as the nucleus, I learned to combine disciplines and references into ways of expressing myself. Teachers including Bob Perry, Martha Rubin, Vivian Swain, Ruth Chapman, and Roger Westerman helped me view education, and ultimately life, as an artistic, hands-on exploration: seek further, go deeper, mix your inquiries together, make something of your own.
At Iris van Herpen, my role is to translate her multiverse outward. That can mean working with journalists and institutions to shape the public story of a collection or exhibition, or building a collaboration with an artist, scientist, performer, or brand. It is glamorous from a distance. Up close, it is much more about logistics and diplomacy, and requires vigilance, long hours, and a fair amount of nerve.
When people ask what PR means in a context like this, I sometimes struggle with the term. PR can sound purely surface. I view it as stewardship and connection: understanding what is precious about a body of work and helping to give it relevance in the world without flattening it.
What made coming back to Brooklyn especially meaningful was sharing it with some of the people with whom I spent my adolescence exploring the world. Abby Stoddard ’84, Angie Lieber ’85, and Bettina Schneider ’85 joined me for the opening night. The night prior, I was lucky enough to have dinner with Abby Stoddard ’84, Nat Rubin ’85 and Margaret Lee ’84. For a moment, the distance between then and now felt very small. Not resolved, like a neat ending, but beautifully, messily alive.
the hot, a band featuring Michael Esper ’95 and Jeremy Harley ’94, recorded a new single, now available digitally and as a physical release. The recording was executive produced by Erich Bechtel ’93. The recording also features artists Ismail Lawal and Andy Bernick. The single can be ordered online for a minimal fee at https://rcarchives.com/thehot.htm or heard for free on the major streaming services. A new album of entirely different songs in English and Japanese will also be available sometime soon! Please like and follow us on Instagram @thehotplayitloud.
This May, I graduated from Azusa Pacific University with my Master’s in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. I completed the majority of this two-year program online while I taught English as a Foreign Language (EFL) full-time in southern Taiwan through the Fulbright Program. My decision to start teaching here four years ago was partially inspired by my love of language learning, specifically Mandarin, which I began at Saint Ann’s! Doing these simultaneously allowed me to enrich my theoretical knowledge with practical application in the classroom while forming and strengthening my beliefs about teaching, learning, and language.
This opportunity has also allowed me to see firsthand how English is used as a tool of imperialism, placed on a pedestal above my students’ indigenous and local languages. As a Black woman, I empathize with losing cultural artifacts, practices, and beliefs due to hegemonic influences. In turn, I’ve become aware of the space I occupy and the power I hold as an EFL teacher. I’m able to shift the narrative in my classroom and introduce English as one conduit to reach, teach, and learn from people around the world. I’m looking forward to using the perspectives gained through my Master’s to strengthen my applications to continue teaching in Taiwan!
As a recent (May 2026) college graduate, I feel as though the whole world is at my fingertips. So many possibilities, opportunities, and pathways to embark on. While this stage of life can feel scary and overwhelming at times, I remember how lucky I am to have so many years ahead of me. I'm experiencing a beginning and an end simultaneously — and my head is spinning a bit.
My passion for education, however, keeps me grounded. I majored in Education and Human Development at Boston University's Wheelock College and am starting Harvard's Graduate School of Education in August 2026. At Boston University I learned the value of the student-teacher relationship and that teaching goes far beyond dumping knowledge on students and expecting them to regurgitate it for a test. Of course, as a Saint Ann's alum, I already understood this deeply. My experience at Saint Ann's prepared me for class discussions (a huge aspect during class at Wheelock), and taught me that learning is interdisciplinary, creative, multicultural, and ongoing.
As I begin a new chapter at Harvard, I look forward to gaining insight into ethical leadership while using the lessons I learned at Saint Ann's to stay grounded and focus on the joy of cultivating learning through students' natural curiosity.
Here, Among the dozen shining infernos, A ball of fire, Born from ash and gas, This expanding explosion, Lies in our galaxy, What used to be as small as a boulder, Is now what gives a way to live, And soon, will be our end
By Sky L., 5th Grade
We learned that former faculty member Kendra Graham passed away on February 15, at her home in Sagle, Idaho. Kendra worked in the Lower School from 1967–1970, and then again for the 1971–72 school year. She began her teaching career at Saint Ann’s and remained a teacher for her entire life. You can read her full obituatry here
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