Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Annual Day: 2011


It has been two weeks since Annual Day; we are pleased to announce that the day ran smoothly! The day ran with minimal difficulty, and that is all thanks to the many people who contributed to the event over the past seven months.
We would like to thank everyone who was involved in Annual Day this year, especially our wonderful speakers:
Thomas Reeves
Nicola Rooney
Csaba Csere
Dr. Steven Gay
Maria Thompson
Clayton Bruce Bartley
Barbara A. Tucker
Brian Delaney
Aradhna Krishna
Thomas Hoatlin
Julia Hawley
Carolyn DeChants
Tory Dicarlo
Howard Booth
Emily Blauw
Andy Buchsbaum
Professor Martin Katz
Susan J. Ashford
John Whittier-Ferguson
Elaine Chottiner

We also extend our thanks to our keynote speaker Michael Oneal and our panelists Christopher Farah and Professor Ralph Williams. We are grateful to have been able to work with you all.

In addition, we want to thank members of the class of 2012 who volunteered as greeters:
Sean Saint
Mathew Fligiel
Cameron Talbot
Sarah Higdon
Olivia Post
Ella Firnhaber
Katie Irani
Marina King
Marjorie Totten
Larisa Svintsitski
Lauren Satterwhite
Megan Doherty
Carrie Wixom
Maddie Csere
Anna Pan
Julia Kong
Katherine Krauss
Isabel Maier
Xander Johnson
Sarah Sloan

Thanks as well to Nick Strayer, Jeff Bord, and Shamik Ganguly for assisting speakers when they encountered technical problems.

Our speaker lounge refreshments were provided by Zingerman’s and Moonwinks.

This day could not have been possible without the assistance of the entire Greenhills faculty, including John Nickel, Susan Strange, Eric Gajar, Teresa Jong, Margarite Fourcroy, Dave Early, and our faculty advisor Dr. Roohi Baveja. Without her help, the day would have been a shadow of what it was.

It was deeply gratifying to us all to see 7 months worth of teamwork come together in a single day. We were thrilled to note how interested students were in all of their sessions, and in the lecture of keynote speaker Michael Oneal. After Mr. Oneal finished his speech about following his passion for journalism, students and visiting speakers alike were bursting with questions for him. During the day, the halls were strikingly silent, a significant contrast from the boisterous festivities of Spirit Week the day before. Looking into any classroom would give the observer a glimpse of genuinely focused students, hearing lectures on topics from medicine to law to music to service to pole vaulting. We would like to thank the students for their respectful participation.
Perhaps one of the most magical moments of the day was the afternoon assembly, in which students were spellbound by the captivating words of Professor Ralph Williams, who spoke about his experience working with writer/director Chris Farah on his latest film, Answer This! Both Farah and Williams then answered questions for the student body. Many students remained after the lecture was released to meet the panelists in person.
After viewing clips of the movie, students were eager to see the film in its entirety. More information on it can be found here: http://answerthismovie.com/
One of the most wonderful things about the day was that every speaker who set foot on campus was gracious and eloquent; every speaker has also had at least one student rave about their lecture to a friend on the committee. We would love to welcome back any and all of them someday in the future!
Thank you to the speakers, students, families, and faculty members for their contribution to the event.