What happens after Penn Charter? We asked alumni to reflect on the moments, mentors, and experiences that shaped their paths—and how those lessons continue to guide them today.

Q: What is your current employment, education program, or passion project?
A: I'm currently a freelance video editor and producer with a focus on music and technology. I've worked on projects with Harry Styles, Billie Eilish and Travis Scott and companies like Google, Square and Nike.

Q: How did your experience at PC prepare you for your personal and professional life?
A: I always felt like the teachers and faculty treated me like an adult. Whether that was reporting to Ms. Landon as editor-in-chief of The Mirror, pitching The Wednesday Weekly to Mr. Larabee and Mr. McCluskey or putting together Showcase with Mr. Fitz. As students, we were given the freedom to experiment and see how the community took to our (sometimes crazy) ideas.

Q: What extracurricular activities were you involved in?
A: I created the Wednesday Weekly (a weekly news-ish show shown during advisory) because I wanted to find a fun and engaging way to let the school know what was happening on campus. As helpful as that was to everyone else, it also became an outlet for me to grow as a filmmaker, making mini-documentary pieces of students and the happenings at Penn Charter. Ultimately, the weekly cadence of that show taught me how to edit videos so quickly, and working with Mr. Dziedzic (our Executive Producer!) pushed me to highlight the incredible parts of the PC community.

Q: What person, course, or experience most influenced you while at PC?
A: My junior year we wanted to do the final Showcase on the lawn outside the Kurtz Center. What followed was a full-on marketing rollout, mostly masterminded by Jimmy Paolini OPC ‘15, in which hundreds of flyers were posted that said only “MAY 9TH.” A few days later, they were swapped out for signs that read “MAY 9TH KIDDER’S BIRTHDAY” (a nod to senior Kidder Erdman’s actual birthday). Eventually, the final signs were put up announcing the Outdoor Showcase, coinciding with the first (of many) musical parodies aired on the Wednesday Weekly. This time, we spoofed Frozen with “Do you want to come to Showcase?” Those outdoor Showcases were so special because it really felt like a big community effort to help get the stages put up and the sound system built, along with probably our biggest turnout of the year. Helping manage these types of big projects and events really taught me how to collaborate and execute on what I was passionate about.

Q: Do you have a favorite PC memory?
A: During my sophomore year running cross country, state championships happened during basically a blizzard. It was snowing at Belmont Plateau and I was freezing, yet somehow I ran my personal best that day, which Coach Farrell wouldn’t let me forget until I finally beat it senior year. I still claim it was because I was cold and wanted the race to be over as soon as possible.

Connect with Jeffrey:
Visit his Website and/or his Instagram account.

More than 100 alumni came together for the OPCs of Color Fall Gathering on Tuesday, Nov. 25, filling the evening with warmth, reconnection and PC pride. The annual celebration highlighted the bonds OPCs share with one another and with the broader PC community, creating a space for conversation, reflection and gratitude on the eve of Thanksgiving.

The program was an opportunity for alumni to learn ways to deepen their engagement with Penn Charter and help shape the next generation of Quakers. Options include  mentoring current students, as well as supporting the Cheryl Irving Student Diversity Conference (April 18), participating in the Kenny Caldwell Kickball Tournament, connecting with the Black Student Union, and exploring the Independent School Teaching Fellows (ISTF) program.

Head of School Karen Warren Coleman thanked OPCs for their continued care and support for their alma mater, and for the many ways they "continue to both enrich our community and make Penn Charter proud.”

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We are grateful to every OPC who attended and contributed to the spirit of the evening. Penn Charter is excited to strengthen connections among community members. For additional information on alumni engagement opportunities, please contact Amanda Medina León, director of alumni engagement, at amedinaleon@penncharter.com; or Ashley Augustin, director of DEIB, at aaugustin@penncharter.com.

Penn Charter hosts Germantown Academy on Nov. 8, 2025.

139 years of competition continues! All PC students, families, faculty, and staff, and alumni are invited to attend. Learn more about this long-standing competition, which features the oldest continuous high school football rivalry in the United States. Go Charter!

Golf will play prior to PC/GA Day, on Wednesday, Nov. 5 at Huntingdon Valley Country Club. Each of the school's other fall sports will compete against GA beginning at 9:00 a.m. with boys and girls cross country. View the schedule of events and family-friendly activities.

Starting with the close-knit Class of 1965, PC graduates returned to their alma mater in May for OPC Weekend 2025. On Friday, May 2, the 132nd Awards Ceremony honored distinguished alumni and dedicated teachers. And on Saturday, May 3, the celebration continued with the OPCs of Color Brunch and, in the evening, individual reunions for classes with graduation years ending in 5 and 0.

Debbie White, who is retiring this year after 37 years of teaching and coaching, and Naveena Bembry, who taught for 25 years and now supports educators of color through the Independent School Teaching Fellows program, both received Honorary 1689 diplomas. This honor is given to members of the PC community who show extraordinary commitment to the school by demonstrating pride and excellence in the performance of their duties and by consistently providing encouragement and support to the student body.

Ed Marks received the John F. Gummere Distinguished Teacher Award "honoring those who have demonstrated outstanding scholarship, teaching and character, and whose work in their field, rapport with students and colleagues, and contributions to the intellectual field of the school merit recognition.” In her introduction of Marks, Social Studies Department chair Brooke Stratton said, "Ed's legacy is not merely in what he taught, but in how. He created spaces where students felt safe to express their opinions and where diverse perspectives were valued." 

John P. Grotzinger OPC '75 received the David P. Montgomery OPC '64 Alumni Award of Merit, given to a graduate whose character and outstanding achievement have reflected lasting credit upon Penn Charter. Grotzinger currently teaches geology at the California Institute of Technology and was previously chief scientist for NASA's Mars Rover Curiosity mission. His research includes the origin and early evolution of life on Earth, and the comparative evolution of Earth and Mars.

Caesar D. Williams OPC '80 was awarded the David P. Montgomery OPC '64 Alumni Award of Merit posthumously. Williams was a Penn Charter "lifer," parent and member of the Board of Trustees. An integral part of the school, even after he – and eventually his daughter, Tyler OPC '15 – graduated, he never missed Color Day, the All-School Meeting for Worship, or an OPCs of Color Brunch.

In a reflection of our community, many former and retired educators returned to Old Penn Charter to celebrate the 50th reunion class and the current PC teachers who were honored at the ceremony. Former Head of School Earl J. Ball Hon. 1689 presented the Honorary 1689 diploma to Debbie White. Richard Pepino, who taught chemistry 1973-77, was invited by the Class of 1975, which fondly remembers him. Retired Lower School teachers Judy Morrow, Chris (Christoph) Fabian, Maria-Odilia Romeu and Vicki Miles, retired Middle School math teacher Bill Goulding, and retired Upper School teachers Sandy Portnoy and Bruce MacCullough celebrated Naveena Bemby and Ed Marks.

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As sometimes happens, life has come full circle for Melissa Knight Atkins OPC ’01. 

As an Upper School student, Atkins volunteered at the Whosoever Gospel Mission in Germantown, a longtime PC community partner, under the guidance of Jim Ballengee Hon. 1689, founder of the Center for Public Purpose. “I liked the guys at Whosoever,” she said. “They were trying to get their lives together and were just good people.” 

Now, as a partner at the law firm Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP, Atkins has chosen to commit her pro bono hours to providing free legal advice to Whosoever, which provides food, shelter, clothing, education and counseling to men in need. 

Giving back and helping others was ingrained into Atkins and her sister by their parents. Her father worked for the Philadelphia Housing Authority as director of tenant services, and her mother was an administrative assistant for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. “My dad, especially, always had us involved in service,” Atkins recalled. 

As a three-sport athlete, Atkins’ high school years were already crowded. She played soccer and lacrosse, switching to track her senior year, but where she really stood out was on the basketball court. The girls varsity basketball program was not as well established as it is today. The team used the Old Gym, relied heavily on parent and caregiver volunteers, and played a much shorter schedule. Nevertheless, they won the Inter-Ac Championship in 1997-98, Atkins’s freshman year, and she co-captained the team as a senior, averaging 24 points, 10 rebounds and four assists per game. Atkins graduated as PC’s all-time leading girls scorer with 1,535 points. (She now ranks third.) 

A First-Team All-State selection, Atkins received a full athletic scholarship to the University of Miami, where she started more games than any other freshman. A Miami media guide called her “an extremely gifted shooter” and “one of the best defensive players on the roster.” Despite setbacks caused by two serious knee injuries, Atkins had perhaps her best game for the Hurricanes as a senior, when she scored 23 points and shot 5-6 from behind the three-point line in a win at Clemson. 

After considering the possibility of playing basketball professionally overseas, Atkins decided instead to attend law school at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Ala. She returned to Philadelphia and private practice for two years but said that a turning point in her career came in 2013, when she joined the Philadelphia City Solicitor’s Office. 

“It was life-changing for me to go there,” Atkins recalled. “It teaches you how to be an attorney.” What she means is that while law school may train students on technical points of the law and how to analyze a case, it does not teach them how to be an effective advocate or think on their feet. “In the city solicitor’s office, it’s sink or swim,” Atkins laughed. “On my first day, they handed me dozens of cases and I thought, okay, I’ve got to figure this out.” For more than five years, Atkins worked first in the Health and Adult Services Unit and then in the Labor and Employment Unit. 

In 2018, Atkins moved in-house to insurance firm Chubb, where she represented some of the company’s clients in employment and discrimination cases. As a partner at Obermayer since April 2021, Atkins has developed a wide-ranging practice, advising private clients on matters ranging from employment leaves and discipline to sexual harassment investigations. She also advises various municipalities around the commonwealth in labor negotiations, including Whitemarsh Township, West Chester Borough and the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, among others. 

The work has earned her national recognition, and she is frequently called upon for press comment. Just this year, Atkins has been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal about corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and by The Washington Post and Financial Times about labor relations. City & State Pennsylvania named her to its Black Trailblazers Power List, writing, “With an unwavering dedication to labor and employment law, Atkins fearlessly advocates for employers in a multitude of spheres.” 

As part of its commitment to pro bono work, Obermayer allows all its lawyers to dedicate 50 hours of work each year to a cause or organization of their choosing. Recalling the lessons her parents instilled and her service work at PC, Atkins chose to assist Whosoever. 

“‘Good instruction is better than riches,’ rings true, especially as you get older and wiser,” Atkins said. “You really do start to look at the world differently. The education and the foundation that you receive as a student at PC is invaluable as you progress in your career and in life.” 

– Mark Bernstein OPC '79

The end-of-year ceremonies marking the graduations of fifth grade, eighth grade, and seniors can be watched live (and recorded) online. 

Fifth Grade Ceremony (recorded)     Eighth Grade Ceremony (recorded)
 

Watch Commencement
Saturday, June 8, 10:30 a.m.

Important reminder for all: Commencement tickets are required on Saturday, regardless of whether the ceremony is outdoors as planned or indoors. Tickets will be collected at all gates and entrances. It is important that you bring your tickets, and we thank you in advance.

Hundreds of graduate returned to campus for the 131st Old Penn Charter Weekend on May 3 and 4, reconnecting with former classmates and educators during events such as the Annual Awards Ceremony, campus tours, the All-School Art Show, the OPCs of Color Brunch, and athletic contests.

View Video View photos

Reunions for classes ending in 4 and 9 attracted a large number of alumni at venues across PC and Philadelphia. Many attendees started the weekend's festivities at the Annual Awards Ceremony in the Meeting Room on May 3.

Chris Burnett, a fifth grade teacher at PC since 1997, and Sandy Carpino, the school's receptionist since 1997, received Honorary 1689 diplomas, given to members of the PC community who show extraordinary commitment to the school by demonstrating pride and excellence in the performance of their duties and by consistently providing encouragement and support to the student body.

Craig J. Sabatino OPC '74 received the David P. Montgomery OPC '64 Alumni Award of Merit, given to a graduate whose character and outstanding achievement have reflected lasting credit upon Penn Charter.

The co-founder of INTECH Construction, Sabatino has partnered extensively with Penn Charter and many other independent schools in the region on major building initiatives. At PC, INTECH has helped bring to the life the Richard B. Fisher OPC '53 Middle School, the Kline & Specter Squash Center, the Graham Athletics & Wellness Center, and many playing fields. Currently, INTECH is partnering with Penn Charter to build the future Richard A. Balderston OPC '69 Lower School.

Atiba Wade OPC ’95 has an expression he uses often: When preparation meets opportunity, success is the result. Wade is always prepared, opportunity often finds him, and success has been the upshot of his varied career.

As a student athlete at Penn Charter, Atiba Wade was always in the pool. He played water polo and swam the 100-meter breaststroke, 200-yard individual medley, 100-yard freestyle—“whatever Reece Whitley swam,” he said, laughing about the PC phenom who would follow him, graduating in 2018. “All the records that Reece has, I once had.”

Wade also swam for the storied PDR Swimming, founded and coached by American Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Famer Jim Ellis. PDR, which stands for both Philadelphia Department of Recreation and the more inspirational Pride, Determination, Resilience, was the first Black swim team in the country.

When the 2007 film Pride, based on the story of Jim Ellis, was in production, Wade got an email from his friend, a sports agent, suggesting that Wade be a swim double for a lead actor in the movie. As a former competitive swimmer, Wade was able to work with the director to add authenticity to his scenes. After all, Wade said, “You couldn’t pick a better double than someone who was actually a part of the PDR team.”

This experience would kick off a new career for Wade. Preparation meets opportunity.

Wade, an art major at the University of Georgia, where he was an NCAA All-American swimmer, had moved in 2004 to the vibrant art scene of Santa Fe, N.M., where he was a swim coach and a professional swimmer. Through the Santa Fe Photographic Workshop, he assembled a photographic portfolio and submitted it to talent agencies. “And then,” Wade said, “I got pointed in the direction of doing some background work for movies because there's a movie scene in New Mexico.” His first role was as a prison guard in the crime thriller Shot Caller.

After that, Wade focused on coaching swimmers and training other athletes at his fitness company, H2Go, when a stunt coordinator reached out. Next thing Wade knew, he was in Alaska, followed by New York, working as a stunt double for Giancarlo Esposito for the Netflix series Kaleidoscope.

While filming Kaleidoscope in 2021, preparation met opportunity once again when underwater cinematographer Peter Zuccarini, whose credits include Avatar: Way of the Water, asked Wade if he wanted to work on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Once Wade realized that Zuccarini was “the Steven Speilberg of underwater videography,” he was wowed by the offer but also well prepared for the challenge. “It's like you're dribbling on the basketball court, and Phil Jackson comes up to you and says, ‘Hey, kid, you’ve got talent. You want to come work with me?’”

Wade traveled from New York to Atlanta and ended up on the set of the Ryan Coogler-directed Marvel movie for two months. His swimming and gymnastics background had prepared him for his role as a sailor in the Wakanda navy. Led by stunt coordinator Andy Gill, he worked with dancers and gymnasts, Cirque du Soleil performers and katana specialists.

“You have people whose sole job is to be able to ride a horse, fire arrows and fall off the horse,” he said of the stunt team. “Or people whose thing is being lit on fire. That's their specialty. To be able to use my skill set in that environment and to be able to add value to the project was phenomenal.”

A world away from Hollywood, Wade also uses his skill set working with Wounded Warriors— injured soldiers and veterans in the Army Recovery Care Program. Serving the program since 2015, he eventually became head swim coach of Team Army, a role he holds currently, while working with veterans of the Air Force and Navy as well.

“It really shaped or redefined my definition of the word can’t,” Wade said. “And being able to journey through that with these soldiers and veterans really helped create a new perspective for me.”

In 2022, he coached Team USA at the Invictus Games, in The Hague. In the games, founded in 2013 by the Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, injured veterans compete in adaptive sports, embodying resilience. Invictus means “unconquered.”

If Wade has made a difference in the lives of injured soldiers, they have made a difference in his, too. He has become a better person and a better coach through this work, he says. “Being able to creatively use my skill set in that environment really just took my coaching to another level.”

– Rebecca Luzi

As assisting clinical director for a nonprofit organization that supports people with autism, Chelsea Erdmanis Greenspon OPC ’02 learned to give back to the community as a PC lifer.

For Greenspon, Penn Charter was very much a family affair. Her father, Val Erdmanis, was a longtime wrestling coach and a Lower School physical education teacher for 40 years before he retired in 2017. She also got to walk the halls for more than a decade with her younger sister, Devon Erdmanis D’Alessio OPC ’04.

“Before starting school here in kindergarten,” Greenspon said, “I went to my first PC wrestling match when I was three weeks old. I’ve always said that I grew up here.”

So maybe it was only natural that Greenspon, through her career, would lead a life that makes a difference by supporting families. In fact, she credits Penn Charter for planting that seed, tracing her interest in helping others to a video about eating disorders she watched in seventh grade health class.

“Finding and honing that passion is one thing I loved about PC,” she said. “The person I am, the values I hold—I owe a ton of that to [Penn Charter], and Quaker values were a huge part of that. It’s been incredibly influential

in my professional life and my life as a whole.” Taking Intro to Psychology, taught by the late Joe Perrott Hon. 1689, during her senior year only “sealed the deal,” she said, in pursuing her mission beyond Penn Charter.

Greenspon received a BA in psychology from Lehigh University, followed by an MA in counseling psychology from the College of New Jersey. She interned with an eating disorder unit before deciding she had other interests, pivoting in 2009 to work as a psychotherapist for Thomas Jefferson University, assisting clients with substance abuse issues. Greenspon continued this work part-time while eventually earning a doctorate in clinical psychology at Chestnut Hill College.

“It was always the plan for me to get my doctorate,” she said. “Getting that experience before and during my doctoral program made my current work more meaningful.”

Greenspon first went to work for SPIN Inc. as a pre-doctoral intern and became a full-time licensed psychologist for the organization in 2018.

The nonprofit is a leading provider of support for children and adults with autism and intellectual and developmental disabilities in greater Philadelphia and the Lehigh Valley. In her current role since August 2020 as assisting clinical director, Greenspon supervises interns, therapists and clinical supervisors, and performs diagnostic evaluations for individuals—primarily ages 2-21—at risk for autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

In addition to PC, she credits her mother, who worked in autism support classrooms with the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit for 25 years, with steering her toward this type of work with SPIN. “It’s an amazing company,” she said. “Very family friendly, and I mostly work with low- income families on medical assistance. Helping underserved communities who don’t have great access to mental health resources is an important value of mine.”

Greenspon has also started her own private practice, Greenspon Assessment and Consultation, offering autism, ADHD, neurodevelopmental and learning disability evaluations and referrals. She works with families in applying to area schools, including Penn Charter, for admissions testing. For Greenspon, who played field hockey and lacrosse at PC and was also involved with Quakers Dozen and the theater program, it was important to remain close to her alma mater. For the past 15 years, she’s been an Alumni Society director.

“I’ve always joked that I can’t stay away,” she said. “This place raised me. It’s a way for me to stay connected and give back to the broader OPC community.”

She has been married to Brian Greenspon OPC ’02, a nurse at Wills Eye Hospital emergency room in Center City, since 2015. The couple has two young children: Caroline and James. Being a parent has only added value to Chelsea’s work with kids. “I’ve definitely gained more perspective and empathy for parents in doing family therapy,” she said. “It’s so challenging, but I try to help families make changes by meeting them where they are.”

Penn Charter taught Greenspon more than academic skillsets, she said. “It also taught me to be a good citizen in the world. You don’t get that from every school. It’s more than just academics—it’s teaching values and how to be a good human being.” 

– Ed Morrone OPC '04

PC/GA Weekend kicked off with a celebratory evening at the 14th Annual Athletic Honor Society Induction Banquet, newly named after Raymond R. Dooney Hon. 1689, on Nov. 10 at Vie in Philadelphia.

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Six individuals, one coach and four teams were recognized for the contributions they made to PC athletics during their time as student athletes.

Thank you to all of the OPCs, faculty, staff, coaches and friends who attended the event and congratulations our Class of 2023 Inductees! 

Individuals
James Davis OPC '59 
Ed Yaeger OPC '93 
Larry Storm OPC '96 
Tyrone Tolbert OPC '96
Lauren Cash OPC '03
Bridget McDugall OPC '07
Donald (Doc) Mittica, coach

Teams
1980 Boys Tennis
1998 Girls Cross Country
2007 Boys Water Polo
2013 Girls Soccer

More than 300 graduates returned to campus for the 130th Old Penn Charter Weekend on May 5 and 6, reconnecting with former classmates and educators during events such as the Annual Awards Ceremony, Memorial Meetings for Worship, the OPCs of Color Brunch, athletic contests, and the All-School Art Show.

View photos

Eleven reunions also attracted a large number of alumni at venues across PC and Philadelphia. OPCs traveled from 25 different states, and Israel, to be part of the festivities. 

"The strength of our alumni is unmatched," said Chris Rahill OPC '99, PC's associate director of development. "OPC Weekend is a reminder that Penn Charter is about the people."

Several of these people were honored during the Annual Awards Ceremony on May 5.

Jerome Allen, a member of PC's facilities and transportation teams, and Jennifer Ketler, a math teacher and Middle School coach, received Honorary 1689 diplomas, given to members of the PC community who show extraordinary commitment to the school by demonstrating pride and excellence in the performance of their duties and by consistently providing encouragement and support to the student body.

"The countless relationships that I have developed with students, and the fact that I get to see them continue to succeed in high school is such a valuable gift," Ketler said after receiving her Hon. 1689 diploma. "When people ask me why Penn Charter, I always credit the amazing students that we have."

Math teacher, coach and former Upper School administrator Brian McCloskey OPC '82 received the John F. Gummere Distinguished Teacher Award, given to those who have demonstrated outstanding scholarship, teaching and character, and whose work in their field, rapport with students and colleagues, and contributions to the intellectual life of the school merit recognition. 

"The emphasis on community and the fostering of strong teacher-student relationships is what makes Penn Charter special," McCloskey said after accepting the award. "This school has given me the opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives of countless students, and for that, I will always be grateful."
 

Steven A. Balbus OPC '71 received the David P. Montgomery OPC '64 Alumni Award of Merit, given to a graduate whose character and outstanding achievement have reflected lasting credit upon Penn Charter.

A theoretical astrophysicist, Balbus is a Salvian Professor of Astronomy and a Professorial Fellow of New College at the University of Oxford, England. He has made widely-recognized contributions to the understanding of accretion discs, dilute gases and the interior of the sun.

On May 6, the lives of long-time faculty member Buff Wiegand Hon. 1689 and long-time Board of Trustees member Caesar D. Williams, Jr. OPC '80 were remembered at separate Memorial Meetings for Worship. The annual OPCs of Color Brunch was in honor of Caesar.
 

Since graduating from Penn Charter, Kamal Marell OPC ’06 has been an educator, a social worker, a collaborator and an advocate. Perhaps mostly, he is a relationship builder.

Marell is executive director of a nonprofit coffee shop in Philadelphia. Although it serves up lattés and breakfast paninis to local families and professionals, the Monkey and the Elephant isn’t just a café— it doubles as an employment training program for young adults ages 18-24 who have aged out of foster care.

Former foster kids, Marell said, “are often forgotten about in the city and on the national level. The services they receive drop drastically after they reach 18, and they aren’t necessarily given the tools to help navigate the next phase of their adult lives.” Resources that are available to them are difficult to navigate.

This is where the Monkey and the Elephant comes in. What began as a pop-up around the city is now a brick-and-mortar shop in Brewerytown committed to paying young people a liveable wage while providing employment training—transferable skills they can use in future jobs, like customer service, and opening and closing the shop. Optional shift-leader training goes a step further, teaching management skills and helping participants earn state certification in food service management.

Partnering with city organizations such as the Department of Human Services, Philadelphia Youth Network and the Achieving Independence Center, the Monkey and the Elephant also provides housing resources and financial literacy programming. And for those young people who have dropped out of high school or want to continue their education, Marell helps connect them with trade schools and the Community College of Philadelphia, which offers GED exam preparation courses and a path to a college education.

The goal, Marell said of his work with former foster children, “is making sure they are empowered individuals ready to thrive in the early phases of their young adult lives.”

What drew him to this work? “The satisfaction of knowing that I am using my resources and my network to help change the trajectory of young adults' lives,” he answered. “And as a Black man, I know that young adults who are Black and brown between 18 and 24 are disproportionately left out when it comes to certain access and opportunities.”

Marell’s career trajectory has focused on nonprofits since he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Clemson University in 2010 and returned to Philadelphia to work as a family services case manager and an adoption and kinship care manager. While earning an MEd in urban education and leadership at Temple University, he continued to serve the city’s youth, first as a programming coordinator at People’s Emergency Center and then as a program manager for parents and children.

Before that, Marell spent a year in the pilot group of the Independent Schools Teaching Fellows Program of Greater Philadelphia—a PC- initiated program—learning to teach middle school civics at both Penn Charter and the nearby St. James School. Looking through a teacher’s lens and comparing the educational access of the young adults he worked with at PC and those he has worked with in social services has made him determined to find a leadership position to effect change, to help young people create their own supportive community.

He began to understand the educational landscape, he said, “not only as someone who worked in social services but someone who cares about educational policy and what that looks like for different groups of kids throughout the country.”

Moving forward, Marell sees himself continuing to be a thought leader and an advocate in the city of Philadelphia as well as applying his experience with the Monkey and the Elephant to build bridges between corporate partners and communities. “A lot of issues can be solved,” he said, “if there are conversations between for-profits and nonprofits to see how we can make communities better for the next generation.”

Marell wants to expand educational access and opportunities for “thoughtful and intentional community programming—listening to what community members need and working on their behalf.” He envisions corporate partners learning about the specific barriers a population faces, from housing to mental health support to food security, and then using their influence and resources to provide solutions. And he wants to make that happen. His education and his experience in city social services have led him here.

“At the end of the day,” he said, “what I’m doing, how I'm serving and who I’m serving has been influenced by Penn Charter—in a way that’s intentional.”

 – Rebecca Luzi

Passing through Penn Charter in the first modern-day coed class was a gratifying and demanding experience for Catherine McGuckin Cantlin OPC '92.

On top of the ordinary trials of adolescence, Cantlin and her female classmates faced the unusual challenge of integrating into an institution that hadn’t graduated girls since the late 1800s.

In retrospect, it was a challenge that prepared her well for life beyond the red doors. “I think a lot of us went into male- dominated professions as a result of being in that environment— myself included,” she said.

Cantlin, now an executive director at project management firm MACRO, a Savills company, draws on her dual training in architecture and business to develop and manage construction projects for a wide range of clients in the corporate, state, education and health care sectors. Navigating her professional life, she found, has not been so dissimilar from navigating Penn Charter. “When I started my career,” Cantlin said, “I was outnumbered in a male-dominated profession and I had to prove myself a little more.”

And prove herself she did, so much so that Cantlin was charged with representing Comcast Corporation and NBC10/Telemundo62 for the new Comcast Technology Center in downtown Philadelphia. The 60-story skyscraper, completed in 2018, is the tallest in the commonwealth, capped by the highest-altitude hotel in the country and a restaurant helmed by a Michelin-starred chef. Its one-and-a-half- million-square-foot floor plan boasts television studios, shops, offices, a bi-level commissary and a massive fitness center.

Her expertise in both architecture and business made Cantlin well equipped to manage the various interests involved in such a formidable undertaking. “It was an incredible project to be a part of, not just the design or the construction, but the entire project from beginning to end,” she explained. After seven years at PC, Cantlin completed a bachelor’s degree in arts and science at Lehigh University, a master’s in architecture at the Catholic University of America and, more than a decade later, an MBA from Saint Joseph’s University. “I got my business degree because I wanted to learn about the business side of what I do,” she said, “but I’ve realized how much that training applies to good project management, too.”

Cantlin cites Philadelphia’s rich architectural landscape as an inspiration for her professional path, and after several years spent honing her craft in Washington, D.C., she hurried home when an opportunity to work in construction management presented itself. “I’m a huge fan of Philadelphia,” Cantlin said. “It’s a beautiful city, and it’s wonderful right now because there’s so much activity and development. We have all these great universities and hospitals and people who want to live here.”

Twenty-odd years since returning to the City of Brotherly Love, Cantlin has already helped etch new contours into its skyline, and her influence continues to spread. One of her latest projects is on behalf of National Real Estate Development for the Jefferson Health Specialty Care Pavilion, which will bring together more than a dozen specialized health care practices. Cantlin’s connection to Penn Charter runs deep. She was preceded at PC by a generation of McGuckins—father Robert OPC ’57 and uncles James OPC ’48 and William OPC ’52—and overlapped at School House Lane with her cousin Jeffrey OPC ’88. The Kurtz Center’s band room is graced by a McGuckin family Steinway piano, a gift from her Aunt Carol and Uncle Bill McGuckin in recognition of Bill’s parents’ love for the school.

In 2013, Cantlin was recognized by the Athletic Honor Society for her accomplishments as a three-sport varsity athlete in field hockey, swimming and lacrosse. She was a “pioneer” for girls athletics at PC who helped set high standards for the program, former athletics director Debbie White remarked at the time. The Class of 1992’s girls embraced that pioneer mentality without letting it go to their heads. “We took pride in the fact that we were the flag bearers,” Cantlin remembered,
“but a big focus was doing well and setting a good example for what having girls at Penn Charter would be like.”

The Quaker values of community and humility have stuck with Cantlin since graduation, despite her professional distinction. “It’s funny: I didn’t realize it until I got older,” she said, “but certain traits I hold profoundly close are in large part due to Penn Charter.” Nowadays, her “biggest passion”— skyscrapers aside—is raising her three children, ages 11, 13 and 14.

– Ray Bailey OPC '09

Law enforcement is grueling work, and police officers handle the physical and emotional stresses in different ways. Edward Doyle-Gillespie OPC ’88 writes poetry.

An 18-year veteran of the Baltimore Police Department, now with the rank of detective, Doyle-Gillespie has published four collections of poetry. His experiences on the street inform his creative work but don’t define it. Doyle- Gillespie said he draws material from whatever he sees around him, extracting vivid detail from the situations and communities he has encountered. Consider, for example, his poem, “First On the Scene,” which he says illustrates the strange intimacy between officer and stranger:

It is late in the shift,
and I am breathing you in.
It has been six months
since anyone has seen you,
smelled your ox tails and rice,
heard the muttered oaths
as you pace the third-floor hall
in rubber flip flops.

He is a full-time police officer and a part-time poet, Doyle-Gillespie said, but he likes both and believes they complement each other. He keeps a journal and makes time to write at night and on weekends. “The poetry comes in fits and starts,” he said.

Doyle-Gillespie has always been hard to pigeonhole, ever since his days at Penn Charter, where he played lacrosse, participated in Model UN, and sang in Charter Singers. Faculty influences were equally diverse, naturally including English teachers such as Henry Bender, Joe Perrott and Christopher Teare, but also history teacher John Burkhart OPC ’72 and music teacher Jack Pierpont.

Had things worked out differently, Doyle-Gillespie might have become a military officer. He majored in history at George Washington University and joined ROTC, but an injury forced him to rethink his career plans. After graduating, Doyle-Gillespie taught high school English, first in Toledo, Ohio and then in Baltimore City Public Schools.

Doyle-Gillespie might have followed that path but for another turn of events. He enrolled in a master of liberal arts program at Johns Hopkins University, starting classes on the fateful day of Sept. 11, 2001. The 9/11 attacks affected him deeply. “Okay, I'm going to get that master's degree, I’m going to earn a black belt, and I'm going to go protect people from bad guys,” he recalled thinking. Doyle-Gillespie did all three and joined the Baltimore police force as a beat cop in 2005.

He was initially assigned to a special task force for the Pennsylvania Avenue corridor, a high crime area that runs through the heart of the city. Doyle-Gillespie says he saw a lot of violence and was once shot at on patrol. Though he had started writing poetry in college, attracted to the “economy of language,” he began to do so more seriously while working on the police force, finding it a way to relax, make sense of his experiences, and cultivate the creative side of his nature. His first collection of poetry, Masala Tea and Oranges, was published in 2010, followed by three others in the next decade.

For the last several years, Doyle-Gillespie has had a new, and in some ways even more challenging, assignment: teaching at the Baltimore City Police Academy. He instructs recruits in subjects including ethics, procedural justice, implicit bias, history, humanities and counterterrorism. To help broaden their perspective, Doyle-Gillespie has the fledgling police officers read philosophy and literature, including authors such as John Steinbeck, James Baldwin, Immanuel Kant, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Plato. The works have a common theme of examining how people have regarded — and resisted — authority. It’s a subject that would seem very relevant to police work, though many recruits, Doyle-Gillespie said, “ have gaps in their knowledge.” A better-rounded police officer, he believes, is a more effective one, as well. 

– Mark Bernstein OPC '79

As acting director of a new federal office responsible for addressing health inequities in our response to climate change, John Balbus OPC ’78 already has a lot on his plate.

Rising temperatures, severe floods, rampant wildfires and deadly hurricanes affect people the world over but especially those who already lack access to basic services and reliable healthcare. Balbus’s job has been made even harder, though, because he has been operating with only a minimal staff and no congressional funding. He is making do without them.

President Biden created the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE) by executive order in 2021, and Balbus, a longtime advisor for public health at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, became the acting director. Last year he was supposed to have a $3 million budget and a full-time staff of eight, but Congress has yet to appropriate any money. He has big plans but has been forced to improvise through volunteer staff and partnerships with other, better funded agencies.

“It’s a huge mandate for an unfunded office,” Balbus said, “but we’ve had great success and we have passionate people. There’s a lot that you can do if you understand how the government works.”

The OCCHE is the first agency of its kind at the national level to address climate change and health equity. Its mission is to protect vulnerable communities who disproportionately bear the brunt of pollution and climate-driven disasters. The need for action is growing; the World Health Organization estimates that climate change will contribute to 250,000 deaths from malnutrition, malaria, heat stress and other causes.

Even when fully funded, the OCCHE must rely, as its website says, on the “powers of convening, coordination, and collaboration.” To pick just one example: Last summer Oregon suffered under a record heat wave which killed more than 115 people, many of them poor. To combat this, the Oregon Health Authority obtained a Medicaid waiver from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to purchase 3,000 portable air conditioners to be sent to the state’s most vulnerable people. Balbus’s office is now working with CMS and with other states to make this option better known and available throughout the country. “It’s not the solution to heat and climate change,” Balbus acknowledged, “but it’s one immediate way that a climate change-related event that’s killing people can be addressed with an equity lens.”

Hurricanes, another manifestation of climate change, are also on the OCCHE’s agenda. Balbus’s office is looking to partner with the Urban Sustainability Directors’ Network, a group of local government officials, to help incorporate health services into their “climate resilience hubs,” community-designed and maintained structures that provide services in normal times but can help inform residents about weather emergencies and remain open during them to provide basic services such as shelter, clean water or power. As Balbus explained it, “Everybody will benefit if we can find a way to protect those people in greatest need of a safety net.”

One other project Balbus points to is the Climate and Health Outlook, which is posted on the Health & Human Services website. The outlook takes seasonal forecasts from various government agencies for events such as droughts, heat waves and wildfires, and looks at their effects on health. “It is the nation’s first seasonal forecast for health,” Balbus said.

In the fall of 2021, just a few weeks after moving into his new job, Balbus traveled to Glasgow, Scotland as part of the American delegation to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP26. The United States joined 51 other countries in making a broad commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions from their healthcare systems and make them more climate resilient. “We hope that such policies — and additional actions to be identified — will inspire the sector to address the health threats associated with climate change in an equitable, inclusive manner,” he wrote in a paper he co-authored for the New England Journal of Medicine afterward.

Balbus majored in biochemistry at Harvard, earned his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University. After teaching at George Washington University for seven years, he worked as chief health scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund before joining the National Institute of Environmental Health Science in 2009.

Before all that, though, Balbus was also a PC lifer, as were his older brothers, Steven OPC ’71 and Peter OPC ’75. He credits former Penn Charter chemistry teacher, Richard V. Pepino, for pointing him towards his future career path. “Rich was a huge influence on me,” Balbus said. “As a high school teacher, he developed an innovative biochemistry class, which was a phenomenal and, for me, inspirational thing back then.”

He also credits the spiritual lessons he learned as a student. “As a Quaker school, Penn Charter has an ethos of service and commitment to the rights of all people and to equity,” he said. “Growing up in that environment had a big influence and set a foundation for other experiences I had later in life.”

– Mark Bernstein OPC '79

Barnes Hauptfuhrer OPC '72 stressed the importance of living a thankful life and shared his own gratitude for the friends, teammates, teachers and coaches who helped him reach success as an investment banker, hedge fund manager and "Teamball" author during keynote remarks delivered at the Penn Charter Alumni Society's Downtown Reception on January 26.

Hauptfuhrer also touched on his memories playing basketball for one of the best teams in Penn Charter history in 1972 as well as his time playing for Princeton, where he won a NIT championship.

The 140 attendees also heard from Head of School Darryl J. Ford, who provided a "State of the School" at his last Downtown Reception as head before he retires from PC in June after 26 years. Also in attendance were the next head of school Karen Warren Coleman and Chief Development Officer Jack Rogers, also retiring in June after 27 total years at the school. Prior to his remarks, Hauptfuhrer recognized Rogers for his years spent raising funds to support PC students and programs and for his enthusiasm in connecting OPCs to one another and Penn Charter.

The event also featured food, drinks, and good conversation as OPCs, parents and caregivers, and faculty and staff filled the Down Town Club in Philadelphia in support of Penn Charter and its students.

Pictured above: Darryl J. Ford and Karen Warren Coleman; below: Barnes Hauptfuhrer delivers keynote remarks

View Event Photos

With excitement and anticipation for the future, we are pleased to announce that Trustees have reached consensus on the selection of Karen Warren Coleman as our next Head of School — the eighth head in the modern era and the first woman to lead William Penn Charter School.

Karen is a distinguished educator and education leader with 25 years of experience in elementary, secondary and higher education, and in both independent and public institutions. Trustees and members of our community who interacted with her during the search process were impressed with her accomplishments as well as her enthusiasm for working with young people, which she described as “an exceptional responsibility and extraordinary privilege.” We agree.
 
“Karen has devoted her career to the care and growth of students,” Jeffrey Reinhold, clerk of Penn Charter Trustees, said of her selection. “Karen’s passion for students has been in evidence in all of her interactions with the Penn Charter community throughout this process. She is smart and serious, and she can talk on any topic. She also is warm, friendly and skilled at building relationships. I am thrilled that Karen will join the Penn Charter community.”
 
Karen will visit Penn Charter this week for this announcement and to be introduced to the faculty and staff. She will assume the headship on July 1, 2023.
 
In accepting the headship, Karen wrote: “It is an honor to be offered the opportunity to join Penn Charter at this moment in the school’s storied history, when Penn Charter has been transformed along every dimension under Darryl Ford’s leadership. In the coming years, I will embrace both leading and learning as I work with Penn Charter’s extraordinary faculty and staff to center students in everything we do. I am especially excited to engage directly with students, and to learn from parents and caregivers, and the incredible OPC community, about the special qualities that make Penn Charter such a powerful contributor to students’ lifelong journey. It will be enormously rewarding to learn about and immerse myself in Quaker values and practices as we support students in finding their purpose by drawing on the strength of Penn Charter’s Quaker identity.”
 
Head of School Darryl J. Ford will welcome Karen to campus this week and looks forward to an ongoing dialogue to facilitate the transition and help prepare his successor for leadership of our Friends school and far-reaching community of OPCs.
 
“Karen comes to Penn Charter with a demonstrated record of building and nurturing teams to support education and students,” Ford said. “She is an extraordinary and inspirational leader for this moment at Penn Charter. I look forward to working with her through the head transition and supporting her success.” 
 
Trustees are gratified that our national and comprehensive search for a new Head of School led us to an educator with experience and values that align with Penn Charter. In our interviews with Karen, we were struck by her love of students and abiding belief in their capacity for growth; her strategic focus and understanding of what it takes to lead a complex organization; and her humility in recognizing that diverse and consultative input makes for smarter decisions. Karen’s joyful and enthusiastic embrace of our school and everything it stands for gives us confidence that she is the right leader to take Penn Charter into the future.

Most recently, Karen was head of the Hockaday School, a college preparatory day and boarding school for girls in Dallas, Texas. Prior to that, she served as vice president for campus and student life at the University of Chicago and previously held leadership positions at three other universities, including serving as associate dean of students at the University of California, Berkeley. Recognized for her expertise and published work, Karen is frequently sought as a presenter and panelist. 

At Hockaday, Karen strengthened the school’s profile across every significant measure. She led Hockaday’s strategic planning process, which focused on curricular innovation, inclusion, the quality of the student experience, and financial sustainability. She also led a comprehensive research effort to identify the school’s market strength, vulnerabilities and strategic opportunities. During her tenure, Hockaday achieved key enrollment metrics — an increase in admissions applications and increased selectivity — and record fundraising for the annual fund. Under her leadership, Hockaday launched the Institute for Social Impact, a program focused on PK-12 hands-on learning that addresses real-world issues and includes coursework focused on community impact.

Karen has a deep commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and justice that is reflected in both her professional career and research. Under her leadership, Hockaday’s enrollment of students of color increased by nearly a third, while diversity on the school’s board increased fourfold. As a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania, Karen conducted her dissertation research on Stories Seldom Told: Low Income, First-Generation African-American Male Students at Highly Selective Research Universities. Her master’s thesis at the University of Vermont was titled Education as the Means to Freedom: A Critical Analysis of Oppression. 

Karen completed her doctorate in education from the University of Pennsylvania, her master’s in education from the University of Vermont, and earned her bachelor of arts in psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she graduated cum laude. She was born and raised in the Bronx, New York, and attended Stuyvesant High School in NYC. Karen and her husband, Andrew Coleman, are passionate travelers and love the outdoors. Andy, after a career as an attorney and an e-commerce executive, has worked for almost 10 years as a professional photographer, traveling the globe, camera in hand, in search of amazing wildlife and landscapes; his images and stories have been featured with National Geographic and in other books and media. They will relocate to Philadelphia along with their yellow Lab, Wrigley. 

We look forward to welcoming Karen as Head of School in July and, in the meantime, please join us in thanking all those who worked to make this search process successful. The engagement of our faculty and staff has been exceptional, and the feedback from them and from parents and OPCs invaluable. With Storbeck Search, our search consultants, the process identified a diverse pool that yielded more than 200 substantive interviews with prospective applicants. Our PC Search Committee initially reviewed a pool of almost 40 candidates and narrowed its focus to 22 candidates. Through a focused set of interviews, we chose four candidates to visit Penn Charter to meet with faculty and staff, students and members of the PC community. Our process was designed to be inclusive and we succeeded on that level as well: throughout the different phases of the search we heard from 1,400 members of the PC community.
 
Change, especially leadership change, is impactful and hard work. On behalf of Trustees, the Head of School Search Committee and our Search Advisory Groups, we can say that it has been an honor to perform this service for the school we love. We look forward to celebrating, with Darryl, the conclusion of the momentous $130 million How Far! campaign and breaking ground for the new Richard A. Balderston OPC ’69 Lower School, the final project in our campus transformation. With similar enthusiasm and optimism for this 334-year-old Quaker school, we look forward to the leadership of Karen Warren Coleman.
 
Sincerely,

Amy E. Gadsden 
P '23, '23, '27
Trustee, Search Co-Clerk

Paul H. Hough
OPC '77
Trustee, Search Co-Clerk

Benjamin E. Robinson III 
OPC '82
Trustee, Search Co-Clerk

Trustees’ Head of School Search Committee

• Jeffrey A. Reinhold P '12, Clerk, Board of Trustees; ex officio
• Amy E. Gadsden P '23, '23, '27, Search Co-Clerk
• Paul H. Hough OPC '77, Search Co-Clerk
• Benjamin E. Robinson III OPC '82, Search Co-Clerk
• Brigitte C. Addimando P ’28, P '29, '33
• Christine B. Angelakis P '11, '13, '18
• Jane F. Evans Hon. 1689, P '93, '95, '98, GP '24, '26, Assistant Clerk, Board of Trustees
• Mark D. Hecker OPC '99
• Robert A. Rosania OPC '82, P '22, '23
• Larry L. Turner P '19, '22
• Edward Zubrow Hon. 1689

October 19, 2022

One of the drawbacks to running a medical research lab is that the director doesn’t get to do much of the hands-on research.

“I do most everything except being at the bench,” laughed Deepak Rao OPC ’97, a rheumatologist, immunologist and the principal investigator of the Rao Lab at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “I don’t get to do experiments anymore.”

But if Rao is no longer working with test tubes, he is still busy. He is also an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and co-director of Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Human Immunology Center and its Single Cell Genomics Core.

It is his research lab, however, that occupies most of Rao’s time. There he oversees a team of 14, which includes eight postdoctoral fellows, three graduate students, two technicians and a research coordinator. Rao sets the path that everyone else will follow.

“The cool thing about this kind of setup is that you set the research agenda,” he explained. “You get to decide what you think is interesting or important and then try it. You just need to convince funders that it’s a compelling idea.”

Rao’s research focuses primarily on autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, which together afflict as many as three million Americans. His research is aimed in two principal directions. One is to help focus treatments. There are currently more than half a dozen drugs to treat autoimmune diseases, but doctors are unable to predict which will work on which patients. Instead, they must go by trial and error, starting with one drug and then moving to another if the first one proves ineffective. The process takes time, costs money and prolongs treatment.

“We’re really interested in the idea that we should be able to identify activities of the immune system in a patient before we start a therapy, to predict whether the patient is going to respond,” Rao said.

Autoimmune diseases occur when the body’s defense mechanism receives faulty signals and begins to attack its own cells rather than those from an outside source, such as a virus. Rao’s other principal research interest, then, is to identify what causes those faulty signals, which he hopes could lead to new treatments to block them and head off problems before they begin.

One change even since Rao was in medical school is that research has become much more computerized. “It’s much more computational than it used to be,” he acknowledged. “That reflects the fact that we can generate at the lab, with pipettes and test tubes, much more data than we could before. Then it becomes a computational challenge to wade through the data and try to find patterns that are important. Now almost all our trainees are learning how to code.”

Funding for Rao’s research comes from many sources, including the National Institutes of Health and other branches of the federal government, private groups such as the Rheumatology Research Foundation and the Lupus Research Alliance, and the pharmaceutical industry, which seeks information to help fine-tune some of its treatment drugs. Rao estimated that he spends about half his time running the lab, a quarter of his time writing grant proposals and devising new projects, and a quarter of his time seeing patients.

With such a diverse practice, Rao must do many different types of work, and he credits his teachers at Penn Charter for helping him develop a wide range of skills. Alice Davis Hon. 1689, for example, pushed him to understand the concepts of chemistry, while English teachers Joe Perrott Hon. 1689 and Fred Huntington taught him how to write in different styles, a talent Rao said he still finds useful when seeking grant funding or describing a new research project he would like to undertake. Outside the classroom, Rao said his long-distance running coaches, Harvey Rentschler Hon. 1689 and Jim Ballengee Hon. 1689, could be encouraging and flexible, while his track head coach, Steve Bonnie OPC ’66, showed him how to build a diverse group of people into a disciplined, organized team.

After earning his BA at Harvard and both an MD and a PhD at Yale, Rao joined the staff at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2010, and began building a disciplined, organized staff of his own when he opened the Rao Lab four years ago.

– Mark Bernstein OPC '79

“Whenever I see a problem,” Cathryn Peirce OPC ’12 said, “I like to roll up my sleeves and address it.”

That would be an understatement. Only 28 years old, Peirce has started several ventures to help marginalized groups build financial wealth, address the question of reparations for racial injustice, and educate students about sexual violence.

Since May 2021, Peirce has been cofounder and CEO of Carbon Zero Financial, which has partnered with Visa to introduce a credit card that allows people to measure and offset the carbon output created by their transactions — their so-called “carbon footprint.” The premise is straightforward: a Carbon Zero credit card automatically invests the user’s reward points into carbon offsetting projects, in theory neutralizing the negative impact of that spending on the environment. Those offsetting activities currently include forest management projects in California, Vermont and Alaska; a wind power project in South Dakota; a solar energy farm in Tennessee; and a project to provide clean drinking water in Rwanda, among many others. Carbon Zero then helps cardholders reduce their carbon footprint by providing custom sustainability suggestions based on their spending.

The company’s motto is, “We’re making carbon-neutral living as simple as swiping your credit card.” Currently, more than 6,600 people have signed up for the Carbon Zero credit card, Peirce said.

Thinking even bigger, Peirce noted that many people have amassed more credit card bonus points than they will ever use (or sometimes even know they have). Carbon Zero soon hopes to broaden its mission by partnering with Visa to let holders of a broad range of Visa cards dedicate some of their existing stockpile of points to carbon offsets or dedicate a portion of their future spending to it. Cardholders might also be able to create their own offset portfolio by directing that their points go to projects owned, for example, by woman-owned or minority-owned businesses.

Though Carbon Zero occupies most of her time now, Peirce has done many other things since graduating from Penn summa cum laude in 2016, where she also organized workshops for the Penn Anti-Violence Education (PAVE) program and headed the campus chapter of V-Day International, which seeks to end violence against women. She spent a year as a Fulbright fellow in Côte d’Ivoire and worked as marketing director for the New York-based real estate technology firm, Compass.

Accountable, a nonprofit Peirce founded and is still building, endeavors to reduce the racial wealth gap by enabling white professionals to, as her website says, “not only acknowledge their white privilege but actually account for it through the reallocation of personal assets into black businesses, communities and mutual aid funds.” Share the Wealth, which she co-founded, organizes free virtual workshops to provide people in marginalized communities with basic financial and investment education.

All have a theme in common. “Money at its root is a mechanism by which we can express value,” Peirce said. “I’m really interested in how we can increase the moral value of money. How do we make it such that, with money, we bring dignity and integrity back to our experiences so you feel good about your consumerism because it reflects your values?”

It is perhaps not surprising that Peirce has a mantra about education, as well. It goes like this: A good education refines your mind. A great education refines your character. She thinks she got both at Penn Charter, which she entered in ninth grade, and which she credits with helping refine her values and motivating her to seek change.

“Penn Charter earnestly was trying to create individuals who applied learning to the betterment of themselves and their communities,” she said. A Quaker education helped her examine her actions and ask challenging questions such as, “Is this improving myself as an individual and my community? Is it purposeful? Is it aligned with my values?”

Staying still is hard for Peirce, who has solo backpacked through 27 countries on four continents, but due to Covid, her “office” has been her favorite velvet chair in the living room of her Brooklyn apartment. Even so, and despite the lockdown, Peirce has more than managed to fill the time.

“It has been quite the year,” she acknowledged, “but it’s so rewarding to look at what you’re doing, the models you’re building and the causes you’re addressing and see your values reflected back at you.” 

– Mark Bernstein OPC '79

Old Penn Charter Weekend 2022

On May 6 and 7, Penn Charter alumni gathered to celebrate Old Penn Charter with former classmates and teachers, new and old friends. At the 129th OPC Weekend Awards Ceremony and Reception, our community honored Charlie Kaesshaefer, Liz Flemming, David Wright and Debbie White for their contributions. See photos of the weekend.

Charlie Kaesshaefer OPC '71 received the David P. Montgomery OPC '64 Alumni Award of Merit. Having entered Penn Charter in ninth grade, Charlie K built a life and career at Penn Charter as camp counselor and director, teacher, and Assistant Director of Lower School. Charlie and his wife, Debbie Kaesshaefer Hon. 1689, are proud parents of three, Laura and Megan OPC '04 and Scott OPC '08. Read his full speech.

Kaesshaefer was presented with the award by Matt Kessler OPC '99, who announced the renaming of the award to honor the life and contributions of David P. Montgomery OPC '64. Read Kessler's remarks on Montgomery. 

Liz Flemming math teacher, Math Center coordinator and coach, and David Wright of housekeeping and security (and the most fun traffic director), were awarded Honorary 1689 diplomas. Read the induction speeches about Liz and Dave.

Debbie White received the John F. Gummere Distinguished Teaching Award and, on Saturday, the Debbie White Upper School Girls Locker Room in the Graham Athletics & Wellness Center was dedicated in front of many of Debbie's current and former students, players and colleagues. Read the speech given by Darryl J. Ford.

Friday included dedications of scoreboards in the Graham, and the weekend continued on Saturday with the OPCs of Color Networking Brunch and individual class reunions. See all the photos.

In our new Big Data world, making sense of the mass of statistics and information that surrounds us is, to borrow a phrase, like getting a drink of water from a fire hose. 

“Lots of companies and organizations are drowning in data,” explained M. Marit “Miki” Rehavi OPC ’97, an economics professor at the University of British Columbia. “They know there’s something important they can learn from it, but they have so much they don’t know where to start.” What more and more organizations have done is turn to academics such as Rehavi to help them make sense of it all. 

Diving into the reams of data, Rehavi often discovers surprising and unexpected truths: Upon closer inspection, decisions that are supposed to be objective often turn out to be quite subjective. As Rehavi tells her students, “‘There’s what people tell everyone that they do [in making a decision]. There’s how they think they do it in practice. And there’s what they actually do.’” 

“Our brains are wonderfully designed to help us take shortcuts,” she elaborated. “But our narrative of what we’re doing may not be the real story.” 

Giving an example from her own work, Rehavi pointed to a 2013 article she co-authored in the Yale Law Journal about racial disparities in federal prison sentences. Judges sentence defendants, so it is natural to scrutinize them as the source of disparities. However, under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, comparable defendants who commit the same crime ought to receive the same sentence. In practice, Rehavi found, a great deal turns on subjective decisions prosecutors make about what crimes to charge a defendant with in the first place. A federal statute, for example, requires that everyone convicted of using a gun while committing a crime of violence should receive an additional five-year sentence. Yet Black defendants are nearly twice as likely to be charged under that statute as similar white defendants arrested for the same crimes. Rehavi also has analyzed physicians’ treatment decisions, and hiring and promotion decisions in the federal civil service and in her own economics profession. 

The work of economists has been transformed over the last generation thanks to the availability of these massive data sets, many of them from the federal government. Rehavi’s criminal justice data, for example, came from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, though she has also gotten information by other means, such as requests under the Freedom of Information Act and research agreements with private companies. Government agencies and companies, Rehavi said, are usually eager to share their data with researchers like her. “They realize the value of data research and don’t have the time in-house to do it themselves. So, it is increasingly common for researchers to get access to confidential databases, because the data providers benefit from the information, too.” 

Not only does Rehavi use this data in her own research, she also serves as an advisor to Pro Publica, a nonprofit group that publishes investigative stories on a wide range of topics in the public interest. Rehavi helps journalists and their editors understand what data is available and how to use it in a clear and responsible manner. Though she is an economist by training, Rehavi said that much of her work now is done in collaboration with non-economists. 

Rehavi’s career path almost took her to law school after she graduated from Harvard in 2001. She was offered a job with the Council of Economic Advisers, and while working on health and education policy at the White House, she came to appreciate how many policy questions were also questions of economics. Changing course, Rehavi got her master’s from the London School of Economics and her PhD in economics from the University of California, Berkeley. She worked as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholar in Health Policy Research at the University of Michigan before joining the University of British Columbia faculty in 2010. Shortly thereafter she was named a fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. 

Like many OPCs, her greatest memory of Penn Charter is of a teacher, in her case the late science teacher Alice Davis, with whom she took chemistry and AP chemistry. “She was a force!” Rehavi gushed. The high standards Davis set for her students imparted one lesson but Rehavi particularly remembers another. 

If anyone would say, “I can’t,” Rehavi recalled, Davis would reply, “No, you don’t know how to do it, but you can do it.” 

“At the time we would roll our eyes at that,” Rehavi laughed, “but I think her point is really important. If we tell ourselves we can’t do something, then we’re never going to do it.” 

– Mark F. Bernstein OPC '79