Every year brings changes, and this year Bromfield and the Hildreth Elementary School are saying goodbye to a number of teachers and staff. Some have been here only a few years, while others have taught the young people of Harvard for decades. While they admit they will miss being in the schools, they also shared some of their plans for the future.
Kirsti Gamage
Likes ‘the detective work’
When speech pathologist Kirsti Gamage began her career, she said in a recent interview, the emphasis was on word formation and helping children who lisped or stuttered. But in her 25 years in the field, the discipline has expanded, and now she works with children who have other kinds of speech problems that affect their learning. If children have difficulty sequencing a story or telling what they know or how they feel, she explained, those problems interfere with both academic learning and socialization.
Gamage, who is retiring after nine years at Hildreth Elementary School, said her favorite part of the job was “the detective work” in diagnosing the problems that were limiting a child’s ability to communicate. For that reason she expects to continue to consult as a diagnostician in area schools after her retirement.
A former classical singer who performed at Symphony Hall in Boston, Gamage is active in Harvard’s Cultural Collaborative. She has lived in town for 32 years, and her two sons attended HES and Bromfield. Plans for retirement include a river cruise this fall, as well as spending more time with her grandchild. And in winter, she said, she looks forward to mornings in her window seat with a good book and a second or third cup of coffee.
Lisa Soldi
Stepping outside her ‘comfort zone’
“I have a list of things I’d like to try,” guidance counselor Lisa Soldi said in speaking of her retirement plans. Among the items on that list are hiking, of which she has already done a fair amount, and watercolor painting, which is “outside my comfort zone,” she said. She also mentioned that she has just taken up golf and plans to go to the gym more often.
After working at Bromfield for 18 years, Soldi is looking forward to spending winters in Arizona instead of New England. And she also hopes to travel to Paris sometime next year.
Looking back over her years at Bromfield, Soldi said technology in general was the biggest change in her work. For example, several years ago Bromfield began using the Naviance program, which streamlined the college application process by tracking all the records and recommendations that were sent out, as well as noting when colleges received them. “We used to have paper flying around all over here,” Soldi said, “but now it’s all electronic.”
With a new class of seniors heading off to college, Soldi said, “It’s great to see students end up where they really want to go, … and to see them so happy for each other.” She noted that she would miss both the kids and the collegiality of the teachers at Bromfield.
Pam Alexander
Taking retirement slowly
Pam Alexander is retiring after 13 years as Bromfield’s athletic director, and she still sees the need to offer more sports and get more students to take part. “The more kids that do sports the better,” she said in an interview.
Speaking of her coaching experience, Alexander said, “The most rewarding thing is watching kids develop in sports—not so much the most athletic ones, but the ones that persevere.”
Alexander said she plans to take retirement slowly, moving to a farm in New Hampshire with a lot of land where she can grow vegetables and keep some animals. That kind of life is “in the blood” for her, she said, as her father always gardened and raised animals.
Sue Toll of Harvard’s Athletic Advisory Committee said, “Pam truly understands the positive impact that sports can have on a kid’s high school career and typifies everything that’s positive in sportsmanship.”
Mary Sullivan
Will miss Bridges kids
Mary Sullivan was more than willing to praise the Bridges program of before- and after-school care that she has worked with for 20 years, but she did not want publicity for herself. “It’s a great program,” she said, one that offers children consistent support. “And I’ll miss them,” she said of the kids in Bridges. It’s a safe bet they’ll miss her, too.
Sue Farnsworth
Looking forward to travel and golf
After 31 years in the Harvard schools, working first in special education and later as the guidance department secretary, Sue Farnsworth is leaving the schools but not the town. Her family is rooted here, she said, with one daughter teaching kindergarten at HES and another recently back in town after retiring from the U.S. Air Force.
“I love working with the kids, watching them grow up—it’s a wonderful feeling,” Farnsworth said. She acknowledged it would be a big change next year not to be working. She was not sure about any special plans, although travel and golf were high on her list. But family would remain at the center for her.
Glenn Tarullo
Might become a ‘dark ranger’
Teaching science was a second career for Glenn Tarullo, whose first was as an executive at a medical company. His next job, he said, might be as a “dark ranger,” which sounds ominous but in fact is teaching nighttime astronomy programs at national parks. Tarullo said he’s thinking about becoming a dark ranger at Dinosaur National Monument in Utah this summer, after he retires from Bromfield.
For next fall, Tarullo has another plan that will take him far afield. He and his son are going hiking in Nepal and Bhutan.
In his 14 years at Bromfield, Tarullo said, he hadn’t seen any great change in students here. “Harvard kids are always interested and enthusiastic,” he said. But he did say he thought there was too much “screen time” with electronic devices nowadays, which he believes have detriments as well as advantages. “I feel like a dinosaur,” he said with a smile.
Sue Silver
Strong advocate for phys ed
“I love my job! I don’t know why I’m retiring,” Sue Silver said when asked about her retirement plans. She has taught middle school physical education at Bromfield since 1985, as well as coaching various high school sports teams. A brightly colored quilt hangs in the main Bromfield office, a gift to Silver from Judy Cavanaugh, Harvard’s community education coordinator. Each quilt square is a photograph printed on fabric, showing teams and activities from Silver’s long career. The quilt’s borders are made of fabric with a green-grass print, recalling grassy playing fields.
Silver is a strong advocate for phys ed, saying she is glad that middle schoolers get two or three sessions a week. “I just want them active—moving, running,” she said, explaining that activity is a daily necessity for that age group. She regrets that students at Bromfield now need to take phys ed for only two of their four years in high school.
Besides teaching and coaching, Silver also serves as adviser for the Middle School Council, organizing field trips and ice cream socials, among other events. And she helps students find useful work to fulfill their community service obligations for National Honor Society.
Silver plans to continue coaching field hockey here after she retires, as well as teaching a swimming program at her home in Hardwick. And, like many of the other retirees, she has some major travel plans. Next spring she expects to go to Kenya, where her daughter is spending a year on a clinical research fellowship from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
Abby Patriquin
Will teach kindergarten
Far from retiring, Abby Patriquin is moving ahead with her teaching career after two years teaching pre-kindergarten at HES. She is leaving Harvard for a kindergarten teaching position in Chelmsford. “I loved working in Harvard and loved the school, but I’ve always wanted to teach kindergarten,” she said. “I’ll miss my preschoolers. I was looking forward to seeing them grow up from grade to grade.”
Luke Reynolds
Moving on to teach teachers
Luke Reynolds, who has taught seventh-grade language arts at Bromfield for the past three years, is leaving to take a position in the education department at Endicott College in Beverly. Calling it a “bittersweet moment,” Reynolds said he will “deeply miss the students and staff here at Bromfield, and yet the chance to work with college students en route to becoming teachers is an endeavor that gives me great hope.” He sees Endicott as a “good fit” for him and looks forward to challenging college students to explore the goals of a good education and to look at creative and varied ways to assess students and to empower them. Reynolds is excited to “tie [educational] theory to the front lines.”
Reynolds said he will miss the support and excitement of the Bromfield staff and the inspiration of Principal Scott Hoffman and his “evident love of kids.” For his part, Hoffman said, “Luke is simply a magical teacher who inspires students and staff with his love and enthusiasm for teaching, students, reading, writing, and life.” Reynolds said his greatest joy as a teacher has been to see kids’ eyes light up when he has helped them see that they matter and that they do belong. He has liked being able to continue to interact with his students as they moved on into upper grades. Sixth-grade teacher Miranda Miller said of her colleague, “Luke is a source of contagious positivity and dedication to his students,” and English teacher Chris Jones shared that a current eighth-grade student had once said to him that Mr. Reynolds was probably the best human being he had ever met.
In talking more about the future of education, Reynolds said he believes smaller classes are even more important than expanding technology and that students need a variety of experiences: academic, social, emotional, “projects that touch hands and heart.” Janet Brown, English department leader, commented, “When an outstanding educator leaves the classroom to teach the teachers, I cannot help but rejoice at the prospect of the immeasurable impact his work will have on generations.”
