Living in the Past

Joe Iuliano, Assistant Head for Academic Affairs
Living in the past is very appealing these days, as the past (pre-2020) seemed—was—so much better than the present. But fortunately for me, the past has dropped by for a visit several times since last Saturday. In each instance, it put a smile on my face (under my mask, of course) and a song in my heart. Here’s what has come my way to bring me some joy:
 
On Saturday, Henry Santoro was hosting his morning news show on WGBH and introduced a story about local students who built a website called Impact Change USA. During this segment, he interviewed the co-founder of the site, Chris Harrison '19, now a sophomore at Hamilton College. I came to know Chris well first as a student in International Relations and then through my work with him on his independent study in Marketing during his senior year. He is a smart, motivated, well-spoken young man with integrity and goodwill. Needless to say, I immediately emailed his parents to high five them and got Chris’ Hamilton College email address so I could congratulate him as well. Hearing his interview on the radio made my day as I could relive my fondest memories of Chris as a Brimmer student and have a new memory of Chris as a college student. As a Brimmer graduate, he represented himself and the School impressively and was well in command of his public speaking skills. With his work on this website, Chris personified the Brimmer mission statement: “We develop lifelong learners who are informed, engaged, and ethical citizens and leaders in our diverse world.” There will be more to come from this young man--but now I’ve begun talking about the future.
 
On Sunday, Kyle Casey ’09, currently playing professional basketball in Japan and a graduate of Harvard College, entered my living room via the television screen when I fortuitously channel surfed my way to NESN while it was airing a Harvard Classic, the 2013-2014 Harvard-Princeton basketball game. This game was indeed a classic, back-and-forth affair, and it featured Kyle doing what Kyle did best: playing tenacious defense and blocking shots, pulling down rebounds in key moments, and dunking on the opposition when they least wanted that to happen. This was a terrific walk down memory lane when Harvard had some of their best basketball seasons in school history, and the team was fronted by an outstanding Brimmer graduate. Kyle is living the Brimmer mission as well as he has become a global citizen in his career playing for teams in Slovenia and Japan.
 
About two weeks ago, I received a text from Elizabeth Teklu ’17, a senior at Connecticut College who was writing to me for herself and for Shani Breiman ‘18, a junior at Connecticut College, but with whom she was taking the same class. I taught both students in IR during their senior years, and Elizabeth was also my advisee for three years in the Upper School. She asked if she and her group members in the class could interview me for a project they were working on, and of course, I said I would be happy to do that. That interview occurred this past Monday and lasted for over an hour, even after I had answered the bulk of the questions on paper beforehand. Liz and Shani, along with their group members, peppered me with questions about Brimmer’s professional appraisal and review system for our faculty and staff. Their questions both made me think about the work we do here at school and provided them with the needed information to complete their project. Of course, there were a few moments of reminiscing about Brimmer escapades as well, but the overall impression I had was that these young women were doing great work as college students, and that felt good to know that we had helped to prepare them so well for their further studies.
 
I did not mention above, however, that one of Chris’ colleagues on the Impact Change USA website is also a Brimmer alum. Miles Munkacy ’20 is currently a ‘freshman-in-waiting’ at Brown University (he’s taking the one allowed remote class this fall and will begin his undergraduate studies in earnest in January. He is also currently a Teaching Assistant in my International Relations class. While he has not just shown up on the radar screen this week—he’s been with me since the beginning of the school year—he does bring the past to me regularly when I get to see his smiling face Zooming in for class meetings three times a week. The students in IR get to take advantage of his passion and knowledge for world politics, and I get to see another outstanding graduate of our Global Studies Program continue to display his interest in this community and begin to stretch his reach into the global one. He has an eye on playing a role in the US Foreign Service, and we definitely will benefit by having him representing us—that is Brimmer and the country.
 
Back in the present, I have donned my mask once again, but I am still smiling underneath it just thinking about the past.
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