Horace Mann - Summer 2016 - 5

Greetings from Melissa Parento '90, Director of Development A mong the most rewarding aspects of my work as Director of Development at Horace Mann School is the opportunity I have to connect with the entire HM community of students, families, faculty and staff and, of course, fellow alumni. It is deeply gratifying to get to know people from across HM's generations and to be involved with bringing our community together, through the efforts of HM's Alumni and Development Office. Each fall our Office organizes Homecoming and Reunions that bring over 5,000 HMers together. Homecoming 2015 was a spectacular event that included the 25th reunion of my own Class of 1990. January brings the HM Alumni Council's (HMAC) annual Winter Gathering, a warm and welcoming event for alumni of every generation. In the spring, we assist our dedicated Horace Mann Parents Association with its annual Benefit supporting financial aid. Summer kicks off with the HMAC's benefit on behalf of HM's Student Lunch Initiative. The growing number of alumni who participate in this fun and lively annual event, which raised over $82,000 in June 2016 to assist HM's current students, demonstrates the importance our alums place on supporting their school today. The 2015-2016 academic year was also filled with especially significant occasions. September saw over 1,000 HM community members coming together for the annual John Dorr Nature Laboratory Family Picnic, this time celebrating Dorr's 50th anniversary. Being involved with a school that also brings its community together throughout the year for Caring-in-Action and Service Learning Days, Book Fairs and Book Days, stellar theater, dance and musical performances, the HM Theatre Club Alumni Play and Dance Concert, and at the annual Buzzel basketball game is something I never take for granted. Add to the list such student-led and school-supported initiatives as HM's first-ever Relay for Life that raised $50,000 toward the fight against cancer, and I can't help but acknowledge a true sense of Lion pride. A delightful and meaningful addition to HM's calendar this past school year was the Grandparent and "Grand-friend" Day program in each Division that gave another segment of our community a chance to connect with Horace Mann School today. Proposed to our Office by Barbara "Bambi" Felberbaum, the parent of an HM alumna, and grandparent of four current students and a 2016 grad, this initiative gave cherished people in our students' lives a chance to gain a deeper insight into the enriched education that their grandchildren, relations or family friends experience at HM on a daily basis. The warmth that characterized each of these Grandparent/Grand-friend Days was palpable, whether in our Nursery Division and Kindergarten, where our youngest HMers greeted grandparents and grand-friends with exuberant hugs, or in the Middle Division where the "older generation" marveled at the students' foreign language or art skills during classroom visits. But, perhaps no visits were more meaningful than those that grandparents and grand-friends shared with members of our senior class of 2016. As these, now, newly-minted alumni walked through the Upper Division's halls, arms linked with their visitors-who are also their most ardent supporters-the students pointed out the classrooms, science labs, stages, studios and athletic fields that were so integral to their lives over the course of their HM years. And, as they greeted the grandparents and grand-friends of their own treasured classmates the HMers spoke glowingly of the school that will forever be an intrinsic part of the citizens they are. Finally, throughout the year we are honored to bring the HM community together in supporting our school through our Annual Fund. As my colleagues and I engage in these efforts I think how privileged we are to be part of HM's caring community, whose individual members understand their responsibility to the greater whole. Working to achieve all of this? That's rewarding. I look forward to connecting with all of you soon. Sincerely, Melissa Murphy Parento '90 Director of Development Horace Mann Magazine Summer 2016 5

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