OTHER ALFANDRE TRIBUTES

Nicole Davison, class of '97:

As I sit and write these memories from within the library of the Kennedy School of Government (where I am now a graduate student), I cannot help but wonder if I would be here were it not for my placement many years ago in Priscilla Alfandre's 3-4 class.  Mrs. Alfandre truly opened my eyes to the world and all things deemed "current events" in the years I spent with her.  I will never forget the mornings spent sitting beside the massive world map in her classroom applying rainbows and clouds to different regions of the world to signify the current state of affairs.  Those "current events" mornings were pivotal childhood experiences for me - they marked the beginning of my love for politics, policy, and international affairs and my interest in public service.

Mrs. Alfandre not only taught me about the world, but also taught me to have confidence in myself during a time when I was quite unsure of my potential.  I entered third grade wanting to be the first student to finish a math or spelling quiz rather than wanting to be the student who uncovered the right answer.  I don't know how she did it, but Mrs. Alfandre helped me to slow down, to open my eyes, and to understand the virtue of taking the necessary time to master a task.  This ethic has, without a doubt, contributed to all of the academic and personal successes I have enjoyed since leaving Mrs. Alfandre and the Lower School.  How can I ever say thank you enough to such an amazing teacher?

Jackie Newmyer, class of '97:

Mrs. Alfandre reigned over the Lower School from her perch atop the fire escape adjoining her classroom on the top floor.  That fire escape might as well have been a huge, jewel-encrusted throne, for all the attention Mrs. Alfandre attracted from children like me down in the playground.

On the first day of third grade in 3x-4x in 1987, Mrs. Alfandre confirmed for her awestruck students that she was a most demanding and discriminating pedagogue.  We confronted an assignment immediately upon crossing the threshold of the classroom.  I am not sure if we had even introduced ourselves when Mrs. Alfandre told us to pick a vocabulary word out of a hat and then write a paragraph-long description of the word, its meaning and usages.  I will never forget the task because my word was lachrymose, and I made the mistake of finishing too quickly.  Mrs. Alfandre told me to take more time, and this was all that was needed to destroy my fragile composure. I burst out crying.  It was the beginning of the most important year of my academic life.

Fifteen years of secondary and higher education position me now to assert with confidence that Mrs. Alfandre is quite simply the most amazing, thrilling, exacting teacher a Lower School student could ever have had the tremendous good fortune to have feared and revered.  I can still hear her singing, 3, 6, 9, 2, 5, 8, 1, 4, 7 (so I still remember how to count by threes!), and, as if it were yesterday, I recall the excitement of finding the "okay to ink" stamp of approval on pencil-written rough drafts.

What other class of third and fourth graders would have been prepared to sit through a taping of The McLaughlin Group or to visit the office of The New Republic magazine for a talk from the editor?  Mrs. Alfandre instilled in us a passion for politics and the news, aided by the competitive spirit unleashed in our weekly current events games.  Her major writing projects taught us to organize our prose, vary our sentence structure, arrest with our introductions, and illuminate in our conclusions.  And it is no accident, I now realize, that after studying human evolution in third and fourth grade, I was drawn to Stephen Jay Gould's life-changing course, The History of Life, in college.

I am sure that I speak for countless other 3x-4x alums in saying that Mrs. Alfandre will always be the queen of the Lower School and a teacher whose gifts we never cease to cherish.  For instance, even now she continues to spur analysis, as I realize that she might balk at the regal imagery in which I have cast her.  In fact, with her incisive explanations of Herblock's cartoons and her humbling insistence on our primate forebears, Mrs. Alfandre was in the business not of presiding like a monarch but rather of creating good democratic citizens.  So, to Mrs. Alfandre, an inspiring teacher and a true public servant.

Maud Macrory Powell, class of 1990:

After the passage of twenty-five years, completion of undergraduate and graduate degrees, I still consider Mrs. Alfandre to be my greatest teacher ever. She modeled for us the joys and rewards of cultivating a fierce intellectual curiosity.  I vividly remember sitting on carpeted risers in her classroom discussing world news for an hour each morning.  She would pace around the room, gesticulating passionately, spit flying from her mouth as she described Reagan's Star Wars initiative, and then she would encourage us to make connections between US foreign policies and our national economic interests.  When those students less interested in politics were called on to respond to a question unaware, they could answer "OIL!" and usually be on the right track.  She exposed us to sophisticated political analysis at the ages of eight and nine.  I have always felt that my knowledge of current events peaked in the fourth grade, thanks to Mrs. Alfandre.

Denise Terry, former parent and teacher:

It was thirty years ago when I first saw Priscilla Alfandre, and the image is as strong today as it was then.  I was touring Lower School, considering it for our oldest daughter, Elizabeth.  The campus was lovely, and Rich Lodish made a great impression, but what sold me that day was The Blue Room. 

Priscilla Alfandre was reading aloud to forty third and fourth graders who were gathered around her on chairs and tables, eagerly taking in the words.  The room was magic.  This was where I wanted to go to school

Two Terry girls, Elizabeth and Amy, were Blue Room students.  They were stretched intellectually and they were awakened as world citizens.  They learned what history is, and they had a lot of fun.

Donald and I also learned a great deal from Priscilla about letting go and watching our children grow up.  I remember thinking that Elizabeth was too young to know about some things that were in the news at the time, but I was wrong.  Priscilla guided us all through the challenges of the years, 1980 to 1985.
    

Thank you, Priscilla Alfandre.