December 1, 2009
Contact: Sandra Moore, Director of Communications (845-462-7600, ext. 110)

Poughkeepsie, NY— Poughkeepsie Day School will mount a high school production of the French farce, The Waltz of the Toreadors, by Jean Anouilh, on Wednesday and Thursday, December 9 and 10, at 7 pm in the school’s James Earl Jones Theater (Elizabeth C. Gilkeson Center, 260 Boardman Road, Poughkeepsie). The performances are free and open to the public. Directions.

Written in 1952, the comedy is set in 1910 France and centers on the married General Leon Saint-Pé and his infatuation with Ghislaine, a woman with whom he danced nearly two decades earlier. A first Broadway production of the play opened in 1957, garnered several Tony Award nominations and won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Foreign Play. A 1962 screen version, featuring Peter Sellers, took place in England.

Laura Hicks, PDS drama teacher and director of the production, said “for high school students to tackle French farce requires special skills, like physical energy and dexterity, comic timing, and exaggerated characterizations. It is a challenging play but great fun.”

Poughkeepsie Day School has been developing educated citizens with a passion for learning and living since 1934, and celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2009-2010. It seeks to promote curious and independent learners: critical thinkers who know how to ask questions and solve problems. Respect, responsibility and collaboration are among the hallmarks of the PDS school community. Typically, each year one-hundred per cent of the school's seniors who apply to college are admitted.

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November 18, 2009
Contact: Sandra Moore, Director of Communications (845-462-7600, ext. 110)

Poughkeepsie, NY—Josie Holford, head of school at Poughkeepsie Day School, has announced the appointment of Bryan M. Maloney, of Poughkeepsie, as director of development.

With more than 20 years of direct fundraising experience, Mr. Maloney most recently served as vice president for college advancement at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh where he successfully planned and executed a capital fundraising campaign for the construction of a new mathematics, science and technology center and nursing laboratories. Prior to that, he served as major gifts officer and deputy campaign director at Bank Street College of Education in Manhattan. A graduate of Marist College with a degree in history, Mr. Maloney earned a master’s degree in public administration from John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York. 

Ms. Holford said, “We are fortunate to have Bryan Maloney as our new development director. His ties to the local area and wide circle of colleagues in the field will be beneficial to Poughkeepsie Day School as we continue to move forward with fundraising initiatives in support of our strategic plan, Vision 2020. We welcome him to our community.” 

Poughkeepsie Day School has been developing educated citizens with a passion for learning and living since 1934, and celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2009-2010. It seeks to promote curious and independent learners: critical thinkers who know how to ask questions and solve problems. Respect, responsibility and collaboration are among the hallmarks of the PDS school community. Typically, each year one-hundred per cent of the school's seniors who apply to college are admitted.

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October 28, 2009
Contact: Sandra Moore, Director of Communications (845-462-7600, ext. 110)

Poughkeepsie, NY—Poughkeepsie Day School will host Paul B.Yellin, M.D. FAAP, director of the Yellin Center for Student Success in New York City, on Thursday, November 19. Dr. Yellin’s presentation, “Learning Diversity: Many Kinds of Minds,” will be held in the school’s James Earl Jones Theater, Elizabeth C. Gilkeson Center, 260 Boardman Road, Town of Poughkeepsie, at 6 pm. It is free and open to the public. Directions.

Dr. Yellin’s clinical center is “dedicated to helping struggling students experience genuine success in school and in life.” Prior to the establishment of the center in 2007, he served as national director of the Student Success Program at the not-for-profit All Kinds of Minds Institute, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In that capacity, he helped to deliver the institute's multi-disciplinary model of learning assessments and personalized learning plans to thousands of students from across the world. Currently, Dr. Yellin and his clinical team provide care based on the model developed at All Kinds of Minds. His center is affiliated with the Department of Pediatrics at New York University School of Medicine, where Dr. Yellin is an associate professor.

Dr. Yellin is an active member within the local and national leadership of the American Academy of Pediatrics, previously serving as president of the New York City chapter of the academy and currently co-chairing its New York State Task Force on Mental Health and Childhood Learning Differences. A native New Yorker and the recipient of numerous awards and citations, he is a graduate of Princeton University, received his medical degree from the NYU School of Medicine and is board certified in both pediatrics and neonatal-perinatal medicine.

Dr. Yellin's talk is presented in conjunction with the annual PDSPA Book Fair, which takes place on Thursday, November 19 (8:30 am - 8 pm) and Friday, November 20 (8:30 am - 4 pm) in the school's Gilkeson Center. For more information, contact the PDSPA.

Poughkeepsie Day School has been developing educated citizens with a passion for learning and living since 1934, and celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2009-2010. It seeks to promote curious and independent learners: critical thinkers who know how to ask questions and solve problems. Respect, responsibility and collaboration are among the hallmarks of the PDS school community. Typically, each year one-hundred per cent of the school's seniors who apply to college are admitted. 

October 15, 2009
Contact: Sandra Moore, Director of Communications (845-462-7600, ext. 110)

Poughkeepsie, NY—Gregory Shaheen and Kimberly Te, both members of Poughkeepsie Day School’s Class of 2009, have earned AP Scholar Awards in recognition of their exceptional achievement on AP exams. Shaheen, of Kerhonksen, is a freshman at Wesleyan University, in Middletown, CT, and Te, of Hughsonville, is a first-year student at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, MD.

The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program (AP) provides motivated and academically prepared students with the opportunity to take rigorous college-level courses while still in high school and to earn college credit, advanced placement, or both for doing well on the AP exams in those subject areas. About 18% of the nearly 1.7 million students worldwide who took AP examps performed at a sufficiently high level to also earn an AP Scholar designation.

Poughkeepsie Day School has been developing educated citizens with a passion for learning and living since 1934, and celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2009-2010. It seeks to promote curious and independent learners: critical thinkers who know how to ask questions and solve problems. Respect, responsibility and collaboration are among the hallmarks of the PDS school community. Typically, each year one-hundred per cent of the school's seniors who apply to college are admitted.

September 30, 2009
Contact: Sandra Moore, Director of Communications (845-462-7600, ext. 110)

Poughkeepsie, NY—Poughkeepsie Day School senior Erin Gaidis, of Wappingers Falls, is a Semifinalist in the 2010 National Merit Scholarship Competition, and classmate Joshua ("Denali") Benner, of Poughkeepsie, has achieved Semifinalist status in the 2010 National Achievement Scholarship Competition. Both competitions are sponsored by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

The National Merit® Scholarship Program is an academic competition that began in 1955. High school students enter the program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.5 million entrants each year, and by meeting published program entry/participation requirements. Of this cohort, approximately 50,000 with the highest PSAT/NMSQT® Selection Index scores qualify for recognition in the National Merit® Scholarship Program as either a Commended Student or Semifinalist; only 16,000 students, or approximately one-third of the 50,000 high scorers, are named Semifinalists. To be considered for a National Merit® Scholarship, Semifinalists must advance to Finalist standing in the competition by meeting high academic standards and all other requirements as detailed by the program.

Established in 1964, the National Achievement® Scholarship Program provides recognition for outstanding Black American high school students. Black students may enter both the National Achievement Program and the National Merit® Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test and meeting other published requirements for participation. The two annual programs are conducted concurrently but a student's standing is determined independently in each program. Black American students can qualify for recognition and be honored as Scholars in both the National Merit Program and the National Achievement Program, but can receive only one monetary award from NMSC.

Poughkeepsie Day School has been developing educated citizens with a passion for learning and living since 1934, and celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2009-2010. It seeks to promote curious and independent learners: critical thinkers who know how to ask questions and solve problems. Respect, responsibility and collaboration are among the hallmarks of the PDS school community. Typically, each year one-hundred per cent of the school's seniors who apply to college are admitted.

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September 15, 2009
Contact: Sandra Moore, Director of Communications (845-462-7600, ext. 110)

Three new parent trustees—Hamid Azari-Rad, of Poughkeepsie; Mette Coleman, of Rhinebeck; and Tarah Greenidge, Rhinebeck—were elected to the Poughkeepsie Day School board of trustees at the annual meeting of the PDS corporation. Three incumbent parent trustees were re-elected: Amanda Thornton, of Poughkeepsie; Julie Stevenson, of New Paltz; and Rob Strauss, MD, of Poughkeepsie. Parent and Poughkeepsie resident Kim Roellke was selected as the newest member of the board's committee on trustees and Edward McCormick, also of Poughkeepsie, was elected by the board of trustees as the newest community trustee.

An associate professor of economics at SUNY New Paltz, where he has taught since 1999 and currently serves as department chair, Hamid Azari-Rad has led the economics department in curriculum and program development. He is an editor and contributing author for books, articles and textbooks on economics and member of the Globalization and Corporatization Committee of the United University Professions and of the Construction Economic Research Network of The Center for Construction Research and Training in Washington, D.C. He holds a B.S. degree from Florida Atlantic University and a Ph.D. from the University of Utah. A recipient of several grants and fellowships, he was awarded a 1997-1998 Fulbright Scholarship to Baku, Azerbaijan.

Mette Coleman, a native of Copenhagen, is a licensed physiotherapist with a private practice in Rhinebeck. After receiving her B.S. from SUNY Downstate Medical Center in 1996, she worked for the Mt. Sinai Hospital Center in New York and was a free-lance therapist for Broadway musicals, including Cats. Previously, Ms. Coleman trained with the Martha Graham Center for Contemporary Dance and is also a certified Pilates instructor. Her professional affiliations include Tibet House (NYC), Kunzang Palchen Ling, Raktrul Foundation (Red Hook), Bhutan Friendship Foundation and the International Fascia Research Congress. She has been an active volunteer in the Red Hook Central School District.

Tarah Greenidge is director of the college preparatory program of New Jersey SEEDS, an academic enrichment and leadership development program for high-achieving, low-income youth. A graduate of St. Ann‘s School and Bard College, Ms. Greenidge previously served as Bard‘s director of multicultural recruitment and assistant director for admission and multicultural affairs, as well as director of the college‘s High School Educational Oppotunity (HEOP) program. She is a former member of the board of the Rural & Migrant Ministry.

Re-elected parent trustee Julie Stevenson, a member of the board since 2001, has served as president of the PDS board for the past four years years and vice president for the preceding two years, in addition to serving on numerous committees and chairing the PDSPA auction in 2002. Rob Strauss, a PDS parent since 1995 and a trustee since 1998, served as board president from 1999 to 2003 and headed up the last two head search committees. A PDS parent since 2000 and trustee since 2003, Amanda Thornton is the current treasurer of the PDS board and chair of the finance committee.

Kim Roellke, a PDS parent since 1992, was a Poughkeepsie Day School Parents Association (PDSPA) auction co-chair, a member of the development committee, development liaison of the PDSPA and a class parent. Edward McCormck is CEO and president of McCormick Management Consulting, in Poughkeepsie, with expertise in managing capital projects, overseeing building renovations, performing management and organization assessments and developing business marketing and strategic plans. He was elected to the Arlington Central School District's board of education in 1986; served on the Dutchess BOCES board and a number of statewide boards: New York State United Way, NYS School Boards Association. He was appointed by the NYS Board of Regents to chair the state-run Roosevelt Union School District on Long Island; is chair of American Heart Association, Dutchess-Ulster division; a member of the boards of Health Quest, Dutchess County Economic Development Corporation, Patterns for Progress, Cornell Cooperative Extension and Association for Senior Citizens; and chair of NYS Education Conference Board.

Poughkeepsie Day School has been developing educated citizens with a passion for learning and living since 1934, and celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2009-2010. It seeks to promote curious and independent learners: critical thinkers who know how to ask questions and solve problems. Respect, responsibility and collaboration are among the hallmarks of the PDS school community. Typically, each year one-hundred per cent of the school's seniors who apply to college are admitted.

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August 20, 2009
Contact: Sandra Moore, director of communications (845-462-7600, ext. 110)

James Meador '03 (left) and Jesse Corradi '04 have received J. William Fulbright Fellowships for study and teaching abroad during the 2009-2010 academic year.

Meador, of New Paltz, and a graduate of Reed College with an interdisciplinary B.A. in Russian and religious studies, returns to St. Petersburg where he spent 2006-2007 studying at the St. Petersburg School of Religion and Philosophy. His Fulbright addresses the roots of the 1990s religious revivals as well as the emergence of the academic study of religion in post-Soviet Russia, and he will study these subjects at St. Petersburg State University. At Reed, he won the Class of '21 Award for creative work, and his senior thesis, Moscow Tantric Blues, which was termed "a massive, excellent thesis on a thoroughly original topic" by his advisor, explores the life and times of Buddhist philosopher Bidiya Dandaron (1914-1974), who was imprisoned in the Soviet Gulag for almost twenty years. He was one of nine seniors featured in the spring 2009 edition of Reed Magazine. Meador began his study of Russian in 7th grade at Poughkeepsie Day School. 

Corradi, formerly of Cold Spring, and a 2008 graduate of Amherst College, majored in political science with a minor in Latin American studies. He will teach English in Hong Kong as a Fulbright teaching assistant. This past year he worked as a private equity analyst at Lehman Brothers/Neuberger Berman in New York. At Amherst, he played on the college's golf team, served as managing editor of the Amherst Student newspaper and received several honors, including the Latham Scholarship Award, an Abele Public Service Internship and a Tom Gerety Fellowship for Action. He also worked at the United States Department of State in Washington, DC; the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York; and Face to Face, a non-profit service organization in Westchester County, where he also completed his PDS senior internship. Upon his return to the States, he plans to pursue a career in public and educational policy, international relations and/or business.

Read more about the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, adminstered by the Institute of International Education (IIE).

Poughkeepsie Day School celebrates its 75th anniversary year in 2009-2010, and has been developing educated citizens with a passion for learning and living since 1934. It seeks to promote curious and independent learners: critical thinkers who know how to ask questions and solve problems. Respect, responsibility and collaboration are among the hallmarks of the PDS school community. Typically, each year one-hundred per cent of the school's seniors who apply to college are admitted.