During The Colorado Springs School’s 50th Anniversary celebrations, September 7- 10, 2012 the following individuals will be recognized.
Al Adams
Al Adams received his B.A. in history from the University of Pennsylvania, M.A.T from The Colorado College and Ed.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Early in his career, Al was a teacher, coach and administrator at The Colorado Springs School (CSS) for the decade of the 1970’s during which time he was also a founder of the K-6 Children’s School and a co-creator of the nationally acclaimed CSS Middle School model. Al is best known for generating academic innovations in both the Middle and Upper Schools. He served as founding Head of the Middle School 1972-1976, and as Dean 1976-1979 before heading to Harvard for his doctorate. As Dean, he played a lead role in implementing the Unit Session Plan curriculum, a derivation of the Colorado College Block Plan. It is from the Unit Session Plan that today’s Experience-Centered Seminars were born. Adams served as Head of The Cambridge School of Weston (MA) from 1983-1988. After an 18-year tenure as Head of School at Lick-Wilmerding School in San Francisco, Mr. Adams “re-wired” and is now an educational consultant for schools nationally and internationally.
Debbie Scaling Kiley ’76
Debbie graduated from CSS as a boarding student in 1976. While at CSS, Debbie participated in the newly created outdoor education program. Following graduation, she began a life of crewing on yachts and sailboats. She was the first woman to complete the Whitbread Round the World ocean race. Debbie credits the outdoor education program at CSS in building skills that later helped her survive the shipwreck of the Trashman in 1982. Her account of the incident became a book, Albatross; a made-for-tv film, Two Came Back; the opening documentary on Discovery Channel’s, I Shouldn’t Be Alive series; and a life of speaking and writing on survival skills. She dedicated her book to CSS teacher, John Pitman, and the skills she developed at CSS.
ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME HONOREES
Jennifer Cogswell ’72
Jennifer has been an active sportswoman since age nine when she began competing in tennis tournaments throughout Colorado. She has been an active and highly awarded athlete in multiple sports including: lacrosse, field hockey, squash, skiing, golf, soccer, softball, ice hockey, figure skating, hiking, backpacking, and rock climbing. She attended Middlebury College from 1972-1976. Today, Jennifer helps run and promote team sports and camps for youth and teens. She is an avid skier – both cross country and downhill, and cycles all over New England.
Matthew Field ’81
Matt is credited with founding the lacrosse program at CSS. To this day, he is an avid lacrosse player in Marin, California, where he lives with his family. Matt has a Bachelor’s degree with a major in Political Science from the University of Colorado. Field is the Managing Director for TMG in San Francisco where he manages acquisition, dispositions, equity capital, and development activities for the company. He has been responsible for over $1 billion of acquisitions and dispositions for TMG since 2003.
Katharin Binkowski Collings ’87
Kathy trained from 1976-1987 at the Broadmoor World Arena. Upon graduation from CSS in 1987, she trained at the University of Delaware from 1987-1991, where she was a two time National Collegiate Competitor. She is a USFSA Triple Gold Medalist : Figures, Freestyle, and Dance. She was a US National competitor in 1991. Between 1979 and 1991 she participated in numerous ice shows and skating productions. She is a US National and International Figure Skating Coach and has coached skaters to two national titles and to the Junior World level.
ARTS HALL OF FAME HONOREES
Rebecca Dahl DeVere ’79
Rebecca was an artistic student who attended CSS in the late 1970’s. She was an accomplished artist who exhibited her works at the age of 11. In 1979, she attended the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, CA and in 1980, she attended Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Nova Scotia. In 1982, she went to the School of Visual Arts in New York and in 1990, she attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Rebecca is a painter, a jewelry designer and created a thriving mosaic design company. In 2009, she returned to her roots as an oil painter. Rebecca’s latest paintings, Coming of Age: A Childhood Series, are based on papers from her childhood, including papers she created while attending CSS. She incorporates her childhood memories from writings and drawings in notebooks into her art. Her work asks all of us to take a look back in order to understand where we are today and where we will go tomorrow.
Edward “Ned” Aldrich ’83
After CSS, Edward attended the Rhode Island School of Design where he graduated in 1987. In 1991, at the age of 26, he was juried into the Society of Animal Artists and his work is frequently included in their annual exhibition. His work is in the permanent collection at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum and he has been accepted into their prestigious “Birds in Art” show on eleven occasions. Two of his paintings were also selected to be included in the Christie’s auction held in London in 1995. His paintings have been included into such national shows as the Gilcrease Museum Miniature Show, the National Wildlife Art Museum’s Miniature Show, The Rockwell Museum’s Representing Representation Show, The Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum Small Works Show, the annual Buffalo Bill Auction in Cody, WY, and the Oil Painter’s of America National Show. In addition to numerous appearances in shows around the country, to date, he has had twelve one-man shows in various galleries. Aldrich depicts wildlife from around the world and paints primarily in oil. Mr. Aldrich’s art is published in his 1998 book, Drawing and Painting Animals is seen in many national publications, and is carried by six galleries in both Canada and the United States. Ned has been active with the CSS Art Department where he has been a Visiting Artist.
John Goodman ’87
Goodman graduated from The Colorado Springs School in 1987. John received an Associate Degree in Design and Illustration from the Design Institute of Colorado and a Bachelors in Fine Arts, Computer Animation from the Art Institute of Chicago. John creates and supervises character and creature animation for feature films and commercials for studios such as Universal, Fox, and Warner Bros, as the Animation Supervisor at Rhythm & Hues Studios in Los Angeles. He has dozens of movie credits to his name where he was an Animator or Technical Director, on films including Harry Potter; The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe; Daredevil; Scooby Doo the Movie; Garfield; Alvin and the Chipmunks; Land of Lost; A-Team; and more. Goodman participated last spring in a technology seminar with Middle School students as he introduced them to his career in animation.
Patrick Shearn ’80
Shearn was in the Class of 1980 at The Colorado Springs School before studying at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Shearn has worked as a freelance visual effects artist for major motion pictures. Patrick is now a principal and Creative Director in Poetic Kinetics. Poetic Kinetics is group of artists focused on large scale art installations, experiential design and performance production. Based in Los Angeles and born from the film industry, Poetic Kinetics evolved from collaborations between skilled artists in diverse realms seeking new creative expressions. Poetic Kinetics brings an
adventurous & enthusiastic spirit, an exploration of technology, and a deep commitment to top notch production value to each new endeavor. Poetic Kinetics’ work has been featured at festivals, events, and in public spaces worldwide. A popular installation, Solar Flowers, used solar power to create free charging stations with WiFi enabled flower petals and seating. The piece was created for and inspired by Toyota’s “Harmony Between Man, Nature, and Machine” campaign. Patrick’s most recent work, the Aztec Pavilion, is being installed in El Paso at Cavalry Man Triangle in the downtown area.
