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| on the mountain Winter/Spring 2013
THE
STORM KING
SCHOOL
How
Big
Can You
Dream
?
Help us sustain the environment of excellence
in which each student has the support needed
to reach their true potential.
Become a sustaining member
For more information or to make a contribution,
please contact Michelle at 845.534.7892 x222 or
mmartinetti@sks.org.
The SKS Fund for Annual Giving
ing a member of our school
community. Quiet. Respect-
ful. Warm and spirited.
Powerful. The lights went
back on, a raucous and joyful
holiday dinner followed,
and everyone departed the
next morning for the holiday
break.
Many of you know that
Irene Seguin has moved on
in her career. She was asked
by the Western Connecticut
United Way to be their VP
of donor development. The
United Way is the largest
charitable fund for the fami-
lies of victims in Newtown.
Due to her long association
with that community and
after considerable thought
she truly believed that it was
where she now belonged.
Irene is responsible for
reaching out to so many SKS
alumni and inviting us back
to the campus after years of
silence. I am one of them.
I hadn’t visited Storm King
since the early 90s when she
found me, called, and invited
me to speak at Career Day to
the students. That was a cold
March morning in 2011.
Since that day I’ve attended
reunions, holiday parties,
served on the Advisory Board
of the Search Committee for
a new head of school, and
created
Our Common Ground
as a forum of dialogue and
engagement with the greater
SKS community. Recently I
joined in on a weekly lunch-
time meeting of 2Xist—a
forum created for the current
Our Common Ground,
continued from page 5
female student community
to discuss issues of impor-
tance to them and their
development. Irene started
that, too.
She frequently said that
she never tired of hearing
from alumni again and again,
“
I wouldn’t be the person
I am today without Storm
King.” On behalf of anyone
and everyone whose life was
touched by Irene’s bright and
contagiously energetic spirit I
want to say, thank you.
At the center core of
Storm King today is a
nurturing spirit, one that
encourages students to
“
dream big, work hard, and
achieve success, in their own
way.” It’s what distinguishes
this community. It’s the
work of many every day. I’m
reminded of something said
by the writer Annie Dillard,
“
How we spend our days, is
of course, how we spend our
lives.”
Storm King served as a
touchstone for so many of us.
It still can. As we emerge into
a new season in the light of
spring I invite you to contact
me at: diane.ourcommon-
ground@sks.org.
Diane Kletz Travers ’72 was
the eighth coed admitted to
Storm King in 1970-71. She
went on to study photography
and documentary filmmak-
ing at Hamilton College and
in Denmark. She also holds
an MFA in Writing from
Sarah Lawrence College. She
currently lives in the Hudson
Valley and teaches memoir
writing classes to the aged and
those with mild dementia in
Assisted Living residences.
visited the Nymphenburg Palace
(
once home to the Hapsburgs
and modeled on the Palace of
Versailles), the Hofbräuhaus
(
Munich’s largest beer hall), as
well as a drive past the site of
the 1972 Olympics and the BMW
World Headquarters.
Leaving Bavaria, we
journeyed back to Austria with a
stop in Saltzburg. There we
toured a salt mine that brought
enormous wealth and prosperity
to the town in the Middle Ages.
The group also visited the
birthplace of Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart and actually
stood in the room where he was
born. From Saltzburg we
ventured on to Vienna, home to
many famous composers to
include Ludwig van Beethoven
and Mozart. While there we
visited the House of Music, an
interactive music museum
where you can view original
works, see batons and clothing
used by famous composers and
conductors and explore sound
in its many forms. In one exhibit
School Trip,
continued from page 9
