COUGAR CHRONICLES

The Cougar Chronicles is an electronic newsletter published three times a year under the auspices of the Alumni Council. 

Below is the latest Cougar Chronicles from November 2011:

THE COUGAR CHRONICLES NOVEMBER 2011

Upcoming Alumni Events
Friday, November 25th – Annual Alumni Hockey Game at Clary Anderson Arena on Chestnut Street (4:30 p.m.) Post-game pizza reception for players and spectators. To register & play, visit www.mka.org/alumnihockey

Tuesday, January 3rd – College-Age Alumni Winter Break Luncheon for the Classes of 2010 & 2011 (Cougar Dining Hall /11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.)
R.S.V.P. to Amanda Hirsh at amandahirsh@mka.org

Monday, February 6, 2012 – San Francisco Regional Alumni Cocktail Party Plans are in the works to gather alumni living in and around San Francisco for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at a cool city venue from 6:00-8:00 p.m.  Contact Laurie McFeeley to R.S.V.P and learn more: lmcfeeley@mka.org / 973-509-7939

Wednesday, March 7, 2012 – Career Day– Contact the Alumni Office (lmcfeeley@mka.org) if you’d like to speak with current juniors & seniors about your profession; students love to hear from alumni about their fields and careers.  Also, The Bank of Community Resources was created to enrich MKA’s classroom environment by utilizing the expertise of guests from the MKA community. Do you have a skill, career or life experience that would be of interest to our students? Signing up for the BOCR provides an exciting opportunity to experience the classroom and benefit the children. Sign-up today!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012 – Boston Alumni Reception at Towne Stove and Spirits on Boylston Street from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Don’t miss this fun gathering at an establishment Esquire Magazine recently named one of the Best New Restaurants of 2011. Join us if you live, work, are visiting or attend school in Boston (must be 21 or older please). R.S.V.P. to Alumni Director Laurie McFeeley ’76: lmcfeeley@mka.org

Fall Alumni Event Recap
MKA’s September 14th Young Alumni “Happy Hour” for 90+ members of the classes of 1997-2007 was a huge hit, held once again at the fan-favorite and scenic West 79th Street Boat Basin Café.  For photos of the event, click here.

MKA’s 2nd installment in its newer Networking Series took place on Oct. 3rd at Papillon Bistro & Bar in NYC. It featured 3 alumni who spoke informally about their careers in finance. Sharing their expertise were Melissa Cohn ’78, Founder, Owner and President of The Manhattan Mortgage Company; Bret Hirsh ’00, Senior Analyst at Scout Capital Management; and Luke Sarsfield ’91, Managing Director and Global Head of Medical Devices at Goldman, Sachs and Co.
Click here to see an album of the event.

Homecoming 2011 was held on a crisp and sunny October 22nd.  
200 alumni, faculty, former faculty and friends attended the reunion luncheon, with 160 revelers continuing on to the Reunion Dinner at Montclair Golf Club.  Dinner featured the 2011 Athletic Hall of Fame Induction of Chisako Sugiyama ’05 (tennis) and Frank Herrmann ’02 (major league baseball).  
View Homecoming, AHOF and Distinguished Alumni Award photos at http://hollanderphoto.com/MKAhomecoming

The 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award was presented to Sally Minard (Kimberley ’60) at the Homecoming luncheon. Sally was featured in the fall issue of MKA’s Review magazine on page 45.

Amazing Athletic Feats!
Many congratulations to the MKA Boys' Soccer Team and their coach Jordan Raper on defeating Gill St. Bernards 1-0 on November 14th at the College of New Jersey to win the NJSIAA Non-Public B State Championship.
This is only the  second time in team history that the team has securred the Prep-B State Championship (the last time being in 2006.) Miles Hackett '13 scored the winning goal with 1:32 remaining in the first overtime period and Matt Lane '13 secured the shutout for the win.  The Cougars have only conceded one goal in their last nine matches and closing the season with a 21-2-2 record, were not scored on throughout the entire NJSIAA Tournament.

The MKA football team (9-1) set a new school record for football wins in a season. Victory No. 9 was earned on Saturday, November 12th with an impressive 42-6 triumph over Queen of Peace in a Non-Public, Group 2 first round contest. The team will next face a second-seeded Holy Spirit team (6-3) that was ranked No. 4 in the state at the start of the season. The big game will take place Friday night, November 18th in Absecon, NJ.

Congratulations to MKA senior Jenny Osbun, an equestrienne who is currently ranked first in New Jersey, second in the Tri-State area and 21st out of 500 riders in the nation in the Novice Division.

MKA’s Girls' Varsity Soccer Team (14-8-3) and the Boys' Varsity Soccer Team (20-2-2); both captured the NJ Prep B State Soccer Championships at home. For both teams, this was their second NJ Prep State Championship in the last past three years.

In November, the MKA Cheerleaders, led by Coach Teri Butler, took home 1st Place in the SEC Colonial Division Cheerleeding competition held at Bloomfield High School.

Click here to read more about MKA Athletics

Campus Tidbits
Many celebrated authors visited MKA during its enormous November Book Fair: Derek Anderson (Little Quack, Story County; Here We Come, Happy Birthday Hamster), Harlan Coben (Shelter, Live Wire), Doreen Cronin (Click, Clack Moo: Cows That Type, Trouble With Chickens, M.O.M. Mon Operating Manual), Sarah Culberson (A Princess Found), Brandon Mull (Fablehaven series, A World Without Heroes), Peter Reynolds (I'm Here, The Dot, Ish), R.L. Stine (Goosebumps series) and Melissa Clark (Cook This Now, In the Kitchen With a Good Appetite).

MKA welcomed 13 visitors from the Taipei American School (TAS) in Taiwan in October. The group visited all three of campuses. Two TAS administrators visited MKA a couple of years ago and the school is now preparing to launch their own Ethics and Character Development Program. TAS sent the team of faculty, counselors and administrators half-way around the world just to see MKA's Culture of Ethics in action.

MKA Alumni on Facebook!   MKA actively uses Facebook as a means to communicate with Alumni, post recent news, promote upcoming events and share photos.  Like Montclair Kimberley Academy Alumni page by clicking here.

Please join our Montclair Kimberley Academy Alumni Group on LinkedIn. This site can be a terrific resource to search for jobs, join discussions and connect with fellow alumni professionally. Click here to join the group.

Also visit the MKA website at: www.mka.org/alumnievents so as not to miss upcoming events like the next installment in our Networking Series.

Follow us on Twitter @MKAAlumni for all of the latest and most up-to-date news!

Alumni – we need your news!  Please send information for class notes to our class notes editor Amanda Hirsh at amandahirsh@mka.org and ideas for articles to Review editor Debbie Kozak at dkozak@mka.org.

The 2011-12 Annual Fund drive is in full swing - the Alumni Phonathon was held on November 2nd & 3rd.  Haven’t made your pledge or gift yet?  It’s fast and easy with our online giving form  Alumni giving remains vital to MKA’s continued strength and success!

Where Are They Now?
Honorable Robert H. Gardner (MKA ’78), former President of MKA’s Alumni Council, is currently the presiding judge over the Superior Court of New Jersey's Criminal Division. Rob has offered internships through his alma mater, Connecticut College, for some years now, feeling that the popular perception of the legal world is very different from what really goes on in American courthouses. "Very few people actually do trial work," said Gardner, who was sworn in to the Superior Court bench in 2008. Having majored in government at Connecticut College, Rob contacted the Office of Career Enhancing Life Skills to offer internships to Connecticut College students from New Jersey.  Rob currently lives In Essex Fells with his wife and family.