Years and grades at BCD: I attended BCD from Kindergarten (1980) through Ninth Grade (1990)What are your fondest memories from BCD (events/teachers/trips)? Naming just a few of my fondest memories of BCD is a difficult task since it encompasses nearly my entire childhood. However, a few highlights do come to mind. I have vivid memories of the BCD Fair while I was a student, which was much different than it is today- high speed dune buggy rides and the dunk tank were particularly memorable! I had many wonderful teachers over the years, but the ones that really stuck out were Mrs. Heady for gym, Mr. Fawcett for classical studies (5th grade) and later on for English, Mrs. Jones for Latin, and especially Mrs. Sadighi for science- she truly made learning fun and taught me how to believe in myself in the classroom. I will never forget my 9thgrade class trip to Montreal either- we explored the Old City, visited Olympic Park and swam in the Olympic pools, went to a disco, and cruised through the St. Lawrence rapids in a flat bottomed boat- it was a great way to bond with classmates and to cap-off a long journey.Where did you go once you left BCD? High School, College, Grad School, travels? After BCD, I attended high school at Salisbury School in Salisbury, CT. From there I went to the University of Vermont, in Burlington, which is one of the greatest towns in the northeast. I was lucky to have Stowe as my home mountain for skiing and training, and raced all over New England and New York during my four years at UVM. After graduating in 1997 I moved to Boston where I worked in the architecture field for roughly four years until I had a change of heart regarding my career path. I decided to attend Suffolk University Law School, graduating in 2005, and until recently concentrated my work on construction and employment law in Boston.Where are you living now?I moved to Lee, MA, in June 2009, with my wife Francine.
What are you doing now (work/family/personal projects)? My life has been a bit of a whirlwind for the past year. Fran and I were married last September in Egremont, and we enjoyed a wonderful honeymoon on Martha’s Vineyard. We decided to buy a house in Lee this past spring, and then in July I was hired by McCormick, Murtaugh & Marcus, a general practice law firm in Great Barrington. Between buying a new house, moving from Boston to Lee, and starting a new job both of our heads have been spinning. However, we are very happy to be living in the Berkshires and look forward to settling down and starting a family.
What are your plans for the future? My future plans are to take advantage of living in the Berkshires in every way possible, to raise a family and to become involved as much as I can in our community.
What about your time at BCD are you most thankful for? I’m most thankful for being challenged academically at BCD. Achieving athletically was something that came very easily for me, but in the class room I had to be pushed, prodded and coerced to understand that learning was fun and interesting if you put forth the effort to become engaged in your subjects. While this transformation did not happen overnight, I eventually learned what it took to succeed in the classroom and to expect a lot from myself both athletically and academically. The BCD faculty, as well as my parents of course, are to credit for my later achievements in school, and I truly appreciate the motivation that was instilled in me from the beginning of my academic career.
What advice can you offer current students at BCD? The best advice I can give current students is to enjoy and appreciate their time at BCD. The school provides such a great framework for achieving academically, athletically, as well as socially because of its small size and the role the faculty and staff play in a student’s experience. There will rarely be times in the future that students will have the chance to establish such strong bonds with their teachers and friends, and current students should not take that for granted. My best memories of BCD are truly about the relationships that I established and the friends that I made during my time as a student. So current students should not only enjoy the moment, but they should realize that they are lucky to be able to take advantage of such a wonderful learning environment.
