KIS Principal visit to MN

by | Aug 30, 2016 | Archives | 0 comments

Attendees included: Bob  Carman ’48 and wife Lu from Minneapolis, MN, Margaret and Paul Christensen, former Kodai staff, from Askov, MN (100 miles distant), Joel Otten, Lydia Rittmann Volz, John Naumann and wife Faye, Christina Nissen (daughter of Eunice Naumann Nissen), Lisa Hoh, Corey Stixrud, and two recent Kodai graduates: Andry DeJong (K’11) and Risa Sherai (K’14).

Andry teaches English at Washburn High School in Mpls. Risa attends college at Macalester in St. Paul. Another Mac student , Sunakshi Wadhwa (K’13) planned to attend but was unable to come.

The rain didn’t deter us from having a good time.  The Indian food included biriyani, chicken curry, rice, vadais, raita, pickles and chutneys, pappadams, and Ken’s delicious chai.

Miriam’s son John McCreary set up Corey’s slide show which was shown through the TV.  We enjoyed hearing about current developments and future plans for Kodai school. What, a swimming pool? Great.  We liked the individual interviews with students. Corey was then whisked off to his hotel, with plans to attend St. Olaf College in Northfield  the following day.

Miriam McCreary ’51

Marilyn Scudder Scholar 2017-18

Marilyn Scudder Scholar 2017-18

by | Jun 2, 2016 | Archives | 0 comments

Sponsored by the Classes of 1956 and 1955

Received May 2018

Dear Alumni,

My journey in KIS has been the most wonderful experience of my life, and has taught me a lot about the various avenues that are present in life. Kodai, a wonderful community, has been my home for the past five years. KIS is a school that has not only provided me with academic education, but important teachings that will definitely help me out in my future life experiences.

As part of those five years, I have been privileged enough to be a recipient of the Marilyn Scudder Memorial Scholarship, an outstanding opportunity, of which I was sure to take advantage. The scholarship opened multiple avenues for me, of which a major one was to let me continue my education in this honorable school and try to excel at the multiple principles that constitute the framework and foundation of the school.

My senior year has been a roller coaster of emotions, ranging from a nervousness at the fact that I am soon to graduate and not see my friends for a really long time; to satisfaction from the fact that I was able to study in a school that I proudly call home.

Under the International Baccalaureate Program, students have to complete a certain section known as CAS, under which students have to take on a major project, through which they aim to help the community. For my project, I co-founded a women empowerment initiative named ‘Jade’, which aims at helping the local women in the community. My project was jumpstarted through ‘One Billion Rising’ a worldwide movement that takes place on 14th February against women inequality. While organizing the entire movement for our school, I realized that it was the local community that require education more. Therefore, along with a few peers, I set out to CSI School, a local education hub, where we taught dance and educated the young, malleable minds about respecting women and their importance in all our lives.

None of this would have been possible if I was not given the opportunity to be a part of a wonderful school like KIS, or be the honorary recipient of the scholarship, for these two factors in my life have greatly influenced the person I am today and the many people that I will influence in my future endeavors.

With heartfelt thanks and warm regards to you alumni who have made these years in KIS possible for me.

Dev Selarka

Class of 2018

1955 & 1956 Class Reunion

1955 & 1956 Class Reunion

by | May 10, 2016 | Archives | 0 comments

Kodai alumni of the classes of 1955 and 1956 held their 60th/60st year reunion in Winter Park, Florida April 4 thru 7, 2016. A total of 33 people attended the reunion, 22 of whom were Kodai students for differing number of years and several who had also returned to Kodai as staff.

We stayed at the San Pedro Retreat Center, had the place to ourselves, enjoyed the catered meals and exploring the wooded property, including the lake.

The group explored Winter Park one day, including a boat ride, a visit to the Morse Museum’s collection of Tiffany, and lunch at an Indian restaurant. That evening Chris Rolles played a CD he recorded of songs popular during our teenage years at Kodai, along with humorous commentary. The next day we broke up and participated in several different excursions on the Atlantic coast, meeting again for tea, supper and discussion. Our last day together we stayed at the center and our time was devoted to much discussion. Of particular interest were written stories submitted prior to the reunion about experiences during WW 2. The lives of many families were disrupted during that time when it was feared that the Japanese would invade southern India. Many families left Kodai and other southern locations for places further north and/or departed from India as transport became available. Those who were living in Burma had particularly difficult times. Our last evening together, we brought in food from an Indian restaurant and had homemade mango mousse and “close to the budge halva” for dessert. We were joined at dinner by 3 guests, 2 of them alumni: Ruth Carner Richardson (Class of 1959) and her husband, Alex, and Mary Jean Linn (Class of 1977). Afterwards the “one practice choir” sang “Brother James Air”, in tribute to Mario, and we had a small choir selection. Then we all sang Kodai favorites together, ably assisted by Meg Thomas on piano. The next morning we said our goodbyes with plans to meet again in 1½ to 2 years.

Those in attendance were:

Class of 1955:

Ann (Gibbs) Henderson
Beverly (England) Williams
Jean (Towle) Reed
Conrad Heins
Alice (Graham) and Tom Byrnes
Lowey (Thoms) and Dave Dickason
Ruth (Voss) and Don Harris
Meg and Owen Thomas
Miggie (Carman) and Ed Tegenfeldt (56)
Carol (Zigler) and Ralph Kusserow

Class of 1956:

Jo (Heibert) Sorensen
Molly (Schmitthenner) and Alan Lesnick
Pat (Wood) and John Remias
Toni and Chris Rolles
Mary and Frank Emerson
Donna and Bruce Carman
Ruth (Vassar) and Stan Burgess (54)
Richard Garden

Class of 1957:

Jane (Gibbs) Cummings
Gail (Whittaker) and John Wynne

 

Photo Caption (L to R):
kneeling: Frank & Mary Emerson, Miggie Carman Tegenfeldt, Bruce Carman, Conrad Heins

standing in front row:  Lowey Thoms Dickason, Toni Rolles, Pat Wood Remias

standing in second row: Dave Dickason, Chris Rolles, Ruth Voss Harris (peeking through), Jo Hiebert Sorensen, Alice Graham Silver (Byrnes), Ruth Vasser Burgess, Molly Schmitthenner Lesnick, Ann Gibbs Henderson, Jane Gibbs Cummings, Carol Zigler Kusserow, Donna Carman, Meg & Owen Thomas

standing in third row: Tom Byrnes, Don Harris, Jean Towle Reed, Stan Burgess, Ed Tegenfeldt, Beverly England Williams, Ralph Kusserow, Richard Garden, John Remias

Missing from the picture: Gail Whitaker Wynne and John Wynne, Alan Lesnick (photographer)

Iowa KIS Alumni Lunch

Iowa KIS Alumni Lunch

by | Apr 22, 2016 | Archives | 0 comments

Former Staff, Dia de Haan hosted the Iowa Kodai lunch prepared by Chef Joe Rittmann ’66, FS, P at Dia’s home in Pella, IA on Saturday, April 30th. The tulips were in bloom and pots of food were consumed with delight.

Much appreciation to Dia for graciously opening her home and the kindness of her family, and to Joe for contributing the food and for his time in preparing the feast, not to mention traveling to Pella for the event! Those who were unable to attend due to the weather or illness: you were missed! We hope you will be able to join us next time.

And thanks for the donations to Kodai Friends International https://www.kfi-us.org/ for the KIS waste recycling project, too!

Photo Caption (L to R):
back row: Joe Rittmann (’66, FS, P), Marty Grubbs Rittmann (’69, P), Dia’s son, Dale DeWild (FS)
front row: Norma de Haan (Dia’s mom) and Dia de Haan (FS)

Camp K Winter/Spring Reunion

by | Apr 18, 2016 | Archives | 0 comments

Another awesome reunion has come and gone, and what a wonderful time we had!  I think this is the first time we had someone drive in from Montreal to be with us at a winter / spring reunion. Ted Hahn (from Montreal) had a trade show scheduled for that week end in the Javits Center, NYC. I contacted him about this reunion, knowing that he travels quite frequently, and hoped he might be in the area. Well, SHOCK OF AGES! He drove down Thursday night; I met him at Kirchenwald early Friday morning, and after coffee we proceeded to make a large, highly flavorful and delicious pot of chicken biriyani.

Rani Maloney and Jeff arrived mid morning, and right away went shopping for groceries.  By the time they returned, Ted and I were consuming our second, or maybe third plate of biriyani. Rani and Jeff dug in and had some, and there was tons still left. Then Rani began cooking up her famous beef keema, which EVERYONE loves.  Soon Mario Bellido arrived, bringing his friend, Mike from Cleveland. John Piet bicycled on over from the Elizabethtown train station. Then came Tracey (Somers) Maloney,

Finally, a nice surprise, former KIS faculty member Ellen (Dash) Walter arrived. I had never met Ellen before, but Ellen has a delightful personality, and she is also an accomplished and talented piano / keyboard player. She brought her keyboard with her to give us a taste of the music we will be singing along with at the main Kodai reunion in September. Ellen can entertain us with almost any song we can think of. She has lyric sheets to pass around, plus she has agreed to be the pianist for our church service in September. Thank you Dash! (She says we should call her Dash).

Ted had to leave Friday for his trade show in NYC. Ellen had to leave Friday evening to do piano a gig at an event. The rest of us remained with excitement and anticipation of catching up with those who were to arrive on Saturday.

First to arrive Saturday morning were the Kolumban brothers, Mike and Paul (the Dosai boys) bringing a big pot of Dosai batter. Right away we set about making Dosai, and Rani Maloney began steaming up some fluffy idlies and made coconut chutney. (Sambar had been made made on Friday.) Paul Heusinkveld and Basil Manns were next, coming in from Maryland and Washington DC, bringing a delicious shrimp curry. Jeff Maegerlein had brought three big blue fish fillets, which we marinated Kerala style, and Mario cooked them up outside on the propane burner. John Gipson arrived bringing a rice and chicken curry dish. Emily (Grumm) Jeske picked up Hank Moyer in Allentown, and came in with a huge fruit salad. Elaine (Lomperis) and her husband Wayne brought the birthday cake for Hank Moyer. Barth Lewellyn brought chicken – mango curry, and helped out by taking Hank back to Allentown in the evening.

On Sunday Jeff made the traditional eggs and bacon which we ate with idli, Dosai and sambar. After cleaning and sweeping / mopping Meyers Retreat house, we sadly packed our sleeping bags, and departed … Back to reality and to the dysfunctional world and US news, which we had tuned out, in lieu of three days of happiness and peacefulness in the woods of central Pennsylvania.

This reunion revolves around the social aspects of having everyone together in one large area for relaxing, cooking, eating and drinking. The kitchen is part of this multipurpose room which also has large hearth and comfortable couches. There was plenty to eat and drink. There is never a lack of laughter and conversation in this group. If you have never experienced a Kodai reunion, you must give it a try. WHAT A WEEKEND!!!!

Bob Edwards

1983 Class Reunion

1983 Class Reunion

by | Feb 4, 2016 | Archives | 0 comments

Nineteen from the Class of 1983 gathered July 22-24 for their 1/3 century reunion in Houston and had a fabulous time. Noory Basrai Biabani and Aqil were wonderful hosts! For more information, contact Mona Oommen (class rep) at monaoommen@gmail.com.