Georgia Bailey is a second-year senior at Northwood from Quebec, Canada. She is one of the assistant captains on the girls’ hockey team and has been pursuing the sport since age 6. Next year Georgia will be attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to continue her hockey career and go into their biology program in hopes of going into a field of medicine.

In her free time and over the summers, Georgia finds herself trying many different sports, such as swimming, volleyball, and hiking. She also has a deep passion for sweets and enjoys baking cookies and muffins. She is most passionate about spending outside with her family and friends.

As told to Maisie Crane ’23. Photo by Mr. Michael Aldridge.

Mr. Howard Runyon (Photo: Mr. Michael Aldridge).

Howard Runyon, also known as “H” or the Spanish pronunciation, “Ah-Chay,” is a man who has experienced many lives.

He grew up near the coast of New Jersey, just south of New York City, which “you could see on a clear day from the highest point of his town.” He grew up with three siblings, a sister and two brothers who worked at Northwood for many years but retired a few years ago. A fond memory of his was playing in the saltwater river beside his home, sifting through the sand with nets for treasures and creatures.

For his last three years of high school, he attended Middlesex School, where he found his love and passion for rowing, much like his father. After high school, he attended Yale University, which he picked because it was “probably the most famous place that had admitted me.” He mainly focused on rowing in his first two years there, which altered his academic path. But after a bit of trouble in the rowing department, he left college for a year and a half, returned, and completed two more years before graduating.

While away from school, he spent much time thinking about what he wanted to do with his life. He explored outside on a bicycle journey and a snowshoe expedition in the White Mountains. Before he returned to university, he took classes at a small local college near his hometown to improve his grades. Then he decided he wanted to be a mountaineer, worked in a tent factory in Wahington, and climbed on weekends. He returned in the summers between his last two years of college with a degree in philosophy.

After undergraduate studies, he moved to New York to try to get a job in publishing or filmmaking. He got a publishing company job when he decided to apply to film school simultaneously and got into Colombia University’s filmmaking school. He completed courses in two years but took another two and a half years to complete his thesis.

After film school, he was hired by a friend to proofread McGraw Hill medical textbooks, which he did for a few years while also working on selling his film school thesis. People hired him to help develop their films, but no projects ever took off. He had done this for around seven years but decided to move with his then-girlfriend, now his wife, who wanted to attend business school in Chicago. While there, he lost his passion for filmmaking and regained his passion for cycling, which he once did at home. He raced bikes professionally and worked on screenplays to make some money. He decided to retire from racing when the risk of injury became a more significant threat. He didn’t want to give up sports entirely, so he was hired by a rowing club in the summer and was later hired by the University of Chicago to be their head coach for four years.

After their daughter was born, they moved to Spain to study flamenco music and guitar while his wife studied dance. They lived there for four years and moved back to the States, where Runyon was hired to work at Northwood beginning in 2005.

Runyon has a deep connection to the history of the crew at Northwood. Though he didn’t start the crew program, it was created sometime in the 1920s and operated until until 1955. In Runyon’s words, the program’s demise is “unbelievable.” One night in the winter of 1955, all the crew equipment disappeared and later appeared at Dartmouth because “somebody somewhere” decided it should go to them because of their building collapsing, ending rowing at Northwood for forty-five years. He has now been the crew team leader for almost eighteen years.

He describes his favorite moments at Northwood being when he first sees a student start to like and grasp what they are learning and when a rower begins to get the sport and learns to navigate the intricate boat. He also enjoys the residential aspect of getting to know students and teachers outside of the classroom and his interactions on campus.

In his free time, he still enjoys bicycle riding, rowing, running, and walking in the woods with his “peculiar” dog Aries (a new guinea singing dog), who he adopted from a Northwood alum.

Natalie Zarcone, originally from Long Island, NY, has been a student at Northwood for three years. She came to Northwood to pursue her hockey and academic career and has played for around 15 years. Natalie is this year’s girls’ hockey team captain and is completing her post-graduate year. Next year she will attend the University of Vermont, playing for their hockey team and pursuing a major in exercise science. In the future, she hopes to work in athletic training but is open to trying other careers. She is known to be quite a singer on her hockey team and enjoys learning and playing the guitar. Natalie also added she enjoys sunsets!

As told to Maisie Crane ’23. Photo by Mr. Michael Aldridge.

Margaret (Marge) Maher (left) and Jody Borzilleri in the health center (photo: Maisie Crane ’23).

At Northwood, we love our nurses, Jody, Marge, and health center assistant Caroline Roy!

Every day, they help us with meds or assess how we are feeling, and they are great to just talk to. They have helped our school overcome mass illnesses like covid or the flu and offer snacks when you’re feeling hungry.

Their office is in the back of the dining hall and is a hub for many students during off periods, in-between classes, and during mealtimes. My friends and I often find ourselves talking about our problems with one of our nurses after lunch.

“I really appreciate all the hard work put forth by our nurses. Whenever I was feeling down Jody would hit me with the aroma therapy. Thank you!” Wyatt Wardlaw ‘24 said.

“I love to visit the nurse’s office with friends,” Sophia Schupp ‘24 said, “and love when Caroline gives us cookies!”

Thank you to our fantastic nursing staff, who dedicate so much to keeping our school healthy!

Originally born and raised in Lake Placid, Andrea Farrell grew up alpine skiing for NYSEF and exploring the Adirondack Park. Attending Middlebury college, she went to school with plans to attend medical school and become a doctor. But she had a change of heart and sought a different educational path. Ms. Farrell ended up graduating with a degree in environmental science with a focus on conservation biology. Within this degree, she grew comfortable teaching both math and science.

After Middlebury, Ms. Farrell moved to Tanzania for almost a year. She worked for the African Wildlife Foundation, a group focused principally on improving wildlife and the environment in Africa. Farrell returned to Lake Placid not intending to stay but got a job as a long-term substitute at the local public school. Shortly after, she worked full-time at another local private school, National Sports Academy or NSA. The school closed a few years later when Farrell taught a Northwood for one year.

Ms. Farrell and her husband Mike have three children: Charlie is 9, Peter is 7, and Katie is 5. Farrell returned to Northwood this fall after a nine-year hiatus from teaching when she raised her family and tutored local children in math. Now that her kids have grown a little older, Farrell is ready to get back into teaching.

Ms. Farrell teaches two sections of pre-calculus and is enjoying being back. She says the culture feels comfortable and familiar. She is getting to know the school again, as it has changed a lot since she last taught, and she hopes to continue working here for a long time.

She enjoys spending time in the region in her free time because her family is rooted here. She likes to run, swim, bike, and hike. She grew up skiing for NYSEF, so she spends her winter weekends on the slopes and at Mount VanHovenberg. She loves to travel domestically with her family. They have been all over the country. During the school’s January break, she plans to take her family to Costa Rica and explore and hopes to bring them back to Tanzini to reexplore her old home.

As told to Maisie Crane ’23. Photo provided.