Beaver Reflections:
My mother went to Beaver and I graduated in 1957. We were the Heinz 57. It was a time when Beaver was just girls, and I started in 7th grade. My experience was positive. It was helpful for me later on because it gave me the experience of living in a supportive environment where I had good academic training and the opportunity to expand some of my interests, developing my international experiences. As a senior, they had an exchange student from AFS, the American Friends Society. We had this girl from Berlin living in our house for a year. It was about 52-53 when we were doing this so it was new to have a German living in your house after the Second World War. I had a mathematics teacher—I think her name was Mrs. Sayward—who was very special to me because she taught me advanced geometry. It’s big for girls to have a class like that. When we got to senior year I ran for President of the student government but I wasn’t elected and she said to me, “The students know best. They know what you can do. Let them be happy with their choice.” That really helped me and I then was chosen to be head of the social action committee. That suited me much better. That led me to the Red Cross and then, most recently, to have worked as a representative to the United Nations for my women’s association, the American Association of University Women.

What is #happeningnow in your life:
After Beaver, I looked for something that was different. I left my hometown in the Boston area to go to New York and to attend Vassar where I majored in German and French. From my time at Vassar, I also received a social action award they honored me with around 10 years ago. Following my time at Vassar, I did a year abroad in Germany where I studied German literature in Mainz, Germany. Later on, I worked in an early computer lab using punch cards to perform health research data analysis related to optimizing the set-up of health clinics for miners. After 4 years there, I volunteered at the Field Museum in Chicago helping organize, catalog, and maintain the museum’s sample collections. After that, in 1985, I completed a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from Virginia Tech, student taught in Roanoke, Virginia, and worked at Virginia Tech. During my time in Virginia, I became very active in The American Association of University Women (AAUW). And until recently, I was actively involved in NY AAUW which included leadership roles as the NGO liaison to the UN, where I would often commute to the UN in Manhattan.

“One of the happiest days of my life was when one of my friends’ girls called me up and told me that she was taking a job working at the United Nations. I had brought her to the United Nations and helped her get interested in this. Girls working with girls. It’s been a very pleasant way to continue my life’s work.”
– Carolyn Donovan ’57

Advice to Beaver students:
I think people should be flexible. It’s very simple. There’s a lot of ways that you can enjoy life.