When Brent Hurwitz ’80 was curious about a recent Fieldston alumni gathering in Los Angeles, he decided to attend, hoping to meet a few new people. What appealed to him was the prospect of starting those conversations with something already in common, giving him a natural way to connect with people he might otherwise never have met. His curiosity was rewarded with a series of engaging and unexpected connections. A conversation with a younger alum revealed a connection to a former classmate of Brent’s youngest sister, who also attended Fieldston Lower like him; another led to a shared link through UCLA. “At a Fieldston gathering, you know you have at least one thing in common,” he says. “That can be a wonderful place to begin.”
The place, it turns out, matters. At ECFS, physical spaces have long been designed to give students room to think, explore, create, and connect. From the expansive Fieldston campus in the Bronx to the historic Ethical Culture building overlooking Central Park, the School’s green spaces, classrooms, arts and athletics facilities, and historic architecture are backdrops to the school day and are instrumental in creating the conditions for learning and community. Years after graduation, alumni are continuing to create those conditions for one another in spaces of their own.
Hurwitz began looking for a venue that could bring together alumni and their families across generations. After contacting a couple of museums, he started thinking about the Los Angeles Zoo. The shared experience of exploring the zoo together could naturally encourage people to talk and mingle. He was also drawn to its emphasis on conservation and sustainability, values that echo Fieldston’s.
His own experience at Fieldston offers a glimpse of how a place can shape a person long after graduation. He remembers an ethics class trip to a General Motors assembly plant in Tarrytown, where students were encouraged to question a supervisor about wages, benefits, and working conditions. It was an early lesson in thinking about fairness not only in terms of what is legal, but what is ethical, one that he would take with him into his career in urban planning, real estate development, and construction management.
Meanwhile, just a six-hour drive north along California’s Interstate 5, Dana Smith ’91 has been thinking about connection from a different vantage point. After three decades on the West Coast, she wanted to deepen her ties to the Fieldston community closer to home. Returning to New York for her 35th Fieldston Reunion this past summer sparked newfound momentum. She began planning a Bay Area regional gathering at the iconic Ferry Building to welcome local alumni into a shared, familiar setting. For Dana, it’s less about recreating the past than carrying something forward.
“Staying connected to Fieldston is a way to stay connected to myself,” she says.
That sentiment reflects how alumni spaces can serve as places where people can reach out to old friends, foster professional connections, and shape opportunities for people to meet.
For other alumni, creating space for connection means introducing the next generation to places that once felt like their own. Jessica Koby Gawlik ’06 recalls attending her first Eagles Playdate, an event which invites alumni back to campus to connect to other Fieldston alums with young families as they begin thinking about school admissions. She arrived as an alumna and new parent, but left with a renewed conviction that the community that supported her growth remains an active part of her life today.
“Once upon a time, ECFS was our village,” she says. “I realized that ECFS is still part of my village.”
At Eagles Playdate, that sense of continuity becomes tangible. Childhood friends gather once more, watching their own children discover the magic of spaces that still hold so much meaning and memory to them. Hillary Robbie ’04, a 1st Grade parent and member of the Fieldston Alumni Network (FAN) Leadership Committee alongside Koby Gawlik, believes that Eagles Playdate creates a special bridge across generations. It also offers prospective families an informal window into current life at Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower. Robbie recalls how comforting it was for her son to spend time on campus before his admissions interview. As she puts it, “Fieldston wasn’t some overwhelming new place, it was where the Eagle lives.”
Jessica Koby Gawlik ’06 (left) and Hillary Robbie ’04 (right) enjoy their time at a recent Eagles Playdate.
In this way, ECFS’s physical settings continually evolve while preserving their core purpose. A playground shifts from a childhood memory to a place where alumni guide their own children; a regional gathering rekindles old ties while sparking new relationships. Across classrooms, fields, and alumni events nationwide, these settings offer room to develop, reflect, and reconnect.
Throughout the fall and into next spring, Fieldston alumni and their families have many meaningful ways to gather again across places both novel and familiar. Visit our Alumni Events page to learn more.
