Hometown
Northport, New York

College
Stanford

 

In May 23, Student Council President Kirsten Lees stood at the podium in the Olcott Center before an audience of approximately 800 students, faculty, and staff at Loomis Chaffee’s annual Celebration of Excellence. In a few moments, she would pass the gavel to the next Student Council president. “Speaking to you in this position for the last time seems surreal,” she shared. “As many people know, coming into Loomis I never imagined myself being part of Student Council, never mind leading it.”

She took the opportunity to give special thanks to all her peers on the council. “I believe this group has transformed the goals of Student Council at Loomis,” Kirsten told those gathered. “We have opened doors to new conversations around diversity, equity, and inclusion; medical leave and mental health; ... and so much more. This group has truly demonstrated a genuine concern for student well-being.”

The Student Council is just one channel through which Kirsten has made a positive difference in the community. She was a resident assistant in Howe Hall as a senior and a prefect in Flagg Hall as a junior. She was a head tour guide, a member of the girls varsity soccer team, and an artist who could often be found in the Richmond Art Center (RAC) working on ceramics. 

Just one day later, she presented her senior project, “Toad in a Hole: An Expressive Self Sculpture,” culminating her enthusiasm for ceramics at Loomis Chaffee, a passion she discovered during her junior year. “I fell in love with [ceramics] very quickly,” Kirsten says. “I realized it was a passion when I was coming to the studio after hours, making random things, and practicing on my own. This is something I would plan my day around … do my homework and make time for it.”

She created countless pieces that reside in the RAC, her dorm room, and her home. Her senior project was named “Toad in a Hole” in part because in the middle of the piece is exactly that, a toad in a hole. The expression comes from when her father would make a hole in mashed potatoes for gravy to fill. To Kirsten the piece also means much more: poise, confidence, embracing emotions, individuality, family, and the unconditional love of close friends.   

When she was deciding on how to glaze her piece, she discovered colors that reminded her of a chameleon. That spoke to her. “One way to think about chameleons is they are very adaptable, embracing change rather than rejecting it,” Kirsten says. 

The girl who never saw herself leading the Student Council embraced so much in her time here. Just as Kirsten molded clay into her final ceramics piece, she molded herself into a leader and helped shape many parts of campus life.

In recognition of her outstanding contributions to the school community, the faculty honored Kirsten with the Jennie Loomis Prize at Commencement. A few days earlier her artistic and academic accomplishments were recognized with a Sanford B.D. Low Senior Art Prize and her induction into the Cum Laude Society.

“I’m just incredibly proud of Kirsten and what she has and will accomplish,” says Tim Jeon ’06, her advisor all four years and an associate director of admission. “I’m also happy to have witnessed this chapter of her life. Though I had my suspicions Kirsten would be an awesome Loomis kid after reading her admission file, I was pleased to see just how much she exceeded my expectations. … I was pleased, but not surprised.”

Kirsten will attend Stanford in the fall and is interested in neuroscience. She is deeply analytical, taken to evaluating the pros and cons, sticking to her beliefs. So, what would we find if we went inside her brain?

“Probably a collection of Outlook,” she says with a laugh. “A bunch of emails asking me to do things, emails to other people … you’d find my friends … different ideas I have for making clothes, different ideas for ceramics projects. My advisor would be there. Every time something happens, especially things that are funny, my first thought is to tell him. … What else is in there? Probably a lot of analyzing questions. Ruminating. I like doing things and experiencing things. There’s a lot going on in there.” 

 

Quick Takes

Three things you could not live without: “Honey Nut Cheerios, YouTube, and my mom and dad.”

More on those Honey Nut Cheerios: “You have to put the milk first because that makes it so much better. I hold strong to that decision. It’s just better. You have more control; you are not putting the initial sog over it.”

Weird food combination: “I like ranch [dressing] a lot. I’ll eat ranch, well, not with everything, but ranch is good with many things.”  

Favorite course: “I’d say Harlem Renaissance [in the fall of her senior year]. I was fortunate to be in a very good class with people who were active participants, and to have a teacher, Dr. [Fiona] Mills, who knew how to balance the discussion and have students take the lead. And I appreciated the material, the literature, the music, the dance.”

If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would it be and why? “Maybe a contortionist. Just because I’m not flexible at all. Someone from the circus. You could do the trapeze and fly around; that could be cool.”