Leadership Beyond EMS

Our young alumni go the extra mile to make an impact

By Angelique Morelli; originally published in the summer 2022 edition of “Apple Tree Magazine”

Global citizenry and leadership are not just a part of the curriculum taught at The Elisabeth Morrow School; they are lifelong lessons founded on the 4 C’s — compassion, consideration, courtesy, and cooperation — with a focus on developing a deep social consciousness and recognizing that the world is bigger than our own backyard.

Trevor Ostfeld ’21 and Marie Dillard ’20 are two outstanding young alumni who have harnessed the power of The Elisabeth Morrow School education by taking action to educate and empower their communities on social issues both home and abroad.

Trevor Ostfeld ’21

Trevor Ostfeld, a rising sophomore at Riverdale Country School, led a special assembly for all Morrow House students on April 18. He spoke about the four-day humanitarian trip to war-ravaged Ukraine and neighboring Poland that he took in March with his father and their synagogue.

“Generations ago, our family and other Jewish families suffered in Poland, Ukraine, and across Europe,” reflects his father, Scott. “It was meaningful for me to return to the land of my ancestors with my son to offer help to people of all backgrounds. We have taught our children to get involved and stand up for human rights, values that were reinforced by their experience at The Elisabeth Morrow School and the teaching of the 4 C’s.”

Trevor Ostfeld recalls watching the conflict unfold on television and empathizing with all the suffering people. So it was no surprise that when his rabbi at Temple Emanu El in Closter, N.J., offered him the opportunity to go, he felt deeply motivated to help.

“The 4 C’s, especially compassion, was one of the main driving factors for me to want to make this trip,” says Ostfeld. “Having compassion for these people in need and seeing yourself in them is something that was fostered at EMS and is essential for anyone that wants to get started or do any [humanitarian] effort.”

Cooperation, another tenet of the 4 C’s, was also at the heart of Ostfeld’s trip. It had to be: the 11 volunteers were responsible for bringing 129 bags of supplies, weighing 9,000 pounds, which included 4,000 diapers, overseas for the relief effort.

For Ostfeld, the experience was life-changing. Through connecting with refugees and hearing their stories, being a part of the service trip put things into perspective for him. One story that impacted Ostfeld was about a young girl named Irina who had to leave her cat behind.

“The cat had been through so many hands, and someone was supposed to take it and forgot it, and someone else was supposed
to take it and forgot it,” he says. “And the cat got lost and then was found, and it was finally coming back to her. And I thought it was really interesting that through all of this suffering and all these terrible things happening, all this little girl cared about was her cat. It was something that really stuck with me.”

Ostfeld proves how the 4 C’s can have a global impact. Young people can mobilize relief efforts for any cause without going too far. Ostfeld says it’s as simple as thinking about what you have that others don’t. “Just think about something you’re passionate about and try to help,” he says.

Marie Dillard ’20

In February, Marie Dillard, a rising junior at St. Andrew’s School, spoke to her school community at the school’s chapel service, where students and teachers are invited to give a discussion on a specific topic.

For Black History Month, the school’s Black affinity groups, Onyx and Essence, were responsible for organizing the chapel services. The theme for this service was “Black in the Arts.” Dillard, an award-winning artist and musician, saw this as the perfect opportunity to share her passion for the arts and her family roots.

“What inspired me to volunteer to write the reflection was that I am Black, and I’m an artist,” says Dillard, who has received multiple awards, including one national medal through Scholastics’ national art competition. “From looking around at the people I was in the room with, I noticed I was one of the only Black students that does art at this level.”

As far back as the fourth grade, Dillard credits EMS for giving her the opportunities to develop leadership skills, her love of art, and creating a deep social consciousness.

“I think that part of the leadership that I learned was not only being a leader yourself, but wanting to become a better leader by learning from those around you and taking in all the information you could form the great minds around you,” she says.

Dillard recalls being a buddy in the fourth grade and taking a diversity of identity elective in Morrow House.

“EMS is where Marie discovered her passions, and as an institution, it nurtured her interests in art, American history, public policy, and law in every way,” says her mother, Robin. “The community, culture, pedagogy, people, and, most of all, the love of childhood make it unique.”

Dillard laughs as she reminisces about the first time she was drawing the face of a classmate in Mrs. Keller’s class and forgot to include the pupils in the eyes.

“I remember that moment vividly because I was like, ‘Oh, you need pupils to see. I was supposed to draw those!’” she recalls with a chuckle. “I also remember it as one of the starting points where I characterized myself as someone who can do art.”

This summer, Dillard continued practicing art and interning at Hootology, a data analytics company, attending a Young Historians’ Conference in Maryland, and helping musicians as a counselor at the EMS Summer String Festival on our campus.