In Focus

We are delighted to welcome Stephan Haimo '74, and excited to see an alumnus of the school step into the shoes of his classmate and former chair, Elsa Berry. Not only is Stephan an alumnus of the Lycée, he is also the father of alumni Karine '03 and Natalie '06, current student Henry, starting CE1 this year, and Oliver, age 18 mos. His brother, Nicolas Haimo, also attended the Lycée, class of 1976. A graduate of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, Stephan received law degrees from the University of Paris X - Nanterre and New York University School of Law. He is a partner in the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where he specializes in corporate and securities transactions. In 2007, he was appointed as a knight to the Order of the Légion d'Honneur. He was elected to the Lycée's Board of Trustees in 2008, and was named Chairman this Spring.

Your family has been involved with the Lycée for decades—as students, alumni, and volunteers. How did your parents first decide to send you to the Lycée?

My parents enrolled me at the Lycée in Dixième when we moved to Manhattan from the suburbs. I had previously attended a bilingual pre-school in Queens that I think was run by the UN. My father, who had emigrated from France after the War, initially wasn’t so keen on sending Nick and me to the Lycée. Even through he was culturally and intellectually French, he had become a US citizen and really wanted us foremost to be Americans. It was his way of shielding us from his memories of the War. My mother, on the other hand, who was also French and had moved to the US years after my dad, insisted that we speak French at home and should grow up with a full appreciation for French culture. Looking back now, I can say that they both prevailed.

As a parent, what were your reasons for choosing the Lycée for your children?

For Karine and Natalie, it was rather an easy choice. Their mother and I spoke French at home and we were comfortable with the Lycée “tradition” in the family. I must confess, however, that on the first day I took Karine to her pre-nursery class I was a bit shocked to realize how little the Lycée had changed since I had graduated some 15 years earlier.

For Henry, it was a much more involved process, even though the Lycée had changed radically, even during the time my daughters were here. Henry’s mother is Italian, spent the majority of her youth in New York and was educated at Brearley, Duke and the Courtauld Institute. While she is fond of France (bien entendu), she needed to be persuaded that the Lycée was the right school for our son. Although Karine and Natalie were keen on their little brother learning French, we primarily if not only spoke English at home and Henry attended pre-nursery and nursery at a small school in Chelsea. Consequently, Veronica and I went through the grueling but very informative process of applying, interviewing and touring at several private schools around Manhattan. In the end, after thorough deliberation, we chose the Lycée without any hesitation because we were both impressed by its uniqueness and convinced that it has best educational curriculum, cultural openness and social mix of all the schools we considered for Henry.

The Lycée has certainly changed in many ways, most obviously with the physical change of location. What do you see as some of the most positive changes?

In the span of a few short years, the Lycee evolved from a stately but obsolete collection of townhouses to a world class facility. To me, this is akin to what has happened when cultural institutions have built or moved to new surroundings (for example: the Getty in LA, the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, the MoMA in NY). In this transformation, the Lycée acquired a new energy, projected itself into the future and staked its claim as a leading private school in New York City. While the Lycée has strived to preserve the qualities that are so essential to its DNA (intellectual rigor, social and national diversity, bilingual teaching), it has also undergone a profound mutation in other areas (for instance: the emphasis on sports, artistic creativity, emotional well being, new technologies). These are the foundations for continued development in the years ahead.

And what are some of the things that you miss?

I am not nostalgic about the old Lycée because I know from daily experience how much more our school has to offer today. And I don’t know too many people who miss living in New York in the early ‘70s, although it did have its moments. This being said, I was fortunate to have had a number of terrific teachers and to forge lasting friendships with classmates that have endured to this day. I am thankful that I have had many good years in my life, but my years in Première and Terminale were exceptionally memorable thanks to my teachers and my classmates.

What do you think were the most important benefits you received from a Lycée education?

I have always felt that my Lycée education started me off in adulthood with a very unique set of tools. The ability to move seamlessly between cultures, a deep appreciation for language, a work ethic, and intellectual values based on rigorous and critical thinking, are all the product of my years of schooling at the Lycée. Interestingly, a generation later, my daughters are seeing many of the same benefits in their daily lives, whether in college or in their jobs.

Can you share a favorite memory from your Lycée days?

Among those that I can mention, the time a friend and I distributed in class during recess a Maoist leaflet that we had written. This occurred in ’70 or ‘71. The “Censeur” stormed into the classroom and demanded that the culprits turn themselves in. When we didn’t and, despite his urging, none of our classmates denounced us, he became enraged and lambasted the writers for their lousy spelling and grammar. Although my Maoist convictions were fleeting, I always remembered the lesson that good propaganda should be well written…

What motivates you personally to be involved with the Lycée?

To paraphrase a famous comment attributed to Malraux, all of my family at some point “has been, is or will be” involved with the Lycée. I am proud to be an alumnus, grateful for the education that I and my daughters have received and very committed to seeing that Henry and possibly one day his brother are given the best possible education with which they can tackle the challenges of a fast changing, competitive and uncertain world.

Beyond my family, I am inspired by the belief that I can help represent the significance of the Lycée to members of our community: students, parents, teachers, staff and alumni. Also, I am convinced that the Lycée is a uniquely important asset to New York, enabling the city to attract top talent from around the world and to offer an educational and linguistic alternative to a wide diversity of students.

Finally, what are some of the short and/or long-term goals you would like to accomplish as Chair of the Board?

The Lycée has made tremendous strides in the last decade under the stewardship of Elsa Berry and the Board members who dedicated themselves to the building of the new facility and the revamping of the school’s mission. Mr. Thézé has been a remarkable asset and his leadership of the school has enabled it to achieve almost all of the objectives that were laid out in the initial strategic plan. After ten years of very positive change, I see the next couple of years as emphasizing the consolidation of all the gains that we have made. The Board’s primary, but not only, objective will be to ensure that we find a Head of School to succeed to Mr. Thézé in 2011 who will have all the right qualities to steer the school into its next phase of development. Importantly as respects the alumni, we are going to celebrate our school’s 75th anniversary in 2010-2011 and I am very keen on making sure that they fully participate in all the festivities.

> Back