Alumni
Welcome, Wheeler Alumni!
The Wheeler School is proud to be home to a vibrant, global community of over 5,000 alumni whose contributions and achievements bring our school mission—”to learn our powers and be answerable for their use”—to life.
Wheeler alumni maintain lifelong bonds with former classmates, faculty, and advisors and continue to remain an active, essential part of the life of the school today. The Alumni Office and the Wheeler Alumni Association are dedicated to fostering a strong sense of belonging for the alumni community. We invite you to stay connected through social and networking events, communications, volunteer and leadership opportunities, and your philanthropic support.
Join our Networks
Join Wheeler’s professional network on LinkedIn (make sure you add “the Wheeler School” to your education history so you are more searchable to your fellow alums!) and follow alumni community stories and announcements on Instagram and Facebook.
Questions?
Contact Director of Alumni Engagement, Danielle Kachapis at daniellekachapis@wheelerschool.org or 401-528-2109.
Alumni News
Alumni on Instagram
Deep in the dense forests of Tanzania’s Gombe National Park, Giuliana Centofanti ’16 tracks wild chimpanzees to answer a fundamental question about survival: how do early life adversities and social relationships shape long-term sociality and health?
As a doctoral researcher at Emory University, she spends her days hiking arduous trails in the heat to collect urine samples and record minute-by-minute social dynamics such as grooming, play, and hierarchy navigation. The evidence she collects helps to measure long-term social and physiological stress on orphaned chimpanzees.
Why chimps? “They`re one of our closest living relatives,” Giuliana explains. “So if you see the same kind of stress response in them that you`d expect in humans, it`s a clue that the response is biological and not just cultural or learned, which is definitely something I think we`d want to understand in humans.”
Giuliana got her start right here at Wheeler, where, as luck would have it, she had the chance to hear the late, great Dr. Jane Goodall speak to the Wheeler community when she was a senior.
Later, as an undergraduate at George Washington University, Giuliana focused on clinical psychology and biological anthropology, with an interest in innate human responses to trauma and stress. Driven by that curiosity, she transitioned into primate research, spending a full year in Côte d’Ivoire with the Taï Chimpanzee Project before beginning her doctoral degree at Emory University and launching her current field research in Tanzania, where she will be based through next July.
You can learn more about Giuliana, her research and creative pursuits, in the full story on our website. See the link in our bio! 🔗
Photo credit: Giuliana Centofanti ’16
#WheelerAlumni #AlumniSpotlight
Oct 29
Wheeler spirit runs deep!
Did you know that nearly 60 current students have parents, grandparents, aunts, or uncles who are Wheeler alumni? Last week, some of these students across both the Nest and Providence campuses gathered for group photos to celebrate these shared family roots before bringing all their purple and gold pride to the Homecoming Pep Rally!
Thank you to our alumni families for passing down your school spirit to the next generation!
@wheelerschoolri @thenestatwheeler @thehamiltonschool
#wheeleralumni #wheelerfamily #wheelerhomecoming
Oct 28
Great conversations and strong connections made for a memorable Homecoming meet-up!
On Friday night, it was Alumni After Hours at the Guild PVD Beer Garden in downtown’s 195 District Park, a local favorite owned by alumnus Jeremy Duffy ’88. Whether reconnecting with old classmates or meeting new friends, everyone enjoyed a night made extra meaningful with a special visit from retired coach and faculty member Jean Carlson.
As Athletic Director Sean Kelly ’99 noted in his remarks on Jean when he inducted her into the 2025 Wheeler Athletics Hall of Fame, “Few people have provided a steadier and more positive contribution to Wheeler Athletics in the School’s history than Jean Carlson. In her 42 years at Wheeler, Coach Carlson guided championship teams in tennis, lacrosse, and field hockey, and she spent many years as a revered physical education teacher and department chair; however, her legacy was so much more.”
We love it when legends come back to hang with us! Thank you to our Alumni Board for hosting and to all the alums who came out to celebrate the Wheeler community. 💜💛✨
#WheelerAlumni #WheelerHomecoming #WheelerHallofFame
@GuildPVDBeerGarden @wheelerschoolri
Oct 27
It’s Wheeler Spirit Week and Homecoming Weekend! 💜💛 Today, we’re proud to highlight the alumni who represent the enduring Wheeler spirit in a truly meaningful way as full-time faculty and staff members across every area of campus life — from Athletics, Art and Dance to Science, Math, Advancement, College Counseling, and more.
Pictured here on the steps of Morgan Hall are-
Front row: Zander Schmidt `16, Nicole Brissette Jennings `99, Lynne Bell `83, Liz Giancola `04, Andrew Hall `89, Michele Sczerbinski Diaz `86, Erin Gildea Muccino `04, Jesse Yip `08
Back Row: Felipe Ferreras `13, Sean Kelly `02, Will Rennie `05, Amy Baumgartel Singer `89, Liz Kilduff `86, Bobbie Berking-Dalzell `73, Honor Davis `14
What does it mean to build a career at your alma mater and inspire the next generation? We asked our longest serving alumni faculty member, Lower School Art Teacher Bobbie Berking-Dalzell `73!
“After 34 years teaching Lower School Art at Wheeler, I think I have the best job in the world,” Bobbie shared. “Every day is different, and I love sharing my passion for art with such vibrant, positive, young minds. I am fortunate to work alongside extraordinary, talented faculty and staff in a community that genuinely supports one another.
“Teaching Kindergarten through fifth grade, my focus is on building students` confidence, resilience, and belief in their own artistic potential. I want them to enjoy the creative process as they experiment with new materials and techniques. While teaching art is demanding and exhausting, it is rewarding — and never boring!
“It is an incredible privilege to watch my students grow into inspiring adults over the decades. I’m now teaching the children of former students and a few grandchildren of my ’73 classmates. I am proud to be a part of this community!”
And we’re proud of all of our alumni faculty and staff who continue to live out our motto: The Spirit Giveth Life!
#WheelerAlumni #WheelerHomecoming #AlumniSpotlight #WheelerSchool
Oct 22
