Class of '62 Student Enrichment Fund Event
Campus visit by Ingrid Fetell Lee
September 15, 2025

For School Year 2025-2026, the theme for on-campus events is “Find Joy, Fuel Joy”. One of the first such events was for our Student Enrichment Fund to sponsor bringing Ingrid Fetell Lee to Culver. Ms. Lee is a designer and author whose groundbreaking work reveals the hidden influence of our surroundings on our emotions and wellbeing. Lee has been featured as an expert on design and joy by outlets such as The New York Times, The Guardian, Wired, Real Simple, The Atlantic, the Today Show, HGTV Magazine, and Fast Company. She has over fifteen years of experience in design and branding, having led design programs for Target, Condé Nast, Eileen Fisher, American Express, Kate Spade, Diageo, Pepsico, and the US government, among others.

The event consisted of

  • A breakfast in the Legion Memorial Building (the Library in our day) attended by Ms. Lee and small number of faculty, staff, and the students who would be moderating the subsequent All-Class Assembly.

  • A one-hour Question & Answer session with Ms. Lee, also in the Legion Memorial Building. It was organized by Sarah Gaff, Meziane, and Tracy Wogoman (Math Department Instructors) and attended by selected faculty, staff, and students.

  • An All-Class Assembly in Eppley auditorium moderated by the Nevaeh Navarre CGA ’26 and Kaya Turgut CMA ’26.

Nevaeh Navarre CGA ’26, Ingrid Fetell Lee, and Kaya Turgut CMA ’26

Images from the All-School Assembly

Ms. Lee During the Question and Answer Session

Ms. Lee, Neveah Navarre CGA ‘62, and Kaya Turgut CMA ‘26

For more many more details, see the article published in the Culver Cannon.

CLASS OF 1962 STUDENT ENRICHMENT FUND EVENT FEEDBACK
Speaker – Ingrid Fetell Lee
September 15, 2025

As compiled by Alan Loehr, Director of Stewardship

Student Feedback

“I appreciated when Ingrid Lee spent time diving into how she found herself researching and studying joy. She shared with us that she found herself curious about joy, after discovering her professors did not know how to define it. This was impactful, as it provided clarity to why she came, and why she studies what she does. She was a wonderful guest speaker, and due to her visit, I am now trying to define what brings me joy.”

— Sarah Christiansen, CGA ’27

“A takeaway message I remember from Ingrid Lee's visit is that incorporating joy into the everyday and mundane is not a difficult task, and there are so many small, effortless ways to incorporate a little bit of joy into your life. I [also] remember … that incorporating joy into the mundane isn't a big, difficult task and that there are many small, easy actions you can take to cultivate a little joy.

— Andrew Chen, CMA ’27

Faculty Feedback

During the Q+A with the smaller group, one of the students asked a question involving grief and the loss of a loved one. Ms. Lee's response was very reassuring as she said that "Joy returns." I was impressed with her ability to speak in such a comforting, personal and respectful way on a sensitive topic like this.

— Carolyn Heath, School Psychologist

Ingrid told us during her presentation that the word 'aesthetics' comes from the Greek word 'aisthanomai', which she pronounced confidently and — for all intents and purposes — correctly. Given that she had used probably no less than five Latin derivatives in support of the claims in her book on top of other references to antiquity and Greek-named medical conditions (e.g. 'achromatopsia'), let alone the fact that during Sunday evening's cocktail hour she and I spoke somewhat extensively about the joys and challenges of parenting, I felt peculiarly and singularly validated by this visit in ways that I could not entirely have anticipated. I feel no small amount of gratitude to the Class of '62 for allowing me to take part in this special encounter.

— Evan Armacost, Latin faculty