Alumni Spotlight: Justine Stamen Arrillaga '82 and The TEAK Fellowship
On the first day of first grade in 1975, Justine Stamen Arrillaga met her best friend Teak Dyer in Miss Sally Manuel Klapper's classroom at JTD. Neither could have imagined that their friendship, tragically cut short, would inspire an educational fellowship that has transformed more than 1,000 lives over the past 27 years.
A Friendship That Changed Everything
"We were both new to the school," Stamen Arrillaga recalls. "Teak got there first and showed me to my locker. We became best friends." For Stamen Arrillaga, an only child, Teak was like a sibling—traveling with each other's families, sharing everything. That bond, formed in JTD's nurturing environment, would endure beyond tragedy to spark something extraordinary.
When Teak was killed on the eve of her high school graduation from Pali High School—a straight-A student, homecoming queen, and varsity volleyball player bound for her first-choice college—18-year-old Stamen Arrillaga was devastated. "I arrived at college holding so much grief and sadness," she says. For ten years, she channeled that grief into small acts of service in Teak's memory: funding swimming lessons and bathing suits for New York City kids who couldn't afford them, and providing music lessons for DeWitt White, a piano prodigy in the Bronx education program she was running.
Then in 1998, DeWitt was murdered and with this second loss, something shifted. "I always thought I would start a program to help underserved youth when I was 40, but tragedy has a way of changing how you look at things. I felt like I was ready at 28. My grief would have overcome me if I didn't just try. ‘Just try’ was Teak’s mantra."
Building the Fellowship
Today, TEAK is a comprehensive 10-year fellowship that guides exceptional low-income students from sixth grade through college. Stamen Arrillaga refers to the program as the Rhodes Scholarship of public middle school. The program provides three years of intensive academic preparation—after school twice weekly and six-week summer institutes—before students apply to top-tier high schools (like Dalton, Andover, Exeter, Chapin and Riverdale). TEAK Fellows receive mentorship, tutoring, college counseling, professional development, and unwavering support through every transition.
The results speak for themselves: 100% of TEAK Fellows have matriculated to four-year colleges, with 30% entering Ivy League schools. Of those who've completed the fellowship, 90% are college graduates. Most remarkably, 84% are the first in their families to attend college.
The Students Who Surprise
Stamen Arrillaga holds certain students especially close. One girl had been in 12 foster homes before joining TEAK, moving from home to home without a stable adult in her life. She went on to an elite high school, walked onto the track team at MIT and became an All-American runner, and is now an executive with a family of her own. Another student, who lost one parent and didn't know her other parent, brought her belongings to TEAK each day because the door to her housing project apartment wouldn't lock. She's currently a senior administrator at a major New York hospital.
"I think about those two often," Stamen Arrillaga says, "because they didn't have someone at home pulling for them."
Mr. Michaud's Lesson
One day, years into running TEAK, Stamen Arrillaga received an unexpected call from Ray Michaud, her former JTD headmaster. "He didn't say, 'I'm going to be in New York, do you want to have lunch?'" she recalls. "He said, 'I'm planning a day where I'm going to sit in your office and watch you, and then I'll give you feedback.'"
Michaud spent an entire day observing silently—"probably hard for him"—then offered detailed suggestions about what she did well and how she could strengthen the organization. His advice to document everything and create systems that weren't dependent on any one person proved invaluable. "That was the biggest tribute to Teak Dyer," Stamen Arrillaga reflects, "that he would take a whole day away from John Thomas Dye to help the TEAK Fellowship. I think of him all the time."
The Dream Realized
Stamen Arrillaga's ultimate vision was for TEAK's earliest students to eventually serve as mentors for the next generation. "There's no one more equipped or qualified to be a mentor than a TEAK Fellow," she says. Today, many of TEAK's 350+ alumni—now doctors, lawyers, educators, and leaders in various fields—volunteer as mentors, board members, and even staff.
Recently, TEAK launched new initiatives in financial literacy and STEM education, expanded to serve 50 students per cohort, and built an endowment that ensures the program's longevity. "Given that this is built around the loss of Teak Dyer and DeWitt White, I need this program to sustain when we're not here," Stamen Arrillaga explains.
Looking Back at JTD
Stamen Arrillaga traces TEAK's values directly to her JTD education: Mr. Cagle's insistence that "if you're going to do it, do it well," the emphasis on honesty and integrity, the expectation of rigor even for young students. "I'm just trying to give TEAK Fellows what I myself had the good fortune of experiencing, plain and simple."
Christmas Carols tops her bucket list of JTD traditions to revisit, alongside the Fair. "I haven't been to the Christmas Carols since 1982 when I graduated," she says.
When asked what aspect of the program would make Teak most proud, Stamen Arrillaga doesn't hesitate: "She would love the kids–she had such a big heart."
For Stamen Arrillaga, saying Teak's name in a positive light every single day has been life-saving. "TEAK Fellowship is the ultimate in making lemonade out of lemons. It's bonded me to a community of incredibly like-minded people who believe everyone deserves the opportunity to experience an education like that of John Thomas Dye."
Stamen Arrillaga attended Westlake School and Brown University. Today she lives in Hawaii with her 3 sons and husband and welcomes visits from John Thomas Dye friends. She feels lucky to be in such close touch with so many of her classmates, several of whom attended her wedding.
To learn more about the TEAK Fellowship or to support their mission, visit www.teakfellowship.org
"We were both new to the school," Stamen Arrillaga recalls. "Teak got there first and showed me to my locker. We became best friends." For Stamen Arrillaga, an only child, Teak was like a sibling—traveling with each other's families, sharing everything. That bond, formed in JTD's nurturing environment, would endure beyond tragedy to spark something extraordinary.When Teak was killed on the eve of her high school graduation from Pali High School—a straight-A student, homecoming queen, and varsity volleyball player bound for her first-choice college—18-year-old Stamen Arrillaga was devastated. "I arrived at college holding so much grief and sadness," she says. For ten years, she channeled that grief into small acts of service in Teak's memory: funding swimming lessons and bathing suits for New York City kids who couldn't afford them, and providing music lessons for DeWitt White, a piano prodigy in the Bronx education program she was running.
Then in 1998, DeWitt was murdered and with this second loss, something shifted. "I always thought I would start a program to help underserved youth when I was 40, but tragedy has a way of changing how you look at things. I felt like I was ready at 28. My grief would have overcome me if I didn't just try. ‘Just try’ was Teak’s mantra."
Building the Fellowship
The TEAK Fellowship began in Stamen Arrillaga's friend’s living room, then moved to an ad agency closet, then to the basement of Friends Seminary—a Quaker school that, true to its ethos, agreed to listen after every other private school in New York had said no twice. "They called us and said, 'We're going to clean our basement out for you,'" Stamen Arrillaga remembers. When they outgrew that space, they moved to the servants’ quarters of the Astor family mansion (now the Polish American Foundation). From there, TEAK relocated to the Chelsea offices they've occupied for 20 years.
Today, TEAK is a comprehensive 10-year fellowship that guides exceptional low-income students from sixth grade through college. Stamen Arrillaga refers to the program as the Rhodes Scholarship of public middle school. The program provides three years of intensive academic preparation—after school twice weekly and six-week summer institutes—before students apply to top-tier high schools (like Dalton, Andover, Exeter, Chapin and Riverdale). TEAK Fellows receive mentorship, tutoring, college counseling, professional development, and unwavering support through every transition.
The results speak for themselves: 100% of TEAK Fellows have matriculated to four-year colleges, with 30% entering Ivy League schools. Of those who've completed the fellowship, 90% are college graduates. Most remarkably, 84% are the first in their families to attend college.
The Students Who Surprise
Stamen Arrillaga holds certain students especially close. One girl had been in 12 foster homes before joining TEAK, moving from home to home without a stable adult in her life. She went on to an elite high school, walked onto the track team at MIT and became an All-American runner, and is now an executive with a family of her own. Another student, who lost one parent and didn't know her other parent, brought her belongings to TEAK each day because the door to her housing project apartment wouldn't lock. She's currently a senior administrator at a major New York hospital.
"I think about those two often," Stamen Arrillaga says, "because they didn't have someone at home pulling for them."
Mr. Michaud's Lesson
One day, years into running TEAK, Stamen Arrillaga received an unexpected call from Ray Michaud, her former JTD headmaster. "He didn't say, 'I'm going to be in New York, do you want to have lunch?'" she recalls. "He said, 'I'm planning a day where I'm going to sit in your office and watch you, and then I'll give you feedback.'"
Michaud spent an entire day observing silently—"probably hard for him"—then offered detailed suggestions about what she did well and how she could strengthen the organization. His advice to document everything and create systems that weren't dependent on any one person proved invaluable. "That was the biggest tribute to Teak Dyer," Stamen Arrillaga reflects, "that he would take a whole day away from John Thomas Dye to help the TEAK Fellowship. I think of him all the time."
The Dream Realized
Stamen Arrillaga's ultimate vision was for TEAK's earliest students to eventually serve as mentors for the next generation. "There's no one more equipped or qualified to be a mentor than a TEAK Fellow," she says. Today, many of TEAK's 350+ alumni—now doctors, lawyers, educators, and leaders in various fields—volunteer as mentors, board members, and even staff.
Recently, TEAK launched new initiatives in financial literacy and STEM education, expanded to serve 50 students per cohort, and built an endowment that ensures the program's longevity. "Given that this is built around the loss of Teak Dyer and DeWitt White, I need this program to sustain when we're not here," Stamen Arrillaga explains.
Looking Back at JTD
Stamen Arrillaga traces TEAK's values directly to her JTD education: Mr. Cagle's insistence that "if you're going to do it, do it well," the emphasis on honesty and integrity, the expectation of rigor even for young students. "I'm just trying to give TEAK Fellows what I myself had the good fortune of experiencing, plain and simple."
Christmas Carols tops her bucket list of JTD traditions to revisit, alongside the Fair. "I haven't been to the Christmas Carols since 1982 when I graduated," she says.When asked what aspect of the program would make Teak most proud, Stamen Arrillaga doesn't hesitate: "She would love the kids–she had such a big heart."
For Stamen Arrillaga, saying Teak's name in a positive light every single day has been life-saving. "TEAK Fellowship is the ultimate in making lemonade out of lemons. It's bonded me to a community of incredibly like-minded people who believe everyone deserves the opportunity to experience an education like that of John Thomas Dye."
Stamen Arrillaga attended Westlake School and Brown University. Today she lives in Hawaii with her 3 sons and husband and welcomes visits from John Thomas Dye friends. She feels lucky to be in such close touch with so many of her classmates, several of whom attended her wedding.
To learn more about the TEAK Fellowship or to support their mission, visit www.teakfellowship.org
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