Distinguished Alumni Recipients

Boys School

Dylan Hendricks lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with his wife and two children. For the last ten years he has worked at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, California, producing the Institute's Ten-Year Forecast, the public expression of the organization's foundational research. Dylan brings strategic imagination and a whole-systems perspective to his work across the institute, facilitating and synthesizing diverse perspectives and disciplines to better understand and communicate the macro forces that are transforming our lives, our organizations, and our communities. Before joining IFTF full-time in 2012, Dylan had a previous career in media production, working closely with innovative tech companies and nonprofits in the Bay Area of California to better tell their stories. Dylan has a BA in Psychology and Religion from Bryn Athyn College and a high school degree from ANC class of 2002.

Greg Henderson lives in Bryn Athyn with his wife and three children. He met his wife at ANC and they have been married for 23 years. His children Caelyn, Grayson, and Morgan have all either attended or are attending ANC. Greg attended the Bryn Athyn Church School for kindergarten through Grade 8 and then attended ANC, graduating in 1992. His college experience included Bryn Athyn College and the University of Maryland. Greg worked at the Bryn Athyn Church School for 25 years, 17 as a teacher and 8 as principal. In July, Greg shifted to working for General Church Education as the Assistant Coordinator of New Church School, but still teaches algebra at BACS.

Girls School

Brynna Carswell Smith attended the Academy of the New Church Girls School as a boarding student from Glenview, Illinois. She lived in the old Glenn Hall for two years and graduated with the class of 2002. After a gap year in New York City, Brynna enrolled at Princeton University and earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in history. She spent her junior year abroad at the University of Oxford, which included playing soccer (“football”) for the Blues, running the London marathon, and traveling internationally during school breaks.

Following the completion of her undergraduate studies, Brynna moved to Boston where she first worked in strategic planning at a patent law firm and then in client services at an investment management firm. For more than a decade she has been employed as a consultant, preparing financial and economic analyses for patent litigation; during that time, she earned a master’s degree in finance and a professional graduate certificate in strategic management, both from Harvard University.

Brynna is an active member of the New Church society in Concord/Boston and previously served for four years on Concord’s Board of Trustees. She joined the Board of Directors for the General Church in 2021. Brynna resides in downtown Boston with her husband Isaac Smith and their three children, Kenna (9), Rylan (7), and Hudson (4).

Susan Asplundh grew up in Bryn Athyn and is a 1982 graduate of the Girls School. She attended the Bryn Athyn Church School, the Academy, and took a post graduate fifth year at the Academy of the New Church College (now Bryn Athyn College of the New Church) to study religion and philosophy. During that time, she had fun doing the musical, Hello Dolly.

She graduated from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg Virginia in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts in American History and while there worked as a Sales Interpreter for Colonial Williamsburg (AKA cashier in colonial costume who explained how the wares sold would be used in colonial times).

Susan studied abroad in Madrid, Spain where she earned a certificate of mastery of the Spanish Language from la Universidad Complutense de Madrid while also teaching English and studying voice. After a few stints living in Madrid, Arizona and California, Susan returned to Bryn Athyn where she was asked to start the Spanish Language program for ANC (current Spanish teacher, Sarah Cooper Waelchli was one of her first students). She then moved on to work in the Development Office for the Academy and the General Church.

Currently Susan is an active mother of two teenage boys, and a volunteer serving on the ANC Board of Trustees – at various times chairing the Advancement, Nominating and Glencairn committees; the Junior League of Philadelphia Sustainer Leadership Council and the Abington Health Foundation Women's Board – chairing the June Fete and the Race to Reimagine Cancer Care this year.

Susan enjoys her family, music, travel and has been especially happy to visit other New Church societies in the US, South Africa, Sweden, England, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Brazil, as well as exploring Portugal, France, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Russia, Costa Rica, Zambia, Tanzania, Thailand, Beijing, Hong Kong and hoping more destinations will follow!