The Petroglyph Magazine, Spring + Summer 2021 by The Alexander Dawson School at Rainbow Mountain

PETROGLYPH THE ALEXANDER DAWSON SCHOOL SPRING & SUMMER 2021

Dawson as a Center of

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

From the Head of School The Petroglyph is the magazine of The Alexander Dawson School at Rainbow Mountain. Its Mission is to celebrate Dawson’s growth and the achievements of its students, alumni, and faculty. Published twice a year.

EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS Megan Gray Chief Communications Officer Rachael Lachhwani Advancement Manager Shea Phillips Marketing Communications & Events Manager

Dear Dawson Families, In our Mission, we state that Dawson students achieve excellence in mind, body, and character. Focusing on academic excellence is a strategic goal that fuels us to examine practices, positions, and methodologies that will provide our students with experiences to prepare them for high school and beyond. When we combine the teaching of knowledge and skills with the modeling and evaluation of competencies and mindsets, the result is an integrated approach to modern learning. The outcomes are students who can communicate with confidence through compelling arguments, friends who treat people with dignity, and graduates who are passionate about making the world a better place. The Alexander Dawson School is becoming a beacon for modern learning, and our student performances are gaining notice. From hiring a new Director of Academic Innovation and Design to appointing a new school trustee to Dawson’s Board – one who is a highly distinguished educational leader – we are taking the steps to adapt, evolve, and grow in the face of a fast-paced and changing workforce landscape. Our campus leaders are highly esteemed trendsetters in the education field, and we are so fortunate they have chosen to bring their expertise to our community. In this issue of the Petroglyph magazine, we are celebrating the academic excellence that took place on our campus throughout the last school year and introducing a forward glimpse into the innovation that lies ahead. The future of academic excellence at Dawson is only getting brighter!

HEAD OF SCHOOL Roxanne Stansbury ASSISTANT HEAD OF SCHOOL Andrew Bishop

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Roxanne Stansbury Head of School The Alexander Dawson School

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On this page: In early March, Dawson faculty and staff volunteered with Three Square Food Bank to help Las Vegas families experiencing food insecurity as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. In alignment with our Core Beliefs and in commitment to our service-learning initiatives, our community members are engaged global citizens who are dedicated to being agents of positive change. Cover Photo: Inaya In A Rock, by sixth-grade student Brooke Carr

Contents

4 I DAWSON’S CAPSTONE PROJECT Academic Excellence and Social Responsibility

28 I CLASS OF 2021 Where Are They Going

8 I THE PATH TO ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE Is Paved By Advancement

30 I WINNING GRADUATE ESSAYS Jaylen Bowens & Meera Soli

12 I THE ACADEMIC ARCHITECT Of Dawson’s Future 16 I BEAR DEN NEWS Second-Semester Highlights 20 I AROUND THE TABLE With Dawson’s Newest School Trustee 22 I STUDENT VOICES How Empathy Grows An Inclusive School Community

34 I DAWSON GRADUATE TRIBUTES 40 I COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER Adam Boggs McDonald ‘10 42 I AMAZING DAWSON ALUMS Lauren “06 & Carmen Hollifield ‘08 44 I FROM THE DAWSON BLOG eSports - More Than Just Competetive Gaming 48 I VISUAL EXPLORATION & SELF-EXPRESSION Through The World Of Photography 3

Commitment To Service Learning

Academic Excellence and Social Responsibility: Dawson’s Eighth Grade Capstone Project By Megan Gray, Chief Communications Officer

Don’t just stand in someone else’s shoes, as the saying goes, but take a walk in them. -Helen Riess, Harvard Medical School Psychiatrist

Matsuko Freeman, Coordinator of Service Learning and Student Success, volunteers with eighth-graders at Three Square Food Bank as part of the Capstone Project. 4

Now more than ever. The phrase has become cliche in this pandemic year, and yet its relevance and its truth to how we treat one another cannot be dismissed. Now more than ever, our world, our country, our cities, and our communities need empathy. Empathy is at the core of our humanness and is the key to understanding each other and connecting across differences, no matter who we are or where we’re from. And there’s no shortage of research behind its positive effects on everything from our closest relationships to how we relate to complete strangers.

At The Alexander Dawson School, developing empathetic and compassionate students encompasses almost every aspect of our Core Beliefs. Yet without accountability, our Core Beliefs are nothing more than aspirational words on paper. Where we hold ourselves accountable to living these tenets is found in the School’s service-learning program, and no one has invested more time and energy in the development of this program than Dawson’s new Head of School, Roxanne Stansbury.

“One of our Core Beliefs is, ‘At Dawson, our students investigate root causes, analyze solutions and connect Why is empathy so important? Because without it, with people in need.’ When students realize they have taking another’s perspective, or “walking in their the ability to make change, their civic efficacy becomes shoes”, and doing so from a place of care and concern a catalyst for academic engagement and growth,” she – which means not only taking another’s perspective says. “Service learning promotes personal, social, and but also valuing it – is not possible. To build cultures intellectual development when the learning activities of kindness and compassion in current and future provide students with real-world tasks and authentic generations, we need to start with cultivating the issues within the community and worldwide. We are ability to empathize. Outside of the home and shaping students’ skills as future leaders who are family, schools can and should be a place where empathetic, responsible global citizens.” the foundations of empathy continue to be laid for Stansbury’s passion for service learning is evident. children. Before becoming head of school, Stansbury served While we’re all born with the ability to empathize, as Dawson’s assistant head of school for teaching and teaching empathy isn’t simple. This is particularly learning for three years. During that time, she focused true now with our culture’s pervasive “selfie” significant effort upon building the service-learning mentality, and research has shown that our ability to program into a school-wide initiative with a central empathize is at historically low levels. In children, this theme, common threads, and empathy-building lack of empathy has resulted in increased cheating, opportunities and exercises woven throughout the bullying, poor moral reasoning, and mental health preschool to grade eight curriculum. In addition to issues such as anxiety and depression – issues that bringing Dawson’s various service-oriented projects under one centralized program, Stansbury built have significant impact upon a school’s culture. a framework for a new service-learning initiative So what role should schools play in the teaching of specifically designed for our eighth-grade students: empathy? The answer is: a big one. School is where the Capstone Project. students spend the majority of their time and where they have the greatest opportunity to practice deeper Created as a semester-long project in scope and learning, creative thinking, collaboration, and culminating in a full presentation to a panel of teamwork. Schools should not be afraid to approach Dawson faculty, parents, trustees, community the teaching of empathy, then, in the same way partners, and alumni, Capstone is a model for how they teach reading, math, or a sport: as a skill to middle schools can engage students in a real-world be developed, nurtured, and refined. Dr. Michele based process of deeper learning, collaboration, Borba, author of the book Unselfie: Why Empathetic problem solving, and, ultimately, the development of Kids Succeed in an All-About-Me World, says, “We a sincere appreciation for and understanding of the take our kids to so many practices – sports, music, lived experiences of people both inside and outside of etc. But do they practice being a good person? We their school community. are good at practicing everything but humanity.”

Commitment To Service Learning For Dawson’s eighth-graders, Capstone begins with a topic of focus. This year, the topics were food scarcity, mental health, LGBTQ rights, homeless youth, race and inequality, and veterans’ affairs. Once they select their topic, students are partnered with a faculty or administrator mentor who works closely with the group, walking them through the initial stages of topic research and challenges through the final selection of a community partner the group will work with to gain real-world knowledge and experience. The development of this community partnership and civic advocacy, which is the epitome of “learning by doing”, is at the heart of the Capstone Project.

Eighth-graders present their Capstone Project on youth homelessness to their peers and a panel of judges. Ciera Bellavance of Hope Means Nevada, a statewide community-driven initiative to eliminate teen suicide in Nevada by reaching and teaching teens and caring adults the critical practices of mental wellness, says, “Community partnerships are vital to Hope Means Nevada...to share a message of hope and break the stigma surrounding mental health. Working together is vital to reaching the teens in our community. Students who participate in service learning are seeing first-hand the impact they can make in their community...and peer-to-peer communication and 6

activism has been shown to be the most effective way to break the stigma surrounding mental health.” The impact works both ways: When students are more aware of the issues in their local community, they develop a sense of personal responsibility to address those issues. “The most impactful aspect of the Capstone Project was finding a community partner and interviewing them,” shares Dawson eighth-grader Pierce Kelly of his experience. “Our group partnered with the Anti-Defamation League and the NAACP. We interviewed Roxann McCoy of the NAACP and she said something that impacted me a lot. She mentioned a quote by MLK. This quote went, ‘I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.’ This gave me goosebumps... and gave me a sense of hope that I could be just as impactful by being a positive example (in the community).” For many service-learning programs, working with a community partner is the pinnacle of the experience. At Dawson, we take it a step further and ask students the question, What did you learn from this experience that you can teach the community? This is the driving question behind the culminating student presentation to their peers and a panelist of judges. Tom Kaplan, Dawson parent and school trustee, served on this year’s Capstone panel and was impressed with the students’ depth of knowledge and their enthusiasm for sharing their knowledge and experience with others. “Each group skillfully tackled three complex and sensitive challenges of our times: mental health, hunger, and homeless youth,” recalls Kaplan. “Recognizing that each of these topics have been amplified by the COVID-19 crisis, they produced real-time, highly informative, dynamic, and compelling presentations. In the end, each group gave the audience hope that good work was being done, that these problems are being better understood, and perhaps, young students like themselves can be drivers of change. I am so very proud of each and every one of these students.”

This eighth-grade Capstone team meets with LGTBQIA+ community leaders at The Center of Las Vegas. As Dawson looks to the future of its Capstone Project specifically and service-learning program more broadly, Coordinator of Service Learning and Student Success Matsuko Freeman doesn’t want to lose sight of the program’s dual purpose: to create engaged and socially responsible citizens who understand and address important societal issues, but to also develop the kind of critical thinkers who are prepared to do the hard work of finding solutions. Dawson’s Eighth-Grade Capstone Project is designed to get students to:

• Explore a selected issue more deeply through

extensive research and analysis • Collaborate with a local nonprofit agency to learn more about how they are attempting to address the issue • Make recommendations about how to improve the situation based on research and community engagement • Apply the knowledge, skills and work habits they have learned as a Dawson student to work collaboratively as a team and present a compelling presentation to a panel of peers and community members

“I see the future of service-learning at Dawson as a combination of serving the community while keeping our academic goals in mind,” says Freeman. “I see our students taking the community service experience, assessing the work and experience, reflecting upon it, and then allowing it to become part of their overall learned experience. This would bring us to the main goal: creating change agents for our community and the world.” Learn More About Dawson’s Capstone Community Partners in 2021: Hope Means Nevada: hopemeansnevada.org/ NAACP: naacplasvegas.com/ Three Square Food Bank: threesquare.org Fisher House for Veterans: fisherhouse.org Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth: nphy.org The LGBTQIA+ Center of Southern Nevada: thecenterlv.org

School Advancement Efforts

The Path to Academic Excellence is Paved by Advancement By Andrew Bishop, Assistant Head of School

In 1817, the governor of New For context, during academic Hampshire amended Dartmouth year 2019-2020, the total cost to College’s charter in the hope educate a Dawson student was to make the college a public $33,898. The Alexander Dawson institution. Dartmouth fought Foundation contributed $3,128,235 this decision and a lengthy court ($6,158 per student), while Dawson battle ensued. The case made it Annual Fund donations and other all the way to the Supreme Court. sources of revenue accounted for Dartmouth alumnus Daniel an additional $2,081 per student. Webster defended his alma mater These sources of income are in front of the Supreme Court and incredibly crucial, which is why gave an impassioned argument that recurring giving toward the Annual concluded with the declaration: “It Fund matters: We must work each is, sir, as I have said, a small year to close the gap in tuition college and yet there are those in order to provide the equitable that love it.” In constitutional law, the Dartmouth academic experience we promise our students today College case established the concept that schools are and for those who will enter our doors well into the private, charitable organizations. future. The success of this year’s 100 in 100 Annual Fund campaign reminded me of Webster’s declaration and affirms the fact that while Dawson might be a small school – a young school, an emerging school – it is, nonetheless, a school so many people love. The success of our 100 in 100 campaign highlights the fact that Dawson is a school on a trajectory to achieve national excellence, destined to achieve monumental results in the coming years.

Dawson parent Perry Rogers, who along with his wife and School Trustee Nicole Rogers, served on our Development Committee this school year. “I don’t think most Dawson families recognize that the Foundation subsidizes their own child’s education,” he says. “And I think most parents, if they discovered that, would feel even more compelled to do more for Dawson. I know that every parent wants to do what they can for Dawson; every parent wants to help out in any way they can. I know the parents; I know they Funding for private schools is sometimes tricky to love the culture of Dawson.” understand and often even unknown to many of the families choosing this type of educational environment Advancement with regard to academic institutions for their children. As an independent, not-for-profit is defined by Independent School Management as school, Dawson does not receive state or federal the “strategic process by which schools advance funding. The School relies entirely on tuition dollars, mission-appropriate constituent relations through the the Alexander Dawson Foundation’s endowment to integration of the school’s admission, marketing and cover the cost of our bond (i.e., our mortgage payment), communications, and development programs.” Under and charitable donations from our community. The the umbrella of our Advancement Team, the School cost of an education for every single Dawson student works to identify, cultivate, solicit, recognize, and is therefore subsidized; meaning, many families steward prospects and donors to establish and nurture paying the full tuition price are still paying less than relationships and raise resources for Dawson. And to the School is spending to educate your child, leaving meet and exceed our goals, we must build a culture Dawson to rely on alternative sources of funding. of philanthropy that helps provide for a culture of academic excellence.

School Advancement Efforts This year’s generous support allowed us to strengthen many important relationships across several constituencies and make unimaginable strides in support of our campus and facilities; health and safety initiatives; teaching and learning resources; diversity, equity, and inclusion work; and our all-around “I Love Everything About Dawson” designation. Some of our many successes from the gifts received went to improve and enhance the School in the following ways:

TEACHING & LEARNING • Dawson Design Lab • Project-Based Learning training for faculty • Teacher Academy • Professional Development for faculty and staff • DEO supplies • Launch of the Middle School golf team • Eighth-Grade Capstone Honorarium • Recruitment of global educators CAMPUS & FACILITIES • LED lighting upgrade throughout all classrooms and buildings • New carpeting throughout the Lower School • WiFi upgrade for technological improvements • Baseball and softball field renovations • Set design and lighting for the Middle School Lion King musical • New directional signage around campus HEALTH & SAFETY • COVID-19 mitigation initiatives • Cleaning supplies • Infer-radar screening tools • Sanitation stations • PPE for Nurse Erin and others DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION • Partnership with CultureEd Collective, an organization hired to conduct a deep-dive into our community’s long-term vision for inclusion and belonging • Listening circle audits with faculty, staff, and leadership • Access and affordability via financial aid and the support of scholarship programs

The giving percentages of our different constituencies are a direct endorsement of the School’s Mission and Vision, and we were humbled with pride and gratitude that we achieved 100 percent participation from our faculty and staff; 100 percent participation from our school leadership team, Foundation trustees, and school trustees; and 63 percent participation from our families – up from 32 percent the previous year and in alignment with the average for other national independent schools. “We all want the most for our kids,” Perry explains of why he and Nicole gave very generously toward the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion designation of our Annual Fund for access and affordability. “We want them to have colleagues and competitors who are from as many places as possible. To be exposed to kids with different ideas, different backgrounds, different thoughts, different dreams, and different goals is the best thing you can ask for, for your child. That’s part of the educational experience. We also know Dawson is a great place for kids to realize their dreams and start to actualize their dreams. If we could just provide an opportunity for a child and a family to dream as big as possible and see those come true, that’s a gift that we’re getting, not that we’re giving. It’s something that is just wonderful to see.” Dawson achieved great things during the 100 in 100 Annual Fund campaign due to the support of our entire community, and the unwavering dedication and determination of this school during the 2020-2021 year should make all of us proud. Yet, the work is just beginning, and the support surrounding the School’s foundational principles, planning, and processes is taking formidable shape. As Dawson continues to transform and enhance itself as a center of academic excellence, the School’s growing complementary partnerships and its alignment of resources with our Mission will ensure long-term sustainability. With this year’s success as a path forward into the future, we can further establish and nurture a new and ongoing tradition of giving within our community and beyond. Thank you for taking on the special and vital role with us as a loving investor in our students and their educations.

Dawson’s Chief Academic Officer

The Academic Architect of Dawson’s Future By Rachael Lachhwani, Advancement Manager

Dawson seeks an amazing school leader well-versed in contemporary pedagogical trends and research related to EC-8 teaching and learning. Dawson also wants a collaborative leader who can empower, partner with, and support others. The director of teaching and learning is, in many ways, like a connecting interchange for the School, helping to weave through lines and move initiatives forward by bringing the right people together at the right time.

Above is the actual text used by The Alexander Dawson School when soliciting applications for the newly vacant director of teaching and learning position back in February of 2020. Big shoes, undoubtedly, were in need of filling with Roxanne Stansbury assuming the role of head of school as of July 1 that same year, but our community could never have imagined what was in store when initially advertising this critical employment opportunity. For the upcoming 2021-22 academic year, the School is incredibly excited to announce a new title of Chief Academic Officer for this position due to the large breadth of responsibilities and comprehensive understanding of student learning and success, educational research, and program integrity required and demonstrated to make ours a school ready for the future. Necessary for this complex school leadership role is the flexibility, vulnerability, motivation, and drive to propel the School forward, as well as the ability to make difficult but necessary decisions; find and secure in-demand resources related to technology, people, time, and much more; the awareness and empathy required to address inequities so teachers can teach and students can learn; and the foresight to create an intentionally shared learning environment where collaboration, innovation, and reflection can thrive on an ongoing basis. Our faculty and staff were first introduced to Dr. Brandon Wiley during our annual February Teacher Academy in 2017. He visited campus with two other specialized teacher educators to facilitate a professional development seminar about how Dawson can continue to grow a transformative learning environment that is student centered, inquiry based, and globally connected across an ever-changing pedagogical landscape. “There were three things that stood out to me during the visit that left me with such a positive impression of the School,” reminisces Dr. Wiley. “First, I’ve worked with thousands of educators around the world, and the Dawson teachers were memorable in all the right ways. They were curious, eager, and open to

feedback, and they seemed genuinely interested in exploring how they could revamp the curriculum to include authentic, real-world learning experiences. I could see collaboration and creativity were part of the culture here. Second, the leadership. From my first planning call with Roxanne, of all the school leaders I’ve collaborated with over the years, she left a powerful, positive impression on me. When I heard she was going to become head of school, I was drawn to apply to the director of teaching and learning position with the hope that I could work alongside her to help realize her vision. Now, one academic year into my tenure, I’m even more impressed by the courage, compassion, and enthusiasm she exhibits everyday. Third, it’s hard to walk across campus and not be impressed by the facilities and resources we are fortunate to afford our students. I would put our campus up against any other independent school locally or nationally.” On paper, Dr. Wiley is obviously quite extraordinary. He holds both a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from State University of New York at Fredonia, a doctoral degree in educational and organizational leadership from the University of Pennsylvania, numerous academic and administrative certifications, plus his significant experience as a teacher and global educational leader is incomparable, spending the last 10 years working for national education non-profits helping schools improve their academic programs. In person, he is even more compelling; his magnanimous, patient, and kind demeanor makes him approachable, engaging, and personable in both regular conversation and when facilitating leadership-level presentations that inform and inspire our entire community. His welcoming and heartening attitude, coupled with his desire to always seek and analyze feedback to better help and support our faculty and staff, are why he is such an amazing fit for Dawson in an tremendously vital and impactful role. It’s also certainly impressive that, considering his packed schedule, Dr. Wiley happily 13

to Project-Based Learning (PBL), a teaching method he introduced to our faculty and staff in which students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects to develop deep content knowledge and critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication skills. “Over the next three to five years, Dawson will increase its focus on embedding high-quality PBL across the curriculum, from early childhood through eighth grade, where it makes sense to go deeper into the content through a project,” explains Dr. Wiley. “We’re exploring an opportunity to still makes the time to meet with kids. Recently, host a national PBL Institute conference in February he popped into Ms. Moore’s third-grade classroom of 2022, welcoming educators from around the to share fun stories about his time visiting Egypt, country to attend the conference on our campus. We which the class was researching for Country Studies. hope this will become an annual event, allowing our “He told us all about the pyramids and showed us teachers to deepen their knowledge about PBL each pictures,” says third grader Noah. “He told us a lot year, network with educators from around the globe, of cool facts. It was really interesting, and Dr. Wiley and allow us to showcase our program and student was so nice.” work to the world. We hope that by increasing Dawson’s visibility, we will continue to attract the In encouragement of their growth and development, very best educators to our school, with an emphasis Dr. Wiley keenly comprehends how important it is on diversity in the broadest sense of the word.” for kids to be seen, heard, and acknowledged. “I hope Dawson families feel that their children are known Dr. Wiley’s insight with regard to the ongoing and cared for by our faculty and staff. Personal development and application of modern learning – in connections are at the heart of our program and what I conjunction with the important need for supporting believe sets us apart as a school. Knowing our students a connected, caring environment – further involves includes deep appreciation for their strengths, areas his five major approaches toward school leadership. of growth, and personal needs as learners.” Forever a For ongoing accountability, he sees it as important true teacher, Dr. Wiley’s recognition of kids as valued to continue to ask reflective questions of our Dawson individuals is what really drives his notion of success program. as chief academic officer. Modern learning, the philosophy Dawson applies when evolving our curriculum and classroom experiences, involves looking at the world and its universal challenges through a lens of curiosity, versatility, innovation, and abstract thought. Viewing education as a multifaceted, dynamic entity means teachers must know and apply the most current techniques and methods proven to help students become true independent learners, thinkers, and problem solvers, all while navigating seismic shifts within long-standing academic practices. Dr. Wiley wants Dawson to set the standard when it comes 14

And with an ambitious and determined blueprint for the future, “I believe there are a few goals we should focus on as we move forward with modern learning. We will continue to develop a program that threads the needle between providing an academically challenging program, social-emotional development, and fostering the mindsets and dispositions students will need to be successful in school, career, and life. In addition to PBL, we will increase our focus on literacy instruction – reading, writing, speaking, and listening – from EC through eighth grade. This focus begins with the implementation of the Being a Reader (K-2) and Being a Writer (K-8) programs.”

Dr. Wiley’s remarkable grasp of the intentional and transformative application of modern learning, including what this already means for Dawson and what this will look like well into the future, is providing limitless opportunities for our school and students. Along with his extensive background in PBL, Dr. Wiley’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion work; social-emotional learning; and instructional technology is cementing Dawson’s status as a center of academic excellence rooted in rigorous, intellectually, and personally challenging expectations and experiences for our entire community. “I can’t say enough about our faculty and staff, who’ve really gone above and beyond this year trying to meet the needs of our students. We will continue to focus on developing a teaching faculty and staff that is culturally responsive and shares a deep commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. This goes far beyond ensuring that we have a racially diverse community, but involves understanding how we treat one another and create an inclusive learning environment.” Dawson is pretty lucky to have Dr. Wiley’s immeasurable knowledge and skills guiding the School as we construct our future, and the program he is building will continue to support our upward momentum as a premier modern learning institution on a global scale. And most importantly, “Dawson is poised to provide a world-class educational experience for all of our students because we want to know what our students are passionate about and who they aspire to be beyond Dawson,” since what’s best for kids will always remain the very foundation of Dr. Wiley’s academic designs. Dr. Wiley is seen in the article’s photos mentoring a group of eighth-grade students during their end-of-year Capstone Project: Students conduct indepth research; take action in the field by connecting directly with community members to learn about the complexities of real-world problems, the value of service work, and the importance of civic efficacy; and then present their knowledge gained to faculty, parents, and alumni.

VISION To what extent is everyone in the School and school community on the same page about what success looks like for our students?

CULTURE As school culture evolves and adapts to new conditions, to what extent are we exploring student agency, risk-taking, and trust?

CAPACITY BUILDING What does high-quality instruction look like, and how are we giving feedback?

INFRASTRUCTURE How is our school, including the use of time, structured? How are we allocating resources and ensuring our facilities are maximized to provide optimal teaching and learning experiences?

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT What attainable and achievable goals can be set to ensure teachers have the professional development opportunities they need? How can we move the School toward the goal of meeting student achievement outcomes?

Second-Semester Highlights

BEAR DEN NEWS

Staying Connected Without Contact During a year when we had to be imaginative and inventive to collaborate as a community, we are deeply appreciative of everyone’s willingness to meaningfully interact with the School through new and different approaches.

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE IN MIND, BODY & CHARACTER ........................................... Each year, a small number of graduating eighth-grade students are selected to receive the G.B. Henderson Award. This award is named for the business executive and philanthropist Girard B. Henderson, whose generosity – coupled with his belief in the power of education – made the founding of The Alexander Dawson School possible. The award, which recognizes outstanding achievement in academics, athletics, and citizenship, is a reflection of our Mission and Vision. The three students who received the G.B. Henderson Award for the 2020-2021 school year are (from left below) Oliver Arenson, Jaylen Bowens, and Pierce Kelly. Starting this fall, Oliver will attend Windward School, Jaylen will attend Bishop Gorman High School, and Pierce will attend The Thacher School.

HOMECOMING COMMUNITY EVENT ............................................................................................. Dawson’s first-ever Homecoming Community Event was an enormous success – from the uniquely spirited and inspired TikTok and Flipgrid videos of our amazing students to the incredible response to our silent auction – all thanks to our families, faculty, and staff. Thank you to everyone who logged on to support our students in showcasing their talents! Homecoming was an exciting way to celebrate Dawson and welcome the end of the 2020-2021 school year, and we look forward to making this an annual tradition for our entire community.

WEEK OF THE YOUNG CHILD: KINDNESS WEEK ................................................................ In April, our Early Childhood students participated in Week of the Young Child (WOYC), an annual celebration hosted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) in honor of early learning and young children, their teachers, and their families. Our youngest Dawson Bears focused on spreading kindness and gratitude, developing courage and character, and practicing good citizenship. They enjoyed a bike day, obstacle course, painting projects, beautifying our campus through a clean-up project, writing notes of appreciation for our community members, and discovering their voices during a #KindnessRocks concert!

GROWING A CULTURE OF INQUIRY WITH OUR CHILDREN ........................................ Allison Zmuda and Dr. Bena Kallick joined Dawson in February for a special virtual Parent University discussion centered around how schools must respond to the changing needs of students as they inherit a postpandemic career force. They discussed why modern education requires a thoughtful and deliberate intersection of academic skills, learning habits, and competencies, and explained how Dawson’s approach to teaching and learning is therefore predicated on the belief that schooling as we know it must evolve to prepare students for college and beyond. Thank you to our Dawson Parent Association for their support in bringing a roster of outstanding speakers to share their expertise with our community this school year. 17

Second-Semester Highlights

LION KING MUSICAL

..................................................................................... Under the direction of teacher Sue Boyum, our seventh and eighth-grade musical theater students brought the African savannah to life in this inspiring, coming-of-age tale. Through a cast of unforgettable characters, students explored and showcased their wide range of theatrical skills. Teacher Hung Le’s seventh and eighth-grade technical theater students created artistically designed props that complemented the student-led production. With families in a socially distanced audience for the first time this school year, the Lion King musical was a truly amazing culminating event for our Dawson community!

COUNTRY STUDIES

..................................................................................... Students embarked upon a reimagined Country Studies experience for the 20-21 school year, complete with a virtual component and a special museum set up in the Dawson Library! From January to April, each first through fourth-grade class studied a country within the continent of Africa. Students learned to think globally and discover the strong voice that resides within themselves to act locally on behalf of their own communities.

TRACK & FIELD ................................................. Dawson’s track & field team trained all season in sprints, distance running, and throwing events. Under the leadership of coaches Corey Drummond, Malcolm Hodge, and Jessica Balzano, they showed incredible improvements from the first day of practice to the end of the season. The season was highlighted by a competitive track meet and our Dawson Bears having podium finishes in several events.

FIELD DAY ........................................................... Fun in the sun! EC-4 students participated in The Amazing Race-style physical puzzles, and our 5-8 students played a variety of lively games during a Sportsfest competition, which were all capped off by a special appearance by Dawson’s very own Boombox Man! Our DEO students even got in on the excitement with Dawson’s second annual virtual Field Day experience.

GOLF ........................................................................ Dawson’s golf pilot program had immediate success due to a team of well-skilled and knowledgeable golfers. Our Bears had the top scores in every golf match, including two at their home course of Red Rock Country Club. What made coaches Kyle Baker and Lee Shurtleff proudest was the sportsmanship and etiquette our team showed.

TENNIS ................................................................... Dawson’s tennis team showed incredible skills this season, finishing with a 3-1 record in matches. From our beginner-level players working hard to hone their abilities to our advanced players dominating the majority of their matches, our Dawson Bears made coaches Amanda Brazell, Nancy Myster, Lee Shurtleff, and Jan Brazell all very proud. 19

Board of Trustees

Around the Table

with Dawson’s Newest School Trustee The Alexander Dawson Board of Trustees is guardian of the school’s Mission. It is the board’s responsibility to ensure that the Mission is relevant and vital to the community it serves and to monitor the success of the School in fulfilling its Mission. Selection of the Board’s members is a critical process that requires an evaluation of areas where expertise and knowledge is needed to support the leadership teams’ strategic direction efforts. In May of 2021, Dawson announced the unanimous appointment of Dr. Jeff Shih as a School Trustee who will be instrumental in helping our school actualize the goals for academic excellence and inclusivity. His strategic expertise, educational experience, and perspective will be valuable assets in achieving the strategic objectives of the School. Jeff is the father of alumna Abby and sixth-grader Penelope, and as a professor of mathematics education at UNLV – where he also currently serves as the Interim Associate Dean of Students and Community Engagement for the College of Education – he has facilitated numerous professional development sessions for our teachers and presented three Parent Education Pieces to our community about how to support a child’s understanding of math concepts. His willingness to partner with Dawson over the last 12 years has elevated math instruction across our campus. Jeff ’s background is impressive, and his lifelong career in mathematics education is such an asset to our program. He earned his BA in statistics with a minor in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in social research methodology with an emphasis in quantitative methods from UCLA. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). For 11 years, he served as coordinator for the Nevada Collaborative Teaching Improvement Program (NeCoTIP), the Title 2A Improving Teacher Quality State Grant program, and he also served as co-director for the UNLV Center for 20

Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Education. Head of School Roxanne Stansbury interviewed Dr. Jeff Shih about the importance of his new role as School Trustee and continuing to support Dawson as a center of academic excellence within our community. Roxanne: As the parent of a 2019 Dawson alumnus and a rising seventh grader, how has your parent experience influenced your decision to accept this position on the Board? Jeff: As immigrants to the United States, my parents always stressed the importance of education. My wife and I share those values – it’s education first in our family. With the privilege to have multiple options for school in Las Vegas, we felt fortunate to find Dawson. We have been involved with the School; Meg has devoted a lot of time to the Dawson Parent Association. Through one of my grants, I worked with Dawson teachers and gave multiple math talks to Dawson parents. The opportunity to serve on the Board was the next step. Roxanne: Why is serving as a parent on the Board of Trustees important to you? Jeff: As parents, we all want the best school for our children. There are so many pieces that comprise a school: teachers, administration, staff, etc. All schools have goals and mission statements, and the most successful schools are those where everybody (including parents and students) believes in these values and goals. The Board of Trustees is the leadership of the school. To be able to participate in those conversations and bring the perspective of a parent and a lifelong educator is very important to me. Roxanne: Since 2018, you have served as a Board Director on the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). What have you learned about the role of governance in helping an organization actualize their Mission, Vision, Core Beliefs, and Diversity Statement?

Jeff: NCTM is the largest mathematics education organization in the world and serves thousands of math teachers. In any organization of that size, there will be a wide variety of opinions on numerous topics. The NCTM Board, comprised of math educators at all levels from all around the country and Canada, provides direction for the entire organization. Particularly during the pandemic when traditional revenue sources such as conferences and publications plummeted, the Board made critical decisions to support teachers while still staying true to the purpose of the organization. I saw, firsthand, the importance of having Board members with diverse perspectives during difficult conversations and challenging decision making.

of this effort. Too often, there are statements made with no action, particularly with regard to DEI work.

Roxanne: The education landscape is changing rapidly and the pandemic has accelerated the need for transformation. As a college professor dedicated to preparing pre-service teachers for success in the classroom, what do you see as the biggest catalyst for change?

Jeff: I have given a “Math at Dawson” talk multiple times as part of Dawson Parent Education and look forward to presenting again. Essentially, math should be taught differently than how we learned it. There is a rich body of research about how children learn math and, frankly, many schools get it wrong. As a parent, I get it: You want to be able to help your child with homework and it looks different… and there is now writing in math. But math as “here are the steps, just do what the teacher does” most likely does not build mathematical conceptual understanding, and it often makes kids not like math. Dawson’s math program is based in sense-making and “doing math”, as is the Tasks book I wrote (which is part of a threebook series which spans the elementary grades). The Tasks book has supplemental activities aligned to standards for teachers to use when they want to go deeper with specific content.

Jeff: I think the key words here are “accelerated” and “catalyst”. The pandemic has given us the opportunity to consider what is important in education and schools and also forced us to examine inequities. A big part of my day job for the last 20 years has been teaching future teachers how to teach math; my research has been about the successful implementation of math curricula. Oversimplifying, there are many schools that are teaching math the same way that we were taught. I remember as a young math student being told, “What would you do if you didn’t have a calculator?” Well, with our phones we literally always have a calculator. Why are some math teachers spending so much time on how to do the steps of calculations when there are so many rich, interesting, higher-level questions that can be asked? What does it say about a school that teaches math the same way as when teachers used chalk and slate boards? As a Dawson parent, I want a math program that focuses on problem solving with real-world applications. And to be clear, I still expect my kids to “know their facts”, too. Roxanne: A criteria for Dawson Board of Trustee candidacy is serving for a full year on a Board Committee. This year, you were a member of the Head’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee. A major goal of this committee is to be a guardian of Dawson’s Diversity Statement. Can you talk about your perspective of the School’s work in the area of DEI and how you contributed to this committee throughout the year? Jeff: I was fortunate to serve on the DEI committee this past year while also participating in similar work with NCTM. I believe that this work is absolutely critical for the School. For me, it is pretty simple: Every student at Dawson should feel included and part of the Dawson community. There is data that shows there is work to be done here at all levels, and the DEI committee is part

Roxanne: Over the years, you have presented at a number of Dawson Parent Education Pieces on mathematics support and facilitated many teacher professional development workshops on our campus. Can you speak to the topic of your recent book, Classroom-Ready Rich Math Tasks: Engaging Students in Doing Math, and how Dawson’s math program is or needs to be rooted in deep, problem-based learning?

Roxanne: What is your vision for the School five years from now? How is your Board partnership with the School going to support this vision? Jeff: The “five years from now” is hard. How about my vision for the School? I want Dawson to be a place where every student feels included and every student wants to go to school. I want Dawson to be known not only for its academic excellence, but as a place that helps students become better human beings. I believe I can contribute to this vision with my dual perspective as a parent and an education professor. Dawson’s goal is to continue to create a robust pipeline of community members who are dedicated to sharing their expertise and experience in support of advancing the strategic direction of the School. Roxanne Stansbury shares, “Jeff ’s credentials are really valuable, and I believe he will ask the hard questions about high-quality teaching and learning. His appointment to the Board will bring an educational expertise that will push us to evaluate the effectiveness of our methods and pedagogical practices.” The Alexander Dawson School is pleased to welcome Dr. Jeff Shih as an asset and ambassador to the Board as our newest School Trustee.

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STUDENT VOICES

HOW EMPATHY GROWS AN INCLUSIVE SCHOOL COMMUNITY With Ryan Ault, Sixth-Grade Student

Alexander Dawson is Nevada’s first Stanford University Challenge Success partner school. Utilizing the unique Challenge Success framework, the School applies research-based strategies and programs that emphasize student wellbeing and a healthy schoollife balance to create more engaged, motivated, and resilient learners. Our Challenge Success team - which includes Dawson teachers, administrators, and Middle School student leaders - actualized the School’s first-ever Empathy Empowerment Week this past March. The development of strong empathy skills improves students’ ability to share and understand the feelings of another, thereby nourishing caring relationships and finding success through happiness over achievement. With this foundational building block in mind, our first-ever Challenge Success Empathy Empowerment Week included thoughtful student-led activities in support of creating a deeper appreciation for one’s self and others through positive words and actions. Sixth-grade student and Challenge Success team member Ryan Ault shared some insight into this group’s significant impact on our culture and Climate of Care.

and I organized a week to emphasize empathy. We called this week Empathy Empowerment Week. Empathy is a very important part of learning and something that students need to learn. Empathy is caring for one another and understanding what we are each going through, even though you may not also be going through it. Empathy is important because if you don’t have it, then you may never be able to relate to someone, become close to someone, or do other things you wouldn’t want to do. During Empathy Empowerment Week, students wrote letters and emails of gratitude to community members, read books and watched movies about empathy featuring diverse characters, heard from frontline medical workers during the COVID-19 crisis, and assembled care packages for individuals residing within an assisted living facility. What is one of the goals that the Challenge Success team hoped to achieve through these activities?

Ryan: This year was full of many fun and exciting things but also some not-so-fun things. One thing that impacted everyone’s lives this past year was the coronavirus pandemic. Why is Challenge Success at Dawson COVID-19 also impacted our students’ learning. Dawson has important? been trying very hard to get everyone back on campus while also Ryan: Challenge Success is an important part of Dawson offering distance education opportunities (DEO). Dawson, in because the team creates ideas to help improve our school my opinion, has done a great job of including the students who community. Challenge Success was an important thing to keep are online in all of the activities that the in-person students going during the coronavirus pandemic, and this year, the team do. One important way we demonstrated empathy during this 23

week for our community was to have doctors virtually connect with our students and teach them about the direct impact of the pandemic. One of the doctors was my dad, Dr. Brian Ault. He works in the emergency room at UMC Hospital, and he shared with some of our students how the pandemic has impacted his life, our family, and the lives of his co-workers. Every academic year, the School selects a curricular throughline – an overall theme woven throughout the student learning process that connects various concepts to one greater meaning or purpose – as a lens through which to view themselves as individuals in comparison to the world at large. This dual task allows students the opportunity to embrace challenges, practice critical thinking, and nurture their cultural competency skills. During the 2020-2021 school year, “It was timely for us to have ‘Discover Your Voice’ as our throughline because what we are doing is really empowering our students to be the leaders of the future who reflect thoughtfulness, empathy, responsible research, and global mindedness,” says Roxanne Stansbury, Head of School. “This is an appropriate message for our students because they are learning more about who they want to be in this world and what they want to stand for, and they’re learning how they want to be seen and heard as individuals.” This throughline – the origin of which was our campus Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion ( JEDI) Committee and then voted upon by our faculty and staff – was useful when introducing class conversations and shaping discussions, and helped students to improve their messaging, listening, and response skills. How did this school year’s throughline help support Empathy Empowerment Week? Ryan: I have only been at Dawson for three years now, but for all three of those years, Dawson has had a throughline that the School follows throughout the entire school year. This year’s throughline this year was “Discover Your Voice”. This was meant to make students realize that their voice is just as important as an adult’s. I think the students at Dawson really acknowledged that they can change things in our community. Empathy Empowerment Week and our “Discover Your Voice” throughline are both very important to Challenge Success because they helped students increase their confidence, build healthy relationships, and break down barriers.

Dawson’s participation in Challenge Success has helped transform the student experience on campus. And during a year when it was important to demonstrate compassion and kindness toward ourselves and others, we are confident our young learners acquired effective, hands-on knowledge about how empathy helps develop character in support of moral identity, self-expression, social intelligence, and gratitude. Thankfully, the work is far from over; we will continue to accomplish great things together, as one community where students are cherished for their individuality, respected and recognized for their different experiences, inspired to grow connections, and guided to treat each other with dignity and care. Explains Roxanne, “We are not here to tell our students which voice to have. We’re here to create the space and opportunities for our students to find their individual voice. And that is an essential key, that kind of personalized path that our students are able to engage in while here at Dawson.”

EMPATHY FACTS Source: Fly Five, The Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum - Although empathy may have a reputation for being a “soft skill,” it is actually brain-based: The same areas of our brain that light up when we feel pain also light up when we hear about someone else’s pain. We build our capacity for empathy throughout our lives, but it is particularly important to foster empathy in students, as these learners are laying the foundation for the rest of their educational experiences. - For young learners, developing empathy is critical. Young people who have empathy typically display higher classroom engagement and academic achievement, as well as stronger communication and prosocial skills. Empathy can be used to combat bullying by teaching understanding, can help us to override our biases, and can help us form meaningful connections, which is crucial for strengthening individual and community ties. - Students who have ample opportunities to grow their capacity for empathy are positioned to become kind, caring, and compassionate students, friends, and citizens. From the schoolyard to the home, the more chances young learners have tosee and practice empathy, the more chances we are giving them to excel in all aspects of their lives.

DAWSON’S CHALLENGE SUCCESS VISION STATEMENT Dawson will emerge as a beacon school for Challenge Success where student voice is the fabric of the culture. Our goal is for the community to adopt a cohesive climate of care where the definition of success, engagement and life satisfaction is authentic to the individual experience. 26

Dawson Class of 2021

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“When my mom told me I had to move schools I was scared, scared no one was going to like me and I was going to have a hard time adapting to a new school so late in the year. But I was wrong. When I came to Dawson, everyone welcomed me with open arms and helped me get right back on track where I needed to be again. They helped me tremendously with the proper learning tools I needed and got my grades back up to where they needed to be. Especially with the help of some new friends I made from this school who have helped me whenever I felt sad or when I needed them, they helped me and stuck by my side.” -Margo Burnette

“When I think that we are going to high school in August, I wonder if I am prepared enough. On the other hand, I think I have been enlightened and I am perfectly prepared for high school. I realize this journey has been one of great value, and everything we have done at Dawson has been for a reason. This school prepared us for the future. This journey I have traveled with my peers has been one of the most valuable experiences I can think of. Dawson truly is a place for diversity, learning, acceptance, and other great aspects that have prepared me for the rest of my life.” -Nayan Gururaj

WHERE ARE THEY GOING? BISHOP GORMAN HIGH SCHOOL AnaJulia Silva Ben Rush Brandon Rayls Cade Petersen Cameron Combado Eden Megha Gage Kreeger

Jaylen Bowens Jesse Ober Nevaeh Lone Robert Ausband Warren Blut William Harris Wilson Lubas-Nadal

BOARDING SCHOOLS Edrin Jubani (Phillips Exeter Academy) Eva Cress Palencia (The Webb Schools) Katherine Rosenblum (Interlochen Center for the Arts) Pierce Kelly (The Thacher School) Siena Burke (The Webb Schools) Sydney Mildon (The Webb Schools)

CLARK COUNTY CTA/MAGNET SCHOOLS Harrison Lubas-Nadal (Northwest Career & Technical Academy) Meera Soli (West Career & Technical Academy) Nayan Gururaj (Las Vegas Academy of the Arts) Wynn Ha (Las Vegas Academy of the Arts)

CLARK COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS Makenna Bayne (Centennial High School) Shilee Ben-Shimon (Palo Verde High School)

FAITH LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOL Margo Burnette

OUT OF STATE Oliver Arenson (Windward School) Sebastien Flinchpaugh (Tampa Preparatory School)

THE MEADOWS SCHOOL Addison Cootey Camilla Osipova Michael Galin “We are all individuals with our own aspirations, drive, backgrounds, and beliefs. If we keep looking at our differences as a means to separate ourselves from one another, we will never grow and never learn. If we continue to push people away, we will all be isolated and alone. Events in this past year outside of school have helped to shed light on our differences. Protests, elections, and this dreaded pandemic have caused us to progress backward in a way. I am looking for you, future high schoolers and future adults, to be brave and recognize our differences and flaws and use them to unite us.” -Michael Galin

Andrew Savio Killian Seip Vincent Ryan

UNDECIDED Carlie Powell Karola Garcia

Winning Graduate Essay

DAWSON GRADUATE ESSAY

Jaylen Bowens, ‘21 Five years ago, which feels like yesterday, my parents decided it was time for me to move schools. It was slightly upsetting that I was leaving my school, but that was overpowered by how excited I was to start a new journey in my nine-year-old life. After visiting a few schools, I wasn’t sure which one I wanted to go to, but when I visited Dawson, I knew it was the one. Not only was the community very welcoming and comforting, but compared to my old school, the lunch was on an entirely different level. Now as I stand here today with you all, I reflect on that day when I started my journey. I have mixed emotions that this journey has come to an end. However, our last year of middle school shouldn’t be thought of as the end of a journey but as a journey to new beginnings. As Merlin from The Sword in the Stone once said, “It’s up to you how far you go. If you don’t try, you’ll never know.” When I first became a student at Dawson, I lacked a lot of characteristics. The most important was confidence. The ability I had to believe in myself was scarce. I always tried my hardest in class but never 30

thought I was a great student. I second-guessed myself all the time because I didn’t believe I had the right answers. However, throughout the years, my teachers and friends easily sensed my lack of confidence and helped me break out of my shell. Now, as I am graduating from Dawson, I have become a confident, smart, caring, and unique person. Fourth grade was when I first became a student at Dawson. My teacher, Ms. Myster, was so caring, and she formed the beginning stage of shaping me into the student and person I am today. The memories I have from her class are timeless. One of my favorite projects we did in her class was Country Studies. During this project, I worked with Nayan, Cade, and Russell, a former Dawson student. Our group chose South Africa, and we had to research everything about the country. From the process of developing all the information we needed to collect about South Africa to presenting our project to the entire fourth grade, the experience is something I will never forget.

My first middle school field trip was interesting, to say the least. Waking up at 5 a.m. was a slight pain, but as I arrived on the bus, I was ready to have a good time. Knowing we were going to be hanging out on a bus for the next six hours with our friends was exciting. As fifth graders, we expected this trip to be the time of our lives. Then came our arrival to Camp Pali. When we arrived, the counselors placed us in our rooms. Most of my friends were in the same room as me. The room was nice, but the beds were uncomfortable. There were also several ants in our room. After we were brought to our rooms, we entered the cafeteria. The food was not the best, but it wasn’t bad. Other than that, there weren’t any other issues with the camp. The archery and wall climbing were very enjoyable, and dissecting a squid was a unique and cool activity.

When we first started the school year, I was beyond excited to interact with my friends again. I didn’t hang out with any of them for nearly six months, and to be able to talk and physically be at school with them again was a gasp of fresh air. Due to COVID-19, we were restricted from many events this year. For starters, there wasn’t a basketball season. It would’ve been great to play with all my friends this year for the last time. If we played this year, we could have won the championship because we all improved plenty from the last time we had a season.

COVID-19 also canceled the eighth-grade Washington, D.C., trip. I had heard since the year I came into middle school how great the trip was. My friends and I had a vivid imagination of visiting the several monuments and history located in Washington, D.C., and walking around the city In the sixth grade, I was asked to be a part of the together. Waiting our entire middle-school lives for Challenge Success Program. I accepted the offer, the trip just to be told that we weren’t going was and it is a decision I will never regret. The Challenge disappointing. Although we were unable to do Success Program was another building block that several of the things we sought to do during our enabled me to become who I am today. Because of this eighth-grade year, we should be proud of persevering program, I got to visit Stanford and go to workshops through this year together and having an enjoyable that taught me many lessons and allowed me to learn last year at Dawson. how to change our school for the better. For example, the workshops explained through statistics and facts Now that we have completed the stages of the Dawson how stress amongst teens is a big problem, and we journey, I want to thank some of the people who were were inspired by that workshop to develop Sleep a part of my journey: Thank you Ms. Myster, Mrs. Week. I’m proud to be a part of the changes that Rosebeck, Ms. Lopez, Ms. Walton, Ms. Kintzer, Ms. improved our school. Shoates, Ms. McNamara, Mr. Vazquez, Dr. Gooden, Ms. Miller, Mr. Reynolds, Ms. Boyum, Mr. Hunt, Last year was a year that will never slip away from Huang Laoshi, Mr. Ellis, Ms. George, Mr. Lewis, my mind. I felt joyous when the school announced Ms. Pruitt, Mr. Le, and Ms. Lindley. I appreciate we would be going into lockdown for an estimated you all, and I am glad I was in your classes. I also two weeks, which we all know now didn’t turn out want to thank my classmates. Thank you for sharing to be only two weeks. My friends and I couldn’t wait this experience with me and standing before me to go to class online and have free time after. Then, today. I wish the best of luck to you all for wherever as the days that were meant to be two weeks turned you go to high school. Dawson has prepared us all into months, the feeling was very – and I mean very to embrace the challenges we will face later on and – boring. It was a horrible feeling to be locked away persevere through them. If we fail, we will still find in our homes and unable to hang out with friends, a bright side to the darkness and learn from our but the lockdown should not just have recognition mistakes. That is the mindset Dawson has given to for its dark aspects. Last year helped me come to a us. Today, as Bears who are leaving the pack, we realization of the gifts we are privileged to have: going have left a legacy here at Dawson. Now it is time for to school, interacting with friends, living carefree you to leave your footprint wherever you’ll be going in society, and many other prized possessions. We for the next four years of your life. As middle school shouldn’t take those things for granted. is becoming the past and high school is becoming the present, opportunities are arising. To quote H. This year, we could finally come back to campus. Jackson Brown, “Nothing is more expensive than a Although there were the guidelines of wearing masks missed opportunity.” With that said, congratulations and socially distancing, it still was great to be here. to The Alexander Dawson School Class of 2021! k 31

Winning Graduate Essay

DAWSON GRADUATE ESSAY

Meera Soli, ‘21

When I look back on my years at Dawson, I really only have one regret. It’s that I didn’t go on the sixthgrade trip to Camp Stevens. I know this may sound dumb that, like, out of all the things I could regret, I choose a class trip that (from what I heard) wasn’t even that fun. And yet, when everyone got back, it was all anyone could talk about. All of my classmates were making jokes about things that happened, and all I got were broken explanations and apologetic, “You had to be theres.” And that’s not their fault; you really did have to be there. But of course, I wasn’t, and the reason for that was simple. Fear. I was scared to go on an overnight trip, even though I had gone on one the year before. I was scared to leave home, even though I knew I would be safe. I was scared to not be able to sleep at night, even though I would have my friends there with me. Everyone on the planet is born with a response to danger commonly known as “fight or flight”. Although this originally evolved so humans could survive during times they had to fight for existence, the reflex is still awakened by anything that brings us fear. In this context, the opposite of flight isn’t actually fight but more just do. But, I couldn’t really get over myself, and I opted for flight. People do or don’t do a lot of things out of fear. Why do something scary if there’s a chance you can fail, right? I’m guilty of this, and I guarantee you all are guilty of this, too. But that’s not the way we should look at things.

thing you should know: I don’t play the piano. I never have. So, I asked my orchestra teacher to teach me something and she agreed. She taught me four notes I could play, and I got by. My teacher even told me I did great. So, thank you, Ms. Chrystal, for kind of teaching me how to play the piano. I’m what’s considered a “veteran” at Dawson. Meaning, I’ve been here since kindergarten. In fact, there aren’t many of us left. You may think that being at a school for so long with the same people would make you sick of them, but Dawson has truly never lost its sense of community. In fact, I think the fact that we’ve been together for so long actually enhances the familial feeling you are made to feel when first setting foot in the school. Now that I am leaving, it may seem like I am not bringing anything out of Dawson with me. Although it’s not a physical item, I will be leaving Dawson with the most important thing of all. Knowledge.

Doing things is scary. Trying new things is scary. But if we let our lives be controlled by our fear of failure, then we’ll never get the chance to succeed. Not because life is short. In fact, life is the longest thing we’ll ever experience. I read that somewhere; I wish I could remember where. But no, we shouldn’t try to achieve our goals because life is short. We should try to achieve our goals so we can be happy with the life we have lived. I’d like you to think about something: If you were to die tomorrow, would you One of the most important things Dawson has taught regret not doing something? If your answer is yes, me is it’s important to not be afraid of failure. This then I am telling you to go out and do it. In reality, lesson is part of the reason I’m standing up here today. life isn’t short. But at the same time, you never know Historically, I never go on stage. For example, in the how much time you have left. So instead of worrying fifth grade, our English class did a performance of about failing, go out and do it. Do something with The Tempest. Everyone had to have a role, and I was your life you can be proud of so when your time terrified. I nearly faint every time I go on stage. I unfortunately comes to an end, you don’t have to nearly fainted getting up here tonight. So, naturally, regret the life you lived and the choices you made. I had to do a role that made sure I wouldn’t go on stage. My original idea was lights or sound, but they Lead a life you can be proud of, and give yourself the had actual tech people doing that, so that wasn’t an chance to succeed. Dawson gave me that opportunity option. I turned to the only possible thing I could do: – the opportunity to try something new without background music. I asked my teacher if I could play having to worry about long-term failure. And that’s the piano for scene transitions so it wasn’t awkward why Dawson will always be my second home. k and things would flow better. There is one small 33

2021 Dawson Graduate Tributes

OLIVER ARENSON Oliver, We are so excited for you to take this next step in your life…to graduate from all of your accomplishments in middle school and embark upon a tremendous new chapter in high school. We are so proud of everything you have achieved at Dawson and, more importantly, in the way you have achieved it. You have worked hard, stayed focused, and kept a positive outlook, even through some difficult times. Now, it’s time for you to spread your wings and continue to grow into the outstanding young man you are becoming. We are so incredibly proud of you. Congratulations on this special day! Love, Mom and Dad

ROBBIE AUSBAND Robbie, Wow, congratulations! We love and adore you and can’t wait to see what you can do once you are inspired and dedicated. Do everything with intention and integrity. Most of all, trust yourself and have fun! Love, Mom and Dad

MAKENNA BAYNE Makenna, To our little girl: You have brought so much joy and happiness to our family! The wonder at watching you on stage, dancing, and managing a demanding schedule has been spectacular! We know you are anxious to move on, and we can’t wait to see what new adventure you will go on next!! We could not be more proud of you! Life is a dance and we want you to keep on dancing your way through it! Love, Mom, Dad, Cameron, and Brayden

WARREN BLUT Good things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses. You have to be true to who you are. ~ Kobe Bryant We are so proud of you, Warren! Congratulations to you and the entire Dawson Class of 2021! Love, Mom, Dad and Noah (‘17)

JAYLEN BOWENS Dearest Jaylen, Congratulations, son, on this tremendous milestone. You have worked incredibly hard and with such dedication to your education. You have been a true inspiration and a role model for so many, and we are all in awe of you. There’s no doubt in the coming years you will do amazing things. We are here for you as always, 100 percent loving you and supporting you every step of the way. We couldn’t be more proud of you. You are an incredible young man. May God continue to bless you and your journey ahead. We love you, son.

SIENA BURKE Siena, Words cannot express how proud we all are of you! Congratulations on a job well done! High Honor Roll and admission to Webb Academy! Your beautiful spirit is a beacon of light that will lead you down a pathway that will end in success and happiness! We love you!

CAMERON COMBADO You’re the greatest blessing our family could’ve ever asked for. You’ve changed our lives forever and made our family complete. You’re truly special and one of a kind. Always be yourself. Always give your best at all that you do. And, always make a world of difference. Find a career path you love and you will never “work” a day in your life. We will always be here to love and support you. Go out and live your dreams. We are all so proud of you, Cam! Love, Mom, Dad, Chris, and Kyle. Go Navy!

ADDISON COOTEY Congratulations, Addison! Watching you grow these past 10 years at Dawson has been an absolute joy! We are so proud of all you have achieved and are so excited for what lies ahead. Stay as wonderful as you are and remember to always live in the moment! Love you so much, Dad, Mom, Lee Lee, and Brady Bug

2021 Dawson Graduate Tributes

KAROLA GARCIA Karola, We are so proud of you. Now that you’re graduating, it’s reminded us that you’ve surprised us at every turn with your cunning intellect and relentless spirit. You’ve taught us just as much about ourselves as you’ve managed to learn from us, and we can’t wait to see you take the world by storm. From the day you were born to now watching you graduate from middle school, you’ve demonstrated a unique skill that we all appreciate so much: You know exactly how to keep us smiling. We love you and can’t wait to see what this next chapter brings, Karlerio

WILL HARRIS Will, Congratulations on your graduation from Dawson. Where did the time go? You have grown into a fine young man and your family is very proud of you. Keep chasing your dreams and you will be successful with whatever you desire. We love you, Mom, Dad, and Tommy

PIERCE KELLY Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away! You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go. You’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so...get on your way! OH! THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!! We love you, Pierce, and cannot wait to see your journey unfold! Love, Mom, Dad, and Conor

NEVAEH LONE Nevaeh, We are so proud of everything you have accomplished! You have blossomed into an amazing, bright, talented, and beautiful young lady! We can’t wait to watch you take on the world! Wishing you all the luck and love on your next chapter at Bishop Gorman! Love, Mom, Dad & Nixin

HARRISON LUBAS-NADAL We’re your biggest fans! You’ve always loved to entertain and “perform” character voices, jokes, magic, and gymnastic tricks. After eight years, you aimed to be the best gymnast and became “Nevada All-Around State Champion”. Family and friends cheered the seven seasons you performed The Nutcracker at The Smith Center. We loved our family vacations to Belgium, Australia, Japan, and Mexico; time at the beach; sushi; “Family Movie Night”; and dinner table discussions. We’re so proud of you, Harri, and know you’ll be a star in the Veterinary Science Program at Northwest Career and Technical Academy. Love, Dad and Papa

WILSON LUBAS-NADAL You are a top-notch artist, storyteller, athlete, student, teammate, friend, brother, and son. We are so proud of your accomplishments, especially training at Tumbling and Trampoline to take this year’s State Championship on Trampoline and Double-Mini Trampoline, as well as your amazing work on the soccer field. You received Honorable Mention in the National French Contest, and you love traveling and spending time with family on vacations and holidays. Your loyalty to family is outstanding and your appreciation of tradition is heartening. You are a kind and giving person and will be super successful at Bishop Gorman High School. Love, Dad and Papa

CAMILLA OSIPOVA Dear Camilla! You turned into a bundle of joy in our lives and ever since, you have been kind and smart. We are always proud of you, and today you have proved success comes through hard work. We wish you the best on your next step in life. Congratulations on your graduation! Love you, Mama and Papa

CADE PETERSON Cade, While we often miss so many of the little boy habits and needs from the earlier years, we are simultaneously amazed at your nonstop transformation into a spectacular young man. You have always been so kind and you easily make friends, which will bode well for you in life. We look forward to witnessing the continued growth of your relationships with family and friends, athletic abilities, education, confidence, and – of course – your sense of humor. Congratulations on a successful nine years at Dawson. Greatness and endless possibilities await you…go after it all! Love, Mom and Dad

2021 Dawson Graduate Tributes BRANDON RAYLS Dear Brandon, Congratulations on graduating as a “Dawson Lifer”, Class of 2021. Even a global pandemic didn’t stop you! It seems like just yesterday you were walking into your ECEC classroom. Even though you were a year younger than the rest of your classmates, that didn’t deter you from starting your Dawson journey. It’s been an honor to watch you grow into a stellar young man. You have developed into a kind smart, thoughtful, confident, and disciplined individual with a strong passion for basketball, volleyball, piano, and being the best little brother and son! We can’t wait to watch you experience new challenges because there is no limit to what you can accomplish. We are so proud of you and love you very much. Mom, Dad, Kiara, and Mr. Snuggles

KATIE ROSENBLUM Dear Katie, From your earliest days as part of Dawson’s first 3’s class through today, we have watched you grow and have grown with you. This has been a journey we will never experience again. It has been deep, real, challenging, and – most importantly – wonderful and rewarding for all of us. We love you with our full hearts, Little Bear! Now go out and please keep making mistakes and growing...creating your own unique, creative path. We will be right here, cheering and encouraging you along. With so much love, Mom, Dad, and Michael

BEN RUSH Ben, You worked so hard to prepare for your eighthgrade graduation. We feel so much pride for you and love celebrating you. We’ve always seen your greatness and believe in you, and we always will. We love you very much. XO, Rena, Mom, and Dad

VINCENT RYAN Vincent, We are so proud of you! We look forward to seeing the great things you will accomplish in high school. Mom, Dad, Kip, Alexandria, Caroline, and Julianne

ANDY SAVIO Andy, You have traveled so far on this journey to get to your eighth-grade graduation and on the doorstep of high school. We are so proud of who you are, Andy. We will be here for you as you start your next exciting chapter of education and life. You are a bright, strong, and hardworking teenager who makes good choices. Good choices and hard work will get you far in life. We love you so much, Andy! Way to go! Love your family, Mom, Dad, Serena, Dean, and Ace

KILLIAN SEIP Congratulations, Killian! We are so proud of your graduation and the young man you have become. You have worked diligently to get to this point. As you move on to the next stage in your life, take with you the strengths, skills, and cherished friendships you have developed. Face each new challenge with thought, confidence, and wisdom. Thank you for being such a wonderful son, brother, and uncle. We are so blessed to have you in our lives and can’t wait to see all of the great things you will accomplish. So much love, Your family

MEERA SOLI Congratulations, Meera, on your eighth-grade graduation. The years since kindergarten have flown by and we are so proud of you. Dawson has taught you so much: the value of friendship, kindness, and a love of learning. We know that combined with your sense of humor and intelligence, you will succeed on any path you choose. Love, Mom and Dad

2021 Commencement Speaker

Adam Boggs

CLASS OF 2010

At the end of every school year, we invite a Dawson graduate back to campus as the alumni commencement speaker for our eighth-grade graduation ceremony. Read on for an inspirational and moving speech by Adam Boggs McDonald, Class of 2010. 40

McDonald

Family, friends, the esteemed faculty here at Alexander Dawson, and finally, the graduating Dawson Class of 2021. Congratulations. You made it. I mean, you have been through the ringer this year. I don’t think I need to explain it. But you have made it through it all without any bad eye stigmas. Congratulations, you can see clearly! First, I’m not your typical speech giver. I’m an actor, so usually all of the things I would say are written by a playwright. I’m playing a character, using my physicality and emotional history to convey the words. The audience would applaud as I took a bow and, eventually, won an award here and there for something. So, this is already a journey, and we can only hope that applause happens at the end. The theme of this year was Discover Your Voice, something I think is important in our current time. As you all embark upon the next journey of your lives, you’ll begin to wonder when is the moment you find your calling? When does everything start to make sense? And honestly, it most likely started here. When I first came to Dawson, I started in kindergarten back in 2001. Everyone knew me as this kind kid who walked through the halls with the biggest smile. I was extremely humble too, but the one thing I knew was that I could sing like nobody’s business. In every grade, I would find opportunities to showcase my talents. I would literally bring in a VHS tape (you haven’t heard that in a long time) of my favorite Disney films and would have to fast forward to every end credit song and then take time out of class to sing what was in my heart. I was the kid who threw High School Musical parties and would draft emails to my teachers saying, “I would like to sing this for the class this week,” and it wasn’t even show and tell. But I look back at those times with such gratitude, not only for my teachers for creating the space to allow me to shine, but at such a young age, I knew I had a gift. I knew I had something to say. And I knew how to express it. Those moments led to taking advanced choir and starring in all of the musicals at Dawson. It led to becoming a theater major at Las Vegas Academy of the Arts and performing in every musical and a couple of straight plays there. It led to graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in

Drama from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts y’all. And while working in New York as an actor, creating original roles in original musicals and plays. And it has led me here as your first Black alumni commencement speaker. No one else is going to say “I’m a savage” but myself, so I must take my opportunities. All that testimony is to say it’s the moments here at this establishment that are going to propel you forward into anything you want to be. It is the friendships here that will help you grow and understand what matters to you and how you can support others in any given opportunity. It is the education here that makes you understand that excellence lives inside of you, and you should only strive for excellence. A side note about me is that I am friends with some Real Housewives of many cities in real life. No lie. And one friend named Eboni K. Williams became the first Black Real Housewife of New York City this airing season. Her tagline is, “I had to work twice as hard for half as much, but now, I am coming for everything.” Now, that line is intertwined with history and struggle, but I want you all to take it with you. You may encounter in your life where you keep working hard, and you may feel that nothing is coming your way. But keep that intention going. Literally, come for everything. And eventually, it will come to fruition. I promise. So, to close out this time we have spent together, I just wanted to leave you with a couple of things to ponder over as you walk out of this gymnasium and into your life: • Remember what it is like to be a kid as you grow up. • You will find that simplicity is the key to many answers. • Kindness is key. Kindness is a choice. Always choose it. • Remember to spread love. We desperately need it. • Work hard. Speak up and speak out. • Fight for what you believe in. Your day will come. • Be a Savage. Classy, bougie, ratchet. Congratulations, Class of 2021. You deserve this! You can read more about the amazing accomplishments of our Dawson graduates and share your story if you are a Dawson alum by visiting www.adsrm.org/alumni.

#AmazingDawsonAlums

Dawson Alums Lauren (‘06) & Carmen (‘08) Hollifield By Shea Phillips, Marketing Communications & Events Manager

When the Hollifield family relocated from Washington, D.C. to Las Vegas in 2001, sisters Lauren and Carmen joined the Dawson community as fourth and second-grade students, respectively. Lauren graduated from the eighth grade in 2006 and Carmen graduated in 2008, and now 20 years after they first became Dawson Bears, both sisters have pursued advanced degrees and careers in medicine, crediting the Dawson experience with making a huge impact on their educational and professional paths.

Upon learning that one of their parents is an ophthalmologist and the other has a doctorate in public health, one may assume the sisters’ career choices were predictable. But each Hollifield had her own unique journey after graduating from Bishop Gorman High School, in which they explored different opportunities and curiosities along the way.

Carmen’s childhood goal was to become a doctor. She seized many opportunities throughout the years to work alongside her parents, shadowing her dad in “We can all agree that Dawson was the best education the operating room or working with her mom as a we ever had,” says Carmen. “The supportive peer educator for various health promotion programs environment, intimate class sizes, and exceptional in the community. “I found passion in helping teaching all prepared me well for higher education other people build healthy habits and lifestyles, and and are the basis of my knowledge today.” She says realized I wanted to be at the core of the practice of Dawson was more difficult and demanding than high healing by becoming a doctor.” Carmen graduated school and college, “but in a good way to where I felt from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2016 with appropriately challenged to live up to my potential.” a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a minor in 42

Spanish. She continued to “ juggle a million things at once” throughout college, seeking exposure to every possible career opportunity. Her previous jobs include working as a Wolf-caller at UNR to ask alumni for donations, a waitress, a bartender, a secretary, a sales associate at retail stores, and many nanny and tutor gigs. “Inevitably,” she says, “I used all of these experiences to confirm my passion in medicine and pursue the career of my dreams and become a doctor.”

of Medicine in 2017. Lauren was an Englestad Scholar and graduated from UNLV in May of 2021. Notably, she was chosen to speak on behalf of the UNLV School of Medicine to Vice President Kamala Harris, Governor Brian Sandoval, Governor Steve Sisolak, Senator Jackie Rosen, and Mayor Carolyn Goodman. She was also elected by the student body as White Coat Ceremony speaker for the Class of 2022. Next, Lauren will go to the University of Pennsylvania to begin her anesthesiology residency.

From there, Carmen attended the University of California, San Diego Post-Baccalaureate, PreMedical Program. She then moved back to Las Vegas to join Lauren and Lauren’s husband, Dr. Damien Medrano, at UNLV’s School of Medicine in 2018, where she is currently in her third year. She hopes to pursue a surgical specialty in the future and looks forward to finding out how her experiences in hospitals and clinics have influenced her path.

“I hope to be a physician that acknowledges patients not just as medical problems to be solved, but as human beings heavily influenced by sociological, economical, and religious underpinnings,” Lauren says.

When Lauren enrolled in college, she did not yet know the career path she wanted to travel, deciding that majoring in a language couldn’t hurt. She earned a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Spanish and a minor in biochemistry, graduating Cum Laude and on the Dean’s List. Her Spanish classes at Dawson with Señora Kristi Griffith laid the foundation of knowledge for her undergraduate studies, which she continues to use today when working with patients who are Spanish-speaking. Also influenced by her Dawson science classes, Lauren became an emergency medical technician between her freshman and sophomore years of college. Combined with her Spanish major, she embarked upon medical mission trips to Nicaragua from 2012 to 2015. Those trips prompted her to ask, “Why do staggering healthcare disparities exist? And, more importantly, what can I do about it?” It became clear that the disparities she witnessed were not unique to Nicaragua, and this was the “call to arms” that led her to apply to medical school, eventually graduating from Drexel University College of Medicine in 2016 with an MS in biochemical and pharmacological principles. From there, she returned to Las Vegas to pursue her medical degree as part of the inaugural class at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School

Over the years, both Hollifield sisters have maintained close relationships with their former Dawson classmates and during separate interviews, each gave credit to current Head of School Roxanne Stansbury as an impactful teacher who became a mentor and role model. “I think she is an incredible leader who continues to foster an inclusive community at Alexander Dawson,” says Lauren. Further emphasizing lessons learned about the importance of honesty, integrity, and perseverance,“I was easily able to integrate into spaces with people from various backgrounds and experiences because I was accustomed to that at Dawson. The creative skills and curiosity fostered have helped me significantly in undergrad, graduate, and medical school.” To our current Dawson students and future graduates, the Hollifield sisters shared the following messages: “I wish someone would have told me to slow down, to cherish the moments you have right now, and stop rushing for the future because it will come. And everything will work out the way it is supposed to,” says Carmen. “Be true to yourself and always go after what you want. You can do anything you set your mind to.” “Keep an open mind with your career choice, and also, keep an open mind to diverse experiences, backgrounds, and thoughts for the people you will meet,” adds Lauren. 43

From The Dawson Blog

More Than Just Competitive Gaming: Leveraging eSports as a Learning Experience By Hubert Ham & Megan Gray, Chief Communications Officer

A new and emerging trend throughout K-12 education is the creation of esports programs. At The Alexander Dawson School in Las Vegas, Nevada, our esports elective course is one of the most popular. Now, a question: Did you immediately envision students mindlessly playing video games in a classroom for 50 minutes? I wouldn’t be surprised if you did. In spite of its global popularity and exponential growth as an industry, the term esports still evokes for many the image of hypnotized children playing video games alone in their rooms for hours on end. But those of us who teach esports courses and run esports school teams and leagues know that it is not only a legitimate sport, it’s also a terrific vehicle through which to teach a host of valuable education-based and interpersonal soft skills.

While based on video game competition, esports is no different than most traditional sports: individuals or teams play against one another within set rules and guidelines, and with similar expectations of respectful behavior and good (digital) sportsmanship.

The second step is to recognize the opportunities that the industry itself provides: As a technology-based sport, the skills we teach in our elective course at Dawson are a gateway into a wide array of STEAMbased careers. In fact, esports has many parallels to both traditional sports and entertainment industries, and arguably does the most to blend the boundaries between the two. Organizations like the NFL or NBA aren’t made up of just athletes and coaches, but an entire business that relies on a vast range of skills and expertise. This includes everything from Through esports, the options and opportunities for medical, law, and finance to engineering, marketing, student learning are limitless. Even the cognitive and graphic design, and the same is true of esports. and social development benefits are of note, But unlike traditional sports organizations, careers including positive boosts to visual processing, in esports continue to develop and evolve at the same executive functioning, problem-solving and strategy pace as the industry itself, as well as make students development, as well as interactional connections more employable across a large spectrum of career amongst friends and teammates. In addition, as a choices. technology-based sport, the ability to enhance digital learning opportunities by connecting virtually with Alex Villalta teaches the esports class at Dawson other esports and/or tech companies around the and his goal is to widen students’ perspectives by, world is equally limitless. “showing them the vast depth of opportunity behind some of their favorite entertainment. By helping In a Dawson podcast conducted with Allied Esports them look past the singular viewpoint of e-athletes CCO Paul Chamberlin, who partnered with Dawson and shoutcasters, we can help them discover many to provide an Esports Shadow Day experience for our different routes to the same end: joining their passion students, Assistant Head of School Andrew Bishop of gaming with a useful skill set they can use beyond said, “It’s exciting to think about how collections the classroom.” of organizations can come together and redefine what this industry could be… how are we talking Take a look at job boards such as Hitmarker and you with students and families about what this industry will see a wide variety of esports professions — from looks like… and how it will evolve over time? In any UI designers to human resource directors. And as industry, we’re stronger by association… and we the industry continues its worldwide expansion, even want to be pioneers, to look at new opportunities to more varied professional opportunities will emerge. teach lifelong skills and create lasting impressions… “Esports jobs on Indeed are rising very fast,” said that are going to make the world a better place.” Andrew Flowers, a former economist now with Indeed, who saw the share of job postings for roles Yet it’s that initial barrier — growing the mindset related to esports rise 343 percent between December that esports is an actual sport that is capable of a 2015 and December 2019, and continuing to surge global presence on a massive scale, and deserving of through 2020. the same level of support, recognition, and reward that traditional school sports programs receive — that schools need to first overcome. 45

From The Dawson Blog Dawson seventh-grade student Will Harris said, “I think that the Dawson esports class is very unique. I have taken this class four semesters and I learn something new every time. It’s not just playing video games, students practice coaching, shoutcasting, management, etc. Rather than writing essays and doing extensive homework, we learn [through] projects, and we can actually use the things that we learn in this class in the real world.” So the question becomes, how can we engage students’ attention, both academic and strategic, to esports while also giving them a broader understanding of the opportunities — some existing, some that have yet to emerge — inherent in this new and growing industry? This is something Dawson is exploring by first listening to our students’ interests and then delving into units that span everything from performing arts (shoutcasting) and journalism to game design and event management. In this way, we’ve created a student-driven esports curriculum that focuses on building STEAM skills with an entrepreneurial mindset. This, in turn, helps students to develop resiliency, resourcefulness, and creativity with a foundation set in a fresh take on design-thinking.

A program that is limited only by your imagination. The opportunities in esports are so versatile, in fact, that when we ask students about their expansive and changing interests, we always find opportunities to engage those interests while maintaining an esports focus. And we have learned a lot in the process by listening to our students and remaining flexible. In this spirit, we share our tips and suggestions as a roadmap for other schools interested in starting their own esports program. But what your program ultimately looks like should be a direct reflection of student voice and choice. 1. Ask students about their interests so you can tailor the course and curriculum to their interests. This will help create a more fulfilling program that will also have some longevity. It is easy for us to prescribe what we think is best for students, but partnering with them will result in a much 46

better outcome for everyone. Listening to student voice and choice will also help you build a more inclusive program. 2. Survey your faculty to find teachers who share an interest in esports education. There is often an assumption that a “techie” should lead an esports course or team, but should be someone who will champion this type of learning as an advocate for the students. It should be someone who can help build not only the program but the community that it creates. 3. Explore the idea of launching an esports club or competition team. We can separate the curriculum from the competition because we want students to realize that there are many roles and responsibilities that exist within the overall umbrella of esports. It’s not always about being the next elite streamer or game. 4. Find partners in the community and industry who can help you build your program. Whether it is a family member of a student or a collaboration with the local university esports team, the esports community throughout K-12 education is growing and is very supportive. At Dawson, we recently started an Independent Schools Esports League to assist schools as we grow our programs. Consider joining us to get started!

Creating Inclusive Communities: Another reason K-12 education needs to take a larger role in esports. Currently, esports is the fastest growing sport in the world, and outside of schools it is a largely maledominated industry. But it shouldn’t be this way. As one of the few gender-inclusive global sports that is also known for the neuro-diversity of its players, esports has the power to level the playing field for all of its athletes, no matter their identity. This is why educating students about the industry is so important: Through esports programs, we can teach students at an early age how to create inclusive communities and organizations that illustrate how diversity, equity,

and inclusion enriches an entire industry. This next generation of empathic innovators and critical thinkers can become self-confident industry leaders and mold esports into the inclusive global sports community it can and should be. In addition to using esports to teach students about pathways to inclusivity, we have also seen an increased need for education in digital citizenship and empathy skills. To ensure that our students are modeling what it is to be a good online citizen, we must give them opportunities to develop the basic fundamentals and practice their abilities. Just like any team sport, esports clubs and teams can provide students with the freedom to learn good sportsmanship and appropriate online behavior through the guidance of a trusted adult. At The Alexander Dawson School, we view esports through the same lens as any athletic program because of its many benefits to students. And as more schools purposefully engage their students through the creation of thoughtful and inclusive esports programs, the image of the wan child holed up in a bedroom playing video games for hours on end in isolation will be an outdated and incorrect one. Through these novel programs, we show students what a supportive, gender-inclusive, and healthy online competitive experience looks like. Esports is excitingly multifaceted, and at the root, it’s an important venture for students to experience during a time of remarkable physiological, social, emotional, and cognitive development. Under the guidance of teachers serving as coaches and mentors, esports can help young learners uncover new and independent passions, take risks, and open their minds to new affinities. Although this path of learning and discovery may be uncharted and open to detours, the best educators encourage students to embrace the unknown and strengthen their intrinsic motivation to excel in the spirit of learning something new. And the greatest part is, if you were listening well, the students may just be the most reliable assets for determining how best to create a thriving esports program in alignment with their needs and your school’s current research and educational best practices.

ALEXANDER DAWSON VISUAL ARTS

Blue Dots - Brooke Carr, 6th Grade

Photos courtesy of Dawson Middle School students in teacher David Finfrock’s fine art photography elective course.

Happy Wheel - Katie Rosenblum, 8th Grade 48

Color World - Allie Breitling, 6th Grade

Students spent the semester exploring the world of dynamic imagery & visual communication. Shooting Star - Eric Quintana, 6th Grade

Footie - JJ Anderson, 7th Grade 49

ALEXANDER DAWSON VISUAL ARTS

Lonely Tree - Inaya Pirani, 6th Grade

Pskk - Lillie Berkowitz, 7th Grade

Flower - Axel Tamir, 6th Grade

Blossom - Lilah Azous, 7th Grade

Flowers - Meiling Franklin, 8th Grade Changes - Bo Algate, 7th Grade

This powerful medium of self-expression and creative composition allows students to discover their voice and share their vision of profound ideas, messages, or emotions.

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10845 W. Desert Inn Rd. Las Vegas, NV 89135

DAWSON'S VISION Our graduates will be ready to achieve their individual potential, savor life and meet the challenges of the world.

Learn more at AlexanderDawsonSchool.org or Call (702) 949-3600

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The Petroglyph Magazine, Spring + Summer 2021

Articles inside

Academic Excellence and Social Responsibility: