Inspire Fall 2013 by Eastside Preparatory School

THE EASTSIDE PREPARATORy SCHOOL MAGAZINE: FALL 2013 | VOLUME 5 | ISSUE 1

...Students to Create a Better World

BUILDING UNDERSTANDING PLACE-BASED EDUCATION THE BARCODE OF LIFE TEDxEASTSIDEPREP

EASTSIDE PREP MAGAZINE STAFF Vickie Baldwin

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MANAGING EDITOR

Tina Hadden

GRAPHIC DESIGNER and LAYOUT EDITOR

Joshua Huisenga

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Amis Balcomb, Vickie Baldwin, Jonathan Briggs, Roberta Christensen, Kristina Dammrose, Paul David, Lauren Formo, Kelly Fox, Bekah Friedberg, Paul Hagen, Barbie Hull, Jane Lin, Katia Nalimova, Ana Safavi

COPY EDITORS

Dr. Laurie Benaloh, Lauren Formo, Allison Luhrs, Karen Mills, Dr. Elena Olsen, Ana Safavi WEB EDITORS

Jonathan Briggs, Jennifer Cross

SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM HEAD OF SCHOOL DEAN OF STUDENTS DIRECTOR OF INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT Director of Athletics CHIEF OF FINANCE AND OPERATIONS DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY

Terry Macaluso, PhD Jeff Adair Vickie Baldwin Doug Blair, JD Andrew Boyd, CPA Jonathan Briggs

ACADEMIC DEAN

Matt Delaney

DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS

Lauren Formo

UPPER SCHOOL HEAD

Bart Gummere

DIRECTOR OF STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES

Kelly Moore, PhD

MIDDLE SCHOOL HEAD

Sam Uzwack

2013-2014 BOARD OF TRUSTEES OFFICERS PRESIDENT

Rob Short

SECRETARY

Stacy Graven

TREASURER

Sasha Press

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

Byron Bishop

Read EASTSIDE PREP MAGAZINE Online

www.eastsideprep.org/epsmag

Contact EASTSIDE PREP MAGAZINE

magazine@eastsideprep.org

EASTSIDE PREP MAGAZINE is published two times a year by Eastside Preparatory School. It is mailed to all current families, employees and donors. To remove or change your mailing address, to submit a letter to the editor, to suggest a topic for an article, or to submit text or photographs for AlumNotes, contact magazine@eastsideprep.org. © Copyright 2013, Eastside Preparatory School

n this issue, you will discover the advantages of riding a bicycle without pedals, that Karen Mills is getting really old, and that it is definitely in your best interest to learn about cytochrome oxidase before you eat another hamburger. You have to read the whole magazine for that to make sense. Our feature in this issue is science and science education. The technologies available to students now far outpace the instruments used by physicians and scientists just 50 years ago. Think about that. Research reveals an endless stream of new possibilities— so teaching science must be equally dynamic. For example, philosophers still study Emmanuel Kant even though we know he was wrong. We know that because he based his system on the Newtonian principle of absolute space and time. But the old philosophers still contribute to contemporary life. The Kantian principles of space and time as the a priori forms of sensibility provide a perfect context for thinking about a problem we have at EPS today. We need more time and more space. Even though they’re relative, we can’t make more of either—which is forcing us to reconsider our uses of space and time. The ultimate result may well be the creation of some entirely new and better instructional methods. Therein lies the lesson. Thinking in new ways about old problems is what both scientists and philosophers champion. We celebrated the accomplishments of some of our own champions last spring with our tenth Middle School Continuation and our fifth Upper School Commencement. The classes of ’17 and ’13, respectively, presented themselves well, and took pleasure in the accomplishments of their peers as much as they did in their own. A few photos in this issue captured many of the smiles from both celebrations. There’s so much here! Sam Uzwack and Elena Olsen learned some interesting things as a result of teaching together this spring. Seattle: From Skid Road to Starbucks was an immediate sell out, and Dr. Olsen’s article on place-based education presents another new way of thinking about instruction. TEDxEastsidePrep was another stunning success, and this article features information about each of our presenters. Get in line for tickets early next year! Paul Strong, EPS, 2009, is featured along with his creative and inspiring project, 33 Buckets, “Empowering others to become self-reliant by improving access to clean water through sustainable design, business infrastructure, and education.” Enjoy this issue of Inspire, and stay tuned as we continue to evolve, to experiment, to test our methods and practices, and, generally, do the thing that only humans can do—THINK! (Of course, that may not be true by the time the issue is published…)

Terry Macaluso, PhD Head of School

Class of 2020 at Camp Orkila for EBC Week

Contents Scientific Understanding of the World

Eagle Recognition

EPS Science and Innovation Expo

The Barcode of Life

Place-Based Education

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on Your Bookshelf?

Beginning a New Decade

"Want to Make a Difference and Change the World?"

Bringing the World to EPS Classrooms

Building Understanding Beyond The Classroom 12 Collaborative Exchange: Bridging the Gap Between Telling and Doing

Five and Ten Year Service Awardees

Elevating Understanding

New Board Members

Honoring our Eighth-Graders

New Faces

The Class of 2013

Winner of the Alice Strong Award

Community Events

Guessing Game Winner

Time, Space and Happiness

2012-2013 Annual Report

TEDxEastsidePrep 2013

Upcoming Events

Alumni Notes

INSPIRE Fall 2013

Contributors Jeff Adair joined Eastside Prep in the fall of 2004, and quickly became a presence across many academic disciplines. He currently serves as the Dean of Students and teaches Historical Thinking in the Middle School. Jonathan Briggs joined the EPS faculty in June of 2005, after spending the previous four years teaching math and physics, chairing the Upper School science and math departments, and coaching volleyball and golf at the Bentley School in California. Jonathan is the Technology Director at Eastside Prep and teaches Advanced Physics and Computer Science. Warren Chen is a member of the Class of 2014 at Eastside Prep. He writes for this issue of Inspire on the topic of “The Barcode of Life.” Matt Delaney joined the faculty of Eastside Prep in August of 2007. He spent the previous seven years teaching history, political science, English and media studies. Matt presently teaches social science in the Upper School in addition to being the Academic Dean for Eastside Prep. He is also one of the school’s four college counselors. Becca Fine is a member of Eastside Prep’s original graduating class. Becca recently graduated from Dickinson College with a major in Political Science and a double minor in Spanish and Latin American Studies. Along with her alumni efforts at EPS, Becca is also currently working at an internship for a public relations firm in Seattle. Becca updates us on EPS alumni in this issue of Inspire. Bart Gummere joined Eastside Prep in the summer of 2006. His 27-year experience in the education field has allowed him to assume a variety of roles —math teacher, baseball coach, college admissions officer, College Counseling Director, Upper School Assistant Head. Bart is Eastside Prep’s Upper School Head and one of our four college counselors.

Wendy Lawrence was one of the four founding faculty at Eastside Prep. She started as a science teacher and three years later, she became the head of the Middle School. Wendy moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan but is still very much connected to Eastside Prep. Wendy blogs at TheFamilyThatReadsTogether.com. Dr. Terry Macaluso has been a division head and a head of school in four independent day schools, including Lakeside School in Seattle, over a 35-year career. In 2002, she guided the Founding Board of Trustees from the earliest discussions about the school that eventually became Eastside Preparatory School, and was appointed Head of School in spring 2004. Dr. Kelly Moore joined Eastside Prep in 2009 as the school’s first Director of Counseling and Learning Resources. She has worked with adolescents and families for almost 20 years in schools, in-patient psychiatric hospitals, and most recently in private practice. Kelly is currently Eastside Prep’s Director of Student Support Services. Dr. Elena Olsen joined EPS after nine years of teaching at the University of Washington. At Eastside Prep, Elena teaches Upper School English, coaches cross-country running, and is part of our college counseling team. Paul Strong is a member of Eastside Prep’s first graduating class, a Merit Scholar Award winner and a recent graduate of the honors program at Arizona State University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Paul’s contribution to this issue of Inspire is an article about his efforts to bring clean water to a community in Bangladesh. Sam Uzwack joined Eastside Prep in July 2009. For the prior seven years, he taught seventh-grade humanities at The Northwest School in Seattle, where he also cocoordinated the Outdoor Program, served as chair of the Professional Development Committee, and coached soccer and Ultimate Frisbee. Sam is Eastside Prep’s Middle School Head, teaches Social Science, and is an Outdoor Club advisor.

Scientific Understanding of the World By Wendy Lawrence, Founding Faculty

Josh and Kayla ('15) work together in Chemistry.

eveloping a deep scientific understanding of the world requires a rich mixture of pedagogical methods. On any given day, students might be designing their own investigation, analyzing complex data on the computer, meeting real scientists from the local community, or interrupting a multi-media presentation with a myriad of questions. Upper School science teacher Adam Waltzer explains Eastside Prep’s multifaceted approach to science education: “Students are expected to build up a repertoire of investigative skills over the course of their science education at EPS. At the most basic, they will ask good investigative questions and design experiments to test a clearly articulated hypothesis. As they progress through the upper grades, they initiate critical thinking skills to analyze data, refine hypotheses and use the design process to improve experiments.” And because it doesn’t do much good to collect knowledge without being able to share it, students also work on communication. They use a variety of methods (including oral and multi-media presentations as well as written lab reports) “to express conclusions based soundly on evidence collected,” says Waltzer. Tobias Tillemans, Middle School science faculty member, remembers a recent example of effective communication. “I assigned a final project on astronomy and climate for which two students made a stop-motion video investigating the science behind a sci-fi novel they’d read. The video turned out remarkably well, and was shown at the Science and Innovation Expo. I was impressed that these students could integrate so many different skills with their own imagination and curiosity to put together what really was a piece of scientific art.” INSPIRE Fall 2013

"The whole point for us as a science faculty is to get students to use evidence and the resources available to them to better understand the world around them.” – Tobias Tillemans, Middle School Science Faculty

In Theron Cross’s Upper School physics class, students were asked to analyze the action in a movie and “determine if it was physically possible and the magnitude of the forces necessary to make it happen.” Cross watched two students take his assignment a step further by creating a physical model of a semi-truck overturning in a Batman movie. “They had to do the experiment themselves. The results will be remembered by everyone for a long time.” Labs are a crucial component of EPS science, whether that means micropipettes and petri dishes, digital data collection and online bioinformatics, or self-made prototypes of Batman action scenes. Between fifth and twelfth grade, students will have the chance to design, build, and launch a rocket, investigate an exploding volcano’s water vapor with popcorn, explore tide pools, isolate genes involved in species identification, dissect a diaper and a pig heart (NOT at the same time!), examine water flow over fish gills, study individual human identification with PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction)

Above: Henri and Conrad ('13) work on their Advanced Physics project.

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and electrophoresis, and investigate the survivability of various chocolates. All of these “hands on, experiential and inquiry-based activities help students learn skills and content,” says Elin Kuffner, fifth-grade science teacher. There is no single formula for an EPS lab. Depending on the age of the students, labs might be short and frequent or longer and more formal. They might be teacher directed or student led. They could involve blood and guts or a shiny new computer. Labs occur in the classroom, the field, local institutions, and even the San Juan Islands. Waltzer is most proud of “the depth of coverage and the topical nature of our science curriculum.” He says subjects like biology are “not approached in a surveylike manner but rather with interesting topics that allow students to explore fundamental concepts such as systems, homeostasis, and evolution.” These topics also “provide exposure to a diverse set of professional avenues and help students understand the role of science in society.” Katie Dodd, Middle School science faculty member, adds that EPS science students are “up and out of their seats often.” Theron Cross agrees. “Students expect to do science in their classes, not just learn about science. We teach that science is an activity, not just a body of knowledge.” Dodd loves how the curriculum’s flexibility nourishes her students’ curiosity. “We can take the time to talk about things that interest the students. They get a sense

of enthusiasm for science as well as confidence in their scientific abilities.” Importantly, Dodd realizes that not every student wants to be a scientist, but “they will always have these tools.” Going through the EPS science program “sets our students up to be independent thinkers who will consider the evidence and draw their own conclusions.” Tobias Tillemans echoes these thoughts. “They get a lot of content knowledge, but they also get a framework in which to think about things as a scientist would consider them. I think the whole point for us as a science faculty is to get students to use evidence and the resources available to them to better understand the world around them.” Upper School science teacher Andy Slater also emphasizes the importance of exposing students to a larger scientific community. “We give them easy access to a scientific community that is both broad and deep. This allows students to see how science is done beyond the classroom.” Interdisciplinary studies add another level of understanding. Waltzer describes one example, “In their American History and Literature classes last year, eleventh-graders were asked to consider the question, How has the concept of race been used over time?” In Biology, these students considered perspectives on the genetic basis of race and its implications in medicine. They also explored genes by genetically

engineering bacteria to express different color proteins and used these transformed bacteria as paints on a petri dish to create living art! At the same time, students in the Art Meets Science elective painted images of the transformation process on clear Mylar. Whether they are painting with bacteria or investigating a crime scene, Eastside Prep students get an in-depth look at ecology, molecular biology, chemistry, physics, and the overall idea of the scientific thinking process. And after completing the required courses, Upper Schoolers can move on to Advanced Physics, Advanced Biology, and Environmental Science. Eastside Prep’s science program helps students build understanding of the world, whether they plan to follow a scientific career, make decisions about scientific issues as a politician or community leader, invest as an entrepreneur in the latest scientific advancement, or simply view daily issues with the eye of a scientist. So what’s the ultimate goal? Theron Cross wants students to understand that “we don’t know everything. There are a lot of really big questions and even larger problems left to be solved by their generation. If our students don’t leave our classes with a pretty serious sense of awe for the universe, we’re failing somewhere.” The best part about science at EPS? It gets better every day: “The faculty spend a lot of time discussing (arguing about) about how to make improvements,” says Slater. “This ultimately keeps the curricula engaging and relevant.” 

Above: Connor and Loren ('15) work on their Chemistry experiment. Below: Dylan ('20) collaborates with Ms. Kuffner in fifth-grade science.

INSPIRE Fall 2013

“Doing the Expo was really fun. I liked my experiment, but for me the best part was walking around and seeing everyone else’s experiments—especially some of the really advanced Upper School projects.” – Sophia, Class of ‘20

EPS Science and Innovation Expo T

he third annual Eastside Prep Science and Innovation Expo was held on April 11th with students in all grade levels invited to participate. Many worked on projects within their classes while some students took the opportunity to explore interests from outside their coursework. Exhibits shared at the Expo included: • scientific hypotheses & experiments by the Intro to Scientific Thinking students

• independent work presented by the Advanced Biology class

• self-created musical instruments by the Conceptual Physics classes

• an independent programming project showcasing a learning management system

• bacteria genetically modified to have bioluminescent qualities by the Biology students

• TerraPower, a nuclear energy technology company exploring sustainable energy

Included here are reflections written by fifth and twelfth-grade students on their experiences as both participants and observers at the Expo. 6

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Clockwise from top left: Mr. Cross leads students and faculty in an experiment in aerodynamics. Mwanza (‘20) asked “To what height can a dry ice bubble grow before it pops.” Dr. Dartt demonstrates the temperature at which thermite burns as Aaron (’14) looks on. Sarah ('20) and Saoirse (‘20) present their project on growing plants in different light settings.

“The Science Expo was an incredible experience that gave me the opportunity to share my research from Advanced Biology and my Independent Study. Although my voice was gone by the end, I enjoyed being able to share my passion for science with the EPS community.” – Haneen, Class of ‘13

“If it’s crazy, it just might work, for ‘Thinking the impossible is hard to do when it’s possible.’ This is the quote that inspired us during our fish puzzle.” – Hayden , Class of ‘20

“I thought the Science Expo was an inspiring experience. I loved working with other brilliant minds to come up with our project. We extracted DNA from fruit using OxiClean and salt solutions. Even though I found the OxiClean mixed with the berries very disgusting… I still had fun learning from it. Our project wasn’t the only interesting project in the fifth grade; there were so many more, like the snake project and the transparencies from light frequencies. I learned even the youngest minds can be the most brilliant.”

“I never thought that I would learn so much during senior year. In preparing for the Science Expo I was able to research and discover new areas of science and even teach it to others.” – Bekah, Class of ‘13

– Neha, Class of ‘20 INSPIRE Fall 2013

Place-Based Education By Elena Olsen, PhD, English Teacher

n his memoir and treatise on the importance of growing up with a relationship to the natural world, The Thunder Tree: Lessons from an Urban Wildland, Robert Michael Pyle asks, “What is the extinction of the condor to a child who has never seen a wren?” In other words, how can we expect a student to feel connection to the global environment if she does not feel connected to her immediate surroundings? This question can be asked in the context not only of natural surroundings, but also from a social perspective: what are the widespread problems of urban poverty to a child who is not engaged in her own urban environment? The principles and content of “place-based education” are fairly self-explanatory; this approach to education has emerged in schools across the nation, and has gained in popularity as it is developed by individual educators and by entire schools. It has been at the heart of much of Eastside Prep’s philosophy and mission since the beginning: its offer of a fundamentally holistic and deep approach to students’ understanding of culture, environment, and global 8

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issues is the foundation of experiential and environmental education. As Eastside Prep moves into its second decade, administration and faculty continue to discuss and develop “place-based education” across the curriculum, whether in the context of EBC Week, field trips, or new academic experiences such as an interdisciplinary senior seminar in the humanities and environmental studies, culminating in a week-long outdoor experience in southern Utah. One new addition to the Upper School curriculum is a class in Seattle-area history and culture, “From Skid Road to Starbucks: The Rise of the Emerald City.” In spring trimester 2013, Sam Uzwack and Elena Olsen taught two sections of this course for tenth- through twelfth-grade students. In this place-based course, students explored the Seattle urban area through historical study, ﬁeld experiences, and civic participation. They studied such topics as interactions between Seattle’s founders and the local Native American tribes; the development of industry in early Seattle; the Japanese internment and other Seattle civil rights issues, including a guest lecture by Doug Blair on local civil rights history; and the transformation of Seattle during the final two decades of the 20th century, as corporations such as Microsoft and Amazon led the national technology revolution. Three required Seattle field trips were a key component of the course. Three weeks in to the course, students extended their study of early Seattle history with a tour of underground (old) Seattle and a visit to the Museum of History and Industry in South Lake Union. The second trip was a journey to the Suquamish Museum on the Kitsap Peninsula, followed by a visit to the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial, an outdoor exhibit and park still under development at the location of the Japanese Americans’ World War II departure for internment camps. Students kept a “field journal” throughout the course, and after this second field trip, used their journal notes on the Japanese American memorial exhibit to write a creative narrative about the

“The inspiration for the course is our city (and I use the term broadly)…we’re talking about the whole of Pugetopolis… the people, the culture, the history, and the landscape all combine to create such a unique and wonderful place to live. We also wanted to push the boundaries of how “experiential” an academic course could be, which is why we included three Saturdays of field study.” – Sam Uzwack, Middle School Head and Upper School Social Science Teacher

internment. The final Saturday excursion was to Cougar Mountain, an area that embodies the interdisciplinary approach of this course. Cougar Mountain is a unique “urban wildland,” and students experienced our local environment through pre-trip reading and a half-mile silent walk on the mountain. Cougar Mountain is also the site of one of the first and biggest industries in the greater Seattle area: coal mining. Students read about and discussed on-site the significance of this history, as well as the intersection of history and nature: how lasting is human impact on the natural world? What is the right balance—is there a right balance—between the utilization of natural resources and the preservation of nature? What do these coal mines represent in the development of this region? In designing and teaching the course, Uzwack and Olsen sought to take it beyond the standard history class, and to engage students in Seattle’s culture, environment, and contemporary issues and characteristics. Every Friday, students brought in a current event or information and commentary on a cultural or historical element—students presented on topics such as street musician culture

in Seattle, “hidden history,” Seattle artists, and the Smith Tower. “Culture” is, on some level, made up of intangible and undefinable elements, and during the first week of the course the teachers introduced the question, “What is culture?” Seattle’s culture is made up of elements such as its history, its natural environment, and its population demographics, but also of less concrete elements—for instance, the fact that many people moved to or stayed in Seattle during the mid-20th century to “get away from the rat race,” and the fact that during the late 1980s and early 1990s, a new musical genre with roots in punk but with its own distinct sound and characteristics emerged, and arguably had a significant impact at a national level on a generation of youth. Throughout the course, students not only read and engaged with historical texts and images, but also read poetry and listened to local music (during one of the final weeks of the course, students explored the grunge music movement, culminating in a lecture by Eric Claesson). Studies show that place-based learning improves student engagement generally: as was evident in the Seattle history classes, students feel increased enthusiasm for learning and a greater sense of pride and ownership in their participation and accomplishments in the class. Students’ excitement about the Seattle area fueled the class—Seattle is no longer perceived as the “backwater” it was thirty years ago, but rather as a diverse, dynamic, and culturally rich city set in an equally dynamic natural setting. The academic and experiential exploration of this remarkable place will only become deeper each time students and teachers embark upon this journey into the “rise of The Emerald City.”  From far left: Students on an excursion to Bainbridge Island Japanese Exclusion Memorial; Smith Tower during construction; students on a field trip to Cougar Mountain; downtown Seattle's Pergola in 1910.

INSPIRE Fall 2013

Bringing the World to EPS Classrooms By Wendy Lawrence, Founding Faculty

t takes brave teachers to admit they don’t know everything. And yet, it is an obvious truth. For true understanding we have to look past ourselves and even our entire learning community and hear voices and stories from the broader world. In order to bring some of those voices—and that greater depth of understanding—to our students, EPS faculty invited a wide variety of guest speakers to visit and think. Out loud, so our students could hear.

Building understanding of the sciences Laura Amendola, MS, CGC, a genetic counselor, talked with Adam Waltzer’s Upper School Biology students about ethical issues in genetic testing. Advanced Biology students heard case studies from neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Nussbaum and met with Dr. Aldo Fusaro, a forensic pathologist, who “created a context for our study of human body systems” with case studies from medical examiners. Dr. Fusaro even helped Mr. Waltzer create a forensic crime scene for students to investigate. Advanced Biology students also visited the neuroprosthetics lab of Dr. Bill Shain where they witnessed life sciences being combined with technology to help solve human problems. A great asset of visiting speakers is that they don’t just speak. They also act as key role models, broadening students’ horizons about just what constitutes a career in science and giving students a Above: Students on a field trip to Univisíon. Below: Haneen ('13) in Advanced Biology.

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personal connection to what might otherwise be an intangible profession. This can be especially important for female science students, who often delay their decisions in choosing STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers, and benefit significantly from seeing female role models currently pursuing those careers, according to a recent AAUW (American Association of University Women) report. Sometimes visiting speakers allow a teacher to place specific emphasis on a topic, changing the rhythm of the class and letting an expert’s advice shine. That’s the case for Katie Dodd’s seventh-grade Scientific Thinking class, which Julie Metzger has been visiting for several years. “She does an amazing job describing the development of adolescent brains—and then ties that science into the ideas of decision-making and drug/alcohol abuse,” says Dodd. “The kids get a lot out of her presentation and they ask lots of great questions.”

Building understanding of our community Visiting speakers also allow EPS to take advantage of community resources, such as when Elin Kuffner’s fifth-grade science students got their hands in the tide pools at the Seattle Aquarium or met birds of prey up close with the Woodland Park Zoo’s raptor program. Sarah Rainwater’s Renaissance History class toured a Renaissance style cathedral in Seattle. They also heard from Gretchen Gundrum, a leader of “I Stand with the Sisters,” a modern reform group that students were able to compare to religious reforms of long ago. “They were able to understand that religion is constantly changing and reforming,” says Rainwater. Class trips might bring students to the world, but guest speakers bring the world to students. One example of this is Luis Salazar, an EPS parent and Venezuelan native who came to the International Relations class to speak about changes in the Venezuelan government, the rule of Hugo Chavez and the role of freedom of speech, separation of powers and educated societies in preserving free and thriving communities. In Kelly Fox’s Advanced Spanish class, students heard from a variety of Spanishspeaking parents and community members. “The idea was to expose our students to various types of spoken Spanish (thus “building understanding” of the language) while also helping them build intercultural understanding by having them seek out and reflect on the experiences of native Spanish speakers who have made their lives in an Englishspeaking region,” says Fox. The class also took a field trip to Univisíon Seattle and learned about TV journalism, the differences between Spanish and English-speaking news, and what it might be like to live in a bilingual community. Public Policy is perhaps the perfect class for public speakers. Sarah Rainwater invited the president of the Duwamish River Coalition to talk about environmental social justice. Students learned how legislation can be affected at the grass roots level and the way this coalition gives voice to people who might not otherwise have one.

The president of the Transportation Choices Coalition also visited, discussing the various interest groups and lobbyists that might affect transportation choices in a community. In the same way that our students’ understanding is built with their introduction to community thinkers, these thinkers build understanding amongst interest groups across our wider community.

Building understanding of our physical selves Visiting speakers aren’t limited to the academic subjects. Mike Koenig volunteers each winter to teach Middle School PE classes about Aikido. In Cascade Lineback’s Yoga class, Chastity Garcia brought bone models for students to get a better understanding of the anatomy of yoga and then taught a Hatha class, giving students in Lineback’s primarily Vinyasa course another type of yoga to experience. Liz Doyle also visited the class, talking about the philosophy of yoga and teaching as well. Ali Valdez introduced meditation and taught a Yin yoga class, giving students the chance to work on their breathing. Lineback’s goals with all three teachers were to expose her students to a variety of teaching and yoga methods, increasing their understanding of an age-old practice. In inviting these visitors, EPS teachers recognize something fundamental about building understanding:

that we alone do not have all the answers and that it is our job not only to teach, but to help students ask questions. These teachers have already taught their students how to participate in that first conversation that leads to lifelong learning. Now they are introducing the world. 

Left: Fifth-grade students at the Seattle Aquarium. Right: Students visit community yoga studio.

INSPIRE Fall 2013

Building Understanding Beyond The Classroom By Jeff Adair, Dean of Students

f you spend any time speaking with an Eastside Prep teacher, you will hear them use the phrases “thinking like a historian" or "thinking like a scientist.” These phrases are used to describe our desired learning outcomes for EPS students. We use these terms to differentiate our learning from the standard rote memorization that many of us experienced on our educational journeys. Thinking like a historian is about “building understanding” rather than retaining facts. In

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other words, rote memorization builds knowledge but rarely yields true understanding. In Historical Thinking 3, eighth-graders learn the concepts of empathy and perspective. With these in mind, they survey world cultures and make connections between disparate peoples and themselves. After a year of making minute connections, they learn that on the grand scale, there is more that connects humanity than divides us. Over the course of our Spanish program, students

use the root of the present tense verb conjugation to create the “command form.” By Spanish 3, they have built upon that understanding to create the subjunctive form. True understanding is not a hasty building process. In some cases, true “understanding” has no terminus. I had the pleasure of accompanying a group of Upper School students to a local organization named Treehouse for an EBC Service Learning Day. Treehouse is a local non-profit organization serving local foster children. In it, children can pick out new and gently used items, from skateboards to back-to-school clothes. Our group sorted donated items for much of the day but had a chance to speak with other volunteers and even some patrons. One student remarked, “I know what adoption is but I had no idea that these foster kids bounce

around so much with little more than a backpack of belongings to call their own.” With that understanding, the student took great pride in his service work knowing that he was helping to

context that “understanding” was, in the truest sense, “built.” In the end, this was more than a simple Spanish lesson. This was a cultural exchange far beyond the walls of the EPS classroom. Education Beyond the Classroom is an EPS program that seeks to build bridges of understanding beyond specific academic disciplines. EBC takes students out of their “comfort zone” and gives them an opportunity to make connections in the “real world.” Connections are not manufactured beyond the classroom, but rather experienced by each individual in his or her own way.  Clockwise from far left:

give foster kids a little more of a sense of normalcy. Another example of building understanding is one that can be taken quite literally. On the Costa Rica EBC trip, students built a sports court at a local school. Before the building could begin, students first had to understand the building process. They needed to understand that concrete required a mix of la agua y las piederas con una pala. Students prepared for their journey learning such terms as agua (water) and pala (shovel) but “la piederas” was an unknown term. It turns out that the word for gravel, piederas, is commonplace in Costa Rican construction vernacular but it is not typical American textbook vocabulary. So, it was only in this EBC

Students at Smith Rock during EBC Week; students preparing food at Operation Sack Lunch during a Service Learning Day; fifthgraders at Camp Orkila during EBC Week; Jacob ('17) at the EBC Week rock band program; students building a sports court in Costa Rica during EBC Week.; the dragon created by Ethan ('18) during Make @ EPS.

INSPIRE Fall 2013

Collaborative Exchange: Bridging the Gap Between Telling and Doing By Matt Delaney, Academic Dean and Upper School Social Science Teacher

ith our seniors graduated, final grades wrapped up, and school coming to a close, my summer goal was to teach my four-year-old to ride a bike. What I found was that our teaching and learning process, in concept, was not so dissimilar to that of an Eastside Prep classroom.

To start, my son needed a genuine interest and desire to learn. He also needed general background knowledge and some specific vocabularyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;pedal, handlebar, wheel. Youtube and the parade of bikes that move past our house daily provided both. He was set. 14

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Initially, taking out the bike was an exciting prospect. But after a two-week effort it was a chore for both of us. Two things became obvious to me: 1) my son often tuned out during my extended explanations when he had little opportunity to contribute; and 2) he became easily frustrated or defeated if I left him too much to figure out on his own. For any student of any level, trying to learn challenging material or skills, these two scenarios are difficult to navigate. Often there is something else required to fuel the learning process. The lynchpin needed to connect the first scenario, direct instruction or telling, and the second, self-directed learning or doing, is where EPS faculty purposefully put heavy focus: collaborative exchange. To have working understanding, a learner needs to be both listener and contributor; to participate in learning conversations with themselves and others. Apathy and frustration are overcome by adding more personal exchanges between telling and doing. The result is deeper understanding. Revising our â&#x20AC;&#x153;learning to rideâ&#x20AC;? endeavor to include this collaborative step might look like the following: Receiving information: This is how he says to ride a bike. Internalizing information and making meaning: This is how I might ride a bike. Employing information to developing working understanding: This how I ride a bike.

None of these components operates exclusively in EPS classrooms. It is the combination of the three that contribute to learning and understanding, and it is the collaborative component that makes our process whole. At EPS, the 2.0 level is where we thrive…teaching and learning together. Direct connections and collaborations between students and teachers build our understanding, keep our culture strong, and give us the confidence to pursue the 3.0 when the opportunity presents itself. 

1.0 Direct Instruction & Active Listening

2.0 Collaborative Teaching & Learning

3.0 Autonomous, Self-Directed Learning

What does it look like?

This is the traditional classroom model. The teacher explains content or displays skills while students watch, listen and take notes.

This is teacher and student in a learning partnership rooted in conversation and exchange. The experience is dynamic with both participants asking and answering questions.

Students independently pursue their own learning, using the tools at their disposal: texts, teachers, peers, and technology.

Why is it important?

So much of being happy and successful in life rests on a person’s ability to self-teach. Understanding how you learn best and what resources you need at what times are imperatives for a dynamic and engaged life.

Why is it important? Narrative is one of the most powerful ways people transfer knowledge. Detailed explanations and well-told stories are the foundation of understanding.

Where is it happening at EPS? In every EPS classroom, grades 5-12, teachers transfer expert knowledge in their subject areas. Their explanations and stories model the structures of discipline thinking and habits of mind that help subjects make sense. For example, it’s happening in Ms. Kuffner’s Intro to Scientific Thinking class, in Mr. Cross’ Advanced Physics, in Mr. Boyd’s Commerce class, and in Dr. Dartt’s Accelerated Algebra and Geometry classes.

The back and forth of conversation not only transfers foundational knowledge like that of the direct lecture, but the process of building shared concepts helps students personalize their knowledge and nuance their understandings.

Where is it happening at EPS? For example, it is happening in Mr. Slater’s Chemistry and Mr. Waltzer’s Biology classrooms, where they help students design their own labs; in Ms. Pike’s Creative Writing classroom where teacher and students meet in a workshop environment; in Profesora Ferguson’s office before and after school; and in our College Counseling meetings, where students and counselors construct shared ideas of what the best path is for college.

Post-script: Did my four-year old learn to ride a bike? Once we figured out the collaboration piece, we realized something was getting in the way…the pedals. So we customized his learning and environment (took the pedals off). Now he’s balancing down the road two to three hours a day. We’ll figure out together when he’s ready to put the pedals back on.

Why is it important?

Where is it happening at EPS? For example, it is happening on student-led tours during our Open Houses; in our Peer Mentoring program where Upper Schoolers connect with Middle Schoolers in Advisories; in the Design Lab and Make@EPS Program with Mr. Cross; and in both Senior Projects and Independent Studies.

Left: Peyton ('18) with Ms. Mills at the King County Library. Right: A student leads a discussion in Dr. Olsen's American Literature class.

INSPIRE Fall 2013

Understanding By Matt Delaney, Academic Dean, Upper School Social Science Teacher, and College Counselor

Elevating 16

hile sitting with an EPS rising senior and prepping for a college interview, the student was asked the question, “How do you learn best?” As I listened to the student respond I was struck by how well-prepared he was to answer this question. He talked about appreciating collaborative learning spaces where he could work toward a culminating product with his peers and teachers. He noted that he liked Harkness discussions and Socratic seminars where people could work together to expand their understandings. He had obviously reflected on such things before. EPS students are regularly asked to be meta-cognitive, to think about how they think; and a big part of this is thinking about how they learn best. I mention in another article in this issue that EPS faculty excel at creating 2.0 and 3.0 teaching and learning opportunities. 2.0 is the collaborative approach the rising senior above references. 3.0 is the self-directed learning or “self-teaching” that our students refine as they progress through the Middle and Upper Schools. Nowhere is the 3.0 style of learning more present than in our program for

upperclassmen during the senior year. In preparation for college, and life beyond, our most experienced students are provided multiple opportunities to author and shape their academic paths and pursuits. What follows is a brief explanation of the “why, what, and how” of each of these opportunities our seniors navigate.

EPS Seminars For the first time this year, juniors and seniors have the opportunity to select into a course structure and schedule that is more reflective of one found at the collegiate level. In five-week sessions students explore, research, and chase the answers to essential questions like: What is happiness? Should public policy pursue happiness? Students attend lectures, collaborate on teams, and ultimately, define how they are going to answer these questions, and what resources and people they will call on to do so.

Independent Studies

Senior Projects

Every EPS senior has the opportunity to construct and propose a 10-week, self-directed course of study on a topic not already offered in the EPS curriculum. Each student enlists the guidance of a faculty mentor who helps frame their proposal (and to whom they communicate their progress over the course of the term). At the start of this journey, students deliver written and oral proposals, and in conclusion, they deliver a summary of their learning—both to the faculty members who sit on the school’s Curriculum Committee. Time after time, we find that when left to author their own devices, passions, and paths, students elevate their understanding. This last year, rather than concluding at the required seven minutes for the final presentation, one senior dynamically engaged faculty for thirty-five minutes on the similarities between chimpanzee and human communication. Next term the Curriculum Committee looks forward to hearing about electrical engineering and the third wave of feminism.

At the close of the past year, I had a conversation with Henri, one of our recently graduated seniors. At the time, he happened to be sawing a hole in the soffit above my desk (and getting dust everywhere). Henri’s aim was not retribution for thousands of pages of reading that I had assigned him over the course of his Upper School career, but to continue work on his Senior Project—after he had graduated! Henri was installing a school-wide PA system (10 buildings worth) that he had designed, spec’ed out, quoted, planned an installation for, and pitched to the school’s administration. Less than ten months before, in the context of his Advisory he had been asked to focus on two things for his Senior Project: 1) pursue a topic he was passionate about; and 2) learn about it in a way that reflects how he learns best. The goal and result were authentic and purposeful learning that improved our community and school. He emerged as more of an entrepreneur, technologist, and a self-directed learner, who understands more deeply because he owned the process. (My desk is still dusty and it’s worth it!) Deep knowledge is knowledge that is lived, and the practice of school gives way to the practice of life. EPS seniors leverage and explore their passions. They challenge themselves while reflecting on how they best learn. They elevate to the 3.0 level, authoring their own paths. 

Clockwise from left: Upper School students in Dr. Olsen's American Literature class; Casey ('13) presents her Senior Project; Henri ('13) installs Eastside Prep's intercom system as part of his Senior Project.

Honoring our

EighthGraders By Sam Uzwack, Middle School Head

astside Prep was proud to welcome the Class of 2017, their parents, friends and extended family to the campus on Thursday, June 20th to celebrate the completion of their Middle School years. Festivities included the customary breakfast (prepared this year by Chef Dell and his crew) and the Continuation Ceremony. As is Eastside Prep’s tradition, the uniqueness of each continuing student was highlighted with a speech by a faculty member and the presentation of a book chosen specifically for that student. What follows are excerpts from speeches given at the ceremony.

Eastside Preparatory School

Welcome Address By Sam Uzwack, Middle School Head

Family and friends, faculty & staff, students…we welcome you to the Class of 2017 Continuation Ceremony. Assembled before you are a highly capable, highly energetic, and highly individual group of young women and men. I’m personally quite pleased to see you all here, finishing out your Middle School experience. Four years ago, I also started at EPS, and I delight in this ceremony because it allows me to reflect on the last four years as well. I’m looking forward to walking down a number of memory lanes with you all. During your fifth-grade year, you wowed us all with your “Who am I?” play during Project Night, traveled to Camp Orkila where you climbed to the top of Mount Constitution, and were the happiest crew of kids on campus. You could often be spotted in the now repurposed “rabbit hole,” or fifth-grade reading room as I eventually learned it was called, piled high on the bean bag chairs. Flash ahead to sixth grade. Your class was gaining in numbers and strength. You were no longer the little kids of the Middle School, and throughout the year you demonstrated what you were made of through projects like the Rube Goldberg machines, your Photo Stories at Project Night, and a class trip to Canoe Island. You and our entire community rallied to raise funds in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. I can point to that moment as one that impacted me greatly, as it demonstrated the character of our school’s culture, as we all pulled together to make a positive difference. Now that your class was halfway through the Middle School years (and still gaining members), many of you took to the stage in Jungalbook, our last Middle School production in the old cafeteria. In the fall, you journeyed to Vashon Island and began a yearlong project that culminated with a well-crafted letter to our Head of School about the importance of sustainability and a number of recommendations, some of which we see in the cafeteria today. This was also the first year of our Middle School soccer team, of which many of you are founding members. Finally, this year…your eighth-grade year marked the ten year anniversary of our school, and began with the opening of the Levinger-Poole Commons. After a return to Canoe Island in the

fall, you began to run the gauntlet as you grappled with the question, “What does it mean to be human?” You were expected to handle more on your own, while the learning became ever more complex. At times, it was not easy, but you did not give up. You persevered, and now you stand on the brink of Upper School.

Clockwise from above: Eigth-grade Continuation breakfast; processional to Continuation ceremony; Ms. Ferguson delivers her eighth-grade Continuation remarks regarding Maddie ('17).

So here we are. You, me, the school, we‘ve all grown. And that is what I appreciate most about this place; we’re always working to be better, together. Every year, I discover more to be learned than I learned. I owe this, in no small way, to all of you. In the Upper School, the challenge will continue. For now, however, reveI in your accomplishments. I congratulate you and your families for having successfully completed these Middle School years, and I share my heartfelt thanks for completing that journey together. Here’s to you, Class of 2017.

INSPIRE Fall 2013

Welcome to the Upper School By Bart Gummere, Upper School Head

Congratulations, and welcome to the EPS Upper School. I like to joke each year with the rising ninth-grade class that now you are entering the big time, and it’s time to toughen up. Typical past advice given is summed in simple phrases—“Get over it.” “Rub some dirt in it.” And the all-time favorite: “There is no crying in the Upper School.” The problem has been one that I never imagined. Your predecessors actually took me seriously… I mean, who does that?

The unintended outcome is that many students worry too much about doing well in the Upper School. And when you worry too much, you seldom perform at your best.

The truth is this—in the Upper School we don’t just say “get over it.” We’re more likely to help you dissect the situation, analyze what went wrong and guide you to a new more successful approach. If you fall and hurt yourself, literally or metaphorically, we’ll help you clean up, patch yourself and get back in the game. No dirt involved. And there is some crying in the Upper School, along with plenty of supportive shoulders to cry on. High school is challenging, this one especially so. Tackling meaningful assignments involves thinking, and thinking is usually tough work. But guess what, you’ve already done this. You are exceptionally well prepared for these challenges, and I have complete confidence in you. 

At Continuation breakfast (from top): The Ryan family; Logan ('17) and John ('17); Choir members Ellie (’16) and Sophia (’16) prepare to perform.

Eastside Preparatory School

The Class of

2013

By Bart Gummere, Upper School Head

urrounded by family, friends, alumni and faculty and staff, twenty-one members of the Class of 2013 celebrated their graduation from Eastside Prep on Friday, June 21st. Board President Rob Short opened the ceremony and presented diplomas with Past President Byron Bishop, who also delivered closing remarks to conclude the event. Included here are photos and excerpts from the speeches that marked the celebration of Eastside Prep’s fifth graduating class. Bart Gummere, Upper School Head Do you know that no fewer than six of you spoke to me in your junior year about one particular topic? The theme was pretty consistent. You voiced concerns regarding the cohesiveness of your class. How have you done? Given your initial fear, I’d say remarkably well. You rallied, and despite the protests of your earlier years, threw yourself into life at EPS. It strikes me that somewhere along the way you all stopped using “isn’t” in defining yourselves, your class and the school. Instead you appreciated yourselves for who you are, your class for who it is and the school for what you could make it. It may have taken time to work toward unity, but one thing your class never lacked for is distinct personalities. As you began to look at these unique characteristics in a positive manner, rather than a reason to divide, things suddenly worked better. Often in life, you’ll be faced with challenges that are solved, at least partially, by looking at them with more optimism and good will. INSPIRE Fall 2013

astonishing to look back and realize how much this school has given me. It has taught me to grow, experiment, and enjoy every new experience and person who is different than me. So Class of 2013, for graduating in such an unlucky year we seemed to be pretty lucky in the end. Thank you all. I love you guys.

In a few minutes you’ll walk across this stage and be handed a diploma. All of you had doubts along the way. If you can take one thing from your EPS experience, I hope it is increased confidence; you each have an abundance of unique talent, and need only to find the best place to apply this talent in the coming years and throughout your life. Casey Bishop, Student Speaker As you can imagine, with only 21 students in the Class of 2013, we have all gotten to know each other very well. These kids—my classmates and friends—have taught me so much. It is their—our—uniqueness, individuality, creativity, curiosity, and willingness to go beyond what is “right” or “normal” that has given us all so many great times together and pushed the boundaries of all our comfort zones. Together we have tried new things. Together we have dreamed big. And together we’ve failed. But most of all, together we have succeeded and I will always treasure every minute of this journey we’ve shared. At this school my eyes have been opened. My classmates here taught me that it is okay to be myself; that I should love who I am, and appreciate everyone for who they are. There is no need to worry about fitting in because as long as you stay true to yourself, people will love you for who you are. Each of us is such an individual that we all fit in and work together and make a community that is like no other. That’s what I’ve loved about this school since the moment I stepped on campus four years ago. My comfort zone was pushed at this school way beyond its boundaries, and I want to thank everyone here for that. I never would have taken Spanish. I never would have joined Student Government. I probably never would have thought that learning is actually pretty darn cool. It is 22

Eastside Preparatory School

Diane Halcoussis, Student Speaker You all know that I am not one to complain. I am constantly a ray of sunshine and the rumors that Mr. Gummere gave me a daily complaint limit are completely unfounded! What I find remarkable is that, despite the complaints, every student at Eastside Prep will tell you how amazing their time here has been. When I finally step back from my microcosmic view of the day, I feel happy. Happy about the friends I’ve made, the education I’ve received, and the future that I know I’m prepared for. Sure, there may be a few curve balls, but since when has that ever fazed us? Thanks to EPS, we are ready for anything. Eastside Prep has succeeded in graduating 67 students and it is soon to become 88. EPS creates critical thinkers, responsible citizens, compassionate leaders, and wise innovators. EPS is flourishing and it is thanks to those who looked past the little complaints along the way and saw the bigger picture. Terry Macaluso, Head of School People can surprise you. For example, nobody ever imagined that these six gentlemen would rise to the heights they did. Four of them failed senior English, and two couldn’t make it out of Algebra 2. Edward Binney and Harold Smith co-invented Crayons in 1903. In 1948, the Frisbee was invented by Walter Frederick Morrison and Warren Francioni. The Hacky Sack was invented by John Stalberger and Mike Marshall in 1972. Notice how each of these amazing, life altering inventions required two inventors—perhaps collaboration—more than necessity—is the mother of invention.

My point... all of you—so many differences; so many individuals… each leaving your stamp on our young school…. each of you moving toward something you cannot now name. Each of you influenced by one another in ways that you do not yet appreciate. In all your differences—in all the journeys to be undertaken—all the stories you’ll write with your life choices. You are bound to one another by virtue of the experience you’ve shared at Eastside Prep. That will always be true. And as you spend your years, I hope you will remember this day as a moment when you felt confident and individual because of the class that allowed you that rare opportunity… to be who you are.  Clockwise from far left: Ms. Pike hugs a graduating senior; Diane ('13) delivers her graduation speech; Mr. Gummere dons some spirited eyewear.

Senior Award Winners Each year, four students are chosen by the faculty of Eastside Prep for special recognition for the work they have done throughout their time at EPS. Think Critically, Act Responsibly, Lead Compassionately, Innovate Wisely— the familiar four points of our school mission serve as the inspiration for the annual awards to seniors. Below are excerpts from the speeches honoring award winners.

The Critical Thinking Award: Conrad Parker Our winner has a deep and broad curiosity for intellectual pursuits. His academic path is limitless and he seeks more topics and questions than we have time in the day. However, this award is not just about depth and quality of thought. The winner must “promote intellectual discussion and enliven our classrooms.” Our winner is masterful in fostering a positive classroom environment.

The Responsible Action Award: Haneen Rasool Described by one faculty member as “glowing with responsibility,” this year’s award winner is composed and mature. She dives into every assignment with intellectual curiosity and delight. Her commentary is always expertly informed, and offered in a manner that invites others to the discussion. Her actions outside the classroom also are impeccable. A leader in formal ways, such as serving as a study buddy to younger students, and informal ways, such as ALWAYS doing the proper thing in every situation, she is admired throughout

our campus. It says volumes about the quality of her actions that she was the only senior nominated by different members of the faculty for all four awards.

The Compassionate Leadership Award: Jameson Hall This student’s work ethic, positive attitude and consistent engagement sets the tone in every room. He puts great effort into his academics and isn’t afraid to show it. Our winner shares his own vulnerabilities openly, demonstrating real grit in working toward understanding. The glue of the senior class, he brings smiles and laughs to the entire school. One faculty member wrote, “His sense of humor is more than just daily chuckles and assembly hi-jinks. When taken in aggregate, they reflect his deep commitment to our community, and his ability to bring others together.”

The Wise Innovation Award: Henri Beaudoin It is a credit to the senior class that for each of the previous awards, multiple students were nominated by multiple faculty members. It is a credit to this particular award winner, that there was virtually no other candidate put forward for this award. Such is the strong impression he leaves with adults and his peers alike. Our award winner’s accomplishments and innovations show both great creativity and work ethic. On some level, his walking across stage today to receive a diploma is a many-chaptered tail of wise innovation.

INSPIRE Fall 2013

Community Events Spring is a busy time for students at Eastside Prep for social, academic and athletic offerings. Activities included the Science and Innovation Fair (as highlighted in a separate article), sports (including Ultimate Frisbee and crew), and social events (such as the all-school barbecue, prom and divisional picnics). Here are a few photos capturing spring at EPS.

INSPIRE Fall 2013

TIME, SPACE AND HAPPINESS

By Terry Macaluso, PhD, Head of School and Kelly Moore, PhD, Director of Student Support Services

e like trying new things. The philosopher likes technology—because it keeps changing—and because it changes each of us as we adapt to new tools with new capacities. The shrink likes technology, too, because it lets us see the brain actually doing its thing! This year, the doctors Moore and Macaluso have decided to try something new that they’ve been thinking about for years. Like most people who work in a complex organization, we assumed that it would be too hard to make this experiment possible, or that too many other things would have to happen in order for it to take place. Really, though, all one has to do to make something new happen—is … make something new happen. This year we’re teaching a five-week topical seminar titled, Thinking About Thinking: What is Happiness? We wanted to create a seminar format that would move outside the boundaries of the regular daily schedule. We wanted juniors and seniors to begin to experience the freedom and responsibility that comes with the collegiate life, i.e., fewer class meetings, more free time to manage… a healthy set of expectations—with not much guidance about how best to meet them.

 Here’s a small sample: Day

Date

Journal

Blog

Today in Class

9/9

Personal Observation

Introduction to the seminar

9/10

Personal Observation

What do you think happiness is?

Lecture: Philosophical Roots – The Beginning of the Conversation [Plato and Aristotle to MacDonald’s Happy Meal) –TM www.ted.com/playlists/4/what_makes_us_happy.html (good resource)

9/13

Personal Observation

Thinking about the development of the idea of happiness as it evolved from Socrates to Sartre— in what ways has the 21st century continued that evolution?

Eastside Preparatory School

Lecture: Psychological Treatment of the Nature of Happiness – KM Are we “hard wired” for happiness? www.ted.com/talks/srikumar_rao_plug_into_your_hard_wired_happiness.html

Why “happiness” as something to ponder? In addition to thinking about thinking, we also want our students to be prepared for life beyond the classroom. We want them leaving here wondering, “What are the building blocks of happiness?” If we are all seeking happiness in one way or the other, what actually leads to true happiness? How as a society should we be thinking about this nebulous trait? How should I as an individual be living my life to maximize it? If our students leave this class thinking about thinking differently, we will feel accomplished. If, in addition, they complete the class with a better understanding of how to apply this thinking to their own lives, we will have done what excellent education always does—students will be changed by their experience. Students are asked to think—daily—about what they’re understanding, as well as about what they’re not understanding. They work independently and in groups. They contribute to a blog every day, the aim of which is to chart our collective thinking as we work toward answering the question, “What is happiness?” With the exception of three lectures, students will be responsible for “carrying the class” during each meeting. They’re learning to ask as well as to answer questions. They challenge each other as they

work together collaboratively— and sometimes competitively— to see what there is to know about “happiness.” More than half the grade for the course is based on a single, final submission which is to present the student’s answer to the happiness question—and there is no guidance about how that might be done. Some of the thinking behind this experiment is related to questions EPS is asking about how the senior year is designed. Does it make sense for seniors to follow a standard academic schedule, and to cap their Upper School experience doing, essentially, what they’ve been asked to do for the first 11 years of formal education? That then provokes a larger question: Do we use time and space as effectively as we could? In the spirit of thinking and rethinking everything we do, one aim of the seminar experiment is to help us think about the entire schedule—and the entire campus. Space and time are two factors that determine a great deal about what happens in a school day. Are we conscious of the degree to which space and time control our thinking? Do we understand that we can USE time and space in many

Preparation www.youtube.com/watch?v=S24FxdvfOko

more ways than has traditionally been the case in American schools? One underlying assumption of the Happiness Seminar is that the reason to come to school is to spend time with other people doing things. Information is available everywhere— we don’t need to spend our time reciting data. What we need is the most creative and engaging method for enabling the interaction among students and faculty that leads to the students’ discovery that they know how to find out what they want to find out. They know how to test it, and they know how to use it. What juniors and seniors in Upper School need is NOT more of the same. They need to practice discovery. They need to battle competing ideas. They need to learn how to manage new information. Our aim in “Thinking About Thinking: Happiness” is to do all of those things. We’ll let you know how it goes.  Left: Kieran, Jing, and Kathleen ('14) collaborate in the Commons. Above: Haneen and Diane ('13)

A) www.ted.com/talks/nic_marks_the_happy_planet_index.html B) www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html Are Rao, Marks and Gilbert taking defensive, overly optimistic positions, or do they—either individually or collectively—represent a humanistic, honest, species-saving position?

INSPIRE Fall 2013

by Jonathan Briggs, Director of Technology

May 17th, 2013, Eastside Prep held the third annual TEDx event. Nearly one hundred people gathered to listen to speakers and discuss their thoughts about the future of education. In the last three years, we’ve seen seeds of ideas brought forth at these events work their way into the classrooms at EPS in unexpected ways. Whether it is thinking about learning as a process akin to skateboarding, or imagining how more data might help us deliver a more personal experience to our students, TEDx is an idea generating event. This is not to say that we always agree with what our speakers are saying; we welcome their ideas into the conversation. In fact, many teachers across the country are also entering the conversation. Videos from our first two TEDx events have been viewed over 130,000 times. (All talks can be found at the following URL: TEDxEastsidePrep.com).

This year we continued this conversation with seven speakers—from college students to industrial designers. Below is a brief summary of each speaker’s presentation. Joanne McEachen: Joanne is currently an educational consultant and has worked extensively in the New Zealand school system. Her talk looked at the current education system and specified how certain learner profiles are not well served by many traditional education models. She posited that taking the time to make personal connections with students was critical to their success as it leads to engagement. Dale Stephens: Dale examined the leap of faith that his parents made when they allowed him to pursue an “unschooling” approach to his education. Since fifth grade he has been the driver of his own education, and by all accounts has been quite successful in generating his own understanding. Instead of college, he started an organization called UnCollege which seeks to help students build a set of experiences in lieu of college for themselves. Tay & Val: Tay and Val left the Singapore media industry and sought more meaning in their lives. They dropped everything, bought some bikes and have traveled through Asian and Latin American countries collecting people’s dreams. Their project, I Believe That Dreams

Eastside Preparatory School

Can Come True, highlights thinking critically about lifelong learning and “doing,” and is a wonderful example of how keeping your eye on your goals, mixed with a whole lot of grit, can produce some amazing results. Edward Jiang: Edward started up a local maker space while at Bellevue High School. He has been trying to figure out how to engage high school students in making and coding ever since. His most recent project is experimenting with time and space to find the optimal arrangement for students to learn how to program. Currently he is setting up code days to bring more students into the fold of our digital world and building their confidence in the process. Khalid Smith: Khalid has spent the last few years of his life steeped in the educational technology world and has focused on engaging teachers, who have a unique skill set and understanding of educational problems. People in the technology sector have a good sense of what is possible. If we want to build solutions to some of our toughest educational problems we are going to need both. Perhaps surprisingly to some outside of the education world, the teacher is the most important part of that equation. Paul Doherty: Paul has been in charge of the physics teacher training program at the San Francisco Exploratorium Museum. In his many years leading those workshops he’s picked up a wealth of information on how to reach students of any age. In particular, Paul notes that teaching without a sense of your audience is not really teaching. In that way, teaching is like jazz. It

Clockwise from above: TEDxEastsidePrep speakers; TEDxEastsidePrep puzzle challenge; Mr. Briggs and Ms. Cross, TEDxEastsidePrep organizers

combines fantastic facility with your material combined with-on-the spot improvisation. Judy Lee: Judy works at the design firm IDEO and hosted the PBS show Design Squad Nation. Especially in those two endeavors, and throughout her life, she has noted the power of making things. In her talk she shared the transformative effect of taking something from your imagination and turning it into something real. Like Edward Doherty and Khalid Smith, Judy illustrated how imaginative solutions to seemingly technical problems are often the most efficient—and often dismissed.

What is hardest to capture on this page is all the amazing conversations that went on between our teachers, speakers, parents and the broader community. Having those talks as a starting point regarding what we agree and disagree on as a group was a powerful conversation starter. Taking that energy and those ideas into the educational experience of our students is, of course, exactly why we do this event in the first place. Missed TEDxEastsidePrep this year? We’d love to have you join us next year, on February 14, 2014, and we look to have a larger audience as well. More details are always available at TEDxEastsidePrep.com or you can email tedx@eastsideprep.org.  INSPIRE Fall 2013

Alumni Notes Compiled by Becca Fine, EPS Alumni Relations Intern

he Eastside Prep Class of 2009 became the first EPS class to graduate from college last spring. Alumni celebrated with their families around the country at various colleges.

Congratulations graduates! Included here are photos of some of those graduates received in time to be placed in this publication. From top: Sarah Champernowne graduates from Lewis and Clark College Becca Fine graduates from Dickinson College Rohit Nadkarni graduates from Chapman University William Poole graduates from Brown University Paul Strong graduates from Arizona State University Below: Graduating Class of 2009

ď ź Then Now ď ˝

Eastside Preparatory School

Eagle Recognition Eastside Prep students receive recognition for their achievements outside the classroom.

A A

Brothers Ben and Keith (both members of the Class of 2014) are elite, year-round swimmers who have amassed more than 20 medals during ten-plus years of swimming. They have competed in local, western national and sectional levels and have qualified for the Junior Nationals and NCSA Nationals. Ben specializes in breaststroke and individual medley while brother Keith specializes in freestyle, butterfly and individual medley.

Sophia (’20) was the Cascade Middle School League fifth-grade champion in the 400/800 and 1600 meter runs.

Josh (’13) was recently awarded his Eagle Scout designation.

Kieran (’14) has been admitted twice to the Young Writers Conference, which accepts only 60 students from all over the nation. The two-week conference is taught by Pulitzer Prize winners, national book award winners and other literary celebrities.

Sage (’14) participated in the Scribes program at the Hugo Writing House in Seattle. The two-week, intensive program offers the opportunity for currently working authors to conduct seminars for young writers.

Sophie (‘14) has combined her love of jewelry and her skill at intricate hand work (discovered in art class). She designs her own jewelry line and recently started an Etsy.com site to market her designs.

Has your student accomplished something exciting outside of school? If so, we’d like to highlight their efforts in an upcoming issue of Inspire. Please contact Vickie Baldwin at vbaldwin@eastsideprep.org.

students were asked to write an article that explained their context and significance. Communicating technical understanding to a broad audience is an important part of scientific thinking. – Adam Waltzer, Upper School Science Teacher

ISBN 978-1-936-71900-6

The Barcode of Life

by Warren Chen, Class of 2014

ytochrome oxidase is a protein that doesn't ring a bell in the majority of people's minds but holds an important place in biology. In addition to its essential role in the conversion of nutrients into usable energy, the segment of DNA that codes for this protein, the CO1 gene, has become known as the “barcode of life” because its sequence of As, Ts, Cs and Gs is unique in each species. Our Biology class used the CO1 gene to identify the animal source of various food samples. Getting the specific gene out of the food sample is a surprisingly straightforward task. Like peeling an onion, you must start with the outside first. We used detergents to lyse the cellular membrane and enzymes to break down proteins inside the cell. With centrifugation and other physical properties we separated the cell debris and isolated the DNA in solution. We employed a method called PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) to isolate and copy a few hundred letters of DNA from the CO1 gene. This process should produce copious copies of the gene but we wanted to make sure it worked before we sent the gene off to be sequenced at a commercial laboratory. To do this we used gel electrophoresis, a common lab technique for separating charged molecules based

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Eastside Prep continues to benefit from relationships with scientific research institutions and biotechnology companies in the region. They provide both material and technological support that make possible lab activities such as gene cloning and DNA sequencing. For this particular series of labs, Warren and other

Warren at work in the science lab.

on their size, shape and charge. After confirming that we had indeed isolated a piece of DNA of approximately the right size, we further purified the DNA and sent it off by overnight courier for sequencing. The next day we received the results by email and compared the sequences to a public database of known genes. While most of the results were as expected, some were not. What was labeled as “white tuna” at a sushi restaurant was actually a species called Escolar. This is a prime example of why a barcode of life is important. Escolar is known to cause health problems. A more confusing result was that a veggie dog came back with the CO1 gene of a chicken! This particular chicken sequence was not a perfect match for another chicken sample we ran so contamination in our lab is unlikely. Techniques like the ones we used were used in recent discoveries of horse meat in hamburgers. They are also applied in identifying family lineage, solving crimes, and researching genetic disease. DNA sequencing and bioinformatics open up countless scientific opportunities both at EPS and in the greater scientific community. 

What’s on Your Bookshelf?

he second in our series examining the bookshelves of faculty and staff at Eastside Prep focuses on our Director of Student Support Services, Dr. Kelly Moore. As you’ll see, Dr. Moore’s current reading list includes a diverse group of topics including acceptance, fitness and happiness. Wonder by R.J. Palacio

August Pullman was born with a facial deformity that, up until now, has prevented him from going to school. As he begins fifth grade at a private school, Auggie wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid. As Wonder switches from Auggie’s point of view to that of friends and family members, a portrait emerges of one community’s struggle with empathy, compassion, and acceptance. R.J. Palacio has called her debut novel “a meditation on kindness” and readers will discover in August a hero worth rooting for. The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

Decades after six teenagers meet at a summer camp for the arts, their bond remains powerful but so much else has changed. Their friendships endure and even prosper, but also underscore the differences in their fates, in what their talents have become and the shapes their lives have taken. The Interestings explores the meaning of talent; the nature of envy; the roles of class, art, money, and power; and how all of it can shift and tilt precipitously over the course of a friendship and a life.

Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill by Mathieu Ricard

Mathieu Ricard, a molecular biologist turned Buddhist monk, has been described by scientists as “the happiest man alive.” In this book of musings on the nature of happiness and tips for how to attain it, Ricard demonstrates how to develop the inner conditions for true happiness. Ricard writes that if we are happy, we can change the world through our compassion for others and the desire to end hatred. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love and Parent by Brene Brown

As Theodore Roosevelt stated, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles…the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena… who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.” In Daring Greatly, Dr. Brown challenges everything we think we know about vulnerability. Based on twelve years of research, she argues that vulnerability is not weakness, but rather our clearest path to courage, engagement, and meaningful connection.

Some book descriptions are based on reviews and summaries found on Amazon.com.

On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes by Alexandra Horowitz

Alexandra Horowitz’s book On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes shows us how to see “the spectacle of the ordinary.” On Looking is structured around a series of eleven walks the author takes, mostly in her Manhattan neighborhood, with experts on a diverse range of subjects, including an urban sociologist, an artist, a geologist, a physician, and a sound designer. She also walks with a child and a dog to see the world as they perceive it. What they see, how they see it, and why most of us do not see the same things reveal the startling power of human attention and the cognitive aspects of what it means to be an expert observer. Running with the Mind of Meditation by Sakyong Mipham

As a Tibetan lama, Sakyong Mipham has found physical activity to be essential for spiritual well-being. Here he incorporates his spiritual practice with running, presenting basic meditation instruction and fundamental principles he has developed. Even though both activities can be complicated, the lessons here are simple and designed to show how the melding of internal practice with physical movement can be used by anyone—regardless of age, spiritual background, or ability—to benefit body and soul.

Beginning a New Decade S

eptember 9th commemorated the first day of Eastside Prep’s eleventh year. The occasion was marked with several events. The morning began with coffee and pastries provided by the Parent Association followed by a Convocation Ceremony attended by the entire Eastside Prep community. The Ceremony included the dedication of the newlynamed Bishop Building. As Dr. Macaluso stated in her remarks, “Among the dozens—and ultimately—hundreds of people who create and sustain communities like ours, there are always a handful—4 or 5—who carry the bulk of the responsibility. Those few inspire the others through their generosity—both of dollars and of time— and through their committed leadership. Byron and Sheila Bishop are two of those few.” Convocation was capped off with a rousing TALI rally and the opening day ended with the much-anticipated Ice Cream Social.

Clockwise from top left: The Bishop family (Grant ('11), Sheila, Casey ('13) and Byron) at Casey’s graduation from Eastside Prep; Eastside Prep’s Bishop Building; Christy (’17) and Maddie (’17) at the Ice Cream Social; Trent (’20) and Ashkon (’20) at the Ice Cream Social; Teachers lead the TALI Rally in the LPC; Maxwell (’21) and Josh (’21) during Convocation.

"Want to Make a Difference and Change the World?" his was the title of an (unsolicited) email I received in my Arizona State University inbox on August 17, 2010. For whatever reason, I didn’t just delete it. A bit intrigued, I opened the email and read about a service learning class called Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS), and immediately I knew I had to find out more. Back when I entered college to study engineering, I really had no idea what

world have no access to safe drinking water—at a time when we take Wi-Fi and 4G coverage for granted—it came as a serious wake-up call. So when I first sat down in EPICS that fall semester, I was very excited to see that one of the available projects was to design a water filtration system for a girls’ high school in rural Bangladesh. I requested to join the 33 Buckets team and from then on everything went perfectly as we marched straight to our goal with no problems or failures at all.

I was going to do after graduation but I did feel a sense of purpose to use the opportunities I had to help those less fortunate. The sources of this motivation were many, but you could probably wrap them all together in what Jesus said in Mark 9:35: “If anyone wants to be first, they must be last of all and servant of all.” When I learned in an EPS class that over a billion people in the

Yeah, I don’t think you believed that for a second either. We’ve spent three years together—eighteen months of which have been under our current name, 33 Buckets—and we’ve had to completely rethink our design at least three times as well as being named runners-up in more funding competitions than I can count. Through all of this, however, we’ve gained the experience and

By Paul Strong, EPS Class of 2009

mentorship we needed to make our vision a reality. We’ve grown our plans from just installing a water filter to implementing a fully self-sustaining micro-business model, where we help the school sell their excess water to nearby shops and businesses at a fraction of the current market price. This will generate enough income to cover the long-term maintenance of the filter as well as make improvements to the school to help it better serve its students and community. Last year, the 33 Buckets team made an assessment trip to Bangladesh where we secured the support of the school and made the connections we needed to get our project off the ground. This summer, we completed a successful crowd-funding campaign where we raised the funds to be able to return to the girls’ school in December and implement the first of hopefully many 33 Buckets projects in Bangladesh! It hasn’t been a straightforward path to get here and our success rate wouldn’t make a passing grade on any of your finals, but when you and your friends can finally take an idea you’ve put years of work into and use it to make a difference for others, you wouldn’t have it any other way. For more information, visit www.33buckets.org.  Paul Strong and the 33 Buckets team in rural Bangladesh. INSPIRE Fall 2013

Five and Ten Year Service Awardees Back row: Mr. Cruz, Ms. Brandt, Mr. Nolan, Ms. Panday Front row: Ms. Safavi, Ms. Mills, Ms. Lineback, Ms. Pike

By Wendy Lawrence, Founding Faculty

It’s exciting to have another group of long term Eastside Prep employees celebrate five years at our school. And this year, for the first time, an employee is recognized for ten years of service at EPS! Karen Mills Karen Mills has played a lot of roles at Eastside Prep (Administrative Assistant, Executive Assistant, Director of Admissions, among other more unofficial ones), but there’s one role that’s always been consistent: Librarian. Mills curates the EPS library as well as teaching Information Literacy 36

and working with faculty to find materials and structure research assignments. Mills remembers the growing pains of being a new school, and how everyone would help out when things got tough. “I feel this is a trait we’ve maintained over the years: the willingness to step up when something

Eastside Preparatory School

needs to be done because we believe in our cause.” When asked why she has stayed for ten years, Mills says it’s the people. “I feel supported and cared for by my colleagues. I feel like a proud mother when my students find successes.” And of course, she loves giving them all books to read. The library is a great place to talk about building understanding and Mills describes one of her favorite projects. “There are many parts to the seventh-grade integrated research project, which spans three courses (Information Literacy, Literary Thinking and Historical Thinking), but I feel that one of the most important pieces is that we help students break down a big project into small, easily identifiable steps.” And so, one day and one week at a time, these students build their understanding into a major research paper. Daria Brandt Daria Brandt came to Eastside Prep five years ago, when there was no fifth-grade program. “What was interesting was the fact that EPS was a new school, only five years old and interested in growing into a 21st century school, something that a school with 50 years of history has difficulty doing. There was a decidedly forward-thinking rhetoric with

technology integrated throughout the program.” Brandt built that fifth-grade program from the ground up. With its increased enrollment this year, Brandt teaches two sections of history and English, with Middle School specialists teaching the remaining subjects. A big piece of her job, though, is “ferrying new parents and students through the ins and outs of a new school culture.” “Building understanding is a tricky thing to talk about. It happens in both small and large ways,” explains Brandt. “I work with our youngest students. The first goal is to help them shape their class identity and develop a sense of community. We spend a good amount of time trying to tease out an ‘understanding of self ’ through writing memory stories that are woven together in students’ autobiographies.” She loves hearing from parents “how surprised they are when their child unexpectedly hijacks the dinnertime conversation with something they learned in class that day.” “I don’t think there is another school with a more dynamic, smart, hard-working faculty.” Brandt says “there is a myth, held by New Yorkers, that they work harder, longer hours than people anywhere else in the country. That myth has been solidly dispelled! Or perhaps, because I care about what I do so deeply, I am willing to put in what sometimes seem to be extraordinary hours.” Brandt loves her new home and its proximity to the mountains. She’s active in the yoga community, played violin for a local production of Guys and Dolls directed by EPS music teacher Matthew Kruse, and loves to hang out with her nineyear-old Welsh terrier, Daphne. Michael Cruz “Building understanding requires empathy. How do we really understand an experience from another person’s point of view? This is at the

heart of the work in a theatre class or in the rehearsal room. It takes time and sometimes a lot of guts to engage in this kind of understanding. Theatre making trains the ear to really listen for understanding, which means the risk of having your own ideas and way of thinking transformed. When we really learn to listen to the characters, to the story and to each other, we open ourselves to the possibilities of feeling, hearing and seeing things in new ways.” Michael Cruz, who came to theatre education after ten years as a professional stage actor, teaches Upper and Middle School theatre, is involved in the Community Respect Forum, and has directed ten productions and five talent shows at EPS. “One of the most important mindsets to be learned from art making is the ability to look at things as if they could be otherwise. This is imagination. I hope in all I do I’m fostering an environment that encourages young people to look for the openings: the possibilities of what could be.” Michael lives with his partner Jason, who is also from Seattle. “We are so fortunate to be surrounded by family, friends and work we love.” Cascade Lineback Cascade teaches Spanish and yoga, is the co-sponsor of the Student Inclusivity Club, organizes Study Buddies for Spanish students, and helps with the Spanish Lunch Table and Fiesta Club. Before EPS, she taught in Arizona, Seattle, and Spain, and she still draws on her international experience for cultural anecdotes in her courses. “Working with a wide variety of students has helped me appreciate the determination and earnest curiosity of EPS students,” Lineback says. “In language-learning we are building understanding of not only a whole new linguistic system, but also a way of viewing the world. I teach students

to know themselves as language learners and I emphasize that we all process information in different ways.” When she’s not at EPS, “you might find me practicing yoga, reading, enjoying live music, cooking, doing crafts, hiking or spending time with friends or my cat.” Jack Nolan Jack Nolan is the Tech Support Specialist, which means that if it has a plug, and a teacher or student breaks it, it’s his job to fix it. Nolan started in education as a PE teacher and coach and became a computer teacher after getting his Masters. He had 18 years of experience before these past five at EPS. “I love the fact that I know every student on campus and they know me. My favorite moment is when a student has a problem and then is able to say, “Never mind. I fixed it myself!” Nolan points out that a lot of people take technology for granted— they don’t have a desire to search for a deeper understanding of how it works. “What I want students to understand is that technology only does what we ask it and when it doesn’t work, there is always something students can do. It may take a little time, it may be a little annoying, but a fix is always available. Knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do is a valuable life skill.” Outside of EPS, Nolan volunteers as a Ride Leader for the Cascade Bicycle Club and moderates the forum at Bikejournal.com for bike commuters around the world. He also likes birding, camping and skiing. He and his wife of 23 years have three children in college and high school. Janelle Panday Janelle Panday (whose first name is actually Laura—who knew?) is our accountant. “The beauty of being an accountant is that every organization needs one. I have always loved the academic atmosphere, and I felt INSPIRE Fall 2013

certain I had found the right place immediately.” When asked if she has stories, Panday doesn’t know where to start…the morning she burnt toast and set off the fire alarm? (At 7:45. In the rain.) The birth of the candy monster? The five different offices she’s had? The crazy pack of fifthgrade boys who used to spend their free time in her office? Or how about this: “the rush of love I feel ANY time a student calls out my name and asks me how I’m doing. I love this school. It’s my home.” In accounting, Janelle feels that building understanding is done with good communication and an open-door policy. “Finance is tricky and people often feel uncomfortable. I believe one of my most important jobs is giving people assurance that they are in a safe environment and can talk freely.” Janelle and her husband of 18 years have one daughter. Janelle plays the piano, cooks and bakes, and has read The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia over 20 times each. Kirsten Pike Kirsten Pike (KP), who teaches English and participates in the Outdoor and Climbing clubs, describes her job as “being part of the EPS community… being fully present inside and outside the classroom.” Pike says “I think our most important job as adults in this community is to model living purposefully to show the students as best we can what it means to be happy and compassionate adults.” When asked why she likes EPS, Pike responds “the people, the people, the people.” She tells a story of a recent class picnic and facultystudent Ultimate Frisbee game. 38

“Everyone lobbed friendly banter and as the games got underway, I was increasingly struck by the sportsmanship, effort, and positivity of all the players. One of our seniors grabbed two of our chefs off the sideline and pulled them into the game. Students played, signed yearbooks, and cheered. I am a community junkie and days like that remind me why I love this place.” KP is married to Middle School science teacher Tobias Tillemans. They have a daughter, who is one. Ana Safavi Ana Safavi has changed a lot since she joined EPS: her last name, her hair color, and her job title…more than once! But her never-ending energy, enthusiasm for her job and love for students remains constant. She’s now the Associate Director of Institutional Advancement and she’s very excited about it. “I am often found running from place to place making sure parent events are set to run smoothly. You will also find me in the classroom twice a week with my advisory of Middle School girls.” One of Safavi’s favorite memories is working on the Fall Overnights. “These trips take a lot of planning and preparation but the reward is priceless. I still can’t believe the transformation. Students leave for the Overnight feeling shy and unsure. Less than 36 hours later, students come back with these incredible friendships that one would think would take months to build.” Like those students, Safavi fell quickly in love with EPS. “From day one, I knew this was a special place. I am committed to creating an environment where everyone feels known and welcome.” 

Eastside Preparatory School

New By Wendy Lawrence, Founding Faculty

Wade Carter, III comes to the EPS Board from a background in the automotive business, where he is the President and Owner of Carter Motors, Inc., a family business for two generations. Carter is active not only in growing his business but in partnering with the community as well. He has built relationships with the Mountains to Sound Greenway, Seattle Storm, Woodland Park Zoo, Lil’Bit Therapeutic Ridings Stables, and many more local organizations. When Carter’s (now eighth grade) daughter joined EPS last year, Carter decided he “wanted to join the Board because I wanted to be a part of shaping the future of this unique school community. There is something really special going on at EPS and I’m excited to be a part of it.” Carter and his family, wife Rebecca, daughter Alli, and son Wade, love to travel and ski. And his love of cars is not all business. “I’ve been racing since I was 15, and I’ve been fortunate to be able to travel all over the country racing for difference teams. My favorite place to race is at Laguna Seca raceway, just outside of Monterey in California, and my kids would agree!”

Board Members Bohn Crain joined the Eastside Prep Board in June 2013. He is the Founder and CEO of Radiant Logistics, Inc., one of the fastest growing transportation and logistics companies in North America. Since founding Radiant, he has guided the company to over $300 million in annual revenues while expanding to over 100 locations, a process in which he has “really come to appreciate the value of a supportive Board. I am hoping to return the favor here at EPS.” Crain has two sons attending EPS and hopes his involvement “will reinforce to them the importance our family places on education.” He’s also excited to stay more closely connected with their worlds and meet other parents in support of the school’s leadership. Crain sees “some interesting corollaries” between EPS and his own business. “EPS has also enjoyed some exciting growth in the last ten years ‘in the right place, at the right time, with the right value proposition.’ ” Crain lives with his wife Lee and their three sons: EPS seventh-grader Bohn Jr., EPS sixth-grader Chase, and future EPS student and current first-grader Will, and a golden retriever named Sunny.

Leslie Decker returned to the Northwest to raise a family after a career in banking. She works as “an advocate for 21st century education and deepening the conversation about women as leaders globally.” Her volunteer work is diverse and comprehensive: she’s a Trustee at Forest Ridge, co-founder of Vital Voices Northwest Council, Board member of Pushing Boundaries, member of the Grant Committee for the Washington Women’s Foundation, and fundraiser for various schools. In all her work, she brings her “lens of what it means to be a citizen of the world.” Decker describes what drew her to this position. “I was excited by the EPS mission and openness to creating an ideal learning environment. I wanted to join the Board to be a part of those who are taking this model to the next level. My passion is to engage our youth to make a difference in the world.” Decker’s son James is an eleventh-grader at EPS and her daughter, Josie, a ninth-grader, transferred to EPS this year. She lives with her husband, Steve, who wishes he was a race car driver. (Clearly, he needs to meet our other incoming board member!) Together they cycle, practice yoga, swim, paddle board, and ski. Jessica, the Golden Retriever, sometimes comes along, too.

Debbie Nussbaum is an ex-officio member of the Eastside Prep Board as part of her role as President of the Parent Association. She first came to the school when her twin boys, Keith and Ben, transferred to EPS as sophomores in the fall of 2011. Nussbaum, who has both a Bachelors of Nursing from the University of Rochester and a Masters in Family and Marital Therapy from Seattle Pacific University, quickly joined the EPS Parent Association. Her participation in the PA allowed her to get involved in the community and to “learn as much as I could about the functioning and philosophy of EPS.” When asked for her favorite part about participating in the Parent Association, Nussbaum reports that she’s enjoyed “getting to know a terrific group of intelligent, creative and entertaining individuals” in the EPS community. When not busy with her involvement on two swim team boards or planning an annual professional medical conference with her husband, Nussbaum enjoys skiing, bike riding, going to the gym, working in her garden and, of course, cheering on her boys at their swim meets. In addition to Ben and Keith, she and her husband Charlie have a 22-year-old daughter, Mandy, currently in graduate school at the University of California San Diego.

INSPIRE Fall 2013

New Faces by Wendy Lawrence, Founding Faculty

Lena Chu Accountant Lena Chu started at Eastside Prep in March 2013. She processes payroll, administers benefits, prepares and files taxes, and runs the bookstore. Chu has an MBA in Accounting and over nine years of experience, most of that in schools. “Education is investment in the future. I’ve always had a passion for working with students. EPS intrigues me and I feel very welcomed. It is such a unique place, and I am thrilled to be a part of the EPS family.” Chu believes that building understanding can start with the small things. “It’s important to take the time to build solid relationships with students. Sometimes it’s just a ‘hello’ and ‘how are you doing’ that makes them feel comfortable.” Chu is from a big family and is used to always having something to do. “I enjoy being busy, reading, observing and searching for patterns in nature, cooking, my beautiful dog, and having as much fun as I can with friends and family." Lurline Sweet Middle School Mathematical Thinking Lurline has taught every subject and a wide variety of grade levels. Her 40

teaching experience ranges from an arts school to a school on a farm setting, to an orthodox Jewish school. Sweet likes to find connections when she teaches, which is how she builds understanding in the classroom. “I teach how fractions fit with division, how algebra fits with arithmetic. There are always new levels of connections to find and explore.” Last summer, Sweet married her sweetheart. Outside of teaching, she plays the violin and cello and rides her bike, sometimes a long way (such as across the continental United States with a group of high schoolers!). She also backpacks, hikes, and skis. And she reads, which you would know if you met her cats, James and Joyce. Nathaniel Welch Network Administrator Nathaniel Welch met the Eastside Prep community through his consulting work. He knew he liked it before he even joined. “I asked several people why they remained at EPS and they all had the same answer: the culture.” In addition to being a fun place to work, Welch is excited about “the opportunity to make a difference in a person’s life and the potential to inspire a new generation of technologists.” Welch will provide support for the servers and network as well as helping to determine future directions for our technology. This helps everyone build understanding, he says, by

Eastside Preparatory School

maintaining a healthy “network that facilitates communication, which I feel is one of the integral parts to building an understanding.” He also plans to help employees better understand the technology itself and how to use it to better their professional goals. Outside of school, Welch enjoys hiking, camping, snowboarding, paddle boarding and “geeking out at home.” He’s passionate about history and looks for it whenever he travels. Brittany Williams Administrative Assistant to the Deans’ Offices Brittany Williams is our new Administrative Assistant to the Dean of Academics and the Dean of Students. She’s excited to move her career to a school, having worked previously as an event planner and office manager. “I have definitely learned that I’m looking for a place where I can be challenged and grow every day. I want to feel as if I’m making a real difference in the lives of others.” She was also looking for a place “with a great community of people who are more than just co-workers” and she knows she has found that here! When asked about building understanding, Williams turns inward. “There is so much to learn as you are growing up and knowing what I know now, understanding yourself is probably the most important thing to grasp. One of my goals will be to help each student I come in contact with to understand themselves, even just a

little bit more.” Williams lives with her husband and their dog, Toby. She is an avid traveler and runner and ran her sixth half marathon this summer. David Holmes Technical Theatre Coordinator David Holmes is a oneman interdisciplinary show. A playwright, technical director, carpenter, and electrician, Holmes knows his way around the stage. Holmes joined Eastside Prep in 2012 as the production manager for shows in the Levinger-Poole Commons Theatre. Students will also meet him as he teaches stagecraft classes. Before joining EPS, Holmes was a production manager and technical director for over 1000 shows. He’s worked in a myriad of locations including the LA Shakespeare Festival, Auburn University, the Long Beach Opera, and UCLA Department of Theatre, Film, and Television. His skill set is vast: he’s also worked backstage as a master electrician and lead carpenter, won awards as a fight director, and has had plays he’s written produced internationally.

A Returning Employee in a New Role: Ana Safavi Associate Director of Institutional Advancement During her tenure here at Eastside Prep, Ana has been constantly increasing her responsibilities as she looks for more ways to use her talents and be involved. Safavi

began as a Middle School Administrative Assistant, quickly added cheerleading coach and fifth- and sixth-grade advisor, and then became Student Life Coordinator. One of her favorite memories of EPS is the Spring BBQ. “I love watching our families come together to celebrate who we are. It is always such an experience to see how welcoming and friendly our students are to their new peers. My hope is that each person leaves events like these feeling like they are part of the EPS family.”

This year, Ana begins her position as Associate Director of Institutional Advancement. She is most excited “to build relationships with all of our parents in the EPS community. Community is such an important thing to me and I believe that it is imperative to be intentional in nurturing our EPS community as we grow.” Safavi says the position “is truly a dream realized and I am absolutely inspired and ready to take on the new challenges ahead.”

astside Prep is excited to welcome two new employees this year who will be visiting residents at EPS. Supervising their work at EPS will be: Dr. Moore for Katie Levy, Ms. Friel for William Poole. Katie Levy, who is beginning her second year of graduate school in social work at the UW, will work with Kelly Moore to counsel individual students and assist with the peer mentoring group. Katie has worked with schools both locally and internationally, teaching democracy and gender studies in Thailand and training elementary students in the United States in peer mediation skills. Katie loves the energy of the EPS community. If you can’t find her listening to a student, you might find her with the cross-country team: she loves to run and bike. William Poole is an EPS alum and recent graduate of Brown University with a degree in biological physics. He will be working initially with Patricia Friel to team teach Pre-Calculus but he also has some ideas for “a geeky elective on math, computers, science or some interdisciplinary combination of the above” that he might concoct on his own. William tutored students throughout college and is looking at a career in academia. “Teaching will be a large part of my job. At EPS, I’ll get to learn from some of the best.” When he’s not playing with numbers, William enjoys cooking gourmet food, hiking, and biking. He is very excited to be back on the west coast. 

INSPIRE Fall 2013

Winner of the

Alice Strong Award By Wendy Lawrence, Founding Faculty

onica Nicoli joined Eastside Prep shortly after moving from Italy. Her son Niccolò was one of only sixteen students in the first year’s classes. “EPS felt like a big family,” remembers Monica. “Everybody was involved: founders of the school, teachers, staff, parents, and students were all putting forth so much effort and enthusiasm and it was contagious. It was very easy to become involved in the EPS family.” The rest of us are lucky that Monica found it so easy. As Dr. Macaluso said, “Monica and Diego, along with their sons Niccolò and Andrea, believed in EPS before we had earned that confidence. They’ve contributed generously with volunteer time and financial resources.” In fact, it’s hard to choose which of Monica’s many contributions to list. She’s an enthusiastic Open House volunteer and recruiter. She organizes the lost and found— a task she compares to past days working with antiques in Italy—both jobs allowed her to give things a second chance at life. She helps Amis Balcomb hang art and organize student portfolios. She’s in the library every Monday morning. And no one is going to forget the cookies she often carries. In fact, there are many people wondering what will happen to that cookie stream after Monica’s youngest graduates in 2014. “You are never alone when you volunteer at EPS: curious students come by and say ‘hi’. Teachers and staff always thank you and offer help,” says Monica, who always remembers to bring along a sense of humor. Once at

Eastside Preparatory School

Board President Rob Short presents the Alice Strong Award to Monica Nicoli.

school late at night to prepare for Middle School Continuation, she found herself laughing with Desiree Eden at being so picky “as if all the kids were our own kids and the president would be coming.” Every week she and Isabel Picoto “get lost in the lost and found between smelly socks and moldy lunch boxes, grateful that it isn’t our own kids’ room.” When her son graduates, EPS won’t be his room anymore either, but Monica and her family will always be welcome back, with or without cookies. We can’t be the school we are without volunteers like Monica. We give the Alice Strong award knowing that she has already found her reward in the smiles of our students, but it’s all we can do to say thank you one more time. 

Guessing Game Winner Sisters Nessa (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;18) and Fina (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;16) worked together to answer the questions in the crossword puzzle from our last issue of Inspire. Their collaboration paid off and the girls had the most correct answers. Congratulations Fina and Nessa!

13 T A G E C R A 11 F T S 2 C C 7 T U D E16 N T M E N T O R S B L 18 Z W A C K 10 A C A L U U M W A E B E O K R A 1 T U D E N T G S I O 5 H I N K T E17 A 15 D P R A S T U U M F M F 12 O L L E G E C O U N C R

Cross Word Clue

I N G S O

14 G 19 L U M N I A M M 8 L E E R V A T E D

3 C 6 N N O I M M 4 9 A U I O V E R N M E N T A I T T T E A Y G R R V I S O R Y A T GUESSING I GAME O N S E L I N G

INSPIRE Fall 2013

2012-2013 Annual Report Letter from the Head of School and Board President

n her graduation speech this year, Casey Bishop stated that the unique individuals of the Class of 2013 had come together to “make a community that is like no other.” The same can be said of our broader community. We have all come together with a common goal and have created a community of parents, students, trustees, faculty and staff that validates Aristotle’s observation, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” The 2012-2013 school year marked our tenth. The tenth consecutive year of growth in our student body. The tenth consecutive year of growth in our faculty and staff. The tenth consecutive year of improving program and facilities by meeting, and even exceeding, our fundraising goals. None of that would be possible without the support of every member of our community—thank you! We are proud to look back at the accomplishments in our ten years—the growing community, the strength of our

faculty, the students successfully graduated. We’re also excited for the future of Eastside Prep. So what’s ahead? The Board of Trustees recently completed a new Strategic Plan to see the school through the next seven years. Our focus will always be on providing an exceptional education for individual students. One of the main challenges put forth in the plan is to map out the growth of the school both in numbers of students and in physical space. The Board, along with school administration, will begin tackling the tasks associated with the Strategic Plan in the 2013-2014 school year. As we look back on the last year and plan for the upcoming year, one thing remains constant. We are thankful for our community and the support received from each member of that community. On behalf of the Board of Trustees and the faculty and staff of Eastside Prep, thank you for all you do to help make us a “community like no other.” Here’s to the next ten!

Terry Macaluso, PhD Rob Short Head of School President, Board of Trustees

Thank You to our Donors These individuals and organizations have made cash or in-kind donations to Eastside Preparatory School.

* Indicates 5+ years of consecutive giving to the Annual Fund

(a) Indicates alumni/alumni family (gp) Indicates grandparents of students

Robert and Pilar Ackerman * Jeff Adair * Nancy Adair Anairis Aleman Don and Margaret Alvarez America’s Charities American Express Michael Anderson Anonymous Emily Anthony and David Maymudes William and Gail Bain*(a) Amis Balcomb* Vickie and Bob Baldwin Jim and Teresa Banowsky*

Conrad and Claudia Bayer Paul and Ann Beaudoin * Kurt Bechtel and Teri McFall Bechtel * Donna and Bill Beckley Adrienne Behrmann * Gilbert Bell Myrna Belt Laurie and Josh Benaloh * John and Kelli Bernhard Byron and Sheila Bishop * Doug and Elena Blair Liesl and David Bohan Boeing Andrew Boyd

Carl Bradley Bill Brady Daria Brandt * Lisa and Marv Brashem Leslie Brewer and Arnold Blinn Jonathan Briggs * Walter and Trish Bright Linda and Thomas Brisk Bristol-Myers Rick and Stephanie Brooks David and Heather Burkey Arianne and Peter Burnham Peter Burnham Cyndee Kraiger and Brett Burris *

Dr. and Mrs. William Busey Graham and Vera Byng * Susan Cameron Deborah and Ian Carmichael Rebecca and Wade Carter Vikram and Vandana Chalana Arthur Champernowne and Ellen Taft (a) Carl and Rebecca Chatfield Celebrated Chefs Charity of Choice Elisa Panelli and Marco Chierotti Roberta Christensen Robin Christy

2012-2013 Annual Report Highlights There were many highlights from 2012-2013, our tenth academic year. Here are just a few: • EPS began the celebration of its 10th year in September with the opening and dedication of the new Levinger-Poole Commons (LPC). The opening day ceremonies also included dedication of O’Hara Hall, Friel Learning Center and Fade Court. • The LPC became a hub of school day activity at Eastside Prep. The space was used for classes such as Stagecraft, for both formal and informal study areas, and for allschool assemblies. • The LPC was also home to many after school activities such as Eastside Prep’s three play productions and the annual Fall Harvest event for parents.

Jessica and Eric Claesson Michael Connelly Lisa and Bill Conquergood Bruce and Lisa Copeland * Anne and Mark Corley John Corman and Linnea Peterson Suzanne Guon-Corner and Bradley Corner Lee and Bohn Crain Jim and Jocelyn Cronkhite Jennifer Schilling and John Crosetto Theron and Jennifer Cross Michael Cruz * Lane Dailey and Pamela Derry *

Kristina and Eric Dammrose Chuck and Kim Daniel * Stormi and Rick Danis Chris and Cheryl Dartt Paul David and Kris Solem Matt Delaney * Suzan and Kurt DelBene * Ian Dell Julie Dempster and Greg Jones Suzan Dereli Steve and Deborah Dimmer Kathryn Dodd Harriette and Fred Dorkin (gp) Heather and Kevin Dosch

• The Lunch Program was launched with great meals and snacks provided by Chef Dell and crew. • The Middle School Laptop Program was launched and for the first time technology was incorporated into the curriculum for all EPS students. • The Education Beyond the Classroom (EBC) program had its most successful year to date, with Fall Overnight trips, Service Learning Days and multiple offerings for trips (both local and international) during EBC Week.

• EPS hosted its first alumni gathering and over 35 Eastside Prep graduates returned to campus for lunch with faculty and staff. • Thanks to the generosity of our families, 2013 marked the tenth consecutive year that the school reached its fundraising goals.

• EPS enrolled a record number of 275 students and continued a trend of 90% retention of returning students. There was also growth in the faculty and staff to support the expanded student body.

• An informal science week was held which included Visiting Thinker Dr. David Wendell, who discussed nanobiological science and culminated in the annual Science and Innovation Expo.

• Twenty-one students graduated from EPS in 2013 and Eastside Prep’s Class of 2009 also graduated from college (see page 30 for photos).

• The All-School Barbecue (dubbed the Super Q) boasted the largest attendance ever at an EPS event. Over 600 current and new students, their families, faculty and staff attended the event with food provided by Chef Dell and his staff.

Scott and Shelly Douglas Jon and Lezli Dulude (a) Janelle and Peter Durham * Desiree Eden Steve Edwards Expedia Emma Ferguson Patricia Ferreyra * Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund Lauren Formo * The Bungie Foundation Kelly Fox Patricia Friel * Hilary and Kevin Gammill *

Christina and Ronald Gehrke Navjeet and Jasmine Gill Elena Camerini and Oskar Gjertsson Debbie and Brad Gliner John and Serena Glover * Mary Glover (gp) Laurie and Gordon Goetsch Kathy Goodwin Google Melissa Green Tina Green Greg and Bridget Greenberg (a)* Victor Guevara Bart Gummere *

Anupam and Sangeeta Gupta Lily and Michael Guse Tina and Dave Hadden * Paul Hagen Harold and Sarah Hager (a)* Michael Halcoussis * Amy and K.D. Hallman Michael and Mary Kay Hallman (gp) Nick Hardman Steve Harris * Melissa Hayes * Jessica Heaton Dan and Linda Hedges * Laura Kirkpatrick and Eric Heimke

Jennifer and Gary Hinds Ilona Rossman Ho and Eugene Ho Jennifer and Doug Hotes Steve Jensen Studios Stacy Graven and Ken Johnsen Carol Jones Gregory and Angela Kavounas Katherine and Ryan Kearny Stephen Keedy Liam Keese and Tracy Porter Joe and Emma Kim

2012-2013 Annual Report Operating Income

Operating Expenses

Tuition $7,238,536 Annual Fund Contributions $877,165 Auxiliary Services $635,669 Investment Income $562 $8,751,932

Program & Instruction $6,704,628 Management & General $1,631,513 Admissions $309,798 Fundraising $103,792 * $8,749,731

Fiscal Year Finances

*Expenses exclude non cash charges such as depreciation, etc.

275

Student Enrollment

242 210 172

177

2008-09

2009-10

142 105 81 16

2003-04

2004-05

Vladimir Kim and Ekaterina Dubrovskaya Reed Koch and Suzanne Dilanzo Michael Koenig Rodney and Elizabeth Korn * Matthew Kruse Jerame Kubat Elin Kuffner * Christy and John Kunin Tom and Leslie Laird McConnell Tony and Janet Landers Chris and Michael Lang

2005-06

2006-07

Randy and Monika Lawrence Darren and Cherie Laybourn * Richard Leeds and Anne Kroeker (a) Gabriel Lewison and Quyen Ta Jane Lin Cascade Lineback * Ruthann Lorentzen Elizabeth and Steve Lucco Mike and Karen Lucero * Valerie Horvath and Scott Ludwig Derek Luhn and Jennifer Hallman Mathy and Kenneth Lustig Terry Macaluso * Randy and Patti Mann

2007-08

Lester and Mary Ellen Marshall Holli and Edgar Martinez Kathleen McGill Zachary McKee John McKenna Cerise Vablais and Robert McKenna Kerri and Jonathan McNally Leah and Richard Medway Inbal Boger-Megiddo and Eran Megiddo George and Lois Meng Kim Simmons-Merino and Donald Merino Microsoft

Edward Miller * Steve and Libby Miller Karen and Zane Mills * Sue Miner and Don Miller Rajeev and Shalini Misra Shannon and Christian Moller Marc and Tammy Monnot (a) Kelly and Gary Moore Leigh Ann and Russell More * Laura and Jim Morgan MSNBC.COM Sona and Nishad Mulye Victor Mushkatin and Yelena Mushkatina

2010-11

Diane and Tarek Najm * Kalyani Sattiraju and Jayaram Nanduri Amir and Merav Netz Dan and Kristen Newell Jack Nolan * Lara and Sean Nolan Debbie and Charles Nussbaum Bob and Maureen Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Hara (a)* Elena Olsen * Tiffany Koenig and John Ostolaza PACCAR Inc Janelle Panday * Sujal and Anjali Parikh

2011-12

2012-13

David Parker and Neicole Crepeau Clare and Kaj Pedersen Randi-Louise Peterson Diego Piacentini and Monica Nicoli * Tom and Linda Pichard Heidi Pickard Carlos and Isabella Picoto * Kirsten Pike and Tobias Tillemans * Will Poole and Janet Levinger (a)* Lowell and Sasha Press Kimberlee and Stanley Prince Matthew and Amy Ragen Gilbert Ragudos Sarah Rainwater

2012-2013 Annual Report Faculty and Staff

Bart Gummere

Jeff Adair

Eric Claesson

Tina Hadden

Director of Administrative Services

Kristen Pike

Jess Claesson

Paul Hagen

Gilbert Ragudos

Melissa Hayes

Sarah Rainwater

Jessica Heaton

Rakesh Reddy

Mike Kapa

Tracy Ritter

Dean of Students, MS Historical Thinking

Ana Aleman

Food Services Support

Mike Anderson

MS Literary Thinking, Social Science Learning Support Instructor

Learning Support Instructor

Michael Connelly

Amis Balcomb

Tom Cordova

F&PA: Visual Arts

Vickie Baldwin

Director of Institutional Advancement

Spanish

Facilities Support

Jennifer Cross

Upper School Head

MS Historical Thinking Physical Education Social Science

Food Services Support

Web Mistress, Computer Science

Stephen Keedy

Adrienne Behrmann

Theron Cross

Matthew Kruse

Gilbert Bell

Michael Cruz, MFA

Myrna Belt

Kristina Dammrose

Laurie Benaloh, PhD

Chris Dartt, PhD

Randi-Louise Peterson

Middle School Administrative Assistant English

Sous Chef

Social Science

Food Services Support Student Support Services Assistant

Ana Safavi

Board of Trustees

Andy Slater

Rob Short

Sarah Hager

Fifth-grade Science and Physical Education

Sammi Stimson

Sasha Press

Linda Hedges

Jane Lin

Adam Szlendak

Stacy Graven

Janet Levinger

Tobias Tillemans

Byron Bishop

Steve Miller

Emily Anthony

Maureen Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Hara

Middle School Head, Environmental Practices and Social Science

Leslie Brewer

Randy Reina

Brett Burris

Adam Waltzer

Trustee

Dev Stahlkopf

Facilities Support

Admissions and Institutional Advancement Assistant

Vandana Chalana

Jeff Sternitzky

Director of Technology, Applied Physics, Computer Science, Social Science

Emma Ferguson

Karen Mills

Mathematics

Suzan DelBene

Phillip Swan

Desiree Eden

Eric Voskuil

Roberta Christensen

Spanish

Mathematics Security

Custodian

MS Mathematical Thinking

Doug Blair, JD

Director of Athletics, Physical Education

Andrew Boyd, CPA

Chief of Finance and Operations, Social Science

Daria Brandt

Fifth-grade Humanities

Jonathan Briggs

Science

F&PA: Theatre

Admissions Associate Mathematics

Matt Delaney

Academic Dean, Social Science

Ian Dell

Food Services Director

Katie Dodd

MS Scientific Thinking

Steve Edwards

Elin Kuffner

Upper School Administrative Assistant, Registrar

Cascade Lineback

Spanish

Kelly Fox Patricia Friel

Mathematics

Accountant

Victor Guevara

Monica Ramsey and Dick Warsinske Madhu Rao Shamim Mirza and Javed Rasool Emily and Steven Rayson The Reina Family * Stephen Rimmer and Leslie Decker Tracy Ritter Lisa Robin and Joseph Robin, MD Alice and Pete Ryan Ana and Shawn Safavi * Jon Sakamoto and Elaine Hsieh-Sakamoto Luis Salazar and Yolanda Leon * Marco and Molly Salazar

Kurt and Doris Samuelson Victoria and Henry Sanders SAP Matching Gift Program Melissa and Scott Schaefer Liz Hunt and Benn Schreiber Scott Selby and Krista White Julia Sensenbrenner (a)* Val and Steve Serdy Ashvini and Roomi Sharma Erin Barry and Oliver Sharp Alison and Barry Shaw Harley and Pamela Sheffield * Sanjay and Angela Shenoy Emer Dooley and Rob Short *

Facilities Manager Food Services Support

Terry Macaluso, PhD

Sam Uzwack

Head of School, Philosophy

Kerri McNally

Kelly Moore, PhD

Robin Christy

Science and Mathematics

Spanish, PE Dance & Conditioning: Yoga

Patricia Ferreyra

Director of Admissions

Student Life Coordinator

MS Scientific Thinking and Environmental Practices

Librarian, Information Literacy

Lauren Formo

Lena Chu

F&PA: Music

Spanish, PE Dance & Conditioning: Flamenco

LPC Theatre Manager, F&PA: Stagecraft, Communications Learning Support Instructor

English

Director of Student Support Services

Jack Nolan

Tech Support Specialist

Elena Olsen, PhD English

Science

Kip Wassink

Ryan Winkelmann English and Social Science

David Winspear

President

Treasurer

Trustee

Secretary

Trustee Emerita

Past President

Trustee

Trustee Emerita

Trustee

Trustee Trustee

Trustee

Ex-Officio Trustee, Parent Association President

Facilities Construction Contractor

Patricia Friel

Marcela Winspear

John Glover

Campus Commons Coordinator

Trustee

Trustee Emerita

Trustee

Kathy Weber Trustee

Trustee

Janelle Panday Accountant

Custodian

Andy Slater Douglas and Betsy Smith * Roz Sobel Stephen and Joanne Sparrow The John Spencer Bradley Foundation Elaine and John Sprague Dev Stahlkopf and Bill Bue Morgan Stanley Jessica Stern Anne Pillsbury and Jeff Sternitzky * Robert Stickel Timothy Stickel Sammi Stimson Tom and Alice Strong (a)

Srini Subramanian and Sangeetha Suryanarayanan Airi and Vesa Suomalainen Paul and Linda Suzman Phillip and Tracy Swan Erin Fleck and Mark Swanson M3 and Lisa Sweatt Adam Szlendak Mark and Liza Taylor Texas Instruments Scott Thurlow and Carrie Gorringe * Karen and Karl Triebes Heather and Justin Uberti Sam Uzwack and Nicole Curry

Lil and Dolf van den Heuvel Birgitte Veje Selvam Velmurugan and Lakshmi Nidamarthi Irina and Sergey Vorobyev Mica and Eric Voskuil Deborah and Chris Voss Adam and Shigeko Waltzer * Jim and Jennifer Washburn Kip and Danielle Wassink Kathy Weber and Bill Shain * Wells Fargo Leanne and Bill Weinstein Liesl and Jeff Wilke

Ryan Winkelmann Marcela and David Winspear Tokuro and Myrissa Yamashiro Ling Yang and Christopher Fawcett Hong Zhang and Xianng Chen Jack and Hellen Zheng Laura and Chris Zimmerman Gerry Zyfers Sally Zyfers

Upcoming

ollowing are some of the upcoming events at Eastside Prep. For a complete listing of EPS activities and events, visit our website (www.eastsideprep.org/ calendar) and filter All-School Events category.

19 Open House

OCTOBER 4

Fall Harvest

6:30 p.m., Levinger-Poole Commons

Parents are invited to mingle with members of the EPS community at the first major (adults only) event of the school year.

Registration starts at 12:30 p.m. in the Levinger-Poole Commons and the program runs from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Prospective students (rising grades 5-12) and their parents are welcome to attend. The program includes a brief opening presentation and overview, followed by interactive miniclasses, parent/student Q&A panels and campus tours.

NOVEMBER 6-8 Middle School Play Production

7:00 p.m., Levinger-Poole Commons Theatre

17 Alumni Parents Reception

16 Open House

Registration starts at 9:30 a.m. in the Levinger-Poole Commons and the program runs from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Prospective students (rising grades 5-12) and their parents are welcome to attend. The program includes a brief opening presentation and overview, followed by interactive miniclasses, parent/student Q&A panels and campus tours.

19 Grand Friends Lunch

11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Levinger-Poole Commons Grandparents and friends of EPS Middle and Upper School students are invited to visit for lunch with Head of School Terry Macaluso and a tour of the campus.

DECEMBER 14 Open House

6:00 p.m.

Parents of EPS alumni are invited to attend a reception in the Levinger-Poole Commons.

EPS Middle School students, directed by Michael Cruz, present a collection of Greek and Roman myths. (Reservations are required.)

Eastside Preparatory School

Events JANUARY

FEBRUARY

APRIL

5-7 Upper School Musical Production

17 All School Talent Show

Presented by EPS Upper School students, guest director Meghan Arnette. (Reservations are required.)

Annual event at which the EPS community showcases their various talents, ranging from singing to â&#x20AC;&#x153;stand-upâ&#x20AC;? and everything in between. (Event has limited seating capacity.)

Alumni Reception 5:00 p.m., EPS Campus

EPS alumni are invited to a reception with faculty and staff.

24 Parent Reception 6:30 p.m.

7:00 p.m., Levinger-Poole Commons Theatre

14 TEDxEastsidePrep 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m

4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., Levinger-Poole Commons Theatre

MAY 13-15 ALL SCHOOL PLAY PRODUCTION

7:00 p.m., Levinger-Poole Commons Theatre EPS fifth- through twelfth-graders present Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Directed by Michael Cruz. (Reservations are required.)

EPS parents are invited to enjoy an evening reception in the Levinger-Poole Commons.

This is a TED offshoot organized independently by Eastside Prep. Our audience and speakers will consist of a diverse group of leaders, stakeholders and entrepreneurs in the world of education, technology and cognitive science. To know more about this event, visit www.tedxeastsideprep.com. (Attendance by invitation only.)

14 Grand Friends Lunch

12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., Levinger-Poole Commons Grandparents and friends of EPS Middle and Upper School students are invited to visit for lunch with Head of School Terry Macaluso and a tour of the campus, followed by the All School Play matinee.

INSPIRE Fall 2013

10613 NE 38th Place Kirkland, WA 98033

Call us today at 425 822-5668 or visit www.eastsideprep.org

Photograph by EPS student Wanyi (â&#x20AC;&#x2122;16)